Austin native Allen eyes new 'Les Miserable'

Todd Allen is an Austin High grad whose had an interesting acting career including such films as Grand Canyon and Silverado. Now he and partner Stephen Rollins are forming a production company with some pretty ambitious plans, including a remake of Les Miserable. Read more about it here: http://www.screendaily.com/story.aspx?storycode=5005768

'Whip It' whips up interest

The Drew Barrymore-directed roller derby flick Whip It starring Ellen Page became the poster child for Texas' need for more film incentives (we're still waiting for tangible results from that increase) when the Austin-set film about an Austin-born sports movement written by Austin native Shauna Cross lensed in ... Michigan, where they stood in the streets and threw cash at the film in hopes of creating a film industry from scratch.

With the film about to bow, Variety gives it a very nice review. One small quibble: The film can't be true to the novel. Shauna, who I first met when she was doing extras casting on MTV's Austin Stories in the '90s, told me she got a deal for both at the same time and thus wrote the script and the novel simultaneously.

'Between Floors' get director honors

Jen White won the best director award at the Atlanta Underground Film Festiva for her debut feature Between Floors. It screens this Saturday at the Boston Film Festival. The movie “examines the human condition through a uniquely claustrophobic lens, intercutting between five stuck elevators and the people trapped inside them.” See more about the film here.

The flick's exec producer Paul Alvarado-Dykstra also passes along this important info from the Texas Motion Picture Alliance: "Mark your calendar for Sunday, Nov. 1, which is when TXMPA's having our 2nd Annual Spaghetti Western Fall Fundraiser party at Star Hill Ranch.

Sam Bradford and Fred Akers?

The unlikely duo are on my mind as the University of Texas Longhorns enter the second week of a dream football season. See my Austin Chronicle blog here.

First day of school

Actually the first day of Parents Day Out, but it's pretty close. Nicholas' teacher used to teach kindergarten and he's in a class of six kids, so we fell pretty good about it.

Nicholas greets his teacher, "Miz Shell."

'Kings of the Evening' to finally hit theaters

Kings of the Evening, which shot near Austin in Bartlett in 2007, has finally found distribution, director Andrew Jones confirms. Expect a small theatrical release by February 2010 through Indican Pictures followed by a wider release for television, DVD and video on demand.

Starring fashion model Tyson Beckford and noted actor Glynn Turman, the film is set in the Deep South in the Depression era. Amid tough economic times, a group of African-American men dress in their finest and compete to be the movie title's King of the Evening. Gary Bond of the Austin Film Office has repeatedly championed the film for its quality. Here's what I wrote about it last year in The Austin Chronicle: http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid%3A668715

Mike Judge talks 'Extract'

My interview with Austin-based director Mike Judge about his turn from the employees' story in Office Space to the bosses' tale in Extract appears today in both the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle.