DavidBowie Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The world changed on September 11, but Austin Chick's second film, August, focuses on the moments right beforehand. Starring Josh Hartnett as a young start-up entrepreneur deluded by power trips, the movie moves along with a subtle pace, letting the natural drama emerge from a situation about to veer out of the control with the crash of the stock market. Chick's first feature, XX/XY, explored a three-way relationship; August, which opens in New York on Friday, explores the relationship between money and power during a key time in American history. Supporting performances from Rip Torn and David Bowie elevate the movie, while Howard A. Rodman's script keeps its conceits in check. Chick spoke with Cinematical about envisioning August's themes and working with his talented cast.

Cinematical: The film uses a very specific setting -- August 2001 -- immediately before 9/11. What interested you about that time?

Austin Chick: It captures a moment on the eve of change. If Howard (Rodman) and I were to move it to any other time, we would probably move it further back. The market really started crashing about eighteen months prior to when the movie is set. But I feel like there was still a certain amount of momentum in New York up until 9/11, this sense that things were going to turn around. The market had completely crashed, but there was still this crazy sense of decadence. All that really changed with 9/11.

Few leading male actors have followed the roundabout career trajectory of Josh Hartnett. Though indisputably tall, dark and handsome, Hartnett still manages to avoid the pratfalls of typecasting by landing roles in strange projects with questionable appeal. While this choice comes at the expense of a quality resume, his performances can lend barely competent films at least one redeeming ingredient: I could give or take Wicker Park, Resurrecting the Champ, and even the good intentions of The Black Dahlia, but each benefits from Hartnett's expressive glare, furrowed brow and whispered delivery. He's an instant generator of gravitas.

Although August, director Austin Chick's second feature after the relationship drama XX/XY, doesn't qualify as Hartnett's best movie, it's certainly one of his meatiest roles – right up there with his work in the unfairly maligned Lucky Number Slevin. As the crudely pompous CEO of the mysterious start-up company Landshark in New York City during the summer before 9/11, Hartnett offers a maddened, garrulous anti-hero replete with dark humor and sustained by a surge of baseless confidence. The movie follows the audacious entrepreneur, Tom, as his fifteen minutes begin to run out – and it concludes with him facing off against a freakishly powerful David Bowie as the icy corporate foil. Despite the age gap, both men exude an eerie amount of restraint – which is not the case for the film. August adds up to less than it aspires to be, but it's populated with enough curiosities to keep you watching.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive clip from the film August, starring Josh Hartnett, Adam Scott, Naomie Harris and ... David Bowie! Directed by Austin Chick (XX/XY), August tells of two brothers who fight to keep their dotcom start-up company afloat in August 2001, one month before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the clip above, Hartnett looks to be meeting with some of his advisers after his company's stock takes a massive hit and drops below a dollar. Running out of options, he may have to risk a lot more than the money in his wallet to save this puppy. But will he? August originally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year before making stops in Seattle, Brooklyn and eventually Manhattan, where it opens on July 11.

This will no doubt be an illegal movie forever. After seeing it at the UC Theater in the summer of '82, I recently found a copy on a bootleg VHS for $1 at a Friends of the Library sale, still burned with the Sundance Channel bug. In today's cinema, much is made of the nostalgia value of the 1980s soundtrack: a famous example being Tears for Fears' "Head Over Heels" during Donnie Darko's opening. You can have your MTV, though, since URGH! A Music War was the soundtrack to my 1980s. Hey, what a surprise, no Duran Duran, no INXS, no Soft Cell covering a Gloria Jones soul classic and convincing a history-impaired generation that they wrote it. And yet it's clear why this film failed.

As a business scheme URGH seems, in 2008 hindsight, a uniquely quick way to burn a fortune. The film documents second-wave punk and New Wave bands playing from LA to London, editing them together without any particular zeitgeisty event like a music festival. So: play it a little under a real kiss-of-death title, and then wait to be deafened by the wails of bands, managers and lawyers zooming in to fight over the non-existant money. The Police were the headliners, opening and closing the film. They wrap up the film, too; you can see drummer Miles Copeland wearing an URGH! T-shirt. Is this perhaps all he was paid for this film? There are mostly cinematic performances here, and we see how much was lost by the fact that the Industry couldn't figure out a way to use their talents in the movies. Here's a key to the best of the show, omitting slurs of forgotten bands who perished long years ago.

OK, so the music snob in me is not thrilled that someone like David Bowie would appear in a teen romance with a High School Musical star. But, luckily I don't take these things all that seriously and I'm sure I'll get over it. Variety reports that the music legend is currently in talks to star in the musical Will. Todd Graff (Camp) co-wrote the script with Josh Cagan and Graff will also direct.

The coming-of-age story centers on an outcast teen who befriends a like-minded girl who regrettably also runs with the popular crowd. Vanessa Hudgens plays the popular girl Sam, who after struggling with a stutter, has finally made it to the cool table. Liam Aiken will play her socially inept band mate. Remember this is a musical, so the story doesn't stop with the usual 'opposites attract' teen romance. The two then go on to "form an unlikely bond through their shared love of music. They assemble a like-minded crew of misfits and form a rock group to perform in a battle of the bands competition at their school."

The cast also includes Lisa Kudrow (who really does deserve to work more; the woman is hilarious), and Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights). Bowie is still in negotiations, so there is no word on which character he would be playing in the film. Part of me hopes it will just be a cameo, à la Zoolander. Will is set to start shooting in Austin, Texas in February and should hit theaters (with or without Mr. Ziggy Stardust) later this year.

As I pointed out in my Poltergeist review, I didn't watch much horror as a boy. That's probably a good thing, as even the non-horror flicks I enjoyed often scared the bejesus out of me. You kids today don't know how lucky you have it with your wussy Shreks and your lamewad Pikachus! Children of the 1980s are still in therapy over what Hollywood deemed "family films" back then. The following non-horror mind-screws should prove my point.

Return to Oz (1985)

In high school, I brought Return to Oz to a Halloween movie marathon. I hadn't seen it since I was a kid. Everyone scoffed. "A Wizard of Oz sequel? That's supposed to scare us?" I didn't hear a lot of mockery after the movie started. In fact, nobody said a word until about halfway through, when a friend of mine whispered "Can we please turn this off?" I'm not sure who thought this movie was appropriate for children. It gave me nightmares for nearly a decade.

Dorothy finds a key with an Oz symbol on it, shows it to Auntie Em and Uncle Henry as proof that Oz exists, and is sent to an insane asylum! An evil insane asylum where they give our young heroine electro-shock therapy! That's how this "childrens' film" starts! Once Dorothy gets to Oz, it's a speeding night train of horrors. How about that Nome King? Good LORD! Winged monkeys aren't scary enough anymore, let's give the kids The Wheelers -- sadistic shrieking psychopaths with roller skates instead of hands and feet! Kids today won't be satisfied with just a standard wicked witch, let's really ramp that up too, and ruin their lives! The sequence with the witch's cabinets full of human heads easily rivals anything in the Nightmare on Elm Street series for sheer terror. "Dorothy Gaaaaaale!!!!"

Even the heroes are horrifying! Jack Pumpkinhead? A hybrid stick n' pumpkin creature who calls Dorothy "Mother"? That's your good guy? Not cool, Return to Oz. Not cool.

The Neverending Story (1984)

Along the same lines as Return to Oz, The Neverending Story feels way too dark, weird, and just...wrong to be a kids' movie. I feel my eyes welling up now remembering Atreyu's horse slowly sinking into quicksand and dying. I can't even talk about the Gmork, that big wolfy vampire thing. And a storm called "The Nothing?" Sweet fancy Moses! Also, again, the heroes should not be scarier than the villains! The racing snail? The Rockbiter? That bat-dude? And Falkor? A big flying dog/dragon mutation with disgusting scaly eggs on his skin? We were supposed to root for this hellacious beast?

Another scream-inducing aspect -- one of the worst theme songs in all of 80's film. And that's saying a whole lot!

It looks like there could be a turf war brewing in Gotham. In New York Magazine's eyes, it's the battle between "the rich, powerful father and his silky hipster son." You see, on the one hand we've got Robert De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival, which came out of the ashes of September 11 to revitalize Tribeca. On the other, we've got the High Line Festival, which is gearing up for its inaugural year, and is being curated by David Bowie.

While Tribeca upped its prices this year and is considered by some to be the rich folks festival, this new offering is the budget fest which offers cheap tickets, is backed by the price-conscious H&M and will donate part of its proceeds to a green space project. NYM insiders say this is ticking off De Niro: "I hear it's driving Robert De Niro crazy, and that's just great because he's a big old wrinkled thug versus these young guys." (Not Bowie, but the fest's producers, David Binder, 39, and Josh Wood, 33). But here's where I get confused. Tribeca is a film festival that has some other content, like the Goo Goo Dolls who will perform this year. But High Line is a total music fest, and is boasting a line-up of bands like Air and Daniel Johnston

Page Six source says that it's the Slamdance to Sundance, but come on! Is there much cross-over between the two that the new cherub of festivals could edge out the old and established angel? Their scope seems different enough to me, and besides, if Bowie's baby is successful, perhaps Tribeca will re-evaluate its audience and start to chip away at its stodgy reputation.

[via AOL Entertainment]

When I first saw this headline, I immediately felt a tingle creep up my spine and couldn't help but cry out, "Yes! They're remaking Labyrinth! Bowie! Bowie!" However, after reading the story, cringing as Variety ripped out my heart and diced it up sushi-style right in front of my eyes, I realized we're talking a different Labyrinth here. Boo!

Oscar-winner Hilary Swank is set to star in a remake of the 2003 French thriller Labyrinth, with Russell Gewirtz (Inside Man) penning the script. Pic is described as a psychological thriller about a "mental patient with multiple personalities who holds clues to the whereabouts of a serial killer." I've never seen the French film, but based just on that description, it appears to be a mix of Silence of the Lambs and Don't Say A Word, with the latter kind of, well, sucking. I assume Swank will play the mental patient (Ahem, Oscar nom? Anyone?), but what about the serial killer? Do I even need to say it? Bowie! Bowie!

Holy. Crap. It's official: I'm in full freak-out mode about The Prestige. Before, I was just hopeful, and excited about the prospect of a weird, complex, fascinating book being turned into a movie by Christopher Nolan, with a cast made up of folks like Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Michael Caine. Now that I've seen the trailer, however, I'm afraid I'm not going to have a moment of peace from my anticipation until the movie opens this fall -- it looks that good.

For those of you who read and loved Christopher Priest's novel, the trailer is a revelation (at least it was for me): I have chill on top of my chills right now, from the simple thrill of seeing the novel brought to life so vividly and effectively. Putting some of the book's diary musings into Cutter's (Caine's) mouth seems to work surprisingly well, and Jackman and Bale look fantastic. Plus: Bowie! Tesla's light bulbs! And was that Ricky Jay?! I mean, seriously. This could only be better if it came with chocolate cake.

The Prestige opens October 27.

[via AICN]

I don't think I could ever articulate what it is about Labyrinth that's so wonderful, but it's safe to say that I honestly have never met anyone who saw it and didn't love it. (Those of you who think puppets are stupid need to stay away.) The songs are outrageously catchy (I've had Dance, Magic, Dance in my head since I first read this story Friday morning, dammit), the characters -- human and otherwise -- are uniformly winning and it's got both David Bowie AND Jennifer Connelly (before she got her boobs, boys) -- what's not to love? While most of us have to make do with watching it on our televisions, those of you in LA have a special treat heading your way: On July 20 at 8pm, the movie will be screened at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. But wait, there's more! In addition to seeing the magic on the big screen, you'll also get to witness a "post-screening conversation featuring the creative team behind Labyrinth, including [Brian] Henson, who is the voice of Hoggle and co-CEO of the Jim Henson Company." Sigh. Well, at the very least someone who gets to go better send us a report about how great it is. Please?