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Billy
Elliot Takes Box Office
by Storm
In the US, Meet the Parents, starring Ben Stiller and Robert
DeNiro, took the top spot from last week's top grossing film Remember
the Titans. They were followed by Get Carter, and The
Exorcist - The Version You've Never Seen. The real talk of the
cinema world, however, was centered around the UK, where a lovable,
low budget film named Billy
Elliot -- about a boy who wants to be a ballerina -- bounced
into the box office to finish in the third spot. The festival favorite
from Stephen Daldry
finished behind Eddie Murphy's Nutty Professor II and Hollow
Man, but finished ahead of studio hits Stuart Little
and Me, Myself And Irene. In France, Crimson Rivers
lured the biggest number of audiences, followed by Hollow Man,
What
Lies
Beneath, O'Brother,
and Sofia Coppola's Virgin
Suicides.
Williams
Kisses Smoochie Hello
Robin Williams is stepping into the "Barney-esque" costume Jim Carrey
stepped out of when he quit the Death to Smoochie project.
Directed by Danny DeVito, the film tells the story of Rainbow Randolph
(Williams), a TV star who is fired for taking bribes and replaced
by an irritatingly clean-cut blue rhinoceros. The rhino role has
yet to be filled.
Paramount
Raid Pinewood Tomb For Lara's Location
Paramount has employed screen veteran Jon Voigt to play Lord Croft
opposite his daughter Angelina Jolie in their forthcoming video
game/action adventure adaptation, Tomb Raider. The film's
director, Simon West made the announcement last week; it is the
first time that the father and daughter stars have played opposite
one another. Shot on location in the UK Iceland and Cambodia, the
studio scenes, particularly the Temple of Ten Thousand Shadows,
will be shot at Pinewood where The Mummy 2 is currently in
production. The film is being produced by Lloyd Levin, Lawrence
Gordon and Colin Wilson and will go out on world-wide release next
summer.
The Two Michaels Up To Their Necks In Mackenzie
Michael Caine will star alongside Michael Keaton in John MacKenzie's
latest film, Quicksand. The eclectic Scottish director, whose
major success was The Long Good Friday in 1980 amid a modest
career as a TV director. He last employed Caine 13 years ago in
The Fourth Protocol with Pierce Brosnan. Quicksand
is a story of a fading film star (Caine) who becomes involved in
a vice racket in the South of France, constantly hounded by New
York Bank investigator (Keaton). MacKenzie will direct the film
for UK production company Geoff Reeve Films with UK based Visionview
who raised the finance for the project through private investment.
Shooting begins at the start of December on location in New York
and the Cote D'Azur.
Robert De Niro and James Franco to
Play Father and Son
James Franco will be paired with Robert De Niro in Franchise Picture's
City by the Sea, to be directed by Michael Caton-Jones. He
is also in negotiations for a starring role Sam Raimi's Spiderman
at Columbia Pictures. Written by Ken Hixon, Sea is based
on the true story of a policeman (De Niro) who discovers that his
son (Franco) is a murderer. Esquire magazine was the first
to pick up on the story, learning that a New York detective whose
father was executed in the 1950s for kidnapping had a son who became
a murderer.
This
week's reviews
This week's news
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Swedish
Beauty
Daniel Fridell
Festival: Toronto 2000
It's summer 1964 and the arrival of Sofia, a Brigitte Bardot look-alike,
to a small town in Sweden motivates two 15 year old boys to become
filmmakers. Their goal: to see a woman naked. They hire Sofia to
be in their film and to their surprise fall in love rather than
lust.
6ixtynin9
by Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Festival: Toronto 2000
A young woman named Tum gets fired from her much needed job then
finds a box of organized crime money left outside her door. She
keeps it, setting off a bizarre chain of events as she is pursued
by the criminals.
Pandaemonium
by Julien Temple
Festival: Toronto 2000
Set against the philosophical revolution of the late 18th Century
and the beautiful English countryside, Pandaemonium follows the
friendship between poets Samuel Taylor Colerige and William Wordsworth.
Eisenstein
by Renny Bartlett
Festival: Toronto 2000
Eisenstein is an examination of the interior life of the great 1920's
Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein as he creates great films, grapples
with the state and his critics and ultimately his own character.
waydowntown
by Gary Burns
 Festival:
Toronto 2000
Set in downtown Calgary, waydowntown follows a group of employees
who bet a month's salary on who can last the longest without going
outside.
Low
Self Esteem Girl by
Blaine Thurier
Festival: Toronto 2000
Low Self Esteem Girl was developed from director Blaine Thurier's
weekly cartoon strip. The story follows a girl named Lois whose
relationships with a series of quirky (and sometimes cruel) men
lead to a violent, almost farcical confrontation between clashing
religious groups.
The
Hotel Splendide by Terence Gross
Festival:
Berlin 2000, Cannes Market 1999
The damp, dilapidated hotel is fastidiously run by the family of
the late and still overbearing 'Mummy' but the stiff operation is
put under threat by the return of the chef's former sous chef and
lover, the colourful Kath. With emotions running high behind the
peeling façade, a gastronic competition is deemed the only way to
set things straight. However, this sure-fire plan for disaster soon
becomes a recipe for love and the end of 'Mummy's' macabre hold
over the hotel.
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