Cinemascope

Disney posted the complete script for “Wall-E” on their awards page. Two things worth noting: in the screenplay Wall-E is actually “Wally”. And the lack of dialog in the first 20 something pages lends the script a format that looks almost like a poem. It’s a fun read. Download wall-e’s script

Or read it right here on this nifty widget:

“Synecdoche” producer Anthony Bregman in Jerusalem. July 2008.
Photo credit: Vered Fluk

In July producer Anthony Bregman introduced “Synecdoche, New York” at the Jerusalem Film Festival. He told me then that the film, financed by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, was picked up for distribution in Israel by local distributor “Forum Film” (which has a licensing deal with Sidney Kimmel and presented other films produced by the company, such as “Charlie Bartlet”). Today it was announced that Forum Film has decided to drop the film and not release it, not theatrically and even not on DVD, although a subtitled print is already available. The film will be shown in cinematheques next week before getting shelved for good.

To me this is tragic. “Synecdoche, New York” is so far, in my eyes, the best film of 2008. I’ve seen it twice already. It’s a mental meltdown of a script - about an artist who wants to tell the truth about life in his work, while never being able to actually live the life, or fulfill his vision - it’s as baroque and outrageous as Fellini’s “8 1/2″, and as trippy and nerve-wrecking as The Coens Brothers’ “Barton Fink” (with a similar metaphor in both, of a house engulfed in flames). It’s a movie about the impotence of the artist, but there is nothing impotent about the film itself. On the contrary: it’s brave and astute, and although this is Kaufman’s first directorial effort, the film plays as a large scale mind-trip that’s being handled with a confident hand (but a less then confident mind).

Forum Film, the Israeli distributor, are better suited in turning Disney and Pixar animated movies into hits. They are the blockbuster makers, and they handled well the local releases of “The Lord of the Rings” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” series. But they are constantly clueless with the handling of art-house releases. A sad state for the company that holds exclusive rights to to Miramax and Weinstein Co. titles. The shelving of “Synecdoche New York” is in to me a cultural crime, economic censorship.
It should be noted that both “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind” and “Adaptation”, written by Charlie Kaufman, were major art-house hits in Israel, both distributed by a different company, that specializes in intelligent movies for a hip crowd. Maybe foreign distributors and sales agent should pick their local representatives better. Forum Film ARE the biggest, but for films that do not play for kids or families, they are far from being the best.

Warner Bros. have uploaded the script for The Dark Knight, written by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan (with David S. Goyer co-credited for story). An Oscar nomination for the adapted script is inevitable. Download the script here: The Dark Knight Script

Or sit back and scroll thought its 141 pages on this nifty new widget:

As I did last year I hope to have up on my site all 10 nominated scripts, and other note-worthy screenplays of Oscar season, as they are made available. Check back.

It seems Israel IS an animation empire after all. Of the 14 films submitted for a nomination in the Best Animated Feature, two are Israeli co-production. The better known is Hebrew-speaking “Waltz With Bashir”, which is also Israel’s entry to the Foreign Language category. The second is the English language, Australian co-production, “$9.99″, a stop motion film based on the short stories of Etgar Keret (who co-wrote the script). These two will face 12 other films, among them likely-winner “Wall-E”. The three nominees will be announced January 22nd. Will “Waltz With Bashir” - nominated for Best Picture in the European Film Awards earlier this week - waltz away with a dual nomination, for Best Animated Feature AND Best Foreign Language Film?

The 14 submitted features are:

“Bolt”
“Delgo”
“Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!”
“Dragon Hunters”
“Fly Me to the Moon”
“Igor”
“Kung Fu Panda”
“Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”
“$9.99”
“The Sky Crawlers”
“Sword of the Stranger”
“The Tale of Despereaux”
“WALL-E”
“Waltz with Bashir”

Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed spent Election Day in Tel Aviv (of all places) where Anderson performed her political performance-poem “Homeland”. Reed joined her on stage for songs.

Anderson’s insights on the state of “things” in America are brilliant. Her catchy tune, “Only an Expert”, an avant-pop-commentary, is my anthem for the day. It is still relevant today, with a Democratic President-Elect, and a Democratic Senate.

Live this song plays even longer:

“Recount”, the HBO telefilm that was shown in the US in May and won an Emmy in September, will be broadcast in Israel tomorrow, election day (most Israeli broadcasters plan a whole day of special programming in lieu of the American elections. We’re quite stressed by their outcome over here.)

The story told in “Recount”, chronicling the weeks after the 2000 elections and the Florida recount, was made earlier into a 10 minutes documentary in 2002 by Spike Lee, titles “We Wuz Robbed“. (see it here).

Two weeks ago I chatted with Jay Roach, “Recount”’s director, on the phone, ahead of the Israeli premiere. I loved Roach’s “Austin Powers International Man of Mystery” and “Meet the Parents”, two films that made me consider crowning him “The Harold Ramis of Today”. Or maybe he is more of a Blake Edwards, another genius (and isn’t Ramis the Blake Edwards of the Eighties and Nineties, with Bill Murray his Peter Sellers?).
Anyway, the sequels to both franchises made me rethink my statement. I didn’t care much for them. But his latter day involvements with “Borat” (my favorite American movie of 2006) as producer, and now with “Recount” as director led me to think that Roach still has untapped greatness in him and that his true masterpiece - either comedic, dramatic or political - is still ahead of him.

Roach inherited “Recount” from Sydney Pollack, who was in pre-production already when his bout with cancer made him drop out. “It was a really sad lunch”, remembers Roach the meeting with Pollack and Paula Weinstein when his was offered the project, “I didn’t know Sydney was ill. I was a great follower of him, and he knew I was looking for a serious project to direct”. A day after the HBO premiere of “Recount”, Pollack passed away.

Before “Recount” was handed over to him, Roach was developing a political project of his own, about Mark Felt, who was outed as “Deep Throat” in the Watergate investigation. Though Roach is not presently involved in any project the Mark Felt may be his next movie.
Or, it could be “Used Guys”. The Ben Stiller-Jim Carrey comedy was canceled a few years ago, but - says Roach - “a couple of weeks ago it got fast tracked by the studio again. Ben Stiller is still attached, Jim Carrey is not. We’ll see who’ll be there next to Ben”.
What about a fourth Austin Powers?
“I’m talking to Mike Meyers about it. But I won’t do it unless we have a script that makes the movie worth making. Too many times the studio wants to make a sequel for the sake of the brand. I want a sequel only if we can take the original concept further then where we were”.
What was you involvement exactly with “Borat”. You’re credited as a producer. What does it mean?
“Sacha Baron-Cohen came to me with the project and I helped him develop it. He wanted me to direct but I realized that the crew on this movie had to pretend they are actually shooting something else and I’m afraid I’m a terrible actor”.
And now you’re a producer on “Bruno”. Have you seen anything?
“I have and I can promise you that Sacha does not disappoint. They are still shooting and editing and because of the way Sacha works the movie is constantly changing”.
Baron-Cohen comes to Israel quite often, he has family here, He even shot parts of “Bruno” here. Did you ever see “Borat” with an Israeli audience? When Borat speaks Kazakh he actually speaks Hebrew with a very foul language. It’s hysterically hilarious and these are bits that only Israeli audiences get.
“I knew it was Hebrew but I never knew what he was saying. Did you see the movie at the Haifa Film Festival in 2006?”
I did! It was right after the premiere in Toronto. It was a midnight screening in front of almost 1,000 people and it was one of the funniest movie screenings in my life. People screamed in laughter.
“Oh my, I wish I could’ve been there. Sacha told me about that screening. His family was there.”
Did you see the Spike Lee short? It tells almost the exact story of “Recount” in 10 minutes.
“I did. It was a great help for our research. We couldn’t find anything on Michael Whouley, who was on the Gore campaign, no pictures, no interviews, he’s quite mysterious, but Spike got him to talk on his film, so we could study the way he looks and talks. Dennis Leary plays him in our movie”.
What will happen on Election Day in America?
“I think it’s quite safe to say that Barack Obama is going to win. I’m a supporter of his campaign but I think that even the Republicans know they are going to lose by now. My main concern now is what will happen in Congress, because without the majority in congress the President will have a hard time implementing his vision”.

“Quantum of Solace” is released in Israel Thursday, a week ahead of The States. Israeli distributor, AD Matalon, is withholding press screenings of the movie until the night before its release, which generally means “We don’t have much faith critics will like it” (which is odd, meaning they have really low regard - or so it seems - for this one, as critics tend to be kind to James Bond movies, unless Timothy Dalton or a villain named “Jaws” are in it).
But last night they held a sneak preview for local celebrities in tel Aviv, and one of them - a bone fide Bond aficionado - texted me after the screening this shorter-then-a-haiku critique: “It’s a real stinker! the direction is terrible”.

I will see the film Thursday and will have to find out for myself how much of a stinker this one really is. Has anyone already seen it? Care to comment?

Michael Moore emailed this message to the million names on his mailing list:

Friends,

Tomorrow.

All of us.

You, me, and everyone we know.

Eight years is enough. Eight weeks was enough.

We have a chance to redeem this country, to prove we’re better than this, that which Bush has made of us.

McCain is right about one thing: Barack Obama is the most liberal senator in the United States Senate. More liberal than Ted Kennedy. When was the last time you had a chance to send the MOST liberal senator to the White House? Trust me, it won’t happen again in our lifetime.

Every vote is critical — even in hard red states like Texas and Alabama; and true blue ones like New York, California and Michigan. Tomorrow, we need to create a massive popular vote that will give Obama a stunning mandate to return this country to we, the people. Let’s write one for the history books and rocket Obama into the White House.

Expect trouble tomorrow. Stand your ground. Don’t let some clerk turn you away. Make noise. Call the media if they won’t let you vote. Let the Obama camp know. Check out his Voter Protection Center. Know where your polling place is. Be careful inside the voting booth. The ballot still reads like a Sudoku puzzle. Be prepared for long lines. That’s ok, you know how to bring the party with you! Make new friends. Plot your local revolution. The 28-year rule of Republicans (and Democrats who act like Republicans) is over. The Reagan Era dies tomorrow night. My God, I truly thought it would never end.

I’m in Israel now, following the US election with some anxiety. The USA image is in the gutter internationally after eight years of Bush. And frankly, I’m shocked that McCain has over 40% percent of the popular vote according to poles. How could that be? How can Americans not see that the McCain-Palin ticket is furthering America’s image as the world’s buffoon? A clueless country who votes out of fear and resents progress. I want to realize two things by Wednesday: 1) that the number of voters was higher than ever, meaning that American are not so complacent, blase and passive anymore and want to take an active part in the forging of their future. 2) that Obama has won. Otherwise I will conclude that the USA is in fact a dictatorship, where boredom and and indifference patrol the streets instead of armed militia. I hope to wake up Wednesday and find that American embraceds rationale and common sense and gave originality, and not stagnation, their vote. Otherwise America, I may have to quit you.