Low Life (Cotillard, Phoenix, Renner)

[kvz5]

http://www.deadline.com/2011/05/jam...rion-cotillard-joaquin-phoenix-jeremy-renner/

James Gray's 'Low Life' Script Draws Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Renner

EXCLUSIVE: We Own The Night writer/director James Gray is fast mobilizing his next film. It's called Low Life, and it will star Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix, with Jeremy Renner in discussions to play the third lead. The project is being packaged by CAA. Several financiers are in the mix, but I hear that Wild Bunch will likely get it. Discussions are also taking place with domestic distributors, and deal is expected to be sealed shortly. The Hurt Locker's Greg Shapiro is producing.

I'm told that Cotillard will play a woman attempting to immigrate from Poland. Her American dream turns into a nightmare. While sailing to Ellis Island and a new start, her sister grows deathly ill and she is forced to trade sexual favors for medicine and food to keep her sister alive. Once they land, she is warned to keep quiet about what happened. Though she does, she walks away with immigration papers that deem her a woman with bad morals. With no place to go, she falls prey to a charming sleazebag (Phoenix), who persuades her to turn tricks in New York. Renner is close to signing on to play the sleazebag's cousin, a magician who sweeps the young woman off her feet and is her best chance to escape the nightmarish life she has fallen into. This will be Gray's fourth film with Phoenix, who previously starred in The Yards, We Own The Night and most recently Two Lovers.

Shooting is to begin next year. All of the actors are busy. Cotillard is starring in The Dark Knight Rises, Renner will star in the Tony Gilroy-directed The Bourne Legacy, and Phoenix has returned to work starring in Paul Thomas Anderson's untitled drama.

 

[Wolfwood]

Not to derail the subject, but Renner is in the Bourne Legacy? Is he playing the new Bourne?

 

[Asteroid-Man]

Sounds good!

 

[kvz5]

Marion. Cotillard. Burlesque.

http://www.onlocationvacations.com/...earing-up-to-begin-filming-in-nyc/#more-30563

This week the New York City-based casting agency Grant Wilfley posted a casting call looking for various types to appear in scenes for The Untitled James Gray Project in the New York City area on February 1, 16 & 17, proof the movie will begin filming in NYC within the next few weeks.

The film, also referred to as Low Life, is about “an innocent immigrant woman (played by Marion Cotillard) is tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville until a dazzling magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister who is being held in the confines of Ellis Island” and has already received a lot of buzz, partially because it is one of Joaquin Phoenix’s first films in a few years.

 

[flickchick85]

Wow, I'm kinda surprised James Gray wanted to do another movie with Joaquin after the way he tanked the promotion for their last film with his antics for I'm Still Here. I had heard Gray wasn't too happy with the way that all went down. Oh well, I guess they made up. Two Lovers was actually quite good, and this is a great cast, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this flick.

 

[bullets]

Not to derail the subject, but Renner is in the Bourne Legacy? Is he playing the new Bourne?

He'll be playing a different assassin that was trained through Treadstone.

 

[kvz5]

Marion and Joaquin:

Click here for more.

 

[kvz5]

 

[kvz5]

The Weinsteins are rumored to be acquiring this.

2 time Best Actress Marion Cotillard?!

 

[flickchick85]

The Weinsteins are rumored to be acquiring this.

2 time Best Actress Marion Cotillard?!

I'm sure that will happen. Even if it's not with this film.

 

[Raiden]

The Weinsteins are rumored to be acquiring this.

2 time Best Actress Marion Cotillard?!

It would be nice if Cotillard can get an Oscar in an English-speaking role to add to her French role in La Vie En Rose.

This film looks interesting, although after that year-long antic pulled by Phoenix for his movie I'm not sure what to think of him.

 

[terry78]

Haha, it was just him trolling Hollywood, which to be honest, could you blame him?

 

[kvz5]

There's Rust and Bone too which could earn her a nod. 2012 is a great year for her.

 

[flickchick85]

There's Rust and Bone too which could earn her a nod. 2012 is a great year for her.

Yeah, I gotta admit I'm more intrigued by the prospect of seeing her get recognized for an English-speaking role this time, but Rust and Bone definitely looks like a fantastic and potentially award-worthy performance from her as well. Her post-Oscar career has just been full of awesome choices. I don't even blame her for doing Nine, as she was a stand-out in it.

 

[kvz5]

Yeah, I gotta admit I'm more intrigued by the prospect of seeing her get recognized for an English-speaking role this time, but Rust and Bone definitely looks like a fantastic and potentially award-worthy performance from her as well. Her post-Oscar career has just been full of awesome choices. I don't even blame her for doing Nine, as she was a stand-out in it.

Indeed. She definitely has one of the best post-Oscar careers out there. What makes it even more amazing is that she won for a non-English role.

 

[kvz5]

As rumored before, this is being acquired by TWC:

http://www.deadline.com/2012/06/twc...-phoenix-marion-cotillard-jeremy-renner-star/

EXCLUSIVE:The Weinstein Company is near a deal to acquire U.S. rights to an untitled period drama that James Gray wrote and directed, with Joaquin Phoenix, Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Renner starring. Gray has completed the film, and The Weinstein Company will release it next year. The project was one of the juicier packages shopped at the recent Cannes Film Festival by CAA and Wild Bunch. Greg Shapiro, Anthony Katagas, Gray and Worldview CEO Christopher Woodrow are producers. CAA and Worldview made the deal with TWC execs David Glasser, Dan Guando and Negeen Yazdi.

Gray wrote the script with Richard Menello. Early on it was called Low Life and American Dream, but Gray’s camp says it is currently untitled. The film takes place in 1920, as two sisters immigrate to New York from Poland, and when one falls deathly ill, things turn nightmarish for the other sister, played by Cotillard. She is forced to trade sexual favors for medicine and food to keep her sister alive. Once they land, she is warned to keep quiet about what happened. Though she does, she walks away with immigration papers that deem her a woman with bad morals.

With no place to go, she falls prey to a charming sleazebag (Phoenix), who persuades her to turn tricks in New York. Renner plays the parasite’s cousin, a magician who sweeps the young woman off her feet and is her best chance to escape the nightmarish life she has fallen into. It’s Gray’s fourth film with Phoenix, who previously starred in The Yards, We Own The Night and most recently Two Lovers. It also marks Gray’s second film with Harvey Weinstein, who also distributed The Yards. That one ended contentiously, but it was a long time ago and I’m told that TWC has big plans for this one.

It looks like we won't see this until next year though so I guess Marion's Oscar push this year will just be for Rust and Bone but she'll have this next year.

 

[Figs]

I don't know about anyone else but it's great seeing Joaquin acting again.

 

[kvz5]

Definitely! He also has The Master which I'm no doubt expecting a great performance.

 

[kvz5]

They showed a teaser at Telluride. They also changed the title to 'Nightingale'.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayl...ing-marion-cotillard-joaquin-phoenix-20120902

Disappointment with too few showstoppers has been a common complaint at the Telluride Film Festival this weekend (mostly by privileged film critics and Oscar bloggers wanting more sizzle). Each year, Telluride sneaks 2-4 surprise films not listed on the official line-up and generally of marquee value (last year, "Butter" was one of the big contenders). This year, the only not-so-secret surprise was Ben Affleck's entertaining thriller "Argo." While a terrific suspenser, only one surprise left many pundits wanting more.

Well, it turns out there was one small extra surprise, albeit just a small tease, but one that whet our appetite for what is one of our most anticipated films of 2013: James Gray's next feature length film, once known as "Lowlife." However during Sunday's Marion Cotillard tribute (which screened the superb "Rust And Bone"), Telluride announced the surprise appearance of James Gray and the director revealed a snippet of his up-until-now-untitled drama starring Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner, which the director said is now known as "Nightingale."

"It used to be called 'Lowlife,'" Gray said, "But the author of the novel threatened to sue me. So now we're calling it 'Nightingale.'" Gray joked that a few others were vying for the title, but added, "We'll win in the end...coming sometime in 2017," he joked.

Set in the 1920s,the film stars Cotillard as Sonya, one of two immigrant sisters who travel to New York, only to see the other sister become deathly ill. In order to help her, Cotillard heads down a dark path where she sells herself for money and medicine, eventually falling for a charming magician (Renner), the cousin of the sleaze who keeps her turning tricks (Phoenix).

While clearly not completely color timed yet, the five minute teaser of "Nightingale," featured the incredible textured and shadow-heavy work of DP Darius Khondji. Showing off a sequence in a church in New York's Lower East Side, "Nightingale" is Gray's first period-piece, but looks as moody, atmospheric and sombre as his previous pictures, this time strengthened by some incredible art direction and, at least in this scene, the moody religious iconography.

In the scene, Marion Cotillard's prostitute character Sonya is in church praying, and then takes a confessional. "I'm ashamed," she said through weepy tears and a tattered black shawl, before launching into all her crimes and misdemeanors: lying, theft of food, her rape, and ultimately the revelation that she's been ****ing herself out to help pay and take care of her sick sister.

Having just come off the boat from Poland a few months previously coming to the American promised land, it appears that Sonya's dream of a better life is actually worse than she can imagine. "We were caged like animals," Cotilard said about the voyage on a ship to North America. Her rape was public knowledge on the boat and she says she's damaged goods, hence having to prostitute herself.

Seemingly waiting to exploit her when she got off the boat is her pimp, Joaquin Phoenix, who in this scene, surreptitiously follows her into the church and ease-drops on her confession. Renner’s character didn’t feature in what felt like it was probably a scene from early on in the movie.

While brief, it was a tantalizing teaser of what's to come, and given that Gray’s previous films, which include “The Yards,” “We Own The Night” and “Two Lovers” (all of which starred Phoenix), only seem to grow in power, and critical stature, over time, it’s clearly one of the pictures we’re mostly looking forward to in 2013. "Nightingale," will arrive in theaters sometime in 2013 via the Weinstein Company. Our guess would be sometime during the Oscar season, with a stop over in Cannes in May more than likely. Stay tuned for more from the Cotillard tribute, and from Telluride, very soon.

 

[booboolils]

Anyone who was at the screening can you comment on the chemistry between the three leads? Im interested to hear about that

 

[kvz5]

Here are a bunch of reactions from the screening - http://awardsdailyforums.com/showth...nner)-thread&p=1591796&viewfull=1#post1591796

MANDONNA: "I enjoyed it a lot but it was by no means perfect. It was kind of slow at times. But the acting was phenomenal. And the final shot was the most beautiful final shot I've ever seen. But idk like sometimes it felt like it lacked substance and there were some bad cliches. 4/5....

On performances/chances of Oscars: Maayyyybbeeee Marion but Joaquin was really great towards the end. Renner was decent. Marion's character was very soft spoken so it was hard for her to have this incredible performance. But there's one scene she has where I nearly cried holy *beep* It's a monologue from Marion & it's fantastic.

The thing with her performance was that it was mainly just moments that made it great, it wasn't the entire movie.

Actually after thinking about. Her character was really motivated and I thought at first she didn't really give that but now I realize that's the point, she's not supposed to be Jessica Chastain as Maya, she's a poor little immigrant. Ok she was fantastic I take everything about her back.

(same reviewer)
Hello everyone. It is I, the famed Mandonna reviewer. Yes that review was terrible, and I'm sorry. Let me clear things up.

1. I wrote that the second i got out of the movie while walking in New York, trying not to get hit by a car. It wasn't meant to be a review. I was just telling my friend my immediate thoughts.
2. The movie was slow. It's fine. Eyes Wide Shut is one of my favorite movies. I expected it to be slow. But there were times when it was significantly slower than others, and certain scenes didn't progress the story very well. That is why I mentioned it being slow.
3. I gave it a 4/5. It was a really good experience. It's not a perfect movie. But I enjoyed it far more than some other people in the audience seemed to.
4. My contradiction at the end came from me doing some more thinking about Cotillard's character. It didn't hit me at first. I'm the kind of person that contradicts myself a million times until I finally come up with a conclusion. It was a great performance.

Well, the thing I failed to mention was that I was actually in a focus group. Everyone basically said the same things I did, but some were more negative about it. I was pretty much the most positive person talking. Some said it lacked substance. But I think in general, the 25 people in the group did like it. No one disliked it at all.

RE: Weakest Link - Definitely Renner. His character was fun, but he wasn't central to the storyline and the acting was just OK.

RE: Awards Predictions - hmm... I'm really just not sure. If anyone, it would be Marion. But I'm just not sure if her performance is going to stick out amongst whatever other Oscar bait is going to come out later on this year. It was a great performance, and there was one scene in particular where her acting was just absolutely beautiful, but I'm just not sure about Oscars.

As for Joaquin - he was great, but nothing special. His scene at the end is what made it great.

Some other positives -

Cinematography: gorgeous. I was really blown away by some shots, namely the final one. I almost had to gasp for air it was so amazing.
Color Palette: Mainly sepia tones and dark reds. Gorgeous to look at.
Story: Extremely simple, but quite engaging.
The romance: I hate romantic movies, but this was done very well.

***
Bex ‏@bexatious 1m
Saw screener of J.Renn's new movie. Good but a bit depressing. Gorgeously filmed. Recommended if you enjoy character period films.

***
Ricardo Serrano ‏@raserranonyc 5m
Back from seeing LowLife, a FREE movie screening……BBBOOOORRRIIINNNGGG

***
Renner wasn't a non-factor, but he ends up being something of an underused enigma.

I think Cotillard and Cinematography have decent but not great chances. There will be praise for Cotillard speaking Polish and English with a Polish accent, and for one scene in particular. Phoenix less so, simply because even his best scenes in this remind me of how he played certain things in The Master.

***
"This is one depressing film and definitely not one bit audience-friendly. Everyone in the focus group that I was in didn't seem to enjoy it and you could see the atmosphere was...tense.

But anyways, I thought it was alright, but far from the expectations that I had. The story is quite simple if not a little too underdeveloped. I guess I was just expecting some very ambitious story that James Gray himself indicated at when he gave an interview back in December,and felt a little let down by that. The cinematography is absolutely breathtaking, especially in the last third and its final moments.

Marion Cotillard was simply fantastic. There's one particular emotional scene that was a real barnburner, really emotional and had me crying. She speaks Polish as well here, which I'm sure will be a big factor when judging her performance.

Joaquin was great. He definitely elevates his character in the last third of the film, but it's nothing we haven't seen from him before. There were several traits and style of his character that wil remind people of his performance in The Master, but much more underdeveloped and somewhat irrelevant.

Renner was pretty much useless and miscast. It felt like he didn't understand the character he was playing at all. He has a few fun moments but at the end of the day, does nothing to elevate the story in any particular way.

It's a real downer of a movie that could have been something of a work of brilliance if it wasn't for the underdeveloped story, completely lacking in any sorts of substance, which is central to a film like this. I know James Gray can do much much better than this. The script doesn't feel like its written by James Gray. Every character that has inhibited his films previously all feel like they have some sort of meaning and relevance to the story, but that's not in the case of Lowlife unfortunately ."

 

[booboolils]

My computer (or browser) isnt letting me create an account on that forum, can someone ask the Madonna girls about the chemistry between them how they played off one another? Im so intrigued by this film

 

[Bowie]

Marion Cotillard is freaking hot.

And it looks like it might be a decent movie too.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Movie's name was changed to The Immigrant.

Here is a clip (1:38) of Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayl...gray-talks-the-films-look-influences-20130522

It screens at Cannes on the 24th.