Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air Aims For Toronto Premiere; ShadowPlay Animating Opening Title Sequence
Posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
Jason Reitman, director of Thank You For Smoking and Juno, joined Twitter a few days ago to provide a few updates about his post-production work on the forthcoming Up in the Air, starring George Clooney. “A brief chronicle of my attempt to finish my film in time for the Toronto Film Festival,” he calls it. (I’m continually pleased by the evolving capabilities of the Internet to allow me to observe creators at work while making me feel as is I’m working at the same time.) So while the film may well still have a December release date, it could well premiere at Toronto (editors note: or sneak premiere at Telluride), just like Juno did.
The two posts that followed had some good, if brief info. First, that he’s nearly done with the first edit, which currently clocks at 2′04″. (Though I generally hate even reporting this; anyone who isn’t a distributor or exhibitor shouldn’t care about running time before seeing the movie.) The other is that Shadowplay, the outfit that animated the titles to his first two features, is doing the same for Up in the Air. Read More »
Filmmaker Jason Reitman will reunite with his Juno co-star Jason Bateman, who joins George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick in the big screen adaptation of Up In The Air. The downsizing comedy which is already in production, tells the story of Ryan Bingham (Clooney), a Career Transition Counselor with a simple goal: to accumulate one million miles in his frequent flyer account.
Bateman will play Clooney’s boss. Farmiga plays a businesswoman who develops a romantic relationship with Bingham through meetings in airports and hotels around the country, while Kendrick plays a new employee who invents a computer program which will allow Career Transition Counselors to work virtually from a central office (reducing the cost of travel expenses/time and downsizing the amount of jobs).
A few months ago I was lucky enough to read Reitman’s screenplay adaptation, and all I’ll say is that it’s one of the better scripts I’ve read in the last few years.
Sundance is now in full swing and I havent been able to to blog about the experience as much as I would like to. We’ve got a tremendous response to the video blogs, probably more so than anything else we’ve ever put up on the site. It probably speaks to why America is so obsessed with reality television. And the response has not only been online but also on location in Park City. I’ve met a bunch of cool readers and even had some run ins with celebrities, some of which even read the site (which I always find very shocking and extremely cool).
Yesterday morning Scott Sanders, the writer/director of Black Dynamite and Jon Steingart, the film’s producer, came up to me while I was leaving a screening and asked if I ran /Film. Apparently they’ve been watching the video blogs and have since requested via our friend Scott at WeAreMovies, that we have more arguments in our future video blogs (you can watch the original fight video here). While I can’t make this happen, I’m sure something will go down in the next seven days of the festival. We’re seeing the midnight show of Dynamite on Sunday and we might be partying with the guys later in the week.
And earlier today at the 500 Days of Summer screening an actress came up to me and introduced herself, asking if I was the /Film guy. She explained that she reads the site and that she had a film playing at the festival called The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, a film I have had marked on my must see list. (I’m waiting on a publicist request, and hopefully I can get tickets to the Monday premiere.) She was extremely nice and we chatted for a moment before I thanked her for reading and wished her luck with the film. I sat back down and pulled up her name on IMDb. Sundance has a lot of first time filmmakers and films with unknown actresses, and for all I knew this could have been her first big break.
I’m not good with names, and the name Tania Raymonde didn’t ring any bells. But it turns out that it should have, as Raymonde played Ben’s daughter Alex on LOST. And those of you who regularly read the site know that LOST is my favorite television series of the moment. I loved her character on the show. She also looks so much different in person. Suffice to say I geeked out for a few minutes before I gathered the guts to turn around (she was seated behind me) and explain my error and profess my LOST fandom before the film started. Tania, if you’re reading this, please shoot me an email.
And my third celebrity run-in happened while I was entering the Library for the Mystery Team screening. Jason Reitman totally cut in front of me (kinda, sorta, but not really). He apologized, as it turns out he was just trying to get to the concession stand in the room with the ticket que. Not too exciting.
I once made a complete fool out of myself talking to Reitman while I was drunk at a party at the Toronto Film Festival. I doubt he remembers. If you’re interested, you can find the story on one of the /FilmCast AfterDark episodes from September 2008.
More video blogs on the way…
The Jason Reitman-produced Diablo Cody-scripted horror comedy Jennifer’s Body has been given a release date by Fox Atomic. The Megan Fox thriller will hit theaters on September 18th 2009, the same weekend as the Matt Damon/Melanie Lynskey crime thriller The Informant and the Sony Pictures animated adaptation of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
The official plot synopsis follows: “When small-town high school hottie Jennifer (Megan Fox) is possessed by a hungry demon, guys who never stood a chance with her, take on new luster in the light of Jennifer’s insatiable appetite. From the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Juno.” Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody, and J.K. Simmons also star.
source: BoxOfficeMojo
Vera Farmiga Joins Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air
Posted on Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
The Departed co-star Vera Farmiga has been cast in Jason Reitman’s adaptation of Walter Kirn’s novel Up in The Air. George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a guy with a simple goal: to accumulate one million miles in his frequent flyer account. Here is more information from the book’s cover synopsis:
“Bingham’s job as a Career Transition Counselor has kept him airborne for years. Although he has come to despise his line of work, he has come to love the culture of what he calls “Airworld,” finding contentment within pressurized cabins, anonymous hotel rooms, and a wardrobe of wrinkle-free slacks. With a letter of resignation sitting on his boss’s desk, and the hope of a job with a mysterious consulting firm, Ryan Bingham is agonizingly close to his ultimate goal, his Holy Grail: one million frequent flier miles. But before he achieves this long-desired freedom, conditions begin to deteriorate. With perception, wit, and wisdom, Up in the Air combines brilliant social observation with an acute sense of the psychic costs of our rootless existence, and confirms Walter Kirn as one of the most savvy chroniclers of American life.”
Farmiga will play a businesswoman who develops a romantic relationship with Bingham through meetings in airports and hotels around the country. To be honest, I’ve only seen Farmiga in a few films so far, and found myself impressed by her performance in The Departed. She was just nominated for Best Actress in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas for the British Independent Film Awards.
Last week Rocket Science/Twilight star Anna Kendrick was cast as another romantic lead. Principal photography is set to begin in late February in St. Louis, Miami and Las Vegas. If you’re interested in reading the book, before it is released as a movie next year, Up in the Air is available in paperback on Amazon.com for $10.40.
source: Variety
Anna Kendrick Cast in Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air
Posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Anna Kendrick has been cast as the female lead in Jason Reitman’s adaptation of Walter Kirn’s novel Up in The Air. Kendrick scored the role after nailing a set of auditions which was said to involve nearly every young actress in Hollywood, including Ellen Page and Emily Blunt.
Kendrick has a small role in Twilight, but don’t let that scare you away. I remember her from a wonderful coming of age film called Rocket Science, which I saw a couple years ago at Sundance. Anna played a fast talking debate team leader named Ginny. Unfortunately, the film came and went, unseen by most of the movie-watching world (but please got Netflix it if you have the time). In my review for that film, I called her performance “career-making”, but being cast in Reitman’s Juno follow-up will certainly launch her profile into much higher orbits. You can watch a clip of Anna from Rocket Science below:
Kendrick will star opposite George Clooney, who plays Ryan Bingham, a guy with a simple goal: to accumulate one million miles in his frequent flyer account. Kendrick will play romantic interest. Here is more information from the book’s cover synopsis:
“Bingham’s job as a Career Transition Counselor has kept him airborne for years. Although he has come to despise his line of work, he has come to love the culture of what he calls “Airworld,” finding contentment within pressurized cabins, anonymous hotel rooms, and a wardrobe of wrinkle-free slacks. With a letter of resignation sitting on his boss’s desk, and the hope of a job with a mysterious consulting firm, Ryan Bingham is agonizingly close to his ultimate goal, his Holy Grail: one million frequent flier miles. But before he achieves this long-desired freedom, conditions begin to deteriorate. With perception, wit, and wisdom, Up in the Air combines brilliant social observation with an acute sense of the psychic costs of our rootless existence, and confirms Walter Kirn as one of the most savvy chroniclers of American life.”
What we already know:
- Paramount will distribute the film
- Estimated budget of around $12 to $15 million
- He wrote one of the roles for Reitman regular J.K. Simmons (who played Ellen Page’s father in Juno and Aaron Eckhart’s boss in Thank You For Smoking)
- Reitman took a break from adapting this book when he came across the script for Juno.
- Up in the Air was named one of Amazon.com’s Best of 2001.
- Time Out New York called Up in the Air “a hilarious, often ingenious ode to America.”
- The Washington Post called it “A dead-on, wry portrait of the life of the road warrior.”
- Another one of Walter Kirn’s novels, Thumbsucker, was adapted as a feature film back in 2005.
Big Directors Small Films: Jason Reitman’s Gulp
Posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
In this week’s edition of Big Directors Small Films we take a look at Jason Reitman’s 2001 short film Gulp.
Reitman made a huge splash with last year’s Oscar-nominated dramedy Juno, and made his feature filmmaking debut with a big screen adaptation of Thank You For Smoking a few years earlier. Son of director Ivan Reitman, Jason got his start with a series of six short films which won acclaim at various film festivals around the world.
Gulp tells the story of one man’s quest to save his fish. The film stars Jason Carpenter, Mary Jo Smith, Jeff Witzke and Heather Brown. If you look closely, you might even catch Jason’s short cameo as one of the animal clinic pet owners. The film was one of three comedic short films to be co-produced by Atom Films and funded by Ford Motor Company (the, art the time, new Ford Focus is featured prominently on screen).
Gulp was shown at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, Los Angeles Film festival, US Comedy Arts Festival, Aspen Shorts Fest, Santa Barbara Film Festival, Palm Springs Festival of Shorts, USA Film Festival, Seattle Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, Cleveland Film Festival, Taos Talking Pictures, Atlanta Film and Video Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, Rehoboth Beach Film Festival, Kansas City Film Festival, Marcos Island Film Festival and a few dozen more festivals worldwide.
VOTD: If Hollywood Directors Made Campaign Ads: Part 2
Posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
If Hollywood Directors Made Campaign Ads: Part 2
The Pitch: Last week in VOTD, we featured a video titled If Hollywood Directors Made Campaign Ads, which shows what political campaign attack ads would look like if they were directed by the likes of John Woo, Kevin Smith, and Wes Anderson. The Landline and Chris Mann have gone back and recorded another batch, this time featuring the faux talents of Diablo Cody/Jason Reitman, David Lynch and M. Night Shyamalan.
Video of the Day is a daily feature of /Film showcasing geekarific video creations. Have a video we should be feature on VOTD? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.
Wright / Reitman Unplugged
The Pitch: Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz) and Jason Reitman (Juno) interview each other during Just Comedy 2008.
Video of the Day is a daily feature of /Film showcasing geekarific video creations. Have a video we should be feature on VOTD? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.
George Clooney in talks for Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air
Posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Sometimes while I blog about the latest news, I think to myself about how much the last year has affected the story I’m working on. With some actors and directors, it doesn’t make much of a difference. For example, George Clooney’s Michael Clayton was days away from screening at the Toronto Film Festival, yet it already had Oscar buzz. Clooney is the kind of actor who will always have his pick of big projects with award appeal.
On the other hand, Jason Reitman, who broke onto the scene with his 2005 adaptation of Thank You For Smoking, was still not a name director. Smoking, which was made for $6.5 million, grossed $24.8 million domestically, enough to be considered a big success in it’s own right. But not enough of a success that most of your friends probably still hadn’t heard of it, never mind seen it. Last year around this time, Reitman was busy finishing his second film, getting ready for the movie’s premiere at Telluride and Toronto. A movie written by a blogger and starring some small canadian girl that most of America didn’t even know existed. And we all know that that film, Juno, went on to gross over $227 million worldwide, receiving four Oscar nominations and one Academy Award win. It’s interesting what difference a year makes.
Since the release of Juno, Reitman has produced a horror film for Fox Atomic and has already signed on to develop and direct Jim Carrey’s next comedy. And tonight it was announced that George Clooney is in talks to star in his next film, an adaptation of Walter Kirn’s novel Up in the Air. Clooney will play Ryan Bingham, a guy with a simple goal: to accumulate one million miles in his frequent flyer account. Here is more information from the book’s cover synopsis:
“Bingham’s job as a Career Transition Counselor has kept him airborne for years. Although he has come to despise his line of work, he has come to love the culture of what he calls “Airworld,” finding contentment within pressurized cabins, anonymous hotel rooms, and a wardrobe of wrinkle-free slacks. With a letter of resignation sitting on his boss’s desk, and the hope of a job with a mysterious consulting firm, Ryan Bingham is agonizingly close to his ultimate goal, his Holy Grail: one million frequent flier miles. But before he achieves this long-desired freedom, conditions begin to deteriorate. With perception, wit, and wisdom, Up in the Air combines brilliant social observation with an acute sense of the psychic costs of our rootless existence, and confirms Walter Kirn as one of the most savvy chroniclers of American life.”
What we already know:
- Dreamworks will distribute the film.
- Original estimated budget of around $12 to $15 million
- He wrote one of the roles for Reitman regular J.K. Simmons (who played Ellen Page’s father in Juno and Aaron Eckhart’s boss in Thank You For Smoking)
- Reitman took a break from adapting this book when he came across the script for Juno.
- Up in the Air was named one of Amazon.com’s Best of 2001.
- Time Out New York called Up in the Air “a hilarious, often ingenious ode to America.”
- The Washington Post called it “A dead-on, wry portrait of the life of the road warrior.”
- Another one of Walter Kirn’s novels, Thumbsucker, was adapted as a feature film back in 2005.
Jason Reitman Adapting Walter Kirn’s Up in the Air
Posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Since Jason Reitman announced that his next movie will be a book adaptation, we’ve been trying to figure out which property he might be adapting. Reitman’s hint of “‘Thank You for Smoking,’ but instead of political it’s corporate” led many to believe that he might be working on a big screen adaptation of Max Barry’s Company. This was quickly debunked when Reitman appeared on the Howard Stern Show and gave out more details. Finally Latino Review has solved the mystery.
Jason Reitman will be making a big screen adaptation of Walter Kirn’s Up in the Air, which tells the story of Ryan Bingham, a guy with a simple goal: to accumulate one million miles in his frequent flyer account.
“Bingham’s job as a Career Transition Counselor–he fires people–has kept him airborne for years. Although he has come to despise his line of work, he has come to love the culture of what he calls “Airworld,” finding contentment within pressurized cabins, anonymous hotel rooms, and a wardrobe of wrinkle-free slacks. With a letter of resignation sitting on his boss’s desk, and the hope of a job with a mysterious consulting firm, Ryan Bingham is agonizingly close to his ultimate goal, his Holy Grail: one million frequent flier miles. But before he achieves this long-desired freedom, conditions begin to deteriorate. With perception, wit, and wisdom, Up in the Air combines brilliant social observation with an acute sense of the psychic costs of our rootless existence, and confirms Walter Kirn as one of the most savvy chroniclers of American life.”
The book was named one of Amazon.com’s Best of 2001. Time Out New York called Up in the Air “a hilarious, often ingenious ode to America.” The Washington Post called it “A dead-on, wry portrait of the life of the road warrior.” Another one of Walter Kirn’s novels, Thumbsucker, was adapted as a feature film back in 2005.
Jason has said that he plans to direct Up in the Air for around $112 to $15 million, later this year before he moves on to Pierre Pierre. Jason has already revealed that he wrote one of the roles for Reitman regular J.K. Simmons (who played Ellen Page’s father in Juno and Aaron Eckhart’s boss in Thank You For Smoking).
VOTD: Jason Reitman’s Death By Chocolate SNL Digital Shorts
Posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Death By Chocolate created by Jason Reitman
The Pitch: These series of SNL Digital shorts were filmed by Thank You For Smoking and Juno director Jason Reitman.
Chocolate snuffs out life with gusto.
Video of the Day is a daily feature of /Film showcasing geekarific video creations. Have a video we should be feature on VOTD? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.
