Another Palindromes Cast Member Unveiled

According to a July 28th report from Playbill News, New York playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis has been cast by Solondz to appear in his latest film. Guirgis has written Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train,
In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings and most recently Our Lady of 121st Street, all with the LAByrinth Theatre Company, and all off which were directed by actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Magnolia, Love Liza, and, of course, Happiness). He's also written for several of the major NYC-based cop shows.

Comparing the Old and New Happiness DVDs

Essentially, there is no difference. Contrary to previous reports, this transfer is not anamorphic, or freshly restored, or anything else. There are no new extras - the menu and features are identical, right down to the hidden Slam and Another Day In Paradise trailers. There isn't even (as was the case with the previous version) an insert. The difference between the listed running times (the old one says "139 minutes;" the new one says "140") is nill - they're both 139.51. Just to emphasize the same-ness of these DVDs, here are screen shots taken from each:

Signature Series:

Original:

...The only difference is the packaging, and that they got rid of the bizarre, double-sided disc feature, where the other side only featured a small txt file which read, "This side is not playable." Save your money, folks, and thanks for nothin', Lions' Gate. >:P

Oh yeah. P.s. - The "Signature Series" cover now looks like this (below), not as shown in the previous news entry (note the different sig, and Newseek quote, as opposed to Time Out's).

Slightly more Palindromes Info Eeked Out the Pipeline

Another casting call, this time from The Poughkeepsie Journal, yields a little more information about Solondz's latest film. The call (which, for the record, is over - the article was published on Friday the 27th, for Saturday, the 28th, from 10 AM to 2 PM at Bard College in Annandale in the student center.) was for girls of all ethnicities and types, ages 12 to 14. According to both the article and a recent IMDB update; Chris Penn (Resevoir Dogs, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar) is going in to star in this film, along with the previously announced Ellen Barkin. The article added that, "[t]hey play parents to an awkward teenage daughter named Aviva... The movie is centered around Aviva, her friends, neighbors and her family where one parent is loving and another has been known to have a fierce temper."

The same IMDB update also makes some additions to the crew list: producer Derrick Tseng (Freak Talks About Sex, A Good Baby), cinematographer Tom Richmond (House of 1,000 Corpses, Chelsea Walls, Hard Rock Zombies), costume designer Victoria Farrell (Boys Don't Cry, Strangers With Candy) and first assistant director Timothy Bird (Far From Heaven, Storytelling). They've also removed Lisa Muskat (George Washington)'s name as one of the producers. Hmmm...