Also in Wednesday afternoon's round-up of news briefs, Amy Adams re-teams with David O. Russell on a pic; the Academy ups exec in newly-created post; Sundance Institute adds 10 titles to new initiative; And Bollywood's first superstar dies.
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Also in Wednesday morning's news briefs: Lee Daniels finds his Jacqueline Kennedy for The Butler, Harvey Weinstein and Karl Lagerfeld seek a star at amfAR auction, Cannes Film Market reports an increase in attendance and screenings, and more...
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The 2011 AFI Fest drew to a close Thursday night with the North American public premiere of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, directed, appropriately enough, by AFI-associated Steven Spielberg. Though he was unable to attend in person (much of the crew of Tintin, including Spielberg, was on location filming Lincoln), he sent star Jamie Bell in his stead to introduce the film and play a pre-recorded message for the audience at the Grauman's Chinese, which became so packed festival goers spilled over into a second overflow theater for the premiere.
AFI Fest closes up shop today (with a very climactic showing of The Adventures of Tintin), but before we say so long to the parking garage at Hollywood & Highland, we have one piece of business left to deal with: the awards. AFI awarded its Grand Jury Prize to Julia Loktev's The Loneliest Planet "for its bold exploration of societal structures and gender roles, set against a landscape that conveys both profound beauty and profound alienation." And because Gael Garcia Bernal is adorbz. Click through for the rest of prizes and announcements.
AFI Fest's "secret" screening of Steven Soderbergh's Haywire wasn't so much a showcase for the AFI darling as it was a coming out party for MMA bruiser-cum-action heroine Gina Carano, whom Soderbergh glimpsed fighting one night on TV and subsequently built a star-studded spy thriller pic around. But it's hard to say if first-time actor Carano will branch out in a film career beyond the often lo-fi action experiment. Is she a hybrid of Angelina Jolie and Steven Seagal, as Soderbergh suggested Sunday night? Or is there more of a Cynthia Rothrock quality to Carano's steely gaze and powerhouse physicality?
Friday night at the 2011 AFI Fest, the seats in the historic Grauman's Chinese Theatre weren't quite filled to capacity for the gala screening of Luc Besson's The Lady, which received mildly lukewarm reviews on the festival circuit. But, as it did at its premiere in Toronto, the biopic of Burmese democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi received a standing ovation at AFI Fest -- one clearly directed primarily at star and Oscar hopeful Michelle Yeoh.
J. Edgar is undoubtedly one of the flashiest Oscar contenders this year. With Clint Eastwood's direction, Dustin Lance Black's script, and the well-pancaked melodrama of Leonardo DiCaprio, Judi Dench and Armie Hammer, we're dealing with a formidable award-attractant group. But was the film's quality worthy of opening AFI Fest this year? Movieline saw J. Edgar last night -- along with a bunch of other critics, bloggers and assorted plebes -- and we're not quite sure. Here are the first 140-character reactions to the movie. (We threw in some comedian takes for the hell of it.)
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