Back from Venice
I’m back from the Venice Film Festival, where The Nines had its international premiere.
The movie screened three times, but the main public debut was 2:30 p.m. on Monday. At lunch that day, both the sales agent and the publicist separately pulled me aside to say, “So, John, you should know that if the audience doesn’t like the film, they might boo. Or they could throw things.”
And somehow I’m supposed to be psyched about giving a Q & A? Yikes.
So I drank more champagne and looked for escape exits.
Fortunately, during the end credits we got nice, sustained applause (better than Sundance, in fact) and pretty good questions after that. I really love doing a Q & A, though it was challenging dealing with the real-time translation, trying to pay attention to both the person asking the question and the woman whispering in my ear.
One woman asked a question about the ending which was actually a revelation to me, a misassumption made clear only because of the awkwardness of translation. This is really not a spoiler, but I’ll put it in the footnotes so it’s more easily skipped if you want to go in blind.Mulholland Drive or Swimming Pool. As the author, I can say that was never the intent, nor is backed up by the evidence of the movie. But as someone who’s had to write college term papers, I would never claim that any interpretation is wrong. Just less defensible, perhaps.”>1 The Nines invites speculation and alternative interpretations, so I’m not about to say one version is “wrong.” But it’s helpful for me to finally understand why some viewers insist on re-contextualizing the entire film in a way I never intended.
The movie was shown in English, with Italian subtitles. It played differently, with a lot of comedy not making it through translation. Part Two, which is about American television, might as well have been about Martian sodomy. But the audience really responded to the bigger, religious-adjacent stuff in Part Three.
We had a major storm on Tuesday, which knocked out power and made our press interviews challenging. Our main office was actually a temporary, tent-like structure, which held out the rain but kept flapping constantly.
Other observations:
Ryan Reynolds is a apparently an action star in Italy. They have no idea he’s ever been in a comedy. Most of the journalists cited “Smokin’ Aces.”
We stayed in Lido, the island where the screening themselves are held, which is a 60 euro water taxi ride from Venice proper.
Our hotel was where Death in Venice was shot. It hasn’t really been updated since then.
If you’re going to not speak a language, Italian is a good language to not speak. Compared with many places I’ve traveled, it was lot easier to wing it.
We sold a bunch of territories: Argentina (Telexcel), Eastern Europe (Blue Sky), Greece (Village Roadshow), Israel (Forum Film), Middle East (Italia Film), Scandinavia (Non-Stop) and South Africa (Ster Kinekor). Optimum Releasing had already bought U.K. rights. As always, I’ll keep you posted about release dates. More will be announced at Toronto this week.
The plan you pick for your iPhone makes a huge difference. Ryan was able to get (almost) full internet on his, while my partner’s iPhone was phone-only, and mine was basically just a pretty iPod. If you think you’re going to be using your iPhone overseas, consider getting the fancy plan.
- About the ending: Some viewers exit the movie believing it to be a hallucination on the part of one of the female characters, in the vein of [Mulholland Drive](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166924/) or [Swimming Pool](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324133/). As the author, I can say that was never the intent, nor is backed up by the evidence of the movie. But as someone who’s had to write college term papers, I would never claim that any interpretation is wrong. Just less defensible, perhaps. ↩
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September 6th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
I’m really glad to hear that things are going so well for yourself and The Nines, Italian storms and everything aside. Great to hear that you sold distribution rights for Scandinavia, can’t wait to see the movie here in Sweden!
September 6th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Congrats on all the success, and selling so many territories…Very exciting…
September 6th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Scandinavia! Excellent! Any idea when it might appear in Finland?
You all got iPhones?
September 6th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
I’ve always felt a keen lack of Martian sodomy in movies. I’m gonna look out for the Italian version!
September 6th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
I just wanted to get the top Google hit on “martian sodomy.”
Done.
September 7th, 2007 at 1:04 am
Ryan is considered an action star, mostly for Blade. Smokin’Aces was released a couple of months ago and went totally unnoticed. And I think the critics didn’t remember Van Wilder which was released here as “Maial College” (Porky College?).
So you were staying at the Hotel De Bain? Really nice place, a bit too classy and expensive for me, but probably the right place for a successful screenwriter and now critically acclaimed director.
So sad of not being able to be there in the middle of the applauding audience.
Hoper to see the movie in Italian theaters soon.
Cheers.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:11 am
I’m sure you’ll let us know… but any word on an expanded US release. I live in Columbus, OH, so NYC would be the best bet but I don’t think I make it anytime soon. I’m really looking forward to seeing The Nines.
September 16th, 2007 at 3:50 am
John, still no news about a potential release here in France ?
November 12th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Any idea about the release date in Greece?
We have been waiting for the movie for soooo long….!
Thank U!