Tag: todd field

First look at TÁR and Borderlands shown at CinemaCon
Posted on
Apr 29, 2022

First look at TÁR and Borderlands shown at CinemaCon

Happy Friday, everyone!

Attendees of CinemaCon 2022 in Las Vegas were treated to a first look at TÁR and Borderlands which will be both released this year. There is also an additional article with interview with Cate from The Hollywood Reporter for Chaplin  Awards.

TÁR Reaction

First footage of TÁR was specifically created to be shown at the event on Wednesday (April 27th). The movie is on the upcoming slate of Focus Features and is schedule to be released on October 7th 2022.

Cate Blanchett Smokes The Competition As A World-Famous Conductor

According to Deadline, the film will follow Blanchett’s Lydia Tár, a (fictional) renowned and groundbreaking conductor who becomes the first woman to lead a major German orchestra. “Joker” composer Hildur Guðnadóttir will score the picture, while Field is writing and producing in addition to directing. Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Julian Glover, Mark Strong, Allan Corduner, Sylvia Flote, and cellist and Royal Academy of Music alum Sophie Kauer are among the announced cast.

The film is in post-production, but CinemaCon audiences were treated to an exclusive first look at the footage so far.

The footage shown at CinemaCon was brief, albeit striking. A woman (Cate Blanchett with her face obscured) stands against a black background, slowly opening her mouth to let smoke pour out. I know, I know, smoking is bad, but Blanchett makes it look like the coolest, sexiest thing in the world. The shot is presented with a narration discussing how the pandemic has had a massive impact on our culture and belief systems.

“But there are other plagues,” the narrator says.

The narration continues, talking about nature, but the camera remains on this single shot of smoke leaving her lips, and pulsating into a strange form that continues obscuring her face. The narration takes a turn for the intense, and says that you must “stand in front of God and obliterate yourself.” Finally, the camera cuts to a different image, one of a woman conducting the orchestra. Lydia Tár may not be a real person, but whomever this woman is that Blanchett is bringing to life, seems like an absolute badass.

Official plot details about “TÁR” are scarce, but Focus Features says it’s “set in the world of classical music, starring the incomparable Cate Blanchett.”

Focus Features shows the new Todd Field movie at CinemaCon

Audiences got a look at TÁR, the first film from Todd Field (Little Children) in 16 years. Not much is known about the film just yet, only that it takes place in the world of classical music and stars Cate Blanchett. That should be enough. The footage shown at CinemaCon was created exclusively for the event and consisted of Blanchett exhaling smoke in slow motion while a monologue about the nature of power played underneath. 

Borderlands Reaction

On the last day of CinemaCon 2022, Lionsgate has presented their 2022 slate which includes Borderlands starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Black, Ariana Greenblatt and Florian Montaneau. There is no release date for the yet. Based on the reports from the attendees, a clip for Borderlands that run for one minute was shown during Lionsgate sizzle reel.

IGN Southeast Asia — The first look at the Borderlands movie was revealed at CinemaCon 2022, and it looks to be a faithful adaptation of the beloved video game franchise. While we only saw about a minute of footage, it was immediately clear that this film is set in the Borderlands universe. From the artstyle to hearing Jack Black as Claptrap to seeing Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Patricia Tannis, and Kevin Hart as Roland, all the familiar beats from Borderlands are being hit, albeit with a bit of Hollywood starpower being thrown in.

The Hollywood Reporter — The first footage for Borderlands has arrived — and just like the immensely popular video game series, it was spectacular.

The highly-anticipated film, based on the blockbuster gaming series developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K, got a sneak peek Thursday during the Lionsgate panel at CinemaCon.

Lionsgate showed approximately a minute of electric footage that showcased Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett as she’s never been seen before, in a fire-engine-red wig, toting a gun and fighting her way through a vibrantly colored cityscape. Kevin Hart also appeared as did Jack Black voicing the robot Claptrap that unexpectedly takes a bullet from Blanchett’s gun with a punchline to follow.

SlashFilm — The “Borderlands” footage came as part of a sizzle reel from Lionsgate, which also showcased footage from “The Hunger Games” prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and the upcoming “Dirty Dancing” sequel. In the footage, we see Cate Blanchett as Lilith in a killer bright red wig, which seems worth the price of admission alone. Kevin Hart’s character Roland says, “Nothing better than a little wham, bam, thank you, man.” There’s a robot (fans of the games will recognize as Claptrap) voiced by Jack Black, who says, “Whoopsie, you accidentally shot me in the face again.”

And that’s about all there was to see! It isn’t much, just enough to give a little tease of the upcoming “Borderlands” movie, which looks like it will maintain the humorous tone of the game.

JoBlo — A small amount of footage from the live-action adaptation of Borderlands was also teased, with Bumbray saying that the colour scheme looks insane. Cate Blanchett stars as Lilith, an infamous treasure hunter with a mysterious past who reluctantly returns to her home planet to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B. The footage showcased Blanchett fighting across a cityscape, gun in hand, with Kevin Hart also appearing as Roland and Jack Black voicing Claptrap.

Cate Blanchett “Completely and Utterly Overwhelmed” by Chaplin Award Honor

On Monday night Cate Blanchett became the second-youngest recipient of Film at Lincoln Center’s Chaplin Award. And though Blanchett is a two-time Oscar winner and has worked with Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro and Wes Anderson, among other luminaries, she was “completely and utterly overwhelmed,” she told The Hollywood Reporter, to have received this year’s honor.

“I don’t even know how to express it because you look at the look of previous honorees, and they’re so eclectic, but to a woman, they’re all of them are people who’ve had a deep influence on the American cultural landscape and on filmmaking at large internationally,” she added. “They’re people who I have individually revered, but collectively it’s like entering some sort of strange pantheon.”

She continued, laughing, “Hopefully, I can make it out of the building without them taking the award away from me.”

The honor is Film at Lincoln Center’s second Chaplin Award to be presented in the past 12 months, with Spike Lee receiving his honor in a delayed ceremony that took place in September.

Yet Monday night’s proceedings weren’t totally unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was announced at the top of the gala that director Todd Haynes, who was set to conduct a Q&A with Blanchett, would not be there since he had tested positive for COVID that morning. Then, the audience was told, presenter Bradley Cooper, who recently starred with Blanchett in Nightmare Alley, was also “not feeling well.” These two announcements, greeted with groans from the audience, were quickly followed by Blanchett shouting from the audience, “I’m here,” which prompted cheers.

The evening featured tributes from Scorsese, Richard Linklater, Hugh Jackman and producer Christine Vachon, who presented Blanchett with her award and shared with the audience that Haynes, though “devastated” not to be there, was apparently still feeling well enough to be frequently texting her throughout the event, wondering what they were doing. Film Comment co-deputy editor Devika Girish filled in for Haynes.

Prior to the gala, Film at Lincoln Center president Lesli Klainberg shared that despite Blanchett perhaps not being old enough for a lifetime achievement award, she had amassed enough impressive, diverse work over her nearly 30 years in the industry to make her worthy of this honor.

“I think Cate really embodies a really extraordinary artist of this time who has worked in independent films; she has worked on studio films; she works on blockbuster studio films,” Klainberg told THR. “The extraordinary variety of directors that she’s worked with, it’s just amazing to think about how many of the finest directors of our time she has been able to work with and all of her projects — we felt that she was also a person who was so active still, still working—this is not intended as an end of your career award.”

As for what’s next for her, Blanchett said she doesn’t have a particular type of project she hasn’t done that she wants to do, but she looks forward to getting a “strange ask.”

“I always think that the job I just finished is my last, and I will finally go and grow orchids in my greenhouse,” she said of her career plans. “I guess if I look back, it’s that I’ve always gravitated towards the strange ask or the ask that’s just an antidote to what I’ve done in some way. It’s an undeniable ask, and the directors I’ve worked with have usually made those asks of me. Not necessarily that I’ve achieved what I’ve wanted to achieve through that role or that production or that they have either, but the ask has been really undeniable.”

Sources: SlashFilm-TAR, JoBlo-TAR, THR-Borderlands, IGN, SlashFilm-Borderlands, JoBlo-Borderlands, THR

Cate Blanchett podcast interviews; & conversation with Bradley Cooper
Posted on
Jan 21, 2022

Cate Blanchett podcast interviews; & conversation with Bradley Cooper

Happy Friday, blanchetters!

We continue to get awesome interviews with Cate as part of promotion for Nightmare Alley. Searchlight Pictures released new interview with Cate and Bradley Cooper. She also talked about Don’t Look Up and her upcoming projects. Sirius XM uploaded another short video which was part of the podcast interview with them. Listen to the podcast interviews below. Beware of spoilers, especially at the second half of the conversation with Bradley Cooper!

Cate Blanchett on playing a murderous psychoanalyst in Nightmare Alley

‘It’s about unlocking the human monster’: The actor discusses her role in Guillermo del Toro’s new film noir, which takes us into the bizarre world of carnivals

Guillermo del Toro is known for his grotesque creations. In Pan’s Labyrinth, the Mexican director dreamed up a child-eating demon with eyes in its palms; in Cronos, a vampire licks blood off a public bathroom’s floor. For his 11th feature, Nightmare Alley, his first without fantastical elements, del Toro deploys the noir genre to showcase a new type of monster: Cate Blanchett as a psychoanalyst with a murderous edge.

Mixing fraud with Freud, Lilith Ritter (Blanchett) upends the 1940s-set thriller on its painterly head. For the first hour, Stan (Bradley Cooper) toils at a carnival before fleeing with a romantic partner, Molly (Rooney Mara). He then moonlights as a mentalist, faking an ability to read wealthy minds – except Lilith can out-scheme a schemer. In 1999, Blanchett depicted a naïve socialite who’s duped in The Talented Mr Ripley; two decades later, Lilith may as well be renamed The Talented Ms Ritter.

“Guillermo, more than any other director, is fascinated by monsters,” Blanchett, 52, tells me over the phone from London in mid-January. “But in this one, it’s about unlocking the human monster. There’s a dark, monstrous creature inside Bradley that he’s in absolute denial of. My character encourages him to face that monster. It’s a dance of death. She knows that one of them’s going to be destroyed by it.”

Del Toro is the second director to adapt William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel for the screen. In the book, Gresham wrote that Lilith bears “the smile of a well-fed kitten” and laughs with “the bark of a fox”; in del Toro’s screenplay, which he penned with Kim Morgan, Lilith is “an icy woman of indeterminate age”. Helen Walker’s interpretation in the 1947 movie is more of a fake friend – a nightmare ally, if you will.

“Hopefully Lilith is an enigma,” Blanchett says. “Someone who’s completely unknowable. Anyone who’s been in psychoanalysis is desperately trying to unlock the recesses of their therapist’s mind. It’s a magnetic pull, because they seem to be like the Sphinx – they hold the answer to all the riddles they ask you. But in the end, they hold a mirror up to yourself.”

In a jagged, microphone-rigged office decorated like an image from a captcha test, Lilith welcomes Stan into her lair. As she treats numerous upper-class patients, Lilith provides Stan with their deepest, most sordid secrets, enabling him to continue his con; often these exchanges unfold in whispers, both leaning in for a kiss but settling for a flirtatious, breathy conversation that, coincidentally, propels the story along. At circuses, a geek – a performer who bites live chickens – is typically an alcoholic in need of booze; here, the psychoanalyst drip-feeds Stan with sex and romance, knowing he’ll do anything if the affection suddenly evaporates.

Then again, Lilith feeds off Stan, too, because everyone in Nightmare Alley self-medicates. It could be opium, it could be love. “Or maybe it’s acting!” Blanchett interjects. “The set was incredibly claustrophobic. I didn’t leave that office for four weeks. It’s like I was in the Amber Room, buried three storeys underground. Apart from the Copacabana, you never see her outside, whereas Stanley’s out in the world. He’s an instrument. A blunt instrument, unfortunately. She’s hoping he’s a Stradivarius, but it turns out he’s just an Okie with straight teeth.”

Blanchett is both a modern A-lister – her recent credits include a Leo DiCaprio-seducing TV host in Don’t Look Up, and the CGI-contorting Hela in Thor: Ragnarok – and a performer suited to period pieces. Comfortable as a young Bob Dylan in I’m Not There and Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, Blanchett inhabits Lilith as a classical femme fatale of the black-and-white era. “But normally the motivations of a femme fatale are in service of the plot, whereas I felt with Lilith there’s a higher purpose to it. Stan believes his lies, and my character is trying to unlock the truth in all its terrifying hideousness.”

Because I welcomed Blanchett “into my office” at the start of the phone call, the interview is littered with references as to how I’m the Lilith Ritter of our chat – until I describe Lilith’s voice as seductive and motherly. “Ooh, seductive and motherly,” she says. “Does that say more about you or me? Who’s on the couch now! Well, I think the room’s a psychic space as much as a physical office. It was important to have a voice that felt like it was inside Stan’s head, because he’s in such denial about who he is, what’s motivating him, and his ineptitude.” She also sought to create a hybrid between how people speak now and in the forties. “Hopefully the voice is timeless.”

In 2019, Stanley Kubrick’s assistant, Leon Vitali, revealed that Blanchett did uncredited voice work on Eyes Wide Shut. When Tom Cruise attends the orgy, the masked woman played by Abigail Good was overdubbed by Blanchett. “That happened after the fact,” she recalls. “I wasn’t allowed to see the film. It’s always a strange thing, when you’re asked to voice somebody else.”

So were Cruise and Nicole Kidman, who both recommended Blanchett, searching for someone vocally seductive (the character is nude) and motherly (she also rescues Cruise)? “They didn’t use the word ‘motherly’.” So just seductive? “Yeah. I mean, if you look at the sequence, it’s very strange and dreamlike and otherworldly – and a psychic space. Maybe that’s what they were after.”

In Britain, BAFTA longlisted Blanchett for Don’t Look Up; in America, SAG nominated her for Nightmare Alley. When I ask if there’s a cultural divide, she opts to skip the question and instead emphasise that Nightmare Alley is intended for the big screen. “It’s cinematic,” she continues. “There’s nothing like sitting with strangers in the dark, watching things. A master like Guillermo, having big, big, epic thoughts, in all of this glorious visual wonderment? It’s delicious.” Do people in the UK have a moral duty to see it in theatres? “A moral duty? Uh… OK, I’ll let you say that. That’s a good one.”

However, Blanchett describes Nightmare Alley, and its deconstruction of the American Dream, as a topical film, even if it’s set in the forties. “But it couldn’t be further from agitprop. It’s set in a circus and a world that feels familiar but strange. It provides us with a space, in an entertaining way, to reflect on what’s going on, without having it banged over our heads.”

So if it gets remade in 50 years’ time when the planet is underwater, will it still resonate? “Guillermo might be right for that remake – he’s good with underwater creatures. Look, you can’t view anything at the moment without reflecting on what we’re going through as a species. But this had been brewing for Guillermo and Kim for quite a long time. He’s really obsessed with how monstrous we’ve become when we start to believe our own lies. And that feels like an incredibly resonant theme to explore.”

The Pat Kenny Show

5 Minutes On – Cate Blanchett – “how we’ve lost the meaning of truth”

The Australian’s latest role as a psychoanalyst in Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Nightmare Alley’ has already secured her a nomination at next month’s Screen Actors Guild Awards. The film is a neo-noir psychological thriller set in the 1940s about a conman, played by Bradley Cooper, who starts believing his own lie. Cate Blanchett thinks it’s a theme that will resonate in today’s world, in which she says the truth has been politicised – and the confusion between fact and fiction has created a challenging environment for us all. For 5 Minutes On, she’s been talking to our entertainment correspondent, Colin Paterson, about the film, the future of cinema – and how during lockdown the only way she could engage her seven-year-old in home schooling was to dress up as her teacher and impersonate her voice.

 

— BBC

Cate Blanchett on Her Double Oscar Buzz, Skipping ‘Ricardos’ and New Pedro Almodóvar Movie

Cate Blanchett delivers two outstanding performances that are both in the awards conversation this year: “Don’t Look Up” and “Nightmare Alley.” The star shepherds grace and a hypnotic trance that has the viewer hanging on every single word she releases.

With another impressive turn in Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up,” Blanchett is a contender in what is easily our strongest field of supporting actress contenders in the last 30 years. Blanchett was shortlisted at BAFTA for “Don’t Look Up,” and also picked up a SAG Award nod for Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley.”

Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast recently spoke with Blanchett about her double dip in the awards arena this season, and having to turn down the role of Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin’s “Being the Ricardos,” which ultimately went to Nicole Kidman. Plus, the Australian actor talks about her next project with Pedro Almodóvar and why she thinks it’s important to get back to movie theaters.

In what was reported exclusively on Variety, Blanchett will next work with Almodóvar on “A Manual for Cleaning Women,” his first English-language feature, which she will star in and also produce.

She also discusses her other upcoming movies like “TÁR” from Todd Field, “Pinocchio” from Guillermo del Toro and “Borderlands” from Eli Roth. Another possible project in the works is Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” which she’s been rumored to be circling alongside other stars such as Oscar Isaac and Zendaya. Isaac was said to be in discussions to play Desi Arnaz in Aaron Sorkin’s “Being the Ricardos” around the time that Blanchett was being eyed to play Lucille Ball.

“It became the movie it needed to be,” she says of what ultimately transpired with “Ricardos.” “Those things happen in the right way, at the right time. In the best possible way, you don’t always envisage the same thing; and then it goes on to become a different entity.” As for the possibility of working with Coppola she says, “When Francis calls, you just have to say yes. Because you’re on the epic, life-changing adventure ride. You’re on that roller coaster. I’m ready for that.”

“Don’t Look Up” is distributed by Netflix and is now streaming on the platform. “Nightmare Alley” is distributed by Searchlight Pictures and is now playing in theaters.

 — Variety

Sirius XM

 

TÁR release date; & Nightmare Alley Promotions
Posted on
Nov 26, 2021

TÁR release date; & Nightmare Alley Promotions

Hi, Blanchetters!

Focus Features has released a bit more information on TÁR including it’s release date. Nightmare Alley promotion will begin with Cate as guest on The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert on December 1st followed by Good Morning America on December 2nd. A new clip has also been released, and a new behind the scene photo shared by still photographer, Kerry Hayes. Don’t Look Up will also have a New York premiere on December 5th but it is not confirmed yet if Cate will attend. Check them below.

Todd Field’s TÁR Starring Cate Blanchett Sets Release Date

Focus Features will release Todd Field’s TÁR on Friday, October 7, 2022 domestically.

About TÁR

Focus Features and Universal Pictures International present TÁR. The new motion picture from three-time Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Todd Field, starring two-time Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett. The film, set in the international world of classical music, centers on Lydia Tár, widely considered one of the greatest living composer/conductors and first-ever female chief conductor of a major German orchestra. The supporting cast includes Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Mark Strong, Allan Corduner, and Sylvia Flote.

The score for TÁR will be composed by Grammy-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir. The first female composer to win an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award for Best Original Score.

TÁR’s website is already up. Click the photo:

Nightmare Alley Promo

Let the Nightmare Alley promo begins! Cate will on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert which airs at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. She will also be on Good Morning America airing from 7:00-9:00AM ET on ABC.

Good Morning America: Thursday, Dec. 2—Actress Cate Blanchett (“Nightmare Alley”); Deals and Steals with ABC e-commerce editor Tory Johnson; GMA’s Rise and Shine tour of America: Nevada

Publicity in NY on MTA Shuttle

Don’t Look Up Premiere

Source: Focus Features, Late Night, GMA, Don’t Look Up

First Look at Cate Blanchett on set of TÁR; & ‘The Champions’ Movie Adaptation
Posted on
Nov 14, 2021

First Look at Cate Blanchett on set of TÁR; & ‘The Champions’ Movie Adaptation

Happy Sunday, blanchetters!

We have our first look at Cate in TÁR. Also, Cate will be producing and starring in the movie, The Champions, with Ben Stiller who will also direct it.

Cate Blanchett on set of TÁR

Cate Blanchett in ‘The Champions’ Movie Adaptation

Ben Stiller and Cate Blanchett are teaming up to turn the 1960s espionage television series “The Champions” into a movie.

In addition to acting, Stiller is directing the upcoming film adaptation. Blanchett is producing through her company Dirty Films, and Stiller is producing through his label Red Hour Productions. Additional producers include ITV Studios America and New Republic Pictures.

“The Champions” movie, paying homage to the TV show from Dennis Spooner, follows three United Nations agents whose plane crashes into the Himalayas. Upon being rescued by an advanced civilization secretly living in Tibet, they are granted enhanced intellectual and physical abilities. When the agents return to the outside world, they use their new superhuman abilities to become champions of law, order and justice.

“’Champions’ is a long-forgotten gem that will excite a new generation in the same strange and magnificent way that the original series spoke to us. I’ve long wanted to work with Ben — the director and the actor. He is one of the most engaged and versatile directors working today. Anyone who can make both ‘Zoolander’ and ‘Escape at Dannemora’ is a creative force to be reckoned with,” said Blanchett.

Stiller adds, “I’m a huge fan of Cate’s for a very long time. I’m hoping this project will help people to finally take her seriously as an actress.”

The small-screen version of “The Champions” ran in the U.K. on ITV. The series, which consists of 30 episodes, aired in the U.S. on NBC starting in the summer of 1968. Stuart Damon, Alexandra Bastedo, William Gaunt and Anthony Nicholls starred in the show.

“There’s no doubt that we have a superhuman team on board to bring this riveting series to life for a new audience,” said Philippe Maigret, President of ITV Studios America.

“The Champions” marks the latest collaboration between New Republic and Dirty Films through its first-look deal. They previously announced “Queen Bitch and the High Horse,” written by Eric Matthew Brown and directed by Bert and Bertie.

“New Republic Pictures is thrilled to be teaming up with Ben Stiller and Cate Blanchett — an irresistible cinematic spy duo if ever there were one — along with our friends at ITV and Dirty Films, as we reimagine ITV’s fun and iconic 1960’s espionage franchise, ‘The Champions.’ Literally can’t wait,” said New Republic president Bradley Fischer, who is serving as a producer with Brian Oliver. Andrew Upton and Coco Francini of Dirty Films will also produce.

Blanchett is currently in production on Todd Field’s drama “Tar” and recently wrapped filming on Eli Roth’s video game adaptation “Borderlands.” She will be seen next in Guillermo del Toro’s thriller “Nightmare Alley” for Searchlight Pictures and Adam McKay’s environmental satire “Don’t Look Up” at Netflix.”

Source: Variety

Written by Ellan
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Post Categories Movies, TAR
Cate Blanchett to lead ‘A Manual for Cleaning Women’ with script by Pedro Almodovar; Preview Interview from Portrait of An Artist; & TAR Updates
Posted on
Oct 2, 2021

Cate Blanchett to lead ‘A Manual for Cleaning Women’ with script by Pedro Almodovar; Preview Interview from Portrait of An Artist; & TAR Updates

Hi, everyone!

We’ve compiled recent news on Cate. We have a preview of Cate’s interview with Hugo Huerta Marin which was published on his book Portrait of An Artist. Cate is also circling the lead in A Manual for Cleaning Women which Pedro Almodovar wrote the screenplay. On TÁR related news, it has finished filming in Dresden, Germany and continues it in Berlin. Cate is also a signatory on a letter calling on Google, Amazon, Fox, Netflix, Disney & more to demand congress to support Biden’s climate plan.

Portrait of An Artist

Portrait of an Artist: Conversations with Trailblazing Creative Women by Hugo Huerta Marin is published by Prestel and is now available in the United States and will be out in the UK on October 5th, 2021. You can pre-order here.

Cate Blanchett leads the project ‘A Manual for Cleaning Women’ with a script by Pedro Almodóvar

This interview was Google translated, original interview in Spanish from El Pais is linked below.

“The actress [Cate Blanchett] loves the script and the shooting would be in English, but we no longer have the rights to the stories,” explains producer Agustín Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar premieres next Friday Parallel Mothers, the drama for which Penelope Cruz won the Volpi Cup at the last Venice Film Festival, “and he is already thinking about his next project,” as the producer and brother of the filmmaker told EL PAÍS, Agustín Almodóvar. “It has always been like this, as soon as I had finished a film I was already thinking about the next one,” he explains by phone. But it is not clear that it is a Manual for Cleaning Women, as was his initial plan before the pandemic, and of course before the short film The Human Voice, with Tilda Swinton, and Parallel Mothers, whose script wrote during confinement. As Agustín Almodóvar explains, “it is a question of rights and interests”.

Almodóvar adapted into a libretto – he has been with the project for three years – several of the 43 stories that make up the Manual for Cleaning Women, by Lucia Berlin, one of the books whose reading has most impressed him in recent years. The stories unfold between Texas, Oakland, and Mexico, in English and Spanish. “Two fifths of the script take place in Mexico,” recalls Almodóvar, the producer. “So it could be shot in Spain in locations in the Canary Islands, Andalusia…”. The script impressed who would have been its protagonist, Cate Blanchett. “Although the female character changes profession and sometimes physique, she is always, deep down, Lucia”, explains the producer. Handbook for cleaning ladies it would mark the filmmaker’s debut in a feature length in English, “after happily shooting the short with Tilda, although it is true that it was a small project carried out as a family,” says his brother. Almodóvar had already been offered projects to direct in the US, among them A Nun of Care or The Boy from the Newspaper, although they were commissions and he never felt that they came out organically from him. Julieta even wrote based on texts by Alice Munro for Meryl Streep, before deciding that the story would work much better in Spain and moved it from place and language, losing in the trip to the Hollywood star.

So what happened to Manual …? “The transfer of rights to the book is over,” explains the producer, who specifies his statements in a podcast from Castilla-La Mancha Media.” The script was done and Cate was excited about it.” But when the time came to definitively buy the adaptation rights, with what it involved an economic effort, and in doubt as to whether or not it would be shot, the Almodóvar production company El Deseo decided not to make the payment. “Now, Cate has decided to stick with him. He hasn’t bought the rights yet, he’s working on it, and he would do it with Pedro’s script ”. And then several possibilities would open up: from when the film is not made until it is directed by another director, or in the end by Pedro Almodóvar himself. “In international projects everything is uncertain”, recalls the producer. “If he goes ahead with another director, Pedro would appear as a scriptwriter and both he and I as co-producers”, with which they could even have a voice when choosing who directs the script. “The experience with Tilda was great, and Cate is the same kind of person. However, it is not at all clear that this is Pedro’s next shoot, ” his brother concludes.

CATE BLANCHETT RAVES ABOUT DRESDEN: “IT WAS A PLEASURE!”

The shooting of the film “TÁR” by director Todd Field, with Cate Blanchett in the role of conductor Lydia Tár, ended on Tuesday. Since September 16, the film had been shot in the Kulturpalast and, most recently, in the Palais in the Great Garden in Dresden .

Those involved in the film said goodbye with a lot of praise for the Saxon state capital and the Philharmonie.

“Thank you so much for welcoming us so warmly and generously to your impressive city,” said Blanchett enthusiastically. “It was a pleasure to work with his fantastic orchestra in the Kulturpalast.”

Director Field, who entered the city’s Golden Book during the recording, also spoke in the highest tones of Florence on the Elbe: “Dresden has a world-class orchestra and is a world-class city,” said the 57-year-old. “The Kulturpalast is a place for everyone: from small children who come here and look at picture books, to young adults who simply meet here or listen to music, to concert audiences. In the United States, I have never heard of anything like that. ”

As a special surprise, Todd Field had a letter from leading actress Cate Blanchett with him. She wrote to Mayor Dirk Hilbert: “Thank you for letting us be here in Dresden. You have a world class orchestra! I very much hope that I can come to Dresden again.

Dozens Of A-listers Calling On Google, Amazon, Fox, Netflix, Disney & More To Demand Congress Support Biden’s Climate Plan

As Democratic leadership tries to unite its progressive and moderate wings, a group of 80-plus artists, celebrities and activists called on the leaders of Google, Disney, Amazon, Fox, Facebook and more to urge Congress to support President Biden’s Biden’s Build Back Better plan.

Boldfaced signatories to the group letter included J.J. Abrams, Greg Berlanti, Cate Blanchett, Jack Antonoff, Don Cheadle, Ellen DeGeneres, Selena Gomez, Chris Evans, Jimmy Kimmel, Lady Gaga, John Legend, Chuck Lorre, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sean Penn, Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Porter, Robert Redford, Ryan Reynolds, Shakira, Barbra Streisand, Wes Studi, Justin Timberlake, Kerry Washington and many more. The full list of names is below.

Dear Entertainment Industry Executives:

Climate change has arrived on our doorstep: California is on fire, record-breaking and deadly storms are flooding New York City, hurricanes are devastating the Gulf. This summer alone, nearly one in every three people in the United States experienced an extreme weather event.

Scientists warn that if we fail to act now, every single one of us will feel the impacts, a billion people will be displaced, and low-income people and communities of color will continue to be hit first and worst. Right now, we have a critical window of opportunity to do something about it. And we need all hands on deck to demand that our leaders protect the people we love and the places they live before it’s too late.

Congress has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in a clean, just, and equitable future for all by passing the robust climate action that President Biden called for in his Build Back Better agenda. This legislation will create healthier communities, put millions to work in clean energy jobs, and free us from the fossil fuels that are driving climate change.

As the top leaders of the entertainment industry—one of the nation’s most powerful and influential business sectors—you are needed to lead our community’s call for action and embrace this vision for a better world. The entertainment community has a long, proud tradition of driving societal change. Our industry is already leading the charge toward more sustainable practices within our own businesses and productions. Now is the time to use your influence to shape our future.

Congress needs to hear you demand, unequivocally, that it put forward and pass the most ambitious climate change agenda in U.S. history.

The plan currently before Congress will protect people’s health and clean up our drinking water. It will create a just transition away from dirty fossil fuels and create millions of new jobs. It will protect communities from climate change through investments in clean energy, clean transportation, and infrastructure upgrades. And it will make sure we finally prioritize and invest in the low-income communities and communities of color that are hit hardest by both fossil fuel pollution and climate impacts.

This plan will create a stronger, brighter, and more just America—and we need you to help make this vision a reality.

At this pivotal moment, please lead the call. Demand publicly and loudly that our senators and representatives in Congress pass this critical legislation.

And we pledge to do our part as well. We will use our platforms to remind all Americans: Tell your senators and representatives in Congress that you demand climate action now. Advocate for Congress to take up the president’s climate agenda. And don’t stop there. Tweet. Post. E-mail. Call. Whatever it takes.

Sincerely,

J.J. Abrams
Anitta
Jack Antonoff
Troian Bellisario
Greg Berlanti
Cate Blanchett
Benny Blanco
Dave Burd aka “Lil Dicky”
Camila Cabello
Dove Cameron
Alessia Cara
Don Cheadle
Glenn Close
Coldplay
Jacob Collier
Lily Collins
James Corden
Ellen DeGeneres
Cara Delevingne
Leonardo DiCaprio
Zac Efron
Billie Eilish
Chris Evans
Jimmy Fallon
Finneas
Selena Gomez
Conan Gray
Grimes
Todrick Hall
Hugh Jackman
Jimmy Kimmel
Joey King
Liza Koshy
Lady Gaga
Cyndi Lauper
John Legend
Adam Levine
Kevin Liles
Dua Lipa
Lorde
Chuck Lorre
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Demi Lovato
Ziggy Marley
Shawn Mendes
Idina Menzel
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Sean Penn
Joaquin Phoenix
Billy Porter
Zachary Quinto
Addison Rae
Robert Redford
Ryan Reynolds
Mark Ronson
Kyra Sedgwick
Shakira
Lilly Singh
Troye Sivan
Barbra Streisand
Wes Studi
Ryan Tedder
Justin Timberlake
Kerry Washington
Sigourney Weaver
Shailene Woodley
Calum Worthy

Source: El Pais, Tag24, Saechsische, Deadline

First Look at Cate Blanchett in Don’t Look Up; and TÁR updates
Posted on
Sep 8, 2021

First Look at Cate Blanchett in Don’t Look Up; and TÁR updates

Hello, everyone!

We finally have our first look at Cate Blanchett as Brie Evantee in Don’t Look Up. Netflix has released the first stills and teaser which features Cate. Don’t Look Up’s runtime is 2 hours and 25 minutes.

We also have some news on Todd Field’s TAR which is currently in production in Berlin. Check them below.

First Look at Don’t Look Up

Click the image for higher resolution:

 

Cate Blanchett to play a chief conductor of an orchestra in TÁR

Production is now getting underway in and around Berlin for Todd Field’s first film in fifteen years, TAR. Led by Cate Blanchett, the first announcement for the long-awaited new feature by the director of In the Bedroom and Little Children was slim on details, but now after a logline was revealed, more of the cast has been announced.

A pair of international cinema’s greatest talents, Nina Hoss (Barbara, Phoenix, My Little Sister) and Noémie Merlant (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Paris 13th, District), have joined Blanchett in the drama, according to the German outlet Diesachsen. Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker, Sicario: Day of the Soldado) will provide the score, with filming confirmed at performances of the Dresden Philharmonic this month.

The actress will play the role of the first woman (Lydia Tár) ever to be invited as chief conductor of a large German orchestra, announced the Dresden Philharmonic. The shooting will start on September 16 in the concert hall of the Kulturpalast. 93 musicians from the Dresden Philharmonic are involved in the film project.

This filming also includes two regular concerts by the Dresden Philharmonic on September 18 and 19, for which tickets are still available. Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor will be performed under the direction of Stanislav Kochanovsky. Pictures are shot with the audience – according to the Philharmonie, however, “no close-ups”. Several tents and trucks will be set up around the Kulturpalast for the 120-strong film team.

Source: The Film Stage, MDR

Cate Blanchett in talks for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis; & first plot detail for Todd Field’s TAR
Posted on
Aug 31, 2021

Cate Blanchett in talks for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis; & first plot detail for Todd Field’s TAR

Hi, blanchetters!

Great news, Cate is in talks to star in the new movie by Francis Ford Coppola, and TAR is moving along as we get our first plot details and Cate was already seen in Berlin to begin production.

Cate Blanchett in talks for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis

Breathtaking bets on his vision established him as one of the greatest living American filmmakers and a vineyard magnate. Now, Francis Coppola is ready to put a lot of his hard-won chips on the table one more time to make his epic dream project, Megalopolis.

While the financial configuration is still evolving, Coppola at 82 years young is betting big on himself once again, by sharing the financial risks of a film that will cost between $100 million-$120 million. He is in deep discussions with a stellar cast of actors eager to work with the director of The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now!, The Conversation and other classics, on a seminal picture that is decades in the making.

While some conversations are further along then others, the actors Coppola is discussing roles with include Oscar Isaac, Forest Whitaker, Cate Blanchett, and Jon Voight, with Zendaya, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange also among those he is seeking. He will also reunite with James Caan, whose role as Sonny Corleone in Coppola’s The Godfather made Caan one of the biggest stars of that era. This for a big tapestry film that will have many other actors in the cast.

“I’m committed to making this movie, I’d like to make it in the fall of 2022,” Coppola revealed. “I don’t have all my cast approved, but I have enough of them to have confidence that it is going to be a very exciting cast. The picture’s going to cost between $100 million and $120 million. Needless to say, I hope it’s closer to $100 million. I’m prepared to match some outside financing, almost dollar for dollar. In other words, I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is. What’s interesting about that is, there was a documentary about my dream studio, when I owned Zoetrope Studios and I was unafraid to risk everything I had in order to make my dream come true. Well, I really haven’t changed my personality, at all.”

Megalopolis concerns an architect (Isaac) dreaming of a utopic version of New York City in the near future and his battle with the conservative mayor (Whitaker) during a financial crisis.

First Plot Details for Todd Field’s TAR Starring Cate Blanchett

Earlier this year we got the long-awaited news that Todd Field was, in fact, embarking on his first feature film in 15 years after a handful of projects in development never saw the light of day. Following 2001’s In the Bedroom and 2006’s Little Children, Field will return with TAR, a Focus Features project starring Cate Blanchett.

Set to film in Berlin, a casting notice has now revealed the first details regarding the plot: “The intellectual drama tells the story of world-renowned musician Lydia Tár (Blanchett), who is just days away from recording the symphony that will take her to the very heights of her already formidable career. Lydia Tár’s remarkably bright and charming six-year-old adopted daughter Petra has a key role to play here. And when elements seem to conspire against Lydia, the young girl is an important emotional support for her struggling mother.”

The casting notice is specifically for Petra, who is of Syrian origin. “The girl was adopted into privileged circumstances a few years ago where she happily leads the normal life of a young school girl,” the notice says. “She is very bright, self-confident and rather mature for her age. She has already experienced a lot. However her positive charisma supports her mother where she needs it most.”

With the makings of a complex leading role for Blanchett, we can’t wait to see Field return behind the camera. It also looks like the reported September start will occur as Blanchett has already been spotted in Berlin.

Sources: Deadline, The Film Stage, The Film Stage – Megalopolis

Cate Blanchett to star in new Todd Field film, TAR; and more news
Posted on
Apr 12, 2021

Cate Blanchett to star in new Todd Field film, TAR; and more news

Hi, everyone!

Some Cate movie news. She will be teaming up with director Todd Field for a new movie, and we also have update on which character she will be voicing in Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (thank you for the heads up from one of our chat members, Catepedia). You can also listen to Cate’s introduction for the Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing audiobook below.

Cate Blanchett, Todd Field Team On ‘TAR’ For Focus Features

Cate Blanchett and In the Bedroom director Todd Field have teamed up for the filmmaker’s next picture. She’ll star in TAR, a drama that Field wrote and will direct for Universal Pictures-based Focus Features. They are keeping the plot under wraps, but it is set in Berlin, and production will begin in September.

Field will produce under his Standard Film Company banner alongside Alexandra Milchan & Scott Lambert for Emjag Productions.

Field last directed Little Children, the adaptation of the Tom Perrotta novel for New Line, with Kate Winslet starring.

Most recently seen in Mrs. America, Blanchett wrapped the Guillermo Del Toro-directed Nightmare Alley and the Adam McKay-directed Don’t Look Up, and Pinocchio and she is filming the Eli Roth-directed Borderlands.

Cate Blanchett will voice The Dove in Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio

Pinocchio, the stop-motion animated musical directed by the team of Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, will follow Pinocchio (Gregory Mann) as he comes to life and dreams of becoming a real boy in 1930s Fascist Italy. Following his creation by Geppetto (David Bradley), the wooden puppet takes a liking to mischief and begins playing cruel tricks on those around him.

The Pinocchio cast will also feature the voices of Ewan McGregor as the Talking Cricket, Ron Perlman as Mangiafuoco, Tilda Swinton as the Fairy with Turquoise Hair, Cate Blanchett as The Dove, Finn Wolfhard as Lampwick, and several other notable stars.

Guillermo del Toro has been working on getting his darker version of Pinocchio off the ground since 2008 and went through a series of ups and downs before Netflix stepped in and revived the project in October 2018 with a release at some point in 2021. The exact release date remains unknown at this point, especially after Netflix announced that Pinocchio could be pushed back to 2022 or later.

Introduction of Lauren Hough’s Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing: Essay

You can listen to Cate’s introduction for Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing audiobook. There was also a 10-minute preview of the audiobook being read by Cate. Click here.

 

Source: Deadline, Cinemablend,