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Post by Ace on Jun 27, 2006 23:41:17 GMT -5
PB Files: Marriage Site================================ Foursome Heads to the Altar for Marriage
Source: Variety May 5, 2006 Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson and Rachel McAdams are heading to the altar for Marriage, a 1940s-set drama written by Oren Moverman and Ira Sachs, reports Variety. Sachs will direct the film. Sidney Kimmel Entertainment is putting together the financing and Steve Golin's Anonymous Content is producing. The plan is to distribute domestically through MGM. The story concerns a married man who cheats; to spare his wife the shame of a divorce, he plots to kill her. The deals are still coming together for a July production start. ===================== Well, that came out of nowhere and I wonder if this means Caitlin gets pushed back or his role in Caitlin is pretty small. Great cast though.
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 0:08:08 GMT -5
Reverse Shot: An interview with director Ira Sachs
RS: Tell me about your new film, Marriage.
IS: I’m in the preproduction stage right now. The story takes place in an unnamed Pacific Coast city in 1949. It’s about a married man who falls in love with another woman. He contemplates divorcing his wife but realizes that it will hurt her too much. Since he’s unable to tell her he wants a divorce, he decides to murder her. So it’s a film about whether or not he’ll kill his wife.
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Memphis Flyer: The long and winding road of Memphis filmmaker Ira Sachs" [30 September 2005] Titled: "Forty Shades of Blue
"Sachs hopes to film in Memphis again, but not for his next project, which is an adaptation of a 1950s British pulp mystery novel. The film, called Marriage, is being set in San Franciso in the late 1940s, a world that couldn't be recreated in Memphis.
Sachs describes Marriage as the story of "a very gentle middle-aged man who is married, but when he falls in love with another woman, decides that to divorce his wife will be to humiliate her too much. So instead he decides to kill her." The plot is reminiscent of such 1930s Edward G. Robinson/Fritz Lang collaborations as Scarlet Street and The Woman in the Window, a comparison that Sachs doesn't discourage. He hopes to begin shooting in March. "
==========================================
Slant Magazine
"IS: To me class is just so present in everyone's entire existence. The reason that I'm a filmmaker has so much to do with the history of my class and its sense of privilege. I understand privilege and I understand how it creates personalities. And you know, one thing I can say that I find kind of complicated—I could use the word sad, but I think I'm too much of a realist to really view it that way—is that in trying to make films over the course of your life I find that you have to very consciously deal with both the world that you live in and the industry that you work in. I think of my film The Delta and I realize that now, at 40 years old, I couldn't make that film again. I couldn't actually write a film about a half-black/half-Vietnamese gay character. And in coming to terms with that I start to recognize the choices I made regarding what stories I've told and what stories I might potentially tell. That's where I feel like the death of independent film might be true, that you just can't make truly personal films anymore that are specific, really specific, about characters and identity. I say this only because I wonder myself how I'll be able to incorporate issues of race and class, among other interests, into my future films because I have a feeling they are going to be much broader in terms of their subject matter.
Interviewer: Broader in a bad sense?
IS: Broader in the sense that you've got to learn how to get the same kind of depth and density into mainstream material what you had in earlier, less mainstream work.
Interviewer: To subvert the system in a way?
IS: To subvert or to at least always pick really complicated subjects, to find a way to keep density. And that's why I'm now making a genre film because genre is a good way to try to work the system but still deal with issues of interest to you. The movie is called Marriage and it's a suspense film, but it's also a domestic melodrama. It's set in an unnamed Pacific Coast city in 1949 and it's about a very gentle, middle-aged man who's married and who falls in love with another woman. And he's such a gentle figure that he decides that to divorce his wife would cause her too much pain, so he decides to kill her instead. To him, killing is the better, kinder act. It's a sort of round robin about the nature of intimacy and what you know or don't know about the people you marry. "
==========================
IndieWire: Can you talk about your new film?
Sachs: It's called "Marriage," set in 1949. Based on British pulp mystery novel "Five Roundabouts to Heaven," written by MI5 member John Bingham. It's the story of a middle-aged man who is married, and who falls in love with another woman, but he's such a gentle figure, so he decides that to divorce his wife would humiliate her too much, so it's better to kill her.
IndieWire: How do you think this relates to your previous films?
Sachs: It's about what do you know and not know about the person you're sleeping with every night. The challenge, for me, is to approach those truths about marriage without being cynical. It's just a film about marriage, approached with sympathy. Even though there's lies and deceits and hidden truths, that's the nature of love. But it doesn't mean there aren't good things."
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 0:09:58 GMT -5
Amazon.com
by John Bingham
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN LE CARRE When his old friend Philip Bartels calls him for his advice, Peter Harding cannot imagine the fateful road they are both about to take. For quiet, respectable 'Barty' has decided that his marriage to the beautiful but cold Beatrice must end now that he has met the passionate Lorna. But, as he explains to Harding, his concern for Beatrice is preventing him from leaving her.
Perhaps Harding should have offered his advice and simply walked away - but then he too meets Lorna. And, rather than help his old friend, he begins to manipulate events for his own ends. With fatal results . . . Five Roundabouts to Heaven is as much a novel of character and psychology, as it is a tensely exciting crime story with a surprise ending. Told in flashbacks, we are held in thrall by our narrator-hero whose own part in the tragedy is far from innocent . . .
Synopsis
Told in flashbacks, this novel concerns Philip Bartel's attempts to leave his beautiful but cold wife Beatrice, for passionate Lorna. His friend Peter Harding offers advice, then he too meets Lorna, with fatal results. Even the narrator-hero's part in the tragedy is far from innocent.
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Zapit: Brosnan, McAdams Contemplate 'Marriage'
Divorce drama will also star Clarkson and Cooper
May 5 2006
An interesting assortment of co-stars are lining up for "Marriage," a new period drama from Sundance favorite Ira Sachs.
According to Variety, Pierce Brosnan and Rachel McAdams are set to appear along with Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson ("Pieces of April" and Oscar winner Chris Cooper ("Adaptation").
Sachs, whose last film, "Forty Shades of Blue," won the grand jury prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, will direct from a script he co-wrote with Oren Moverman. The '40s-set drama focuses on a man (Brosnan, we're guessing), who cheats on his wife (we're thinking Clarkson as the wife and McAdams as the other woman, though Variety is short on details). Knowing that a divorce would shame his wife, he plots to kill her instead.
The film is set to begin production this July.
As the new James Bond film shoots without him, Brosnan has moved on past 007, most recently earning a Golden Globe nomination for "The Matador." He's completed work on the Civil War drama "Seraphim Falls."
McAdams, briefly rumored as a possible Bond girl in "Casino Royale," appeared last year in "The Wedding Crashers," "Red-Eye" and "The Family Stone."
=========================
My guess is Cooper will actually play the weak husband and Pierce the scheming friend, though I think I'd rather PB play the husband (it would be a nice strecth) -- but alas that's the way the trypecasting cookie usually crumbles (see Tailor of Panama --though in the end Osnard became the more interesting character than Harry).
Ace
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 0:10:48 GMT -5
Posted by sparklingblue on May 6, 2006, 5:20pm
Sounds like another very interesting project. I'm very curious who he'll finally play.
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Posted by Ace on May 6, 2006, 5:34pm
According to an interview wtih Rachel McAdams which came out yetserday Chris Cooper plays the husband. As of the time of the interview (may have been weeks earlier) the other roles hadn't been cast yet.
It's being reported that Pierce plays the husband in some parts of the media but that seems more like they're just assuming it's the role he plays because no other lead male is mentioned in the initial press release/ character breakdown.
In the Amazon.com description of the book it seems like the friend may actually be the narrator/catalyst of the piece. I'm going to have to buy the book since my library doesn't seem to have it.
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Posted by sparklingblue on May 6, 2006, 6:42pm
It's really hard to tell. Pierce says he wants to play darker, evil characters. But then again, he might also enjoy a change from playing such characters.
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 0:11:25 GMT -5
ION Cinema
By: Srdjan Milosavljevic
Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson and Rachel McAdams are the first to join the dark, crime drama Marriage. “Marriage” written by Oren Moverman and Ira Sachs. It takes place in the 1940’s and is about a man who cheats on his wife, and in an attempt to spare her the shame of divorce, plots to kill her. Sachs, is relatively new to a production-size this big - he will have his work cut out for him with such a star-studded cast.
To be distributed by the newly re-modeled MGM, while Sidney Kimmel Entertainment is putting together the financing and Steve Golin's Anonymous Content is producing, “Marriage” is based on a John Bingham novel "Five Roundabouts to Heaven.” Which was published July 6th 2001 by Pan Macmillan. Sachs is the very talented filmmaker who brought us Forty Shades of Blue and although his movie won awards at Sundance and had critical acclaim, it was very hard to find in theaters in North America. With a cast like this, I think that Sachs will be introduced to a wider audiences. Ioncinema.com interviewed Sachs last year when he was promoting the release of Forty Shades. You can read that here.
As far as the cast goes it just doesn’t get any better than this. Brosnan just came off a career rejuvenating role in The Matador and is now at the top of his game, Cooper has for the past six or seven years been in almost every Oscar-winning movie, Clarkson is a proven character actor (see small, but poignant role in Good Night and Good Luck) while McAdams has made name for herself over the past couple of years starring in movies ranging from The Notebook, Wedding Crashers and Red Eye. No doubt that with this cast, the era that the story takes place in and the potential for a neo film noir-ish flair, this is perhaps a great introductory film to the filmmaker. In the mean time pick up a copy of the crime novel or go rent Forty Shades of Blue.
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 0:12:40 GMT -5
From Playbill By Harry Haun May 8, 2006
[excerpt]
Clarkson, who originated “the Julia Roberts role” in the original 1997 go-around of Three Days of Rain, is pretty deep into her movie career these days. “I’m about to do a really beautiful film,” she trills. “I just got cast in it. It’s called `Marriage,' and it’s me, Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan and Rachel McAdams. I play Chris’ wife. It’s a quartet thing, and it takes place in the 1940s. Ira Sachs, who co-wrote it, will be the director.”
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 0:13:17 GMT -5
Posted by tim on May 8, 2006, 10:47pm
From the excerpt above its almost confirm that Mr Brosnan will play the 2nd lead.I'm dissapointed because I want him to play the leading role.
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Posted by Ace on May 9, 2006, 1:49am
McAdams had already stated that Cooper was playing the husband. From the description of the leads it made typecasting sense that Cooper would play the husband. There's no evidence one "lead" is bigger than the other, either of the two roles or the four roles.
The Amazon.com description of the book seemingly refers to the friend, Peter Harding as the "narrator-hero".
When his old friend Philip Bartels calls him for his advice, Peter Harding cannot imagine the fateful road they are both about to take. For quiet, respectable 'Barty' has decided that his marriage to the beautiful but cold Beatrice must end now that he has met the passionate Lorna. But, as he explains to Harding, his concern for Beatrice is preventing him from leaving her.
Perhaps Harding should have offered his advice and simply walked away - but then he too meets Lorna. And, rather than help his old friend, he begins to manipulate events for his own ends. With fatal results . . .
Five Roundabouts to Heaven is as much a novel of character and psychology, as it is a tensely exciting crime story with a surprise ending. Told in flashbacks, we are held in thrall by our narrator-hero whose own part in the tragedy is far from innocent . . .
===============
The best thing about Clarkson's comments is referring to the film as "beautiful". Clarkson's opinion on the work is rather gratifying seeing as she has a really great recent track record of quality films. I'm intrigued by her calling it a quartet which seems to indicate there are multiple sides of the relationship equation.
Ace
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 3:54:57 GMT -5
« Yuliya Reply on on May 9, 2006, 8:49am »
The more I read about the movie (and the book), the more I think of the book "Diabolique" is based upon, "Celle qui n'était plus." I don't know about the French movie filmed in 1955 the 1996 remake with Sharon Stone certainly didn't do the book justice, though what do I know? I only struggled through about 30 minutes. But the book is a marvelous suspense by Boileau and Narcejac and it also starts with a husband killing his wife (with the help of his lover, I think; if not help, then certainy active encouragement) to get rid of her, become free to marry the lover, and gain the insurance money while at it...
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 3:56:19 GMT -5
« Ace Reply #16 on May 11, 2006, 9:05pm »
I haven't read the book but the French 1950s Diabolique is very good, the re-make isn't in the same stratosphere. It's just horrid. That story though is centered mainly on the two women and there's nothing "kind" (no matter how misguided) about any of their actions and the stories also seem to have a different tone.
This seems to be about a crime about "manners" as much passion. Manners in the sense that Jane Austen's books are comedies and romances of manners.
Penguin Classic Crime 1986
On the back of the book it says:
"'Death is of no consequence -- it is not dying that matters, it's how you die.'
"Nineteen years is a long time. But when Pete and Barty meet up again in the idyllic French landscape of their youth, the old rivalry is still there.
"So are their shared secrets. And the passion and jealousy still hang in the air, ready to ignite should the right mischance arise.
"John Bingham's second novel is a powerful study of how murder can enter the minds of ordinary people. "
Pan Classic Crime copy, 2001
"It never occurred to me that Bartels could ever be a dangerous man. Even in those days he was such a kind-hearted and gentle chap."
When his old friend Phillip Bartels calls him for advice, Peter Harding cannot imagine the fateful road they are about to take.
For quiet, respectable Barty has decided that his marriage to Beatrice must end now that he has met the passionate Lorna. But, as he explains to Harding, his concern for Beatrice is preventing him from leaving her.
Perhaps Harding should have offered his advice and simply walked away - but then he too meets Lorna. And he begins to manipulate events to his own ends. With fatal results.
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 3:57:18 GMT -5
« Lauryn reply on May 11, 2006, 10:39pm » The interview you posted earlier from director Ira Sachs admits to a fascination with the substrata of class, and I imagine he might have more than a passing interest in the codes people may either live by or transgress that constitute a story of murder. Maybe this angle is what drew him to the book as source material. The descriptions you posted of the novel bring to mind rather dark-veined tragi-comedies of manners like Patricia Highsmith's Ripley series. Of the few that I've read I remember "Ripley's Game" being told through the eyes of an exceptionally ordinary person who is drawn, by the manipulations of the Ripley character and his own latent strain of weakness / bad character to do a number of things outside the pale of society. "Five Roundabouts" sounds like it covers similar machinations but with a more ripely noirish setting and detective story atmos -- the kind of obliquely angled tale where no one ends up innocent. Now that I mention it, wasn't PB set originally to star in a film version of "Ripley's Game"? John Malcovich eventually took up the role. I think it got pretty decent reviews, but very lacklustre studio support / distribution. Maybe the Brosnan connection was what drew my attention to the Highsmith book at the time. From what I've been able to gather "Five Roundabouts to Heaven" was pretty well regarded in its time as a piece of genre fiction. It shows up, for example, on a list by HRF Keating of the 100 Best Crime and Mystery Books. (Keating was the crime fiction critic for the Times.) An intriguing sidebar is that John Bingham, the author, was an officer in British intelligence. He was also, according to a web biography on John Le Carre, www.kirjasto.sci.fi/lecarre.htm one of the inspirations for the character of George Smiley. Here's a taste of that backstory: During his years at the operational section of MI5 le Carré met John Bingham, who encouraged him to write and read the manuscript of his first novel. Bingham, the pen-name and family name of Lord Clanmorris, was one of the two men who inspired le Carré's famous character, George Smiley: "Short, fat and of a quiet disposition, he appeared to spend a lot of money on really bad clothes..." Bingham, who had published crime novels, never accepted the picture of the Intelligence Services that le Carré gave in his books. "As far as John was concerned - and many others too - claims of good intent were guff. I was a shit, consigned to the ranks of other shits like Compton McKenzie, Malcolm Muggeridge and J.C. Masterman, all of whom had betrayed the Service by writing about it." (Le Carré in his introduction to Bingham's Five Roundabouts to Heaven, Pan Classic Crime, 2001) I think I may have to look up the Pan Classic Edition so I can read Le Carre's introduction before dipping into the novel.
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 3:58:33 GMT -5
« Ace reply on May 11, 2006, 11:27pm » I read that bit about John Bingham being one of the main inspirations for George Smiley, and now I just have this vision of George Smiley writing pulp noir thrillers and can't stop smiling. PB was lined up to play Ripley in Ripley's Game, some time post TCA. It didn't happen for some reason. The film never got US distribution, not even limited release, even though it cost $30m, got good reviews, starred a then not too unhot Malkovich and was a follow up to the recent quite popular The Talented Mr. Ripley. Very strange. The movie though had been previously done in 1977 as Der Amerikanische Freund by Wim Wenders. But then I think the 1999 Ripley had also been done decades earlier with Alain Delon. As for the compairsons the HIghsmith one of the Amazon.com reader reviews states: "The book has much of the dark moodiness and imperfect characters that you'd find in a book by someone like Patricia Highsmith. You won't find the stock sympathetic characters here. Roundabout's characters commit adultery, lie to each other, mock their friends, and contemplate murder. The reader looking for someone to cheer for will be rather hard put in this instance. Definitely not typical escapist detective fiction, and all the better for it, IMO." If done well this should be fun. Ace
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 4:00:59 GMT -5
»«Lauryn reply on May 12, 2006, 12:22am »
Doesn't it sound thoroughly out of character? Talk about seceret lives, LOL! Though, for a crime novelist to have his skill at devining human motivations would indeed be a plus.
It is odd. It would seem to have the earmarks of at least a modest film success. I remember it never got U.S. release. It was helmed by an Italian female director not familiar much outside art film circles. It was championed upon DVD release by Roger Ebert, I think, as an overlooked minor classic that was never given a fair shot.
I'd love to see the Wim Wenders film. I think a character like Ripley would really be interesting in his hands.
Interesting that I'm not the only one making the Highsmith connection. As per our discussion, she's a foremost practitioner of crime fiction as "novel of manners" but I also thought of Ripley's Game because of the device it employs, like Bingham's, of a rather mild and ostensibly law abiding person (who is the narrator) whose own guilt and complicity strongly colors the narrative. Of course, a lot of noir and crime fiction goes down this road, Bingham and Highsmith, not the first.
As a film maker Ira Sachs seems to rather sharply divide critics and audiences. Looking at reviews, some think his explorations of characters and settings are mesmerizing, some think they are sleep inducing, especially "Forty Shades of Blue." Apparently his pacing can be a bit on the languorous, not to say, the slow side. He's from the South, in Memphis, so he comes by it honestly, LOL! I haven't seen any of his films so I can't say first hand my impressions but I would expect strong performances for "Marriage" with the great cast he's assembled, and strong use of the setting and noir atmos.
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 4:03:56 GMT -5
«Yuliya replyon May 12, 2006, 10:34am »To clarify, I didn't say that it was that same as "Celle qui n'était plus," I only said it reminded me of the book. And the book is not exactly about two women who kill the husband of one of them. Not as such. It's been at least 15 years since I read the book and I don't remember the plot too well, but I remember the impresion. Almost the entire book concentrates on the husband who killed his meek, unsuspecting wife with if not the help then guidance and encouragement of his lover. It's done, I think, in part in flashbacks, him remembering how he suggested getting a life insurance so if something happened to him, his wife would be taken care of, how it only was a ploy to make his loving, caring wife to suggest she had her life insured, too, and how he later drowned her - to be rid of her as well as for the insurance money. As the book progresses, he starts seeing his wife (or rather, the ghost of his wife) here and there, until finally the guilt and the fear drive him to suicide. I distinctly remember that toward the end of the book I so much hated the slimy, gutless, spineless bastard, that when I learned the entire affair was orchestrated by the enterprising lover who teamed up with the wife to get the husband to insure his life and kill him, I merely felt the releif the wife was all right (nearly got the cold playing at lifeless drowned corpse, poor thing!) and thought the husband got no more than he deserved. Good. If they do it well, I will probably like it. ============================================================ « Ace reply on May 12, 2006, 1:20pm » That's is pretty much he storyline of Diabolique except the roles of the wife and husband are reversed and the husband is rather deserving of his initial fate because he's abusive. It does end that the it was all a plot by lover and husband to get rid of the wife, to scare her to death and get her insurance money. But because the husband was so abusive and the lover was the one pushing the wife into murder and really just using and tricking her - the wife's death is not emotionally satisfying at all. But it works as a shocker. Ace
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 4:07:32 GMT -5
« Ace reply on May 12, 2006, 2:03pm »
Here's the link: HRF Keating 100 Best Crime & Mystery Books
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« Yuliya reply on May 12, 2006, 2:12pm »
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 4:09:35 GMT -5
« Ace reply on May 17, 2006, 4:18pm »Lauryn, interesting thoughts about Ira Sachs and his ability to work with this kind of material. From what I've scavenged up about the book, it's very British in tone -- sharp, dry, slightly repressed with wicked undertones. It's not a story to be filmed languidly -- yes it's about relationships but at it's core it's film noir so requires an edge even if it is a crime of manners. I wonder how well that British tone will translate to America even of the same time period. I hope PB uses his "British" accent, because wicked things sound so much better with those slightly clipped tones of superiority. From the reviews I've read the best friend as narrator is the juicy role to have unless the script changes the dynamics of the characters to any great degree. Oh and if he changes a word of the last few paragraphs then the director is a moron -- sheer brilliance.
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 4:11:08 GMT -5
Looks like Pierce should have just moved his family to Vancouver for the first half of this year. I know it's cheap to film there but I'm tiring of films in Vancouver, it's like all Euopean films filmed in Praugue. B-o-r-i-n-g and they never really look completely authentic no matter how many quick location outside shots they use. Memphis Flyer: Starstruck: Ira Sachs scores big names for his new movie: period genre flick Marriage.By CHRIS HERRINGTON Like fellow Memphis filmmaker Craig Brewer, Ira Sachs has parlayed Sundance success into a career as one of America's most promising young filmmakers. A year and a half after capturing the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for Forty Shades of Blue, the Memphis-bred, now New York-based Sachs is in Los Angeles completing pre-production on his next film, Marriage, a period piece set in the Pacific Northwest in 1949. With a budget of "around $12 million" and an eye-popping cast -- Chris Cooper, Rachel McAdams, Patricia Clarkson, and Pierce Brosnan are the principals -- this genre film, set to begin shooting in Vancouver at the end of the summer, signifies a big step-up for Sachs. The script for Marriage, co-written by Sachs and Oren Moverman (Jesus' Son), is adapted from the British pulp mystery Five Roundabouts to Heaven by John Bingham. "It's the story of a married man who falls in love with another woman and decides divorcing his wife will cause her too much pain, and it will be better to kill her," Sachs says. "Then it becomes a suspense film about whether or not he'll go through with it." Cooper, who won an Oscar for Adaptation, plays the husband. Indie veteran Clarkson (The Station Agent) plays the wife. Rising superstar McAdams (subject of a recent Entertainment Weekly story about her judicious choice of roles) plays the woman Cooper's character has an affair with. And former James Bond Brosnan plays the best friend, "the consummate bachelor." "This film is inspired by times my then-boyfriend and I would stay home and watch Joan Crawford movies -- '30s and '40s melodramas," Sachs says. "Those films would take exaggerated situations and have audiences relate to them very personally, and I think that's what Marriage is like." The plot of Marriage evokes the great '40s Edward G. Robinson/Fritz Lang collaborations Scarlet Street and The Woman in the Window, influences Sachs also acknowledges. "I think Cooper is very much in the style of Robinson in that he's someone you can identify with yet very much has a power on screen," Sachs says. "He's an Everyman in a way." After getting great notices for the performances he got from Rip Torn and relative-unknown Dina Korzun, Sachs gets to work with some of the most high-profile and respected actors in American movies. So how did he put this cast together? "It's a process," Sachs says. "It's a culmination of the script, which I think is a page-turner. It's a good read and people can see it as a film. Forty Shades of Blue had strong performances, and I think that gave these actors confidence in me. Basically, it's like courting. For the past 12 months, I've been trying to court a series of strong actors who would be right for the roles." According to Sachs, Marriage will be financed by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, a company that has been involved with films as diverse as 9 ½ Weeks and the current United 93. Marriage will be produced by Steve Golin, who has worked on some of the very best recent American films, producing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich. "He's one of the good guys out here," Sachs says of Golin. "He knows how to work the system but is very much oriented toward filmmakers and preserving the creative vision of a film." After searching for a distributor at Sundance for Forty Shades of Blue, Sachs says Marriage is likely to be distributed through MGM in a pre-arranged deal. "At this amount of money, it's not something where you hope to get a distributor," Sachs says. "I think that will be set up in advance. It'll still end up going to a festival to launch it but likely with a distributor in hand."
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 4:13:08 GMT -5
« Barbara reply on May 22, 2006, 3:24pm »
The more I think about this film, the more I wonder....
Would anyone be bold enough to film it in retro black and white, or better still, have the film colored in Japan, and use Technicolor?
Love...B
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 4:13:52 GMT -5
«Lauryn Reply #29 on May 22, 2006, 8:28pm »
I'm over the moon to hear the SMA appears to be getting the plum role; and he does do wicked so well in Brit-speak.
From those recent interviews with the director his attraction may be to the relationships and heightening that edge of unreality and not so much in telling a more linear mystery story (which I gather the novel is, at least moreso). He has acknowledged he's making a shift commercially and artistically to doing a mainstream and more accessible film, but I wonder if he might still direct a more European style noir film than an American one: less pace and plot and more immersion in human motives and desires. At least he has the reputation of getting great performances out of his actors, and they're all very fine ones, so we shouldn't mind spending some time and effort with their characters. Of course, I'm making something of a wild guess. Who knows how it will turn out?
From what you say it's looking likely that the source novel will lose some of its character in translation. I haven't read the novel but I would expect it to have the cool, ironic distance that would come naturally to a writer who was the inspiration for George Smiley. Your description seems to bear this out. Maybe the movie will have more of an American flavor (a touch of James M. Cain?) but I hope it keeps the sharpness of the wit and those intriguing final paragraphs. I just ordered the Pan Classics Edition with the Le Carre forward, or so it's advertised. Can't wait to read it.
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Post by Ace on Jun 28, 2006 4:18:33 GMT -5
« Lauryn Reply #63 on Jun 22, 2006, 6:57pm »
Hmm. An unusually long shoot for the style of film it is. I suspect Sachs may be the type to be meticulous in his set-ups and do a lot of coverage -- and in the manner of a stage play, spend more time in rehearsal with the actors, but I do wonder if they got a bump up in the production budget.
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Post by Ace on Jun 29, 2006 12:25:05 GMT -5
« Ace Reply #64 on Jun 22, 2006, 7:04pm » It's a very long shoot for this kind of film. Almost 14 weeks. That's about 6 weeks longer than Matador and Butterfly and 4 weeks longer than Evelyn.
So yes either the dates are wrong or Sachs is a very methodical director who wants more time with his cast. Though 4-6 weeks more of filming than usual makes me think a date is wrong somewhere unless he got more than the $12m budget that was reported earlier.
Ace
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