Filmmaking

NICK DAWSON INTERVIEWS U2 3D DIRECTOR CATHERINE OWENS..

… over at the Filmmaker Director Interviews.

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 23, 2008 Filmmaking
STONING BUSH

Michael Fleming has a surprising story up at Variety: Oliver Stone is set to make a feature about George W. Bush. Before the strike, if he can. Josh Brolin will play Bush. Here’s Stone discussing the project and the screenplay, which is written by Nixon co-scripter Stanley Weiser: “It’s a behind-the-scenes approach, similar to ‘Nixon,’ to give a sense of what it’s like to be in his skin,” Stone told Daily Variety. “But if ‘Nixon’ was a symphony, this is more like a chamber piece, and not as dark in tone. People have turned my political ideas into a cliche, […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2008 Filmmaking
THE GOOD BUZZ…

Before arriving at Sundance, if people asked what I thought the business climate was going to be, I told them that if they had a film with name cast and genre hooks enabling it to be sold as something other than a speciality film that the bidding would be strong. Traditional “small” speciality films might have a harder time given the poor theatrical performance of last year’s Sundance titles. So far, I don’t think my prediction is far off, although it’s too early to tell how strong the bidding will be for the larger titles. One industry vet told me […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2008 Filmmaking
THE BUDDY SYSTEM

Filmmakers Joe Swanberg and Ronnie Bronstein are videoblogging Sundance for Spout. Here’s episode four, in which they wonder where all the filmmakers are. Sundance 4: Melee on Main StreetAdd to My Profile | More Videos

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 19, 2008 Filmmaking
BLUNT FORCE

I ran into producer Mike Ryan, whose Choke is screening here at Sundance, and he told me about a new website he’s involved with. Hammer to Nail has just launched, with Ryan and, soon, Mike Tully filing film reviews from Sundance — reviews that are intended to be provocative conversation-starters that eschew the niceties that sometimes inhibit writing from not only the MSM but also the blogosphere. (Last year, Ryan forwarded me at Sundance his politically-outraged comments about Grace is Gone, which I posted on the blog.) He launches the new site with a review of the Sundance doc The […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 19, 2008 Filmmaking
DECONSTRUCTING THE DGA DEAL

The Directors Guild of America has reached a tentative deal with the AMPTP, and now its time to weigh in on it. However, coming as it did on the eve of Sundance, much of the working film industry press is a bit distracted. Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes have a solid article in today’s New York Times, in which they outline how the DGA’s different negotiating philosophy and lengthy pre-negotiation back channel conversations led to a quick deal. Over at the Working Life blog, labor activist and former Senatorial candidate Jonathan Tasini is doing the math, reviewing the deal point […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 18, 2008 Filmmaking
SLAMDANCE DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER INTERVIEWS: STEVE CLARK, MIKE LANDRY, AND CARLOS VELASQUEZ, FROST

Sat, Jan 19th, 8:30pmWed, Jan 23rd, 10am Interview by Brandon Harris Jack Frost’s playboy lifestyle in New York City is rocked by the news that his childhood love is engaged. Jack plunges into whiskey and self-destruction. until his eleven-year-old neighbor, Sophie, an unlikely mother figure, leads Jack back into himself, and out of the nostalgia and excess that consumed him. Interview with Steve Clark Where were you when you heard you’d been accepted to Slamdance and how did you react?I was in my apartment in NYC about to take a shower, when I picked up the phone, and one of […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 18, 2008 Filmmaking
SLAMDANCE DIRECTOR INTERVIEW: EVA WEBER, CITY OF CRANES

Fri, Jan 18th 4:30pmTues, Jan 22nd, 7pm Interview by Brandon Harris Eva Weber’s doc short City of Cranes takes you on a journey high up in the sky, to look at London’s ever-changing landscape through the eyes and words of crane drivers. It is a glimpse into a world unnoticed by most of us, yet fundamental to our lives. What initially drew you to the world of cranes?I started making this film as I was fascinated by the fact that there is almost another world above London; yet most of us never look up to notice cranes or their drivers. […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 18, 2008 Filmmaking
SLAMDANCE DIRECTOR INTERVIEW: CYNTHIA LESTER, MY MOTHER’S GARDEN

Interview by Brandon Harris As Sundance begins this weekend, the world of independent cinema once again turns its attention to this snowy resort town thirty miles outside of Salt Lake. Yet, since 1995, Sundance hasn’t been the only act in town. The 2008 Slamdance Film Festival begins today at Park City’s Treasure Mountain Inn, opening with Randall Cole’s Real Time, a brisk indie comedy starring Randy Quaid. As a brief snapshot of some of the 29 features and 67 shorts that Slamdance will screen in the next nine days, I caught up with thirteen Slamdance Filmmakers to discuss their films […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 18, 2008 Filmmaking
SUNDANCE: AN AIRBORNE PREVIEW

As I type this I’m on my way to the Sundance Film Festival, where the Filmmaker team will be filing coverage all week. I’ll be blogging along with Jason Guerrasio and Justin Lowe; Jamie Stuart will be shooting video – creating one of his own typically personal and idiosyncratic portraits of festival life as well as filming interviews with directors and actors which you’ll see in the months ahead; if all goes well, Brian Chirls will be shooting and posting video from the fest’s panels and programs; and, Brandon Harris will be covering Slamdance, blogging news and reviews from the […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 17, 2008 Filmmaking

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