Anne Thompson is reporting that Fox Searchlight acquired U.S. rights to Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler for about $4 million. Lionsgate, Overture, Weinstein Co. and Sony were also said to be in the running. I’m just extremely happy that Sony Pictures Classics or TWC didn’t win the bid. The deal was finally closed at about 11 a.m. Monday. Searchlight is the best possible company to market this film for sure.
Apparently a huge oscar campaign for Mickey Rourke is part of the package. I’m guessing this probably means the film will hit theaters in late December to qualify, although an official announcement is forthcoming.

Tonight I attended the North American premiere of Darren Aronofsky’s new film The Wrestler. I plan on writing a full review tomorrow, but for right now check out this quick video blog review. I am joined by Indie movie expert Eric Lavallee of IOnCinema.com and Alex Billington from FirstShowing.net. If you can’t tell, I absolutely loved the film. I hate to add to the Oscar buzz, but well, I see award nominations in Mickey Rourke’s future.
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Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler appears to be a big hit at the 65th Venice Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter claims that the film created “a buzz that had been absent for most of the festival.” Anne Thompson reports that the film is hoping to land a distributor which could “ramp up a release before year’s end so that [Mickey] Rourke can qualify for Oscar consideration” making a December release very likely.
Here is a small excerpt from Variety’s review: “Talk about comebacks. After many years in the wilderness and being considered MIA professionally, Mickey Rourke, just like the washed-up character he plays, attempts a return to the big show in “The [...]

The reason why Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler has the un-popular position of closing the Venice Film Festival, is because the film is waiting on a new song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen. The song was written for the closing credits and is also titled The Wrestler. Aronofsky calls the song “beautiful” … “wonderful acoustic piece”.
“Makes me choke up every time i hear it,” Aronofsky writes on his blog. “He really captured the spirit of the film and Mickey [Rourke]’s character in the piece.”
It has already been reported that Slash (formerly from Guns and Roses) provided some guitar on Clint Mansell’s score.

Writer/director Lance Daly described his film Kisses as a story about “how to escape if you can’t escape”. More specifically, it’s about two kids who run away from home and spend a “night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.” Sprinkled with realistic improvisational moments, Kisses is Lost in Translation but with two irish 10-year-olds.
Daly cleverly uses the saturation and desaturation of color from the frame to visually convey the children’s emotions. A woman on the gondola ride home, also aptly compared the use of the technique with The Wizard of Oz. And I think many comparisons could be made between both of these stories.

Kelly O’Neill, who [...]

The following quote is attributed to Variety’s Pam McClintock: “The worst thing that ever happened to indie film was that the studios decided it was a good business.” And while I agree with that statement, I’m not sure I agree that Independent Movies are on the “endangered species list” as Variety editor Peter Bart writes in his latest blog entry. Bart claims that studio expectations for their art house divisions were too high. “Their production budgets were too lofty and their marketing budgets too ambitious,” Bart writes, pointing towards the downward box office trend for specialty films in 2008. Here are the Variety numbers: 2006: $416 [...]

UPDATE: Someone was using my name in the comments below last night and starting, yes, drama. We’ve deleted the comments in question. This has occurred more than once on Slashfilm recently. We’re looking into it. For the record, yes, Slashfilm thinks this movie is a total pile. And I don’t hate all of our readers, c’mon.
UPDATE 2: FirstShowing’s Alex Billington has given Fireproof’s trailer a heart-felt endorsement. We are speechless (as in, I’m never talking to Alex again).
Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains, VH1) stars in the Oscar-buzzing romantic drama, Fireproof. This stirring film is being poignantly described as, “Back Draft sucks face with the Left Behind franchise,” by Slashfilm.com. Opening in [...]

We’re in the midst of an industry preamble for a 3D revolution flush with cash, but there are countless doubters. Ebert’s hating, and while I liked Beowulf and eagerly anticipate Avatar, it’s easy to see 3D becoming the Reebok Pump of cinema (again?). Personally, I’m prone to believing the future holds a more participatory creative role for the viewer, one that would leave room for a 3D visceral experience if needed. With the popularity of Final Cut Pro, GTA IV, web video, Comic Con and movie sites which connect fans directly to the talent and vice versa, this seems like the more natural, obvious progression when compared to convertible 3D [...]

Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler makes it’s premiere next month, and we have the first batch of official promotional production photos. Aronofsky’s The Wrestler tells the story of a old professional wrestler (Mickey Rourke) barely making a living on the independent circuit, who is told by a doctor that he could die if he wrestles again. It’s a film which attempts to do for wrestling what Rocky did for boxing. Marisa Tomei plays a stripper friend named Cassidy and Evan Rachel Wood plays his estranged daughter Stephanie. We will be seeing the film at the Toronto International Film Festival next month, and will check back in with a review from the [...]

Due to a number of reader requests and the unprecedented success of this viral marketing campaign (if true!), Slashfilm will finally address The Montauk Monster. When a foul, suspiciously beaked creature allegedly washed ashore a beach near Montauk, Long Island last month, the above photo captivated the world’s cubicle inhabitants thanks to the diligently crazed, beloved reportage of Gawker. Was “Monty” a dead dog evidently done in by Paulie Walnuts? A harmless water rat/Satan? Colbert theorized it was John McCain. Others said it was a discarded lovechild of John Edwards. CNN introduced the meme to parents, who heply brought it up at dinner. As our crippled collective imaginations ran wild, [...]

Sure, Darren Aronofsky’s new film The Wrestler is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5th, but I’m sadly not going to be there to see it. But I’m excited to report that the film will also be playing at the Toronto International Film Festival two days later. And yes, we will be there to file a report.
Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream) recorded his score for the film last week in Los Angeles. Apparently Slash, formerly from Guns and Roses provided some guitar work. Aronofsky writes “he really tore it up.” And apparently there is “another musical surprise” but we won’t find out until next week. [...]

Happy-Go-Lucky seems like one of those wonderfull indie films which will bring a smile to your face. Mike Leigh’s (Vera Drake / Secrets & Lies / Topsy-Turvy) latest film stars Sally Hawkins as Poppy, “an irrepressibly free-spirited school teacher who brings an infectious laugh and an unsinkable sense of optimism to every situation she encounters.” But when things start to go wrong in Poppy’s world, her positive state of mind is put to the test.The film has played the film festival circiut and is currently getting a 94% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Total Film calls it “Fresh, Funny, and uplifting” and BBC says that it “establishes Hawkins as a [...]

Peach Arch has released the trailer for Rowan Woods’ ensemble indie drama Winged Creatures. The film has a fantastic cast which includes Forest Whitaker, Kate Beckinsale, Jackie Earle Haley, Guy Pearce, Jennifer Hudson, Dakota Fanning, and Josh Hutcherson, but the story seems a big forced and reeks of Oscar bait. It also has a kinda low-fi Crash vibe. The story follows five traumatized people as they struggle to regain their trust in the ordinary world. The official plot synopsis follows:
“A moment of random violence erupts in an ordinary Los Angeles diner. The survivors (Kate Beckinsale, Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce, Forest Whitaker, Josh Hutcherson) find that the meanings of their [...]

Photo credit: Matt Dentler
WETA Workshop has signed on to create practical and creature effects for director Kristoffer Aaron Morgan’s independent horror film, The Home. Written by friend of /Film, Eric Vespe, better known to the masses as Quint from Ain’t It Cool News, and produced by Steven Schneider (Paranormal Activity), the film is currently being shopped around for financing. Described as a “character driven, atmospheric, twisted creature flick”, The Home tells the story of a firefighter who “is nearly killed during a failed rescue that leaves him physically and emotionally scarred. To recuperate, he is taken to a secluded nursing home where the elderly residents appear to be suffering from [...]

I never planned on seeing Ping Pong Playa, but it became one of those films that I heard people talking about in between sleeping, screening and eating last year at the Toronto Film Festival. I caught a screening near the end of the festival, purely because there was nothing else playing at the time that interested me. In my review I described Jessica Yu’s low budget indie sports comedy as “Karate Kid meets Bad News Bears but with Ping Pong”. The film tells the story of Christopher “C-dub” Wang (Jimmy Tsai), a young man full of excuses and failed basketball dreams, who must step up and teach ping pong while [...]