Take That, New Mexico: After earlier leanings toward our western neighbor, the Truman Capote biopic Every Word Is True is set to shoot in Austin for two months beginning in mid-February. The film follows the author as he researches the Kansas murders he chronicled with In Cold Blood. Was the location change for the George Plimpton novel adaptation due to more experienced Texas crew folk? That adobe is rare in Kansas? I’d like to think it’s that Sandra Bullock, who stars as Capote’s childhood friend Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird), needed more time to celebrate her civil court victory over an Austin homebuilder. Bullock has heavyweight company in a cast reported to include Gwyneth Paltrow as Peggy Lee, Sigourney Weaver as a socialite, Mark Ruffalo as killer Perry Smith, Alan Cumming, Anjelica Huston, Ashley Judd, Kevin Kline, and, last but most important, Capote dead ringer Toby Jones as the author. Christine Vachon is producing for Killer Films and Warner Independent, along with Austin’s Anne Walker-McBay. Douglas McGrath (screenwriter of Nicholas Nickleby and Emma) adapted the script and will direct the pic, which is reported by Variety to be in the $13 million-$15 million range. It’s not the only Capote film out there. United Artists’ Capote, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, is also slated for production.
Conway Rocks: Austin screenwriter Joe Conway isn’t resting on his laurels for critically feted Undertow. He penned the independent On the Rocks, which is about to wrap in Houston with Timothy Bottoms (The Last Picture Show) starring as a jaded actor whose midlife crisis is interrupted on the set by an inspiring boy portrayed by Ben Estus. Also in the cast are Meredith Baxter as the actor’s wife, Polly Bergen as his mother, and Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer of Twin Peaks) as the boy’s mother. At Conway’s suggestion, Austinite Shane Kelly, shooter for Richard Linklater‘s A Scanner Darkly, was hired as director of photography. Also of note, Sergei Bodrov has been attached to direct Conway’s adaptation of Jack London‘s The Call of the Wild.
Double Wrap: Robert Rodriguez has wrapped The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D. Did I mention that Mr. Courteney Cox, aka David Arquette, and Kristen Davis (Sex and the City) are in the cast as the parents of an outcast boy who makes up imaginary superhero friends and sets off on adventures? I should have. The ever-busy Rodriguez followed up with a few days of reshoots for Sin City, and for the coming months should be frantically ensconced in the editing room.
Write On, Stekler: University of Texas film prof Paul Stekler has been nominated by the Writers’ Guild of America for outstanding writing in the Documentary- Current Events category for Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style, which focuses on the race between Patrick Rose and Rick Green for a state house seat that represents President Lyndon Johnson’s hometown. The doc was edited and co-produced by Sandra Guardado.
“Hick” Up: Austin-based Film Threat writer Scott Von Doviak‘s book Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema is set for release this month and coins the term hixploitation for the moonshine-loving, squealing-like-a-pig genre. Doviak got the book idea while out in the sticks for an Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow Deliverance screening.
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This article appears in December 24 • 2004.