Abbreviations

January 31, 2001

- Today's Variety reported a guest list of stars who are expected at the Berlin International Film Festival, and it seems that Joe will attend:

"Sure bets include Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anthony Hopkins and Kirk Douglas, the subject of this year's homage. Author John Le Carre is also expected to attend, as are Kate Winslet, Rachel Weisz, Geoffrey Rush, Joaquin Phoenix, Joseph Fiennes, Jude Law, Bob Hoskins, Pierce Brosnan, Alfred Molina and Sean Connery."

"...directors including Ridley Scott, Steven Soderbergh, Philip Kaufman, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Patrice Leconte, Roger Donaldson, Lasse Hallstrom, Guiseppe Tornatore, Michael Winterbottom, Mike Nichols, Spike Lee, and Emir Kusturica."

The festival kicks off Feb. 7 with Annaud's "Enemy at the Gates" and closes Feb. 18 with a re-release of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey."

January 28, 2001

- Today's Sunday Times says EATG will be opening in the UK nationwide from 16 March - not 2 March as was told before. It's listed in a section called Look Ahead. We can only wait and see what this means for other European release dates.

January 27, 2001

- From the Express, Jan. 26, by Gillian Crawley

THE FIENNES

Ralph Fiennes, star of Schindler's List and The English Patient, argues against working with the family. "I think if you scrapped and fought and argued as children that could transfer into an adult working relationship,'' he says. Such reservations did not, however, prevent his collaboration with his sister Martha and brother Magnus to produce Onegin, their version of Pushkin's masterpiece. While Ralph took the leading role in the film, Martha directed and Magnus wrote the score. "Of course we had disagreements but we worked incredibly closely on this project," Ralph said afterwards.The three now have plans to work together again and include their brother Joseph, a star in his own right thanks to leading roles in films Shakespeare In Love and Elizabeth.

January 26, 2001

- According to filmunlimited, Joe's name has been withdrawn from the "Uprising" project, which will now be filmed as a mini series.

Star cast set for story of Warsaw ghetto

A starry cast is being brought together by NBC and Warner Bros to make Uprising, a miniseries about life in the Warsaw ghetto during world war two. According to Michael Fleming in Variety, Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes) will direct a cast featuring James Woods (pictured), Leelee Sobieski, Stephen Rea, David Schwimmer, Sadie Frost and Donald Sutherland. The project, which starts shooting in Slovakia in late March, was originally envisaged as a feature film, but it was decided that would not enable the story to be told properly.

January 25, 2001

- New role for Joe?

Cambridge graduate teams up with Fiennes (Ananova)

Olivia Williams is being lined up to partner Joseph Fiennes in a new Second World War drama with extra-terrestrial overtones.

The Cambridge University graduate survived her Hollywood debut in The Postman with Kevin Costner to find success in Rushmore and The Sixth Sense.

The real life judge's daughter has also won warm praise for her portrayal as a sexually frustrated salsa dancer in Born Romantic.

It was premiered at the London Film Festival and is being released next month.

In the new drama Below she plays a doctor who is rescued by an American submarine captained by Fiennes. And she believes she is heading for safety until forces out of their control take over.

The film is set to be directed by David Twohy who wrote and directed Pitch Black.

- The same website has this about KMS (dated 19 October 2000):

Actress makes movie comeback after maternity leave

Natascha McElhone is making her movie comeback after motherhood in the erotic thriller Killing Me Softly.

The actress shot to fame alongside Sir Anthony Hopkins in Surviving Picasso. In her new film, she will play the "other woman" in a torrid love triangle with Heather Graham and Joseph Fiennes.

The London-based Killing Me Softly, budgeted at £20 million, is being made by director Chen Kaige in his first English language project. He directed Farewell My Concubine.

January 19, 2001

- According to Movie-Inside the release date for Enemy at the Gates in Germany is March 15, 2001. This site also contains great movie pictures!

January 17, 2001

- According to Upcomingmovies.com the US Release date of Enemy at the Gates has been delayed to March 23, 2001. And the Paramount Page lists March 2001 so this is probably true. Darn!

January 16, 2001

- According to German Cinema mag, EATG is up for a March release in Germany as well. No specific date yet.

- Today's edition of Heat Magazine UK (Jan. 20 - 26) has a "50 sexiest people" section voted for by readers, and Joe is number 18 of the men out of 25. The pic is here.

January 15, 2001

- The EATG trailer is online! Go to Dark Horizons, scroll down and find them in mov format in three different resolutions.

- The EATG movie webpage is online! Go here. This webpage also contains the trailer.

January 11, 2001

- The following paragraph appeared in a January 9 article in the Guardian entitled "Movie Moguls" by John Davitt:

"Elsewhere, Joseph Fiennes worked with Sarah Clarke from Bedford high school. She was more familiar than he with the editing tools - girls at the school regularly use digital video to make their own adverts for completed products made in Design and Technology lessons."

- The January 6 edition of the Independent contained an article "Curtain calls - The lights are sparkling in Theatreland" by David Benedict which reported:

"Michael Grandage returns to Sheffield with Joseph Fiennes and Lloyd Owen in Marlowe's 16th-century sensation, Edward II"... So now we have another cast member name but no idea what role Mr. Lloyd will take. If you are curious about him, as I was, you may check out the Internet Movie Database under The Cinder Path to see a picture (Thanks Judith!)

January 10, 2001

- BERLIN (Variety), 10 January, 2001

Jean-Jacques Annaud's World War II epic 'Enemy at the Gates' has been chosen as the opening night film at this year's Berlin International Film Festival (Feb. 7-18).

- Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin, Press News, January 10th, 2001

JEAN-JACQUES ANNAUD'S ENEMY AT THE GATES WILL OPEN THE BERLINALE 2001
The 51st Berlinale is celebrating its grand opening on February 7 2001 with the world premiere of Jean-Jacques Annaud's Enemy at the Gates. By selecting this film, shot exclusively in Germany and for the most part at Babelsberg Studios, the Berlinale would like to call attention to Germany as a centre for film and media production.

On making this announcement, Festival Director Mortiz de Hadeln emphasized: "Although we know that everyone is against war, we cannot ignore the gruesome events of the past. With this film director Jean-Jacques Annaud has brilliantly shed light on a chapter of German history. From the massive crowd scenes to the tiniest details he and his team of German technicians successfully demonstrate that Germany and Europe are in a position to effectively realize such major projects and thus challenge the idea that Americans have a monopoly on such works."

This international co-production is largely financed by Germany. Jean-Jacques Annaud (The Name Of The Rose, The Bear), who has won the César award several times, translates to the screen the script by Alain Godard (The Name Of The Rose), a gripping saga of the Stalingrad siege. During the legendary battle of Stalingrad in 1942 a Russian sniper fights for his life against a German sharpshooter. The film stars Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley), Ed Harris (The Truman Show), Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) and Rachel Weisz (Stealing Beauty, The Mummy). In supporting roles Bob Hoskins (Mona Lisa) portrays Nikita Khrushtchev and Matthias Habich (Beyond Silence) plays General Paulus.

Berlin (Reuters), 10 January, 2001

Germany's Stalingrad Film to Open Berlin Festival

A German-American co-production about the pivotal World War Two battle of Stalingrad, "Enemy at the Gates," will open the 51st Berlin film festival with its world premiere on February 7, organizers said on Wednesday.

Given the rare honor of opening the annual Berlinale, "Enemy at the Gates" is one of the most expensive films ever made in Germany, the world's second largest market in ticket sales that is nonetheless dominated by Hollywood films.

Filmed in English, the drama pits a German and a Russian sniper against each other during the epic 1942 battle at Stalingrad. Germany lost the battle, which turned out to be one of the main turning points of World War Two.

About 20 films making their international debuts compete each year for Golden Bears at the Berlinale, Europe's first major film festival each year and considered to be one of the world's top festivals, after Cannes and alongside Venice.

Starring British actors Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes as well as American Ed Harris, "Enemy at the Gates" was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and produced by the U.S. company Mandalay Entertainment in association with Germany's KC Medien and MP Film Managment. Filmmakers denied reports in the German media that the film, shot almost entirely in the Babelsberg studio and in rural areas outside Berlin, had a $90 million budget.

They declined to say what the exact costs were but confirmed it was one of the most expensive productions ever made in Germany, where film budgets rarely top 50 million marks. It is extremely rare that a German film opens the Berlinale.

"Although we know everyone is against war, we cannot ignore the gruesome events of the past," said festival director Moritz de Hadeln. "Jean-Jacques Annaud has brilliantly shed light on a chapter of German history.

"He and his team of German technicians have successfully demonstrated that Germany and Europe are in a position to realize such major projects and challenge the idea that Americans have a monopoly on such works."

January 7, 2001

- According to today's Sunday Times, Enemy at the Gates will be released in the UK on 2 March 2001, so just in time for all of us over in Sheffield for the Joe play in March!!! :)

January 4, 2001

- There will be a special by-invitation-only screening of "Forever Mine" in St. Pete Beach, Florida on January 17. The pink hotel featured in the movie, the Don CeSar, will be the site of a reception before the screening at the Beach Theater. Director Paul Schrader is scheduled to attend.

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