Welcome to a new week. Father Geek here along with Edgard, Ozymandias and the rest of our Europe crew presenting this Monday morning's edition of the Euro-AICN column, but before we get to the regular report I've got a bit from Germany that just arrived on ol' Father Geek's desk...
Andrew13 here from Germany.
Maybe you've already heard about this, but Bernd
Eichinger (THE CALLING), the most successfull German producer of our days,
has purchased the rights for one of the greatest hits of European literature
(along with Umberto Eco's NAME OF THE ROSE), DAS PARFUM (THE PERFUME) by
Patrick Süskind. It has been translated into 37 languages worldwide and about
15 million copies were sold. It's a rumor that Eichinger paid Diogenes that
publishes this best-seller approximately 20 million marks (8-9 Mio. US-$ or
so).
I've read the book at school and can say: It's a hell of a funny story.
It's about Jean-Baptiste Grenuille, a strange, psychopathic guy with
superhuman talents whith whom the reader walks along from his birth (on a
fishmarket of the pre-revolutionary Paris where his mother only wants to kill
"das blutige Gekröse" (something like "the bloody mesentery") she has born
there) to his... ***SPOILER*** death (were he gets eaten). Grenouille has
brillant olfactory abilities, so he can identify a person even if he or she
is kilometres away. His obesession becomes to kill young girls/woman and turn
their scents into a perfume. He wants to create the "fragrance of the human"
per se.
This is gripping and sometimes wild and always a great psychological fun to
read!
Eichinger said he was "proud to can turn this worldwide success into an event
movie." CONSTANTIN film will produce. My source (spielfim.de) also says both
Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott once wanted desparately to do this project.
Cooooool! Well, here's Edgard and the rest of today's Euro-column...
EURO AICN
Hi folks... Edgard here with the brand new Euro AICN column... I have to admit I have been very lazy this week-end... meaning I didn't dig much for info, meaning Ozymandias did most of the work again (thanks Oz)... actually I have a good excuse for being lazy, I went back to my homeland (Belgium) to visit my parents & friends and celebrate Christmas (as I wasn't with them then)... it's always nice to get your presents a few weeks after the "present season"... it feels like you get more...
Anyway... as I said Ozy corner is quite full of many news of all kind... and don't forget to check at the end of this column Ethan's text against Steven Soderbergh... be free to post your reactions on Talk Back... I wonder what most of you think about Soderbergh actually...
FRANCE
* If you read last week's Talk Back's on BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLVES you probably know the following rumour : in France, the LORD OF THE RING trailer should be attached to BROTHERHOOD... We will find out on January 31st...
BELGIUM
* Some news on the next Brussels International Film Festival; remember AICNers... we need your reports : Stephen Daldry’s crowd pleaser Billy Elliott is to open the 28th Brussels International Film Festival, which is being held from January 18 to 27.The ten-day festival will close with Elle Chouraqui’s tale of war-torn former Yugoslavia, Harrison’s Flowers, starring Andie McDowell. The competitive event offers a Euros 80,000 top prize – the Golden Iris for best European film – which was won last year by Benito Zambrano's directorial debut Alone (Solas). Other films screening at Brussels include Nana Djordjadze’s Summer Or 27 Missing Kisses; Silvio Soldini’s Bread And Tulips; Belgian/French co-production Thomas In Love, directed by Pierre Paul Renders; Belgian film Vengeance, directed by Jan Hintjens; Laura Mana’s Sexo Por Compasion; Peter Hans Moland’s Aberdeen; Maria De Medeiros’ Captains Of April; and Michael Kalesniko’s How To Kill Your Neighbour’s Dog. (Source : Screendaily)
GERMANY
* A tiny bit of info... doesn't say much but it might interest some of you... And our source promised to let us know more if... well, if there's more to know : A german based film corp is in early talks with creators of PAINKILLER JANE for an adaptation of said property. A 3 -minute trailer to hook financierrs is in the works.
DENMARK
* From Screendaily, some news on Danish awards : Lars von Trier’s Cannes winner Dancer In The Dark, Per Fly’s The Bench and Lone Scherfig’s Italian For Beginners led the nominations for Denmark’s Oscar equivalents, the Robert awards. The trio secured ten nominations each in a year when award nominations for Danish films proved as competitive as the fight for box-office admissions. With local films released in the autumn battering each other at the box-office, the Danish Film Academy nominated 13 of the 16 eligible films for at least one award. The award ceremony takes place on February 4 in Copenhagen. While all films released are nominated for the best film award, Dancer also secured nominations including best actress for Bjork, best supporting actress for Shobka Fallon and best director. The director category was added this year along with an audience prize. The Bench was nominated for best actor for Jesper Christensen, best score and best original screenplay, among others. The latest Dogme film, Italian For Beginners, picked up nominations for most of its cast as well as for script and direction. Currently a huge box-office success, the film has its international premiere in competition at next month’s Berlin International Film Festival. The presence of such local hits in the nominations line-up meant the Academy, now chaired by producer Kim Magnusson, was judged more in touch with audiences than its Swedish equivalent. Another local box-office success, Anders Thomas Jensen’s debut Flickering Lights, picked up eight nominations including best script and male actor for Soren Pilmark. Denmark’s official Oscar candidate, Kaspar Rostrup’s A Place Nearby, was nominated for best actor, actress, set design and costume.
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OZYMANDIAS CORNER
Guys, Showbizireland.com have pulled this one out of nowhere..... Bet the whale gets whacked.....:
12-01-01 news - Day Lewis, Scorsese & Moby Dick...
The Irish based actor Daniel Day Lewis looks set to make another film with the American director Martin Scorsese. Sources in Ireland say that the actor who lives a reclusive life high in the Wicklow mountains is set to return to make another film with Scorsese once filming on their current project The Gangs of New York is finished. The film is to be called In the Heart of the Sea and is described as a new spin on the classic Moby Dick.
The actor was out of the film industry for four years until the Scorsese coaxed him out to work on the Gangs with Leonardo Di Caprio, fellow Irish actor Liam Neeson and Cameron Diaz. It took a many months and a re-write of the original script to get Day Lewis to negotiate. He has previously worked with the director on The Age of Innocence.
And from our man in Italy...
Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor) is producing The Triumph of Love, which is directed by his wife Clare Peploe. The movie is based on André Marivaux’s novel and has a quite interesting cast, with actors as Mira Sorvino, Ben Kingsley, Fiona Shaw, besides some interesting young people as Rachel Sterling, Luis Molteni and Ignazio Oliva. Clare Peploe has a real talent to discover new stars. In her first movie (High Season) she casted Kenneth Branagh (then almost at his debut in cinema), while for her second film (Rough Magic) she found a pretty unknown australian actor named Russell Crowe. Thus, i would like to suggest to every casting director to take a look at The Triumph of Love when it will be released, probably next september at the Venice Film Festival. Bertolucci is preparing three new projects and he wants to direct at least a movie this year (maybe the rumored Heaven and Hell?). The director is also thinking about a third chapter of his monumental film
Novecento, this time focused on the ’68’s political events.
Pavel Lungin (whose latest movie La Noce was awarded at the latest edition of the Cannes Film Festival) is preparing his next film, Citizen P., an homage to Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane. Citizen P. will describe the latest fifteen years of russian history, as seen by three businessmen. Their friendship will shatter when they will become rich, an obvious metaphor of the situation of their country. Nevertheless Lungin, whom i spoke with a few weeks ago, is quite optimistic about the future of Russia.
9 italian films were selected from The Berlin Film Festival (february, 7-18). Malèna (directed by Giuseppe Tornatore) and Le fate ignoranti (by Ferzan Ozpetek) are in Competition; Controvento (Peter Del Monte), Domenica (Wilma Labate), Riconciliati (Rosaria Polizzi) and Una lunga lunga lunga notte d’amore (Luciano Emmer) in the Panorama section; Commesso viaggiatore (Francesco Dal Bosco) and Tutta la conoscenza del mondo (Eros Puglielli) in Forum; Il cielo cade (Andrea and Antonio Frezzi) in Kinder Film Fest. I’m quite interested in the latest film by Ferzan Ozpetek (one of the few italian directors whose movies are sold abroad) and especially by the second movie by Eros Puglielli, who debuted when he was twenty with the surrealistic Dorme.
Robert Bernocchi
Always sad... This week saw the death of a face well known on UK television and in one or two features:
LONDON (Reuters) - Shakespearean actor Michael Williams, husband of actress Dame Judi Dench, has died after a long battle against lung cancer, his agent said on Friday. Williams, 65, died on Thursday afternoon at the home he shared with his wife in Surrey. The couple, who played alongside each other in the popular 1980s television series "A Fine Romance", were married for 30 years. Williams was best known for his classical roles, having spent 14 years at the Royal Shakespeare Company under director Sir Peter Hall. His stage career continued until 1999 with his appearance in Russian playwright Alexander Ostrovsky's "The Forest" at the National Theatre in London. While his wife pursued a successful career in film and television Williams took parts in smaller films, including "Educating Rita" in 1982 and "Tea with Mussolini" in 1998. Last year, Williams received a Papal knighthood for his contribution to Catholic life in Britain, one of the highest honours bestowed by the Catholic Church. The couple had one daughter, Finty, aged 28.
Some stuff from the UK from peoplenews.com - when I spoke to Vinnie in London a couple of months ago he was determined that this one was going to fly but now.......:
Vinnie Jones may be building a growing army of Hollywood admirers after his appearances in Guy Ritchie’s flicks Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, but this might not be enough to stop his next film project falling at the first hurdle. The Guv’nor, a film based on the life of bare-knuckle boxer Lenny McLean, was expected by some to be the film that elevated Jones from the position of cameo co-star and celebrity friend of Ritchie and Madonna, to leading man in his own right. However, agents for Patsy Kensit, the proposed leading lady, say that they have had no contact about the project for months, and even the production company making the film admits that as yet they only have ‘verbal commitments’ for much of the funding. None of this seems promising for a film due to go into pre-production next month, and intended to be on general release by October. ‘We were sent a script early last year,’ says Steve Dagger, Kensit’s manager, ‘but we’ve had no offer and no negotiation. Patsy has commitments from February onwards, anyway.’ Spokesmen for Arrival Productions, who are making the film, insist that their hopes of private funding will be fulfilled, and maintain that Patsy Kensit is likely to co-star. Nevertheless, with other industry insiders saying that there is not nearly enough time left to gather the necessary revenue, and Kensit’s manager saying that the project ‘seems like a lot of hot air,’ Vinnie may well be begging old friend Guy for a part in his next film after all.
And popcorn.co.uk reported on a couple of new British projects:
SEAN CONNERY HAS agreed to back the long-in-development 'Mary, Queen Of Scots'. Connery's company, Fountainbridge Films, has agreed to work on production, with BBC and Intermedia financing the project. There are currently no plans for Connery to star in the movie, although the filmmakers haven't ruled it out completely. The first draft of the script was written by acclaimed British scribe Jimmy McGovern.
JOHN SIMM IS to play New Order singer Bernard Sumner in the Manchester club movie '24 Hour Party People'. Michael Winterbottom is directing the movie about the break out in Mancunian clublife during the early '80s. Comedian Steve Coogan has long been attached to play Factory Records boss Tony Wilson. John Thomson ('Cold Feet') has also signed up to play
a TV producer, while Shirley Henderson will play Wilson's wife.
My top spy here in Dublin, Santa, has checked out a new UK movie that's been slightly less than entheusiastically received......
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES - REVIEW BY SANTA
It’s a sad thing, that every British film released since Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels must run the risk of being laughed off the screen should it feature any of the following: Hard Geezers, Guns, A Double (or even Triple) Cross, A Snappy Soundtrack and a Bloody Shoot-out at the End.
When in fact, something like Beautiful Creatures is… oh, wait a minute. My mistake. Beautiful Creatures contains all of the above.
"But surely that shouldn’t count against it!" I hear you cry. And you’d be correct. Beautiful Creatures has two young women as protagonists, rather than the usual London East-End pretty-boys. Dorothy (Susan Lynch - Nora, Waking Ned) is in the process of fleeing from her abusive boyfriend when she intervenes in a violent dispute between Petula (Rachel Weisz - The Mummy, Stealing Beauty) and her boyfriend Brian - also a burly, violence-prone lout. Dorothy bashes the latter’s head in with a piece
of scaffolding and, as per the law of instant film-relationships, the two bond..
When it becomes apparent that Brian has shuffled off the mortal coil, the two girls become involved in increasingly desperate measures to avoid being caught. One unlikely event leads to the next and before you know it, the unlikely-lasses are involved in severed fingers and a fake kidnapping. All of which brings the unwelcome attention of the late boyfriend’s scary older brother and a corrupt policeman lusting after Petula.
I should point out that the most appealing male character in the entire film is a filling station clerk with an unhealthy obsession for pictures of pornographic bondage. This isn’t a British Thelma & Louise, by any standards. When the press-notes tell you more about the story than the film itself, you know you have a problem.
Whenever the plot drives itself into a dead-end, the film just brushes over it clumsily. Weisz and Lynch are appealing enough, but we are told next to nothing about their past, and given little indication of their future. Consequently, we don’t particularly care what happens to either of them. If girls-on-top-crime-caper gigs float your boat, you’d be well advised to check out the marvellous Bound instead.
Had the good fortune to have a chat this week with Stuart Townsend, the young Irish actor who's known on this side of the world for his appearances in the likes of Shooting Fish, Wonderland and Resurrection Man and who's about to become far better known in the excellent new sexy Irish comedy About Adam (review next week) and as Lestat in the "Interview With The Vampire" sequel Queen Of The Damned.
Got one or two tidbits out of him about how the production is shaping up - he says that they style is a million miles away from Neil Jordan's, it's going to be sexy, dark and sharp. He also told me that he's gotten a record deal based on Lestat's singing in the movie!!! He's cutting demos for Warner Bros and if all works out well he'll release an album with the movie!
Ya never know......
Anyhew....
Empire Online have been their usual industrious selves this week with:
Hannibal photos - Just Click Here to See
Some Matrix casting?
Billy Elliot’s best friend Michael, played by Stuart Wells, may be taking the leap from 80s mining town to post-apocalyptic virtual world for a part in the upcoming Matrix 2.
“I screentested for ‘em, did some kicks and punches and stuff, and now they’re going to send me some more lines,” Wells told Empire in his thick Northern burr. “Although if I get the part I’ll have to take a few elocution lessons.” “They need an agile teenager with black hair,” he said of the part. “I’m definitely up for it, but I don’t know how many others are – so fingers crossed eh?”
Having landed with a bang in Stephen Daldry’s sleeper hit, it would hardly do Wells’ blossoming career any harm to land a role in one of 2002’s hottest properties but he’s hardly been sitting on his laurels since Billy Elliot hit the screens. His next appearance will be in Paul McGuigan’s whodunnit Morality Play alongside Willem Dafoe, and the young star is currently in talks for “a Kevin Kline project and something with Sandra Bullock.”
L8r,
Ozymandias
ozymandias@dublin.com
Ain't It Cool News - Ireland/UK Office,
Penthouse Suite,
Ozymandias Towers,
Dublin,
Ireland.
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THE I DISAGREE REVIEW
Once again Ethan takes the courage to face many AICNers in the "I DISAGREE" section... This week Ethan goes against Steven Soderbergh... Personally I love Soderbergh's films so I already disagree with Ethan, but he knows it, doeszn't mind and is ready for your talk-back's on this matter... so here it is :
THE LIMEY
by Ethan
Steven Soderbergh certainly belongs to the highest rank of inventive Hollywood directors. Unfortunately, his inventions usually don`t equal progress. First Soderbergh`s achievement was the revival of the so-called American independent cinema. This achievement sounds cool but I must explain this point. All that Soderbergh revived was pseudo-artistic, quasi-intellectual dialogue cinema. True independent spirit of the great authors like Don Siegel got exterminated by this wave of stoned playwrites posing as filmmakers. After this reanimating feature named SEX,LIES AND VIDEOTAPES, Soderbergh made a break which is typical for directors that get frightened by early success. This evasive manouever got Soderbergh `under the radar` where he made a couple of enjoyable flicks. I would like to emphasize rich features like KAFKA (1991) and KING OF THE HILL (1993). In 1994 Soderbergh revealed the hidden sympathy for noir and remade Robert Siodmak`s classic CRISS CROSS as THE UNDERNEATH. This remake was the weakest feature in the string of more or less fine movies.
All of these movies were flops and Soderbergh was pushed into the ghetto of cheap, independent productions. He resurfaced with Universal`s OUT OF SIGHT which managed to fool the most of the moviegoing public, including myself. At the time I recognized it as a fresh caper comedy. As time passed by (with help of my friend Xander) I realized that Soderbergh fooled me with charming stars and hip shots. There was no substance in this pic and narrative was too broken and messed up. Anyway, Soderbergh became Everybody`s All-American and got to do THE LIMEY.
THE LIMEY was written by Lem Dobbs who is a pretty decent scriptwriter (KAFKA, DARK CITY) , infinitely split between Kafka and pulp (which kinda describes me too). I had great expectations and I felt Soderbergh could do no harm to the material, but oh boy-I was wrong.
First of all, Soderbergh tore the narrative into pieces. Thus you have no idea where this story begins, where it catches up and where it ends. Also you never know anything for sure. But it isn`t just about the storytelling. There are faults in the story itself. THE LIMEY was apparently set to be a vigilante flick with an attitude. Well, attitude is there but the vigilante domain is softened and under-developed. Soderbergh combines misplaced wit, Stamp`s over-acting ( I expected Zemeckis to dub the volleyball in `Cast Away` by using Stamp`s voice saying `My name is Wiiiilson!`) and dreadful melodrama turning this movie into the bore-fest. Honestly, I was amazed by the futility of this endeavor. Also, I think that Soderbergh can do worse than this, look at pooor ERIN... ERIN... marked his second invention. A bad one again. He found a way to shoot a movie in the efficient semi-documentary manner. These quick-shoots allow him to make several severe movies per year. People praise his recent camerawork. It`s pure replica of Czech quasi-docementary style of the sixties. At the same time he manages to lure stars for these movies. Soderbergh`s third invention is more of a revelation. A good one. Smart, indeed. In ERIN Soderbergh revealed why is Julia Roberts such a box-office draw. He applied wonderbra on her and amplified Roberts. This uncovered that people actually want to see her because her looks subconsciously associate her with oral relief. Soderbergh simply shot her as the ultimate Hollywood felatio chick and made a hit.
I would like to thank Xander for useful insight on Soderbergh`s hidden agendas.
Take care,
Happy New Year to all Orthodox Christians that respect the old calendar,
God bless,
Ethan
Since I`ve built the reputation of a movie-hater I will show you the list of my 10 Millennial faves. Before you feast upon it I must say that I used the following method: some ranks are double-bills since I tryed to follow the development of the genre, one director can have only one movie...Next week expect the list of 10 most over-rated movies....
ETHAN`S TOP TEN MOVIES EVER AS WE SPEAK
1.VERTIGO,Alfred Hitchcock
2.LOLITA, Stanley Kubrick
3.ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, Sergio Leone;
GOOD FELLAS, Martin Scorsese
4.TERMINATOR, James Cameron
5.DIE HARD, John McTiernan;
POINT BREAK, Kathryn Bigelow
6.THE KILLER, John Woo;
BEYOND HYPOTHERMIA, Patrick Leung
7.THE INFORMER, John Ford
8.DOUBLE INDEMNITY, Billy Wilder;
BOUND, The Wachowski Brothers
9.I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND, Robert Zemeckis;
TRAINSPOTTING, Danny Boyle
10.ENTER THE DRAGON, Robert Clouse;
ON HER MAJESTY`S SECRET SERVICE, Peter R.Hunt
That's it for this EURO week... dont't forget to send any reports, reviews or suggestions to the EURO AICN offices in Paris at euroaicn@yahoo.com
EDGARD
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