Also in Tuesday morning’s round-up of news briefs: Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci will receive honors at an upcoming awards event. Ron Perlman joins a psychological thriller and remembering producer Hank Moonjean. Anne Hathaway Boards Rom-Com Hathaway is set to star in The Low Self-Esteem of Lizzie Gillespie , a romantic comedy that centers on a a woman whose lack of self-worth has limited her choice in men to losers. When she is about to hit the bottom of the barrel, life takes an unexpected turn when she is pursued by the hottest guy ever. Mindy Kaling, who likely would take on a supporting role, co-wrote the Black List-charting script with Brent Forrester, THR reports . Paul Dano Board Prisoners Dano apparently had a choice between Prisoners and Jon Favreau’s Jersey Boys . He chose the kidnapping thriller that stars Hugh Jackman, Melissa Leo and Jake Gyllenhaal. Denis Villeneuve will direct, Deadline reports . Bernardo Bertolucci To Receive European Lifetime Achievement Award The Oscar-winning Italian director will be feted by the European Film Academy at its December event. His movie The Last Emperor won nine Oscars in addition to BAFTA wins and French Césars, THR reports . Ron Perlman Joins Angry Little God Directed by Daniel Stamm, the psychological thriller is an English-language remake about a guy who receivees a mysterious phone call informing him that he’s on a hidden camera game show where he must do 13 tasks to receive a big cash prize, but after accepting he realizes he’s over his head, Deadline reports . Producer Hank Moonjean Dies at 82 The Oscar-nominated producer passed away in his Hollywood Hills home after battling pancreatic cancer. In 1988 he was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar for Dangerous Liaisons with Norma Heyman. In 2008 he wrote Bring in the Peacocks: Memoirs of a Hollywood Producer , Deadline reports .
This week gives us a chic, Oscar-nominated animated feature from France and a boisterous musical based on a low-budget cult horror-comedy with a plot point in common: Both films include homages to giant monsters rampaging through urban areas — evidence that there’s often a thin line that separates High from Low. HIGH: A Cat in Paris (Cinedigm/$29.95 DVD; $39.95 DVD/Blu-Ray combo) Who’s Responsible: Written by Alain Gagnol and Jacques Rémy-Girerd; directed by Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli; features the voices of Marcia Gay Harden, Anjelica Huston and Matthew Modine. What’s It All About: Black cat Dino shuttles between two owners who aren’t aware of each other. He spends his days with Zoë, a young girl who’s been mute since the recent death of her gendarme father at the hand of notorious criminal Victor Costa (voiced by JB Blanc). At night, he slinks about the rooftops of the City of Lights alongside a burglar named Nico (Modine). Both of Dino’s companions will collide when Costa crosses Nico’s path — with Zoë’s police detective mother Jeanne (Harden) in hot pursuit. Why It’s Schmancy: The extraordinary advancements in computer-generated animation over the last few decades may now make it possible to realistically render every last hair on a Yeti, but there’s still room for old-fashioned illustration that calls to mind the artwork of beloved children’s stories. Kids, and adults even, should not live on Pixar alone (much less those crappy Ice Age movies), so mix things up with this gorgeous and eccentrically animated film, which earned a Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination this year. (Plus, you know, the movie is French and set in Paris, which automatically makes things more ra-sha-sha .) Why You Should Buy It: Both hardcore animation fans and kids with a penchant for drawing will enjoy the Many Lives of a Cat extra, which features art from previous, abandoned versions of the screenplay (one darker, one goofier) as well as pencil sketches and storyboards from the completed version. There’s also a silly short called Extinction of the Saber-Toothed Housecat , which screened theatrically with A Cat in Paris . LOW: Little Shop of Horrors: The Director’s Cut + Theatrical (Warner Home Video; DVD $14.96; Blu-Ray $34.99) Who’s Responsible: Written by Howard Ashman (based on his play, which was based on the 1960 screenplay by Charles B. Griffith); lyrics by Ashman; music by Alan Menken; directed by Frank Oz; starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve Martin and Vincent Gardenia What’s It All About: In this tuneful retelling of the old Roger Corman movie, nerdy Seymour (Moranis) becomes a celebrity when he discovers a strange alien plant, whom Seymour names “Audrey II” in honor of his co-worker and unrequited crush Audrey (Greene). Audrey II winds up being hungry for human flesh, and Seymour strikes a Faustian bargain with him. But once Seymour figures out the sinister plant’s true intentions, will it be too late to stop the “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space”? Why It’s Fun: Before Ashman and Menken helped to revitalize Disney animation with their acclaimed score for The Little Mermaid , they made their names with this outrageous horror-musical that skillfully veers from the sincere to the parodic to the terrifying. Greene, the only veteran of the stage version, belts the hell out of these songs while matching comic masters Moranis and Martin in the laughs department. There’s also a whiz-bang, what-the-hell energy throughout the movie that makes this a musical to remember. Why You Should Buy It (Again): The film’s theatrical release version featured a happy ending that strayed from the original stage play, but Oz’s original darker finale has now been fully restored. (There was a previous DVD with a much messier rough cut of the climax that quickly got yanked from shelves.) This version also features an introduction and commentary from Oz, some outtakes, a documentary and (in the Blu-Ray edition) a keepsake book. (Alas, still no extended version of “The Meek Shall Inherit” to match the version on the soundtrack album.) Now that both endings are available, audiences can debate which one they think works better. Whatever your take, this restoration allows us to see new facets of the performances by Moranis, Greene and the film’s hilarious doo-wopping Greek chorus (Tisha Campbell, Tichina Arnold and Michelle Weeks). Alonso Duralde has written about film for The Wrap , Salon and MSNBC.com. He also co-hosts the Linoleum Knife podcast and regularly appears on What The Flick?! (The Young Turks Network) . He is a senior programmer for the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles and a pre-screener for the Sundance Film Festival. He also the author of two books: Have Yourself A Movie Little Christmas (Limelight Editions) and 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men (Advocate Books). Follow Alonso Duralde on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Variety , the old-media show-business trade publication founded in 1905, has been acquired by Movieline’s new-media parent company, Penske Media Corp. (PMC) The deal was announced today by PMC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jay Penske and Variety ‘s seller, Reed Information, a division of Reed Elsevier. For some insight into what the deal will mean, check out this report by Deadline’s Mike Fleming , who spent 20 years at Variety before joining PMC. The announcement of the sale can be found after the jump.
Ridley Scott’s latest alien franchise could have looked more like a direct prequel to his last one, according to the original screenwriter for Prometheus Jon Spaihts. In a surprise-laden interview with Empire , Spaihts says he had written facehuggers and chestbursters into early versions of the storyline before Scott and script doctor Damon Lindelof decided to move in a more original direction. Spaihts explained that he originally envisioned facehuggers being used to implant the alien seed in both Holloway and Shaw. “David, as he began to get fascinated by the science of the Engineers, doesn’t deliberately contaminate Holloway with a drop of black liquid. Instead, Holloway hubristically removes his helmet in the chamber” — a version of which happens in the finished Prometheus — is knocked unconscious, facehugged and wakes up not knowing what had been done to him, and stumbles back into the ship,” Spaihts told Empire . Enter the chestburster. In what Spaihts described as a “messy” scene, Holloway returns to his cabin and is “embraced by Shaw, who is delighted to see him having feared that he had died, and the two of them make love,” he goes on to say. “And it’s while they’re making love that he bursts and dies.” Nice. Spaihts says that his idea was originally to have Shaw impregnated by a facehugger, courtesy of David. In what sounds like an extremely creepy sequence, he says an early script called for David to tie up Shaw and deliberately expose her to the spidery egg sack. “He caresses an egg open and out comes a facehugger,” Spaihts explains, but since David doesn’t smell like a living being, “he can handle the the thing like a kitten.” And he does. “He toys with her for a bit and then lets it take her. That, in my draft, was how Shaw was implanted with the parasite that she had to remove with the medpod sequence.” He also notes in Empire that in his version of the script, the baby alien is ejected from the medpod while a dazed Shaw remains inside as she’s stitched up and watches the creature grow and dispatch other members of the crew. Shaw would have remained in the medpod for eight hours in Spaihts telling of the story, which would have made her post-Caesarean scenes avoiding the crashing Engineer’s spaceship and escaping the grown tentacled alien slightly more plausible. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The kinky erotic pop phenomenon 50 Shades of Grey has finally landed — or shall we say, tied down — a writer! British actress/scribe Kelly Marcel, who co-created the short-lived Steven Spielberg-produced series Terra Nova and scripted the upcoming Mary Poppins pic Saving Mr. Banks , will adapt E.L. James’ S&M romance about a young woman who falls for Christian Grey , a damaged dreamboat with a bondage fetish. Marcel’s a surprise choice for the hot property given her relatively scant writing credits; here’s hoping her script keeps all the salaciously sexy allure of the books, which will be one of the bigger challenges Universal and Focus face with their big-screen adaptation. One hurdle: Making a 50 Shades of Grey movie that’s half as great as this fan-made trailer : Oh, man. Never gets old . Once a script’s in place, the next trick will be casting their perfect Christian Grey . Someone not too old, not too young, the picture of male perfection and virility. An actor capable of pulling off both brute sensual dominance and crippling emotional trauma. A dude who knows how to wear a suit. Well, Marcel did co-found a theater company with Tom Hardy after the two worked together on Nicholas Refn’s Bronson , which she re-wrote. (Another fun fact: Dad Terry Marcel wrote and directed 1980’s Hawk the Slayer .) Maybe she can make a phone call… who’s down with casting Tom Hardy as Christian Grey? The official press release: UNIVERSAL CITY, CA, October 8, 2012—Universal Pictures and Focus Features today announced that Kelly Marcel will write the screenplay to the highly anticipated film adaptation of “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti will produce the film based on E L James’ #1 bestselling book, alongside James. The announcement was made by Universal Pictures Co-Chairman, Donna Langley and Focus Features’ Chief Executive Officer, James Schamus. Marcel wrote the 2011 Black List script, Saving Mr. Banks , the story of Walt Disney’s twenty-year pursuit of the film rights to author P.L. Travers’ novel, “Mary Poppins,” and the rocky relationship that formed between the two. The film is currently in production at Walt Disney Studios starring Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson and Colin Farrell with John Lee Hancock directing. Marcel served as the co-creator and executive producer of the Amblin/FOX-TV series Terra Nova, for which she wrote the series’ pilot episode. She will also produce The Madonnas Of Echo Park for HBO. “Kelly’s work demonstrates her flawless structural technique and passionate commitment to emotion, humor and depth of character which is particularly visible in the celebrated screenplay for the upcoming Saving Mr. Banks,” said De Luca. “We were all taken with the depth and passion of Kelly’s engagement with the characters and world E L James has created, and we knew she was the right person to augment our Fifty Shades family,” added Brunetti. Universal Pictures and Focus Features acquired the rights to the three books in the “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy in March of this year. Focus Features will market and distribute the first film in partnership with Universal. “Fifty Shades of Grey” has become a global phenomenon and the trilogy has been translated in 45 languages worldwide since its release. In the U.S. alone, the “Fifty Shades” trilogy has sold over 32 million copies in e-book and print, making it one of the fastest selling book series ever. “Fifty Shades of Grey” follows the relationship of 27-year-old billionaire Christian Grey and college student Anastasia Steele. Subsequent novels in the series, “Fifty Shades Darker” (September 2011) and “Fifty Shades Freed” (January 2012) explore the couple’s deepening relationship. For more information please see the official Fifty Shades of Grey Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/fiftyshadesofgreymovie. Marcel was represented in the deal by WME and Casarotto Ramsay & Associates Limited. [ Deadline ]
The Hamptons International Film Festival handed out awards Sunday for its 20th edition of the event with Umat Dag’s Kuma and Cate Shortland’s Lore tying for the Golden Starfish narrative prize, while Tora Martens’ Colombianos took the Documentary prize. Toronto audience winner Silver Linings Playbook , meanwhile, also took the equivalent prize in the Hamptons, while No Place on Earth won the audience nod in the documentary category. The 20th Hamptons International Film Festival winners: Baume & Mercier Audience Award Narrative Silver Linings Playbook by David O. Russell Baume & Mercier Audience Award Documentary No Place On Earth by Janet Tobias Baume & Mercier Audience Award Best Short Growing Farmers by Michael Halsband Golden Starfish Award Narrative Feature Winner (TIE) Kuma , Directed by Umat Dag Lore , Directed by Cate Shortland Golden Starfish Award Documentary Feature Winner Colombianos , Directed by Tora Mårtens Special Jury Prize for Inspiration Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet , Directed by Jesse Vile Special Jury Prize for Performance Carlos Vallarino , La Demora GSA Short The Curse , Directed by Fyzal Boulifa The Kodak Award for Best Cinematography Lore , Cinematography by Adam Arkapaw The Victor Rabinowitz and Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice Call Me Kuchu by Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall The Jeremy Nussbaum Prize for Provocative Fiction Lore by Cate Shortand Zelda Penzel Giving Voice to the Voiceless Award One Nation Under Dog by Amanda Micheli, Jenny Carchman, Ellen Goosemberg-Kent GSA for Curatorial Excellence Ian Birnie
Barnabas Collins has risen from the grave once more via the Blu-Ray and DVD release of Tim Burton’s film adaptation of Dark Shadows , and so has spirited argument over who created the tortured vampire back in the 1960s. Johnny Depp’s interpretation of the fanged fan favorite originated by Jonathan Frid may have been D.O.A. at the box office, but, 45 years after Collins debuted on the gothic ABC soap opera and became a cult icon, the squabbling over his invention just won’t die. Alas, one of the writers is not around to make his case. A 2009 Variety obituary for Ron Sproat, who wrote for Dark Shadows from November 1966 to February 1969, credits him with creating Barnabas, and in a 2008 interview with the blog Strange Paradise, another writer for the show, Joe Caldwell, said that the show’s executive producer Dan Curtis personally asked him and Sproat to develop the character. Enter former Dark Shadows writer Malcolm Marmorstein, who insists that Curtis gave him the task of creating Collins. Marmorstein, who is credited with writing the episode in which Barnabas’ arm first shoots out of his coffin, joined the daytime serial in December 1966 after working as head writer of the successful NBC soap, The Doctors . He says Dark Shadows was in danger of cancellation, and he recommended that adding a supernatural element to the series would boost ratings. Specifically, he suggested to Curtis that the character of Laura Collins be turned into a phoenix, who every 100 years would die by fire and then be reborn. The phoenix concept debuted on December 21, 1966 and ratings soon improved. A few months later, Marmorstein says, Curtis asked him to work a vampire into the storyline. “I told Dan, ‘Absolutely, but we need different ground rules. No one in the town of Collinsport has heard of Dracula. They wouldn’t recognize Bela Lugosi. We have to pretend we’re doing a vampire for the very first time. Let’s get a young, blond guy, because our audiences are very young. They’ll fall in love with him.’” Instead, the dark-haired, sad-eyed Frid was hired and Marmorstein says the Shakespearean actor’s resemblance to Lugosi unnerved him. “I told him, ‘Don’t act. Be a nice man, as you are. This is your family in the house, and you’ve got to be charming for them.” (Frid died in April, a month before Burton’s film was released). Caldwell tells a different version of events. “Just as we were leaving this story meeting, Dan said, ‘I want a vampire for the kids, for the summer,’” Caldwell remembers. “Ron and I got on the elevator, and by the time we got down to the street, we decided we would make him a reluctant vampire — that he had a conscience and yearned for love.” “That never happened!” responds Marmorstein. “That’s what I said to Dan, that Barnabas is reluctant. He doesn’t want to be a vampire.” Marmorstein also points out that Reluctant Vampire is actually the title of a play he wrote and then directed for the big screen as the 1993 feature Love Bites, starring Adam Ant. “Joe Caldwell never contributed to the creation of Barnabas,” Marmorstein says. “And Ron wasn’t a creative person. He was a burnt-out Ivy Leaguer who never did more than soap opera.” Caldwell and another writer on the show remember Marmorstein as a know-it-all who was more than a little possessive of Barnabas. “He could certainly be overfond of his ideas,” says Caldwell. Sam Hall, who joined the Dark Shadows writing staff in November 1967 and whose late wife, Grayson Hall, played Dr. Julia Hoffman on the show, says, “Malcolm was interested in vampires and gave the others lectures on how vampires behave. The other writers thought he was a pain in the ass, trying to take over.” “If the other writers said I was stubborn, maybe I was, because I was clinging to the truth and reality of the character,” Marmorstein replies. “If I built this thing up, and these guys come in and start throwing stupid ideas out, then naturally I’ll say no. Dan wanted more violence and that’s not what the show was about. It wasn’t blood and severed throats and slit guts.” Not surprisingly, tensions escalated between Curtis and Marmorstein, who was fired in August 1967 while he was vacationing with his family. (Marmorstein went on to work for Peyton Place and write screenplays for S*P*Y*S and Whiffs , which starred Elliott Gould, as well as Pete’s Dragon and Return from Witch Mountain . “I don’t think he contributed more than anyone else,” Dark Shadows producer Bob Costello says of Marmorstein. “He was part of a team and from that team came Barnabas. If he was as good as he seems to think he was, he wouldn’t have been fired.” Costello, Caldwell and Hall have been content to consign Dark Shadows to their past, Marmorstein felt compelled to offer his services when Burton decided to adapt the series into a feature. Marmorstein says he contacted producer David Kennedy via e-mail to no avail. (Kennedy declined to be interviewed, but said he had never met Marmorstein.) Marmorstein says he also sought to set up a meeting with Depp and his sister and co-producer Christi Dembrowski. Depp, who Marmorstein explains is a goof friend of his neighbor, initially seemed interested, but the sitdown never happened. (Dembrowski and Depp did not respond to requests for comment.) “ I thought they might be interested in some of the insights behind Barnabas, which they ignored totally,” Marmorstein says. “I was shocked to see, at the beginning of the movie, Barnabas killing seven or eight innocent people, who weren’t even trying to harm him. Barnabas would never do that. And I saw no reason whatsoever for the movie to be set in 1972. For nothing, I would have told them not to do that. It should have been set today.” Follow Movieline on Twitter.
With her soulful contralto, Adele was born to sing a Bond theme song. She delivers with “Skyfall,” produced by regular collaborator Paul Epworth, and released yesterday on James Bond’s 50th birthday . That should be a relief to music lovers and Bond fans alike, but just how much musical DNA does Adele’s “Skyfall” share in common with the best Bond themes to date? At some point in the mid ’70s, Bond theme songs lost their way. I blame Carly Simon. “Nobody Does it Better,” which she sang for 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me , is a perfectly good pop ballad — it was Simon’s greatest hit, after all — but it was not a Bond song. It broke all the traditions: its title was different from the movie’s, it was in a major key, and it made no musical allusions to the composer behind the unmistakable 007 sound, John Barry. As if in apology, producers brought back Goldfinger and Diamonds are Forever songstress Shirley Bassey for the next movie, Moonraker , but the rekindling was all too brief. After that, there was a string of songs that sounded like ’80s sitcom theme songs. Seriously, listen to Sheena Easton’s “For Your Eyes Only” and imagine it playing over Three’s Company –style opening credits, with scenes of Bond walking into MI6’s office and throwing his hat onto the coat rack while Ms. Moneypenny rolls her eyes and smiles. Same with “ Octopussy .” Just think of what “Thunderball”’s Tom Jones could have done with that title. MGM and Albert Broccoli seemed to come to their senses after realizing what a mistake they’d made entrusting the theme song for The Living Daylights to A-Ha. They took a step in the right direction with the next one, Gladys Knight’s “License to Kill,” which opens with a direct quote of the opening motif from “Goldfinger.” In 1996, with “Goldeneye,” Tina Turner did with the music what Pierce Brosnan did with the character and helped rescue the entire franchise. Since then, the only real crime against 007 tradition was Madonna’s disjointed dance number for Die Another Day . Adele’s “Skyfall” is the most classic Bond theme since the classic Bond themes. The song may not be as infectiously hummable as some of Adele’s other hits, like “Rolling in the Deep,” but it fits perfectly within the James Bond tradition. Breaking the song down to its constitution elements, we can see how it compares to its predecessors: Voice You can’t listen to this song and not immediately think of Shirley Bassey, though Adele throws in a little more melisma. C-minor key More than three quarters of James Bond songs are in a minor key. The only other one in C-minor, however, was Garbage’s “The World is Not Enough. ” Dr. No references Peppered throughout the song are echoes of the original instrumental theme John Barry wrote for Dr. No , including the unmistakable four-note riff here played by the electric guitar 1 minute 50 seconds in, and the distinctive, sixties-sounding final chord (a minor ninth, if you’re curious), which is the same chord that concludes the Dr. No theme. Instrumentation Like Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does it Better,” the song begins simply, with vocals over piano. But then the strings, electric guitar, and John Barry–esque horn blasts kick in, bringing to mind the Sean Connery–era Bond themes. Thankfully, “Skyfall” did away with the tambourine. Melody The rising fifth in the hook (“… let the sky fall”) is reminiscent of “Goldfinger,” “Diamonds Are Forever,” and “The World is Not Enough,” which all have same interval in the main melody. Also like “The World is Not Enough” and Sheryl Crowe’s “Tomorrow Never Dies,” the verse ends on a suspended fourth chord. Tempo: ca. 78 bpm Practically the same as “License to Kill.” Lyrics This song does a better job of integrating the title into the lyrics than many of its predecessors, although Adele has to break the nonsensical title into two words. Carly Simon simply plopped the words “The spy who loved me” into an otherwise boilerplate love song, and Chris Cornell didn’t even bother including “Casino Royale” into his theme song , “You Know My Name.” Adele’s repetition of the title at the end of the song makes me think of what Tom Jones did with “Thunderball” and Tina Turner did with “Goldeneye.” Anything else? How much deeper can we go in overanalyzing this? Let me know in the comments. Julian Sancton is a writer based in Manhattan. He has contributed to Vanity Fair, Esquire and Playboy, among other publications. Follow Julian Sancton on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
When the credits rolled on The Master , I found myself thinking two things: Joaquin Phoenix is going to be nominated for an Oscar , and damn, I could use a drink! Watching Phoenix as feral Freddie Quell make moonshine from torpedo fuel, paint thinner and what appeared to be darkroom chemicals garnished with a mangy citrus fruit reminded me how inspiring it is to see a good mixologist at work. And that spurred me to find one who could invent a proper high-alcohol homage to Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie and Phoenix’s character that would not require masterminding a heist on The U.S.S. Curtis Wilbur. My search led me to Rachel Sergi (right), who first caught my attention with Dario Argento-inspired The Suspiria , a potent little number she worked up using grain alcohol, which, by the way, was used as torpedo fuel by the U.S. Navy during World War II. Sergi, who studied film at San Francisco State University, is Beverage Director at Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington D.C., and, after seeing The Master , she created the (Not So) Slow Boat to China exclusively for Movieline. She says the also-powerful cocktail, pictured at top, was inspired by the movie’s maritime references and that weird little moment at the end of the movie where Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Lancaster Dodd sings Frank Loesser’s “(I’d Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China” to Freddie. Without further adieu, here is Rachel’s most excellent recipe, complete with instructions on how to make the Pink Peppercorn tincture and White Pepper Syrup used in the drink. Now, get out your cocktail shakers and enjoy one. (NOT SO) SLOW BOAT TO CHINA 1.5 oz. Smith & Cross “Navy Strength” Rum – 57% alcohol by volume (abv) .75 oz. Kronan Swedish Punsch .5 oz. Lime Cordial .25 oz. Pink Peppercorn Tincture (made with El Dorado 151 white rum) .25 oz. White Pepper Syrup Build drink in mixing glass with all ingredients and ice. Stir to incorporate. Pour into rock glass with fresh cubed ice and garnish with lime peel (not flesh). Pink Peppercorn Tincture 1.5 cups pink peppercorns – lightly smashed 3 bottles 151 White Rum (El Dorado red label) Add the peppercorns to the 151 (in a plastic container) and stir. Allow to sit for 5 days, agitating each day to incorporate. After 5 days, strain the liquid into clean, glass bottles with either a cork or screw top. For use: Pour tincture into small tincture bottles for service. Yield: approximately 75 ounces White Pepper Syrup 1 cup white peppercorn – cracked 1 dry, large saucepan 6 cups sugar 4.5 cups water Bring saucepan to med-high and add peppercorns. Toast lightly…do NOT overtoast or burn. Take off heat. Add sugar and water. Bring to boil, then reduce by 1/4. Be careful doing next step: Strain syrup through chinoise into clean container. Allow to cool then place in quart containers marked with the item’s name and date. Keep in fridge. Yield: approximately 30 oz. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Rachel Sergi on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Love, Marilyn and Silver Linings Playbook are opening the Hamptons International Film Festival followed by a slate that includes a number of premieres. As the festival gets into full swing, ML is featuring a snippet from the world premiere of Oscar-nominated Griffin Dunne’s The Discoverers . The film centers on washed-up history professor Lewis Birch (Dunne) who takes his begrudging teenage kids – Zoe (Madeleine Martin, Californication ) and Jack (Devon Graye, American Horror Story ) – on a road trip to a conference in hopes of putting his career back on track. But, when Lewis’s estranged father Stanley (Emmy Award-winning Stuart Margolin) goes AWOL on a Lewis and Clark historical reenactment trek, Lewis is forced to make a family detour. The Birch family find themselves on a journey of discovery and connection as they make their own passage west. Added log line: The Discoverers is a bittersweet comedy and moving debut feature from writer/director Justin Schwarz led by Dunne’s striking comeback performance. This engaging tale of family dysfunction and rediscovery also features a talented ensemble cast including David Rasche, ( In the Loop ), Dreama Walker ( Compliance ), Ann Dowd ( Compliance ), Cara Buono ( Mad Men ), Becky Ann Baker ( Girls ), Scott Adsit ( 30 Rock ), and John C. McGinley ( Scrubs ). Watch the video on YouTube
