This week on indieWIRE, “Circumstance” won over our critics, we told you what films are sure to offend you this fall, the latest Julia Roberts film got a release date and much more.
News
Graham Leggat, Executive Director of San Francisco Film Society, Dies at 51
Graham Leggat, executive director of the San Francisco Film Society, died yesterday after an 18-month battle with cancer. He was 51.
Focus Features Launches VOD Premiere Label Focus World
Seven months ago, Focus Features launched its VOD label, Focus World. However, there was no announcement; instead, they just released the movies.
Julia Roberts and Ryan Reynolds’ “Fireflies in the Garden” Finally Getting Released
How often does a film starring Julia Roberts and Ryan Reynolds sit on a shelf for three and half years? I guess about as often as one starring Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo and Anna Paquin.
“Metropolis” Returns to Theaters, This Time With Giorgio Moroder’s ‘80s Soundtrack
Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” seems to be the classic that keeps on giving.
HBO Is Ready For a Fourth “Paradise Lost” Movie, But The Directors Might Not Be
HBO is prepared to greenlight a fourth documentary in the “Paradise Lost” saga. Peter Jackson says he’s still funding investigation into the real culprits behind the murders. However, “Paradise Lost” director Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky say they aren’t ready to commit to shooting another doc about the West Memphis Three…
“We Are What We Are” and “Metalocalypse” Directors Join “The ABCs of Death”
Drafthouse Films, Magnet Pictures and Timpson Films have come close to finalizing the list of 26 directors lined up to helm segments for their international co-production “The ABCs of Death.”
Recut “Paradise Lost 3” and Oliver Stone’s U.S. History Doc Added to New York Film Festival
The new ending to Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” will have its world premiere at the upcoming 49th New York Film Festival…
Toronto Film Festival Adds More Tuesday to Complete 2011 Lineup
The mammoth Toronto International Film Festival unveiled the last of its 2011 lineup today, with added titles to its Masters section, including work from Aki Kaurismäki, Hirokazu Kore-Eda, the Dardennes, Bruno Dumont, Gus Van Sant, Béla Tarr and more.
Ben Stiller To Receive BAFTA Los Angeles’ Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award
Ben Stiller will be awarded the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy at the upcoming BAFTA Los Angles Britannia Awards, hosted by Alan Cumming.
Financing Nears On ‘Lunatic At Large’; 2 More Unmade Kubrick Projects Continue Toward Production
Almost as legendary as the films Stanley Kubrick did complete in his lifetime are the numerous projects that went unmade, but a few of those are getting a new lease on life.
Gus Van Sant Retrospective at Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image
Award-winning American director Gus Van Sant will have his work featured in a retrospective at the Museum of the Moving Image from September 9-30.
Box Office: “One Day” Struggles; “Senna” Scores In Sophomore Frame (UPDATED)
Focus Features unleashed its critically challenged British romance “One Day” on a wide 1,721 screens this weekend and the results were slightly more spectacular than the film’s reviews.
indieWIRE’s Weekend Recap: Here Are Eight Stories You May Have Missed
In case you were away from your computer this weekend, here’s a tidy package of our weekend coverage that includes this week’s indie and mainstream box-office reports, Pixar news and more.
Watch Miramax Movies on Facebook in U.S., UK and Turkey
In Miramax’s latest attempt to make money off their library digitally (they already have deals with Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and Apple), the company has launched the largest-scale Facebook streaming movie app to-date, not just in the U.S. but in the UK and Turkey as well.
Reviews
What to See, What to Skip: New Reviews This Week
If you’re on the East Coast, it may not be the best weekend to make a trip to the cinema, but everyone else can surely take their pick from this week’s slate of releases. Our reviewers saw no overwhelming successes among this weekend’s headlining films, but it seems there’s one little doc that could lead the pack. Check out the reviews published this week on indieWIRE and our blog network.
Critic’s Notebook | How “Colombiana” Illustrates the Good and Bad of Chaos Cinema
Zoe Saldana is a vengeful force in “Colombiana,” where she plays a fearless assassin named Cataleya, although she’s really just pure energy. The movie follows her on an incessant journey to knock off the men responsible for her parents’ untimely demise.
REVIEW | Paul Rudd Outshines Mediocrity in “Our Idiot Brother”
Hiding behind a shaggy beard and a stoner grin, Paul Rudd plays an amusingly oblivious shlub in “Our Idiot Brother,” but the movie can’t keep up with his comic inspiration.
“Tucker & Dale” The Hillbilly Horror Buddy Comedy You Never Knew You Wanted
ThePlaylist reviews “Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil,” Eli Craig‘s directorial debut…
-Go to page 2 for this week’s Features, Interviews, Trailers and Videos.-
Features
The TIFF Skip List: Here Are 10 Films Not Heading To Toronto
The Toronto International Film Festival finalized its 36th annual lineup yesterday, with 268 features representing 68 countries.
The Top 10 Things Every Film Festival Director Needs to Know
Last week, indieWIRE published The 10 Things You Must Know Before You Set Foot on the Festival Circuit, an excerpt from the Film Collaborative’s upcoming book “Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul.” Now, it’s time for a look at the circuit from the other side of the acceptance letter: The film festival director.
Would You See This Movie? Amy Seimetz’s Cryptic, Nightmare-Inspired “Sun Don’t Shine”
Haunted by a recurring nightmare from childhood, writer and director Amy Seimetz attempts to actualize that very dream in her upcoming “Sun Don’t Shine.” Though she’s keeping mum on plot details, we did get a sense of the film’s themes and atmosphere in indieWIRE’s interview.
How to Make Your First Feature Film for $5,000
Back in the early ‘90s, making a movie for $5,000 was the stuff of legend. Nowadays, that number is practical.
So Taboo: Four Upcoming Films That Promise to Offend
Plenty of provocative and disturbing films pass through the festival circuit. But of those that really tug at societal taboos, it’s a select few that make it to theaters…
The 5 Best Ways to Use Social Media to Build an Audience For Your Movie
Here’s the second in our series of excerpts from The Film Collaborative’s upcoming book, “Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul.” This one’s by social media strategist Sheri Candler.
Critical Consensus: “Circumstance” is the Pick of the Week
“Circumstance” – which won the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival – is also the pick of the week, according to the folks polled on criticWIRE…
Four Cool Apps That Help Turn Phones Into Pro-Grade Cameras
One of the reasons Cisco killed the popular Flip cam was its users’ phones did nearly the same thing. They were right; Flip’s death now looks like the start of a filmmaking revolution.
Interviews
INTERVIEW | Paul Rudd Would Like to Play Someone Different, Please
In Paul Rudd’s second film directed by his good friend Jesse Peretz (they collaborated on the 2001 comedy “The Chateau”), Rudd plays the nicest guy since Forrest Gump opened up his box of chocolates.
INTERVIEW | Guillermo Del Toro, Part I: Videogames, Transmedia and Here’s His E-mail
Guillermo Del Toro’s name adorns posters for the horror remake “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” which opens this week, but the director has a lot more on his mind aside from how to scare people.
Guillermo Del Toro, Part II: “The most important element of filmmaking is your freedom.”
In Monday’s first installment of indieWIRE‘s two-part interview with Guillermo Del Toro, the director talked about the evolution of storytelling, explaining his interests in video games and transmedia.
Chameleon Jessica Chastain Talks Tree of Life, The Help, The Debt, Coriolanus
Anne Thompson interviews the rising star and her loaded slate of films…
FUTURES | “Circumstance” Director/Writer Maryam Keshavarz Can’t Go Home Again
Why She’s On Our Radar: Because in a great year at Sundance, her feature narrative directorial debut “Circumstance” beat out a crop of impressive films (including “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “Another Earth,” “Take Shelter” and “Pariah”) to win the coveted Audience Award.
FIRST PERSON: How a Burn Pile of Scripts Led Vera Farmiga To Make “Higher Ground”
In a first-person feature for indieWIRE, Oscar-nominee Vera Farmiga opens up about how her directorial debut “Higher Ground” came to be, and why she decided to go behind the camera.
Trailers
Watch: Gritty Trailer for Paddy Considine’s Directorial Debut “Tyrannosaur”
Paddy Considine, the accomplished British actor likely best known Stateside for his turn alongside Samantha Morton in “In America,” impressed Sundance audiences this year, not for his acting chops but for his undeniable talent behind the camera.
Watch: Trailer For The Silent Movie Sensation “The Artist”
So, are you one of those people who refuses to watch a film that’s in black and white or worst yet [shudder] a silent movie?
Watch: See Johnny Depp Reunite with Hunter S. Thompson in “The Rum Diary” Trailer
Fans of Terry Gilliam’s take on Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing Last Vegas,” have no doubt been anticipating Johnny Depp’s return to Thompson’s world in the long-awaited “The Rum Diary.”
Watch: Sundance Shocker “The Woman” Gets a New Trailer
If you want a good idea of why Sundance got all riled up this year over Lucky McKee’s exploitation film “The Woman,” check out the latest trailer for the horror pic which hits theaters October 14, just in time for Halloween.
Watch: Get Ready to Fall in Love in Trailer for SXSW-Winning Romance “Weekend”
If you’re a fan of of love stories in the vein of “Before Sunrise,” chances are you’ll go for Andrew Haigh’s much-hyped festival darling “Weekend.”
Videos
WATCH: Guillermo del Toro at Lincoln Center: “What’s great is when distributors are brave.”
On August 8, Guillermo del Toro made a special appearance at the Film Society of Lincoln Center with Film Comment Selects: “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” along with stars Katie Holmes and Bailee Madison, and director Troy Nixey.
iW’s Online Video of the Day: Jim Carrey Declares His Love for Emma Stone
Jim Carrey (49), who broke up with his longtime girlfriend Jenny McCarthy last year, made the interesting decision to post a video love letter to Emma Stone (22) on his official website yesterday.
In My Own Words: Jeff Prosserman Shares a Scene from “Chasing Madoff”
When the Bernard Madoff scandal broke in December of 2008, I was fascinated with the magnitude of the scheme and the scope of what thousands of people had lost.
iW’s Online Video of the Day: Ryan Gosling Saves a Life (Well, Kinda) in NYC
We all know Ryan Gosling is a great actor, charming as all hell and has abs that can cut steel. Turns out the Canadian heartthrob is a good Samaritan as well. Go figure.
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