I’m off to Venice for Critics’ Week, so Matt is running things in my absence. I’ll leave comments open for this thread, if you have thoughts or questions about The Nines (or other topics of interest).
Ciao e grazie.
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Nines news, reviews and updates
Briefly, because there’s a lot going on and I haven’t started packing for Venice.
1. Sellout at the Nuart
The 7:30 p.m. Q&A tonight with me and Melissa (and others) apparently sold out yesterday afternoon. But there’s also a 10 p.m. show that I’ll be introducing. I haven’t gotten an update about the NY screening at the Sunshine, which Ryan Reynolds and Bruce Cohen will be introducing. (That’s not a Q&A, btw. Ryan might play me in the movie, but he can’t really answer questions about what the hell was up with koalas in the movie.)
2. Hooray for reviews
The two reviews we were banking on — the LA Times and the NY Times — were great. While local and regional reviews matter, the LAT and NYT are incredibly important for overseas buyers, who will be watching the movie in Venice, checkbooks in hand. So if you live in France, or Germany, or Italy your chances of seeing the movie in a theater just increased a lot.
These are also the reviews we’ll be pulling quotes from for future newspaper ads. So now we can say things like, “a philosophical mind teaser with satirical fangs,” (Stephen Holden, NY Times) or, “it dispenses about a minor epiphany a minute and hooks you like a flounder.” (Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times).
UPDATE: MTV’s Kurt Loder made sweet, sweet love to the movie: “It’s a creative triumph — small in scale, but rich in ideas — for first-time feature director August (a writer best-known for scripting several Tim Burton movies). And it’s a quietly dazzling breakthrough for Ryan Reynolds, who has heretofore been indifferently utilized in movies like “Smokin’ Aces” or consigned to elevating such schlock as “The Amityville Horror.”
Meanwhile, the Christian Science Monitor was, shall we say, less than effusive in its praise: “So unspeakably bad is screenwriter John August’s debut as director, so hilariously unaware is the film of its overweening pretensions that it’s tempting to want to deem it a Hollywood writer’s fever dream that can be cured with a little editing, a bit of rest and relaxation – or something, anything.”
3. I cheated on you again
I wrote one last blog post for EW.com.
The Nines audio commentary
If you’re going to see The Nines this long weekend, you’ll be in a movie theater. You’ll have the benefit of a giant screen, good sound, and fellow patrons with which to partake (and debate) the film. There’s nothing like watching a movie with a crowd: it’s participatory and immediate.
One of my favorite moments of the Sundance premiere was listening as progressive waves of audience members realized that a story Hope Davis begins telling in Part One is, in fact, not a story at all. Hearing the little gasps, those who hadn’t yet caught on became more vigilant, wondering what they were missing.
It was a reminder that we make movies for an audience, not merely a consumer.
Yet there are some things a movie theater can’t provide, aspects which only work on DVD. The pause button, for example. Subtitles. Audio commentary.
But in the age of iPods, there’s really no reason why audio commentary has to be relegated to DVD. That’s why Ryan Reynolds and I recorded one last week for The Nines which is now yours to download. (47MB, right-click to save to disk)
This isn’t an original idea, by the way. Kevin Smith recorded an in-theater commentary for Clerks II, though I can’t find confirmation he released it into the wild. (Someone in the comments section will know.)
If you’re considering downloading it, here are some guidelines, ground rules and helpful hints:
- Trust me: don’t try to listen to it without the movie. It’s not that it’s full of spoilers; it simply won’t make sense.
- Don’t try to listen to it on your first viewing.
Yes, I’m basically saying, “See the movie twice!” But if you’re listening to an audio commentary track, you presumably find the movie interesting enough (or befuddling enough) that you want to see it a second time or third time. The movie is confusing enough. Hearing me blather on about some esoteric detail will increase the bewilderment, not lessen it. - There are two versions: an m4a and an mp3. (Right-click to save to disk.) If you’re on an iPod or iPhone, you want the m4a. It’s half the size and sounds great. The mp3 should work in your Zune.
- The commentary track is set up as a podcast, with four chapters. “Intro” plays before the opening titles start rolling, so you may want to listen to this and hit pause. “Music Begins” plays right as the Newmarket and Destination logos appear. We mention the Destination logo, so you’ll know if you’re in the ballpark.
If you’re off a few seconds, it doesn’t matter much. This ain’t Dark Side of Oz. - If you’re using iTunes, you should be able to simply drag the file into your library and sync. Otherwise, do whatever four-step process it takes to load it.
- Be respectful: If you’re listening to the commentary, sit away from other people, so they’re not hearing it. Yes, that’s just common sense and common courtesy, but I thought I’d point it out.
- I speak quickly, and mumble occasionally. That’s me. It’s also Ryan in Part Two, for an extra meta-level.
I’d like to underline points 2 and 6. Please don’t ruin the movie for yourself or others.
Because you’ll ask, this commentary will likely also be on the DVD, along with other special stuff.
The files are relatively small, so the server should be able to handle the load. But if anyone feels inclined to set up a mirror, or seed a torrent, go for it. Leave a link in the comments. And let me know if you end up using it.
The Nines opens Friday
I feel like I’ve done so much publicity on it that everyone probably sick of me talking about it, but here’s the direct appeal:
My movie THE NINES opens this Friday, August 31st, in Los Angeles and New York.
Please come see it. And if you can’t, keep reading to find out how to get it to play near you.
In LA, it’s exclusively at the Nuart (on Santa Monica, just west of the 405). In New York, it’s at Sunshine Cinemas on Houston. You can find maps (and a lot of other information) at the official site: lookforthenines.com.
For those who haven’t been paying attention, or who need to convince friends to accompany them: The movie stars Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis and Melissa McCarthy, along with Elle Fanning, David Denman, Octavia Spencer and Dahlia Salem. I wrote and directed. We premiered at Sundance, and will be competing in Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival next week. I’m really proud of it, and happy that it’s gotten great reviews (we’re 100% on Rotten Tomatoes so far).
All that’s left is to sell tickets.
If you’re friends with filmmakers, you’ll know that they always plead for you to see their movies opening weekend. And you do, to be supportive, though you know in your heart that your $9.00 won’t make the tiniest bit of difference in that film’s multi-million dollar weekend.
But with The Nines, your buying tickets actually matters. A lot.
Because we’re on just two screens, it’s all about the per-screen average this first week. With a great per-screen average, we can plan for a more aggressive expansion. With a less-than-great per-screen average, it will be much more difficult.
It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that two tickets can push us over a certain threshold, and convince Landmark, Laemmle’s, or Pacific to give us better screens, be it a week or a month from now. Put it this way: You might prefer to see The Nines at The Arclight. Or in San Francisco. Or Vancouver. But the best chance of that happening is if you buy a ticket for it at The Nuart or The Sunshine, this weekend.
And the very best tickets you can buy are for the special screenings we’re holding on Friday night.
- LOS ANGELES
- Nuart Theater on Santa Monica (map)
- Friday, August 31st
- 7:30 p.m. After-show Q&A with John August, Melissa McCarthy and other cast/crew
- 10:00 p.m. Introduction by John and Melissa
- NEW YORK
- Sunshine Cinemas on Houston (map)
- Friday, August 31st
- 8 p.m. Special guests Ryan Reynolds and producer Bruce Cohen
Tickets for these and all shows are online:
At Moviefone
At Movietickets.com
(In both cases, you may need to provide dates and zipcodes; the sites seem to overrule URLS with cookies.
If you’re not able to make it — or if you live in one of the 2,000 markets in which it’s not playing — but want to support us anyway, I can tell you off-the-record that a ticket sold is a ticket sold. They don’t count heads. And those under-attended Sunday matinees need love, too.
There will be at least two more bits of Nines-related news this week before the opening. I leave for Venice on Saturday, which should preclude checking back obsessively. But probably won’t.