Author: Fair (---.wp.shawcable.net)
Date: 10-04-02 17:01
Snipped this from an article that appeared on the Austin Chronicle website today. (The main focus of the article is about the continuing stream of TV/Film productions to north of the border into Canada, and how it is affecting the Texas film industry.)
The "important" stuff says that filming of Secondhand Lions has only just started (Oct. 1), and that is what I was most curious about. Now that the film is in production, hopefully information will start to flow more regularly.
<snip>
The big news for Austin lately, however, is that Tim McCanlies -- who penned the animated film The Iron Giant -- and wrote and directed cult favorite Dancer, Texas Pop. 81, has chosen to film his dream project, Secondhand Lions, in and around town, with stars Robert Duvall, Michael Caine, and Haley Joel Osment. Although the film has just begun production, it's the kind of feature that has already managed to generate the sort of buzz usually reserved for potential Oscar picks.
Initially, producers New Line Cinema wanted McCanlies to shoot the film -- which is set entirely in Texas -- in Canada. Not surprising, sure, but McCanlies balked at the suggestion and ended up keeping the film in Texas by sheer willpower. Well, that and some pretty massive pay cuts:
"I fought, and fought, and fought to keep this film in Texas. We really trimmed the budget to the bone; basically, I deferred quite a bit of my salary. Because of the dates that Bobby Duvall could work on the film, we don't [start filming] until the first of October, [therefore] I was able to convince the studio that shooting in November in Canada for a movie set in the summer in Texas just wasn't feasible. It was a combination of all those factors. They were telling me, 'Oh, you can make it work somehow,' and I'd have to tell 'em, 'Look, you can't grow corn in the snow!'
"People are working for less than their normal fees right across the board. It's funny, because the actors generally aren't the ones that take a cut in pay. I have millions being spent above the line but then everyone else is working for less. I had to look for a director of photography at this level, and fortunately the script attracted guys who would come in and take a big pay cut. So we've got Jack Green as DP, who's done all of Clint Eastwood's movies, Unforgiven, The Bridges of Madison County. He's coming in for, like, half his usual range."
</snip>
|
|
