In Contention

Tag: Slumdog Millionaire

  • The long journey to Searchlight for Boyle’s ‘Slumdog’

    (from left) Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in Slumdog MillionaireThe Envelope’s John Horn does a wonderful job today of reporting on the long, winding road home for director Danny Boyle and his festival hit “Slumdog Millionaire.”  Fox Searchlight has handled the domestic distribution of most of the director’s titles, but “Slumdog” had to face some trials and tribulations to get there.

    Here’s a taste:

    When Warner Bros. announced in early May that it was closing its two specialty film divisions, Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse, other art house distributors immediately starting telephoning around, trying to determine the fate of director Danny Boyle’s film, which Warner Independent had penciled in for a Nov. 7 release.

    So why wasn’t Boyle’s biggest Hollywood benefactor actively chasing the British filmmaker’s latest movie? The studio somehow knew that “Slumdog Millionaire” would eventually make its way from Warners to Fox and that the best strategy (and smartest bargaining tactic) was to sit back and wait.

    It’s a way of thinking not unlike how Boyle shot his rags-to-riches movie in the disorganized sprawl of Mumbai. “If you trust it,” Boyle said of his Zen-like attitude of shooting a movie in the world’s largest city, “it will come back to you.”

    And then the scrambing:

    Rather than wash its hands of “Slumdog Millionaire,” Warners tried to figure out how it could handle the film without using Warner Independent. The studio asked Bob Berney, the head of Picturehouse, to take a look to see if Picturehouse could be reconstituted to distribute the film. “I really loved it,” Berney said. “I think it’s his real home run — it really brings it all together.”

    But the costs of reassembling Berney’s team were prohibitive, especially if “Slumdog Millionaire” wasn’t going to come out until early 2009. “They would essentially have to pay everyone double,” Berney said, “because we had already fired everybody” and had paid them severance.

    Before destiny beckoned:

    Producer Colson said that just as the movie is a fable about fate, so too is the story of “Slumdog Millionaire’s” zigzagging path to the screen.

    “It’s a movie about destiny, and we’ve had some twists and turns ourselves,” Colson said. “Is Fox Searchlight a better distributor for the film today than Warner Independent was 12 months ago? I don’t know. I’d like to think Warner Independent would have done a great job, but they never got a chance to show us what they could do.

    “But is the movie in a better position than it was four months ago? The answer is a categorical yes. Because now it will get a chance at the life it deserves.”

    It’s a great little story.  Read the rest here.

  • 9/15 Oscarweb Round-up

    Keira Knightley in The Duchess• Anne Thompson offers her perspective on Toronto’s winners and losers. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Nathaniel Rogers digs back into the recent past of the festival’s Audience Award to see what is in store for “Slumdog Millionaire.” [The Film Experience]

    • Has “The Visitor” begun an award-winning streak that will culminate with Oscar recognition?  [Screen Daily]

    • Susan Wloszczyna spends some quality time with “it” boy Mickey Rourke. [USA Today]

    • Keira Knightley talks “The Duchess” and fashion with Mark Ellwood. [New York Daily News]

    • Jenni Miller sits down with “The Brothers Bloom” star Adrien Brody. [Premiere]

    • Michelle Kung gets Ed Harris on the record. [The Wall Street Journal]

    • Spike Lee puts his Clint Eastwood fued to bed…whatever. [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

  • ‘Disgrace,’ ‘Hunger’ among other Toronto winners

    If you were remotely surprised that “Slumdog Millionaire” took the People’s Choice Award at Toronto, you’ve clearly been living under a rock for the past month. The  award is an auspicious one, having previously annointed such international Best Picture contenders as “Chariots of Fire,” “Shine,” “Life is Beautiful” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

    Whether or not the widely-predicted Best Picture nom for “Slumdog” materialises, we’re clearly going to hear the title a lot this awards season. (Not that the audience award is a guarantee of success — remember 2006’s winner “Bella?” No? Didn’t think so.)

    Looking further down the list of winners, however, I’m pleased to see recognition for two “difficult” films that I’ve been interested in for some time.

    As a devotee of South African author J.M. Coetzee, I’ve been eagerly tracking the film adaptation of his seminal novel “Disgrace,” which won the FIPRESCI (International Critics’) Prize for Special Presentations. By all accounts a measured, intelligent take on a very challenging work, the film, and leading man John Malkovich, have attracted very warm notices, including this Variety rave:

    Anchored by another marvelously quirky yet deadly serious performance from John Malkovich, and likely to be relished by the fan base of J.M. Coetzee’s Booker Prize-winning novel, this is a strong, perceptive, old-school arthouse pic with solid legs in all media … Malkovich is a living symphony of tics and mannerisms in service of a profoundly self-absorbed character.

    Screen Daily was similarly enthusiastic, commending the film for its “intelligent restraint,” and going so far as to draw a comparison between Malkovich’s portrayal and Burt Lancaster’s monumental turn in “The Leopard.” David Poland loved it too, emphasising Malkovich’s “fearless, unshowy, brilliant” performance.

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  • ‘Che,’ ‘W.’ among films announced to play London fest

    Looking down the list of titles in the newly-revealed lineup for next month’s London Film Festival lineup, my initial reaction was one of mild disappointment. Plenty of exciting titles, for sure, but it doesn’t quite match last year’s feast that included everything from “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” to “The Assassination of Jesse James” to “Juno” to “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.”

    My second thought, however, was that the lineup reflects more on what a tepid year for film 2008 is shaping up to be, rather than any lack of effort on festival director Sandra Hebron’s part. Tellingly, this morning Hebron herself cited critical opinion that, in the wake of a roundly derided Venice festival, “it wasn’t a vintage year for cinema.”

    But enough of the hand-wringing. There’s still much to get excited about, including “Che,” the two parts of which, interestingly, will be screened both together and apart; Oliver Stone’s potentially polarising “W”; “Hunger,” featuring a potential dark horse for Best Actor; “Religulous”; “Rachel Getting Married,” “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist,” “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson” and, to my immense delight, “Synecdoche, New York.”

    Not to mention that, as previously announced, the festival will be bookended by the world premiere of “Frost/Nixon” and Danny Boyle’s red-hot Toronto hit “Slumdog Millionaire.”

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  • 9/10 Oscarweb Round-up

    Spike Lee• 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]

  • “An Oscar-less Toronto” — but not for Searchlight

    Anybody who’s kept even half an eye on film news recently knows by now that, compared to previous years, the consecutive Venice and Toronto festivals have done little to illuminate the Oscar race. (Unless, I suppose, you were one of those predicting major glory for “Miracle at St. Anna.”)

    The Hollywood Reporter adds their verdict to the pile here, quoting an executive as declaring the fest “an Oscar-less Toronto.” There’s little new perspective in the article, but it’s a handy enough precis. They do think one race has benefited from the festival:

    But the festival might have helped clarify at least one category: the best actress race. The beneficiaries have been Anne Hathaway in Jonathan Demme’s dysfunctional-family drama “Rachel Getting Married”; Sally Hawkins in “Happy-Go-Lucky,” the Mike Leigh film about a chipper young schoolteacher; and, if Searchlight chooses to make an awards push for her, “The Secret Life of Bees” star Dakota Fanning.

    Hmmm. It’s not as if Hathaway and Hawkins weren’t deemed contenders before Toronto. (The Golden Globes may as well drop the other three slots for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical, right?) And Dakota Fanning? With those reviews? Yeah, right.

    In any case, as they acknowledge, Searchlight has other priorities now, having nabbed the two hottest Toronto titles:

    The lone film that has emerged as a genuine standout is Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” which went in as a question mark and will leave as a contender in pretty much every major awards category. To a lesser extent, Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” also is generating awards talk, though its cast is entirely unknown.

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  • More LFF titles revealed

    The full lineup for next month’s London Film Festival is to be revealed tomorrow — but in the meantime, the latest issue of Sight and Sound reveals a couple more exciting inclusions.

    In addition to the already-announced opening and closing films (“Frost/Nixon” and “Slumdog Millionaire,” respectively), S&S confirms that the French Palme d’Or winner “The Class” will appear, with director Laurent Cantet in attendance.

    The magazine also reveals that there will be twelve international premieres at the festival, including “Sugar,” the baseball-oriented film from “Half Nelson” creators Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, which bowed to warm reviews at Sundance in January. (By “international,” they mean outside the US, obviously.)

    More signs of a great festival to come. I await tomorrow’s announcement like a kid on Christmas Eve.

  • Fox Searchlight picks up ‘The Wrestler’

    This morning’s poll wasn’t even an hour old before Anne Thompson reported that Fox Searchlight won a bidding war for Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler.”  Hell, I didn’t even get a chance to vote in it myself.

    Here’s what she has to say:

    In the first major buy of the Toronto International Film Festival, Fox Searchlight won an intense all-night bidding war for Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, which days before had won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Fest. Searchlight acquired U.S. rights for about $4 million.

    After the packed screening of The Wrestler at Toronto’s Elgin last night, buyers huddled on the street and eventually, made their way to the Four Seasons Hotel to make their bids and pitch their release plans. An Oscar-campaign for Mickey Rourke’s rough-and-tumble, vulnerable performance as a wrestler on the ropes was an essential component of the deal. Most distribs were offering a Monster-style Oscar-qualifying late-year platform with a wider release in January.

    Frankly, I’m somewhat surprised.  “The Wrestler” isn’t in the Searchlight wheelhouse, exactly.  Not that versatility is the issue, but I honestly expected Sony Classics or Miramax to dive in deeper.  But this adds to a new narrative coming out of Toronto: Fox Searchlight is walking out of the fest with a hell of a one-two punch in this and Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire.”  And the studio has proven time and again that it knows how to usher films to Oscar pastures.

    Boy did this race change in the course of a week.  We’ve got a new poll up now, so tell us how you feel about this acquisition.

    Here’s some footage from the film with Aronofsky and Rourke talking their process. I love that Aronofsky told it like it was to Rourke, RE: the actor’s washed-up career:

  • OFF THE CARPET: Indies on the march

    (from left) Evan Rachel Wood and Mickey Rourke in The WrestlerMaybe mid-way through the Toronto Film Festival, two things are strikingly clear: Darren Aronofsky has the goods with “The Wrestler” and Danny Boyle’s streak of successful versatility at the helm continues with “Slumdog Millionaire.”

    Both films, which enjoy pre-Toronto success at Venice and Telluride respectfully, are also evidence that surprises will happen this time of year.  And with an uncharacteriztically level playing field in Toronto this year, we should be thankful they are getting a fair shake.

    One of them is set for distribution, however, while the other is waiting out a buyer.  But will “The Wrestler” find a home and see a release in 2008 or will an awards-heavy distributor pick it up and save it for a rainy day in 2009’s awards season?

    Both options are on the table, it’s just a matter of who bites first, and what they bring to the table.

    On the horizon, everyone is awaiting their post-Toronto peeks at films like “Australia,” “Revolutionary Road,” “Milk” (landing a trailer this week) and “The Soloist.”  David Fincher’s 20 minutes of footage from “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” may have been caught off guard by over-zealous bloggers in Telluride, but the damage may not have been as considerable as some may have thought.

    Speaking of “The Soloist,” chatter is making its way out of the Paramount camp that Robert Downey Jr. is outstanding as LA Times columnist Steve Lopez and hopes are high for a Best Actor nomination.  And as far as “Milk” is concerned, prognosticators may have the wrong idea going in as to which supporting performance has the awards-worthy chops.  More on that at a later date.

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  • Is ‘Slumdog’ really a slam dunk?

    It’s no secret that Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” is shaping up to be one of the indie darlings of 2008. The film was the uncontested hit of the Telluride festival, bowing to sensational reviews, of which Todd McCarthy’s (key phrases: “a blast;” “fantastic energy;” “a vital piece of work”) represents the consensus.

    Almost immediately, Oscar buzz began building around the film, with pundits suggesting that the film’s combination of gritty sociological themes and ultimately uplifting narrative would prove irresistible to voters seeking to annoint this year’s ‘little film that could.’ (Glib comparisons have been made to “Juno,” based on, well, nothing really — except it’s a small film that audiences like.)

    Now, the latest to board the “Slumdog” train in Toronto are Tom O’Neil and Jeffrey Wells. In this video from Gold Derby, O’Neil says the film has the “passionate rooting factor” that a film needs to get those first-place votes on the nomination ballot. In closing, O’Neil and Wells agree that the film is “without question” one of 2008’s five Best Picture nominees. Article continues after the cut:

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  • ‘Wrestler’: Is Golden Lion just the beginning?

    As Kris just reported, Darren Aronosky’s “The Wrestler” has won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. No surprise there — in what was widely deemed a lukewarm festival, Aronofsky’s film, which only screened yesterday on the Lido, was one of the few outright critical sensations.

    What is surprising is that Mickey Rourke, whose lauded comeback performance is the predominant source of the film’s buzz, missed out on the Best Actor prize, which went to Italy’s Silvio Orlando for “Giovanna’s Father.”

    Perhaps the jury wanted to spread the love. Perhaps after wins for David Strathairn, Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt in the last three years, they felt American actors had been sufficiently rewarded for a while. Prize or no prize, however, this recognition for the film — to which his performance is so integral — makes it quite clear that Rourke is on the awards trail.

    But what of the film itself? In years past, the Golden Lion has been the start of a healthy awards-season run for a couple of films — examples include “Atlantic City,” “Vera Drake,” and most notably, “Brokeback Mountain.”

    It’s no guarantee of future glory, though. In 1996, Neil Jordan’s lavishly mounted biopic “Michael Collins” seemed poised for an awards sweep after it took the Golden Lion and its star, Liam Neeson, nabbed the Best Actor prize. But the film never quite clicked with other awards bodies — and on Oscar nomination morning, all that awaited it was a pair of technical nods.

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  • 9/6 Oscarweb Round-up

    Gerard Butler and Thandie Newton in RocknRolla• Nancy Kriparos keeps her Oscar diary going with looks at “Passchendaele,” “RocknRolla” and “Burn After Reading.” [Awards Daily]

    • Tom O’Neil and Jeffrey Wells talk up the Oscar prospects of Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” [Gold Derby]

    • Wells, meanwhile, seems to be talking himself out of seeing Spike Lee’s “Miracle at St. Anna” as best he can. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • David Poland calls “Lovely, Still” the first real surprise of Toronto. [The Hot Blog]

    • Anne Thompson responds positively to Richard Linklater’s “Me and Orson Welles.” [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • The Kingdom of Jordan will leap into Oscar’s foreign language film race for the first time ever with Amin Matalqua’s “Captain Abu Raed.” [Variety]

  • 9/4 Oscarweb Round-up

    Sean Penn in Milk• Tom O’Neil responds to the “Milk” trailer. [Gold Derby]

    • So does Seth Abramowitz. [Defamer]

    • “Appaloosa” director Ed Harris will receive the 3rd annual Kirk Douglas Award at this year’s Santa Barbara Film Festival. [Variety]

    • Peter Sciretta wonders whether “Slumdog Millionaire” stole “Happy-Go-Lucky”‘s thunder at Telluride this year. [/Film]

    • James Rocchi begins his sure-to-be-insightful Toronto coverage. [Cinematical]

    • John Horn looks at acquisition hopefuls in Toronto this year. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Sam Adams profiles “Waltz with Bashir” helmer Ari Folman. [The Envelope]

    • Susan Wloszczyna seems to think Toronto isn’t its Oscar-forecasting self this year. [USA Today]

    • Similarly, in addition to contending that “award-winning contenders appear to be fewer and far between this year,” Anthony Kaufman indicates that “recent market forces” could dampen the buying and selling of films at this year’s fest. [Wall Street Journal]

  • ‘Slumdog’ to close London fest

    The full lineup for October’s London Film Festival will be revealed in a week’s time, but we do now know what its bookends will be.

    “Frost/Nixon” was confirmed months ago as the festival opener. Now comes the announcement that Danny Boyle’s surprise package “Slumdog Millionaire,” coming off sensational buzz at Telluride, will have its European premiere as the closing film of the festival. Guess which one I’m more excited about.

    Festival director Sandra Hebron faces a tough task trying to top last year’s amazing slate, which included “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “No Country for Old Men,” “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days,” “I’m Not There,”  “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” and “The Savages,” to name but a few of the highlights.

    But this bodes very well indeed … and it’s a nice touch to round out this very British festival with a hot film from a homegrown talent. I can’t wait.

  • 9/3 Oscarweb Round-up

    I\'ve Loved You So Long• Mark Olsen counts down Toronto’s must sees. It’s an indie dominated list (and fest, really) with more than a few surprises. [The Envelope]

    • Pete Hammond talks to Tom O’Neil about the Telluride success of “Slumdog Millionaire” and “I’ve Loved You So Long,” as well as the whole “Button” footage dust-up from yesterday. [Gold Derby]

    • Regarding the dust-up, Jeffrey Wells defends himself. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Then he slams Anne Thompson’s cinematographical skills. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • But Brad Brevet, in nicely rounding up the whole mess for your reading pleasure, wonders whether the damage has already been done. [Rope of Silicon]

    • Which, digging through all of that, is there more to the Paramount/Fincher friction than we might know? [The Playlist]

    • In happier news, Nancy Kriparos introduces herself as Sasha Stone’s Toronto correspondent this year. [Awards Daily]

    • Michael Cieply previews Toronto from the angle of ’70s New York nostalgia dominating a number of films playing the fest. [New York Times]

  • 9/2 Oscarweb Round-up

    Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler• Todd McCarthy does cartwheels for Danny Boyle’s “Sulmdog Millionaire.” [Variety]

    • Bruce Springsteen’s “Wrestler” track chokes Darren Aronofsky up every time he hears it. [darrenaronofsky.blogspot.com]

    • Peter Sciretta gives a quick, somewhat lacking review of Mike Leigh’s “Happy-Go-Lucky,” seems to be mixed. [/Film]

    • Across the pond, Penélope Cruz talks “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and working with masters. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Not really awards-related (yet), but, wait…they’re turning “The Wave” into a German language film? Cool! News to me… [Empire]

    • Andrew Pulver separates the cheers from the jeers in Venice. [The Guardian]

    • If you’re looking for one hell of a spiffy awards section… [Rope of Silicon]

    • Rupert Friend makes one creepy Nazi in “The Boy in Striped Pyjamas.” [The Times]

    • Scott Bowles runs down ten fall flicks bursting with potential. [USA Today]

  • 9/1 Oscarweb Round-up

    Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire• Anne Thompson points us to a Best Original Song contender from the Boss in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler.” But it’s a closing credits tune, which doesn’t bode well given the newest rules implemented by the Academy in 2005. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • She also tries to offset some of the negative press that greeted the 20 minute “Benjamin Button” reel, taking the time to swat at bloggers who didn’t exactly “review” anything, but actually gave their honest opinion. Fancy that…maybe teasing an unfinished product wasn’t the best idea? [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Screen Daily gets the scoop on the “Che” distribution strategy…but didn’t we always know it would be released as two films? [Screen Daily]

    • T.L. Stanley wonders whether this year’s crop of Oscar films will be a box office buzz kill. [Gold Rush]

    • “Disaster Movie” is probably not going to be an Oscar film…FYI. [/Film]

    • Kim Voyner kicks the Oscar tires for Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire,” a Godsend for Fox Searchlight, which was sitting hollow with a Dakota Fanning vehicle as their only awards hopeful until this week. [Cinematical]

    • Pete Howell chases the buzz in Toronto. Hey, didn’t “For Your Consideration” win this poll last year? [Toronto Star]

    • Jeffrey Wells gets hears some second hand buzz from a friend who thinks Jeff Goldblum gives an Oscar-level performance in Paul Schrader’s “Adam Resurrected.” [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • And in case you missed it, we’ve launched our weekly Oscar column. [In Contention]

  • OFF THE CARPET: Make way for the little guys…or not

    Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting MarriedIt may be Labor Day, but the work at hand is breathing down our necks. So it is that we come to the first weekly Oscar column of the new awards season.

    Though to be frank with you, I’m beginning to wonder whether we’ll be able to keep the conversation going, much less interesting on a weekly basis as we push through the last four months of the year. I knew going in to this year that it was going to be a somewhat low-key season, and my own worst fears have been founded in a number of pre-Toronto screenings of films that will be discussed in a week’s time, films leaving me cold, irritated or otherwise just unconvinced.

    I don’t sense a lull on the level of 2005 by any means, but I do get the feeling that after two solid years of cinematic goodness, 2008 could just be one of those “rebuilding” years, to steal a sports term and painfully attempt its application here. It’s interesting (and telling) that my two favorite films of the year are a stoner comedy and a superhero adaptation respectively (though the latter obviously has a legion of fans banking on major awards success…more on that later).

    The most intriguing component for me is the playground that Toronto will provide for a bevy of independent and genuinely smaller product. The heavy-hitters (or, at the very least, the presumed heavy-hitters) are incomplete and not prepared for fall fest unveiling (aside from “Frost/Nixon,” which has already been seen and seems to be riding a wave of confidence at Universal).

    But efforts like Mike Leigh’s “Happy-Go-Lucky,” Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married,” Vicente Amorim’s “Good,” Guillermo Arriaga’s “The Burning Plain,” Rian Johnson’s “The Brothers Bloom,” Richard Eyre’s “The Other Man,” etc. — true indies with a fighting chance to turn some heads — won’t have to suffer in the shadows of big studio films angling for the press of an Oscar season starting gun.

    Meanwhile, Cannes entries such as Fernando Meirelles’s “Blindness,” Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York,” Matteo Garrone’s “Gomorrah” and Steven Soderbergh’s “Che” get an uninhibited second chance in front of festival audiences. Ditto Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling,” in the case of the New York fest.

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