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A PERFECT LIFE…
“And it seems to me to be almost the perfect life, really. I mean, I would like to be taller and have more hair [laughs] and things, but apart from those physical things I can’t really imagine how my life could be improved. I hope that doesn’t sound smug, but it is a pretty good life.” That’s British d.j. John Peel, the legendary musical tastemaker who championed and established bands like Joy Division and the Sex Pistols, as quoted in an interview on the B92 website as linked to by the ever essential Greencine Daily. Peel, 65, died yesterday, and, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 26, 2004 -
GIMME A (TAX) BREAK
It’s pretty unusual to wake up in the morning and read entertainment industry news detailing benefits specifically targeted towards independent filmmakers. But that’s what this (subscription-only) Variety piece does as it explains provisions in the just-signed American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 that make it more advantageous for investors to invest in independent film. Writes Susan Crabtree and Ian Mohr, “After years of lobbying, independent filmmakers scored a major victory Friday when President Bush signed a bill that gives a sweeping tax break to movies made in the U.S. Producers believe the measure may draw substantial fresh funds into indie […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 25, 2004 -
COASTAL DIVIDE
Perhaps you’ve heard that the IFP/New York has retooled its annual Gotham Awards, moving the event out of IFP Market week to December 1 — smack dab at the start of the Oscar push. This week the IFP/New York announced the Gotham’s first two 2004 award recipient: actor Don Cheadle, who has Hotel Rwanda coming out from United Artists, and Michel Gondry’s film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is being honored under the new “Celebrate New York” tag for films shot in New York that “expand the boundaries of creative expression.” With its December 1 date, the Gotham’s […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 22, 2004 -
WEIR, GIBSON, PATTERN RECOGNITION AND JOHN KERRY
I stumbled across author William Gibson’s (Neuromancer) online blog today and caught up with the news that director Peter Weir is attached to direct a film version of Gibson’s latest, Pattern Recognition. The novel is a contemporary cybernoir about a “cool hunter” who winds up on the chase for the director of mysterious multi-part Internet film. Locations are being scouted in Moscow, London and Tokyo. I wound up bookmarking Gibson’s blog as he seems to update it daily and has some interesting political commentary on it as well. In today’s entry he describes the process by which he feels an […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2004 -
NICK NOLTE… DAILY
Nick Nolte, who has worked in a number of independent and foreign films recently, has a rather charming online diary up. Check it out here.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 15, 2004 -
THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES
Filmmaker has long been interested in smart modern horror, so check out these two web links. The first is the link to the elegantly eerie teaser trailer for The Ring 2, the sequel to the horror hit which also happens to be the first English language film to be directed by the great Hideo Nakata, who helmed the Japanese original. And then there’s this thought-provoking feature in The Guardian about a three-part BBC series to be aired next week entitled The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear. Written and produced by the documentarian Adam Curtis, the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 14, 2004 -
TALK — NO LONGER CHEAP
Producer Ted Hope e-mailed me this New York Times article by Anne Thompson which is mandatory reading for all producers, writers and development executives. The article concerns the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and its recent ruling in the Jeff Grosso v. Miramax Film Corporation case. In the case, Grosso, a freelance writer and high-stakes poker player, sued Miramax claiming that the John Dahl film Rounders lifted story details and characters from his own spec script The Shell Game, which he had submitted unsolicited to a production company that had offices in the Miramax building. As quoted in the Times, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 13, 2004 -
HD, XXX And Indie Film
Variety has a short article up (sorry, subscription only) on Island Fever 3, the first hardcore porn movie to be shot on HD and released on a high definition DVD. Writes Variety‘s Claude Brodesser, “Much has been made about the changes ultrasharp HDTV will wreak on newsdesk anchors — every nick and blemish magnified, foundation that looks like pancake makeup — but no one spared a thought for the plight of porn stars — until now.” The piece goes on to note the sudden importance of highly skilled makeup artists when shooting in HD, and ends with some cryptic comments […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 10, 2004 -
RUSS MEYER, R.I.P.
While surfing Ain’t It Cool News I came across this sad news that the great exploitation and proto-independent filmmaker Russ Meyer has passed away at the age of 82. Known for outrageous, violent, and flamboyantly pop white-trash epics like Vixen, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (with a screenplay by Roger Ebert) and the impossibly great Faster Pussycast, Kill, Kill!, Meyer made films with lust-crazed guys, massively endowed women and a purely American mixture of sex, violence, and pop culture. Click the link above for Harry Knowles’ tribute to Meyer.
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 21, 2004 -
EVERGREEN GOES DIGITAL
In a promising sign for indies, the Sundance ’04 feature Evergreen will premiere theatrically September 10 on 115 AMC theater screens via a satellite link and digital projection. Via Movie City News comes this press release in which AMC Film Group Chairman Dick Walsh says, “This engagement also showcases the capability of AMC’s DTDS system to bring quality programming directly to our theatres on a national basis.” Says the release, “Written and directed by promising newcomer Enid Zentelis and screened at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, Evergreen tells the story of Henri, a teenage girl who lives in poverty with […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 28, 2004
