Austin360 blogs > Austin Movie Blog > Archives > 2007 > April
April 2007
Tarantino bids adieu to the Alamo Downtown the only way he knows how
Newsbreak from the Alamo Downtown:
Quentin Tarantino will be live in person for one final send-off of the Alamo Downtown on May 10, 11 & 13 with a different Grindhouse triple feature each night.
The event is called “Last Night at the Alamo Grindhouse”
The lineup:
The Sex Comedies Triple Feature: SEX ON THE RUN, SEX WITH A SMILE and THE OLDEST PROFESSION
The Regional Triple Feature: HOT SUMMER IN BAREFOOT COUNTY, REDNECK MILLER and IN HOT PURSUIT
The Swinging Triple Feature: SWINGING BARMAIDS, SWINGIN’ PUSSYCATS and THE SWINGING CHEERLEADERS
Tickets will be available at www.originalalamo.com to Heroes of the Alamo members and Fantastic Fest Badge holders exclusively at 1 p.m. Friday.
If tickets are still available, they’ll go on sale to the general public at 1 p.m. Monday, May 7. To purchase a Fantastic Fest badge, go to www.fantasticfest.com.
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Wheels and reels spin for the Alamo’s Roadshow
The Alamo Drafthouse hits the asphalt again for its acclaimed and robustly attended Rolling Roadshow, a marathon summer tour of famous films screened at famous locations.
Everyone’s welcome to trail the Alamo truck cross country and watch classic movies al fresco. Here’s where the show is headed:
- “Fandango” screening in San Elizario, TX: July 18
- “Friday,” South Central Los Angeles, CA: July 20
- “Lost Boys,” Santa Cruz, CA: July 25
- “Stand By Me,” Brownsville, OR: July 28
- “North By Northwest,” Mt. Rushmore, SD: July 31
- “Goldfinger,” Fort Knox, KY: Aug. 3
- “A Christmas Story,” Cleveland, OH: Aug. 5
- John Waters Marathon, Baltimore, MD: Aug. 10
- “Deliverance” on the Chattooga River, GA: Aug. 12
- Burt-athon, Atlanta, GA: Aug. 14
- “Smokey and the Bandit,” Texarkana: Aug. 15
More at rollingroadshow.com.
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The Wilson brothers, and their movie, in Austin
Luke, Owen and Andrew — the brothers Wilson — will present “The Wendell Baker Story” at 7 p.m. May 8 at the Alamo South.
Everything you need to know is right HERE.
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Spike Lee speaks out on Imus and, of course, much more
Spike Lee was at UT on Tuesday to receive the College of Communication’s 2007 William Randolph Hearst Fellow Award and participate in a public conversation with film professor (and good Lee friend) John Pierson, who also introduced the writer-director to his class for a discussion.
Lee accepted the award, then presented Act III of his award-winning HBO documentary “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts,” which left many in the audience weeping. (If you haven’t seen it, sprint to the video store.)
Sporting a Yankees cap, Air Jordan sneakers and windbreaker, white slacks, owlish glasses, a twinkling earring and flashy crucifix around his neck, Lee enjoyed a leisurely, edifying chat with Pierson.
Bits and pieces:
— Lee wants Wesley Snipes, star of his “Jungle Fever,” to play James Brown in his biopic, which he’s still trying to get greenlit. Snipes, Lee said, is a trained dancer.
— He called BET (Black Entertainment Television) “Black Exploitation,” saying: “I mean, I did ‘Bamboozled,’ but I never did anything like ‘Flavor of Love’!”
— About the Don Imus flap, Lee said Imus and his radio sidekick referred to “Do the Right Thing” when they really meant “School Daze.”
“They didn’t even get the reference right,” Lee said. “They were trying to use me to validate what they said. I’ve never used the two terms — “nappy-headed hos” — together… . Don Imus — here’s a cat who tried to have it both ways. He had this two part act: serious political interviews and low-brow stuff. He’s been doing this for years, and I think everybody is complicit — MSNBC and CBS. For years they’ve been doing racist and sexist stuff and they got away with it.
“Many of their attacks were on famous people, but when they picked on young innocent women, student athletes, that was the wrong target. Sometimes you go to the well once too often. And he did, and it blew up in his face. What really did him in was when the Rutgers team under the guidance of a great coach, a great woman, C. Vivian Stringer, had that press conference. When America got to see how dignified and poised and articulate these women are, (Imus) was done.
“Interestingly, he tried to get out of it by saying, ‘Well, I’m just saying what African American men call African American women in the rap thing.’ That was totally missing the point. It was his escape clause. But him saying that might be good, because it really put heat on a lot of these gangsta rappers with the use of those terms and the image of women. But you can’t just get on the rappers, you also have to get on the record companies. They’re the ones who make (the records).”
— On Matty Rich, wunderkind director of 1991’s “Straight Out of Brooklyn,” who famously bad-mouthed Lee when “Brooklyn” was released at the same time as “Jungle Fever”:
“Some (African Americans) got into (filmmaking) who weren’t equipped to do it. The poster boy is Matty Rich. If you’re passionate you should have at least one film in you, because that’s your story. What are you going to do after that?
“Matty Rich’s whole thing was messed up because he somehow saw me as the adversary. So to stake his place, I was the middle-class, educated black man, who went to Morehouse and film school, while he was from Red Hook, the streets, and he didn’t read no film books, he knows no film history. He professed his ignorance. It was crazy. It was the wrong thing to do.
” ‘Straight Out of Brooklyn’ was OK, but what was the next one? ‘The Inkwell.’ And he’s never been heard from since.
“That was an early indication of something that’s become much more prevalent today. Young black people ridicule older African Americans if they speak correct English, get good grades and can speak a sentence that’s not profane. You’re ridiculed as being a white boy or white girl, a sell-out, an Oreo. But if you’re on the corner, drinking a 40, smoking herb, holding your (crotch), with your pants below your (butt), then you’re black, you’re keeping it real, you’re gangsta, you’re ghetto. It’s genocide, because these young minds now equate intelligence with acting white and ignorance with acting black.
“And that’s really what Matty was talking about. To show the difference between me and him, he had to say that he’s from Red Hook, from the streets, the projects. ‘I don’t need no education. I’m ghetto and I make ghetto films.’ And see, now he’s a footnote.”
(Photo is not from Tuesday’s event.)
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An excellent (student) expo
Apologies for the canned item here, but we’re slammed today. So here goes from the Austin Film Festival:
The Austin Film Festival and Arthouse at the Jones Center are putting on the third annual Austin Student Filmmaking Expo at 6 pm Saturday at the Arthouse at the Jones Center, 700 Congress Avenue.
The Expo brings together top local high school filmmaking groups to show their work and discuss their programs. The event will kick off with a panel discussion on film and animation featuring Ivan Lozano, Geoff Marslett, Cameron Petri, and Don Swaynos who will show samples of their work and answer questions from the audience. … The Expo is a free event that to educate Austin youth on the filmmaking opportunities in town.
Info here.
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Reel grassroots film events
The latest event news from Reel Women:
— The next Reel Women workshop stars casting directors Donise Hardy and Beth Sepko, from 1 to 4 p.m. May 5 at a place yet to be announced. Reserve your spot and get the full scoop by emailing reelwomen@reelwomen.org.
— Reel Women’s First Monday Mix is a great networking op that’s free for everyone. It’s from 6 to 8 p.m. May 7 at Opal Divine’s, W. Sixth and Rio Grande streets.
And the irrepressible Storie Productions has this coming up:
— A screening of the 40-minute doc “Rescue Me,” which looks at the people who help animals by focusing on pet overpopulation. The show — at 8:30 p.m. May 4 at Jo’s on S. Congress — will be followed by a panel discussion with filmmaker Stacy Schoolfield and rescue volunteers. The suggested $10 donation goes to local rescue groups and spay/neuter programs. Go to www.rescuemedocumentary.com.
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Austin filmmaker’s special treatment at Tribeca
Austin’s own Bennie Klain, a writer and director, is one of 32 filmmakers picked to take part in the Tribeca All Access program at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which runs April 25 to May 6 in New York.
Tribeca All Access is “designed to help foster relationships between film industry executives and filmmakers from traditionally underrepresented communities.”
Which means Klain will be granted rare access to film folks at the festival and can present his script “Relocation” during face-to-face meetings with potential investors, development executives, producers and agents.
“Relocation” is described as “the story of a young gay man who navigates cultural conflicts when his family visits the city from the reservation for his college graduation.”
Learn more about the program at the Tribeca Web site.
Wilson’s ‘Wendell’ coming to town (and so are they)
Word’s in that the indomitable Wilson brothers — that’s Luke, Andrew and Owen — will present their long-awaited, much-tinkered-with comedy “The Wendell Baker Story” sometime in May in Austin. It will be a red carpet event.
The movie — starring Owen, Luke, Harry Dean Stanton, Eva Mendes, Kris Kristofferson and many more — had its world premiere at SXSW in 2005, but just recently secured distribution. Luke wrote it; he and older brother Andrew directed.
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Moviemaking incentives a step closer
Help might be on the way for area filmmakers. Wednesday, the Texas House of Representatives voted to increase incentives for film and movie production in the state. The House budget allocates $20 million for post-production underwriting if producers demonstrate they have used majority Texas crews and have made a significant impact on local economies. The Senate considers the incentives next.
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More money for your film
Just in from the Austin Film Society :
AFS will give away $150,000 this year as part of the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund, a grant program for film and video artists in Texas. This is the largest amount ever offered by the program, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.
The increase will include a new $10,000 travel fund and nearly doubles the amount of cash given away to filmmakers over last year, when $75,000 in cash was awarded to 18 projects.
Filmmakers who have resided in Texas for at least a year are eligible to apply to the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund. The deadline is June 1.
Get more information and application here.
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Why did ‘Grindhouse’ tank? Some theories
Today’s Variety conducts a big post-mortem on why the way-hyped “Grindhouse” did so poorly at the box office last weekend. The story in full:
‘Grindhouse’ misses its mark
Length, timing help gut Weinstein film
By IAN MOHR
Film biz pundits were doing post-mortems (or autopsies) Monday on the pokey $11.6 million weekend performance of “Grindhouse.”
The general consensus: The movie scored big points for its daring, but not much else.
For one thing, there was the April 6 opening date. Launching the pic on Easter weekend, when kiddies on spring break were being offered plenty of family films, was a cheeky bit of counterprogramming by the Weinstein Co. But the tykes and their parents decided to go for those family films (“Are We Done Yet?,” “Meet the Robinsons”), while young adults simply shrugged off “Grindhouse.”
And while the pic was dreamed up as a double bill, it was a big gamble to keep that format when the two films each ended up running 50% longer than their targeted one-hour running time. After 85 minutes of Robert Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror,” some audience members started to leave, apparently unaware that there was another 85-minute pic, from Quentin Tarantino, awaiting them.
And then there’s the obvious question: Did anyone besides Tarantino and Rodriguez ever really care about the grindhouse movie genre that much to begin with?
Now observers are wondering whether the domestic B.O. can be salvaged, and whether the poor perf will affect box office overseas (where film fans are acutely aware of U.S. reaction to new pics).
TWC is planning to revamp its ad campaign, but with seven wide releases this weekend, it has an uphill battle.
As for overseas, there are plenty of films (ranging from “The Da Vinci Code” to “The Holiday”) that reap 70% of their B.O. internationally, so the movie is not dependent upon U.S. success.
More crucially, the films will be split in two in most overseas markets, which will enable new campaigns and new marketing angles. Now, there are questions as to whether the Weinsteins may do the same here and re-release both films.
Double feature experiment stalled out at the B.O. over the weekend, dragging down the track records of both helmers with the lowest openers for either so far this decade.
Tarantino’s “Kill Bill Vol.1” sliced up $22 million in its 2004 bow, and that film’s sequel hit $25 million when it opened a year later.
The last Rodriguez film to open at the “Grindhouse” level was 1998’s forgettable “The Faculty,” which also hit $11.6 million in its debut.
Rodriguez’s biggest bow to date was the $33.4 million raked in by the last “Spy Kids” film in 2003. He’s had two films cross the $100 million mark, both from the “Spy Kids” franchise, whereas Tarantino has had one, “Pulp Fiction.”
The reaction to “Grindhouse” is the antithesis of that to “300,” “Norbit” and “Wild Hogs,” pics critics loathed but audiences loved. With “Grindhouse,” many critics loved the homages to old films but audiences were indifferent.
What was the target audience for the film? It was intended as an affectionate salute to the cheesy low-budget films of the 1960s and ’70s. But people old enough to remember those movies may not have been willing to spend more than three hours of their time celebrating the schlock of yesteryear.
And while young audiences laugh at references to recent films in “Epic Movie” and “Scary Movie,” the films of three decades ago (“White Line Fever,” “Caged Heat,” et al.) seem more remote than ancient Sparta.
Must-see films at the Texas Union
The Union Cinematheque keeps on gifting great, essential films to Austin. Here’s the latest list of FREE screenings at the Texas Union Theatre at UT (all shows are at 7:30 p.m.):
Monday: Luis Bunuel’s “That Obscure Object of Desire” (1977)
April 23: Orson Welles’ “F for Fake” (1975)
April 30: Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” (1986)
May 7: Monte Hellman’s “Two-Lane Blacktop” (1972)
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Yes, that was Julia Roberts you saw
Shooting began this week in Bastrop and Austin for “Fireflies in the Garden,” which is described by IMDB.com as a semi-autobiographical story that “centers on the complexities of love and commitment in a family torn apart when faced by an unexpected tragedy” written and directed by Dennis Lee.
Hayden Panettiere from TV’s “Heroes,” Julia Roberts , Willem Dafoe, Carrie-Anne Moss and Emily Watson star, and Roberts’ hubbie Daniel Moder is the cinematographer.
They shot at UT on Wednesday and should be in the area for several weeks. It looks like the bulk of the shoot will be in Bastrop. The movie’s slated for a 2008 release.
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Attention Jedi Knights
It’s been 30 years since “Star Wars” changed the science fiction landscape. We want you to prove you’re the biggest fan in Central Texas. We’ll shoot video of you and a Sith opponent (if you want, you can bring a friend, girlfriend - whatever) in our photo studio and post your video on Austin360.com. The winner of an online vote for biggest fan will be eligible for a special prize. We’ll have some props, but bring your own costumes and lightsabers and may the Force be with you!
Click here to see our promo, featuring “Jedi Rachel.”
Email Rob to participate.
Two special screenings: One with the blind, one with the Grind
Director Keith Maitland and producer Patrick Floyd are showing a sneak peek of their new doc “Keep Your Ear on the Ball” — about the rough coming of age of a blind, extremely tall Austin teenager with Marfan Syndrome — at 7 p.m. April 11 at Antone’s.
Scenes from the film, not the finished whole, will be shown, followed by a discussion.
Proceeds from donations and a silent auction will go to the film’s fiscal sponsor, the Austin-based non-profit All Blind Children of Texas.
More info about the film here.
Quentin Tarantino has personally given his blessings to a special early showing of his and Robert Rodriguez’s “Grindhouse” at 11 p.m. Thursday at the Alamo South. Which means you can see it less than a day before the rabble. Question: Is this really such a big deal?
Details here.
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Call for entries, and more Kat
If you’ve shot a film in Texas between 1997 and now, you can screen it at the upcoming monthly film festival at new Second St. hot spot Lambert’s. Here’s what they say:
“Shorts and features. Underground or mainstream. Student or professional. Narrative or documentary. Works in progress, etc. If it is good, we want to see it. We will screen our favorites for an audience of your colleagues, friends and peers. Lambert’s monthly film festival starts next month. This is a great opportunity to network, garner feedback if you would like it, and to get your film out there where it belongs. … Your films will be projected in high definition along with a state of the art sound system, and a capacity of seating over 100 people. … Blow the dust off that DVD case, and let’s watch some films.”
Lambert’s info at www.lambertsaustin.com.
Kat Candler (“cicadas,” “jumping off bridges”) is teaching two summer filmmaking classes at the The Austin School of Film:
12-Week Script to Screen Filmmaking Workshop, Tuesdays May 1 through July 21
Six-Week Teen Filmmaking Workshop fo rages 12 to 19, Wednesdays, May 30 through July 21
Limited space available in each class. Kontact Kat to sign up: kat@storieproductions.com or visit www.storieproductions.com.
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