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Thursday, June 29, 2006
Linklater in Moviemaker
— Look for a story about Richard Linklater in the Future of Filmmaking Special Edition of Moviemaker magazine, which is hitting newsstands now.
— Word is Danny Leiner, director of “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” is in town scouting locations for a future movie. Could it be “Gary the Tennis Coach,” which IMDB.com says is Leiner’s next project.
— Here’s a photo from last month’s “Spirit of Place” gala that raised almost $300,000 for the Southwestern Writers Collection and Wittliff Gallery at Texas State University.
From left are Sally Wittliff, Bill Wittliff, Dawn Jones, Tommy Lee Jones, Sam Shepard and John Graves, seated. (Photo courtesy of Robert Godwin)
— “Screen Door Shorts” tonight at Emo’s.
— Texas Film Hall of Famer Marcia Gay Harden co-stars with her daughter.
— Maybe it’s just that draggy point the afternoon, but I’m tired just thinking about this.
— Quite possibly the worst thing I can imagine happening on one’s honeymoon: Eva Longoria shows up.
— And more still on “Gretchen” from Slackerwood.
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More on Austinite’s big win
Here are some excerpts of the L.A. Film Festival’s news release about the Target Filmmaker Award, won by Austinite Steve Collins.
2006 LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES TARGET AWARD WINNERS AT SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE EVENT
Target Filmmaker Award (for Best Narrative Feature)
Winner: “Gretchen” written/directed by Steve Collins Credits: Producers Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Anish Savjani Cast: Courtney Davis, John Merriman, Steve Root, Becky Ann Baker
LOS ANGELES (June 29, 2006) – Film Independent announced the winners of the Target Filmmaker Awards at the Los Angeles Film Festival’s Spirit of Independence event honoring Charlize Theron on Wednesday, June 28. These awards, presented by Virginia Madsen and Jimmy Smits, include the Target Filmmaker Award (for Best Narrative Feature), which went to Steve Collins for “Gretchen,” and the Target Documentary Award (for Best Documentary Feature), which went to Amy Berg for “Deliver Us From Evil.”
This year the Festival received more than 4,300 submissions from filmmakers around the world with the final selections representing several World, North American, and U.S. premieres.
“We are honored to award Steve Collins’s ‘Gretchen’ and Amy Berg’s ‘Deliver Us from Evil’ with this year’s Target Filmmaker Awards, as these films exemplify the talent, diversity and uniqueness that make the Los Angeles Film Festival a world-class event,â€? said Festival Director Rich Raddon. “We greatly appreciate Target for their continuing support of the festival and the filmmakers.â€?
In Steve Collins’s “Gretchen,” the title character has bigger problems than abysmal fashion sense: She’s 17, painfully awkward and stuck in the most unforgiving place on earth — high school. When her obsession with school bad boy Ricky gets out of hand, her mother sends her to an emotional treatment center to recover. She has to travel elsewhere, however, to truly begin to understand why she fixates on the wrong kind of guy. Starring Courtney Davis as the perpetually uncomfortable Gretchen, Steve Collins’ first feature is a humorously deadpan yet poignant reminder of how the smallest moments can lead to extreme adolescent drama.
In awarding Gretchen with the Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature, the jury stated that they chose the film for its “distinctive vision and truthfulness to its characters, which makes us really want to see what the director will do next.�
The Narrative Feature Competition jury was comprised of Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan (director, Torino Film Festival), David Gordon Green (director, “George Washington”), and Danielle Renfrew (producer, “Groove,” “November”).
The Target Filmmaker Award carries an unrestricted cash prize of $50,000 funded by Target, offering the financial means for filmmakers to transfer their vision to the screen. The award recognizes the finest American narrative film in competition. The award is given to the winning director of the Narrative Feature Competition.
Austinite wins big at L.A. film fest
Great news from the Los Angeles Film Festival, via Matt Dentler’s blog: Austinite Steve Collins won the Target Filmmaker Award — and $50,000— for his film “Gretchen.” The cash prize is the largest awarded by a U.S. film festival.
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‘United 93’ on DVD
“United 93,” one of the year’s most talked-about films, will be released on DVD on Sept. 5.
Special features will include a documentary about family members of the flight’s real-life passengers.
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Notes from the ‘Scanner’ premiere
Wednesday night, director Richard Linklater showed “A Scanner Darkly” to Austin fans at the Paramount Theatre. Afterward, producer Tommy Pallotta and actor Rory Cochrane joined Linklater for a Q&A session with the audience. Here are some of the topics discussed:
— For the most part, the Orange County you see in the film is Austin, although there was some second-unit shooting in California. Keanu Reeves’ character’s house is in Southeast Austin.
— “This movie is my view on drugs,” Linklater said in response to audience questions. He thinks drug abuse should be treated as a social and health problem, not a criminal one.
Later, he talked about meeting with “Scanner” author Philip K. Dick’s family and how they wanted to make sure “Scanner” remained a cautionary tale about drug abuse.
— In writing the film, Linklater wanted to stay faithful to Dick’s original work. “I always respond to this novel because it felt the most personal to him,” he said. Linklater said he felt obligated to Dick’s family and fans to “get it right” in his adaptation.
— The DVD release of “Scanner” won’t contain the original unanimated footage, although Linklater said it’s not bad to look at.
Central Texas Capote film to open Venice fest
— “Infamous,” the Truman Capote film shot in and around Austin, will open the Venice Film Festival. More on the film here.
— The fashions of “The Devil Wears Prada,” are getting panned by Elle magazine’s Anne “I don’t like anything” Slowey. Gratuitous “Project Runway” mention alert: Slowey was a judge in Season 1 and came back for a terrible episode in Season 2 where she accused sweet designer Emmett of showing “too much tootey” with his creation. No word on how she feels about the levels of tootey-ness displayed by Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep in “Devil.”
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‘Clerks II’ Austin premiere
After last night’s Austin premiere of “A Scanner Darkly” (more on that later) at the Paramount, the Austin Film Society already has another big event lined up. AFS will host the Austin premiere of “Clerks II” with writer-director Kevin Smith presenting a Q&A after the film.
The screening will be at 7 p.m. July 13 at the Paramount. Tickets go on sale Monday for AFS members ($25) and July 6 to the general public ($30).
Tickets are available through the Paramount box office, 472-2901, and GetTix, (866) 443-8849, www.gettix.net. To get the AFS member discount, you have to buy through the Paramount box office.
“Clerks II” is set to open in theaters on July 21.
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