Also in Tuesday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs, The Collection is set to open an L.A. horror fest. And a slew of films find U.S. homes and are headed to theater. The Collection Set for Screamfest Opener Marcus Dunstan’s horror The Collection will open the 12th annual Screamfest, taking place October 12 – 21 in Los Angeles. Starring Josh Stewart, Emma Fitzpatrick and Christopher McDonald, the film centers on a traumatized man forced to help rescue a beautiful woman who has become the latest obsession of a crazed killer who “collects” humans in a booby-trapped house of horrors. Both Dunstan and Melton will be in attendance for the opening night screening . Ginger & Rosa Heads to U.S. Theaters New distribution outfit A24 picked up Telluride and Toronto festivals’ Ginger & Rosa , starring Elle Fanning. Set in 1960s London, the film centers on two teen girls who rebel against their mothers against the backdrop of the Cuban missile crisis and nuclear fear. A24 will do a 2012 qualifying run for awards season, followed by a theatrical release in 2013. It will screen at the upcoming New York Film Festival. Alain Resnais’ You Aint Seen Nothin’ Yet Heads to Theaters U.S. rights to the film have been picked up by Kino Lorber and will have its North American premiere October 2nd at the 50th New York Film Festival. The film opens with a who’s-who of French acting royalty being summoned to the reading of a late playwright’s last will and testament. There, the playwright (Denis Podalydès) appears on a TV screen from beyond the grave and asks his erstwhile collaborators to evaluate a recording of an experimental theater company performing his Eurydice. But as the video unspools, instead of watching passively, these seasoned thespians begin acting out the text alongside their youthful avatars, looking back into the past rather like mythic Orpheus himself. The film will open in early 2013. Michael Walker’s Price Check Heads to North American Theaters IFC Films will open the comedy starring Parker Posey will open on VOD October 11th and theatrically on November 16th. The film revolves around Pete Cozy, who is having trouble with rising debt and hates his job. His new boss comes along and pulls Pete into a maelstrom and is made to work harder than before. He suddenly is finding opportunities, but may pay a price. Around the ‘net… President Obama Calls Innocence of Muslims a ‘Crude and Disgusting Video’ at U.N. Speaking at the General Assembly Tuesday, Obama said that while the video was reprehensible, it is not possible to ban the pic which has inflamed Muslims around the world. “Like me, the majority of Americans are Christian, and yet we do not ban blasphemy against our most sacred beliefs,” he said. “Moreover as President of our country…I accept that people are going to call me awful things every day, and I will always defend their right to do so…,” Deadline reports . Coen Brothers’ Fargo Set for Television Adaptation The filmmaking siblings will develop a television version of their hit Fargo . The 1996 film noir won two Oscars for best script and best actress. The original crime thriller starred Frances McDormand as a policewoman on the trail of two bumbling criminals, BBC reports .
Also in Monday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs, Len Wiseman is being tapped to direct a classic thriller reboot. Innocence of Muslims actress is heading to federal court. And Benicio Del Toro eyes his latest project. Lee Daniels’ The Butler Heads to The Weinstein Company TWC picked up U.S. rights to the film by Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels. Forest Whitaker stars in the true-life inspired story about an African-American man who served as a butler in the White House under eight U.S. Presidents. The film also stars Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Terrence Howard, Minka Kelly, Lenny Kravitz, Melissa Leo, James Marsden and Vanessa Redgrave. The film traces the dramatic changes that swept American society, from the civil rights movement to Vietnam and beyond, and how those changes affected this man’s life and family. “Lee tells stories in a way no one else does,” said TWC head Harvey Weinstein. “What struck me most about this story is the perspective it comes from, which in this case is the butler- a man who was a fly on the wall for decades in the world’s most powerful home.” The Butler is currently in production in New Orleans. Around the ‘net… Jake Gyllenhaal Eyes Prisoners Gyllenhaal is in talks to star opposite Hugh Jackman the the gritty thriller, being directed by Incendies director Denis Velleneuve. The story centers around a small town carpenter (Jackman) whose young daughter and best friend are kidnapped. He in turn kidnaps the man he believes is responsible for the crime, THR reports . Len Wiseman to Direct The Mummy Universal Pictures has tapped Wiseman to direct the reboot of the franchise that took in $1.25 billion over three films. Jon Spaihts is writing the script for the studio which is looking at a possible Summer 2014 release, Deadline reports . Innocence of Muslims Actress to Sue in Federal Court Cindy Lee Garcia named YouTube, Google and the film’s supposed producer Nakoula Basseley Nakoula in a law suit alleging fraud and emotional distress. Claiming a copyright issue, her lawyer Cris Armenta said on the Today show that they will dismiss the state court lawsuit and head to federal court, Deadline reports . Benicio Del Toro Set for How the Light Gets In Del Toro and producer Laura Bickford who partnered on Traffic and Che are partnering on How the Light Gets In , described as a “contemporary love story set in New York, London, Paris and Berlin.” In the film, Del Toro will play a Chilean novelist living in Paris who falls in love. Variety reports .
Even as Iran’s boisterous leader (but not supreme leader) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in New York for the opening of the U.N. Assembly this week, and already causing some local controversy here staying at a luxury Manhattan hotel, his country is apparently opening a new front in its anti-U.S. proclivities – The Oscars. An Iranian official said his country should boycott the 2013 Academy Awards and not submit a film for Best Foreign-language consideration due to the anti-Islam video Innocence of Muslims which rocketed the Muslim world since its debut on YouTube earlier this month. Iranian cinema has won accolades at festivals around the world for some time now. The government has jailed various filmmakers there, most notably Jafar Panahi ( Crimson Gold ). Last year, fellow Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language film for A Separation , a first for a filmmaker from that country. But now, Iran’s filmmaking community may be shut out of the Oscars – at least in the foreign-language category – if the country’s head of its government-controlled cinema agency has his way. Javad Shamaghdari said the committee that oversees selection of Iran’s choice for the Oscar category should “avoid” doing so, according to A.P. , which quoted Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency. The committee had already identified Ye Habbeh Ghand ( A Cube of Sugar ), which centers on a family wedding that turns into a funeral after the groom’s relative dies, to represent Iran’s choice at the Oscars in February. The government still needs to give its consent for the title to move forward. Shamaghdari said the a boycott of the Oscars should take place until the Academy denounces Innocence of Muslims , the once-little noticed video that has resulted in major clashes outside U.S. missions throughout the Islamic world, killing at least 51 people including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. Shamaghdari has in the past pulled Iranian films from festivals worldwide. After Farhadi’s win earlier this year, Iranian officials praised the Academy Award triumph for A Separation , especially since it took the prize over an Israeli film also vying in the category. Some nationalists, however, denounced what they saw as a less than rosy view of Iranian life portrayed in the film, which involves a marriage falling apart. [ Source: A.P. ]
Greta Gerwig has gone from so-called Mumblecore actress, appearing in indie titles LOL , Hannah Takes The Stairs and Nights and Weekends to bigger fare by the likes of Ivan Reitman and Woody Allen in No Strings Attached and the recent To Rome with Love . But what most audiences may not know, is that she’s picked written some of the material she’s played on screen, including her latest Frances Ha , which she co-wrote with director Noah Baumbach . The comedy is Gerwig’s second match-up with Baumbach following 2010’s Greenberg and the pair began bouncing ideas off each other, eventually creating the hysterical black and white feature that debuted at the recent Toronto International Film Festival and will be having its U.S. premiere at the upcoming New York Film Festival . “We started trading some ideas after Greenberg Gerwig said in New York this week. “I knew I wanted to work with Noah again, and luckily he felt the same way.” Baumbach and Gerwig emailed sent email back and forth, creating Frances Ha ‘s electric personalities and hypnotic banter. In the film, Gerwig plays Frances, a New Yorker who is constantly on the move. Her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner) ups and moves into a plush apartment with a friend in New York’s TriBeCa neighborhood, leaving Frances to fend for herself. A budding dancer, she is dropped from her apprenticeship at a dance company, but her slow descent never does little to undermine her determination to succeed. Friendship is at the heart of the film and the sometimes racy lifestyle of twenty-somethings living in New York is played out honestly, even with some discomfort. “If you want to get technical about it, anything other than women falling in love is under-represented across the board [in movies],” said Gerwig. “When we were writing it, Frances and Sophie emerged rather than something that was imposed. It became clear that this was the most important relationship in her life and we decided that that was the story we would focus on.” Though Gerwig and Baumbach were obviously very aware of the script, the Oscar-nominated director of The Squid and the Whale decided not to let the other actors see the entire screenplay. He decided to experiment with actors only focusing on only their material and be left in the dark as to how their words and deeds fit into the bigger picture. “I thought there might be something interesting to having actors play at the moment and what was in front of them instead of having them in some ways tell the overall story, so that was the experiment…I didn’t want them to think how this scene falls in the movie,” said Baumbach. “They may know all too well where a scene falls in the movie. You don’t want the characters to know that really.” Gerwig received praise for her performance at a pre-NYFF screening of the film this week. Her character is a case study in contrasts. She’s smart, but makes bad decisions. She’s determined, but is constantly stumbling. She has strong relationships, but she’s often left in the lurch. Gerwig wrestled up a persona that would have been difficult for just any actor to pull off Frances’ unique peculiarities. Asked how she tackled Frances, Gerwig wasn’t quite sure how her personality came about. “I never really particularly meant to have a different way of acting than anyone else,” she said. “I don’t mean to sound like Johnny Cash, but that line, ‘I play guitar like this because I don’t know any other way’ – I don’t know any other way to act.” Continuing she added, “It’s always weird when you talk about acting because it inevitably descends into something mystical. But it’s from the inside coupled with needing to know why I am saying something. Working on the script doesn’t make acting any easier. It actually in some ways makes it more difficult because you know what something is supposed to be.” IFC Films picked up Frances Ha and will release the film in theaters and VOD at a future date.
Max Thieriot began his career opposite Twilight ‘s Kristen Stewart (in 2004’s Catch That Kid ), and this week he finds himself romancing Hunger Games ‘ Katniss Everdeen herself, Jennifer Lawrence — albeit against the advice of her mother, the neighborhood, their classmates and, perhaps, insidious forces that linger in secrets and shadows in The House at the End of the Street . In recent years the former child actor has navigated his way toward increasingly interesting projects (Atom Egoyan’s Chloe , Nick Cassavetes’ Yellow , the Toronto entry Disconnect , and the upcoming Bates Motel series on A&E) — and one thing that helped was making a conscious decision to live outside of Hollywood, as Thieriot told Movieline recently. The 23-year-old actor, who made his biggest recent mark starring in Wes Craven’s My Soul To Take , grew up in Northern California (where his family once owned the San Francisco Chronicle) and still lives there. “I always told myself that no matter what happened, how famous I became, I didn’t want to change the person that I am,” Thieriot explains. He spoke about the challenges of revealing just enough information to the audience in House at the End of The Street , if he really is in a genre phase right now, what he’s looking forward to in the Hitchcock-based Bates Motel , and the single best perk of growing up the scion of a newspaper family. You live in Northern California – tell me about the decision to stay there instead of Los Angeles. I moved to L.A. right after I finished high school, for three years, because everybody was telling me it was important to get down there, and then I kind of just decided for myself that I didn’t need to be there to be doing this. I wanted out of some of the chaos that comes with living here and being an actor. And I spend so much time away from home anyways, filming and stuff, that I might as well make home base somewhere I want to be. I grew up swearing that I’d never move to L.A. and yet here I am. L.A.’s fine! But I don’t know, I love Northern California. Jennifer Lawrence describes you as an unconventional actor type – you spend time in your trailer listening to country music, not really concerned with typical showbiz stuff. Do you feel like your approach to the industry is drastically different from the norm? I’d say so. Different from your typical actor, for sure. I don’t know – it’s just the way I was raised. As much as I appreciate acting and enjoy it, and like it, it wasn’t something where I grew up wanting to be a movie star. So when it happened I just took it as it came and always told myself that no matter what happened, how famous I became, whatever, I didn’t want to change the person that I am. That’s one of the reasons I still live in Northern California – it helps me stay grounded and to remember all those things. That must be all the more important given that you started acting so young. Exactly. But I definitely take it seriously. Well, Jen Lawrence also compared you to Paul Newman, so you must. [Laughs] I take it seriously, but at the same time I don’t let it get to me. You’ve got House at the End of the Street coming out but your last mainstream film was horror film, My Soul To Take . Next you’ve got Bates Motel . What’s behind this run of genre fare, and what do you feel like is pulling you toward this material? Honestly, I don’t even know. It’s funny, when I started acting I watched some horror films but I generally didn’t like the acting in them. I’d never thought about doing one, and then I did My Soul to Take and for that was like, well, if I’m going to do a horror film Wes Craven’s the guy to do it with. When this came along, to me it plays so much more as a thriller and not a horror film, and it’s a very different movie for the genre. The character was a character that I wanted to play, as opposed to just getting into this type of film. It’s tricky to talk about because we don’t want to spoil anything, but even as the story goes on the script reveals more and more to the audience. How tricky was that line to walk as a performer, conscious of what information is in the viewer’s mind at any time? It’s definitely hard to play because by the end of the film you hope that the audience goes, ok, and they look back at things that took place, or different expressions, and go, wow – got it! That’s why this happened. That’s why they made that face. It’s a tough line to walk as an actor to try and have that in scenes without giving away something. You know too much. You do. I know too much, but at the same time I want to show them something without having them notice that I’m showing it to them. It’s all about secrets, showing them a secret that they don’t even see until the end. You started your career with Catch That Kid , which was also one of Kristen Stewart’s first films. How did being a child actor influence your later choices? Well, Haley Joel Osment had some and Dakota Fanning had some roles that were very different and extremely challenging, but other than that the norm was these kind of normal sort of roles which to me weren’t that challenging. There wasn’t a whole lot of variety, you know? So once I got to an age where that started to change I made a decision to try and do a little bit of everything to not stay stuck in one category. How old were you when you were first conscious of trying to mix it up? 17 or 18. And since then it seems like I keep doing all this horror thriller genre stuff but that’s just the stuff that’s been in the public’s eye the most, because I’ve done like three movies that are waiting to come out that are all so different. In this Nick Cassavetes film Yellow I have a Southern accent in Oklahoma in the late ‘80s selling drugs and I have all these tattoos, and I put on a bunch of weight and got all buff, and in Foreverland I play a guy who has cystic fibrosis. Disconnect , which was just at Toronto and Venice, I play an internet webcam stripper, so I got buff and lost a bunch of weight and got all shredded for that, the way I felt an internet webcam stripper should look. [Laughs] I’ve really been trying to mix it up a lot since My Soul To Take. And we filmed House at the End of the Street two years ago, and since then I’ve done four movies or something. I only recently considered doing television and this last year I did a pilot for ABC for Roland Emmerich, so I’m open to that now and that’s how this Bates Motel thing came up. Alfred Hitchcock is so iconic in this business and in general and it seemed like a great opportunity to be a part of something that’s a 10 episode show, on A&E, for great producers, with Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore who are great actors. And yours is a new role we haven’t seen portrayed before – Norman Bates’ brother. It’s exciting too because as cool and fun and challenging as it is to play a character who’s never been played, it’s also fun to play something like this in such an iconic film now turned into a prequel to a TV show, because he’s unknown. You kind of know what you’re getting with Norma and Norman, but Dylan is this unknown guy thrown into the mix. Yeah, how messed up must that guy be? We know he doesn’t make it to the house later, but what happens in between? But honestly, this has all happened in the past few days, since like Friday. [Laughs] That’s when it all became official. I met with the team via Skype about a week ago, and we talked and all of a sudden the deal was happening. What was it like growing up with your family owning the San Francisco Chronicle, having such a history with institutions like that? It was interesting – I grew up actually hating the fact that my family owned the newspaper, because I was teased a lot at school as being the rich kid whose family owned the newspaper. It was hard because it wasn’t like the Press-Democrat, it was the San Francisco Chronicle. As a kid it seems people used to tease people over anything, and it seems like such a stupid thing to get upset, to get bummed out over something like that, but when you’re little it was like that. So I was happy when we sold the company. Like, great – now people aren’t going to give me shit. But it’s definitely something I appreciate and find to be fascinating, and obviously I’m just born into it, but I look at the history of it all and how it came to be. My great-great-grandfather started the paper in 1865 or something, and when the 1906 earthquake happened he separated himself from the Hearst family who owned the Examiner, and when the earthquake happened he was the only person to release a paper that day. He started it by literally typing it at home and selling it on the street corner. His last name was De Young and he had like four daughters so now there are no more De Youngs that are direct descendants from him… it’s interesting and kind of funny, and my family’s been doing stuff in San Francisco forever. It was also neat as a kid because the company sponsored the local sports teams, like the 49ers. I noticed from your Twitter feed that you’re a bit of a Niners fan. I’m obsessive about the Niners! One of my buddies from Sonoma County just got signed by them this year, so I’m like, yes – now I get to go to some games. That was probably my favorite part as a kid – we sponsored them, and the Giants, and the Golden State Warriors, so we always had company tickets and I took full advantage of that as a kid. There was a petition to get you cast in The Hunger Games as Finnick, which would have been a reunion with Jennifer Lawrence. How far did that actually get? They had specific people and they wouldn’t let others audition, so I didn’t get a chance to audition or anything. You’d think making out with Jen Lawrence for what seems like forever in House at the End of the Street would give you an edge of some sort. You’d think! I can shoot a bow better than anyone in that movie. But I’m over that now. I found a quote you gave in what must have been one of your first interviews, for Catch That Kid , in which you give the following sage advice: “Just be yourself and try not to be too over the top.” Nice. Does that still apply? Yeah! I think that’s still valid. Those are two very important pieces of advice for this industry. [Laughs] Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Also in Friday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Jesse Eisenberg has tapped Vanessa Redgrave for an Off-Broadway play. A judge has ruled on a request to close Innocence of Muslims video. And a look at the Specialty offerings coming out this weekend. Clint Eastwood Owns The Chair Thing at Premiere The 82 year-old Oscar winner has taken some heat for his empty chair speech at the Republican National Convention, but at his premier for Trouble With the Curve he chatted with a press contingent that – somehow – noticed there were 16 empty chairs nearby – “Oh my god yes,” he said with a laugh. He added that he worked with people on the film that fall across the political spectrum, but his latest is not a political film. And he will continue to stomp for Romney, A.P. reports . John Travolta Eyes Vince Lombardi Biopic At the Zurich Film Festival, Travolta said he’s considering a remake of the John Woo film, The Killer as well as starring in a biopic of legendary football star Vince Lombardi. The Killer remake will shoot in 3-D, Screen Daily reports . Jesse Eisenberg, Vanessa Redgrave Set for Off-Broadway in The Revisionist Redgrave will star along with Eisenberg in The Social Network ‘s Off-Broadway play that will be directed by Kip Fagan. The plot centers around Eisenberg’s character is a blocked sci-fi writer attempting to escape his problems in Poland. “A 75-year-old cousin played by Redgrave latches onto him as a means of connecting with her distant American family, gradually revealing details of their complex post-war past.” THR reports . Riots Continue as Judge Denies Actress’ Move to Shut Down Innocence of Muslims Western embassies closed in anticipation of Friday prayers as protesters fought police in Pakistan. The government there ran ads on television showing U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemning the video made by a U.S. resident that prompted the furor. A judge in California did not agree with an Innocence of Muslims actress that the film should be taken down, Deadline reports . Wallflower , Diana Vreeland , Head Games , How To Survive a Plague A run down of this weekend’s specialty openers, with a spotlight on some documentaries about a fashionista extraordinaire, sports risks and pioneers who faced down AIDS. Also check out a coming-of-age feature that has been all the rage on MTV (and it’s even good). Deadline reports .
This thing is gettin’ super ugly… Muslim People In Islamabad Gather To Protest “Innocence Of Muslims” According to the BBC/UK Demonstrators who gathered outside the US embassy in Islamabad to protest against an amateur video mocking Islam have begun to disperse peacefully. The Pakistani authorities had earlier called on the army as police struggled to contain the crowd of thousands with tear gas and live rounds. Some protesters had said they would not leave the diplomatic enclave until the US embassy was on fire. Protests over the film, Innocence of Muslims, have claimed several lives. It was made in the US and is said to insult the Prophet Muhammad. Streets leading to the enclave, where most of the embassies are housed, were earlier blocked off by shipping containers in an effort to increase security. Police had no control of the situation as angry protesters burned President Obama in effigy as people threw missles and other objects at authorites. One protester in particular was heard saying: “The infidel who produced the movie should be hanged, or hand over him to the Muslims. And we don’t want any (US) diplomat or embassy in Pakistan: all relations should be cut off.” Despite all the ire, the BBC correspondent says the protest appeared to end without incident. The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad, who did not see any evidence of the army at the scene, said the protest was “turned out like a light”. He said it was amazing, given the strength of feeling at the the protest earlier, that the crowd left as peacefully as it did. He says the area is still shrouded in tear gas. The Pakistani government has issued a national holiday for people to protest in peace, but how long will that “peace” really last when people are so angry??? Image via AP
As thoughts turn to autumn and the coming of winter, this week’s new DVD releases range from a highbrow Norwegian film about a man considering his own mortality to a guilty-pleasure sequel about sexy American teens eluding a masked madman. Yes, it’s that kind of week. HIGH: Oslo August 31 st (Strand Releasing; $27.99 DVD) Who’s Responsible: Directed by Joachim Trier, who co-wrote the script with Eskil Vogt (“freely” based upon Pierre Drieu La Rochelle’s novel Le feu follet ); starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner. What It’s All About: Former party animal Anders (Danielsen Lie) is now 34, two weeks away from finishing rehab for drug and alcohol addiction, and at an utter loss in trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Following a failed suicide attempt, he gets a day pass to travel to Oslo for a job interview, but things don’t go well. His family won’t see him, his ex won’t return his calls, the job interview goes south when Anders says that “drug dealer” is what’s missing from his résumé, and his old friends have grown up without him. (They now seem miserable because they have children, or miserable because they don’t.) Why It’s Schmancy: Trier (director of the international hit Reprise , which also starred Andersen Lie) begins the film with contemporary and vintage footage of the Norwegian capital, as a various voices narrate their memories of growing up and living there. One of these unidentified inhabitants remembers a friend who “thought ‘melancholy’ was cooler than ‘nostalgia’” and that’s almost a shorthand of the heartbreaking storytelling that Trier gives us. He’s aided greatly by a powerful performance by Danielsen Lie (in real life, he’s a doctor who occasionally acts in his friend’s films), who never wallows in self-pity. Most American movies about drugs end with rehab as the great panacea, but here’s a story about someone who’s been through therapy and still sees nothing waiting for him on the other side. (Fun fact: The novel on which Oslo August 31 st is loosely based was also adapted by Louis Malle in 1963’s The Fire Within .) Why You Should Buy It: This DVD release is admittedly light on extras — just a trailer, in fact — but given that this Cannes Film Festival official selection got a mere fraction of Reprise ’s U.S. release, it’s quite likely that fans of up-and-coming director Trier don’t even know that this movie exists. LOW: Halloween II (Shout Factory; $24.97 DVD/$29.93 Blu-Ray) Who’s Responsible: Written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, directed by Rick Rosenthal; starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance, Lance Guest, Leo Rossi What It’s All About: Picking up right where the classic Halloween (1978) left off, a traumatized Laurie (Curtis) is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital to recover from the horrifying events of October 31. But Michael Myers isn’t done with her yet. Impassive mask in place, he skulks his way through the shocking dark and empty corridors of the place — and this is pre-Obamacare! — until he can find his prey. Will Dr. Loomis (Pleasance) arrive in time? And what shocking secrets of Michael’s past will be uncovered in this sequel? Why It’s Fun: Is Halloween II the game-changing slasher epic that the John Carpenter original is? Of course not. Does it still deliver some scary fun while staying true to the franchise? Absolutely. Horror fans are justifiably leery of sequels, particularly those not directed by the original filmmaker, but Halloween II keeps the jolts coming and allows the tireless Curtis one more opportunity to scream for her life. (The film marks the end of her career’s first chapter. Curtis’ acclaimed turns in Love Letters and Trading Places two years later allowed her to expand her repertoire beyond young-ladies-in-danger.) If nothing else, this one’s a damn sight better than the wretched Rob Zombie movie of the same title from a few years ago. Why You Should Buy It (Again): This Collector’s Edition from Shout Factory’s new Scream Factory label is a full bag of candy with two commentary tracks, the TV cut with additional footage, interviews, a doc about the movie’s screening locations, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and lots more. (Both the DVD and the Blu-Ray come fully loaded.) And hey, if you’re one of the first 500 or so people to order from ShoutFactory.com, they’ll throw in a limited-edition Haddonfield Memorial nurse’s cap. Previously: Arthouse Freak-Out Beyond The Black Rainbow + Comedy Classic Airplane! Hit Home Video Follow Alonso Duralde on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Actor Michael Peña is set for what is likely his biggest starring role to date in director David Ayer ‘s End of Watch . In the pic opening this weekend, he plays opposite Jake Gyllenhaal as a pair of good-guy but rough-and-tumble L.A. cops who face the complicated mean streets of the city’s gang-ridden South Central neighborhood. At the Toronto International Film Festival where the film debuted earlier this month, Peña recalled his life growing up in a similarly rough are of Chicago, crediting sports and a former girlfriend who landed him a job at a bank for keeping the lure of gangs at bay. And, he hinted that his ego may have also played into his decision for a different life, which quickly took him to Hollywood. “I never wanted to be in a gang,” said Peña. “I didn’t want to follow anybody’s orders. I thought of myself as an individual ever since I was little.” He said that growing up in what he described as “the ghetto” was different than what his co-star Jake Gyllenhaal or others were used to, though taking on this role brought back memories of certain defense mechanisms. [ Related: Jake Gyllenhaal’s Life-Changing End Of Watch Prep: ‘Someone Was Murdered In Front Of Me’ ] “I grew up in the ghetto, and the thing is when there were problems, I knew when to get away. But police go to the problems,” he said. “I didn’t do that growing up. Seeing it through Jake’s eyes, it re-ignited what I always knew, but I guess I had buried it. I’ve been living in Hollywood for the past 15 years. And reality just smacks you in the face – that feeling of potential danger everywhere.” Peña worked at a bank after his girlfriend at the time helped him get the job. He later went to an open casting call for Peter Bogdanovich’s To Sir, with Love II , which gave him his first acting gig. He then took a few months of wages he saved and headed to Hollywood, getting a number of television and movie roles. But End of Watch will likely propel the actor to the next level. In the film that begins its theatrical run this Friday, Gyllenhaal and Peña play LAPD officers Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala. The action unfolds on screen through the P.O.V. of hand-held cameras implanted on police officers with more footage “shown” by gang members, surveillance cameras, dish cams and citizen-caught images in the line of fire. While there are moments peppered throughout the feature showing moments of levity between the their characters that prompted outbursts of laughter during the film’s premiere in Toronto, the scenes quickly turn to present a mosaic of dark violent streets, human trafficking, gang confrontation and a barrage of shoot-outs. Key to the story was a sense of brotherhood between Gyllenhaal and Peña’s characters, something that took some time to develop, according to Peña. The two actors had not met before coming aboard the project and Peña said there’s a difference between portraying two people who are like brothers as opposed to simply work partners. “It took three months to click,” said Peña. “There’s a lot of pressure to play like brothers. We had to spend a lot of time together to opening up to each other as well as tactical training, rehearsing. Three months later we had a good rapport and we put that in the movie.” Peña said that he believes Latino characters are becoming much more a part of the fabric of Hollywood, giving credit to filmmakers and actors Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal and their 2001 hit Y Tu Mamá También in large part for narrowing the racial gulf. (Incidentally, Peña is set to play agricultural workers activist Cesar Chavez in a feature being directed by Luna, which also stars Rosario Dawsom and America Ferrera who also appears in End of Watch ). “The script for [End of Watch] was written for actors like Jake Gyllenhaal and me – a Latin dude. It had to be a Latin dude, there is so much Latin [material] in it. Ten years ago, I don’t know if that would have been the case. I don’t know if it would have been so easy to do.”
