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Post by OwenFan96 on Sept 4, 2007 12:50:38 GMT -5
'Darjeeling' is, well, quite limited Forget for a moment the irony of seeing Owen Wilson in bandages after a suicide attempt in "The Darjeeling Limited," which just debuted at the Venice fest. How is the movie? Director Wes Anderson "has the attitude for comedy, but not the aptitude," says Richard Corliss of Time Magazine. "His films are museum artifacts of what someone thought could be funny. They're airless. Movies under glass." The problem, Corliss asserts, is that picaresque films like this one "need an interior spring with more thrust than 'Darjeeling's' attempt at reconstituted brotherhood. The problem is in Anderson's approach, which is so super-cool, it's chilly." Brrrrrrr. Just like Corliss' review! READ MORE Variety's isn't much warmer: "Anderson's arch, highly artificial style gets in the way of character and emotional development, rendering pic piquant rather than profound . . . . Inventively staged pic should satisfy the upscale, youth and cult auds Anderson has developed, though it's unlikely to draw significantly better than his earlier work." READ MORE goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2007/09/darjeeling-is-w.html
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Post by OwenFan96 on Sept 7, 2007 18:53:21 GMT -5
Darjeeling Limited Wins Award:
The latest film from Owen Wilson, The Darjeeling Limited, which co-stars Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman and was directed by regular collaborator Wes Anderson, premiered at the Venice Film Festival and took home a prize today, proving that the troubled star may be getting back on the right track just by doing what he does best – making good movies. The Darjeeling Limited took home the Golden Lion Cub, an unusual prize on the film festival circuit, as it’s chosen by school children. It’s one of the earlier prizes given and the Owen Wilson flick is still eligible for other awards, like the main prize at the festival, something that the Golden Lion Cub has often matched with in the past.
The other early award this year went to Ed Radtke’s coming-of-age drama, The Speed of Life, which won the first ever Queer Lion award, given to the film that has the most accurate portrayal of a gay character out of the 57 eligible films, according to The Hollywood Reporter. While giving The Speed of Life the prize, the Venice Gays jury also released a statement asking for more films in the future that portray gay characters in truthful ways. It sounds like they may not have had a lot of options, which is not to say that The Speed of Life wasn’t deserving.
The Darjeeling Limited stars Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman as three brothers on a trip across India. The film was awarded the Golden Lion Cub by a jury of local youths studying at the Agiscuola, which is near the Lido in Venice. The Golden Lion Cub has been given 18 times and in almost half of those years – 7 – the same film went on to win the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion, which will be given away at the end of the festival.
Other early winners at the Venice Film Festival included Murali Nair for the City of Venice Award and Brian De Palma’s controversial Redacted, which won the Digital Award from the Future Film Festival. The ‘big’ winners, including the Golden Lion, will be announced Saturday in Venice.
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Post by Mrs.Sylfian on Sept 10, 2007 8:38:30 GMT -5
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Post by Librarian on Sept 10, 2007 11:42:25 GMT -5
Fantastic! Thanks everyone!
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Post by scarletshoes2000 on Sept 23, 2007 11:58:09 GMT -5
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Post by Lom83 on Sept 23, 2007 12:29:40 GMT -5
Thats an interesting article/feature, thanks for the link!
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Post by OwenFan96 on Sept 23, 2007 19:21:13 GMT -5
For Adrien Brody in 'Darjeeling Limited,' comedy is a real trip
Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson play American brothers on a spiritual quest across India in 'Darjeeling.' Adrien Brody laughs when he's asked about the most unusual thing he ate while working in India, filming Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited."
"A parasite," he says with a rueful chuckle. "It came extra, at no charge. It was not fun - but I guess it was part of the package."
Since the package also included the chance to work with Anderson and co-stars Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman - in a movie that will lead off the 45th New York Film Festival Friday night, and open in theaters Saturday - it was worth the physical distress.
"It felt very much like being let into a family," Brody, 34, says of joining Anderson's troupe, along with Wilson (an Anderson collaborator since their teen years in Texas) and Schwartzman (star of Anderson's 1998 "Rushmore" and co-writer of the "Darjeeling" script). "And it was such an intimate experience, with all of us in such an exotic place working in such a confined space."
"The Darjeeling Limited" features Brody, Schwartzman and Wilson as American brothers traveling across India by railroad, hoping to have a spiritually bonding experience after being estranged since the death of their father. The film's first half was shot aboard a robin's-egg-blue train traveling across the Indian landscape, with the actors in a small compartment or wandering the narrow corridors.
"Wes was insistent about shooting on a [real] train," says Brody. "And that gave it an authenticity that was inspirational. It was not your typical film. There were no trailers for the actors. We were all together all the time."
The fact that Wilson's character has made a suicide attempt before the film's story begins is drawing comment, of course, given the actor's recent troubles. Brody, however, won't talk about it.
"I've been asked not to comment - and I wouldn't, because Owen's a friend," he says.
"Darjeeling" is only Brody's fifth film since winning a Best Actor Oscar for 2002's "The Pianist" at 29 (making him the youngest-ever winner in the category). Though his choice of roles has expanded exponentially since "The Pianist" (two films he opted to do were "King Kong" and "Hollywoodland"), it hasn't made him less choosy about the parts he takes.
"It's a wonderful thing to have access to more material," says the actor, son of photographer Sylvia Plachy and born and raised in Queens. "I've tried to keep it interesting for myself. I feel if it's interesting for me, then it will be interesting for the people who watch me."
Many of the scripts he's sent, he notes, focus on the sense of melancholy and loss that pervaded his performance in "The Pianist" ("There's definitely a lot of heavy material thrown my way"). So the Oscar, he speculates, may have been a double-edged sword when it came to his comedic role in "Darjeeling."
"I haven't been given many opportunities to do comedy - or I should say, the material hasn't been right," says Brody. "This film was an opportunity to take a very different approach to my work. As far as the business end was concerned, it was viewed as taking a chance because I'm not known for comedy. But since I'd won an Oscar, they thought, 'Maybe he'll bring in [other audiences].'"
Brody has been acting since he was a teen, making a strong impression in movies such as Barry Levinson's "Liberty Heights" and Spike Lee's "Summer of Sam." While "The Pianist" raised his profile, the film may have confused some viewers as to who he is.
Brody tells a story about his father, a retired history teacher, who was on an airplane after the film's release and started talking to another passenger - who insisted that Brody, though relatively unknown in the U.S., was actually a famous actor from Poland.
"'I'm pretty sure he's not Polish,'" Brody recalls his father saying. Asked how he could be so sure, he says his dad replied, "'I follow the industry.'"
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Post by SugarMagnolia on Sept 23, 2007 22:31:42 GMT -5
Thank you so much owenfansince96 for all the wonderful Darjeeling Limited news! (I also hope you feel better, take care!) A new article with quotes from Wes was just posted at the LATimes website. It does include spoilers about Hotel Chevalier, so I'll just give a link and no copy and paste. The big item is, he said that Hotel Chevalier will be available on iTunes. Don't click if you want to be surprised by Hotel Chevalier! www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-darjeeling24sep24,1,3665790.story?coll=la-headlines-entnews&track=crosspromo
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Post by SugarMagnolia on Sept 23, 2007 22:57:33 GMT -5
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Post by Lom83 on Sept 24, 2007 3:36:50 GMT -5
Yeah thanks for posting the article OwenFan and Sugar, I remember reading in another article that Hotel Chevalier is also going to be added to the DVD release of Darjeeling... though thats probably quite far off being released but still... its only a short 15 minute or so introductory 'short', isn't it?
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Post by OwenFan96 on Sept 24, 2007 11:45:48 GMT -5
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Post by SugarMagnolia on Sept 24, 2007 13:04:34 GMT -5
Thank you so much for all the great updates and news, owenfansince96! Jason and Adrien Brody will be featured on Reel Comedy on Comedy Central: www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-24-2007/0004668658&EDATE=Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody Bond in 'Reel Comedy: The Darjeeling Limited' Premiering Monday, October 8 at Midnight* on Comedy Central Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson Star In 'The Darjeeling Limited' Which Opens in Limited Release September 29 NEW YORK, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- COMEDY CENTRAL learns the true meaning of family in "Reel Comedy: The Darjeeling Limited." This half-hour special premieres on Monday, October 8 at Midnight. COMEDY CENTRAL's "Reel Comedy: The Darjeeling Limited" is hosted by comedian Al Madrigal, who travels to the film's debut at the Venice Film Festival to catch up with its stars, Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody. They join Madrigal on a cruise up Venice's Grand Canal to talk about the movie's themes, including lessons learned while traveling, brotherhood and family bonding. Madrigal also interviews director Wes Anderson, who gives his inside take on the dangers and thrills of filming on location in India. Fox Searchlight's "The Darjeeling Limited" opens in limited release on September 29. Encore presentations air Tuesday, October 9 at Noon, Wednesday, October 10 at 3:00 p.m., Thursday, October 11 at 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. and Friday, October 12 at 3:30 p.m. "Reel Comedy" is COMEDY CENTRAL's series of specials that provide a unique, in-depth look at the hottest new comedic films. Each half-hour special contains COMEDY CENTRAL's own original concept and story, interviews with the stars, and clips from the featured film. Past specials have included the casts of "Wedding Crashers," "Bewitched," "40 Year-Old Virgin" and "Dukes of Hazzard." *All Times ET/PT Jason Schwartzman is scheduled to be a guest on The View on Monday, October 10, and on Conan O'Brien's show on October 2: www.interbridge.com/lineups.html
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Post by SugarMagnolia on Sept 24, 2007 13:07:40 GMT -5
Yeah thanks for posting the article OwenFan and Sugar, I remember reading in another article that Hotel Chevalier is also going to be added to the DVD release of Darjeeling... though thats probably quite far off being released but still... its only a short 15 minute or so introductory 'short', isn't it? HI lom83!!! Actually, it's the introduction that explains some important aspects of Jack (Jason's) character and why he has some issues - it's 12 minutes long, and it will actually be available online. Wes has planned to make it available through iTunes, he said for free, basically on September 29 when the limited release begins. Also, he's said that if he has his way, it will indeed be added to a wider theatrical release of the film later in the fall. Apparently if the early showings do well enough, there will be time to add it to the film before the wider release copies are made. This was in some of the articles that came out yesterday, like the LA Times piece. Hope that helps!
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Post by Lom83 on Sept 24, 2007 16:06:41 GMT -5
Yeah thanks for posting the article OwenFan and Sugar, I remember reading in another article that Hotel Chevalier is also going to be added to the DVD release of Darjeeling... though thats probably quite far off being released but still... its only a short 15 minute or so introductory 'short', isn't it? HI lom83!!! Actually, it's the introduction that explains some important aspects of Jack (Jason's) character and why he has some issues - it's 12 minutes long, and it will actually be available online. Wes has planned to make it available through iTunes, he said for free, basically on September 29 when the limited release begins. Also, he's said that if he has his way, it will indeed be added to a wider theatrical release of the film later in the fall. Apparently if the early showings do well enough, there will be time to add it to the film before the wider release copies are made. This was in some of the articles that came out yesterday, like the LA Times piece. Hope that helps! Okay, thats interesting, thanks for the info! I was thinking before that it would be a bit strange if they (as in the cinemas I guess) knowingly showed a film that started off part way through the story, where the audience are wondering what the heck is going on lol...
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Post by OwenFan96 on Sept 24, 2007 22:26:39 GMT -5
same article i posted in owens section..
'Darjeeling' director Wes Anderson powers this train
Few would consider the eccentric tastemaker as gossip fodder. But that was before the police-reported suicide attempt by Owen Wilson, longtime pal and a lead in his new release, The Darjeeling Limited, which opens the New York Film Festival on Friday before an exclusive run in the city begins Saturday. The magical misery tour through India taken by three brothers mourning the loss of their father is no longer just another stylishly amusing entry in Anderson's ongoing study of familial dysfunction. Instead, the director's fifth feature has been upstaged by the disturbing events that unfolded Aug. 26 at Wilson's home in Santa Monica, Calif.
As a result, the melancholic odyssey aboard a locomotive won't be best remembered for its omnipresent 11 pieces of custom Louis Vuitton luggage, so soft and creamy you can practically smell the animal-motif leather. Nor will it be famous for the hauntingly mood-appropriate trio of songs borrowed from Lola vs. Powerman & the Money-Go-Round, a largely forgotten 1970 Kinks album.
As for Anderson's amuse bouche of a 13-minute companion piece, Hotel Chevalier, on Apple's iTunes website starting Wednesday, it is destined to be a mere footnote.
Most likely, all eyes will be on Wilson, 38, as he plays ringleader and eldest brother Francis to Adrien Brody's Peter and Jason Schwartzman's Jack with his head wrapped in bandages, the aftermath of a motorcycle accident that he later admits was intentional.
The sight of the so-called Butterscotch Stallion's sad-clown countenance, studded with scars and scabs as he gives enthusiastic pep talks to promote their uneasy bonding, just adds to the uncomfortable poignancy of the situation.
Wilson will speak for himself
Meanwhile, Anderson, also 38, is in an awkward place as both an artist and a friend. He cares about the welfare of his fellow Texan, former college roommate and frequent collaborator, and he doesn't want to encroach on his privacy.
"I just don't want to be his spokesman," Anderson says on the phone while traveling across Italy a week and a half ago. "I feel it's not my place to go into details. It's all for Owen to do. When he shares his thoughts with the world, he will do a good job."
As if to appease with some positive news, he adds: "I will say that I was with him out in L.A. I spoke to him while at the Venice Film Festival, and I talk to him often. He sounds very good."
About the speculations in the tabloid press (the latest: photos that supposedly reveal Wilson's slashed left wrist), most of them neither confirmed nor denied, Anderson says: "They make up stuff, and a lot of it is wrong. Anyone interested will find there is nothing too mysterious. Just simple stuff we all understand. It's up to him to talk about it." He answers as politely as possible, but it is apparent he would much rather discuss his new movie, of which he has said, "It means a great deal to me, and it also means a great deal to Owen."
It might involve dodging inquiries, but Anderson needs to promote his downsized Darjeeling, a reinvigorating return to a less cumbersome, more boutique approach to filmmaking that arrives at a crucial point in his career.
Streamlined adventure
The critics who adored Rushmore and admired The Royal Tenenbaums were less enthused about overly ambitious The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. The 2004 belly-flop starring Bill Murray as a crusty oceanographer cost more than $50 million and took in only $24 million. Changes had to be made.
Now, Anderson has a niche-savvy studio behind him, Fox Searchlight, instead of a blockbuster behemoth such as Disney. He has recruited a fresh crop of writing partners, Rushmore discovery Schwartzman and his cousin, Roman Coppola, son of Francis. To savor India firsthand, the threesome took a trip similar to the film's brotherhood, ending up in the Himalayas with a printer in tow — just like the one carried by Wilson's Francis in Darjeeling.
"Everything was alien to us and exotic," Anderson says. "We felt very welcome. Going someplace foreign was a positive experience. We literally finished the script on the highest mountain we went to."
He also was able to switch tracks and take a more minimalist route behind the camera.
"I wanted to move much more quickly," he says of the production that cost $20 million and took 38 days to shoot, compared with 100 days for The Life Aquatic. "I was reducing the budget as we went along. We didn't have costume people. Actors came to the set in their costumes with wireless mikes built in. They took care of their own hair and makeup. It was a complicated movie, a lot of locations and dealing with 12-car trains. But the process made it a pleasure."
As for Wilson's state of mind while on location last December, "We had a great time," Anderson says. "Here's Owen, this big star, living in a room next to Jason. No trailer, no special treatment. I said, 'This is how we are going to do this movie,' and he said, 'Sounds great to me.' He was very good then."
A band of brothers
Brody, 34, speaking before news broke about Wilson's troubles, says a rewarding time was had by all. "They were wonderful," he says. "It didn't feel like work in a lot of ways."
An only child, the Oscar winner for 2002's The Pianist liked hanging out with his movie siblings. "Having brothers was something I always wanted. We lived together in one house, and it felt good. It was kind of like being at a summer camp for wayward youth."
Schwartzman, 27, openly idolized Wilson. "He was very intimidated by Owen over the years," Anderson says. "They became much closer during the movie. They knew each other from Rushmore (which Wilson co-wrote) and were both close to me. But I never got them together until India."
And Wilson, with his surfer insouciance intact, did not disappoint, Schwartzman says.
"He's funny, nice, kind, great. There was a little-brother aspect to it. I would talk to Owen and if I made him laugh a couple times, that would make me feel good. Then I would see Adrien having the best time with Owen and making him laugh. And I felt jealous, like a possessive lover."
But that was then. This is now. And one brother is MIA.
Most Anderson fans have wondered about the suicidal tendencies that run through his oeuvre, some involving Wilson's characters.
Does he now regret the suicide theme in Darjeeling? "My only answer is that it comes more from me than Owen," the director explains. "He is just playing a role. There's not much else there. People can't avoid making connections, but they are making them after the fact."
Many couldn't help but play amateur shrink, either, as they recalled the hard-to-forget scene in The Royal Tenenbaums, co-written by Wilson, where his brother Luke's character slits his wrists. Says Anderson: "I wrote that character myself. Owen was not in on that one."
Darjeeling's three siblings were partly inspired by his two brothers as well as Wilson's: "Owen, Luke and Andrew are a part of this."
He almost sighs with relief when the subject switches to an Internet rumor — not about Wilson but a theory that Francis, Peter and Jack are named after Coppola, Bogdanovich and Nicholson, all amigos in their low-budget Roger Corman days. After all, Francis likes to direct the action, Peter wears huge glasses, and Jack is a bit of a womanizer.
Are they being referenced? "Not really. Like, for example, Jason's father is Jack. There is not much in it except for the fact we named them after people who were close to home for all of us."
Given the circumstances surrounding Darjeeling, it is probably for the best that it is basically an adult child coming-of-age story that carries more gravity than, say, one of Wilson's Frat Pack buddy romps.
When a life-altering tragedy occurs after the brothers are thrown off the train following such incidents as an escaped snake and a raucous brawl, Anderson reverentially follows it with 10 minutes of dialogue-free imagery. "Everything changes from that point on. It doesn't really lighten up."
And unlike Anderson's usual father-fixated individuals, the daddy figure here (a cameo by Murray) is hardly in the picture as the struggling lads — Francis is still healing, Peter has a baby on the way, Jack just suffered a bad breakup — are left to their own devices.
"I kept saying I have too many fathers in these movies," the director says. "In the end, the three of us just wrote what we felt was right. The luggage represents the father. It's practically in every frame. We barely hear his name and don't know what happened to him. But they cling to these suitcases."
In the end, much of that emotional baggage is left behind.
Given Anderson's cult status, Wilson's situation probably won't affect Darjeeling's box office. "It's a small film at heart," says Paul Dergarabedian of Media by Numbers. "There might be a slightly higher awareness. But it was never meant to be a blockbuster."
One question remains: Will Anderson and his buddy work together again? And especially, will they write together again since many feel they bring out the best in each other's words?
"Owen is a huge part of the filmmaking team," Anderson assures. "He always will be. We have lots of other things in mind to do together. We have an inventory."
In other words, the train doesn't stop here.
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