ITV

Category: International

  • Kadokawa remaking ’58 thriller Elevator To The Gallows

    MUMBAI: Japan-based producer-distributor Kadokawa Pictures is making a remake of the 1958 thriller Elevator To The Gallows.

    The project marks the first ever reworking of a French classic by a Japanese production house and also the first remake of the film that starred Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet.

    The film directed by Akira Ogata stars Tetsuji Tamayama, Keiko Kitagawa.

    The shooting of the film will be rounded off by the end of October and the film is slated for a fall 2010 release.

    Kadokawa Pictures‘ parent company Kadokawa Holdings also announced two corporate consolidations.

    Kadokawa Pictures will absorb the DVD releasing subsidiary Kadokawa Entertainment on November 1.

    Kadokawa will release Astro Boy on 10 October and one of its production The Sun That Doesn‘t Set, that stars Ken Watanabe on 24 October 24.

  • Pusan Intl film fest to institute awards for non-Asian films

    MUMBAI: Organisers of South Korea‘s Pusan International Film Festival have announced that it would hand out its first-ever award for non-Asian films from this year.

    The 8 to 16 October event, considered as an important industry gathering in the region, will offer a US$20,000 (€14,335) Flash Forward Award for first and second productions by up-and-coming filmmakers from non-Asian countries.

    “The jury for this award will consist of three well-known domestic and international personalities as designated by the PIFF,‘‘ the festival announced in a press release.

    “The major aim of the award is to reinforce the status of the Pusan International Film Festival as a showcase for international films and to carry out further the role of the Pusan International Film Festival as internationally recognized cinema platform.‘‘

    The new award will now work in tandem with Pusan‘s major competition, the New Currents Award, which is for first or second films from Asian filmmakers.

  • Hangover director Todd Philips doing Due Date

    MUMBAI: The shooting of Warner Bros. Pictures‘ and Legendary Pictures‘ Due Date is underway. The film is being directed by Todd Phillips, whose most recent film The Hangover, for Warner broke box-office records.

    The film that is produced by Phillips and Dan Goldberg and stars Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis tells the tale of two unlikely companions who are thrown together on a road trip that turns out to be as life-changing as it is outrageous. Michelle Monaghan and Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx also comprise the cast.


    Downey plays Peter Highman, an expectant first-time father whose wife‘s due date is a mere five days away. As Peter hurries to catch a flight home from Atlanta to be at her side for the birth, his best intentions go completely awry when a chance encounter with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay forces Peter to hitch a ride with Ethan-on what turns out to be a cross-country road trip that will ultimately destroy several cars, numerous friendships and Peter‘s last nerve.


    The film will be shot on various locations across the USA, including Georgia, New Mexico, Arizona and Los Angeles.



  • Roman Polanski was not averse paying $500,000 to victim

    MUMBAI: Film director Roman Polanski agreed to pay his sexual assault victim $500,000 to settle a lawsuit 15 years after he fled the U.S., according to court documents provided to media on Friday.

    The settlement deal between Polanski and the victim, Samantha Geimer, was reached in October 1993 were confidential, but the amount was disclosed in court documents because of a two-year struggle to get Polanski to pay.


    Court records do not indicate whether Polanski, now 76, ever paid. The last court filing in August 1996 shows Polanski owed Geimer $604,416.22, including interest.


    Polanski‘s attorney, David Finkle, said that he couldn‘t remember details of the case and declined comment. Geimer and her family also have not returned calls this week seeking comment.


    Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with Geimer, who was 13 years old in 1977. He fled in 1978 before he was sentenced and is being held in Switzerland after his arrest there last weekend on a fugitive warrant in the case.

  • Disney to downsize Miramax staff by January ’10

    MUMBAI: Disney is downsizing staff of its Miramax specialty division. This follows Dick Cook‘s resignation as studio chairman a couple of weeks ago.

    In all likelihood Rich Ross president of Disney Channels Worldwide will succeed Cook.


    By January, about 50 jobs will be downsized that will leave about 20 employees in the unit‘s New York office.


    Disney said that Daniel Battsek will remain as Miramax president, overseeing development and production out of New York. The trimmed-down Miramax will release only about three movies per year.


    The unit has released four movies so far this year like Adventureland, Cheri, Extract, and The Boys Are Back and has Everybody‘s Fine, starring Robert De Niro, on deck for a Dec. 4 release. Last year, Miramax released eight films, the highest-grossing of which was the drama Doubt.


    Next year, Miramax will release The Tempest, the Shakespeare adaptation directed by Julie Taymor; the Helen Mirren thriller The Debt; romantic drama Last Night starring Keira Knightley and the Jennifer Aniston/Jason Bateman rom-com The Baster.

  • Court ruling allows Jackson administrators to have control of estate till 4 January


    MUMBAI: Film director Roman Polanski agreed to pay his sexual assault victim $500,000 to settle a lawsuit 15 years after he fled the U.S., according to court documents provided to media on Friday.


    The settlement deal between Polanski and the victim, Samantha Geimer, was reached in October 1993 were confidential, but the amount was disclosed in court documents because of a two-year struggle to get Polanski to pay.


    Court records do not indicate whether Polanski, now 76, ever paid. The last court filing in August 1996 shows Polanski owed Geimer $604,416.22, including interest.


    Polanski‘s attorney, David Finkle, said that he couldn‘t remember details of the case and declined comment. Geimer and her family also have not returned calls this week seeking comment.


    Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with Geimer, who was 13 years old in 1977. He fled in 1978 before he was sentenced and is being held in Switzerland after his arrest there last weekend on a fugitive warrant in the case.

  • Stuntwoman Jewell Jordan dies

    MUMBAI: Jewell Jordan Mason, the stunt double for Luise Rainer in Oscar-winning 1937 film The Good Earth and also for Merle Oberon in Wuthering Heights in 1939, died on 24 September in California at the age of 92.

    Jordan worked as an un-credited extra, double and stunt double in Hollywood in the 1930s and ‘40s, appearing in films like Tarzan Escapes (1936), Ever Since Eve (1937), Ninotchka (1939), Destry Rides Again (1939) and New Moon (1940).


    She appeared onscreen along with greats like Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Paul Muni, David Niven, Bing Crosby, Maureen O‘Sullivan and Johnny Weissmuller.


    Jordan‘s career will be featured in Mollie Gregory‘s book about stuntwomen to be published next year by University of California Press.

  • Fox files motion to dismiss Redbox lawsuit

    MUMBAI: The ongoing legal battle between the studios and Redbox has taken another step when Fox filed a motion seeking to have the dollar DVD rental service‘s lawsuit against it dismissed in a Delaware District Court.

    Earlier in August, Coinstar-owned Redbox sued Fox for copyright misuse and anti-trust violations, claiming the studio doesn‘t have the right to delay it from buying and renting its DVDs. (Redbox has also sued Warner and Universal for similar defensive measures).

    Fox argued that it never actually refused to supply Redbox with its discs — it just hasn‘t been able to come to terms with the rental kiosk company. Fox also argued that it‘s not “injuring competition” by not making its titles available to Redbox on all the rental service‘s terms – an important requisite to an anti-trust complaint.

    Redbox shot back with a statement. “Fox continues its pursuit to prohibit consumer access to new-release DVDs at an affordable prices,” it read. “Redbox remains steadfast in our commitment to protecting consumers‘ rights and to providing our customers the DVDs they want, where they want and at the low price they want.”

  • Trump CEO surprised by New Century statement

    MUMBAI: Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc‘s CEO Mark Juliano has said that it was surprising to go through an announcement by a private equity fund that it wanted to participate in the bankrupt company‘s restructuring.

    Said Juliano, “The fund, New Century Investments, had previously expressed interest in the company, but could not verify their financial wherewithal. We last spoke to the fund in February but have not heard from it since.”

    New Century said in a statement that it has been following the company since late 2008 and now believed it was “time for us to make our move.” They did not provide details about how they planned to participate in the restructuring.

    Juliano said that New Century had initially sought to buy the company outright, but it was now his understanding that the fund wanted to join either the bondholders or the Trump-Beal venture.

  • Sony Pictures laps up North/Latin American rights of The Last Station

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) has picked up North America and Latin American rights to Michael Hoffman‘s The Last Station starring Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, James McAvoy and Paul Giamatti.

    The historical drama played to great acclaim at its recent world premiere in Telluride and is a co-production between London-based Zephyr Films and Germany‘s Egoli Tossell Film.

    Hoffman adapted the screenplay from Jay Parini‘s 1990 novel of the same name. The story follows a young intellectual who arrives at the rural estate of Leo Tolstoy and gets entangled in a battle over the Russian author‘s legacy involving his wife Countess Sofya and the conniving leader of a Utopian society. Ann-Marie Duff also stars.

    Chris Curling, Jens Meurer and Bonnie Arnold served as producers while Andrei Konchalovsky handled executive producer duties.

    SPC negotiated the sale with Robbie Little‘s LA-based The Little Film Company. SPC‘s upcoming roster includes An Education, Broken Embraces,The White Ribbon, A Prophet, The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, Micmacs, Lebanon and Get Low.