‘Wrestler’ and ‘Che’ Tag Team AFI Fest
AFI announced yesterday that two highly anticipated films, Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler and Steven Soderbergh’s Che will be making their West Coast premieres at the 2008 AFI Fest.
Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke will screen November 1 at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Che starring Benicio Del Toro will unspool in two parts with a 30-minute intermission on November 6 at the same location.
In addition to Che and The Wrestler, the AFI line-up will also include four more festival favorites: Rian Johnson’s The Brothers Bloom; Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Sugar; James Gray’s Two Lovers; and Michele Gondry, Bong Joon-ho and Leos Carax’s Tokyo!
The 2008 AFI Fest runs October 30 to November 9 primarily at ArcLight Cinemas on Sunset Boulevard and LiC will be there. Passes for the festival are on sale now. Tickets for individual films will go on sale to AFI members on October 8 and to the general public on October 10.
Filed under: Film Festivals
Tags: AFI Fest, Anna Boden, Benicio Del Toro, Bong Joon-ho, Che, Darren Aronofsky, James Gray, Leos Carax, Michel Gondry, Rian Johnson, Ryan Fleck, Steven Soderbergh, Sugar, The Brothers Bloom, The Wrestler, Tokyo!, Two Lovers
You are one lucky brother Craig, it sounds like it is going to be a great fest and we are lucky someone like yourself with keep us in the know. Have fun.
Well, Craig, it looks like there’s always a silver lining for those who wait. Your planned trip to NYC was aborted (much to Dorothy, Alsion, Ari and my own chagrin) as a result of not managing tickets. Truth is, had you succeeded you would have only saved yourself three weeks, if that. True, no tour or dinners, but as you’ve said before, there are so many other reasons to come here.
Anyway, while I will still try to get a ticket for both of these here (so I can geta jump on everybody..hehehe) the truth is I’ll probably fail, unless I am willing to fork over big bucks, (which i still might) I’ll rely on the ever insightful perceptions of LIC.
That is a “tag team” indeed.
More than the the movies Sam, I was mainly excited about a chance to meet the NY branch of the LiC family. That would’ve been too cool, and I hope to make it happen one of these days.
In the mean time, yeah, this is good movie news. Seeing Che at the coolest old theater in Hollywood with nearly 1500 movie rabid strangers will be awesome.
Wow, Craig, that isn’t just good movie news for you, but superb movie news! Being given the opportunity to see Che that way is probably not going to be repeated, though the rest of us can hope.
I feel all warm inside.
If you didn’t feel all warm inside, I’d be very surprised.
I have to say it, maybe it is just the fact that I am a pro wrestling fan (yes, I know…) and a major fan of Aronofsky, but I am looking forward to The Wrestler more than any other upcoming film.
You know me too well, Nick.
The more critical love The Wrestler gets Michael, the more excited I get.
I’ll probably change my mind eventually, but I just can’t get excited about The Wrestler or Che. Like Aronofsky, love Soderbergh, even liked the Che trailer, but somehow they’re still both leaving me flat. It’s probably something linked to my faulty Man on Wire gene. I’m certainly hoping they’re good and worth celebrating, but the buzz is having no affect on me thus far. We’ll see if that changes; I remain open minded.
But I’m very happy for you, Craig, and any other LA-dwellers out there. I can definitely empathize with the excitement of getting a much-anticipated movie at a local theater you thought you might not get to see anytime soon.
The main thing that primes my interest in Che JB is being a total Soderbergh apologist (I even liked Ocean’s 12, The Good German and Solaris) and the fact that it’s an epic. The subject honestly doesn’t do much for me. I hope to bone up on my Che history before I see it, but mainly it’s Epic Soderbergh and Del Toro.
It could’ve been a four hour movie about the guy who invented the dryer sheet and I’d be all over it.
With Wrestler, I didn’t really start getting excited until the buzz kicked in.
Anyway, point is….I think I see where you’re coming from even if I’m coming from a different direction.
“It could’ve been a four hour movie about the guy who invented the dryer sheet and I’d be all over it.”
Isn’t there a Greg Kinnear flick about that in 2009?
hahaha…it’s called Flash of Softener.