SBIFF ’09: Premiering with Principles

Director Rod Lurie Talks About Nothing but the Truth, SBIFF 2009’s Opening Film

If a film festival’s opening night is all about setting the tone for the days to come, then we can expect lots of star power and serious cinema during SBIFF 2009. This evening, January 22, the fest kicks off with Nothing but the Truth, which stars Kate Beckinsale as a reporter who goes to jail rather than revealing her source. Directed by West Point educated film critic-turned-director Rod Lurie, the already acclaimed movie—which also stars Alan Alda, Matt Dillon, Noah Wyle, David Schwimmer, and Angela Bassett—pits journalistic principles against national security. With a surprise ending, it’s sure to get fest-goers talking. Lurie, who will be in attendance tonight, along with some stars from the film, recently chatted with The Independent about his new movie.

How’d you pick this festival? Roger [Durling] gave me a call and, I gotta say, it was pound for pound one of the nicest moments of the past 20 years for me. Our film was getting flying-high reviews … and then, in mid December, my [business] partner Marc Frydman gets a call from the Hollywood Reporter to comment on the Chapter 11 of our distributor. So the film was a victim of a drive-by shooting—it was happy-go-lucky, then it’s lying there with bullet holes in it. … There are, more or less, no ads, almost everybody in that company got fired, there was no publicity. … We were on a real down, but then Roger contacted me and said this movie should be the opening-night film. It made us feel real good. We all really love that festival—that’s a beautiful festival—so it couldn’t have come at a better time. It was a real sign of confidence.

CLICKY!

~ by Jules on January 24, 2009.