Oscar-winning filmmaker Neil Jordan is to direct a feature based on one of his own novels for the first time.
“The Well of Saint Nobody,” adapted from “The Crying Game,” “Interview With the Vampire” and “Michael Collins” director’s acclaimed 2023 novel of the same name, will be introduced to buyers in Cannes by Bankside Films.
Oscar winner Jeremy Irons Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter and Aidan Quinn are attached to star in the film, currently in pre-production, and expected to start shooting later in 2024.
“The Well of Saint Nobody,” follows William, a famous concert pianist who retires to a rectory in West Cork, Ireland. There, he hires local woman, Tara, as a housekeeper who he has met three times yet forgotten all about her. While he remembers nothing of their previous meetings, she remembers everything. When an abandoned well is found on the property she shares legends of the well’s magical history with him,...
“The Well of Saint Nobody,” adapted from “The Crying Game,” “Interview With the Vampire” and “Michael Collins” director’s acclaimed 2023 novel of the same name, will be introduced to buyers in Cannes by Bankside Films.
Oscar winner Jeremy Irons Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter and Aidan Quinn are attached to star in the film, currently in pre-production, and expected to start shooting later in 2024.
“The Well of Saint Nobody,” follows William, a famous concert pianist who retires to a rectory in West Cork, Ireland. There, he hires local woman, Tara, as a housekeeper who he has met three times yet forgotten all about her. While he remembers nothing of their previous meetings, she remembers everything. When an abandoned well is found on the property she shares legends of the well’s magical history with him,...
- 5/6/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: MGM is repping sales on the new movie version of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, starring Jessica Lange, Ed Harris, Ben Foster and Colin Morgan.
As we reported Monday, filming has wrapped on the under-the-radar screen adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer prize-winning play.
Well known British theater and opera director, Jonathan Kent, has made his feature directorial debut on the project, which filmed in Ireland. Above is a first image from the production.
The project sees double Academy Award and five-time Golden Globe winner Lange reprise her 2016 Tony-winning Broadway role, also directed by Kent. She portrays the troubled, emotionally fragile and addiction-plagued Mary Tyrone. Four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris is her husband James, a celebrated actor but failed property magnate – and a man with fears and regrets deeply rooted in his impoverished beginnings.
Foster will play their wayward, charming and hard-drinking elder son, Jamie. And Colin...
As we reported Monday, filming has wrapped on the under-the-radar screen adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer prize-winning play.
Well known British theater and opera director, Jonathan Kent, has made his feature directorial debut on the project, which filmed in Ireland. Above is a first image from the production.
The project sees double Academy Award and five-time Golden Globe winner Lange reprise her 2016 Tony-winning Broadway role, also directed by Kent. She portrays the troubled, emotionally fragile and addiction-plagued Mary Tyrone. Four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris is her husband James, a celebrated actor but failed property magnate – and a man with fears and regrets deeply rooted in his impoverished beginnings.
Foster will play their wayward, charming and hard-drinking elder son, Jamie. And Colin...
- 11/30/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Filming has wrapped on an under-the-radar screen adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer prize-winning play, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, starring Jessica Lange, Ed Harris, Ben Foster and Colin Morgan.
Well known British theater and opera director, Jonathan Kent, has made his feature directorial debut on the project, which has been filming in Ireland. Above is a first image from the production.
The project sees double Academy Award and five-time Golden Globe winner Lange reprise her 2016 Tony-winning Broadway role, also directed by Kent. She portrays the troubled, emotionally fragile and addiction-plagued Mary Tyrone. Four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris is her husband James, a celebrated actor but failed property magnate – and a man with fears and regrets deeply rooted in his impoverished beginnings.
Foster will play their wayward, charming and hard-drinking elder son, Jamie. And Colin Morgan (Belfast) is the bleakly optimistic and consumptive younger son, Edmund – a portrait of O’Neill himself.
Well known British theater and opera director, Jonathan Kent, has made his feature directorial debut on the project, which has been filming in Ireland. Above is a first image from the production.
The project sees double Academy Award and five-time Golden Globe winner Lange reprise her 2016 Tony-winning Broadway role, also directed by Kent. She portrays the troubled, emotionally fragile and addiction-plagued Mary Tyrone. Four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris is her husband James, a celebrated actor but failed property magnate – and a man with fears and regrets deeply rooted in his impoverished beginnings.
Foster will play their wayward, charming and hard-drinking elder son, Jamie. And Colin Morgan (Belfast) is the bleakly optimistic and consumptive younger son, Edmund – a portrait of O’Neill himself.
- 11/28/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Storyboard Media and CAA Media Finance are launching sales on detective thriller Marlowe ahead of the Cannes virtual market, we can reveal.
Taken star Liam Neeson is set to lead the noir thriller about Raymond Chandler’s iconic detective Philip Marlowe with Oscar-winner Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) directing Oscar-winner William Monahan’s (The Departed) script.
The project has a great premise, one that Neeson could excel in. Based on the novel The Black-Eyed Blonde, the 1950’s-set film will see private detective Marlowe (Neeson) hired to find the ex-lover of a glamorous heiress. Initially it looks an open and shut case, but Marlowe soon finds himself in the underbelly of Hollywood’s film industry and unwittingly drawn into the crossfire of a legendary Hollywood actress and her subversive, ambitious daughter.
The project, which was first revealed in 2017, now has new impetus with producers and sellers taking the package to...
Taken star Liam Neeson is set to lead the noir thriller about Raymond Chandler’s iconic detective Philip Marlowe with Oscar-winner Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) directing Oscar-winner William Monahan’s (The Departed) script.
The project has a great premise, one that Neeson could excel in. Based on the novel The Black-Eyed Blonde, the 1950’s-set film will see private detective Marlowe (Neeson) hired to find the ex-lover of a glamorous heiress. Initially it looks an open and shut case, but Marlowe soon finds himself in the underbelly of Hollywood’s film industry and unwittingly drawn into the crossfire of a legendary Hollywood actress and her subversive, ambitious daughter.
The project, which was first revealed in 2017, now has new impetus with producers and sellers taking the package to...
- 6/8/2021
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Production earmarked for October; will take place in Los Angeles, Europe.
Liam Neeson will portray hardboiled detective Philip Marlowe in Neil Jordan’s Marlowe based on a screenplay by William Monahan, with Storyboard Media handling sales at the upcoming virtual Cannes market.
Storyboard Media, H2L Media, Nickel City Pictures and Parallel Film Productions are producing and have lined up an October start on production, which will take place in Los Angeles and Europe.
Monahan adapted the screenplay from the novel The Black-Eyed Blonde by Benjamin Black, the pseudonym of John Banville who received the blessing of the Raymond Chandler...
Liam Neeson will portray hardboiled detective Philip Marlowe in Neil Jordan’s Marlowe based on a screenplay by William Monahan, with Storyboard Media handling sales at the upcoming virtual Cannes market.
Storyboard Media, H2L Media, Nickel City Pictures and Parallel Film Productions are producing and have lined up an October start on production, which will take place in Los Angeles and Europe.
Monahan adapted the screenplay from the novel The Black-Eyed Blonde by Benjamin Black, the pseudonym of John Banville who received the blessing of the Raymond Chandler...
- 6/8/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Johnny Flynn (Stardust), Ben Chaplin (The Nevers), Ken Stott (The Hobbit) and Monica Dolan (Eye In The Sky) are joining Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes and Lily James in UK period feature The Dig.
Production is now underway in the UK on the drama, which is being financed and distributed by Netflix.
Set on the eve of WWII, The Dig follows a wealthy widow (Mulligan) who hires an amateur archaeologist (Fiennes) to excavate the burial mounds on her Sutton Hoo estate. When they make a historic discovery, the echoes of Britain’s past resonate in the face of it’s uncertain future.
Simon Stone (The Daughter), director of recent London stage hit Yerma with Billie Piper, is directing the movie from Philomena and The Duchess producer Gabrielle Tana. Ellie Wood, Clerkenwell Films’ Murray Ferguson and Carolyn Marks Blackwood are producing alongside Tana.
Moira Buffini (Harlots) adapted the screenplay based on John Preston’s book.
Production is now underway in the UK on the drama, which is being financed and distributed by Netflix.
Set on the eve of WWII, The Dig follows a wealthy widow (Mulligan) who hires an amateur archaeologist (Fiennes) to excavate the burial mounds on her Sutton Hoo estate. When they make a historic discovery, the echoes of Britain’s past resonate in the face of it’s uncertain future.
Simon Stone (The Daughter), director of recent London stage hit Yerma with Billie Piper, is directing the movie from Philomena and The Duchess producer Gabrielle Tana. Ellie Wood, Clerkenwell Films’ Murray Ferguson and Carolyn Marks Blackwood are producing alongside Tana.
Moira Buffini (Harlots) adapted the screenplay based on John Preston’s book.
- 10/8/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese nominated as ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ producers: Oscar 2014 (photo: Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’) According to a press release from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the producers nominated for the Martin Scorsese-directed satire-drama The Wolf of Wall Street are the following: Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joey McFarland, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff. Scorsese and DiCaprio are now double Oscar 2014 nominees; Scorsese was also shortlisted as Best Director, while DiCaprio is in the running as Best Actor. Update: Left out of the Oscar 2014 running is The Wolf of Wall Street‘s fifth credited producer, Riza Aziz, Joey McFarland’s partner at producing company Red Granite. Aziz, McFarland, and Koskoff had been the officially listed producers for the 2014 Producers Guild Awards; the Academy’s Producers Branch, however, chose to leave Aziz out while listing Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese in his place.
- 1/22/2014
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
Watch new clips from Brian Percival's The Book Thief starring Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson. 20th Century Fox distributes the drama adapted for the screen by Michael Petroni, based on the Markus Zisak novel. In The Book Thief, while subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel (played by Nélisse) finds some solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Ken Blancato and Karen Rosenfelt produce while Redmond Morris served as executive producer. The film opens November 8th, 2013.
- 11/5/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Check out this new clip from 20th Century Fox's The Book Thief, starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Sophie Nélisse, Ben Schnetzer, Nico Liersch, Joachim Paul Assböck, Kristen Block, Sandra Nedeleff and Rafael Gareisen. In The Book Thief, while subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel (played by Sophie Nélisse) finds some solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Brian Percival directs from the screenplay by Michael Petroni, based on the novel by Markus Zusak. Ken Blancato and Karen Rosenfelt prodice while Redmond Morris serves as executive producer.
- 10/30/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
This latest poster for The Book Thief really does stir emotions. Sophie Nélisse (Monsieur Lazhar, Esimésac) holds onto Geoffrey Rush with a pile of books burning in the rear. Brian Percival directs the upcoming release from 20th Century Fox adapted for the screen by Michael Petroni, based on the Markus Zusak novel. In The Book Thief, while subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel (played by Sophie Nélisse) finds some solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Ken Blancato and Karen Rosenfelt produce while Redmond Morris serves as executive producer.
- 10/10/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
See the first poster for 20th Century Fox's The Book Thief which is adapted from the novel by Markus Zusak. Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Sophie Nélisse, Ben Schnetzer, Nico Liersch, Joachim Paul Assböck, Kristen Block, Sandra Nedeleff and Rafael Gareisen star. Ken Blancato and Karen Rosenfelt produce while Redmond Morris serves as executive producer on the film which hits theaters from Nvoember 15th, 2013. In The Book Thief, while subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel (played by Sophie Nélisse) finds some solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Michael Petroni wrote the screenplay.
- 9/11/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Watch the trailer for The Book Thief , starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson and Sophie Nélisse. Brian Percival directs the 20th Century Fox release which follows young Liesel (Nélisse) who, while subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, finds some solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Also in the cast are Ben Schnetzer, Nico Liersch, Joachim Paul Assböck, Kristen Block, Sandra Nedeleff and Rafael Gareisen. The film is adapted from the Markus Zusak book by Michael Petroni, and opens in theaters from November 15th. Ken Blancato and Karen Rosenfelt produce while Redmond Morris serves as executive producer.
- 8/21/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Check out the first images we've added from The Book Thief adaptation, starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson and Sophie Nélisse. The Brian Percival film opens November 15th via 20th Century Fox and follows young Liesel (Nélisse) who, while subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, finds some solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Also in the cast are Ben Schnetzer, Nico Liersch, Joachim Paul Assböck, Kristen Block, Sandra Nedeleff and Rafael Gareisen. Pic is produced by Ken Blancato and Karen Rosenfelt, and executive produced by Redmond Morris.
- 8/8/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
BAFTA Headquarters in London plays host to the opening of the Irish Film and Television Academy's (Ifta) UK initiative, Ifta London. A wealth of Irish and British talent attended this inaugural event, including producers Redmond Morris ('The Reader'), MacDara Kelleher (Fastnet Films), Rebecca O'Flanagan (Treasure/Rubicon), Jo Gilbert (Spinster Films) and Tommy Collins ('Kings'), directors Jim Sheridan ('Dream House', 'My Left Foot'), Dearbhla Walsh ('The Silence', 'Little Dorrit') actors Ciaran Hinds and Robert Sheehan (both coming from West End theatre rehearsals) and actress Kelly Campbell ('One Hundred Mornings').
- 9/1/2011
- IFTN
Mary Hanafin Td, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport last weekend visited the set of the feature film 'Neverland' which is currently in production in Ireland. As Iftn readers will be aware, 'Neverland' is one of several film and TV productions filming in Ireland this year which will be exported to audiences around the globe. Furthermore it is estimated that, despite the global financial downturn, the entire film and television industry will contribute an estimated €200 million to the Irish economy in 2010 in terms of spend on local goods, employment and services. Produced by Alan Moloney (Triage) and Redmond Morris (The Reader), 'Neverland' is the first original mini-series commission for Sky Movies HD, and is written and directed by Nick Willing (Alice). The film stars BAFTA winner Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill), Golden Globe nominee Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies) and Oscar nominee, Bob Hoskins (Made in...
- 9/28/2010
- IFTN
Cameras will roll at the end of this week on the Dublin set of Parallel Films' 'Neverland' a two-part prequel to the Peter Pan story commissioned by Sky Movies HD starring Oscar nominee Bob Hoskins (Hook, Made in Dagenham), Golden Globe nominee Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies, Bathory) and BAFTA nominee Rhys Ifans (Not Only but Always). The 2 x 90 minute project, the first original feature length commission for Sky Movies HD, is written and directed by Nick Willing (Alice, Tin Man). The Irish producers on board include Redmond Morris (The Reader, Notes on a Scandal) and Alan Moloney (Triage, Intermission) for Ireland's Parallel Films on behalf of Mng Films and in association with Syfy and Sky Movies.
- 9/8/2010
- IFTN
Cologne, Germany – Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet," Danny Boyle's Oscar champ "Slumdog Millionaire" and Palme d'Or winner "The White Ribbon" from Austrian director Michael Haneke are the front-runners in a crowded field at this year's European Film Awards.
Audiard's hard-hitting French prison tale, Haneke's austere black-and-white period piece and Boyle's Mumbai-based story of rags-to-riches all picked up nominations in the European film, European director, European screenwriter and European cinematographer categories.
"A Prophet" leads the pack with six nominations, including ones for star Tahar Rahim in the European actor category and an Efa Prix d'Excellence nomination for sound design.
Also in the running for best European film 2009 are Stephen Daldry's Oscar winner "The Reader," Scottish director Andrea Arnold's kitchen sink drama "Fish Tank" and Tomas Alfredson's Swedish vampire film "Let the Right One In."
Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces" was shut out of the best film lineup,...
Audiard's hard-hitting French prison tale, Haneke's austere black-and-white period piece and Boyle's Mumbai-based story of rags-to-riches all picked up nominations in the European film, European director, European screenwriter and European cinematographer categories.
"A Prophet" leads the pack with six nominations, including ones for star Tahar Rahim in the European actor category and an Efa Prix d'Excellence nomination for sound design.
Also in the running for best European film 2009 are Stephen Daldry's Oscar winner "The Reader," Scottish director Andrea Arnold's kitchen sink drama "Fish Tank" and Tomas Alfredson's Swedish vampire film "Let the Right One In."
Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces" was shut out of the best film lineup,...
- 11/8/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Irish producer Redmond Morris (The Reader) will be attending the Galway Film Fleadh this Saturday, 11 July, to participate in an "In Conversation With…" special event organised by the Fleadh and the Irish Film & Television Academy (Ifta). Iftn catches up with Morris ahead of the event. Redmond Morris, who grew up in Spiddal, Co. Galway, has become one of Ireland's most successful producers working on a variety of high profile productions. In the very early days of the Irish film industry, Morris' father, Michael Killanin, worked closely with John Ford on films such as 'The Quiet Man' and this initial introduction fuelled his passion for filmmaking.
- 7/9/2009
- IFTN
Yesterday came the yearly announcement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as it extended 134 invitations to several artists and executives "who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures" read the press release. Of course all of them can decline, but I wouldn't necessarily expect that to happen as all who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2009 to the Academy's roster of voting members. "These filmmakers have, over the course of their careers, captured the imagination of audiences around the world," said Academy President Sid Ganis. "It's this kind of talent and creativity that make up the Academy, and I welcome each of them to our ranks." The list follows below and reading around the best analysis I saw of it came from Nathaniel Rogers at The Film Experience who, among other things, pointed out the addition of longtime Darren Aronofsky's...
- 7/1/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
On Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued invitations to 134 members of the film community to join the group. There were a maximum of 166 open slots to fill this year, but the various branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them.
Hugh Jackman, who hosted the most recent Oscar show, has been invited to join. So have Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, James Franco and Michelle Williams. The list even includes a number of comic performers like Michael Cera, Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd.
Voting membership in the organization has held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003.
New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception at the Academy's Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills in September.
"These filmmakers have, over the course of their careers, captured the imagination of audiences around the world," Academy president Sid Ganis. Said. "It's...
Hugh Jackman, who hosted the most recent Oscar show, has been invited to join. So have Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, James Franco and Michelle Williams. The list even includes a number of comic performers like Michael Cera, Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd.
Voting membership in the organization has held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003.
New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception at the Academy's Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills in September.
"These filmmakers have, over the course of their careers, captured the imagination of audiences around the world," Academy president Sid Ganis. Said. "It's...
- 6/30/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
London -- Keira Knightley and Colin Farrell have joined Oscar-winning scribe William Monahan's directorial debut, "London Boulevard," which begins filming in the British capital this week.
The duo join David Thewlis, Anna Friel, Ben Chaplin and Ray Winstone in the film, which Monahan adapted from author Ken Bruen's novel.
The movie centers on a London criminal newly released from prison who becomes involved with a reclusive young actress.
"Boulevard" is produced by Graham King under his Gk Films banner alongside Monahan, former MGM executive Quentin Curtis and Tim Headington.
Monahan and King, who won Oscars after teaming on Martin Scorsese's "The Departed," most recently worked together on the thriller "Edge of Darkness" starring Mel Gibson.
Curtis, former MGM vp production, has a number of films in development, including "The Jury," to be directed by Marc Forster for Fox 2000, and "Getty," with Peter Berg attached to helm for Universal.
The duo join David Thewlis, Anna Friel, Ben Chaplin and Ray Winstone in the film, which Monahan adapted from author Ken Bruen's novel.
The movie centers on a London criminal newly released from prison who becomes involved with a reclusive young actress.
"Boulevard" is produced by Graham King under his Gk Films banner alongside Monahan, former MGM executive Quentin Curtis and Tim Headington.
Monahan and King, who won Oscars after teaming on Martin Scorsese's "The Departed," most recently worked together on the thriller "Edge of Darkness" starring Mel Gibson.
Curtis, former MGM vp production, has a number of films in development, including "The Jury," to be directed by Marc Forster for Fox 2000, and "Getty," with Peter Berg attached to helm for Universal.
- 6/10/2009
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- At the beginning of every month, Ioncinema.com's "Tracking Shot" features six projects that are moments away from lensing and that we feel are worth signaling out. This June (2009), we are keeping tabs on: John Cameron Mitchell's third film with Kidman and Eckhart on board to star, Sofia Coppola shacks up in another hotel this time in Los Angeles and Steven Soderbergh will be scouting stadiums not that far away. Across the pound Abdellatif Kechiche begins filming Black Venus and the U.K will see William Monahan make his directorial debut with London Boulevard and Nigel Cole directs Sally Hawkins in a drama that reminds me of North Country. Not featured, but worth the mention: Robert Rodriguez is taking on a trailer turned feature length film project Machete in Austin. * Black Venus Director: Abdellatif Kechiche - Screenwriter: Kechiche and Ghalya Laroix Producer(s): MK2's Charles Gillibert,
- 6/1/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Fox Searchlight Pictures' "Slumdog Millionaire" has almost completely swept the Oscars® with awards including Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Picture and both original song and score music categories. Other notable wins included: - Sean Penn who took home the Best Actor award, his second after 2004's "Mystic River."- Heath Ledger for his astounding performance in Warner Bros. Pictures' "The Dark Knight"- Kate Winslet - Once again for her work in "The Reader" after a two Golden Globe's earned for "Revolutionary Road" and "The Reader"- Penelope Cruz - In Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" comedy As announced, here are the winners (noted in bold) of the 2009 Academy Awards which were announced on Sunday, February 22nd. Performance by an actor in a leading role Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films) Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal) Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features) Brad Pitt in...
- 2/23/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is bending its rules to allow The Reader's four producers - including late filmmakers Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack - to contend for a Best Picture Oscar. The Kate Winslet movie, nominated for five Oscars this year, was the final project for Pollack and Minghella, who both died before the film wrapped.
But when the nominations were announced last Thursday (22Jan), the Best Picture ballot read "to be determined" in place of a list of the film's four producers - because the Academy doesn't recognise more than three per film for the gong, after a crew of producers crowded the stage when Shakespeare in Love won in 1998.
After protests over the exclusion of producers from 2006's Little Miss Sunshine, the organisation revised the restriction to allow more than three producers under "a rare and extraordinary circumstance".
And after a meeting the executive committee decided that The Reader's Minghella and Pollack will be eligible for the honour, alongside Donna Gigliotti and Redmond Morris.
The Academy says in a statement released Tuesday: "In the end, the committee determined that the circumstances of 'The Reader' - in which the two original producers (Minghella and Pollack) both died partway through the process - met its definition of 'rare and extraordinary' and that all four submitted individuals should be named as nominees."
Minghella died in March following an operation on his neck, while Pollack passed away in May after a short battle with stomach cancer.
But when the nominations were announced last Thursday (22Jan), the Best Picture ballot read "to be determined" in place of a list of the film's four producers - because the Academy doesn't recognise more than three per film for the gong, after a crew of producers crowded the stage when Shakespeare in Love won in 1998.
After protests over the exclusion of producers from 2006's Little Miss Sunshine, the organisation revised the restriction to allow more than three producers under "a rare and extraordinary circumstance".
And after a meeting the executive committee decided that The Reader's Minghella and Pollack will be eligible for the honour, alongside Donna Gigliotti and Redmond Morris.
The Academy says in a statement released Tuesday: "In the end, the committee determined that the circumstances of 'The Reader' - in which the two original producers (Minghella and Pollack) both died partway through the process - met its definition of 'rare and extraordinary' and that all four submitted individuals should be named as nominees."
Minghella died in March following an operation on his neck, while Pollack passed away in May after a short battle with stomach cancer.
- 1/28/2009
- WENN
When nominations for the Oscars were announced last Thursday, "The Reader" pulled off quite the surprise earning five nods: actress (Kate Winslet), director (Stephen Daldry), adapted screenplay (playwright David Hare), cinematography (Roger Deakins and Chris Menges), and best picture. However, at that time, there were no names listed next to this last nomination. Explains the academy in a news release issued today: "Because four producers were listed on the credits form submitted for Oscar consideration and Academy rules allow for only three producers — except in 'a rare and extraordinary circumstance' — to be nominated and potentially receive Oscar statuettes, a meeting of the executive committee was necessary."
The executive committee of the producers branch has met and decided that the deaths of two of the listed producers — Oscar winning directors Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient," 1996) and Sydney Pollack ("Out of Africa," 1985) — warranted the invocation of an exception and, as such, these...
The executive committee of the producers branch has met and decided that the deaths of two of the listed producers — Oscar winning directors Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient," 1996) and Sydney Pollack ("Out of Africa," 1985) — warranted the invocation of an exception and, as such, these...
- 1/28/2009
- by tomoneil
- Gold Derby
I doubt many of you cared or even thought twice of it when during the 2009 Oscar nominations Forrest Whitaker announced The Reader as a Best Picture nominee and when it came time to announce the producers he said, "Nominees to be announced." The reason this happened is because the Academy has one hell of an arbitrary and pointless rule when it comes to producers listed for a Best Picture contender and that is the list must be no more than three names. This situation last popped up when Little Miss Sunshine was nominated and producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa were not included on the list of nominees as a result of this rule. Well, The Reader ran into a similar pickle and IndieWire (via InContention) has the results: Producer credits for Academy Award Best Picture nominee The Reader have been determined by the Producers Branch Executive Committee of the...
- 1/27/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Colin Farrell (In Bruges) will join Keira Knightley (The Duchess) to star in the crime drama 'London Boulevard' to be helmed by 'The Departed' writer William Monahan. The film is an adaptation of the book by Irish author Ken Bruen. 'London Boulevard' is scheduled to start shooting in London this summer. Farrell will play a London criminal who tries to put his gangster past behind him by taking up a handyman job for a young actress. Irish Producer Redmond Morris (The Reader) is to produce. Farrell who picked up a Golden Globe last week for 'In Bruges' and is also nominated for an Ifta for the same role is due to star with fellow Irish actor Saoirse Ronan in Patrick's Weirs 'The Way Back', which begins filming in March in Bulgaria.
- 1/26/2009
- IFTN
London -- Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" and David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" led all comers with 11 noms each as the contenders for the 2009 Orange British Academy Film Awards were revealed Thursday.
Golden Globe best pic winner "Slumdog" kept its awards momentum going, securing nominations in every major category including best film, director, lead actor (Dev Patel) and supporting actress (Freida Pinto). "Slumdog" also has been picked to compete in the best British film category.
"Button's" noms include best film and director, while leading man Brad Pitt is a double nominee, picking up a lead actor nomination for his title role in the Fincher pic and a supporting actor nom for his turn in the Coen brothers' "Burn After Reading."
"Slumdog" and "Button" will compete for best film with "Frost/Nixon," "Milk" and "The Reader," while Boyle and Fincher will battle it out with Ron Howard...
Golden Globe best pic winner "Slumdog" kept its awards momentum going, securing nominations in every major category including best film, director, lead actor (Dev Patel) and supporting actress (Freida Pinto). "Slumdog" also has been picked to compete in the best British film category.
"Button's" noms include best film and director, while leading man Brad Pitt is a double nominee, picking up a lead actor nomination for his title role in the Fincher pic and a supporting actor nom for his turn in the Coen brothers' "Burn After Reading."
"Slumdog" and "Button" will compete for best film with "Frost/Nixon," "Milk" and "The Reader," while Boyle and Fincher will battle it out with Ron Howard...
- 1/15/2009
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 2009 BAFTA Award nominees have been announced and Slumdog Millionaire, along with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, leads the way with 11 nominations with The Dark Knight close behind with nine. However, at the top of the pile it is immediately noticeable that The Dark Knight did not get a Best Film nomination as all the usual suspects are there, but The Reader is added to the pack as one of its five nominations. Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) is considered a lead actor at the BAFTAs and earns a nomination in the category while he is competing Stateside for a Supporting nom. I believe he is more of a lead actor than a supporting, but Fox Searchlight obviously sees the supporting category as the easier place to get him a nomination and has pushed him in the category as a result. Other than that, the usuals are there with Brad Pitt earning a nomination,...
- 1/15/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Screened
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Much admired by Charles Bukowski and occupying a hallowed place in the literature of Los Angeles, John Fante's slender 1939 novel "Ask the Dust" pulses with the bruised but hopeful poetry of outsiders' yearnings. The love-hate romance at its center involves not only the tug of war between writer Arturo Bandini and waitress Camilla Lopez but the tension between WASP America and the rest of us, self-realization and shame, the skyward-reaching city and the wild natural continent.
Screenwriter Robert Towne, a great chronicler of Los Angeles in "Chinatown" and "Shampoo", would seem the perfect big-screen translator of the influential book, here taking the helm as well as scripting. To an extent he is, but Towne also inexplicably softens the story's noir edge, lapsing into melodrama and hammering at his themes instead of delving deeper into his characters. Despite what are likely to be mixed reviews, the project's literary/cinematic pedigree and topliners Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek will be certain lures when the film opens March 10 in limited release, after its world premiere at the Santa Barbara fest.
Towne's fourth directorial outing is an exceptionally handsome evocation of 1930s Los Angeles (shot in South Africa), with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel ("The Passion of the Christ") casting the proceedings in a burnished desert glow, a dreamy grit like the Mojave sand that permeates the city streets. The film is faithful to the book's tone of dark ache and much of its detail and for the most part terrifically cast. But Towne can't overcome an essential challenge of the material: Arturo and Camilla are constructs and ciphers as much as they are vivid characters -- difficult roles, to be sure. Neither the screenplay nor the actors manage to get far under their skin.
The story opens as Arturo Bandini (Farrell), subsisting on oranges and cigarettes and six weeks in arrears on his $4-a-week rent, ponders what to do with his last nickel. It has been five months since the good-looking young man arrived in L.A. from Colorado, with high hopes, an Underwood and a suitcase full of copies of his one published story. Determined to be a great writer of fiction, he rents a furnished room at the Alta Loma, a residential hotel built against the slope of Bunker Hill.
Arturo meets Mexican beauty Camilla when she's waiting tables at the Columbia Cafe, the downtown establishment where he spends that last nickel on an a cup of undrinkable joe. Their attraction quickly finds expression in cruelty. With a pointed stare at the huaraches in which Camilla glides about the dining room, Arturo takes great pleasure in shaking her out of her haughty self-confidence, arousing her shame about not being a "real" American. A pas de deux of one-upmanship begins, each expertly finding the other's sore spots -- easy to do when their insecurities are nearly identical. In the unenlightened parlance of the day, Camilla and Italian-American Arturo are both "spicks," a point Towne's script stresses repeatedly. It also adds an excruciating bit of business in which Arturo teaches Camilla to read English.
Towne's grasp of the story's existential core is shaky, but he turns the story's central romantic episode into a piece of exquisite cinema: Arturo and Camilla rushing naked into the moonlit Santa Monica surf, their exultation quickly turning to angry tussling. With haunting imagery, Deschanel captures the beauty of the two leads, tossed by the silver waves.
Farrell puts across the conflicted, virginal Catholic boy beneath the swagger, pretending to be worldly while fearfully resisting the more experienced Camilla's bold overtures. The film doesn't shy away from the ugliness of their strange courtship, but their games grow tiresome and never accrue much emotional weight. Losing steam in stretches of flat melodrama, the film lapses into bathos, nearly veering into "Love Story" territory.
Playing a character quite a bit younger than herself, Hayek has never looked more beautiful, and Camilla's tempestuous spirit finds full expression in her performance. Still, the sense of who Camilla is doesn't deepen as the story progresses. For his part, Farrell often struggles to indicate anything beyond observer Arturo's surface reactions, and the character remains opaque, even in a disturbing interlude with Vera Rivkin. Idina Menzel ("Rent") is heartbreaking as the wounded soul who sweeps into Arturo's room like a Santa Ana, all devouring gaze.
There are plenty of tantalizing performances at the edges of the narrative, especially the wonderful, pitch-perfect work by Donald Sutherland (who starred 30 years ago in the film adaptation of another revered L.A. novel, "Day of the Locust"), playing Arturo's dissolute neighbor Hellfrick. Eileen Atkins contributes a nuanced cameo as the landlady with a distaste for Mexicans and Jews, and Jeremy Crutchley makes an impression as informative barkeep Solomon. Providing the amused, avuncular voice of real-life American Mercury editor H.L. Mencken, Arturoıs benefactor and deity, is real-life critic Richard Schickel.
Towne and Deschanel never lose sight of Los Angeles as a naive, impermanent interloper, most dramatically in an earthquake sequence full of buckling pavement and crumbling buildings. The South African landscape is an evocative if not an accurate substitute (there's nary a Joshua Tree in sight). Dennis Gassner's production design and Albert Wolsky's costumes re-create the period with fittingly subdued detail, as does the music of Ramin Djawadi and Heitor Pereira.
ASK THE DUST
Paramount Classics
in association with Capitol Films a Cruise/Wagner, VIP Medienfonds 3, Ascendant production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Robert Towne
Based on the novel by: John Fante
Producers: Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner, Don Granger, Jonas McCord
Executive producers: Redmond Morris, Mark Roemmich, David Selvan, Andreas Schmid, Andy Grosch, Chris Roberts
Director of photography: Caleb Deschanel
Production designer: Dennis Gassner
Music: Ramin Djawadi, Heitor Pereira
Co-producers: Galit Hakmon McCord, Kia Jam, Andreas Schmid
Costume designer: Albert Wolsky
Editor: Robert K. Lambert
Cast:
Arturo Bandini: Colin Farrell
Camilla Lopez: Salma Hayek
Hellfrick: Donald Sutherland
Eileen Atkins
Vera Rivkin: Idina Menzel
Sammy: Justin Kirk
Solomon: Jeremy Crutchley
Voice of Mencken: Richard Schickel
MPAA rating R
Running time --117 minutes...
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Much admired by Charles Bukowski and occupying a hallowed place in the literature of Los Angeles, John Fante's slender 1939 novel "Ask the Dust" pulses with the bruised but hopeful poetry of outsiders' yearnings. The love-hate romance at its center involves not only the tug of war between writer Arturo Bandini and waitress Camilla Lopez but the tension between WASP America and the rest of us, self-realization and shame, the skyward-reaching city and the wild natural continent.
Screenwriter Robert Towne, a great chronicler of Los Angeles in "Chinatown" and "Shampoo", would seem the perfect big-screen translator of the influential book, here taking the helm as well as scripting. To an extent he is, but Towne also inexplicably softens the story's noir edge, lapsing into melodrama and hammering at his themes instead of delving deeper into his characters. Despite what are likely to be mixed reviews, the project's literary/cinematic pedigree and topliners Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek will be certain lures when the film opens March 10 in limited release, after its world premiere at the Santa Barbara fest.
Towne's fourth directorial outing is an exceptionally handsome evocation of 1930s Los Angeles (shot in South Africa), with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel ("The Passion of the Christ") casting the proceedings in a burnished desert glow, a dreamy grit like the Mojave sand that permeates the city streets. The film is faithful to the book's tone of dark ache and much of its detail and for the most part terrifically cast. But Towne can't overcome an essential challenge of the material: Arturo and Camilla are constructs and ciphers as much as they are vivid characters -- difficult roles, to be sure. Neither the screenplay nor the actors manage to get far under their skin.
The story opens as Arturo Bandini (Farrell), subsisting on oranges and cigarettes and six weeks in arrears on his $4-a-week rent, ponders what to do with his last nickel. It has been five months since the good-looking young man arrived in L.A. from Colorado, with high hopes, an Underwood and a suitcase full of copies of his one published story. Determined to be a great writer of fiction, he rents a furnished room at the Alta Loma, a residential hotel built against the slope of Bunker Hill.
Arturo meets Mexican beauty Camilla when she's waiting tables at the Columbia Cafe, the downtown establishment where he spends that last nickel on an a cup of undrinkable joe. Their attraction quickly finds expression in cruelty. With a pointed stare at the huaraches in which Camilla glides about the dining room, Arturo takes great pleasure in shaking her out of her haughty self-confidence, arousing her shame about not being a "real" American. A pas de deux of one-upmanship begins, each expertly finding the other's sore spots -- easy to do when their insecurities are nearly identical. In the unenlightened parlance of the day, Camilla and Italian-American Arturo are both "spicks," a point Towne's script stresses repeatedly. It also adds an excruciating bit of business in which Arturo teaches Camilla to read English.
Towne's grasp of the story's existential core is shaky, but he turns the story's central romantic episode into a piece of exquisite cinema: Arturo and Camilla rushing naked into the moonlit Santa Monica surf, their exultation quickly turning to angry tussling. With haunting imagery, Deschanel captures the beauty of the two leads, tossed by the silver waves.
Farrell puts across the conflicted, virginal Catholic boy beneath the swagger, pretending to be worldly while fearfully resisting the more experienced Camilla's bold overtures. The film doesn't shy away from the ugliness of their strange courtship, but their games grow tiresome and never accrue much emotional weight. Losing steam in stretches of flat melodrama, the film lapses into bathos, nearly veering into "Love Story" territory.
Playing a character quite a bit younger than herself, Hayek has never looked more beautiful, and Camilla's tempestuous spirit finds full expression in her performance. Still, the sense of who Camilla is doesn't deepen as the story progresses. For his part, Farrell often struggles to indicate anything beyond observer Arturo's surface reactions, and the character remains opaque, even in a disturbing interlude with Vera Rivkin. Idina Menzel ("Rent") is heartbreaking as the wounded soul who sweeps into Arturo's room like a Santa Ana, all devouring gaze.
There are plenty of tantalizing performances at the edges of the narrative, especially the wonderful, pitch-perfect work by Donald Sutherland (who starred 30 years ago in the film adaptation of another revered L.A. novel, "Day of the Locust"), playing Arturo's dissolute neighbor Hellfrick. Eileen Atkins contributes a nuanced cameo as the landlady with a distaste for Mexicans and Jews, and Jeremy Crutchley makes an impression as informative barkeep Solomon. Providing the amused, avuncular voice of real-life American Mercury editor H.L. Mencken, Arturoıs benefactor and deity, is real-life critic Richard Schickel.
Towne and Deschanel never lose sight of Los Angeles as a naive, impermanent interloper, most dramatically in an earthquake sequence full of buckling pavement and crumbling buildings. The South African landscape is an evocative if not an accurate substitute (there's nary a Joshua Tree in sight). Dennis Gassner's production design and Albert Wolsky's costumes re-create the period with fittingly subdued detail, as does the music of Ramin Djawadi and Heitor Pereira.
ASK THE DUST
Paramount Classics
in association with Capitol Films a Cruise/Wagner, VIP Medienfonds 3, Ascendant production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Robert Towne
Based on the novel by: John Fante
Producers: Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner, Don Granger, Jonas McCord
Executive producers: Redmond Morris, Mark Roemmich, David Selvan, Andreas Schmid, Andy Grosch, Chris Roberts
Director of photography: Caleb Deschanel
Production designer: Dennis Gassner
Music: Ramin Djawadi, Heitor Pereira
Co-producers: Galit Hakmon McCord, Kia Jam, Andreas Schmid
Costume designer: Albert Wolsky
Editor: Robert K. Lambert
Cast:
Arturo Bandini: Colin Farrell
Camilla Lopez: Salma Hayek
Hellfrick: Donald Sutherland
Eileen Atkins
Vera Rivkin: Idina Menzel
Sammy: Justin Kirk
Solomon: Jeremy Crutchley
Voice of Mencken: Richard Schickel
MPAA rating R
Running time --117 minutes...
Screened
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Much admired by Charles Bukowski and occupying a hallowed place in the literature of Los Angeles, John Fante's slender 1939 novel "Ask the Dust" pulses with the bruised but hopeful poetry of outsiders' yearnings. The love-hate romance at its center involves not only the tug of war between writer Arturo Bandini and waitress Camilla Lopez but the tension between WASP America and the rest of us, self-realization and shame, the skyward-reaching city and the wild natural continent.
Screenwriter Robert Towne, a great chronicler of Los Angeles in "Chinatown" and "Shampoo", would seem the perfect big-screen translator of the influential book, here taking the helm as well as scripting. To an extent he is, but Towne also inexplicably softens the story's noir edge, lapsing into melodrama and hammering at his themes instead of delving deeper into his characters. Despite what are likely to be mixed reviews, the project's literary/cinematic pedigree and topliners Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek will be certain lures when the film opens March 10 in limited release, after its world premiere at the Santa Barbara fest.
Towne's fourth directorial outing is an exceptionally handsome evocation of 1930s Los Angeles (shot in South Africa), with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel ("The Passion of the Christ") casting the proceedings in a burnished desert glow, a dreamy grit like the Mojave sand that permeates the city streets. The film is faithful to the book's tone of dark ache and much of its detail and for the most part terrifically cast. But Towne can't overcome an essential challenge of the material: Arturo and Camilla are constructs and ciphers as much as they are vivid characters -- difficult roles, to be sure. Neither the screenplay nor the actors manage to get far under their skin.
The story opens as Arturo Bandini (Farrell), subsisting on oranges and cigarettes and six weeks in arrears on his $4-a-week rent, ponders what to do with his last nickel. It has been five months since the good-looking young man arrived in L.A. from Colorado, with high hopes, an Underwood and a suitcase full of copies of his one published story. Determined to be a great writer of fiction, he rents a furnished room at the Alta Loma, a residential hotel built against the slope of Bunker Hill.
Arturo meets Mexican beauty Camilla when she's waiting tables at the Columbia Cafe, the downtown establishment where he spends that last nickel on an a cup of undrinkable joe. Their attraction quickly finds expression in cruelty. With a pointed stare at the huaraches in which Camilla glides about the dining room, Arturo takes great pleasure in shaking her out of her haughty self-confidence, arousing her shame about not being a "real" American. A pas de deux of one-upmanship begins, each expertly finding the other's sore spots -- easy to do when their insecurities are nearly identical. In the unenlightened parlance of the day, Camilla and Italian-American Arturo are both "spicks," a point Towne's script stresses repeatedly. It also adds an excruciating bit of business in which Arturo teaches Camilla to read English.
Towne's grasp of the story's existential core is shaky, but he turns the story's central romantic episode into a piece of exquisite cinema: Arturo and Camilla rushing naked into the moonlit Santa Monica surf, their exultation quickly turning to angry tussling. With haunting imagery, Deschanel captures the beauty of the two leads, tossed by the silver waves.
Farrell puts across the conflicted, virginal Catholic boy beneath the swagger, pretending to be worldly while fearfully resisting the more experienced Camilla's bold overtures. The film doesn't shy away from the ugliness of their strange courtship, but their games grow tiresome and never accrue much emotional weight. Losing steam in stretches of flat melodrama, the film lapses into bathos, nearly veering into "Love Story" territory.
Playing a character quite a bit younger than herself, Hayek has never looked more beautiful, and Camilla's tempestuous spirit finds full expression in her performance. Still, the sense of who Camilla is doesn't deepen as the story progresses. For his part, Farrell often struggles to indicate anything beyond observer Arturo's surface reactions, and the character remains opaque, even in a disturbing interlude with Vera Rivkin. Idina Menzel ("Rent") is heartbreaking as the wounded soul who sweeps into Arturo's room like a Santa Ana, all devouring gaze.
There are plenty of tantalizing performances at the edges of the narrative, especially the wonderful, pitch-perfect work by Donald Sutherland (who starred 30 years ago in the film adaptation of another revered L.A. novel, "Day of the Locust"), playing Arturo's dissolute neighbor Hellfrick. Eileen Atkins contributes a nuanced cameo as the landlady with a distaste for Mexicans and Jews, and Jeremy Crutchley makes an impression as informative barkeep Solomon. Providing the amused, avuncular voice of real-life American Mercury editor H.L. Mencken, Arturoıs benefactor and deity, is real-life critic Richard Schickel.
Towne and Deschanel never lose sight of Los Angeles as a naive, impermanent interloper, most dramatically in an earthquake sequence full of buckling pavement and crumbling buildings. The South African landscape is an evocative if not an accurate substitute (there's nary a Joshua Tree in sight). Dennis Gassner's production design and Albert Wolsky's costumes re-create the period with fittingly subdued detail, as does the music of Ramin Djawadi and Heitor Pereira.
ASK THE DUST
Paramount Classics
in association with Capitol Films a Cruise/Wagner, VIP Medienfonds 3, Ascendant production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Robert Towne
Based on the novel by: John Fante
Producers: Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner, Don Granger, Jonas McCord
Executive producers: Redmond Morris, Mark Roemmich, David Selvan, Andreas Schmid, Andy Grosch, Chris Roberts
Director of photography: Caleb Deschanel
Production designer: Dennis Gassner
Music: Ramin Djawadi, Heitor Pereira
Co-producers: Galit Hakmon McCord, Kia Jam, Andreas Schmid
Costume designer: Albert Wolsky
Editor: Robert K. Lambert
Cast:
Arturo Bandini: Colin Farrell
Camilla Lopez: Salma Hayek
Hellfrick: Donald Sutherland
Eileen Atkins
Vera Rivkin: Idina Menzel
Sammy: Justin Kirk
Solomon: Jeremy Crutchley
Voice of Mencken: Richard Schickel
MPAA rating R
Running time --117 minutes...
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Much admired by Charles Bukowski and occupying a hallowed place in the literature of Los Angeles, John Fante's slender 1939 novel "Ask the Dust" pulses with the bruised but hopeful poetry of outsiders' yearnings. The love-hate romance at its center involves not only the tug of war between writer Arturo Bandini and waitress Camilla Lopez but the tension between WASP America and the rest of us, self-realization and shame, the skyward-reaching city and the wild natural continent.
Screenwriter Robert Towne, a great chronicler of Los Angeles in "Chinatown" and "Shampoo", would seem the perfect big-screen translator of the influential book, here taking the helm as well as scripting. To an extent he is, but Towne also inexplicably softens the story's noir edge, lapsing into melodrama and hammering at his themes instead of delving deeper into his characters. Despite what are likely to be mixed reviews, the project's literary/cinematic pedigree and topliners Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek will be certain lures when the film opens March 10 in limited release, after its world premiere at the Santa Barbara fest.
Towne's fourth directorial outing is an exceptionally handsome evocation of 1930s Los Angeles (shot in South Africa), with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel ("The Passion of the Christ") casting the proceedings in a burnished desert glow, a dreamy grit like the Mojave sand that permeates the city streets. The film is faithful to the book's tone of dark ache and much of its detail and for the most part terrifically cast. But Towne can't overcome an essential challenge of the material: Arturo and Camilla are constructs and ciphers as much as they are vivid characters -- difficult roles, to be sure. Neither the screenplay nor the actors manage to get far under their skin.
The story opens as Arturo Bandini (Farrell), subsisting on oranges and cigarettes and six weeks in arrears on his $4-a-week rent, ponders what to do with his last nickel. It has been five months since the good-looking young man arrived in L.A. from Colorado, with high hopes, an Underwood and a suitcase full of copies of his one published story. Determined to be a great writer of fiction, he rents a furnished room at the Alta Loma, a residential hotel built against the slope of Bunker Hill.
Arturo meets Mexican beauty Camilla when she's waiting tables at the Columbia Cafe, the downtown establishment where he spends that last nickel on an a cup of undrinkable joe. Their attraction quickly finds expression in cruelty. With a pointed stare at the huaraches in which Camilla glides about the dining room, Arturo takes great pleasure in shaking her out of her haughty self-confidence, arousing her shame about not being a "real" American. A pas de deux of one-upmanship begins, each expertly finding the other's sore spots -- easy to do when their insecurities are nearly identical. In the unenlightened parlance of the day, Camilla and Italian-American Arturo are both "spicks," a point Towne's script stresses repeatedly. It also adds an excruciating bit of business in which Arturo teaches Camilla to read English.
Towne's grasp of the story's existential core is shaky, but he turns the story's central romantic episode into a piece of exquisite cinema: Arturo and Camilla rushing naked into the moonlit Santa Monica surf, their exultation quickly turning to angry tussling. With haunting imagery, Deschanel captures the beauty of the two leads, tossed by the silver waves.
Farrell puts across the conflicted, virginal Catholic boy beneath the swagger, pretending to be worldly while fearfully resisting the more experienced Camilla's bold overtures. The film doesn't shy away from the ugliness of their strange courtship, but their games grow tiresome and never accrue much emotional weight. Losing steam in stretches of flat melodrama, the film lapses into bathos, nearly veering into "Love Story" territory.
Playing a character quite a bit younger than herself, Hayek has never looked more beautiful, and Camilla's tempestuous spirit finds full expression in her performance. Still, the sense of who Camilla is doesn't deepen as the story progresses. For his part, Farrell often struggles to indicate anything beyond observer Arturo's surface reactions, and the character remains opaque, even in a disturbing interlude with Vera Rivkin. Idina Menzel ("Rent") is heartbreaking as the wounded soul who sweeps into Arturo's room like a Santa Ana, all devouring gaze.
There are plenty of tantalizing performances at the edges of the narrative, especially the wonderful, pitch-perfect work by Donald Sutherland (who starred 30 years ago in the film adaptation of another revered L.A. novel, "Day of the Locust"), playing Arturo's dissolute neighbor Hellfrick. Eileen Atkins contributes a nuanced cameo as the landlady with a distaste for Mexicans and Jews, and Jeremy Crutchley makes an impression as informative barkeep Solomon. Providing the amused, avuncular voice of real-life American Mercury editor H.L. Mencken, Arturoıs benefactor and deity, is real-life critic Richard Schickel.
Towne and Deschanel never lose sight of Los Angeles as a naive, impermanent interloper, most dramatically in an earthquake sequence full of buckling pavement and crumbling buildings. The South African landscape is an evocative if not an accurate substitute (there's nary a Joshua Tree in sight). Dennis Gassner's production design and Albert Wolsky's costumes re-create the period with fittingly subdued detail, as does the music of Ramin Djawadi and Heitor Pereira.
ASK THE DUST
Paramount Classics
in association with Capitol Films a Cruise/Wagner, VIP Medienfonds 3, Ascendant production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Robert Towne
Based on the novel by: John Fante
Producers: Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner, Don Granger, Jonas McCord
Executive producers: Redmond Morris, Mark Roemmich, David Selvan, Andreas Schmid, Andy Grosch, Chris Roberts
Director of photography: Caleb Deschanel
Production designer: Dennis Gassner
Music: Ramin Djawadi, Heitor Pereira
Co-producers: Galit Hakmon McCord, Kia Jam, Andreas Schmid
Costume designer: Albert Wolsky
Editor: Robert K. Lambert
Cast:
Arturo Bandini: Colin Farrell
Camilla Lopez: Salma Hayek
Hellfrick: Donald Sutherland
Eileen Atkins
Vera Rivkin: Idina Menzel
Sammy: Justin Kirk
Solomon: Jeremy Crutchley
Voice of Mencken: Richard Schickel
MPAA rating R
Running time --117 minutes...
"How could this happen?" has been the incredulous refrain to the recent slaughter of schoolchildren in Jonesboro, Ark., perpetrated by two boys, ages 13 and 11.
Well, here's the answer in Neil Jordan's "The Butcher Boy", a piercing dramatic profile of a cherubic killer. Savagely unsettling, this Warner Bros. release is a mind-bender, a disturbing document that should stir up considerable comment and find interest among sophisticated audiences in select-site venues.
A prickly blend of deadpan humor and bloody mayhem, this insightful depiction of the making of a monster paints its deadly picture with chilling detachment. Framed and punctuated by the sprightly voice-over of a man who as a young teen murdered a neighbor lady, "The Butcher Boy"'s refracted perspective allows us to see the various elements that shape and warp an otherwise "normal" boy to monster proportions.
Based on Patrick McCabe's 1992 novel, Jordan and McCabe have shaped a scenario that is part psychological treatise, part sociological study and part cautionary tale. Fortunately, it has been skinned to the bone of any drivel that may sound academic or come from the dull pipes of the mental health establishment/industry.
Laced with a droll, distanced wit and coiled around a seemingly benign, middle-class household, Jordan has forged a harrowing story of a young boy's descent into monsterdom.
Set in a drab, provincial burg during the early '60s, "The Butcher Boy" is a larkishly toned depiction of small-town regularity. Centered around 12-year-old Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens), a rambunctious chug of a kid who lives in a fantasy world of "Lone Ranger" episodes and adventure stories, Jordan shows how the youngsters escapist world is discolored by events from the "real" world. The countless TV shots of atomic clouds and, most particularly, the doomsday-like fear engendered by the Cuban Missile Crisis serve to shape and distort the boy's apprehensions of life, death and imminent destruction.
With his inner world shaped by TV and bogged down by popular culture, Francie's growth is also stunted by his horrific family life: His father (Stephen Rea) is a besotted lout who has boozed his way out of a promising musical career, and his mother is as nutty as the fruitcakes she compulsively bakes. Not surprisingly, Francie has no empathy for others and feels no remorse or compassion for his increasingly cruel boyhood deeds.
Thematically, Jordan and McCabe's screenplay is a perceptive balancing act in its visualization of Francie's increasingly fractured psychology. It methodically shows the "Lord of the Flies"-like cruelty that can fester within kid culture. Accordingly, viewers will likely not only find the film disquieting but a challenge to their sensibilities as well. Its rhythms and tones often run counterpoint to the surface narrative; in short, Jordan keeps us off balance and unsure how to view things, which ultimately shapes our eye to seeing below the surface of what appears to be mundane, everyday reality and "normal" behavior.
The performances are spare and revealing. As the monster-child, Owens brings a fresh-faced aura to his manic murdering. As the character unravels, we see clearly how his chirpy playfulness descends to cold-blooded mania. It's a fleshy, full performance, one that makes us coil and squirm. As Francie's loutish father, Rea clues us to the squandered promise that runs in this family's bloodlines, while Fiona Shaw rings true as a busybody shrew.
Technical contributions are a marvelous, complex mix, highlighted by composer Elliot Goldenthal's frothily eerie score and cinematographer Adrian Biddle's lethal-scoped framings.
THE BUTCHER BOY
Warner Bros.
Geffen Pictures presents
Producers: Redmond Morris, Stephen Woolley
Director: Neil Jordan
Screenwriters: Neil Jordan, Patrick McCabe
Based on the novel by: Patrick McCabe
Executive producer: Neil Jordan
Director of photography: Adrian Biddle
Production designer: Anthony Pratt
Editor: Tony Lawson
Music: Elliot Goldenthal
Costume designer: Sandy Powell
Casting: Susie Figgis
Art director: Anna Rackard
Special effects supervisor: Joss Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Francie Brady: Eamonn Owens
Benny Brady: Stephen Rea
Joe: Alan Boyle
Mrs. Nugent: Fiona Shaw
Mrs. Brady: Aisling O'Sullivan
Virgin Mary: Sinead O'Connor
Running time - 120 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Well, here's the answer in Neil Jordan's "The Butcher Boy", a piercing dramatic profile of a cherubic killer. Savagely unsettling, this Warner Bros. release is a mind-bender, a disturbing document that should stir up considerable comment and find interest among sophisticated audiences in select-site venues.
A prickly blend of deadpan humor and bloody mayhem, this insightful depiction of the making of a monster paints its deadly picture with chilling detachment. Framed and punctuated by the sprightly voice-over of a man who as a young teen murdered a neighbor lady, "The Butcher Boy"'s refracted perspective allows us to see the various elements that shape and warp an otherwise "normal" boy to monster proportions.
Based on Patrick McCabe's 1992 novel, Jordan and McCabe have shaped a scenario that is part psychological treatise, part sociological study and part cautionary tale. Fortunately, it has been skinned to the bone of any drivel that may sound academic or come from the dull pipes of the mental health establishment/industry.
Laced with a droll, distanced wit and coiled around a seemingly benign, middle-class household, Jordan has forged a harrowing story of a young boy's descent into monsterdom.
Set in a drab, provincial burg during the early '60s, "The Butcher Boy" is a larkishly toned depiction of small-town regularity. Centered around 12-year-old Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens), a rambunctious chug of a kid who lives in a fantasy world of "Lone Ranger" episodes and adventure stories, Jordan shows how the youngsters escapist world is discolored by events from the "real" world. The countless TV shots of atomic clouds and, most particularly, the doomsday-like fear engendered by the Cuban Missile Crisis serve to shape and distort the boy's apprehensions of life, death and imminent destruction.
With his inner world shaped by TV and bogged down by popular culture, Francie's growth is also stunted by his horrific family life: His father (Stephen Rea) is a besotted lout who has boozed his way out of a promising musical career, and his mother is as nutty as the fruitcakes she compulsively bakes. Not surprisingly, Francie has no empathy for others and feels no remorse or compassion for his increasingly cruel boyhood deeds.
Thematically, Jordan and McCabe's screenplay is a perceptive balancing act in its visualization of Francie's increasingly fractured psychology. It methodically shows the "Lord of the Flies"-like cruelty that can fester within kid culture. Accordingly, viewers will likely not only find the film disquieting but a challenge to their sensibilities as well. Its rhythms and tones often run counterpoint to the surface narrative; in short, Jordan keeps us off balance and unsure how to view things, which ultimately shapes our eye to seeing below the surface of what appears to be mundane, everyday reality and "normal" behavior.
The performances are spare and revealing. As the monster-child, Owens brings a fresh-faced aura to his manic murdering. As the character unravels, we see clearly how his chirpy playfulness descends to cold-blooded mania. It's a fleshy, full performance, one that makes us coil and squirm. As Francie's loutish father, Rea clues us to the squandered promise that runs in this family's bloodlines, while Fiona Shaw rings true as a busybody shrew.
Technical contributions are a marvelous, complex mix, highlighted by composer Elliot Goldenthal's frothily eerie score and cinematographer Adrian Biddle's lethal-scoped framings.
THE BUTCHER BOY
Warner Bros.
Geffen Pictures presents
Producers: Redmond Morris, Stephen Woolley
Director: Neil Jordan
Screenwriters: Neil Jordan, Patrick McCabe
Based on the novel by: Patrick McCabe
Executive producer: Neil Jordan
Director of photography: Adrian Biddle
Production designer: Anthony Pratt
Editor: Tony Lawson
Music: Elliot Goldenthal
Costume designer: Sandy Powell
Casting: Susie Figgis
Art director: Anna Rackard
Special effects supervisor: Joss Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Francie Brady: Eamonn Owens
Benny Brady: Stephen Rea
Joe: Alan Boyle
Mrs. Nugent: Fiona Shaw
Mrs. Brady: Aisling O'Sullivan
Virgin Mary: Sinead O'Connor
Running time - 120 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
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