Film News
So, sure, SXSW is over, but that just clears your schedule for QT Seven
By Joe O'Connell, Fri., March 24, 2006
QT patootie
Listen up, brothers and sisters, because this news is all good. It's time for the Quentin Tarantino Film Festival, this year to be dubbed QT Seven: The Best of QT and runs April 24-30 at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown. But wait, there's more: A special outdoor screening on April 25 at the Glenn, 13101 Hwy. 71 W., courtesy of the Alamo's Rolling Roadshow. For the uninitiated, the fest is when Tarantino reaches into his bag of horror/biker/blaxploitation/kung fu/etc. prints and welcomes you to the crib for private screenings with QT, his own bad self providing the introductions. Of course, it'll cost you. A very limited number of $145 fest badges go on sale April 4 through the Austin Film Society to AFS members only at 322-0145 (time to join up). Nightly passes are $20 to $30, in addition to $10 single-film passes that will be sold during the festival, but don't count on many vacant seats if history is a clue. Oh, and don't embarrass yourself by asking for an autograph or – worse yet – a few words on the record about Pulp Fiction or Kill Bill. Trust me, all right?
Elvis enters the Burnt Orange building
Next up from University of Texas film arm Burnt Orange Productions is Elvis & Annabelle, a love story between a mortician's son and Miss Texas. The film, written and to be directed by Will Geiger, is an odd take on the Snow White story, with the beauty queen dropping dead onstage, then coming to life on the embalming table. Look for a five-week Austin shoot beginning in mid-April. An earlier effort to shoot the film in Louisiana with Amber Tamblyn and Shia LaBeouf starring fell through after Hurricane Katrina. "We always loved the script," says Carolyn Pfeiffer, Burnt Orange head. "When we heard it was available again, we started talks." Expect news on the latest casting soon. Meanwhile, Burnt Orange is celebrating the South by Southwest premiere of The Cassidy Kids while overseeing Los Angeles editing of Homo Erectus.
Rolling wide and far
In other Alamo Drafthouse news, Tim League let slip that a second Rolling Roadshow Tour is in the works, this one starting in New York City with The Warriors and ending at Alcatraz. No Texas stops this time, but he hints at the ultimate film fan's summer vacation. Meanwhile, the Alamo Drafhouse South is going wide in April, as in wide-screen. Look for a slate of classics, including Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, 2001, Ben Hur, and Doctor Zhivago. More details are at www.originalalamo.com.
And the Rest ...
Hank Hill lives. Mike Judge has clearly said King of the Hill is history after this season. But, clearly, he's changed his mind. Variety reports that an 11th season of the show is in the works with Judge's blessing... War in Iraq story Stop-Loss is now known as "The Untitled Kimberly Peirce Project" and is set to shoot in Austin, El Paso, and New York starting May 1... Austin Mayor Will Wynn and former mayors Jeff Friedman and Bruce Todd shot a scene on Sunday as zombie bums in Z: A Zombie Musical (see News, p.17)... Paul Wright will show a trailer from and celebrate the release of his documentary of all things hot rod and rockabilly, Hot Rod Round Up, during an unofficial kickoff to the Kontinentals Lone Star Round Up custom car show weekend on March 30 evening at the South Austin Speed Shop.
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