Slackery News Tidbits, May 31

It's Memorial Day, and I suppose everyone is outdoors today, grilling or having picnics and/or dealing with relatives. But for those of you sitting at home, eager for Austin film news (I have no idea who this would be, besides myself), here are a few updates.

• For some reason, Willie Nelson was all over the news last week. He cut off his signature pigtails, which led a lot of people to quail in fear as though he were Samson. The Austin City Council voted to rename part of Second Street after the musician. And there's some movie-related news: Nelson's currently producing the feature The Dry Gulch Kid, scheduled to shoot somewhere in Texas this summer, and casting is in progress. Johnny Knoxville will star, but the news that got media outlets astir was that Lindsay Lohan is in talks to appear in the film. Lohan was in town last year for the Machete shoot. Other names being thrown about as possibilities for roles in the film are Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConnaughey and Owen Wilson, all of whom are no strangers to Austin.
• Have you registered for your Austin Film Festival Producers Badge yet? Do it today, and you'll be entered into a contest to win lunch with Texas writer/director John Lee Hancock. Yes, it has to be today ... go now.
• The Burnt Orange Productions feature Elvis and Anabelle is finally going to be available for all of us to see, Joe O'Connell reports. The locally shot film toured the film-fest circuit but was unable to land distribution. Now it's playing on Lifetime (next airing: June 7) and will be released on DVD on June 20. Elvis and Anabelle stars Max Mingella as a mortician and Blake Lively as a small-town beauty pageant queen. The cast also includes Mary Steenburgen, Joe Mantegna, David Carradine ... and local TV reporter/film critic Victor Diaz. Hopefully we'll be able to get our hands on a copy of the movie to review for you.
• Austin Business Journal reports on a new movie theater being built in Pflugerville, a Cinemark multiplex at the Stone Hill Town Center (near 130 and 45), which the article calls "the city's first movie theater." Chris Garcia, reporting on the event at Austin Movie Blog, argues that this is untrue -- Cinemark's Tinseltown North is in Pflugerville, as is shown in the address on the Cinemark website. I've got no opinion on this -- I went through this kind of discussion once with Jenn Brown about whether Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek is in Austin or Cedar Park, and that was enough geographical argument for me. (Technically Alamo Lake Creek is in Austin, but they advertise to Cedar Park folks as being in Cedar Park ... and they're certainly close enough to get away with it. I wonder if Tinseltown North isn't doing the same thing.)
• KXAN did a story on the True Grit filming downtown at the Austin Club on Friday, tying in the bigger picture about Texas film incentives. One line stood out, from Austin Film Commission Drector Gary Bond: "There's a reason they pay you to film in Louisiana ... Do you want to spend six months in Bossier City, or do you want to spend six months in Austin? Take your pick." (This actually explains a lot of my life choices in the 1990s.)
• Finally, many of us are remembering Dennis Hopper this weekend, who just died at age 74. Hopper was in Austin back in 1997 for Austin Film Festival -- I clearly remember seeing him at the traditional BBQ party at the Governor's Mansion. He and writer Bud Shrake then appeared at the Paramount for a screening of Kid Blue, a movie I keep wishing would get a DVD release. AFF has posted a few pictures of Hopper, including one with Shrake's friend and companion Ann Richards. Definitely worth a look. [Updated: Whaddya know! Amazon VOD has Kid Blue available to watch online. I see a movie-night party in my future.]