Movieline caught up with the charismatic William Friedkin last weekend at the Seattle Film Festival, where the Exorcist / French Connection director received a Lifetime Achievement award and screened his brutal Southern-fried potboiler Killer Joe . Before he held court keeping a packed audience rapt with tales from his nearly five-decade career in film (highlights below), Friedkin stopped to discuss two of the topics he’s wrestling with these days: His legal battle to win back the rights to his 1977 pic Sorcerer , and the absurdity of the MPAA, which anointed Killer Joe with an NC-17 rating. Friedkin is active on Twitter , which has allowed film fans unprecedented access to the Oscar-winner and given him the chance to discuss his battle for the rights to Sorcerer , his Roy Scheider-starring remake of The Wages of Fear . “I’m suing Universal and Paramount to get control of Sorcerer ,” he explained to Movieline. “It evidently means a lot to people, and I want people to be able to see it.” As with many older films, rights to Sorcerer lie out of the filmmaker’s hands – and studios, according to Friedkin, are allowing precious 35mm prints to deteriorate right under their own noses. “What’s happened to the legacy of almost all the studios is that the people who run them now don’t care,” he said. “They don’t give a damn. I know the guy from Lincoln Center, he tried to get a print of Blade Runner and Warner Bros. told him they didn’t know who owned it.” Even in the care of studios, library titles threaten to become damaged beyond repair. Friedkin doesn’t want what happened to another ‘70s classic to happen to his film. “Paramount put out a beautiful Blu-ray of The Godfather almost two years ago,” he said. “They went to get it out of their vaults and it had deteriorated, and they had to spend over a million dollars to restore it. It’s probably the gem of their library, and they just let it go. So they don’t care about the legacy of the work that they do. I hope I win my lawsuit, and I’m going to expose what they’re doing nevertheless.” As for his current film, Killer Joe – an assuredly brutal film whose tagline boasts “a totally twisted deep-fried Texas redneck trailer park murder story” – Friedkin has battled an old adversary: The ratings board. “The ratings board, to me, is a joke,” he said. “I never thought we’d get an NC-17, but I don’t mind the fact that we did. I had a film called Cruising that I took back there 50 times, 5-0, before they gave it an R.” Still, Friedkin will gladly accept his NC-17. “If we had done that with Killer Joe , it wouldn’t be here tonight; it would be playing in a shorts festival on YouTube.” NEXT: enjoy a Movieline 9 of highlights, anecdotes, and assorted moments from Friedkin’s appareance at SIFF ’12.
Also happening in (mostly) film news Tuesday morning, Roger Corman to lead a festival jury, Alfre Woodard to star along with Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender in a slave epic, projections for worldwide entertainment are up, though less so in North America and former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash gets ready for his star… Roger Corman to Lead Tokyo Film Festival Corman will serve as president of the 25th Tokyo International Film Festival taking place October 20 – 28 in the Japanese capital. Corman has produced more than 550 films and directed fifty others in a career spanning nearly 60 years. Around the ‘net… Danny Boyle Unveils Olympics Opening Details The Olympic Stadium will morph into an idealized version of the English countryside complete with farm animals and recreations of British landmarks. The $42 million event will take place July 27th, Variety reports . Worldwide Spending for Theatrical and Home Video to Hit $100B PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook gave its annual five-year forecast, saying theater tickets and home video will increase by 3.1 per cent per year to nearly $100 billion by 2016. Box office will rise 6.3 per cent per year while home video will only rise by 0.5 per cent. Most growth will come from abroad, with North America poised for a less than 1 per cent rise, Deadline reports . Ray Winstone Set to Play Noah’s Nemesis The actor has been offered the role of Noah’s enemy in the Biblical story of the man who built the arc, directed by Darren Aronofsky. Winstone would play opposite Russell Crowe in the epic which also stars Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth and Emma Watson, Deadline reports . Alfre Woodard Boards Steve McQueen’s Latest The actress will join Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender in Twelve Years a Slave a New Regency production based on an autobiography written in 1853 by Solomon Northup, a free black man who became enslaved, THR reports . Slash to Get His Star in Hollywood The former Guns N’ Roses guitarist will get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next month. He is the first of the former band members to receive the star, which will be unveiled July 10th on Hollywood Blvd., BBC reports .
One thing about Sarah Palin, she has staying power. People on the left and right love and hate her (or both) and as Mitt Romney gears up to choose his potential Veep, it’s hard to imagine whoever it is will have the same cultural impact as Palin. Movies have been made about her including the pro-Palin doc The Undefeated (2011) directed by Stephen K. Bannon which is inspired by her book Going Rogue: An American Life and then there was, of course, the reality show set in her home state where she served part of a term as governor in Sarah Palin’s Alaska . But countless on-TV appearances later another film – this time, made for HBO – brought out star-wattage and more controversy in Game Change , which the filmmaker recently spoke about including his frustration at negative feedback from both sides of the political spectrum. Directed by Jay Roach and starring Julianne Moore as the Palin herself along with Ed Harris (as McCain) and Woody Harrelson, the film followed Arizona Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign from his selection of Palin as his running mate and his ultimate defeat, some would say due in large part to Palin’s much ballyhooed public and media gaffes including her ill-fated interview with then CBS News anchor Katie Couric in which she had difficulty picking a newspaper that she reads daily and taking some geographic liberties with Russia’s proximity to Alaska. Game Change was not Roach’s first foray into campaign controversy. His earlier HBO film Recount , which followed the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore that ended up in the Supreme Court, giving the election to Bush, won three Emmy Awards in 2008. Roach told The Hollywood Reporter he tried on numerous occasions to reach out to Palin to cooperate on the film to no avail. He even tried tracking her down at a string of parties around the time of the White House Correspondents dinner last year. “I really thought I would go up to her and say, ‘Hi, my name’s Jay Roach and I’m doing this film about the McCain-Palin campaign…I’m sincerely trying to get the story right and it’d be great if you want to talk about it and tell a story with even more layers and depth.’ So it would’ve been the world’s most awkward conversation; she’d already said ‘no’.” Roach took heat for portraying Palin as falling apart at the seams in the wake of the Couric interview, though Roach said he and Moore were trying to find empathy for the V.P. candidate, telling THR, “What might that have been like, to have been surrounded by people you don’t trust anymore, to have to experience so much public humiliation and mockery and, you know, widespread judgment?” And what about the heavy response on both sides of the proverbial aisle once the film hit HBO? “I think I was annoyed by the fact that the people who were attacking the film hadn’t seen it, and they said, ‘We haven’t seen it, but we hate it,'” said Roach. He noted that some people thought it was too sympathetic though he said he thinks that crowd had likely expected it to be more critical. And now Roach is taking on the political front again, but this time it will be a fictional story (though one can’t help but speculate there will be ample ‘truth’ to the story). His next film The Campaign will star Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as two opponents fighting it out in North Carolina. [Source: The Hollywood Reporter ] And what’s your feedback on Palin’s media portrayal?
So Euro 2012 is about to get underway in Poland and Ukraine, and everyone seems to be getting a case of soccer fever. At least everyone outside of North America. Here’s the always provocative nobody, Micaela Schaefer , showing off two of the most perfect soccer balls I’ve ever seen. I would go up for a header on those things any day. I can tell by her vagina that she’s cheering for Germany… I think more women should support their team like this.
Also for Thursday morning’s look at news headlines, Kevin Smith will embark on a tour promoting a Slamdance film, Obama cha-chings at an exclusive fundraiser in L.A. with A-listers, Matthew Modine lands a role in Steve Jobs pic and New York’s Stony Brook Film Festival set to bow this summer with No God . Prometheus Heads to IMAX Theaters Friday in N. America The Ridley Scott-directed movie will feature a larger aspect ratio of 2.0:1 versus the traditional 2.39:1 ratio. Domestically, the film will be released in 298 theaters beginning Friday, June 8, simultaneous with the film’s North American release. Internationally, the film debuted in select territories last week and will be expanding to additional theaters through the coming weeks for a total of 123 theaters confirmed to date. Kevin Smith to Tour with Slamdance’s Bindlestiffs The Clerks director will support Andrew Edison’s high school comedy under the “Kevin Smith’s SModcast Pictures Presents” label with Phase 4 Films. The tour will kick off its theatrical tour June 12th in New York City. In the film, three high school virgins, suspended from school on a graffiti charge, flee to the city to live out the plot of The Catcher in the Rye Bindlestiffs had its world premiere at the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival and Phase 4 will release the film via VOD June 19th. Around the ‘net… George Clooney to Direct The Yankee Comandante Focus Features is nabbing the rights to the story which appeared in the May 28th edition of The New Yorker under the same title. The story is about William Alexander Morgan who helped Cuba’s Fidel Castro and his band of rebels to overthrow dictator Batista and reached the level of ‘Comandante,’ the only other foreigner besides Argentina’s legendary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Deadline reports . Glee Creator Hosts Star-packed Obama Fundraiser The President attended a $40K per couple fundraiser attended by 70 people including Julia Roberts, CAA’s Kevin Huvane and Bryan Lourd, Glee star Jane Lynch and Reese Witherspoon at the home of Glee creator Ryan Murphy and his partner David Miller’s house, Deadline reports . Matthew Modine Boards Steve Jobs Pic Modine will play John Sculley who lead Apple in 1983 after Jobs picked him as CEO and then fired Jobs two years later. Ashton Kutcher stars as the late Apple founder in the movie that Joshua Michael Stern ( Swing Vote ) will direct, THR reports . World Premiere of No God to Bow Stony Brook Fest Terry Green’s No God No Master starring David Strathairn will open the 17th Stony Brook Film Festival, taking place in Stony Brook, NY July 19 – 28. Other highlights include doc Side by Side narrated by Keanu Reaves and director/star Julie Delpy’s Le Skylab , Variety reports .
Oscar-nominated director Guillermo del Toro has been in the craft of filmmaking since he was 16, filling roles as diverse as P.A., assistant director and makeup effects. He made his first film Cronos at 28 and received his Academy Award-nomination in 2007 for Pan’s Labyrinth , making him one of the most prominent filmmakers to emerge from his native Mexico. In a candid interview, he explains how he learned filmmaking in author Mike Goodridge’s new book, FilmCraft: Directing . Goodridge, who until recently served as editor of Screen International and is now CEO of the international sales and financing company Protagonist Pictures wrote the book which features in-depth interviews with 16 of the world’s celebrated and respected film directors including Del Toro, Clint Eastwood ( Million Dollar Baby ) Paul Greengrass ( The Bourne Supremacy ), Peter Weir ( The Truman Show ), Terry Gilliam ( Brazil ) and Park Chan-wook ( Oldboy ). These and other filmmakers share their insights and experiences on development, storytelling/writing, working with actors and cinematographers, as well as other areas necessary to completing a successful film. In this excerpt from the book, which will be available via Amazon beginning June 15th, Guillermo del Toro gives his take on the mistakes and triumphs of his first movie as well as the first movie of other filmmaking greats, a life lesson courtesy of John Lennon, Tom Cruise’s take on filmmaking, what made him cry during his first movie, making ‘everything’ theatrical and why having “enough money” will get you, err… screwed. Director Guillermo Del Toro excerpt from FilmCraft: Directing : I came from the provinces, from Guadalajara, which is the second largest city in Mexico and nobody makes movies there. When I was a teenager, I started building relationships in Mexico City and I started as a blue-collar member of the crew. I was either a boom guy or a PA or an assistant director. I was makeup effects. I did my floor time in both TV and movies. My first professional work on a movie was at the age of 16 and I made Cronos when I was 28, so I had twelve solid years of doing just about everything in between. If somebody needed something, I would do it. I even did illegal stunt driving. But what happened is that I learned a little bit of everything and, once you put your time into exploring everything, you get to know what every piece of grip equipment is called and how many you need, and how to do post — I edited my own movies and did the post sound effects on all of them. So to some extent, directing came naturally to me from my first movie. My first movie Cronos is not in any way a perfect movie, but it’s a movie full of conviction. When you make your first movie, whatever mistakes you make are very glaring, but if you have conviction, and I would even say cinematic faith, this also shines through. I recently watched Cronos again and I thought, “I like this kid,” he has possibilities. After your first movie, with a little bit of craft, diligence, and more importantly, experience, you learn to make virtues out of some of your defects. What I mean is that any first movie has good moments, even if it is not entirely perfect. It can be a filmmaker as famous as you like, such as Stanley Kubrick, whose first film F ear and Desire (1953) is about 70 minutes long and stars Paul Mazursky. It is very stilted, very awkwardly paced, full of stuff that doesn’t work, the actors speak in a patois, and it has a very non-naturalistic rhythm. But what is incredibly fascinating is that the very stilted quality, that artificial rhythm, eventually became his trademark in later films. He bypasses it in more naturalistic films like The Killing (1956) and Paths of Glory (1957), but comes back to that type of hyperrealism or strange filtered reality in his later movies, and he is in complete control of it there. Kubrick used the tools he acquired in making other films to transform what you thought was a defect in Fear and Desire into a virtue. In my case, when I make movies in Spanish, starting with Cronos , I purposefully avoid characterizing certain things in the conventional Hollywood sense, and that comes out as a blatant defect. Specifically, I had shot a much longer film, including a whole section between the husband and wife where she noticed that he is getting younger and they start falling in love again. At night, he would come and sleep underneath her bed. But I couldn’t make it work. The way I staged it was simply too stilted and strange, and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving it as part of the movie. Even to this day, I think there is a mix of different tones in that movie. I change from the dramatic to the comedic too often. I try to do it generically, mixing horror with melodrama, and there are moments in Cronos that are really jarring for me. I sometimes allowed Ron Perlman to be too broad and it simply didn’t work. I think I did it better in my later movies. I don’t know whether that mix of genres is my trademark. One of the things that was very influential for me when I was kid was the book by Tolkien in which he discussed fairy stories in literature. I remember him saying in that book that you should make the story recognizable enough to be rooted in reality, but outlandish enough to be a flight of fancy. So I try to mix an almost prosaic approach, or at least a rigid historical context, with fantastic elements. I treat the fantasy characters very naturalistically or else I root the story in a precise context like The Devil’s Backbone or Pan’s Labyrinth , or in Cronos , post-NAFTA Mexico. As Tolkien says, when you give the audience a taste of what they can recognize, they immediately accept the rest of the concoction; it’s almost like wrapping a pill in bacon for a dog to swallow it. You need, for example, the bacon of domesticity in Cronos . I wanted to shoot that family as a very middle-class family in Mexico. I wanted a kitchen that looked like a kitchen you’d recognize, a really ordinary bedroom and very mild, neat clothing design. Out of that middle-class reality, I wanted a single anomaly — the mechanical clockwork scarab device. If the audience believes that this abnormality is as real as it can be, they will respond to the story. Many directors think that the more you keep the creature in the shadows and don’t show it, the better it is, but I don’t believe that. I don’t have monsters in my movies, I have characters, so I shoot the monsters as characters. For example, in Hellboy , I shot Abe Sapien, the fish-man, like any other actor. I didn’t fuss about it, I shot the monster with the same conviction that I would shoot Cary Grant or Brad Pitt; in other words, if I shot it in a different way than I would the regular actors, I would be making a mistake. What I do in every movie very consciously is to ensure that this anomaly is shot two notches above actual reality, so it’s weird enough to accommodate the monster, but not too stylistic that it’s unrecognizable. For example, everything you see in Pan’s Labyrinth — the house, the furniture — is fabricated to be slightly more theatrical than it needed to be. The uniforms for the captain and his guards are exactly what were worn at the time, but we tweaked the cut and the collar to make them more theatrical. Everything around the creatures, therefore, exists like a terrarium for them to live in so that when it comes to shoot them, I can shoot them in a normal way. I was very nervous on Cronos , but the adrenaline carried me through. Directing is almost like keeping four balls in the air on a monocycle with a train approaching behind you. There were days, for example, like the scene with the husband sleeping under the bed, where I knew I’d fucked up. The makeup was wrong and we didn’t have time to go back and change it, we didn’t even have time to test it. The light was wrong. Everything was wrong, and I arrived home to my wife that night and cried. I said that I had destroyed the scene I had dreamt of for years. I didn’t have the luxury of reshoots. Of course, you can only break down in front of your wife, or your partner, or your parents. In front of the staff on the film, you need to keep total control. You don’t want anyone thinking the general is afraid—you have to be leading the charge. There are two very lonely positions on a movie set: the actor and the director. The cinematographer has a close liaison with the director, the gaffer, the grip, etc. The director is alone on one end of the lens and the actor is alone on the other. That’s why the great, most satisfying partnerships on set are when a director and actor come to love and support each other. Being from Mexico is an enormous part of who I am as a filmmaker. The panache, the sense of melodrama, and the madness I have in my movies that allows me to mix historical events with fictional creatures, all comes from an almost surreal Mexican sensibility. I’m really prone to melodrama. This comes from watching Mexican melodrama obsessively, to the point where I was watching The Devil’s Backbone with a Spanish architect and the architect said to me that it was more Mexico than Spain; the characters were acting like Latin characters. If my father hadn’t been kidnapped in 1998 then frankly I would be making Mexican movies interspersed with the European and American. Since 1998, I cannot go back to Mexico because I would be too visible a target, especially when there is a printed schedule of where I am going to be every day for the entire run of a shoot. I think of the audience every second during writing; I think of them as me. I question how I would understand something, or what would make me feel a certain way. When I’m shooting a scene that moves the characters, I weep, I feel the emotion on set, so when I am writing it, if it doesn’t work, I don’t print it out until I have that feeling. Creating tension is a different skill to creating fear. For fear, you try to create atmosphere. You ensure the scene is alive visually before anything is added, then you craft the silence very carefully because silence often equals fear. Rarely can you elicit fear with music unless the music is used very discreetly, underlining the scene in a way that is almost invisible. When the Pale Man appears in Pan’s Labyrinth there is music, but Javier [Navarrete, the film’s composer] is almost just underlining his movements. It becomes like a sound effect. Silence is one of the things that you learn to craft the most because there is never real silence in a movie; you always have distant wind, cars, dogs barking, or crickets in the distance. I think really well-crafted silence creates tension, and by the same token an empty frame, an empty corridor for example — if it’s empty in the right, creepy way — is a tool. You know if a scene’s not working on set, and as you get older and craftier, you can learn to re-direct it in post. You can patch it up in your coverage and recover it—you can even end up with a great scene because beauty rarely comes out of perfection. For something to work, I think it has to come out of emotional turmoil. You can’t encapsulate the perfect melody; a huge component of it is instinctive. Then, of course, there are the actors. Many times you storyboard and rehearse with the actor, and then you come to the scene and it’s not working. But then you try something different and something suddenly happens that makes it work. It’s very raw. It’s funny, we enthrone this idea of the perfect filmmaker, this myth of the all controlling, all-seeing, all-encompassing person, but even for Kubrick or von Stroheim there is a part of the process that is entirely instinctive. I once asked Tom Cruise about it and he confirmed that Kubrick often found things in a panic on Eyes Wide Shut (1999). I love imperfection. I have been friends with James Cameron since 1992 and because he is so incredibly precise, people sometimes don’t think he is human, but the beauty of being a close friend is that I’ve seen him burn the midnight oil and toil and sweat. These imperfections in the façade are what make the work more admirable. Art depends on that human touch that doesn’t make perfection; in fact the filmmakers and films I am most attracted to require a level of human imperfection. On the big effects films, you try to prepare thoroughly but there are always surprises. John Lennon said, “Life is what happens when you are making other plans” and I think film is what happens when you are making other plans. You come onto the set and either the actor or the material doesn’t come out as you expect and the film comes out better for it. If you have either experience or inspiration, one of the two will get you through. One you accumulate through the years, the other you cherish. As a young filmmaker you’re full of inspiration and if you are unlucky you are only trading it in for experience. You need to remain on dangerous ground to continue to be inspired. I am always tackling things I shouldn’t tackle and meddling with stuff I shouldn’t meddle with. You never have enough money. If you ever feel one day you have enough money, that’s the day you’re fucked. FilmCraft: Directing is available via Amazon beginning June 15th. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Also in Wednesday morning’s news round up, Warner Bros. is taking a cue from Marvel’s Avengers with its own superhero lineup, a J.D. Salinger adaptation is in the make for the big screen, a Frozen thriller pick up for North America and the rising fortunes of non-U.S. actors as big budget films target international markets. ARC Picks The Frozen for North America Psychological thriller The Frozen has been picked up by ARC Entertainment. The directorial debut of Andrew Hyatt and starring Brit Morgan, the film centers on two people who take an ill-advised winter camping trip. “After a snowmobile accident, the couple is left stranded in the woods where they are forced to survive the elements while waiting for help to arrive. In a twist of fate, Mike disappears and Emma is left on her own not only to battle the weather, but also to elude a mysterious man (Segan) who has been tracking her through the forest.” Around the ‘net… Dark Knight Rises Ticket Sales Set for Monday The Batman movie still has 45 days before it hits screens, but for those wanting to make extra sure they’re in a theater opening night for the final Christopher Nolan epic can get reserve their tickets via the internet at noon June 11th, EW reports . Hot Writer Pushing Justice League at Warner Bros. The Avengers is a punch out for Disney and Marvel, but Warner Bros is stealthily getting its own superhero brass, with Will Beall set to write Justice League based on the WB-held series of DC Comics, Variety reports . My Salinger Year Set for Adaptation River Road Entertainment has optioned screen rights to Joanna Smith Rakoff’s My Salinger Year and Emma Forrest will adapt the novel. The story centers on the author’s own experience when she took a clerical job at an agency that represented The Catcher in the Rye author J.D. Salinger and their unexpected relationship, Deadline reports . Journey 2 Director Ponders Disaster Movie San Andreas 3D Brad Peyton is in talks to direct New Line’s San Andreas 3D . The plot is secret, but San Andreas is the name of California’s biggest fault lines, so let your imagination go wild… The budget is said to be in the $100 million range (now it can go really wild), THR reports . A Brave New World for non-U.S. Film Stars Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba, Gael García Bernal. Those are some of stars who could capitalize as big-budget filmmaking increasingly targets new markets, The Guardian reports .
Also up for Tuesday morning’s new round up, Oscilloscope picks up a SXSW selection, MTV Movie Awards suffers a decline in ratings. Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins readies for the camera to play the role of a rock legend and Venice taps an Italian actor to lead its Horizons jury. Oscilloscope Nabs SXSW Doc Tchoupitoulas Pronounced “Chop-Ih-Tou-Less,” the New York-based specialty distributor picked up North American rights to the feature directed by Bill and Turner Ross. The film is described as a “lyrical documentary that follows three adolescent brothers as they journey through one night in New Orleans, encountering a vibrant kaleidoscope of dancers, musicians, hustlers, and revelers parading through the lamplit streets.” The deal was finalized at the recently completed Cannes Film Festival. David Laub and Dan Berger of Oscilloscope negotiated the deal with George Rush on behalf of the filmmakers. The film is produced by the Ross Brothers along with Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, and Josh Penn of Court 13. 1st Look East: Korean Film Festival Takes Shape Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood will be the home of the first annual event celebrating Korean cinema June 23 – 24. A 3D version of cult favorite The Host is on tap to join the roster of ten films, including U.S. premieres Flower in Hell and A Hometown in My Heart . Around the ‘net… Next Up for Ridley Scott: Moses The Prometheus director had some choice words for religion – all religions – and let it slip that he will direct the film about the Biblical figure, noting, “I probably shouldn’t have let that slip out. I’m not supposed to say anything. It’s definitely in the cards though…” Esquire reports . Amazon Studios to Conquer Rome with Zombies The studio has tapped Clive Barker to re-write and direct Zombies vs. Gladiators in which a shaman who faces death in the Coliseum casts a spell creating the world’s first zombies. But a gladiator steps in to try and end the zombie menace and save Rome, Deadline reports . MTV Movie Awards Takes a Hit The zany awards show saw a 28% decline in the 12 – 34 age range, perhaps a victim of the waning Twilight craze, Deadline reports . Foo Fighters Drummer to Play Iggy Pop Taylor Hawkins will play rock legend Iggy Pop in the upcoming rock film CBGB . Also joining the cast are The Big Bang Theory ‘s Johnny Galecki as music manager Terry Ork and portraying Patti Smith will be The Borgias actress Mickey Sumner, THR reports . Favino to Preside over Venice’s Horizons Jury Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino ( Angles and Demons ) will lead the Venice Film Festival’s cutting-edge Horizons section. Venice’s new artistic director Alberto Barbera has tightened the Horizons section’s lineup to 18 feature films, including some docs, representing “the latest trends in global cinema,” Variety reports .
Also in Tuesday afternoon’s news round-up, Participant Media picks up Mexican actor/filmmaker Diego Luna’s latest project starring Michael Peña and America Ferrera, Relativity scores Alberto Iglesias for its latest project, indie thriller Backgammon gets rolling, meeting young Hollywood’s “It-Photographer” and Moscow’s Bolshoi to hit U.S. theaters. Participant Takes Rights to Diego Luna’s Chavez Participant Media has taken North American rights to the film which stars Crash actor Michael Peña as the famed California labor organizer Cesar Chavez. Currently filming in Sonora, Mexico, the film also stars America Ferrera, Rosario Dawson and Wes Bentley in a script by Hotel Rwanda writer Keir Pearson. The story revolves around “Chavez’s fearless determination in organizing the largest non-violent protest in U.S. history to accomplish his ultimate goal of obtaining basic human rights for over 50,000 farm workers in California.” Relativity Taps Alberto Iglesias to Score Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace The three-time Oscar®-nominated composer Alberto Iglesias ( Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ) to score the gritty drama currently-titled Out of the Furnace , written and directed Scott Cooper ( Crazy Heart ). The film stars Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe and Sam Shepard. Indie Thriller Backgammon Begins Shoot 3:1 Cinema and Fischer Productions have begun production on the project, based on the cult novel Bloody Baudelaire by R.B. Russell. Directed by Francisco Orvañanos stars group of up-and-comers including Noah Silver ( The Borgias ), Brittany Allen ( The Rocker ) Alex Beh ( Sugar ), Olivia Crocicchia ( Terri ) and Christian Alexander ( The Lying Game ). Around the ‘net… Jon Favreau May Be Heading to Jersey Boys The Iron Man director is apparently the frontrunner to direct GK Films’ Jersey Boys , Graham King’s feature adaptation of the Broadway musical “Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.” The story revolves around Valli and the other members of pop group Four Seasons during their meteoric rise to stardom, Variety reports . Police Academy Reboot Taps Jeremy Garelick Garelick, who wrote The Break-up is joining New Line’s revival of the Police Academy franchise which produced seven versions of the comedy beginning in the ’80s, Deadline reports . Extreme Photographer of Lindsay Lohan & Young Hollywood Gets Notoriety and Threats Tyler Shields, who photographed Lindsay Lohan with a gun in her mouth, is getting death threats with his new series, which shows his g/f Francesca Eastwood (daughter of Clint) destroying a $100K Hermès Birkin bag. Shields is young Hollywood’s de factor house photographer, The Daily Beast reports . Six Ballets to Emerge at Cinemark Theaters: Summer Emerging Pictures will present “Ballet in Cinema” at 50 Cinemark Theatres beginning in June. The six recently recorded live ballets will play across the U.S. through August inkling performances from Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet, Thompson on Hollywood reports .
