The Weinstein Company
This week over the last century produced a number of notable, popular films, many awards nominees and winners, several box office bombs and two that were shot in Pittsburgh. While 1922 had a groundbreaking silent film, 1932 had another signature role for Marlene Dietrich, 1942 had an Oscar nominated role for Rosalind Russell, 1952 had a movie that possibly inspired a ride at Disneyland, 1962 had a classic war film and a cult horror film, 1972 had a film with very notable Oscar nominations and a cult classic sci-fi film, 1982 had a sequel that was a prequel, 1992 had a film that became a short-lived Broadway musical, and 2002 had several films notable for being mostly forgotten, 2012 gave us six films that were critical or box office hits, with some being the darlings of the award circuit. Read on to learn a little more about the films celebrating anniversaries this week.
1922
September 24 – Manslaughter (USA)
- Cast: Leatrice Joy, Thomas Meighan, Lois Wilson, John Miltern, George Fawcett, Julia Faye, Edythe Chapman, Jack Mower, Dorothy Cumming, Casson Ferguson
- Director: Cecil B. DeMille
- Production Company: Famous Players-Lasky, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Adapted from the novel of the same name by Alice Duer Miller. The first film to show an erotic kiss between two members of the same sex. Prints of the film exist in the George Eastman House film archive and the Paul Killiam Collection.
September 29 – Wildness of Youth (USA)
- Cast: Virginia Pearson, Harry T. Morey, Mary Anderson, Joseph Striker, Thurston Hall, Julia Swayne Gordon, Bobby Connelly
- Director: Ivan Abramson
- Production Company: Graphic Film Corporation
- Trivia: The film’s status is unknown, presumably lost.
1932
September 23 – Ein blonder Traum (Germany)
- Cast: Lilian Harvey, Willy Fritsch, Willi Forst, Paul Hörbiger, Trude Hesterberg, C. Hooper Trask, Hans Deppe, Wolfgang Heinz
- Director: Paul Martin
- Production Company: UFA
- Trivia: Title translates to A Blonde Dream in English, however a separate English-language version titled Happy Ever After was made as a co-production with Gainsborough Pictures. A French-language version was also released.
September 23 – Blonde Venus (USA)
Paramount Pictures
- Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Cary Grant, Dickie Moore, Gene Morgan, Rita La Roy, Robert Emmett O’Connor, Sidney Toler, Morgan Wallace
- Director: Josef von Sternberg
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Adapted from a story by Jules Furthman and Josef von Sternberg, with the original story ‘Mother Love’ written by Dietrich.
September 23 – Movie Crazy (USA)
- Cast: Harold Lloyd, Constance Cummings, Kenneth Thomson, Louise Closser Hale, Spencer Charters, Robert McWade
- Director: Clyde Bruckman, Harold Lloyd
- Production Company: The Harold Lloyd Film Corporation, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: The first film for Lloyd with a full script of prepared dialogue.
September 23 – The Phantom President (USA)
- Cast: George M. Cohan, Claudette Colbert, Jimmy Durante, George Barbier, Sidney Toler, Louise Mackintosh, Jameson Thomas, Julius McVicker
- Director: Norman Taurog
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Cohan resented working with songwriters Rodgers & Hart because his style of musical theatre had gone out of fashion, replaced by the duo’s more literate and musically sophisticated musicals. One of Paramount’s biggest flops of 1932.
September 24 – Smilin’ Through (USA)
- Cast: Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Leslie Howard, O. P. Heggie, Ralph Forbes, Beryl Mercer, Margaret Seddon, Forrester Harvey
- Director: Sidney Franklin
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: Based on the 1919 play of the same name written by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin under the pseudonym of Allan Langdon Martin. The film is a remake of an earlier 1922 silent version, also directed by Franklin. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1932.
September 24 – Tiger Shark (USA)
- Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Richard Arlen, Zita Johann, Leila Bennett, J. Carroll Naish, Vince Barnett, William Ricciardi, Maurice Black, Sheila Bromley, Wong Chung
- Director: Howard Hawks
- Production Company: First National Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Howard Hawks also directed Scarface the same year.
1942
September 21 – The Young Mr. Pitt (UK)
- Cast: Robert Donat, Geoffrey Atkins, Robert Morley, Phyllis Calvert, John Mills, Jean Cadell, Raymond Lovell, Agnes Lauchlan, Felix Aylmer, Ian McLean, Max Adrian, A. Bromley Davenport, Herbert Lom
- Director: Carol Reed
- Production Company: Twentieth Century Productions Limited, distributed by 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: Filmed as the Second World War was raging for the British subsidiary of 20th Century Fox.
September 22 – Overland Mail (USA, serial)
- Cast: Lon Chaney Jr., Helen Parrish, Noah Beery Jr., Don Terry, Bob Baker, Noah Beery Sr., Tom Chatterton, Charles Stevens
- Director: Ford Beebe, John Rawlins
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: The serial was edited down and released in 1956 as the feature film The Indian Raiders.
September 24 – My Sister Eileen (USA)
- Cast: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Janet Blair, George Tobias, Allyn Joslyn, Grant Mitchell, Gordon Jones, Elizabeth Patterson, Richard Quine, June Havoc, Donald MacBride, Clyde Fillmore, Miss Jeff Donnell, The Three Stooges
- Director: Alexander Hall
- Production Company: Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the 1940 play of the same title, which was inspired by a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney originally published in The New Yorker. Russell received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
September 24 – Tales of Manhattan (USA)
- Cast: Charles Boyer, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Edward G. Robinson, Paul Robeson, Ethel Waters, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Pallette, Cesar Romero
- Director: Julien Duvivier
- Production Company: 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: Thirteen writers, including Ben Hecht, Alan Campbell, Ferenc Molnár, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Donald Ogden Stewart, worked on the six stories in this film. Based on Mexican writer Francisco Rojas González’s novel, Historia de un frac (‘Story of a Tailcoat’), for which he was not even credited. Paul Robeson’s last film due to his deep disappointment with his sequence of the film that came under criticism for its racial stereotypes. Robeson offered to buy all the prints of the film and take them out of distribution, and said he would gladly picket the film with others who found it offensive.
September 26 – Desperate Journey (USA)
- Cast: Errol Flynn, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Coleman, Raymond Massey, Alan Hale Sr., Arthur Kennedy, Ronald Sinclair, Albert Bassermann, Sig Ruman, Patrick O’Moore
- Director: Raoul Walsh
- Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Walsh described the film with its mix of comedy and tragedy a forerunner to the TV series Hogan’s Heroes. The film’s original title was Forced Landing under original director Vincent Sherman. Oscar nominated for Best Special Effects.
1952
September 27 – The Crimson Pirate (USA)
- Cast: Burt Lancaster, Nick Cravat, Eva Bartok, Leslie Bradley, James Hayter, Torin Thatcher, Frederick Leister, Margot Grahame, Noel Purcell, Christopher Lee, Dana Wynter, Margot Grahame
- Director: Robert Siodmak
- Production Company: Norma Productions, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: The Disneyland ride ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ was allegedly inspired by The Crimson Pirate.
September 27 – Lo sceicco bianco (Italy)
- Cast: Alberto Sordi, Leopoldo Trieste, Brunella Bovo, Giulietta Masina, Lilia Landi, Ernesto Almirante, Fanny Marchiò
- Director: Federico Fellini
- Production Company: OFI, P.D.C., distributed by P.D.C. (Italy), Janus Films ( USA)
- Trivia: Released in the US in 1956 as The White Sheik. Fellini’s first solo effort as director.
1962
September 21 – Baron Prášil (Czechoslovakia)
- Cast: Miloš Kopecký, Jana Brejchová, Rudolf Jelínek, Rudolf Hrušínský, Karel Höger, Eduard Kohout, Jan Werich, František Šlégr, Otto Šimánek, Naděžda Blažíčková
- Director: Karel Zeman
- Production Company: Filmové Studio Gottwaldov, Krátký Film Praha, Muzeum Karla Zemana, distributed by Ústrední Pujcovna Filmu (Czechoslovakia)
- Trivia: Released in the US in 1964 as The Fabulous Baron Munchausen. Terry Gilliam referenced some scenes from the film after seeing it while preparing his own Baron Munchausen film.
September 25 – The Longest Day (France)
- Cast: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, Eddie Albert, Curd Jürgens, Richard Todd, Richard Burton, Peter Lawford, Rod Steiger, Irina Demick, Gert Fröbe, Edmond O’Brien, Kenneth More
- Director: British & French: Ken Annakin
American: Andrew Marton
German: Bernhard Wicki - Production Company: Darryl F. Zanuck Productions, Inc., distributed by 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: Based on Cornelius Ryan’s 1959 non-fiction book of the same name about the D-Day landings at Normandy on June 6, 1944. Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two (Black-and-White Cinematography, Special Effects). Nominated for two Golden Globes, winning one for Black-and-White Cinematography.
September 26 – Carnival of Souls (USA)
Harcourt Productions
- Cast: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Art Ellison, Stan Levitt, Tom McGinnis, Forbes Caldwell, Dan Palmquist, Bill De Jarnette, Steve Boozer, Pamela Ballard, Herk Harvey
- Director: Herk Harvey
- Production Company: Harcourt Productions, distributed by Herts-Lion International Corp.
- Trivia: Filmed in Lawrence, Kansas and Salt Lake City, Utah in three weeks on a $33,000 budget. Herk Harvey’s only feature film.
September 26 – Cronaca familiare (Italy)
- Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Jacques Perrin, Sylvie, Salvo Randone, Valeria Ciangottini, Serena Vergano, Marco Guglielmi
- Director: Valerio Zurlini
- Production Company: Titanus – Metro, distributed by Titanus (Italy), Gala Film Distributors (UK), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (USA)
- Trivia: English translation of the title is Family Diary, but the film was released in the US in 1963 as Family Portrait. Based on the novel by Vasco Pratolini.
September 27 – The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (London)
- Cast: Tom Courtenay, Michael Redgrave, Avis Bunnage, James Bolam, Alec McCowen
- Director: Tony Richardson
- Production Company: Woodfall Film Productions, Seven Arts, distributed by British Lion Films (UK), Continental Distributing (USA)
- Trivia: Written by Alan Sillitoe from his 1959 short story of the same title. Tom Courtenay won the BAFTA for Most Promising New Actor.
1972
September 22 – Another Nice Mess (USA)
- Cast: Rich Little, Herb Voland, Bruce Kirby, Diahn Williams, Stewart Bradley, Magda Harout, Steve Martin
- Director: Bob Einstein
- Production Company: Smo-Bro International Productions, distributed by Fine Films
- Trivia: Steve Martin’s film debut. The film was produced by Tom Smothers and Jonathan Haze, who starred in Roger Corman’s The Little Shop of Horrors.
September 24 – Sounder (USA)
- Cast: Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Carmen Matthews, Taj Mahal, James Best
- Director: Martin Ritt
- Production Company: Radnitz/Mattel Productions, distributed by 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: Adapted from the 1969 novel of the same name by William H. Armstrong. Selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2021. Nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Winfield), Best Actress (Tyson), Best Adapted Screenplay. Tyson was also Golden Globe nominated, as was Kevin Hooks (Most Promising Newcomer – Male) Taj Mahal received BAFTA and Grammy nominations for Best Original Music. The first film to feature two Oscar-nominated performances from Black actors. That did not happen again until 1993’s What’s Love Got To Do With It, and only occurred once more in 2020 (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom). Original cast members Taj Mahal and Ted Airhart returned for a sequel in 1976.
September 26 – Solaris (Czechoslovakia)
- Cast: Donatas Banionis (voiced by Vladimir Zamansky), Raimundas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky, Nikolai Grinko, Olga Barnet, Anatoly Solonitsyn, Sos Sargsyan, Aleksandr Misharin
- Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
- Production Company: Mosfilm, Chetvyortoe Tvorcheskoe Obedinenie, distributed by Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu (Czechia), British Film Institute (UK), Magna (USA)
- Trivia: Based on Stanisław Lem’s 1961 novel of the same name. Winner of the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palme d’Or.
1982
September 23 – Mother Lode (Australia)
- Cast: Charlton Heston, Nick Mancuso, Kim Basinger, John Marley
- Director: Charlton Heston
- Production Company: Agamemnon Films
- Trivia: Also known as Search for the Mother Lode: The Last Great Treasure. The plane crash into the lake was not intended. It was an accident due to pilot error but there wasn’t enough money in the budget to acquire a new plane so the script was rewritten to incorporate the crash. It is regarded as the highlight of the film by its fans. The plane was eventually recovered and fully restored, the floats replaced with wheels, and sold to an American business.
September 24 – Amityville II: The Possession (USA/Canada)
- Cast: James Olson, Burt Young, Rutanya Alda, Jack Magner, Diane Franklin, Brent Katz, Erika Katz, Andrew Prine, Leonardo Cimino, Moses Gunn, Ted Ross
- Director: Damiano Damiani
- Production Company: Dino De Laurentiis Corporation-Giada International, Estudios Churubusco, distributed by Orion Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the novel Murder in Amityville by the parapsychologist Hans Holzer. Upon its initial release, the film could not be legally advertised with the ‘II’ in the title because the film was a prequel, not a sequel, to The Amityville Horror.
September 24 – Burden of Dreams (Sweden, documentary)
- Cast: Werner Herzog, Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Mick Jagger
- Director: Les Blank
- Production Company: Independent Documentary Fund, The National Endowment for the Arts, Ford Foundation, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Public Television Stations, SDR Fernsehen, Flower Films, distributed by Flower Films
- Trivia: Shot during and about the chaotic production of Werner Herzog’s 1982 film Fitzcarraldo, and filmed on location in the jungles of Peru. Winner of the BAFTA for Best Documentary, and was preserved in the Academy Film Archive in 1999.
September 24 – Yes, Giorgio (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Luciano Pavarotti, Kathryn Harrold, Eddie Albert, Paola Borboni, James Hong, Beulah Quo, Joseph Mascolo
- Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by MGM/UA Entertainment Company
- Trivia: Based on the 1961 novel by Anne Piper. The film was a box-office bomb, losing an estimated $45 million. Pavarotti performed a free concert to 110,000 in Boston which was shot for the movie. The film received an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song, ‘If We Were in Love’, with music by John Williams and lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The film also received three Razzie nominations – two for Pavarotti (Worst Actor, Worst New Star) and Worst Screenplay.
September 26 – Moonlighting (USA)
- Cast: Jeremy Irons, Eugene Lipinski, Jirí Stanislav, Eugeniusz Haczkiewicz, Denis Holmes, Renu Setna, David Calder, Jenny Seagrove
- Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
- Production Company: Michael White Productions, Channel Four Films, distributed by Miracle Films
- Trivia: Winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Hans Zimmer’s film scoring debut. The neighbor’s dog in the movie actually belonged to Jeremy Irons.
1992
September 23 – Lunes de fiel (France)
- Cast: Hugh Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Peter Coyote, Luca Vellani, Boris Bergman, Victor Banerjee
- Director: Roman Polanski
- Production Company: Les Films Alain Sarde, Le Studio CanalPlus, distributed by AMLF (France), Columbia Pictures (UK)
- Trivia: Based on the novel Lunes de fiel by the French author Pascal Bruckner, published in English as Evil Angels. Released in the US in 1994 as Bitter Moon. Stockard Channing appears in an uncredited role. The score was composed by Vangelis.
September 25 – Innocent Blood (USA)
- Cast: Anne Parillaud, Robert Loggia, Anthony LaPaglia, Don Rickles, Elaine Kagan, David Proval, Rocco Sisto, Chazz Palminteri, Kim Coates, Marshall Bell, Linnea Quigley, Tony Sirico, Tony Lip, Luis Guzmán, Angela Bassett, Leo Burmester, Rohn Thomas, Frank Oz, Tom Savini, Sam Raimi, Forrest J. Ackerman, Dario Argento
- Director: John Landis
- Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Known in some international markets as A French Vampire in America. The film is set and was filmed around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The film was a box-office bomb, earning only $5 million over its $20 million budget.
September 25 – Mr. Saturday Night (USA)
- Cast: Billy Crystal, David Paymer, Julie Warner, Helen Hunt, Jerry Orbach, Ron Silver, Mary Mara
- Director: Billy Crystal
- Production Company: Castle Rock Entertainment, New Line Cinema, distributed by Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: Directorial debut of Billy Crystal. David Paymer received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Crystal was Golden Globe nominated for Best Actor. Jerry Lewis, Carl Ballantine, Slappy White, and Jackie Gayle have cameos in the Friar’s Club scene. The film was a box office bomb in the United States and Canada, grossing $13.3 million, less than a third of its budget.
2002
September 25 – The Trials of Henry Kissinger (USA, limited)
- Cast: Brian Cox (Narrator)
- Director: Eugene Jarecki
- Production Company: Arte France Cinéma, distributed by First Run Features
- Trivia: Inspired by Christopher Hitchens’ 2001 book The Trial of Henry Kissinger.
September 26 – Walking on Water (Australia)
- Cast: Vince Colosimo, Maria Theodorakis, Nathaniel Dean, Judi Farr, Nicholas Bishop
- Director: Tony Ayres
- Production Company: SBS Independent, Adelaide Festival of Arts, Showtime Australia, The New South Wales Film and Television Office, Porchlight Films, distributed by Becker Entertainment
- Trivia: Winner of five Australian Film Institute awards, and the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival.
September 27 – The Bunker (UK)
- Cast: Jason Flemyng, Andrew Tiernan, Christopher Fairbank, Simon Kunz, Andrew-Lee Potts, John Carlisle, Eddie Marsan, Jack Davenport, Charley Boorman
- Director: Rob Green
- Production Company: Millennium Pictures, distributed by High Point Film and Television
September 27 – Crazy as Hell (USA, limited)
- Cast: Michael Beach, Eriq La Salle, Ronny Cox, Sinbad, Jane Carr, Shelley Robertson, Khylan Jones, Twink Caplan, John C. McGinley
- Director: Eriq La Salle
- Production Company: Humble Journey Films, Loose Screw Films, distributed by Artistic License
- Trivia: Based on the 1982 novel Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S. by Jeremy Leven. Only released theatrically in the US in New York City and Los Angeles.
September 27 – The Man from Elysian Fields (USA, limited)
- Cast: Andy Garcia, Mick Jagger, Julianna Margulies, Olivia Williams, James Coburn, Anjelica Huston, Michael Des Barres, Richard Bradford
- Director: George Hickenlooper
- Production Company: Fireworks Pictures, Gold Circle Films, Shoreline Entertainment, distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films
- Trivia: Production was limited to thirty days, because the financing ran out. The credit card that Luther Fox uses, to pay for taking Jennifer Adler out, was director George Hickenlooper’s own debit card. You can see his name on-screen. He has since cancelled the card.
2012
September 21 – Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (UK, documentary)
- Director: Lisa Immordino Vreeland, Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt, Frédéric Tcheng
- Production Company: Gloss Studio, distributed by StudioCanal (UK), Entertainment One (Canada), Samuel Goldwyn Films (USA)
September 21 – End of Watch (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, David Harbour, Frank Grillo, Jaime Fitzsimons, America Ferrera, Cody Horn, Kristy Wu, Anna Kendrick
- Director: David Ayer
- Production Company: StudioCanal, Exclusive Media, Crave Films, Emmett/Furla Films, distributed by Open Road Films
- Trivia: Gyllenhaal read the script in an hour and immediately accepted his role. Peña received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male.
September 21 – Erased (Taiwan)
- Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Liana Liberato, Olga Kurylenko, Neil Napier, Kate Linder, Alexander Fehling, Garrick Hagon, Eric Godon
- Director: Philipp Stölzl
- Production Company: E-Motion, Informant Films Europe, uMedia, distributed by RaDiUS-TWC
- Trivia: Released as The Expatriate outside of the US.
September 21 – Head Games (USA, documentary, limited)
- Director: Steve James
- Production Company: Head Games the Film, distributed by Variance Films
- Trivia: Inspired by the book Head Games written by former Ivy League football player and WWE wrestler Christopher Nowinski.
September 21 – House at the End of the Street (USA/Canada/UK)
- Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Max Thieriot, Bobby Osborne, Elisabeth Shue, Gil Bellows
- Director: Mark Tonderai
- Production Company: FilmNation Entertainment, A Bigger Boat Productions, distributed by Relativity Media
- Trivia: The film was originally announced in 2003 with a different director and writer, but went through development hell for seven years. The film was completed in 2010 but not released until 2012.
September 21 – The Master (USA)
- Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Ambyr Childers, Rami Malek, Jesse Plemons, Kevin J. O’Connor, Christopher Evan Welch, Madisen Beaty, Patty McCormack, Jillian Bell
- Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
- Production Company: JoAnne Sellar Productions, Ghoulardi Film Company, Annapurna Pictures, distributed by The Weinstein Company
- Trivia: Partly inspired by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, early drafts of Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, the novel V. by Thomas Pynchon, drunken Navy stories that Jason Robards had told to Anderson as he was terminally ill while filming Magnolia, and the life story of author John Steinbeck. Shot almost entirely on 65mm film stock, making it the first fiction film to be released in 70mm since Hamlet in 1996. Received three Oscar nominations: Best Actor (Phoenix), Supporting Actor (Hoffman, Supporting Actress (Adams).
September 21 – The Perks of Being a Wallflower (USA, limited)
Mr. Mudd Productions
- Cast: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Mae Whitman, Paul Rudd, Nina Dobrev, Johnny Simmons, Erin Wilhelmi, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Melanie Lynskey, Joan Cusack, Tom Savini
- Director: Stephen Chbosky
- Production Company: Mr. Mudd Productions, distributed by Summit Entertainment
- Trivia: Based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Stephen Chbosky. Chbosky sold the film rights to Mr. Mudd Productions on the condition that he write and direct. Filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Winner of the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Wide Release. Winner of the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. Nominated for four MTV Movie Awards, including Best Female Performance (Watson) and Best Breakthrough Performance (Miller). The film and Watson won People’s Choice Awards, while Watson, Lerman and the film won Teen Choice Awards.
September 21 – Tower Block (UK)
- Cast: Sheridan Smith, Jack O’Connell, Ralph Brown, Russell Tovey, Jill Baker, Loui Batley, Steven Cree, Nabil Elouahabi, Christopher Fulford, Julie Graham
- Director: James Nunn, Ronnie Thompson
- Production Company: Creative Media, Tea Shop & Film Company, distributed by Earth Star Entertainment, Icon Film Distribution, Koch Media, Shout! Factory
- Trivia: Nunn’s and Thompson’s directorial debut. Sheridan Smith did all of her own stunts in the fight scenes.
September 21 – Trouble with the Curve (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, Matthew Lillard, Jack Gilpin, John Goodman, Robert Patrick, Scott Eastwood, Ed Lauter, Chelcie Ross, George Wyner, Bob Gunton, Tom Dreesen
- Director: Robert Lorenz
- Production Company: Malpaso Productions, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Eastwood’s first acting role in a film he did not direct since a cameo in 1995’s Casper.
September 27 – Mekong Hotel (Hungary)
- Cast: Jenjira Pongpas, Maiyatan Techaparn, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Chai Bhatana
- Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- Production Company: Kick the Machine Films, Illuminations Films, ARTE France – La Lucarne, distributed by Cinémathèque Suisse (Switzerland), Strand Releasing (USA)
- Trivia: Screened in the Special Screenings section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
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