Jones, Godard, Cronenberg among filmmakers in competition at Cannes
By Jamey Keaten
PARIS (AP) --David Cronenberg deconstructs Hollywood, Tommy Lee Jones goes Western and reclusive New Wave legend Jean-Luc Godard returns in 3D in films competing at next month's Cannes Film Festival.
Organizers of the famed Riviera festival announced the much-heralded lineup Thursday for the May 14-25 event, including 18 films vying for the top prize — the Palme d'Or.
Also competing for the top prize are two women directors, Naomi Kawase of Japan and Alice Rohrwacher of Italy; "The Artist" director Michel Hazanavicius of France, Britain's Mike Leigh, Ken Loach of Ireland, and Belgium's Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, who will be angling for their third Palme d'Or.
But Cannes is about far more than just the top award. Some 49 feature-length films from 28 nations — including 15 by women directors — will be shown at the 11-day cinema extravaganza.
"It is important for us that the Cannes selection is a voyage through cinema, and the world," Director-General Thierry Fremaux said.
Director Jane Campion, the only woman to win the Palme d'Or, is leading this year's jury festival, which opens with Nicole Kidman starring in the world premiere of director Olivier Dahan's out-of-competition biopic "Grace of Monaco."
In the Palme d'Or chase, Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars" takes aim at today's media-crazed society, while Jones directs and acts in "The Homesman" alongside Hilary Swank and Godard presents his movie "Adieu Au Language" ("Goodbye to Language").
American actor Ryan Gosling makes his directorial debut among the 19 films competing for the "Un Certain Regard" prize, presented a day before the Palme d'Or to honor up-and-coming or innovative filmmakers.
Gosling's "Lost River" stars Christina Hendricks and will be up against films from Italy's Asia Argento, France's Mathieu Amalric and "Paris, Texas" director Wim Wenders of Germany.
Adding to the international tilt, Chinese actress Gong Li returns to the Cannes red carpet in Zhang Yimou's "Coming Home," screening out of competition.
Cannes bosses took some flack two years ago after no film by any female director was in the competition. Fremaux said at the time that cinema needed to give "greater space" to women, and not just at Cannes.
This year's festival poster features a black-and-white photo of the late Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni — a conscious choice of a male following criticism that past posters featuring women had unfairly objectified them, Fremaux said.
Last year, in a first, the Palme d'Or was shared by two actresses for "Blue is the Warmest Color" along with its director.
Here's a rundown of films in competition for the 2014 Palme d'Or award at the May 14-25 Cannes Film Festival. The name of the film is followed by its director.
"Sils Maria," Olivier Assayas
"Saint Laurent," Bertrand Bonello
"Kis Uykusu" ("Winter's Sleep"), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
"Maps to the Stars," David Cronenberg
"Deux Jours, Une Nuit" ("Two Days, One Night"), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
"Mommy," Xavier Dolan
"Captives" ("The Captive"), Atom Egoyan
"Adieu au Langage" ("Goodbye to Language"), Jean-Luc Godard
"The Search," Michel Hazanavicius
"The Homesman," Tommy Lee Jones
"Futatsume No Mado" ("Still the Water"), Naomi Kawase
"Mr. Turner," Mike Leigh
"Jimmy's Hall," Ken Loach
"Foxcatcher," Bennett Miller
"La Meraviglie," Alice Rohrwacher
"Timbuktu," Abderrahmane Sissako
"Relatos Salvajes" ("Wild Tales"), Damian Szifron
"Leviathan," Andrey Zvyagintsev
In NBC’s “Brilliant Minds,” Zachary Quinto Plays Doctor–In A Role Inspired By Physician/Author Oliver Sacks
There's a great moment in the first episode of the new NBC medical drama "Brilliant Minds" when it becomes very clear that we're not dealing with a typical TV doctor.
Zachary Quinto is behind the wheel of a car barreling down a New York City parkway, packed with hospital interns, abruptly weaving in and out of lanes, when one of them asks, "Does anyone want to share a Klonopin?" — a drug sometimes used to treat panic disorders.
"Oh, glory to God, yes, please," says Quinto, reaching an arm into the back seat. The intern then breaks the pill in half and gives a sliver to the driver, who swallows it, as the other interns share stunned looks.
Quinto, playing the character Dr. Oliver Wolf, is clearly not portraying any dour, by-the-rules doctor here — he's playing a character inspired by Dr. Oliver Sacks, the path-breaking researcher and author who rose to fame in the 1970s and was once called the "poet laureate of medicine."
"He was someone who was tirelessly committed to the dignity of the human experience. And so I feel really grateful to be able to tell his story and to continue his legacy in a way that I hope our show is able to do," says Quinto.
He's a fern-loving doctor
"Brilliant Minds" takes Sack's personality — a motorcycle-riding, fern-loving advocate for mental health who died in 2015 at 82 — and puts him in the present day, where the creators theorize he would have no idea who Taylor Swift is or own a cell phone. The series debuts Monday on NBC, right after "The Voice."
"It's almost as if we're imagining what it would have been like if Oliver Sacks had been born at a different time," says Quinto. "We use the real life person as our North Star through everything we're doing and all the... Read More