Alan Rickman Guestbook

(February 1 - February 29, 2000)

Guestbook Archives

Current Guestbook

Alan Rickman Home page

Start reading at bottom of page.

Should be "of" him. Thanks Barbara for the possible connection on Judas Kiss. Always wondered how ET and AR might have gotten involved.
Heather
CA USA - Tuesday, February 29, 2000 at 23:30:56 (PST)

Just wanted to thank you Claire for the as always stupendous pictures. You keep me going on those hard days :-) Sometimes I just melt at the sight on him.

Just was wondering if anyone else loves AR's hair as much as I do. Although I am normally attracted to those with less hair. I just love the head of hair on Him. In truth the shots of him at the Galaxy Quest bothered me a little and I couldn't figure out why until I realized his hair was trimmed more than usual. I fimd his hair one of the sexiest parts of him.
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
Late night ramblings in, CA USA - Tuesday, February 29, 2000 at 23:29:01 (PST)

Thanks for the Never Better/ Blow Dry site, Magda; while I can't read much German, I can read enough to know that they've set Alan in Die Hard III (perhaps because that part's in English).
Elise
OR USA - Tuesday, February 29, 2000 at 22:21:01 (PST)

The co-producer of Judas Kiss was Carla Gugino, who was also in the film as Coco, the main female criminal. She starred in The Buccaneers (1995) as Nan St. George with Greg Wise as her love interest Guy Thwaite. I have no idea if that's how she got Greg Wise (and consequently Emma Thompson and AR) on board for the film, but there is a connection there at least.
Barbara
Canada - Tuesday, February 29, 2000 at 19:10:46 (PST)

Hi Everyone I'm off to the U.K. on 6th April (the day Galaxy Quest opens in Australia) I'll be in London on 16th April. Would anyone be able to tell me where in the UK I could get a copy of the Return of the Native cassette tape. I'll be travelling with my son and mother and would love to take Mum to some theatre. Any recomendations? Thanks, Judy
Judy <judy1@one.net.aufoo>
sydney, NSW AustraliaUSA - Tuesday, February 29, 2000 at 18:13:12 (PST)

Can anyone elucidate for me the reference in the "Rough Cuts" article to David Fincher? I can't find the connection either to Rickman or to Weaver.
Georgiana (day 23 and getting hammered...) <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Perplexed in Seattle - Tuesday, February 29, 2000 at 17:16:51 (PST)

Pollack wasn't behind Juda Kiss (thank goodness, though he's had other flops like Random Hearts and, to my thinking, Sabrina) but he was executive producer for S&S. He's pals with Lindsay Duncan, and he was executive producer of Branagh's Hitchock-style thriller Dead Again. He and Guy East were behind Sliding Doors. Guy East is with Intermedia Film Company, which (along with Miramax) is backing Branagh's new Shakespeare Film Company for the three picture deal. Small world.

Christopher Brandon didn't take that moniker for that piece--he *is* the editor of Rewind, so it's not a fake. (He wrote the most annoying piece about Branagh's Hamlet, although he also had grudging praise in the end.) However, although the article factually correlates with other known bits about Rickman, such an interview could have been written, say, by a Rickmaniac, who would be able to summon the requisite form and substance. Of course, none of the GB denizens would do that--especially since we have other venues for our "creative" writing.
Renie <reniept@hotmail.comfoo>
Right MA? *grin*, - Monday, February 28, 2000 at 17:58:04 (PST)

I think Mr. Pollack was behind Judas Kiss also... And, hey, I'll go with the flow on the TNT piece. "Group hug?"
Sue Zen
on the Edge of Forever, CA USA - Monday, February 28, 2000 at 14:26:20 (PST)

I'd have to agree with R. Faey on the authenticity of the Rickman article; Rickman did shoot back about being typed (a typical response) and his dislike of Westerns and Star Trek. He said the same thing at his appearance with Conan O'Brien:

You see, trouble is, it's a program along with westerns and Margaret Thatcher that I would fly across the room (hand shoots out) to the off switch . . .at home.

BTW,Sydney Pollack (producer of Never Better/Blow Dry was also exec producer(I think!) of Sense and Sensibility. Kind of coincidental, isn't it? :)
Neva
USA - Monday, February 28, 2000 at 13:43:35 (PST)

Re: Magda's article. I think this is a valid interview with Rickman. I have transcribed many AR interviews and this is his "voice." If he is in the mood to talk, he does just flow on and on. (Here, the editor may have truncated and compressed some of his run-on sentences.) There is a lot of internal evidence that this is the "real thing:" the fast hard way he comes back with, "I don't have a type;" his dislike of westerns and his concern for children viewing his films, which he was stating back in 1992; his noting that TWG was released at the same time as Titanic , a juxtaposition he made at the National Film Theatre interview in January 1998, etc. If this is a fabrication, it's an exceptional thievery of the Rickman style. Thank you, Magda!
R.Faey
USA - Monday, February 28, 2000 at 11:29:09 (PST)

It's a good news/bad news kind of day. First the good news: I found a new Never Better/Blow Dry/Whatever It's Called This Week site and it has pictures. The bad news: it's in German and neither of the pictures have AR in them. Oh well. Here it is: Never Better/Blow Dry.

Magda
Canada - Monday, February 28, 2000 at 11:22:07 (PST)

No, just cynical in thought...:-) Actually, aside from the numerous typos and errors, the "voice" of the piece sounded "not quite right"...and seems similar to the "voice" in the accompanying Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver interview. Magda is probably correct... We all know the Internet is in truth a Ball Masque', don't we?
Sue Zen
The Island of the Day Before, CA USA - Monday, February 28, 2000 at 09:42:47 (PST)

Sue Zen? You have GOT to be kidding me!
Cynical indeed ..........
USA - Monday, February 28, 2000 at 00:42:54 (PST)

Remember that "Help I'm a Fish" animated movie? Well, the official site is up and from the sample animation of the fish it's pretty colourful. More info is to be posted soon.:Help, I'm a Fish!.

Magda
Canada - Sunday, February 27, 2000 at 19:49:42 (PST)

Link fixed.
Suz (D.o.C.)

I'm sorry about the screwup with the reference. Here's the URL http://www.londonstudent.org.uk/11issue/film/law.htm. It's an interview with Phyllida Law and mentions AR.
Gilda
USA - Sunday, February 27, 2000 at 19:44:01 (PST)

Found this URL regarding an interview with Phyllida Law. Interesting comments on AR!
Gilda
USA - Sunday, February 27, 2000 at 19:42:50 (PST)

Claire, the new pictures are absolutely Mesmerizing, especially the last one! As always, thanks for sharing.
Sandy
Tewksbury, MA USA - Sunday, February 27, 2000 at 17:01:05 (PST)

Regarding this latest interview and the typos and errors in it: I get the feeling that the interview was taped and then handed over to someone else to type up. This would explain the disjointed phrases that weren't tightened up or eliminated and the mistakes in names and film titles.
Magda
Canada - Sunday, February 27, 2000 at 15:50:21 (PST)

Do you suppose Neill Jordan and "End of the Affair" was meant? Stranger and stranger...
Georgiana
Seattle - Sunday, February 27, 2000 at 08:54:27 (PST)

Did anyone besides me see both "Galaxy Quest" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" on Christmas Day? The same day?
Georgiana (slightly suspicious; but *is* a TNT site, posted on his birthday? Brandon?)
Seattle - Sunday, February 27, 2000 at 07:58:02 (PST)

Rough Cut also has an interview with Kate Winslet in the same issue. Small world! :-)

KatrinaL <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
Sweden - Sunday, February 27, 2000 at 05:18:54 (PST)

I note that the Reviews Editor for Rough Cut is named . . .

Christopher Brandon!

Mary Anne
Big Silly Grin, USA - Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 19:30:17 (PST)

Thanks for the info. Enjoyed reading the article!
Sue Zen
LA Grateful, CA USA - Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 18:29:41 (PST)

The URL is Rough Cuts Rickman Interview.
Magda
Canada - Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 18:26:01 (PST)

Magda, thank you. Any chance you could give us the URL for this article or for the Rough Cuts site. Hope I'm wrong... but this piece just doesn't seem to ring quite true...unusually open and long for a Rickman interview...
Sue Zen
LA Cynical, CA USA - Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 17:33:06 (PST)

Correction: it wasn't google (although that's a good search engine, too) but www.northernlight.com where I found the article below. This is a very good search engine but quite a few news items are "pay per view" so be wary. The interview was posted on Feb. 21, 2000, not conducted on that date, as my sloppy comments below might have indicated.
Magda
Canada - Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 14:09:14 (PST)

Ah, the things you find with new search engines! Check out www.google.com, everyone, it's great. I found this birthday interview with AR on some teen site called Rough Cuts. Since it's AR talking, I'll post the whole thing:

"Alan Rickman pops up in the darndest places. The action movie to end all action movies (Die Hard); The retelling of a classic (Robin Hood: Prince of Theives); A two-person movie of psychological terror (Closet Land); Period piece (Sense and Sensibility); Historical drama (Michael Collins); Religious comedy (Dogma). And now, a sort-of sci-fi spoof, Galaxy Quest. He spoke with us about why he's happy to be involved in Galaxy Quest, whether he is a 'bad' actor and why Neil Jordan is a better director than he is." Interviewer:What attracted you to Galaxy Quest?

Rickman: It's an honest film. It's got a good heart and it's incredibly funny and real. That's not bad. If you're going to do a comedy, it might as well be one that makes you laugh when you're reading it, and that's the way it was. I knew how Dean wanted it, but we changed a few things. In the original script, my character is an actor from a well-known national theater. Well, that was a bit too close to comfort. It looks good on paper, but it would never work. It would never happen – 12 years out of work, to a sci-fi TV show. Couldn't happen. You wouldn't get tied up in something like that. Once we got rid of the knighthood and took his Richard III away from the Royal National Theater and placed it somewhere we know not, then I got my better idea of who he was. Because in the film, there's a scene where I give Tim Allen a lesson in method acting. I was a bit of a computer, which bit the dust. That was good fun. It would be only a bad actor who could do that. We had a lot of fun with me teaching him how to become a rock monster, in order to know what it's like. And then passing out with the exhaustion of my own effort.

Interviewer: Was it enjoyable to play a role where you were going exactly against type?

Rickman: I don't have a type.

Interviewer: People see you as very British -- eloquent and powerful. A real actor's actor, for lack of a better phrase, and here you are playing this guy who's become this hack. Was that an attraction? To play the other side of it?

Rickman: Part of it is that he's a terrible actor, and he's caught in this awful situation. There is a revolution and then the egomania disappears. They learn to come together, and that gives it its heart. A childlike thing. Comic rage is a good thing to play in comedy.

Interviewer: Did you know what you were going to look like, from the get go?

Rickman: I said I'd like to be involved in the design of it, or the making of it. I came over early and cast the character's head, and then they started to put the clay on it. We had some good times playing with it, "Maybe less here, a bit more there. What about if it didn't blend into my neck?" Because that means another hour in makeup. "How about a finite edge", though that's a bit cheesier too. We couldn't go too cheesy because it would make the aliens look like idiots. They had to not see the joint past it.

Interviewer: Was it in the script that you kept that head thing on the entire time? I thought that was brilliant. Even long after the illusion is gone in the end, you have hair sticking out of the prosthetic thing.

Rickman: You had to because otherwise you make them look like idiots. They've got to look at you and not say, "Your head's gone. Who are you?" We cheated a bit by coming away a bit, but you couldn't take it all off. There were lines about me, in some cuts in the scenes in our homes, saying, "I haven't gotten this bloody thing off yet." In a previous draft, they went up to space from wherever they were. In my case, it was with the pod rising in the back garden. We didn't all converge from different places. So that's why I had to have the hat still on--in order to go up with it on. Funny internal logic.

Interviewer: Did you do any research before hand?

Rickman: No. There was one convention happening that I couldn't go to for one reason or another. Dean went. I watched the Trekkies documentary movie. And then Dean came back and told us all about it. And frankly, what are you going to learn? That they staged a convention for us so we know what it's like and sort of a mixture of endearing and horrible?

Interviewer: Had you been a "Star Trek" fan at all?

Rickman: No, I'm really not a sci-fi freak. But that's OK. I'm not a western freak either.

Interviewer: And how do you feel about "Dr. Who"?

Rickman: I have fond memories of "Dr. Who". Good memories of cheesiness, really. Except that they quite stay still.

Interviewer: Do they have any conventions?

Rickman: I don't think so. But I could be wrong. Probably there are. There's Star Wars conventions. In the set, where we had the backstage, in the dressing room, I was staggered to see that there was an ad up. The prop work was so brilliant. You never know because you don't see it enough with the camera range now, but they made videos and pictures and they wrote plot lines on the back. If you ever picked one up, there's an actual story written on there. In the dressing room, I found this piece of paper from a genuine magazine advertising a convention that was going to be attended by all the actors who were inside the costumes of Star Wars. You get to meet the person behind the mask. It could be anybody. People are going to show up.

Interviewer: What did you draw on to shoot the TV scene, where you're actually playing the character? I don't know how much of that was actually shot.

Rickman: We did quite a bit. Most of it was the terribly little squib thing off of the rock. The rolling time. That's difficult. Bad acting is something that I've often perpetrated.

Interviewer: We don't agree with that. Is there like a specific style of bad acting?

Rickman: Yeah, I suppose there is. I do it most deliberately in the film when Tim's trying to get us to have a row [argument]. That's his style of acting. A particular unconvincing tone in the voice that you have to hear and it's slightly self-admiring at the same time. It is not believable for a second. But he thinks he's good.

Interviewer: Are you happy with like how much you're in the movie? It seems like a lot of stuff was cut out, not just for you but with the shortened version?

Rickman: Well, it happens, you know. They believe that comedies can't run much more than an hour and a half. It would be a question of which age group are you pitching it at. I feel good about the film. To make it possible for it to have a PG rating, certain things go so that parents can feel safe about letting their children go to see it. And at holiday time, I think that's OK. Maybe sometime or another, they'll put out the two hour five minute version. I mean, one of the funniest moments to me was this one when Sigourney says, "Fu** that." There's never time to show these things. They've given everybody what they think is the meal that they want, so Sigourney has this French, nice raw steak and poor Daryl Mitchell had to spend all day eating frankfurters. They think he's a nine-year-old. Stuff like that. Sigourney had like this French boudoir and I'm shown into an empty room. And I say, where's the bed? And 12 spikes shoot out.

Interviewer: You have not done a lot of American pictures, or studio pictures lately. You've done more of the independent films. Have you made a conscious decision to do that?

Rickman: Oh yes. The last was Michael Collins, and then I got very much after that involved in The Winter Guest and festival-directing in the theater, and then it became a movie and then it just takes up so much time. When you follow that all the way through…Then the most interesting things after that that I was asked to do were two independent films and then I went back to the theater in London. Somewhere in there, I made Dogma. That was two years ago, and now it comes out. It's really a question of when you're free, and if you're free, and what's being offered. It's not like every studio desperately would have me in their film.

Interviewer: England isn't as big a supporter of independent film as America is, is it?

Rickman: You can't do it unless you're subsidized. There's too much money at stake.

Interviewer: Can you look for funding from outside the film industry?

Rickman: It's the only way we're going to get anywhere with this stuff, because we don't have enough population. And, like with A Winter Guest, my film gets released at the same as Titanic. Where am I going to find an audience? So until a government comes along and says, "All right, we will now build multiplexes at key points all over the country, and they will only show the smaller films so there is an outlet for them," the screens get eaten up.

Interviewer: Sigourney and you have both worked with David Fincher, too. Is it a surprise to see such skill on his part or is it something that you kind of assumed was there?

Rickman: I had no idea that there was that kind of competence there. He did some fantastic notes to actors, and he's a sweet person. But he's also very clear sighted about certain decisions in his life. I mean, he really did say, "I am not now writing any more for the theater." That's an amazing thing for a director to do, to say, "I'm now only going to be writing for films." It absolutely turned his whole life around. He's also got a wife and children, so I'm awestruck by that single-mindedness. I suppose when you're as good a writer as he is, and I know from directing movies, that when you're connected to the script and you have a picture in your head, you shouldn't let fear of translating that picture into a theme stop you, because the good thing about movies is that you are surrounded by experts. And you've only got to half-articulately express what it is you want. 10 minutes later, 25 people are running around making it happen. And you show up on the set on the first day, as I did on the first day, sort of fearless. You've done all the work in pre-production and there they all are, running around doing things. All you really have to do is talk to the actors. That's what he discovered. You just imagine what you want and somebody's going to get a real kick out of making it happen for you.

Interviewer: Are you anxious to get back to the director's chair? In film?

Rickman: I don't know if I am anxious. I will do it. I'm working on a script now, but I don't know whether I ever will have that thing that Neal Jordan has. You know, already setting up the next film while he's shooting the one before, and maybe he's also writing a book and he's thinking another film or three down the line.

Interviewer: Have you seen Vanity Fair yet?

Rickman: Yes.

Interviewer: Beautiful, isn't it? I was stunned. Not as much as I was by Galaxy Quest, because I didn't know what to expect.

Rickman: I had read that script, so I knew it was a very good script. He'd been talking about it for a long time. So I knew it was sitting in some place in his brain. He was preparing it anyway. He knew exactly what he wanted to do. He is brilliantly organized in terms of telling a story.

Interviewer: What's coming up for you?

Rickman: I just finished a film in England called Blow Dry. It's about hairdressing, strangely enough. It's set in the north of England, and I run a barber shop with my son, played by Josh Hartman. You know, the crossover American English actors working together. Down the road is my now ex-wife, Natasha Richardson, cause she's now living with her girlfriend, played by Rachel Griffiths, who used to be my model in hairdressing competition. Natasha has got cancer and so she wants the family to get together because there is a big divide. And so, the competition begins. Simon Beaufoy, who wrote The Full Monty, wrote it.

Interviewer: You seem very laid back and just happy. Are you mellow at this point in your career?

Rickman: I feel quite mellow at the moment, yeah. I'm always happy to be involved in comedies– they are tricky things. A lot of elements can grow, and to be in a theater like we were the other night, and to hear an audience laugh like that, and it's not false – it's genuine. I could say all sorts of things about the things that are not in the film, but it's a piece of work that isn't patronizing to kids and it isn't going to be a trial for parents and 8-year olds. Everybody's going to find their own way in. It's very interesting that the same people could go to Mr. Ripley and Galaxy Quest on the same day. It's great when things cross the boundaries.

Magda
Canada - Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 13:47:03 (PST)

Georgiana, thank you for the very interesting article!

KatrinaL <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
Sweden - Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 05:14:11 (PST)

From February 20, 2000, Sunday Herald

HEADLINE: alan rickman born 21.02.46

ACTOR Alan Rickman was born on February 21, 1946, in Acton, London. Known for his elegant, aristocratic and devilishly seductive portrayals of a great seducer, Rickman is in a class of his own. His Vicomte de Valmont in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses brought him sackfuls of sexually explicit fan-mail from otherwise sensible women. Yet Rickman, who has something of the nobleman about him, had not an easy start in life. His painter-decorator father died when he was just eight and the family were moved to a small flat on a council estate. His mother struggled to bring up her four children by working in a Post Office.

Rickman wanted to be an artist and studied at the Royal College of Art. Then, at the relatively late age of 26, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After graduating he worked extensively in British theatre and also did some occasional television work. But it was Les Liaisons Dangereuses which made him a household name. When it went to Broadway, he went with it and won a Tony nomination for best performance. His big break came when he landed the part of Hans Gruber in the first Die Hard film, but his stardom was assured after a memorable and touching performance in Truly, Madly, Deeply in 1990. Since then he has made a dozen more films and is currently starring in Dogma and Galaxy Quest.

Although to his audience he is known as the devastatingly charismatic lady killer, Rickman has been the faithful companion of Rima Horton, a Labour councillor, for the past 30 years. His birthchart shows a man of great sensitivity, which is a characteristic quality of Pisces. A strong Uranus shows that he is equally attractive to women and to men. The prominent Scorpio Moon lends mystery and sex appeal and an uncanny ability to portray the deeper reaches of human nature. A Mars-Saturn conjunction in a difficult aspect to Venus explains his need for a steady relationship - it shows the early loss of a parent and fear of abandonment. It also explains his great modesty and why fame hasn't gone to his head: he hates drawing attention to himself and any kind of big-star display. He has a large circle of friends and is kind, helpful and a wise guru to many. Rumour has it that he created Ruby Wax and helped Hugh Grant get started.

The present astrological picture shows more successes with Jupiter in his house of communication and conjunct Uranus next year. But with Saturn prominent as well, the next couple of years also indicate an unusually large workload. Pluto, the planet of endings and new beginnings, suggests that in the immediate future Rickman will undergo deep inner changes.
Georgiana (nice to see TMD rather than RHPOT listed as the role that confirmed his stardom!)
Seattle - Friday, February 25, 2000 at 18:18:48 (PST)

Of all places, today's St. Petersburgh (Russia) Times published a review of "Dogma." Rickman is referred to as a "polished British actor."
Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, February 25, 2000 at 18:11:59 (PST)

14th April for Galaxy Quest in the UK Catherine, according to Empire.

Claire
- Friday, February 25, 2000 at 14:53:44 (PST)

Really sorry to bother people but does *ANYONE* know when Galaxy Quest is due out in the cinemas in the UK ? It's getting quite frustrating having known about this film for so long and everyone going bonkers about it :-) Thanks in advance.
Catherine <catherine.bowles@virgin.netfoo>
Yorkshire, England - Friday, February 25, 2000 at 13:33:12 (PST)

Galaxy Quest on video! Here is the link. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=268781359

USA - Friday, February 25, 2000 at 12:11:03 (PST)

FYI for all GB coupon clippers.

Amazon.com is offering the DVD of Dark Harbor for the low low price of $17.99. In addition to the film itself the DVD also features commentary by director Adam Coleman Howard as well as the theatrical trailer.

Happy shopping!

Kari
Seattle, USA - Friday, February 25, 2000 at 09:42:36 (PST)

. . . forgot to add bragging to the definitions of rasputing!
Fausta
freudian slip?, USA - Friday, February 25, 2000 at 05:41:25 (PST)

For what it's worth, I got a DVD for $180 at Circuit City two months ago, and have seen several others advertised at various stores for under $200 since.
Fausta
USA - Friday, February 25, 2000 at 05:37:32 (PST)

Renie, possibly a dictionary entry would read:
Rasputing: (raz-POOH-ting) verb; 1. To behave line Rasputin 2. To exhibit behaviors such as, effective use of the h*nds, dancing on tables, passing out at parties, telling raunchy stories to the children of the Tsar, drinking to excess, seducing women with odd lines ("first we must sin"). See Rasputin, Dark Servant of Destiny.
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Friday, February 25, 2000 at 05:26:06 (PST)

Vewwwy quiet here this morning...I agree with you, Heather, being another one of those who doesn't own a DVD player and is not likely to get one for some time. Don't these people realize that many in the general population who watch these films on the big screen might not be able to afford a DVD player? Oh, well. I'll just have to watch DVDs over at a friend's house, I suppose. ;)
Neva
USA - Thursday, February 24, 2000 at 22:13:20 (PST)

I don't know . . . I kind of liked "Rasputing" Fausta. ;-)
(interesting notion) Renie
CA, USA - Thursday, February 24, 2000 at 12:26:09 (PST)

CME review from Jen

I'll learn to type one of these days . . .
Fausta
USA - Thursday, February 24, 2000 at 10:42:57 (PST)

Galaxy Quest is now available for pre-order through Amazon.com, release date of May 2, 2000

I updated the Close My Eyes page, with a new review from Jan and a couple of new photos. Also added a link on the Films page to the Peace One Day site. Please do come visit, and send a review if you can!
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
maybe I should have Amazon on a stipend . . ., USA - Thursday, February 24, 2000 at 10:39:54 (PST)

Anne, nice to see you again! For more, check the "Discovering Hamlet" page at the Daily Telegiraffe which has flourished while you've been away. The behind-the-scenes video *is* superb and lots of fun, and Branagh's hair never fails to crack me up. (If only AR had been a hairdresser back then.)
Renie <reniept@hotmail.comfoo>
CA, USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 22:45:57 (PST)

I don't think it is right that as a marketing ploy to make people want a DVD player that they make stuff available on DVD (interviews, etc.) that is not available to VHS owners. There are those of us that will not be able to have a DVD player for a long time if ever. I feel very left out :-(

Sorry for jumping on my soapbox. Very glad to see you on the GB Eileen and thanks again.
Heather
Someone who is probably going to stay behind the times for awhile, CA USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 21:53:38 (PST)

Thats almost as bad as Blockbuster's movie book listing that terrible Sci-Fi flick with Allen Rickman in it under AR's credits! I wrote to them a long time ago and its still in there.
Ellen Sherman
USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 21:25:32 (PST)

Didn't AR say something about being "dragged up Welsh Methodist and still having the scars to prove it" during the Cannes "Dogma" publicity. I remember it pretty clearly, just not where I saw it.
A-m
LI, NY USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 21:23:54 (PST)

Or Bill Pullman, for that matter! Could it be that Pullman and AR are both on there simply because their last names end in "man"? Whatever it is, it beats me!
Neva
USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 19:57:58 (PST)

Well, as I said yesterday, I had a lot of this Guestbook to catch up on. I am now slightly eyesore but very happy to see so much I'd missed.

This may seem odd, but my first post (other than begging for help with re-building my address book, many thanks by the way for all the help on that), is to tell you of a superb video I found at PBS Video. It is entitled 'Discovering Hamlet' and is a wonderful behind the scenes look at Kenneth Branagh's first 'Hamlet' which Sir Derek Jacobi directed, with The Birmingham Rep.

It goes from pre-production to opening night, shows all the stages of rehearsal and is narrated by Patrick Stewart.In fact, the only great voice missing is AR's.

I know so many here are fans of good theatre and this is a rare treat for little money, (about $19.95 +s&h).

I think you'll find it well worth looking at.

Cheers

Anne
Anne <ahard73977@aol.comfoo>
Alexandria, VA USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 19:55:31 (PST)

Cary Grant, huh? Didn't even notice that (just did a search on AR's name when I found the page)! Oooh, it's been a long day...
Sandy-oh, my brain hurts...I suppose that's what happens when you watch the Fish-Slapping Dance Sketch one too many times! :)
Tewksbury, MA USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 18:47:24 (PST)

About the famous Jewish celeb site-- Cary Grant? I don't think so! :)
Neva
USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 17:57:28 (PST)

I just visited the "Yahoodi" site. I am not impressed. At all. *sigh* Well, I suppose racial ancestry is terribly important to some people. God, I can just hear some Neo-Nazi saying, "I knew the Jews controlled the world..." If you listen closely, you might be able to recognise the voice as that of Joerg Haider. (Sorry, am I getting to political?) ;[
Julia, again
USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 16:49:04 (PST)

I am laughing out loud right now, and I can't stop. Oh, if only Alan *was* Jewish, but alas, it is not to be. Unless, of course, one of his Jewish friends (Ruby Wax?) has encouraged him to join the "chosen people", and he has converted, I think that Jewish celebrity site is merely extrapolating his Jewishness from the size of his nose. Hah! Gabriel Byrne is probably on there, too.... BTW, was Woody Allen mentioned, or not? nah, he's probably too Aryan looking... :) Hahahaha!!!
Julia
Calgary, Canada - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 16:43:30 (PST)

Ellen, I remember reading in one of the articles that Suzanne has in the interviews and articles section of the main page that AR's dad was Irish Catholic & his mom was a Methodist. However, he's listed in the Yahoo's Famous Jewish Celebrities page. Converted maybe? Can't wait for that extra footage on the "Dogma" DVD! I understand that GQ will be released on DVD on May 2nd as well.

Sandy
Tewksbury, MA USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 16:04:44 (PST)

Caught Winter Guest again recently on cable...inspiring and beautifully "painted" by its actors and director. Rickman's directing echoes the style of another of my favorite European directors, Theo Angelopoulos. Check out "Landscape in the Mist", one of this Greek director's best, for a unique film-viewing experience.
Sue Zen
El Lay, CA USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 16:03:42 (PST)

My two cents worth... Mr. Rickman is a surperb actor, proven time and again on stage and film. I truely hope he continues his art for many years to come. Mr. Rickman, if you ever have ocassion to read this, Bravo!
Paula <paula@klingbeer.comfoo>
MI USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 12:53:26 (PST)

You're so welcome, Heather! I *knew* you would love it! So glad you took some time off to watch it. You needed a treat! (Tricky way to get me on the GB!) ;-) Oh well, while I'm here, Hi Debbie, Beth, Gilda, Suzanne,and Claire. (Eileen waving shyly, quietly backing out of here!)
Eileen <ema@atlantic.netfoo>
Fl USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 11:31:27 (PST)

I do like to be fair about these things. So even though I'm sceptical about Kevin Smith's talents, I want to say I wholeheartedly approve of his appreciation of the DVD format and its potentials. This is a director who thinks about his audience. A frequent source of the Dark Horizons site ran into KS and got him talking about the Dogma DVD:

"Kevin Smith Upcoming: My good pal C.C. over at Random Foo attended UMASS last night and learned a little bit of news. This past weekend he [Kevin Smith] and Ben Affleck recorded their commentary for the Dogma Special Edition DVD coming out in October. He said that there is going to be over an hour of unseen footage on the DVD plus other goodies!!"

Magda
Canada - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 09:23:49 (PST)

make that Rasputin
Fausta
USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 05:53:47 (PST)

Hi Heather!
Please do visit my Rasputin page, and send me a review, please.
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
a bit of self-promotion, again, USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 05:51:24 (PST)

G'mornin', all. I don't know whether anyone's going to ask me what rock I've been living under after I make this announcement, but I'm going to try anyway: This morning my local DJ said that the man who played Guy in GQ is the same actor who played Wild Bill in "The Green Mile," and I scoffed about it; if you saw both films, you'd never think it was the same guy. So, I went to IMDB (www.imdb.com) and checked it out, and (blushingly) he was right! I would never have made that connection.

Then I scouted around and found that IMDB has a photo gallery for the most recent movies, and there are a couple for GQ that I haven't seen before.

Say "Doh!" if you want to (here's a twist: "Doh! A dear, a female dear"...Look out, Weird Al!), but those of you living under the same rock as I've been, get out there and look!
Gilda
USA - Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 04:00:18 (PST)

Great pictures, Claire! I especially like the "Closing His Eyes to Fame" one...
Neva
17000 years...a bit off, don't you think? ;), USA - Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 21:00:34 (PST)

So there I was deep in the guestbook archives, going back to the month when I discovered the guestbook and realized, "oh no, I'm not the only one!" I forgot Jean from Leeds! Jean are you out there still??? She made postcards with AR on them. (Her own recepie.) Well, I said Happy Birthday first this year. I ordered the DVD darkharbor. Maxine saw it in Canada and told me a little about it. In 11th grade I took Russian History and spent some library afternoons on the subject of Rasputin (and Napoleon and Che Guevara). he had 4 names too. Was Alan raised a catholic? I don't remember Maureen whats her name ever saying..
Ellen Sherman <writersherman@mindspring.comfoo>
peachtree city, ga USA - Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 19:26:43 (PST)

Oops: Georgiana: It was "I'm dead chuffed, which in English means I'm..." and she said something about being very happy (I'm at work, so I can't check the tape). He also won a Screen Actor's Guild Award for best actor in a TV miniseries, but he didn't attend that one.
Gilda
USA - Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 14:56:24 (PST)

Georgiana: It was
Gilda
USA - Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 14:55:57 (PST)

Heather, you can learn quite a bit about "Rasputin"--i.e., its many awards--at the IMDB. Mr. Rickman won an Emmy in 1996 for this performance, and a Golden Globe in 1997. What was the line he borrowed from Helen Mirren at the Emmy's? "I'll be dead chuffed," was it?
Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 13:49:22 (PST)

Just watched Rasputin for the first time last night (Thanks Eileen!!). All I can say is WOW! What a performance.

I was just wondering if anyone had any interesting facts to share with me about this movie.
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
Atascadero, CA USA - Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 13:15:15 (PST)

Happy birthday, Mr. Rickman!

Mary Anne--already said it "next door," but it's worth repeating.
USA - Monday, February 21, 2000 at 19:59:13 (PST)

R.Faey!!! Nice to see you back! I was wondering what had happened to you! On a diff't note, Great pictures, Claire, and I don't think he's going to be 17 thousand years old, either! :)
Julia
Calgary, Canada - Monday, February 21, 2000 at 17:26:37 (PST)

A very happy Birthday to Alan. May we all enjoy his work for many more years!!!!
Stezi <stezi@wxs.nlfoo>
The Netherlands - Monday, February 21, 2000 at 13:43:53 (PST)

Lovely pics of AR, Claire!

Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Monday, February 21, 2000 at 12:50:09 (PST)

From Sydney Omarr, American astrologer: "If February 21 is your birthday, you are a special person, unique and original, and you possess a marvelous sense of humor. You are versatile; you explore and discover. You are very aware of physical appearance, must remember resolutions concerning exercise, diet, nutrition. Gemini, Sagittarius persons play major roles in your life. During May you'll be in charge of gathering that includes people of opposite political views." Another not-so-nice astrological gift: Mercury in Pisces goes retrograde today.
R.Faey
USA - Monday, February 21, 2000 at 12:45:14 (PST)

Alan. I wish you a very, very happy birthday. I've just got back from work where I've been staring at your photo on my desk and *WILLING* my good thoughts to you all day :-)
Catherine (work ? What work ?) <catherine.bowles@virgin.netfoo>
Yorkshire, England - Monday, February 21, 2000 at 10:28:04 (PST)

Happy Birthday to a real gentleman and a brilliant actor.

May this year bring you much joy, many scripts with words you want to say,the right forums to say them and enough time for some relaxation with your friends.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY!
Anne <ahard73977@aol.comfoo>
Alexandria, VA USA - Monday, February 21, 2000 at 09:22:54 (PST)

And it's $5.75 to the Post...
Georgiana (gotta get those scone crumbs out of the keyboard...)
Seattle - Monday, February 21, 2000 at 08:53:07 (PST)

Oops, means John McTiernan.
Georgiana (maybe it's all those gratuitous 'n's' I keep getting!)
Seattle - Monday, February 21, 2000 at 08:15:00 (PST)

Georgianna, you dropped a decimal point on the floor somewhere.
Magda
Canada - Monday, February 21, 2000 at 05:32:51 (PST)

Happy birthday, Alan! I hope it's a great one for you. Cheers!

Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Monday, February 21, 2000 at 01:31:23 (PST)

Have a wonderful birthday, Alan! Hope this year will be a great one for you.
Neva
USA - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 23:47:47 (PST)

Happy birthday, my sweetest love. May you have the good fortune to meet each and every one of us Rickmaniacs, but especially me!
Julia
Calgary, official host of the 2005 Goodwill Games!!, Canada, eh - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 20:50:14 (PST)

Happy Birthday Mr. Rickman. May this year be a great year for both you and your fans!
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
Is that $575 or $5.75, Georgiana?, USA - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 20:09:51 (PST)

Happy Birthday, Alan! It's the 21st here in Australia, so ,on this special day, I hope you have a great one with all your friends.Take care.
Barbara
Gold Coast, Qld. Australia - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 18:45:54 (PST)

Alan, if you're reading this (and even if you're not), I hope you have a glorious birthday!
Georgia <camarbo@aol.comfoo>
Anaheim, Ca USA - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 18:38:55 (PST)

For Alan on your 54th birthday (GMT!), I wish that your next film director will have the patience of John Badham, the courage of Kevin Reynolds, the vision of Yukio Ninagawa, and the care of Mike Newell.
Georgiana (ooh, what selfish thoughts!) <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 18:29:14 (PST)

For Alan on your 54th birthday (GMT!), I wish that your next film director will have the patience of John Badham, the courage of Kevin Reynolds, the vision of Yukio Ninagawa, and the care of Mike Newell.
Georgiana (ooh, what selfish thoughts!) <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 18:29:12 (PST)

Help request here--can someone advise me of the best way tp make and save sound files on my Mac for uploading? Thanks!
Renie <reniept@hotmail.comfoo>
CA, USA - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 18:25:08 (PST)

Anyone wishing to purchase a print edition of the Washington Post 16 January 2000 issue, which contains "'Galaxy's' Dark Star: Alan Rickman, Demonstrating Once Again His Sneer Genius," by Stephen Hunter (contains one new photo from Cannes '99 on G1, and three familiar ones on page G7--'Alan Rickman, Never Give Up!') may do so by sending your name and address plus check for $575 to Back Copy Dept., Washington Post, 1150 - 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071.
Georgiana <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 18:19:17 (PST)

Well, it's the 21st where I live and in London too... Happy birthday, Alan! And many more!!!

I hope he'll have a wonderful day! I will - this is the first time I "celebrate" his birthday! :-)

KatrinaL <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
Sweden - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 15:58:22 (PST)

Happy Birthday Alan, Its quarter after 11 your time, and I can't stay up till Midnight. Good Year! Cheers!
Ellen Sherman
USA - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 14:18:56 (PST)

Nancy R., Border's has the biography of Richard Wilson in stock currently if you're interested. The title is One Foot on the Stage: The Biography of Richard Wilson, and is available in hardcover only at the price of $28.

Sandy (tripe? Yuck!)
Tewksbury, MA USA - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 13:30:48 (PST)

In the excitement of seeing AR (well, okay, glimpsing AR) in London over New Year's, I've forgotten until now that I also saw a book about Richard Wilson, the Scottish actor, that includes several AR anecdotes, including one about AR and Rima eating tripe at Wilson's house. I didn't buy the book and it's not readily available here in California, but one of our UK contributors (Claire? Catherine? Anyone?) might like to look it up. I saw it at Waterstone's. It's probably also available in the libraries.
Nancy R.
USA - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 12:15:45 (PST)

A review in the Seattle P-I of Hugo Weaving's "The Interview," now showing in Seattle at the Varsity (which I saw at SIFF this past May) states: "It's essentially a puzzle-piece suspense film that resembles Bryan Singer's 'The Usual Suspects' or that works as an incendiary political riff on human rights, like the Alan Rickman-Madeleine Stowe 'Closetland.'"
Georgiana <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Sunday, February 20, 2000 at 11:45:53 (PST)

Once again I'm interrupting AR discussion to request my friends to drop me a line, so I can rebuild my address book. (Thanks Gail, I got your mail).

Delia, Gilda, Georgianna, Kari, Noel, just a one liner will allow me to get back what I lost and miss.

It's SOOOO good to be back in the land of AR again. I've missed you all.

I have months of reading to catch up on here. Dead modems are a REAL pain!!

Anne
Anne <ahard73977@aol.comfoo>
Alexandria, VA USA - Friday, February 18, 2000 at 21:47:55 (PST)

Thank you, Fausta! (So that's where the dog comes in...hmmm) ;)
Neva
USA - Friday, February 18, 2000 at 18:36:41 (PST)

1st correction, make that "story of", not story fo . . .
Fausta
USA - Friday, February 18, 2000 at 16:56:15 (PST)

Loosely translated, the French text of Magda's link to the Ascot Productions reads:

Blow Dry tells the story fo two neighboring hair salons. During competition they create more and more elaborate hairdos. The struggle becomes a matter of life and death
With Sydney Pollack, Simon Beaufoy and Paddy Breathnach in the credits, one can expect an excellent comedy. Pay special attention to the extravagant follicular (cappilaires) creations, both human & canine, and fall for the charm of this hairy comedy

Magda,

My German is really, really rusty, but from what I can decipher all the site's saying is the basic plot summary (about 2 competing hairstylists, etc.) and that it's a "hairy" comedy...no news or anything. Go figure! :)
Neva
USA - Friday, February 18, 2000 at 13:40:23 (PST)

Nothing about the dog? Shoot.
Magda
Canada - Friday, February 18, 2000 at 11:35:34 (PST)

Off topic: This year's Olivier winners are up at What's On Stage.
Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, February 18, 2000 at 10:39:21 (PST)

Magda, that "Never Better"/"Blow Dry" site says Rhys Ifans is in the cast (not confirmed). That would be the first time his name has been associated with the film, which makes me question the accuracy of the site, especially since the film has wrapped.
Georgiana <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Friday, February 18, 2000 at 10:14:57 (PST)

Don't you just hate when this happens? Another "Blow Dry/Never Better" site (Ascot Productions with a cute pic of a dog with a mohawk haircut and it's in German and French! It's a cute dog too, a whippet I think. Is it a co-star?
Magda
Canada - Friday, February 18, 2000 at 09:27:08 (PST)

Off topic, please forgive me, all:

Mary: I laughed when I saw your site, because KR was the first actor that came to mind and it was the very same movie that gave me that opinion...loved the soundtrack, hated the movie. It did get me curious about Gary Oldman, though. And word of advice on Gary Oldman: don't, I repeat, DON'T bother with "Romeo is Bleeding."
LynnP
USA - Friday, February 18, 2000 at 07:13:22 (PST)

If we start to produce plays and movies by focus groups and opinion polls would CME or AABA have gotten made? With Beckett as an example; I am not a Beckett fan myself but if we choose not to do these classic plays I would never see my favorite Ibsen plays produced. I hope there is always room for all artistic expression ...and I hope a lot more of it is done by AR!
Ellen W. in Pa.
USA - Friday, February 18, 2000 at 07:03:13 (PST)

Interesting site. Click on my website and share your opinion on who you think is the worst actor and actress.
Mary <Hi@silly.comfoo>
NEW YORK CITY, NY USA - Friday, February 18, 2000 at 06:59:26 (PST)

Life imitating art, or what? The Cdn. Discovery channel tonight promises us a programme for next Thursday evening at ten p.m., on the subject of two British hairdressing salons competing in a national hairstyling competition.
Gail <grayment@istar.cafoo>
Toronto, Canada - Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 21:26:18 (PST)

The New York Times link isn't working, but if you want to see who AR shares his birthday with (and see who you share yours with), check out the Famous Birthdays page!
Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 13:59:03 (PST)

Hello all.It's been ages since I've posted to these pages and I apologize for using them for something not really related to AR.

I just (FINALLY) got a new modem and a new computer to go with it. Unfortunately, in loading AOL on again, I lost all my addresses.

If all of you who hhhave written to me, could drop me one line, so I could get your addresses back, I'd be extremely grateful.

At least I didn't lose my bookmarked places, so I guess I should be grateful for small mercies :-)))

Anne
Anne <ahard73977@aol.comfoo>
Alexandria, VA USA - Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 13:48:37 (PST)

Erk. Here's that link: The End of the Affair.
Renie
- Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 13:40:16 (PST)

On Michael Collins (from an article on Neil Jordan you can find linked on the End of the Affair review page at the DT:

Shooting began in January 1996, at a breakneck pace. In one of the most astonishing gestures of support that any nation could offer a film project, 5,000 Irish extras turned up for the first day of shooting, none being paid and many being expected to bring their own costumes. However, almost as soon as the film was out of post-production, the controversy began. The points that were most objected to were: showing that the British used tanks on the first Bloody Sunday, August 22, 1920; the introduction of a meeting with Eamon De Valera, the Sinn Féin leader, before Collins's assassination in 1922; the cruelly accurate depiction of De Valera by Alan Rickman; and the combining of a number of characters into one.
Renie
CA, USA - Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 13:38:41 (PST)

Wonderful new crop of pix, Claire; thanks.
Nancy R.
USA - Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 11:40:34 (PST)

The London Times' reviewer seemed to like the touring LLD (Theatre: Once more unto the breeches, with a picture of Clive Wood as Valmont), whereas the Telegraph's seemed to less so (Rather too safe Liaisons), harkening back to Rickman and Duncan "at the very top of their form."
Georgiana <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 11:26:40 (PST)

A new program on the Sundance channel: "Conversations in World Cinema": Why They Became Film Directors. Future guests include Atom Egoyan (interviewed by Wendy Keys of the Film Society, also a regular host) and Kevin Smith. Begins tonight at 9 EST, with Jane Campion.
Another bit--
Renie, - Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 10:43:36 (PST)

Not as nice as flowers, but at least the NY Times remembers AR's birthday. (Many of those names are a mystery to me.)
Renie/The Daily Telegiraffe <renietp@hotmail.comfoo>
- Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 10:36:36 (PST)

Yes, thank goodness he won't be wearing any reptilian headgear in the next one (although I did like GQ bunches!!).

Thanks for the survival kit, Magda! :)
Neva
USA - Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 22:04:39 (PST)

Well, the good news is he's getting past the plastic skull gear in his next film. According to Bookwire, "Blow Dry/Never Better" (take your pick) will have an interesting ad campaign twinned with a famous American designer:

"Another forthcoming movie, called "Blow Dry", is being 'integrated' with a Talk ad campaign by Tommy Hilfiger."

Talk is the new glossy fashion/cultural mag owned by the same company that owns Miramax. So he might be appearing in some ads this summer in that mag.
Magda
Canada - Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 17:29:45 (PST)

Magda, I loved "The survival kit"! So wonderful!

Just a little question about the anagrams: I found "a calm rank in" but how about "a calm in rank" (=Colonel Brandon)? Just a question... ;-)

KatrinaL <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
Sweden - Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 14:26:27 (PST)

The Express online ran a Dr. Lazarus picture 1 February.
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 10:01:43 (PST)

Off topic (all of them!), comparative mythologist W. Doniger explores Harry Potter in Spot the source: Harry Potter explained
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 07:50:09 (PST)

Can anyone direct me to a site that provides free screensavers of Alan. Many thanks
tracy <tracy.morris@aeat.co.ukfoo>
cheshire, UK - Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 02:32:35 (PST)

Very overworked lately, so I haven't been able to put together much of a complete thought. I would like to comment on the theater issue though; one thing I find very lacking in smaller cities is the venues for live theater, especially showings of the classics. One thing I have always looked forward to in visiting England is the idea of going to see the kind of plays that are unavailable to me here. I greatly agree with Magda about what will happen to tourism, and the actors' careers in England if true theater is abducted for "silliness". Thank you for hearing me out.
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
Sorry for the late birthday wishes, Suzanne, CA USA - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 20:38:19 (PST)

Link fixed.
Suz (D.o.C.)

Okay, I mucked that one up. When you click on the Bond site, take off the "/ site" or it won't work. Sorry, it's late...
Magda
Canada - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 19:35:45 (PST)

This is interesting. Another one of life's "what might have beens...". According to the James Bond site,:

"(Alan) Rickman, of Die Hard fame, originally tested as James Bond in 1993, and by 1994, was reportedly offered the role of Alec Trevelyan. He was ready to do it, but changed his mind at the thought of being typecast as a megalomaniac, (Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) The role eventually went to Sean Bean, who in turn also screen tested a few times for the role of Bond."
Magda
Canada - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 19:32:57 (PST)

On a lighter note: do you want to marry Alan Rickman? With a printed out marriage certificate and everything? Want to see his name spelled in Egyptian heiroglyphics? Look at all the anagrams of his name (A CARNAL MINK)? Find out if the two of you are compatible? Then check out AR Addicts Survival Kit and wallow.
Magda
Canada - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 18:40:20 (PST)

I know we've talked it through already, but I couldn't help but add my two cents. I teach 6th grade here in Oklahoma--primarily history but have taught all subjects. Last year when we arrived in Elizabethan England in our studies, I showed Much Ado About Nothing to my class (the Emma/Kenneth version.) Now mind you, these were slower learners, many of whom wouldn't read unlessed forced. I previewed the movie with them in mind, wrote comp. questions to keep them involved and following the plot development, and *danced* in front of the screen when certain juicy scenes came on. (I know, a dangling preposition. Oh, well.) Long story, longer, still.... THEY LOVED IT! Every moment. They followed it because they could SEE and surmise/infer what they might not understand if it were just read. It required higher-level thinking skills. My sermon that day was that eleven year old Okies could love/understand the work of Shakespeare. What could be better? If they'd seen it on stage.
Amy
Ok USA - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 14:47:05 (PST)

I started out trying to do a short reply on the UK Regional Theatres debate but it's a massive subject so I thought my reply might as well go Off Topic rather than clutter the GB with non AR!

Claire
- Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 14:36:04 (PST)

Thanks, Sandy, I remember wanting to see that Godot, and since I didn't, those intervening years made me think I'd made it up! The Oscar nominations are up--I noticed no surprises, and I hope American Beauty wins picture, director, screenplay, music and best actor. Jude Law deserves supporting for Ripley. I haven't seen Titus Andronicus yet, nor Topsy Turvy (gee, what was I seeing for the third time); I hope they weren't slighted.
Renie/The Daily Telegiraffe
CA, USA - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 14:11:55 (PST)

Glad to see Bill Irwin was not only in Godot, which was fun, but also in The Tempest, which was also great fun -- women on stilts and all!
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 13:29:59 (PST)

Hmmm, "An Evening in Vienna" at Barbican sounds lovely! As it said: "Exciting, sensuous, nostalgic, romantic." I thought they were writing about AR! But they added: "Introduced by actor Alan Rickman..." ;-) Alan and violins!! If only...

KatrinaL, who's happy to hear that her little country has 3 Oscar nominated directors! :-) <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
Sweden - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 13:15:11 (PST)

It's not a question of whether marching bands are "good" or "bad"; it's a question of government imposing non-artistic standards on artistic funding. The people who wrote that report have no concept of why people listen to music or attend a play and the fact that they might be able to impose their biases on the theatre community is scary.

And to descend from the clouds down to the practical world for a moment, what is this going to do to the tourism industry in those regional cities and in London itself? Municipal goverments should be up in arms about this too.
Magda
Canada - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 12:50:54 (PST)

Renie, you were correct about Steve Martin and Bill Irwin in a production of Waiting for Godot. It also starred Robin Williams and F. Murray Abraham and was at the Lincoln Center.

Sandy (who has absolutely nothing against marching bands)
Tewksbury, MA USA - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 11:53:22 (PST)

Can't a Dubliner who's been lucky enough to make a great project happen give Beckett a little press? (As Melissa has noted, it's brimming with patriotism for an Irish lad.) The names associated with filming the Beckett canon are impressive (Dench, Gambon, Jordan), and when the director of Dublin's Gate Theatre gave that opinion, he said, "and though *I* would regard Beckett as actually the finest writer of the last century, I didn't want to just keep touring the canon." (Emphais added) Since he's working hard to bring classic writing/performance to more people, he--and the folks taking it on--make my A list.

Wasn't there a NY production of Godot with Steve Martin and Bill Irwin? Or am I thinking of something else? (Time for coffee . . . )
Renie/The Daily Telegiraffe <reniept@hotmail.comfoo>
- Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 10:50:22 (PST)

Forgot to mention I found "Godot" spellbinding!
Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 10:22:21 (PST)

I am bothered most by the Arts Council supposition that it is desirable to foster further lack of critical thinking in the population. We are already bombarded by information bits--television, music videos, and, alas, the Internet. The classics represent a complexity in human thought we seem to be busily sacrificing for the sake of instant gratification. I keep hearing echoes of Thelma Holt pleading that there be continued funding for the best actors' training in the world. It is doubly sad that this comes at a time where we are seeing more and more of these fine actors in cinema--the medium I believe that does best define our global culture. (And as a teenager I saw Hume Cronyn do Richard III at the Guthrie!)
Georgiana (alas, too late to fly to London for tonight's event ... I'm so pleased it's a cancer benefit ... played the tenor drum in marching band myself so as to not knock my teeth out on my French horn ... and belated birthday greetings to Suz!))
Seattle - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 10:21:02 (PST)

Great news, Mandy! Here's a little more detail on the Barbican concert tonight. Outre television plays, poetry readings, acting as the Voice of the RPO...can't wait to learn what's next.
Melissa
Cambridge, MA USA - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 10:03:53 (PST)

Hmm. A discussion of Beckett on the Guestbook. An important writer, without doubt. But the best of the 20th century? English professors may disagree. I recall a class on Richard Brautigan at a prestigious midwestern university in which the professor proclaimed Brautigan the best writer of the 20th century. A few years later I discussed this with Brautigan over a few Henneseys in San Francisco, and we both got a good laugh out of it. These "best of" lists provoke nothing if not controversy.
susan
USA - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 07:53:02 (PST)

A word in favor of marching bands:
most of the time marching bands are the only venue where amateur musicians (young & old, but mostly young), particularly in brass & percussion, get the opportunity to learn the basics of ensemble work, since they are much less expensive to fund than orchestras and can easily be booked for public performances at more events, giving the musicians more opportunities to improve their performance skills.
More interestingly, the children who can not afford being enrolled in other types of orchestras are the ones who most benefit from being in a marching band.
And no, I was never in a marching band. Marching bands don't bring pianos along!
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 07:15:07 (PST)

HEADS UP FOR LONDONERS AND HOME COUNTIES. From today's Metro "Classical" an evening in Vienna. TONIGHT. Alan Rickman hosts a selection of classical greats performed by the Royal Phil, in aid of the Helen Rollason Cancer Care Centre Appeal. Barbican (020 7638 8891)
Mandy
London, UK - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 02:19:38 (PST)

This is dreadful! How could they even think of taking away the unique text of any of the classical works! The generation after us has the right to know about these works which examine so much of the effects of this complicated life we leed. Love, Pain, Hope, Joy and Sorrow. I love the theatre in all it's forms, and the next generation, like my children need to experience this.I've tried to teach them about the joy of being part of these plays.
Barbara
Gold Coast, Qld. Australia - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 21:23:07 (PST)

that's awful about the theater. I think its part of the governments plan to "dumb down" future generations, its like the dropping of the teaching of history as a subject in public schools. "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them into darkness and to bind them." My kids went through public school and have yet to hear about the Boston tea party.
ellen sherman
peachtree City, ga - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 19:44:10 (PST)

Thats awful about the theater. I believe its part of the "dumbing down" of the next generations that includes the dropping of the teaching of History as a subject in our public schools. My kids went through school without learning about the boston tea party, etc. Its revisionist history for the purpose of a future global government! One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them into darkness and to bind them! (paranoid? me? no.)
Ellen Sherman
peachtree City, GA USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 19:41:15 (PST)

The more I thought about the following line regional theatres are failing to cater for the young, who grew up with videos, films and the internet. They are unimpressed by drama and have little knowledge of plays, the more perturbed I became, and I just have get this off my chest.

Denying the general public, and in particular the younger audience this type of theater is simply WRONG. It is this type of attitude that makes the younger potential theater-goer stop in their tracks and say "Why should I bother trying since obviously I'm nothing but an Internet-surfing idiot that doesn't have a brain to think for myself?" It makes me very sad to see this commentary. It smacks of snobbery in the extreme.

Sandy
Tewksbury, MA USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 19:09:13 (PST)

Amen, Magda. I too got hooked on Shakespeare at age 14 upon seeing a wonderful production of "As You Like It," followed shortly thereafter by "Macbeth." I promptly went out and bought a volume of his complete works...still have it, and it's getting a bit dog-eared. I've read some of the more innocuous sonnets to my 5-year-old, who loves poetry. Forget the lasers and all that, give me talented actors and good old emotion and intrigue any day.
LynnP
USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 18:05:07 (PST)

I grew up in a small town in Southern Ontario that was a 45 minute drive away from the annual Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ont. In junior high, it was decided that we could fake adulthood long enough to go see some plays. The first one was Merchant of Venice, with Hume Cronyn as Shylock. We would be studying the play later on.

The teachers carefully prepped us about Shakespeare and what to expect. They operated on the assumption that we would have something like an allergic reaction to it. By the time we were on the bus we were convinced we were going to see some heinous experience akin to root canal without the novocaine.

Well, we went and we saw and we were blown away. For about half of us, it was like we'd been wandering around in the dark all our lives and someone had found the light switch. When we got back to school the next day we blasted our teachers for the warnings they'd given us.

Because we realized how little respect those teachers had for our ability to appreciate a new experience and therefore how little respect they had for us. And those fools at the Council for the Arts who think that "lasers, videos and acrobatic spectacles" are necessary for the public to appreciate theatre are showing more contempt for their public than any high brow or traditionalist or elitist artist could ever display.

Magda
Canada - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 15:01:14 (PST)

Here's the very info-rich set of links to All Things Beckett available through the British Theatre site at about.com. (I hope.)
Melissa
Cambridge, MA USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 14:53:48 (PST)

Beautifully said, Joan and kudos to the staff who refused to cave into the politicians. My first theater experience was seeing "The Grapes of Wrath" in high school (admittedly a local rep theater production), but that gave me a deep appreciation of the theater in general. I'd hate to see others miss the opportunity of seeing such excellent dramatic works for the sake of "appeasing the masses". "Starlight Express", anybody?

Sandy-maybe Jamie in TMD is right in blaming the government!
Tewksbury, MA USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 14:42:21 (PST)

Am still reeling from the article that Magda posted from today's Daily Telegraph. [thanks Magda!] How can the Arts Council even CONSIDER such a thing.

I once worked at an government agency that gave arts grants and when politicians wanted us to fund marching bands, the staff refused to cave in and agree to this. Giving the public "bread & circuses" is NOT a good thing!
Joan
USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 14:03:35 (PST)

Hot on the Samuel Beckett trail! Here's a couple of sites that I found:

Complete text for Waiting for Godot

Sandy (hot on the Beckett trail!)
Tewksbury, MA USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 13:18:06 (PST)

I see that Jeanne Moreau, 72, received a Golden Bear award for lifetime achievement at the Berlin Film Festival Friday. Didn't Rickman accept an Evening Standard award (or was it BAFTA?--can't recall) by thanking them for the opportunity to meet Jeanne Moreau, who presented?
Georgiana <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 11:37:46 (PST)

Pat B.: here's a golden moment for education! You'd be doing us all a favor if you might post here a useful website guide or two that might help us understand and/or appreciate the work of Beckett.
Melissa
Cambridge, MA USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 10:13:26 (PST)

Pat: I agree that Samuel Beckett is one of the greatest writers of the century. Mark that: one of. Mr. Colgan states: "I would regard Beckett as actually the finest writer of the last century" in the article below. I disagree because: 1) there are others who are equally fine and 2) the best you could come up with would be a list of the finest writers. There have been so many changes in literature and so many different cultural norms that to select one particular writer from one particular culture as "the finest" or "the best" is, indeed, silly.

Is it "necessary" to post comments like this? Why not? Disagreement is part and parcel of the academic and literary worlds.

And as for English professors, well, I've known several and they'd be the first ones to admit that sweeping statements like Mr. Colgan's are open to disagreement. They were pretty cool people and loved nothing more than to debate the merits of various writers and works.

I take it for granted that everyone here is an Alan Rickman fan. AR's career is a testament to the wide range of theatre and film work - from the classics to the modern. I don't care what AR appears in: I only care if it's good or not. On that, the record's been - shall we say? - spotty over the years.
Magda
Canada - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 10:08:29 (PST)

The RTE Beckett project as reported in the Irish Times is Ireland's (official?) contribution to the many artistic-cum-nationalistic spectacles being mounted these days to mark the arrival of the year 2000. It isn't surprising that hyperbole and flag waving about Sam-as-native-son were part of the announcement.
Melissa <masmith@law.harvard.edufoo>
Cambridge, MA USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 10:06:37 (PST)

No offense, Pat, but c'mon, everyone's entitled to an opinion. I'd like to think this is a place where everyone's opinion can be expressed and respected. (Let's face it, there are "experts" who think Shakespeare was a hack!)
LynnP, who is woefully ignorant of theater and its writers...
USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 09:28:32 (PST)

Sorry Magda, but as a professor of English literature and a fan of Alan Rickman, I must tell you that Samuel Beckett is indeed regarded as one of the major writers of the 20th century. There are many experts in the field of modern liturature who would in fact say that he is "the greatest writer" of his time. I 'm not quite sure what they would think about being called "silly." Is it really necessary to make such remarks?
Pat B.
USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 09:18:44 (PST)

For a history of the British Theatre, read the www.britishtheatre.about.com series of articles. A couple of years ago the www.bbc.co.uk also did a series, but they did not save it on their site, unfortunately.
Fausta
USA - Monday, February 14, 2000 at 06:21:01 (PST)

A day late,

Thanks, everyone, for the wonderful birthday wishes and e-cards! I hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Suzanne <Suz@mail.usa.comfoo>
Hallettsville, TX USA - Sunday, February 13, 2000 at 21:30:33 (PST)

"Videos and acrobatic spectacles"! Good God, they want to fund circuses! Here's the various addresses of the Arts Council of England:

The Arts Council of England
14 Great Peter Street
London SW1P 3NQ
Telephone: 0171 333 0100
Fax: 0171 973 6590
Minicom: 0171 793 6564

General public enquiries
Telephone: 0171 973 6517
Lottery enquiries: 0171 973 6982

E-mail: enquiries@artscouncil.org.uk
Internet site: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk

So much for five hundred years of English theatre history!
Magda
Canada - Sunday, February 13, 2000 at 18:33:22 (PST)

Look at this appalling article in the Monday, February 14, Daily Telegraph. If ever a policy demanded a write-in campaign to protest, this is it:

Theatres told to cut back on 'classics'
By Marie Woolf, Political Correspondent
Funding - Arts Council of England
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport

REGIONAL theatres are to be told that traditional "text-based" drama is rapidly losing its appeal to modern audiences and to be more innovative if they are to continue receiving public money.

A funding review of 50 theatres, mainly in the provinces but including some noted London venues outside the West End, has found an alarming decline in the popularity of conventional plays. The review suggests that "live theatre", such as laser, acrobatic and video spectacles, have wider appeal and should be embraced by theatres as a condition of receiving public grants.

Its examination of the way in which regional theatres are funded has found that drama is losing its appeal among modern audiences. Theatres must look at more innovative ways to fill seats. Those such as the Royal Court, in London, which have helped to launch the careers of some of Britain's leading actors, will be asked to look at the merits of "live theatre", such as video and acrobatic spectacles, if they are to have public backing.

The Arts Council of England, which is carrying out the review with Government backing, has concluded that "the focus on drama has become problematic". A report which forms the basis of the review recommends that the priority given to text-based drama by theatres such as the Bristol Old Vic, Royal Exchange, Manchester, Almeida, London, and Nottingham Playhouse needs to be re-examined.

The Arts Council has commissioned a report into the "roles and functions" of regional theatre as a basis of a new national strategy. Hundreds of leading figures have been consulted, including Sir David Hare and Sir Richard Eyre. Ministers are being kept informed. Stage two of the review, expected by the spring, will cost the plan designed to increase audiences and encourage "an active culture of participation" in theatre.

"Our discussions reveal uneasiness about the usefulness of continuing to distinguish between "plays" and other forms of theatre in a rapidly changing culture," says the report, which has been seen by The Telegraph. "Concerns are rooted in the long-term decline of the drama audience." Regional theatres received more than £35 million in public money last year, including lottery grants. Most theatres, without such backing, have an operating deficit.

The Arts Council review will lead to a new national funding strategy. Theatres that fail to meet it may have to rely on council support. The suggestion that plays may be downgraded has alarmed leading actors, who say that it will jeopardise the careers of writers and young character actors. Tom Conti, who has just returned from a tour of Neil Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers, said funding should focus on producing top-quality plays rather than diminishing them as an art form.

"It's not plays that are the problem but badly performed plays. I have just finished a 14-week tour of regional theatre and we were packed every night. Regional theatre and rep was the testing ground not only for actors but directors and writers. People love going to the theatre if what's on gives them a good time. We can't write theatre off."

Britain's regional theatres have produced award-winning actors, such as Sir Ian McKellen, who won acclaim as Richard III, first performed at Nottingham. Simon Callow, of Four Weddings and a Funeral, came to prominence in Edinburgh. Paul Scofield, star of A Man for All Seasons, was first noticed in repertory. The Royal Court nurtured writers such as John Osborne and Conor McPherson.

Timothy West, the film and stage actor, said: "This has been very much a thread with government attitude to theatre. I think it betrays ignorance of why people go to the theatre at all. Rep and theatre is essential for directors, designers and composers. If you have worked among good people you learn very good skills."

Other actors said that many successful in television learnt to act in regional theatres doing character roles. June Brown, who began her career at the Old Vic, seen most recently in Gormenghast but better known as Dot Cotton in EastEnders, said: "Most real character actors we see on television today started out in the theatres playing different parts. For young people to play many different roles is a great training. Regional theatre is also vital for scriptwriters who often find their way into television. This reminds me of something a stage manager once said to me: you don't need actors to put on plays."

Ministers are concerned that theatre should have as broad an appeal as possible: 67 per cent who attended theatre in the past year were from the top social grades. The report says that most regional theatres failed to experiment and "have placed relatively little emphasis on the creative use of new technology for live performance - or indeed on other experiments with form, content and process".

Regional theatres are failing to cater for the young, who grew up with videos, films and the internet. They are unimpressed by drama and have little knowledge of plays, it adds. "Changes in the education system have meant that fewer people leave school with a knowledge of or an affection for the core texts." The review aims to redefine repertory theatre, and ensure that small non-commercial theatres do not have to close for lack of funding.

Magda
Canada - Sunday, February 13, 2000 at 18:24:03 (PST)

This is me: I'm 40 & live on the Gold Coast in the north east of Australia, a beautiful place to live with my husband and 2 children.I'm aries,(we are fun to be around), a non smoker, Registered Nurse. My interests are: Cooking, History especially Egyptian, Roman and English Celt, and my theatre group. When I have time, I do amateur productions (princess Ida). My friends and family are very important to me and I believe the good times spent with these people are the best of times! Learning to use this computer, with my daughter's help, has opened a new world for me. I have got to meet all you nice people from all around world. Thank you for letting me join you. I have been a big fan of Alan Rickman for 10 years now and I have enjoyed all his movies, except Closetland - I found that one a bit hard to take. My favourite is Truly Madly Deeply. This one was his best. Take care all of you.
Barbara
Gold Coast, Qld. Australia - Sunday, February 13, 2000 at 18:16:27 (PST)

Whoa...The Winter Guest is one of Amazon.com's Quick Picks for the day. And I agree that comedy is nothing to apologize for! IMHO, comedy takes greater skill, subtlety, and timing to carry off well than drama.
LynnP
USA - Sunday, February 13, 2000 at 10:32:18 (PST)

Happy Birthday, Suzanne! I hope that it's a great one for you, and thanks for this website. It's a great place-keep up the excellent work.

As far as AR being too busy with comedic projects, I'd like to say that as much as I've enjoyed him in his serious roles (Rasputin and Eamon Da Valera in particular comes to mind. I've never seen him onstage, so I've nothing to compare him on that level.), he just wouldn't be the same without that 'comedic' element that he brings to his roles, e.g., George in RHPOT or Jamie in TMD. Magda is absolutely right; comedy is nothing to apologize for. Besides, if we didn't have something to laugh about, the world would be a very dull place.

Sandy
Tewksbury, MA USA - Sunday, February 13, 2000 at 10:12:33 (PST)

A little about me... I'm 30 and I live in southern Sweden, near Denmark, with my boyfriend. We have a Volvo. (I seem to remember that AR likes Volvos ;-) Not wanting to start a car debate!) I've worked with handicapped people, studied to become an Archaeologist in my "youth" and am now unemployed while I'm awaiting to begin studies in web design later this spring.

I'm a huge Jane Austen fan and besides Pemberley I also participate in arranging JA-meetings in Scandinavia. Next meeting will be in August. We might discuss Colonel Brandon - on my initiative... ;-)

It wasn't just Brandon that made me devoted to Alan Rickman, I'd seen both Die Hard and RHPOT before and wondered: "Who is that amazing man?!" I managed to see Quigley Down Under and Closet Land on TV and I was hooked! Closet Land was horrifying but Alan Rickman was so fantastic! I saw Judas Kiss the other weekend and loved it. Dogma and GQ will come to Sweden this spring so I have a lot to look forward to! :-) I must say that as much as I love AR as an actor I also respect him as a person.

I love film (good acting!), all kinds of music (church choir singer, 1st alto), food (cooking and eating), nature, Monty Python humour (or any good laugh!), being with good friends, reading, history and archaeology.

Happy Valentine's!

KatrinaL <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
USA - Sunday, February 13, 2000 at 05:50:58 (PST)

If the aforementioned endeavour is the Beckett project, then thank God for silly comedic projects! Comedy is nothing to apologize for and if anyone doubts it, let them sit through a couple of hours of "Waiting for Godot" and then see if they don't feel the need for a restorative. And to call Beckett the "greatest writer of the century" is just silly.
Magda
Who signs her name, Canada - Sunday, February 13, 2000 at 05:37:37 (PST)

No Magda/Melissa - I believe Mr. Rickman is busy enough with his silly comedic projects to partake in anything as interesting as the aforementioned endeavor.

Though one can only hope .........
UK - Saturday, February 12, 2000 at 23:33:18 (PST)

GQ is still at number seven out here. I *do* like stability!
Julia
snowed in in Calgary, Canada - Saturday, February 12, 2000 at 15:12:49 (PST)

More news about the upcoming AR film whose title seems to be a matter of opinion:

New York Daily News
Friday, February 11, 2000
A Hairy Situation For Klum & Co.

Supermodel Heidi Klum knows how to make a bodacious movie debut. In the new coiffure comedy "Blow Dry," the Sports Illustrated swimsuit beauty gets a hair trim that may have film censors reaching for their clippers, too. Klum holds still for some creative snipping in the look at competition hairstyling. But — how shall we put this? — not all the locks fall from her head.

It should tell you something that the movie was written by Simon Beaufoy, who tore the fig leaf off male striptease in "The Full Monty." In Beaufoy's latest romp, Klum plays a diva model who's married to a hairdresser and having an affair with his brother, also a stylist. Apparently wanting to mark his territory, her brother-in-law shears her high and low — leading to quite a fight when hubby notices she's wearing her hair differently.

Klum, who in real life is married to champion stylist Ric Pipino, wears a variety of wigs in the flick, though it's unclear whether she sports a merkin. (Look it up.)

Insiders are coy about whether that's really the cover girl's bod we'll be seeing in the flick, which co-stars Natasha Richardson and Alan Rickman. "There is some movie magic involved," says a source. But Miramax and Intermedia, which are co-producing with Sydney Pollack, are said to be girding for a ratings battle over the scene."

Magda
Canada - Saturday, February 12, 2000 at 13:06:32 (PST)

Here I go: Right foot-don't do signs but was born in December, 30, married, 4 kids (6,5,3,1), have a very busy bookkeeping business I run out of my home office, live in central California, have only been out of CA three times in my life so far, recovered anorexic, hope to raise my kids free from most disfunction. Left foot-love to exercise, watch movies, read (although I don't get to much), spend time with my kids and husband, listen to music (Beatles are my favorite); hobbies-cross-stitching and wood crafts, dancing, and reading this GB; have great friends where I live and the new ones I've met on this site! Looking forward to building more friendships here. Thanks for welcoming me so. Admire everyone's creativity and writing skills since I tend to be too logical to write creatively.
Heather
Atascadero, CA USA - Saturday, February 12, 2000 at 09:49:21 (PST)

Off-topic bulletin from the Sexy Actors With Plummy Voices Dept.,

Patrick Stewart, in The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, starting March 21, Ambassador Theater NYC, 212-239-6200

Gabriel Byrne, in A Moon For The Misbegotten now playing at the Walter Kerr Theater NYC, also 212-239-6200.

Avery Brooks, in The Cherry Orchard during April at McCarter Theater, Princeton NJ 609-258-2787.
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Saturday, February 12, 2000 at 06:10:05 (PST)

Hallo everyone! DOGMA has gone to no.2 here, In the first week!AR was so good in this movie it was like seeing two movies within one. I really enjoyed the end bit with Bethany. He really is a great and gentle actor. take care.
Barbara
Gold oast, Qld Australia - Friday, February 11, 2000 at 18:29:02 (PST)

Correction made.
Suz (D.o.C.)

DOC--That's "solitude".
Typing too quickly,
R, - Friday, February 11, 2000 at 10:36:02 (PST)

Audio recordings of Laurie Lee's Cider With Rosie, A Moment of War, and As I Walked Out One Midsummer's Morning are wonderfully read by Kenneth Branagh, and still available to order, I believe. Some snippets of Lee's prose style are here, but take for example, this sentence from Cider, poetry in all but name.

"As for me--for me, the grass grew longer and more sorrowful, and the trees were surfaces like flesh, and girls were no longer treated lightly but were creatures of commanding sadness, and all journeys through the valley were now made alone, with passion in every bush, and the motions of wind and cloud and stars were suddently for myself alone, and voices elected me of all men living and called me to deliver the world, and I groaned from solitude, blushed when I stumbled, loved strangers and bread and butter, and made long trips through the rain on my bicycle, stared wretchedly through lighted windows, grinned wryly to think how little I was understood, and lived in a state of raging excitement."

Renie <reniept@hotmail.com foo>
- Friday, February 11, 2000 at 10:33:54 (PST)

The Beckett plays article is at this link, for those who wish to explore the Irish Times further.
Georgiana (unless I screwed it up...)
Seattle - Friday, February 11, 2000 at 09:15:03 (PST)

Latest CPP update

With the last hour the ISP which stored the Rickman pictures decided to terminate the account without recourse.It appears that *popular* sites are unwanted, a problem that I believe NewsAskew had a few months back.

I will do a temporary fix on this and the pictures will be running again before noon PST.

Claire
This is just what I need on a Friday morning!, - Friday, February 11, 2000 at 02:05:03 (PST)

CPP has become a victim of it's own success!

The pictures have gone off line due to excessive band width use and although I have had it all switched back on it wont be reactivated about 9pm PST.

If you are having no trouble at all that's great, your computer is using the images it had stored earlier.

This problem may mean a rethink over the CPP format, rather than an abandonment.

Claire
Sussex, UK - Friday, February 11, 2000 at 01:05:06 (PST)

Magda, great minds think alike (or should that be one-track minds?)! I thought the same thing as soon as I saw your post about the peace project. I think it's safe to conclude AR was in London the evening before, when I'm almost sure I saw him outside the Queen's Theatre. If I'd had just another few seconds of stand-and-stare time, I could have made sure. The peace project sounds wonderful, and offers further confirmation (assuming he and Mirren were together at the taping) that they ended their A&C run as friends. As always, I'm amazed by the people who visit this page and their gift for ferreting out information of interest to us all. Well done and thanks!
Nancy R.
CA USA - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 20:16:06 (PST)

Okay, hands up everybody who knows, who just knows, that AR will be in the "45-second Breath" production....
Magda
Canada - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 20:15:30 (PST)

Here's another article brimming with patriotism from the Irish Times, adding just a few new pieces of info. (Did anybody see this project coming?!) No mention of Rickman among the cast as of February 7.

All 19 plays of Samuel Beckett are to be filmed for television and cinema, RTÉ announced at the weekend.
The Beckett canon is currently under production in a joint venture between RTÉ and Channel 4. It will be on Irish television screens in the autumn, RTÉ's managing director of television, E, Mr Joe Mulholland, said. Describing the production as a "unique and wonderful artistic event", he expressed his gratitude to the Beckett estate for having granted the rights to film the entire canon, for the first time, to RTÉ and the artistic director of the Gate Theatre in Dublin, Mr Michael Colgan. "By bringing to the screen the work of the most innovative and significant playwright of the 20th century, work that has captured the imagination across five continents, RTÉ will have made a most important contribution to celebrating the achievement of one of Ireland's great literary giants," he said.
"This is one of the most significant millennium projects to be undertaken by any broadcasting organisation anywhere in the world."
Among those involved in the project are the director Neil Jordan and actors Michael Gambon, Dame Judi Dench, Julianne Moore, John Hurt and Harold Pinter. The 19 plays were staged at the Gate Theatre in 1991, to critical acclaim, before being brought to New York in 1996. They were presented, again under the artistic direction of Mr Colgan, at the Barbican Centre in London last September. Krapp's Last Tape is currently playing at the New Ambassador Theatre in London with John Hurt.
Mr Colgan said he was "thrilled" that the plays were being brought to television and cinema, and described Mr Mulholland as the "true champion" of the project. "I had brought the canon to New York and London after staging them at the Gate, and though I would regard Beckett as actually the finest writer of the last century, I didn't want to just keep touring the canon.
The plays are being filmed by Blue Angel Films under the production of Mr Alan Moloney and Mr Colgan. Mr Mulholand is the executive producer.
What Where, directed by Mr Damien O'Donnell, and Endgame, directed by Conor McPherson, have already been filmed.
Melissa
Cambridge, MA USA - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 19:39:08 (PST)

Here's another link for the Sassoon poem at Modern History SourceBook.
Georgiana (hoping I haven't screwed this one up...Thanks, Suz!)
Seattle - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 17:57:54 (PST)

I found one of the poems that HM and AR read. It's called Attack, by Siegfried Sassoon. It's available at http://www.geocities.com/CapitoHill/8103/sassoon1.html Sorry about the long address, but I'm fairly illiterate when it comes to computers. The second poem, The Long War, by Laurie Lee, I couldn't find. I hope someon has more luck.
Julia, poet, net detective, renaissance woman...
Calgary, Canada - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 17:13:54 (PST)

As a poet, I am glowing. As a Rickmaniac, I am glowing. As a socialist-for-peace, I am glowing. "If I were a bell I'd be ringing!". I hope the Eurythmics get involved. They're big on peace at the moment.
Julia
Calgary, Canada - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 16:53:37 (PST)

Note to Nancy R.: re your posting of January 7, wondering if it was AR you saw outside the theatre on January 5. If the info on the site in my last posting (see below) is accurate, then it probably was him as he was filming in London the next day.
Magda
Canada - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 14:55:49 (PST)

Surfing the web today and found an interesting site:PeaceOneDay. Apparently AR and Helen Mirren were filmed reading anti-war poetry on January 6. Some pics are on this page; also click on "poetry" and "film makers".
Magda
Canada - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 14:42:52 (PST)

All fixed.
Suz (D.o.C.)

Calling DoC...
Georgiana
- Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 13:03:34 (PST)

The basic article about Soho Theatre comeback is up at Evening Standard Online, but not the sidebar (and, alas, not the picture) previously cited.
Georgiana (learning some orthopedics this week...)
Seattle - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 13:03:08 (PST)

The Evening Standard (London)
February 8, 2000

HEADLINE: Soho united

CATHY TYSON allayed her fears that the Soho Theatre will merely cater for "the beautiful trendy people" at the newly-reopened venue's opening party last night. As she mingled with fellow guests, who included Alan Rickman and Richard Wilson, the Mona Lisa star told me: "It is important that this place is accessible to everyone - and that includes people who don't normally come to Soho.

"But I believe with the right commitment, talent and the right ticket prices, that it can cater for everyone." Rickman could not conceal his own excitement at the theatre's future. "By providing a venue for new writers this is part of theatre's lifeblood. I think it is probably the start of London's version of off-Broadway - classless culture."

GRAPHIC: TYSON AND RICKMAN: CLASS CONCERNS
Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 07:57:15 (PST)

The Guardian (London)
February 10, 2000
SECTION: Guardian Home Pages; Pg. 9

HEADLINE: Bad mouthing Muse excluded from Beckett extravaganza
BYLINE: Janine Gibson Media Correspondent

Samuel Beckett's muse and regular collaborator Billie Whitelaw has been excluded from an ambitious television plan to film his 19 plays.

An array of acting and directing talent has been lined up to transfer all the plays to celluloid for the first time, but Whitelaw, who created many of the roles, is not among them.

Names such as Emma Thompson, John Malkovich, Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons, John Gielgud, John Hurt and Judi Dench are in line to star in the films with directors including Richard Eyre, John Boorman and Tom Stoppard. Although some of the casting decisions are yet to be confirmed, the plans are largely in place.

Each of the plays, which range from the two-act Waiting for Godot to the 45- second Breath, will be filmed this year.

The Irish broadcaster RTE is the biggest contributor to the pounds 4m project to create a lasting collection which will be broadcast in Ireland this autumn, and next year on Channel 4.

The executive producer of the project, Joe Mulholland confirmed that RTE and the production company Blue Angel are not in negotiations with Whitelaw.

He said: 'Many people have been approached and it's a question of choosing the best people for the particular plays.'

He said it was still possible that the actress, famed for her interpretation of Beckett's work, might form part of the millennium project.

However, some of Whitelaw's best-known roles in Beckett's plays have already been allotted to other actresses. Two films, What Where and Endgame, featuring Michael Gambon and David Thewlis, have been shot by directors Damien O'Donnell and Conor McPherson.

Artist Damien Hirst will film Breath, a 45-second long scream, while Not I will star the Hollywood actress, Julianne Moore, directed by Neil Jordan. The role, for which Whitelaw had to have her head clamped for her early performances, features a disembodied, heavily lipsticked mouth confessing its memories to a listening auditor.

Mr Mulholland decided to film the works after the success of the Dublin Gate Theatre's production of the full canon, which travelled to New York and the Barbican under the artistic direction of Michael Colgan.

Mr Colgan's role was key to persuading the notoriously strict Beckett estate, which will only allow his plays to be produced with a strict adherence to his stage directions. His production company, Blue Angel, is behind the films.

Several of the plays will be broadcast by Channel 4 in its schools schedule following the addition of Beckett to the national curriculum. But Mr Mulholland said he was keen for the films to bring Beckett to a wider audience. 'We hope this will make his work far more accessible to far more people,' he said.
Georgiana <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 07:54:47 (PST)

Lynn, Thank you for the info on Rebecca! The article is at http://www.salon.com/april97/rebecca970411.html. I love the book, which has remained in print for 50+ years now.
My favorite filmed version is the miniseries with Jeremy Brett as Maxim (with the current Rebecca's mom as Mrs. deWinter). JB was magnificent.
As far as Lawrence Olivier, I didn't get to see him on stage, but on film I find him overdramatic. The only Olivier films I've seen where I enjoyed his acting are: Pride & Prejudice with Greer Garson, and The Entertainer with Alan Bates.
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 06:19:53 (PST)

Hmmm...here's a juicy role-that-never-was to chew on. I came across this quote from the Mothers Who Think site at Salon.com. The reviewer was thoroughly trashing the most recent version of Rebecca, and the context is Charles Dance's age (significantly older than the heroine's) and his performance as Maxim:

"Maybe the intention here was to underscore the heroine's father fixation (du-uh, as if we couldn't figure that out for ourselves), and maybe it would have worked with an older actor with sexual presence, like Alan Rickman (now that would have been a Maxim to rival Olivier's)."

Rickman on par with Olivier? Sounds like a heckuva compliment to me...
LynnP
USA - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 05:08:19 (PST)

Claire, thanks so much for the new picture of Antony - I haven't seen that one before! AR is usually so reserved, and I was absolutely delighted to see such a wonderful, no-holds barred expression of glee. The only grin bigger than his was mine.

Well, hopping on the bandwagon, here goes: Left foot: Age 35, Cancer, only child, married, one kid age 5 and one due in late August, one dog, house in the country in Pennsylvania but wish I was in Maine. Biologist, engineer, and writer, mostly technical work but some fiction in the hopper. Former musician, still perform occasionally but miss it terribly; engineering pays the bills better. Independent to a fault (just ask my husband), probably raising my daughter to be the same if present stubbornness and determination is any indicator. Ow, time to switch, right foot: Very little time for hobbies but I enjoy reading (Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler; sorry, I'm not much for Jane Austen and Sense and Sensibility really didn't do that much for me, yes I know I'm weird), gardening, and sewing. I like sports (Utah Jazz and Baltimore Orioles) and I ski occasionally. Met my husband in a rock climbing course and we took up scuba diving a few years ago, we're crazy enough to go shark diving when we can and the last time we went I was actually a little bored, having seen it all before. Got hooked on AR when I saw RHPOT (yes, Kevin who? is right). I also like Sean Connery, John Thaw, Roy Marsden, Anthony Hopkins, and Morgan Freeman. Became a guest book junkie a few months ago and am so grateful to have found you all.

Whew! Next?
LynnP
York, PA USA - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 04:31:32 (PST)

Hi guys!

Sorry I've been so quiet lately. Both my computer and I have been out of commission for over a week (you don't want to know), but I'm glad to say I'm feeling a little better now and trying to catch up. My computer, however, is reluctant to cooperate. I still can't download my e-mail from Bigfoot, so please continue using Suz@mail.usa.com for now. And I think something may be wrong with my hard drive, but rest assured, I have a backup of everything. I'll be trying a few more things with my computer to see if I can get things back to normal, so you probably won't hear much from me for a bit longer.

Welcome, Amber, Georgina, Renee and Katrina (hope I didn't miss anyone). Make yourselves at home!

And thanks, Renie!

Suzanne <Suz@mail.usa.comfoo>
Hallettsville, TX USA - Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 16:15:05 (PST)

Link corrected.
Suz (D.o.C.)

DoC, help!
Fausta
back to HTML reform school . . . , USA - Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 12:17:34 (PST)

I'n happy to report that Galaxy Quest is now playing at TWO of the UA Marketfair 10-screen Multiplex.
As to Alan Rickman, Sexiest Man with Bad Teeth, enjoyed the article; don't know about the teeth, but the rest of the package looks mighty fine to me.
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 12:16:07 (PST)

Sorry - that's "www.whatsonstage.com" (you'd never believe I make my living typing!)
NancyC
Atlanta, GA USA - Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 10:38:28 (PST)

AR Thread - For those of you who might be in Great Britain in the spring - a touring production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses is being mounted, with performances beginning today in Guildford and continuing through the middle of June, hitting such towns as Sheffield, Bath, Norwich, Dublin, Brighton, and Edinburgh, to name only a few. Now, don't go nuts with plane reservations, etc., ladies. This production does NOT star Mr. Rickman (sigh). Its cast includes Siobhan Redmond, Clive Wood (in the Valmont role) and Dulcie Gray - all primarily known for their work on stage. But - if, for you, "the play's the thing", I thought it would be a good thing to get the word out. More information can be found at the "What's On Stage" website (www.whatsownstage.com) - an interesting website for those curious about what's going on in theater in the UK.
NancyC
Atlanta, GA USA - Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 10:34:21 (PST)

Quick, what mental image did you have when you heard the news from Stansted Airport that the captain and his crew had made a daring escape from the aircraft?
Melissa
Cambridge, MA USA - Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 09:10:07 (PST)

Lovely little stage review you have up, Claire.
Georgiana (Zelda's home!) <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 07:44:17 (PST)

Yes, Neva...thank you for your kind comments!

Going to hop at the end of the work week...too tired to do much more than shuffle this week!!!
Dana
Twisp, WA USA - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 20:54:59 (PST)

I'll join the hopping trail. Besides AR, I'm a "Moodie" - that's a Moody Blues fan, BIG TIME! I also collect autographs. Personally speaking, though, my husband and I are both in civilian service, and enjoy travel. I must keep up with this sight more often. I appear to be missing out on a lot of stuff!
Georgina Lenty
Fresno, CA USA - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 19:23:32 (PST)

Found a rather unusual site: http://www.fametracker.com. It lists as one of their hot topics: Alan Rickman, Sexiest Man with Bad Teeth. Ouch!

Sandy
Tewksbury, MA USA - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 16:10:59 (PST)

No more e-mails please - the scripts have been taken. Thanks for your interest!

Kari
- Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 15:58:13 (PST)

I am offering a couple of scripts free of charge to anyone who wants them. Free! I have RHPOT and Dogma. Please send me an e-mail with your mailing address and specify which script(s) you would like. First one(s) to respond will receive them in the mail by early next week. Residents of the U.S. only please because I am the one footing the bill for postage.

Kari <sixpence@wa.freei.netfoo>
- Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 14:58:22 (PST)

Dana,

Just asking on a hunch here, but are you the one posting "Brandon's Story" on the BoI board at Pemberley?
Neva (who wants to hop in but is a bit shy right now...)
USA - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 13:55:46 (PST)

Totally off-topic, Rafe fans will love to visit http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/endoftheaffair/multimedia.html the official website for The End Of The Affair. . .
which I haven't seen yet, and not lack of trying!
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 13:40:10 (PST)

Alessandro Nivola is in Branagh's upcoming film Love's Labour's Lost as the King of Navarre.
Renie (haven't seen Mansfield Park yet, though not for lack of trying) <reniept@hotmail.comfoo>
CA, USA - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 13:26:41 (PST)

Jumping on the hopping bandwagon! Hello all (left foot): Scorpio, life-long New Englander who hates the snow, but wouldn't live anywhere else (how perverse). One younger sister, 1 older brother. Never married, no kids, hopeless romantic looking for the right guy, which probably explains the single state. One dog, one cat-terribly allergic to it.

Ellen, love your idea for Steve Martin for president. Too bad Dan Ackroyd's Canadian-the thought of those 2 wild and crazy guys running this country-LOL! And since I'm still hopping, I have to confess that with all the threads combining Help, I'm a Fish!, GQ, and Monty Python's Terry Jones, I've had this mental image of AR and TJ re-enacting the Fish-Slapping Dance-TJ falls into the drink of course! The power of suggestion strikes again! Either that, or the 2 of them doing Fish License! Whew, what a post...

Sandy (thanks for the virtual aerobic exercise, Ellen!) <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 13:00:03 (PST)

Yes, did rather like "Mansfield Park." I think in some ways it is superior to S&S--but for one not so small item of casting. Was surprised to learn that the curly headed young man, Alessandro Nivola, was an American aping an English accent.
Georgiana (who views hopping on one foot as a one-on-one activity) <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 11:05:43 (PST)

Just so we're all singing from the same songsheet, a query: I think two people piped up in the affirmative for Hopping, Part II. Is this a big green light?
Melissa
Cambridge, MA USA - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 09:49:05 (PST)

People looking for historical accuracy in non-documentary films bring to mind the Thermian's historical documents.
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 09:06:22 (PST)

AR tentacle: In my local paper today, there was an article about the book "History Goes to the Movies: A Viewer's Guide to the Best (and Some of the Worst) Historical Films Ever Made," by Joseph Roquemore (could the title have been any longer?). He cites many movies has being historically inaccurate including "Citizen Kane," "The Last Temptation of Christ" (which I still loved), "JFK" and "RHPOT." I remember having a heated discussion with a former coworker about the historical inaccuracies of RHPOT--the gunpowder scene jumps to mind--and all I could say in its defense was, "Lighten up! It's only a movie!" I knew "JFK" was mostly based on conjecture, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the possibilities of the story. I felt the same about "Amadeus" when I found out that some Mozart groupies nearly swallowed their teeth over the Forman flick. Personally, I'd take RHPOT over any other Robin Hood flick for the obvious reason: That amazing-looking sheriff, who even called himself looking more like a heavy-metal rocker than a villain!
Gilda
USA - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 08:40:59 (PST)

Thanks Gail. I must say it is nice to see more women directors, especially when it comes to movies with a decidedly female flare. Despite my late, late night comments, I really enjoyed it and look forward to seing it again on video.
Heather
CA USA - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 07:51:43 (PST)

Heather - the director of Mansfield Park, Patricia Rozema, is a Canadian who has made several films in Canada before this one, her first relatively big budget effort, I believe. As Heather noted, Lindsay Duncan plays two parts - two sisters whose lives evolved very differently. This film is much more knowingly a film made in the late 20th century about a period in the early 19th, with many nods and winks to the camera, so to speak. Georgiana and I saw it at the Toronto Film Festival on one of the days when we weren't seeing Dogma, and both enjoyed it.
Gail <grayment@istar.cafoo>
Toronto, Canada - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 07:45:34 (PST)

I went to see "DOGMA" today, and it was really funny! The cinema was full, and they started laughing when the "disclaimer" was shown. Didn't see enough of AR, and too much of Mega mouth (Mr Mewes is it?). He really looked good walking on the water! I agree with all you - just once, I would love to see Mr Rickman, in a movie from beginning to end - as the main actor and not in supporting roles! His talent is wasted in small roles. I really enjoyed this movie despite some unfair comments from Fred Nile. I hope to see GQ soon - I hear it is doing well in the U.S.A. No.6 is it? Take care !
Barbara
Gold Coast, Qld. Australia - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 04:46:21 (PST)

I forgot to mention that Lindsay Duncan plays two parts, very different, in Mansfield Park.
Heather <to tired to think straightfoo>
Atascadero, CA USA - Monday, February 07, 2000 at 22:06:42 (PST)

Not about AR but English nonetheless. Saw Mansfield Park this weekend. I really liked it, but not as well as S&S, didn't move as well. I kept thinking what part could our Man have played and really there was only one. Great period piece though. Does anyone know about the director, Patrica Roxema (I believe?)?

Wished I could have seen GQ again but the husband didn't want too, not a bad second though.

Will think on what to hop in with!
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
Atascadero, CA USA - Monday, February 07, 2000 at 21:22:16 (PST)

Well, enough agreeing, I guess I'll hop first. Left foot, I'm a gemini, published journalist, poet, adopted, left handed, like gardening, AR, wish Steve Martin was running for president, have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 kids, looking for a new job, writing a screen play, my second, sent my first to Paul Lyon Maris and he read it! a fan of AR since Christmas day 1991 and Right Foot, divorced twice, saved historic building on Long Island to impress AR, didn't work, but, got to meet Hollywood producer and published authors. parents and one brother in Jersey, best friends from Germany and the UK. Photography and Graphic arts and painting.
Ellen Sherman <writersherman@mindspring.comfoo>
Peachtree City, GA USA - Monday, February 07, 2000 at 19:17:25 (PST)

I love ALan Rickman.He has caputered my mind and heart ever since I saw Dogma.I think for a man his age he is sooooooooo SEXY>I am being honest here.I love the way he acts.He take on dramamtic parts very well.Defentliy my favorite actor.I look forward to seeing him in more to movies to come.I love the picture used on the home page.Keep up with the good work !!
Amber Malone <AMBER1223@webtv.netfoo>
Modesto, ca USA - Monday, February 07, 2000 at 18:57:44 (PST)

RHPoT last night was marvellous, as usual. I emailed all my friends and told them to watch it--some of them did. Ha! I am spreading the word! (Aren't I just the best little missionary!)
Julia
Calgary, Canada - Monday, February 07, 2000 at 17:18:51 (PST)

Melissa, yes, it was Graphiti. And for a real fashion statement, don't forget to wear your Tev'Mek headpiece with your Dogma wings.
Nancy R.
USA - Monday, February 07, 2000 at 15:50:18 (PST)

Great retail find, Robyn -- would make the most effective fashion statement while driving and wearing the strap-on Angel Wings I found in some mail order catalogue. Oh brother. Wasn't the name of AR's graphic design company of many years ago also Graphiti?
Melissa <masmith@law.harvard.edufoo>
Cambridge, MA USA - Monday, February 07, 2000 at 15:22:25 (PST)

Well, if you get slapped in line, you all know what to do.

Less than a week away, but wanted to alert everyone that it's Suzanne's birthday on the 13th. (In light of your current computer situation, didn't want any mishaps, Suzanne!) Happy Birthday, and great wishes for great fun!
A-M, Georgiana, thanks. (Though in Netscape the photos on the main page have a gold background, not plain brown paper.)
Renie, CA USA - Monday, February 07, 2000 at 12:35:52 (PST)

Under the "Get Serious!" category, I found this:

'DOGMA' PARAPHERNALIA FROM GRAPHITTI
GRAPHITTI Designs is soliciting a 5" tall BUDDY CHRIST Dashboard Statue, just like the one seen in Kevin Smith's DOGMA.The $12.95 sculpture can be found in the current PREVIEWS catalog from DIAMOND, and will reach specialty stores this April.
http://www.graphittidesigns.com

Keep in line and no pushing!
Robyn
USA - Monday, February 07, 2000 at 12:09:54 (PST)

If they're releasing a director's cut of Mesmer, I wonder if they'll improve the sound quality? I have the video, and I was so disgusted with the sound I only watched it twice.

Ellen, add my vote to the "hopper" (there I go with the puns again....). And I agree with you on the smoking bit. I used to light one up after a couple of beers too, but otherwise I never touched 'em.
LynnP (who may find out today if it's a boy or a girl...)
York, PA USA - Monday, February 07, 2000 at 06:09:43 (PST)

Wow, Katrina!

I've never seen that particular pic before- thanks! If I remember correctly, the actress in the pic w/ AR is Beatie Edney, who was also in LLD. Am I right?
Neva
USA - Sunday, February 06, 2000 at 16:43:38 (PST)

Tango at the End of Winter by Kunio Shimizu is still in print and available at The UK Amazon . Yes very sad tale!

Claire
- Sunday, February 06, 2000 at 13:39:41 (PST)

I found this pic from Tango at the End of Winter and I've never seen any pics from that play before. It's quite "cuddly"! Seems to be a sad scene, though. Sorry if you've seen it already.
KatrinaL <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
Sweden - Sunday, February 06, 2000 at 12:54:06 (PST)

RHPoT is going to be shown tonight on the History Channel in Cananda. I'm vary interested to see how they justify showing it! ("This movie has it's basis in legend and has little or no historical fact in it, but we really like AR so we decided to show it.") Hehe...
Julia
Calgary, Canada - Sunday, February 06, 2000 at 12:30:15 (PST)

I vaguely remember Laredo mentioning that the doctor had healed him with something. I guess this means I should go see GQ again.
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 13:47:31 (PST)

Have just seen GQ for the third time with a friend who hadn't seen it yet (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). Here's a question for the continuity buffs: what happens to Laredo's broken arm? One minute he's got a cast on, next minute it's gone. A gaffe? Or is Thermian medical technology that advanced? Have to say I didn't notice it the first two times. Could I have been distracted by a certain "fin-headed hack"? (I think that was Nesmith's phrase.) Possibly...
Nancy R.
USA - Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 12:26:38 (PST)

I got the info on the site from Sue. So thanks, Sue! I hope the director's cut thing isn't just intended to make it more appealing without any real change. The one on Romance Classics seemed pretty much like the VHS, with the exception of a couple of scenes where they changed the perspective to cover action that they must have felt couldn't be shown on a basic cable service. The VHS is 106 minutes and as the film was never really distributed, maybe the original was Spottiwoode's cut. Well, I guess well find out in April!!
A-m
LI, NY USA - Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 10:51:12 (PST)

Thanks for the info on Mesmer A-m! I've only seen the Romance Classics edited version and I feel like I've been royally gypped (anybody else feel like this, too?). And a director's cut...hmmm...

I agree with Ellen's idea as well. The people who post here are truly an amazing bunch.

Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 10:32:44 (PST)

Mesmer is now available to be preordered on DVD for $17.44 from Laser's Edge

It is listed as an all region disc and as a director's cut. The running time is listed as 109 minutes. They also have a really nice picture of the cover. The release date is April 11(same as DkH). That day seems to be shaping up to to be a good one for Rickmaniacs!!
A-m
LI, NY USA - Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 10:18:43 (PST)

Hi Ellen,

It's wonderful to see you posting again (like I'm one to talk!!)

I'm game for hopping....
Dana
Twisp , WA USA - Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 09:51:09 (PST)

I'm with you, Heather. And the idea of what smoking could do to that voice . . . horrors!

Mary Anne
Appalled, USA - Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 09:26:21 (PST)

I'll cast my vote for Ellen's idea. I like the idea of knowing more about the people I've come to respect.

Julia, I am glad you were right, but also sad to hear that AR smokes because as we all know it is bad for your health and shortens one's life and I don't think any of us want AR's life shortened any.
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
Atascadero, CA USA - Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 08:56:01 (PST)

A neat little definition of Rickman's performance in GQ in a mini-review in one of the Canadian papers. 'Solid jokes abound, and Alan Rickman is downright Swiss in his comic timing'. Having finally seen GQ with Georgiana and a core TARTS contingent I found it highly entertaining. Of course, it was a help sitting next to Georgiana who, having seen it three times before acted as a DEW when a particularly good bit was coming up. (Distant Early Warning for those of you who are post Cold War.)
Gail <grayment@istar.cafoo>
Toronto, Canada - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 21:33:58 (PST)

If a person has a non-addictive personality they can somke occasionally. I smoke at parties, if I have a beer. Otherwise I don't smoke at all. Will DH (harbour) be on Showtime do you think? Do you remember the hopping on one foot we all did in '97 to find out if we had anything in common besides AR? So many new people have become regulars since then I thought that maybe we should do that again?
Ellen Sherman <writersherman@mindspring.comfoo>
Peachtree City, GA USA - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 17:20:11 (PST)

Would that be like being a little bit pregnant?
Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 16:53:59 (PST)

Nana nana Boo Boo. Someone was right. Alan does indeed smoke. According to a reliable source, it's not enough to be considered a habit. LALALALALALALALALA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Julia
Calgary, Canada - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 16:51:00 (PST)

LynnP, I suspect "Dark Harbor" will be out in video shortly after the DVD. Not sure why they elected DVD, except that they shot a scene they did not include, and the producers were talking about making it available on DVD. Let's hope. It is rumored to be a scene between Rickman and Reedus in Portland, Maine, that precedes the action of the film as shown at film festivals. There seems to be a trend toward earlier DVD release--since it is a version much more difficult to duplicate and redistribute.
Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 12:45:09 (PST)

Hi again!

LOL! at your suggestions about the language in "Help, I'm a fish!" Lucky it isn't Danish! I fear that it will probably be dubbed in many countries, even here, since it's an animated film. It's a bit strange that a Danish film maker makes a Danish animated film in English... Ambitious, perhaps? Danish film has been much talked of lately, von Trier and the others with films like "Breaking the waves", "The idiots" and "The party" etc.

Anyway, I didn't stop by to talk about Danish film only! You mentioned video stores and actually I went to rent a film today since my boyfriend was out of town. What did I find?! Lo and behold: "Judas Kiss"!! Sooo happy! I've seen it once already and I liked it! Crazy and interesting! I laughed so hard whenever AR and Emma Thompson had a scene together. Great acting, as always! Loved the accent. My favourite scene this far was the dialouge that ends with "Don't forget that I'm a better driver than you!" ;-D Well, he got the chance to prove it!

Neva ,dear! Thank you for welcoming me! :-) I ate chocolate while watching "Judas Kiss"! Just as addictible as Alan Rickman! ;-) You do realise that I've outnumbered you? I've seen one more AR film than you! I do hope you'll get ample chance to outnumber me soon! :-)

Have a nice week-end, all of you!

KatrinaL <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
Sweden - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 12:23:20 (PST)

Having surfed around a bit, I can't find any place that is offering to sell VHS versions of Dark Harbor. Am I correct in assuming that it will be offered only on DVD? (grumble...) I must say, I'm just bubbling with excitement at the news of "Help, I'm a Fish!" Too bad it couldn't have been a Finnish movie instead...and hopefully it won't flounder if it ever makes it to US theaters.
LynnP (ducking to avoid the rotten tomatoes...)
USA - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 11:53:33 (PST)

Maybe his co-star is called Bob. Bob,bob,bob,bob........:-)
Catherine <catherine.bowles@virgin.netfoo>
Yorkshire, England - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 10:09:23 (PST)

I see the DVD box picture they have up at reel.com for Dark Harbor is different than the poster they generated for film festival showings. It has a nice big image of Rickman's face.
Georgiana <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 10:08:05 (PST)

Bloop!
Gilda
USA - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 07:28:55 (PST)

Nah! You're all wrong! The movie will have English subtitles. Rickman will speak Fish.
Robyn
Also in Pain, USA - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 07:20:20 (PST)

Thanks Robyn for the musical information. Thanks also to whoever is in charge of this guestbook, I am really enjoying it! When I first developed an interest in AR, I figured that I would find next to nothing on him when searching the internet. It was a nice surprise to discover that I was wrong! I'm still not sure what it is about him that I find so appealing. I suspect that a lot of it has to do with THE VOICE! It seems that when he is on-screen, I find it difficult to watch anyone else. Is it that "star quality" that people such as Marilyn Monroe are suppose to have?? Anyway, nice to know that I am not alone in my fascination!
Renee
USA - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 06:01:48 (PST)

Catherine, I cracked up when I read your post. Yes, he does!! I have a 5-year-old who would love to see it again, so now I know what I'm renting for our Friday night videos...
LynnP
USA - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 05:59:46 (PST)

Heather, you probably won't find them in video stores unless you special order them. I was lucky enough to find Rasputin in the local MediaPlay store, but most of the other...well, more obscure, shall we say...releases I've had to order over the web. I've had good luck with Amazon.com (both auction and retail), Videoflicks.com, and buy.com.

Strangely enough, our local video store (in little ol' Dillsburg, don't blink or you'll miss it) actually carries CME as a rental item. Kinda blew my mind.

LynnP (who just fell for Dwight as hard as Annie did)
York, PA USA - Friday, February 04, 2000 at 05:55:53 (PST)

Thanks Robyn and Georgiana for the info. So basically he's just the gentlemen we knew he was. I'm also glad to hear Tim Allen has reconciled with his wife.
Heather
CA USA - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 20:01:16 (PST)

Having visited today our newest video store and having yet again no luck finding Rasputin or Close My Eyes, or Closet Land, I have decided to start (I'm really just kidding) the "Help Heather see AR films fund".

I'm so glad you guys are here so I can talk to someone who understands my obession.
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
Atascadero, CA USA - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 19:59:26 (PST)

Julia, if you'd read, you might note that the Hollywood Reporter snippet stated, regards "Help! I'm a Fish": "This English-language film ..." So One might conclude he shall be providing the voice of the villain in English...
Georgiana (...just a guess...) <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 18:33:54 (PST)

Katrina!! :)

Thanks for the info on Help! I'm a Fish!. I'm so happy to see you posting here!
Neva
USA - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 17:51:35 (PST)

We feel your pain, Julia.

Magda
Canada - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 17:18:37 (PST)

So, umm, I don't get it... Does AR have to speak a different language for this one, or does he speak English, or am I just really stupid and missed that little detail? And which one is Joe? is AR Joe, or is someone else Joe? "My brain hurts..." Heeeheee! Gumby! Heehee! (It's been a long day.)
Julia
Calgary, Canada - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 16:20:44 (PST)

I watched the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame the other night. Does Phoebus bear more than a passing resemblance of our beloved AR or am I completely obsessed ? No, don't answer that :-)
Catherine <catherine.bowles@virgin.netfoo>
Yorkshire, England - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 16:11:46 (PST)

Ok, Renee, in answer to your question, here are the Bach pieces from TMD.

Sonata No. 3 For Cello (Viol de Gamba) and Piano
2nd Movement Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
--1st Movement
--Sarabande
Keyboard Concerto No. 2 Andante
Robyn
USA - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 09:40:28 (PST)

I'm sorry that my message got so messy... :-( I'll put in a few paragraphs next time!
KatrinaL <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
Sweden - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 09:30:46 (PST)

Hi all! Time to delurk! :-) I've read the guestbook for a while and felt I had nothing to offer but - "Oh, that is beautiful!" to all you others say and do... This is a wonderful place and I've seen many wonderful AR-pages lately. Thank you, everyone! Well done! Now I actually have some information! The info here on the Danish animated film "Help, I'm a fish!" got me started. I live in Sweden and understand Danish so I decided to do a search on Danish films. I found an URL... that didn't work. But it gave me enough info to find this page: http://www.scope.dk/redaktionelt/raafilmdk/spillefilmdk/ The page is in Danish and I found an e-mail address. I mailed in English asked questions about this film and today I got this nice reply in English: Hi Katarina. The page you've found belongs to a "hidden" part of Scope which is not being updated at the moment. But I can tell you that the rumour is true: Alan Rickman is indeed the villain of the film. He plays a fish, which - exposed to some nasty toxic substances - gains the ability to speak and becomes very intelligent. And Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) can be heard as a professor. "Hjælp, jeg er en fisk!" is probably going to be released in late 2000. Med venlig hilsen / Best Regards Brian Iskov (Editorial Assistant - SCOPE) / World Online Denmark A/S Well? How about that? I must say I'm very curious! And just imagine - I might have the opportunity to see it first! What a change! ;-) I can tell you that TMD, for instance, has never been shown in Sweden! And yes! I am the same KatrinaL who posts at Pemberley! :-) See you!
KatrinaL <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
Sweden - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 09:29:02 (PST)

Heather, in answer to your question, I think Weaver is seen near AR or on his arm for two reasons:
(1) Rickman routinely offers his arm to or puts his arm around female actors and
(2) Tim Allen separated from his wife briefly a few months ago and just as quickly reconciled. It's in his best interests not to be seen with a woman draped on or around him.
Robyn <RobynR22@aol.comfoo>
USA - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 09:05:08 (PST)

In (I think) today's London Evening Standard, some words about the next AR film:

Hair-raising battle for directors
by Jasper Rees

"Typical. Shampoo, in which Warren Beatty's society hairstylist trims and tups his way through the womenfolk of hippie Hollywood, is 25 years old. You wait a quarter of a century for another decent blow-drying movie to come along, and then two turn up at once. Even more bizarrely, they are both set in the recherché world of competition hairdressing. You probably didn't even know there was such a thing, and now you'll never be allowed to forget it. Imagine the larks they had calling "Cut!" at the end of each take.

Perhaps this was to be expected in a year in which Nicky Clarke became the first hairdresser to crop and bob his way into the pages of Who's Who. At least the two films have the grace to attend different championships. In The Big Tease, released this week, Craig Ferguson jets off from Glasgow to the World Freestyle Hairdressing Championship in Los Angeles, where first prize is the Platinum Scissors. In Blow Dry, meanwhile, on which filming wrapped in November, those smooth old lotharios Alan Rickman and Bill Nighy lock mousse bottles at the National Hairdressing Championship for the less prestigious Silver Scissors.

At this stage it is impossible to tell which will win the coveted Best Competition Hair-dressing Movie of the Year award, but both have promising pedigrees. Each is a coalition between British talent and American money (Warners and Miramax, respectively). The Big Tease is co-written by Craig Ferguson and directed by Kevin Allen, the kid brother of Keith whose debut Twin Town painted such a bracing revisionist picture of South Wales. Blow Dry is Simon Beaufoy's first attempt at a comic script since The Full Monty. He ventures, at least partly, out of Yorkshire, so that's something to look forward to, as is the prospect of Natasha Richardson and Rachel Griffiths as an adulterous lesbian couple.

Shot in the form of a documentary for British television, The Big Tease finds at least two meanings in one movie. It follows Crawford, Ferguson's Glaswegian crimper, into the sincerity vacuum of Hollywood, where the narcissism of the hairdo is in inverse proportion to the size of the brain lurking just the other side of the cranium.

But if hair is an index of vanity, it's also a means of empowerment. When Crawford discovers that he has been invited to LA to sit in the audience of the Freestyle Championships, rather than compete, he moves heaven and earth to get himself into the contest. His smartest move is to crimp Sean Connery's publicist. Shampoo also buys into that idea that cutting hair will get you what you want: in the case of Beatty's character, who wears a blow-drier in his belt like a Colt 45, it's the key to his rich clients' underwear.

(REMOVAL OF IRRELEVANT STUFF ON OTHER HAIRDRESSING MOVIES)

The Big Tease opens on Friday. Blow Dry opens later this year."

Magda
Canada - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 08:40:08 (PST)

TARTS - Toronto Alan Rickman Tribute Society if I recall. Maybe that should go in the FAQ. GQ is well worth a look. Not a heart-stopping role like DH or S&S but a good romp. This morning as I lay in bed, my local newsradio station had, apropros of nothing, an item that Alan Rickman says Hollywood is now more accepting of British actors. Then there was a tape of him saying something about Gwenyth Paltrow and Julianne Moore doing "perfect English accents." What a way to wake up!
Laurie <lreid@cga.cafoo>
Toronto, Canada - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 07:55:35 (PST)

Ohhhh, Nancy C.....it was worth the wait...a thousand thanks...
LynnP
Still levitating in York, PA USA - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 05:43:32 (PST)

Hello, fellow Rickman fans! I have never used the guestbook before but here goes. Can anyone tell me the names of the pieces of music performed by AR and Juliet Stevenson in TRULY,MADLY,DEEPLY? Specifically the piece that he is playing on the cello at the beginning of the movie and the piece that they perform together in that great scene where he reappears in her life? I would love to find a recording of those pieces and at present am unable to find a copy of TMD to go back and check the credits. Thanks!
Renee
USA - Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 05:12:19 (PST)

You, sir... are a great actor. I have enjoyed every film I have seen you in. Please make more.
Randy vinson
USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 20:30:33 (PST)

Hmmmm... And here I thought "yeehaaw" was a Texan thing...
though without the "eh?" :-)
Suzanne <SuzanneK@bigfoot.comfoo>
TX USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 20:24:08 (PST)

An animated film? with Terry Jones of Monty Python fame? Could life get better than this? (yes, clearly, but I'm excited) Wooohooooo! (or, as we say up here, yeehaaw, eh?) Life is good!
Julia
Calgary , Canada - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 16:44:23 (PST)

May I also add my thanks, Heather & Claire!

Sandy (oh, that's beautiful!)
Tewksbury, MA USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 16:06:51 (PST)

Great pics, Heather and Claire! Y'all just made my day! :)
Neva
USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 14:42:18 (PST)

RE: The fish thread--maybe he'll use his headpiece from GQ in that one! Who said you can't recycle in Hollywood? Hope he didn't keep the other "piece" he wore in "Dogma".... I could do without him having without...
Gilda
USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 14:35:41 (PST)

Letters to the editor in 29 Jan 2000 LA Times:

HEADLINE: HOORAY FOR RICKMAN

Finally, someone has articulated the joy of watching Alan Rickman ("Once Again, Alan Rickman Demonstrates Sneer Genius," by Stephen Hunter, Jan. 21). His slyly ruthless and smarmy Rev. Mr. Slope in Trollope's "Barchester Towers" years ago on "Masterpiece Theatre" was the beginning of my delight at discovering this wonderful actor.
BETH TOLFREE, Bakersfield

Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 14:25:41 (PST)

Does anyone remember a reference in relation to AR to a film called Joe the Fish? This is well over a year ago, just wondered if it has resurfaced (no pun intended) under another name?

Claire
- Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 14:13:31 (PST)

And, yes, assumed it was an animated film since done by "Munich Animation." Also, it was one of a list of forthcoming animated films... It is up at IMDB as "Hjælp, jeg er en fisk."
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 13:52:10 (PST)

Hi, Heather. TARTS are the Toronto Alan Rickman something-or-other--you'd have to ask Gail. I don't think he 'stole' "Galaxy Quest" at all. Seems to me it was an "I can play nice in the sandbox" sort of role. Nothing like Hans in "Die Hard" nor George in RHPOT. And I think they had Tim Allen enter solo to the premiere, then the two 'sidekicks' came in together--Rickman and Weaver. Just MHO...
Georgiana (Thanks, Gail! Gracious as always.)
Seattle - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 13:49:12 (PST)

Kind of an off-the-wall question, why is it always AR's arm or side that we see Sigourney Weaver at rather than Tim Allen's given he is who she is supposed to be attracted to in the film? Just wondering if anyone knew.

Glad you had a great birthday Georgiana! Again another dumb question, who are the TARTS?

Given the fact that everyone seems to recognize the fact that AR steals every show he is in, why hasn't Hollywood noticed it yet? Or is it that AR doesn't want them to?

Sorry for all the strange questions.
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
Atascadero , CA USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 13:37:17 (PST)

According to the animator's site, this is an animated film, so perhaps AR is only doing a character's voice. Here's the excerpt:

"Among current projects, A. Film is presently working on a 70-minute animated feature film entitled Help! I'm a Fish! based on a children's book. Another major project in the pipeline is Jasper, a 40-minute animated IMAX film for children."
Magda
Canada - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 12:14:42 (PST)

Crustacean headpiece..."Help, I'm a Fish"...is there a trend developing here? We know he's a Pisces, but isn't this a bit much? What next, a remake of Moby Dick or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? Any guesses?
Nancy R.
CA USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 12:00:56 (PST)

From 25 January 2000 Hollywood Reporter: Coming Soon

By Harvey Deneroff
Scheduled 2000 Releases

"Help! I'm a Fish" (A Film (Copenhagen), Terraglyph (Ireland), Munich Animation (Germany), EIV Entertainment (Hamburg) and Egmont Imagination (Copenhagen, summer) This English-language film, a tale of three kids who accidentally turn into fish, is directed by Stefan Fjeldmark (co-director of the Oscar-nominated short "When Life Departs") and features an American-Canadian-British cast, including Alan Rickman, Terry Jones, Aaron Poul, Jeff Pace and Michelle Westerson. A Film, which has worked on a number of Hollywood films and been successful in the Nordic market, hopes to break into the international arena with this film.
Georgiana (yes, it *was* a good birthday!) <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 11:40:04 (PST)

Krus TAY she oyed. From the French. Or, as the OED lists it, kr&revv.steISIOId.
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 11:28:34 (PST)

From the Feb 7 New York Magazine (www.newyorkmag.com)

Galaxy Quest is still knocking about neighborhood theaters, and it's worth a look. Initially marketed as a space romp for the family, it's closer to being a satire of those films. A cast of TV actors in a Star Trek-style series ends up in a real interstellar shootout, and the drolleries take precedence over the special effects. The performers, including Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub, and Tim Allen, achieve a lilting tone of self-mockery, and, as an actor reduced to playing an alien crew member with a crustaceiod forehead, Alan Rickman continues his unbroken string of stealing every movie he's in

FYI: The latest Cinefantastique has a GQ article; a couple of neat quotes on AR, but it's home and I"m at work, so I'll try to quote later. Also, there's a publication called ICG (?), which is on the more technical aspects of moviemaking, with an article on the lighting an FX man on GQ. Very technical and if anything there are photos of Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver, with just minor mentions of the rest of the cast.
Gilda
USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 10:32:30 (PST)

Renie, great job! Nothing plain about those shots--on plain brown paper 'though they be. And I love the red.
Georgiana (on the anniversary of my first post, off to pick up a little something at the post office)
Seattle - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 07:36:57 (PST)

what-the-heck, might as well throw in a pair of H*nds
Fausta
USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 07:04:06 (PST)

By popular demand, and courtesy of Joy, here are the eyes: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. In parts or as a whole, we are fans!
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 05:55:10 (PST)

sigourney Weaver was a guest on yesterday's broadcast of Fresh Air, in which Terry kept repeating that SW was starring in two new movies, A Map of the World and GQ. I only caught the last 10 minutes of it, in which SW did not discuss GQ...did anybody hear the entire broadcast?
LynnP
York, PA USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 05:49:24 (PST)

Heather--thanks for sharing those pictures. I especially like that last one where he's draped so casually over the chair; he looks sleek as a big cat. ;-)

As for the Valmont pics, Claire, I think perhaps that health warning is in order again . . . wheeew. *fanning*

Mary Anne (Sensory "overload," did someone say? Try explosion!)
USA - Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 05:07:32 (PST)

Heather and Claire, mere words are inadequate to express my--um--admiration, yeah,that's the word!-for those wonderful pictures! They certainly brightened up my dreary work day! I, too, am experiencing sensory overload, and I, too, am not complaining one iota!
Georgia
Anaheim, CaX USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 19:21:18 (PST)

Thank you, Heather and Claire!!!
Suzanne (experiencing sensory overload... and loving it!) <SuzanneK@bigfoot.comfoo>
Hallettsville, TX USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 19:15:06 (PST)

First, I hope everyone enjoys these pictures as much as I do:

Shirt

Pockets

Hands

Chair

My husband, who knows quite a lot about photography, says they are polariods taken with a professional photographer's camera as test shots before they take the final photo for use.

Closet Land means a lot to me because it is the film that sent me searching the internet for a site such as this and this site has meant a lot to me. The movie also opened my eyes to how strong we are (when we are being abused) even when we may not think we are and this helped me a lot.
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
CA USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 19:11:15 (PST)

Done!
Renie (*grin*) <reniept@hotmail.comfoo>
CA, USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 18:50:28 (PST)

I don't like the Jamie moustache,but I don't think you can beat the twinkle in AR's eyes in this pic. You all can have the "hands" and I'll take the eyes!
Ellen W.
USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 18:08:45 (PST)

Thank you all for the kind comments on the Feb issue. Please do send your reviews or photos if you can!

As to the LLD photos, thank you, thank you, Claire; and the only regret I have in my entire life is having gone to other plays instead of LLD back when it was in NYC . . .
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
. . . but then I've lived a rather staid life, USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 18:00:54 (PST)

For what it's worth, I'm casting my vote for the beard & moustaches. Thank you, Claire... (*whew*)
LynnP
Fanning herself in York, PA USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 17:55:12 (PST)

I just got an interesting package in the mail and thought I'd stop in to do a little bragging. Last week I got a rather cryptic e-mail saying that I had won a Galaxy Quest prize for visiting the Loews Cineplex website and the prize would be mailed to my home address. I thought it was spam mail because I didn't recall visiting the Loews site or registering my address. Maybe I did though because today I got a package from Dreamworks containing a GQ baseball hat, a GQ button with the poster image, a GQ magnet, a mini GQ Frisbee and a note saying that a poster would be shipped separately. Needless to say, I'm very pleased. Who needs E-bay!?! ;-)
Lisa W. <cap10hook@dreamsoft.comfoo>
Riverside, CA USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 17:16:53 (PST)

More OT, with apologies: Thanks Gilda; very helpful indeed. I'm trying to respond but Yahoo is having a bad case of the stupids today and it might take awhile.
Magda
Canada - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 14:13:29 (PST)

GREAT pictures Claire!!! The only bad part is it makes me desparately wish I could see Les Liaisons :(

After seeing those pictures though, I am inclined to agree with Susan in liking him more as clean shaven. The mustaches work in some of his roles, but I do like being able to see his whole face. Maybe it's those lips, oh ah.
Heather
CA USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 13:55:50 (PST)

Claire, the collection of Valmont's Women is breath-taking.

Fausta, thank-you for the February issue of the Rickmanista.
Nice featured link, too. :-)
Renie, CA/USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 13:51:48 (PST)

Thanks Fausta! Great lips!
susan
USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 13:32:06 (PST)

Melissa, thanks for sharing the course description. I hope AR gets wind it (unlikely as it seems). One thing that comes across loud & clear from the Japanese interview on the tape that Gilda circulated awhile back was how much Winter Guest meant to him, and I think he'd be touched to find it included, and him & Sharman MacDonald referred to as great writers.
Nancy R.
USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 13:30:47 (PST)

Magda, I can do this offline if you like.
Gilda
USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 11:13:02 (PST)

On a completely non-AR topic: I'm trying to put up a professional webpage and the jargon is getting to me. Can someone explain this FTP stuff to me?
Magda <mgrantwich@yahoo.comfoo>
whimpering pathetically in..., Canada - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 10:18:24 (PST)

Dark Harbor in DVD can be preordered from Reel.com, for $17.99 + shipping release date of April 11.
Fausta
USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 08:07:42 (PST)

Isabel, "Dark Harbor" is supposed to be out in video in the US in March, and plans are said to be that it will show on cable first, according to a response I had from Hart/Sharp late last fall. Nice visiting with the TARTS at "Galaxy Quest" last night, and sorry to have missed those of you whose commitments did not allow for fun and frivolity on a Monday night. Great February issue, Fausta. And thanks for the new picture site, Magda--one of those at least in color was new to me.
Georgiana (soon to be out of the winter chafe and home to my jar of Montana wool wax) <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Watching snow fall in Toronto, ON Canada - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 07:51:43 (PST)

Here are the lips, by popular demand
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Tuesday, February 01, 2000 at 05:56:14 (PST)

---

Back to top

Guestbook Archives

Current Guestbook

Alan Rickman Home page