Exclusive: As Baz Luhrmann readies to direct the untitled Elvis Presley project for Warner Bros, he has secured the long sought after rights to the cult Russian novel The Master and Margarita. Luhrmann has done this in partnership with the rights holders, Svetlana Migunova-Dali (producer of the Russian Academy Award-winning biopic Legend No. 17 and Grace Loh (previously John Cusack’s producing partner). They will produce alongside Luhrmann with Natalia Rogal also producing., The exec producers are Michael Lang, Nevin Shalit, Andrew Fourman and Ellen Goldsmith Vein and Lindsay Williams of the Gotham Group.
This is a passion project for Luhrmann, who will eye it as a possible directorial vehicle.
Considered one of the masterpieces of the 20th century, the Mikhail Bulgakov novel The Master and Margarita is a fantastical and devastating satire of Soviet society, an audacious revision of the stories of Faust and Christ’s Crucifixion, and a love...
This is a passion project for Luhrmann, who will eye it as a possible directorial vehicle.
Considered one of the masterpieces of the 20th century, the Mikhail Bulgakov novel The Master and Margarita is a fantastical and devastating satire of Soviet society, an audacious revision of the stories of Faust and Christ’s Crucifixion, and a love...
- 12/11/2019
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
The cast of MGM's "Hot Tub Time Machine" send out a Valentine's Day message. Check it out below. The hilarious-looking comedy opens on March 19th (wide) and stars John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Crispin Glover, Lizzy Caplan and Chevy Chase. Cusack produces alongside Grace Loh and Matt Moore. The film is helmed by Steve Pink from the screenplay by Jason Heald. The story follows a group of best friends who’ve become bored with their adult lives: Adam (John Cusack) has been dumped by his girlfriend; Lou (Rob Corddry) is a party guy who can’t find the party; Nick’s (Craig Robinson) wife controls his every move; and video game-obsessed Jacob (Clark Duke) won’t leave his basement. After a crazy night of drinking in a ski resort hot tub, the men wake up, heads pounding, in the year 1986. This is their chance to kick some...
- 2/16/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Lizzy Caplan has climbed into the "Hot Tub Time Machine" with stars John Cusack and Rob Corddry.
Crispin Glover and Sebastian Stan also have signed to fill out the supporting cast of MGM's time-travel comedy. Craig Robinson also stars.
Steve Pink is directing the story of a group of friends who go back to the ski lodge where they partied as teens and end up transported to 1987 through their hot tub.
Caplan will play the lone woman in the story: April, a romantic interest of Cusack's character.
Glover is playing Phil, a one-armed, accident-prone bellhop at Silver Peaks Lodge. Stan will play Blaine, the ski-jock nemesis of Corddry's character.
Production kicked off Monday in Vancouver. Cusack and Grace Loh are producing through their New Crime banner. Matt Moore also is producing.
Caplan is repped by CAA and Benderspink.
Glover is repped by Apa.
Stan is with Endeavor and Brookside Artist Management.
Crispin Glover and Sebastian Stan also have signed to fill out the supporting cast of MGM's time-travel comedy. Craig Robinson also stars.
Steve Pink is directing the story of a group of friends who go back to the ski lodge where they partied as teens and end up transported to 1987 through their hot tub.
Caplan will play the lone woman in the story: April, a romantic interest of Cusack's character.
Glover is playing Phil, a one-armed, accident-prone bellhop at Silver Peaks Lodge. Stan will play Blaine, the ski-jock nemesis of Corddry's character.
Production kicked off Monday in Vancouver. Cusack and Grace Loh are producing through their New Crime banner. Matt Moore also is producing.
Caplan is repped by CAA and Benderspink.
Glover is repped by Apa.
Stan is with Endeavor and Brookside Artist Management.
- 4/30/2009
- by By Jay A. Fernandez
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
John Cusack is in talks to star in a new MGM time travel comedy, "Hot Tub Time Machine." He will co-star along Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke in the Steve Pink-directed project.
The story, scripted by Josh Heald, revolves around a group of friends - Cusack, Corddry and Robinson - who return to a ski lodge that they used to frequent as teens. They then get into a hot tub and magically transported to 1987.
Duke will play Cusack's younger brother.
Cusack will produce along with Grace Loh and Matt Moore. Production will kick off on April 20 in Vancouver.
The story, scripted by Josh Heald, revolves around a group of friends - Cusack, Corddry and Robinson - who return to a ski lodge that they used to frequent as teens. They then get into a hot tub and magically transported to 1987.
Duke will play Cusack's younger brother.
Cusack will produce along with Grace Loh and Matt Moore. Production will kick off on April 20 in Vancouver.
- 2/24/2009
- icelebz.com
John Cusack, Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson will join MGM's comedy "Hot Tub Time Machine" directed by Steve Pink. Production starts April 20 in Vancouver. Cusack and his New Crime partner Grace Loh will produce alongside Matt Moore. Involves an adult group of friends who, out of boredom with their lives, choose to revisit a hot tub where they once partied. A few drinks later they learn it has the ability to transport them back twenty years earlier to a their younger, more raunchy times. Josh Heald wrote the script. ...
- 2/24/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
John Cusack is jumping back into the high concept comedy. Variety reports the "High Fidelity" star has agreed to star in MGM's "Hot Tub Time Machine" for director Steve Pink ("Accepted").Joining Cusack will be Rob Corddry, "The Office's" Craig Robinson and "Sex Drive's" Clark Duke. Co-produced by Cusack, his New Crime partner Grace Loh and Matt Moore, the comedy centers on a group of friends who journey to the ski lodge they partied at when they were teens. When they get in a hot tub -- which happens to be a time machine (who knew?) -- they amazingly get transported...
- 2/24/2009
- by HitFix Staff
- Hitfix
John Cusack, Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson will join MGM's comedy "Hot Tub Time Machine" directed by Steve Pink. Production starts April 20 in Vancouver. Cusack and his New Crime partner Grace Loh will produce alongside Matt Moore. Involves an adult group of friends who, out of boredom with their lives, choose to revisit a hot tub where they once partied. A few drinks later they learn it has the ability...
- 2/24/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
John Cusack, Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson will join MGM's comedy "Hot Tub Time Machine" directed by Steve Pink. Production starts April 20 in Vancouver. Cusack and his New Crime partner Grace Loh will produce alongside Matt Moore. Involves an adult group of friends who, out of boredom with their lives, choose to revisit a hot tub where they once partied. A few drinks later they learn it has the ability...
- 2/24/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
John Cusack and Rob Corddry have signed on to star in Hot Tub Time Machine and Craig Robinson and Clark Duke (Sex Drive) are in negotiations to join the comedy being directed by Steven Pink (Accepted). Written by Josh Heald, the film follows a group of friends who are frustrated when they return to a ski lodge where they partied as teens. They then get in a hot tub -- which happens to be a time machine -- and get transported to 1987. Cusack, Corddry and Robinson are the three best friends, while Duke is Cusack's younger brother. Pink is polishing the script in order to play to each comedian's strengths. Pink has collaborated with Cusak before, having written and produced the comedies Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity. Cusack is producing with partner Grace Loh via their New Crime banner. Matt Moore (Final Destination 2) is also producing. Production is...
- 2/24/2009
- by James Cook
- TheMovingPicture.net
"Hot Tub Time Machine" is warming up.
John Cusack and Rob Corddry have boarded the MGM comedy, while Craig Robinson and Clark Duke are in negotiations to also star in the pic, being directed by Steve Pink.
The script, by Josh Heald, follows a group of guys who have grown frustrated with their adult lives. They return to the ski lodge where they partied as teens to find answers and are transported to 1987 via their hot tub, a bubbly time machine.
Cusack, Corddry and Robinson are the three best friends, while Duke is Cusack's younger brother.
Pink is polishing the script in order to play to each comedian's strengths.
Cusack is producing with partner Grace Loh via their New Crime banner. Matt Moore also is producing.
An April 20 start date in Vancouver is being eyed.
Cusack, repped by Wma, has "Shanghai" and "2012" in the can, while Corddry, repped by Endeavor and Principato/Young,...
John Cusack and Rob Corddry have boarded the MGM comedy, while Craig Robinson and Clark Duke are in negotiations to also star in the pic, being directed by Steve Pink.
The script, by Josh Heald, follows a group of guys who have grown frustrated with their adult lives. They return to the ski lodge where they partied as teens to find answers and are transported to 1987 via their hot tub, a bubbly time machine.
Cusack, Corddry and Robinson are the three best friends, while Duke is Cusack's younger brother.
Pink is polishing the script in order to play to each comedian's strengths.
Cusack is producing with partner Grace Loh via their New Crime banner. Matt Moore also is producing.
An April 20 start date in Vancouver is being eyed.
Cusack, repped by Wma, has "Shanghai" and "2012" in the can, while Corddry, repped by Endeavor and Principato/Young,...
- 2/23/2009
- by By Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
John Cusack and Rob Corddry will star in the MGM comedy Hot Tub Time Machine , while Craig Robinson and Clark Duke are in negotiations to also star in the film, being directed by Steve Pink. The script, by Josh Heald, follows a group of guys who have grown frustrated with their adult lives. They return to the ski lodge where they partied as teens to find answers and are transported to 1987 via their hot tub, a bubbly time machine. Cusack, Corddry and Robinson are the three best friends, while Duke is Cusack's younger brother. Cusack is producing with partner Grace Loh via their New Crime. Matt Moore also is producing. An April 20 start date in Vancouver is being eyed.
- 2/23/2009
- Comingsoon.net
This review was written for the festival screening of "Grace Is Gone".Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- "Grace Is Gone" is not a dishonest film for you sense the fledgling filmmaker's sincere desire to deal with grief, the natural outcome of war. But the grief in writer-director James C. Strouse's "Grace" is so heavily manufactured that everything rings hollow. In John Cusack, Strouse has one of the screen's more versatile leading men. Yet Cusack seems strangely remote in a surprisingly one-note performance that requires the audience to supply the emotions.
From the sounds of sniffles in the Eccles Theater here, many will do just that. Much of these feelings owes to the highly manipulative use of two very young actors who play Cusack's adolescent daughters. The eldest, Shelan O'Keefe, is the best thing about the movie. But the younger one, Grace Bednarczyk, is Strouse's go-to person when he needs a quick emotional jolt.
Sensing a hot property, the Weinstein Co. snapped up this picture over the weekend. As an antidote to the Bush administration's determination to keep images of grief over Iraq out of the media, the film may work at the boxoffice as a political statement. In theory though, shouldn't this movie be about any war and any family's loss? The marketing campaign may have to be as manipulative as the movie itself if the distributor is going to convince adult audiences they need a good weep.
Instead of creating an air of normalcy before news of the tragedy breaks, Strouse allows the film to open with a sense of melancholy, loss and anger. One can rationalize this approach, but the film never undergoes a dramatic tonal shift to reflect the impact of unbearable news.
Stanley Phillips' (Cusack) sullenness while his wife is deployed to Iraq, you later learn, is due to the fact the spouses are U.S. Army through and through but Stanley was forced out of the service due to bad eyesight. He fakes good cheer as manager of a large Midwestern housing supply store, but at home he is often silent and overly stern with his kids, Heidi (O'Keefe), 12, and Dawn (Bednarczyk), 8.
Then an Army officer and chaplain knock on the door one morning to inform him that Sgt. Grace Anne Phillips has been killed in Iraq. Stanley goes into shock, which doesn't look all that different from his demeanor the night before. That afternoon, he gathers the family in the living room to break the news -- only he can't. He seeks a delaying tactic by suggesting a dinner out. Heidi points out it is only 4 o'clock.
The remainder of the movie is one delaying tactic after another. Dad suggests an impromptu driving trip to a theme park in Florida. En route, he makes an impromptu visit to his mom's home for an encounter with his unemployed anti-war brother (Alessandro Nivola). A stop at a motel is interrupted by an impromptu middle-of-the-night departure.
All of these "impromptu" incidents are meant to resonate with the sense of loss that such a death brings. Most have a symbolic purpose as well, such as getting the girls' ears pieced at such an early age -- i.e., the premature loss of childhood. Yet these incidents are as blatant as they are bland. The filmmaker's scheme is writ so large on the screen as to provoke embarrassment rather than grief.
The mind starts to wander to little irritating details. When the girls climb back and forth between the front and back seats of the family SUV, you wonder what kind of responsible father would allow his children not to wear seatbelts. The most egregious devise has Stanley constantly calling the home answering machine to hear his wife's voice.
When the movie finally must resolve the dad's prolonged dilemma, half way through the pivotal scene Strouse allows Max Richter's sappy music to drown out the dialogue. The button-pushing music is accompanied by a washed-out look in Jean-Louis Bompoint's cinematography that is apparently meant to give the film true grit. Like all of these strategies, these only underscore the film's lack of true depth.
GRACE IS GONE
The Weinstein Co.
Plum Pictures and New Crime Productions in association with Hart/Lunsford Pictures
Credits:
Writer/director: James C. Strouse
Producers: John Cusack, Grace Loh, Galt Niederhoffer, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Celine Rattray
Executive producers: Paul Bernstein, Reagan Silber, Jai Stefan, Todd Traina
Director of photography: Jean-Louis Bompoint
Production designer: Susan Block
Music: Max Richter
Costume designer: Ha Nguyen
Editor: Joe Klotz
Cast:
Stanley Phillips: John Cusack
Heidi: Shelan O'Keefe
Dawn: Gracie Bednarczyk
John: Alessandro Nivola
Running time -- 92 minutes
No MPAA rating...
PARK CITY -- "Grace Is Gone" is not a dishonest film for you sense the fledgling filmmaker's sincere desire to deal with grief, the natural outcome of war. But the grief in writer-director James C. Strouse's "Grace" is so heavily manufactured that everything rings hollow. In John Cusack, Strouse has one of the screen's more versatile leading men. Yet Cusack seems strangely remote in a surprisingly one-note performance that requires the audience to supply the emotions.
From the sounds of sniffles in the Eccles Theater here, many will do just that. Much of these feelings owes to the highly manipulative use of two very young actors who play Cusack's adolescent daughters. The eldest, Shelan O'Keefe, is the best thing about the movie. But the younger one, Grace Bednarczyk, is Strouse's go-to person when he needs a quick emotional jolt.
Sensing a hot property, the Weinstein Co. snapped up this picture over the weekend. As an antidote to the Bush administration's determination to keep images of grief over Iraq out of the media, the film may work at the boxoffice as a political statement. In theory though, shouldn't this movie be about any war and any family's loss? The marketing campaign may have to be as manipulative as the movie itself if the distributor is going to convince adult audiences they need a good weep.
Instead of creating an air of normalcy before news of the tragedy breaks, Strouse allows the film to open with a sense of melancholy, loss and anger. One can rationalize this approach, but the film never undergoes a dramatic tonal shift to reflect the impact of unbearable news.
Stanley Phillips' (Cusack) sullenness while his wife is deployed to Iraq, you later learn, is due to the fact the spouses are U.S. Army through and through but Stanley was forced out of the service due to bad eyesight. He fakes good cheer as manager of a large Midwestern housing supply store, but at home he is often silent and overly stern with his kids, Heidi (O'Keefe), 12, and Dawn (Bednarczyk), 8.
Then an Army officer and chaplain knock on the door one morning to inform him that Sgt. Grace Anne Phillips has been killed in Iraq. Stanley goes into shock, which doesn't look all that different from his demeanor the night before. That afternoon, he gathers the family in the living room to break the news -- only he can't. He seeks a delaying tactic by suggesting a dinner out. Heidi points out it is only 4 o'clock.
The remainder of the movie is one delaying tactic after another. Dad suggests an impromptu driving trip to a theme park in Florida. En route, he makes an impromptu visit to his mom's home for an encounter with his unemployed anti-war brother (Alessandro Nivola). A stop at a motel is interrupted by an impromptu middle-of-the-night departure.
All of these "impromptu" incidents are meant to resonate with the sense of loss that such a death brings. Most have a symbolic purpose as well, such as getting the girls' ears pieced at such an early age -- i.e., the premature loss of childhood. Yet these incidents are as blatant as they are bland. The filmmaker's scheme is writ so large on the screen as to provoke embarrassment rather than grief.
The mind starts to wander to little irritating details. When the girls climb back and forth between the front and back seats of the family SUV, you wonder what kind of responsible father would allow his children not to wear seatbelts. The most egregious devise has Stanley constantly calling the home answering machine to hear his wife's voice.
When the movie finally must resolve the dad's prolonged dilemma, half way through the pivotal scene Strouse allows Max Richter's sappy music to drown out the dialogue. The button-pushing music is accompanied by a washed-out look in Jean-Louis Bompoint's cinematography that is apparently meant to give the film true grit. Like all of these strategies, these only underscore the film's lack of true depth.
GRACE IS GONE
The Weinstein Co.
Plum Pictures and New Crime Productions in association with Hart/Lunsford Pictures
Credits:
Writer/director: James C. Strouse
Producers: John Cusack, Grace Loh, Galt Niederhoffer, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Celine Rattray
Executive producers: Paul Bernstein, Reagan Silber, Jai Stefan, Todd Traina
Director of photography: Jean-Louis Bompoint
Production designer: Susan Block
Music: Max Richter
Costume designer: Ha Nguyen
Editor: Joe Klotz
Cast:
Stanley Phillips: John Cusack
Heidi: Shelan O'Keefe
Dawn: Gracie Bednarczyk
John: Alessandro Nivola
Running time -- 92 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- "Grace Is Gone" is not a dishonest film for you sense the fledgling filmmaker's sincere desire to deal with grief, the natural outcome of war. But the grief in writer-director James C. Strouse's "Grace" is so heavily manufactured that everything rings hollow. In John Cusack, Strouse has one of the screen's more versatile leading men. Yet Cusack seems strangely remote in a surprisingly one-note performance that requires the audience to supply the emotions.
From the sounds of sniffles in the Eccles Theater here, many will do just that. Much of these feelings owes to the highly manipulative use of two very young actors who play Cusack's adolescent daughters. The eldest, Shelan O'Keefe, is the best thing about the movie. But the younger one, Grace Bednarczyk, is Strouse's go-to person when he needs a quick emotional jolt.
Sensing a hot property, the Weinstein Co. snapped up this picture over the weekend. As an antidote to the Bush administration's determination to keep images of grief over Iraq out of the media, the film may work at the boxoffice as a political statement. In theory though, shouldn't this movie be about any war and any family's loss? The marketing campaign may have to be as manipulative as the movie itself if the distributor is going to convince adult audiences they need a good weep.
Instead of creating an air of normalcy before news of the tragedy breaks, Strouse allows the film to open with a sense of melancholy, loss and anger. One can rationalize this approach, but the film never undergoes a dramatic tonal shift to reflect the impact of unbearable news.
Stanley Phillips' (Cusack) sullenness while his wife is deployed to Iraq, you later learn, is due to the fact the spouses are U.S. Army through and through but Stanley was forced out of the service due to bad eyesight. He fakes good cheer as manager of a large Midwestern housing supply store, but at home he is often silent and overly stern with his kids, Heidi (O'Keefe), 12, and Dawn (Bednarczyk), 8.
Then an Army officer and chaplain knock on the door one morning to inform him that Sgt. Grace Anne Phillips has been killed in Iraq. Stanley goes into shock, which doesn't look all that different from his demeanor the night before. That afternoon, he gathers the family in the living room to break the news -- only he can't. He seeks a delaying tactic by suggesting a dinner out. Heidi points out it is only 4 o'clock.
The remainder of the movie is one delaying tactic after another. Dad suggests an impromptu driving trip to a theme park in Florida. En route, he makes an impromptu visit to his mom's home for an encounter with his unemployed anti-war brother (Alessandro Nivola). A stop at a motel is interrupted by an impromptu middle-of-the-night departure.
All of these "impromptu" incidents are meant to resonate with the sense of loss that such a death brings. Most have a symbolic purpose as well, such as getting the girls' ears pieced at such an early age -- i.e., the premature loss of childhood. Yet these incidents are as blatant as they are bland. The filmmaker's scheme is writ so large on the screen as to provoke embarrassment rather than grief.
The mind starts to wander to little irritating details. When the girls climb back and forth between the front and back seats of the family SUV, you wonder what kind of responsible father would allow his children not to wear seatbelts. The most egregious devise has Stanley constantly calling the home answering machine to hear his wife's voice.
When the movie finally must resolve the dad's prolonged dilemma, half way through the pivotal scene Strouse allows Max Richter's sappy music to drown out the dialogue. The button-pushing music is accompanied by a washed-out look in Jean-Louis Bompoint's cinematography that is apparently meant to give the film true grit. Like all of these strategies, these only underscore the film's lack of true depth.
GRACE IS GONE
The Weinstein Co.
Plum Pictures and New Crime Productions in association with Hart/Lunsford Pictures
Credits:
Writer/director: James C. Strouse
Producers: John Cusack, Grace Loh, Galt Niederhoffer, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Celine Rattray
Executive producers: Paul Bernstein, Reagan Silber, Jai Stefan, Todd Traina
Director of photography: Jean-Louis Bompoint
Production designer: Susan Block
Music: Max Richter
Costume designer: Ha Nguyen
Editor: Joe Klotz
Cast:
Stanley Phillips: John Cusack
Heidi: Shelan O'Keefe
Dawn: Gracie Bednarczyk
John: Alessandro Nivola
Running time -- 92 minutes
No MPAA rating...
From the sounds of sniffles in the Eccles Theater here, many will do just that. Much of these feelings owes to the highly manipulative use of two very young actors who play Cusack's adolescent daughters. The eldest, Shelan O'Keefe, is the best thing about the movie. But the younger one, Grace Bednarczyk, is Strouse's go-to person when he needs a quick emotional jolt.
Sensing a hot property, the Weinstein Co. snapped up this picture over the weekend. As an antidote to the Bush administration's determination to keep images of grief over Iraq out of the media, the film may work at the boxoffice as a political statement. In theory though, shouldn't this movie be about any war and any family's loss? The marketing campaign may have to be as manipulative as the movie itself if the distributor is going to convince adult audiences they need a good weep.
Instead of creating an air of normalcy before news of the tragedy breaks, Strouse allows the film to open with a sense of melancholy, loss and anger. One can rationalize this approach, but the film never undergoes a dramatic tonal shift to reflect the impact of unbearable news.
Stanley Phillips' (Cusack) sullenness while his wife is deployed to Iraq, you later learn, is due to the fact the spouses are U.S. Army through and through but Stanley was forced out of the service due to bad eyesight. He fakes good cheer as manager of a large Midwestern housing supply store, but at home he is often silent and overly stern with his kids, Heidi (O'Keefe), 12, and Dawn (Bednarczyk), 8.
Then an Army officer and chaplain knock on the door one morning to inform him that Sgt. Grace Anne Phillips has been killed in Iraq. Stanley goes into shock, which doesn't look all that different from his demeanor the night before. That afternoon, he gathers the family in the living room to break the news -- only he can't. He seeks a delaying tactic by suggesting a dinner out. Heidi points out it is only 4 o'clock.
The remainder of the movie is one delaying tactic after another. Dad suggests an impromptu driving trip to a theme park in Florida. En route, he makes an impromptu visit to his mom's home for an encounter with his unemployed anti-war brother (Alessandro Nivola). A stop at a motel is interrupted by an impromptu middle-of-the-night departure.
All of these "impromptu" incidents are meant to resonate with the sense of loss that such a death brings. Most have a symbolic purpose as well, such as getting the girls' ears pieced at such an early age -- i.e., the premature loss of childhood. Yet these incidents are as blatant as they are bland. The filmmaker's scheme is writ so large on the screen as to provoke embarrassment rather than grief.
The mind starts to wander to little irritating details. When the girls climb back and forth between the front and back seats of the family SUV, you wonder what kind of responsible father would allow his children not to wear seatbelts. The most egregious devise has Stanley constantly calling the home answering machine to hear his wife's voice.
When the movie finally must resolve the dad's prolonged dilemma, half way through the pivotal scene Strouse allows Max Richter's sappy music to drown out the dialogue. The button-pushing music is accompanied by a washed-out look in Jean-Louis Bompoint's cinematography that is apparently meant to give the film true grit. Like all of these strategies, these only underscore the film's lack of true depth.
GRACE IS GONE
The Weinstein Co.
Plum Pictures and New Crime Productions in association with Hart/Lunsford Pictures
Credits:
Writer/director: James C. Strouse
Producers: John Cusack, Grace Loh, Galt Niederhoffer, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Celine Rattray
Executive producers: Paul Bernstein, Reagan Silber, Jai Stefan, Todd Traina
Director of photography: Jean-Louis Bompoint
Production designer: Susan Block
Music: Max Richter
Costume designer: Ha Nguyen
Editor: Joe Klotz
Cast:
Stanley Phillips: John Cusack
Heidi: Shelan O'Keefe
Dawn: Gracie Bednarczyk
John: Alessandro Nivola
Running time -- 92 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- How did Grace Is Gone, a drama made for just under $3 million about a sad sack Iraq War widower played by John Cusack who avoids telling his daughters about their mother's death, become the center of the hottest bidding war at this month's Sundance Film Festival?
First-time director James C. Strouse, who had never helmed even a short film, said he had no idea. "It might be the timeliness of the story," he said. Although he added that he included some levity to avoid a "doom and gloom" feeling for two hours, he admitted "the terror in John Cusack's face never really leaves."
Audiences nonetheless responded to the somber tale, leading to the first overnight bidding battle of the festival. Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures Classics were in the running, but by 4:30 a.m. Sunday, the Weinstein Co. co-founder Harvey Weinstein had won over the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of producers New Crime Prods., led by Grace Loh and Cusack, and Plum Pictures with a $4 million offer.
Strouse's pregnant wife, Plum Pictures co-founder Galt Niederhoffer, was in the room phoning reports to her husband as Cinetic Media's John Sloss and William Morris Independent's Cassian Elwes and Rena Ronson negotiated the deal.
"Harvey had passion and energy for it, and we knew he'd back it up 10 million%," Loh said.
Strouse added, "Harvey just understood the importance of the story, and that the film transcends any political side."
It also helped that Cusack has a long history with the Weinstein brothers, from Miramax Films' 1990 drama The Grifters to Dimension Films' upcoming 1408, which will be distributed by MGM.
First-time director James C. Strouse, who had never helmed even a short film, said he had no idea. "It might be the timeliness of the story," he said. Although he added that he included some levity to avoid a "doom and gloom" feeling for two hours, he admitted "the terror in John Cusack's face never really leaves."
Audiences nonetheless responded to the somber tale, leading to the first overnight bidding battle of the festival. Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures Classics were in the running, but by 4:30 a.m. Sunday, the Weinstein Co. co-founder Harvey Weinstein had won over the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of producers New Crime Prods., led by Grace Loh and Cusack, and Plum Pictures with a $4 million offer.
Strouse's pregnant wife, Plum Pictures co-founder Galt Niederhoffer, was in the room phoning reports to her husband as Cinetic Media's John Sloss and William Morris Independent's Cassian Elwes and Rena Ronson negotiated the deal.
"Harvey had passion and energy for it, and we knew he'd back it up 10 million%," Loh said.
Strouse added, "Harvey just understood the importance of the story, and that the film transcends any political side."
It also helped that Cusack has a long history with the Weinstein brothers, from Miramax Films' 1990 drama The Grifters to Dimension Films' upcoming 1408, which will be distributed by MGM.
- 1/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- How did Grace Is Gone, a drama made for just under $ 3 million about a sad sack Iraq War widower played by John Cusack who avoids telling his daughters about their mother's death, become the center of the hottest bidding war at this month's Sundance Film Festival?
First-time director James C. Strouse, who had never helmed even a short film, said he had no idea. "It might be the timeliness of the story," he said. Although he added that he included some levity to avoid a "doom and gloom" feeling for two hours, he admitted "the terror in John Cusack's face never really leaves."
Audiences nonetheless responded to the somber tale, leading to the first overnight bidding battle of the festival. Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures Classics were in the running, but by 4:30 a.m. Sunday, the Weinstein Co. co-founder Harvey Weinstein had won over the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of producers New Crime Prods., led by Grace Loh and Cusack, and Plum Pictures with a $4 million offer.
Strouse's pregnant wife, Plum Pictures co-founder Galt Niederhoffer, was in the room phoning reports to her husband as Cinetic Media's John Sloss and William Morris Independent's Cassian Elwes negotiated the deal.
"Harvey had passion and energy for it, and we knew he'd back it up 10 million%," Loh said.
Strouse added, "Harvey just understood the importance of the story, and that the film transcends any political side."
It also helped that Cusack has a long history with the Weinstein brothers, from Miramax Films' 1990 drama The Grifters to Dimension Films' upcoming 1408, which will be distributed by MGM.
First-time director James C. Strouse, who had never helmed even a short film, said he had no idea. "It might be the timeliness of the story," he said. Although he added that he included some levity to avoid a "doom and gloom" feeling for two hours, he admitted "the terror in John Cusack's face never really leaves."
Audiences nonetheless responded to the somber tale, leading to the first overnight bidding battle of the festival. Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures Classics were in the running, but by 4:30 a.m. Sunday, the Weinstein Co. co-founder Harvey Weinstein had won over the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of producers New Crime Prods., led by Grace Loh and Cusack, and Plum Pictures with a $4 million offer.
Strouse's pregnant wife, Plum Pictures co-founder Galt Niederhoffer, was in the room phoning reports to her husband as Cinetic Media's John Sloss and William Morris Independent's Cassian Elwes negotiated the deal.
"Harvey had passion and energy for it, and we knew he'd back it up 10 million%," Loh said.
Strouse added, "Harvey just understood the importance of the story, and that the film transcends any political side."
It also helped that Cusack has a long history with the Weinstein brothers, from Miramax Films' 1990 drama The Grifters to Dimension Films' upcoming 1408, which will be distributed by MGM.
- 1/21/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
John Cusack will team up with Hilary Duff and Marisa Tomei to play the titular hitman in the dark comedy Brand Hauser. The political satire co-written by Cusack with Mark Leyner and Bulworth scribe Jeremy Pikser tells the story of an assassin who gets in way over his head when he's hired to kill a key player in the oil industry. Cusack will co-produce the project with Grace Loh through his New Crime Productions company along with Millennium's Danny Lerner and Les Weldon. Joshua Seftel is on board to direct the film, which is scheduled to begin production this month in Bulgaria.
- 10/19/2006
- IMDbPro News
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