DuplassBrothers Tagged Articles at Cinematical

A couple of months ago, I heard some New Yorkers who are involved in the film industry talk about dealing with changing release strategies. At one point, one of them said in a horrified voice, "And remember There Will Be Blood? It opened in ... Austin!" We were all supposed to look shocked, I suppose, but instead a voice in my head shouted "Hah!" in triumph (not aloud). Austin landed the Paul Thomas Anderson movie during Fantastic Fest, before any other city, and it was a rare treat for us to be ahead of the game. Usually we are late in getting limited-release films, waiting enviously while the East and West Coasters have all the fun.

Now New Yorkers are in a dither again because Baghead, the latest film from Jay and Mark Duplass, is opening in limited release on June 13 in which city? Austin! New York and Los Angeles won't see the indie film until July. The reason Sony Pictures Classics is citing for this "reverse rollout" is that they want to build word-of-mouth more effectively, and build a following before Baghead reaches the largest media markets. The New York Times published a long article today about the ramifications of releases that start outside of their fair city, questioning whether this will become a trend or if Baghead is an "aberration." Over at Variety's blog The Circuit, Michael Jones reminds us that Austin isn't like the rest of Texas, and wonders if word-of-mouth can spread effectively from the city of slackers to places like Dallas and Houston.

In Baghead, the writing-directing team of Mark and Jay Duplass (The Puffy Chair) combine not two, but three separate traditions of American Indie Cinema: It revolves around two couples; it celebrates and mocks the world of indie film ... and it takes place in an isolated cabin in the woods where a masked stranger hovers outside in ominous silence. Cinematical spoke with the brothers at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival about delusions of adequacy, clumsy passes, awkward pauses and genre-melding on a minimal budget. Mark tries to sum it up: "Baghead is a movie about the funny, horrific, tragic, terrible life of being a desperate actor."

This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:

This year saw a lot of notice paid to the film movement known as Mumblecore, but it's still low enough on the radar that its members -- including filmmakers Andrew Bujalski, the Duplass Brothers and Joe Swanberg -- are likely still pretty approachable human beings. Of course, that doesn't mean that their biggest fan can easily meet them. While these very indie filmmakers aren't celebrities, their most devout follower, Erin Scherer, lives too far away and is apparently too poor to pay her own way to simply locate the Mumblecore lot, travel to where they're at and pay them a visit. The difficulty isn't stopping her from trying, though. Scherer, a filmmaker and video blogger best known for her monologue "How Mumblecore Saved My Life," has set up a website asking for donations in order to fund her trip to the South by Southwest Film Festival in March, where she apparently will have the opportunity to meet with indieWIRE blogger and festival programmer Matt Dentler, as well as whatever Mumblecore representatives are available. The site, titled GrantErinsWish.com, features some videos of her explaining her predicament and begging for money.

So far, according to the updates on her site, Scherer has only collected $55.00. That's a lot less than the $3200 she needs by March 5, 2008, the date she heads down to Texas for the festival. While I don't completely condone giving a fangirl charity when there are more important causes in the world, I do like the idea that you can purchase t-shirts and other merchandise from her CafePress site, so that you don't have to feel like you simply gave the money away. The merch does, however, state the cute-yet-implicit declaration, "I helped Erin get to SXSW and all I got was this stupid t-shirt." Keep in mind, that if she does not raise the full amount, she will still be going to SXSW -- she's apparently already paid for the trip and is presently in debt -- so you won't likely be receiving a refund. However, if you've had your own dreams of meeting your idol(s) and think it's a good cause, or at least an endearing one (heck, even if you just pity her for all I care), feel free to do with your own money what you wish.

[via The Reeler]

UPDATE: Despite the fact that her current total is still only $55, Sherer has decided to up her amount needed another $400-500.