News

The film will have its European premiere in competition at the September festival.

This year’s San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 16-24) will host the European premiere of Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut American Pastoral following its world premiere at Toronto.

An adaptation of Philip Roth’s Pulitzer-prize winning novel about an American family being torn apart by political and social upheaval in the 1960s, McGregor also stars alongside Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning.

The Lincoln Lawyer scribe John Romano adapted Roth’s novel. Producers are Andre Lamal, Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg of Lakeshore Entertainment. Oscar-winning Alexandre Desplat composed the film’s score.

Lakeshore are handling international sales. Lionsgate has Us rights and Entertainment One will distribute in Canada.

The film will play in competition in San Sebastian’s official selection, with further titles yet to be revealed. As previously announced, the European premiere of Oliver Stone’s Snowden will play out of competition.

McGregor attended...

NEW YORK -- Miramax Films and Netflix's Red Envelope Entertainment have nabbed U.S. rights to executive producer Scott Rudin's drama "Reprise".

Red Envelope also joined Samuel Goldwyn Films and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group this week to acquire U.S. rights to Lakeshore Entertainment's drama "Elegy", starring Penelope Cruz and Ben Kingsley.

Joachim Trier's "Reprise" centers on the longtime friendship between two young, aspiring novelists (Anders Danielsen and Espen Klouman Hoiner) and the many dramatic twists and turns in their lives. The film won the Discovery Award at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.

Red Envelope plans promotional campaigns for the theatrical runs of both films before releasing the films as Netflix rentals. "Reprise" opens May 16, and "Elegy" hits theaters in August.

"Reprise" is produced by Spillefilmkompaniet 41/2 and Karin Julsrud in cooperation with the Norwegian Film Institute. Rudin executive produced with Marius Holst, Alain Monne, Hakon Overas, Turid Oversveen, Aagot Skjeldal and Pal Sletaune. "Elegy" was produced by Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi and Andre Lamal, with Lakeshore's David Dinerstein repping the filmmakers in their deal.

NEW YORK -- Samuel Goldwyn Films, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group and Netflix's Red Envelope Entertainment have acquired Lakeshore Entertainment's drama Elegy, starring Penelope Cruz, Ben Kingsley, Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard and Deborah Harry.

Isabel Coixet's adaptation of Philip Roth's short novel The Dying Animal premiered at this year's Berlin Film Festival. Cruz plays a Cuban student whose professor (Kingsley) attempts to seduce her.

The book's serious tone is preserved by screenwriter Nicholas Meyer. Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi and Andre Lamal produced the feature, which will hit US theaters in August. Netflix will help promote the theatrical release before handling its rentals on the service.

SGF's Meyer Gottlieb and Peter Goldwyn, SPWAG's Scott Shooman, Lakeshore's David Dinerstein and REE's Thom Zadra negotiated the deal.

TORONTO -- Proving that with solid direction, tight writing and strong performances an American remake can actually be as good as the foreign-language original, The Last Kiss, an unusually perceptive dramedy about contemporary relationships also manages to stand quite capably on its own two feet.

Adapted from the generally well-received 2002 Italian film, L'Ultimo Bacio, by Gabriele Muccino, the serio-comic portrait of a group of young men in various stages of relationships who are all freaking out at the prospect of turning 30 has perceptive things to say that don't necessarily require punctuation by a punchline.

Thanks to fresh, believable on-screen turns by an ensemble headed by Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett and Rachel Bilson, and crisp behind-the-camera work by director Tony Goldwyn and on-a-roll screenwriter Paul Haggis, the Paramount release, which was given a test-drive at the Toronto International Film Festival, should receive an enthusiastic smooch from the female-driven Garden State crowd when it opens Sept. 15.

That picture's director and star, Zach Braff, isn't afraid to play someone proving to be less than huggable here. His Michael character would appear to have everything going for him -- most notably his bright, pretty girlfriend, Jenna (a terrific Jacinda Barrett), a good job and loyal buddies (Casey Affleck, Michael Weston and Eric Christian Olsen), who are all going through relationship crises.

But when Jenna informs him that they're going to be parents, Michael goes into complete panic mode and makes a boneheaded move involving a rather forward college co-ed (The OC's Rachel Bilson) that puts their future in serious jeopardy.

Goldwyn's direction never forces the issues, while Haggis' adaptation, which was written before Million Dollar Baby and Crash were released, has some astute things to say about modern love while being true to its vivid characters.

And, unlike another movie dealing with romantic disharmony, last summer's The Break-Up, these are people you actually wouldn't mind being around.

In some ways an extension of his Garden State persona, Braff's Michael takes a risk as an affable actor putting himself in a potentially unflattering light and comes off with his big screen credibility firmly intact.

Barrett and Bilson are similarly impressive as the distinctly individual women in Braff's life, while old pros Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson are in fine form as Barrett's parents, who are struggling to work on their own slowly disintegrating relationship.

THE LAST KISS

Paramount

DreamWorks Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment present a Lakeshore Entertainment production. A Tony Goldwyn film.

Credits:

Director: Tony Goldwyn

Screenwriter: Paul Haggis. Based on the motion picture L'Ultimo Bacio by Gabriele Muccino

Producers: Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Andre Lamal, Marcus Viscidi

Executive producers: Gabriele Muccino, Eric Reid, Terry A. McKay, Harley Tannebaum

Director of photography: Tom Stern

Production designer: Dan Leigh

Editor: Lisa Zeno Churgin

Costume designer: Odette Gadoury

Music: Michael Penn

Cast:

Michael: Zach Braff

Jacinda Barrett: Chris: Casey Affleck

Kim: Rachel Bilson

Izzy: Michael Weston

Anna: Blythe Danner

Stephen: Tom Wilkinson

Kenny: Eric Christian Olsen

Running time -- 104 minutes

MPAA rating: R...

NEW YORK -- Early on in "The Covenant", one of the main characters, a teenager with supernatural powers, performs a dangerous stunt and proclaims, "Harry Potter can kiss my ass!"

Fat chance. This woeful horror flick directed by the formerly estimable Renny Harlin is mainly notable for the good looks of its hard-bodied young stars. Not that you get to see too much of them because like so many recent horror films, this one was kept to the gore and nudity restrictions of a PG-13. The film opened Friday sans press screenings.

The story, such as it is, has to do with a group of male students, dubbed the Sons of Ipswich, at a tony New England private school. These youngsters, descendants of the original settlers of the Ipswich Colony in the 1600s (the time of the Salem Witch Trials, natch), are gifted with supernatural powers that really kick in when they hit 18, or as they put it, "ascend." The problem is, the powers come with a price because any time they are used, they cause premature aging. Of course, this doesn't stop the rambunctious youths from employing them for such handy purposes as starting a stalled car and lifting up a woman's skirt.

When Chase (Sebastian Stan), a new transfer student, arrives at the school, it becomes evident that he is the long-lost fifth descendent of the Sons of Ipswich and that he is up to no good. This is particularly worrisome to Caleb (Steven Strait), who is all too aware of the danger of his powers because they caused his father's downfall. He and Chase are soon locking horns, with the latter threatening to harm Caleb's beautiful new girlfriend (Laura Ramsey).

Shot in the sort of dark tones that are supposed to convey an air of menace but instead makes one think that the light bulbs are fading in the theater's projector, "Covenant" is devoid of any real scares. Yes, once in a while the boys summon their powers (suggested via the insertion of dark contact lenses) and fly around on wires, and a sequence involving multitudes of spiders might be disturbing for those with arachnophobia. But for the most part, the proceedings are slow, solemn and tedious. The film's most nifty visual effect, depicting the destruction and immediate reassembling of a car after a head-on collision, already has been seen to death in the coming attractions. By the time of the film's climactic battle -- cue the heavy metal music -- most of the audience members at the AMC 42nd Street Theater had settled into a heavy torpor.

The Covenant

Screen Gems Lakeshore Entertainment/Sandstorm Films

Credits:

Director: Renny Harlin

Screenwriter: J.S. Cardone

Executive producers: J.S. Cardone, Andre Lamal, Roger Mincheff, James McQuade, Carol Kottenbrook, Scott Einbinder

Producers: Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi

Director of photography: Pierre Gill

Editor: Nicolas de Toth

Production designer: Anne Pritchard

Costume designer: April Napier

Music: Tomandandy

Cast:

Caleb Danvers: Steven Strait

Chase Collins: Sebastian Stan

Sarah Wenham: Laura Ramsey

Pogue Parry: Taylor Kitsch

Reid Garwin: Toby Hemingway

Kate Tunney: Jessica Lucas

Tyler Sims: Chase Crawford

Evelyn Danvers: Wendy Crewson

MPAA rating: PG-13

Running time -- 95 minutes...

TORONTO -- Proving that with solid direction, tight writing and strong performances an American remake can actually be as good as the foreign-language original, "The Last Kiss", an unusually perceptive dramedy about contemporary relationships also manages to stand quite capably on its own two feet.

Adapted from the generally well-received 2002 Italian film, "L'Ultimo Bacio", by Gabriele Muccino, the serio-comic portrait of a group of young men in various stages of relationships who are all freaking out at the prospect of turning 30 has perceptive things to say that don't necessarily require punctuation by a punchline.

Thanks to fresh, believable on-screen turns by an ensemble headed by Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett and Rachel Bilson, and crisp behind-the-camera work by director Tony Goldwyn and on-a-roll screenwriter Paul Haggis, the Paramount release, which was given a test-drive at the Toronto International Film Festival, should receive an enthusiastic smooch from the female-driven "Garden State" crowd when it opens Sept. 15.

That picture's director and star, Zach Braff, isn't afraid to play someone proving to be less than huggable here. His Michael character would appear to have everything going for him -- most notably his bright, pretty girlfriend, Jenna (a terrific Jacinda Barrett), a good job and loyal buddies (Casey Affleck, Michael Weston and Eric Christian Olsen), who are all going through relationship crises.

But when Jenna informs him that they're going to be parents, Michael goes into complete panic mode and makes a boneheaded move involving a rather forward college co-ed ("The OC"'s Rachel Bilson) that puts their future in serious jeopardy.

Goldwyn's direction never forces the issues, while Haggis' adaptation, which was written before "Million Dollar Baby" and "Crash" were released, has some astute things to say about modern love while being true to its vivid characters.

And, unlike another movie dealing with romantic disharmony, last summer's "The Break-Up", these are people you actually wouldn't mind being around.

In some ways an extension of his "Garden State" persona, Braff's Michael takes a risk as an affable actor putting himself in a potentially unflattering light and comes off with his big screen credibility firmly intact.

Barrett and Bilson are similarly impressive as the distinctly individual women in Braff's life, while old pros Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson are in fine form as Barrett's parents, who are struggling to work on their own slowly disintegrating relationship.

THE LAST KISS

Paramount

DreamWorks Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment present a Lakeshore Entertainment production. A Tony Goldwyn film.

Credits:

Director: Tony Goldwyn

Screenwriter: Paul Haggis. Based on the motion picture "L'Ultimo Bacio" by Gabriele Muccino

Producers: Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Andre Lamal, Marcus Viscidi

Executive producers: Gabriele Muccino, Eric Reid, Terry A. McKay, Harley Tannebaum

Director of photography: Tom Stern

Production designer: Dan Leigh

Editor: Lisa Zeno Churgin

Costume designer: Odette Gadoury

Music: Michael Penn

Cast:

Michael: Zach Braff

Jacinda Barrett: Chris: Casey Affleck

Kim: Rachel Bilson

Izzy: Michael Weston

Anna: Blythe Danner

Stephen: Tom Wilkinson

Kenny: Eric Christian Olsen

Running time -- 104 minutes

MPAA rating: R...

Screened

Venice International Film Festival

VENICE, Italy -- This moody romantic drama starring Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins unfolds in a low-burning series of revelations without first establishing what the mystery is. It's as though viewers are being given important answers to an unasked, unspecified question. The thriller aspects of the story and the overall solid level of acting -- including a sexy performance from a red-hot Nicole Kidman -- keep the audience interested but never fully emotionally involved. Still, the draw of top-name talent and an advertising campaign suggesting dark secrets should result in healthy, albeit midrange, numbers at the boxoffice.

Set in 1998, when the country was consumed with the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the possible impeachment of President Clinton, the film concerns the consequences of an affair between a retired college professor and a seemingly inappropriate younger woman. The picture opens with a car accident on a snowy New England back road that sends a vehicle skidding off an embankment into the icy river below. Killed are driver Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins) and his girlfriend Faunia (Kidman). The second car never even stops. The rest of the movie lays out the events that led to this tragedy.

It seems to begin at Athens College, a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts where Dean Silk, an esteemed professor of classics for 35 years, is charged with making a racist remark in his classroom. Although the accusations are false, he is hauled before a faculty board that is sensitive to political correctness. Angry and resentful of such treatment, he resigns in protest. When he tells his distraught wife what has happened, she has a heart attack and dies, leaving him seething with rage and pain.

He forms an unexpected friendship with a reclusive, fortysomething novelist, Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise), and an even more unlikely relationship with a defiantly rough-hewn young woman who works as a cleaning lady. Faunia is outwardly hostile, curt to the point of rudeness and emotionally circumspect. This unexpected passion so late in his life not only leads Coleman to fall in love with her but also carries him back to long-submerged feelings and memories concerning a terrible decision he made early in his life, a decision he thought at the time had freed him but he now realizes actually imprisoned him.

The viewer is totally unprepared for Silk's revelation, and how much of the plot critics give away in their reviews -- as well as what tack Miramax pursues in its ad campaign -- could well affect the boxoffice (the fact that the film is based on an already-published novel by Philip Roth might affect those decisions). It turns out that Coleman is not Jewish but a light-skinned black who has been passing for white since college, when he turned his back on his loving family in exchange for freeing himself for the restrictions and limitations imposed by a racist America. As Coleman grapples with his past, Faunia has her own, far-easier-to-predict secrets as well as an ex-husband (a very fine Ed Harris) bent on destroying his former wife and her new lover.

The meandering plot is intriguing enough to suck viewers in and keep them there, and the acting is fine, yet the story never quite gels. It manages to be convoluted and too neat at the same time. With appropriately edgy music by Rachel Porter under the opening and closing credits, the film creates a viable and absorbing mood. The problem is, the mood keeps shifting, leaving the viewer frustrated.

THE HUMAN STAIN

Lakeshore Entertainment and Miramax Films

A Lakeshore Entertainment/Stone Village production

in association with Cinerenta-Cineepsilon

Credits:

Director: Robert Benton

Screenwriter: Nicholas Meyer

Based on the novel by: Philip Roth

Producers: Gary Lucchesi, Scott Steindorf, Tom Rosenberg

Executive producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Ron Bozman, Andre Lamal, Rick Schwartz, Steve Hutensky, Michael Ohoven, Eberhard Kayser

Director of photography: Jean-Yves Escoffier

Production designer: David Gropman

Music: Rachel Portman

Music supervisor: Dondi Bastone

Costume designer: Rita Ryack

Editor: Christopher Tellefsen

Cast:

Coleman Silk: Anthony Hopkins

Faunia: Nicole Kidman

Nathan Zuckerman: Gary Sinise

Lester: Ed Harris

Young Coleman: Wentworth Miller

Steena Paulsson: Jacinda Barrett

Mrs. Silk: Anna Deavere Smith

Running time -- 107 minutes

No MPAA rating...

Screened

Venice International Film Festival

VENICE, Italy -- This moody romantic drama starring Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins unfolds in a low-burning series of revelations without first establishing what the mystery is. It's as though viewers are being given important answers to an unasked, unspecified question. The thriller aspects of the story and the overall solid level of acting -- including a sexy performance from a red-hot Nicole Kidman -- keep the audience interested but never fully emotionally involved. Still, the draw of top-name talent and an advertising campaign suggesting dark secrets should result in healthy, albeit midrange, numbers at the boxoffice.

Set in 1998, when the country was consumed with the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the possible impeachment of President Clinton, the film concerns the consequences of an affair between a retired college professor and a seemingly inappropriate younger woman. The picture opens with a car accident on a snowy New England back road that sends a vehicle skidding off an embankment into the icy river below. Killed are driver Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins) and his girlfriend Faunia (Kidman). The second car never even stops. The rest of the movie lays out the events that led to this tragedy.

It seems to begin at Athens College, a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts where Dean Silk, an esteemed professor of classics for 35 years, is charged with making a racist remark in his classroom. Although the accusations are false, he is hauled before a faculty board that is sensitive to political correctness. Angry and resentful of such treatment, he resigns in protest. When he tells his distraught wife what has happened, she has a heart attack and dies, leaving him seething with rage and pain.

He forms an unexpected friendship with a reclusive, fortysomething novelist, Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise), and an even more unlikely relationship with a defiantly rough-hewn young woman who works as a cleaning lady. Faunia is outwardly hostile, curt to the point of rudeness and emotionally circumspect. This unexpected passion so late in his life not only leads Coleman to fall in love with her but also carries him back to long-submerged feelings and memories concerning a terrible decision he made early in his life, a decision he thought at the time had freed him but he now realizes actually imprisoned him.

The viewer is totally unprepared for Silk's revelation, and how much of the plot critics give away in their reviews -- as well as what tack Miramax pursues in its ad campaign -- could well affect the boxoffice (the fact that the film is based on an already-published novel by Philip Roth might affect those decisions). It turns out that Coleman is not Jewish but a light-skinned black who has been passing for white since college, when he turned his back on his loving family in exchange for freeing himself for the restrictions and limitations imposed by a racist America. As Coleman grapples with his past, Faunia has her own, far-easier-to-predict secrets as well as an ex-husband (a very fine Ed Harris) bent on destroying his former wife and her new lover.

The meandering plot is intriguing enough to suck viewers in and keep them there, and the acting is fine, yet the story never quite gels. It manages to be convoluted and too neat at the same time. With appropriately edgy music by Rachel Porter under the opening and closing credits, the film creates a viable and absorbing mood. The problem is, the mood keeps shifting, leaving the viewer frustrated.

THE HUMAN STAIN

Lakeshore Entertainment and Miramax Films

A Lakeshore Entertainment/Stone Village production

in association with Cinerenta-Cineepsilon

Credits:

Director: Robert Benton

Screenwriter: Nicholas Meyer

Based on the novel by: Philip Roth

Producers: Gary Lucchesi, Scott Steindorf, Tom Rosenberg

Executive producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Ron Bozman, Andre Lamal, Rick Schwartz, Steve Hutensky, Michael Ohoven, Eberhard Kayser

Director of photography: Jean-Yves Escoffier

Production designer: David Gropman

Music: Rachel Portman

Music supervisor: Dondi Bastone

Costume designer: Rita Ryack

Editor: Christopher Tellefsen

Cast:

Coleman Silk: Anthony Hopkins

Faunia: Nicole Kidman

Nathan Zuckerman: Gary Sinise

Lester: Ed Harris

Young Coleman: Wentworth Miller

Steena Paulsson: Jacinda Barrett

Mrs. Silk: Anna Deavere Smith

Running time -- 107 minutes

No MPAA rating...