Tweet
The Toronto Sun
May 11, 2005 Wednesday
FINAL EDITION
CANNESCON;
CANUCK SPOTLIGHT ON 3 TORONTO FILMMAKERS AT FEST
BY BRUCE KIRKLAND, AT CANNES
THE CANNES Film Festival launches today, rife with excitement over
everything from the Euro-debut of George Lucas' final Star Wars movie
to edgy Jim Jarmusch's latest opus with Bill Murray. For Canadians,
however, the focus is on three films, three filmmakers, all from
Toronto.
Here they are:
WHERE THE TRUTH LIES
(In competition)
THE DIRECTOR: Atom Egoyan, 45, born in Cairo of Armenian parents,
raised in Vancouver and based in Toronto.
THE STARS: Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, Alison Lohman, Rachel Blanchard
THE GENRE: A psychological thriller.
THE STORY: Fifteen years after a naked hottie is found dead in a
hotel room, the two showbiz comics with whom she partied are
investigated by a reporter and events spin out of control. Bacon and
Firth play the comedy team under suspicion.
THE CANNES INSIGHTS: "It's a great way to release the film," Egoyan
tells the Sun. "It will be very exciting." And the head-to-head
competition with his pal David Cronenberg has Egoyan revved up. "It
certainly is a rarity."
Six Egoyan films launched here before, three in competition. "But you
can't take it for granted," he says of being selected again after he
and his producer Robert Lantos hesitated before submitting the new
film.
"We've become blase, but we have to remind ourselves that it is a
very, very privileged position. Every time that you submit a movie,
you know that the standards are really high. There is no guarantee.
This film is a new direction for me and you don't know how people are
going to respond."
In the film, Egoyan examines what he calls "the spectacle" of
performance.
"It's very much a view of U.S. popular culture. It's a different
alchemy for me. It's been fun to make and it will be a different ride
for people."
---
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
(In competition)
THE DIRECTOR: David Cronenberg, 62, born, raised and based in
Toronto.
THE STARS: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, William Hurt, Ashton Holmes,
Ed Harris.
THE GENRE: A classic vengeance saga.
THE STORY: An Indiana lawyer's idyllic family life is shattered when
he kills two criminals during a violent robbery in the man's diner.
Mortensen plays the lawyer-businessman.
THE CANNES INSIGHTS: "I've known that I was in for about a month, but
I wasn't allowed to say," Cronenberg tells the Sun about having to
hold back his enthusiasm until the official release. He is eager to
participate. Cannes has not lost its allure. "No, it hasn't. I'm
actually jealous when I'm not here. I'm telling the truth now. I
always like to be here, but it's not as much fun if you don't have a
film -- so you have to make a movie. It's just pure fun. It's a great
way to introduce your film to the world. That's the key. I just
finished it and I'm desperate to show it."
Like Egoyan, Cronenberg says he is proud to be selected from the
1,540 films submitted to Cannes programmers, especially because the
decision came quickly, unlike the waffling on selecting his Spider in
2002. "(The odds) are staggering. And there's no fooling. They really
did look at all of those and they really wanted ours, you know. They
weren't doing anybody any favours. It wasn't payback or anything.
They love the films that they have chosen."
---
MIDNIGHT MOVIES: FROM THE MARGIN TO THE MAINSTREAM
(Out of competition)
THE DIRECTOR: Stuart Samuels, 65, born in Manhattan, taught film and
culture at the University of Pennsylvania, emigrated to Canada and is
now based in Toronto as a dual citizen.
THE STARS: David Lynch, John Waters, George Romero, Perry Henzell,
Richard O'Brien and Alejandro Jodorowsky.
THE GENRE: A documentary based on his own 1981 book.
THE STORY: Six cult-famous directors explain the now legendary impact
of their early midnight hits, Eraserhead, Pink Flamingos, Night Of
The Living Dead, The Harder They Come, The Rocky Horror Picture Show
and El Topo.
THE CANNES INSIGHTS: "I was an historian of ideas -- that was my
degree -- so I write from that perspective," Samuels tells the Sun
about his ambition to turn his documentaries into cultural insights.
His past work includes Visions Of Light: The Art Of Cinematography
and Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies, And The American Dream.
"This movie, Midnight Movies, closed the circle. I had the chance to
do it on something that I wrote 25 years ago.
"The thesis is that between 1970 and 1977, these six films -- all
low-budget, all marginal -- were launched at midnight or became
famous at midnight. I tell their stories from the inside. The
conclusion is that everything that was in midnight movies is now in
mainstream comedy. Midnight movies were the opening wedge in the
birth of irony. That's when things changed."
GRAPHIC: 1. photo by Vincent Kessler, Reuters 2. photo of DAVID
CRONENBERG 3. photo of ATOM EGOYAN
.
May 11, 2005 Wednesday
FINAL EDITION
CANNESCON;
CANUCK SPOTLIGHT ON 3 TORONTO FILMMAKERS AT FEST
BY BRUCE KIRKLAND, AT CANNES
THE CANNES Film Festival launches today, rife with excitement over
everything from the Euro-debut of George Lucas' final Star Wars movie
to edgy Jim Jarmusch's latest opus with Bill Murray. For Canadians,
however, the focus is on three films, three filmmakers, all from
Toronto.
Here they are:
WHERE THE TRUTH LIES
(In competition)
THE DIRECTOR: Atom Egoyan, 45, born in Cairo of Armenian parents,
raised in Vancouver and based in Toronto.
THE STARS: Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, Alison Lohman, Rachel Blanchard
THE GENRE: A psychological thriller.
THE STORY: Fifteen years after a naked hottie is found dead in a
hotel room, the two showbiz comics with whom she partied are
investigated by a reporter and events spin out of control. Bacon and
Firth play the comedy team under suspicion.
THE CANNES INSIGHTS: "It's a great way to release the film," Egoyan
tells the Sun. "It will be very exciting." And the head-to-head
competition with his pal David Cronenberg has Egoyan revved up. "It
certainly is a rarity."
Six Egoyan films launched here before, three in competition. "But you
can't take it for granted," he says of being selected again after he
and his producer Robert Lantos hesitated before submitting the new
film.
"We've become blase, but we have to remind ourselves that it is a
very, very privileged position. Every time that you submit a movie,
you know that the standards are really high. There is no guarantee.
This film is a new direction for me and you don't know how people are
going to respond."
In the film, Egoyan examines what he calls "the spectacle" of
performance.
"It's very much a view of U.S. popular culture. It's a different
alchemy for me. It's been fun to make and it will be a different ride
for people."
---
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
(In competition)
THE DIRECTOR: David Cronenberg, 62, born, raised and based in
Toronto.
THE STARS: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, William Hurt, Ashton Holmes,
Ed Harris.
THE GENRE: A classic vengeance saga.
THE STORY: An Indiana lawyer's idyllic family life is shattered when
he kills two criminals during a violent robbery in the man's diner.
Mortensen plays the lawyer-businessman.
THE CANNES INSIGHTS: "I've known that I was in for about a month, but
I wasn't allowed to say," Cronenberg tells the Sun about having to
hold back his enthusiasm until the official release. He is eager to
participate. Cannes has not lost its allure. "No, it hasn't. I'm
actually jealous when I'm not here. I'm telling the truth now. I
always like to be here, but it's not as much fun if you don't have a
film -- so you have to make a movie. It's just pure fun. It's a great
way to introduce your film to the world. That's the key. I just
finished it and I'm desperate to show it."
Like Egoyan, Cronenberg says he is proud to be selected from the
1,540 films submitted to Cannes programmers, especially because the
decision came quickly, unlike the waffling on selecting his Spider in
2002. "(The odds) are staggering. And there's no fooling. They really
did look at all of those and they really wanted ours, you know. They
weren't doing anybody any favours. It wasn't payback or anything.
They love the films that they have chosen."
---
MIDNIGHT MOVIES: FROM THE MARGIN TO THE MAINSTREAM
(Out of competition)
THE DIRECTOR: Stuart Samuels, 65, born in Manhattan, taught film and
culture at the University of Pennsylvania, emigrated to Canada and is
now based in Toronto as a dual citizen.
THE STARS: David Lynch, John Waters, George Romero, Perry Henzell,
Richard O'Brien and Alejandro Jodorowsky.
THE GENRE: A documentary based on his own 1981 book.
THE STORY: Six cult-famous directors explain the now legendary impact
of their early midnight hits, Eraserhead, Pink Flamingos, Night Of
The Living Dead, The Harder They Come, The Rocky Horror Picture Show
and El Topo.
THE CANNES INSIGHTS: "I was an historian of ideas -- that was my
degree -- so I write from that perspective," Samuels tells the Sun
about his ambition to turn his documentaries into cultural insights.
His past work includes Visions Of Light: The Art Of Cinematography
and Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies, And The American Dream.
"This movie, Midnight Movies, closed the circle. I had the chance to
do it on something that I wrote 25 years ago.
"The thesis is that between 1970 and 1977, these six films -- all
low-budget, all marginal -- were launched at midnight or became
famous at midnight. I tell their stories from the inside. The
conclusion is that everything that was in midnight movies is now in
mainstream comedy. Midnight movies were the opening wedge in the
birth of irony. That's when things changed."
GRAPHIC: 1. photo by Vincent Kessler, Reuters 2. photo of DAVID
CRONENBERG 3. photo of ATOM EGOYAN
.