Film News

Buzz Osborne says Kurt Cobain documentary Montage of Heck is “90% bullshit”

Frontman of the Melvins, Buzz Osborne, is giving shade to Brett Morgen’s recent documentary, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, and declared that 90% of the film is “total bullshit.”

In his recent op-ed for The Talkhouse, the frontman questioned the facts behind the film, and claimed that most of what was said from Courtney Love was not completely consistent with what Cobain has told him personally. Osborne was a mentor and friend of Cobain’s during his early years and the pair attended high school together as well.

Including the issues that Love’s story had, Osborne also argued against other stories that were put in the film as facts. He claims that Cobain did not have any issues with his stomach saying, “[Cobain] made it up for sympathy and so he could use it as an excuse” in order to use heroin.

He also contested a story about how Cobain tried to sleep with a mentally handicapped female fellow student in high school. “I know the whole ‘I tried to fuck a fat retard’ story is complete bullshit. Not even an inkling of truth. That’s too good a story to have gone this long without me hearing about it, especially if, as he suggests, the girl’s father freaked out about it at the high school,” said Osborne, also adding, “In that small-town shit-hole, exciting news of that nature would have been common knowledge before the sun set. It never happened.”

Osborne added: “[Cobain] was a master of jerking your chain.”

Read the entire op-ed at Talkhouse and watch the Montage of Heck below.

Richard Linklater to release “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused

20 years before winning awards fo Boyhood, director Richard Linklater became known for his cult stoner classic, Dazed and Confused. After years of rumors about a “spiritual sequel” to the original film, it has finally come alive.

Test screenings for the film, which is now named Everybody Wants Some, not That’s What I’m Talking About as previously announced, are currently going on according to The Film Stage. The soundtrack will apparently have a big role in the film, besides from taking its name from a Van Halen song, the film will feature songs from Talking Heads, Devo, and Blondie.

The synopsis of the film is as goes: “A spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused and set in the world of 1980 college life, Everybody Wants Some is a comedy that follows a group of friends as they navigate their way through the freedoms and responsibilities of unsupervised adulthood. Get ready for the best weekend ever.”

Members of the cast include Tyler Hoechlin from Road to Perdition and 7th Heaven, Wyatt Russell from 22 Jump Street, Ryan Guzman from Step Up, Will Brittain from The Doo Dah Man, Glen Powell from Sex Ed, and Zoey Deutch from Ringer and Vampire Academy.

Providing more context on a talk with Marc Maron earlier this year, Linklater said: “You show up at college and you’re listening to Van Halen, but you go to discos to chase women, but then you end up at a punk club or a country bar because Urban Cowboy was big at that time. All that stuff was on the table, so it’s an interesting cultural moment because they go to an art party and they’re listening to Talking Heads, so it’s a cultural moment where I’m like, ‘Who am I?’ Am I punk? Am I new wave? Am I heavy metal?”

Everybody Wants Some will be released through Paramount Theaters this fall.

Elliot Smith documentary Heaven Adores You to be released on Blue-ray and DVD

It has been announced by Eagle Rock Entertainment that a home release of the new Elliot Smith documentary, Heaven Adores You. The Nickolas Rossi-directed film will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital formats starting on July 17th.

The film is soundtracked by previously unreleased, and the occasional unfinished, songs as it focuses on Smith’s life and music through “the dense yet often isolating landscapes of the three major cities he lived in: Portland, New York & Los Angeles.” The release will come with an hour of extended interviews and a performance of “Heaven Adores You” from Aaron Espinoza from Earlimart.

Pre-orders for Heaven Adores You, which includes T-shirt bundles as well, are going on right now.

Biopic about The Kinks underway from director Julien Temple

The Kinks commemorated their 50th anniversary last year with a career-spannijg anthology, which featured exclusive notes from David Bowie aptly named The Essential Kinks. The iconic rock band from Britain will now further with a new biopic named You Really Got Me.  

Julien Temples, who is best known for his Sex Pistols-based film, The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle and Glastonbury, a documentary about the history of the UK festival will be directing the film. This new  film apparently will focus on the intense relationship between the band’s brothers Ray and Dave Davies.

Temple  told Screen Daily recently: “This is an exciting chance to tell the Kinks’ story in a visceral and real way. The lyrics of The Kinks have always been fascinating to me and there is an amazing human story here as well which has yet to be captured on film.”
Johnny Flynn, singer-songwriter and actor, and George MacKay are planned to play Ray and Dave Davies respectively. Julien’s daughter, Juno Temple, will play Rasa, Ray Davies’ former wife, who would contribute to the band occasionally.  

You Reallt Got Me has apparently been a “long-time passion project” for Jeremy Thomas, the producer. He has secured the rights to both of the brothers’ autobiographies and has Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais writing the script. The film is set to start shooting later this year. 

Christoph Waltz to make directorial debut and star in The Worst Marriage in Georgetown

Christoph Waltz will make his directorial debut with The Worst Marriage in Georgetown as well as star in it. The announcement comes just as the production company, V0ltage Pictures, has agreed to finance and produce the film, which will be pitched at Cannes in the coming weeks.

Based on a New York Times Magazine article of the same name written by Franklin Foer, the film tells the story of Albercht Muth, an eccentric socialite who married at 26 to a 71-year-old wealthy widow named Viola Drath. Now 30 years later, Muth beats Drath to death in their bathroom, something he was found guilty of in 2014 and is sentenced to serve 50 years in a federal prison.

Muth, during their marriage, took up the personas of a US Army officer, a count, a spy, and an Iraqi general, all tho his wife’s amusement and pleasure. Regardless of trying to plead insanity before being found same, Muth maintains that he is innocent. He claims an Iranian hit was put on him due to his allegiance to Iraq, and Drath was murdered in a fight with an assassin. In a letter he wrote about his conviction, he called “on my Iranian brothers to advise the U.S. government of my innocence.”

The representation of the story on screen will start production on October 12th. David Auburn, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Proof, is writing the script. Waltz will also produce along with Erica Steinberg, from Inglorious Basterds, and Nicolas Chartier.

Someone created a 166 track playlist of almost every song from Wes Anderson films

For nearly 20 years, Texas filmmaker Wes Anderson has been making his viewers come back for more especially when it comes down to his signature sounds, which includes everything from Academy Award winner Alexandre Desplat, The Kinks, or Seu Jorge. With that, there has recently a 166-track Spotify playlist that collects almost every song in a Anderson-directed film.

Rob Dean from The A.V. Club had shared this knowledge of this gem earlier today, saying that it overlooked Mark Mothersbaugh’s orchestral arrangements and anything from Satyajit Ray on The Darjeeling Limited. However, the tracklisting still has collected songs from as far as the black-and-white short film Bottle Rocket short up until the Academy Award-winning The Grand Budapest Hotel.

There is something every Anderson fan can find here, but it is much more meaningful to listen to the entire playlist from the beginning. 

Brian May says Freddie Mercury biopic announcement was merely a joke

It was announced yesterday that Sacha Baron Cohen had rejoined the long in the making biopic about Freddie Mercury and would be the writer, director and star in the film. This announcement came from longtime Queen manager, Jim Beach during his Artist and Manager Awards speech this week. However, it now seems that it was all just a joke. 

Brian May, the guitarist for Queen, said that Beach was simply kidding when he announced Cohen’s participation and he was misquoted by the press. In a recent posting on his website, he explained, “There’s a report … but it doesn’t mention a small joke that Jim threw in during his acceptance speech. He said that, in response to enquiries about the progress on the Freddie feature film, that Sacha Baron Cohen had been re-engaged to write, produce, and direct the film, as well as starring in all four major roles! I’m afraid some folks might have taken it seriously!”

Cohen left the project after being cast for Mercury for years, because of disagreements with the surviving members of Queen about the tone and direction of the film.  in 2013 due to disagreements with the surviving members of Queen over the film’s direction and tone. It was reported previously that Ben Whishaw, who played in movies such as Skyfall, Cloud Atlas, and I’m Not There has been a favorite to play Mercury in place of Cohen. It remains unclear what will happen however. 

Update: Sacha Baron Cohen will not write, direct,  and star in new Freddie Mercury biopic

The on-and-off again biopic about Freddie Mercury starring Sacha Baron Cohen seems to be back in progress. Cohen, last year, had reportedly left the project because of disagreements with the surviving members of Wueen over the direction and tone of the film. However, now Jim Beach, the manager for Queen, has announced that Cohen is back on the project and will also be writing and directing the project. 

Beach said during a speech at the Artist and Manager Awards this week: “You have probably followed the saga of the famous Queen-Freddie Mercury biopic which has been developing in Hollywood for the last seven years. An important breakthrough is that we have now managed to persuade Sacha Baron Cohen to write, produce and direct this movie, and he has also agreed to star.”

Update March 29th: According to Brian May, guitarist for Queen, Beach was just joking about his new participation in the Mercury biopic.

“You have probably followed the saga of the famous Queen-Freddie Mercury biopic which has been developing in Hollywood for the last seven years,” Beach said during a speech at the Artist and Manager Awards this week. “An important breakthrough is that we have now managed to persuade Sacha Baron Cohen to write, produce and direct this movie, and he has also agreed to star.”

Even though Beach did not talk about the timetable for the film production, the IMDB shows that there is nothing scheduled for Cohen once he finished filming a comedy named  Grimsby so production could begin even this year presumably. 

Kevin Smith confirms new Clerks and Mallrats films

Actor and director Kevin Smith has announced that he will begin work on a third  Clerks film which will be the sequel to 1995’s Mallrats.

The filming for Clerks III will begin in May in Philadelphia. Both Jason Mewes and Smith will return as their roles as Jay and Silent Bob. Rosario Dawson, Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, and Marilyn Ghigliotti are also set to return to the film.

At the same time, Mallrats 2 production will begin in 2016. Smith told Tucson radio station Rock 102 KFMA: “It’s half scripted right now and we’re pulling our loot together. We’ve got up until the beginning of 2016. By the time we get to May 2016, we’re going to be shooting.”

Smith explained that the concept for Mallrats 2 “kind of came out of nowhere. Lately I’ve been doing this thing where I’m like ‘Do you want to do what’s good for your career or do you just want to have fun?’ Nobody’s clamoring for a ‘Mallrats’ sequel, but I would love to make one. It’s been like 20 years.”

The original Mallrats cast included starred Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Shannen Doherty, and Jeremy London as well as Mewes and Smith.

In the midst of these announcements, Smigh is also working on both another horror film in the concept of his 2014 project Tusk entitled Moose Jaws as well as a hockey film named Hit Someone. 

Originally wanting to retire after Clerks III, Smith said his creativity was rejuvenated with the success of Tusk.  

Watch the trailer for Kurt Cobain documentary “Montage of Heck”

The authorized Kurt Cobain documentary, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, will air on HBO on May 4. According to the Playlist, the first official trailer for the film is out which can be watched below. 

Cobain and Courtney Love’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, is one of the executive producers of the film. The documentary will have, according to the press release, “dozens of Nirvana songs and performances as well as previously unheard Cobain originals,” as well as “no-holds-barred access to Kurt Cobain’s archives, home to his never-before-seen home movies, recordings, artwork, photography, journals, demos, personal archives, family archives and songbooks.”

The Hollywood Reporter says that the documentary will feature a 12-minute unreleased acoustic song by Cobain.