Director of Billy Elliot, big winner on the festival circuit in 2000, talks
about family as the battleground, about the character played by Jamie Bell,
about setting the story during a miner's strike, about theatre vs movie
making.
...
A look at the making of Billy Elliot with comments by Stephen Daldry....
Background information on the miner's strike in 1984, the backdrop for the
film Billy Elliot....
After her collapse last week on the set of TV show "Ally McBeal,"
actress Calista Flockhart is said to be recovering in her home. The actress
was rushed to a hospital in Torrance, California where she was treated for dehydration
and exhaustion, and was put on a drip for a few hours....
Actor Edward James Olmos has been honored with a plaque on the Latino Walk of
Fame. The Walk of Fame is located on Whittier Boulevard, and features Cesar
Chavez and former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. Olmos is
known to audiences for his starring role as a teacher in Stand and Deliver
(1987) and for his charity work throughout Los Angeles....
It may cost her $100,000, but Elizabeth Hurley is still in the Screen Actors
Guild after all. The actress was fined the six-figure sum for filming an ad
for Estee Lauder cosmetics during the six-month strike. She claimed to have
not known about the strike, and donated $25,000 shortly after her mistake. This
donation will be used toward her fine. Hurley has just renewed her contract
with Estee Lauder and was seen most recently in the film Bedazzled....
Steve Martin will host the 73rd Academy Awards. "If you can't win 'em, join
'em," said Martin, who has not yet been nominated for an Oscar. Although he
has made several appearances as a presenter at the Oscars, this will be his
first time as host. ...
Written and directed by Lone Scherfig, Italian for Beginners has been
been slated to be screened in competition at Berlin 2001, according to Screen
Daily. The film presents a comic look at singles that meet up in an Italian
evening course and has faired quite well after its recent domestic release.
Sherfig is no newcomer to Berlin, having won the Kinderfilmfest prize for On Our Own in 1999. ...
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association made its selections for the best of 2000.
Leading the award winners was Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Chinese-language epic from director Ang Lee,
which won Best Film and Best Music. The Best Director award went to Steven Soderbergh
for Traffic and Erin Brockovich. He also won the prize for Best
Cinematography (under the pseudonym Peter Andrews). Julia Roberts won the Best
Actress award for her turn in Erin Brockovich, and Best Actor was...
Andrucha Washington's comedy Me,
You, Them (Eu, Tu, Eles) took the top prize, the Gran Coral, at the
22nd International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana. The festival
ran from December 5 through 15 and screened more than 350 films, after an opening
ceremony featuring Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Other winning films were That’s
Life (Asi Es La Vida) from director Arturo Ripstein, which took home
the Grand Jury Prize. The second Place went to Nueces Para ...
Shockwave.com
has announced that it will acquire AtomFilms in a stock swap. In the new arrangement,
Shockwave shareholders will own 70% of the consolidated company and AtomFilms
shareholders will own the remaining 30%. The chairman of the new company will
be Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO of Shockwave parent Macromedia. Mika Salmi,
founder and CEO of AtomFilms, will be CEO....
102 Dalmatians by Kevin Lima
If a leopard can never change its spots, how about a Dalmatian-killer? The devilish De Vil is released from prison after some shocking treatment and claims that she is a reformed woman. With great fur-vour Cruella's new incarnation as animal-rights activist ('call me Ella'), throws out the minks and stoles, and puts time and great fortune into an animal sanctuary. But can a felon reform? Cloe (played by Alice Evans), Dalmatian owner and Cruella's probation officer,...
Slamdance Film Festival has joined forces with Marco Weber's Atlantic Streamline,
to create Slamdance Entertainment, reported Variety. One of the goals
of the new group is to create a European version of the festival, which would
be held in Germany this summer. In addition to its festival, Slamdance hosts
several On-the-Road events, where they screen festival films in cities beyond
Park City. This traveling version of the fest has gone as far as New York City
and Cannes....
Only 24 years old, Brody has already worked with some of the world's greatest
filmmakers. His filmography includes such hits as Ken Loach's Bread
and Roses, Terence Malick's The
Thin Red Line and Spike Lee's Summer
of Sam. Now Brody can add one more director to this list: Roman Polanski.
The young actor has signed to star in Polanski's upcoming film The Pianist,
which is set in Warsaw. He will be seen next in The Affair of the Necklace,
which co-stars 2000 Oscar winne...
Although he was commissioned to create several songs for the upcoming Disney
animated feature The Emperor's New Clothes, Sting's songs will barely
be heard when the pic hits theaters this weekend. According to a Disney spokesman,
six songs were cut after the film became more of a comedy than a drama. Now,
a behind-the-scenes documentary about Sting's ordeal with the Mouse House is
set for release next year. Called The Sweatbox (produced by Sting's wife
Trudie Styler) the...
Following on the heels of the Vivendi/Univeral and Pathe/TF1 fusions comes Gaumont
and Pathe's announcement: the creation of Europalaces. The two leading French
distributors intend to unite their theatres in France and Europe (Italy, the
Netherlands, Switzerland) representing over 700 theatres. With Argentinian Eduardo Malone (Vice President of
Pathe) at the helm, this merger means that Europalaces will become one of Europe's largest distributors. ...
Denis Velleneuve's Maelstrom
leads the list of nominees for Canada's Oscar-equivalent, the Genie Awards.
The film won two prizes at the Montreal World Festival and is the Canadian selection
for the Academy Awards. The film stars Marie-Josee Croze, as a woman who accidentally
runs over a man. Another film with many nominations was Clement Virgo's Love
Comes Down, with nine nominations. The awards ceremony will be held January
29 in Toronto. ...
Gregory Mosher, one of the producers of London's West End hit Madame Melville
has announced that he plans to bring the play to New York. Starring former child
star Macaulay Culkin, the story follows a relationship between a British schoolboy
and his teacher. Mosher admitted that he has had trouble securing a theater
on Broadway, and the play will likely be held at the Promenade Theater, which
is just off-Broadway. ...
Jim Carrey (currently starring in the hit The
Grinch) and his girlfriend Renee Zellwegger have broken off their yearlong
romance. The two begin dating after co-starring in Me, Myelf and Irene
and appeared together at several events in order to promote Carrey's The
Grinch. ...
January 20 - 27, 2001 (Park City, Utah)
For the 2001 edition, Slamdance has announced the 12 features that will compete
in this year's seventh annual event. Organizers received a record 2326 submissions,
an increase of almost 300 submissions from last year, according to Peter Baxter,
festival Executive Director/Co-Founder. "Close to half of the features submitted
- and a third of the ones selected - were shot on digital or video. It's a huge
increase from a year ago,"...
Although Don's Plum, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, can not be sold or
released in the US, it will be shown at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival in
February. Don's Plum was made for under $100,000 over four years ago
was selected for the Panorama Section of the Berlin Film Festival. Starring
DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Kevin Connolly, and Amber Benson and directed by first-timer
R.D. Robb, the film follows a group of twentysomethings in Los Angeles. The
film attracted last c...
January 18 - 27
The 28th edition of the Brussels International Festival will take place in the
theatres of Kladaradatsch! Palace, UGC De Brouckere, Kinepolis and the Film
museum. This year, the Festival also cooperates with the Goethe-Institut Brussel,
focusing on the young German directors of the nineties. Already confirmed on
the lineup is Tom Tykwer's The Princess and The Warrior by Tom Tykwer,
the director of Run, Lola Run.
...
Claude Chabrol’s Merci
Pour Le Chocolat has won France’s coveted Prix Louis-Delluc, which is
awarded by a jury of critics chaired by Cannes Film Festival President Gilles
Jacob. Chocolat,
which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, stars Isabelle Huppert.
The Louis-Delluc prize for a first film went to Laurent Cantet’s Resources
Humaines. ...
Actor Nicolas Cage will receive the Charles A Crain Desert Palm Award on January
13, 2001 at the upcoming Nortel Networks Palm
Springs International Film Festival. Other honorees at the event will be
Ridley Scott, (who will receive the Director's Achievement Award) and Randy
Newman (who will receive the Frederick Loewe Award). Previous recipient of the
awards include John Travolta, Sylvester Stallone, and Susan Sarandon. ...
Will Ang Lee's highly praised Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon, be invited into the pantheon of non-English-language
productions to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture? Since the Academy
Awards began in 1927, only six foreign-language films have been nominated in
that category. Although none of them has taken home the Best Film prize, both
The Emigrants (1972) and Life is Beautiful (1998) won the Oscar
for Best Foreign-Language Film when they were also nominated in...
