A Scanner Darkly Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Iron Man opens this week, and thus the summer movie season has officially arrived. I love a good summer movie as much a the next guy, but this morning I found myself looking back at some of the little films that cropped up during the summer; some of them managed to get a "summer" feel on a much lower budget and without all the advertisement and hype. My absolute favorite summer art house movie has to be Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1999). I saw it three times that summer, and each time I clutched my seat, my heart pounding. I was amazed at how brilliantly Tywker had mapped out his three possible storylines and how lovely the small, quiet interludes were. I loved Franka Potente, and I loved his throbbing score, which practically entered into your bloodstream and pumped up your adrenaline by hand. Every color, movement and cut was designed for maximum effect (I've always been puzzled how Tykwer's movies since have seemed so long and sluggish.)

Also that same summer, John Sayles delivered his baffling adventure/suspense film Limbo, which had several people trapped on an island awaiting rescue and stalked by bad guys. The ending had everybody in an uproar and caused the film to die a quick death. The summer before that one, Darren Aronofsky's debut feature Pi gave me a good dose of sci-fi thrills, as well as a few head-scratching puzzles (which were actually real). 2000 was a particularly bad summer, but John Waters' Cecil B. DeMented provided a mischievous little oasis in the middle of it all. In that film, renegade filmmakers kidnap a Hollywood starlet and force her to be in their indie production; each team member has a tattoo of a maverick filmmaker's name. (I've often wondered which filmmaker's name I would pick for a tattoo? Maybe David Cronenberg...)

In case you haven't been paying attention, today is filled with Critics Circle Awards news. There are still a few major cities, Chicago for example, who haven't yet announced their picks, but so far, with the New York Film Critics Circle picks added in, it looks like a complete sweep for the King (Forest Whitaker of The Last King of Scotland) and the Queen (Helen Mirren of The Queen) in the lead acting categories. It isn't quite, though, if you take into account that Whitaker tied with Sacha Baron Cohen (for Borat) for the Los Angeles best actor spot. Otherwise, can we assume that these will be our Oscar winners? Hey, you never know -- Philip Seymour Hoffman almost swept last year's critics awards (NY and SF went with Heath Ledger) and he was a lock.

The rest of the NYFCC awards were like a snatch and grab of the rest we've seen so far. United 93, Half Nelson, Martin Scorsese and Jennifer Hudson were represented yet again. The group had a few surprises, however. Best supporting actor went to former child actor Jackie Earle Haley for Little Children and the foreign language pick was Army of Shadows, which Jean-Pierre Melville made more than 35 years ago.

The Screengrab has an interesting inside story on the voting process Monday morning (held at a conference room at Star Magazine). Some of the juiciest revelations are that the best picture category was nearly a tie (it was 12-10, United 93 over The Queen); that technically A Scanner Darkly might have won best animated film had Andrew Sarris not been in the bathroom during the category's vote; that Army of Shadows won only because of a tight battle between The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and Volver. This really goes to show how a group's awards don't necessarily reflect the choices of all of its critics.

Anyway, to keep up with all the Awards season winners, check out the Movie City News scoreboard.

Check out the full list of NYFCC winners after the jump.

Well, this is weird. For the bulk of my 30+ years on this planet, there's been no such thing as a "televised horror awards" presentation, and now, not 15 minutes removed from geeking out over the newly-announced Fangoria Chainsaw Awards nominations -- I come across the Spike TV Scream Awards nominations! Cool!

Now, with all due respect to Spike TV and their cool new concept, I gotta say the Fango Chainsaw noms are just a little bit cooler. But hey, there's no law that says the horror freaks can't hang their hat on TWO new awards presentations. Frankly I think we could use a few more enthusiastic celebrations of juicy genre filmmaking.

Anyway, the Screams seem to run a lot like the Chainsaws do: Check out all the categories and nominees (after the jump) and then head on over to SpikeTV.com and cast your own votes! This is particularly amusing for the horror nuts -- because we're nothing if not passionately opinionated on which horror flicks rock and which ones suck the proverbial egg. Spike TV broadcasts their Scream Awards on the evening of October 10th.

Here's some good news: Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly cracked the box office top ten this week, coming in at #10, while playing only on 216 screens. Our number one movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, is playing on 4133. For the math geeks out there, that's nearly 20 times as many screens. The difference between the two movies is that Pirates needs to saturate the market as quickly as possible before moviegoers discover how truly mediocre it is, while A Scanner Darkly is the kind of movie you want to ponder, then go back and see again.

I have still only seen the film once, but I continue to roll it around in my brain. It's a bit of a downer, focusing mostly on drug addiction and very little of the cool gadgetry that make other Philip K. Dick movies so cult-worthy; the best trick is the identity-mixing suit that the hero (played by Keanu Reeves) has to wear in his capacity as a drug cop. Yet A Scanner Darkly has quite a bit to say about drugs, especially the business of drugs and the emotional side of drugs. Plus, the kooky, cartoony performances by Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr. go a long way in lightening the movie's load.

As workers roll out the famous red carpet, and attendees dust off their formal wear, the Hollywood Reporter's Anne Thompson has a great write up on the market at Cannes, which she characterizes as a "seller's market". Most of the films with big buzz, Thompson reports, already have distrib going into the fest, leaving hungry buyers scouring the lesser known films, hoping to find that perfect film. Cannes, Thompson says, has "plenty of world class cinema on view -- but prcious little commercial titles to buy."

The list of buzzed-about films already with distrib is pretty long, from Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette (I'm still not sure about the wisdom of casting Kirsten Dunst in the title role in this film, but I'll withhold my judgment until I get to see the film firsthand), Pedro Almodovars' hotly-anticiapted Volver, Babel, starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael Garcia Bernal, and Richard Linklater's Cannes duel entries - Fast Food Nation and A Scanner Darkly.

There are, of course, a slew of lesser known films without distribution from a major house, but which, if any, of those films might end up getting picked up is anyone's guess at this point. Warner Independent acquistions exec Paul Federbush, who also kept a low profile at Sundance, told Thompson he only has two films on his priority radar, and other buyers seem equally cautious at this point, holding out to see which films will generate the most buzz. As Thompson notes, there are a lot of good foreign films at Cannes, but American audiences haven't been coming out in droves to see foreigns lately, which is too damn bad, because it means that distribs will be understandably cautious about investing in bringing some really good films stateside.

Finally, a Help Us Advertise Our Movie contest that doesn't totally suck!

RES, Microsoft, Warner Brothers, and Jumpcut are co-sponsoring a contest to remix the trailer of Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly, due in theaters (finally) July 7. The remix site offers the current trailer for download, and asks entrants to create a variation that runs between one and three minutes, using both the downloaded footage and any new footage created specifically for the contest. What makes it cool, however, are the prizes. Instead of the "We might use your poster in a few small towns if we really like it and you'll feel important" rewards that tend to come with these fan-participation contests, the winner of this one gets some pretty awesome stuff: In addition to a trip to the US premiere (including airfare and hotel, thanks very much), the lucky remixer also takes home "a Microsoft Windows 64-bit powered professional video editing workstation with Adobe Production Studio Premium" (while I'm not entirely sure what that is, it sounds very flashy and posh to me). There are also some runner-up prizes on offer, as well as an audience award for a trailer chosen by website visitors.

If you're interested, go download the goods; all entries must be uploaded by June 7.

Over at Winona Ryder News Channel, they have a great interview up with Mike Stovall, one of the 50 or so animators who made A Scanner Darkly, well, animated. Ever wondered what it would have been like to be a part of the animation team for A Scanner Darkly? Shorts and t-shirts, dogs lying around the office, and frequent steak nights, plus a weekly quota of frames to get done. Sounds kinda like my first internet project management gig many moons ago, except we ordered in lots of Chinese take-out (mmm, New York City Chinese food) and Mountain Dew by the case. Ah, the good old days, when working 18-hour-days felt exhilarating and cool.

Stovall also spills on some cool stuff about the animation process itself (it sounds like lots of tedious work, to be honest, but I'm sure it sounds way more exciting to any graphic artists out there) and the film itself, which Stovall says is very true to the book (this, as he also points out, could limit its appeal to audiences used to being spoon-fed). He also let's drop some Winona-related tidbits: she (and the rest of the cast) shot wearing no makeup, and she still looked pretty; and - better sit down now, Winona fans - she's topless in the movie,  but what you're seeing are animated boobies, not the real thing. Ryder wore an exercise top to cover herself during filming. Maybe Sharon Stone will take a lesson from Ryder's playbook on that score. Nah, probably not.

Go read the whole interview, it's good stuff. Cool animation, Winona Ryder, and an intelligent storyline that actually stays true to the book? Wow. Now I'm at least 12% more interested in seeing it. Besides, I kinda want to see which Keanu Reeves we have in this film: Cool, sexy Matrix Keanu? Earnestly serious, I'm-really-trying-to-be-a-good-actor indie film Keanu? Or, heaven forfend, absurdly wooden Johnny Mnemonic Keanu? By the way, in case you missed it the first time, Jette Kernion caught the special-super-top-secret screening of A Scanner Darkly at SXSW, but she unfortunately didn't give us any info on either Keanu's acting or Winona's animated boobies, so you'll just have to wait until July (July? That long?) to see the film yourself.

Friday's odds and ends:

• The Weinstein Company has picked up the American distribution rights to Emilio Estevez's sprawling RFK assassination drama, Bobby. Starring the pretty much all of Hollywood, the movie is due out this fall and, according to the most recent reports, is actually ahead of schedule.

• Well, that was quick. Mr. Brooks' good and evil pair of Kevin Costner and William Hurt now have their lady: according to this morning's Hollywood Reporter, Demi Moore has joined the film's cast. Refreshingly, Moore isn't playing a love interest who is threatened and made to scream (in a bad way) a lot by the bad guy. Instead, she'll be a "a tough detective whose devotion to her craft catches the attention and respect of the serial killer she is hunting." Ah, hell. The summary alone is creeping me out, so there's no way I have the nerves to see this movie. Dammit.

• When we reported late last year about the rumors that Radiohead was going to do the score for A Scanner Darkly, people came out of the woodwork to tell us it was all a huge, idiotic lie. But now the "rumor" is back again, and this time it's from the proverbial Mainstream Media: EW's Popwatch is reporting the story as a studio-confirmed fact - odd, since the version Jette saw the other day featured music by Graham Reynolds. So, basically, no one knows what's going on, not even the people at Warner independent Pictures. [Edit: Popwatch has has been updated based on new information from WIP. Radiohead isn't doing the score; instead, the movie will feature unspecified Radiohead songs, in addition to a Thom Yorke solo track.]
  

IESB's got a new interview up with Robert Downey Jr. that's ostensibly about The Shaggy Dog, but he talks about a few other projects, as well. Because I love you, I sat through the entire thing - which involves far too much studio-mandated talk about how great an actor the dog is (apparently no one can shut up about his brilliance) and a strange effort by Downey to portray his Token Bad Guy character as a lesson to kids - in order to glean the few interesting tidbits that appear at the very end.

First, though he doesn't actually speak about it, Downey appears to be very fired up indeed about A Scanner Darkly, at least if rubbing his hands together and cackling with glee at its mere mention is any indication. Second, he thinks it would be a good idea to remake Weird Science. He really said that, almost totally unprompted. I don't get it either, particularly because the interviewer didn't think to ask for details about why such a thing might be necessary. Third and most bizarrely, Downey is in informal talks with Sylvester Stallone to star in Poe, a biopic written and directed by Sly himself. While it's remarkably easy to picture Downey as Poe (my mental image looks pretty much just like he did in Chaplin, except with a more elaborate mustache), the thought of Stallone giving Downey acting direction is almost too demented to comprehend.

[via Moviehole]

The Javits Center in midtown Manhattan is swarming with fanboys this weekend: it's playing host to the first ever New York Comic-Con, a sold-out, three day festival of comics goodness. In addition to the scheduled events (including a Saturday appearance by everyone's favorite Russian action star, Milla Jovovich), a few unexpected goodies have been presented to the faithful, primary among them an exclusive look at the first 30 minutes of Richard Linklater's long-delayed A Scanner Darkly.

The write-up of the screening at IGN describes the film as being dominated by "a sense of crushing paranoia," created by the constant presence of recording devices, and haunting scenes of Big Brother-type surveillance. In addition, the writer was impressed by the movie's representation of the troublesome "scramble suit," which is eerily shown from both the outside and, interestingly, the point of view of its wearer. Impressed by the fluidity of the animation, the writer was also surprised by the tone of the film, which he described at much lighter than the trailer makes it seem.

Obviously, Warner Independent Pictures chose the Comic-Con for the screening because they figured the audience at the event would be predisposed to like the film, so reactions to the clip should probably be taken with a grain of salt. That said, however, this report is awfully encouraging, and actually has me feeling hopeful about the film for the first time. If Linklater's animators finally got a handle on rotoscoping and were in fact able to create an effective visual atmosphere, that could go a long way towards making the film a good one.