Film News

Release dates for Amigo and Looper

The Film Stage reports that we won’t be seeing Looper for another 15 months or so.

In other highly-anticipated films of 2012 news, BoM reports Rian Johnson‘s Looper has set a date for September 28th, 2012 via FilmDistrict/TriStar, who picked the sci-fi thriller up during Cannes. The time travel film stars Bruce Willis (as an older version of Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s character), Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels and Piper Perabo.

The high-concept story follows “hitmen whose victims are sent back in time from the future to be executed. The Loopers bump them off in the present, so there is no trace of a crime in the future.” We expected a release in the first half of 2012, but I can live with that, even if it is more than a year away. The site also reports a title change from Looper to Loopers, but we’ll wait and hear official word. UPDATE: We got official word from Johnson that the title remains Looper. He also confirmed the release date, saying “I’d love for it to be sooner but it’s a good date for the movie, hopefully it’ll be worth the wait.

garret dillahunt,amigo,john sayles,philippines
Photo by Mary Cybulski, courtesy Variance Films, Anarchists' Convention
And Amigo will be out in theatres in the U.S. on August 19. Variance Films has a bunch of new production stills from the film. Here is the press release:

When U.S. troops occupy his village, Rafael (played by legendary Philippine actor Joel Torre) comes under pressure from a tough-as-nails officer (Oscar winner Chris Cooper) to help the Americans in their hunt for Filipino guerilla fighters. But Rafael’s brother (Ronnie Lazaro) is the head of the local guerillas, and considers anyone who cooperates with the Americans to be a traitor. Rafael quickly finds himself forced to make the impossible, potentially deadly decisions faced by ordinary civilians in an occupied country.

AMIGO, the 17th feature film from Oscar-nominated writer-director John Sayles, stars multi-awarded Filipino actor Joel Torre as Rafael Dacanay, a village mayor caught in the murderous crossfire of the Philippine-American War in 1900. When U.S. troops garrison his village, Rafael comes under pressure to collaborate with the blood-and-guts Colonel Hardacre (Cooper) as he tries not to betray his people, especially his brother Simon (Lazaro), head of the local Filipino guerillas. A sympathetic American lieutenant (Garret Dillahunt) learns that ‘hearts and minds’ cannot be won at gunpoint. A devious Spanish friar (Tony nominee Yul Vasquez) thwarts communication with his spiteful intrigues. And Rafael is forced to make the near-impossible, potentially deadly decision faced by civilians in an occupied country. An epic portrait of friendship and betrayal, romance and heartbreaking violence, AMIGO is a page torn from the forgotten history of imperialism and a mirror of today’s unresolvable conflicts.

Winner of 10 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress – 2011 Urian Awards (Philippine Film Critics’ Association), AMIGO is written and directed by John Sayles (Matewan, Passion Fish, Lone Star, Eight Men Out), produced by Maggie Renzi, co-produced by Joel Torre, Mario Ontal. Starring Joel Torre, Chris Cooper (Oscar winner, “Adaptation”), Garret Dillahunt, Ronnie Lazaro, Rio Locsin, Bembol Roco, DJ Qualls and Yul Vasquez (Tony nominee, “Mother F With A Hat”).

AMIGO will open across America in major cities (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc.) on August 19 and will platform weeks later in other cities. It will open in the Philippines (Manila & other cities) on July 6.

Oliver Sherman is out on DVD

Oliver Sherman,poster,Garret DillahuntOliver Sherman gets released on DVD in Canada today. It is available on Amazon.ca. Exclaim.ca has a new review.

The film will be screened at the Seattle festival in about ten days and then at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 16 and 18. If you’re in the area, you can get tickets at Edfilmfest.org.uk.

Elsewhere, there are behind-the-scenes photos from the Raising Hope season finale on the show’s Facebook page and a bunch of pics from the upfronts on FB and Livejournal.

And Fox has posted some season highlights on YouTube:

Raising Hope finale airs tonight, Oliver Sherman gets a UK distributor

No new previews, just a reminder that the Raising Hope season finale, “Don’t Vote for This Episode,” airs tonight at 9 pm on Fox.

Entertainment Weekly talked to Garret about the episode. Here is what he says:

garret dillahunt,lucas neff,raising hope“I think it’s the best episode of a good season,” says Garret Dillahunt, who plays Burt. “I think my favorite part of the episode is all the chance meetings or passings that happen [with] people that we don’t know that we’re heavily involved with in five years. I think that’s really cool.” His least favorite part? Well, the part that left him sitting opposite a real-life alpaca, covered in a spit-like goo, naturally.

“There are some things that are funny to watch but aren’t so funny to shoot. This was one of those,” he says laughing. “It made all these little noises, like [grunts, presumably like an alpaca would]. And we didn’t know if that was a satisfied sound or a dissatisfied sound.”

Meanwhile, Screen Daily reports that Oliver Sherman has found a distributor for the UK and Ireland:

Cinefile will release the first EoF title Oliver Sherman in the UK and Ireland, while the Galway Film Festival will screen the film as part of its official section.

Ryan Redford’s Sherman has already secured distribution in France and Hungary thanks to the EoF initiative.

The film will next be screened at the Seattle International Film Festival on Saturday, June 4. If you’re in the area, you can get the tickets at SIFF.net.

Updates: Looper, Raising Hope, Oliver Sherman, Memphis Beat

Yeah, let’s start with that last one. A new TV appearance has showed up on Garret’s list of credits at the IMDb: Memphis Beat, episode 2×06, “Body of Evidence.” No details yet except for the character’s name (Tim Wayne), but it’s too soon anyway. Season two of Memphis Beat premieres on Tuesday, June 14 at 9/8, so we won’t see the episode for another couple of months.

Second, great news from Cannes, via Deadline: Looper has found a distributor. Report:

A frenzied Saturday auction on the Croisette has ended with FilmDistrict in final negotiations for U.S. distribution rights to Looper, the Rian Johnson-directed science fiction film that stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt and Bruce Willis. There were at least six bidders spanning major studios and independents, and it sounds like some serious upfront money was paid. But the intriguing part is that the deal orchestrated between CAA and FilmDistrict’s Peter Schlessel will likely end in FilmDistrict using an option with Sony Pictures, which would release and market the film through the TriStar label. That replicates the distribution structure of District 9, which Schlessel acquired while he was at Sony. The picture has a similarly brainy construct and is also reminiscent of the first Terminator.

Johnson wrote the script, about a contract killer who works for the mob of the future, and who kills victims that are sent back in time 30 years, so there is no trace of the crime in the future. It’s a great gig, until the killer (Gordon-Levitt) recognizes that one of his targets (Willis) is a futuristic version of himself.

Third, two new reviews of Oliver Sherman showed up at LonelyReviewer.com and Pajiba.com and they’re both pretty spectacular. Check them out.

And, on the Raising Hope front, there is a new interview with Garret at Zap2it. Snippet:

“Martha and I are both glad it was a plot point,” says Dillahunt, “that we’re young grandparents.”

And he doesn’t mind co-starring with babies.

“They turned 1 toward the end of the season,” says Dillahunt. “We really like them, and they’re getting very comfortable with us. I find myself missing them.

“They are great. I think we won the baby race, if nothing else. They have different skills. Rylie’s the Meryl Streep of babies. You bring her in for all the emotional stuff and all the spit-take-type stuff. Baylie’s the stunt baby.”

Last, the clips from the Raising Hope season finale, “Don’t Vote for This Episode,” which airs this Tuesday at 9 pm:

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