Independent reps Paul Saylor and Chris Breneman have partnered to form Chicago-based BS. Saylor represents bicoastal Believe Media in the Midwest, while Breneman heads up Chicago sales for bicoastal Bob Industries; Oil Factory, Hollywood; Academy, London; and Jigsaw, Los Angeles.….Chris Jennings has launched his own independent rep firm, Jennings, New York, and will be handling East Coast sales for cYclops productions, New York….Music/sound design house Hum, Santa Monica, has hired Elizabeth Patano as an in-house sales and marketing rep. She will share responsibilities for handling the Midwest and the West Coast with director of new business Tracy Reid….Becky Donahue has joined Ohio Edit, New York, as head of sales and development. She had previously been with bicoastal/international @radical.media as head of sales….DP Barry Norwood has signed with Innovative Artists, Santa Monica, for exclusive representation in commercials and music videos….DP Jonathan Taylor has just finished Alexander the Great and is once again available exclusively through the Lyons•Sheldon•Prosnit Agency, Los Angeles….
Bill Condon, Jennifer Lopez Unveil “Kiss of the Spider Woman” At Sundance
A lavish, MGM-style musical is not typical Sundance Film Festival fare. But Sunday night Bill Condon brought such a creation—well, part of one—to Park City, Utah, with his adaptation of "Kiss of the Spider Woman," starring Jennifer Lopez.
Audiences broke out in spontaneous applause during the screening for Lopez's song and dance numbers. She plays an old Hollywood screen siren in a movie-within-the movie. The packed Eccles Theater also gave Lopez, wearing a glittery spiderweb themed frock, a standing ovation after the show.
"I've been waiting for this moment my whole life," Lopez said.
The story, which revolves around the conversations between two cellmates in an Argentine prison, was first a novel by Manuel Puig in 1976 and has been adapted for stage and screen over the years. A 1985 film adaptation starred William Hurt and Raul Julia. Hurt won an Oscar for his performance. On Broadway, it won multiple Tony Awards.
Condon wrote and directed this new version, which is seeking a distributor. Diego Luna plays an imprisoned revolutionary Valentin Arregui, whose new cellmate Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) loves movies, celebrity and glamour and enthusiastically recounts the story of a favorite movie musical, called "Kiss of the Spider Woman" to Valentin, giving them and the audience a break from their bleak reality.
While the film has memorable moments of escapist spectacle, it also delves into serious topics of gender identity. Molina tells Valentin that they don't feel like a man or a woman—which Valentin finds odd at first but grows to understand.
Before the screening, Condon said that one of the things the movie is about is "the attempt to bridge the incredible differences that separate us so often." He quoted President... Read More