Monday 27 August 2007

Venice: a preamble

I shall be in Venice from Wednesday through to Monday and among the films I'm hoping to catch will be the Jude Law/Michael Caine remake of Sleuth, Brian De Palma's Iraq drama Redacted, Paul Haggis' follow up to Crash, In The Valley Of Elah, Asif Kapadia's Far North, Andrew Dominik's The Assasination of Jess James By The Coward Robert Ford, Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream, Ridley Scott's Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited and, hopefully, a few more besides. I've already seen Joe Wright's Atonement which opens the festival though I think I'm going to be arriving too late to make the press screenings of Ang Lee's Lust, Caution.

And because I'm not going to be around for Tim Burton Day on the second Wednesday I won't be seeing a sneak preview of footage from Sweeney Todd which pains me but, hey, them's the breaks. Incidentally, all those reports of Burton being asked to cut back on the blood in the movie, don't believe a word of it.

I'm going to be reporting for Premiere.com while I'm there — look for me guesting on Glenn Kenny's blog — but will also update this site with the same stuff.

5 comments:

Gerard said...

Mark - hello from a long time reader, first time poster.

I just have to say that your news regarding Sweeney Todd's blood remaining intact is very reassuring indeed. As a lifelong Burton fan who adores the musical, this comes as truly excellent news, given all the recent brouhaha regarding the on-screen gore. Sweeney's an R-rated story, pure and simple. And I've got a feeling that, working with an R in mind, Burton's going to knock this one out of the park.

Mark Salisbury said...

Hello back. And thanks for stopping by.

I have to agree with you Gerard about this one. Out of the park and way beyond. I was lucky enough to have spent some time on set and I'm so excited I can't tell you.

Gerard said...

...But heck I wish that you could tell me!

So, the gore is to (thankfully) remain, I guess the other big question is almost answered by your enthusiasm - I take it that all concerned can certainly pull off the singing?

Man. January can't come soon enough...

By the by, I've long been a fan of your work too, and own numerous of your books. Can't wait to add the Sweeney companion to the collection :)

Mark Salisbury said...

Wish I could say more but my lips are, alas, sealed. For now.

As for the Sweeney book. If it looks half as good Titan's Stardust Visual Companion it should be terrific.

Gerard said...

I had a feeling you were going to say that.

As for the Stardust companion, I shall most assuredly keep an eye open for it - the film doesn't actually come out here (Australia) for a few more weeks, though it's one I'm eagerly anticipating. I'm sure the Sweeney book will be marvellous!