Todd SOlondz Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Bit by tenuous bit, Todd Solondz's next film is coming together. It started brewing in June of 2007, then stalled due to money issues, and then got cooking again in August with the help of Werc Werk Works. But now, oh now, the film has got its superstar.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Paris Hilton has signed onto the dramatic comedy, along with Allison Janney and Charlotte Rampling. (In addition: "Ciaran Hinds, Shirley Henderson, Renee Taylor, Michael Lerner, Michael Kenneth Williams, Chane't Johnson, Eric Wareheim, and Chris Marquette are among the other actors that Werc Werk Works announced as joining the project. ")

Once called Life During Wartime (there's no title attached to the current news), the film still stars Paul Reubens and focuses on a family during wartime. If nothing has changed, it brings together characters from Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness with different people playing the roles. I first imagined Reubens as Dawn Wiener, but maybe it's Paris?

This could be terrible, and help along Solondz's cinematic decline, but I wonder if this could have House of Yes potential -- in other words, could Paris pull off something Tori Spelling-esque? If anything can make her interesting, I'd think it'd be screen time with PeeWee and Janney. Thoughts?

Here are some news bites for our long weekend:

• Ashley Greene has had a whirlwind of press lately, once she signed on to play Alice Cullen in Twilight. Now The Hollywood Reporter posts that she's signed onto an indie thriller called Summer. In it, she'll get another horror-themed family, but much less sexy than well-coifed, blood-sucking vampires. See, she plays a girl looking for the "father she's never known." And while that's always a risky adventure -- you never know what you'll find -- this is even more so because her family is a group of serial killers. The film is currently in production in Ottawa.
• Meanwhile, Variety reports that CMG has closed deals for Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson's Chemical Wedding. Starz/Anchor Bay are handing distribution in North America for the film that focuses on "the most evil man in Britain," Aleister Crowley. CMG President Edward Noeltner has noted about the big, Iron Maiden fan base eager to see the film, and I have to say -- I'd go see it for the experience. Forget a woman-filled theater of Sex and the City fans. Can you imagine a theater full of Maiden worshippers?
• And finally, there's some great news for Todd Solondz. As I outlined at the beginning of this year, the indie filmmaker has had some issues funding his work, which was leaving his PeeWee Herman-led Life During Wartime in limbo. But now Variety reports that a new indie production company, Werc Werk Works (yes, that's their name..), will fully finance the part-companion piece to Happiness. On the negative side, it looks like Mr. Reubens might be out of the production. (Variety says he was only rumored.) Whoever ends up starring, it is scheduled to go into production in October.

Back in June of last year, Erik Davis blogged about a new project from indie filmmaker Todd Solondz. Said to be a companion piece to Happiness, the film was supposed to begin production in the fall, with the wonderful Paul Reubens/Pee-Wee Herman attached to star. There's been no word since then, and that's because the film slipped into limbo rather than slipping into production. As Erik mentioned -- since Solondz's indie hit Welcome to the Dollhouse, his films have done progressively worse at the box office. So, it's really no surprise to learn that this latest feature, Life During Wartime, is having money issues.

Reubens recently talked to MTV about the project and had lots of positive things to say about Solondz while ruing about the film's troubles: "If it gets made, I'm doing it -- but I'm not sure. It's gotten pushed three times. He's had problems with the financing on it. To me, it's such a sad state of events that he can't get that movie made. He's such a talented guy. His movies are so incredible." I imagine the fight for funding will continue for a while, but should the film get made, what will it be like? Well, rumored cast includes Emma Thompson, Demi Moore, and Paul Dano, and Reubens says: "It's characters from Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness whose paths converge. It's all different people playing the same roles. I'm playing a role someone else played in one of those movies." Now... If Pee-Wee was going to take on Dawn Wiener... I really, really hope they get funding because I would pay to see that.

If you've seen the films, what role would you want Reubens to play?

Before he gets started on those two new Pee wee Herman movies, Paul Reubens will have a role in a new Todd Solondz film. And no, that's not a joke. Sounds like the perfect way to win back your family friendly audience, huh? We're not sure whether this is the same Solondz film that was first announced back at Cannes in 2006, but we'll assume it is and it's currently scheduled to begin shooting this fall. No word on who Reubens will be playing; knowing Solondz and the type of material he's drawn to, the part might be a tad explicit. And since the film in question is apparently a sequel of sorts (or companion piece) to his 1998 flick Happiness, I'd say there's a good chance Reubens may once again be caught with his pants down.

Solondz has been absent from the film world ever since his 2004 film, Palindromes, failed to cross the $1 million mark at the box office. Then again, Storytelling didn't do much better -- in fact, ever since Welcome to the Dollhouse scored roughly $4 million, each film's gross has progressively gotten worse. If he's lucky, perhaps Solondz will walk away from his next project with 10 bucks and a free piece of Bazooka Joe gum. But I hate to knock the guy; although his films are a bit out there, there's definitely a method to his madness. And hey, he discovered Heather Matarazzo -- who, surprisingly, managed to get pretty over the years. Who woulda thunk it? As far as Reubens goes, he's still talking up these so-called Pee wee Herman films. Ideally, he'd like to shoot two, with one revolving around Pee Wee and his Playhouse pals embarking on a road trip, and the other -- labeled "the dark Pee-wee movie" -- has him dealing with "Hollywood and the trappings of fame." For those who'd like to see what Pee wee looks like now, Reubens donned the classic outfit for the first time in 15 years during Spike TV's Guys Choice Awards earlier this month. And yup, that's a pic of him up there to the right of this post.

John Hart and Jeffrey Sharp have said goodbye to partnership and are moving on to their own film production companies. Hart Sharp Entertainment has been responsible for films such as the Academy Award nominated You Can Count on Me and documentary Super Size Me. They also have numerous films and Broadway plays in production that each partner has decidedly left with.

Variety stated that the 10-year-old company's split was eminent and even predicted but the full reason for the split is unknown. Irreconcilable differences? The company has produced numerous successful independent features that have walked away with great honors. Boys Don't Cry for one provided Hilary Swank with her first Best Actress Oscar win.

Who is taking what with the divorce? It's reported that John Hart has created a company named Evamere that will produce Life During Wartime by filmmaker Todd Solondz -- director of Palindromes -- and Revolutionary Road by Justin Haythe. Nothing yet has been announced on what Sharp will depart with.

Thus I say ado to the partnership that has created so many films I love to watch. It's sad to see them go as they were so great at fulfilling their company's mission statement which was "to produce socially relevant works that entertain, engage, and ultimately tell a good story."

No one likes to be called "aging" or, God forbid, "old," but it happens to the best of us eventually. The years go by and your mind gets a little fuzzy, the music gets a little too loud from those darn kids next door and if your an independent filmmaker, you might start to wonder why you struggle each year, barely making a living, producing or directing films most people may never see. At some point it has to hit you that doing this for the rest of your life is a much shorter trip than it used to be.

A recent New York Times story takes a good look at the "aging" independent filmmakers out there who, with their work, and struggle to find work, help define exactly what it means to be an independent filmmaker. As the article states, many of them toil in virtual obscurity, producing films that are lucky to find a home on the festival circuit, let alone a place at the local multiplex or in your DVD player. Even the ones that have achieved some measure of success in the past are having a much harder time of it in the modern filmmaking world.

People like Hal Hartley, Mary Harron, Todd Solondz, Lisa Cholodenko, Jim Jarmusch and even indie-godfather John Sayles (his Lone Star and Matewan, both featuring the fantastic Chris Cooper, are two of my favorite films of all time) are having to make films for far less money than before, take jobs doctoring scripts for others (in Sayles' case) or they are forced to leave the business completely. Some directors, like Cholodenko and Harron, are even resorting to -- gasp -- directing TV to make ends meet. It's not exactly in keeping with their indie film street cred but heck, it pays the bills. And according to Harron, directing TV is also a great "corrective" for a director's ego. Something that many directors could probably use every so often.

I admit, you have to be a certain kind of person to fully enjoy and understand a Todd Solondz film. Personally, I became a fan of his after watching Happiness and saying to myself, "Holy crap, that was disturbing, yet oddly enjoyable." Most, if not all Solondz films deal with obsession, and he does a wonderful job of unearthing the inadequate emotions found in his characters.

Remember that scene in Happiness where Philip Seymour Hoffman was treating his body as if it were an amusement park? Or, in Storytelling, the, um, interesting scene between Selma Blair and her professor? Solondz is a master at making us feel uncomfortable. However, that's often why his films never get much press. Just recently, Solondz announced his next film which, for the time being, is called The New Todd Solondz Film. Partnering, once again, with producer Ted Hope (Happiness, Storytelling), Solondz admits his next film will serve as sort of a companion piece to Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse. He says, "Many of the characters from these movies unexpectedly beckoned to me, and so I have explored new ways of developing and enlarging their stories, with the intent to recast them from a fresh perspective." Seeing as those two films are my favorite of his by far, I'm certainly excited to see where he goes with this. You?

• Bukowski: Born in to This - There is a morbidly fascinating fly-on-the-wall vibe that pervades John Dullaghan's profile of the late Beat writer Charles Bukowski, a base familiarity that parallels the Ham On Rye author's own inimitable hard-lived life and style. Epic in scope (and length), first-time director Dullaghan compiles dozens of meticulously screened hours of archival footage, coupling the best of it with new interviews with Bukowski survivors to present a terrifically real character study of a little-studied real character. The watchable Chuck-alike Happy Hour, starring Anthony LaPaglia as a booze-addled writer, is also just out.

IFC films have picked up U.S. rights to Michael Cuesta's second film, Twelve and Holding, with plans to debut it this summer. You may remember Cuesta's first film, L.I.E., as being this warped little pedophilia-themed indie that was out (in very limited release) a few years back. I remember going to see L.I.E. while being trapped in Minneapolis for 6 months back in 2001 and then walking out of it somewhat let down. Either it wasn't the film I expected it to be based on the trailer or, frankly, it just wasn't that good.

With Twelve, Cuesta once again travels deep inside the darkened minds of adolescents to bring us, what appears to be, a pretty intricate plot surrounding three friends who, after the death of another boy by tree house fire, all set out to deal with it their own way. While I wasn't a big fan of L.I.E., I feel we should have more directors like Cuestra who tackle twisted issues without getting wrapped up in the Hollywood mold. After all, Todd Solondz can only make so many films. I'll give this one a try - how about you?