alejandro gonzalez inarritu Tagged Articles at Cinematical

For someone who made just as much of an impact in No Country for Old Men as Josh Brolin did, Javier Bardem has been taking it easy in the face of possible stardom. He took on some Cholera and a little Vicky Cristina Barcelona, dropped out of some other projects, and that's about it.

But now Variety reports that he's going to star in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's new Spanish-language film, Biutiful. Being in the early stages, not much is being said about the plot, other than Bardem will play "a man embroiled in shady dealings who is confronted by a childhood friend, now a policeman." Could it possibly be Gael Garcia Bernal? The actor is pretty well linked to Inarritu.

I'm sure this will be a great project for Bardem, should this not become another film he backs out of, and one that has a decent chance of bringing him more critical acclaim. *

*Edited, thanks to Princess of Peace -- while we might hope for a reunion, this is all Inarritu's film.

After penning Alejandro González Iñárritu's three most popular films (Amores perros, 21 Grams, Babel), screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga has decided to go at it alone. Variety reports Arriaga will make his feature directorial debut on The Burning Plain, with Charlize Theron coming onboard to star and exec produce. Mark Cuban's 2929 Productions will finance the film, while Cuban, Marc Butan, Todd Wagner and Beth Kono will also produce. Known for his complex, intertwining stories, Arriaga will once again return to that format for this film -- focusing mainly on "very intense love stories that take place in different places and times, with characters trying to find the healing powers of love, forgiveness and redemption." Isn't that what all his films are about? Theron will play a woman named Sylvia who attempts to reconcile with her parents after a turbulent childhood.

The film, which will cost under $20 million, currently has no distribution plan in place. Although 2929 Productions has gone day-and-date before, I can't seem them going that route here. Then again, I could be wrong. It was fairly obvious that Arriaga would go solo following the war of words he and Iñárritu found themselves in last year. At one point things became so bitter that Iñárritu banned Arriaga from attending the Babel premiere at Cannes. Since that whole snafu pretty much solidified the fact that their relationship was all but over, it was only a matter of time before Arriaga did his own thing. I guess it will be interesting to see how one does without the other; Arriaga's script for The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (directed by Tommy Lee Jones) was good, but I thought the film was just too damn slow ... and long. Is Iñárritu overrated? Is Arriaga really the mastermind behind all that great work? I guess we'll see ...

Earlier this month, I posted about a secret film debuting at the Cannes Film Festival. All that was known at the time was that it would be a compilation of 30 shorts, each about three minutes long and directed by an internationally respected filmmaker, and that it wouldn't be shown to the public. Now, thanks to an official press release, we learn that there are in fact 33 shorts from 35 filmmakers (including two pairs of brothers) and that the film, titled To Each his Own Cinema, will air on French television on May 20 following its premiere at the festival. So now I don't have to wish I could attend Cannes; I have to wish I got Canal +.

Also revealed are the names of the 35 participants, all of whom were supposed to be kept secret until the film's unveiling, and a few details about the project. Each director was assigned the task of filming, "their current state of mind as inspired by the motion-picture theater." The only individual specifics mentioned in the press release, which was written by festival head Giles Jacob, are that Wim Wenders shot in the Congo, Tsai Ming Liang shot in Kuala Lumpur and David Cronenberg shot "in the ... toilet!" (probably meaning the bathroom, not the bowl). But anyone familiar with the directors involved can imagine the kind of diversity that will be seen in the film.

See the names of the 35 collaborators after the jump.

I have a lot of admiration for screenwriters. They are the unsung heroes of the film business; without their stories, no film would ever be made. Being a writer is hard, anxious and often lonely work. You stare at the blank screen. It waits to be filled, it must be filled, and so you start to write, praying that the end result is worth the effort you give to it. I've started and not finished countless screenplays whose stories just wouldn't go anywhere, written and completed eight full drafts of an absolutely dreadful romantic comedy and, through various writing groups I've belonged to over the years, read a lot of developing screenplays that will, thankfully, never see the light of day. I'm such a geek, in fact, that I often read the scripts for films I love, over and over again, just to feel rhythm of the words on the page, and to get a sense for how those words translated into the finished film on the screen.

As so often happens, Anne Thompson at The Hollywood Reporter has written an astute piece on screenwriting that is so obvious it seems it should be carved into granite above the entrance to every studio in Hollywood: Great writing makes for great movies. The film with which Thompson explores this hypothesis is Stranger Than Fiction, which debuted at Toronto (sadly, I missed it there), and she makes her point about great writing by enumerating how many big stars wanted to be in the film based on the script alone. Some truly great films have come out of a script that speaks its truth to actors so purely and loudly that they simply must see the film get made. They'll work for scale, drop other projects, shuffle their schedules around, all for the sake of that golden opportunity to be in a film so good that it demands to be made, whatever the sacrifice. When critics and cinephiles bemoan the dismal quality of so many films sludging their way out of Hollywood, very often what we are really bemoaning is the lack of originality in storytelling, the lack of passion in penning that story, and mostly, the lack of truth that seems to permeate so many films.

The stars in Hollywood aren't the only ones who get face-lifts. Paramount Classics is having so much work done, you probably won't recognize it after today. The art-house division of Paramount Pictures, founded by the studio in 1998 to compete in the booming indie-film market, had a big shake-up last fall that resulted in different leadership. Now John Lesher, the company's new president, is announcing his decision to break up the division and rename it Paramount Vantage. The old label is not going away completely, though. Paramount Classics will exist within Paramount Vantage mostly for the acquisition and distribution of foreign films and documentaries. The new company will be handling the rest of the art-house category including low-budget comedies and horror films. Its first release will be Babel, which is premiering at Cannes this month and comes out in theaters this October.

As much as the changes sound confusing and unnecessary, Lesher's plans are pretty smart. The name Paramount Classics -- it always seemed to imply its films are old -- was a bad idea on the part of Paramount, which built the division from scratch while most studios were buying existing indie-film distributors. Also, as a major player in the art-house market, the company has never seen the level of success that its competitors have, and starting fresh with a new name could distance Paramount Vantage from its weak past. Already on deck for distribution are new films from Noah Baumbach, the Coen brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson and the directorial debut of Mike White.