Exclusive: Republic Pictures has acquired North American rights to Dreamquil, the psychological thriller starring Elizabeth Banks and John C. Reilly.
The pre-sale was negotiated by UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance with Sejin Croninger, Executive Vice President at Paramount Worldwide Acquisitions.
Filming is now underway in LA on the movie, which marks the debut of U.S. filmmaker and contemporary artist Alex Prager. HanWay will continue sales at the Cannes market next week.
Set in the not so distant future, the movie — which comes amid heightened industry attention on the role of AI — is a cautionary tale about what happens when Artificial Intelligence and automation are integrated into our daily lives.
Banks will play Carol, a dissatisfied career mother, who is struggling to find real connection within her marriage to Gary (Reilly) and to her child. Worried that she could be heading towards divorce, Carol leaps at the...
The pre-sale was negotiated by UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance with Sejin Croninger, Executive Vice President at Paramount Worldwide Acquisitions.
Filming is now underway in LA on the movie, which marks the debut of U.S. filmmaker and contemporary artist Alex Prager. HanWay will continue sales at the Cannes market next week.
Set in the not so distant future, the movie — which comes amid heightened industry attention on the role of AI — is a cautionary tale about what happens when Artificial Intelligence and automation are integrated into our daily lives.
Banks will play Carol, a dissatisfied career mother, who is struggling to find real connection within her marriage to Gary (Reilly) and to her child. Worried that she could be heading towards divorce, Carol leaps at the...
- 5/7/2024
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Emmy nominee Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games) and Oscar nominee John C. Reilly (Chicago) are set to lead timely Cannes market package Dreamquil, an AI thriller which HanWay Films is launching.
Set in the not so distant future, the movie — which comes amid heightened industry attention on the role of AI — is being positioned as a cautionary tale about what happens when Artificial Intelligence and automation are integrated into our daily lives. UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance co-repping the film in North America.
The film will mark the debut of American filmmaker and contemporary artist Alex Prager, who was nominated for the SXSW Grand Jury Prize in 2023 for her short film Run. Production is being lined up for Q3, 2023.
Oscar nominee Vincent Landay (Her) will produce alongside Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman and Alison Small for Brownstone Productions (Pitch Perfect).
HODs attached include Prager’s long-time collaborators:...
Set in the not so distant future, the movie — which comes amid heightened industry attention on the role of AI — is being positioned as a cautionary tale about what happens when Artificial Intelligence and automation are integrated into our daily lives. UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance co-repping the film in North America.
The film will mark the debut of American filmmaker and contemporary artist Alex Prager, who was nominated for the SXSW Grand Jury Prize in 2023 for her short film Run. Production is being lined up for Q3, 2023.
Oscar nominee Vincent Landay (Her) will produce alongside Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman and Alison Small for Brownstone Productions (Pitch Perfect).
HODs attached include Prager’s long-time collaborators:...
- 5/11/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The Brady organization against gun violence is calling on Hollywood writers, directors and producers to examine onscreen gun violence and depictions of gun safety, asking the creative community to sign a pledge that’s already garnered more than 200 signatures of such names as Judd Apatow, Shonda Rhimes, Damon Lindelof and Jimmy Kimmel and the writers of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The pledge, while noting that the “responsibility lies with lax gun laws supported by those politicians more afraid of losing power than saving lives,” acknowledges that “America’s storytellers” have the power to “effect change.”
“Cultural attitudes toward smoking, drunk driving, seatbelts and marriage equality have all evolved due in large part to movies’ and TV’s influence. It’s time to take on gun safety,” the Brady pledge states, and goes on to ask writers, directors and producers to, whenever possible, to:
Use creativity “to model responsible gun ownership and...
The pledge, while noting that the “responsibility lies with lax gun laws supported by those politicians more afraid of losing power than saving lives,” acknowledges that “America’s storytellers” have the power to “effect change.”
“Cultural attitudes toward smoking, drunk driving, seatbelts and marriage equality have all evolved due in large part to movies’ and TV’s influence. It’s time to take on gun safety,” the Brady pledge states, and goes on to ask writers, directors and producers to, whenever possible, to:
Use creativity “to model responsible gun ownership and...
- 6/13/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Hollywood has come together to make a change over the portrayal of gun violence onscreen.
Judd Apatow, Mark Ruffalo, Jimmy Kimmel, Damon Lindelof, Adam McKay, Julianne Moore, Shonda Rhimes, Eli Roth, Mark Ruffalo, Amy Schumer, and John Glickman are among the first round of signatures for a petition calling for the film and TV industry to re-examine its influence on national gun violence in the U.S.
The petition, titled “Open Letter to Our Colleagues in the Creative Community,” calls for studios to model responsible gun safety practices in productions and curb portrayals of guns in scenes involving children. The effort, led by activists Christy Callahan, the co-chair of the Brady United Against Gun Violence organization’s Regional Leadership Council, and Robert Bowers Disney, comes after the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting on May 24.
“Considering there have been over 250 other mass shootings so far this year, it’s an almost incomprehensible tragedy.
Judd Apatow, Mark Ruffalo, Jimmy Kimmel, Damon Lindelof, Adam McKay, Julianne Moore, Shonda Rhimes, Eli Roth, Mark Ruffalo, Amy Schumer, and John Glickman are among the first round of signatures for a petition calling for the film and TV industry to re-examine its influence on national gun violence in the U.S.
The petition, titled “Open Letter to Our Colleagues in the Creative Community,” calls for studios to model responsible gun safety practices in productions and curb portrayals of guns in scenes involving children. The effort, led by activists Christy Callahan, the co-chair of the Brady United Against Gun Violence organization’s Regional Leadership Council, and Robert Bowers Disney, comes after the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting on May 24.
“Considering there have been over 250 other mass shootings so far this year, it’s an almost incomprehensible tragedy.
- 6/13/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
'Finding Neverland' movie: Johnny Depp as James M. Barrie, with the Llewelyn Davies family: Kate Winslet, Freddie Highmore, Joe Prospero, Nick Roud and Luke Spill. 'Finding Neverland' movie review: Losing reality Back in 2001, German-born director Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace, World War Z) brought a much welcome non-Hollywood touch to the independently made psychological drama Monster's Ball. Besides the daring (if way overlong) sex scenes, that film imparted a refreshingly realistic atmosphere that was much enhanced by Forster's minimalist approach. As the title implies, his follow-up effort, Finding Neverland (2004), has absolutely nothing to do with reality, whether Peter Pan author James M. Barrie's or anyone else's. Even so, Forster's early, no-nonsense directorial touch is sorely missing from what is little more than your usual big-studio holiday movie whose “magical moments” might as well have been created by a computer. 'Finding Neverland' plot: James M. Barrie...
- 12/23/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Avoiding the clichés one might expect to abound in a film about a beautiful young mother who enlists not once but twice to serve in Afghanistan, this is a feat of expert script writing and filmmaking.
Between the two stints in the Army, decorated U.S. Army medic and single mother Maggie Swann must renew her relationship with her five-year old son, adjust to her ex-husband’s new live-in and establish a new romance with a blue-eyed Mexican car mechanic, played by Manolo Cardona, who played Santiago in “Contracorriente” (“Undertow”) and is heart-throbbingly gorgeous. And she suffers from recurring memories of her stint in Afghanistan which don’t allow her to sleep much.
Michelle Monaghan who played Maggie Swann reminded me a little too much of Sandra Bullock though she is a good actress, playing the two ends of the emotional spectrum so well that I actually cried with her. Returning home and to Fort Bliss in Houston Texas after a horrendous stint in the army where she served as a medic, unable to sleep much and determined to take back her son, she plays the stoic decorated U.S. Army medic that she has become and yet, to win back her son and establish any other loving relationship, she must (and does) allow her emotions to rule in the end.
The director, Claudia Myers, who also wrote the screenplay was at the screening answering numerous questions afterward in both English and French. She is American but grew up in France. She worked extensively with the military making training movies and wanted to write a story about a woman with a career and family. This extreme situation of a career in the military also appealed to her because the woman had to play such emotional extremes, from not showing emotion in the worst circumstances of war to allowing her emotions for her son and for her lover to have free reign. This is the second feature she has directed after the 2006 Showtime movie, “ Kettle of Fish”.
The film premiered at Toronto Film Festival 2013 and is being sold internationally by Voltage who has sold it for Showgate for Japan and Umbrella for Australia, and Phase 4 for North America. “Fort Bliss” won the Audience Award at the Champs Elysees Film Festival this past June.
If only there were a family-friendly version, I would take my young grandson and his mother to see this as I think a child would empathize with the little boy, played marvelously by Oakes Fegley, if two very hot (and very meaningful) sex scenes were edited out for a family-friendly version.
The sex scenes, however, were great in that each showed the psychological needs of a long emotionally-suppressed military woman and latter the sad and determined lust of her and her lover. That was one cliché less: instead of showing the usual dreamy and loving sex motives of most films, sex revealed the emotional states of people under pressure.
The second cliché avoided was the emotional bond between mother and son. It was a film even a child could respond too, much the way children respond to the story of “Bambi” on film, and yet it avoided any sappiness. And the Army wants to see this story told, despite it showing troubling subject matter like Ptsd, reintegrating into society and sexual assault -- but to their credit they have supported it and helped the film get made in terms of accuracy.
The credits offered thanks to the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss,American Legion, American Red Cross, Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, CA, Patriot Guard Riders, U.S. Army Public Affairs, Union Editorial and the United Service Organizations (Uso).
“Fort Bliss” stars Michelle Monaghan (“True Detective”, “Source Code”), Ron Livingston (“Boardwalk Empire,” “Office Space”), Manolo Cardona (“Undertow”, “Beverly Hills Chihauhua”), Gbenga Akinnagbe (“The Wire”), Emmanuelle Chriqui (“Entourage”) and Pablo Schreiber (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Orange is the New Black”).
Producers are John Sullivan, Adam Silver, Patrick Cunningham, Claudia Myers, and Brendan McDonald. Executive Producer is Matt Chessé. Cinematography is by Adam Silver with editing by Matt Chessé and Carsten Kurpanek. Original music by Asche & Spencer.
• Winner: Best Narrative Feature at the GI Film Festival
• Winner: Audience Award for "Best Feature - Independent American Film” at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival
• Winner: Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking Honors at the 2014 Newport Beach Film Festival
1 Hour, 49 Minutes / Not Yet Rated
"Fort Bliss" will play day-and-date in theaters and on VOD September 19 and will come out on DVD October 14. This is a film you want to see.
Between the two stints in the Army, decorated U.S. Army medic and single mother Maggie Swann must renew her relationship with her five-year old son, adjust to her ex-husband’s new live-in and establish a new romance with a blue-eyed Mexican car mechanic, played by Manolo Cardona, who played Santiago in “Contracorriente” (“Undertow”) and is heart-throbbingly gorgeous. And she suffers from recurring memories of her stint in Afghanistan which don’t allow her to sleep much.
Michelle Monaghan who played Maggie Swann reminded me a little too much of Sandra Bullock though she is a good actress, playing the two ends of the emotional spectrum so well that I actually cried with her. Returning home and to Fort Bliss in Houston Texas after a horrendous stint in the army where she served as a medic, unable to sleep much and determined to take back her son, she plays the stoic decorated U.S. Army medic that she has become and yet, to win back her son and establish any other loving relationship, she must (and does) allow her emotions to rule in the end.
The director, Claudia Myers, who also wrote the screenplay was at the screening answering numerous questions afterward in both English and French. She is American but grew up in France. She worked extensively with the military making training movies and wanted to write a story about a woman with a career and family. This extreme situation of a career in the military also appealed to her because the woman had to play such emotional extremes, from not showing emotion in the worst circumstances of war to allowing her emotions for her son and for her lover to have free reign. This is the second feature she has directed after the 2006 Showtime movie, “ Kettle of Fish”.
The film premiered at Toronto Film Festival 2013 and is being sold internationally by Voltage who has sold it for Showgate for Japan and Umbrella for Australia, and Phase 4 for North America. “Fort Bliss” won the Audience Award at the Champs Elysees Film Festival this past June.
If only there were a family-friendly version, I would take my young grandson and his mother to see this as I think a child would empathize with the little boy, played marvelously by Oakes Fegley, if two very hot (and very meaningful) sex scenes were edited out for a family-friendly version.
The sex scenes, however, were great in that each showed the psychological needs of a long emotionally-suppressed military woman and latter the sad and determined lust of her and her lover. That was one cliché less: instead of showing the usual dreamy and loving sex motives of most films, sex revealed the emotional states of people under pressure.
The second cliché avoided was the emotional bond between mother and son. It was a film even a child could respond too, much the way children respond to the story of “Bambi” on film, and yet it avoided any sappiness. And the Army wants to see this story told, despite it showing troubling subject matter like Ptsd, reintegrating into society and sexual assault -- but to their credit they have supported it and helped the film get made in terms of accuracy.
The credits offered thanks to the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss,American Legion, American Red Cross, Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, CA, Patriot Guard Riders, U.S. Army Public Affairs, Union Editorial and the United Service Organizations (Uso).
“Fort Bliss” stars Michelle Monaghan (“True Detective”, “Source Code”), Ron Livingston (“Boardwalk Empire,” “Office Space”), Manolo Cardona (“Undertow”, “Beverly Hills Chihauhua”), Gbenga Akinnagbe (“The Wire”), Emmanuelle Chriqui (“Entourage”) and Pablo Schreiber (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Orange is the New Black”).
Producers are John Sullivan, Adam Silver, Patrick Cunningham, Claudia Myers, and Brendan McDonald. Executive Producer is Matt Chessé. Cinematography is by Adam Silver with editing by Matt Chessé and Carsten Kurpanek. Original music by Asche & Spencer.
• Winner: Best Narrative Feature at the GI Film Festival
• Winner: Audience Award for "Best Feature - Independent American Film” at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival
• Winner: Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking Honors at the 2014 Newport Beach Film Festival
1 Hour, 49 Minutes / Not Yet Rated
"Fort Bliss" will play day-and-date in theaters and on VOD September 19 and will come out on DVD October 14. This is a film you want to see.
- 9/8/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
World War Z is easily the best time I’ve had at the movies so far this summer. Yes, I’ve heard all the stories about the huge production going over budget and all the reshoots and multiple script doctors, but for me, none of that was evident in the finished product.
Not being a fan at all of the zombie genre that has become so popular of late, I saw this more as a “global disaster” movie that had huge portions of the population affected and infected by a worldwide pandemic.
Brad Pitt is Gerry Lane, a former Un field investigator that now enjoys life as a family man with his wife (Mireille Enos) and daughters. In a hot second he goes from that tranquility to having to save his family and basically the rest of the world from marauding zombies. The infected folks are quite frightening as they...
Not being a fan at all of the zombie genre that has become so popular of late, I saw this more as a “global disaster” movie that had huge portions of the population affected and infected by a worldwide pandemic.
Brad Pitt is Gerry Lane, a former Un field investigator that now enjoys life as a family man with his wife (Mireille Enos) and daughters. In a hot second he goes from that tranquility to having to save his family and basically the rest of the world from marauding zombies. The infected folks are quite frightening as they...
- 6/21/2013
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Here is a list of things you probably know about World War Z:
A. Although based on the popular Max Brooks novel World War Z, virtually nothing (besides the title and a few random ideas) from the source material has made it into the movie version.
B. This production suffered through numerous snafus, delays, and hardships, some that were caused by short-sighted producers, and others that could be chalked up to plain old bad luck.
C. The third act was scrapped at the last minute and rewritten in a big hurry.
D. The budget ballooned into something over $200 million, making this (far and away) the most expensive zombie film ever made.
E. It's rated PG-13, and while that's not always the kiss of death for a horror film, it sure as hell does not bode well for an apocalyptic zombie movie.
Got all that? It's all pretty juicy and interesting stuff,...
A. Although based on the popular Max Brooks novel World War Z, virtually nothing (besides the title and a few random ideas) from the source material has made it into the movie version.
B. This production suffered through numerous snafus, delays, and hardships, some that were caused by short-sighted producers, and others that could be chalked up to plain old bad luck.
C. The third act was scrapped at the last minute and rewritten in a big hurry.
D. The budget ballooned into something over $200 million, making this (far and away) the most expensive zombie film ever made.
E. It's rated PG-13, and while that's not always the kiss of death for a horror film, it sure as hell does not bode well for an apocalyptic zombie movie.
Got all that? It's all pretty juicy and interesting stuff,...
- 6/21/2013
- by Scott Weinberg
- FEARnet
World War Z reviews Several World War Z reviews are in, and for the most part they have been hardly enthusiastic. Directed by Marc Forster and starring Brad Pitt (who also wears a producer’s hat in the film), World War Z has been a troubled production from the get-go: there were financing woes, the budget reportedly escalated from $125 million to $200 million, there were numerous rewrites and quite a bit of reshooting, in addition to a red-alert delay in the film’s release date. Anyhow, here are a few English-language World War Z review snippets. Of note, perhaps it’s only a coincidence, but the American publications have tended to be considerably more welcoming to World War Z than the British / Irish ones: "What a disaster. This end-of-the-world epic — Brad Pitt’s ‘baby,’ which he’s been working on since 2007 — is mostly bland and extremely bloated. It’s Z for zombie,...
- 6/7/2013
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars
The chequered and very public production history of World War Z means that, for many, it will be an outing more of morbid curiosity than fervent excitement. Despite a world class cast and crew at the helm and a whopping seven weeks of re-shoots – reportedly in order to fix the troublesome third act – this over-budget blockbuster fails to find its footing and settles for being a clunky, malformed mess unworthy of the source material.
Choosing to adapt Max Brooks’ much-loved epistolary novel of the same name is no easy task, given the interview-based nature of the text not lending itself particularly well to the cinematic medium. Instead, director Marc Forster and screenwriters Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard and Damon Lindelof (the latter two of whom jumped in for those last-minute rewrites) have attempted to capture the spirit of the material within a different framework, an admirable...
The chequered and very public production history of World War Z means that, for many, it will be an outing more of morbid curiosity than fervent excitement. Despite a world class cast and crew at the helm and a whopping seven weeks of re-shoots – reportedly in order to fix the troublesome third act – this over-budget blockbuster fails to find its footing and settles for being a clunky, malformed mess unworthy of the source material.
Choosing to adapt Max Brooks’ much-loved epistolary novel of the same name is no easy task, given the interview-based nature of the text not lending itself particularly well to the cinematic medium. Instead, director Marc Forster and screenwriters Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard and Damon Lindelof (the latter two of whom jumped in for those last-minute rewrites) have attempted to capture the spirit of the material within a different framework, an admirable...
- 6/7/2013
- by Shaun Munro
- Obsessed with Film
“100 Proof” Depp and Cast Highlight Bruce Robinson’s The Rum Diary
I was thrilled to be present at Thursday’s Us premiere of The Rum Diary at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to launch their Film Independent screening program! The night kicked off with director Bruce Robinson and cast brought to the stage to quickly introduce this entertaining flick.
Johnny Depp stars as Paul Kemp, a New York journalist who moves to Puerto Rico to write for the San Juan Star. He’s introduced to the paper’s quirky staff and immediately assigned to horoscopes and reporting on the activity at the local bowling alley. He soon moves into a rundown apartment of co-worker Sala (played by Sopranos actor Michael Rispoli) and befriends the paper’s oddball reporter, Moberg (Giovanni Ribisi). To top things off, Kemp also becomes involved in a love triangle with the beautiful Cheneault (Amber Heard) and her rich fiancé,...
I was thrilled to be present at Thursday’s Us premiere of The Rum Diary at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to launch their Film Independent screening program! The night kicked off with director Bruce Robinson and cast brought to the stage to quickly introduce this entertaining flick.
Johnny Depp stars as Paul Kemp, a New York journalist who moves to Puerto Rico to write for the San Juan Star. He’s introduced to the paper’s quirky staff and immediately assigned to horoscopes and reporting on the activity at the local bowling alley. He soon moves into a rundown apartment of co-worker Sala (played by Sopranos actor Michael Rispoli) and befriends the paper’s oddball reporter, Moberg (Giovanni Ribisi). To top things off, Kemp also becomes involved in a love triangle with the beautiful Cheneault (Amber Heard) and her rich fiancé,...
- 10/18/2011
- by Adam Cray
- Killer Films
In Relativity Media’s Machine Gun Preacher, when ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region.s vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it.s most needed.in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord.s Resistance Army (Lra), a renegade militia that forces children to become soldiers before they even reach their teens.
But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the Lra.s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives.and eventually his own. Wamg is giving away passes to an advanced screening of Machine Gun Preacher on Tuesday,...
But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the Lra.s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives.and eventually his own. Wamg is giving away passes to an advanced screening of Machine Gun Preacher on Tuesday,...
- 9/27/2011
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Gerard Butler, stars as “Sam Childers,” the impassioned founder of Angels of East Africa rescue organization, brings hope where there is none to hundreds of children in Relativity Media’s release Machine Gun Preacher.
Relativity Media has released these new images and poster from Machine Gun Preacher - the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds his unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children in war-torn Sudan. Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization in Golden Globe®-nominated director Marc Forster.s (Monster.s Ball, The Kite Runner) moving story of violence and redemption.
Michelle Monaghan and Gerard Butler star as husband and wife in the inspirational true story of Sam Childers. A former drug-dealing criminal Sam (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to...
Relativity Media has released these new images and poster from Machine Gun Preacher - the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds his unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children in war-torn Sudan. Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization in Golden Globe®-nominated director Marc Forster.s (Monster.s Ball, The Kite Runner) moving story of violence and redemption.
Michelle Monaghan and Gerard Butler star as husband and wife in the inspirational true story of Sam Childers. A former drug-dealing criminal Sam (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to...
- 9/10/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Dream Entertainment, the Los Angeles-based production and international sales company, has acquired international rights to Ellie Parker, produced by and starring Naomi Watts. An official selection of this year's Sundance Film Festival, Ellie Parker is a comedy about a young woman's struggle for integrity, happiness and a Hollywood acting career. The film also stars Chevy Chase, Scott Coffey, Mark Pellegrino and Rebecca Riggs. Ellie Parker was written and directed by Coffey, who along with Watts produced the film with Matt Chesse and Blair Mastbaum.
- 4/19/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oscar-nominated editors assembled to reveal a few tricks of the trade at the American Cinema Editors' fifth annual panel, titled "Invisible Art, Visible Artists." The Aviator's Thelma Schoonmaker, Collateral's Jim Miller and Paul Rubell, Finding Neverland's Matt Chesse, Million Dollar Baby's Joel Cox and Ray's Paul Hirsch discussed the art of editing on a panel moderated by ACE president Alan Heim on Saturday morning at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The standing-room crowd watched the editors' favorite scenes from each of the Oscar-nominated films before the panelists explained such creative choices as pacing, camera angles and trimming, as well as revealing bits of edit-bay drama. Heim asked the editors to describe how they got their start.
- 2/27/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- A splendid idea for a film goes largely wasted despite a brave performance by Naomi Watts as a struggling actress trying to figure it all out in Hollywood. Clearly a labor of love for Watts and writer-director Scott Coffey, pic started life as a short and was five years in the making, but closeness to the subject makes it turn out more like a home movie.
Having kicked around the business for years herself, Watts clearly has a personal connection to Ellie Parker, whose professional and personal life is a mess. Nicely observed and honest details about the humiliation and rejection of an actress' life become mind-numbing in their repetition.
The perky Parker, who like Watts is an Aussie, goes from one disastrous audition to another, with time out for a cry with her best friend Sam (Rebecca Rigg). Her beat up car serves as both office and closet as she changes and does makeup while driving, doing a total emotional makeover for the next character she's going up for. Such is the actor's life that she has to shift from an antebellum Civil War belle to a foul--mouthed Brooklyn slut in the blink of an eye. And Watts does it convincingly, covering a huge range of material here.
But like many actors, Parker is desperately insecure, and all the directors, producers, casting directors and receptionists are not about to give her the modicum of respect she craves. So searching for acceptance, she has become a first-class people pleaser, indulging her slacker boyfriend (Mark Pelligrino) even when she finds him in bed with, who else, a casting agent (Jennifer Syme). When her car is rear-ended she feels sorry for the driver (Coffey) and eventually has a disastrous fling with the guy, who turns out to be a creep.
Parker's life goes from bad to bad to bad. Hollywood has never looked more vile--or cliched.With the possible exception of her manager (Chevy Chase), who is himself having an affair with a younger woman, there is not a decent person in the bunch. Even her new-agey acting coach sneaks off for a line of coke in the middle of class. And Parker never really wins our sympathy either. She tells her shrink she's waiting for her life to start, and so are we. Her ordeal is too unrelentingly one note to have any dramatic impact. This girl is clueless.
So why does she put up with all this? For the sake of her art? She is tearing herself inside-out for B material and people who wouldn't recognize talent if it got up and bit them. Coffey and Watts' answer that she is doing it for self-expression is woefully incomplete
There are no doubt thousands of people like Parker in Hollywood, but even struggling actresses must have a good day now and then. Coffey could have fashioned a biting satire of the business; instead he goes for a cinema verite approach with hand-held video cameras and jump cuts. Coffey and cinematographer Blair Mastbaum do achieve some hard-to-believe shots, such as one between Watts' legs as she changes her clothes in the car. But the script, improvised and largely spur of the moment, could have benefited from more thought and less action. Without a good enough reason to care about her, the problems of a narcissistic actress don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
ELLIE PARKER
Sad Boy Films
Credits:
Director: Scott Coffey
Writer: Coffey
Producers: Coffey, Naomi Watts, Matt Chesse, Blair Mastbaum
Directors of photography: Coffey, Mastbaum
Music: Neil Jackson
Editors: Cheese, Catherine Hollander
Cast:
Naomi Watts, Rebecca Rigg, Scott Coffey, Mark Pelligrino, Chevy Chase, Blair Mastbaum, Jennifer Syme
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 95 minutes...
Having kicked around the business for years herself, Watts clearly has a personal connection to Ellie Parker, whose professional and personal life is a mess. Nicely observed and honest details about the humiliation and rejection of an actress' life become mind-numbing in their repetition.
The perky Parker, who like Watts is an Aussie, goes from one disastrous audition to another, with time out for a cry with her best friend Sam (Rebecca Rigg). Her beat up car serves as both office and closet as she changes and does makeup while driving, doing a total emotional makeover for the next character she's going up for. Such is the actor's life that she has to shift from an antebellum Civil War belle to a foul--mouthed Brooklyn slut in the blink of an eye. And Watts does it convincingly, covering a huge range of material here.
But like many actors, Parker is desperately insecure, and all the directors, producers, casting directors and receptionists are not about to give her the modicum of respect she craves. So searching for acceptance, she has become a first-class people pleaser, indulging her slacker boyfriend (Mark Pelligrino) even when she finds him in bed with, who else, a casting agent (Jennifer Syme). When her car is rear-ended she feels sorry for the driver (Coffey) and eventually has a disastrous fling with the guy, who turns out to be a creep.
Parker's life goes from bad to bad to bad. Hollywood has never looked more vile--or cliched.With the possible exception of her manager (Chevy Chase), who is himself having an affair with a younger woman, there is not a decent person in the bunch. Even her new-agey acting coach sneaks off for a line of coke in the middle of class. And Parker never really wins our sympathy either. She tells her shrink she's waiting for her life to start, and so are we. Her ordeal is too unrelentingly one note to have any dramatic impact. This girl is clueless.
So why does she put up with all this? For the sake of her art? She is tearing herself inside-out for B material and people who wouldn't recognize talent if it got up and bit them. Coffey and Watts' answer that she is doing it for self-expression is woefully incomplete
There are no doubt thousands of people like Parker in Hollywood, but even struggling actresses must have a good day now and then. Coffey could have fashioned a biting satire of the business; instead he goes for a cinema verite approach with hand-held video cameras and jump cuts. Coffey and cinematographer Blair Mastbaum do achieve some hard-to-believe shots, such as one between Watts' legs as she changes her clothes in the car. But the script, improvised and largely spur of the moment, could have benefited from more thought and less action. Without a good enough reason to care about her, the problems of a narcissistic actress don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
ELLIE PARKER
Sad Boy Films
Credits:
Director: Scott Coffey
Writer: Coffey
Producers: Coffey, Naomi Watts, Matt Chesse, Blair Mastbaum
Directors of photography: Coffey, Mastbaum
Music: Neil Jackson
Editors: Cheese, Catherine Hollander
Cast:
Naomi Watts, Rebecca Rigg, Scott Coffey, Mark Pelligrino, Chevy Chase, Blair Mastbaum, Jennifer Syme
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 95 minutes...
- 1/28/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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