Here's a report on the ends and outs of British film. Unfortunately there is no update on how things are progressing on SLEEPY HOLLOW. But as you can see there is quite a bit here. While Woo may very well be scouting locations for MI2 there, I can tell you that the word from Australia continues to be that MI2 will shoot there. At least that's what I have heard. Here's the latest...
Holly Martins here again, with lots of little snippets and updates on whats happening in London at the moment. Star Wars 2 & 3 going to Australia is a big blow to us, as it was supposed to be filmed here at Leavesden. I wonder what we did wrong.
Anyway, first bit of news, and in my opinion, the most interesting - Ken Loach's next project. I was at an interview with him at the National Film Theatre, and when asked about his next project, he said he wanted to go stateside. He said he wanted to shoot a European art film in America, and that 'it just had to be done'. I don't know if you've seen his latest, My Name is Joe, but quite simply, it's one of the best British films this year (after Lock Stock, etc. of course.)
I also saw the William Friedkin interview where he spoke of his intentions to shoot a Liverpool based Jack the Ripper film told through the eye's of the ripper's wife. He also admitted that when he had to cut Cruising for the censors, he took two frame snippets of the most graphic moments he had had to cut out and inserted them into the film, much like the subliminal flash shots of the devil in the Exorcist. He did it as a joke, to see if they would notice - and they didn't - so the print that was released contained all sorts of shots that wouldn't otherwise have been seen!
There are big troubles with Mike Leigh's new Gilbert and Sullivan film. Apparently, the financiers completely miscalculated the budget, and it has rapidly risen to become his most expensive film by far. Most of the cast are supposedly working off contract now, shooting schedules are not being stuck to. The actors are told at 10pm each night whether they will be needed for the next day. Each day is taken as it comes, and at every minute there is the fear that the backers will pull the plug at any moment. The only good news is that the rushes supposedly look great.
In all the cast lists I have seen for the Star Wars: The Phantom Mennace, I see no mention of Greg Proops and Scott Capurro. Scott is a Londond based stand up comic, and Greg, the more famous, is a Canadian Buddy Holly look-alike, best known over here for Whose Line is it Anyway?, which I understand has just started up in America. Anway, they play the two heads of a Huttese (as in Jabba the Hutt) Sports Commentator. They commentate for a race, and have, I was told by Scott, at least five minutes worth of dialogue. Apparently theirroutine was very funny, and George allowed them to improvise quite a bit. Obviosuly, the two heads don't get on, so there's lots of room for humour.
I have just finished reading a draft of John 'Trainspotting' Hodge's The Beach dated July this year. It has clearly been updated to lure Leonardo DiCaprio to the project - his character spends neraly all of the film topless, getting stoned, having sex and swimming. In short, though, the script is pretty terrible. It sucks of everything bad about A Life Less Ordinary, and has absolutely none of the genius of Shallow Grave, or Trainspotting. All I can say is I hope this is a very early draft.
Although rumours are rife that Tom Cruise will follow George Lucas to Australia to shoot Mission Impossible 2, I have it on very good authority that John Woo has been scouting locations in London this past month, incognito. Bear in mind also that Cruise and family are based over here, and that England has a history of spies and espionage that Australia just doesn't have, I think we can be pretty sure it will be mainly set here.
