May 13, 2011
Dennis Hopper’s son makes quirky film debut
Jenny Barchfield
CANNES, France (AP) – Henry Hopper’s father tried to talk him out of a career in Hollywood, but for the son of the late, great actor Dennis Hopper, the allure of moviemaking proved too strong.
The 20-year-old makes his screen debut in Gus Van Sant’s Cannes Film Festival entry “Restless,” playing an orphaned teenager whose idea of a good time is crashing funerals, whose best friend is the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot from World War II and whose love interest – played by Mia Wasikowska – has terminal brain cancer.
Not an easy role for anyone, but the novice actor pulls it off with freshness and aplomb.
“I resisted being an actor for some time … (but) I’m realizing it’s a means of self-expression,” Hopper told journalists Friday at a Cannes news conference. “You would see people go through, you know, struggle with it. It’s an intense thing to go about and do. But if you can dedicate yourself to something, you should.”
Hopper wasn’t the only member of the “Restless” team to ignore parental advice to steer clear of Hollywood. The film’s producer, Bryce Dallas Howard, said her dad, heavyweight director Ron Howard, also counseled her “‘If there’s anything else you can do, other than making movies, you should probably do that.'”
“But I don’t think there’s anything else I can do,” said Howard, a 30-year-old who has acted in many movies and directed one of her own. “Restless” was her first foray into producing.
The project was born out of three separate ideas that Howard’s New York University classmate, screenwriter Jason Lew, had been working on.
“He wrote this film and I was lucky enough for him to share it with me, just as his friend, and I became obsessed with it and there was never any intention of producing it,” Howard said.
For a film obsessed with death, “Restless” is surprisingly light fare, quirkily cute and gently poignant.
Wasikowska – sporting a Jean Seberg-esque pixie cut – has an offbeat charm. And Hopper, with his blond hair and angelic features, looks like a baby-faced version of his father, drained of all the late actor’s trigger-happy impetuousness.
Van Sant, who won Cannes’ top Palme d’Or prize, said he’s a pessimist by nature but that “Restless” was part of his growing “optimistic wing.”
Cannes: Diana film slams UK royals as ‘gangsters’
CANNES, France (AP) – A provocative documentary screened in Cannes depicts Prince Philip as a psychopath and the British royal family as racist “gangsters in tiaras.”
“Unlawful Killing” deals with claims that Princess Diana was murdered by the British establishment and the crime covered up.
An inquest held 10 years after Diana’s 1997 death in a Paris car crash deflated claims of a conspiracy, blaming her driver and pursuing vehicles.
But the movie by actor Keith Allen, father of singer Lily Allen, revisits the theories.
It has already been criticized in Britain for showing a picture of Diana after the crash. And its harsh criticisms of Britain’s “feudal” monarchy are sure to cause further furor.
The film was screened Friday on the fringes of the film festival for buyers and journalists.
NY tea party candidate scuffles with cameraman
Carolyn Thompson
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – A 15-second video shows a tea party congressional candidate in New York scuffling with a Republican Party volunteer who questioned his absence from a debate.
The video posted on YouTube shows candidate Jack Davis asking the volunteer Wednesday whether he wants to “punch it out” after a campaign event in Greece, outside Rochester.
Davis was responding to the man’s repeated calls for him to explain why he backed out of a debate held Thursday in Buffalo.
Davis announced Wednesday he’d changed his mind about participating in the debate with the two major party candidates in the May 24 special election for the 26th District seat. Instead, he said he’d speak to voters directly via an electronic town hall meeting May 21.
In the video, the 78-year-old candidate steps toward the volunteer, who was holding a camera and asking, “Why did you back out of the debate? Why did you back out of the debate?”
“Do you want to punch it out?” Davis asks before swiping at the camera with his right hand.
Davis then laughs as he walks to his car while a man who appears to be a Davis campaign aide approaches the cameraman. As the camera shakes, the cameraman groans out of view as if he has been struck and then resumes asking Davis, “Why did you back out of the debate?”
The video recalled a confrontation during last year’s gubernatorial race, when Republican candidate Carl Paladino of Buffalo told New York Post State Editor Fred Dicker, “I’ll take you out,” while warning him to keep photographers away from his young daughter.
Erie County Republican Chairman Nicholas Langworthy said Thursday the cameraman in the Davis video was a Republican volunteer but declined to identify him.
The volunteer was not hurt but is consulting a lawyer because “someone laid hands on him,” Langworthy said.
“It’s just unheard of that a candidate would get physical,” Langworthy said. He questioned whether Davis has the temperament to serve in Congress.
Davis spokesman Curtis Ellis said the cameraman was leaning on Davis’ car before the scuffle while a second man with a camera was filming the first.
“They were shouting at him, ‘You’re a coward, you’re a coward!'” Ellis said. “Then they got in his face and prevented him from getting in his own car.”
“Both campaigns are sending out these thugs and engaging these bully boy tactics,” Ellis said.
The 26th District seat was vacated by Republican Christopher Lee in February after a website published a shirtless photo sent to a woman he’d been flirting with on Craigslist.
France honors top Tunisian filmmaker at Cannes
CANNES, France (AP) – France has bestowed its highest honor on Tunisian director Nouri Bouzid, months after a popular revolution toppled the North African nation’s long-standing dictator.
Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand made Bouzid a knight in the Legion of Honor in a ceremony Thursday on the margins of the Cannes Film Festival.
The political-minded filmmaker won international acclaim with “Halfaouine” (1990) and “Clay Dolls” (2002).
Mitterrand said “the lucidity of Nouri Bouzid’s vision” is all the more necessary as Tunisia muddles through the delicate post-revolutionary transitional period.
Bouzid called on the country’s young filmmakers to keep a critical voice and stand up against “all forms of extremism.”
Disney brings new channel to Africa
Donna Bryson
JOHANNESBURG (AP) – Disney sees opportunity in Africa as the continent’s middle class and its leisure and retail infrastructure grow, the giant entertainment company said Thursday.
Disney executives were in downtown Johannesburg Thursday for the launch in Africa of a new Disney channel in a deal with South African pay-TV company MultiChoice, which has audiences across the continent.
Christine Service, who manages Disney operations in South Africa, said more theaters are being built in Africa, and Internet access is growing and improving in quality. She also is seeing improvements in the services free and pay television companies are offering, and sophisticated South African retailers expanding farther north.
“We do have to follow the infrastructure,” Service said in an interview.
Service says Disney will bring more channels, live shows and digital products to Africa. But she said an African Disney theme park – long rumored – is not yet on the agenda. Disney has three theme parks outside the U.S., in Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong, and last month broke ground for a new Shanghai park.
Disney also own television networks ESPN and ABC, Pixar Animation Studios, and Marvel comics. Service said Disney movies and TV programming – Africans have been watching the company’s flagship Disney Channel on MultiChoice’s DStv since 2006 – have been popular in Africa.
“We look forward to the future and remain absolutely committed to continuing to invest in this market,” Service said.
Disney is not alone in seeing opportunity in Africa. A survey by accounting firm Ernst & Young of more than 500 executives of international companies found 68 percent believed Africa had become a more attractive place to do business in recent years.
Estimates and definitions differ, but experts say the number of Africans with income to spare is growing. An African Development Bank study attributed the growth of the middle class to strong economic performance on the continent in the past two decades, but cautioned that overcoming poverty remains a challenge.
The channel launched in Africa Thursday, Disney XD, has been available in the U.S. and Europe since 2009. Boys are the main audience for its mix of animated shows and live action sitcoms, among them “Kick Buttowski,” a cartoon about a suburban kid with daredevil aspirations.
Maciej Bral, Disney Channel’s vice president for emerging markets, said Disney XD could one day be a platform for African shows.
“We’ll be aiming to increase the number of local productions over time,” Bral said in Johannesburg Thursday.
Hollywood stars ring in Cannes with Ducasse dinner
Jenny Barchfield
CANNES, France (AP) – Movie industry insiders and A-list stars like Jude Law and Uma Thurman feted Wednesday’s start of the 12-day-long cinema extravaganza that is the Cannes Film Festival with a multi-course surf-and-turf dinner conceived by Michelin-starred French chef Alain Ducasse.
Decked out in tuxedos and floor-length ball gowns, about 650 members of the world cinema elite dined at special seaside venue following the gala screening of the festival’s opening film, “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen’s homage to the City of Light.
On the menu: a lobster starter, followed by veal and bell pepper-stuffed squash blossoms by Ducasse, one of France’s most celebrated chefs.
Faye Dunaway, the American actress who graces the posters for the 64th edition of the chic French Riviera festival, was there in a white dress, while rising French actress Melanie Laurent, the M.C. of the opening ceremony, wore a meringue-y black number. Thurman, the willowy actress who’s one of eight members of the jury presided by Robert De Niro, wore a white bustier dress by Versace, with a marabout feather-embellished train.
Indian superstar Aishwarya Rai rubbed elbows with her fellow L’Oreal spokesmodel Ines de la Fressange, who stood a head taller than almost every one else at the soiree – despite the fact that she was wearing Roger Vivier flats.
“Fashion, beauty and fashion, it’s all one big melting pot, so I feel comfortable in this world,” de la Fressange told The Associated Press, adding she was there to promote festival sponsor L’Oreal. “I’m here for work, but let’s be honest, watching movies all day seems more like a holiday than real work. It’s like recreation.”
French actress Vahina Giocante said Cannes always managed to hit the perfect mix between sequins and brains.
“It’s super glamorous but at the same time, it has the almost geeky side that’s about passion for cinema,” said the ravishing blond between courses.
Will Smith’s trailer hits road amid NY complaints
Frazier Moore, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Will Smith’s tricked-out trailer was sent packing Wednesday after complaints from residents in the neighborhood where his new film is being shot.
The location shoot for “Men in Black III” has clogged the narrow streets of Manhattan’s Soho district for several days. But among the two dozen trucks and trailers deployed there, the most prominent was the luxury apartment-on-wheels occupied by Smith.
The double-decker digs were larger than many Manhattan residences and had locals up in arms about its size, noise and fumes.
“I love Will Smith, but this is about survival,” said Anessa Rahman, co-owner of an antiques store located a few steps from the curbside spot where the actor’s trailer had been parked.
The trailer, along with the rest of the crowded Hollywood convoy, was putting a dent in her business, she said.
Wednesday afternoon, the megatrailer was removed by Columbia Pictures.
“This trailer has been used many times in this city by different studios on various movies over the years, and while its use has never been an issue before, we regret any inconvenience it may have caused,” Columbia Pictures spokesman Steve Elzer said.
Rahman said she was grateful to see the trailer pulled away.
But Shoja Azari wasn’t so easily placated.
Azari, an independent filmmaker who lives and works in the thick of the “Men in Black” shooting site, called the movie unit “rowdy.”
“They treat the whole neighborhood like it’s a studio, like it’s their backyard,” he said. “It’s crazy.”
The film, the third installment in the sci-fi comedy series about agents who monitor alien activity, is scheduled to continue shooting in the area through Friday.
No word on where Smith will be cooling his heels now between scenes.
Robert De Niro: Cannes jury duty like a vacation
Jill Lawless
CANNES, France (AP) – Seeing, and judging, 20 movies in just over 10 days is not everyone’s idea of a holiday. But not everyone is Robert De Niro.
The Academy Award-winning actor is heading this year’s Cannes Film Festival judging panel – and said Wednesday he’s looking forward to the break from his usual routine.
“It’s a bit of a vacation,” said De Niro, who also has directed two features and is co-founder of New York’s Tribeca Film Festival. “I can focus on the films and not have the distractions I normally would have in my everyday life.”
De Niro – famously a man of few words in interviews and press conferences – said he had no firm guidelines to offer his fellow judges, who include actors Jude Law and Uma Thurman, Norwegian critic and writer Linn Ullmann and directors Olivier Assayas of France and Johnny To of Hong Kong.
Before the 64th Cannes film festival ends on May 22, they will pick a winner of the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top trophy, from 20 films that include new movies from Cannes favorites Lars von Trier, Pedro Almodovar and Terrence Malick.
“I’m not sure what I’m looking for,” said De Niro, who first came to Cannes in 1976 as the star of “Taxi Driver.” The film won that year’s Palme d’Or – as did another film he starred in, “The Mission,” in 1986.
“I’m sitting there watching the movies and we’ll figure it out,” he said. “It’s all up for grabs at this point.”
Thurman – who visited Cannes in 2004 as star of Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” – said she was looking forward to the whirlwind course in world cinema.
“I came to get inspired and remind me of the best of why we’ve devoted our lives to making movies,” she said.
Law, who appeared in a 2007 Cannes entry, Wong Kar-wai’s “My Blueberry Nights,” acknowledged that choosing a winner was daunting.
“Of course it’s a responsibility,” he said, “but I feel like I’m in good company to hold up that responsibility.”
The stars appeared alongside fellow jurors at a press conference Wednesday that – in typical Cannes fashion – veered between high-minded discussions of film art and startlingly odd moments.
The latter came when a French journalist asked De Niro – in blunt four-letter terms that echoed dialogue from “Taxi Driver” – whether the actor had had sex with the questioner’s wife.
“I don’t think so,” was De Niro’s typically terse reply.
It fell to another juror, Chadian director Mahamat Saleh Haroun, to remind journalists why Cannes remains the world’s most important film festival.
Haroun, whose “A Screaming Man” won last year’s third-place trophy, the Jury Prize, said coming to Cannes “is the dream for any filmmaker, anyone who loves cinema.”
He said that “the simple fact of my presence in Cannes and the prize we won revolutionized things in Chad” – an impoverished Central African country with little established filmmaking tradition.
“Previously, we had no cinemas – now we have one,” he said. “In 20 or 30 years’ time there will be new filmmakers who are here with films from Chad.”
Venice Film Festival to honor Bellocchio
VENICE, Italy (AP) – The Venice Film Festival says it will honor Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the next edition of the festival running Aug. 31-Sept. 10.
The festival called the 71-year-old Bellocchio “one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of recent decades.”
Bellocchio’s first film “Fists in the Pocket” in 1965 established him as one of the leading figures of Italian cinema.
The festival said in a statement Sunday that the worldwide success of 2009’s “Vincere” confirmed Bellocchio’s standing as one of three major Italian directors active today, alongside Bernardo Bertolucci and Ermanno Olmi.
Recent winners of the award have included Hong Kong action filmmaker John Woo and John Lasseter and his Pixar creators of “Toy Story,” ”Nemo” and other animated films.
Cannes to show movies by convicted Iranians
PARIS (AP) – Organizers say the Cannes Film Festival will screen two new films by Iranian filmmakers recently sentenced to six-year prison terms at home.
Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof have appealed the prison sentences and accompanying 20-year bans from filmmaking on charges that included “making propaganda” against Iran’s Islamic regime.
Cannes organizers said Saturday they will screen two films “made in semi-clandestine conditions” by the filmmakers and which were received by festival organizers in recent days.
On show will be Rasoulof’s “Be Omid e Didar” (Good Bye), about a Tehran lawyer’s search for a visa to leave Iran, and “In Film Nist” (This is not a film) – about Panahi’s wait for the verdict of his court appeal.
