24 Frames

Movies: Past, present and future

Berlin Film Festival: Arcade Fire unveils 'Scenes From the Suburbs'

Arcadefire
Fresh off their upset album-of-the-year Grammy victory and a double win at the Brit Awards, three members of Arcade Fire jetted over to the Berlin Film Festival for Wednesday's premiere of their 28-minute film, "Scenes From the Suburbs," their collaboration with filmmaker Spike Jonze.

The film project was a natural extension for the Montreal-based group prone to painting epics with sounds and words, especially on their much-lauded album "The Suburbs," with its references to suburban war, endless sprawl and dead shopping malls.  "Scenes From the Suburbs" is sort of teen drama meets dark dystopia.

"This album was already so cinematic, we really wanted to use that and try to express it visually as well," Regine Chassagne, who fronts the band with her husband, Win Butler, and with his brother Will, said in an interview. 

Scenessuburbs The Jonze-directed "Scenes From the Suburbs"  intercuts fragments of the dissolution of the friendship of teen boys Kyle and Winter with scenes of an unidentified town (played by Austin, Texas) where turf and zoning wars have turned literal.  Hooded military men in camouflage round up the neighbors into armored trucks and slam boys against the fences while inspecting their mouths with flashlights. At the same time, kids ride bikes, fight, kiss and grow up. 

The movie is an extension of the band's video for "The Suburbs," which Jonze, who came to Hollywood's attention with his music-video and commercials work, also directed.

The project was meant to work within the B movie genre, but only parts of it, said Win Butler.  "When we were little kids, we'd watch a lot of cheesy '80s movies that we were too young to be able to be watching, and you'd always just end up watching the first half, before your parents would come in and rescue you, and so it's kind of a little inspired by just watching the first half of films and not having to figure out how to resolve them."

The Butler brothers teamed up with Jonze on the screenplay, using tapes of 300 to 400 teens for dialogue inspiration. They cast kids who had never acted before, and shot on the cheap -- if you look carefully, you can find both brothers Butler appearing as cops and hooded soldiers.

"We might have been a band of movie makers if making movies wasn't 140 times more expensive than making records,"  Will Butler quipped earlier to a group of journalists gathered at Berlin's Canadian Embassy. 

Win Butler said more film projects could definitely be on the horizon. But right now, the band is still stunned by the awards their music has won.  When asked what post-Grammy life will bring, said Butler,  “It just means freedom.”

"Scenes From the Suburbs"  will next be screened at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin in March, and it will be released on DVD in May or June, according to the band. 

-- Susan Stone, reporting from Berlin

Top photo: Arcade Fire performs during the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London on Tuesday. Credit: Reuters/Luke Macgregor.

Bottom photo: A scene from 'Scenes From the Suburbs.' Credit: Berlin Film Festival.


Kenneth Turan's film pick of the week: 'Gnomeo & Juliet'

Gnomeo
It doesn't seem likely — in fact, it is downright unlikely — but "Gnomeo & Juliet" turns out to be the pleasantest surprise of the season. It is so rare to have an enjoyable film arrive without a massive publicity onslaught, but "Gnomeo," silly name and all, has managed to do just that.

Admittedly, the eccentric idea of retelling Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" with red and blue British garden gnomes as the feuding families takes a bit of getting used to. Helping a lot are a generous selection of the songs of Bernie Taupin and Elton John (whose production company, Rocket Pictures, originated the project). The soundtrack makes use of standards like "Crocodile Rock," "Your Song," "Tiny Dancer" and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" as well as new numbers written especially for this film.

This gently amusing, genuinely sweet animated film won't blow you out of the water or change your life, but it will make you smile from start to finish, and that doesn't happen every day.

— Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times film critic

Photo: "Gnomeo & Juliet." Credit: Touchstone Pictures.


The Three Stooges: Cher as a nun? And Benicio del Toro's not out ...

Stooges
Larry, Curly, Moe and...Cher?

Even as they continue to seek the three leads for their big-screen version of "The Three Stooges," Peter and Bobby Farrelly say they have an unusual idea for one of the lead female roles: The brothers are aiming to put Cher in the movie. 

The goal is for the singer-actress to play Mother Superior, the nun whom the Stooges terrorize.

Cher had a cameo in the Farrellys' Siamese-twin comedy "Stuck on You" back in 2003. At the time, the writer-directors spoke to the diva about a part in the "Stooges" film, which they'd hoped to shoot next. (They've been developing it for a long time.) She agreed, they said.

"Cher is just the coolest chick ever," Peter Farrelly told 24 Frames. "It's hard to describe. You meet a lot of celebrities in our business. We're not cowed by many of them. But Cher is bawdy, she's fun, she's cool, she's lived a life, she's got experience, she's humble. It's the humility that struck me the most. She's not really a diva."  A representative for Cher did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Casting for the Fox film -- which aims to shoot, after years of development holdups, this spring -- is entering the homestretch.

Cher In an interview for their upcoming infidelity romp "Hall Pass" (more on that soon), the Farrellys say that while their initial "Stooges" trio of Sean Penn (Larry), Jim Carrey (Curly) and Benicio Del Toro (Moe) has broken up, casting may yet move in an unexpected direction. Del Toro, for instance, is someone "we're still considering," Bobby Farrelly said.

(Incidentally, Penn dropped out of the nyuk-nyuk-fest when he decided to concentrate on his charitable efforts in Haiti. Carrey chose  not to star in the film even after gaining more than 40 pounds for the role, though the Farrellys didn't exactly have a chance to convince him to stay. "We never heard from him, but we read it," Peter Farrelly said. So he never picked up a phone to call them? "Now that would have been nice," Farrelly said of the actor whose career was given a big boost when he starred in the Farrellys' "Dumb & Dumber" in 1994.)

As for the rumors that Andy Samberg and Johnny Knoxville were on the shortlist to star in "Stooges," don't be quick to rule that out.

"We like both of those guys," said Bobby Farrelly. "We always thought Samberg looks a little like he could play Larry. And Knoxville is a real-life stooge. He's a real-life Moe."

The casting challenge for the filmmakers is to find actors with a rare mix of skills: a flair for comedy and a capacity for imitation to go along with an innate physicality.

"We need to get the voices. The Stooges had very specific voices and we need to get as close as we can to that," Bobby Farrelly said. But, he added, "We've seen some guys come in that are pretty spot-on, but at the same time there's something about them that's not funny. Just because they can do a great imitation doesn't mean you're going to burst out laughing when you watch it."

What's more, the roles require a difficult balance of originality and imitation, Peter Farrelly added.

Continue reading »

With new role, Jessica Szohr will help Sarah Jessica Parker get it together


EXCLUSIVE: Jessica Szohr has been spotted by paparazzi hanging out with Aaron Rodgers. But it's someone a little less football-y Szohr will soon be spending time with in front of a camera.

Szohr The actress who came to fame on "Gossip Girl" is taking a part in "I Don't Know How She Does It," the Sarah Jessica Parker family dramedy that's currently shooting in New York.

A representative for the Weinstein Co. production confirmed late Tuesday that Szohr was joining the cast as the nanny of Kate Reddy, the highflying businesswoman and mother of two played by Parker. The movie is based on Allison Pearson's hit novel, is written by the scribe behind "The Devil Wears Prada" and is being directed by Douglas McGrath ("Infamous"). Szohr will begin shooting her part this week.

The move rounds out a cast that's already pretty eclectic: Greg Kinnear plays Parker's husband, Pierce Brosnan is the other man, Olivia Munn is Parker's finance-world colleague and Christina Hendricks plays her friend.

The 25-year-old Szohr, known as the (mostly) sympathetic Vanessa on "Gossip Girl," has been developing her big-screen career; she starred last summer as the good girl who keeps her limbs intact in "Piranha 3-D," Alexandre Aja's campy remake of the 1978 horror comedy.

-- Steven Zeitchik

twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

Photo: Jessica Szohr at the Women's Wear Daily gala in November 2010. Credit: Peter Kramer / Associated Press

 


'Men in Black III' production pushed back again

Black
EXCLUSIVE: The theme song goes, “Here come the Men in Black.” But they’re not coming so fast.

After a hiatus of nearly two months, "Men in Black III," the third installment in the sci-fi/comedy franchise, was to resume production this week in New York. But studio Sony and the film's producers have pushed back the production date again. Shooting is now delayed to March 28 owing to ongoing script issues, according to a person close to the 3-D production who was not authorized to speak about it publicly.

The delay comes on the heels of a previous postponement and hiatus. The Will Smith sequel was initially set to start shooting in October. But producers delayed the start date by nearly a month (a New York Post report at the time noted creative disagreements between Smith and filmmakers, a report that Sony denied). About a month later, producers opted to break production of the film into two phases: the first part, set in the present, would begin in November and wrap before the holidays (it in fact did that), but the second part, set in 1969, would not begin shooting until mid-February.

In the meantime, "Catch Me If You Can" screenwriter Jeff Nathanson was brought in to do new work on the script, working off a previous draft by "Tropic Thunder" writer Etan Cohen.

It's very unusual for a production of such scale to take a holiday break of nearly two months. At the time, producer Walter Parkes and a Sony spokesperson said that a mix of seasonal concerns and tax incentives, not creative disagreements, were responsible for the break.

"We had to start shooting this year to take advantage of New York State tax incentives, but we also needed to be able to shoot certain exteriors in warmer weather," Parkes told 24 Frames last year. "So back in July we had the idea to keep the start date but build in a hiatus so we could essentially extend the production to late spring.”

The person close to the production said that although producers had hoped they could begin shooting this week, the lack of a ready script made that impossible. Parkes and a Sony spokesman were not immediately available for comment.

The plot for the new film, which is being directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (helmer of the first two installments), takes the franchise further into whimsical territory. In addition to Smith as Agent J, Tommy Lee Jones reprises his role as the wisecracking Agent K in the present (the part already shot). Josh Brolin, through a time-travel twist, plays a young Agent K from 1969 who encounters countercultural figures such as Andy Warhol and Yoko Ono, according to a person who read a version of the script in November.

It's unclear if the delays will affect the movie's planned May 2012 release date. [UPDATE, 3:38 PM: A Sony spokesman says the release date will not be affected by the production delay.]

After years of rumors, "Men in Black III" began to come together in 2009, as Sony looked to reprise the magic that made the franchise a global blockbuster. The initial two movies -- the first of which was released in 1997 and the second in 2002 -- tallied a whopping $1.03 billion in combined worldwide box office.

In a recent interview, Brolin told 24 Frames that the delays were making him a little impatient. "It’s one of those things where they say, 'OK, I’m going to go in a week' and then they say, 'Actually, it’s going to be two weeks.' OK, that’s all right. And then they go, 'OK, it’s going to be three,' " he said. "I mean, come on already."

— Steven Zeitchik and Nicole Sperling

twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

Photo: Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smtih in "Men in Black." Credit: Sony Pictures.

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Egyptian filmmakers imagine a fertile future

Egypt
Populist revolutions tend to be good for filmmaking cultures, which a decade or two later will often examine the repression through a fictional lens.

In Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall gave rise, 15 or more years later, to a crop of top-tier movies including "Good Bye Lenin" and "The Lives of Others." Romania's overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu birthed a New Wave movement responsible for hits like "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days."

It's far too early to say when or whether Egypt will go through its own renaissance. But it would hardly be a surprise if it did. in a story in The Times on Monday, we spoke to filmmakers from within the country -- and there are many -- and around the Arab world to gauge the filmmaking future after the Tahrir Square uprising that led to the fall of a regime.

The Hosni Mubarak era wasn't an especially bright time for Egyptian filmmakers, or artists of any stripe. Directors often had to perform end runs around government censors -- see: Marwan Hamed, the director behind 2006's acclaimed "The Yacoubian Building," who had to convince Parliament that his movie, which depicted prostitution and police brutality in Cairo, should be allowed a release.

"Filmmakers in the Arab world always have to zigzag," said Ziad Doueiri, the Lebanese filmmaker whose movie "West Beirut," a coming-of-age story set against the country's 1975 civil war, won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival. "There's so much censorship that most people don't even bother to write screenplays about interesting subjects; they just stay aloof and shallow. We can't make our 'JFK' or 'Nixon.' We can't have our Oliver Stone or Sidney Lumet. We can't have 'The Last Temptation of Muhammad.'"

On top of that, Egypt has only two distribution companies, which choke off independent filmmaking in favor of the broad comedies and harmless melodramas that populate the country's film industry.

But there are reasons for optimism. Already a number of filmmakers have begun to shoot documentary footage and react creatively to the events of the last three weeks. The revolution, after all, was informed by technology and expression, the exact factors that undergird filmmaking. And while many say the revolution has unleashed their democratic and economic aspirations, creative ambitions are also at the fore, with stories that have been held back for 30 years now finally able to be told. "I know there's a lot of reason to be cynical in the Arab world," Hamed said. "But Egyptian people are rediscovering themselves, and I think artists are going to help them do that."

--Steven Zeitchik

twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

Photo: Egyptian soldiers in Tahrir Square. Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/Los Angeles Times

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'True Grit' inspires a quiz: How well do you know your western literature?

1
Reading might be a lost art in Hollywood, but my colleague John Horn still finds time to pick up a book every now and then.

After reading Charles Portis' "True Grit," he was struck by how some of the novel's language resembled Jack London's writing style. London -- perhaps best known for his 1903 novel "Call of the Wild" -- also seems to have been an influence on Cormac McCarthy's prose in "No Country for Old Men." 

Quiz If you're not seeing the connection, Joel and Ethan Coen adapted both "True Grit" and "No Country for Old Men" for the screen, the latter winning the best picture Oscar in 2008. "True Grit" is in the race this year. (The Coens have yet to tackle "Call of the Wild," though it has been made into a movie several times, including once with Charlton Heston.)

Horn put together a quiz with quotes from the three books, and we dare you to identify who wrote what. I missed almost as many as I got right.

-- Julie Makinen

File photo: Jack London on his yacht, the Roamer, in 1914.


Around Town: Pan African Film Festival in Culver City

Iwillfollow
An uplifting biographical drama from Ethiopia about an Olympic runner, a drama from Ghana looking at slavery from an African point of view and a documentary about an L.A. mother trying to save her daughter from gang life are among the eclectic films screening at the 19th Pan African Film Festival, which opens Wednesday in Culver City and continues through Feb. 23.

The festival, started in 1992 by actor Danny Glover, actress Ja’Net Dubois and festival executive director Ayuko Babu, will feature 121 films this year -- 75 feature length and 46 shorts -- from 31 countries. It kicks off Wednesday at the Culver Plaza Theatre with the American comedy “35 and Ticking,” written and directed by Russ Par, who is also a syndicated radio host. The comedy stars Nicole Ari Parker, Meagan Good and Mike Epps.

With a typical turnout of 35,000 people, the event is the largest black film festival in the United States, Babu said.

“What we are trying to do is let distributors know if you are interested in this black audience come down to see the diverse audiences we have,” he said. “We probably have 80% African Americans or Pan-Africans and then about 20% are Asians, whites, Latinos and Indians.”

Among the films screening at the festival is one by Ava DuVernay, an L.A.-based publicist, who makes her feature film writing and directorial debut with “I Will Follow,”  a drama starring Omari Hardwick, Sallie Richardson-Whitfield and Blair Underwood. It's about a woman who moves out of a home she shared with her aunt.

There’s also “Kiss and Tell,” a documentary by Darryl Pitts that examines “black love” through the eyes of African American actors and directors; “Children of God,” a drama from Bermuda examining homophobia in the Caribbean; and the Nigeria film “The Figurine,”  winner of the 2010 African Movie Academy Award, about three friends whose lives change when they find a mysterious figurine.

Continue reading »

Thriller 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark' gets new distributor, August release date

1
“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” has escaped from the shadows.

The thriller, produced by Guillermo del Toro and starring Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes, had once been scheduled for a Jan. 21 release by Miramax Films. But the movie was thrown into limbo when Disney sold the specialty label in a $660-million deal. It was unclear what Miramax's new owner, Colony Capital, would do with it -- Disney didn't want to hold on to the title and do its own release. 

Now, new distributor FilmDistrict says it has acquired all U.S. rights to the film from Colony Capital and will release the movie on Aug. 12. FilmDistrict is the new financing, production and distribution outfit launched by producer Graham King and Tim Headington. Other potential distributors said they wanted to cut the film to get a PG-13 rating, but FilmDistrict will release “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” with its original R rating.

FilmDistrict’s slate includes April 1’s “Insidious,” April 8’s “Soul Surfer” and Sept. 16’s “Drive.” The company’s theatrical distribution president, Bob Berney, previously released Del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “The Orphanage,” which Del Toro produced, when Berney was running Picturehouse Entertainment.

A trailer for “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” which follows a young girl’s frightening encounter with nasty, tooth-collecting gremlins who live in a mansion’s furnace, was shown to wide acclaim at last summer’s Comic-Con International in San Diego. The finished movie now could end up back at Comic-Con this summer. The film, a loose remake of the 1973 television movie of the same name, was directed by newcomer Troy Nixey.

--John Horn

Photo: Katie Holmes in "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark." Credit: Miramax Films


Can Justin Bieber be a movie star?

  Bieb
Even before Justin Bieber appeared onstage at the Grammys on Sunday night with Jaden Smith, setting minds racing about a "Karate Kid 2" appearance, it was becoming clear the movie star thing may actually fit the singer.

The weekend's box office proved that young audiences still want to see the swoop-haired one on the big screen even after they've already seen him pretty much everywhere else. Bieber's "Never Say Never" documentary came in a close second to Adam Sandler's "Just Go With It" with a $30.3-million gross, and may well end up in first place when the final numbers are tallied.

Of course concert movies have about as much to do with a star's box office potential as YouTube hits have to do with Oscars. Audiences want to see you do what you do well; they may not want to see you do something else. And teen pinup singers historically face a tough road at the multiplex. For every Mark Wahlberg, there are a lot more Donnie Wahlbergs.

But Biebs has some things going in his favor. The 16-year-old says he has a desire to act and has aligned himself with Will Smith (or is it the other way around?), which already puts him ahead of other young musicians trying to make the jump. He also showed he can handle the rigors of a publicity tour, and even allow some gentle ribbing, with appearances on "Saturday Night Live" and a Super Bowl commercial (though someone may need to institute a moratorium on his shout-outs to his fans).

And he may have the most important motivation when it comes to the film business: necessity. When Bieber's voice inevitably drops, acting may be not just a secondary option but the best option.

The Miley Cyrus comparisons came fast and furious in the weeks leading up to "Never Say Never." Cyrus may well turn out to be an apt template: After her movie performed well, Cyrus started booking the feature roles.

At this point the question may be less a matter of whether Bieber can land some big roles but what kind of actor he'll become when he does. Does he follow in the footsteps of Robert Pattinson and other tween idols, trying desperately to go beyond his brand only to repeatedly be put back in his place? Or does he take youthful music stardom to a more sophisticated, Justin Timberlake-like place? Either way, those feeling relief after this weekend that the Bieber big-screen hype is finally over may need to accept that it's only just beginning.

--Steven Zeitchik

twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

Photo: Justin Bieber at the Grammys. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

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Critical Mass: 'Gnomeo & Juliet'

Gnomeo1

It sounds like one of those hellish movie ideas you only hear about in other movies satirizing the soulless lack of creativity in Hollywood: Take William Shakespeare's classic "Romeo & Juliet" and re-create it with garden gnomes. But surprisingly, reviews for this animated flick, which Disney is releasing through its Touchstone label, have been pretty evenly split. Some hate it, sure. But just as many are finding themselves pleasantly surprised by the little guys.

Count The Times' own Kenneth Turan as one of the converts. "Playful, inventive and endearing, this 84-minute epic is smart enough not to overstay its welcome as it steers clear of the fatuous and the formulaic," he says. And he says it's the "surprise of the season" if only because of its silly title.

Continue reading »

Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to acting, perhaps with these projects

1

He’ll be back: Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent out a Twitter message Thursday saying he’s ready to start acting again (no jokes about his performance in Sacramento, please). "Exciting news,” Schwarzenegger tweeted. “My friends at CAA have been asking me for 7 years when they can take offers seriously. Gave them the green light today.” His camp isn’t saying what roles he might be considering.

But given how obsessed Hollywood is with sequels, remakes and comic-book and board game adaptations, we have to assume some of the following roles might be on the table:

“The King’s Speech II”: The newly elected president of Austria (Schwarzenegger) is forced to appear on television to calm the nation after a terrorist attack. Unfortunately, he’s forgotten how to speak German, and the populace can’t understand his heavily accented English. The president’s wife (Jennifer Aniston) summons an unorthodox speech therapist (comedian Gilbert Gottfried) to perform some Henry Higgins magic.

“The Lifter”: Based on parts of “The Wrestler” and “The Fighter,” an over-the-hill weightlifter (Schwarzenegger) has one more chance at redemption and sets his sights on an Olympic gold medal. He can still manage the snatch, but the clean-and-jerk proves elusive until the lifter’s mother (Melissa Leo, wearing a latex mask to make her look older) and his daughter (Marisa Tomei) travel to London to cheer him on.

“Scrabble”: Adapted from the popular board game, the movie unfolds in a futuristic world in which only contestants who can play all seven tiles from a letter rack that holds STOHREE (there is at least one winning word!) are allowed to live past age 65. One man (Schwarzenegger) approaching that fatal age attempts to change the rules through a ballot initiative only to have the winning proposition overturned by a group of activist judges (secretly controlled by the computers in “The Matrix”).

“The Man With the Dragon Tattoo”: Based on the recently discovered fourth book in novelist Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy (Quartet?), this crime thriller follows a magazine writer (Daniel Craig), a bisexual computer hacker (Rooney Mara) and a heavily tattooed chess wizard  (Schwarzenegger) whose rook might contain miniature negatives of incriminating photographs of a corrupt elected official (Eliot Spitzer). If the trio doesn’t succeed using the Ruy Lopez opening to beat a Russian grandmaster, the rook—and the crooked official—may slip out of their reach.

 — John Horn  

Photo: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Credit: Al Seib/Los Angeles Times.

 





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