Jennifer Leigh Williamson Feb 16, 2017
How Star Wars, Rogue One, Stranger Things and more are marking the rise of a new wave of Ripleys...
“Is that the only flamethrower?”
Most of us have long heard the fun fact that the role of Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece Alien was originally written for a man. Like Eric Stoltz filming for four weeks as Marty in Back To The Future, it's one of those fun Hollywood tidbits that seems ridiculous now as Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley has become one of the greatest heroes in movie history.
Going on to star in four (rumoured to soon be five) Alien movies, Weaver has been nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA for her portrayal of this iconic character and its easy to see why. In a world of damsels, love interests and totty, Ripley is a woman: a well rounded, intelligent, confident,...
How Star Wars, Rogue One, Stranger Things and more are marking the rise of a new wave of Ripleys...
“Is that the only flamethrower?”
Most of us have long heard the fun fact that the role of Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece Alien was originally written for a man. Like Eric Stoltz filming for four weeks as Marty in Back To The Future, it's one of those fun Hollywood tidbits that seems ridiculous now as Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley has become one of the greatest heroes in movie history.
Going on to star in four (rumoured to soon be five) Alien movies, Weaver has been nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA for her portrayal of this iconic character and its easy to see why. In a world of damsels, love interests and totty, Ripley is a woman: a well rounded, intelligent, confident,...
- 2/5/2017
- Den of Geek
This year’s Best Director battle boasts frontrunners who emerged from the year’s film festivals.
Breaking out at Sundance was Kenneth Lonergan’s intense four-hankie family drama “Manchester by the Sea,” which is not only a frontrunner for original screenplay and actor (winning the New York Film Critics Circle for both), but director. Lonergan’s portrait of a New England family dealing with death and loss masterfully reveals information in the present and via flashbacks over a disciplined two hours and 15 minutes. Lonergan’s ensemble cast led by Casey Affleck is superb.
Jeff Nichols is in the mix for his measured and refined direction of interracial marriage drama “Loving,” which critics agreed was the one surefire awards contender to emerge from Cannes this year. He brings a grounded urgency to a storyline that could have been rendered as emotion-baiting melodrama. Nichols started the year strong with the well-reviewed sci-fi drama “Midnight Special,...
Breaking out at Sundance was Kenneth Lonergan’s intense four-hankie family drama “Manchester by the Sea,” which is not only a frontrunner for original screenplay and actor (winning the New York Film Critics Circle for both), but director. Lonergan’s portrait of a New England family dealing with death and loss masterfully reveals information in the present and via flashbacks over a disciplined two hours and 15 minutes. Lonergan’s ensemble cast led by Casey Affleck is superb.
Jeff Nichols is in the mix for his measured and refined direction of interracial marriage drama “Loving,” which critics agreed was the one surefire awards contender to emerge from Cannes this year. He brings a grounded urgency to a storyline that could have been rendered as emotion-baiting melodrama. Nichols started the year strong with the well-reviewed sci-fi drama “Midnight Special,...
- 12/20/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The Alliance of Women Film Journalists have announced the nominees for the 2016 Awfj Eda Awards.
In their 10th annual awards season, the 25 categories are divided into three sections, the Best Of Awards, Female Focus Awards and Eda Special Mention Awards.
Andrea Arnold, Ava DuVernay, Rebecca Miller, Mira Nair and Lorene Scafaria were among the filmmakers nominated in this year’s awards.
Nominees in each category are determined by Awfj members who submit nominating ballots. There are currently 76 voting Awfj members.
The winners will be announced on December 21.
2016 Awfj Eda Awards Nominees
Awfj Best Of Awards
These awards are presented to women and/or men without gender consideration.
Best Film
Arrival
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Best Director
Damien Chazelle – La La Land
Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
David Mackenzie – Hell or High Water
Denis Villeneuve – Arrival
Best Screenplay, Original...
In their 10th annual awards season, the 25 categories are divided into three sections, the Best Of Awards, Female Focus Awards and Eda Special Mention Awards.
Andrea Arnold, Ava DuVernay, Rebecca Miller, Mira Nair and Lorene Scafaria were among the filmmakers nominated in this year’s awards.
Nominees in each category are determined by Awfj members who submit nominating ballots. There are currently 76 voting Awfj members.
The winners will be announced on December 21.
2016 Awfj Eda Awards Nominees
Awfj Best Of Awards
These awards are presented to women and/or men without gender consideration.
Best Film
Arrival
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Best Director
Damien Chazelle – La La Land
Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
David Mackenzie – Hell or High Water
Denis Villeneuve – Arrival
Best Screenplay, Original...
- 12/16/2016
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
No year is a “bad year” for movies, but some years aren’t exactly too kind to certain subjects, genres, concepts and people. 2016, for all of its many negatives, has been a good year for film – and for its women, both behind the camera and squarely in front of it.
While female filmmakers are still struggling to be recognized in the same way as their male counterparts, the women who have broken through – from reliable auteurs like Andrea Arnold, Rebecca Miller, Kelly Reichardt and Anne Fontaine to rising stars like Maren Ade, Sophia Takal and Clea Duvall – did so in a very big way this year, thanks to films that spoke to their own talents and visions. Actresses also shown bright in 2016, from awards favorites like Natalie Portman, Annette Bening and Octavia Spencer to fresh faces like Kate Lyn Sheil, Ruth Negga and Sasha Lane.
There’s still a ways to go,...
While female filmmakers are still struggling to be recognized in the same way as their male counterparts, the women who have broken through – from reliable auteurs like Andrea Arnold, Rebecca Miller, Kelly Reichardt and Anne Fontaine to rising stars like Maren Ade, Sophia Takal and Clea Duvall – did so in a very big way this year, thanks to films that spoke to their own talents and visions. Actresses also shown bright in 2016, from awards favorites like Natalie Portman, Annette Bening and Octavia Spencer to fresh faces like Kate Lyn Sheil, Ruth Negga and Sasha Lane.
There’s still a ways to go,...
- 12/8/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Sony Pictures Classics was the first studio to send DVD screeners to Oscar voters this year. At the end of August, academy members got two Spc titles,”Maggie’s Plan”and “Miles Ahead.” The former, a wry comedy-drama by Rebecca Miller features Best Actress Oscar champ Julianne Moore (“Still Alice”) and indie darling Greta Gurwig while the latter is an […]...
- 10/25/2016
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
Hollywood is rarely in search of the new, so each year brings a longer list of adapted screenplays and a shorter list of originals.
Sundance launched American indie-in-Paris Whit Stillman’s witty adaptation of an early epistolary Jane Austen novella, “Love & Friendship,” which boasted rave reviews for Kate Beckinsale as a bitchy gold-digging mom, and long legs at the arthouse box office ($14 million).
Veteran indie distributor James Schamus returned to his first love, screenwriting, for his well-reviewed directorial debut “Indignation,” adapting the Philip Roth novel about college love, which performed modestly at domestic arthouses ($3.3 million). Lesser-known “Indignation” fared better with Roth than rookie director-star Ewan McGregor and writer John Romano’s film version of the better-known novel “American Pastoral.”
Writer-director Rebecca Miller’s sixth feature, sophisticated New York comedy of manners “Maggie’s Plan,” earned strong kudos at Toronto and Sundance but scored modestly on the specialty circuit ($3.5 million). Woody Allen aside,...
Sundance launched American indie-in-Paris Whit Stillman’s witty adaptation of an early epistolary Jane Austen novella, “Love & Friendship,” which boasted rave reviews for Kate Beckinsale as a bitchy gold-digging mom, and long legs at the arthouse box office ($14 million).
Veteran indie distributor James Schamus returned to his first love, screenwriting, for his well-reviewed directorial debut “Indignation,” adapting the Philip Roth novel about college love, which performed modestly at domestic arthouses ($3.3 million). Lesser-known “Indignation” fared better with Roth than rookie director-star Ewan McGregor and writer John Romano’s film version of the better-known novel “American Pastoral.”
Writer-director Rebecca Miller’s sixth feature, sophisticated New York comedy of manners “Maggie’s Plan,” earned strong kudos at Toronto and Sundance but scored modestly on the specialty circuit ($3.5 million). Woody Allen aside,...
- 10/18/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
While 2017 is shaping up as an Oscar race with many more diverse contenders than last year, people are starting to notice a familiar trend. Where are the women?
On Oscar prediction website Gold Derby, all 23 Oscar “experts,” including me, offer five director nominees who are male. Looking at movies that have pulled strong critical support, none seem to be gaining buzz that an Oscar contender needs to build momentum and become a must-see.
The strongest candidate is writer-director Rebecca Miller’s sixth feature, sophisticated New York comedy of manners “Maggie’s Plan,” which earned strong kudos at Toronto and Sundance but scored modestly on the specialty circuit ($3.5 million). Can Sony Pictures Classics bring the movie back to Academy voters? They’ve send out early screeners, but I fear — Woody Allen aside — relationship comedies do not often compute with Academy voters.
Similarly, Disney heart-tuggers with a female empowerment theme like “Queen of Katwe,...
On Oscar prediction website Gold Derby, all 23 Oscar “experts,” including me, offer five director nominees who are male. Looking at movies that have pulled strong critical support, none seem to be gaining buzz that an Oscar contender needs to build momentum and become a must-see.
The strongest candidate is writer-director Rebecca Miller’s sixth feature, sophisticated New York comedy of manners “Maggie’s Plan,” which earned strong kudos at Toronto and Sundance but scored modestly on the specialty circuit ($3.5 million). Can Sony Pictures Classics bring the movie back to Academy voters? They’ve send out early screeners, but I fear — Woody Allen aside — relationship comedies do not often compute with Academy voters.
Similarly, Disney heart-tuggers with a female empowerment theme like “Queen of Katwe,...
- 10/14/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
While 2017 is shaping up as an Oscar race with many more diverse contenders than last year, people are starting to notice a familiar trend. Where are the women?
On Oscar prediction website Gold Derby, all 23 Oscar “experts,” including me, offer five director nominees who are male. Looking at movies that have pulled strong critical support, none seem to be gaining buzz that an Oscar contender needs to build momentum and become a must-see.
The strongest candidate is writer-director Rebecca Miller’s sixth feature, sophisticated New York comedy of manners “Maggie’s Plan,” which earned strong kudos at Toronto and Sundance but scored modestly on the specialty circuit ($3.5 million). Can Sony Pictures Classics bring the movie back to Academy voters? They’ve send out early screeners, but I fear — Woody Allen aside — relationship comedies do not often compute with Academy voters.
Similarly, Disney heart-tuggers with a female empowerment theme like “Queen of Katwe,...
On Oscar prediction website Gold Derby, all 23 Oscar “experts,” including me, offer five director nominees who are male. Looking at movies that have pulled strong critical support, none seem to be gaining buzz that an Oscar contender needs to build momentum and become a must-see.
The strongest candidate is writer-director Rebecca Miller’s sixth feature, sophisticated New York comedy of manners “Maggie’s Plan,” which earned strong kudos at Toronto and Sundance but scored modestly on the specialty circuit ($3.5 million). Can Sony Pictures Classics bring the movie back to Academy voters? They’ve send out early screeners, but I fear — Woody Allen aside — relationship comedies do not often compute with Academy voters.
Similarly, Disney heart-tuggers with a female empowerment theme like “Queen of Katwe,...
- 10/14/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit the interwebs. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Captain America: Civil War (Russos)
In seeking to create an expansive multi-film universe, Marvel has managed to both bless and curse each of its subsequent films. The blessing comes in the form of a character development that takes place over the course of films and phases instead of scenes and acts. Characters who we met eight years ago have grown and changed before our eyes, and...
Captain America: Civil War (Russos)
In seeking to create an expansive multi-film universe, Marvel has managed to both bless and curse each of its subsequent films. The blessing comes in the form of a character development that takes place over the course of films and phases instead of scenes and acts. Characters who we met eight years ago have grown and changed before our eyes, and...
- 9/2/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
This year, Michael Moore will use his Traverse City Film Festival to throw down the gauntlet for women filmmakers. The official selection — not the sidebar, not a spotlight — is comprised of 32 films, and every one is directed by a woman.
“Every film in our Official Selection (Us), fiction and nonfiction, is directed or co-directed by a woman,” Moore told IndieWire in an email. “And they’re all incredible movies. As an expression of tokenism usually reserved for women, I am bringing five films by American men in a sidebar called, ‘Men Make Movies —The Struggle Continues.'” There are other movies in the lineup directed by men, of course, whether foreign or classic.
Compiling the list took some digging, as Moore, admits in his Traverse City Film Festival welcome letter. But the results are impressive, ranging from Sundance hits (Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady’s documentary “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You,...
“Every film in our Official Selection (Us), fiction and nonfiction, is directed or co-directed by a woman,” Moore told IndieWire in an email. “And they’re all incredible movies. As an expression of tokenism usually reserved for women, I am bringing five films by American men in a sidebar called, ‘Men Make Movies —The Struggle Continues.'” There are other movies in the lineup directed by men, of course, whether foreign or classic.
Compiling the list took some digging, as Moore, admits in his Traverse City Film Festival welcome letter. But the results are impressive, ranging from Sundance hits (Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady’s documentary “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You,...
- 7/20/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
This year, Michael Moore will use his Traverse City Film Festival to throw down the gauntlet for women filmmakers. The official selection — not the sidebar, not a spotlight — is comprised of 32 films, and every one is directed by a woman.
“Every film in our Official Selection (Us), fiction and nonfiction, is directed or co-directed by a woman,” Moore told Indiewire in an email. “And they’re all incredible movies. As an expression of tokenism usually reserved for women, I am bringing five films by American men in a sidebar called, ‘Men Make Movies —The Struggle Continues.'” There are other movies in the lineup directed by men, of course, whether foreign or classic.
Compiling the list took some digging, as Moore, admits in his Traverse City Film Festival welcome letter. But the results are impressive, ranging from Sundance hits (Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady’s documentary “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You,...
“Every film in our Official Selection (Us), fiction and nonfiction, is directed or co-directed by a woman,” Moore told Indiewire in an email. “And they’re all incredible movies. As an expression of tokenism usually reserved for women, I am bringing five films by American men in a sidebar called, ‘Men Make Movies —The Struggle Continues.'” There are other movies in the lineup directed by men, of course, whether foreign or classic.
Compiling the list took some digging, as Moore, admits in his Traverse City Film Festival welcome letter. But the results are impressive, ranging from Sundance hits (Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady’s documentary “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You,...
- 7/20/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Greta Gerwig, Julianne Moore and Ethan Hawke star in Rebecca Miller’s witty, invigorating film about a woman’s attempt to become pregnant
A romantic comedy worthy of the name isn’t what I expected of Rebecca Miller, whose previous pictures have been strained and unrelaxed exercises, often based on her novels. But Maggie’s Plan is terrifically funny and enjoyable – a metropolitan comedy in the former high style of Woody Allen, directed with elegance and dash by Miller and co-scripted by her with publisher-turned-screenwriter Karen Rinaldi. Greta Gerwig stars in her idiot savant Annie Hall mode as Maggie, a New York lecturer in “ficto-critical anthropology” who is trying to become a single mom using sperm donated by an old school contemporary who is now making a fortune marketing pickles. Her plan is to get pregnant within four months, but then she has an encounter with handsome, distrait colleague John...
A romantic comedy worthy of the name isn’t what I expected of Rebecca Miller, whose previous pictures have been strained and unrelaxed exercises, often based on her novels. But Maggie’s Plan is terrifically funny and enjoyable – a metropolitan comedy in the former high style of Woody Allen, directed with elegance and dash by Miller and co-scripted by her with publisher-turned-screenwriter Karen Rinaldi. Greta Gerwig stars in her idiot savant Annie Hall mode as Maggie, a New York lecturer in “ficto-critical anthropology” who is trying to become a single mom using sperm donated by an old school contemporary who is now making a fortune marketing pickles. Her plan is to get pregnant within four months, but then she has an encounter with handsome, distrait colleague John...
- 7/7/2016
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Having caught up with Rebecca Miller’s latest, the Manhattan-set screwball comedy Maggie’s Plan, in Berlin – finally we welcome the picture to screens across the UK, and to mark the film’s release, we caught up with the director herself. Miller discusses the joy in collaborating with leading star Greta Gerwig, and where she takes her […]
The post Exclusive: Director Rebecca Miller on screwball comedy Maggie’s Plan appeared first on HeyUGuys.
The post Exclusive: Director Rebecca Miller on screwball comedy Maggie’s Plan appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 7/7/2016
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Yesterday afternoon, the ranks of Oscar voters grew substantially, with some welcome diversity added in for good measure. Yes, the Academy sent out invitations for new membership about 24 hours ago, with 683 names getting the coveted tap on the proverbial shoulder. Again, what made it so interesting to note is that AMPAS seemed to actively seek out women, minorities, and younger artists, hoping to make the demographics of the Academy slightly less centered on older white males. It won’t suddenly change the makeup of the Oscar nominations or upend how the Academy Awards go down next year, but it’s a slow step in the right direction, and that’s worth applauding for sure. As you can see below, in addition to basically all of last year’s Oscar winners, the new members are a diverse slate. Among the names you’ll see in the acting branch now are John Boyega,...
- 6/30/2016
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Julianne Moore is one of the bravest women in the business. And not only in front of the camera. On this day at the Berlin Film Festival she’s doing interviews for two films at once — Freeheld and Maggie’s Plan, and all of this with a cold.
“I’m so embarrassed,” she apologizes, as if it were her fault. “I never get sick on a junket.” Her usually powerful voice sounds husky and soft.
The 55-year-old Academy Award-winner most often plays strong women in dramas. In Maggie’s Plan she’s still strong, but funny as well. Writer-director Rebecca Miller’s dramedy casts Moore as Georgette, a dominant Scandinavian intellectual whose husband John (Ethan Hawke) leaves her for a younger woman named Maggie (Greta Gerwig). When Maggie falls out of love with John, she tries to reunite him with Georgette.
When you read the script, did you find something familiar in Georgette?...
“I’m so embarrassed,” she apologizes, as if it were her fault. “I never get sick on a junket.” Her usually powerful voice sounds husky and soft.
The 55-year-old Academy Award-winner most often plays strong women in dramas. In Maggie’s Plan she’s still strong, but funny as well. Writer-director Rebecca Miller’s dramedy casts Moore as Georgette, a dominant Scandinavian intellectual whose husband John (Ethan Hawke) leaves her for a younger woman named Maggie (Greta Gerwig). When Maggie falls out of love with John, she tries to reunite him with Georgette.
When you read the script, did you find something familiar in Georgette?...
- 5/30/2016
- by Christian Aust
- Cineplex
In a modern take on the classic remarriage comedy, Maggie’s Plan follows its titular heroine (Greta Gerwig) as she tries her best to duck and dodge cupid’s arrows as she dashes toward a dream of single motherhood, a decidedly tricky endeavor. Maggie’s only met with folly and frustration as she tries to shape life and love to her liking, and things take a turn for disaster when a family of four become victims to her outrageous schemes.
Writer/director Rebecca Miller proves to have a sharp screwball sense with a comedy that channels Woody Allen neurosis to lightheartedly lampoon millennial angst and faux-intellectualism. There’s a post-feminist vibe permeating the film as well, but any weightiness or pretension that brings to the fold is counterbalanced by Gerwig, whose performance is characteristically disarming and delightfully vapid. The surging actress’ bubbly eccentricities are her greatest asset, and Miller’s...
Writer/director Rebecca Miller proves to have a sharp screwball sense with a comedy that channels Woody Allen neurosis to lightheartedly lampoon millennial angst and faux-intellectualism. There’s a post-feminist vibe permeating the film as well, but any weightiness or pretension that brings to the fold is counterbalanced by Gerwig, whose performance is characteristically disarming and delightfully vapid. The surging actress’ bubbly eccentricities are her greatest asset, and Miller’s...
- 5/20/2016
- by Bernard Boo
- We Got This Covered
Rebecca Miller has created a screwball comedy for the rest of us. She smartly tackles modern family planning, the conundrum of destiny and has a Kathleen Hanna cameo in her latest film? In a recent sitdown with the Playlist, she discussed “Maggie’s Plan,” a brilliant blend of the absurd, the cerebral, and, for good measure, a […]
The post Interview: Rebecca Miller Talks ‘Maggie’s Plan,’ Symbiosis With Greta Gerwig, Comedy As A Civilizing Force & More appeared first on The Playlist.
The post Interview: Rebecca Miller Talks ‘Maggie’s Plan,’ Symbiosis With Greta Gerwig, Comedy As A Civilizing Force & More appeared first on The Playlist.
- 5/19/2016
- by Jamie Maleszka
- The Playlist
Until filmmaker, novelist, and funnywoman Rebecca Miller weighed in with the invigorating Maggie’s Plan, the history of films addressing the impasse between order and randomness — in theological terms, the conflict between free will and determinism — has rested on the mature products of profound Western European minds. Bresson’s Au Hasard, Balthasar and Dreyer’s Gertrud, for example, are stark, minimalist, and melancholic, with a divine presence at the very least implied. In Miller’s movie, intellectual musings are negligible in the fate debate. Destiny, whether embraced or resisted, is built into something more palpable: the actions of her quirky characters. Her earlier […]...
- 5/16/2016
- by Howard Feinstein
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Maggie’S Plan Sony Pictures Classics Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B Director: Rebecca Miller Written by: Rebecca Miller, based on Karen Rinaldi’s unpublished novel Cast: Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Travis Fimmel, Ida Rohatyn, Wallace Shawn Screened at: Sony, NYC, 4/6/16 Opens: May 20, 2016 Rebecca Miller explores her inner Woody Allen with this goofy, fresh look at series of relationships that can happen only in New York. And what better choice for a goofy star than the adorable Greta Gerwig, who is perhaps best known for her principal role in Noam Baumbach’s “Frances Ha,” about a New York woman who apprentices herself to [ Read More ]
The post Maggie’s Plan Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Maggie’s Plan Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 5/16/2016
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Rebecca Miller’s first film in six years – and only her fifth directorial outing across the last two decades – is Maggie’s Plan, which wears its Woody Allen influences like a badge of honour, implemented in an affectionate, endearing way and in no imitative, nor suffocating to the project at hand. This is a
The post Berlinale 2016: Maggie’s Plan Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.
The post Berlinale 2016: Maggie’s Plan Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 2/19/2016
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Read More: Sundance: How Greta Gerwig Learned What Kind of Director She Wants to Be From Rebecca Miller and Todd Solondz Hot off the critical and awards success of Todd Haynes' gorgeous period piece "Carol," lauded cinematographer Ed Lachman is at the Sudance Film Festival with a very different new feature, Todd Solondz's "Wiener-Dog," a multi-layered almost-anthology piece that serves as something of a spiritual sequel to his classic "Welcome to the Dollhouse." The duo previously worked together on Solondz's 2009 feature, "Life During Wartime," but "Wiener-Dog" comes complete with its own challenges, including shooting in a variety of locations with a sprawling cast, but it seems as if the creative bond between the two artists helped make the shoot a productive one, with a final product that's unabashedly Solondz, bolstered by Lachman's uncanny eye for beauty in the most unexpected of places. What camera and lens did you use?...
- 1/25/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Maggie’s Plan begins with a compelling premise – Maggie (Greta Gerwig) is ready to have a child with or without a man, and enlists the proper doofus (Travis Fimmel) to supply the semen; little does she know she will quickly fall in love with John (Ethan Hawke), whose marriage to Georgette (Julianne Moore) is almost beyond the rocks. And believe it or not, the titular plan isn’t even about the intended insemination, though that storyline nicely establishes how quickly our designs for our lives go awry. No, the true plan will be saved for after the film cuts ahead three years, when Maggie and John have built a bit of a life together.
But that’s for you to discover. Writer/director Rebecca Miller (working from a story by Karen Rinaldi) has prematurely entered late-Woody Allen territory. She has a tremendous, purposefully arch premise, strongly-defined eccentric characters, and...
But that’s for you to discover. Writer/director Rebecca Miller (working from a story by Karen Rinaldi) has prematurely entered late-Woody Allen territory. She has a tremendous, purposefully arch premise, strongly-defined eccentric characters, and...
- 1/24/2016
- by Scott Nye
- CriterionCast
Having spent time on films sets with Noah Baumbach, Woody Allen, Whit Stillman, Rebecca Miller, Todd Solondz, and Mia Hansen-Love, Greta Gerwig has a good amount of experience to draw upon as she gears up to make her solo directorial debut, "Lady Bird" (she co-directed "Nights and Weekends" with Joe Swanberg). Not only that, she's got the producing power of Scott Rudin behind her, and Gerwig is bringing some big talent in to lead her upcoming picture. Read More: Sundance First Look: Greta Gerwig In Todd Solondz's 'Wiener-Dog' Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, who is in the running for Best Actress thanks to her performance in "Brooklyn," will star in "Lady Bird." The actress will be doing double duty, starring on stage on Broadway in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," while also shooting Gerwig's movie. Production will get underway on the movie this spring. And that's all the...
- 1/22/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
John Sloss' New York-based Cinetic Media, longtime sales rep for indie filmmakers, is adding a management division to its expansive portfolio of services, which also include film financing, distribution ("Exit Through the Gift Shop," "Senna"), and corporate consulting. Developing its management capabilities allows Cinetic to leverage its existing relationships with filmmakers by offering, in essence, to take care of their careers full-time—and to generate more income. The company has opened an L.A. office and plans to add to its current management staff of five. At Sundance, where the Sloss and his team throw an annual party at Zoom to cap off the the first weekend of dealmaking, Cinetic is representing Asif Kapadia (“Ali and Nino”), Brian Oakes (“Jim”), and Rebecca Miller (“Maggie’s Plan”), among others.
- 1/22/2016
- by Anne Thompson and Matt Brennan
- Thompson on Hollywood
Films include Shepherds and Butchers with Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il.
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...
- 1/21/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Films include Shepherds and Butchers, starring Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to make films.
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...
- 1/21/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
In Zrinko Ogresta's "On the Other Side," Vesna (Ksenija Marinković), a middle-aged nurse in Zagreb, Croatia, finds her tranquil life interrupted when her husband, Žarko (Lazar Ristovski), reappears following a prison sentence for crimes committed in wartime during the early 1990s. Indeed, this enigmatic trailer raises more questions about the characters'—and the region's—past than it answers. "Why," Vesna asks at one point, "are you doing this to me?" Read More: "Berlin's Panorama Section to Feature Chantal Akerman, Rebecca Miller, More" Using history as a lens through which to view the present is nothing new to Ogresta, who also works as a professor of film directing at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb—he received a European Film Award nomination in 1991 for Best Young Director for his first feature, "Fragments: Chronicle of a Vanishing," about a family torn apart by World War II and the Communist...
- 1/20/2016
- by Matt Brennan
- Thompson on Hollywood
As if new films from the Coens and Jeff Nichols weren’t enough, the 2016 Berlin Film Festival has further expanded their line-up, adding some of our most-anticipated films of the year. Mia Hansen-Løve, following up her incredible, sadly overlooked drama Eden, will premiere the Isabelle Huppert-led Things to Come, while Thomas Vinterberg, Lav Diaz, André Téchiné, and many more will stop by with their new features. Check out the new additions below, followed by some previously announced films, notably John Michael McDonagh‘s War on Everyone.
Competition
Cartas da guerra (Letters from War)
Portugal
By Ivo M. Ferreira (Na Escama do Dragão)
With Miguel Nunes, Margarida Vila-Nova
World premiere
Ejhdeha Vared Mishavad! (A Dragon Arrives!)
Iran
By Mani Haghighi (Modest Reception, Men at Work)
With Amir Jadidi, Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Ehsan Goudarzi, Kiana Tajammol
International premiere
Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea) – documentary
Italy / France
By Gianfranco Rosi (Sacro Gra, El Sicario...
Competition
Cartas da guerra (Letters from War)
Portugal
By Ivo M. Ferreira (Na Escama do Dragão)
With Miguel Nunes, Margarida Vila-Nova
World premiere
Ejhdeha Vared Mishavad! (A Dragon Arrives!)
Iran
By Mani Haghighi (Modest Reception, Men at Work)
With Amir Jadidi, Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Ehsan Goudarzi, Kiana Tajammol
International premiere
Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea) – documentary
Italy / France
By Gianfranco Rosi (Sacro Gra, El Sicario...
- 1/11/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
A Mike Nichols documentary, Dazed and Confused with live commentary by Richard Linklater and Jason Reitman, and more have been added to the Sundance 2016 line-up.
As Heat turns 20, Michael Mann discusses the making of a crime drama classic with Rolling Stone:
One of the biggest scenes was the shoot-out at the end, and one of the big challenges about it is that we couldn’t do it consecutively. We could only get downtown on Saturday and Sunday. So it was six days of shooting, but we had to do it on a Saturday and Sunday, then do something else and then come back the following Saturday and Sunday to do the next section.
A Mike Nichols documentary, Dazed and Confused with live commentary by Richard Linklater and Jason Reitman, and more have been added to the Sundance 2016 line-up.
As Heat turns 20, Michael Mann discusses the making of a crime drama classic with Rolling Stone:
One of the biggest scenes was the shoot-out at the end, and one of the big challenges about it is that we couldn’t do it consecutively. We could only get downtown on Saturday and Sunday. So it was six days of shooting, but we had to do it on a Saturday and Sunday, then do something else and then come back the following Saturday and Sunday to do the next section.
- 12/17/2015
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
Read More: Jeff Nichols' 'Midnight Special' Leads 2016 Berlin International Film Festival Competition Lineup The 2016 Berlin International Film Festival has announced the first wave of films that will play in its Panorama section. The movies join the previously announced Competition titles, as well as the Coen Brothers' star-studded Hail, Caesar, which will open the festival on February 11. Also announced this morning are the films that will screen in the Teddy30 program, which puts a spotlight on some of the most renowned LGBT films from decades past. This year, the Teddy30 program includes titles from Chantal Akerman and Mary Harron. While only a quarter of the films that will play the Panorama section have been revealed, one of the biggest in the section is bound to be Rebecca Miller's Maggie's Plan. The film was one of the most well-received premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival and stars...
- 12/17/2015
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
This time of year can be a bit crazy. On top of all the year-end madness and blockbuster-season chaos, we're already looking ahead to 2016, and the Sundance Film Festival is the first stop for what's hot on the horizon. And today, organizers unveiled the final additions to their slate and there are some big movies coming. New films by Whit Stillman (his Jane Austen adaptation "Love & Friendship"), Kenneth Lonergan (his drama "Manchester by the Sea") and Todd Solondz ("Wiener-Dog") will be making their premiere in Park City. Meanwhile, the Spotlight section brings some of 2015's hottest festival titles including Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "Cemetery Of Splendour," Jeremy Saulnier's "Green Room," Yorgos Lanthimos' "The Lobster," and Rebecca Miller's "Maggie's Plan." Lots of dive into, so check it out below. Sundance runs from January 21-31, 2016. Premieres A showcase of world premieres of some of the most...
- 12/7/2015
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Read More: Alec Baldwin, 'Sugar Man,' 'Detropia' Headline Hamptons Fest Summer Doc SeriesThe Arthur Miller Foundation is throwing a star-studded Broadway benefit performance in honor of the 100th birthday of legendary playwright Arthur Miller. The one-night-only celebration will feature notable talent from film, television and Broadway and raise funds for the Foundation's theatre and film education programs. Performers include Alec Baldwin, Ellen Barking, Laurence Fishburne, Latanya Richardson Jackson, Tony Kushner and Sam Shepard, among others; in addition, Tony award-winning director Gregory Mosher will be featured. Sections from Miller's autobiography and unpublished works will be read, as well as scenes from his classic plays "Death of a Salesman," "The Crucible," "All My Sons" and more. The event is produced by Cindy Tolan and Damon Cardasis, with support from Foundation Board co-chairs Sandi Farkas and Rebecca Miller. "We at the Arthur Miller...
- 11/24/2015
- by Sonya Saepoff
- Indiewire
Read More: Tribeca and Chanel Launch Emerging Writer-Director Program for Female Filmmakers The inaugural "Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program" came to a close last night with the announcement of their first-ever grant recipient: "Hollidaysburg" director Anna Martemucci for her short "One Cambodian Family Please for My Pleasure." The intensive three-day workshop hosted seven female filmmakers who pitched new projects to a jury made up of actress Patricia Clarkson, writer/director Mary Harron, producer Mynette Louie, writer/director Rebecca Miller and actress Julianne Moore. As the winner of the program's first grant, Martemucci will receive $75,000, along with production support from Pulse Films and Tribeca Digital Studios to bring her short film idea to realization. Penned by Martemucci, "One Cambodian Family Please for my Pleasure" is a story about "a young mother living in the...
- 10/29/2015
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
No film buff wants to see a promising, or prominent filmmaker pull a disappearing act a la Terrence Malick, (though it seems he isn’t keen to repeat another lapse like the one between Days of Heaven to The Thin Red Line), but whether they’re dealing with unforeseeable professional (endless pre-production woes, writer’s block) or personal issues, sometimes there is a considerable time between projects.
With John Cameron Mitchell, Charlie Kaufman, Rebecca Miller, Patty Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan and more recently, Barry Jenkins recently moving out of the so called “inactive” period, we decided to compile a list of the top ten American filmmakers who, for the most part, we’ve lost sight of and would like to see get back in the director’s chair again. Most of the filmmakers listed below have gone well over half a decade without a substantial movement in this category. Here is...
With John Cameron Mitchell, Charlie Kaufman, Rebecca Miller, Patty Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan and more recently, Barry Jenkins recently moving out of the so called “inactive” period, we decided to compile a list of the top ten American filmmakers who, for the most part, we’ve lost sight of and would like to see get back in the director’s chair again. Most of the filmmakers listed below have gone well over half a decade without a substantial movement in this category. Here is...
- 10/26/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Tribeca Enterprises and Chanel launched on Thursday the Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program.
The three-day initiative in support of Us-based female writers and directors of short-form narrative films will take place from October 26-28.
The programme will focus on seven rising filmmakers with project support, masterclasses, one-on-one mentorship and peer-to-peer sessions.
They are: Numa Perrier (Jezebel); Roja Gashtili and Julia Lerman (The Last Shift); Vera Miao (Ma, pictured); Anna Martemucci (One Cambodian Family Please For My Pleasure); Christina Voros (Valentine); and Kat Coiro (Wig Shop).
The three days will climax with a pitch presentation before a jury where one filmmaker will be awarded $75,000 to make her film with the support of Pulse Films and Tribeca Digital Studios to produce the project.
The leadership committee for the inaugural year includes jurors Patricia Clarkson, Mary Harron, Mynette Louie, Rebecca Miller and Julianne Moore.
Mentors are Anna Boden, Debora Cahn, Leslye Headland, Donna Gigliotti, [link...
The three-day initiative in support of Us-based female writers and directors of short-form narrative films will take place from October 26-28.
The programme will focus on seven rising filmmakers with project support, masterclasses, one-on-one mentorship and peer-to-peer sessions.
They are: Numa Perrier (Jezebel); Roja Gashtili and Julia Lerman (The Last Shift); Vera Miao (Ma, pictured); Anna Martemucci (One Cambodian Family Please For My Pleasure); Christina Voros (Valentine); and Kat Coiro (Wig Shop).
The three days will climax with a pitch presentation before a jury where one filmmaker will be awarded $75,000 to make her film with the support of Pulse Films and Tribeca Digital Studios to produce the project.
The leadership committee for the inaugural year includes jurors Patricia Clarkson, Mary Harron, Mynette Louie, Rebecca Miller and Julianne Moore.
Mentors are Anna Boden, Debora Cahn, Leslye Headland, Donna Gigliotti, [link...
- 10/22/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Maggie’s Plan
Written by Rebecca Miller
Directed by Rebecca Miller
USA, 2015
Is it sexist, or at the very least unfair, to compare Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan to the works of Noah Baumbach and Woody Allen, but with a tone of derision? Either way, it’s hard to divorce Miller’s manic wit and preoccupation with middle-class white folks from the filmographies of those aforementioned auteurs. But why is that so? Lots of directors, regardless of gender, can be funny and can focus their stories around said demographic. Perhaps it’s because Maggie’s Plan seems to explicitly emulate the tone those directors often imbue in their films. It seems to be Miller’s intention to make one of those films, sort of, but with a female perspective. It’s admirable, but it doesn’t make for a great film.
The root of the problem might be that...
Written by Rebecca Miller
Directed by Rebecca Miller
USA, 2015
Is it sexist, or at the very least unfair, to compare Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan to the works of Noah Baumbach and Woody Allen, but with a tone of derision? Either way, it’s hard to divorce Miller’s manic wit and preoccupation with middle-class white folks from the filmographies of those aforementioned auteurs. But why is that so? Lots of directors, regardless of gender, can be funny and can focus their stories around said demographic. Perhaps it’s because Maggie’s Plan seems to explicitly emulate the tone those directors often imbue in their films. It seems to be Miller’s intention to make one of those films, sort of, but with a female perspective. It’s admirable, but it doesn’t make for a great film.
The root of the problem might be that...
- 9/29/2015
- by Kyle Turner
- SoundOnSight
In the nine consecutive years I’ve attended the Toronto International Film Festival, it remains an elusive monstrosity of an event. With its hundreds of offerings, it’s a gluttonous buffet for the committed cineaste, a playground of auteurs mixed with unknown quantities. Even after having attended Sundance and Cannes, navigating the selections still somehow feels like ‘catching up’ with entries from Berlin, Locarno, and the concurrent Venice. And, therefore, everyone’s Toronto experience is bound to seem a bit different, even as streamlined as the festival is as it remains one of the most press and public friendly film festivals in existence.
Of course, there’s always complaints (or questions) as to what doesn’t make an appearance at the festival, and we’re always subject to the tastes of various programmers. For instance, why exactly room could not have been made for Polish master Andrzej Zulawski’s first...
Of course, there’s always complaints (or questions) as to what doesn’t make an appearance at the festival, and we’re always subject to the tastes of various programmers. For instance, why exactly room could not have been made for Polish master Andrzej Zulawski’s first...
- 9/28/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Above: The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan).Until this gorgeous new poster for Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin was unveiled this week, I was pretty sure that the best poster of the 2015 New York Film Festival was going to be the same as the best poster of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, namely either one of the negative-space hugging posters for Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster. But the Assassin poster, while not being as clever as those designs, is just as ravishing as I expect Hhh’s film to be. There are a few other standouts this year such as the posters for Miguel Gomes’ Arabian Nights, Apichatpong Weeasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendor and Guy Maddin’s The Forbidden Room, all of which have been knocking around since their festival debuts at Cannes and Sundance. But one of my favorite new discoveries is the illustrated art for Jia Zhangke’s Mountains May Depart.
- 9/25/2015
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
The distributor has snapped up North America, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Cis, Hungary, Romania, China and various other Asian territories to Rebecca Miller’s recent Toronto world premiere.
Maggie’s Plan stars Greta Gerwig as a young woman determined to bear a child who embarks on a love triangle with an academic and his eccentric wife. Ethan Hawke and Julianne Moore also star.
Miller directed the comedy from her own screenplay based on a story by Karen Rinaldi. The film will screen at the upcoming New York Film Festival.
Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Travis Fimmel, Ida Rohatyn, Wallace Shawn and Mina Sundwall round out the key cast.
Spc brokered the deal with CAA and Cinetic Media for the filmmakers. Protagonist Pictures handles international sales.
Rachael Horovitz, Damon Cardasis and Miller produce while Philip Stephenson and Temple Williams of Freedom Media, Lucy Barzun Donnelly and Alexandra Kerry of Locomotive, Michael J Mailis and Susan Wrubel of Hyperion Media are...
Maggie’s Plan stars Greta Gerwig as a young woman determined to bear a child who embarks on a love triangle with an academic and his eccentric wife. Ethan Hawke and Julianne Moore also star.
Miller directed the comedy from her own screenplay based on a story by Karen Rinaldi. The film will screen at the upcoming New York Film Festival.
Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Travis Fimmel, Ida Rohatyn, Wallace Shawn and Mina Sundwall round out the key cast.
Spc brokered the deal with CAA and Cinetic Media for the filmmakers. Protagonist Pictures handles international sales.
Rachael Horovitz, Damon Cardasis and Miller produce while Philip Stephenson and Temple Williams of Freedom Media, Lucy Barzun Donnelly and Alexandra Kerry of Locomotive, Michael J Mailis and Susan Wrubel of Hyperion Media are...
- 9/24/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Rebecca Miller’s “Maggie’s Plan” has been picked up by Sony Pictures Classics, the studio announced Thursday. In addition to North American rights, Sony will handle distribution in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Cis, Hungary, Romania, China and various other Asian territories. Miller, who also wrote the script from a story by Karen Rinaldi, premiered the film this month at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It will also screen at the upcoming New York Film Festival. The comedy-drama follows a young woman (Greta Gerwig) whose determination to have a child catapults her into a love triangle with a heartthrob academic (Ethan.
- 9/24/2015
- by Joe Otterson
- The Wrap
The Toronto Film Festival is a memory and that is usually when buyers gain the decided leverage on movies that didn’t quite match the pre-festival expectations. Maggie’s Plan was one of those, and Sony Pictures Classics just acquired rights in North America and other key international territories. Written and directed by Rebecca Miller, the film stars Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke and Julianne Moore. Gerwig plays a single woman determined to have a child by herself. That’s…...
- 9/24/2015
- Deadline
Maggie’s Plan is about destiny, single parenthood and the soul-destroying logistics of modern relationships. Oh – and it’s also a screwball comedy starring Greta Gerwig
Rebecca Miller’s new movie looks as lightweight as they come. It’s a screwball comedy about a woman who organises to have a baby with a sperm donor but at the same time falls for a married man. There’s a sassy best friend and lots of shots of the New York skyline. Jokes about condoms and the description of someone as a “panty-melter”. If you didn’t know better, you might think it stars Katherine Heigl.
But beware: beneath the froth of Maggie’s Plan lies grit. And, under that, a thick layer of metaphysics, informed by pre-Enlightenment theories of self-determination. That gag about condoms, for instance, comes when one character dismisses language qualifiers such as “like” for diminishing rhetorical discourse.
Continue reading.
Rebecca Miller’s new movie looks as lightweight as they come. It’s a screwball comedy about a woman who organises to have a baby with a sperm donor but at the same time falls for a married man. There’s a sassy best friend and lots of shots of the New York skyline. Jokes about condoms and the description of someone as a “panty-melter”. If you didn’t know better, you might think it stars Katherine Heigl.
But beware: beneath the froth of Maggie’s Plan lies grit. And, under that, a thick layer of metaphysics, informed by pre-Enlightenment theories of self-determination. That gag about condoms, for instance, comes when one character dismisses language qualifiers such as “like” for diminishing rhetorical discourse.
Continue reading.
- 9/16/2015
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
With only a few days left of Tiff, Toronto is starting to empty out, but poutine-bloated, sleep-deprived critics aren’t going to have much time to recover: in just ten days, the New York Film Festival gets underway. Film Society Lincoln Center’s fest, now in its 53rd year, has a long reputation for combining the best of auteurist festival cinema with some glitzy Oscar-season premieres, and it looks to be continuing that this year. The festival kicks off on September 25th, and EW have nabbed the festival’s official trailer, which you can watch below. The promo includes some footage we’ve seen before, but plenty that we haven’t, including the first glimpse of Don Cheadle as Miles Davis in “Miles Ahead,” which closes the festival, snippets from Rebecca Miller’s “Maggie’s Plan” starring Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, and Julianne Moore, and more. Opener “The Walk,” premiere “Bridge Of Spies,...
- 9/15/2015
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Greta Gerwig and Ethan Hawke make for a winning couple in Rebecca Miller’s unpredictable New York-set lark, but Moore’s brazen Danish professor is the picture’s real highlight
The titular heroine of Maggie’s Plan, played by Greta Gerwig, is intent on living out a meticulously planned life. To conquer that goal, Maggie controls the lives of others to help meet her needs. Writer/director Rebecca Miller’s film is tonally the complete opposite of its lead – true to life, it’s unpredictable and a bit of a mess. And that’s what makes Maggie’s Plan such a delight.
Gerwig plays Maggie, a young woman who, at the outset of Miller’s borderline romantic comedy, seems to have a firmer head on her shoulders than the bumbling dancer the actor played to perfection in Frances Ha – still the actor’s strongest vehicle to date. Maggie is single,...
The titular heroine of Maggie’s Plan, played by Greta Gerwig, is intent on living out a meticulously planned life. To conquer that goal, Maggie controls the lives of others to help meet her needs. Writer/director Rebecca Miller’s film is tonally the complete opposite of its lead – true to life, it’s unpredictable and a bit of a mess. And that’s what makes Maggie’s Plan such a delight.
Gerwig plays Maggie, a young woman who, at the outset of Miller’s borderline romantic comedy, seems to have a firmer head on her shoulders than the bumbling dancer the actor played to perfection in Frances Ha – still the actor’s strongest vehicle to date. Maggie is single,...
- 9/13/2015
- by Nigel M Smith
- The Guardian - Film News
Life is unpredictable, love is complicated and will make you sick with happiness and nauseous from despair, and children will change everything you know about being an adult in an instant. And try as you might, there is nothing you can control about what fate may have laying in wait for you around the next corner. However, Maggie (Greta Gerwig) is determined to make her own happiness, rather than wait for circumstance to serve it up for her. As the title for writer/director Rebecca Miller’s latest suggests, her character is doing what she can to play both sides of the metaphorical checkers board, but she’ll soon learn that life is more like a chess game where you’re consistently three moves behind. Successful in her career, with a teaching gig at The New School, Maggie is unlucky when it comes to relationships, lamenting to her ex-boyfriend and...
- 9/13/2015
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Exclusive: Locomotive, the film/TV production company re-launched in 2014 by Lucy Barzun Donnelly, Alexandra Kerry and Jonathon Kemp, has just closed a jointly funded feature development deal with New Regency. This comes as the producers dress for tonight’s Toronto International Film Festival Gala premiere of the Rebecca Miller-directed Maggie’s Plan, which came in as one of the acquisition titles on buyer lists. The deal came after Locomotive and New Regency teamed on Loo…...
- 9/12/2015
- Deadline
The Oscar winner for Still Alice discusses how her two films at Tiff this year – Freeheld and Maggie’s Plan – fit into her back catalogue, and urges for increased female visibility in Hollywood
Julianne Moore is somewhat of a fixture at the Toronto film festival. The film that finally won her an Oscar, Still Alice, premiered here last year. Likewise one of her breakthrough dramas, Vanya on 42nd Street, back in 1994; not to mention two other movies that netted her Oscar nominations (Boogie Nights and Far From Heaven).
The tally is racking up even quicker this year as she’s back in town with two movies: ensemble romcom Maggie’s Plan – directed by Rebecca Miller and co-starring Greta Gerwig and Ethan Hawke – and Freeheld, a drama based on the documentary of the same name, about a detective diagnosed with incurable lung cancer who fights to have her pension benefit left to her girlfriend (Ellen Page,...
Julianne Moore is somewhat of a fixture at the Toronto film festival. The film that finally won her an Oscar, Still Alice, premiered here last year. Likewise one of her breakthrough dramas, Vanya on 42nd Street, back in 1994; not to mention two other movies that netted her Oscar nominations (Boogie Nights and Far From Heaven).
The tally is racking up even quicker this year as she’s back in town with two movies: ensemble romcom Maggie’s Plan – directed by Rebecca Miller and co-starring Greta Gerwig and Ethan Hawke – and Freeheld, a drama based on the documentary of the same name, about a detective diagnosed with incurable lung cancer who fights to have her pension benefit left to her girlfriend (Ellen Page,...
- 9/11/2015
- by Nigel M Smith
- The Guardian - Film News
After what many say was an overheated and overhyped 2014 Tiff, Toronto this year looks to be a significantly more sober affair. With few major unsold titles available — Michael Moore’s Where to Invade Next serving as the primary exception — and a paucity of big presale packages in the offing, most buyers expect a quiet market. While deals will be done at Tiff, here’s why we shouldn’t expect a repeat of last year’s feeding frenzy. There’s Slim Pickings Only a handful of unsold titles are generating pre-festival buzz, including Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan, which is being sold by
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- 9/10/2015
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Here are some of the acquisition titles playing at the Toronto Film Festival that have the attention of buyers. Colonia Director-Writer: Florian Gallenberger. Cast: Daniel Bruhl, Emma Watson. When two German lovers get caught in the Chilean riots of 1973, they both end up imprisoned in the colony of a malicious cult with little hope of escape. 1st Screening: Sunday, September 13, 10 Pm – Princess of Wales Maggie’s Plan Director-Writer: Rebecca Miller. Cast: Julianne…...
- 9/10/2015
- Deadline
Films set to show at the 40th Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff), updated as announcements are made in the run up to the event.
Tiff will open on September 10 with Jean-Marc Vallée’s Demolition starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts.
Tiff 40
Key: Wp = world premiere; Nap = North American premiere; IP = international premiere; Cp = Canadian premiere.
GALASBeeba Boys (Canada), Deepa Mehta, WPDemolition, Jean-Marc Vallée WPDisorder (Maryland) (France-Belgium), Alice Winocour NAPThe Dressmaker (Aus), Jocelyn Moorhouse, WPEye In The Sky (UK), Gavin Hood WPForsaken (Canada), Jon Cassar, WPFreeheld (Us), Peter Sollett, WPHyena Road (Canada), Paul Gross, WPLolo (France), Julie Delpy, NAPLegend (UK), Brian Helgeland, IPMan Down (Us), Dito Montiel NAPThe Man Who Knew Infinity (UK), Matt Brown, WPThe Martian (Us), Ridley Scott, WPMiss You Already (UK), Catherine Hardwicke WPMississippi Grind (Us), Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden CPMr. Right (Us), Paco Cabezas WPThe Program (UK), Stephen Frears, WPRemember (Canada), Atom Egoyan, NAPSeptembers Of Shiraz (Us), Wayne Blair, WPStonewall ([link...
Tiff will open on September 10 with Jean-Marc Vallée’s Demolition starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts.
Tiff 40
Key: Wp = world premiere; Nap = North American premiere; IP = international premiere; Cp = Canadian premiere.
GALASBeeba Boys (Canada), Deepa Mehta, WPDemolition, Jean-Marc Vallée WPDisorder (Maryland) (France-Belgium), Alice Winocour NAPThe Dressmaker (Aus), Jocelyn Moorhouse, WPEye In The Sky (UK), Gavin Hood WPForsaken (Canada), Jon Cassar, WPFreeheld (Us), Peter Sollett, WPHyena Road (Canada), Paul Gross, WPLolo (France), Julie Delpy, NAPLegend (UK), Brian Helgeland, IPMan Down (Us), Dito Montiel NAPThe Man Who Knew Infinity (UK), Matt Brown, WPThe Martian (Us), Ridley Scott, WPMiss You Already (UK), Catherine Hardwicke WPMississippi Grind (Us), Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden CPMr. Right (Us), Paco Cabezas WPThe Program (UK), Stephen Frears, WPRemember (Canada), Atom Egoyan, NAPSeptembers Of Shiraz (Us), Wayne Blair, WPStonewall ([link...
- 8/25/2015
- ScreenDaily
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