Austin TX entertainment, events, food, movies, music

Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2009 > November > 30 > Entry

Austin Celebrity Roundup: Robert Rodriguez, Sandra Bullock, Luke Wilson

By Michael Barnes | Monday, November 30, 2009, 11:51 AM

Hungarian director Nimród Antal may prefer full sets and live action to CG animation, but he and Austin producer Robert Rodriguez (a CG fan) remain in sync on the Austin-shot “Predators.” “(Rodriguez) is involved in the screenplay and we’ve had a lot of conversations, and any big decisions I want to make, I always speak to him about,” Antal told Coming Soon. “But he’s been very gracious and he’s been letting me do my thing. He’s really let me perform and he’s let me dance, so again, I’m grateful to him for that.” While using Rodriguez’s local crew, Antal brought along director of photography Gyula Pados, who worked with him on “Kontroll.”

That Rodriguez crew is one of reasons Austin is attracting the state incentive money faster than other cities, according to the Houston Chronicle. Along with Dallas, which hosts two television series, Austin is leaving Houston and San Antonio in the cold. Texas has spent $17 million of the $60 million in tax and spending incentives since April. During that time, Austin took in $74 million in production spending, Dallas $48.6 million, Houston $13.8 million; San Antonio $581,000. “One of the reasons that Austin and Dallas are the busiest places is because that is where the crew bases are,” Texas Film Commission director Bob Hudgins said.

Now they are talking Oscar. That’s right, for Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side.” Say what you will, the Austin actress is proving box office gold this year. She landed “The Proposal” in part because she works cheaper that Julia Roberts, but it scored $164 million. Critically punished “All About Steve” only made $34 million, but “The Blind Side” has already grossed $100.3 million and is likely to top $200 million by the end of the year. That would mean Bullock’s films could reap almost $400 million for three fairly low-budget films.

Another Austin-linked name is enjoying a huge comeback. Frequent visitor and AT&T map pitchman Luke Wilson is involved in a “big-bucks marketing battle that’s already threatening to make the cola wars look like child’s play,” says industry follower Advertising Age. The combatants this war: Verizon Wireless and AT&T, the No. 1 and No. 2 U.S. wireless carriers. Wilson’s amiability has been drafted in the feud between the nation’s second-largest advertiser (Verizon’s marketing war chest is $3.7 billion) against the third largest (AT&T spent $3.1 billion last year).

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment

Comments

Austinites love to be heard, and we're giving you a bullhorn. We just ask that you keep things civil. Leave out the personal attacks. Do not use profanity, ethnic or racial slurs, or take shots at anyone's sexual orientation or religion. If you can't be nice, we reserve the right to remove your material and ban users who violate our Visitor's agreement. Click here to report comment abuse.