Father Geek here with another Euro-AICN column from our new Editor in Rome, Robert Bernocchi. Buuuuuuut before getting into his regular Monday report I've got this little bit of interesting info on a long rumored Arnie project for you...

It looks like WITH WINGS AS EAGLES is finally dead for sure... I got this comment from Randall Wallace's camp about With Wings As Eagles. I guess our hopes of Schwarzenegger one day doing this amazing WWII action/drama is all over. Wonder if Joel Silver and Warner Bros. will get Arnie to still play Sgt.Rock. Well, here is the scoop on Wallace :

".....The scoop on "With Wings as Eagles' is that there hasn't been any recent movement on that project. There are a few other scripts that Randy has written that we are considering doing next, but that is not one of them...."

ABking

BUMMER, but not unexpected. Ol' Father Geek first read this fantastic Action/adventure script based on a real incident at the end of World War Two a couple of years ago. It really fired me up, its a perfect A.S. project, but like another great script attached to Arnie, CRUSADE, it just sat there much too long. He has just priced himself out of many perfect projects. Its ashamed they won't free these up for another actor. These two would be kick ass motion pictures and Father Geek would like to see them on the big screen with, or without the big guy... Now, here's Robert, Grozilla and the rest of our Euro-crew...

Hi. If you enjoy hearing Christopher Lee speaking elvish, just wait what we are preparing. It is something concerning LOTR too, which I’ll announce next week and will be very interesting for italian LOTR fans (anyway, I’m sure I get some pictures to send to AICN readers worldwide).

But let’s start with some great news arriving from Paris (I definetely envy french people, who have so many chances to see interesting movies and artists):

Are you a Miyazaki fan? Do you live in Paris? Then, you can’t miss what Grozilla has to say…

Currently covering some small festival in Sarlat, a small french town where the food is better than the movies screened, I just met some PR from Buena Vista French Office (showing here High Heels & Low Life, a very small comedy from Mel "Bean" Smith, which has only five funny minutes in the entire film). He announces me that Hayao Miyazaki will definetely be in Paris some days between 15 and 23rd of december for the Nouvelles images du Japon at the forum des images. I guess (but I could be wrong) it will be the first time the master will trip to another country. This BV's guy also confirmed that the zone 2 Princesse Mononoke's dvd is delayed once more. Even if the press report from the video district assures that it will be on the shelves before the end of january, the guy cross his heart that it won't be before at least march. He also told that BV is amazed by the demand on Spirited Away from the theaters. They will launch it as they do for any Disney's animated film : massively. If Spirited Away does the same that Mononoke did here (+ 500,000 tickets), BV will release each january a Ghibli film.

Grozilla has also great news for everyone looking forward to Sam Raimi’s Spiderman…

Last night, i had a drink with some guy from Columbia's french office (they're screening here the new masterpiece from Tsui Hark : Time & Tide). As usual in this kind of meeting, we chat about what his company's gonna be releasing in France soon, so he told me that in the afternoon, they just have seen in Paris' office some twenty minutes of Spiderman.

The guy didn't reveal any spoiling details but just how amazed he was at seeing the look of these clips, in particular the way Spidey looks: "it's absolutely as in the Marvel comics". What he saw wasn't enough to have clue about the story, but he assured me for sure that the film will get the Sam Raimi's touch ... Wow, as a huge fan of Darkman, those words were a real delight to hear...

Still in Sarlat and still looking for good films to watch in this small festival. To be honest, I've just seen one : La maîtresse en maillot de bain (the teacher in bathing suit), first feature frome Lyèce Boukhitine, well known here for his shorts movies. This is a good story about the friendship of three guys tearing apart. For those of you who've seen wonderful Pierre Salvadori's Les apprentis, Comme elle respire, just know La maîtresse got the same kind of mood, sweet-sour comedy. And is very well casted. For sure one of the best comedy in the "auteur" way to be seen this year in France.

Peter Sharples passed me another article concerning the infinite soap opera "LOTR vs. Harry Potter"…

Lord Of The Rings star says Harry Potter is 'lightweight' One of the stars of Lord Of The Rings has described the Harry Potter movie as "lightweight". John Rhys-Davies says his fantasy film will win the box office battle between the two. Rhys-Davies plays the heroic dwarf Gimli in the trilogy based on JRR Tolkien's books. "I dread to say it, but I actually think, when the two films are looked at side by side, you'll see one has a texture and a depth and a moral dimension to it that will make Harry Potter look a little slight," he told the Daily Record.

"That's not a bad thing. I'm not being dismissive of Harry Potter. I think it will do well - but it's pretty lightweight stuff. "Lord Of The Rings author JRR Tolkien is a considerable writer and, I think, a considerable thinker."

Ray Senior from Showbiz Ireland passed me this tidbit. It looks as Big Brother meets The Haunting…

A TV show being made in Ireland has been snapped up by CBS so it will be heading to the States. It's called Haunted House. The format of the show is a bit like Big Brother - members of the public have to stay in a haunted house in the middle of nowhere in the Irish countryside. It's 3 days and nights and whoever manages to stay wins 20k and a jeep. For those within the Rep. of Ireland who want to audition they should ring 1580 715 113. The full format of the show is on our Web Site: http://www.showbizireland.com/news/november01/02-hauntedhouse01.shtml

European Film Awards

This week European Film Academy announced the nominees for The European Film Awards, which will be assigned on December 1. Amelie and The Piano Theacher were the most acclaimed titles, with four and three nominations respectively. Below, you can find a complete list of nominees:

Best Film

• Bridget Jones's Diary by S. Maguire, UK
• Das Experiment by Oliver Hirschbiegel, Ger
• Intimacy by Patrice Chereau, France/Italy
• Italian for Beginners by Lone Scherfig, Denmark
• The Piano Teacher by Michael Haneke Austria/France,
• The Son’s Room by Nanni Moretti, Italy/France
• Amelie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France
• The Others by Alejandro Amenabar, Spain

Best Director

• Jose Luis Garci, You're The One
• Peter Gothar, Paszport
• Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Amelie
• Ermanno Olmi,The Profession Of Arms
• François Ozon, Under The Sand
• Eric Rohmer, The Lady And The Duke

Best Actor

• Jesper Christensen, The Bench
• Branco Djuric, No Man's Land
• Ben Kingsley, Sexy Beast
• Michel Piccoli, I’m Going Home
• Stellan Skarsgard, Taking Sides
• Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, David Hemmings, Bob Hoskins and Ray Winstone, Last Orders

Best Actress

• Ariane Ascaride, The Town is Quiet
• Isabelle Huppert, The Piano Teacher
• Laura Morante, The Son’s Room
• Charlotte Rampling, Under the Sand
• Stefania Sandrelli, The Last Kiss
• Audrey Tautou, Amelie

Best Screenplay

• Laurent Cantet & Robin Campillo, Time Out
• Michael Haneke, The Piano Teacher
• Achero Manas, Pellet
• Jean-Louis Milesi & Robert Guediguain, The Town Is Quiet
• Ettore Scola, Silvia Scola, Giacomo Scarpelli and Furio Scarpelli, Unfair Competition
• Danis Tanovic, No Man’s Land

Best Cinematography

• Tamas Babos, Paszport
• Bruno Delbonnel, Amelie
• Eric Gautier, Intimacy
• Frank Griebe, The Princess And The Warrior
• Rein Kotov, The Heart Of The Bear
• Fabio Olmi, The Profession Of Arms

Best Discovery

• Alaska.De by Esther Gronenborn, Ger
• The Sea That Thinks by Gert de Graaff, Netherlands
• El Bola by Achero Manas, Spanien
• Dog Days by Ulrich Seidl, Austria
• Jalla!Jalla! by Josef Fares, Sweden
• Klisti Dromi by Stavros Ioannou, Greece
• Last Resort by Pawel Pawlikowski, GB
• Lovely Rita by Jessica Hausner, Austria
• Le Singe by Aktan Abdykalykov, Russia and Kirghistan
• Happy Man by Malgorzata Szumowska, Poland

Best Short

• The Heist by Dennis Petersen & Frederik Meldal Norgaard, Denmark
• Lo Basico by Jose Garcia Hernandez, Spain
• Je T’aime John Wayne by Toby MacDonald, GB
• Peau De Vache by Gerald Hustache-Mathieu, France
• A Se En Bat Med Seil by Anja Breien, Norway
• Svitjod 2000 + by Marten Nilsson & David Flamholc, Sweden Corpo E Meio by Sandro Aguilar, Portugal
• Copy Shop by Virgil Widrich, Austria
• Meska Sprawa by Slawomir Fabicki, Poland
• Freunde / The Whiz Kids by Jan H. Krueger, Ger

Best Documentary

• Black Box Germany byAndres Veiel, Ger
• Casting, Emmanuel Finkiel, France
• Elegy Of A Voyage by Alexander Sokurov, France/Russia/Netherlands
• Cool & Crazy, by Knut Erik Jensen, Norway
• Joutilaat by Susanna Helke & Virpi Suutari, Finland
• Super 8 Stories by Emir Kusturica, Ger/Italy

Best non-European Film

• Baran by Majid Majidi, Iran
• The Believer by Henry Bean, USA
• Lagaan by Ashutosh Gowariker, India
• Millenium Mambo by Hou Hsiao Hsiu, Taiwan
• Monsoon Wedding by Mira Nair, India
• Moulin Rouge by Baz Luhrmann, Australia/USA
• Kandahar by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran
• Y Tu Mama Tambien by Alfonso Cuaron, Mexico

Sijmen sent me a very useful list of confirmed foreign language Oscar entries from countries worldwide:

Albania: Slogans (directed by Gjergj Xhuvani, one of the few surprises at the Cannes Film Festival)

Argentina: El Hijo de la Novia (The Son of the Bride) (directed by Juan Jose Campanella, THR wrote: "It's not too early to start anticipating that this outstanding Argentine-Spanish co-production will be one of the Academy Award nominees for foreign film")

Australia: La Spagnola (directed by Steve Jacobs and features a lot of Spanish dialogue)

Austria: La Pianiste (I truly adored Michael Haneke's multi-award winner at Cannes, but the film will probably be too controversial for the academy (it's about... sex!))

Belgium: Pauline & Paulette (director Lieven Debrauwer's debut film won five of the seven awards celebrating Belgian filmmaking and some awards at Cannes and Cairo)

Bosnia: No Man's Land (Danis Tanovic's Cannes prize-winner and enormous critical favorite which United Artists will release in the US)

Brazil: Behind the Sun (from Central Station director Walter Salles, it was shown to a mixed reception at this year's Venice Film Festival)

Canada: Atanarjuat - The Fast Runner (multi-award winner by Zacharias Kunuk, including the Camera d'Or at Cannes, this is the first Inuit language film ever)

Chile: Taxi Para Tres (by Orlando Lubbert, the surprise winner of the Concha de Oro at San Sebastian in September)

Colombia: Our Lady of the Assasins (Barbet Schroeder's extreme portrait of violence, drugs and religion set in the infamous drug-cartel city Medellin)

Czech Republic: Dark Blue World (director Jan Sverak won an Oscar for Kolya and was nominated for his first film, Elementary School)

Denmark: Italian for Beginners (a Dogma95 comedy directed by Lone Scherfig, will be released on Jan. 18 via Miramax)

Estonia: Heart of the Bear (directed by Arvo Iho)

Finland: The River (9 stories about normal people and their life in general)

France: Amelie (directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet)

Germany: The Experiment (the debut feature of director Oliver Hirschbiegel, grossed $8 million on home soil, and garnered four accolades at the German Film Awards.)

India: Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India (director Ashutosh Gowariker flouts Bollywood's usual boy-meets-girl, hero-beats-villain formula and has won glowing U.S. and British reviews)

Japan: Go (a less known drama by Yukisada Isao about a boy who is both Japanese and Korean)

The Netherlands: Nynke (biopic directed by Pieter Verhoeff, this was a local critical and commercial hit)

Norway: Elling (directed by Petter Naes)

Sweden: Jalla! Jalla! (Josef Fares' popular comedy was Sweden's biggest box office hit this year)

Thailand: Suriyothai (Moonhunter) (written and directed by Chatrichalerm Yukoi (aka Prince Chatri), it is made with the largest budget in the history of Thailand's filmmaking and the all-time grossing movie over there)

Turkey: Big man little love (The picture won 5 golden orange awards (Turkey's most important prize))

Venezuela: Una Casa Con Vista Al Mar (by Alberto Arvelo)

Spain has selected 3 semi-finalists and will unveil their submission on November 12. The three films are Penelope Cruz-starrer No News From God (Sin Noticias De Dios), erotic melodrama Sex And Lucia (Lucia Y El Sexo) and period drama Juana La Loca.

I just add to this wonderful list that Italy (as Spain did) has selected three titles: Nanni Moretti’s The Son’s Room (Palme d’Or at Cannes 2001), Gabriele Muccino’s The Last Kiss and Ferzan Ozpetek’s The Ignorant Fairies (presented at the Berlin Film Festival). On november 12 it will be announced which one will represent Italy in the Oscar rush. Even if The Son’s Room was the less successful at the box office (but all the three movies scored well in my country), it’s unquestionably the favorite one.

If you are looking for updates about this subject, I suggest you to visit Sijman site at: http://www.geocities.com/ps971100/2001rules.htm

As usual, Vojnovi is here, looking at what happens in his country, Jugoslavia:

Ona Voli Zvezdu has been removed from Belgrade cinemas after the disastrous release. The new domestic release is Emir Kusturica`s indie documentary Super 8 Stories. The premiere was a bit restrained while critics remain cautious on the subject. Powerhouses of Anti - Kusturica opinion claim the that it is an unpretentious egoistic project while Kusturica`s supporters declare it`s just a change of pace for him. Anyway, Kusturica will soon return with a new high budget project about war in Bosnia. It will be shot on the Serbian mountain of Zlatibor in February. The shoot will be long and exhausting as always. No cast has been confirmed.

News From ScreenDaily (http://www.screendaily.com/)

Murdoch's Shine teams with Greenroom for horror Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine Entertainment and Greenroom Digital, the production company of The Hole director Nick Hamm and his brother Jon, are to co-produce a slate of horror films under the banner 'The Dark'. http://www.screendaily.com/index.pl?6457

Spice Factory/Beyond to Cut Deeper

The UK's Spice Factory and Australia's Beyond Films are co-devel- oping writer/director Michael Hurst's science fiction horror film Cut Deeper, a sequel to the 1999 Australian film Cut. Shooting is scheduled to start early next year. http://www.screendaily.com/index.pl?6462

Reviews

As every week since my first Euro Aicn column, I greet Portman Blue, who deliver us a review of The Guru…

The Guru is a comedy featuring Heather Graham, Marisa Tomei and Jimi Mistry (East is East). Jimi is a dance teacher in Delhi who dreams of going to America to become a star. He flies over to New York and instead of stardom, finds a job as a waiter and gets a bit part in a porno film. (There is a brilliant scene when he auditions for the film without realising what he is supposed to do). Here he meets and falls for Heather Graham, the star actress at Ramrod productions. She tells Jimi her philosophy on life and helps him get through the scene.

That evening he is a waiter at an upscale party, when the star turn, an Indian guru, is too drunk to talk. Instead Jimi takes his place and pretends to be the Guru of Love, telling the guests what Heather Graham had told him earlier that day. He becomes a huge hit, and is soon on TV and becoming famous. However his problems are only just beginning......

Santa Maradona review

On saturday 10, Diego Armando Maradona officially stopped playing football during an exhibition match between Argentina and a selection of All Stars. Thus, I find very appropriate to review an italian movie, which represents the feature debut of director Marco Ponti, called Santa Maradona. Curiously, Vojnovi, in his mail, talked about Maradona, complaining the treatment he has received by FIFA (The international football association, which never liked him). I can’t swear he was really the best football player ever as his fans argue, but definetely he was the most self-destructive one, thanks to his drugs addiction. In short, a farewell to the sportman and best wishes to the man to overcome his problems.

Coming back to the movie, many of you probably have understood that the title refers to a famous Mano Negra song (the Manu Chao former band). The credits are obviously dedicated to Maradona, with a few extraordinary images (the wonderful goal scored vs. England in Mexico ’86, the goal with his hand during the same match, the – not very friendly – phrase "Hijos de Puta" he directed to the italian audience who booed him at Italy ’90 and a series of great actions with his teams, Argentina, Boca Junior, Barcellona and Naples). The movie seems to be realised by a Kevin Smith fan. The dirty talk, the youthful dissatisfaction and the pair of male characters could be coming out from the world of the director of Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back. Sometimes, the quotations are exaggerated, mostly when the movie has a turnaround quite similar to Chasing Amy’s one. But Marco Ponti makes a very good work with his actors and he’s able to give a rich look to the movie (thanks also to his cinematographer Marcello Montarsi, who already made a great job this year with The Last Kiss), though the budget was less than $1M. Andrea (played by Stefano Accorsi, the most important italian actor at the moment, after the success of his latest projects The Last Kiss, The Ignorant Fairies and The Son’s Room) plays as a talented young man who can’t find a job (as many young people in Italy). He lives with Bart (Libero Di Rienzo, who was the italian playboy in Catherine Breillat latest A Ma Soeur), who is the most interesting character of the movie, with his fabulous wisecracks, absurd stories and his sexist cynicism. Absolutely irresistible. Both men can’t find a meaning in their lives, till Andrea meets the gorgeous Dolores. But he’ll be able to complicate their love with his jealousy. The female characters (interpreted by Anita Caprioli and Mandala Tayde) are not so interesting, probably because the director’s attention is focused on Andrea and Bart.

Even if there are a few faults in Santa Maradona (the ending, for example, is too simple), this is a very promising debut. Italian cinema, torn between stupid comedies and auterish titles, definetely needs this kind of movies.

Robert Bernocchi

http://www.caltanet.it/frm/cinema

euroaicn@yahoo.com

Via G.B. Valente 143

00177 Rome Italy