Austin360 blogs > Austin Movie Blog > Archives > 2007 > December
December 2007
But will they shoot in Texas, or Spain?
Inticing squib posted at the Internet Movie Database.com:
Coen Brothers to Make Spaghetti Western
Filmmaking siblings Joel and Ethan Coen are set to make their goriest film ever — a Spaghetti Western featuring scenes of primitive torture methods. The brothers, whose notoriously gory new film “No Country for Old Men” has been tipped for Oscar glory, are desperate to make a film about the days of cowboys and Indians battling it out in the Wild West of America. But, as Joel warns, it won’t be one for the faint-hearted. He says, “We’ve written a western with a lot of violence in it. There’s scalping and hanging … it’s good. Indians torturing people with ants, cutting their eyelids off.” Ethan adds, “It’s a proper western, a real western, set in the 1870s. It’s got a scene that no one will ever forget because of one particular chicken.”
Early ‘Blood’-letting at Alamo
Getcher sneak peek of the lavishly praised (overpraised?) Paul Thomas Anderson drama “There Will Be Blood,” about oil, greed and soul erosion, at midnight Dec. 29 at the Alamo Ritz on Sixth St.
Tickets and details HERE.
The film opens Jan. 18 at the Alamo Ritz and other Austin showplaces.
‘Two-Lane Blacktop’: A DVD box with a hot-rod bod
Mighty Austin graphic designer Marc English has designed a passel of award-winning DVD packages for the highbrow Criterion Collection, including elaborately beautiful ones for “Slacker,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Naked” and “My Own Private Idaho.”
Just released from Criterion is Monte Hellman’s unassailable existential road picture “Two-Lane Blacktop,” which English also designed. It’s a knockout box. But don’t listen to me.
First this Hollywood-elsewhere.com blogger notes:
Criterion’s version (of ‘Two-Lane Blacktop’) may be the most attractive package they’ve ever put out. It’s the s*. I would be in awe of it even if it held a movie I didn’t like. It’s got a beautiful design.
To which Hellman personally responds to English:
I’d like to echo the above sentiments from a blogger. I couldn’t be more pleased with the way the package turned out. Everything about it is a delight to the eye. You managed to use BOTH my favorite cover designs, one on the box, the other on the disc holder fold-out. And I love the split photo of the gas station as you open the fold-out. And everything is so clean and simple.
Gape at and read about the DVD HERE.
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Villa news
The still-gestating Villa Muse Studios has tapped recording industry vets Barry Bongiovi as General Manager of Villa Muse Studios’ Recording Complex and Ed Evans as Technical Director.
Says VM:
Bongiovi will be responsible for the operation of Villa Muse’s scoring stage, recording studios, and post-production and editing suites. Evans will be responsible for information technology and technical aspects of the entire facility, including the post-production and film complexes. In addition, Evans will be responsible for defining, designing, testing and validating next generation recording technologies in the studios.
Learn more about the amazing Villa Muse concept HERE.
For the first time, gore-fan mag Fangoria hauls its Weekend of Horrors convention to guts-loving mecca Austin. It happens Jan. 18 through 20 at the Renaissance Austin Hotel, near the Alamo Village, where scads of 35mm horror flicks will roll.
Get the huge roster of names and titles, all bloody good, as well as badges HERE.
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Spiro’s movie coming to SXSW
Austin filmmaker Ellen Spiro tells us that her acclaimed documentary “Body of War” will have its local premiere, a big “splash,” March 13 during the South by Southwest Film Festival.
The soundtrack album, titled “No More,” with new music by Eddie Vedder, will enjoy its launch at the SXSW Music Festival that same week.
Spiro co-directed “Body of War” with Phil Donahue. It has been shortlisted for a Best Feature Documentary Oscar and was named best doc of the year by the National Board of Review.
And then there’s this from the Los Angeles Times, whose critic names “Body of War” as a favorite for nabbing the Oscar nomination. He names it plus “For the Bible Tells Me So,” “Lake of Fire,” “No End in Sight,” “Sicko,” “Taxi to the Dark Side” and “War/Dance” as frontrunners for the nom.
The Times explains:
Voters love documentaries by such firebrand liberals as Michael Moore, who won for “Bowling for Columbine” in 2002 and now competes with “Sicko.” But he could be upstaged by Phil Donahue, co-producer and co-director of “Body of War,” the story of a soldier paralyzed in Iraq. He’s promoting it aggressively around Hollywood, fuming, “This has been an unaffordable, unconstitutional, unwinnable, immoral war!”
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Penn, Pitt and Malick — in Smithville?
Our man in Smithville shoots us this scoop about a major movie shoot:
Smithville, home of D.J. Screw, gets a chance to redeem itself for “Hope Floats.” Residents of that quaint town 45 miles east of Austin have been notified that filming of Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” will begin there in late March. The movie is set to star Sean Penn and possibly Brad Pitt.
More about the movie from Tuesday’s Variety:
Brad Pitt is in talks to climb into “Tree of Life,” a drama Terrence Malick wrote and will direct.
River Road is financing, and Bill Pohlad is producing with Sarah Green (“The New World”) and Grant Hill.
Pitt, who recently ankled the Universal Pictures drama “State of Play,” would replace Heath Ledger, who was skedded to star with Sean Penn in the Malick-directed drama, which begins production in the spring.
Though Penn is booked to play the title character in the Gus Van Sant-directed “Harvey Milk,” he’s still expected to play a supporting role in “Tree of Life.” Penn has an allegiance to River Road’s Pohlad, who co-financed with Paramount Vantage the Penn-directed “Into the Wild.”
No deals have been made with Pitt or Penn. Pitt would have earned $20 million against gross to star in “State of Play,” but he’ll likely sign on to “Tree of Life” for nearly no upfront money.
A few details about the extremely secretive production — about which the Texas Film Commission won’t say a peep to us — from FilmWad.com:
The historic project has been kicked around since the ’70s, most recently set for Colin Ferrell after working with Malick on “The New World” and reported by The Hollywood Reporter to have taken place in India. Both aspects of the project have since been left behind by Malick.
The “closely guarded” drama will follow a husband and as-yet uncast female lead as his wife, with Penn to play a supporting role.
Always a local angle
This time it’s for young Austin actor, Westwood High School grad and current UT student Glen Powell Jr., who has a chunky role in “The Great Debaters,” which opens Christmas day and is nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best drama.
He plays a Harvard debater in the film, which stars and is directed by Denzel Washington. You might recognize the handsome Powell from parts in “The Hottest State,” “Fast Food Nation,” “The Wendell Baker Story” and as one of the leads in Kat Candler’s “Jumping Off Bridges.”
Learn more about the rising thesp HERE.
Glen is on the far left, laughing. From ‘Jumping Off Bridges.’
Get greenlit and win some green
Our own SXSW Film has joined forces with ON Networks for the new Greenlight Awards, which is taking submissions for fresh episodic digital series.
Texas filmies Richard Linklater and Luke Wilson are among the judges.
Get all you need, from rules to cash-prize info, right HERE.
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Predicting the Golden Globes
The Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning. (Click here for the list of nominees.) Below, two Statesman staffers give their take on what to expect (and what they hope will happen) on awards night next year.
Chris Garcia
- Best Motion Picture - Drama: (will win) “No Country for Old Men” / (should win) “No Country for Old Men”
- Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: (will win) “Hairspray” / (should win) “Juno”
- Best Director - Motion Picture: (will win) Coen brothers / (should win) Julian Schnabel
- Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama: (will win) Daniel Day Lewis / (should win) Daniel Day Lewis
- Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: (will win) Tom Hanks / (should win) Philip Seymour Hoffman
- Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama: (will win) Julie Christie/ (should win) Keira Knightley
- Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: N/A
- Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture: (will win) Javier Bardem/ (should win) Javier Bardem
- Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture: (will win) Cate Blanchett/ (should win) Amy Ryan
- Best Screenplay: (will win) “No Country for Old Men”/ (should win) “Atonement”
Matthew Odam
- Best Motion Picture - Drama: (will win) “Atonement” / (should win) “No Country for Old Men”
- Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: (will win) “Charlie Wilson’s War” / (should win) “Sweeney Todd”
- Best Director - Motion Picture: (will win) Coen Brothers / (should win) Coen Brothers
- Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama: (will win) Daniel Day-Lewis / (should win) Daniel Day-Lewis
- Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: (will win) Johnny Depp / (should win)Phillip Seymour Hoffman
- Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama: N/A
- Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: N/A
- Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture: (will win) Javier Bardem / (should win) Javier Bardem
- Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture: (will win) Tilda Swinton / (should win) Tilda Swinton
- Best Screenplay: (will win) “Atonement” / (should win) “Atonement”
Who do you think will and should win, and who got snubbed?
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The Indiana Jones poster and other iffy news
Here it is, the official poster for the new Indy Jones flick, opening May 2008. Feel free to yawn, shrug, scream, applaud …
Little local angle in this bit: The Trailer Gals — an online movie review site that reads like it’s aimed at ditzy tweens — are one of three finalists in VH1’s Ecritic Contest.
Based in Atlanta, the Trailer Gals are Siobhan Price and AnChi Pho. Local angle: Pho is from Texas and a UT alum.
They’re competing against Movie Preview Critic from Chicago and Pikahsso from Dallas. We will try to keep our mouths shut, but if this is the top of the lot then Mike Judge’s “Idiocracy” has come true.
See and hear for yourself HERE, where you can also vote for your fave through Dec. 17. This will be one tough vote.
Here’s Price in a press release on being a finalist (emphasis ours): “I cannot believe that of all the entries, that [sic] they choose [sic] my ‘Transformers’ review. We do movie reviews for fun because we like to watch movies for free. I never thought that this could lead to a chance to walk the red carpet in Santa Monica with celebrities!”
OMG!!!
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Thomas Haden Church, Jayne Mansfield and ‘Urban Cowboy’ elected to Texas Film Hall of Fame
One groundbreaking movie and two performers will be honored by the Austin Film Society during its annual Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards ceremony March 7. “Urban Cowboy” defined the state’s culture for a generation of non-Texans, along with the TV series “Dallas.” One of its stars, Debra Winger, will accept the award on behalf of the cast and crew.
El Paso native Thomas Haden Church, best known for “Sideways” and the TV series “Wings,” will be inducted, as will the late Jayne Mansfield, who spent much of her youth in Texas. Her daughter, Mariska Hargitay, an Emmy Award winner for “Law & Order: SVU,” will accept the honor on Mansfield’s behalf.
The Austin Film Society will announce additional honorees in the coming months.
That’s some “Body”: Spiro’s film crowned by critics group
In this recent blog entry we told you about Austin filmmaker Ellen Spiro’s Iraq war documentary “Body of War” being shortlisted as a nominee for best documentary feature at next year’s Oscars.
Now the National Board of Review has named “Body of War” the best documentary of the year — a sizable honor.
Congrats, again, to Spiro, who co-directed the doc with the one and only Phil Donahue.
The rest of the NBR’s best of 2007 picks:
Best film: “No Country for Old Men”
Director: Tim Burton, “Sweeney Todd”
Actor: George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”
Actress: Julie Christie, “Away From Her”
Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”
Foreign Film: “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly”
Documentary: “Body Of War”
Animated Feature: “Ratatouille”
Ensemble Cast: “No Country For Old Men”
Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Emile Hirsch, “Into The Wild”
Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Ellen Page, “Juno”
Best Directorial Debut: Ben Affleck, “Gone Baby Gone”
Best Original Screenplay (tie): Diablo Cody, “Juno” and Nancy Oliver, “Lars and the Real Girl”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, “No Country For Old Men”
And the rest of NBR’s top 10, in alphabetical order:
“The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford”
“Atonement”
“The Bourne Ultimatum”
“The Bucket List”
“Into The Wild”
“Juno”
“The Kite Runner”
“Lars And The Real Girl”
“Michael Clayton”
“Sweeney Todd”
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Another Fantastic fan
More kudos for Austin’s 3-year-old Fantastic Fest at the Alamo: During this week’s International Film Festival Summit in Las Vegas, Variety publisher Charlie Koones named 10 “festivals we love.” He listed the “interesting and exciting events” in no order, but Fantastic Fest stands tall with titans like Cannes, Telluride and Toronto. A little festival called Sundance is nowhere in sight on the list …
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Cine Las Americas gears up
The 11th annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival is rumbling. The fest has its dates — April 16 through 24 — and is taking submissions for “the best of Latino and indigenous cinema.”
Submission deadline is Dec. 21. Get entry forms HERE.
Organizers continue:
The festival showcases contemporary films from North, Central, South America the Caribbean and Spain. Works made by or about Latinos and native groups of the Americas are eligible to participate.
The festival grants Jury Awards in the categories of First or Second Dramatic Feature, Documentary Feature, Dramatic Short Film, Documentary Short Film and Youth Film. Audience Awards are also presented for Best Documentary Feature and Best Dramatic Feature.
To be eligible for these competitive sections, projects must have been completed after Jan. 1, 2006. All film entries are also eligible to participate in the festival’s non-competitive sections. For all works where the spoken language is not English, English subtitles or narration are required.
As a celebration of young filmmakers, Cine Las Americas presents Emergencia, a special competitive section open to filmmakers ages 19 and under.
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Idio-Fox-cracy
Interesting, slightly troubling bit ‘o information about Fox and its continuing dysfunctional relationship with Mike Judge’s pretty-good and Austin-made “Idiocracy,” right HERE.
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