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June 2008
Guerrero scores with ‘Therapy,’ and musical zombies cry foul
No surprise that Austin moviemakers do well in the ocean of filmmaking contests cluttering the Internet and beyond.
Austinite Jeff Guerrero is one of the talented and lucky. He’s one of 15 finalists in the Doorpost Film Project, picked from an international pool of aspiring directors.
What it means: Guerrero, who co-starred in the hit Austin comedy “Chalk,” gets $10,000 to make a second film. If he beats out the 14 others during a September screening, he’ll be given $100,000 and a trip to Hollywood to meet producers.
What Doorpost is: “A short filmmaking contest aimed at discovering and developing filmmakers capable of producing films that inspire and influence, rather than simply entertain.” … Guerro and his fellow contestants “have each been given $10,000 to produce a final-round short film, (eight to 15 minutes) based on the designated topic of hope …”
Guerrero’s round-one short film, “Therapy” — “one man struggles to express himself and ultimately finds his voice with the help of some unconventional finger puppets” — addresses the subject of freedom.
Watch “Therapy” here.
Jeff Guerrero
Here’s a fishy tale:
The Austin makers of the zombie spoof “Z: A Zombie Musical” tell us that they sent their film to Troma, pioneers of fun camp-trash, but were turned down because of its own zombie movie “Poultrygeist” Night of the Chicken Dead”.
The “Z” people continue:
“Well, since that time they ‘revised’ their imdb.com listing for the great ‘Cannibal: The Musical’ and stole our marketing tagline of: ‘All Singing! All Dancing! All Zombies!’ with their own version, which appeared on NONE of the ‘Cannibal’ marketing/DVD packaging in the past! Check check out their purloined version of our tagline here.
Troma’s got some ‘splaining to do …
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Pixar living ‘Large’
If you’ve seen Pixar’s instant summer smash “Wall*E,” you’re familiar with the satirical monolithic meta-corporation Buy n Large.
Is it a real company? Or just a Pixar leg-pull?
You decide here. Pore over the site and its links for a gaggle of good gags.
Here’s a clip of the movie featuring Buy n Large.
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Early reviews: ‘Dark Knight’ rules
We don’t get a peek until July 14 — just before its July 18 opening — but some have seen “The Dark Knight” and dig it, hard. Heath Ledger’s last performance is swiping much of the praise, as in this Associated Press piece:
The buzz over Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in “The Dark Knight” for the last several months was justified. With his final full film role, Ledger delivers what may be remembered as the finest performance of his career.
A press screening of the “Batman Begins” sequel Thursday night had the audience cackling along with Ledger’s Joker, a depraved creature utterly without conscience whom the late actor played with gleeful anarchy.
At times sounding like a cross between tough guy James Cagney in a gangster flick and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s fastidious Truman Capote, Ledger elevates Batman’s No. 1 nemesis to a place even Jack Nicholson did not take him in 1989’s “Batman.”
Nicholson’s Joker was campy and clever. Ledger’s Joker is an all-out terror, definitely funny but with a lunatic moral mission to drag all of Gotham, the city Batman thanklessly protects, down to his own dim assessment of humanity.
Spewing alternate personal histories for how he got the horrible scars on his face, the Joker hides behind distorted clown makeup that looks like a chalk drawing left out in the rain.
The Joker masterminds a series of escalating abductions, assassination attempts, murders and bombings, all aimed at calling out Batman (Christian Bale) and proving to the tormented vigilante hero that they are two sides of the same coin.
“You complete me,” the Joker tells Batman, dementedly borrowing Tom Cruise’s sappy romantic line from “Jerry Maguire.”
Read the article in full here.
And …
Rolling Stone’s (typical) gusher here.
A vaguely readable review from Ain’t It Cool News here.
A story about how Ledger should get the Oscar here.
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Hollywood pro shares wisdom in Bastrop
Hollywood agent Rima Greer will be at the UMAC in Bastrop (1800 Linda St.) on Aug. 6 to discuss what makes a script tick, answer questions and sign her book “The Real Low Down, Dirty Truth About Hollywood Agenting.”
If you sign up, you get a free book. If you do so before July 15, you can snip $5 off the $35 price.
Reservations and details HERE.
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Austin at Los Angeles Film Festival
Two new films by Austinites received their premieres at the Los Angeles Film Festival over the weekend: Spencer Parson’s feature “I’ll Come Running” and PJ Raval and Jay Hodges’ documentary “Trinidad” (see previous entries for photos from the fest).
Haven’t found reviews of “Trinidad” yet, but the Hollywood trades seem to dig Parson’s sui generis pic.
What they’re saying:
Some of the most provocative recent films, including “Babel,” “The Visitor,” and “The Edge of Heaven,” have dramatized encounters of people from different cultures. While these films frequently focus on the tragic consequences of such culture clashes, they remind us that we live in a shrinking world where interdependence is crucial. The latest movie to bring this theme into focus, “I’ll Come Running,” has its premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival. While not as seamless as some of those earlier movies, it’s an affecting drama of people from different nationalities trying to bridge the gulf that divides them. — Read the full Hollywood Reporter review here.
Teasingly unpredictable and carelessly uneven in equal measure, “I’ll Come Running” is a curious Texas-Denmark, semi-romantic-comedy/semi-tragedy hybrid that could have used some fine-tuning. First feature by Austin, Texas-based helmer Spencer Parsons is dedicated to discovering new spins and emotional tones in familiar hookup-and-aftermath material, which, with the Danish setting of the second half, gives the film an unusual flavor for an American indie. A good perf from up-and-coming thesp Melonie Diaz might provide enough oomph to earn the pic a toehold in specialized release in select markets, although its main audience awaits down the line in cable and DVD. — Read the full Variety review here.
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Paramount series: good movies, good crowds
It’s always gratifying to see a healthy turnout for a good old classic movie, no matter the setting. With the Paramount’s Summer Film Classics series in full swing, that sight is available at the coolest venue in town.
Lots of people poured out of the Paramount after Hitchcock’s “The Birds” last night, and many stuck around for the superior “Psycho,” a movie that gets more interesting at every viewing (despite the risible psychobabbly coda).
I’ve only caught four movies in the series so far (bummed I missed “I Walked with a Zombie” and “Cat People”), including “Harold and Maude” last week — a dream of a picture that showcases the alien-like Bud Cort at his most funny and fascinating.
I have plans at the theater this weekend — “The Exorcist” and “Rosemary’s Baby” together — and next week with the twofer “Frankenstein” and “Revenge of Frankenstein,” then Polanski’s “Repulsion,” which I haven’t seen in ages and owe a second chance. Its creepy charms have eluded me.
(There are four Polanski flicks in the Paramount line-up — “Chinatown,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Repulsion” and “Knife in the Water.” I’m doing them all.)
Reels more are on tap at the Paramount all summer. Pick your pics HERE.
A vision of my weekend, and maybe yours.
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Sonic celluloid with seminal DIY band
Writer-director Michael Albright presents his rock-doc “Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Alamo Lake Creek.
He’ll answer questions and all that.
About the film:
In the summer of 2006, a group of seven high school students from Reno, NV set out to make a documentary on Sonic Youth. As part of a non-profit organization called ‘Project Moonshine’, these teens were given cameras and a few days of training and set loose to record a day in the life of Sonic Youth. Shot on location in Reno, NV on the 4th of July, this intimate verite documentary is a behind the scenes look at one of the most influential indie bands of all time and contains some of the most insightful and candid concert footage ever recorded.
Tickets, etc. HERE.
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‘Trinidad’ unveiled in L.A.
Austinites PJ Raval and Jay Hodges’ doc “Trinidad” had its premiere Sunday at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and executive producer (and former SXSW honcho) Matt Dentler says: “The film played really well, and we’re all thrilled.” He also sent photos taken by the film’s editor Kyle Henry.
The doc explores the titular Colorado city known as the “sex change capital of the world.” More about it, including a clip, HERE.
Film subject Sabrina Marcus hoists co-director and cinematographer PJ Raval on Sunday at the Los Angeles Film Festival
Executive producer Matt Dentler, co-director Jay Hodges, film subjects Marci Bowers and Sabrina Marcus, and co-director Raval
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Brad Neely at Alamo Ritz
Brad Neely has turned irreverence into a career.
The 31 year-old Arkansas native will be showcasing several of his off-the-wall animated shorts from internet service Super Deluxe (superdeluxe.com) at the downtown Alamo Drafthouse today and Thursday. The first show last Thursday sold out quickly, so interested parties are encouraged to buy tickets quickly because they will likely be unavailable by the time of the show.
“I wish it could have kept going but we ran out of time,” says Neely of the event.
Super Deluxe hosts two Neely series: “I Am Baby Cakes,” about the diary of a 30 year-old man-child with a unique outlook on life, and “The Professor Bros.,” about the lectures of two unprofessional and vulgar sibling college professors.
“I wanted to make shorts wherein people told stories, not just third-person, we’re watching a story happen,” says Neely of his creations, which he voices and composes music for entirely by himself. “So I thought that a diary would work, and I thought that lectures would work. ‘Baby Cakes’ and ‘Professor Bros.’ pretty quickly filled in those blanks.”
Throughout May, Super Deluxe posted installments of Neely’s animated short “China, IL” a combination of “Baby Cakes” and “Professor Bros.,” each Monday, culminating in the short’s broadcast in its entirety on cable network Adult Swim on May 25. The short, with its themes of love, death and depression, can now be seen in its entirety on the Super Deluxe website.
Neely moved to Austin in summer 2000 and quickly exposed the city to his bizarre brand of humor with his comic strip, “Creased Comics.” The strip appeared in The Daily Texan, the newspaper published by the University of Texas, even though he was never a student there.
“They never asked,” explains Neely about why his strip was published despite him never attending UT. “I would make about 100 cartoons and then put them in an envelope (and) go drop it off in someone’s box and they would show up in the paper.”
The single-panel strip’s bizarre and irreverent style, which makes “The Far Side” look as old-fashioned as “The Family Circus” by comparison, acted as a teaser for Neely’s later work.
In 2004, Neely recorded “Wizard People, Dear Readers,” an audio companion to the hit film “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” wherein Neely humorously narrates the onscreen action with little regard for the actual story.
He next made “Cox + Combes’ Washington,” an animated short/rap about the fictitious exploits of George Washington (“12 stories high, made of radiation”), but unwittingly sold his rights to it.
Both products have since taken on lives of their own, and have become internet phenomena in their own right.
It was “Washington” that attracted the attention of Super Deluxe, and Neely was contracted in summer 2006 to produce similar shorts exclusively for the Web page, turning his lifelong hobby into a paying career that is now being celebrated barely two years later.
“I’m very thankful for this showcase,” admits Neely. “It made me feel proud.”
Monday’s (June 23) showcase is at 7:30 p.m., Thursday’s (June 26) at 7 p.m. at the Alamo Ritz.
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Texas hoofer and beauty Cyd Charisse dies
Amarillo native Cyd Charisse (born Tula Ellice Finklea) died today in Los Angeles at age 86 of an apparent heart attack.
The leggy dancer and 2002 inductee into the Texas Film Hall of Fame is best known for her silken and swoony moves in classics “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Band Wagon” and “Brigadoon.”
Read the AP obit HERE.
See her own site HERE.
And read my 2002 interview with Charisse, upon her induction into the TFHF, HERE.
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Ghost encounters of the Madsen kind
Yesterday we posted a meandering tale about salty actor Michael Madsen, tabloids, iffy rumors, specious reporting and the movie he just wrapped in the Austin area, “Conflict of Interest.” (See two entries below.)
Now an invisible friend tells us that Madsen was freaked by a ghost in his suite at the Driskill Hotel, where the cast lodged during the two-week shoot. The Driskill is, of course, lousy with ghosts. The front desk, if you ask, will give you a two-page printout of all the ghosts that waft ‘n’ wail through the classic hotel. (Read more about all the Driskill spirits HERE.)
First, read this, from the above Driskill-ghosts link:
Another (ghost at the Driskill) is the 4-year-old daughter of a U.S. Senator. She haunts the grand staircase leading from the mezzanine down to the lobby. The little girl was playing unattended with a ball when she slipped and fell to the marble floor at the bottom of the stairs and was killed. The front desk staff has heard the child bouncing the ball down the steps and giggling.
Our source, who is hardly just an apparition, tells us Madsen complained that this little girl haunted him in his room. Not sure what she did — tickled him? poured him a drink? cut off his ear? — but Madsen believes she came because, hold on, he plays a U.S. senator in the movie.
Oh, totally!
Regardless of the phantom lass, we believe firmly that Madsen is spooked.
With nothing better to do, the little girl ghost-busted Michael Madsen
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SXSW docs come to DVD
A pair of SXSW doc alums are coming to DVD in September from New Yorker Video:
Laura Dunn’s vastly hailed Barton Springs polemic “The Unforeseen” (executive produced, recall, by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford) hits shelves Sept. 16
Bill Haney’s SXSW Audience Award winner “The Price of Sugar” — a stark look at impoverished Haitians working in squalid conditions on Dominican sugarcane plantations, narrated by Paul Newman — arrives Sept. 23.
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Much (Michael Madsen) ado about nothing
This is a long item, a shaggy-dog story that’s just goofy enough for a groggy Monday mention.
So we get a random phone call Friday about gruff, extra-crispy-voiced actor Michael Madsen shooting the low-budget political thriller “Conflict of Interest” in Lockhart and Caldwell County. The movie co-stars Francesco Quinn, Martin Sheen’s younger brother Joe Estevez and, good lordy, the brilliant Lee Majors. It’s Masden’s last day on the set, but still, there’s news here.
This person — who happens to be another of the film’s co-stars, Connie Nelson, ex-wife of Willie — has me call one of the film’s producers (who is also a co-star). I do.
The producer, Kerry Wallum, makes great efforts to modify charges by a raft of tabloids, including The New York Post and New York Daily News, that Madsen had made a public ruckus in London earlier in the week and that his misbehavior had set the film’s production schedule behind by weeks, messing up everything.
First we’d heard about any of this. And when we scoured for evidence, we found a handful of mentions about the incident, with nothing about the brouhaha impacting the movie.
Here’s a report from Aceshowbiz.com:
(Because he) threw such a hissy fit inside London’s posh Dorchester Hotel this weekend, Michael Madsen was booked by the authorities. The actor was then transferred to hospital after staff at the top hotel became concerned for his mental health following fits of screaming and shouting from his room.
Madsen, best known for his role as psychopath Mr. Blonde in “Reservoir Dogs,” had been staying at the Dorchester hotel and checked in on Saturday, June 7 with a woman believed to be his wife and his 5-year-old daughter. Police were called after a guest complained to have heard screaming coming from the actor’s room.
The authorities arrived to find Madsen covered in cuts and bruises and an ambulance was called shortly thereafter, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said no arrests were made following the incident and no further action would be taken.
Certain that local Texas papers should have the story first — that Madsen’s mischief did not upset the shoot — Wallum confirmed that the London incident did happen. He just didn’t want people to think the incident affected things here.
“You’ll do nothing but good for us, right?” Wallum asked.
Um. Sure.
Consider this a pre-emptive strike against any potential tabloid scuttlebutt. Sigh.
Wallum tried to get Madsen on the phone, but the actor was as eager as a kid getting a booster shot. When he finally got on the line, Madsen played dumb.
“I’m wondering what all the mystery is about,” Madsen said. “I don’t know what you’ve heard about.”
We then read him a tabloid headline: “‘Reservoir Dogs’ Star Taken to Hospital After Hotel Bust-up.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Madsen said, haltingly. “I’m in Austin, Texas, shooting a picture!”
It’s all over the tabloids, we tell him.
“Oh, you guys can’t jump on stuff like that, reading all these crazy things,” he said.
He hands the phone to Wallum, who says, “The New York Post told somebody that they’r e doing a piece about how Madsen shut us down for four weeks because he was on this drunken binge coming back from London and this and that. It’s just not true. What his publicist and everyone wants to do is just get the truth out.
“I thought you guys could get the story in before the Post does, because the Post is calling us like crazy.”
So, we ask, what’s the bottom line? What’s the point?
“He’s got a little bit of a black-eye, had a little problem, but it’s all worked out,” Wallum said. “But they’re trying to say he came back all drunk and belligerent and shut down the production.”
The point: He did not. That’s their story, and they’re stickin’ to it.
Another version of the tabloid tale HERE.
Madsen in ‘Kill Bill’
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Another SXSW film lands a deal
Another SXSW alum has been grabbed for distribution: After airing it on HDNet, Mark Cuban’s Magnolia Pictures will release “Humboldt County” in September, first in Austin and Eureka, Calif. (which is in Humboldt County), then wider.
This is the second SXSW hit to enjoy an opening roll-out in Austin. “Baghead,” which opens today, is also starting its run in our hipster cine-clave.
“Humboldt County,” a dramedy of place and circumstance, was co-written and co-directed by Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs and stars Jeremy Strong, Fairuza Balk and Peter Bogdanovich.
More about the film HERE.
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‘Shotgun Stories’ shoots to DVD
Austinite Jeff Nichols’ roundly hailed feature debut “Shotgun Stories” knocked them out on the festival circuit, winning top awards at the Austin Film Festival and Seattle International Film Festival. And now you can watch it on DVD when it’s released July 1.
A toughly honest portrait of a brotherly feud in rural Arkansas, the poetic drama was produced by David Gordon Green and stars Michael Shannon.
See everything you need know, including photos, DVD specs and critics’ laurels, HERE.
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But will they be filming tomorrow, Friday, June 13?
A tipster tips us that the big “Friday the 13th” remake shooting in the area was filming at Aquarena Springs in San Marcos yesterday. Best part: “At least one scene included a topless victim flailing in the water.”
Our source adds: “The rumor was that today’s filming will include an unmasked Jason. Not sure if he will be topless or not.”
Turk Pipkin has a new short film from his Nobelity Project, “One Child at a Time,” which, says Turk, “highlights the Miracle Foundation’s inspiring work for orphaned children in India.”
Watch it HERE.
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Local filmmakers make good
“Crawford,” Austin filmmaker David Modigliani’s much-buzzed doc about Bush’s adopted hometown, won the audience award for best documentary at the Brooklyn Film Festival this week. That follows a warm reception at SXSW this year. Congrats, David.
The film recently screened in Crawford itself, and a DVD is on the boards. More about the movie HERE.
“Trouble the Water,” the doc that local film figure PJ Raval shot as its cinematographer (PJ’s also a director in his own right), has been picked up for American distribution by Zeitgeist Films. It will be in theaters starting in August.
The movie, a personal account of Hurricane Katrina, is directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal and won the Grand Jury Award at this year’s Sundance.
Check the film out HERE.
There’s a spiffy, user-friendly new site for the Paramount Summer Film Classics up now. Definitely worth a look, right HERE.
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Humor, soft and spoon-fed
A filmmaker named Brice from New Braunfels alerts us to his bizzaro, “Super Size Me”-esque documentary “The Baby Food Dude,” which he describes as a “‘DoComedy’ about a man in his late 30’s eating nothing but baby food for 40 days in order to lose weight.
“This film is not a farce. This is real. Well, at least the diet is.”
This road-trip mockumentary’s tagline goes: “Baby Food for Breakfast … Baby Food for Lunch … Baby Food for Dinner … even Sunday Brunch!”
Watch the wack trailer and learn more right HERE.
Scrumchin’ down on that mushy foodstuff
But that’s not all from the stalwart Brice. He’s helping launch the first Texandance International Film Festival next year in New Braunfels. It sounds cool. Check it out HERE.
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Pipkin’s latest big-hearted pursuit
Austin author, filmmaker and man about town Turk Pipkin today updates friends, family and fans with this e-missive, which discusses his newly cracked leg, his follow-up to his doc “Nobelity” and latest philanthropic endeavor and how you can help:
To all the Friends of The Nobelity Project,
Thanks for all your emails inquiring about my leg (which I busted while filming in the Grand Canyon). I’m recuperating at home now and catching up on editing our new film, “One Peace at a Time,” a film about solutions to global problems.
While in production earlier this Spring I traveled to Ethiopia with the Austin-based non-profit A Glimmer of Hope and I didn’t want to wait to tell you about the incredible work they are doing for the people of Ethiopia, where average income is just 35 cents per person per day.
AGOH was founded by Donna and Philip Berber, and in less than one decade, they have directly impacted the lives of 2 million people in Ethiopia by providing clean water, schools, health clinics and economic opportunity. My experience visiting these projects was truly inspiring. Women and girls who had been walking up to six hours each day carrying 60-pound jugs of water for their families have been freed from that burden. With a well in their community, the girls can now use those hours to attend school. The women now have time to grow food or to earn money to feed their families. Clean water literally transforms the lives of all who receive it.
The Nobelity Project is very excited to announce that we are partnering with A Glimmer of Hope to fund six wells in Ethiopia. We’ve already raised the funds for five of these wells, and are asking you to help us fund the sixth. Because of the efficiency of AGOH and the labor contributed by the local community, the cost of this well is just $3,500.
To read the Nobelity Blog about my travels with A Glimmer of Hope, go to www.nobelity.org and click on “Latest News/Nobelity Blog”
Or you can take the quick route by clicking on “Make a Donation” and contributing to the Water Works program.
It doesn’t matter if you contribute one dollar or a thousand — this is a great chance to reach out and change the world … One peace at a time.
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More on Universal blaze’s impact on archives
A fresh report from Variety:
Universal to rebuild vault
Film losses a fear after studio fire
By DAVID S. COHEN
As the smoke cleared from Sunday’s Universal studios fire, movie lovers were breathing a sigh of relief at the news that nothing irreplaceable was lost in the destruction of U’s video vault.
But by Wednesday, Universal execs realized that the losses could be far more serious than originally thought though not even the studio itself is sure where things stand.
Early indications from Universal, though, are that it intends to rebuild its print library, no matter what was lost.
“It’s too early for me to be able to tell you what was lost; we’re still assessing,” said Mike Daruty, U’s senior VP for technical operations.
Daruty spoke on a day when insurers and anxious producers were deluging the lot with phone calls, trying to determine exactly what had happened.
Some of that concern was deepened by an email from Paul Ginsburg, a VP at the studio, warning repertory theaters that the fire “destroyed nearly 100% of the archive prints kept here on the lot.”
Daruty confirmed that the destroyed facility was “vault services, shipping and receiving and mainly our tape vault. The majority were tape assets, a small percentage being film assets.”
Inventory in the vault was closely tracked, but since some assets were rescued from the fire, U staffers are still determining exactly what was saved and what they’ve lost.
No negatives or film masters were kept in the vault, so all the prints are replaceable — in theory.
Furthermore, if U is following industry best practices, it would not have been keeping all of its prints of any title in one location. The company has a storage facility in Philadelphia, so there may be prints of some affected titles there.
But some prints are enormously valuable in their own right. So-called EK prints, struck from the original negatives when the negatives were new and thus irreplaceable, would be among the most valuable prints on Earth, according to one expert on film and printing who asked not to be named.
George Eastman House curator of Motion Pictures Patrick Loughney told Daily Variety, “Older films are not easily replaced. There might be issues with the negative fading, or it could have shriveled. Making new prints is not a straightforward matter.”
Even if a negative is immaculate, a new print might not match the old, said David Schwartz, chief curator at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.
“If it was a film printed in Technicolor, that process isn’t used anymore. You’re not going to get a print of the same quality,” Schwartz said.
Daruty confirmed that there is no way to make a new Technicolor IB print today. “We work very hard when we are doing prints to try to get as close to the look of the original as possible. But there’s no way to match a Technicolor print that’s 30 or 40 years old.”
Even black-and-white classics might not be fully reproducible. “Today’s black-and-white film has less silver in the film stock,” said Schwartz. “The quality of a vintage black-and-white print might be higher than a new black-and-white print.”
The biggest issue today, though, is that while these archival prints can be replaced, that doesn’t mean they will be.
“That’s the biggest fear,” said Loughney. “That the only real revenue from these films is from cable TV and DVD, and they won’t have new prints made. Then these important films won’t be available in the form in which they were meant to be seen.”
Universal has a reputation for being particularly supportive of programmers and repertory houses; Ginsburg is a favorite in that community.
Of fears that films would go unprinted, Daruty said, “I understand the concern; I don’t think it’s a valid concern. We take this pretty seriously. We’ve been a leader in film preservation and restoration of materials.”
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Matthew still a satirical bull’s-eye
Dunno how we missed this gem from The Onion, which ran in March. But here it is:
Actor Matthew McConaughey Agrees To Star In Whatever
AUSTIN, TX— Actor Matthew McConaughey announced Tuesday that he has accepted a 6, maybe $7 million offer to star in Whatever. “I’m happy to do Whatever. You know I’m easy, brother,” McConaughey said of his upcoming role as a laid-back dude. “As long as the beer is cold and I can take my shirt off, I’m in. Well, all right.” Whatever, slated for release either late this year or next, will be directed by this one guy with whom McConaughey has worked before, and will also star Kate Hudson.
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Universal fire doesn’t singe classic film series
The recent big fire at Universal Studio’s backlot had some of us fanatics wondering if the damage to Universal’s archives would affect the Paramount’s Summer Film Classics Series. Here’s what august series programmer Paul Beutel tells us (and it’s good news):
The warehouse that burned housed studio archival prints, but the the original elements (negatives, sound tracks, etc.) are stored elsewhere, as are back-up copies. So, although the fire resulted in millions of dollars worth of lost prints, no films were lost “permanently,” they say.
Most of the Universal titles I booked for the Paramount this summer are those which circulate regularly (e.g., “Psycho,” “The Birds,” “Frankenstein,” “Rear Window”) and thus have several copies housed at DeLuxe labs for distribution. The only two we were getting directly from the studio archive were “State of the Union” and the 70mm print of “Vertigo.” Fortunately, both of these survived the blaze, apparently out on loan some place else.
Beutel adds, on another note, that the June 21-22 screenings of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” have been replaced by best picture Oscar-winner “Oliver!” MGM discovered it no longer had the theatrical rights for “Chitty,” he says.
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Screenings, more screenings …
The goofy low-budget romp “Z: A Zombie Musical” — totally Austin made, with a roll-call of local luminaries — will finally screen for the public, 7:30 p.m. June 16 at the Arbor. $5 admission.
Expect a packed house with cast, crew and friends.
Get film details and trailer HERE.
Austin’s Library network presents its ambitious summer film series, with various themes at various branches.
European Movie Night Series: Life Under Communist Rule at the Spicewood Springs Branch. Info HERE.
Way Back Disney Classic Movies at the Ruiz Branch. Info HERE.
Eight Weeks of Oscars at the Southeast Austin Community Branch. Info HERE.
Swing and punch with bad boys during the Ransom Center’s Rebel Classics Film Series, starting at 7 p.m. Thursday:
Marlon Brando in “The Wild One” (1953), 7 p.m. Thursday
James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955), 7 p.m. June 26
Richard Burton in “Look Back in Anger” (1958), 7 p.m. July 24
Details HERE.
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Clips reel of local events
Help out 15-year-old Austin auteur Emily Hagins and her second feature (second feature! 15!) “The Retelling,” which starts rolling next month in Austin.
Hagins is throwing a fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Alamo South, with two hours of short films, trailers and music. Tickets are $10 at the Alamo.
Hagins’ first film was the zombie thriller “Pathogen.” She was 12 when she made it.
Go to the “Retelling” site HERE.
Hone your writing chops during the Austin Film School’s “Screenwriting Essentials” with award-winning screenwriter Ira Israel, who collaborated on Luc Besson’s films “The Professional” and “The Fifth Element.”
The 10-week class begins June 11. Get the scoop HERE.
Kat Candler teaches Teen Filmmaking, in which students team-up to write, direct, shoot and edit short films for screening. It runs June 26 through Aug. 14 at Austin Film School.
Registration and complete info HERE.
One more reason to join the Austin Film Society.
Check this members-only screening:
Kieran Fitzgerald’s doc “The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez” screens at 7 p.m. June 11 at the Alamo Ritz, thanks to AFS, KLRU and P.O.V. Fitzgerald AND narrator Tommy Lee Jones will be in attendance.
A cap: “In 1997, U.S. Marines patrolling the Texas-Mexico border as part of the War on Drugs shot and killed Esequiel Hernández Jr. Mistaken for a drug runner, the 18-year-old was, in fact, a U.S. citizen tending his family’s goats with a .22 rifle. He became the first American killed by U.S. military forces on native soil since the 1970 Kent State shootings.”
The movie airs July 8 and 15 on KLRU.
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Catch ‘Trinidad’ tonight!
Thanks to some globe-trotting, we are apologetically late on this:
“Trinidad” gets a special fundraising sneak-peek at 7 tonight at the Alamo South. It’s a documentary by a quintessentially Austin crew — directors PJ Raval (who’s also the DP) and Jay Hodges; editor Kyle Henry; and executive producer Matt Dentler, among others — and premieres at the Los Angeles Film Festival later this month.
The show is sold-out, but Raval tells us the Alamo has moved the show to a bigger theater, so go now to grab the extra seats. Tix available HERE.
Quick summary: The feature doc explores “Colorado’s transformation from Wild West outpost to ‘sex change capital of the world,’ and follows three transgender women who may steer the rural ranching town toward becoming the ‘transsexual mecca.’”
The sneak preview will help raise funds for finishing costs of the documentary in advance of its world premiere at the LAFF.
More details HERE.
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Malick moves on, but leaves goodies behind for sale
Smithville has returned to normal. The cast and crew of Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” wrapped up the 1940’s-1960s portion of the ambitious film and are off to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah after a couple days filming in Houston.
Later, the film will shoot in Iceland, of all places. These locations suggest that “Tree of Life,” starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, is the film Malick wrote in the late ’70s after making “Days of Heaven.”
Originally titled “Q,” the movie starts in prehistoric times and ends in the far future, although the bulk of the film follows a family (Pitt as father and Jessica Chastain as mother of three boys) from 1947 through 1968. Most of the filming took place at 709 Burleson St., where the title tree remains.
Malick and company threw a Smithville Appreciation party Friday night at the gazebo downtown.
The film’s prop department is having a garage sale Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., so if you want to buy a chair that Pitt sat on, there’s your place. There’s a huge collection of period lamps ($40 to $65 range) and quite a few knick-knacks that may or may not end up in the finished film. (After all, Billy Bob Thornton was among those completely cut out of Malick’s “Thin Red Line.”)
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‘Baghead’s’ Austin launch turns heads
The fact that the sly, ultra-indie comedy “Baghead” by local heroes the Duplass brothers is getting its national launch in Austin, where it was shot, is making headlines even in The New York Times.
Today’s story begins:
On June 13, Sony Pictures Classics, one of New York’s wilier distributors of independent films, plans to open its little comic thriller “Baghead” with a splash.
But not in New York. And not (in Los Angeles).
The movie will show first in Austin, Tex., where its writer-directors, the brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, got their filmmaking careers in gear. Then “Baghead” will probably move on to Dallas, Houston or, maybe, Portland, Ore. — cities that, in the words of Tom Bernard, the co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, “tend to connect with what’s new and different.”
“Baghead” gets a special Austin Film Society premiere June 12 — details HERE — before opening at the Alamo South the next day.
Read the whole story HERE
