Charlize gets Sam, Rivers gets roasted, Leo gets Brave, & TIFF film buffs get The Essential 100

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Okay, in the Golden Age of Hollywood they would have made him change his name. Zach Galifianakis, who has

STREEP: As new bestseller Julia Child

his pick of projects since his boffo boxoffice Hangover, is set to do a new comedy called Dinner With Schmucks (a title they also would have changed) … rising Aussie hearrthrob Sam Worthington has just signed on to co-star with Charlize Theron in a new thriller called The Tourist … Leonardo DiCapiro and director Ridley Scott are developing a new version of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World …  the Walter Cronkite memorial this morning at Avery Fisher Hall is the hottest ticket in New York, and once President Obama arrives, they’ll seal the doors. So latecomers will not be an issue … Vanity Fair literary lion Dominick Dunne will be memorialized tomorrow afternoon at St. Vincent Ferrer Church … and there’s no doubt about it, Meryl Streep and Amy Adams (a.k.a. Julie & Julia) have made Julia Child ‘hot’ again. Good news is, Ms. Child’s famed cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking has been reprinted and is #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Bad news is, my spies tell me the publisher didn’t reprint enough copies and most of the new editions have already been, you should pardon the expression, gobbled up.

UNFORGETTABLE: Besides being brilliant filmmakers, what do Ingmar Bergman, Francis Ford Coppola, Federico Fellini, Victor Fleming,

SCORSESE: two for the show

Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Akira Kurosawa, Fritz Lang, Jean Renoir, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Francois Truffaut and Wong Kar Wai have in common? Of 87, count ‘em, 87 international film directors, they’re the only ones who have more than one movie in The Essential 100, the TIFF film and gallery tribute of 100 films which will open Bell Lightbox next September.  The eye-popping four-month film tribute, which will run to the end of the year, is designed as a showcase for the most influential films of all time. Can’t wait.

ANN-MARGRET: honoured tonight

AGE-CANNOT-WITHER DEPT.: She conquered television, movies and Broadway, in that order, and has never stopped working. Am I the only one who can’t believe that Lily Tomlin just celebrated her 70th birthday? … also defying

all the Old standards: Enduring Hollywood icon Ann-Margret, here to be honoured by Best Buddies tonight at the Four Seasons … another ageless screen charmer, Linda Sorensen, is currently in Montreal shooting Barney’s Version … and indefatigable Joan Rivers, a sensational 76, is back in Vegas playing the showroom at the Venetian Hotel.

RIVERS: roasted this weekend

“It’s been nearly a decade since I played this town,” she reports, “and boy have a lot of things changed! When I used to perform in Vegas, all of the shows starred married couples. You had Steve & Eydie, Sonny & Cher and my favorites, Siegfried & Roy. One thing, though, has stayed the same—Vegas is the only place where you can see Cher, Bette Midler, Celine Dion and me, all in one night and all played by the same man.”

La Rivers, who is set to play Casino Rama later this month, gets roasted by host Kathy Griffin and a clutch of comedians including Brad Garrett, Carl Reiner and Gilbert Gottfried this weekend on The Comedy Network.

TOMORROW:

Charles Darwin on the Origins Of TIFF, new stage turns for Louise Pitre and Edie Falco, and a celluloid Tree that keeps on growing.

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The new kid in The Hall goes to Cannes

 

Maybe Simone Signoret was right after all.

As I recall, the title of her 1976 autobiography was  “La nostalgie   

n’est plus qu’elle était” (“Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used To Be”.)

I remember her in twilight, sitting outside the Colombe d’Or,  

clutching her shawl, hunched over like a little old French lady.

But while you wax poetic and I wane nostalgic, I hear another story, a  

new story, that makes me remember how we felt about Cannes in our  

halcyon salad days. And this story is unfolding as we speak.

He’s just a young guy from Newfoundland.

His name is Stephen Dunn.

Last November Stephen and seven other 1st year film students competed  

in the Toronto 48 Hour Film Project. They entered a short film called  

‘The Hall’ — a film which Stephen wrote and directed.

Competing against industry professionals many years their senior, they  

won Best Film, Best Writing, Best Acting, Best Cinematography, Best  

Editing and the Audience Choice award.

As a result they represented Canada at the Miami International Film  

Festival in March, won the top prize, and were proclaimed to be one of  

the Top 15 international short films for 2008.

‘The Hall’ was then chosen to screen in Boston on March 30 as one of  

the best films in the history of the 48 Hour Film Festival.

And where did that lead them? To Cannes.

‘The Hall’ will be screened this Tuesday March 19 at the festival’s  

Short Film Corner. (It will also be competing in the NFB’s online  

short film contest.)

And while i get all nostalgic about the once and magical student hang-

out on the Rue d’Antibes, I doubt if Stephen Dunn has ever heard of La  

Petit Carlton, let alone the Croisette hotel & terrace it was named for.

But then, he’s all about the present. And living every minute of it.

“I’m here now,” he emailed fellow Newfoundlander Rick Mercer,  “and  

it’s so effing intense. Yesterday I saw two films, saw Tilda Swinton,   

listened to Martin Scorsese speak TWICE and watched Francis Ford  

Coppela cry from 10 feet away. I’ve been here two days and can already  

say that this has been my most incredible trip yet.”

To check out ‘The Hall’ and its filmmaker, his youtube channel has his  

vlogs at

http://www.youtube.com/user/yourfriendinabox?blend=1&ob=4

The trailer for his short film is at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsWFRhOANoU&feature=channel_page

And his facebook page is located at

http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/profile.php?id=510961029

Yes, it’s a new world. But some traces of the ‘old world’ excitement  

still survive.

-/-

 

He’s just a young guy from Newfoundland.

He’s just a young guy from Newfoundland.

His name is Stephen Dunn.

Last November Stephen and seven other 1st year film students competed in the Toronto 48 Hour Film Project. They entered a short film called The Hall — a film which Stephen wrote and directed.

DUNN: kid from The Hall

Competing against industry professionals many years their senior, they won Best Film, Best Writing, Best Acting, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and the Audience Choice award.

As a result they represented Canada at the Miami International Film Festival in March, won the top prize, and were proclaimed to be one of the Top 15 international short films for 2008.

The Hall was then chosen to screen in Boston on March 30 as one of the best films in the history of the 48 Hour Film Festival.

And where did that lead them?

To this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The Hall will be screened March 18 — this Monday afternoon — at the festival’s Short Film Corner.

SWINTON: at Cannes

(It will also be competing in the NFB’s online short film contest.)

Stephen Dunn is having a very good time in Cannes.

“I’m here now,” he emailed fellow Newfoundlander Rick Mercer a few days ago,  “and it’s so effing intense. Yesterday I saw two films, saw Tilda Swinton,  listened to Martin Scorsese speak TWICE and watched Francis Ford Coppola cry from 10 feet away. I’ve been here two days and can already say that this has been my most incredible trip yet.”

I predict he will be just fine. If  he doesn’t implode by Monday.

To check out The Hall and its filmmaker, you can see his vlogs on his youtube channel right here.

To see the trailer for his short film, just click here.

And to send a message to him on Facebook — because, c’mon, you know you want to —  just click here.

Bonne chance, Stephen.  

Or we say in Quebec, Merde!