By Jake Howell jake.howell@utoronto.ca

Countdown To Cannes: Bennett Miller

Posted Sunday, April 27th, 2014 - Comments Off on Countdown To Cannes: Bennett Miller
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FOXCATCHERThe third in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

Background: U.S.; born New York City, New York 1966.

Bennett MillerKnown for / style: The Cruise (1998), Capote (2005), Moneyball (2011); directing commercials, music videos, and documentary works in addition to dramatic narratives; a small but varied filmography of nonfiction and biographical adaptations; a naturalistic approach to filmmaking.

Notable accolades: Miller’s most successful film is Capote, which landed an Academy Award nomination for Best Director in 2006 (Capote), a pair of Best First Feature wins from two separate critics societies (Toronto and New York), and a BAFTA nomination for Best Direction. Moneyball was also nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Editing, Sound Mixing, and Adapted Screenplay.

Film he’s bringing to Cannes: Foxcatcher, a film Miller has been trying to produce since 2007. Dramatizing true events behind John Eleuthère du Pont’s bizarre murder of Olympic champion Dave Schultz, and based on an autobiography by Schultz’ brother Mark, the film features Steve Carell (du Pont), Mark Ruffalo (Dave Schultz), and Channing Tatum (Mark Schultz). Additional cast includes Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Michael Hall, and Sienna Miller in supporting roles.

Previous Cannes appearances: Miller’s films have played many major festivals, but never Cannes.

Could it win the Palme? It’s too early to jump to conclusions, but there are many indications that Foxcatcher is going to be something good. For starters: Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures, the production company behind the film, is responsible for some of the most respected titles in recent years, and Miller has again drafted screenwriter and high school friend Dan Futterman (Capote) to help pen the script. A mooted release postponed from Christmas suggests time was taken to finish the film properly. The filmmaker can also boast the achievement of directing four actors to Oscar nominations (Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill for Moneyball; Catherine Keener and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote, eventual winner of the prize), so the festival’s acting trophies could very possibly find a home here. Additionally, Oscar-winning composer Mychael Danna (Life of Pi) scored. The tone of the film is sensitive, could invoke strong reactions, and all the production’s moving parts have very impressive résumés.

Why you should care: Working outside his comfort zone of comedy, it’s immediately clear that Steve Carell underwent a major transformation to play John du Pont, and prior to shooting the film in 2012, Channing Tatum stated Foxcatcher would be “the hardest acting challenge [he’s] had to date.” This is a film Miller has been trying to make for many years, so we’ll finally get to see what’s been keeping his thoughts occupied. Bottom line, though: Bennett Miller is a heavyweight when it comes to nonfiction adaptations, so expect the film to be a major player both on the Croisette and later in the awards season, when it is released stateside November 14, 2014.

Follow Jake Howell on Twitter: @Jake_Howell

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Posted in Cannes, Cannes Originals, MCN Originals, Movie City News | Comments Off on Countdown To Cannes: Bennett Miller

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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