In reporting Tom Cruise‘s intention to star in an MGM remake of John Sturges‘ The Magnificent Seven (which was a remake of Akira Kuroswawa‘s The Seven Samurai), Variety‘s Jeff Snieder didn’t indicate whom Cruise would pay, but it would almost certainly be the Yul Brynner role — i.e., Chris. Or, you know, the Toshiro Mifune…whatever.
“No director onboard yet,” “the project is still a long ways off and is not in Cruise’s immediate plans,” “MGM has quietly started its search for a writer,” etc.
About 100 minutes ago roughly 40 Cannes journos were shown longish reels from three late ’12 Weinstein hot tamales — Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master (10.12), David O. Russell‘s The Silver Linings Playbook (11.21) and Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained (12.25). A screening of No starts in 30 minutes so this has to be quick. Can’t-think, can’t-breathe quick. Okay, here goes…the clock is ticking.
The Master reel was exciting but it’s clearly going to be a complex, somewhat-out-there drama that doesn’t play the game. An “audience film” if the audience is filled with people like myself, Drew McWeeny, James Rocchi, Sasha Stone, Ira Parks, Anne Thompson and Pete Howell, but I don’t know about Joe Popcorn…but who knows? The sound was too loud. I couldn’t hear half the things that Phillip Seymour Hoffman was saying. The footage was longer and more varied than the currently-up teaser. Hoffman is clearly going to be the charismatic megalomaniac — confidence, swagger, drill-bit eyes. Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams , it appears, are going to fully alive and beating with the heart pump.
The Silver Linings Playbook looks fast and sharp — a raggedy-jazz comedy about caustic humor, family, sex, anxiety, therapy, hurt, healing…all of that. Directed and written by Russell, and adapted from the serio-comic novel by Matthew Quick. Agitated and lacking-in-people-skills Bradley Cooper falls in love with Jennifer Lawrence. It feels edgy and crackling and push-pushy and what-the-fucky. Robert De Niro, Julia Stiles, Jacki Weaver and Chris Tucker costar. Looks good for guys like me and Joe Popcorn, but we’ll see.
Django Unchained played the hottest of the three — big laughs, applause, whoops. Popcorn-plus entertainment in an old-Southern setting. Audacious attitude, swagger dialogue, fast gunplay and best of all, a former slave (Jamie Foxx) coming back to the plantation and whoopin’ on the overweight slave master who made his slave life hell. An audience film in spades. Can’t miss. Big money in all markets, thumbs-up reviews, the whole shot. That’s it, no more time.
It was hinted to me earlier that Roman Polanski, here for tonight’s Cannes Classics screening of Tess, might appear at this afternoon’s Studio Babelsberg party adjacent to the Grand Hotel. Didn’t happen. But he’s expected to take a bow and say a few words before tonight’s 7:30 screening of his 1979 film. He never grants interviews, but I went down to the Carlton anyway to leave a note and ask for a minute or two. Yeah, I know — my handwriting is dreadful.
A half hour ago Weinstein Co. publicists sent out two pro-quality video clips of the cast of The Sapphires singing two Motown tunes at last night’s party for the film. Much better quality than the thing I posted last night. But they got a song title wrong and so did Guy Lodge in his Variety review, so let’s clear this up.
The name of the 1965 Four Tops hit sung here is “Can’t Help Myself” and not “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch.” SPHB is a secondary parenthetical title, which Motown producers stuck in to remind people of the lead-off lyric. You can call it “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch” (knock yourself out) but the songwriters, Holland-Dozier-Holland, or the rights holders will beg to differ.
Here‘s the other tune performed last night, “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
Sasha Stone and I discussed a few Cannes films over lunch a few hours ago. You’ll need to read the reviews and then listen. We meandered, Tom Luddy said hello, the waiter brought the food, lots of ambient clitter-clatter. We should’ve tried harder but what’s done is done. Here’s a stand-alone mp3 link.
Publicist Jeff Hill has announced that Sony Classics will release Michael Haneke‘s Amour in the U.S. under the original French title, and not Love, as David Poland and others have called it.
