peter chan Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Cannes in 60 Seconds: Monday, May 18, 2009
Filed under: Deals », Cannes », Festival Reports », Distribution », Cinematical Indie »
Cannes is not all about death, gloom, and independent movies. It's also about selling your motion-capture fantasy months in advance of its opening. Jim Carrey, Robin Wright Penn, and Colin Firth showed up in support of Robert Zemeckis' forthcoming A Christmas Carol. After the stars arrived by horse-drawn carriage, Carrey threw a fake snowball. Eight minutes of footage was shown to an invited audience.
Lars, Lars, Lars! Danish director Lars Von Trier's Antichrist shook up Cannes at a press screening on Sunday night, with word quickly spreading that the film was "intentionally unreleasable, chock full of intense violence, graphic sexuality, unforgivable misogyny ... and also beauty," as Karina Longworth described the buzz at Spout. Thus, Von Trier's press conference today, shortly after noon, just as quickly became required viewing -- Anne Thompson has a good report -- and his declaration, "I am the best film director in the world" shot around the world via Twitter. Photographers, depressed by the bloody movie, cheered up when they discovered Hayden Panettiere sunbathing in a bikini on a yacht in the harbor.
Key Screenings. Competition: Ken Loach's 'soccer fanatic / mailman' drama Looking For Eric. Directors' Fortnight: Alain Guiraudie's ''middle-aged homosexual man falls for a young woman romance' Le Roi de l'évasion, Michel Franco's kidnapped sibling drama Daniel & Ana. Un Certain Regard: Yorgos Lanthimos' 'isolated Greek family drama' Dog Tooth, Raya Martin's early 20th Century historical drama Independence.
After the jump: news on Asian action drama Warlords, lesbian romance Drool, and Cannes titles in play.
Celebrities at Cannes
Actors Rosanna Arquette and Jean-Marc Barr arrive for the screening of the film "Looking For Eric" in competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, May 18, 2009. Twenty films compete for the prestigious Palme d'Or which will be awarded on May 24. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier (FRANCE ENTERTAINMENT)
Reuters
Actress Rosanna Arquette arrives for the screening of the film "Looking For Eric" in competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, May 18, 2009. Twenty films compete for the prestigious Palme d'Or which will be awarded on May 24. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann (FRANCE ENTERTAINMENT)
Reuters
CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 18: Paris Hilton attends the Akvinta Presents 'A Night of Hollywood Domino' at The House at Cannes during the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2009 in Cannes, France. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Paris Hilton
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US actress Rosanna Arquette and French actor Jean-Marc Barr arrive for the screening of the movie "Antichrist" directed by Danish director Lars Von Trier in competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2009. AFP PHOTO / LOIC VENANCE (Photo credit should read LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 18: Paris Hilton attends the Akvinta Presents 'A Night of Hollywood Domino' at The House at Cannes during the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2009 in Cannes, France. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Paris Hilton
Getty Images
US actress Rosanna Arquette and French actor Jean-Marc Barr arrive for the screening of the movie "Antichrist" directed by Danish director Lars Von Trier in competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2009. AFP PHOTO / LOIC VENANCE (Photo credit should read LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 18: Actress Marion Cotillard presents the award to actor David Kross at The Chopard Trophy held at the Martinez Hotel during the 62nd International Cannes Film Festival on May 18th, 2009 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Marion Cotillard;David Kross
Getty Images
US actress Rosanna Arquette and French actor Jean-Marc Barr arrive for the screening of the movie "Antichrist" directed by Danish director Lars Von Trier in competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2009. AFP PHOTO / LOIC VENANCE (Photo credit should read LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 18: TV presenter Myleene Klass attends The Chopard Trophy held at the Martinez Hotel during the 62nd International Cannes Film Festival on May 18th, 2009 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Myleene Klass
Getty Images
CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 18: Jewellery worn by Paris Hilton as she attends the Akvinta Presents 'A Night of Hollywood Domino' at The House at Cannes during the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2009 in Cannes, France. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Paris Hilton
Getty Images
Asian Box Office: 'Warlords' Battle Will Smith
Filed under: Action », Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », Box Office », Cinematical Indie »
Even as Will Smith battles for his life in I Am Legend, the film is set to fight it out with Hong Kong action epic The Warlords for box office supremacy in Asia this weekend. Who will win? Will and his dog will have to come from behind because The Warlords is already ahead. Variety reports that the film "rampaged across Asia in its six territory day-and-date" premiere on Thursday.Compared to the US, the numbers may be small, but everything is relative: $1.77 million on opening day in Mainland China, plus $1.22 million in receipts from sneak previews on Wednesday. Preview and opening day audiences in Hong Kong added $215,000 to the take, while the picture also did well in wide release in Singapore ($119,000) and Malaysia ($54,300). The Warlords also launched in Thailand on Thursday, in Indonesia on Friday, and will expand to Taiwan on December 28. Meanwhile, I Am Legend premieres in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan this weekend, according to Variety, and is expected to do well "given the foreign appeal of Will Smith and the offshore appetite for action."
The Warlords stars Jet Li, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro in a film that director Peter Chan says was inspired by his watching Chang Cheh's Blood Brothers as a young boy in 1973. He told Yvonne Teh of BC Magazine that when he revisited it as an adult, he felt that the movie was "too simple for today," so he "started digging into history and into the background of the period of the Taiping Revolution where 70 million people were killed in a matter of 14 years." Early reviews have been positive with some reservations (The Visitor at Twitch) and no reservations (Stefan at Twitch). Sounds like Jet Li's record paycheck has been earned. Too bad we don't have any word on a North American distribution deal.
Jet Li Breaks Paycheck Record
Filed under: Foreign Language », Romance », Casting », Deals », Box Office », War »
When you hear about big, multi-million dollar actor paychecks, ones which take up a good portion of a film's budget, it's usually a North American production. Not in this case. Reuters has reported that Jet Li, the it-man behind films from Romeo Must Die to Fearless, is getting one sweet paycheck for one of his most recent films. He is making 100 million yuan ($13 million) for Warlords -- close to half of the budget for the film. This record-breaking pay continues to keep him as the highest-paid actor in a Chinese-language film, a spot he had already held for earning 70 million yuan for his role in Hero.Director Peter Chan (Perhaps Love) is quoted as saying: "Without Jet Li, we would not dare to invest $40 million in a Chinese-language film." He went on to say that Li was a "guarantee" for global sales. I would hope so, because that's a big chunk of change that they are investing on that belief. They say about half of the budget went to the cast, and since Li has $13 million, that still leaves about $7 million for the rest of the cast -- House of Flying Daggers stars Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, as well as actress/director Xu Jinglei (A Letter from an Unknown Woman). Set amidst the Taiping Rebellion during the Qing Dynasty, Warlords focuses on an unresolved crime, and three brothers who turn on each other because of a beautiful woman. Chan says that it is influenced by the 1973 film, The Blood Brothers, but isn't a remake. We'll find out if the film holds up to expectations soon enough -- it's getting released in Hong Kong next month.
Ziyi Zhang is 'Waiting'
Filed under: Drama », Independent », Romance », Casting », Scripts », Cinematical Indie »
Back in May, Ziyi Zhang was in talks for a Chinese opera biopic called Mei Lanfang. With filming currently underway on that production, Zhang is looking for her next role, and Variety reports that she may have found it in the long-awaited, aptly-titled Waiting. Based on Ha Jin's National Book Award-winning novel, the English-language adaptation was originally conceived in 2001, for Chow Yun-fat to star in. Now that a number of years have passed, they're looking to a younger generation -- namely Ziyi Zhang and Takeshi Kaneshiro (House of Flying Daggers) -- to finalize talks. Peter Chan started adapting the novel when it was first tapped for a feature, and the film will still be directed by him once post-production is finished on Warlords.Waiting details the life of a doctor in China's Revolutionary Army who struggles to do what he thinks is right. When his mother is dying, he agrees to an arranged marriage -- with a country woman he finds to look much older than she is, and one who has bound feet. He doesn't love his arranged life and he lives at an army hospital, so he only visits his wife and family once a year. He falls in love with a nurse, but both are bound by Communist law -- he has to be separated from his wife for 18 years before he can divorce her. The couple then wait (hence the title) so that they might consummate their relationship. 18 years...that's dedication.
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