TFC Journal at TheFilmChair.com

Michael Haneke earned his first Palme d’Or prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival today for The White Ribbon. The Austrian film follows a children’s choir in northern Germany before the start of WWI. I don’t know who called this one, but someone had this one pegged last week. (Which blog was it?!)

Best Actress went to Charlotte Gainsbourg for suffering at the hands of Lars von Trier in Antichrist and Christoph Waltz took home Best Actor for playing the cartoonish Nazi a.k.a. “The Jew Hunter” in Inglourious Basterds. Oscar watchers, you can now put Waltz’s name down as a potential Best Supporting Actor nominee.

Complete list of winners after the jump.

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Twenty-year-old Xavier Dolan saw his debut feature, I Killed My Mother, sweep the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight awards yesterday. The semi-autobiographical film follows gay teenager Hubert (also played by Dolan) who has, shall we say, a contentious relationship with his mother. Okay, he loathes everything about her.

The awards (three in total) hopefully mean that I Killed My Mother will at least be seen outside of festivals, something any first-time filmmaker longs for. But from the sound of this Variety review by Jay Weissberg, Dolan doesn’t have to worry about being another Orson Welles:

Pages of ink will be spilled on the multihyphenate helmer’s youth (he’s 20) and precocity, and there’s much to praise, especially the oh-so-real dialogue, but true psychological penetration is lacking and Dolan’s hunger to prove his talent results in a superfluity of styles. Still, multigenerational auds worldwide will likely find kinship with the many funny/painful situations, and pic is a genuine crowdpleaser.

A crowdpleaser winning an award at Cannes? Who would have thought?

Cannes main awards ceremony, including the presentation of the Palme d’Or, will be held tomorrow night.

Austrian website DVD-forum.at nabbed four stills from Terry Gilliam’s upcoming feature The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a.k.a. Heath Ledger’s last film.  The film will premiere at Cannes, but the production company behind Parnassus has been seeking a distribution deal ahead of the French fest.

You’d think major buyers would be fighting over the property, but like any Gilliam film, it looks like it’s going to be difficult to market. Insiders at an industry screening in Hollywood last week told EW:

All of the major independent buyers in town packed Hollywood’s DGA theater for the screening, and while most left feeling a bit befuddled (as one often does coming out of a Gilliam feature) the consensus was that the movie is better than expected.

Not the glowing review that anyone involved was looking for, I’m sure.

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Top Story: Someone at Summit Entertainment is freaking crazy because they hired Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night director David Slade to helm The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.  If this is an attempt to get non-Twilighters to see the movie, it will fail. Not only is the hardcore Slade a piss poor choice for this fluffy vamp gig, he’s also a rather boring director in general. Thanks, but no thanks. (THR)

In Other News: Inglourious Basterds, Woodstock, and Broken Embraces are just a few of the mega movies to appear in competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year.  Cannes unveiled its line-up today.  The festival kicks off on May 13. (Variety)

Paul Giamatti will star in the indie drama Barney’s Version for director Richard J. Lewis and producer Robert Lantos. (Variety)

Kate Mara and Clark Gregg have joined the Iron Man 2 cast. (THR)

State of Play director Kevin Macdonald will direct an adaptation of Issac Asimov’s The End of Eternity for New Regency. (Variety)

Fin.

Top Story: Move over Peter Segal. Paul Weitz, director of About a Boy and In Good Company, is in talks to direct the second Meet the Parents sequel, Little Fockers. Weitz is a surprising competent choice for a project I had no intention to see. Guess I’ll spend the $9 now. (Variety)

In Other News: The Cannes lineup is coming together and Colin Farrell may be the fest breakout star. In Bruges put him on the path for a comeback. Now the actor could have as many as three films screening at the French film fest.  Oh and expect to hear about the new movie Looking for Eric from Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach. I cannot wait for that one. (THR)

Aaron Eckhart is in talks to star opposite Nicole Kidman in John Cameron Mitchell’s adaptation of the stage play Rabbit Hole. (Variety)

Gigantic, directed by Matt Aselton and starring Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, and John Goodman, the won best narrative feature award at AFI Dallas International Film Festival. If it stars John Goodman, I’m there. No word yet on a release. (Variety)

Opening Today
Adventureland
Fast and Furious

Fin.

Top Story: Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the opening film of the summer movie season, is now available for download. Illegally. And its just a rough cut. The film leaked online this week. If the rough cut is good, I’ll blame this one on Fox. Way to market the picture to geekdom.  If it’s bad, you can blame someone still sore about the whole Watchmen debacle. I’m sure we’ll hear more about the version on the Net because there is still a month before it hits theaters. (Variety)

In Other News: Sex and the City 2 has a release date.  The ladies will hit the silver screen once again on May 28, 2010. (erc BoxOffice)

In WTF News, Hannah Montana director Peter Chelsom called Miley Cyrus the next Judy Garland. Ugh. (PopEater)

Juno, the Scarecrow, and Edith Piaf are in talks for Christopher Nolan’s Inception.  Leo DiCaprio was already announced as the lead with Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, and Marion Cotillard possibly rounding out the all-star cast. (Variety)

Fox, director Francis Lawrence, and writer Mark Protosevic are turning the nonfiction, environmentally themed tome The World Without Us into a feature film. (THR)

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds will play in competition at Cannes. (Variety)

And in TV that would stop me from watching a movie news, Project Runway fans can rejoice.  The lawsuit is settled and the show will be back on the air this summer, only this time on the Lifetime Network. (Variety)

Fin.

Top Story: Tony winning actress Natasha Richardson died yesterday succumbing to injuries from a skiing accident.  She was 45. A member of the Redgrave acting family, Richardson gave legendary stage performances in revivals of Cabaret and A Streetcar Named Desire.  She leaves behind her husband, actor Liam Neeson, and two sons. (CNN)

In Other News: Lionsgate has picked up the North American distribution rights to the Luc Besson-produced and Pierre Morel-directed From Paris with Love.  The actioneer stars John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. (Variety)

Pixar’s Up will open this year’s Festival de Cannes. (THR)

Adrienne Shelly’s widower is set to develop and produce The Morgan Stories from a script that Shelley wrote before her tragic death. (THR)

Brian Grazer, producer of Splash, is jumping back into the water. He’ll produce Merman from a script by Jennifer Abu Hollander. (Variety)

And in NE Ohio news, the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival opens tonight.  (ClevelandFilm.org)

Fin.