The story of “Margaret” is long, complicated and kind of tragic, but here’s the short version. Riding high off the success of “You Can Count On Me,” Kenneth Lonergan set to work on his sophomore effort “Margaret,” beginning shooting in September 2005. The film wrapped a few months later, but that’s where everything started to go wrong. For reasons that are still not clear, Lonergan, who had final cut, was unable to get an edit together that he liked, causing the film to keep getting pushed further and further back. Scott Rudin and Sydney Pollack were brought in to try and help Lonergan over the finish line, but those efforts proved futile. Meanwhile, a row was growing between Fox Searchlight and the producers and after lawsuits started being filed, and this film wound up in limbo for years. Well, six years later, the film is complete — with Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker arbitrating a final edit with Lonergan’s approval — and after all that drama, the film is being given a quiet release on September 30th. A shame for the project to end on such an anti-climatic note but we’re still curious to see how this all eventually turned out.
Starring Anna Paquin, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Damon, Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno and Olivia Thirlby, the film has echoes of 9/11 survivor’s guilt, and follows the ramifications of a tragic bus accident as seen through the eyes of a high school student desperate to parse the tragedy for a deeper spiritual meaning. Arriving just a couple weeks after the tenth anniversary of 9/11 will certainly heighten the power of emotional content and the cast is first rate. Fox Searchlight has released a couple of new stills from the film featuring Damon, Paquin and the back of Ruffalo’s head along with an official synopsis. Check it out below and let’s hope we get a trailer soon.
MARGARET centers on a 17-year-old New York City high-school student who feels certain that she inadvertently played a role in a traffic accident that has claimed a woman’s life. In her attempts to set things right she meets with opposition at every step. Torn apart with frustration, she begins emotionally brutalizing her family, her friends, her teachers, and most of all, herself. She has been confronted quite unexpectedly with a basic truth: that her youthful ideals are on a collision course against the realities and compromises of the adult world.
Changing gears, here’s yet another pic of Liam Hemsworth in “Hunger Games.” Swoon! Anyway, he plays Gale Hawthorne, the best friend and hunting partner of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and he also totally has the hots for her (who wouldn’t?). Anyway, this pic will pique the interest of fans because it gives a glimpse of The Reaping, the event that takes place before each Hunger Games where the tributes are selected.
The cast is rounded out by a mix of seasoned veterans (Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Donald Sutherland), buzzed-about up-and-comers (Josh Hutcherson), random names (Wes Bentley, Lenny Kravitz) and many fresh new faces (too many to list). The film opens on on March 23, 2012, with sequel “Catching Fire” recently slated for November 22, 2013. [RopeOfSilicon/Facebook]
