Abbreviations

April 27, 2002

- From the Killing Me Softly production notes:

Killing Me Softly
Based on the best-selling novel by Nicci French
A film by Chen Kaige
Starring Joseph Fiennes & Heather Graham
Opening date: 14th June
Certficate: 18
Running Time: 100 mins
Publicity: Pathe Press Office
Tel: 020 7323 5151
Email: patricia.gill@pathe-uk.com or naomi.taylor@pathe-uk.com

The production notes consist of the cast list, an introduction, a fairly detailed synopsis (which shows that some important things from the book have been changed), information about cast and crew and information about the production itself, where I have taken the following quotes from:

"The role of Adam, the handsome mysterious mountain climber with whom Alice falls suddenly and totally in love, is played by English actor Joseph Fiennes. Says Kaige, "We were very lucky to have Joe in this role, playing a character who is ambiguous and unpredictable, while at the same time he is irresistible to Alice. Joe is very experienced and, being an English actor, is well trained, as is the tradition here. He is serious and sincere and honest, which makes him very easy to work with."

Fiennes describes Adam Tallis, his character. "He's a mountaineer, recovering from the emotional effects of a terrible accident in the Himalayan peaks. He meets Alice on a crowded street. It is one of those rare occasions of total chemistry, when the impact they have on each other leads to passion very quickly." He adds, "This starts as a passionate love story and develops into a thriller. Somehow you only remember the stories of great passion which self-destruct; you remember the the tragedy of lost love. From the first shot where Adam and Alice meet, it is a beautiful love story which goes tragically wrong."

To research the background of his character Adam, Fiennes took up climbing, first training at a London climbing centre and then travelling to Glen Coe in Scotland. "Part of making Adam real to me was looking at what motivates and drives a climber; what guides this passion and obsession to climb up thousands of feet in circumstances which are usually fairly inhospitable." As a result, Fiennes found himself bitten by the bug of the sport. "It is a strange solitary occupation, but there is literally an umbilical connection between you and the belayer, the person feeding your rope to you, which makes it an activity built on trust and collaboration. It's a strange solitary mixture of love and hate. Parts of the climb can be sheer terror - extreme conditions, perched on a high ledge - followed by an immense sense of exhilaration when you complete the climb." Fiennes was hailed by his instructors as the most gifted learner they had ever taught, and intends to develop his interest further.

Fiennes is full of praise for his director. "I trust Kaige implicitly. He is open to ides from others, and has a healthy attitude to collaboration, but in truth he is so well prepared that he has already explored every detail of your character and helps you discover more about yourself. A good analogy would be to compare him to a great jazz player; he knows the rules you have to stick by, but has the security to go off and explore the riffs within a beautifully designed shot."

For Fiennes, this is the third time he has worked with an internationally acclaimed director making a first English language film, having previously starred for director Shekhar Kapur in the multi-award winning Elizabeth, and more recently for Oscar winner Milcho Manchevski in Dust. "It is fascinating to see the material that foreign directors choose for their first English language projects, and very exciting how they can open your eyes to the familiar in the way they approach your culture. I'm sure for Kaige this is very different from material he has chosen before." He adds, "If Kaige asked me to take any role, big or small, anywhere in the world, I would accept. He makes you feel you are collaborating on something very exciting."

April 25, 2002

- The UK release date for KMS will be 14 June.

April 17, 2002

- Upcomingmovies now has a page about Sinbad

April 16, 2002

- From sz-newsline.de:

Luther - Geschichte im Mattscheibenformat
Frankfurt (epd). Heute beginnen die Dreharbeiten für einen neuen Film über den Reformator Martin Luther (1483-1546). Die Außenaufnahmen werden in Sesslach bei Coburg gedreht. Die Rolle des jungen Luther spielt Joseph Fiennes ("Shakespeare in Love"). Regie führt der Kanadier Eric Till, der bereits "Bonhoeffer - Die letzte Stufe" inszenierte. Luthers Förderer, Kurfürst Friedrich der Weise, spielt Peter Ustinov, seinen Lehrer Johann von Staupitz Bruno Ganz. Die katholische Seite ist mit Uwe Ochsenknecht (Papst Leo X.) und Mathieu Carrière (Kardinal Cajetan) vertreten.

Translation:
Luther - history in screen format
Today the filming for a new movie about reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) starts. The exterior shots will be filmed in Sesslach near Coburg. Young Luther is played by Joseph Fiennes, director is the Canadian Eric Till (Bonhoeffer - The last step), Peter Ustinov plays Luthers patron Elector Friedrich, Bruno Ganz plays Luther's teacher Johann von Staupitz. The Catholic side is represented by Uwe Ochsenknecht (Pope Leo X.) and Mathieu Carrière (Cardinal Cajetan).

- From Ananova:

Pitt and Zeta Jones to voice new animated Sinbad film
Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta Jones are to provide the voices for a new animated film about Sinbad. The film is being made by Steven Spielberg's company DreamWorks. Michelle Pfeiffer and Joseph Fiennes will also provide voices for the film. It will be produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was also one of the producers of Shrek, and is expected to be released next year. "It's sort of taking the classic Sinbad tales and putting it together in a really big adventure," Katzenberg tells www.chud.com.

- More news about Sinbad from the Dreamworks fansite

Katzenberg Talks 'Sinbad'
Tom who attended the press junket of Spirit Stallion of Cimarron this past Sunday sent in some cool tidbits on the upcoming animated feature Sinbad last night. Although, the full junket interviews will be coming online here soon, he told me DreamWorks has Sinbad slated for May 2003 and stars Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joe Fiennes and Michelle Pfeiffer. You can get more details on this when the interviews hit online this week.

"Through their father's line, the brothers Fiennes are 19th great-grandsons of Edward III, king of England from 1327 to 1377, and 15th great-grandsons of James II, king of Scotland from 1437 to 1460." And "Mary Stuart is their 3rd cousin 12 times removed." Small photos of Joseph and Ralph accompany the paragraph.

April 15, 2002

- From an article in April 9th's Telegraph:

..."Notting Hill is one area of the capital most favoured by celebrities. Mick Jagger's daughter, Jade, has a house there, as does Richard E Grant. Robbie Williams has spent £2 million on a home, while Patsy Kensit has a £750,000 flat. Another resident, Harry Enfield, has a £3 million house. However, long-term inhabitants want to curb the efforts of some celebrities keen to use their wealth to create "dream homes".

The actor Joseph Fiennes, star of Shakespeare in Love, is at loggerheads with his Notting Hill neighbours over his plans to convert a £1.2 million derelict four-storey house.

Initially, he wanted to re-build the entire house apart from the facade and extend the side of the property into a narrow alley.

This was withdrawn amid complaints from neighbours. Now he wants an imposing staircase with mirrored glass running from the basement to the roof at the back.

A neighbour said: "This is Notting Hill, not Beverly Hills. I don't know why he can't build something normal."

A council spokesman said the planning application had to be considered before a committee because the house was in a conservation area. "We are still at the consultation stage with residents."

Neighbours have until later this month to make their views known.

April 10, 2002

- If you want to know what one of Joe's body doubles in "Leopold Bloom" looks like, go to Keith Warrick Blandford's website. He sent us the link himself, after saying that he used NOJ as research to find out "who this Joseph Fiennes dude was". He's a print model and theatre actor (mostly Shakespeare). We understand of course, that, in the middle of shooting, he can't talk about the filming.

- German Pay TV "Premiere" will show "Forever Mine" on the following dates:

Friday 12 April, 12.45 - 14.45
Friday 19 April, 02.40 - 04.40
Wednesday 24 April, 14:00 - 15:55
Monday 29 April, 04:35 - 06:30
Monday 29 April, 18:00 - 19:55

April 8, 2002

- Vanity Fair, May 2002 contains a pictorial about 10 of the greatest living explorers. One of them is Sir Ranulph Fiennes! The article reads:

SIR RANULPH FIENNES, 58
Star Trekker

Parachuting onto Europe's highest glacier - then canoeing down. Piloting a hovercraft to the mouth of the White Nile. Trekking across Arabia to discover the lost city of Ubar, called the "Atlantis of the Sands." Completing the first successful pole-to-pole circumnavigation of the globe, by boat, Land Rover, ski, and snowshoe. These are the sorts of exploits that once earned the dashing Brit an audition for the role of James Bond. (Roger Moore got the job.) Doubtful that 007 would have had the temerity to place his frostbitten left hand in a vise and hack off the petrified fingertips with a fretsaw - as Fiennes did two years ago in his Somerset, England, workshop (after an aborted solo jaunt to the North Pole). "The world would be a far duller place without him," Prince Charles has said of Sir Ran, who in 1993 was awarded the O.B.E. "I have never taken heroin," says the decendant of Charlemagne and cousin of actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes, "but I cannot imagine anything as ecstatic as the feeling of returning from an expedition to a hot bath."

April 4, 2002

- TV alert for the US:

"Forever Mine" is being shown on Starz Theatre cable channel:
- Fri: April 5 - 10:00 p.m. EST,
- Daily Apr. 6 thru Apr. 11 at 6:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m. (EST)
- Fri. Apr. 12 at 6:00 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. (EST)

April 2, 2002

- NEW YORK, April 1 /PRNewswire

Violinist Lara St. John has signed an exclusive contract to record for Sony Classical, Peter Gelb, President of the label, announced today. St. John will record both innovative and core classical projects for Sony Classical, and her first release -- a disc of unusual arrangements of the music of J.S. Bach -- is scheduled for release in Fall 2002. St. John's first recording for Sony Classical will bring her together with English composer/producer Magnus Fiennes and arranger Brian Gascoigne in imaginative and contemporary sounding arrangements of the music of Bach, with such unusual guest artists such as the Indian tabla virtuoso Trilok Gurtu. The recording is currently under production and is tentatively scheduled for a Fall 2002 release.

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