The opening night feature film of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival was Howl, a nonfiction drama described as a “movie about a poem.” You might recall that we woke up at 6:30am and trenched in four feet of snow to try to score tickets to the premiere, and failed. We somehow got in… and in case you’re wondering, we’ve included audio of David Chen’s dramatic story of how he scored not one, but two tickets to the highly sought after film.
James Franco stars as the young Allen Ginsberg, who is still trying to find his voice. The story follows the creation of his groundbreaking poem HOWL, and the landmark obscenity trial that followed. The film also stars David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, two filmmakers best known for their documentary features The Times of Harvey Milk and Paragraph 175, make their narrative feature film debut.
Howl began as a documentary concept, but morphed in a narrative feature (which in my opinion was the begining of the end for the project). /Film’s Peter Sciretta and David Chen were in attendance at the Eccles Theatre for the world premiere, and have recorded a video blog review, which is embedded after the jump.
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Universal Pictures has released their 2010 movie preview, which included this first official photo from David Gordon Green’s Your Highness, starring Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman and Zooey Deschanel. Check out the full photo after the jump, click to enlarge.
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Production Weekly is reporting that James Franco has been cast as the lead in Danny Boyle’s (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) next film project, 127 Hours, a story of Aron Ralston, the mountain climber who amputated his own arm to free himself after being trapped by a boulder for nearly five days. The industry paper also reports that production will begin in early March in Utah.
The screenplay written by frequent Boyle collaborator and Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon Beaufoy is said to contain no dialogue what-so-ever for the first hour of the story. In the true life story, Ralston was completely alone, stuck in the canyon. And Boyle has said that he would not be introducing any volleyball tricks a la Tom Hanks in Castaway.
Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, two filmmakers best known for their documentary features The Times of Harvey Milk and Paragraph 175, make their narrative feature film debut with Howl, a nonfiction drama which premieres at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival as one of the 16 films which were selected from 1,058 submissions for the U.S. Dramatic competition.
James Franco stars as the young Allen Ginsberg, who is still trying to find his voice. The story follows the creation of his groundbreaking poem HOWL, and the landmark obscenity trial that followed. Also starring David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels. Seven more photos after the jump.
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The Sundance Institute have announced the short films selected to screen at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Movieline was the first to break the story, but the press release is now public. Some of the notable films include Spike Jonze’s robot love short film I’m Here which stars Andrew Garfield, Herbert White, a short film he directed earlier this year by James Franco, who is already at the fest with his feature-length film Howl, Rory Kennedy’s The Fence, as well as short films from Nicholas Jasenovec, Ira Sachs, and Patrik Eklund.
This year the Festival’s Short Film Program comprises 70 short films from U.S. and international filmmakers selected from 6,092 submissions up 8% over 2009. So, yes, for the most part the program is made up of filmmakers you’ve never heard of — but that’s exactly why you should care.
The Sundance Film Festival’s shorts program has long been established as a discovery for directors, including: Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, Paul Thomas Anderson, David O Russell, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Tamara Jenkins, Ted Demme, Tim Blake Nelson, Alexander Payne, Paul Dinello, Martin McDonagh, and Jason Reitman.
So it is a chance to discover some of tomorrow’s great filmmakers. Read the full press release after the jump.
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With the announcement of the Sundance 2010 lineup, it’s time to start seeing images from some of the invited films. Until now, for example, all we’ve seen of James Franco as poet Allen Ginsberg in Howl has been one photo released back in June. Now here’s a new one, and it’s very quintessential ‘beat poet.’ I like it, but really just want a trailer.
After the break, a shot of Kristen Stewart as a stripper, and new stuff from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Nightmare on Elm Street. Read More »
When James Franco’s short stint on General Hospital was announced, I figured it was something he was doing to challenge himself and set different acting boundaries. Like Lars Von Trier and friends created the Dogme 95 rules in part to establish a new filmmaking framework for themselves, acting on a soap opera would push Franco in unexpected ways.
I didn’t think that the whole thing might be part of a project akin to Casey Affleck’s documentary on Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘retirement’ and subsequent rapping act. But that’s what seems to be the case, if Franco’s friend Carter isn’t putting everyone on. Read More »
There have been a bunch of movie trailers to hit over the last 24 hours: Clash of the Titans, Kick-Ass, and now 20th Century Fox has released the first teaser trailer for the Action romantic comedy Date Night. The film stars Tina Fey and Steve Carell as Claire and Phil Foster, as a bored married couple’s attempt at a glamorous and romantic evening into something more thrilling and dangerous due to a case of mistaken identity.
The Fosters are a typical suburban couple whose lives – including their weekly date nights of dinner and a movie – have become routine. To reignite the marital spark, they visit a trendy Manhattan bistro where a case of mistaken identity turns their evening into the ultimate date night-gone-awry. But as Claire and Phil take their unexpected walk on the wild side, they begin to remember what made them so special together.
Judging from the trailer, this is just what we would expect from Night at the Museum/Pink Panther helmer Shawn Levy. A couple mild jokes, an obvious storyline and a flurry of cameos and small supporting performances from actors/actresses you know (like Mila Kunis, Leighton Meester, Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Wiig, and Ray Liotta). If you look closely near the end of the trailer, you might even see Olivia Munn, of G4 Attack of the Show fame. And what is up with Wahlberg’s Minority Report/Iron Man-style futuristic computer set-up? Seems a bit too much for this movie, doesn’t it?
Fox is betting on this film to be an early summer comedy, but it will face some heavy superhero competition, going head to head with The Losers, and the next week Kick-Ass and Machette. Watch the trailer after the jump, and leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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Wizard people, dear reader. The casting director on Your Highness must really hate shitty talent. Today brings confirmation that Justin Theroux, the guy burdened with writing Iron Man 2 and hiding scythe-like eyebrows, will play a badguy wizard in the R-rated stoner fantasia due 2010 from Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green.
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David Gordon Green , James Franco and Danny McBride are following their stoner action movie Pineapple Express with a stoner medieval comedy called Your Highness, and Zooey Deschanel has just joined the cast. Shooting starts this month in Northern Ireland, according to THR, with Natalie Portman also in the picture. Read More »
