Showing posts tagged “Colin Firth”
David Fellerath ·
3 Dec 2009, 9:28 AM ·
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UPDATE 12/4/09: Still no news of Main Street. Sundance announces out-of-competition premieres. Main Street not included. We’ll have to wait for a different occasion for this film’s emergence.
In the category of “the news is that there’s no news….”
We looked up the Sundance competition lineup, which was announced yesterday, with the eager hope of seeing MAIN STREET, the Horton Foote-scripted drama that was filmed last summer in Durham. There are some good looking films in the competition, but no Main Street. We don’t know if it was submitted to Sundance or not, but it would be unusual for a film of this profile—with a literary pedigree, a respected, well-known cast, a modest budget and no distributor—to not be entered into Sundance.
Main Street, which stars Colin Firth, Orlando Bloom, Patricia Clarkson and Ellen Burstyn, was put out for inspection at last month’s American Film Market—with a poster included—but we’re not aware of anyone who’s seen the film writing about it.
This year’s Sundance is under the leadership of John Cooper, after 19 years of stewardship by Geoff Gilmore. Cooper told The New York Times that he, naturally, wanted to put his own stamp on the festival.
“We really tried to hunker down and make some hard decisions,” Mr. Cooper said. “We tried not to be wishy-washy about what is independent, which I know has been a criticism in the past. We weren’t going to be swayed by the marketability of a film.”
This seems to mean that he wants the festival’s programming to be about the quality of the filmmaking, not the Q-rating of the casts (we’ll see what the sponsors say about that!).
On the documentary side (which is where the best films ALWAYS are), we see new work by filmmakers who’ve been fixtures at Full Frame and elsewhere in the doc world these last few years, including Laura Poitras (Flag Wars, My Country My Country and now THE OATH; Annie Sundberg & Ricki Stern (The Trials of Darryl Hunt, The Devil Came on Horseback and now JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK); Amir Bar-Lev (New Orleans Furlough, My Kid Could Paint That and now I’M PAT _______ TILLMAN); Jeffrey Blitz (Spellbound and now LUCKY) and Davis Guggenheim (The First Year, It Might Get Loud, An Inconvenient Truth and now WAITING FOR SUPERMAN).
Let’s hope Full Frame can land most or all of these films next April.
And let’s hope to see MAIN STREET emerge somewhere. All is not lost for Sundance, by the way: The festival has yet to announce its out-of-competition special premieres. These films tend to star-driven titles that already have distributors.
Film, Full Frame Amir Bar-Lev, Annie Sundberg, Colin Firth, Davis Guggenheim, documentaries, Ellen Burstyn, Full Frame, Horton Foote, Jeffrey Blitz, Laura Poitras, Main Street, Orlando Bloom, Patricia Clarkson, Ricki Stern, Sundance
David Fellerath ·
23 Nov 2009, 10:08 PM ·
1 Comment
Remember all those Colin Firth and Orlando Bloom sightings last summer? Well, the movie they were shooting, Main Street, just made a stop at one of the stations of the indie-film cross by being screened at the American Film Market earlier this month. The AFM is an international film bazaar in which hopeful producers show off their finished (or unfinished) films; this year, more than 8,000 buyers from around the world viewed approximately 500 films. Most films at AFM will never see the light of day, but others could become the next Paranormal Activity or Clerks or — well, it’s hard to put a finger on what niche Main Street would occupy. Lil’ Abner meets The Trip to Bountiful?
It’s safe to assume that Main Street won’t be the next Reservoir Dogs or Sex, Lies and Videotape…, but as potentially the last new film made from a Horton Foote screenplay, it will definitely merit attention from film festival programmers. And if it’s good, well then it could end up in theaters.
The big announcement to wait for is from Park City, home of the Sundance Film Festival. If Sundance holds to its past form, we should know the first week of December if Main Street will play the festival (it’s entirely possible, if unlikely, that the film’s producers didn’t submit it for consideration). In fact, given the cast and the late screenwriter, who recently was the subject of a New Yorker appreciation as well as a biography by Wilborn Hampton, one would have to think that this film would have an edge on the thousands of films with minimal budgets and no-name actors that are submitted every year.
If Main Street turns up in Park City, that would give Durhamites a lot to be excited about in late January. If it doesn’t play Sundance, it could mean a number of things besides “the film wasn’t good and it was rejected,” although it could mean that, too. We’ll just have to see.
We found this poster on the Internets. It’s not, to be charitable, the most original design. In fact, some people might call it cheesy. However, it’s worth remembering the particular function of a poster used at AFM, as this evidently was. The important thing is to let potential buyers know who’s in your film and a rough idea of the genre (Driving Miss Daisy meets Pride and Prejudice meets The Lord of the Rings meets Baby the Rain Must Fall?). Click the link to see an alternate poster being used on the Web site of Myriad Pictures, the film’s producer.
Film American Film Market, Colin Firth, Horton Foote, Main Street, Orlando Bloom
David Fellerath ·
1 May 2009, 12:04 PM ·
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Photo by Jeremy M. Lange
A police car dropped Colin Firth off at his hotel last night … over and over again.
Downtown Durham was transformed into a rainy, film-noirish set during filming for Main Street. Indy culture editor David Fellerath and photographer Jeremy M. Lange were there, at the corner of Corcoran and Main.
Keep an eye out for a forthcoming story … in the meanwhile, here’s some pics. Click ‘em for larger images.
Photo by Jeremy M. Lange
Photo by Jeremy M. Lange
Film Colin Firth
Matt Saldaña ·
4 Apr 2009, 10:51 PM ·
3 Comments
Intrepid Indy culture editor/Full Frame blogger/celebrity spotter David Fellerath reports that Orlando Bloom, Colin Firth and Patricia Clarkson are enjoying a few drinks together at the Durham Marriott. The three actors will star in the film project known as Main Street, which is set to begin production in Durham after the festival.
We’ve got the tweet.
Film, Full Frame Colin Firth, Orlando Bloom, Patrician Clarkson
David Fellerath ·
4 Apr 2009, 10:00 AM ·
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William Gates in HOOP DREAMS, directed by Steve James. A Fine Line Features release.
It’s another beautiful day in Durham. Flowers bloom, birds sing, and the Full Frame doc fest hits the home stretch.
Last night we went to bed with visions of Zidane in ZIDANE still burned into the retinas, and the Africanist polyrhythms of Youssou N’Dour in I BRING WHAT I LOVE ringing in the ears.
Today, however, begins and ends with basketball: At 10 a.m. there’s a free community screening of Steve James’ and Peter Gilbert’s indelible HOOP DREAMS. See our interview with James here.
And tonight at 8:47 p.m., local doc fans will have a dilemma: Movies or the Final Four semifinal between UNC-Chapel Hill and Villanova. I’ll opt for the former. There are just too many good movies to pass up.
In between the basketball today, the movie highlights include Indy pick hits THE COVE, BURMA VJ: REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY and REPORTER. Also, two of our writers saw Eva Weber’s short, STEEL HOMES, and recommend it highly (it precedes OBJECTIFIED). Click here for the Indy’s review capsules.
Elsewhere, the late St. Clair Bourne is remembered with a screening of IN MOTION: AMIRI BARAKA. Another big event is THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE; tickets are scarce for this look at the production of Vogue’s biggest issue, the multi-pound titular doorstop).
There’s also MIROIR NOIR, the Arcade Fire doc, late tonight. Today’s schedule is here.
For all the movies, I confess that, if I have an opportunity late this evening, I might wander past the television in the Marriott Hotel bar—and not because we saw Colin Firth and Patricia Clarkson having a drink there last night.
Film, Full Frame Arcade Fire, Colin Firth, Hoop Dreams, Patricia Clarkson, Peter Gilbert, Steve James
Lisa Sorg ·
30 Mar 2009, 5:17 PM ·
2 Comments
A dozen locations around Durham, including the Dog House restaurant, have been staked out for the production of Main Street, a film starring Orlando Bloom, Andrew McCarthy, Ellen Burstyn, Patricia Clarkson and Colin Firth, according to the Durham News Service.
See the map of the locations, which include downtown, the NCCU area and west and east Durham, here: mainst_filming_locations_map
Shooting begins Monday, April 6, at 206 N. Dillard St., which is at the corner of Liberty and Dillard. Shooting then moves to 400 N. Duke St. April 15-18.
The tentative schedule for the rest of five-week shoot is as follows:
505 W. Chapel Hill St. and 1004 Linwood Ave., April 21
200 E. Main, April 22
215 N. Church and 414 Cleveland St., April 23-24
1801 Fayetteville Road, April 25
713 Linwood Ave, May 2
123 W. Main, May 4
3521 Hillsborough Road (the Dog House restaurant), May 5
Highway 147 and Roxboro Road, May 6
Film Andrew McCarthy, Colin Firth, Dog House, Ellen Burstyn, Main Street film, Orlando Bloom, Patricia Clarkson
David Fellerath ·
19 Mar 2009, 5:14 PM ·
2 Comments
The long-rumored, long-gestating film known as Main Street is inching its way to realization.
Reliant Pictures, the Thom Mount-helmed company that is producing, has a production office at the old Duke Diet and Fitness Center at the corner of Trinity and Duke Streets, according to production manager David Linck.
Filming is now set to begin between March 30 and April 6, Linck says.
Last month, we reported that a New York casting agency had conducted a week of auditions for smaller speaking roles. Linck doesn’t close the door on additional casting, saying in an email, “Although no further cast and extras auditions are scheduled at this time, there may be more in the future as need dictates.”
Linck was unable to confirm the identities of the lead actors, despite reports of the involvement of Colin Firth, Patricia Clarkson and Ellen Burstyn. “Cast names are not set and not confirmed,” Linck says.
Reyn Bowman of the Durham County Visitor’s Bureau (DCVB) confirmed that his office has been assisting the advance team with locations and permits.
The script of Main Street was written by playwright and two-time Oscar winner Horton Foote, who died earlier this month at the age of 92.
Film Colin Firth, David Linck, Ellen Burstyn, Horton Foote, Main Street, Patricia Clarkson, Thom Mount
