The world premiere of The Faculty will takeplace in Austin, Texas at the Paramount Theatre on Wednesday, December 16. Director
Robert Rodriguez and producer
Elizabeth Avellán will be on hand to present their new filmed-in-Austin, aliens-posing-as-high-school-teachers horror adventure as a benefit for the
Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund, which in the three years of its existence has awarded $130,000 to emerging film and video artists. The film boasts a stunning lineup of some of today's hottest young stars (Elijah Wood, Shawn Hatosy, Josh Hartnett, Laura Harris, Clea DuVall, and Usher Raymond) as the students and an eclectic crop of talent (Salma Hayak, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Patrick, Jon Stewart, Piper Laurie, Christopher McDonald, Famke Janssen, and our own Harry Knowles and Louis Black) as the, ahem, faculty. The script is written by Scream scribe Kevin Williamson and Swimming With Sharks' George Huang. Hosts of the evening include
Mike Judge,
Richard Linklater,
Guillermo Del Toro,
Matthew McConaughey, and
Harry Knowles. Tickets are on sale to Austin Film Society members, exclusively, through Friday, December 11. Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Saturday, December 12. As an added bonus, each ticket-holder is eligible to win the souped-up 1970 GTO hot rod featured in the film. This pricey collectible will be given away at the Q&A after the film. Each ticket also admits the bearer to a post-screening party whose location will be announced at the show. Tickets are on sale to AFS members at the Paramount box office through Friday (present your membership card). On Saturday, general public tickets will be available at the box office (which opens at noon), through Star Tickets outlets, or by calling 469-SHOW or 888/597-STAR (out of town). Ticket prices are $15, $20, & $35...
Get your picture taken with a Klingon this weekend as the Austin area branch of the Klingon Order of the Phoenix IKV Fek'lhr's Fire (a Star Trek fan club) holds a fundraiser to celebrate the opening of Star Trek: Insurrection. The proceeds benefit Texas Sci-Con and Any Baby Can. The food, fun, and raffles can be found Friday, December 11 at the Tinseltown South, 4:40-10pm; Saturday December 12 at the Barton Creek Cinema, 3:30-9:30pm; and Sunday, December 13 at the Round Rock 8, 3:30-8pm. For more info call 276-9404...
As far as modern remakes go, it's not enough that we currently have out there Gus Van Sant's 1998 "re-creation" of Psycho, and Enemy of the State's smart take on Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation. The next few weeks weigh in with a couple more. You may have thought that the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan film You've Got Mail is a sleepless-in-cyberspace update of the stars' other co-starring vehicle from a few years back. But, no, in addition to being a shameless marketing plug for that ubiquitous e-mail service, the film is an update of the charming Ernst Lubitsch romantic comedy from 1940, The Shop Around the Corner, starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart. The original shows this Thursday, December 17, 7pm, on the Turner Classic Movies network. The station offers a chance to bone up on another soon-to-be-released remake movie too: the original Mighty Joe Young featuring the award-winning Ray Harryhausen special effects. TCM airs the 1949 original on Friday, December 18, 9pm. The remake, starring Bill Paxton and Charlize Theron, will be released on Friday, December 25.
