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The Black List Update: Picks 10 to 6 of 2008
Among the screenplays with less than 6 votes in 2008 we have titles such as Sherlock Holmes, The Debt, Julia Leigh's Sleeping Beauty, William Monahan's London Boulevard and easily my favorite of the bunch is Bert Royal's Easy A. Here are picks 10 to 6 with two finished films having switched their official titles.
Benicio del Toro, Laurent Cantet and Gaspar Noe Among 7 Filmmakers Spending ‘7 Days in Havana’
Helmers Laurent Cantet, Gaspar Noe, Pablo Trapero, Elia Suleiman, Julio Medem, Cuba's Juan Carlos Tabio and Benicio del Toro are joining perhaps one of the rare omnibus projects worth mentioning. Finally a short film collage that is a bit more organic, 7 Days in Havana is said to be an inside "view of Cuba, introducing audiences to an eclectic young Havana and its music scene."
The Black List Update: Picks 16 to 11 of 2008
While the top of the 2008 list does have some exceptional projects that have already gone under the lense, Quentin Tarantino's war epic is the only film in this section that hasn't had trouble monetizing on it's Black List "status". Just behind picks 1 to 15 we find The Descendants, Going the Distance, Nowhere Boy and Kevin Smith's Couple of Dicks (Cop Out).
Thank You Harvey!: Derek Cianfrance’s ‘Blue Valentine’ Loses Dumb NC-17 Rating
All is well in the film universe. Harvey Weinstein and pretty much the whole film community was up and arms when the MPAA gave Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine an NC-17 rating. While the motives are indeed profits and award season chances, I think that Harvey went to bat for Derek and everyone involved with the film because getting slapped with anything higher than an R-rating made no sense.
Film Stills: Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene
I'm really late on this one - but it's worth the mention and showcasing all the same. The first batch of stills for Sean Durkin's Martha Marcy May Marlene were released not much time after the film was named among Sundance's U.S Dramatic Competition. Below we see the film's lead in Elizabeth Olsen, and supporting actors John Hawkes and Sarah Paulson. The film is not necessarily an expansion of Durkin's impressive short film Mary Last Seen, but it borrows from the same ideas and apart from setting, we'll soon see if both films share other common traits such as the characters and film's tone.
