Kaufman carves out piece of film history

Situated in the “suburbs of New York City,” as one member of the press put it, The Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York, is now the proud home to the city's very first backlot. The space made its official debut earlier today at a well-attended ribbon-cutting ceremony. Though the weather was mild, sunny, and cooperatively ripe for the public display of an outdoor facility, the attenuating press conference was held inside Kaufman studios itself. Journalists and the city’s cultural movers and shakers schmoozed by the set of Amazon’s hit Web series “Alpha House,” though they were cordoned off from the show’s important, breakable items (facades of painted-brick houses and a long, imposing hallway with the look of sterile governmental officiousness about it provided the backdrop for what was really a congenial photo-op for the event’s politician speakers).

After getting off to a late start – not that many of the attendees minded, given the dark chocolate and peanut-butter cupcakes available – several important personages, figureheads and influential personalities alike, discussed the benefits of the new Kaufman Studios backlot. Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer was the day’s master of ceremonies, providing the opening remarks and setting the excited and hopeful, if often self-congratulatory, tone. “We like to think of it as Hollywood East,” he said of the studio space. “What [Head of Kaufman Studios] George Kaufman started here has produced billions – literally billions – of dollars in revenue,” and countless jobs.

Photo credit: Jill Lotenberg

Subsequent speakers, including Senator Charles Schumer, George Kaufman’s right-hand man Hal Rosenbluth, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, Senator Michael Gianaris, Assembly Member Aravella Simotas, and Senior Vice President of Film, Arts and Culture Development for New York State Rhoda Glickman, each echoed Van Bramer’s sentiments in turn. George Kaufman’s achievement – renovating the studio space after it fell into disrepair around 1980, subsequently revamping New York City’s film industry – was universally lauded, as were the benefits of the city’s film tax exemptions.

“The breaks come back to us – so much money comes back to us,” said Senator Schumer. The reinvigorated movie business has “created hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs – not tens of thousands,” he was quick to emphasize.

Rosenbluth sounded, “Today is the celebration of a vision coming true,” while Senator Gianaris challenged the haters (none of whom were in attendance). He asked that “for all those who want to be critical, to rewind 10 years… It’s not just the talent, Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford, that’re making money off these productions.” He ticked off carpenters, electricians, and caterers as examples of those who benefit from a healthy entertainment business. Later, Rosenbluth cited the end credits of a film. “Each name [you see] is a job,” he said, “and each company is many jobs.”

George Kaufman, the man of the hour and its least loquacious, spoke briefly of how proud he felt and of his hopes for the future development and success of those projects that utilize the lot.

The conference moved along at a nice clip. Afterwards, the press was invited outside for more officially staged photos, including those that included the cutting of the ribbon. The speakers grouped together before the lot’s gates and beneath an outdoor catwalk, accessible via a broad spiral staircase and headed by large metal letters spelling out “Kaufman.”

Photo credit: Jill Lotenberg

Though she didn’t speak during the press conference, “Orange is the New Black” actress Dascha Polanco was on hand to discuss her experience filming Netflix’s popular series on the Kaufman property. As someone living on the border of Brooklyn and Queens, she said, she felt “proud” when she first got wind of a Kaufman backlot. “It’s a great representation of how things [here] keep getting better and improve. I’m witnessing history, and that’s an honor.” Not to mention a memorable way to kick off your 30th birthday.

Polanco’s reference to history is apt. Back when it was known as Famous Players Lasky, the studio officially opened for show-business in 1920. It later went on to house Paramount Studios, and, for many years, was the largest film stage outside of Hollywood. Early luminaries like Gloria Swanson, Claudette Colbert and W.C. Fields all starred in productions filmed in the space. More recently, Kaufman studios continues to play host to TV series “Nurse Jackie” and "Sesame Street," as well as “Alpha House” and “Orange is the New Black.” The Bourne Legacy filmed there, as did the upcoming Ben Stiller drama The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

“This is a game-changer for New York,” Schumer stated. We have the talent, he said, as so many people would rather live here than in California. In other words, and in sum:  “Hollywood, watch out!”

Indie film execs ponder the future at BAFTA East Coast panel

By Sarah Sluis
FJI writer Doris Toumarkine reports exclusively for Screener on a May 27 gathering of leading New York-based film executives.

Indie veteran Mark Gill famously suggested at the height of gloom that "the sky is falling" on the specialized movie business. That prognosis got an encouraging if hardly conclusive update from a panel of high-level New York-based executives in the thick of the action at a May 27 BAFTA East Coast event at Scandinavia House in Manhattan.

The good news they reported is: The sky is still up there, although the forecast remains uncertain and evolving. The nominal topic�"Has Distribution Been Democratized at the Expense of Capitalism?"�was not resolved except for the politically inclined Focus Features CEO James Schamus drolly noting that "the Chinese have proven that capitalism can happen without democracy."

But the focus of the event was on indie film in our democracy and how that business might heal itself and make capitalism proud. Observations abounded, if not answers.

Concurring with the notion that the pipelines for movie consumption have indeed opened up, speakers pondered which new business models might also have profits running through those pipelines for content creators and deployers.

Journalist Anthony Kaufman, who has followed the independent scene for years and served as moderator, got the discussion going with the proclamation that "the [specialized] industry is in transition, not in decline." So far, so good.

Reminding that ticket, DVD and foreign sales are down and online distribution and video-on-demand activity haven't made up for the loss in revenues, he challenged the panel�Sony Pictures Classics co-chair Michael Barker, National Geographic Films president Daniel Battsek, Focus Features' Schamus, Cinetic Media founder and lawyer/sales agent/distributor John Sloss, and CAA agent Daniel Steinman�to come up with ideas for what can be done to get things on track.

Battsek, referring to his native U.K. where the emergence of multiplexes helped turn things around for independents, suggested "good movies in good theatres" might be a solution, that building more quality theatres stateside might get more people in seats. And Barker cited exhibitors like Cinemark and Regal that have screens dedicated to specialized product, making it easier for art-house fans to find them.

Regarding the so-so profitability, if any, of films on VOD, at least as seen by filmmakers and their sellers, Steinman, who sells films to distributors, suggested that the on-demand films need better marketing to viewers. The problem, as he sees it, is that there are just so many titles available and it's hard and confusing for consumers to find what they want.

Panelists referred to a number of other pressures, including piracy. In fact, Sloss proclaimed piracy "the real problem, as all we're going through a reorientation." Schamus pointed to Spain and Korea as the worst piracy offenders and Sloss backed this up with his observation that in Spain pirating movies is almost a badge of honor, that it's a "cultural" inclination that people "enjoy" and has become a "frightening habit."

Barker too called for a secure digital platform to guard against piracy, but also said there needs to be "a meeting of the minds on DVD price points."

Panelists pointed to the economic inefficiencies of the pricing of content, which does not reflect the true supply-to-demand ratio.

The conundrum of windows reared its head, with Sloss opining, "It's ridiculous having to wait so long after theatrical" for other outlets to be available, a delay viewed, right or wrongly, as fueling piracy. Others noted that there's no guarantee that getting ancillaries out earlier will counter piracy.

The strategy of day-and-date releasing got mixed notices. Some panelists agreed that simultaneous releases would be appropriate for certain, narrowly targeted films like the upcoming Restrepo or Alex Gibney's new documentary about Elliot Spitzer. With regard to the latter, Sloss said it might work first going into VOD, then theatrical, as "it has built-in awareness." And Battsek even suggested that to better understand day-and-date, "maybe we should take some risks and sacrifice a few movies to find the way to do this."

Barker agreed that perhaps the strategy could work for some films but explained that "the goal is for [Sony Pictures Classics] films to become evergreens, and day-and-date cuts off that opportunity." In other words, good films need a lot of exclusive time in theatres to generate the needed word of mouth and the revenues this produces.

CAA's Steinman agreed. "We don't put movies together thinking of the IFC or Magnolia [VOD] model. The way that money gets made for filmmakers is with theatrical happening first." Barker concurred, saying that "for a fair shake, filmmakers need theatrical," but he admitted that "if it seemed right, we would even experiment with a day-and-date situation."

And there's still the murky business of where and how much revenue there is in the VOD business, critical information that trickles back to filmmakers as rarely as the money does. And because VOD and DVD titles are so numerous, panelists joked that there is a clear advantage to films beginning with the letter "a" or a number to put them at the head of the long availability lists consumers must pore through.

Of course, the lower the budget for a film, the better, at least in terms of seeing a return. Kaufman suggested that the "bright budget" these days for indies is about $450,000. And while the trend is that directors and actors are cutting their fees, Steinman said that agents advise their clients not to work on spec.

The importance of P&A money these days was also addressed, as financiers also need to raise that cash, especially when no domestic distribution deal is in place for their projects. "We're more in the P&A business than ever before," declared Steinman.

As for the importance of marketing films to young audiences via Facebook or Twitter and other online sites, Barker observed that the studios, as opposed to the smaller distributors, are dealing with the Net the way they deal with TV. But Battsek pointed to the fact that using the Net is difficult because "everyone is pushing their products there, so it's more difficult than taking out a New York Times ad."

Overall, guarded optimism in spite of so many unanswered questions permeated the discussion, as did an acknowledgement that change will be inevitable if not yet identifiable. The somewhat upbeat vibe was also assuring, as these big guns of the indie sector seem less prone to the cheerleading done by their counterparts atop the studios and corporate conglomerates�a reflection of the indie films themselves, which tend to be more in touch with reality than mainstream fare.

But then, certain big-gun producers in the BAFTA audience like John Heyman and David Picker, known for their big-budget tentpoles and studio affiliations, might beg to differ.

Movie-related Twitters more bark than bite

By Sarah Sluis

Twitter has been this year's media darling, especially among influencers like media personalities, celebrities, and journalists. But the 140-character updates on whereabouts, opinions, and random thoughts haven't really changed how people choose what movies to see.

A recent survey of Movietickets.com customers who had just bought tickets online and were Twitter users revealed a modest effect. When asked, "Did Twitter affect your desire to see any of the following films in the past year?," New Moon ranked highest, with 52% responding yes.

According to Joel Cohen, VP of MovieTickets.com, Twitter added to the buzz of the New Moon campaign. The studio would release a new trailer, posters, or clips every few weeks, encouraging the Internet community to weigh in on the new information. "Twitter gives people the ability to share what they think, and let it spread quickly," he explained.

However, the second film on the list received half the amount of "yes" votes. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earned just 23% of the vote. The much-hyped Bruno, which many said was felled by negative Twitter buzz? Only 8% said it influenced their desire to see the film one way or the other. Twitter, it turns out, has a fairly limited impact on box office, a view shared by Cohen. "I don't think you're going to have a change in moviegoing if people read something on Twitter that is the opposite of what they were going to do anyway or what they were feeling already." Instead, it reflects the general consensus of whether a film is "good" or "bad."

Cohen also gave Screener a sneak peak at how Avatar is doing. So far, 78% of the buyers have been male. The vast majority of ticket buyers fall into the over 25 range--though all this information reflects the people taking initiative and punching in their credit card numbers, and not any additional tickets they may have bought for friends, significant others, and children.

Over 90% of the tickets have been purchased for 3D screenings. "This will be the first time a lot of adults have seen 3D," Cohen explained, since most 3D titles have been animated films. Their embrace of the medium, sight unseen, bodes well for Avatar, especially given the premium prices on 3D and IMAX tickets.

However, the mega-budget tentpole hasn't even cracked their top ten of bestsellers, despite a lead time of over four months (tickets went on sale in August). "It just doesn't have the built-in fan base we see in a lot films in our top ten," Cohen explained, which include literary properties like Harry Potter and Twilight.

When Avatar hits theatres tomorrow, the Twitterati should not be feared. They're just another form of word-of-mouth--available to all the eyes on the Internet but mattering to very few.

'Pray the Devil Back to Hell' reaches new audiences with Global Peace Tour

By Sarah Sluis

Screener had the opportunity to interview director Gini Reticker, whose documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell has returned to the big screen, and is now being shown by groups across America this September as part of a Global Peace Tour.

Since Pray the Devil Back to Hell's debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008, which was followed by a fall theatrical release, the film has been seen across the globe. Reticker describes her filmmaking style as "looking for things that are universal...what people have in common rather than what separates us," but she too has been astonished by the far-reaching, diverse audience that has embraced the film. Security guards during the Tribeca festival spotted each other so they could sneak in and watch the film, a social worker wanted to show it to her patients who were drug addicts, and it's scheduled to be broadcast over television in Burma.

In Liberia itself, where the documentary takes place, the film has inspired new recognition for the women who fought for peace in their country. Their story, which was on the verge of being lost by time, has been preserved, ensuring the women a place in the country's history books. For those unfamiliar with the documentary, (read the FJI review here and our profile here) Pray the Devil Back to Hell reconstructs the plight of a group of women who became activists to stop the civil war in Liberia. Both sides looted and raped villagers, and enlisted boys to serve as soldiers. The women, who came from all religious backgrounds, banded together, not taking sides, but simply asking for peace. And it worked.

With its inspiring story, Pray the Devil Back to Hell sounds like the ultimate grassroots film, but a traditional specialty rollout release did not adequately meet demand for the feature. "The thing about documentaries," Reticker explains, is that "you never play long enough in any city. By the time you build an audience, you're closing." The answer to that was a "semi-theatrical tour, so that people who heard about the film and wanted to bring it to their organizations could use it." Over 200 cities are screening Pray the Devil as part of the Global Peace Tour, which is centered around the United Nations' International Day of Peace on September 21st. Churches, schools, universities, film societies, and even the United Nations and World Bank will screen the film. For Reticker, the "phenomenal" response is incredibly rewarding to her as a filmmaker, "because it's extending the life of the movie in a really different way." The non-traditional venues still contribute to the film's revenue, as each organization will pay for the rental of the film.

The success of the documentary has spawned a series on WNET. The public broadcasting station picked up the film and has commissioned four more hours of television about activist women. Reitcker hopes to explore different geographical areas in the series. She also credits producer Abigail Disney for the "tremendous amount of energy and effort she made to make sure the film is seen...she's the one who spearheaded the distribution movement completely," trying to show the film in as many places as possible. Indeed, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton mentioned the film recently, and several of September's screenings have been scheduled by Washington D.C.-based human rights and policy organizations. Even those on the "other side" have seen the movie. While at a screening at the Hague, a man came up to Reticker after the panel discussion, telling her how much he enjoyed the film, but that he thought the root cause of the problem was poverty. Reticker, who believes that these wars are because of corruption and greed, explained her opinion. The man turned out to be the lawyer defending Charles Taylor, the ex-leader of Liberia, from his war crimes charges.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell's popularity among groups and organizations comes from its sense of universality. While these women's lives and experiences differ dramatically from most of those in the audience, the women seem like people you could know. Their methods of protest seem attainable. They conduct sit-ins, wear the same clothing, and use the media to communicate their message, simple protests that had a big impact. "I start the film with a woman saying that her child was hungry and wanted a donut and she couldn't feed it," Reticker points out, a universal story that helps people identify with the women. She also tried to "make it a war movie, give it the rhythm of a war movie, and make the viewer involved in a fight between good and evil...It's kind of a war story told from the point of view of women who are fighting for peace."

For those who see Pray the Devil Back to Hell on the Global Peace Tour, the communal experience will offer an opportunity to engage with like-minded people and think of how you, too, could enact change. If the women of Liberia did it, the documentary seems to say, you can too. Find a screening near you here.

Interview with Matt Aselton, director of 'Gigantic'

By Sarah Sluis

Upcoming release Gigantic, a romance and a comedy about a young mattress salesman (Paul Dano) who wants to adopt a baby from China, and the equally unusual young woman (Zooey Deschanel) he falls in love with, releases in New York City this Friday. I had an opportunity to speak with director Matt

Aselton about his debut film, including why he felt the need to have a random homeless man attack his male lead, and the stroke of genius that helped John Goodman cough up a realistic-looking tumor.

One of the most striking things about Gigantic is its stellar cast (all of whom turn in spot-on performances). Besides Paul Dano, best known for his role as the preacher in There Will Be Blood, the cast includes Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman, Edward Asner and Jane Alexander.

To assemble the cast, Aselton first talked to Paul: "I had seen L.I.E. years ago and liked him since then, even though he was really young at the time. He understood the script and the way that I wanted it to go. It's sort of a quiet role...it's Paul's movie in a large way, everyone's orbiting around him. I wanted to make sure that his character was setting the tone and pace, that everyone's reacting to him" Once Dano was on board, "Zooey came on next. From an intellectual standpoint, it made sense."

As for John Goodman, who owns each scene he's in? "I begged him. For six months." One casting decision that didn't come to fruition was Gene Wilder as the homeless man/Paul's demon. "He sent us a note saying, "I'm a lot older than you think I am," a nod to the physical fights required in the role.

The homeless man, who attacks Paul Dano throughout the film without explanation, was in the script

from the beginning. Aselton always thought the meaning was obvious: "a manifestation of Paul's subconscious, a demon." He also plays with the surreal in a tumor-coughing scene narrated by John Goodman. The sequence ends with him using traditional chinese medicine to visualize moving a brain tumor to a place where he could cough it up, and, of course, expectorating. After attempts to make a realistic-looking tumor failed, a makeup artist (with a background in horror) stepped in, taking some unripe banana and ketchup to make a suitably bloody, solid mass.

Set in New York City, Aselton aimed for a more "local" look of the five boroughs. "I'm always kind of wary of those movies where the 28 year-olds live in huge lofts, so I wanted Paul's place to look kind of outer borough (in fact filmed by Orchard Street in Chinatown). We didn't want to shoot big landmarks. We wanted it to look like what a pedestrian would see: stacks of air conditioners, not the Brooklyn Bridge."

While not many romantic comedies can claim to have tumor-coughing scenes or angst expressed by fights with a homeless man, Aselton makes us believe these are just part of this world, mainly through Paul's nonchalant reactions. It's a welcome departure from hyper-conscious hipster films, intent on deconstructing the irony of their world. Aselton agrees: "I really wanted it to be about observing these people as opposed to trying to put them in a position where it's audience/stage, a proscenium. I wanted it to be, let's just sit back and watch."

Opening this friday at the Village East, Gigantic will roll out nationally later this year. As for Aselton, his next project involves an art thief who steals fine art from homes.

'Bart Got A Room': Tribeca's Best Comedy

By Katey Rich

Teen comedies are experiencing their own kind of highbrow resurgence, with Oscar nominations for Juno and the surprising critical success of the filthy Superbad. Now the Tribeca Film Festival is enchanted with another sex-addled teen, the gawky adolescent Danny of Bart Got A Room. The movie's writer and director Brian Hecker admits influences from the master of teen comedy, John Hughes, but insists the movie's story is not intended to be trendy, just true to life.

"It's a very personal story, so I don't think I was so calculated in my attempt to create a specific sex-themed comedy versus a more romantic-themed comedy," Hecker told me over the phone today. "I wanted to tell a personal story based on the essence of what a kid would be going through."

The similarities between Hecker and his hero Danny (Steven Kaplan) are pretty clear. Both are Jewish teenagers growing up in Hollywood, Florida, a retirement community that also hosts, as Hecker explains it, a lot of transplants from New York. Danny's parents are going through a divorce, and while mom (Cheryl Hines) is trying to introduce her new boyfriend as a potential father figure, dad (William H. Macy) is having a hard enough time figuring out how to get any woman to stick around after the first date.

Hecker admits that he based both characters on his parents, but both mom and dad are thrilled with the movie. "My relationship with my parents is very strong, [and] my experiences growing up were certainly entrenched in the world of family," Hecker explains. Both of his parents helped scout locations in Florida, and Hecker's father even met with Macy the night before filming to help the actor get a better idea of the character he was playing. "During dinner, when my dad went to the bathroom, Macy turned to me and said, 'I get it now. He's a sweet man.' "

The real plot of Bart, though, revolves around Danny's attempts to find a prom date, after his best friend since childhood Camille (Alia Shawkat, of "Arrested Development") asks him and he's convinced he can do better. Hecker admits, perhaps begrudgingly, that this part is true too. "I had these delusions of grandeur going with a sexy hot date, and of course I was unsuccessful in my quest." Kaplan, who plays Danny, was a little bit gentler to his director in an interview at the red carpet premiere of Bart last Friday. "He certainly had a very specific vision in mind on how it should play out. But the entire film wasn't autobiographical. There were parts that were exaggerated, parts that were added."

As Bart gets more attention (which it definitely will) and gets picked up by a distributor (which it most definitely will), Kaplan will probably suffer many assumptions that he, in fact, is the Bart of the title. But that role is actually played by Chad Jamian Williams, who appears in just one scene as the mega-nerd who optimistically books himself a hotel room for some post-prom activities. Bart, as Hecker explains it, is really more of a symbol. "You don't really even meet Bart throughout the movie. The fact that he got this room, being the source of great anxiety and pain for the protagonist, is a way to accentuate the ridiculousness of our society. People are so worried about other people having a much better life than theirs."

Hecker says he was a self-described high school "dweeb,"or a self-deprecating nerd. In the movie Danny is definitely that, but eventually he becomes a dweeb who learns to let go and, as Hecker describes it, "feel the aliveness of this individual moment." For those who didn't catch the movie, Kaplan is coy about Danny's fate-- "[He succeeds] maybe not in the way that people were anticipating, but in the greater sense"-- but that's for the best. The ending of Bart, like the movie itself, is a delightful surprise that shouldn't be spoiled.

Derby Thrills in 'First Saturday in May'

By Katey Rich

John and Brad Hennegan know horses. They grew up working at Long Island's Belmont racetrack, scooping ice cream and scooping poop for patrons, jockeys, trainers and horses, with their father involved in the racing community as well. So when they set out to make The First Saturday in May, a documentary about the long road to the Kentucky Derby, they knew that the traditional film crews, boom mics and dolly tracks were out of the question. That left them working with the simplest film crew there is: each other.

"Well, you're looking at the camera crews right now," Brad Hennegan told me when I spoke to him and his brother a week before the film was released last Friday. "What allowed us to get so up close and personal is that the camera was so small," John adds. "These are young animals, and if you had a boom and a director and sound guy, etc., it's too many people to be around. We knew our way around horses, and the trainers felt really comfortable letting us be around."

It's that comfort that makes The First Saturday in May the tender and thrilling movie that it is--unscripted, unplanned moments with some of the country's finest horses, and the trainers and grooms who love them. The trainers featured range from seasoned equestrian experts, like Barbaro trainer Michael Matz, to scrappy up-and-comers getting their first shot at a Derby contender, like New Yorker Frank Amonte. The Hennegans even ventured to Dubai, where American Kiaran McLaughlin trains horses for the royal family of the country. "We wanted to show the international appeal of horse racing," explains John, who says that racing is as popular worldwide today as it used to be in the United States. "Kieran was going there for the Dubai world cup, and we wanted to go with him. We want to show the coolest, most interesting things we can."

Of course, one of the most interesting stories to ever come out of the Derby, and one that gripped the nation for over a year, happened to take place in the year the Hennegans shot their film. Barbaro, the Florida-trained horse who was a favorite going into the Derby, won the race by the widest margin in 60 years. Going into the Preakness Stakes two weeks later, Barbaro was a heavy favorite to be the first Triple Crown winner in nearly 30 years. But Barbaro shattered his leg early in the race, and during the following year's worth of surgeries that attempted to save his life, animal lovers across the world tracked every bit of news about the thoroughbred. As John Hennegan points out, Barbaro was the second-most Googled athlete of 2006, behind only Michael Jordan.

Barbaro's story meant that, despite the title, the movie would not end on Derby day-- the first Saturday in May. "It would be a disservice to the story not to continue on," Brad says. "There had to be an end to the story." John returned to the stable where Barbaro was recovering several times, and filmed the horse only a week before he was put down. Following the media frenzy that surrounded Barbaro, John says, "We had several people approach us and say, 'Why aren't you making the whole film about him?' We just thought that would do a disservice to that whole time. There were so many great stories, and Barbaro's story was one of them." In the final version Barbaro is merely one of six horses who are featured, albeit the only one with global name recognition.

John says people have been attracted to the film because of Barbaro, "But we also want people to know it's fun. There's a lot of laughter, there's a lot about families and stuff that everybody can relate to. People are shocked at how much they like it."

The First Saturday in May is being released by Truly Indie, an arm of Magnolia Pictures that secures theatre engagements and helps with publicity for films that would otherwise be too small to be picked up for distribution. Still, the Hennegans have gone directly to racing fans and movie fans alike to promote the movie-- "You're looking at the marketing department right here," John says. "There's just not the manpower out there for little films like this to go pass out merchandise and postcards. We're going directly to the fans. We're just hoping we can catch fire."

John echoes the fears of many independent filmmakers when he says, "If these little movies like ours don't do well in a theatre now, in the first weekend, they're gone. It's an extremely, extremely competitive market out there." Though similar movies like Spellbound and Mad Hot Ballroom have broken out into the mainstream, it's too soon to tell if First Saturday in May can pull off the same feat. In its opening weekend it averaged $2,727 per theatre, on par with the average of fellow new doc Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed and besting that of Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?, Morgan Spurlock's highly anticipated follow-up to Super Size Me.

It's tempting to use racing metaphors here about breaking out of the pack or making it to the finish line, but The First Saturday in May isn't really like any of the horses it features-- it's a scrappy upstart that's far more of an underdog than Barbaro, Sharp Humor, Brother Derek, Jazil, Achilles of Troy or Lawyer Ron. If you don't recognize those names, see the movie and you will, and maybe start learning some other thoroughbreds to boot. As Brad says, "We have people coming up to us after the screening and saying, 'I hate you guys because now I have to go to the Derby, and it's going to cost me a lot of money to get down there.' "

Read Lewis Beale's review of The First Saturday in May here.

Interview with Amy Adams

By Katey Rich

It's fair to say that Amy Adams was born to be a cartoon character. The saucer eyes, the effortless energy, the voice that seems somehow rounder, softer than everyone else's. She used all of that to her great advantage in Enchanted, but when it came to her latest movie, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, she mostly needed one thing princesses never have in short supply (unless they're under a wicked curse, of course): energy. Turns out, Amy Adams was probably born with that too.

"I worked at the Lenox Mall in the Gap," Adams told a group of journalists about her time living in Atlanta. "I wanted to work in the stockroom, but I was just too peppy. I tried, they were like 'No you have to be at the front of the store. You are the only person who will literally talk to everyone who comes in the store.' "

In Miss Pettigrew Adams plays Delysia Lafosse, an up-and-coming American actress who is scraping out a living in London. She wears beautiful dresses and flounces around like she owns the world, but depends on her two suitors to survive. Nick (Mark Strong) is a wealthy nightclub owner, and owns the apartment where Delysia stays; Phil (Tom Goldman) is the son of a wealthy financier who is producing a play that may give Delysia her big break. Then of course there is Michael (Lee Pace), a penniless piano player who is also the only man who loves her for who she is.

Though Adams has, by most accounts, "made it" in show business, she's quick to remember that Delysia's situation is never so far away. "Well, as Delysia would have learned, there's no such thing as stability and security." She also says she identifies with Delysia's drive to succeed as an actress, though maybe not with her methods. "I can understand her reasons for wanting it. I don't even know that she wants to be a star. What she wants is security, she wants stability. That I definitely can relate to, that feeling of wanting some sort of certainty, and some control over your destiny."

Playing the Miss Pettigrew of the title is Frances McDormand, as a dowdy governess who lies her way into becoming Delysia's social secretary with absolutely no experience in the job. But when it came to being on the set, of course, McDormand was the seasoned pro. "You can learn so much," Adams says about working with her Oscar-winning co-star. "I go in there going 'I know that you know more than I do, and I want to learn from you." Adams makes an effort to always be the first one to the set, she says, but was constantly beaten by McDormand. "I'm like 'How is it that you continue to beat me to set?' And she looked at me and says, 'I never leave.' Then, of course, I couldn't leave set!"

Adams, who started out in the theatre, said that McDormand helped her achieve a theatrical, physical style of acting, like what you would find in the 30s screwball comedies that Miss Pettigrew resembles. "It was something I really wanted to accomplish, that style of acting. It was very intentional. [Frances] was being so physical, and you understood that this was such a physical movie. You want people to get caught up in the whirlwind of this day. It's Delysia's world, which is just moment to moment to moment."

Though she vanquished Susan Sarandon's wicked queen in Enchanted, Adams says she has always looked up to veteran actresses; after acting alongside McDormand and now Meryl Streep in the upcoming Doubt and Julie & Julia, Adams says she has no lack of role models. "I've been really fortunate. At one point in my life I really wanted female mentors, and working with Frances and working with Meryl, following by example, I feel like I've gotten that wish."

Interviews With 'There Will Be Blood's Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano and Paul Thomas Anderson

By Katey Rich

It's tempting to think of There Will Be Blood as something that simply fell to the earth as-is, too strange and measured and complex to have been put together by a team that required craft services, power generators, on-set trailers and the like. The temptation is especially prevalent when it comes to the character of Daniel Plainview. How can that be an actor under there, a man with a family and modern-day clothes who doesn't even have an American accent?

Yet at a press conference before the film's premiere in New York on Monday, there was Daniel Day-Lewis, wearing a sharp fedora and a gold earring , and Paul Thomas Anderson, the man who created it all, mild-mannered and occasionally stumbling over his words. Paul Dano and Ciaran Hinds were there as well, chiming in occasionally on what was essentially the Paul and Daniel show. The four laughed and told stories about the set and their work with 10-year-old Dillon Freasier, who plays Plainview's son H.W., but were also reticent about the Big Meaning behind it all. When pressed about social or political commentary, or even the complex relationships among the characters, all four would fall silent for up to a minute. Clearly this is a movie that its makers want to stand on its own.

Anderson, a native Californian, admitted, "I suppose I've always wondered what the stuff [oil] is, how we get it out of the ground, why we like it so much and what the story was." He chose to adapt Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil! for its description of the California oil boom within its first 100 pages, after Sinclair visited a town struck by oil fever. "When Sinclair witnessed this community trying to get this lease together [for oil drilling], he said he witnessed human greed laid bare. He saw these people go absolutely crazy."

He wrote the part of Daniel Plainview with Daniel Day-Lewis particularly in mind, but Paul Dano originally joined the cast as Paul Sunday, the brother of main character Eli Sunday who appears only early on in the film. The actor originally cast as Eli, whom everyone declines to name, didn't work out for unknown reasons, but Day-Lewis specifically refuted a recent New York Times profile that suggested the actor was intimidated by Day-Lewis: "I was quite surprised when I read that comment. Whatever the problem was during that time with that particular person, I absolutely don't believe that it was because he was intimidated by me."

Dano jumped into the role with only a few days to prepare, and though he deadpanned that the biggest perk of the dual role was "Double the pay," he said he didn't really have the time to consider it at all. "I certainly didn't relish the idea of getting a bigger part in this film because of trying to throw myself into the character, and that was the priority. I have to say in retrospect, yeah, it was wonderful to get to spend some more time in Texas with these guys here. I feel very lucky, and hopefully I was able to contribute to it in so short amount of time."

Day-Lewis, famous for his method acting techniques, said no training was required to become Plainview because, at the beginning of the film, he knew as little about oil drilling as Day-Lewis himself does. "In terms of the physical preparation there wasn't really anything to do except just stay fit and then just start digging holes. They kind of made it up as they went along. As you see in the story, before even cable drilling, rotary drilling, came into common use, they began by scooping this muck as it erupted naturally out of the earth, scooping it up in saucepans and buckets and stuff. [...] As the story progresses there's something to learn about, because the drilling procedure is a fairly complicated thing, but at the beginning it's sheer blood and sweat, really."

Appropriately enough for a movie about the American power of self-invention, Dano didn't do too much research to become Eli either. "I sort of had a privilege with Eli. He didn't have radio or television, and I don't think he had the opportunity to see a tremendous amount of preachers, except when somebody traveled through his town or a town close by. He didn't have a lot of books either, so I think he sort of made himself up once he found what his gifts and his savviness and charisma could bring him. [...] It was a way for me to run with the material that Paul gave me and not have to base it on one person or a group of people in particular."

Day-Lewis and Dano spent several shooting days locked in tense battle against each other, including in one notable fight scene that's done entirely in one tracking shot. "Time was very tight. Essentially, out of the necessity often something interesting is born, and of course the tracking shot which covered the whole scene," Day-Lewis explained. "There was nothing you could do to get ready for that except just try it and try again." "And the next day we got to shoot the baptism scene, so Paul got to have his way," Anderson chimed in, talking about a scene later in the film in which Eli baptizes Daniel with both water and some hard knocks. "We decided to get the scene before the slapping starts, and then we would start slapping. But Paul either forgot or decided to take his own initiative and slap Daniel across the face."

Even young Freasier had to participate in the violence at some points. "He had to struggle with Ciaran and he had to slap Daniel. He didn't like to do it initially," Anderson said, to which Day-Lewis replied, "He developed a taste for it, though."

Day-Lewis spent time with Freasier for several weeks before shooting, and sat him down before filming began to warn him of what would take place once he was in character. "I said, �Dillon, you know how I feel about you. There are going to be moments in the next months to come when I'm going to speak harshly to you, I'm not going to treat you nicely. I hope you understand that I love you and so on�' And he looked at me like I was insane, like �Of course I know that.' He was just one step ahead of us, pretty much most of the time."

Freasier's mother, a Texas state trooper, took a step ahead too, renting one of Day-Lewis' earlier films to get a sense of who he was; unfortunately that film was <I>Gangs of New York</I>, in which he played a character nicknamed "The Butcher." "She was absolutely appalled. She thought she was releasing her dear child into the hands of a monster. There was a flurry of phone calls, and somebody sent a copy of The Age of Innocence to her. Apparently that did the trick."

With this film Anderson has stepped away from the large ensembles and fluid camera that earned him comparisons to the late Robert Altman, but he has dedicated the film to the director regardless. Anderson becomes visibly emotional when discussing Altman, for whom he served as a back-up director on the set of A Prairie Home Companion in 2005 and befriended in the process. "Bob was very good at relaxing; he was a very relaxed director. . I would find myself getting uptight about things, and he just sort of looked at me like �What are you worried about? It's all going to be fine.' Maybe I learned that from him, to relax a little bit more. He died while we were cutting [There Will Be Blood]. I was in Ireland with Daniel working on the film, and I was planning to come back and show it to him and never got a chance to. That's really a drag that he didn't get to see it. So, yeah, we dedicated the film to him."

And how about that ominous, threatening title, so different from that of Sinclair's book? As with many of his answers at this short but remarkably insightful press conference, Anderson is evasive. "I'm probably selfish�I wrote the title down and it looked really good. I thought, 'We should call the movie that."