Father Geek here with this week's Euro-AICN column from Edgard and crew.
As usual its crammed full of interesting bits of info from the continent. Edgard is gearing up for CANNES so those of you who are going, make sure to contact him with any questions you may have concerning covering parts of the festival for us... and all you reporters from last year's event be sure and check in and let us know your plans for this year... you did a hell-of-a-fine-job last year. Those daily reports coming in from several sources was fantastic!
EURO AICN
Hi folks... Edgard here with the new edition of EURO AICN... what a week... Europe is falling apart... after the mad cows, it's the sheep's fever... it's the 12 MONKEYS of animals !!... the OUTBREAK of the farms !! ... soon we'll all have to hide in our basement... soon we will need to create a special fund called "help Edgard survive in Europe" (send me some meat !)... oh well, who cares ?... if it's the meat it will be something else... as long as I can drink the good French wine or the Belgian beers (the best ones in the world, you know), life is sweet... Anyway, back to movie business... I almost didn't receive any mail from my Euro spies this week (maybe they got Mad Cow disease ?) that's why this Euro AICN is almost only an e-press coverage... let's call it a Euro Weekly Recap... Enjoy and remember don't trust any sheep that sounds European !
DENMARK
From Screendaily :
Hi folks... Edgard here with the new edition of EURO AICN... what a week... Europe is falling apart... after the mad cows, it's the sheep's fever... it's the 12 MONKEYS of animals !!... the OUTBREAK of the farms !! ... soon we'll all have to hide in our basement... soon we will need to create a special fund called "help Edgard survive in Europe" (send me some meat !)... oh well, who cares ?... if it's the meat it will be something else... as long as I can drink the good French wine or the Belgian beers (the best ones in the world, you know), life is sweet... Anyway, back to movie business... I almost didn't receive any mail from my Euro spies this week (maybe they got Mad Cow disease ?) that's why this Euro AICN is almost only an e-press coverage... let's call it a Euro Weekly Recap... Enjoy and remember don't trust any sheep that sounds European !
DENMARK
From Screendaily :
From Screendaily :
* Box-Office News : Following the international success of Lone Scherfig’s Italian for Beginners it is no surprise that even after 14 weeks on release is still hanging on to the number two spot with a total of 740.305 admissions so far. At the top of the chart, Hannibal gave way to the very topical Proof of Life. Two Danish engineers are currently being held hostage in Bangladesh, although the pairing of stars Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan must also take some credit. Thus Ridley Scott’s Hannibal ruled the box-office for just two weeks before dropping to third, but might well reclaim the top the chart judging from it’s powerful screen average. Another case of a local and US product in close competition can be seen in the middle of the chart, where a Danish granny has been fighting off Disney’s Emperor. Both aimed at the family audience, popular duo Wikke & Rasmussen’s The Flying Granny has been able to keep The Emperor’s New Groove at a bay, collecting 183.745 and 175.752 respectively. The multiple local award-winning drama The Bench from newcomer Per Fly, has come back into the chart at number eight with 131.846 admissions after 20 weeks. Among others it picked up awards for best film and best actor at both the Danish Film Awards and from the association of film-critics. The local comedy Flickering Lights is also still going strong after 19 weeks on release reaching an impressive 425.173 admissions. New on the chart were Thirteen Days, which opened at number six and Quills, which only reached 13th. The weekend’s total admissions were up 20.2% compared to last year.
* The Danish film industry is currently churning out comedies with a touch of seriousness, and with Lone Scherfig’s serious dogme comedy Italian For Beginners taking a Silver-Bear in Berlin, other producers are hoping to follow suit. Among the new (romantic) comedy projects are veteran Gert Fredholm’s One Hand Clapping from Zentropa and Hella Joof’s feature debut Shake It All About from Angel Films both set for fall releases. The projects set to shoot in the coming months include Peter Bay’s The Man Who Couldn’t Say No from Bald Film, Soren Fauli’s Fiaskospiralen from Cosmo Film, Niels Arden’s Fukssvansen (working title) from Zentropa, Oliver Kanafani’s feature debut Mr. Right from Zeitgeist as well as veteran Soren Kragh Jacobsen’s English-language Skagerrak from Nimbus Film. All films are supported by the Danish Film Institute (DFI), and only last week DFI’s film-consultant Vinca Wiedemann backed Bech Film’s new comedy Okay with $899,000 (DKR 7.5m), making the total budget $1.58m (DKR13.2m). Other backers include national broadcaster TV2/Denmark and Angel Films, who will also handle distribution through Angel Distribution. The film will be directed by Jesper W. Nielsen (The Last Viking) based on a script by Kim Fupz Aakeson, who also penned the local box-office sensation The One And Only, which scooped some 850.000 admissions in 1999. Popular actress Paprika Steen plays the lead, as an energetic housewife, mother and social counsellor. When her father, played by veteran Ole Ernst, becomes fatally ill, she insists that he moves into her family home, which is not very popular with either her husband (Troels Lyby) or her teenage daughter. At the same time the university teaching husband starts an affair with a student, and her homosexual brother (Nikolaj Kopernikus) wants to become a sperm-donor. The filmmakers call it a typical Danish family. Okay is produced by Peter Bech for his Bech Film with Angel Films’ Mogens Glad and Poul Erik Lindeborg acting as executive producers. It shoots on location in Copenhagen from March.7 – April 27 2001, with a planned release for February 2002.
UK
From Empire Online (www.empireonline.co.uk) :
* Kevin Costner has revealed that he was planning to make a movie with Princess Diana, and that he received the script on the day she died. In an interview with Michael Parkinson that aired on BBC 1 Saturday (17 March), BBC Online reports that Costner says he had spoken with Diana a few times and that he “explained to her that I was going to try to make this movie for her and she was genuinely interested”. Confirming rumours that have been circulating for a long time, Costner admits that the proposed film was to be a sequel to the 1992 romantic thriller THE BODYGUARD. The film, which featured Kev guarding the body of Whitney Houston, didn’t stretch the leading lady’s acting talents too far as she played an uptight superstar singer/actress. Empire Online can only assume that Princess Diana would have been playing, well, a Princess. But things never got that far, as Costner explains, “We talked on the phone and she never committed to saying that she would do the film, but I said that when I was done with this movie, that I was going to show it to her and she was genuinely excited to see it”. However, the Princess died on the very day that the script was delivered to him. Costner had been hopeful about the project because "The movie maybe had a chance to break new ground, because we think of her - we thought of her - as all of our Princess”.
* He spent most of THE PHANTOM MENACE as naked as a robot can get, newly built and trailing wires. But Anthony Daniels’ effete British droid will be casting off Episode I’s CGI body as C-3PO gets something of a re-fit for Episode II. “One of the things most people want to know is if C-3PO gets dressed - In Phantom Menace he’s made of wires,” Daniels told the Metro newspaper. “In this one, I’m back in the suit which is why I’m trying to keep fit and going to the gym every day.” Needless to say, Daniels is bound by the same iron-clad gagging order as the rest of the crew when it comes to divulging the secrets of next Summer’s instalment but he did hint that the dark side will certainly be drawing closer, “You’ll get a better idea of the little boy Anakin getting darker as he starts to turn into Darth Vader.” Probed about his opinion of the much-maligned Episode I, Daniels is evasive but diplomatically defends Lucas’ first prequel. “It’s taken huge amounts at the box office. Most people have seen it one, two or three times. The crazy ones have probably seen it about seven or eight. The best way to put it is I was probably a little old for it. It was geared towards the interests of people of a younger age and it had a huge response from them." Unsurprisingly, it turns out that Daniels’ favourite of the series is the film that introduced him and R2-D2 to the universe, the original Star Wars. “It was very difficult to make but, because it has the most rounded and captivating story, it’s less self-conscious. After that, we were always aware it had to fit in with the next sequel.” The film saw him paired with diminutive sidekick Kenny Baker but Daniels’ closest relationship on set was not with R2-D2 but rather the late Sir Alec Guinness, “George Lucas didn’t have time to encourage and instruct,” he recalled, “Alec took me under his wing. Alec said to my agent: ‘Awfully good, that young Daniels.’ That was encouraging.”
* Danny Boyle will direct TICK TOCK, an action thriller, for Columbia pictures. It will be Boyle's first feature since the Leonardo DiCaprio starrer THE BEACH, although he has made two films for the BBC, Vacuuming Nude In Paradise and Strumpet. Tick Tock, written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry, is about the number one suspect for a string of bombings in L.A. Just to complicate matters, the suspect is an amnesiac and finds himself in FBI custody. In true action movie style, he teams up with an FBI agent and the pair have to race against time to disarm the remaining bombs. Boyle, the director of SHALLOW GRAVE and TRAINSPOTTING, didn't have as much success as expected with The Beach. There's no word yet as to who will star in Tick Tock, which is scheduled to shoot this autumn, but it might be wise to ignore any interest from Leonardo DiCaprio.
* If you're a footie and film fan, then we have the perfect day for you. A British film company is looking for extras to appear in crowd scenes for the film Mike Bassett: England Manager which is shooting in a few weeks at Wembley Stadium. The film is directed by Steve Barron (he of Coneheads and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame). A comedy, it tells the story of Mike Bassett, played by The Royle Family's Ricky Tomlinson, who is chosen as England Manager by the FA against the express wishes of every football fan in the country. 'It's entirely fictional,' explains Assistant Director Mark Ingram, but he admits that 'it's based on the current situation.' Extras will be required to scream, sing and hurl cries of appreciation or disparagement at a selection of matches recreated on the hallowed Wembley turf - and the eagle-eyed (or binocular-carrying) among them will spot Eric Cantona, Jurgen Klinsmen, Brazil's Ronaldo and other famous footballers in the melee. Not only will there be chance to see yourself on the big screen when the film is released towards the end of the year, but there will also be prizes to be won over the course of the day including DVDs, a tour of Wembley, your own screen credit and tickets to the premiere. To take part, present yourself at Wembley stadium from 8.00am onward on Wednesday 28 March or Thursday 29 March.
IRELAND
From ShowBizIreland :
* Jason Patric to walk the boards in Dublin... : Jason Patric is to start rehearsal in The Gate, Dublin on Monday in the role of Orem along with Flora Montgomery (who has just stared in When Brendan met Trudy based on a Roddy Doyle novel) who plays the role of Medea. They will star in Neil LaBute's play "Bash" which is a collection of darkly brilliant one-act plays. LaBute who is both a playwright and film director, has been hailed as a brilliant dramatic satirist...
* Stuart Townsend Vamps it up... : Irish actor Stuart Townsend has spoken for the first time about playing the vampire Lestat in the upcoming film version of the Anne Rice novel Queen of the Damned. He follows in the footsteps of Tom Cruise, who played Lestat in 1994's Interview With a Vampire, but Townsend is not worried about comparisons...
* Tom Cruise's divorce from his wife Nicole Kidman has meant that the Irish actor Colin Farrell set to star with him in his next film has been left stranded in LA. The reason is that film guru Steven Spielberg is reportedly clashing with fellow film-maker Cameron Crowe over Hollywood's hottest commodity, Tom Cruise and Ireland's biggest new star has been left standing in the course of the argument...
Full Stories can be found Right Here
FRANCE
* E.T here... I thought I'd tell you more about Jeunet's new movie : LE FABULEUX DESTIN D'AMELIE POULAIN. So in this movie we can find all of Jeunet's favorites as Dominique Pinon (City of lost children, Alien 4), but also the french director Mathieu Kassovitz (Hate, Crimson Rivers) who isn't at is first acting... He is in fact an incredible actor!! The movie's photographer is as always Darius Khondji (The Beach, The ninth gate, Se7en, Evita ...). The Plot: Amelie, an innocent and naive girl in Paris, with her own sense of justice, decides to help those around her and along the way, discovers love.
Here is a link for the trailer : Just Click Here
there you have it, hope you like it love your site
E.T
ITALY
From Screendaily :
* Richard Gere is set to make his directorial debut with a feature film that is being planned as a co-production between Italy's RAI Cinema and Lakeshore. The two companies are currently in talks to reach an agreement on the 52-year-old actor's film, which it is understood could go into production in Italy in 2002. As part of its high-profile drive into production, RAI Cinema is currently preparing two features with Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis, who is set to receive the Irving G. Thalberg award at the Academy Awards ceremony later this month. Filming is due to start later this year on The Woman With The Gun, a contemporary thriller with a strong social theme to be directed by Russia¹s Andrei Konchalovsky, and The Last Legion, an Ancient Rome epic which will be directed by Italy's Carlo Carlei (The Flight of The Innocent.) RAI Cinema has recently signed an exclusive multi-year acquisition agency agreement with Lakeshore International to buy US films for distribution in Italy under a new distribution label, which the Rome-based company created in partnership with France's Studio Canal. As part of the deal with Lakeshore, RAI Cinema has bought a three-picture package from Intermedia including K:19 , K-Pax, a Universal release directed by Iain Softley with Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey; Afterimage, a film starring rock star John Mellencamp which screened at Sundance; and Life As A House, which stars Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas and Mary Steenburgen. RAI Cinema, the public broadcaster's film arm, was created in December 1999 with a budget of $750m for the production and distribution of films and TV movies during the three-year period between 2000 and 2002. The company will officially launch its distribution label with a slate of 15 US, European and Italian films at Cannes in May.
BONUS
Maybe you already know this site, but in case you don't and if you like fun things, you should check www.japander.com . Japander is a website where you can see Japanese commercials with famous actors from the West. You get European actors or directors such as Jean Reno, Christophe Lambert, Antonio Banderas, Luc Besson, Ewan McGregor... and a bunch of Americans actors like George Clooney, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo Di Caprio, Steven Seagal... It's worth a little look...
