EA – Are any of the characters based on the journal authors?

[John Sayles] – A lot of the soldiers are compilations of the soldiers I read about in many diaries. More specifically Chris Cooper’s (Colonel Hardacre) is based on an actual Colonel named Hellroarin’ Jacob Smith. Lieutenant Compton’s character is based on a volunteer officer, which would have been one of the better educated Americans who came to the Philippines for… glory or something. They eventually had to choose to go home or sign up as an officer. Compton’s plays one of those men who begins to pick his head up and see what’s going on. Rafael is based on any of the 100,000 or Filipino mayors who suffered by being caught between the American’s and the rebels.

And I’ve finally uploaded a few clips from Maximum Bob and the early movies. You can find them here: Maximum Bob, By Courier, Last Call, Remembering Sex.

Here is one from Maximum Bob, with Liz Vassey:

[See post to watch Flash video]

Winter’s Bone has won an independent jury prize at the Berlin Film Festival, which closes on Sunday.

The independent juries judging the line-up for the 60th Berlin International Film Festival spread the joy far and wide this year, picking an eclectic mix of titles from across all the Berlinale sections.

The FIPRESCI association of international film critics honored Danish drama “A Family” from director Pernille Fischer Christensen as the best film in competition this year. FIPRESCI picked Japanese feature “Parade” from Isao Yukisada as the best Panorama title and Oscar Ruiz Navia’s “Crab Trap” as the top film running in the Forum sidebar.

The Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas went to “Shahada,” the student film from first-timer Burhan Quarbani, which was a surprise addition to the Berlinale competition while the International Confederation of Art House Cinemas honored Jan Hrebejk’s “Kawasaki’s Rose” with its Panorama prize. Debra Granik’s Sundance hit “Winter’s Bone” won the Confederation’s prize for best Forum film. [Hollywood Reporter]

And here is another blog to keep an eye on for Baryo updates: http://billytango.blogspot.com/

Other than that, two new interviews with Chris Cooper showed up online in the last few days. The first one was with the local Inquirer:

How did you prepare for your role here?

John provided me with a very thick academic account of the Philippine-American War. He also gives actors a two-page biography [of their] characters. It’s a great starting point.

What did you learn about your character?

My character is disgusted by [another character’s] interest in architecture in the Philippines. In real life, I’m a great fan of architecture. [Inquirer]

And he also briefly talked about his character in Baryo at Sundance, where he was promoting The Company Men with Tommy Lee Jones. It’s 14:50 minutes in and if you don’t want to be spoiled about The Company Men, skip everything between 14:00 and 14:50.

Joel is in the thick of preparations for his on-and-off-screen participation in American independent filmmaker John Sayles’ historical war drama, “Baryo,” which will start its six-week shoot in Bohol on Feb. 2. (…)

“Baryo,” says Joel, is set during the Philippine-American War that took place from 1899 to 1902 and imparts different points of view – that of the colonizers, the rebels, and the civilians caught in the crossfire. It also touches on the roots of American imperialism.

“It’s an obscure part of our history that needs to be told,” the Bacolod native, who broke into the biz via Peque Gallaga’s 1982 war epic, “Oro, Plata, Mata,” tells Manila Bulletin Entertainment Online in an interview, adding that the movie will surely raise questions.

Joel says “Baryo” may stir controversy especially since Sayles, whose original screenplays for 1993’s “Passion Fish” and 1997’s “Lone Star” had both been nominated for Oscars, is known to tackle political and social issues in his films. (…)

Joining Joel onscreen are foreign actors headed by Sayles regular Chris Cooper, Oscar best supporting actor for 2002’s “Adaptation,” who will play an American colonel.

Garret Dillahunt, notably of “No Country for Old Men,” is also in the movie along with other US-based actors including Fil-Am Arthur Acuna.

Joel informs us that another Sayles regular, David Strathairn, whose performance in 2005’s “Good Night, and Good Luck” earned him an Oscar nomination for best actor, was supposed to be in “Baryo” as well, but schedule conflict prevented him from doing so.

Ronnie Lazaro, Pen Medina, John Arcilla, Joe Gruta, Bodjie Pascua, Spanky Manikan, Rio Locsin, Irma Adlawan, and some local Bohol talents round up the cast.

“Baryo” is set for a U.S. release later this year. [Manila Bulletin]

And from the other article:

“In my readings, I stumbled on the Philippine-American War, which is hardly tackled in history books. I saw parallels between the Philippines and Vietnam and the other wars we’ve been in,” Sayles recounted.

He immersed himself in historical documents from that era, he said, including diaries of American soldiers, Nick Joaquin’s books and Jose Rizal’s novels in original Spanish.

Three years later, he came up with his own novel. “I’ve yet to find a publisher for the novel, but when I focused on the script, it took me only a month to write it,” said Sayles.

The English script was translated to Tagalog by local screenwriter Jose F. Lacaba.

Filming “Baryo” can be a mighty challenge, Sayles admitted. After sifting through tons of material, he must recreate history in organic detail—the sound of coughing motorbikes and crowing roosters, notwithstanding.

“Our production designer, Rodel Cruz, is building a village on the edge of a rice field,” he related.

Although he is bringing in American actors (like DJ Qualls and Garret Dillahunt) to play the occupying army, Sayles will work with homegrown talents like Joel Torre, Ronnie Lazaro, Irma Adlawan, Spanky Manikan, Rio Locsin, John Arcilla, among other actors. [Inquirer]

In other news, The Road is on the short list for the best makeup Oscar. (The final list of nominations will be announced on February 2.)

Hope everyone has a great time tonight and a fantastic year ahead.

See you in 2010!

_________________________________________________________________________________

The year started with Terminator promo and press tours. The show returned with the last nine episodes in the Friday slot in mid-February.

Later that month, Garret was spotted filming Winter’s Bone in Missouri. The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in late January. If anyone plans on going, the Sundance screening schedule is here.

The Last House on the Left opened on March 13. The reviews ranged from excellent to free branding campaign and the film made it to several lists of best horrors of the year. In October, it won a Reaper Award for Best Theatrical Release in 2009.

Toward the end of the month, Garret played his fifth character on T:SCC, the Skynet virus from the future. Previous four were George Laszlo, Cromartie, the Beastwizard and John Henry.

In late March, the first pictures from Burning Bright appeared online. Burning Bright was later renamed to Ravenous and it still awaits theatrical release. In November, it was screened at the AFM. The first reviews were pretty positive.

In early April, Water Pills had its U.S. premiere at the Florida Film Festival. Jasmine Jessica Anthony walked away with a grand jury award for best performance.

Also in April, two series finales aired two days apart. Garret snuffed the TV crew and gave Damian Lewis his final headache in Life on April 8. Life season two was released on DVD on August 25.

The Terminator finale aired on April 10. Despite cancellation, the show made it to #8 on the list of  the Top 10 Most Pirated Shows in 2009. Last year, it was the only new show among the top 10, at #4.

In the meantime, Garret joined Delroy Lindo and Roslyn Ruff in Things of Dry Hours, a play by Naomi Wallace about communists in 1930s Alabama. Rehearsals started on April 21.

The first trailer for The Road hit the web on May 15.

On May 18, Fox announced that they would not be picking up Terminator for a third season. Even though there has been talk of a possible TV/DVD movie, Terminator rights are currently up for grabs and in limbo until February 2010.

On May 20, Garret appeared in the season finale of Criminal Minds.

Two days later, Things of Dry Hours went into previews at the New York Theatre Workshop. The show premiered on June 8 and ran through June 28. Critics liked the cast, but were divided on the writing.

At some point over the spring/summer, Garret was cast in Madeleine Stowe’s Unbound Captives, an independent western epic with Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Robert Pattinson. If they get financing in time, the film will go into production in March (at the earliest).

In late July and early August, Garret filmed two TV guest appearances,  on CSI and Lie to Me, and a short film, One Night Only.

The Last House on the Left was released on DVD in mid-August.

Later that month, Garret was spotted filming the season three finale of Burn Notice. The episode will air in March 2010.

The trailer for One Night Only was released on September 2.

On September 3, The Road had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Ten days later, it was screened in Toronto.

Terminator: The Complete Season Two was released on DVD on September 22.

On September 24, the CSI season 10 premiere aired. “Family Affair” is one of the five hours of television nominated for an ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) Award this year.

Speaking of CSI, in a fine display of Terminator fanboyism, the last episode before the break, Better off Dead, had a bunch of people stealing Cromartie’s music and killing each other. Also, a killer described as a Terminator.

On October 13, Oliver Sherman, an independent drama with Molly Parker and Donal Logue, went into production in North Bay. The film will most likely premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2010, but Canadians might get an early screening in the spring.

On October 21st, Garret appeared on Lie to Me.

And two days later, on Law & Order: SVU.

The Road finally saw its U.S. premiere at AFI fest in early November. On Thanksgiving, it got a limited release. Even though the film has been vastly overlooked in the early awards season, the reviews were mostly positive and it scored a few acting nods (Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Kodi Smit-McPhee) from several critics’ societies (Broadcast Film Critics, Utah Film Critics, St. Louis Film Critics).

On November 13, Garret appeared on White Collar.

And the next day, One Night Only had its premiere in New York.

In November, Garret was cast in two new projects. The comedy pilot Keep Hope Alive, with Martha Plimpton, Cloris Leachman and Lucas Neff, was filmed earlier this month. If it gets picked up, it will be aired in the 2010/11 season.

The other project, John Sayles’ film Baryo, starts shooting in February in the Philippines. The crew is already there, building the set and preparing for the shoot. You can follow the updates on the new production blog, at johnsaylesbaryo.blogspot.com.

And that about wraps it up. If 2010 is even half as eventful, it will be another excellent year.

Winter’s Bone (Director: Debra Granik; Screenwriters: Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini)—An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact. Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, Kevin Breznahan. World Premiere.

The shorts lineup will be announced on Monday, December 7. One Night Only should be among the contenders.

The UK trailer for The Road has appeared online at Guardian.co.uk. The film opens in the UK in January.

And speaking of, The Road has been nominated for a Golden Satellite award, Best Art Direction category.

Best Art Direction
Terry Gilliam, Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
Nathan Crowley, Patrick Lumb and William Ladd Skinner, “Public Enemies”
Eddy Wong, “Red Cliff”
Chris Kennedy, “The Road”
Ian Philips and Dan Bishop, “A Single Man”
Barry Chusid and Elizabeth Wilcox, “2012” [Indiewire.com]

Baryo went into pre-production in November. The team is already on location in the Philippines. They set up a blog, The Baryo Film Project, so that’s the place to look for updates. Filming doesn’t start till February.

The Hollywood Reporter had a brief announcement about Garret joining Keep Hope Alive the other day.

Garret Dillahunt has landed a co-starring role on Greg Garcia’s comedy pilot for Fox, “Keep Hope Alive.”

The show centers on Jimmy (Lucas Neff), a 25-year-old man raising an infant with the help of his quirky family after the mother of the baby, with whom he had a one-night stand, ends up on death row.

Dillahunt will play Jimmy’s dysfunctional father and boss, who is not thrilled to find himself a grandfather and worries that the baby might carry her mom’s homicidal gene.

“Hope” marks Dillahunt’s return to Fox, where he co-starred on the drama series “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” He also co-starred on the big screen in “No Country for Old Men.” [via Reuters]

Last week, they were looking for a couple of teens to play the young Garret and Martha Plimpton. [JaxObserver.com]

And finally, some footage from Water Pills has emerged on Justin Mitchell’s site. He was the director of photography on the film. You can see the clip here. Credit goes to Winona-Ryder.org for finding it.

OK, one more. Burn Notice will return a week earlier than originally announced, on Thursday, January 21 at 10/9c. This means that the season three finale will air some time in early March, as expected.

Sayles and Cooper have worked together a number of times and neither of them is stranger to awards. Cooper won an Oscar for Adaptation and Sayles was nominated twice for best original screenplay (Passion Fish, Lone Star).

Here is some background on Sayles’ interest in the period, from a Los Angeles Times article dated May 26, 2009, about his novel “Some Time in the Sun,” which deals with similar themes as the film:

Some 10 years ago he began to write a movie about America’s 1898 war with Spain over the Philippines, viewing it as an eerie precursor of U.S. military exploits in Vietnam. He was also fascinated by the last gasp of Reconstruction — the era of virulent, post-Civil War racism. These two story lines fused and the script became unwieldy.

“There was no way in hell we were ever going to raise the money to make the film,” Sayles says. “I felt like I was pushing way too much stuff into a two-hour-and-20-minute format, and it would work better as a miniseries. But who gets to come in and say, ‘Oh, I want to make a 50-part miniseries about America at the turn of the century’?”

He finally decided the story should be a novel, which led to years of research and writing. “Some Time in the Sun” — like his films — blends vivid human portraits with historical events and brilliantly captures individual voices. In addition to his raucous newsboys, it spotlights African American and white soldiers fighting in the Philippines, fast-buck artists who help create the motion picture industry, and features cameos by Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, William Randolph Hearst, Damon Runyon and other historical figures. [Los Angeles Times]