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ANGEL GRACE PRODUCTIONS


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HOLLYWOOD
REPORTER

COVER: AFM DAILY #3 FINAL


11/2/15
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A ROMP THROUGH CHILDHOOD FULL OF


HEART, HUMOUR AND HUGGABILITY!

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FEATURING THE VOICES OF ROSS LYNCH AND SANDRA OH


SOLA MEDIA GmbH www.sola-media.com STAND: Loews Hotel, Suite #626 Contact: Solveig Langeland/Managing Director
Mobile: +49 177 278 1625 post@sola-media.com Tania Pinto Da Cunha/Sales Associate Mobile: +34 629 459 075 tania@sola-media.com

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NOVEMBER 06, 2015


THR.COM/AFM

AFM
WEATHER
AND HIGH
TEMPS

TODAY

74 F
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A F M 3

TOMORROW

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Aaron Eckharts
Live! is All
Over the Map
By Alex Ritman

Exclusive
First Look

he Solution
Entertainment Group
has secured a couple of
major European deals for Live!,
the Aaron Eckhart-starring
actioner being co-directed and
shot in real time by second-unit
action helmers/stunt coordinators Darrin Prescott and Wade
Allen.
Wild Bunch swooped in for
Germany, while Key2Media
Audiovisual took Spanish
rights. Elsewhere, territories
including South Korea, India,
the Philippines, Taiwan,
Turkey and South
East Asia were
secured for the
film, which will
see Eckhart play
a disgraced cop
Eckhart
on the hunt for a

Juveniles

In Juveniles, Beau Knapp (center) plays a young man whose promising future is jeopardized when he goes up against a local crime boss (Stephen Moyer) to
avenge his fathers death. Radiant Films will present new footage of Nico Sabenorios feature directorial debut at AFM, while CAA is handling domestic sales.

C O N T I N U ED O N PA G E 2

STX Reveals
Global Plans
By Alex Ritman

TX Entertainment has
dramatically expanded
its reach into global
distribution following a deal
with partners in more than
50 territories.
The company, led by chairman and CEO Robert
Simonds, has struck
deals with Tobis
Film in Germany
and Austria, Sun
Fogelson
Distribution in Latin
America and Spain, Roadshow
Films in Australia and New
Zealand, Canadas VVS Films,
Freeman Entertainment in
Eastern Europe, Scandinavian
C O N T I N U ED O N PA G E 2

China Doubles Down on Hollywood


Two new Chinese investments (including one for $1.6 billion) reveal a renewed effort to be a much
bigger player at the global box office. Says one mogul: We want to be in control By Scott Roxborough

ollywood has become accustomed to


deep-pocketed Chinese investors rolling into
town, throwing money at co-productions
and shelling out for seven-figure distribution deals
focused on bringing Chinese films to the world or U.S.
films to China.
But as a pair of high-profile deals announced at
AFM this week indicate, the smart Chinese money is
changing strategy and going global.
Call it China 2.0.
On Nov. 4, Bruno Wu, the Sino media mogul behind
the Sun Seven Stars entertainment conglomerate,
unveiled a $1.6 billion film and TV fund to L.A. producers at an exclusive dinner at the W Hotel in Beverly
Hills. The fund, which Wus company is running with
Chinese online financial service platform Yucheng
Group, will pool capital from private and institutional
investors in China to back international film and
TV productions. Sun Seven Stars will be in charge

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

D3_news1_2C.indd 1

of allocating the funds, with a team to greenlight


projects.
Speaking to THR, Wu said the fund would back
planned tentpole projects from Sun Seven Stars stable
of production companies including a feature adaptation of James Pattersons Maximum Ride YA fantasy
novels, a sci-fi superhero reimagining of Zorro titled
Zorro Reborn and a feature based on the popular Tetris
video game.
But the fund titled the China Global Alliance Film
Fund also will back third-party projects, including
indie features and studio slates. Wu said the fund
would invest primarily in development and in greenlighted projects. For films from his own production
companies, the equity play will not exceed 20 percent
of a projects budget.
This is not a pure financial play; our ultimate goal
is to own a piece of the IP (intellectual property),
C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2

11/5/15 8:18 PM

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11/5/15 2:49 PM

theREPORT

HEAT INDEX

ELIZABETH BANKS
She has been on a roll since Pitch Perfect
2 earned $285.2 million worldwide. Her
latest gig: Rita Hayworth With a Hand
Grenade, in which she plays a WWII
reporter stuck on an island for 30 years.

A R N O L D S C H WA R Z E N E G G E R
Despite a string of disappointments, or
outright bombs, including Maggie, Escape
Plan and The Last Stand, Arnold is set to
star in revenge thriller 478, which Highland
Film Group is selling at the AFM.

KNOW YOUR DEALMAKER

ANDREW KARPEN
CEO, BLEECKER STREET

The distributor acquired domestic rights


to the drama Denial, starring Rachel
Weisz as an author who finds herself in a
legal battle with a Holocaust denier. The
hot Participant Media project, based on
the true story of Deborah Lipstadt, also
stars Tom Wilkinson and Timothy Spall.

MEANWHILE, IN THE REAL WORLD


Following a social media campaign, a 32-year-old man with
terminal spindle cell sarcoma got
a chance to watch a cut of Star
Wars: The Force Awakens.
In a veiled threat, the largest
police union in the country says
it has a surprise in store for
Hateful Eight director Quentin
Tarantino.
Eddie Murphy and his girlfriend
Paige Butcher are expecting a
child in May. It will be Murphys
ninth child.

China
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

says Wu. We want to be in


control.
At an AFM event a
day earlier, Chinese
movie studio Bona Film
Group announced a
$235 million investment
in The Seelig Group (TSG
Entertainment Finance),
the financier behind a slate
of six live-action tentpoles
from 20th Century Fox,
including The Martian.
The deal effectively allows
Bona to invest in Foxs
live-action movie slate,
through TSG, and to participate in the profits.
I think this shows the
versatility and potential
of Chinese capital, Bona
Film Group COO Jeffrey
Chan tells THR. Its not
just China-market centric.
We are optimistic about
the Chinese market, but
at the same time, we want
to be a global player and
hopefully, this transaction
will allow us to learn about
the global market.
This type of Chinese
direct investment in
Hollywood moviemaking
is picking up. Chinese
Internet giant Alibaba

Wu

invested in Paramounts
Mission: Impossible
Rouge Nation, Tencent
has an equity stake in
Legendary Pictures
World of Warcraft adaptation, and Wanda was
the sole financier of the
Jake Gyllenhaal-starrer
Southpaw all Englishlanguage titles targeting a
global audience.
The difference between
most Chinese investment
up to now is that other
Chinese companies see
China as their home market. I see the U.S. and the
world as my home market, says Wu. [Chinese
companies] have made the
same mistakes in the U.S.
as U.S. companies have in
China. They think, How
do I take U.S. product and
make it work in China?
I think, How do I make
product that works for the
world? Because if it works
for the world, it will work
for China.

Live!
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

kidnapped daughter who only has 80 minutes to live.


The Solutions Myles Nestel and Skip Williamson of SB
Artist+Media are producing, with Lisa Wilson and Craig
Chapman of The Solution and Sentients Christopher Tuffin
and Renee Tab exec producing.
Also on The Solutions slate is the newly announced
Truth in Advertising from Notting Hill director Roger
Michell; the gender-reassignment thriller Tomboy, which
has added Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver to
its cast; and Lizzie Borden, which has Chloe Sevigny and
Kristen Stewart circling.

STX
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

distributor AB Svensk Filmindustri


and The Searchers in Benelux.
Huayi Brothers Media Corp.,
as part of its overall investment
in the STX film slate, will handle
STXs films in China and related

By Borys Kit

my Winehouses tragic life story is getting


the biopic treatment.
Noomi Rapace is in talks to portray the
soulful British singer in a movie titled simply Amy Winehouse, which will be written and
directed by Irelands Kristen Sheridan.
Joshua Maurer and Alixandre Witlin of City
Entertainment and Tristan Orpen Lynch are producing the project, which Lotus Entertainment
has come aboard to finance, executive produce
and sell internationally. CAA and UTA are
co-representing domestic rights.
Lotus is introducing Amy Winehouse to
foreign buyers now gathered at the American
Film Market.
Talks also are underway with
Winehouses father, Mitch
Winehouse, who handles her
estate, to obtain music rights.
Winehouses debut album
Frank was a critical success,
but it was her 2006 sophomore
album, Back to Black, that
catapulted the recording artist
to international success and
shined a light into her personal life, one filled with
drug and alcohol use and
marked by an abusive
relationship with her boyfriend-turned husband,
Blake Fielder-Civil.
Back to Black garnered the
artist five Grammy nominations
and three wins awards for best
new artist, record of the year
and song of the year (for her
hit single, Rehab).
Winehouse died from
alcohol poisoning in July
23, 2011, at age 27. After
her death, Back to Black
became the U.K.s second-best-selling album
of the 21st century, with
more than 20 million
copies sold to date.

territories.
We have always envisioned
building an international infrastructure that further establishes
STX Entertainment as a global
content powerhouse, said SFX
chairman Adam Fogelson. These
deals are the first step as we release
our growing slate in key countries

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

D3_news1_2C.indd 2

Amy Winehouse
Biopic Gets
Lotus Backing

Rapace

all over the world.


The first slate of STX films now
available for global distribution
include the Gary Oldman-starring
sci-fi The Space Between Us; Peter
Bergs action-thriller Mile 22; Bad
Moms, starring Mila Kunis, Christina
Applegate and Kristen Bell; and Will
Ferrell comedy Russ & Roger.

11/5/15 8:27 PM


LevelK at AFM: Loews Hotel, 7th floor suite 765/4
Natja Rosner, natja@levelk.dk +1 704 97 55755 / Derek Lui, derek@levelk.dk (HK) +852 6055 7575

LevelK D3 110615.indd 1

10/30/15 1:06 PM

theREPORT

AFM
IN BRIEF

THE 2015 AFM POSTER AWARDS


THR PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE MOST AMUSING AND OVER-THE-TOP
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS AT THE AMERICAN FILM MARKET

Strand Offering
Kind Words for U.S.
Strand Releasing has
acquired all U.S rights to
Shemi Zarhins The Kind
Words from Beta Cinema.
The dramatic comedy
finds three Israeli siblings
whose lives are suddenly
upturned when their
mother dies and they
discover that their birth
father might not be their
father after all.
The
Dressmaker

BEST USE OF PLAYGROUND GAMES

Port Arthur
Finds Director
Marcos Efron, the emerging filmmaker behind
StudioCanals And Soon
the Darkness remake starring Amber Heard and Karl
Urban, has been brought
on board to helm Port
Arthur. The drama tells
of a bond that develops
between a road-weary
trucker and a young
woman in rural Texas.

Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda


Pure AFM gold: Two insane hybrid monsters, a woman in a
bikini and Roger Corman in the credits. Bonus points for
having the audacity to add, Inspired by true events.

MOST LIKELY TO BE BANNED BY THE FAA

MOST AWKWARD CONVERSATION

Sky Sharks
For nine years now, Hollywood has asked itself,
How can we do one better than snakes on a plane?
Finally, the answer is here: sharks as planes.
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

D3_news3B.indd 4

The Hippopotamus
OK, who wants to be the person
to tell the filmmakers that
thats a horse on the poster?

CREDITS HERE AND HERE

NonStop Hooks
Winslets Dressmaker
NonStop Entertainment
has snatched up an entire
slate of new titles, including Jocelyn Moorhouses
drama The Dressmaker,
starring Kate Winslet and
Liam Hemsworth; Rufus
Norris London Road featuring Tom Hardy; and Mr
Right, an action rom-com
starring Sam Rockwell and
Anna Kendrick.

MOST AFM BOXES CHECKED

Ping Pong Rabbit


To create your porn name, combine your first pets name
with the street you grew up on. For an animated childrens
movie, combine a leisure sport with a woodland creature.

11/5/15 7:41 PM

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10/27/15 11:12 AM

theREPORT

Next Stop for


Jason Statham:
China

Diane Lane Joins


Watergate Thriller

By Alex Ritman
Statham

By Alex Ritman

es left a trail of destruction and broken limbs


across much of Europe and the U.S., and now
Jason Statham could soon be smashing up
peoples faces in the worlds No. 2 box-office market.
The prolific British action star has signed on to take
the lead in a new project penned by Kurt Wenner, the
screenwriter behind the Total Recall and Point Break.
The untitled project, a co-production between
Statham and Steve Chasmans SJ Pictures and Beijingheadquartered Road Pictures, is due to start shooting in
China and Europe next fall. Statham will play a British
expat living in Hong Kong who goes on the run with a
Chinese agent to solve a major kidnapping.
Chasman will produce alongside Roads Gonging Cai and
Julien Favre. No director or sales company is attached, but
Favre and Cai have brought the project to AFM.
This is a perfect vehicle for Jason Statham to conquer the Chinese market he is a true global superstar
who has such an authentic connection with audiences
around the world, said Cai. Were excited to put this
film into production, which marks the beginning of
what we see as a fruitful long-term partnership with
Jason and Steven.
Statham is repped by CAA and Current
Entertainment.

Van Houten Joins


Aaron Paul Drama

The Astronauts Wife: Olga Kurylenko Will Be


Reborn as A.I. in Android By Alex Ritman

ith Spectre lighting


OReilly. Kurylenko will play
up the international a dead wife who is brought
box office, former
back to life as an android by
Bond girl Olga Kurylenko
her husband living on a
is growing her postlonely spaceship orbit007 rsum.
ing Neptune. However,
The Ukranian
things take a dramatic
Kurylenko
actress, who also can
turn when the androids
be seen in the AFM title
begin demanding lives of
A Perfect Day, is set to star
their own.
in the intense sci-fi thriller
Announced Nov. 5 on day
Android, to be directed by Niall two of AFM, the project is
Johnson (Keeping Mum), who
being produced by Trademark
co-wrote the script with Matt
Films Ivan Mactaggart (My

Green-Light Jumps
on Cassavetes
Carousel By Rebecca Ford

ick Cassavetes Wall Street thriller


Carousel is gathering pace.
L.A.-based Green-Light
International, in its AFM debut, has come
onboard The Other Woman directors feature
to co-finance and handle international sales.
Set in the seedy streets of New York,
Carousel follows two long-lost brothers who

Week With Marilyn), Infinite


Studios Singapores Mike
Wiluan and Lindsey Martin
(Equals; Hitman: Agent 47) and
Magnet Managements Jennie
Frankel Frisbie.
The feature will begin
shooting in February at
Infinite Studios Singapore.
Fortitude International
is handling foreign rights
and launching sales at AFM.
The producers hold North
American rights.

reunite and take down a ruthless


gypsy king and his corrupt Wall
Street partner. It was written by
Alan Saretsky, who is producing
through his All for One, One for
Cassavetes
All Entertainment banner.
Green-Light now has an impressive, highprofile slate of titles at its first AFM, including
Imperium, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Toni
Collette and Tracey Letts, Custody with Viola
Davis and Hayden Panettiere and the sci-fi
horror title Antibirth starrer Meg Tilly and
Chloe Sevigny.
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

D3_news4D.indd 6

atergate spy thriller and


AFM prestige title Felt
has added another major
name to its cast.
Oscar-nominated actress Diane
Lane is joining Liam Neeson as
Audrey Felt, the wife of Mark Felt,
who later became known as Deep
Throat, the famed whistleblower
during the Watergate scandal
whose identity remained
a mystery for more
than 30 years. Audrey
shouldered much
of the burden of her
Lane
husbands isolated and
dangerous struggle against
the U.S. government.
Peter Landesman, whose
Concussion premieres Nov. 10
at AFI Fest, is set to direct and
produce based on his own script,
with principal photography set to
begin in March. MadRiver Pictures
will finance and produce alongside
Scott Free Productions, Playtone
and Cara Films.

By Rebecca Ford

arice van Houten, who portrays the Red


priestess Melisandre on HBOs hit Games
of Thrones, is joining Aaron Paul in the
suspenseful drama The Parts You Lose.
Dutch director Paula van der Oest (Accused,
Black Butterflies)) is helming the film
based on a script by Darren Lemke.
The project centers on a young
hearing-impaired boy who forms
a friendship with a potentially
dangerous fugitive in his small
North Dakota town. The boy uses
his new bond as an escape from
the troubles of his home and
school life.
Mark Johnson and Tom Williams
are producing through their Gran
Via Productions banner along
with NL Films Alain de Levita
and Joris van Wijk. Paul also will
produce through his company
Lucid Road Productions.
Houten has been on Thrones
Van
since 2012. Her other film
Houten
credits include The Fifth Estate,
Repo Men and Valkyrie. She is
repped by ICM Partners and
Troika in the U.K.

11/5/15 7:37 PM

Screening
Date/Time: 2015-11-07/9:00 am

2015 FLYING BARK PRODUCTIONS PTY LIMITED, TELEGAEL TEORANTA, ASSEMBLAGE ENTERTAINMENT PRIVATE LTD, SCREEN AUSTRALIA & SCREEN NSW

Location: Tunnel Post


233 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Studio 100 Film GmbH Sapporobogen 6-8 80637 Mnchen Germany T: +49 (0)89 96 08 55-0 sales@studio100lm.com www.studio100lm.com

Studio 100 D3 110615.indd 1

10/29/15 11:22 AM

EXECUTIVE SUITE

CEO & COO, HIGHLAND FILM GROUP

Arianne Fraser &


Delphine Perrier

The pair on testosterone-fueled films,


whose star power hasnt waned
and the No. 1 threat to foreign presales

By Pamela McClintock
N SEP T EM BER , A R I A N N E F R A SER , 37, A N D

Delphine Perrier, 44, of Highland Film Group


were mobbed when bringing Aquaman star
Jason Momoa to the Toronto Film Festival
to meet foreign buyers and personally pitch
Braven, about a logger who defends his family from dangerous drug runners. In the five
years since they founded the Los Angeles-based
financing, production and foreign sales outfit,
theyve built a name for handling high-octane,
male-driven fare starring some of the biggest
action names in the business, including Bruce
Willis and Nicolas Cage. Theyre also handling
international rights to a John Gotti biopic starring John Travolta as the infamous crime boss.
(Like Momoa, Travolta also came to Toronto
to personally meet international distributors.)
At the American Film Market, Perrier and
Fraser have their job cut out for them in selling 478, a new revenge drama starring Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who thus far has failed to resurrect his acting career. Theyll also finish sales
on February, a Hitchcockian horror thriller
set at a girls prep school that was scooped up
by A24 in the U.S. after premiering in Toronto.
The duo recently sat down with The Hollywood
Reporter in their West Hollywood offices to talk
about their slate and reminisce about the toughest sells of their career.
Why the focus on male-driven movies?
FRASER Action translates in every language,
so weve gravitated toward that genre, and all
the [foreign] buyers come to us for that type
of material.
You are working on three films with Bruce Willis.
What makes him so popular overseas?
FRASER Theres not a lot of action stars today
that have the same sort of permanence in our
cinema history. People still love to watch him,
hes a great actor, hes great at action, hes
very professional.
Who are still the other big stars internationally?
PERRIER John Travolta working the room in
Toronto for us definitely proves hes still on that
list. You could tell buyers were impressed when
meeting him. It was his first time at a film market. He mentioned that no one had ever asked
him to do that before, and he said it was like a

The industry today is less


about gender and more about
ability and skill, says Fraser
(left). She and Perrier were
photographed Oct. 28 at their
office in West Hollywood.

press junket, only he felt a lot of love and


support because the distributors were asking
more questions about the material and the
creative aspect.
Did buyers ask him about Scientology?
PERRIER No, they were extremely respectful.
FRASER We anticipate a January or February
start date.
Kevin Connolly is directing Gotti. Are buyers nervous, considering hes far more known as an actor
[Entourage] than a director?
FRASER Kevin brings a fresh point of view on a
story that is embedded in U.S. history in terms
of what life was like when there were monsters
running business in this country.
Jerry Lewis is starring in crime thriller The Trust
opposite Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood for you. How
did that project come about?
FRASER This is one of the movies we are producing. Originally his character wasnt even in the
script. Nic Cage came to us and said hed just
had dinner with Jerry and that hed really love
to work with him and have him play the dad. So
the filmmakers created a story arc for him.
PERRIER The scenes they have together are great.
FRASER And the French love Jerry Lewis
especially.
Do you want to do more female-skewing fare?
FRASER We love women within the industry
100 percent. But I think were moving into a
time in our history when I think its less about
gender and more about ability and skill. So yes,
were absolutely supportive of females, and its
nice to be in an empowering generation where
we feel like were treated as equals.
PERRIER We are looking for action films
with females.
FRASER We are incredibly proud of Barely
Lethal [which starred Hailee Steinfeld and
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

D3_ES_highlandC.indd 8

Jessica Alba]. It was the first movie we financed


100 percent.
The movie bombed in the U.S., earning just $6,000
following its release in April. What happened?
FRASER It wasnt as financially successful as we
had hoped, but success is measured in many
ways. There was another picture that went out
at the same time, The Duff, that was going after
the same crowd.
What is the biggest challenge facing foreign
presales?
FRASER A big complaint we hear is the lack of
commercial theatrical releases in the U.S. and
the lack of confidence in star power. But piracy
is the No. 1 complaint across the board. Piracy
is destroying our ability too make movies at
higher budgets.
Weve seen a string of movies with big stars bomb at
the U.S. box office. Are buyers overseas worried?
PERRIER It upsets everyone. But you know what,
if a movie with a big star bombs here, it means
the movie is not good, and if the movie is not
good, its not going to work anywhere. The audience today is very savvy.
What has been your hardest sell?
PERRIER Juno was a very hard one to sell because
nobody was attracted to a story about a teenager who gives a baby away. But Diablo Codys
script was extremely well written. And the
smart thing is, we put a lot of bonuses in that
movie, so it ended up making good money for
foreign distributors. But it was not a winner in
the beginning.
FRASER February, whose cast includes Emma
Roberts, was very tough because it wasnt a
traditional horror movie with tons of scares.
Its eerie and uncomfortable. That was a case
where you just jump in because you believe in
the filmmakers.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY

Christina Gandolfo

11/5/15 12:54 PM

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11/3/15 11:38 AM

AFM SCREENING GUIDE


2015
NOV. 6

Content Media Corp.s Janis

8:45 AM The King of Havana, Filmax


International, 120 Mins., Doubletree #2
Tikkun, Bleiberg Entertainment Llc,
120 Mins., Fairmont 2
9:00 AM American Hero, Protagonist
Pictures, 93 Mins., Broadway 3
Beta Cinema Promo Reel, Beta Cinema,
AMC 2
Black Rose, Lightning Entertainment,
Loews 3
Bolshoi Babylon, Altitude Film Sales,
83 Mins., AMC 4
Code M, Sola Media Gmbh, 90 Mins.,
Doubletree #1
House of Shadows, Mirovision Inc.,
85 Mins., Loews 2
Isnt It Delicious, Angel Grace
Worldwide, 104 Mins., Fairmont 1
Level Up, Independent, Broadway 4
My Big Night, Film Factory
Entertainment, 97 Mins., AMC 1
Plan Z, Carnaby International Sales and
Distribution, Loewes 1
Scare Campaign, Films Distribution,
81 Mins., AMC 7
The Devils Candy, Hanway Films,
90 Mins., Broadway 2
The Phenom, Conquistador
Entertainment, Ocean Scr #
The Squad, Snd - Groupe M6, 90 Mins.,
AMC 6
The Wannabe, Electric Entertainment,
90 Mins., Tunnel Post #1
Trustnordisk Promo Reel, Trustnordisk,
90 Mins., AMC 5
11:00 AM Adderall Diaries, Kathy
Morgan International, 105 Mins.,
Fairmont 1
Baskin, Salt, 97 Mins., AMC 5
Cosmos, Alfama Films, 103 Mins.,
Doubletree #1
Courted, Gaumont, AMC 3
Families, Tf1 International, Broadway 1
Francis: Pray for Me, Filmsharks Intl,
100 Mins., AMC 2
Frank Vs God, 4Square Films,
100 Mins., AMC 7
Hevn (Revenge), Beta Cinema,
104 Mins., Broadway 4
Jazbaa aka Passion, Arclight Films,
Tunnel Post #1
Lazy Hazy Crazy, Bravos Pictures Ltd.,
99 Mins., Doubletree #2
Migration, Red Bull Media House,
90 Mins., Fairmont 2
Monkey King: The Hero (3D), Sc Films
International, 86 Mins., Broadway 3
Rise of the Footsoldier 2, Carnaby
International Sales And Distribution,
107 Mins., Loews 3
Some Kind of Hate, Devilworks,
82 Mins., Loews 2

Southbound, MPI Media Group,


85 Mins., AMC 6
Talion, Media Luna New Films Ug,
85 Mins., Loewes 1
The Fear of 13, Dogwoof, 96 Mins.,
Fairmont 3
Touched With Fire, Myriad Pictures,
AMC 4
Urge, Green-Light Intl, Ocean Screening
1:00 PM London Heist, Cinema
Management Group Llc, 92 Mins.,
Ocean Scr #
Caught, MarVista Entertainment,
90 Mins., Broadway 3
Chasing Niagara, Red Bull Media
House, 80 Mins., Fairmont 3
Emulsion, California Pictures, 90 Mins.,
Loewes 1
Excess Flesh, Acort International,
103 Mins., Loews 3
Fack Ju Goehte 2, Picture Tree
International Gmbh, Doubletree #1
Florida, Gaumont, 110 Mins., Broadway 4
Gods Not Dead 2, Pure Flix
Entertainment / Quality Fix, 110 Mins.,
Fairmont 1
Janis, Content Media Corp., 107 Mins.,
AMC 4
Jian Bing Man, Wanda Media Co. Ltd,
113 Mins., Broadway 2
London Road, Protagonist Pictures,
AMC 1
Neon, Mongrel International, 83 Mins.,
Tunnel Post #1
Snowtime, Sola Media Gmbh, 82 Mins.,
AMC 3
The Crew, Snd - Groupe M6, AMC 5
The Phone, Contents Panda Next

Entertainment, Doubletree #2
Uncle Nick, MPI Media Group, 80 Mins.,
AMC 2
Urban Hymn, Metro International
Entertainment, AMC 6
Yoga Hosers, XYZ Films, Broadway 1
A Heavy Heart, Picture Tree
International Gmbh, 111 Mins., Tunnel
Post #1
Absolution, Media Luna New Films Ug,
92 Mins., Olympia 1
The Virgin Psychics, GAGA Corp.,
114 Mins., Loewes 1
3:00 PM
Absolution, Medial Luna New Films,
92 Mins, Fairmont 3
Bikini Body Conscious Living With Just
Leo Pilot, Little Books Little Films Llc,
95 Mins., Loews 3
Bling, Celsius Entertainment, 82 Mins.,
AMC 6
Closet Monster, Fortissimo Films,
90 Mins., Broadway 3
Dummie the Mummie and the Sphinx
of Shakabah, Dutch Features Global
Entertainment, 80 Mins., Doubletree #1
Hangman, Myriad Pictures, Fairmont 1
Heavy Heart, Picture Tree Intl.,
109 Mins., Tunnel Post 1
Help, I Shrunk My Teacher, Arri Media
World Sales, 101 Mins., AMC 4
Ithaca, The Exchange, Ocean Scr #
Karma, Sahamongkolfilm International
Co. Ltd., 100 Mins., Doubletree #2
Last Girl Standing, Jinga Films,
90 Mins., Fairmont 3
My Men, Gaumont, 90 Mins., Broadway 1
She Remembers, He Forgets, Media

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

D3_SGB.indd 1

Asia Film, 100 Mins., AMC 2


The Family Fang, Covert Media, 106
Mins., Broadway 4
Up in the Wind, Beijing Itime Production
Co., Ltd., 100 Mins., Fairmont 2
5:00 PM
American Secrets, Gaslight
Productions, 115 Mins., Broadway
Cineplex 3
Bare, Myriad Pictures, Fairmont 1
Born to Dance, Cinema Management
Group Llc, 96 Mins., Ocean Scr #
Dont Speak, Princ Films, 82 Mins.,
Loews 2
Elstree 1976, The Works International,
103 Mins., Broadway 2
Friend Request, The Exchange,
100 Mins., Tunnel Post 1
Gibby, Vmi Worldwide, 87 Mins., AMC 6
I Am a Hero, Toho Co. Ltd., 130 Mins.,
Fairmont 2
Murdered Memory, Dutch Features
Global Entertainment, 103 Mins.,
Doubletree #1
Port of Call, Mei Ah Entertainment
Group Limited, 120 Mins., Doubletree #2
Stonewall, Goldcrest Films
International, AMC 7
Summer Camp, Filmax International,
84 Mins., AMC 3
The Burning of Wildgoose Lodge,
Leomark Studios, 105 Mins., Loews 3
The Exclusive: Beat the Devils Tattoo,
Lotte Entertainment, 125 Mins., AMC 2
The Phoenix Incident, Odins Eye
Entertainment, 81 Mins., Fairmont 3
The Tenor Lirico Spinto, More In Group,
120 Mins., Olympia 1

10

11/5/15 12:54 PM

Entertaining Power D3 110615.indd 1

10/30/15 11:53 AM

AFM SCREENING GUIDE


2015
Woodlawn, Pure Flix Entertainment /
Quality Fix, 120 Mins., AMC 4

Wild for the Night, Highland Film


Group, AMC 2

7:00 PM Kikoriki: Legend


of the Golden Dragon, Art Pictures
Studio, 60 Mins., Doubletree #1
The Daniel Connection, California
Pictures, 91 Mins., Loews 2
You Will Kill, Egywood, Llc, 90 Mins.,
Tunnel Post #1

11:00 AM All Gone South, Tf1


International, Broadway 4
All Three of Us, Gaumont, 107 Mins.,
AMC 1
Blind Date, Other Angle Pictures,
90 Mins., Doubletree #1
Camino, Bleiberg Entertainment Llc,
102 Mins., Fairmont 2
Chasing Niagara, Red Bull Media
House, 80 Mins., AMC 7
Departure, Mongrel International,
110 Mins., AMC 6
Hangman, Myriad Pictures, Fairmont 1
Hevn (Revenge), Beta Cinema,
104 Mins., AMC 4
I Was There, Media Luna New Films Ug,
86 Mins., Olympia 1
Im Off Then, Global Screen Gmbh,
90 Mins., Broadway 1
Pali Road, Arclight Films, Doubletree #2
Reparation, The Little Film Co.,
104 Mins., Ocean Scr #
Some Kind of Hate, Devilworks,
82 Mins., Loews 2
The Call Up, Altitude Film Sales,
90 Mins., AMC 2
The Squeeze, American Cinema
International, 95 Mins., Tunnel Post #1
Unlisted Owner, Lawford County
Productions, 74 Mins., Loews 3
What We Become, Indie Sales, AMC 5

NOV. 7

8:45 AM Bara Dreams, Filmax


International, 90 Mins., Doubletree #1
Palm Trees in the Snow, Film Factory
Entertainment, AMC 4
The Boy and the Beast, Gaumont,
Broadway 3
The Midwife, Picture Tree International
Gmbh, 118 Mins., Doubletree #2
9:00 AM 11 Minutes, Hanway Films,
81 Mins., AMC 7
Baskin, Salt, 97 Mins., AMC 6
Black Rose, Lightning Entertainment,
Olympia 1
Blinky Bill, Studio 100 Film Gmbh,
80 Mins., Tunnel Post #1
Christmas Eve, Bleiberg Entertainment
Llc, 95 Mins., Loews 3
Dragon, Mirsand Ltd., 100 Mins.,
Loews 2
Fast Convoy, Indie Sales, Broadway 4
House of Time, Other Angle Pictures,
Fairmont 2
Mind Battle, Planeta Inform Film
Distribution, 90 Mins., AMC 5
Nothing in Return, 6 Sales, 99 Mins.,
Broadway 1
Shangri-La Suite, Arclight Films,
Fairmont 1

1:00 PM All You Need Is Love, Media


Asia Film, AMC 2
Anne of Green Gables, Breakthrough
Entertainment Inc., 90 Mins., Loews 3
Are You Here, Young Live Entertainment
(Hk) Co. Ltd, 90 Mins., AMC 6

Dxm, Terra Mater Film Studios, 97 Mins.,


Doubletree #1
Fair Haven, The Little Film Co., 89 Mins.,
Ocean Scr #
Films Distribution Promo, Films
Distribution, 32 Mins., AMC 5
Get Squirrely, Sc Films International,
Broadway 3
Mafia: Survival Game 3D, Planeta
Inform Film Distribution, 95 Mins., AMC 4
Mysterious Family, Pegasus Motion
Pictures Distribution Ltd, 93 Mins.,
Broadway 2
Riot, VMI Worldwide, Fairmont 1
SheepNWolves, Wizart Animation,
80 Mins., AMC 1
Streif One Hell of a Ride, Red Bull
Media House, 98 Mins., Tunnel Post #1
The Callback Queen, Princ Films,
89 Mins., Olympia 1
The Legend of Barney Thomson,
Myriad Pictures, Fairmont 2
The Lesson, Jinga Films, 90 Mins.,
Fairmont 3
Traders, MPI Media Group, 90 Mins.,
AMC 3
Urban Hymn, Metro International
Entertainment, Doubletree #2
3:00 PM A Date With Miss Fortune,
Vision Films, Doubletree #2
A Perfect Day, Westend Films,
105 Mins., Broadway 1
Back to the 90s, Mono Film Co. Ltd,
112 Mins., Loews 2
Bite, Breakthrough Entertainment Inc.,
90 Mins., Olympia 1
Born to Be Blue, K5 Media Group Gmbh,
Doubletree #1
Born to Dance, Cinema Management
Group Llc, 96 Mins., Ocean Scr #

Wizart
Animations
SheepNWolves

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

D3_SGB.indd 2

Courted, Gaumont, AMC 1


Gods Not Dead 2, Pure Flix
Entertainment / Quality Fix, 110 Mins.,
Fairmont 2
Help, I Shrunk My Teacher, Arri Media
World Sales, 101 Mins., AMC 4
How He Fell in Love, Visit Films,
108 Mins., Tunnel Post #1
I Am Wrath, Hannibal Classics, AMC 3
Kampai! for the Love of Sake,
Fortissimo Films, 95 Mins., AMC 7
Lost In The Pacific, Arclight Films,
Fairmont 1
No Kids, Filmsharks Intl, 100 Mins.,
AMC 2
No Way Out, Moonrise Pictures,
83 Mins., AMC 5
Pandemic, Content Media Corp.,
Broadway 4
Plan Z, Carnaby International Sales And
Distribution, Loews 3
The Masked Saint, Archstone
Distribution, 111 Mins., Fairmont 3
The Phenom, Conquistador
Entertainment, AMC 6
5:00 PM Bikini Body Conscious Living
With Just Leo Pilot, Little Books Little
Films Llc, 95 Mins., Olympia 1
Black and White Stripes: The
Juventus Story, Visit Films, 120 Mins.,
Doubletree #1
Damascus Cover, Carnaby International
Sales And Distribution, Fairmont 1
Do You Believe?, Pure Flix Entertainment
/ Quality Fix, 119 Mins., Fairmont 2
Drive She Said, The Works International,
90 Mins., AMC 5
Even Lambs Have Teeth, Wtfilms,
80 Mins., AMC 3
Go With Me, Electric Entertainment,
90 Mins., AMC 4
Le Mans 3D, Kaleidoscope Film
Distribution Ltd, Ocean Scr #
Port of Call, Mei Ah Entertainment
Group Ltd, 120 Mins., Doubletree #2
Stonewall, Goldcrest Films
International, Fairmont 3
The Exclusive: Beat the Devils
Tattoo, Lotte Entertainment, 125 Mins.,
Broadway 2
The Good, The Bad, and the Dead, VMI
Worldwide, Loews 2
Unchained: The True Story of Freestyle
Motocross, The Exchange, 100 Mins.,
Tunnel Post #1
Wonderland, Wide, 99 Mins., Loews 3
7:00 PM Kikoriki: Legend of the Golden
Dragon, Art Pictures Studio, 60 Mins.,
Doubletree #1
Movie Madness, Little Books Little Films,
Llc, 90 Mins., Olympia 1
Synchronicity, Magnolia Pictures &
Magnet Releasing, 101 Mins., Tunnel Post #1

12

11/5/15 12:55 PM

Decompis Mind Battle D3 110615.indd 1

10/26/15 12:04 PM

CMG D3 110615.indd 1

11/4/15 2:20 PM

R E V I E WS
AFI FEST

more profoundly shaken,


especially when she discovers Geoff was officially listed
as Katias next of kin. Playing
detective, she sifts through
her husbands private photo
archives, uncovering more
revelations from his past that
potentially shaped the choices
he later made with her. While
she maintains a brave face for
social obligations and party
preparations, Kate is slowly but
surely devoured by unspoken
jealousy and gnawing doubt.
45 Years is based on David
Constantines short story In
Another Country, first published in his well-reviewed
2005 collection Under the Dam.
Haigh retains the basic plot
details and character names
but expands the action, ditches
Captions are
national medium
the World War II context of the
7/7 tracked -20
hyphens off
Katia character and makes the
elderly protagonists a decade or
so younger. Even though Geoff
and Kate are clearly beginning
to suffer the health problems of
later life, Haigh portrays them
Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay deliver masterful turns in Andrew Haighs
as emotionally and physically
quietly powerful study of a marriage shaken by a shock revelation BY STEPHEN DALTON
active. A sex scene between the
77-year-old
Courtenay
and
68-year-old
Rampling
may end in comic
U T U M NA L CON T EN T M EN T SU DDEN LY CRU M BL E S I N TO
disappointment, but it is still a rare and touching defiance of modern
quiet desperation in writer-director Andrew Haighs classy
movie convention.
third feature, a contemporary British drama with an almost
Kate is very much the scripts main emotional focus, but Haigh is
Ingmar Bergman-esque take on the fragile certainties of
careful not to make Geoff into a cliched, insensitive oaf who tramples
love and marriage. Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling
on his wifes tender feelings. Both are flawed but sympathetic. Spiced
co-star as the central couple, a smart bit of casting that knowingly plays
with fragments of backstory and vintage jukebox hits from the couples
on the nostalgia value of the pairs shared history as youthful icons of
courtship days, the screen chemistry between Courtenay and Rampling
European social-realist cinema. On several levels, 45 Years is a film
captures the convincing texture of long-term marriage with all its nonhaunted by the ghosts of the past.
verbal communication, unfinished sentences and half-buried tensions.
Haigh earned great acclaim with his 2011 breakthrough feature
That deep-frozen body in the glacier serves as poetic metaphor as well as
Weekend, a deliciously nuanced exploration of gay love and sexuality. He
literal plot device.
followed that with the San Francisco-set HBO ensemble drama Looking,
Framed by crisp wide shots of misty Norfolk landscapes in washed-out
which failed to be renewed after its second season. 45 Years is a more
watercolor tones, 45 Years is visually appealing and carefully restrained.
conventional work than either of those, though Haigh has described it
That said, many of the ensemble scenes feel like padding, with their
as a thematic sister film to Weekend. That is arguable, but this is still a
stilted dialogue and superfluous secondary characters. Some viewers may
polished and absorbing two-hander with rock-solid appeal and niche
also find this very English story a little too tastefully understated, since
distribution potential based on its veteran stars and Haighs own high
Haigh ultimately avoids the full tragic darkness that a Bergman or a
critical standing.
Michael Haneke film might have tackled. Do not expect blazing emoCourtenay and Rampling play Geoff and Kate Mercer, a childless
tional fireworks, just finely calibrated performances and deep reserves of
couple deep into their retirement years, who share a handsome rural
inner torment.
home in the picturesque flatlands of Norfolk in eastern England. A week
before their 45th wedding anniversary party, Geoff receives a shocking
AFI (Special Screenings)
letter explaining that the body of Katia, his long-lost German sweetheart,
Cast Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James, Dolly Wells,
has been found perfectly preserved in a Swiss glacier. After falling to
David Sibley, Sam Alexander, Richard Cunningham, Hannah Chambers,
her death in a freak alpine hiking accident, Katia had been missing for
Camille Ucan, Rufus Wright
50 years.
Director Andrew Haigh
This macabre news unsettles Geoff, who takes up smoking again and
95 minutes
begins making shaky plans for a possible trip to Switzerland. But Kate is
Rampling is an
Englishwoman
haunted by
her husbands
dead lover.

45 Years

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

D3_rev1_45yearsB.indd 1

15

11/5/15 3:18 PM

REVIEWS

AFI FEST

Last Days
in the
Desert

Rodrigo Garcias rendering of Jesus


40 days in the wilderness
is beautiful but thematically opaque

BY TODD MCCARTHY
OM M U N ICAT ION BET W EEN PA R EN T

and child has been a problem through


the ages, and so it is between God and
his only son in Rodrigo Garcias adamantly
non-divine rendering of Jesus 40 days in the
wilderness, Last Days in the Desert. But Garcias
take, however beautiful, is intellectually opaque
and creatively cautious, leaving the interested
viewer, whether or not a believer, with much to
wonder about but little to chew on.
Father, speak to me, calls out Yeshua, as he
is referred to here, from the desolate landscape
the scruffy, unwashed man has clearly been
inhabiting for some time. He has come here
looking for answers, a sign, some clarity about
the mission upon which he has embarked. But
he is answered only with silence, an enormous
sky, lifeless terrain and the appearance of a doppelganger, a demon whos his exact double (both
roles are played by Ewan McGregor). Peppering
him with puzzles and challenges, this fiend
doesnt so much tempt Yeshua as taunt him,
insisting that God has many other children but
that He loves only Himself.
On his journey back to Jerusalem after his
puzzling expedition, Yeshua encounters a few
other desert inhabitants, beginning with a crazy
beggar who accepts his water and then laughs at
him. More significantly, he finds a stone cutter
(Ciaran Hinds), his ailing wife (Ayelet Zurer)
and their teen son (Tye Sheridan). The father
has somehow eked out a living this far from
civilization, but with his wife dying and his son
keen to leave this place and see the world, he is
in a crisis.
So Yeshua stops to see what he can do for
this family, and their interaction becomes the
dominant component of Garcias film. Denied
clarification of a grander role for himself by a
father who will not speak to him, he applies himself to what he has done before helping people
who cannot help themselves and giving them
clarity and righteousness of thought to improve
their lives and find a better path forward.
As a non-religious, non-evangelical take on
Yeshua the man, his nature and mission, this is
plausible enough. He tries to comfort the wife
and helps the man with his work. While the traditional father insists that the boy remain in the
desert and follow in his shoes, Yeshua quietly
encourages the boy to go to Jerusalem if thats

Hinds and Zurer are a


desert-dwelling couple
who encounter Jesus.

what he wants; the city, he says, is dirty and


corrupt. But also alive. Very alive. When the
conflicted young fellow runs around yelling, I
am not a bad son!, Yeshua can perhaps identify
with his sentiments.
The big scene involves a precarious descent
by rope over a dangerous desert cliff to get at
some particular stone. With the boy saying he
cant do it, Yeshua volunteers but the father
insists upon undertaking the mission himself,
with catastrophic results.
From this point on, it can only be said that
Garcia works in mysterious ways. He cuts
suddenly to Yeshua hanging from a cross in
the desert; there is no one else around, only
a disembodied stick that touches his torso
and a hummingbird that hovers in front of his
anguished face. His body is wrapped and put in
a cave thats closed up with stones, upon which
some women sit in mourning. Then cut to a
familiar desert lookout, where two modern-day
visitors seen in long shot admire the view and
take a picture.
Is the films Yeshua in fact not the same Jesus
who had such impact on the world, who was
crucified with others and understood why? Was
there another man with the same name in the
next valley over who actually was subjected to
temptations and got down to Jerusalem before
this fellow? Or was this outwardly ordinary
man possessed of such insight and inspiration
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

D3_rev2_lastdaysdesertA.indd 16

that, upon beginning his ministry, he was able


to inspire and lead multitudes? Might the son
of the stone cutter meet him again and become
one of his disciples? Garcia has stripped his
story down to such simple elements and limited
subtext that it has little weight.
Although hes technically 10 years too old for
the part, McGregor impressively handles the
role of this solitary seeker; hes entirely credible
as a man whos grave, searching and a tad bewildered at not having found the help he expected.
Shot in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
due east of San Diego, serving as a stunning
stand-in for historical Palestine, the film
benefits enormously from the beautiful work
of cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who
made a point of not using any artificial lights.
He and Garcia go way back as collaborators;
originally trained as a cinematographer, Garcia
used to work as Lubezkis camera operator.
When he became a director, Garcia chose
Lubezki to shoot his first film, Things You Can
Tell Just by Looking at Her. The unusual score
by Danny Densi and Saunder Jurriaans employs
just a simple use of a few strings.
AFI (Special Screenings)
Cast Ewan McGregor, Ciaran Hinds,
Ayelet Zurer, Tye Sheridan, Susan Gray
Director Rodrigo Garcia
98 minutes

16

11/5/15 3:10 PM

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REVIEWS

A Perfect Day

Benicio Del Toro and Tim Robbins play international


aid workers in Fernando Leon de Aranoas slow-starting
but solid seriocomedy BY DAVID ROONEY

PA N ISH W R I T ER-DI R ECTOR F ER NA N DO L EON DE A R A NOA

makes a respectable English-language debut with A Perfect Day,


about a group of humanitarian aid workers in the Balkans in
1995, as the Bosnian conflict was winding down. Tipping its hat
to antiwar screen comedies that came out of the counterculture
movement like Catch-22 and MASH with a dash of the mordant absurdism of Emir Kusturica and Goran Paskaljevic fueled by the setting the
good-looking films humor is low-key to a fault, and its characters dont
always generate the sparks that the script intends. But the name cast
should help it cross borders to find a limited commercial life.
Best known for Mondays in the Sun and Princesas, Leon de Aranoa has
focused in his films on gritty subjects such as marginalized urban youth,
immigration, unemployment and prostitution. The unsung, socially
committed, nonviolent missionaries of war would seem a good fit for him,
even if the writing and character observation only fully engage in the
later action, as the tone shifts to poignancy and pathos.
Based on Spanish novel Dejarse Llover by Paula Farias, the story aims to
capture the spiky solidarity of a disparate band of adventurers from various countries. Exposed to numbing atrocities, maddening bureaucratic
tangles and ever-shifting jurisdictions as reality struggles to keep up with
the progress of peace talks, they face a daily battle not to let their cynicism erase their compassion.
The head of the small Aid Across Borders unit in a rugged mountain
area is Mambru (Benicio Del Toro), who is weighing with some degree of
ambivalence whether to return to the U.S., where his girlfriend is pressuring him to settle down. Hes flanked by French newcomer Sophie (Melanie
Thierry), a sanitation expert who brings both the idealism and the vulnerability of inexperience. Veteran
Robbins (center) and Del Toro
logistics guy B (Tim Robbins) is a
(right) embark on a humanitarian
reckless type who chooses not to be
mission in the Balkans.
serious even in life-or-death situations like navigating possible land
mines. Their interpreter Damir
(Fedja Stukan) is a soulful local
who points out early on that their
humor is among his peoples most
valuable resources.
The droll dilemma that drives
the action over a 24-hour period is
a typically double-edged problem.
They need to remove the corpse of
an obese man from a well before
one of the last water sources not
booby-trapped with mines is irreversibly contaminated. Whether
the body was dropped there by enemies or by locals planning to sell
water at inflated prices is unclear.
But obtaining the rope needed for
the task proves difficult.
Potential conflict arises when
Mambrus prickly former lover
Katya (Olga Kurylenko) is assigned
Captions are
to tag along with them while she
national medium
evaluates whether it still makes
7/7 tracked -20
hyphens off
sense to have aid workers stationed

in the area. Whered you get her? cracks B about the Russian beauty.
Models Without Borders?
The actors are all more than capable of breathing definition into their
characters, and Del Toro in particular shows his usual sleepy-eyed charm.
But Leon de Aranoa seems convinced the script (written with Diego
Farias) is a lot funnier than it actually is. Much of the humor comes from
Robbins as a familiar brand of gonzo dude who juggles adrenaline highs
with smart-mouthed deadpan ennui. But for an ensemble comedy, theres
too little animation in the characters interplay.
The film settles into a more satisfying groove when Nikola (Eldar
Residovic), a kid rescued by Mambru from bullies, leads them back to
his village home in search of a length of rope and his soccer ball. Theres
a lovely balance here between desolation and comedy, when they find
the rope attached to a savage dog. The effectiveness of the scenes exposing the reality of Nikolas life as a child of war suggests that this vein of
humanistic storytelling comes more naturally to the director than humor.
However, while its uneven, A Perfect Day builds to a nice melancholy
conclusion. It underscores with gentle strokes the frustration and disillusionment of self-sacrificing workers confronted on a daily basis with
feelings of futility in the face of corruption and compromise. Even kids
by necessity turn into operators in conflict zones, even U.N. peacekeepers
can become obstacles, and even the locals that NGO workers seek to help
can be uncooperative, viewing them as only marginally less suspicious
than the foreign military.
The film looks sharp, with cinematographer Alex Catalan finding
plenty of visual breadth in the rocky mountain landscapes, with their
winding roads. (Spanish locations in Granada, Malaga and Cuenca
stand in for the Balkans.) Leon de Aranoa punches up the scene transitions with tracks from iconic rock and punk bands like The Velvet
Underground, The Ramones and the Buzzcocks, though the Lou Reed
classic that gives the film its title is conspicuously absent.
AFM (WestEnd Films) // Cast Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins,
Olga Kurylenko, Melanie Thierry, Fedja Stukan, Eldar Residovic, Sergi Lopez
Director Fernando Leon de Aranoa // 106 minutes

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

D3_rev3_perfectdayB.indd 18

18

11/5/15 3:11 PM

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11/4/15 11:03 AM

REVIEWS

Hawke is jazz
great Baker in a
fictionalized
bio-drama.

Born to Be Blue

Ethan Hawke stars as musician Chet Baker in Robert Budreaus


polished but passion-deprived film BY STEPHEN DALTON

U BBED T H E JA M E S DE A N

of jazz, Chet Baker was


made for the big screen.
Almost shockingly beautiful in his
youth, the West Coast trumpet
maestro landed a couple of minor
film roles in the 1950s but turned
down a studio contract to pursue
his musical muse instead. In the
late 60s, he even declined an offer

from Dino De Laurentiis to play


himself in a biopic. But film fame
found him anyway thanks to Bruce
Webbers sublime 1988 documentary Lets Get Lost, by which time
Baker was a drug-ravaged ruin just
months away from death.
In Born to Be Blue, Canadian
writer-director Robert Budreau
reimagines a pivotal low period in

Baskin

Turkish director Can Evrenols debut


suffers from wobbly storytelling
but boasts more than enough blood, guts
and gore to satisfy horror fans

BY DAVID ROONEY
H E GR AV EYA R D SH I F T IS H EL L FOR

the five cops in Can Evrenols first


feature, Baskin, expanded from his 2013
short film, which represents a rare horror entry
from Turkey, a country not known for genre
production. While an ancient key is extracted
from one characters slit throat late in the game,
a key to the arcane story remains more stubbornly elusive. However, gore fans hungering
for an old-fashioned orgiastic Black Mass will
groove on the movies grounding in the gruesome universes of Clive Barker, John Carpenter
and Dario Argento. And who doesnt love seeing
a credit for tarantula wrangler?
Despite four credited screenwriters, including
Evrenol, the mysteriously titled Baskin is thin
on story, instead lurching in and out of a woozy
dreamscape before arriving at its extended
terror and torture set piece in the bowels of an

Bakers life, the mid to late 1960s,


when he was struggling with heroin
addiction and a stalled career. Box
office will likely be modest but
solid thanks to Bakers timeless
music, plus strong performances
by Ethan Hawke and British costar Carmen Ejogo (who played
Coretta Scott King in Selma).
Taking the unmade De
Laurentiis project as inspiration,
Budreau rewrites history to have
Baker playing himself on screen,
where he falls in love with the
woman portraying his wife, Jane
(Ejogo). Its a nicely meta conceit
that allows for some ravishing
monochrome scenes that feel like
stylistic homage to Lets Get Lost.
Jane is another fictional construct,
a composite of several women in
Bakers stormy love life. She gets
the familiar but all too plausible
role of the infinitely patient soulmate who helps rebuild the shattered ego and washed-up career of
her Great Male Artist partner.
Hawke is natural casting as
Baker, sharing enough facial
similarities to capture some of the
jazz icons chiseled, fallen-angel
beauty. He gives an unshowy performance, all soft-spoken mischief
and brittle arrogance but laced
with just enough blood, sweat and

abandoned former police station supposedly


dating to Ottoman times.
The nightmare kicks off with a prologue in
which young rookie cop Arda (Gorkem Kasal)
is seen as a child having his first experience of a
recurring dream that will haunt him into adulthood. Disturbed by the sounds of his mother
having sex in her bedroom down the hall, he
wanders the house in a suspended state between
waking and sleep. He realizes hes not alone
when a bloody hand attached to an unseen
entity reaches for him.
Cut to a grimy diner serving dodgy meat
delivered in a bucket by a druidlike figure in a
hooded jute coat. Arda and his fellow night-shift
cops including Chief Remzi (Ergun Kuyucu),

D3_rev4_bornblue+baskinB.indd 1

AFM (K5 International)


Cast Ethan Hawke, Carmen Ejogo,
Calum Keith Rennie, Kedar Brown,
Kevin Hanchard
Director Robert Budreau
97 minutes

who was appointed his guardian after the death


of his parents banter about soccer and sexual
conquests until hothead Yavuz (Muharrem
Bayrak) picks a fight with the waiter. One of the
cops is taken ill, momentarily losing his wits
while yacking up his dinner, but they shake it off
and hit the road.
Thats just a mild foretaste of whats to come
in a film of labyrinthine underground chambers
and subhuman, cannibalistic freaks.
Working with cinematographer Alp Korfali
and production designer Sila Karakaya, Evrenol
creates a densely soupy chiaroscuro visual field
high on mood and atmospherics, amping up the
dread with big-ass synth scoring by techno duo
Ulas Pakkan and Volkan Akaalp, billed as JF.
The textured look makes terrific use of unnerving tight close-ups on skin, hair, cloth and such
details as the chief s fingers working overtime
on his worry beads.
AFM (The Salt Co.)
Cast Gorkem Kasal, Ergun Kuyucu, Mehmet
Cerrahoglu, Sabahattin Yakut, Mehmet Fatih
Dokgoz, Muharrem Bayrak
Director Can Evrenol
97 minutes.

Its alive or is it?


in a horror flick that
blurs the line between
dreams and reality.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

tears. He even makes a commendable attempt at singing a couple of


his best-known vocal cuts, notably
My Funny Valentine. Ironically,
his voice is actually too polished
to fully re-create Bakers achingly
vulnerable, off-key tones.
After ditching its film-with-afilm framework, Born to Be Blue
soon settles into disappointingly conventional biopic mode.
Budreaus screenplay is never
afraid to be obvious, with its clumsily explanatory lines and contrived
conflict points: Baker versus Jane,
Baker versus his antagonistic dad
(Stephen McHattie), Baker versus
rival Miles Davis (Kedar Brown)
and so on. These stock plot devices
just feel lazy and lifeless.
The movie also looks a little flat:
too clean, too bright, too periodperfect, too Mad Men. Still, at
least the music is reliably great,
with Bakers melancholy trumpet
snaking throughout the action like
a perfumed breeze wafting across a
lonely beach at sunset.

20

11/5/15 3:50 PM

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REVIEWS

Traders

Heres a nasty Irish fable about economic inequality

M
Bowen (left) and
McKnight take a
wormhole straight
to trouble.

Synchronicity

Do time-travelers dream of electric sheep?

BY JOHN DEFORE
OM ET I M E S T H E M E A SU R E OF A T I M E -T R AV EL PICT U R E

isnt so much whether you completely follow (or buy) its logic
as how much you enjoy the trip. So it is with Jacob Gentrys
Synchronicity, which casts a compelling retro-futuristic spell and
stays true to this atmosphere to the end. Embracing film noir by way
of Blade Runner cues viewers to think twice before deciding they
understand this pictures femme fatale or what its hero will do for
her, an admission that romantic logic will trump physics where necessary. Connoisseurs of low-budget but serious sci-fi will applaud the
film, which has modest theatrical potential on its way to a solid genre
berth on video.
Chad McKnight plays physicist Jim Beale, who is down to the wire
on experiments meant to open a wormhole and prove something can
be sent through it to another point in time. (Assuming he doesnt
make the universe collapse on itself instead.) His machine requires
the exotic radioactive fuel MRD, which he can only purchase with the
help of gruff venture capitalist Klaus Meisner (Michael Ironside),
who is less interested in epoch-changing scientific discoveries than in
how he might profit from them. After his first test of the wormhole
machine releases a human traveler who escapes the lab before anyone
gets a good look, Jim stumbles into a flirtation with Abby (Brianne
Davis), a maybe-mistress of Klaus who has a suspiciously strong
grasp of the history of inventors and their financiers. Just as the two
are about to get physical, though, Jim gets a call from lab partner
Chuck (AJ Bowen): Stay away from that girl, he says mysteriously.
Gentrys tense screenplay works well on its own but gets a big assist
from music and production design intent on conjuring some very
specific moods. Sunlight slashes through Venetian blinds in hazy
interiors, some of them (like Abbys apartment) so familiar one
expects to find a whiskered Rick Deckard dozing on the couch. Ben
Lovetts Moog-played score recalls Vangelis without aping him, and
Gentry even observes a glass elevator from a canted angle to evoke
the Tyrell Corp.s temple-like headquarters. All signs point to Blade
Runner, and while were not in that tales futuristic environs, the
smart use of distinctive Atlanta architecture by John Portman gives
the picture its own flavor.

BY JOHN DEFORE
ETA PHOR S FOR

cutthroat capitalism dont


get much blunter than
Traders, in which the me-first
moneymakers in question arent
exchanging stocks and bonds
but one anothers lives. Rachael
Moriarty and Peter Murphy,
whove made shorts together for
more than 20 years, take a confident leap to features in this cold
tale of economic desperation and
unthinkable deeds made routine.
Though its recipe of anxious misanthropy doesnt crackle from the
start, the picture builds steadily to
an end so satisfying it could well
generate fest buzz and lead to an
arthouse run.
Its better to be a bum with nothing than a bum with not enough.
This is the mindset of a few Dublin
employees of a financial firm that
just lost billions and went bust.
Facing a bleak job market after
getting sacked, their talk turns to
econocide a term that has had
widely varied meanings but here
describes suicides in which whitecollar men simply cant imagine
existence far below their accustomed standard of living.
Vernon (John Bradley), an
obese, awkward bean counter,
has a brainstorm that turns this
despair into an opportunity: He
invents trading, in which two
participants connected anonymously online will meet to fight in
a secluded spot with no spectators.
Each will bring his lifes savings in
a duffel bag; they will fight to the
death, with the winner taking both
bags after burying the loser.

Vernons better-looking, more


accomplished former co-worker
Harry (Killian Scott) takes some
convincing but eventually participates in the inaugural match of
this bloodsport. Though he leaves
Vernon alive after beating him
(a mistake he knows will haunt
him), having engaged in such an
extreme standoff frees his inhibitions. Soon he is one of this new
games high achievers, doubling his
money in each of a series of sordid
rendezvous. Despite having had his
life spared, though, Vernon feels
cheated especially after Harry
befriends the woman he hopelessly
loves (Nika McGuigan) and starts
plotting to get his money back.
One might feel the movies premise invites some basic questions, for
instance: In the real world, wouldnt
it make more sense simply to meet
and flip a coin to see who gets the
cash, then let the loser decide for
himself whether to keep on living? Strong performances by Scott
and Bradley further discourage
such questions, helping shift our
attention from the big picture of
the game and toward the contrasting motives and mettle of the men
who started it. Its biggest moral
questions are left for the parking
lot: Even if the games participants
enter willingly, is the man left
standing a survivor or a villain?
AFM (MPI Media Group)
Cast Killian Scott, John Bradley
Nika McGuigan, Peter OMeara
Directors-Screenwriters
Rachael Moriarty, Peter Murphy
89 minutes
Scott (left) wins
a round in a
deadly game.

AFM (Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing)


Cast Chad McKnight, AJ Bowen, Brianne Davis, Scott Poythress,
Michael Ironside // Director-Screenwriter-Editor Jacob Gentry
100 minutes
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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REVIEWS

Urban Hymn

This British social-realist drama follows the bumpy emotional


journey of a social worker and two troubled teenage girls
BY STEPHEN DALTON

H E SO - CA L L ED ENGL A N D

Riots of August 2011 saw


a surge of looting, arson
and violent disorder spread
from London to Birmingham,
Manchester and other cities.
Triggered by the fatal police
shooting of an unarmed man, the
disturbances raged for six days
and ended with mass arrests. The
somber London-set drama Urban
Hymn uses the riots as a narrative
hook, though in fact they only figure marginally in a heart-tugging
story about tough love and painful
loss across the social spectrum.
The director is Scottish-born
Michael Caton-Jones, who has
amassed a solid track record on
both sides of the Atlantic, returning to features for the first time
since making the notorious flop
Basic Instinct 2 nine years ago.
His latest film, which premiered
in Toronto, boasts a fine cast and
glossy finish, but its fatal flaw is
Nick Moorcrofts clunky, cloyingly
sentimental script. Even so, there
is an established audience for this

kind of well-intentioned social realism. The newsworthy subject and


young multi-racial leads should
also help stir further festival and
media interest.
The heart of the story is two
inseparable teenage bad girls,
Jamie (Letitia Wright) and Leanne
(Isabella Laughland), who we first
see on phone-camera footage gleefully rampaging and looting during
the riots. Both have tragic backstories involving broken homes, dead
parents and criminal convictions.
With their 18th birthdays looming,
both are facing a rocky future as
they near the end of their time in
Alpha House, a state-run residential home for children.
The film counterpoints the duos
chaotic lives with Kate (Shirley
Henderson), a nervy middle-aged
academic who lives in privilege
in the leafy suburbs with her
boorishly unsympathetic husband (Steven Mackintosh). After
15 years as a sociology lecturer,
Kate has just been accepted as a
hands-on social worker at Alpha

Camino

Zoe Bell tries to escape a homicidal


guerrilla leader in the jungle

BY JOHN DEFORE

PHOTOJOU R NA L IST IS STA L K ED BY

the subject shes shooting in Camino, a


survival pic in which Hawaiian locations
stand in for mid-1980s Colombia. Stuntwoman
Zoe Bell toplines again in what may be the least
effective featured use of her physical skills to
date, a film that took two days to write and, if it
doesnt quite take two days to watch, is certainly
not the taut viewing experience it hopes to be.
Commercial prospects are slim despite the
genre cred brought by director Josh C. Waller
(Raze), his links to the SpectreVision production team and Timecrimes director Nacho
Vigalondo in an acting role opposite Bell.
Vigalondo plays Guillermo, a Spaniard who
has come to Colombia to lead a band of revolutionaries who call themselves missionaries.
The charismatic guerrilla is the latest subject
for celebrated photographer Avery (Bell), who
tags along with his five-person team in the jungle, watching them bring meds to the poor. But

Laughland makes
the best of
a thankless
banshee role.

House despite doubts from her new


boss (Ian Hart) that she can handle
the grueling frontline duties. Sure
enough, Kate is shocked by the
level of verbal abuse and physical
violence she encounters.
From here, Urban Hymn unfolds
in predictably schematic steps and
flat, stilted dialogue. Jamie is initially fiercely hostile to do-gooder
Kate, but is there any chance this
mismatched pair will eventually
form a warm mother-daughter bond
and even discover a mutual love
of soul music? Sorry, no spoilers.
When Leannes toxic influence is
temporarily removed during one
of her periodic spells in juvenile

then she accidentally spies on Guillermo away


from his followers, watching as he conducts
a cocaine deal and murders a child witness.
Realizing he has been seen, Guillermo tells his
troops that Avery is a threat to locals and insists
they set out to kill her. Avery takes refuge in the
thick of a forest that is much less familiar to her
than to her pursuers.
In the days before this assignment, we
watched Avery have a drunken encounter with
her estranged husband. In a choice that plays
poorly on aesthetic terms and is questionable
story-wise, the filmmakers make that husband a
source of strength to her now, with Avery imagining his disembodied voice encouraging her
to survive. This isnt the time to give up, he
tells her, needlessly, and so she keeps fighting

D3_rev6_urbanhyme+caminoC.indd 24

AFM (Metro Intl Entertainment)


Cast Letitia Wright, Isabella
Laughland, Shirley Henderson
Director Michael Caton-Jones
114 minutes

Guillermos soldiers one by one with more


hand-to-hand savvy than one expects from a
photographer but less assurance than moviegoers want in a stuntperson-turned-lead actor.
Averys trials, often played out at dusk or
in dense foliage, look monotonous in Noah
Greenbergs low-light lensing, and the narrative
stringing them together is only partly enlivened
by subplots in which some of Guillermos followers begin to doubt his motives.
Vigalondo does what he can to wring trainwreck psychological appeal from his characters
diminishing grip on authority, but Daniel
Noahs script, with its thinly conceived motivational talk of a spiritual spiral, doesnt give
him much to work with. The characters eventual comeuppance plays like wish fulfillment
that comes dangerously close to trivializing the
trauma the worlds real Guillermos have caused
for decades in Latin America.
AFM (Bleiberg Entertainment)
Cast Zoe Bell, Nacho Vigalondo, Francisco
Barreiro, Sheila Vand, Kevin Pollak
Director Josh C. Waller
Screenwriter Daniel Noah
103 minutes

Bell fights for her life


after her photo
subject turns on her.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

custody, Kate even succeeds in coaxing Jamie to join her in singing with
her community choir. This leads
Jamie in conveniently short steps
to a place at music college, her own
apartment and a future full of hope.
Of course, Moorcroft and CatonJones throw a few token flies into
this magical feel-good ointment,
but they are plainly so deeply
invested in Leannes success that a
positive outcome is never in doubt.

24

11/5/15 2:22 PM

EUROPEAN
FILM MARKET
IT ALL STARTS HERE.

1119 Feb 2016

Early Bird Registration


until November 30.
Online Film Submission
until December 22.
WWW.EFM-BERLINALE.DE

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SCREENING TODAY!
Friday, November 6, 9:00 AM Loews 3
Also Screening Saturday, Nov. 7, 9:00 AM, Loews 1

HOLLYWOOD STORM PRESENTS

ALEXANDER NEVSKY

BLACK ROSE
KRISTANNA LOKEN

ADRIAN PAUL

ROBERT DAVI

MATTHIAS HUES

Two Tough Cops. One Impossible Mission.


HOLLYWOOD STORM PRESENTS A HOLLYWOOD STORM / CZAR PICTURES PRODUCTION ALEXANDER NEVSKY KRISTANNA LOKEN "BLACK ROSE"
ROBERT DAVI ADRIAN PAUL ROBERT MADRID MATTHIAS HUES POLINA BUTORINA DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY RUDY HARBON
EDITOR STEPHEN ADRIANSON MUSIC BY SEAN MURRAY EXECUTIVE PRODUCER SHELDON LETTICH EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS BRYAN GOERES ALEXANDER IZOTOV ROBERT MADRID
STORY BY ALEXANDER NEVSKY WRITTEN BY BRENT HUFF AND GEORGE SAUNDERS PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY ALEXANDER NEVSKY
2015, HOLLYWOOD STORM, LLC.

International Sales: LIGHTNING ENTERTAINMENT. AFM Office: Loews Hotel 8th Floor, Escondido Suite

Lightning Ent D3 110615.indd 1

11/3/15 6:06 PM

Mecwaldowski
has a bone to
pick with his
new wife.

REVIEWS

11 Minutes

Polish veteran Jerzy Skolimowski crafts a puzzle-like assembly


in this suspense drama about calamitous fate BY DAVID ROONEY

ER Z Y SKOL I MOWSK IS BE ST

films are layered works in


which the personal and political intertwine, invigorated by wild
touches of the surreal, the absurd
and the poetic. So its dispiriting
to report that his first feature in
five years, 11 Minutes, is an empty
feat of technical virtuosity driven
by a bleakly obvious vision of the
murky morality of the post-9/11
world. Unfolding during the tight
time span of the title, it replays
the actions of a bunch of random
characters whose fates collide in a
busy Warsaw square. But the movie
is all amped-up kinetic aggression
and cold, steely edges with little
of interest to say, making it mostly
just abrasive.
A pre-titles sequence insinuates
the theme of surveillance as
various people are glimpsed via
smart phones, security cameras,
Skype, webcams, etc. That motif
of unconnected events being
observed and recorded by an
impassive technological god comes
and goes, cohering with insistence
only in the final moments in
infinitely multiplied images that
evoke the famous Jules Dassin line:
There are eight million stories in
the naked city; this has been one
of them.
Too bad its not a more
intriguing one. Instead, the central
thread toward which all the others
gravitate is an ugly clich so

tired it could almost be a parody.


Im Richard, but please, call me
Dick, says a sleazy American
film producer (Richard Dormer)
after he unplugs the phones
in his upscale hotel suite, pops
the champagne and welcomes a
breathy blonde (Paulina Chapko)
into his lair. Were teased into
wondering if shes a hooker, until
with all the slyness of a taxidermy
fox, Skolimowski reveals shes
an actress auditioning for a role.
Bulleting toward the hotel is
her jealous husband of 24 hours
(Wojciech Mecwaldowski), who
spends most of the movie pacing in
a furious sweat out in the corridor.
Downstairs at street level is a
hot dog vendor (Andrzej Chyra),
out on probation after doing
time as a convicted pedophile;
his customers include a gaggle
of flirtatious nuns and a punky
girl (Ifi Ude), stewing after
being dumped by her boyfriend
(Mateusz Kosciukiewicz). A
couple of mountain climbers
(Piotr Glowacki, Agata Buzek)
watch porn and make out in a
luxury suite accessed through his
window-cleaning job; a student
(Lukasz Sikora) attempts to carry
out a robbery that doesnt go as
planned; a reckless motorcycle
drug courier (Dawid Ogrodnik)
narrowly escapes being caught
sneaking sex and blow with a rich
customers wife; and paramedics

have to contend with a violent


lunatic before being able to reach
a pregnant woman (Grazyna
Blecka-Kolska) and a dying man
(Janusz Chabior) in a nearby
apartment building.
In case the ham-handed scheme
isnt crystal-clear already, these
folks are all in some way tainted
by the sick soullessness of our
tenuous contemporary existence.
Just to underscore that view we get
a lone representation of saddened
innocence in an old painter.
Skolimowski lays false clues
about an impending cataclysm,
even sending a disoriented white
dove crashing into a mirror.
But the movie is so lacking in
thematic complexity that all of
its crisscrossing paths and mininarrative rewind-and-playback
structure seems in the service of
nothing more than an elaborate
stunt set-piece, in which everyone
connects with an inevitable thud.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Some audiences might


admire the manual dexterity of
Skolimowskis controlled chaos,
aided by editor Agnieszka Glinska
in keeping all the stories humming
along even while revealing only
shards of information. Theres
a certain vigorous muscularity
in cinematographer Mikolaj
Lebowskis camerawork,
alternating between handheld
agitation and prowling slow pans.
But with its rumbling drone of
ambient music, its hyper-pumped
soundscape and its one-note
cocktail of adrenaline and dread,
this posturing, airless exercise is
wearing rather than exciting.
AFM (Hanway Films)
Cast Richard Dormer, Wojciech
Mecwaldowski, Paulina Chapko,
Andrzej Chyra, Janusz Chabior,
Dawid Ogrodnik,
Director Jerzy Skolimowski
81 minutes

28

FILM. TV. PHOTOSHOOTS.


CSUN Offers
Film-Friendly Locations, Competitive Rates,
and Exceptional Service.
No City Permit Is Required
For On-Campus Filming!
University Licensing
(818) 677-2628
www.csun.edu/licensing

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AFM2015 SCREENING SCHEDULE

Tunnel Post 1 Nov 6th 5:00pm


DoubleTree 2 Nov 8th 1:00pm

Tunnel Post 1 Nov 7th 5:00pm

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ofce: LOEWS SANTA MONICA BEACH HOTEL, SUITE 745
for more info: NAT@THEEXCHANGE.WS
for an appointment: BMATES@THEEXCHANGE.WS

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THE EUROPEAN MEETING POINT
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Meet us at the
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Service
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contact
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8 Decades of The Hollywood Reporter


The most glamorous and memorable moments from a storied history

Russell posed with


The Betties in 2009,
a year before the
release of The Fighter.

AV ID O. RUSSEL L was
all smiles at the AFM
party in 2009, thanks
perhaps to the company
he kept: He was surrounded by
Bettie Page tribute act The Betties
(the legendary 1950s pinup had
died the previous year). But at the
time, the director was badly in
need of a hit. The 2004 follow-up
to his 1999 hit Three Kings an
existentialist comedy called I
Heart Huckabees drew mixed
reviews and sputtered at the box
office. (The $20 million film took
in only $12.8 million in the U.S.)
Things grew more worrisome
when in 2007, someone leaked
several videos from the Huckabees
set showing the director clashing
with star Lily Tomlin. In one of the

videos, an incensed Russell kicks


props while shouting at Tomlin,
I worked on this fking thing
for three fking years not to have
some fing ct yell at me in front
of the fking crew while Im trying
to fing help you, bitch! (Tomlin
would later say of the confrontation, It was nothing ... Its like
family.) His next film, Nailed,
was similarly cursed. The political
comedy starred Jessica Biel as a
small-town waitress who accidentally gets a nail shot into her brain,
turning her into a nymphomaniac.
She then heads to Washington to
fight for the rights of victims of
freak accidents, where she meets
a sleazy congressman, played by
Jake Gyllenhaal, who takes full
advantage of her condition. After

filming began in 2008, the troubled production was delayed or


shut down four separate times and
eventually ran out of money to pay
the crew. (Hence the AFM visit.) At
one point, James Caan, one of the
films co-stars, left mid-shoot over
creative differences. The film
was eventually completed and got
a VOD release in 2015 under the
title Accidental Love, with Russell
adopting the pseudonym Stephen
Greene in the credits. (It earned
a 7 percent rating on Rotten
Tomatoes.) But Russells fortunes
turned around in late 2008, when

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Endpage_russellB.indd 1

32

he was chosen by producer and


star Mark Wahlberg to replace
Darren Aronofsky as the director
of The Fighter. The 2010 biopic
earned seven Oscar nominations
(it won two for Christian Bale
and Melissa Leo) and grossed
$93 million. The streak continued
with 2012s Silver Linings Playbook
(eight Oscar noms and a win for
Jennifer Lawrence; $132 million) and 2013s American Hustle
(10 noms, no wins; $150 million).
Next up, Russell directs his A-list
muse, Lawrence, in Joy. It opens
Christmas Day. SETH ABRAMOVITCH

AMY TIERNEY/WIREIMAGE

In 2009, David O. Russell


Was Hoping for Another Hit

11/5/15 12:24 PM

COMPLETE
AN EXCEPTIONAL MOVIE / COMPLETE
CAST: Adil Hussain DIRECTOR: Rajan Kumar Patel
GENRE: Crime/ Thriller
ADIL
HUSSAIN

A visual feast and a gripping cat-and-mouse English-language contemporary


thriller set in the labyrinthine alleys of the ancient Hindu city of Varanasi on the
shores of the sacred Ganges River. A cerebral yet visceral thriller in a lush and
exotic setting with an international cast.

IN PRODUCTION

MISCHA
BARTON

PAZ DE LA
HUERTA

CURRENTLY IN PRODUCTION (2015)


CAST: Mischa Barton
US DISTRIBUTOR: Alchemy
GENRE: Paranormal horror. "Sometimes Evil Has A Pretty Face"
CURRENTLY IN PRODUCTION (2015)
CAST: Paz de la Huerta
US DISTRIBUTOR: Alchemy
GENRE: Thriller. "Shes Not Alone"

PREPRODUCTION

TARA REID

ANA COTO

NATASHA
HENSTRIDGE

CURRENTLY IN PRE-PRODUCTION (2016)


CAST: Tara Reid
DIRECTOR: Robert reed Altman
US DISTRIBUTOR: Alchemy
GENRE: Horror (Ghosts) "Hunger Is Not Solely For The Living"
CURRENTLY IN PRE-PRODUCTION (2016)
CAST: Ana Coto
US DISTRIBUTOR: Alchemy
GENRE: Thriller. "Down There, No One Can Hear You Scream"
CURRENTLY IN PRE-PRODUCTION (2016)
CAST: Rachel Leigh Cook , Natasha Henstridge
GENRE: Sci-Fi Erotic Drama
There Are No Limits To What We Can Experience

RACHEL LEIGH
COOK

REBEL MOVIES AFM Office #323 AFM Telephone: 310.458.6700 xt 323


rebelmovies@rebelmovies.eu - www.rebelmovies.eu
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