Doors Doc "When Your Strange" Dec 3 2008

[darkstar2]

Rock, Brosnan, Sarandon line up for Sundance
Movie Writer David Germain, Ap Movie Writer – 45 mins ago
December 3 2008

LOS ANGELES – Films featuring Chris Rock, Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Paul Giamatti and Emily Watson are among those competing for top honors at January's Sundance Film Festival.

Rock appears in the documentary "Good Hair," director Jeff Stilson's examination of African-American hairstyles, which was among 64 films announced Wednesday in Sundance's four competitions for U.S. and world cinema.

Brosnan and Sarandon star in director Shana Feste's "The Greatest," about a couple coping with the loss of their teenage son, while Giamatti and Watson are among the cast of Sophie Barthes' "Cold Souls," centering on an actor in an existential crisis.

The festival that showcases independent film runs Jan. 15-25 in Park City, Utah.

Others films among the 16 in the U.S. drama category include the romance "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men," the writing-directing debut of "The Office" co-star John Krasinski. He also appears in the film along with Timothy Hutton, Julianne Nicholson and "Office" colleague Rashida Jones.

The overall Sundance lineup is hard to categorize but will be heavy on "romance and activism," said festival director Geoffrey Gilmore.

"The issue about romance is it feels like a new generation taking the idea of love stories and romantic melodrama into their own direction," Gilmore said.

The U.S. and world documentary competitions are loaded with films examining social and environmental issues, including the ocean-wildlife studies "The Cove" and "The End of the Line," the oil chronicle "Crude," the top-soil tale "Dirt: The Movie" and the financial expose "Let's Make Money."

Also in the Sundance dramatic lineup: "The Dream of the Romans," with Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham in a story about the reclusive author of an influential spiritual book; "An Education," an adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel starring Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson; "Five Minutes of Heaven," an Irish political drama with Liam Neeson; and "Taking Chance," a military homefront saga with Kevin Bacon.

The documentary categories also include "When You're Strange," a chronicle of Jim Morrison and the Doors; "Thriller in Manila," examining the final boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier; and "William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe," a portrait of the civil-rights lawyer directed by his daughters, Sarah and Emily Kunstler.

The overall Sundance lineup presents 118 feature-length films, which were chosen from 3,661 submissions. Films in the star-studded premieres section and other categories will be announced Thursday.

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On the Net:

festival.sundance.org/2009

Source: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081203/ap_en_ot/film_sundance_2

[jym]

Well, I hope the movie is a lot better than the title! It is really lame! & totally the opposite of Jeff was saying when he asked fans for suggestions for the title i.e. not looking for titles from songs. But you know what I don't think When You're Strange really describes The Doors at all, they're just a part of the 60's. They may have been different from other groups but strange???

How are they going to get the movie to people or do we need to order tickets for Sundance? It's getting late for that. I got an order form last month I think. Or do they think they're going to score a distribution deal from Suandance? It's possible but even movies that get GREAT! reviews at Sundance have failed to get theatrical distribution, the # of documentaries is even smaller, one every other year & directed by Michael Moore. I hope they're going to release it on DVD &/or Blu-Ray soon or else it'll go into The Doors hopper as cool things that didn't get done & it'll be bootlegged next year.

[mewsical]

It's about distribution, of course, but as Dick Wolf is attached to the project, as they say here, I think it's already getting some pre-festival buzz. I'm prone to be optimistic that this will actually be a successful endeavor for the Doors. There should be a great soundtrack, with Botnick producing, and if they do some good packaging, with special booklets, etc., it'll make a great DVD as well. Better than shoes, for sure.

Despite the odd choice of title, it may fit the subject matter. We can't tell until we get a chance to see the film. Reading Tom DiCillo's explanation made it more palatable.

Are you really going to go to Sundance? It's an expensive trip, isn't it? I guess Southwick will be going, he lives not far from Park City.

[jym]

No, can't go to Sundance as much as I'd like. I haven't been skiing in a long time that would be a good excuse. The tickets are pretty pricey I think it's a grand for tickets to all the venues, I may be wrong. I'm registered for Sundance newsletter & my eyes just glaze over at the prices. I may try a little trick to see if I can get The Last Stage into the bookstore in Park City, then Angelina or Brad will see it in the window, & be struck by it & next thing I know is I'm fielding calls from their agents offering to buy the rights....etc...etc...then the alarm goes off waking me up.

Your suggestions for packaging all good, the problem really is The Doors and mangement. We've been here before when they had chances to do really cool things with stuff they put out, but they seem determined to parse things out to extract more $$$$ from fans instead of putting out something REALLY cool that people will flock to & be excited about. For instance the box set they used one whole CD for band favorites basically another anthology, with so many anthologies has anybody checked to see if they've repeated the order of one yet?