WeinsteinCompany Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It's been ages since we've heard a peep about the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Road. After McCarthy's brutal Texas drama No Country for Old Men won four Oscars at the 80th Academy Awards, rumors of future McCarthy adaptations of The Road and Blood Meridian sprung up immediately, with The Road slated for a November 2008 release. Then McCarthy's post-apocalyptic doom-fest was pushed to December, and then ... silence.

But fans of the book -- which was re-released with one of those "Now being made into a real-life motion picture!!!!" stamps a while ago -- can quit their grumbling, because The Road will be released on October 16th, 2009. Once again, it's just in time for Oscar season.

It seemed like a no-brainer to shuffle this genius McCarthy work out the door, especially judging by the cast (helloooo, Viggo), director John Hillcoat, and the few grimy photo stills released to the public. It also bears mentioning that Mr. McCarthy is a tough road to hoe himself, and is known for his dislike for the press and reluctance to get involved in any more film projects after his rumored dissatisfaction with the 2000 adaptation of All the Pretty Horses. So what happened?

In news that is equally rumored and dreaded, it looks like the Weinsteins' haste to get The Reader in the running for this year's awards season might be a matter of John Hillcoat's anticipated adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's acclaimed novel, The Road, not being ready for its limited release a month from now, let alone year's end.

It's bad enough that neither film was ready for any of the big fall film festivals, but a good friend told me something similar three days ago, and now, Kristopher Tapley at In Contention and Dave Karger's EW Oscar Watch are talking along the same lines. I can't say that I'm the same William who posted the following reaction on Karger's page -- and I quote: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" -- but my own sentiments on the (possible) move aren't all that far off.

For that matter, my feelings on the novel and film themselves are akin to those of our own Eugene Novikov: that the book is merely Damn Good, but could make for a Great movie. We may not have a poster, or a trailer, or a fully functioning website just yet, but for all the Weinsteins' release date shell games, I can't help but think they have more to lose holding off on this than The Reader, which producer Scott Rudin took his name off after it was bumped up to contend with star Kate Winslet's other awards prospect, Revolutionary Road (itself based on an acclaimed novel).

I mean, I'm not exactly wishing that The Reader is Winslet's next All the King's Men or anything, but is this studio not big enough for the both of them? Or is this year merely not long enough?

When Stephen Frears' The Queen came out in 2006, all the buzz emphasized Helen Mirren's icy performance as London's reclusive royal highness. The ubiquitous praise lead to her Oscar win, but it overwhelmed recognition of the movie's secret weapon: Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, quietly pressuring his Majesty to face the public in the wake of Princess Diana's untimely demise. There's a reason why Sheen conveyed the nuances of Blair's role in the event, which transpired a mere three months after the Prime Minister rose to power -- he had practice. The Deal, a fantastic made-for-TV movie Frears directed in 2003, tracked Blair's cunning (and morally questionable) instincts in the years leading up to his position at the top of the Labor Party.

Sheen played Blair in The Deal first, and it's both a superior performance and a superior film. Whereas The Queen had a tabloid hook and only tangentially explored the deeper political ramifications of a reclusive national leader, The Deal delves into precisely how Blair managed to emerge at the top of British politics with a series of calculated maneuvers. Political drama at its finest, The Deal hit DVD in the United States last month, where it has been touted as "the prequel to The Queen." That's not quite fair; The Queen is the sequel to The Deal, and the two movies ought to be seen as a single, wholly fascinating package depicting British politics in the 1990s.

It has been deathly quiet on the Fanboys front, which suggests that no one would see this movie if the Weinstein Co. paid them to. Well, that's probably an overstatement, but it certainly is a dead horse.

Then again, there might be a flutter of life. According to the New York Times, the Weinstein Co. have brought original director Kyle Newman back to create a final cut of the film. "I have been brought back into the editing room to work on a final version," Newman told the Times. "All the key people are back. That's all good."

Of course, there is still no news on a release date, nor whether it will ever be put into theatres or merely relegated to direct-to-DVD. (We also don't know which storyline will be kept in; the cancer one, or the non-cancer one.) It's rather interesting that the Weinstein Co. conceded to the fan backlash -- the backlash they said didn't really exist. If they can appease those petition signers and protest stagers, could they actually turn a profit on this film?

Or did it? It seems it depends on who you ask. The Hollywood Reporter has a long story recounting the Fanboys supporters' attempt to picket Superhero Movie. The protest actually grabbed a few headlines, which would suggest there were numerous stormtroopers out there sticking it to the man -- claims denied by AMC theatre reps and by the Weinstein Co.

The 501st (who are now denying any official stance or organized protest) says that at least 14 members showed up at a New York AMC, but when confronted by security guards, chose to buy a ticket to see 21 instead. They also claim that 20 stormtroopers showed up at Century City, but were asked to leave the mall by security guards. AMC denies both incidents occurred, and that the only protester in Century City was a lone Darth Vader.

A source close to the film says that it was eight protesters in Century City, and that they were taken out for pizza by a producer. That's certainly confirmed by a quote from producer Matthew Perniciaro: "We've been working on this movie for many years, and if someone is going to take time out of their personal life and support our film, whatever that support might be, at the very least what we can do is say thank you and buy them a couple of slices of pizza for caring abut this project as much as we do."

Variety reports that the desperate-for-a-hit Weinstein Company is close to signing Forest Whitaker to star in Patriots, a drama to be directed by Tim Story (Barbershop, The Fantastic Four). Whitaker will play "Al Collins, basketball coach for John Ehret High in Marrero, Louisiana, who led his Patriots to the state championship a year after Katrina ravaged the school and displaced many of its students." Collins' team was made up of ten players who had attended five different schools prior to Katrina. I smell Oscars, baby! This is the first film to set a start date as a result of the WGA's deal with The Weinstein Company. Robert Eisele (writer of The Great Debaters, which also starred Whitaker) wrote the script for Patriots.

Says Story, "I've gotten caught up with the Fantastic Four films but wanted to find a smaller film with heart, that brought me back to Barbershop, and this has come together with one of the best actors out there. What Coach Collins did to give back the lives of his players is so inspiring." It does sound like an inspiring story, and with its post-Katrina setting, it's bound to be moving. But Hollywood, you listen to me and you listen good. I need you to take a year off from the inspirational sports movies set against a backdrop of racism, adversity, etc. Just one year, that's all I ask. I can't take it anymore. I like these movies. The formula works. I love Forest Whitaker. But this is enough. They're all basically the same. And Great Debaters? You count too. Simply substituting debate for basketball or football doesn't disguise you. You're one of them, too. And this is enough.

Looks like the Weinsteins are big Joy Division fans. First they picked up Control, a biopic about the band's lead singer, at Cannes in May. And now The Weinstein Company has acquired the documentary on the band, simply called Joy Division, after its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Hollywood Reporter says the movie's price was "in the low- to mid-six figures" -- typical for a documentary, a genre that usually doesn't make more than a few hundred thousand dollars at the box office or on DVD. The Weinsteins added it to their Toronto shopping cart, which already included Boy A, Diary of the Dead, and the Spanish thriller King of the Hill. (Our report on the Boy A deal is here; on Diary, here.)

Cinematical's James Rocchi saw Control at Cannes and proclaimed it very good. He saw Joy Division at Toronto and lo, he declared it also very good. (Specifically: "A dense, rich and exciting look at a band who helped make modern pop music become truly modern.") The Rocc interviewed the doc's director, Grant Gee, too. James is now our resident expert on all things Joy Division and the movies pertaining to them.

It's a good thing that I don't have mafia connections, or I'd be too inclined to start requesting hits on certain Hollywood companies. In February, I was ruing over Universal's decision to remake the great, recent French comedy, Mon Meilleur Ami. Now, the news gets even worse. Just reading the title sent bile shooting into my mouth -- the brothers Weinstein have renewed a first-look deal with Mirage, which will give them the rights to remake the recent Oscar-winner, The Lives of Others.

According to Sydney Pollack, who is part of Mirage: "We would just desperately love for that film to be something that reaches more people... We haven't gotten locked into making it yet, but we're working hard at trying to get it going." The director of Tootsie is trying to reduce cinema down to its story. Sure, it would be great to get the film to reach more people, but it can't if you're going to remake it! I'm surprised that a filmmaker would use such reductive reasoning. If a film's power is all in its screenplay, then screenwriters would have a lot more power in Hollywood.

We're also talking about a story concerning the German Stasi! It's not like this is a story about people and some life struggles they are faced with. (Unless they plan to make this a Patriot Act re-visioning, which might be even worse.) Besides, will that many more people see the movie if they don't have to read subtitles? It's not some huge thriller or crazy action piece. The film is only getting a limited run, so from the get-go the audience would be bigger on a remake because there is a larger opportunity. Perhaps the efforts and money should be put into letting Lives reach a wider audience. According to Variety, after three weeks in a limited run, the feature has grossed $1.3 million.

Back when the Weinstein brothers were still the "Kings" of Miramax, they garnered the reputation of being able to pick some of the most successful foreign films for North American distribution. As a result, they managed to subsequently release some of the most successful foreign films of the last decade, including Life is Beautiful and Princess Mononoke. They might not be making deals for Miramax anymore, but The Weinstein Co. is sticking to the tradition of bringing international films to domestic audiences.

The Hollywood Reporter announced that TWC have bought the Japanese thriller Nightmare Detective for US and UK distribution. Nightmare Detective was written and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, and stars Ryuhei Matsuda and Japanese Pop singer hitomi. The story centers on a female detective investigating two seemingly unrelated suicides. The spooky factor kicks in when there is one strange detail both deaths have in common -- and that's that the victims each dialed 0 on their cell phones moments before their death.

A deal was struck between Easternlight Films and TWC (who have had a long-standing relationship with each other), and negotiations started not long after the film screened at the Rome film festival. The film hasn't even opened in Japan yet, but is slated for a January release. No word yet on when the US release date will be, but I doubt TWC will waste much time.

[via ComingSoon.net]

In addition to his directing career, Luc Besson has made a bit of a name for himself as a writer of children's books. His four-volume series about Arthur and the Minimoys has been a big hit in his native France, and Besson has been working for years on a movie about the characters. Though very few details had been available until recently, new information about the film has been showing up every 10 minutes over the past couple of days.

The film, which is a mix of animation and live-action, will feature the voices of Madonna, David Bowie, and Snoop Dogg (already, I'm hooked), as well as the real-life acting talents of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's Freddie Highmore as Arthur and Mia Farrow, who will play his grandmother. The fantasy plot is a little confusing in summary, but essentially, Arthur's grandparents' house is being threatened by developers, and he decides the only way to save it is to track down his grandfather's mysterious treasure, which he's been told is "hidden somewhere on the 'other side' in the land of the Minimoys" (who are a single centimeter tall, by the way). Arthur somehow reaches the other side, and madcap adventures no doubt ensue.

Besson hopes to have his film ready to premiere at Cannes in May; it has been acquired for American distribution by The Weinstein Company, and will open in here on Christmas.

[via JoBlo]