Cool News
Euro-AICN: American Splendor; Revenger's Tragedy; The Tailor; Joel Schumacher's Phantom of the Opera; Alfie
Father Geek here in Austin, Texas with Robert Bernocchi in Rome with this edition of our Euro-AICN Report...
Here's some tasty treats for you...
Phantom of the Opera News
Phantom of the Opera News
Hi,
The big screen version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera is about to start shooting at Pinewood studios next week with a budget of $60million. "icLiverpool" has cast details, (Scottish actor Gerard Butler last seen in Tomb Raider 2 takes the lead role) and locations for the project.
Just Click here for all the details.
Thought you'd be interested,
Regards,
M. Philbin
The Alfie remake...
Hey there,
Paramount Pictures are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds to transform a Liverpool street into a Manhattan location for the film re-make of Alfie starring Jude Law and Mira Sorvino.
The cult classic 1960s Michael Caine hit has been re-written to see Alfie (Law) living in New York and working as a limousine driver.
All kinds of additional info is right here.
All my best,
Julez
Who is the tailor? The Answer is...
ENRICO LO VERSO IS "THE TAILOR"
Enrico Lo Verso, the acclaimed Italian actor ("Stolen Children","L'america", "Farinelli") is "The Tailor", a new film directed by Kurt McCarley, produced by Gigi Campanile and Michael Mc Granahan, "The Tailor" is sweet, sexy, fish out of water story that shoots in Salento, Italy and Los Angeles this fall 2003, for a scheduled released in the US. in summer 2004.
"The Tailor", a comedy/drama written by Sven Dagones and Paulo De Palma, takes place in Southern Italian region of Salento and Los Angeles starring Enrico Lo Verso ("The Way We Laughed", "Farinelli"), in the lead role of Pippo a young apprentice tailor in love with the dream of making it big in Los Angeles.
Pippo gets his chance when his fast-talking cousin Anthony "imports" Pipo as an illegal to work cheap for Uncle Bardot the proprietor of a Beverly Hills Tailoring Shop, who's clientele are the rich and famous. On his journey Pippo is haunted by his departed mother and alter ego that challenges his self-confidence and new American morales. With wide-eyed enthusiasm, a run down L.A. apartment, a bus pass and a fifty-dollar advance, Pippo is sent by Uncle Bardot to make custom suits for Mr. Tucci, a corrupt Italian/American businessman (and would-be U.S. Congressman), and he falls head-over-heels in love with his Tiffany, Tucci's beautiful blonde American mistress. Tiffany
, Pipo
and Tucci are caught up in an accidental political blackmail triggered by Carl, Tucci's two-faced campaign manager and Tiffany and her young son now become a liability that Tucci can't afford. Pippo with his old world simple wisdom volunteers to help Tiffany and wins her hard-as-nails heart that is transformed by his warmth and innocence of character. With the impending political election (that Tucci vows to win at all costs) Pippo narrowly dances through a series of adventures to protect the woman he loves that leads the story to a surprising twist taking Pipo back to the place he turned his back on; his little home town in Southern Italy that welcomes him and his new love back with open arms.
Salento is the perfect Location for "The Tailor"; say Adolfo Bartoli, the Director of Photography "Salento has both amazing color and architectural attributes"
The ensemble cast cast will include American and Italian stars. The Tailor will be released in US and International Market.
Last But not least two reviews by our correspondent James Bartlett
Revenger's Tragedy
Director: Alex Cox
Christopher Eccleston, Eddie Izzard, Derek Jacobi, Tony Booth
Director: Alex Cox
Christopher Eccleston, Eddie Izzard, Derek Jacobi, Tony Booth
Selected Release...
109 mins...
The Site!
Based on the play by Thomas Middelton, Revenger's Tragedy is maverick
director Alex Cox's latest shot across the bows. Filmed in Cox's beloved
Liverpool and with all the dialogue in prose (the play was written in the
17th century), it tells the story of Vindici (Christopher Eccleston) who
returns home to get revenge on the Duke (Derek Jacobi) who had poisoned his
wife.
Liverpool is a post-apocalyptic city full of gangs and poverty - unless you
move in the Duke's world. Like a pseudo-fat cat uber-magnate, the Duke owns
everything and his face is everywhere, though that means he has plenty of
enemies, including his hugely popular major rival Lord Antonio (Anthony
Booth), not to mention his feckless and power-hungry sons, of whom the
eldest and heir is Lussurioso (Eddie Izzard).
Vindici smoothes his way into Lussurioso's affections and then into the
Duke's by being a procurer of women and a twister of logic and lies - it
seems that his plan to get bloody revenge is set, but of course, this being
a story written by one of Shakerspeare's collaborators (and even seen at the
time as far too violent and controversial), things aren't as clear-cut as
that.
Cox's hugely visual, pacy and on-the-run direction, backed by some stunning
design and great costumes really give this story of brothers, sisters,
Kings, Queens, incest, sex and death the kind of boost that makes
contemporary versions of such material credible and very satisfactory; it's
a mix of many things, including Julie Taymor's "Titus" and Derek Jarman's
"Jubilee", with part of the sensibility of Peter Greenaway.
Ok, you can see that Cox can be rather right-on and has an axe to grind in
several departments; aping the North v South debate, the public response to
Lady Diana's death and the society we live in today, but what the hell's
wrong with that? The mark of a good play or story is that it can be told
hundreds of years later and still seem relevant; still make sense. Kudos to
Brit-writer-of-the-moment Frank Cottrell Boyce, who has written such a
diverse number of projects that he really is a star on the ascendant (let's
hope he doesn't blow it all when Hollywood comes a calling).
That said, it's always going to be a tough sell and always stagy (all those
asides to the audience), but to see such good performances (Eccleston, great
as ever, Izzard and Jacobi too) eked out of what was doubtless a tiny budget
make you at least have some hope that Brit film making is alive and kicking
somewhere.
American Splendor
Director: Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, Harvey Pekar
Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, Harvey Pekar
100 mins...
Certificate: UK TBC...
Release: UK TBC
American Splendor is a cult comic book written by Harvey Pekar and drawn
over the years by, amongst others, Robert Crumb. It documents the pretty
miserable and aimless life of Harvey Pekar himself (played here by Paul
Giamatti), a croaky, fat and balding man who has a dull job, some very odd
friends and a messy apartment. Already twice divorced, his life/comic book
stories reflect the oddities of everyday Cleveland life.
It was in the 1980's, long after it had started, that Harvey got his 15
minutes of fame when he appeared on" Late Night With David Letterman" and
went down a storm; then it all began - there was a play of his life and now,
it's a movie too!
This documentary features live action, animation, live footage and
interviews with the real Harvey, his wife Joyce (played here by Hope Davis,
who is shown as a comic book freak, slugabed and "self confessed anaemic")
friends and family and a mix of all of those.
A huge hit at Sundance, this mixed format film really works in a
surprisingly compelling way as you get a real honest sense of Harvey and the
people around him - it proves more interesting than you'd expect bearing in
mind that he is largely unknown and pretty much a depressive.
Giamatti especially has a great handle on the man he is playing and I guess
that for the real Harvey it must have been nothing short of surreal to watch
an actor playing him watching an actor playing him. Harvey seems a loveable
- if troubled - guy and I enjoyed this look at his life.
James Bartlett
That's all for today
See you
Robert Bernocchi
Robert Bernocchi
My Italian Site
My Italian Site
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+ Expand All
-
The destruction of the classic Caine trilogy will soon be complete. As if Get Carter and The Italian Job weren't enough, now Alfie too, with a completely missing-the-point casting of Jude Law. What's next then, a Jaws : The Revenge remake? Or they'll probably take Harry Palmer and turn it into an xXx-like EXTREEEM action franchise.
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Sep 25, 2003 4:03:56 AM CDT
The Phantom will have plastic nipples and he will have the power
by chien_sale
Scary...! I can`t believe this: he butchered a comic-book movie because of his gay excesses and they gave him The Phantom Of the Opera musical? That`s something you shouldn`t do like putting Jim Carey in a sexual triller.
-
Has anyone else listened to the director
-
Sep 25, 2003 10:25:35 AM CDT
Yeah, they were filming Alfie in Manchester too, last week....
by king rhythm
Only the NY-style newsstand remains now. They put facades of big NY hotels over the curry and kebab shops which make up the back of Shudehill, the old book market place where the army ran working class protestors into the ground. No military callout against people who didn't want the remake though. Didn't see anyone, just passing. I don't give a fuck anyway. Sorry.
-
It starts off with a long tracking shot, the camera flying along 3 huge powerlines in the desert of the real which seem to go on forever, before finally going over a rise as we see that they extend for many more miles beyond. Cut to the shot of Neo looking at that huge machine overlord orb-thing that we see in the "Control" spot, only we get more of the start of it, which actually shows that Neo is standing on the edge of some huge ledge or something, looking out over one of the "growing field" as the orb rises up infront of him and says "SPEAK!"
----
Fade to black, voiceover by Neo "The program Smith has grown beyond your control. You cannot stop him, but I can" various shots of Smith are played over the end of this, including the one of Smith stepping into the middle of the long raining street we've seen in the teasers, plus one of him that I'm 99% sure is him sitting at a table with the Oracle (although we don't actually see her), as well as a couple more shots of Smith and Neo standing in the rain that we've seen before.
----
"And if you fail?" the booming voice asks, which now appears to have a "face" of sorts. Cut to the shot of Smith flying through the wall and Neo jumping over him that we've all seen before, then back to Neo, his eyes covered in bandages, the same angle as he says the "Smith" bit before in the "Control" spot. "I won't" he replies, after which we see a "jack spike" enter his head, indicating that he jacks into the Matrix immediately after making this 'deal' with the machines.
----
The green WB/Village Roadshow logos appear, then we get the shot of Trinity from "Help" saying "Do you know what happened to Neo?", then we get a shot of Neo against the white wall of the train station, followed by the one of that huge war machine from the teasers.
----
Oracle voiceover: "He is trapped in a place between this world and the machine world." As she says this we get a shot of Neo sitting up on the train station with the white wall behind him, the little girl (Rama's daughter from the newly released pictures) standing by his side, followed by the first ever shot of 01, standing like a giant castle in the desert of the real, surrounded by growing fields. It looks as though it's made up of huge cylinders, all blueish-red in tone, and appears to be absolutely massive.
----
Fade to white: the shot of Trinity, Morpheus and Seraph descending the stairs into Club Hel that's been shown in many of the teasers plays next and a voiceover by the Merovingian begins. He says "Bring me the eyes of the Oracle and I will give you back your....'saviour'." As he says this we see a new shot of the exiles surrounding Trinity, guns drawn. Then we see Neo standing by a train with Rama and his wife and daughter next to him, the long-haired "Train Man" infront. The Train Man punches Neo in the chest as the family look on, and he goes flying backwards, smashing into the white wall, which breaks on impact (the voiceover is still going on).
----
Cut to the Merovingian sitting on a sofa/seat talking (so the voiceover technically ends here as we see him speaking the res of it), holding a glass of wine very casually, then to Neo on his hands looking to his side (still in the train station, so obviously looking at the Train Man after having been laid into).
----
Lots of Matrix code then flies out from the screen, before cutting to, basically, the exact same opening as the "Enemy" TV spot, with Neo having a jack plug pulled from his head, Smith saying "Mr Anderson" (voiceover the shot of Bane waking up that we've seen before instead of the WB/VR logos though like in the TV spot), then Neo saying "Who are you?!" and which a bloodied Bane/Smith replies "Look past the flesh...(cut to 'burning Smith face')...and see your enemy."
----
Neo - "It's impossible!" then the shot of the dozens of Smith's walking through (we assume) the Oracle's door, before cutting back to Bane with the voice over from him saying "Not impossible - INEVITABLE!" before we once again see the shot of Smith laughing like crazy that we've all seen many times now.
----
Next we get the shot of the APU's (Zion mechs) walking across the dock that we saw in the International Trailer, followed by the two shots of that huge drill falling down and smashing into the ground in Zion from a couple of the new TV spots. While this is happening we hear another voiceover from Commander Lock saying "In less than 12 hours the machines will breach the dock walls", after which we get a low-angle shot of the Zion docks, which are absolutely gigantic, far, far, far larger than we ever saw in Reloaded, and from the very top we can make rubble falling down as the machines try to smash their way through.
----
Cut to a shot of Sentinels swarming through a tunnel towards the camera (one we've seen before in some of the TV spots) and a voiceover from Mifune, who says "If we have to give our lives, WE'LL GIVE 'EM HELL BEFORE WE DO!!!" we cut back to his face as he says the last part and we can see just how determined he is as he defiantly shouts to his men, who we cut to next, all assembled infront of him in their APU's, all cheering and raising their right gun arms up in the air much like the people did after Morpheus' speech in Reloaded.
----
Then we go back to Neo and the shot in which he says "Can Zion be saved?" which, again we've seen recently in the TV spots (can't remember which exactly but you know the shot I mean). Then a shot from behind one of the APU's as it slings it's arms/guns behind it's back, locks in two ammo-belts from its back then brings them round to the front again, followed by a few shots of many other APU's all raising their guns high to the ceiling, ready to open up on whatever is about to break through (the last of which shows Mifune again).
----
Yet another voice over accompanies this, this one again from the Oracle who say "Tonight the future of both worlds will be in your hands; or in his." After the APU's shots are done we see the one of Link and Zee embracing in a huge cavern in Zion that's been shown before, followed by the ones of Smith and Neo on the raining street both clenching their fists, Neo walking along the rows of Multi-Smiths, and that familiar couple of shots; "Mr Anderson welcome back! We missed you." - "It ends tonight."
----
Again the footage we've all seen many times now of the two of them running towards each other at full-force, this time to a new, pounding beat getting faster and faster as they get closer and closer until BOOM! The new trailer music starts. It's sort of like Tarawa in that it's choral and dramatic, but it's definitely nothing we've heard in any of the teasers of TV spots until now.
----
It plays over Neo flipping backwards then kicking off the wall which creates a circular "shockwave"-type effect on the wall, the same couple of shots from the ETM teaser, followed by a shot of Neo and Smith hitting each other in mid-air with a huge bubble-like shockwave emanating out around them and going up the skyscrapers around them (the same shot that's in "Future") and then the "door with loads of dead Sentinels getting blown off its hinges" shot.
----
Cut to a new shot of Neo and Bane grappling over a "lightening gun", swinging it past the camera so that the electricity goes just under the screen followed by the opening shot of "Future" which shows a Club Hel guard flipping upside down in slow-motion onto the ceiling, and after that we see the slo-mo shot of the gun flying up in mid-air over the Merovingian's balcony that's also in "Help", and finally the shot of the Train Man jumping across infront of the "Loop" train.
----
Then we see Morpheus in the real world who says "You've never believed in The One", then to Niobe (also in the real world) saying "I still don't; I believe in him" and then to a shot of Neo hugging Morpheus, which almost looks like a "goodbye" sort of moment to me. A couple more shots of Sentinels swarming through pipelines then a shot of a Zion operator (although not inside a ship) frantically saying "THE DOCK IS BREACHED!", then to Morpheus saying "Here they come."
----
From here it's all-out carnage, loads of shots of APU's blasting away at dozens and dozens of Sentinels which have burst into the Zion docks, a couple of which we've seen in some of the TV spots but mostly new stuff (including a woman firing a double rocket-launcher at some of them), and it all looks very intense indeed and incredibly action-packed. My anticipation for The Siege just went up several more notches I know that!
----
As those shots end a Morpheus voiceover begins saying "Neo is doing what he believes he must do" over a shot from behind Neo of him walking along an all-orange corridor which appears to be part of 01 (leading to the machine overlord?). The final part of the voiceover is said as a shot of Morpheus (in the real world) appears, thus technically ending the voiceover.
----
Cut to a shot of the huge "Maser Cannon" (seen in "Future") blasting away, another shot of Sentinels approaching the camera, then to Trinity in a hovercraft holding Neo's hand (we also see Neo looking at her, without his blindfold or bloodied eyes) saying "If you tell me we'll make it I'll believe you." We then get a shot from outside said hovercraft where we can see it's following the three powerlines towards 01, or what we assume is 01 (it doesn't look like the same citadel we see earlier in the trailer, it's what we all *thought* was 01 in the TV spots).
----
While that shot is showing Neo is saying "We'll make it; we have to."
----
The rest of Morpheus' voiceover then begins again, this time over several shots that we've seen before in many of the TV spots of Neo, blindfolded, reaching out his hand and blowing up some of the Sentinel-like flying machines, with lots of explosions around his hovercraft. Morpheus says: "I don't know what he can do to save us, but I do know that as long as there is a single breath in his body he'll never give up; and neither can we."
----
Something of note in this section is that we can clearly see that it is NOT 01 exploding in a massive fireball as some had speculated, but rather all the machines that were flying towards Neo and Trinity's hovercraft that are blowing up, as Neo reaches out his hand to destroy them. We even see a shot from directly above the craft as it flie through the explosion with lightening or electricity of some sort shooting out from the cockpit and zapping any machines in the way, thus clearing a path through the explosions.
----
Then (while Morpheus' voicover is still going on) we get 2 new shots of The Superbrawl, which show Neo and Smith grappling with each other, twisting and spinning in mid-air against the backdrop of skyscrapers, much like the shot we saw of them grappling in the TV spots but from different angles. After that we see the shot of the Sentinel apparently slamming straight into the cockpit of Neo and Trinity's craft followed by the one of the "orange ghost Sentinel" flying into/through Neo, then a shot of Neo giving the "just bring it" hand motion, the picture for which was released not long ago.
----
And this point Morpheus has reached "he will never give up" and we cut back to him to finish his voiceover off as he says "and neither can we."
----
Finally we have a quick montage of various shots, in this order: The shot of something in the real world exploding (not sure what it is though, we've seen in various teasers before, it's the thing that's blowing up right when "Absurd" starts to play in the ETM teaser), a close-up shot of Trinity hugging Neo, the shot of Smith apparently taking over the Oracle seen as Matrix code, the shot of Smith lifting Neo up inside the crater reaching back to punch him and lastly the infamous "Logos against the blue sky" shot.
----
The title then descends onto the screen in green code, "The Matrix Revolutions" and the trailer ends.
----
All in all it was pretty damn spectacular! November just can't arrive soon enough. -
It's incredibly boring too. It totally killed my enthusiasm for the film, and made me never want to see it again. It's bollocks and McTiernan is the most boring little cunt alive.
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