FilmJerk Favorites

A group of unique directors and the essential works that you've got to see.

||| Elia Kazan |||
Elia Kazan

Known for his creative direction and controversial story choices, Kazan was not only a great proponent of “method acting” and one of the founders of the Actors' Studio, but he used the style to its greatest effect, working with actors to capture unforgettable moments that bore his unique signature.

Under Kazan's potent direction Andy Griffith gives a stunning portrayal of a Southern itinerant singer catapulted to fame, with dehumanizing effects, in this early look at the power and corruptibility of television celebrity.

Gregory Peck is a humble and idealistic magazine writer who researches an article on anti-Semitism and learns first-hand about prejudice when he poses as a Jew. The film is unique in its ability to be quietly strong and subtly powerful while remaining constantly engaging.

Winner of eight Academy Awards, this powerful and brilliantly performed saga focuses on the dreams, despair and corruption of New York City longshoremen, Marlon Brando as he struggles over the choices of right and wrong and what that means to his brother, corrupt union officials, his priest, and his girlfriend.

Recommended by CarrieSpecht

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Reese Witherspoon delivers a new "Rendition"

By EdwardHavens

September 26th, 2006

Reese Witherspoon, whose portrayal of June Carter Cash won her the coveted Oscar last spring, will team with another of this year's winners, South African director Gavin Hood, on the upcoming New Line production, "Rendition."

Reese Witherspoon delivers a new

Hood, whose "Tsotsi" became the first film from the former Apartheid state to win an Academy Award, will make his Hollywood debut directing first-time screenwriter Kelley Sane's multi-layered story centering on a CIA analyst based in Cairo who finds his world spinning out of control after he witnesses the interrogation of a foreign national by the Egyptian secret police. Witherspoon has been tapped to play Isabella El-Ibrahim, the pregnant American wife of an Egyptian-born chemical engineer whose family emigrated to the States in the mid 1980s, who is shipped off to a third world country for interrogation after he is deemed a political prisoner in our post-9/11 world.

Production is set to begin in late November, with shooting scheduled for Los Angeles, Washington DC, Morocco and Cape Town until the early part of 2007. One can expect "Rendition" to be one of New Line's major Oscar bait films of next year, most likely to be released in November or December 2007.

Witherspoon's next film, the fantasy/comedy "Penelope" also starring Christina Ricci and James McAvoy, which she also produced, is currently making the film festival rounds while searching for an American distributor.

The Scoorecard
Director: Gavin Hood
Producer: Steve Golin
Writer: Kelley Sane
Production Start Date: Late November 2006
Production Locations: Los Angeles, Washington DC, Morocco, Cape Town
US Distributor: New Line Cinema