Christine Vachon Unplugged

Even though she has a French name, I was surprised to see that a festival showcasing the best in past and upcoming Quebecois cinema (Les Rendez-Vous Du Cinema Quebecois) had managed to lasso a very busy, legend producer in American Independent Cinema. For those who have seen clips of her master classes online or have read the two great books on producing that she penned know that Christine Vachon tells it likes it is. 

On Monday she was in London supervising the recording of the songs from the Brit lead for Killer Films’ Canadian/French co-production of Lullaby for Pi (which starts lensing in Canada’s wheat growing provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba).
On Wednesday she met up with some folks over at Sony for a project she is hoping to get greenlit and which I imagine will be Killer Film’s most costly production yet and on Saturday, she made a return visit to Montreal (where she filmed most of the scenes for Todd Haynes‘ experimental Dylan biopic). I’d love to see her airmiles point total and her in-flight routine. 

Here are some quick notes, anecdotes which I thought were worth mentioning.

Why does she go to Canada: For obvious reasons. The tax Incentives are better than in the states.

Her experiences at the recent Berlin Film Festival Market. “Bottom is starting to fall out of the foreign sales market”. She asked out loud whether the old model is over and what will replace it? For several years now casting was more import than it had ever been, but it no longer seems to be the case.

She discussed the difficulty in how financing a film that casts male actors who second the female leads (e.g. Far From Heaven and Savage Grace). Russell Crowe was offered the role that went to Dennis Quaid for FFH, but Crowe’s agent said he’d join the movie if he could play Julianne’s part.

A Killer Films office joke. Film financing numbers. 5 is the new 10. 3 is the new 5.

Recent films that Vachon has has seen and appreciated. Cary Joji Fukunaga‘s Sin Nombre, Lee Daniels‘ Push, Joachim Trier‘s Reprise, Antonio Campos‘ Afterschool and her favorite of 2008, Let the Right One In.

Exclusive News: She is working with Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer) on a new project. I found nothing listed in our database or the IMDB.

The latest trend she is finding in young directors who pitch their projects. They are not necessarily presenting feature film ideas but television instead.

On Killer Films’ lengthy stay in business: “we are like cockroaches – we survive nuclear blasts”.

Todd Haynes is working on his new script. Don’t have any information beyond that but I’m excited all the same.

I asked her two specific questions: What she thought about the annual “Blacklist”. She is flattered when she sees one of her projects on it. And I asked her about the project that is in my estimation a departure from the difficult, taboo subject indie films that we commonly associate with her production house. Brian Edgar and Derek Wallbank‘s swords and sandals castles
William the Conquer. She loves the script and acknowledged that even though it belongs to a different budget bracket that it (north of the 20 million dollar I’m not There) isn’t any different of an experience from her previous film financing type situations.

Exclusive News: Lullaby for Pi’s lead actor is ….. (click here to learn who it is)