Also in Wednesday evening’s round-up of news briefs, supernatural thriller Jinn is heading to theaters. The San Diego Film Festival sets slate. And Lydia Hearst joins a horror reboot. Ewan McGregor Joins August: Osage County McGregor will join Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in The Weinstein Company project. In the film directed by John Wells, McGregor will play Bill Fordham, the estranged husband of Barbara (Roberts) and son-in-law of pill popping matriarch Violet Weston (Streep). A college professor, he left his wife for one of his students, but wants to be there for his family. His marriage is disintegrating and his patience is slowly running thin. Supernatural Thriller Jinn Heads to Theaters Jinn involves ancient mythological creatures who have never been seen in U.S. cinemas before. The premise of the jinn concept, known to over 1 billion people around the world, involves supernatural entities and revolves around creation mythology: “In the beginning, three were created; man made of clay; angels made of light; and a third…made of fire. They are powerful due to their existence in a parallel world, and also because they have free will and can be both good and evil.” A release date will be slated in the coming weeks. San Diego Film Festival Sets Premiere Slate The Sapphires , The Oranges , Grassroots , Quartet and Seven Psychopaths are among the titles set to screen at the San Diego Film Festival, taking place September 26 – 30. The festival will screen 200 films with 11 world premieres on tap. Around the ‘net… 300 Gets Official Title from Warner Bros. The project was formerly known as 300: The Battle of Artemisia and will now be called 300: Rise of an Empire . The title is based on a Frank Miller graphic novel on Greek legend and is set to come out next August, Deadline reports . Lydia Hearst Joins Horror Prequel Cabin Fever: Patient Zero The model/actress and daughter of Patty Hearst has joined the horror reboot from movie outfit Indomina. “The story kicks off when a bachelor party cruise in the Caribbean unexpectedly runs ashore on a medical-research island and a deadly virus is unleashed,” THR reports .
Do Paul Thomas Anderson and The Weinstein Co. need to worry about the Church of Scientology ? Following the New York Post’s report of “strange calls” and mounting opposition among members of the organization to pseudo-Scientology pic/festival darling The Master , TWC confirmed to Movieline that the studio has increased security for tonight’s premiere at New York’s Ziegfield Theatre. The Master , which opens in limited release on Friday, stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a charismatic spiritual leader, a la Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, who launches a religious organization in the 1950s while his right hand man, a former soldier/drifter (Joaquin Phoenix), begins to question everything. The film’s ties to Scientology have been a focal point of the buzz around the film since even before Anderson shot it, but in interviews Anderson and Hoffman have downplayed suggestions that the film is a direct depiction of the church and its leader. Still, it’s not surprising that The Post claims efforts from within the organization are underway to battle The Master ‘s marketing campaign ahead of its September 14 release. Before getting an official title, The Master was pretty much known as “Paul Thomas Anderson’s Untitled Religious/Scientology Drama,” so the Scientology camp must have been preparing for its release for a long while. What makes the clash of interests more curious is the claim by a Post source that “strange calls” thought to be from Scientology members have been streaming into the distributor to the point that “some on the film’s team have hired extra security.” A studio source tells Movieline that security for tonight’s premiere has been beefed up as a result, though the nature of said calls and the Weinstein Co.’s exact security concerns are unknown. It should be interesting to see how the image-conscious Church of Scientology reacts to the film and its contents, and to what extent they might feel it necessary to combat The Master ‘s huge (and only getting huger by the day) buzz in the name of defending their own image. (Guess they can’t count on Sci-celeb Tom Cruise to be their public delegate, even if pal Anderson has screened the film for him.) The Master ‘s profile has been steadily ascending with cinephiles swooning in surprise screenings around the country and its recent Venice Film Festival wins , not to mention the added profile boost of having awards guru Harvey Weinstein (who has his own personal crazies to deal with) on its side. This is all shaping up to be a strange case of religion butting heads with the Oscars as awards season gets an early start. And while Scientology certainly has an weird, omnipresent, boogeyman-esque mystique in this town, I’d put my money on Weinstein emerging victorious. Read more on The Master . [ NYP ]
In the midst of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Manhattan, the fashion crowd broke from the daily grind of runway presentations on Saturday night to soak up the wisdom of one of their forebears at the New York premiere of Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel . Instead of looking forward to fashion’s future, the glam guests embarked on an evening of reflection at the Museum of Modern Art as the film — directed by the late fashion diva’s granddaughter-in-law Lisa Immordino Vreeland, Bent Jorgen-Perlmutt and Frederic Cheng — examined how Vreeland and her game-changing work at Harper’s Bazaar , Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute informed and transformed the rag trade. Comprised of rich archival footage and commentary contributed by friends, family and colleagues of the genuine fashion icon, the 86-minute documentary of Vreeland’s transformation from “ugly duckling” to, arguably, the most influential fashion arbiter of her time, proved to be a crowd pleaser. Thanks to Vreeland’s charisma — and chutzpah — and some excellent editing, The Eye Has to Travel is both inspiring and laugh-out-loud funny. Fashion editor and stylist Mary Alice Stephenson perhaps put it best, exclaiming of Vreeland, “She’s a badass.” Model Karlie Kloss said of the film, “I feel like I just got a serious history lesson.” After the packed screening, guests swanned over to the W magazine and Swarovski-sponsored post-premiere party at Monkey Bar where a waiter carrying a tray of canapes bumped into model with enough inertia to cause her to spill the martini she was sipping. (Her reaction? Gracious.) At the bar, 20-year-old actress Sami Gayle ( Detachment ) ordered a Sprite and asked the bartender: “Can I get a straw?” Charming. Eventually, most of the crowd settled into booths: actor Alan Cumming huddled with a group that included actress Christine Baranski ; fashion designer Erin Fetherston and her boyfriend Gabe Saporta of the band Cobra Starship. Actress Gina Gershon table-hopped before sitting down with W editor Stefano Tonchi, among others. With such a dense collection of fashionistas in one room, Movieline took the opportunity to ask some of the most stylish guests a single question: “If you could costume design any movie or adaptation of a movie, what would it be and why?” Here’s what they said: Karlie Kloss Karlie Kloss, model: “An Audrey Hepburn movie, for sure. I think that would have been amazing.” Tommy Hilfiger, fashion designer: “ The Great Gatsby . I love the era. I love the clothes. And wish I had been there.” Brooke Shields, actress: “At this point, I would to have liked to have done this movie! [Laughs] If I had the talent. If I had their aesthetic and their ability. I would love that.” Anja Rubik, model: “ Fifty Shades of Gray will be quite cool with all the sex items. So, I would pick that one. I think that that’s really fun.” Anja Rubik Christine Baranski, actress: “I’d probably like to do something like Portrait of a Lady . Something Edwardian. Downton Abby just can’t be beat. It can’t be beat.” Alan Cumming, actor: “I’m trying to think of something where I didn’t like the clothes so I could re-do it. I’ve got a movie coming out at the end of the year called Any Day Now . That one I would like to re-costume. [Laughs] No, it’s my wig I hated in that.” Sami Gayle, actress: “ Mean Girls . The people in that film had a great style to start with, but there are a lot of different personalities and you could work that into different aspects [of the film].” Robert Verdi, stylist: “The remake of Valley of the Dolls . It was a highly stylized movie and there was something laughable about it, because it was so extreme at the time. I understand the intersection of fashion and humor, so that’s the one I’d like to do. I’m the funny fashionista.” Erin Fetherston Natasha Bedingfield, singer-songwriter: “It would probably be about Native Americans, because I love the story, firstly, but I also love beading and native jewelry.” Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief, Vogue Italia : “Maybe the last one that Baz Luhrmann is doing, The Great Gatsby . It was a very elegant moment and the 1920s were the most elegant moment.” Erin Fetherston, fashion designer: “You know, I heard once, there were rumors of them remaking Belle de Jour . And that could be something that would be really amazing. I love that Parisian chic [aesthetic]. Late fifties, early sixties. It could be interesting to re-imagine that in a modern context.” Angela Lindvall, model: “ Alice in Wonderland . Just because I love fantasy.” Maria Cornejo, fashion designer: “My favorite movie of all time is Blade Runner . I would love to do Blade Runner .” Gina Gershon Gina Gershon, actress : “Probably The Wizard of Oz . It’s one of my favorite movies and there are so many fun people and creatures to design [for], you know?” Stefano Tonchi, editor-in-chief, W Magazine: “One of my favorite movies is Blade Runner , so I would like to do a sequel or something like that. Bring it into the next hundred years. It’s my favorite movie of all time. I think it’s really undervalued. Daryl Hannah in her see-through plastic raincoat is absolutely fantastic.” Nell Alk is an arts and entertainment writer and reporter based in New York City. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal , Manhattan Magazine, Z!NK Magazine and on InterviewMagazine.com, PaperMag.com and RollingStone.com, among others. Learn more about her here . Follow Nell Alk on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Also in Tuesday morning’s round-up of news briefs, the European Film Awards named 47 films to be considered for nomination for its December 1 ceremony. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sarah Polley ‘s latest Toronto title is headed to theaters. IFC Films picks up a thriller. And Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening ‘s comedy is also en route to a theater near you. European Film Awards Name 47 Films Including Toronto/Cannes Titles on Nominations List Cannes winner Amour , Rust and Bone and Ken Loach’s The Angel’s Share made the list of films that are on the list for European Film Awards nominations. 31 European countries have films along the 47. In the coming weeks, the 2,700 members of the European Film Academy will vote for the nominations in the different award categories. The nominations will then be announced on 3 November at the Seville European Film Festival in Spain. The 25th European Film Awards with the presentation of the winners – streamed live on www.europeanfilmawards.eu – will take place in Malta on 1 December. Toronto’s Stories We Tell Heads to Theaters Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell has been picked up by Roadside Attractions and plans an early 2013 release. In the doc, she assembles a montage of home movies, interviews, and narration to examine the repercussions of long-held family secrets that come to light. Breaking the Girls Heads to U.S. Theaters The Jamie Babbit thriller will have a limited theatrical release in the U.S. Starring Madeline Zima ( Californication and Agnes Bruckner ( Blood and Chocoate , the film is the story of a university student who, when slandered by a hostile classmate, is befriended by the manipulative Alex (Zima) who proposes the perfect, untraceable crime – to kill each other’s archenemies. When Alex actually goes through with it, Sara finds herself being framed for murder. Around the ‘net… Peter Facinelli Eyes Supernatural Horror Gallows Hill The Twilight saga star is set to join the cast in Gallows Hill , directed by Victor Garcia. The story follows an American (Facinelli), “widowed from his Colombia-born wife, who flies to Bogota with his new fiancée (Myles) to retrieve his rebellious teenage daughter Jill (Ramos). After a car accident leaves them stranded in a rundown isolated inn, they discover the old innkeeper has locked a young girl in the basement and their decision to set her free has unintended consequences,” THR reports . Imogene Heads to Theaters The dysfunctional comedy starring Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening has been picked up by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions in Toronto. In the film directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, Wiig plays a playwright who stages a fake suicide attempt in reaction to losing her job, getting evicted and getting dumped by her boyfriend, Deadline reports .
‘On the Road’ actor confirms to MTV News at TIFF that he was up for ‘Catching Fire’ before Sam Claflin joined cast. By Josh Wigler, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Garrett Hedlund at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images
This just made our stomachs churn a little bit. Director Nick Cassavetes, famed for his movies ‘The Notebook’ and ‘Alpha Dog’, just had a new film premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival . We can’t say it did well…or that any of us are adding it to our “Must See” list! …Cassavetes debuted his controversial new movie this weekend, but his comments in an interview with TheWrap may well out-shine the project itself. “Yellow” bowed at the Toronto International Film Festival. The movie revolves around Mary, the main character played by Cassavetes’ ex-wife Heather Wahlquist. Mary visits her brother in prison, and the two are, as The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman notes, engaged in a “love affair.” Here are Cassavetes’ thoughts on the plotline: “I have no experience with incest. We started thinking about that. We had heard a few stories where brothers and sisters were completely, absolutely in love with one another. You know what? This whole movie is about judgment, and lack of it, and doing what you want. Who gives a shit if people judge you? I’m not saying this is an absolute but in a way, if you’re not having kids – who gives a damn? Love who you want. Isn’t that what we say? Gay marriage – love who you want? If it’s your brother or sister it’s super-weird, but if you look at it, you’re not hurting anybody except every single person who freaks out because you’re in love with one another.” We’re all for love over here but that’s taking it to a whole other level. Source Images via WENN
In Monday’s round-up of news briefs, a quick look at weekend pick ups at the Toronto International Film Festival including The Place Beyond the Pines , Aftershock , Great Expectations and more that will head to a theater (hopefully) near you. Also Beasts Of The Southern Wild takes a top prize at the Deauville Film Festival in France. Focus Features Takes Toronto’s The Place Beyond the Pines The new drama starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes will be released in the U.S. via Focus Features. Directed by Derek Cianfrance ( Blue Valentine ). A World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film explores the consequences of motorcycle rider Luke (Mr. Gosling)’s fateful decision to commit a crime to support his child. The incident renders him targeted by policeman Avery (Mr. Cooper), and the two men become locked on a tense collision course which will have a devastating impact on both of their families in the years following. Toronto’s Great Expectations Heads to U.S. Theaters The Toronto Gala starring Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Jeremy Irvine, and Holliday Grainger, will head to theaters in North America via Outsource Media Group. Directed by Mike Newell, Great Expectations is a retelling of the classic and beloved Charles Dickens story of the young orphan Pip, who is given a chance to rise from his humble beginnings thanks to a mysterious benefactor. Moving through London’s class-ridden world as a gentleman, Pip uses his newfound position to pursue the beautiful Estella, a spoilt heiress he’s loved since childhood. Michel Gondry’s The We and the I Heads to N. American Theaters French director Michel Gondry’s Cannes Directors Fortnight opener The We and the I , which is having its N. American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, will open in theaters in the U.S. and Canada in early March. Distribution partners 108 Media and Paladin acquired the rights to the film that follows a group of Bronx high schoolers who board a city bus on their way home. With summer break ahead of them, and feeling more liberated than usual, this broad array of kids–the cool ones, the outsiders, and everyone in between–act out as only teenagers can and, in the course of one afternoon, their friendships, rivalries, ambitions, and anxieties are revealed. Strand Nabs In the Fog U.S. rights to Sergei Loznitsa’s In the Fog are headed to Strand Releasing. The film follows three men three men who find themselves deep in a forest during World War II and face a moral conflict. It received a FIPRESCI prize in Cannes. The film is currently playing Toronto. Leviathan Heads to Cinema Guild The doc by Lucien Castaing-Taylor will open theatrically in early 2013. The film takes a look at the commercial fishing business in the North Atlantic. It is having its North Americna premiere in Toronto and will have its U.S. debut at the upcoming New York Film Festival. Around the ‘net… Beasts of the Southern Wild, Una Noche Win Top Deauville Prizes Benh Zeitlin’s debut film won the Grand Prize at France’s Deauville Film Festival as well as the Cartier Revelation Award, while Lucy Mulloy’s “day in the life Cuban drama” took the Jury Prize. The International Critics Prize went to Michel Gondry’s The We and the I , THR reports . Dimension Scores Eli Roth’s Aftershock and Clown Dimension picked up rights to Aftershock , which is screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is an earthquake thriller scripted by Roth, Nicolas Lopez & Guillermo Amoedo. The label headed by Bob Weinstein also picked up rights to Eli Roth’s Clown , which is based on a fan-made trailer that grabbed Roth’s attention after it went viral, Deadline reports .
The one amazing thing about Christina Hendricks is that no matter what she’s wears there’s no hiding those massive sweater mounds. Here she is at the Toronto Film Festival proving that her breasts are definitely the 8th and 9th wonders of the world. I’d like to take a vacation and visit them.
New Zealand native Melanie Lynskey finds her way to the spotlight – at long last – playing a woman, stuck in a sadly hilarious vortex of post-divorce depression, who’s jolted out of her early mid-life ennui by an electrifying affair with a younger man ( GIRLS ’ Christopher Abbott) in Todd Luiso’s Hello I Must Be Going . It’s an extraordinary dual capacity for deeply-felt pathos and comedy that Lynskey possesses and showcases, often simultaneously, as Amy Minsky; for Lynskey, one of the most genuine actors in the game, it was the kind of role that’s come along all too infrequently in the nearly two decades since her assured debut at the age of 15 in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures . “It was kind of a dream that I would find a part that had so much for me to do, but it’s so rare,” Lynskey said over iced coffees in Los Angeles. Longtime devotees know her well from Heavenly Creatures , in which she and Kate Winslet played a pair of real-life teen murderesses, or from her supporting turns in films like Ever After , Detroit Rock City , and Coyote Ugly ; when we first met in Seattle a few months prior, a fan recognized her as Reese Witherspoon’s old classmate in Sweet Home Alabama (“Baby in a bar!”). But while she’s tasted mainstream success, the soft-spoken Lynskey, whose wicked sense of humor complements her humility (she’s truly one of the most grounded actors around, as evidenced by her Twitter musings ), seems far more at home in the creatively-fulfilling climes of independent film. Three years into her tenure as the daffy, delightful Rose on Two and a Half Men , she asked to be let out of her contract so she could make films while coming back as-needed in a recurring role. In the time since, she’s turned in some of her best, most acclaimed work in potent supporting turns like Away We Go , Up In The Air , The Informant , and Win Win . “The show was so successful and I could see a crossroads,” she explained. “It was like, this way you’ll be a millionaire and one of the people on this show, and this way you’re not going to make a lot of money but you’re going to be able to build something that’s a little more interesting.” In Hello I Must Be Going that choice paid off not just with her first starring role, it also prompted Lynskey to examine her own journey in contrast to Amy’s vulnerable emotional life. “You come home and everything looks beautiful. It gave me a real appreciation for happiness, and for my friends, for interests that I have, and the fact that I do have a life that I really love.” Below, dive in as Melanie Lynskey takes us into her work on Hello I Must Be Going , her reaction to male critics who’ve criticized Amy’s physicality, lessons learned on the set of Heavenly Creatures , her experience on – and pulling away from – Two and a Half Men , her favorite film critics, David Wain’s upcoming They Came Together , and the theme songs she uses to get into character. One of the great things about Hello I Must Be Going is that audiences get to see you front and center – they know your work, we’ve seen you do comedy and drama, but this is a vehicle that allows you to combine those talents. Were you looking for something of this more intimate scale, or these particular chords to play? It was kind of a dream that I would find a part that had so much for me to do, but it’s so rare. We made this movie for no money, but even those tiny, tiny movies – movie stars are doing them, famous people. So much of the stuff that Michelle Williams does – can you imagine doing Wendy & Lucy ? What a dream! Or Blue Valentine ? She’s so amazing. But what a great thing to get to create something like that. It seems performers do have to turn to the independent world to find projects like that. How did they find you for this film? Yeah, I think so. I just got asked – I was in Toronto and my agent was like, do you want to come do this reading for the Sundance Institute? They were doing a staged reading of it in front of a little audience. I read the script and said, “Yes – I will fly myself back!” I loved it so much. At the time I thought I’d just be doing the reading, I didn’t anticipate having a future with it. Who was at the initial staged reading? There were not a lot of the same actors. Dane DeHaan read Chris Abbott’s part, and he was wonderful. There were a lot of good actors in it. It was fun. We worked on it for a day and Todd [Luiso] directed it. It just went really great, the energy was really wonderful. After that reading they said, “We want to make it with you,” and at the time with Dane, and then they tried to get money that way – but they realized they had to ask for less and less money with me in it. [Laughs] Eventually they got some money and stuck with me and I’m so grateful. Your character is stuck in a post-divorce depression but there’s a real humorous undercurrent to her, and so much of that is expressed in your face – in your expressions, your reactions to these oblivious people around you. There’s a tone to the script where you can just tell how Amy is feeling, and it was written from her perspective. There weren’t many reaction cues in the script but Sarah [Koskoff] and are really similar, the writer and I, so that was good – we have a similar take on things and were both excited that we wanted to do the same thing with it. Chris balances the film opposite you – there’s a quality to his eyes that makes you feel you’re peering into his soul, just looking at him. That’s such a perfect way to put it. It’s so true. There’s something about him that’s open and accessible but still mysterious; he has a really interesting quality, and his performance is so spontaneous. It feels off the cuff. He’s such a great person, a sweet, sweet person. Kind and lovely – I got so lucky with him. He seems like he’s always perceiving the world around him. He is, and he’s not judging. It’s nice. There’s a nice quality to him where he’s sort of scoping people out and watching people but he’s not too cool for school, even though he’s very cool. [Laughs] It was funny when I started watching GIRLS – I was like, Oh my god, he’s playing such a goofball! It’s so different from him. Was there much time to get to know him before you started shooting? No. It was crazy, because the other actor was going to do the movie and the casting process was kind of quick after he had to drop out. I remember Todd saying to me one day, “Do you want to watch this audition tape? I keep thinking about this one person…” and when he showed me Chris’s audition tape I started crying. I cried with relief, mostly, like, “Oh thank God they have somebody good!” I was so afraid! That’s a good point – there are so many elements up in the air in the making of a movie. And the age difference between the characters – she’s 35, he’s 19 – sort of requires two performers who can meet in the middle . It was important to me that it wasn’t all about the age difference in a creepy way, and Chris has a maturity to him which I think is important. The characters are at such similar points in their lives; “Who am I, and what am I going to do with the rest of my life?” So I didn’t want it to be sketchy. They cast Chris and I was in Connecticut working with Todd and Sarah and we sort of just awkwardly met each other. He had to leave to go shoot something and they were like, “He’s cute, right? Did you like him?” It was like a weird set-up. “He’s tall!” This was a really quick shoot, which means that you get what you get while you’re there. It’s always interesting to me to just kind of go along for the ride. Sometimes you come across somebody with whom your ideas don’t mesh and it’s an unfortunate kind of clash, but that doesn’t happen very often. What I like seeing is what somebody wants. Every experience is so different, but you never know until you start. Actors often say the gratifying part of the process is the work they do on set, within scenes. Do you feel that way, and to what extent did this particular shoot do that? It’s interesting. It was somewhat of a transition period for me, even though I wasn’t aware of it at the time. It’s interesting to play a character who’s asking, “What does the rest of my life hold for me? I’ve made these choices and I sort of thought everything was going to go one way, and what would happen if it all got turned upside down?” It was interesting to put yourself in that space of having nothing and feeling nothing and just not knowing what was going to come at all. In a lot of those scenes, the toughest stuff for me in those scenes is where she’s very depressed, because it’s just so horrible to sit in that, you know? But it’s hopeful. It’s an interesting thing as a person to spend a day where you’re just letting yourself feel awful. You come home and everything looks beautiful. It gave me a real appreciation for happiness, and for my friends, and for interests that I have and the fact that I do have a life that I really love. It’s good that you are able to pull yourself from that darkness. Not everybody has that, and it seems like one of the tougher aspects of being an actor. I was kind of trained to do that on Heavenly Creatures . It was pretty crazy. They were so worried about taking this 15-year-old who’s never done a movie before and being like, “Hey, cry all day and go crazy and see you tomorrow!” They were so concerned about me losing my mind, so there was a whole process at the end of the day of getting rid of everything. The woman who played my mother was kind of my acting teacher – she was helping me with technique and stuff, and she would brush me off and brush the emotion away. It was really great, and it was a good lesson to learn. You don’t need to take it home with you, and it’s better if you don’t. You were 15 when you made that film – at what point did you realize Heavenly Creatures was the real beginning of a career, that it would launch you into the world? It’s funny, because it doesn’t feel like it did. [Laughs] There was a point when I realized it was not going to. But it was a start. I think when I got an agent in America and I was like, “Oh my god, people really saw this movie.” But the progression was so slow, there was no kind of – here are movies, and here’s other opportunities! It was just like, “Nice job.” I mean, I went to the Venice Film Festival – that was incredible, that was crazy. I had so many surreal moments. Yesterday I was at high school studying for my English exam, and today I’m having lunch with Uma Thurman and Harvey Weinstein. And Quentin Tarantino, talking and talking. It was amazing. Heavenly Creatures is a fascinating film to look at now, just to revisit this point when three careers – yours, Kate Winslet, and Peter Jackson, whose films to that point had been very different – sprang and took off. It’s so amazing. It’s absolutely no surprise to me that Peter has done what he’s done and Kate has done what she’s done. But it was kind of a crazy thing to be a high school student and do this movie with people who had such a fire in them. How did your classmates react to the film? Some people were nice. I had friends who were like, “The movie was really beautiful,” but then most people were like, “I could see your tits.” [Laughs] I was like, yep, you could. “You kissed a girl!” I did. But that was fine. It was just a little alienating.
Paul Thomas Anderson ‘s The Master was set to receive the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter ‘s inside source, until a decision to allow only two major awards per film forced jury members to re-assign the top honor to another contender. When the awards were doled out earlier today by Venice jury president Michael Mann, the best picture prize went to Kim Ki-Duk’s ultraviolent mother-son flick Pieta while Best Director went to Anderson. (Full list of winners follows.) Per THR : “Apparently during the jury’s first deliberations, members decided to give The Master — a drama loosely based on the origins of Scientology — the top prize, as well as the Silver Lion directing award to Anderson and the acting award jointly to co-stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman.” UPDATED: Asked to redeliberate, the jury instead gave the Golden Lion to Pieta , leaving The Master with a joint Best Actor prize shared by stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, along with the Silver Lion (Best Director) for Anderson. The Master had been hotly tipped for The Golden Lion, backed by a groundswell of critical praise ahead of its September 21 theatrical release. Full list of Venice Film Festival winners announced today, via Indiewire / Venice Film Festival : Golden Lion (Best Picture) Pieta , Kim-Ki Duk Silver Lion (Best Director) Paul Thomas Anderson – “The Master” Volpi Cup – Best Actor Joaquin Phoenix & Philip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master” Volpi Cup – Best Actress Hadas Yaron – “Fill The Void” Special Jury Award Ulrich Seidl – Paradise: Faith Mastroianni Award – Best Young Actor Fabrizio Falcone – “Dormant Beauty,” “It Was The Son” Best Screenplay Olivier Assayas – “Something In The Air” Technical Achievement Daniele Cipri – “Il Stato E Figlio,” Luigi De Laurentiis Award (Best First Feature) “Kuf: Mold,” Ali Aydin Orrizonti: Best Feature “Three Sisters,” Wang Bing Orrizonti: Jury Prize “Tango Libre,” Frederic Fonteyne FIPRESCI Award (Competition) “The Master,” Paul Thomas Anderson FIPRESCI Award (Orizzonti/Critics’ Week) “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Constanzo SIGNIS Award “To the Wonder,” Terrence Malick SIGNIS Award (Special Mention) “Fill the Void,” Rama Burshtein Audience Award (Critics’ Week) “Eat Sleep Die,” Gabriela Pilcher Label Europa Cinemas Award “Crawl,” Herve Lasgouttes Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award “Pieta,” Kim Ki-duk Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award (Cinema for UNICEF mention) “It Was the Son,” Daniele Cipri Pasinetti Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Constanzo Pasinetti Award (Documentary) “The Human Cargo,” Daniele Vicari Pasinetti Award (Best Actor) Valerio Mastandrea, “Gli Equilibristi” Pasinetti Award (Special) “Clarisse,” Liliana Cavani Brian Award “Dormant Beauty,” Marco Bellocchio Queer Lion Award “The Weight,” Jeon Kyu-Hwan Arca CinemaGiovani Award (Best Film of Venezia 69) “The Fifth Season,” Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth Arca CinemaGiovani Award (Best Italian Film) “The Ideal City,” Luigi Lo Casco Biografilm Lancia Award “The Human Cargo,” Daniele Vicari; “Bad 25,” Spike Lee CICT-UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Costanzo CICAE Award “Wadjda,” Haifaa Al Mansour CinemaAvvenire Award (Best Film of Venezia 69) “Paradise: Faith,” Ulrich Seidl CinemAvvenire Award (Diversity) “Wadjda,” Haifaa Al Mansour FEDIC Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Costanzo FEDIC Award (Special Mention) “Bellas Mariposas,” Salvatore Mereu Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award “Something in the Air,” Olivier Assayas Future Film Festival Digital Award “Bad 25,” Spike Lee Future Film Festival Digital Award (Special Mention) “Spring Breakers,” Harmony Korine P. Nazareno Taddei Award “Pieta,” Kim Ki-duk P. Nazareno Taddei Award (Special Mention) “Thy Womb,” Brillante Mendoza Magic Lantern Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Costanzo Open Award “The Company You Keep,” Robert Redford La Navicella-Venezia Cinema Award “Thy Womb,” Brillante Mendoza Lina Mangiacapre Award “Queen of Montreuil,” Solveig Anspach AIF-FORFILMFEST Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Costanzo Mouse d’Oro Award “Pieta,” Kim Ki-duk Mouse d’Argento Award “Anton’s Right Here,” Lyubov Arkus UK-Italy Creative Industries Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Costanzo Gillo Pontecorvo-Arcobaleno Latino Award Laura Delli Colli Christopher D. Smithers Foundation Award “Low Tide,” Roberto Minervini Interfilm Award “Wadjda,” Haifaa Al Mansour Giovani Giurati del Vittorio Veneto Film Festival Award “The Company You Keep,” Robert Redford Giovani Giurati del Vittorio Veneto Film Festival Award (Special Mention) Toni Servillo Primio Cinematografico Award “Terramatta,” Costanza Quatriglio Green Drop Award “The Fifth Season,” Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth
