Thompson on Hollywood

Post-Fest Lament: Directors Missing in Action

There's something missing from our American movies. After watching a mess of films in Telluride, Toronto and New York, I realized I was seeing great foreign films and mediocre American ones. What's the missing ingredient? Many of our great directors. Where's Lawrence Kasdan, Jim McBride, Bob Rafelson, Robert Towne, Joe Dante, Walter Hill, William Friedkin, Phil Kaufman? These directors should all be working at the top of their game.

By Anne Thompson
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October 8, 2008 12:27 PM
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Toronto Winners and Losers

So far, the big winner on the fall fest circuit, based on critical, audience and exhib reaction, is Slumdog Millionaire, the pic that Warners let get away.

By Anne Thompson
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September 14, 2008 8:11 AM
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Toronto Wrap 2008: Best to Worst

With Toronto over and a slew of post-fest deals still rolling out, here's a wrap-up of what I saw and learned:

By Anne Thompson
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September 13, 2008 6:39 AM
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Toronto Watch: Bigelow Talks Hurt Locker

Kathryn Bigelow is one of those directors--not unlike Steven Soderbergh, Spike Lee and Darren Aronofsky, who also have films in the Toronto Fest-- who has more talent and style and smarts than she does strong commercial sense. But perhaps because she was ready to prove her mettle, she went against the grain and did her own thing with The Hurt Locker, financed independently, and delivered her best and most accessible movie, an Iraq War thriller which could break out tough guy Jeremy Renner as a leading man.

By Anne Thompson
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September 10, 2008 8:07 AM
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Toronto Watch: Burn After Reading Press Conference

The Coens amuse me. So do their press conferences. They perform a little tap dance with journalists, who after all are trying to write something about their movie. Saturday's Burn After Reading press conference wasn‚Äôt as jammed and enthusiastic as you might expect with Brad Pitt there.

By Anne Thompson
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September 7, 2008 8:04 AM
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Toronto Watch: Wrestler Screens Well

Buyers packed into Toronto's Elgin Theatre Sunday night for the North American premiere of Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, which arrived at the Fest with a Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival. Aronofsky tried to cool the crowd down, saying, "There's no way we're going to live up to that hype. It's a gentle, small film." French sales company Wild Bunch believed in the film, he said, and if any North American buyer "is interested, I have a phone number for you afterward."

By Anne Thompson
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September 7, 2008 7:36 AM
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Toronto Watch: Learning from Cannes, Venice and Telluride

Heading to Toronto, movies are seeking a fall media platform, or Oscar credibility, or a distributor, or both. The Toronto Star polled attending media on their best picks. There's plenty of info out there to help make choices among the hundreds of pics on display, especially from the key fests Cannes, Venice and Telluride. Here's a Guide.

By Anne Thompson
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September 3, 2008 7:28 AM
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Telluride Watch 3: Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, and Awards Buzz

One of the tricks of the fall film fest trade is to launch a few movies that will gain awards season traction. Telluride has often done well picking some of these pics in advance, such as Brokeback Mountain, Walk the Line and last year's Juno. So given this year's short supply of completed specialty division fare, as many distribs have opted to take the late-year approach to chasing Oscar, Telluride dug up its own indie and foreign gems to help them get some attention.

By Anne Thompson
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September 1, 2008 6:25 AM
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Telluride Watch 2: Fincher's Button Preview, Prodigal Sons

The first day of the 35th Telluride Film Festival started off hot and dry at the annual patron's brunch up the mountain. Tributee Jean Simmons sat under a melon-colored hat and blue umbrella, charming eager listeners, still beautiful. She remembered her then-husband, director Richard Brooks, telling Burt Lancaster during the filming of Elmer Gantry, "More teeth!" "Burt worked out on a trapeze every morning," Simmons said.

By Anne Thompson
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August 30, 2008 6:23 AM
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Toronto Watch: Actresses Weisz, Hawkins, Williams Will Pop

Given the hundreds of movies unspooling in Toronto, key press in LA and NY are getting a head start on some of the screenings that will get piled up there. It's impossible to see everything.