New Films in Production

[moviscop]

News from "Untitled Terrence Malick Project" by Pitchfork.

Apparently Kilmer took some time off Citizen Twain and B-roles for a bit to do some singing and guitar smashing at SXSW.

[Mr Sausage]

News from "Untitled Terrence Malick Project" by Pitchfork.

Apparently Kilmer took some time off Citizen Twain and B-roles for a bit to do some singing and guitar smashing at SXSW.

Already posted here.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Weinsteins pick up U.S. (and other) rights for Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer

The Weinsteins have never shown the slightest sign of changing their old ways -- This Must Be the Place (which they picked up at Cannes 2011) has only now been released in a recut version, and the equally delayed Wu Xia is coming out at the end of the month with about twenty minutes hacked out and the insipid new title Dragon. So as far as I'm concerned this is terrible news.

[knives]

They edited This Must Be the Place? How so?

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I don't know exactly, since I haven't seen the U.S. version and none of the American reviewers seem to be aware of the issue. But Sorrentino briefly touched on it here:

Reports have emerged that the Weinstein Company, who are distributing This Must be the Place in the US, urged Sorrentino to recut the film for that market. Given the fearsome reputation of Harvey Weinstein, one could be forgiven for assuming that some heated arguments took place.

"No, no. Part of the agreement was that I kept artistic control. There is an edit for the United States but I cut that edit. So they were in complete agreement." What was the problem? "Oh, in the States they have this fixation that everything must be crystal clear. Everything must be understood."

He may say "complete agreement," but the tenor of those last two sentences rather undercuts that. And having watched the original cut a few days ago, I have no idea what was supposedly too confusing for us dumb Americans.

[Keyrek]

They edited This Must Be the Place? How so?

I don't know about other edits, but I was looking up reviews of This Must Be the Place after I watched it the weekend, and was linked to this scene, which I don't remember as a single take at all; instead, I remember it as shot/reverse-shot with the floating taken out.

[knives]

That's unfortunate. I guess I'll have to go DVD on this.

[Markson]

Sean Penn is in talks to star in The Prone Gunman, an adaptation of Jean-Patrick Manchette's amazing, hard, violent 1970's crime novel. Quite a strange choice for Joel Silver's company. The article's mention that Manchette's work is "existentialist and involving explorations of politics as well as the human condition" is accurate, and it's puzzling that such a harsh and eccentric work is being bandied as potentially franchise-worthy. The novel is entertaining, though, albeit bloody and unsentimental and littered with references to free jazz musicians. I can imagine a solid adaptation standing a chance in the art house circuit, but I fear that the tale will be gutted to its barest elements and garnished with more than a little stupidity. Makes me wonder who proposed this venture? The novel is OOP (Stateside, at least), and the deceased Manchette has been, prior to the celebrated graphic novel adaptations of his work published in the U.S. by Fantagraphics, obscure to all but the most dedicated literary crime cultists.

[warren oates]

It's not out of print in the U.S. -- check Glamazon. And it's not all that obscure, especially now that it's been adapted into a popular graphic novel. Before I was anything like a crime cultist I read two of his books because City Lights put them out in snazzy compact paperback editions. Anybody who's seen the three Manchettes that are easily available in English (or the graphic novel adaptations) knows he's something special and yet not uncommercial. I'm not surprised this is getting made, just that John Woo or Johnnie To isn't directing it.

[Markson]

Ah, you're right––the City Lights edition is still available. My mistake. And you're right that Manchette isn't the obscurest of obscure, necessarily, but I imagine that he's practically unknown to the general reader, even an adventurous one who reads widely and with regularity. But perhaps I'm attached to my memory of discovering Manchette through a college professor (an awarded crime writer himself), back before the graphic novels, before the NYRB Classics reissue, back when I felt like I was among only a handful who got to experience his remarkable work. While reading him, a Hollywood-bankrolled film adaptation with Penn is about the last thing I could have expected.

[Matt]

Please proceed to New Films in Production. v. 2