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11 articles from 2009

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Ang Lee Confirms His Next Film is 'Life of Pi'

30 October 2009 12:30 PM, PDT | MTV Movies Blog | See recent MTV Movies Blog news »

Ang Lee hasn't had much mainstream success since he won an Oscar for directing "Brokeback Mountain" a few years back. His follow-up was the hard-to-distribute Nc-17-rated Chinese period romance "Lust, Caution." Then, this past summer he released the much broader "Taking Woodstock," a comic look at a singular true story behind the scenes of the legendary music festival, and it failed to find an audience (I recommend seeing it when it hits DVD on December 15, specifically for Imelda Staunton, who deserves an Oscar already).

Fortunately, Lee's next film will be based on a best-selling novel and could therefore bring him back to the spotlight for the moviegoing masses. He confirmed to Digital Spy that he thinks he's going to do "Life of Pi," which he's adapting from Yann Martel's Booker Prize-winner. Of course, if you're familiar with the source material, you may wonder how on earth it's going to work as a film. »

- Christopher Campbell

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Woodstock Winners

22 September 2009 3:42 PM, PDT | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »

I meant to reveal the winners of the Taking Woodstock contest earlier in order to celebrate that peace/love '69 flick from Ang Lee (Utopia!). Unfortunately I've been pretty hammered by the flu (Dystopia!) so I'm just now getting around to it. The five winners receive the original motion picture soundtrack, a t-shirt, an air freshener and a mud sliding date with Emile Hirsch (kidding!).

If you missed Taking Woodstock in theaters, I hope you'll check it out on DVD. It felt a bit formless in the theater but I think that form, er...formlessness, was right for the material and it plays well in the head (and heart) afterwards. I asked each contestant to name their favorite Ang Lee movie so I've included their comments below.

Winners were drawn randomly.

And the Winners are...

Cindy from WashingtonMy favorite would have to be Sense and Sensibility. I don't particularly like Jane Austen films, »

- NATHANIEL R

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"Taking Woodstock" Offers Nothing New

25 August 2009 7:46 PM, PDT | ifc.com | See recent IFC news »

Apparently determined to tackle every cinematic genre known to man, Ang Lee has thus far given us his take on the popular-lit adaptation ("Eat Drink Man Woman"), the classic-lit adaptation ("Sense and Sensibility"), the Civil War western ("Ride With the Devil"), the wuxia action flick ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), the Marvel comic-book summer tentpole ("Hulk"), the WWII espionage thriller ("Lust, Caution") and, of course, the gay cowboy weepie ("Brokeback Mountain").

It was inevitable, I suppose, that he would eventually get around to the historical docudrama -- or, as I've recently dubbed that generally useless collection of bullet-point factoids, the Wiki-movie. Technically, "Taking Woodstock" was adapted from key organizer Elliot Tiber's memoir of the same title; with the exception of some laborious anecdotes involving Tiber's Russian immigrant parents, however, you can find pretty much every detail of the movie in Wikipedia's tidy entry on the fabled concert, assuming that you »

- Mike D'Angelo

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Far Out! Take a Trip with "Taking Woodstock!" I Enjoyed this Film!

31 July 2009 10:44 PM, PDT | Manny the Movie Guy | See recent Manny the Movie Guy news »

I feel so blessed to have seen "Taking Woodstock," another knockout film from director Ang Lee. By the way, Lee is one of the greatest living directors around. He can go from action ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") to Brit Lit ("Sense and Sensibility") to comic book genre ("Hulk") to searing drama ("Brokeback Mountain") without missing a beat!

And I haven't even added "Eat Drink Man Woman," "Lust, Caution," and "The Ice Storm." I cannot think of a director who has worked in such a wide canvass.

In "Taking Woodstock," Lee, working from James Schamus' screenplay, creates a film so richly layered and textured centering on the making of a monumental event that changed the landscape of pop culture forever -- Woodstock.

Based on the book by Elliot Tiber called "Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life," comedian Demetri Martin is refreshingly complex »

- Manny

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Remains of the Day: Ang Lee at the Lincoln Center and Venice, Burning Plain One Sheet

30 July 2009 | ioncinema | See recent ioncinema news »

- Ioncinema.com's Remains of the Day (Monday to Friday) is a look at eight and 1/2 news items that we didn't have enough time to cover but are worth mentioning here. For July 29th we have fest news from Venice and Qatar and a pair of one sheets worth checking out.  1. Tribeca in QatarDoha Tribeca Film Festival (Dtff) today the team that will head up the inaugural 2009 Festival. Amanda Palmer (Executive Director) will lead the Festival and work with a team from Tribeca that includes Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, to shape the program. Fest runs between October 29 to November 1. Click here for film festival updates. 2. Nicholas Winding Refn Hearts ....October 2009 issue of American Cinematographer magazine this month: Features on Campion's Bright Star and Larry Smith, Bsc discusses the lush cinematography he realized for the brilliant Bronson. 3. Ang Lee Overload The Film Society of Lincoln Center are »

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Tarantino & Lee Among Cannes Nominees

23 April 2009 5:10 AM, PDT | WENN | See recent WENN news »

Quentin Tarantino's new movie Inglourious Basterds and Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock are among the nominees for the Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Palme d'Or award.

Tarantino's World War II drama, starring Brad Pitt, tells the story of a group of Jewish-American soldiers fighting in Nazi-occupied France.

It will go up against 19 other pictures at the French festival, which runs between 13 and 24 May.

Other movies to reach the coveted shortlist include Lee's Taking Woodstock, set during the legendary 1969 U.S. music festival, and Ken Loach's Looking for Eric, starring retired French soccer star Eric Cantona.

Tarantino won the Palme d'Or in 1994 with his second film Pulp Fiction, while Loach took the prize in 2006 with historical Irish drama The Wind That Shook the Barley. »

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Cannes Film Festival Names Competing Films

23 April 2009 2:39 AM, PDT | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »

Quentin Tarantino will have the distinction of being the only American-born filmmaker to be competing in the 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival this year. Tarantino, who won the festival's prestigious Palme d'Or in 1994, will be debuting his Inglourious Basterds, frequently described as a World War II revenge caper. (Although the film is set in France, it was filmed mostly in Germany to take advantage of that country's tax incentives.) Taiwanese-born director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hulk, Brokeback Mountain, Lust, Caution), who became a U.S. citizen in 1983, will return to the festival with Taking Woodstock, which describes the origins of the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969. Other highlights of the competition include the premiere of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces), New Zealand director Jane Campion's Bright Star, British film director Ken Loach's Looking for Eric, and Danish director Lars Von Trier's Antichrist. The Cannes Film Festival is set to open on May 13 with the out-of-competition screening of Disney/Pixar's Up and to close on May 24 with the also-out-of-competition screening of Dutch filmmaker Jan Kounen's Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky. »

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Ang Lee To Head Venice Film Jury

27 February 2009 5:30 PM, PST | WENN | See recent WENN news »

Oscar-winning moviemaker Ang Lee has been chosen to select the winners at the upcoming Venice Film Festival in Italy.

The Taiwanese-born director has been named the head of the jury at the 2009 event, which will take place in September.

The highlight of the prestigious film festival is the presentation of the Golden Lion trophy, which is often seen as a key indicator of a movie's potential at other prizegiving ceremonies.

Lee was handed the prize for his 2005 drama Brokeback Mountain, which went on to triumph at the Academy Awards - gaining Lee a Best Director Oscar.

He also won the coveted Italian award in 2007 for controversial movie Lust, Caution.

Lee will now head the panel, which will decide this year's honourees. A statement from festival organisers reveals the star was picked for his success in "creating a dialogue between the film-making culture of the East and West." »

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Director Ang Lee's Interesting Upcoming Film

18 February 2009 10:19 AM, PST | Manny the Movie Guy | See recent Manny the Movie Guy news »

Okay, just for the record! I adore Ang Lee! And no, not just because of "Brokeback Mountain," but because of his impressive talent as a director! Just think -- how can a director go from a Taiwanese drama like "The Wedding Banquet" or "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" then off to Jane Austen land with the superb "Sense and Sensibility?"

Then the gritty "The Ice Storm" in 1997, then 3 years later? The fantastic "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

This dude is amazing!

So, I have no doubt, his upcoming film with Focus, opening this August called "Taking Woodstock" will be great.

But wait, this story is about Lee's plans to direct the film adaptation of the book, "Life of Pi."

Author Yann Martel won the Man Booker Prize for this novel, and I believe Lee will be able to give this coming-of-age survival tale.

But it's very, very tricky.

The story?

An Indian »

- Manny

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Oscars Miss Out On Making History

28 January 2009 5:30 PM, PST | WENN | See recent WENN news »

Oscars officials have missed out on making history this year by refusing to rejig rules about co-directors landing nominations. Film critic and blogger Jan Lisa Huttner insists Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire partner Loveleen Tandan, who is credited as a co-director, could have become the first woman of colour to land a Best Director nod - if Academy members had simply considered her.

Oscar rules state that only one person can be nominated for the Best Director prize, but Huttner, a founder of advocacy initiative Women in the Audience Supporting Women Artists Now (Witaswan), is using Tandan's case to push for a change in voting.

Huttner insists she's not attacking Boyle, who is nominated for the Best Director prize at the Oscars on 22 February, but an outdated Academy stipulation, which fails to reward those involved in the filming process.

She raised the issue before the Golden Globe Awards earlier this month, asking readers of her blog, TheHotPinkPen.com, to write to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and suggest Tandan should be rewarded for her co-directing efforts as a nominee and potential winner.

She wrote, "If Loveleen Tandan was Danny Boyle’s co-director then, why isn’t she his co-nominee now? I sincerely believe this question deserves an answer, but unless we all ask, we’ll never get one."

And now Huttner hopes her campaign prompts Oscar bosses to reconsider their rules.

She explains, "In 80 years, only three women have ever been nominated for a Best Director Oscar - Lina Wertmueller, Jane Campion and Sofia Coppola - and only two men of colour - John Singleton and Ang Lee, who won for Brokeback Mountain.

"If Loveleen Tandan is co-nominated for her work on Slumdog Millionaire, then she will be the first woman of colour ever nominated for a Best Director Oscar, and if she wins, she will be the first woman ever accorded this great honour. In my review of Slumdog Millionaire, I call it 'the first great film of the new flat world,' so isn't this the right Cinderella ending for this wonderful film?" »

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Ledger Was Miserable On Brokeback Mountain Set

16 January 2009 9:33 AM, PST | WENN | See recent WENN news »

Heath Ledger had a miserable time on the Brokeback Mountain set - because director Ang Lee treated the late star like an "alienated prop", according to the film's producer James Schamus.

In an Entertainment Weekly magazine tribute piece - marking the first anniversary of Ledger's death - Schamus and British filmmaker Terry Gilliam both recall how difficult the acclaimed film was for the Aussie, who played gay cowboy Ennis Del Mar.

Gilliam recalls his The Brothers Grimm star calling him from the set and revealing he was far from happy.

He says, "He felt alone and isolated. I think it was his sense of not getting the kind of warm support we gave him on Grimm."

But Gilliam adds, "Whatever it did, it produced an extraordinary performance."

And Schamus explains, "During casting, rehearsals, and pre-production, Ang (Lee) is like the warm, wise, cuddly daddy bear. The minute he yells 'Action' on the first shot, the actors become alienated props he kind of puts up with... It's tough on actors.

"He doesn't yell at people or humiliate them, but it's a very tough space. Heath had very difficult days. You could really feel the pain he was going through." »

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2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1997

11 articles from 2009

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