U2 frontman Bono co-wrote a whodunnit film way back in 2000 called "The Million Dollar Hotel," but 23 years later, he has made his return to the world of movies -- and the result is unexpectedly gorgeous.
This past October, Max released a short film called "Peter and the Wolf," a new adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev's symphonic classic which Bono not only wrote, but he also created the artwork on which the film was based. Not bad for a rock star. This story has been adapted for the screen numerous times, but it's never looked as striking as it does here. The broad strokes of the narrative are the same as you might remember, and composer/narrator Gavin Friday's musical riff on the familiar motifs may whisk you back to hearing these tunes in your childhood, but the visuals are what stand out the most here.
Shot using practical miniature...
This past October, Max released a short film called "Peter and the Wolf," a new adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev's symphonic classic which Bono not only wrote, but he also created the artwork on which the film was based. Not bad for a rock star. This story has been adapted for the screen numerous times, but it's never looked as striking as it does here. The broad strokes of the narrative are the same as you might remember, and composer/narrator Gavin Friday's musical riff on the familiar motifs may whisk you back to hearing these tunes in your childhood, but the visuals are what stand out the most here.
Shot using practical miniature...
- 12/22/2023
- by Ben Pearson
- Slash Film
U2 frontman Bono made a surprise appearance Friday night at the opening ceremony of the Sarajevo Film Festival, with the Irish pop star leading a rapturous crowd in an a cappella rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”
The legendary vocalist took the stage after an emotional screening of “Kiss the Future,” director Nenad Cicin-Sain’s documentary, produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, about U2’s relationship with war-torn Sarajevo in the 1990s. He was accompanied by bandmate the Edge and their wives, Ali Hewson and Morleigh Steinberg, along with model and activist Christy Turlington and veteran CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour.
Bono (c.) with CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour (r.) and others on the red carpet in Sarajevo.
Based on American-born aid worker Bill Carter’s “Fools Rush in: A Memoir,” “Kiss the Future” chronicles the band’s efforts to publicize the plight of the city’s besieged civilians during the Bosnian War.
The legendary vocalist took the stage after an emotional screening of “Kiss the Future,” director Nenad Cicin-Sain’s documentary, produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, about U2’s relationship with war-torn Sarajevo in the 1990s. He was accompanied by bandmate the Edge and their wives, Ali Hewson and Morleigh Steinberg, along with model and activist Christy Turlington and veteran CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour.
Bono (c.) with CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour (r.) and others on the red carpet in Sarajevo.
Based on American-born aid worker Bill Carter’s “Fools Rush in: A Memoir,” “Kiss the Future” chronicles the band’s efforts to publicize the plight of the city’s besieged civilians during the Bosnian War.
- 8/12/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” is a hot property in Cannes, and it’s yet to even premiere.
Several buyers are currently circling the Japan-set, music-infused title from master filmmaker Wenders, which bows in competition on Thursday. Sources tell Variety that interested parties so far include Utopia, Mubi, Sideshow and Janus Films and Sony Pictures Classics.
Wenders’ “Perfect Days” follows Tokyo toilet cleaner Hirayama, who seems content with his simple life. Outside of his everyday routine, he enjoys his passion for books and, in particular, for music. Over the course of the film, a series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.
“Memoirs of a Geisha” star Koji Yakusho — whom some critics have tipped as a contender for Cannes’ best actor prize on Saturday — leads the cast as Hirayama. He also co-starred in “Babel,” a film that was honored by the Cannes Film Festival and earned Golden Globes and Academy Awards.
Several buyers are currently circling the Japan-set, music-infused title from master filmmaker Wenders, which bows in competition on Thursday. Sources tell Variety that interested parties so far include Utopia, Mubi, Sideshow and Janus Films and Sony Pictures Classics.
Wenders’ “Perfect Days” follows Tokyo toilet cleaner Hirayama, who seems content with his simple life. Outside of his everyday routine, he enjoys his passion for books and, in particular, for music. Over the course of the film, a series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.
“Memoirs of a Geisha” star Koji Yakusho — whom some critics have tipped as a contender for Cannes’ best actor prize on Saturday — leads the cast as Hirayama. He also co-starred in “Babel,” a film that was honored by the Cannes Film Festival and earned Golden Globes and Academy Awards.
- 5/23/2023
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Variety has been given a sneak peek of the trailer (below) for Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” which world premieres in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film is a deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around us. It follows Hirayama, who seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.
Koji Yakusho leads the cast. In 2005, he co-starred in “Memoirs of a Geisha,” which was nominated for six Academy Awards. In the following year, he co-starred in “Babel,” a film that was honored by the Cannes Film Festival and earned Golden Globes and Academy Awards.
Along with his international success, Yakusho has...
The film is a deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around us. It follows Hirayama, who seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.
Koji Yakusho leads the cast. In 2005, he co-starred in “Memoirs of a Geisha,” which was nominated for six Academy Awards. In the following year, he co-starred in “Babel,” a film that was honored by the Cannes Film Festival and earned Golden Globes and Academy Awards.
Along with his international success, Yakusho has...
- 5/20/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Academy Award-nominated Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom producer Den Tolmor is creating a feature based on Wali, the Canadian ‘lone wolf’ sniper who spent the first two months of the Ukrainian war fighting the Russians.
Provisionally titled The Good Fight, Tolmor, who has spent much time filming in Ukraine since the 2014 annexation of Crimea, is penning with Nicholas Klein (The Million Dollar Hotel). He hopes to start shooting later this year and the pic is currently part funded.
The film is inspired by the man nicknamed Wali, an excellent ‘lone wolf’ sniper who has also spent time fighting in Syria. He travelled to Ukraine from late February to early May and, although the Russians claimed they had killed him, he resurfaced in Canada shortly afterwards.
The Good Fight tells the story of a retired Navy Seal who travels to Ukraine to see his son before the outbreak...
Provisionally titled The Good Fight, Tolmor, who has spent much time filming in Ukraine since the 2014 annexation of Crimea, is penning with Nicholas Klein (The Million Dollar Hotel). He hopes to start shooting later this year and the pic is currently part funded.
The film is inspired by the man nicknamed Wali, an excellent ‘lone wolf’ sniper who has also spent time fighting in Syria. He travelled to Ukraine from late February to early May and, although the Russians claimed they had killed him, he resurfaced in Canada shortly afterwards.
The Good Fight tells the story of a retired Navy Seal who travels to Ukraine to see his son before the outbreak...
- 8/9/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
“It’s a big support to investments, improving the quality of TV production.”
Pushing forward with an in-person 27th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival has been a “brave” and successful decision, according to festival director Mirsad Purivatra and co-director Jovan Marjanovic.
“Two years [without a festival] would be a disaster,” says Purivatra. “I thought it was reasonable to invest and be brave enough to go.”
The choice has paid off for the long-time festival head, who has run the event since its inauguration. 900 guests have attended the event, of which 300 participated in the festival’s CineLink industry strand.
This is down on...
Pushing forward with an in-person 27th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival has been a “brave” and successful decision, according to festival director Mirsad Purivatra and co-director Jovan Marjanovic.
“Two years [without a festival] would be a disaster,” says Purivatra. “I thought it was reasonable to invest and be brave enough to go.”
The choice has paid off for the long-time festival head, who has run the event since its inauguration. 900 guests have attended the event, of which 300 participated in the festival’s CineLink industry strand.
This is down on...
- 8/20/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
“It’s a big support to investments, improving the quality of TV production.”
Pushing forward with an in-person 27th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival has been a “brave” and successful decision, according to festival director Mirsad Purivatra and co-director Jovan Marjanovic.
“Two years [without a festival] would be a disaster,” says Purivatra. “I thought it was reasonable to invest and be brave enough to go.”
The choice has paid off for the long-time festival head, who has run the event since its inauguration. 900 guests have attended the event, of which 300 participated in the festival’s CineLink industry strand.
This is down on...
Pushing forward with an in-person 27th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival has been a “brave” and successful decision, according to festival director Mirsad Purivatra and co-director Jovan Marjanovic.
“Two years [without a festival] would be a disaster,” says Purivatra. “I thought it was reasonable to invest and be brave enough to go.”
The choice has paid off for the long-time festival head, who has run the event since its inauguration. 900 guests have attended the event, of which 300 participated in the festival’s CineLink industry strand.
This is down on...
- 8/20/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Depp will receive honorary awards from Karlovy Vary and San Sebastian film festivals.
German director Wim Wenders has spoken in defence of Karlovy Vary and San Sebastian film festivals, which have attracted criticism for choosing to give honorary awards to Johnny Depp.
Talking to Screen at the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival, where he received an honorary award of his own last week, Wenders said: “If somebody is condemned because of some accusations, it’s very hard sometimes to prove the opposite.
“Sometimes it is proven without a shadow of a doubt, like the case of Mr. Weinstein in my opinion.
German director Wim Wenders has spoken in defence of Karlovy Vary and San Sebastian film festivals, which have attracted criticism for choosing to give honorary awards to Johnny Depp.
Talking to Screen at the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival, where he received an honorary award of his own last week, Wenders said: “If somebody is condemned because of some accusations, it’s very hard sometimes to prove the opposite.
“Sometimes it is proven without a shadow of a doubt, like the case of Mr. Weinstein in my opinion.
- 8/16/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Wim Wenders says cinema is facing an “existential crisis” brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and the rise of streaming services, urging film lovers to “fight” for movie theaters, and calling on his fellow filmmakers to rise to the challenge at a time when their voices are needed more than ever before.
“[The pandemic] made me realize how much responsibility we have as filmmakers, and that this crisis that the whole of humanity is going through is also a task for us filmmakers,” he said, speaking to Variety at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
Wenders is at the Bosnian fest this week to accept an honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award in recognition of a lifetime’s achievement in film. “I think no other city in the world could have a heart as a symbol,” he said of the Bosnian capital. “It’s a city that embodies gentleness, and a kindness to communicate between cultures,...
“[The pandemic] made me realize how much responsibility we have as filmmakers, and that this crisis that the whole of humanity is going through is also a task for us filmmakers,” he said, speaking to Variety at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
Wenders is at the Bosnian fest this week to accept an honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award in recognition of a lifetime’s achievement in film. “I think no other city in the world could have a heart as a symbol,” he said of the Bosnian capital. “It’s a city that embodies gentleness, and a kindness to communicate between cultures,...
- 8/16/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
U2 frontman Bono made a surprise appearance at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Sunday, where he introduced a digitally restored version of Wim Wenders’ “The Million Dollar Hotel” – a film the iconic rock star presented at the Bosnian fest more than 20 years ago.
Addressing a full house at the Sarajevo National Theater – where fans had gathered outside for more than an hour in the blistering heat, clutching photos and singing along to U2’s hits as they waited for his arrival on the red carpet – Bono told the audience: “It’s really good to be here. It feels like a long time, and yet also a short time.”
The Irish superstar’s relationship to the city dates back nearly three decades, when he was approached by an American aid worker to help draw attention to the plight of Bosnia, where war had broken out in 1992. A year later, during the...
Addressing a full house at the Sarajevo National Theater – where fans had gathered outside for more than an hour in the blistering heat, clutching photos and singing along to U2’s hits as they waited for his arrival on the red carpet – Bono told the audience: “It’s really good to be here. It feels like a long time, and yet also a short time.”
The Irish superstar’s relationship to the city dates back nearly three decades, when he was approached by an American aid worker to help draw attention to the plight of Bosnia, where war had broken out in 1992. A year later, during the...
- 8/15/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The Irish music star presented a screening of Wim Wenders’ ‘The Million Dollar Hotel’.
Irish rock superstar Bono was a surprise guest at the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival today, presenting a screening of Wim Wenders’ 2000 film The Million Dollar Hotel.
“It’s as if there are two Sarajevos – the real and the imagined,” said the singer, praising the city in a speech before the screening at Sarajevo’s National Theatre. “The one that you live and work in and we visit; and this mythic Sarajevo, a place of fun and magic.
“The festival is the connective tissue between those two Sarajevos.
Irish rock superstar Bono was a surprise guest at the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival today, presenting a screening of Wim Wenders’ 2000 film The Million Dollar Hotel.
“It’s as if there are two Sarajevos – the real and the imagined,” said the singer, praising the city in a speech before the screening at Sarajevo’s National Theatre. “The one that you live and work in and we visit; and this mythic Sarajevo, a place of fun and magic.
“The festival is the connective tissue between those two Sarajevos.
- 8/15/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
A thought-provoking film about the importance of architecture by three-time Oscar nominee Wim Wenders, and an investigative documentary about the troubled life and times of Egyptian heart-throb Omar Sharif are among 30 feature film projects to be pitched as part of the 8th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market, which runs Sept. 3-5 at the Venice Film Festival.
The projects, which all have at least 70% of their funding in place already, include the works of many other leading filmmakers, such as Fien Troch, Martin Rejtman, Jean-Gabriel Periot, Marjana Karanović, Aditya Vikram Sengupta and Simone Jaquemet.
Wenders’ documentary “The Secret of Places” investigates the role played by architecture in our everyday lives. It takes viewers on a tour of architect Peter Zumthor’s best-known buildings, and accompanies him during the construction of two recent creations – the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the extension of the Fondation Beyeler in Basel.
The projects, which all have at least 70% of their funding in place already, include the works of many other leading filmmakers, such as Fien Troch, Martin Rejtman, Jean-Gabriel Periot, Marjana Karanović, Aditya Vikram Sengupta and Simone Jaquemet.
Wenders’ documentary “The Secret of Places” investigates the role played by architecture in our everyday lives. It takes viewers on a tour of architect Peter Zumthor’s best-known buildings, and accompanies him during the construction of two recent creations – the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the extension of the Fondation Beyeler in Basel.
- 8/5/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Wenders will receive the Heart of Sarajevo previously given to De Niro, Iñárritu, Huppert.
German filmmaker Wim Wenders will receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival.
The festival will screen a retrospective of his selected works in its ‘Tribute to’ programme, including a screening of a newly-restored version of The Million Dollar Hotel, which won the Silver Bear at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival.
It is currently planned for Wenders to attend the event in person, where he will hold a masterclass session on his career.
Wenders first attended Sff in 2011, presenting feature-length 3D documentary...
German filmmaker Wim Wenders will receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival.
The festival will screen a retrospective of his selected works in its ‘Tribute to’ programme, including a screening of a newly-restored version of The Million Dollar Hotel, which won the Silver Bear at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival.
It is currently planned for Wenders to attend the event in person, where he will hold a masterclass session on his career.
Wenders first attended Sff in 2011, presenting feature-length 3D documentary...
- 3/8/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The 27th Sarajevo Film Festival will pay tribute to German filmmaker Wim Wenders.
The event, scheduled to run August 13-20 in the Bosnian capital, will see Wenders presented with an honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award – the fest’s top honor – and a retrospective of his works will be programmed to screen for audiences. The program will include a newly-restored version of his 2000 film The Million Dollar Hotel, which won a Silver Bear in Berlin that year.
Wenders will also travel to Sarajevo, pandemic allowing, to host a masterclass.
The filmmaker will be returning to Sarajevo 10 years after visiting in 2011 where he presented his 3D film Pina, a feature length documentary homage to the choreographer Pina Bausch.
“We are delighted to honour one of the central figures of modern cinema. With his work in the field of visual arts as an exceptional filmmaker and photographer, Wim Wenders continues to give the...
The event, scheduled to run August 13-20 in the Bosnian capital, will see Wenders presented with an honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award – the fest’s top honor – and a retrospective of his works will be programmed to screen for audiences. The program will include a newly-restored version of his 2000 film The Million Dollar Hotel, which won a Silver Bear in Berlin that year.
Wenders will also travel to Sarajevo, pandemic allowing, to host a masterclass.
The filmmaker will be returning to Sarajevo 10 years after visiting in 2011 where he presented his 3D film Pina, a feature length documentary homage to the choreographer Pina Bausch.
“We are delighted to honour one of the central figures of modern cinema. With his work in the field of visual arts as an exceptional filmmaker and photographer, Wim Wenders continues to give the...
- 3/8/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Last Halloween season, it was announced that Scott Derrickson will direct The Black Phone from a screenplay he wrote with C. Robert Cargill, and now it's been revealed that Jeremy Davies will star in the adaptation of Joe Hill's short story that was included in his collection 20th Century Ghosts.
We have the full announcement below for the new Blumhouse and Universal film, and in case you missed it, Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill’s Crooked Highway production company recently teamed up with Blumhouse for a two-year first-look television deal, with multiple projects already in development.
Jeremy Davies has been cast in Scott Derrickson’s upcoming film for Blumhouse and Universal, The Black Phone.
Derrickson and frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill adapted the script based on Joe Hill’s short story.
Derrickson, Cargill and Jason Blum, for Blumhouse, are producing the film. Universal and Blumhouse will present the Crooked Highway production.
We have the full announcement below for the new Blumhouse and Universal film, and in case you missed it, Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill’s Crooked Highway production company recently teamed up with Blumhouse for a two-year first-look television deal, with multiple projects already in development.
Jeremy Davies has been cast in Scott Derrickson’s upcoming film for Blumhouse and Universal, The Black Phone.
Derrickson and frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill adapted the script based on Joe Hill’s short story.
Derrickson, Cargill and Jason Blum, for Blumhouse, are producing the film. Universal and Blumhouse will present the Crooked Highway production.
- 1/13/2021
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Exclusive: We have learned that Jeremy Davies has been cast in Scott Derrickson’s upcoming film for Blumhouse and Universal, The Black Phone.
Derrickson and frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill adapted the script based on Joe Hill’s short story.
Derrickson, Cargill and Jason Blum, for Blumhouse, are producing the film. Universal and Blumhouse will present the Crooked Highway production. Joe Hill is an executive producer.
Davies recently won a BAFTA Games Award for his turn in Playstation’s God of War as Baldur. He made his film debut starring in David O. Russell’s acclaimed first film, Spanking the Monkey, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and earned Davies an Independent Spirit Award nomination. His portrayal of Tom Hanks’ interpreter, Cpl Upham, in Steven Spielberg’s Oscar winning film, Saving Private Ryan, garnered notable critical acclaim for Davies, including a co-nomination for a SAG award...
Derrickson and frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill adapted the script based on Joe Hill’s short story.
Derrickson, Cargill and Jason Blum, for Blumhouse, are producing the film. Universal and Blumhouse will present the Crooked Highway production. Joe Hill is an executive producer.
Davies recently won a BAFTA Games Award for his turn in Playstation’s God of War as Baldur. He made his film debut starring in David O. Russell’s acclaimed first film, Spanking the Monkey, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and earned Davies an Independent Spirit Award nomination. His portrayal of Tom Hanks’ interpreter, Cpl Upham, in Steven Spielberg’s Oscar winning film, Saving Private Ryan, garnered notable critical acclaim for Davies, including a co-nomination for a SAG award...
- 1/13/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, known for his versatile array of visual styles, from Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska” to James Mangold’s “Ford v Ferrari,” says he knew going into Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” that he would need to do some reading between the lines.
Sorkin’s Netflix original film, which recounts the notorious political prosecution of eight defendants charged with inciting riots at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, is an impressive ensemble piece, combining courtroom drama with an almost forensic examination of the events that led to so much bloodshed as police cracked down brutally on protesters.
Papamichael, speaking in a masterclass at the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival, recalls that Sorkin, intensely focused on crisp dialogue, timing and performances from the likes of Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance as legendary civil rights attorney William Kunstler, tends to entrust the visual conception to his cinematographer.
Sorkin...
Sorkin’s Netflix original film, which recounts the notorious political prosecution of eight defendants charged with inciting riots at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, is an impressive ensemble piece, combining courtroom drama with an almost forensic examination of the events that led to so much bloodshed as police cracked down brutally on protesters.
Papamichael, speaking in a masterclass at the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival, recalls that Sorkin, intensely focused on crisp dialogue, timing and performances from the likes of Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance as legendary civil rights attorney William Kunstler, tends to entrust the visual conception to his cinematographer.
Sorkin...
- 11/20/2020
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
U2 will celebrate the 20th anniversary of All That You Can’t Leave Behind on October 20th with the release of a super deluxe edition of the album. It will be available both as single disc remaster of the original LP and a 51-track Super Deluxe box set packed with B-sides, outtakes, remixes and a complete show taped at a Boston stop on the 2001 Elevation tour.
All That You Can’t Leave Behind brought U2 back to the center of the music universe after their 1997 LP Pop underwhelmed at record stores.
All That You Can’t Leave Behind brought U2 back to the center of the music universe after their 1997 LP Pop underwhelmed at record stores.
- 9/10/2020
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Hal Willner with Paul Shaffer and Ralph Steadman at the For No Good Reason reception, hosted by Sony Pictures Classics' co-presidents Tom Bernard and Michael Barker at Red Bull Studio in 2014. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Film music producer Hal Willner has died in New York on Tuesday, April 7, at the age of 64 from symptoms consistent with the coronavirus. His film credits include Oren Moverman’s The Dinner, Joseph Cedar’s Norman: The Moderate Rise And Tragic Fall Of A New York Fixer, Laura Israel’s Don’t Blink - Robert Frank, Martin Scorsese’s Gangs Of New York, Wim Wenders’ The Million Dollar Hotel with Bono, Brian Eno, Jon Hassell, and Daniel Lanois, John Hillcoat’s Lawless with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and Robert Altman’s Short Cuts. Willner put together Tom Waits and Keith Richards in the recording studio and recently completed work on a Marc Bolan tribute album.
His...
Film music producer Hal Willner has died in New York on Tuesday, April 7, at the age of 64 from symptoms consistent with the coronavirus. His film credits include Oren Moverman’s The Dinner, Joseph Cedar’s Norman: The Moderate Rise And Tragic Fall Of A New York Fixer, Laura Israel’s Don’t Blink - Robert Frank, Martin Scorsese’s Gangs Of New York, Wim Wenders’ The Million Dollar Hotel with Bono, Brian Eno, Jon Hassell, and Daniel Lanois, John Hillcoat’s Lawless with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and Robert Altman’s Short Cuts. Willner put together Tom Waits and Keith Richards in the recording studio and recently completed work on a Marc Bolan tribute album.
His...
- 4/10/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Mubi's double feature Wim Wenders in America is showing in September and October 2019, in the United States.Hammett“You like stories, don’t you?” Peter Boyle’s Jimmy Ryan knows how much Samuel Dashiell Hammett appreciates a good yarn, and as played by Frederic Forrest in Wim Wenders’ Hammett (1982), the German director’s first American feature, this renowned writer is about to get mixed up in a doozy. The scene is 1928 San Francisco. Ryan, who has been providing fodder for Hammett’s fictional material, appears in the flesh, swiftly entangling his former associate in a mysterious criminal scheme involving a Chinese prostitute named Crystal Ling (Lydia Lei). The film subsequently unfolds in a knowingly multifaceted fusion of perspectives, with the reality of the crime on one level, seen through the eyes of Hammett, the writer and ex-Pinkerton detective, on another, and the entire collusion realized in Wenders’ self-consciously stylized interpretation.
- 9/15/2019
- MUBI
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
German director Wim Wenders received his third Oscar nomination Thursday morning for The Salt of the Earth, a documentary about the life and career of Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado, which he co-directed with Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, Sebastiao’s son. Wenders had become a fan of Sebastiao’s work after discovering some images in a gallery, which led him to pursue the documentary. It won the Un Certain Regard Special Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered.
Wenders’ first Oscar nomination was for Buena Vista Social Club (1999), a documentary about Cuban musicians gathered together by American music producer and guitarist Ry Cooder after he traveled to Havana. The musicians recorded an album under the name of the Buena Vista Social Club and toured in Amsterdam and New York City. The film won best documentary from the National Board of Review and also landed three BAFTA nominations.
Managing Editor
German director Wim Wenders received his third Oscar nomination Thursday morning for The Salt of the Earth, a documentary about the life and career of Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado, which he co-directed with Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, Sebastiao’s son. Wenders had become a fan of Sebastiao’s work after discovering some images in a gallery, which led him to pursue the documentary. It won the Un Certain Regard Special Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered.
Wenders’ first Oscar nomination was for Buena Vista Social Club (1999), a documentary about Cuban musicians gathered together by American music producer and guitarist Ry Cooder after he traveled to Havana. The musicians recorded an album under the name of the Buena Vista Social Club and toured in Amsterdam and New York City. The film won best documentary from the National Board of Review and also landed three BAFTA nominations.
- 1/16/2015
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
Ten strong line-up of titles unveiled; Wenders to take part in on stage conversation.
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 5-15) has revealed the ten titles that will make up its Homage to German filmmaker Wim Wenders.
As previously announced, Wenders will also be awarded an Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 65th Berlinale.
The award ceremony on Feb 12 in the Berlinale Palast will include a new digitally restored screening of The American Friend, Wenders’ 1977 thriller based on a book by Patricia Highsmith, which tells the story of a fatal friendship between two men, played by Bruno Ganz and Dennis Hopper.
“The American Friend was Wim Wenders’ international breakthrough film. And we were so impressed by the brilliance of the recently completed digital restoration that we decided to premiere it as part of the award ceremony for the Honorary Golden Bear,” said festival director Dieter Kosslick.
Wenders’ early work The Goalie’s Anxiety at the...
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 5-15) has revealed the ten titles that will make up its Homage to German filmmaker Wim Wenders.
As previously announced, Wenders will also be awarded an Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 65th Berlinale.
The award ceremony on Feb 12 in the Berlinale Palast will include a new digitally restored screening of The American Friend, Wenders’ 1977 thriller based on a book by Patricia Highsmith, which tells the story of a fatal friendship between two men, played by Bruno Ganz and Dennis Hopper.
“The American Friend was Wim Wenders’ international breakthrough film. And we were so impressed by the brilliance of the recently completed digital restoration that we decided to premiere it as part of the award ceremony for the Honorary Golden Bear,” said festival director Dieter Kosslick.
Wenders’ early work The Goalie’s Anxiety at the...
- 11/27/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The 65th Berlin International Film Festival will dedicate an homage to Wim Wenders and present him with an Honorary Golden Bear for his lifetime achievement. Since his 1970 debut Summer In The City, the Germany native has made about 50 films including Alice In The Cities (1973), Kings of the Road (1976), Paris, Texas (1984) Wings Of Desire (1987), The State Of Things (1982), The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) and Pina (2011). Ten films from Wenders’ feature and documentary repertoire will be shown, with titles to be announced in the fall. “In dedicating the homage to Wim Wenders, we honor one of the most noted contemporary auteurs,” said Dieter Kosslick, Director of the Berlinale. “His cross-genre and multifaceted work as a filmmaker, photographer and author has shaped our living memory of cinema, and continues to inspire other filmmakers.” The festival runs February 5-15.
BBC Two has commissioned Stonemouth, based on the novel by Iain Banks. A BBC Scotland/Slate...
BBC Two has commissioned Stonemouth, based on the novel by Iain Banks. A BBC Scotland/Slate...
- 8/22/2014
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
Ten films from the Wings of Desire director to be shown as part of a homage at the next Berlinale.
The 65th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 5-15) is to dedicate the Homage strand to German filmmaker Wim Wenders and present him with an Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement.
Ten films from Wenders’ feature and documentary repertoire will be shown as part of the Homage, the line-up of which will be revealed this autumn.
In the 1970s, Wenders was part of a young generation of filmmakers who heavily influenced New German Cinema, working against a backdrop of the economic and artistic crisis in commercial film of that time.
Since feature debut Summer in the City in 1970, Wenders has made roughly 50 films.
Following his international breakthrough with the early road movies Alice in the Cities (1973) and Kings of the Road (1976) he worked in Europe, the Us, Latin America and Asia, and has received...
The 65th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 5-15) is to dedicate the Homage strand to German filmmaker Wim Wenders and present him with an Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement.
Ten films from Wenders’ feature and documentary repertoire will be shown as part of the Homage, the line-up of which will be revealed this autumn.
In the 1970s, Wenders was part of a young generation of filmmakers who heavily influenced New German Cinema, working against a backdrop of the economic and artistic crisis in commercial film of that time.
Since feature debut Summer in the City in 1970, Wenders has made roughly 50 films.
Following his international breakthrough with the early road movies Alice in the Cities (1973) and Kings of the Road (1976) he worked in Europe, the Us, Latin America and Asia, and has received...
- 8/21/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
U2's Bono and The Edge are to collaborate with Once director John Carney on a new musical film.
Sing Street is based loosely on events from Carney's childhood, and will centre on a boy who uses music to help him cope with moving from a posh private school to the inner-city.
Bono and The Edge are slated to contribute songs and other musical elements to Sing Street, The Weinstein Company announced today (May 22).
Carney is writing the screenplay, in addition to serving as director.
U2 won a Golden Globe earlier in the year for writing the song 'Ordinary Love' for the Nelson Mandela biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
The Irish rock group have previously contributed music to the films Faraway, So Close!, Batman Forever and The Million Dollar Hotel.
U2 are also currently working on a new studio album, although a release date has not been set.
Sing Street is based loosely on events from Carney's childhood, and will centre on a boy who uses music to help him cope with moving from a posh private school to the inner-city.
Bono and The Edge are slated to contribute songs and other musical elements to Sing Street, The Weinstein Company announced today (May 22).
Carney is writing the screenplay, in addition to serving as director.
U2 won a Golden Globe earlier in the year for writing the song 'Ordinary Love' for the Nelson Mandela biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
The Irish rock group have previously contributed music to the films Faraway, So Close!, Batman Forever and The Million Dollar Hotel.
U2 are also currently working on a new studio album, although a release date has not been set.
- 5/22/2014
- Digital Spy
Great “auteur” filmmakers are known for having a style that carries throughout their films: Hitchcock had his trademark suspense, Godard has his knowing self-reflexivity, Romero has his zombies. These preferences unite the works in their filmography, but even master directors are susceptible to making bad films.
Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull lacked the verve of his other efforts, Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood was a definite misfire, and Wim Wenders’s The Million Dollar Hotel is just boring. This list is not about bad movies by good directors, rather it is a compilation of great films by great filmmakers that (for whatever reason) have been generally overlooked.
Without further ado, here is the list…
10. F For Fake (Orson Welles)
When your first picture is widely considered to be the greatest film of all time seventy years after its release, it can be difficult...
Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull lacked the verve of his other efforts, Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood was a definite misfire, and Wim Wenders’s The Million Dollar Hotel is just boring. This list is not about bad movies by good directors, rather it is a compilation of great films by great filmmakers that (for whatever reason) have been generally overlooked.
Without further ado, here is the list…
10. F For Fake (Orson Welles)
When your first picture is widely considered to be the greatest film of all time seventy years after its release, it can be difficult...
- 8/9/2013
- by Bryan Hickman
- Obsessed with Film
I haven't seen a newsy item excite so many cinephiles in quite a while. Talking to Allocine, Ethan Hawke has let on that a followup to the delightfully Rohmeresque films he's made with Richard Linklater and Julie Delpy, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, may be in the works. The Playlist's Simon Dang has the full video interview and has helpfully transcribed the money quote: "Well, I don't know what we're going to do but I know the three of us have been talking a lot in the last six months. All of three of us have been having similar feelings that we're ready to revisit those characters. There's nine years between the first two movies and, if we made the film next summer, it would be nine years again so we're really started thinking that would be a good thing to do. We're going to try write it this year.
- 11/23/2011
- MUBI
"Apples and oranges" was my off-the-cuff reply to a critic I admire as we rose from our seats following a screening of Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams. He'd just muttered something to the effect of "sure beats Pina" and, while comparisons will be nearly impossible to resist — two giants of the New German Cinema have each made their first films in 3D, both of them documentaries, and, on that day in February, the Berlinale had just screened them back to back — I'm sticking with my initial verdict: apples and oranges.
Now Wim Wenders's Pina is playing in the UK and a few European countries, while Places, strange and quiet, an exhibition of nearly 40 large-scale photographs taken between 1983 and the present, is on view at Haunch of Venison in London through May 14 — the cover of the current issue of Sight & Sound, by the way, reads "The Third Coming...
Now Wim Wenders's Pina is playing in the UK and a few European countries, while Places, strange and quiet, an exhibition of nearly 40 large-scale photographs taken between 1983 and the present, is on view at Haunch of Venison in London through May 14 — the cover of the current issue of Sight & Sound, by the way, reads "The Third Coming...
- 4/29/2011
- MUBI
Now we know why this announcement was put on hold. Seeing as both fests are back to back and one ends up supplying the other, Sundance John Cooper kindly obliged before annoucing the inclusion of Miranda July's The Future, a German-u.S co-production title that Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick is obviously pleased to include in his festival. After announcing that the Coen Brothers’ excellent True Grit would open the comp, here comes the first batch of 8 competition titles which include a Wim Wenders film we actually want to see, Turkish filmmaker Seyfi Teoman's Our Grand Despair and one filmmaker who we were sure was headed to Park City will instead receive a huge showcase in Berlin in Victoria Mahoney’s “Yelling to the Sky”. Here's the complete list of titles: “Bizim Büyük Çaresizligimiz” (Our Grand Despair); Turkey / Germany / Netherlands by Seyfi Teoman (Tatil Kitabi/Summer Book) with Ilker Aksum,...
- 12/16/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
About a week after the Sundance Film Festival announced its complete lineup, the Berlin title with (the Berlin International Film Festival) just publicized the first batch of films that will be in competition at the festival, and, a film that I fully expected would debut at Sundance (but obviously will not) is one of Shadow And Act’s Filmmakers To Watch, Victoria Mahoney’s feature film debut, Yelling To The Sky – a film we’ve given mucho pixels to on this blog, which stars Zoë Kravitz, Gabourey Sidibe, Tim Blake Nelson, Antonique Smith, and many others.
So, congrats to Victoria and company! I’d even further say that a Berlin debut could be considered more prestigious than a Sundance birth. The competition is stiffer, and your film may get more international exposure. Victoria can count veteran Wim Wenders and Miranda July as some of her competition.
The Coen Brothers’ remake...
So, congrats to Victoria and company! I’d even further say that a Berlin debut could be considered more prestigious than a Sundance birth. The competition is stiffer, and your film may get more international exposure. Victoria can count veteran Wim Wenders and Miranda July as some of her competition.
The Coen Brothers’ remake...
- 12/15/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
The 61st Berlin International Film Festival has announced the rest of the Competition line-up in addition to opening film True Grit (which is screening out of competition). They include Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut Coriolanus, co-starring Gerard Butler and Vanessa Redgrave, and Wim Wenders’ 3D dance film Pina. Bizim Büyük Çaresizliğimiz (Our Grand Despair) Turkey / Germany / Netherlands by Seyfi Teoman (Tatil Kitabi/Summer Book) with İlker Aksum, Fatih Al, Güneş Sayın, Baki Davrak, Taner Birsel, Mehmet Ali Nuroğlu World premiere Coriolanus UK – debut film by Ralph Fiennes with Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox, James Nesbitt World premiere / out of competition Lipstikka Israel/UK by Jonathan Sagall (Urban Feel) with Clara Khoury, Nataly Attiya, Moran Rosenblatt, Ziv Weiner World premiere Pina Germany/France - dance film in 3D by Wim Wenders (The American Friend, Buena Vista Social Club, The Million Dollar Hotel) with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal...
- 12/15/2010
- by TIM ADLER in London
- Deadline London
Although she was well into her 80′s when she appeared in Titanic, Gloria Stuart had to be aged through make-up in order to make her look believable as a survivor of the tragic sinking. Stuart had in fact long since retired from acting in feature films, having last appeared on the big screen in 1946′s She Wrote The Book. After that, she took a several decade long break, before continuing to keep herself busy through a string of TV appearances in the seventies and eighties, but it was not until Cameron decided to make Titanic that she was able to be coaxed back onto the silver screen.
Stuart’s acting career goes all the way back to the dawn of talkies and encompasses some very well regarded and well known work (The Invisible Man, It Could Happen To You, Poor Little Rich Girl). In fact after Titanic she continued to...
Stuart’s acting career goes all the way back to the dawn of talkies and encompasses some very well regarded and well known work (The Invisible Man, It Could Happen To You, Poor Little Rich Girl). In fact after Titanic she continued to...
- 9/29/2010
- by Dave Roper
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Hollywood 30s ingenue whose return to acting gained her an Oscar nomination for Titanic
When Gloria Stuart, who has died aged 100, was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for her spirited performance in James Cameron's Titanic (1997), there were few filmgoers who remembered her earlier acting career in the 1930s. Stuart played the 101-year-old Rose (portrayed in the rest of the film by Kate Winslet), who recalls the time when she was 17 onboard the doomed liner. ("I can still smell the fresh paint," she says.)
Sixty-five years earlier, Stuart stood out as a blonde ingenue in James Whale's comedy-thriller The Old Dark House (1932), in which she wore a tight evening gown and was chased by Boris Karloff as a sinister butler. Stuart recalled how Whale told her: "When Karloff chases you through the halls, I want you to be like a flame or a dancer." She was both.
When Gloria Stuart, who has died aged 100, was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for her spirited performance in James Cameron's Titanic (1997), there were few filmgoers who remembered her earlier acting career in the 1930s. Stuart played the 101-year-old Rose (portrayed in the rest of the film by Kate Winslet), who recalls the time when she was 17 onboard the doomed liner. ("I can still smell the fresh paint," she says.)
Sixty-five years earlier, Stuart stood out as a blonde ingenue in James Whale's comedy-thriller The Old Dark House (1932), in which she wore a tight evening gown and was chased by Boris Karloff as a sinister butler. Stuart recalled how Whale told her: "When Karloff chases you through the halls, I want you to be like a flame or a dancer." She was both.
- 9/28/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Gloria Stuart, the elegant actress who found fame late in her seven decade Hollywood career when she earned an Oscar nomination for her role as the elderly Rose in 1997's Titanic, passed away on Sunday in her West Los Angeles home. She was 100 years old.
Born Gloria Frances Stewart on July 4, 1910 in Santa Monica, California, she grew up in southern California and attended Santa Monica High School and the University of California at Berkeley, where she first became interested in acting. After dropping out of college and marrying Blair Gordon Newell in 1930, she continued to explore acting in productions at the Pasadena Playhouse. Hollywood studios began to take notice of the petite blonde actress, and she soon signed a contract with Universal Studios, but not before changing her surname from "Stewart" to "Stuart" as she believed it would look better on a theater marquee.
Her first appearance at Universal was in 1932's Street of Women, the same year in which she was named one of WAMPAS Baby Stars (young women the industry believed had the most potential for movie stardom.) She appeared in varied roles assigned to her by the studio, but it was her new friendship with director James Whale that led to her most memorable roles from this era, in the horror/thrillers The Old Dark House, Kiss Before the Mirror and The Invisible Man. Underutilized at Universal, she moved on to Warner Brothers, where she would work regularly through the end of the decade, with notable movies including Gold Diggers of 1935 and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
In 1934, she divorced Blair Gordon Newell, and in the same year married screenwriter Arthur Sheekman, who wrote movies for the Marx Brothers. It was at dinner one evening with Harpo and Groucho Marx that Ms. Stuart learned about a new group that they and other actors were forming - the Screen Actors Guild. She believed actors needed protection from working too many long hours and joined their cause, becoming one of SAG's founding members. In 1935, Gloria and Arthur welcomed a daughter, Sylvia, and in 1939 the family left on a tour around the world, only returning home to California when World War II began. It was during this time in Europe that Ms. Stuart became interested in art, and in the years that her acting career waned she focused instead on creating furniture, decoupage, painting and eventually fine art printing.
Ms. Stuart retired from acting in 1946, and remained so until 1975, when she resumed her career with a role in the TV movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden. After the death of her husband Arthur in 1978, she appeared in a variety of roles through the remained of the 1970s and 1980s, including "Murder, She Wrote", "The Waltons", My Favorite Year, Mass Appeal, and Wildcats.
It was her role in James Cameron's 1997 epic Titanic, however, that gained her massive stardom, with her portrayal of the 101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater remembering the final hours of the Titanic as intertwined with meeting her first love, captured the public's imagination and affection. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. At the age of 87, the nomination - her first - made her the oldest person ever nominated for an Oscar. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2000, and detailed her more than 70 years in the film industry in her biography "I Just Kept Hoping". Her work in Titanic was followed by a steady stream of roles in TV and film, most notably two films with director Wim Wenders: The Million Dollar Hotel in 2000, and Land of Plenty in 2004.
Born Gloria Frances Stewart on July 4, 1910 in Santa Monica, California, she grew up in southern California and attended Santa Monica High School and the University of California at Berkeley, where she first became interested in acting. After dropping out of college and marrying Blair Gordon Newell in 1930, she continued to explore acting in productions at the Pasadena Playhouse. Hollywood studios began to take notice of the petite blonde actress, and she soon signed a contract with Universal Studios, but not before changing her surname from "Stewart" to "Stuart" as she believed it would look better on a theater marquee.
Her first appearance at Universal was in 1932's Street of Women, the same year in which she was named one of WAMPAS Baby Stars (young women the industry believed had the most potential for movie stardom.) She appeared in varied roles assigned to her by the studio, but it was her new friendship with director James Whale that led to her most memorable roles from this era, in the horror/thrillers The Old Dark House, Kiss Before the Mirror and The Invisible Man. Underutilized at Universal, she moved on to Warner Brothers, where she would work regularly through the end of the decade, with notable movies including Gold Diggers of 1935 and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
In 1934, she divorced Blair Gordon Newell, and in the same year married screenwriter Arthur Sheekman, who wrote movies for the Marx Brothers. It was at dinner one evening with Harpo and Groucho Marx that Ms. Stuart learned about a new group that they and other actors were forming - the Screen Actors Guild. She believed actors needed protection from working too many long hours and joined their cause, becoming one of SAG's founding members. In 1935, Gloria and Arthur welcomed a daughter, Sylvia, and in 1939 the family left on a tour around the world, only returning home to California when World War II began. It was during this time in Europe that Ms. Stuart became interested in art, and in the years that her acting career waned she focused instead on creating furniture, decoupage, painting and eventually fine art printing.
Ms. Stuart retired from acting in 1946, and remained so until 1975, when she resumed her career with a role in the TV movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden. After the death of her husband Arthur in 1978, she appeared in a variety of roles through the remained of the 1970s and 1980s, including "Murder, She Wrote", "The Waltons", My Favorite Year, Mass Appeal, and Wildcats.
It was her role in James Cameron's 1997 epic Titanic, however, that gained her massive stardom, with her portrayal of the 101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater remembering the final hours of the Titanic as intertwined with meeting her first love, captured the public's imagination and affection. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. At the age of 87, the nomination - her first - made her the oldest person ever nominated for an Oscar. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2000, and detailed her more than 70 years in the film industry in her biography "I Just Kept Hoping". Her work in Titanic was followed by a steady stream of roles in TV and film, most notably two films with director Wim Wenders: The Million Dollar Hotel in 2000, and Land of Plenty in 2004.
- 9/27/2010
- by Heather Campbell
- IMDb News
By Stephen Saito
As McA of the Beastie Boys, Adam Yauch has rapped about "Three MCs and One DJ," but as a filmmaker, he's had to learn to go solo. With his latest documentary "Gunnin' For That #1 Spot," Yauch is continuing the tradition of musicians who crossed over to direct movies, something that started all the way back when Frank Sinatra sat in the director's chair for 1965's World War II drama "None But the Brave." From documentaries to narratives, here's a list of modern musicians who have become filmmakers in one form or another in recent years.
Madonna
It seems as though the one place Madonna has never been able to reinvent herself is on the big screen, but that might change. Although she's had an almost disastrous track record as an actress (particularly when working with whomever was her significant other at the time), one forgets that Madonna...
As McA of the Beastie Boys, Adam Yauch has rapped about "Three MCs and One DJ," but as a filmmaker, he's had to learn to go solo. With his latest documentary "Gunnin' For That #1 Spot," Yauch is continuing the tradition of musicians who crossed over to direct movies, something that started all the way back when Frank Sinatra sat in the director's chair for 1965's World War II drama "None But the Brave." From documentaries to narratives, here's a list of modern musicians who have become filmmakers in one form or another in recent years.
Madonna
It seems as though the one place Madonna has never been able to reinvent herself is on the big screen, but that might change. Although she's had an almost disastrous track record as an actress (particularly when working with whomever was her significant other at the time), one forgets that Madonna...
- 6/27/2008
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
- When do the organizers of the Cannes film festival revoke the VIP card? When does the red carpet become off limits to folks who've worn out their welcome. Thus should be the case for German filmmaker Wim Wenders who received a Cannes main competition invite for his latest feature - a road movie that Variety described as "pretentious and inconsequential", and that many colleagues of mine walked out during the mid way mark of the official screening. With the exception of the Ry Cooder motivated docu film on Cuban musicians Buena Vista Social Club, many would argue that we haven't had anything to cheer about in the Wenders camp since 1987's Wings of Desire. Among the five or so pictures that I did not bother with in the competition titles at Cannes this year is The Palermo Shooting - a drama with wheels about a successful photographer Finn
- 5/29/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
Michelle Williams, best known for her role in the hit WB series Dawson's Creek, has been cast as the female lead in indie auteur Wim Wenders' upcoming untitled project for IFC's InDigEnt banner. Production begins this week in Los Angeles with John Diehl as the male lead and Richard Edson co-starring. "I'm extremely happy with my cast. Michael Meredith and I wrote the script with Michelle Williams in mind, and I had worked with John Diehl for The End of Violence, and that had been a sheer pleasure. And Richard Edson was great in Million Dollar Hotel. This is a low-budget production and we have little time, so it is essential to know that you can rely 100 percent on your actors," Wenders said.
- 9/25/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mel Gibson and Bono have fallen out over the finished version of movie flop Million Dollar Hotel, The (2000). Gibson, who starred in the Wim Wenders movie, co-written by Bono, claims making the film was "as boring as a dog's a**" - and the U2 rocker seems confused and upset by the remarks, claiming he found Gibson's performance in the film "extraordinary." Bono also says, "We had a 600 pound gorilla who was supposed to be our bodyguard on the project, Mel Gibson, and now he is sitting on our head."...
- 12/13/2000
- WENN
Film critics have been asking to see U2 star BONO's debut movie a second time - because they feel they've missed something. The SWEETEST THING singer came up with the idea for Million Dollar Hotel, The (2000) while filming the video WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME in New York city. He says, "Some have asked to see it twice. They didn't like it as they left the theatre, but woke up the next day with the characters kind of sitting on the kitchen table... In that sense it's very un-modern, it's not part of the smart ass school of film-making. It's stylised, but it's not quite of its time." And Bono has nothing but praise for director Wim Wenders' work on the movie. He adds, "The best way I can describe him is he's like a jazzman. He's given this melody, but he abstracts it, he changes the chords underneath it until you've never heard that melody quite that way... And whereas at first it doesn't feel as instant, it sticks with you long after you've left the theatre."...
- 4/18/2000
- WENN
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.