John Williams says Indiana Jones 5 will likely be his final film score; a lovely talk with Marcel the Shell With Shoes On director Dean Fleischer Camp; people in Japan are raising money to preserve the forest that inspired My Neighbor Totoro. And of course some thoughts on Roe v. Wade. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.
First: We, along with everyone in America, are processing the Roe v. Wade news today and understand you may not care at all about movie news at the moment. We get it. We’re currently gathering reactions and will have those up shortly for you. Also, if you haven’t already, here is where you can register to vote.
In Theaters Today: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On starring Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate; The Black Phone starring Ethan Hawke; and, of course, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis starring Austin Butler. What are you still doing here? Run to the theater. Kidding, but we’d love it if you finished reading this before you do that. But please do support your local theater. Like this one:
Kudos: To the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, Massachusetts. This is how you screen Elvis.
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On: You might not expect to cry during this odd movie, but you probably will. Watch with your family. Anyway, I interviewed Dean Fleischer Camp, who directed the film (he hopes you won’t call it a mockumentary) and appeared in it as himself opposite Jenny Slate as the voice of a loveble talking seashell. Would you believe that Marcel’s famous shoes came from a set of knock-off Poly Pocket clothes that Fleischer Camp found at a New York bodega in 2010? There are more fun facts where that came from here.
John Williams Steps Back: From writing film scores, but not from writing music in general, according to the The Associated Press. He’s 90 years old, okay? He wants more free time. The final film score in his incredibly impressive lineup that includes Star Wars, Fiddler on the Roof, Jaws, E.T., Home Alone, Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List, will be Indiana Jones 5, which would see Williams complete his work on the entire beloved franchise. But he also wants to leave the door open: “I don’t want to be seen as categorically eliminating any activity,” he says.
New Partnership: NEON has partnered with Ghetto Film School to put on a one-day 16mm workshop at Mono No Aware, a community cinema-arts organization in Brooklyn, the film studio announced Thursday. The course was inspired by BEBA director Rebeca Huntt, who had an intimate discussion about filmmaking with the participants, who also got a lesson on shooting with 16mm with Sophia Stieglitz as well as a full roll of 16mm and a Bolex camera to make their own movies.
Chernobyl: If you’re fascinated by tragic history, you’ll love HBO’s new docuseries Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes directed by James Jones. I didn’t know how much I didn’t know about Chernobyl, and honestly, this doc isn’t for the faint of heart. But it is endlessly fascinating. In my interview with Jones, he told me how he personally tracked down a bunch of never-before-seen footage that had been shot in the immediate aftermath of the nuclear disaster.
Why Was It Never Seen? Because it was shelved.
Why Was It Shelved? Because it doesn’t make the Soviet Union look great.
New Pablo Larraín Movie: Amid the layoffs, Netflix and Spencer director Pablo Larraín have gone into production on El Conde, a black comedy that depicts Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year-old vampire, according to Variety. Sounds spooky! And bloody.
Save the Totoro Forest: That’s what the good people of Tokorozawa, Japan are trying to do, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Their goal is to raise 2.9 billion yen — that’s $19 million — to buy, and thus, preserve, a swath of forest that inspired Hayao Miyazaki while he was making My Neighbor Totoro. Of course, Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli is contributing to the effort, offering prints of Totoro background artwork to those who donate at least $185.
I’ll Leave You With This: An adorable clip from My Neighbor Totoro.
Main Image: Dean Fleischer Camp and Marcel the Shell in Marcel the Shell With Shoes On courtesy of A24
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