Gus Van Sant

Started by pilgrim, June 22, 2003, 09:33:52 PM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

jenkins

kinda wacky, kinda exciting (tbh), imagining van sant as the one making this movie. didn't expect an interest but there's now an interest and a mayor

new page oh
Quote from: MacGuffin on April 23, 2013, 07:10:25 PM
Gus Van Sant Shot Sex Scene Starring Alex Pettyfer in Bid to Direct 'Fifty Shades of Grey' (Exclusive)
Source: TheWrap

Two-time Oscar nominee Gus Van Sant has shot a steamy sex scene featuring Alex Pettyfer as Christian Grey in a bid to direct "Fifty Shades of Grey," the film version of the erotic bestseller, individuals familiar with the project have told TheWrap.

The scene, insiders said, is when the ingénue Anastasia Steele loses her virginity to Grey.

Van Sant previously directed "Promised Land" and "Milk" for Focus Features, which has the rights to EL James' novel along with Universal Pictures. Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti are producing.

Insiders stressed that Pettyfer was cast as Grey just for the tape, not the movie, though Universal just got into bed with the 23 year-old actor on its sexy remake of "Endless Love," which he is currently shooting in Atlanta. TheWrap was unable to confirm the identity of the actress cast at Steele, the impressionable young woman who falls for kinky billionaire Grey.

Universal and Focus have declined to comment on any list stories, long or short, though a Universal spokesperson said that the studio isn't out to directors or actors, nor have they commissioned any test reels. WME has also declined comment.

Van Sant has not settled on a follow-up film since wrapping "Promised Land," which makes him available to begin working on the project as soon as writer Kelly Marcel delivers a finished draft of the script.

Van Sant was not officially asked by the studio to shoot a test tape. But doing so may indicate how badly he wants the coveted assignment.

Universal and Focus spent at least $3 million in a bidding war to crack the whip on "Fifty Shades of Grey," and they'll certainly be expecting the pop culture phenomenon to be a hit, and a franchise for the studio. Van Sant has only directed one film to cross the domestic $100 million mark -- 1997's "Good Will Hunting" grossed $138 million in the U.S. -- and only one more to cross the domestic $50 million mark, as "Finding Forrester" grossed $51 million in 2000.

Van Sant has long been considered a director who confronts themes such as sex and sexuality head-on, from his debut film the "Mala Noche" to the hustlers in "My Own Private Idaho" to Nicole Kidman's provocative dance in "To Die For" to serving as the executive producer of Larry Clark's explicit "Kids."

Van Sant's candidacy confirms the producers' intentions to hire a high-class filmmaker to deliver a tasteful adaption of the steamy novel. It's possible the success of Steven Soderbergh's male stripper movie "Magic Mike" and its appeal to female audiences is why Van Sant chose to use Pettyfer in his test tape.

"Fifty Shades of Grey" sold to Universal and Focus in March 2012, just two months after WME-repped Van Sant did Focus a favor by stepping in late in the game to replace his "Good Will Hunting" star Matt Damon as the director of "Promised Land," which Focus released to generally strong reviews in December.

wilder

Matthew McConaughey to Star in Gus Van Sant's Drama 'Sea of Trees'
via The Wrap

Gil Netter is producing the movie, which co-stars Ken Watanabe

Fresh off his first Oscar nomination for his devastating performance in "Dallas Buyers Club," Matthew McConaughey has signed on to star opposite Ken Watanabe in Gus Van Sant's drama "Sea of Trees," an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap.

Chris Sparling ("Buried") wrote the script, which was voted to the 2013 Black List.

Story follows an American man (McConaughey) who takes a journey into the infamous "Suicide Forest" at the foothills of Mount Fuji with the intention of taking his own life. When he is interrupted by a Japanese man (Watanabe) who has had second thoughts about his own suicide, and is trying to find his way out of the forest, the two begin a journey of reflection and survival.

Gil Netter ("Life of Pi") is producing the movie, which is gearing up to start production shortly.

Both McConaughey and Watanabe are veterans of Christopher Nolan movies, as the former recently wrapped "Interstellar," while the latter actor co-starred in "Inception." Neither has worked with Van Sant before.

"Sea of Trees" will serve as Van Sant's next film, as he last directed the Matt Damon-John Krasinski drama "Promised Land."

McConaughey, who is currently earning rave reviews for his turn in HBO's "True Detective," can also be seen as hotshot stockbroker Mark Hanna in Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street." The actor, who recently won a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for "Dallas Buyers Club," is represented by CAA.

wilder

Gus Van Sant First Name Director on Revived BMW Films Series
via Showbiz 411

Remember the BMW Film series? Clive Owen played a James Bond like character in a series of short films, actually commercials, directed by a bunch of big names including Ang Lee, John Woo, Guy Ritchie (who used his wife at the time, Madonna, in his episode) and the late John Frankenheimer? The series ran online and in movie theaters from 2001-2002.

Now BMW is bringing it all back. I'm told the first director is the great Gus van Sant of "Good Will Hunting" and "Drugstore Cowboy" fame. This time, the series is about a couple. van Sant is looking now for big star names in their mid-30s.

wilder

Gus Van Sant interviewed on the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, discussing (among other things) the yet unmade Golden Suicides project about Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan

Pubrick

But I have to listen to Brett Easton Ellis?

Ugh.. can someone please take one for the team like I did with that Christian science lecture that Elswit got roped into?

Only the bits about the golden suicides, and any other juicy gossip. Just don't mention Ellis' opinion on anything. I'm sure JB has already listened to it multiple times.
under the paving stones.

wilder

It's all in the first 17 minutes if you can tolerate that much. They talk about the narrative challenges, Gus' reluctance to make a movie about someone who might come off as crazy, references a movie called The Snake Pit (1948) as an example of something he felt actually did that well, the status of the movie being up in the air because Gaspar Noe is unreliable and hard to get ahold of...Blake and Duncan moving to LA with a two picture deal with little understanding of the movie business and it becoming completely dispiriting to them...BEE wanting to write the movie because he was in a relationship where he felt he would follow the person anywhere no matter how unhealthy it might have been for him, the state of mind in which you'd follow someone off a cliff. Joaquin Phoenix, Ryan Gosling, and Naomi Watts were all considered for various roles. It's not a bad discussion, they talk about quite a bit...

ElPandaRoyal

Well, I have to say I only listened to one of these BEE podcasts (the one with Matt Berninger) and I have to say I was very very pleasantly surprised with the quality of discussion. No douchebaging at all by Ellis, it was actually a great interview, with a few personal, interesting questions and a very personal introduction to the guest (or, in that case, the band). I actually downloaded the rest to see if they're all worth it. Interestingly enough, they discussed the Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan suicides, because Matt knew them as well and it seems they left a big mark on Ellis.
Si

wilder

Cannes: Naomi Watts in Talks to Join Matthew McConaughey in 'Sea of Trees'
via The Hollywood Reporter

UPDATED: Director Gus Van Sant and McConaughey turned up at the festival Thursday to talk about the project, which begins shooting this summer.

CANNES – Naomi Watts is in talks to star in Gus Van Sant's Japan-set drama, Sea of Trees.
The news that Van Sant is planning to cast the Diana star came from the director himself, who showed up at the Cannes Film Festival Thursday with Matthew McConaughey, star of the film, to tout the project to foreign buyers. Sea of Trees, with a budget of $25 million to $28 million, is one of the biggest titles being shopped at the market this year.

Sea of Trees is the first title from Bloom, the new sales company launched May 13 by veteran foreign sales agent Alex Walton and Ken Kao. Bloom sought to further elevate the project's profile by flying in Van Sant and McConaughey (the actor arrived Wednesday night from Los Angeles, and will depart Friday).

McConaughey, fresh off his Oscar win for Dallas Buyers Club and who is next in theaters in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, said the script for Sea of Trees was the best he's read in five years. He'll play an American who travels to Japan's famous "Suicide Forest" with the intention of taking his own life. Instead, he decides to help a Japanese man (Ken Watanabe) who has become lost, and the duo set off on a reflective, and sometimes dangerous, journey to find their way out.

"It's like [reading] a whole bunch of haikus back-to-back," McConaughey said. "I got the chills, which doesn't usually happen. And with Gus, I thought it was the perfect match."

Watts would play the wife of McConaughey's character. Their marriage is told through a series of flashbacks, Van Sant said.

"There are many different relationships in the film," the director said. "I can only hope that it will look fantastic."

Sea of Trees is McConaughey's next movie and begins production in July or August. Van Sant would like to shoot in Japan. If not, he's eyeing the Pacific Northwest (Van Sant lives in Portland).

Van Sant said he received Chris Sparling's script from producer Gil Netter (Life of Pi). CAA and WME arranged financing and are co-repping U.S. rights. Kao, heir to the Garmin fortune, is producing and financing Sea of Trees through his Waypoint Entertainment.

McConaughey gave foreign buyers a history lesson on the Suicide Forest, which lies at the foot of Mt. Fuji. "If you go online and look for the perfect place to die, this is the place that comes up. There are even signs that say, 'remember, you leave a family behind.'"

The actor said he is preparing for Sea of Trees by contemplating "the metaphors" provided by the script, and that the character's "visitation with death actually gives him life."

Watts, who received an Oscar nomination for 2012's The Impossible, has three films in post-production: Noah Baumbach's While We're Young, comedy St. Vincent De Van Nuys and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Birdman. She's repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.

wilder

Jenji Kohan's 'New World' Drama Ordered To Pilot At HBO, Gus Van Sant To Direct
via Deadline

HBO's long-gestating period drama project from Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan has been given an official pilot green light, with Gus Van Sant set to direct.

Co-written by Kohan, Bruce Miller (Alphas) and Tracy Miller, the project, titled New World, is described as a provocative period drama that explores the circumstances around one of the most compelling chapters in American history where intolerance and repression set neighbor against neighbor and led a town to mass hysteria. While HBO is not elaborating beyond the carefully crafted logline, New World is believed to be tackling topics inspired by the events surrounding the infamous Salem Witch Trials in 17th century New England.

Casting is currently underway, with production on the pilot slated to take place in Boston, Massachusetts this spring. New World is a co-production between HBO and Orange producer Lionsgate TV.

Kohan, Bruce Miller and Van Sant executive produce with Tara Herrmann. Mark Burley will co-executive producer, with Bruce's wife, Tracy Miller, serving as supervising producer. Kohan is with CAA, the Millers are with ICM Partners.

Jeremy Blackman

You're too late, Van Sant. Too late.



wilder


jenkins

QuoteOne way to pass the time during "The Sea of Trees" — preferably during one of Matthew McConaughey's interminable misty-eyed monologues — is to try and figure out exactly how many bad movies the actor, screenwriter Chris Sparling and director Gus Van Sant have managed to squeeze into their tale of a man's lonely quest to take his own life. Almost impressive in the way it shifts from dreary two-hander to so-so survival thriller to terminal-illness weepie to M. Night Shyamalan/Nicholas Sparks-level spiritual hokum, this risibly long-winded drama is perhaps above all a profound cultural insult, milking the lush green scenery of Japan's famous Aokigahara forest for all it's worth, while giving co-lead Ken Watanabe little to do other than moan in agony, mutter cryptically, and generally try to act as though McConaughey's every word isn't boring him (pardon the expression) to death.
http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/the-sea-of-trees-review-matthew-mcconaughey-cannes-1201495483/

jenkins

i agree with looking forward to this movie


wilder

Joaquin Phoenix & Gus Van Sant To Reteam For 'Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot'
via The Playlist

Variety reports that "To Die For" team Phoenix and Gus Van Sant are looking to reunite on the biopic, "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot." A project that has eluded being made for years and years in Hollywood, the film is based on the autobiography of John Callahan, who was paralyzed at the age of 21, and turned to cartooning, eventually winning acclaim (and some controversy) for his work that appeared in the New York, Playboy, and Penthouse. Here's the book synopsis:

Is it possible to find humor — corrosive, taboo-shattering, laugh-till-you-cry humor — in the story of a 38-year-old- cartoonist who's both a quadriplegic and a recovering alcoholic? The answer is yes, if the cartoonist is John Callahan — whose infamous work has graced the pages of Omni, Penthouse, and The New Yorker — and if he's telling it in his own words and pictures. But Callahan's uncensored account of his troubled — and sometimes impossible — life is also genuinely inspiring. Without self-pity or self-righteousness, this liberating book tells us how a quadriplegic with a healthy libido has sex, what it's like to live in the exitless maze of the welfare system, where a cartoonist finds his comedy, and how a man with no reason to believe in anything discovers his own brand of faith.

Drenk

Quote from: wilder on November 29, 2017, 04:16:42 PM
First Look: Joaquin Phoenix In Gus Van Sant's 'Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot'
via The Playlist

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, and Jack Black, the film tells the true story of John Callahan, who was paralyzed at the age of 21, and turned to cartooning, eventually winning acclaim (and some controversy) for his work that appeared in the New Yorker, Playboy, and Penthouse. Here's the official synopsis:

John Callahan has a talent for off-color jokes...and a drinking problem. When a bender ends in a car accident, Callahan wakes permanently confined to a wheelchair. In his journey back from rock bottom, Callahan finds beauty and comedy in the absurdity of human experience.

The Sundance Film Festival runs from January 18-28.



I saw it. It's a basic biopic. It gets kind of better toward the last half, but it is everything you expect it to be. The expectations are low. There is one scene which is absolutely ridiculous—I can't believe they made it, and I'm not sure it was supposed to be ironic...? Joaquin Phoenix is good. As usual. Jonah Hill is absolutely fantastic in this movie. The scenes they share together are the best, you kind of forget the whole thing, and you're with them.

I'm fond of the last shot.
Ascension.