Day: October 9, 2010

Being a serious admirer of Julian Schnabel‘s films, it gives me no pleasure to report that Miral, his latest, doesn’t work. I thought about it all last night after the 6:30 pm showing, and I just can’t fathom how a guy who made a film as strong and moving as Before Night Falls could blow it as badly as he does with Miral. I thought perhaps the bad Venice Film Festival reviews were driven by the film’s pro-Palestinian viewpoint, but no — it’s about chops and flat writing and decisions that don’t blend or pay off.

I felt so badly after last night’s showing that I left the theatre without staying for the q & a. The crowd reaction was very flat when the end credits appeared — no applause, no buzz.

I don’t have time to throw a twelve-paragraph review together (screenings and activities beckon), but I’ll try to have something up by the end of the day. Maybe. I’m very sorry, but things don’t always work out. Art isn’t easy, but Schnabel will rebound. I was going to say “this is just a transitional phase” but what isn’t transitional?

Director-screenwriter Tony Gilroy (Duplicity, Michael Clayton) called this morning with some notes and corrections regarding early reports about The Bourne Legacy, which he’s writing and will also direct.

The Bourne Legacy, for openers, is simply taking the title from Robert Ludlum’s book and “will not use the story,” Gilroy says. “It’s a completely original screenplay.” Secondly, “This is not a reboot or a recast or a prequel. No one’s replacing Matt Damon. There will be a whole new hero, a whole new chapter…this is a stand-alone project.

“The easiest way to think of it is an expansion or a reveal,” Gilroy says. “Jason Bourne will not be in this film, but he’s very much alive. What happened in the first three films is the trigger for what happens. I’m building a legend and an environment and a wider conspiracy…the world we’re making enhances and advances and invites Jason Bourne’s return [down the road].

“Everything you saw in the first three films actually happened, and everyone who got into will be rewarded for paying attention. We’re going to show you the bigger picture, the bigger canvas. When you see what we’re going and see what we’re doing it’ll be pretty obvious….but Jason Bourne’s actvities in the first three films is the immediate trigger.”

Update: Boxoffice.com’s Phil Contrino is reporting that The Social Network will take the weekend with an estimated $15,300,000 by Sunday night with an excellent hold from last weekend, down only 32%. Life As We Know It will come in second with $14,800,000, and Secretariat will be third with $13,800,000.

Earlier: By the idiot-wind standards of weekend box-office, Life As We Know It — an obviously problematic relationship comedy with a 28% Rotten Tomatoes score — appears to have edged out The Social Network yesterday. But that’s just Friday. Others are seeing a Social Network win by Sunday night. Two sources are reporting indications that Secretariat, forecasted by some as a possible weekend champ, will be a third-place runner. “Close as hell” is how Boxoffice.com’s Phil Contrino put it this morning.

Deadline‘s Nikki Finke reported that the critically reviled Kathryn Heigl-Josh Duhamel romance took in $5 million and that The Social Network did about $4.5 million with Secretariat in third place with $4.2 million. But Steve Mason posted figures last night that has The Social Network coming in first with Friday earnings of $4.7 million and $14.75 million by Sunday night, Secretariat second with $4.5 million Friday and $14.5 million cume, and Life As We Know It finishing first yesterday with $5 million but softening over the weekend and finishing with $14 million even.

For what it’s worth, an MSNBC showbiz reporter said that The Social Network appears to be on track to come in first with$15 million, followed by Life As We Know It and Secretariat in second and third place.

The first event I attended after arriving at the Hamptons Film Festival yesterday afternoon was a discussion performance by Miral director Julian Schnabel and moderator Alec Baldwin. It happened at Guild Hall in East Hampton, which is where the festival is pretty much centered.

Knowing that Venice Film Festival responses to Frieda Pinto‘s lead performance were a bit dicey, I asked Schnabel about his reasons for choosing Pinto. I made the mistake of saying I hadn’t yet seen the film (I caught it a couple of hours later) and that my question was “innocent.” Schnabel drawled back, “Nothing from you is innocent, Jeffrey. And I mean that.” Beat, beat. “Naah, I’m just fucking with you,” he added, and then went into his reasons.

A primary factor, he said, is that Pinto closely resembes Rula Jebreal, the Palestinian-born journalist who wrote the 2004 book and the screenplay.