A prison officer in Massachusetts has received a telling-off for allowing Brokeback Mountain, the admired gay shepherd drama, to be shown to his charges.
The state's department of correction appeared eager to deflect accusations of homophobia. "I want to make it clear, it wasn't the subject matter. It was the graphic nature of the sexually explicit scenes," a spokesperson for that body said. Gay sex in an American prison? Whatever next?
Red, beer-stained carpet
Away with pomp and vulgarity. It has been announced that the first annual PintSize Film Festival, purportedly the world's smallest such event, will take place in Dublin's Dawson Lounge, a pub the size of a salt cellar, on March 4th next year. Acknowledging the fact that the average price of a pint in the capital is €4.40, the festival is seeking films no longer than four minutes and 40 seconds. The organisers of the Oscars ceremony, which takes place later the same evening, will no doubt be expecting their viewing figures to plummet as punters flock to discover who is the winner of the first Golden Pint award. Further details from www.pintsizefilmfest.com.
New staff for film board
The Irish Film Board has announced the appointment of two new staff members. Niamh O'Reilly, formerly an assistant to the board's last CEO, Mark Woods, takes on the duties of executive assistant.
Mark Byrne, an entertainment lawyer and co-producer of the much-anticipated feature Middletown, has been named as business and legal executive. Further good news for Byrne comes with the announcement that Middletown has been selected to play at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, which begins later this month. Brian Kirk's drama, filmed in Monaghan, has been attracting considerable buzz since its completion earlier this year.
Motherf***ing online buzz
This internet thing really looks as if it's catching on. Over the last few months visitors to the popular medium have managed the extraordinary feat of turning a film into a cult many months before its release.
Interest in Snakes on a Plane, during which Samuel L Jackson does indeed encounter limbless reptiles while airborne, was spurred by amusing remarks on screenwriter Josh Friedman's excellent blog. Fellow cyberspace travellers, intrigued by the film's baldly explicit title, have gone on to create songs, T-shirts, posters and mock trailers celebrating SOP (as we now call it). Friedman, who was in discussions to work on the film, but does not receive a credit, did not allow a recent diagnosis of cancer to stop him riffing on the phenomenon. In his entry for March 27th he ponders movingly on a potential obituary, before deciding on an unusual choice of final words: "There are motherf***ing snakes on the motherf***ing plane." Friedman's blog, I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing, can be found at hucksblog.blogspot.com. Snakes on a Plane will be released in August.
Cinemas to open 24 hours?
So we hear that 24, the exciting television series, is to be adapted as a movie. Hang on a moment. Surely the whole point of 24 is that it follows the busy events of Jack Bauer's life in real time. It surely is asking a little much of the audience's bladders to expect them to spend a whole day in the cinema. We smell a compromise.
Dallas cowboys irk director
Is it just us or is the much discussed film version of Dallas already beginning to smell of rotten turkey? Robert Luketic, director of such modern classics as Monster-in-Law and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, recently stormed off the set after being denied his first choice of cast. Jennifer Lopez is currently installed as favourite to play the permanently sozzled Sue Ellen. John Travolta will wear the rattlesnake-adorned hat as JR. And Luke Wilson is slated to play boring Bobby. Who on Earth could Luketic have objected to in that distinguished line-up? Gurinder Chadha, the Kenyan-born director of Bend it Like Beckham, is reportedly in talks to fill Robert's huffy shoes.
