Movies
Pathe Gets ‘Twixt’
I wasn’t at Comic-Con this year, but word has it one of the most awesome and inspiring (not to mention weird) panels was for Francis Ford Coppola’s Twixt.
It was there that Coppola and composer Dan Deacon (who is annoying in some contexts and brilliant and others) debuted their vision for the 3D ‘interactive” version of Twixt, wherein the audience response to certain scenes can determine which scenes follow. It’s my understanding that the interactive version of the film will be something that Coppola travels with himself so as to control the film’s modulation to its audience, while the version of the film with a linear narrative will be released into theaters as a separate entity.
And it appears that Pathe will be handling distribution of the film in France as well as international sales to other territories. Per Variety, “Pic, which will bow at Toronto in the Special Presentation section, toplines Val Kilmer as a mystery writer on the decline, who moves to a small town, and gets caught up in a dark murder case involving a young girl, who has turned into a ghost”.
Hopefully after TIFF we’ll get word of a North American distributor.
Movies
Ken Russell’s Controversial ‘The Devils’ Restoration Gets First Teaser Ahead of Theatrical Release
A holy grail for cinephiles is finally within reach after half a century; the long-awaited restoration of Ken Russell‘s controversial horror movie The Devils will arrive this fall.
The first official teaser gives us our first peek at the new restoration, below.
Warner Bros. Clockwork will release the film in theaters globally this fall, in partnership with the British Film Institute (BFI) in the UK. It opens in select North American theaters on October 16 for an exclusive one-week engagement with international theatrical dates to be announced.
Based on Aldous Huxley’s 1952 non-fiction novel The Devils of Loudun and its 1961 stageplay adaptation, The Devils is set in 17th-century Loudun, France.
Oliver Reed stars as Grandeur in the film, complete with the sex appeal that has all the ladies swooning, including the hunchbacked Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave). Jeanne is exceptionally lustful for Grandeur, which pushes over into wrathful jealousy when she learns of his relationship with the young and stunning Madeleine (Gemma Jones). Cue the demonic seduction accusations, and hysteria and chaos ensue.
Why is this restoration such a big deal? Russell’s original vision was considered far too incendiary and political for its time, with key sequences deemed too intense for viewers. That most infamously includes a sequence in which a demonic possession public display culminated in hysterical nuns tearing down and ravaging a giant crucifix, cut from the film in its entirety, with further cuts for American audiences and edits for UK viewers.
As the press release details, “This new 4K restoration of Ken Russell’s masterpiece was assembled from the original camera negative. The film’s sound has been remastered from original English Composite 35mm Mag Film, transferred at 96kHz, plus other original film elements in selected spots as needed. The Picture and Sound restoration was performed by Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services, Water Tower Color, and Warner Bros. Sound.“