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May 29, 2002

- From Stephen Barber & Sandi Harris Lute makers Catalogue and Price List 2002:

The 6-course a' lute shown lower down this page, was temporarily withdrawn from sale in April because it was on hire to a film unit on location in Coburg, Germany, where Luther, a film based on the life of Martin Luther is in production, starring Joseph Fiennes - who will be seen in the film playing this instrument. Martin Luther, of course, played the lute. Luther will be released later this year. We anticipate posting stills from the film on this site soon. The lute has now been returned, following the completion of filming, and is now available for sale again.

May 28, 2002

- The Shaftesbury School in Dorset lists Joe as one of their famous ex-pupils. The Fiennes have lived in Dorset around 1983/84.

- On the E! channel (US), they did last night the 25 sexiest movie moments, and Shakespeare in Love came in 22. The show will be on again Wednesday, May 29 from 8 p.m. till 9 p.m. On the website they say the following:
We know Willam Shakespeare could write but who knew he was good in bed too? The conceit of this literate romantic comedy is that the young Will (Joseph Fiennes) was able to write the romantic yearnings of Romeo and Juliet because he was getting it on with Gweneth Paltrow. Talk about Bard-core.

May 27, 2002

Happy Birthday Joe and Jake!

May 26, 2002

- From the Telegraph online (dated May 16) comes this blurb about a lost project we didn't even know about:

Camilla loses chance for Byron role
Plans for a biopic of Lord Byron - starring swarthy Shakespeare in Love heart-throb Joseph Fiennes in the title role - have fallen on stony ground. Gosford Park beauty Camilla Rutherford, who was due to play Byron's one-time muse Mary Anne Chaworth, tells me that the project has collapsed owing to a lack of finance. "I was all signed up to come on board, but then the whole thing fell through," she says. "They couldn't find anyone prepared to put up the money. It's a real shame, because that was to be my next big project after Gosford Park. I'm now hoping to get a part as Soames's daughter, Fleur, in the next series of The Forsyte Saga."

- So Blind Flight is in talks again! Here's what The Times had to say:

Beirut hostages relive their ordeal for film
21 May, 2002
By Dalya Alberge

Brian Keenan and John McCarthy are recreating their four-year hostage ordeal in Beirut in a feature film that they describe as a story of friendship, humanity and freedom. Flight has been written by Keenan, in collaboration with the film's director, John Furse, with McCarthy acting as consultant. Keenan, who was teaching at the American University in Beirut in 1986 when he was kidnapped, blindfolded, chained and held captive in prisons in Baalbek, Beirut and Sidon, will be portrayed by Ian Hart, who took the lead in Ken Loach's Land and Freedom. McCarthy, who was covering the story as a journalist for a Beirut-based television news agency when he was kidnapped, will be played by Joseph Fiennes, who made his name as The Bard in Shakespeare in Love. Shooting is scheduled to begin in September. The film, which has a budget of nearly £3 million and the backing of the Film Council and the Irish Film Board, among others, is being produced by Sally Hibbin. She collaborated with Loach over ten years. She said: "This is a story of compassion and humanity, about two people who are forcibly removed from the world. They are two guys who under no other circumstances would meet each other... and who came to care deeply for each other. It also explores how, in captivity, you define freedom... After September 11, understanding cultural differences... is really important. The film obliquely adds to that understanding. At the end, you don't understand what motivates the men who kidnapped them, but you might as human beings." Keenan, describing being beaten by his captors and sometimes doubting his sanity, has spoken of a friendship with McCarthy "that's forged in fire".

- From Entertainment Weekly:

Shelf Lives
Unreleased movies are like milk cartons: They no longer seem fresh after a certain sell-by date, and they may be the only place you'll find some studios' missing children. These are the films that studios commissioned and shot, sometimes as long as four years ago, but they remain on the shelf despite the presence of such big-name stars as Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, Eddie Murphy, Vin Diesel, Heather Graham, Billy Bob Thornton, and Sylvester Stallone. Listed below are some of Hollywood's most forlorn stray children, along with the stories behind them and the dates when - if ever - you're likely to see them at the multiplex.

Killing Me Softly
Cast Heather Graham, Joseph Fiennes
Plot The English language debut of Chinese art-house director Chen Kaige ("The Emperor and the Assassin," "Farewell My Concubine"), it's an erotic thriller about a woman who impulsively beds a stranger (Fiennes) and marries him, only to learn that he may be a killer.
Studio MGM
Filmed 2001
What's the holdup Test audiences reportedly couldn't stop laughing at the supposedly torrid love scenes. Initally set for February, the film has yet to nail down a new screening date.
Expected release date Late 2002

- KMS released in Germany and Austria this summer!

On 22 March Constantin Film AG presented 9 new movie titles for 2002 which are scheduled for release in Germany and Austria until Septemberer 2002. The first will be the US teen comedy Van Wilder (working title) on 4 July, followed by Scorched with Alicia Silverstone, Woody Harrelson and John Cleese, and (woohoo!) KILLING ME SOFTLY. Constantin has a distribution cooperation with RTL Television.

May 24, 2002

- The KMS release date in the Netherlands will be 30 May.

May 23, 2002

- From " All the latest movie gossip" on "This is London" webpage:

POWELL PROUD OF UPCOMING MOVIE

Producer Nik Powell (The Crying Game, Little Voice) was in ebullient mood as he told me of his new film Leopold Bloom, with Joseph Fiennes. Powell said the rushes were some of the best he has seen and added: 'All we can do is f**k it up.'

May 3, 2002

- From an Italian KMS review:

Joseph Fiennes, the youngest of the family (the eldest is Ralph), is taking the triumph of stardom from his elder brother: he became famous to the great audiences by playing the main character from Shakespeare in Love, and then continued with directors like Paul Schrader and Milcho Manchevski, played the role of the political officer in Jean-Jacques Annaud's Enemy at the Gates, also starring Jude Law. In Killing me Softly, he gained 20 Kg. Obscure and violent, he uses his big eyes and his very sexy lips to his heart's content.