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(;MIH*IH>IH !BLCM&?OCMF?L )CG<?LFS+=!OFFIOAB ";H L?HH;H 0OMM!;G;L>; !BLCM"IOLIM 4CPC?H!;L>IH? 4;H?MM; L;H=B L;>0;C>?L )?PCH"OL;H> 2IG"IL;H (IBHHS$?LLI FFCMIH*;H? .?N?L ISF? $;GCFS0IG;H=? 1;<LCH; L?HH;H $;GCFS $;GCFS!IG?>S +;LNCH%LI<COM ;O 1N;H>11NN;H;H> 2?F$;R QQQ=OL<?HN?LN;CHG?HN=IG CurbEnt D1 021110.indd 1 2/8/10 12:10 PM day1_p1,24 n1 d:001THRD1_n1 2/10/10 11:10 AM Page 1 Q&A Chinese the director Wang Berlin Quan’an has come to a once- divided city with a story about separation. SEE PAGE 6 Thursday dailyFebruary 11, 2010 THR.com/berlin 1 Bizbettingspringhassprung Buzz-worthypremieres,fewerU.S.offeringsspuroptimism By Scott Roxborough Giger,COO of Swiss distributor they need product,”one U.S. Ascot Elite.“Ahead of this Berlin, agent said. “It’s not going to be a ilm buyers and sellers I’m not hearing any horrible free-for-all, but there will be a heading to the European rumors.So I’m optimistic.” small lot of projects people will Film Market will be One reason for that optimism fight for.” looking for the green is the decline of the big U.S.stu- Butdon’texpectthekindof shoots of an industry dio offerings.With studios cut- biddingwarsseenjusttwoyears Werner Eschbach Frecovery under the gray skies of ting back on output and with agowhenParamountVantagewas a wintry Berlin. some still getting over manage- fightingoffinternationaloffersat ofthecrisismaybebehindusbut “Two years ago,it was the ment changes,international buy- theEFMforMartinScorsese’s fatpre-crashpricesaren’tcoming apocalypse,you didn’t know who ers are seeing less in the pipeline. “ShutterIsland,”whichpremieres backanytimesoon. would survive,”said Stephan “People are starting to realize inBerlinonSaturday.Theworst continued on page 23 Polanski decided to adapt “Inhisabsence, Robert Harris’ political thriller in Quartetfindsto Ithinkthecrew 2007.Production on “Pompeii” — a big-budget feature based on becameeven an earlier Harris novel — had just closer,even shut down amid fears of a U.S. ‘Eyre’ishuman stronger.” actors’ strike. Harris had been —“GhostWriter” flying back and forth between By Borys Kit composer Paris — where he worked on the AlexandreDesplat “Pompeii” script with Polanski amie Bell, Judi Dench, Sally — and London, where he was Hawkins and Imogen Poots finishing “The Ghost Writer.” Jare in negotiations to join “When the ‘Pompeii’ project the cast of“Jane fell through, I sent a copy of the Eyre,”an adap- (unpublished) ‘Ghost Writer’ tation of the manuscript to Roman,”Harris classic Charlotte recalls. “I said ‘why don’t we do Bronte novel. this project? There’s no volca- Roman Polanski, left, and star Cary Fukunaga Ewan McGregor share a laugh on set. noes, but it’s good.’I meant it as is directing for a sort of joke. A few days later, BBC Films and he called and said, ‘OK, let’s Hawkins Focus Features, make it.’” which is handling sales at EFM. In the book, a ghostwriter, Mia Wasikowska and Michael ‘Ghost’stories brought in to write the memoirs Fassbender are at the center of of a former British prime minis- continued on page 24 TeamPolanskiliftspicoverBerlinalefinishline ter, discovers a global conspira- cy that puts his life in danger. WHAT’S INSIDE By Scott Roxborough While tabloid coverage is cer- “Roman called me and said, tain to focus on Polanski’s arrest ‘We’ve found our ‘Frantic,’” said Robert Benmussa, Polanski’s >Reviews PAGES 8, 12, 19 oman Polanski won’t be in Switzerland last September walking the red carpet at the and his ongoing extradition trial longtime producing partner, >Festival Screening Guide RBerlin Film Festival when on a decades-old sex charge, the referring to Polanski’s1988 PAGE 10 “The Ghost Writer”has its world story of how the director and his thriller starring Harrison Ford. premiere here Friday,but the team finished “The Ghost “After doing two big period films >Market Screening Guide director and his competition title Writer” is a tale almost as grip- with ‘Oliver Twist’ and ‘The PAGE 14, 16 are still the hottest ticket in town. ping, if less sensational. continued on page 24 day1_p2,23 n2d:002THRD1_n2 2/10/10 10:12 AM Page 1 THR.com/berlin news Thursday, February 11, 2010 Home cooking snapshot lifts German b.o. Localfaregrabs27.4%ofmarket By Scott Roxborough mainstream fare as “Vicky the Viking” and Til Schweiger star- he German boxoffice rer “Rabbit Without Ears 2” to exploded in 2009, with Michael Haneke’s“The White homegrown Ribbon” and sim- Since 1951,when the Allied Forces decided to set up a film festival in West T Berlin, the Berlinale has been through as many transformations as the city itself. features grabbing ilar art house fare, From Hollywood showcase to a platform for radical and alternative filmmaking to nearly a third of accounted for one of the world’s biggest film markets, the Berlinale has grown older but, in 60 the receipts. 27.4% of tickets years, refused to settle down. To celebrate Berlin’s 60th birthday, The Hollywood Reporter is flipping back Boxoffice rev- sold, or 40 million through the Berlinale photo album to take a snapshot look at some of the key enue jumped admissions. events that shaped Germany’s premiere cinema event. 22.8% to €976 While Hollywood million ($1.34 bil- held its own — FEB. 7, 2008: Martin Scorsese and the Rolling Stones start it up with a rock and roll Berlinale lion) last year, Haneke Schweiger thanks in particu- according to offi- lar to 3D hits Berlin Film Festival director Dieter Kosslick had worked more than a year to get cial figures released Wednesday “Avatar,”“Ice Age 3” and “Up” Martin Scorsese to bring his Rolling Stones’ concert film “Shine a Light” to the by the German Federal Film — for the second year running, festival. It was a passion project for Kosslick, an unabashed rock-and-roller who used to play lead in a Kinks-and-Stones inspired band, the Meters. Board. Ticket sales were up fewer than 100 million tickets Kosslick pulled every string he had to get all four Stones — Mick Jagger, Keith 13.1% to 146.3 million. were sold for U.S. films. Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts — together with Scorsese on the red carpet German movies, from such German films look set to con- for opening night. When the grandfathers of rock complained that construction tinue their winning streak. outside their hotel was keeping them up at night, Kosslick personally put in the call to the city to stop the jackhammers. Already this year,two German The tumult outside the Berlinale Palast was like nothing the festival had seen features — East-West comedy since its Hollywood glory days of the 1950s. A six-to-60 crowd of fans stood for “Friendship!” and Fatih Akin’s hours in the freezing cold to catch a glimpse of Jagger and the gang. “Soul Kitchen” — have passed And the Stones weren’t the only rock stars in Berlin that year. Madonna, Neil Seghatchiantolead Young and Patti Smith all made appearances, making the Berlinale look more like the 1 million admissions mark, the Monterey Pop Festival. It was a watershed moment. From now on, no celebrity the standard measure of a block- reporters worth their salt could afford to miss Berlin. revampedfilmfund buster in the territory. ∂ STONES PHOTO: AXEL SCHMIDT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES By Stuart Kemp LONDON — The U.K. GOLD STANDARD: “Station” has Film Council has appoint- earned Oscar noms for Helen Mirren, below, and Christopher Plummer. ed Tanya Seghatchian to All aboard‘Station’ head its new look £15 mil- lion ($24 million) produc- TerritoriespunchingticketforTolstoytale tion fund, the govern- ment-backed body said By Scott Roxborough U.K. rights and E1 Entertainment has Wednesday. picked up Benelux. Warner Bros. is Seghatchian takes up the The Little Film Co. has secured fur- handling the German release of the role after serving as the ther stops for double-Oscar nominee film, which has grossed some Council’s development “The Last Station” ahead of the Euro- $740,000 after two weeks in that head since 2007. pean Film Market, signing distribution territory alone. Her appointment to deals for multiple territories including Michael Hoffman’s German- head up the Council’s main Ster Kinekor in South Africa and Beck- Russian co-production focuses fund is part of a wide- er Film Group in Australia.