Also in Friday morning’s round-up of news briefs, filmmaker Michael Cimino is set to receive Venice Film Festival honors. Heather Graham will return to The Hangover , while Yancy Butler heads back to one of her former characters. And an Ohio man faces charges for brining a cache of weapons into a theater during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises . Michael Cimino to Receive Venice Honors The American writer/director/producer will be feted with the Venice Film Festival’s Persol 2012 Award, which recognizes a “legend of international filmmaking.” He will be presented with the award at a ceremony August 30th, followed by a screening of Cimino’s 1980 film, Heaven’s Gate . Around the ‘net… Willy Wonka Director Mel Stuart Dies at 83 His family said Mr. Stuart died at his Beverly Hills home after battling cancer. He began his career mainly directing documentaries. the 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was Stuart’s second feature film. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1965 for his documentary, Four Days in November , about the assassination of John F Kennedy, BBC reports . Bourne Legacy Poised to Seize U.S. Box Office The Jeremy Renner starter is trending toward a $35 million weekend opening, enough to eclipse The Dark Knight Rises and outpace two other wide-release openers, Hope Springs and The Campaign , Reuters and The Wrap report . Heather Graham Heads Back to The Hangover Graham will return to her role as the stripper named Jade in The Hangover III from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. The pic will shoot this fall and brings back Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms – plus brings back Ken Jeong. Graham was absent from the franchise’s second installment, THR reports . Yancy Butler to Return to Kick-Ass 2 Butler will return to her role as the mother of Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s character, the villainous Red Mist. Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz are reprising their roles of Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Walls , THR reports . Man Faces Weapons Charges in TDKR Theater Incident Scott A. Smith, 37, is due in court Friday on two counts of carrying a concealed weapon and 19 counts related to carrying weapons “under disability.” He allegedly sat in the back of the theater with a bag that contained 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, two loaded magazine clips and three knives. Another knife was found on his person, CNN reports .
Sibling rivalry in pre-war Central California, the American dream, and… dick jokes ? John Steinbeck’s dusty, angsty 1952 opus East of Eden is a staple tome known to every Lit major on earth, but the tale of two brothers caught up in family dramarama hasn’t been told quite like it is in Victor Quinaz’s new short film (exec produced by Zachary Quinto ), premiering today at the Hollyshorts Film Fest. Buoyed by the surprisingly swaggerific comic timing of Gossip Girl ‘s Penn Badgley as the mercurial bean-farming bro Caleb Trask, this is East of Eden like you’ve never seen it before. Quinaz’s East of Eden , part of the web series Periods (created by Quinaz and Anna Martemucci), breathes LOLs into Steinbeck’s heavy 20th century saga with a wink, giving Badgley a fantastic forum to flex his comic chops. Also pretty hilarious: Philip Quinaz as the gentle Aron Trask and Brian Shoaf as pop Adam, the ultimate disapproving dad. (That’s Martemucci as the boys’ whore mother and Periods regular Alison Fyhrie as Abra.) Watch the exclusive online debut below: The short premieres today at Grauman’s Chinese in Los Angeles on opening night of the annual HollyShorts Film Festival , which screens over 300 short-form films between today’s kick-off and next Thursday (August 9-16). East of Eden is just one of a collection of Periods shorts premiering at the fest, including the Quinto-starrer Before After . (Quinto executive produces the series via his Before the Door Pictures banner.) If you like what you see here, there’s more good news: Details on PERIODS. Films’ first feature film are set to be unveiled at tonight’s screening debut. Get info on the HollyShorts lineup here , and check out the Periods. website for more from Quinto, Quinaz and Co. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
A long time ago in a culture far removed from this one — 1987 to be exact — cinematic satirist Mel Brooks took on box-office game changer George Lucas’ Star Wars franchise and didn’t end up in the Hollywood equivalent of a Sarlacc Pit. Substituting the Schwartz for the Force, Yogurt for Yoda and Pizza The Hutt for Jabba, Brooks gave us Spaceballs and made us laugh harder (intentionally) than Jar Jar Binks ever did. To celebrate the movie’s 25th anniversary, Sony has released a commemorative Blu-Ray edition that mostly does justice to this comedy gem. The Film: Spaceballs (1987) Why It’s An Inessential Essential: Although Life Stinks (1991) was Mel Brooks’ last sturdy feature, the often gut-bustingly funny Spaceballs was his last really inspired comedy. Like many of Brooks’ earlier films, Spaceballs spoofs generic and genre cliches. In this case, the director aimed his blaster at science fiction and fantasy films, Star Wars in particular. Viewed 25 years after its theatrical release, Spaceballs suffers from lopsided structure and occasional laziness, but the movie repeatedly breaks down the fourth wall with such zeal and absurd charm that it’s impossible to resist. (It’s worth noting that the movie was released during the heyday of the Bruce Willis/Cybill Shepherd ABC comedy series Moonlighting , which was heralded for doing the same.) A large part of the movie’s giddy appeal is its game cast, led by SCTV Jedi the late John Candy and Rick Moranis. Candy plays the Wookiee-like Barf and Moranis is particularly hilarious as the clutzy, over-compensating Darth Vader spoof, Dark Helmet — a puny man topped by enormous circumcised headgear. As ringmaster of this circus, Brooks (who also appears in the movie as both President Skroob and Yogurt) is at a point in his career where he’s starting to toss things against the wall out of sheer desperation. And because he’s working with talented comedians and co-writers, most of what he throws sticks. The move is a collection of blisteringly strange and funny sketches, such as the one where Helmet fantasizes about seducing Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) while playing with a set of action figures that includes an even tinier facsimile of himself and the Druish princess. Brooks’ wise-ass, Brecht-by-way-of-Vaudeville sensibility is at the core of the movie’s cantankerous, Yiddish sensibility, and though some of the yucks feel a tad musty, the movie is never tedious. Riffs on cash-in sequels, “Moichandizing” and “turning off the movie” demonstrate that, at that point in his career, Brooks’ cultural comedy mojo was still working. Indeed, Spaceballs doesn’t just hold up as a laugh riot. It’s still highly quotable right down to the characters’ names. (Yogurt! Pizza The Hutt!). “May the Schwartz be with you” still provokes laughter after all these years, as does Barf’s “Funny, she doesn’t look Druish” comment about Princess Vespa. And when the Spaceballs and Dark Helmet land on the Planet of the Apes, one of its denizens grouses; “Oh shit, there goes the planet.” How the Blu-Ray Edition Makes the Case for the Film: The best special features on Sony’s25th anniversary release are the least serious ones. New interviews with a doddering and-haughty Brooks don’t contribute much. (“We were looking for a new genre to destroy,” he exclaims at one point). Much more satisfying is a very funny list of continuity errors in the film, including, a scene in which Dot Matrix (Joan Rivers playing a droid even bitchier than Anthony Daniels’ C-3P0) appears to stop leaving a trail behind her in one desert scene. The film’s gag audio commentary tracks are also suitably ridiculous. One is in “Mawgese,” presumably the native language of Barf, another, in “Dinkese,” the mother tongue of the Jawa-esque Dink Dinks. Unfortunately, the Blu-Ray edition does not markedly improve the picture quality that was found on the 2005 DVD release of Spaceballs . There are still notable visual blemishes, including artifacts that resulted from poor video compression. Still, the dual Blu-Ray/DVD package is worth buying if only because the menus included on the new DVD release are more interactive and the features they include are more impressive than the last time around. Other Trivia: The new 25th anniversary Spaceballs Blu-Ray is loaded with new special features. If you’re a dedicated Mel Brooks fan — even one who lost faith or interest after Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Dracula: Dead and Loving It — you’ll probably get a big kick out of the jokey introduction he recorded to the film’s original trailer. Brooks’ audio commentary track is also worthy, even if he is more than a little full of himself after the wild (and not entirely deserved) multi-platform success of The Producers . Compared to the meager 2005 DVD release, which came with a making-of featurette and a skimpy souvenir booklet, Sony’s 25th anniversary Blu-Ray release is a much more comprehensive presentation of the film. Simon Abrams is a NY-based freelance film critic whose work has appeared in The Village Voice, Time Out New York , Vulture and Esquire . Additionally, some people like his writing, which he collects a t Extended Cut . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Filmmaker and actress Julie Delpy won accolades at the Berlin International Film Festival back in 2007 with her hilarious 2 Days In Paris , in which she starred opposite Adam Goldberg as a couple who stop off in Paris for a short visit, staying with her parents en route back to the U.S. Delpy, who wrote and directed the feature that did solid numbers in release jiggered the formula for a sequel, 2 Days In New York , which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January. This time, she stars opposite Chris Rock , and similarly to Paris her family factors into the dialog-heavy plot that’s riddled with eccentricity, social commentary and crazy mishaps. In the film, Delpy’s character Marion is now living with her boyfriend Mingus (Chris Rock) in a New York apartment with their cat and two children from their previous relationships. Marion’s father (played by her real-life dad, Albert Delpy), her sister and her over the top boyfriend suddenly decide to pay a visit from France, unleashing another 48 hours of family drama. Similarly to 2 Days In Paris , Marion’s family is sometimes unnervingly open in their discussions about sexuality and other topics most would consider crosses social boundaries. The French-American cultural disconnect only amplifies the gulf and the result is laugh out loud funny. Julie Delpy and Chris Rock chatted with ML about the film at Sundance. Initially Rock was about to leave, but sat down for a few minutes before heading out of Park City. Delpy, who first acted in none other than French-Swiss maestro Jean-Luc Godard’s Détective in 1985 and has since gone on to do many roles including Before Sunset , has since taken on the director’s hat herself and is a steadfast filmmaking convert. She talks about making films outside the studio system, though she said she’d like to try it sometime and would consider it another welcome challenge. In fact, she would like to try almost everything – almost… Similarly to 2 Days In Paris , you pulled together financing through Europe, can a dialog-driven film exist within Hollywood or is this the only way to put together a film like your latest, 2 Days In New York ? Julie Delpy: I never even thought of going to a studio. It’s just the way I do things. I put the financing together through a European financing system and it’s not easy – it’s a struggle. It might be easier in a way to go to a studio Chris Rock: I think it depends on who you are as a filmmaker. JD: I’m sure if it was through a studio, I wouldn’t be able to do this film exactly the way it is. Though I’m not really sure because I’ve never really been approached by a studio. I’m not sure if they know who I am or know I’m a filmmaker. They don’t even know I’m an actress – trust me [laughs]. CR: I think it depends on who you are as a filmmaker determines how much control you will have and, you know, if you want more control, you’re better off not going through a studio, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. JD: Some things in this movie may not have been their whole thing. They may have wanted a different ending, though honestly, I don’t know what they would want because I haven’t worked with them. For me, I just do it in the way I know how. How did you both come together for this project? CR: I saw 2 Days in Paris and I Loo-oooved 2 Days in Paris . JD: I’d seen his work and have always loved his work. I met him briefly once and he stuck in my mind. The minute I thought of doing a sequel to 2 Days in Paris , I knew I was going to be in a relationship with Mingus who is going to be Chris Rock, so he just came to my mind How has this contrasted with your most recent work Chris? CR: It’s fun, but the French thing – you have to get used to the fact you don’t understand what people around you are saying, but other than that it wasn’t much different than any other movie. I found working with the star and director was easy because you’re always talking to the boss. It’s harder when you’re talking to different people about different things. Because normally when you’re doing a movie, the star is kind-of half-way the director anyway… If the star doesn’t like what’s happening, you’re going to do what the star wants 90% of the time anyway. I hope I get to work with more star-directors… I read that when you were writing this story, you said you wanted to build on “real ground,” what did you mean by that? JD: I spent a lot of time with [Krzysztof] Kieslowski after we did White (1994) talking about movies and writing and everything. He’d tell me that I’m such a movie buff and I was obsessed. He’d tell me, ‘I haven’t seen this, or I haven’t seen that,’ and I’d say, ‘what have you seen?’ and he’d tell me, ‘real life.’ And that stuck with me. What can be more true than take some truth and build something from that. Obsession with death for instance – so something like that – and build from there into a story. 2 Days in New York is grounded in reality. There’s a couple with kids re-constructed and brought together… [ Chris Rock is pulled out of the room at this point and they say their good byes ] [ Continuing ]: I like to base my stories on simple things. It could have been a drama, but I love comedy so that’s what I did. But for this, I like to incorporate things that I know. So in it, I talk about my mother’s death. She actually passed away three years ago. She was in 2 Days in Paris and she was a wonderful actress. So she couldn’t be in this film obviously, so I had to find a way to talk about it… Your father is in this film as he was, of course, in 2 Days in Paris. Are his antics in the film similar to how he is in real-life? Yeah he’s very crazy. He’s very funny and very light, but also a very profound person. He’s not a superficial person at all. He’s fun and he likes to laugh and loves life, but he also has profound problems. He’s not happy all the time, but if we’re at a festival and the film’s playing well then we’re all happy. For me it was great to write parts for my parents in the first film and in this film for my father. It’s wonderful to be able to do that. They gave me so much by exposing me to film. My father gave me directing education through his past direction of plays. They gave me so much, so I’m glad I could give back a little bit. He keys a Hummer in this film in one memorable NYC street scene, and I was thinking it’s his almost child-like rebellious way of perhaps lashing out about global warming… Yeah exactly, that is a stand on global warming. Is he like that in real life? No, but my dad hates cars. They’re all over the place in Paris and they park on sidewalks and have no respect. As he ever keyed a car? No, but he’s joked about it for years so I let him have his fantasy in the film. I mean, I hate cars too. I live in L.A. so of course I have a car, but it’s the only real way we have for transport. But we’re polluting every moment of the day and we’ll pay for it. We’ll be gone [some day]… But Earth will be ok, but it’ll shake us out. So what do you think about Sequels? What about a 2 Days in L.A. or 2 Days in Tokyo ? I think the franchise is going to stop there. I’m not a James Bond kind of girl. I think it stops here at 2 Days in New York . But I’d certainly like to direct more films and will if given the opportunity to do it…I have a lot of friends who are directors and they call me to ask if I’d like to be in them – people like Richard Linklater etc. or maybe not someone who’s my friend but just someone I really like, but I think my first desire is filmmaking. What other kinds of stories do you want to do? Everything. Just everything from sci-fi to dramas – but maybe not sports movies. It’s not that I don’t like sports movies, but it’s just that I don’t get it. I don’t really understand sports, but everything else I’d like to do. I’d like to do a thriller, though I don’t know if I’d be good at it, but I’d like to try it. Maybe it’s pretentious and I’m crazy and all that, but I think I will do a thriller one day. It’s such a struggle to make movies. With this movie, we stopped two weeks before we started shooting and the film fell apart and then we put it all back together and then four weeks into the shoot we stopped. It was really, really hard. Was it harder than 2 Days in Paris ? In a way it was. There was more money involved with shooting in New York. I thought Paris would be more expensive. No, Paris is much less expensive. New York is… I think $3 million went into trucks, so I mean it’s really expensive. I mean like basically it’s very very expensive. And it’s fine if you have the money, and we had the money, but when the money fell apart at the last minute, it was just drama. It was the most painful experience to think you’re about to shoot and then everything just stops. Would you consider going a different route when tackling some of the other stories and genres you’re interested in doing down the line – maybe even the studios? I think I would do it if given the opportunity. But I’m also interested in working within limitations. I have limitations with my films which is typically major financial limitations, but having a studio tell you what to do would be a limitation too, but it would be manageable. I think the only thing that’s not manageable is death. People dying or people who are sick is not manageable. Everything else is nothing. You know I consider in life, people in movies lose perspective because it becomes so important… I’m not like that. It’s life, there are people dying around you, there’s craziness – that’s serious. A studio telling me what to do, that’s manageable. That’s just a boss telling you what to do and that’s fine, I’ll do my best within my limitation… So if that opportunity came along, then you’d do it? Yes, it’s almost fun to me, it would be a fun thing to do.
The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled its Canadian lineup Wednesday, including new work from Sarah Polley , Bruce Sweeney, Xavier Dolan, Michael McGowan and Bernard Émond. Today’s 19 titles will screen in the September festival’s various sections. The lineup also spotlights first-time feature work from Jason Buxton, Brandon Cronenberg, Igor Drljaca and Kate Melville. “Through comedy, thrills, drama and suspense, films in the lineup present stories of youth and violence, coming of age, the environment, dysfunctional families, sex and celebrity,” said Steve Gravestock, Senior Programmer, TIFF. “From intimate, affecting stories with big impact to films with global scope, the Canadian films in this year’s Festival will move audiences.” Toronto’s Canadian lineup with descriptions provided by TIFF : Special Presentations : Antiviral by Brandon Cronenberg, Canada/USA North American Premiere Syd March is an employee at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to obsessed fans. When he becomes infected with the disease that plagues superstar Hannah Geist, he must unravel the mystery surrounding her before he suffers the same fate. Starring Caleb Landry Jones and Sarah Gadon. Inch’Allah by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, Canada World Premiere Chloe is a young Canadian obstetrician working in a makeshift clinic within a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank where she treats pregnant women under the supervision of Michael, a French doctor. Facing daily checkpoints and the separation barrier, Chloe is confronted with the conflict and the people it affects. Her encounter with the war draws Chloe into an adventure that’s both deeply personal and as large as the land. From the producing team behind Academy Award®-nominated Monsieur Lazhar and Incendies. Laurence Anyways by Xavier Dolan, Canada Toronto Premiere In the 1990s, Laurence tells his girlfriend Fred that he wants to become a woman. In spite of the odds — and in spite of each other — they confront the prejudices of their friends, ignore the counsel of their families, and brave the phobias of the society they offend. For ten years, they try to live through this transition, and embark on an epic journey which, unbeknownst to them, may cost Fred and Laurence their love. Starring Suzanne Clément and Melvil Poupaud. Liverpool by Manon Briand, Canada Toronto Premiere A coat check attendant in a bar decides to take an unclaimed coat back to its owner, but soon finds herself in the middle of criminal intrigue. A regular of the bar has long harboured a secret love for the attendant — enough to put his life on the line to help her. Starring Stéphanie Lapointe, Charles-Alexandre Dubé and Louis Morissette. Rebelle by Kim Nguyen, Canada Toronto Premiere Komona, a 14-year-old girl, tells her unborn child the story of how she became a child soldier. A tale set in Sub-Saharan Africa, Rebelle is also a love story between two young souls caught in a violent yet beautiful and magical world. Starring Rachel Mwanza (winner of Silver Bear for best actress at Berlin International Film Festival), Alain Bastien and Serge Kanyinda. Still by Michael McGowan, Canada World Premiere Based on true events and boasting a veteran cast, Still is a heartfelt story about an 89-year-old New Brunswicker (James Cromwell) who faces jail time when the government tries to stop him from building a more suitable house for his wife (Geneviève Bujold), whose health is beginning to fade. Stories We Tell by Sarah Polley, Canada North American Premiere In this inspired, genre-twisting film, Academy Award-nominated writer/director Sarah Polley discovers that the truth depends on who’s telling it. Polley is both filmmaker and detective as she investigates the secrets behind a family of storytellers. She playfully interrogates a cast of characters of varying reliability, eliciting refreshingly candid, yet mostly contradictory, answers to the same questions. As each relates their version of the family mythology, present-day recollections shift into nostalgia-tinged glimpses of a lively, fun-loving past and the shadows just beneath. Polley unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: a messy, intense and loving tangle of contradictions. Discovery : Blackbird by Jason Buxton, Canada World Premiere An alienated teenager’s online threat ignites fear in a small community, in this disturbing and perceptive look at how our media-fuelled, post-Columbine culture can transform typical teen angst into intimations of murder. Krivina by Igor Drljaca, Canada World Premiere Miro, an immigrant from the former Yugoslavia, lives in Toronto. He has a hard time relating to others and he never stays in one place for too long. When he finds out that his pre-war friend Dado, who has been missing for almost two decades, is now wanted for war-era crimes, his life starts to unravel. Upon hearing that Dado still visits Zljebovi, a village on the outskirts of Sarajevo, Miro embarks on a trip to Bosnia to find his friend. Picture Day by Kate Mellville, Canada World Premiere Forced to repeat Grade 12, Claire’s reputation is sliding from bad-ass to bad joke. At night, she escapes to would-be rock star Jim (aged 33), while at school, she bonds with Henry, a nerdy freshman she used to babysit. Eventually, Claire learns the difference between sex, intimacy and friendship. Tower by Kazik Radwanski, Canada North American Premiere Kazik Radwinski’s debut feature Tower is about a single and career-less man who lives at home with his parents in Toronto. He wanders alone in search of companionship and suddenly finds himself in an intimate relationship. Irritated by a raccoon that tears up his garbage, he sets out to catch it. Contemporary World Cinema : Camion by Rafaël Ouellet, Canada Toronto Premiere After being involved in a road accident causing the death of a woman, truck driver Germain’s world collapses as he feels an overwhelming sense of guilt and remorse. His state of mind starts to worry his younger son Samuel, who puts his own janitor job in Montreal on hold to track down his older brother, drifter Alain, in New Brunswick, hoping to head back together to their hometown to give some support to their father. The Crimes of Mike Recket by Bruce Sweeney, Canada World Premiere Bruce Sweeney (Last Wedding) returns to the Festival with this neo-noir police procedural — set against the backdrop of economic hard times — about a failed real estate agent (Nicholas Lea) whose recent attempt to turn things around makes him a suspect in a criminal investigation. Home Again by Sudz Sutherland, Canada World Premiere Home Again is about three adults raised “foreign” (in the USA, United Kingdom and Canada) from childhood and deported back to their birth country, Jamaica. Back “home” each discovers a different Jamaica from the paradise in vacation ads. We follow these three deportees on a journey for survival that surprisingly is filled with hope. My Awkward Sexual Adventure by Sean Garrity, Canada World Premiere To win back his unsatisfied ex-girlfriend, conservative accountant Jordan Abrams enlists the help of Julia — an uninhibited exotic dancer — to guide him on a quest for sexual experience, leading him into a world of strip clubs, sensual massage parlours, cross-dressing and S & M. The Lesser Blessed by Anita Doron, Canada World Premiere The Lesser Blessed is a powerful coming-of-age story about Larry, a Native teenager balancing his romantic heart with a dark past that threatens to unravel his life. Vanguard : I Declare War by Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson, Canada World Premiere A group of friends play an innocent game of capture the flag in the neighbourhood woods, arming themselves with nothing more than sticks, their imagination and a simple set of rules. One afternoon, the game takes on a more serious tone and the quest for victory pushes the boundaries of friendship, giving the would-be warriors a glimpse of the darker side of human nature. Masters : Tout ce que tu possèdes (All That You Possess) by Bernard Émond, Canada World Premiere A disgruntled academic refuses a substantial inheritance because the fortune was amassed dishonestly. Soon after, he is reunited with his teenage daughter whose mother he had abandoned when she was pregnant. From the filmmaker responsible for La donation and La neuvaine. Previously announced in the Masters programme: Peter Mettler’s The End of Time. TIFF Docs : Revolution Rob Stewart, Canada World Premiere The much anticipated follow-up film from the filmmakers of internationally acclaimed, box office hit Sharkwater, Revolution follows Rob Stewart on an adventure from photographer/filmmaker to environmental activist trying to change the world. Stewart faces danger, conflict and drama in his struggle to find the key to empowering the conservation movement so it can affect change on a global scale. Canadian films previously announced in the TIFF Docs programme include: Simon Ennis’ Lunarcy! , Jamie Kastner’s The Secret Disco Revolution and Barry Avrich’s Show Stopper: The Theatrical Life of Garth Drabinksy . Previously announced Canadian features include: Denis Côté’s Bestiaire (Wavelengths), Ruba Nadda’s Inescapable (Gala) and Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children (Gala).
In a move that should cause some shockwaves through the indie filmmaking world, one of independent film’s most recognizable producers, Ted Hope, will takeover as Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society. The organization annually produces the April San Francisco International Film Festival – the oldest such event in the Americas – in addition to other year-round programming events and filmmaker support services. A long-time figure in New York where he produced films through his companies Good Machine, This Is That and Double Hope Films, he will head west to San Francisco where he will take on the position beginning September 1st. Hope succeeds fellow indie veteran Bingham Ray , who tragically died January early in his tenure at SFFS. Hope has produced dozens of films that are among the staples of any year’s indie stars, eagerly watched by film festival attendees including industry, press and beyond. Recent work includes Todd Solondz’s Dark Horse , Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene and Greg Mottola’s Adventureland . In 1990 he cofounded with James Schamus the production and sales powerhouse Good Machine, which was sold to Universal in 2002. Hope’s films are regularly among the year’s most honored at award ceremonies and throughout the festival circuit. The Savages (2007) received two Oscar nominations as did 21 Grams in 2001. He also holds a Sundance record with three of his 23 Sundance entries ( American Splendor [2003], The Brothers McMullen [1995] and What Happened Was… [1994]) winning the Grand Jury Prize at the festival. It is not immediately clear if Hope’s new role at SFFS will mean he’ll end his role as a producer, though any step back will leave a significant vacuum that will not easily be filled. In recent years Hope has lamented through his blog Hope for Film the challenges facing indie film while also proposing possible remedies. He alluded to the industry’s evolution in commenting about his new position at SFFS in a statement: “The film world – be it in content, creation, business or audience — has changed significantly over the last twenty years and we all must change with it,” said Hope. “It’s time that the film industry looked not just to Hollywood but instead to the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, and San Francisco Film Society is a major artistic voice positioned right in the heart of this vibrant cultural location. This unique opportunity to work with the Film Society’s diverse communities is an extension of producing in the fullest of ways – allowing me to engage with the art form as a whole, at every level of activity. I am deeply honored and humbled to continue the extraordinary legacy of Bingham Ray and Graham Leggat, which is evident in SFFS’s dedication to empowering artists to get their work not just made but also truly appreciated, and by their support for the complete cinematic enterprise, process and community.” Hope will be the third person to hold the Executive Director title at SFFS within the span of just over a year. The organization’s head Graham Leggat served from 2005 to 2011 until his death last August from cancer. Bingham Ray, also a prominent figure in the indie film space in his own right, succeeded him last October until his untimely death during this year’s Sundance Film Festival. “Ted is obviously as engaged as we are in thinking about how movies can continue to thrive and be a vital, dynamic force moving forward and has the knowledge and expertise to ably lead us into the future.” said SFFS Director of Programming Rachel Rosen. “It’s been an incredibly sad and challenging year for the Film Society, so we’re especially excited to enter the next stage of the organization working with someone who clearly shares our sense of mission about this art form that we all love.”
Also in Thursday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs, Lynn Cohen joins the cast of the next Hunger Games , while Lucas Till takes on an action-thriller. Doc NYC releases some highlights for its November documentary festival. Drew Barrymore has a new directing gig. And Octavia Spencer joins a new Fox Searchlight comedy. Lynn Cohen Joins The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Cohen will play Mags in the next installment of the popular franchise. A former mentor to Finnick Odair, Mags is an eighty year old Hunger Games victor from District 4. The second round of the series begins as “Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.” Lionsgate will release Catching Fire November 22nd. Doc NYC to Close with The Central Park Five New York’s documentary festival Doc NYC will close out its third annual event with Den Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon’s The Central Park Five . The film, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May, follows the story of five innocent teenagers wrongfully imprisoned for the infamous “Central Park jogger” rape case. The festival also announced an ambitious, expanded line-up of panel discussions called “Doc-a-thon,” covering the art and business of documentary filmmaking. Spanning five days, the program features some twenty seminars and panels with acclaimed filmmakers and experts devoted to different stages in the filmmaking process. Doc NYC takes place November 8 – 15. Lucas Till Boards Wolves Till ( X-Men: First Class ) will play the lead in the directorial debut of David Hayter’s Wolves who wrote X-Men . The action-thriller centers on Caleb Richards (Till) – a young, handsome eighteen year-old with an edge. Forced to hit the road after the death of his parents, Caleb finds his way to an isolated town to hunt down the truths of his ancestry. Around the ‘net… Bill Murray Won’t Haunt Ghostbusters 3 Dan Aykroyd said, “”It’s sad but we’re passing it on to a new generation. Ghostbusters 3 can be a successful movie without Bill.” Aykroyd also offered up that the sequel will begin shooting next year and also without its original star, Vulture reports . Matthew McConaughey Joins The Wolf Of Wall Street McConaughey will play Mark Hanna in the Martin Scorsese-directed feature, an early boss and mentor of Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, Deadline reports . Drew Barrymore to Direct The End The end of the world drama will be produced by Warner Bros. The story will apparently focus on several people as they face the apocalypse and will take an “uplifting and humanistic” approach. Aron Eli Coleite (writer-producer on TV’s Heroes ) wrote the script, THR reports . Octavia Spencer Joins Baggage Claim The Oscar-winner boards the cast of the Fox Searchlight comedy that stars Paula Patton as a flight attendant who is the oldest unmarried woman in her family and decides to find a mate before her sister’s upcoming wedding, Deadline reports .
Also in Thursday morning’s round-up of news briefs: Warner Bros passes the domestic $1 billion mark again. A Prometheus sequel is moving forward, Christopher Eccleston is a Marvel villain and Broadway to honor Gore Vidal. Nicole Kidman to Join Lars von Trier’s The Nymphomaniac Kidman revealed she’ll work a “few days” on Danish director Lars von Trier’s two-part The Nymphomaniac , which is set to star Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgard and Willem Dafoe. She starred in the director’s Dogville , The Playlist reports via AlloCine . Warner Bros Passes $1 Billion at Domestic Box Office The milestone has been reached 12 years in a row, which makes Warner Bros. the only studio to have accomplished the feat. The Dark Knight Rises lead this year’s pack with $304M in its first 12 days. Also scoring well is Magic Mike ($108.5M), Deadline reports . Prometheus Sequel Planned by Ridley Scott Scott is moving ahead with plans for a sequel, his return to the Alien universe. His return to the genre after three decades grossed over $300 million worldwide from a budget of $130 million, The Guardian reports . Paz Vega Joins Grace of Monaco as Maria Callas Vega will play the haughty opera singer in the film, which stars Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly. The director of Edith Piaf biopic La vie en rose , Olivier Dahan, will direct Grace of Monaco from a script by Arash Amel. The story centers on a six-month period in 1962 when Monaco had a dispute with France and Princess Grace worked behind the scenes to prevent a coup. THR reports . Christopher Eccleston to Play Thor 2 Villain Eccleston will star opposite Chris Hemsworth in the told of Malekith The Accursed in Marvel Studios’ Thor: The Dark World . Malekith is a “super-villain in the Marvel Universe, the ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim, Deadline reports . Broadway to Dim Lights in Memory of Gore Vidal Broadway theaters will dim their lights August 3rd in memory of Gore Vidal who died this week . His play The Best Man is currently playing at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater. The cast is dedicating its performances next tweak to his memory, The Guardian reports .
The film played to a mixture of reactions when it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and this latest film by Andrew Dominik, starring Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, James Gandolfini and Ray Liotta packs a wallop of gun shots, fights and explosions. Harvey Weinstein recently suggested a violence summit might be in order to take place among Hollywood types in the wake of the tragedy in Aurora, CO. If so, this Weinstein Company release may be a good example of what he’s talking about. But in Cannes, both Dominik and Pitt took exception to suggestions the film had “too much violence.” “I don’t understand the obsession with violence,” Dominik said. “It’s like people who don’t want to show children fairy tales. But fairy tales dramatize children’s concerns and emotions.” Added Pitt: “Violence is an accepted part of the gangster world. It’s an accepted possibility when dealing in crime. I’d have a much harder problem playing a racist for instance than, say, shooting someone right in the face.” Pitt’s character in Killing Them Softly is centered on self-interest. He doesn’t particularly crave violence, but uses it as a means to an end. He’s not bloodthirsty nor does he particularly find murder palatable, but he’s willing to do it as painlessly as possible in order to get ahead. “It’s a metaphor for business — it’s cutthroat but has to be done,” he said. The trailer opens with a robbery pulled off during a mob-packed back room card game. The trailer continues with intermittent moments of Pitt’s character, Jackie Cogan, meandering sveltely through hails of bullets and high-stakes banter. Watch the trailer on YouTube .
Yet another Paranormal Activity sequel is heading to theaters this fall, but the increasingly repetitive found footage franchise is introducing some new elements to its scare tactics. For instance, a blonde chick, after three movies of brunettes! Even more original: Paranormal Activity 4 will deliver its spooks via Skype — so tech-forward, so of the moment — the likes of which we totally haven’t seen before. Or have we? The October four-quel is set in November of 2011, five years after Katie (Katie Featherston) and her boyfriend (Micah Sloat) suffered the supernatural attacks that set the half-billion dollar Paranormal Activity train off into microbudget blockbuster history. Forget the dumb shenanigans that sent prequel Paranormal 3 running off the rails into horror hokum; this one’s about teenagers and the internet and webcam technology! … which might feel a lot more cutting edge if it hadn’t already been done, and well, by director Joe Swanberg in the horror anthology V/H/S , which premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival just weeks after a fourth Paranormal Activity was announced. In Swanberg’s V/H/S segment, a girl and her boyfriend chat via Skype as strange happenings befall one of them, suspense building from the clever use of the obscured and fragmented perspective of “found” chat window footage. At Sundance, I spoke with one of the producers of the Paranormal Activity franchise and one of the major horror titles on his radar was — surprise, surprise — V/H/S . Conveniently enough for Paramount and the PA4 filmmakers, indie horror fave V/H/S won’t be released until October 5, and in limited release at that; shame mainstream audiences aren’t likely to even hear it before PA4 barrels along into wide release on October 19. Meanwhile, as fast and on the fly as these Paranormal Activity movies seem to be made, the last installment was something of an extra-unusual curiosity in that a good portion of footage (and, seemingly, entire plot threads) teased in earlier trailers were cut out of the final film . Shooting cheaply, directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (the Catfish guys, back behind the camera on PA4 ), seemed to have filmed a number of potential endings that went discarded in favor of the lamest ending imaginable. I’ll admit I’m curious to see how they stitch together a story this time and if we’ll see anything from this and subsequent trailers in the eventual theatrical cut. Verdict: Oh, fine . Watch PA4 , but make sure to seek out V/H/S this October. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
