TheState.com: Movie News - Wire

Theron attends `Burning Plain' debut in Venice

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:32 EDT

Guillermo Arriaga's directorial debut, "The Burning Plain," opens with a wide shot of a trailer ablaze in the New Mexico desert. While the landscape appears barren and exposed, it is concealing secrets that drive the story.

"The Burning Plain," written and directed by the "21 Grams" and "Babel" screenwriter, stars Charlize Theron as a troubled Oregon restaurant manager who is forced to confront her past when a mysterious visitor arrives from Mexico. Kim Basinger appears in flashbacks as Sylvia's mother, Gina, at a pivotal moment in her young life.

The film, which debuts at the Venice Film Festival on Friday, is one of 21 movies competing for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded Sept. 6. Directed by Mexico-born Arriaga, it is one of five U.S. pictures in competition.

Landscape is central to the movie - which Arriaga initially had titled, "The Four Elements." Water, earth, wind and fire are present as the story moves back and forth from the searing dryness of New Mexico to the nonstop rain in Portland, Ore.

"I have always been driven to the desert. I think the landscape itself influences people in a certain way," Arriaga told a news conference. "We experienced the desert and the sun and the extreme cold in the desert to the nonstop rain in Oregon. I think the weather and the landscape also influences the character."

Iranian film explores transsexual world

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:32 EDT

Organizers of the Venice Film Festival waited to announce "Khastegi (Tedium)" by first-time Iranian director Bahman Motamedian until the last minute to avoid alerting authorities to its sensitive subject: transsexuals in modern-day Iran.

The struggles of seven transsexuals depicted in the film are made more complicated by Iran's strict gender codes and cultural obstacles. But Motamedian, who is best known in Iran for theater work, insists the problems they face are universal to transsexuals anywhere in the world: finding their identity and seeking acceptance from their families.

"We know that throughout the world this problems exists," Motamedian said. "The idea was to raise awareness among families especially, because this is the first layer of barrier, and to help people to realize they are not alone and be able to face the problem."

Motamedian said he was inspired by the Italian neo-realists in his filmmaking, and for the movie he cast transsexuals, not professional actors, to act a role that he created.

"The cast I worked with had no cinematic training, which I thought would be useful to access things that a professional actor wouldn't be capable," Motamedian said.

German studio offers 'Valkyrie' extras settlement

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:28 EDT

A German film studio has offered to negotiate a settlement with a dozen extras who were injured on the set of the Tom Cruise film "Valkyrie," despite their demands that the actor and his production company, United Artists, pay them $11 million.

"We have offered a settlement," Charles Woebcken, president and chief executive of Studio Babelsberg AG, which co-produced the film with United Artists. "But they haven't even reacted."

Though United Artists did not hire them, the 12 extras sent the company a letter demanding $11 million for injuries when the door of a truck they were riding in during the film shoot in August 2007 fell open. At the time, reports said several suffered cuts, bruises and some broken bones.

A statement from Julie Polkes, spokeswoman for Cruise and United Artists, said the production company does not comment on "pending or threatened legal matters."

"To date, no lawsuits have been filed against United Artists or Mr. Cruise, nor have any allegations been made of any involvement of Mr. Cruise in this incident," the statement read. "All press reports and comments to the press stating otherwise and designed to generate sensational headlines are false."

Valentino walks red carpet for his documentary

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:42 EDT

Of all the women Valentino has dressed in his 45-year career - from Jacqueline Kennedy to Mariella Agnelli to Gwyneth Paltrow - one red carpet moment stands out: When Julia Roberts wore a vintage black-and-white Valentino gown when she was awarded her best actress Oscar.

"I have to be very sincere. The person that makes me feel very happy, also because (she) chose vintage, was Julia Roberts in 'Erin Brockovich' when she got the Academy Award," Valentino told a press conference. "I was very excited. I was not in Los Angeles, but I saw on television and I really was excited to see her when she appeared with my dress."

Valentino, who has spent his career dressing the world's most glamorous women for the red carpet, walked it himself Thursday for the Venice Film Festival premiere of "Valentino: The Last Emperor," a documentary by Vanity Fair special correspondent Matt Tyrnauer.

The gala evening premiere held at the famed La Fenice opera house was attended by Valentino muses such as Elizabeth Hurley and Claire Danes. A party was to follow at the Peggy Guggenheim museum.

Tyrnauer followed Valentino around for the two years leading up to the designer's retirement last January, catching him as he created gorgeous gowns for the runway and gradually accepted the idea of retirement.

Kitano examines cruel art in Venice entry

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:08 EDT

Takeshi Kitano presents a portrait of an artist who sacrifices his family and nearly his own life in pursuit of art in his new film "Achilles and the Tortoise."

The Japanese filmmaker said that while he set out to make a film about "cruel art," he doesn't think an artist needs to make the sacrifices depicted in the movie, making its premiere Thursday at the Venice Film Festival.

"What I was trying to describe was a side effect of art and art as a kind of drug that numbs your senses," said Kitano. "Art might become a drug for an artist. But I am not convinced that it is necessary for all artists."

The film's first half depicts the pampered boyhood of Machisu - a name chosen by Kitano because of its similarity in Japanese to the impressionist Matisse. The artistic boy is indulged by his parents, teachers and neighbors as he disappears into his drawing and painting - until his father's suicide after his business fails.

Death shadows Machisu as he is shunted off to an unwilling uncle - his mother commits suicide herself, and a village idiot who is equally obsessive about art is killed - and then onward to his young adulthood where the pursuit of art claims two of his friends. As he seeks success, he loses his childhood joy and freedom of painting, churning out cheap imitations of masters as he tries to follow an art dealer's advice.

Venice Film Festival opens with Hollywood flash

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:50 EDT

The Venice Film Festival opened Wednesday night with the premiere of the Coen brothers' dark comedy "Burn After Reading," giving a flash of Hollywood glamour to a festival lineup with a definite art house feel.

The 21 films competing for the coveted Golden Lion at the festival, which runs through Sept. 6, will provide a snapshot of world cinema, with entries from Ethiopia, Turkey, Algeria and a Brazilian-Chinese production.

While the lineup gives the impression of being light on celebrity-driven Hollywood fare - due both to the impact of last year's writers' strike and a late selection process for Cannes' springtime festival - festival director Marco Mueller said U.S. films are well represented.

"This is the second time - and it is a record for the history of the festival - we have five American films in competition," Mueller said, emphasizing that selections aren't based on any national criteria. "The festival is not an atlas of nations."

"Burn After Reading," starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton, is among another five American films being shown out of competition.

Clooney, Pitt arrive in Venice for film festival

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:54 EDT

George Clooney hosted a charity event Tuesday night to raise money for victims in Darfur.

Clooney, who's in Venice for the premiere Wednesday at the Venice Film Festival of the Coen brothers' film "Burn After Reading," swept past reporters as he arrived for the fundraiser for his Not On Our Watch charity.

The event was expected to raise $2 million, said Manuele Malenotti, the executive director of the Italian clothing company Belstaff, which sponsored the event.

Not On Our Watch has raised more than $7 million to help victims both of the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan and the cyclone in Myanmar, according to executive director Alex Wagner.

The charity, which was started last year by Clooney, Brad Pitt and some of their "Ocean's Thirteen" colleagues, uses their celebrity appeal to bring attention to human rights abuses, but it isn't so easy to get even two of the founders together because of filming and family demands, Wagner conceded.

Bollywood's 'Hari Puttar' film sparks lawsuit

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:28 EDT

Let's see Hari Puttar get out of this one. Bollywood producers set to release a film called "Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors" are working to fend off a lawsuit filed by Warner Bros. that claims the movie title hews too closely to their mega-famous boy wizard franchise.

While Bollywood films often borrow liberally from Western movies, producers of "Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors" say their movie bears no resemblance to any film in the "Harry Potter" series.

"There is absolutely nothing to link 'Hari Puttar' with 'Harry Potter,'" said Munish Purii, chief executive officer of Mumbai-based producer Mirchi Movies. Hari is a common name in India and "puttar" is Punabji for son, he said.

"Even if it does rhyme with Harry Potter, surely there is a limit to cases?" said Tarun Adarsh, editor of Trade Guide magazine.

The film is not a tale of wizard spells or flying broomsticks, but rather a story of an Indian boy left home alone, who fights off burglars when his parents go away on vacation - a plot more reminiscent of the film "Home Alone," starring Macaulay Culkin.

`Hamlet 2' rocks with racy musical numbers

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:50 EDT

"Rock Me Sexy Jesus." "You're As Gay As the Day is Long." "Raped in the Face."

These aren't insults. They're song titles from the new film "Hamlet 2," which opened over the weekend.

The movie follows an eternally optimistic but marginally talented high school drama teacher as he mounts an ambitious musical sequel to "Hamlet" that he hopes will save the school's drama department. The irreverent songs come as choreographed musical numbers in the student production, which closes the film.

Director Andrew Fleming, a self-proclaimed lover of musicals, co-wrote the flick and its titillating tunes with "South Park" writer-producer Pam Brady.

"Because I'd never written songs before, we didn't know what the rules were," said Fleming, whose previous credits include "Nancy Drew" and "Dick." "We didn't know you shouldn't write about the tasteless things going around in your head."

'Thunder' pulls in $16.3M, holds off 'House Bunny'

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:38 EDT

The action comedy "Tropic Thunder" clung to the top spot again at the weekend box office with $16.3 million, while the campus romp "The House Bunny" debuted in second place with $14.5 million.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Media By Numbers LLC:

1. "Tropic Thunder," Paramount, $16,272,195, 3,352 locations, $4,854 average, $65,839,915, two weeks.

2. "The House Bunny," Sony, $14,533,702, 2,714 locations, $5,355 average, $14,533,702, one week.

3. "Death Race," Universal, $12,621,090, 2,532 locations, $4,985 average, $12,621,090, one week.

`Thunder' reigns again with $16.1 million weekend

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:55 EDT

The action comedy "Tropic Thunder" weathered a rush of new movies to remain No. 1 for a second-straight weekend with $16.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Paramount-DreamWorks release - starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black as actors caught up in real battle while shooting a war movie - raised its 12-day total to $65.7 million.

"Tropic Thunder" came in just ahead of Sony's campus comedy "The House Bunny," which debuted in second place with $15.1 million. "The House Bunny" stars Anna Faris as an ostracized Playboy bunny who becomes den mother to a sorority of campus misfits.

Universal's "Death Race" - an update of 1975's "Death Race 2000," with Jason Statham starring as a driver in a kill-or-be-killed auto race of the future - opened at No. 3 with $12.3 million.

The weekend's other new wide releases, Ice Cube's sports drama "The Longshots" and Rainn Wilson's music comedy "The Rocker," opened weakly.

Fall films: Bond, Bush, high school divas

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:38 EDT

Hollywood's heavy hitter, Harry Potter, has been sidelined for fall, with the sixth adventure about the boy wizard transported from its original November release into next summer's schedule.

Good thing the season has a deep bench, with Harry's backup players including James Bond, a heartthrob vampire, those slaphappy kids from "High School Musical," the yammering zoo animals from "Madagascar" and a party boy turned president.

A peek at five of fall's must-see flicks:

- "Quantum of Solace": James Bond picks up where he left off in "Casino Royale," in a vengeful mood over the death of his great love and taking arms against a bad guy trying to corner the market on water. "It literally takes place 20 minutes after 'Casino Royale' ends," says Daniel Craig, who returns for his second gig as Bond. "We pick the story up obviously with James Bond out for revenge, on a personal vendetta. It then gets more complicated than that."

- "Twilight": Based on the first installment in Stephenie Meyer's best-selling series, this vampire romance centers on a teen (Kristen Stewart) in a love affair with a dazzling bloodsucker (Robert Pattinson) with a just-say-no policy on feeding off humans. "He doesn't want to be a monster, he doesn't want to kill people," says director Catherine Hardwicke. "He loves her, but if he gets too passionate, he will want her blood. He will want to kill her."

Highlights of Hollywood's fall, holiday schedule

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:50 EDT

Highlights of the fall film slate (release dates are subject to change, and some films will play in limited release):

Late August-September:

APPALOOSA: Hired lawman (Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris) take on a tough rancher (Jeremy Irons) in a Western directed by Harris. Renee Zellweger co-stars.

BABYLON A.D.: Vin Diesel's a hired gun escorting a mystery woman from Europe to New York in a post-apocalyptic future.

BANGKOK DANGEROUS: A lone-wolf hit man (Nicolas Cage) finds a young friend and potential romance on assignment in Thailand.

Woody weird? His new star begs to differ

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:46 EDT

Rebecca Hall wants to debunk some Woody Allen myths. All the A-listers and ingenues who have gasped about how the bespectacled auteur appears aloof and indifferent on the set, proffering little in the way of direction and less in small talk - well, the Vicky of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" would like to challenge that perception.

"It's the first thing that everyone mentions, the thing that everyone wants to know about him. 'Isn't that peculiar?' they say. But I don't know that it is that peculiar," observes the actress, who stars alongside Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson in Allen's exceptionally good 41st film.

"A lot of it makes an awful lot of sense, and a lot of movie directors that I've worked with work in a similar way," she adds, citing Christopher Nolan, who employed her - and Johansson - in "The Prestige." "For instance, I never sat down and had a big conversation about my character with Christopher Nolan. He hired me because he thought I could do it. ... He told me I could stand where I want and say what I want, and he'd shoot it and tell me if it wasn't any good. And that's exactly what Woody did.

"I'm not trivializing it. Woody is certainly an eccentric individual. But I think there's an awful lot of nonsense that's cooked up around the cult of Woody Allen."

Shot in the Catalan capital, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is the breezy but bittersweet tale of two American friends - Hall and Johansson - who are picked up in a restaurant by a painter (Bardem). With disarming directness, he proposes a weekend getaway, a menage a trois. Hall's character, engaged to be married, quickly and amusingly nixes the idea.

UN-backed film to premiere at Rome film fest

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:54 EDT

A U.N.-backed movie on poverty made of eight segments by directors including Jane Campion and Wim Wenders will make its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival later this year, organizers said Wednesday.

Titled "8," the movie aims to raise awareness of world poverty. Gael Garcia Bernal, Gus Van Sant, Mira Nair, Jan Kounen, Abderrahmane Sissako and Gaspar Noe are also among the movie's directors.

The festival's third edition, running Oct. 22-31, will present Saul Dibb's historical pageant "The Duchess," starring Ralph Fiennes and Keira Knightley as the spirited and unconventional Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, an 18th century ancestor of Princess Diana.

A French-Cambodian film, "The Sea Wall," a screen adaptation of a Marguerite Duras novel starring Isabelle Huppert, will also screen at the festival.

Al Pacino is expected to be at the event to receive an acting award and take part in public meetings and conferences, organizers said.

Clooney, Pitt, Coens join Toronto festival lineup

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:08 EDT

Movies featuring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Kate Beckinsale, Edward Norton and Colin Farrell and a documentary about Paris Hilton have joined the lineup for the Toronto International Film Festival.

North America's largest cinema showcase announced Tuesday that the schedule will include Joel and Ethan Coen's CIA comedy "Burn After Reading," with Pitt, Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich.

Among other additions were Gavin O'Connor's cop drama "Pride and Glory," starring Norton and Farrell; Rod Lurie's Washington journalism tale "Nothing But the Truth," with Beckinsale, David Schwimmer and Angela Bassett; and Adria Petty's nonfiction Hilton chronicle "Paris, Not France."

Also, Neil Burger's Iraq War homecoming saga "The Lucky Ones," with Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams and Michael Pena; Toa Fraser's British historical tale "Dean Spanley," starring Peter O'Toole, Sam Neill and Jeremy Northam; and Jodie Markell's "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond," based on a Tennessee Williams screenplay and featuring Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Evans, Ellen Burstyn and Ann-Margret.

The festival also will feature "New York, I Love You," a collection of 12 short films about New York City directed by such talents as Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Brett Ratner and Mira Nair.

Harry Potter film pulls vanishing act on EW cover

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:03 EDT

Maybe Harry Potter should have brought a note from his parents saying he would be missing school.

Warner Bros. gave Harry the school year off, announcing last week it was bumping the sixth movie in the series from fall to next summer. But Entertainment Weekly - which shares the studio's parent company, Time Warner Inc. - was unaware, featuring "Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe on the cover of its Aug. 22-29 fall-preview issue.

The magazine leads off the issue with a six-page spread pegged to "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which Warner Bros. on Thursday moved from its Nov. 21 release date to July 17, 2009.

The studio had been considering the date change for three or four weeks, "but it really didn't kind of get on the front burner until sometime within the last seven days," Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution, said Sunday.

Entertainment Weekly's "deadline must have been earlier than the decision, than when we started to get serious about making the decision," Fellman said.

'Thunder' rumbles past 'Dark Knight' with $26M

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:52 EDT

It took four of Hollywood's biggest stars to take down Batman. The DreamWorks-Paramount comedy "Tropic Thunder" - with Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black and Tom Cruise - debuted at No. 1 with $26 million, bumping "The Dark Knight" to second place after four weekends on top, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Warner Bros. Batman flick pulled in $16.8 million to raise its total to $471.5 million. "The Dark Knight" passed the original "Star Wars" ($461 million) and now stands as No. 2 on the all-time domestic charts, behind only "Titanic" ($600.8 million).

Taking inflation into account, "The Dark Knight" trails both movies in actual tickets sold, however. "The Dark Knight" would need to gross about $900 million to match the number of admissions for "Titanic" and about $1.2 billion to equal "Star Wars."

Warner Bros. expects "The Dark Knight" to top out at about $530 million domestically, said Dan Fellman, the studio's head of distribution.

"The Dark Knight" managed to fend off another "Star Wars" movie this weekend. The animated tale "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," also released by Warner Bros., opened at No. 3 with $15.5 million.