The We & The I

Started by modage, March 15, 2010, 01:20:52 PM

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modage

Ellen Page To Go Time Traveling With Michel Gondry In Upcoming Film
Source: ThePlaylist

Earlier today, we posted details on a lengthy number of projects from Michel Gondry from our interview with director at SXSW, including an announcement of a new project called "The We & The I." However, the folks over at MTV were able to squeeze a few more details out of the director including an intriguing bit of casting news on one of his many upcoming projects.

As we previously reported, while Gondry said "Master Of Space And Time" is "not going to happen" it appears the other "similar" project he mentioned that he's working on has a pretty big name attached. Ellen Page is set to play Nancy "a young woman who participates in the discovery and changes the world" in his gestating project. Interestingly enough, Nancy was also the name of a lead character in "Master Of Space And Time."

"I'm developing a screenplay with a writer right now about kids who travel [into] the future by mistake and a machine [that] keeps people younger... ehhh, it's complicated to explain," Gondry told MTV who were able to confirm that the writer in question is Keith Bunin ("In Treatment"). Bunin is also writing a draft for Gondry's upcoming "Return Of The Ice Kids," about a group of teenagers who develop a form of water that makes you hear music when you drink it.

There's no word yet on when (or if) the film will go in front of cameras with Gondry telling us he hopes to do "The We & The I" next.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Pubrick

that's cool. i'm glad he's working with a proper writer now. it must hav been hard to finally get through all the yes-men bullshit and listen to whoever was telling him how it really is: that he can't speak english for shit and he shouldn't ever try to write a script on his own.

and if this statement is in any way offensive, fuck it, nothing i could possibly say about him could be more offensive than Be Kind Rewind was to my senses.
under the paving stones.

MacGuffin

Michel Gondry's 'We & The I' Shooting Now; Centers On A Premise With Time Travel & A Youth-Machine
Source: Playlist

During SXSW 2010, French filmmaker Michel Gondry first revealed to us a new lo-fi and under-the-radar project he was working on called, "The We & The I. "It's [about] kids on a bus...it's about the group effect, how people in groups transform when the group is dislocated," he said in somewhat convolutedly. "Because everyone jumps out of the bus at different times, there is a smaller group and how the relationships evolve."

At the time we asked if the film had any genre-like bend and the "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" director said no, "It's more like a social thing. It's not [well-known] actors, it's going to be kids from a school in the Bronx," he said. "I love kids and just [regular] people too because they are not polluted by the medium [of film acting]. They come as they are and they have beautiful stories to tell, so I want to show that."

Gondry certainly ping-pongs from mainstream projects ("The Green Hornet") to smaller indie-based passion projects and if you've seen the labor of love documentary about his former school teacher aunt, "The Thorn in the Heart," you know the filmmaker has a big affinity for children—the sequences inside a kindergarten class are positively ebullient. Either way, the "The We & The I" project—borne out of meetings with the publishers of the "You'll Like This Film Because You're In It: The Be Kind Rewind Protocol" book which is about community filmmaking—seems to mark a return to the themes of community fellowship and camaraderie that have appeared in much of Gondry's recent work ("Dave Chappelle's Block Party," "Be Kind Rewind"). However, a sci-fi-ish genre bent seems to have crept into the story.

As Gondry promised, "The We & The I" is the follow-up to his mainstream 'Green Hornet' experiment. It's currently filming in the Bronx and we've confirmed with his reps that the film centers on a group of school kids who travel into the future by mistake and discover a machine that keeps people younger. Here's the catch. That premise is evidently accurate... "for now." Does that mean this story is in flux as its shooting? Are they making it up as they go? Could it change from here on out?

All that remains unclear and deeper details seem to have eluded everyone for now. As far as we know there are no name-brand actors starring in this picture, but the production is keeping the film close to the vest so anything's possible for now. More details when we get them.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Pubrick

Quote from: MacGuffin on September 02, 2011, 06:18:07 PM
"The We & The I. "It's [about] kids on a bus...it's about the group effect, how people in groups transform when the group is dislocated," he said in somewhat convolutedly. "Because everyone jumps out of the bus at different times, there is a smaller group and how the relationships evolve."

ignoring the usual playlist inability to write a coherent sentence, what bothers me here is the rest of the article tries to find a genre/gimmick angle on what is already an amazing idea. that little summary from the gondry's mouf is just such a refreshing and insightful and SOLID basis for the thematic backbone of a movie i don't even care how he goes with it, it's just really great.

now this time travelling business.. that's fine, i can't see how that will tie in (maybe the kids getting off at different stops will alter the future of the group or something like that) but either way it's still great. of course we should be cautious because Gondry cannot write movies for shit, i just hope he got some proffessional english-speaking help on this one so he doesn't fuck up the premise as bad as be kind forget-this-ever-happened.
under the paving stones.

MacGuffin

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Jeremy Blackman

So this is the answer to Girls, in a bus?

modage

If you told me this way by a nobody director and playing someplace like SXSW, I would never see this in a million years.

What happened, Gondry?
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Ghostboy

Oof. The performances in this look potentially more suspect than those in Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer.