Conversations in Film: with Screenwriter Anne Rapp

Conversations in Film: With Screenwriter Anne Rapp
Sunday, August 24
Renaissance Hotel at the Arboretum (9721 Arboretum Blvd)
Seminar at 3pm, Screening at 5pm; $17, $12 for AFF members
[info] | [tickets]

Whether you love Robert Altman or hate him, you can’t argue that he makes films like nobody else. Mash, Nashville, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Popeye (who could forget Popeye?), Short Cuts—the list goes on, and every one of them has Altman’s distinct style. It’s what made him a Hollywood institution and one of the most respected directors in the business. So when he calls you up and asks if you will send him some of your short stories, and then asks you to come write movies for him, you don’t say no. Because who would?

That’s what happened to Anne Rapp, a native Texan and local script supervisor-turned-screenwriter; their first collaboration became Cookie’s Fortune, playing this weekend at The Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek. And that’s not all—you’ll get a chance to hear that story and much more from writer herself as the Austin Film Festival presents “Conversations in Film: Anne Rapp and Cookie’s Fortune.” For those up-and-coming filmmakers and screenwriters here in Austin (we know you’re out there, and there are a LOT of you), this is the kind of information you won’t want to miss out on.

The fun starts at 3pm at the Renaissance Hotel, where Rapp will impart some of her knowledge and experiences. Then, the party moves to the Alamo for a 5pm screening of Cookie’s Fortune, complete with a “special southern menu” (we’re hoping for catfish enchiladas) and a Q&A afterward.

What better way to spend your Sunday afternoon than with the lovable eccentrics of Holly Springs, Mississippi? The film sports a first class cast, including Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Charles S. Dutton (TV's Roc), Chris O’Donnell, and Lyle Lovett (who could forget Lyle Lovett?) as a peeping tom. The Oscar-nominated script--a gothic comedy about an old matriarch’s suicide and the commotion it causes in her small town home--was Anne's first, followed by Dr. T and the Women. She continues to write, and has twice served as a visiting professor of screenwriting at the Michener Center for Writers.

If you can’t make it to the seminar, you can buy an individual ticket to the screening, though Rapp no doubt has some great stories to tell and advice to impart. Hell, she’s script supervised some new classics--¡Three Amigos!, Lone Wolf McQuade, and This is Spinal Tap are some of our faves—and this might be the closest you’ll ever get to asking things you've always wanted to know like “is Chevy Chase really as dumb as he looks?” and “Does Chuck Norris really roundhouse kick you in the face if you ask him the time?”

Tickets are $17 unless you’re an AFF member, in which case you can buy your ticket over the phone and save five bucks. That includes the price of the seminar, and the film. And of course, if you’re not interested in ever making good movies yourself, you can always just come out for the screening. Though, we must reiterate, the script was nominated for an Academy Award, so she obviously knows what she’s talking about. We suggest you come out to the seminar, listen closely, and then stand near Anne to see if a little of her movie magic won’t brush off on you.

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