Posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Last month I posted an article about the growing buzz behind Morgan Spurlock‘s Super Size Me follow-up Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, where our faithful documentary filmmaker goes in search for the most wanted man in the world. A comment from the film’s director of photography, Daniel Marricone added fuel to the fire, telling the press that Spurlock “definitely got the holy grail.” Our article took off to all corners of the internet, linked on MSNBC, and eventually making its way into print publications. Spurlock’s film is probably the biggest hyped movie of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and everyone wants to know:
Did Morgan Spurlock find Osama?
We Have the Answer!
Today I received an anonymous e-mail from someone in Utah claiming to have seen the documentary. While this is not confirmed, everything this spy has told me adds up perfectly with what I have been told about the project thus far.
We’re usually not ones to post end of film spoilers, but I’m confident that this spoiler will be all over the place after the movie premieres next week. So if you want to know the answer, continue after the jump!
The line-up for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival was announced earlier this week. I just got my hands on a boat load of photos from the films in this year’s festival. We actually have too many photos to feature in just one posting, so we have divided this feature into a few parts.
Our third segment in the series takes a look at the films in the Spectrum category. The list of films includes: Anvil! The True Story Of Anvil, The Black List, Kicking It, The Linguists, Made In America, Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?, Young@Heart, August, Baghead, Birds of America, Blind Date, Bottle Shock, Chronic Town, Goliath, A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy, Love Comes Lately, Momma’s Man, Quid Pro Quo, and Red.
I was at Sundance in 2004 when Morgan Spurlock took over the festival with his documentary Super Size Me. Four years later, Spurlock returns to Park City with Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?, a film documenting the director’s search for the most wanted man on the planet. The Weinstein Co quickly snapped up the documentary, after seeing only 15 minutes at the Berlin Film Festival. Distributors who saw the footage were asked to sign draconian nondisclosure agreements.
Many people are speculating that Spurlock may have done what the U.S. government has been unable to do, and actually found Bin Laden. The film’s director of photography, Daniel Marricone added fuel to the fire, telling the press that Spurlock “definitely got the holy grail.” Not much information has leaked about the film, and even the director is keeping quiet. When asked if the rumors, Spurlock would only say “Until there’s something to see, why talk about it?”
“I wanted to make a film about a subject that we all want to know the answer to,” he recently told the LA Times.
The photo above is the first thing to be released from the production. Spurlock shot nearly 800 hours of digital footage while exploring “every nook and cranny of the Middle East” on a quest. I found a video clip on YouTube of Spurlock talking about the film at the 2007 South By Southwest Film Festival. Watch that clip below.
Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? is tentatively scheduled for release in theaters in the spring.
Posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 by Peter Sciretta
Yesterday Sundance announced the competition films for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Today the Institute has released the rest of the line-up, which will play out-of-competition sections of Premieres, Spectrum, New Frontier, and Park City at Midnight. Highlights include:
The previously announced opening night film In Bruges starring Ralph Fiennes and Colin Farrell.
The Great Buck Howard starring Colin Hanks as a law school dropout who answers an advertisement to be a a washed up illusionist’s (played by John Malkovich) personal assistant. Emily Blunt and Tom Hanks also star.
Visionary director Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind, about a man (Jack Black) whose body accidentally becomes magnetized unintentionally erases every tape in his friend’s (Mos Def) video store. The pair set out to remake the lost films in a film about the magic of movies and filmmaking.
Bill Maher’s directorial debut, Sleepwalking, about a young man who is faced with the prospect of losing his abandoned young niece to a foster home. Nick Stahl, AnnaSophia Robb, Charlize Theron, Dennis Hopper, and Woody Harrelson, star.
Morgan Spurlock’s follow-up to 2004′s Super Size Me, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? follows Spurlock’s quest to fint the world’s most wanted man.
Smart People, a romantic dramedy about a a widowed professor who gets an unexpected visit from his adopted brother. Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church, and Ellen Page star.
American Beauty screenwriter Alan Ball’s directorial debut, an adaptation of Towel Head. The film follows the life of a 13-year-old Arab-American girl who is forced to live with her father. I saw this film at Toronto and it has the same underlying energy of American Beauty. Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Toni Collette, and Summer Bishil star.
U2 3D: A 3-D presentation of U2′s global “Vertigo” tour.
Barry Levinson’s adaptation of What Just Happened? stars Robert DeNiro, Bruce Willis, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Kristen Stewart, and Robin Wright Penn. The movie follows two weeks in the life of a fading Hollywood producer (De Niro) who’s having a rough time trying to get his new picture made.
XX/XY director Austin Chick’s new film August, about two brothers fighting to keep their start-up company afloat on Wall Street during August 2001, a month before the 9/11 terrorist attack. Josh Hartnett and Adam Scott star.
The Duplass Brothers return to Sundance following their acclaimed 2005 low budget indie film The Puffy Chair. Baghead explores “the minutiae of relationship dynamics in this in-depth study of a group of desperate actor friends. And a bag. And a head.”
Cashback director Sean Ellis’s horror thriller The Brøken starring Lena Headey (300) as a woman who sees herself driving by in her own car on a busy London street. Stunned, she trails the mystery woman as events take an eerie turn into a living nightmare.
Michael Haneke’s American remake of Funny Games starring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, and Michael Pitt..
Quentin Tarantino presents Larry Bishop’s Hell Ride, a “bloody, sexy tale of motorcycle revenge” starring Larry Bishop, Dennis Hopper, and Michael Madsen
Otto; or Up With Dead People, a movie about a lonely gay zombie searches for love and meaning in contemporary Berlin.
Spainish writer/director Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes follows a man accidentally travels back to the past, only to meet himself there and encounters a series of mysteries that all lead to an unthinkable crime. I’m a sucker for Time Travel.
Check out the full announcement/line-up after the jump. Read More »
I was at Sundance in 2004 when Morgan Spurlock took over the festival with his documentary Super Size Me. Four years later, Spurlock returns to Park City with Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?, a film documenting the director’s search for the most wanted man on the planet. The Weinstein Co quickly snapped up the documentary, after seeing only 15 minutes at the Berlin Film Festival. Distributors who saw the footage were asked to sign draconian nondisclosure agreements.
