Paranoid Park

[MacGuffin]

Gus Van Sant: Local actors wanted!
Source: The Oregonian

Portland director Gus Van Sant has almost everything he needs to make his next movie: a plot, a setting, a hip subculture.

Now all he needs is the actors.

And he's asking Portland to provide them.

"Paranoid Park," as Van Sant's film is currently called, is based on a novel by sometime Portlander Blake Nelson. The book will be published in September by Viking Juvenile, and the film will begin shooting around Portland in the fall.

Van Sant and his production company are holding three open casting calls in the next few weeks to help them find a star for the film and actors to fill important smaller roles, including extras — particularly skateboarding extras. And no experience is necessary, not even for the lead role.

"Paranoid Park" is set in the Portland skating world and concerns a teenage skaterboarder who accidentally kills a security guard and has to figure out what to do when police start to investigate the death. "It's sort of 'Crime and Punishment' in high school," Van Sant said Wednesday. "And since 'Crime and Punishment' is what high school is already like anyway, it's kind of perfect."

Van Sant says he came across Nelson's story "about three months ago in an advance copy. I'm always sort of developing things and looking around. I also looked at a book of Blake's called 'Rock Star Superstar,' but we didn't go very far with it. The fact that this was set in Portland really got me." Along with the French production company M2K, which has distributed some of his work in France, Van Sant acquired the rights this summer.

Van Sant has held open casting calls for other films, including the Cannes Film Festival winner "Elephant," which he also shot in Portland, and "Last Days," his elegaic portrait of a rock star's death. In his recent movies, he's often created scenes and plot lines in conjunction with his actors. But he says that the novel-based "Paranoid Park" has more of a familiar dramatic structure. "It's kind of a hybrid of styles," he says. "It's a lot less open than the last couple of films. But it's still pretty open."

For starters, he explains, he has no idea who will portray the main character, a 16 year-old kid. So the first two casting sessions will be specifically geared toward finding that person; it could even be a girl. Prospective actors age 14-18, male or female, are encouraged to "just show up," according to a spokesperson for the casting company. "You don't have to have any experience, there are no requirements, and there's nothing to do in advance." These first casting sessions will be held from 1-8 p.m. Thursday, August 3, and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, August 5.

For the third casting session, which will be geared toward finding supporting cast, extras and, especially, skateboarders to fill out scenes, the age range expands from 14-30. That session will take place 1-8 p.m. Tuesday, August 15.

All casting sessions will be held at the Ambridge Event Center, 300 NE Multnomah St. Full information can be obtained by calling a hotline at 503-222-2462 or visiting www.myspace.com/paranoidpark.

So go on out and break a leg! Just, you know, not on your skateboard...

[MacGuffin]

Thesp gets 'Paranoid'
Van Sant sets Nevins to topline pic
Source: Variety

Filmmaker Gus Van Sant has set Gabe Nevins to star in "Paranoid Park," based on Blake Nelson's dark coming-of-age tale.

David Cress and Neil Kopp produce with French company MK2, which is financing. William Morris Independent and MK2 rep domestic rights.

Jake Miller, Taylor Momsen, Lauren McKinney and Daniel Lui also star.

Story revolves around a teenage skateboarder who accidentantly kills a security guard. His otherwise typical life spins into a strange new reality of confusion, cover-up and guilt.

Pic marks Van Zant's first feature writing and directing project since "Last Days."

MK2 also has international rights and is repping the project at AFM.

[MacGuffin]

Pics of Paranoid Park

Through his blog, author Blake Nelson offers some good behind-the-scenes shots of Paranoid Park come to life via Gus Van Sant. You can check out Nelson with Chris Doyle, the man who has shot all of Wong Kar Wai's films, different shots of the cast, and some insight into Van Sant's process as a filmmaker.


http://www.blakenelsonbooks.com/

[Xx]

...

[modage]

very excited to see van sant's making another movie.

looks like that makes 1 of you. 

[picolas]

2

[soixante]

For the record, I'm as excited as a puppy dog in a room full of rubber balls.

[last days of gerry the elephant]

Although I can't top a puppy with rubber balls... I too am happy to see progress on this van sant picture, also excited about doyle.

[MacGuffin]

Van Sant returns to Cannes with "Paranoid Park"

Gus Van Sant's preference for young, non-professional actors and trancelike images of skateboarding define "Paranoid Park," the U.S. director's latest feature showing at the Cannes film festival.

The film recounts the story of Alex, a 16-year-old skateboarder who struggles to come to terms with his life and those around him after he accidentally causes the death of a security guard.

Cast using a mixture of posters in record shops, announcements on the MySpace Internet site and advertisements in local newspapers, "Paranoid Park" used mainly unknowns, including many who had never acted before.

"I really like working with non-professionals because I think in doing that I'm trying out things that are natural to them and filming that side of them rather than creating from scratch," Van Sant said after the press screening on Monday.

Alex, played by newcomer Gabe Nevins, glides blankly through the film, seemingly out of reach of both his girlfriend, played by Taylor Momsen and a detective played by Dan Liu.

After "Elephant," Van Sant's film on the Columbine school shootings which won the Palme d'Or in 2003, "Paranoid Park" throws an often dreamlike light on the concrete skating alleys and shopping malls of his young protagonists.

The action is underscored by a soundtrack that ranges from melodies from Fellini scores to what Van Sant called "concrete music" from a local radio station.

His characteristically fluid style, supported by cinematographer Christopher Doyle, embraces the flowing movement of the skaters in the park, often in slow motion, underlining the detached, inward-looking emotions of Alex and his friends.

"I think it's because neither of us are skaters," said Doyle, who gained wide recognition for his work with Chinese director Wong Kar Wai.

He said he and Van Sant had looked for a way to approximate the emotional and physical experience of skating. "And obviously like this you've got the whole energy and the beauty of movement and the physicality of skating."

But away from the graceful movements of the skaters, Van Sant gives an uneasy, troubled feel to a suburban youth that, with only one exception, seems turned away from the world outside and indifferent to the future.

"Maybe I was attracted to that side because it represented my view of growing older," Van Sant said.

"Maybe today, you could think growing older may include spending time fighting in Iraq. You know, there are these things -- where will I be in six or seven years? -- that was my experience."

[Pubrick]

[Doyle] said he and Van Sant had looked for a way to approximate the emotional and physical experience of skating.

[MacGuffin]

Dialogue: Gus Van Sant
Source: Hollywood Reporter

In recent years, Gus Van Sant has turned his back on Hollywood -- and been embraced by Europeans in the process. His latest film, "Paranoid Park," continues the increasingly experimental take on alienation seen in his previous three features, the silent journey in the desert "Gerry," the pseudo-Kurt Cobain biopic "Last Days" and the Columbine-inspired "Elephant," which won the Palme d'Or in 2003. Shot in Super 8 and 35mm "Paranoid Park," the story of a skateboarding teen involved in a deadly incident, features teenage amateurs from the director's Portland hometown recruited through MySpace.com. Van Sant speaks about his fascination with nonlinear narrative and gives his take on the film industry.

The Hollywood Reporter: How did "Paranoid Park" develop?

Gus Van Sant: It came from a book by Blake Nelson, who's an Oregon writer. I know him originally from Portland about 10 years ago. He's been writing young adult novels.

THR: How close does the film follow the novel?

Van Sant: There was almost no improvisation. We added a couple scenes that weren't heavy dialogue scenes. It's pretty much all from the book, but it's not in the order of the book. The book was pretty linear -- the film is not very linear.

THR: Why did you decide to take a nonlinear approach?

Van Sant: Reading the book, it was an interesting way to tell the story. We're sort of following one character through a day. He's a very strong lead character.

THR: By taking a nonlinear approach, do you want the audience to experience the same sense of dislocation as the main character?

Van Sant: It wasn't calculated -- it's just the way I think and people think. I think that's how we experience our lives. You can come in at the middle of the story -- all of a sudden you realize you're remembering things from the past. Even in a conversation like ours, we may jump backward or forward to a topic, and I think that's the way we communicate as an audience

THR: It seems to be kind of a risky move -- you could risk alienating the audience.

Van Sant: Well, some of the greatest films like Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" were told in flashback with scenes jumping back and forth in time. I think with video games, people are taking a more disjointed way of looking at things.

THR: How does this work continue some of the themes and filmmaking approach you were using in "Elephant"?

Van Sant: It's similar to "Elephant" in that it's high schoolers in Portland and they're almost all non-actors. They're kids that were in high school when we shot and are still in high school right now as we're talking, all local Portland kids. It's not as intense of a catastrophy (as "Elephant" depicted). It's much smaller, even though it's very important in this kid's life. It's fictional, and it wasn't really made up as a improvisational piece. What happened with "Elephant" was kind of weird because we did have a screenplay. We started off with a design, whereas this one had an adapted screenplay. The casting process was very similar in that we had a big open call and chose people from the open call. I'd never really worked with people that age in a professional sense.

THR: Was that to achieve a certain sense of authenticity?

Van Sant: If you dealt with professionals, they might have had a style that might be not so good for what we're trying to do. I think all teenagers at that age are acting to a certain degree, so it worked for the film.

THR: Tell me about the film's plot. It involves a skateboarder and a dead body?

Van Sant: It's about a guy who has an impulsive accident and doesn't know who to tell. He goes through the day not knowing where to turn.

THR: How did you relate to that premise?

Van Sant: I think it's something that happens to everyone when they're growing up. Something they're not sure what to do about that they keep to themselves. Something catastrophic happens and they don't know where to turn. I relate to that.

THR: What do you hope people take away from the movie?

Van Sant: I hope each person takes away something different.

THR: Does it explore skateboarder culture?

Van Sant: No, I think it's about a kid's life and shows how teens interact, or don't. But it does take place in that world and uses it as a backdrop.

THR: How long do these experimental projects take to shoot?

Van Sant: The last 3 films were kind of similar in that their shooting schedules were all really short. "Gerry" was somewhat longer -- we had some location changes -- at about 25 days. The other ones were all 18 days and about $3 million each.

THR: Why have you taken on that challenge of shooting so quickly?

Van Sant: It was a choice, but also it was the result of not really trying to overshoot so much. We were trying to narrow it down in both the screenplay area and also the plan, but also the idea of making a movie right on the set rather than waiting until you're in the editing room, where you shoot a whole bunch of angles and figure out later what's going to happen. We just shot the angles we wanted to use.

THR: Do you intend to continue in the vein of the recent cycle of experimental films you've made?

Van Sant: There are no plans right now for any projects. I'm just thinking about things and seeing what happens. It's sort of like each project has its own life and so there isn't really a type of project I'm favoring.

THR: Have you been offered Hollywood films and turned them down? Is it difficult at all choosing independence over a bigger salary?

Van Sant: It's been pretty easy. There are usually things that are there that seem interesting, but in some cases I don't like the script. It just stops right there. They don't want me to rewrite it -- they want me to shoot what is there. They kind of realize I'm not just their hired gun. It's not really about the movie so much as getting it done and not changing it. It's always a problem with big projects -- there's always going to be chasing after actors, whatever aspects were very appealing about the project to a studio may change and be different than what was appealing one month earlier. ... It sort of defies common sense at times. Without a lot of financing, you do gain a lot more freedom, and that's a worthwhile tradeoff for me.

THR: How do you feel about coming back to Cannes on the occasion of the fest's 60th anniversary?

Van Sant: It feels very comfortable coming back -- seeing the same filmmakers again. It's like going back to camp. There's sort of a group of people who've been going to festivals all the time. One of the first festivals I went to in '85 was Berlin, and then later I was in Toronto when Michael Moore first showed "Roger & Me." It's almost like seeing the same reporters and sales agents and financiers all over again.

THR: So what are you looking for in a domestic distributor to best handle the release of the film?

Van Sant: Whoever is going to give us a lot of money. Maybe they'll shelve it afterwards, but that wouldn't be so bad.

[MacGuffin]

Review: Paranoid Park
By TODD MCCARTHY; Variety

Another immersion in the slacker/grunge milieu by Gus Van Sant, "Paranoid Park" is a deeply subjective portrait of a teenager's state of denial about a death he has inadvertently caused. Through immaculate use of picture, sound and time, the director adds another panel to his series of pictures about disaffected, disconnected youth. Aesthetically in line with "Gerry," "Elephant" and "Last Days," this is a rarified, arid artwork that will register with Van Sant's hardcore fans but leave anyone looking for more conventional satisfactions, notably teenagers themselves, impatient and unfulfilled. Commercial career of this French-financed feature will follow in the very modest footsteps of the helmer's recent work.

Based on a novel by Blake Nelson, who grew up in Portland, Ore. -- where Van Sant lives and works -- "Paranoid Park" exists in a world of "throwaway kids" who are into skateboarding above all else, and for which the writer-director clearly has an enthusiasm he is unable to stimulate in the viewer. Title refers to a homemade boarding facility popular with the sport's more renegade practitioners.

At the center of the tale, which has been severely fractured into a nonlinear form intended to convey a state of mind more than a series of events, is Alex (Gabe Nevins), a good-looking, shaggy-haired 16-year-old who is variously seen writing in a diary and watching, more than participating in, skateboarding, at which he feels he's not that good.

Early on, it's revealed a security guard has been run over in the rail yards and that foul play is suspected. A detective's ginger questioning of Alex, then of the school's entire skateboarding community, suggests that the unassertive, mild-mannered Alex was somehow involved. But the pic, along with Alex, bides its time, tending to quotidian matters, including his strictly reactive relationships with a couple of girls, and navigation between his divorcing parents, while postponing any action stemming from his guilt over what he did, however unintentional it was.

Viewed from the most mordant perspective, the pic could be considered a caustic critique of a kid's total unwillingness to assume responsibility for a grave action, a refusal to face the moral, not to mention legal, dimensions of his accidental act. But this wouldn't seem to be Van Sant's intent, as the impressionistic use of beautifully lit, often mobile images and idiosyncratic use of musical overlays appear more generously designed to portray Alex's paranoia and fear, his avoidance syndrome, his unwillingness to weigh and meditate on the ramifications of his actions.

The style eliminates so many potential dimensions of the story that the film is devoid of the elements audiences normally expect of films, beginning with drama, emotion, engagement and insight. On a moment-by-moment basis, one is most often objectively admiring the lovely work of cinematographer Christopher Doyle, whose 35mm shooting stands in marked contrast to the raw Super 8 skateboarding footage done by Rain Kathy Li.

Just as noticeable and/or distracting is the diverse musical collage that comprises the soundtrack. Dominating are the strains of Fellini stalwart Nino Rota, several of whose themes from "Juliet of the Spirits," and one from "Amarcord," stand in drastic emotional contrast to Alex's benumbed state.

As Alex drives around at one point, snippets of rap, classical music and ambient sound are successively intercut, and there are many other similar juxtapositions. As with the visual style, these artistic elements stand at the fore of the film's experience, acting independently on the viewer rather than discreetly serving the material.

Casting was done via MySpace, and young thesps are generally all right, although a bit stiff at moments. Girls portrayed by Lauren McKinney and Taylor Momsen come across with particular credibility, although a (notably ungraphic) loss of virginity scene must certainly be unparalleled in screen history for its lack of impact on one of the participants.

Camera (FotoKem color), Christopher Doyle, Rain Kathy Li; art director, John Pearson-Denning; set decorator, Sean Fong; costume designer, Chapin Simpson; sound (Dolby), Felix Andrew; sound designer, Leslie Shatz; assistant director, Jonas Spaccarotelli; casting, Lana Veenker, Berney Telsey, David Vaccari. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (competing), May 21, 2007. Running time: 84 MIN.

[MacGuffin]

[Just Withnail]

He sure loves his posters all cut up.

[hedwig]

he designs them on his window blinds.