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I'm Not There (the Dylan movie starring Heath)

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MaineWriter:
News from Venice...

VENICE (Reuters) - Taiwanese director Ang Lee's sexually explicit "Lust, Caution" was the surprise winner of the Golden Lion for best picture at the Venice film festival on Saturday, just two years after he won with "Brokeback Mountain."

The movie is a World War Two thriller set in Shanghai featuring long and sometimes violent sex scenes which Lee has hinted were real.

"It is overwhelming, because this movie has taken me to some very difficult places," Lee told the red carpet award ceremony on the Lido waterfront.

"I have invited you to come along with me and in the end to stay down there with me ... You are the seven samurais, I needed your help," he added, addressing the seven-member jury.

Brian De Palma, whose "Redacted" shocked audiences in Venice with its brutal reconstruction of the real-life rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers, won the Silver Lion award for best director.

Tunisian-born director Abdellatif Kechiche and his drama "La Graine et le mulet" ("The Secret of the Grain"), was one of two runner-up jury prize winners, and was described by the jury as the "revelation" of the 2007 edition of the festival.

The film is about an old Arab man and his family seeking to realize their dream of opening a restaurant in southern France.

While not overtly political, it touches on the issue of integration by immigrants, and whether they have what the director called the "right to be different."

Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There," one of six U.S. productions in the 23-strong main competition, took the other runner-up prize for his conceptual biopic about singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.

In a bold piece of casting, Australian-born Cate Blanchett was one of six performers to play the singer at various stages of his life, and it paid off when she was named best actress in Venice this year.

Hollywood star Brad Pitt was the surprise winner of the best actor award for his portrayal of outlaw Jesse James in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."

His co-star, Casey Affleck, who played James' killer Ford as a creepy social misfit, had been widely expected to scoop the prize.

Venice director Marco Mueller, facing competition from festivals in Rome and Toronto, succeeded in attracting some of Hollywood's biggest stars, although his decision to invite so many U.S. films was criticized for making Venice too commercial.

Pitt and partner Angelina Jolie came to the canal city with their children, and George Clooney, Woody Allen, Johnny Depp, Charlize Theron and Keira Knightley all wowed the noisy crowds gathering along the red carpet each night.

Reuters

Ellemeno:
A four and a half minute video of interviews with Todd Haynes and Heath Ledger at the 2007 Venice Film Festival.  Heath starts about two minutes in:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lgPj9JRFmY[/youtube]

ednbarby:
I had such a nice time at the movies this past weekend.  I got to see the trailer for "Rendition" on Friday night, and the trailer for "I'm Not There" on Sunday.  So nice to get a fix of both of my boys again, albeit not together. 

Ellemeno:
In the "Well, Isn't He Macho?" department:

Blanchett's husband 'repulsed' by Dylan role
http://www.actressarchives.com/news.php?id=8043

BY: WENN   |   Wednesday, September 19, 2007
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Actress Cate Blanchett terrified her husband while filming BOB DYLAN biopic I'M NOT THERE - because he was "repulsed" at the sight of her disguised as a man.

The Elizabeth star appears in drag in the new movie - for which she was named best actress at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month (Sep07) - but her spouse Andrew Upton hated seeing his usually feminine wife in character as the male singer/songwriter.

She says, "He wouldn't come near me. He was utterly repulsed by it."

And Blanchett admits she was prepared to go to great lengths to portray a man.

She explains, "My friend put a sock down my pants and that kind of helped my walk."

The Todd Haynes-directed movie sees six different actors including Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Blanchett take on the life of Dylan during different periods of his career.

Ellemeno:
New poster:

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