In Contention

Category: Daily

  • Forster on Bond: It’s about character

    Odd to be linking to Time Out twice in one day, but I couldn’t let this interview with Marc Forster, director of the keenly awaited “Quantum of Solace,” go by. The interview finds Forster in London, scrabbling to complete the first edit of the latest 007 outing in a fortnight’s time.

    Many eyebrows were raised when it was revealed that the low-key director of “Monster’s Ball,” “Finding Neverland,” and “The Kite Runner” was taking on this most commercial of franchises – I always thought it rather a nice fit. For me, Forster never injected much individual flair or perspective into his otherwise workmanlike ‘serious’ pictures; I have a feeling more of his creative personality might emerge when working against the grain of his interests. Certainly, Forster doesn’t seem to be radically modifying his storytelling approach – he believes he was hired because the producers wanted a more “emotional component” to the film:

    Several times (Forster) mentions what he believes will be at the heart of the new film: character. ‘The great thing is that Daniel and I had an intense relationship, so between us we could always go back to the character … There’s this conflict going on: he’s an assassin, but he’s also lost someone he loves. We’re asking: where’s the psychological conflict in that?

    Sounds good to me. Other promising tidbits include Forster citing genius production designer Ken Adam, who worked on the first Bond films, as an influence on his creative vision, and a sneak peek at what promises to be the most exciting foe in some time for 007:

    We see a flash, too, of the new Bond villain, French actor Mathieu Amalric, who plays a character with the decidedly unvillainous name of Dominic Greene. ‘In the old Bond films, it was clear who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. Today, it’s not so clear. I feel like Mathieu looks so sympathetic and normal, the type you can’t see right away is the villain.’

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  • Revisiting ‘Naked’

    I’m pleased that at least one person correctly identified Tuesday’s mystery quote (despite my initial absentminded misquoting) as coming from Mike Leigh’s 1993 film “Naked,” a brilliant, bruising urban portrait that still stands, for this writer, as the auteur’s finest film to date. It won Leigh and lead actor David Thewlis richly deserved awards at Cannes, though unsurprisingly, its talkiness (the film is less a narrative than it is a series of ingeniously constructed conversations) and unrelenting pessimism never really caught fire with audiences, least of all Stateside.

    Incredibly, it is only this week that the film has been released on DVD in its home country – a move that, however overdue, at least cunningly coincides with the local DVD release of Leigh’s latest, “Happy-Go-Lucky.” Bringing them out simultaneously is a clever move, not least because the films complement and inform each other so nicely. Very much two sides of the same coin, the films examine the fragile moods and  tensions of middle-class London society through the eyes of two protagonists (dissolute bum Johnny in “Naked” and cheery schoolteacher Poppy in “Happy-Go-Lucky”) poles apart in terms of perspective and ideology.

    Watching the films together, as I did back in April (thanks to the wonder of VHS), puts into quite striking relief the changes (physical, political and sociological) that Britain and its capital have endured in the space of fifteen years. Some would say the contrast points to a change in Leigh himself, though I’m not so convinced – partly because “Happy-Go-Lucky” isn’t as optimistic in its worldview as the title suggests, and partly because “Naked” was preceded by the infinitely warmer and gentler “Life is Sweet,” the closest tonal match for the new film in Leigh’s oeuvre. Like any artist, the man’s moods don’t follow a regular arc.

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  • Step right up…Best Original Song is there for the taking

    Steve Coogan in Hamlet 2Generally around this time of year I start to compile a list of original songs for consideration in our charts…but I have to say, I’m having a hell of a time coming up with a respectable roll call.

    What have we got so far this year?  Peter Gabriel’s “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” seems to be the best shot at the moment.  That is, of course, unless the Academy isn’t keen on the closing credits usage (as mentioned here).

    The “Sex and the City” soundtrack has quite a few original numbers, right?  (I steered clear.)  I think the Jennifer Hudson track “All Dressed Up in Love” is the smart money.

    Focus Features is going to put some effort behind “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” from “Hamlet 2.”  It could make its way through a thin field or on the goodwill of being a laugh riot alone.

    What else?  “The Call” from “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian?”  Wasn’t there an original track from “My Blueberry Nights?”

    I know for a fact that Paramount Vantage won’t have anything to push for “Defiance” or “Revolutionary Road.”  It’s probably for the best since they were (unfairly) ignored for their efforts last year on behalf of Eddie Vedder.  I’m doing some more checking, but just based on what we’ve seen this year, is there ANYTHING worth considering?

    Studios take note: here’s your chance to dive into the fray in at least one category.  Talk about a wasteland…

    Any ideas?

  • Ahem…Oscar possibilities for ‘Vicky’ OUTSIDE of Cruz?

    Rebecca Hall in Vicky Cristina BarcelonaI’m not the first to grant accolades to Woody Allen for his immensely pleasurable and beautiful new film, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” It’s every bit Mr. Allen: funny, pretentious, absurd, cynical, honest, witty and fair.

    We have debated in this space a few times the merits of Mr. Allen’s recent work. He was hailed by critics for “Match Point,” a brutal and deceptive tale of adultery and murder in London. It earned him his 14th screenplay nomination and his 21st nomination overall, which ties him with Billy Wilder if I’m remembering my Oscar history accurately.

    He followed that up with “Scoop,” a not-so-funny film that reminded me, unfortunately, of “Small Time Crooks,” and “Cassandra’s Dream,” a better yet still modest film that did illustrate Colin Farrell’s true potential as an actor. It didn’t go anywhere with critics and was given an early 2008 release date: Siberia for the Oscar-driven. But he’s rebounded, again, with his most recent film for which he smartly cast Penélope Cruz and recent Oscar winner Javier Bardem. Their efforts and talents match perfectly; they are a dynamic on-screen force.

    As most people know by now, the film takes place in Barcelona and involves a circular love affair between two American girls, Vicky and Cristina, played by Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson (whom also starred in “Match Point” and “Scoop”) and Mr. Bardem, an artist, and Ms. Cruz, a crazy artist.

    The film should be a lock for Best Original Screenplay. It’s as good as “Match Point,” if not better (for different reasons), and reminded me, perhaps because of the voice-over narration, of “Husbands and Wives,” which also received a screenplay nod (it lost to “The Crying Game”).

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  • The two Amelias

    Hey, who wants to bet Amy Adams’s performance as Amelia Earhart in next year’s “Night at the Museum 2” (pics have hit the net here) will be more compelling than Hilary Swank’s work in Mira Nair’s “Amelia?”

    Just saying…

    (from left) Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart in Amelia and Amy Adams as same in Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

  • International ‘Frost’ trailer lands

    The site filmtrailer.dk (link via Awards Daily) has posted what appears to be the international trailer for Ron Howard’s upcoming “Frost/Nixon.”  No comment really.  Looks “safe,” I guess.  The meat of the thing will be the interview sequences, of course.  And we’ll see if Peter Morgan has opened the story up from the stage in a way that appeals.  I think it’s a bit dramatic to be using Clint Mansell’s “Fountain” score toward the end, though…

  • More ‘W.’ footage

    It looks like Access Hollywood has some more footage behind the scenes of Oliver Stone’s “W,” including an interview with actor Josh Brolin about his approach to the role.  Check it out:

    (Courtesy: /Film)

  • Could everyone just leave Tom Cruise alone?

    Tom CruiseI don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but the en vogue nature of dog-piling Tom Cruise has started to really get under my skin.

    Sure, Rachel Abramowitz and Anne Thompson are playing the pity card in their tone, but you get the pouring-salt-on-wounds vibe nonetheless.  At Variety, Thompson calls “Lions for Lambs” a flop twice (it is, but once was enough) while Abramowitz tosses around words like “crisis” regarding the actor’s career at the LA Times, all in the service of what?

    The real story is about Paula Wagner leaving United Artists last week, and yet the desire of entertainment journalists is to shine a light on Cruise, off in the corner, making his own moves as usual, some successful, some not, and all of them in the course of a career that is, quite frankly, just fine…if in flux.  Follow-up stories have to be about something when the quote well has dried up, I suppose.

    Commentary on Cruise’s situation is fair enough, but to me it seems like another reason for people to bring up the Oprah couch-jumping “meltdown” (I’ve seen meltdowns and that didn’t come close).  It’s another excuse to discuss Cruise’s waning star.  For Thompson, it’s an opportunity to borderline play psychiatrist:

    The details on the 28th Amendment scenario reveal a good deal about what Cruise is looking for in roles. Cruise played a doctor in Eyes Wide Shut, a U.S. Senator in Lions for Lambs, and a Nazi hero in Valkyrie (a role that I hear is quite moving). Cruise also earned raves in a cameo role in Tropic Thunder as a fat balding venal producer.

    I think the implication is a leader complex.  Cruise prefers to be in positions of power on screen, that right?   I’m editorializing, of course, but that’s the gist I’m getting.  Underneath it all, what’s wrong with shying away from the role of a special ops operative because it’s treading “Mission: Impossible” territory?

    Where some are finding reason to question Cruise’s power within the system he’s triumphed for over two decades, I tend to see an actor conscious of his image while seeking out roles that at least stand out to him, mindful of regressing into a cookie-cutter tool for studio usage.

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  • Seven-minute ‘Other Man’ preview/trailer/thing

    Richard Eyre’s latest hasn’t landed domestic distribution yet, but it could be a great vehicle for stars Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Antonio Banderas and Romola Garai.

    UPDATE (5:04 p.m.): As it turns out, the footage that was in this space was a promo reel meant for distributors, not for audiences.  It’s been yanked from YouTube, so if you saw it, consider yourselves lucky.

  • Under the radar: ‘Disgrace’

    With the Toronto festival just around the corner, one title set to bow there that isn’t garnering that much attention yet is Australian production ‘Disgrace,’ the long-gestating adaptation of Nobel Prize-winner J.M. Coetzee’s searing 1999 masterpiece.

    That’s not exactly surprising, given that it’s a sophomore effort from a director, Steve Jacobs, whose previous credit, the flavourful but slight comedy “La Spagnola,” didn’t make much of an international ripple in 2001. The film is tiny; it also promises to be (if they do it right, at least) intensely bleak. The lone ‘name’ involved, John Malkovich, is something of a niche figure. Suffice to say that there are any number of starrier, sexier prospects in the TIFF lineup.

    But in a quarter already boasting its fair share of prestigious literary adaptations (“Revolutionary Road” and “The Road” being just two of the most anticipated), this is the title that has me most intrigued. I admit my South African bias possibly comes into play here. But you don’t have to be from the country to know what an astonishing novel “Disgrace” is – one that picks apart the moral identity of post-apartheid South Africa with a precision and ruthlessness of Dostoyevskian proportions. In 2006, The Observer named it the greatest “British” (cheekily including the Commonwealth) novel of the last 25 years.

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  • ‘W.’ footage hits the Internets

    Access Hollywood has tossed up some interesting B-roll footage of Oliver Stone’s upcoming “W.”  It gives us our first solid glimpse of Josh Brolin’s performance, and if nothing else, the guy has nailed the cadence of our bumbling Commander-in-Chief and looks to be in confident control of the role.

    Take a look:

  • TIFF 08 looks promising, but still some disappointment

    TorontoThere have been complaints in recent years that the Toronto International Film Festival had gone Hollywood, openly courting the directors and stars to bring their films to town.  Like Dorothy beginning the journey down the yellow brick road, the fest began to become a launching point for Oscar campaigns. No secret, many films that premiere at Toronto move on to win Academy Awards or grab nominations. What began as the upstart Festival of Festivals is now among the top three festivals on the planet, certainly the most important of the fall.

    I have many fond memories. Seeing Robert Duvall’s superb film “The Apostle” for the first time, not realizing a bidding war was happening in the lobby; watching Atom Egoyan’s haunting “The Sweet Hereafter” with the knowledge that Egoyan had become a world class director; seeing a star director born with “Boogie Nights”; knowing that “American Beauty” had begun its journey to Oscar here; screening “Almost Famous” and believing it too was headed for Oscar glory; Ellen Burstyn’s stunning performance in “Requiem for a Dream”; the brilliant Canadian films “The Barbarian Invasions” and “C.R.A.Z.Y.” both from our French speaking province of Quebec; Sofia Coppola becoming a major writer/director with “Lost in Translation”…on and on and on.

    This year, once again, the programmers have done an excellent job finding films from around the globe to bring to our fair city. Among the Gala Presentations are “Burn After Reading,” the latest from the brothers Coen, “The Lucky Ones,” “Pride and Glory,” a cop drama with Edward Norton and Colin Farrell, “Nothing But the Truth,” which Kris revealed yesterday, “Loss of a Teardrop Diamond” with Bryce Dallas Howard in a little known Tennessee Williams screenplay, and “Dean Spanley” with the great Peter O’Toole perhaps again making a run for the Oscar?

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  • Audiences to handle ‘Nothing But the Truth’ in Toronto

    Kate Beckinsale in Nothing But the TruthThe final announcements for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival will land tomorrow morning, and one of the films that will be on the list is Rod Lurie’s “Nothing But the Truth.”

    The festival organizers have been hopeful that they could show the flick as a Gala and now they’ll be doing just that. ‘Truth’ won’t release until December, leaving quite a gap between the festival bow and the domestic unveiling. But this is a good move if early buzz is going to start building for actors Vera Farmiga, Kate Beckinsale, Alan Alda and, to a lesser extent, Matt Dillon.

    I suppose now is as good a time as any to mention that I saw an early cut of the film a few weeks back. And to be sure, I think Beckinsale is going to turn a few heads with her work as a reporter caught on the fence between the security of a source and the demands of the federal government. It’s a de-glam role but not in the typical sense. She is still beautiful throughout, of course, but seems capable of wearing that tired look of a downtrodden warrior.

    Alan Alda is, as usual, a perfect fit as Beckinsale’s attorney. He rolls the dialogue off his tongue in just the right ways and when he’s off screen, I was left wanting more of him. That can go a long way in a supporting campaign. Speaking of which, Vera Farmiga is an absolute firecracker every moment she’s on the screen as the Valerie Plame-like outed CIA operative Erica Van Doren.

    In the film, Lurie is taking what we learned from the Plame affair and spinning it into the realm of (not-so-unthinkable) fiction. He explores the vague nature of shield laws and the perfect track record “national security” enjoys over the First Amendment in this regard, and he does so in typical Lurie fashion.

    Lurie has always been a filmmaker willing to face down tough issues in his films, displaying a knack for boiling them down to a serviceable and entertaining essence. He’s also proven to be more than capable of drawing stellar performances out of his actors (Jeff Bridges, Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, Samuel L. Jackson). I think we could be looking at his next dance with the awards season with this effort.

    Anyway, now is not the time for an in-depth review of “Nothing But the Truth.” Something along those lines will drop closer to the festival, but for now, I’d wager it is a film that will have some support. Hopefully it’ll get the same from a studio with nothing else on the slate this year.

    (Also playing at the fest, by the way, is the Lurie-produced “What Doesn’t Kill You.” That film will be looking to make a splash in an already indie-heavy TIFF slate with Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke starring.)

  • Patrick Goldstein falls for ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’

    With “Happy-Go-Lucky” out on DVD today in my corner of the world, it’s odd to think that America has yet to discover its charms. Early Stateside rumblings, however, suggest that’s just what might happen, as Miramax’s marketing campaign goes out of its way to portray Mike Leigh’s unruly, bittersweet comedy as the cutest thing since newborn kittens.

    Meanwhile, advance press, like this preview from the LA Times’ Patrick Goldstein, plays right into their hands. Goldstein likes the film a great deal, going so far as to portray it as a lone ray of hope in a “calamitous year for specialty films.” Right off the bat, he dismisses the comic competition from the indie sector (“Synecdoche, New York” is “murky,” while “Hamlet 2” runs into into comic “dead ends,” apparently), before singing the praises of Leigh’s film:

    So now for the good news. After a four-year layoff since “Vera Drake,” which earned three Oscar nominations, Mike Leigh is back with “Happy-Go-Lucky,” a film about an irrepressible free spirit named Poppy (played by Sally Hawkins) who manages to giddily bounce around London, full of life-affirming good cheer, but without an ounce of cloying or mawkish sentimentality. (After all, it’s still a Mike Leigh movie.)

    So far, so familiar. Anyone who hasn’t seen the film (and indeed, many who have) must be sick to death by now of hearing umpteen variations of the term “life-affirming” in connection with it. Refreshingly, however, Goldstein sees in the film the emotional depth and complexity which is so far escaping the general blogosphere, not to mention the Miramax marketing department (though that’s deliberate on their part):

    It being a Leigh film, the story is chock-full of oddball characters, from a high-strung flamenco instructor to a troubled child in the kindergarten class Polly teaches. But the best part of the film is the way it so casually allows us to grasp how intertwined each relationship can be. No one is easily stereotyped. Mike Leigh’s world, even a world dominated by a character who appears full of way-too-much unquenchable optimism, is always a world full of surprises.

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  • Just do it… Joker style

    Amidst all the “Dark Knight” hysteria, it’s nice to see there’s still a place for the subtler brand of tie-in:

    Anyone remember when kids wanted sneakers like Michael Jordan’s?

  • WB fall preview…nothing for ‘Gran Torino’

    Rope of Silicon beat us to the punch and posted the new shots from Warner Bros. Pictures’ fall preview press kit. There are new shots from “Appaloosa,” “Body of Lies” and “Yes Man,” among others. Then you get to the one we’re all foaming at the mouth for in anticipation, Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino,” and there’s nothing. Just this bit of prose:

    Clint Eastwood stars in the drama “Gran Torino,” marking his first film role since his Oscar-winning “Million Dollar Baby.” Eastwood also directs the film in which he plays Walt Kowalski, an iron-willed veteran living in a changing world, who is forced by his immigrant neighbors to confront his own long-held prejudices.

    Wow. Thanks, WB.

    Anyway, I especially dig this new “Appaloosa” image:

    (from left) Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris in Appaloosa

  • Studios could care less about Terry Gilliam’s ‘Parnassus’

    Terry GilliamNick Plowman points us today to a Hollywood Reporter story (and really, we needed the heads up in this case…anyone reading THR anymore?) painting director Terry Gilliam’s latest film as a “tough sell.”

    Of course, the film in question, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” contains Heath Ledger’s swan song performance.

    Here’s the Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik:

    For U.S. distributors, the quirky Terry Gilliam film — centering on parallel worlds, a theater troupe and a devil-dealing 1,000-year-old doctor — presents a conundrum. On the one hand, it’s a chance for the history-making opportunity — not to mention a marketing coup — of releasing Ledger’s last movie.

    But it also comes with challenges that lately have followed the stubbornly noncommercial Gilliam. The director has been behind a series of boxoffice flops and hasn’t had a hit since “Twelve Monkeys” in 1995. Buyers who might otherwise be willing to shell out for a Ledger film are holding back.

    “In this market, unless I have a reason to think a movie like this is going to be a slam dunk I’m not going to take a flyer on it, even with Heath Ledger,” one distribution executive said. One specialty exec added few execs at his company had been tracking it.

    And Plowman’s sharp reply:

    Whenever a Terry Gilliam film is released, it’s a risky affair. They are never quite box-office or critical hits, and even the supernatural would rather he stayed away from the medium of film as well. He hasn’t had a hit since 1995…

    And you know what?  So be it.  Penance for Gilliam’s asinine comments from last month if you ask me.  Ledger lives on in infamy with “The Dark Knight.”  Given Gilliam’s track record as of late, “Parnassus” could be a blight on that legacy.

  • POLL: ‘Tropic’ thoughts?

    I’m out of town this week, family stuff, in and out, so an easy poll this time around (and, admittedly, a rather thin one…back on my ‘A’ game next week, I swear).

    Tell us what you thought of Ben Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder,” which has been embraced by critics more than I anticipated.

    By the way, it seems most readers are anticipating a Best Picture nod for “The Dark Knight,” but it was awfully close throughout the week.