The Ides of March

sisieq wrote:LOL, I was undecided where to post it, but put the LA Times article in the Venice FF thread earlier.

Fall Movie Preview 2011: Bring on the Oscar contenders
By Mike Scott, The Times-Picayune

Best Bet!: The Ides of March Even before it was announced as the opening-night feature at the Venice Film Festival, this political thriller was an eye-catching entry on the fall movie calendar. George Clooney writes, directs and stars in a story about a naïve presidential candidate and his press secretary -- played by the bankable Ryan Gosling -- who find out the hard way just how dirty politics can be. Based on the play by Beau Willimon. Why I'm excited: By my count, the biggest names in this cast account for a total of three Oscars in 13 nominations. That's some serious firepower.
Cast: Clooney, Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Director: Clooney. Studio: Columbia Pictures.

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'Ides' reviews mostly good
Dingy Midwestern setting?

That's a complaint about George Clooney's "The Ides of March" in reviews from Wednesday's world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Overall you could give director Clooney a "B" from reviews for the political thriller about a Democratic governor (Clooney) running for president in the Ohio primary.

It was mostly shot in the Cincinnati area during February and set largely in this area.

Ryan Gosling stars as a press secretary who considers switching to the opponent's staff days before the Ohio vote. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti play rival campaign managers.

Some critics loved Clooney's direction and "terrific ensemble cast."

But David Gritten of The Telegraph of London said that "nothing here is more forbidding than any episode of 'The West Wing.' "

Hollywood Reporter critic Deborah Young complained about the "softer narrative, and dingy Midwestern setting ... (and) its structural lack of heroics."

But she also called it "classy and professional throughout," praising photography director Phedon Papamichael, who "works the cold, washed-out grays of Cincinnati into a quietly intense atmosphere piece."

Other review samplings:

Oliver Lyttelton, The Playlist: A political campaign has "rarely been depicted better," thanks to a director (Clooney) who "has a real eye for the detail of the thing" and Papamichael "who gives a real chill to the Midwestern landscapes." Lyttelton, who "had a blast" watching it, called Evan Rachel Wood's scenes with Gosling "electric, although at this point we suspect Gosling would have chemistry with a plank of wood."

Derek Malcolm, London Evening Standard: "There are wheels within wheels in this intelligently written tale of political chicanery which vies with Clooney's 'Good Night, And Good Luck' as the kind of relevant film Hollywood should make but seldom does these days. "To direct, write and act in such a film proves Clooney to be a good deal more than the Clark Gable of his generation."

Justin Chang, Variety: It's an "intriguing but overly portentous drama" because screenwriters Clooney and Grant Heslov "have attempted to make the text feel more specific and contemporary, but instead have inflated it into something implausible, toothless and weirdly dated."

Xan Brooks, The Guardian: "It rolls towards the finish line with a well-oiled, stage-managed precision... (It) is tense and involving."

Guy Lodge, In Contention: "There's an intelligence to the way the film lets ... characters fade into the Cincinnati spring mist - so much in politics, one senses, ends with a whimper rather than a bang - but Clooney is still a little too light with the friction."

"The Ides of March" opens nationwide Oct. 7.

Atalante wrote:" Justin Chang, Variety: It's an "intriguing but overly portentous drama" because screenwriters Clooney and Grant Heslov "have attempted to make the text feel more specific and contemporary, but instead have inflated it into something implausible, toothless and weirdly dated." "

That's what I thought by just seeing the trailer.

Heslov and Clooney sure need to shape up !

From Kentucky news review

George Clooney uses his father's columns in his new movie

By Lu-Ann Farrar — Online Content Manager

Posted: 8:55am on Sep 6, 2011; Modified: 9:33am on Sep 6, 2011

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From left, director Grant Heslov, actresses Evan Rachel Wood, and Marisa Tomei, actors Paul Giamatti, and Philip Hoffman pose with actor director George Clooney as they arrive for the press conference of their movie The Ides of March at the 68th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011. JOEL RYAN — AP Photo


Sept. 6, 2011

The Los Angeles Times reports on George Clooney's new movie, Ides of March. The movie is a political thriller about Mike Morris, a fictional, ultra-liberal, presidential candidate. Clooney said some of the candidate's positions are drawn from decades-old columns written by his father, Nick Clooney, a veteran journalist who ran (and lost) as a Kentucky Democrat for Congress in 2004. "We wanted the Morris speeches to really say something," Clooney told the Times. "They had to be believable enough that they would excite the base." Nick Clooney wasn't simply an oratorical inspiration for Ides of March; his actor son also incorporated what he saw his father endure. "He ran a clean campaign," Clooney said, "and got beaten down like a baby seal."

A film festival sword thrust

Published On Tue Sep 6 2011

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Philip Seymour Hoffman and George Clooney in his new film The Ides of March.

Martin Knelman - entertainment columnist

Every self-respecting film festival on the planet wants a piece of George Clooney and there should be enough to go around and keep them all happy. But Clooney himself is befuddled by the fact that over the weekend the small, insider Telluride festival was denied the privilege of screening The Ideas of March.

Does this reveal a tug of war between film festivals? And does Toronto deserve to be cast in the role of the villain?

With as many credits on any Hollywood movie as anyone since Orson Welles made Citizen Kane, Clooney is the director, producer, screen writer and co-star (playing the role of a prospective Democratic candidate for U.S. president).

Ides had its world premiere on opening night at the Venice Film Festival last week, and will get its North American premiere on Friday as a gala at the Toronto International Film Festival.

But as Clooney explained to my friend Anne Thompson, (which she reported in her online IndieWire column Thompson on Hollywood), George himself was clearly counting on having Ides screened at Telluride.

Even more startling is the suggestion that it was to protect the Toronto International Film Festival that Sony Picture Releasing refused to allow Telluride to screen the movie.

Instead, Telluride showed another new movie starring George Clooney. It’s The Descendants, which is also in the TIFF lineup.

But Telluride was doing a special tribute to Clooney, and he wanted Ides to be part of it. Indeed, assuming it would be, he decided to include a scene from late in Ides to be edited into a clips reel being shown at the tribute.

There should definitely have been a spoiler alert. But Clooney didn’t worry about that, because he thought by then the audience would already have seen Ides.

Alas, Clooney was evidently not on the same wave length as Sony Pictures Releasing, without whose approval Telluride could not nab Ides.

As Thompson tells the tale, it was “in deference to Toronto” that Sony said no.

Hmm. That sounds odd, because year after year, many TIFF selections are shown a few days earlier at Telluride (which takes place over the Labour Day weekend). And no one in Toronto seems to mind, because, after all, Telluride is a clubby, elitist event rather than a major international festival — more of a sneak peak for industry insiders. Unlike Venice, it is not considered a rival for TIFF, and is usually ignored.

Clearly TIFF officials do not want to be caught in the middle of the crossfire. I asked Jennifer Bell, TIFF’s vice-president, communications for a comment from CEO Piers Handling and festival co-director Cameron Bailey.

Here is all Handling and Bailey are prepared to say about the Ides tug of war: “Our primary goal is to ensure we support what’s best for the film in terms of its launch and release.”

I could be accused of reading, or misreading, between the lines, but here is my guess. Sony had its own strategy for rolling out the film, and with all due respect to George Clooney, that did not include Telluride. I would take the “deference to Toronto” line as a smokescreen.

And I interpret the official response from Handling and Bailey to mean: “There’s no way we want to get caught in the crossfire. When threatened with controversy, our policy is always to wear a helmet — and duck.”

A Movie About Scandalously Familiar Politicians

By MICHAEL CIEPLY

Published: September 9, 2011

TORONTO — “It’s probably not our best moment in politics,” offered George Clooney, who was on a stage at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday being asked about the message of his movie, “The Ides of March.” The film’s take on American democracy left some viewers here feeling stunned, if not disillusioned.

But Mr. Clooney, a festival veteran, took their dismay in stride. Films, he said, don’t lead the political culture, they follow. If “The Ides of March” reflects a mood of cynicism, it is probably “a good thing” to get it out in the open, he argued.

In a white golf shirt and flashing his trademark smile, Mr. Clooney looked chipper, though he was dealing with the demands of his third major film festival, with two pictures, in less than two weeks. “The Ides of March” — for which Mr. Clooney had credits as a writer, director, producer and star — had its festival debut in Venice just 10 days ago. “The Descendants,” a family drama directed by Alexander Payne, with Mr. Clooney in a lead role, screened last weekend at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, and is set for a public showing here on Saturday evening.

Mr. Clooney and his team have avoided identifying the flawed operatives in “The Ides of March” with any real persons, living or dead. His own character, Gov. Mike Morris, an idealist, charmer and presidential candidate, has more than a few points of contact with former Senator John Edwards, though Mr. Clooney on Friday played down the similarities.

“This was written long before the John Edwards thing broke,” Mr. Clooney said of the persistent comparisons being made between Mr. Edwards, who was caught in a scandal over infidelity and the misuse of campaign funds, and the Morris character.

As for the Morris handlers — Stephen Myers, played by Ryan Gosling, and Paul Zara, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman — it is impossible not to find traces of the political strategist Jay Carson. A former campaign press secretary and adviser, Mr. Carson is now chief executive of the C40 Clinton Climate Initiative, which combines programs started by New York’s mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, and former President Bill Clinton.

While on the campaign trail with Howard Dean and others, Mr. Carson was joined by Beau Willimon, as a staff associate. Mr. Willimon later wrote a play on which “The Ides of March” is based, with substantial changes by Mr. Clooney, Mr. Willimon and the other writer, Grant Heslov.

“Beau, George and Grant really get it,” said Mr. Carson, who spoke by telephone last week from New York after returning from the film’s premiere in Venice. Mr. Carson is not formally associated with the movie, but his experiences and persona figure in it, and he has remained in touch with Mr. Willimon.

The impulse behind the play and movie alike, Mr. Carson said, was not to present a narrative with clinical accuracy. Rather, it was to show what might happen if political players who are constantly facing “ends versus means” choices went too far. Devilish bargains range from a routine compromise on selecting a vice presidential candidate to the kind of sublimely evil deal that conceals some seamy truths about a candidate in order to advance a gleaming agenda.

One of the film’s core conflicts, Mr. Carson acknowledged, matches a moment in his own life, when he was the press secretary to Senator Tom Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, and declined a position with Hillary Rodham Clinton, then the hottest ticket in Democratic politics.

“They had taken a chance on me at a very young age,” Mr. Carson said of the Daschle camp, echoing a speech delivered by Mr. Hoffman’s character as the plot, with its portrayal of tribal warfare among Democratic politicians, spirals into the “Godfather” zone of loyalty to the family. (Mr. Carson did eventually go to work for Senator Clinton, when she was a candidate in the 2008 presidential race.)

According to Mr. Clooney, who spoke about the project in a phone interview from Telluride, “The Ides of March” was rooted in his own ruminations after having watched his father, the journalist and television host Nick Clooney, lose his race in 2004 as the Democratic candidate for a Congressional seat in Kentucky.

“It left a bad taste in his mouth,” Mr. Clooney said, adding that his father may have hurt his campaign by taking a high road when a lower path was offered. Mr. Clooney said he found himself wondering, “Would I have made the easier choices and gotten a lot farther ahead?”

As he and Mr. Heslov, a longtime collaborator, were pondering whether to use these themes for a “morality play” film set on Wall Street or in the banking world, they became intrigued with Mr. Willimon’s two-act drama, which had its New York premiere in November 2008. Their involvement with the project evolved from a complicated development process that at one point involved Warner Brothers, and Leonardo DiCaprio, who has one of about 15 producer credits on the movie.

In its film version “The Ides of March” is a thriller that unfolds during an Ohio presidential primary. All the principal characters are Democrats, most of them as progressive as Mr. Clooney himself. But there are no heroes, lending shock value to a movie that finds Faustian bargains behind what voters might see as triumphant ideals.

“We don’t supply any answers; we leave it up to people to decide,” Mr. Clooney said of the movie’s message, if indeed it has one.

He said that viewers had been split in their reactions, though most had found some part of the film they relate to. Some women, he said, have focused on a subplot that involves abortion, with some reading it as an anti-abortion statement, others seeing it as in favor of abortion rights.

Some political professionals, like Mr. Carson, have been struck by the authenticity of the film’s portrayal of backroom politics. But others, particularly Democrats, Mr. Clooney said, were “really, really” bothered by its harsh view of the electoral process.

As for Barack Obama, he said, the president asked Mr. Clooney whether “The Ides of March” should be shown at the White House.

“I told him, ‘Absolutely not,’ ” Mr. Clooney said.