Father Geek here, we just got back to our Austin Offices from visiting my parents (age 81 &75) this Easter Sunday in San Antonio. My sister, her daughter and grand daughter were there too, to join Harry, Dannie, and I out in the Paterfamilias' yard for Bar-B-Q, Potato-salad, and good conversation. Well, I get back here half expecting NO report at all because of the Holiday and I find an extra long Column awaiting me from our faithful Euro-AICN Editors in Paris. Soooooooo without further adieu, here it is...
EURO AICN #7
Hello everyone ! I hope you enjoyed this Easter
week-end as much as I did (that means I took time to
do nothing else than... sleep, drink and do anything
else enjoyable and not related to work). This last 7
days, we got a lot of messages at Euro AICN from all
over Europe... sometimes to ask questions (sorry if we
can't always reply), sometimes to propose reports from
Cannes (thank you in advance) and sometimes to give us
news... so many news that we had to split our Euro
AICN column in two this time : one with UK news only,
one with the rest.... (that's also why there is no
Euro Pick or Quizz this week)... We know that some of
you heard part of these news before, remember that
this is not just a "scoop" column, it's also a way to
inform AICN readers from all over the world about
what's happening in movieland Europe... I will not say
much more... so please enjoy !
Edgard
FRANCE
Edgard
FRANCE
* French company Gemini Films has bought the film rights to Salman Rushdie's novel THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEET marking the first attempt to bring one of the author's books to the big screen. Chilian director Raoul Ruiz (THREE LIVES AND ONLY ONE DEATH) will direct the film with a budget of $15 million. The story, set in the 1960s through '80s, has been described as a rock 'n' roll version of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Shooting will begin next spring in England, Mexico, the U.S. and possibly Ireland. Ruiz has already adapted another famous writer in 1999 : Marcel Proust with TIME REGAINED.
* Last week we mentioned Patrice Leconte's last movie : LA VEUVE DE SAINT-PIERRE with Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche. If you like objects from films or movie sets, check HERE You have until April 30th to buy different things used in that movie. Profits of the sale will go to an association that helps children in Southeast Asia.
* Old news in France, but new good news to the rest of the world : French video clip director Michel Gondry (he made some cool video's with Bjork if I remember well) will direct HUMAN NATURE from another crazy script written by BEING JOHN MALKOVICH author Charlie Kaufman. Shooting starts in May with Patricia Arquette, Rhys Ifans, Miranda Otto and Tim Robbins.
* French thriller L'APPARTEMENT (with Vincent LA HAINE Cassel and - gasp ! - Monica Bellucci) will follow the road of many French movies and will get its American remake. Joan Chen (actress and director of the upcoming AUTUMN IN NEW-YORK, with Richard Gere and Winona Ryder) will direct instead of Joël Schumacher (thank god). No casting has been announced yet... the names of Brendan Fraser and Freddie Prinze Jr. have just been proposed.
* French singer/actress could star with real-life sweetheart Johnny Depp in Terry Gilliam's THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUICHOTTE. Gilliam has been working on this adaptation of Cervantes' character for a very long time now. Gilliam wants Depp to be Sancho Panza, an advertising director travelling a few centuries back in time to meet Don Quichotte (maybe played by French actor Jean Rochefort, seen in Patrice Leconte THE HAIRDRESSER'S HUSBAND or Robert Altman's PRÊT-A-PORTER). Vanessa Paradis would be Aldonza, the most beautiful woman on earth for Don Quichotte. The budget is estimated at 38 million $ (totally financed by European studios) and shooting could starts as early as next September in Spain and UK.
* Droops informs us here about a French all-CG feature. France-based Chaman Productions is producing the first all-CG French animated film. GAINA is described as a "nature-versus- technology story set in a floating tree-canopy world in the middle of a coulded hemisphere." The story focuses on the inhabitants of the planet, as well as their enemies - who all derive energy from tree sap. Budgeted at around $10 million, the film is scheduled for release in early 2001. The project is also being developed simultaneously as a video game, and the main software being used for both film and game is Discreet 3D Studio MAX.
* It took only three weeks for TAXI 2 to sell more tickets in all of France than THE PHANTOM MENACE did in 6 months (7,34 millions tickets sold for TAXI 2 against 7,26 for TPM). Easter Week-End should allow Luc Besson's action movie to pass the two other big success of 1999/2000, SIXTH SENSE and TARZAN (7,57 and 7,63 million tickets respectively), and take the pole position for 2000. If the all-time champion TITANIC is probably out of range (20 millions tickets sold)... TAXI 2 is already assured to get a very good place in the French box-office.
* CANNES FILM FESTIVAL:
- FIVE FEET HIGH AND RISING has been named an Official Selection of the 53rd Cannes International Film Festival. The twenty-nine minute short, from writer/director Peter Sollett was premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival where it received the Best Short Film award. The film is currently continuing its run on the festival circuit and has already earned top prizes at the South by Southwest Film Festival, Aspen Shorts Fest and New York University's First Run Film Festival. The film chronicles the sexual awakening of a twelve year-old boy growing up on New York City's Lower East Side.
- Highlights of the Festival : 10 May : Opening ceremony (with Virginie Ledoyen from THE BEACH) with the presentation of a new short from JL. Godard and Roland Joffé's VATEL - 11 May : Elizabeth Shue will present new footage from THE HOLLOW MAN - 14 May : Projection of VIRIDIANA from Luis Bunuel (Palme d'or in Cannes in 1961) - 15 May : Ceremony in honour of French actor Philippe Noiret - 17 May : The lesson of cinema, given by Agnes Varda - 21 May : Closing ceremony and awards.
- Stars who are confirmed to be present this year : Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, Björk, Sean Penn, George Clooney, John Turturro, Mélanie Griffith, Faye Dunaway, Mark Whalberg, Joaquim Phoenix, Charlize Theron, Gregory Peck, Gérard Depardieu, Nick Nolte, Anjelica Huston, Uma Thurman, Kim Basinger, Vincent Perez, Cameron Diaz, Holly Hunter, Glenn Close, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman.
SPAIN
* Faye Dunaway announced her intention to be part of the next movie from acclaimed director Pedro Almodovar. The Spanish director is currently working on three different scripts. It is still not sure which one will be made first. PAPER BOY, his movie that will be made in English, seems postponed for now but Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz are still attached.
* Penelope Cruz and Victoria Abril are reportedly attached to star as a bad angel and a good angel in the highly anticipated second feature from Spanish director Agustin Diaz Yanes, NO NEWS FROM GOD (Sin Noticias De Dios). Diaz Yanes' debut feature, 1995's NOBODY WILL TALK ABOUT US WHEN WE'RE DEAD (Nadie Hablara De Nosotros Cuando Hayamos Muerto) was a critical and commercial success which won a string of Goya Awards, including best film and best actress for Victoria Abril. Diaz Yanes is also developing futuristic sci-fi film MADRID SUR for Flamenco Films, again with Abril attached. (Source : Screendaily)
ITALY
* Words are that Frances Neri (seen lately in Spanish hit LIVE FLESH) will appear in Ridley Scott's HANNIBAL... if you want to have look at this really hot Italian actress, check the sites dedicated to her: HERE . Neri has also been envisaged to be one of the "SAS" girls in the spy-film project we mentioned on AICN a few weeks ago.
* Silvio Soldini's BREAD AND TULIPS (Pane E Tulipani) scooped nine prizes at Italy's leading awards ceremony - the David di Donatellos - including best film, best director and best screenplay for Soldini and Doriana Leondeff. The film also bagged awards for best actress (Licia Maglietta), best actor (Bruno Ganz), best supporting actress (Marina Massironi) and best sound (Maurizio Argentieri). Ricky Tognazzi's romantic drama MAKING LOVE (Canone Inverso) walked away with the second biggest haul, winning awards for best music (Ennio Morricone), best art direction (Francesco Bronzi) and best editor (Carla Simoncelli). Not surprisingly, the best foreign film award went to Oscar winner Pedro Almodovar for ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER. BREAD AND TULIPS is a surprise hit at the Italian box office, winning its audience and critical appeal strictly by word of mouth. The film has been released on only 39 screens and is the only Italian film currently in the country's box office top ten.
GERMANY
Scythe here. I'm back with some info's on the German movie business.
* As Elston Gunn reported in his Easter column: Til Schweiger is off to do some more films in America. For you Americans a small description of his career: Til's face first came up when he had a role in the famous German TV-Soap "Lindenstrasse". He left the series to do some more films. His status as one of the sexiest men in the German movie business faced a massive blow up when the movie DER BEWEGTE MANN hit the theatres. It was one of the biggest hits in Germany ever and still defines the scale for German comedies in a way. The story is about this man (Schweiger) who gets thrown out by his girlfriend when she discovers that he is cheating on her. For a time he isn't able to find a place to sleep or live when he suddenly gets to know a bunch of homosexuals which are all after him. His former girlfriend soon finds out that she is pregnant and wants him back. But at first she has to deal with his new friends..... (There was a remake in Hollywood coming up but I never heard anything more about it).
Shortly afterwards the movie MAENNERPENSION came out, where he played one of two gangsters that come out of jail to live with a woman. Nice movie but not such a big hit. Then came KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR, an absolutly kick-ass movie with Schweiger in the lead as one of two soon-to-be-dead patients. They steal a car, are chased by a bunch of killers, rob a bank and so on just to see the ocean one last time. This was the movie that made him the biggest German movie star. (There's also a very interesting story behind the making of this film.)
Schweiger was able to fund his own movie company "Mr. Brown Entertainment", named after Tarantino's character in "Reservoir Dogs". Schweiger is a big fan of Tarantino and his latest works just show that. His own directing debut DER EISBAER showed him as a killer who fucks up his business because he had a phone talk with a girl about penis-sizes. This movie wasn't very well received but he was able to grab some roles on foreign language films. He played in PUNK ! and in REPLACEMENT KILLERS and is now off to do some more work in America. His next German movie was set to be AUF HERZ UND NIEREN about irregular organ transplants but the funding doesn't come along. Now there's talk about another project being written for him, where two guys need to replace the reaper in heaven, but there's no further info on this and if it will be made.
* GOEBBELS UND GEDULDIG is a movie about a man in World War II that has a frightening resemblance to Jospeh Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda-minister. He is able to escape the KZ and plays the minister himself, while Goebbels is imprisoned because all the guards think he is the other guy. (Sound a lot like "To Be Or Not To Be" to me.) Ulrich Muehe will play Goebbels and Geduldig, Katja Riemann will play Eva Braun, mistress of Adolf Hitler. Other stars include Dieter Pfaff, Katharina Thalbach and Goetz Otte (one of the bad guys from "Tomorrow Never Dies".)
* A remake of QUO VADIS ? will be made in Poland. Jerzy Kawalerowicz will be the helmer of the most expensive Polish movie ever.
* The soundtrack to HEAVY METAL F.A.K.K. 2 is out and the first reviews are coming in but nobody has really something good to say about it. It sounds like it isn't really bad but it's no kicker either.
* HELP I'M A FISH a german animated movie with Alan Rickman as one of the voices, will be shown in Cannes. It was produced by Munich Animation which will continue to develop animated films with "Jester Till", a story from the german "Till Eulenspiegel" stories.
UK NEWS
* This one is for all football fans... (or soccer fans, for our cousins from the other side of the Atlantic) : Icon Entertainment (Mel Gibson's production company) is co-producing a documentary on the British football team Manchester United. The film - simply called for now MANCHESTER UNITED - is directed by American sport documentary director Bob Potter. It follows one of the best (and richest) team in the world during a full season. It should hit the movie theatres around October.
* William Wallace reports on the return of Peter O'Toole on the big screen : Veteran star Peter O'Toole will return to the screen in a film from the makers of TRAINSPOTTING. THE FINAL CURTAIN will feature O'Toole as J.J. Curtis, an ageing television presenter whose supremacy is threatened by an upstart presenter, played by Aidan Gillen ("Queer As Folk"). Written by John Hodge and produced by Andrew MacDonald, the film will mark the first time that the pair have worked without Danny Boyle in the director's chair. Instead, the film will be helmed by Patrick Harkins when shooting commences in London next month.
* Very briefly on the TV serie BAND OF BROTHERS, Farang reports that filming has finished at North Wield Airfield last week, all the sets were torn down and the aircraft were gone... assuming they have moved on to Hatfield studios.
* Roger Moore back as a British spy ??... Moore, now 72, will play in THE ENEMY, a thriller about biological warfare. The former James Bond told the Express newspaper: "I need to make another film occasionally, otherwise people say 'he must be retired'." The film is based on the novel by Desmond Bagley and Moore admitted he liked the script. "I play another spy - typecasting I suppose," he joked. "I really don't think there will be any more James Bond antics, though. These days I'm more likely to be dozing off in my trailer - I leave all that to the younger ones." Other actors include Patsy Kensit, Tom Conti and Luke Perry.
* Our own super spy with a licence to kill Ozymandias must like the SPICE GIRLS movie... after bringing us this Roger Moore news here above (Moore's last appearance in cinema was with the Spice Girls in their movie), Ozymandias is thrilled to bring us this scary news about Mel G's movie debut !! Mel G is planning to beat bandmate Victoria Beckham to the big screen by working on a semi-autobiographical film. The movie - provisionally called Rusty - will see Mel playing mixed race working class Yorkshire girl Rusty Williams who moves to London to become a star in a Soho jazz club. Sources say backing for the film has already been secured by the Spice Girls management. TV writer Don Webb, who's also written for British police drama series "The Bill", is penning the script. A friend of Mel's said: "She's been working behind the scenes, having meetings with writers and directors but she wanted to keep it hush-hush for now. She doesn't want the publicity that Victoria's had because it just increases the pressure. This will be her first big acting part and she wants it to be right." Mel, who is dating actor Max Beesley, acted before joining the Spice Girls and her TV credits include a part in Coronation Street.
Do not forget to feed our hungry Irish spy at : his feeding trough .
The following "UK News" have been brought by some friends at Netribution, first is Holly Martins:
* SKA Films, the production company behind LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELLS, and run by Guy Ritchie and Mathew Vaughan have announced two more projects to follow the tentatively titled Brad Pitt-starrer SNATCH (formerly "Diamonds"). BLACK EARTH is a period comedy-action-drama about a black fen dweller who guides King Charles I to Scotland after his defeat in the English Civil War. The film is based on the true story of one of director Simon Cooke's ancestors. SKA are also in negotiations with Paramount Pictures to re-make Robert Aldrich's 1974 THE MEAN MACHINE, in which a football match between prison inmates and guards becomes a focus for prison tensions. The remake would be set in England and would be a vehicle for Vinnie Jones. Newcomer Barry Skolnik would direct the $5m project, tentatively titled THE PENALTY.
* Buzz surrounding Warner's HARRY POTTER has already hit melting point. Nevertheless the film has yet to reach final draft. Fortunately it looks like the film's UK-integrity will be maintained (unlike Boyle's BEACH). In an interview with Salon magazine, scribe Steve Kloves has commented that "the charm of the movie should be these kids, and you have to be as faithful as possible. The picture has to be British, and it has to be true to the kids. I'm speaking from my own experience, but I find that children 7 and under respond less to special effects than to characters and to what's happening to characters. And Warner Bros. seems to be wholeheartedly embracing this approach that if you don't care about the kids in Harry Potter, you're not going to care about the movie, no matter how remarkable the dragon or the flying broomsticks".
* FULL MONTY producer Uberto Pasolini has signed up to produce a film for the FilmFour stable. THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES is an adaptation of a novel by British writer Simon Leys. Set in 18th century France after the fall of Napoleon, it tells the story of how Bonaparte escaped from his island prison, by leaving a doppelganger in his place, and then returns to France in disguise, hoping to regain his throne. Director Alan Taylor, who last worked with Pasolini on PALOOKAVILLE, is in place but there's no news on casting yet.
* DiCaprio forced to take Von Trier's Dogmatic approach - The sales division of Lars Von Trier's production company has purchased the international sales rights to the controversial feature film, DON'S PLUM. The film has been the target of court action by and against stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. The young actors agreed to appear in what they thought was an independent short, but director R.D. Robb decided to expand the movie into a feature--although neither actor was involved in most of the shooting. The rights to DON'S PLUM (filmed before DiCaprio's work in TITANIC and Maguire's in PLEASANTVILLE) do not include North America because a settlement in a suit bought by the two stars prohibits its release there.
* Nigel Hawthorne (THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE) is close to signing a deal to play Jack the Ripper in 20th Century Fox's FROM HELL, the Daily Express reported. The newspaper said that Johnny Depp is set to play the Scotland Yard detective who tracked him down. Earlier reports had indicated that Brad Pitt had the inside track for the Depp role. The film is due to be directed by the Hughes brothers.
* Empire magazine's online site is reporting that Sean Connery has unexpectedly joined the cast of New Line's UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, which has "a confirmed cast" including Jonathan Pryce, Kathy Bates, Lynn Redgrave and Rupert Everett. The film, now shooting in England after location work in Chicago, is being directed by P.J. Hogan (MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING), who co-wrote the screenplay. Jerry Zucker is producing.
... and still from Netribution, here's James MacGregor...
* Scotland is gearing up to host the large scale TV drama SWORD OF HONOUR, which starts shooting in this summer in the Central Belt, Ayrshire and the Isle of Arran. The series has been adapted from the Evelyn Waugh novel and is said to have the same production values as the classic Brideshead Revisited. The SWORD OF HONOUR will also be filmed in Spain and Majorca, with Scotland impersonating the England of the period.
* A Scots film maker has been wowing African/American audiences with a film looking at Robert Burns through the eyes of Maya Angelou, an acclaimed black American poet. ANGELOU ON BURNS directed by Glasgow-based director Elly Taylor was made four years ago, but this year was seen in a ground breaking festival in Toronto, Canada. The city is home to 200,000 people of African origin and annually hosts a month-long celebration of African culture and heritage. The film was part of an "African Film Now" weekend that started the celebrations. The Scots director was delighted her film gained acceptance into the festival, as she explains; "The usual festival criteria is to promote the work of African film makers and here, for the first time, was one made by a non-African. I feel very proud of that." Taylor was inspired to make the film when she discovered that that the poet Maya Angelou had read and loved the poetry of Robert Burns since childhood. In Burns writing, the poet had found the same passion for human rights and freedom that became the hallmark of her own work.
* A few web announcements now...
- Check HERE to know everything about British comedy KEVIN AND PERRY GO LARGE (starring Harry Enfield, Kathy Burke and Rhys "Notting Hill" Ifans)... it's about "two hormonally challenged lads on their quest to lose their virginity and become the world's top DJ mixmasters..." (sic)
- If you want to know more about CIRCUS, starring John Hannah (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Sliding Doors, The Mummy), Famke Janssen (GoldenEye, X-Men), and Eddie Izzard, check HERE .
- And if you like everything about UK films, go on to HERE . It's a very very cool website with tons of useful infos, and most important it's made by people who really love movies, so go ahead (make my day) and click !
CORRECTION
* A small correction from last week's Euro News : its actually JOE Tucker - not PAUL Tucker - who is the actor/writer/director of the film LAVA. Sorry Joe then...
