Film Festival season of 2013 is officially underway. Sundance is just around the corner, and now increasingly popular Austin fest SXSW has announced its first batch of films. Magician buddy comedy “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone”, starring Steve Carell, Jim Carrey and Olivia Wilde, will open the festival with its world premiere. Meanwhile, Wilde will be double-dipping at the fest, as she also stars in Joe Swanberg’s rom com “Drinking Buddies”, which co-stars Anna Kendrick, Jake Johnson and Ron Livingston and which will also have its world premiere at the festival.
Harmony Korine’s much talked-about “Spring Breakers”, which stars James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and Ashley Benson and which premiered at Cannes last year, was also announced today as part of the initial lineup of SXSW. Another buzzy title making its world premiere is the remake of “Evil Dead”, which features the quintet of Jane Levy, Jessica Lucas, Shiloh Fernandez, Elizabeth Blackmore and Lou Taylor Pucci being tortured and slaughtered quite graphically.
The list of the first batch of films can be viewed below, along with the first image of Wilde and Johnson in “Drinking Buddies.”
Downloaded (World Premiere)
Directed by: Alex Winter
Downloaded is a documentary that explores the rise and fall of Napster and the birth of the digital revolution. It’s about the teens that helped start this revolution, and the artists and industries who continue to be impacted by it.
Drinking Buddies (World Premiere)
Directed by: Joe Swanberg
You know what makes the line between “Friends” and “More Than Friends” really blurry? Beer.
Cast: Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston, Jason Sudeikis (uncredited), Joe Swanberg
Everyone’s Going to Die (World Premiere)
Directed by: Jones
A guy whose life is falling apart, meets a girl whose life can’t get started. Two people, one chance, a million reasons why not. A story of weirdness and redemption with talking cats, roller-skating beavers and nobody dying.
Cast: Nora Tschirner, Rob Knighton, Kellie Shirley, Madeline Duggan, Stirling Gallacher
Evil Dead (World Premiere)
Directed by: Fede Alvarez
Five friends, holed up in a remote cabin, discover a Book of the Dead that unwittingly summons up dormant demons which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left to fight for survival.
Cast: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore
Good Ol’ Freda (World Premiere)
Directed by: Ryan White
Good Ol’ Freda tells the story of Freda Kelly, a shy Liverpudlian teenager asked to work for a young local band hoping to make it big: the Beatles. Their loyal secretary from beginning to end, Freda tells her tales for the first time in 50 years.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (World Premiere)
Director: Don Scardino, Story by Chad Kultgen & Tyler Mitchell and Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley. Screenplay by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley
As superstar Vegas magicians and former best friends Burt and Anton grow to secretly loathe each other, their long-time act implodes, allowing an ambitious rival street performer the big break he’s been waiting for.
Cast: Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, with Alan Arkin, James Gandolfini and Jim Carrey
Spring Breakers (US Premiere)
Directed by: Harmony Korine
Four sexy college girls plan to fund their spring break getaway by burglarizing a fast food shack. But that’s only the beginning…
Cast: James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, Gucci Mane
The post “Burt Wonderstone” to open SXSW 2013; “Drinking Buddies”, “Evil Dead” and more to premiere appeared first on Up and Comers.
