By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

Monte Hellman Honored as Road to Nowhere Premieres at Palm Springs International Film Festival

Posted Monday, January 17th, 2011 - 8 Comments »
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January 17, 2011 Los Angeles, CA – The U.S. Premiere of Monte Hellman’s “Road to Nowhere” took place Saturday evening before a full house at the 2011 Palm Springs International Film Festival where the acclaimed director’s first feature film in more than two decades was a Special Presentation of the festival’s Monte Hellman Retrospective. Hellman was presented with the festival’s Maverick Award and, joined by influential filmmaker Roger Corman and writer/director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart), participated in a post-screening panel discussion moderated by Steven Gaydos at the Annenberg Theatre at The Palm Springs Art Museum.

In attendance to support the film was beautiful lead actress Shannyn Sossamon, John Diehl, Cliff De Young and Rob Kolar, who’s band “He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister” (with his sister Rachel Kolar) played at the pre and post screening parties, producer Melissa Hellman, writer and producer Steven Gaydos, Charlotte Mickie of Entertainment One, the film’s international sales agent, and Scott Mansfield and Jere Rae-Mansfield of monterey media, the film’s US distributor.

Written by Steven Gaydos, produced by Hellman, Gaydos and Melissa Hellman and starring Shannyn Sossamon (“A Knight’s Tale,” “The Rules of Attraction”), Dominique Swain (“Lolita,” “Alpha Dog”), Waylon Payne (“Walk the Line”), Cliff de Young, John Diehl, and Tygh Runyan, “Road to Nowhere” will have a late spring release in multiple cities following the completion of the film’s festival run.

About “Road to Nowhere”

In the words of one critic, “With ‘Road to Nowhere,’ Hellman and Gaydos have created a new genre: arthouse pulp. The film’s story focuses on cult film director Mitchell Haven, who has found the material to make his next movie. It’s a true crime story based in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, involving a beautiful young woman, Velma Duran, and her older politico lover, Rafe Taschen. Just as their so-called “true crime” goes awry, so does Haven’s obsessed attempt to make art out of their passions and misfortunes.

“Monte Hellman’s first feature film in 21 years is one of his finest and deepest, a twin peak to his 1971 masterpiece ‘Two Lane Blacktop.’“ – Variety

“A certifiable masterpiece…. sculpted with light and movement, bodies and sounds, Hellman goes for the essence: hurt and doubt.” – Film Comment

“Hellman’s first feature film in two decades is a triumphant return for one of cinema’s masters.”

– Sight and Sound

“’Road to Nowhere’ may also be as significant to the indie feature as ‘Avatar’ is to the popcorn movie.”

–The New York Times

About The Palm Springs International Film Festival
The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming 130,000 attendees each year for its lineup of new and celebrated international features and documentaries. The Festival is also known for its annual Black Tie Awards Gala, honoring the best achievements of the filmic year by a celebrated list of talents who in recent years have included Clint Eastwood, Kate Winslet, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ron Howard, Anne Hathaway, Jeff Bridges, Danny Elfman and many others.

For more information, please visit: www.montereymedia.com

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Posted in Movie City News, Press Releases | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “Monte Hellman Honored as Road to Nowhere Premieres at Palm Springs International Film Festival”

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon