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News Archive

News

12 February 2002

-The Academy Award nominations have just been announced, and Sean Penn has been nominated in the category of Best Actor for his work in I Am Sam. His fellow nominees are Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Will Smith and Tom Wilkinson.
The Academy Awards takes place on 24 March 2002, but don't expect Penn to be there on the night, despite the fact that this is his third nomination. He flat out refuses to attend.
Penn's nomination is the only Oscar attention I Am Sam received.

-I Am Sam is however being honoured at another awards show- the Producers Guild of America's annual Laurel Awards. The film's producers, Jessie Nelson (also director and co-writer), Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz and Richard Solomon will receive the Stanley Kramer award on 3 March, at the Century Plaza Hotel.
The award is to honour 'a producer whose work illuminates provocative social issues in an accessible fashion.'
Said Jessie Nelson, 'We are thrilled and deeply honored to receive an award in the spirit of Stanley Kramer's work. His never-ending courage to attack delicate or controversial issues head-on has served as a profound inspiration to all of us.'

-In its third weekend of wide release, I Am Sam came in at #10 at the American box office, taking an estimated $4.53 million. That gives the film a total of close on $24 million. Once again the film had a very solid per-theatre take of approximately $3 121. Only the top 3 films, all brand-new releases, could top it.
A reminder is that I Am Sam is showing at almost 1 000 theatres less than another other film in the Top 10, and cost apparently $20 million to make.

-Under Articles, there are 4 new additions for your reading pleasure...

30 January 2002

The Screen Actors Guild Awards have been announced, and I Am Sam's father-daughter duo have fared very well. Both Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning have been nominated in the categories of Best Lead Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively.
Penn's competition is Russell Crowe, Kevin Kline, Denzel Washington and Tom Wilkinson. Fanning's fellow nominees are Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Cameron Diaz and Helen Mirren.
Surprise, surprise, once again Michelle Pfeiffer was ignored.

28 January 2002

I Am Sam went into wide release in North America on 25 January, debuting at #7 with a take of approximately $8.6 million after one weekend. Interestingly though, the film had the best per-theatre take among the top 10 films, averaging $6,565 in 1,268 theaters. The #1 film at the box-office, Black Hawk Down, had the second-best per-theatre take, averaging $5,869 in 3,101 theaters.

The I Am Sam soundtrack full of Beatles covers is also doing well. On its first week of release the album broke into the music charts at #25, selling 36 000 copies.

I Am Sam had a special benefit premiere in Washington DC recently. Click here for other images

Don't forget that under Articles, there are several new additions for your reading pleasure.

8 January 2002

22 December 2001

It's less than a week until I Am Sam opens in limited release, and for now, the two big issues are: the quality of the film, and its award chances.

Review-watch (the first two link to the latest reviews):

More commentary is available at Oscarwatch.

Award-Watch:

Despite predictions that I Am Sam was going to score Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor and Actress, the film did neither, leading to reactions of shock and disappointment from several big-name critics.

Extracted from: Oscarwatch

Leonard Maltin on Entertainment Tonight Plugs Penn/Pfeiffer

'Maltin couldn't hold back his disappointment and shock that both Penn and Pfeiffer had been locked out of noms for I Am Sam. This is the beginning of what will likely be a snoball in their favor: the Screen Actors Guild WILL nominate Penn (I've seen the film and I have to say that unless the critics slaughter the film Penn is not only a strong contender for a nomination, he's a contender for the win).'

I Am Sam has however scored some other nominations at other award shows:

Broadcast Film Association Nominations
Luncheon on January 22, 2002 at the Beverly Hills Hotel:

BEST ACTOR:
Russell Crowe - A Beautiful Mind
Sean Penn - I Am Sam
Will Smith - Ali

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS:
Dakota Fanning - I Am Sam
Haley Joel Osment - A.I.
Daniel Radcliffe - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

16 December 2001

It's less than 2 weeks until I Am Sam opens for limited release in Los Angeles and New York, before going wider on 11 January 2002. Naturally more and more information as well as images has been appearing online:

4 December 2001

A quick reminder for people not to forget the important notice under the 27 November 2001 update.

Other than that:

27 November 2001

First things first, an important announcement: This is probably going to be one of the last few updates of this page this year simply because I won't be able to get to the closed net.
However, I'm in the process of shifting everything to my alternate I Am Sam page so that updates can occur at least once a week. Although there is nothing much at the alternate page yet, I would bookmark it now if I were you, because this site will be down sometime in December.

Now, on with the show:

Vedder, Crowes Meet the Beatles

COLIN DEVENISH

Director Jessie Nelson originally hoped to use all Beatles songs for the soundtrack to her new movie, I Am Sam, starring Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer. When she learned that getting the necessary clearances in time for the Dec. 28th release of the film would be impossible, she went for the next best thing: Beatles covers. Working in conjunction with V2 Records, Nelson assembled a wish list of performers and wound up landing the likes of Eddie Vedder, Paul Westerberg, Ben Folds and the Black Crowes for a sixteen-song soundtrack album set for release January 8th.

"We would have these long conference calls and we would throw out the song and what the moment in the movie meant and who could really capture that moment," says Nelson. "'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away' is one of those moments when Sean is most broken as a character, most raw, most heartbroken and out of that came the idea for Eddie Vedder to sing that song. 'Blackbird' is a very gentle, very lyrical moment for the little girl, and out of that came Sarah McLachlan."

Nelson and co-writer Kristine Johnson volunteered at a center for the developmentally disabled in Culver City, California, while conducting research for the movie. The plot of the film revolves around a developmentally disabled man (Penn) and his struggle to maintain custody of his seven-year-old daughter. Nelson says that the Beatles became integral to the film after she observed what a tremendous impact the band's music had on the people at the center.

"We worked there with them for months and got to know these people really well and one thing they all shared was a love of the Beatles -- a huge love of the Beatles," she says. "They knew dates when songs were recorded and intimate things about the Beatles' lives, and they would compare their own lives and the journeys they were taking -- like if one of them was having a hard time with their roommate and it was causing them a lot of anxiety they would say, 'Oh, but Paul and John went through hard times too.' So we got into the notion of really letting the Beatles be a huge part of Sean's character."

Given the tight deadline, Nelson was struck by how quickly artists signed on and by their willingness to stay true to the film. "We were really lucky, people came at in such a pure way," she says. "When Eddie recorded his track, he sang it to the movie. He had the movie playing in the recording studio, and he was playing his guitar and singing to the scene. Even when I went to Ben Harper's recording session for 'Strawberry Fields,' they were watching the scene so closely and he was really trying to get inside Sean's mind as a character and really what that song meant at that moment in the movie. Ben Harper's version will blow your mind."

Teaming with Sean Lennon on "Across the Universe," Rufus Wainwright says the pair stuck to a faithful reading of the song: "We didn't really alter it. If anything, we just scaled it down. We had a short time to do anything, so it's basically just guitar, me and Sean and some harmonies. It's not the kind of song you can fuck with too much. I think it's done best straightforward."

Aimee Mann and husband Michael Penn did the duet, "Two of Us." "The film called for a duet between a man and a woman, and in the original version it's sung by John and Paul, so the song lent itself perfectly to being a duet between a man and a woman," she says. "Our version stayed pretty true to the original, but the lyrics have new meaning because they're being sung by a married couple."

For Grandaddy, the film's star was the main attraction. "We are huge, huge, longtime Sean Penn fans," says guitarist Jim Fairchild. "To be even remotely affiliated with anything that he's had a hand in is pretty incredible for us."

The I Am Sam complete track listing:

"Blackbird," Sarah McLachlan
"Two of Us," Aimee Mann and Michael Penn
"I'm Looking Through You," The Wallflowers with Jackson Browne
"Across the Universe," Rufus Wainwright with Sean Lennon
"Strawberry Fields Forever," Ben Harper
"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away," Eddie Vedder
"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," The Black Crowes
"Golden Slumbers," Ben Folds
"Nowhere Man," Paul Westerberg
"Let It Be," Nick Cave
"Don't Let Me Down," The Stereophonics
"We Can Work It Out," Heather Nova
"Help!," Howie Day
"Revolution," Grandaddy
"Julia," Chocolate Genius

19 November 2001

A couple of major things this update as I Am Sam nears opening...

2 November 2001

What you see before you is a slightly revamped version of this I Am Sam site. More alterations are on the way, but for now, please feel free to browse around and leave your comments under Your Comments...

In terms of news about the film, there's been quite an explosion this last week or so, starting with:

12 October 2001

A couple of things for this update:

- Was just browsing around the Net, and according to one Canadian website, I Am Sam is being released on 11 January 2002. Could this be the date for the film's North American wide release?

- Apparently there's an article on I Am Sam, and Sean Penn's Oscar chances in the October issue of Movieline magazine.

-If you are interested in technical stuff, over at The Directors Guild of America, you can read about the editing process of I Am Sam, and the unusual hand-held, 'documentary-style' filming chosen for the film.

21 September 2001

Newline have set I Am Sam's release date as 28th December 2001. Mind you, that's only for a limited release, so expect the film to only go wider in the early 2002...

7 September 2001

We're still waiting for the film's official site, or even just a teaser, but during August, the following article appeared over in the IMDB:

Sean Penn Sparks Off Early Oscar Buzz
American actor Sean Penn is already being tipped as a strong Oscar candidate for his role as a retarded man fighting to keep custody of his child. In the forthcoming movie I Am Sam, the tough-guy star improvised throughout his performance, urged on by director Jessie Nelson - which left the cast and crew deeply touched. Penn's co-star Loretta Devine says, "Oh my God, it's just heart- wrenching. People would be crying on the set. Sean is just amazing in it." I Am Sam also features Michelle Pfeiffer, who play's Penn's attorney.'

10 August 2001

According to Upcomingmovies, who learnt the news from Variety , I Am Sam will be debuting in 2001 after all. It seems that Newline has bumped its release up to Fall 2001 from sometime in 2002, to allow for Academy Award consideration. Just for the record, in order for a film to be contention for next year's Oscars (presented at the end of March 2002), it has to show in the Los Angeles area for at least a week prior to the end of 2001...

3 August 2001

Well, it looks like the project formerly known as I Am Sam, and, prior to that, Sam I Am, is again known as, well, I Am Sam. Upcomingmovies is reporting that the MPAA have confirmed the film's title (after Newline apparently failed to come up with anything better), as well as assigning it a PG-13 age restriction for language. Although irrelevant now, voting for an alternate title decided by Pfans, continues here . Current results indicate that maintaining the title I Am Sam is the prefered choice.

Upcomingmovies is also reporting the following, as of 13 July, regarding the film's release date:

According to Jeffrey Wells of Reel.com, New Line is considering this as either a December Oscar contender-type release, or as a film to premiere at Cannes in May, for a release sometime later in 2002.

26 July 2001

The project formerly known as I Am Sam coming out in 2001? Jeffrey Wells over at Reel.com seems to think so:

Hopes that New Line may be releasing Alexander Payne's About Schmidt in December appear to be dimming. A friend at the New York Post tells me a New Line executive told him there's "no way" Schmidt will be out this year. And a filmmaker pal talked to Robin Wright Penn recently about Sean Penn's retarded-guy performance in Sam I Am, and that she said it's absolutely one of his best ever.
The informed view seems to be that New Line is seeing more of showboat/Oscar bait potential with Penn's performance than with Jack Nicholson's retired Omaha guy in Schmidt. Not to mention the appeal of a three-hankie movie about a retarded father wanting to love and care for his kid. Bottom line: New Line may be "saying" they have yet to decide, when in fact they already have.

 

27 June 2001

Believe it or not, Newline, after being unhappy with the orginal title of Sam I Am, and quickly changing it to I Am Sam, is now looking for a new title for the film; apparently something without 'Sam' in it. Over at JoBlo, they are reporting that the title's main problem is that it is too closely linked to Dr Seuss's Green Eggs & Ham.

After some suggestions from other Pfans, you can now vote for the alternate title of the project formerly known as I Am Sam. Head on over to Polls ...

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