The Hollywood Reporter: Risky Business

Head games

By Borys Kit

Most of the people I've talked to don't like the Steve-Carell's-head-in-a-pancake poster for Touchstone's "Dan In Real Life." What does it mean? Is he trying to get some sleep? Is he serene? Is he overwhelmed? I've heard a more than a few iterations. But is does have at least one fan, the movie's writer-director Peter Hedges.

"What I'm really pleased with is what the poster isn't," said Hedges. "It's not a bunch of faces. We had thousands of attempts for poster and this one, for me, caught your eye." Hedges adds "the marketing is a real challenge because we live in a culture and a time where everything has to scream and grab, and this film is a human comedy," which don't scream and grab. "This film straddles so many genres, it is difficult in a short burst to communicate the fullness of it."

It's hard to see the current Disney regime making this kind of film, and it initially didn't. The film was begun when Nina Jacobson, who sought to develop relationships with filmmakers, was still president of production. The "Dan" mantle was then thankfully picked up by current topper Oren Aviv. Which is why at the movie's Wednesday night premiere, Hedges thanked past and present Disney administrations.

The movie is a pretty safe bet for Disney, which partnered with Focus Features on the film, splitting the movie's $24 million cost 50-50 and distribution rights domestically and internationally, respectively. The movie is looking like it'll make a decent $10 to $12 million in its opening weekend.

Read THR's review of "Dan in Real Life"
Watch Steve Carrel discuss the film

Taking the fifth

By Gregg Kilday

Director Joe Carnahan is something of a straight shooter, and so when George Clooney decided to withdraw from Carnahan's upcoming film adaptation of James Ellroy's period cop drama "White Jazz," Carnahan himself broke the news to his fans on his blog. But Carnahan is determined to keep the project alive, and so he wrote, "Right now, (actually it began on friday) we're in the process of trying to plug a guy into this movie that, if it works, would be pretty f*cking amazing. No, INCREDIBLY f*cking amazing, so we'll see what happens."

Who's replacing Clooney? That tease was catnip to the reporters in town who are currently chasing the story. Tuesday, Carnahan posted an update, hinting that there are now not one, but two names, in the mix. But that only further provoked press inquiries as all sorts of big names have been bandied about. And so Wednesday, Carnahan reluctantly announced that until the situation was resolved, he's invoking "radio silence." As he explained online, "Apparently, my rather liberal blogging habits have created a bit of a situation for my old friend and publicist Lynda Dorf. Lynda's been doing me solids since the 'Blood, Guts' days and she's apparently being innundated by reporters looking for casting confimations about various actors appearing in WHITE JAZZ and PABLO. So, long story short kids. I've been asked to curtail it in the interest of both projects and not release any information that might do damage down the line."

Aw, say it ain't so, Joe.

Lighting strikes

By Carolyn Giardina

Appropriately enough, the American Society of Cinematographers paid close attention to the lighting at its annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards kickoff dinner, held Saturday night at the ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood. Participating in the county's "Lights Out LA" energy conservation event, the ASC softly lit its venue by candlelight.
"Lucky the lights are down, so you can't see me blushing," said visual effects veteran Richard Edlund (pictured), who was introduced by ASC president Daryn Okada as this year’s ASC Presidents Award recipient.
Past ASC president Richard Crudo introduced Stephen H. Burum, who had been previously announced as the recipient of the ASC 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award; and ASC vp Michael Goi presented George Spiro Dibie, who will be honored with the 2008 ASC Career Achievement in Television Award.
"I'm the luckiest guy in the world," Burum told the group. "I got to do my hobby as a career."
Edlund has earned four Academy Awards for his visual effects work on "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Return of the Jedi," as well as six additional nominations for "Poltergeist," "2010," "Ghostbusters," "Poltergeist II: The Other Side," "Die Hard" and "Alien 3." He has also earned three Scientific and Engineering Awards. Earlier this year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation to Edlund in recognition of his significant contributions to the organization.
Edlund has also earned an Emmy for creating visual effects for the original television miniseries “Battlestar Galactica,” and an additional nomination for Mike Nichols' "Angels in America." He's working again with Nichols on Universal Picture's upcoming "Charlie Wilson's War."
Said ASC president Daryn Okada: "Richard Edlund is an ASC member who continues to contribute to the progress of visual effects from purely photographic methods to today’s digital techniques. He uses his cinematographer’s eye in the creation of his work. He has earned the respect of our members for his artistic achievements, role in developing new technologies, generosity with knowledge, and collaborative spirit."
Roughly 50 attended Saturday night's dinner. The 22nd Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards will be presented Jan. 26 at the Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom.

Farewell to Pusan

By Gregg Kilday

Compared to its star-studded curtain raiser, Friday's closing night of the 12th Pusan International Film Festival was a relatively casual affair. After nine days and a full slate of 271 films, everyone seemed ready to kick back and relax a bit.
The closing ceremonies at the huge, open-air theater constructed at the Busan Yachting Club moved quickly through the requisite speechifying. Indefatigable fest direct Kim Dong-ho took a well deserved bow as he accepted UNESCO’s Federico Fellini Medal, recognizing PIFF “for defending cultural diversity.” The big winner among the film-makers present was Malaysian director Seng Tat Liew, who took home both the both a prize in the competitive New Currents category as well as the audience award for “Flower in the Pocket,” a touching tale of a father re-connecting with his two young songs. “I came here with a film and a suitcase, and I’m returning home with a suitcase full of dirty clothes and this award,” Liew said. “I’ll make more films, I promise.”
There was a flurry of fireworks, and then on to the closing night film. And that’s where things got quirky. Instead of closing on a note of high seriousness, PIFF chose to showcase, “Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone,” a new, big-screen version of the Japanese anime TV series, “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” first created in 1995. It’s actually the second time that the TV series has been turned into a movie -- the first film version was produced in 1997. Director Hideaki Anno created “Evangelion 1.0” as the first installment in a four-party series. And so the PIFF crowd -- a number of whom had brought along their kids -- settled in for a cartoon battle between Angels, robot-like creatures laying waste to a futuristic Toyko and the Evangelion, human-controlled secret weapons piloted by wide-eyed teens. With the screening taking place outdoors, the volume was turned up to mega-levels. And though there were a few walk-outs, most of the crowd was into it, letting out a collective gasp as part one reached its climax and the words “to be continued” flashed on the screen.

Happiness is a warm gun

By Gregg Kilday

Stateside, Jodie Foster’s revenge drama, “The Brave One,” had pretty much played out by last weekend, when its domestic boxoffice stood at a disappointing $34.4 million, which, in turn, led a number of commentators to bloviate that when it comes to the American marketplace, female stars and guns just don’t mix. But as the movie rolls out internationally, Jodie and her gun are even more front and center than they were in the American ad campaign. In the U.S. -- where the MPAA frowns on ads where guns strike too threatening a pose -- the main image featured Foster, looking distraught, her head bowed and her gun hanging limply by her side. But in its foreign make-over, “The Brave One’s” poster -- as seen here outside a megaplex in Busan, South Korea, where the movie opened Thursday -- features a full head shot of Foster with her gun raised, aiming to kill. Nothing shy about it. As of Oct. 7, the movie had scored $14.6 million abroad, where, to date, audiences in Germany and Spain have been the most receptive.

Spotted!

By Borys Kit

"Superbad" catapulted its stars Jonah Hill and Michael Cera to star status. Now it's also given them A-list friends. Grown-up A-list friends. Hill was spotted partying at hotspot Lubitch Tuesday night with none other than Sacha Baron Cohen and Quentin Tarantino. The trio were apparently supposed to go to a concert of "Justice," the hot Parisian Christian DJ duo of Gaspard Auge and Xavier de Rosnay, but never quite made it.

Jones ready to ride

By Steven Zeitchik

Add Tommy Lee Jones to the list of Hollywood players flogging the Cormac McCarthy horse. In addition to starring in the "No Country for Old Men," the Coen Bros. bloody adaptation of McCarthy's West Texas morality tale, Jones confirmed at the New York Film Festival this weekend that he at one time tried his hand at an adaptation of McCarthy's "Blood Meridian."

The actor, who tried directing for the first time with the Spanish-language "Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," would have joined the Scott Rudin project that has been stuck in development for years. At the moment, William Monahan is attached to write and Ridley Scott attached to direct the tale of a runaway in the 19th century Wild West.

McCarthy's work, long thought unfilmable, continues to ride a hot streak in Hollywood. Joe Penhall has come on board to pen (and Viggo Mortensen to star in) the Nick Weschsler-produced adaptation of McCarthy's latest bestseller "The Road," marking potentially the third McCarthy bigscreen version after 2002's "All the Pretty Horses" and "No Country."

A "Blood" adaptation would also be part of the larger renaissance in the Western genre -- but don't tell Jones. "I have a hard time even figuring out what the term 'Western' means," Jones said. "I think it means big hats, horses and dust, but I don't know."

Baumbach family values

Noah Baumbach made his name with the 2005 divorce drama "The Squid and the Whale" -- and the media-fueled perception that he had based it on his own parents' failed marriage. But the writer-director is tired of his movies being confused with his life. And he has a special place in his heart (and his scripts) for reporters who continue to do that. In his new film "Margot at the Wedding" -- about the frayed family relationships of the troubled novelist of the title (Nicole Kidman) -- Baumbach has Margot fielding a cartoonishly obnoxious question about whether her fiction is based on her family.

"It was one interview too many (for "Squid") that triggered me to write that scene," Baumbach told reporters this weekend at the New York Film Festival, where Paramount Vantage's "Margot" made its U.S. debut. (Read THR's review of "Margot" here.) Baumbach then added that "Squid" was "a lot less autobiographical than people wanted it to be, or insisted it was." Viewers will make up their own mind about whether art is imitating life, or whether it matters. But "Margot" offers a hint on how Baumbach -- or at least his family -- feels about the whole enterprise: Kidman's character is repeatedly balled out by her sister for borrowing from their childhoods. (Steven Zeitchik)

Water world

It was chilly Friday night, but no one on this Pacific Palisades hillside backyard felt it. Crickets chirped, but they were ignored. That is the kind of spell former Vice President Al Gore had on the audience gathered at the home of Jena and Michael King for the annual Oceana Awards gala, where he accepted the environmental organization’s Partner’s Award. Gore talked about a recent meeting he had with scientists in Colorado about the latest findings about the Arctic Ocean, which said the ice could melt in 20 years, maybe even as soon as six, on the same day as the headlines were blaring Britney Spears losing custody of her kids and Paris Hilton’s appearance on Letterman. Yet here was a study, whose impact he said was the equivalent of the discovery of the ozone hole, "and no one pays attention!" he said, in frustration. Gore summed up today’s situation using an African proverb: "If you want to travel quickly, go alone. If you have to travel far, go together. We have to go far. Quickly." (Borys Kit)

Don't miss "Missing"

“This is not a very big market, but I’m here to remind buyers here to come visit my booth at AFM, where buyers often forget to come visit the Asian booths,” said Virginia Leung, head of distribution for Mandarin Entertainment Holdings of Hong Kong, which is preselling Tsui Hark’s “Missing” and readying Donnie Yen-starrer “Flash Point” for its first market screening in Los Angeles next month. (Jonathan Landreth)

Le Deluge

Typhoon Krosa hit Tawain hard, but Busan has mostly had to contend a couple of nights of rain. Sunday evening, it came down hard as puddle-hopping guests tried to make their way to parties at the Paradise Hotel thrown by Germany and Japan. Local convenience stores were doing a brisk business in umbrellas, selling for 10,000 won each -- a little over ten bucks.
But when the sun rose (hidden by an overcast of clouds) Monday morning, the temporary sand berm built on the beach had held. Still, workers spent most of the day covering the roof of the seaside PIFF Pavilion in plastic so that it wouldn’t leak. As buyers and sellers headed to the Grand Hotel for the opening day of the Asian Film Market, the threatening rain held off. The normally placid bay, though, churned up some impressive waves, and several surfers were spotted hanging ten. But then as night fell Monday, more remanants of Krosa, now downgraded to a tropical depression, arrived to make for another water-logged night of party-going.
Jacob Berger, Swiss best director award winner at Montreal this year says that the rain seems to be following him around. “First (his film, “1 Day”) was shown outdoors at Locarno on the Piazza Grande and it rained. Then it went to Montreal and it rained. Now, I come to Pusan and there’s a typhoon,” Berger said, his shirt soaked through and wet hair plastered to his forehead. “The ironic thing is, the first scene of the movie is shot in the rain!”
(Gregg Kilday and Jonathan Landreth)

Miller time

Back in the states, Wentworth Miller may be struggling to survive in that nasty-looking prison in Fox’s “Prison Break.” But here in Korea, he’s a cleaned-up poster boy, the current face of a Korean clothing line known as Bean Pole. By the look of it, Bean Pole -- which is one of the major sponsors of the Pusan Film Fest -- goes in for a very preppie-American look. Its previous campaign featured a winsome Gwyneth Paltrow. But now it’s Miller, a Princeton grad, who's all the rage among the Koreans. He visited Seoul in March to plug the clothing line, as pictured here. And his image -- with the actor sporting a natty, Bean Pole peacoat over rep tie and V-neck sweater -- is emblazoned on the back of the official festival guide. (Gregg Kilday)

The Black Dahlia lives!

The Pusan Film Fest may not be known for the kind of outlandish seaside stunts that have long been a staple of Cannes. But don’t tell that to this promo effort that the Reporter’s Karen Nicoletti -- who doubles as an ace photographer when she’s not busy posting festival stories and reviews on THR’s web site -- caught while walking along Pusan’s equivalent of Cannes’ Croisette. Suddenly, there on the sidewalk were not one, but two reincarnations of the ill-fated Black Dahlia, the woman murdered in the mean streets of Los Angeles way back in 1947. Sporting red-slash lipstick, the models were happily handing out shopping bags advertising Brian De Palma’s 2006 film “The Black Dahlia,” starring Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson. The shopping bags have proven to be a popular accouterment around town, and I’ve seen them on the arms of lots of pretty girls. Now if only the Troma team would show up, it would be just like Cannes. (Gregg Kilday)