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Air Bud — the Disney film about a dog who could play basketball (and which starred Buddy, a golden retriever that could indeed launch the ball into the net with his nose) — first dribbled its way into our hearts 25 years ago.
The idea for Air Bud had been hatched by Canadian brothers Robert and William Vince, who churned out low-budget horror films. When they caught Buddy on Late Show With David Letterman, inspiration struck for a family film. They described the idea to director Charles Martin Smith (who’d go on to direct 2011’s Dolphin Tale and 2019’s A Dog’s Way Home).
“I said, ‘That just sounds horrible,’ ” Smith recalls of their pitch. “This is what I said to them: ‘If you’d let me rewrite it and make it honest — a classic story of a boy and his dog — I’ll be in.
Air Bud — the Disney film about a dog who could play basketball (and which starred Buddy, a golden retriever that could indeed launch the ball into the net with his nose) — first dribbled its way into our hearts 25 years ago.
The idea for Air Bud had been hatched by Canadian brothers Robert and William Vince, who churned out low-budget horror films. When they caught Buddy on Late Show With David Letterman, inspiration struck for a family film. They described the idea to director Charles Martin Smith (who’d go on to direct 2011’s Dolphin Tale and 2019’s A Dog’s Way Home).
“I said, ‘That just sounds horrible,’ ” Smith recalls of their pitch. “This is what I said to them: ‘If you’d let me rewrite it and make it honest — a classic story of a boy and his dog — I’ll be in.
- 7/28/2022
- by Seth Abramovitch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Toronto -- Canadian indie distributor D Films has signed a multi-picture, first-look development deal with Vancouver-based Foundation Pictures.
The multi-year deal will cover development on a slate of projects from Foundation Pictures producers Rob Merilees and Dave Valleau ("The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus").
Foundation Pictures grew out of the former Infinity Features team in Vancouver, which was led by the late producer Bill Vince ("Capote").
The deal was negotiated by Jim Sherry for D Films in Toronto and by Rob Merilees for Foundation Features.
The multi-year deal will cover development on a slate of projects from Foundation Pictures producers Rob Merilees and Dave Valleau ("The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus").
Foundation Pictures grew out of the former Infinity Features team in Vancouver, which was led by the late producer Bill Vince ("Capote").
The deal was negotiated by Jim Sherry for D Films in Toronto and by Rob Merilees for Foundation Features.
- 9/13/2010
- by By Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) will go down in history as the 19th and final film of Heath Ledger's career, and that's -- all at once -- a shame and something special. It's a shame because the world lost a remarkable young talent when Ledger died in January, 2008, but something special because it's a terrific and fanciful film, and because of the extraordinary lengths to which writer-director Terry Gilliam, the film's cast and crew, and several of Ledger's friends went in order to ensure that Doctor Parnassus would be completed. But let's back up a step. Gilliam and Ledger had worked together before, on the director's film The Brothers Grimm (2005). That one wasn't a masterpiece by any means, but it had its moments and, more importantly, Ledger and Gilliam hit it off personally and professionally. At some point later on, Gilliam and Ledger, the latter then extremely in demand,...
- 12/24/2009
- by ianspelling@corp.popstar.com (Ian Spelling)
- ScreenStar
Sony Pictures Classics' "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" has new images in the group. Terry Gilliam-directed film sees release on Christmas Day and stars Johnny Depp, Heath Ledger, Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, Jude Law, Lily Cole, Tom Waits, Verne Troyer and Andrew Garfield. The film is rated PG-13 and was produced by Samuel Hadida, Terry Gilliam, Amy Gilliam and William Vince. "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present-day. It tells the story of Dr. Parnassus and his extraordinary ‘Imaginarium’, a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom...
- 9/28/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
It’s double-bill DVD déjà vu for Dakota Fanning, who starred in both Push and Coraline.
Dakota Fanning is one busy young woman. Like any typical 14-year-old, Fanning engages in normal teenage activities: family, friends, hobbies and homework. But as a world-renowned actress, Fanning’s already full schedule must also accommodate her busy career. So it wouldn’t be at all surprising then to find the teenager too rushed and distracted for even the most terse and perfunctory conversation.
That doesn’t seem to be Fanning’s personality at all. From her bright “thank you”s when being complimented on performances past and present to her ardent assurances that there’s plenty of time for questions, she conveys only enthusiasm.
Fanning first made ripples in the science fiction universe (at age eight) as the scarily sophisticated alien hybrid Allie Keys in the 2002 mini-series Taken (which she discussed in Starlog #307), and...
Dakota Fanning is one busy young woman. Like any typical 14-year-old, Fanning engages in normal teenage activities: family, friends, hobbies and homework. But as a world-renowned actress, Fanning’s already full schedule must also accommodate her busy career. So it wouldn’t be at all surprising then to find the teenager too rushed and distracted for even the most terse and perfunctory conversation.
That doesn’t seem to be Fanning’s personality at all. From her bright “thank you”s when being complimented on performances past and present to her ardent assurances that there’s plenty of time for questions, she conveys only enthusiasm.
Fanning first made ripples in the science fiction universe (at age eight) as the scarily sophisticated alien hybrid Allie Keys in the 2002 mini-series Taken (which she discussed in Starlog #307), and...
- 8/26/2009
- by no-reply@starlog.com (Keith Olexa)
- Starlog
"Push", the sci-fi thriller movie in which Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning and Camilla Belle star as people gifted with an extraordinary power has got its trailer released. Taking viewers to the world of psychic espionage, the video footage provides an introduction into what should be expected from the Summit Entertainment flick.
Guided by the voiceover of the central character, Nick Gant, who explains the difference of the people like him and others, the trailer unveils many of the movie's action sequences. In the footage, Nick reveals that he can move object with his mind, while some others can control other people's mind or see the future. He then points out that there is a secret government organization, Division, which is chasing after these psychics to turn them into weapon.
Now, his only way of survival is to find a missing girl, Kira Hudson, and a stolen suitcase that could potentially bring the downfall of Division.
Guided by the voiceover of the central character, Nick Gant, who explains the difference of the people like him and others, the trailer unveils many of the movie's action sequences. In the footage, Nick reveals that he can move object with his mind, while some others can control other people's mind or see the future. He then points out that there is a secret government organization, Division, which is chasing after these psychics to turn them into weapon.
Now, his only way of survival is to find a missing girl, Kira Hudson, and a stolen suitcase that could potentially bring the downfall of Division.
- 10/18/2008
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Quick Stop Entertainment has presented a sneak peek into Terry Gilliam's currently in its post-production fantasy drama, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", through a claimed-to-be teaser trailer. Displaying the artwork, set design and brief glimpses of actual scenes of the film partly starring the late Heath Ledger, the teaser which looks more like a featurette contains introduction from Gilliam himself.
Sharing out the storyline, the helmer of "The Brothers Grimm" and "Twelve Monkeys" explained that the movie will begin in modern London. It is going to follow thousand-year-old prophet named Parnassus who made a secret with the devil long time ago, a secret which may destroy the lives of his and his traveling theater, The Imaginarium, or possibly save them depending on whom they meet. One day, he meets Tony, a man who hangs himself from a bridge in London. After saving Tony's life, he now has to unravel...
Sharing out the storyline, the helmer of "The Brothers Grimm" and "Twelve Monkeys" explained that the movie will begin in modern London. It is going to follow thousand-year-old prophet named Parnassus who made a secret with the devil long time ago, a secret which may destroy the lives of his and his traveling theater, The Imaginarium, or possibly save them depending on whom they meet. One day, he meets Tony, a man who hangs himself from a bridge in London. After saving Tony's life, he now has to unravel...
- 9/15/2008
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
- #56. Stanford Prison ExperimentDirector: Christopher McQuarrie Writers: Talbott and McQuarrie Producers: Brent Emery, Mark Morgan, Guy Oseary, William Vince and McQuarrieDistributor: Currently Seeking Distribution The Gist: This is based on the real-life events surrounding the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Stanford professor and former president of the American Psychological Assn. Philip Zimbardo. In the study on the psychology of prison life, a group of undergrads assumed the roles of prisoners and guards. Within 24 hours the guards resorted to psychological torture and humiliation...Fact: This at some point went head to head with a competing project The Experiment - an English-version remake of the German film that launched Oliver Hirschbiegel's career. See It: Fascinating premise could extend itself to the prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib - it all depends if the treatment for the screenplay is sensationalist or not. McQuarrie creates what I deem as the ideal "films for guys
- 1/30/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
A small budget should not limit the scope of a film's vision. That was one of the key conclusions reached Saturday by a 10-member panel during the fifth annual Producers Guild of America Nominees Breakfast. The morning's panel, presented by The Hollywood Reporter and sponsored by Avid, featured eight producers representing the five films nominated for the PGA's David O. Selznick Achievement Award, Theatrical Motion Pictures. Moderated by PGA vp Marshall Herskovitz and THR film editor Gregg Kilday, the panel took place before about 500 guild members and guests at the Silverscreen Theatre in the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. THR publisher Tony Uphoff introduced the eight participating producers: Brokeback Mountain's Diana Ossana, Capote's Caroline Baron and William Vince, Crash's Paul Haggis and Cathy Schulman, Good Night, and Good Luck's Grant Heslov and Walk the Line's James Keach and Cathy Konrad. Underscoring the importance of the annual affair, Uphoff said "it gives us a chance to not only celebrate the achievement of some extraordinary work but also to provide a forum where we can analyze and understand and gain insight into the art, the science and the business but also the passion of producing itself."...
- 1/22/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Capote".
TORONTO - Just as Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" represented something entirely new in American literature - a non-fiction novel, as Capote correctly called it - the movie "Capote" represents something unique in cinema. It's a hybrid that borrows from bio-pics, docu-dramas and the kind of true-life stories that turn up on television as MOWs. Unlike Capote's book, this film cannot claim to have invented a new genre. But "Capote" certainly expands the possibilities and extends the reach of cinema into the private creative and emotional lives of real people, both living and dead.
Most eye-catching for critics and audiences in the weeks to come will be Philip Seymour Hoffman's brilliant metamorphosis into the persona of the late author. Capote is a man easily imitated, yet hard to pin down, a slippery devil who took one guise after another to cover up the loneliness of his personal nature and his genius. Hoffman gets it all.
Sony Pictures Classics will rightfully hitch the film's marketing to this remarkable performance. Yet "Capote" is a team effort, involving an exceptional screenplay by Dan Futterman and a director, Bennett Miller, willing to move at a painstaking pace to make certain all the nuances, conflicts and contradictions get fully explored.
Yes, it is slow moving. The catastrophe of an answered prayer - a thing that Capote said causes more tears than an unanswered one - only gradually takes shape. The movie will probably not achieve the boxoffice success of Richard Brooks' 1967 movie version of "In Cold Blood" But it could break out of the art-house niche. Word of mouth, critical response and year-end awards may determine how far it does.
"Capote" is based on Gerald Clarke's biography of the writer, but the focus is deliberately narrow: The period of time covered is from 1959, when Truman notices a story about the murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, in the New York Times, to the execution of the killers in 1965. The publication of his book about the killings makes Capote the most famous author in America. This is a time when writers matter and bestsellers are not always self-help tomes or thrillers looking for movie sales.
Miller and Futterman carefully establish the time and place and situate their hero into two different Americas. One is New York literary society with its cocktail parties and witty banter, at which no one exceeds Truman Capote, a Southern, transparently gay writer with a high-pitched voice, exaggerated fey manners and an unmistakable ambition to achieve greatness in his writing.
The other is the Midwest, where Truman is not just a duck out of water, but a duck from outer space. No one knows what to make of him when he turns up accompanied by childhood friend, Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), soon to achieve her own fame with the publication of "To Kill a Mockingbird", but on this project serving as Truman's researcher and, as he puts it, "bodyguard."
Gradually, the pair gains the confidence of Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), a starchy Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent, and, when they are caught, the killers, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino). Truman's outsider status, so peculiar to all these folks, sometimes works in his favor.
As Truman struggles to get interviews to compose "the book I was always meant to write," strange things happen. He develops a symbiotic relationship with Perry, a kindred soul in many ways, which is something like love yet blatantly exploitative. Equally as troubling is Truman's realization he has made a bargain with the Devil to write his great work. Dwelling mentally and spiritually with the killers takes a toll on him, increasing his already ingrained dependence on alcohol, shaking his relationship with his more stable lover Jack Dunphy (Bruce Geenwood) and unhinging the steadiness of his mind.
Finally, the film does rest on Hoffman's shoulders but Futterman's words, often cribbed from life, and the structure of his screenplay beautifully delineates all these developments.
This is a meticulous production where Jess Gonchor's set design tells us much about the people who inhabit these places and environments hauntingly photographed by Adam Kimmel have a powerful effect on people. Mychael Danna's muted score, relying heavily on the piano, never intrudes but only amplifies the dramatic content.
"Capote" is one gutsy film.
CAPOTE
Sony Pictures Classics
A United Artists, Sony Pictures Classics presentation of an A-Line Pictures, Cooper's Town Productions, Infinity Media production
Credits:
Director: Bennett Miller
Writer: Dan Futterman
Based on the book by: Gerald Clarke
Producers: Caroline Baron, William Vince, Michael Ohoven
Executive producers: Don Futterman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kerry Rock, Danny Rosett
Director of photography: Adam Kimmel
Production designer: Jess Gonchor
Costumes: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Music: Mychael Danna
Editor: Christopher Tellefsen
Cast:
Truman Capote: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Nelle Harper Lee: Catherine Keener
Perry Smith: Clifton Collins Jr.
Alvin Dewey: Chris Cooper
Jack Dunphy: Bruce Greenwood
William Shawn: Bob Balaban
Dick Hickock: Mark Pellegrino
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 115 minutes...
TORONTO - Just as Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" represented something entirely new in American literature - a non-fiction novel, as Capote correctly called it - the movie "Capote" represents something unique in cinema. It's a hybrid that borrows from bio-pics, docu-dramas and the kind of true-life stories that turn up on television as MOWs. Unlike Capote's book, this film cannot claim to have invented a new genre. But "Capote" certainly expands the possibilities and extends the reach of cinema into the private creative and emotional lives of real people, both living and dead.
Most eye-catching for critics and audiences in the weeks to come will be Philip Seymour Hoffman's brilliant metamorphosis into the persona of the late author. Capote is a man easily imitated, yet hard to pin down, a slippery devil who took one guise after another to cover up the loneliness of his personal nature and his genius. Hoffman gets it all.
Sony Pictures Classics will rightfully hitch the film's marketing to this remarkable performance. Yet "Capote" is a team effort, involving an exceptional screenplay by Dan Futterman and a director, Bennett Miller, willing to move at a painstaking pace to make certain all the nuances, conflicts and contradictions get fully explored.
Yes, it is slow moving. The catastrophe of an answered prayer - a thing that Capote said causes more tears than an unanswered one - only gradually takes shape. The movie will probably not achieve the boxoffice success of Richard Brooks' 1967 movie version of "In Cold Blood" But it could break out of the art-house niche. Word of mouth, critical response and year-end awards may determine how far it does.
"Capote" is based on Gerald Clarke's biography of the writer, but the focus is deliberately narrow: The period of time covered is from 1959, when Truman notices a story about the murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, in the New York Times, to the execution of the killers in 1965. The publication of his book about the killings makes Capote the most famous author in America. This is a time when writers matter and bestsellers are not always self-help tomes or thrillers looking for movie sales.
Miller and Futterman carefully establish the time and place and situate their hero into two different Americas. One is New York literary society with its cocktail parties and witty banter, at which no one exceeds Truman Capote, a Southern, transparently gay writer with a high-pitched voice, exaggerated fey manners and an unmistakable ambition to achieve greatness in his writing.
The other is the Midwest, where Truman is not just a duck out of water, but a duck from outer space. No one knows what to make of him when he turns up accompanied by childhood friend, Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), soon to achieve her own fame with the publication of "To Kill a Mockingbird", but on this project serving as Truman's researcher and, as he puts it, "bodyguard."
Gradually, the pair gains the confidence of Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), a starchy Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent, and, when they are caught, the killers, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino). Truman's outsider status, so peculiar to all these folks, sometimes works in his favor.
As Truman struggles to get interviews to compose "the book I was always meant to write," strange things happen. He develops a symbiotic relationship with Perry, a kindred soul in many ways, which is something like love yet blatantly exploitative. Equally as troubling is Truman's realization he has made a bargain with the Devil to write his great work. Dwelling mentally and spiritually with the killers takes a toll on him, increasing his already ingrained dependence on alcohol, shaking his relationship with his more stable lover Jack Dunphy (Bruce Geenwood) and unhinging the steadiness of his mind.
Finally, the film does rest on Hoffman's shoulders but Futterman's words, often cribbed from life, and the structure of his screenplay beautifully delineates all these developments.
This is a meticulous production where Jess Gonchor's set design tells us much about the people who inhabit these places and environments hauntingly photographed by Adam Kimmel have a powerful effect on people. Mychael Danna's muted score, relying heavily on the piano, never intrudes but only amplifies the dramatic content.
"Capote" is one gutsy film.
CAPOTE
Sony Pictures Classics
A United Artists, Sony Pictures Classics presentation of an A-Line Pictures, Cooper's Town Productions, Infinity Media production
Credits:
Director: Bennett Miller
Writer: Dan Futterman
Based on the book by: Gerald Clarke
Producers: Caroline Baron, William Vince, Michael Ohoven
Executive producers: Don Futterman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kerry Rock, Danny Rosett
Director of photography: Adam Kimmel
Production designer: Jess Gonchor
Costumes: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Music: Mychael Danna
Editor: Christopher Tellefsen
Cast:
Truman Capote: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Nelle Harper Lee: Catherine Keener
Perry Smith: Clifton Collins Jr.
Alvin Dewey: Chris Cooper
Jack Dunphy: Bruce Greenwood
William Shawn: Bob Balaban
Dick Hickock: Mark Pellegrino
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 115 minutes...
- 10/27/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Capote".
TORONTO - Just as Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" represented something entirely new in American literature - a non-fiction novel, as Capote correctly called it - the movie "Capote" represents something unique in cinema. It's a hybrid that borrows from bio-pics, docu-dramas and the kind of true-life stories that turn up on television as MOWs. Unlike Capote's book, this film cannot claim to have invented a new genre. But "Capote" certainly expands the possibilities and extends the reach of cinema into the private create and emotional lives of real people, both living and dead.
Most eye-catching for critics and audiences in the weeks to come will be Philip Seymour Hoffman's brilliant metamorphosis into the persona of the late author. Capote is a man easily imitated, yet hard to pin down, a slippery devil who took one guise after another to cover up the loneliness of his personal nature and his genius. Hoffman gets it all.
Sony Pictures Classics will rightfully hitch the film's marketing to this remarkable performance. Yet "Capote" is a team effort, involving an exceptional screenplay by Dan Futterman and a director, Bennett Miller, willing to move at a painstaking pace to make certain all the nuances, conflicts and contradictions get fully explored.
Yes, it is slow moving. The catastrophe of an answered prayer - a thing that Capote said causes more tears than an unanswered one - only gradually takes shape. The movie will probably not achieve the boxoffice success of Richard Brooks' 1967 movie version of "In Cold Blood" But it could break out of the art-house niche. Word of mouth, critical response and year-end awards may determine how far it does.
"Capote" is based on Gerald Clarke's biography of the writer, but the focus is deliberately narrow: The period of time covered is from 1959, when Truman notices a story about the murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, in the New York Times, to the execution of the killers in 1965. The publication of his book about the killings makes Capote the most famous author in America. This is a time when writers matter and bestsellers are not always self-help tomes or thrillers looking for movie sales.
Miller and Futterman carefully establish the time and place and situate their hero into two different Americas. One is New York literary society with its cocktail parties and witty banter, at which no one exceeds Truman Capote, a Southern, transparently gay writer with a high-pitched voice, exaggerated fey manners and an unmistakable ambition to achieve greatness in his writing.
The other is the Midwest, where Truman is not just a duck out of water, but a duck from outer space. No one knows what to make of him when he turns up accompanied by childhood friend, Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), soon to achieve her own fame with the publication of "To Kill a Mockingbird", but on this project serving as Truman's researcher and, as he puts it, "bodyguard."
Gradually, the pair gains the confidence of Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), a starchy Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent, and, when they are caught, the killers, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino). Truman's outsider status, so peculiar to all these folks, sometimes works in his favor.
As Truman struggles to get interviews to compose "the book I was always meant to write," strange things happen. He develops a symbiotic relationship with Perry, a kindred soul in many ways, which is something like love yet blatantly exploitative. Equally as troubling is Truman's realization he has made a bargain with the Devil to write his great work. Dwelling mentally and spiritually with the killers takes a toll on him, increasing his already ingrained dependence on alcohol, shaking his relationship with his more stable lover Jack Dunphy (Bruce Geenwood) and unhinging the steadiness of his mind.
Finally, the film does rest on Hoffman's shoulders but Futterman's words, often cribbed from life, and the structure of his screenplay beautifully delineates all these developments.
This is a meticulous production where Jess Gonchor's set design tells us much about the people who inhabit these places and environments hauntingly photographed by Adam Kimmel have a powerful effect on people. Mychael Danna's muted score, relying heavily on the piano, never intrudes but only amplifies the dramatic content.
"Capote" is one gutsy film.
CAPOTE
Sony Pictures Classics
A United Artists, Sony Pictures Classics presentation of an A-Line Pictures, Cooper's Town Productions, Infinity Media production
Credits:
Director: Bennett Miller
Writer: Dan Futterman
Based on the book by: Gerald Clarke
Producers: Caroline Baron, William Vince, Michael Ohoven
Executive producers: Don Futterman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kerry Rock, Danny Rosett
Director of photography: Adam Kimmel
Production designer: Jess Gonchor
Costumes: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Music: Mychael Danna
Editor: Christopher Tellefsen
Cast:
Truman Capote: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Nelle Harper Lee: Catherine Keener
Perry Smith: Clifton Collins Jr.
Alvin Dewey: Chris Cooper
Jack Dunphy: Bruce Greenwood
William Shawn: Bob Balaban
Dick Hickock: Mark Pellegrino
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 115 minutes...
TORONTO - Just as Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" represented something entirely new in American literature - a non-fiction novel, as Capote correctly called it - the movie "Capote" represents something unique in cinema. It's a hybrid that borrows from bio-pics, docu-dramas and the kind of true-life stories that turn up on television as MOWs. Unlike Capote's book, this film cannot claim to have invented a new genre. But "Capote" certainly expands the possibilities and extends the reach of cinema into the private create and emotional lives of real people, both living and dead.
Most eye-catching for critics and audiences in the weeks to come will be Philip Seymour Hoffman's brilliant metamorphosis into the persona of the late author. Capote is a man easily imitated, yet hard to pin down, a slippery devil who took one guise after another to cover up the loneliness of his personal nature and his genius. Hoffman gets it all.
Sony Pictures Classics will rightfully hitch the film's marketing to this remarkable performance. Yet "Capote" is a team effort, involving an exceptional screenplay by Dan Futterman and a director, Bennett Miller, willing to move at a painstaking pace to make certain all the nuances, conflicts and contradictions get fully explored.
Yes, it is slow moving. The catastrophe of an answered prayer - a thing that Capote said causes more tears than an unanswered one - only gradually takes shape. The movie will probably not achieve the boxoffice success of Richard Brooks' 1967 movie version of "In Cold Blood" But it could break out of the art-house niche. Word of mouth, critical response and year-end awards may determine how far it does.
"Capote" is based on Gerald Clarke's biography of the writer, but the focus is deliberately narrow: The period of time covered is from 1959, when Truman notices a story about the murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, in the New York Times, to the execution of the killers in 1965. The publication of his book about the killings makes Capote the most famous author in America. This is a time when writers matter and bestsellers are not always self-help tomes or thrillers looking for movie sales.
Miller and Futterman carefully establish the time and place and situate their hero into two different Americas. One is New York literary society with its cocktail parties and witty banter, at which no one exceeds Truman Capote, a Southern, transparently gay writer with a high-pitched voice, exaggerated fey manners and an unmistakable ambition to achieve greatness in his writing.
The other is the Midwest, where Truman is not just a duck out of water, but a duck from outer space. No one knows what to make of him when he turns up accompanied by childhood friend, Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), soon to achieve her own fame with the publication of "To Kill a Mockingbird", but on this project serving as Truman's researcher and, as he puts it, "bodyguard."
Gradually, the pair gains the confidence of Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), a starchy Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent, and, when they are caught, the killers, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino). Truman's outsider status, so peculiar to all these folks, sometimes works in his favor.
As Truman struggles to get interviews to compose "the book I was always meant to write," strange things happen. He develops a symbiotic relationship with Perry, a kindred soul in many ways, which is something like love yet blatantly exploitative. Equally as troubling is Truman's realization he has made a bargain with the Devil to write his great work. Dwelling mentally and spiritually with the killers takes a toll on him, increasing his already ingrained dependence on alcohol, shaking his relationship with his more stable lover Jack Dunphy (Bruce Geenwood) and unhinging the steadiness of his mind.
Finally, the film does rest on Hoffman's shoulders but Futterman's words, often cribbed from life, and the structure of his screenplay beautifully delineates all these developments.
This is a meticulous production where Jess Gonchor's set design tells us much about the people who inhabit these places and environments hauntingly photographed by Adam Kimmel have a powerful effect on people. Mychael Danna's muted score, relying heavily on the piano, never intrudes but only amplifies the dramatic content.
"Capote" is one gutsy film.
CAPOTE
Sony Pictures Classics
A United Artists, Sony Pictures Classics presentation of an A-Line Pictures, Cooper's Town Productions, Infinity Media production
Credits:
Director: Bennett Miller
Writer: Dan Futterman
Based on the book by: Gerald Clarke
Producers: Caroline Baron, William Vince, Michael Ohoven
Executive producers: Don Futterman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kerry Rock, Danny Rosett
Director of photography: Adam Kimmel
Production designer: Jess Gonchor
Costumes: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Music: Mychael Danna
Editor: Christopher Tellefsen
Cast:
Truman Capote: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Nelle Harper Lee: Catherine Keener
Perry Smith: Clifton Collins Jr.
Alvin Dewey: Chris Cooper
Jack Dunphy: Bruce Greenwood
William Shawn: Bob Balaban
Dick Hickock: Mark Pellegrino
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 115 minutes...
- 10/20/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO - Just as Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" represented something entirely new in American literature - a non-fiction novel, as Capote correctly called it - the movie "Capote" represents something unique in cinema. It's a hybrid that borrows from bio-pics, docu-dramas and the kind of true-life stories that turn up on television as MOWs. Unlike Capote's book, this film cannot claim to have invented a new genre. But "Capote" certainly expands the possibilities and extends the reach of cinema into the private create and emotional lives of real people, both living and dead.
Most eye-catching for critics and audiences in the weeks to come will be Philip Seymour Hoffman's brilliant metamorphosis into the persona of the late author. Capote is a man easily imitated, yet hard to pin down, a slippery devil who took one guise after another to cover up the loneliness of his personal nature and his genius. Hoffman gets it all.
Sony Pictures Classics will rightfully hitch the film's marketing to this remarkable performance. Yet "Capote" is a team effort, involving an exceptional screenplay by Dan Futterman and a director, Bennett Miller, willing to move at a painstaking pace to make certain all the nuances, conflicts and contradictions get fully explored.
Yes, it is slow moving. The catastrophe of an answered prayer - a thing that Capote said causes more tears than an unanswered one - only gradually takes shape. The movie will probably not achieve the boxoffice success of Richard Brooks' 1967 movie version of "In Cold Blood" But it could break out of the art-house niche. Word of mouth, critical response and year-end awards may determine how far it does.
"Capote" is based on Gerald Clarke's biography of the writer, but the focus is deliberately narrow: The period of time covered is from 1959, when Truman notices a story about the murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, in the New York Times, to the execution of the killers in 1965. The publication of his book about the killings makes Capote the most famous author in America. This is a time when writers matter and bestsellers are not always self-help tomes or thrillers looking for movie sales.
Miller and Futterman carefully establish the time and place and situate their hero into two different Americas. One is New York literary society with its cocktail parties and witty banter, at which no one exceeds Truman Capote, a Southern, transparently gay writer with a high-pitched voice, exaggerated fey manners and an unmistakable ambition to achieve greatness in his writing.
The other is the Midwest, where Truman is not just a duck out of water, but a duck from outer space. No one knows what to make of him when he turns up accompanied by childhood friend, Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), soon to achieve her own fame with the publication of "To Kill a Mockingbird", but on this project serving as Truman's researcher and, as he puts it, "bodyguard."
Gradually, the pair gains the confidence of Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), a starchy Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent, and, when they are caught, the killers, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino). Truman's outsider status, so peculiar to all these folks, sometimes works in his favor.
As Truman struggles to get interviews to compose "the book I was always meant to write," strange things happen. He develops a symbiotic relationship with Perry, a kindred soul in many ways, which is something like love yet blatantly exploitative. Equally as troubling is Truman's realization he has made a bargain with the Devil to write his great work. Dwelling mentally and spiritually with the killers takes a toll on him, increasing his already ingrained dependence on alcohol, shaking his relationship with his more stable lover Jack Dunphy (Bruce Geenwood) and unhinging the steadiness of his mind.
Finally, the film does rest on Hoffman's shoulders but Futterman's words, often cribbed from life, and the structure of his screenplay beautifully delineates all these developments.
This is a meticulous production where Jess Gonchor's set design tells us much about the people who inhabit these places and environments hauntingly photographed by Adam Kimmel have a powerful effect on people. Mychael Danna's muted score, relying heavily on the piano, never intrudes but only amplifies the dramatic content.
"Capote" is one gutsy film.
CAPOTE
Sony Pictures Classics
A United Artists, Sony Pictures Classics presentation of an A-Line Pictures, Cooper's Town Productions, Infinity Media production
Credits:
Director: Bennett Miller
Writer: Dan Futterman
Based on the book by: Gerald Clarke
Producers: Caroline Baron, William Vince, Michael Ohoven
Executive producers: Don Futterman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kerry Rock, Danny Rosett
Director of photography: Adam Kimmel
Production designer: Jess Gonchor
Costumes: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Music: Mychael Danna
Editor: Christopher Tellefsen
Cast:
Truman Capote: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Nelle Harper Lee: Catherine Keener
Perry Smith: Clifton Collins Jr.
Alvin Dewey: Chris Cooper
Jack Dunphy: Bruce Greenwood
William Shawn: Bob Balaban
Dick Hickock: Mark Pellegrino
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 115 minutes...
Most eye-catching for critics and audiences in the weeks to come will be Philip Seymour Hoffman's brilliant metamorphosis into the persona of the late author. Capote is a man easily imitated, yet hard to pin down, a slippery devil who took one guise after another to cover up the loneliness of his personal nature and his genius. Hoffman gets it all.
Sony Pictures Classics will rightfully hitch the film's marketing to this remarkable performance. Yet "Capote" is a team effort, involving an exceptional screenplay by Dan Futterman and a director, Bennett Miller, willing to move at a painstaking pace to make certain all the nuances, conflicts and contradictions get fully explored.
Yes, it is slow moving. The catastrophe of an answered prayer - a thing that Capote said causes more tears than an unanswered one - only gradually takes shape. The movie will probably not achieve the boxoffice success of Richard Brooks' 1967 movie version of "In Cold Blood" But it could break out of the art-house niche. Word of mouth, critical response and year-end awards may determine how far it does.
"Capote" is based on Gerald Clarke's biography of the writer, but the focus is deliberately narrow: The period of time covered is from 1959, when Truman notices a story about the murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, in the New York Times, to the execution of the killers in 1965. The publication of his book about the killings makes Capote the most famous author in America. This is a time when writers matter and bestsellers are not always self-help tomes or thrillers looking for movie sales.
Miller and Futterman carefully establish the time and place and situate their hero into two different Americas. One is New York literary society with its cocktail parties and witty banter, at which no one exceeds Truman Capote, a Southern, transparently gay writer with a high-pitched voice, exaggerated fey manners and an unmistakable ambition to achieve greatness in his writing.
The other is the Midwest, where Truman is not just a duck out of water, but a duck from outer space. No one knows what to make of him when he turns up accompanied by childhood friend, Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), soon to achieve her own fame with the publication of "To Kill a Mockingbird", but on this project serving as Truman's researcher and, as he puts it, "bodyguard."
Gradually, the pair gains the confidence of Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), a starchy Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent, and, when they are caught, the killers, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino). Truman's outsider status, so peculiar to all these folks, sometimes works in his favor.
As Truman struggles to get interviews to compose "the book I was always meant to write," strange things happen. He develops a symbiotic relationship with Perry, a kindred soul in many ways, which is something like love yet blatantly exploitative. Equally as troubling is Truman's realization he has made a bargain with the Devil to write his great work. Dwelling mentally and spiritually with the killers takes a toll on him, increasing his already ingrained dependence on alcohol, shaking his relationship with his more stable lover Jack Dunphy (Bruce Geenwood) and unhinging the steadiness of his mind.
Finally, the film does rest on Hoffman's shoulders but Futterman's words, often cribbed from life, and the structure of his screenplay beautifully delineates all these developments.
This is a meticulous production where Jess Gonchor's set design tells us much about the people who inhabit these places and environments hauntingly photographed by Adam Kimmel have a powerful effect on people. Mychael Danna's muted score, relying heavily on the piano, never intrudes but only amplifies the dramatic content.
"Capote" is one gutsy film.
CAPOTE
Sony Pictures Classics
A United Artists, Sony Pictures Classics presentation of an A-Line Pictures, Cooper's Town Productions, Infinity Media production
Credits:
Director: Bennett Miller
Writer: Dan Futterman
Based on the book by: Gerald Clarke
Producers: Caroline Baron, William Vince, Michael Ohoven
Executive producers: Don Futterman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kerry Rock, Danny Rosett
Director of photography: Adam Kimmel
Production designer: Jess Gonchor
Costumes: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Music: Mychael Danna
Editor: Christopher Tellefsen
Cast:
Truman Capote: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Nelle Harper Lee: Catherine Keener
Perry Smith: Clifton Collins Jr.
Alvin Dewey: Chris Cooper
Jack Dunphy: Bruce Greenwood
William Shawn: Bob Balaban
Dick Hickock: Mark Pellegrino
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 115 minutes...
Catherine Keener is in negotiations to play novelist Harper Lee in United Artists' untitled Truman Capote feature. Samantha Morton had been in talks for the role. Philip Seymour Hoffman is set to play Capote in the film, which will be helmed by Bennett Miller from a script by Dan Futterman. Chris Cooper and Clifton Collins Jr. also star. The project is being produced by Caroline Baron of Baron Pictures and William Vince and Michael Ohoven of Infinity Media. Hoffman will executive produce along with Futterman. The film is set during the 1960s, when Capote was writing In Cold Blood. The story illuminates the author's relationship with murderer Perry Smith and details the life of Capote, who became as famous for his unique personality as for his work. Keener's upcoming projects include The Interpreter and The Ballad of Jack and Rose. She is repped by the Gersh Agency.
- 10/1/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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