Roger Ebert didn’t pull any punches if he didn’t like a film, regardless of the star power behind it. Of Michael Bay’s “Armageddon,” he wrote: “No matter what they’re charging to get in, it’s worth more to get out.”
But the stars are aligning for a new documentary about the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic, who died in April. Director Martin Scorsese and “Schindler’s List” screenwriter Steve Zaillian will executive-produce “Life Itself,” based on Ebert’s memoirs.
The film will be directed by Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) and feature a wrinkle befitting the populist critic: It will be “crowdfunded,” a hot, Internet-based tool for filmmakers to drum up financing through fan donations and social media.
Unlike most crowdfunding sites, however, “Life” will reward donors with a streaming version of the film before it hits theaters, planned for early 2014.
“Roger was a very plain-spoken, Midwestern guy who connected with America,” says James, whose career took off when Ebert championed “Hoop Dreams,” a 1994 documentary about high school basketball in Chicago. “It seemed fitting that his movie be accessible first to the community that loved him.”
The film, which includes interviews with Ebert before he died of cancer, does not yet have a distributor but will make the festival circuit in January and will air on CNN next year.
Producers are seeking $150,000 through Indiegogo.com. The campaign ends at 11:59 p.m Dec. 20, and a portion of any surplus money will go to Ebert’s favorite charities.
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