The award-winning US independent film Down to the Bone, which was originally scheduled to open today here and in the UK, now looks unlikely to be released in either country. The British censorship board has asked Redbus, which acquired the UK and Irish distribution rights, to cut a scene in which a snake swallows a hamster, as the scene contravenes British animal cruelty laws.
Redbus told Variety that cutting the scene would cost $50,000 (€41,000), which is more than it paid for the rights. As a result, given the print and publicity costs to the company, the film is most unlikely to be released in the UK or in Ireland, where it was passed uncut with a 16 certificate by the censor's office.
Shown at the Dublin International Film Festival this year, Down to the Bone received two awards at Sundance last year: the director's award for Debra Granik, and the special jury prize for Vera Farmiga, who plays a working-class New York mother struggling to conquer her cocaine addiction.
Spacey teams with Little Bird
Little Bird Films, which has offices in Dublin and London, is teaming up with Trigger Films, the production company formed by Kevin Spacey, to co-produce a film about tobacco billionaire Doris Duke and her gay Irish butler, Bernard Lafferty, to whom she left her entire fortune.
Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes are in final negotiations to take the leading roles in the film, Doris and Bernard, which starts shooting in New York in October. The director is Bob Balaban and the screenplay is by Hugh Costello.
Little Bird most recently co-produced the current New Zealand drama, In My Father's Den.
Long-lost Joan in Kilkenny
The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Dreyer's 1928 silent masterpiece, will have a special screening at Kilkenny Castle on August 20th during the city's arts festival. This will be a restored version of the original cut of the film, which was presumed lost for years until it was discovered in a Norwegian mental institution in 1981. The screening will have live accompaniment performed by 2epkano.
As a taster for Féile Beochan, the new Irish animation festival starting in Kilkenny in September, the arts festival will present an hour-long programme of Irish animated shorts on August 14th.
Sorkin's telly tale at Abbey
Aaron Sorkin, the mastermind behind The West Wing and the screenwriter of The American President and A Few Good Men, has completed a new play commissioned by the Abbey Theatre. The Farnsworth Invention tells the true story of Philo Farnsworth, described by Sorkin as "the other inventor of television who isn't Logie Baird", and his struggles with a radio pioneer who recognised the competition television would offer radio. "It's a very theatrical piece and extremely romantic about the spirit of invention," says Sorkin.
A Few Good Men, which was Sorkin's first play, opens in London next month with former West Wing actor Rob Lowe playing defence lawyer Lt Daniel Kaffee, who was played by Tom Cruise in Rob Reiner's 1992 film version.
Scorsese takes off again
Having completed The Aviator last year, Martin Scorsese is planning a documentary on Airbus, the maker of the new super jumbo jet, after he wraps his latest drama, The Departed. Scorsese will co-direct with Spanish documentary-maker Jose Luis Lopez-Linares. It apparently will establish a parallel between the creation of Airbus airliners and a cathedral.
It is the latest project from Colección Immortales, a company set up to produce documentaries for cinema release. Its first two films, Looking for Fidel and Persona Non Grata, were directed by Oliver Stone. Next up is Spike Lee's Fusion, which follows dancer Joaquin Cortes to Brazil where he stages a show blending flamenco with Afro-Brazilian styles.
Scorsese's new documentary, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, will be shown in two parts on PBS in the US on September 27th and 28th.
