Clint Eastwood - Eastwood Takes Charge Of A Star Is Born

Actor-turned-moviemaker CLINT EASTWOOD has signed up to direct a remake of movie classic A STAR IS BORN.

The 1937 original, starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, has already been remade twice - with Judy Garland in 1954 and with Barbra Streisand in 1976 in the lead role of a rising artist who marries a fading star.

Russell Crowe confirmed last year (10) he was in talks to tackle the older, male role, while Beyonce, who reportedly quit the project, is still said to be attached to the picture, according to Deadline.com.
Studio bosses at Warner Bros. have now confirmed Eastwood will take charge of the fourth movie.

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/eastwood-takes-charge-of-a-star-is-born_1196175

Roger Kellaway And Clint Eastwood “Invictus”

Award winning pianist, composer Roger Kellaway is pleased to announce his orchestrations for the Clint Eastwood film “Invictus”.

“Invictus” (in theaters today) tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country http://invictusmovie.warnerbros.com/.
Roger has this to say about his involvement with “Invictus”.
    "Last June Clint Eastwood invited me to his house to experiment with a musical theme he had written. He asked me to give him some ideas as to how it might evolve. I recorded several variations with his engineer, Michael Stevens. On this occasion Clint asked me if I liked to write for strings? "Of course", I said, "by the way I've scored 26 films."
    "A month later I got a call from Rob Lorenz (one of Clint's producer's) "Clint wants to know if you would like to orchestrate INVICTUS?" and of course, I said,"Yes!".
    "I saw the film in mid July at Warner's and loved it. My job was basically to translate synthesizer MP3's composed by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens into music for 44 Strings; 6 brass; piano and percussion. After three weeks of writing, I conducted the INVICTUS score at Warner's on the Eastwood Sound Stage (the very same stage that I conducted my score for Streisand's "A Star Is Born" 20 years ago) - it was thrilling!"
    "I am very proud to be a part of this powerful movie".

Roger Kellaway is not only a major pianist, he is a composer of protean ability, writing in the jazz, classical and popular music fields, and scoring for films and television including the closing theme for "All in the Family" "Remembering You". He has also been honored with a Grammy award for his music on the album "Memos From Paradise" for Eddie Daniels. He has written twenty six film scores including Barbara Streisand's "A Star is Born” for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He's performed with everyone from Elvis to Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie to Yo Yo Ma, Joni Mitchell to Mancini and Quincy Jones to Michael Tilson Thomas.

In 2008 he was awarded the Prix du Jazz Classique (the French “Grammy”) for The Roger Kellaway Trio "Heroes" (IPO Records). Currently, he is working with Van Morrison as Musical Director for a live performance recording (CD/DVD) at the Hollywood Bowl, November, 2008. 2009 finds Roger working again with the Bergman’s on “Visions Of America”, an orchestral, multimedia portrait of Democracy. He wrote and preformed in the “Photo-Symphony” for renowned photographer and producer Joseph Sohm which premiered in Philadelphia with The Philly Pops, conducted by Peter Niro. Kellaway received the "Outstanding Alumni" Award from the New England Conservatory and played solo piano at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall to a sold out audience.
Photo: Kent Lacin
Kellaway continues performing in concerts across the U.S. and Europe, recording numerous new CD’s, also writing for film, theatrical productions and commissioned works. He resides in Ojai, California with his wife (of 43 years) Jorjana.

Clint Eastwood - Mise En Swingby

If jazz had a few more champions like Clint Eastwood, the music’s status in America’s cultural firmament would be much less tenuous. Then again, as an iconic actor and Oscar-winning director and producer, Eastwood is sui generis. And so is his broad commitment to using the various resources at his disposal to keep jazz in the foreground of the country’s consciousness. Whether artfully weaving jazz into his films, exploring the life of Charlie Parker in the searing biopic Bird, sitting on the board of the Monterey Jazz Festival or serving as a rainmaking executive producer for jazz documentaries, Eastwood has been as dogged in his support for the music as Dirty Harry Callahan was in pursuit of a bad guy.
In many ways, 1988 was the watershed year for Eastwood’s evolution from devoted fan to singular jazz supporter. It was the year he released Bird, and through his work on the film came into contact with Bruce Ricker, who was struggling to finish his Thelonious Monk documentary, Straight, No Chaser. A day after he learned about the budget shortfall, Eastwood lined up an investor who supplied the film’s finishing funds. It’s turned into a fruitful relationship, with Eastwood serving as executive producer on several of Ricker’s documentaries, including Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends, which is slated to air as part of the PBS American Masters series on Sept. 12, and a work in progress on Dave Brubeck (for more about Ricker’s Rhapsody Films, see sidebar).

“They wouldn’t be financed if Clint wasn’t involved,” says Ricker. “He’s become the cinematic Norman Granz, a cultural impresario. But the reason why these projects happen is that he’s in the ebb and flow, listening to music all the time. He’s out there going to clubs, helping with Monterey, and checking out new sounds.”
Born in San Francisco on May 31, 1930, and raised mostly in the Oakland area, Eastwood witnessed the rise of the West Coast jazz scene firsthand. His knowledge of the music is clearly extensive, flowing from more than 60 years of avid club-going, and his taste is catholic, encompassing a broad range of jazz currents. What’s most evident when he talks about the music is the pleasure he’s gleaned from being part of the scene.
Andrew Gilbert Jazz Times Magazine - Complete Interview (sep 07)