There’s an interesting piece in the L.A. Times about the documentary on Al Gore and global warming that’s going to debut at Sundance. (We will, if all goes well, have a review of the film before too long.)
They’ve got some pretty impressive firepower behind it:
Early last year, longtime environmentalist Laurie David, wife of "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David, saw the presentation and was impressed. She asked Gore to hold forums in Los Angeles and New York. She invited like-minded activists, including ["Pulp Fiction" producer Lawrence] Bender. Bender and Laurie David said they were so moved by the message that they agreed to make a movie based on Gore’s work.
"I said to Laurie, ‘This has to be done on a mass scale, it’s too important,’ " Bender said. "I thought it could be an amazing feature film."
They quickly pulled together a team of filmmakers, including director Davis Guggenheim (with many television credits, including episodes of "NYPD Blue"), advertising guru Scott Burns (the creative force behind the "Got Milk?" commercials) and Lesley Chilcott (a line producer known for keeping projects on track).
…
Jeff Skoll’s Participant Productions, the production house behind such movies as "Syriana" and "Good Night, and Good Luck," signed on to fund the project and many involved agreed to work for free. The crew followed the former vice president to speeches he had scheduled around the world. Bender used connections he forged while producing "Kill Bill Vols. I and II" to set up forums in China.
The schedule was so grueling that Gore jokingly referred to it as "Kill Al Volume III."
The director says the documentary will be "very, very personal and very intimate." Should be interesting.
