If you had a slow Mother's Day weekend and were lurking around the net, you might have heard that David O. Russell's upcoming comedy Nailed hit another snag; this one much bigger than just an actor walking off set (a snag that was NOT because of Russell!). They were shut down by the Screen Actors Guild because they didn't have enough money to pay their actors.

You can check out the story, as it unfolded, at Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily. Luckily, any of you who are itching to see Nailed needn't worry. Variety reports that ThinkFilm (part of Capitol Films) has resumed shooting (and will hopefully have enough cash to finish it).

But this is part of a bigger problem: Nailed wasn't the only film hit with funding issues. A number of Capitol projects have been stopped or delayed due to lack of funds. ThinkFilm failed to pay Alex Gibney his owed fees for Taxi to the Dark Side. Flicks like Bad Meat were shut down. Then She Found Me's paper ad campaign hit a snag when there was no money for ads. You know you have serious money issues when you can't even get enough for your ad campaigns.

And now they're heading to Cannes with films from The Edge of Love to The Oxford Murders. There's a lot of interesting films attached to this company, but my head has got "Another One Bites the Dust" playing for ThinkFilm and Capitol.

Thoughts?

Near the end of last week, Defamer spread the rumor that Picturehouse, once the indie arm of New Line Cinema and currently dangling from the edge of the hulking entity known as Warner Bros., has its days numbered. Now that New Line is history and Warners, like many studios, has faced increasing cutbacks, it may give short shrift to the shingles responsible for handling artier fare. Along with Picturehouse, this also includes Warner Independent Pictures, whose recent release slate includes David Gordon Green's magnificent Snow Angels.

Defamer suggested that Picturehouse president Bob Berney might wind up at WIP or head up a new, currently anonymous company. On Friday, Variety's Anne Thompson put it in more coherent terms: It appears quite likely that WIP and Picturehouse will merge together as a single company, with current WIP president Polly Cohen working alongside Berney. Whatever happens, let's just hope that the final result still leaves room for the sharp selection of independent and foreign titles that Picturehouse has handled since its birth three years ago. Defamer points out that Marion Cotillard's unexpected Oscar win for La Vie en Rose matters less than the flop of Run, Fatboy, Run, while the John Simpson-directed horror film Amusement might get dumped on DVD. It was just last year, however, that the company helped edgy fare like The Orphanage and Rocket Science get the sort of release most studios would never try. Let's hope that bravery lives on, somewhere.

In these supposedly progressive times, gender equality is one of those touchy issues relegated to the last paragraph of a trend piece nobody reads. When Katherine Heigl suggested to Vanity Fair that Judd Apatow's movies were sexist, the assertion came across like an after-the-fact shrug of acceptance. Ever the galvanizing provocateur, New York Times critic Manohla Dargis confronts the issue head-on with a thorough analysis of the gender bias in this year's summer blockbusters.

With "Iron Man, Batman, Big Angry Green Man" and other massive expressions of virility invading the box office, female roles appear to be relegated to the back of the multiplex. Dargis touches on the rumors that Warner Bros head Jeff Robinov believes no woman has been able to sell a movie since Julia Roberts (a point that Natalie Portman might contest, but not Paris Hilton) before sizing up numerous upcoming studio releases, with particular attention paid to Anna Faris, "who could be the next Judy Holliday but without the right material will, alas, probably end up the next Brittany Murphy." It's the kind of pronouncement that hits you in gut.

Wow, this news threw me for a loop. According to indieWIRE, our mutual friend Matt Dentler, producer of the South By Southwest Film Festival since 2004, is leaving his post (and Austin) to move to New York City, where he will head the marketing and programming operations of Cinetic Media's new digital rights management unit. Replacing Dentler as SXSW producer will be Janet Pierson, long-time independent film producer and board member of the Austin Film Society.

I've never met Pierson (well, that I know of ... you do get introduced to so many people at film fests, it's hard to keep track of everyone sometimes ... ) but I feel like I know her, from watching the documentary Reel Paradise, which she made with her husband, John. That film documented the year the Piersons and their two children spent living on a remote island in Fiji running the only movie theater on the island. I also wrote last year about John Pierson smacking down on Michael Moore, whose film Roger & Me was sold by the Piersons to Warner Brothers for the then-unheard-of sum of $3 million.

Janet Pierson has fantastic indie street cred, she's a passionate lover of independent film, and I'm sure she'll do a stellar job heading up SXSW. We at Cinematical extend our warmest welcome to her, and wish our friend Matt great luck and joy in his new endeavor. Matt is one of our favorite indie-film-world people, and we hope that he'll come back to SXSW every year to just enjoy the fest for a change, rather than running to and fro introducing films and shepherding talent around. We'll save you a seat at the Alamo, Matt, and there's a five-dollar milkshake with your name on it when we see you there.

*Update: Check out indieWIRE's well-informed piece on Cinetic's plans for Dentler and Pierson on stepping into Dentler's shoes.

First, they both took part in remakes of slain director Theo Van Gogh's Dutch films. Steve Buscemi took on Interview, which had him helming and starring with tow-headed actress Sienna Miller in a story about a jaded political journalist sent to interview a B-rated actress. Stanley Tucci took on Blind Date, the story of a married couple who roleplay a blind date -- which stars himself and Patricia Clarkson. The film was recently completed, and will have its premiere at Sundance this month. But aside from honoring Van Gogh, Variety reports that the actors have teamed up to start a film, television, and commercial production company called Olive Productions.

With a plan to develop features that have budgets from $3 to $12 million, both the Tooch and Buscemi will produce, right, direct, and nab talent for the banner. They even have some projects already underway. Before the writer's strike began, Tucci and Nicholas Pileggi were working on an adaptation of Gay Talese's nonfiction book Unto the Sons for HBO. It should be a great move for both actors -- Buscemi really stepped up to the plate and proved his worth in Interview, and imagine Stanley will do the same thing this year at Sundance. Just imagine -- lots of new indie fare with the likes of Tooch and Steve. I'm sold!

Last year, along with the buzz of blood and chaos, Grindhouse brought rumors of marital difficulties. Officially, Robert Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellan have stated that they were split well before the making of the movie, and that all was amicable. Rumors, however, have also been circulating about Rose McGowan's involvement, which quickly went from a "professional relationship," to a hand-holding appearance at Cannes. Yet another case of the long-term partner getting dumped for the younger actress -- I guess not all men can be Maxwell Caulfield. Anyhow, Avellan recently talked with the New York Times about where things lay post-separation, both for her production company with her ex, Troublemaker Studios, and her future solo work.

The company will continue to run as-is, in accordance with earlier claims, but it looks like both are going to branch out to separate projects. For the first time, she's working with a director other than Rodriguez and is bringing Jonathan Jakubowicz's Queen of the South to the screen for Warner Independent Pictures. She says: "I didn't want Robert to feel like I wasn't giving 150 percent, like any producer would do. So I'd not talk about this or that. Now I feel free to mention some of the things that I'm doing."

It's both a freeing and eerie statement -- one that speaks well for her future, but sadly of her past. Hopefully this is the beginning of some time in the spotlight for Avellan. As the piece notes, The Hollywood Reporter had listed a Latino Power 50 this year, but while Rodriguez was listed third, she wasn't included, nor mentioned. She's functioned under the radar for many years now, so hopefully the time has come to see her shine.

Being the second most populous nation, India is like this glittering Eden of box office potential -- one that Hollywood is desperately trying to break into. So far, Bollywood has stood relatively free from the foreign influence. Variety notes that Hollywood nabbed a whopping 85% of Spain's box office last year, while only 8% in India. I'd say - "Go, India!" but it looks like the tide is changing. Instead of continuing with plans for remakes and exportation, Hollywood studios are going to make Bollywood movies mainly for Indian audiences.

Warner Brothers unveiled their first India production this week, an action comedy called Made in China. Directed by Nikhil Advani and written by Shridhar Raghavan, the film stars Akshay Kumar as a "Mumbai cook who is mistaken for a martial-arts master as well as Indian model-turned-actress Deepika Padukone." It'll be filmed in Hindi and marks the first Indian production to shoot in China. (But will their censors be into the fantastical elements?) It's also said to be pretty pricey for Bollywood standards.

Obviously, Hollywood entering Bollywood has its pluses -- huge distribution power, money and technology to bring new waves in cinema, such as Disney's plan to make yearly toons for the nation -- the first to be Roadside Romeo. On the flip side, it was inspiring to see a powerful local film industry doing well without Hollywood. I'm all for international co-productions, but I'd hate to be posting in a few years that Hollywood has upped its box office take in India to numbers that rival Spain's. Check out the Variety piece for more details.

Over at Deadline Hollywood Daily, Nikki Finke has been investigating the employment status of Richard Saperstein, who supposedly still works for Dimension Films. Saperstein is/was the president of production over at Dimension, which I'm sure you all know is part of The Weinstein Co. Finke had heard a rumor that Saperstein was canned, probably because of the disappointing Grindhouse box office. Supposedly, he was even telling friends that he got fired, but then later he found out he didn't actually lose his job. According to Finke's sources, the confusion has to do with Saperstein's contract with Dimension, which either lasts another 18 months or as long as another four years. So, maybe the guy was relieved of his position but hasn't technically lost his job. In a statement from The Weinstein Co. to Finke, Saperstein was said to still be "an employee of the company." Of course, that doesn't say he's still the president of production.

Other tidbits that Finke points out about Saperstein's reign at Dimension include his involvement in the recent hit 1408, which should be redeeming him for Grindhouse, which certainly shouldn't have been his fault anyway (who do you think has more influence with Tarantino and Rodriguez -- Harvey and Bob Weinstein or Saperstein?). Also, Saperstein reportedly just snagged Dimension the rights to remake David Cronenberg's Scanners. Whether or not Saperstein is still employed at Dimension, it appears that lawyers may end up involved, and we will probably see him leave the studio anyway. Then maybe we'll hear about the Weinstein's continued plans to fix the reputation of their slow-going company, of which Dimension should be doing the better business, like it was doing when it was a part of Miramax. Dimension is probably doing better than The Weinstein Co. as a distributor, but maybe it could layoff the sequels and horror remakes and be even more successful.

In May, Christopher Campbell posted about Lars von Trier's depression, and how the director fears it will hurt or kill his career. See, the director was hospitalized earlier this year, and while he's now out, he can't focus on movies and the affliction has left him "like a blank sheet of paper." It's a bit ironic that this comes in the midst of von Trier's comedies, and not his emotionally heavy work like Dogville and Manderlay. The Boss of it All was recently released in the states, and Cinematical's Ryan Stewart described it as a "success, a refreshing change from the ponderous 'Grace trilogy,'" and that "Danish subtitles do nothing to slow down the laughs."

And there's even another comedy on the way, which proves that he's still got a sense of humor, even in the throes of depression. Erik Nietzsche, The Early Years is a comedic drama about Erik Nietzsche, "an intelligent, but in many ways inexperienced, shy young man who is convinced he wants to be a film director." He enrolls in the Danish National Film School, entering "a world of angry, unhelpful tutors, weird fellow students and unwritten rules," which make Erik feel "like a foreigner in the film industry." As Twitch recaps -- the director was originally tapped only to write the film, which is based on his own experiences. Now does the premise make sense? The original director, Lone Schefig has since dropped out and new director Jacob Thuesen has taken over the helm, but Lars is no longer credited as screenwriter -- Erik Nietzsche is. Ah, Lars, keep fighting. We need your entertaining, von Trier view of the world.

Off with her head! Er, wait that's the wrong movie -- one of the few that Disney didn't "honor" with a direct-to-DVD sequel. As for other classics, they weren't so lucky. At first, it seemed like only the more recent animated hits would be affected. In the 90's, we got videos like The Return of Jafar and Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. Of course, this was a short-lived blessing as old-school films started getting picked up. In 2001 it was Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure. Then there was Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (followed this year by a second sequel). Then, the whole thing became unstoppable and almost nothing was sacred -- 101 Dalmations, Bambi and The Fox and the Hound all got sequels. Now, amazingly, Disney has decided to halt future sequels citing inferiority to the originals -- duh!

Some sources, like the previous AHN link, say it's the crappy quality, but over at Variety, there's a little different news about the who and what of the switch. Disney has sacked Sharon Morrill, who has been head of DisneyToons direct-to-DVD work for a while now. She's not completely gone, however, as a Disney rep says that she's being moved to some sort of "special projects" work, whatever that means. The reasoning behind her dismissal, according to V -- the costs for the upcoming Tinker Bell adaptation have skyrocketed to the not-so-costly $50 million (AHN says it's $30 million). Apparently the movie has had around two dozen script versions and a ton of different directors attached. To top that off, sources say that she's not getting along so well with Pixar heads, since Disney bought the company last year.

What the exact story is, remains to be seen. I would imagine that if this was all about Morrill, then Disney wouldn't be bringing their DVD sequels to an end, they'd just find someone to replace her. Whatever the exact numbers and rationale are, I can't help but be a little relieved that it's coming to an end, and relieved that Disney CCO John Lasseter acknowledged that not only are the sequels inferior, but they "erode" the brand. Quality over money...wonders never cease!

Where is the modern woman? A number of times of the last few years, I've asked friends to list films that center on modern, successful working women where floofy romance is the center of the plot. While I refuse to drown in the sappy romcom or family fare, I always have to have my blind eye ready when I want to watch something that in some way either reflects my life, or inspires me to push forward. I've ignored the outfits and silliness of Sex and the City, the sexual dysfunction of Laurel Canyon and just how old 9 to 5 is.

Now, the New York Times has put out an article about Hollywood's Shortage of Female Power. I click on the link, expecting something similar to what I typed above, but that's not what I got. Perhaps it is best summed up with this: "While Hollywood has not stopped making films appealing to women and girls, as evidenced by recent and coming releases like Music and Lyrics, Nancy Drew and The Nanny Diaries, women here worry that the future will not be so bright." While I don't think I could knock the ever-tough Drew, since I grew up reading about her, that has to be one of the most reductive thoughts that I've read in a while. By now I'd think that women have come far enough to be more than a demographic itching for light romance and childcare. Yes, "female power" is lessening behind the scenes as a number of top, female studio heads like Gail Berman have left their positions. However, that's not synonymous with "female" floofyness.

But that's all that the Times discussion is based on. Another quote has producer Lindsay Doran saying: "You don't see companies saying, 'More than half of this population is women, we should design a slate to come up with movies like The Break-Up and The Devil Wears Prada.'" Maybe that's because women are more than flipping crazy ex-girlfriends or girls starving their already-thin frame to fit into the latest fashions? Could it be, perchance, that women want films that give them more credit? Give us balance, people!

I just know that you were itching for a Real World movie, or maybe a Bad Girls Club feature film, or even Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie on a huge screen in a cinematic version of The Simple Life. Can't you see it? Real people tackling taboos while wearing barely-there clothing. "Hot gals" and "randy guys" having "heated clashes." Jackass did it, so why not the old, long-living reality show from MTV, The Real World, or any of the other creations of Bunim-Murray Productions?

The reality-centric television business has started a documentary division to be run by Sasha Alpert, B-M casting director. Head honcho Jon Murray says: "The Real World is just a different, more commercial way of doing a documentary," so they decided they had a passion for doc filmmaking and should look beyond television. Well, sure. It's more commercial in that they took a show about putting intelligent people together to clash and learn from each other and over each season made the show more about hot bods, sex and partying than discussion and any sort of reality. However, their first feature is a film by Tricia Regan called Autism: The Musical. It's an interesting choice, and not what I'd expect. I can only hope that the future will be as promising, and that their feature documentaries don't become PG or R-rated Girls Gone Wild adventures.

Just a couple weeks ago or so, film journalist Anne Thompson, former Deputy Film Editor over at The Hollywood Reporter, jumped ship to Variety (along with editor Cynthia Littleton). Now Thompson has settled into her new digs as a deputy editor, writing a weekly column and a daily blog -- Thompson on Hollywood. Kicking things off, Thompson ran a piece on how the success of 300 "could rewrite the rules of comic book movies". On her new blog, Thompson writes about the 19-member writer's co-op that's formed at Warner Bros., how Showest in Las Vegas was and how the highlight of the fest was Hairspray, and other such Hollywood goodies.

It's good to see Thompson up and running so quickly on Variety, which seems to be making a move towards more web-based and blogging efforts, perhaps to reach a greater audience outside the industry. Variety scored well in snagging Thompson (I bet some folks at The Hollywood Reporter were seriously irritated at losing her). She's a savvy journalist who does her homework, busts her butt covering great inside topics I'd otherwise probably never read about, and has succeeded in achieving remarkable credibility among other film journalists and Hollywood industry folks. Thompson's smart, savvy writing will be a welcome breath of fresh air over at Variety. We here at Cinematical welcome her to her new gig, and look forward to reading her future words of Hollywood wisdom.

Some news for the weekend:

• I don't see the connection, but the latest heist flick to hit the pike is inspired by Ralph Ellison's racial classic, Invisible Man. Invisible, written by The Watcher and Four Brothers scribe David Elliot, is about a masterful bank heist and the obsession that a female cop has with catching a mysterious con man, who I presume is responsible for the heist. Was the mere word "invisible" the inspiration? Will the crime flick also deal with racial issues? I have no idea. Infinity Media has grabbed the project, and Lance Larson will direct it.
• While Destino is getting closer to its DVD release, it will be part of a Disney art exhibit in Montreal, which runs from March 8 - June 24. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will have, on-loan, about 300 pieces of art from the Disney archives, and most have never been publically displayed. The exhibit is called Once Upon a Time, and it focuses on the many sources that inspired the world of Disney. This includes original work by Disney studio artists, paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, film clips and other items. Basically, it's a must-see for old-school Disney fans.
  
• The U.K. Film Council Development Fund has been busy. Just over a week after releasing the latest round of films to receive money from the Fund, Jenny Borgars has stepped down as head. Harry Potter producer Tanya Seghatchian has been named as her replacement. Seghatchian is known as the executive who first brought Rowling's work to the attention of David Heyman, and has worked closely on the development of the franchise. In 2005, she was one of Variety's 10 Producers to Watch, and they seem to have been right! It'll be interesting to see what she does with the Fund.
  

Right now, THINKFilm has a lot to bask in. Born Into Brothels scored them an Oscar, Murderball garnered them an Oscar nomination, Half Nelson has gotten all sorts of praise and they have two documentaries getting buzz at Sundance -- War Dance and the equine flick, Zoo. However, behind the spotlight there is increasing anger. In October, the company was sold to American entrepreneur, David Bergstein, who owns Capitol Films. While this might mean a many wonderful things for the company on the whole, it doesn't for the Canadian filmmakers who were grabbed by the company before the sale.

The acquisition has presented a lot of problems to the Canadian films under THINKFilm's belt, and situations are only getting worse as time goes on. As The Globe and Mail reports, there are approximately 50 titles in limbo and after months without response, a group of the filmmakers are retaining lawyers to try to free their films from the company. Why is all of this a problem? Although president Jeff Sackman was planning to sell the titles in question within a month of the sale, the deals went nowhere and months have passed. Now the filmmakers are getting nervous in the face of CanCon financial issues.

To top off the indie films' money worries are distribution problems -- especially for Everything's Gone Green, the Douglas Coupland-penned comedy headed by Joey star Paulo Costanzo. Under Canadian law, it is now US-owned, so the company cannot distribute Canadian films in Canada -- and the US release is set for April, which means that times-a-ticking. I don't want to have to drive to Buffalo to see a Canadian movie, and so I urge THINKFilm to work things out with these Canadian filmmakers already.