• Surely this comes as no surprise to anyone, but the Academy has bypassed its rule for the Best Picture category to allow The Reader four producers named as nominees. This special exception was made due to the film’s “rare and extraordinary circumstance” of having two of its producers, Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella, die during production. Though The Reader is a dark horse for the top award, there is now a slight chance we’ll see three posthumous Oscars awarded on February 22.
• If ever there was a franchise that could use a do-over, its Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Fortunately, Warner Bros. is rebooting the series and re-adapting the popular video game in a way that will “bear no resemblance to the original pictures.” That doesn’t necessarily mean it will be better, but it leaves room for that possibility.
• The excellent Brazilian filmmaker Jose Padilha (Bus 174) has been stacking up Hollywood gigs since he won at Berlin last year with The Elite Squad, but the first project to go into production will be The Sigma Protocol, based on Robert Ludlum’s final novel, which will be modernized to focus on the present economy rather than on Nazis. Wait, does this mean recession fetish trumps Nazi fetish?
• Joe Carnahan has put his troubled Pablo Escobar film to the side, for now, in order to direct and co-script The A-Team for producer Ridley Scott and executive producer Tony Scott. Could this be the greatest no-nonsense TV adaptation since S.W.A.T.? Carnahan’s view on the matter makes it seem so: “Fox hired me to make it as emotional, real and accessible as possible without cheesing it up.”
• Dueling Steve McQueen biopics!

Variety’s story on the death of Anthony Minghella has the first details on cause of death, and sadly, it appears that it was unforeseen. The filmmaker apparently “suffered a brain hemorrhage at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning at Charing Cross Hospital in London, where he had undergone a routine operation on his neck.”

Spout interviewed Minghella when his last released film, Breaking and Entering, had its U.S. premiere at the 2006 Denver Film Festival. You can watch that interview above.

UPDATE: The Guardian says the “routine operation” was motivated by “cancer of the tonsils and neck.” The surgery took place last week and the prognosis looked good, until “he developed a haemorrhage last night and they were not able to stop it.”

Unexpected unpleasant news this morning: Anthony Minghella, Oscar winning director of The English Patient, Cold Mountain and The Talented Mister Ripley, and chairman of the British Film Institute, has died at the age of 54. The AP and BBC stories include no details as to cause of death; all we know of Minghella’s last days is that he apparently recently wrapped The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, based on a script by Richard Curtis.

This story is, obviously, developing. We’ll post more when there’s more to post.

UPDATE: Minghella reportedly died of a brain hemorrhage whilst in the hospital for a “routine operation.”

A funny thing happens at film festivals, I call it festival fever. You arrive after hours of bouncing from airport to airport, having barely slept the night before. Dazed but excited, you wander into your first film. And it blows your mind. This is why you’re here! This is why you love movies! But then you see that same movie a few months later on DVD and it’s… uh… why did I like this?

This happened to me at the first film festival I went to. I was at the Denver Film Festival with Spout and we saw the North American premiere of Anthony Minghella’s Breaking and Entering. Somehow, we all loved it. Later, we all agreed that it was lackluster, especially considering the director of The English Patient and Cold Mountain was teaming up with Juliette Binoche.

Festival Fever is hitting me pretty hard this year at Telluride. It’s been exacerbated by very little sleep the night before leaving, a harrowing drive through a mountain pass, and meeting and being denied interviews with some of the best actors in the world (don’t worry, we’re still trying). Needless to say, I was skeptical of my own opinion after seeing my first film of the festival, Todd Haynes‘ Bob Dylan pic, I’m Not There…

…Read more

So we went a little nuts at the Denver Film Festival–just shy of 50 podcasts went up on SpoutBlog and the Denver sitelet. But unless you’re really bored this Thanksgiving weekend, we realize you won’t have time to sit down and listen to them one by one. We thought we would help out by highlighting a handful of our favorites. Like all greatest hits albums, it’s not going to provide the full experience, but it at least gives you a good sense for what was going on in Denver. Listen in…

- Academy Award-winning director Anthony Minghella talking about his newest film, Breaking and Entering.

- Angie Avarez discussing her mockumentary about high school teachers, Chalk.

- Brothers and ultimate collaborators Aaron and Adam Nee talking about their film The Last Romantic.

- Filmmaker David Gow and the two impressive male leads in Steel Toes.

- Sister team Amy and Andrea Doe talking about making Saucy Flyer UFO P.I..

- Filmmaker Matthew Porterfield discussing being a kindergarten teacher and how he made his documentary Hamilton.

- Samira Goetschel and her controversial film Our Own Private Bin Laden.

- The November 15 Roundtable Recap with Bill, Kevin and Dave, talking about nine or so films they had just watched.

- The unexpected interview with Will Ferrell and his wife Viveca Paulin, focusing on Paulin’s work on the film Nail Polish.

- Richard Berge and his documentary The Rape of Europa, which explores the plunder of Europe’s art treasures during WWII.

- Our first conversation with Canadian cinema verite treasure Allan King.

- One amazing question and one amazing answer from Tim Robbins.

- The November 17 Roundtable Recap with Dave, Paul, Kristin and Kevin, who shares a great story about the Tim Robbins event.

- Another great director with an impressive list of films, Michael Apted, discussing the inspirational aspects of his new historical film Amazing Grace.

Aaron, Bill, Kevin and I watched Breaking and Entering at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on Opening Night of the Denver Film Festival. Unfortunately we did not have a ride on the gondola to do our podcast in but we were all enchanted by the amazing venue we were in.

Starz Denver Film Festival, Spout podcast, Roundtable Recap, Thursday November 9, 2006, Bill, Dave, Kevin, Aaron