Altman Has Harsh Words for the Press

Robert Altman had harsh words of his own for the press in Toronto Tuesday for his film, Dr. T and the Women. So far, the film seems to be as popular in Canada as it was in Deauville and Venice last week. The film stars Richard Gere as a gynecologist in Dallas, Texas and features cameos with celebrities in typical Altman fashion. The director had harsh words for the media, noting that they are responsible for creating the obsession with fame, not the stars themselves. Another hot "Venice-to-Toronto" film has been Christopher Nolan's Memento, which finalized its distribution deal Tuesday.

Waitress Pulls Gun on Judges; Walks off with Pitch Prize

At the first annual Pitch This! contest held at the Four Season hotel, Bonnie Anderson - dressed like one of the hotel's waitresses -- was the lucky winner of the $5,000 cash prize. With only six minutes to sell their ideas, six contestants (selected from a national competition) used chainsaws, guns and other props to arouse curiosity before an audience of 200. Judges from Telefilm Canada and Rogers Industry center were sold on Anderson's idea after she whipped out a gun and declared "I have waitressed a lot. I have never pulled a gun on anyone before but I've fantasized about it many times." Her idea follows a waitress who takes an entire restaurant hostage…. Hopefully Anderson is not so in-tune with her character on a daily basis...

Kopple Muses on "Generation," and Woody Allen

Two-time Oscar winner documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple led a Mavericks Filmmaking Session before a packed audience at the Park Hyatt Hotel. In town with her latest film My Generation, Kopple has been a fan of the Toronto International Film Festival since 1976 -- "when I was so young and so innocent," she joked -- when her first film, Harlan County screened here. The session was more a conversation than a conference, and guests left in awe of the director, who stayed afterward to mingle with fans and journalists and seemed so "authentic" to use the word of one producer who attended the session.

She discussed everything from her inspiration (the people in her films) to distribution ("never let a thing like money stop you from doing what you really want to do") to working with Woody Allen. Kopple followed Woody Allen on his jazz tour for her documentary about him Wild Man Blues, and joked that her crew "could be in a desert and Woody would never think to offer us a glass of water." Fortunately, she explained, Soon-Yi was constantly gracious and always took care of the film crew.

Kopple had the crowd laughing aloud when she discussed the release of her first film - Harlan County (also re-screening here). "I used to make my boyfriends drop me off at Cinema 2 so I could go into the theater and hear what people were saying" about the movie. "I used to tell people in front of the theater to go see Harlan County because it was such a great film," she admitted. Kopple cited the subjects of her films - from war vitims in Sarajevo to coal miners in Kentucky -- as her heroes and noted that documentary films "will last in our cultural memory forever." Fortunately we have filmmakers like Kopple to assure this.

More Pickups At Toronto

While pundits are saying that this year's Festival has had far fewer deals than in years past, there have been several key announcements about pickups in the past few days. Sony Pictures has acquired international rights to Almost Famous, the critically acclaimed new film from writer/director Cameron Crowe that had its world premiere in Toronto. Sony will distribute the film internationally and share revenue with the film's producer DreamWorks.

Meanwhile, Sony's specialty division, Sony Pictures Classics had two big announcements this week. The company has bought North American rights to Pollock, the directorial debut of Ed Harris, who also stars in the lead role as famed Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock. The film was first presented at the Venice Film Festival, has a Gala Screening here in Toronto and then goes on to the New York Film Festival at the end of September. Sony plans to release the film by the end of the year for Oscar consideration.

Also announced was the Sony Pictures Classics pickup of The House of Mirth, an adapation of the Edith Wharton novel by Terence Davies (The Long Day Closes). The film was slated to premiere on pay television network Showtime without getting a theatrical release. However, Sony will open the film on the big screen before year's end to again qualify for possible Oscar nominations. The period film stars Gillian Anderson (The X Files), Eric Stoltz, Dan Akroyd, Anthony LaPaglia and Laura Linney.

Fine Line Features has bought North American rights to Before Night Falls, the highly acclaimed follow up feature by painter-turned-filmmaker Julian Schnabel (Basquiat). Variety reports that the selling price was well over $1 million. The film, a biopic of Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas who was imprisoned for homosexuality, stars Spanish superstar Javier Bardem in his first English-speaking role, and a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Olivier Martinex and Hector Babenco. The film is also making the rounds from Venice to Toronto to New York later this month.

Lions Gate has picked up North American and international rights to Love's A Bitch (Amores Perros), the impressive film debut by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. The film mixes three stories of ideal love gone terribly wrong. It is the first foreign language title that the company has picked up for international distribution.