Hey folks, Harry here... for all you people that think I have a problem namedropping... Ol Anton here... wooooooiiieeeee, can this boy namedrop like an Agent.... And from his hunting list... he's going to be hunting quite a few rabbits this year... Let's see how lucky he gets... Read on...
Fest Preview 2 – Return of the Stargawker
Name drop, bop bop doo bop, biddly-bop bop ooo bop…
Big stargawking news at the fest has to be the Godfather near-reunion. Pacino, Deniro and Duvall are all in town within about a day of each other. Whee! Maybe somebody can get hold of Jimmy Caan too and tell him to come up in support of the Yards. Then the party can REALLY begin. Beyond the big three though, the A-list is conspicuously absent this year. Gwynnie Paltrow, Richard Gere, Alec Baldwin, Michael Keaton, Minnie Driver, Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, Ken Branagh, Robin Wright-Penn (but no Sean), Cuba, Sarah Jessica, maybe Gillian… I mean, fine folk all, but it’s not like previous years when you couldn’t walk down the street without tripping over someone with a recent $100 million hit. (Oh wait, I forgot, this year’s sucked so far. There ARE no recent $100 million hits.)
This does, however, leave plenty of room for geek gods and goddesses made flesh. Kevin Smith, Carrie Ann Moss, Joe Pantoliano (in the same movie together for I think the 3rd time. Are they an item or something?), Darren Aranofsky, Tom and Franke, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee (hey, Chasing Amy reunion!), Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro (and Sam Elliott too- Lebowski reunion!), major Saturday Night Live/SCTV redux with Chris Guest, Michael McKean, Dan Ackroyd, Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy, Jennifer Tilly, Laura Dern, Patrick Warburton (it is my mission this year to get him to say ‘Spoon!’ to me), Suzie Porter (OK, I slipped that one in- she’s got a bit part in Star Wars II)…
Representing the DGA upper crust is Cam Crowe, Ang Lee, Robert Altman and Kathryn Bigalow. Stephen Frears of course too, him being retrospected and all. Oh yeah, and that Joel guy who should never be allowed near a comic book movie again.
International contingent is led by MAGGIE! (I hope that came across as the full-throated, Ewen Bremner-from-Naked shout that it was.) Maggie Cheung, heir to Audrey Hepburn’s tiara, in the same city as me once again. Will we finally meet, or will this ridiculous game of global hide and seek continue for another round? Plus Wong kar-wai, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling, Victoria Abril, Agnes Varda, Tony Leung, Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Ian Hart, and a bit of a surprise guest, Roddy Doyle.
Belle of the Ball handicapping:
Catherine McCormack 1-5 (she’s here with about 86 films or so)
Kate Hudson 3-1
Jessica Pare 4-1 (the Milla-ish star of Arcand’s Stardom)
Asia Argento 7-1
Parker Posey 25-1
Molly Parker 25-1
Deborah Cox 50-1
Gretchen Mol 50-1
Samantha Mathis 50-1
That annoying Pepsi girl 1,000,000-1
Speaking of belles, time for my annual pre-fest ‘trashiest movie Hollywood has in theaters right now.’ And this year that’s Bring It On. Mmmm, Eliza Dushku…. If you ask nicely I’ll throw in my review of it for free. But you have to ask nicely.
Here’s a quick list of the folks I’m going to try and interview. No promises, but if you have questions for any of these people e-mail ‘em to me and I’ll see what I can do:
Kevin Smith; Darren Aranofsky; Joe Pantoliano; Ellen Burstyn; Asia Argento; E. Elias Merhige (director of Shadow of the Vampire); Tom Tykwer; Franke Potente; Maggie Cheung (As if!); Adam Simon (director of American Nightmare and a nifty little film from a few years ago Brain Dead); Kiyoshi Kurosawa; Jonathan Teplitzky (director of Better Than Sex); Guy Maddin…
Be seeing you!
Anton Sirius
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