At the beginning of every month, Ioncinema.com's "Tracking Shot" features a handful of projects that we feel are worth signaling out and that are moments away from lensing. This October we find the very last batch of titles that could be potentially ready for next May (I see a pair of films mentioned below that are possible Cannes birth qualifiers) and we find our usual mix of items: from mid-range indie budget flicks (4 million to 8 million range) to the pricey popcorn films. In the batch of seven, we have a pair of first time helmer Shawn Lawrence Otto. Otto wrote House of Sand and Fog (liked the themes, not the execution) and gets to work with a solid pairing in Brolin and Swank - what emotional depths will Dreams of a Dying Heart attain in the home from war storyline is my biggest concern. Speaking of home from war,...
- 10/1/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Who says only men are haunted by the ghosts of war? Hilary Swank will show us how horrific it can be for both genders in this upcoming 2012 horror picture.
Written and directed by Shawn Lawrence Otto (The House of Sand and Fog), Dreams of a Dying Heart will be produced by U.K. company Intandem Pictures and will be one of the few movies to incorporate a woman's experience as a soldier in the current Iraq war.
Rachel Watson (Hilary Swank) returns home after surviving a fatal chopper crash, but soon after her husband Dan and 16-year old daughter Clara meet her at the airport, strange things begin to happen. The ghost of a boy dressed in blue seems to be haunting her. She wakes up screaming and covered in blood. Pictures of her are missing from the wall. Odd voices are on the phone. And a strange middle-easterner is in her house,...
Written and directed by Shawn Lawrence Otto (The House of Sand and Fog), Dreams of a Dying Heart will be produced by U.K. company Intandem Pictures and will be one of the few movies to incorporate a woman's experience as a soldier in the current Iraq war.
Rachel Watson (Hilary Swank) returns home after surviving a fatal chopper crash, but soon after her husband Dan and 16-year old daughter Clara meet her at the airport, strange things begin to happen. The ghost of a boy dressed in blue seems to be haunting her. She wakes up screaming and covered in blood. Pictures of her are missing from the wall. Odd voices are on the phone. And a strange middle-easterner is in her house,...
- 8/14/2010
- by Superheidi
- Planet Fury
He never sits still for very long, and earlier today (July 26) Matthew McConaughey was back to work on the set of his new movie “Lincoln Lawyer.”
The “Fool’s Gold” stud looked especially hunky as he made his way around the Los Angeles location, sporting a white tank top and black shorts.
Already looking to what’s next, Matthew is said to be contemplating a starring role in the forthcoming film “Dreams of a Dying Heart.”
The flick will be directed by Shawn Lawrence Otto and based on a script he developed. Hilary Swank will also star.
The “Fool’s Gold” stud looked especially hunky as he made his way around the Los Angeles location, sporting a white tank top and black shorts.
Already looking to what’s next, Matthew is said to be contemplating a starring role in the forthcoming film “Dreams of a Dying Heart.”
The flick will be directed by Shawn Lawrence Otto and based on a script he developed. Hilary Swank will also star.
- 7/26/2010
- GossipCenter
Both Matthew McConaughey and Josh Brolin are vying to play the male lead opposite Hilary Swank in "Dreams of a Dying Heart" for Killer Films says Deadline and The Playlist.
Swank will play a soldier who returns home after a tour of duty only to witness strange goings on.
Shawn Lawrence Otto ("House of Sand and Fog") directs from his own script. Filming kicks off in October.
Swank will play a soldier who returns home after a tour of duty only to witness strange goings on.
Shawn Lawrence Otto ("House of Sand and Fog") directs from his own script. Filming kicks off in October.
- 7/23/2010
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Hilary Swank’s next film is in need of a male co-star, and two names to be hurtled towards the film Dreams of a Dying Heart are Soon-to-be Man in Black Josh Brolin and romantic every-leading-man Matthew McConaughey.
Here’s what Deadline had to say on the film,
Swank will play a soldier who returns home after a tour of duty only to witness strange goings on.
So, almost nothing to go on then, but the word ‘Dreams’ in the title could point to a burgeoning relationship caught between dizzying fantasy and lucid reality shot through with traumatic flashbacks. Or not. Could be a rom-com.
The film is written by Oscar-nominated House of Sand And Fog scribe Shawn Lawrence Otto, who is also pulling on his directing trousers, and a key decision he’ll be faced with soon is which of these men to slot beside Ms. Swank.
Here’s what Deadline had to say on the film,
Swank will play a soldier who returns home after a tour of duty only to witness strange goings on.
So, almost nothing to go on then, but the word ‘Dreams’ in the title could point to a burgeoning relationship caught between dizzying fantasy and lucid reality shot through with traumatic flashbacks. Or not. Could be a rom-com.
The film is written by Oscar-nominated House of Sand And Fog scribe Shawn Lawrence Otto, who is also pulling on his directing trousers, and a key decision he’ll be faced with soon is which of these men to slot beside Ms. Swank.
- 7/23/2010
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Hilary Swank may be in a bit of a rough patch, but that doesn.t mean writer-director Shawn Lawrence Otto is having much trouble securing her a co-star for Dreams of a Dying Heart. As reported by Deadline, there are two famous faces interested in the part, Matthew McConaughey and Josh Brolin. Swank is reuniting with her Boys Don.t Cry production company, Killer Films, to play Rachel Watson, a soldier who returns from Iraq after surviving a helicopter crash. The trauma of the incident is so sever that even when she.s home, she suffers from terrible visions that somehow force her to fight for her daughter.s life. That.s about it in terms of what we know about the plot right now, but back in May, Lawrence Otto told Screen Daily, .We.re going to use mind-blowing visuals to tell a unique story of women and combat...
- 7/23/2010
- cinemablend.com
Exclusive: He's considering starring opposite Hilary Swank in a project that reunites her with Boys Don’t Cry producer Killer Films. Production is expected to start in October. Intandem, the London-based sales agent is handling international sales. Swank will play a soldier who returns home after a tour of duty only to witness strange goings on. Shawn Lawrence Otto, who wrote the Oscar-nominated House of Sand And Fog, is directing from his own script. Swank won her first Oscar for Boys Don’t Cry. Deadline reported last month that McConaughey is developing comedy series Kick Ass Militia for FX.
- 7/23/2010
- by TIM ADLER
- Deadline London
Tribeca/Sloan nod to 'Hubble,' 'Love'
Shawn Lawrence Otto and Penny Penniston are the winning screenwriters in the Tribeca/Sloan Screenplay Development Program, launched in early 2002 by the Tribeca Film Institute to develop scripts with scientific and technological themes and/or characters. The screenplays, Otto's Hubble and Penniston's Love Is Brilliant, were selected by a committee composed of film development and science professionals. Each writer will be provided with financial support and be mentored by established screenwriters and scientists.
- 2/17/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
House of Sand and Fog
Screened
Sunday, Nov. 9, AFI Fest, Los Angeles
Real estate is in the eye of the beholder, as the contrast between two books-into-film this year illustrates.
In "Under the Tuscan Sun", a house bathed in golden light is the catalyst for renewal in "House of Sand and Fog", the mist-enshrouded property is no less a repository for dreams, but becomes its characters' undoing.
Helmer Vadim Perelman and co-scripter Shawn Lawrence Otto do a laudable job of distilling Andre Dubus III's powerful and desperately sad novel, emphasizing its noirish sensibility in charting the doomed collision course of two wounded souls, captured in deeply felt performances by Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley.
As the plot unfolds, however, Perelman, a commercials director making his feature debut, loses his grasp of story elements. The carefully laid foundation of suspense and dread, with its symmetries and crisp dialogue, is squandered in a clumsy pileup of credulity-stretching cataclysmic events. The shift in tone to messy emotionalism distances the audience rather than drawing it deeper into the events.
The story brings together, in a battle as if for life itself, two characters unable to accept their present circumstances. The setup abounds in classic noir elements -- the beautiful, damaged woman, the loose-cannon cop, the California motor court (complete with vintage cigarette machine) and secluded cabin.
In the early going, sympathy tilts toward Behrani (Kingsley), whose back story is clearer than that of the woman who becomes his nemesis. They're both keeping secrets from their families, pretending to be something they're not. An Iranian colonel reduced to menial labor and convenience-store shifts since fleeing his country's Islamic revolution, Behrani hides the truth from his wife (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and son (Jonathan Ahdout), pretending to set off each day for a white-collar job. When he sees an auction listing for a house, he believes he's found the way to restore his family's financial footing: He'll invest the dwindling remains of his savings in the cut-rate property and sell it at a profit.
His simple plan is quickly complicated. The bungalow, perched on a cliff overlooking the sea, is in a state of neglect much the way its owner's life is. Kathy Nicolo (Connelly), a recovering addict who's barely bothered to open her mail in the eight months since her husband left her, is torn out of inertia when the sheriff arrives to evict her for nonpayment of taxes. The county has erred, but before Kathy's steely attorney (Frances Fisher) can mount a suit, the Behranis have taken residence and are adding a widow's walk from which they can enjoy the view.
Kathy is desperate to get back the house her father left her, particularly because her mother, who believes she's still happily married, will soon be visiting. She gets eager assistance from deputy sheriff Lester (Ron Eldard), a man she realizes too late is determined to do the right thing in all the wrong ways. In Kathy he finds a reason to leave his passionless marriage. "Things are finally in motion", he tells her, expressing his renewed hope but really sounding a dire warning. The newly homeless lovers move into a friend's cabin, and the foreboding accelerates as Kathy ends three years of sobriety and Lester takes matters into his own hands.
Connelly delivers a full-blooded turn as a woman for whom the inherited house is her sole anchor to the world. Kingsley's nuanced work conveys the wounded pride and decency of an Old World patriarch. He's able to speak volumes in an anxious glance, making all the more unnecessary and overdone the late scenes in which Behrani repeatedly verbalizes his anguish.
The film, which world-premiered Sunday night as a Centerpiece Gala as part of the AFI Fest, is due out Dec. 26.
HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
DreamWorks Pictures
in association with Cobalt Media Group/Michael London
Credits: Director: Vadim Perelman
Writers: Vadim Perelman, Shawn Lawrence Otto
Producers: Michael London, Vadim Perelman
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Maia Javan
Music: James Horner
Co-producers: Jeremiah Samuels, Shawn Lawrence Otto
Costume designer: Hala Bahmet
Editor: Lisa Zeno Churgin
Cast:
Kathy: Jennifer Connelly
Behrani: Ben Kingsley
Lester: Ron Eldard
Connie Walsh: Frances Fisher
Carol: Kim Dickens
Nadi: Shohreh Aghdashloo
Esmail: Jonathan Ahdout
Soraya: Navi Rawat
Lt. Alvarez: Carlos Gomez
Running time -- 126 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Sunday, Nov. 9, AFI Fest, Los Angeles
Real estate is in the eye of the beholder, as the contrast between two books-into-film this year illustrates.
In "Under the Tuscan Sun", a house bathed in golden light is the catalyst for renewal in "House of Sand and Fog", the mist-enshrouded property is no less a repository for dreams, but becomes its characters' undoing.
Helmer Vadim Perelman and co-scripter Shawn Lawrence Otto do a laudable job of distilling Andre Dubus III's powerful and desperately sad novel, emphasizing its noirish sensibility in charting the doomed collision course of two wounded souls, captured in deeply felt performances by Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley.
As the plot unfolds, however, Perelman, a commercials director making his feature debut, loses his grasp of story elements. The carefully laid foundation of suspense and dread, with its symmetries and crisp dialogue, is squandered in a clumsy pileup of credulity-stretching cataclysmic events. The shift in tone to messy emotionalism distances the audience rather than drawing it deeper into the events.
The story brings together, in a battle as if for life itself, two characters unable to accept their present circumstances. The setup abounds in classic noir elements -- the beautiful, damaged woman, the loose-cannon cop, the California motor court (complete with vintage cigarette machine) and secluded cabin.
In the early going, sympathy tilts toward Behrani (Kingsley), whose back story is clearer than that of the woman who becomes his nemesis. They're both keeping secrets from their families, pretending to be something they're not. An Iranian colonel reduced to menial labor and convenience-store shifts since fleeing his country's Islamic revolution, Behrani hides the truth from his wife (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and son (Jonathan Ahdout), pretending to set off each day for a white-collar job. When he sees an auction listing for a house, he believes he's found the way to restore his family's financial footing: He'll invest the dwindling remains of his savings in the cut-rate property and sell it at a profit.
His simple plan is quickly complicated. The bungalow, perched on a cliff overlooking the sea, is in a state of neglect much the way its owner's life is. Kathy Nicolo (Connelly), a recovering addict who's barely bothered to open her mail in the eight months since her husband left her, is torn out of inertia when the sheriff arrives to evict her for nonpayment of taxes. The county has erred, but before Kathy's steely attorney (Frances Fisher) can mount a suit, the Behranis have taken residence and are adding a widow's walk from which they can enjoy the view.
Kathy is desperate to get back the house her father left her, particularly because her mother, who believes she's still happily married, will soon be visiting. She gets eager assistance from deputy sheriff Lester (Ron Eldard), a man she realizes too late is determined to do the right thing in all the wrong ways. In Kathy he finds a reason to leave his passionless marriage. "Things are finally in motion", he tells her, expressing his renewed hope but really sounding a dire warning. The newly homeless lovers move into a friend's cabin, and the foreboding accelerates as Kathy ends three years of sobriety and Lester takes matters into his own hands.
Connelly delivers a full-blooded turn as a woman for whom the inherited house is her sole anchor to the world. Kingsley's nuanced work conveys the wounded pride and decency of an Old World patriarch. He's able to speak volumes in an anxious glance, making all the more unnecessary and overdone the late scenes in which Behrani repeatedly verbalizes his anguish.
The film, which world-premiered Sunday night as a Centerpiece Gala as part of the AFI Fest, is due out Dec. 26.
HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
DreamWorks Pictures
in association with Cobalt Media Group/Michael London
Credits: Director: Vadim Perelman
Writers: Vadim Perelman, Shawn Lawrence Otto
Producers: Michael London, Vadim Perelman
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Maia Javan
Music: James Horner
Co-producers: Jeremiah Samuels, Shawn Lawrence Otto
Costume designer: Hala Bahmet
Editor: Lisa Zeno Churgin
Cast:
Kathy: Jennifer Connelly
Behrani: Ben Kingsley
Lester: Ron Eldard
Connie Walsh: Frances Fisher
Carol: Kim Dickens
Nadi: Shohreh Aghdashloo
Esmail: Jonathan Ahdout
Soraya: Navi Rawat
Lt. Alvarez: Carlos Gomez
Running time -- 126 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 1/30/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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