Slackery News Tidbits, May 1

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Here's the latest in Austin and Texas film news.

  • Austin-based director Richard Linklater's latest film Bernie opened on Friday in limited runs in New York, L.A. and Austin (at Violet Crown). The Austin Chronicle reported the result: the best opening weekend ever for a Linklater feature. Needless to say, Bernie killed at the box office with more than $30,000 estimated per screen ($90,400 total).
  • IndieWIRE reported that Dallas filmmaker David Lowery is set to write and direct the Rooney Mara (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Ben Foster, Casey Affleck flick Ain't Them Bodies Saints. Lowery's short film Pioneer (Jette's article) won the Grand Jury Award at SXSW 2011 and his feature debut, St. Nick (Jette's article), was a 2007 Texas Filmmakers Production Fund recipient. Ain't Them Bodies Saints, a project of the 2011 Creative Producing Labs and Creative Producing Summit at Sundance, tells the story of a 1970s outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas countryside to reunite with his wife and daughter.
  • The brand-new Oak Cliff Film Festival has announced some of the films and events that will take place from June 14-17 this year: a 35mm screening of the 1994 Central Texas-shot Love and a .45 with cast and crew attending; Fantastic Mr. Fox screening outdoors at the Dallas Zoo; a double-feature of the short The Black Balloon and the feature The Red Balloon; a filmmaking workshop with sometimes-Austinite Bradley Beesley (Okie Noodling, Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo); and more that we don't have room to include -- visit the fest's website for details. Badges go on sale today -- and if you buy a badge today, you can use a Groupon deal for a discount of more than 50 percent.
  • Deadline Hollywood reported the ABC Family Channel Original Series The Lying Game has been renewed for a second season. The second season will begin production this summer at Austin Studios for a winter premiere. The drama follows separated-at-birth teenaged identical twins Emma Becker and Sutton Mercer (Alexandra Chando), who, after swapping lives, try to unravel the mysteries of their past.

  • Austin Movie Blog reports that the latest movie from Todd Phillips (The Hangover) will be an adaptation of the novel Mule: A Novel of Moving Weight, about a couple who are so down on their luck they take work as drug mules. What does this have to do with Austin? The adaptation will written by former Austinites Jay and Mark Duplass.
  • The 10th season of Austin-shot series Red vs. Blue will premiere on May 28. This season, actor Elijah Wood joins the cast as a new character. Check out the teaser trailer below, courtesy of Wired.