Bordertown shutdown
I was going to report that Jennifer Lopez's Bordertown, a drama about several unsolved murders of poor women in the El Paso-Juarez areas, would finally see the light of a projector lamp on 10.20.06. Except it's not happening, and nobody you call seems to have a clue when it might be seen.
10.20 is when the IMDB says MGM will be releasing the Gregory Nava-directed drama about a reporter (Lopez) looking into the murders. Not true, according to MGM publicist Jeff Pryor. And pay no mind to the fact that there's an MGM-related Bordertown website either. MGM had negotiations about distributing it but nothing came to fruition, says Pryor, and you can definitely forget about it opening on 10.20. So who's distributing Bordertown? No idea, says Pryor.
Two reps working for Lopez at William Morris said they didn't know either "but why don't you try Warner Bros.?", one said. I did...nothing. I also tried New Line, which looked at possibly distributing Bordertown when they were working in the spring of '05 on the Monster-in-Law opening, but I was told "nope...never happened." A New Line friend told me that Bob Berney's Picturehouse considered distributing Bordertown also, but they also backed off. Five'll get your ten Bordertown will show up sometime in early to mid '07 as a straight-to-video thing. Bets?
Same deal, I'm guessing, for Minnie Driver's Virgin of Juarez, which is about the same subject with Driver playing a reporter digging into the heart of El Paso-Juarez darkness.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 3, 2006 at 12:10 PM
comment #1
Alexandro says ...
Maybe it could be considered a small detail by some, but Bordertown and that other Minnie Driver movie are taking as basis the real murders of more than 300 women in the last few years in the city of Juarez, Chihuahua. I know it sounds insane that 300 women can disappear without leaving a trace but due to corruption and government incompetence, that's the case. Just wanted to clarify that because the word "several" didn't seem to me as descriptive enough of the situation, given that it's kind of a big thing in Mexico.
Which leads me to say that I have mixed feelings about these two movies getting a halt. On one side, with Jennifer Lopez and Minnie Driver as the respective stars, didn't looked like they were gonna be very serious pictures concerning the whole spectrum of political and cultural information given in both film's subjects. On the other, it's sad that they're not getting made cause it means there's the notion out there that this is not a very interesting subject, and even if they were bad, cheese movies, they would help to raise some awareness on this insanity that's been gong on in Chihuaha por quite a few years now...
Posted by Alexandro at August 3, 2006 2:51 PM
comment #2
Daniel Zelter says ...
Alexandro: "On one side, with Jennifer Lopez and Minnie Driver as the respective stars, didn't looked like they were gonna be very serious pictures concerning the whole spectrum of political and cultural information given in both film's subjects."
It might have helped if they were actually Mexican.
Posted by Daniel Zelter at August 3, 2006 5:59 PM
comment #3
Alexandro says ...
Yeah that was part of my point...
Posted by Alexandro at August 3, 2006 6:25 PM
comment #4
devon says ...
Those distributors are cowards. I bet the actual killers threatened them if they would release it. Sad to see again that studios don't want to take on serious events that need crucial attention. Too busy making duds like Ocean's 25th w/ washed out Pitt and Clooney.
Posted by devon at August 3, 2006 8:36 PM
comment #5
noved says ...
IMDB is not a reliable site
Posted by noved at August 3, 2006 11:42 PM
comment #6
L.B. says ...
"I bet the actual killers threatened them if they would release it."
Yeah, that's probably what happened.
Posted by L.B. at August 4, 2006 12:11 AM
comment #7
Shyamalan's Narf says ...
It's an MGM release folks, what did you expect.
Posted by Shyamalan's Narf at August 4, 2006 2:57 AM
comment #8
Skip Noonan says ...
How is it that Harry Langdon made one bad movie and his career was ruined while Lopez and Driver make nothing but flops and the studios keep coming back for more?
Posted by Skip Noonan at August 4, 2006 6:19 AM
comment #9
Herman Scobie says ...
I'm sure I'm in the minority, but JLo is actually OK in Blood and Wine, U Turn, and Out of Sight. Can't judge her work since, not having seen any of her subsequent efforts.
Posted by Herman Scobie at August 4, 2006 9:01 AM
comment #10
Soho says ...
I'm with Alexandro, it's really a shame that the studios won't even do a limited release of these films and bring more attention to these terrible crimes. I'm thinking of George Clooney's bragging about how Hollywood is always the first to confront social injustices - yeah right. Just as long as it benefits their bottom line, otherwise forget it.
Posted by Soho at August 4, 2006 10:31 AM
comment #11
simpleton says ...
This is ridiculous! Finally, a movie where Jennifer can actually act instead of those stupid sugar coated roles, and these distrubutors refuse to support it b/c it's probably not a box office lure. I have faith though. It will be done. Lopez always wins.
Posted by simpleton at August 4, 2006 6:28 PM