Darwin biopic to launch Toronto Film Fest
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Real-life couple Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany will kick off the Toronto International Film Festival with the life story of Charles Darwin.
Bettany stars as the theory-of-evolution pioneer and Connelly plays his wife in "Creation," which opens the festival Sept. 10. The film is directed by Jon Amiel, whose credits include "The Core" and "Entrapment."
The Toronto event is among a flurry of film showcases, including the Venice and Telluride festivals, that help launch Hollywood's awards season each year.
Along with "Creation," the Toronto lineup will feature Jane Campion's "Bright Star," a drama about another 19th-century Brit, John Keats. "Bright Star," which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, traces the love story of doomed poet Keats (Ben Whishaw) and a passionate neighbor (Abbie Cornish).
Other films announced by festival organizers include Matt Damon and Steven Soderbergh's whistle-blower saga "The Informant"; Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner and Tina Fey's fantasy comedy "The Invention of Lying"; and Clive Owen's widower drama "The Boys Are Back."
Along with: Michael Douglas' womanizer tale "Solitary Man"; Neil Jordan and Colin Farrell's Irish fairy tale "Ondine"; Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek's Depression-era drama "Get Low"; and Tim Blake Nelson's comic story "Leaves of Grass," with Edward Norton in dual roles as twin brothers.
"Creation" premieres in the year marking the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. Adapted from the book "Annie's Box," the movie centers on Darwin's struggle between science and God as he refines his theories amid his wife's deep religious conviction and grief over the death of his young daughter.
"The tension between faith and reason is prominent in contemporary culture, and this intimate look at Darwin puts a human face on a man whose theory remains controversial to this day," said festival director Piers Handling.
See www.tiff.net for more information. (Associated Press)
The View Point Inn, co-owned by Carnegie Mellon University grad and Youngstown native Donn Angelo Simione, is on the market. The restaurant and boutique hotel, near Portland, Ore., was used as a filming location for the prom scene at the end of the first "Twilight" movie and was featured in a March travel story in the Post-Gazette.
"This was not an easy decision to make," Simione wrote in an e-mail. "We can't get a bank loan or an investor and we need to get this place to the next level. We need upwards of a million dollars to do that. A big part of our journey is the historic preservation aspect of the Inn and that requires capital -- lots of it."
The Inn remains open while Simione and co-owner Geoff Thompson seek a buyer. Willamette Week, a Portland-based alternative newspaper, reports the 4,100-square-foot inn with a view of the Columbia River Gorge is valued at $802,720 by the county assessors office but Simione told the newspaper he has an appraisal on the property that's "up in the millions." (Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor)
It's official. There is a Web site for everything, including one telling you when it's safe to duck out of the movies and head to the restroom. It's called www.runpee.com and says it is "helping your bladder enjoy going to the movies as much as you do."
For instance, it suggests you bolt for the bathroom about 36 minutes into "The Proposal," right after Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds kiss for the first time. Its advice on "Public Enemies" is to dash out roughly 54 minutes in, when Johnny Depp's character of John Dillinger says, "I have absolutely nothing I want to do in Indiana."
The site allows you to unscramble a description of what you missed, if you took a four-minute break from "Public Enemies." (Barbara Vancheri, PG movie editor)
"Out in the Silence," a documentary about the firestorm and unlikely friendships that resulted from a gay wedding announcement placed in Oil City newspapers, will play at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Harris Theater, Downtown.
The movie traces its roots to the 2004 Canadian wedding of University of Pittsburgh graduate Joe Wilson and his longtime partner, Dean Hamer. They placed a marriage blurb in two dailies in Oil City, touching off negative letters and a plea for help from the mother of a gay teen being tormented at school.
The filmmakers as well as the mother and son will be at the Harris. The screening is part of a statewide United for Youth conference at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. It's free to registered participants and $10 for others.
For details, go to www.glsenpgh.com/calendar_u4y.html or see www.OutintheSilence.com for a preview of the film, produced in association with the Sundance Institute. (Vancheri)
The 48-Hour Film Project is returning to Pittsburgh the weekend of Aug. 7. Similar competitions are taking place in 80 cities with as many as 3,000 teams and some new locations in the Netherlands and Portugal.
Teams are being accepted on a first come basis, although a waiting list will be assembled. Team registration is $155, and locations are new this year. Go to www.48hourfilm.com for details. (Vancheri)
E! Online reports David Arquette and Courtney Cox have signed on for "Scream 4." ... Natalie Portman, 28, has been cast in "Thor." She will play Jane Foster, a nurse and first love of the title character in the Marvel Comics. ... The 16th annual Austin Film Festival & Conference, Oct. 22-29, will present Ron Howard with an Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award. ... The Palace Theatre, at 630 S. Broadway in Los Angeles, has restored the original lettering from "Thriller" on the marquee in honor of Michael Jackson. The facade and marquee were used in key opening scenes of the music video. The marquee now reads "Vincent Price, THRILLER" as it was seen in the video. (Vancheri)
First Published July 16, 2009 12:00 am
