BENICIO DEL TORO - CHE REMAINS IN STORAGE

Two months after garnering a raft of enthusiastic notices and a best-actor award for its star, Benicio Del Toro, Steven Soderbergh's $65-million Che has still been unable to find a distributor, the Hollywood Reporter observed today (Thursday). Even in the best of times for independent film makers, the film would have faced an uphill battle it is more than four hours long; the actors speak Spanish; and it deals with a highly controversial figure. But now, the trade publication pointed out, the film must also compete within an independent film industry "rattled by folding specialty divisions, economic woes and the challenge of keeping films in theaters. A climate of risk-aversion not seen since the death of auteur-driven films in the 1970s has set in." The Reporter also noted that two other U.S.-made films that premiered at Cannes have also not had an easy time. Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York only recently landed a distributor, Sony Classics. But James Gray's Two Lovers , produced by Mark Cuban's 2929 Productions, was unable to find a buyer and is now scheduled to be released by Magnolia Pictures, also co-owned by Cuban.

31/07/2008