Viggo Mortensen - Good - Page 2

Jazz · 05-14-2007, 06:23 AM

Looks like Good is getting some talk at the Cannes Film Festival!

Festival de Cannes 2007 Atelier
by Kriss Perras Running Waters | The 2007 Atelier has selected 15 filmmaker projects from 15 different countries. A tailor-made accompaniment is offered to both the directors and their producers to help finalise the financial assembly of their projects. This selection, in the spirit of the Festival de Cannes, privileges discovery with debut films, while supporting as well the work in progress of recognised artists.

Certain screenplays question human nature in the child, whether it is in a world without God, the State and or a father, whether in middle of the Amazonian forest (Salamandra), an Austrian catholic boarding school between worship and sacrifice (Serviam), or a small Korean town (Treeless Mountain). This research continues on the adolescent who preserves in him something pure and intact despite all the harshness being brought up in a Romanian orphanage (A Heart-Shaped Balloon).

In the adult, it is a question of coming up with just the right balance between what we feel and what we show, while at the same time respecting divine will (To Die Like a Man), freeing ourselves of all principles of reality and living the dream (About War), lying to oneself, even thinking that everything can begin all over again (Blown by the Typhoon) or yielding to the irrational (Native Dancer). In the end and from a more general point of view, it's the journey of a soul through the four forms of life (the "four times"), or the quest of oneself in the face of the other.

Other projects offer a fresh look at social realities: an invitation to see what binds us instead of wondering what makes us different, as in the adventures in Colombia of two tramps (The Wind Journey), or a glance at the changes in the way of life in a Turkish village (Milk). The theme of the war and violence is highly present in the Lebanese (I Can't Go Home), Sri-Lancan (The Fallen) and Moroccan (Between Parentheses) projects.

Some of the films in competition include Julian Schnabel's "LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON," Quentin Tarantino's "DEATH PROOF," Carlos Reygadas' STELLET LICHT (Silent Light) David Fincher's "ZODIAC." The opening film is Won Kar Wai's "MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS." The closing film out of competition is Denys Arcand's L'ÂGE DES TÉNÈBRES.

An upcoming film with a storyline appearing to promise an award nominations list comparable to Spielberg's "Schindler's List" is Odd Lot International's film "Good" starring Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises, Alatriste, A History of Violence, The Lord of the Rings, GI Jane), directed by Vicente Amorim (The Middle of the World) and also starring Jason Issacs (The Harry Potter Films, Peter Pan) written by James Wrathall (Magic Moments) and Produced by Miriam Segal, Dan Lupovitz, Sarah Boote, Billy Dietrich, Kevin Loader. "Good" is currently being marketed at Cannes.

Good is the story of one man, John Halder (Viggo Mortensen), a literary professor, a married man, a son, and a father. Halder's story takes place in the world of a bankrupt population, humiliated, desperately looking for a way to turn the tide. National Socialism provided 'the way'. It was new. It was exciting. Good focuses on one man's life but through his eyes we understand how people become willing participants in the evolution of terrible regimes - Germany in the 1930's but with all too frightening parallels to the world today. How do good men like John Halder allow themselves not to see the world around them changing, until suddenly it is too late. Principal Photography is expected to begin May 18, 2007.

Odd Lot International is also marketing the script for the Romantic Comedy "Sense & Sensibilidad," a Latina version of Jane Austen's classic novel set in modern-day Los Angeles. It's the tale of two sisters - Mary, whose passion guides her more than logic, and Nora, whose reason keeps her from following her desires. They are unexpectedly uprooted, along with their mother, from their luxurious lifestyle in San Marino when their father suddenly passes away. Out of options, the women move in with their Great Aunt Aurelia into the Latino centric- Boyle Heights neighborhood. The women find themselves in a world and a culture, which despite their heritage, is completely foreign to them. Through their trials and tribulations (which are often times humorous) they learn to tap into the culture they had fought so vigorously to keep hidden.and along the way find love. Director/Writer Fina Torres (Woman On Top) is attached.

Festival de Cannes 2007 dates are May 16 - 27. On the opening day of its 60th anniversary, the Festival de Cannes is offering a moment of reflection on the opportunities and challenges of the next decade by holding a conference focused on the evolution of audience practices and on the ties between cinema creation, new promotional and broadcast platforms. Film industry representatives, new media players, journalists and sociologists will share their experiences and views on how the fast evolving digital economy is shaping new roles for directors, producers and distributors while offering exciting opportunities to creators and audiences. The conclusions will be reported to the European Ministers of Culture who will take up the political aspect of these questions on the Europe Day, Saturday, May 26th. This conference, open to all festival-goers, is taking place in the Salle Buñuel (Palais des Festivals) on Wednesday May 16, 2007 from 2:30pm to 5:30pm (simultaneous translation English-French will be available). Seating capacity being limited, a reservation is requested by email. Please click here for more information on the Opening Forum and his Guest Speakers. Please click here for screening schedule.

Jazz · 05-18-2007, 05:44 AM

Good is coming together now!

More cast lines up for Wrathall's Good shooting in Budapest
Geoffrey Macnab in Cannes
17 May 2007 14:38

Jason Isaacs, Jodie Whittaker and Mark Strong have joined Viggo Mortensen in the cast of Good, John Wrathall's screen adaptation of the CP Taylor stage play, directed by Vicente Amorim.

Principal photography has begun in Budapest on the film, in which Viggo Mortensen plays the lead role of John Halder, a seemingly decent professor in Hitler era Germany who fails to recognise the evil around him and becomes embroiled in the Nazis' genocidal plans for a Final Solution.

Good also stars Anastasia Hille, Ruth Gemmel, Gemma Jones David de Keyser, Ralph Riach, Guy Henry, Kevin Doyle, Steven Elder and Steven Mackintosh.

The film is being sold in the Cannes market by Odd Lot International. It has already pre-sold to a number of key markets including the UK with Lionsgate/BBC.

Domestic sales will be repped by Stuart Manashil of CAA and Graham Taylor of Endeavor.

Good is produced by Good Films Ltd, with financing from Aramid Entertainment. It is being made in collaboration with Laurin Entertainment, Hungary.

Jazz · 05-25-2007, 04:04 AM

Too busy for Harry Potter???

Jason Isaacs Too Busy for 'Harry Potter'
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By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith
May 24, 2007

Jason Isaacs, known to "Harry Potter" fans as eeee-vil Lucius Malfoy, is not going to be able to make the July premiere of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" -- and that is just fine with him. "I haven't been able to go to any of the premieres, and you know how superstitious actors can be. It's best this way, so I don't mess things up," explains Isaacs, deadpan. He's also happy for the reason he can't make the latest "Potter" movie's unveiling: He's already juggling his schedule to the limit, between his "Good" feature film in Budapest, Hungary, with Viggo Mortensen -- and second season shooting of his Peabody Award-winning Showtime "Brotherhood" series in Providence, R.I.

Jason Isaacs Too Busy for 'Harry Potter'

Producers of the series, in which Jason plays crime lord Michael Caffee, have been "unbelievably kind in letting me do this, as has Showtime." "Good," the feature adaptation of C.P. Taylor's play about everyday "good" people looking away from the evils of Naziism in 1930s Germany, has been years on its way to the cameras -- and Isaacs has been among those championing it. "A number of different actors and directors have been involved. Finally, it came together. I thought I'd have to give up being in it, with the series in production," he admits. But he wound up asking for a leave, or, as he puts it, "I wrote this begging letter. They were very nice to accommodate me."

"They work us hard all the time," he adds of "Brotherhood." "On a movie set, you spend most of your time in your trailer. On the series, it's a waste to even give us trailers. TV is like a real job."

He is, however, very happy with the show in which he and Jason Clarke play an Irish mafia kingpin and a politician, respectively, who happen to be siblings. "It has a very unique tone. I always feel Michael is haunted by, hungry for something that's just out of reach. That will be all the more true when we come back," he says of the show's sophomore season, which will be unveiled this summer.

GET REAL: Reality TV isn't going anywhere! Or so says reality TV pioneer Jonathan Murray -- not if he has anything to do with it. In fact, the co-creator of "The Real World" says this is just the beginning of what's to come. "Reality is still a relatively young genre. I think we're still discovering it," notes Murray, whose long list of reality fare also includes "The Simple Life," which will not, of course, be in production again until Paris Hilton is done with jail. He continues, "It's a big enough world out there for shows like 'Extreme Home Makeover' to 'Project Runway' to 'Survivor' to 'The Real World.' I think when a show is distinct, it can certainly stay around for a long time, which 'Real World' and 'Survivor' have already proven."

Murray, meanwhile, says he and his staff are constantly coming up with new ideas. His company's most recent endeavor is Spike TV's "Murder," which will debut this summer, in which amateur sleuths try to correctly solve a real homicide pulled directly from police files. He also has "Real World Denver," and "The Real World/Road Rules Challenge" in Brazil. "I want to keep innovating and coming up with shows you haven't seen before," he says.