TFC Journal at TheFilmChair.com

Independent happenings:

• IndieGoGo, the crowdsource funding website for indiemakers,  has acquired Distribber, a digital distribution service, so it can offer a toolbox for independent filmmakers using its fundraising service. (indieWire)
• Eli Daughdrill’s Faith, a narrative feature taking a “sensitive, but critical” look at religion in America, needs a kickstart. (Kickstarter)
• Sabi Pictures, the production company behind White Knuckles and Heart of Now, is taking its films on the road in August 2010. Tell them you want the films to come to your town. (Sabi Pictures)
• John C. Lyons’ launched the Facebook page for his next motion picture, There Are No Goodbyes. Become a fan. (Facebook)

And now, the trailer for The Grover Complex. If you’re in LA, you can catch this indie teen comedy at New Filmmakers Los Angeles on March 18.

Fin.

If there’s one thing I regret about my trip to Tucson over the weekend, it’s that I didn’t get a chance to go see a movie at The Loft Cinema. I drove past the theater and noticed it was playing The White Ribbon and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?, Herzog’s latest picture. Interest piqued.

Then at the Tucson Festival of Books, I ran into The Loft Cinema’s booth, where two great Loftians were giving out celluloid bookmarks. Had I had the chance to actually see a movie at The Loft, I could say this with more authority: The Loft is a true gem. It really is.

Don’t just take my word for it. Check out their schedule. Any place that shows Beetlejuice and Buster Keaton’s The General is a place that deserves your patronage. Plus, it’s a non-profit theater, so give them a few bucks to keep cinema alive in Tucson.

It’s a bird. It’s a plane…

• A poker-faced Christopher Nolan quashes rumors about Superman and his third Batman. And he doesn’t create any new ones. (LA Times)
• Warner Bros. is looking at two Wizard of Oz projects in hopes of having Alice in Wonderland-type success. (LA Times)
• Clint Eastwood has his sights set on a J. Edgar Hoover biopic written by Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. (THR)
• Fox has moved Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps from its April release date to Sept. 24. (The Wrap)

Fin.

For anyone who ever wanted to vote for President Laura Roslin or sit on the bridge with Admiral Adama, Bigpoint, a browser-based MMOG development company, has something for you.

From the release:

Leading its product slate for 2010 will be Battlestar Galactica Online, a tactical space combat and adventure MMOG based upon Syfy’s Battlestar Galactica series. The MMOG, inspired by one of the most popular science fiction series in television history, will launch worldwide exclusively this fall on Syfy.com for a 30 day period. The Unity co-developed MMOG will offer state of the art graphics that can be played directly in an Internet browser.

Check out the teaser website for the Battlestar Galactica Online here.

Bada Bing!

• Sopranos creator David Chase is set to direct a rock drama for Paramount Vantage. (DHD)
• What do John Hughes and Tupac have in common? Hughes, who died in August, has a screenplay titled Grisbys Go Broke floating around Hollywood. (THR)
• The Last Song’s Liam Hemsworth will star in the period action film Arabian Nights And yes, it will be in 3D. (THR)
• Anna Faris and Chris Evans will star in the R-rated comedy What’s Your Number? (Variety)

Fin.

Do it with others.

• Justin D. Hilliard wants you… to help him make Swallow. And you should. (IndieGoGo)
• The Butler brothers, my favorite Canadian indie brewers, just posted the second episode of their web series Larry & Burt’s Gut Rot. (YouTube)
• David Spaltro writes about making his spectacular indie …Around for The Wrap. (The Wrap)

Fin.

Yes, I’m alive. And I have some news to prove it.

• Best. First Lady. Ever. Michelle Obama has invited the cast of Glee to perform at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. (EW)
• Taylor Launter’s Twihard fanbase just landed the teen star a role in Abduction. Lionsgate spent mucho dinero ($1 m) on the screenplay. (The Wrap)
• Kevin James, the only man in entertainment less funny than Jay Leno, will star opposite Vince Vaughn in an untitled Ron Howard comedy. (DHD)
• Love was in the air in 2008. Brian White will star opposite Mallika Sherawat in Politics of Love, which follows a romance that blossoms in the lead up to Obama’s election. Wonder if the sequel will be about divorce? (THR)

Fin.

Where does he get all those wonderful toys?!

• I get Candy Land. I get Battleship. I even get View-Master. But Erector Set: The Movie? (EW)
• Hugh Jackman’s Avon Man finds Enchanted director. (Variety)
• Wuthering Heights is set to be Twilight-ified. No joke. (Deadline)
• NBC, desperate to find hour-longs for the 10 p.m. time slot, settles on some guy named Spielberg. (THR)

Fin.

Good Morning!

• Kristen Wiig will have a couple of freaks and geeks behind her when she makes her debut as a leading lady. (THR)
• Doug Liman is ready to scream, “Attica! Attica!” Don’t worry. It’s not a remake. (Screen Daily)
• Amanda Bynes will join Owen Wilson, Jenna Fischer and Jason Sudeikis in the Farrelly brothers’ Hall Pass. (Variety)
• The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, 90210, America’s Next Top Model and Supernatural will all be back on the CW next season. (AICN)

Fin.

Heart you.

• Madonna is directing again and she’s going royal. The pop superstar will be at the helm of W.E., which follows King Edward VIII’s affair with Wallis Simpson. (Variety)
• Colin Firth, one of this year’s Best Actor nominees, is set to star in Winterbottom’s thriller The Promised Land with Jim Sturgess and Matthew Macfadyen. (The Wrap)
• The A-Team director, Joe Carnahan, and star, Bradley Cooper, will reteam for the plane-crash-wolf-pack thriller The Grey. (Screen Rant)
• Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Rapunzel is now Tangled. (ComingSoon.net)

Fin.