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October 31, 2002

- From the Guardian Unlimited site:

They are some of Hollywood's most bankable stars. So why are their films gathering dust?

They are seen as unmarketable, plain bad or even unpatriotic

Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles
Saturday October 19, 2002

...

Some films which have been released in Britain or elsewhere have also been relegated to video or television release in the US: Double Whammy, starring Liz Hurley and Tom DiCillo will now only make it as a video. Killing Me Softly, with Heather Graham and Joseph Fiennes, has not made it to US screens after being universally mocked by critics in Europe. (So, they think this one is just BAD). ...

October 27, 2002

- Small mention about Great Raid in this month's Movieline Magazine:

The cast of The Great Raid seems to be shaping into a who's-who of handsome male actors. Looker Benjamin Bratt has the lead role in the drama about how the 6th Ranger Battalion courtageously rescued 500 American prisoners held in a Japanese POW camp during WWII. The supporting roles are being filled out by James Franco (City by the Sea), Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love), Mark Consuelos (The Latin hunk from "All My Children"), Sam Worthington (Hart's War), and Clayne Crawford (Swimfan), John Dahl (The Last Seduction) is directing the epic, which Miramax is hoping will have Oscar written all over it.

October 21, 2002

- The publicist from the Great Raid writes:

Thank you for your interest regarding Joseph Fiennes. The only information I can provide you with at this stage is the FACT sheet which you have probably read on the PFTC website.

Joseph plays Major Gibson, an American POW who has been held in a Japanese POW camp near Cabanatuan in the Philippines for over three years. His best friends in the camp are Redding, played by Marton Csokas and Colvin, played by Logan Marshall-Green.

In The Great Raid the POWs are liberated by 120 elite American Rangers in a raid on the camp that took about 20 minutes and rescued all 511 POWs. They were aided greatly by Filipino Guerillas and the film is a very true representation of what actually happened in this raid toward the end of WWII in 1945.

If you would like to research this I suggest reading "Ghost Soldiers" by Hampton Sides.

October 16, 2002

- In an article about Cesar (who stars with Joe in The Great Raid) PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE reports:

... Producers Marty Katz and Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, etc.) plan to hold a world premiere for the movie at the Cannes Film Festival in May next year before its international release, maybe with another premiere in the Philippines hopefully to be graced by Bratt and company. ...

October 15, 2002

- Apparently Dreamworks has brought forward the release date for Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas to June 27, 2003.

- China becomes new base for runaway productions

Staff reporters in Shanghai, 1 October 2002, Screen Daily

As Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill wraps the Chinese portion of its shoot at Beijing Film Studio, another Chinese production powerhouse, Shanghai Film Studio, is gearing up to house another Miramax movie – John Dahl’s The Great Raid, starring Benjamin Bratt and Joseph Fiennes. Set builders at the studios are constructing Manila street scenes and a fort for the war movie which is set in the Philippines at the end of World War II. The film is currently shooting in Queensland, Australia and will move to Shanghai at the end of October. Shanghai Film Group Corp head of co-production, John Zhong, estimates the production will spend about $2m in China. According to Zhong, Shanghai Film Studio and its Beijing counterpart are attracting a growing number of foreign productions as producers worldwide become aware of the advantages of filming in China. These include low costs, experienced crews – some of which have migrated from Hong Kong – and ample studio space and locations.

October 11, 2002

The Gold Coast Bulletin
Edition 1 WED 14 AUG 2002
Playing it tough

IT would be enough to make British actor Joseph Fiennes, on the Gold Coast for prisoner-of-war flick The Great Raid, fall in love with Shakespearean acting all over again.

Fiennes was brilliant opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare In Love, in an exhausting dramatic part where he played the young bard unable to write and in need of romantic inspiration.

CC wonders whether Fiennes, much liked on the Pimpama set by Aussie extras, is yearning for a return to the safety of the stage in Britain.

My film insider says: "When he arrived, they made him part of a special group of 14 which went into training. "Five of the Japanese on the set spent two days beating them up and being horrible to them."

To clarify that, it was a different rehearsal of sorts, in which Fiennes was prevented from sleeping in the camp as the Japanese extras continued to beat sticks around him.

"They didn't hit them. But they woke him up every half hour and gave him punishment. They had to collect rocks and sticks," says my insider.

American Benjamin Bratt has missed out on the punishment because he plays a ranger who tries to save the prisoners.

But everyone on the set is working long hours, with filming now into the second week, the cameras rolling at 5am and shutting down around 5pm each day.

Of Fiennes, my spy says: "He's a really nice person. He often hangs around with all of the crew. He's one of the boys."

Despite the tough conditions, the Aussies in the crew are enjoying the feed they get each day.

Says my spy: "It's great food. The catering company is really looking after them." Hopefully, not too much so, because the film is about prisoners of war.

October 8, 2002

- Entertainment Tonight Online reports:

INJURIES ON BRATT'S MOVIE
October 7, 2002
BENJAMIN BRATT's new World War II movie, The Great Raid, seems to be plagued with bad luck. Both co-stars JOSEPH FIENNES and JAMES FRANCO have reportedly been injured while in Australia filming. Franco, who has played JAMES DEAN and ROBERT DE NIRO's drug-addled son in City by the Sea, is said to have cut his hand on a prop gun. Fiennes, best known as Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, was reportedly hurt while surfing. An extra was also reportedly decapitated in a car accident away from the set. Despite the injuries, there have been no delays in production. The Great Raid also stars KELLY RIPA's husband, MARK CONSUELOS.

October 3, 2002

- Enemy at the Gates on Showtime - The Movie Channel (US):

MPAA RATING: R
SHOWTIME ADVISORIES: Graphic Violence, Adult Themes
DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 / CCAP / ESP
2 h 11 m

Riveting account of the 1942-43 Battle of Stalingrad from the Russian point of view follows talented sharpshooter Vassili (Jude Law), a rural boy who becomes a national hero by almost single-handedly holding back the German assault. That is, until the Nazis send a gifted gunslinger (Ed Harris) of their own to the besieged city, his sole mission to assassinate Vassili. Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz and Bob Hoskins costar in this lavish war epic from director Jean-Jacques Annaud ("Seven Years in Tibet").

SHOWTIMES: (All times are ET/PT)

The Movie Channel East 10/09/02 9:00 PM
The Movie Channel East 10/13/02 1:30 AM
The Movie Channel East 10/18/02 9:00 PM
The Movie Channel East 10/21/02 12:30 AM
The Movie Channel East 10/26/02 9:00 PM

MPAA RATING: R
SHOWTIME ADVISORIES: Nudity, Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Adult Themes
STEREO / CCAP
1 h 31 m

Pete Thompson (Rhys Ifans) thinks he's got it made, until his father suddenly passes away and Pete's informed that his family's company is broke--and the only way to stay alive financially now is for Pete and his partner (Joseph Fiennes) to do business with the Russian mob. Meanwhile, he and his beautiful girlfriend (Sadie Frost) want to have children but can't get pregnant, and a mafia princess (Tara Fitzgerald) is turning Pete's eye. A twisting, offbeat crime drama based on the novel by James Hawes.

SHOWTIMES: (All times are ET/PT)

Showtime Extreme East: 10/03/02 1:20 AM
Showtime Extreme East: 10/06/02 12:00 AM
Showtime Extreme East: 10/30/02 11:35 PM