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New York Film Academy Alumni Work the Crowd at Cannes

Alumni, Kayvan Mashayekh, Vera Mulyani and Sean Walsh were spotted at the Cannes Film Festival this past week promoting their current and future films and projects they are producing.

Michael Young, Provost and Education Director of the New York Film Academy arrived at Cannes as a representative of the film school. Recalling his experience at the festival he said, "As I was getting my festival accreditation (which is ridiculously involved process at Cannes); I heard my name called out by another festival guest who turned out to be Kayvan Mashayekh, a graduate of the Film Academy. It was not such a surprise to see Kayvan, because I knew that he had a few feature films under his belt since his NYFA days, and I had seen him win a development grant at a pitch contest last year at the Middle East International Film Festival. No sooner had I shaken Kayvan's hand, another former Academy student, Sean Walsh, recognized me and happily recounted journey as a filmmaker since completing our program. He now lives in Brazil and started a production company and was doing business at the Cannes Film Market. It struck me that New York Film Academy students now constitute an international network. At almost any major film event, festival, market, or film studio, you will meet graduates of the NYFA. Later that day, a recent 8-week filmmaking workshop student handed me a flyer for her short film which was screening in the "Short Film Corner" at Cannes.”


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Downey Jr. to Star as Playboy Hefner?

Robert Downey, Jr. has been tipped to play legendary porn mogul Hugh Hefner in a big-screen biopic - after reportedly impressing the Playboy entrepreneur with his lead role in Iron Man. Veteran lothario Hefner was so pleased with the former hellraiser's portrayal of wealthy playboy Tony Stark in this year's comic blockbuster, he is desperate to sign him up for the role. According to Illinois newspaper the Chicago Sun-Times, Hefner wants Downey Jr. to start shooting the movie - entitled Playboy - next summer . And the Golden Globe-winner is said to be keen to take on the role of Hefner - as long as the script is right. Apollo 13 filmmaker Brian Grazer has already been signed up as the film's producer, according to the publication.   

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IFC takes 'Fermat's Room'

IFC has picked up all North American rights to “La habitacion de Fermat” (Fermat’s Room) after its screening this week in the Tribeca Festival Discovery Section.

The directorial debut from Spain’s Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopena is a shrinking-room thriller that has four mathematicians forced to solve number-crunching problems to save their lives. Pic’s cast includes Argentina’s Federico Luppi.

The Spanish-language pic will be released this summer on IFC’s Festival Direct VOD platform, which cherry-picks fest titles.   

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Universal to co-fund Almodovar film

Universal Pictures will co-finance Pedro Almodovar's "Los abrazos rotos" (Broken Embraces), with Focus Features Intl. handling foreign sales.

The film, starring Penelope Cruz, starts shooting May 26 in Madrid and the Canary Islands.

Focus will handle sales in all foreign territories except Spain, where Almodovar's own production outfit El Deseo retains the rights, and those countries where Almodovar traditionally partners with Pathe -- France, the U.K., Benelux and Switzerland.

There is no U.S. distribution deal yet for the movie.

The deal between El Deseo, Universal and Focus continues a long-standing link that dates back to days when Focus was an independent known as Good Machine, jointly run by David Linde, now U's co-chairman, Focus president James Schamus and Ted Hope.

The "Abrazos rotos" pact is also expected to begin an expanded relationship, involving collaboration between U's new Intl. Studio and El Deseo on other projects yet to be announced.

Focus Intl. previously was sales agent for Almodovar's "Volver," "Bad Education" and "Talk to Her," as well as other El Deseo titles, including "The Secret Life of Words" and "My Life Without Me."   

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Gandolfini, Coogan join 'Loop'

LONDON — James Gandolfini, Steve Coogan and Tom Hollander have joined the cast of Brit satirist Armando Iannucci’s feature directorial debut “In the Loop.”

Pic, which also stars Chris Addison, Peter Capaldi and Gina McKee, is a black comedy about the attempts by a U.S. general, played by Gandolfini, and British politico, played by Hollander, to stop the U.S. president and British prime minister from launching an ill-advised war.

BBC Films, the U.K. Film Council and Aramid Entertainment are producing with sales outfit Protagonist Pictures, the joint venture launched by Film4, Vertigo Films and financier Ingenious Media earlier this year, handling worldwide sales.

Brit distrib Optimum Releasing has already snapped the U.K. theatrical rights.

Principal photography began Thursday. Lensing will take place on location in London, Washington D.C. and New York.    

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See Iron Man Again

Last weekend Iron Man dazzled moviegoers and smashed expectations, raking in uber-respectable numbers at the box office. Looking at this weekend's slated film releases, it seems as though the studios are resigned to let the superhero vehicle rake in another $40-65 million and leave all other comers in the dust yet again. Only two new films start in wide release this weekend and only one of them seems the least bit interesting and it doesn't star Ashton Kutcher.

The Wachowski Brothers famous for their success with the Matrix try their hand at an adaptation of cartoon favorite, Speed Racer. The film looks quite intriguing if just for it's two lead actors Emile Hirsch and Christina Ricci. Along with the acting chops present, the trailer makes the film out to be quite the unique visual feast. Despite these winning elements, I'm still not fully sold on the punch this one is packing. There's something that always rubs me the wrong way about live action adaptations.

As for the other film opening in wide release, Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz star in the run of the mill romantic comedy, What Happens In Vegas. I have a few questions here: "Who comes up with this crap?” "Why should any of us care?" and "Does Demi get script approval before she lets her son star in movies?" Furthermore, I can remember a day when Cameron Diaz was a reputable film actress, well except for The Sweetest Thing and those atrocious Charlie's Angels movies. This is a role better left for an actress looking to get her big break in a bad movie. The trailer alone makes me want this film to finish with negative dollars at the box office thanks to its omnipresence on TV and that horrible "Richard Banger" joke. In other words, even if you've already seen Iron Man, go see it again.   

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Iron Man Lives Up To The Hype

After a huge weekend at the box office it seems that film fans have Iron-Mania. Grossing nearly $200 million at the worldwide box office, Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of this comic book hero surprised nearly everyone with his take.

While I had originally vowed not to get caught up in the hype of another one of what seems like a constant string of superhero films, I bit the bullet and took to the multiplex this Monday to see if Iron Man was worth the hype. My usual apprehension towards big budget studio films seemed to quickly melt away in the early moments of the film.

Downey's portrayal of cocky jetsetting billionaire Tony Stark was never dull thanks to his whip smart delivery. Combined with Jon Favreau's direction, the film really seemed to do a great job of focusing on Stark's character flaws without making it seem too heavy handed. The transition into his Iron Man persona also seemed so natural thanks to Downey's tremendous ability.
   

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Stoners vs. Sketch-ers

This weekend at the box office was a true battle of the comedic, uh, wits with the stoners facing off versus the Sketch-ers. While this writer predicted that the former would come out en masse to take Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay to the top of the box office charts it simply wasn't to be.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take into account that most of the film's audience probably had Harold and Kumar Goes To White Castle on DVD and a bong on their coffee table. They could simply sit on their couch and think about the munchies with their finger calmly hovering above the button that would speed dial Dominos, which is imminently more filling than buttered popcorn.   

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Marvel unveils super schedule

After a boffo bow for its first pic, "Iron Man," Marvel Studios has skedded a series of superhero follow-ups through 2011.

First up from the film division of the Marvel comicbook giant is an "Iron Man" sequel aimed to bow on April 30, 2010, planting the flag again on the start of the summer movie sesh.

Also for that year, Marvel plans to bow "Thor" on June 4, based on the Norse god who wields a giant hammer. Matthew Vaughn is set to helm.

In 2011, company will unspool "The First Avenger: Captain America" on May 6; and "The Avengers," which will team up the Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Thor characters, in July. Zak Penn is writing the latter.

Paramount will distrib all the pics, as part of its pact with Marvel.

Studios have yet to set a major tentpole on any of those dates, so the superhero pics face little if any competition so far.   

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Cinematical Seven: Awesome Ideas for New 'Iron Man' Characters!

The critics loved it, the audiences seem to dig it even more, and the sequel has officially claimed a 2010 release date already: This weekend we're all about the Iron Man. (I was gonna say "This weekend we're all about the iron, man," but it was way too corny.) So while we've already been promised the arrivals of characters called War Machine, Mandarin, and Nick Fury, I hope that the fine folks at Marvel Entertainment will consider tossing a few of these guys into the mix:

Alloy Boy -- Desperate to become Iron Man's first sidekick, young Alfred Loye decides to build himself a suit made of several disparate components. A big fan of TV dinners and collectible unicorns, Alfred fuses tin with pewter and creates an outfit that proves to be as effective as a suit made of tissue paper and smoke. His demise at Bessemer mansion inspires Tony Stark to avoid future sidekicks.

Irony Man -- Although he and Tony Stark shared similar talents for pith and witty banter, Irony Man proved to be an undeniably difficult ally to deal with. The two heroes had a massive falling out after, in a fit of rare sincerity, Irony Man referred to Stark's newest suit as "quite nice, actually." Irony Man was killed by Lord Caustic of Sardonica. His remains are buried in Sarr Chasm.   

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