scott caan Tagged Articles at Cinematical
CineVegas Review: Mercy
Filed under: Drama », Independent », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », Festival Reports », CineVegas »
Stop me if you've heard this one before. A womanizing cad doesn't believe in true love, even though he makes his living writing novels about it. He sleeps with one beautiful woman after another, never getting attached, always pleased when the women leave before he wakes up in the morning. But his whole world is turned upside-down when, out of nowhere, he actually falls in love with one of them.
Yes, it's the ol' "education of a douchebag" story, going by the title Mercy this time around and starring Scott Caan, who also wrote the screenplay. (It's actually his third script; he directed the other two himself, and the first, Dallas 362, won the jury prize at CineVegas in 2003.) One is tempted to find autobiographical elements in Caan's swaggering character, especially since his real-life father, James Caan, plays his dad in the movie, but I don't know if that's accurate. But it might be the more charitable interpretation, since without a personal connection there's no reason to tell a story this generic.
It's at the release party for his third novel that Johnny Ryan (Scott Caan) meets Mercy (Wendy Glenn), a gorgeous, slender brunette who, unlike most heterosexual women (or so we're led to understand), is not instantly bowled over by Johnny's smooth cocky charm. Nor, it turns out, does she like his writing. This wouldn't normally bother Johnny -- he prefers women who can barely read anyway -- but in this case it's troubling because she's a New York Times book critic. Now with two reasons to pursue her (the usual one, and her negative opinion of his work), Johnny redoubles his efforts to get close to her.
Scott Caan Shows Dylan McDermott 'Mercy'
Filed under: Romance », Casting », Scripts »
Get ready for some indie romance!Variety reports that Dylan McDermott and Scott Caan have signed on to star in a new romantic, independent film called Mercy. But Caan isn't just starring -- this is a story he wrote, and is also producing through a new company formed by himself and the film's director, Patrick Hoelck.
Also starring the likes of Alexie Gilmore, Erika Christensen, Troy Garity, and John Boyd, Mercy focuses on a young and cynical novelist. For some reason, this cynic writes about love, although he doesn't believe in it himself. But this is a story brimming with romance, so of course, he then falls in love for the first time and starts believing. Sappy, eh?
There's really not a lot to go on yet, but so far, I'm not impressed. But thinking of McDermott lead me to think about Campbell Scott and Chris Eigemann. Now, if the film was focused on an older novelist, played by one of them, I'd be all over this.
Anyhow, we should find out soon enough whether the film is too sappy, or nicely balanced. The film begins production Monday in Los Angeles.
Jared Leto and Salma Hayek's 'Lonely Hearts' Gets Release Date
Filed under: Drama », Thrillers », Deals », Distribution », Remakes and Sequels »
Leave it to Hollywood to change the basis of a storyline to glam things up a bit. Last year, Martha Fischer reviewed Lonely Hearts for the Tribeca Film Festival. The story is based on the Lonely Hearts Killers -- a murderous and far-from-glamorous duo/couple from the late 1940's. He was a balding, toupee-wearing man with a large scar on the top of his head, she was a 200+ pound woman who had spent her life lonely and ridiculed. That obviously doesn't make for sexy cinema, so the leads were cast with Jared Leto as Raymond Fernandez and Salma Hayek as Martha Beck.It's actually interesting that the story was so sauced up, since the screenwriter and director is Todd Robinson -- the grandson of Detective Elmer C. Robinson, who was one of the detectives in the case. I guess familial ties can't also ensure accuracy. Now the film, which follows predecessors like The Honeymoon Killers and Deep Crimson, has found itself a U.S. distributor in Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn films. Beyond Leto and Hayek, there's John Travolta without the Hogs as Detective Robinson, James Gandolfini as his partner, Charles Hildebrandt, Scott Caan as another detective and Laura Dern as a co-worker who is having an affair with Robinson. As Martha described in her review, the story focuses on both sides of the story -- the couple who kill and the police duo who hunt them down. You won't have to wait too long to see the film for yourself, as the plan is to release it next month, on April 13.
More TIFF Premieres: Herzog, Hartley, Caan
Filed under: Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels », Toronto International Film Festival », Cinematical Indie »
The people behind the Toronto International Film Festival have released yet another list of titles that will be featured at this year's event, the great majority of which are world premieres, added to the slate to increase TIFF's profile as a film market. Festival co-director Noah Cowan believes the fact that filmmakers are choosing to debut in Toronto rather than at major European festivals is a sign of TIFF's rising status, and says that he's fielded calls from major American distributors about nearly every film on this list.Among the most interesting films on this latest list are: Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn, a fictional version of the story told in his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly; Fay Grim, Hal Hartley's long-awaited follow up to Henry Fool; Scott Caan's second directorial effort
This year's TIFF runs September 7-16.
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