July 31, 2001
- KMS release date postponed:
Variety , 31 July 2001
By Dana Harris
USA: MGM walks 'Softly' to January preem.MGM has slated Chen Kaige's erotic thriller "Killing Me Softly" for release Jan. 18, the start of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Pic, which stars Heather Graham and Joseph Fiennes, had been set to unspool in the fall.
The date reps what is historically one of the highest-grossing box office weekends of the first quarter, said Robert Levin, MGM president of worldwide theatrical marketing and distribution, in the announcement. The studio plans to release the film on more than 2,000 screens.
"We're very pleased to have such a strong picture to kick off our slate for 2002," said Levin. "We believe (Jan. 18) to be the perfect date for the film to reach the widest audience possible."
MGM is releasing the pic in the U.S. and Canada, while Myriad Pictures has sole international rights.
"Killing" is the story of a woman, captivated by a mysterious stranger, who finds herself leaving her fiance to marry him. When secrets surface from his past, she finds herself in a bizarre situation she can't escape.
Kara Lindstrom penned the screenplay based on a novel by Nicci French.
The film is presented by MGM and the Montecito Picture Co. and was produced by Joe Medjuck, Lynda Myles and Michael Chinich, with executive producers Ivan Reitman, Tom Pollock and Daniel Goldberg.
July 29, 2001
- Ticket information for the Venice Film Festival:
There will be 140 films.
The prices of the tickets are:
From 10.000 to 40.000 Lire. (roughly about 5 to 20 dollars)
Ticket PalaBnl 20.000 Lire. (about 10 dollars)
Subscriptions: from 120.000 to 1.500.000 Lire. (about 60 to 750 dollars)
Places available: 5.400.
July 28, 2001
- Joe will attend the Venice Film Festival end of August!
There is an article in the Italian "Il Secolo XIX" today about the Venice Film Festival, stating that "Dust" will open the Festival on August 29 AND that Joseph Fiennes, among other stars like Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, Jeanne Moreau etc. will be present.Also, the following festival sites have been updated yesterday:
La Biennale di Venezia, La Biennale di Venezia (English version) and Venezia Film Festival, stating the following:
VENEZIA 58
Not for Competition:
OPENING PIC
Milcho MANCHEVSKI, Dust UK/Italy/Germany/Macedonia, 127'
with Joseph Fiennes, David Wenham
July 27, 2001
- News alert from Ananova.com:
Joseph Fiennes could re-unite with Gwyneth Paltrow in a new British-backed production of The Duchess of Malfi. The drama is based on John Webster's 17th-century classic. It is being made by the London-based Artists Independent Network. The story focuses on a plot forged between the evil Duke of Calabria and his corrupt Cardinal brother to prevent their beautiful young widowed sister from re-marrying. A senior source told Ananova: "Gwyneth loved working in Britain on Shakespeare In Love and Sliding Doors. "She thinks of the place as her second home. She only has fond memories of Joe and would love to work with him again." The film, which will be made on location in England and Spain, is not due to go into production until next spring.
July 23, 2001
- News about a possible transfer of Edward II to the London stage found in this interview with Lloyd Owen! (posting an excerpt)
Western Mail
July 21, 2001, Saturday
HARD ROAD FOR 'HEARTS AND BONES' BREAKER;
PEOPLE: FACE TO FACE - LLOYD OWEN
By Rob DriscollAT THE moment, Owen is resisting any more television or film offers, as he is hoping to return to the role of Mortimer in Edward II when the production transfers to London next spring, hopefully with the same co-stars, Joseph Fiennes and James D'Arcy. "It's one of the most exciting, vital plays I've ever done, and I'd hate to be stuck contractually in some TV series later this year and not be able to say yes to the play, " says Owen.
July 20, 2001
- Some great quotes about Joe from an interview with John Madden in the book "Directors Close Up":
On casting:I went past Joe the first time. Because I still had a kind of rigid notion [of what I wanted] and, frankly, I was beginning to kind of get despairing about whether or not I would ever find this person... However wonderful the script was, I didn't want to make the movie if we didn't have the right combination. And I think, because of that, I was slightly blind at who I was looking at. We got way, way way down the line and I thought, this is crazy, this is absolutely crazy -I can't pass up this movie, it's too good.
So I went back and I looked at the tapes again - I do the same thing and put everybody on tape. And I looked at Joe and I thought, this is, he's ..it wasn't a good audition, in fairness to him. No, the opposite actually. It wasn't in fairness to me, it wasn't a good audition. But I looked at him and I thought, he's so - visually, he's so perfect for it. So I said, come in and don't prepare. Because Joe is an incredibly diligent and studious person who really likes to come prepared. And I said, don't come prepared - I said to his agent, have him come in tomorrow so we can just loosen up. But he wouldn't do that. And if I was going to get him back he had to come in on his own terms, and he did. So we had to spend about half a morning deconstructing and just loosening up.
I had a new scene that came out of the rewrites that we were doing, which was the scene between him and Marlowe at the beginning of the movie. Where he says he hasn't written anything and Marlowe starts to spin the idea of Romeo and Juliet to him. And one of the things I worried about Joe was whether or not he would have the comic deftness that, of course, you can now see on the screen. And he just pulled this out of my bag. I hadn't even thought about it till the night before, and I said, "Come on, let's read this. Let's work with this a little bit." And a spark started to happen. Which he then - Joe's instinct is to mistrust what he's just done and then go and do something completely different. So you kind of haul him back - and I put all of this on tape. And I began to feel that sort of tingle, thinking, I'm sure there is something here.
I found him tremendously attractive as a person, very open and vulnerable and sweet. Everything that I'd been looking for but hadn't quite been able to articulate. I need somebody who had the intelligence but also could play Romeo at the end of the movie. And the movie's about first love, so you need that sort of innocence as well.
We worked on scenes, and we'd take different ways through the scenes, I'd give him different actions to play - in particular, the boat scene. You can play that scene, for example, as if he knows perfectly well who he's talking to, which will reveal something about the scene, or as if he has no idea, as if he's teasing her. You shift the actions around so that different things start to come out. And in that process you begin to sense the kind of pallette that he can work with and you can work with. You find out the most crucial thing of all, which is whether you're gonna have a relationship there that you can trust.
On working with the actors:
Gwyneth and Joe for example, totally different actors. Have totally different ways of working. Joe's very very very exploratory and has a tendency, almost as soon as he's found one thing, to distrust what he's found and want to go find something else. Thats partly his own nature, partly just where he is in his profession, I suppose -still searching. Gwyneth, by contrast, is extraordinarily accurate, and very instinctive about where she's going to go.
- From Australian B magazine, August 2001 issue (pic is here, and yes, the write-up is not very up-to-date and the bit about an actress girlfriend may have been true before Fiona, but anyway...):
Joseph Fiennes - The Shakespeare in Love star swaps tights for army fatigues in Enemy at the GatesOn being squeamish: "We were crawling in mud with 'corpses'. It gave me such a horrible feeling I threw up - the director was so excited!"
On his first acting role: "When I was seven, the teacher cast me as Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. I thought, 'I'm Joseph, and he's Joseph. This is meant to be!"
On choosing movie parts: "If my agent told me something was 'damaging', I'd almost certainly do it just to spite him."
On his ideal woman: "I prefer an actress girlfriend. I know every job has its problems, but acting seems to be about constant rejection. To have someone to share the insecurities is great."
On the same page under "Films - six of the best" is a short review of EATG:
Who's in it? Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz
What's it about? Set in Russia during WWII, this true story follows the lives of war hero Vassili (Law) and journalist Danilov (Fiennes). Amid the misery, they fall in love with the same woman, soldier Tania (Weisz).
Good bits: Vassili and Tania's public love scene.
Bad bits: War ain't pretty.
Lust factor: Jude or Joseph? We'll take both.
July 18, 2001
- Heat magazine, 21-27 July edition tells that EATG is going to be released TO RENT on the 13th August in the UK.
- RA will be shown on Sky Moviemax (UK) on Thursday, 19 July, 10.00- 11.35 pm.
July 15, 2001
- Mag alerts for the following magazines (August issues): Australian New Woman, Vogue UK (in a long article about the It's Fashion event), Tatler UK. We will let you know about any accompanying articles worth posting as soon as we have them in our hot little hands.
- Kate found that Elle Magazine is giving away free tickets to this year's Elle Style Awards. Type in your vote for fave actor, actress, etc. and be eligible to win tickets. May we remind you that Joe won an award two years ago. :) There's no fine print on the site but we are assuming it's open to non-UK'ers because there's a space for 'country' on the contact form and she got something in the snail mail about it here in the US.
- Upcoming movies updated its KMS page on July 13 with the following unpleasant news: Release Date: Fall, 2001 (looking for a new date sometime later in the fall; originally listed for September, 2001)
July 11, 2001
- From the Just-for-fun departement:
Glamour magazine (UK), August 2001
"Will Your Holiday Romance Last?"
You've known each other precisely seven days, but his facial features could determine your future.
Holiday Love Type 3
Magic In The Moonlight
How To Tell: Big Eyelids
He takes a while to commit, but when he eventually does, he'll never leave your side. When in love, this man feels it deeply and treats you like a princess. Could be a bit clingy and insecure - which might not translate well to the rush of daily life back home.
Mr Devoted: Joseph Fiennes
July 7, 2001
- Tomorrow is the annual Party In The Park in aid of the Prince's Trust so we never know, Joe might attend it, seeing from that article Holly found that he is so supporting of it. It's been broadcast on ITV from 3pm and on ITV2 which is a cable channel from 2pm. Capital FM are doing a webcast.
July 2, 2001
- Upcomingmovies.com put up a page on Fahrenheit 451 today, a film in which Joe is rumoured to star, although they say that this information, originally coming from Ananova.com, should be taken with a grain of salt.
July 1, 2001
- Excerpt from New York Times article, July 01:
Film Goes All the Way (In the Name of Art)
By Kristin Hohenadel
The effort to make art of explicit sex has left audiences intrigued but often uneasy as well.Most of these films are made outside the Hollywood system, which has traditionally approached sex with a stylized and superficial eye. However, "Killing Me Softly" by the Chinese director Chen Kaige ("Farewell My Concubine"), an erotic thriller starring Heather Graham and Joseph Fiennes that explores the precarious relationship between sex and love and what becomes of both in the absence of trust, may push the envelope.
Mr. Kaige said in a telephone interview from London, where he was still editing the film, that unlike the actors in many Hollywood movies, Ms. Graham and Mr. Fiennes were completely naked during the sex scenes some of which involve bondage and sadomasochism and used no body doubles. He said that while the actors did not have sexual intercourse on film, he tried not to give too much specific direction during the filming of the sex scenes, "to see if they could create that chemistry themselves." While the film, which will be released by MGM this fall in the United States, is already being talked about in the British press in the same breath as "Intimacy," he said: "I'm not going to show the things that nobody wants to see." This, he said, included full frontal male nudity. "I want the sex to have a very beautiful look," he said.
For the full article go here
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