Austin360 blogs > Austin Movie Blog > Archives > 2006 > July > 19
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
‘Nobelity’ returns, nobly
Austin Renaissance man Turk Pipkin’s enlightening doc “Nobelity” gets an encore run July 29 and 30 at the Arbor. Pipkin will be at the shows to discuss his journey around the world chatting with various Nobel Prize winners, which the film chronicles. The doc opens on Sept. 8 in Boston and Washington, D.C.
Tickets are $10 and benefit the Nobelity Project, a children’s charity.
Learn more about the movie right here.
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Songs in the key of ‘Quiet’
The psychological domestic thriller “The Quiet,” produced last year in Austin by Burnt Orange Productions and the UT Film Institute, hits theaters in September. Trite, soggy and sometimes laughable, the small film stars Elisha Cuthbert, Camilla Belle and Edie Falco (who has an alarming nude scene).
Belle and Cuthbert play bits of Beethoven on the piano in the movie, and they learned their tinklings from Austin pianist Tony Tobin, who spent three weeks coaching the actresses and made the music you hear on the soundtrack. (Here’s Tobin’s Web site.)
We interviewed Cuthbert today about “The Quiet” and asked about her lessons with Tobin.
“He said I needed finger extenders, because my fingers are too short,” Cuthbert told us with a laugh. “He said if I wanted a career as a pianist that it probably wouldn’t happen. It didn’t break my heart because I realized how bad I was.”
She laughed some more.
Cuthbert
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The man behind the movie
In Will Smith’s upcoming movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” (due out Dec. 15), the actor plays Christopher Gardner, who went from being homeless to being head of his own multimillion-dollar brokerage firm.
On Friday, the real Gardner will be in Austin. He’ll be signing copies of his book (which became the movie of the same title) from 11:30 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Austin Hilton Hotel and Convention Center.
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Candler’s taking the jump
Austin filmmaking dynamo Kat Candler showed her latest bittersweet teen drama “jumping off bridges” to huge receptive crowds during this year’s SXSW.
Now Candler tells us that she and her Storie Productions are “doing a self-distributed fall tour of (the film) that starts in Seattle on Sept. 13. We’re playing a bunch of festivals, universities, art houses. Some are in partnerships with suicide prevention groups, some with psychology and women’s studies departments. It’s a hodge-podge of screenings to get it out there.”
And this good news: “Right now we’re in talks with some folks about the next film.”
Go here for info about Kat, Storie Productions and their films.
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Another big casting call
Want to co-star with Ryan Phillippe? There’s an open casting call next Saturday for the “Crash” actor’s new film, which is being directed by Kimberly Peirce (“Boys Don’t Cry”).
The movie is shooting in Austin, San Antonio and Lockhart. The plot is about a war hero who returns home to his small Texas hometown only to find out he’s being sent back to Iraq.
Third Coast Extras will hold the casting call from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 29 at the Austin Film Society, 1901 E. 51st St. Bring a nonreturnable photo with you.
According to a news release on the casting call, “there is a specific need for male extras between the ages of 18-25 years of age with a military background and military look, specifically with an Army background.”
For more information, call 472-5385, Ext. 1 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday or email info@bethsepkocasting.com.
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McConaughey: ‘Margarita!’
— It’s a bonanza of news about actor/philosopher/man-about-town Matthew McConaughey over at Us Weekly, including this indelible image:
“Mateo,� as he called himself, partied in true bachelor style, dancing and drinking until early morning. At the end of the first day, the $11-million-per-picture actor was spotted sitting Indian-style atop the bar at La Lora Amarilla, shouting, “Margarita!� Bartender Dasha Valakhanovitch tells Us, “It was not a beautiful sight.�
— As Roger Ebert recovers from cancer surgery, other critics will fill in for him on his TV show.
— Tom Waits’ concert doc “Big Time” is at Alamo Downtown tonight.
— Movie critics are martyring themselves for you, or so says the New York Times’ A.O. Scott.
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