BENICIO DEL TORO - VIVA CHE (JUST WHEN IT SEEMED DEAD)

VIVA CHE (JUST WHEN IT SEEMED DEAD)

Nearly four months after it was screened at the Cannes Festival to widespread critical acclaim and a best-actor award for its star, Steven Soderbergh's Che has finally landed a distributor. IFC Films said that it had secured distribution rights to the movie about Argentine/Cuban rebel Che Guevara and would screen it in Los Angeles and New York before the end of the year in order to qualify for the Oscars. The performance of Benicio del Toro in the title role was widely hailed at Cannes and several critics suggested then that it would likely earn him an Oscar nomination -- if the movie was released. At a news conference at the Toronto Film Festival, where Che is also being screened, Soderbergh indicated that it was still uncertain whether the film will be released in two parts or as one four-and-a-half hour feature. (At Cannes, it was shown both ways, and Soderbergh had indicated he would like it to be shown that way upon its release, allowing ticket buyers to decide for themselves whether they wish to see it in two installments or in one.) Soderbergh also said that he is anxious for the film to be screened for Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul Castro. "I've heard that Fidel, when he watches movies, pauses them so he can have a discussion for a while with the person he's watching the movie with, and then he'll start the movie again. This person said that sometimes it will take him many, many hours to watch a two-hour film. ... I'm trying to imagine how long it would take him to get through this, because obviously he's going to have a lot to talk about."

11/09/2008