In Contention

Category: Daily

  • Producer Jon Peters looking to land a book deal

    Jon PetersIf there’s one Hollywood memoir I’d love to get my hands on, it has to be that of producer Jon Peters.  Barbra Streisand’s former beau and a certifiable wack-job if you trust the unavoidable talk of a town built by guys like this, Peters first caught my attention when I was a kid.  The movie was, of course, Tim Burton’s “Batman” and every name in that amazing opening credits sequence was seared into my consciousness.

    But Peters has more than been around the block, from 1976’s “A Star is Born” to Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns” (another property he has on lock-down), give or take a “Witches of Eastwick” or a “Tango & Cash.”  Hell, did you know the Peters/Peter Guber team was involved with Simpson/Bruckheimer on “Flashdance” of all films?  The mind boggles.

    Anyway, it looks like Peters is strutting his stuff and trying to land a hunk of change for his life story, according to the New York Post’s Cindy Adams:

    In his mid-60s, he’s now low-key but chubby, gray-haired, bearded, semi-scruffy, could use a hairdresser, and at one meeting never removed his coat. Mused the editor: “I think it was to hide that he’s fat.”

    He’s had multiple wives. His selling pitch is, no woman can resist him. No woman he can’t turn on. No woman who’ll voluntarily leave him. Of all his bedmates, he calls Barbra “the best.” He brought a collaborator who actually read his proposal aloud for him because, for whatever reason, Jon Peters does not, cannot or will not read.

    Because he’ll name-drop, one publisher offered a $550,000 advance. He refused that. Another offered $875,000. Looks like he’ll take that.

    All of this reminds me of the Kevin Smith story about his involvement on the “Superman” reboot over a decade ago and Peters’s obsession with certain plot particulars.  If you haven’t seen it, you must.  Check it out after the jump.

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  • Soderbergh offers up expletives in response to ‘Avatar’ footage

    Steven SoderberghI’m a bit behind the curve on getting to this item so apologies if you’ve already read about it.  Back in February, Total Film magazine put together a great feature on James Cameron’s “Avatar,” an anticipated “game changer” set for release later this year and probably the industry’s most anticipated film since, well, Cameron’s last effort, 1997’s “Titanic.”  One of the people interviewed in the piece was filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, who, at the time, couldn’t contain his excitement at the footage he’d seen:

    “Yeah, I went to the set…I can tell you that shit was mindblowing. The shit I saw was crazy. Like, craaaazy. I I think it’s gonna be gigantic. It’s gonna be another one of those benchmarks. There’s gonna be Before that movie and After.”

    Well in a recent interview for “The Girlfriend Experience” with Coming Soon’s Ed Douglas, Soderbergh still had it on his mind:

    We were asking why [Soderbergh] thought recent films didn’t have quite the impact or longevity as the classics, and he gave us a great response about how the volume of movies being made and seen made it hard for anything to have the cultural impact of a movie like The Godfather or be remembered. He was disappointed there weren’t those sorts of benchmarks in the movies being made today, but he surprised us by adding that he thought James Cameron’s Avatar would be one of those benchmarks:

    “I’ve seen some stuff and holy sh*t. It’s the craziest sh*t ever. That could negate everything I just said,” he told us.

    There we are.  The sh*ts have it.  Can any film live up tho this kind of expectation?

  • Absolutely no reason whatsoever

  • ‘The Road’ gets a release date

    (from left) Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Scott-McPhee in The RoadJohn Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” has been a big question mark for film-goers ever since it was yanked from the 2008 awards season.  I heard at the time (second hand) that the film was in disarray and needed to be “completely taken apart.”  Brian Kinsley, you may recall, reviewed the screenplay (essentially a cut-and-paste job) for us back in September.

    Whatever needed to happen seems to have happened as I’ve been hearing great things here and there, mainly for Viggo Mortensen’s lead performance.  And now, according to The Weinstein Company’s website, the film has finally nailed down a 2009 release date for the film: October 16.

    This is great positioning if TWC/Dimension is to take the genre film route with marketing, and from what I’ve heard, that would be the smart play.  Two weeks before Halloween and decent exposure in the middle of the awards season gives the studio some leverage on where to take it.  Audience and especially critical approval will tell the tale soon enough.

    In case you missed it, Guy wrote up a recently revealed gallery of conceptual art work for the film earlier this week.  I’m most looking forward to Nick Cave’s work with Warren Ellis on the film’s score, as their collaboration on “The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford” in 2007 was absolute magic.  Cave talked about his work in the film industry with the LA Times last year.

  • Downey suits up one more time

    Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 2

    (Courtesy: USA Today)

  • Gluttony unfolds at Hollywood ‘Star Trek’ premiere

    Star Trek premiere

  • New ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ trailer and clip

    The new trailer for Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” leaked out yesterday. It was crappy quality but if you were dying to see it, I’m sure you saw it. Well today, the official HD trailer has been released at Yahoo! Movies. I think it’s safe to say the film will blow stuff up good:

    Also, check out a three-week-old clip/trailer hybrid that popped up on Michael Bay’s official site a few weeks ago after the jump. It’s new to me, probably not to you.

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  • Reason why I can’t wait to see ‘The Hurt Locker,’ #183

    Admittedly, I don’t like that too-glib tagline. But just as with a similar tease shot in the trailer, this image alternately stops my heart and sends it racing.  Conveying tension through a one-sheet is not easily done — this may not be the prettiest poster out there, but it’s certainly effective. Meanwhile, that sharp A.O. Scott quote forms a perfect description of what I always hope Kathryn Bigelow’s films will do, but so often fall just short of achieving.

    Even if this year’s blockbuster lineup weren’t quite as unalluring as it is, this would be my most eagerly awaited title of the summer. I’ve been salivating since last autumn — the wait has been too long.

    The Hurt Locker

  • Focus backs Mike Leigh’s latest

    Mike LeighHere’s something to brighten the day. It would seem that a new Mike Leigh joint (sorry, I couldn’t resist) is on its way sooner rather than later — great news considering the four-year gap between “Vera Drake” and “Happy-Go-Lucky.”

    Screen International reports that Focus Features International has secured worldwide rights to the still-untitled project, and will co-fund the film together with the UK Film Council and Film4 (the same folks behind the auteur’s last effort). Poignantly, this will be the last producing credit for the dearly departed Simon Channing Williams, Leigh’s longtime collaborator.

    If memory serves, this marks Leigh’s first go-round with Focus, and it sounds like a pretty good pairing to me — perhaps a necessary change after Miramax’s slightly indifferent handling of “Happy-Go-Lucky.”

    A formidable cast of Leigh veterans is already in place, with the “Vera Drake” team of Imelda Staunton and Phil Davis being joined by “Topsy-Turvy’s” Jim Broadbent — a heavyweight trio, by any standards. No plot details, of course, though the article promises “an intimate portrait of people’s lives” (from Leigh? I’d never have guessed) based on “unique improvisational techniques.” (Well, knock me down with a feather.)

    I’m totally in. But you knew that.

  • AIG is good. AIG works.

    Earlier this week we told you about Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street” sequel, which will be “ripped from today’s headlines” according to Fox’s Gregg Brilliant.  Today I ran across this image from Awards Daily’s coverage of the news and I couldn’t help but chuckle.  I’m not sure if AD’s Ryan Adams threw it together or not, so if the credit is due elsewhere, apologies.

    AIG is good.

  • ‘Girlfriend’ drops On Demand today

    Sasha Grey in The Girlfriend ExperienceSteven Soderbergh is one of the intrepid titans of the day-and-date release system, causing the film purists to remain up in arms here and there.  His thriller “Bubble” opened simultaneously in theaters and on the cable/satellite TV network HDNet Movies just over three years ago. But he’s trying something a little different this year.

    “The Girlfriend Experience” lands tonight on Video On Demand networks across the country, more than three weeks before its May 22 theatrical release.  The film is already available at Amazon’s On Demand service as a “pre-theatrical rental.”  You can stream the film or download it to your PC for $9.99.  Downloads to Macs aren’t currently available (sacrilege!).  At a brisk 77 minutes, it’s not a bad way to see the film.

    Since the world portrayed in the film is very real and, with the controversy surrounding former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, quite current, I’m surprised there hasn’t been a smart piece out there featuring the assessments, even anonymously, of people with…experience, shall we say.  Nothing yet.

    The film features adult film star Sasha Grey in her first mainstream appearance.  Reviews will probably land, by and large, when the theatrical release hits but I’ll probably have something up later this evening (no pun intended).

    Here’s the trailer:

  • “I just don’t know if I’m going to be that dope.”

    will.i.amWith “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” having landed with a bit of a thud, the snarkster in me couldn’t help but smile at a couple of soundbites from this interview with supporting player will.i.am:

    “I’m nervous to see my performance,” said the self-described “X-Men” fan. “My participation in it automatically lends itself to: That dude messed the film up.”

    “This film showed me what I’m capable of doing, and I’m capable of letting go,” he said. “Now I’ve got to let go and watch it. I know it’s going to be dope, I just don’t know if I’m going to be that dope.”

    Well, according to Kris’s review, what he’s “capable of doing” isn’t very much, but clearly, the film’s problems run deeper than having a gimmicky pop-hopper (not a real term, I admit, but how else to describe his music?)  in a supporting role. So to say he “messed the film up” would probably be unfair.

    But as fans of decent music know by now, will.i.am’s presence rarely augurs well for a project, so I guess the curse transfers to film as well. (Bias alert: I’m still bitter about Macy Gray’s hideous last album.)

    Meanwhile, someone from the “Wolverine” supporting gallery who I’d like to think has a brighter acting future is “Friday Night Lights” star Taylor Kitsch. (Gotta love that name.) There’s a fairly unrevealing piece about the young actor here, one of those that describes a process seemingly far more elaborate than the eventual performance. (If the film does indeed portray the “complexity” and multiple “levels” of the Gambit character alluded to in the article, the reviews aren’t reflecting it.)

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  • POLL: The most influential films of all time, round one, part three

    Alright, we’ve moved on and three more films have survived: “The Birth of a Nation,” “The Godfather Part II” and “Metropolis.”  Color me confused on the inclusion of Coppola’s film.  Chalk it up to popularity, I guess, because it’s a shame to see truly deserving films like “The Jazz Singer,” “sex, lies and videotape” and even “Die Hard” get passed over for something that no one (I think) can argue as more influential (even if it is a masterpiece).  But that’s how it crumbles.

    Next up, a new set of ten and your choice of three to continue.  As always, check out the background on this series here.  Give us your vote in the sidebar and feel free to cut loose in the comments section below with your thoughts on the series so far.

    This poll will close in one week, Wednesday, May 6 at 2:00pm PST.

  • ‘Julie & Julia’ trailer

    And with that, Meryl Streep’s journey to a Best Supporting Actress nomination is underway.  Unless, of course, the studio and/or producer Scott Rudin get greedy and take a stab at lead.  She’s certainly got the character down pat.  Here’s the teaser poster if you missed it.  And the trailer:

  • Danny Huston to play Poseidon in ‘Clash of the Titans’

    Danny HUstonBoy, Danny Huston sure does seem to be going for the cash grab lately.  He’s a talented actor, so I sure wish he’d try to expand beyond the creative rut he’s in right now.  First “30 Days of Night,” then “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” now this?  We’re a long way from “The Proposition.”

    All that said, I’m strangely looking forward to the “Clash” remake, which has already landed Liam Neeson in the role of Zeus and Sam Worthington in the role of Perseus.  Ralph Fiennes is also set to star as Hades and one of my favorite young actresses, Alexa Davalos, has been cast as Andromeda.

    Here’s the Hollywood Reporter brief, fit with an unfortunate lede:

    Danny Huston is getting wet for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures.

    Huston has been cast as Poseidon in “Clash of the Titans” opposite other Mount Olympus power players Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes. Sam Worthington, Mads Mikkelsen, Gemma Arterton, Jason Flemyng and Alexa Davalos also are in the cast.

    The retelling of the Perseus myth, directed by Louis Leterrier (“The Incredible Hulk”), began shooting Monday outside London.

    The question remains. Who’s gonna play Medusa!?

  • Adam West’s Batman garage sale

    (via /Film)

  • ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ trailer leaks

    I’m not going to post an embed because I KNOW this thing will be pulled down, so catch it while you can.  Awful quality, the sound goes out toward the end, but oh well.  The real deal will be up tomorrow.  Too bad someone couldn’t wait.

  • ‘Antichrist’ poster

    Yes, we’ve seen the image and typography already, but since they were so striking, why not carry them through to the poster too? I’m guessing this is not a design you’ll be seeing at your local multiplex any time soon — all the more reason to savour it:

    Antichrist

    [Source: IMP Awards]