VFB News

from ShowBiz411.com

“The Road” is finally here.

The John Hillcoat movie based on the bestseller by Cormac McCarthy is finally being shown, slowly, to a handful of people. Scheduled for last year but then held because special effects weren’t ready, “The Road” will surface in October.

“The Road” comes from the Dimension side of the Weinstein Company, not always my favorite place. It was home earlier this year to the dreadful “Soul Men.” But “The Road” was also made by another group, Mark Cuban’s 2929 Productions. It was acquired by Dimension, but really seems like a regular Weinstein movie.

Hillcoat has done justice to McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winner. “The Road” is elegiac and moving, artful and yet suspenseful. No, it’s not a raucous good time. It can be thoughtful and grim. But here’s the interesting thing: Viggo Mortensen’s performance as a father walking through a post-apocalypse America with his young son is just fascinating. It stays with you long ater leaving the theater. Mortensen is that good.

(spoiler alert)
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6/16/2009
Viggo Mortensen on Rex Peterson

I have had the privilege of learning about horses and riding from Rex Peterson, and the good fortune to watch up-close the remarkable results he achieves with even the most challenging of horses and riders. He has guided me through the movies “Hidalgo” and “Appaloosa”, and I have been lucky to become his friend and ride many miles in all sorts of conditions with him. He makes his job as horse-master look effortless, but those who have trained under him over the years know it most assuredly is not. He does appear to have a gift for “reading” people and horses, always finding the most suitable teaching approach in each situation, but he works extremely hard every single day, often for many hours at a time. He has an iron will, and will not quit on any horse or rider, but is remarkably patient and leads with a steady and kind hand. One of the most helpful bits of advice he passed on to me - which can be applied to working with horses and to life in general - is “go slow to go fast”. He would never, unlike others not as gifted or patient in his line of work, rush things unnecessarily or ever ask anyone to do something he was unwilling to first try himself. He invariably has the safety and well-being of his horses as his topmost priority. He speaks highly of his own legendary teacher, Glenn Randall, Sr., often saying that he will never know as much as his mentor did. Although I never met Mr. Randall, I cannot imagine anyone asking more of themselves or getting more out of horses and riders than Rex Peterson does. I look forward to working with him again soon.

Viggo Mortensen

Rex will be teaching a clinic at Windrock Farm this weekend, June 19-21, bring a horse to work with him or come watch him work RJ/Hidalgo at liberty at 3pm on Saturday.

contact cari@cariswanson.com for details

The possibility of Viggo in one of the Hobbit films is looking less likely, although we can’t rule it out even if there’s no more “bridge” film — they could easily be working some of the Aragorn back-story into one of the 2 films.

from “News In Film”

Guillermo Del Toro was on BBC Radio on Tuesday discussing his latest projects with host Simon Mayo. The director, producer, and now novelist Del Toro talked about the release of his vampire book The Strain (which he co-authored), his new adaptation of Frankenstein, a third Hellboy, and of course The Hobbit. In case you’re interested, you can listen to the whole broadcast here.

He said he won’t be directing any sort of “bridge film” between the happenings in the Hobbit and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Instead, the plan is to chop the book in half for the two scheduled movies in December 2011 and December 2012. To fill some of the time, he’ll be including “subplots” that involve more Gandalf, who he confirms will be played by Sir Ian McKellen.

“There is a whole other chapter, so to speak, which is the comings and going of Gandalf which are dealt with, people that know the lore know that Gandalf was delayed with a crisis… with a character that is very shady called the Necromancer that proves to be Sauron.”

Del Toro also confirms Hugo Weaving will reprise his role as Elrond the elf, Lord of Rivendell. Andy Serkis (Gollum) will also return. Last year, Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) had been offered a part, but no word on the validity of those rumors now that the bridge film has been destroyed. Not exactly shocking confirmations for those keeping up, but still good news nonetheless. Oh, and still no word on who is playing Bilbo.

GOOD NEWS! (you may thank janie!) The Noldor Blog

Viggo Mortensen was spotted in New Zealand - I can confirm that, as at least one of my spies spoke to him directly. Apparently he was here working on The Hobbit, and preparing for a small cameo in the second movie when he needs to reprise his role as a dunedain ranger, guarding the Shire against passing baddies.

Exene Cervenka, mother of Viggo’s son, Henry, has announced that she is suffering from MS.

exenecervenka.com

Thanks to janie for the heads up.

He went to see Uraeus!

NzHerald.co.nz

The home page of Perceval Press is asking for support for Homeboy Industries, the group they have used in the past to print t-shirts. If you don’t know anything about Homeboy, I would highly recommend that you learn about it and its founder, Fr. Greg Boyle, one of the most practical, inspiring people I know of. Despite repeated bouts with cancer, he continues to make a real difference in the lives of these young people and his community. If you look under the HEAR US NOW podcast section of their web site, you will find the Fresh Air interview with him which is very informative.

From Perceval:

Please support Homeboy Industries. Some Information about this unique and invaluable Los Angeles organization:
Homeboy Industries assists at-risk and former gang involved youth to become contributing members of our community through a variety of services in response to their multiple needs. Free programs — including counseling, education, tattoo removal, job training and job placement — enable young people to redirect their lives and provide them with hope for their futures. A distinctive feature of Homeboy Industries is its small businesses, where the most difficult to place individuals are hired in transitional jobs, thus giving them a safe, supportive environment in which to learn both concrete and soft job skills, while simultaneously building their resume and work experience. As City and County leadership strive to combat this complex and entrenched issue, we at Homeboy Industries remain committed to addressing the root causes of gang violence: poverty, lack of education, lack of opportunity, and perhaps most importantly, a lethal absence of hope.
Kaile Shilling
Associate Director of Development
Homeboy Industries
130 W. Bruno Street Los Angeles, CA 90012
(323) 526-1254 phone
(323) 526-1257 fax
http://www.homeboy-industries.org/

The Road trailer

One of our readers, Barbara Hobbs, has alerted us to 2 charity auctions she has posted on eBay, for Viggo merchandise. She’s involved in the Playtex London MoonWalk.

Barbara says she’s taken part in this event twice in the past.

“This year I’m doing the Half Moon (13.1 miles) and as a way of boosting my
sponsorship I decided when I went to the pre-release screening of Good in Esher last
December to ask him to sign my copy of “The Horse is Good” which he very kindly did
(and specifically for the MoonWalk). I also asked Viggo, Jason Isaacs, Jodie
Whittaker and Miriam Segal to sign the ticket from that evening too.”

Both of these items are now on Ebay:

260406208930 Viggo Mortensen Jason Isaacs Jodie Whittaker Autographs
Cast of “Good” Autographed Charity Screening Ticket

260406839084 Viggo Mortensen’s book “The Horse is Good”
Signed by Viggo in support of the MoonWalk

“All the proceeds from the auctions will be paid into my Bmycharity sponsorship fund.“

Correspondence with Anthony Arnove about release of the DVD for this film resulted in the following response:

Right now we expect our documentary The People Speak (http://www.thepeoplespeak.com/) to air on History
(http://www.history.com/) in fall 2009, most likely in September. A DVD should be out soon after we air and we will have links up at all of our web sites with information on how to order it. We don’t yet know where we will have public screenings but we hope to schedule a number of those, as well. A soon as there is anything official, we will post it at http://www.peopleshistory.us and
http://www.howardzinn.org and send out full details to the alerts lists of both sites (as well as ttp://www.thepeoplespeak.com/).
Thanks for your interest and support!

He also says: “We could really use help spreading the word.”