The Argentine/Guerrilla - Che Guevara biopics

[MacGuffin]

Soderbergh seeing Red for 4K shoots
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Director Steven Soderbergh is planning to shoot "The Argentine" and "Guerrilla" using prototype Red One 4K digital-cinematography cameras.

The films, starring Benicio Del Toro, are a two-part biopic on revolutionary Che Guevara. Laura Bickford and Laura Bickford Prods., Telecinco and Wild Bunch produce.

About 15 months ago, Red said that it was developing the Red One camera with 4K capabilities at a price of $17,500 for the basic camera. That combination generated a lot of attention in the production community.

According to Red, Soderbergh has been testing the cameras in the Los Angeles area, and plans call for the features to be shot in 4K using the Redcode Raw system. The company also said that the prototypes are two generations newer than the ones used by director Peter Jackson to create "Crossing the Line," a short that was screened in the spring at the Red booth during the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.

Production is slated to begin this month on location in Spain and Puerto Rico.

[MacGuffin]

Sandino Moreno joins 'Che' pics
Soderbergh projects start to shoot July 25
Source: Variety

MADRID — Colombian actress Catalina Sandino Moreno, Oscar-nommed for "Maria Full of Grace," has been added to the cast of Steven Soderbergh's two film project about Latin American revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, which begins shooting July 25 in Spain.

Entitled "The Argentine" and "Guerrilla," the two Spanish language-pics have a combined budget of around $70 million. Benicio del Toro toplines as "Che."

Other thesps attached include Julia Ormond, Germany's Franka Potente and Cuban Jorge Perugorria, as well as Spanish actors Jordi Molla, Oscar Jaenada, Eduard Fernandez and Ruben Ochandiano.

U.S.-based Guerrilla has teamed with Spanish production houses Telecinco Cinema and Morena Films to co-produce. Wild Bunch handles international sales.

The Spanish partners contribute 25% of total budget, according to Alvaro Augustin, CEO of Telecinco Cinema, the recently renamed film production division of broadcaster Telecinco.

Shooting begins in Spain's central Castille La Mancha region and will continue in other locations in Madrid and Andalusia for nine weeks.

After putting up majority financing for the $28.8 million Viggo Mortensen starring swashbuckler "Alatriste," a blockbuster in Spain, and Guillermo del Toro's $18.9 million Oscar winner fantasy "Pan's Labyrinth," Telecinco maintains its film ambitions, betting on high-profile, internationally targeted productions.

"We always want to be in big projects that shoot in Spain, and this is an excellent opportunity, which follows up on our previous successful productions," Augustin explained to Daily Variety.

[MacGuffin]

Bichir tied to star in Castro films
Actor set for 'Guerilla,' 'Argentine'
Source: Variety

Mexican thesp Demian Bichir is set to co-star as Fidel Castro in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming films "The Guerrilla" and "The Argentine," opposite Benicio Del Toro's Che Guevara.

The actor joins Catalina Sandino Moreno, Julia Ormond, Germany's Franka Potente, Cuban Jorge Perugorria and Spanish actors Jordi Molla, Oscar Jaenada, Eduard Fernandez and Ruben Ochandiano.

Soderbergh began shooting the two-flm project about Latin American revolutionary Guevara earlier this summer in Spain.

The two Spanish-language pics have a combined budget of around $70 million with U.S.-based Guerrilla teaming with Spanish production houses Telecinco Cinema and Morena Films to co-produce. Wild Bunch handles international sales.

Bichir starred opposite Salma Hayek in "Time of the Butterflies" for Showtime. He's also in the upcoming "Fuera del Cielo" (Beyond the Sky) and "Enemigos Intimos," (Intimate Enemies) and "American Visa."

[MacGuffin]

Source: Hollywood Elsewhere

This shot of Benicio in the bush was taken during the filming of Guerilla, the second of two Steven Soderbergh films about the definitive up and down chapters in the life of Che Guevara, near the Spanish town of San Pablo de Buceite, which was chosen to sub for Bolivia. The first film, The Argentine (which I feel is the better of the two, by which I mean the more rousing and engaging), is now lensing in Puerto Rico.

[MacGuffin]

Benicio Looks Forward To 'Demented' Journey As Iconic Revolutionary Che Guevara
Source: MTV

Are you a disaffected college student? A semi-educated poser? Chances are you've heard of Che Guevara, but that you know him more for being the ubiquitous t-shirt guy than for anything he actually believed or did.

That's about to change, insisted Benicio Del Toro. The 40-year-old thesp is set to star in not one, but two films centering on the legendary Marxist revolutionary with director Steven Soderbergh.

"Not many people know much about him, especially here - they know about him but they don't know a lot about him," the Oscar winner told MTV News, no doubt referencing Che's iconic image. "[But] being Latin American, the history is important to me. It's about going and doing justice to [that] history." Both movies, "Guerrilla" and "The Argentine," will be shot in Spanish. It's an authentic touch, Del Toro said, that's indicative of their quest for accuracy.

"I don't want to invent stuff," he declared. "In other movies you can say, well, we'll have the character do this and that. It's harder [this] way. It's difficult but it's interesting. "

In re-teaming with Soderbergh (the pair both won Academy Awards for their work together on "Traffic"), Del Toro thinks he's got the perfect companion for this intense historical journey.

"We're in good hands," he said smiling. "It'll be a demented, hard fun."

[The Sheriff]

both che and jesus christ are debating over whos image got tarnished more. kurt cobain stays silent

[Redlum]

I love this:

"On the set I told the actors that I'm not going to be able to take care of you. I'm just trying to get this movie shot on schedule. And they formed a support group to survive it."
- SS

Is it odd or typical of Cannes to give the Crystal Skull a standing ovation and then for The Argentine/Geurilla to be criticised for not being dramatic enough.

[MacGuffin]

Soderbergh challenges Cannes with epic Che tale

Unless it is one of his "Ocean's Eleven" casino romps, Steven Soderbergh never makes things easy for an audience.

With his epic film biography of Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Soderbergh defiantly has made the story he wanted to see, one that will prove a very tough sell to some audiences.

The two-part saga runs four hours, 30 minutes. It is almost entirely in Spanish, a particular challenge for U.S. viewers who dislike subtitles. It dispenses with many cliches of the biopic, offering virtually no insight into the origin of Che's brand of humanism, instead presenting impressionistic glimpses of Che's idealism in action during the Cuban revolution and his attempt to foment a similar transformation in Bolivia.

Soderbergh was prepared for reporters' skepticism on all fronts at a Cannes news conference Thursday.

On shooting in Spanish:

"You can't make a film with any level of credibility in this case unless it's in Spanish," Soderbergh said. "I hope we're reaching a time where you go make a movie in another culture, that you shoot in the language of that culture. I'm hoping the days of that sort of specific brand of cultural imperialism have ended."

On the length:

"Just the further you get into it, it felt like if you're going to have context, then it's just going to have to be a certain size," Soderbergh said.

On the unconventional structure:

"I find it hilarious that most of the stuff being written about movies is how conventional they are, and then you have people ... upset that something's not conventional," Soderbergh said. "The bottom line is we're just trying to give you a sense of what it was like to hang out around this person. That's really it. And the scenes were chosen strictly on the basis of, 'Yeah, what does that tell us about his character?'"

Starring Benicio Del Toro, the Oscar-winning co-star of Soderbergh's "Traffic," as Guevara, the two films were shot as "The Argentine" and "Guerrilla." The cast includes Franka Potente, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Demian Bichir as Fidel Castro. Soderbergh buddy Matt Damon, part of the star-studded "Ocean's Eleven" ensemble, makes a brief appearance.

"The Argentine" juxtaposes Guevara and Castro's late 1950s triumph in Cuba with flashbacks to their early planning days in Mexico and Che's visit to New York City in the mid-1960s, when he was greeted with condemnation and death threats over the Castro regime's iron-fisted rule.

"Guerrilla" follows the downfall of Guevara as his grass-roots campaign in Bolivia degenerates into a handful of scraggly, starving rebels on the run from vastly superior government forces in the jungle.

Che was executed in Bolivia in 1967. Much of the world now has only a superficial grasp of Che as a symbol of revolution from T-shirts and posters depicting his boldly smiling face.

While it may be hard to persuade audiences to see it a first time, the story requires repeated viewings to really appreciate it, said Del Toro, also a producer on the project.

"It reminds me of the painter who did a portrait of this lady, and when he gave it to the lady, the lady said, `That portrait doesn't look anything like me.' And the painter said, 'Oh, it will,'" Del Toro said. "I really think that eventually, those people, when they see the movie for the third time, they'll start seeing things, they'll start seeing dimensions and angles, maybe a look or a smile or the use of this or a character here and there. ... I know them very well, but I'm still finding stuff."

The films were presented as one entry at Cannes under the name "Che." They played without credits, the way Soderbergh would prefer to see it initially released to general audiences.

"Here's what I would like to do is, every time it opens in a town, let's say, that for a week, you can see it as one movie for the first week, and then you split it off into two films," Soderbergh said. "That's what I would like to do is have a sort of roadshow engagement, no credits ... a printed program that comes with the movie. To me, that would be an event."

How the films actually will play in the U.S. and other countries will depend on deals Soderbergh strikes as he shops it around to distributors at Cannes.

"Che" is competing for the top prize at Cannes, the Palme d'Or, which Soderbergh won with his feature debut, "sex, lies and videotape," in 1989.

While Soderbergh talked seriously and passionately about his desire to make the films, he also had a ready wisecrack for his motivation:

"It's all a very elaborate way for us to sell our own T-shirts," Soderbergh said.

[MacGuffin]

Steven Soderbergh resists splitting 'Che'
He's willing to divide the four-hour film, but with a caveat
Source: Hollywood Reporter

CANNES -- Steven Soderbergh said Thursday that he was willing to split his epic four-hour, two-part "Che" into two separate movies upon release -- with one caveat.

"What I'd like to do is that if it opens in a town, you can see it for a week as one movie, and then you split it up," the filmmaker said. "To me that would be an event."

Distributors have said privately that they'd prefer the option to break it up, as has been the case with double bills like "Grindhouse," which the Weinstein Co. split up overseas. Soderbergh previously was thought to be steadfast about the two parts screening together, as they did in Cannes (with an intermission).

Soderbergh did not say whether he'd be willing to cut the project to a single two- or 21⁄2-hour film.

The Benicido del Toro-toplined film is an examination of two revolutions which Ernesto "Che" Guevara undertook; the first explores the successful uprising he led in Cuba, and the second looks at his failed revolt in Bolivia.

The Wild Bunch production has yet to sell to a U.S. distributor. Buyers gave it a tepid reaction after the marathon Palais screening Wednesday night, in part because of its length.

At the news conference, Soderbergh explained the length as a matter of historical necessity. "If you're going to have context, it's going to have size," he said.

He also took a defiant posture when asked his response to those who said he should have taken a more conventional biopic structure.

"I find it hilarious that people say that movies are too conventional," Soderbergh said, "and then when (something comes out) that isn't conventional, they seem annoyed."

[Pozer]

Soderbergh seeing Red for 4K shoots
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Director Steven Soderbergh is planning to shoot "The Argentine" and "Guerrilla" using prototype Red One 4K digital-cinematography cameras.

The films, starring Benicio Del Toro, are a two-part biopic on revolutionary Che Guevara. Laura Bickford and Laura Bickford Prods., Telecinco and Wild Bunch produce.

About 15 months ago, Red said that it was developing the Red One camera with 4K capabilities at a price of $17,500 for the basic camera. That combination generated a lot of attention in the production community.

According to Red, Soderbergh has been testing the cameras in the Los Angeles area, and plans call for the features to be shot in 4K using the Redcode Raw system. The company also said that the prototypes are two generations newer than the ones used by director Peter Jackson to create "Crossing the Line," a short that was screened in the spring at the Red booth during the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.

Production is slated to begin this month on location in Spain and Puerto Rico.

Soders talkn aboot using the RED One camera to shoot Che:

p.s. Che remains my mostest anticipated.

[MacGuffin]

Bootleg Trailer

[modage]

i'm seeing this at the New York Film Festival, which is cool because last year i didn't get tickets to most of the stuff i wanted to see.

[MacGuffin]

'Che's' journey: From English to Spanish
Soderbergh pic undergoes language conversion
By ANNE THOMPSON; Variety

Che" began as a labor of love for Benicio Del Toro and producer Laura Bickford, who started talking to Steven Soderbergh about producing the movie while working on Soderbergh's "Traffic."

At one time, Terrence Malick was going to helm "Che," but after years of painstaking research, Soderbergh agreed to direct.

The filmmaker tried to wrangle the unwieldy mass of material with writer Peter Buchman, but the script never jelled. "We could have kept researching for the rest of our lives," says producer Laura Bickford. Soderbergh finally decided the only solution was to break the film into two parts. "When we started, it was going to be one two-hour movie about Bolivia," he says. "But when we got further into development, Bolivia without the context of Cuba didn't make a lot of sense."

The decision to shoot in Spanish -- a language Soderbergh does not speak -- with actors from Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Spain, Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Brazil also sent Wild Bunch scrambling to partners in foreign territories to renegotiate all the deals.

"Wild Bunch stayed with us through thick and thin," explains Bickford, "as we went from one movie in English to two movies in Spanish."

After the New York unveiling, the next step is mounting a late-year roadshow in New York and L.A., along with December's Havana Film Festival, where the filmmakers hope to show the film to one of the few people still around who fought alongside Che: Fidel Castro.

[modage]

Che Release Strategy
Source: Sproutblog

Ever since word broke at Toronto that IFC had picked up Steven Soderbergh's Che for US distribution, there have been conflicting rumors as to how the company, known for its day-and-date theatrical and VOD releases, would handle a film of this length, scope, and potential Oscar cachet. At yesterday's NYFF press conference, Soderbergh talked a bit about the "roadshow" concept, through which the entire two-part film will first hit theaters.

He confirmed that in each market the film enters, it'll screen for just one week, on one screen, with ticket buyers paying a premium (probably $25 each, including full-color printed program) for the experience. "I think that's the ideal way to see it," the director said, although he acknowledged that "it's a lot to ask of an audience, to throw away an entire day."

A source told me last night that IFC is banking that a lot of people are going to want to throw away their days on Che.

After the film completes its initial one-week run at the Zeigfeld theater in Midtown Manhattan in early December, it will move on to other cities (and premiere on VOD), but then the roadshow print will come back to New York in January to take up residence at the IFC Center downtown. The theater will then screen the full 4-something hour extravaganza daily, until demand runs out. The person I talked to said the theater's operators are confident that there will be enough curious cinephiles and Che obsessives to keep the movie playing there for "a loooong time." Certainly, if Benicio Del Toro gets the expected Best Actor nomination, you'd think there'd be at least one or two people in the tri state area who'd want to come out and see the film on a big screen.

[The Perineum Falcon]

this news supports my initial suspicions that i'll never see it. ever.