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Fox Searchlight Fetes ‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild’ In Cannes

By PETE HAMMOND | Friday May 18, 2012 @ 6:20pm PDTTags: Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Cannes Film Festival, Fox Searchlight, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Pete Hammond

Fox Searchlight brought its prize-winning Sundance sensation to Cannes, as anofficial Un Certain Regard entry (one of just two American films so honored) premiered here on Friday to standing ovations at both its Debussy Theatre screenings. With the Louisiana Bayou-set film’s producers, director Behn Zeitlin and stars including Dwight Henry and  8-year old scene stealer Quvenzhane Wallis on hand the Cannes crowd ate it up. Searchlight releases it in limited runs  Stateside on June 27th.

The mystical story set in the deep Louisiana Delta’s swamp country deals with a young girl’s search for her mother after her father’s deteriorating health and environmental disaster put her life in peril. It is a unique story that has been a huge success on the festival circuit and will require special handling by Searchlight to maximize its potential. One clear secret weapon they have is the young star with the tough-to-pronounce first name Quvenzhane. When I talked to her at Searchlight’s party for the film at Croisette Beach she was loaded for bear. I started by asking her what it was like to be chosen from 3500 other girls who auditioned. “It was 4000,” she corrected me without missing a beat. Okay, okay, what’s 500 six-year- old wannabes when you are talking about a major movie role? Having had enough of Searchlight’s pleasant but relatively calm (by Cannes standards) affair she announced to the PR handler that she wanted to party somewhere where there was dancing. Last I saw of her she was headed down the Croisette and into the night.

Zeitlin, making his feature debut, told me she is a true live-wire and became the obvious choice the minute he finally met her in person. It is a remarkable role, especially considering she was just 6 when it was filmed. Plus she handles all the movie’s (considerable) narration. I asked the director if they hired a more experienced actress to handle that voice over work since it is flawless. Nope. Every word is hers. “She knew the entire script, not just her role,” he said. If this film manages to succeed at all in theatres, this Louisiana native could just turn up on a short list of supporting actress contenders this year, maybe becoming the youngest ever.

Related: Can Cannes Make A Major Mark On The Oscar Race Two Years In A Row?

Speaking of Oscar contenders I told Fox Searchlight Co-President Nancy Utley that the success of their current hit, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel seems so strong it could catapult the sleeper hit into the Oscar race. After all it is precisely about people the very age of the average Academy member and I am told they loved it when it was officially screened for them a couple of weeks ago with 700-plus turning out, a big crowd there these days.

“We are even surprised at how well it is doing,” Utley says. “We had hopes for it but nothing on this scale. It should end up doing $90 million internationally and when you add the eventual domestic total that’s a sizeable success. With this and The Descendants we are having a very good fiscal year.”  Searchlight and Participant fully financed the film, splitting it 50/50 she said. She adds that they are now on over 300 screens but should more than triple than number by Memorial Day, providing ideal summer counter-programming for the underserved older audience. The film is drawing that audience driven by word of mouth and had a particular pop on Mothers Day weekend when Searchlight staged a special promotion.

The pedigreed cast that includes Oscar winners like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith in the story about the value of a person once they enter the latter stages of life clearly resonates. There is no reason to think it won’t also click with the Academy when Oscar season rolls around. Utley isn’t going there yet but knows these actors are als popular with the Hollywood Foreign Press so if it gets some Golden Globe traction that might help with its Oscar chances too.

The year is young but so far The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel would seem to be the closest thing we have to a legitimate Oscar contender — especially if it keeps up its box office pace. There’s nothing sweeter for Academy voters than a movie about old people that kills at the ticket window.

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Hot Trailer: ‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 3, 2012 @ 1:28pm PDTTags: Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Fox Searchlight, Sundance Film Festival

This year’s Sundance dramatic Grand Prize winner is the story of a 6-year-old girl named Hushpuppy. Fox Searchlight acquired the movie directed by first-timer Benh Zeitlin and written by Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar. Starring Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Beasts Of The Southern Wild opens June 27th.

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‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild’ Writer Lucy Alibar Signs With Gersh

By BRIAN BROOKS | Tuesday February 21, 2012 @ 12:27pm PSTTags: Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Gersh, Lucy Alibar, Sundance

EXCLUSIVE: Alibar and director Benh Zeitlin adapted the 2012 Sundance winner from her play Juicy And Delicious. The Beasts Of The Southern Wild world premiere received a standing ovation at the Eccles Theater early in the festival, … Read More »

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Laughter, Tears, And A Group Flip Off At 2012 Sundance Awards Show

By BRIAN BROOKS | Saturday January 28, 2012 @ 8:52pm PSTTags: Anthony Mackie, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Bingham Ray, John Cooper

Sundance Awards 2012: ‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild’ And ‘The House I Live In’ Win Grand Jury Prizes, ‘The Surrogate’ Cast

Tonight’s Sundance Film Festival Awards ceremony was an emotional roller coaster. The event began characteristically late with a parade of Sundance staff taking to the stage with a tiara and an apology from Festival Director John Cooper who said that actress Parker Posey wouldn’t emcee as originally scheduled because she had taken ill. “She was going to be the Sundance Queen,” Cooper said while displaying her regalia for the evening. As a last minute stand in, Black Rock director Katie Aselton took over for Posey.

Then the light mood turned dark as a large picture of indie maverick Bingham Ray who died here earlier in the week flashed on the screen. The room went silent and Cooper read from a eulogy put together by Ray’s longtime poker buddies: Magnolia Pictures chief Eamonn Bowles, Sony Classics SVP Tom Prassis, Sawyer Studios head Arnie Sawyer, and producer Ben Barenholtz. Cooper choked back tears and had to stop briefly to regain his composure. Afterward, there was quiet applause. And the show went on.

Without Posey the onstage antics were minimal. Most winners skipped acceptance speeches after Cooper advised, “Just say thank you and go on,” and Aselton added, “Really, nobody really cares…”

But then director Alison Klayman (Ai Weiwie: Never Sorry) collected her Special Jury Prize claiming she was “too nervous to say much”. She gave some quick thanks — and then asked the audience to lift a hand and give the finger en masse. She took a photo and explained, “I’ll send this to Ai Weiwei” – a gesture in support of China’s most famous visual artist who has been in and out of house arrest.
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Fox Searchlight Closes ‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild:’ Sundance

By MIKE FLEMING JR. AND BRIAN BROOKS | Tuesday January 24, 2012 @ 11:35am PSTTags: Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Fox Searchlight, Sundance, WME Global

UPDATE: Fox Searchlight has made the deal official. The release is below the original story.

BREAKING: Fox Searchlight has closed its second big deal of the festival, capturing U.S rights to Beasts Of The Southern Wild, the Benh Zeitlin-directed film that created a ton of buzz since its premiere last Friday at the Eccles Theater. Several distributors were chasing, and Searchlight was rumored to be the most eager since that screening. Last night, Fox Searchlight paid $6 million for world rights to The Surrogate. WME Global sold this one.

Zeitlin wrote the script with Lucy Alibar, and the film stars Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry. The logline: Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under in this tale of a 6-year-old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world. The film is in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, and to hear festivalgoers tell it, is a strong contender. Last weekend, the film won the Sundance Institute’s Indian Paintbrush Producer’s Award. Here’s the release: Read More »

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2012 Sundance Film Festival Sets Competition Slate

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday November 30, 2011 @ 1:10pm PSTTags: 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Filly Brown, LUV, Middle Of Nowhere, Nobody Walks, Safety Not Guaranteed, Simon Killer, Smashed, The Comedy, The First Time, The Surrogate
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: The Sundance Institute has unveiled the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary competition slate for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival that runs January 19-29. There is a total of 110 features. At the Gotham Awards earlier this week, both agents and distributors felt there would a bounty of promising films with no distribution. That could make for a lot of dealmaking, which is certainly the way it went down last January in Park City.

Here are the selections in all categories:

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films.

Beasts Of The Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under, in this tale of a six year old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world. Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry.

The Comedy / U.S.A. (Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Robert Donne, Colm O’Leary) — Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his father’s estate, Swanson whiles away his days with a group of aging Brooklyn hipsters, engaging in small acts of recreational cruelty and pacified boredom. Cast: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, Kate Lyn Sheil, Alexia Rassmusen, Gregg Turkington.

The End Of Love / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Mark Webber) — A young father unravels following the loss of the mother of his child. Cast: Mark Webber, Shannyn Sossamon, Michael Cera, Jason Ritter, Amanda Seyfried, Frankie Shaw.

Filly Brown / U.S.A. (Directors: Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos, Screenwriter: Youssef Delara) — A Hip Hop-driven drama about a Mexican girl who rises to fame and consciousness as she copes with the incarceration of her mother through music. Cast: Lou Diamond Phillips, Gina Rodriguez, Jenni Rivera, Edward James Olmos.

The First Time / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jonathan Kasdan) — Two high schoolers meet at a party. Over the course of a weekend, things turn magical, romantic, complicated and funny, as they discover what it’s like to fall in love for the first time. Cast: Brittany Robertson, Dylan O’Brien, Craig Roberts, James Frecheville, Victoria Justice.

For Ellen / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: So Yong Kim) — A struggling musician takes an overnight long-distance drive in order to fight his estranged wife for custody of their young daughter. Cast: Paul Dano, Jon Heder, Jena Malone, Margarita Levieva, Shay Mandigo.

Hello I Must Be Going / U.S.A. (Director: Todd Louiso, Screenwriter: Sarah Koskoff) — Divorced, childless, demoralized and condemned to move back in with her parents at the age of 35, Amy Minsky’s prospects look bleak – until the unexpected attention of a teenage boy changes everything. Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Blythe Danner, Christopher Abbott, John Rubinstein, Julie White. DAY ONE FILM

Keep The Lights On / U.S.A. (Director: Ira Sachs, Screenwriters: Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias) — An autobiographically inspired story of a passionate long-term relationship between two men driven by addiction and secrets but bound by love and hopefulness. Cast: Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth, Julianne Nicholson, Souleymane Sy Savane, Paprika Steen.

LUV / U.S.A. (Director: Sheldon Candis, Screenwriters: Sheldon Candis, Justin Wilson) — An orphaned 11-year-old boy is forced to face the unpleasant truth about his beloved uncle during one harrowing day in the streets of Baltimore. Cast: Common, Michael Rainey Jr., Dennis Haysbert, Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton.

Middle Of Nowhere / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ava DuVernay) — When her husband is incarcerated, an African-American woman struggles to maintain her marriage and her identity. Cast: Emayatzy Corinealdi, David Oyelowo, Omari Hardwick, Lorraine Touissant, Edwina Findley.

Nobody Walks / U.S.A. (Director: Ry Russo-Young, Screenwriters: Lena Dunham, Ry Russo-Young) — Martine, a young artist from New York, is invited into the home of a hip, liberal LA family for a week. Her presence unravels the family’s carefully maintained status quo, and a mess of sexual and emotional entanglements ensues. Cast: John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby, Rosemarie DeWitt, India Ennenga, Justin Kirk.

Safety Not Guaranteed / U.S.A. (Director: Colin Trevorrow, Screenwriter: Derek Connolly) — A trio of magazine employees investigate a classified ad seeking a partner for time travel. One employee develops feelings for the paranoid but compelling loner and seeks to discover what he’s really up to. Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni.

Save The Date / U.S.A. (Director: Michael Mohan, Screenwriters: Jeffrey Brown, Egan Reich, Michael Mohan) — As her sister Beth prepares to get married, Sarah finds herself caught up in an intense post-breakup rebound. The two fumble through the redefined emotional landscape of modern day relationships, forced to relearn how to love and be loved. Cast: Lizzy Caplan, Alison Brie, Martin Starr, Geoffrey Arend, Mark Webber.

Simon Killer / France, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Antonio Campos) — A recent college graduate goes to Paris after breaking up with his girlfriend of 5 years. Once there, he falls in love with a young prostitute and their fateful journey begins. Cast: Brady Corbet, Mati Diop, Constance Rousseau, Michael Abiteboul, Solo.

Smashed / U.S.A. (Director: James Ponsoldt, Screenwriters: Susan Burke, James Ponsoldt) — Kate and Charlie are a young married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of music, laughter and… drinking. When Kate decides to get sober, her new lifestyle brings troubling issues to the surface and calls into question her relationship with Charlie. Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally.

The Surrogate / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ben Lewin) — Mark O’Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist with an iron lung, decides he no longer wishes to be a virgin. With the help of his therapist and the guidance of his priest, he contacts a professional sex surrogate to take him on a journey to manhood. Cast: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy. Read More »

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