Directors interested in important, ambitious subject matter didn’t all go extinct with the rise of the Star Wars Generation. Roland Joffé’s first four features are powerful pictures that tell truths that we ought not to forget, with a couple of Award-winning gems right up front. The star power is here as well — Robert De Niro, Paul Newman, Patrick Swayze. The deluxe collector’s box caps a presentation with new extras for each title: The Killing Fields, The Mission, Fat Man and Little Boy and City of Joy.
Directed by Roland Joffé
Region-Free Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator 194, 185, 186, 187
1984 – 1992 / Color / Street Date December 7, 2022 / 525 minutes cumulative / Available from / au 179.95
Starring: Sam Waterston, Dr. Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich; Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons; Paul Newman, Dwight Schultz, Bonnie Bedelia, John Cusack; Patrick Swayze, Om Puri, Pauline Collins.
Cinematography: Chris Menges (2); Vilmos Zsigmond, Peter Biziou
Original Music: Mike Oldfield, Ennio Morricone (3)
Written by Bruce Robinson; Robert Bolt; Bruce Robinson,...
Directed by Roland Joffé
Region-Free Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator 194, 185, 186, 187
1984 – 1992 / Color / Street Date December 7, 2022 / 525 minutes cumulative / Available from / au 179.95
Starring: Sam Waterston, Dr. Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich; Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons; Paul Newman, Dwight Schultz, Bonnie Bedelia, John Cusack; Patrick Swayze, Om Puri, Pauline Collins.
Cinematography: Chris Menges (2); Vilmos Zsigmond, Peter Biziou
Original Music: Mike Oldfield, Ennio Morricone (3)
Written by Bruce Robinson; Robert Bolt; Bruce Robinson,...
- 12/20/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Private equity investors in indie movies “might as well throw their money down a rat hole.” Those words of warning from the late Jake Eberts (“Driving Miss Daisy”) continue to send a shudder down the spines of the unrecouped. Indeed, the industry motto that “you never get net” remains as prescient as ever.
As industryites takes meetings and nosh in Santa Monica during the AFM, they acknowledge three key factors that have dented the prospects of recouping equity: The first is the demise of previously semi-reliable ancillary revenues via DVD and free TV since the financial crisis of 2009. The second is the disappearance of any back-end sharing of platform profits given the SVOD business model; and the third is less choice due to the steamroller of original commissioning by the streamers. Talent is being signed up at such speed and scale that slim pickings remain for indie producers to put their best packages forward,...
As industryites takes meetings and nosh in Santa Monica during the AFM, they acknowledge three key factors that have dented the prospects of recouping equity: The first is the demise of previously semi-reliable ancillary revenues via DVD and free TV since the financial crisis of 2009. The second is the disappearance of any back-end sharing of platform profits given the SVOD business model; and the third is less choice due to the steamroller of original commissioning by the streamers. Talent is being signed up at such speed and scale that slim pickings remain for indie producers to put their best packages forward,...
- 11/1/2022
- by Angus Finney
- Variety Film + TV
Stephen Johnston, former president of Goldcrest Films, whose best picture Oscar winners included Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, Dances With Wolves and Driving Miss Daisy when run by co-founder Jake Eberts during the 1980s, has died. He was 68.
Johnston, who served as president and managing director of the Los Angeles office of Goldcrest before retiring in 2013, died May 4 in Los Angeles after a short illness, according to his publicist.
"I’ll miss him terribly and fondly recall our 30 years of joy and laughter," Goldcrest Group chairman John Quested said Sunday in a statement.
Johnston was born...
Johnston, who served as president and managing director of the Los Angeles office of Goldcrest before retiring in 2013, died May 4 in Los Angeles after a short illness, according to his publicist.
"I’ll miss him terribly and fondly recall our 30 years of joy and laughter," Goldcrest Group chairman John Quested said Sunday in a statement.
Johnston was born...
- 5/21/2017
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stars: Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Samantha Mathis, Dennis Hopper, Fisher Stevens, Richard Edson, Fiona Shaw, Dana Kaminski, Mojo Nixon, Gianni Russo, Francesca P. Roberts, Lance Henriksen | Written by Parker Bennett, Terry Runte, Ed Solomon | Directed by Rocky Morton, Annabel Jankel
Let’s be honest, Super Mario Bros: The Movie is not a great movie. It’s not even a great video game adaptation. As a movie-loving teen the film was high on my must-see radar, so imagine my disappointment when I eventually saw the film on VHS… However since then I’ve come to appreciate the film for the bizarre Sf-tinged adventure movie that it is, rather than an adaptation of my all-time favourite video game franchise.
A critical and commercial failure on it’s original 1993 release, Super Mario Bros: The Movie has, in the intervening years, become something of a cult classic. So much so that the out-of-print DVD...
Let’s be honest, Super Mario Bros: The Movie is not a great movie. It’s not even a great video game adaptation. As a movie-loving teen the film was high on my must-see radar, so imagine my disappointment when I eventually saw the film on VHS… However since then I’ve come to appreciate the film for the bizarre Sf-tinged adventure movie that it is, rather than an adaptation of my all-time favourite video game franchise.
A critical and commercial failure on it’s original 1993 release, Super Mario Bros: The Movie has, in the intervening years, become something of a cult classic. So much so that the out-of-print DVD...
- 11/2/2014
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Where were Andy Griffith, Larry Hagman and other well-known celebrities in this year's Oscars In Memoriam montage? They were online at Oscar.com.
Every year it's one of the more reliably ridiculous award show controversies: Who didn't make the cut for In Memoriam?
When it comes to the Oscars, these "snubs" are particularly sensitive given the prestige and viewership of the show, and the fact that the montage inevitably leaves out names and faces of recognizable stars -- usually those known far more for their work in television than their work in film, which is the medium that the Academy Awards actually celebrate.
However, the Academy is hip to the annual controversy and this year produced a supplemental slideshow on their website featuring 114 names and photos of entertainers and film craftspeople who passed away in the past year.
Among the late greats included in the slideshow but not on the...
Every year it's one of the more reliably ridiculous award show controversies: Who didn't make the cut for In Memoriam?
When it comes to the Oscars, these "snubs" are particularly sensitive given the prestige and viewership of the show, and the fact that the montage inevitably leaves out names and faces of recognizable stars -- usually those known far more for their work in television than their work in film, which is the medium that the Academy Awards actually celebrate.
However, the Academy is hip to the annual controversy and this year produced a supplemental slideshow on their website featuring 114 names and photos of entertainers and film craftspeople who passed away in the past year.
Among the late greats included in the slideshow but not on the...
- 2/25/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
Participant Media and the UCLA School of Film, Theater and Television have announced the formation of a distinguished fellowship in honor of Oscar-winning film producer Jake Eberts (1941-2012). "The Jake Eberts Fellowship for Social Impact Filmmaking" is for the school's graduate students focused on feature film development, social media and digital post-production. Throughout his four-decade career, Eberts financed or produced more than 50 films, including Best Picture winners "Chariots of Fire," "Gandhi," "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Dances with Wolves." In total his produced films garnered a staggering 65 Oscar nominations, and 27 wins. The fellowship was announced at an Eberts tribute held on February 19, where Participant's Jeff Skoll dubbed Eberts "the gentle giant of the film industry." In a rare clip of Eberts talking about his career, he mentioned that he didn't realize his desire to be a filmmaker...
- 2/20/2013
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Catch up with the last seven days in the world of film
The big story
As the Venice film festival staggered to a close – awarding its Golden Lion, rather controversially, to the Korean film Pieta rather than the runaway favourite, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master – Toronto 2012 reared its head. We're forced to admit the Canadian festival gets better every year, attracting the pick of the international film circuit, and definitely putting its Old Europe rival in the shade.
Catherine Shoard and Henry Barnes are out there for us, and they've sent back a giant pile of copy and video. New films reviewed include (deep breath): the Jake Gyllenhall cop drama End of Watch; Emma Watson's breakout performance in The Perks of Being a Wallflower; the Salman Rushdie scripted adaptation of Midnight's Children; sex-addict yarn Thanks for Sharing with Mark Ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow; the loopy adapation of...
The big story
As the Venice film festival staggered to a close – awarding its Golden Lion, rather controversially, to the Korean film Pieta rather than the runaway favourite, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master – Toronto 2012 reared its head. We're forced to admit the Canadian festival gets better every year, attracting the pick of the international film circuit, and definitely putting its Old Europe rival in the shade.
Catherine Shoard and Henry Barnes are out there for us, and they've sent back a giant pile of copy and video. New films reviewed include (deep breath): the Jake Gyllenhall cop drama End of Watch; Emma Watson's breakout performance in The Perks of Being a Wallflower; the Salman Rushdie scripted adaptation of Midnight's Children; sex-addict yarn Thanks for Sharing with Mark Ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow; the loopy adapation of...
- 9/13/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Founder of Goldcrest Films with a string of Oscar-winning movies to his name
It is a mark of the wide-ranging success of Jake Eberts, founder of the once-mighty Goldcrest Films, who has died aged 71 after suffering from cancer, that few headline writers summing up his life could agree on his most notable producing credit. Was it Chariots of Fire (1981), Gandhi (1982) or The Killing Fields (1984)? The Name of the Rose (1986), Driving Miss Daisy (1989) or Dances With Wolves (1990)? Easier instead to herald him as the man whose films won a staggering 37 Oscars.
From the mid-1970s onwards, Eberts combined business acumen and creative energy with an integrity much admired in the film industry. The actor Kevin Costner, with whom he worked on Dances with Wolves and Open Range (2003), said of him: "Hollywood is full of people who either have intelligence or integrity. Jake is the only one with both." Lord Attenborough, who collaborated with Eberts on Gandhi,...
It is a mark of the wide-ranging success of Jake Eberts, founder of the once-mighty Goldcrest Films, who has died aged 71 after suffering from cancer, that few headline writers summing up his life could agree on his most notable producing credit. Was it Chariots of Fire (1981), Gandhi (1982) or The Killing Fields (1984)? The Name of the Rose (1986), Driving Miss Daisy (1989) or Dances With Wolves (1990)? Easier instead to herald him as the man whose films won a staggering 37 Oscars.
From the mid-1970s onwards, Eberts combined business acumen and creative energy with an integrity much admired in the film industry. The actor Kevin Costner, with whom he worked on Dances with Wolves and Open Range (2003), said of him: "Hollywood is full of people who either have intelligence or integrity. Jake is the only one with both." Lord Attenborough, who collaborated with Eberts on Gandhi,...
- 9/10/2012
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
*In response to the death of producer Jake Eberts this week, frequent collaborator and film publicist Pete Daly asked if he could pay tribute to him. Here is his personal obituary for Eberts.*The word “legend” is thrown around in film like cheap popcorn, but for Jake Eberts, who died on September 6 aged 71, the label seems almost an understatement. Despite not entering the industry until his mid-30s, Eberts produced or financed over 50 films, garnering 65 Academy nominations and winning 37 Oscars.Canadian-born, Jake was working in the City of London when approached to invest in the development of Watership Down. When this made a profit he re-invested the funds into the film’s production, and was bitten by the movie bug.It was not long before Eberts almost single-handedly dragged the British film industry out of an abyss of soft porn and TV spin-offs. Commercial success and critical acclaim followed, with...
- 9/8/2012
- EmpireOnline
Movie producer Jake Eberts dead at 71 Movie producer Jake Eberts, whose credits (as executive producer) include Best Picture Oscar winners Gandhi, Driving Miss Daisy, and Dances with Wolves, died Thursday morning (Sept. 6) in Montreal, following a "brief illness." Eberts was 71. According to The Montreal Gazette, the Montreal-born Eberts financed or produced more than 50 films. The IMdb lists 38 Jake Eberts producing credits, most of which in the capacity of executive producer. His credits as "producer" include Roland Joffé’s poorly received box-office disappointment City of Joy, starring Patrick Swayze and Pauline Collins; the game-based flick Super Mario Bros., with Bob Hoskins, [...]...
- 9/7/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jake Eberts, who produced and financed films that won 37 Oscars, died Thursday morning in Montreal, following a brief illness. He was 71, according to the Montreal Gazette, which reported his death. Eberts financed or produced more than 50 films, four of which earned Academy Awards for Best Picture: "Chariots of Fire," "Gandhi," "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Dances with Wolves." He also produced "The Killing Fields," "The Dresser," "Local Hero," "A River Runs Through It," "Chicken Run," "The Illusionist" and "Grey Owl." Also read: Notable Celebrity Deaths of 2012 "He was an extraordinary film...
- 9/7/2012
- by Todd Cunningham
- The Wrap
Renowned movie producer and financier Jake Eberts whose many credits include films which won 37 Oscars died this morning in his hometown of Montreal following a brief illness, according to the Montreal Gazette. He was 71. Respected and resourceful, Eberts based in London for a time financed many of the great indie productions which the majors wouldn’t greenlight. Indeed he funded and/or produced more than 50 films including Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, The Killing Fields, Dances With Wolves, Driving Miss Daisy, The Dresser, Local Hero, A River Runs Through It, Black Robe, Ocean, Chicken Run, The Illusionist and Grey Owl. He also worked to find financing for a who’s who of filmmakers and talents including Robert Redford, Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Beresford, Richard Attenborough, Pierce Brosnan, and Albert Finney. “He was an extraordinary film producer and an extraordinary man,” Montreal director Denys Arcand told the Montreal Gazette. “He took filmmaking seriously.
- 9/6/2012
- by NIKKI FINKE
- Deadline Hollywood
Hyde Park Entertainment and Image Nation Abu Dhabi are set to finance and co-produce Arctic family adventure feature "Midnight Sun" which begins shooting in Canadian Arctic and Manitoba in November.
Set amongst the ice fields of Northern Canada, the story follows a young boy who defies the dangerous elements of nature to reunite an abandoned polar bear cub with its mother.
At first he's aided by a half Inuit/half Canadian who knows the terrain, but they are soon separated on the floating ice of the high Arctic with the boy and cub braving bear attacks, giant icebergs, and vicious windstorms.
Hugh Hudson ("Chariots of Fire", "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan") helms from a script he co-wrote with Bart Gavigan. Jake Eberts, Brando Quilici and Ashok Amritraj will produce.
Set amongst the ice fields of Northern Canada, the story follows a young boy who defies the dangerous elements of nature to reunite an abandoned polar bear cub with its mother.
At first he's aided by a half Inuit/half Canadian who knows the terrain, but they are soon separated on the floating ice of the high Arctic with the boy and cub braving bear attacks, giant icebergs, and vicious windstorms.
Hugh Hudson ("Chariots of Fire", "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan") helms from a script he co-wrote with Bart Gavigan. Jake Eberts, Brando Quilici and Ashok Amritraj will produce.
- 5/2/2012
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Ashok Amritraj.s Hyde Park Entertainment and Image Nation Abu Dhabi will finance and co-produce the Arctic adventure Midnight Sun. Directed by Hugh Hudson (Chariots Of Fire, Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes), the film is from a script by Hudson and Bart Gavigan. Jake Eberts (Dances With Wolves, Gandhi) and Brando Quilici (Iceman Autopsy) will produce alongside Hyde Park Entertainment.s Ashok Amritraj (Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance 3D).
Hyde Park International will introduce the project at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, and will represent worldwide rights. The project has already generated significant interest among buyers, including Medusa, which has purchased Italian rights, and Alliance Atlantis, which has purchased Canadian rights.
Midnight Sun is a four-quadrant family adventure film in the vein of Free Willy and Dolphin Tale, set amongst the ice fields of Northern Canada. The hero is a young boy, Luke, who defies the...
Hyde Park International will introduce the project at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, and will represent worldwide rights. The project has already generated significant interest among buyers, including Medusa, which has purchased Italian rights, and Alliance Atlantis, which has purchased Canadian rights.
Midnight Sun is a four-quadrant family adventure film in the vein of Free Willy and Dolphin Tale, set amongst the ice fields of Northern Canada. The hero is a young boy, Luke, who defies the...
- 5/1/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Ashok Amritraj.s Hyde Park Entertainment and Image Nation Abu Dhabi announced today that they will finance and co-produce the Arctic adventure Midnight Sun . Directed by Hugh Hudson ( Chariots of Fire , Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes ), the film is from a script by Hudson and Bart Gavigan. Jake Eberts ( Dances with Wolves , Gandhi ) and Brando Quilici ("Iceman Autopsy")will produce alongside Hyde Park Entertainment.s Ashok Amritraj ( Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance ). Midnight Sun is a four-quadrant family adventure film in the vein of Free Willy and Dolphin Tale , set amongst the ice fields of Northern Canada. The hero is a young boy, Luke, who defies the dangerous elements of nature to reunite an abandoned polar bear cub with its mother....
- 5/1/2012
- Comingsoon.net
Bruno Wu’s Seven Stars Film Studios has partnered with financier/producer Jake Eberts (Gandhi, Dances With Wolves) to form Allied Productions East. The joint venture's first project will be Mission Boys, written by Secretary screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson. A week ago, Wu signed a deal with Fast Five director Justin Lin to create Perfect Storm Entertainment. A third partnership announcement is forthcoming. Photos: Premiere Pics: 'Fast Five' and 'Water for Elephants' The announcements follow the recent launch of the $800 million Harvest Seven Stars Media Private Equity Fund (Hssmpeg), which among other things is designed to fund content creation, marketing and distribution of feature
read more...
read more...
- 3/27/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Related: Seven Stars Forms Joint Venture With ‘Fast Five’ Helmer Justin Lin Beijing/Los Angeles, March 27, 2012: Bruno Wu’s Seven Stars Film Studios has signed its second joint venture to create Allied Productions East with financier/producer Jake Eberts (‘Gandhi’, ‘Driving Miss Daisy’, ‘Dances With Wolves’, ‘A River Runs Through It’, ‘Chicken Run’). Jake Eberts and Bruno Wu, Chairman of Seven Stars Global Entertainment (Ssge), the parent company of Seven Stars Film Studios; and CEO of Harvest Seven Stars Media Private Equity Ltd (Hssmpeg), will both act as principals in the company. This news follows the recent launch of the $800 million Hssmpeg Fund which intends to invest across two distinct areas: mergers and acquisitions in the media field; and content creation. In addition the Fund will develop a multi-media marketing and distribution platform. The creation of content is the purview of Seven Stars Film Studios. Allied Productions East will...
- 3/27/2012
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
Looks like Peter Weir’s film The Way Back will see a 2010 release. When the film premiered at the 37th Telluride Film Festival, A.O. Scott, of the New York Times wrote in early September:
The drama of human beings confronting the elemental power of nature figures in later work like “The Mosquito Coast” and “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” and also in his latest movie, “The Way Back.” … Mr. Weir’s style is stately, almost classical, and the astonishing story he has to tell in the new movie “about a group of men who escaped from a Soviet Labor camp in 1941 and walked from Siberia to India. has an old-fashioned gravity and grandeur. There are fine performances from Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan and Jim Sturgess as Janusz, the Polish prisoner who leads the trek toward freedom, and breathtaking images of tundra, desert forest and grassland.
Here...
The drama of human beings confronting the elemental power of nature figures in later work like “The Mosquito Coast” and “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” and also in his latest movie, “The Way Back.” … Mr. Weir’s style is stately, almost classical, and the astonishing story he has to tell in the new movie “about a group of men who escaped from a Soviet Labor camp in 1941 and walked from Siberia to India. has an old-fashioned gravity and grandeur. There are fine performances from Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan and Jim Sturgess as Janusz, the Polish prisoner who leads the trek toward freedom, and breathtaking images of tundra, desert forest and grassland.
Here...
- 10/6/2010
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Sony Pictures Classics has “acquired all North American rights to Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist from Pathe. The film is based on an unproduced screenplay by Jacques Tati and is...
- 4/26/2010
- by Sasha Stone
- AwardsDaily.com
Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all North American rights to Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist from Pathe. The film is based on an unproduced screenplay by Jacques Tati and is produced by Bob Last and executive produced by Jake Eberts and Philippe Carcassonne ( Coco Before Chanel ). The Illusionist had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival as a Berlinale Special Selection. It is planned for an end of year release. Sony Pictures Classics previously worked with Chomet on his Academy Award nominated film The Triplets of Belleville and Carcassonne on Coco Before Chanel . The Illusionist details the story of a dying breed of stage entertainer whose thunder is being stolen by emerging rock stars. Forced to accept increasingly obscure...
- 4/26/2010
- Comingsoon.net
DiCaprio And Norton Join Sea Eco-conference
Eco-friendly actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Edward Norton were among the stars who gathered in Ecuador last week (beg05Apr10) to take part in an innovative conference and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
An elite group of environmentally-conscious celebrities, including Glenn Close, Daryl Hannah and Chevy Chase, joined over 100 business leaders, scientists and activists to participate in The Mission Blue Voyage, a four-day conference at sea to address conservation issues in the country.
Guest speakers during the trip included veteran rocker Jackson Browne, singer/songwriter Damien Rice, film producer Jake Eberts and French explorer/environmentalist Jean-Michel Cousteau.
DiCaprio and Norton are said to have met with Ecuador’s Vice President Lenin Moreno during the trip on Friday and given him their backing for the Yasuni-itt initiative, a scheme which aims to protect the Ecuadorian Amazon from oil extraction measures.
An elite group of environmentally-conscious celebrities, including Glenn Close, Daryl Hannah and Chevy Chase, joined over 100 business leaders, scientists and activists to participate in The Mission Blue Voyage, a four-day conference at sea to address conservation issues in the country.
Guest speakers during the trip included veteran rocker Jackson Browne, singer/songwriter Damien Rice, film producer Jake Eberts and French explorer/environmentalist Jean-Michel Cousteau.
DiCaprio and Norton are said to have met with Ecuador’s Vice President Lenin Moreno during the trip on Friday and given him their backing for the Yasuni-itt initiative, a scheme which aims to protect the Ecuadorian Amazon from oil extraction measures.
- 4/13/2010
- WENN
Spitfire Documentary Films, the doc unit of Exclusive Media Group, is teaming with Flat-Out Films and Diamond Docs to produce a feature documentary about Formula One motor racing.
Paul Crowder, whose credits include the Spitfire doc "Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who," has been tapped to direct, and Mark Monroe, who wrote the Oscar-nominated "The Cove" and "The Tillman Story," has been commissioned to pen the project about the golden age of grand prix motor racing from the late '60s through the 1970s.
"The heyday of Formula One racing was a very different time, when the risks were high and the characters were larger than life," said Spitfire Pictures co-chairman and CEO Nigel Sinclair, who will produce along with Michael Shevloff of Flat-Out Films.
Jake Eberts will serve as exec producer on the project, which is being produced with the support of Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One Management.
Paul Crowder, whose credits include the Spitfire doc "Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who," has been tapped to direct, and Mark Monroe, who wrote the Oscar-nominated "The Cove" and "The Tillman Story," has been commissioned to pen the project about the golden age of grand prix motor racing from the late '60s through the 1970s.
"The heyday of Formula One racing was a very different time, when the risks were high and the characters were larger than life," said Spitfire Pictures co-chairman and CEO Nigel Sinclair, who will produce along with Michael Shevloff of Flat-Out Films.
Jake Eberts will serve as exec producer on the project, which is being produced with the support of Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One Management.
- 2/8/2010
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
London -- National Geographic Entertainment and Imagenation Abu Dhabi is teaming with Exclusive Media Group and Spitfire Pictures to produce Peter Weir's “The Way Back.”
The high profile project, scripted by Weir from the story of a real-life escape from a Siberian gulag in the 1940s, marks the first movie to attract backing from the $100 million movie fund set up by National Geographic Entertainment and Imagenation Abu Dhabi in October last year.
The duo established the fund to develop, produce, finance and acquire 10 to 15 films in the next five years.
The adventure movie will star Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan and Colin Farrell and chronicles the escape of a small group of multi-national prisoners from a Siberian gulag in 1940 and their epic journey over thousands of miles across five hostile countries. It is currently shooting in Bulgaria.
L.A. based Spitfire Pictures is producing for parent company Exclusive Media Group,...
The high profile project, scripted by Weir from the story of a real-life escape from a Siberian gulag in the 1940s, marks the first movie to attract backing from the $100 million movie fund set up by National Geographic Entertainment and Imagenation Abu Dhabi in October last year.
The duo established the fund to develop, produce, finance and acquire 10 to 15 films in the next five years.
The adventure movie will star Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan and Colin Farrell and chronicles the escape of a small group of multi-national prisoners from a Siberian gulag in 1940 and their epic journey over thousands of miles across five hostile countries. It is currently shooting in Bulgaria.
L.A. based Spitfire Pictures is producing for parent company Exclusive Media Group,...
- 4/30/2009
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates -- Following a star-sprinkled opening night, Saturday was down to business: National Geographic Entertainment and Imagenation Abu Dhabi announced a $100 million financing fund.
The companies stated the fund will be used to produce 10 to 15 feature films during the next five years. The new venture was announced on the first day of the second annual Middle East International Film Festival, during a press conference held at Emirates Palace.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of the government-owned Abu Dhabi Media Company, Imagenation is the latest initiative aimed at making the capital a media hub to be reckoned with. Launched in September 2008 with a pot of more than $1 billion, Imagenation is dedicated to financing upwards of 20 films for Arabic and global markets over the next five years. A quarter of this has already been earmarked for use in conjunction with La-based Participant Media. Such financial incentives play a large part...
The companies stated the fund will be used to produce 10 to 15 feature films during the next five years. The new venture was announced on the first day of the second annual Middle East International Film Festival, during a press conference held at Emirates Palace.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of the government-owned Abu Dhabi Media Company, Imagenation is the latest initiative aimed at making the capital a media hub to be reckoned with. Launched in September 2008 with a pot of more than $1 billion, Imagenation is dedicated to financing upwards of 20 films for Arabic and global markets over the next five years. A quarter of this has already been earmarked for use in conjunction with La-based Participant Media. Such financial incentives play a large part...
- 10/11/2008
- by By Jolanta Chudy
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Panel: Movies can work for social change
PARK CITY -- It is possible to make movies that will change the world, participants in a Saturday panel titled "Brave New World: Entertainment and Social Change" all agreed. Moderator Pat Mitchell, president and CEO of PBS, led the discussion of new technologies' impact on the dynamic between content and audience. Panelists included Robert Redford; MPAA chairman Dan Glickman; Jeff Skoll, founder and CEO of Participant Prods.; indie producer Bingham Ray; and producer Jake Eberts. Several panelists said that 2005's 8% downturn in boxoffice admissions could have a positive impact on content in the long run, forcing studios to abandon formulas to take more chances on smaller films. Ray called politically motivated entertainment such as Skoll's North Country, Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck, as well as Focus Features' Brokeback Mountain, a "resurgence of films saying things to people that matter. Rarely have so many films had so much impact."...
- 1/23/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Panel: Movies can work for social change
PARK CITY -- It is possible to make movies that will change the world, participants in a Saturday panel titled "Brave New World: Entertainment and Social Change" all agreed. Moderator Pat Mitchell, president and CEO of PBS, led the discussion of new technologies' impact on the dynamic between content and audience. Panelists included Robert Redford; MPAA chairman Dan Glickman; Jeff Skoll, founder and CEO of Participant Prods.; indie producer Bingham Ray; and producer Jake Eberts. Several panelists said that 2005's 8% downturn in boxoffice admissions could have a positive impact on content in the long run, forcing studios to abandon formulas to take more chances on smaller films. Ray called politically motivated entertainment such as Skoll's North Country, Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck, as well as Focus Features' Brokeback Mountain, a "resurgence of films saying things to people that matter. Rarely have so many films had so much impact."...
- 1/22/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Prisoner of Paradise
NEW YORK -- A fascinating documentary that would seem a prime candidate for dramatic treatment, last year's Oscar-nominated "Prisoner of Paradise" tells the tragic story of Kurt Gerron, a rotund German-Jewish cabaret and film star who met his untimely end at the Auschwitz concentration camp. What distinguishes Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender's film from the many similarly themed efforts that have preceded it is that it tells a morality tale of a man whose hubris partially led to his downfall and whose willingness to work for his Nazi overseers resulted in one of the most notorious propaganda films of the era.
Gerron was a leading entertainment figure in Berlin during the 1920s and early '30s, his credits including introducing the song "Mack the Knife" in the first production of "Threepenny Opera" and a supporting role in Josef von Sternberg's classic film "The Blue Angel". When the Nazis came to power, Gerron was too immersed in his career to take much notice, and despite entreaties from such colleagues as von Sternberg and Peter Lorre to leave Germany, he remained, even turning down a plane ticket sent by Warner Bros. because his seat wasn't in first class.
Although he moved to such cities as Paris and Amsterdam to continue his career, he was eventually captured by the Germans and sent to the Thereseinstadt concentration camp outside of Prague. Located in a former garrison town, the camp was used by the Nazis as a propaganda tool designed to demonstrate that the Jews weren't really being treated badly. To that end, they recruited Gerron to make the film "The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews," a sanitized portrait that is now on constant display in the town's museum. Despite his cooperation, Gerron was shortly thereafter sent to Auschwitz, where he and his wife were immediately murdered.
Utilizing a mixture of fascinating archival footage -- Gerron's less-than-Aryan looks were used to typify the Jewish menace in the incendiary propaganda film "The Eternal Jew" -- and talking-head interviews with many of those who worked with Gerron or knew him in the camp, "Prisoner of Paradise", narrated compellingly by Ian Holm, tells this resonant tale in clear and dramatic fashion. While its subject remains a rather elusive figure, he is nonetheless a haunting one, and the images of him directing Thereseinstadt's children for his film, a look of dark desolation in his eyes, is not likely to leave you for a very long time.
Prisoner of Paradise
Menemsha Films
Credits:
Directors: Malcolm Clarke, Stuart Sender
Screenwriter: Malcolm Clarke
Producers: Malcolm Clarke, Karl-Eberhard Schaefer
Executive producers: Jake Eberts, Stuart Sender
Director of photography: Michael Hammon
Editors: Glenn Berman, Susan Shanks
Composer: Luc St. Pierre
Narrator: Ian Holm
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Gerron was a leading entertainment figure in Berlin during the 1920s and early '30s, his credits including introducing the song "Mack the Knife" in the first production of "Threepenny Opera" and a supporting role in Josef von Sternberg's classic film "The Blue Angel". When the Nazis came to power, Gerron was too immersed in his career to take much notice, and despite entreaties from such colleagues as von Sternberg and Peter Lorre to leave Germany, he remained, even turning down a plane ticket sent by Warner Bros. because his seat wasn't in first class.
Although he moved to such cities as Paris and Amsterdam to continue his career, he was eventually captured by the Germans and sent to the Thereseinstadt concentration camp outside of Prague. Located in a former garrison town, the camp was used by the Nazis as a propaganda tool designed to demonstrate that the Jews weren't really being treated badly. To that end, they recruited Gerron to make the film "The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews," a sanitized portrait that is now on constant display in the town's museum. Despite his cooperation, Gerron was shortly thereafter sent to Auschwitz, where he and his wife were immediately murdered.
Utilizing a mixture of fascinating archival footage -- Gerron's less-than-Aryan looks were used to typify the Jewish menace in the incendiary propaganda film "The Eternal Jew" -- and talking-head interviews with many of those who worked with Gerron or knew him in the camp, "Prisoner of Paradise", narrated compellingly by Ian Holm, tells this resonant tale in clear and dramatic fashion. While its subject remains a rather elusive figure, he is nonetheless a haunting one, and the images of him directing Thereseinstadt's children for his film, a look of dark desolation in his eyes, is not likely to leave you for a very long time.
Prisoner of Paradise
Menemsha Films
Credits:
Directors: Malcolm Clarke, Stuart Sender
Screenwriter: Malcolm Clarke
Producers: Malcolm Clarke, Karl-Eberhard Schaefer
Executive producers: Jake Eberts, Stuart Sender
Director of photography: Michael Hammon
Editors: Glenn Berman, Susan Shanks
Composer: Luc St. Pierre
Narrator: Ian Holm
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 7/9/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Eberts challenges the rules
With Universal Pictures' Two Brothers opening today, producer Jake Eberts challenges the rules of CG-driven summer entertainments with a tale of tiger cubs that Jean-Jacques Annaud filmed in Cambodia. Eberts, who became chairman of National Geographic Films two years ago, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter film editor Gregg Kilday about his independent path, his upcoming documentary, America's Heart and Soul, and National Geographic's current direction.
- 6/25/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Prisoner of Paradise
NEW YORK -- A fascinating documentary that would seem a prime candidate for dramatic treatment, last year's Oscar-nominated "Prisoner of Paradise" tells the tragic story of Kurt Gerron, a rotund German-Jewish cabaret and film star who met his untimely end at the Auschwitz concentration camp. What distinguishes Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender's film from the many similarly themed efforts that have preceded it is that it tells a morality tale of a man whose hubris partially led to his downfall and whose willingness to work for his Nazi overseers resulted in one of the most notorious propaganda films of the era.
Gerron was a leading entertainment figure in Berlin during the 1920s and early '30s, his credits including introducing the song "Mack the Knife" in the first production of "Threepenny Opera" and a supporting role in Josef von Sternberg's classic film "The Blue Angel". When the Nazis came to power, Gerron was too immersed in his career to take much notice, and despite entreaties from such colleagues as von Sternberg and Peter Lorre to leave Germany, he remained, even turning down a plane ticket sent by Warner Bros. because his seat wasn't in first class.
Although he moved to such cities as Paris and Amsterdam to continue his career, he was eventually captured by the Germans and sent to the Thereseinstadt concentration camp outside of Prague. Located in a former garrison town, the camp was used by the Nazis as a propaganda tool designed to demonstrate that the Jews weren't really being treated badly. To that end, they recruited Gerron to make the film "The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews," a sanitized portrait that is now on constant display in the town's museum. Despite his cooperation, Gerron was shortly thereafter sent to Auschwitz, where he and his wife were immediately murdered.
Utilizing a mixture of fascinating archival footage -- Gerron's less-than-Aryan looks were used to typify the Jewish menace in the incendiary propaganda film "The Eternal Jew" -- and talking-head interviews with many of those who worked with Gerron or knew him in the camp, "Prisoner of Paradise", narrated compellingly by Ian Holm, tells this resonant tale in clear and dramatic fashion. While its subject remains a rather elusive figure, he is nonetheless a haunting one, and the images of him directing Thereseinstadt's children for his film, a look of dark desolation in his eyes, is not likely to leave you for a very long time.
Prisoner of Paradise
Menemsha Films
Credits:
Directors: Malcolm Clarke, Stuart Sender
Screenwriter: Malcolm Clarke
Producers: Malcolm Clarke, Karl-Eberhard Schaefer
Executive producers: Jake Eberts, Stuart Sender
Director of photography: Michael Hammon
Editors: Glenn Berman, Susan Shanks
Composer: Luc St. Pierre
Narrator: Ian Holm
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Gerron was a leading entertainment figure in Berlin during the 1920s and early '30s, his credits including introducing the song "Mack the Knife" in the first production of "Threepenny Opera" and a supporting role in Josef von Sternberg's classic film "The Blue Angel". When the Nazis came to power, Gerron was too immersed in his career to take much notice, and despite entreaties from such colleagues as von Sternberg and Peter Lorre to leave Germany, he remained, even turning down a plane ticket sent by Warner Bros. because his seat wasn't in first class.
Although he moved to such cities as Paris and Amsterdam to continue his career, he was eventually captured by the Germans and sent to the Thereseinstadt concentration camp outside of Prague. Located in a former garrison town, the camp was used by the Nazis as a propaganda tool designed to demonstrate that the Jews weren't really being treated badly. To that end, they recruited Gerron to make the film "The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews," a sanitized portrait that is now on constant display in the town's museum. Despite his cooperation, Gerron was shortly thereafter sent to Auschwitz, where he and his wife were immediately murdered.
Utilizing a mixture of fascinating archival footage -- Gerron's less-than-Aryan looks were used to typify the Jewish menace in the incendiary propaganda film "The Eternal Jew" -- and talking-head interviews with many of those who worked with Gerron or knew him in the camp, "Prisoner of Paradise", narrated compellingly by Ian Holm, tells this resonant tale in clear and dramatic fashion. While its subject remains a rather elusive figure, he is nonetheless a haunting one, and the images of him directing Thereseinstadt's children for his film, a look of dark desolation in his eyes, is not likely to leave you for a very long time.
Prisoner of Paradise
Menemsha Films
Credits:
Directors: Malcolm Clarke, Stuart Sender
Screenwriter: Malcolm Clarke
Producers: Malcolm Clarke, Karl-Eberhard Schaefer
Executive producers: Jake Eberts, Stuart Sender
Director of photography: Michael Hammon
Editors: Glenn Berman, Susan Shanks
Composer: Luc St. Pierre
Narrator: Ian Holm
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 12/12/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
French 'Renaissance' at BV
In a rare breakthrough for European-made animation, Buena Vista has picked up American rights to the $15 million animated feature Renaissance, directed by Christian Volckman and produced by France's Millimages and Onyx Films. Renaissance is a sort of film noir futuristic thriller involving action, suspense and new technologies. The movie is being made in striking black-and-white images that have been touched up with little splashes of color. "It's something that no one's ever seen before," executive producer Jake Eberts said. "It's highly original and aimed squarely at a teenage market." Buena Vista has slapped down $3 million for U.S. rights, which will be upped to $5 million if the company takes an option on Canada.
- 5/18/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Chicken Run'
"Chicken Run" gives those irrepressible folks at Aardman clay animation studios, the ones behind the hysterically funny "Wallace & Gromit" and "Creature Comforts" shorts, a chance to strut their stuff through their first feature-length film.
While Aardman's founders -- director-producers Peter Lord and Nick Park and producer David Sproxton -- clearly are still finding their way in the expanded format, they nevertheless come up with a pleasing, likable comedy that will entertain nearly all age groups. A grab bag of slapstick action, whimsical characters and tongue-in-cheek makeover of the human world into animal society, "Chicken Run" definitely has legs -- albeit of the poultry kind.
Those expecting the outrageous wit of Wallace & Gromit or the all-out wackiness of "Creature Comforts" are in for a slight disappointment. Aiming to expand their audience, Aardman's animators go for much broader characterizations and a somewhat hokey story line. But that twinkle in the eye remains. Like Pixar's "Toy Story" -- or, for that matter, all great family entertainment from Peter Pan to Dr. Seuss -- much sophisticated humor and adult sensibilities underline the childlike fantasies.
Inspired here by "The Great Escape" and all those other POW movies, "Chicken Run"'s characters are trapped behind barbed wire with little to do other than plot endless escape attempts. Only these prisoners are chickens and their Stalag is Tweedy's Egg Farm. Supplying urgency to their conspiracies is their hard-hearted owner's determination to transform her egg farm into a chicken pie emporium.
To the seeming rescue of the alarmed hens comes a rascal rooster named Rocky, a "lone free ranger" who promises to teach these earth-bound birds how to fly. But when a cannon and other means fail this objective, he flies the coop, leaving the hens including Ginger -- with whom he has a "thing" -- in the lurch. Ever the optimist, Ginger gets an inspiration, and, in the nick of time, Rocky returns to save the day and help the chickens abandon Mrs. Tweedy to wallow in her own pie filing.
One of the fun conceits by these British animators is to create a culture clash by casting Mel Gibson as the brash "American" Rocky, while giving all the hens British voices. The sweet-natured, visionary Ginger is voiced by Julia Sawalha from the hit BBC comedy series "Absolutely Fabulous", while another alum from that series, Jane Horrocks, plays Babs, forever knitting and never fully cognizant of the danger the flocks is in.
Imelda Staunton is champion egg-layer Bunty; Lynn Ferguson plays the Scottish chicken, Mac the engineer; and Benjamin Whitrow is Fowler, an aging rooster always willing to reminiscence about his days in the RAF. Abetting the fowl conspiracies are rats Nick and Fletcher, voiced by Timothy Spall and Phil Daniels, who play the rodents like a pair of music hall comics.
On the human side, Miran- da Richardson supplies Mrs. Tweedy with a mean, shrewish streak that bedevils gentle, hen-pecked Mr. Tweedy (Tony Haygarth) almost as much as the chickens. Mr. Tweedy greatly suspects that more is being hatched in the chicken coop than eggs, but his warnings are ignored by Mrs. Tweedy. Which leaves him to mutter "It's all in my head" whenever he happens upon more evidence of chicken chicanery.
No one is better at clay animation than Aardman, but fashioning cartoon chickens proves quite a challenge. Their chickens are rubbery in appearance, and for all their different scarves and "hair-dos," there's an unmistakable sameness that inflicts the characters. The animators also don't yet feel comfortable with feature length; certain scenes feel padded or redundant.
Nevertheless, the pacing is brisk and only the attention spans of the very young are likely to wander. For that matter, the very young might be inappropriate for this movie. One chicken's slaughter when she fails to produce eggs is all too real for the very impressionable.
CHICKEN RUN
DreamWorks Pictures
DreamWorks in association with Pathe present
an Aardman production
Producers: Peter Lord, David Sproxton, Nick Park
Directors: Peter Lord, Nick Park
Screenplay: Karey Kirkpatrick, Jack Rosenthal
Based on an original story by: Nick Park, Peter Lord
Executive producers: Jake Eberts, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Michael Rose
Supervising director of photography: Dave Alex Riddett
Music: John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams
Line producer: Carla Shelley
Editor: Mark Solomon
Supervising animator: Loyd Price
Color/stereo
Voices:
Rocky: Mel Gibson
Ginger: Julia Sawalha
Mrs. Tweedy: Miranda Richardson
Babs: Jane Horrocks
Mac: Lynn Ferguson
Bunty: Imelda Staunton
Fowler: Benjamin Whitrow
Mr. Tweedy: Tony Haygarth
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
While Aardman's founders -- director-producers Peter Lord and Nick Park and producer David Sproxton -- clearly are still finding their way in the expanded format, they nevertheless come up with a pleasing, likable comedy that will entertain nearly all age groups. A grab bag of slapstick action, whimsical characters and tongue-in-cheek makeover of the human world into animal society, "Chicken Run" definitely has legs -- albeit of the poultry kind.
Those expecting the outrageous wit of Wallace & Gromit or the all-out wackiness of "Creature Comforts" are in for a slight disappointment. Aiming to expand their audience, Aardman's animators go for much broader characterizations and a somewhat hokey story line. But that twinkle in the eye remains. Like Pixar's "Toy Story" -- or, for that matter, all great family entertainment from Peter Pan to Dr. Seuss -- much sophisticated humor and adult sensibilities underline the childlike fantasies.
Inspired here by "The Great Escape" and all those other POW movies, "Chicken Run"'s characters are trapped behind barbed wire with little to do other than plot endless escape attempts. Only these prisoners are chickens and their Stalag is Tweedy's Egg Farm. Supplying urgency to their conspiracies is their hard-hearted owner's determination to transform her egg farm into a chicken pie emporium.
To the seeming rescue of the alarmed hens comes a rascal rooster named Rocky, a "lone free ranger" who promises to teach these earth-bound birds how to fly. But when a cannon and other means fail this objective, he flies the coop, leaving the hens including Ginger -- with whom he has a "thing" -- in the lurch. Ever the optimist, Ginger gets an inspiration, and, in the nick of time, Rocky returns to save the day and help the chickens abandon Mrs. Tweedy to wallow in her own pie filing.
One of the fun conceits by these British animators is to create a culture clash by casting Mel Gibson as the brash "American" Rocky, while giving all the hens British voices. The sweet-natured, visionary Ginger is voiced by Julia Sawalha from the hit BBC comedy series "Absolutely Fabulous", while another alum from that series, Jane Horrocks, plays Babs, forever knitting and never fully cognizant of the danger the flocks is in.
Imelda Staunton is champion egg-layer Bunty; Lynn Ferguson plays the Scottish chicken, Mac the engineer; and Benjamin Whitrow is Fowler, an aging rooster always willing to reminiscence about his days in the RAF. Abetting the fowl conspiracies are rats Nick and Fletcher, voiced by Timothy Spall and Phil Daniels, who play the rodents like a pair of music hall comics.
On the human side, Miran- da Richardson supplies Mrs. Tweedy with a mean, shrewish streak that bedevils gentle, hen-pecked Mr. Tweedy (Tony Haygarth) almost as much as the chickens. Mr. Tweedy greatly suspects that more is being hatched in the chicken coop than eggs, but his warnings are ignored by Mrs. Tweedy. Which leaves him to mutter "It's all in my head" whenever he happens upon more evidence of chicken chicanery.
No one is better at clay animation than Aardman, but fashioning cartoon chickens proves quite a challenge. Their chickens are rubbery in appearance, and for all their different scarves and "hair-dos," there's an unmistakable sameness that inflicts the characters. The animators also don't yet feel comfortable with feature length; certain scenes feel padded or redundant.
Nevertheless, the pacing is brisk and only the attention spans of the very young are likely to wander. For that matter, the very young might be inappropriate for this movie. One chicken's slaughter when she fails to produce eggs is all too real for the very impressionable.
CHICKEN RUN
DreamWorks Pictures
DreamWorks in association with Pathe present
an Aardman production
Producers: Peter Lord, David Sproxton, Nick Park
Directors: Peter Lord, Nick Park
Screenplay: Karey Kirkpatrick, Jack Rosenthal
Based on an original story by: Nick Park, Peter Lord
Executive producers: Jake Eberts, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Michael Rose
Supervising director of photography: Dave Alex Riddett
Music: John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams
Line producer: Carla Shelley
Editor: Mark Solomon
Supervising animator: Loyd Price
Color/stereo
Voices:
Rocky: Mel Gibson
Ginger: Julia Sawalha
Mrs. Tweedy: Miranda Richardson
Babs: Jane Horrocks
Mac: Lynn Ferguson
Bunty: Imelda Staunton
Fowler: Benjamin Whitrow
Mr. Tweedy: Tony Haygarth
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
- 6/12/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Grey Owl' True-life 'Grey Owl' Gets Lost in Woods / But potential unrealized in Attenborough's bio of the 1930s outdoorsman
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Richard Attenborough, who has concentrated largely on true-life biographical dramas during his directing career, has chosen one of his more quirky and intriguing subjects with his latest effort, about a famous 1930s Canadian half-breed Indian trapper, hunter, writer and environmentalist who, it was revealed after his death, was actually a full Englishman.
Although "Grey Owl" ultimately fails to fully mine the myriad possible resonances of its often fascinating tale, it is always an interesting and beautifully crafted film that deserves to be seen. Recently released in Canada, it is still awaiting U.S. distribution, despite having Pierce Brosnan in the starring role. The film recently served as the opening-night attraction at the 14th Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) International Film Festival.
The story, told in flashback, begins with the title character being confronted by a reporter about his identity as he is about to make one of his celebrated live appearances. It seems that several years earlier, Grey Owl was a trapper and hunter content to live an isolated experience in the rugged terrain of Northern Ontario. His life changes with the arrival of Anahareo, or Pony (Annie Galipeau), a beautiful young Mohawk who desperately wants him to acquaint her with traditional Indian ways. Although highly resistant at first, Grey Owl falls victim to her charms, and soon the pair are living together, their romantic bond sealed when he dramatically rescues her after a scary plunge into an icy lake.
Although Grey Owl has spent his life killing animals, he has a sudden epiphany, thanks to the tenderhearted Pony and the arrival of an adorable pair of baby beavers, orphaned thanks to one of his traps. Soon, the reticent Indian, who has previously dabbled in magazine writing, changes his life completely, devoting himself to championing the preservation of the environment and becoming a best-selling author. Dubbed a "modern Hiawatha," Grey Owl becomes a literary sensation and the best-known Indian in the world. But, as the film ultimately reveals, he is not an Indian at all, but rather Archie Belaney, an Englishman who was raised by his two loving aunts and decided to remake himself and assume a completely new identity.
His secret was not revealed until after his death in 1938.
Although there are some beautifully written scenes, such as the ineffably touching reunion between Archie and his now elderly aunts, the screenplay by William Nicholson ("Shadowlands") doesn't fully convey all of the complexities of this curious story. And its concentration on the love affair between Grey Owl and Pony is a bit of a miscalculation, especially since Galipeau, lovely as she is, isn't quite up to carrying so much of the film. But Attenborough is certainly successful in depicting the details of Grey Owl's lifestyle and the beauty of the landscape he worked so hard to preserve, and Roger Pratt's widescreen lensing of the rugged locations is consistently gorgeous.
Brosnan takes more than a little getting used to as the title character, though his performance, if not his physicality, is ultimately quite credible. It's hard not to think, though, that the actor was cast more for his international boxoffice appeal than for his suitability. Galipeau tries hard and brings a lissome physicality to her role, but her limited acting abilities and irritating vocal inflections prove distracting.
GREY OWL
Largo Entertainment
Credits: Director: Richard Attenborough; Screenplay: William Nicholson; Producers:Richard Attenborough, Jake Eberts, Claude Leger; Co-producer: Diana Hawkins; Executive producer: Lenny Young; Director of photography: Roger Pratt; Production designer: Anthony Pratt; Editor: Lesley Walker; Music: George Fenton. Cast: Grey Owl/Archie Belaney: Pierce Brosnan; Anahareo (Pony): Annie Galipeau; Ned White Bear: Nathaniel Arcand; Walter Perry: Charles Powell; Ada Belaney: Stephanie Cole; Carrie Belaney: Renee Asherson. MPAA rating: PG-13. Color/stereo. Running time -- 115 minutes.
Although "Grey Owl" ultimately fails to fully mine the myriad possible resonances of its often fascinating tale, it is always an interesting and beautifully crafted film that deserves to be seen. Recently released in Canada, it is still awaiting U.S. distribution, despite having Pierce Brosnan in the starring role. The film recently served as the opening-night attraction at the 14th Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) International Film Festival.
The story, told in flashback, begins with the title character being confronted by a reporter about his identity as he is about to make one of his celebrated live appearances. It seems that several years earlier, Grey Owl was a trapper and hunter content to live an isolated experience in the rugged terrain of Northern Ontario. His life changes with the arrival of Anahareo, or Pony (Annie Galipeau), a beautiful young Mohawk who desperately wants him to acquaint her with traditional Indian ways. Although highly resistant at first, Grey Owl falls victim to her charms, and soon the pair are living together, their romantic bond sealed when he dramatically rescues her after a scary plunge into an icy lake.
Although Grey Owl has spent his life killing animals, he has a sudden epiphany, thanks to the tenderhearted Pony and the arrival of an adorable pair of baby beavers, orphaned thanks to one of his traps. Soon, the reticent Indian, who has previously dabbled in magazine writing, changes his life completely, devoting himself to championing the preservation of the environment and becoming a best-selling author. Dubbed a "modern Hiawatha," Grey Owl becomes a literary sensation and the best-known Indian in the world. But, as the film ultimately reveals, he is not an Indian at all, but rather Archie Belaney, an Englishman who was raised by his two loving aunts and decided to remake himself and assume a completely new identity.
His secret was not revealed until after his death in 1938.
Although there are some beautifully written scenes, such as the ineffably touching reunion between Archie and his now elderly aunts, the screenplay by William Nicholson ("Shadowlands") doesn't fully convey all of the complexities of this curious story. And its concentration on the love affair between Grey Owl and Pony is a bit of a miscalculation, especially since Galipeau, lovely as she is, isn't quite up to carrying so much of the film. But Attenborough is certainly successful in depicting the details of Grey Owl's lifestyle and the beauty of the landscape he worked so hard to preserve, and Roger Pratt's widescreen lensing of the rugged locations is consistently gorgeous.
Brosnan takes more than a little getting used to as the title character, though his performance, if not his physicality, is ultimately quite credible. It's hard not to think, though, that the actor was cast more for his international boxoffice appeal than for his suitability. Galipeau tries hard and brings a lissome physicality to her role, but her limited acting abilities and irritating vocal inflections prove distracting.
GREY OWL
Largo Entertainment
Credits: Director: Richard Attenborough; Screenplay: William Nicholson; Producers:Richard Attenborough, Jake Eberts, Claude Leger; Co-producer: Diana Hawkins; Executive producer: Lenny Young; Director of photography: Roger Pratt; Production designer: Anthony Pratt; Editor: Lesley Walker; Music: George Fenton. Cast: Grey Owl/Archie Belaney: Pierce Brosnan; Anahareo (Pony): Annie Galipeau; Ned White Bear: Nathaniel Arcand; Walter Perry: Charles Powell; Ada Belaney: Stephanie Cole; Carrie Belaney: Renee Asherson. MPAA rating: PG-13. Color/stereo. Running time -- 115 minutes.
- 11/16/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: The Education of Little Tree
The directorial debut of screenwriter Richard Friedenberg ("A River Runs Through It"), "The Education of Little Tree" is a well-realized Depression-era family film. However, it's a little long and too complex for most children younger than the engaging 8-year-old lead character delightfully played by Joseph Ashton ("The Little Rascals").
A Paramount release with modest theatrical potential, "Little Tree" is earnest about educating audiences, with a tale about a Cherokee boy living with his white grandfather and Indian grandmother and learning about the enormous crimes committed against Native Americans in the not-too-distant past.
But the film is also a fond re-creation of the 1930s Tennessee backwoods lifestyle of Grandpa (James Cromwell) and Grandma (Tantoo Cardinal), who are happy living off the land and keeping up the family business of making whiskey. When orphan Little Tree (Ashton) comes to live in this peaceful environment, he learns about "the way" of nature while making new friends and having adventures.
Around the fireplace one night, medicine man and family friend Willow John (Graham Greene) tells the story of the "Trail of Tears", when the Cherokee people were forced from their lands. Bitter about the past but likening the invasion of the white man to a wave that passes and leaves a few survivors, Willow John relates the somber tale so a young boy can grasp its significance in one of the film's best scenes.
Complications arise when the authorities take Little Tree away to an abominable Indian School. Escaping with the help of Grandpa, Little Tree is spared a miserable fate, but a fresh round of tragedies plays out to make him a survivor with a bright future.
With strong production values, this big little movie enlightens and entertains.
THE EDUCATION OF LITTLE TREE
Paramount Pictures
In association with Allied Films/Lightmotive
A Jake Eberts production
A Richard Friedenberg film
Writer-director: Richard Friedenberg
Producer: Jake Eberts
Co-producers: Lenny Young, Louise Gendron
Based on the novel by: Forrest Carter
Director of photography: Anastas Michos
Production designer: Dan Bishop
Costume designer: Renee April
Editor: Wayne Wahrman
Music: Mark Isham
Color/stereo
Cast:
Grandpa: James Cromwell
Grandma: Tantoo Cardinal
Little Tree: Joseph Ashton
Willow John: Graham Greene
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
A Paramount release with modest theatrical potential, "Little Tree" is earnest about educating audiences, with a tale about a Cherokee boy living with his white grandfather and Indian grandmother and learning about the enormous crimes committed against Native Americans in the not-too-distant past.
But the film is also a fond re-creation of the 1930s Tennessee backwoods lifestyle of Grandpa (James Cromwell) and Grandma (Tantoo Cardinal), who are happy living off the land and keeping up the family business of making whiskey. When orphan Little Tree (Ashton) comes to live in this peaceful environment, he learns about "the way" of nature while making new friends and having adventures.
Around the fireplace one night, medicine man and family friend Willow John (Graham Greene) tells the story of the "Trail of Tears", when the Cherokee people were forced from their lands. Bitter about the past but likening the invasion of the white man to a wave that passes and leaves a few survivors, Willow John relates the somber tale so a young boy can grasp its significance in one of the film's best scenes.
Complications arise when the authorities take Little Tree away to an abominable Indian School. Escaping with the help of Grandpa, Little Tree is spared a miserable fate, but a fresh round of tragedies plays out to make him a survivor with a bright future.
With strong production values, this big little movie enlightens and entertains.
THE EDUCATION OF LITTLE TREE
Paramount Pictures
In association with Allied Films/Lightmotive
A Jake Eberts production
A Richard Friedenberg film
Writer-director: Richard Friedenberg
Producer: Jake Eberts
Co-producers: Lenny Young, Louise Gendron
Based on the novel by: Forrest Carter
Director of photography: Anastas Michos
Production designer: Dan Bishop
Costume designer: Renee April
Editor: Wayne Wahrman
Music: Mark Isham
Color/stereo
Cast:
Grandpa: James Cromwell
Grandma: Tantoo Cardinal
Little Tree: Joseph Ashton
Willow John: Graham Greene
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/22/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Wind in the Willows'
Kenneth Grahame's enduring children's classic meets Monty Python in Terry Jones' energetic and whimsically eccentric version of "The Wind in the Willows".
While things get a tad murky and chaotic toward the end, terrific characterizations -- Jones recruited former Flying Circus mates Eric Idle, John Cleese and Michael Palin to do their colorful stuff -- help keep things light and amusing.
Entering an indifferent family feature market after spending a prolonged period on the shelf, it's not likely the Columbia release will generate a flurry of moviegoing activity, but it could do some breezy business once it blows into video stores.
Jones cleverly eschews animations and the Jim Henson's Creature Shop route in favor of good old-fashioned human beings with minimal animal accouterments to convey the intriguing inhabitants of Grahame's English countryside.
There's the ever-squinting Mole (Steve Coogan), whose subterranean home has been destroyed by those nasty Weasels. Accompanied by good friend Rat (Idle) and the crusty but wise old Badger (Nicol Williamson), Mole pays a visit to the flamboyant, motor car-obsessed Mr. Toad (Jones), who has been scammed out of the stately Toad Hall by the diabolical Chief Weasel (Anthony Sher).
Mole, Rat and company race to stop the slippery characters in their plot to level their idyllic terrain and transform it into a heavily industrialized, Weasels-Only zone.
Given the novel's original turn-of-the-century publication, there are all sorts of sociopolitical interpretations to be made here, but Jones, aside from referring to the Weasels as "Thatcher's children" in the press notes, steers clear of heavy-handedness.
Instead, he presents a classic good vs. evil scenario that is spiced up by a few goofy song-and-dance numbers and a whole slew of seasoned performances. In addition to entertaining turns by Jones, Idle, Williamson and Sher, Cleese is on hand as Mr. Toad's not-so-helpful Lawyer. Palin rises to the occasion as the Sun.
Although things begin to run out of steam during a prolonged railroad sequence, there's plenty to appreciate. Doing double duty, production and costume designer James Acheson dresses the characters in a British music hall assortment of stripes, checks and plaids, while the architecture is reminiscent of fellow Python member Terry Gilliam's Rube Goldberg-style animation.
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS
Sony Pictures Releasing
Columbia Pictures
Allied Filmmakers presents
A John Goldstone production
Director-screenwriter: Terry Jones
From the novel "The Wind in the Willows":
by Kenneth Grahame
Producers: John Goldstone & Jake Eberts
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production and costume designer:
James Acheson
Editor: Julian Doyle
Music score: John Du Prez
Original music and songs: John Du Prez,
Terry Jones, Andre Jacquemin,
Dave Howman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Mole: Steve Coogan
Rat: Eric Idle
Toad: Terry Jones
Chief Weasel: Anthony Sher
Badger: Nicol Williamson
Mr. Toad's Lawyer: John Cleese
Judge: Stephen Fry
The Sun: Michael Palin
Running time -- 87 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
While things get a tad murky and chaotic toward the end, terrific characterizations -- Jones recruited former Flying Circus mates Eric Idle, John Cleese and Michael Palin to do their colorful stuff -- help keep things light and amusing.
Entering an indifferent family feature market after spending a prolonged period on the shelf, it's not likely the Columbia release will generate a flurry of moviegoing activity, but it could do some breezy business once it blows into video stores.
Jones cleverly eschews animations and the Jim Henson's Creature Shop route in favor of good old-fashioned human beings with minimal animal accouterments to convey the intriguing inhabitants of Grahame's English countryside.
There's the ever-squinting Mole (Steve Coogan), whose subterranean home has been destroyed by those nasty Weasels. Accompanied by good friend Rat (Idle) and the crusty but wise old Badger (Nicol Williamson), Mole pays a visit to the flamboyant, motor car-obsessed Mr. Toad (Jones), who has been scammed out of the stately Toad Hall by the diabolical Chief Weasel (Anthony Sher).
Mole, Rat and company race to stop the slippery characters in their plot to level their idyllic terrain and transform it into a heavily industrialized, Weasels-Only zone.
Given the novel's original turn-of-the-century publication, there are all sorts of sociopolitical interpretations to be made here, but Jones, aside from referring to the Weasels as "Thatcher's children" in the press notes, steers clear of heavy-handedness.
Instead, he presents a classic good vs. evil scenario that is spiced up by a few goofy song-and-dance numbers and a whole slew of seasoned performances. In addition to entertaining turns by Jones, Idle, Williamson and Sher, Cleese is on hand as Mr. Toad's not-so-helpful Lawyer. Palin rises to the occasion as the Sun.
Although things begin to run out of steam during a prolonged railroad sequence, there's plenty to appreciate. Doing double duty, production and costume designer James Acheson dresses the characters in a British music hall assortment of stripes, checks and plaids, while the architecture is reminiscent of fellow Python member Terry Gilliam's Rube Goldberg-style animation.
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS
Sony Pictures Releasing
Columbia Pictures
Allied Filmmakers presents
A John Goldstone production
Director-screenwriter: Terry Jones
From the novel "The Wind in the Willows":
by Kenneth Grahame
Producers: John Goldstone & Jake Eberts
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production and costume designer:
James Acheson
Editor: Julian Doyle
Music score: John Du Prez
Original music and songs: John Du Prez,
Terry Jones, Andre Jacquemin,
Dave Howman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Mole: Steve Coogan
Rat: Eric Idle
Toad: Terry Jones
Chief Weasel: Anthony Sher
Badger: Nicol Williamson
Mr. Toad's Lawyer: John Cleese
Judge: Stephen Fry
The Sun: Michael Palin
Running time -- 87 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
- 10/31/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'City of Joy'
In another life, Roland Joffe must have been a preacher. Three of his four films have braved extreme Third World locations to probe white guilt and cultural misunderstandings and to explore the resiliency of the disenfranchised. Yet he cannot resist the impulse to preach.
In ''City of Joy, '' which takes place in the teeming slums of Calcutta, little life lessons come with nearly every sequence. It takes a certain amount of intellectual arrogance to impose philosophical issues on a city where simple survival is the name of the game.
Dialogue runs amok with axioms, greeting-card homilies and earnest introspection. Characters explore their navels more thoroughly than the colorful world they inhabit.
''City of Joy'' does have the advantage of its source material -- Dominique Lapierre's novel, a Dickensian tale of an American doctor who finds spiritual salvation among the poor.
But in paring, telescoping and reducing the characters and plot lines, writer Mark Medoff simplified this world until it resembles old Hollywood attempts to film Dickens: great roles for actors but bad Dickens.
Strong performances by Patrick Swayze, Pauline Collins and several veteran Indian actors make virtually every scene compelling. But the preaching weighs down the drama and the sentimentality nearly kills it.
TriStar's marketing department has a tricky assignment. If enough emphasis is placed on the shamelessly uplifting nature of the story and on Swayze's first meaty role, then modest theatrical success may follow.
Swayze plays a lost soul who comes to India for enlightenment and ends up mugged by street toughs. The clinic to which a rickshaw puller (Om Puri) brings him is run by a tough Irish nurse (Collins), who immediately tries to recruit his services.
Through force of circumstances -- perhaps in India the word is fate -- he agrees. The doctor thus finds himself battling the passivity and resignation of the poor.
This he fights with an almost comical -- although little in a Joffe film is played for comedy -- Yankee bullheadedness. Over all this looms the ominous power of the local godfather (Shyamanand Jalan) and his bullying son (Art Malik).
Individual scenes and the work of designer Roy Walker and cinematographer Peter Biziou make this a film you watch intently.
But Joffe and Medoff never really penetrate the Indian character. Frankly, there are more cultural cliches -- Indian, American and Irish -- than insight.
The domineering performance belongs to Puri as the impoverished rickshaw puller, struggling to feed his family and enrich his daughter's dowry.
CITY OF JOY
TriStar Pictures
Producers Jake Eberts, Roland Joffe
Director Roland Joffe
Writer Mark Medoff
Based on the novel by Dominique Lapierre
Director of photography Peter Biziou
Production designer Roy Walker
Music Ennio Morricone
Editor Gerry Hambling
Costume designer Judy Moorcroft
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Max Lowe Patrick Swayze
Hasari Pal Om Puri
Joan Bethel Pauline Collins
Kamla Pal Shabana Azmi
Amrita Pal Ayesha Dharker
Poomina Suneeta Sengupta
Ashoka Art Malik
Anouar Nabil Shaban
Godfather-Ghatak Shyamanand Jalan
Running time -- 134 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
In ''City of Joy, '' which takes place in the teeming slums of Calcutta, little life lessons come with nearly every sequence. It takes a certain amount of intellectual arrogance to impose philosophical issues on a city where simple survival is the name of the game.
Dialogue runs amok with axioms, greeting-card homilies and earnest introspection. Characters explore their navels more thoroughly than the colorful world they inhabit.
''City of Joy'' does have the advantage of its source material -- Dominique Lapierre's novel, a Dickensian tale of an American doctor who finds spiritual salvation among the poor.
But in paring, telescoping and reducing the characters and plot lines, writer Mark Medoff simplified this world until it resembles old Hollywood attempts to film Dickens: great roles for actors but bad Dickens.
Strong performances by Patrick Swayze, Pauline Collins and several veteran Indian actors make virtually every scene compelling. But the preaching weighs down the drama and the sentimentality nearly kills it.
TriStar's marketing department has a tricky assignment. If enough emphasis is placed on the shamelessly uplifting nature of the story and on Swayze's first meaty role, then modest theatrical success may follow.
Swayze plays a lost soul who comes to India for enlightenment and ends up mugged by street toughs. The clinic to which a rickshaw puller (Om Puri) brings him is run by a tough Irish nurse (Collins), who immediately tries to recruit his services.
Through force of circumstances -- perhaps in India the word is fate -- he agrees. The doctor thus finds himself battling the passivity and resignation of the poor.
This he fights with an almost comical -- although little in a Joffe film is played for comedy -- Yankee bullheadedness. Over all this looms the ominous power of the local godfather (Shyamanand Jalan) and his bullying son (Art Malik).
Individual scenes and the work of designer Roy Walker and cinematographer Peter Biziou make this a film you watch intently.
But Joffe and Medoff never really penetrate the Indian character. Frankly, there are more cultural cliches -- Indian, American and Irish -- than insight.
The domineering performance belongs to Puri as the impoverished rickshaw puller, struggling to feed his family and enrich his daughter's dowry.
CITY OF JOY
TriStar Pictures
Producers Jake Eberts, Roland Joffe
Director Roland Joffe
Writer Mark Medoff
Based on the novel by Dominique Lapierre
Director of photography Peter Biziou
Production designer Roy Walker
Music Ennio Morricone
Editor Gerry Hambling
Costume designer Judy Moorcroft
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Max Lowe Patrick Swayze
Hasari Pal Om Puri
Joan Bethel Pauline Collins
Kamla Pal Shabana Azmi
Amrita Pal Ayesha Dharker
Poomina Suneeta Sengupta
Ashoka Art Malik
Anouar Nabil Shaban
Godfather-Ghatak Shyamanand Jalan
Running time -- 134 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 4/8/1992
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.