shorts
Actors Call the Shots
It’s not uncommon for actors to become directors, but it is rare to have four actor-directed features hit the screen in the same month, as is the case this month.
• Ben Affleck kicks things off with his first film, the crime drama Gone Baby Gone, based on Dennis Lehane’s (Mystic River) book. Affleck, whose only other directing credit is the 16-minute short
I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney, must have felt a little family support was in order and cast brother Casey in the lead role. Also, by adapting a Lehane book — Affleck wrote the screenplay as well — he had the benefit of working in his hometown of Boston.
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David Schwimmer on the set of
Run, Fat Boy, Run. Above: Ben Affleck directs Gone Baby, Gone.
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• Unlike Affleck, Friends star David Schwimmer has a long list of
small-screen directing credits to his name — 10 episodes of Friends,
two of Joey, the TV movie Since You’ve Been Gone — and chose to stick
to what he knows, comedy, for his big-screen debut, Run, Fat Boy, Run,
which stars Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz). However, the California-based
Schwimmer did leave his home turf, migrating to London to shoot the
British comedy.
• Like her father Clint before her, Alison
Eastwood makes the leap from performing to directing. Although not a
household name, Alison Eastwood (Midnight in the Garden of Good
and Evil, Poolhall Junkies) has been acting since she made an
appearance in Bronco Billy (starring her father) at age eight. Her
first flick behind the camera, the family drama Rails & Ties, is
being produced by her dad’s production company. |
• Rounding out the list is the most interesting movie of them all, Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins’ second feature, the stream-of-consciousness effort Slipstream. Opening in limited release in the U.S., Slipstream is an almost experimental work that unfolds in the mind of an aging Hollywood screenwriter (Hopkins) while he’s on the set of his latest whodunit. —Ingrid Randoja
QUEEN Will Rock You
In 1981, Queen marched into the Montreal Forum and played two incredible shows, which, thank the rock gods, were filmed on 35mm and stand as the only Queen concerts shot on film. First released in 1983 as We Will Rock You, this concert film, now titled Queen Rock Montreal, returns to the big screen digitally restored for one night — October 17th. The chance to see Freddie Mercury and his prodigious overbite strut across a 60-foot screen while the band plays rock anthems such as “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Under Pressure” is a Queen fan’s dream. And tickets are only $9.95! You can find locations and showtimes on www.cineplex.com.