Seth Gordon Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Last November, Warner Bros. released Fred Claus, a Christmas-set comedy pairing up lead Vince Vaughn with Rachel Weisz.

This November, New Line released Four Christmases, a Christmas-set comedy pairing up lead Vince Vaughn with Reese Witherspoon.

Mere coincidence, you might ask, despite the fact that New Line is owned by Warner Brothers, not to mention the shared initials of both the titles and the actresses playing the love interests? Perhaps, but happenstance loses my vote when the best one can say for Four Christmases is that it's a marginally better holiday romp than the likes of Fred Claus.

It's kind of fitting that the first movie I watched upon arriving home from Sundance was, hands down, the best documentary to come out of last year's Slamdance Film Festival. It's unfortunate this film wasn't nominated for an Academy Award, but then again it doesn't feature anyone from Iraq, Michael Moore and/or a group of people who've been molested. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is, instead, a film about achieving your goals; about conquering villains and inner demons. It's about learning how to play by the rules and, subsequently, learning how to lose with grace and honor. I've recommended a lot of films in the past year, but The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is one you definitely must see. And heck, bring along the entire family -- this isn't just a film for the young at heart; it's for the young with heart as well.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters follows Steve Wiebe; an average dude living an average life with a wife and two kids. He's the kind of guy who's always had a hobby -- be it baseball or music -- but for one reason or another, has always come up short. A huge Donkey Kong fan from back in the day, Wiebe gets it in his head that he wants to try for the record -- a high score secured by the great gamer Billy Mitchell back in 1982. A score that remained on top for years and years and years ... until now. But it won't be easy; Mitchell is a celebrity in the world of gaming, as well as a self-made millionaire due to his line of hot sauce. He's a legend, who comes with a legion of fans and henchmen. Remember the Mantle/Maris home run race in 1961? Yeah, well this is even more intense.

Economy is everywhere. It's in the classrooms, through the world, and even on the bookshelves. If you haven't read Steven D. Levitt and and Stephen J. Dubner's bestselling pop culture economy book, Freakonomics, you've probably at least heard of it, or have spotted the apple-orange cover to the right. After making the waves in the reader world, using economics to discuss mundane and controversial topics, Variety reports that an excellent collection of popular documentary directors are coming together to film a doc based on the book.

Under producers Chad Troutwine (Paris je t'aime) and Seth Gordon (The King of Kong), Freakonomics will bring together Super Size Me's Morgan Spurlock, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing from Jesus Camp, Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), My Country My Country's Laura Poitras, Eugene Jarecki of Why We Fight, and finally Jehane Noujaim (Control Room) -- each of whom will film a section of the book. Most of the directors are still finalizing topics, but Gibney is said to be filming a segment on cheating teachers and sumo wrestlers, while Jarecki will tackle one of the most controversial segments -- that a drop in crime can be attributed to Roe v. Wade. But it's not just politics under the microscope -- other issues covered in the book include Adam Vinatieri's football career as a field goal kicker.

Each segment will be 15 minutes long, and will then come together into a feature-length documentary that includes an intro and interstitials from Gordon. Producer Troutwine says: "I stalked the authors for a year because I saw cinematic appeal to the book as soon as I read it. It showed that conventional wisdom should always be tested and never trusted, and that is what documentaries are all about." Are you ready to get freaky with economics?

Documentary filmmakers deserve much more love and attention than they receive. One way to get more attention is to make the list of 15 documentaries short-listed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Variety has this year's list and cites three Iraq War-themed films as being "center stage": Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro's Body of War, Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight (which Cinematical's Kim Voynar gave high marks when it played at Sundance) and Richard Robbins' Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience.

Kim is a self-styled "documentary dork" -- her words, not mine -- and wrote a column two months ago about films she thought "have (or ought to have) a shot at Oscar gold." She included No End in Sight, as well as the following docs that all made the short list: Sean Fine and Andrea Nix-Fine's War/Dance, Michael Moore's Sicko, Daniel Karslake's For the Bible Tells Me So, and Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's Nanking. Kim was pulling for Logan Smalley's Darius Goes West, which sadly did not make the list. Other notable exclusions included David Singleton's In the Shadow of the Moon and Seth Gordon's The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.

Here are the remaining eight that did make the list. First, the ones we've covered so far: Tony Kaye's Lake of Fire, Richard Berge and Bonni Cohen's The Rape of Europa, Weijun Chen's Please Vote for Me and Peter Raymont's A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman. Next, the ones we haven't seen yet: Steven Okazaki's White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (which has played on HBO), Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side (due for release in January), Bill Haney's The Price of Sugar and Tricia Regan's Autism: The Musical.

Now the Academy's Documentary Branch will review the 15 films and narrow the list still further to the final five nominees, which will be announced on January 22.

Did you enjoy watching Vince Vaughn in a Christmas setting over the weekend? Well, don't forget, you'll have another chance to see him in a holiday film next year, as the actor is starring with Reese Witherspoon in Four Christmases, due in December 2008. Now, according to Variety, there's an excellent addition to the cast: Robert Duvall. Ah, nothing says obligatory Christmas comedy like Oscar winners slumming it. Well, at least Vaughn could learn a few tips from either Duvall or Witherspoon. More from Duvall, though. In addition to his win for Tender Mercies in 1984, Duvall has been nominated another five times (he's also won four Golden Globes out of six noms) and definitely should have received more noms (my pick: Falling Down). In turn, maybe Vaughn can teach Duvall a little something about light-hearted comedy. The elder actor hasn't done so well in the family film department (even if I enjoyed him immensely in Secondhand Lions and Newsies), and while he can certainly deliver funny performances at times (loved him and his mint julep in Thank You For Smoking), none of those roles could be considered "hilarious" or "broad" comedy.

Considering the plot of Four Christmases, Duvall will probably only get less than a quarter of the movie's screen time. The story follows Vaughn and Witherspoon's young married characters as they attempt to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas Day. It's highly likely that Duvall plays one of the fathers. Now, who will play the other parents? Could we get some more prestige, a la Meet the Fockers? If New Line can get three more Oscar winners (to completely flank odd-man Vaughn), then I might actually have to put this film on my next year's wish list. Four Christmases was written by Matt Allen and Caleb Wilson and is being directed by King of Kong's Seth Gordon.

The King of Kong is my favorite movie of the year so far, and one of my favorite documentaries of all time. It may be hard to find a theater showing the film where you are, but do anything in your power to see it. Seth Gordon, the director of that robo-excellent flick is rapidly becoming a pretty hot commodity in Hollywood. As Monika told you, he intends to direct a fictionalized version of Kong, with actors like Johnny Depp and Edward Norton on the filmmaker's wish list. He's attached to direct a project called The Only Living Boy in New York. And now The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Gordon is in final negotiations to direct Four Christmases, a holiday comedy with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. I'm not sure how he's going to have time to do it all.

Four Christmases is based on a screenplay by first-timers Matt Allen and Caleb Wilson, and will follow a young married couple (Vaughn and Witherspoon), each half of which has divorced parents. They struggle to attend...you guessed it...four Christmas Day celebrations, one for each parent, and somehow maintain their sanity. Christmases has been in the works for several years. It was set up with an intended December 2004 release date, but went into turnaround when it conflicted with the release of the Tim Allen vehicle Christmas with the Kranks. Then Adam Shankman was scheduled to direct, but chose to do Hairspray instead. When he left, Shrek director Vicky Jenson came on board, but "a deal never materialized." So now we've got Gordon at the helm, and I couldn't be happier. If Christmas is half the film Kong is, I'll love the crap out of it.

You might remember our Scott Weinberg reviewing a documentary from SXSW called The King of Kong (which has since added onto the end: "A Fistful of Quarters"). He said it was "as compelling, colorful and entertaining as any of the 'human interest' documentaries of the past five years." The film, which opened in limited release this weekend, follows the quest of Steve Wiebe to get his record-breaking score on Donkey Kong recognized -- one that beats the long-established score of Billy Mitchell. There's lots of argument over the whole thing, which has continued beyond the making of the doc. Mitchell isn't happy with how he is portrayed, and four months after Wiebe beat his score, it seems he regained his title. But the kicker is that a fictional account is in the works, to be written by Michael Bacall, and the filmmakers got chatty with VH1 about who they'd like to star.

If you're wondering about what kind of movie this could be, director Seth Gordon described one scene they weren't able to catch on film, but could make it into the feature: "There was a moment recorded only on audio when Steve was approaching a record on his Donkey Kong machine in his garage. As he hopped barrels toward glory, his young son was yelling, 'Daddy, Daddy, wipe my butt,' and hitting dad with a broom. I think it will be pretty fun physical comedy."

And who do they want to play the gamers? Gordon says: "My first idea for Billy was Johnny Depp. Ed Norton I thought would be good. It's not really about the hair, it's about the eyes. It's got to be a real actor." For Wiebe, producer Ed Cunningham thinks Greg Kinnear would be good, while Gordon likes Nathan Fillion. With names like these, this could rock the pants off The Wizard! I imagine they'd have a good shot with Fillion -- he's still making his way so I imagine he'd be easier to sign, and considering the success of the doc and the possible co-stars, it would be an appealing project for an up-and-comer...not to mention the fact that I think he'd make a good gamer. I'd also love to see Depp in the role, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was too busy or uninterested. Who would you pick?

I had a ball watching The King of Kong at a mega-packed SXSW screening last March, and I even commented to one of the filmmakers about how amusing a "fictional" movie his documentary would make. He told me that the wheels were already turning in that department, and now we have some further news to share. According to Variety, New Line has hired actor / screenwriter Michael Bacall to turn Seth Gordon's human interest doco into a "fictional" feature film. (He wrote the little-seen but not half-bad Bookies.) So if you'd like to sit down and compare the fact-based documentary next to the "jazzed up" comedy version, you'll be able to do just that in a year or two.

For those new to the Kong thing, it's the story of video game one-upmanship that's as entertaining as it is absurd. Mr. Bacall has a lot to work with here: The history of video games, the trivial-yet-passionate competition and a whole bunch of colorfully geeky characters. Picturehouse will be releasing The King of Kong (now with the unnecessary subtitle A Fistful of Quarters) later this year, and New Line looks to be on the fast-track with the make-believe version. Mr. Gordon has been invited to direct this version as well, so that's a good thing. And for those who think Donkey Kong is a silly thing to compete over, I have just one word for you: Golf.

It was a great Simon & Garfunkel song, and now Little Miss Sunshine producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa are teaming with director Seth Gordon on a feature film titled The Only Living Boy in New York for Columbia Pictures. Berger and Yerxa have had a successful year in indie land; they also produced Little Children which, along with Sunshine, combined for seven Oscar nominations and two wins (both for Sunshine). With a script from Allan Loeb (Things We Lost in the Fire), pic is being described as a coming-of-age drama about a recent college graduate who is seduced by his father's mistress.

As a director, Gordon crashed onto the scene this past January when his documentary King of Kong was all the rage at Slamdance. Picturehouse will distribute the pic, while New Line snatched up the feature remake rights to produce the film as a narrative with Gordon attached to direct that as well. The Simon & Garfunkel flick (which is what I'm calling it, because I'm sure that song will be all over this bad boy) sounds interesting (if you like stories about a father and son shacking up with the same gal), but I am dying to see King of Kong. I don't know, there's just something about watching a group of video game fans fighting to break world records that gets me all fired up to dust off the old Playstation 2 and take on a new adventure.

Picturehouse and New Line have bought the rights to The King of Kong, a documentary about a rivalry between two videogamers, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, to see who can be the champion of Donkey Kong. (I guess these guys never bothered to look at my high score, which probably puts them to shame) The deal, made at Slamdance, was reportedly in the mid-to-high six-figure range, with Picturehouse winning distribution rights for summer 2007. New Line may have gotten the bigger boon, however, winning feature remake rights, in addition to control of international distribution rights. New Line has attached director Seth Gordon to helm a feature based on the film. Variety reports that producer Ed Cunningham is set as the executive producer on the remake. Picturehouse COO Richard Brener is noted in the piece as being instrumental to getting the barrel rolling on this deal.

I personally think that the best course of action would be to make this film a full-on sequel to The Wizard, with Fred Savage. Make him a 30-something who now works at Burger King, but still longs for the days when the world went googly-eyed as his Super Mario 3 score. He decides to hone his superior Donkey Kong skills to plot a return to the spotlight, only to find out that crazy girl gamer from the first film, who also made it to the Mario finals, has the exact same idea!