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Nicole Kidman’s “Rabbit Hole” to Lions Gate

Roger Friedman
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Nicole Kidman’s “Rabbit Hole” to Lions Gate

Yes, I told you yesterday that Nicole Kidman‘s “Rabbit Hole” was going to Lions Gate. Norton Herrick is helping with the financing. “Rabbit Hole” will go right into Oscar contention. Nicole is a shoo in for Best Actress.

Alas, that blog I call “Deadline Yesterday” is reporting it today with the word Exclusive. Hello? Read much? I love seeing them take up our material. Dear Jay Penske: cut out the middle man, just pay us directly. We’ll give you a good price.

Here’s something you might want know about Norton Herrick, Mr. Penske: he wrote the check for “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark.” Like over $30 million. Herrick is the reason the show is up and running and heading for its November 14 preview.

So much bad reporting from Toronto, so much on these “exclusive” blogs taken from other places or press releases. Another one: the new Pedro Almodovar movie going to Sony Pictures Classics. Yes, that was always the case.

Here’s something else I read somewhere: “Can “The Town” Help Ben Affleck‘s Rocky Career?” This is really funny. I’d like to have Ben Affleck’s rocky career! An Oscar for writing “Good Will Hunting.” Mucho kudos for directing “Gone Baby Gone.” Now he’s directed “The Town” to great reviews and lots of praise with today’s hottest star, Jon Hamm. Hello? Am I missing something here?

The funniest thing about the blogs is the Oscar prognostication. Many of these little read diaries are devoted year round just to this minute subject. And the funny thing is, they are almost all wrong. After months and months of verbal diarrhea on this sole subject, the big night comes, and –whoops!–it’s all been for naught. Very amusing.

Just so we’re clear here, Deadline Yesterday, we also reported this week on the unknown existence of a new Kevin Kline-Larry Kasdan movie called “Darling Companion,” which starts shooting in Utah soon. “Beginners” will likely also go to SPC.  More to come, Mr. P…

Ryan Phillippe Finally Gets His Big Movie

Roger Friedman
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Ryan Phillippe Finally Gets His Big Movie

Ryan Phillippe hasn’t had it easy. During his marriage to Reese Witherspoon he was really overshadowed. It was tough. His friends knew he could make it. It just takes time.

Last night in Toronto, Ryan debuted in “The Bang Bang Club,” Steven Silver‘s exhilarating saga of a group of real life photojournalists who covered the end of apartheid in South Africa. Phillippe plays Greg Marinovich, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his daring work. Malin Akerman–in her second terrific performance this year–is his newspaper editor and lover.

Phillippe has tried to break into the “serious movie” market for a while. He was great in Kimberly Peirce‘s “Stop/Loss,” but the subject was too raw for audiences. (Rent it.)

With “The Bang Bang Club,” Ryan jumps into the top tier in his age group. It’s very very good work.

The premiere was met with “real” thunderous applause and a standing ovation at Roy Thomson Hall. Afterward, Ryan told me he’d spent seven months in South Africa working on the film. They shot in some dangerous neighborhoods of Johannesburg. “There were plenty of death threats,” he said. “But we just went in there.”

Next up for the still young actor are “The Lincoln Lawyer,” with Matthew McConnaughey; and an indie film he’ll start shooting in New York soon. “I play the villain this time,” he said with a grin.

Springsteen’s Big Night in Toronto Has Lots of “Promise”

Roger Friedman
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Springsteen’s Big Night in Toronto Has Lots of “Promise”

Bruce Springsteen is a rock star. And he got the rock star treatment last night at the Toronto Film Festival for a DVD release-non fiction film called “The Promise” about the making of his 1978 album “Darkness on the Edge of Town.”

Roy Thomson Hall added extra security I was told because they were so overwhelmed with photographers and autograph hounds. Everyone wanted a piece of Bruce.

Backstage tensions ran high. The Green Room, usually an open place where friends of the filmmakers pop in to wish good luck, was closed for the first time maybe ever. There was a lot of talking in headsets. A lot of grim faces. It was a total change from an hour before when Oscar winner Helen Mirren, director John Madden and friends came in to present their taut new thriller, “The Debt.”

In the end, Bruce, wife Patti, and managers didn’t really use the Green Room at all. Their very small entourage came and left quickly.

Before the 85 minute video played, Bruce took the stage, thanked the crowd, and joked about the night being an opportunity to win a Cadillac.

“The Promise” is a vanity production but proves to be more candid than you might think. It covers the period directly following the release of “Born to Run” in 1975, when Springsteen divorced original manager Mike Appel and brought in Rolling Stone writer Jon Landau as his manager. Major lawsuits followed, and Springsteen was unable to record for two years. The story of the break up and the lawsuit takes up a big section of the film, and it’s fascinating.

When he’s finally able to start making records again, Springsteen doesn’t want to make “Born to Run 2.” His plan, as he says, is to make history. Steve van Zandt notes that only eight or nine songs were written for “Born to Run” but 70 were completed for “Darkness.” Most of them didn’t make it. Two of them–the two best pop songs–“Because the Night” and “Fire”–were given to others–Patti Smith and the Pointer Sisters. There’s a nice moment with Smith where she explains how she got her “only hit.”

Some of the songs went to E Street satellite band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. There’s a great archival film of Springsteen and van Zandt performing a song that was given away, called “Talk to Me.” It’s one of the highlights of the many never before seen filmed pieces from that era.

Springsteen shows off his dozens of notebooks and explains his writing habits. There’s some clever insight into his writing process and how the band used to take bets on how long songs would be, or if they would make it onto the album. It’s the most self-effacing Springsteen has ever been.

Mostly what you get though is that he’s an artist. In 1978 he was coming to the end of the rock musician as artist, someone who crafted an album–not a single–because “it was the highest form of what could be done in rock”– I think Landau said that. These people were striving for something that would be important and would last. This concept must seem quaint to today’s prepackaged, fleeting, one hit wonder MTV/VMA stars.

Toronto Deals: Nicole Kidman, Ewan MacGregor

Roger Friedman
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Toronto Deals: Nicole Kidman, Ewan MacGregor

Deal news from the Toronto Film Festival: LionsGate is said to want “Rabbit Hole,” the very fine comedy-drama from John Cameron Mitchell. Nicole Kidman is sublime in the film, which could make the Oscar deadline if everything is worked out. I am told that New York entertainment financier Norton Herrick may put in the necessary funds to make this happen. Dianne Wiest would be up for her third Best Supporting nomination if this all goes to plan…

Sony Pictures Classics is circling Mike Mills’s “Beginners,” a quirky romantic comedy starring Ewan MacGregor as a man whose 75 year old father–played by Christopher Plummer–comes out of the closet right after his wife dies. Melanie Laurent plays MacGregor’s actress girlfriend. There’s also a remarkable dog named Cosmo, who plays Arthur the dog, who steals the movie. Mills directed the lovable indie “Thumbsucker” a couple of years ago. There aren’t enough nice things to say about “Beginners.” It’s wonderful. SPC also distributed “Thumbsucker,” so a deal is likely. Plummer would be a shoo in for a Supporting Actor nomination. The poor man is 80 and should have an Oscar already! Luckily the Screen Actors Guild is honoring him this year. But still. This is ridiculous…

“The Whistleblower” remains the outstanding thriller of Toronto. In the old days, a movie like this would have come from a studio and been a big, big hit. Certainly, Laryssa Kondacki’s film deserves a wide audience. I am told that everyone who’s seen it wants to wait for a 2011 release because there are so many lead actresses in films for the Oscars this year. But “The Whistleblower” is too timely to wait. Audiences must see and hear this story. And Rachel Weisz is strong enough to compete with Annette Bening, Helena Bonham Carter, Nicole Kidman, Michelle Williams, and whoever else is out there…

Rachel Weisz Thriller So Intense One Woman At Premiere Faints

Roger Friedman
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Rachel Weisz Thriller So Intense One Woman At Premiere Faints

By the time I finished watching Rachel Weisz in her new thriller, “The Whistleblower,” I wanted all my money back from those UNICEF cartons.

This exciting film debuted at Toronto on Monday afternoon and I mean, it really got wild cheers and people going crazy at the end to meet Weisz, the filmmaker, and the woman upon whose experiences the film was based.

Larysa Kondracki has made a film certainly inspired by and as good as “Silkwood,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Norma Rae” or “Klute.”

Weisz–in a non-stop, gripping performance– plays Kathy Bolkovac, a Nebraska cop who went to Bosnia as part of a peacekeeping team and wound up the head of the UN’s Gender Relations division there.

Bolkovac uncovered a massive human trafficking scandal involving the UN and a frightening real life company called DynCorp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DynCorp in Bosnia. When she went public she was threatened, fired, harrassed.

She lives in the Netherlands now, and has been essentially blacklisted from working in international positions.

The depiction of what DynCorp employees in Bosnia allegedly did to young women who’d been (again, allegedly) kidnapped or bought by them for sex was so intense that a woman at yesterday afternoon’s screening left the theater and immediately fainted out front.

The movie is that intense.

For Weisz, the screening seemed overwhelming, too. It was the first time she’d seen the movie, and experienced the incredible audience reaction.

Somehow, Rachel told me, she managed to put playing Kathy away at the end of the day and go home without nightmares. She and husband, director Darren Aronofsky, who has “Black Swan” here, have a child. They can’t bring Hollywood home.

Still, the whole Bolkovac saga is quite shocking. She told me at yesterday’s screening that the UN–yes, the United Nations–whom she worked for and represented–has never commented on what happened to her. So she’s written a book, also called “The Whistleblower,” that will be published in January.

If Bolkovac’s book is just a fraction of exciting as the movie, her story should be a big deal this winter.

Meantime, do read that Wikipedia entry on DynCorp. It will blow your mind.

 

Nicole Kidman: “Rabbit Hole” Is a Gem

Roger Friedman
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Nicole Kidman: “Rabbit Hole” Is a Gem

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban shut down a whole city block last night in Toronto in front of the Elgin Theater. The reason was the premiere of Kidman’s “Rabbit Hole,” a gem of an indie movie that should resonate with audiences and win Nicole even more fans.

Kidman is accessible, funny and human in “Rabbit Hole”–moreso than in ages. You can tell she enjoyed producing and starring in it, too. After the film, she, Keith and I talked for quite a while and caught up–our first chat since last February’s Grammy Awards.

They told me that two year old daughter Sunday Rose is walking and talking up a storm–‘Dancing, laughing. having a ball.” I don’t think we’re going to see Sunday Rose trotted out for constant p.r. either, the way Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have exploited their kid in the papers. (I’ve rarely seen a child invented for celebrity the Suri has been.)

Kidman is loving living in Nashville. It’s a good thing she’s a meat eater and not a vegetarian, I said to Keith, since there’s so much good BBQ. “I think she’d love it there anyway,” he said.

Urban is working on a new album of all new material. He’s licensed it to Capitol Records, but his deal his over. And he’s happy to be a free man in such a crazy record business.

Over at Parade.com this morning, my headline for this story was “Nicole Kidman To Die For Again.”

It’s true. Kidman is a delight in “Rabbit Hole.” It’s based on the Broadway play by David Lindsay Abaire. Cynthia Nixon won the Tony Award for playing Becca, the main character. It’s a rock solid play full of laughter and sadness that the playwright has opened up beautifully for a film.

But mostly it’s Nicole, who hasn’t played a “regular person” in a contemporary drama on screen in — I don’t know, did she ever? Maybe in “Margot at the Wedding,” a little seen indie. But here she is the Kidman from “To Die For,” and even with the atttiude from “Australia”–sardonic, sarcastic, wise, and sexy.

Director John Cameron Mitchell, who you might have thought would go campy, has played “Rabbit Hole” straight. He’s set up a terrific family dynamic with Nicole, Aaron Eckhart as her husband, Dianne Wiest as her mom, Tammy Blanchard as her sister, and Giancarlo Esposito as the sister’s boyfriend.

“I read the review of the play in the New York Times.” Nicole told me. “As soon as I saw the script, I knew I could do it.’ She was wide to get the playwright to write the screenplay. “I loved her sardonic sense of humor.”

So do I! A hit for Nicole. If the film can be released in time, we may be seeing her at the Oscars next winter.

Four Days Left for “World Turns”

Roger Friedman
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Four Days Left for “World Turns”

“As the World Turns,” a 54 year old institution on CBS, ends its run on Friday. So far CBS has inflamed fans of the show by interrupting its last week with the US Open tennis matches. Last night in some markets they rebroadcast Monday’s show at 1:37am instead of its 2pm slot. There’s no end to the disrespect.

With the end of “ATWT,” Procter and Gamble completes a long term plan of getting out of soaps. It started at least back in 1999 when they cancelled the 35 year old “Another World.” P&G did everything they could to ruin their shows by draining their budgets, mistreating the actors and ignoring the fans. It worked! Brush with Colgate, kids, not Crest.

Here in Toronto, two actresses who got their start on P&G soaps are doing great. Tammy Blanchard, from “Guiding Light,” is terrific as Nicole Kidman’s sister in “Rabbit Hole.” And Mary Page Keller, who was Sally Frame on “Another World” in the 1980s, makes a disarming appearance in Mike Mills’s wonderful “Beginners.”

These gals would never have had such good career launches without soaps particularly the New York ones where theater actors were always cherished. Now thanks to P&G (and ABC for moving “All My Children” west) there is just one show in New York–“One Life to Live.” The great New York training ground for actors is gone. PS No one did a thing, either, including the theatrical unions.

“ATWT” features a lot of great actors who didn’t leave for other pastures, but stayed and resonated becausde they were good–not because they had no place to go. I just wish over the years they’d gotten publcists and sought out some attention. It might have helped. Really, in soaps, only Susan Lucci ever got that idea. At “World,” for years, at least in New York, only Eileen Fulton (who’s played Lisa since 1960) carried the ball.

Hopefully CBS will carry the show properly for the next and last four episodes. More to come…

James Franco’s Stunning Oscar Bid

Roger Friedman
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James Franco’s Stunning Oscar Bid

As you may know, James Franco is all around us. He’s circled us. Not content to let being the bad guy in “Spider Man” be his legacy, the 30 year old actor dug with a much praised role in “Milk” last year. Then he went to “General Hospital,” did art shows, finished a master’s in creative writing, and possibly learned to make paella (just kidding on the last one).

While you were sleeping, he made Danny Boyle’s extraordinary “127 Hours” which opened last at Toronto. Franco plays Aron Ralston, the Colorado climber and guide who went on an extreme hike in Utah’s canyons, was trapped under a rock, and had cut his own arm off to survive.

I think TIFF director Piers Handling was kidding last night when he said “127 Hours” is a one hander. (That means, a one actor movie.) There are other actors in the movie, but Franco as Ralston is pretty much the whole story. Boyle and cowriter Simon Beaufoy have cleverly created a cool and modern exhilarating video around him, but in the end they have to center on Franco/Ralston.

It helps a little that you know Ralston survived, got married, wrote a book. In person he’s a good looking, nice chap. At the Q&A after the screening he broke down in tears. His hand is now a hook, but otherwise he’s in good shape.

Still, Franco turns Ralston’s plight, and his plucky determination to survive, into its own adventure. The movie is good, good, good but Franco is great. “127 Hours” is really a fantastic Man vs. the Elements saga. Franco is up to the challenges. He has just the right mix of self deprecating humor and emotional heft to pull it off.

Franco’s a shoo in for all the different nominations this fall, not the least of which will be an Oscar nod. The question is, will he have time to do a little campaigning in between publishing a book of short stories, starring in a Planet of the Apes prequel, going to school, and oh yes–promoting “Howl.” I’m also told he’s about to sign for a new film with Catherine Keener.

Clint Eastwood Film: Death Has a French Connection

Roger Friedman
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Clint Eastwood Film: Death Has a French Connection

Hereafter, Clint Eastwood’s new film, called “Hereafter” will be discussed for the director’s ability to make the most from the least.

Even though “Hereafter” is written by Peter Morgan, it feels like Eastwood didn’t get the best material from this master tailor.

Morgan wrote “Frost/Nixon,” “The Queen,” and “The Last King of Scotland.” He’s a Hollywood darling at the moment. But those screenplays moved. They had energy and focus. “Hereafter” is like an episode of the “The Ghost Whisperer.” It meanders and plotzes. It settles down in odd places and takes up residence when it should be sallying forth.

Eastwood, a master craftsman, makes the most of what he’s been delivered. He intertwines three main stories: one concerns Matt Damon, who has psychic abilities; another centers on a beautiful French TV broadcaster who survives the Indonesian tsunami and becomes psychic; the third is about a pair of 12 year British twins whose mum is a heroin addict.

Preposterously you know all or some of these people who live nowhere near each other will meet. Magical things will happen in the overlap. It’s “Babel” with a crystal ball. Matt Damon’s character tells everyone he meets that he doesn’t do meetings with the dead anymore. But each time he caves in after a whiny plea. It gets comical. You expect him to say, “Every time I try to leave, they pull me back in!”

You have to give Clint credit. First he made a whole movie in Japanese and in black and white. “Letters from Iwo Jima” was a tour de force. Now “Hereafter” is at least one third in French, with subtitles. That section features two actors unknown to Americans. The woman, Cecile de France, is channeling Julie Christie circa 1981. It’s amazing. She’s so attractive that Clint has trouble cutting away from her. We get it.

There are also a couple of memorable off beat moments. Richard Kind is spot on as a man who’s lost his wife and comes to Matt for a reading. You get his sadness and guilt succinctly. And then these two boys–brothers in real life Frankie and George McLaren–are so deeply searing that their section could easily have been made into a film on its own with Damon’s character supporting. But that would have taken a rewrite.

And what about Matt Damon? He’s good in everything he does. This is his second film in a row with Eastwood. He was nominated for an Oscar with “Invictus.” It’s not likely to happen here but that’s ok. My guess is he has plenty of charm to sell “Hereafter” to audiences abdundantly.

Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem: No Parties for Old Men

Roger Friedman
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Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem: No Parties for Old Men

The Toronto Film Festival is all about parties. And the best parties are at the temporary Soho House that’s been set up over night in an empty location right in the middle of town.

Every night, as the invdividual movies’ dinners and studio cocktail parties dwindle to a close, the stars head for this venue set with an unmarked entrance down a long alley. It’s very clever.

Friday night found Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem, buddies from “No Country for Old Men” holding forth on a sofa on the side of the room while the place buzzed with industry types and starlets.

“How is True Grit?” I asked Josh about his upcoming Coen Brothers movie.

“I hear the star is no good,” said Javier facetiously in his deep Spanish accent.

“Oh, I’m not the star,” Josh said, getting the joke. “I’m only in toward the end. Matt Damon is the star. He’s amazing.”

Javier lit up when he heard Brolin only comes in during the movie’s last third. “At the premiere of “Eat Pray Love,” guess who walks out just as I’m coming on the screen?” he said. “He sat through the first two parts, but when I come on, he gets up, waves to me and leaves!”

Josh: “I had to go give an award.”

Javier: “Now, I wait until the third part of True Grit, and guess what?”

Brolin is still laughing.

Saturday night at Soho House, more stars, in fact, every British actor in town was there from Gemma Arterton to James McAvoy, Lucy Punch, and the new Spider Man, Andrew Garfield. And no: he tells me he hasn’t even tried on Spidey’s suit yet. But Garfield is in the new Fox Searchlight film. “Never Let Me Go” with Carey Mulligan that’s getting raves everywhere. It may be the sleeper hit of the festival.

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