Ocean's 13 And The High End Call Girls

Stephen Soderbergh is, as ever, very busy.

Right now, he's in post on Ocean's 13, ahead of it's Cannes premiere (keep reading for some exciting stuff about that one in a few paragraphs) and he's already started shooting one of his two Che Guevera films - and now he's announced another project. This one is about 'high-end call girls' and is going to star non-actors who, very possibly, will be real 'high-end call girls'.

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Soderbergh admitted that Bubble only just recouped it's costs. Many have blamed it's daring day-and-date release scheme - in cinemas, on DVD, on cable TV all within a four day period. Only the Landmark chain of cinemas dare show it, so really, the blame lies with the other cinema chains, but they're not the most humble of corporations. There's no way to get them to admit Bubble was a better choice than a fourth week of Munich or Grandma's Boy. The hooker film is going to follow the same release pattern, and I imagine that the cinema chains will wuss out just like before.

Okay - about Ocean's 13. Don Cheadle has mentioned in recent interviews that this threequel will be the end of the line for his character, Basher. If that's true, there's no indication in the script. In fact - spoiler alert! - the entire gang walk away intact, with nothing to suggest they won't be coming back. There's no hook for a sequel, and the last shot does feel like a fitting conclusion (though it doesn't feature any of Danny's gang at all) but the door is certainly still open.

I've read two scripts for Ocean's 13 now, and they were very, very similar. If you ask me, they were also very, very charming. The whole thing has a kind of swining, zippy tone and there's character dripping off of every page.

Of course it's all quite silly and frothy too, but that didn't harm Eleven or Twelve, did it?

We'll be getting up close and personal with the Ocean's 13 script soon, giving you a good look at the set-up, some of the dialogue and my favourite character moments - including why a new character known only as The VUP - as opposed to VIP - is going to steal the show.

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The 2005 Scientific and Technical Oscars

Do you know who won the Scientific and Technical Oscars this year? Well, this spoddy sidebar took place a few weeks back, hosted by Rachel McAdams, and is set to be excerpted very briefly on Sunday night's big broadcast. The tech awards see the people who really, honestly make moviemaking possible - but don't come with all the glitz and glamour - get their moment in the spotlight, however fleeting, and however downplayed it sadly always is. This is where a genius like Garrett Brown gets a little pat on the back and reserved nod of the head - sadly in lieu of the standing ovations they so richly deserve.

I'm always disappointed how little respect the tech winners are given. The poor souls don't even have a shot at a real Oscar statuette, with the best they can hope for being a second-tier trophy, a plaque that, I'd imagine, you wouldn't recognise as an Oscar if it fell on your foot.

It's good that disciplines such as Cinematography and Editing are deemed suitable for the central awards section, but it is probably because popular misconceptions prevail about just what those particular roles entail, and that these fictional versions are somehow seen as "on a par" with Acting and Directing. Nobody has any illusions about the man dreaming up emulsions down at the film stock plant

All filmmaking is craftsmanship. It is a science. And yes, it is an art. But it is also a very technical process guided by rules and governed by laws. Many films come around each year that show a less-than-perfect understanding of these arts and sciences, yet still get nominated for any number of Oscars. Take Munich for example. Or Crash. And to a lesser extent, Brokeback Mountain.

On each of those films, the best work, the greatest achievements, were those of the backroom boys, the people who greased the wheels and made sure that the very machinery of filmmaking was ticking over at the level of the smallest cogs. These are the people recognised only in these ostracised, geek ghetto awards while the egoists up front, the Paul Haggises and the Spielbergs and the Keira Knightleys, are feted again and again and again.