Last year, along with the buzz of blood and chaos, Grindhouse brought rumors of marital difficulties. Officially, Robert Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellan have stated that they were split well before the making of the movie, and that all was amicable. Rumors, however, have also been circulating about Rose McGowan's involvement, which quickly went from a "professional relationship," to a hand-holding appearance at Cannes. Yet another case of the long-term partner getting dumped for the younger actress -- I guess not all men can be Maxwell Caulfield. Anyhow, Avellan recently talked with the New York Times about where things lay post-separation, both for her production company with her ex, Troublemaker Studios, and her future solo work.

The company will continue to run as-is, in accordance with earlier claims, but it looks like both are going to branch out to separate projects. For the first time, she's working with a director other than Rodriguez and is bringing Jonathan Jakubowicz's Queen of the South to the screen for Warner Independent Pictures. She says: "I didn't want Robert to feel like I wasn't giving 150 percent, like any producer would do. So I'd not talk about this or that. Now I feel free to mention some of the things that I'm doing."

It's both a freeing and eerie statement -- one that speaks well for her future, but sadly of her past. Hopefully this is the beginning of some time in the spotlight for Avellan. As the piece notes, The Hollywood Reporter had listed a Latino Power 50 this year, but while Rodriguez was listed third, she wasn't included, nor mentioned. She's functioned under the radar for many years now, so hopefully the time has come to see her shine.

"I'm tired of seeing movies where we are all poor and barefoot and we don't know what Wi-Fi is," says Nicolás Lopez, director of the upcoming superhero romantic comedy Santos (pictured at right; see his blog for the proper context of the photo). In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Lopez talked about the challenges of making a movie in his native Chile: "When your country is located in the ass of the world and it's named like a condiment, it's hard to get people to take you seriously." Yet there are also advantages: "Chile is ideal. You can make things for a price, and there is a lot of enthusiasm and excitement down there." I wrote about Lopez last month and wondered if he could pull off the delicate balance between comedy, romance and comic book fantasies. As the interview explains, Lopez has already developed two strong alliances.

The first is with producer Elizabeth Avellan. She met Lopez when his previous film played at South by Southwest and has served as a mentor. In a recent e-mail to Cinematical, Lopez said Avellan has come on board as a producer of Santos and mentioned that he is currently working at Troublemaker Studios in Austin to finish the visual effects for the film; efforts are also being made to secure American theatrical distribution. Santos will open in Chile and Spain on November 1. The second alliance is with Salma Hayek's production company Ventanazul, which intends to make Lopez' next film as part of their joint venture with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. The plan is to start filming on that English-language project -- described as "a John Ford western, Terminator, and Back to the Future rolled into one" -- next spring. Notably, Lopez insisted on filming in Chile and has visions of building a state-of-art studio there so as to help create an infrastructure for the local film industry. Can't wait to see what he dreams up next.

[Via GreenCine Daily]

With the South by Southwest Film Festival only a short ten days away, you'd think the programmers would be taking it easy. Wrong-o. Nobody rests on their laurels down in Austin, which explains why the SXSW crew keeps adding new movies, panelists and special guests! Here's the most-recent (although probably not final) batch of late additions:

Pop star James Blunt will attend the world premiere of James Blunt: Return to Kosovo, so be sure to bring those autograph books, ladies!

Director D.J. Caruso and "hot young" actor Shia LaBeouf will be in attendance for the world premiere of their Disturbia thriller, and will probably be talked into a post-movie Q & A session.

Actress Connie Britton and director Sarah Kelly will be here to introduce their cool-looking '80s-centric movie The Lather Effect, which also stars Tate Donovan, Eric Stoltz, Ione Skye, Peter Facinelli and Monica Keena.

Producer Elizabeth Avellan will stop by for a panel discussion on March 14th, and considering she's worked on movies like Sin City, Spy Kids and Grindhouse ... I just might have to stop by and have a listen.

Reign Over Me, a flick that sure looks like a true-blue "tearjerker for guys," will have its world premiere at SXSW on Wednesday, March 14. Written and directed by Mike Binder (The Upside of Anger), it stars Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler as former college roommates whose lives took off in decidedly ... different directions. (UPDATE: Both Cheadle and Sandler will be in attendance at this screening.)

More SXSW updates as they become available. And get ready for some serious wall-to-wall coverage of America's finest flm festival once March 9 hits the calendar.

The Texas Hall of Fame awards ceremony always takes place on the night SXSW begins, and honors Texans who have contributed significantly to the film industry in some capacity. The evening has a reputation for being much more fun than the usual dry awards presentations. From 2002-2005, the evening's emcee was former Texas Governor Ann Richards, who added her trademark wit and humor to the proceedings. Richards was a longtime supporter and advocate of Texas film. In addition, she narrated a rollicking documentary about a favorite Texas food, Barbecue: A Texas Love Story, that played SXSW in 2004. In 2006, Richards had to back out of the ceremony due to illness. As you probably are aware, she died in September of esophageal cancer. The show may never be quite the same.

Austin Film Society (AFS) has decided to dedicate the 2007 award ceremony to its most memorable emcee, and the theme of next year's ceremony will be "A Tribute to Ann Richards." Journalist Liz Smith, a longtime friend of Richards, will host the event next March. The Texas Hall of Fame didn't have to go far to pick some of its recipients for 2007, either: Richard Linklater, who founded AFS, and producer Elizabeth Avellan of Troublemaker Studios (you know, the movies directed by her estranged husband Robert Rodriguez). Other Hall of Fame honorees will include Betty Buckley and Bill Paxton (both from Fort Worth). Lily Tomlin and actress/playwright Anna Deavare Smith are also expected to attend. For those of us who can't be there, AFS has kindly posted a video made at the 2006 ceremony, in which various attendees send their best wishes to Richards.