Latest news with #PeterHujar'sDay
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Paddington in Peru' VFX Studio Reveals Secrets of Bringing the Lovable Bear to Life, From Human Stand-Ins to 4K Fur (EXCLUSIVE)
With 'Paddington in Peru' now on its second week of adventures in U.S. cinemas and having hit a global box office of $125 million, VFX powerhouse Framestore has lifted the lid on how it brought the entirely CG bear — and much of his surroundings — to life. In a VFX breakdown video exclusively given to Variety, the company has unveiled the work that went into not just creating Paddington Bear, but the vast array of other animals that feature in film, the exotic Peruvian locations, including the Home for Retired Bears (mostly shot in a U.K. studio), and a scene in which Paddington takes control (badly) of a riverboat careering down a chopping jungle river (again, shot in the U.K.). The video shows Ben Whishaw — who voices Paddington — in the studio, recording the lines and also embodying the bear emotionally so his face can be used as reference for VFX, others (including animation director Pablo Grillo) standing in for the bear for the CG to be added later and also the shoot that took place in the real life Machu Picchu. More from Variety 'Peter Hujar's Day' Releases First Look Following Sundance Sale Ben Whishaw's Banner Year: The 'Black Doves' and 'Peter Hujar's Day' Star on Refusing to Be Pigeonholed and Playing Characters Whose Sexuality Isn't Their 'Defining Characteristic' Box Office: 'Captain America: Brave New World' Inaugurates a $40 Million Opening Day Alongside the video, Framestore has also provided a few facts about making 'Paddington in Peru,' which was produced by StudioCanal and released by Sony in the U.S. In the film, Paddington's fur was multiplied by 4 times as much as on the 'Paddington 2' to make sure the design translated into 4k resolution. Everything Paddington touches is CG, so the VFX team had to build digital versions of any prop he interacts with. The llamas in the film were all CG. In order to create them, the team first had to visit a llama sanctuary to 'cast' their hero llama (a 'fine specimen' named Diesel). Paddington's duffle coat was recreated, to achieve greater movement, drape, and texture, using a new cloth solver called Carbon. For reference, they used stand-ins wearing the coat to see how it would move, react and interact. For Paddington's roar, they needed to create specific facial shapes and pay closer attention to the inside of his mouth. On set, leaf blowers generated 'wind' to interact with the roar, to make it more realistic. Machu Picchu was not closed off for filming, so the original background plates contain other visitors and tourists that had to be removed using digital matte painting. The rig for the riverboat was suspended 10-12 feet from the ground, in order to be able to simulate the movement on the rough water. Capturing the background plates for the riverboat scene required a 5 camera array, all shooting in 4k. The total render time for 'Paddington in Peru' reached an incredible 88,884,749 hours (or 10,146 years), across Framestore's studios in London, Montreal, and Mumbai. See Framestore's VFX breakdown video below Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Grammy Predictions, From Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar: Who Will Win? Who Should Win? What's Coming to Netflix in February 2025
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ira Sachs Sundance Drama ‘Peter Hujar's Day' Acquired by Sideshow and Janus Films
'Peter Hujar's Day' has found a home. The film, written and directed by Ira Sachs and starring Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall, made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, where it quickly became one of the most buzzed-about titles. On Tuesday, Sideshow and Janus Films revealed they have since acquired the North American rights for the film. Sideshow and Janus Films are eying a fall theatrical release for the movie. SBS is handling international sales for the film, with a deal negotiated by Sideshow and Janus Films with WME Independent. It will next screen at the Berlinale in Panorama. 'Peter Hujar's Day' was produced by Jordan Drake and Jonah Disend, and co-produced by Fred Burle and Aaron Craig. The film is a Complementary Colors, Blink Productions & Primo Content Presentation in association with We Are Films & Materia Cinema, and a Jordan Drake & One Two Films Production based on the book 'Peter Hujar's Day' by Linda Rosenkrantz, who Hall plays in the film. In an official statement, Sachs said, 'Sideshow and Janus Films represent a commitment to the kind of cinema that has meant the most to me, as audience and as filmmaker.' He continued, 'To be a part of their future makes me feel both young and old, and full of hope both for this film and for the movies.' Additionally, Sideshow and Janus Films commented, 'Our team fell in love with 'Peter Hujar's Day' immediately. With its deceptively minimal premise, Ira Sachs has crafted a deeply profound, major work. This film illustrates the way we live in the past and present, pondering the mysterious, remarkable nature of time. 'Peter Hujar's Day' lingers with a magical, unprecedented sense of what storytelling on film can be. Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall deliver career performances. We could not be more excited to work with Ira and his producer Jordan Drake to bring this unforgettable film into the world this fall.' The movie is based on a conversation that was recorded in 1974 between photographer Hujar and writer Rosenkrantz. Hujar was recounting a day in his life and his tale is littered with references to some of the biggest cultural figures of the time. (It also includes some wonderful details about the banality of being a working artist.) The movie itself is set entirely in Rosenkrantz's Manhattan apartment — it is a singularly engrossing experience. You'll be hanging on every word. Together, Sideshow and Janus films have released Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Oscar-winning 'Drive My Car,' the Oscar-nominated 'EO' and currently have Best Animated Feature nominee, 'Flow.' Upcoming releases include David Cronenberg's 'The Shrouds' and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 'Cloud.' The post Ira Sachs Sundance Drama 'Peter Hujar's Day' Acquired by Sideshow and Janus Films appeared first on TheWrap.
Los Angeles Times
28-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Q+A: Peter Hujar's Day at L.A. Times Talks @ Sundance presented by Chase Sapphire Reserve
Ira Sachs, Rebecca Hall and Ben Wishaw to Los Angeles Times editor Matt Brennan about their Sundance film, 'Peter Hujar's Day' at the Los Angeles Times Talks @ Sundance Film Festival presented by Chase Sapphire Reserve.
The Guardian
28-01-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Between austerity and empathy': UK show celebrates late New York photographer Peter Hujar
The curators of an exhibition of one of New York's most important photographers, who captured gay life in the city during the 1970s, hope the show will shed new light on an artist whose work was deemed too 'difficult' in his lifetime. Eyes Open in the Dark, which opens at Raven Row in London on Thursday, is the largest UK exhibition of photographs by Peter Hujar, who has been acclaimed for the warmth and compassion of his images but was little known during his lifetime. Hujar died in 1987 of Aids-related pneumonia having published one book in his lifetime, Portraits in Life and Death, which received just four reviews. His sitters were some of the most culturally significant figures of 70s New York, including Susan Sontag and Fran Lebowitz. Hujar is about to be played on the big screen by Ben Whishaw in Ira Sachs' film Peter Hujar's Day, which premiered at Sundance on Monday and is based on a 37-page book of the same name written by his close friend Linda Rosenkrantz. It's an incredible turnaround for a photographer who, other than from a small, committed group of advocates including Nan Goldin, struggled for recognition in his lifetime and has only found it in the last decade. Hujar's biographer John Douglas Millar said there was a desire that at the Raven Row exhibition more of Hujar's later work was shown, which is completely different from the portraiture for which he has become known. For example, there is a particular focus on the photographer's work during one day in 1976. 'There's a single day on Easter Sunday when he made an extraordinary series of works,' Millar said. 'He shoots the faithful coming out of church uptown, then moves down to the west side piers where there was a cruising scene and an arts scene, and he ends the day by going to the top of the World Trade Center and takes an image of his world. He's moving across genres in a single day.' Millar said the series showed the range of interests that Hujar had, which spanned portraiture, architectural studies and erotica. Gary Schneider, a friend of Hujar and an artist, admitted Hujar could be unforgiving at times and was particularly short with gallerists, which could explain why his work is only now being sought out. Schneider said: 'He was considered a great photographer by a very small group of people around him. He did exhibit but he was very contentious – if someone put a foot wrong he would cancel them.' Raven Row's director, Alex Sainsbury, said: 'It's fair to say he was great at collaborating with the sitters but he wasn't good at working with anyone who ran a gallery or might promote his work.' Despite Hujar's spiky reputation he has been embraced by contemporary art fans, primarily because of the tenderness of his photographs, many of which were of downtown art figures who went on to die during the Aids crisis. 'There's an increased interest in empathy in art, people are looking for it and Peter's work has it,' Salisbury said. 'It has this knife-edge quality between austerity and empathy.' Millar said: 'What he's photographing is difficult for the mainstream to accept; he didn't fit in the 1970s. A lot of stuff he was shooting, especially his erotica, wouldn't have worked. He can get a much better reading now that it couldn't in the 1970s, it wasn't fashionable.' Peter Hujar – Eyes Open in the Dark runs from 30 January to 6 April.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Barry Levinson on Capturing America's Political Divide in Doc Series ‘Bucks County': ‘This Is Not a Series About Heroes and Villains'
In late 2021, Barry Levinson and Robert May knew that they wanted to make a documentary about America's deep political divide. After listening to an episode of the New York Times podcast 'The Daily,' which focused on school board wars in Bucks County, Pa., the directing duo decided to visit the once-idyllic swing county located in the country's largest swing state. There, they found plenty of political discord as well as two 14-year-olds — Evi and Vanessa — who are best friends despite their opposing political beliefs. The teenagers would eventually become the main subjects of Levinson and May's five-part docuseries 'Bucks County, USA,' which explores whether a community can follow Evi and Vanessa's abilities to find humanity in 'the other side.' More from Variety Ira Sachs on Getting Dumped by His Manager, Working With Ben Whishaw and His Intimate Sundance Drama 'Peter Hujar's Day' Maia Lekow and Christopher King on Sundance Doc 'How to Build a Library' and How the Story of Saving One Nairobi Library 'Can Be the Blueprint' for All of Africa - and the World 'The Legend of Ochi' Director Isaiah Saxon Mixed Puppetry, Animatronics and CG to Create One of the Most Nostalgic and Endearing Worlds at This Year's Sundance The first two episodes of the series will screen on Jan. 28 at the Sundance Film Festival. According to both filmmakers, the docuseries is an unbiased, impartial human exploration of a painfully divided community. The directors made a point not to editorialize either side. 'This is not [a series] about heroes and villains,'' says Levinson. 'It's about what happened. Why this is such a conflict, and why it's become so difficult that rational people can't come to some kind of a consensus.' Variety spoke to Levinson and May about 'Bucks County, USA' ahead of the series' Sundance did you decide to focus the series around two teenagers?May: We started out talking to adults because adults are the ones that can't get along. We were focusing on school boards because so much of the vitriol was coming out of these school board meetings and then would spill over into the community. But we realized the adults were all fighting over their children, so eventually, we thought we should consider talking to kids. Evi and Vanessa's parents, who participated in the series, don't get along due to their opposing political beliefs. How did you convince them to let you film their children for the last three years? May: At first, Vanessa's dad was not interested in involving anybody but himself because he was acting as the family's spokesperson. Eventually, both parents agreed to allow their two children to be in the film. The thing about both of those families is that they are already ahead of the curve, and they don't even know it because they are allowing their kids to be best friends. They were parenting as if they were friendly families, yet the parents absolutely did not get along. But that didn't stop their kids from having their friendship, and they didn't stop their kids from being a part of the project either, which I think is pretty remarkable. You started filming in 2022. When did the production conclude? May: We still have a number of production days. The rest of the series is still under construction. It will be done in the spring. Barry, you have made a few other documentaries. What drew you to this one? Levinson: When I was growing up, my first cousin lived a block away from me. We were very close, almost like brothers. When Kennedy was running against Nixon, [my cousin] was in support of Nixon. I was in favor of Kennedy, but that did not affect anything. It wasn't suddenly a conflict that somehow pulled us apart. When you apply it to this [film] in a way, obviously, it's different [circumstances], but there are elements of it that are the same. Why is it that we now we can't have different points of view without becoming enemies?. … With this series, we wanted to explore that issue without trying to take any side. We are just trying to show how a one-time tight-knit community can become at odds with itself. We are not trying to paint any picture other than this is what happened, and this is where it's going. Plenty of drama happens during the first two episodes of the series. Did you ever consider turning the story into a narrative? Levinson: The documentary format seemed the best way to address this story. If you are doing a narrative, you are slanting something in one way or another because you are creating drama as opposed to this [series], which is showing behavior and how people deal with one another. So it never occurred to me to make this a feature. It was more of an exploration. Robert, you called Sundance director Eugene Hernandez last summer to discuss the series. What was that conversation about? May: We thought collectively that Sundance would be a perfect place for this project because [the festival] tends to [attract] a more liberal audience, but we thought this might be a great opportunity for folks to see and hear people that they may not normally hear from. But we didn't think we could make the Sundance deadline. I decided to call Eugene anyway and say, 'Hey, we have this project. It might be a feature. It could be a series. We really don't know.' He was very intrigued that we were telling the story from both sides without editorializing. So the story to Eugene sounded good, but he had to see it. You are looking for distribution for the series. Did you look for a deal before Sundance? May: If this project were set out to be sold prior to anybody seeing it, we figured people were just going to say, 'Oh, no. We don't want a political documentary. It's not the right time.' We felt like it wouldn't sell based on us talking about it. Our strategy was to get a couple of episodes done and then lead by what we've created. I'm glad we did that because we internally do not see this as a political documentary at all. We feel that this is a story about humanity and the way that we look at someone who has a different point of view from our own. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in February 2025 What's Coming to Netflix in January 2025
