The Hush-Hush News Report 1.26.09: Dancing in the Sun

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 01.26.2010

This week we look at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival! Plus Producers Guild Award results, news on Buried and Machete's distribution deals, Martin Scorsese's next project, Neil Gaiman's films in the works, mini-reviews and more!

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Hush-Hush News Report! I'm Jeremy Thomas, hosting as always and we have some big stuff to cover. Sundance, Award Season, major distribution pick-ups, fanboy glee...yes, late January is a busy time for us at Hush-Hush HQ. So without further ado...shall we?

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Producers Get Hurt



Summit's battle-hardened "The Hurt Locker" scored another victory Sunday night as it took home the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures at the 21st annual PGA Awards.

The prize was shared by producers Kathryn Bigelow (who also directed), Mark Boal (the film's screenwriter), Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro. Bigelow thanked the PGA, saying "no other group of filmmakers could so understand the logistical challenges of making a film -- particularly a tough little war film -- in the middle of the summer in the Middle East."

If the producers of the 82nd annual Academy Awards were hoping that the best picture Oscar race would develop some suspense, they have received the scenario they wanted.

"Locker" has picked up numerous critics awards, and two weekends ago it won the Broadcast Film Critics Assn.'s Critics Choice Award for best picture. But at the Golden Globes two nights later, "Avatar" walked off with the best drama prize, and at Saturday's SAG Awards, "Inglourious Basterds" picked up the film ensemble award, that guild's equivalent of the best picture prize.

In the other film categories, "Up" floated to the top in the animated category. Producer Jonas Rivera accepted on behalf of his grandfather, who recently returned home after an illness, saying, "We started out to make a love letter to our grandparents."

In theatrical documentaries, "The Cove," which investigates the exploitation of dolphins, was rewarded, with the trophy going to Fisher Stevens and Paula DuPre Pesman.

The PGA also feted Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Michael Lynton and co-chairman Amy Pascal with its 2010 Milestone Award, which was introduced by Will Smith. "It's really nice to get it as a team," Pascal said. "We're really lucky to have each other."

Norman Lear himself paid tribute to reality impresario Mark Burnett, who was honored with the Norman Lear Achievement in Television Award. In his acceptance speech, Burnett said that reality TV is "just as good as anything scripted. Our job is just to entertain and tell stories."

John Lasseter, chief creative officer at Pixar and Disney, was presented with the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Motion Pictures and was greeted with a standing ovation. "This year is a great year in animation history," Lasseter said as he became the first producer of animated pics to take home the Selznick.

Neil Patrick Harris presented the Vanguard Award for technology and new media to writer-director-producer Joss Whedon, calling him "perhaps the only pioneer in the field of sing-along blogs," a reference to "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along blog," on which they collaborated.

"Joss Whedon doesn't just build stories, he builds entire universes," Harris said, admitting that he had just begun to work on Internet projects. Whedon likened the award to Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize -- "it's (for) what you're going to do."

Instead of accepting an award, Mo'Nique appeared Sunday to hand one out, bestowing the Stanley Kramer Award on Lionsgate's "Precious." "This is a film that is truly going to save lives," she said. Director-producer Lee Daniels acknowledged fellow producers Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness for making the film possible, and said that "this gives encouragement to African-American filmmakers who think they can't be part of this world."

Serving his last term as president of the PGA, Marshall Herskovitz said that the guild has "re-established the idea that what producers do has meaning" and insisted that "the producing community has never been stronger."

Wow, there's a lot to talk about here. First off, this pretty much puts The Hurt Locker neck and neck with Avatar and Inglourious Basterds thanks to their Golden Globe and SAG wins. Joke about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association all you want, the Globes is a precursor to the Oscars and while they don't always agree, this does give Cameron's picture some serious momentum. And when one remembers that a substantial voting bloc of the Academy is SAG members, it becomes evident that we certainly can't count the Basterds out. Things are definitely starting to take shape and it's nice to see that unlike last year, it's not a one or two-film race. We'll talk more about the Best Picture race soon enough, but Miss Bigelow has to be smiling wide over her chances here.

Meanwhile, this leaves little to no doubt that Up will be cleaning up in the animated categories of award season. I don't have much of an issue with this as it's certainly deserving, but I would like to see Coraline get some awards love as well. "It was an honor just being nominated" only goes so far after all. The Cove is the easy front-runner for Best Documentary and while I thought Tyson was better, I won't have much issue with the dolphin activist documentary taking home the prizes.

Finally, the honorary awards are all nice to see and very deserving toward their winners. Of course, being a Whedonite I love seeing Joss pick up a PGA award. The film-maker is responsible for some absolutely wonderful films and projects, and his win for Dr. Horrible is well-deserved. One could argue that The Guild was just as deserving but it hasn't reached the mainstream consciousness the way Harris's project did, whether because of Harris and Fillion's star power or simply its less narrow target audience. Even Precious, which is garnering a lot of critical acclaim but seems to have been lukewarmly received by others, seems deserving of its Stanly Kramer award which is given to films which illuminate provocative social issues. All in all I'm happy to see the PGA keeping things interesting as we head closer and closer to the big gold guy.


Lionsgate Gets Buried and Fox Gets a Machete



Two major, independently-financed genre films just scored major distributors after intense bidding wars.

First up following a highly successful late-night screening on Saturday at Sundance, the Ryan Reynolds trapped-in-a-box thriller "Buried" was sold to Lionsgate.

The deal is said to be worth a pricey $3-4 million plus a significant marketing commitment, the mini-major beating out interest expressed by several other distributors.

Meanwhile 20th Century Fox beat out five other studios for the rights to distribute Robert Rodriguez's "Machete", the spin-off feature from the fake trailer first seen with 2007's "Grindhouse".

The winner is no huge surprise as Fox is already working with Rodriguez on "Predators", the upcoming "Predator" franchise reboot he's producing for release this summer.

Well, obviously I'm a big fan of both of these bits of news. I enjoy Ryan Reynolds and think he's an underrated actor, so seeing his film get a pick-up from Lionsgate is encouraging…even if there is the possibility that the studio will Midnight Meat Train it if they feel it's too controversial with the topical story of an Iraqi contractor being kidnapped and essentially tortured. And a big pick-up for Machete is encouraging. More intriguing is the story of Machete's acquisition. As insider reports tell the story Sony, Lionsgate, Warner Bros, Fox, Paramount, and The Weinstein Company were all interested and screened between fifteen to thirty minutes of footage. When Rodriguez's long-time agent Robert Newman asked for $9 million, a wide release and a big part of the gross for Rodriguez, Fox and Paramount both said yes. Newman then shockingly upped the offer with more percentage on the gross and a production deal, and Fox dove in headlong. This has to say great things about what the studios think of the footage, especially if you consider the fact that Grindhouse bombed at the theaters. This has boosted my optimism for the film, especially considering its getting a wide release, and I can't wait to check it and Buried out.


Scorsese Goes For the Kiddie Crowd



Martin Scorsese is in talks to direct a live-action adaptation of Brian Selznick's children's book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" for GK Films reports Variety.

The 2008 Randolph Caldecott Medal-winning novel centers on an orphaned boy who secretly lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station and looks after the clocks. He gets caught up in a mystery adventure when he attempts to repair a mechanical man.

Chris Wedge ("Ice Age") was previously attached to direct. John Logan (Scorsese's The Aviator) wrote the script and the project will likely be Scorsese's next. GK Films is already in talks with Sony and Paramount about distributing. Shooting is scheduled to start on June 1st in London.

Martin Scorsese directing a children's film seems like an odd choice for me, but that just heightens my curiosity even further than a Scorsese project normally would. All I can think of are those pre-movie commercials where he's trying to direct the mother and her child getting ready for bed by giving them darker back stories than their real lives are. We can at least imagine that DiCaprio is less likely to be involved; his kiddie days are long behind him I imagine. I'm not familiar with the story but it sounds like a fun one and I can't wait to hear more about this.


Fisher & Wilkinson Dig Up Burke and Hare



Isla Fisher ("Wedding Crashers," "Confessions of a Shopaholic") and Tom Wilkinson ("Michael Clayton," "Duplicity") have joined the horror comedy "Burke and Hare" says Heat Vision Blog.

The film is based on the true story a pair of the U.K.'s earliest serial killers, William Burke (Simon Pegg) and William Hare (Andy Serkis), gravediggers who lucratively sold the corpses of their victims to a medical college for dissection.

Fisher will play Pegg's girlfriend, an actress looking for a patron who might or might not be an accomplice to the murders. Wilkinson will play Dr. Robert Knox, an anatomy lecturer looking for fresh corpses.

John Landis directs from a script by Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft. Filming kicks off January 31st in Edinburgh and London.

It's been a good news day hasn't it? I love a good horror comedy and this is one I've been interested in since I first reported on it. Pairing Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis as grave robbers is a brilliant stroke, and putting in Landis as a director just makes it even better. I can see a lot of nasty tricks up these guys' sleeves. The casting of Fisher and Wilkinson is an added plus, since Wilkinson always brings the goods and Fisher is a delight of an actress who has been unfortunate enough to be cast in a poor film or two amongst her legitimately funny ones. As the talent pool grows here I'm finding myself looking more and more forward to it. Last year was a great one for horror comedies, and this looks to be a continuation of that trend.


Watts Moves Into Owen's Dream House



Naomi Watts will star opposite Daniel Craig in the psychological thriller "Dream House" at Universal Pictures and Morgan Creek says The Hollywood Reporter.

The story follows a family that relocates into what appears to be the ideal residence in small town Connecticut.

They soon discover that their beautiful new home was the site of another family's slaughter, believed to be at the hands of the husband who survived. Watts will the family's neighbor. Jim Sheridan is set to direct from a script by David Loucka. Shooting kicks off this February in Toronto.

Watts and Craig made a solid team in the good (if not spectacular) The International last year. I'm curious to see what Sheridan, whose last film Brothers made barely a blip on the radar despite good reviews, brings out of these two talented actors. Watts is in severe need of a hit, something she hasn't had since King Kong which despite a $200 million domestic gross was still considered a disappointment here in the states. Unlike Craig, she doesn't have James Bond to turn to if she needs a big grosser to make up for the failures. I don't know if this will be one of those hits, especially since the plot seems fairly generic and the kind of thing that you find on straight-to-video shelves. However, that being said I'm hopeful for some quality work and respectable grosses for three people who deserve some success.


Sturgess & Winterbottom Go to Promised Land



Michael Winterbottom ("Nine Songs") is next set to direct the $5 million indie "Promised Land" for Revolution Studios reports Variety.

The story details with the events that lead up to the 1948 partition of Palestine and the subsequent creation of the state of Israel. Jim Sturgess ("Across the Universe," "21") will star as a British officer hunting down the extremist Jewish factions.

Andrew Eaton will produce and filming kicks off in the Summer.

This is a very different type of role for Sturgess, who is proving himself quite an adept actor. The man handled musicals in Across the Universe, genius-to-rich boy in 21 and bodice-rippers in The Other Boleyn Girl. Now he seems to be taking on a more action-oriented role and I'm both surprised and interested to see how he does. Winterbottom is probably best known for 24 Hour Party People, about the rise and fall of Factory Records. However, he's also done Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, A Mighty Heart with Angelina Jolie and the upcoming The Killer Inside Me with Casey Affleck and Jessica Biel. Thus both are capable of very diverse material, making this quite the hopeful project.


The Graveyard Book Still Has Life



Neil Gaiman says the film adaptation of his "The Graveyard Book" is still on the cards, albeit with a different distributor and director.

The "Stardust" and "Sandman" author tells The Los Angeles Times that "It was all put together over at Miramax Films. The people there had a long, great relationship with Neil Jordan and it was all set up and ready to go, and then Miramax was more or less erased from existence."

He continued saying "it became a filing cabinet in somebody's desk, more or less... But it looks like almost all the pieces are on the table again. They have a studio, they have a distributor and they are putting stuff together and I'm not allowed to say anything else."

Is Neil Jordan ("The Crying Game, " "Interview with the Vampire") still attached? Hard to say. Gaiman is also at work on a screenplay for his novel "Anansi Boys".

Excuse me while I give a fanboy squee here. The thought of Graveyard and in particular Anansi Boys gracing the big screen is one I relish, as I loved both books. Graveyard tells the story of a young boy who is adopted by ghosts in a graveyard after his parents are killed by a mysterious man, and would make for the same kind of fun, imaginative dark children's fantasy that Coraline was. Meanwhile, Anansi Boys is the sort-of follow-up to his novel American Gods and tells the story of two brothers who meet, one of them not realizing that the other existed until their father—a god, by the way—dies of a heart attack. I would still love to see American Gods made into a film first, but Anansi is only vaguely a follow-up and one does not really need to follow the other chronologically so there's still quite a bit of hope. Jordan would be a great choice to direct a piece like The Graveyard Book if it's live-action; despite his skill with the creepily fantastical, I wouldn't want to see Tim Burton or someone like him take it on as it would be too much style overtaking Gaiman's own distinctive stamp. You can be sure that we at Hush-Hush HQ will be watching these developments with interest.

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From The Great Capt. Smooth:
It was so nice to see that Hangover won, a movie that did well, not due to Oscar buzz, but because people wanted to go see it.

I agree that it was nice to see The Hangover win, though I wouldn't necessarily say that it beat films that no one wanted to go see. (500) Days of Summer was a film that a lot of people did want to see, but a small release meant that it wasn't that easy. Julie & Julia was a film built on strong word of mouth, not critical reception; same with It's Complicated. I can see the argument for Nine, though. It was built on Oscar hype and failed to deliver, and I don't think many people were disappointed to see it lose.


From Sly Reference:
Just saw the Karate Kid trailer and it doesn't look bad...but why the hell is it called the Karate Kid when the kid's getting taught kung fu? They didn't think they could draw the nostalgia crowd if they called it the Kung Fu Kid?


From Steve Gustafson:
I too was shocked to hear about the test scoring of Karate Kid. Then it was leaked that the screening was filled Jay Leno fans! ZING!

Seriously, I was against this remake but the word is that it's a good movie for the demographic it's aimed for. Which isn't me.

Yeah, I imagine it will be good for the demographic, but I'm not that demographic either. I think it will do well financially, but it will not impress as many people as those test screening results may lead people to believe. Sony will get a huge media campaign behind it and then it will blast off, sending Jaden Smith into super-kid stardom and letting Jackie Chan pretend that The Spy Next Door never happened. So I guess it's a win in that way, right?


From Joseph Lee:
The Golden Globes really are a joke these days. In my opinion, the Critic's Choice Awards are not only more credible, but a better indicator of what will win at the Oscars. Which means that The Hurt Locker, not Avatar will likely win Best Picture.

I do agree that the Critic's Choice Awards are more credible, but I will never completely discount the Globes. Sure, they don't always get it right but they have one important factor to them, and that's momentum. No one can deny that Sandra Bullock got a boatload of momentum from the Globe win, enough that along the SAG win she's now THE frontrunner for Best Actress. Sandra Bullock is the frontrunner for a Best Actress award…um. Excuse me folks, I need to go check to see if the sky has opened up or four guys on horses are riding by.


From Spaghett:
It's about time Kevin Bacon won a major award. That goes double for Jeff Bridges. Bacon deserved a lot more praise than he got for his role in Frost/Nixon last year. Also, it looks like "the dude" may finally get that long deserved Oscar win.

I absolutely agree about Frost/Nixon; Bacon is a damn good actor who doesn't get nearly the credit he deserves. And yes, an Oscar for Jeff Bridges is a long time coming and I can't wait to see his acceptance speech if he wins. His acceptance speech for the SAG awards was a classic.

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Where the Truth Lies: Originally, this mystery/thriller from Oscar-nominated director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica) attracted attention due to the NC-17 rating it earned from the MPAA due to explicit sexual content, both gay and straight. While the rating spelled commercial disaster as it always does, the film itself works well enough for what it is. Alison Lohman, barely twenty-five when filming took place, holds herself up quite well as an aspiring reporter who looks into a famous mystery that she has a passing personal connection to and shows she isn't afraid to take some serious risks as an actress. Meanwhile the teaming of Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth show a ton of chemistry as a comedy duo from the fifties who are now broken-up over that very mystery--a dead girl who turned up in their room but whose death both had airtight alibis for. The rest of the cast is solid but don't hold a candle to these three leads. Egoyan's script and direction get heavy-handed a couple of times, and occasionally the prurience becomes a bit much to handle and seem there for titillation and shock value more than story. But he handles the project with a nice seventies feel and does some good work in the editing process, resulting in a nice little noir film that may not sparkle the whole way through, but certainly has several shining moments.

Rating: 7.5

A Night At the Opera: They just don't make them anymore like the Marx Brothers did. This farce, the comedy team's first for MGM and producer Irving Thalberg, is often considered to be a lesser film when compared to their Paramount films like Duck Soup. While it's true that this is less of an anarchistic, absurd film than that one, the guidance of Thalberg and director Sam Wood resulted in a film with a more level story that adds a lot to the proceedings. Groucho, Harpo and Chico Marx are in top form here as they clown their way around an opera and subvert yet another high societal convention. Modern audiences may find the work trite, but this is only because of the many ways it has influenced comedy to date. Many scenes are iconic in the lore of cinematic comedy, from the contract discussion between Groucho and Chico to the hilarious stateroom scene that stands as one of the funniest scenes in film history. The supporting cast is solid and knows when to get out of the way so the brothers can let chaos rain down. The brothers wouldn't top themselves after this, though they would come close a couple of times. A Night at the Opera was the pinnacle of the comedy act's career and draws an easy laugh or seven even today. There really is no sanity clause when the Marxes are involved.

Rating: 9.0

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The Hush-Hush Editorial Section: Dancing in the Sun

Thursday saw the opening of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, the official start of the yearly independent festival season. Founded in 1978, the Ogden, Utah festival began as a way to attract more filmmakers to Utah and has since grown into the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. For dozens of films each year over the past several years, Sundance has become a place for filmmakers to get their non-studio-made films momentum and, in some lucky cases, the backing of a major Hollywood studio. Films that are now a major part of American pop culture have gotten their big break at Sundance, from Clerks and Reservoir Dogs to The Blair Witch Project and Donnie Darko. In recent years many films that have gone on to win major awards debuted at Sundance, including The Motorcycle Diaries, Once, Little Miss Sunshine, Precious and (500) Days of Summer . It goes without saying that the event is the place within the United States to get your independent film noticed.

By no stretch, however, is Sundance a sure road to success. With the rise in popularity of the festival Hollywood has taken more and more notice, and it seems almost as if it has become another arm of the Hollywood movie machine. Celebrity appearances have become easily as common as at the Cannes Film Festival, and the event is often host to more paparazzi and photo ops than the next Quentin Tarantino looking to make a splash. Although the festival has tried to tone down that stance in the last several years with such efforts as the "Focus on Film" campaign aimed at promoting independent production and this year's "NEXT" section that highlights extremely low-budget projects, their efforts have often been less than effectual and the media frenzy has not waned particularly much. Several films have been debuted at Sundance as a way for studios to build hype for them and ultimately backfired; it seems that pimping such films for the Sundance crowd is not always the best idea. It certainly doesn't stop the studios from trying, however. And some films that get picked up for distribution have rocky roads to their big release. Last year's big attention-getter, Antoine Fuqua's Brooklyn's Finest, was the first film purchased at the festival but has yet to find its way into theaters. The distributor, Overture Films, talked early on about reworking the ending from the polarizing one that screened at the festival and the end result was that the film will not see the light of day until March of this year. How it will play under potential studio meddling is anyone's guess.

Even with those pitfalls dotting the path toward a big break, filmmakers across the country look forward to Sundance as a chance to find success with their film, and 2010 is no different. Thus far several high-profile projects have been released, with some of them getting circled already by one studio or another. The biggest news to date has been Buried, the Ryan Reynolds thriller that (as mentioned above) Lionsgate picked up for a cool $3.2 million. The film has gotten some great advance buzz from Sundance with Variety calling it "an ingenious exercise in sustained tension that would make Alfred Hitchcock turn over in his grave." Besides that particular thriller, we've also seen Howl debut starring James Franco as the famous beat poet Allen Ginsberg. happythankyoumoreplease, the unfortunately-titled dramedy from How I Met Your Mother's Josh Radnor is getting some good early buzz as is the Ben Affleck/Tommy Lee Jones star vehicle Company Man. Will one of these films become the next (500) Days of Summer, or are they more likely to languish in limbo like last year's I Love You, Phillip Morris starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor? Time will surely tell.

In the meantime, we have a couple movies holding their premieres at Sundance with distribution deals already in place. The Runaways is one in particular, starring New Moon co-stars Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart as Cherie Currie and Joan Jett of the ground-breaking girl rock band. (Scout Taylor-Compton, who plays Lita Ford, has been mostly left out of any discussion of the film. Starring in Rob Zombie horror apparently is not good for the indie cred.) The film was garnering little more than passing interest at best before the Sundance debut, but is now bringing in some very good reviews from publications like Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. Also having its debut at Sundance is The Killer Inside Me with Casey Affleck and Jessica Biel—for those who don't recognize the title, it's the one with the early leaked footage of Affleck brutally spanking Biel. Yes, that one. It is schedule to premiere on Wednesday and if buzz is good, it could mean a major release for the film which would otherwise seem to be destined for a limited release at best.

By the time Sundance finishes up on January 31st, several films will be made or broken. Certainly some will not last beyond the initial high of getting their rights picked up by one studio or another, but for those who succeed and go onto critical acclaim and audience love, the results will be worth it. I know we at Hush-Hush Headquarters will be paying close attention to what comes out of Sundance alive, and we hope you do too.

And before we go, of course it's time for the Random Video of the Week. This week the video in question is the latest trailer for Kick-Ass. It's one of the more anticipated films of the year around 411, and I can't find myself disagreeing one bit. Check it out below!

This is Jeremy Thomas, off the record, on the QT…



…and definitely, "Hush Hush!"