Whatever you might think of “American Sniper,” it was a landmark moment for Clint Eastwood in a career already filled with landmark moments. The film was the biggest domestic moneymaker of 2014, raking in over $350 million, good for more than double Eastwood's previous high mark ($148 million for 2008's “Gran Torino”). So how is he following it up? By bringing another real-life persona to the screen.

You probably remember the saga of Captain Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger, who in January of 2009 forced an emergency landing/ditching in the Hudson River after engines on a New York-Charlotte flight were taken out by a large flock of birds. Dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson,” t's the kind of story that plays havoc on a fear of flying – that a flock of birds can take you down in an instant. Nevertheless, Sully's story garnered him a national spotlight, and now Eastwood is planning to bring that story to the big screen.

Allyn Stewart and Frank Marshall, who optioned the rights to Sullenberger's life story and memoir “Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters,” will produce alongside Eastwood.

Eastwood softly retired from starring in his own movies after “Gran Torino,” but this might be reason enough to step back in front of the camera of one of his productions. If not him, though, perhaps Harrison Ford could take on the role. According to the Hollywood Reporter story that broke the news, he first introduced Sullenberger to Marshall. And he knows a thing or two about ditch landings.

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

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Fox Searchlight made a big splash at Cannes with Paolo Sorrentino's “Youth.” On the heels of the director's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner “The Great Beauty,” it's a film that could be right up the Academy's alley, with performances from Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel leading the way. And now, the distributor has given it – predictably – a release date right in the thick of things.

“Youth” will hit select theaters on December 4, it was announced today. Presumably Searchlight will then platform it throughout the month and into the new year, just as awards will be flying fast and furious in the heat of the season.

Elsewhere Searchlight will also have a pair of Sundance darlings, John Crowley's “Brooklyn” and Grand Jury and Audience Award winner “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.” I caught up with the latter recently and can't say I share much of the enthusiasm that emanated from Park City, but it could certainly be a screenplay player. And it will undoubtedly be all over the Independent Spirit Awards nominations. But Crowley's drama, from a Nick Hornby script, looks like it will be a better play overall. It hits theaters November 6.

All that said – and Searchlight loves all its babies, of course – but “Youth” really does feel like the big dog in the stable for last year's Best Picture victor. We'll see if the Academy responds in due time.

Check out the HitFix review of “Youth” from Cannes here.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911104171001

Currently “San Andreas” is rumbling in theaters nationwide, and it's chock-full of its share of jaw-dropping (some might say numbing) images of destruction. It's a tradition, really, the disaster movie money shot. From tidal waves to rivers of lava and all points in between, Hollywood knows these movies are sold on that one image that dictates scale, scope and wonder.

With that in mind, I thought I'd round up some favorites. You'll find that in one or two examples, I define “disaster movie” just a bit broadly. But when directors “blow stuff up good,” who needs labels?

Check out my picks below and feel free to offer up your own in the comments section. And if you saw “San Andreas,” tell us what you thought. I'd actually like to see it in 4DX myself.

“San Andreas” is now playing in theaters.

You might remember “Grace of Monaco.” A Grace Kelly biopic directed by Olivier Dahan (“La Vie en Rose”) with Nicole Kidman in the lead and Tim Roth as her Prince Rainier, the film was picked up for distribution by The Weinstein Company and landed an opening night slot at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It seemed like a perfect combination of material and talent, and a possible awards player. But it ended up panned on the Croisette and destined for a premiere on the Lifetime television channel here in the US.

Earlier this week, the film's screenwriter, Arash Amel, took to Twitter to live-Tweet the Lifetime airing and, well, he had a lot to say. “The purpose of this live Tweet is to correct the record, an explanation, an apology and most of all a bit of lighthearted fun,” he wrote, tagging each of his Tweets with the #GOMFacts hashtag.

If anyone didn't grasp the “lighthearted fun” element, it had to have been Dahan, whose creative vision of the project was apparently at drastic odds with Amel's. It seems Dahan was after something approaching Alfred Hitchcock's “Vertigo” (which, Amel notes, did not feature Kelly). But ultimately he ended up with something that falls off that thin line into the gaudy.

In one Tweet, Amels claims that after he saw the finished film, he complained to Harvey Weinstein about this direction. “He heard me,” Amel wrote, “but under French law, director say is final…I fought the good fight. But the law is the law. Sometimes you get Truffaut. Sometimes you get this.”

Ouch.

If there's any news to be gleaned from all of this, it might be that the version that aired on Lifetime was in fact a third edit of the movie, according to Amel. There was the French edit, the unfinished Weinstein Company edit and this one. Amel seemed to think it was better, perhaps because it was mercifully swift in pace, clocking in somewhere around 75 minutes plus commercial breaks.

I've pulled a few choice Tweets below for you to sample this unique dissection. And a dissection it is. After all, Amel wanted the live-Tweet session to be “a valuable lesson in how a script becomes a film. Coppola made 'Heart of Darkness.' I lived it.”

To be clear, Amel experienced nothing like what Mr. Coppola did filming “Apocalypse Now' in the wilds of the Philippines (watch the documentary “Hearts of Darkness” for a taste of that madness), but his story is his own “filmmaking Vietnam,” and everything is relative after all. This is valuable reading for anyone interested in a screenwriting career, to say the least, so enjoy…if that's the word.

To clear up some inaccuracies. TWC was never a producer on the movie. Bought US rights after the film was shot and in edit. #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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The movie was creatively produced solely by Stone Angels in France, and the vision is all the director's and French producer's. #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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French cut was 103min, TWC cut (never finished) was 92 min. @Lifetimetv are showing in a 90min TV slot, I'm presuming with ads #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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I wrote a Peter-Morgan-type biopic that became a Douglas Sirk melodrama. That's your lot as a writer. All your dreams, right there #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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This was never meant to be a thriller. It was meant to be real. We cut this whole boat and argument sequence from the US cut. #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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They were also not meant to be shouting at each other. It was meant to play under the surface. #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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This movie has had more edits than I've had films made. #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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This is actually better than the version that played Cannes. If you can believe that. It's tighter, better edited. #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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ok now, so if ads run every 20mins, we're looking at Lifetime delivering a 75min cut. That's almost 30 mins off the French cut #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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Lesson for film grads: this is how you wash away what was actually a great performance in this scene with unnecessary music. #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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An English guy and a French guy. (I had Abel Korzeniowski as my first choice and we were ready to go) https://t.co/7PSspf55mW

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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That scene in Grace's office was shot in one take in one day. Imagine my horror. #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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Director boycotted collaboration. I got called in by Harvey as a producer to restore the movie as a 'writer's cut'. https://t.co/zwEosYILat

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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One day the world will see the US Writer's Cut. I'm planning on being here a while … #GOMFacts

– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015

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http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911134122001

George Miller's “Mad Max: Fury Road” is tearing through theaters right now. If you haven't seen it, rectify that over the holiday weekend. It's a bold revisitation of an original vision (an original vision that itself already had plenty to offer in the way of a unique, seminal cinematic experience). So it got me thinking…

This whole premise is more or less rhetorical. Let's start by noting as much. “Mad Max: Fury Road” is a special case, not least of which because Miller himself – not some random studio hire – took the reins on dragging the material into the 21st Century. And not every stunning piece of world-building should get the same treatment. Sometimes it just doesn't work. We saw that already when Ridley Scott went back to his “Alien” roots with “Prometheus.”

But nevertheless, there are a number of other original visions from fascinating filmmakers that I wouldn't mind seeing them (and only them) usher to the screen once more. I'm sure a great many in the industry will feel emboldened by what Miller has accomplished at 70 years of age. Maybe some of these directors will feel like they have something else to say in these worlds, maybe not. I'm just saying I would be willing to watch.

Check out six examples below, and offer up one or more in the comments if anything comes to mind. More importantly, enjoy the holiday.

CANNES – Awards season is no stranger to Cannes. From “Amour” to “The Tree of Life” to “No Country For Old Men” to “The Pianist” to “The Piano,” every year there seems to be a player or two that pokes its head out from the crowded Croisette and into Oscar's waiting arms. This year's potential players may not include a true Best Picture contender, but they are evidence enough that the festival's presence will be felt throughout the upcoming campaign.

Before you start second guessing which films have a shot and which don't, remember the actions of this year's Hollywood-influenced competition jury. The Coen brothers, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sienna Miller and the Guillermo Del Toro, among others, awarded some interesting prizes that will absolutely affect the race. The critical kudos are important, too (as are those of us who cover the beat on a regular basis and took in this year's slate), but the remarks from those key industry players were very telling indeed (more on that later).  

That said, let's run down the movies that saw their Oscar fate affected by debuting at Cannes over the past 14 days and reflect on their realistic chances to earn a nomination or two.  

“CAROL”
Potential nods:
Best Picture
Director – Todd Haynes
Actress – Rooney Mara
Actress or Best Supporting Actress – Cate Blanchett
Supporting Actress – Sarah Paulson
Adapted Screenplay – Phyllis Nagy
Original Score – Carter Burwell
Cinematography – Edward Lachman
Costumes – Sandy Powell
Production Design – Judy Decker
Editing – Affonso Gonclaves
Lowdown: One of The Weinstein Company's major players this upcoming season, “Carol” earned almost universal rave reviews and was a potential Palme d'Or winner. That being said, a Best Picture nomination isn't necessarily a given and will require some serious campaigning by the studio. In theory, the film's absolute best shots at nods are Mara and Blanchett, but do you really run them both in the lead actress category? Even if it turns out to be a weak year we find it hard to believe both ladies will be able to make a five-nominee field. Could TWC run Blanchett in supporting even though her character is the title of the movie? Something to ponder.

“YOUTH”
Potential nods:
Best Picture
Director – Paolo Sorrentino
Actor – Michael Caine
Supporting Actor – Harvey Keitel
Supporting Actress – Rachel Weisz
Supporting Actress – Jane Fonda
Original Screenplay – Paolo Sorrentino
Cinematography – Luca Bigazzi
Production Design – Ludovica Ferrario
Lowdown:  Sorrentino's follow-up to Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner “The Great Beauty” will be an absolute Academy player. The question is whether both Weisz and Fonda can get nominated in the supporting category or if Fonda's appeal will be so impactful she pushes her fellow Academy Award winner out of the top five.

“SICARIO”
Potential nods:
Best Director – Denis Villeneuve
Best Actress – Emily Blunt
Best Supporting Actor – Benicio Del Toro
Best Original Screenplay – Taylor Sheridan
Best Cinematography – Roger Deakins
Best Editing – Joe Walker
Best Sound
Lowdown: Like “Youth,” Denis Villeneuve's thriller centered on the the U.S. government's neverending drug war will play much better Stateside than on la Croisette. Its best chances for Oscar nods are Del Toro and Deakins. Blunt and Villeneuve have a shot as well.

“INSIDE OUT”
Potential nods:
Animated Feature Film
Original Screenplay – Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley
Original Score – Michael Giacchino
Lowdown: Pixar's latest creation is already the prohibitive favorite to win the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar and it's still three weeks from opening. The film received an incredibly warm critical reception, but most seem to believe it's just a step below the creative heights of “Up” or “WALL-E.” Does that mean a general Best Picture nod isn't in the cards? Not necessarily, but it may be more difficult to land than Walt Disney Studios wants to believe. That being said, an Original Screenplay nomination seems very, very likely.

“SON OF SAUL”
Potential nods:
Best Picture
Foreign Langage Film
Director – Laslo Nemes
Original Screenplay – Laslo Nemes and Clara Royer
Cinematography – Matyas Erdely
Lowdown: Nemes looked genuinely stunned when he took home the Grand Prix (second place) at Cannes this year. He shouldn't have been. “Saul” was an impressive accomplishment for a first-time filmmaker, even though many believed it could take home the Palme d'Or. More telling was the praise Miller, Dolan and Del Toro gave the picture during the post-awards press conference. Yes, there are a few dissenters (the New York Times' Manohla Dargis quizzically being one of them), but this one is going to strike a chord with many filmmakers and Academy members. Sony Classics, which picked “Saul” up before its premiere, may have something more than the Foreign Language Film frontrunner on their hands.

“DHEEPAN”
Potential nods:
Foreign Language Film
Lowdown: This year's Palme d'Or winner has effectively passed “Mon roi” to represent France in the Foreign Language Film race. It would be blasphemous for the selection committee to choose another picture over a French film that took home Cannes' biggest prize. Will it make the top five? Possibly, but it's not a given.

“CHRONIC”
Potential nods:
Actor – Tim Roth
Original Screenplay – Michael Franco
Lowdown: Michael Franco's Los Angeles-set drama is a tough one to sit through and it's hard to imagine the general Academy embracing this picture. However, if they can prove U.S. investment, it's likely the recipient of multiple Independent Spirit Award nominations. It also has an outside shot for a screenplay nod based on the Cannes honor, but we think most of the movie industry will give more credit to Franco's direction than his script.

“THE LOBSTER”
Potential nods:
Original Screenplay – Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou
Cinematography – Thimios Bakatakis
Lowdown: Yorgos Lanthimos's film won a special jury prize, but its best shot for awards season love is in the original screenplay race. The film falters a bit in the second half, but you can see the Writers Branch wanting to reward Lanthimos and his co-writer and Efthymis Filippou for their unique world view.

“THE ASSASSIN”
Potential nods:
Foreign Language Film
Cinematography – Ping Bin Lee
Lowdown: Hsiao-hsien Hou took Cannes' best director prize, but it's unclear whether “The Assassin” will even be Taiwan's submission for the Foreign Language Oscar. It may simply be too esoteric. That means its best chance at a nomination may be for Cinematography. Maybe.

“THE LITTLE PRINCE”
Potential Nods:
Animated Feature Film
Original Score – Hans Zimmer
Lowdown: Director Mark Osborne (“Kung Fu Panda”) found a creative way to work the classic children's book “The Little Prince” into a 90-minute movie. “Prince” may not earn the overall kudos “Inside Out” will, but it's hard to not see it being one of the top five nominees if Paramount releases it this year.

“MACBETH”
Potential nods:
Actor – Michael Fassbender
Actress or Supporting Actress – Marion Cotillard
Cinematography – Adam Arkapaw
Lowdown: Despite some rave reviews from the British press, Justin Kurzel's “Macbeth” came and went with a whimper. With weak commercial prospects outside the art house circuit the question is whether The Weinstein Company will even give Cotillard or Fassbender the push they need to land nominations. Considering Fassbender also has Danny Boyle's “Steve Jobs” on deck, we think that's highly unlikely.

“MAD MAX: FURY ROAD”
Potential nods:
Best Picture
Director – George Miller
Screenplay – George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris
Actress – Charlize Theron
Editing – Margaret Sixel
Cinematography – John Seale
Costume Design – Jenny Beavan
Original Score – Junkie XL
Production Design – Colin Gibson
Sound
Visual Effects
Lowdown: The reaction from Cannes was so strong that the festival received serious blowback from media and attendees wondering why “Fury Road” wasn't in competition  Miller's long-awaited return to live action has already received rapturous reviews in the States (raves from the NYT and LAT, no less) and should eventually break even thanks to international returns (always important if you're a “genre movie” trying to crash Oscar). Technically, “Fury Road” already appears to have editing and cinematography nominations locked up (cue the backlash if it doesn't happen), but a Directing nod for Miller isn't out of the question. Filmmakers are going bonkers over it and, like Wes Anderson's “Grand Budapest Hotel” this past season, we don't think they'll forget come January.

Additionally, Asif Kapadia's “Amy” has an outside chance at landing a documentary nomination, but we're slightly concerned that it won't speak to enough members of that branch.

Which Cannes movies do you think have the best shot to make an impact this Oscar season? Share your thoughts below.

CANNES – We finally have a Palme d'Or winner (Jacques Audiard's “Dheepan”), but what are our major takeaways from the entire 2015 Cannes Film Festival?

Overall, the competition slate was slightly mediocre, with festival programmers really finding only three stellar films. There were a number of major disappointments (“The Sea of Trees”) and true surprises (“Son of Saul,” “Amy”). The Un Certain Regard and Critics” Week selections didn”t generate much buzz and we missed the textbook over-the-top publicity stunts for Hollywood releases looking to make a mark with the 4,000+ members of the global media credentialed for the festival.    

The biggest buzz actually came from a Midnight screening (“Love”), a ladies' shoe controversy and attendees questioning why “Mad Max: Fury Road” or “Inside Out” weren't in competition. The question remains, however: Should either film been eligible for a jury prize? We”ll dive into that in our Best and Worst story gallery that you can view at the bottom of this post.  

Before you take a swing at the “Best” and “Worst,” however, here”s a list of some of the films that are already quickly fading from memory: Woody Allen”s “Irrational Man,” “Tale of Tales,” “Marguerite and Juliene,” “Louder than Bombs” and the opening night feature, “Standing Tall.” As for the rest…check out the story gallery.

.What were your biggest takeaways from this year”s festival? Share your thoughts below.

Mathematician John Nash and his wife Alicia, subjects of the Oscar-winning 2001 film “A Beautiful Mind,” were killed in a New Jersey automobile accident Sunday. They were 86 and 82 respectively.

The car reportedly crashed into the guard rail, and the couple was ejected from the vehicle. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

RIP Brilliant #NobelPrize winning John Nash & and his remarkable wife Alicia. It was an honor telling part of their story #ABeautifulMind

– Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) May 24, 2015

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The Nashes were portrayed by Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly in Ron Howard's film. Connelly won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar while the film also won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

“This is a great loss,” Connelly said in a statement. “John and Alicia Nash were an inspiration and I have deep admiration for all that they accomplished in their lives. My thoughts are with their family.”

Nash is renowned for his work in game theory. He won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994. He also struggled with schizophrenia, which became the focus of the largely dramatized film.

Stunned…my heart goes out to John & Alicia & family. An amazing partnership. Beautiful minds, beautiful hearts. https://t.co/XF4V9MBwU4

– Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) May 24, 2015

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#JohnNash gave the world a window into humanity – how the disabled may think and feel inside #ABeautifulMind

– Brian Grazer (@BrianGrazer) May 24, 2015

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CANNES – The 2015 Cannes Film Festival has officially come to an end and, in something of a surprise, the winner of the Palme d'Or went to Jacques Audiard's “Dheepan.”  The presidents of the jury, Ethan and Joel Coen, reminded the media during the final press conference these honors weren't determined by critics.  Instead, they were chosen by a nine-member jury which included notable names such as Guillermo Del Toro, Jake Gyllenhaal, Xavier Dolan, Sienna Miller and Sophie Marceau.

Other major winners included “Son of Saul,” which took the Grand Prix, “The Assassin,” which took Best Director for Hsiao-hsien Hou; “The Lobster,” which won the Jury Prize; and “Chronic,” which won Best Screenplay.

Veteran French actor Vincent Lindon was a mile surprise picking up the Best Actor prize for “La Loi Du Marche,” but the bigger story was Best Actress. There was a split in the category amongst Rooney Mara (“Carol”) and Emmanuelle Bercot (“Mon Roi”). Many would have predicted Mara's co-star, Cate Blanchett, taking home the honor, sharing it with Mara or another actress. The jury was asked about Blanchett's absence during the press conference and skirted around the issue.

Here is a list of all of this year's winners and some immediate reactions as they were announced.

SHORT FILM – Waves '98 by Ely Dagher

CAMERA D'OR – Cesar Augusto Acevedo for “La Tierra Y La Sombre” 
Reaction: Didn't see this Critics' Week selection, but only heard good things.

PRIX DU SCENARIO – Michael Franco for “Chronic”
Reaction: Stunned. Just saw the film and thought Roth and the actors were great, but it was Franco's commitment to his direction which was the strongest part of the film artistically. There were much better screenplays passed over here.

BEST ACTRESS (TIE) – Rooney Mara for “Carol” and Emmanuelle Bercot for “Mon Roi”
Reaction: Buzz was jury member Xavier Dolan wanted “Mon Roi” to get rewarded and it looks like he got it (he appeared to tear up at the speech). This is a very nice and deserving win for Mara, but most would have picked her co-star Cate Blanchett instead. This makes me wonder whether The Weinstein Company may push Blanchett to supporting during awards season. Both ladies are co-leads, but tough to imagine both of them getting nominated for most honors.

PRIX du JURY – Yorgos Lanthimos for “The Lobster”
Reaction: Great recognition for a film that created a tremendous amount of buzz the first few days of the festival. Nice to see Lanthimos take a prize home for trying to create something really, really different, insightful and entertaining at the same time.

BEST ACTOR – Vincent Lindon for “La Loi Du Marche”
Reaction: One of the few competition films I missed this year so I can't speak to it, but the French actor got a major standing ovation from the audience and delivered a very emotional speech.

BEST DIRECTOR – Hou Hsiau-Hsien for “The Assassin”
Reaction: I do not get the love for this one, but the jury decided to reward the longtime Cannes attendee for his commitment to…whatever. It's beautiful for sure, but I stand by my thoughts that there is truly nothing that special there.

GRAND PRIX – Lazlo Nemes for “Son of Saul”
Reaction: This is arguably one of my top three films of the year so far. It's a tremendous achievement that I would have given the Palme d'Or to. In any case, it's worth noting the Berlin Film Festival turned this picture down earlier this year. To say they have egg on their face is an understatement. Also, it's your leading candidate for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.

Palme d'Or – Jacques Audiard for “Dheepan”
Reaction: Huge Audiard fan, but this is a surprise. Caught this film today on the final day of screenings and thought it was very good, but missing something at the end. This is Audiard's first Palme d'Or after previously winning the Grand Prix for “A Prophet” and the Screenwriting prize for “A Self-Made Hero.” Needless to say, most of the press covering the festival are stunned. One thing is for sure, it will be hard for “Mon Roi” to surpass “Dheepan” as France's submission for the 2015 Foreign Language Oscar race.

What do you think of this year's winners? Share your thoughts below.

CANNES – This Scottish General is a mad warrior. He takes down one victim after another, seemingly fueled by an endless stream of rage. He applies war paint to the faces of his teenage soldiers and throws them onto the battlefield, eventually haunted by their wasted deaths. Constant war has made Macbeth a man on the edge of madness, and that”s exactly what director Justin Kurzel wants to exploit in his stylistic new adaptation of William Shakespeare”s classic play.   

One of Shakespeare”s most acclaimed creations, “Macbeth” has been adapted as a film or TV film at least 15 times in some form or another, with the most notable interpretations coming from Orson Wells, Roman Polanski and Akira Kurosawa (“Throne of Blood”). Kurzel differentiates his predecessors by incorporating a striking and gritty aesthetic to the proceedings while also abridging the story to allow for a shorter movie-going experience. (Polanski”s 1971 version clocks in 25 minutes longer comparatively.)

This new incarnation, credited to screenwriters Jacob Koskoff, Michael Lesslie and Todd Louiso, tries to cut the excess fat without disturbing the narrative trajectory of the original material or changing the context of a scene to make it more cinematic. In one instance, the death of Lady Macduff and her children is staged differently by setting it in a forest, where the mad king”s soldiers chase them down on horseback (in the play it occurs in her bedroom). The slightly shorter script allows Kurzel to spend more time staging the battle scenes, which bookend the film and are his primary opportunity to break the material free of its theatrical constraints.

The result, however, is that it all feels a bit thin. Macbeth”s rise and fall seems to occur so quickly in real time that you begin to wonder whether most of it has taken place over the course of just a week. But notably, this “Macbeth” lives and dies on the performances of its two leads, Michael Fassbender, as the title character, and Marion Cotillard, as his infamous Lady and future Queen. They do not disappoint.

In a press conference after the film”s Cannes Film Festival debut, Fassbender revealed that his performance began with Kurzel”s idea that Macbeth would be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after so many years at war. You can argue whether that would be contextually accurate for a Shakespearean construct, but it clearly inspired him to depict a Macbeth that is less insane and slightly more off-kilter. This take especially works when Macbeth celebrates his coronation with a dinner and he believes he keeps seeing the ghost of a fallen comrade in the crowd.

As for Cotillard, apologies for stating the obvious, but her performance here once again demonstrates why she is one of the world”s greatest actors. The French-born Oscar winner delivers Shakespeare”s prose flawlessly and her Lady Macbeth has a shadow of grief that humanizes her more traditional interpretations of the role. One of Kurzel”s most interesting decisions is to diminish the scheming aspect of the character. This Lady is intent on protecting her husband, but she is horrified and distraught over his actions consistently throughout the film. But somehow, despite Cotillard”s strong work, it feels like there is less of the Lady in the film than there ought to be. It may simply be a cumulative effect of the time spent allocated to the action scenes, but something feels slightly amiss.

One theatrical conceit Kurzel cannot completely solve is making the play”s soliloquies less pronounced. There seem to be too many moments of Fassbender delivering a discourse (or two, or three) without interacting with anyone or anything around him. Cotillard has her own moment that lingers a bit longer than necessary, but it pays off thanks to a memorable reverse shot from Kurzel.

Beyond the performances, this new “Macbeth” benefits from Kurzel”s inspired eye, the increasingly impressive talents of cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (“True Detective”) and Fiona Crombie”s period-loving production design. The world they have created for this tragedy may overwhelm, but it's certainly impossible to forget.

“Macbeth” is set to open in the U.S. sometime this Fall.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911123535001

CANNES – The last film in competition has debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and that meant it was time for two of the world's most respected and photogenic stars to get their moment in the spotlight. So, yes, the global media were quite excited about Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender taking the podium for “Macbeth's” official press conference.

Justin Kurzel's new adaptation is a stylish, gritty and intense depiction of William Shakespeare's classic play. Fassbender plays the title role passionately and Cotillard takes on his Lady. Kurzel expands on the material by including some beautiful and gruesome war sequences that frame the story in a slightly different light.  

Fassbender said he experienced the play when he was 15 and later when he was in grad school, but was taking on the iconic role for the first time. It was a conversation with the Aussie director, however, that provided him some modern context to the role. Macbeth begins the film as King Duncan's top general and has likely spent years on the bloody battlefields of the Dark Ages.

“Never did it occurred to me that this character was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder,” Fassbender said. “Justin had said that to me during one of our first conversations and that changed everything for me.”

The “12 Years a Slave” star says the cumulative effect isn't just about a soldier who is engaged in war day after day, month after month, “but the fact the battle takes place with his bare hands. What it takes to pierce someone's skin. To drive the sword through somebody's muscle. And then take the sword out again [and] smash someone's skull. Those kind of images, definitely, I tried to dig up and explore and try to find that fractured character right at the beginning, the idea that he's seeing hallucinations.”

He continued: “We know soldiers today coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan that, despite post traumatic stress disorder, they can have these hallucinations. They can be working down the Croisette here and the next thing it's a real time battle. So that makes so sense for the character. The fact that he's seeing things there, and his sort of unhinged behavior.”

Considering how intense his performance appears, Fassbender was asked if it's difficult for him to leave the set without being affected personally by the experience.

“It's inevitable that some residue is there, but I have worked hard to try and leave everything on the floor on the day,” Fassbender replied candidly. “So a lot of the time I spend in preparation when it comes to the day's filming I can really just sort of leave everything there and explore everything on the day as much as possible. Of course, on the drive home, all the good ideas come. But I try to meet friends at the end of the day and I wouldn't have many left if [it was], 'Oh, here he goes again with one of those characters.'”

That response brought some much needed laughter to the day's proceedings. Cotillard, on the other hand, already spoke to HitFix in November about the unpleasantness of her experience noting, “I lost control of everything.” On Saturday she told the assembled media that she'd always dreamed about playing the role of Lady Macbeth, but thought it would be on the stage and in French. She'd never even considered taking part in a Shakespearean English production. Even though it took a personal toll she still described it as a “marvelous opportunity.”

“For me this is the first time in a film I found it difficult to slip into the character,” Cotillard said. “I've often played dramatic characters but never perhaps to this extent. Most of the characters I've played so far were full of light or held out some hope. I this case it's all gloom. The character loses control of the situation. I found it difficult to prepare for the film and let myself be swept away by the character.”

Fassbender will likely get a majority of the critical kudos between the two stars, but he could not praise Cotillard enough for bringing more “humanity” to Lady Macbeth.

“I think Marion is the best in the business,” he said. “She brings a grace to everything that she does, which is just in her I think. But at the same time she is very human and I think when she portrays a character the audience has something of a mirror in front of them and see much of themselves in her.”

Later on he remarked, “Just to be standing opposite her and to see just the most engaged partner and somebody who is listening seems like such a simple thing, but the best actors are great listeners. She listens so brilliantly and responds to whatever is happening in the moment and is very generous in return. She'll take something, use it, form it and give it back to you. So it's very easy. We worked comprehensively in rehearsal, but once we started filming we didn't discuss things and just presented them when the camera was rolling. I really enjoy that way of working.”

“Macbeth” is currently slated to open in the UK in October and is expected to hit American shores sometime this Fall.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911123531001

We already got one taste of Scott Cooper's upcoming Whitey Bulger gangster saga “Black Mass” on the heels of CinemaCon. That teaser trailer, framed by an unsettling moment over a dinner table, introduced us to just what Johnny Depp is doing in the lead role. A new taste, courtesy of the UK trailer for the film, adds some style to the equation.

Anachronism be damned, they just went ahead and dropped Rick Ross and Jay Z's “The Devil is a Lie” over flashy images of Bulger's life of crime in and around Boston, talking to little old ladies in the neighborhood, smashing his foot into some dude's face, etc. Awesome. And the sell continues to do exactly what you'd expect it to: play up Depp's transformation. But obviously this cast is stacked: Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Jesse Plemons, Peter Sarsgaard, Dakota Johnson, Corey Stoll, Juno Temple, etc. I can't wait to see how the ensemble plays, and particularly how cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi captures it all in his lens.

Check out the new trailer above and tell us what you think.

“Black Mass” is currently set for release on Sept. 18.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911123535001

CANNES – The 68th Festival de Cannes is almost at an end. There is only one more competition film to screen, Justin Kurzel's “Macbeth,” and then the Coen brothers-led jury will begin deliberations over what entry will win the prestigious Palme d'Or. The favorites are still “Son of Saul” and “Carol,” but two relatively new entries, “Youth” and “Mountains May Depart,” may steal their thunder. Tomorrow night's awards ceremony is going to be very intriguing. But more on that later…

On Wednesday, the lovely and talented Alison Willmore of Buzzfeed and I took some time to chat about the films we liked and, of course, the films we didn't. We agreed on both one “best” and one “worst” so if you've been waiting to see someone physically express their feelings about Gus Van Sant's latest as opposed to just reading about it, this is your chance.

Note: This was recorded before either of us had seen Gaspar Noe's “Love.” Read my review about the festival's most controversial film, so far, here.

To check out our lively (and winding) conversation watch the video embedded at the top of this post.

Alison co-hosts the always entertaining Filmspotting: SVU podcast and you can follow her on twitter @AlisonWillmore. For more from Cannes follow me @HitFixGregory.

Which movies are you most excited to see after the Cannes reactions? Share your thoughts below.

CANNES – Even at a more civilized festival such as Cannes, it can be hard to catch every single movie in competition. There are always a few that will slip through the cracks and you can always count on the inevitable life drama moment to rear its ugly head. Unlike other festivals, Cannes has less repeat screenings across the board. That also makes things tough for one person to chronicle it all.

With less than 24 hours left in the festival we”re happy to say we've been able to cover 10 Cannes selections in depth. Here are capsule reviews for another six selections you may still be curious about.

[Expect full reviews of “Macbeth,” “The Little Prince” and “Chronic” by the end of the weekend as well as some thoughts on whether Oscar stepped out on la Croisette this year.]

“Louder Than Bombs”
Director: Joachim Trier
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Gabriel Byrne, Amy Ryan, Isabelle Huppert, David Strathairn, David Druid
Reaction: Trier”s first English language film is sort of a mixed bag. On the one hand, he often has creative and new ideas on how to stage scenes. He”s talented enough to pull you in with technique alone. The problem is the story and tone of “Bombs” feel like a Sundance drama from five years ago. The movie is about a father (Byrne) trying to foster relationships with his two sons (Eisenberg and relative newcomer Druid) a few years after their mother (Huppert) commits suicide. Eisenberg is almost too on-the-nose casting for the uptight brother and Druid just doesn”t bring enough to a typical troubled teenager role. Trier is far too talented for there not to be some good things here, but it just doesn”t add up to much.
Grade: B-  

“The Lobster”
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Léa Seydoux, Olivia Colman, Ben Whishaw
Reaction: The first half of Lanthimos' sharp critique on society's need to conform is wickedly funny. After Farrell”s wife leaves him, he”s sent to a countryside hotel where he has just 45 days to find a new mate or find himself turned into the animal of his choosing (this element of the film is only explored for comic and not horrific effect). Along with the other single guests at the hotel, he spends most of his days heading into the nearby woods to shoot and capture single people known as “loners” on the, um, lamb (for each loner they catch, the guests are awarded an extra day at the hotel). The Loner faction is run by Seydoux”s character and they turn out to be just as dangerously strident in their beliefs as the couple-filled “normal” world. The film really loses some steam when Farrell escapes to the “Loners,” but he and Weisz conjure up genuine tenderness between their characters to make you care about their fate. Lanthimos presents a fully formed original vision that hits a perfect tone even when the narrative begins to get away from him a bit.
Grade: B+

“Maryland (Disorder)”
Director: Alice Winocour
Cast: Diane Kruger, Matthias Schoenaerts
Reaction: Vincent (Schoenaerts) is a French soldier with PTSD waiting to find out whether he'll be shipped out on another tour. He ends up being recruited as private security for a rich Lebanese businessman, his English-speaking wife Jessie (Kruger) and their kid. Before you know it the arms-dealing husband has been taken into custody and his enemies (we never find out who they are exactly) are trying to take out his unsuspecting family. A considerable amount of time is spent depicting Vincent's symptoms and throwing around a number of political red herrings, but it all takes a back seat in the second half of the movie where our hero has to protect Jessie and her son from a home invasion. It's good stuff and, in a perfect world, will prompt Hollywood execs to take Winocour's directing skills very seriously.
Grade: B-

“Marguerite & Julien”
Director: Valérie Donzelli
Cast: Anaïs Demoustier, Jérémie Elkaïm
Reaction: This pseudo-period drama about a brother and sister persecuted for their incestuous love affair is something of a mess. Donzelli wants to bring a contemporary energy to the proceedings and her directing style references everything from French New Wave to Wes Anderson (himself inspired by New Wave) to Baz Luhrmann. Demoustier is charismatic enough to almost help Donzelli pull it off, but Elkaïm is so stiff as Julien you never understand why Marguerite is willing to risk her life in the first place. It”s not good, but Donzelli will surprise with a captivating cinematic moment here and there.
Grade: C+

“Mountains May Depart”
Director: Zhangke Jia
Cast: Tao Zhao
Reaction: Jia”s epic tale follows Shen Tao (Zhao) and the men who come in and out of her life over two decades. The first part of the film takes place in 1999, where Tao finds herself pursued by two young men, one of which has embraced China”s new liberal economy and another who is still able to find happiness working in the local coal mine. The second part jumps to 2014, where Tao is a divorcee and trying to come to make peace with the fact that her young son may be better off with his rich father, who intends to leave the country. The last segment ends in 2025 and mostly occurs in Australia, centering on Tao”s now college-age son. Zhao is simply phenomenal portraying a woman who is able to find happiness in unexpected solitude. Jia probably made a mistake directing the 1999 sequence in such an over-the-top and stilted tone (it also feels more like 1989 than the turn of the century), but the rest of the film is incredibly well done. Oh, and it”s the best use of the Pet Shop Boys” “Go West” in any movie ever.
Grade: B+

“The Assassin”
Director: Hsiao-hsien Hou
Cast: Qi Shu, Chen Chang
Reaction: Hou should be congratulated for making the most boring martial arts movie ever. The plot becomes strangely confusing thanks to his tediously long takes where the characters seem almost as sleepy as the audience. Hou and cinematographer Ping Bin Lee (“Renoir”) produce some stunning images on location (one conversation takes place as a fog beautifully emits from the bottom of a valley), but it”s hard to find a thematic connection between the directing style Hou has chosen and the story. All film is art in some context, but this is some pretty vapid art. And as for the few critics who have raved about it? I”ll have what they”re having, thank you.
Grade: C-

More reviews from Cannes:

“Love”
“Youth”
“Sicario”
“Carol”
“Inside Out”
“The Sea of Trees”
“Amy”
“Son of Saul”
“Irrational Man”
“Tale of Tales”
“Standing Tall”

CANNES – Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino has already dipped his toe into the familiar genre of characters of a certain age reminiscing about the good old days with 2013's “The Great Beauty.” He even won an Oscar for it. Two years later he returns to the Cannes Film Festival with “Youth,” a follow-up that stands besides “Great Beauty” thematically while also presenting a decidedly different point of view.

“Youth” starts off with The Retrosettes Sister Band performing a cover of “You Got the Love,” interpreted in a retro style and a twist on the old adage “everything old is new again.” In this case, everything new is old again, a theme that may or may not apply to the central characters in Sorrentino”s cinematic opera.  

The movie centers on Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine), a legendary British composer and conductor, and Mick Boyle (Harvey Keitel), a famous American film director. Friends for 60 years, the duo often end up spending their summers together in an elegant resort in the Swiss Alps. They both are quietly aware, however, that these excursions will soon be coming to an end.

The secluded hotel and spa is a destination for the rich and famous looking to relax and get away from it all. There is an Italian Opera singer who is so large he can barely breathe after going for a lap in the pool. There is the Hollywood actor (Paul Dano) who is researching a role, but can't escape being constantly reminded of his last favorite work. And yes, even the reigning Miss Universe (Madalina Diana Ghenea) stops by to embarrass her fellow guests for assuming she doesn't have any semblance of a brain. All intriguing characters, but in many ways they mostly serve to inform Fred and Mick's journeys, each man dealing with problems of his own, which offer no clear solutions.

Fred is being pressured by an Emissary for the Queen of England (Alex Macqueen) to perform his signature composition at a concert for Prince Phillip, but much to her majesty's disappointment, continues to turn them down. Mick has brought along four thirtysomething screenwriters to help him finish the script for his next picture, a drama he expects will reunite him with legendary actress Brenda Morel (a glorious Jane Fonda), who he discovered decades ago.

Each of their worlds is thrown for a loop when Fred's daughter Leda (Rachel Weisz) is dumped by her husband, who – surprise – also just happens to be Mick's son. You might expect this to cause conflict between the old friends, but it's the first of many moments where Sorrentino pointedly directs the truth. Mick chews out his son for being a [expletive] (he already has a new girlfriend) and for leaving Leda just because she's supposedly bad in bed. This is just one example of the sharp knife Sorrentino provides his characters to poke each other with. The resort almost acts as a cathartic refuge where the guests drop their normally polite demeanors and let their true feelings bluntly fly.

Sorrentino's visual talents and operatic tendencies also transform a scenario that could be prime Working Title material into a true piece of art. Each frame seems to tell a story. The movie may be almost two hours, but Sorrentino insists that not one moment is wasted. What's even more masterful about his work here is how he builds Mick and Fred's emotional journeys without it coming across as manipulative or predictable. There are many moments of true surprise in “Youth” and that's not what many would expect in a movie about two eighty-something men in deep reflection.

Michael Caine, still looking spry at the grand old age of 82, gives a performance that ranks up there among the best of his distinguished career. In different hands Fred could have an aura of melancholy around him. Caine has no interest in giving Fred a pity party and that makes his reaction to a key dramatic moment towards the end of the film strikingly poignant.

It goes without saying that Harvey Keitel hasn”t landed a leading role this rich this century. Keitel portrays Mick with the vitality of a man who has no interest in slowing down, even if everyone around him thinks he”s past his prime.

Rachel Weisz, who hasn”t appeared on screen since 2013, has had something of a mini-comeback this festival with her performance here and in Yorgos Lanthimos” “The Lobster.” She”s particularly strong during a scene where Lena gives her father a reading he”s probably deserved for decades.

No review of “Youth” can be written without touching upon on the bolt of energy that hits the screen upon Fonda's arrival. Sorrentino has created a character in Morel that she brings to life with a fireball of hatred. Morel”s garish makeup and a wig that looks like it was bought straight off of Hollywood Boulevard immediately communicate how toxic this “legend” is, but it's Fonda who transforms her scathing takedown of the narrow-minded movie industry into one of the film”s most memorable moments.

As always, Sorrentino”s vision is a gorgeous one. Ludovica Ferrario's production design accentuates the movie's iconic locale while giving the film its own style and Luca Bigazzi's cinematography is so beautiful you wonder why he hasn't been plucked by more English-speaking filmmakers. Noted composer David Lang makes his feature film debut with “Youth” and finds a nice balance alongside the other music elements Sorrentino has weaved into the picture.

“Youth” has some significant points on frustration of fame, ageism and our natural inclination to lose perspective, but it”s primarily about finding peace and happiness in your life. That may sound painfully obvious. It may even sound cliché. But somehow Sorrentino is able to fashion the film's diverse elements into an emotional narrative that makes it all feel fresh and new. And that”s truly worth celebrating.

“Youth” was acquired by Fox Searchlight before its premiere and should be released sometime this Fall.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4909757796001

Biopics are a double-edged sword. On one hand, carving out a larger-than-life persona on the big screen drives iconography and extends a legacy. On the other, the inherent trap of the “greatest hits” approach, a structure often leaned on just because of the sheer amount of information you can carry across, can lead to a lack of dimension, sapping the humanity out of a subject. Bill Pohlad was aware of those pitfalls when he set out to make “Love & Mercy,” a cinematic portrait of Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson, and he avoided them expertly.

The film tells Wilson's story in two eras. Paul Dano plays the younger, his musical brilliance on display as he puts together landmark albums like “Pet Sounds” and feverishly pushes the boundaries of popular music. John Cusack plays the older, trapped in an emotional cage, over-medicated and with seemingly no one truly looking after his best interests. The result is a dissection of genius and an attempt to understand how it ticks.

I talked to Pohlad recently about all of that, about construction a sonic environment with a sound mix that puts you in Wilson's head, about what the music legend has in common with another genius Pohlad has collaborated with (Terrence Malick) and a whole lot more. Read through the back and forth below.

“Love & Mercy” opens June 5.

***

HitFix: It's nice to see a non-traditional approach to a biopic, but I'll get to that in a moment. I just wanted to start by asking about “The Pet Sounds Sessions,” because I understand that had a lot to do with driving your interest in making the film. What did you discover in that that lit the spark?

Bill Pohlad: Well first of all, I try to make this admission early on that I didn't grow up as a Beach Boy guy or Brian Wilson guy at all. I was a big music fan but I was kind of more of a Beatles guy back then. I always appreciated their music for what it was and Brian's music for what it was, but I never got fully into it until later in life. And then about 10 or 15 years ago I spontaneously got deeply into “Pet Sounds” for no apparent reasons. Just kind of a spontaneous thing, and really fell in love with it and appreciated it for all that it is and was back at that time.

So that kind of set me up perfectly for when this story came along and when we started really talking about doing the Brian Wilson project. I started kind of getting involved in the material and certainly “The Pet Sound Sessions” boxed set was one of those things that I fell in love with immediately. It's one of these things you can just listen to and just be amazed by it. I guess at times I was listening to it for research, so to speak, to get a sense of how Brian worked in the studio and how he interacted with The Wrecking Crew and how he built things and just, you know, the sound of his voice, really. But on a larger scale and on a more personal scale just simply listening to that, I mean, I think it's just beautiful music all the way through, including Brian's direction and the starts and the stops and all the other things. It's just so beautiful and impactful for me to listen to that. So the idea of trying to capture that on film was certainly a big part of my interest in making the movie.

What do you think not growing up as one of the devoted, if you will, did to help you? Does it give you an objective perspective rather than if you had grown up with more devotion?

To be honest, I mean we talked to a lot of people, as we were starting to develop the project. A lot of people wanted to be involved. I mean some pretty big people in all parts of the business wanted to be involved just because of the Brian Wilson thing. And some great writers and things like that. But a lot of them honestly were such Beach Boys fans that they almost were too close to it. They couldn't see the forest for the trees. They were just so into the world and all the minutiae and all that, which is great, but it was never our intention to make a film just for Beach Boys fans or Brian Wilson fans. It was wanting to make a film that would satisfy that group and go deeply into his music and that part of his life. But more so I wanted it to be about a human being, somebody that we could really care for and that you wouldn't have to be a Beach Boys or a Brian Wilson fan to appreciate it. So that drove a lot of it.

You hadn't directed a film since 1990. So two questions: Why did you stay away from the director's chair for so long and why was this the material that got you back there?

After I did my first film I actually didn't want to move to Los Angeles and I kind of wanted to stay in Minneapolis. And, you know, the film had done OK. I mean whenever people saw it and all that but, you know, it wasn't a great testament of my abilities or anything. So I kind of stayed back in Minneapolis and I directed documentaries and commercials and all sorts of things, just kind of to keep me in the business and to keep the bills paid, so to speak. So I did that for like 10 years and I did a fair amount but it really wasn't getting me any closer back to the feature side. So I decided after that to focus more on producing. And at the same time I didn't like the idea of the producer who wanted to be the director, so I just totally didn't say anything about that. I didn't acknowledge, you know, whatever – my desire certainly was to get back to it but I really wanted to be low key about it and very few people knew about it. As time went on and the producing thing got further along, I gained more experience and it felt like I could start loosening up a little bit and start thinking about finding something.

I actually had found something that we were developing when the Brian Wilson project came along. And so I was working on the Brian Wilson thing more as a producer for sure, you know? There was a script that was floating around called “Heroes and Villains” that John Wells and Claire Rudnick Polstein had put together and were kind of shepherding. They came to us to see if we wanted to partner with them on it. I read it and I didn't really like it at all, unfortunately. But I said, you know, “If this doesn't work, out come back and we'll start over. And they did come back. So I started looking at it and getting into it more closely. And then I started working with Oren Moverman on finding the way in and developing the script. And Oren was on the list of possible directors, but as we were working together one day he turned to me and said, you know, “You should direct this. You've got a very clear vision of it and you clearly know what you want it to be. You should direct it.” So I was like, “OK.” It was like somebody giving you permission to do it and it was something that I clearly was very into at that point, even though maybe I hadn't even realized it. And so it just kind of started flowing pretty easily.

I love Oren. He's such a great voice out there, you know.

Yeah, an amazing guy. A great talent.

What you hear in this movie is nearly as important as what you see, I think. The sound mix is so immersive and interesting and I just wanted to get your philosophy behind that.

That was certainly part of it. Obviously there's the music and you want as much of it as you can. On the other hand, this isn't “Mama Mia!” We never wanted it to be a movie where it just hung itself on the music. I love the music for what it is but I've never – like I didn't want to make a “biopic.” I didn't really want to make a movie that was just about the music. At the core I wanted it to be some kind of and intimate portrait of somebody that we could really relate to, that at the end of the day it wasn't just about “Fun, Fun, Fun” or “Surf's Up” or anything like that. I wanted it to be about him as a person. So that's what drove that part.

And Atticus's score is so organic it kind of bleeds in and out of the Beach Boys material and creates this – along with the mix – this whole little sonic universe. What was your direction to him?

Part of Brian is the challenges. I mean one of the first things I think [his wife] Melinda said when I first started to get to know them both a little better was this notion that Brian hears these amazing orchestrations and harmonies and arrangements in his head that are so complex, nobody else can understand them until he actually executes them. They're these amazingly, you know, layered things. The problem is he hears them all the time and he can't turn them off necessarily. That ocean of kind of being the genius as well as the madness really intrigued me, and going into someone's mind who is super creative and also somewhat troubled is exciting to me. But you're making a movie, so the normal way in would be some visual representation of some kind of thing, you know, that he's going through. But obviously that's not what Brian suffers from. He suffers from an illness that has him hearing, you know – he doesn't see visual hallucinations. He hears them. It's like he has auditory hallucinations, and so I really wanted to be able to try to get to that and to try to represent that in some way.

So when I started to visualize that I thought of “Revolution 9” on the Beatles' “White Album.” I was like, “We should do something like that.” And in talking about that we started talking again to people, musicians and composers and producers and all that. And Atticus was one of the first people that I sat down and talked about it. And he immediately took it and ran with it. He knew exactly what I was talking about and we kind of totally connected on it. A big part, too, was the discussion about what kind of score this was going to be, and there were a lot of people that wanted to do it. But a lot of them, again, as I explained before, were such big Brian Wilson fans. What were they going to do, write some tribute to Brian or something like that? It just didn't feel right. Atticus got that right away. You're not going to try to compete with Brian Wilson. So he had the idea – because we had access to all of Brian's original music and the original tapes and stems and tracks from these recordings. So we started talking about rearranging those. He would take them and combine them in different ways and we'd mix them and things to create new music that essentially was Brian's music.

Yeah, kind of disassemble it. That's interesting. And Atticus such an inspired pick for something like that. He's so good at building aural environments, you know?

Yeah.

As I said it's very encouraging to see someone take a unique approach to the biopic format. I think that it's interesting because it's not by any means a traditional biopic, but it definitely gets across the information that you would receive in a traditional biopic. But it does it in organic ways. So with that in mind, how did the way you decided to tell this story play into the themes that you wanted to explore?

It's hard to go back and go, “I did this for this particular reason,” or whatever. I grew up more in a mainstream film world. In other words I wasn't at the art house all the time. But my sensibilities are also such that I don't like doing the same thing over again. I mean what's the point if you're just trying to do the same thing that somebody else has done? So here in this effort of trying to do something, you know, to represent Brian in some way, again, what I wanted was to paint a portrait that was more human. And certainly a biopic doesn't allow you to do that because you're just having to hit so many different beats along some famous person's life and get into that trap. So the idea of trying to do it as these two parts of his life intertwining and allowing that to paint the portrait was what I wanted to do and how we started talking about it. Sorry, can you repeat the question.

I was going to ask you to get into this idea of conceiving it as a diptych.

Basically you look at Brian's life and he's gone through so many different eras and so many different phases and so many different lives in a lot of ways. If you were trying to do a biopic that just hit every one of them, I mean, it would have to be some brilliant, long, you know, miniseries or something like that. But I just didn't want to do that. So originally it was actually going to be three and it kind of still is. It was more of a triptych. It was Brian past, which was the 1960s Brian. Brian present, which was the guy in bed. And Brian future, which became the John Cusack era. And kind of by interweaving those we'd show, without having to tell every beat. Obviously we don't wallow in the bed era. We could have. A lot of dramatic things happened there. But again, it just didn't seem necessary. There's a lot of different ways of painting a portrait of someone and in this case it just felt right to focus on these two or three and let them kind of speak for the other eras that we're not seeing. It just felt more intimate to me.

Something occurred to me while watching it, a bit of an odd question but – you obviously immersed yourself in the world of a genius here. And you've worked as a producer with a guy I think a lot of people would consider a genius, Terrence Malick. I'm just sort of curious if any parallels about how these two guys create art struck you.

Not literally. Not something I guess off the top of my head I could express in that way. I think there are certainly similarities in their personalities, to be honest, but I don't know how relevant. That seems more coincidental. I think the important thing is that like any artist in their great moments, they're on their personal journey, as opposed to following some convention or some rule that you have to do this and then you have to do that. They really are freeing themselves in a way to try to do it differently, so what they're doing comes from their heart. Hopefully that's what any of us who are in that realm are trying to do. Some are more successful than others and some let it take over their lives more than others, if you know what I mean. I think we all, in some ways, are on that spectrum somewhere. We learn ways of approaching life so that it's more acceptable to the wider world. And artists, on the other hand, challenge themselves in a lot of ways to go against that and be more free and more kind of able to explore areas that other people might not even think of or allow themselves to go there. So in that sense I think both Terry and Brian are examples of that in different ways, of trying to stay true to whatever that artistic journey is that they're on. And try not to get too hung up on the other side of it or trying to find a balance.

Did this feed the furnace for you as far as directing is concerned? Do you think you'll tackle something else somewhat soon or do you think it will be a little while again?

Hopefully not. I mean again to a large degree I was keeping it under wraps because, you know, it wasn't – whatever, I needed time or I didn't want… I was shy about it, I guess would be the word. Now I feel obviously a little more comfortable coming out in that regard. Definitely I want to do it more and actually Oren and I have just finished an adaptation of a book that looks like hopefully I will direct if we can get it all together. But it's, you know, one of those things you've got to take one day at a time and not get overly hung up on yourself and try to find the right way to do it again. But I definitely want to. It's my first love and something I would like to continue doing.

And then the last two things here I just wanted to ask about some peripheral stuff. How is the Sean Penn movie you produced, “The Last Face,” coming along? Can we expect to see that this year?

It's fantastic. We shot it later last year and we're just in post on it now and we're starting to show some little bits of it to people. I can only say – I don't like to over talk about these things or blow the horn before it's time – but I'm very excited. I've been excited about it from the beginning and as we go through the process and it gets closer to reality my enthusiasm continues to increase.

You'll forgive me if I also ask about the Malick movie “Voyage of Time,” then. Any update on that?

You know, Terry continues to work on it. It is one of those long processes, but he's got a lot of other things going on lately with the trilogy, or the sequence of films he's done since “Tree of Life.” But I think he's spending a little more time on “Voyage of Time” now and obviously we're all excited about it. It's certainly been in the vision and all of our heads since “Tree of Life,” and for Terry a lot longer. So it would be great to see it finally come out.

Well great work on the movie and in capturing a lion of a persona.

Thank you. Thank you very much. It's great to hear.

[This review contains descriptions of graphic sexual acts.]

CANNES – The first shot of Gaspar Noé”s new drama “Love” lets you know exactly what you”ve gotten yourself into. Murphy (Karl Glusman) and Electra (Aomi Muyock) are naked on a bed. She is giving him a hand job while he fingers her. The camera does not move. There is no cut to another shot. There is no music. And then, in what will be a common occurrence, Murphy ejaculates in Electra”s hand. Noé has given you ample warning of what”s ahead. This film will not simulate sex. The intercourse will be real and it will dominate the proceedings.

After this initial scene the film jumps two years later and the actual narrative begins. Murphy, an American film student living in Paris, awakens in bed with his current companion, Omi (Klara Kristin). Their young son is crying and Murphy goes to try and calm him down. A voice over immediately telegraphs how miserable his life is, declaring, “This place is a cage.” His day is quickly interrupted by a voicemail from Elektra”s mother who pleads with him for help. Her daughter has not been in heard from in two months and she fears suicide. Murphy becomes despondent over the love of his life's potential fate and we begin to flashback to the highs and lows of their relationship.

In his director”s statement, Noé, who is best known for 2003's “Irreversible” and 2009's “Enter the Void,” says he wanted “to film the organic dimension of love.” In layman”s terms, that constitutes characters engaging in graphic sex that has rarely if ever been seen in a “legitimate” film. What begins to hinder his proposition is that the film contains so many sex scenes that the cumulative effect is numbing. You almost tune it all out. If Noé had lived by the “less is more” philosophy, his argument would be more impactful overall. Moreover, how he films many of these sequences doesn't help, either.

One of the first extended sex scenes is between Murphy, Electra and Omni. Murphy and Electra have seduced Omi, their new neighbor, to fulfill Electra”s biggest fantasy (this is also where they discover Omi is only 16, to which Murphy exclaims, “I love Europe”). Surprisingly, the three-way is shot from one angle with almost no cuts. The song that plays over it includes a very long guitar solo that you”d expect from a porno made in the 1970s. In this particular instance, providing the audience a simple observational perspective that any webcam can depict makes it increasingly feel as though Noé is taking advantage of his actors instead of allowing them to tell his story. And while it takes a long while to come to the surface amongst the almost constant sex, there actually is a real story Noé wants to tell.

Frankly, Murphy and Electra are not that special. They are just another dysfunctional couple whose relationship is full of jealousy and infidelity (mostly on his part). Neither of them ever discuss having an open relationship, but Murphy”s unspoken presumption is the underlying cause for its eventual failure. As Noé slowly pulls back on the barrage of sex scenes we do begin to see how these lovers fell for each other, however. Shockingly, there are actual sequences in the movie where all the characters do is walk through the streets of Paris talking to each other about life, their hopes and their dreams. There is also a rare moment or two where Noé is able to use the sex to seed the couple”s relationship.  

One particular example finds the couple, at the behest of Electra, experimenting by hooking up with a transsexual. Murphy”s discomfort with the taboo encounter leads him to lovingly ask Electra to keep it a secret. It”s one of the few times in the film where the pair seem truly in love as opposed to playing being in love. It”s also worth noting this is one of the few times Noé insinuates the sexual acts that take place rather than completely revealing them. The film doesn”t have enough of these moments.

After the sex is over, Noé often lets the camera lazily gaze upon its subjects in the afterglow. His willingness to display the male form completely nude so intimately may seem minor compared to the sexual acts we”ve seen Murphy”s private parts engage in, but if “Love” cracks open the door for more sexual expression on screen in any way, it will likely be in this context. And, yes, that's a positive.

It goes without saying that there are few well-known actors who would be willing to participate in a project such as this, even if it meant working with a renowned filmmaker such as Noé. The three main leads, all unknowns, may look back upon this project a decade from now and marvel at how brave they were to take it on. Noé is lucky they are as good as they are.

Sometimes Glusman, who has a supporting role in Roland Emmerich”s upcoming drama “Stonewall,” is very good conveying a “bro” who thinks he's more talented and smart than he really is. Other times it appears as though he is a relatively inexperienced actor plucked off a generic Hollywood casting call just trying too hard. 

Electra is feisty and passionate, but Muyock”s natural charisma brings her more to life than Noé”s screenplay ever does. 

As for Omi, she becomes such a peripheral character that Kristin isn”t able to make much of an impression with her. Considering the film”s primary focus, that”s likely what Noé had in mind. Providing her a little more depth would have made Murphy”s present day obsession with Electra that much more interesting, though.

But “Love” may not be as erotic as many expect. The gratuitous sex may eventually start to bore many viewers. Some may even take off their 3D glasses because they simply aren't necessary. Yet, for all its faults, “Love” is a film that somehow still resonates. And it”s not because Noé is pushing the boundaries of human sexual expression in cinema. On the surface, that aspect of the film feels superfluous. No, somehow there is one sliver of genuine intimacy that appears through all of the noise and distraction, a sliver of true intimacy that is rarely seen in narrative film. And after 2 hours and 10 minutes, that may be enough to justify the entire experience.

“Love” has secured distribution in the United States, but it”s unclear when it will be released in theaters.

Oh wow. So cinematographer Roger Deakins has signed on to shoot Denis Villeneuve's “Blade Runner” sequel. I'm paying attention now, folks.

Seriously, this whole project has been filed under “whatever” for me for the longest time. But then I have a dirty little secret that I suspect is shared by more than a few who just don't want to get into it: I've never agreed with the legions who think Ridley Scott's original film is an indispensable work of modern art. But…not going to get into it. I've mainly just been snoozing at the prospect of revisiting the material because of your standard grade reboot/sequel-itis.

However, when Denis Villeneuve joined up, I got a little excited. This isn't some run-of-the-mill action director sure to lumber his way through the thing. Villeneuve is a pretty intriguing new voice. I didn't love the scripts for “Incendies” or “Prisoners,” but I loved his approach to them as a director. I thought “Enemy” was bold and exciting. And I can't wait to see “Sicario,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last night.

One smart decision Villeneuve has made is keeping Deakins on board. His eye behind the camera makes any project that much better. And knowing he'll be bringing this detailed world to life on screen has me pretty giddy. Though now that I think about it, I hope Jeff Cronenweth's name was at least in the hat. His father, the great Jordan Cronenweth, gave us the amazing imagery of the original after all, and he's a brilliant technician in his own right.

Nevertheless, sign me up.

Deakins, by the way, will be presented with the Pierre Angénieux Excellens in Cinematography Award at Cannes Friday. The “Blade Runner” sequel, meanwhile, begins principal photography next summer.