With 2007 drawing to a close and the awards season upon us, it is hard to even think about next year's movies. But here we are, with the recent announcement of the lineup for 2008's first big film festival, Sundance.The opening night of the ten-day fest will see the world premiere of In Bruges, the feature directorial debut (starring Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes) for Tony nominated playwright (The Pillowman)/Oscar-winning short director (Six Shooter) Martin McDonagh. If you're familiar with McDonagh's previous work, you know he has an eye for dark comedy, as can be seen in the film's trailer. Notable films in competition include two other black comedies, The Last Word (Wes Bentley, playing a professional suicide note writer, co-stars with Winona Ryder) and Sunshine Cleaning (starring two of our faves, Amy Adams and Emily Blunt as crime scene cleaners) as well as Be Like Others (a documentary about transgender Iranian men) Choke (Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston), Derek (doc about the late director Derek Jarman), Good Dick (Jason Ritter), Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (Peter Sarsgaard, Sienna Miller), Phoebe in Wonderland (Elle Fanning, Felicity Huffman), Pretty Bird (Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti), Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (doc on the controversial director) and The Wackness (Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen).
Among the films screening out of competition will be Craig Zadan and Neil Meron's TV movie remake of A Raisin in the Sun starring Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald (both of whom won Tonys for their performances in the recent Raisin revival) and Sean Combs, who has Poitier-size shoes to fill in the lead role. Others include Adventures of Power (Michael McKean, Jane Lynch), Assassination of a High School President (Bruce Willis), Be Kind Rewind (Jack Black, Mos Def), Blind Date (Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci -- who also directed) The Deal (William H. Macy, Meg Ryan), Diminished Capacity (Matthew Broderick, Alan Alda), The Escapist (Brian Cox), Funny Games (Naomi Watts), George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead, The Great Buck Howard (Colin Hanks, John Malkovich and this year's "indie it girl" again, Emily Blunt), Incendiary (Michelle Williams, Ewan McGregor), The Merry Gentleman (Michael Keaton's directorial debut), Sleepwalking (Charlize Theron), Smart People (Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker), Transsiberian (Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer), Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (Morgan Spurlock's follow up to Super Size Me) and What Just Happened? (Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener), a Hollywood insider comedy directed by Barry Levinson.
Of note to fans of queer filmmakers is Towelhead, Alan Ball's directorial debut (starring Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello and Toni Collette), which caused controversy at the Toronto fest earlier this year under its original title, Nothing is Private; Savage Grace (Julianne Moore), Tom Kalin's first film since his highly influential Swoon fifteen years ago; Craig Lucas' Birds of America (Matthew Perry, Ben Foster); and last, but surely not least, Otto: Or, Up With Dead People, Bruce LaBruce's tale of a lonely gay zombie searching for romance. Because, you know it just wouldn't be Sundance with out at least one gay zombie love story.
The 2008 Sundance Film Festival will take place from January 17 to 27 in chilly Park City, Utah.
Links via Sundance.org, LATimes.com, YouTube.com, BroadwayWorld.com, Playbill.com and OttoTheZombie.de.
1 comment:
Being that this is a "gay" film blog, you might be upset when I tell you that Rawson Marshall Thurber has virtually de-gayed his adaptation of MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH.
Sure, there's still boy-on-boy action. But fans of the novel (myself being the #1) were shocked to learn that RMT has completely CUT the one true "gay" character, Arthur Lecomte, in favor of making straight Cleveland Arning into a "bisexual."
And this isn't my only beef... RMT has also made Phlox the "ex-girlfriend" of Art Bechstein and Jane (played by Sienna Miller) the leading lady in Art's life.
I've read the screenplay and there's only about 15% of the novel in it. Which is a damn shame... Why did RMT feel he needed to ignore the old, "If it ain't broke...?"
If you'd like to read the script for yourself, drop me a line: bechstein[at]yahoo[dot]com
For more info
Post a Comment