R.I.P. George Hickenlooper of 'Casino Jack'

The above photo of Casino Jack director George Hickenlooper, with actor Jon Lovitz, was taken on Thursday night at the Paramount. Hickenlooper and Lovitz were in town for the Austin Film Festival closing-night film and party -- red carpet beforehand, Q&A afterward, you know the drill.

Hickenlooper then headed to Denver to screen Casino Jack at the Denver Starz Film Festival. Sadly, George Hickenlooper died in Denver on Saturday morning. He was 47 years old. His filmography also includes Factory Girl, Mayor of the Sunset Strip, the short Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade (on which the feature Sling Blade was based) and the documentary Hearts of Darkness about the making of Apocalypse Now.

I can't say anything better than Moises Chiullan does over at Badass Digest, and I urge you to go read his column about the director. Chiullan was friends with Hickenlooper and had planned to work with him on a Hearts of Darkness commentary track.

Picture This, Hickenlooper's doc about Peter Bogdanovich shooting The Last Picture Show in Archer City, is on Netflix Watch Instantly and I may give it a look this week. No word on when Casino Jack will hit Austin theaters -- my guess would be early 2011.

[Photo credit: Jack Plunkett/Austin Film Festival. Used with permission from AFF.]