Screendaily movie news 2/22/02 Part 2
Jaime Jeske
Mike Goodridge in Santa Monica February 21, 2002
Macauley Culkin is in final negotiations to star as Michael Alig in
Party Monster, the movie about the notorious murdering New York party
promoter that is being produced by Killer Films and sold internationally
by Fortissimo Film Sales. Ed Pressman and John Schmidt's ContentFilm has
also come on board as co-financier and will handle North American
rights.
Seth Green will play Alig's best friend James St James in the film which
is to be directed by award-winning documentary film-makers Fenton Bailey
and Randy Barbato. Shooting is set to start in New York in mid-April.
Alig was the young promoter who helped reinvent New York nightlife in
the early 1990s, creating the world of club kids and at his height
running his own record label and magazine. When he boasted on TV that he
had killed his drug dealer, his friends and the press thought it was a
joke, until a body washed up in New York's East River and his world
began to unravel.
The film is based on the book Disco Blood Bath by James St James.
Killer''s Christine Vachon, Jon Marcus and Bradford Simpson will produce
along with Bailey and Barbato's company World of Wonder. John Wells will
executive produce for Killer. Content's east coast head of production
Sofia Sondervan will executive produce alongside Pressman and Schmidt.
Michael J Werner and Wouter Barendrecht of Fortissimo will also
executive produce.
Vachon says this is the first time she has worked with Pressman - the
two rank as two of New York's leading indie standard-bearers. "We'd been
trying to get it made for some time," said Vachon yesterday, "and we
sent it to Sofia at ContentFilm and found out that she had been
following it as well. It's a great story about the commodity of
celebrity and captures an amazing moment in time."
Bailey and Barbato had been filming the club kids for several years
before they discovered the story on which the film is based. "It was a
visually rich, excessive scene but we want to stress that these were
also real people with real relationships and the same vulnerabilities as
everyone else," said Bailey. He said that he and Barbato had visited
Alig in prison and exchanged letters.
"It's terrific that Macauley and Seth are going to star in the film.
These are very unconventional roles and it takes a fair amount of risk
to play them," he added. Culkin is represented by UTA and his deal is
being negotiated by Ken Weinrib of Franklin, Weinrib, Rudell and
Vasallo.
Paul Brennan of Sloss Law negotiated the deal on behalf of Killer with
ContentFilm Head of Business Affairs Michael Roban. Howard Frumes
negotiated on behalf of Fortissimo.
The film marks the first collaboration between Killer Films and
Fortissimo Film Sales as well. "It shows once again that Killer is able
to come up with surprises by giving unexpected roles to well-known
actors and directors," said Barendrecht and Werner. "That surprise
factor makes it more exciting and that's what Fortissimo is looking for
as well." Killer is currently in post-production on Far From Heaven
which USA Films is handling domestically and TF1 International is
selling internationally. Todd Solondz's Storytelling is currently on
release through Fine Line (GMI has international) with One Hour Photo,
The Safety Of Objects and The Grey Zone set for release later this year
through Fox Searchlight, IFC Films and Lions Gate Films respectively.
ContentFilm was formed in Sept 2001 to focus on the financing,
production and distribution of principally digitally produced films. It
has just greenlit its first two productions The Cooler with William H
Macy and The Hebrew Hammer with Adam Goldberg, and recently bought a
minority stake in Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente's Blow Up Pictures.
***
Almodovar Talks to Euro theatres for premiere
Jennifer Green in Madrid February 21, 2002
Pedro Almodovar's eagerly anticipated new film Talk To Her (Hable Con
Ella) will not receive its world premiere at one of this year's top film
festivals as might be expected. Instead promotion will focus initially
on just three key European territories so that the director can get back
to work on his next project, the long-gestating Bad Education (La Mala
Educacion).
"The 'leitmotif' of our releasing strategy is a concentration on the
principal territories in order to free Pedro from promotion," explains
Agustin Almodovar, executive producer of brother Pedro's films through
their Madrid-based production house El Deseo. The idea, he says, is "to
employ less time in promotion and more time on a project which he
already has very alive and very developed."
Almodovar was preparing Education and Talk simultaneously when he
finally announced that Talk would come first. Since then he is
understood to have reworked the script for Education, earlier billed as
the story of two boys in the Spanish Catholic school system of the 1960'
s and 1970's. Production should get underway in the spring of 2003, and
financing may follow the model of the Euros 6.5m Talk as a 100% El Deseo
production.
Talk might have been considered a virtual shoo-in for a May slot at the
Cannes Film Festival, the launching pad for Almodovar's previous global
hit All About My Mother (Todo Sobre Mi Madre), but instead the film will
roll out in Spain on March 15, Italy on March 29 and France on April 10
after opening the Paris Film Festival on April 1. Three premieres in
under four weeks, in the European triad where Almodovar's films are
considered blockbuster events and distributed well beyond the arthouse
circuit.
Talk stars Rosario, Leonor Watling, Javier Camera and Dario Grandinetti
as, in order, a female bullfighter, a convalescent ballerina, a male
nurse and an Argentinean journalist struggling against loneliness and
the wounds of passion.
The film is sold by Good Machine International with Sony Pictures
Classics (SPC) owning North American rights. France, UK and Benelux were
licensed directly to Pathe by El Deseo.
***
Rings sets new Polish box office record
Robert Mitchell in London February 21, 2002
The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (international box
office total $434m to date) achieved a record-breaking opening in Poland
over the weekend.
With a three day gross of $1.9m (zlo 8.1m) the film was well ahead of
the country's previous highest openings, including local hits Pan
Tadeusz ($1.4m in Oct 1999) and Quo Vadis ($1.3m in Sept 2001), and big
US titles such as Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone ($1.2m in Jan
2002) and Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace ($937,724 in Sept
1999). Rings played on 109 screens in Poland to earn a massive per
screen average of $17,818.
In Italy, where Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven has grossed $15.4m to
date, another ensemble film also starring Julia Roberts has claimed pole
position this week. The belated Italian release of America's
Sweethearts, which co-stars John Cusack, Billy Crystal and Catherine
Zeta Jones, launched on 395 screens to record an impressive three-day
figure of $1.8m (euros 2.04m). The film opened in most European
territories in October 2001.
Ocean's Eleven continued its roll-out with new openings this week in the
UK ($7.3m from 433 sites), Norway ($375,252 from 51) and Denmark
($342,120 also from 51). The film has grossed $149.7m from international
territories so far and opens in Hungary and Brazil this weekend.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest action foray, Collateral Damage, began
its European roll-out with Spain at the weekend. The film landed in
second position, behind Monsters, Inc., earning $1.1m (euros 1.25m) over
the three-day weekend. Playing on 261 screens it is a promising start
for the film's European box office possibilities. Collateral Damage
opens in Germany, Italy and Schwarzenegger's homeland of Austria this
weekend. Having opened in South Korea on Feb 9 the film has taken $2.2m
in nine days on release. It has grossed $29.1m after 11-days on release
in North America.
***
Gaga weighs major investment in live-action Tekken
Mamiko Kawamoto in Tokyo February 21, 2002
Japan's Gaga Communications is in talks to co-produce a live-action
feature version of Namco's hit game Tekken with Namco and the US
production Crystal Sky Entertainment.
Currently in pre-production, Tekken is scheduled to go before the
cameras in April 2003 and be released worldwide in 2005 at a reported
overall budget of $60m.
"Given the success of Tomb Raider which generated, $130m on a production
budget of $100m, we and our partners feel comfortable putting $30m-$40m
into the Tekken project," said the Gaga spokesman Hidehiro Yoshioka. "We
want the film to be a Matrix- and Tomb Raider-like action
entertainment."
The project is part of Gaga's plans to expand into film production
targeting the US and the European market. The company distributed
Crystal Sky's Eternity in 1990 and has had a close business relationship
with the company ever since. Crystal Sky is currently negotiating for
name Hollywood directing and acting talent.
Although Gaga intends to secure Tekken distribution rights for Japan,
the company has not yet decided whether to invest into the project.
Given Gaga's flop with Final Fantasy, which generated $8m (Y1 billion)
at the Japanese box office after its September 15 2001 release on 259
screens, the company is carefully reconsidering its film investment
strategy.
Now in its fourth edition, the battle game Tekken has sold 14 million
units worldwide.
Meanwhile, Gaga will also distribute the 3-D animated feature Axis,
co-produced by Le Studio Canal Plus and Chaman Productions, which is
schedule for completion later this year. Currently in production, $35m
project will be released together with a game from Namco in the summer
of 2003 in the US and Europe and in the autumn of 2003 in Japan, the
earliest.
***
Myriad romps with Neil Jordan's Borgia
Mike Goodridge in Santa Monica February 20, 2002
Myriad Pictures will finance Borgia, the next film from Neil Jordan,
which is being produced by Jordan's producing partner Stephen Woolley
and Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey of Image Movers.
Jordan - who is also involved as a producer Conor McPherson's The Actors
(see separate story) - wrote the script which follows the notorious
Borgia family and their rise to power in Italy in the 16th Century.
Myriad is fully financing the film and working with ICM on the North
American sale of the picture. Myriad's Kirk D'Amico, Philip Von
Alvensleben and Lucas Foster will executive produce the film, which is
scheduled to be shot in summer 2002.
Borgia, at one time called Lucrezia, will focus on Lucrezia Borgia, the
daughter of a pope whose colourful life was noted for orgies, multiple
marriages and incest.
DreamWorks, where Image Movers is based, is no longer involved in the
project.
Joining Borgia on the Myriad AFM slate are three completed films from
American Zoetrope which Myriad will now sell - Pumpkin, which screened
at Sundance this year, and CQ and No Such Thing, which played in
sections at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
Myriad now co-finances Zoetrope's movies with MGM's United Artists.
Capitol Films previously represented the films on behalf of VCL, which
co-financed the first slate of Zoetrope movies.
Jordan is close to completing his latest film Double Down, which was
fully financed by Alliance Atlantis. It stars Nick Nolte and Ralph
Fiennes.
***
Coscia takes charge of Argentina's film institute
Anna Marie de la Fuente in Los Angeles February 21,
2002
Local filmmaker Jorge Coscia takes over the reins of Argentina's
national film institute INCAA this week, filling a void that left the
state-backed entity in limbo and many film productions in the lurch.
Coscia replaces Jose Miguel Onaindia who resigned following the ouster
of President Fernando de la Rua in December.
Coscia, who directed nine films of which he wrote the screenplays for
six, has pledged to retain the institute's annual budget of $15.5m (31m
pesos) and keep Argentina's A-list film festival Mar del Plata running
at all costs (see separate story). Given the current financial crisis in
Argentina, he plans to manage INCAA with a combination of austerity,
transparency, prudence and common sense.
Coscia made his directorial debut in 1987 with Sentimientos. Regarded as
one of the most honest movies about the military dictatorship in
Argentina, it is widely considered his best film. Oddly enough, Coscia's
El General Y La Fiebre (1990), a drama about Argentine national hero San
Martin and the illness he suffered, features current Argentine secretary
of culture Ruben Stella playing the role of San Martin.
"I think it's a mistake to keep believing that a film director can run a
purely administrative entity like the film institute, but I wish him the
best of luck," said Los Angeles-based Argentinean producer Ricardo
Freixa.
***
Renaissance teams with Catch 23 on Vapor
Mike Goodridge in Los Angeles February 20, 2002
Renaissance Films, the UK production and sales outfit run by Stephen
Evans and Angus Finney, is teaming up with LA-based Catch 23
Entertainment to finance Neil Labute's next film Vapor which he will
begin after he has completed the currently-shooting The Shape Of Things.
Based on the first novel by Amanda Fillipacchi, which Labute is
currently adapting, the film is a contemporary Pygmalion story set in
New York City. Gail Mutrux, Labute's producer on Nurse Betty and The
Shape Of Things will produce Vapor.
Although Labute has a first-look deal at USA Films, USA is not involved
as yet in Vapor. Labute says that he has targeted Renee Zellwegger and
Ralph Fiennes for the lead roles, although neither has yet been
approached.
Catch 23 is the two year-old production and management company founded
by financier Robert B Sturm and run by Jeremy Barber; it has to date
been involved on a financing basis in One Hour Photo with Robin Williams
and has numerous films in development on both sides of the Atlantic.
Renaissance, which late last year sold Rose Troche's The Safety Of
Objects to IFC Films and Paul McGuigan's The Reckoning to Paramount
Classics, is also developing films with Terry Gilliam, Nicholas Hytner
and Roger Michell.
***
UK sales upstart Moviehouse comes out smokin'
Patrick Frater in Santa Monica February 20, 2002
New UK sales company, Moviehouse Entertainment has unveiled a $10m
supernatural thriller, The Smoking Man, and satirical comedy The Rage In
Placid Lake as the first pictures of its 2002 slate.
The company is run by former J&M Entertainment head of sales Gary
Phillips and Mark Vennis, formerly a director of film financiers
Mansfield Associates, with financial backing from the Royal Bank of
Scotland.
The Smoking Man (the name is that of a character in The X-Files cult
television series) is to be directed by former X-Files director Paul
Shapiro. It tells the story of the strange and horrific events that
befall an American woman who travels to Vietnam with her son. It will
shoot late this year in Vietnam and is produced by Jim McElroy, Scott
Kennedy and Tristan Orpen Lynch.
First off is The Rage In Placid Lake an A$5m ($2.6m) Australian film by
Tony McNamara, as an adaptation of his own stageplay The Cafe Latte Kid.
Starring local music star Ben Lee, Rose Byrne and Miranda Richardson,
the picture about teenage self-discovery shoots from March 4 on location
in Australia.
Moviehouse, which aims to handle five to six films in its first full
year, will take investment positions on some films and represent others
on a fee-basis. It invested in both pictures announced so far.
"Although the [sales] business has become much tougher in recent years,
we felt that there are opportunities, particularly in London, for a
producer and talent-friendly dedicated sales operation run on a lean and
focused basis," said Vennis in a previous interview with ScreenDaily.
***
Miramax teams with FilmFour, Wolves on Actors
Adam Minns in London February 19, 2002
The UK's FilmFour and Stephen Woolley and Neil Jordan's production
outfit Company Of Wolves have teamed with Miramax Films on Conor
McPherson's The Actors, a comedy starring Michael Caine, Dylan Moran,
Michael Gambon, Lena Headey, Miranda Richardson and Ricky Gervais.
FilmFour International will handle international sales, while Miramax
has taken North American rights. Regular FilmFour partner Senator Film
Production will handle German speaking territories, while FilmFour
Distributors will release the film in the UK.
The story of two struggling, eccentric actors starts shooting 11 March
for nine weeks in Dublin, Ireland. Redmond Morris of Four Provinces
Films and Woolley and Jordan are producing.
***
GMI picks up Lisa Cholodenko's Laurel Canyon
Mike Goodridge in Los Angeles February 20, 2002
Good Machine International has acquired all international rights to
Laurel Canyon, the new film from Lisa Cholodenko (High Art) which stars
Frances McDormand, Kate Beckinsale, Christian Bale, Natascha McElhone
and Alessandro Nivola.
Sony Pictures Classics has domestic rights to the picture which is the
story of a straight-laced PHD student (Beckinsale) who moves to Los
Angeles with her fiance (Bale) and becomes involved with his
free-spirited mother (McDormand). GMI president David Linde closed the
deal with producer Jeff Levy-Hinte who produced alongside Susan Stover.
"I made the mistake of not acquiring High Art and I wasn't going to make
the same mistake twice," said Linde.
The deal was negotiated by Amy Kaufman, senior vice president of
acquisitions and co-productions on behalf of GMI and Phyllis Kaufman and
Karen Robson of Pryor Cashman Sherman & Flynn LLP on behalf of the
producer. GMI was introduced to the project by Cholodenko's agent, Bart
Walker of ICM.
***
World's largest film studio to be built in Quebec
Denis Seguin in Toronto February 18, 2002
Two weeks after the announcement of plans to build a massive studio in
Toronto, another facility is going forward in the province of Quebec.
The backers of Studio Bromont plan to convert a 1.2 million sq. ft
automobile plant north of Montreal into the largest film production
studio in the world. The project's backers include the provincial agency
Investissement Quebec.
The former Hyundai assembly plant, purchased in December 2001 for $13.2m
(C$21m), will be refitted at a cost of $15.1m (C$24m) to include several
soundstages totalling 250,000 sq. ft. The two main stages, each 40,000
sq. ft, with ceilings 58 feet high, will be complemented by two 60,000
cubic foot water tanks and 100,000 sq. ft of office space featuring a
high-speed fibre optic communications system. The site also features a
landing strip, a 1.5km double lane car test track and a cafeteria able
to serve 1,500 meals a day. The facility is a 45-minute drive from
Montreal.
In a statement, Jocelyn Parenteau, co-promoter of the project, said the
new facility will significantly boost Quebec's profile as a production
destination. "We literally lose several major productions each year
because of a lack of adequate facilities. This represents about $47m
(C$75m) to $78m (C$125m) that is passing us by. The major U.S. and
European productions each employ between 500 and 700 people, depending
on the size of the project. Since we will be able to film three projects
simultaneously, you can imagine the level of economic activity that the
studio will generate for our industry, not including the spin-offs that
will benefit both Bromont and the whole [Montreal] metropolitan region."
The first phase of the work has been awarded to BPR, a Montreal
engineering consulting firm, which will take care of preparing the
premises for the new infrastructure.
The Toronto facility, backed by the administrative support of the UK's
Pinewood Shepperton Studios, is scheduled to break ground in March 2003,
pending land-use assessments by the city.
Other large studio facilities in Canada include the Lions Gate Studios
and the Bridge Studios in Vancouver, and Mel's Cite du Cinema in
Montreal.
***
Cash crunch hits Portugal's producers
Jennifer Green in Madrid February 19, 2002
The Portuguese film industry is beginning to feel the effects of the
growing financial difficulties within the nation's broadcasters. The
global slump in advertising has hit this corner of Europe particularly
hard, with one Portuguese television executive estimating a 40% drop in
the market in recent months.
Pedro Berhan da Costa, president of the state film institute ICAM, says
the funding body suffers as a direct result. "In our budget two-thirds
of revenues come from television advertising," he says in reference to a
law requiring broadcasters to invest 3.2% of their income from ads in
ICAM. "And the advertising market in Portugal, as elsewhere in Europe,
is not on an increase."
Private broadcaster SIC has had to put forthcoming productions out of
its ambitious TV movie division SIC Filmes on temporary hold until it
secures a corporate sponsor, according to SIC Filmes general director
Alexandre Valente. The ICAM-backed initiative, which has produced 10
movies annually for the last two years, boosted the nation's feature
film output by more than 50%.
Meanwhile public network RTP, the only local broadcaster with a formal
obligation to co-finance all films subsidised by ICAM, is reportedly
grappling with a hefty debt.
"They have debts not only with film producers but also with producers of
TV programs," asserts a sector analyst with the Lisbon-based offices of
GECA (Center for the Study of Audiovisual Communication).
Current industry reports indicate that RTP has begun negotiations with
the national independent producers association (APIT) for repayment of
some of the outstanding fees.
"It has been publicly confirmed by the president [of RTP] that they have
very serious financial difficulties," ICAM's Berhan da Costa adds. "We
know that they have difficulties paying not only for film product but
also for television product."
Many expect the situation at RTP to improve, or at least change,
following the country's general elections, which have been called early
for March 17. "There is a lot of discussion right now about whether they
should sell off or close down one [of RTP's two] channels," says the
GECA analyst, who goes on to suggest, however, that such drastic
measures are unlikely.
Copyright EMAP Media Limited ©2002 - all rights reserved.
Jaime