12th October 2012
With the 56th BFI London Film Festival up and running, it's red carpet night every night in Leicester Square. And it all kicked off earlier this week with the European premiere of Frankenweenie, which was attended by director Tim Burton and his partner Helena Bonham Carter, as well as voice cast members Martin Landau, Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara. Later in the festival, Burton and Bonham Carter will receive the BFI Fellowship for their contributions to cinema.
The big movie release in non-festival UK cinemas this week is Walter Salles' adaptation of the iconic 1957 novel On the Road, by Jack Kerouac. The film stars Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund and Kristin Dunst in a hip, rambling journey through America. It opens in the USA in December.
Meanwhile in the US and at the London Film Festival, audiences are getting a chance to see Ben Affleck's new film Argo, based on the true story of a CIA attempt to help six Americans escape from Iran during the 1979 revolution. As the operation involves pretending to be filmmakers scouting a B-movie Star Wars rip-off in Teheran, the film has plenty of scope for comedy and seriously tense thrills. The trailer is a great taster.
In between her British weepy drama Now Is Good and next month's Twilight conclusion Breaking Dawn Part 2, Dakota Fanning is trying to lay low in New York. But of course the paparazzi spotted her out and about running errands and going to the gym. She's probably building up strength for the Twilight press tour.
After Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and Damsels in Distress, former OC star Adam Brody is out doing press for his third movie coming out this year. The Oranges is a black comedy about family dysfunction in which a young woman has an affair with the father of the family across the street, shaking up a whole range of long-term friendships. While talking about The Oranges with costar Alia Shawkat, who plays his sister, Brody talks about some of the antics he got up to on the set with Hugh Laurie and Leighton Meester.
And finally, a hilariously over the top trailer debuted this week for Bruce Willis' next action movie, A Good Day to Die Hard. The fifth film in the series, it looks as ridiculous as we expect from this franchise. And since the film doesn't come out until next year, this teaser was clearly timed to poke fun at the impending James Bond movie Skyfall.
Rich Cline
