Filmmaking

EROS AS PATRIOTISM

Gregg Goldstein in The Hollywood Reporter has an interview up with John Cameron Mitchell about his new film, Shortbus, which premiered in Cannes this weekend. The film is Cameron Mitchell’s much-awaited follow-up to Hedwig, and it’s that rare dramatic film that uses (a lot) of explicit hardcore sex to tell its story. Here’s Cameron Mitchell from the piece: I wanted to create something through improvisation with the actors and explore sex as a cinematic language in a way that I hadn’t seen, where it wasn’t trying to be erotic or horrifying or negative or dreary. The experience has taught everybody […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 21, 2006 Filmmaking
MOUTH TO MOUTH OPENS IN NEW YORK

Alison Murray’s feature Mouth to Mouth opened this weekend in New York at the Village East. I met Alison three or so years ago at the Rotterdam Cinemart and the IFP No Borders Lab where she was raising money for the feature, liked the script and her tough vision and tried to help her attach some American actors to the movie. In the end, Alison made the film in Europe with her own hand-picked cast of up-and-coming actors, one of whom, Ellen Page (Hard Candy, X3) is already a rising star. The film tells the semi-autobiographical story of a young […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 20, 2006 Filmmaking
BOX OFFICE REPORTING

In a very droll post, Caveh Zahedi puts the whole “decline of the theatrical box-office” brouhaha in perspective. He posts the results of I am a Sex Addict‘s opening in Corvallis, Oregon: The film opened in Corvallis, Oregon, this week. It made $5 on Friday, $5 on Saturday, and $9 on Sunday because of word of mouth. In the comments section, Josh Boelter is concerned: Do you mean five dollars or five thousand dollars? If it’s five dollars, what is that; one ticket? Caveh’s reply: I’m imagining that’s one senior citizen ticket.

By Scott Macaulay on May 18, 2006 Filmmaking
OPENING NIGHT

Variety has a hotly anticipated review up on their main (subscription only) page. No, it’s not The Da Vinci Code, although that’s up there too. (“A stodgy, grim thing,” declares Todd McCarthy.) It’s William Triplett’s review of Tony Snow at the White House, the government’s new skein starring ex-Fox News commentator Tony Snow. Here’s Triplett’s lede: In the often surreal world of the televised press briefing, the media don’t stand a chance against a nice guy, and judging by his first performance, new White House press secretary Tony Snow may be mercilessly nice. Armed with a dapper suit and winning […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 16, 2006 Filmmaking
I AM A BIRD NOW

Cam Archer emails to tell us about a new video he’s made for the band Zero 7. Writes Archer, “I decided to make the video about a middle-aged woman who wants nothing more than to make herself into a bird and escape her dreary life of routine and bad furniture.” And if you haven’t already, check out the site for Archer’s totally genius Sundance feature, Wild Tigers I Have Known.

By Scott Macaulay on May 16, 2006 Filmmaking
THE DARK SIDE

I went to see the Al Gore doc, An Inconvenient Truth, the other night (it’s great — kind of old fashioned in its “man and a slide projector” style, but in a good way; it has real respect for the audience and is compelling without being overblown and pessimistically alarmist) but misread the press invite and showed up at the Broadway Screening Room instead of the Paramount Screening Room on Broadway. I wasn’t the only one who made the mistake — there were a few other confused people there as well. “What’s screening here?” I asked the publicist who was […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 16, 2006 Filmmaking
ROLAND EMMERICH, CALL HOME

Ain’t It Cool News has uncovered a bit of movie marketing surrealism — the first ever trailer to hit the ‘net for Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center is dubbed in German by distributor UIP.

By Scott Macaulay on May 15, 2006 Filmmaking
HURRY UP AND WAIT

The Guardian has a good piece up written by director Whit Stillman in which he discusses his eight-year absence from the director’s chair. It’s a fascinating and all too recognizable tale of stillborn projects, grand plans, and moments of serendipity. Stillman is headed to Cannes this week at which he’ll pitch a new project, but before we meet him there, he wants us to know what he’s been doing the last decade. In doing so, he offers some wisdom that should not be forgotten as we scan the trades this week: Silence is one of the greatest and least used […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 15, 2006 Filmmaking
GREENWALD v. WAL-MART, LIEBERMAN

Ray Pride scopes out Marc Lee’s piece on activist director Robert Greenwald and his WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price in U.K.’s The Telegraph. Here’s the excerpt Pride quoted: And it is not a model to make money. We had 750,000 people at 8,000 screenings, but they didn’t pay nine or 10 dollars each to see the film: a church bought one copy and showed it to 300 people, a student dorm bought one copy and had 50 people see it. However, from the point of view of reaching people, it is absolutely great. Would I have preferred to […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 15, 2006 Filmmaking
A TIME BEFORE SWAG

Over at Zoom In Online, Reid Rosefelt remembers an earlier, more innocent time in New York indie film when budding publicists were intimidated by the cool of “downtown super-dudes” like budding director Jim Jarmusch. In the context of remembering his experiences working on the marketing of Jarmusch’s Stranger than Paradise, he jots a snapshot of the early ’80s downtown film scene, tracing quick backstories to players like Jarmusch, Sara Driver, John Lurie, Richard Edson, Eszter Balint and others. At the end of the piece, he describes taking the film’s three stars out to lunch to discuss some of his and […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 15, 2006 Filmmaking

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