WOW! Ozy has set up daily reports from VENICE for us, just like for CANNES a couple of months back. This should be really cool stuff from one of the oldest Film Festivals in the world... Ol' Father Geek can't wait for them to begin flooding in...
Hey all,
Lots for ya from the temporary HQ of Euro AICN today... To start with Mr. Colin McKenzie is going to be covering this year's Venice Film Festival for us and yesterday was the first press conference...
Lots for ya from the temporary HQ of Euro AICN today... To start with Mr. Colin McKenzie is going to be covering this year's Venice Film Festival for us and yesterday was the first press conference...
Hi Ozymandias,
Definetely, we have the titles of the movies that will be at the Venice Film Festival
In competition:
-Dr. T and the Woman (Robert Altman/ USA)
-Freedom (Sharunas Bartas/ France, Portugal & Lituany)
-Selon Mathieu (Xavier Beauvois/ France)
-Liulian Piao Piao (Fruit Chan/ Hong Kong, China, France)
-Il Partigiano Johnny-Johnny, the partisan (Guido Chiesa/ Italy)
-Uttara-The Wrestlers (Buddhadeb Dasgupta/ India)
-Liam (Stephen Frears/ UK)
-I cento passi-The Hundred Steps (Marco Tullio Giordana/ Italy)
-Seom-The Isle (Ki-Duk Kim/ South Corea)
-The Goddess of 1967 (Clara Law/ Australia)
-La lingua del santo-The Saint's Tongue (Carlo Mazzacurati/ Italy)
-Palavra e utopia (Manoel de Oliveira/ Portugal, France, Brasil, Spain)
-Dayereh-The Circle (Jafar Panahi/ Iran)
-The Man Who Cried (Sally Potter/ UK, France)
-O Fantasma (Joao Pedro Rodrigues/ Portugal)
-Fils de deux mères ou comédie de l'innocence (Raoul Ruiz/ France)
-Denti-Teeth (Gabriele Salvatores/ Italy)
-Before Night Falls (Julian Schnabel/ USA)
La vierge des tueurs-Our Lady of the Assassins (Barbet Schroeder/ France, Colombia)
A lot of interesting movies are in parallel sections. The most important ones are:
-Small Time Crooks (Woody Allen/ USA)
-Merci pour le chocolat (Claude Chabrol/ France)
-Brother (Takeshi Kitano/ USA, Japan, UK)
-Il Dolce Cinema (Martin Scorsese, documentary/ Italy, USA)
-Jokes: Chapter 1 "Easter" work in progress (Gus Van Sant/ USA)
-Time and Tide (Tsui Hark/ Hong Kong, China)
-U-571 (Jonathan Mostow/ USA)
-The Cell (Tarsem/ USA)
-Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (Tom Tykwer/ Germany)
-What Lies Beneath (Robert Zemeckis/ USA)
-Pollock (Ed Harris/ USA)
-My Generation (Barbara Kopple/ USA)
I'm not optimistic about the movies in competion. Why? Because the choices are too much oriented toward the "auteur" cinema. I'm expecting a lot of boring movies. What are instead the movies that i will follow with great interest?
-The documentary Il Dolce Cinema by Martin Scorsese (270'), about the history of italian cinema. My colleague Leopold Gumby (that will be with me at the Festival) saw an extract of half an hour one year ago and he was delighted.
-The movie Time and Tide By Tsui Hark, who is going back to work in Hong Kong.
-Last but absolutely not least, Brother by Takeshi Kitano, one of my favorite directors ever. As usually he's a yakuza, but this time he's going to Los Angeles to face american gangs.
Probably, the stars that will be hosted at the Festival are more important than the movies:
-Clint Eastwood (with Space Cowboys. He will receive the Golden Lion for his career, that will be delivered by Sharon Stone)
-Johnny Deep, Christina Ricci, John Turturro, Cate Blanchett (The Man Who Cried)
-Richard Gere (Mr. T and the Woman)
-Michelle Pfeiffer e Harrison Ford (What Lies Beneath)
-Hugh Grant (Small Time Crooks)
-Harvey Keitel (U-571)
-Ed Harris (Pollock)
-Jennifer Lopez (The Cell)
-Franka Potente (the new film by Tom Twyker)
-Isabelle Huppert (Fils de deux mères...)
-Daniel Auteuil (Sade, by Benoit Jacquot)
The president of the jury is Milos Forman. The Festival will begin the 30 of august with Space Cowboys and will finish the 9 of september with Vengo, by Tony Gatlif.
Our magazine, La Finestra sul Cortile ( www.caltanet.it/html_pag/spettacolo/cinema/index.htm ) will deliver to AICN a daily service with a look at the movies and the people that we'll see.
See you
Colin McKenzie
Mad Dog also pointed me in the direction of this one from the BBC - any British readers fancy themselves as a Beatle??
A nationwide search has been launched for a John Lennon lookalike to play the part of the former Beatle in a new film. In His Life - The John Lennon Story will be set around a six-year period in the star's life, from when he bought his first guitar to his legendary appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Based on an an original screenplay by writer/producer Michael O'Hara, the film will be directed by British-born David Carson, whose work includes the Star Trek: Generations movie.
A spokeswoman for the project said auditions would be held in London and Liverpool in August and the successful candidate would not necessarily need any acting experience.
"We are looking for someone who can capture the essence of his humour and the essence of the man himself, but they don't have to be formally trained," she said.
"However, obviously if they don't already play the guitar they will have to be taught that."
The successful candidate will not be given much time to distinguish between his middle eights and his solos, though, with filming due to start on 11 September.
The movie, which will be shot in and around Liverpool, is being made by US production company NBC and will initially be shown on US television.
Carson said: "The film will be a dramatic portrait of an emerging artist as a young man, focusing on the human relationships and rock'n'roll influences that shaped his later life and music."
The London audition will be held from 1000 BST on Friday 4 August at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square. The Liverpool try-out takes place at the Elevator Music Studios in Cheapside on 9 August, starting at the same time.
And for our final story today (sent to me by the guys at Showbiz Ireland http://www.showbizireland.com ) I want to give you a warning. Dublin boys Boyzone are a hugely successful boy band in this part of the world (imagine the status of The Backstreet Boys in the US and you get the idea) but their manager Louis Walsh, whilst being extremely effective and successful and good at his job, has been known in the past to fling stories and names around in connection with all of his bands (you may know of Westlife, you certainly will know of Samantha Mumba in the next couple of months in the US!) so treat what you read below with the utmost caution.....
John Cusack may star in Boyzone movie...
Boyzone manager Louis Walsh has revealed that Hollywood star John Cusack, who has Irish roots, may take up a part in the soon to be made Boyzone movie. "We have Fiona Looney writing the script for us now but Bono is not in line for a part. But, John Cusack may play a part" Louis told ShowBizIreland.com exclusively last night.
Boyzone singer Ronan Keating has confirmed the story to the UK's Radio 1 saying that 'Boyzone - the Movie' is one step nearer to completion after recently signing a deal with Universal Pictures. Apparently, the script is nearly finished.
