Dieter Goes Shopping

Over in the Berlinale’s HQ, Dieter Kosslick and his programmers – having celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the wall, no doubt – don’t have that much time left until their own 60^th birthday party when the festival kicks off on February 11. So it’s time to start making decisions.

What’s on their lists….

Headliners

The smart money is on Roman Polanski’s The Ghost (Summit) to turn up at Berlin; the director has been widely reported as working on post-production from prison in Zurich where he is fighting extradition to the US. Based on the book by Robert Harris about a ghostwriter preparing the memoirs of a British prime minister not a million miles away from Tony Blair,  The Ghost stars Ewan McGregor as the writer and Pierce Brosnan and Olivia Williams as the power couple.

Berlin is also perfect timing for Martin Scorcese’s long-awaited thriller Shutter Island, from the novel by Denis Lehane and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. This goes out in the US through Paramount on February 19.

Other big-ticket titles include:

- The Company Men, with Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones, is a story about coping with corporate downsizing; it was written and directed by John Wells and independently financed.

- Gaumont title Last Night, about a couple who both encounter temptation when the husband is away on a business trip, stars Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington and Eva Mendes and was written and directed by Nassy Tadjedin.

- A definite Berlin contender is Focus Features’ Greenberg, director and writer (with Jennifer Jason Leigh) Noah Baumbach’s follow-up to Margot And The Wedding, featuring Ben Stiller, Rhys Ifans and Juno Temple.

- With Paul Greengrass’ Green Zone around at that time, the German festival also makes an ideal venue for Clint Eastwood to make an international launch for Invictus, an Oscar contender also starring Matt Damon.

- Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, with Johnny Depp

-  Veniceand Toronto fielded us a Single Man, a Serious Man, and a Solitary Man. Berlin may have The Extra Man, with Wild Bunch repping this Shari Springer Berman/Robert Puccini comedy starring Kevin Kline, Paul Dano  and Katie Holmes.

- Peter Weir cannot be ruled out with The Way Back,about soldiers who escaped from a Siberian gulag in 1940 starring Colin Farell, Ed Harris and Jim Sturgess.

- Jack Goes Boating, an adaptation of the off-Broadway play with Philip Seymour Hoffman directing himself as a stoner limo driver with Amy Ryan as his girlfriend looks almost certain to be a Sundance/Berlin crossover.

And there’s the numerals – Joel Schumacher with Chace Crawford vehicle 12, and Gela Babluani with 13, starring Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, and Ray Winstone.

Berlin/Cannes highway

Two titles could go either way

- John Cameron Mitchelltaking an entirely different tack after Shortbus with Rabbit Hole, based on the play by David Lindsay-Abaire with Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as a couple whose son dies in an accident.

- With its Jim Thompson source material and a cast which includes Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba, Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me is in post-production and could be headed either way with Cannes, on balance, seeming more likely.

They put the Great in Britain

British title sex&drugs&rock&roll, about British punk rocker Ian Dury – Andy Serkis is already attracting awards attention in the UK for his lead performance – is premiering at home on January 8 and in the running for Berlin.

With The Last Station having played at Rome, it’s worth asking where is The Tempest, Julie Taymor’s eagerly awaited Shakespeare adaptation starring Helen Mirren as Prospera alongside Russell Brand’s Trinculo, Chris Cooper as Antonio and Djimon Hounsou as Caliban. That would be a jewel in any festival’s crown.

David Mackenzie (Hallam Foe)is also in post with The Last Word,starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green in the Glasgow-shot story of two people who fall in love as the world begins to fall apart.

Europe

- Eva Greenalso crops up in the much anticipated Womb, from Benedek Fliegauf, as a grieving widow who wants to clone her husband.

- Rise and Fall (Jud Suss), directed by Oskar Roehler (Elementary Particles). This TF1-sold World War II-era period feature is about the actor, Ferdinand Marian (Tobias Moretti) who stars in the anti-Semitic movie Jud Suss. Martina Gedeck also stars.

- Safy Nebou’s Signe Dumas, meanwhile, stars Gerard Depardieu as the legendary writer alongside Benoit Poelvoorde.

- Yasmina Reza (Art) also has her directorial debut, Chicas, ready with Emanuelle Seigner and Carmen Maura.

- Also from France, Gregoire Vigneron’s stylish thriller Immaculate, with Benoit Magimel and Lea Seydoux, is a contender.

- Former Golden Bear winner Jasmila Zbanic (Grbavica, 2006)) is back with Na Putu, the story about a young couple in jeopardy when the husband joins a fundamentalist commune

- Also class of 2006, Pernille Fischer Christensen, whose A Soap won the Jury Grand Prix at Berlin that year, is ready with The Rheinwald Family for Trust Nordisk

- Spain’s Julio Medem takes a trip to Rome, meanwhile, for the lesbian tryst Room in Rome, with Elena Anaya and Natasha Yarovenko.

- Norway’s Hans Petter Moland has Accounts ready (this is a working title; at home it will go out as Regnskap on January 22) starring Stellan Skaarsgard.

- And over in Sweden, Easy Money (Snabba Cash) is, say those in the know, a prime example of “Stockholm Noir”….

Asia Major

Zhang Yimouis fielding his Blood Simple remake, The First Gun, in China over the Lunar New Year break (Feb 14), which could be a Valentine for Berlin, given it’s the director’s first outing since he wowed the world with his Olympic ceremonies from Beijing.

- Chow Yun-fat as Confucius in Hu Mei’swidely-anticipated $23m biopic of the Chinese philosopher could also be looking at a special screening slot in Berlin’s 60^th year.

- Au Revoir Taipei, by Arvin Chen, has been executive produced by Wim Wenders and stars Chang Hsiao-chuan and Jack Yao.

- Australian title Lou, directed by Belinda Chayko (City Loop), stars John Hurt as an elderly man with Alzheimer’s who becomes part of an 11-year-old girl’s life when her father walks out. Emily Barclay (Suburban Mayhem) co-stars  in this film described as a “drama with a gentle comic tone” by its director.

 - Fortissimo title The Shock Labyrinth from Japan’s Takashi Shimizu

- Dante Lam’s Fire of Conscience

- Hong Sang-soo’s new, as yet untitled, film may also be ready

- From India, the long-awaited Bollywood extravaganza Kites, with Kangana Ranaut and Hrithik Roshan, could be looking at an out of Competition slot for Reliance.