Filth and Wisdom to debut at the Berlinale?
In a report about the “Revolver” VIP screening on today’s New York Daily News, Rush & Molloy also talk about Madonna directing “Filth and Wisdom”, and mention that the film is set to debut at the Berlin Film Festival next year.
British director Guy Ritchie has some advice for you married blokes: Listen to your missus!
Ritchie’s missus happens to be Madonna. In 2005, he made a metaphysical caper comedy, “Revolver.” It was as if one of the charming thugs from “Snatch” or “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” had enrolled in the Kaballah Center.
Some critics and American distributors found “Revolver” long and hard to follow. So Ritchie went back to the editing room and recut it.
“We made it shorter and tried to make it simpler,” Ritchie told us at a celeb-packed screening, prior to this Friday’s opening. “Funnily enough, we took out the bits that my wife recommended we take out the first time she saw it.”
“He never listens to me,” Madonna chimed in.
Who wears the pants in the family?
“Well,” she said, “he sometimes wears a kilt.”
What about all these fun-loving criminals who populate his films – does he know any real gangsters?
“I do know a few,” Ritchie said modestly.
Madonna nodded energetically. “He actually knows a guy who fed people to pigs!” she added, alluding to an episode in “Snatch.”
She grabbed his head and turned his cheek for us to inspect. “Go on, tell how you got this scar!” she said.
“Misguided youth,” said Ritchie, who once ran afoul of money collectors. “You should stop pointing that scar out to people,” he scolded his blond media coach.
“You’re always so serious about these things!” she teased. “Laugh a bit!”
“I can take a joke!” he said.
Mrs. Ritchie was quick to hail her hubby for his guidance on her own directorial debut, “Filth and Wisdom,” which she’s due to unveil at the Berlin Film Festival.
“He gave me a lot of good advice,” said the budding auteur, adding that her 30-minute flick explores the idea of “finding wisdom in unexpected places. Being a righteous person isn’t necessarily going to lead to your evolution.”
Say this for the Ritchies – they pull in a crowd. Among those who trooped out on a snowy Sunday for the Tribeca Grand screening – hosted by the Cinema Society’s Andrew Saffir and Piaget – were Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael Stipe, Donna Karan, Zac Posen, Calvin Klein, Liza Minnelli, Josh Groban, Alan Cumming, Tina Brown, Barbara Walters and Roger Waters. Making it to the after-party at the Gramercy Hotel were the odd couple of Alex (A-Rod) Rodriguez and Madonna’s pal Ingrid Casares.
Ritchie, who thanked Sony and Samuel Goldwyn execs for “sticking their neck out for this picture,” warned the audience that “Revolver” is “tricky. All I can say is that if you pay attention, hopefully, all will be revealed!”