Frank Miller announces his new movie The Spirit and UTV chief Ronnie Screwvala, who isn't keen on the term Bollywood, presents new movies starring Shilpa Shetty and Ash Rai, writes Joyce Dundas in Cannes.
The spirit of Cannes might be accused of being fleeting or even a total affectation, but the spirit of film is celebrated here like no other. No-one has a conversation that is not about film, no-one lunches without a flimic involvement and every quick encounter on La Croisette usually involves the words “What have you seen?” or “What are you rushing to see?”.
On Thursday evening, Frank Miller the graphic artist behind 300 and Sin City had a different take on the word spirit. He announced that he would be making The Spirit, in association with Lionsgate. It will be his solo directing debut on the film adaptation of the classic graphic novel by Will Eisner.
Miller is nothing if not committed to the wonderful monochrome, film noir type world he creates and celebrates in his graphic novels. Dressed like a character from Sin City, (the film he co-directed with Robert Rodriguez) he managed to change the atmosphere of a sun-soaked, Hotel Carlton function room into the world of The Spirit, very dark, very film noir. The film is due to be released in 2008.
Friday afternoon brought the world of Bollywood to Cannes with UTV Media chief Ronnie Screwvala annnouncing his company's slate for the year. The company showed some exclusive footage of Lagaan director Ashutosh Gowariker's new film Jodhaa Akbar. The footage showed everything from epic battle style scenes to major costume and make-up work, not that the two stars Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan need too much in the way of adornment. The film is epic indeed in scale and the few minutes shown left everyone hungry for more.
Screwvala explained that his company is managing to cross the boundary that once defined the old Bollywood, a term he is not keen to use. He says many audiences went to the cinema because for “a dollar you could sit for four hours watching a movie” in a hot country a huge bonus. He adds that now with Indian cinemas being refurbished and charging more at the box office, perhaps up to four dollars, the films are actually finding a new audience, more middle class and younger. That audience is looking for a new kind of Indian film Screwvala says. There is a also a feeling worldwide that foreign language films are not restricted to smaller audiences any more he feels using the term “language agnostic” to describe this new audience.
UTV is trying to break a very well-established mould. Its films Jodhaa Akbar and get set Goal, starring John Abraham and set in the world of Asian football league in London might do just that. He is also planning to recut the breakaway hit in India, Bang de Basanti, and renaming it Colour of Sacrifice, aiming it squarely at a western audience.
In the UK, recent moves by the government has put film funding back at the top of the agenda. However, some filmmakers are still managing to get their product funded and supported by those notoriously scared to invest companies in the City. London investors opened up to Agent Crush, <http://www.fantasticfilmsinternational.com/new_detailed.html> an animatronic film with a puppet, Bond-style hero voiced by Ioan Gruffud and the filmmakers are in Cannes with Fantastic Films to promote the film and show some footage. With high-level talent such as Neve Campbell, Sir Roger Moore, Brian Cox and Brian Blessed all voicing the characters, the film which is still in post-production, looks to have good commercial appeal.
Writer and producer Barrie Robinson and writer/director Sean Robinson explained their method of attracting such A-list talent as an “if you don't ask you don't get” attitude. Barrie Robinson said he promised the agents of the talent that they would take only one day or even a morning to get the recordings done, “and we managed it ...even though we had fun in the studio. They said the funding was also relatively easy to attract with big names such as Goldman Sachs coming on board and though they would not disclose the exact budget, they described it as ambitious but “not as high as you might think”. The website lists it at around $20m. The film is due to be released in 2008.
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