Last night Harvey Weinstein invited industry figures and selected press to see a sizzle reel of The Weinstein Company’s upcoming releases, and a very solid slate they have too. First up was Adam Jones, a kind of Jerry Maguire with pots and pans, starring Bradley Cooper as an American restaurateur who moves to London to change the face of upscale dining (yes, you read that correctly). With a cast that includes Sienna Miller, Uma Thurman and Emma Thompson, mainstream success seems likely.
Two boxing movies followed, one fictional, one not. The first, Southpaw, has already gained Oscar buzz for a transformational performance by star Jake Gyllenhaal, and the clips did not disappoint. Rather than a Raging Bull-style biopic, the film suggests more of a psychological drama, with the star playing a former boxer whose life spirals out of control after the death of his wife, returning to the ring in a bid to regain custody of his daughter.
Hands Of Stone, meanwhile, is the story of Robert Duran, who won world championships in four weight divisions, but is best remembered for a fight in which he lost to Sugar Ray Leonard in 1980. With Robert De Niro as his trainer, it suggests a traditional, Rocky-type narrative, with a much-deserved lead for Edgar Ramirez that may soften up audiences for his role in the upcoming Point Break remake.
Aside from reels for Tulip Fever and The Little Prince, two titles that really stood out came from leftfield. Lion, starring Dev Patel, is the true story of an Indian boy who becomes separated from his family and, after a stay in an orphanage, is adopted by an Australian couple. Years later, the boy, now a young man, tries to find his village using Google Maps and his memories of his youth. With Nicole Kidman as his mother and Rooney Mara as his girlfriend, this could well be the top-drawer feelgood weepie of the coming year.
A bigger surprise was the intense reel of clips from No Escape, directed by John Erick Dowdle and starring Owen Wilson as an American who moves his wife (Lake Bell) and daughter to South-East Asia. If it sounds like the premise for a corny stoner comedy, it's anything but. As the region plunges into civil war, Wilson’s character finds himself caught between the battling factions, with Pierce Brosnan as a fellow expat trying to help him flee the country. The footage shown was intense and tough; this is certainly a fall release to look forward to.
Aside from reels for Todd Haynes' gorgeous Carol and Justin Kurzel's demented Macbeth, both of which premiere here in Cannes this year, the crown jewel of the evening, however, was a sneak peek at Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, which wrapped its LA leg this week. Empire visited the Telluride set in February – keep an eye on future issues for the full story – and the reel gave a very good indication of the film’s look and feel. Scored to The Rolling Stones' 'Gunface', it offered a taste of its “Glorious 70mm” and introduced the eight core characters – played by Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Béchir, Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen and Tim Roth – as they convene in a remote trading post, Minnie’s Haberdashery, to escape from a blizzard.
We collared Weinstein after the screening and asked him what we can expect. “We had so little footage to work with,” he said, “but I’m so proud of the trailer and Quentin loved it too. You’re gonna see tour de force performances. There are eight strangers, and there are surprises ahead of you. It looks like one thing but it’s something else.”