Cut to last weekend, when Twelve–which, in their defense, is laughably bad– opened to a brutal $477 per-theater average and savage reviews. A few days later the company received a cease and desist letter after announcing their plans for an animated Terminator film. Now the bad news keeps coming for Hannover House– Deadline reports that happythankyoumoreplease has severed ties with the distributor, and is negotiating a deal with Anchor Bay Films with an eye toward a theatrical release.
Not to pile on to Hannover in their time of trouble, but the happythankyoumoreplease people are totally justified. There hasn’t been the slightest bit of publicity for the film since Sundance, and given how many of the other festival hits have done well this summer– from the comedic Cyrus to the bleak Winter’s Bone– it would have made perfect sense to have happythankyoumoreplease out in theaters by now. It’s not a perfect movie by any stretch, and sometimes feels more like a sitcom than an actual movie, but it’s an obvious crowd pleaser that could easily make the distributor some cash with some decent marketing. In addition to Radnor it stars Malin Akerman, Kate Mara and Zoe Kazan, all of them up-and-comers who could presumably bring in audiences.
Anchor Bay doesn’t have a particularly stellar track record for bringing films into theaters– their latest releases Solitary Man and City Island had unremarkable theatrical runs– but presumably they’ll at least plan to put the film out there. Hopefully Hannover can take advantage of the moment to regroup a bit and figure out where to go from here– and know better than to ever again tangle with a Joel Schumacher indie. That was a mistake they should have seen coming.
From Cinema Blend
I have added photos of Malin from three more events at the Maui Film Festival!
Actors are expected to sacrifice for their art, and for actress Malin Akerman that meant losing her eyebrows for her indie-hit.
Akerman tells PopcornBiz she did the ultimate eyebrow sacrifice for her new film “HappyThankYouMorePlease.”
Akerman plays a woman suffering from the hair-loss disease alopecia as the lead in the buzzed-about Sundance film which has garnered an August release date. There was no getting around the actual buzz for the part.
“I couldn’t fake the eyebrows,” she says. “The part deserved that dedication.”
The decision to go bare brow was “exciting and nervewracking.”
“The makeup artist turned on the shaver and the buzz started and I was like ‘Oh my God,’ ” she says.
There were a lot of bright sides. First of all, the brows have grown back. The Swedish actress was looking her usual stunning and fully-browed self at the Haute and Bothered Season 2 Launch Party on Monday night.
Also her husband loved the look. “My husband looked at me and said, ‘Wow you look five years younger. Second of all, you look angelic,’ ” Akerman says.
Finally, she didn’t have to shave her head. “We did a bald cap and my character wore these amazing head scarves,” she adds.
Akerman adds quickly. “I will shave my head if called upon.”
From NBC Connecticut
Malin Akerman may have made the leap into blockbuster films, but she never forgets about the little people. (Indie movies being the little people in this case.) Her latest role is in the independent film “Happythankyoumoreplease,” directed by “How I Met Your Mother” star Josh Radnor, premieres this week at the Gen Art Film Festival in New York. Wonderwall had a chance to catch up with the starlet at the festival to talk all things indie.
Wonderwall: What makes Gen Art unique?
Malin Akerman: I think anything that supports and celebrates the arts is great. A lot of real moviegoers come to film festivals like these to watch films for what they are and not for what the box office tells them. So you feel like you get back to why we are in this business and that feels really great.
WW: How does working on a low-budget film compare to a studio movie like “Watchmen”?
MA: The thing I love about indie films is you sort of go, go, go, go, go. It’s like theater where you have a show every night. And it’s nice because you never lose touch with your character, you don’t lose touch with what you’re doing. and there’s not big breaks in between scenes.
WW: Is there a lot of bonding on set?
MA: I like being together and being crammed into small spaces, and everyone gets to know each other. You get to know who is holding your boom [mike] and, unlike on a bigger film, you know about his family, not just his name. Everyone just hangs out, which is really fun.”
WW: So we gotta ask … who’s your ideal leading man?
MA: I guess he’s become a big celebrity but I love Ryan Gosling, maybe because he’s Canadian. I think he’s phenomenal. I think anything he does is amazing.
We’ll be the first to agree with you on that one, Malin.
From Wonderwall
Hannover House has picked up the rights and will release happythankyoumoreplease, the Dramatic Audience Award Winner at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival on August 27 (via Variety). Written, directed and starring Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother) the romantic comedy follows a New York writer and his friends who begin caring for a foster child who gets lost on the subway.
The new distributor, which is best known for its home video market, reportedly paid $1 million for the film and will open it in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas before expanding it to 20 more markets on Labor Day. happythankyoumoreplease, which feels like a cousin to (500) Days of Summer and Garden State, also stars Malin Akerman (Watchman), Zoe Kazan (Me and Orson Welles), Tony Hale (Arrested Development), Kate Mara (Shooter) and Pablo Schreiber (The Wire).
From Collider
Malin Akerman and “HappyThankYouMorePlease” director, Josh Radnor, were interviewed by MakingOf.com at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Check out the video interview below!
Collider has posted 3 movie clips from “happythankyoumoreplease”, which you can watch below!