Slackery News Tidbits, November 19

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Here's the latest in Austin film news.

  • Stephen Jannise, former Austin Film Festival film programmer, has been named the Paramount Theatre's new film programmer, Austin Movie Blog reported. Jannise replaces Jesse Trussell, who recently moved from Austin to Brooklyn.
  • Austin-based filmmaker C. Robert Cargill (Sinister) is all over the news this week. Cargill will co-write the screenplay for the film adaptation of the Square Enix video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution, CBS Fillms reported. Cargill will reunite with Sinister co-writer/director Scott Derrickson on the cyberpunk feature about an ex-SWAT security specialist who tries to unravel a global conspiracy. Movies.com interviewed Cargill to discuss the film's adaptation process.
  • Cargill tops the news again, this time for a starred rating and review of his upcoming debut novel Dreams and Shadows from Publishers Weekly. The novel, which hits stores in February, is about two young boys, one who is abducted by fairies and the other who is granted a wish to see "all the things mankind wasn't meant to see." Read my interview with Cargill.
  • Alamo Drafthouse's executive chef John Bullington is leaving his post, according to Eater Austin. Bullington began developing the theater chain's famous movie-paired menus eight years ago. The Drafthouse is currently shifting to hiring "regional concept" chefs who will focus on food and film pairings.
  • In Our Nature, which had its world premiere at SXSW 2012, will be released theatrically Dec. 14 in New York and Austin (watch the trailer). Former Austinite Anish Savjani (Mars, Harmony and Me) is one of the film's producers. The drama, about an estranged father and son's chance weekend reunion with their respective girlfriends, stars Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights) and Jena Malone (Donnie Darko).
  • Austin Studios will move forward with its plans to convert the neighboring National Guard Armory into production space, The Austin Chronicle reported. The voter-approved Prop. 18 will provide $5.4 million for Austin Studios, with an additional $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, getting the studio closer to the originally estimated $16 million needed to complete the project.
  • Finally, a note from Jette: We at Slackerwood are sorry to see the end of Don Simpson's excellent Austin Cinematic Limits column for Film School Rejects. The column demonstrated that there's a lot of Austin movie news out there, enough for two Slackerwoods at least. Don is still writing movie reviews for Smells Like Screen Spirit so look for him there.