Upcoming
November 14
A Christmas Tale
B.O.H.I.C.A.
House of the Sleeping Beauties
How About You
November 21
The Betrayal
November 30
Strange Accomodation
What a weird capitulation for the Cannes Film Festival to give the closing-night screening slot to Barry Levinson's What Just Happened?, which bombed big-time when it was shown at last January's Sundance Film Festival. The offer is a gesture to the fact that the film's story ends at the Cannes Film Festival (even though the red-carpet footage was shot at Cal State Northridge). It's also a sop to jury president Sean Penn, who appears as the star of the film-within-the-film in the picture.
Catherine Keener, Robert De Niro in Barry Levinson's What Just Happened?
No self-respecting filmmaker wants to accept the closing-night slot, although many obviously do. It's basically an insult honor that basically says "your film is pretty good -- just not good enough to be shown in competition during the first six or seven days of the festival." What Just Happened? has been tightened, I've heard, but nothing is likely to save it in terms of its U.S. distribution prospects. The Cannes screening is about selling it to European and Asian markets, of course.
Based on Art Linson's book of the same name, What Just Happened? is about a frazzled Hollywood producer trying to (a) get an absurdly unbalanced and immature director (Michael Wincott) to change the ending of a movie that has tested in the toilet and (b) persuade a movie star (Bruce Willis) to shave his beard before starting work on a film.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 17, 2008 at 5:16 PM
comment #1
MiraJeffAICN
says ...
I don't know about this movie but Michael Wincott is the shit. I just re-watched The Crow last weekend and it still holds up. "Caw, Caw, BANG! Fuck! I'm dead!"
Posted by MiraJeffAICN
at April 17, 2008 5:44 PM
comment #2
actionman
says ...
Always love me some Michael Wincott; one of the best voices in movies EVER.
I love inside Hollywood movies no matter how esoteric and self-serving they may be. I want to see this one for sure.
Posted by actionman
at April 17, 2008 6:03 PM
comment #3
Mr. Blood Vessel
says ...
I saw this at AFI DALLAS and man, was it fun.
very,very accessible.
everyone in the audience(from film fans to regular people) loved it.
Posted by Mr. Blood Vessel
at April 17, 2008 6:04 PM
comment #4
actionman
says ...
Linson's book is a lot of fun as well
Posted by actionman
at April 17, 2008 7:38 PM
comment #5
thatrader
says ...
"What Just Happened?" was the hottest ticket at Sundance, with the guy sitting next to me having paid $400 for his ticket.
Problem is, it's about on par with a sub-par episode of "Entourage."
Posted by thatrader
at April 17, 2008 7:53 PM
comment #6
D.Z.
says ...
It's hard to take Sundance seriously, when they've become a shill for Fox Searchlight productions. Not that I took them seriously in the first place, but at least there was a time when they bothered pretending to embrace pseudo-artsy films.
Posted by D.Z.
at April 17, 2008 7:57 PM
comment #7
Mr. Blood Vessel
says ...
thatrader [TypeKey Profile Page] says ...
"What Just Happened?" was the hottest ticket at Sundance, with the guy sitting next to me having paid $400 for his ticket.
Problem is, it's about on par with a sub-par episode of "Entourage."
that's probably why everyone liked it so much.
Posted by Mr. Blood Vessel
at April 17, 2008 9:23 PM
comment #8
bagelfilm
says ...
I am a producer and my last film was shown as a festival's closing pic. I admit that first I was against it, fighting for the opening slot. But with a closing pic we had the whole festival week to promote and push the pic and it became one of the best reviewed and popular films, though not in competition. Howevet, I can see that in Cannes this might be a completely different affair.
Posted by bagelfilm
at April 17, 2008 9:57 PM
comment #9
Rothchild
says ...
The movie is pretty terrible and has no audience.
D.Z., you really need to stop using the internet.
Posted by Rothchild
at April 17, 2008 10:23 PM
comment #10
HoopersX
says ...
I read the book years ago and enjoyed it. However, when I heard they were making a movie out of it I was a bit dumbfounded. I just couldn't get my head around how to translate it to screen. I'm one of the few looking forward to it but only to answer my own question.
I think the kind of people who spend too much time on movie related blogs/websites will be attracted to this regardless. But I doubt it will play to even a semi industry savvy crowd, much less the public at large.
Posted by HoopersX
at April 17, 2008 10:25 PM
comment #11
jjgittes
says ...
What Just Happened? Is a very odd film - It's fine for about 30 minutes but it just kind of loses all momentum after that.
It''s not awful (at least I didn't think so), but it ain't good and by the end I was pretty annoyed with it. Just flatlines after the beginning.
Posted by jjgittes
at April 18, 2008 3:01 AM
comment #12
Terry McCarty
says ...
It's interesting to point out that certain Judd Apatow films are allowed to have a running time of three eternities and Barry Levinson's take-time-to-let-the-characters-breathe approach now has to be trimmed down for public consumption.
Posted by Terry McCarty
at April 18, 2008 11:39 PM
Post a comment