News

Baryshnikov Arts Center (Bac) announces the New York premiere of Miguel Gutierrez’s I as another (2022) on May 4-7, 2023 at Bac’s Jerome Roberts Theater, 450 W. 37th Street, NYC. Tickets are $25 and are available at bacnyc.org/performances/performance/miguel-gutierrez.

I as another is Miguel Gutierrez’s newest work, a duet performed with Laila Franklin. The piece takes place in a future/present dystopia and explores the virtual architecture of memory, what it means to be alongside one another, and how existential despair has come into public view. Drawing inspiration from Martinican philosopher Édouard Glissant and his conceptions of Relation and opacity, I as another examines what it means for difference to come into contact and how unknowable we can be.

Text composed by Miguel Gutierrez, lighting design by Carolina Ortiz Herrera, additional sound design by Rosana Cabán, and dramaturgical support by Stephanie Acosta.

Miguel Gutierrez is a choreographer, music artist,...

Entertainment One (eOne) has tapped “John Wick” writer Derek Kolstad to develop a “Dungeons & Dragons” TV-series pitch.

Dungeons & Dragons, which has been adapted for the big-screen before, is a popular board game from the Hasbro-owned Wizards of the Coast. (Wizards of the Coast also created the popular Magic the Gathering card game.)

Following a $3.8 billion acquisition, Entertainment One is also now part of Hasbro, which knows a thing or two about board games.

In addition to this small-screen development project, which we are told by an insider with knowledge of the process is in the “very early stages,” eOne is also working with other writers on other D&d projects. One of those is a new “Dungeons & Dragons” film, which is being directed by Jonathan Goldstein and Jonathan Francis Daley.

As first reported by TheWrap, Kolstad co-wrote “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” series for Disney+. He is represented by APA,...

Low Down

Written by Topper Lilien and Amy Albany

Directed by Jeff Preiss

USA

Jazz can be vivacious and alive, but it can also get down real low. It becomes reserved, intimate, raw and wholly adult. Bebop demands a refined ear and a patient listener, and good music challenges you to listen closely and find the blues and pain within.

Low Down is a sharply jazzy, bleak and vital character drama based on the memoir of Amy-Jo Albany and her famous, piano-playing father and jazz musician Joe Albany. It’s less a music biopic and more a coming-of-age story about growing up real fast and learning to face the music all too soon.

Director Jeff Preiss sets Amy-Jo (Elle Fanning) up for disappointment right out the gate, with her father (John Hawkes) being arrested for failing to stay clean from his heroin addiction and breaking his parole. She speaks in...

A.J. (Amy-Jo) Albany’s memoir Low Down: Junk, Jazz, and Other Fairy Tales From Childhood is a tender, spiky, beautifully evocative series of linked vignettes about her cruelly impoverished childhood as the daughter of a brilliant jazz pianist and junkie, Joe Albany, and a mean, self-centered mother (once the lover of Allen Ginsberg before he turned conclusively gay) who left them early and slid into terminal alcoholism. Amy and Topper Lilien have turned the book into a movie directed by Jeff Preiss, best known as the cinematographer of Bruce Weber’s extraordinary documentaries Broken Noses and Let’s Get Lost. Preiss brings a moody, lingering, be-bop touch to material that would be better in places with more zip, but if the film’s not as entertaining as the book, it’s pretty damn good, anyway. It has an immersive mood — a dim, junk-infused gloom from which there’s almost no escape.

Elle Fanning plays a girl who remains supportive of her father in spite of a chaotic upbringing, as seen in the first trailer for Jeff Preiss‘ 1970s-set “Low Down.” Based on the 2003 memoir by Amy-Jo Albany (who also co-wrote the script alongside Topper Lilien), “Low Down” depicts the story of legendary jazz pianist Joe Albany (Hawkes) from the perspective of the troubled adolescent life of his aforementioned teenage daughter (Fanning), who had to grow up in a household with a heroin-addicted father and alcoholic mother (Lena Headey). The film originally debuted at the Sundance Film Festival back in January. [...]

The post Watch: Elle Fanning Explores 1970s Jazz Scene With Joe Albany in ‘Low Down’ Trailer appeared first on Up and Comers.

Oscilloscope Laboratories has scooped up North American rights to director Jeff Preiss' jazz biopic-of-sorts "Low Down," starring John Hawkes, Elle Fanning, Glenn Close and Peter Dinklage.  In this winner of the Sundance Film Festival's Best Cinematography award, Hawkes plays modern American jazz pianist Joe Albany. "Low Down" unfolds through the eyes of his daughter Amy-Joe, played by Elle Fanning, as she watches her father succumb to heroin addiction amid the emerging jazz scene of the '60s and '70s.  Notably, Amy-Jo Albany (also an Ep) cowrote the screenplay with Topper Lilien. "Low Down" was produced by Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa of Bona Fide Productions, and Mindy Goldberg of Epoch Films. The film is heading to New York's BAMcinemafest in New York in June. Reviews are split, but comparisons have been drawn to "Requiem for a Dream" as a harrowing portrayal of addiction. The cast, alone, should make this a must-see.

Photo by Dvrosa

It was another great year at the Sundance Film Festival! There were so many fantastic movies shown, and I still have a couple more to go. I'm really happy to say that Miles Teller and J.K. Simmon's film Whiplash took home the top two prizes, winning the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. This was my number one favorite film from the festival, and it seems like everyone else at the festival loved it too, so it doesn't surprise me that it won.

Here's the full list of winners:

Sundance Institute this evening announced the Jury, Audience and other special awards of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the feature film Awards Ceremony, hosted by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, in Park City, Utah. Video of the ceremony in its entirety is available at www.sundance.org/live.

The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was...

Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash was Day 1 feel good buzz title of the fest that ultimately served as a measuring stick for the other competing 15 titles in the section and as predicted below had a good chance at doing what last year’s Fruitvale did: when both major awards of its category. Now that I’ve completed a 15 hour nap, I can watch the ceremony below – and you can spoil the suspense by simply going over the other award winners in the multiple categories below. Next week we’ll be publishing our interviews with several of the filmmakers mentioned below. Congrats to the winners and non-winners.

Park City, Ut — Sundance Institute this evening announced the Jury, Audience and other special awards of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the feature film Awards Ceremony, hosted by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, in Park City, Utah. Video of the ceremony in its entirety is available at www.

‘Camp X-Ray’: Kristen Stewart and Peyman Moaadi praised, but mixed reviews for Sundance 2014 political drama (photo: Kristen Stewart in ‘Camp X-Ray’) The Guardian‘s Xan Brooks wasn’t too crazy about first-time feature film director Peter Sattler’s Camp X-Ray, screened at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival last week, though he did appreciate the acting of stars Kristen Stewart (Twilight, On the Road) and Peyman Moaadi (the male lead in Asghar Farhadi’s 2011 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner A Separation). In Camp X-Ray, Stewart plays a U.S. army private sent to Guantanamo, where she befriends one of the inmates, Ali (Moaadi), who claims to be an innocent man trapped in the American gulag and who also happens to be a devout follower of both the Koran and the Harry Potter books. Xan Brooks wrote: "Nestled somewhere deep inside Camp X-Ray — possibly in handcuffs, conceivably hooded — is a decent,...

It’s that time again. The biggest American film festival is upon us, and this year the Ioncinema crew will be descending on Park City with eight feet on the ground and eight eyes on Park City’s various and plentiful screens. Eric Lavallee, Nicholas Bell, Caitlin Coder and I will be covering just about every inch of this year’s festival here at Ioncinema.com, as well as on that ever increasingly vibrant instanews network – Twitter. Be sure to follow @ioncinema and, as stated above, my personal handle @Rectangular_Eye, as we’ll be tweeting throughout the festival with breaking news, reviews, and sightings, all the while trying to keep up with the massive amount of content sure to be coming from this year’s Sundance filmmakers themselves, most of which have their own Twitter accounts and are listed at length below (minus the world & short programs). Whether you...

The first in this year’s Guide to the Sundance Twitterverse series is the complete U.S. Dramatic Competition, which just at first glance has an immense amount of tweeting going on. Don’t miss the Hellion crew, headed by Writer/Director Kat Candler (@katcandler), nor the official Dear White People feed, (@DearWhitePeople). There’s more to come throughout the day.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Camp X-Ray - @CampXRayMovie

Cold in July

Producer René Bastian - @renebastian

Dear White People - @DearWhitePeople

Writer/Director Justin Simien - @JSim07

Producer Lena Waith - @hillmangrad

Producer Julia Lebedev - @thisisresearch

Actor Tyler James Williams - @TylerJamesWill

Actress Teyonah Parris - @TeyonahParris

Fishing Without Nets - @fishing

Writer/Director Cutter Hodierne – @MyNameIsCUTTER

Writer/Producer John Hibey - @somaliproduced

Producer Raphael Swann - @raphaelswann

Producer Brian Glazen - @bglazen

Cinematographer Alex Disenhof – @adisenhof

God’s Pocket

Producer Sam Bisbee - @sambisbee

Composer Nathan Larson...

About the Sundance U.S. Dramatic Competition: “Presenting the world premieres of 16 narrative feature films, the Dramatic Competition offers Festivalgoers a first look at groundbreaking new voices in American independent film.”

Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig in “The Skeleton Twins”

The Skeleton Twins

Directed by Craig Johnson

Written by Craig Johnson and Mark Heyman

Saturday Night Live alumni Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig headline a drama as twins reconnecting with each other and life. The plot seems vaguely reminiscent of The Savages, which starred Laura Linney and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as siblings bonding over the slow death of their father. However, with these characters focusing solely on one another, the built-in chemistry Hader and Wiig have together will no doubt factor heavily into the audience’s enjoyment, especially if viewers are already fans. They played a couple in charge of an amusement park in the 2009 comedy Adventureland and have a...

The 2014 Sundance Film Festival is right around the corner, and the Sundance Institute has released the full line-up for the competition films that will be premiering!

This year there were 12,218 total submissions, and 117 films were accepted from 37 countries around the world. It looks like there's a lot of good selection of films this year.

The Sundance Film Festival 2014 runs from January 16th to the 26th, and the GeekTyrant team will be there to cover as many movies as we possibly can.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

The 16 films in this section are world premieres and, unless otherwise noted, are from the U.S.

“Camp X-Ray” — Directed and written by Peter Sattler. A young female guard at Guantanamo Bay forms an unlikely friendship with one of the detainees. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Payman Maadi, Lane Garrison, J.J. Soria, John Carroll Lynch.

“Cold in July” — Directed by Jim Mickle, written by Nick Damici.

Sundance Film Festival continues to be one of the most popular, and arguably one of the most important, events on the industry calendar, launching as it does some of the most prominent independent films at the start of each year.

This year will be no different, with Sundance announcing last night the initial line-up of films screening in competition, led by Song One, starring Anne Hathaway; Camp X-Ray, starring Kristen Stewart; Infinitely Polar Bear, with Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana; Joe Swanberg’s Happy Christmas, starring Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber, Lena Dunham, and Swanberg himself; The Skeleton Twins, with Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, and Ty Burrell; Life After Beth, with Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, and John C. Reilly; Listen Up Philip, with Jason Schwartzman and Elisabeth Moss; Whiplash, starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons; and many, many more.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Presenting the world premieres of 16 narrative feature films,...

The 2014 Sundance Film Festival is coming up in January and today, the Sundance Institute has named the films that will be in the U.S. and world competitions as well as Next, which is an oddly-named showcase for “Pure, bold works distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling.”

There will be 67 films competing across five different competition categories. That may sound like a lot, but that’s only the first half of the film announcements. Later on they will be announcing the remaining lineup of films being shown outside these competitions.

Overall, it’s an impressive batch of entries, with several surprises and a handful of very promising movies. Check out the full list below and let us know what you think in the comments section.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Camp X-Ray / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Peter Sattler) — A young woman is stationed as a guard in Guantanamo Bay,...

God’S Pocket

Sundance Institute announced today the films selected for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions and the out-of-competition section of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, January 16-26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

Robert Redford, President & Founder of Sundance Institute said, “That the Festival has evolved and grown as it has over the past 30 years is a credit to both our audiences and our artists, who continue to find ways to take risks and open our minds to the power of story. This year’s films and artists promise to do the same.”

For the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, 118 feature-length films were selected, representing 37 countries and 54 first-time filmmakers, including 34 in competition. These films were selected from 12,218 submissions (72 more than for 2013), including 4,057 feature-length films and 8,161 short films. Of the feature film submissions, 2,014 were from the U.S. and 2,043 were international. 97 feature films at...

As I had predicted here, names such as Cutter Hodierne, Kat Candler, Maya Forbes, Mona Fastvold and Damien Chazelle would be among the invited guests at the ’14 edition of the Sundance Film Festival. It was such a strong year that even some items that I thought would be dark horse/long shots and might be looking at a fest berth from the sidelines are considered definite dramatic comp material, while some that was fully expecting to break the line-up have been passed up.

Horror “labeled” directors Carter Smith (Jamie Marks Is Dead) and Jim Mickle (Cold in July) broke into the line-up that is usually reserved for the newbie type of director and are coming in with perhaps different genre material. We’re glad to see Justin Simien’s Dear White People break into the 16 – it also acts as the long awaited return of Duly Noted producer Effie Brown. Actor...

The U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competition lineups for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival were announced today and just below I have featured pictures from the 16 films that will be competing in the U.S. Dramatic competition and they feature a lot of names you're going to recognize. The titles begin with Camp X-Ray, which stars Kristen Stewart as a guard in Guantanamo Bay, where she forms an unlikely friendship with one of the detainees. Jim Mickle made an impact earlier this year with We Are What We Are and he returns with Michael C. Hall with Cold in July. Fishing Without Nets looks to tell a story similar to that of Captain Phillips, only this time from the Somali side of things; God's Pocket is "Mad Men" star John Slattery's writing and directorial debut and he's lined up an impressive cast including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins,...

While 2013 gave us Inside Llewyn Davis, 2014 will give us Low Down. I’m thinking that photographer/ethnographic documentarian/commercials and video director Jeff Preiss’ debut film will be something of an event. Taking the shape of a biographic tale not surprisingly related to American music scene, the drama should be ready for show – as it was filmed in March of this year. Lena Headey, Taryn Manning, Peter Dinklage, Elle Fanning, Burn Gorman, Caleb Landry Jones, Glenn Close, Tim Daly and John Hawkes who’ll take center stage once again.

Gist: Written by Topper Lilien and Amy Albany (based on Amy Albany’s memoir), this is a look at the life of pianist Joe Albany from the perspective of his young daughter, as she watches him contend with his drug addiction during the 1960s and ’70s jazz scene.

Production Co./Producers: Bona Fide Productions’ Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa (Nebraska), Epoch Films’ Mindy Goldberg (Junebug)

Prediction: U.

• Sean Penn is in talks to star in the action thriller Prone Gunman, based on the novel by the late French author Jean-Patrick Manchette about an international assassin who runs afoul of the organization that hires him after he says he wants out of the business. (Silly assassin; shadowy global organizations are never keen on quiet retirement.) Peter Travis adapted the screenplay; there is no director yet attached. [THR]

• John Hawkes, lately winning Oscar buzz for The Sessions, has signed on for Low Down, a biopic of jazz pianist Joe Albany. He replaces Mark Ruffalo, who had originally been attached to...

The Sessions' star John Hawkes will play legendary jazz pianist Joe Albany in the indie movie Low Down, directed by Jeff Preiss. He'll replace Mark Ruffalo who dropped out after signing on March, 2011. Variety reports that this marks the feature directorial debut of Preiss of Epoch Films, a commercials director. Topper Lilien writes alongside Amy Albany, who also wrote the memoir of the same title. Pic is set in the 1960s-1970s in the Los Angeles jazz scene, and tells of the relationship between a father called Albany and his eleven-year-old daughter Amy from the daughter's point of view. The story follows her different childhood with father in the world of cocktail bars and hotels.

The Sessions' star John Hawkes will play legendary jazz pianist Joe Albany in the indie movie Low Down, directed by Jeff Preiss. He'll replace Mark Ruffalo who dropped out after signing on March, 2011. Variety reports that this marks the feature directorial debut of Preiss of Epoch Films, a commercials director. Topper Lilien writes alongside Amy Albany, who also wrote the memoir of the same title. Pic is set in the 1960s-1970s in the Los Angeles jazz scene, and tells of the relationship between a father called Albany and his eleven-year-old daughter Amy from the daughter's point of view. The story follows her different childhood with father in the world of cocktail bars and hotels.

Mark Ruffalo is set to play jazz pianist Joe Albany in a new movie. The 'Kids Are Alright' actor will executive produce and star in independent film 'Low Down', which follows the musician's life and relationship with his 11-year-old daughter Amy. The film will be told from Amy's point of view as she witnesses her father's rise to success and subsequent descent into heroin addiction, though a young actress has not yet been chosen for the role. Amy - whose father died in 1988 aged 63 - has written the script with Topper Lilien, based on her memoir of the same name. Jeff Preiss will make his feature film directorial debut on the project, with Albert Berget and Rob Yerxa serving as producers alongside Mindy Goldberg. Production is scheduled to begin on the movie later this year, although there is no release date yet. Mark can next be seen in 'Sympathy for Delicious',...

Mark Ruffalo is set to play jazz pianist Joe Albany in a new movie. The 'Kids Are Alright' actor will executive produce and star in independent film 'Low Down', which follows the musician's life and relationship with his 11-year-old daughter Amy. The film will be told from Amy's point of view as she witnesses her father's rise to success and subsequent descent into heroin addiction, though a young actress has not yet been chosen for the role. Amy - whose father died in 1988 aged 63 - has written the script with Topper Lilien, based on her...

Kids Are All Right star to take lead role in Low Down, a biopic based on a memoir by musician's daughter, reports say

Mark Ruffalo is to play the jazz musician Joe Albany, who became one of the few white pianists to play with Charlie Parker and later battled heroin addiction, reports Variety.

Going under the name Low Down, the film will be based on a memoir written by Albany's daughter, Amy, titled Low Down: Junk, Jazz, and Other Fairy Tales From Childhood. Events will be seen from her perspective as a young girl witnessing her father's often strung-out behaviour in the cocktail bars and transient hotels of late 1960s, early 1970s La as he interacts with other musicians and eccentrics. Albany, who also played with Miles Davis and Charles Mingus, died in New York in 1988, aged 63.

First-time feature film director Jeff Preiss will take the reins on Low Down,...

Here are some quick casting updates we missed over the last few days.

Mark Ruffalo has signed on to portray the legendary jazz pianist Joe Albany in Low Down. The story will follow Albany’s life as seen through his 11-year-old daughter’s eyes during the 60′s and 70′s as she watches her “charismatic but strung-out father interact with other eccentric characters in cocktail bars and transient hotels.” Albany played with other well-known artists such as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, and struggled with a heroin addiction later in his life. Jeff Preiss will direct the film based on the script written by Topper Lilien and Amy Albany. [Variety]

Actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Marisa Tomei are in early talks to join Married and Cheating, which follows three different couples who are bored with their relationship and look towards cheating as means of excitement. The three couples intertwine with each other...

For his first role after receiving an Oscar nomination for The Kids Are All Right, Mark Ruffalo is of course playing the Hulk in The Avengers. But the actor most definitely hasn't forgotten his indie roots, and once he's done beating up CGI villains or whatever they'll have him doing in the superhero project, he'll be moving on to Low Down, an indie biopic about jazz pianist Joe Albany. According to Variety Ruffalo will also executive produce the project, which focuses on Albany's relationship with his 11-year-old daughter Amy as he performed in various seedy hotels and nightclubs in Los Angeles in the early 70s, all while struggling with a heroin addiction. Jeff Preiss, a commercials director, will be making his directorial debut on the film, which is written by Topper Lilien and Amy Albany-- yes, the daughter who is a major figure in the film, and who also wrote...

He might be getting ready to Hulk out as Bruce Banner in The Avengers, but Mark Ruffalo is looking at playing a man with some different issues in producer-turned-director Jeff Preiss’ new indie drama Low Down, which chronicles the wild life and struggles of jazz pianist Joe Albany.With a script by Topper Lilien and Albany’s actual daughter, Amy (who based the initial idea on her memoir), the film will chronicle the ups-and-downs of the talented ivory tinkler.Like many of the great musicians, Albany’s life included highs such as playing with the likes of jazz legends Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Charles Mingus and lows such as his battle with heroin addiction, which came later.At the tender age of 11, Amy saw her father dealing with both his talent and his demons in La bars and hotels during the 1960s and ‘70s. Ruffalo will be parking his...

Variety reports that Mark Ruffalo ( The Kids Are All Right , upcoming The Avengers ) will play legendary jazz pianist Joe Albany in the independent film Low Down . Ruffalo is also executive producing the project, which centers on Albany's relationship with his 11-year-old daughter, Amy. The movie will mark commercial director Jeff Preiss' feature debut. Topper Lilien and Amy Albany wrote the script, based on the latter's memoir. According to the trade, "The Los Angeles-set story will be told from the child's point of view as she watches her talented and charismatic but strung-out father interact with other eccentric characters in cocktail bars and transient hotels during the late 1960s and early '70s." Albany struggled with heroin addiction late in his career....

Mark Ruffalo is set to play legendary jazz pianist Joe Albany in the independent film "Low Down" reports Variety.

Set in Los Angeles, the story follows Amy Albany, a young girl who witnesses her charismatic but strung-out father Joe's dealings with other eccentric characters in cocktail bars during the late 1960's and early '70s. He also struggled with heroin addiction late in his career.

Commercial director Jeff Preiss makes his feature debut on the project. Topper Lilien and the real Amy Albany co-wrote the script based on the latter's memoir. Shooting kicks off at the end of the year.

Documentary filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev (My Kid Could Paint That; The Tillman Story) is the latest non-fiction film director to make the transition to drama. I would say to fiction, but Bar-Lev's first non-doc project will be based on a true story, specifically on the life of Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia. According to Variety, the biopic will tackle the man's early years, so don't attempt to picture some actor wearing a bushy white beard on screen. This appears to be different from the Garcia biopic announced three years ago, as instead of producer Justin Berfield this involves the son of Michael Eisner and some of the guys behind Little Miss Sunshine.

The script is being written by Dungeons & Dragons writer Topper Lilien and will be based on parts of Robert Greenfield's Dark Star, an oral-history-styled biography that covers Garcia's entire life. How far into that life the film will go into is unclear,...

Steal your face, man -- Jerry is going to the big screen in a film adapted from the Robert Greenfield book "Dark Star, An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia." Director Amir Bar-Lev (of "My Kid Could Paint That") is on board to bring a script by Topper Lilien ("Dungeons & Dragons" -- what?) to life. Variety reports the screenplay covers Garcia's early life, even before the birth of the infamous band.

"Topper Lilien's daring script does justice to Garcia and steadfastly resists cliche," Bar-Lev said. That's encouraging. Bar-Lev's last film was "The Tillman Story," a doc about the football hero turned friendly fire casualty in Afghanistan. You have to wonder how he'll handle a story with actors -- he's only worked in nonfiction before. There may well be archival footage used in this biopic too, but someone has to play Jerry for real. And there's the other thing -- who...

Documentary director Amir Bar-Lev will direct a feature biopic on the late Jerry Garcia.According to Variety, Eric Eisner and Bona Fide Productions. Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa are producing.Topper Lilien wrote the screenplay about the legendary Grateful Dead frontman's early life before joining the band. The film is based on the Robert Greenfield book "Dark Star," which examines Garcia.s life through interviews with his family, friends and colleagues.This will be the first feature-length film about Garcia, who co-founded the band in 1965 and served as its lead guitar player, songwriter and one of its vocalists until his death in August 1995.Garcia garnered acclaim for combining blues, rock and psychedelic elements along with improvisational guitar play. Bar-Lev's directing credits include the...

Amir Bar-Lev ("The Tillman Story," "Trouble the Water") is set to direct a Jerry Garcia biopic reports Variety.

Based on the Robert Greenfield book "Dark Star", the story follows the iconic Grateful Dead frontman's early life before joining the band that made him a household name.

Garcia's style fused a combination of blues, rock, psychedelia and a mastery of improvisational guitar.

Topper Lilien will adapt the screenplay while Eric Eisner, Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa will produce.

This is one of those rare stories where my personal and professional interests collide: growing up, the music of The Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band was frequently heard echoing through my home. There have been plenty of documentaries and concert films about the Dead, but never a proper biopic. That's all about to change, thanks to a script from Topper Lilien, who worked with Robert Greenfield's book "Dark Star" in crafting a story about Dead co-founder and lead singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia. The film, which Variety confirms will be directed by "The Tillman Story" helmer Amir Bar-Lev, will reportedly cover Garcia's early years, the events that led him to the Dead.

If the story had more of a lifelong focus, I'd be forced to pitch Jeff Bridges for the lead role. I mean seriously... is there anyone on this planet more perfectly suited to portray the lovable rock star than The Dude?...

Producers Albert Berger (Little Miss Sunshine), Ron Yerxa (Cold Mountain) and Eric Eisner (Hamlet 2) have signed on to develop a biopic about Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia, report the trades. The untitled film will aim to offer a revealing look at the roots of the counterculture icon. It will focus primarily on Garcia's early life in the Bay Area before he joined the band that would become the Grateful Dead -- a period that includes a stint in the military, a life-changing car accident and his first creative encounters with members of the Northern California music scene including future Dead bassist Phil Lesh. Producers have acquired rights to Robert Greenfield's book Dark Star, an oral history of Garcia from dozens of people who knew him, including musicians, relatives and artist friends like Ken Kesey. Music rights also are being negotiated, Topper Lilien (Dungeons & Dragons ) is attached to write the screenplay.

I don't profess to know much, if anything, about The Grateful Dead, but it's heard to imagine their story not making an interesting movie. Now it looks like the life of Jerry Garcia will get the biopic treatment from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine. Like many rock biopics before it, the film will focus on Garcia's early years before he joined the band. Expect the latter part of the film to be his first musical encounters with future Dead members like Phil Lesh. Topper Lilien (Where...

Veteran producers Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa and Eric Eisner are going truckin'.

The trio have signed on to produce a biopic about Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia that will aim to offer a revealing look at the roots of the counterculture icon.

The untitled project will focus primarily on Garcia's early life in the Bay Area before he joined the band that would become the Grateful Dead -- a period that includes a stint in the military, a life-changing car accident and his first creative encounters with members of the Northern California music scene including future Dead bassist Phil Lesh.

Producers have acquired rights to Robert Greenfield's book "Dark Star," an oral history of Garcia from dozens of people who knew him, including musicians, relatives and artist friends like Ken Kesey. Music rights also are being negotiated, though given that the period in Garcia's life that's covered is pre-Dead,...

"Where the Money Is" has a cheerful, lighthearted personality that should win friends and influence moviegoers into spreading the word: Paul Newman's got a new caper movie, and it's a hoot.

Playing an aging bank robber in the Willie Sutton mode, Newman is not only in top acting form but exudes enough sexual charisma to put most of today's roster of movie heartthrobs to shame.

Where the money will have to go, though, is into marketing this small-scale film left over from the Gramercy Pictures days. If Universal and USA Films succeed in getting adults into theaters, then word-of-mouth should turn "Money" into a modest moneymaker.

Newman may be the best reason to see this comic caper but not the only one. There's stylish work by Linda Fiorentino and Dermot Mulroney as Newman's co-conspirators; a lively, witty screenplay by E. Max Frye and Topper Lilien & Carroll Cartwright; fast-paced yet subtle direction by Marek Kanievska; and sharp cinematography and production design.

As the story gets under way, it's clear that Newman's Henry Manning and Fiorentino's Carol Ann McKay are cut from the same cloth. He's a once-(in)famous bank robber, locked up nearly for the rest of his natural life, who figures he might as well "break out" of prison by feigning a stroke. She's an ex-prom queen who has grown weary of her stale life with husband Wayne (Mulroney), a high school sweetheart gone sour in the grind of a night-shift job.

When Henry arrives at the nursing home where Carol works, her instincts tell her he's faking his illness. Once she coaxes him out of his coma -- by pushing him into a lake -- she talks him into committing a robbery of their own. Almost as an afterthought, she includes her suddenly jealous hubby in the scheme.

The script, based on Frye's story, has the smarts to concentrate more on the characters than their caper. The mechanics of the heist, in which the trio take over an armored car's nighttime pickup schedule, are simple enough. This is certainly no high-tech crime such as those in "Entrapment", which were more baffling than intriguing.

The focus remains instead on the shifting dynamics among the triangle of characters, where Henry and Carol find that their views on life and larceny dovetail neatly, leaving Carol's soporific husband a definite odd man out.

The three actors attack their roles like hungry men at a banquet. Newman can do more with his eyes than most actors do with their entire bodies. One senses Henry's mental machinery ticking away at high speeds. Even in repose, there is no repose.

Fiorentino also lets the subtle turmoil of devious thoughts play across her face. Whether looking for ways to "arouse" the supposedly brain-damaged Henry or trying to plot the perfect crime, her methodical approach -- if that doesn't work, let's try this -- jives nicely with Henry's instinctual grasp of any situation.

Mulroney, on the other hand, can suggest blankness of reflection and ambition with deadpan hilarity. His varied looks of bewilderment make a perfect contrast to the personas of his cunning conspirators.

British director Kanievska, shooting in Montreal, skillfully evokes the atmosphere of small-town Americana. Designer Andre Chamberland and cinematographer Thomas Burstyn give this environment an unusually fanciful look, emphasizing saturated hues in the nursing home and vivid colors during the nighttime heist.

Despite the grit of its semi-rural setting, Kanievska never lets his movie escape its fantasy world. Even the old-age home is handled with much more humor than other Hollywood movies would ever permit.

"Where the Money Is" treats crime as its own life force and Newman's character as one of its most passionate practitioners.

WHERE THE MONEY IS

Universal/USA Films

Gramercy Pictures presents in association with Intermedia Films and Pacifica Film Distribution

a Scott Free/IMF production

Credits: Producers: Ridley Scott, Charles Weinstock, Chris Zarpas, Christopher Dorr; Director: Marek Kanievska; Screenwriters: E. Max Frye, Topper Lilien, Carroll Cartwright; Story by: E. Max Frye; Executive producers: Tony Scott, Guy East, Nigel Sinclair, Chris Sievernich; Director of photography: Thomas Burstyn; Production designer: Andre Chamberland; Music: Mark Isham; Co-producers: Beau E.L. Marks, Robert E. Norton; Costume designer: Francesca Chamberland; Editors: Sam Craven, Garth Graven, Dan Lebental. Cast: Henry: Paul Newman; Carol: Linda Fiorentino; Wayne: Dermot Mulroney; Mrs. Foster: Susan Barnes; Mrs. Tetlow: Anne Pitonaik; Karl: Bruce MacVittie. MPAA rating: PG-13. Color/stereo. Running time -- 89 minutes.