Abbreviations

September 29, 2005

- Joe designed an envelope for charity

I received the following email today:

Hello

I am writing to let you know that as part of the Pushing The Envelope worldwide charity auction, Joseph Fiennes has designed a unique envelope which will be auctioned on eBay. The bidding commences on the 3rd of October at 11 am. Joseph Fiennes envelope (as well those from other celebrities) can be found at the following link Pushing the Envelope

It would be great if you could publicise the auction of Joseph Fiennes’ envelope on your site as that way lots of fans will get the chance to bid for this unique design, with all the money raised going towards the National Literacy Trust.

As I am sure you know the importance of literacy has long been recognised: it underpins all educational achievement and is central to economic advance; it helps develop human potential and raises self-esteem. Poor literacy skills can have a profound effect on people’s educational life chances, employability and the economy as a whole. With the help of supporters such as yourself the National Literacy Trust hopes to make and an independent, strategic and practical contribution to the creation of a society in which all can enjoy the skills, confidence and pleasure that literacy can bring.

We really hope that you will be able to help!

Many thanks

Tom Hall, Fundraising Officer, National Literacy Trust

December 31, 2004

- Mark Fiennes dead

HOLLYWOOD stars Ralph and Joseph Fiennes are mourning the sudden death of their father, who collapsed at his Suffolk home yesterday morning.

It is believed the two famous brothers have now broken-off from filming commitments to travel to their family home in Clare – where their father Mark and his second wife, Caroline, have lived for the past six years.

Mr Fiennes, 70, an acclaimed photographer, collapsed and died at his luxury five-bedroom house in Nethergate Street early yesterday morning.

Ralph Fiennes, 41, is currently shooting the new Harry Potter film, The Goblet of Fire, in which he plays Lord Voldemort. Joseph Fiennes, 34, has also been away filming for his latest role.

The brothers have become two of the best-known British actors of recent years after starring in number of award-winning films.

They are the sons of Mr Fiennes and his first wife, the novelist Jennifer Lash, who died in 1993. The couple had four other children; Magnus, a renowned music composer; Jacob, Joseph's twin, who is a Norfolk gamekeeper; Martha, a film director and Sophie, a producer.

Yesterday, Mrs Fiennes, a flower decorator, was too upset to talk about the sudden death of her husband, but tributes were paid to him from the local community. Pammy Pashler, who has been the couple's cleaner ever since they arrived in Clare, said: "Mark was one of the nicest people I have ever met, he would do anything for anyone.

"I feel so sorry for Caroline because she is a lovely woman and they were a very happy couple. Although they obviously had a lot of success in the family they were not affected at all, they were very down to earth and very involved in the local community.

"I have seen the boys and all the other children on numerous occasions and they are all such nice people. They are a very close family.

"Mark's death has come as such a shock, he had shown no signs of illness and was very fit. He would go on his treadmill everyday.

"I will miss Mark very much, he was a lovely man who thought the world of his wife and his children. The family is expecting all the children to arrive soon."

After moving to Clare, Mr Fiennes, who is also a cousin of the famous explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, became a prominent figure in the community.

He was the secretary of the local preservation group, the Clare Society, and a keen supporter of the Stop Stansted Expansion campaign.

Anna Moore, chairman of the Clare Society, said: "Mark was a larger than life character and was very well-known and popular in Clare.

"He worked so hard and really embraced his role as secretary for the group because he loved Clare so much. He immersed himself in working to ensue Clare kept is historical and commercial essence."

March 12, 2004

- Leo is finally released in the UK today! The DVD release date for the US is 18 May, 2004. Check additions for more about Leo.

- Ask Joe a question!

The Independent (London)
March 11, 2004, Thursday
YOUR QUESTIONS PLEASE
For the actor Joseph Fiennes and the author Margaret Atwood

Send your questions to:

You Ask the Questions
Features Desk
The Independent
Independent House, 191 Marsh Wall
London E14 9RS
fax: 020-7005 2182
e-mail: myquestion@ independent.co.uk
The best question wins a bottle of champagne.

March 3, 2004

- Merchant of Venice poster:

There is a small blurb about Joe's Merchant of Venice film accompanied by a beautiful film poster in pdf-format on Arclight Films

And a fan who prefers to stay anonymous, said that shooting of MOV started in Luxemburg on November 23. Shooting on the set will wrap in the first week of December and they'll move to the studio afterwards where shooting is scheduled until December 19 at least. They don't mention the shooting on the production company's website to not attract any attention. Everything is very hush hush and only once the shooting is over they'll print and air pix and interviews. But you can see here where they were shooting.

AYME stands for Association of Young People with M.E.,and Joe sent them a message of support with a signed photograph. It can be viewed here

The Evening Standard (London)
March 1, 2004
By Luke Leitch

40 British films face axe in funding crisis

The British film industry is facing a growing funding crisis as it emerged that up to 40 movies may have to be scrapped because of sudden Treasury moves to change the tax laws. Dozens of films have been plunged into uncertainty after the Inland Revenue moved without warning to block a tax loophole used by funding agencies to raise millions to finance British films. The move means 25 to 40 films poised to start shooting are faced with an overnight loss of 30 per cent of their budgets. And the Film Council is pleading with the Treasury to give the industry breathing space.

Director Gaby Dellal, who saw £1 million in funding disappear from her film On A Clear Day, said: "The Inland Revenue has replaced a loophole with a black hole. It is a desperate situation." Among the films already hit by the new ruling are Tulip Fever, directed by Shakespeare In Love's John Madden, which was cancelled after it lost 30 per cent of its financing overnight. Producer Alison Owen is applying for emergency Lottery funding in a last ditch effort to save the film, which stars Jude Law and Keira Knightley.

Other films are hanging in the balance: The Truth About Love, a romantic comedy starring Dougray Scott and Jennifer Love Hewitt being shot in Bristol, has continued only because the crew have been working for free while its producer Tracey Adam has taken out a personal loan in an attempt to save her film.

Man To Man, a drama about the discover of the missing link staring Kristin Scott Thomas and Joseph Fiennes being shot in South Africa is also gambling on a last minute reprieve from the Treasury and gone ahead - even though it too has lost huge chunk of its budget. One high-profile film, The Libertine, has deserted mainland Britain altogether in favour of offshore haven the Isle of Man after film officials there agreed to finance 25 per cent of the £10 million production.

It stars two actors in huge demand - Oscar nominees Johnny Depp and Samantha Morton - and producers feared the stars would not have been able to fit a delayed shoot into their schedules. Its producer John Malkovich described the taxman's decision as "a big blow", adding: "To get someone like Johnny to do it takes a long time, for example, and it's not an easy film to get financed."

The film industry will have to wait until the Budget on 17 March to learn whether Gordon Brown plans to help. But Hollywood studio bosses have already sent out an ominous warning. Miramax's Colin Vaines said: "Miramax and other US majors such as Warner Brothers, which makes Harry Potter, and Universal, which is behind James Bond, will take the bulk of their productions to Canada, Germany or Hungary, where tax breaks are becoming more favourable."

UK FILMS UNDER THREAT

Tulip Fever (Miramax/Dreamworks) Plot: period drama about a poor artist and his married lover's plot to elope Budget: £45 million Stars: Jude Law, Keira Knightley, Jim Broadbent Location: UK

Red Light Runners (Nu Creation Film Group) Plot: a rogue CIA agent comes to London in search of black market art Budget: £8 million Stars: Harvey Keitel, Cillian Murphy, Michael Madsen Location: London

River King (Myriad Pictures) Plot: supernatural murder mystery Budget: not known Stars: Edward Burns Location: Canada, April 2004

Man To Man (Grosvenor Park's First Choice) Plot: evolutionists try to find the Missing Link Budget: £10 million Stars: Kristin Scott Thomas, Joseph Fiennes Location: South Africa

The Libertine (Odyssey Entertainment) Plot: drunken aristocratic poet in the court of King Charles II Budget: £12 million Stars: Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton, John Malkovich Location: now considering moving filming to the Isle of Man The Libertine

Cheri (Bill Kenwright Films) Plot: An ageing courtesan falls in love with one of her peers' sons Budget: £6.5 million Stars: Jessica Lang Location: Europe in summer 2004

Lab Ratz (Bill Kenwright Films) Plot: backpackers' trip goes wrong Budget: low-budget flick Stars: Sienna Guillory Location: Romania in April 2004

The Independent (London)
March 1, 2004
By Danielle Demetriou

Stars rally to save historic cinema for movie lovers

The Coronet cinema in Notting Hill, London, is in danger of being turned into a leisure complex Its regal decor and opulent stage designs attracted a coterie of Victorian stars to tread the boards when it opened in a blaze of glory in 1898.

From Sarah Bernhardt to Lily Langtry, a stream of high-profile performers confirmed the status of the Coronet in Notting Hill Gate in London as one of the finest theatres in the capital. In its current incarnation as a cinema, it gained international fame as the setting for a date between Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in the hit film Notting Hill.

But yesterday, it appeared that the Coronet was facing the biggest threat of its 105-year history amid reports that it could be turned into a leisure complex or a casino. Owners of the west London cinema are thought to have accepted a multi-million pound offer from an unidentified company following a decision to put the cinema on the market.

Residents, including the actor Joseph Fiennes and the director Stephen Frears, and local associations have joined forces to preserve the historic legacy of the former theatre and to ensure it remains a cinema. They are expected to voice their opposition to the sale at a protest at the cinema on Wednesday.

The campaign is being led by Gerald Fox, a producer and director of The South Bank Show, and Julian Ozanne, also a producer. While details of any sale have not been made public, there were serious concerns that the building would be converted for non-cinematic use, according to Mr Fox. He said: "We are trying to save the Coronet as a cinema and to prevent it from being turned into a leisure complex or a casino, which is what appears may be happening. The Coronet cinema has a great deal of history behind it and it could be one of the most exciting independent cinemas in London today. But it is in danger of disappearing.

"We have been working with all the residents' associations and the council in an attempt to garner support. Julian and I have managed to put in a bid to buy it ourselves but we don't think it is high enough to be accepted."

Among the well-heeled residents of Notting Hill, one unexpected supporter has emerged in the form of Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, who would like to convert the building into the first easyCinema in central London. A meeting between the campaign organisers and Mr Haji-Ioannou is scheduled to take place tomorrow to discuss the possibility of joining forces in preserving the heritage of the Coronet.

James Rothnie, the director of corporate affairs at easyGroup, which is sending staff to the protest on Wednesday, said: "We have put in a cash offer of pounds 2m to buy the cinema and received a note of acknowledgement from the estate agent but there are other interested parties. We have heard that another offer may have been accepted from a casino operator. There have also been reports that it may involve a lap-dancing club. We obviously want to keep it as a cinema." During the past 35 years, the cinema has faced increasing threats from property developers, having successfully avoided being converted into a McDonald's and a shopping centre.

The Coronet said yesterday that Panton Films, which owns the cinema, did not wish to comment on reports of the sale.

The Independent (London)
February 20, 2004
By Louise Jury

British film productions face the final cut after taxman’s sudden move wipes out vital funding

Silence could fall fall today on the sets on some of the highest profile movies to be made in Britain in recent years. Despite the fact that 2003 was the British film industry's best ever year a financial crisis threatens to pull the plug on projects starring Jude Law, John Malkovich and Johnny Depp.

Ten days ago, out of the blue, the Inland Revenue changed the rules by ending tax relief on money invested in films and, at a stroke, wiped out millions of pounds on which producers were depending. The impasse remained unresolved last night. Desperate pleas from the Film Council for interim support for film-makers expecting to go into production in the next few days have fallen on deaf ears. Up to 20 films are thought to be under threat in the coming weeks. And the jobs of an estimated 230 people are on the line immediately as payday falls for the two most pressing projects.

Alison Owen, a producer who has spent six years raising pounds 45m to film Deborah Moggach's book Tulip Fever with Jude Law and Keira Knightley - adapted by Tom Stoppard and to be directed by Shakespeare in Love's John Madden - has said she will have to give notice to 80 people today if no last-minute reprieve is forthcoming. The Libertine, a pounds 12m production starring Johnny Depp, John Malkovich and Samantha Morton, faces a more precarious fate. About 150 people were due to be employed on filming in the UK for eight weeks - starting Sunday.

The scrapping of tax equity funds is to stop City firms using the British film industry to avoid paying tax through the formation of investment partnerships which promise tax-free profits if a movie project is successful.

Insiders warn that the potential long-term damage will be worse. Big players, such as the American producer Harvey Weinstein of Miramax, looked genuinely perplexed that such peremptory action was possible when they arrived for the Baftas on Sunday. Some warn that foreign investors have been shaken by the notion that British tax rules can be changed, without warning, in this case removing 30 per cent of a film's budget.

Colin Leventhal, of Grosvenor Park, which is investing in The Libertine and other films through one of the tax partnership schemes the Inland Revenue outlawed on 10 February, said the move was a body blow to the industry because so many films were due to start shooting. He said: "In the long term, it is serious because it doesn't exactly create stability."

The statement from the Inland Revenue said: "This legislation will not prevent film-makers benefiting from film tax relief ... Any legitimate film-makers who have not sought to avoid tax have nothing to fear." But Mr Leventhal said it had left many baffled. The list of big names attached to threatened projects would appear to make them "legitimate" to any lay person.

The partnership set up by Grosvenor Park was investing in seven films due to start shooting before 7 April and a further 15 were in planning. They included On A Clear Day, a story in The Full Monty mould starring Peter Mullan and Brenda Blethyn, which was to start shooting on 1 April; The River King, a thriller featuring Ed Burns, which had been slated to start a week on Monday; and The Truth About Love, a romantic comedy with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Dougray Scott and Jimi Mistry, due to begin filming in Bristol, the constituency of Dawn Primarolo, the Paymaster General who announced the change on 22 March.

One production, Man To Man, went ahead on Wednesday anyway because Kristin Scott Thomas, Joseph Fiennes and the entire crew were already in South Africa. But the project, which was also to film in Scotland, could now collapse.

Part of the problem appears to have been the tendency towards late paperwork in film production. Tulip Fever would not be in limbo had the Inland Revenue made their announcement on Wednesday as the deal would have been signed. "It is highly unusual in the film business for all the financing documentation on a complex film to be signed much before the start of principal photography," Mr Levanthal said.

The films are unlikely to be able to replace the lost investment. One source said: "The reason people are using the tax partnerships is because there isn't an infinite pool of money." But Mr Levanthal said: "We can't put our private investors' money into the production in the knowledge that the basis on which they gave us the money has changed."

Film is now a major money-spinner for Britain with pounds 1.17bn spent on nearly 180 movies last year, yet one producer pointed out bitterly that film was to be the loser. "They want to punish rich people avoiding taxes, but don't these people always find a way of avoiding taxes?"

The issue is particularly sensitive for the film industry because leaders do not want to jeopardise a much bigger long-term prize, which is the extension of Section 48, a tax relief for films with budgets of less than pounds 15m. It is due to expire in 2005 and the Government has been encouraging about the likelihood of renewal.

Besides, many regarded the tax relief now ended by the Inland Revenue as ineffective and accepted it was open to abuse. What they wanted was help targeted at film - possibly linking production to distribution to create a quality threshold as no one can distribute a dud.

David Thompon, head of BBC Films, said: "We feel very strongly about the lack of notice. To get a film going, people have to spend money and they do so on a certain basis." He said it was "pure good luck" that they themselves were not being hit by the sudden change.

Russ Smith, The Libertine's producer whose previous films include Ghost World and The Man in the Iron Mask, was unwilling to comment. But he admitted: "This is the most screwed up situation I've ever seen in 15 years of movie-making."

- The Fiennes and poetry:

Independent on Sunday (London)
February 15, 2004

An evening of W H Auden's poetry, introduced by the novelist Josephine Hart as part of the West End Poetry season, takes place at the British Library in London on Wednesday. The West End Poetry company includes Judi Dench, Simon Callow, Joseph Fiennes and Alan Rickman. The cast will vary according to film and theatre commitments (6.30pm; Conference Centre, 96 Euston Road, NW1; pounds 7.50/pounds 5; 020-7412 7222.)

[Yours truly attended the evening and had a lovely evening listening to Ralph Fiennes doing the poetry reading]

Scottish Daily Record
February 14, 2004
By Rob Fairburn

Scotland scoops another star role

Hollywood stars Joseph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas are to become the latest big names to go on location in Scotland. They will visit the Borders where three mansions are to be used in the pounds 10 million production of Man To Man. It follows George Clooney's visit to Bathgate, West Lothian, during filming for The Jacket.

Work will begin in April on scenes for Man To Man at Sir Walter Scott's former home, Abbotsford House near Galashiels, as well as Manderston House and Duns Castle in Berwickshire. Film industry officials are remaining tightlipped about the details until negotiations have been completed. Ros Davies, of Edinburgh Film Focus, said: 'I am not at liberty to talk about it, I'm afraid, but it is a project we have been working with.'

Fiennes is cast as a 19th century anthropologist. He captures two pygmies in the Congo and brings them back to his Scottish estate to study in the belief they may be the missing link in human evolution.

Co-star Scott Thomas appeared with Fiennes's brother Ralph in the English Patient Also appearing is Edinburgh-born actor Iain Glen.

- More on Joe's building saga:

Mail on Sunday (London)
November 30, 2003
By Sarah Hartley

A Fiennes Outlook

The Joseph Fiennes building saga rumbles on. With permission to demolish all bar the facade of his near-derelict Notting Hill house, bought for 1.2m two years ago, the Shakespeare In Love star, right, now wants to rebuild the first and groundfloor windows and entrance porch to 'faithfully replicate the original building'. One neighbour said: 'The facade was all that was to remain. Now he wants to knock down most of that. We wish he'd just get on and rebuild the place.'

- Joe's school tales:

Western Daily Press
September 17, 2003

School'S Out

School'S Out In this parallel universe, comic John Cleese is a lawyer and film star Kristin Scott-Thomas is a nun. The actor Joseph Fiennes is a painter and pop star Julian Deane is a care worker.

[snip]

Salisbury-born Fiennes, who starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the Oscar-winning film Shakespeare In Love, moved home 14 times in nearly as many years when he was a child.

"If I qualified in anything, it was survival," the 33-year-old said. "I can't remember what I got but it was pretty appalling. My family were in the arts and we moved around a lot." Among the schools Fiennes passed through with his nomadic family was Shaftesbury public school. "I remember burning the school tie when I left the school at 14.

"That was memorable because a bit of nylon flew up from the burning bit and went straight into my eye," he said. "It was a bitter sweet moment." Despite making his stage debut aged seven as Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, the young Fiennes was more interested in becoming a painter than an actor.

It was only after leaving school at 16 to study art that he decided to follow the example of his eldest brother Ralph, star of Schindler's List.

- Joe's building saga:

Mail on Sunday
May 18, 2003
By Sarah Hartley

A Fiennes mess you have left us in, Joseph

Exasperation is mounting in the saga of Joseph Fiennes's attempts to renovate his ruinous house in Notting Hill.

'Environmental officers have been called to inspect the site which is strewn with beer cans and rubbish,' said one local, where neighbours include Rosie Boycott, Stella McCartney and Mariella Frostrup. 'The place is in a pretty shocking state and the garden is a jungle. Even squatters have turned up their noses at it.' Now it seems that nothing will be done to the eyesore until next year. Architects have been invited to submit plans for renovations to the house by November this year. However, the Shakespeare In Love star is not living in his own mess, as he has absconded to nearby Shepherd's Bush with his latest girlfriend, Hong-Kong-born Natalie Mendoza, co-star on his new film The Great Raid. Last month, the actor tried quietly to be rid of the place by offering it for auction with FPD Savills for GBP 1.25 million. Unfortunately, it failed to reach the reserve and was withdrawn from sale.

It should all have been so different for the actor. When swarthy 32-yearold Fiennes snapped up the fourstorey, six-bedroom terraced house in Leamington Road Villas two years ago he had high hopes for its renovation. His idea was to transform the place with happy weekends of DIY with then girlfriend, makeup artist Fiona Jolly. It was a nasty shock though, having spent GBP 1.2 million, for Fiennes to discover that the house was structurally unsound. After a long wrangle with planners, he was granted permission to demolish the entire building (bar the facade) and start again. The plan, it seems, was to construct an uber-trendy glass home for the 21st Century. It would have included a staircase running from the basement to the roof glazed with mirrored glass at an estimated cost of more than GBP 500,000.

Sadly, Fiennes' relationship with Fiona had similar structural difficulties and fell into decline at the end of last year. Understandably enough, perhaps, the actor's love affair with Notting Hill had also lost its lustre. Longsuffering estate agents Woolley & Wallis have threatened to withdraw their services too.

Sunday Telegraph (London)
May 18, 2003
By Tim Walker

Joseph in love

Leonie Casanova, the beautiful girlfriend of the Shakespeare in Love star Joseph Fiennes, is clearly not in the least bit star-struck.

When Fiennes offered himself up as a dinner date at an auction to raise funds for the Almeida Theatre in Islington, London, last week, she looked stunned when the lot fetched pounds 4,000. "I certainly wouldn't pay that to have dinner with Joe," she observed tartly. "I find it astonishing that anyone would."

Leonie has been going out with Fiennes for several months and was pictured with him in Mauritius over Christmas, when she was identified simply as a "glamorous dark-haired companion".

Now Mandrake can furnish not only a name but an occupation. "I'm a rock singer," says Leonie, who was on her boyfriend's arm at a gala performance of Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea at the Almeida last week. "I moved to London from New York two years ago."

Fiennes's previous girlfriends have included Naomi Campbell and Fiona Jolly, a make-up artist.