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October 10, 2011
New co-chair named for AFF food gala
Actress Alexis Bledel will be the honorary co-chair for the 9th Annual Film & Food Gala, The Austin Film Festival has announced. Actress America Ferrara, who planned on co-chairing the event, will not attend because of a work conflict.
Bledel will be joined by writer/director Ryan Piers William.
A native of Houston, Bledel recently appeared with James McAvoy and Robin Wright Penn in Robert Redford’s period drama “The Conspirator.”
The event will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at the Driskill Hotel and kicks off the 18th Annual Festival and Conference.
Tickets are $90, $75 for AFF members and badge holders. Call 512.478.4795 or visit austinfilmfestival.com for tickets
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September 14, 2011
Chuck Palahniuk, Jim Uhls,Tom Perrotta to appear on joint AFF/TBF panels
Authors such as Chuck Palahniuk, Jim Uhls, Kathy Reichs, Ernest Cline and Tom Perrotta are all slated to appear on panels about the relationship between prose and the screen co-sponsored by the Austin Film Festival and Texas Book Festival on Oct. 22.
“Fight Club” (the movie) screenwriter Jim Uhls and “Fight Club” (the novel) author Chuck Palahniuk will discuss adapting the novel in a “Script-to-Screen” panel.
“Bones” writer/producer Hart Hanson will join novelist and forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs to discuss “the Collaboration Process”
Authors/screenwriters Ernest Cline, Tom Perrotta and Jenny Wingfield will all discuss their moving work from the page to the screen.
Only “Lone Star” AFF badges and above will get you access to all panels. Film passes can be purchased here.
July 19, 2011
AFF and Ballet Austin team up for screening
The Austin Film Festival and Ballet Austin will present a special screening of 2000’s “Center Stage,” followed by a ballet class, at 3 p.m. July 24.
The screening will take place at Ballet Austin’s AustinVentures Studio Theater, 501 W. 3rd St. Tickets are $10 and free for Austin Film Festival members with an RSVP.
“Center Stage” focuses on the experiences of dancers while attending the American Academy Ballet in New York.
July 18, 2011
Time to vote on "Where I'm From" competition
The Austin Film Festival and Texas Monthly have announced the semi-finalists for the 2011 Where I’m From competition.
The AFF and Texas Monthly challenged filmmakers to do a short of 10 minutes or less on their towns, in recognition of the strong sense of place in Texas.
Here are the semi-finalists (listed randomly):
John Raven — “Lyndon’s Hills”
Rhonda Pierce — “Goin’ Home”
Kippy Edge — “Robstown Is Just Right”
Ryan Light — “Austin From the Eyes of a Videographer”
Chad Mathews — “Where Am I Texas”
Stuart McSpadden — “Now Leaving Amarillo”
Aaron Weiss — “Galveston”
Hunter Bodenchuk — “Bandera”
Robert Gonzales — “I Heart SA”
Rick Gonzales — “El Valle”
Russel Graves — “Narrative”
Will O’Loughlen — “254”
Drew Lewis — “H-Town Up & Down”
Jason Cockburn — “The Water Lilly Project”
Mariella Perez — “Going to Grandma’s”
You can view these films by visiting Austin Film Festival’s website here. To place your votes for the best film, visit Texas Monthly’s website here. Films are available for viewing today through Aug. 15.
Finalists will be screened at an Official Shorts Program during the 18th Austin Film Festival, October 20-27, 2011 and will be showcased at texasmonthly.com.
July 14, 2011
AFF membership event
The Austin Film Festival begins an 18-day membership drive on Friday, with a chance for new members to win daily giveaways.
The prizes include items from Fun Fun Fun Fest, Texas Monthly, Uchiko, La Condesa, Violet Crown and more. You can play if you sign up for a new membership, upgrade your current membership or refer a friend if you’re a current member.
Go here for details.
June 14, 2011
AFF to honor John Lasseter
John Lasseter, the chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, will receive the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award from the Austin Film Festival during this year’s October event.
Katy Winn ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lasseter, whose credits include such animated hits as “Finding Nemo,” “Toy Story” and “Up,” will also speak on panels during the annual film festival and conference. Lasseter has played multiple roles in the movie business, from executive producer to screenwriter and director. He’ll join other honorees, including Caroline Thompson, who will receive the Distinguished Screenwriter Award, and Hart Hanson, who’ll get the Outstanding Television Writer Award.
The Austin Film Festival is scheduled for Oct. 20 through 27. Lasseter, Thompson and Hanson will receive their awards at a luncheon on Oct. 22 at the Austin Club.
June 13, 2011
Dance and film series
The Austin Film Festival and Ballet Austin are teaming up for a special screening of director Robert Altman’s “The Company,” a 2003 feature that looks at the lives of performers at the Chicago Ballet Company. Those who attend also will get a free Ballet Fit class after the screening.
The event will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 26. Tickets are $10. Free for AFF members with RSVP. At Ballet Austin’s AustinVentures Studio Theater, 501 W. 3rd St.
In May, as part of the Ballet Austin’s Dance Film Series, AFF and Ballet Austin screened “Fame,” followed by a free jazz class. In July, the two groups will also team up to show “Center Stage,” followed by a beginning ballet class.
All proceeds benefit the Ballet Austin Academy Scholarship Program.
October 31, 2010
Director George Hickenlooper dead at 47
He was 47.
The director, whose documentary “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse” won him an Emmy, was in Austin last week for a Thursday night screening of his most recent film, “Casino Jack.” The comedy starring Kevin Spacey details the fall of Washington, D.C., lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It screened at the Paramount Theatre as the closing night film at the Austin Film Festival.
“We are shocked and saddened by the passing of George Hickenlooper and feel especially fortunate to have had the opportunity to present his most recent film, ‘Casino Jack,’ Austin Film Festival Conference director Maya Perez said. “His passion for the art of filmmaking will be
missed.”
Hickenlooper, who was in Colorado for the Denver Film Festival, was the cousin of Denver mayor and gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper, who told the media that the filmmaker died of natural causes.
“We are devastated,” John Hickenlooper said in a statement. “His passion for life, zeal for people and unquenchable curiosity enriched everyone who had the fortune to know him.”
“Casino Jack” has been scheduled for a December release.
Photo by Jack Plunkett AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL.
October 25, 2010
AFF review: Animated shorts at the Hideout Sunday
Scrappy shorts, the farm system of the film festival circuit, don’t get much love — especially animated shorts. They’re for kids, right?
Yes and no. But what was on display Sunday night at the Hideout was a blaze of creativity, from stop motion black-and-white to computer-generated work. Lily Sun’s apparently autobiographical “Sketchi,” about a girl’s efforts to bring her dead dog back to life, definitely had the “awwww” factor,” while Myles and Greg McLeod’s “The Moon Factor” was alternately (and deliberately) crude and sophisticated visually, like something out of Guillermo del Toro’s sketchbook. “All in Your Head” was a black-and-white navel-gazer about obsessive-compulsive disorder.
But the DIYers didn’t have a prayer up against “The Gruffalo,” directed by Max Lang and Jakob Schuh. Based on the children’s book of the same name and boasting top-notch animation and a boatload of voice talent — Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, John Hurt — the story is one of a mouse taking a stroll in the forest and outsmarting a succession of would-be predators by telling them the story of a presumably mythical Gruffalo. Completely charming.
AFF screening: "Ballhawks"
As one commenter notes, “They watch for home run balls in lieu of working or having a life.”
Ah, the sting of truth. Director Mike Diedrich isn’t nearly so judgmental in “Ballhawks,” his look at guys who hang around the corner of Kenmore and Waveland outside the bleachers at Wrigley Field in Chicago hoping to catch a home run ball at Chicago Cubs games. In Diedrich’s telling, this is the pastime around which these meat heads order their lives: When we first meet Moe Mullins, he’s in his 46th season of standing around in the street and has 4,444 balls. “The Babe Ruth of ballhawks,” he’s called.
Why? Like any other hobby that becomes an obsession, it’s hard to articulate. These lugs like the street-level camaraderie and competition and don’t mind standing around for days so long as they eventually can catch one more ball to put in the drawer. (The unspoken rule is that ballhawks will not sell the balls they catch, although at least one in the film violates that rule.)
Diedrich is clearly fond of the Cubs and the guys who seek glory on the periphery during every season. They even go to spring training in Florida — not suburban Phoenix, where the Cubs train — because there are more ball parks in Florida. The quixotic element to this pursuit will either strike you as romantic or pathetic depending on how generous your spirit.
As much as anything, “Ballhawks” is an ode to Chicago, the biggest small town in America, and the perseverance of its working classes. After the 2004 season, the Cubs expanded the left field bleachers, sharply curtailing the number of balls that make it out of the park.
The hawks are still there.
October 24, 2010
AFF review: "The Spirit Molecule"
“The Spirit Molecule” asks a lot of weighty metaphysical questions that contemporary science, let alone a narrative documentary, are not equipped to answer. My first question: “Yeah? And?”
Psychiatrist Rick Strassman did research on the hallucinogenic compound DMT that allowed his study participants to take what’s described as “a psychedelic bungee jump” in which they see a consciousness greater than themselves. Is it God? Are our brains just cosmic radio receivers? If shamans and peoples in the Amazon rain forest use the stuff to alter the doors of perception, shouldn’t we pursue more research?
With interviews with scientists, writers, a rabbi and more, the film is by no means something about how groovy it is to get high. In other words, Dennis Hopper shouldn’t have narrated it, which he did not. But why Joe Rogan as our guide, in stuttery black and white footage that looks very much like those Dharma Initiative training films from “Lost?” That derivative gimmick undermines what, for the scientists, is a serious inquiry.
The effects are cool, though. Kind of like a cross between “2001” and a Tool video. But, again, where are we going with this? Does it mean we’re all part of something bigger we’re not evolved enough to understand? Is that why DMT tickles a gland at the center of our brain and gives us a peek at secrets of the universe? Is taking DMT “to touch the hand of God?”
A more pointed question: Why did Strassman stop his research in 1995 and why is this documentary written and directed by Mitch Schultz only now coming out? (If he answered that during the Q&A, sorry. It was freezing at the Austin Convention Center Sunday afternoon. We had to get outside, warm ourselves on a flat rock and ponder existence.)
You know that “Simpsons” episode where Homer ate the really hot chili pepper and all over a sudden a coyote or wolf was talking to him in Johnny Cash’s voice. Homer’s experience was every bit as legitimate as the ones of the participants in this film. But the TV show was playing it for laughs, knowing there’s really no way to know whether we’re chasing God or illumination or Buddha-hood — or whether it’s just chemicals in our brains taking us on an unknowable, enjoyable, mind-blowing ride.
September 30, 2010
AFF to honor Robert Rodriguez with Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award
“The Festival has been a fan of Rodriguez’s work for many years and we are incredibly excited to announce him as our Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award recipient,” Maya Perez, Conference Director for the Austin Film Festiva, said in a release. “His decision to live and make films in Austin has influenced an entire generation of independent filmmakers, proving that one doesn’t have to live in Hollywood to make movies. It’s our distinct privilege to give him this much-deserved honor.”
The festival runs from October 21-28. As we mentioned yesterday, you have until midnight Thursday to get discounted passes and badges.
May 27, 2010
Free screening of immigration documentary
A special screening of the immigration documentary “9500 Liberty,” co-presented by the Austin Film Festival and Senator Kirk Watson, takes place at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Texas Spirit Theater at the Bullock Museum.
“9500 Liberty” is directed by award-winning filmmakers Eric Byler and Annabel Park. The film examines “a Virginia county that adopted a resolution similar to the controversial law recently signed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, and the decision’s effects on the people who lived there.”
The screening will be followed by a discussion moderated by Senator Watson with filmmaker Eric Byler, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, Brown McCarroll LLP partner and past American Immigration Lawyers Association President Kathleen Cambell Walker, and Eddie Aldrete, Senior Vice President for IBC Bank.
Free tickets HERE, or call 478-4795.
“9500 Liberty” opens June 4 at the Dobie.
More about the film HERE.
October 30, 2008
Austin Film Festival Audience Award Winners
Out of Competition Feature
“Slumdog Millionaire”
Writer: Simon Beaufoy
Director: Danny Boyle
Narrative Feature Competition
“A Quiet Little Marriage”
Writer/Director: Mo Perkins
Documentary Feature Competition
“Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman”
Director: Eric Bricker
Narrative Short
“Pop Art”
Writer/Director: Amanda Boyle
Narrative Student Short
“The Miracle Investigators”
Writer/Director: Jeremy Dehn
Documentary Short
“The Road To Tlacotepec”
Director: Berndt Mader
Animated Short
“The Inquisitive Snail”
Director: Flemish Beauty
October 22, 2008
Austin Film Festival winners
The Austin Film Festival announced the competition winners today. Here’s the official release. The narrative feature winner, “Lost and Found,” will be screening tomorrow, fyi.
Animated Short Winner: “Chainsaw” (Director: Dennis Tupicoff) Jury: Jay Edwards, “Adult Swim”; Mike Fry, “Ringtales”; Brad Neely, animator
Documentary Short Winner: “Zietek” (Director: Bartosz Blaschke) Special Jury Award for Personal Expression and Advocacy: “Passages” (Director: Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre) Jury: Brent Hoff, “Wholphin”; Deb Lewis, filmmaker; Bart Weiss, Dallas Video Festival
Narrative Student Short Winner: “Danzak” (Writer/Director: Gabriella Yepes) Jury: James Faust, AFI Dallas; Stephen Cook, Walt Disney Studios; Johnathan Schaech, filmmaker/actor
Narrative Short Winner: “Sikumi” (Writer/Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean) Special Award for Ryan Andrews’ Performance: “Frankie” (Writer/Director: Darren Thornton Special Award: “Megatron” (Writer/Director: Marian Crisan) Jury: Pat Kiely, filmmaker; Lisa Kaselak, filmmaker; Frank Reynolds, editor
Documentary Feature Winner: “Les Ninjas du Japon” (Director: Giommi Giovanni) Jury: Chris Hyams, BSide Entertainment; Anne Lewis, filmmaker; Kelly Sanders, Truly Indie
Narrative Feature Winner: “Lost & Found” (Writer: Maki Arai, Writer/Director: Nobuyuki Miyake) Special Jury Award: “Left” (Writer/Director: Froukje Tan) Jury: Mary John Frank, Paramount Vantage; Alex Smith, filmmaker; Chris Kelly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
October 21, 2008
Panel wrap: David Wain
People love the Austin Film Fest for its casual nature, for the opportunity it affords you to get close to filmmakers and screenwriters without the pomp and circumstance that surround some other fests. That dynamic is as evident in the casual chats in the Driskill Victorian Balcony room as anywhere.
With the couches pulled from the room, 75 folks pulled up some carpet Sunday to listen to/engage with funnyman David Wain. Probably best known for his work with sketch comedy troupe The State, Wain, a repeat visitor to the fest, has had a relatively large cult success with his films “Wet Hot American Summer” and “The Ten.”
He visited the festival this year to screen his first major studio comedy, “Role Models,” starring Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott.
Wain entered the room on the quasi-secretive Malkovich floor at the hotel without escort and nobody present to introduce him and took a chair at the front of the room, making a funny observation about the floor-bound attendees and promising a “freewheeling, intimate discussion.”
“It’s a hotel. I’m sure they have chairs … like 1,000 chairs,” he said. Oh, Austin, you casual charmer.
In a faux wistful tone, Wain noted that “it all began back in 1969,” the summer of love and year of his birth. He then took the audience through a brief rundown of his life and career, which included a childhood in the Shaker Heights neighborhood of Cleveland; an aborted dalliance with magic (“the more I did magic, the less a chance I would ever lose my virginity”); an education at NYU, where he would eventually join up with the folks who would form The State; and his stint at MTV, which led from the show “You Wrote It, You Watch It” to “The State.”
The biggest thing I took away from the pleasant chat was the fact that Wain and his partners have endured over the past decade close to 40 failed projects. It is a testament to his (and their creative) energy and ability to work through rejection and frustration that he finds himself in the envious position of directing “Role Models.”
He was brought on to the film late in the game after receiving a phone call from Rudd (one of the stars of “The Ten”) saying they had lost their director. Wain, former State member Ken Marino, and Rudd took the barebones script and reworked it along the way, finding ways to add their own absurdist voice to scenes throughout the mainstream movie. The end result … a somewhat formulaic movie that features the intelligent and biting wit for which Wain and Rudd are famous. (Check out Chris Garcia’s thoughts on the film here.)
Beyond discussion of his own career (which currently includes his own web series, “WainyDays” and voice work on Adult Swim’s “Super Jail”), Wain also touched on the sad state of independent film and the difficulty getting distribution, as well as an impassioned reaction to Gen. Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama earlier in the morning.
In such casual settings, with a funnyman at the helm, the members of the audience, feeling like they are part of a special comedic clique, often feel the need to crack a few jokes and match wits with the talent. But, such is the nature of these casual chats, and one of the reasons AFF is such an enjoyable fest. And, the disarming and witty Wain, apparently appreciated the back-and-forth, writing today on his blog that Austin “consistently has the coolest audiences anywhere.” That’ll go to our heads.
Thoughts on 'Happy Birthday Harris Malden'
At the beginning of “Happy Birthday Harris Malden,” it is clear that something is amiss. There is a wild card at hand. With people running up and down stairs and between houses to find birthday boy Harris Malden (Nick Gregorio), we get the urgent, and somewhat comic, sense that there is a boy on the loose. Someone must be caught before he does damage to someone, something or himself.
As we finally track down this mysterious character, we learn that he is not a child, but a man. A good looking, well dressed, seemingly normal, if not a bit neurotic, man … then we see the mustache. Harris Malden wears a drawn-on mustache (that is actually foam latex, according to the credits later). As for why, we are not altogether certain. But it seems wacky and whimsical and certainly sets the tone for the first feature length film from the collective known as Sweaty Robot.
Leading the charge to corral Harris is neighbor and childhood friend Paul Levine (Eric Levy), who is dealing with more drama than his infantilized neighbor … he’s also got a hot and bothered girlfriend, Susan (Brigitte Hagerman), at work who wants to move in with him.
When Paul’s girlfriend surprisingly shows up at the house where he lives with his grandmother, we finally get the big reveal. As an aggravated Paul explains to the uninvited Susan, that Harris lost his father and suffered serious burning on his 5th birthday. After the tragedy, Harris’s mother painted a mustache on the child to keep him from having to see the burn scar above his lip, a physical reminder of the loss of his father. Ever since that time, Harris’s friends and neighbors have sheltered him from the outside world, never allowing him to enter the city center and never letting him know that he looks ridiculous with his self-applied facial hair.
Granted, the entire conceit his absolutely ridiculous, but it sets up a sweet and at times hilarious story of friendship and the lengths to which we go to protect our loved ones. Amidst the mania surrounding Harris’s condition, his younger brother attempts to break free from his mundane life and strike out on his own, while Paul battles with whether he should stay with his loving and hilarious grandmother or finally grow up and move in with his grandmother.
The pace can be a bit frantic at times, due in large part to zooming cameras and harried tracking shots, but the absurdity of the premise and low-budget feel is tempered by a warm heart. Levine’s acting leaves quite a bit to be desired, something reminiscent of early Kevin Smith movies, but his quick give and take with Hagerman, a striking visual presence part Mira Sorvino and part Jenna Fischer, is clever screwball at its indie best.
A thought kept nagging at me slightly throughout. Something about the film seemed very familiar. It actually felt a lot like a SXSW film to me, but I didn’t even really understand why or exactly what that meant. Then it hit me. “Happy Birthday Harris Malden” is a lot like mumblecore (the “genre” launched thanks in large part to SXSW) with more whimsy and less ennui. It came as no surprise then, that during the Q&A, some of the guys from Sweaty Robot told the audience that former SXSW Film Director Matt Dentler, in his new role at Cinetic, has purchased the online rights for the film.
The Q&A was actually funnier than the movie itself, with the guys sharing some of their thoughts on making the movie, trying to market it, and the risks and rewards of independent film. It is obvious that there is a bit of a mutual appreciation party going on amongst the Sweaty Robot collective, but they have reason to feel a bit giddy. They’ve made a strong feature that I think should presage greater things in the future, that is if anyone can figure out the future of independent film.
October 20, 2008
AFF panel wrap: The Online World
As any frustrated indie filmmaker (or excitable dude with a camera and some editing software) will tell you, more and more content is moving online. This phenomenon is actually a double-edged sword; while there are seemingly infinite places to get your material online, the glut of material and the short attention span of online viewers are making it harder and harder to get your original content discovered, much less make you any money.
Thus was the point of the panel The Online World Sunday morning at the Driskill Hotel, with panelists Todd Berger and Austinites Chris Hyams and Brad Neely.
The gentlemen returned several times to the remarks by CEO of The Film Company (and former Miramax president) Mark Gill’s talk at the Los Angeles Film Festival this year, in which he declared that, “yes, the sky really is falling” on independent cinema. (For any lovers of cinema, his entire speech is worth reading.)
In his speech, Gill wrapped up his bleak picture of the indie film words with a little bit of a positive message: “If you want to survive in this brutal climate, you’re going to have to work a lot harder, be a lot smarter, know a lot more, move a lot faster, sell a lot better, pay attention to the data, be a little nicer (ok, a lot nicer), trust your gut, read everything and never, ever give up.”
If you’re looking for a cool lifestyle, you’re in the wrong business. If you want work-life balance, go get a government job. But if you really want to make movies—even after all the unvarnished bad news I’ve dumped on you today—then by all means do it.”
Yikes.
The discussion Sunday basically revolved around the way these three men have tried to find their place in the overcrowded marketplace that is seeing opportunities for distribution shrink annually.
I can’t say that any new ground was broken in the conversation, but it was interesting to hear the view points of men who approach the subject of promoting and distributing online content from much different points of view.
Berger is a writer/director/editor who, along with his partners in The Vacationeers, had an internet sensation with the online videos “The Googling,” which showed in a humorous light the power and ubiquity of Google maps. He came at the panel from the perspective of a prolific writer who was working hard to find avenue to get his original work distributed.
Hyams, a co-founder of B-Side, a company that provides interactive online content management for audiences and film festivals, in order to discover great fest films and then promote them, approached the subject from a marketing standpoint.
Neely, who arrived about 30 minutes late, was the most aloof of the three, confessing to a lack of understanding about marketing and the business end of the creative world. Instead, he mostly focuses on creating original work and being true to his art. And what happens after that simply happens.
Below are a few points made by the guys on the panel:
Berger: People zone out from watching online content at about the 2:46 mark. You have to find a way to tell a story in segments of that length. Even if it’s episodic, people have to be able to watch those episodes as stand alones.
Berger: People have still not figured out a way to make money off of ads on sites. People are starting to get sponsors for entire episodes. Many folks are now suggesting that producers go directly to advertising agencies to get sponsorship deals from their clients.
Hyams: “Online video is a lot like Internet stocks in 2000 … there is value, but where is it?”
Hyam: The online world is going become far more Darwinian. Not all good online content will make it, but the only content that will make it will be good.
Hyam: “You can trick people into watching TV or going to the movies. Not so with the Internet.”
Hyam: There has been such a glut of material online because the tools have become so accessible.
Hyam: Average YouTube viewing time is 87 seconds. Viewing habits across the board are moving from the TV and cinemas and on to people’s laptops.
Neely: “It’s a mistake to put too much stake in any projection [of where online content is headed].”
Neely: You can’t be worried about the fear of not getting seen. “It’s important to try and make things with other people [viewers] in mind, but all I want to do is work with good material.”
Neely: After I create the work, then I just want to sit down with someone who tells me where to put it online in order to be viewed.
Berger: In five to 10 years, there will be no difference between computers, TV and phone. You will have one handheld device that allows you to ‘take over’ any screen and view content from your handheld on it, including your desktop.
Neely: If creators of content don’t take into consideration the medium for which they are creating something on a visual level, there will be an unfortunate homogenization aesthetically.
Neely: Everyone’s success story in the online content world is going to be different.
Neely: “Don’t worry about getting paid for the first 10 years.”
Hyam: It’s hard to just be a writer. You have to be a creator or on a creative team.
Berger: You might have to do a boring job at a production company before you can get work where you have more responsibilities.
Hyam: Using HuLu for as a “premiere platform” for the film “Crawford” combined with a publicist, led to more viewings of the film in its first three days of release than opening weekend for “An Inconvenient Truth” or “March of the Penguins.”
October 19, 2008
A dog day at AFF
Starring a girl and her dog, the minimalist indie drama “Wendy and Lucy” melted hearts during its Austin Film Festival premiere Sunday night at the Paramount Theatre.
Directed by Kelly Reichardt and written by Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond, the drama tells the story of a homeless woman named Wendy — played by a grubby Michelle Williams in a pixie haircut — who loses her dog Lucy as they’re traveling to Alaska.
Plot-wise, that’s about it. The rest is emotional textures, so real they sting. It’s as heartbreaking and naturalistic as anything from the Italian neo-realists. Expect an early 2009 release.
Raymond and Austin-based producer Anish Savjani answered audience questions after the film. Raymond described Williams’ restrained, almost blank performance, as “black-belt acting, expressing without expressing.” It’s an apt way of putting it. And it’s also a supreme compliment.
Raymond and Savjani at the Paramount on Sunday
Williams and doggie Lucy
A 'Model' of hilarity at AFF
A very full-house at the Paramount Theatre roared and rolled Sunday afternoon during the blisteringly funny comedy “Role Models” at the Austin Film Festival.
A profane charmer, the movie, written by David Wain, Paul Rudd, Ken Marino and Timothy Dowling, stars Rudd and Seann William Scott as adult screw-ups forced into community service. They wind up at a Big Brothers-like outfit, at which they team up with kids to mentor for several days.
Of course, these ne’er-do-wells are utterly inappropriate role models for boys, but slowly if predictably, they learn how to be good, and learn life lessons along the way. Role-playing games, sex, satire and the rock band KISS mix for distinctly outre pleasures.
It’s an R-rated raunch-a-thon leavened by a big heart and the exceptional, always surprising comic talents of the crack cast, including the two kids.
Wain, who directed and co-stars, William Scott and scene-stealer Jane Lynch were at the premiere for a post-show Q&A. Wain noted that Austin “is the best place in the world” for premieres. He should know: Four of his films have premiered in our famed film town.
Wain, William Scott and Lynch busted up the Paramount crowd, on- and off-screen.
Tom Skerritt talks writing at AFF
Actors Tom Skerritt (“Alien,” “Picket Fences”) and Dana Wheeler Nicholson (“Fletch,” “Friday Night Lights”) chatted Sunday at the Driskill Hotel during the workshop-panel “What Actors Look for in a Script” at the Austin Film Festival and Screenwriters Conference.
Quick bites:
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to Hollywood,” Wheeler Nicholson said, bemoaning the state of feature films, while championing great cable TV writing. “I really don’t. I don’t understand what’s coming out of it any more.”
“I don’t want to hear anybody talking about making a movie until they talk about having a script,” Skerritt said to huge applause.
Skerritt said he’s tired of the “cookie-cutter” writing in feature films today. “All characters sound like the same person.”
Skerritt made pronouncements about writing and the world with such clarity and passion that moderator Warren Etheredge, who teaches writing with Skerritt in Seattle, said, “Whenever I hear you speak, Tom, I think you’re running for office.”
Skerritt during lunch at the Driskill Hotel, between panels Sunday
Wheeler Nicholson and Skerritt conducting the panel ‘What Actors Look for in a Script’ on Sunday at the Driskill
(photos: Chris Garcia)
Capsule review: 'Who is KK Downey?'
One of the beautiful things about the Austin Film Festival is that it gives a sizable platform to young writers who might not otherwise be able to reach such a large audience. Sure, you can see films like “Role Models,” “Slumdog Millionaire” or “W.” at the fest - all strong movies in their own right - but those are movies you will be able to see at cineplexes soon enough. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
But AFF is as much about discovering hidden gems as it is about seeing big name films and attending informative and casual panels. Further, the fest has developed relationships over the past 15 years with young filmmakers, many of whom return semi-regularly to promote their films at the fest that helped launch their careers. Such is the case with the comedy collective known as Kidnappers Films from Montreal. After screening shorts at AFF for several years earlier in the decade, the group returned this year with their first full-length feature, “Who is KK Downey?”
With all of the feel good talk about minor films, aside, however, I must admit that, while the premise of the comedy “KK Downey” was intriguing - two hipster doofuses create alternate personas in an attempt to finally breakthrough as artists - the film unfortunately falls quite flat. Terrance is a jaded rock star, hopelessly in love with an ex-girlfriend who regards him as sad and desperate and has since moved on to date a music critic for “Gaze” magazine, a publication akin to “The Village Voice.” His bud Theo is a chubby, pitiful would-be writer who plays drums in Terrance’s horrific band, while kowtowing to the delusions of grandeur shared by his old friend. After coming to the realization that Terrance, despite the financial support of his parents and the shameless self-promotion of his band, will never be a rock star and Theo, despite his constant desire to talk about his forthcoming novel, will always be considered just another suburban kid writing about subjects with which he has no real relationship and not a literary star, the two decide to take fate into their own hands.
The two decide to take Theo’s manuscript, “Truck Stop Hustler,” a profane piece of literary pap involving a drug-abusing, trick-turning Southern Boy trying to find his place in the world and his next high, and make Terrance the lead character, KK Downey. What ensues is a sometimes funny examination of the way society latches on to cultural trends and its passion for hero-making, even when that which is being idolized is banal and trite. The two fall into a pit of buying their own hype, with all the ensuing groupies and drugs one would expect. The film has its funny moments, depicting the shallowness and simplicity of the hipster scene, and ones that attempt to be touching, such as in the boilerplate love story of a boy trying to win back a woman. Fortunately, the movie never takes itself too seriously, always reminding us that the film is farce at heart, while humorously reminding us of the fate of similar real-life characters such as J.T. Leroy, and to a lesser extent James Fray.
Sadly, the movie doesn’t hit hard enough at the places where it does find laughs - the desperation of its protagonists, the stereotypes it ridicules and the inanity of the premise. There is not enough heightening going on here, as it sometimes gets lost trying to tell the old boy-loses-girl, boy-tries-to-get-girl back story. Maybe the biggest problem of the film is the fact that none of the characters are actually likeable or sympathetic, not that a film has to have this element, but if you’re not going to like any of the characters, you want to be laughing more.
“Who is KK Downy” screens again Wednesday night at the Dobie at 8 p.m.
October 18, 2008
Goldblum in Adam Resurrected
Jeff Goldblum gives one of the best performances of his career in “Adam Resurrected.”
After by-the-numbers roles in such blockbusters as “Jurassic Park” and “Independence Day”, it’s nice to see him have a meaty role as a Holocaust survivor haunted by his degradation at the hands of a Nazi concentration camp officer (Willem Dafoe).
But even his fine performance won’t make this a success at the box office, regrettably.
The story of the concentration camp horrors is primarily told in flashback as Goldblum’s Adam tries to cope with a long stint in a mental institution. And as the details emerge, the movie fails to balance the horror with nobility, hope or redemption.
There’s occasional relief in his comic lust toward a nurse, and there’s even hope in his developing relationship with a child who thinks and acts as if he’s a dog. But these elements can’t bring enough dramatic vitality to offset the overwhelming sense of depression.
Perhaps that’s the point. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It just makes for a difficult two hours, and most audiences won’t be eager to share the pain.
Danny Boyle at AFF
Danny Boyle talked Saturday to Austin admirers about the difficulties of getting his hit “Slumdog Millionaire” distributed in the U.S. but expressed relief that film festivals in Telluride and Toronto had helped make his case.
The movie about a young man who makes it to the final question on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” was set in India, so that was the first problem, Boyle says. Then the distributors were told that part of the movie was in Hindi, with subtitles. “And of course that scares producers,” he said.
“I never thought it would work in the U.S.” for a while, said Boyle, a London director known for “Trainspotting” and “28 Days Later”.
But the audience reaction in Telluride and Toronto showed the “power of film festivals,” he said. And he’s optimistic that the film will have a good run in the States now. “I trust the audience,” he said.
Boyle says he loves to come to North America and talk about movies. “We’d never have such a big turnout to talk about a movie there,” he told the packed audience in the Stephen F. Austin ballroom. “In Britain, there isn’t a big film culture. We talk about the weather, the toilets, futball…. You don’t have much to live up to over there. But in France, India and America, you guys love film. It’s in your DNA.”
Austin Film Festival writing awards
They’re in. The Austin Film Festival just announced the winners of its annual screenplay and teleplay competitions. Winners, plucked from more than 4,000 submissions, receive cash prizes and other stuff.
They are:
Drama Screenplay: “Mine” by Anita Skibski
Comedy Screenplay: “eLove” by Betsy Morris
Latitude Productions Screenplay Award: “Shimmer Lake” by Oren Uziel
Sci-Fi Screenplay: “The Man Who Would be Sherlock Homes” by Walter Campbell
Drama Teleplay: “Pushing Daisies: Rumpology” by Steve Daniels
Sitcom Teleplay: “The Office: The Crossword Contest” by Beau Henry
Everything you need to know about the ongoing festival and screenwriters conference HERE.
Slumdog at AFF
Director Danny Boyle got a standing ovation Friday night from a full-house at the Paramount Theatre after the premiere of “Slumdog Millionaire” during the Austin Film Festival.
Standing ovations at festivals, of course, aren’t all that rare. But this one was actually deserved.
“Slumdog” could probably become the sleeper hit of the fall movie lineup. It includes charming performances by children (in flashbacks) as a young man tells how he came to know the answers to questions while being a contestant on India’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”
The details of his life as a child are amazing: murders, unfathomable brutality, blindings… To say more would be to give away too much. Let’s just say that the story is at once heartbreaking and uplifting.
At a question-and-answer session after the screening, Boyle said he enjoyed working with child actors because their performances are affected or full or mannerisms. Instead, they’re like “natural spring water.”
(photo: Chris Garcia)
Afterward, Boyle loitered in the Paramount lobby, chatting up fans, signing autographs and posing for photos.
October 17, 2008
James Cromwell at the Austin Film Festival
Actor James Cromwell was in Austin on Thursday night for the premiere of Oliver Stone’s “W.” at the Paramount Theatre during the Austin Film Festival.
We spoke to him earlier in the day. This is our story:
James Cromwell has just returned from lunch at Austin vegan eatery Casa de Luz, and he fairly glows with satisfaction.
“It’s a very sweet place, very sweet people,” the actor says. “Very Austin.”
Cromwell has been to Austin twice before. He was here Thursday for the local premiere of “W.,” Oliver Stone’s buzzed-about biography of President George W. Bush, which opened the Austin Film Festival. (The film is now in theaters.)
Lanky and cheery, Cromwell bursts with voluble energy. He folds his 6-foot-5-inch frame into a chair at a downtown Austin hotel, keeping his black Kangol cap fixed to his narrow head. His face is angular and craggy, his nose a masterpiece of aquiline majesty. At 68, he looks imperially distinguished, even wearing blue jeans and swearing like a sailor.
In “W.,” Cromwell plays President George H.W. Bush to Josh Brolin’s brawling, boozing George W. Stone stages their relationship as domestic warfare, as the son rebels against a father whose parental disappointment mounts to tragic proportions.
It’s an odd role for Cromwell, because the actor, a Los Angeles native, admits he’s been involved in “radical politics” for 40 years. He’s vegan, an animal rights activist and a deep-dyed liberal who expresses utter horror that anybody might vote for a certain vice presidential candidate. He’s also sharp, expansive and very funny.
Chris Garcia: You’ve played four U.S. presidents: two fictional ones, Lyndon B. Johnson and now George H.W. Bush. Why do these roles keep coming?
James Cromwell: First I played a pig farmer (in “Babe”). Next I played a corrupt cop (“L.A. Confidential”). Half-way between the two is the president of the United States. (Laughs)
Why are you so presidential? Is it your height? Your bearing? You’re very regal. For a long time I thought you were British.
I don’t know why they see me that way. I like to do blue-collar people. I started out on “All in the Family” as Stretch Cunningham (slipping into a tangy Bronx accent), Heya, from da Bronx! I don’t get a chance to do that guy anymore. I have no idea. They don’t think I can do comedy either. The first movie I did was “Murder by Death” by Neil Simon, and I played a Frenchman. For years people thought I was French. Then I played a German. Then I played an Irish cop in “L.A. Confidential.” And then people starting thinking of me as this dark figure. So I play mostly villains now, tough guys.
You’re the consummate character actor. You’d fit perfectly in golden age Hollywood.
That’s very nice of you. It’s intriguing. I can’t do anything about my height. I can’t do anything about my nose or my bald head.
What attracted you to this president?
Nothing attracted me to this president, except Oliver Stone. Josh Brolin had recommended me, but Oliver was tentative. I’d never met Josh before, but when we did finally meet, you immediately like this man. He’s delightful. I felt very comfortable with him. First thing Oliver told me was, “Well, I’ve offered the part to Harrison Ford and Warren Beatty, but it’s probably better not to have a big star.” I thought, That’s great. So I’m sloppy thirds! But I think Oliver was pulling my chain. He likes to get a rise out of you.
How did you approach playing Bush senior? It’s obviously not an impersonation.
Oliver wanted me to leave my own politics out of it. If you stand in judgment about his politics, you can’t do the part. I don’t do impersonations. I don’t like it. It’s great at cocktail parties, but has nothing to do with acting. When I rehearsed with Josh, Oliver didn’t really say anything about how to get into this character. So I went to a dialects coach. We went through all the sound changes. She kept talking to me about where his voice is located. It tends to be cut off, and I got the image that he’s cut off from his emotions, and that’s why his emotions take him over and he has no control over them, so he occasionally breaks down.
Was it hard to keep your politics and emotions from distorting your characterization?
I didn’t want to put the man down. Everyone has their own analysis of the guy. I wanted to look at the dynamic in the relationship between a father and son when the communication is out, when there’s expectation on one side and resentment on the other side, which leads to one of them being really dysfunctional. I know that W. felt abandoned by his father. He’s raised by his mother. It’s the position that Hamlet was put in. If you took “Hamlet” and took all the intellect and moral incertitude out of it, you’d have a similar situation.
‘Hamlet’ is a good analogy, because the movie plays like a tragedy.
It is. It’s a satiric farce in the manner of “Wag the Dog,” except in this instance what wags the dog is slightly below the tail. People laugh at the familiar malapropisms, but seeing them in the context of a fiction film, you say, “Holy (expletive), it really happened. That’s how they came to the Iraq decision? That’s what Colin Powell really said? That was Cheney’s response?” … At the end you feel compassion for W. I don’t think you can help it. That’s ultimately how we have to feel about any human being. What we always see is the public persona, and it is a fiction, a creation. I don’t think Bush even knows who he is. I think that’s why the malapropisms are the way they are. His head says one thing and his public persona says, “But I’m just a (blank)-kicker and I can’t talk.”
What about ‘Babe’? As an animal-rights person, was doing the film a no-brainer?
Not at all. It was a film in which I had very few lines. I didn’t carry the picture. The pig did. I thought it was going to be one of those Disney things where they put peanut butter in the animals’ mouths so they look like they’re talking. I had no idea. But a friend said, “Look, you get five months in Australia, they’re paying you, though not much, and you don’t carry the picture. If it falls on its (rear), it’s the pig’s fault.” I didn’t even read the script. When I saw the finished movie, oh! It’s a miracle of a film.
- The Austin Film Festival continues through Thursday across town. Tickets and schedule: austinfilmfestival.com.
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Tone of 'W.' may surprise some moviegoers
When it was announced that Oliver Stone would be directing a bio-pic about President George W. Bush, many people from both sides of the spectrum rolled their eyes expecting a political hit piece. They may be surprised to find that the film actually paints W. and his family in a rather sympathetic light.
The film does take some digs, but more at Vice President Dick Cheney than W. himself. The problem with the film is that it lacks any historical perspective, due to the fact that Bush is still in office, and reveals nothing that astute citizens do not already know. That said, the film is worth viewing simply for the amazing performance by Josh Brolin as W. Toby Jones, James Cromwell and Jeffrey Wright also turn in excellent performances, as Karl Rove, George H. W. Bush and Colin Powell, respectively, although Jones and Wright are not able to match the physical presence of the men they portray.
The gist of the film, as one would expect, is that America was led down a tragic path by a simplistic, born-again Christian with a massive “daddy complex.” As he wastes most of his twenties and thirties as a booze-hound, skirt-chasing, good ol’ boy, W. is haunted by the expectations and disappointment of his father and the comparisons to his more talented and disciplined brother Jeb.
After finding God, and sobriety, W. makes it his mission to both make his father proud and stubbornly prove to him that he has the capacity for greatness. This motivation, compounded by what W. considers a call from God to lead the country, leads to the oft-lamented march to war in Iraq, spearheaded by Cheney and his neo-con pals. In “Star Wars” parlance, Cheney plays the evil Emperor to Bush’s in-over-his-head Darth Vader. It is fascinating, however, to see W. repeatedly attempt to tamp down both Cheney and Karl Rove’s visible influence. A man of intense and confounding pride, W. wants to make sure that he is seen as the leader. After a life spent being chastised by his father for his lack of responsibility, W. wants to be seen as an undisputed leader.
It would be easy to say that W.’s story is Shakespearean in nature, but that would likely be doing a disservice to The Bard, as W. is too simple a figure to be considered on such a grand scale. While the election of Bush as the 43rd president is certainly confounding and something that would have been unthinkable just a decade before, the real tragedy is that which besets the American people, not to mention those of Iraq, as Bush attempts to prove that he is as strong, if not stronger, leader than his father. Unfortunately, according to Stone, the son lacked the introspection and thoughtfulness of his father and ended up being a puppet that was used to do the duplicitous work of the men who stood in the shadows behind him.
July 31, 2008
Black is Back
One of the most recognizable faces and biggest names at each year’s Austin Film Festival is returning to town this year. Shane Black is one of the sharpest writers in Hollywood, and he crafts stories from the mic on the stage at AFF panels as well as he does behind a typewriter (or however he writes his screenplays). Black took Hollywood by storm with his screenplay for “Lethal Weapon,” a movie that helped revive and reinterpret the buddy movie.
The writer has been to probably more AFFs than any other writer and was recognized with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award in 2006, the year after he brought the wildly entertaining “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” a film he both wrote and directed, to Austin in 2005. The panel of Black, Sydney Pollack and David Milch in ‘06 was one of the best we’ve seen at the fest. Expect to be enlightened and entertained by this talent who always shoots-from-the-hip.
For more information on the Austin Film Festival, visit their Web site here.
July 23, 2008
Austin Film Festival to honor Sam Shepard
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Austin Film Festival and Conference. Man, we’re old. The preeminent festival for screenwriters has made a national name for itself by not only screening a great selection of films, but by honoring the writers who so often go unappreciated.
This year the festival will honor legendary writer (and actor) Sam Shepard with its Distinguished Screenwriter Award on October 18 at the Austin Club. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Shepard began his writing career off-off-Broadway in New York in the early 1960s before beginning his screenwriting career in 1968 with “Me and My Brother.” Shepard would go on to win Pullitzers for his plays “Buried Child” and “Fool For Love,” which he adapted for the screen for director Robert Altman.
In addition to his prolific writing career, Shepard has left his mark on American film as an actor, as well, with an equally remarkable resume, starring in films such as “Days of Heaven” and “The Right Stuff.”
“Sam Shepard has changed the landscape of American film and stage with his work as a playwright, screenwriter and actor,” said Barbara Morgan, AFF co-founder and executive director. “His work represents the spirit of the Distinguished Screenwriter Award and we are thrilled to honor him.”
For more information or to purchase badges for the Austin Film Festival, go to their official Web site here.
While the films for this year’s fest will not be released until September, what follows is a partial list of A list of confirmed conference panelists:
- John August (writer/director “The Nines,” writer “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Corpse Bride,” “Go,” “Big Fish,” “Titan A.E.,” “Charlie’s Angels” and “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle”)
- David Boxerbaum, APA Agency
- Curtis Burch, Latitude Productions
- Channing Dungey, ABC Studios
- Matthew Gross, ABC Studios
- Juliana Farrell, Groundswell Productions
- Andrew Form, Platinum Dunes
- Mickey Freiberg, ACME Talent & Literary Agency
- Brad Fuller, Platinum Dunes
- John Lee Hancock (writer “The Blindside,” “A Perfect World,” “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” “The Alamo,” director “The Alamo,” “The Rookie”)
- Patrick Hegarty- 2007 AFF Latitude Award Winner, videogame writer on “Ghostbusters,” “Eragon” and “Rataouille”
- Buck Henry (writer “To Die For,” “Protocol,” “What’s Up, Doc?,” “The Owl and the Pussycat,” “Catch-22,” “The Graduate”)
- Jake Kasdan (“Walk Hard,” “The TV Set,” “Orange County,” “Zero Effect”)
- Michael McDonald, ABC Studios
- Rachel Miller, Tom Sawyer Productions
- Jeff Nathanson (story credit - “Indiana Jones 4,” “New York, I Love You,” “Rush Hour (2& 3),” “The Terminal,” “Catch Me if You Can,” “Speed 2,” and writer/director of “The Last Shot”)
- Susan O’Connor, Videogame writer (“Gears of War” and “Bioshock”)
- Dan Petrie Jr. (“Beverly Hills Cop,” “The Big Easy,” “Shoot to Kill,” “Turner & Hooch,” “Toy Soldiers”)
- Chuck Sklar (“Everybody Hates Chris,” “The Chris Rock Show”)
- Bob Soderstrom, Screenwriter, 2002 AFF Screenplay Competition Winner
- Yaphet Smith, Screenwriter
- Eric Red (“100 Feet,” “The Hitcher,” “Near Dark”)
- Terry Rossio (“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Dead Man’s chest,” “The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “Déjà vu,” “Shrek,” “The Mask of Zorro,” “Aladdin”)
- Robert Townsend (“Phantom Punch,” “Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy,” “Black Listed,” “The Meteor Man,” “The Five Heartbeats,” “Hollywood Shuffle”)
- Mark Vahradian, Di Bonaventura Pictures
October 14, 2007
A combative panel goes down as one of the best
I knew that the Austin Film Festival/Screenwriter’s Conference panel “In the Trenches: Writing the War Film” with war-film veterans Oliver Stone and John Milius would be terrific, bloated with virile bluster, yet incisive, nuanced, edifying.
It took place Saturday at the Paramount, with Stone (“Salvador,” “Platoon,” “Born on th Fourth of July,” etc.) and Milius (“Apocalypse Now,” “Conan,” “Red Dawn,” “The Wind and the Lion,” etc.) perched in the spotlight on-stage before a decent-sized crowd. It was excellent: smart, funny, sardonic, sad, mean, educational.
I couldn’t absorb it all — I was forced to shut my lap top by a kindly volunteer — and my note-taking skills with a pen long-ago eroded to stick-in-sand curlicues. I did what I could, but mostly sat back, smiling, during one of the best panels I’ve been to.
I arrived a wee late, just in time to hear Stone call “Saving Private Ryan” “absurd.”
“I would have shot Tom Hanks,” said Vietnam War vet Stone, who broke down how phony the film’s story is, how counterintuitive to anything you learn in combat Hank’s character’s actions were.
Stone flat-out does not buy “all that ‘Greatest Generation,’ Tom Brokow b———.”
World War II fighters weren’t heroes for the reasons Spielberg and the media claim they were. “It was a (cruddy), hard existence for them,” Stone said. “They were heroes just for surviving.”
Milius chimed in that WWII vets he’s talked to told him, “I was just doing my job.”
Both men pointed to WWII movies in which the heroes were cowards as the most realistic, and best, such as “Attack” with Eddie Albert.
Other bits, bites:
Both filmmakers love Terrence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line.” Stone called it “a most poetic movie … War was a fever” (as depicted in the movie).
Both men believe every American should have to serve their country, especially in the armed forces. “They should have to have their lives interrupted,” because “it tells you there’s something bigger than you,” Stone said.
“Kids just want to sit at their computer,” Milius said. “They are not engaged with the world.” (Stone didn’t entirely agree with that statement.)
The Bush administration, said Stone, is “Madmen acting sane.” It’s time to get off the blogs and hit the streets in physical protest against the Iraq war, he added.
Problem is, Stone said, and a huge reason we are entangled in the war, is that “Americans worship violence. They worship shock. They worship awe.”
Milius, famously right-wing, hawkish and board member of the National Rifle Association: “I love the Bomb,” which made Stone wince, hard.
When Stone called “Starship Troopers” one of the best war movies of recent years, I clapped loudly and the director said, “Thank you.”
When Milius said he was “never a big fan of ‘The Deer Hunter,’” a man in the audience shouted at him using expletives, then at Stone, and the moderator had to tell him to “please calm down,” which only provoked the nut-head further. He finally shut up.
They despise Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down” — Stone for the message, Milius for the craftsmanship.
The Vietnam movie “Hamburger Hill” was “much too pro-American,” failing to show the Vietnamese side, Stone said.
About “Apocalypse Now,” which he likes, and of course Milius wrote, Stone said: “I wish Brando would have done his homework and would have learned his (expletive) dialogue.” Said Milius: “He did the best he could. He hated it out there.”
“Gen. Westmoreland was a stupid, terrible commander,” Stone said. “And we are still not getting at the hearts and minds” of the people during this war.
Stone’s favorite war film ever: “Dr. Strangelove.”
When Stone lavished praise on “Forrest Gump,” Milius was asked if he liked it. “Oh, sure. I like it when he runs down the street. I like how he sits on a bench.” We are pretty sure he was being brutally sarcastic. The frown on Stone’s face said it all. The audience laughed. Milius responded: “I’m not a big fan of Tom Hanks. I would have fragged him, too.”
Weekend winners
Austin Film Festival competition winners are here:
- Narrative Feature Jury Award Winner: “Shotgun Stories,” written and directed by Austin filmmaker Jeff Nichols. Next show: 9 p.m. Thursday, Alamo Lake Creek
2007 Narrative Feature Jury winner Jeff Nichols (‘Shotgun Stories’) with 2006 winner Mike Akel (‘Chalk’) — photo courtesy of Austin Film Festival
Special Jury Mention for Dash Mihok’s performance in “Superheroes”; Special Jury Mention for Comic Vision in Mike O’Connell and Peter Kline’s script for “The Living Wake”
Narrative Short Jury Award Winner: “Deface,” written and directed by John Arlotto. Next show: 7:15 pm Thursday, Alamo Lake Creek
Special Jury Mention for Emily Cries; Special Jury Mention for Samantha Weinstein’s performance in “Ninth Street Chronicles”
Narrative Student Short Jury Award Winner: “Salt Kiss,” written and Directed by Fellipe Barbosa. Next show: 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Alamo Lake Creek
Animated Short Jury Award Winner: “Over the Hill,” directed by Peter Baynton. Next show: 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Alamo Lake Creek
Special Jury Mention: “The Chestnut Tree”
Documentary Feature Winner: “Hijos de la Guerra (Children of the War),” directed by Alexandre Fuchs. Next show: 7:15 p.m Wednesday, Alamo Lake Creek
Special Jury Mention: “First Saturday in May”
Documentary Short Winner: “Absolute Zero,” directed by Alan Woodruff. Next show: 7:15 Thursday, Alamo Lake Creek
October 13, 2007
Laughs, liquor and langour: Austin Film Festival, days two and three
The funniest thing I’ve seen so far at the Austin Film Festival this weekend wasn’t a great movie comedy or the sight of writer-director John Milius, who wrote “Conan” and “Apocalypse Now,” merrily eating an omelet wrapped around a full beef steak at 11:15 p.m. Friday at the Driskill Hotel.
It was screenwriter Scott Alexander — who co-wrote “Ed Wood” and “Man on the Moon” — standing in the Driskill Bar holding a gaudy alcoholic beverage that was almost as tall as him. He looked flummoxed, wondering what this thing was and how it wound up in his hand.
Alexander was with director Terry George (“Hotel Rwanda”), who had just screened and answered questions about his new film “Reservation Road” at the Paramount to a large audience that seemed split between liking it and really not liking it.
George is an affable, funny Irishman with an inviting spirit and laidback mien. He joined us in teasing Alexander about his ludicrously fru-fru drink that the diminutive Alexander apparently hadn’t ordered but got anyway. It was a vodka concoction spiked with sour, a huge slice of orange and a cherry.
Chagrined, he finally ditched it, and everyone tried it. After he downed a vodka tonic, he ordered another drink. We looked over and there he was holding yet another of the fruity spring break drinks. The bartender just wasn’t getting what Alexander wanted.
Again, the writer stood there puzzled holding the giant drink. We razzed him and my friend Jeff, a former writer for “Beavis and Butt-head” in from New York for the conference, had Alexander pose hoisting both of the “girlie” drinks he never ordered.
As everyone wondered where festival honoree Oliver Stone was, the director skulked into the Driskill restaurant with no fanfare but with a stunning woman on his arm. No one bugged him.
Later, at a festival party at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, director Jason Reitman made a quick appearance. His new comedy “Juno” screens at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Paramount.
Right now, Reitman is conducting a panel with the screenwriter of “Juno,” former stripper and author Diablo Cody. He’s interviewing her. He wears jeans and sneakers. She wears black knee-high leather boots over blue jeans. Peroxide streaks run through her dyed black hair. Both are quick and funny.
Diablo is used to writing in her native Minnesota. Her first trip to Los Angeles, where she now lives, was unnerving, she said.
“You can read about it. You can Google it,” she said. “Diablo Cody,” freaked-out,” “Paramount lot,” “Xanax.”
Cody said that writing in L.A. is less “pure” than writing in the Midwest, but it’s all good “as long as I stay a trashy person at heart, which I am.”
She’s currently working on a series for Showtime and recently pitched Universal with “my female response to ‘Superbad.’”
“My heart’s not in it. It’s a money-grab,” Cody quipped.
Diablo Cody
As I type this in the Driskill Bar at around 3 p.m. Saturday, winners of the various screenwriting competitions drift through lugging bulky typewriter trophies to wherever they’re going. John Milius is holding court in a panel upstairs and Scott “Silly Drink” Alexander is doing the same on this floor.
Everyone looks slightly ragged with unwashed hair and baggy eyes. It’s those late-night parties and early panels. That’s the first weekend of the festival and screenwriters conference: indulgence with a purpose.
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October 12, 2007
Film festival, day one
Things feel mellower, smaller, this year at the Austin Film Festival. Maybe attendees for both the films and the Screenwriters Conference haven’t settled in, because a dominating groove has yet to be cut. Lots of people at the opening night party, but the usually swarming Driskill Bar was a ghost town Thursday night.
Turn out was respectable at the fest’s opening night movie at the Paramount, “Chicago 10,” a blistering historical docudrama about the riots surrounding the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention. Surviving Yippie Paul Krassner, who’s in the film, did a post-movie Q-and-A, but we left for a last-minute party at Cedar Street Courtyard in the (dreadful) Warehouse District.
Screenwriter Robin Swicord with Paul Krassner at the opening night screening of “Chicago 10.” (Picture from the Austin Film Festival.)
Director Thomas Mignone threw the bash for his first feature “On the Doll,” a harrowing drama about child abuse, screening at 7:30 tonight at the Dobie. Mignone has made videos for Tool and electronica act The Crystal Method, who was there to lay down the buzz-saw soundtrack to the outdoor wingding. The party was hardly packed, but people, especially extremely stylish women, danced and shimmied to the occasionally melodic racket. Someone had found their groove.
Got a sneak peek today of the fest’s closing night film, Sidney Lumet’s bleak and brilliant “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.” Easily one of the year’s best. Go HERE to find out how you can see it next Thursday.
‘Before the Devil … ‘
October 11, 2007
Capsule review: AFF Opening Night Film 'Chicago 10'
Docmaker Brett Morgen (“The Kid Stays in the Picture”) returns with another livelier-than-usual entry in the non-fiction field, a portrait of ’60s activism that mixes vintage footage with cartoon-animated reenactments. Two tracks run parallel throughout the film: News footage and interviews show us the lead-up to and eventful execution of anti-war protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, material that Morgen intercuts with his recreation of the legendary trial that followed. Depicted in crude animation that’s less aesthetically pleasing than it is dramatically useful, the courtroom scenes boast the vocal talents of actors like Liev Schreiber and Mark Ruffalo, who read from courtroom transcripts so outrageous (both in the defendants’ behavior and the court’s reaction to it) that the action is sometimes hard to believe. Lurking unspoken beneath all this is a commentary on current events, a yearning for a new crop of activists willing to risk jail and scorn to bring an end to this generation’s defining quagmire.
‘Chicago 10’ screens tonight at 7 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre. Check AFF’s Web site for information on tickets, badges, panels, screenings and more.
