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October 19, 2005

A Lovely Send Off

While James Ivory was in the midst of a difficult shoot of The White Countess in Shanghai, the director called Sony Classics chief Tom Bernard and Michael Barker and told them that they should start planning something big for the premiere of the film... he wanted something special.

Little did he (or anyone else) know that by the time the premiere rolled around, his partner, Ismail Merchant, would be gone.

Simply getting a print ready in time for this event at the Academy, co-sponsored by AFI, was a chore with a producer who left the project in the worse way possible. And so, even on the big night, a proper final print was not ready.

Still, the evening came. Bernard and some of the craftspeople who worked with Merchant and Ivory gave tribute to the memory of a legend of the indie world. And Ivory threw in a few loving words before showing his film.

Afterwards, SPC passed on the typical Acaemy lobby party for a larger soirie at the The Four Seasons.

The film will be released in December, but the date and number of prnits still hasn't been determined. But the memory of an important man of the cinema has been well served on more time.

Posted by poland at October 19, 2005 01:32 AM