Thursday, March 28, 2024

HBO Gets Toback-Baldwin Film About Cannes Festival

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I told you all about James Toback‘s “Seduced and Abandoned” last week. I actually saw the film in the HBO screening room and knew they were buying it, but now it’s official: HBO will be the U.S. home to what is really a very cool document about Cannes and filmmaking in general. It’s also historically important because “S&A” has interviews with people we don’t get to see often, like Bertolucci and Polanski. The film is also very funny, and very personal.

Now that I’ve just arrived in Cannes, and “S&A” will be shown here next week, I’m thinking how much the audience here is going to enjoy it. By the way, I did tell you that Alec Baldwin takes it on the chin in this film, as film financiers express reluctance to spend money a movie that he’s set to top line. One of them calls him “a TV actor.” Turns out Baldwin didn’t even know that was in the film until he saw the final cut. Kudos to him for not taking it personally.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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