By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

THE WORLD PREMIERE OF “STAND UP GUYS,” STARRING OSCAR® WINNERS AL PACINO, CHRISTOPHER WALKEN AND ALAN ARKIN, AND PRODUCED BY OSCAR® WINNING PRODUCER AND CHICAGOAN TOM ROSENBERG, TO OPEN THE 48TH CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Posted Wednesday, September 5th, 2012 - Comments Off on THE WORLD PREMIERE OF “STAND UP GUYS,” STARRING OSCAR® WINNERS AL PACINO, CHRISTOPHER WALKEN AND ALAN ARKIN, AND PRODUCED BY OSCAR® WINNING PRODUCER AND CHICAGOAN TOM ROSENBERG, TO OPEN THE 48TH CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
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Producer Tom Rosenberg and Director Fisher Stevens with Cast Members Pacino, Walken, Arkin and Julianna Margulies Celebrate the Film’s Premiere in Chicago October 11, 2012

CHICAGO (September 05, 2012) – The eyes of the entertainment world will be on Chicago when the 48th Chicago International Film Festival opens with the World Premiere of the highly anticipated film “Stand Up Guys.” Produced by Chicagoan Tom Rosenberg (Academy Award® winner, “Million Dollar Baby”) and directed by Chicagoan Fisher Stevens (Academy Award ® winner, “The Cove”), the film features an all-star cast including Academy Award®-winners Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin and Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winner Julianna Margulies, all of whom will be in Chicago to celebrate the opening night of the Festival on October 11 at the Harris Theater (205 E. Randolph Dr.). Lionsgate will release “Stand Up Guys” for an Oscar®-qualifying run in Dec. in Los Angeles and New York, and nationwide on January 11.

“Bringing the World Premiere of ‘Stand Up Guys’ to Chicago is a tremendous honor,” said producer Tom Rosenberg.  “Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin are a powerhouse trio on screen – audiences are truly in for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I am grateful to my friend Michael Kutza for his kind invitation for all of us to be there opening night.”

 

“This is without a doubt the most exciting opening night for the Chicago International Film Festival in many years,” said Michael Kutza, Founder and Artistic Director of the Chicago International Film Festival. “Tom Rosenberg has been a long friend of the Festival and we are honored that he and Lionsgate have chosen this year’s Festival for the world premiere of this extraordinary film, and for bringing to Chicago this extraordinary assemblage of film legends and luminaries, several of whom give award-worthy performances in this film.”

 

“The Chicago International Film Festival strives to bring the best in cinema to the city of Chicago and to open the 48th Film Festival with the World Premiere of ‘Stand Up Guys’ does just that,” said the Chicago International Film Festival’s Programming Director Mimi Plauché. “To showcase the work of native Chicagoan Fisher Stevens in his hometown is thrilling not only for the Festival, but for Chicago audiences.”

 

“Stand Up Guys” stars Academy Award® winners Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin in a tough but touching action comedy as retired gangsters who reunite for one epic last night. Val (Pacino) is released from prison after serving twenty-eight years for refusing to give up one of his close criminal associates.  His best friend Doc (Walken) is there to pick him up, and the two soon reteam with another old pal, Hirsch (Arkin).  Their bond is as strong as ever, and the three reflect on freedom lost and gained, loyalties ebbed and flowed, and days of glory gone by.  And despite their age, their capacity for mayhem is still very much alive and well – bullets fly as they make a hilariously valiant effort to compensate for the decades of crime, drugs and sex they’ve missed. But one of the friends is keeping a dangerous secret- he’s been put in an impossible quandary by a former mob boss, and his time to find an acceptable alternative is running out.  As the sun rises on the guys’ legendary reunion, their position becomes more and more desperate and they finally confront their past once and for all.

 

Lionsgate, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Lakeshore Entertainment present a Lionsgate, Sidney Kimmel, Lakeshore Entertainment Production. Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin “Stand Up Guys” Julianna Margulies. Casting by Tricia Wood, CSA, Deborah Aquila, CSA; Music by Lyle Workman; Costume Designer Lindsay Ann McKay; Editor Mark Livolsi, A.C.E; Production Designer Maher Ahmad; Director of Photography Michael Grady.  Executive Producers Eric Reid, Ted Gidlow, Bruce Toll, Bingham Ray, Matt Berenson. Produced by Sidney Kimmel, Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Jim Tauber. Written by Noah Haidle.  Directed by Fisher Stevens.

 

Star-Studded Opening Night Ticket Information

Tickets for Opening Night of the 48th Chicago International Film Festival are on sale now and can be purchased online at the Festival Store: http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/catalog/ or by phone at 312- 332-FILM. Film-only tickets are: Balcony, $35 for Cinema/Chicago members and $40 for non-members; Main Floor, $45 for Cinema/Chicago members and $50 for non-members. VIP Ticket packages including a main floor seat and admission to the after party at The Sidney Yates Gallery of The Chicago Cultural Center (77 E. Randolph St., 4th Floor) are priced at $150/ticket.

 

Festival Passes and Theater Info
A variety of Festival Passes are on sale now. Pass options include:

Moviegoer (10 regular admissions): $95 for Cinema/Chicago members, $125 for non-members.
Passport (20 regular admissions): $180 for Cinema/Chicago members, $240 for non-members

Passes can be obtained by visiting www.chicagofilmfestival.com or by calling 312.683.0121.

Festival screenings will be at the AMC River East 21 Theater (322 E. Illinois St.). The full schedule will be unveiled at a press breakfast on September 20.

Festival Sponsors
Opening Night of the 48th Chicago International Film Festival is sponsored by presenting partner Columbia College Chicago and evening partners American Airlines, Land Rover, JW Marriott Chicago, Gibsons Restaurant Group, Public, Park Hyatt, Stella Artois, Brugal Rum, EC

Charro, WBBM NEWSRADIO 780 AND 105.9FM, ShutterBox Photobooth and Cultivate Studios.

 

Led by Presenting Partner, Columbia College Chicago, the 48th Chicago International Film Festival’s sponsors include: Official Airline – American Airlines; Producing Partners – AMC Theaters, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Major Partner – Intersites;

Supporting Partners – DePaul University School of Cinema and Interactive Media, Stella Artois, Chris Pagano – Realtor, Land Rover, WBBM NEWSRADIO 780 AND 105.9FM,, ShutterBox Photobooth; Participating Partners: iN Demand, EC Charro, Brugal Rum, Creative America, Gibsons Restaurant Group, Second City Computers, Optimus; and the Festival’s Headquarters Hotel, JW Marriott Chicago.

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About Cinema/Chicago
Cinema/Chicago is a not-for-profit cultural and educational organization dedicated to encouraging better understanding between cultures and to making a positive contribution to the art form of the moving image. The Chicago International Film Festival is part of the year-round programs presented by Cinema/Chicago, which also include the International Screenings Program (May-September), the Chicago International Television Competition (April), CineYouth Festival (May), Intercom Competition (October) and year-round Education Outreach and Member Screenings Program.

 

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Posted in Movie City News, Press Releases | Comments Off on THE WORLD PREMIERE OF “STAND UP GUYS,” STARRING OSCAR® WINNERS AL PACINO, CHRISTOPHER WALKEN AND ALAN ARKIN, AND PRODUCED BY OSCAR® WINNING PRODUCER AND CHICAGOAN TOM ROSENBERG, TO OPEN THE 48TH CHICAGO 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