It has been a good week in catching up with Michael on the final leg of promoting Assassin's Creed in Japan and China. He looked breathtaking and he seemed to really enjoyed himself there. Also this past week, we finally got to see the trailer for Song to Song, and, a really cool prologue video of the Alien Covenant crew before chaos ruined their lives. I still stand by my grand appreciation for Prometheus, but I'm so glad Covenant is going to be bloody gory, going back to the scary roots of what started it all. As much as I love horror films, I don't like watching them in the theater because weak people in the audience scream and trip out and a few fools even kicked the back of my seat, something I really don't appreciate. I anticipate Alien Covenant will be a scream provoking, back seat kick inducing film, but I'll deal with it because some films (i.e. Fassy Films) need to be seen in the theater.
The month is winding down and next Wednesday, March 1st will be the first day of the 5th Annual Michael Fassbender Birthday Fundraiser in support of The Bike Experience (TBE). The founder of TBE, Talan, has provided me with a great summary of the 2016 season, and some cool updates on what they have planned for 2017. I will share his update with you next week. Please start thinking about what you would like to donate this year. If you have never participated, now is a really good time to do so because we really want to honor Michael on his 40th birthday with a most successful fundraiser for this worthy charity!
Lastly, I was asked to be interviewed by the Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail, on Thursday in light of the news that the Toronto Int'l Film Festival has made some significant changes to its program. Apparently the reporter read some of my TIFF articles at Theatre of Zen and she wanted my reaction to the changes. I spoke with her for over 10 minutes and the article went live late Thursday evening. I'm apparently an "industry insider", I'm so geeked, I'm too legit to quit! Read the article: TIFF Overhaul Receives Cautious Applause from Industry Insiders.