Film News

Seen and Heard at SXSW

Robert Rodriguez confirmed during a South by Southwest Film Festival panel that he will shoot his next film, a futuristic thriller, in Austin this June. He called it Nerveracker, but previous reports have it as the plural Nerverackers. Rodriguez said he sold the film as a scriptless title 10 years ago to the Weinstein brothers. Rodriguez also revealed that he finally became a college graduate last year... Tim McCanlies, whose wacky comedy The 2 Bobs premiered at SXSW, said he took on the directing chores for Alabama Moon, based on Watt Key's young-adult novel of the same name, with only a few weeks' notice. The film was shot in New Orleans but could have easily been lensed on McCanlies' 350-acre Bastrop County ranch if not for the larger financial incentives offered in Louisiana, he said. Famed more as a screenwriter and script doctor, McCanlies is having a hot year behind the camera with the two films in the can and seeking distribution. Little known fact? McCanlies put himself through Southern Methodist University film school as a Dallas cop.

Austin-Raised Actor Honors 9/11 Heroes

Austin High School grad Todd Allen has been in 50 or so film and television projects, including Grand Canyon and AMC's Broken Trail, but he says his latest, the short "American Identity," is perhaps the most personally fulfilling. Set around the events of 9/11, it will tour military bases, starting with Fort Hood. The idea came from fellow producer Stephen Rollins, who had a birthday dinner Sept. 10, 2001, in a restaurant atop the World Trade Center. While there he received a telephone call from old friends in Boston, who would die the next day in a hijacked airplane. "As the son of a Naval aviator and the nephew of a Marine who fought in Vietnam, it is particularly gratifying," said Allen, who also recently starred as a Texas Ranger who brings down a drug cartel in American Cartel, which shot in San Antonio and Uvalde.

And the Rest …

Reel Women presents Lunafest at 2pm Sunday at the Dell Jewish Community Campus (7300 Hart). The program includes 10 short films that deal with what it means to be a woman in a new century. Proceeds benefit Reel Women programs and the Breast Cancer Fund... Actor Danny DeVito will be signing bottles of his new Limoncello at Twin Liquors in Hancock Center from 11am to 1pm on Saturday... Will Moore's Cowboy Smoke screens at 7:30pm tonight, Thursday, March 26, at the Alamo Lake Creek as part of the ongoing Austin Film Festival series AFF Presents. Brian Satterwhite, the film's composer, recently was honored for his score at the Park City Film Music Festival... The Texas-shot "Desdemona: A Love Story" premieres at the AFI-Dallas International Film Festival on Tuesday.