If you’re among the rather rabid audience for which the mere combination of the names Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman causes excited palpitations, then you’d better lie down before reading any further. The two filmmakers, who teamed for Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, are reportedly circulating a new film pitch to financiers. There is no plot outline available, or any info at all. The LA Times reports the news, and notes that as the project exists in pitch form, there’s not even a script to share at this point.
And here we were, just earlier today, noting that a heady film like Synecdoche, New York or the theoretical Fellini-esque second half of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman project seemed like a difficult sell of late. And perhaps that’s the case — there’s no financing for this one yet. But fingers crossed that Jonze and Kaufman get financiers to bite. We can always use more conceptual, engaging movies like their previous two collaborations. Very much hoping this happens, and isn’t an overblown, too-early announcement of intent.
A few speculative, possibly connected details are after the break. Read More »
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I’m surprised that there isn’t more buzz right now for David O Russell‘s The Fighter. Lets face it, the first movie trailer for the film wasn’t exciting, and the poster is kinda “blah”-looking. I had a chance to screen the film at a sneak preview at AFI Fest (you can watch our video reaction here). It’s a good movie and I really believe that Christian Bale’s performance in this film is nothing less than amazing. It isn’t even a performance, it is a transformation in every sense of the word.
I received an e-mail from film director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Where The Wild Things Are) who is trying to get the word out for his friend, director David O Russell. Spike gave me permission to reprint his e-mail on the site, as I told him that his recommendation might convince a few more film fans to seek out this movie and spread the word.
I got to see it a few weeks ago, and I loved it, and if all you saw is the trailer that’s out, you might not know that it’s as interesting and strong as it is.
So please hit the jump, read the entirety of Spike’s brief note and give the supplementary two minute trailer titled “Pressure” (which screened on tv but not theatrically) a chance.
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It’s been a good year for both fans of Spike Jonze and the band Arcade Fire. The director has released a wonderful short film, I’m Here, and a great video for the LCD Soundsystem song ‘Drunk Girls.’ Even better, he was reportedly working on a secret sci-fi short film with the Arcade Fire.
Now there’s a video for the band’s song ‘The Suburbs,’ directed by Mr. Jonze, which seems to excerpt from that short. More info and the video are after the break. Read More »
VBS TV has a great 15-minute long behind the scenes documentary on the making of Jackass 3D.
The franchise that most of the tv-watching world knows as “Jackass”—a crew of loveable, Teflon-coated miscreants consisting of Chris Pontius, Bam Margera, Wee Man, Steve-O, and Johnny Knoxville—began years ago when the group decided to document their gleefully destructive antics on camera. Spike Jonze and VBS take a peek behind the cameras on the set of the third Jackass film, Jackass 3D, and see what happens when the time-tested tradition of unhygienic pranksterism and camaraderie meet the technological mind-meld of three-dimensional film.
I kinda love the fact that Spike Jonze thinks that Jackass isn’t just entertainment but is really about science — guys doing insane science experiments which test their fear and pain. And it’s also interesting seeing how much work goes into filming these stunts, especially with the additional 3D technology required for this sequel.
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After the Telluride Film Festival premiere of his latest film, I had the opportunity to sit down and interview director Mark Romanek for a long-form interview. It was a collaboration between Alex from FirstShowing and myself, which explains how we were able to get so much time with the filmmaker.
Mark Romanek is one of the best music video directors to come out of the 1990′s. His videos have included Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer”, “Scream” – Michael Jackson’s grammy award winning collaboration with sister Janet Jackson (at $7 million, one of the most expensive music video ever made), Janet Jackson’s “Got ‘Til It’s Gone”, Johnny Cash’s gut-wrenching cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt”, En Vogue’s “Free Your Mind”, Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way”, Beck’s “Devil’s Haircut”, Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” and Fiona Apple’s “Criminal”. His 2002 feature film One Hour Photo is probably best known for Robin Williams’ dramatic turn. While the film is beloved by cinephiles, it pretty much went under the radar of mainstream audiences. It did however gain Romanek a lot of the respect in the movie industry. His follow-up, a big screen adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro‘s novel Never Let Me Go, premiered at the 37th Telluride Film Festival. The book was named one of TIME’s 100 Best Novels (from 1923 to the Present), featured on many top ten books of 2005 lists, and a finalist in the National Book Critic Circle Award.
After the jump is part one of the chat, where we talk about the director’s influences, how he became a music video director, his long journey back to feature filmmaking, and what it took to create his latest movie, Never Let Me Go.
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Hopefully you’ve seen the lovely Spike Jonze ‘robot romance’ short I’m Here. It’s a very strange but effective and touching story of love and dedication featuring a pair of robots in some alternate Los Angeles.
The film is still ‘playing’ online, but now it will finally be coming to DVD in a serious package from McSweeney’s. There Are Many of Us is a book/DVD/CD package that contains the film, soundtrack and photography and behind the scenes info. Read More »
In April, we broke the news that Spike Jonze (Where The Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovich) was casting a secret film project in Austin Texas. At the time, we didn’t know much about the project other than it was supposedly a short film that tells a story which involves “friends growing apart” and that it was a collaboration with the band Arcade Fire. You might recall that Spike used Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up,” from their 2004 album Funeral, in the trailer for Where The Wild Things Are.
Now we have finally learned new information about this upcoming short film production — it is a b-movie science fiction story. Yeah, you read that right…
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The announcement that Sony and director Marc Webb have chosen Andrew Garfield to be the new Peter Parker in Spider-Man came as a bit of a surprise. A welcome surprise to many of us, as the young actor is among the best of the crop of talent that was being considered for the role. But when his biggest role is in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus — hardly a blockbuster — Garfield may seem like a choice out of left field to some.
So, here’s a quick guide to help acquaint yourself with the work of Andrew Garfield. Check these films out and you’ll quickly understand why he’ll make a hell of a good Peter Parker. Read More »
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