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.