“To create engagement, you have to have a story. In the metaverse, the creators will create the community, and the stories they tell will create the community, just like at the beginning of time. The king’s storyteller kept people engaged, Shakespeare kept people engaged,” said American film producer Donald Kushner, whose 1982 film “Tron” is considered to be cinema’s first-ever portrayal of the metaverse.
Kushner, who is also the president and founder at Junction Films and manager at Gumbotron, spoke to industry players this week at the Red Sea 360°, the Red Sea Film Festival’s industry talks program, about storytelling in the metaverse, focusing on the importance of creating narratives that are universal whilst also catering to the particular dynamics of the medium.
“[‘Tron’] was the first film to use computer animation. When we were producing the movie, there were four companies in the U.S. that did computer animation,...
Kushner, who is also the president and founder at Junction Films and manager at Gumbotron, spoke to industry players this week at the Red Sea 360°, the Red Sea Film Festival’s industry talks program, about storytelling in the metaverse, focusing on the importance of creating narratives that are universal whilst also catering to the particular dynamics of the medium.
“[‘Tron’] was the first film to use computer animation. When we were producing the movie, there were four companies in the U.S. that did computer animation,...
- 12/10/2022
- by Rafa Sales Ross
- Variety Film + TV
Stars and industry execs attend Jeddah for second edition of the festival.
International filmmakers including Guy Ritchie, Luca Guadagnino, Spike Lee, Andrew Dominik, Fatih Akin, Adil El Arbi & Bilal Fallah, Gaspar Noe and Kaouther Ben Hania and actors Andy Garcia, Akshay Kumar, Jackie Chan, Nelly Karim, Ranbin Kapoor and Hrithik Roshak are among the talent heading to this month’s Red Sea International FIlm Festival (Rsiff) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to participate in talks and in-conversation events.
Gurinder Chadha is delivering a Master Class session.
Mohammed Al Turki, CEO of Red Sea, said: “Our schedule of In-Conversations taking place at...
International filmmakers including Guy Ritchie, Luca Guadagnino, Spike Lee, Andrew Dominik, Fatih Akin, Adil El Arbi & Bilal Fallah, Gaspar Noe and Kaouther Ben Hania and actors Andy Garcia, Akshay Kumar, Jackie Chan, Nelly Karim, Ranbin Kapoor and Hrithik Roshak are among the talent heading to this month’s Red Sea International FIlm Festival (Rsiff) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to participate in talks and in-conversation events.
Gurinder Chadha is delivering a Master Class session.
Mohammed Al Turki, CEO of Red Sea, said: “Our schedule of In-Conversations taking place at...
- 12/1/2022
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
On July 9, 1982, Disney unveiled the sci-fi actioner Tron in theaters, where it would gross $33 million and, decades later, get a sequel in Tron: Legacy. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:
It would be all too easy to describe the Disney Studios’ Tron as yet another special effects movie in a year that has seen special effects achieve unprecedented heights of sophistication and technical virtuosity. It is that, of course, and it probably relies more heavily on computer-generated animations than any other movie yet produced. Both the eye and the mind are continually boggled by a bombardment of images that quite literally defy description. Who could hope to describe the electronically produced transformations that take place at faster-than-lightning speeds in the complex circuitry of a computer? They must be seen to be believed and even then you’re not quite sure.
But young Steven Lisberger, who both wrote and directed Tron,...
It would be all too easy to describe the Disney Studios’ Tron as yet another special effects movie in a year that has seen special effects achieve unprecedented heights of sophistication and technical virtuosity. It is that, of course, and it probably relies more heavily on computer-generated animations than any other movie yet produced. Both the eye and the mind are continually boggled by a bombardment of images that quite literally defy description. Who could hope to describe the electronically produced transformations that take place at faster-than-lightning speeds in the complex circuitry of a computer? They must be seen to be believed and even then you’re not quite sure.
But young Steven Lisberger, who both wrote and directed Tron,...
- 7/9/2022
- by Arthur Knight
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
For its upcoming 26th edition the Capri Hollywood Intl. Film Festival, dedicated to launching Oscar hopefuls and establishing a creative and business bridgehead between Hollywood and Italy’s film and showbiz communities, is countering the Omicron variant by expanding its venues beyond the “blue island” off the coast of Naples.
For sanitary safety reasons, the small picturesque town of Sorrento, overlooking the bay of Naples, will become the main hub where guests, most of whom this year will be flying from Europe for the Dec. 26-Jan. 2 shindig, will congregate.
Expected international attendees include directors Michael Radford and Terry Gilliam, who are fest regulars, coming from the U.K. Also from the Blighty, actor Sadie Frost making the trek to promote British director Kirsty Bell’s Covid-19 debut feature lockdown drama “A Bird Flew In,” having its international premiere. Bell will be receiving the fest’s European Breakout Director of the Year award.
For sanitary safety reasons, the small picturesque town of Sorrento, overlooking the bay of Naples, will become the main hub where guests, most of whom this year will be flying from Europe for the Dec. 26-Jan. 2 shindig, will congregate.
Expected international attendees include directors Michael Radford and Terry Gilliam, who are fest regulars, coming from the U.K. Also from the Blighty, actor Sadie Frost making the trek to promote British director Kirsty Bell’s Covid-19 debut feature lockdown drama “A Bird Flew In,” having its international premiere. Bell will be receiving the fest’s European Breakout Director of the Year award.
- 12/24/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Stream of the Day: 10 Years After ‘Tron: Legacy,’ the Original Film Explains Why a Sequel Was Doomed
With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.
When Steven Lisberger first conceived of what would become his 1982 film “Tron,” the fledgling filmmaker had a startling vision of the future: an animated feature that could explore the world of early video games like “Pong” in the kind of detail not yet available for live-action moviemaking. With producing partner Donald Kushner — with whom he’d made the 90-minute Olympics-themed animated feature “Animalympics” — Lisberger set up an animation shop to bring “Tron” to fruition. However, they eventually decided to explore the story through a blend of live-action footage and computer animated sequences.
It wasn’t exactly an appealing idea to the studio system, because Lisberger and Kushner weren’t just angling to create a new cinematic world from scratch; they also wanted...
When Steven Lisberger first conceived of what would become his 1982 film “Tron,” the fledgling filmmaker had a startling vision of the future: an animated feature that could explore the world of early video games like “Pong” in the kind of detail not yet available for live-action moviemaking. With producing partner Donald Kushner — with whom he’d made the 90-minute Olympics-themed animated feature “Animalympics” — Lisberger set up an animation shop to bring “Tron” to fruition. However, they eventually decided to explore the story through a blend of live-action footage and computer animated sequences.
It wasn’t exactly an appealing idea to the studio system, because Lisberger and Kushner weren’t just angling to create a new cinematic world from scratch; they also wanted...
- 6/29/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Filmmaker Joe Dante is cherished in the horror community for his wonderful work on films such as Gremlins, The Howling, and The ’Burbs, but perhaps one of his more under-seen (and recent) movies is The Hole. Through their multi-media brand Untold Horror, Dave Alexander and Mark Pollesel are looking to change that by celebrating Dante's 2009 fantasy horror film with a 3D screening at the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday, November 30th, including a Q&A with Dante hosted by fellow filmmaker John Landis.
For more information, visit Fandango and Tcl Chinese Theatre online, and read on for the full announcement of The Hole screening and Q&A, which is expected to be the first of multiple Untold Horror events.
From the Press Release: Hollywood, CA - A rare 3-D screening of Joe Dante’s 2009 young adult horror classic The Hole will be held on November 30, 2018, at Hollywood’s legendary Tcl Chinese Theatre.
For more information, visit Fandango and Tcl Chinese Theatre online, and read on for the full announcement of The Hole screening and Q&A, which is expected to be the first of multiple Untold Horror events.
From the Press Release: Hollywood, CA - A rare 3-D screening of Joe Dante’s 2009 young adult horror classic The Hole will be held on November 30, 2018, at Hollywood’s legendary Tcl Chinese Theatre.
- 11/27/2018
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Bucharest Film Studios, formerly known as Media Pro Studios, filed for bankruptcy after less than two years of operation under new management, the local online news magazine Paginedemedia.ro has reported.
According to the report, the studio complex, located just outside the Romanian capital, filed for bankruptcy after failure to pay outstanding debts to creditors and wage arrears to its employees.
Back in 2015, a group of investors, including producers Bobby Paunescu and Donald Kushner, Romanian and American, respectively, acquired the studios from its previous owner, Central European Media Enterprises (Cme). Paunescu also owns 50 percent of the Romanian TV network...
According to the report, the studio complex, located just outside the Romanian capital, filed for bankruptcy after failure to pay outstanding debts to creditors and wage arrears to its employees.
Back in 2015, a group of investors, including producers Bobby Paunescu and Donald Kushner, Romanian and American, respectively, acquired the studios from its previous owner, Central European Media Enterprises (Cme). Paunescu also owns 50 percent of the Romanian TV network...
- 4/6/2018
- by Vladimir Kozlov
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Bucharest Film Studios, formerly known as Media Pro Studios, filed for bankruptcy after less than two years of operation under new management, the local online news magazine Paginedemedia.ro has reported.
According to the report, the studio complex, located just outside the Romanian capital, filed for bankruptcy after failure to pay outstanding debts to creditors and wage arrears to its employees.
Back in 2015, a group of investors, including producers Bobby Paunescu and Donald Kushner, Romanian and American, respectively, acquired the studios from its previous owner, Central European Media Enterprises (Cme). Paunescu also owns 50 percent of the Romanian TV ...
According to the report, the studio complex, located just outside the Romanian capital, filed for bankruptcy after failure to pay outstanding debts to creditors and wage arrears to its employees.
Back in 2015, a group of investors, including producers Bobby Paunescu and Donald Kushner, Romanian and American, respectively, acquired the studios from its previous owner, Central European Media Enterprises (Cme). Paunescu also owns 50 percent of the Romanian TV ...
Pandas are beloved around the world, and now they are coming to the big screen in the IMAX® original film “Pandas,” a breathtaking documentary adventure and amazing experience for the whole family narrated by Kristen Bell (“Frozen,” TV’s “The Good Place”).
At Chengdu Panda Base in China, scientists are taking the captive breeding program to the next level and preparing captive-born cubs for the wild. This film follows one such researcher, whose passion leads her to initiate a new technique inspired by a black bear rehabilitator in rural New Hampshire. What starts as a cross-cultural collaboration becomes a life-changing journey for one special panda named Qian Qian. The film, captured with IMAX® cameras, follows Qian Qian on an exciting new adventure into the mountains of Sichuan as she experiences nature for the first time and discovers her wild side.
David Douglas and Drew Fellman, the filmmakers behind “Born to be Wild...
At Chengdu Panda Base in China, scientists are taking the captive breeding program to the next level and preparing captive-born cubs for the wild. This film follows one such researcher, whose passion leads her to initiate a new technique inspired by a black bear rehabilitator in rural New Hampshire. What starts as a cross-cultural collaboration becomes a life-changing journey for one special panda named Qian Qian. The film, captured with IMAX® cameras, follows Qian Qian on an exciting new adventure into the mountains of Sichuan as she experiences nature for the first time and discovers her wild side.
David Douglas and Drew Fellman, the filmmakers behind “Born to be Wild...
- 3/27/2018
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Fund also supporting adaptation of erotic classic Fear Of Flying.
The Daniel Radcliffe action comedy Guns Akimbo the first screen adaptation of Erica Jong’s 1973 erotic classic Fear Of Flying are the latest projects to be supported by the international co-production fund operated under the auspices of the Bavarian Film & Television Fund (Fff Bayern) as part of a concerted drive to attract large-scale productions to the region.
The Fff subcommittee for international co-productions allocated €2m ($2.2m) apiece at its latest session on Wednesday (5 July) to two Us projects which will be co-produced with Munich-based companies and largely or completely shot on location in Bavaria.
Philipp Kreuzer and Joerg Schulze’s Maze Pictures are partnering Us producers Joe Neurauter and Felipe Marino of La/Munich-based Occupant Entertainment on New Zealand filmmaker Jason Lei Howden’s action comedy Guns Akimbo which already has Daniel Radcliffe attached for the lead role. Principal photography is set to be located completely in Bavaria...
The Daniel Radcliffe action comedy Guns Akimbo the first screen adaptation of Erica Jong’s 1973 erotic classic Fear Of Flying are the latest projects to be supported by the international co-production fund operated under the auspices of the Bavarian Film & Television Fund (Fff Bayern) as part of a concerted drive to attract large-scale productions to the region.
The Fff subcommittee for international co-productions allocated €2m ($2.2m) apiece at its latest session on Wednesday (5 July) to two Us projects which will be co-produced with Munich-based companies and largely or completely shot on location in Bavaria.
Philipp Kreuzer and Joerg Schulze’s Maze Pictures are partnering Us producers Joe Neurauter and Felipe Marino of La/Munich-based Occupant Entertainment on New Zealand filmmaker Jason Lei Howden’s action comedy Guns Akimbo which already has Daniel Radcliffe attached for the lead role. Principal photography is set to be located completely in Bavaria...
- 7/6/2017
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Paul Becker directs the story of a homeless dancer and his brother.
Premiere Entertainment Group (Peg) has acquired international sales rights to the family holiday film Breaking Brooklyn.
Louis Gossett Jr and newcomer Colin Critchley, Nathan Kress and Madeleine Mantock star in the story about a homeless young dancer and his brother who are taken in by an old Broadway showman when their father is arrested.
When one of the young men learns that their new guardian could lose his theatre, they enter a dance contest to save it.
Paul Becker directs and Elie Samaha, Donald Kushner and Missy Valdez are the producers.
Peg CEO Elias Axume launches sales in Berlin at the European Film Market (Efm) this week and brokered the rights acquisition with Samaha.
The sales slate includes psychological thriller You Were Never Here starring Mireille Enos and Sam Shepard; crime drama The Preppie Connection; and family drama We Don’t Belong Here with Catherine Keener...
Premiere Entertainment Group (Peg) has acquired international sales rights to the family holiday film Breaking Brooklyn.
Louis Gossett Jr and newcomer Colin Critchley, Nathan Kress and Madeleine Mantock star in the story about a homeless young dancer and his brother who are taken in by an old Broadway showman when their father is arrested.
When one of the young men learns that their new guardian could lose his theatre, they enter a dance contest to save it.
Paul Becker directs and Elie Samaha, Donald Kushner and Missy Valdez are the producers.
Peg CEO Elias Axume launches sales in Berlin at the European Film Market (Efm) this week and brokered the rights acquisition with Samaha.
The sales slate includes psychological thriller You Were Never Here starring Mireille Enos and Sam Shepard; crime drama The Preppie Connection; and family drama We Don’t Belong Here with Catherine Keener...
- 2/10/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Directors including Cristian Mungiu and Terry Gilliam have voiced support for the expanding studio.
As competition heats up to attract international production to eastern Europe, the Romanians are are on a major drive to trump their rivals.
This weekend in Cannes, it was announced that the Bucharest Film Studios, formally known as ‘Media Pro’, is under new ownership and is to be expanded. This is happening just as Romania prepares to introduce a new tax incentive.
Bucharest Film Studios’ new owners are Bobby Paunescu and Donald Kushner.
The revitalisation of the studios has been welcomed by leading filmmakers in the country and abroad.
Filmmaker Cristian Mungiu commented: “The re-launch of Bucharest Studios combined with the new cinema law can ensure the whole industry will benefit from lower production costs while keeping highly skilled crews.”
Terry Gilliam, who has worked in Romania, described the local crews as being among “the best in the world.”
The next tax...
As competition heats up to attract international production to eastern Europe, the Romanians are are on a major drive to trump their rivals.
This weekend in Cannes, it was announced that the Bucharest Film Studios, formally known as ‘Media Pro’, is under new ownership and is to be expanded. This is happening just as Romania prepares to introduce a new tax incentive.
Bucharest Film Studios’ new owners are Bobby Paunescu and Donald Kushner.
The revitalisation of the studios has been welcomed by leading filmmakers in the country and abroad.
Filmmaker Cristian Mungiu commented: “The re-launch of Bucharest Studios combined with the new cinema law can ensure the whole industry will benefit from lower production costs while keeping highly skilled crews.”
Terry Gilliam, who has worked in Romania, described the local crews as being among “the best in the world.”
The next tax...
- 5/16/2016
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Laurie Collyer will next direct an adaptation of Erica Jong‘s iconic Fear Of Flying. This was the erotic publishing phenomenon a la Fifty Shades Of Grey, selling over 27 million copies worldwide to become one of the top 50 bestselling novels in publishing history. Donald Kushner (Tron Legacy, Monster), Leigh Ann Burton and Piers Ashworth have set up the project to produce for Blu-Sky Media, along with Mark Damon and Remington Chase (Lone Survivor, End Of Watch) via his Envision Entertainment. Nostradamus scribe Piers Ashworth wrote the script, and producers plan to begin production later this year, shooting throughout Europe. Nice to see the groundbreaking book is still viable as it gets an international re-release marking its 40th year on bookshelves. Fear Of Flying tells the story of Isadora Wing, who combats her failing marriage by taking an existential sexual odyssey across Europe. She searches for the “zipless fuck”, which...
- 5/10/2013
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
Nowadays, it’s no big deal to see computer animation in films. In fact, the use of CGI in films can range from being mundane to being annoying. However, three decades ago, computer animation was in its infancy, and one of the biggest pioneers of its use in major motion pictures was Tron from Walt Disney Studios. Tron’s legacy led to the development and release of its sequel Tron: Legacy two years ago from Joseph Kosinski, and now the release of Kosinski’s latest film Oblivion. However, without the original Tron, we might not have the use of virtual environments that moviegoers are used to now. Dialing back the digital clock to 1982, let’s take a look at the original Tron through the eyes of its creators, whose ambitious little computer cartoon revolutionized an industry. Director Steven Lisberger, along with the producers and visual effects supervisors, recorded a commentary for the film for the 20th anniversary...
- 4/18/2013
- by Kevin Carr
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Relativity Media has taken rights to a script about the manhunt for cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, called "Silver or Lead." The original draft is from Michael Kane, while Piers Ashworth's screenplay will serve as the basis for Spanish director Enrique Urbizu, yet another overseas helmer making his English-language debut. "Silver of Lead" will center on the conflict between Escobar and General Hugo Martinez, as chronicled in Simon Strong's book "Whitewash: Pablo Escobar and the Cocaine Wars." Relativity has the rights to the book, as well as life rights to Escobar, Martinez and former Bogota DEA chief Joe Toft. Ryan Kavanaugh will produce with Mark Canton, Donald Kushner and Leigh Ann Burton. Canton says hopefully that the project is "reminiscent of 'The Untouchables.'" As for that title: Escobar had a phrase, "Plata o Plomo," meaning you could take his silver or his lead. Johnny Depp already played American cocaine king George Jung in "Blow,...
- 3/6/2013
- by Sophia Savage
- Thompson on Hollywood
Relativity Media has acquired Piers Ashworth's script for "Silver or Lead" which deals with the manhunt for cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar.
Enrique Urbizu ("No Rest for the Wicked") will helm the project in which the focus is on the personal war between the Colombian drug lord and Brigadier-General Hugo Martinez.
Martinez was the commander of the Colombian police task force 'Search Bloc' which was setup to bring Escobar down, and ultimately succeeded.
Ashworth penned the script based on an original draft by Michael Kane, and Simon Strong's book "Whitewash: Pablo Escobar and the Cocaine Wars".
Mark Canton, Donald Kushner and Leigh Ann Burton will produce. This is not to be confused with other Escobar films in the works, such as the Benicio del Toro-led "Paradise Lost".
Source: THR...
Enrique Urbizu ("No Rest for the Wicked") will helm the project in which the focus is on the personal war between the Colombian drug lord and Brigadier-General Hugo Martinez.
Martinez was the commander of the Colombian police task force 'Search Bloc' which was setup to bring Escobar down, and ultimately succeeded.
Ashworth penned the script based on an original draft by Michael Kane, and Simon Strong's book "Whitewash: Pablo Escobar and the Cocaine Wars".
Mark Canton, Donald Kushner and Leigh Ann Burton will produce. This is not to be confused with other Escobar films in the works, such as the Benicio del Toro-led "Paradise Lost".
Source: THR...
- 3/6/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Relativity Media announced today that it has acquired rights to the script Silver or Lead, the epic story behind the manhunt for cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, one of the world’s greatest outlaws. Relativity will produce the film with Atmosphere Entertainment Mm. Enrique Urbizu, whose gritty crime thriller No Rest for the Wicked swept the Spanish Goya’s last year with a record 14 wins, will direct from a screenplay by British writer Piers Ashworth (Nostradamus, St. Trinian’s), which he developed from an original draft by Michael Kane.
The film focuses on the personal war between Escobar and General Hugo Martinez, whose life rights were also acquired by Relativity. Relativity also acquired the life rights for Joe Toft, the former chief of the Bogota office of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) who was involved in the pursuit, capture and death of Escobar. Source material for the film is provided by...
The film focuses on the personal war between Escobar and General Hugo Martinez, whose life rights were also acquired by Relativity. Relativity also acquired the life rights for Joe Toft, the former chief of the Bogota office of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) who was involved in the pursuit, capture and death of Escobar. Source material for the film is provided by...
- 3/5/2013
- by Kellvin Chavez
- LRMonline.com
Relativity Media announced today that it has acquired rights to the script Silver Or Lead, the epic story behind the manhunt for cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, one of the world’s greatest outlaws. Relativity will produce the film with Atmosphere Entertainment Mm. Enrique Urbizu, whose gritty crime thriller No Rest for the Wicked swept the Spanish Goya’s last year with a record 14 wins, will direct from a screenplay by British writer Piers Ashworth (Nostradamus, St. Trinian’s), which he developed from an original draft by Michael Kane.
The film focuses on the personal war between Escobar and General Hugo Martinez, whose life rights were also acquired by Relativity. Relativity also acquired the life rights for Joe Toft, the former chief of the Bogota office of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) who was involved in the pursuit, capture and death of Escobar. Source material for the film is provided by...
The film focuses on the personal war between Escobar and General Hugo Martinez, whose life rights were also acquired by Relativity. Relativity also acquired the life rights for Joe Toft, the former chief of the Bogota office of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) who was involved in the pursuit, capture and death of Escobar. Source material for the film is provided by...
- 3/5/2013
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Eighty-five years after the iconic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre opened on Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles, the favorite spot for both A-list Hollywood premieres and gawking tourists will now be named the TCL Chinese Theater, after a television manufacturer based in — you guessed it — China.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Chinese firm (whose name stands for “The Creative Life”) has signed a 10-year deal worth more than $5 million for the naming rights to the theater, which is owned by producers Donald Kushner (Tron: Legacy) and Elie Samaha (The Whole Nine Yards). Officially unveiled Friday morning, the deal includes...
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Chinese firm (whose name stands for “The Creative Life”) has signed a 10-year deal worth more than $5 million for the naming rights to the theater, which is owned by producers Donald Kushner (Tron: Legacy) and Elie Samaha (The Whole Nine Yards). Officially unveiled Friday morning, the deal includes...
- 1/11/2013
- by Adam B. Vary
- EW - Inside Movies
Two Bunch Palms Resort & Spa, the Desert Hot Springs property that had a cameo in Robert Altman’s 1992 film The Player, has been sold to Hollywood buyers. Along with real estate investor Gidi Cohen, the 270-acre property was acquired by producers Steve Markoff and Donald Kushner and entrepreneur Elie Samaha — the trio who bought Grauman’s Chinese Theatre last year. According to Coachella Valley real estate sources, the buyers paid less than $10 million for the property, which is said to have been built in the 1920s by Al Capone and served as his West Coast hideout. Photos: Hollywood's Biggest
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- 2/22/2012
- by Daniel Miller
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Not long after they acquired the lease to Grauman's Chinese Theatre in April, Elie Samaha and Donald Kushner paid a courtesy call to the captain of the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood Division. "She said, 'I heard you're changing [the theater] to a nightclub,' " recalls Samaha, who with Kushner also operates eight clubs and several restaurants in and around Hollywood. "I said, 'Over my dead body!' " Instead, the duo is revamping the iconic yet troubled home to eight decades of movie premieres, as well as the hand- and footprints of nearly 200 stars, from Clark Gable to
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- 1/6/2012
- by Alex Ben Block
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On Jan. 26, the King of Pop’s prints will be immortalized on Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. In a rare public appearance, Michael Jackson’s three children—Prince, Paris and Blanket—will use a pair of their father’s shoes and one of his famous sequined gloves to mark the cement on the famous walk. The event, presented by the theater’s new owners Donald Kushner and Elie Samaha, will even include a tribute performance from the cast of the Cirque du Soleil show, “Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour.” The show is also running at the Staples Centre in Los...
- 1/6/2012
- Pastemagazine.com
I hope you guys have been doing your English homework -- and no, CliffsNotes do not count.
Jackson Rathbone and Erika Christensen have signed on the dotted line to star in "The Idiot," based on the novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Rathbone's most famous for being creepy Jasper Hale in the "Twilight" franchise, so tackling the lead role (we're assuming) of Prince Myshkin in Dostoyevsky's tome is definitely a big switcheroo for the young actor. Myshkin is described as a Christ-like figure, too innocent for the high society of St. Petersburg and its debauched sexytimes and social wheelings and dealings.
He's caught in a bizarre love triangle between two women, one young and innocent and one a naughty lady indeed. Which will Christensen play? We're gunning for Nastasya, a stunner who does whatever the eff she wants and drives all the men cuckoo with lust.
Variety...
Jackson Rathbone and Erika Christensen have signed on the dotted line to star in "The Idiot," based on the novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Rathbone's most famous for being creepy Jasper Hale in the "Twilight" franchise, so tackling the lead role (we're assuming) of Prince Myshkin in Dostoyevsky's tome is definitely a big switcheroo for the young actor. Myshkin is described as a Christ-like figure, too innocent for the high society of St. Petersburg and its debauched sexytimes and social wheelings and dealings.
He's caught in a bizarre love triangle between two women, one young and innocent and one a naughty lady indeed. Which will Christensen play? We're gunning for Nastasya, a stunner who does whatever the eff she wants and drives all the men cuckoo with lust.
Variety...
- 5/13/2011
- by Jenni Miller
- NextMovie
Lionsgate have sent over three new clips from Jason Statham’s new movie, Blitz.It’s set for release 20th May in the UK and stars Jason Statham, Luke Evans, David Morrissey, Aidan Gillen, Paddy Considine, Chris Wilson and is directed by Elliott Lester. Check out the new clips below and you’ll see this has the usual Statham signature stamp on it!
Synopsis: Jason Statham (The Mechanic, The Expendables) heads the cast of Blitz as the tough, uncompromising and un-pc detective “Brant”, who is teamed with unlikely partner “Sgt Porter Nash” played by Paddy Considine (The Bourne Ultimatum) to investigate a series of police murders. BAFTA and Tony Award-nominee Aidan Gillen (HBO’s The Wire) and fellow BAFTA-nominee David Morrissey (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, State of Play, Nowhere Boy) join the cast as a cop-hating serial killer “Weiss” (Gillen) and hack crime reporter “Dunlop” (Morrissey).
The strong supporting cast...
Synopsis: Jason Statham (The Mechanic, The Expendables) heads the cast of Blitz as the tough, uncompromising and un-pc detective “Brant”, who is teamed with unlikely partner “Sgt Porter Nash” played by Paddy Considine (The Bourne Ultimatum) to investigate a series of police murders. BAFTA and Tony Award-nominee Aidan Gillen (HBO’s The Wire) and fellow BAFTA-nominee David Morrissey (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, State of Play, Nowhere Boy) join the cast as a cop-hating serial killer “Weiss” (Gillen) and hack crime reporter “Dunlop” (Morrissey).
The strong supporting cast...
- 4/25/2011
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
I’m not entirely sure the use of the word “Classic” on the cover is entirely justified here, since Tron‘s popularity must surely be classed more as a cult thing than something of the mainstream. Judged by “traditional” factors for critique, it doesn’t exactly shine; the tone extremely camp and a little too self-consciously wierd, the script is full of problems and the pace is all over the place, but it still conjours up a tangible nostalgia that is as much indicative of the magic of cinema as real quality is.
In conjunction with the Blu-ray release of Tron Legacy, the original “classic” is now also available to buy on blu-ray.
Although everyone should by now know the plot, there may be those of you out there who haven’t yet seen the original Tron, having only just discovered the sequel, so here goes anyway. Ex-encom employee Kevin Flynn...
In conjunction with the Blu-ray release of Tron Legacy, the original “classic” is now also available to buy on blu-ray.
Although everyone should by now know the plot, there may be those of you out there who haven’t yet seen the original Tron, having only just discovered the sequel, so here goes anyway. Ex-encom employee Kevin Flynn...
- 4/17/2011
- by Simon Gallagher
- Obsessed with Film
We haven't yet embraced the 3D revolution here at CinemaSpy. Let's be honest, most of the movies released in the format don't benefit from it. Many were not filmed using 3D cameras so is it any wonder that they are underwhelming? Now Disney's Tron: Legacy has come to the Blu-ray market as the standard bearer for 3D entertainment in the home. In that respect, it steals a march on Avatar, which is only available on 3D Bd with a TV attached. But does Tron: Legacy do enough to sell us on 3D for small screens when we have yet to be convinced of the format's value on big ones?
Tron: Legacy is the sequel to the 1982 sci-fi semi-classic Tron. In the history of sci-fi cinema, Tron is hardly innovative in terms of its story. It stands out because it reflects a significant social development and it made ground-breaking use of computer graphics.
Tron: Legacy is the sequel to the 1982 sci-fi semi-classic Tron. In the history of sci-fi cinema, Tron is hardly innovative in terms of its story. It stands out because it reflects a significant social development and it made ground-breaking use of computer graphics.
- 4/15/2011
- CinemaSpy
The Movie Pool breaks down the release - finally - of the Disney classic Tron on Blu-ray!
Blu-ray Specs
Aspect Ratio: 2.20:1 enhanced for widescreen TVs
Running Time: 96 minutes
Rating: PG
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-ma, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Spanish, French
Audio Commentary: Participants include Director Steven Lisberger, Producer Donald Kushner, Visual Effects Supervisors Harrison Ellenshaw and Richard Taylor.
Special Features: The Tron Phenomenon Documentary, Photo Tronology (Blu-ray only), The making of Tron, Development, Digital Imagery, Music, Publicity, Deleted Scenes, Design, Storyboarding, Galleries.
The Set-up
A computer hacker is pulled into a digital world where he must fight a powerful program obsessed with power.
The Delivery
For most people, either you're a Tron fan or you aren't. Some people never "got" the original film, while others loved its mature take on the emerging computer culture. As a kid, I loved the look of the film,...
Blu-ray Specs
Aspect Ratio: 2.20:1 enhanced for widescreen TVs
Running Time: 96 minutes
Rating: PG
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-ma, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Spanish, French
Audio Commentary: Participants include Director Steven Lisberger, Producer Donald Kushner, Visual Effects Supervisors Harrison Ellenshaw and Richard Taylor.
Special Features: The Tron Phenomenon Documentary, Photo Tronology (Blu-ray only), The making of Tron, Development, Digital Imagery, Music, Publicity, Deleted Scenes, Design, Storyboarding, Galleries.
The Set-up
A computer hacker is pulled into a digital world where he must fight a powerful program obsessed with power.
The Delivery
For most people, either you're a Tron fan or you aren't. Some people never "got" the original film, while others loved its mature take on the emerging computer culture. As a kid, I loved the look of the film,...
- 4/3/2011
- Cinelinx
Someone had to go first.
As computers were getting faster and significantly more sophisticated, some producer was going to be the first to have computers handle the special effects in a movie. As it turns out, Walt Disney, which pioneered feature-length animation, took the plunge in 1982 with Tron. The film, starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, and David Warner, was visually stunning in its day as you felt immersed in the emerging video game world. The mediocre story took a backseat to the imaginative light cycle races and glowing disc battles. Audiences were intrigued, just enough to rake in $33 million at the box office for a $17 million production so it almost made money using the math of the time.
Flashfoward 28 years and as computers have taken control over special effects in all media, the time struck many as right to go back and revisit the world of Tron. Disney moved cautiously,...
As computers were getting faster and significantly more sophisticated, some producer was going to be the first to have computers handle the special effects in a movie. As it turns out, Walt Disney, which pioneered feature-length animation, took the plunge in 1982 with Tron. The film, starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, and David Warner, was visually stunning in its day as you felt immersed in the emerging video game world. The mediocre story took a backseat to the imaginative light cycle races and glowing disc battles. Audiences were intrigued, just enough to rake in $33 million at the box office for a $17 million production so it almost made money using the math of the time.
Flashfoward 28 years and as computers have taken control over special effects in all media, the time struck many as right to go back and revisit the world of Tron. Disney moved cautiously,...
- 3/29/2011
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
Genre: Sci-Fi | Fantasy
Directors: Joseph Kosinski, Steven Lisberger
Writers: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz, Steven Lisberger
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett, Michael Sheen, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor
MPAA Rating: PG
Summaries:
Tron – When a brilliant video game maker named Flynn (Jeff Bridges) hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer, he is beamed inside an astonishing digital world and becomes part of the very game he is designing.
Tron: Legacy – Sam Flynn (Hedlund), a rebellious 27-year-old, is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his father Kevin Flynn (Bridges), a man once known as the world’s leading video-game developer. When Sam investigates a strange signal sent from the old Flynn’s Arcade — a signal that could only come from his father– he finds himself pulled into a digital world where Kevin has been trapped for 20 years. With the help of the fearless warrior...
Directors: Joseph Kosinski, Steven Lisberger
Writers: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz, Steven Lisberger
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett, Michael Sheen, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor
MPAA Rating: PG
Summaries:
Tron – When a brilliant video game maker named Flynn (Jeff Bridges) hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer, he is beamed inside an astonishing digital world and becomes part of the very game he is designing.
Tron: Legacy – Sam Flynn (Hedlund), a rebellious 27-year-old, is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his father Kevin Flynn (Bridges), a man once known as the world’s leading video-game developer. When Sam investigates a strange signal sent from the old Flynn’s Arcade — a signal that could only come from his father– he finds himself pulled into a digital world where Kevin has been trapped for 20 years. With the help of the fearless warrior...
- 3/28/2011
- by Jason Moore
- ScifiMafia
Greetings Programs! Disney has announced that Tron: Legacy will be available on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on April 5th. The original Tron will be hitting DVD and Blu-ray on the same day as Tron: The Original Classic. The April 5th release marks the first time the original Tron will be available on disc since the 20th anniversary collector’s edition hit stores in 2002.
Check out all the details on the different disc packages and links to pre-order below.
The Ultimate Action-packed, Futuristic Adventure Comes To Life On Stunning Blu-ray™ Hi-def And Blu-ray 3D™
Disney
Tron: Legacy
Hits The Grid – Tuesday, April 5th
Tron: The Original Classic Special Edition To Also Debut For The First Time On Blu-ray
Burbank, CA, February 11, 2011 – The Walt Disney Studios is proud to announce the release of its high-tech, action-packed adventure Tron: Legacy, available April 5th on multiple home entertainment platforms, including Blu-ray 3D™, Blu-ray™, DVD,...
Check out all the details on the different disc packages and links to pre-order below.
The Ultimate Action-packed, Futuristic Adventure Comes To Life On Stunning Blu-ray™ Hi-def And Blu-ray 3D™
Disney
Tron: Legacy
Hits The Grid – Tuesday, April 5th
Tron: The Original Classic Special Edition To Also Debut For The First Time On Blu-ray
Burbank, CA, February 11, 2011 – The Walt Disney Studios is proud to announce the release of its high-tech, action-packed adventure Tron: Legacy, available April 5th on multiple home entertainment platforms, including Blu-ray 3D™, Blu-ray™, DVD,...
- 2/15/2011
- by Jason Moore
- ScifiMafia
If you're "Tron" geeks like we are and you're all atwitter about the upcoming "Tron: Legacy," here's a list of fascinating facts and choice movie lines from the groundbreaking 1982 Disney original, "Tron." Zoom through it.
Tron Trivia and Movie QuotesFrom Pong to "Tron"
"Tron" is the silver screen convergence of video games, computer-generated visuals, backlit animation and live-action footage conceived by animator Steven Lisberger in 1976. "That [Magi/Synthavision] reel of computer-generated imagery impressed me terrifically with the computer's capabilities.
Tron Trivia and Movie QuotesFrom Pong to "Tron"
"Tron" is the silver screen convergence of video games, computer-generated visuals, backlit animation and live-action footage conceived by animator Steven Lisberger in 1976. "That [Magi/Synthavision] reel of computer-generated imagery impressed me terrifically with the computer's capabilities.
- 12/15/2010
- Extra
MTV has premiered the official Tron: Legacy music video for Daft Punk's Derezzed. Tron: Legacy was a pretty freakin' awesome movie. The more I think about it since I saw it, the more I realize how much I actually enjoyed the film. The music video includes mix of styles and visuals from both the original Tron film and Tron: Legacy. I loved what Daft Punk had to add to the movie, their musical score was incredible.
Watch the music video below and tell us what you think!
Daft Punk - New Music - More Music Videos
From Walt Disney Pictures comes “Tron: Legacy,” a high-tech adventure set in a digital world that is unlike anything ever captured on the big screen . Directed by Joseph Kosinski, “Tron: Legacy” stars Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett and Michael Sheen and is produced by Sean Bailey,...
Watch the music video below and tell us what you think!
Daft Punk - New Music - More Music Videos
From Walt Disney Pictures comes “Tron: Legacy,” a high-tech adventure set in a digital world that is unlike anything ever captured on the big screen . Directed by Joseph Kosinski, “Tron: Legacy” stars Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett and Michael Sheen and is produced by Sean Bailey,...
- 12/8/2010
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
MTV has premiered the official music video for the first single from Daft Punk's Tron Legacy score, a track titled "Derezzed". The imagery in the video appears to be a hybrid of the original Tron and the upcoming sequel Tron: Legacy. Also, remember, the soundtrack is currently available for download for only $3.99 [1]. Hit the jump to watch the new music video now. From Walt Disney Pictures comes “Tron: Legacy,” a high-tech adventure set in a digital world that is unlike anything ever captured on the big screen . Directed by Joseph Kosinski, “Tron: Legacy” stars Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett and Michael Sheen and is produced by Sean Bailey, Jeffrey Silver and Steven Lisberger, with Donald Kushner serving as executive producer, and Justin Springer and Steve Gaub co-producing . The “Tron: Legacy” screenplay was written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz; story by Edward Kitsis...
- 12/7/2010
- by Peter Sciretta
- Slash Film
[1] Walt Disney Pictures has released a few new featurettes for Tron Legacy. The clips include the story, the character Clu, and Light Bike Design with designer Daniel Simon. Watch the clips now embedded after the jump. Clu The Story 1 Story 2 Light Bike Design With Designer Daniel Simon Official One Pager: Tron: Legacy (In Disney Digital 3D™ and IMAX® 3D) Walt Disney Pictures Website: Disney.com/Tron Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/Tron Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/DisneyPictures Genre: Action-Adventure Rating: Tbd U.S. Release Date: December 17, 2010 Cast: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett and Michael Sheen Director: Joseph Kosinski Producers: Sean Bailey, Jeffrey Silver, Steven Lisberger Executive Producer: Donald Kushner Written by: Eddy Kitsis & Adam Horowitz (credit not final) Based on characters created by: Steven Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird “Tron: Legacy” is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world...
- 12/1/2010
- by Peter Sciretta
- Slash Film
"Wire" star Aidan Gillen and BAFTA-nominated David Morrissey (The Reaping, Red Riding trilogy) have joined the cast of Lionsgate U.K.'s forthcoming U.K. feature Blitz, the crime thriller about a cop-hating serial killer who targets officers at a South London police station. Directed by Elliott Lester, "Blitz" has been adapted for the screen from Ken Bruen's novel by Nathan Parker, with a cast that also features Mark Ryland, Zawe Ashton and Jason Statham. Produced by Zygi Kamasa, Steve Chasman, Brad Wyman and Donald Kushner, Lionsgate U.K. will fully finance its debut British production, following its commitment last year to expand into the U.K. production arena. The movie, which begins principal photography Aug. 9, will be scheduled for release through Lionsgate U.K. in 2010 with international sales handled by Mandate International.
- 8/10/2009
- bloody-disgusting.com
London -- "Wire" star Aidan Gillen and BAFTA-nominated David Morrissey have joined the cast of Lionsgate U.K.'s forthcoming U.K. feature "Blitz," the crime thriller about a cop-hating serial killer who targets officers at a South London police station.
Directed by Elliott Lester, "Blitz" has been adapted for the screen from Ken Bruen's novel by Nathan Parker, with a cast that also features Mark Ryland, Zawe Ashton and Jason Statham.
Produced by Zygi Kamasa, Steve Chasman, Brad Wyman and Donald Kushner, Lionsgate U.K. will fully finance its debut British production, following its commitment last year to expand into the U.K. production arena.
The movie, which begins principal photography Aug. 9, will be scheduled for release through Lionsgate U.K. in 2010 with international sales handled by Mandate International.
Directed by Elliott Lester, "Blitz" has been adapted for the screen from Ken Bruen's novel by Nathan Parker, with a cast that also features Mark Ryland, Zawe Ashton and Jason Statham.
Produced by Zygi Kamasa, Steve Chasman, Brad Wyman and Donald Kushner, Lionsgate U.K. will fully finance its debut British production, following its commitment last year to expand into the U.K. production arena.
The movie, which begins principal photography Aug. 9, will be scheduled for release through Lionsgate U.K. in 2010 with international sales handled by Mandate International.
- 8/7/2009
- by By Mimi Turner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Actor Jason "The Bank Job" Statham is in final negotiations to star in Blitz, adapting author Ken Bruen's bestseller, about a killer targeting police officers. Lionsgate UK will fully finance the project, with Mandate handling international sales. Statham will play a tough cop assigned to the case, with actor Paddy Considine as his partner. Screenplay is by Nathan Parker for director Elliott Lester. Lionsgate UK's Zygi Kamasa, Steve Chasman, Brad Wyman and Donald Kushner will produce Blitz for an August 10, London, UK start. Sneak Peek the trailer for The Bank Job...
- 7/13/2009
- HollywoodNorthReport.com
Ken Bruen’s police thriller will be directed by Elliot Lester for Lionsgate UK. Donald Kushner and Brad Wyman will produce the film.
The film will centre on a serial killer whose aiming for tabloid immortality by executing cops in southeast London. Lionsgate will produce and also co finance the movie. Shooting for the film will begin early next year. It is sure going to be one of those taut thrillers that is sure going to get an interesting cast.
The British born director, who made his first film Love is the Drug will direct the movie, which is based on a Nathan Parker’s script.
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The film will centre on a serial killer whose aiming for tabloid immortality by executing cops in southeast London. Lionsgate will produce and also co finance the movie. Shooting for the film will begin early next year. It is sure going to be one of those taut thrillers that is sure going to get an interesting cast.
The British born director, who made his first film Love is the Drug will direct the movie, which is based on a Nathan Parker’s script.
Most Popular Posts ...
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- 9/24/2008
- by John
- ReelSuave.com
Kelly Preston and Michelle Trachtenberg have sparked to The Possibility of Fireflies. Dominique Paul is making her directorial debut on the film, an adaptation of her novel. Preston will play a single mother struggling to keep her life in order after her husband abandons her, forcing her to raise their two daughters on her own. Trachtenberg will play the older daughter. The drama will shoot in January in South Carolina. Brad Wyman, Donald Kushner and Patty Jenkins -- the team behind the Oscar-winning Charlize Theron starrer Monster -- are producing. Joel Stevens is an executive producer. Musician BT is composing music for the film and is an exec producer.
- 10/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LONDON -- London-based independent distributor Metrodome has acquired U.K. theatrical and retail DVD rights to Patty Jenkins' Monster, the company said Tuesday. The movie stars Charlize Theron as serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a performance that earned her a Golden Globe nomination. No financial details of the deal were revealed. Metrodome acquired the rights from DEJ Prods. and will release the film April 2 in U.K. theaters. Jenkins penned the screenplay for Monster, which also marks her feature film directorial debut. The movie is produced by Theron, Mark Damon, Clark Peterson, Donald Kushner and Brad Wyman. Other recent Metrodome acquisitions include Mark and Michael Polish's Northfork and The Corporation, directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbot.
- 1/21/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Heather Graham, James Purefoy and Andy Serkis have been tapped to star in the independent feature Samantha's Child. The film is being directed by English commercial director Simon Fellows and is being produced by Brad Wyman, Donald Kushner and Andrew Stevens. David Hemmings also was working on the film when he died unexpectedly Wednesday.
- 12/5/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Screened
AFI Fest
"Monster" challenges audiences with an unrelieved portrait of self-destruction and horrific violence. American movies don't get much grimmer than this.
This challenge is made doubly hard by writer-director Patty Jenkins' decision to supply little in the way of back story or context for the title character's behavior. So this portrait of "America's first female serial killer," depressing and shocking under the best of circumstances, may baffle viewers unfamiliar with her case.
Publicity concerning Charlize Theron's remarkable physical transformation into Aileen Wuornos through makeup and weight gain may attract the curious, but boxoffice potential for this downbeat tale appears modest at best. The film opens in New York on Dec. 24 and in Los Angeles on Dec. 26.
Jenkins chooses to concentrate on a brief period in Aileen's life, from 1989-90, when the hitchhiking prostitute killed several male clients, crimes for which she was executed by the state of Florida last year. During this time, Aileen happened to meet Selby Wall (Christina Ricci). The two fell in love and began living together in cheap motels and then a rental unit.
Turning the tragic story of Aileen Wuornos into a love story between two misfits probably makes sense from a dramatic point of view, but it does distort the cruel life Aileen lived virtually from birth. From two documentaries by Nick Broomfield we know about the mother who deserted Aileen, the grandfather who beat her and how all her subsequent relationships ended in betrayal, making her a predictably paranoid person. Her life leading up to meeting Selby -- a life marred by rape, incest, abuse and abandonment -- is barely hinted at in Jenkins' script.
Selby represents a last hope for the woman. After meeting in a bar while in suicidal despair, Aileen reforms momentarily and seeks a legitimate job. When no one will hire a woman with no experience, degree or resume, Aileen returns to hooking. Then when a john turns violent, she shoots and kills him in self-defense. She steals his money and car but doesn't immediately tell Selby about the killing. When the money runs out, she proceeds to rob and shoot several other johns. The money supports her and her lover, while the murders allow her to act out her rage against men.
(It's worth noting that for all the film's gritty authenticity, even shooting at actual locations where Wuornos committed her crimes, these stagings are purely speculative. At her trial, Wuornos claimed self-defense in all the killings. In his documentaries, Broomfield was never able to get a clear picture of what happened. Before her execution, not realizing the camera was still rolling, Wuornos admitted she changed her story of self-defense to one of robbery and murder in order to hasten the execution, which after 12 years on death row she welcomed.)
Theron gives a gutsy and gritty performance as she uncannily slips into Aileen's mannerisms and rhythms of speech. But Aileen remains a remote figure. Ricci, in a more reactive role, nevertheless captures the somewhat exploitative element in their relationship, playing the young woman, for all her love of Aileen, as one who is in constant need of money and stimulus.
BT's nerve-jangling music keeps the viewer wary, while Steven Bernstein's sharp, controlled cinematography heightens the flesh-crawling reality of these sickening events. Yes, the story is an ugly one, but the actresses command our attention and demand we confront this unrepentant "monster" to examine her humanity.
MONSTER
Newmarket Films
Media 8 Entertainment/DEJ Prods. present a K/W Prods. and Denver & Delilah Films production in association with VIP Medienfonds 2/MDP Filmproduktion
Credits:
Writer-director: Patty Jenkins
Producers: Charlize Theron, Mark Damon, Clark Peterson, Donald Kushner, Brad Wyman
Executive producers: Sammy Lee, Meagan Riley-Grant, Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid
Director of photography: Steven Bernstein
Production designer: Edward T. McAvoy
Music: BT
Costume designer: Rhona Meyers
Editors: Jane Kurson, Arthur Coburn
Cast:
Aileen Wuornos: Charlize Theron
Selby Wall: Christina Ricci
Thomas: Bruce Dern
Horton: Scott Wilson
Donna Tentler: Annie Corley
Gene: Pruitt Taylor Vince
Running time -- 108 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
AFI Fest
"Monster" challenges audiences with an unrelieved portrait of self-destruction and horrific violence. American movies don't get much grimmer than this.
This challenge is made doubly hard by writer-director Patty Jenkins' decision to supply little in the way of back story or context for the title character's behavior. So this portrait of "America's first female serial killer," depressing and shocking under the best of circumstances, may baffle viewers unfamiliar with her case.
Publicity concerning Charlize Theron's remarkable physical transformation into Aileen Wuornos through makeup and weight gain may attract the curious, but boxoffice potential for this downbeat tale appears modest at best. The film opens in New York on Dec. 24 and in Los Angeles on Dec. 26.
Jenkins chooses to concentrate on a brief period in Aileen's life, from 1989-90, when the hitchhiking prostitute killed several male clients, crimes for which she was executed by the state of Florida last year. During this time, Aileen happened to meet Selby Wall (Christina Ricci). The two fell in love and began living together in cheap motels and then a rental unit.
Turning the tragic story of Aileen Wuornos into a love story between two misfits probably makes sense from a dramatic point of view, but it does distort the cruel life Aileen lived virtually from birth. From two documentaries by Nick Broomfield we know about the mother who deserted Aileen, the grandfather who beat her and how all her subsequent relationships ended in betrayal, making her a predictably paranoid person. Her life leading up to meeting Selby -- a life marred by rape, incest, abuse and abandonment -- is barely hinted at in Jenkins' script.
Selby represents a last hope for the woman. After meeting in a bar while in suicidal despair, Aileen reforms momentarily and seeks a legitimate job. When no one will hire a woman with no experience, degree or resume, Aileen returns to hooking. Then when a john turns violent, she shoots and kills him in self-defense. She steals his money and car but doesn't immediately tell Selby about the killing. When the money runs out, she proceeds to rob and shoot several other johns. The money supports her and her lover, while the murders allow her to act out her rage against men.
(It's worth noting that for all the film's gritty authenticity, even shooting at actual locations where Wuornos committed her crimes, these stagings are purely speculative. At her trial, Wuornos claimed self-defense in all the killings. In his documentaries, Broomfield was never able to get a clear picture of what happened. Before her execution, not realizing the camera was still rolling, Wuornos admitted she changed her story of self-defense to one of robbery and murder in order to hasten the execution, which after 12 years on death row she welcomed.)
Theron gives a gutsy and gritty performance as she uncannily slips into Aileen's mannerisms and rhythms of speech. But Aileen remains a remote figure. Ricci, in a more reactive role, nevertheless captures the somewhat exploitative element in their relationship, playing the young woman, for all her love of Aileen, as one who is in constant need of money and stimulus.
BT's nerve-jangling music keeps the viewer wary, while Steven Bernstein's sharp, controlled cinematography heightens the flesh-crawling reality of these sickening events. Yes, the story is an ugly one, but the actresses command our attention and demand we confront this unrepentant "monster" to examine her humanity.
MONSTER
Newmarket Films
Media 8 Entertainment/DEJ Prods. present a K/W Prods. and Denver & Delilah Films production in association with VIP Medienfonds 2/MDP Filmproduktion
Credits:
Writer-director: Patty Jenkins
Producers: Charlize Theron, Mark Damon, Clark Peterson, Donald Kushner, Brad Wyman
Executive producers: Sammy Lee, Meagan Riley-Grant, Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid
Director of photography: Steven Bernstein
Production designer: Edward T. McAvoy
Music: BT
Costume designer: Rhona Meyers
Editors: Jane Kurson, Arthur Coburn
Cast:
Aileen Wuornos: Charlize Theron
Selby Wall: Christina Ricci
Thomas: Bruce Dern
Horton: Scott Wilson
Donna Tentler: Annie Corley
Gene: Pruitt Taylor Vince
Running time -- 108 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 11/17/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In what will likely be her first movie role since giving birth to her son a year ago, Elizabeth Hurley is in negotiations to star in Junction Films' The Method for British director Duncan Roy. Production on the film begins in July in Romania. Written by Katie Fetting, the project is described as Day for Night meets Basic Instinct. It follows a celebrity actress (Hurley) who gets her dream role playing real-life 19th century serial killer Belle Gunness in a feature film and starts to take on the characteristics of the role onscreen and off. Junction Films' Donald Kushner and Brad Wyman are producing with Andrew Stevens of Trademark Entertainment. Trademark will act as worldwide sales agent for the film. Junction and Trademark are co-financing the project, which is budged in the $7 million range. Hurley, repped by UTA and attorney Steven Brookman, most recently starred onscreen in Paramount Pictures' Serving Sara. Her credits include Bedazzled and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Roy, who is repped by Innovative Artists, wrote, directed and executive produced the indie feature AKA. The film was nominated for a BAFTA Award for best first feature this year and won the audience award at the Outfest Film Festival in October.
Hey, four words: Jerry Springer -- The Movie.
Poetry in motion, right? You take your average Springer guests and show them in their natural, pretaping habitat. And while you're at it, you also reveal what makes Jerry tick. It's money, baby.
Apparently, it's what the five producers and seven exec producers behind the low-budgeted "Ringmaster" are thinking. The problem is, their fictionalized account of the events leading up to an appearance on Springer's show, a k a "Lifestyles of the Poor and Trashy," plays like one of Jerry's "Too Hot for TV" videos, with the added bonus of bad writing and direction.
But will the guarantee of a bleep-free 90 minutes, complete with a generous flashing of breasts (including Jerry's), plus cheesy, simulated sex acts be enough to lure viewers out of the comfort of their trailer park? Artisan Entertainment, in a bid to break out of its usual art house mode, clearly hopes so, but "Ringmaster"'s true destiny lies on the video racks. Or maybe Jerry will thoughtfully throw in a copy as an incentive to buy his upcoming tell-all book.
Little do Angel, Connie, Rusty and Willie know, their sordid little lives are about to become the "You Did WHAT With Your Stepdaddy?" episode on the next "Jerry Springer".
It seems Angel (Jaime Pressly), a motel chambermaid who goes the extra distance for male guests, is about to tie the knot with the slow-witted Willie (Ashley Holbrook) while also carrying on with Rusty (Michael Dudikoff), who just happens to be married to Angel's mom, Connie (Molly Hagan). When she catches the two in action, Connie decides to teach her daughter a lesson by servicing her fiance.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the park, the take-no-prisoners Starletta Wendy Raquel Robinson) catches her man Michael Jai White) getting freaky with her best friend (Tangie Ambrose). With said boyfriend having previously played the dog with her other best friend (Nicki Micheaux), the grouping is a natural for a "My Traitor Girlfriends" episode.
More than willing to air their dirty laundry for a trip to Hollywood (apparently Chicago isn't sexy enough), both parties head for the "Springer" show -- but not before doing a little interfacing, if you know what we mean.
Playing out like watered-down John Waters, the Neil Abramson-directed, Jon Bernstein-written enterprise awkwardly goes for a poor approximation of cheap, sleazy satire one minute and (inexplicably) quiet, tender introspection the next, with nothing capturing the sheer, guilty-pleasure adrenaline rush of an installment of Springer's real TV show.
The acting styles are similarly all over the place, with Hagan's I-just-wanna-be-loved competitive mom bravely striving for something more noble. She's a trailer trash Ma Joad. At least Robinson ("The Steve Harvey Show") seems to be a enjoying herself as the wrong woman to mess with.
As for Jerry's big acting debut, in which he gets to share a post-coital embrace with Rebecca Broussard and delivers an encore performance of his country song ("Dr. Talk"), here's a Final Thought: Don't quit your day job.
RINGMASTER
Artisan Entertainment
A Motion Pictures
Corporation of America production
Director: Neil Abramson
Screenwriter: Jon Bernstein
Producers: Jerry Springer, Gina Rugolo-Judd, Brad Jenkel, Steve Stabler, Gary W. Goldstein
Executive producers: Brent Baum, Don Corsini, Richard Dominick, Erwin More, Brian Medavoy, Donald Kushner, Peter Locke
Director of photography: Russell Lyster
Production designers: Dorian Vernacchio, Deborah Raymond
Editor: Suzanne Hines
Costume designer: Gail McMullen
Music supervisor: Marcus Barone
Music: Kennard Ramsey
Casting: Carmen Tetzlaff
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jerry: Jerry Springer
Angel: Jaime Pressly
Troy: William McNamara
Connie: Molly Hagan
Starletta: Wendy Raquel Robinson
Demond: Michael Jai White
Willie: Ashley Holbrook
Rusty: Michael Dudikoff
Vonda: Tangie Ambrose
Leshawnette: Nicki Micheaux
Willie: Ashley Holbrook
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Poetry in motion, right? You take your average Springer guests and show them in their natural, pretaping habitat. And while you're at it, you also reveal what makes Jerry tick. It's money, baby.
Apparently, it's what the five producers and seven exec producers behind the low-budgeted "Ringmaster" are thinking. The problem is, their fictionalized account of the events leading up to an appearance on Springer's show, a k a "Lifestyles of the Poor and Trashy," plays like one of Jerry's "Too Hot for TV" videos, with the added bonus of bad writing and direction.
But will the guarantee of a bleep-free 90 minutes, complete with a generous flashing of breasts (including Jerry's), plus cheesy, simulated sex acts be enough to lure viewers out of the comfort of their trailer park? Artisan Entertainment, in a bid to break out of its usual art house mode, clearly hopes so, but "Ringmaster"'s true destiny lies on the video racks. Or maybe Jerry will thoughtfully throw in a copy as an incentive to buy his upcoming tell-all book.
Little do Angel, Connie, Rusty and Willie know, their sordid little lives are about to become the "You Did WHAT With Your Stepdaddy?" episode on the next "Jerry Springer".
It seems Angel (Jaime Pressly), a motel chambermaid who goes the extra distance for male guests, is about to tie the knot with the slow-witted Willie (Ashley Holbrook) while also carrying on with Rusty (Michael Dudikoff), who just happens to be married to Angel's mom, Connie (Molly Hagan). When she catches the two in action, Connie decides to teach her daughter a lesson by servicing her fiance.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the park, the take-no-prisoners Starletta Wendy Raquel Robinson) catches her man Michael Jai White) getting freaky with her best friend (Tangie Ambrose). With said boyfriend having previously played the dog with her other best friend (Nicki Micheaux), the grouping is a natural for a "My Traitor Girlfriends" episode.
More than willing to air their dirty laundry for a trip to Hollywood (apparently Chicago isn't sexy enough), both parties head for the "Springer" show -- but not before doing a little interfacing, if you know what we mean.
Playing out like watered-down John Waters, the Neil Abramson-directed, Jon Bernstein-written enterprise awkwardly goes for a poor approximation of cheap, sleazy satire one minute and (inexplicably) quiet, tender introspection the next, with nothing capturing the sheer, guilty-pleasure adrenaline rush of an installment of Springer's real TV show.
The acting styles are similarly all over the place, with Hagan's I-just-wanna-be-loved competitive mom bravely striving for something more noble. She's a trailer trash Ma Joad. At least Robinson ("The Steve Harvey Show") seems to be a enjoying herself as the wrong woman to mess with.
As for Jerry's big acting debut, in which he gets to share a post-coital embrace with Rebecca Broussard and delivers an encore performance of his country song ("Dr. Talk"), here's a Final Thought: Don't quit your day job.
RINGMASTER
Artisan Entertainment
A Motion Pictures
Corporation of America production
Director: Neil Abramson
Screenwriter: Jon Bernstein
Producers: Jerry Springer, Gina Rugolo-Judd, Brad Jenkel, Steve Stabler, Gary W. Goldstein
Executive producers: Brent Baum, Don Corsini, Richard Dominick, Erwin More, Brian Medavoy, Donald Kushner, Peter Locke
Director of photography: Russell Lyster
Production designers: Dorian Vernacchio, Deborah Raymond
Editor: Suzanne Hines
Costume designer: Gail McMullen
Music supervisor: Marcus Barone
Music: Kennard Ramsey
Casting: Carmen Tetzlaff
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jerry: Jerry Springer
Angel: Jaime Pressly
Troy: William McNamara
Connie: Molly Hagan
Starletta: Wendy Raquel Robinson
Demond: Michael Jai White
Willie: Ashley Holbrook
Rusty: Michael Dudikoff
Vonda: Tangie Ambrose
Leshawnette: Nicki Micheaux
Willie: Ashley Holbrook
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 11/23/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
He may be canonized as the inspiration for the character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and as one of Ken Kesey's real-life Merry Pranksters in the 1960s, but the young Neal Cassady is an unlikable, unlovable and unadmirable rogue in freshman writer-director Stephen Kay's "The Last Time I Committed Suicide."
Opening on a few screens for a no doubt cursory theatrical run, the low-budget independent has co-star Keanu Reeves and its proto-Beat Generation milieu to lure in curious hipsters.
Weak, self-absorbed young screw-ups have made for memorable movie characters many times, but even with Thomas Jane ("The Crow: City of Angels") working hard to make him a three-dimensional character, Cassady is often less interesting than the women he loves and loses. Even Reeves as a pathetic vision of what awaits 20-year-old Cassady should he stay in dreary Denver is more of a scene-stealer.
Part of the problem is the chatty, uninvolving narration that dominates the film and continually smooths over the potentially moving dramatic events. It's readily apparent that Kay has struggled to flesh out the scenario, based on Cassady's so-called "Great Sex Letter" he wrote to Kerouac.
Set in the late 1940s, "The Last Time" is so intent on capturing the spirit of youthful revolt, and the powerful allure of sex, that it almost becomes a primer for how to make the most of one's conquests and then run away guiltless from responsibility. It's no secret that the Beat writers were users and abusers of each other and the women in their lives.
The chief victim is Joan (Claire Forlani), a delicate creature who tries to take her life one night, causing Cassady a great deal of anguish. He's so upset he stops hanging around the hospital to see if she recovers and goes about his merry way. Working the graveyard shift at a tire factory and hanging with drinking and womanizing partner Harry Reeves), Cassady marks time until he's lured away one eve by a fetching dame named Lizzy (Marg Helgenberger).
But in the film's biggest digression and most pleasant sequences, Cassady recalls a wild affair with underage spitfire Cherry Mary (Gretchen Mol). Here the Great Sex is indeed inspiring and dangerous, but it's an awkward entracte before we find out that Lizzy's mission is to reintroduce recovered Joan. Almost trapped by his own desires for a normal life with Joan but well on his way to becoming a full-blown rake, Cassady tries and fails to do the right thing.
Using jerky camera work in black-and-white letter-writing sequences, slow motion to capture those cool-guy, cigarette-flicking moments and other diversionary tactics, Kay overloads the film with technique but fails to hide the thinness of the material. A film about the price of liberation from conformity, it's finally far too contrived to make any lasting impression.
THE LAST TIME I COMMITTED SUICIDE
Alpine Films
Kushner-Locke Co.
Tapestry Films
Writer-director Stephen Kay
Producers Edward Bates, Lousie Rosner
Executive producers Peter Abrams,
Robert L. Levy, J.P. Guerin, Peter Locke,
Donald Kushner, Lawrence Mortorff
Director of photography Bobby Bukowski
Production designer Amy B. Ancona
Editor Dorian Harris
Music Tyler Bates
Color/stereo
Cast:
Neal Thomas Jane
Harry Keanu Reeves
Joan Claire Forlani
Lizzy Marg Helgenberger
Cherry Mary Gretchen Mol
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Opening on a few screens for a no doubt cursory theatrical run, the low-budget independent has co-star Keanu Reeves and its proto-Beat Generation milieu to lure in curious hipsters.
Weak, self-absorbed young screw-ups have made for memorable movie characters many times, but even with Thomas Jane ("The Crow: City of Angels") working hard to make him a three-dimensional character, Cassady is often less interesting than the women he loves and loses. Even Reeves as a pathetic vision of what awaits 20-year-old Cassady should he stay in dreary Denver is more of a scene-stealer.
Part of the problem is the chatty, uninvolving narration that dominates the film and continually smooths over the potentially moving dramatic events. It's readily apparent that Kay has struggled to flesh out the scenario, based on Cassady's so-called "Great Sex Letter" he wrote to Kerouac.
Set in the late 1940s, "The Last Time" is so intent on capturing the spirit of youthful revolt, and the powerful allure of sex, that it almost becomes a primer for how to make the most of one's conquests and then run away guiltless from responsibility. It's no secret that the Beat writers were users and abusers of each other and the women in their lives.
The chief victim is Joan (Claire Forlani), a delicate creature who tries to take her life one night, causing Cassady a great deal of anguish. He's so upset he stops hanging around the hospital to see if she recovers and goes about his merry way. Working the graveyard shift at a tire factory and hanging with drinking and womanizing partner Harry Reeves), Cassady marks time until he's lured away one eve by a fetching dame named Lizzy (Marg Helgenberger).
But in the film's biggest digression and most pleasant sequences, Cassady recalls a wild affair with underage spitfire Cherry Mary (Gretchen Mol). Here the Great Sex is indeed inspiring and dangerous, but it's an awkward entracte before we find out that Lizzy's mission is to reintroduce recovered Joan. Almost trapped by his own desires for a normal life with Joan but well on his way to becoming a full-blown rake, Cassady tries and fails to do the right thing.
Using jerky camera work in black-and-white letter-writing sequences, slow motion to capture those cool-guy, cigarette-flicking moments and other diversionary tactics, Kay overloads the film with technique but fails to hide the thinness of the material. A film about the price of liberation from conformity, it's finally far too contrived to make any lasting impression.
THE LAST TIME I COMMITTED SUICIDE
Alpine Films
Kushner-Locke Co.
Tapestry Films
Writer-director Stephen Kay
Producers Edward Bates, Lousie Rosner
Executive producers Peter Abrams,
Robert L. Levy, J.P. Guerin, Peter Locke,
Donald Kushner, Lawrence Mortorff
Director of photography Bobby Bukowski
Production designer Amy B. Ancona
Editor Dorian Harris
Music Tyler Bates
Color/stereo
Cast:
Neal Thomas Jane
Harry Keanu Reeves
Joan Claire Forlani
Lizzy Marg Helgenberger
Cherry Mary Gretchen Mol
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 6/20/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. -- One of the strangest cinematic love stories in recent memory, "The Whole Wide World" has the advantage of being true. An account of the lengthy and bizarre relationship between famous pulp-fiction writer Robert E. Howard ("Conan the Barbarian", "Red Sonja") and a Texas schoolteacher named Novalyne Price, the film boasts outstanding performances by Vincent D'Onofrio and rising star Renee Zellweger. Recently shown at the Hamptons International Film Festival, the film will be released commercially by Sony Pictures Classics, which will need to handle this special item with kid gloves.
Howard, a highly idiosyncratic figure, lived with his parents in the small town of Cross Plains, Texas, in the 1930s, churning out fantasy, adventure and science-fiction tales at a ferocious pace. They appeared in various magazines specializing in pulp fiction, including Weird Tales and Amazing Stories. For several years, he was involved in an on-again, off-again relationship with the young teacher. Although their relationship ended with his death by suicide in 1936 (he was only 30), she wrote about it decades later in an acclaimed memoir, "One Who Walked Alone", upon which this movie is based.
Howard was an anti-social loner who was obsessed with his mother (played by Ann Wedgeworth) and who had the habit of loudly acting out his stories while writing them; he was considered more than a little odd by the townspeople. But he was endlessly fascinating to Novalyne, who aspired to be a writer herself. Their unconventional relationship, in which she wins his love but is unable to domesticate him or cure him of his demons, is detailed in Michael Scott Myers' episodic screenplay.
D'Onofrio, who has proved himself to be an intensely charismatic, highly physical and chameleon-like actor, is riveting as Howard. He beautifully expresses the writer's dual personalities: the socially inadequate, shy, fumbling gentleman and the blustery, confident figure who liked to imagine himself as his favorite character, Conan. Zellweger, who has the much less flashy role, is greatly impressive as Novalyne, who has more than a few contradictions of her own. Shifting effortlessly between the role's comic and more dramatic demands, she demonstrates a charm and range that bodes well for her upcoming co-starring role with Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire". Myers' screenplay is admirably subtle, although it does meander a bit too long in its storytelling; the film could benefit from some trimming. Dan Ireland's direction skillfully establishes the small-town Texas atmosphere and beautifully captures the nuances of an emotionally complex story.
THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD
A Sony Pictures Classics release
Presented by the Kushner-Locke Co.
in association with Cineville
Director Dan Ireland
Screenplay Michael Scott Myers
Executive producers Donald Kushner,
Peter Locke, Gregory Cascanate
Co-executive producer Robert Strauss
Producers Carl-Jan Colpaert, Dan Ireland,
Vincent D'Onofrio, Kevin Reidy
Director of photography Claudio Rocha
Editor Luis Colina
Music Hans Zimmer
Color/stereo
Cast:
Robert E. Howard Vincent D'Onofrio
Novalyne Price Renee Zellweger
Mrs. Howard Ann Wedgeworth
Dr. Howard Harve Presnell
Clyde Benjamin Mouton
Running time -- 111 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Howard, a highly idiosyncratic figure, lived with his parents in the small town of Cross Plains, Texas, in the 1930s, churning out fantasy, adventure and science-fiction tales at a ferocious pace. They appeared in various magazines specializing in pulp fiction, including Weird Tales and Amazing Stories. For several years, he was involved in an on-again, off-again relationship with the young teacher. Although their relationship ended with his death by suicide in 1936 (he was only 30), she wrote about it decades later in an acclaimed memoir, "One Who Walked Alone", upon which this movie is based.
Howard was an anti-social loner who was obsessed with his mother (played by Ann Wedgeworth) and who had the habit of loudly acting out his stories while writing them; he was considered more than a little odd by the townspeople. But he was endlessly fascinating to Novalyne, who aspired to be a writer herself. Their unconventional relationship, in which she wins his love but is unable to domesticate him or cure him of his demons, is detailed in Michael Scott Myers' episodic screenplay.
D'Onofrio, who has proved himself to be an intensely charismatic, highly physical and chameleon-like actor, is riveting as Howard. He beautifully expresses the writer's dual personalities: the socially inadequate, shy, fumbling gentleman and the blustery, confident figure who liked to imagine himself as his favorite character, Conan. Zellweger, who has the much less flashy role, is greatly impressive as Novalyne, who has more than a few contradictions of her own. Shifting effortlessly between the role's comic and more dramatic demands, she demonstrates a charm and range that bodes well for her upcoming co-starring role with Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire". Myers' screenplay is admirably subtle, although it does meander a bit too long in its storytelling; the film could benefit from some trimming. Dan Ireland's direction skillfully establishes the small-town Texas atmosphere and beautifully captures the nuances of an emotionally complex story.
THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD
A Sony Pictures Classics release
Presented by the Kushner-Locke Co.
in association with Cineville
Director Dan Ireland
Screenplay Michael Scott Myers
Executive producers Donald Kushner,
Peter Locke, Gregory Cascanate
Co-executive producer Robert Strauss
Producers Carl-Jan Colpaert, Dan Ireland,
Vincent D'Onofrio, Kevin Reidy
Director of photography Claudio Rocha
Editor Luis Colina
Music Hans Zimmer
Color/stereo
Cast:
Robert E. Howard Vincent D'Onofrio
Novalyne Price Renee Zellweger
Mrs. Howard Ann Wedgeworth
Dr. Howard Harve Presnell
Clyde Benjamin Mouton
Running time -- 111 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 11/4/1996
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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