A big appetite for 'Fast Food'
'Fast Food' orders
May 20, 2006
CANNES -- Europe is biting into Richard Linklater's "Fast Food Nation," with international buyers snatching up the Cannes In Competition entry faster than plus-sized patrons chugging through a McDonald's drive-through.
Even before the "Fast Food" premiere, U.K. sales agent HanWay Films fattened its margins with deals for Germany (Senator Film), France (La Fabrique) and U.K./Ireland (Tartan Films). Fox Searchlight will release the film stateside this fall.
Other territories hungry for the film include Australia (Dendy), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Benelux (A-Film), Hong Kong (Focus Film) and Brazil (KSA).
The international feeding frenzy recalls the one surrounding Morgan Spurlock's anti-fast-food documentary "Super Size Me," which was gobbled up by foreign buyers at Berlin's European Film Market in 2004.
The success of that title, as well as an overall surge in international interest in politically charged U.S. films, helped generate major buzz for "Fast Food" even before it reached the Croisette.
Although Linklater's film is a fictional adaptation of the best-selling expose by Eric Schlosser, the facts and the politics of the film dominated the discussion at Friday's packed news conference in Cannes.
Linklater claimed that the corporate powers behind America's fast-food giants already have aligned themselves against the film and have hired public relations agencies to wage war on "Fast Food."
Linklater's ambitions for the movie go far beyond any commercial success, domestic or foreign. The director, who has not eaten meat for many years, made it clear that his goal is to get the message out about how "the mass industrialization of food" has transformed how, and what, Americans eat.
One questioner clearly was shocked by the film's sequences showing cattle being stunned and butchered at an actual Mexican slaughterhouse.
"That's real footage," Linklater said. "We insinuated actors into real situations. We had a couple of hours to film all of it on the slaughterhouse floor."
Several cast members admitted to having giving up meat since they worked on the film, especially after seeing and smelling the slaughterhouses.
Schlosser says that he hopes people who see the film will try to be more informed about where their meat comes from.
"By refusing to go to fast-food restaurants, you send a message that animals shouldn't be treated this way," he said. "And food shouldn't be processed this way."
Even before the "Fast Food" premiere, U.K. sales agent HanWay Films fattened its margins with deals for Germany (Senator Film), France (La Fabrique) and U.K./Ireland (Tartan Films). Fox Searchlight will release the film stateside this fall.
Other territories hungry for the film include Australia (Dendy), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Benelux (A-Film), Hong Kong (Focus Film) and Brazil (KSA).
The international feeding frenzy recalls the one surrounding Morgan Spurlock's anti-fast-food documentary "Super Size Me," which was gobbled up by foreign buyers at Berlin's European Film Market in 2004.
The success of that title, as well as an overall surge in international interest in politically charged U.S. films, helped generate major buzz for "Fast Food" even before it reached the Croisette.
Although Linklater's film is a fictional adaptation of the best-selling expose by Eric Schlosser, the facts and the politics of the film dominated the discussion at Friday's packed news conference in Cannes.
Linklater claimed that the corporate powers behind America's fast-food giants already have aligned themselves against the film and have hired public relations agencies to wage war on "Fast Food."
Linklater's ambitions for the movie go far beyond any commercial success, domestic or foreign. The director, who has not eaten meat for many years, made it clear that his goal is to get the message out about how "the mass industrialization of food" has transformed how, and what, Americans eat.
One questioner clearly was shocked by the film's sequences showing cattle being stunned and butchered at an actual Mexican slaughterhouse.
"That's real footage," Linklater said. "We insinuated actors into real situations. We had a couple of hours to film all of it on the slaughterhouse floor."
Several cast members admitted to having giving up meat since they worked on the film, especially after seeing and smelling the slaughterhouses.
Schlosser says that he hopes people who see the film will try to be more informed about where their meat comes from.
"By refusing to go to fast-food restaurants, you send a message that animals shouldn't be treated this way," he said. "And food shouldn't be processed this way."
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