As a certified member of the film blogosphere living in Austin, Texas, I get a text alert every time Robert Rodriguez sneezes or Richard Linklater stubs his toe. It could be worse – if I wrote for the Austin Chronicle I’d be obliged to give those sneezes and toe-stubs four stars each. I am, however, required by law to pass on the following tidbits concerning Austin’s favorite sons.
Next week the Paramount Theater in connection with the Austin Film Society will present the world premiere of Linklater’s latest, the documentary Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach. It’s “an intimate look inside the world of University of Texas baseball coach Augie Garrido, the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history in any sport… The film profiles this remarkable coach's career and unique approach to teaching the game with unprecedented access to his team meetings, practices, and conversations with players during games.” Surely only the director of the Bad News Bears remake would attempt to interview players while they’re trying to complete a double-play. The premiere is June 3rd (details are here), but if you miss it, don’t fret; the doc was commissioned by ESPN and will no doubt air on the network sooner than later.
Now onto somewhat sexier news. It’s not every man who leaves his wife of 16 years for a woman who has seen Marilyn Manson naked, but when that woman is Rose McGowan, well, you can understand how that would mess with Robert Rodriguez’s mind. So confused was Rodriguez that he at first planned a remake of Barbarella starring his new love. But that’s on the back burner now, supplanted by Women in Chains!, the pilot for a proposed women-in-prison series. “McGowan is set play one of five chained women at the center of the show, which Rodriguez is expected to direct,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. Citing Ain’t It Cool News as its source, the Reporter notes that the “new show also is rumored to be fashioned with a 1970s exploitation sensibility, with such staples like mud wrestling.” We can’t think of anyone more qualified to keep such a grand tradition alive.
