In its deal with Goalpost Film, TWC took all worldwide rights with the exception of the U.K. and Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada, Israel, Portugal and airlines.

Inspired by a true story, The Sapphires follows four young and talented Australian Aboriginal girls from a remote mission as they learn about love, friendship and war when their all girl group The Sapphires entertains the U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1968. It was written by Aboriginal playwright Tony Briggs, whose mother and family members were part of The Sapphires group, along with Keith Thompson. The film was produced by Rosemary Blight of Goalpost Film and Kylie du Fresne.

The film stars Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids), Deborah Mailman (Radiance) and Australian pop artist Jessica Mauboy. Warwick Thornton, previous winner of the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Samson and Delilah, served as director of photography.

The acquistion was announced Tuesday by TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, COO David Glasser and Co-SVPs of acquisitions Negeen Yazdi and Dan Guando.

“These girls light up the screen as much as their music lights up the stage. We’re thrilled to bring the stories and music from these sisters to audiences all over the world,” Weinstein said.

The deal was negotiated by TWC’s Glasser, Yazdi and senior vp of acquisitions and business affairs Michal Steinberg with Goalpost’s Tristan Whalley and Blight and Christos Michaels and Nicki Parfitt of the law firm Lee and Thompson.

Source: THR

Whew! It looks like we’ve got ourselves a barn burner here.

The trailer for Lawless is in the wild, and if you’re a fan of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, you’re gonna love this Prohibition-era drama starring Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy as brothers turned bootleggers in Franklin County, Va., who become outlaw heroes after refusing to let local authorities share their profits.

Here are five reasons to get excited about Lawless, which is premiering—and competing for the Palme d’Or—at next month’s Cannes Film Festival.

1. Handsome Leading Men: LaBeouf bids goodbye to those noisy, Michael Bay-helmed Transformers flicks for the much rawer role of Jack Bondurant, who joins forces with brother Forrest to start making their own moonshine. Hardy plays the latter, a take-no-guff bootlegger who’s ready to protect his family from gangsters and corrupt lawmen.

2. Hot Leading Ladies: Jessica Chastain costars as Maggie, Forrest’s love interest who’s worried about gangsters angling for a cut of her beau’s business, while Mia Wasikowska plays Bertha, a Mennonite preacher’s daughter who falls for Jack.

3. He Can Play Bad All by Himself: He may play Police Commissioner Gordon trying to stop Hardy’s archvillain Bane in this summer’s The Dark Knight Rises, but Gary Oldman has always had a thing for baddies (see True Romance and The Fifth Element for starters). Here, he essays the role of Floyd Banner, a tough as nails gangster who’s never seen a tommy gun he didn’t like.

4. You Won’t Forget Him This Time: Despite playing memorable parts in such films as Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Memento, and L.A. Confidential, Guy Pearce has often gone largely overlooked among moviegoers. But it’s looking like a banner year for the thesp who not only stars in Ridley Scott’s highly anticipated Alien prequel, Prometheus, but takes a turn in Lawless as special deputy Charles Rakes. And by the sound of his menacing city voice in the teaser, he’s not a man to be trifled with.

5. They Don’t Call It the Roaring Twenties for Nothin’: Lawless, which is directed by John Hillcoat (The Road) from a script by Nick Cave (yes, that Nick Cave of Bad Seeds fame), features plenty of action, including brawls and shootouts in the bootlegging war that gets under way. Let’s hope Shia remembers the old adage: never bring a knife to a gunfight, or as someone puts it in the trailer, “It’s not the violence that sets men apart; it’s the distance he’s prepared to go.”

Source: E! Online

On Friday, the Avengers will face their cutest competition yet: Uggie the dog. That’s because the Weinstein Company will re-release Best Picture winner “The Artist” into select theaters on May 11.

“As summer approaches, we wanted to give audiences across the country one more opportunity to experience ‘The Artist’ in a theater where it has charmed and entertained so many this year,” TWC president of marketing Stephen Bruno said in a press release. “This is the perfect family outing for Mother’s Day weekend.”

Indeed — though, perhaps not for the family pet (unless you have a very progressive local theater). Fortunately for dogs, cats and other household animals, TWC is hosting a contest to find the most talented pet in the land in correlation with the re-release. (Well, most talented outside of Uggie, who has no rivals; dog has a book deal.)

Head over to the Weinstein Company Facebook page to find out how you and your pet can win a poster signed by Uggie. Above, watch a video compilation of some of Uggie’s best “Artist” tricks and outtakes. Consider Uggie, still going strong in 2012!

“The Artist” — which won five Oscars — has earned $129 million worldwide to date. It hits DVD and Blu-ray on June 26.

Source: Huff Post

When someone contacts you and asks if you want to see Gary Busey bloopers from the sequel to “Piranha,” the answer is ABSOLUTELY NO QUESTION “yes.”

All I needed to hear was “Gary Busey” and “bloopers,” because I can only imagine what it looks like when he gets something wrong. The performances they cut together of his these days look like outtakes in the first place, barely sane collections of reaction shots that only loosely relate to what’s happening around him, so bloopers? Please. As many as possible.

Busey is a big personality, and at this point, you know what you’re getting when you cast him. I give him credit for holding together this sort of niche he’s carved out, finding films that can make use of his particular presence and his box-office percentages in the overseas financing game. Thanks to some of the hits he’s been in, Busey can help get a film made. He is a vital piece of the chess board, and I seriously respect any working actor who figures that out for themselves. Lots of people appear in movies. Not many people do it for forty or fifty years in a row.

I get the feeling I’m not going to see “Piranha 3DD” before it opens. That’s a bummer, because I thought the remake was silly and fun, and the trailer for this one makes it look like a whole lot more of that. I also didn’t realize until I just looked this up that John Gulager was directing and Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton wrote the film. I’m glad they didn’t hand the film franchise off to just anyone. Who knew, when the show was still on the air, that they’d still be making the films? And even together.

Even if I don’t have to review the movie, I’m planning to catch up to it as soon as I get back. It sounds like demented fun, and why not support the sort of horror and science-fiction you wanted as a child? I’m just sad that it sounds like there really isn’t much of a market for B-movies to go theatrical anymore. This one looks like “B” all the way, and with a film like this, I’m guessing that’s sort of the point.

“Piranha 3DD” opens June 1, 2012.

Source: HitFix

#2. PIRANHA 3DD

Granted, I’m much more of an ass man, but how I could I ever resist the voluptuous bust-line of John Gulager’s PIRANHA 3DD? Won’t happen! Besides, as intentionally campy and kitschy as Aja’s redo was, it’s pretty clear Gulager and company are fully reveling in the silliness and cranking this bitch up to volume 11. I mean, with Gary Busey and David Hasselhoff given starring roles, the joke is certainly not lost on the filmmakers. Moreover, with SAW vets Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton one the keys, the marriage of excess between them and Gulager should be nothing short of astounding. Remember, all three men worked together on FEAST, which still holds as a beloved single-location horror comedy. Hopefully the men have grown as craftsmen yet retain the unapologetically sleazy sensibility we’ve come to know and love in their work. And by sleazy, let’s be clear…I wanna see Katrina Bowden peel of the bikini!

Source: JoBlo

Harvey Weinstein said about the acquisition of U.S. rights to Quartet, starring Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon and Pauline Collins, that he “decided to give an up-and-coming first-timer a chance.”

With his tongue firmly in his cheek, Weinstein’s comment referred to Dustin Hoffman, who makes his directorial debut with the comedy set in a home for retired opera singers. It also stars Tom Courtenay.

“We’re excited to be working with Dustin on his directorial debut,” Weinstein added.

The Weinstein Co. and TWC COO David Glasser made a pre-emptive, take-it-off-the-table offer based on the script and HanWay Films promo, before planned L.A. and N.Y. acquisition screenings May 3.

Written by Ronald Harwood, Quartet is produced by Finola Dwyer and Stewart Mackinnon and bankrolled by BBC Films, DCM Productions and Decca.

The executive producers are Jamie Laurenson, Dario Suter, Christoph Daniel and Marc Schmidheiny, Dickon Stainer, Xavier Marchand and Hoffman.

The deal was ironed out by U.K.-based sales banner HanWay’s managing director Thorsten Schumacher and COO Jan Spielhoff, alongside WME Global’s Graham Taylor, who co-repped the U.S. rights.

TWC senior vp acquisitions Negeen Yazdi and business affairs executive Talia Houminer negotiated on behalf of TWC.

HanWay has completed more than 30 worldwide deals including Marchand’s Momentum in the U.K., Transmission for Australia, DCM for Germany and Vertice for Spain.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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This month, we interview Camile O’Briant – the office manager of the LA Weinstein Company office!

Q. How long have you worked for TWC?
A: I started in November 2010.

Q. What do you love about the movie industry?
A: I’m definitely more interested in the creative aspects of it, but I respect the business side of the industry. When they work together, it’s a beautiful thing.

Q. What is the one thing you’ve learned about being in the movie industry/entertainment business?
A: I think the most important thing that can be learned is this industry is that you gotta be flexible. Things move so fast, but it’s all a part of that creative energy. Trying to make something magical happen is what it’s all about in the end.

Q. Tell us about the day to day operations in the life of Camile O’Briant.
A: Well, the thing I really love about my job is that every day is different. The basics are there, but there can also be a great deal of variety. I keep an ongoing list of things to do, so I check that along with emails when I get in. I walk the office to see what’s up–I’m a hands-on kind person and I feel it really helps me plug into the needs of everyone and the office in general.

I check in with my assistants and we talk about what meetings/screenings are lined up for the day. We work hard to keep the office looking nice, so that’s a big part of day. The rest involves lots of problem solving aka putting out fires.

Overall, it’s kind of about keeping the office glued together, pleasant and functional.

Q. What are your favorite TWC films?
A: Of the latest: Sarah’s Key, The Artist, Intouchables, King’s Speech, and Inglorious Basterds.

Q. Of those films, what was your favorite scene?
A: The opening scene of Inglorious Basterds. It’s dynamic and powerful.

Q. What are your favorite non-TWC films?
A: Rear Window, Das Boot, Catch 22, Full Metal Jacket, Beginners, Harakiri, Jean Dielman, Now, Voyager, Glory, Adaptation, Elevator to the Gallows, Mon Oncle, Red Beard, The Party, Throne of Blood, The Elephant Man, E.T., Do the Right Thing, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Dr. Strangelove, Star Wars, LOTR, Singing in the Rain, Barry Lyndon, Goodfellas, Seven Samurai, Young Frankenstein, The Thin Red Line, Baraka, Steamboat Bill, Jr. –I could go on…

Q. Of those films, what is your favorite scene?
A: There are many, but one of the most poignant I’ve seen in a long time is the Swamp Scene in Adaptation between Charlie and Donald. “You are what you love, not what loves you.”

Q. What is the most important aspect of any film? The actors, music, editing, etc.?
A: Collaboration is the most important aspect of making any film, but to narrow it down I think editing can make or break a film.

Q. If you could be cast in a re-make of any film, which would it be?
A: I would be re-cast as a modern day Eliza Doolittle from the 1938 film, Pygmalion. She’s sassy, rebellious and fun to watch.

Q. If you could choose someone to play you in a biopic, who would it be?
A: Hollywood-ized Version: Paula Patton Indie Version: Maya Rudolph

Q. What is your secret dream career?
A: Race Car/Stunt Driver, Quantum Physicist, Architect

Q. What place on earth inspires you more than any other?
A: Right now, it’s Paris.

Q. What iconic Hollywood movie do you feel best describes your personality?
A: I can’t really think of any one iconic movie, so I think I’d have to combine a few: Amelie + Now, Voyager + Nil by Mouth + Pygmalion + Imitation of Life.

Q. Who do you look up to?
A: Anyone who fights to become and stay authentic to themselves. Not always an easy path.

Q. What is your favorite pastime?
A: I always have a lot of creative projects going on, so photography, writing, etc. I also enjoy yoga, riding bikes at the beach and pondering the possibilities of time travel.

Q. What is your favorite joke?
A: I’m horrible at telling jokes and even worse at remembering them, but here’s something I think is hilarious.

To Do List (someone posted this on tumblr):

1. Wear a shirt that says, “Life”. Hand out lemons on a street corner.

2. Hire two private investigators. Get them to follow each other.

3. Major in philosophy. Ask people WHY they would like fries with that.

4. Go into a crowded elevator and say, “I bet you’re all wondering why I gathered you here,” with a straight face.

5. Make vanilla pudding. Put in mayo jar. Eat in public.

6. Become a teacher. Make a test where every answer is “C”. Enjoy the show.

7. Run into a store, ask what year it is. When someone answers, yell “It worked!” and run out cheering.

8. Buy a horse. Name it “Oscar Takes the Lead”. Enter it in horse races.

9. Invite someone into your office, turn around in office chair and say, “I’ve been expecting you…”

10. Change name to Simon. Speak in third person.

11. Buy a parrot. Teach the parrot to say, “Help! I’ve been turned into a parrot.”

Q. What makes you laugh the hardest?
A: Babies dancing (they look like little drunk people), British comedy, irony. And there’s a scene from the TV show, Taxi (I’m showing my age) where Jim goes to take his driver’s test and whole gang is there to cheer him on. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that hard. Surprisingly, it still holds up.

This decision by the MPAA is a huge victory for the parents, educators, lawmakers, and most importantly, children, everywhere who have been fighting for months for the appropriate PG-13 rating without cutting some of the most sensitive moments. Three uses of the ‘F word’ were removed from other scenes, which ultimately persuaded the MPAA to lower the rating. Hirsch made the documentary with the intent to give an uncensored, real-life portrayal of what 13 million children suffer through every year.

The new rating, which came about with the great support from MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd, grants the schools, organizations and cities all around the country who are lined up and ready to screen BULLY, including the National Education Association and the Cincinnati School District, the opportunity to share this educational tool with their children.

“Senator Dodd is a hero for championing this cause, and the MPAA showed great courage by not cutting the scene everyone has been fighting to keep,” said TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein. “Senator Dodd’s support gives voice to the millions of children who suffer from bullying, and on behalf of TWC, the filmmakers, the families in the film and the millions of children and parents who will now see this film, I thank him for recognizing that this very real issue cannot afford to go unnoticed.”

“I feel completely vindicated with this resolution,” said Hirsch. “While I retain my belief that PG-13 has always been the appropriate rating for this film, as reinforced by Canada’s rating of a PG, we have today scored a victory from the MPAA. The support and guidance we have received throughout this process has been incredible, from the more than half a million people who signed Katy Butler’s petition, to members of Congress, Governor Mike Huckabee and the many celebrities and others who raised their voices to express deeply felt support for a film that can inspire millions. The scene that mattered remains untouched and intact, which is a true sign that we have won this battle. With an array of great partners, a fabulous educator’s guide and extensive online tools, we can now bring this film unhindered, to youth and adults across our country.”

Building support for the Safe Schools Improvement Act is the next step in this movement for change. Already a meeting has been set with Senator Bob Casey to discuss how he can help. Lawmakers and politicians are being sought out to back the efforts of anti-bullying supporters everywhere in creating legislation that will comprehensively address the issues of bullying and harassment.

“If we can’t get the Safe Schools Improvement Act passed, we’ll be visiting the home states of each lawmaker until it does,” said Katy Butler, the 17 year old Michigan high school student who rallied petitioners on Change.org to urge the MPAA to lower BULLY’s rating. “On behalf of the more than half a million supporters who joined me on Change.org in petitioning the MPAA, I want to express how grateful I am not only to the MPAA for lowering the rating without cutting a vital scene, but to all of the people who used their voices to put a national spotlight on this movie and its mission.”

For the hundreds of organizations and individuals partnering with the film, the rating news means more screenings for more children.

Said National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel, “The changing of the rating for BULLY from R to PG-13 will enable many more young people to see this film. NEA applauds the Motion Picture Association of America and the producers for the PG-13 rating. Every teenage student should have the opportunity to see this powerful documentary about a problem that still haunts our schools. NEA also salutes 17-year-old Katy Butler and the other young activists whose online petition drive led to having the rating for BULLY reconsidered.”

After Weinstein’s and BULLY teen Alex Libby’s appeal in February to the MPAA for a PG-13 rating was denied by one vote, TWC and Hirsch chose to move forward with releasing the film unrated last weekend allowing theaters the chance to use their discretion when admitting children to the theater. BULLY leads all non-fiction films so far for 2012 with its strong opening weekend attendance.

Source: PR Newswire

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