Stoker

Artwork for Stoker, to be released next spring by Fox Searchlight, comes from director Park Chan-wook, the acclaimed South Korean filmmaker making his English-language debut.  He directed the original Oldboy, set to be remade by Spike Lee.  The thriller stars Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode, who play Uncle Charlie, in an obvious tip of the hat to Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt.

Looks pure genre, but in the best possible sense-- in the sense, that on first glimpse, I'm sure many will hate it without question.  Kidman, the grandest, starriest auteurial vehicle the cinema has at this point, surely looks like she's having a grand old time, biting and relishing every bit-- at least from what the trailer provides.  She, unquestionably, has little problem delving into risky projects with filmmakers, both acclaimed and newly instated-- Birth, Dogville, Rabbit Hole, Moulin Rouge!, The Others and The Paperboy have all done her well.

Fox Searchlight excites with "Hitchcock"

Perhaps Fox Searchlight Pictures was a little distressed on their current 2012 awards slate, or saw an early cut of magic, or whatever the case, their was a startling and tingling chill when they announced that Hitchcock would come out November 23rd.  Directed by Sacha Gervasi (helmer of the Sundance winner and crowd pleasing documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil), Hitchcock revolves around the famed rotund filmmaker while shooting his famous Psycho, and stars Anthony Hopkins as Hitch, Helen Mirren as his wife Alma, while creating a fun opportunity for stars like Scarlet Johansson, Jessica Biel and James D'Arcy to play three uber-famous stars of yesteryear.  The verdict is still out on its award potential (Searchlight also has Beasts of the Southern Wild and The Sessions this year), or its commercial appeal, but it's press materials thus far have created nice eye candy.

A fun, Saul Bass-inspired one sheet that pays homage to Psycho as well as Hitchcock's roundness is great fun.

Hitchcock

I can think of very few filmmakers that I treasure more so than Alfred Hitchcock.  It was his film that left likely the most indelible images in more brain.  Like I'm sure so film fans, he was my first true introduction into film.  He was the first filmmaker that I could spot and think of, "that's a Hitchcock movie, that's a Hitchcock thing," before I knew of such things like auteurs.  From tone, from style, from mood...you can pick out a Hitchcock movie above anything else.  That his identity (and celebrity) informed his films made that easier to pick up upon as a child, but is was his artistry and sheer graceful gravitas was there throughout his entire career.  That his films were perceived as mere populist trifles back in their time seems ludicrous, but understandable, since it takes time for genius to get its proper due.

On that note, there isn't a film coming out in the near future that makes me more queasily anxious than 2013's Hitchcock, which tells the tale of the famed director as he was shooting his most infamous film, Psycho.  Directed by Sacha Gervasi, who made a slight impression a few years back with his critically acclaimed documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil.  It will open, courtesy of Fox Searchlight, sometime next year...till then I worry!  The cast list includes:

Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock.  The first still of the barely begun production movie surfaced today and it appears that at the very least, the make-up department is doing a fine job.  It's and interesting side note that Psycho is based on the tale of the real-life Ed Gein (somehow put into the film itself, being portrayed by stage actor Michael Wincott), the same figure that was the source for other films and mythologies including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Silence of the Lambs (which won Hopkins an Oscar for his iconic performance as Hannibal Lector; small world.)  Helen Mirren portrays his wife Alma.

Scarlett Johansson will play Janet Leigh

 

James D'Arcy (W.E.) will play Anthony Perkins

Jessica Biel will play Vera Miles

And the rest of the cast will be rounded out by Toni Collette, Danny Huston, Wallace Langham, Michael Stuhlbarg and Kurtwood Smith.  The film was written by Stephen Rebello (author of the novel on which the film is based on) and John J. McLaughlin (Black Swan.)  What do you think of the casting?  Is anyone else geeking out of their minds?

I have to calm down about this for a whole year.......

Gotham Award Nominees

And so it begins (insert evil laugh and twirling of the handle-bar mustache), the awards season that is.  The Gotham Awards, a New York based society that showcases the best in independent American filmmaking.  They are also the first one's out of the gate every time, and while eventual Academy overlap may bear little on the group as a whole, recent films like Winter's Bone and The Hurt Locker were awarded the top prize here on their way to the Kodak stage.  The nominees are:

BEST FEATURE

• Beginners
• The Descendants
• Meek's Cutoff
• Take Shelter
• The Tree of Life

BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

• Beginners- Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurant, Goran Visnjic, Kal Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos
• The Descendants- George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Robert Forster, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Nick Krause, Amara Miller, Mary Birdsong, Rob Huebel
• Margin Call- Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Aasif Mandvi
• Martha Marcy May Marlene- Elizabeth Olsen, Christopher Abbott, Brady Corbet, John Hawkes, Hugh Dancy, Maria Dizzia, Julia Garner, Louisa Krause, Sarah Paulson
• Take Shelter- Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Tova Stewart, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Kathy Baker, Ray McKinnon, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Robert Longstreet

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• Better This World
• Bill Cunningham New York (available on Netflix instant play)
• Hell & Back Again
• The Interrupters
• The Woodmans

BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR

• Mike Cahill, Another Earth
• Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Vera Farmiga, Higher Ground
• Evan Glodell, Bellflower
• Dee Rees, Pariah

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER

• Felicity Jones, Like Crazy
• Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Harmony Santana, Gun Hill Road
• Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
• Jacob Wysocki, Terri

BEST FILM NOT PLAYING AT A THEATER NEAR YOU

• Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same
• Green
• The Redemption of General Butt Naked
• Scenes of a Crime
• Without

HONOREES (Previously announced):

• Charlize Theron (handily right in time for her mainstream Oscar bid, Young Adult)
• Gary Oldman (likewise, for Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spy)
• David Croenberg (what do you know, his A Dangerous Method opens next month)
• Tom Rothman (big studio hotshot- Meryl Streep famously thanked him for signing the checks in her hilarious Golden Globe acceptance speech for The Devil Wears Prada...aside)

I always find it a little strange when even organizations that go for the tiny, anti-establishment films, always tend to, in some way, pander to the exact opposite at the same time.  At the same time, where Drive in the Gotham selection?

Or we can rename this tribute to the I <3 Fox Searchlight Awards, as The Tree of Life, The Descendants, Martha Marcy May Marlene and Another Earth all got shout-outs today.  The one surprise of the nominations is that 2011's queen of ubiquity, Jessica Chastain wasn't acknowledged in the breakthough category, though she was spotlighted as part of the ensemble of Take Shelter and was a member of two of the films nominated for Best Feature; perhaps they just didn't quite know which of her four-thousand performances to acknowledge.

Best acknowledgement: Beginners in the Ensemble field, the warm and gentle father\son tragicomedy was one of most generous films so far in terms of its actors.

Best film title: Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeking Same; I feel a strong need to watch this immediately!