I, Tonya

[SmallFairy]

You will be glad to know that I am working on a screenplay entitled "Tracings: The Beatrix Scuba Story." It focuses on her disappointment at the 1968 Olympics, her decision to concentrate on figures, and her victory in Sapporo. Roughly 80% of the running time will be dedicated to showing her practicing figure eights.

I would love to see this movie

I love Trixie and her figures and I would rather watch her trace forever than whatever Hollywood over-the-top action earth disaster 4-D movie with lots of computer animation filmed with blue/green filter you can come up with.

You know, us Norwegians love slow-tv. Our national broadcaster had "Fireplace minute-per-minute" aka National wood evening, "Reindeer moving minute-per-minute" (except the animals wouldn't move, slow-tv became too slow, and had to take a break), several train rides and our main tourist boat route minute-per-minute, and so on, and so on. "Figures minute-per-minute" would be an ultimate dream!

 

[alchemy void]

You know, us Norwegians love slow-tv. Our national broadcaster had "Fireplace minute-per-minute" aka National wood evening, "Reindeer moving minute-per-minute" (except the animals wouldn't move, slow-tv became too slow, and had to take a break), several train rides and our main tourist boat route minute-per-minute, and so on, and so on. "Figures minute-per-minute" would be an ultimate dream!

This explains so much!

 

[SmallFairy]

This explains so much!

The too-slow for slow-tv reindeers were hysterical. Most epic moment!

 

[Vagabond]

I hope the movie includes a detailed breakdown of how they accumulated points back then, I've always found that particularly fascinating.

It will.

It will also show the importance of practice, discipline, and technique, without which those flights of freedom (demonstrated by both the title character's main antagonist, Janet Lynn) would never have been possible.

 

[jenniferlyon]

It will.

It will also show the importance of practice, discipline, and technique, without which those flights of freedom (demonstrated by both the title character's main antagonist, Janet Lynn) would never have been possible.

Make sure the wardrobe department remembers Trixi's wristwatch.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

You will be glad to know that I am working on a screenplay entitled "Tracings: The Beatrix Scuba Story." It focuses on her disappointment at the 1968 Olympics, her decision to concentrate on figures, and her victory in Sapporo. Roughly 80% of the running time will be dedicated to showing her practicing figure eights.

Here is a preview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdE5vIG92B8

 

[algonquin]

Here is a preview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdE5vIG92B8

Thank you, but the link did not work for me. It linked to ASMR Spirograph.

 

[Sylvia]

2 clips from TIFF:

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls020486567/videoplayer/vi151763225?ref_=tt_tor_vd_ton_i_1 (ETA: This was posted as a YT link earlier in this thread)
Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, and Allison Janney visited the IMDb Studio at the Visa Infinite Lounge in Toronto to discuss how the Tonya Harding biopic will help change opinions about the embattled former figure skater and the controversy that surrounded her.

Just watched a brief interview from TIFF on how the film maker approached the triple axel. The interview is on IMBD.

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls020486567/videoplayer/vi0768281?ref_=tt_tor_vd_ton_i_2
'I, Tonya' star Margot Robbie reveals how figure skater Tonya Harding reacted to the big-screen adaptation of her life story, and director Craig Gillespie explains some of the physical challenges of filming a realistic figure skating movie.

Allison Janney as Tonya's mother: http://www.vulture.com/2017/09/allison-janney-tonya-harding-mom-i-tonya-revelation.html

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Thank you, but the link did not work for me. It linked to ASMR Spirograph.

I was being ironic. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[Sylvia]

... as well as Ice: The Movie which is a fictional story about two female skaters who start out as childhood friends. (I don't know what happens after that because the movie isn't out yet, but I know young up-and-comer Elise Freezer plays the childhood version of one of the main characters).

@jenniferlyon, Maddison Bullock, a former competitive skater now turned actress/writer/producer ( http://www.maddisonbullock.com/ ), was interviewed about her Ice: The Movie film back in March when shooting was taking place in Nebraska: http://podcast.platteriverradio.com/closeup/?name=2017-03-08_maddison_bullock.mp3
Her independent film is in post-production and this is the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5748106/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/IceFeatureFilm/
For those with access to the Archives, I started a thread back in January: Fundraising for ICE The Movie

 

[VGThuy]

Apparently, the movie has a distributor now, but it's one that's still new to the business. The rumor is that all the big distributors lowered their bid from $10 million to $2 million after seeing the movie citing "low commercial appeal."

 

[screech]

I've never heard of 'Neon' (the distrubutor who paid about $5 million), but they were chosen over Netflix who offered $12 million and CBS Films/Liongate who offered $6 million. (From Wikipedia) I thought I'd read in one of the articles that Miramax was involved, but I guess not.

I do think it would have had more success on a site like Netflix than in theatres. And if the performances (or other aspects) are really super great, movies released to Netflix and other streaming sites are, I believe, eligible for film awards (like Oscars) now.

Apparently Neon has a deal with Hulu where their films will be released on the site following their theatrical release.

 

[VGThuy]

I've never heard of 'Neon' (the distrubutor who paid about $5 million), but they were chosen over Netflix who offered $12 million and CBS Films/Liongate who offered $6 million. (From Wikipedia) I thought I'd read in one of the articles that Miramax was involved, but I guess not.

I do think it would have had more success on a site like Netflix than in theatres. And if the performances (or other aspects) are really super great, movies released to Netflix and other streaming sites are, I believe, eligible for film awards (like Oscars) now.

I thought Miramax was involved too, but I guess they're not.

Movies need to be released in a movie theatre in L.A. and be played for seven consecutive days to be eligible for the Oscars for the general categories. The even tightened the rule and films need to be played during a prime time as well. I think had they taken the Netflix deal with Netflix now not being interested in theatrical releases, it would have been eligible for the Emmy Awards.

http://deadline.com/2016/06/oscars-rules-qualifying-runs-campaigning-movie-academy-1201781923/

 

[Sylvia]

Apparently, the movie has a distributor now, but it's one that's still new to the business.
...
I thought Miramax was involved too, but I guess they're not.

Deadline.com article: Neon & 30WEST Land ‘I, Tonya’ For $5 Million – Toronto

In the lead up to the festival, CBS Films had made an offer said to be around $6 million, which was what Miramax Films paid earlier to acquire and make the film. Before others could step up, the sellers — CAA and UTA Independent Film Group co-brokered the deal for Miramax chief Bill Block — stuck a pin in any talks and let buyers see the film here in Toronto, or at simultaneous screenings in L.A. The clear goal was to match the film with the right distributor and put it into the upcoming awards season race. Some buyers I spoke with felt the movie could be tightened, and it seemed like Gillespie was happy with the cut audiences saw last night.

Beyond Neon, the most aggressive pursuers were Netflix at $8 million, and Annapurna, and early on CBS Films (they ultimately bid $2 million and were gone from the auction quickly), and Aviron and Entertainment Studios were all circling. The exec producers are Len Blavatnik and Aviv Giladi of AI (which financed the film), and Rosanne Korenberg and Zanne Devine. The deal was complicated by preexisting foreign output deals which made the Netflix offer harder to navigate, but also the filmmakers wanted the 500 screen commitment that was in the original deal Miramax made.

 

[aftershocks]

Here is a preview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdE5vIG92B8

Mesmerizing and hypnotic; of catatonic proportions!

The real deal: http://worldfigurechampionship.com/index.html

Yay! Dorothy Hamill is a Special Guest and Honorary Referee at the annual World Figure Championship in Vail, Colorado -- September 28 - Oct 1, 2017!

 

[Japanfan]

I have a head fantasy of adapting the book The Second Mark into a miniseries. I imagined four distinct visual styles for the Salle/Pellteier background, Shen/Zhao background, Berezhnaya/Sikarulidze background stories and the skating competition scenes when all three pairs converge. I think the material itself delves deep into a lot of issues outside and inside of skating and since all three backgrounds are different they will showcase different issues.

I'd like to see the story of Bin Yao and the rise of Chinese pairs made into a film. There's so much rich material there, starting with Bin Yao being laughed at as the pairs man ranked lowest in the world (as he remembers) and then setting his sights on building a top-class pairs school in China. The Shen and Zhao story is particularly rich, especially given details such as Shen's feet being stuck to her skates with blood after her very impoverished parents - who put her on the ice for entire days when she was a child - bought her a pair one size too big.

The story culminates of course with the 2010 Olympics - Shen/Zhao's victory and Pang/Tong's 'Impossible Dream', which spoke to Bin Yao's impossible dream.

Actually I think a documentary would be preferable to a fiction film, as the story is so ready for the telling and IMO no actors could be superior to the real characters themselves. But as a fiction film, it's got the elements that make so many Hollywood films successful (rags to riches, overcoming adversity, pursuing an 'impossible' dream, and so on).

 

[manhn]

The Second Mark is a great book, that treated all three teams with respect. It would work like a miniseries, or something in the vein of Traffic.

I, Tonya is the kind of movie I generally dislike, where the plot revolves around an antihero. But I like the cast and the reviews are strong. Avoiding the skating topic, I think it's good that there are more female led films out there.

 

[Winnipeg]

Will this be coming to theaters?

 

[algonquin]

@Winnipeg - only if they find a distributor.

 

[Prancer]

Grrrrr--Vox loves the movie, but the review includes this:

In the skating world, that’s an automatic handicap: “Presentation” — a refined and expensive costume, carefully groomed hair, demure makeup — is part of the score.

 

[thvu]

I sent a comment to Vox about it.

 

[bardtoob]

I might just go see I, Tonya because it is good for skating to get buzz despite telling myself I would never want to see another Tonya-Kerrigan TV expose.

It is also rare that skating movies gets such good reviews.

ETA: This clip from the movie is something else. Oy, if Tonya actually talked to the judges that way, then I get the perspective of some the real skating officials that are actually on this board from time to time who have commented on their personal interactions with Tonya.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLaajUKAxQg

 

[bardtoob]

Tonya Harding - 1985 U.S. Olympic Festival, Figure Skating, Ladies' Short Program

Tonya performs 3F-2Lp in the SP in 1985.

 

[Vagabond]

Grrrrr--Vox loves the movie, but the review includes this:

In the skating world, that’s an automatic handicap: “Presentation” — a refined and expensive costume, carefully groomed hair, demure makeup — is part of the score.

Why the head-banging? The reviewer has probably been watching old Vanessa Riley interviews on YouTube as background research.

 

[debo]

Sounds like I, Tonya performed well at Toronto:


https://www.usatoday.com/story/life...BlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories

Could an ice queen skate in? Margot Robbie’s acid-tongued Tonya Harding mockumentary, I, Tonya, left the festival with a hot distribution deal and an expected fall release date. Robbie “either will sneak (into the best-actress race) or, at the very least she has really upped her credibility with this performance,” Karger says.

 

[wouldacoulda]

I might just go see I, Tonya because it is good for skating to get buzz despite telling myself I would never want to see another Tonya-Kerrigan TV expose.

It is also rare that skating movies gets such good reviews.

ETA: This clip from the movie is something else. Oy, if Tonya actually talked to the judges that way, then I get the perspective of some the real skating officials that are actually on this board from time to time who have commented on their personal interactions with Tonya.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLaajUKAxQg

Man, she IS Tonya in this scene. Uncanny.

 

[Coco]

Wow...

 

[Vagabond]

Margot Robbie is to Tonya Harding as Tina Fey is to Sarah Palin.

 

[Scrufflet]

I dismissed this movie until I read a review of it in The Toronto Star. And most shocking of all, the review was by Rosi DiManno!

 

[bardtoob]

I dismissed this movie until I read a review of it in The Toronto Star. And most shocking of all, the review was by Rosi DiManno!

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...-hardings-rise-and-fall-and-fall-dimanno.html