• James Franco, also starring in “Howl” this year, selects his favorite poems. [Vulture]
• In remembering film editor Sally Menke, Lawrence Bender discusses the “Hi, Sally” Tarantino tradition. [Arts Beat]
• Anne Thompson talks, well, a whole bunch of stuff with a busy Guillermo Del Toro. [Thompson on Hollywood]
Our friend Anthony Breznican of USA Today picked up a copy of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” while in Sundance, and in honor of the Epstein/Friedman film of the same name, starring James Franco as Ginsberg and centered on the poet’s obscenity trial, had a few laughs with some of the stars in attendance at the fest. Have a look:
I always get a curious thrill from looking down the list of films selected to compete at the Sundance Film Festival — the 2010 batch of which has just been announced by festival directors John Cooper and Trevor Grath.
You know there are at least one or two titles there that we’ll all be talking about in precisely one year’s time, just as “Precious,” “An Education” and “The Cove” have blossomed from festival darlings to surefire awards contenders in the space of 11 months. What’s far harder to tell is which of the 58 titles listed here might be “the one.”
Still, last year I played something of a guessing game with the lineup, singling out one film from each of the competition’s four strands that seemed of particular interest to me: my faith in “An Education” was, obviously, handsomely repaid, while “Big Fan” (a winner at this week’s Gotham Awards), “Afghan Star” (the UK’s foreign Oscar entry) and Doors documentary “When You’re Strange” have done respectably for themselves.
OK, I missed “Precious” — so as far as that particular game goes, I’m going to quit while I’m behind. Still, what follows is a selection of ten titles that I’m keeping an eye on.
• Journos continue to catch up with the two-week-old narrative: Toronto isn’t an Oscar playground this year. [Entertainment Weekly]
• Anthony Breznican, thankfully, tries to come at it from a slightly different perspective. [USA Today]
• James Rocchi sits down with Darren Aronofsky for some choice words in Toronto. [Cinematical]
• Jeffrey Wells is in the tank for Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker.” [Hollywood Elsewhere]
• David Poland cranks out a beaming assessment of “The Hurt Locker” as well, with some great words for “Slumdog Millionaire” on the side. [The Hot Button]
• Noah Forrest sits down with Neda Armian, producer of “Rachel Getting Married.” [Movie City News]
• Gill Pringle kicks back with Seth Rogen across the pond. [The Independent]
• Always looking for fresh angles, Michael Cieply comes at Toronto from the perspective of its music showcases this year. [New York Times]
• In a poorly headlined (if you ask me) Oscar forecast, David Germain rounds up awards quotes from heavies such as Christian Bale, Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio. [Associated Press]
• Spike Lee sets his aimless sights on the Duke, in case you don’t get the point the first time early on in “Miracle at St. Anna.” [New York Post]
• Has James Franco signed on to an Oscar trajectory with the Gus Van Sant-produced “Howl?” [The Hollywood Reporter]
• Who the hell honestly thinks Rod Lurie was attempting to tell the actual Valerie Plame story, and therefore, “distorted” anything? Stupid… [Spout Blog]
• Anne Thompson reports from party central in Toronto. [Thompson on Hollywood]