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Rewinding the past seven days of the wonderful world of independent films:

Deals. Twilight fans will have the opportunity to see Kristen Stewart in a different type of role later this year. In Udayan Prasad's The Yellow Handkerchief, based on a story by Pete Hamill, Stewart jumps into a stranger's car. She and the driver (Eddie Redmayne) are soon joined by a newly-released convict (William Hurt) as they travel through rural Louisiana toward a hoped-for reunion with the ex-con's beloved (Maria Bello). Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights and is planning a theatrical release, according to indieWIRE.

Hans-Christian Schmid's legal thriller Storm will also hit theaters later this year, indieWIRE says, courtesy of Film Movement. Kerry Fox stars as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague; she must convince a witness (Anamaria Marinca from 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) to testify in order to convict a former officer of war crimes.

Box Office. Arriving with this year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in hand, Yojiro Takita's Departures took the #1 spot among indies. Set in and around a Japanese business tasked with preparing bodies for burial, the drama earned $8,327 per screen at the nine theaters where it opened in New York and Los Angeles, Box Office Mojo reports.

Also performing well in its debut weekend, Pressure Cooker grossed $8,151 at one theater in New York. The documentary, directed by Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker, follows a high school culinary arts class in Northeast Philadelphia, where teacher Wilma Stephenson tries to help her students earn college scholarships. We've embedded the fiery trailer below.

After the jump: Outfest lineup, plus Transformers 2 in Los Angeles.

The AP scored an interview with the femme fatales of the upcoming X-Men: The Last Stand at the Cannes film fest. The interview was rather entertaining ... although not always intentionally so. Allow me to share the salient points with you summed up into nifty bullet points.

• When asked if they envied each others' groovy powers, the actresses mostly seized upon the question as an opportunity to complain about how lame they were -- especially Halle Berry. In an answer which made negative sense, Halle in fact indicated that "I envied that I never really got to do my powers until the third movie. Fly and do electricity and spin and make a tornado like I got to do now. I envied that I never got to do what I do." So ... she envied her own inability to be awesome, apparently. Go ahead and follow that logic, I dare you. Anna Paquin, the actress who plays mutant Rogue, complained (probably fairly) that her character survived three full-on action movies without really seeing any action whatsoever, because her character has no combat ability. This is obviously because she has yet to meet and leech Ms. Marvel, but I doubt that would mean anything to Anna Paquin.
• When asked who would win in a fight, the actresses were all right on the money and admitted Jean (as the Phoenix, anyway) was more or less unstoppable. There were some weird arguments about Storm creating a mist for Rogue to use as cover while she snuck up to sap power, but they still agreed Phoenix would triumph. Points for wisdom there, gang.
• There was a discussion about hairstyles. I don't want to talk about it.
• They also each answered a trite question about their individual characters, and gave ridiculously predictable answers. For example, Anna Paquin was asked why Rogue viewed her powers as a curse, and Paquin answered because of the complete isolation it causes. If this is insightful character analysis to anyone I'd be really surprised. He also asked Berry what she thought about Storm's new sense of assertion. I bet dollars to donuts you can predict her answer nearly word for word.
• The interview closed with a quaint little discussion about what sort of super-boy their mothers would like to see them bring home. I swear I'm not kidding you when they decided "Love Man, Honesty Man, Happy Man!" Well, except Famke Janssen, who qualified "No, not Happy Man. Me to be happy. Not a happy man. God, no." Why she wants her man to be unhappy I have no idea, but I suppose that's her prerogative.
  

You can really sum up my entire opinion of the interview with one phrase: "Honesty Man?!"

Halle Berry has made it painfully aware in the years since X-Men  and subsequently X-Men 2 she is not particularly pleased with the size of the role she has played in the popular film franchise. Some might argue this is because she is on a full cast, playing a member of a team, but it is true that other members of the team have gotten more screen-love than Storm.* Said arguing has not worked in Berry's favor as far as her relationship with the fans are concerned -- many already considered her a poor fit for the character and her prattling only served to further confirm their dislike; but apparently it worked as far as Brett Ratner was concerned. Yes, Halle Berry's wishes have been granted, according to a recent discussion she had with Sci Fi Wire.

Berry said of her discussion with Ratner: "When Brett came on board, he felt the same way that I did about the character ... I had big issues with her being the teacher and doing more than just flying the plane ...So Brett was open to letting me be a part of that." The Last Stand will dig into Storm's back story a bit, discussing her history as a perceived goddess in Africa.  A cool story, to be sure, I just hope it fits into the overall flow of the movie and doesn't feel forced. I guess we'll find out soon!


*Possibly because Storm is not as popular a character as Jean Grey or Wolverine, but let's not introduce TOO much logic into this discussion.

At this point, I think it can be safely declared that no one, save Brett Ratner and the Suits, are even trying to pretend X:3 The Last Stand is the actual close of the film franchise. Patrick Stewart more or less called Ratner out as a liar trying to get more bodies into theaters; Ian McKellen suggested a few days ago the franchise could continue onward; and of course there's the ever popular "several of the contracts call for at least two more movies" deal. Now joining the ever growing chorus of sequel-expectant actors is Halle Berry, the lady who plays Storm.

In an interview with blackfilm.com, Berry was asked about possible spin-off films (a popular question for X-actors these days), and indicated she knew of no plans for Storm in the spin-offs, but later suggested there may well be a fourth X-Men movie in the future:"If this is the end, which in my mind it probably is, I'm just really happy with the way it ended; and if [it] does well, Fox will do another one. It would be advantageous for them to do another one. I think they will if the fans love this one enough and enough people go see it and they all want it, I'm sure there will be another one."

A bit confusing, since she says in her mind it is probably "the end," but then twice goes on to say she fully expects a sequel if the film does well. Maybe she expects X3 to crash and burn?

Nobody seems to know the state of affairs regarding the X-Men film franchise. While it seems unlikely for a studio to can such a money-maker (presuming the third film performs as well as the first two), but a trilogy is a pretty standard film count and The Last Stand does sound pretty final. Director Brett Ratner and some studio execs have been insisting it is indeed the final film, while others, including writers and Patrick Stewart himself are suggesting otherwise. During a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel's show, Famke Janssen (the actress who portrays X-Man Jean Grey) offered a statement which actually manages to provide rumor fodder for both camps at the same time. When asked about further films, she said "They call it The Last Stand and I think they have every intention of this being the last X-Men movie," she said. "But then, you never know."

So if you want to believe this is the final film, her statement fits right in with what you want to hear. However, if you are pulling for the franchise to continue, you can cling to the last bit of her comment. Basically, she admitted the possibility is still open, but unlikely. Or something like that ... At any rate, Janssen is interested in returning, if the opportunity should come up. In response to a question about her interest in continuing the role, she laughed and said, "Yeah, I guess at some point, Jean Grey can go in a wheelchair like Professor X ..."

X-actress Halle Berry seems to finally be satisfied with the role she's playing in the X-Men film franchise. Through whining enough to irritate Marvel fans and the general public as well, Berry has made it well known over the past several years that she has been largely dissatisfied with her character's portrayal - perhaps understandably so. At any rate, Berry has recently gone on the record praising new director Brett Ratner for helping to bring a real emotional character to the part of Storm. Said Berry: "I know Brett was really instrumental in making that happen," she said. "He's really been a supporter of finding a voice for the character." Berry is also pleased that her character will finally get to fly in the newest movie, which is certainly a development most of Marveldom should be happy about.

Yes, maybe Berry has a bit of room to complain - but it's not like she was tricked into taking the part. Maybe I don't tolerate her complaining well because I don't like her casting in the first place; or maybe it's because I'm rather ambivalent towards the character of Storm, and so I don't mind that she was relegated to what more or less amounts to a supporting role in the films. At any rate, I suppose it is good that the character will be a bit more "real" and fleshed out in the new film - although I, like most Marvel fans, remain afraid for the quality of part three.