• Anne Thompson has George Hickenlooper’s “Casino Jack” photo diary. [Thompson on Hollywood]
• Patrick Goldstein writes up the “My Dog Tulip” Oscar campaign. [The Big Picture]
• Vincent Cassel on “Black Swan,” movie overkill and the politics of selling out. [Movieline]
• Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson on “Toy Story 3” reviews, Oscar campaign, and sequel chances. [Vulture]
• Steve Pond reports a positive reaction to Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter” at a recent Academy screening. [The Odds]
• Gregory Ellwood sits down with Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson, subjects of Doug Liman’s “Fair Game.” [HitFix]
I was at dinner tonight when I saw the news of George Hickenlooper’s untimely passing via Twitter, and my jaw dropped. “Natural causes” at 47 is just difficult to process.
He was in Denver campaigning for his brother, John, the city’s mayor and candidate for Governor. He was just in Austin promoting his latest film, “Casino Jack.” He was in good spirits and ready to push through the circuit and now, he’s gone. What can you say? (Moisés Chiullan remembers his friend here.)
I met Hickenlooper once, when a mutual director friend invited us to an early private screening of a film. And I’ve followed his always thoughtful discussions on this or that blog. He was a good guy and he’ll be missed. I’ll be popping in my recently purchased “Apocalypse Now” Blu-ray as soon as I get back to Los Angeles to give “Hearts of Darkness” (which I haven’t seen since film school) another look. Seems right.
[Photo: IMDb]