Well here's the nineth Monday morning column from our guys in Paris . And ol' Father Geek will simply step aside to let you all get right to this lengthy weekly report from the continent, and those islands off its east coast...
EURO-AICN #9
While people on the other side of the Atlantic are
probably watching GLADIATOR over and over, celebrating
the beginning of the hot summer blockbusters season,
we in Europe are... well... enjoying other things like
good beers, good wine, good weather, good food, good
other things (beer, wine... did I say that already
?)... okay fine I admit I am dying to see GLADIATOR
and I have to wait 6 more weeks... So enjoy our ninth
EURO AICN right here and right now !!
FRANCE
* French actor Jean Rochefort is confirmed in the role
of Don Quichotte in the next film from Terry Gilliam
THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUICHOTTE (see Euro-AICN 7)
with Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis. Shooting starts
this September in Spain.
* The International Festival of Animated Films will be
held in Annecy from June 5th to 10th.; Roy E. Disney
will be the President of this year's Festival. 279
films (from 36 different countries will be shown).
Among the films are : UTENA from Ikuhara Kunihiko
(Japan), THE MIRACLE MAKER from Derek Hayes and
Stanislas Sokolov (UK/Russia), PETTSON & FINDUS,
KATTEN OCH QUBBENS AR from Albert Hanan Kaninski
(Sweden) or THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA from Alexander
Petrov.
* French actor Vincent Perez (THE CROW 2, I DREAMED OF
AFRICA) will join Sarah Wynter and Jonathan Pryce in
the new movie from director Bruce Beresford, BRIDE OF
THE WIND. It tells the story of Alma Schindler
(Wynter), talented musician who gave up her dreams to
marry the composer Gustav Mahler (Pryce). Perez will
play Oskar Kokoschka, German artist and - of course -
Schindler's lover. Shooting should start this month in
Vienna.
* The following news might sound a bit strange, but...
why not ? New Wave French director Jean-Luc Godard
expressed recently (in an interview with famous
"serious" French magazine les Cahiers du Cinéma) some
interest about making a movie on the world of...
tennis !! And more specifically about the
Roland-Garros competition (soon in Paris... very cool
indeed). More than a film, he wishes to make a real
saga of 4 or 5 hours following a player, game after
game... I feel very curious on that one...
* Mister W got the first pictures of Christophe CRYING
FREEMAN Gans' film : LE PACTE DES LOUPS (Brotherhood
of the wolves). You can check his site by clicking here or
the official website of the film can be found at this spot . This is the story of
a legendary (?) tale of a creature who killed hundreds
of people around 1764 in France. With the help of
Philip Kwok (action coordinator on John Woo's HARD
BOILED), this will certainly be totally different from
usual French productions. I personally can't wait for
that one... And for those who can also get a hand on
the French movie magazine Studio, there's a very cool
report on the shooting of the film (and there's
another cool report in Cine-Live on ENEMY AT THE GATES
from Jean-Jacques Annaud... it looks like a promising
movie... we'll get back on that one for sure).
* And just to stay in the cool website field, I know
we have at AICN a lot of fans of Caro and Jeunet, so
please check a very very cool site right here .
* In its May edition French movie magazine "Premiere"
is playing the American game of "ranking the top
people" in the movie business (which is not really a
tradition here)... so here are some results : top spot
goes to Claude Berri, director and huge producer (he
was THE man behind the ASTERIX movie); just behind at
#2 is Luc Besson (TAXI 2 anyone ?)... Gérard Depardieu
is the first actor on that list (#8), Jean Reno is
#28, Juliette Binoche #30... and no trace of Darth
Bond or Edgard , I can't believe it !!
UK
* Ash Buchanan reports on a screening of that fabulous
movie THE WICKER MAN in London at the National Film
Theatre : "The print they showed was the mutilated
short version but afterwards there was a panel of folk
involved in the making of the film discussing its
history etc. There were, Anthony Shaffer (writer),
Christoher Lee (Lord Summerisle), Ingrid Pitt
(Librarian), Seamus Flannery (production designer),
Robin Hardy (director) and Alan Brown (author of new
book on the subject). It was all very interesting. No
one has any idea where the original prints or
negatives are for the missing bits and would all love
to restore the film to its former glory, beginning
with the pre title sequence of Howie doing his job in
the mainland. If anyone out there knows where these
things are - tell us! But you and your legion of
readers might like to know that when asked about a
possible sequel, Shaffer was adamant he wouldn't talk
about it, neither would he confirm or deny the rumour
that Sergeant Neil Howie is still alive! When I asked
him if the crops failed the following harvest, he said
we'd have to wait and see...."
* Steve gave us a brief report on John Hannah's return
for THE MUMMY 2 : "On Big Breakfast which is on
Channel 4 in the UK, actor John Hannah was giving an
interview about his latest film CIRCUS. He was
sporting an Errol Flynn beard and 'tash combo, which
he hoped to be wearing for the duration of THE MUMMY
sequel. He also said that as filming commenced today
- May 2nd - -the facial fluff would be a surprise to
the director."
* OGOPOGO is to be directed by John Henderson (LOCH
NESS) from a script by Barry Authors. The project,
currently in pre-production ahead of a ten-week shoot
in Canada in August, is being produced with Jim
Henson's Creature Shop. Based on a native Indian
legend, it follows a ten-year old boy and his father
who encounter a monster in a remote Canadian lake.
Other projects in development at Barryfilms include
ghost-horror story THE END; World War 2 tale SHADOW OF
THE WOLF; and THE HONOUR SCOUTS, a time travel
adventure featuring a platoon of American native
Indians who are transported back to the time of the
American Indian wars. (Souce : Screendaily)
* The British Academy of Film will give a special
prize to Steven Spielberg during the 10th Britannia
Awards ceremony on the 4th November 2000 in Los
Angeles. Another prize for Steven ? Where can he put
everything ??
* The British film industry received a double boost
from the US and from within the UK. Hard on the heels
of news breaking that Anthony Minghella is setting up
shop in London came the first announcement from the
new British Film Council in which chairman Alan Parker
promised to make bigger and better British films.
Minghella's move comes as a result of the director
joining the American film company Mirage, which was
founded in 1985 by Minghella's producer chum Sydney
Pollack. Minghella is said to be keen to open an
office in London, both as a European base for himself
and Pollack and as a company which would embrace
filmmakers. Minghella and Pollack are next due to work
with each other on the film version of COLD MOUNTAIN.
In a separate, but equally important announcement,
director Alan Parker unveiled his plans for the newly
relaunched British Film Council. In an interview with
BBC radio, the director explained how scripts would be
the key to ensuring that lottery money wasn't mispent.
'If you don't have a good script, you are not going to
have a good film. So we are going to put a
considerable amount of money- probably more than ever
before...into the area of screenplay development.'
Parker will have some £150 million to spend on movies
over the next three years, but will have to bear in
mind that of the many movies subsidised over the last
few years from lottery money, precious few have made a
profit - 1997's SHOOTING FISH being one of the few
examples. (Souce : Screendaily)
IRELAND
* Do I really need to introduce you to THE Irish man,
Ozymandias ??... well here he is again :
- Gentlemen, Thought you might get a kick out of this:
From Evening Herald newspaper here......An aspiring
Irish director has tricked George Clooney and Kenneth
Branagh to appear in his new movie for nothing!!! The
guy's name is Liam O'Mochain and he posed as an Irish
journalist at the 99 Venice Film Festival asking
questions of the two thesps, the footage of which he
has now worked into his upcoming movie THE BOOK THAT
WROTE ITSELF (press conferences are public domain thus
it's all legal in a BOWFINGER sort of way!!). The
whole movie was filmed for £20,000 on digital cameras
and will be shown at Cannes this year! Clever
lad.......
- Unfortunately for us all that rumour a while back
about Irish dance poser Michael Flately making a move
into the movies turns out to be true - the papers here
report that he'll be sailing into Cannes on his yacht
on May 14th to announce details of a movie being made
from a script he's written with Shane Connaughton (MY
LEFT FOOT, THE RUN OF THE COUNTRY, THE PLAYBOYS). He
says its a "romance about a poor guy who falls in love
with a rich girl and you have to wait to see what the
ending is"....... I can hardly contain my excitement.
- Also turns out that Colin Farrell from TV series
"Ballykissangel" (Irish and UK viewers will be
familiar), Joel Schumaker's new one TIGERLAND and
ORDINARY DECENT CRIMINAL is taking the title role in a
biopic of Jesse James. His outlaw rival, Cole Younger,
will be played by Scott Caan and Les Mayfield is up to
helm.
More later, and remember if you have any tips on
Irish/UK stuff I'll check them out - mail me at my Irish office .
GERMANY
* Cirdan announces us that : "The release date of the
new Tom Tykwer (RUN LOLA RUN) movie was announced
today by his production company X VERLEIH AG. DER
KRIEGER UND DIE KAISERIN ("The Warrior And The
Empress") will be in the German Cinemas on October
12th, 2000".
* And to stay with Tykwer, here are some news from
Screendaily about his first "American" film :
White-hot German director Tom Tykwer will make his
English-language debut directing HEAVEN, a fully
financed Miramax production that will form the first
in a planned trilogy of films based on screenplays by
late great Polish film-maker Krzysztof Kieslowski and
his writing partner Krzysztof Piesiewicz. Cate
Blanchett is in talks to star in the $11m film which
is scheduled to start shooting in July on locations in
Italy and Germany. In the film, Blanchett would play a
Scottish woman who moves to Tuscany and begins a
relationship with a young Italian man. Anthony
Minghella, one of Miramax's stable of top directors,
is expected to take an executive producer credit on
the film. Tykwer has just finished shooting "The
Princess And The Warrior" (see here above), a drama
starring Franka Potente and Benno Fuhrmann about two
people overcoming obstacles in order to fall in love.
BigWhopper from The Netherlands could get an eye (two
I hope) on the new Branagh movie... I know that we got
at AICN a few reviews already, but as my uncle Georges
would say "Diversity is mother of... er... good
judgement".. or something like that... so anyway
here's BigWhopper :
Review Review Love's Labour's Lost by BigWhopper
I've been lucky to see a sneak-preview of the movie
Love's Labour's Lost by Kenneth Branagh. It won't be
released for over half a year over here so I was very
surprised when it started. I was anticipating this
movie for quiet some time so I was overjoyed to
finally see it (I hoped it would have been shown at
the Rotterdam Film Festival but it entered the film
festival circuit only two weeks later in Berlin)
The story is about the King (Alessandro Nivola) and
his friends (Lillard, Lester, Branagh) who swear off
women for three years to study. But then the Princess
of France (Alicia Silverstone) arrives with her
company (Ejogo, Mortimer, McElhone) and the vow flies
out of the window. On the edge of the main story are a
few excentric characters for light relief. Don Armado
(Timothy Spall) a linguistically challenged Spanish
Nobleman who secretly in love with Jacquenetta
(Stefania Rocca), Costard (Nathan Lane) is the jester,
Holofernia (Geraldine McEwan) the school teacher and
Sir Nathaniel (Richard Briers). Just as everybody is
falling in love things go astray and the lovers are
temporarily parted to reunited at the very end.
The cast puts out good solid performances over all.
Some of them aren't able to show there full
capabilties because of lack of screen time (Ejogo,
Mortimer, Lillard). Timothy Spall steals the show as
Don Armado. He is hysterically funny when he is
performing "I Get A Kick Out Of You" with his goofy
sidekick Moth. Natascha McElhone puts on a great
performance as the lead henchwomen of the Princess and
the love interest of Berowne (Kenneth Branagh).
Alessandro Nivola is a great king. I have seen few
movies of him but he surprised me with a good
performance. Kenneth Branagh is good as always (when
he doing his Shakespeare stuff). Last but not least
Alicia Silverstone. She redeems herself of Batman &
Robin and proves that she really can act. She portrays
a sweet and smart princess. She's at her best when
opposed to Branagh in the final part and when the
girls are plotting the masked dance. (Can't wait what
she's doing next, haven't heard anything yet. That's a
shame)
The choreography carefully disguises the fact that
they're no professional dancers. But when Adrian
Lester dances it's pretty obvious he can dance very
well. It's a shame he only could show his talent in
one song. The cast can sing pretty well too. It
surprised me that Natascha McElhone has such a great
singing voice. Off course Nathan Lane has an excellent
voice and he gets his change to fully show off his
broadway skills in the song "There's No Business Like
Show Business".
I highly recommend this movie to everybody. It's a
bold attempt by Branagh which in my opinion has
completely succeeded.
TURKEY
* Turkish films dominated the 19th International
Istanbul Film Festival (April 15-30) where the top
honour in the international competition, the Golden
Tulip, was awarded to Turkish director Nuri Bilge
Ceylan for CLOUDS OF MAY (Maysi Sikintisi). The film
also won the top prize in the national competition as
well as the audience award and the international
critics' FIPRESCI prize. The special jury prize went
to THE LAST DANCE directed by Indian director Shaji
Karun. In the national competition, best director went
to Zeki Demirkubuz for THE THIRD PAGE and best actress
to Basak Koklukaya for her role in the same film. Best
actor went to Guven Kirac for his role in MS SALKIM'S
DIAMONDS directed by Tomris Giritlioglu. The festival
screened 180 films from 40 countries and attracted a
bumper 125,000 spectators mirroring the growing
numbers at the Turkish box office and the increasing
success of Turkish films both artistically and
commercially. The national competition had only eight
films despite the rising numbers of Turkish films
being produced, as many titles screened out of
competition. A special screening of Charlie Chaplin's
City Lights with a full orchestra drew sell-out crowds
both nights. Another highlight was the presentation of
lifetime achievement awards to directors Theo
Angelopoulos and Youssef Chahine. The acceptance
speech by Greek director Angelopoulos was received
with a rousing round of applause by the Turkish
audience, as the award was seen as a gesture of
friendship between the two countries which have
traditionally been enemies. (Source : Screendaily)
And happily, we can announce you the return of the...
PICK OF THE WEEK !!!
This week's pick is a not so recent, not so
successful, Spanish romantic comedy with an edge ; LOS
PEORES ANOS DE NUESTRAS VIDAS (The worst years of our
lives) tells the tale of a charismatic geek (Gabino
Diego, Two Much), who's a real romantic loser, and his
smooth-talking, never-been-in-love, brother. Both fall
in love with the same girl (Ariadna Gil) that's
dating an older, married guy. It is Diego's character
that leads the movie, and through his charming, wise
point of view we learn a few things about how love can
really suck sometimes but that it's totally worth it.
This movie is so much more than your normal love
triangle story, or the 'laugh at the dumb-ass'tale;
every minute of the movie is filled with comic
observations about family and relationship functions
that not only reek of original freshness but are also
perfectly tied up to the movie. [light spoiler] The
surprise sweet & our ending is a good example of this.
Now, some may argue that this movie is purely a Gabino
Diego vehicle; he sings, he dances, he does stand-up
comedy,he even narrates the movie, but arguing would
be senseless, it IS a Diego vehicle, and I love it.
Darth Bond
Quiz of the week
What's the name of the actor that always appears in
movies (and Pizza Hut commercials) with Gabino Diego?
Like if it was gonna be that easy, you've also gotta
name four movies where they both appear (even as
cameos). Slap your answer and next week we'll
(hopefully) name the movie trivia genius who gets it
right.
Do not forget to send ALL your Euro-News, Reviews, Production Scoops, Scripts, whatever to Edgard and Darth Bond at our beautiful Paris offices.
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