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Peckinpah, Pirates and the French Take Manhattan

By Martha Fischer (Subscribe to Martha Fischer's posts), Posted Aug 6th 2006 11:05AM
Filed under: Action, Classics, Drama, Foreign Language, Thrillers, Fandom, Other Festivals, Cinematical Indie, Cinematical
A trio of insanely great series recently started in New York City, once again displaying the cultural embarrassment of riches with which those of us lucky enough to live here grapple on a daily basis (I'm not complaining, trust me).

Friday saw the opening of Summer Swashbucklers at Manhattan's Film Forum, a series of 30 pirate and adventure films -- most made between 1920 and 1950 -- that will unspool over the next three weeks, many of them in double features. Among the films in the series are such Errol Flynn classics as Captain Blood (his first starring role, in which he displays a surprising knack for screwball humor) and The Adventures of Robin Hood, the elder Douglas Fairbanks' The Mark of Zorro and The Three Musketeers, and Gunga Din, starring the junior Fairbanks and Cary Grant.

Meanwhile, over in Brooklyn, the BAM Cinematek has put together two truly magnificent series that will run concurrently though the month of August. The first half of each week features the work of controversial American master Sam Peckinpah, from the shocking Straw Dogs (that one's showing Tuesday the 15th -- go see it, if you haven't) to the Steve McQueen starrers The Getaway and Junior Bonner. Then, from Thursday to Sunday each week, the theater is given over to a series called Leading Men of French Cinema. As you might expect, the films showcase the work of a wide range of French stars, in films that are equally diverse. Highlights of the series include Purple Noon, Rene Clement's 1960 version of The Talented Mr. Ripley (starring Alain Delon at his most impossibly beautiful), Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le fou (starring the wonderful Jean-Paul Belmondo) and Les tontons flingueurs, which stars Lino Ventura, a wrestler who transformed himself during the 1960s into an unexpectedly appealing screen presence.

While September is sure to bring good series of its own, these are all well worth sweating on a subway platform to see.

Who Wants to Hang with the Wild Things?

By Martha Fischer (Subscribe to Martha Fischer's posts), Posted Aug 6th 2006 9:00AM
Filed under: Animation, Classics, Casting, RumorMonger, Family Films, Cinematical
It's really hard to tell whether this is real or not -- it's in a couple of places around the web, but no one lists a precise source for the request. Plus, the email addresses are personal, not directed to a specific firm or publicist. This site (which looks like it focuses on a musical) seems to be where the call originated; I suppose, given Spike Jonze's strong music ties, that such a thing popping up there is possible.

Anyway, here's the deal: Supposedly, there's an open call (It looks like maybe they didn't find him in NYC last month.) for the actor who will play Max in Jonze's screen version of Where the Wild Things Are. If you (And if you're a kid Max's age, reading Cinematical? We love you) or your kid is between seven and nine years of age -- they'll take a precocious seven-year-old or a short, young-looking nine, but eight is ideal -- who is "sensitive, loving, lovable, smart, with a sense of humor," not to mention "playful, rambunctious, mischievous," you might want to be emailing these folks, because your boy is in demand. Of course, since that describes pretty much every eight-year-old boy I've ever met, at least during his good moments, your kid might be part of a rather massive casting pool.

If anyone has more info about the legitimacy of this call, let us know in the comments.

Today in Unexpected Marketing: Black Snake Moan Trailer with SOAP

By Martha Fischer (Subscribe to Martha Fischer's posts), Posted Aug 5th 2006 7:05PM
Filed under: Drama, Paramount, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Movie News, Cinematical
When release dates are pushed back more than a week or so, I immediately get nervous. Unless the move is into December, so the short-attention-spanned Academy members will remember the film, my assumption is that there's something wrong with the movie, and the distributor is trying to either hide it, or put it up against competition so bad that audiences will have no choice but to see it. In the case of Black Snake Moan, however, I actually buy the explanation for the move: Craig Brewer's potentially controversial follow-up to Hustle & Flow stars Samuel L. Jackson, whose name you can't mention these days without thinking of Snakes on a Plane. Since Black Snake Moan is a reportedly very serious film about "a young nymphomaniac (Christina Ricci) who has to be 'cured' by an older bluesman (Lazarus, played by Jackson)," it's understandable that Paramount would want to distance it from the goofy, badass buzz that's been generated by SOAP.

Though the release of Black Snake Moan has consequently been moved from September 15 (only a month after the SOAP open) to February 17, its trailer will nevertheless be attached to about 1500 prints of that film, which makes one wonder how much distance will actually be achieved. It also makes one wonder what the hell Paramount is thinking. When I see a movie theatrically, I can tell with, say, 90% accuracy if I've made a terrible mistake just by watching the previews that are shown beforehand -- trailers pretty reliably share a tone and audience with the feature to which they're attached. Black Snake Moan and SOAP? Not so freaking much. It's very odd -- Paramount seems to be running from the SOAP connection while simultaneously trying to ride the Jackson buzz to boost the Black Snake Moan. It'll be interesting to see if this has a positive effect on the film's eventually box office; I'm guessing no.

Next from WWE: The Marine

By Martha Fischer (Subscribe to Martha Fischer's posts), Posted Aug 4th 2006 9:01PM
Filed under: Action, Thrillers, Movie Marketing, Movie News, Cinematical
We reported back in April on the rise of WWE Films, a new division of World Wrestling Entertainment dedicated to creating and financing (as long as distribution is in place before production begins) vehicles for the wrestlers who ply their trade for WWE. The label's first film, a horror flick called See No Evil, starred Kane and was released earlier this year -- albeit to largely dismal reviews -- by Lionsgate. Though the original report indicated that WWE Films' second release would be a Steve Austin vehicle called The Condemned, it turns out that an action/revenge film called The Marine will be hitting screen in October; Austin's film doesn't yet have a release date.

Now, I'm embarrassed to say this, but the Marine trailer really, really worked, at least on my little brain. It had me, as they, say at "hello" -- if by "hello" you mean "Robert Patrick as baddie." Patrick plays an evil, violent bastard who takes the wife of John Cena's character hostage at as a gas station, and drives off with her. Which, needless to say, is a bad idea -- in addition to being played by a badass professional wrestler, the guy is also an ex-Marine, giving him to ability to defeat legions of bad guys with his bare hands. What's so great about all of this, though, is the way Patrick has totally bought into his character's sleaze, and the sort of joyful irritation that colors his delivery -- you never dreamed "I tried to kill this guy twice today" could be pronounced quite so perfectly. He's basically playing Walken-lite, and seems utterly thrilled by the whole silly thing.

So, yeah. Maybe this WWE Films thing isn't such a bad idea after all.

[via JoBlo]

Lau's Protege Gets Underway

By Martha Fischer (Subscribe to Martha Fischer's posts), Posted Aug 4th 2006 6:02PM
Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Casting, Newsstand, Cinematical Indie, Movie News, Cinematical
Protege, a movie described as Hong Kong's answer to Traffic and Donnie Brasco, recently got script approval from the Chinese government, and immediately went into production in HK. The film, which is budgeted at about $4.5 million and is expected to be ready for release early next year, is "a realistic portrayal of the underworld shot in a contemporary way" that centers on a drug dealer (supposedly a real-life figure, though no one has any details about the guy) and his protege. Derek Yee will direct a cast that includes the ageless Andy Lau (who I'm always surprised to see can actually act) as the dealer and Daniel Wu as the protege; also in the movie are Louise Koo and Anita Yuen.

Though the film's producers claim that no changes were made to please government censors, the constant emphasis in the press on their positive message -- "drugs kill and drugs are bad" -- at least makes clear the angle they used to get approval. Whether the finished product will get approval, of course, remains to be seen.

Jesus Camp NOT Pulled From Moorefest

By Martha Fischer (Subscribe to Martha Fischer's posts), Posted Aug 4th 2006 4:08PM
Filed under: Documentary, Independent, Magnolia, Celebrities and Controversy, Politics, Michael Moore, Cinematical Indie, Movie News, Cinematical
As Chris reported last week, Magnolia Pictures acquired Jesus Camp -- a documentary about "three Missouri kids who travel to ... [an] evangelical summer camp" -- for North American distribution, and immediately decided to pull the film from Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival. The people at Magnolia were concerned that the film would immediately get a Liberal! label from the association with Moore, and since they hope to market it to both liberals and more conservative Evangelical Pentecostals, the company's president thought it was best to keep their movie out of the festival.

The problem, however, is that Moore doesn't care what Magnolia wants. It turns out that their decision to pull the film was more of a request -- one that Moore denied. In fact, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Jesus Camp is screening twice in Traverse City: Once today, and once tomorrow. Take that, you Magnolia bastards!

That Michael Moore -- he never stops stickin' it to the man, even when the man is an independent distributor with a stable of films that, when political, lean decidedly to the liberal side of the spectrum.

Columbia Stepping With Talladega Team

By Martha Fischer (Subscribe to Martha Fischer's posts), Posted Aug 4th 2006 1:32PM
Filed under: Comedy, Casting, Deals, Newsstand, Movie News, Cinematical
Check this out: Even before Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby hit theaters, Columbia Pictures was already so in love with the men behind it that, based only on a pitch, they threw a huge pile of money at them yesterday. The pitch was for a comedy called Step Brothers, which will be directed by Adam McKay from a script he'll write with Will Ferrell. Yes, that sentence also describes both Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights, which goes a long way towards explaining Columbia's eagerness to lock the project up before anyone else even saw it.

And the Talladega Nights connection goes even further: Step Brothers will star Ferrell and John C. Reilly as "coddled guys who live with their respective single parents. Their folks fall in love and marry, making the guys stepbrothers." In case you're been under a rock for the post month or so, that duo just happens to star in Talladega Nights, as well. Gee, think Columbia is excited about the movie?

In addition to signing the duo for Step Brothers, the studio also already agreed to salaries for its stars and director; production is scheduled to begin next summer.
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