VarietyLA DVFLA090612 : Page 1

NS BLING EENS SING SA MAKING SCR CANADIAN CREATIVITY TORONTO INT’L FILM AL FESTIV AY, BER 6, 2012 SCOUT & ABOUT: A CANAD THURSD PLUS embrace less music supervisors more with Nation’s of doing the challenge By Andrew C for the Barker -magnet been a a pioneer s past, has always anada In centuries for anyone s self-reliant. was essential the region’ ing spirit to survive rain. terrain. who hoped re long unforgiving are rugged, anding days dian film of the budgets,” do, it’s is in charge wha we what shingle Music that change are so East End the borders our budgets ell, whose the budgets is that “It’s not Barkwell, Barkw Canada Can and have says Velma “Mr. D.” working in in the U.S. of work department, CBC series I could refu-“The challenge . I wish easy.” Canada’s licensing industry smaller would be Music Ca music much That in supervision. 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Film ,” a Toronto is “Looper stream year’s Bruce gala of this in which (again!). thriller self The opening-night futuristic his younger co-produc-cerebral come. encounters deals to in Willis ambitious U.S.-China many It is an harbinger of Song for Marion,” d “A i ill wife’s Toronto Int’l Film Festival (p. 31) Tor “The Master” Vfx talent behind boom V OSE Kelly are in By Brendan it seems, isual effects, s DNA. Montreal’ of the most vfx A couple influential — and of all time innovative Logic outfits software and Discreet ventures. Softimage homegrown today — were continues as Rodeo Their legacy h providers nd Hy-Scout & About Canada (p. 41) Sco ® 1 0F 6 THURSD A Y , SEPTEMBER 6, 2012 “Reincarnated” INDIE HEAT WAVE By Dave McNary There’s plenty of heat in Can-ada this week, and not just on ac-count of the 80-degree weather: A rising optimism pervades the opening of the 37th Toronto Intl. Film Festival, where — with the majors still distracted by tentpole and franchise strategies — mid-sized buyers are looking to snap up an array of commercial titles. With a robust menu, acquisi-tions execs will have plenty of ex-cuses to beat the heat in Toronto’s air-conditioned theaters. “One of the great things about Toronto is that you can see so many movies so fast,” said Film-District CEO Peter Schlessel. “We’ve got several on our hot list and more on our simmering list.” In all, Toronto will screen 289 features from a record 72 nations. Mid-sized buyers set to spend at fest By Dave McNary and Jennie Punter Toronto has a longstanding affection for high-profile docu-mentaries — as evidenced last year, when the fest opened with the world preem of Davis Guggenheim’s U2 docu “From the Sky Down.” More than four dozen docs are set to screen this year, most notably Ken Burns’ “Central Park Five,” Dror Moreh’s “The Gatekeepers,” Matthew Cooke’s “How to Make Money Selling Drugs,” Julien Temple’s “London — the Modern Babylon,” Marina Zenovich’s “Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out” and Dan Setton’s “State 194” (with Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority, set to appear in person). But the biggest buzz is likely to come from Andy Capper’s “Rein-carnated,” in which Snoop Dogg makes a monthlong trip to Jamaica as See REINCARNATED page 44 Buyers are bringing big commerical appetites to this year’s Toronto fest. WME Global head Graham Taylor — whose recent sales include “Act of Valor,” “Beasts of the South-ern Wild” and “Arbitrage” — pre-dicts a dealmaking uptick over last year’s TIFF, when the biggest deal was CBS Films’ $5 million pur-chase of “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.” See TORONTO page 46 SPECIAL PRESENTATION Anna Karenina Union bows feature arm By Dave McNary EXCLU M3 LAUNCHES PROD’N UNIT By Dave McNary EXCLU On the heels of its foray into film production with “John Dies at the End,” M3 Creative is launching a marketing/promotion/production arm dubbed M3 Creative Film for genre pics in the $1 million to $10 million range. First feature will be “Apple Cart,” touted as project that ex-plores new ways of telling the clas-sic 1970s and ‘80s horror narratives such as “Reanimator,” “Evil Dead 2” and “Halloween” — though the logline remains under wraps. M3’s Andy Meyers and Brad Baruh are producing with lensing aimed for winter. “John Dies at the End,” written and directed by Don Coscarelli, has a closing-night slot at the Toronto Fest’s Midnight Madness section following Sundance and SWSX ap-pearances. Meyers, Baruh and M3’s Roman Perez produced the film starring Paul Giamatti as a shadowy figure investigating a street drug that causes users to drift across time and dimensions. Magnolia picked up U.S. rights to “John Dies” recently for release next year. See M3 CREATIVE page 46 Jude Law and Keira Knightley in “Anna Karenina” CHILLY, LOVELY ‘ANNA’ By Leslie Felperin E schewing the classical realism that’s characterized most ad-aptations of Tolstoy’s source novel, helmer Joe Wright makes the generally inspired decision to stylize his dark, expressionist take on “Anna Karenina.” Setting most of the action in a mocked-up theater emphasizes the performance aspects of the characters’ behavior, a strategy enhanced by lead thesp Keira Knightley’s willingness to let her neurotic Anna appear less sympathetic than Turn to page 44 With its satire “The Brass Tea-pot” set to premiere in Toronto, Union Entertainment Group is ramping up to finance and produce a slate of five to seven films annually with budgets ranging from $2 mil-lion to $10 million. Banner unveiled its plan on the opening day of TIFF, announcing plans to work with a multi-million dollar film fund to co-finance sev-eral projects. Union Entertainment Group co-financed, co-produced and supplied post production services on “Tea-pot,” the feature directorial debut from Ramaa Mosley and starring Juno Temple and Michael Angarano as a impoverished couple — with the wife drawn to a mysterious tea See UNION page 46 Sonia Recchia/Getty Images Snoop Lion on top of fest doc heap

Indie Heat Wave

Dave McNary

Mid-sized buyers set to spend at fest There’s plenty of heat in Canada this week, and not just on account of the 80-degree weather: A rising optimism pervades the opening of the 37th Toronto Intl. Film Festival, where — with the majors still distracted by tentpole and franchise strategies — midsized buyers are looking to snap up an array of commercial titles. With a robust menu, acquisitions execs will have plenty of excuses to beat the heat in Toronto’s air-conditioned theaters. “One of the great things about Toronto is that you can see so many movies so fast,” said Film- District CEO Peter Schlessel. “We’ve got several on our hot list and more on our simmering list.” In all, Toronto will screen 289 features from a record 72 nations. WME Global head Graham Taylor — whose recent sales include “Act of Valor,” “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Arbitrage” — predicts a dealmaking uptick over last year’s TIFF, when the biggest deal was CBS Films’ $5 million purchase of “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.” “There are a lot of very good movies for sale,” Taylor said. “It helps that there are also great movies with distribution — a la “Looper,” “Argo,” and “The Master” — as part of the lineup. As we saw with all of the activity at Sundance and Cannes, this year has been especially strong for independent film.” Taylor noted the overall tenor of the market is aided by independently financed films landing No. 1 box office opens: “Act of Valor,” “The Grey,” “The Woman in Black,” for example. “These are commercially viable films,” he noted. “As studios become more focused on tentpoles, it is an ideal time for independent film as it creates an opportunity for the $10 million to $60 million film.” Among the buzz titles for sale: Neil Jordan’s “Byzantium”; John Carney’s “Can a Song Save Your Life”; Noah Baumbach’s “Frances Ha”; Sally Potter’s “Ginger and Rosa”; Ariel Vromen’s “The Iceman”; Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s “Imogene”; Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines”; Mira Nair’s “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”; and Stuart Blumberg’s “Thanks for Sharing.” Micah Green, co-head of the CAA Film Finance Group, notes that key Toronto titles represent a significant assortment of indie-financed films that have the look and feel of studio fare — Rian Johnson’s “Looper,” Paul Anderson’s “The Master,” David Ayers’ “End of Watch” and Pete Travis’ “Dredd.” “These represent a high-water mark for high-caliber commercial films out of the indie sector,” he said. “A few years ago, independent films were skewed much more toward arthouse films, which had limited theatrical potential. Part of what is driving the boom in commercial independent films is the increased availability of talent. Beyond that is the increased availability of distribution for commercial independent films. In addition, there is a maturing class of financiers who have the ambition and the means to finance and release these films.” The indie sector has seen plenty of pop in recent weeks from a variety of announcements, all signaling a busy market at Toronto: Scott Steindorff’s Scott Pictures launched a joint venture international sales company with Exclusive Media and unveiled plans to finance three to five features a year, starting with Natalie Portman actioner “Jane Got a Gun.” Aiming to make a splash prior to Toronto, newly minted A24 acquired all U.S. rights to Roman Coppola’s “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III” and plans a February theatrical release for the Charlie Sheen vehicle. A24 was founded this summer by film execs Daniel Katz, John Hodges and David Fenkel and plans to distribute eight to 10 titles a year. Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures purchased the U.S distribution rights to Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers,” starring James Franco, on Tuesday, three days before the pic’s North American premiere at Toronto. Annapurna does not yet have a distribution arm and said in the announcement that details about distribution would be disclosed later. DreamWorks Studios signed an agency deal for David Garrett’s three-month-old Mister Smith Entertainment to take over for Disney in handling the licensing and servicing of DreamWorks Studios product in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The first covered includes Ken Scott’s untitled remake of his hit French-Canadian comedy “Starbuck” and Scott Waugh’s racing pic “Need for Speed.” “The deal really has been dominating my time since Cannes,” Garrett said. “I think we’ve really hit the ground running. And it shows growing significance of the indie sector and the fact that despite economic problems, the market is very healthy.” In short, Toronto represents a clear indie opportunity, as the majors direct more of their resources on tentpoles, with more viable buyers emerging for projects with mid-level budgets. Besides the traditional names (TWC, Fox Searchlight, Focus, Sony Classics, Summit and Lionsgate), FilmDistrict, CBS Films, Open Road, Relativity and Millenium are in the mix. Open Road’s Ben Cotner notes that the year-old shingle — backed by exhibs AMC and Regal — will launch “End of Watch” soon after it premieres at TIFF and is looking for more films. “We’re going into Toronto full force,” he said. Arianna Bocco, head of IFC’s acquisitions team, believes that buyers and sellers are on a tear following active markets at Cannes, Berlin, AFM and last year’s TIFF. “You have to be bullish,” Bocco said, “just because there’s so much competition.” Schlessel also said that FilmDistrict will move quickly to close a deal, should the situation warrant. “If the movie is great, you close the door and get the deal done,” he added. “If it’s something that we’re willing to spend P and A on, we’re all over it.” The sector is seeing coin coming in: Production-financing shingle Emmett/Furla Films has assembled more than $500 million in a little over a year and producing titles such as “Broken City,” “Frozen Ground” and “Alex Cross,” and it partnered with Exclusive Media on “End of Watch.” Exclusive and Brian Oliver’s three-year-old Cross Creek Pictures, which previously teamed on “Ides of March” and “Rush,” announced a three-year deal at Cannes to co-finance, co-produce and codevelop at least two features a year with budgets up to $65 million, starting with the thriller “A Walk Among the Tombstones,” starring Liam Neeson and directed by Scott Frank. Still, it’s not a walk in the park, according to Iain Canning, who won an Oscar for producing “The King’s Speech.” He’s at Toronto with Tony Krawitz’ drama “Dead Europe.” “It’s still incredibly difficult to raise funds,” Canning noted. “And once you start, the production value vs. production budget — that’s the biggest struggle for a producer. I keep pulling rabbits out of my hat.”

Snoop Lion On Top Of Fest Doc Heap

Dave McNary

Toronto has a longstanding affection for high-profile documentaries — as evidenced last year, when the fest opened with the world preem of Davis Guggenheim’s U2 docu “From the Sky Down.” More than four dozen docs are set to screen this year, most notably Ken Burns’ “Central Park Five,” Dror Moreh’s “The Gatekeepers,” Matthew Cooke’s “How to Make Money Selling Drugs,” Julien Temple’s “London — the Modern Babylon,” Marina Zenovich’s “Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out” and Dan Setton’s “State 194” (with Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority, set to appear in person). But the biggest buzz is likely to come from Andy Capper’s “Reincarnated,” in which Snoop Dogg makes a monthlong trip to Jamaica as “a journey of reincarnation of self” after coming to the island to leave rap behind and record a reggae album. He’s positively impacted by the Rastafarian culture, connects with the community in Trench Town, the birthplace of reggae, and begins to espouse the idea of giving up violence for peace. “They want me to rap, but I don’t wanna rap,” he says in the film. “I’ve been on the top ever since I’ve been in. I got rap songs that will never die. What else can I do in the rap world?” Capper, the global editor for Vice magazine, had produced longform documentary content for the Vice website, but “Reincarnated” is his first feature documentary. “I was at home in Liverpool for Christmas when the producers came to me with the proposal so it sounded like a great idea,” he told Variety. “I was very worried about his honesty, but as I got to know him I realized I could really go to town on this. What I found is that Snoop is really very pragmatic, very hardworking and very downto- earth — despite being one of these larger than life celebrities.” Snoop Lion — his new, post-Jamaica trip name — told Variety that he’s very comfortable with his new identity and unfazed by those who question the transition. “I am who I am, and if people don’t understand, that’s a reflection on them.” He was hugely impressed with the finished film. “When we started, I thought it would be straight-to-DVD,” he admitted. “Reincarnated” is a Vice Films and Snoopadelic Films production. Producers are Vice co-founder Suroosh Alvi, Snoop’s manager Ted Chung, Codine Williams and Justin Li. Paradigm is selling the pic at Toronto. Toronto has screened the last two doc Oscar-winners — “Inside Job” and “Undefeated” — and over the years proved a solid venue for sales, including major pics like “Cave of Forgotten Dreams,” “Precious Life” and “Food Inc.” Other acquisition titles buzzing on this year’s doc slate including Maiken Baird and Michelle Major’s “Venus and Serena,” Bartholomew Cubbin’s “Artifact,” Simon Ennis’ “Lunarcy” and Sarah Polley’s “Stories We Tell.”

Chilly, Lovely 'Anna'

Leslie Felperin

SPECIAL PRESENTATION Anna Karenina Eschewing the classical realism that’s characterized most adaptations of Tolstoy’s source novel, helmer Joe Wright makes the generally inspired decision to stylize his dark, expressionist take on “Anna Karenina.” Setting most of the action in a mockedup theater emphasizes the performance aspects of the characters’ behavior, a strategy enhanced by lead thesp Keira Knightley’s willingness to let her neurotic Anna appear less sympathetic than in previous incarnations. Bowing Friday in Blighty after its Toronto preem, “Anna” is well-placed to gain admiring awards looks, especially in craft categories, but its covert anti-romanticism may limit appeal beyond specialty auds. Despite the film’s formal innovations, scripter Tom Stoppard’s screenplay tracks fairly closely to the narrative roadmap laid out in Tolstoy’s 1873 book. As the story opens, Anna Karenina (Knightley) is married to stiff Imperial minister Karenin (Jude Law), with whom she has a son, 8-year-old Serozha (Oskar McNamara). She’s seduced by handsome, young cavalry officer Prince Vronsky (Aaron Taylor- Johnson), and the two fall insanely in love. But the affair becomes a scandal in St. Petersburg society, and Karenin is forced to throw down an ultimatum: Anna can have Vronsky and live with him in exile but never see her son again, or stay with her husband and child if she obeys the rules of discretion that tacitly govern adulterous liaisons in high society. The main love-triangle plot is plaited with an account of gentleman farmer and Tolstoy-avatar Levin (Domhnall Gleeson), a strand given short shrift in most other film versions. A friend of Anna’s brother Oblonsky (Matthew Macfadyen, offering amusing comic relief), Levin wishes to marry pretty Princess Kitty (Alicia Vikander, luminous), who refuses Levin at first, thinking herself in love with Vronsky. But Vronsky abandons Kitty as soon as he meets Anna, a transference neatly symbolized by the partner-swapping in the key ballroom scene, intricately choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui to make the dancers look like graceful automatons. Further down the line, Kitty and Levin discover a love that’s built of stronger, more hard-wearing stuff. Wright’s decision to stage much of the aristocratic action in a stagelike space may confuse some auds. But it starts to make sense when an opened door unexpectedly reveals an actual landscape in scenes concerning Levin, the character least swayed by social norms. The courtly circles of St. Petersburg and Moscow, by contrast, are all about artifice, a perpetual theater that affords no real privacy, where everyone is always on view, like the doll houses that crop up frequently as motifs in the Oblonsky household. Even the trains, so crucial to the story, morph between obvious life-size mock-ups and toy-train sets, encrusted with fake snow. The title role offers one of the literary canon’s juiciest parts for femme thesps wishing to show off displays of passion, pride, guilt, madness and the ability to cry on cue. In its more than 25 film incarnations, the character has been played by Greta Garbo (in 1927 and ’35), Vivien Leigh (1948) and Soviet star Tatyana Samoilova (1967). Knightley has some mighty fancy court shoes to fill as she steps into the role. Once again demonstrating that Wright knows how to get the best from Knightley , the actress’s angular beauty, declamatory line delivery and air of self-doubt all work in her favor here. Knightley’s Anna is a silly little flirt, playing at being a romantic heroine, but incapable of thinking through the endgame. Taylor-Johnson squares up well with Knightley, initially swaggering around town like a randy “It Boy,” and then quietly terrified and out of his depth when her jealous rages blossom. But their mutual self-absorption makes them harder to root for as a couple, which diminishes the emotional wallop expected from the material. Making Anna and Vronsky less likable creates more sympathy for Levin, and humanizes Law’s frigid but still wounded Karenin, one of the thesp’s best efforts yet at roughing up his old pretty-boy image. Nevertheless, the pic feels unmistakably chilly, and not just because of all the snow. Technically, however, this “Anna” is glorious, from Seamus McGarvey’s bejeweled lensing and Dario Marianelli’s delicate score, to Sarah Greenwood’s exquisite Faberge-egg production design. Layered thick with detail, her sets go hand-in-calf-leather-glove with Jacqueline Durran’s costumes . There’s something particularly evocative in the way Anna’s outfits favor asymmetric detailing, lending her unbalanced personality a touch of 2012 modernity. CREDITS: A Focus Features (in U.S.), Universal (in U.K.), release of Focus Features presentation of a Working Title production. (International sales: Focus Features, Universal City.) Produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster. Executive producers, Liza Chasin. Co-producer, Alexandra Ferguson. Directed by Joe Wright. Screenplay, Tom Stoppard. Camera (color, Panavision widescreen), Seamus McGarvey; editor, Melanie Ann Oliver; music, Dario Marianelli; music supervisor, Maggie Rodford; production designer, Sarah Greenwood; supervising art director, Niall Moroney; set decorator, Katie Spencer; costume designer, Jacqueline Durran; sound (Dolby Digital/Datasat), John Casali; sound designer, Paul Carter; supervising sound editors, Craig Berkey, Becki Ponting; re-recording mixers, Berkey, Chris Burden; choreographer, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui; special effects supervisor, Mark Holt; visual effects supervisors, Richard Briscoe, Dominic Parker, Tom Debenham; visual effects, One of Us; stunt coordinator, Lee Sheward; line producer, Alexander Dostal; assistant directors, Martin Harrison, Evgeniy Dostal; casting, Jina Jay, Dixie Chassay. Reviewed at Vue Leicester Square, London, Aug. 20, 2012. (In Toronto Film Festival — Special Presentation.) Running time: 129 MIN. Anna Karenina ................. Keira Knightley Vronsky ................... Aaron Taylor-Johnson Karenin ........................................ Jude Law Levin ............................ Domhnall Gleeson Kitty .................................. Alicia Vikander Oblonsky ................... Matthew Macfadyen Dolly .............................. Kelly Macdonald Serozha .......................... Oskar McNamara Countess Vronsky ............. Olivia Williams Princess Betsy Tverskoy ........ Ruth Wilson Countess Lydia Ivanova ...... Emily Watson With: David Wilmot, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Eros Vlahos, Michelle Dockery, Raphael Personnaz, Steve Evets.

Union Bows Feature Arm

Dave McNary

With its satire “The Brass Teapot” set to premiere in Toronto, Union Entertainment Group is ramping up to finance and produce a slate of five to seven films annually with budgets ranging from $2 million to $10 million. Banner unveiled its plan on the opening day of TIFF, announcing plans to work with a multi-million dollar film fund to co-finance several projects. Union Entertainment Group cofinanced, co-produced and supplied post production services on “Teapot,” the feature directorial debut from Ramaa Mosley and starring Juno Temple and Michael Angarano as a impoverished couple — with the wife drawn to a mysterious tea pot. film is based on a story by Mosley and Tim Macy, written by Macy; the film is produced by Darren Goldberg, Kirk Roos and James Graves. Initial slate will also include “The Shallows,” directed by Brit helmer Rupert Smith. Production will begin in October in Florida on the survival thriller with Amy Berg directing with Michael Raimondi and Union Entertainment Group founder Noah C. Haeussner producing. Union Entertainment Group is exec producing and providing postproduction financing on an untitled Janis Joplin docu, with Amy Berg, Alex Gibney, Michael Raimondi and Union Entertainment Group founder Noah C. Haeussner producing. It has also come on board to produce and co-finance “The McKennas” with Anil Baral, Gary Lennon and Haeussner producing. Penned by Lennon, the story centers on the aftermath of a father dying, leaving a mother and two sons to pick up the pieces while trying to keep their crime business from falling apart. Union Entertainment Group was founded by Michael Raimondi and Haeussner along with partners Leo David, Jay Friedkin, Jim Haygood and Einar Thorsteinsson. Their New York branch was cofounded by Sloane Klevin and Caryn Maclean. The company is led by Raimondi as president and Haeussner as senior VP. The company is supported by Union Editorial — its commercial, music video, trailer and film editing company — with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Company worked on ad campaigns including Volkswagen, Pepsi, Honda and Kia. It’s also worked on editing “Fight Club,” “The Game,” “Panic Room,” “Tron: Legacy” and recently “Lone Ranger.” “We felt it was time to actually participate in these films as producers,” Raimondi said. “It started with some of our commercial directing friends who were moving into features and has quickly become a viable entity.”

M3 Launches Prod'n Unit

Dave McNary

On the heels of its foray into film production with “John Dies at the End,” M3 Creative is launching a marketing/promotion/production arm dubbed M3 Creative Film for genre pics in the $1 million to $10 million range. First feature will be “Apple Cart,” touted as project that explores new ways of telling the classic 1970s and ‘80s horror narratives such as “Reanimator,” “Evil Dead 2” and “Halloween” — though the logline remains under wraps. M3’s Andy Meyers and Brad Baruh are producing with lensing aimed for winter. “John Dies at the End,” written and directed by Don Coscarelli, has a closing-night slot at the Toronto Fest’s Midnight Madness section following Sundance and SWSX appearances. Meyers, Baruh and M3’s Roman Perez produced the film starring Paul Giamatti as a shadowy figure investigating a street drug that causes users to drift across time and dimensions. Magnolia picked up U.S. rights to “John Dies” recently for release next year. Nine-year-old M3 produces a wide variety of content, such as 30-minute daily shows, reality shows, interstitials and promos — along with handling part of the Blu- Ray docu for “The Avengers.” “This represents a strategic repositioning for the agency that we believe is required in a marketingcentric world,” said Meyers, who serves as CEO. “While our focus remains on our core business, we saw an opportunity to expand by applying our skills in an area that is complementary to our core strengths.” Baruh said that the emergence of “John Dies” as a success story has generated interest from financers — adding that those sources of coin are not the traditional kind. “If you reach outside the industry, you can find fantastic partners,” he added. M3 has been prepping what it touts as a “non-conventional” marketing campaign for “John Dies,” employing “free form” viral and behind-the-scenes narrative — techniques that will be employed for “Apple Cart” and other projects. “By serving as true partners rather than the last stop in the creative stream, we can be involved from the beginning,” Baruh said. “This gives us the ability to lend our branding expertise to everything from demo targets and casting to script development and special effects, maximizing the chances of success for independent films vying in a highly competitive environment.”

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