Michael Wrenn is to join the Sydney office of Arclight Films, the company established by La-based Australian Gary Hamilton. Wrenn recently produced, with Karen Radzyner, director/writer Miro Bilbrough.s debut feature Being Venice but has spent most of his film career in sales, distribution and exhibition. Wrenn brings several films with him to Arclight.s library according to the statement announcing the appointment. These include Ivan Sen.s Mystery Road, which goes into production in July with David Jowsey producing, Zoe Laband.s Pinky Pinky produced by Jeremy Nathan, and The World Made Me Straight, an adaptation of the Ron Rash novel of the same name to be directed by David Burris and produced by Todd Labarowsky. Wrenn has worked in financing and world sales for such companies as Celluloid Dreams and Maximum Films and has held very senior roles at several distribution companies including Electric Pictures and Alliance...
- 5/24/2012
- by Sandy George
- IF.com.au
One of the most reprinted articles we've run at Filmmaker was South African producer Jeremy Nathan's 2002 piece on "No Budget Nigeria," the thriving Corman-esque film scene otherwise known as Nollywood. Now, artist Pieter Hugo has released a book containing his stunning square-format photos featuring portraits of performers from these films. It's called, appropriately, Nollywood. In an essay about the images, Federica Angelucci explains Hugo's approach, which is to compose photographs that play off the mythologies created by the films. An excerpt: Movies tell stories that appeal to and reflect the lives of its public: stars are local actors; plots confront the viewer with familiar situations of romance, comedy, witchcraft, bribery,...
- 10/4/2009
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
TORONTO -- Veteran actor Richard E. Grant makes his writing and directing debut with "Wah-Wah", a startling portrait of his own startling and unusual childhood, growing up in Swaziland in the waning days of the British Empire in Africa. No one will accuse Grant of wallowing in nostalgia. His parents were monsters and the colonialists awash in gin, snobbishness and adultery. The young boy developed a facial tic -- an exaggerated yawn -- from all the stress. Even so, the film has an air of not quite bemusement, but perhaps a kind of forgiveness and an eye for comic details that puts things into perspective.
As both an extraordinary portrait of white mischief on the Dark Continent and a debut of a potentially interesting filmmaker, "Wah-Wah" should connect with audiences in specialty venues in North America and Western Europe.
Grant himself made his film acting debut in "Withnail and I" (1987) as the uproariously drunken thespian. Turns out he didn't have to search far for inspiration.
At age 11, when we get our first glimpse of the life of Ralph Compton (Zac Fox), his mother Lauren (Miranda Richardson) doesn't go to great pains to hide her lovemaking to a married man from her son, who must fake sleep in the back of the family car. When she finally does run off with her lover, Harry Compton (Gabriel Byrne), no teetotaler in the first place, turns into a raging drunk. Willing to join him in his debauchery is the other man's wife (Julie Walters), who wants to seduce him.
Things get so bad Ralph demands to be sent to boarding school. Returning three years later, things initially seem even worse to Ralph (now played by Nicholas Hoult). Recriminations between his parents, now divorced, have only escalated. And his dad has married a brassy American named Ruby (Emily Watson).
Ralph gets past a bad first impression to grow fond of Ruby, who treats him as a friend and refuses to emulate all the stuffed-shirt mannerisms of the burnt-out Brits. She makes fun of their silly expressions such as "toodle-pip" and "hobbly-jobbly," calling it so much "wah-wah."
Her gift of a puppet sparks Ralph's interest in creating a puppet theater and, we surmise, the lad's interest in a career in the performing arts. But dad's drinking is much worse, especially whenever his ex-wife turns up. One night, Harry gets so drunk he takes a shot at Ralph with a pistol. Appalled at his own behavior, Harry goes on the wagon just as the country prepares to celebrate its independence from Britain.
The great thing about a memoir is all the little details that paint the big picture. Such as the lipstick-smeared cocktail glass, from which his mother took her last drink before walking out, that Ralph treasures for years. Or the colonialists' forced deference to Lady Hardwick (Celia Imrie), who in Ruby's opinion is no lady at all. Or how the last vestiges of racism slowly give way to wary friendships between whites and blacks.
However, Grant doesn't probe his memories far enough. We have no idea what turned his mother into such a horror. Surely there was more to it than boredom and the heat. And her desertion can't be the only explanation for his dad's relentless alcoholism. And what did Ruby ever see in him and the fraught situation that caused her to marry into so much grief? "Wah-Wah" is more a work of memory than of imagination.
The two young actors are quite good at playing the baffled but eventually rebellious Ralph. Watson is a joy to watch, throwing off her British heritage to become a complete Yank. Byrne does humanize this man in so much deep pain. Alas, Richardson is allowed not even a tiny window into the woman's wretchedness, not even one saving grace.
Shooting in Swaziland, cinematographer Pierre Aim and designer Garry Williamson splendidly recapture the colonialist past of white linen, teatime and cricket.
WAH-WAH
The Works present a Loma Nasha/Scion Films/Wah Film Prods. production
Credits:
Writer/director: Richard E. Grant
Producers: Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Pierre Kubel, Jeff Abberley
Executive producers: Joel Phiri, Jeremy Nathan, Ronnie Apteker
Director of photography: Pierre Aim
Production designer: Gary Williamson
Costumes: Sheena Napier
Music: Patrick Doyle
Editor: Isabelle Dedieu
Cast:
Ralph at 14: Nicholas Hoult
Ralph at 11: Zac Fox
Harry: Gabriel Byrne
Lauren: Miranda Richardson
Ruby: Emily Watson
Gwen: Julie Walters
Lady Hardwick: Celia Imrie
Running time -- 99 minutes
No MPAA rating...
As both an extraordinary portrait of white mischief on the Dark Continent and a debut of a potentially interesting filmmaker, "Wah-Wah" should connect with audiences in specialty venues in North America and Western Europe.
Grant himself made his film acting debut in "Withnail and I" (1987) as the uproariously drunken thespian. Turns out he didn't have to search far for inspiration.
At age 11, when we get our first glimpse of the life of Ralph Compton (Zac Fox), his mother Lauren (Miranda Richardson) doesn't go to great pains to hide her lovemaking to a married man from her son, who must fake sleep in the back of the family car. When she finally does run off with her lover, Harry Compton (Gabriel Byrne), no teetotaler in the first place, turns into a raging drunk. Willing to join him in his debauchery is the other man's wife (Julie Walters), who wants to seduce him.
Things get so bad Ralph demands to be sent to boarding school. Returning three years later, things initially seem even worse to Ralph (now played by Nicholas Hoult). Recriminations between his parents, now divorced, have only escalated. And his dad has married a brassy American named Ruby (Emily Watson).
Ralph gets past a bad first impression to grow fond of Ruby, who treats him as a friend and refuses to emulate all the stuffed-shirt mannerisms of the burnt-out Brits. She makes fun of their silly expressions such as "toodle-pip" and "hobbly-jobbly," calling it so much "wah-wah."
Her gift of a puppet sparks Ralph's interest in creating a puppet theater and, we surmise, the lad's interest in a career in the performing arts. But dad's drinking is much worse, especially whenever his ex-wife turns up. One night, Harry gets so drunk he takes a shot at Ralph with a pistol. Appalled at his own behavior, Harry goes on the wagon just as the country prepares to celebrate its independence from Britain.
The great thing about a memoir is all the little details that paint the big picture. Such as the lipstick-smeared cocktail glass, from which his mother took her last drink before walking out, that Ralph treasures for years. Or the colonialists' forced deference to Lady Hardwick (Celia Imrie), who in Ruby's opinion is no lady at all. Or how the last vestiges of racism slowly give way to wary friendships between whites and blacks.
However, Grant doesn't probe his memories far enough. We have no idea what turned his mother into such a horror. Surely there was more to it than boredom and the heat. And her desertion can't be the only explanation for his dad's relentless alcoholism. And what did Ruby ever see in him and the fraught situation that caused her to marry into so much grief? "Wah-Wah" is more a work of memory than of imagination.
The two young actors are quite good at playing the baffled but eventually rebellious Ralph. Watson is a joy to watch, throwing off her British heritage to become a complete Yank. Byrne does humanize this man in so much deep pain. Alas, Richardson is allowed not even a tiny window into the woman's wretchedness, not even one saving grace.
Shooting in Swaziland, cinematographer Pierre Aim and designer Garry Williamson splendidly recapture the colonialist past of white linen, teatime and cricket.
WAH-WAH
The Works present a Loma Nasha/Scion Films/Wah Film Prods. production
Credits:
Writer/director: Richard E. Grant
Producers: Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Pierre Kubel, Jeff Abberley
Executive producers: Joel Phiri, Jeremy Nathan, Ronnie Apteker
Director of photography: Pierre Aim
Production designer: Gary Williamson
Costumes: Sheena Napier
Music: Patrick Doyle
Editor: Isabelle Dedieu
Cast:
Ralph at 14: Nicholas Hoult
Ralph at 11: Zac Fox
Harry: Gabriel Byrne
Lauren: Miranda Richardson
Ruby: Emily Watson
Gwen: Julie Walters
Lady Hardwick: Celia Imrie
Running time -- 99 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/12/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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