MarcWebb Tagged Articles at Cinematical

One of the best films I saw this year was (500) Days of Summer -- the indie unromantic comedy that followed Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel's 500 fun, terrible, and dysfunctional days together. It was one of those rare and perfect examples of how diverging from the well-worn cinematic path can be a true breath of fresh air. And now director Marc Webb is gearing up for his next feature, which still looks into the world of love, but this time with an entirely different tone.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Webb is currently in negotiations to helm a remake of the Danish thriller Just Another Love Story. The original Ole Bornedal film only hit Sundance last year, but as we all know, time often means nothing in Hollywood. The film follows a crime photographer and family man who ends up in a traffic accident with a woman named Julia. When he goes to the hospital to see how she is, her now amnesiac self (and her family) assume that he is her new boyfriend. Eager for a new life, the guy decides to pretend she's right, which works until the real boyfriend finally flies in from overseas.

The description might have a mirth-filled bend to it, but this is a full-on crime drama/thriller. From Fantastic Fest 2008, Peter wrote that Bornedal's film "pushes quickly into dark dramatics and the fantasy of a mid-life crisis before circling back around to the territory inhabited by Jonathan Demme's Something Wild." Considering Summer how do you think Webb will do with Bornedal's film?

At the beginning of the summer we told you how this year our theme was Summer Appreciation, hence the Our Favorite Summers series and our very cool director's series. Our intention was to speak to as many directors with films coming out during the summer and not only chat about their particular movie, but the summer movie season in general. What were some of their favorite summer moviegoing experiences, or favorite summer movies, etc ...

Though we're still not done shoveling out all those interviews, we wanted to drop in with a little recap of the ones we've already conducted in case you're looking for something to browse through this weekend as we segue into the last month of the summer, August. Links to all our special summertime director interviews below, along with some choice quotes.

McG, Terminator Salvation
"Raiders. That was a time when I would characterize the big movies as the best movies, and so rarely is that the case. That was the case last summer with Iron Man and The Dark Knight, which were the biggest movies of the year and arguably the best movies of the year. So I would welcome that sort of summer moviemaking coming back, and I'm a child of [Star Wars] Episodes IV, V and VI, and that's just where my head is. Those are the seminal moments of my life."

Pete Docter, Up
"I kind of look at it as everybody at the studio has a really unique set of skills. Like, if I was building a house, for example, I could probably do it myself to some degree, or at least teach myself, but why not get the greatest craftsmanship that I possibly could for every part of that house?"

Sam Raimi, Drag Me to Hell
"The point to make it in the first place is to make a horror story – to entertain, thrill and scare the bejeezus out of the audience, if I can, and make them jump and shout, and if I can, make them have a good laugh too."

Much more after the jump

Although conventional wisdom says otherwise, men really do want to watch romantic comedies. Unfortunately, they're not the same ones that women want to watch: for every two dozen movies like The Proposal or the upcoming The Ugly Truth, there's maybe one or two like High Fidelity or Almost Famous. This week, men can add 500 Days of Summer to their shortlist of testosterone-driven rom-coms, thanks to its story of a neurotic twentysomething named Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who falls deeply – and increasingly desperately – in love with a comely young lady named Summer (Zooey Deschanel).

Cinematical recently spoke to 500 Days director Marc Webb via telephone about his experience making the film, which he admits contains more than a few chestnuts of wisdom he wishes he had at Tom's age. In addition to discussing the demands of juggling relationships both off and on screen, Webb spoke about the significance of releasing his Summer film during the hottest months of the year, and offered a few insights about the seldom-discussed but decidedly-substantive legacy of romantic comedies made and marketed to – and for - men.

Cinematical: When you started working on 500 Days of Summer, what was this movie really about for you, or what did you want to explore the most?

Webb: During the process it evolved a little bit, but to me it's a coming of age story masked as a romantic comedy. To me it's about growing up; Summer isn't just a girl, she's a phase of your life. It is something that we've all gone through and all experienced, and there's certainly a romantic element, and there's an examination of the ambiguity of certain kinds of relationships. But at the end of the day, it's how you negotiate that and how you deal with that that's important to me.

It's not really a spoiler to say that in the upcoming cute and quirky 500 Days of Summer, the film begins with the following disclaimer: " Any resemblance to people living or dead is purely accidental ... Especially Jenny Beckman ... Bitch." Having seen this film play at festivals with Q&As afterward, the first or second question asked is always about whether or not Jenny Beckman is a real girl and perhaps the inspiration for the character Summer (played by Zooey Deschanel). The filmmakers have said that she is real, and at a recent screening of the film in Chicago, director Marc Webb added this to the end of his answer: "... yeah, she's real, look her up on Facebook."

So we looked her up on Facebook, and, yup, there's the Facebook page for a girl named Jenny Beckman who kinda sorta resembles Zooey Deschanel. She's a fan of 500 Days of Summer, her favorite music lists bands on the film's soundtrack (The Smiths are listed first) and she's friends with director Webb, as well as the writers of the movie. All that being said, I've walked away with a few questions:

1. Is this really the Facebook page for a girl named Jenny Beckman, and is this same Jenny Beckman the inspiration for Zooey Deschanel's character in 500 Days of Summer?
2. Is this just a piece of viral marketing on behalf of Fox Searchlight and/or the filmmakers to get people interested and keep them interested in the film?
3. If this is a hoax, then who is that girl in the picture? Is that really a girl named Jenny Beckman? Is the name Jenny Beckman fictitious, but is that still a picture of the girl who inspired the character?

We want answers! What do you think?

As it turns out, I lied to all of you last week when I said that next month's SXSW Film Festival had announced its full line-up -- and I couldn't have been happier. It looks like those awesome Austin-ites are bringing summer in March, specifically 500 Days of Summer, the one apparently adorable title I particularly pined for as a non-Sundance-ite.

But wait! There's more! In addition to six picks from the Fantastic Fest crew that have yet to be announced (and are as eagerly awaited by yours truly as anything else), SXSW is bringing Broken Lizard's latest (The Slammin' Salmon), an Iron Maiden tour doc (Flight 666), Jason Eisener's already acclaimed horror-comedy short (Treevenge), and a handful of other features and shorts programs.

Between all of that and all of this, I can honestly say that I'm the most psyched for this fest than I have been in the past three years (nothing personal, Matt!), and again, you can be sure to hear plenty more from our lot in just a couple of weeks.

The feel-good, Fox Searchlight-y film of the festival, 500 Days of Summer is like When Harry Met Sally ... if Sally turned around and repeatedly stabbed Harry in the heart with a toothpick. It's an anti-fairytale about a boy who falls head over dress shoes for the kind of girl who doesn't believe in love or fate or any of those cheesy words we often hear mentioned over and over again in this kind of romantic comedy. And yes, 500 Days of Summer comes with its own pop-centric, gotta-get-it-on-iTunes soundtrack, like a Garden State or a Juno or a Wackness. It's sure to draw in a large fanbase full of those seeking a hip, this-is-what-it's-really-like story about the trials and tribulations of a relationship in 2009 -- but if you dig a little deeper, you'll realize it doesn't say anything new about boy meets girl; instead, it wins over its audience with a spoonful of style and a giant helping of visual gimmicks that, honestly, make it a pretty fun flick to watch for an hour and a half.

Yes, we all know there aren't 500 days in summer (the season), so obviously we're talking about a person -- and Summer (Zooey Deschanel) is the product of divorce; a smart, independent woman who isn't even interested in entertaining the idea of love. Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt), on the other hand, has this bold idea that he's going to one day spot his soul mate and the two will live happily ever after forever and ever and ever. Tom understands this may be a bit unrealistic, but he blames movies, music and television for corrupting his idea of what love should ultimately look like. And yes, those 500 days define the beginning, middle and end of Tom and Summer -- as the film so boldly tells us right up front: this is not a love story.

Our Cinematical compatriots attending this year's Sundance Film Festival won't get their first look at Marc Webb's 500 Days of Summer until later this evening at the earliest, but in the meantime, Trailer Addict has offered up our first look at what may or may not be the musical reminiscence of a fractured relationship between Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Tom and Zooey Deschanel's Summer.

It's a peculiar trailer for what I'm sure is a peculiar movie, but I like what (admittedly little) we're seeing and hope that we only get verification from Park City that this project is indeed something unique and charming, and not merely quirky, a four-letter film festival word if ever I've heard one.

Fox Searchlight had distribution of the film going into the fest, and they're already eyeing a limited roll-out starting in, yes, the summer -- on July 24th, to be exact. If they manage to turn this into the type of sleeper success that they crank out time and time again, let's hope that the film deserves it.

Oh man, this one is like an indie hipster's dream come true. According to EW, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and my future wife (in an alternate universe) Zooey Deschanel have signed on to star opposite one another in 500 Days of Summer, for Fox Searchlight. The film, which is said to be going into production this spring, tells the story of a woman who doesn't believe in love and the man who falls hopelessly in love with her. Sounds kinda like the opposite of every relationship I've ever seen. Kidding! I kid. We all love everything.

Music video director Marc Webb will direct the indie, which means a cool, hip soundtrack is all but certain. I love both these kids, so I'm sure we'll get some adorable moments out of this one. Only possible downside: It was written by the guys behind The Pink Panther 2, which may or may not be a bad thing seeing as the Panther sequel hasn't come out yet. Zooey can next be seen opposite Mark Wahlberg in M. Night's upcoming end-of-the-world flick, The Happening. Meanwhile, you can catch Gordon-Levitt in that new Iraq drama Stop-Loss.

(But seriously now -- how can you not love a girl named Zooey?)