Weir's 'Way Back' Due in December, but He Sounds Hesitant about His Filmmaking Future
Weir sounds wary, and that's not a good sign
You can tell we're on the verge of Oscar season as films such as All Good Things and Biutiful have recently landed distribution deals and now an update on Peter Weir's The Way Back arrives courtesy of producer Joni Levin's Facebook page (via The Playlist).
Levin writes, "Just wanted to let everyone know that I produced a movie last year that my husband, Keith co-wrote with our director Peter Weir (Master and Commander, Dead Poets Society, Witness, Year of Living Dangerously). it's called The Way Back…stars Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Jim Sturgess and Saoirse Ronan….comes out for a week in December, wide release Jan 21st 2011."
This is obviously big news considering up to this point all that was known was Exclusive Film Distribution had taken over distribution rights, but as to how they would handle that distribution was unknown. A one week release in December obviously signals an Oscar run and considering this is a Peter Weir flick with a certain level of talent involved you better believe it's not being overlooked.
The Way Back is a fact-based story of the escape of soldiers from a Siberian gulag in 1940. It is based on several sources, most notably the Slavomir Rawicz book "The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom." The book is Rawicz's account of being captured by the Red Army in 1939 and his journey to freedom with six other inmates. When they escape a Siberian labor camp in 1940 the seven multi-national prisoners discover the true meaning of friendship as their epic journey takes them across thousands of miles of hostile terrain including the Siberian arctic, the Gobi desert and the Himalayas, finally settling in Tibet and India.
The film was shot in Bulgaria, Morocco and India over the course of sixty-three days. Weir was quoted in a recent interview with DGA Quarterly saying, "We shot mostly in Bulgaria, standing in for Siberia, and Morocco, which played the part of Mongolia and finally India. We did use CGI for the Great Wall of China."
Weir also spoke of the recent state of movies and filmmaking saying, "This is an uncomfortable era for nongenre films." He added the following answer when asked what he thought had happened:
Because we’re going through this change right now it’s hard to get a broad view. Clearly there’s a change in the audience, a generation that’s grown up with video games and such, and who have different expectations from a film. And to cater to that audience, the distributors have changed their practices too rapidly. It’s not just a matter of cost. If a change has been too fast for the entire world public to have made, that creates a situation in which a lot of people are fi nding little to go and see, and they’re frustrated. The distributors presume that this middle audience is gone, but it’s not.
I must admit, it's a bit disheartening to hear a filmmaker of Weir's talents sounding a bit defeated and it doesn't end there.
When asked about what his next movie would be, or if there would even be a next movie he said, "I really want to see how this film goes. I’m looking for information about where I might fit in this estranged film world. To a degree that will affect what I do next, I think. I don’t want to change my approach to subject matter, I can’t simply move to the kinds of films the studios are making now. Marvel Comics are not my interest, or my talent, or my experience. The studios know that, and I know that."
So be on the lookout for The Way Back in December if you, most likely, live in New York or Los Angeles and if not, then January may be the time to find it at your local art house.
Just below I've included a few more stills from the film that I couldn't work into the body of this piece.
Photo: Exclusive Film Distribution
Photo: Exclusive Film Distribution
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Peter Weir retiring would be a true loss.
Finally, glad to have information on it. I do hope that Weir does continue filmaking. I would gladly watch something of his, especially since I have absolutely no interest in Marvel comics and the damn remakes that seems to be cinema today.
No one seems to have any orginal ideas anymore. Thank God Nolan did Inception
This should be one on everyone's Oscar radar… very interested in seeing if Harris can finally win one.
Could Harris and Weir possibly win one in the same year? That would be a bad-ass telecast.
I hope Weir can still find a place to make movies. While I confess I am not a fan of every one of his individual films, he is nonetheless a director of real quality.
An increasing rarity really.
He should still know that Marvel comics aren't the only thing in the cinemas right now. I mean it's no different now than it was 10 years ago, and there is still place for art films. He's the only one complaining, and in reality, everything is fine. There's an audience, it never left.
The studio franchise, tent-pole types of pictures that he's talking about have been cloging-up development in the studio system. And the constant development of comic-book and videogame properties makes it next to impossible for the kinds of films Weir puts his heart and soul into to get made. A friend of mine told me that Warners has close to 400 films in development right now with only ten to twelve them getting made per-year.
Look at the variey of summer movies that have been made post 2002. The summer season is dominated by one glorified comic-book film after another. I don't blame Weir for feeling discouraged at times. It's one of the reasons why so many filmmakers have gone the independent route as studios refuse to make the kinds of movies that once defined this business, like Chinatown or The Godfather, and there precious summer releases cost such an outrageous amount to produce and market that there is no room a film like The Way Back. It doesn't help that audiences have become so use to the elaborate special effects yarns as the only way to depict conflict. Take even a smarter film like Inception. Do you think that would've been so appealing and hailed by so many younger filmgoers as their favorite movie of the year if it didn't feature gun-fights, car chases, a 007 styled ski chase and gravity defying round of grappling fisticuffs? This is probably the strangest time to work in the film business.
And to think, I was predicting this way back (hehe) when, only to remove it due to the situation being so up in the air.
I'd love to see Weir win it. He's due. This also helps strengthen the weak Best Adapted Screenplay field. Now, the main curiosity for me are the performances….There was early buzz championing Sturgess, and many included Farrell in that as well. Now I'm envisioning things differently, and seeing Harris as a potential winner….
This is disturbing news. But more disturbing is that people have not noticed this before. What Peter Weir is describing is the total situation. It is more than disturbing. It´s alarming. How can someone get your attention? By committing suicide? What else is there for your entertainment? Forget buzz. Buzz is bullshit. That´s studio´s built-in bull (onliners should be ashamed). Listen to the weird wind. You have been warned. That´s one talent less to the world, which doesnt care one hoot about talent. It´s all about dingy dollars. O, how I hate the system.
I hope THE WAY BACK will be a success in every which way there is. My feeling is that the studios will block it in every way they can. Remember THE CONVERSATION by Coppola back in 1973. He made it contrary to believe, after making THE GODFATHER one of the greatest moves of all times. So the studio threw all the crocodiles in his path. By not distributing his pet project. Of course it flopped. The studio was right! They decided it was a flop and made it a flop! Can you fight the mountain? Of course you can. FIGHT IT! Never settle for less than a winner. FIGHT IT!