Heaven's Gate

Love this:

http://extension765.com/sdr/16-heavens-gate-the-butchers-cut

Take a bow Mr Soderbergh.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Like many of you reading this I was gutted to hear about the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman earlier today. Easily one of the best actors around his performances always shined. 

Speaking to people today though I realised that one of my favourite films that he starred in has largely gone under the radar so if you have a chance then do watch 'Love Liza'. Trailer below.

Update

The last two months have been busy. 

I sold my flat and have a new place in sunny Bournemouth lined up for the new year along with a new job at Bournemouth Arts University. I got an agent and am now represented by Nic Knight Management. I also wrote a book which I have been polishing. It's my first and is in the same vein as Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy and George Pelecanos. I loved writing it and have another planned. I also helped my old friend Jonny Flint produce his short so watch this space for more news on that. I saw the final cut the other day and loved it. I also had two more of my features optioned. 'The Coldest Day' has been optioned by Emanation Films and 'The Camping Trip' has been optioned by Eavesdrop Films. I've just done another draft for the company which was good fun.

So as I spend my final week living in London, where I have lived for the last sixteen years, things look exciting for the new year. I'll be back up in London for various things but if you're in the Bournemouth area then don't be a stranger.

New Showreel

I decided to update my showreel recently, which you can view below. All the clips featured can be viewed in context and in their entirety on my Vimeo page or via my website www.sugarspunpictures.com


Carlo Ortu Showreel from carlo ortu on Vimeo.

Short Sighted Cinema

Many years ago when I first moved to London I attended a short film screening night at the Ritzy cinema in Brixton and loved it. This was before I had started making films and was also the first short film night I had ever been to. Where I was from they didn't have things like this! So I'm happy to say short film events are making a return to the Ritzy on a regular basis in the form of Short Sighted Cinema. It's being run by Kate Williamson who also runs the Vibe:Shorts night down at the Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey. It starts this Tuesday 20th August 2013 at 7.30pm. If you need more reason to come they're also screening my old favourite 'The Last Man on Earth'.

Richard Burton

I recently watched ‘Burton and Taylor’ starring Dominic West and Helen Bonham Carter on BBC4 which tells the story of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor’s last professional work together on Noel Coward’s ‘Private Lives’ in 1983. I really liked it. Good writing, set design, direction and acting. With my interest piqued I thought I’d see how far West nailed Richard Burton’s deliciously deep accent via YouTube (he did a pretty good job) and what started as thirty seconds of research turned into a whole evening of entertainment as I sat enthralled throughout Dick Cavett’s interview with Richard Burton on his show back in 1980. Watching it made me realise how far away we are from good interviews on TV these days. Parkinson is the only talk show host that came close to Dick Cavett for actually letting their guest talk. And talk he does. Richard Burton comes across as an intelligent, thoughtful, articulate, entertaining, sad, honest and talented man. Watch it.

Letters of Note

I love making discoveries on the internet and coming across something that you wish you'd known about earlier. This happened recently whilst reading Peter Biskind's book 'Star' about Warren Beatty which was a very enjoyable read I have to say. A section of the book concerns Jeffrey Katzenberg's 28 internal memo written back in 1991 that was made famous in the film 'Jerry Maguire'. The original memo was a critique of Disney's approach at the time to movie making and a mission statement on how to recapture the Disney magic in the modern age. Having heard about this memo but not actually ever gotten round to reading it I did what most people would do which is google it and that is how I came across Letters of Note. Do have a browse. It's a fascinating site and the original memo is also a good read for everyone.

Read the memo and this pic will make sense