Categories
Back Seat Producers Season 03 Shows

BSP Episode 081: Hustler and Color of Money

After two months of a dry feed we are back, and we’ll be releasing a TON of content in the next few weeks.

We currently have 6 more episodes that have been recorded and are somewhere in the editing process, with one more set to be recorded tonight!

This episode is a tribute to Paul Newman.  We discuss his films The Hustler and his Oscar-winning The Color of Money, another Marty Scorsese movie to boot.

We should have another episode posted in just a few days with more to follow every three or four days until we get caught up.

Sorry about the delays but if you want to hear more about the excuses behind that check out the most recent episode of Tony’s Losing It.

Categories
News

News Briefs

According to Variety, the Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road) is lining up the starring role in Beat the Reaper, a comic suspense tale about a former hit man hiding out as a Manhattan emergency room doctor whose cover is blown after a mobster recognizes him. DiCaprio, having just wrapped work on Martin Scorsese’s thriller Shutter Island (their fourth collaboration), and his production company Appian Way Productions are currently hard at work on bringing a live-action version of Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo’s ground breaking anime from 1988, to US screens. Akira will be helmed by first-time filmmaker Ruairi Robinson and is being written by Gary Whitta.

TV Guide reports that Screen Actors Guild leaders have dismissed an attempt from within their ranks to remove the guild’s chief negotiator, a move likely to add fuel to the internal feud. SAG leaders hope to ask their roughly 110,000 members for permission to call a strike. But some members have faulted the guild for not making more progress in talks with studios and called for a new negotiating team. They had hoped to force out SAG Executive Director Doug Allen — the guild’s lead negotiator — at a meeting that lasted 30 hours over Monday and Tuesday.

Kristin Scott Thomas will starring in Nowhere Boy, a biopic about John Lennon’s formative years, in which she’ll play the Beatles icon’s Aunt Mimi—sister of Lennon’s beloved mother, Julia, who died when Lennon was 17.

A new adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden is underway, according to EmpireOnline, and director Tom Hooper and screenwriter Christopher Hampton (Atonement) have just signed up to put it into production later this year.The book, originally published in 1952, is a retelling of the Cain and Abel story set just prior to World War I, as two brothers in California’s Salinas Valley clash as they compete for their father’s affections.

Jackie Chan is in talks to take on the role of Mr. Miyagi in an upcoming remake of The Karate Kid, per the Hollywood Reporter. The premise would be similar to the 1984 original, in that Chan would be playing mentor to a teen who’s being harassed by bullies and is in need of both philosophical guidance and some sweet self-defense moves. Will and Jada’s Smith’s child, Jaden, who starred alongside dad in The Pursuit of Happyness, is set to don the gi once worn by Ralph Macchio.

First-time writers Sean Wathen and Josh Dobkin have sold production company Stone Village their script The Field, a high concept thriller in which a group of strangers wake up in a an apparently endless field from which there’s no escape – luckily, the group has been given a number of seemingly random objects which may aid their escape.

Citing what he calls “an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world”, Samuel L Jackson has let it slip that he has yet to close a deal to play Nick Fury in Iron Man 2 says TotalFilm. In fact, according to the actor, the lack of a solid offer might see him out of everything Marvel, including The Avengers and The First Avenger: Captain America. Meanwhile Mickey Rourke is currently in talks to play the antagonist (possibly The Crimson Dynamo) for Iron Man 2

Natalie Portman is set to star in and executive produce Don Roos’ adaptation of Ayelet Waldman’s novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. Variety says the plot follows a young woman who discovers the key to recovering her marriage in her relationship with her precocious stepson. Also starring are Scott Cohen and Charlie Tahan, with Marc Platt serving as producer of the project, which is scheduled to head into principal photography next month. Roos, who also penned the screenplay, most recently directed Happy Endings. He also co-wrote the family comedy Marley & Me for David Frankel and The Governess for Nigel Cole. As for Portman, she was last seen in The Other Boleyn Girl. She will next star in New York, I Love You, followed by Jim Sheridan’s Brothers. Cohen’s credits include several episodes of Gilmore Girls and Law & Order: Trial by Jury. Tahan most recently starred in Night in Rodanthe.

Before opening wide in the U.S. on April 10, Observe and Report will be having its world premiere at the 2009 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival. On Monday, January 12, the SXSW Film Fest. has announced that the comedy movie from “The Foot Fist Way” director/co-writer Jody Hill will be filling the centerpiece slot on Monday, March 16. Starring Seth Rogen, Anna Faris and Ray Liotta, the comedy movie follows a deluded, self-important head of mall security named Ronnie Barnhardt in his effort to be real cop and win his dream girl’s heart. When the mall is struck by a flasher, Ronnie seizes the opportunity to showcase his talents. But his pursuit of glory creates a war with Detective Harrison of the Conway Police. Now, he must not only catch the flasher, but get him before the real cops do.

Sources:
Variety
E!
TV Guide
EmpireOnline
The Hollywood Reporter
TotalFilm
ScreeningLog

Categories
News

Weekend Box Office For January 9 – 11

#1 Grand Torino from Warner Bros. claws its way to #1 spot after debuting at #20 way back on December 12. Torino earned $29 million in 2808 theaters this weekend bringing its gross to $40 million. Budget for Torino was $33 million.

#2 Bride Wars from Fox debuts at #2 bringing $21.5 million in 3226 theaters. Budget was $30 million.

#3 The Unborn from Universal takes #3 again bringing $21 million in 2357 theaters. Budget is unknown.

#4 Marley and Me from Fox drops to #4 again bringing $11.3 million, thats down 53%, bringing total earnings to $123 million. Marley showed in 3478 theaters, down 27 from last. Budget is unknown.

#5 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button from Paramount drops to #5 bringing $9.4 million, down 49%, for a total of $94.3. Buttons showed in 2947 theaters, down 41. Budget was $150 million.

Rounding out the top 10 are:

#6 Bedtime Stories Weekend Gross: $8,550,000, down 58% / Theaters: 3511, down 173 / Gross $97,180,000 / Budget: $80 million

#7 Valkyrie Weekend Gross: $6,662,000, down 52% / Theaters: 2838, up 60 / Gross $71,509,000 / Budget: $75 million

#8 Yes Man Weekend Gross: $6,155,000, down 55% / Theaters: 2955, down 479 / Gross $89,410,000 / Budget: $70 million

#9 Not Easily Broken Weekend Gross: $5,600,000 / Theaters: 724 / Gross $5,600,000 / Budget: $5 million

#10 Seven Pounds Weekend Gross: $3,900,000, down 61% / Theaters: 2456, down 302 / Gross $66,830,000 / Budget: $55 million

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:

Box Office Mojo

Categories
Text Reviews Theatrical Review

Theatrical Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

As an old woman named Daisy lies in her deathbed, she relates to her daughter, the story of the most important man in her life, a fellow named Benjamin, who began his life in the oddest of ways, displaying all of the effects of old age on an infant’s frame. As Benjamin grows older, he physically gets younger, leading to a perspective on the world wiser than can be expected…

And to say more about the story of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would be to say too much. This story is better experienced by actually watching it unfold. And when you do watch it unfold, you’ll be experiencing yet another in a string of masterpieces from director David Fincher and easily one of the very best movies of 2008.

Fincher’s well known for the exacting control he takes on his movies (and if you’ve ever watched any of the special edition DVDs of Fight Club, Panic Room or Zodiac then you know what I mean) and Benjamin Button is no exception. This is a long movie, nearly three hours long, and yet it’s all so well paced and written so well that it never feels that way, for me, the time flew right by.

Originally based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald (which I haven’t read and I do know that liberties have been taken with the story), this screen adaptation is truly a magical experience. It’s the sort of movie that I’d like to watch as a double or triple feature with movies like Forrest Gump and The World According to Garp.

Brad Pitt plays Benjamin and Cate Blanchett plays Daisy and the performances are just excellent (Daisy is a dancer and it really looks like Blanchett learned her stuff here- and it’s not just in the steps but in her gait and how she carries herself in the non-dncing scenes). It’s easily, at least for me, the most heartfelt thing that Brad Pitt has ever done, and you feel his genuine kindness and sense of wonder about the world in most every scene.

This movie would be my actual pick to win a Best Visual Effects award for the year. Now I really like movies with big splashy effects as much as the next guy, but admire stuff more that’s just not so obvious. And here, the effect of aging is just seamless, and though it’s amazing to see, it doesn’t detract whatsoever. One scene in particular, where Benjamin is literally around the age of 18 is just about as convincing as it can be, you’ll swear that somehow or another, David Fincher has this amazing time machine and he was able to go and pluck Brad Pitt from that point in his life to play in this movie.

Right now, this is looking like a big contender at Oscar time, probably being pitted against Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon and The Dark Knight (these movies have been grabbing the nominations from the Writer’s Guild, the Producer’s Guild and the Director’s Guild) and even without having yet seen either Milk or Slumdog (and I do hope to before the Oscars come around) and whatever awards it garners, it’s totally well deserved. Don’t miss this one for a moment, it’s a terrific experience and as I said above, easily one of the best movies of 2008.

Categories
News

News Briefs

According to Empire Online McG (Charlie’s Angels, Terminator Salvation) has signed with Disney to direct the update of 20000 Leagues Under the Sea.

In further Disney news from Empire, Garrett Hedlund (Eragon, Friday Night Lights) has signed on to star in Disney’s Tron sequel, now titled simply Tron joining returning cast members Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner who will be reprising their original roles.

The government’s $1.34 billion coupon program that would help viewers offset the cost of analog-to-digital converter boxes reached its funding limit Sunday. Now, anyone who requests one of the $40 coupons will be placed on a waiting list, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration says. There are currently 103,000 people on the list. The boxes range from $40 to $70, and can be purchased without a coupon. The shortage is being attributed to a late surge in coupon requests, December request more than doubled Octobers. Digital transition will take place on Feb. 17. When the switch happens, the more than 70 million TVs in the U.S. that receive free, over-the-air broadcast signals via an antenna or “rabbit ears” will be unable to watch their television without a digital converter box.

New Line has hired Eagle Eye director DJ Caruso to make Jack The Giant Killer. The film takes a grown-up look at the Jack And The Beanstalk fairy tale, according to Variety. The plot will see a princess getting kidnapped which throws a long-standing peace accord between men and giants into chaos.

According to WENN Twilight’s Robert Pattinson was forced to drop out of Rosario Dawson’s (Seven Pounds, Eagle Eye) indie pic Parts Per Billion due to scheduling conflicts with New Moon, the sequel to Summit’s Twilight.

Reelz says that Adam Shankman (The Pacifier, The Wedding Planner) will produce an adaptation of the 1958 musical Bye Bye Birdie. Shankman directed the hit musical Hairspray in 2007 and is a former choreographer. Columbia Pictures hopes the musical vet will breathe some new life into the long-gestating adaptation, which has undergone a number of different incarnations, including a proposed re-imagining with a hip-hop star in the lead.

The newest name to be added to the call sheet for Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables is Mickey Rourke. Rourke will be joining Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, and Forest Whitaker. Rourke will play an unscrupulous arms dealer who becomes the go-to guy for a group of mercenaries planning to topple a South American dictator.

Variety reports Quantum Quest, the independently financed 3-D animated film being made in conjunction with NASA, has assembled its voice cast. William Shatner, Chris Pine, James Earl Jones and Hayden Christensen will topline the voice cast of the $10 million pic that is being financed by Taiwanese toonshop Digimax. Samuel L. Jackson, Amanda Peet, Jason Alexander, Sandra Oh, Mark Hamill, Abigail Breslin and Spencer Breslin round out the voice cast. Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong also will lend his voice, marking his bigscreen debut. Directed by Dan St. Pierre (a supervisor on The Lion King and The Little Mermaid) and Harry Kloor (producer of the series Earth: Final Confilct), Quantum Quest will bow first in Imax and subsequently in conventional theaters in late 2009.

Sources:
EmpireOnline.com
TV Guide
Variety
Wenn
ReelzChannel.com
Variety

Categories
News

Weekend Box Office For January 4 – 6

#1 Marley and Me from Fox takes #1 again bringing $24 million in 3505 theaters. Budget is unknown.

#2 Bedtime Stories from Buena Vista holds at #2 netting $20 million in 3684 theaters. Budget was $80 million.

#3 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button from Paramount holds at #3 bringing $18 million in 2988 theaters. Budget was $150 million.

#4 Valkyrie from UA holds at #4 bringing $14 million in 2778 theaters. Budget was $75 million.

#5 Yes Man from WB holds at #5 this weekend bringing in $13 million in 3434 theaters. Budget is $70 million.

Rounding out the top 10 are:

#6 Seven Pounds Weekend Gross: $10,000,000, down 24% / Theaters: 2758 / Gross $60,038,000 / Budget: $55 million

#7 The Tale of Despereaux Weekend Gross: $7,020,000, down 21% / Theaters: 3091, down 16 / Gross: $43,742,000 / Budget: $60 million

#8 Doubt Weekend Gross: $5,031,000, down 5% / Theaters: 1287, up 20 / Gross $18,730,000 / Budget $20 million

#9 The Day The Earth Stood Still Weekend Gross: $4,850,000, down 37% / Theaters: 2337, down 65 / Gross: $74,299,000 / Budget $80 million

#10 Slumdog Millionaire Weekend Gross: $4,770,000, up 10% / Theaters: 612, down 2 / Gross $28,779,000 / Budget $15 million

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:

Box Office Mojo

Categories
Text Reviews Theatrical Review

Theatrical Review: Frost/Nixon

In 1977, British talk show host, David Frost conducted a series of interviews with disgraced former President Richard Nixon on television, and this movie, which is an adaptation of a stage play, seeks to go further than the surface, talking about the events that led to these interviews and more importantly the motivations behind both men in doing them- Frost sees it as a way to get back some former notoriety, while Nixon looks at it as a way of getting exoneration to an extent and being able to get yet another place in the sun politically. It’s a great examination of a historical side story, as well as a test of wills of two men who wanted so badly to fit in.

And it’s one hell of a good movie. This latest film from director Ron Howard is at least for me, my favorite of his since he did Ransom (my own personal favorites of Howard’s movies are Ransom, The Paper and of course, Apollo 13 which I can watch again and again). It’s an extremely well-paced work that lays the story out in chronological order, peppered with reflections from the side players (well, the actors playing the side players) about the event, done in an almost documentary style fashion, giving it much greater sense of event than how it actually played out, at least from my recollection of the time.

I can’t say enough about how well written this movie is, and it damn well should be considering that this is about an interview event, so it needs to capture you right from the start and fortunately it does.

Of course, much has been said about the performances of both of the leads, Michael Sheen as David Frost and Frank Langella as Richard Nixon, and the praise is well deserved. Sheen’s got a little more of a twinkle in his eye than the real Frost does and Langella is a much more physically imposing presence than the real Nixon was, but still it’s tremendously good work from both men, and it’s especially proven in one scene before the final interview takes place about a phone call between Nixon and Frost, that’s the best scene in the movie loaded with great scenes, and it just makes you wonder did this really happen this way? And it has some great support work from Oliver Platt, Matthew Macfadyen and most especially Sam Rockwell and Kevin Bacon who are just about as standout as the leads themselves.

The best thing this movie does though is it makes you want to find out more about the time or see the key moments of the real interviews again, and that’s just what a movie about a historical event should do. This is one of those that I’m looking forward to seeing again when it comes out on DVD and hopefully there’ll be a nice package made around it when it does hit. Highly, highly recommended and easily one of the best of 2008.