Gus Van Sant's “The Sea of Trees,” starring Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe, has found a home. Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions has acquired US rights to the film at the Cannes Film Festival, where it is playing in competition.

When I wrote up this year's awards prospects vis a vis Cannes, I noted that “The Sea of Trees” might, however, prove too esoteric if it's in the vein of films like “Gerry” and “Last Days,” towering achievements that just couldn't penetrate on the broad level of Academy recognition. From what I've been told by someone who has seen “Sea,” that's indeed the case, but the performances, I'm told, are exceptional. So maybe McConaughey or Watanabe can keep their races interesting. We'll know more Saturday after the film screens for international press.

Of course, Van Sant never really aims for the Academy's sweet spot. When things work out, it's generally on his terms. “Good Will Hunting” and “Milk” found their way to success, but he maintains his own intriguing obsessions as a director even when dabbling in more accessible material. So I'm very hopeful that “The Sea of Trees” is up there as one of his best, awards play or not.

More from the Cannes Film Festival as it happens.

CANNES – If it's opening day at the Cannes Film Festival that means it's time for another awkward press conference with the competition jury. Typically, a Cannes jury is comprised of nine directors, actors and artists from all over the world who have often never met each other beforehand and have no intention of tipping their hands that they might actually already be looking forward to seeing particular films in the competition. The good news is that you can always count on a few members of the international press corps to ask some silly questions or get their facts so inexplicably wrong (guys, “Mad Max: Fury Road” isn't in competition) you wonder how they got credentialed in the first place.

The 2015 edition of the festival features a jury headed by former Palme d'Or winners Ethan and Joel Coen (a rare two-headed jury president). Also on hand are Guillermo Del Toro (who, like Ang Lee last year, could easily be a jury president in his own right), Xavier Dolan (jury prize winner for “Mommy” in 2014), Sienna Miller (star of global blockbuster “American Sniper”), Jake Gyllenhaal (encroaching on top five “Why doesn't this person have an Oscar” status), Sophie Marceau (French actress who jumped the pond for “Braveheart” and “The World is Not Enough”), Rossy de Palma (made her name in Pedro Almodóvar's early films) and Rokia Traore (popular Malian singer most Americans have never heard of). An eclectic group for sure, but definitely a jury not afraid to face the media (it might help that many of them have experience with the HFPA).

Keeping that in mind, here are some things we learned from the approximately 30 minute long extravaganza.

Joel and Ethan Coen do not hate TV
The original creators of “Fargo” both had puzzled looks on their faces after a member of the media asked about reported negative comments from the duo on television in general. Ethan Coen noted, “I doubt that we said that because I don't think that. I just don't watch it. It's alien to me. I haven't watched a television show in decades.” Joel Coen added, “You are going to get me in big trouble by the way, because my wife just did a mini-series for HBO. We don't watch a lot of TV. It's not that we don't like it. In our minds it's a somewhat different thing.”

Xavier Dolan just can't stay away from Cannes and we think it's a problem
Dolan revealed, “I'm shooting a movie in 12 days time,” but still had to say yes to being on the jury. We're sure his financiers and producers are overjoyed at his decision. (We're hoping it was just a misquote in the translation. It has to be, right?)

Sienna Miller and Guillermo Del Toro are fighting over the special jury prize
Ethan Coen revealed that when the jury met for the first time yesterday they were informed that they could create a special jury award of their own choosing. Admitting he might be speaking out of school, Coen then said Miller asked that she be presented with the award, with Del Toro insisting he should get it before her. Obviously, that won't be happening (they were joking), but just another example about how Del Toro is always right.

Guillermo Del Toro quickly realized the Cannes press corps doesn't have a sense of humor
Before answering a question on why being on the jury was important to him, Del Toro joked, “When I came here I didn't have hair on my ears, which was catastrophic after 40.” It was a line that would kill at Comic-Con, but the Cannes media were clearly not paying attention. Del Toro went on to note, “I know how important it is for any filmmaker to get recognized. I know we are not here as a panel of stern judges who are not saying what is good or bad…we are here to take it seriously because people in the competition deserve to be taken seriously [and] to be given the forum they deserve.”

Jake Gyllenhaal had a natural reaction when asked if he would participate
“I was thrilled about seeing any films before anyone in the else in the world could see them,” Gyllenhaal said. “And free, too!”

We all forgot Sienna Miller wasn't at Cannes for “Foxcatcher” last year
“I'd never been to Cannes,” Miller said when asked why she agreed to be on the jury. “I know that's a boring response, but I just can't wait and see these amazing works.”

Look for complete coverage from the Cannes Film Festival over the next 10 days on HitFix.

CANNES – It doesn't take long to understand the important message Emmanuelle Bercot wants to convey with her new drama “La tête haute” (Standing Tall).” Effectively, she wants you to know that the juvenile court system can be used to positively affect the lives of troubled youth, but if and only if the people involved care enough to stick by their kids. To Bercot's credit, it's a particular point of view that you rarely hear of outside of documentaries and hour-long news programs. Unfortunately, “Standing Tall” takes way too long to reach its happy ending.

The opening film of the 68th Festival du Cannes, “Standing Tall” begins with the camera focusing on 6-year-old Malony (Enzo Trouillet). His mother (Sara Forestier) has been brought in front of a local juvenile court judge (Catherine Deneuve) over concerns about the care of her two boys. Bercot keeps the camera mostly on Malony as he horrifyingly watches his mother completely lose it with a diva moment that would make any Bravo TV executive proud. She basically abandons him to the authorities and this is just the beginning of his rough upbringing. We quickly fast forward to a 15-year-old Malony (Rod Paradot), who is once again in front of Ms. Deneuve to deal with the consequences of stealing yet another car. He's soon headed to the French equivalent of a youth detention center where the adults caring for him believe he might just turn things around.

As you can guess, Malony's first visit only does some good. Before long the stress of being stuck in the court system and the pressures of an irresponsible mother prompt him to act out once again. (Malony really likes to steal cars, but we're reminded it's only in the most non-violent way possible.) This kid has a lot of anger in him and every step forward he makes with his life appears to result in two steps backward. One example finds him spending a good deal of time to improve his writing and learning skills, but when he meets with the principal of the last local school that could admit him, things go terribly wrong. The only glimmer of hope for his future appears to come from his relationship with Tess (Diane Rouxel), the daughter of one of his detention center teachers. After an intimate scene that gets mightily uncomfortable for two under-age characters, Bercot is able to use Tess to show Malony in a more sympathetic light.

Unlike other stories that have touched on this subject, almost every counselor, teacher, nurse or security guard is rooting for our hero to grow up. They are almost always supportive and significantly more lenient than you can ever imagine. Malony isn't really getting tough love, but patient love. At times the minuscule consequences of Malony's crimes are simply unbelievable, but Bercot's long play (and it's definitely a good 15 minutes too long) is that you'll eventually sympathize with the benefits a kinder hand can bring.

While Bercot's intentions are admirable, she and co-screenwriter Marcia Romano have conjured up too many moments that play out like thousands of courtroom scenes you've seen before. The amount of detail Bercot wants to spend on legal formalities and paperwork is simply puzzling. Moreover, the film's tone is very uneven. The artful detail that follows Malony on his many illegal adventures feels dramatically different than his time in each youth detention center and light years from the stiff confines of his numerous visits to the Judge's office. The fact that the story is so repetitive only exacerbates the situation.

Assisting Bercot is an expectedly steady and compassionate turn by Deneuve as a judge who really cares about her “kids.” The cinematic legend is still an impressive force on the screen and brings more life to the script's dry dialogue than it deserves. Newcomer Paradot, on the other hand, delivers an uneven performance. He often resorts to caricature when depicting Malony early in the picture, but is eventually able to convince us he's matured along the way.

“Standing Tall” opens in France on Thursday and is currently looking for distribution in the U.S.

Angelina Jolie, Kristen Stewart or Ryan Gosling won't be walking the iconic red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Nor will Lionsgate be holding another glamorous shindig with J-Law, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth on hand to celebrate it's blockbuster “Hunger Games” franchise. And, thankfully, we won't have the “Expendables” crew pretending to drive a tank down la Croisette. That being said, the 68th Festival du Cannes may have more recognizable Hollywood or Hollywood-adjacent stars on hand than in recent memory. There are at least eight English-language films in competition and studio fare such as Pixar's “Inside Out,” “Mad Max: Fury Road” and Woody Allen's latest, “Irrational Man,” are screening as well. Basically, if you're a movie fan, you should pay attention because many of the films we'll be reporting on won't just hit your local art house, but mega-multiplex as well.

HitFix's Kris Tapley has already chronicled Cannes' long history with Oscar and the potential players debuting this year, but there's much more on tap. Gasper Noe's “Love” is already being hyped as the sex-crazed movie everyone thought Lars Von Trier's “Nymphomaniac” was going to be. There is a legitimate Amy Winehouse documentary that is already ruffling feathers before its debut (“Amy”). Colin Farrell is kicking off a “True Detective” summer comeback with a role in the somewhat horrific-sounding “The Lobster.” Natalie Portman is bravely making her directorial debut in front of the most vicious bunch of critics you ever did see. And John C. Reilly has not one, but three movies screening during the festival. Oh, and how about Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin, Marion Cotillard, Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Matthew McConaughey and none other than Amy “freakin'” Poehler posing for the photogs?

We'll be chronicling it all on HitFix so make sure to keep checking here at In Contention or follow @HitFixGregory for the latest updates (especially if you're an early riser). Get a head start by checking out the 19 movies movies you need to pay attention to during this year's festival in the embedded gallery below.

What movies are you most interested in hearing about from Cannes? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911152083001

OK, we have more than a half a year of movies to go, so “win” is hyperbole. But thanks for clicking all the same. What I'm saying is George Miller's latest is such a nuts-and-bolts marvel of the form that not only should it be up for consideration in a number of areas, it really ought to be the impetus that drives the Academy to finally add a certain new category that has long been championed in some industry circles.

The look of this film is absolutely bonkers. And, admittedly, it's the accumulation of a few departments that really gets it there. But with that in mind, if it wasn't clear by my interview with the man, cinematographer John Seale needs a serious victory lap for jumping onto this wild ride, strapping in and delivering much of this spectacle in-camera. Many of us are surely pleased he didn't go out on “The Tourist,” too.

Visual effects, though, played a heavy part, as did the whole post-production process. Rotoscoping and color grading and the whole gamut helped to produce this striking world of contrast, in addition to assisting the practical side of things (which I'll get to momentarily). The editing process had to be a Sisyphean task, slicing 480 hours of footage into two. How does that branch not trip over itself to raise a toast? Oh, right, because they've spent the better part of 15 years chasing the Best Picture category instead…

Design elements across the board are visionary, full stop. Production design includes things like massive tricked-out oiler rigs, not just sets, so while much of the scenery here is Namibian desert, there is clearly a whole world created right before your eyes. But even still, the early stages of the film present plenty of amazing sets, some of them CG hybrids, that deserve to be in the mix. And the makeup, my God…better to just let you get a load of that for yourself. It's not arbitrary, either. It all serves a larger vision with detail and precision.

But the costumes. MAN. The costumes. Every character is so thoroughly defined by what he or she wears. It's the richest element of the film, in my opinion. I would love to see that ever quirky branch stick up for a movie like this, and I suppose it's not out of the question. Jenny Beavan has nine nominations and a win to her credit, after all. (Be sure to check out a gallery of her work below.)

The soundscape is meticulous, the cacophony enveloping you from beginning to end. It took a stand-out team to pull it off, and between re-recording mixers Gregg Rudluff and Steve Maslow, you have 13 nominations and five Oscars on films like “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Speed,” “Waterworld,” “The Matrix” and “The Perfect Storm.” So…yeah. And Junkie XL's face-melting score, well, that insular, conservative branch isn't likely to get on board something like this. But it would be nice if they took it seriously and gave some consideration to how it bleeds into the diegetic world of the film.

And finally, Tom Hardy is a great addition to the iconography here. No question. But when you really boil it down, he's sort of just there. (No disrespect to the hell he went through in those harnesses, being thrown this way and that throughout.) Rather, this is Charlize Theron's movie, and it's a strong female role in the middle of a film that has a razor sharp feminist edge. It's her “Aliens.” That's all I'm saying.

So, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects…that is, straight-up, eight nominations I think the film deserves without blinking. And frankly, for a 70-year-old like George Miller to crank a movie like this out, well, how do his colleagues not sit back in gleeful envy? I could probably be convinced by year's end that he deserves it, too.

But beyond all that, there's the question of a category the Academy has been pressured to institute for a number of years, and this film pretty much becomes the rally cry: Best Stunts. “Fury Road” is a film that lives and dies on its vision of practical effects wizardry. The rigging and second unit insanity and live spectacle that is achieved throughout, it's a testament to how methods perceived as antiquated can prove richer and more fulfilling than just drawing them into the frame with a computer. Perhaps that's the angle proponents ought to be chasing in trying to establish this category, preservation of cinematic art forms that find themselves slipping away. In some ways, in most ways, isn't that the Academy's mission?

Anyway, for more on all of this, be sure to read Drew McWeeny's review of the film, as well as his interview with Junkie XL and my interview with John Seale. “Mad Max: Fury Road” is a whole lot of movie, and if you're disappointed with the summer so far, prepare to get punched right in the face.

“Mad Max: Fury Road” opens Friday, May 15.

Two years after his Oscar-winning juggernaut “Gravity” opened the Venice Film Festival, director Alfonso Cuarón has been tapped to preside over the International Jury for the upcoming 72nd edition of the fall festival season kick-off.

Cuarón's history with the fest dates back to 2001, when “Y tu mamà también” won the Osella Award there for Best Screenplay (shared with his brother Carlos), as well as the Marcello Mastroianni Award for stars Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna. Five years later, “Children of Men” won the Osella Award for Best Cinematography for Cuarón's long-time collaborator Emmanuel Lubezki.

Speaking of which, with “Gravity” and “Birdman,” the last two years have been kind to Lubezki on the Lido. But I wouldn't hold out much hope for a return this year as Alejandro González Iñárritu's “The Revenant” isn't expected to be ready for the early fall festival gauntlet. Other possibilities for the line-up include Luca Guadagnino's “A Bigger Splash,” Scott Cooper's “Black Mass” and, given its spaghetti western connections, Quentin Tarantino's “The Hateful Eight.” We'll know more in due time, however.

The 72nd annual Venice Film Festival runs September 2 – 12.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911152083001

John Seale was retired. Then George Miller dangled a “Mad Max” movie in front of his face and, well, how can an Aussie say no? The 40-year veteran jumped right into the maelstrom Miller and his team were conjuring in the desert of west Africa and, along with killer second unit teams, captured one of the most innervating experiences of the year in “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Oh, and he turned 70 years old while doing all of this.

Seale won an Oscar for “The English Patient,” the first of a three-film collaboration with the late Anthony Minghella. He also partnered up with Peter Weir on a trio of projects (“Witness,” “The Mosquito Coast” and “Dead Poets Society”) and he's worked with many great filmmakers besides, from Sydney Pollack to Ron Howard, Rob Reiner to Wolfgang Petersen. In addition to the win, he has three more Oscar nominations to his credit and I must say, even with a considerable post-production process to achieve the look of the new film, he deserves some serious consideration for “Fury Road.”

With all that in mind, I eagerly hopped on the phone last week with Seale to discuss all of this. The new film is such a robust achievement that it dominated the conversation, but I could easily have gone on for hours. Hopefully he decides to keep working and I'll get the chance again, but as I cross this one off the bucket list, enjoy the back and forth below.

(And for a little more, I highly recommend watching the behind-the-scenes featurette embedded above. That quote from Tom Hardy – “You're not really in a movie. You're in George's head.” – says it all.)

“Mad Max: Fury Road” opens this Friday, May 15. SEE IT.

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HitFix: First of all, let me just say it's a great honor and pleasure to talk to you. I'm happy I had a chance, since you were retired there for a moment! But congratulations on “Mad Max: Fury Road.” It's such a mind-blowing achievement.

John Seale: Oh, thanks a lot. Have you seen it?

I did and I was completely blown away. I can't wait to see it again.

Oh, that's great. I haven't seen it yet!

No? Well you've got something awesome to look forward to! How did that feel to be back in the saddle with such a massive project like this after being retired?

I “retired” after every movie for the last 15 years, you know? And people find me again. But I did come out for “Mad Max” because – the great Dean Semler shoots those for George, but suddenly they amicably parted and George got [producer] Doug Mitchell to ring me and I had a night to think about it. I'd worked with George before [on 1992's “Lorenzo's Oil”] and loved it. And it was a pretty iconic subject matter. I heard on the grapevine, over the years, how it was developing, and it was fairly exciting listening to all of the talk around town as they went into pre-production. So I thought, “I'll do that.”

And a “Mad Max” movie has to be a cinematographer's dream, particularly for an Aussie, because of that iconography you mention.

It was. I'd heard all the talk around town about how they were building their own 3D cameras from scratch so that they passed certain criteria that George requested and required to make the film. And that, of course, was the reason why he was building his own. I thought that sounded very exciting in itself, as part of our filmmaking process, actually building your own cameras. That's pretty unusual stuff. So all of that looked very exciting, plus the fact that it was “Mad Max” – there was no script. There were 3,500 storyboard drawings, I think. But if it was going to be George Miller it was going to be exciting.

What were the reference points for you beyond that? George has talked about how he didn't set out to emulate the previous films so much as create a new experience. How did that translate to the visuals?

There wasn't too much talk about what the film would look like. George is a great lover of the computer in post-production, having done animated films. And he knows what that can offer him at the end. So the image-making side of it wasn't that complex, to be honest. What was more complex was where the cameras would go to cover these scenes. And most of that had already been done by [action unit director] Guy Norris over years. I mean the film was basically in pre-production for 12 years.

So you got to show up and go for the ride.

It was sort of that. Exactly right. Because Dean Semler had done most of the hard yards in pre-production in Australia. And I just sort of, yeah, exactly, came along for the ride and tried to help out where I could. The neat thing that happened was that out in the desert it was basically all exterior, so we were at the mercy of whatever the weather threw at us. And George wasn't worried about it because he knew he could fix it in post. So we didn't stop for anything. There was no basic thought of continuity because George was going to fix it in post, which you can do now these days. But also George has an amazing idea of how the film should look. Technically, he asked us to center frame at all times. Whatever the point of interest was in every shot, whether a close-up or a wide shot, that had to be in the center of frame, so that as he cut it – and it's cut very fast, as you know; I think the average length of the shots in the movie is 2.3 seconds, George told me – he didn't want the audience to have to search for that point of interest. The cuts would occur and your eyes didn't have to move from one cut to the other. I found it fascinating.

That is absolutely fascinating. I suppose that pulls you into the immersive experience, a little trick of mind.

That was a big part of the boldness of George in recording a film and then putting it together. It would make his films far more enjoyable and easy to watch by actually shooting it in that way. It's always been a part of my work philosophy to try and record a film in such a way that you make it as smooth as possible for the audience to view it, because I feel if you can do that you're going to suck the audience out of their seat and go through that virtual window of reality you're creating and put them in the situation. And you've got to hold them there, you know? If you do something silly, like with lousy continuity or bad lighting suddenly, or make them suddenly think, “Well, that's not true. Why would that…” – they're out of the movie. You've got to get them back into the movie. So I think this was all part of George's philosophy, to get them in the movie in the first two shots and hold them there for another 112 minutes.

The location is interesting to me as it pertains to the lighting. I guess there's “lighting” that you can do in post as well but what kind of a challenge was it to just be out there in the desert, no real landscape as far as stuff in the frame, just kind of baking, the light falling flat across everything? Talk about the challenges of manipulating that.

Well it was pretty disconcerting at times because, you know, I can sense as a cameraman who's had to match light for my entire career that suddenly we weren't [doing that]. And it didn't matter to George. But I didn't have that confidence in the computer in post, that it would enable this to happen. So I was the babe in the woods there, wherein George just kept putting his hand on my shoulder and saying, “Don't worry, Johnny. It'll be OK.” Because when you think, he knew how fast he would cut the picture. He knew that the weather situation didn't matter because as he said at one stage, the shots are short enough to simply tell the story. If people had the time to work out a problem or an error then the shot's too long.

And even within that, though, there are moments where it lets you catch your breath just to witness some spectacle that you've put together on the stunt side. I don't know if you shot it for slow motion or if those decisions were made in post but things get their moment to basically say, “Look at this awesome thing we did.”

Yeah. And the thing is that if you go into statistics on the post in the movie, you'll find that something like 50 or 60 percent of the film is not running at 24 frames a second, which is the traditional frame rate. It'll be running below 24 frames because George, if he couldn't understand what was happening in the shot, he slowed it down until you could, or he lengthened it two or three frames. Or if it was too well understood, he'd shorten it or he'd speed it up back towards 24. His manipulation of every shot in that movie is intense. It was a real eye-opener to me after 45 films in 40 years or something, that George has had this boldness to do what he researched in his mind and thought about and analyzed what an action film should be. He went out and did it and I love that. There was no hesitation. I could hear him on the coms yelling at camera operators, “Put Charlize in the center of the frame! Put the red dot on their nose!”

Of course, it was alien to all of us. But he knew. Early he really knew what he was going to do with that image in post. It would end up something like 2.3 seconds long and he didn't want the eyes to shift. The color was corrected – for eight months there was a colorist on the film, grading the picture as it was edited. As digital effects finished their imaging they'd send it down to [look development and supervising colorist] Eric Whipp and he would color that in and cut it in and check the contrast color and exposure on it. And he would roto[scope] in on the face. He did all the rotoscoping on faces and eyes and whatever George wanted there. And then George would look at that. I was off, you know, fishing or something! And there they were for eight months color grading the picture. So to me all of that is an amazingly modern way to make a film and I feel it's the way that we have to go in the future as well.

You're being incredibly modest, though. Even with all that in mind, you were there on top of that war rig operating camera and capturing those practical moments in camera. I understand you're a sailor. Did your instincts on the sea come back to you when you were strapped to this thing tearing through the desert?

The grip boys were trying to hang on to me on the top of the war rig. They said that: “God, he didn't fall over once! It must be all that racing around on yachts in the middle of the ocean.” I'm rock steady. So maybe it did help a lot, but I do love to get in amongst it. And also, George's other theory was that he would shoot the entire film with one camera. I was willing to do a four-to-six camera stage, and with an action film like that, I thought we should have at least a dozen, you know? And George did end up using multiple cameras. I think we talked him into an extra one or two here and there. And he was most complimentary in hindsight, after post, because they always run into a little bit of bother somewhere in there and suddenly think, “What have we got as a cut-away?” I think we managed to get that for him. He often used to say, “Oh, thank God that little camera was stuck behind the sleeve there. It caught us a little cut-away that helped us out.” So all of that, you know, our old-fashioned technique, George's new sort of bold approach to shooting a picture, I think all came together in what I hope is going to be a fantastic result.

Beyond just the practicality of having material to use, what do you think that decision to go with multiple cameras did for the overall vision for the film? What would a single camera version have looked like?

Well I was girding my loins to it, because in pre-production that's what happened and George was adamant about [using one camera]. Guy Norris was adamant about even the big stunts being shot with one camera. That's fairly unusual these days. So I just quietly moved in and kept hinting away. “I could put another one in there, George.” And [second unit director of photographer] Davy Burr on the action unit, “Guy, I could put another camera in there.” You don't have to use them, after all. If the one camera coverage works, that's great. But if there was a little editing problem, then the other cameras might save you. And I think that's what happened. And fom what George has said to me since post, I think in the future he would tend to embrace more cameras.

That little change may well have helped to make it a film of its own identity, really. It gives it a bit of a more modern, slicker kind of feel and not overly familiar in the “Mad Max” realm.

From what I've heard, yes, that's exactly what happened. So I'm very pleased with that and I'm pleased that George is happy with that end result.

Was this the first thing you shot digitally?

It was and it was going to be the first thing on 3D, too. So I sort of hit a big wall of technology there. But George, for some reason in pre-production, suddenly swung from 3D to 2D and that opened up a whole new gamut, because suddenly the cameras were very much smaller. They had a bit of range on their sensors. It eased down our balance lighting between interiors and exteriors of trucks and the hot desert. And then for a 3D version, they had a meeting about it and they just ended up saying, “We'll do it in post.” I was a little bit shaky about that because most of the 3D posts were unsuccessful. But in the time that it took us to shoot the movie, the three years between commencing and releasing next week, as the visual effects boys said to me, every day there's new software being developed that helps you do a post 3D. So a lot of problems two or three years ago that wouldn't have made a good 3D, they've been solved. And the little bit of 3D I've seen is pretty damned awesome, I've got to say, because when we were shooting 2D and we took no consideration at all for a 3D post. So we gave them hell. And George didn't want to give them anything. He said. “No, no, what we shoot is what we shoot for 2D and they'll have to look after themselves.” But from what I've seen it looks like they've done that.

That method of shooting with point of focus centered might actually be a little helpful in some instances. It sometimes creates natural depth in the frame.

That would be a discussion with the 3D post boys to try and work out whether or not that helped or not. But certainly they had problems creating either the right eye or the left eye for their perspectives. They had to build those and there are a lot of them to be built. But again, I think modern technology has probably shortened that product as well.

The change to 2D, was that for budgetary reasons?

I didn't really ever find out from George what it was, why he suddenly in one weekend – from a Friday night we were on 3D with his cameras that he built, and then Monday morning it was 2D. There was no real firm answer. It was like, “We're gonna go 2D and there'll be a 3D post.” And we all went, “Oh, OK. Terrific!” Because it did ease our pressure a whole lot, as you can imagine. The size and shape of the cameras – I think at some stage during the three years of their development, they probably were a state-of-the-art 3D camera for their size and ability. George was building enough so you didn't change lenses in them. You just changed the whole camera by unplugging cables, put a new one on with the 80 mil, the 50, the 35 mil lens already built in, already aligned. So there was no alignment time, down time. That was one of the criteria with the 3D and it had to go through the window of the truck and out again, things like that. So it was a pretty amazing piece of machinery they were building, but I think sadly sometime there also in the middle of that development, the R&D and other 3D camera builders around the world just shot right by them. And unfortunately the chip, the sensor in the old camera, that just wasn't very hot. I think Dean was in his pre-production, before I took over, sensing that that chip would give him troubles with balance. And immediately when I went in testing I found the same thing. That was heartburn material, trying to work out how to get around that. But the sudden change to 2D solved the whole thing.

We talked about the post-production for grading and things, but obviously you're still capturing these practical moments and stunt work as they happen. What was that like to get that amount of material in camera for a movie like this?

Pretty awesome. Davy Burr on the action unit did a fantastic job, obviously, getting them. The main camera for any stunts or dialogue with the main actors was always a positioned camera. Then after that we were able to work around extra little cameras as we added them in. But Davy, we had the same thing. We were shooting on the coast where it was sometimes very overcast with fog and cold, and Davy would be 20 or 30 kilometers inland and he'd be in 40 degree (Celsius) heat and blue skies and totally different. And we were shooting the same scene. But it didn't worry George. As George always said, “Don't worry, Johnny. I'll fix it in post.”

I'm dying to see the film. The VI colorist with the visual effects boys painting, replacing skies, the way they bent the final image with grain, contrast, crunching up the focus – it's taken away any continuity where there are problems, and probably a lot of other problems as well. I think it added a lot to the visual effects budget because George doesn't worry about dust in the foreground, whereas if you're going for a 3D post, they don't want it there. They'd rather put it in later. For George, “No, we're shooting 2D first and that's it. Dust goes in.” So he's very adamant as to what he wants and very positive. And very structured towards it. He doesn't want to change. So he laid down those parameters for us and we picked them up and ran with them. I think a lot of his theories are really very advanced for an action movie.

Absolutely. Well, again, it's a pleasure to finally have a shot at speaking to you about your work. And please don't retire after this one! Keep going if you can.

[Laughs] Alright, Kris. I'll take your word for that.

And enjoy the film when you finally do see it. I think you're going to love it.

Thanks a lot!

Last year's edition of the Cannes International Film Festival brought with it the usual early awards possibilities. Some went the distance (Bennett Miller's “Foxcatcher” in a number of categories). Others fell short (Mike Leigh's “Mr. Turner”). But while Sundance is certainly stepping up its awards-relevance game, the Croisette is where people really start pondering how the film year will shake out once the Oscar drums start banging late in the fall.

One person who has leaned into the fest heavily the last couple of years is Harvey Weinstein. He has consistently held an event showcasing materials for The Weinstein Company's upcoming releases there, but this year he has a pair of films actually in competition that could make waves on the circuit. And it all starts with one of the most long-awaited films of the bunch.

Todd Haynes' adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's “Carol” is, along with Quentin Tarantino's “The Hateful Eight,” perhaps Weinstein's biggest awards hopeful of the year. Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is sure to be in the conversation (her campaign perhaps even emboldened by a Cannes prize?) as she is starting to become almost as automatic a consideration as Meryl Streep.

Then there's Justin Kurzel's “Macbeth.” Ornate design and mouth-watering photography were singled out by press last year when footage was shown, but of course Michael Fassbender in the title part and Marion Cotillard in the gift of a role that is Lady Macbeth are bound to stir talk. Some were surprised to see it land a competition slot, so perhaps that bodes well for its quality?

Lionsgate could be back in the serious fold for the first time since precious with Denis Villeneuve's “Sicario.” The director's last effort, “Prisoners,” caused a stir that didn't quite amount to anything, but his talent is plain to see and the one-two punch of that film and “Enemy” was well-respected. All he needs is a fantastic screenplay (both “Prisoners” and his 2010 foreign language Oscar nominee “Incendies,” in my opinion, suffered from story issues). Perhaps writer Taylor Sheridan has provided that opportunity. Many eyes will be on Emily Blunt in lead but the cast fills out with supporting players that could easily pop, from Josh Brolin to Benicio Del Toro to Jon Bernthal. Oh, and with Roger Deakins behind the camera, you know it will be beautiful.

Gus Van Sant may or may not have a player with “The Sea of Trees.” It has all the hallmarks of being another existential experience a la the Death Trilogy (“Elephant,” “Gerry” and “Last Days”), i.e., not the Academy's cup of tea. It does feature recent Best Actor winner Matthew McConaughey opposite Ken Watanabe, but it does not have domestic distribution yet. Lots of question marks there.

Early acquisitions talk has it that Fox Searchlight is circling Paolo Sorrentino's “Youth.” The director won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar two years ago for “The Great Beauty,” which also began its journey at Cannes. We're hearing that Michael Caine is amazing in the lead role, so keep a close eye on his buzz, while apparently Jane Fonda gets some scene stealing opportunities to boot. Paul Dano, Rachel Weisz and Harvey Keitel also star.

Speaking of “The Great Beauty,” there is, of course, the foreign field. Cannes is without question the place to be for international cinema and there will be a slew of titles hoping to represent their country at year's end. In addition to Sorrentino, two more filmmakers in competition this year have seen their work contend for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar: Yorgos Lanthimos (“Dogtooth”) and Jacques Audiard (“A Prophet”). They'll be back with “The Lobster” and “Dheepan” (working title) respectively.

Elsewhere, there is the usual exciting crop of fresh international filmmaking talent. “Gomorrah” director Matteo Garrone will be back with “The Tale of Tales.” “Oslo, August 31st” helmer Joachim Trier will have “Louder Than Bombs.” Jia Zhang-Ke, whose “A Touch of Sin” wasn't cleared for domestic release by Chinese censors, let alone selected for representation at the Oscars, will bring “Mountains May Depart.” Hirokazu Kore-Eda Hirokazu will follow up “Like Father, Like Son” with “Our Little Sister.” And “Declaration of War” director Valérie Donzelli will have “Marguerite and Julien.” And that's just skipping a stone, really.

Outside the fray of competition will be the usual mish-mash of consumer-ish stuff. “Mad Max: Fury Road” will melt faces (trust me) and, though it won't end up contending for top tier categories (though directors are sure to stand in awe and admiration of what George Miller has accomplished), it will be on plenty of longlists for fields like Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. The costumes deserve serious consideration as well. Pixar, meanwhile, will drop “Inside Out” a second time after showing it at CinemaCon in April, hoping to land in the expanded Best Picture field again. Woody Allen's “Irrational Man” will either make a player out of Joaquin Phoenix or just become one of the many non-essential titles he cranks out in between great works. And “The Little Prince” might prove to be a serious animated feature contender for Paramount, a first for the studio since “Rango.”

But to discuss the Cannes Film Festival in terms of Oscar potential is, as ever, a bit of folly. Yes, it gets the gears turning, but even as I cut through all this I find it limiting in discussing things. The Academy isn't going anywhere near a Gaspar Noé film, for instance, but “Love” is one of the films playing the fest that I'm most interested in discovering. Jeremy Saulnier's “Blue Ruin” was one of the best films of 2014, so I'm super stoked to see “Green Room.” Hou Hsiao Hsien has made a freakin' martial arts epic (“The Assassin”). There's a lot to chew on besides the circuit prospects, to say the least, but it's a launching pad for the season nevertheless.

So stay tuned to HitFix/In Contention over the next several days as we discover, together, how the early seeds of the 2015-2016 Oscar race will be sowed.

The 68th annual Cannes Film Festival runs May 13 – 24.

Before Oscar-winning cinematographer John Seale shuffled off to retirement, only to be lured back into the fray by director George Miller for the virtuoso stylings of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” he clocked a lot of hours working with filmmaker Anthony Minghella. The two collaborated on three major productions: 1996's “The English Patient,” 1999's “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and 2003's “Cold Mountain.”

The 1999 entry is, full stop, a masterpiece of modern cinema. With shades of latter-day Hitchcock pulsing through a narrative wound uncomfortably tight, “The Talented Mr. Ripley” might be the finest work Minghella, who passed away in 2008, ever committed to the screen. It features more than just evocative, but rather outright palpable atmosphere and a detailed sense of place. Minghella coaxed incredibly layered performances out of actors like Matt Damon, Jude Law (Oscar nominated for his work), Philip Seymour Hoffman, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett and, as ever, told the story visually in captivating ways.

One of the film's many wonderful shots rates right up there as one of the single greatest film images I've ever seen. It comes late in the film, when Tom Ripley's (Damon) many lies and horrific acts are finally beginning to catch up with him and his carefully fabricated existence. Leaving the assumed identity of Dickie Greenleaf behind through a forged suicide note, he closes the lid of his beloved piano and looks at the twisted image of his reflection. As he slowly steps back, the image duplicates, splitting in two like an amoeba. And as he puts his glasses back on, as if shedding his duplicitous skin, the changeling moves ever forward in his web of deceit.

What follows is Seale, in his own words, on Minghella in general and that shot in particular.

“Anthony was exceptional. He was a fantastic writer. I found over the three films that actors streamed to his door to say his words, because he was just a magic screenplay writer who just put the most sensible, intelligent dialogue into actors' mouths. And they knew it and they loved it and they just hounded a path to his door to work on his films. But he was such a lovely family man. He loved all our families. He wanted to know how they were. It was a gorgeous way to work. Movies are hard work and long hours. But when you jump out of bed early in the morning to go and make an Anthony Minghella movie, you're there to go and talk with Anthony and be with him all day. It's not work. It's a holiday of discovery, of watching a director talk to and manipulate – as all directors have to – the character that they want to come out of that actor. And he had this magic way of doing it. It was like being in film school all day, every day.

“That particular shot is most interesting the way it evolved, because it was the script supervisor, Dianne Dreyer from New York, who is a wonderful, wonderful woman. And she could play the piano. Not well, but she could play. She started tinkling with it, and then she closed the lid. She was looking down when she closed it and she saw that image of herself [split apart like that]. She came over to me and she said, 'Johnny, you have another look at that. There's a very interesting shot there.' And I went over and I had a look and opened and closed the door and I thought, 'My God, that's amazing in representing the character. Anthony, come over and have a look at this.' And we looked at it and he said, 'Oh, please. Set it up. Set it up.'

“So to me it was a wonderful, Anthony's way of treating crew. It was so lovely that it drew you into the film and allowed you to then search for images. His demands of being that kind of a director meant that you were looking at the world as his film and you would be looking for those little ideas of images that would portray the characters in the movie. And that's the way that one developed. Dianne gives me the credit for it. She said I found it. No, I didn't find it. She did. And I think that's wonderful.”

If at first you don't succeed…

Last year's big Universal Pictures/Angelina Jolie (Pitt) prestige fall/winter release, “Unbroken,” didn't exactly make Oscar season waves upon arrival. But the actress/filmmaker was hard at work on her follow-up throughout, so I'm sure that did a lot to take her mind off how many nominations the film wasn't receiving (and how many nasty things were being said about her in hacked corporate emails). And so she and the studio will give it another go later this year with “By the Sea,” starring Jolie and husband Brad Pitt.

Universal has announced that the film will be released November 13 domestically. Written, directed and produced by Jolie Pitt, the film also stars Mélanie Laurent, Niels Arestrup, Melvil Poupaud and Richard Bohringer. It follows an American writer named Roland (Pitt) and his wife Vanessa (Jolie Pitt), who arrive in a tranquil and picturesque seaside resort in 1970s France, their marriage in apparent crisis, according to an official synopsis. As they spend time with fellow travelers, including young newlyweds Lea (Laurent) and François (Poupaud), and village locals Michel (Arestrup) and Patrice (Bohringer), the couple begins to come to terms with unresolved issues in their own lives.

The release says that in the film's style and its treatment of “themes of the human experience,” “By the Sea” is inspired by European cinema and theater of the 1960s and 1970s. Jolie Pitt also added that it is “a story about a relationship derailed by loss, the tenacity of love, and the path to recovery and acceptance.”

Besides “By the Sea,” Universal will also be pitching Guillermo del Toro's “Crimson Peak” for awards later this year. That, of course, is an interesting note after del Toro's real-life hombres Alfonso Cuarón (“Gravity”) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Birdman”) saw such Oscar luck in the last two years.

In addition, there's Danny Boyle's “Steve Jobs.” Starring Michael Fassbender in the title role (and, speaking earlier of those hacked emails, the very project that left Sony behind), you can probably expect that one to pop up at the New York Film Festival and get the ball rolling from there.

Once again, “By the Sea” hits theaters Nov. 13.

Jimi Hendrix is proving popular for the big screen lately. Last year brought with it John Ridley's “Jimi: All Is By My Side” with Spirit Award nominee Andre Benjamin in the starring role. Now comes word that Legendary Pictures will finally move ahead on developing a biopic about the musician with “Captain Phillips” helmer Paul Greengrass set to direct.

I say finally because Greengrass and Legendary's Thomas Tull had a shot at making a Hendrix film four years ago, but like Ridley's film, it would have been without the Hendrix estate's cooperation. Now, reportedly, a deal has been struck, and the two parties will set out to produce the definitive cinematic portrait of the rock icon.

With estate cooperation comes permission to use all the classics: “Purple Haze,” “Voodoo Chile,” “Foxy Lady,” etc. And perhaps they'll be incorporated in interesting, rather than “greatest hits” ways. After all, “8 Mile” screenwriter Scott Silver has been tapped to pen the project. (The original incarnation stemmed from a script written by “Godzilla” scribe Max Borenstein on spec.)

Four years ago Anthony Mackie was being considered for the lead. Will those conversations pick up where they left off? Or is Mackie locked into Marvel world? We'll find out in due time.

Then again, deal in place or not, how guaranteed is the project? “Memphis” was a good example of Greengrass finally getting a difficult estate (Martin Luther King Jr.'s) to agree to terms, and then…

More on this one as it comes together.

Within the next two weeks Pixar will officially debut its latest animated feature, “Inside Out,” at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.  It's the Disney division's first new movie since “Monster's University” which hit theaters almost two years ago.  Pixar will make up for the long absence by also releasing a second picture, “The Good Dinosaur,” in November.  While Pixar steps back into the spotlight its sister division, Walt Disney Animation Studios, is taking 2015 off after an incredible run of back to back animated Oscar winners, “Frozen” and “Big Hero 6.”  Walt Disney Animation Studio's next film is “Zootopia” which doesn't hit theaters until March, 2016.  Today, they finally revealed who will be voicing the move's main characters.

According to Disney, “Zootopia” is set in a “modern mammal Metropolis” (sounds like an animal version of “Monster's Inc.”) and will keep it in the corporate family with “Once Upon A Time's” Ginnifer Goodwin voicing  bunny Judy Hopps, a new member of Zootopia's police department, and Jason Bateman who will bring Nick Wilde, a hustling fox, to life.

In a release from the studio, director Byron Howard (“Tangled”) noted, “We knew that ‘Zootopia” would only succeed if we found the perfect actors to play our main characters. This rabbit- and fox-duo are in practically every scene in the film together. After meeting Ginnifer, we knew she embodied Hopps, the ultimate pure-of-heart, idealist bunny. You fall in love with her character instantly. And for Nick Wilde, our cynical con-artist fox, we only ever had one actor in mind, the incomparable Jason Bateman. Jason has a way of saying the most hilarious sarcastic things while always staying completely charming. We feel so fortunate to be working with both of them.”

The movie is being co-directed by “Wreck-it-Ralph's” Rich More.

Goodwin, best known for her role on HBO's “Big Love,” has a ton of voice acting experience on “Robot Chicken” and she played Fawn in Disney Home Video's “Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast” last year.  She is currently wrapping up her fourth season on “Once Upon.”

Bateman is also a vocal work veteran with a resume that includes movies such as “Arthur and the Invisibles” and TV appearances including “King of the Hill,” “The Fairly OddParents” and even “Justice League.”  He's currently in post on his second directorial feature, “The Family Fang,” and will return to the big screen with STX's thriller “The Gift” this July.

“Zootopia” opens nationwide on March 4, 2016.

If HBO's Scientology documentary “Going Clear” is any indication, the American public is hungry for damning exposés on the Hollywood establishment. Enter “An Open Secret,” a new documentary by Oscar-nominated director Amy Berg (“Deliver Us from Evil,” “West of Memphis”) that shines a light on the sexual exploitation of young boys in the entertainment industry.

The film features interviews with such former child stars as Corey Feldman and Todd Bridges as well as Michael Egan III, the man who accused “X-Men” director Bryan Singer and several other high-ranking Hollywood figures of drugging and raping him when he was a teenager in the late 1990s (Egan's lawsuits were later dropped due to inconsistencies in his story).

Coinciding with the trailer's release, the film's producers — clearly anticipating that Egan's recent conviction for fraud and the withdrawal of his numerous lawsuits could potentially damage the film's credibility — have released a statement supporting his involvement while simultaneously distancing the film from the subsequent lawsuits he filed against Singer, Broadway producer Gary Goddard, TV executive Garth Ancier and others:

“After the recent announcement of the film”s release, there was talk in some quarters of the media questioning the appearance of Michael Egan in the film in light of his subsequent lawsuit, which was both filed and later withdrawn after he filmed his scenes for An Open Secret. The producers vociferously defend Egan”s participation in the film while clarifying its scope.”

Continued producer Gabe Hoffman: “Michael Egan”s participation in An Open Secret is limited to descriptions of the sexual abuse he suffered at the DEN mansion at the hands of Marc Collins-Rector and the aftermath wrought upon their lives and their families. In the film, Egan does not discuss any of the allegations made in the lawsuits filed on his behalf in 2014. Those lawsuits, subsequently withdrawn, were filed well after, and completely independently from, his participation in An Open Secret. Clearly, Egan has experienced great difficulties in his life following the sexual abuse he suffered while a teenager at DEN. We applaud Mike”s courage to appear in the film and decry any efforts to use these unrelated difficulties to undermine the film”s credibility and deflect from the issue of child sexual abuse in Hollywood portrayed in the film.”

Berg's 2006 documentary “Deliver Us from Evil,” which centered on the crimes of pedophilic Catholic priest Oliver O'Grady, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2007.

“An Open Secret” is slated to screen at Cannes later this month and will hit limited theaters in June. Watch the trailer below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JpHUaMBARU]

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911134153001

Everything about the general details of “Ricki and the Flash” is like a giant flashing “YES” sign to me: Jonathan Demme directing Meryl Streep as a rock star going back to her roots, from an original screenplay by Diablo Cody. I've been quietly sort of stoked for this film all year. And now we get a taste thanks to the first trailer.

Streep's character, it turns out, is loosely based on Cody's own mother-in-law, Terry, who is part of a Jersey Shore rock band herself. The Oscar-winning “Juno” screenwriter said in a recent interview that Terry is “a grandmother of six and she”s still up there rocking out every weekend, walking on the bar, just electrifying the audience…Rock 'n” roll is her life. I think there've been people in her life who've thought it was kind of a silly thing for a mom or grandmother to do and she doesn't give a damn. I love that about her.”

That giant “YES” sign is still flashing.

Seriously, though, this is the kind of role I'm eager to see Streep in these days. She is, of course, one of the greatest to ever grace the screen, so she can make even the rote seem fresh. But this is just a vibrant new character for her to inhabit and I'm very interested to see what she does with it.

Check out the poster for the film below and the new trailer embedded at the top of this post. Tell us what you think!

“Ricki and the Flash” hits theaters August 7.

There are a number of movies with familiar faces premiering at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival this month, but Denis Villeneuve's “Sicario” might feature the most intriguing trio of them all.  

The thriller reportedly centers on Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), a young FBI agent who is recruited into a CIA operation to take down a Mexican drug cartel boss. The mission will find her crossing paths with Matt Graves (Josh Brolin) and Alejandro (Benecio Del Toro) and, according to the film's log line, will rock her “ethical and moral values to the limit.” Jon Bernthal, Victor Garber and Jeffrey Donovan are some of the other notable names in the cast, but judging from the exclusive first look images Lionsgate has provided HitFix this may be Blunt's moment to shine.  The Golden Globe winner is coming off impressive turns in “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Into The Woods” (and some might argue “Lip Sync Battle”) as her body of work continues to grow. “Sicario” will be the first film in her career to premiere or screen at Cannes.

Two gentlemen who are no strangers to la Croisette are Brolin and Del Toro.  The former screened at Cannes with “Flirting With Disaster,” “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger” and “No Country For Old Men.”  The latter has ventured to Cannes numerous times for films such as “The Usual Suspects,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Che” and the unfortunate but now legendary “Jimmy P.”

Villeneuve has wowed audiences at Venice, Telluride and Toronto with “Incendes,” “Prisoners” and “Enemy.”  He'll finally get a chance to wow the Cannes faithful with a thriller written by none other than Taylor Sheridan.  You may recognize Sheridan from his on screen roles in TV shows such as “Sons of Anarchy” and “Veronica Mars.”  Remarkably, “Sicario” is his first produced screenplay and it's debuting in competition at Cannes.  That's somewhat amazing.

The other reason to get excited about “Sicario” is something that will be under the radar for most movie fans.  Lionsgate has been an international sales player and a staple at Cannes for over a decade, but “Sicario” is the first film they have produced or co-financed to ever premiere in the festival, let alone in competition.  That's a big deal for a studio that hasn't had a true awards player since “Precious” which was acquired after debuting to raves at Sundance.  “Sicario” is also currently scheduled for a Sept. 18 release (conveniently after Telluride and Toronto).  No matter what size company you are, you don't throw a film into the critical fire of Cannes four months before release unless you think you've got something good on your hands. 

We'll have a review and more on “Sicario” from Cannes, but in the meantime get a first look at the production in the embedded gallery below.

“Sicario” debuts at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival this month. It opens in limited release on Sept. 18.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911149769001

I've been eager to see Bill Condon get back on top of things. Hopefully that “Twilight” gig kept the gas tank full, but “The Fifth Estate” apparently didn't work out (I confess I never saw it). I'm super intrigued by his forthcoming live action “Beauty and the Beast,” but in the meantime, we have “Mr. Holmes” opening this summer.

It was probably a smart move for Condon to collaborate with Ian McKellen once again. McKellen doesn't get this kind of leading man spotlight that often anymore and the two made absolute magic with “Gods and Monsters” in 1998. And indeed, the reviews out of the Berlin Film Festival, where the film premiered in February, were pretty positive across the board.

The film tells the story of an aged and retired Sherlock Holmes (McKellen) looking back on his life while grappling with an unsolved case. It's based on Mitch Cullin's 2005 novel “A Slight Trick of the Mind.” Roadside Attractions has released a trailer for the film, which you can check out above.

“Mr. Holmes” hits theaters July 15.

CBS Films will be releasing David Mackenzie's “Starred Up” follow-up, “Comancheria,” the distributor announced today. Starring Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine and Ben Foster, the film tells the story of two brothers (Pine and Foster) who go on a calculated bank robbery spree that puts them on a collision course with a West Texas Ranger (Bridges) determined to take them down.

The script was written by actor-turned-screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (“Sons of Anarchy,” “Veronica Mars”). Sheridan's “Sicario” will hit theaters later this year courtesy of director Denis Villeneuve.

“We Pride ourselves on making and acquiring quality films in every genre,” CBS Films Acquisitions and Co-Productions Executive VP Scott Shooman blurbed. “By that measure, Taylor and David's category-bending heartland take on Robin Hood made 'Comancheria' something of an obsession.”

Mackenzie's previous film, “Starred Up,” introduced the world to actor Jack O'Connell. O'Connell gave a fierce and frenzied performance at the center of Mackenzie's controlled vision. Pine and Foster cutting loose opposite Bridges (who could really use a project like this lately) under his helm and in a stark setting like this should elevate this well-worn genre a bit.

Principal photography is set to begin May 26 in New Mexico. International rights will be up for grabs at Cannes next week.

The summer is about to explode with superheroes and dystopia as “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” kick off the blockbuster movie season. Throw a stone and you won't find any trouble hitting a movie with a marketing wallet to rival an independent film's production budget, but there will also be a number of movies working against that fray and hoping for a little love.

So that's what we're here to suggest. Last year efforts like “Boyhood,” “Cold in July,” “Obvious Child” and “The Rover” were lurking beneath the radar. This year we've come up with another list of 15 titles to mix things up. Some of these are holdovers from the festival circuit looking to carve a path through the money-making quarters. Others are just counter-programming measures banking on fatigue brought on by the usual onslaught. All of them are worth your time.

Click through the gallery story below to learn more, and enjoy your summer at the multiplex!