Bovaira Heading the Seven-Person Jury at This Year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Fernando Bovaira is the head of the class at one of Spain’s biggest film festivals…

The Spanish producer will head the seven-person jury that will select the winner of the top prize, the Golden Shell, at this year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival, which runs September 19-27.

One of Spain’s most international names, Bovaira has produced all of director Alejandro Amenabar’s films including The Others, The Sea Inside and the upcoming Regression — starring Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson — as well as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Biutiful, Julio Medem’s Sex and Lucia and Javier Fesser’s Mortadelo and Filemon, The Big Adventure.

Bovaira is joined by Venezuelan writer/director/producer Mariana Rondon, who returns to San Sebastian after winning last year’s Golden Shell with her acclaimed film Bad Hair, while Iranian born writer and director Marjane Satrapi will come to the seaside resort town in Spain’s northern Basque region after premiering her latest work, The Voices, starring Ryan Reynolds, at the Toronto Film Festival.

Singaporean director Eric Khoo, who heads Zhao Wei Films/Gorylah Pictures, will also join the panel. He has been credited with putting Singapore on the international film map with films like My Magic and animated Tatsumi.

Berlin-born actress Natassja Kinski, Germany director of photography Reinhold Vorschneider and Romanian character actor Vlad Ivanov, who won the L.A. Critics Award for his portrayal of an illegal abortion doctor in 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, round out the jury.

In addition to the seven official jurors, named Thursday, jailed Ukraine filmmaker Oleg Sentsov is an honorary jury member. The Federal Security State of the Russian Federation (FSB) arrested Sentsov on May 10 for backing the protests in Kiev and for his opposition to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The festival said it took the step of officially naming Sentsov to the jury to defend freedom of expression and in response to an request by the European Film Academy.

del Toro to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at San Sebastian International Film Festival

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Benicio del Toro is about to add another award to his collection…

The 48-year-old Puerto Rican actor and film producer and Oscar-winner will receive the Donostia Award for Lifetime Achievement at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

del Toro’s latest film Escobar: Paradise Lostwill close the Pearls Selection at the festival, which runs September 19-27.

Escobar, written by Andrea di Stefano, tells the story of young surfer Nick who thinks he has landed in paradise when he falls in love with a Colombian girl on a visit to see his brother who is living in the South American country only to have it change when he meets her uncle, Pablo Escobar.

del Toro has confirmed that he’ll come to San Sebastian to present the film and receive the Donostia at the closing ceremony. Di Stefano, Josh Hutcherson and Carlos Bardem will also be present for the film’s Spanish premiere.

del Toro is a favorite at San Sebastian where he has accompanied films from his career.

del Toro won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic as well as an Oscar nomination for his work in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s 21 Grams.

del Toro re-teamed with Soderbergh to star in the biography of Che Guevera Che. The performance won him the Best Actor award at the Palme D’Or Closing Ceremony at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, and again the following year at the Goya Awards in Madrid, Spain.

He starred opposite Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins in Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman and as Lado in Oliver Stone’s Savages.

del Toro was starred as Jimmy, the lead in Jimmy P. The film was screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. He was last seen in Guardians of the Galaxy a sci-fi action film for Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Enterprises, which was released in the beginning of August 2014.

Next year he’ll play Mambru in Fernando Leon’s A Perfect Day and Sauncho Smilax in Inherent Vice, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

The actor is currently in production on Denis Villeneuve’s Sicaro.

Starz Gives Straight-to-Series Order to Gonzalez Iñárritu’s Series “The One Percent”

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

A starz is born… And, his name is Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu.

Starz has given a straight-to-series order to The One Percent, an hourlong project from the 50-year-old filmmaker and MRC.

Gonzalez Iñárritu’s project has Ed Helms set to star, with Hilary Swank and Ed Harris poised to co-star. The order is for 10 episodes.

MRC developed The One Percent internally and attached Helms, Swank and Harris before recently taking the project out to cable networks, garnering multiple offers.

The One Percent follows a downtrodden farmer (Helms) as he struggles to hold onto his family and his farm, when a bizarre twist of fate becomes a life-changing secret that will either save them or ruin them.

Helms will play the lead role of Alfred Murphy, who is struggling professionally and personally to keep the family business afloat.

Swank is in final negotiations to play his wife, Laura Murphy.

Harris will play the family patriarch, Nathaniel Cobb. He will reportedly appear on The One Percent in a guest starring capacity.

The One Percent was created and written by Gonzalez Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Nicolás Giacobone and Armando Bo. The quartet, who recently collaborated on Birdman, will serve as executive producers.

Gonzalez Iñárritu will direct the first two episodes and set the visual style of the show. The series reunites MRC and Gonzalez Iñárritu, who worked together on the Best Picture Oscar-nominated film Babel.

Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Birdman” to Close the New York Film Festival

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro González Iñárritu is bringing his bird to the Big Apple…

Birdman, a dramedy co-written and directed by the 50-year-old Mexican filmmaker, has been selected as the closing night film at this year’s New York Film Festival on October 12, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film, which is being distributed by Fox Searchlight and will be released in theaters on October 17, will have its world premiere on the opening night of the Venice Film Festival on Aug. 27.

Birdman stars Michael Keaton as a washed-up movie star trying to revive his career on Broadway. The cast also includes Emma Stone, Andrea Riseborough, Zach Galifianakis, Merritt Wever, Edward Norton, Amy Ryan and Naomi Watts.

The film was lensed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity), reportedly in a way that gives the appearance that the entire film is one continuous shot.

A González Iñárritu film closed the NYFF once before: 21 Grams screened in that slot in 2003. (The director’s first trip to the fest, though, was in 2000, with Amores Perros.)

International Trailer Released for González Iñárritu’s “Birdman”

Posted on August 2, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s ready give audiences the bird(man)…

Fox Searchlight has released the international trailer for the 50-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s black comedy Birdman, which will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Michael Keaton leads the ensemble cast that includes Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Ryan and Andrea Riseborough.

He portrays an actor, famous for having portrayed an iconic superhero, who struggles to mount a Broadway play.

Birdman marks a big departure from González Iñárritu’s more gritty and dramatic fare, including Babel, 21 Grams and Biutiful.

“It’s inventive and light” and full of surprises, says one of the film’s critics.

González Iñárritu Has Cast Tom Hardy Opposite Leo DiCaprio in “The Revenant”

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro González Iñárritu has found a co-star for Leonardo DiCaprio in his upcoming film The Revenant.

The 50-year-old Mexican filmmaker has cast English actor Tom Hardy to star opposite the Titanic star in the gritty thriller, which González Iñárritu adapted from Michael Punke’s novel The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge.

The González Iñárritu-directed film, centers on a 19th century fur trapper who gets mauled by a grizzly bear, and then is left for dead by cohorts who rob him. When he survives, he is not a happy camper and sets out on a treacherous journey to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.

Oscar-winning Gravity cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki is also onboard for the New Regency production.

Filming is set to begin on September 22, with a Fall 2015 release scheduled.

González Iñárritu to Direct Leonardo DiCaprio in the Thriller “The Revenant”

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro González Iñárritu is about to get revenant in the near future…

This September the 50-year-old Mexican filmmaker will direct Leonardo DiCaprio in the gritty thriller The Revenant.

González Iñárritu and Mark L. Smith co-wrote the script for the film, an adaptation of the Michael Punke novel The Revenant: A Novel Of Revenge.

The film will star DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, a 19th century fur trapper who gets mauled by a grizzly bear, and then is left for dead by cohorts who rob him. When he survives, he is not a happy camper and sets out on a treacherous journey to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.

Produced by New Regency, the film is slated for release in the fall of 2015.

In the meantime, González Iñárritu’s next film Birdman, his first comedy project, will be released by Fox Searchlight on October 17.

González Iñárritu’s Black Comedy “Birdman” to be Released in October

Posted on April 13, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s next project will be migrating to theaters in October…

Fox Searchlight co-president Stephen Gilula has announced that the 50-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s Birdman will open in theaters on Friday, October 17.

The film isn’t expected to complete post-production until late May or early June, with producers it eyeing fall festivals for its premiere.

It’s González Iñárritu’s first black comedy, following the Academy Award-nominated director’s dramatic films Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006) and Biutiful.

“It’s the heart of the fall, and a great time historically for us with films like Sideways, 12 Years A Slave, and historically Slumdog Millionaire and Black Swan,” Gilula tells Deadline.com. “We’ve had great success launching films at festivals, but this hasn’t been screened for anyone, despite the speculation. Alejandro is famous for his meticulous work in post-production, and this film is unusual for him in that is has some visual effects, and an unusual sound design. The most important thing is to make sure that the film is right.”

The film has an all-star cast that includes Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone and his muse Naomi Watts, who appeared in the director’s Babel and 21 Grams.

Keaton plays a washed up actor who once played an iconic superhero who tries to mount a stage play despite his dysfunction and the dysfunction of others in his repertoire.

Inarritu wrote the film with Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo.

González Iñárritu Reportedly In Talks to Direct “The Jungle Book”

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

It appears Alejandro González Iñárritu may be booking a trip to the jungle for his next project…

Warner Bros. is reportedly in early talks with the 50-year-old Mexican filmmaker to direct The Jungle Book, a new version of the popular Rudyard Kipling novel about an orphaned boy raised in the wilderness by animals, according to Deadline.com.

The project is one of the studio’s top priorities, with a script by Callie Kloves, daughter of Harry Potter series scribe Steve Kloves, who is producing the film.

Bur this isn’t the only Jungle Book project in the works…

Disney is pursuing its own live action version of The Jungle Book, recently hiring Elf and Iron Man helmer Jon Favreau to direct the film.

The book is public domain, but as usual the first one to make it into production usually becomes the Tarzan of the jungle.

After several serious dramas including Amores perros, Babel and 21 Grams, Iñárritu recently took on a comedy for his most recent film Birdman, which is wrapping up now.

He’s also attached to the New Regency 1820s frontier revenge tale The Revenant.

González Iñárritu Casts Edward Norton in “Birdman”

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro González Iñárritu has found the foil for his first comedy film…

The 49-year-old Mexican filmmaker, known for dramatic films like 21 Grams, Babel and Amores perros, has cast Edward Norton in his dark comedy Birdman.

From Fox Searchlight and New Regency, the film will center on a former actor ( played by Michael Keaton) who once played a superhero who puts together a play on Broadway based on a short story by Raymond Carver. Unfortunately, the ex-superhero’s plans to soar again are threatened by his egotistical lead stage actor portrayed by Norton.

Along with Norton and Keaton, the cast includes Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and Zach Galifianakis.

The film will be shot in a Broadway theater in New York beginning mid-April.

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