Friday, October 31st, 2008
COLUMN ONE
Chinese want a piece of movie ‘Action!’
Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times
Qi Shuyo and others wait the gates of the Beijing Film Studio, hoping to be called for an audition.
Thousands of would-be extras arrive at the gates of Beijing Film Studio each year, hoping to become stars or just to generate a little excitement in a tough life.
Los Angeles Times By Mark Magnier
October 30, 2008
Reporting from Beijing — When you have a movie calling for 700 eunuchs, it’s good to live in a country with a potential pool of more than 1 billion extras. And this is the place to find them: at the gates of a nondescript compound on the north Third Ring Road called the Beijing Film Studio.
It’s just after 6 on a recent morning, but a sizable crowd is already swarming the entrance to the studio, which has become a mecca for wannabe actors across China yearning for their big break. Most aren’t particularly ready for their close-up — migrant workers with dusty clothes and dirt-etched fingernails — but they’re hungering for a bit of celluloid to counteract a tough, often dull, existence.
By some estimates, 100,000 people land in front of these gates each year looking for infinitesimal roles as policemen, soldiers, pedestrians. The odds don’t favor wallflowers, which prompts many to toot their own horns, sometimes literally.
“My skill as a master of oral instruments sets me apart,” says Han Shixi, a 43-year-old farmer, emitting a sound somewhere between a trumpet and a Bronx cheer from his pursed lips.
Others sport court jester hats, sequined blouses and cowboy hats in a bid to stand out when casting crews show up looking for bodies to populate the country’s steady diet of action films and period dramas — sometimes as eunuchs, as in the case of director Zhang Yimou’s “Curse of the Golden Flower.” That movie reportedly required more than 4,000 extras, including 700 “specialists,” presumably castrated only in the filmmaker’s imagination.
Han won’t win any beauty contests. But his weathered face has become an asset in landing minor gangster parts in crime dramas, a genre in heavily censored China that always ends with the bad guy in cuffs and the caring policeman bestowing tender justice to the relief and joy of all.
“The first time a director saw me, he said, ‘I want you to play a thief, flirt with the woman, then sexually assault her,’ ” Han says, before launching into a few of his old lines. “This time we go to a cargo station, see? We don’t make any mistakes, see?”
Others say their emotional depth helps them land their tiny roles, even if most amount to little more than breathing, or not even that: Some play corpses. “I believe I’m talented,” says Yang Hui, a 30-year-old from Hebei province with a dreamy smile and red shoes, citing a role she had recently as a scared bus passenger. She also watches lots of movies for inspiration. “I liked ‘Forrest Gump,’ ” she says.
Shop assistant Lin Chengguo got his 15 seconds of fame playing a young Afghan when China stood in for Afghanistan in the film “A Boy Running After a Kite.” Say what? “Or maybe it was called ‘The Kite Runner,’ ” he says.
After a couple of hours, casting agent Meng Ying arrives, choosing four people apparently at random from the crowd while negotiating with a street vendor for lunch. “We’re looking for foreigners for commercials,” he says after noticing an overseas reporter in his midst. “You free?”
Although some extras supplement their meager pay working as security guards or day laborers, most of the wannabes have little but time on their hands as they wait up to 14 hours a day — time spent kibitzing, trading acting tips or offering a view on why they should be the next Bruce Lee or Gong Li.
“I’m stylish, good-looking and the girls love me,” says Huo Wenjie, 21, also from Hebei, which surrounds Beijing. He has his hair pulled back in a ponytail under a large cowboy hat. “I’m also an excellent singer,” he adds, belting out a few lyrics from a dated pop hit: “There’s you and me in the crowd. . . .”
The commotion attracts Wang Wenhua, 28, and his creative partner, Wang Guoliang, 31, not related, who pull a script from a backpack, its stained cover vaguely reminiscent of a Rorschach test. How much for a script?
“Oh, around $1.2 million,” says Wang One.
What’s it about?
“It’s sort of an interior dialogue of a depressed person,” Wang Two says. “Audiences might not be that interested, but the world needs more serious art.”
Several extras say they fantasize about visiting Hollywood, where they hear the pay is high, the working conditions great, the red carpets omnipresent and the unions eager to protect you. “I’d probably have to ride there on a rocket though,” Han says. “There are so many visa restrictions now.”
Production companies pay $7 to $12 a day for extras, but less than half of that generally reaches the actors, given the giant sucking sound of middlemen. Many are poorly treated during production of the 400 movies and thousands of television programs made here each year. This is a country, after all, where lax labor laws can make it cheaper to use humans than computer automation.
Complaints of agent rip-offs abound. Some of the victims who stream in from the provinces with stars in their eyes and a few hard-earned dollars in their pocket find themselves locked in houses where they’re charged for food, rent, costumes and agent fees until they’re broke, says Zhang Gang, co-founder of the Self-Support Center for Small-Time Actors, a group that fights exploitation.
“As we say in China, ‘As long as there’s a pit, people will fall into it,’ ” says Zhang Bao, 24, an extra who lost $15 to an unscrupulous “talent scout.”
Many of the migrants live in basement rooms for as little as $42 a month, or share a bed with people who work different hours for half that amount. Then there are those like Huang Fuli, 21, who pays nothing to stay in “starlight hotels.” “I sleep over there,” he says, pointing to a park. “It’s very difficult and I’m often cold and hungry, but many of us have no place else to go.”
Chen Haoran, 21, offers a tour of his living quarters: a pile of rug liners, some old clothes and a plastic Mickey Mouse shopping bag in a pedestrian underpass he shares with 20 men 300 yards from the gate. You get used to the steady stream of people staring at you, he says, but those who cover their noses in disgust as they pass, not so much.
The lights on the roof of the tunnel burn all night, he says, and the underpass floods when it rains. When it gets really bad, he sleeps in a chair in an Internet cafe for $2 a night.
The police sometimes chase them out of the underpass, but most residents drift back. “Our dreams are here,” he says.
Chen, who made $10 in a recent month as an extra, wears a “Last Emperor”-style cap adorned with a garish Davy Crockett-style raccoon tail. “You can’t be shy in this business,” he says. “You must remain upbeat. Even if I shed tears, I wipe them and move on.”
Chen says his family members would look down on him if they saw his life, so he tells them he has a job selling cars. Keeping this life secret is a common theme among the extras, many of whom tell their relatives they’re real estate agents, office workers or owners of some imaginary thriving business to avoid the stigma of their line of work and keep loved ones from worrying.
“No one really appreciates extras,” says Xiao Fan, 20. “Even on the set, you work hard and they swear at you all the time.”
But the highs can make it all worthwhile, some say. “It’s such a joy to act,” says Ding Liang, 57, who became an extra after being a soldier, farmer, miner and laborer. “Once you do it well, you feel such a sense of achievement. It’s better than anything else I’ve done in my life.”
Another source of inspiration is the likes of Wang Baoqiang, a Hebei village boy who haunted these same gates as recently as 2004 before catapulting to fame. In late August, Wang was voted the most popular TV actor in China, arguably making him one of the biggest stars on the planet.
Across town at his studio, Wang, 24, now surrounded by publicists, producers and hangers-on, reflects on his meteoric rise and the dream he embodies for many extras. “I know many see their hope in me,” he says. “As an extra, I lived in a shabby room and earned a few dollars a day. Now, I’m supporting my parents. I feel like I’m living the dream.”
But Wang and others say extras also need to be realistic. “It doesn’t happen very often that you pick somebody,” says director Feng Xiaogang, who discovered Wang. “I don’t want to waste my time teaching them.”
Wang says his new life won’t make him snooty, but some are skeptical. “Do any of them remember us little extras?” Chen says. “They go up to the sky and dare not return to Earth.”
As the light fades on another day at the gate, some extras even dream about becoming directors or producers someday. “I think I’d make a movie about all the extras waiting at the gate,” says Ding, the former soldier, farmer, miner and laborer. “With all the hardship in China right now, they come here to live a dream. It’s something positive we should encourage at a time of so much stress.” Hollywood USA opportunites for Producers, directors, writers, actors, singers and crafts persons at: info@archeremc.com and www.archeremc.com
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Friday, October 24th, 2008
Bottom Line: All-out thriller with few Bond touches but plenty of high-octane action.
The Hollywood Reporter
By Ray Bennett
Oct 24, 2008
Opens: Friday, Oct. 31 (U.K.); Friday, Nov. 14 (U.S.)
LONDON — The meanest and leanest James Bond film yet, “Quantum of Solace” is a breathless splash of high-speed action that hurtles from one reckless chase to another.
There’s not much solace and few words as the British secret agent exercises his license to kill in dispatching one bad guy after another in the attempt to avenge the death of the lover who died in “Casino Royale.”
Fans of that boxoffice smash and the earlier films might be disappointed that the new picture allows hardly any flourishes of style and character in the 007 tradition, but moviegoers seeking an adrenaline rush will be well pleased. Running almost 40 minutes shorter than the bloated “Casino Royale,” the film should do bristling business around the world.
So much of the movie comprises furious pursuits in boats, planes and racing automobiles that you wonder how many scenes were left for director Marc Forster to take care of. Second unit director Dan Bradley and stunt coordinator Gary Powell, both “Bourne” veterans, must take a huge chunk of the credit for all the thrilling encounters that leave credibility in the dust.
Forster’s regular cinematographer Robert Schaefer and Oscar-winning production designer Dennis Gassner (”Bugsy”) contribute fine work and the intricate assembly by editors Matt Chesse and Richard Pearson is staggeringly effective. A gunfight cut against a lavish performance of “Tosca” is an action triumph.
Jack White’s title song passes without notice, but composer David Arnold provides a top-flight action score, keeping the familiar themes to a minimum as they hardly suit Daniel Craig’s Bond.
Craig looks incredibly fit, and his manner suggests someone capable of surviving everything that’s thrown at him. This Bond is more invincible than ever and shares with Jason Bourne and the kite runner the unerring ability to know exactly where the object of his chase will end up.
Judi Dench has a few good scenes tearing a strip off her favorite agent, and Olga Kurylenko has some serious action of her own, which she renders in high style. Gemma Arterton, however, is a mere bedroom dalliance, and Mathieu Amalric (”The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”) tends to let his character’s madness show too much with bulging eyes, one of which threatens to start blinking at any moment.
There are the usual lavish locales, and the film is as efficient as its supercomputers and high-powered weaponry and as sleek as the glamorous settings where Bond catches his breath. There is a danger in this version of Ian Fleming’s hero, however. A killer in the movies needs something redeeming about him. Bourne had presumed innocence, and Sean Connery’s Bond, while nasty, had ironic wit. Craig’s humorless Bond is in danger of becoming simply a very well-dressed but murderous thug.
Production companies: Danjaq, United Artists, Columbia Pictures.
Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright; Director: Marc Forster; Screenwriters: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis & Robert Wade; Producers: Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson; Executive producers: Callum McDougall, Anthony Waye; Director of photography: Roberto Schaefer; Production designer: Dennis Gassner; Music: David Arnold; Costume designer: Louise Frogley; Editors: Matt Chesse, Richard Pearson.
Rated PG-13, running time 106 minutes.
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Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
‘Tekken’ game, ‘Pure Soul’ journey among panel’s topics
The Hollywood Reporter
By Gavin J. Blair
Oct 21, 2008, 02:29 PM ET
TOKYO — The business of remaking Asian films into Hollywood hits drew a standing-room-only crowd Tuesday at a Tokyo International Film Festival panel.
The unusual journey of Motoko Kimura’s TV drama “Pure Soul” — now being turned into “A Moment to Remember” at Lionsgate — was the focus of the first half.
Kimura, who wrote the script and produced the drama while working at Yomiuri TV, retained the rights through Digital Hollywood Entertainment Corp. — where she’s a vp — then sold them to South Korea’s SidusFNH Corp.
Once in Korea, “Soul” was adapted by seminar panelist Sungjai Tcha into a feature called “The Eraser in My Mind,” which went on to become a hit in both Korea and Japan, as well as the basis for the U.S. remake.
Moderator Tetsu Fujimura, founder of GAGA Communications, took the property to Hollywood through his relationship with panelist Mark Amin, a vp at Lionsgate.
The panel described the laborious legal processes required to make the project a reality.
“The basic foundations of contracts are very different in Japan and the U.S., and this is a challenge for any remake,” Kimura said. “Then there was the added issue of the Korean version and the complications of another country’s legal system.”
Later in the day, a panel comprising MPCA CEO Brad Krevoy, Fox Atomic vp Zak Kadison, Convergence Entertainment chief Tim Kwok and Crystal Sky’s Stephen Paul talked about the process of finding Asian material and scoring a green light.
Between them, the panelists have remade or adapted six Korean or Japanese films, manga and video games.
“I am all about branded entertainment,” said Paul, who is producing the live-action version of “Tekken,” the fighting video game franchise that has sold more than 30 million copies. “I love the idea that something already has a big audience.”
“The movie came about through a long friendship with Mr. Nakamura, the founder of Namco-Bandai,” Paul told The Hollywood Reporter, referring to the game’s maker. “This deal has been 20 years in the making, and there’ll be some big tie-ins with the new game.”
“Tekken 6″ is due next year and will appear for the first time on a non-Sony game console, the Xbox 360.
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Sunday, October 19th, 2008
Reuters
Oct 19, 2008, 01:16 PM ET
‘Beverly Hills Chihuahua,’ ‘Bees,’ ‘W.’ round out the top four
Action-packed “Max Payne” shot its way to the top of the North American boxoffice, grossing $18 million during the video game adaptation’s first weekend in theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
Walt Disney Co’s family comedy “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” fell to the No. 2 spot with $11.2 million, while civil rights era movie “The Secret Life of Bees” was just behind with $11.1 million.
“W.,” Oliver Stone’s portrait of U.S. President George W. Bush, debuted at No. 4 with a take of $10.6 million. The biopic was released by Lionsgate, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.
“Max Payne” was released by Fox, a division of News Corp., while “The Secret Life of Bees” was released by the same company’s Fox Searchlight.
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Friday, October 17th, 2008
Style news brought too you by Sri panwa www.sripanwa.com Phuket’s most stylish resort.
Vera, Oscar and Ralph need no introduction. While these powerhouse designers are household names, it’s new faces like Andrew Holden and Philip Sparks that are piquing shoppers’ interest–especially amid tough financial times.
“Emerging designers are trendsetters, and come up with a different angle than what’s already out there,” says Gaston Garcia, owner of Republic of Couture, an upscale men’s and women’s clothing store. “What keeps consumers in the market is new and unique items. In this economy especially, they won’t shop for something that looks like what they already have in their closet.”
Call these designers what you will (”experimental fashion” is the term most often used), but they’re filling a gap in the market. They’re not playing it safe, but they’re not stepping too far out of bounds, either–because they can. And success can come quickly. Sparks’ collection, for example, debuted in fall 2007; he’s already collaborating with Town Shoes, one of Canada’s largest footwear chains.
“Undiscovered designers can afford to take more risks because they don’t have a lot to lose at this point in their careers,” says Noga Edelsztein, head of design affiliation and creative content at Erayo.com, a Web site for independent retailers and designers.
Less Business, More Art
Many young designers still view fashion as a form of art and a hobby, says Michael Fisher, men’s editor for Stylesight, a trend forecasting firm. Since there are no big investors to please or shareholders to return investments to, the designers can try new and different things.
“Even when designers nod to an era past, such as this fall’s take on the Roaring ’20s, it still requires a new point of view,” says Aaron Walton, owner of Walton Isaacson, a Chicago- and Los Angeles-based marketing agency. Emerging designers, he says, are the lifeblood of the fashion industry because they introduce new and innovative ideas that more established brands cannot.
“Design houses are big corporations that are trying to make money,” says Agata Maskiewics, celebrity stylist for USA Network’s The Starter Wife. “Young designers sometimes are not as concerned [about] or aware of their sales profit.”
And, oddly enough, a slow economy is actually of benefit to these designers. When times are tight, shoppers cut back on big-ticket splurges and trade down on apparel and accessories. In fact, 26% of shoppers are turning to retailers other than where they usually shop (more discounters, less upscale and specialty stores), according to an August survey conducted by TNS Retail Forward, a consulting firm.
“This economy, ironically, opens up opportunities for young designers to get goods in to retailers,” says Cynthia O’Connor, CEO of Cynthia + Company, a fashion and accessories showroom in New York and Los Angeles. “In the good times, when sales are soaring, the retailers give more dollars to their current vendor mix and fewer dollars to new talent. In this economy, stores are looking for contemporary brands in men’s and women’s to excite their consumers.”
In some cases, it’s even more profitable for department stores and specialty boutiques to invest in unknown designers because their items tend to cost less, making the sales margins higher than they would be for big-brand merchandise.
Also, what generally makes luxury goods so expensive is the name attached to them, Edelsztein says. Unknown designers often make products of the same high quality, but consumers are not paying extra for the name. While a Rag & Bone trench coat sells for $585 at online store La Garconne, a similar Dolce & Gabbana double-breasted trench retails for $1,295 at Saks Fifth Avenue.
Where To Find Them
Department stores such as Bloomingdale’s and Barney’s have done a good job at carving out sections of their stores dedicated to emerging designers, says Tim Bess, market analyst at the Doneger Group, a source of global market trends and merchandising strategies to the retail and fashion industry.
“These stores are constantly looking for new lines that are theirs exclusively, at least for a few seasons, before the word gets out,” Bess says. “It gives shoppers a reason to come into their stores.”
Some of the newest, hottest designers are coming from Scandinavian cities, such as Stockholm, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark, Fisher says. In fact, Barney’s and Bloomingdale’s buyers have been attending Scandinavia’s Fashion Week for a few seasons running in order to spot these emerging designers before their competitors do.
New York City boutiques like Oden, BBlessing, Group 16 sur 20 and Oak also have become platforms for new designers to showcase their collections.
“Established brands may still be the staple of male shoppers’ wardrobe, but we see a hunger out there for the innovation and fresh approach that young designers bring,” says Sean Shutter, owner of BBlessing. “A typical customer may spend the majority of his budget on a designer he’s worn and trusted for years because he knows he can trust the fit and the quality. But he’ll supplement that with something more exciting and new.”
Of course, as young designers mature, they may grow into staple brands themselves. Shutter sees this potential in Rag & Bone, which began as creators Marcus Wainwright and David Neville’s quest to find a comfortable pair of jeans.
And that’s just the sort of thing that happened to Oscar de la Renta. The designer worked in other fashion houses for years before striking out on his own, taking a ready-to-wear approach with innovative, wearable clothing.
Now he’s a household name.
Philip Sparks
This fall marks Philip Sparks’ third season creating classic menswear rooted in heirloom tailoring techniques. He modernizes his collection by adding slim cuts, nipped-in waists and unexpected accent cloths and details. This season, Sparks expanded beyond suiting, shirting and coats to include a line of knits and accessories. Sparks’ collection is available at specialty stores in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, including Balisi, Simon’s and UPC Boutique.
Conference of Birds
Conference of Birds, by designer Andrew Holden, debuted with a Fall/Winter 2008 runway show. By combining British tailoring with classic American workwear, he creates pieces that are both beautifully constructed and wearable. Paying close attention to detail, he offers a luxurious selection of coats, blazers, shirting, denim, sweaters and accessories.
Celestino
Celestino by designer Sergio Guadarrama was created in August 2005, and his collection has been shown each season since during New York Fashion Week. Specializing in women’s evening wear, Guadarrama’s goal is to make women who may not be the most fashion-forward feel more comfortable and confident. In July Guadarrama competed as a finalist in the Supima Cotton Design Contest and was awarded “Best in Class for Execution.” Celestino is sold at trunk shows across the U.S.
Whitley Kros
Designers Sophia Banks and Marissa Ribisi base their line on the stories and travels of their fictitious character Whitley Kros, a self-possessed woman with a journal and a suitcase. The collection was launched for Spring 2008 and has been shown at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Los Angeles for the past two seasons. Whitley Kros has garnered a celebrity following for its graphic T-shirts and has also done well with signature knit-draped cardigans. Whitley Kros is available at department stores and specialty stores worldwide, including Intermix, Henri Bendel and Scoop.
Gar-de
Gar-de is a New York design collective united by a desire to reinvent high-quality materials into innovative designs. Formed in 2007, the founding members of Gar-de (Chris Viggiano, Jonathan Delagarde, Ken Li and Jiminie Ha) look to their urban landscape for inspiration. Gar-de launched its debut collection in Fall/Winter 2008 with leather. Each season Gar-de will introduce a new product category while simultaneously referencing past themes. The line is available at www.gar-de.com.
Keith Lissner
The line is a women’s ready-to-wear designer collection with inspiration from Victorianism, the belle époque era and the turn of the century. Lisner’s goal is to emphasize and empower the strongest part of a woman. Nakomis, the Earth-Mother figure in Algonquin legend, was also an inspiration in the collection and is a figure Lissner embroidered onto one of the gowns in the collection. The line is available at www.keithlissner.com.
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Thursday, October 16th, 2008
October 15, 2008
The Hollywood Reporter
The world premiere of Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon” received an enthusiastic welcome at the BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday evening.
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Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
Fan Bingbing at the open of the 20th Tokyo Film Fest
Bazaar boosts Japan’s content profile
By MARK SCHILLING
The Japanese biz releases more pics annually — 407 last year — than any other in East Asia. It also holds its own against Hollywood imports — the market share for Japanese pics was 47.4% in 2007. One particular focus of attention for both TIFF and TIFFCOM this year is TV programming, including Japan’s famously wild and inventive gameshow formats, which Ishikawa calls “the hottest (genre) right now among foreign buyers.” Reflecting that interest, 15% more Japanese TV companies (including all five major TV networks) are taking booths at TIFFCOM compared with a year ago.
Serial dramas also are a traditional strength of the Japanese broadcasting biz, with the more popular ones not only developing huge followings among viewers but selling millions of theme-song CDs, enjoying a long afterlife on DVD and serving as fodder for hit pics.
However, overseas sales of Japanese TV dramas amount to only $28.3 million out of $94.4 million in average yearly foreign sales of local TV programming. To boost that figure, a coalition of TV companies and orgs launched the Intl. Drama Festival last year in cooperation with TIFFCOM. This year, the fest, skedded for Oct. 22-24 as part of CoFesta, will feature not only screenings, awards and symposiums, but a Broadcasting Content Market.
“The quality of Japanese TV dramas as entertainment is high,” fest chairman Michisada Hirose said in a statement. “However, in terms of international competitiveness and profitability, there is still a room for improvement in Japanese TV dramas.”
That aim is shared by TIFF and TIFFCOM, which have lagged behind competing events elsewhere in Asia, such as the Pusan Film Festival and Hong Kong Filmart, even though Japan’s contents biz dwarfs its Asian counterparts.
TIFFCOM plans to change that by not only strengthening its focus on TV, but expanding its reach beyond the Asian region to recruit buyers and sellers from Europe and the U.S. As a result, nearly half the 172 registered sellers this year are non-Japanese.
Also, TIFFCOM has been beefing up its Tokyo Project Gathering, which this year will present 32 in-development pics Oct. 21-24. Projects include films to be helmed by outlaw master Seijun Suzuki and Hong Kong auteur Pang Ho-cheung, as well as one produced by Oscar-winning thesp Philip Seymour Hoffman through his Cooper’s Town Prods. shingle — with 101-year-old Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno helming.
As for TIFF itself, Yoda, who was chairman and CEO of music biz powerhouse Avex before moving to a similar post with pic distrib Gaga Communications in 2004, is giving himself three years to boost the fest’s profile not only regionally, but globally.
“My goal is to make (TIFF) one of the four major festivals of the world, along with Cannes, Berlin and Venice,” says Yoda.
Getting there will require, as Yoda notes, “high-quality films,” but he has another, more unusual idea for making TIFF stand out from the pack: Starting this year, the festival is going green. The most obvious symbol of the new focus is the Green Carpet, replacing the traditional red rug, on which stars will make their entrance into Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills shopping and entertainment complex on opening day.
More substantively, TIFF will also debut a new “natural TIFF” and “natural TIFF Masterpieces” sections presenting docus and dramas with eco themes, and an Earth Grand Prix sponsored by Toyota will be awarded to the best green pic in the main program. Yoda will serve as one of the three judges.
“Filmmakers make films and films are created on the Earth — but the Earth is in trouble.” Yoda says in explaining the new orientation. In other words, no Earth equals no people and no pics.
But will becoming the fest equivalent of the Prius help make TIFF major? That’s a stretch, perhaps, but going green could soften TIFF’s rather stiff, corporate image among the global festival cognoscenti — as long as it’s not just a marketing ploy.
As for the foreign buyers and sellers at TIFFCOM and other CoFesta markets, the greenness of an event is not as important as the green it puts in their pockets. Perhaps by this time next year, those same folks will be looking at TIFF’s new carpet with a more appreciative eye.
TIP SHEET
What: Tokyo Intl. Film Festival
When: Oct. 18-26
Where: Roppongi Hills, Bunkamura and other facilities in Tokyo
Web: tiff-jp.net/en
Hollywood USA opportunites for Producers, directors, writers, actors, singers and crafts persons at: info@archeremc.com and www.archeremc.com
Revenues from abroad, however, have not kept pace with success at home. Even major Japanese pics, including the megahits of anime maestro Hayao Miyazaki, usually earn only a tiny fraction of their domestic box office globally.
Other Japanese content, notably toons, comics and games, has fared better abroad, but industrywide coordination to boost content sales has been lacking.
“We have to make more progress on that front,” says Tom Yoda, the new chairman of the Tokyo Intl. Film Festival, which unspools Oct. 18-26.
Yoda is not alone in thinking so: TIFF, together with the Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO) and other groups and companies, joined together last year to launch the Japan Intl. Contents Festival or CoFesta, which might be described as the ultimate Japanese content bazaar.
This year, 15 official events related to games, toons, comics, music, TV shows and pics will unfold under the CoFesta banner from Sept. 30 to Oct. 28, including the Tokyo Game Show, Japan Anime Collaboration Market, Tokyo Asian Music Market, TIFF and the TIFFCOM market.
“We would like to shorten (the schedule) up a bit more — three weeks or so is ideal,” CoFesta director Tomoharu Ishikawa says, “but we can’t go much (tighter) because of logistics — there just aren’t that many big venues in Tokyo.”
There also are CoFesta partner events in other Japanese cities, but the center of the action is in Japan’s biggest metropolis — which also is the home of its biggest content companies.
“We want to make the world better aware of the rich variety of content we have here,” Ishikawa says.
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Monday, October 13th, 2008
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The new terrorism thriller “Body of Lies” failed to take the top spot at the weekend box office in North America, an apparent victim of moviegoers’ preference for escapist fare amid global financial turmoil.
The Warner Bros. film, starring Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio as CIA agents battling a terrorist organization in the Middle East, had to settle for the No. 3 slot with $13.1 million, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.
The Walt Disney Co family comedy “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” logged a second weekend at No. 1 with $17.5 million, taking its 10-day haul to $52.5 million.
The low-budget zombie horror “Quarantine” opened at No. 2 with $14.2 million. The $12 million film was released by Screen Gems, a unit of Sony Corp.
Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, had hoped “Body of Lies” would open at No. 1 with a three-day sum possibly reaching the high-teen millions.
“I’m a bit disappointed,” said Dan Fellman, the studio’s domestic distribution president. “It was too good for the gross it recorded.”
DiCaprio stars as an Arabic-speaking field agent who teams up with Jordanian spies to uncover a dangerous terrorist operation. Crowe plays his boss back in the United States. The movie was directed by British filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott, who previously steered Crowe to an Oscar with “Gladiator.”
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Sunday, October 12th, 2008
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Pusan Festival honors Asian films and actors
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BEIJING, Oct. 12 — The “Land of Scarecrows” by Korean director Roh Gyeong-tae and “Naked of Defenses” by Masahide Ichii of Japan won the New Currents Awards at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea on Friday, website Sina.com reported.
Yang Jin, a young Chinese post-’80s director, won the New Currents Award special mention for his film “Er Dong.” Chinese director Zhang Yuan won the BFC-Busan Film Commission Award and 10 million won, or 7, 675 U.S. dollars for “Executioner Garden,” set in 1930s Shanghai.
Korean actors took home half the prizes awarded during the festival, which screened a record 315 movies from 60 countries, with 85 world premieres and 95 Asian premieres.
The Pusan International Film Festival had been cast under a shadow since it opened on October 2 after South Korean actress Choi Jin-Sil committed suicide and two other Korean women followed suit. The show business industry was greatly affected by the deaths, and a host of Korean celebrities canceled their appearances in Pusan.
Hong Kong directors Wong Kar-wai and Tsui Hark attended the festival. Wong’s “Ashes of Time Redux,” a re-edited version of his 1994 martial-arts drama, was deemed a must-see film at the festival.
Although the festival has provided a platform and market for filmmakers, many film professionals bemoaned the shrinkage of deals locked down and the lack of big-name actors. Some attendees said they doubted that the festival would boost the growth of the Asian film market, the report said.
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Saturday, October 11th, 2008
 “Body of Lies”
He’s played tough and tender. He’s gone over the top and under the radar. From mathematician to gladiator to British swashbuckler, Russell Crowe has shown an uncanny ability to transform himself with every role.
On October 10, the metamorphosis continues, as he stars opposite Leonardo Di Caprio in “Body of Lies,” playing the head of American covert operations in the nation of Jordan. Here’s a look back through one of Hollywood’s most versatile careers. —S. James Snyder, Special to Metromix
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