Hollywood action stars Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds were photographed on location on the streets of Cape Town this week as they continue to shoot scenes for their new action thriller, Safe House.

Much of the city centre was blocked off to traffic for the shoot. One photograph shows Washington, who reportedly plays a villain in the movie, walking along Strand Street. 

Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds shooting in Cape Town

In one scene he is wearing a hat and a pair of spectacles, a costume reminiscent of his role as civil rights leader Malcolm Xin the Spike Lee movie from 1992. In the movie, Reynolds plays Matt Weston, a CIA agent who must protect prisoner/rogue ex-agent Tobin Frost (Washington) from assassins when their safe house is hit. Reynolds was photographed shooting scenes on a balcony with the beautiful and on the rise French actress Nora Arnezeder. He was also spotted at a U2 concert in the city on Friday.

Production on Safe House is expected to continue in Cape Town into March. The movie has been slated for a February 2012 release by Metro-Goldwyn Pictures

Hollywood loves discovering new talent. But its passion for developing emerging filmmakers has lately strayed into large-scale, downright risky terrain.

"Tron: Legacy"

Case in point: Universal is in the process of handing director Carl Rinsch a $170 million budget for 47 Ronin, a 3D samurai revenge story starring Keanu Reeves that will begin shooting March 14 in Budapest. Rinsch’s résumé includes a popular short film and a Heineken commercial (below) — but no features.

And he’s far from the only fresh-faced director stepping into the big-budget fray. Disney gave commercials helmer Joseph Kosinski close to $200 million for Tron: Legacy. Universal recently hired first-timer Rupert Sanders to helm the $100 million-plus Snow White and the Huntsman. Relative newbies Marc Webb, who’s shooting Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man, and Daniel Espinosa, who’s helming Universal’s action thriller Safe House, took on the potential blockbusters with little previous feature work.

It’s not an entirely new phenomenon, but for several reasons the scale and justifications behind the hires have changed. During the 1990s, commercial and music video directors such as David Fincher (Alien 3, 1992), Michael Bay (Bad Boys, 1995), Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt, 1997) and McG (Charlie’s Angels, 2000) made the jump to features, but most of them did so with comparatively modest budgets.

During the past five years, though, technology has enabled rookie directors to hone their skills via FinalCut Pro, digital-video cameras and other state-of-the-art effects tools from a young age, prompting budget-cautious studios to salivate over what they can put on screen for a price. Gareth Edwards, for instance, made his indie sci-fi film Monsters for a few hundred thousand dollars, even though it looked much more expensive. He’s now up to direct Godzilla for Warner Bros.

“It’s a reflection on the innovation of emerging filmmakers,” says Anonymous Content manager Michael Sugar, who reps Webb and Kosinski. “You’re looking at people like Fede Alvarez, who made a short film (Panic Attack!) for $300, put it on YouTube, and it looks like it was made for $20 million.” Alvarez, an Anonymous client, was hired by Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures to develop a sci-fi feature. 

More than ever before, the short film and commercial environment has become a playground to use up-to-the-minute tech to create feature-film calling cards. Sanders, District 9 co-writer-director Neill Blomkamp and Noam Murro — recently hired by Fox to direct the fifth Die Hard — all did spots for recent Halo video game campaigns, a gig that has become as coveted as any debut film job because it often becomes a higher-profile entry into features.

To read more visit The Hollywood Report (http://bit.ly/h9LEyj)

Article written by Jay A. Fernandez

 Carl Rinsch Heineken commercial!

Marche du Film

The Marché du Film, host to the Producers Network during the Festival de Cannes has added a new program this year for emerging producers called The Producers Workshop. This workshop is reserved for producers who have little or no experience with the Marché du Film and the Festival de Cannes or who have just made their debut as producers on the international stage.

 The Marché du Film is an event that was created for professionals in the industry worldwide to come together each year to learn how to adapt to economic and technological changes in the international film community.  It is a unique opportunity to get to know other professionals through intimate networking, trade and commerce, and finally to move your film projects forward.

 The first initiative The Producers Network has become very popular among producers so much so that by the first two weeks of accepting applications it become unavailable due to a huge demand. By creating The Producers Workshop is a very sensible and productive option for The Marché du Film in order to keep groups smaller so that real and tangible benefits can be achieved. Some of the main focus of The Producers Workshop are seminars that will focus on “International sales” and “Festival strategies” and the workshop portion will examine “The Pitch”, “Marketing” or “Cross-Media”.

 There are only 180 spaces available and a participation fee is required. Producers who wish to apply can do so through the following avenues…

 Film Market Access – www.market-access.ca

-          Acceptance into The Producers Workshop with FMA will also include your accommodation and festival consultant before your participation in Cannes.

-          Transportation to and from the airport to hotel.  

-          FMA will work with Telefilm to give you access to services and programming for the Canada Pavilion

-          Profile of your company in the Market Guide (if registered by March 30^th)

-          Access to a database of professionals attending the Market (CINANDO)

-          Access to Market screenings

Telefilm Canada – http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/en

-          Will also provide you with access to services and programming for the Canada Pavilion.

-          Profile of your company in the Market Guide (if registered by April 8th

-          Access to a database of professionals attending the Market (CINANDO)

-          Access to Market screenings

Marché du Film – http://bit.ly/f9NV0Z

 -          Profile of your company in the Market Guide (if registered by April 8th

-          Access to a database of professionals attending the Market (CINANDO)

Access to Market screenings

Midnight in Paris, the new film by Woody Allen will open the Festival de Cannes on May 11^th in the Lumière Theatre, in the presence of the Jury presided by Robert De Niro.

Owen Wilson & Rachel McAdams stars in Midnight in Paris

The romantic comedy, which was shot last year in the French capital, brings together a broad international cast, including Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and Marion Cotillard, as well as Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Gad Elmaleh and Léa Seydoux.

Following London (Match Point) and Barcelona (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), it’s the turn of Paris to be honoured by the lens of the New York film director most appreciated by European audiences.

“Midnight in Paris is a wonderful love letter to Paris”, declared Festival director Thierry Frémaux. “It’s a film in which Woody Allen takes a deeper look at the issues raised in his last films: our relationship with history, art, pleasure and life. His 41st feature reveals once again his inspiration.”

Produced by Médiapro (Spain) and Gravier Productions (New York), and distributed by Mars Films in France, the film is to be released in France the same day it is screened at Cannes. French audiences will thus be able to enjoy it in 400 theatres throughout the country. For this occasion, the Festival de Cannes wishes, with the consent of its partner Canal+ and the support of the national federation of French theaters, to make the Opening Ceremony of the Festival available to any theatre requesting it, so that their audiences can experience live the entire programme of the Opening Night of the Festival.

In this way, the Festival de Cannes underlines the strong ties that unite it with the theatres and their audiences, and draws attention to the films in the Official selection.

The 64^th Festival de Cannes is to take place Wednesday May 11th to Sunday 22nd May 2011.

Source: Festval de Cannes

Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman in Barney's Version

Here we go again… another year of surprises from the Academy Of Canadian Cinema and Television’s nominations for the 31st Genie awards. The Robert Lantos produced Barney’s Version garnered eleven nominations while the multiple award-winning Incendies pick up ten and a best picture nomination for the sci-fi Splice?!

Barney’s Version & Incendies are hugely popular thanks to its warm reception at tiff10. Both films are nominated for best picture and both have also received nominations in the upcoming Oscar race. 

However the Genie has somehow rectified the snub that Xavier Dolan received in 2010 by awarding Les Amours Imaginaires with four nominations including best picture and best director.

Today I learnt that Villeneuve’s Incendies just passed 3 million dollars at the Quebec box office for Seville Pictures, an affiliate of eOne Entertainment, which will release the picture in English-speaking Canada later this year. Sony will release it in the US.

Quebec film 10 ½ also nabbed eight nominations, including for best picture, director (Podz), screenwriter (Claude Lalonde) and best actor (14-year-old West Islander Robert Naylor).

The Genie Awards will take place at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa March 10 and will be broadcast live on CBC-TV.

Oh and btw – if you haven’t seen the film Splice and you might be wondering why I drew attention to this film – a wasted space of a nomination…all you need to do is rent it at your nearest video store. But I urge you don’t drag your friend or anyone else to sit through it with you.  

BEST MOTION PICTURE NOMINEES
10 ½ – Pierre Gendron
Les Amours Imaginaires – Xavier Dolan, Carole Mondello, Daniel Morin
Barney’s Version – Robert Lantos
Incendies – Luc Déry, Kim McCraw
Splice – Steven Hoban