Abbreviations

April 29, 2001

- From This is London, 25 April 2001, excerpt from article titled "Why the best sex is reel sex", about sex in movies:

New films like Wayne Wang's The Centre of the World, the Australian movie Better Than Sex, the forthcoming Intimacy and Killing Me Softly all take the sexual relationship between the main characters as the main theme. Thus we can see Joseph Fiennes and Heather Graham or Kerry Fox and Mark Rylance stripping off and getting down to business to the manner porn. The newly liberated British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) has finally buckled to public pressure and gone soft on hard sex in movies.

For the full article go here

April 27, 2001

- From Now Magazine, second May issue:

Save the Children asked celebrities to tell all about their lucky breaks. (Change the Odds Campaign)

Actor Joseph Fiennes

"The one event that helped shape my future was in primary school. A teacher cast me as Joseph in the musical Joseph And His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

I was given an opportunity and I think of it as the beginning for me. I've had some fantastic opportunities and I think those of us in privileged positions can give back and get people to realise just how sad the realities of many children's lives are.

Hidden in every young individual, there's creative potential - it's up to us to nurture it. Support the young and they will be part of a process that will have a knock-on effect for generations to come. I think that's unique and special."

For the past decade, sex in movies has been replaced by monsters, gigantic waves, meteors, ghosts, serial killers, animals - heck, just about everything has been on-screen but steam. Lately, though, it seems Hollywood has been letting films heat up. This fall there's Killing Me Softly, the movie version of the lusty Nicci French novel from Farewell My Concubine director Chen Kaige. Heather Graham and Joseph Fiennes play erotically obsessed strangers who meet in secret in London, and sources say those hush hush encounters make for the sort of heat that movies like Nine 1/2 Weeks promised but didn't deliver. Yeah, yeah, but how much of the hot stuff will actually make it on-screen?

April 22, 2001

- Vote for Joe on the People's 50 Most Beautiful Contest. Type Joe's name in the window and click "submit". You'll see the names of the 10 people who have received the most nominations to date. You can submit names as often as you like until April 26.

April 20, 2001

From Nicky Haslam, Directors Magazine:

"I have to say I am pro dressing down as long as it is done with style. Men should take lessons from the actor Joe Fiennes," says Haslam. "In a way, dressing down has become dressing up - street clothes with an almost 18th-century male-peacock opulence."

April 19, 2001

- Snippet from an article in the Independent:

It's a Fiennes romance for gay King Ed
S. Byrnes
19/03/01

JOSEPH FIENNES, has impressed the critics in the title role in Edward II, which opened last week at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Michael Grandage's production of Christopher Marlowe's play does not shy away from the king's homosexuality. Quite the opposite: Edward's relationship with Piers Gaveston is made very explicit. Actors are expected to be able to get in character, however different from their own the part may be, but straight actors playing gay lovers requires a particular leap of the imagination. To help them get into the roles, I hear that Grandage had an ingenious plan. He instructed the cast to visit local gay clubs to observe how the regulars behaved. From the notices so far, it seems to have done the trick.

April 17, 2001

- More about "Dust" opening the Venice Film Festival:

Sydney Morning Herald 'Eastern' western may open Venice
By Peter Cochrane
Wednesday, April 18, 2001

A western set in the Balkans, co-starring Australia's David Wenham, is tipped to open this year's Venice Film Festival.

According to Variety, the trade paper, Venice is believed to have secured the world premiere of writer-director Milcho Manchevski's Dust, about two feuding cowboy brothers - played by Wenham and England's Joseph Fiennes (who played the title role in Shakespeare in Love) - who enlist as mercenaries on opposing sides during the first Balkans War of 1912.

Its historical sweep ranges from the badlands of Arizona to bandit-ravaged turn-of-the-century Bitola, where Ataturk fought in vain to keep the Macedonia of his birth under Ottoman control.

Manchevski is a previous winner at Venice, Before the Rain having shared with the Taiwanese film Vive L'Amour the Golden Lion award in 1994 (Before the Rain also earned an Oscar nomination).

Dubbed the first "baklava western", Dust was shot in southern Macedonia during the worst heatwave to hit the Balkans in 30 years, with the cast and crew suffering from sunstroke, dysentery and a host of other ailments.

The Guardian reported recently: "Even by the tortuous standards of movie-making, this was a bizarre and horrendous shoot - Apocalypse Now without the luxury of a studio budget."

"Come to Macedonia and be in my 'eastern' - it'll be fun," Manchevski had allegedly told his actors.

A spokesman for his management told the Herald yesterday that Wenham flew to London at his own expense to audition for the director. Having completed work on The Lord of the Rings (he plays Faramir), he'll return to London later this year to film Chameleon.

If Dust opens Venice on August 29 it will be Wenham's second major festival-circuit showcase this year. He also appears in Moulin Rouge, which kicks off the Cannes festival on May 9.

April 16, 2001

- "Dust" to open Venice Film Festival:

Monday April 16 1:08 AM ET
Reuters/Variety REUTERS
"Dust" will settle on Venice
By David Rooney

ROME (Variety) - While programmers of the Cannes Film Festival are scrambling to flesh out the lineup prior to Wednesday's announcement, the head of the Venice festival is believed to have secured the world premiere of Milcho Manchevski's "Dust" to open the event's 58th edition, running Aug. 29-Sept. 8.

The selection of the $12.5 million Balkan Western, a British-German-Italian-Macedonian co-production, marks the first time since 1994 - when the curtain went up on Michael Radford's "Il Postino" - that a major U.S. feature has not opened Venice. Recent openers have included "Saving Private Ryan," "Eyes Wide Shut" and "Space Cowboys." However, high-profile studio fare will not be absent, with Steven Spielberg's eagerly awaited "A.I." from Warner Bros. locked in to make its European premiere at Venice in an out-of-competition slot. Set between present-day New York and the early 20th century during the first Balkan war, "Dust" is described as a violent, poetic ballad inspired by the American Western. The English-language feature stars Joseph Fiennes, David Wenham, Adrian Lester, Anne Brochet, Rosemary Murphy and Nikolina Kujaca. While no official announcements regarding the Venice lineup will be made before the customary press conference July 29, sources indicate that "Dust," which is completing post-production, was withdrawn from possible Cannes selection when Venice chief Alberto Barbera screened the film and immediately issued an invitation to Venice. Manchevski is understood to have favored a return to Venice, where he won the festival's top prize, the Golden Lion, for his 1994 debut feature, "Before the Rain." The director reportedly has opted for "Dust" to screen out of competition. The film does not yet have U.S. distribution.

April 15, 2001

- Excerpt from the Observer about the Mallory movie:

Outrage as climbers bid to find Everest hero's body
Jason Burke, chief reporter
Observer
Sunday April 15, 2001

Interest in Mallory and Irvine's story appears insatiable. This autumn a £20 million feature film will start filming in the Himalayas, Canada and Britain. David Green, the producer, said Joseph Fiennes had been cast as Mallory. Much of the film centres on Mallory's intense relationship with his wife. Mallory's decision to attempt the climb with Irvine - as opposed to some other more experienced climber - will be attributed to the young mountaineer's skill with the newly developed oxygen equipment, not to homosexual attraction as rumoured in the past.

For the full article go here

April 14, 2001

- Mag alert!

"There is a full page in the "People Section" of the British women's magazine "B" (current April issue) titled : "Lust: Joseph Fiennes" which is a tribute to Joe with photo. (page 19). It talks about JF turning down 1 million pounds to star in the new Roman Polanski film "The Pianist" to do the 350 pounds per week run in "Edward II"."

Sean French and Nicci Gerrard - single-minded writers
by MICHELE HEWITSON
14.04.2001

Killing Me Softly, the third Nicci French novel, is now a film with Joseph Fiennes and Heather Graham (due for release in Britain later this year). Gerrard wrote, in a piece about watching the making of the film, that it was written as "a secret, intimate exchange - particularly so since the the novel's subject was erotic intimacy and trust."

Killing Me Softly is the story of Alice who trades in her quiet, decent life and quiet, decent boyfriend for a man who catches her eye on a crowded street. She shrugs off her old life as easily as an old cardigan, and embraces a world full of risk and half-truths.

It is a story about the consequences of falling in love with a stranger. And, of course, mostly we do fall in love with people we hardly know and that sensation is as exhilarating, and can be as dangerous, as jumping out of a plane without a parachute.

"I think most women know what that feels like," Gerrard says, "even if they don't act on it. When you fall in love, it's an odd thing, isn't it? You sort of lose control, you let yourself trust somebody you don't know."

For the full article go here

April 12, 2001

- From Rebecca at Sales Co and Ryan at UNESCO DPR:

"Dust" is officially not going to Cannes. As of today it is still in post-produciton. Currently the Sales Co intends to bring it to Venice but there are no other festival dates in mind yet. Major release is scheduled for the fall.

One of our recent film jobs was "Killing Me Softly ".Our scene involved the hero played by Joseph Fiennes chasing down the mugger of Heather Graham and battering him with a kiosk door. Sound effect and pads made the scene realistic and safe. Unfortunately the door did not survive the shoot.

- Two bits from newspaper articles about James D'Arcy, Joe's costar in Edward II:

What's it like playing opposite Joseph Fiennes in Edward II?
"If you're playing with people who are talented and better than you, some of it rubs off on you. Joe's a terrific actor. He's such a giving man that you feel very comfortable around him".

Playing alongside Fiennes at the Sheffield Crucible presented more challenges, such as stepping over the hordes of adoring teenage girls camped outside the stage door. D'Arcy can have only enflamed their jealousy by kissing Fiennes onstage every night. "I dont' see what anyone sees in blokes at all" he laughs. "Every night I got stubble rash and that doesn't do it for me at all. Maybe if he got one of those Mach 3 blades, something could have blossomed..."

April 11, 2001

- Snipped from an article entitled: Noises off: 'Pilgrams' progress
By ROBERT HOFLER Apr. 11, 20001

"Producers were sniffing around Sheffield, England's Crucible Theater last month. Joseph Fiennes finished there recently in a much-lauded production of Marlowe's "Edward II," and there has been talk of a commercial transfer. However, word is the actor is interested in performing the Elizabethan drama only in a so-called "found space." Maybe there's a warehouse in Brooklyn that hasn't been converted yet …"

April 10, 2001

- Joe's political beliefs:

Manchester Evening News
April 9, 2001

A Fiennes Lib-Dem

Move over John Cleese, local Liberal Democrats have been quick to adopt Hollywood hunk Joseph Fiennes as their latest celebrity supporter.

Manchester councillors John Commons and Alison Firth, both due to stand in Sheffield constituencies at the forthcoming general election, recently caught up with the Shakespeare in Love star during a visit to the city.

Evidently keen to lure the luvvie vote, the somewhat smitten Councillor Firth insists Fiennes, who was starring in Edward II at the Crucible, is loyal to their cause. "He gave us the thumbs up and said 'Up the Lib Dems!'. He was happy to have his picture taken with us," she enthuses.

Whether Mr Fiennes is really set to woo voters on behalf of Charles Kennedy and Co. remains to be seen...

Thursday 29th March
The play was excellent and Dannie and I were joined for pizza by the exceptionally handsome James D’Arcy, currently melting hearts as Nicholas Nickleby, who regaled us with tales of the delights of Sheffield and its minimally dressed audiences - the average age being 16-24, mostly female and sharing the common denominator of all being entirely enamoured with the lovely Joe Fiennes. We stayed another night and had dinner with Joe, James, Alan and his sister Margaret. It certainly made for a Fiennes evening. As Dannie and I commented on our return journey, it seems to be our year for dining out with the Fiennes. Lucky us!

April 9, 2001

- Ananova, 6 April 2001:

Civilian has seven films ready to roll

Civilian Content is aiming to release up to seven films this year, although losses in 2000 stacked up to £1.9 million.

The film and TV company says it has ten films in varying stages of production and aimed to release between five and seven this year.

Managing director Richard Holmes said the first film likely to hit the screens would be Room To Rent, a bittersweet comedy about a young Egyptian writer seeking his fortune in London, starring Juliette Lewis and Rupert Graves.

Room To Rent is due out in spring/summer, while the second film due is Large, a low-budget teenage comedy set in Birmingham.

Mr Holmes hopes Large would be a "significant UK hit", while he also has high hopes for Dust, a film in the style of the hit movie The English Patient, which will star Joseph Fiennes.

Other films in the pipeline are 51st State, staring Robert Carlyle and Samuel L Jackson, set for a late summer release.

Mr Holmes says the group had spent the last year and a half building up the business and had seen an "immensely busy, but constructive year".

Losses for the year came in at £1.9 million, against a £1.8 million profit in 1999 - a figure boosted by one-off gains - while turnover rose from £626,000 to £1.2 million.

Expectations are the firm will break even towards the end of this year.

The group is also helped by lottery funding - The Film Consortium, which it bought in April 2000, had been awarded access to £33.5 million of funding in 1997.

The Film Consortium made Hideous Kinky starring Kate Winslet.

April 8, 2001

- From the unofficial Dreamworks fansite:

"SFGate.com is reporting that Christine Baranski (The Grinch & Bowfinger) and Russell Crowe will star in DreamWorks fourth traditional animated feature Sindbad. There isn't much info available at this point but one thing is for sure. With the busy schedule on DreamWorks animated slate we won't see this film until 2003 or 2004."
They don't mention Joe but have a link to the news bit which we posted already some days ago. Well, it seems we have to wait a bit to hear Joe's voice in that one.

April 5, 2001

- Joe pics:

There is a small Joe pic in April's Movieline magazine about the shoot with Heather Graham, no pic from the film, or any other film, it looks like it is from the Onegin Premiere.

And there is a somewhat bigger picture in a book called "Bafta 2001" in the end section where they talk about past winners and it says it's from the 1999 awards where he was presenting the category "Best screenplay", he is pictured with winner Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malcovich).

- Funny tidbit from www.unmissabletv.com:

James D'Arcy: I hate kissing Joseph Fiennes

Millions of women would love to snog Joseph Fiennes for fun, never mind a living.

But the recent star of Rebel Heart James D'Arcy says he hates kissing the Shakespeare in Love actor in a theatre production of Edward II at the Sheffield Crucible.

'Do you know what, I just don't see what anyone sees in blokes at all,' complains James, who plays Gaveston, a young upstart who has a passionate affair with the gay king (played by Fiennes).

In short, James thinks it's about time his famous co-star had a closer shave. 'Every night I get stubble rash and that really doesn't do it for me.

'Maybe if he got one of those Mach 3 blades something would blossom, I don't know,' laughs TV's newest heartthrob, who plays the title role in an upcoming ITV adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby.

But apart from his stubble, James doesn't have a bad word to say about Fiennes.

'Joseph is a private man, but he's not, for want of a better word, a luvvie.

'His focus on the work is extraordinary, given that his profile is international, he's young, and is attractive to lots of seventeen- year-old girls... he doesn't let it go to his head.'

Joseph Fiennes: My new film had to be gruesome

Joseph Fiennes believes his latest film Enemy at the Gates shows a necessarily gruesome portrayal of war, promising to take the viewer 'as close as you will get to the true grit, terror and horror of war'.

Jude Law's character - the legendary Second World War sniper Vassily - 'was definitely a Russian hero,' according to Fiennes, but it was his own character, political propagandist Danilov, who put him in that position, elevating him to a hero status amongst the soldiers as a means of boosting morale.

The Shakespeare in Love star admits that there are some 'illogical' aspects to the film, yet he believes 'it's vital that it's told in an honest fashion however gruesome that may be'.

He describes the Siege of Stalingrad, around which the film is based, as 'a pivotal battle - it was the beginning of the end of The Second World War and many lives were lost, so out of respect for that I think director Jean-Jacques Annaud has presented it in a real fashion.'

April 2, 2001

- The April edition of British GQ has a list of the 50 best dressed men in England and Joe came out in #29. It says: #29 - Joseph Fiennes. New entry. The Shakespeare you love. "He's got a strong sense of himself, and style." Tara Palmer-Tomkinson.

April 1, 2001

- More about US Weekly:

Joe's answer to US Weekly's "What are you listening to?" question was "Among My Swan" by Mazy Star (Haunting rock from the Northern California band, circa 1996) Joe said: "They're a great band with a sweet sense of harmony and passion."