With Ang Lee behind the camera, there are many possibilities for the upcoming adaptation of Elliot Tiber's memoir, Taking Woodstock, which Eugene blogged about recently. One of them is impending comedy. Variety reports that comedian Demetri Martin is currently in negotiations to star in the film as Tiber. The piece focuses on Tiber's life as a closeted gay artist who has given up his ambitions in the city to move upstate and help his old-world Jewish family run their Catskills motel. He becomes head of the Chamber of Commerce, and when he gets wind of the upcoming Woodstock, he does his part to make it happen.
The memoir details planning for the epic concert, as well as "side chapters" on Tiber, which include meeting artists like Robert Mapplethorpe and Mark Rothko, and getting through his closeted life to stand up to cops during a raid at a gay bar. It sounds like pretty meaty, yet potentially fun, material to me, and I'm curious to see why Martin was tapped for this part. He's got his Jon Stewart gig and some smaller acting bits under his belt, but this is a whole different sort of role. I'm also curious to see how this story all fits together without seeming too scattered. At the very least, it should have one very sweet soundtrack.
James Schamus is currently adapting the memoir, and Focus is looking to get it into production in late August.
I said goodbye to Urbana Sunday, after a fun-filled time at the 10th annual Ebertfest. Saturday's schedule was packed with a marvelously diverse slate of films, starting off with Ang Lee's Hulk. Now, I am admittedly not a comic geek, and I like smart, artsy films, which is probably why I'm in the minority in enjoying Lee's take on the Hulk story.
I've never understood the hate for this film; there are some great shots in the film and it's artistically beautiful. Plus, I like how Lee explores the father-son and anger issues underlying the origin story in the film. The audience at Ebertfest, at least, was very enthusiastic in their response to Lee's film; it may well have been the most positive audiene reception he's had for Hulk since its inception.
Here are a few pics from the fest, more after the jump ...
It looks like Ang Lee isn't heading back into big-budget Hollywood waters any time soon. Variety reports that the Brokeback Mountain director will instead take on another gay-themed project: an adaptation of a book called Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life. It's the autobiography of Elliot Tiber, an unassuming Catskills hotel manager and interior designer who wound up playing a pivotal role in making the Woodstock festival a reality. The point, I take it, is that Tiber's role in one of the greatest events in rock and roll history served as redemption for giving up his own artistic ambitions and living most of his life in the closet.
As readers of this blog have probably guessed, I'd watch a cheese sandwich if Ang Lee directed it. This project seems lighter than anything the filmmaker has done since at least Eat Drink Man Woman, and I wonder how (if at all) it will jive with the deliberate, supremely controlled style he's been nursing in his past few movies. It'll be interesting if Lee takes this opportunity to return to the much looser vibe of his early comedies.
Lee's longtime producing partner James Schamus is also on board for Taking Woodstock, and the fact that Schamus is the CEO of Focus Features conveniently takes care of distribution.
The first official poster for this summer'sThe Incredible Hulk has just arrived over at IGN (head over there for a larger version). As you can see from the image above, the Hulk is trying to capture Edward Norton using the muscles in his back. Personally, this is exactly what I imagined the poster to look like -- some sort of combo between the green monster and Bruce Banner, with a bunch of helicopters and tanks shooting in the background. I expect a few character posters (one with the Hulk, one with Abomination, etc) to follow in the coming weeks.
Despite its solid cast, The Incredible Hulk has enjoyed (or maybe not) its share of controversy since word of the film first hit the net. An obvious re-do (following Ang Lee's not-so-successful effort a few years back), rumors have spread about Norton's control-freak mentality; how Zak Penn was quietly replaced as writer and how studio folks have clashed with Norton over the final product. Me? I still think it looks pretty cool -- and dammit if Tim Roth doesn't rock out as the villain in this movie!
What do you think? Does The Incredible Hulk have the, er, strength to compete with this summer's other big whales?
Roger Ebert's January announcement that he was going in for another major surgery began a long and disquieting silence. As the reviews he had written in advance started to run out, with no updates on his health and more and more of the content on his website being contributed by its steadfast editor Jim Emerson, some people began to worry that something was very seriously wrong. March saw the announcement that Ebert would reappear for his annual Overlooked Film Festival in Urbana-Champaign, but there was still no word from the man himself.
Yesterday, much to my relief, a typically funny and self-deprecating message from Roger appeared on his site and in the Sun-Times. It confirms his planned appearance at Ebertfest in late April, and, better yet, announces that he will return to reviewing movies shortly afterward. The bad news is that the surgery didn't restore his ability to speak, which will for the moment preclude Ebert's return to his TV show where Richard Roeper has been valiantly trying to hold down the fort. (Is anyone still watching?) That aside, though, the dispatch is overwhelmingly good news.
I often wonder what studios look for in their hired guns. Case in point: Jeff Wadlow, director of the tolerable Cry_Wolf and the miserable Never Back Down, who, according to The Hollywood Reporter, has been tapped to direct The Tomb for Summit Entertainment. The Tomb is billed as a prison-escape movie with a MacGyver-like protagonist who uses smarts and ingenious devices to escape from a high-security prison that he himself designed. Summit hopes to make the action-packed film into a franchise cash cow.
I've seen both of Wadlow's movies (the first of which, Cry_Wolf, was made with the money he won in the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Competition), and his m.o. seems clear: slick, blandly good-looking, montage-heavy genre flicks. So in some ways it makes sense for Summit to pin its franchise hopes on him: when you're gambling on a movie, inoffensive competence behind the camera may be your safest bet. Like any cinephile, I wish studios would be a bit more adventurous (and thus cringe whenever a bold move -- putting Ang Lee in charge of Hulk, for example -- backfires at the box office), but as a business decision it's perfectly rational.
Over on Spoutblog, Cinematicalite and Spoutster Christopher Campbell has a couple of entertaining posts up detailing the five best and worst directorial sellouts of all time. From Francis Ford Coppolla's The Godfather and The Godfather 2 (Best) to Alien Resurrection (Worst), Campbell breaks down the whys and wherefores of his thoughts on these directorial missteps. Go take a look at what he has to say about the worst of the best and the best of the worst, and then let us know what you agree with -- or don't.
As a coda to these best and worst directorial sellouts lists, it would be interesting to see Christopher do the obvious follow-up -- the best and worst sellouts by otherwise respectable actors and actresses.
To quote an official MPAA movie ratings poster: "THE SYSTEM CAN'T WORK UNLESS YOU UNDERSTAND THE SYSTEM."
How many NC-17-rated films did you see in the theater in the past year? Maybe one? That is if Ang Lee's Lust, Caution even played in your 'hood. And considering the most screens it ever played on in any single week was 143, I highly doubt it (understandably, it could have played in more than 143 locations over the course of its 20 weeks in theaters, but I doubt many more).
But if there had been more NC-17-rated films, and they actually played near you, would you have gone to see them? And if so, why? Because you expect something more titillating than the other releases to choose from? And if not, why? Are you afraid of others thinking you are going to see something dirty? Are you embarrassed about both attending and watching graphic sex on screen? Do you correlate the experience to going to a porno theater?
Universal has to be really hoping The Incredible Hulkis better received than 2003's Hulk, because according to Edward Norton, the 2008 comic book adaptation is expected to be the first of many. The actor talked exclusively with Total Film magazine and had this to say: "To me the whole thing was to envision it in multiple parts. We left a lot out on purpose. It's definitely intended as chapter one." (Quote retrieved from Ace Showbiz.) You may recall that Norton himself wrote the final draft of the screenplay for The Incredible Hulk, so he would know what was "left out." He could also be hinting that he means to write the sequels as well. But what happens if this version of the Marvel comic is not successful? Will it feel incomplete if it ultimately exists as a dead end?
It is hard to imagine just how much better The Incredible Hulk will be than Ang Lee's film, which really only failed because of a badly rendered Hulk and a truly awful climax. The title character will still be computer animated and the story could still have a disappointing denouement (we've never really witnessed Norton's writing skill before), and it's not unfair to say that Louis Leterrier is not quite as talented a director as Lee. Norton seems quite confident that he's going to deliver something possibly comparable to Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins in quality and tone, but it's easy for comic book geeks to be skeptical. Only 3% of Cinematical readers expect The Incredible Hulk to be the best comic book film of 2008. While that's not surprising since we've also got The Dark Knightand Iron Manto look forward to this summer, it still makes me wonder how many moviegoers expect The Incredible Hulk to be any good at all. So, I ask you:
"This is the man Hugh Grant dubbed 'Fang Lee' after making Sense and Sensibility with him," so says a new article in The Age about Ang Lee's apparent reputation for being a cruel taskmaster on his movie sets, although in Lee's defense the piece doesn't offer a great deal of examples to support its premise and comes across more like a hook to write up an otherwise boring piece about Lust, Caution. In fact, the closest it comes to naming names is offering the vague assertion that Heath Ledger once claimed Lee pushed him to the brink of physical endurance during the shooting of Brokeback Mountain, which doesn't sound like a damning accusation even if it's taken in context. But who cares about context? Lets have some more hyperbole: Lee is "the industry's Clark Kent," according to the piece. "Under that mild-mannered exterior -- consisting of a gentle-to-inaudible speaking voice, self-deprecating manner and an overall Zen calm -- lurks a driven obsessive, a Caligula among directors."
According to the article, Lee reportedly spent 100 hours to film a ten minute sex scene in Lust, Caution, but he defends his exactitude as a necessary part of the job. "None of us enjoys it," he's quoted as saying. "By nature it's very uncomfortable, draining and painful. We're just common people. It felt pretty harsh. But we used the pain. We enjoyed the pain." Okay, maybe that last line tags him as a bit of a weirdo, but I rarely believe stories about directors being unreasonable on the set, and if you want to know why, check out the making-of documentary on the DVD of The Shining. There's a great moment when Kubrick loses his cool at Shelley Duvall for not hitting her mark, and you can see how little moments like that can create a 'reputation,' but it still seems like something that's all in a day's work.
Marit Allen(c.1941-2007) - Costume designer who worked often with Ang Lee (on Brokeback Mountain, Hulk and Ride with the Devil) and Nicholas Roeg (on The Witches, Eureka, Bad Timing and Don't Look Now). She also produced wardrobes for Eyes Wide Shut, Smilla's Sense of Snow, Dead Man, Mrs. Doubtfire, Mermaids, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and 2007's La Vie en Rose and Love in the Time of Cholera. She had recently been working on costumes for Justice League of America. She died of a brain aneurism November 26, in Sydney, Australia. (Variety)
Jeanne Bates(1918-2007) - Actress who co-starred in the 1943 serial of The Phantom. Known for playing nurse characters in TV and film, she appears as such in Gus, The Strangler and Paula. She also appears in Eraserhead, Mulholland Dr., Die Hard 2 and Grand Canyon. She died November 28 in Woodland Hills, California. (FindaGrave.com)
Fred Chichin(1954-2007) - French musician and songwriter who composed music for André Téchiné's latest, The Witnesses. He also appears as himself, with his band Les Rita Mitsouko, in Godard's Keep Your Right Up. He died of cancer November 28, in Paris. (France 24)
Mali Finn(c.1938-2007) - Casting director who worked on many on many films by James Cameron, including Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Titanic and True Lies, and by Joel Schumacher, including Batman Forever, Batman & Robin and Tigerland. She also worked on The Untouchables, L.A. Confidential, The Matrix trilogy, Wonder Boys, All the Real Girls, Running with Scissors, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Shooter and the upcoming 10,000 B.C., among others. She died of melanoma November 28, in Sonoma, California. (Variety)
James M. Hart(1943-2007) - Special effects coordinator who worked on Newsies, Apollo 13, The Vanishing and Witness. He died November 19. (IMDb)
Evel Knievel(1938-2007) - Daredevil stunt motorcyclist who appears as himself in Viva Knievel! and Freebie and the Bean (as "motorcyclist"). He was portrayed by George Hamilton in 1971's Evel Knievel and by Sam Elliott and George Eads in separate TV movies of the same name. He died November 30 in Clearwater, Florida. (AP)
Al Mancini(1932-2007) - Actor who plays a soldier "Tassos Bravos" in The Dirty Dozen. He also appears in Miller's Crossing, Falling Down, Big Business, Turk 182! and The Public Eye and voices a fish in Babe: Pig in the City. He died of Alzheimer's disease November 12, in London, Ohio. (FindaGrave.com)
Apparently angered that Ang Lee's Lust, Caution was not accepted as the official entrant for Best Foreign Language Film for Taiwan, several hundred sites have unleashed a vicious computer virus. OK, I'm making up the motivation, but the threat may be real. A Chinese software security company told Reuters: "People should be wary of Web sites that offer free downloading services because their personal passwords can be stolen." The spokesperson also said that a multitude of sites promoting the film are embedded with viruses and estimated that 15% of download links were contaminated.
How did the software company discover the virus? Reuters says: "An engineer with the company encountered the virus last week; his screen went blank and he lost his instant messaging password." Wait a minute ... an engineer with the company? The company that just happens to make anti-virus software? That raises suspicions right there, but, to be fair, I suppose that part of an engineer's job when he works for an anti-virus software company is to try and discover viruses ... starting by downloading movies with the word "Lust" in the title.
Despite a statement by producer (and co-head of US distributor Focus Features) James Schamus that the filmmakers "weren't going to change a frame" to avoid the dreaded NC-17 rating, Ang Lee decided to cut about 1,000 frames from Lust, Caution in order to gain approval for distribution in Mainland China. The film has been a big hit, earning more than US$12 million in its first two weeks of release there.
Once again, kids, this is a reminder: the only safe download is no download. Support your local theater!
Once again it's time to complain about the Academy's foreign film rules and point out the great films ineligible and/or disqualified from being nominated in the category. The Hollywood Reporter has a surprisingly long article about the annual controversy, in which the trade lays out everything you wanted to ever know about the Oscar for "Best Foreign-Language Film." Basically, the usual complaint is that such an award can't always truly honor the best foreign-language film, only the best foreign-language film that falls within certain guidelines.
Some of this year's obvious exclusions are Ang Lee's Lust Caution, which was denied submission by Taiwan because the film is hardly representative of the country's film industry, and Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which was passed over by its potential submitter, France, in favor of Persepolis (as was La Vie en Rose), which could have settled just fine with being an Animated Feature nominee. Other disappointments include The Band Visit, which was denied for having too much English dialogue, and The Kite Runner, which can't be submitted by Afghanistan because it was directed by Marc Forster, a Swiss-American, and featured an international crew. Afghanistan ended up with no submission, while Israel had to quickly substitute The Band Visit with Beaufort and Taiwan had to replace Lust Caution with Island Etude.
Last year, the Academy retooled some of the restrictions for its foreign-language category, although now it appears they could use some more tweaking. Also, I would like them to retroactively honor excluded films of the past, which they could do in some way without revoking the Oscars it has handed out (except the one for Tsotsi -- that one was really undeserved, and I'll say it again and again).
The record 63 films eligible for the foreign-language Oscar were announced last month by the Academy, and Cinematical's Eric D. Snider comments on that list here.
Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited and Ang Lee's Lust, Caution continued to duel one another for the top spot on the indie box office charts. Both expanded from their extremely limited Manhattan engagements last weekend, with The Darjeeling Limited earning $28,950 on average at 19 locations and Lust, Caution pulling in $21,530 at each of 17 locales, according to estimates by Leonard Klady of Movie City News.
The top earners in limited release were Michael Clayton, the heavily-advertised legal thriller starring George Clooney, which averaged $46,130 at 15 locations, and Blade Runner: The Final Cut, which earned $45,600 at just two locations. In his review of Michael Clayton, our own James Rocchi wrote: "I was hoping for a film along the lines of classic '70s Sidney Lumet or Alan J. Pakula; what I got was something more along the lines of an above-average '90s John Grisham adaptation." After a brief theatrical run, Blade Runner: The Final Cut will hit DVD in various incarnations on December 18.
Among new releases, Justin Lin's Finishing the Game scored the highest, bringing in $14,700 at one theater in Manhattan, while widely-discussed documentaries My Kid Could Paint That (average $3,390 on eight screens), Kurt Cobain: About a Son (average $4,700 on two screens) and Lake of Fire ($2,330 at one theater) struggled to find audiences. Jake Paltrow's The Good Night scored $6,250 each at two locations.
Several specialty releases increased their theater counts and at least three held up well. Sean Penn's Into the Wildexpanded onto 135 screens and earned $9,410 on average, artful Western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Fordrolled onto 61 screens and made $6,610 per screen, and Julie Taymor's musical Across the Universeplayed well at 364 theaters, averaging $5,030 per screen.
It was a battle between heavyweights this past weekend as Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited and Ang Lee's Lust, Caution opened in limited release in Manhattan. Based on estimates compiled by Leonard Klady of Movie City News, it appears that The Darjeeling Limited walked away the winner, earning $141,600 at two locations for distributor Fox Searchlight, while Lust, Caution made $62,800 at its single location for Focus Features.
Both films played at the New York Film Festival, but neither received overwhelmingly positive reviews, so it seems a case where both movies had a very high "want to see" factor. Recent publicity about Owen Wilson may have piqued curiosity about The Darjeeling Limited, while news articles about the NC-17 rating assigned to Lust, Caution for its sexual content surely propelled additional viewers into the theater.
Our own Erik Davis described The Darjeeling Limited as "a tough film for audiences to grasp, in that there's not much of a story to hang onto," so it will be interesting to see if the film can draw an audience beyond the devoted Wes Anderson-ites and the curious. As to Lust, Caution, James Rocchi saw it at the Toronto festival and called it "a challenging piece of cinema that also thrills, a complicated bold work that's bigger than its problems," while Jeffrey M. Anderson concluded: "If only [Ang Lee] could ignore the 'Best Director' hype and focus, he could still contribute something worthwhile to the cinema." The film's lengthy running time, subtitles and rating all point to limited returns despite the sensational start.
Another new limited release, sex trade thriller Trade, failed to draw much interest, averaging just $1,266 at 90 locations, but two films that expanded in their second week performed well: Sean Penn's Into the Wild ($19,390 average at 33 locations) and the revisionist Western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ($18,520 average at five locations).
With Ang Lee behind the camera, there are many possibilities for the upcoming adaptation of Elliot Tiber's memoir, Taking Woodstock, which Eugene blogged about recently. One of them is impending comedy. Variety reports that comedian Demetri Martin is currently in negotiations to star in the film as Tiber. The piece focuses on Tiber's life as a closeted gay artist who has given up his ambitions in the city to move upstate and help his old-world Jewish family run their Catskills motel. He becomes head of the Chamber of Commerce, and when he gets wind of the upcoming Woodstock, he does his part to make it happen.
It looks like Ang Lee isn't heading back into big-budget Hollywood waters any time soon. .jpg)
Roger Ebert's January announcement that he was going in for another major surgery began a long and disquieting silence. As the reviews he had written in advance started to run out, with no updates on his health and more and more of the content on his 
I often wonder what studios look for in their hired guns. Case in point: 
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"This is the man Hugh Grant dubbed 'Fang Lee' after making Sense and Sensibility with him," so says a
Apparently angered that Ang Lee's 
Once again it's time to complain about the Academy's foreign film rules and point out the great films ineligible and/or disqualified from being nominated in the category. The Hollywood Reporter has 
Wes Anderson's 
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SCOOP: Spider-Man 4 and 5 Might be Shot at the Same Time!
Cinematical Seven: Disney's Awesome Live-Action Kid Adventures
