s.r. bindler Tagged Articles at Cinematical
McConaughey Keeps His Shirt on for 'Surfer, Dude' Premiere in Austin
Filed under: Comedy », New Releases », Images »
Where else would you expect to see the world premiere of a comedy in which Matthew McConaughey is shirtless for the entire film? It had to be Austin. Instead of the traditional red carpet, the stars of Surfer, Dude strolled down a green carpet in 90-plus-degree weather last night, as part of a benefit screening for Austin Film Society. McConaughey (who kept his shirt on the entire time, sadly) was joined by a half-dozen of his co-stars, including Woody Harrelson, as well as director/co-writer S.R. Bindler. Bindler's previous film, the documentary Hands on a Hardbody, played at the Dobie in Austin for more than a year back in the late 1990s. Even McConaughey's parents were on the green carpet, although I don't think they appear in the R-rated comedy. The only disappointment was that Willie Nelson, who also has a role in Surfer, Dude, wasn't around.
After the jump, I've included a photo of Surfer, Dude actresses Alexie Gilmore and K.D. Aubert from last night's premiere. Out and About, the Austin American-Statesman's social/entertainment blog, has posted more photos from the green-carpet event as well as a short and light-hearted review. Surfer, Dude is opening on Friday in limited release -- including Austin -- and then will hit more cities on September 12. The film's distributor is Anchor Bay, primarily a DVD distribution company, but in the past year or so the company's started giving its movies a small theatrical release before the DVD rollout.
Should Altman's Last Project Go On?
Filed under: Comedy », Documentary », Drama », Independent », Steven Spielberg », Obits », Cinematical Indie »
When Robert Altman died Monday night he left behind a good deal of pre-production work on what was to be his next film, a fictionalized remake of the 1997 documentary Hands on a Hard Body. Scheduled to begin shooting next year, the new film has a screenplay, co-written by Stephen Harrigan, and a distributor, Picturehouse, but now is without a director.
Those familiar with the story presented in Hands on a Hard Body -- twenty-four contestants try to win a new truck in a contest that has each attempting to be the last to remain holding onto said vehicle -- should be in agreement that it would have been perfectly dramatized by Altman. And possibly by nobody else. Picturehouse head Bob Berney is now debating whether to go ahead with the production with a new director at the helm or to let the project die with the late, great filmmaker, knowing that it just won't be as good without him.
The first idea that comes to mind for the substitution option is to have Paul Thomas Anderson take over. He is nearing completion on his latest, the oil-tycoon-family drama, There Will Be Blood, so he may be able to fit this into his schedule, and also he recently worked alongside Altman on A Prairie Home Companion, so he is likely the most qualified to continue the project relatively close to Altman's vision. A second choice, and less appealing one, would be to have Richard Linklater have a shot, since he seems to have no new film in the works, he has done a fair job of handling the multiple-character, multiple-storyline style, he just adapted a non-fiction book as a fictional narrative, and he should feel at home working with the Texas-set film. A final idea would be to have S.R. Bindler, who directed the original doc and has since moved into shooting fiction films, redo his own film.
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