Francis Ford Coppola's Twixt

[Sgt.Pepper]

Plot: The film is based on a short story by Coppola that stemmed from a dream/nightmare experienced by the director. It's described as a thriller with overtones of horror.

The movie stars Val Kilmer in the lead role as a horror novelist with Elle Fanning and Bruce Dern co-starring and more actors making-up the cast.

Electronic musician Dan Deacon will compose the film.

The film has no release date yet though it's set to premiere sometime this year.

IMDB Page

 

[Crockett]

Sounds cool, it's nice to see something new from Coppola once in awhile.

 

[Bim]

This sounds interesting. And of course, it`s Coppola

 

[Jackasscoley15]

Deacon's sort of an odd choice for the music, but I recommend people watch these, they're hilarious.

[YT]vFlBJ1xZK10[/YT]

[YT]_eMb_kh_glw[/YT]

 

[Tron Bonne]

Sounds cool, it's nice to see something new from Coppola once in awhile.

He's been back to films since '07; he's just on the indie circuit as opposed to the mainstream now.

 

[cabel]

I loved Youth Without Youth and Tetro, so I'll check this out when I can

 

[Crockett]

He's been back to films since '07; he's just on the indie circuit as opposed to the mainstream now.

That I'm aware of, what I meant was it's nice that he kept the tempo of releasing a movie every two years starting with Tetro in '07, even if it's a indie movie, and after this I hope he continue.

 

[Octoberist]

I liked Tetro.

 

[Eggyman]

I have a soft spot for Val ever since I saw a picture of him really fat and he looked all innocent and not like a n0b. Glad he's lost some weigt and is back acting.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

A brief update from Coppola.

"It's part personal film, part Gothic romance, part Halloween show. If I can present it the way I want to, it is something that's never been done before," he said of the film.

Coppola is still in the editing room with the film at the moment, after writing the screenplay in two days.

For his own films, he says, "The only rule is that it is beautiful and that people are affected and moved by it." He also credits Sofia Coppola for changing the way he makes films. "My daughter has taught me how to look for what I want to express with less - with less talk and more with what I feel. I feel a lot of things, but in order to try and express them, sometimes I think I go too far."

Source

Sounds intriguing with his description of the film.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

A screenplay in two days....that sounds like genius but could just as well be absolute garbage.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

Val Kilmer talks about the film

His role in the film

“I play a writer who’s something like [author] Mario Puzo, or at least how Francis describes Puzo’s experience where he wrote ‘The Godfather’ while he was waiting for inspiration for his masterpiece,”

“My character is a guy who tossed off this book about witches, and it became a big deal, and now he’s known as doing these silly witch books and he’s on hard times now looking for inspiration.”

He confirms that the film will have a few 3D sequences

“There’s a couple of dream sequences. What Francis has done is use the 3D sparingly. It only comes a couple of times, so it’s very memorable when there’s an event and you put your glasses on,” Kilmer said.

When the movie will be out

Asked about when the film might see release, Kilmer stated, “It’s a Halloween extravaganza.”

 

[Tron Bonne]

Sounds pretty interesting, not keen on 3D, but I'll probably have to wait for the DVD anywho.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

Sounds pretty cool!

 

[Bim]

Hmm very interesting...

 

[Crockett]

I'm curious to see how the dream sequences are handled in the movie, I'm guessing that's when the 3D really pops up.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

‘Twixt Now and Sunrise’ Gets A Shorter Title; Footage Premiering At Comic-Con

Here's the press release:

Francis Ford Coppola will be presenting portions of his upcoming film TWIXT at a panel discussion on Saturday, July 23 at Hall H. TWIXT stars Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, Elle Fanning, and Ben Chaplin. Coppola describes the film as, “one part Gothic romance, one part personal film, and one part the kind of horror film that began my career.”

Coppola has a unique new approach to the presentation of the film that will incorporate live music by acclaimed independent performance artist Dan Deacon. Deacon will attend Comic-Con with Coppola to help demonstrate the interactive experience of the film. The film incorporates both 2-D and 3-D elements.

Like his most recent films, TWIXT follows three self-imposed mandates that Coppola requires in all of his new work: be his own original story and screenplay, have some personal element, and be self-financed. This particular story came to Coppola during a vivid dream he had while on a trip to Istanbul and is inspired by the writings of Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The film also brings Coppola back to his horror roots that began during his apprenticeship with Roger Corman.

On attending Comic-Con Coppola says, “I fondly recall meeting the Comic-Con audience years ago when I brought them my DRACULA film. That experience made me not want to miss this chance to return with TWIXT."

ABOUT TWIXT
A writer with a declining career arrives in a small town as part of his book tour and gets caught up in a murder mystery involving a young girl. That night in a dream, he is approached by a mysterious young ghost named V. He's unsure of her connection to the murder in the town, but is grateful for the story being handed to him. Ultimately he is led to the truth of the story, surprised to find that the ending has more to do with his own life than he could ever have anticipated.

Source

I don't like that the title is changed, twixt was defined as "between", so Twixt now and Sunrise basically means "between now and sunrise" but now it's just called "between". I mean, what's with the trend to shorten the title these days?!

Anyway, I'm quite surprised that Coppola will be returning to Comic-Con to promote Twixt, so I'm definitely curious to know what he will show there.

 

[Crockett]

It's just Twixt now? Lame, but man, the plot sounds great. I'm liking that it is leaning towards the horror direction.

Pretty cool that he'll be showing footage at SDCC, here's hoping someone will record it and upload it at the net, if not a good description of the footage will do.

 

[Fanticon]

i could go for a twix right now.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

i could go for a twix right now.

I knew that a candy bar joke will come eventually.

All joking aside, I wish they could've kept the original title, but I shouldn't be bothered by a small detail as it's the film itself that matters.

 

[Armored Avenger]

First John Carter of Mars became John Carter, then Hugo Cabret became Hugo and now this film is just Twixt. This shortening of titles really needs to stop, as not only are the longer titles better (in these 3 recent examples anyway) but it is also making interesting movies sound bland. John Carter of Mars immediately creates a sense of science fiction and generates interest. John Carter is just dull in comparison and its the same with Hugo Cabret. The original title makes it immediately identifiable as an adaptation of the book, so why change it to a generic name which could mean anything?

 

[Bim]

I must say, i'm very curious about this one!

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

First Look:

Source

 

[DACrowe]

Wow that looks like a freaky mental creation right out of Coppola's Dracula. Considered me there. While his Drac was not near the caliber of his '70s efforts (or a faithful adaptation for that matter), it was absurdly entertaining.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

'Twixt' Footage Description

Excerpts from the articles:

Slashfilm

Let’s begin with the footage. What we were shown at first follows a hack horror writer (Val Kilmer) as he enters Swan Valley, where he is set to do a book signing. (At a hardware store, as it turns out. Indignity!) Tom Waits narrates our first pass through the town, introducing local elements such as a clock tower with many faces that show different times, and a group of ‘vampire’ kids that camp at the edge of town, led by “Flamingo, a seducer of innocent youth,” played in exaggerated goth/vampire makeup by Alden Ehrenreich.

Val Kilmer’s character is tormented by his inadequacy and the fact that he needs to write crappy books to make a living. (“I write because of the incessant financial burdens that found me,” which is seemingly a very personal note from Mr. Coppola.) But he is introduced both to a current murder mystery by Bruce Dern (who also demonstrates “an electric chair for killing vampires&#8221 and to an older local murder legend. That latter murder story comes via a dream in which Edgar Allan Poe (Ben Chaplin) converses with the writer.

There is a lot more — very funny moments of Kilmer’s character trying to write; dream sequences in black and white that are sometimes very old-school from a technological standpoint; a very Twin Peaks-like vibe in the Swan Valley town area; and conversations with what seems to be the spirit of a dead girl (Elle Fanning).

Most of the footage looked great, and Mr. Coppola explained that as he didn’t like wearing glasses to watch 3D films (“I watched Avatar, but took the glasses off for much of the movie&#8221 he will present Twixt with only certain segments in 3D.

Collider

We were then treated to an extended promo reel for the film, which I can only describe as very, very strange. The footage began with Val Kilmer’s hack novelist talking directly into the camera, followed by a bit of narration over shots of a sleepy rural town. Kilmer’s character arrives for a signing of his latest novel about witches, which has been downgraded to the bargain bin. When a ghastly murder strikes the town (a stake was driven through a girl’s chest extremely slowly), he comes up with an idea for a new story about vampires. We then saw footage of him walking through the woods, conversing with a ghost Edgar Allen Poe, and a ghost (or not, maybe?) Elle Fanning.

The tone wildly varied. The movie looks like it was shot digitally, and at times it came across as outright camp, though other times it was genuinely moody and scary. Kilmer was great, playing the whole thing up to great effect. There was an extended sequence of him attempting to start his book that drew huge laughs. He kept rewriting the opening line of his latest novel, and I can only assume some of things he said were improvised by Kilmer himself.

As Coppola hinted, only a small amount of the footage was in 3D with a cue onscreen telling the audience to put the glasses on. The 3D was used well, as it was intended to make the scene much more intense and all-encompassing. However, depending on how many 3D sequences are in the full film the constant putting-on and taking-off of the masks could become an annoyance.

Coppola said when he made Twixt he knew it was like a Halloween story and he decided that a month before the film comes out, he wants to travel with the film and put on “performances” with live music and presentations during the screening of the film. He likened it to acting as a conductor, and said since the film is made up of digital files he can change the movie according to the audience reaction. He then showed a demonstration of how he’ll achieve this. He has a computer that contains every single possible version of the film. Scenes are labeled “19S” and “19L” with the letters standing for “short” and “long,” as he can choose which version of the scene to use based on how the audience is responding. He even has whole scenes that he can choose to use or not as the screening proceeds.

He then gave us a demonstration, as a sequence played with Deacon performing music and choosing music cues on the spot. Coppola called out, “use Nosferatu,” and then a chant of someone saying “Nosferatu” over and over played.

Coppola then showed us the same footage that we saw earlier, only this time he edited it on the spot according to the audience reaction. The sequence with Kilmer coming up with the first lines of his book (which the audience loved) was much longer, as was a scene between Kilmer and Fanning. It was kind of shocking how different the footage played this time. The mood came across as much more gothic horror than camp. Then, just to prove that the whole movie is controlled on his computer, he hit shuffle and showed us what the computer came up with.

Here's a pic of the interface of the iPad controlled system which you can edited the film on the spot:

Spoiler

The Edgar Allan Poe 3D glasses:

Spoiler

I think Coppola's way of presenting the film is innovative and considering that the 30-city tour where Coppola and Deacon will re-edit the film, will each have a unique experience based on where and when they see it. I'm very interested to see the how the finished film will be like.