Short Cuts
Go on and take it: Renée Zellweger to star in and produce Piece of My Heart, the long-awaited Janis Joplin biopic.
By Marc Savlov, Fri., June 27, 2003
Renée Zellweger Slept Here Dept.: You can stop holding your breath now -- in the tortuous and oft-postponed route from Austin to San Francisco to the big screen, Port Arthur-native Janis Joplin's story finally looks to be on the production fast track, this judging from a recent announcement from Paramount Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment that the whiskey 'n' gravel-voiced countercultural icon will be portrayed by Texan and former Leatherface nemesis Renée Zellweger in Piece of My Heart, slated for "an early 2004" shoot, with presumably at least part of the production slated for the Austin area. The news comes after some seven years of on-again, off-again maneuverings to bring Joplin's bio to the screen. Although a number of scripts and drafts have been written over the years, producer Tom Rosenberg of Lakeshore says that the film is still without a writer and director and that any decisions along those lines will be in part determined by Zellweger, who is co-producing with Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi... In other local film news, the initial trailer for Tim McCanlies' Secondhand Lions is up online at www.secondhandlions.com. Paul Alvarado-Dykstra of Montgolfier Heavy Industries (www.montgolfier.net) says McCanlies is in Bratislava working on the music score with Patrick Doyle (Bridget Jones's Diary). Rumors of an Austin premiere are making the rounds, but at this point they're just that... And as if that weren't enough on the Alvarado-Dykstra creative front, the former Ain't-It-Cool-Newster and McCanlies' assistant is going to be editing the completely redesigned (by graphic-design guru Mark English) Austin Film Society magazine-in-the-making POV, which will now be "a mini film mag for the entire community," according to Alvarado-Dykstra. The relaunch issue, with vastly expanded coverage, guest editorials, and all manner of filmistica should be out by the time you read this and will be available -- free -- at film-related sites around town (i.e., the Alamo Drafthouse, Landmark's Dobie, et al.). More yes now thank you.
