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Week in Film
Week in Film
Burn in Venice
28 April 1980
Months before the slate for the upcoming 65th Venice Film Festival will be announced, the festival has welcomed the Coen Brothers' new comedy Burn After Reading as the opening night movie. After winning this year's Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director(s), the Coen Brothers are flying high, and this comedy about a washed-up CIA agent (John Malkovich) whose memoir falls in the wrong hands — in this case, not enemy agents, but bumbling gym employees — promises to be a much awaited treat. The cast also includes Brad Pitt, George Clooney, (another recent Oscar winner) Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand. For its distributor Focus Features, Venice has always been kind. Two of their recent films — Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain in 2005 and Lust, Caution in 2007 — have left with the coveted Golden Lion.
Douglas the Defender
29 April 2008
He may now be approaching 92 and have, in his own words, "survived World War II, a helicopter crash, a stroke, and two new knees" but Kirk Douglas is still more than ready to put up a fight to defend his friends and colleagues. The Spartacus star, who is well-known for his warm feelings for fellow thespians, read a recent piece in the Los Angeles Times criticizing the recent career choices made by heavyweight actors Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino and felt compelled to speak up. In a letter to the newspaper, the thrice-Oscar nominated Douglas wrote "I cringed when I read the denigrating remarks made about two wonderful actors, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. One of the most important industries in our country is the film industry. Our movies reach out to every corner of the world. Our stars are appreciated everywhere. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are two of our very important stars. They have made movies that will never be forgotten. I think you owe them an apology."
When in Rome…
30 April 1980
While film festivals are infamous for internal politics, they normally steer clear of city and state infighting. Although not always. In our Week That Was last week, we reported on the culture-defining fight that took place in Paris in April 1968 over the control of the Cinémathèque Française. This week in Rome another battle is heating up. According to the Guardian, the recently elected mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, a former fascist with ties to the conservative prime minister and media maven Silvio Berlusconi, promised to "downsize the festival staff and reduce the allocation for the event in the city's budget." In addition he has vowed that his first act as mayor would be to replace the current festival director, a friend of the prior mayor. With one of his campaign slogans being, "Alemanno — for less cinema and more security," the mayor has announced, "I believe we need to promote Italian films rather than Hollywood stars."
Bollywood on the Rocks
30 April 2008
Bollywood, like it's cousin Hollywood, has recently had a crackdown on smoking in movies, but now India's health minister has appealed to filmmakers to also cut down on characters' drinking in films. "Earlier, most villains were shown consuming alcohol. Now heroes have started to portray alcohol consumption more often," Anbumani Ramadoss told the Times of India. Indians' attitude to alcohol has recently become much more liberal, in part due to movie stars popularizing champagne and cocktails, however Ramadoss has identified alcohol as "the mother of all public health problems in India." Ramadoss attacked smoking in Bollywood movies in January of this year, however the health minister can only advise rather than force filmmakers to clean up their act. "First he says don't smoke, now it's don't drink. It's undoable, because then what do you show?" said film journalist Komal Nahta, responding to the politician's comments.
Back in Cruise Control
2 May 2008
Last week Oprah Winfrey sat down with Tom Cruise for a two-part interview to celebrate the actor's 25 years in Hollywood — except this time there were no upholstery gymnastics from Cruise. The previous time Winfrey interviewed the Top Gun star was in 2005, when Cruise infamously jumped up and down on Winfrey's couch in order to demonstrate how in love he was with his then-fiancée, Katie Holmes. This time, the conversation, took place at Cruise's home in Telluride, Colorado, was much more intimate and subdued. Winfrey broached the subject of the "sofa incident," expressing her surprise and confusion over what had happened, and asked Cruise if he could do it over again whether he would do anything differently. "That was a moment, it was real, and I don't know if I would," said Cruise. "Knowing what I know now, you go 'OK, I get it.'" However, the actor playfully insisted that Winfrey herself was culpable for the incident, saying ""You were egging me on! You were egging me on. You were egging me on! You were egging me on, too."