The new Bob Berney/Bill Pohlad combine scored quite a coup by pre-buying, sight unseen, off a set visit and a script, the new Jane Campion film Bright Star, which screened well Friday morning for the press corps. I caught Berney and Pohlad on the Croisette Friday, beaming over the favorable early reaction. They're opening the film on September 18. "Toronto will be the launch of the campaign," said Berney. Awards season is in their sights, but the prime target audience will be teenage girls, says Berney. Pohlad and Berney still haven't cleared the name of their company, which was hard to choose. "We have to live with it for a while," says Berney, who saw Bright Star two weeks ago.
Read More »Martin Scorsese rode into Cannes on Friday. He turned up at the American Pavilion to dedicate the Roger Ebert Conference Center. "Welcome back," fest delegate general Thierry Fremaux said to Ebert, who had been unable to attend for several years as he battled throat cancer. While he used a mechanical voice box at the ceremony, at the reception Ebert communicated with Scorsese, Fremaux, director Paul Cox, Sony Pictures Classics' Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, and critics Pierre Rissient and Kenneth Turan via writing pad. Ebert's blogging the fest and had seen just one film at Cannes so far, Bright Star.
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