"Brokeback Mountain" Lawsuit Claims Focus 'Movie Laundering Scheme'

Expect to hear a lot more about this...Actor Randy Quaid has filed a lawsuit against Focus Features, claiming that he was misled about Brokeback Mountain being a small movie in what his lawyers are calling a "movie laundering scheme". In court documents filed yesterday in Los Angeles (and published by AOL's TMZ.com), Quaid's lawsuit (seeking $10 millon in damages) reads:

Producers James Schamus and David Linde, by and through Focus Features, LLC, and Del Mar Productions, succeeded in obtaining Randy Quaid's performance in 'Brokeback Mountain' by falsely representing it as a low-budget, art-house film, with no prospect of making any money. Yet, from day one, defendents fully intended that the film would not be made on a low budget, would be given a worldwide release, and would be supported as the studio picture it always was secretly intended to be.

Additionally, the filing also contends that Quaid is "an instantly recognizable household name and much-admired actor on the world's stage". His legal representatives claim that he is responsible for a worldwide box office of "nearly $2 billion." The film was made for a reported $13.9 million and has grossed more than $80 million in the U.S. [Eugene Hernandez] 
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"The Cruise" At Midnight Friday & Saturday

Documentary coverage sponsored by SnagFilms.

Earlier this week we touted "Capote" director Bennett Miller's appearance to sign DVDs in New York City...not to be overlooked is this weekend's midnight screenings of Miller's doc, "The Cruise," scheduled for Friday and Saturday night's at the Angelika Film Center in Manhattan. As mentioned earlier this week, "The Cruise" is a portrait of New York City tour guide Timothy "Speed" Levitch and was featured in a 1998 indieWIRE interview of Miller and Levitch by Anthony Kaufman.  
[permalink]   [ filed under Documentary, Events ]

Sundance Cinemas Gets SF's Kabuki

Sundance Cinemas has announced its purchase of San Francisco's Kabuki 8 Theater. The uptstart art cinema chain announced a deal to take over the site from AMC Theaters after this years San Francisco International Film Festival, making it the second location for the new national outlet. The company is currently under construction on a 6-screen site in Madison, WI. The new Sundance Kabuki is set to open in November. The new 8 screen Sundance venue in SF will open this fall, according to an announcement today. "The Kabuki is a dream location for Sundance," said Sundance Cinemas CEO Paul Richardson. "The theatre has a great location central to all of San Francisco and we are very pleased to be part of the Japan-town community." Richardson and company president Bert Manzari previously worked together at Landmark Theaters, the leading art house chain in the U.S. SF Film Society's Graham Leggat told indieWIRE Thursday that the organization has been in discussions with Sundance and they plan to present a number of events at the new Kabuki in the future, including the annual international fest. [Eugene Hernandez] 
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Altman's Latest: "Prairie Home Companion"

Robert Altman's new film, fresh from screenings at the Berlin and SXSW film fests, is gearing up for a summer release. The folks at Picturehouse sent over a link to the film's trailer, so here it is (available now on AOL). We caught the film in Berlin, and in the indieWIRE Dispatch published from the fest, co-star Meryl Streep said during a press conference, "I feel really proud of the movie and I think its properly subversive and its very human," adding that the movie, about the end of Garrison Keillor long-running radio variety show, "I think its properly subversive and very human. It relies on humor and music to communicate what's being lost...For me it was really great to locate something true about America, something that cuts across all levels of sophistication and humanity, about who we are as Americans, and that's why I loved being in it." [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Movies ]

Mangold to be Honored at MoMA

Fresh from his recent success with "Walk the Line, filmmaker James Mangold will be honored with a mid-career tribute at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The event on Tuesday, May 23rd will include an on stage conversation with writer/actor Anna Deavere Smith, as well as film clips. Among Mangold's films (which will screen at MoMA in June) are "Heavy" (1995), "Cop Land" (1997), "Girl, Interrupted" (1999), "Kate and Leopold" (2001), and "Identity" (2003). Previous honoress of "A Work in Progress" are Marc Forster (2005), Sofia Coppola (2004), Alexander Payne (2003), and David O. Russell (2002). [Eugene Hernandez] 
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"Street Fight" Set for Ironweed April

Ironweed Films will distribute Marshall Curry's Oscar-nominated doc about the heated battle to become mayor of Newark, NJ, "Street Fight", as the April feature in its monthly DVD film club. The film, currently screening in theaters, won audience prizes at the Tribeca and Hot Docs fests last year. Ironweed is a monthly subscription club aimed at using " indie films to rally audiences around social and political issues." The site is hoping to get subscribers to attend or host screenings of the film in their homes (or other non-traditional venues) and plans are underway to connect them with progressive candidates. [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Movies ]

Tribeca Unveils 2006 Shorts Roster

The 2006 Tribeca Film Festival announced its shorts competition line up including 76 shorts selected from among 2,150 submissions. Appearing in this year's short narrative films are actors David Straitharn, Henry Winkler, Sandra Bernhard, and Jeffrey Tambor. Documentary subjects include Don Cheadle, Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint and Roseanne Cash. Awards in the short film competition will be presented for Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short and Student Visionary Award. For a full line up and other information, visit the Tribeca Film Festival's website. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals, New York ]

Emerging Pictures to Broadcast 12 Docs from Upcoming Full Frame Fest

New York-based digital cinema network Emerging Pictures will be bring 12 documentary films from the 2006 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival to 11 cities simultaneously across the United States. This is the third consecutive year that Emerging Pictures has, through its Emerging Cinemas network, syndicated Full Frame to theatres across the country, including Buffalo, New York; Ft. Lauderdale, Lake Worth and Sarasota, Florida; Lincoln, Nebraska; Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts; Olympia, Washington; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Tucson, Arizona; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Wilmington, Delaware. The festival will take place April 6th through April 9th in Durham, NC. indieWIRE will publish a Full Frame line up story in the near future. [Brian Brooks]  
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"My Grandmother's House" to Open Brooklyn Underground

International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) winner "My Grandmother's House" will open the Brooklyn Underground Film Festival, which takes place April 19 - 23. The Spanish doc also took the Silver Images award at the Chicago International Film Festival. [Brian Brooks] 
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Lipsitz's "Air Guitar Nation" Wins SXSW's 24 Beats Per Second Prize

Alexandra Lipsitz's "Air Guitar Nation" has won the South by Southwest (SXSW) 24 Beats Per Second Audience Award. The film, which had its world premiere at SXSW, received the highest votes of all the films in the music-related section of films playing the festival. The runner-up was Zach Niles and Banker White's film, "The Refugee All Stars." The 24 Beats Per Second section of the festival featured 15 music documentaries including Nathaniel Hornblower's "Awesome: I Fuckin' Shot That!," Andrew Shapter's "Before the Music Dies," Steven Cantor and Matthew Galkin's "loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies," the Charlize Theron-produced "East of Havana" and others. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Honors, SXSW ]

Ready for Cannes?

With Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux reportedly saying in Berlin, "Last year, it was a fairly classic lineup. This year, I want to create some surprises," a Reuters/Hollywood Reporter by Charles Masters offers some speculation of films already set for the 2006 Festival de Cannes lineup. Among the titles locked in, according to the fest, are Sofia Coppola's "Marie-Antoinette," "Aki Kaurismaki's "Lights in the Dusk," Pedro Almodovar's "Volver," and Julian Goldberger's "The Hawk Is Dying". Other titles are also speculated and tipped in the lengthy article. 
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Meet Bennett Miller

Oscar nominated director Bennett Miller will be in New York City today (Tuesday) to sign DVD copies of his two feature films, "Capote" (which was released on DVD earlier this month) and his 1998 doc, "The Cruise (hitting DVD today). "The Cruise," a portrait of New York City tour guide Timothy "Speed" Levitch, was featured in a 1998 indieWIRE interview of Miller and Levitch by Anthony Kaufman. Miller will be at Tower Records (4th/Lafayette) today (March 21st) at 6 p.m. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Events ]

BBC: Final Merchant Ivory film debuts

Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson have attended the premiere of the final Merchant Ivory film, "The White Countess," in London. The pair were joined by other members of the cast, including Richardson's mother Vanessa Redgrave. Producer Ismail Merchant died last May at the age of 68. Mr Merchant, director James Ivory and writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala were behind landmark period films such as "A Room With A View" and "Howard's End". BBC reports. 
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AP: "Brokeback Mountain" on DVD on April 4

Those who have yet to see "Brokeback Mountain," or those looking to see it again, will soon have a choice the DVD will hit stores April 4, even with the film still in theatrical release. That's a rare overlap, said a spokeswoman for DVD distributor Universal Studios Home Entertainment. But, she explained, with the film still riding high on its eight Academy Award nominations and three Oscar wins, its theater run has been extended, bumping into the scheduled DVD release. AP reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Movies ]

The Top Ten So Far...

Each Monday, indieWIRE receives the final weekend numbers for specialty releases in theaters. This is our top ten for the past weekend so far, with most numbers already in. The top ten is subject to change before the final chart is published tomorrow and the weekly box office column is written. Three day weekend box office data provided by Rentrak as of Monday, 6:00 p.m. EST. 1. "Thank You For Smoking" (Fox Searchlight) $262,923 ($52,584 per scrn) 2. "The Fallen Idol" (Rialto) $5,658 wknd ($5,658 per scrn) 3. "Tsotsi" (Miramax) $300,467 wknd ($5,271 per scrn) 4. "Don't Come Knocking" (Sony Pictures Classics) $30,630 wknd ($5,105 per scrn) 5. "The Devil's Miner" (First Run) $4,393 wknd ($4,393 per scrn) 6. "Church Ball" (Halestorm) $144,376 wknd ($3,609 per scrn) 7. "Take My Eyes" (New Yorker) $6,440 wknd ($3,220 per scrn) 8. "The Syrian Bride" (Koch Lorber) $9,605 wknd ($3,201 per scrn) 9. "Don't Trip He Ain't Through With Me Yet!" (Freestyle) $164,926 wknd ($3,054 per scrn) 10. "Tamara" (City Lights) $9,154 wknd (3,051 per scrn) 
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Indian Filmmaker Satyajit Ray Commemorated In Son's New Film

Sandip Ray, the son of the late Indian filmmaker, Satyajit Ray, will commemorate some of his father's creations by making a film of his own, based on a story called "Tintoretto's Jesus." Satyajit Ray won an honorary Academy Award in 1991 and beginning in 1966, wrote about 35 stories centered on the character Feluda, who became a well-known constant in Ray's films. Feluda was a detective hero whose creator sought to depict the social changes and political upheavals of eastern India in the 1960s and 70s, an Associated Press article says. Satyajit Ray died in 1992, but his son's film marks 40 years since the creation of Ray's character Feluda. The AP reports 
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First Australian Indegenous Language Film Makes History In Adelaide

The first feature-length movie to be made in an Australian Indigenous language premiered last night at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts, in the Southern Australian city of Adelaide. An audience of approximately 2,000 people turned out to watch director Rolf de Heer's film at Her Majesty's Theater, an ABC online news report states. "Ten Canoes" is set in tribal times on the Arafura swamp in north-east Arnhem land, and tells the story of a man who covets his older brother's wife. The narration is done in English voice-over by David Gulpilil and is subtitled in the Ganalbingu language. The film's entire cast is from the Aboriginal community of Ramingining and all 17 attended the film's world wide premiere at the Adelaide Fesitval.  
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"Napoleon" Star Jon Heder Scores Roles In Six New Films

Only two years after "Napoleon Dynamite" premiered at Sundance Film Festival, the film's lanky, likable, but decidedly unconventional star, Jon Heder, already has six new films hitting the big screen. Heder, 28, will again play a high school geek in Dennis Dugan's upcoming "Benchwarmers." The film is set for release on April 7 by Sony Pictures and Revolution Studios. And in his first leading role since "Napoleon," Heder will star in "School for Scoundrels," a Weinstein company release by director Todd Phillips. Heder portrays an out-of-luck meter maid who takes a night-school class for losers that is taught by Billy Bob Thornton. Heder's other screen credits will soon include the animated film "Monster House," a role alongside Diane Keaton in "Mama's Boy," and a part in Will Ferrell's "Blades of Glory." New York Times' Craig Modderno reports on this modest star who's riding high.  
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Wintonock to be Honored Back Home in Canada

Documentarian Peter Wintonick is one of seven people being presented with the 2006 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, this week. The prize recognizes distinguished career achievement in the visual and media arts by Canadian artists. Wintonick a producer, director, critic and editor of independent film has made a number a number of docs, including "Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media" (with Mark Achbar), "Cinema Verite: Defining the Moment", and "Seeing is Believing: Handicams, Human Rights and the News." 
[permalink]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Honors ]

The Weinstein Company Adopts "Bobby" and "Miss Potter" for Release

The Weinstein Company has acquired rights to two films, including Emilio Estevez's "Bobby," and Chris Noonan's "Miss Potter," the company announced over the weekend. "Bobby," acquired from Michel Litvak's Bold Films (U.S. rights), is an ensemble political-culture drama starring Estevez, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Lindsay Lohan, Elijah Wood, William H. Macy, Helen Hunt, Christian Slater (and more) revisiting the night Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968, and focuses on how the lives of those at the hotel that evening intersected. The project was brought to TWC by Michelle Krumm, executive vice president of acquisitions and co-productions for TWC. "Miss Potter," starring Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson, Barbara Flynn, Bill Paterson and Lloyd Owen, the film explores the life of Potter (Zellweger), the author of the beloved and best-selling children's book "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and her struggle to overcome a domineering and unsupportive mother and the chauvinism of Victorian England to become a published author. Krumm also brought "Miss Potter" (North American rights) to TWC. Theatrical release dates weren't announced. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions, Biz ]

Defending Day & Date

In her weekly 'Risky Business' column in The Hollywood Reporter, deputy film editor Anne Thompson looks at the mixed results seen in the early experiments with controversial day & date distribution.

...at this stage, no one is willing to risk any serious money. The most high-profile forays into altering the movie release paradigm are Cuban and Wagner's day-and-date January release of Steven Soderbergh's no-frills digital mystery "Bubble" in theaters, on cable channel HDNet and on DVD, and Google Video's January online streaming of Ben Rekhi's digital thriller "Waterborne" for free, followed by downloads at $3.99 a pop and a February DVD release. The net results on both films have been decidedly mixed. For now, theater owners can relax.

 
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