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This is a description of the Haymarket's masterclasses program from TheatreNet:

"The Theatre Royal Haymarket is holding a second season of its Masterclasses, for young people who have an interest in theatre, or are keen to pursue a career in the arts. Sessions begin at 2.30pm, and last around two hours, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, over a five week period starting on 20th September. They are open to people aged 16 and over, and are free of charge - but there is a refundable deposit required confirming the booking."

It doesn't sound to me like the sort of thing that's open to the general public but rather for those young people to take a crash course in the performing arts and show their stuff in front of the pros. Sounds pretty intensive for teenagers but maybe they benefit from being tossed into the deep end of the pool.
Magda
Canada - Friday, June 30, 2000 at 16:57:23 (PDT)

Sorry, Nancy, I was thinking the same thing, but when I contacted the theatre, I was told that the class was filled up a long time ago. Painful news...
Julia
Calgary, Canada - Friday, June 30, 2000 at 14:34:44 (PDT)

Does anyone know whether the public can attend the masterclasses at the Theatre Royal Haymarket? I'm planning to be in London in October…
Nancy R. <nroberts@sonic.netfoo>
CA USA - Friday, June 30, 2000 at 10:19:09 (PDT)

Just in time for the hoiday week-end, the July issue of The Monthly Rickmanista is on line, with new recipies from Mary Anne. Please come visit.
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Friday, June 30, 2000 at 06:15:54 (PDT)

Profile on the rise...

From ananova (click on link to read full article):

A pioneering art project and charity to help people with facial diseases and injuries come to terms with their changing appearances has been launched.

The official launch by Culture Secretary Chris Smith marks the end of a year in which renowned portrait artist Mark Gilbert has painted 100 pictures chronicling operations on deformed and injured patients at St Bartholomew's and the Royal London Hospitals.

The launch was attended by celebrities including chat show host Clive Anderson, actor Alan Rickman, Ruby Wax and journalist Jon Snow. It is hoped the exhibition will tour Japan, Europe and America after finishing in Britain.

Well, at least AR seems to be getting out and about lately...
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Thursday, June 29, 2000 at 20:24:22 (PDT)

From today's Business Wire: "China Southern Airlines (NYSE:ZNH)(HKSE:1055), the largest airline in The People's Republic of China, announced its summer line-up of summer Hollywood blockbuster movies, featuring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman in the sci-fi comedy "Galaxy Quest."
Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, June 29, 2000 at 18:02:15 (PDT)

Please forgive me for asking again, but I'm still wondering if anybody has seen "Galaxy Quest" on pay-per-view. I am unable to find out from anyone at the cable company if it is being shown in a wide-screen/letterbox format or regular video format, in which Alan is cut off the corners of the screen. Thanks.
Maxine <maxinerose@prodigy.netfoo>
Greeley, CO USA - Thursday, June 29, 2000 at 12:05:09 (PDT)

I posted this over at AlPal, but thought some of you not on that list might like to knw as well - both Helen Mirren (who played Cleopatra to his Antony) and Saskia Reeves (who played his wife in Close My Eyes) are appearing in Tennessee Williams' play Orpheus Descending at the Donmar Warehouse. There's a review in the Wednesday London Times if anyone is interested. I'm going for sure!
Linda P.
USA - Thursday, June 29, 2000 at 09:25:18 (PDT)

From Variety's Todd McCarthy in Reuter's: "Jason Isaacs stakes a claim as a legitimate heir to the Alan Rickman/Jeremy Irons tradition of ruthless British villainy as the endlessly evil Tavington . . ."

Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, June 28, 2000 at 17:02:05 (PDT)

In the 22 June NY Daily News, "2 London dailies trash 'The Patriot'":

The movie also has a sneeringly evil British colonel, played in the Alan Rickman "Die Hard" mold by British newcomer Jason Isaacs.

Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, June 28, 2000 at 16:58:37 (PDT)

Lovely Sinclair photos up at Claire's site.
Georgiana (and ever thanks, Claire!)
Seattle - Wednesday, June 28, 2000 at 16:07:53 (PDT)

My pleasure, Suzanne, for the Conan transcription.

Must say, Chicken Run was not as funny as I thought it might be, or as endearing as Nick Park's "Creature Comforts", or Wallace & Grommit, who are charming as well as hilarious. Maybe I expected a bit too much. Nor did I see or hear any of AR in Mrs. Tweedy--certainly not in her manner of dress. ;-) It is an amazing achievement in claymation, though, and impressive in the movie-making sense. But I confess to feeling let down in that the characters weren't drawn more carefully. It doesn't take too long to make a character memorable--remember that metal box on the moon who dreams of skiiing? (A Grand Day Out). I laughed far harder, and much more often at GQ.

Renie <reniept@hotmail.com foo>
CA, - Wednesday, June 28, 2000 at 11:26:43 (PDT)

Georgiana,
LOL at the

"he conceived of Mrs. [Tweedy]. He also imagined her as a drag version of Alan Rickman in Die Hard. ..."

And Sally, I'll post your review of January Man when that page is ready. My apologies for the delay.
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Wednesday, June 28, 2000 at 08:20:23 (PDT)

Burma benfit participants: Anthony Coriette, Kathy Lette, Mark Thomas, Hnin Kay Thwe, U Uttara; and, pictured in the program (obviously in first name alphabetical order), Alan Rickman, Clint Dyer, Clive Rowe, David Hare, Fascinating Aida, Glenda Jackson, Glenys Kinnock, Jiving Lindy Hoppers, John Hegley, Jon Snow, Kate Williams, Maureen Lipman, Meera Syal, Miriam Karlin, Paul Sharma, Prunella Scales, Richard Wilson, Timothy West, Too Darn Hot.
Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 21:31:24 (PDT)

Judy - AS long as Barbara is correct and Discovery is repearing Eco-Challenge Argentina next month, I think I shall be Ok. Will let you know next week when I have cable installed and have checked the program guide! Meanwhile, let me know if I should be keeping my eyes peeled for AR stuff to tape for you should it appear on cable.
Sally <cybamuse@mailcity.comfoo>
Sydney, Australia - Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 21:17:56 (PDT)

Sally, Just back. Saw your post re cable. Friends did tape Eco Challenge. Have just got it. Do you still want it?
Judy
Sydney, NSW Australia - Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 18:24:15 (PDT)

I've been asked to post a bit more about the Royal Court birthday celebration last Sunday evening--was it a mere nine days ago? I will post a list of participants when I catch up with my program--three pounds extra and it had no listing of 'events.' Glenda Jackson 'performed' a brief romp through the complete plays of Shakespeare--in alphabetical order, with another actor, a young man whom I did not know. It consisted of memorable lines like, "Madam, madam," from Romeo and Juliet (I could have this one wrong). She would say a line, he would say a line--in nearly all cases equally as memorable--and Jon Snow, who I gather is a sort of Dan Rather type (I was told he was the 'most famous newsreader in the UK' when briefly introduced to him before the benefit), would give the name of the play. Like virtually all 'performers,' including Mr. Rickman, they were reading from loose pages they held in their hands.

All of the performers were seated at tables on the stage during the entire two hour show, so it was quite interesting to see their reactions--what they found funny, what not so. There were brief readings, a song or two, a few video taped messages (from Aung San Suu Kyi, from Nelson Mandella), at least one poignant personal account of visiting the Nobel laureat. Mr. Rickman's stint as the Yorkshire tour guide lasted about six or seven minutes, during which he rarely looked up from the pages from which he was reading. The bit, in what I take to be an appropriate Yorkshire accent, was nearly perfectly timed, and particularly funny for the inability of the tour guide to actually date the time of the Brontes. This was finally hammered home with: "A few dates for the date-minded. The Brontes moved here some time . . . in the nineteenth century. And lived here quite a number of years." It was punctuated with contemporary asides like, "there's my cycle clips," and "do move my Moped." It was an exquisite piece of writing delivered with such perfect comedic timing that the laughs were coming in advance of the wit. The reception afterward in the bar seemed peopled by a great many politically committed famous folk who knew each other well. I felt like the only out-of-town guest at the wedding! Did get to meet and chat with Suu Kyi's brother-in-law.
Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 17:40:47 (PDT)

Well, Fausta, not as 'off topic' as you might have thought: From 23 June USA Today:

Who Rules the Roost in 'Chicken Run'

. . . aside from Mel Gibson, who plays not-so-heroic Rocky the Rooster, the studio avoided recognizable star voices. They went instead for accomplished English actors and actresses who could give this Yorkshire henhouse a credible cackle. USA TODAY's Andy Seiler highlights some of the standouts.

* Hatching the character: Screenwriter [Karey Kirkpatrick] was thinking of villainous Otto Preminger in Stalag 17 and Hans Messemer in The Great Escape when he conceived of Mrs. [Tweedy]. He also imagined her as a drag version of Alan Rickman in Die Hard. ...

Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 17:06:08 (PDT)

There's been such a dearth of Rickman news these many weeks (hope he's working soon) that I am posting this mere mention from today's "Hollywood Reporter" in its tangential entirety:

ON THE BEAT (Hollywood Reporter - Tues., June 27, 2000)
By Ray Bennett

Dear Mel Gibson,

Look here, I wish to make a passionate complaint about the depiction in movies of Englishmen as spineless wankers and despots. As I have written, I'm not about to boycott anything or march and carry placards, but I am writing this letter, and for an Englishman, that remains pretty bloody passionate.

There was a time when an Englishman on the silver screen was a full-blooded and heroic fellow. James Bond, Robin Hood and Henry II come to mind. Granted, they were played by a Scotsman, an Australian and an Irishman, but damnit that's not the point!

I had thought that Hugh Grant had re-established the onscreen Englishman as, yes, essentially spineless, but nonetheless charming and a damned fine chap.

But every so often along comes a movie such as "Braveheart," "Michael Collins" or "Gandhi" with a lot of bleating about how the English raped and pillaged the Scots, the Irish or the Indians and ruined their countries. I'm sorry, all right?

They're even making pictures, such as the recent "U-571" and the upcoming "The Colditz Story," that take real-life adventures of blazing heroism by Englishmen and make believe they were American.

I understand why actors with very English tones portray villains in movies such as "Die Hard," "Hannibal" and even "The Lion King." Alan Rickman, Anthony Hopkins (although Welsh) and Jeremy Irons have brilliantly sardonic voices. Besides, the Italians won't put up with being the bad guy anymore.

Now Mel, to celebrate Independence Day, you have a picture called "The Patriot," in which you play a red-blooded American fighting the bloody English in the Revolutionary War. You seem to have overlooked the fact that your real-life character, historians say, kept slaves, slaughtered Native Americans willy-nilly and generally had little to recommend him.

Perhaps you anticipated the images that would traverse the world of the English hooligans who rampaged through a quiet Belgian town during the European Soccer Championships last week. Fat-bellied, tattooed cretins do not, I must agree, show off our best side.

But there are other types of Englishmen whose stories you could tell. Just this week a Church of England priest, twice divorced and with an 18-year-old daughter, announced that he is to become a woman. His bishop, daughter and congregation have embraced his wishes. From now on, it will be the Reverend Carol.

There, wouldn't that make a nice little movie?

Georgiana <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 16:32:46 (PDT)

From a search engine that specializes in European news (which is a roundabout way of saying I don't know what paper it's from but it's dated today):

Star line-up for Haymarket's masterclasses

For the third year running, the Theatre Royal Haymarket will be staging a season of theatre masterclasses in September, aimed at young people interested in the theatre arts.

This year's confirmed 'masters' so far are Almeida director Jonathan Kent (Sept 25), award-winning actress Janie Dee (Sept 26), actor Sam West (Sept 28), actor Timothy West (Oct 10), actor Alan Rickman (Oct 17), playwright Alan Ayckbourn (Oct 31), actor-playwright Ayub Khan-Din (Nov 7), and actress Ruthie Hensall (Nov 23).

Yet to be confirmed are Juliet Stephenson, Emma Thompson, Henry Goodman, Steven Berkoff and Christopher Eccleston. Since 1998, more than 4000 young people from all over the UK have attended the Haymarket's masterclasses.

Magda
Canada - Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 15:02:21 (PDT)

Ooops! my roots are showing. I meant the, not eh.
Julia
Calgary, Canada - Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 10:20:37 (PDT)

Totally forgot to say this earlier, but at eh Rocky Mountain Television Festival, The Eco-Challenge special won a Rocky award. Except I vaguely recall that it was the Brazil special. Ahh, well.
Julia
Calgary, Canada - Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 10:20:05 (PDT)

Totally off-topic,
There's a nice article about Chicken Run in the GuardianNellypodging Californians really give a cluck. Go see Chicken Run, and no, you don't need to bring children as an excuse. There many unchaperoned adults in the audience, and you'll laugh even more if you've seen Stalag 17, The Great Escape & other escape movies.
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
my favorite is mac, the Scotish engineer hen . . ., USA - Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 09:58:05 (PDT)

Thanks, Barbara! I'll be with Foxtel, so hopefully I will get a book (I get connected next week - big waiting list!). Equally hopeful, if Discovery are repeating it on Austar, they will repeat it on Foxtel! I think I have most of the other channels you mentioned as well. I now anxiously await connection! Yay! Returning to 'civilisation' and cable...
Sally
Sydney, Oz-land - Monday, June 26, 2000 at 21:01:11 (PDT)

OOPS! made a mistake. QDU is on Movie one 3,14 and 26. Sorry about that, Sally.Please ignore Movie one info from last entry. Bye.
Barbara
Gold Coast, Australia - Monday, June 26, 2000 at 19:56:18 (PDT)

Great News Sally! Yes Eco is on Discovery in July.It appears to be on the 17, 22, 23 but at different times. Sally, do you have the book for July? Is it Austar? All the movies are at the back of the book each month Showtime Encore and the Movie Network-( Movie one, extra and Greats).The eco Challenge is on 27 28 also. Sally,you will have to look at the Discovery every day as it is showing at all different times.... 11am 9pm 10pm etc...A pain I know but it is worth seeing. QDU is on Movie one 14&15 Movie Extra 8, 20 & 30 July! Hope you do get the book as it helps a great deal to see ALL the movies and see in advance when AR is on. Hope you enjoy it.
Barbara
Gold Coast, Australia - Monday, June 26, 2000 at 19:51:00 (PDT)

Calling Australians with cable - does anyone know if Discovery is going to repeat Eco-Challenge in July??? I am FINALLY getting cable... What other channels should I be watching for AR stuff??!!!
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Monday, June 26, 2000 at 17:55:01 (PDT)

They're giving away a Galaxy Quest DVD every day at Rotten Tomatoes. You might get lucky!.
Magda
Canada - Monday, June 26, 2000 at 17:42:47 (PDT)

Has anybody seen Galaxy Quest on Pay Per View? I cannot get AT&T cable to respond to my question as to which format the movie is being shown... widescreen or regular video; and nobody at the office knows anything, of course.
Maxine <maxinerose@prodigy.netfoo>
Greeley, CO USA - Monday, June 26, 2000 at 15:43:41 (PDT)

According to Saturday's Independent, Ruby Wax's new stage show is directed by Martin Sherman.
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, June 26, 2000 at 13:04:42 (PDT)

Just wanted to share this little tidbit from the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly from the DVD sales section (pg. 111, issue #548):

"...but while industry bellwether The Matrix keeps it real at no. 4, the real phenom is Dogma: with nary a featurette or commentary track to entice buyers, it's still raising hell at no. 9 - even though the deluxe special edition is in the works." Galaxy Quest is still doing just fine at number six.
Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Monday, June 26, 2000 at 12:46:43 (PDT)

"Dark Harbor" is running on Action-Pay-per-View in July.
Georgiana <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Monday, June 26, 2000 at 11:19:11 (PDT)

Maybe AR is not interested, but shouldn't the publicist be? But that said, I think between the 35+ of listed at Fausta's impressively detailed list, I think AR has a better representation with gobs more info, attention to detail and devotopn to finding obscure facts than anything a publicist would pay for. That said, IF an official website actually made the effort to mention latest news, that would be handy - but me suspects some of the supersleuths out there who fill this guestbook know more than any publicist is going to give up anyway, ergo - bette to keep trolling the other websited lovingly created in dedication to this great actor and man!
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Sunday, June 25, 2000 at 17:07:34 (PDT)

True, there's no official Rickman site, but us fans have shown some initiative and now there are some 35+ pages dedicated to Mr. Rickman; I have them listed in my links page.
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Sunday, June 25, 2000 at 09:26:07 (PDT)

Yup; He's just not interested.
Julia
Calgary, Canada - Saturday, June 24, 2000 at 19:47:14 (PDT)

To the lady searching for the official fan page, my dear, there will never be anything more official than where you are now. Sanction will never be given, as permission to worship is not exactly denighed as it is met with a humble shake of the head and small smile, as if to say.."What's all this fuss about?" This is as official as it is ever going to get. Dis is da place!
officious prickett
your guess, USA - Saturday, June 24, 2000 at 18:41:42 (PDT)

Hello! Magazine for June 6, 2000 (p. 28) has a small picture of AR partying at that hairdressers' benefit event a few weeks back. In gray jacket and white open-necked shirt, he looks a little jet-lagged but is nonetheless standing heroical, clutching a champagne flute.
Rebecca
Seattle, WA USA - Saturday, June 24, 2000 at 15:23:51 (PDT)

This is OT but there is a slight AR connection. It's Your Movie allows you to take part in the creation of a motion picture in conjunction with a creative team led by Simon Beaufoy, the author of "The Full Monty" and of course "Blow Dry".
Magda
Canada - Friday, June 23, 2000 at 15:25:09 (PDT)

You are welcome, Venida. Thanks for asking.
Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, June 22, 2000 at 17:38:16 (PDT)

Thanks, for the information, G.E.!
Venida <kiddiecar@hotmail.comfoo>
Clevland, OH USA - Thursday, June 22, 2000 at 13:47:44 (PDT)

What wonderful photo's, Claire! QDU is special to me, but it is a shame that Simon Wincer,who directed this film, didn't have more of AR in front of the camera....AR was so funny and really kept the film going.Simon Wincer's other film, "The man from Snowy River" was a extraordinary film. Pass the mint sauce and Target practice were great. I just hope that AR will come bake to Australia, soon, to make another film. Bye.
Barbara
Gold Coast, Australia - Thursday, June 22, 2000 at 05:13:59 (PDT)

Greetings,all. I've just been reading the guestbook tonight and will check this site often. Thanks to all for the wonderful links.
Rachel <Rachology@aol.comfoo>
Lakewood, OH USA - Wednesday, June 21, 2000 at 18:42:38 (PDT)

United Press International, June 19, 2000
Aung San Suu Kyi calls for woman power in Burma.
COPYRIGHT 2000 United Press International

BANGKOK, Thailand, June 19 (UPI)

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on the women of Burma Monday to work together and "not underestimate their strength and power" in bringing democracy to the military-ruled country.

The appeal was issued in Bangkok by the dissident group ALTSEAN in a bilingual video message to mark Women of Burma Day, which also falls on Suu Kyi's birthday June 19.

"The struggle for democracy is not slowing down -- it is continuing strongly because of these women," said the Nobel Peace Prize winner. "Our party members have been arrested....The relatives of those who were or are arrested support us in many ways. We understand that this is the strength and power of our women. Women should not underestimate their strength and power."

Suu Kyi, the daughter of the late Burmese independence hero Aung San and the leader of the National League for Democracy, said she recently met with a woman whose son was arrested and another woman whose daughter was also arrested.

"Both of these ladies have a very similar attitude," she said. "They believe that what their children believe in is right and will support them with whatever it takes. One mother told her daughter 'Do not resign from the NLD because of me.'"

Suu Kyi has been vilified in recent press reports by the ruling junta in Burma and members of the NLD face persecution.

"I have noticed that among our colleagues, it is those with the staunchest wives who are able to do the best work," Suu Kyi said. "It's the wife who decides how effectively and how freely the husband can work in the political field. It is the wife who is prepared to sacrifice her own comfort or her beliefs who is best able to help her husband do his work. Women are very important in our movement."

He said women "sometimes have a better understanding of why we are struggling for democracy because she strips away all the political jargon and gets down to basic facts. What women want is a safer, better life for their children, for their families."

The Nobel laureate also used the occasion to thank women supporters from all over the world: "I would like to use this occasion especially to thank our friends, our woman friends from all over the world who have helped us. It is amazing how many women from different countries have taken up the cause of democracy in Burma."

She said groups around the world have organized events to commemorate Women of Burma Day, including groups in Thailand, the Philippines, India, Australia, the U.S., the U.K and South Africa.

Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, June 21, 2000 at 10:14:44 (PDT)

The Burma Campaign UK welcomes your support. Membership rates are family £25, single £15, Concs £8, Overseas £20. Donations appreciated. Cheques payable to "The Burma Campaign UK" with your name and address and send to:

The Burma Campaign UK
3rd Floor
Bickerton House
25/27 Bickerton Road
London N19 5JT
United Kingdom

Tel: 0171 281 7377
Fax: 0171 272 3559
email: bagp@gn.apc.org
www.burmacampaign.org.uk
Georgiana <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Wednesday, June 21, 2000 at 08:58:26 (PDT)

Thanks for the pictures Claire! I love QDU, I don't know why I just do. I think it may be because subconciously (SP?) I was becoming attracted to AR then. I remember the first time I saw it in the theatre really liking his character.
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
Atascadero, CA USA - Wednesday, June 21, 2000 at 08:55:18 (PDT)

I was wondering if anyone has begun a collecting donations for the democracy for Burmese freedom in the same manner as Mr. Rickman and friends at the benefit of June 18th in London? If so, where should donations be sent? Thanks! Venida
Venida <kiddiecar@hotmail.comfoo>
Cleveland, OH USA - Wednesday, June 21, 2000 at 08:47:21 (PDT)

Ah, the Oz link, eh, Claire?
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, June 21, 2000 at 08:31:41 (PDT)

Off-topic: Sorry I haven't gotten around to posting that article on Ian McKellen..I will, I promise! In the meantime, I caught the trailer for X-men on TV the other night... Here's one of many links for the trailer:
LynnP
York, PA USA - Wednesday, June 21, 2000 at 06:41:55 (PDT)

Since it is sooooo quiet here lately, let me just say AR's reputation as a dastardly villain still continues in this article in the New York Daily: http://www.nydailynews.com/2000-06-20/New_York_Now/Movies/a-70543.asp
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Tuesday, June 20, 2000 at 23:24:07 (PDT)

Don't know if I've missed the report of this earlier but I saw MESMER on the shelf at the local grocery store video section on Saturday!! It's definetely a new release as the back of the box listed Alan Rickman (Galaxy Quest, Dogma, etc etc). It's noted on the box as a "Director's Cut". Have heard that term before but am not sure what's meant. Anyway thought that to be quite amazing!
Dana
Twisp, WA USA - Tuesday, June 20, 2000 at 20:40:10 (PDT)

RUBY WAX - STRESSED TOUR
Wednesday 14 June, Thursday 15 June, Friday 16 June 2000, 8pm
fast-talking comedian Ruby Wax opens her international tour, performing her first live dates for eight years. The new show focuses on her on experiences with various forms of therapy and concludes the life story she began with her last show Wax Acts, directed by Alan Rickman.
VENUE: Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, June 20, 2000 at 18:12:15 (PDT)

Sorry off topic. Trying to find Eileen of florida. Eileen, I lost your e-mail address. Please write. beth
Beth <Sunset331foo>
nj USA - Tuesday, June 20, 2000 at 07:25:15 (PDT)

Did you attend this thing, Georgiana??? What better part than to have AR narrating... I'm envious of whatever format you saw the birthday celebration in...

No, didn't see Eco-Challenge, Barbara. Anyone in Sydney make a copy I can borrow? I repeat, I have no desire at this stage to have a permanent copy of Eco-Challenge and would send it back... Personally, watching the one in Australia (alas, with no AR narration...) on Channel 10 recently, made me want to get fit and give it a go...!
Sally
Sydney, Oz - Monday, June 19, 2000 at 21:07:59 (PDT)

Mr. Rickman was hilarious Sunday night at the Royal Court at Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday celebration. In what was said to be a Victoria Wood sketch, he read the part of a tour guide at the Bronte estate where the Reverend Bronte "lived with his daughters, the famous Bronte sisters, now alas no longer with us, but they have left us their novels, which I've not read, being more of a Dick Francis type..." From the Laura Ashley wallpaper to the wuthering wind and the Heathcliff noshe bar, he had the audience in the palm of his hand. Richard Wilson as the fretting actor visiting a peer backstage ("marvelous!") was also superb, not to mention Miriam Karlin doing Hamlet in Russian, and Fascinating Aida providing a new anthem: "Sew on a sequin." All this and more. Quite an evening.
Georgiana (and you got to feel the least bit smug about your politics besides!) <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Back from London... - Monday, June 19, 2000 at 20:43:09 (PDT)

Sally, yes, this was I think, an old "hello" that didn't belong to me, but to a good friend - who, unfortunatly, has thrown it out - so I didn't get the issue no... but at least saw the photo with this young royal talking to, I think, Dawn French the English Comedian. This magazine was probably from Jan or Feb in U.K.Also did you get to see the Eco Challenge? AR did a wonderful job! They have got to be CRAZY to take on something like that! The human spirit never ceases to amaze me. Did somone tape it for you in Sydney? Bye for now.
barbara
Gold Coast, Qld Australia - Monday, June 19, 2000 at 20:21:11 (PDT)

I know there is a LOT of attention focused on AR and ET in JK with their accents, but did anyone focus on the American actors??? They were worse! Gil Bellows (Lizard) only made vague attempts at a southern drawl twice. Simon Baker (Junior), well I'll give him credit enough that he's Australian and I bet most didn't pick that up, but the southern drawl was just as weak as well. As for the lead actress - she only spoke 'suth'un' when she was being 'bright and bubbly' - she lapsed into pure yankee when being 'serious' Til Shweiger - well, I'd like to see him in some more stuff! He looks like he might be a good comedian... But not required to speak southern in JK. And then there was Hal Holbrook - didn't even bother to speak southern and my experience with the south (lived there for 2.5 years...) was you don't vote in senators who aren't one of your own... So all in all, I thought AR did a brilliant job (I think the biggest laspe was once when talking to ET) and ET, well, she still had the worst because she sounded like she had marbles in her mouth. Probably, JK would have received significantly less flack if it had been a steamy 24 hours in NY one summer rather than New Orleans with no southern actors...
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Monday, June 19, 2000 at 18:33:16 (PDT)

Suzanne, thank you! We knew AR is a charmer, but this videogram proves that, in comfortable circumstances, where the host is both gracious and "up-to-date" on AR's work, he can be delightful. Well, it also proves that I know what I am doing, viz the .mov program. Would you mind, when you get a chance, to send us a link to the page with "The View" interview?
I might have indicated in my last post that I will be leaving again for CA (for a graduation ceremony and a few last days at the beach!) today or tomorrow. I'll TTYL!
Ann W. <wagner@cybertrails.comfoo>
AZ USA - Monday, June 19, 2000 at 16:24:51 (PDT)

Donna - I think biting the bullet and accepting 'junk email' from urbancinefile worked for once when I found out that Judas Kiss was opening n Sydney and Melbourne...

Looked for the Hello magazine, Barabara - and I guess it was an issue that was out prior to this week??? So, I shan't be able to assist you in your query... Bummer!
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Monday, June 19, 2000 at 16:11:32 (PDT)

I love this page sooo much!. I went to see Judas Kiss.I would have missed it if I hadnt read about it being on I loved Judas Kiss AR's accent went quite well although there were two occasions his own almost slipped out.I could watch him 24 hours a day! I love this site
Donna
Melbourne, USA - Monday, June 19, 2000 at 03:46:49 (PDT)

I realise this maybe repetition, so consider it posted for all people who have stumbled across this since the archiving of the last guestbook... I was trolling around in aint-it-cool and was most amused by Harry Knowles comments after AR 'quoted' him on Conan O'Brian (you can read the comment here...), but I was most amused by Knowles' parting comment - along the lines of saying having your name quoted by Hans Gruber is one of the coolest experiences in HIS life...

JK continues to do rather well here in Sydney (FYI...). I must confess to all you people who thought it was very average, I kinda liked it. True, AR is not at his sexiest best in this film, but the voice reigns supreme!
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Sunday, June 18, 2000 at 21:03:50 (PDT)

Hello everyone. Magda,that was great news about "Blow Dry". Thanks for sharing this with us. I was just looking through a "Hello" magazine, and I spotted a photo that caught my attention. The photo was part of an artical about Lord Snowdon and his latest photograph's on show in London. The photo is of the Duke and Duchess of Kent's Daughter(I don't know her name...), and behind her is, I think, a photo of Alan & Rima? Here in Australia, we get this particular magazine 2-3 months behind, so March or April?. Can anyone help me here? Thanks.
Barbara
Gold Coast, Qld Australia - Saturday, June 17, 2000 at 21:56:50 (PDT)

It has been a long time since I've looked at an Avon booklet, but was given one yesterday and looked through it. Suddenly there was this face that stopped me in my tracks! There is a blonde man in a black shirt, and he looked so much like Alan that I just had to laugh (and swoon a bit!). I wondered if he is aware of that, and/or if the photographer was and told him to strike an Alan Rickman pose. It is a blue covered booklet, Campaign 17, and he's on page 54. Whew!
Maxine <maxinerose@prodigy.netfoo>
Greeley, CO USA - Saturday, June 17, 2000 at 15:32:51 (PDT)

It never ceases to amaze me how many people out there like Alan Rickman. I have been a fan of his since watching Rasputin. He is such a brilliant actor, and so versatile.I believe he could play almost any part. He has very strange looks but that is what makes him so appealing. You can keep your Jude Laws and Ben Affleks because, though quite cute, they have nothing on our ALAN. May he reign supreme forever!.
JENNIFER <britforce@yahoo.com foo>
york, England - Saturday, June 17, 2000 at 14:07:27 (PDT)

According to the offical "Blow Dry" site, the latest news is that the film is "Currently in the final stages of post production with a US release scheduled for September." I'm looking forward to more updates.
Magda
Canada - Saturday, June 17, 2000 at 08:11:12 (PDT)

In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (issue #546), there is an article about special edition DVDs (pages 20-21). There are a couple of quotes from Dean Parisot (GQ director) and there's a picture of AR, Tim Allen & Sigourney Weaver on the right bottom section of page 21. And in the continuing battle of AR video rentals, "Galaxy Quest" is listed at #9, while "Dogma" is at #10.
Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Friday, June 16, 2000 at 12:48:47 (PDT)

Did anyone catch the bit (I think on CNN) about Charles' complaints that the media was photographing his sons at school? There was a quick video of Charles shaking hands with a man and a woman, and I am sure the man was AR. Very brief, though, and AR turned away from the camera and walked away. The woman was obviously also an actress, dressed to the nines with her hair up. Not sure what the video had to do with the story.
susan
USA - Friday, June 16, 2000 at 08:22:47 (PDT)

This is pretty peripheral but what the heck, it's been a slow news day. In the June/July issue of Talk, the fashion/photo/groupie mag published by Miramax, there's a three page photo spread of Heidi Klum, the supermodel who has a bit part in Blow Dry. She models some of the do's she'll wear in the movie. She's also the unidentified woman on the Blow Dry offical site with her hair in giant curlers.
Magda
Canada - Thursday, June 15, 2000 at 17:04:00 (PDT)

I hope Mr. Rickman's Victoria Wood sketch Sunday night will be a little longer than his last Victoria Wood sketch (in which he uttered one word, "Rickman," after being introduced as "Alan Dickman.")
Georgiana (I'm going!) <gellis@drizzle.comfoo>
Seattle - Thursday, June 15, 2000 at 09:24:55 (PDT)

Looking for a official fan Alan Rickman fan club and fanzine
Nedra <kaysch28@hotmail.comfoo>
Crossett, Arkansas USA - Thursday, June 15, 2000 at 08:24:19 (PDT)

Chelo's Rickman page is at http://www.geocities.com/chelovel/index.html, with beautiful art
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
Fausta al rescate/to the rescue, USA - Thursday, June 15, 2000 at 06:09:18 (PDT)

SOCORRO! FAUSTA! no consigo que funcione!!! (that means: HELP! FAUSTA! I can't make it works!!!
Chelo Vela <chelovel@wanadoo.esfoo>
Madrid, Spain - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 22:59:36 (PDT)

I send you my URL. I hope it works now. http://www.geocities.com/chelovel/index.html Thanks Fausta!!
Chelo Vela <chelovel@wanadoo.esfoo>
Madrid, Spain - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 22:57:27 (PDT)

SHRIEK! Thanks Suzanne! I can't wait to get home tonight and download that onto my home computer! Yippee! Life is good, life is good!
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 20:47:56 (PDT)

Sally, I did make it into a Videogram, actually. :-) It's in the GB archives (December, I think). Sorry I haven't had a chance to update the Video Gallery lately (there's quite a few I need to add, already). But getting back to the Conan O'Brien interview (which I agree is hilarious!), here's a link to the videogram:

• Late Night with Conan O'Brien (6 mins 47 seconds, 7.6 MB)

I just read an online transcript of the interview AR gave to Conan O'Brian last December for GQ (kinda). Are there any plans, Suzanne, to convert that interview into a videogram because it certainly was hilarious to read?!
Sally
Australia - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 16:48:29 (PDT)

*siiiighhhhhh* All I ever needed was good hair. :) Thanks for the link, Magda! (That pic!)
Neva
USA - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 15:19:33 (PDT)

Penny: sorry about that but reposts are common and happen to everyone.

Everyone: It's a new site but recycled info and with a huge blow up of that pic that Suzanne got from the press kit. It's Movie Web's Blow Dry Page!
Magda
Canada - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 14:55:26 (PDT)

Unlike her "biography" of Rickman, at least M. Paton used her own resources for that article. And her writing is nearly capable of being read--though her style is still irritating.

Reading it (the book), I was reminded that AR has already played Sherlock Holmes, with a review from the Sunday Mercury which went thusly: "Holmes is played with superb coolness and languid authority by Alan Rickman in a performance which interweaves touches of melodrama with masterpiecs of understatement in such an absorbing and funny fashion that it dazzles the audience. Others on stage therefore look grey and we have the odd phenomenon of a one-man show with a cast of more than 20."

This performance in same production struck another reviewer as too often relying on Rickman's smirk.

Moral of the story: Never let a critic tell you whether a peformance is good or not. See it for yourself.

Renie <reniept@hotmail.com foo>
(I tried to reread the book again, and it's makes me feel like I'm chewing nails.) , - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 10:23:29 (PDT)

The entire Evening Standard article ("Glenda Treads the Boards Again") is up at their site, written by Maureen Paton.
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 08:55:39 (PDT)

Dear Magda, Please make that "...about the Burma event on Sunday that Linda and Penny S. found." Thanks for the additional details.
Penny S.
USA - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 07:21:33 (PDT)

Here I am again!!! I forget to tell you the URL: www.geocities.com/chelovel Bye!!!!
Chelo Vela <chelovel@wanadoo.esfoo>
Madrid, Spain - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 04:02:37 (PDT)

Hello! I've been working on my page and I ask you to visit it. Hope you enjoy as much as I doing it. Next step is translate all in english, sorry I don't have enough hours in the day.
Chelo Vela <chelovel@wanadoo.esfoo>
Madrid, Spain - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 03:59:45 (PDT)

More details in the London Standard about the Burma event on Sunday that Linda found:

"Half of Equity's upper echelons appear to be performing in a celebrity revue to honour the Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nelson Mandela of our times, with a public birthday party.

For the great, the good and all the usual liberal-minded suspects, it's a case of be there or be square. Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Tony Blair will all be despatching birthday greetings on video and in writing, while Aung San Suu Kyi herself will address the audience in a video smuggled out of her Rangoon home, where she remains virtually under house arrest. Rickman will be performing a Victoria Wood sketch, Richard Wilson will be doing Alan Bennett and Jackson will be playing a succession of grand Shakespearean queens in a Morecambe and Wise-style send-up of her time at the RSC..."
Magda
Canada - Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 03:48:51 (PDT)

Thanks--the article is at http://www.newsdirectory.com/go/?f=&r=eu&u=www.lineone.net/express/
Sue Zen
El Lay, CA USA - Tuesday, June 13, 2000 at 22:36:27 (PDT)

Lexis-Nexis lists tomorrow's Express as running an article entitled "HOLLYWOOD'S RACIST LIES ABOUT BRITAIN AND THE BRITISH" with prominent mention of "Die Hard," "Michael Collins" and "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves." [Seem to miss the point that we love a good villain!]
Georgiana (been sick...)
Seattle - Tuesday, June 13, 2000 at 17:13:31 (PDT)

I remember the day I was watching Dustin Hoffman in "Hook" and thought/said out loud to a friend that I wished I could see Alan in that role. A short time later came Awfully Big Adventure and there he was... ooh, when he turned around for that first, full-face shot!!! Thanks for the memories, Claire!!! I think I'd rather think about that than the "Play" picture... grotesque is the first word that comes to mind -- although I'm always grateful to Claire and Fausta and others for getting the magazine/newspaper pictures to us so quickly before the suspense gets frustrating!
Maxine <maxinerose@prodigy.netfoo>
Greeley, CO USA - Tuesday, June 13, 2000 at 16:53:58 (PDT)

The NY Times article is online (sans photos) at http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/061100beckett-project.html. Says the Beckett plays will be shown on TV before the cinema (with the exception of those that make it into the fests...). No piccies - have to go to Claires site for them I guess (gruesome pics, Claire!)
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Monday, June 12, 2000 at 22:19:34 (PDT)

Thank you Claire and Fausta for sharing (Captain Hook, yay!). All I can say is, OH MY... OW, OW, OW! Does that look uncomfortable or what? That just goes to show that AR and the others that you can see in that picture are really good sports in order to go through what appears to have been sheer torture for them.
Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Monday, June 12, 2000 at 14:22:00 (PDT)

NYT picture for Beckett's Play up in the usual places, courtesy Fausta!

Claire
- Monday, June 12, 2000 at 14:00:21 (PDT)

Ann W.: I just had to throw in my two cents. My morning logon on my office computer is "I'm glad you're back..." from CME, and my error message is "What idiot put you in charge?" from DH. It really throws my coworkers for a loop when they use my computer in my absence... (evil grin...)
LynnP
USA - Monday, June 12, 2000 at 06:31:38 (PDT)

Off-topic: I found a really nifty article in this morning's paper about Ian McKellan's next screen roles (I was amazed that the Harrisburg paper printed it!)...First apparently he is to play opposite Patrick Stewart in a version of "X-Men," and second, he will play Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings." Sorry I don't have time to post the article this morning, I'll try to get to it tonight.
LynnP
York, PA USA - Monday, June 12, 2000 at 06:19:40 (PDT)

In today's LA Times in a piece about Eddie Izzard: "...Gear magazine posed him in a bowler hat and suspenders, staring up at the camera with a menacing eyeball à la Malcolm McDowell in "A Clockwork Orange." The resemblance was striking, and such nuanced villainy is right up Izzard's alley. "I wanna play Alan Rickman in 'Die Hard,' " he says." Article at http://www.calendarlive.com/theater/lat_brownfield000610.htm
Sue Zen
El Lay, CA USA - Sunday, June 11, 2000 at 14:27:06 (PDT)

Thanks, Suz, I found your wav. page. Next, I might try the mov. page. I might. I don't think we have much room in our temp files. (Someone refuses to delete stuff he hasn't used in months, plus there's all the extra programs that came with this "floor model"!)
Ah well, as aunt Ingrid used to sigh . . . I will eventually relearn all the stuff, and then I'll swtich to my OWN Mac. :)
BTW, I have changed the error message to the "Inadvertant blunders . . " wav. Heeheeheee.
Ann Wagner
in Heaven . . . ., AZ USA - Sunday, June 11, 2000 at 10:14:36 (PDT)

Thanks Judy - my home situation is going from bad to worse here and I could be in the streets by the 18th June at this rate! Egads, I can't wait to be away from the (*&_*&_)@#E$^& I am currently renting with! Anyway, email and internet connection will remain so if you know anyone who can tape it for us to just watch, that would be sensational!

On brighter notes... GQ has RUINED me (and the people I saw it with). While watching Mission Impossible 2, Tom Cruise did a highly gratuitous dive n roll - and all 3 of us fall apart laughing inappropropriately - it just looked to much like Tim Allen doing his gratuitous rolls in GQ...

And after persevering through the most dreadful AR-free 1 hr 45mins of Barchester Chronicles, well, WOW! I am in LOVE! No wonder Britain went mad for AR when Barchester Chronicles came out! Man, if I had persevered through the first few episodes waaaaayyyy back in '82, then knowing my tastes in men in 1982, AR would have blown Tom Selleck right off the screen and become my teen celeb crush... But alas, I was not to discover for another 18 years... Man! Thats a passage of time for you!

And finally I got to see JK today... I er, kinda liked it in a quirly kinda way. Not AR at his sexiest, but defintely not at his worst either!
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Sunday, June 11, 2000 at 05:02:33 (PDT)

The NY TImes article that Fausta reported yesterday is up at the NY Times online, under the title "A New Audience for Alienation". No picture, but that might be a blessing: "In the movie version of "Play," not only are the actors inside urns, but their faces are also covered in a slimy green makeup and large crumbling scabs, "as to seem almost part of urns," as Beckett instructed." No AR quotes but Anthony Minghella gets quite a bit of space.
Magda
Canada - Sunday, June 11, 2000 at 04:56:11 (PDT)

Ann, if you are referring to the AR Sound Gallery, click here (and you'll wonder how you lived this long without speakers *wink*).
Suzanne <SuzanneK@bigfoot.comfoo>
Hallettsville, TX USA - Saturday, June 10, 2000 at 20:17:17 (PDT)

Thanks for the link, Magda. That's a pretty good picture (along with good hair!) :)
Neva
USA - Saturday, June 10, 2000 at 20:00:53 (PDT)

Dear Rickmaniacs, First, thank you, Mary Anne, for your last post. :)
Second, my "Winter Guest" video is sold -- to a good home.
Finally, I was invited out for tea and sympathy (do my friends know me or what!), in our peregrenations, we wound up at a Radio Shack store, and now I have two small speakers attatched to the computer. Um, next, I will have to relearn how to use the Real Player software that came with the computer.
Does anyone have the address to the wav file page--for when I get my nerve to try it?
Ann Wagner <wagner@cybertrails.comfoo>
AZ USA - Saturday, June 10, 2000 at 15:00:44 (PDT)

Tomorrow's NYTimes Arts & Leisure section features a long article about the Beckett Film Project, including a large (8 col.) color photo of AR, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Juliet Stevenson in Play.
You must take my word for it, this is not a *good hair* part for any of them. In fact, it makes Dr. Lazarus's headdress look almost Mesmer-like attractive by comparison.
However, the article is very interesting, stating that "Beckett had a sense of humor and liked to entertain the public".
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Saturday, June 10, 2000 at 11:43:31 (PDT)

In Entertainment Weekly Online, there's a preview of Blow Dry with a new picture of AR (left profile, ruffled hair) and he's described as the star.
Magda
Canada - Saturday, June 10, 2000 at 11:14:08 (PDT)

In this week's Entertainment Weekly (issue #545), the tape rentals section lists "Dogma" at #10 (up from #11) and "Galaxy Quest" at #11 (dropping from #6).
Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Saturday, June 10, 2000 at 09:35:58 (PDT)

Very true, Mary Anne.
For those who get the Starz! #2 Channel, The Winter Guest will be playing three times a day for the next week.
Suzanne <SuzanneK@bigfoot.comfoo>
Hallettsville, TX USA - Saturday, June 10, 2000 at 08:40:28 (PDT)

Er, Chris: while I'm pretty much in agreement with you about Clair's general maturity, I can speak for a couple of people around here in saying that some folks who are neither children nor "major losers" can share a place with their parents, through one combination of circumstances or another. Just FYI.

Now, to resume discussion of more pleasant subjects . . . ?

Mary Anne
USA - Friday, June 09, 2000 at 19:55:48 (PDT)

Sallly, just saw your post. I don't have cable either but will see what I can do re Eco Challenge Argentina
Judy
Sydney, NSW Australia - Friday, June 09, 2000 at 17:51:28 (PDT)

Chelo, socorro, que se me perdio tu pagina de Rickman, y el e-mail tampoco llega!
(which means, Chelo, help, I can't find your Rickman page, and e-mailing doesn't work, either!)
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
a minor SOS call, USA - Friday, June 09, 2000 at 14:06:01 (PDT)

Just a quickie to ask Ellen to please be sure to get back in touch with me when you get a new server... my email came back.
Maxine <maxinerose@prodigy.netfoo>
Greeley, CO USA - Friday, June 09, 2000 at 12:04:48 (PDT)

Artists including Alan Rickman, Glenda Jackson and Richard Wilson, will perform at a special birthday celebration to be held at the Royal Court Theatre at 7pm on Sunday 18th June 2000. The occasion marks the 55th birthday of Burmese pro-democracy leader and Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. She will not be there as she remains under virtual house arrest in Burma. This 90 minute theatre show is to increase public awareness of the terrible situation in Burma. Other guests who have so far promised to appear onstage include: Maureen Lipman, David Hare, Prunella Scales, Timothy West, and many others. Tickets are £75 (Tel: 020 7565 5000) with all proceeds to go towards the work of 'The Burma Campaign UK', who campaign for a free and democratic Burma.
Linda P.
USA - Friday, June 09, 2000 at 10:09:35 (PDT)

I know there are a lot of Ken Branagh fans here - he will be on Charlie Rose tonight along w/ Nathan Lane [11 pm ET] discussing LLL.
Joan
USA - Friday, June 09, 2000 at 09:12:33 (PDT)

Poor Clair. I would definitely ignore her. Hey, she's still living at home with mom and dad, so either she's a kid or a major loser. The immaturity definitely is on display though.
chris <luvvie@pobox.comfoo>
UK - Friday, June 09, 2000 at 08:09:10 (PDT)

From Darren Dalglish's Online London Theatre Guide News at http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/indexnoframe.html : Friday, 9th June 2000 Artists including Alan Rickman, Glenda Jackson and Richard Wilson, will perform at a special birthday celebration to be held at the Royal Court Theatre at 7pm on Sunday 18th June 2000. The occasion marks the 55th birthday of Burmese pro-democracy leader and Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. She will not be there as she remains under virtual house arrest in Burma. This 90 minute theatre show is to increase public awareness of the terrible situation in Burma. Other guests who have so far promised to appear onstage include: Maureen Lipman, David Hare, Prunella Scales, Timothy West, and many others. Tickets are L75 (Tel: 020 7565 5000) with all proceeds to go towards the work of 'The Burma Campaign UK', who campaign for a free and democratic Burma.
Penny S.
USA - Friday, June 09, 2000 at 07:06:12 (PDT)

Ignore my last message! I found him! *smacks forehead and plans to get new glasses* Have a nice weekend all the same! ;-)
KatrinaL <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
Sweden - Friday, June 09, 2000 at 01:03:43 (PDT)

I happened to find a place called www.fansites.com but didn't find "you know who" there! As much as I wanted to add him, it seemed that this ought to be done by the actual homepage owners. Just a tip! Thanks and have a nice weekend! :-)
KatrinaL <katrina.l@telia.comfoo>
Sweden - Friday, June 09, 2000 at 00:54:25 (PDT)

Another place to watch for info on "Blow Dry" is the Miramax site. It changes very slowly but there will be downloads when BD arrives.
Magda
You're welcome, Georgiana, Canada - Thursday, June 08, 2000 at 16:23:01 (PDT)

"Slime City Gore" and "Shock, Shock, Shock" both feature the homonymic actor, Allan Rickman. Both are "B" horror flicks. Alan would never be *that* desperate for a part! Unfortunately, certain small-scale companies are willing to overlook the differences in name, age and nationality if it helps to sell their films, and, not all journos double-check their facts.
In other news, I rented Dogma recently. AR *obviously*enjoyed the chance to emotionally regress very much! "Finally, the Prophets live up to their name." LOL.
Ann Wagner <wagner@cybertrails.comfoo>
AZ USA - Thursday, June 08, 2000 at 11:41:54 (PDT)

Just went to the internet movie database to check out Blow Dry, and saw something called "Slime City" (1989) listed in Alan's filmography. Don't know when they added it, but I just cannot believe it. Wonder if it is another name for that "Shock, Shock, Shock" movie that listed his name, even tho it was another actor whose name was spelled differently. Anybody have any ideas on this?
Maxine <maxinerose@prodigy.netfoo>
Greeley, CO USA - Thursday, June 08, 2000 at 10:41:07 (PDT)

According to today's LA Times, both "Dogma" and "Galaxy Quest" were among the week's top ten DVD rentals.
Georgiana (Thanks, Magda, for the link to the Irish Times article weeks ago...)
Seattle - Thursday, June 08, 2000 at 09:01:48 (PDT)

Robin--yes, DkH is available for rent; that's how I saw it. Get thee to thy local Blockbuster Video! 8-)

Mary Anne
USA - Thursday, June 08, 2000 at 05:14:20 (PDT)

Thanks Sally for the info. It's not available for rent yet?
robin
USA - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 19:18:57 (PDT)

Hello everyone. Yes Sally, I did see the movie show last night and was glad to see it get 3 and 4 stars! I will be scanning the newspapers to see if it will come my way!!! I believe it will be repeated this Sunday night at 6 pm. To Suzanne, what a great interview from Barry Norman. Thankyou for sharing it with all of us. Also to Heather- on the Beckett "Play", this sounds really something AR will enjoy. These articals are great to read! Nice to hear from you Mary Anne! Bye.
Barbara
Gold Coast, Qld Australia - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 19:13:27 (PDT)

Review of Judas Kiss on The Movie Show Online: http://www.sbs.com.au/movieshow/movies.html
Sue Zen
El Lay, CA USA - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 19:09:27 (PDT)

Robin - purchasing DkH on DVD or very expensive video are your only options at present, really - unless someone offers to get in touch with you and do things one shouldn't advirtise on the internet... (I refer to the © - which as a web designer I feel guilty every time I violate it...)
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 19:07:12 (PDT)

can anyone tell me where I can see Dark Harbour?
robin
USA - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 18:56:43 (PDT)

The countdown is on! Both Yahoo and Excite have "Blow Dry" categories in their Entertainment files now. We'll be able to monitor guestbooks, etc. as the Big Day approaches. (Oh please, oh please, let this one be good!!!)
Magda
Canada - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 18:44:04 (PDT)

Donna - welcome. Don't forget, Judas Kiss starts today in Melbourne - after a 2 year wait... (And Barabara -0 did you hear on the Movie Show that Judas Kiss is supposed to open in other states later??? There maybe hope for you up there in freezing Qld...) Also, should you have cable, a wee reminder to watch Discovery channel on June 18 - AR narrates Eco-Challenge Argentina. But I have no cable. Is there anyone in Sydney-town who is going to be taping Eco-Challenge Argentina???? I just want to borrow the tape and don't aspire to own a copy...

As for me, I just got back from completing some sections of the steps of Eco-Challenge Australia (2 years ago)...

Other aussie fans - did you catch the Movie Show on SBS lsat night??? Judas Kiss was reviewed, including one scene between AR and ET. Mixed reviews - but at least Margaret liked AR's performance, and no real comments on the accent (although from what I have heard so far, AR "suthen drawl" sounds more convincing than ET's....). Anyway, anyone who missed The Movie Show can catch a rerun on the weekend (can't remember if its Saturday or Sunday at 6pm...)
Sally <cybamuse@mailcity.comfoo>
Sydney, Australia - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 16:25:40 (PDT)

Kari, thank you for your valuable perspective. Barbara, LynnP, and Emma, thank you for your kind words. Would that there were even more fascinating Rickman films for us to debate, pastiche, and discuss! Thanks to all who contribute positively to this entertaining and informative web site and to Suzanne who so diligently masters it.
Sue Zen
Doing my best in life to avoid stepping on the sadly too prevalent dog poop..., CA USA - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 09:55:13 (PDT)

. . . correcting the link to my own site,
Fausta
USA - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 07:31:14 (PDT)

I enthusiastically concur with the article that said,

"He is, after all, a classically trained actor who made his first big impact in the theatre as Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons, which with hindsight leads one to murmur wistfully: "If only... "
"If only Stephen Frears had chosen him instead of the far less gifted John Malkovich for the film version then maybe today Alan Rickman would be a superstar."

Currently there's an excellent translation of the novel,
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
by Pierre Ambroise Francois Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803)
translated by Douglas Parmee
Oxford Univ. Press, annotated, 402 pp. 1995 ISBN 0-19-283867-9
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 07:26:40 (PDT)

Suzanne--check your e-mail, please. Thank you. (Re: "not easily offended": ah, yes, the Imperial tolerance . . . *grin*)

Mary Anne
But the dungeons ARE still in use!, USA - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 05:17:33 (PDT)

This is half not OT and half OT but I hope everyone finds it interesting. Sorry it is so long. Italics I added.

From: The Irish Times, May 13, 2000 Michael Colgan and Alan Moloney are filming all 19 of Samuel Beckett's plays, using directors such as Anthony Minghella, David Mamet and Neil Jordan, and stars from Julianne Moore, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Jeremy Irons, to Rosaleen Linehan, Harold Pinter and John Gielgud. Although a Beckett-purist backlash is on the cards, it's an extraordinary project. Michael Dwyer reports The ambitious endeavour that is the Beckett Film Project will bring all 19 stage plays written by Samuel Beckett to cinema and television screens. The producers of the series have attracted a range of internationally renowned film-makers to the project - among them Anthony Minghella, David Mamet, Neil Jordan, Atom Egoyan, Patricia Rozema, Richard Eyre and Karel Reisz - along with young Irish directors such as Damien O'Donnell, Conor McPherson, Kieron J. Walsh and Enda Hughes. The wealth of acting talent assembled for the Beckett films includes Julianne Moore, Kristin Scott Thomas, Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons, Rosaleen Linehan, Stephen Brennan, Susan Fitzgerald, Barry McGovern, Sean McGinley, Michael Gambon, David Thewlis and, in what is said to be his last acting appearance, John Gielgud. Eight of the 19 plays have been filmed so far this year and one - Neil Jordan's film of Not I, which features Julianne Moore - has been selected for screening in the International Critics' Week programme at the Cannes Film Festival next Wednesday. The other 11 films are at various stages of planning, with a number of them due to go before the cameras before the end of this month. The producers are Michael Colgan and Alan Moloney, who set up Blue Light Films to bring the Beckett canon to the screen. Moloney, who established the Dublin-based production company, Parallel Films, with Tim Palmer in 1993, was co-producer on the feature film, The Last of the High Kings, and has been executive producer on such high-profile television series as Amongst Women, Falling For a Dancer and Ballykissangel, and he and Palmer produced the award-winning recent Irish feature film, A Love Divided. Colgan has been artistic director of the Gate Theatre in Dublin since 1983, and his ideas for the Beckett Film Project began to form in 1991 when he produced the Beckett Festival, staging all 19 plays at the Gate, and later at Lincoln Centre in New York and the Barbican in London. The film project has a budget of £4.5 million, raised from RTÉ, Channel 4, Section 481 investment and some American backing. The executive producer on the series is Joe Mulholland, the outgoing manager director of television at RTÉ. "Joe has been terrific and so supportive," says Colgan. "We are delighted he's staying involved with this project." Colgan and Moloney hope that the Cannes screening of Not I will be the first of many film festival presentations of their Beckett films. "We would like to see the films in cinemas, too," says Colgan. "The owner of the Curzon Mayfair in London said he would give us the cinema for the week. I don't see why we couldn't take a cinema in Dublin for a week and have a festival of Beckett films there. And we are looking at the possibility of showing them all at Lincoln Centre in New York. "Then there will be the television release of the films on RTÉ and Channel 4. And we intend to produce a boxed videocassette of the 19 filmed plays." Moloney adds: "We've got three feature-length films, one one-hour film, and 15 short films which can be grouped together, so it's actually more programmable than you might imagine." The right to film the entire Beckett canon was awarded to Colgan and Moloney by the Beckett estate. However, given the meticulous precision of Beckett's stage instructions, and the fact that plays were written specifically for the theatre and not for the camera, both Colgan and Moloney anticipate a backlash from Beckett purists. "This is going to come up all the time," says Moloney. "This is going to follow this project because there are people who will say we shouldn't even attempt to put these plays on to film. We're playing by the rules of Beckett's stage directions, and we're working very closely with his nephew, Edward Beckett. "There is an important distinction between filming a play and making a film. The films will bring another dimension to the material and bring it to light in a way that I don't think theatre can do, frankly. I think it's a very good thing for the material and will bring new meanings to the work - and I think it will help people understand the work. Even Mr Beckett himself was involved in filming some of his own plays." Colgan produces a 19-page document downloaded from the Internet which lists dozens of earlier productions of Beckett's stage plays for radio, television and the cinema - some of them directed by Beckett. One of these is Beckett's 1975 production of Waiting For Godot for the German television channel, ZDF, and it is just one of the 17 listed productions of that play alone. 'It sounds arrogant," says Colgan, "but having known Beckett and having lived with his work, and unlike anybody else, having produced all of these plays at least once on stage, I think it would be better for me to do this than anyone else. "When I did the Beckett festival in 1991 I had it advertised on those huge outdoor poster sites, and people said you can't put Beckett up there. I said, no, you have to tell people it's on. I believe this is the greatest writing of the last century. Bar none, including Joyce. This is the genius. "And I believe he deserves the best interpreters, and if they are Neil Jordan or Julianne Moore or Anthony Minghella or Michael Gambon, then I think Beckett deserves them. And I hope that what they achieve will have the effect of turning more and more people on to Beckett, and that we will bring Beckett to a much wider audience. "We're not gender-bending. We're not cutting the texts. And we're very pleased with what we've got so far. We have turned down a lot of ideas and suggestions. We know exactly where you go and where you don't go. And what we're not doing is putting the plays on an empty stage and putting a camera in the fifth row and turning it on and going out to have a sandwich." Eight plays of the 19 have already been filmed in the Beckett Film Project. They are: What Where (12 minutes) The director is Damien O'Donnell, the young Dubliner whose first feature film, East is East, was a major critical and commercial success and recently won the BAFTA award for Best British Film of 1999. The actors are Sean McGinley and Gary Lewis, and the production designer is Tom Conroy. "Damien has made it more powerful than it's ever been on stage," says Michael Colgan. "Samuel Beckett's nephew, Edward, saw it and he thought it had more of an impact than it ever had on stage." Endgame (84 minutes) Michael Gambon and David Thewlis are "extraordinary" as Hamm and Clov, says Colgan, and the cast is completed by Charles Simon and Jean Anderson, both of them 92 years old, as the two people in the dustbins. The film is directed by Conor McPherson, who scripted the Irish movie, I Went Down, and recently turned film director with Salwater, adapted from his own stage play, This Lime Tree Bower. Breath (45 seconds) There are no characters, just a pile of rubbish, and the director is the artist, Damien Hirst. "He's a mate of mine," says Moloney. "He got a bit nervous because he didn't want to misrepresent Beckett. A lot of the directors felt like that." Not I (15 minutes) Neil Jordan directs Julianne Moore, the American actress who was nominated for an Oscar this year for her performance in his film, The End of the Affair, and lighting cameraman Roger Pratt who also received an Oscar nomination for his work on that film. "Neil filmed it in one take every time," says Moloney. "At the end of the first take the entire crew applauded, which I've never seen happen before on a film set." Footfalls (27 minutes). Susan Fitzgerald plays May, a role she has played on stage in Dublin, London and New York. The director is Walter Asmus, who was Beckett's favourite director and who has directed the play for the theatre and for German television. Act Without Words I (22 minutes) Karel Reisz, who made Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The French Lieutenant's Woman, directs his first film in 10 years. Man is played by the renowned mime artist, John Foley. The music is by Michael Nyman. Krapp's Last Tape (55 minutes) Atom Egoyan, the Canadian filmmaker whose many distinguished credits include Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter and Felicia's Journey, directs. Krapp is played by John Hurt, whose performance in the role earned him rave reviews when the play was staged in London recently. The film was shot over three days last month at Ardmore Studios in Bray, Co Wicklow. Colgan has signed Egoyan to direct Pinter's The Homecoming at the Gate Theatre next year. Catastrophe (16 minutes) A true heavyweight production. The playwright and film-maker, David Mamet, directs a cast consisting of Harold Pinter, the playwright whose most recent acting role was in Mansfield Park; Rebecca Pidgeon, who is married to Mamet and has featured in many of his films; and the venerable John Gielgud who is now 96 and, Colgan says, has decided that this will be his final acting role. "It brings together three of the great playwrights of the last century," Colgan adds. "Beckett was a great influence on Pinter, and Pinter was a great influence on Mamet." The film was shot in an old music hall in London over two days last month. 11 plays yet to be filmed in the Beckett Film Festival Come and Go (six minutes). "We have it on offer to a major director at present and we hope to have a decision soon," says Colgan. "The casting will be up to the director." Ohio Impromptu (15 minutes). Jeremy Irons is committed to appearing in the film of this play. No director or shooting date is set yet. That Time (15 minutes). Director and actor yet to be finalised. A Piece of Monologue (27 minutes). Shooting is scheduled for May 22nd. It will feature the established Irish stage actor, Stephen Brennan, as Speaker. It will be directed by Robin Lefevre, whose many credits include the recent Gate production of A Streetcar Named Desire, which featured Frances McDormand, Liam Cunningham and Donna Dent, and the television series, Jake's Progress, written by Alan Bleasdale. Play (20 minutes). The director is Anthony Minghella, whose film of The English Patient received nine Oscars, including best picture and best director, and whose most recent movie is the seductive Patricia Highsmith adaptation, The Talented Mr Ripley. He has assembled a remarkably strong cast comprising Juliet Stevenson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Alan Rickman. "Anthony first directed Play when he was a student," Colgan adds. Shooting begins in London on May 22nd. Waiting For Godot (132 minutes excluding interval). Walter Asmus, who has completed the film of Footfalls will direct, and Colgan hopes to re-assemble the Irish cast who played it at the Gate - Barry McGovern, Johnny Murphy, Stephen Brennan and Alan Stanford. Shooting begins in midJune. Rockaby (12 minutes). The accomplished British theatre and film director, Richard Eyre, will be at the helm. The actress to play Woman has yet to be cast. Act Without Words II (nine minutes). The director is Enda Hughes, the resourceful young Armagh filmmaker who made the low-budget feature, The Eliminator, and the awardwinning short film, Flying Saucer Rock'n'Roll. Casting will be finalised shortly for the shoot which begins on May 29th. Rough For Theatre I (19 minutes). This will be directed by another bright young Irish film-maker, Kieron J. Walsh, who is now in postproduction on the Roddy Doylescripted romantic comedy feature, Stolen Nights (also known as When Brendan Met Trudy). Casting is about to be finalised and the film will be shot towards the end of this month. Rough For Theatre II (30 minutes). The director and cast have yet to be set. Happy Days (102 minutes excluding interval). The director is Patricia Rozema, the Canadian film-maker who made a remarkable début with I've Heard the Mermaids Singing and followed it with the underrated White Room. Her latest film is the radical Jane Austen adaptation, Mansfield Park. Rosaleen Linehan will play Winnie, a role she has played many times on the stage. The role of Willie has yet to be cast. Shooting gets underway in Dublin on June 5th.
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
Sorry for the length of this, USA - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 00:45:49 (PDT)

Congratulations on this site.I love it & have added it to my favorites! Thanks a million.AR is a hot honey and it's great to catch up on any goss anyone may have on him. He's divine.Thanks
Donna <donoel@bigpond.comfoo>
Melbourne, Vic Australia - Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 00:12:11 (PDT)

Once again, thanks, Claire for the pics! And that goes for last week also (you know I have a *thing* for the Sheriff. *grin*).

Here's the article from the May issue of Radio Times, curtesy of Catherine (thanks, Catherine!):

Barry Norman admires the scene-stealing quaIities of reluctant star Alan Rickman

My first meeting with Alan Rickman was hardly auspicious. It took place outside the Groucho Club in London soon after I had reviewed him as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. I forget who introduced us but I know I said all the right - and truthful - things about being a great admirer of his work and I shall never forget his first word in response.

"Liar," he said. Sorry? "You said" - accusing forefinger stabbing towards my chest - "that my performance belonged in a different film." Well, it did, I said; it belonged in a film called Carry On Robin and it gave Kevin Costner an acting lesson. "Hmm," he said when I'd explained all this and then he offered a thin smile and went away.

We've met a few times since then and I don't think he believes I'm a liar any more, but he's not a man you'd want to upset. Some might say that our meeting at the Groucho, a well known watering hole for media folks, was appropriate since knee-jerk journalists, who have probably never been inside the place, describe it as a haunt of "luvviedom" and include Rickman among the luvvies.

Boy, are they wrong. If you want to reduce Rickman to a snarling fury just mention the word "luvvie" in his presence - as I once did - and then stand well back and wait for the storm to subside. An actor, yes - you couldn't mistake him for anything else. But a fey, pretentious luvvie? Never, although he can play one brilliantly. Just watch him in his latest film, Galaxy Quest, as a disgruntled Shakespearean actor reduced to playing a half-human reptile in a sci-fi TV series. Wonderful comic stuff.

But then he's pretty damn good in almost everything he does, comic or serious. Remember him as the heavy in his first film , Die Hard, giving acting lessons to another Hollywood megastar, Bruce Willis? Magnificently suave and nasty he was, a sort of laterday Basil Rathbone or George Sanders only, so women assure me, much more sexy.

After such a debut I thought he was bound to become a megastar himself but it was not to be, possibly because it wasn't what he wanted. A career playing heavies in Hollywood blockbusters might be lucrative but it can't be very satisfying and in fact, Robin Hood apart, Rickman has avoided that kind of typecasting.

Mind you, the films he makes instead aren't always wisely chosen. Close My Eyes, for instance, in which he plays a rich man whose wife commits nicest with her brother, is rather dull despite his best efforts. And his first outing as a director, The Winter Guest, though better was not a great success. Nor has he had the best of luck. I know he had high hopes for Mesmer, written by Dennis Potter, wherein he gave a virtuoso performance as the eponymous hypnotist, but distribution was hard to find and it pretty well vanished without trace. At least, though, each of these was an attempt to tell a more thoughtful kind of story on film and no doubt more interesting to him than blowing up a skyscraper or snarling, "Cancel Christmas," when irked by Kevin Costner.

I imagine Rickman would say his real work is done away from the cinema, on stage with Helen Mirren, for example, in Antony and Cleopatra, or playing Rasputin, for which he won an Emmy award, on American TV.

He is, after all, a classically trained actor who made his first big impact in the theatre as Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons, which with hindsight leads one to murmur wistfully: "If only... "

If only Stephen Frears had chosen him instead of the far less gifted John Malkovich for the film version then maybe today Alan Rickman would be a superstar.

Suzanne <SuzanneK@bigfoot.comfoo>
As for that rude post, luckily I am not one who is easily offended. :-), - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 21:39:09 (PDT)

There you are, Deb! Kari, there's no such thing as "thinking too much about a Rickman film. (Or being too tangential, Georgiana.)

To really be off-topic, leave it to me: This weekend Branagh's film Love's Labour's Lost opens in NY and LA--I'm recommending it highly. It's innovatively and cleverly done in a 30's Hollywood musical style, complete with homages, song and dance, jokes (slapstick and Shaxstick), handsomely costumed, and warmly scored by Patrick Doyle. (There's my connection.) And there's Branagh doing Shakespeare. I'm not urging you to see it merely because I finally met Branagh at a screening here and was charmed to the toes of my sandals, but because it's fun and entertaining. (And Shax!) Updated, but full of a nostalgic old-world style. There are heapfuls of photos, information about the film and the score at the Daily Telegiraffe and the Compendium, if you want to get a taste before seeing it. But it's also fun to be surprised.

Branagh is on US television on Regis & Kathy Lee tomorrow, and on Conan O'Brien tomorrow night. Alicia Silverstone and Nathan Lane are also making talk show appearances promoting the film.
Renie
Have we lost Melissa, though? , - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 21:26:48 (PDT)

Hey Kari, interesting ideas! They put a whole new slant on things... Hmmm...
Debbie <ceilidh@cwk.imag.netfoo>
Canada - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 19:39:28 (PDT)

Mmmmm, Claire, scrumptious pics! I especially like the last one from Boston Globe. "Villainous," indeed . . . *wink*

Mary Anne
Hey, Kari, good to "see" you again!, USA - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 17:33:27 (PDT)

WARNING: DARK HARBOR SPOILERS

For Sue,

My feeling is that David Weinberg didn't just walk away from his marriage because he was living a royal life compliments of his wife's family money. I don't think he'd accomplished much on his own. To walk away from the marriage would be to not just leave her but also the great life he'd become accustomed to living. I don't believe he "loved" the drifter so much as to give throw that all away. This was his way of getting someone else to do his dirty work while getting to keep her money/island/house, etc. in the end.

On a side note (I've thought about this film way too much, folks) I've often wondered if, in the end, he didn't end up offing the drifter too. After all, he was a no-name who didn't seem to have any sort of connection to society. Who would have missed him? And then David would have ended up with everything. Who knows? Maybe it was his intent from the very beginning. In the kitchen on that fateful morning, he mentions that life with her has been like being "stuck in a coffin". When she asks if he's sure he wants to say that, he replies "I was sure the day I married you." Doesn't sound to me as if he ever loved her. And, as for getting a good lawyer job in Boston, his own wife let slip that he wasn't especially good at his profession earlier on in the film. When the drifter comments that "he really is a lawyer, isn't he?", she replies with sarcasm "well, we get the Harvard Law Review ...".

Just something to think about. Thanks for letting me have my say.

Kari
USA - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 16:48:07 (PDT)

Great pics again, Claire (I've never seen a couple of them before). That recent pic of AR in the Radio Times was especially great. Also enjoyed the Rickman Reading-- thanks bunches!
Neva
Speaking of- what happened to KelClancy's page?, MS USA - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 15:25:43 (PDT)

Ah well, lets look at it postively - the guestbook is atrtacting attention from all types, and all publicity is good publicity. And the people who want to snipe, well, thy have the tabloid mentality which none of us respects anyway...

Thanks aussie fans for urging me to go to the ABC bookstore - Barchester Chronicles IS there, and at $AUS 49.95, thats an awful lot cheaper than the blackstar price!

Also, for aussie fyi's... Judas Kiss was reviewed in this weeks issue of WHO magazine - including the promo picture of a timid looking ET with AR talking to her... They gave the movie a B+ (which was quite high compared to everything elese they reviewed!) So, don't forget Syd/Melb peeps - JK stars at your local Palace Theatre tomorrow (8th)!
Sally
Sydney, Australia - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 15:16:00 (PDT)

Thanks for the DVD captures of "Mesmer", Stezi. They're gorgeous!
Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Who is more than slightly perturbed at the comments below in Tewksbury, MA USA - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 12:51:41 (PDT)

I hope you will check out my next update of my Alan Rickman Page containing DVD pics of Mesmer (romantic and mesmerizing!) Enjoy Alan!
Stezi <stezi@wxs.nlfoo>
The Netherlands - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 11:08:50 (PDT)

In the 4 June Observer: "THE REST OF the week is, essentially, a tale of three tragedies. Tragedy One, already a legendary Lear among turkeys, is Battlefield Earth, in which a few residual hairy human morons (circa AD3000) confront a race of hairy alien morons called Psychlos whose lust for gold doesn't extend to knowing about Fort Knox. John Travolta, plastically padded, plays the arch villain with an accent that rambles between Alan Rickman and Noel Coward."
Georgiana (somewhat tangential...)
USA - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 08:23:57 (PDT)

I realize Mr. Rickman will never see this, but he stole my heart this weekend when I finally saw Sense and Sensibility. His performance was so moving. I have seen him in several other films and knew there was something so wonderful about him, however, this one will make me a fan forever. I know he was only playing a part, just as he did in Die Hard. He was convincing as a man without a heart, but he was more convincing as a man with the most unselfish, truest love as one could imagine. I only hope he knows what a lasting impression he has made.
JAN FREEMAN <JR_Freeman@msn.com>
- Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 05:34:08 (PDT)

If I may put in a word here: this Clair person obviously wrote her comment looking for attention . . . and we are giving it to her. Since someone has already quoted from Jane Austen, allow me to suggest another (from S&S) that would be appropriate--she does not deserve "the compliment of rational opposition."

Mary Anne
USA - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 04:54:20 (PDT)

I usually ignore stupid people, but this gets to me. How dare you insult, as Nancy rightly put it, the people who created this site, the woman who lovingly maintains it, the people who enjoy it, and gay men! I am very patient person but as I know Suzanne quite well and been here couple of years, your comment Clair, really pisses me off (and people who know me, know that I usually do not also use this kind of language). Down right angry, that's what I am. Suzanne, don't mind about the comment, ignore it. You are without a doubt one of the sweetest, nicest persons I know and you have my deepest respect. And, as Elisabeth in Pride and Prejudice put it: Alan has no improper pride. To more pleasant things...if I'm in a state to to talk about this, but I just read Dress to Kill book about Eddie Izzard and he mentioned that he would have liked to have Alan's role in Die Hard. If someone wants exact quote, I can write it down to you. Love, Heli
Heli L. <akasha@iki.fifoo>
Helsinki, FINLAND - Tuesday, June 06, 2000 at 00:11:56 (PDT)

Way to go, Clair! In one post you've managed to insult the people who created this site, the woman who lovingly maintains it, the people who enjoy it, and gay men. The person you haven't insulted is Alan Rickman, who has nothing to do with this site beyond serving as its inspiration. For all we know, he's never even looked at it. By all accounts, he is thoughtful, hardworking, modest, and generous with his time and money, so by all means, go on thinking of him as attractive and talented. I think it unlikely, though, that you will run into him at Harrods or Bergdorf's.
Nancy R.
CA USA - Monday, June 05, 2000 at 23:23:01 (PDT)

And another thing~ acting, in its own right, needs recognition as well (although the people who cure diseases and decrease poverty well deserve money and fame!)
Neva
(and I also wrote the post below), USA - Monday, June 05, 2000 at 20:00:30 (PDT)

Hey...I don't think that was a very nice statement to make. If you can't say anything nice at all, then please keep it to yourself. The people who created and maintain this site work very hard at it, and I don't think that they (and their site) should be insulted in such a manner...besides, it's not like AR made this site himself!
A person who doesn't think AR is pompous
USA - Monday, June 05, 2000 at 19:54:49 (PDT)

I just thought Mr Rickman was attractive and talented, but after seeing this web page I think he may be very pompous and very "nuts". Until Rick is a Sir, or an Oscar winner, I think he should tone it down a bit. This website is worthy of a Sir Olivier. And mighty scary too. What's with the cloud background? He's heavenly? This website has really turned me off of him. It's too cheesy. Makes me think that he's a big prick if I met him in Bergdorf's or Harrod's. Money and fame should go to the men who cure diseases and cure illness and poverty, not for acting for chrissakes. Get a grip Al. You are not that great. I bet this web page is written by a big homo who idolizes him anyway.... What a waste.
Clair Berenbroick <ClairBerenbroick@aol.comfoo>
Leonia, NJ USA - Monday, June 05, 2000 at 19:19:31 (PDT)

Wow! What an active site! I will have to stop back. Thanks!
Pat Shea
New York, NY USA - Monday, June 05, 2000 at 17:47:32 (PDT)

Claire, the translation of the German interview follows. Perhaps Christine can correct any glaring mistakes I've made!!!

The times of Ellen Ripley for Sigourney Weaver seem to be finally past. In " Galaxy Quest - unmethodical by the universe " plays a busty blonde with a light slope to the naivete. And also Alan Rickman is more than only Hans Gruber out of " Die Hard ". Jan Kahl spoke for hamburg:pur with the two about Aliens and roles.

" Galaxy Quest " is after long time your first comedy. Why did you decide to do this film?
S.W.: As I already said to my agent: If someone should be allowed to make fun of Sciencefiction, then probably it should be me. Additionally I liked the film script immediately. The story is fantastic, so original, with mad ideas. And I wanted to do a film, which my daughter can also watch.
Were you the first selection for the role?
S.W.: No, but I was enthusiastic to be the second selection. I am not safe, which they looked the type up exactly. I believe, they spoke simply with Tim Allen, who is a large Alien fan, and who was decisive for the fact that I got the role. He wanted to have an autograph of me.
Is it correct that men prefer Blondes?
S.W.: You must actually answer this question. I felt anyhow very desirable without turning Blonde.

" A Parody of the original is outstanding functioned only, although. (help I got lost in this sensence!!!Claudia) " Do you, believe this applies to " Galaxy Quest "?
A.R.: If you want to allude thereby to " Starship Enterprise ", I do not only see the film as a Parody on to Star Trek phenomenon. Also the Sciencefiction aspect is not the centre of attention for me so much. Rather it concerns a group of actors, who lead a very normal and tragic life, since they are again and again connected to the same role.
Is one typecast easily as an actor on a certain type of character?
S.W.: Constantly! After " the ice storm " I got for example only scripts, in which I should play this terrible nut/mother. Thus I decided easy not to work the next year. One remembers in each case the last two films of an actor. Nobody sees you in a comedy and offers to you thereafter a drama.
A.R.: We live in an uninterested world. We want to constantly categorise everything as fast as possible. It does not play a role, which Shakespeare role one played as the latter. Whether your an actor, politician or whoever, the people press you into a role, which they understand.
Will Apropos return you as Ellen Ripley on the screen?
S.W.: So far as I know, there does not exist the smallest spark of an idea for a further Alien film.
Thank you for the discussion!
Claudia
NZ - Monday, June 05, 2000 at 17:34:03 (PDT)

ROFLOL, Renie-you are too much! And as always, Georgiana, thanks for sharing the article.
Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Monday, June 05, 2000 at 15:22:00 (PDT)

In today's Times:

HEADLINE: Shampoo
BYLINE: Matt Wolf

Personally, we blame Warren Beatty's now-classic 1975 comedy, Shampoo. But whatever the reason, suddenly films about hair competitions are coming in pairs. Already this year we've had The Big Tease, with comedian Craig Ferguson as a gay Glaswegian hairdresser who hits the big time, kind of, in Los Angeles, where he enters the Platinum Scissors award. Now comes Blow Dry, a farce from director Paddy Breathnach (I Went Down) and writer Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) that casts Alan Rickman as a hairdresser fallen from grace who wants to restore his career - and the odd coiffeur - by winning the Silver Scissors prize at England's National Hairdressing Championship. Unfortunately, it requires Rickman to reteam with his lesbian ex-wife (Natasha Richardson). Playing the couple's son is America's latest teen heartthrob, Josh Hartnett (The Virgin Suicides), here having a go as a Brit in contrast to all those Britons who of late have been playing Yanks. The film opens in August in America and towards the end of the year here.
Georgiana (a little pre-release hype is good...)
Seattle - Monday, June 05, 2000 at 14:14:21 (PDT)

Thanks for the June issue of the Rickmanista--such lovely hands in that Metatron photo. More ideas for The Gift Shop at the Rickmanista: Mr. I's No-Fuss BBQ tongs; Mr. I's Unbreakable Steel Thermos (available in sterling silver by special order); The Hans Gruber line of outerwear (the long dark sweeping coat, way ahead of The Matrix), suitings (with John Phillips on call), and travel bags ("When durability and style demand the best"); Jamie's line of homeopathic cold remedies, including Rose hips/Echinacea throat lozenges, root extract herbal teas, and India rubber hot water bottles in pastel colours (For spring, darling--the fall line is autumnal to die for.) Rasputin's "Petersburg on a Peasant's Budget" in the travel book section, and the Interrogator's "How To Get What You Really Want" assertiveness training guide should fly off the self-help shelves.
Renie <reniept@hotmail.com foo>
I'd better stop now. , - Monday, June 05, 2000 at 10:45:51 (PDT)

Very good Homepage of my favourite Actor ... !! Ganz viele liebe Grüße aus Österreich !!
MA <Darkblue22@gmx.atfoo>
Gmunden, OÖ USA - Sunday, June 04, 2000 at 14:17:10 (PDT)

I am opening the offer to sell my viewed-once copy of TWG to the GB. I am limited in that I will be returning to CA in nine days, and will be gone for nine days. The VHS tape is NTSC (North American) format! Asking $9.00-US. Email me privately if interested. Thanks.
Ann Wagner <wagner@cybertrails.comfoo>
AZ USA - Saturday, June 03, 2000 at 18:53:05 (PDT)

Barbara:

Glad to be of help.
Keyser
USA - Saturday, June 03, 2000 at 13:52:50 (PDT)

Anyone care to translate this Weaver/ Rickman brief interview on a German site?

Claire
- Saturday, June 03, 2000 at 12:02:35 (PDT)

Keyser- I just used the refresh button for this last message and it came up! Thankyou to you and Suzanne!Bye.
Barbara
Gold Coast, Qld Australia - Saturday, June 03, 2000 at 06:39:09 (PDT)

Thank you sooo much Suzanne! I really don't know what happened, however one of my messages is now showing on the guestbook- could be something wrong at my computer. Keyser, thank you also for helping me I hope this message gets through. Judy- I can hardly wait! I didn't know it was going to be shown so thanks for the tip! I would also like to say to Sue Zen, what a great writer you are- it is a wonderful gift you have. I really would like everyone to know how much I enjoy reading all you comments and info - makes my life happier! Sorry I took so long to respond to your help, Got a bad cold coming on and didn't get to use this computer. Take care everyone!
Barbara (still freezing!)
Gold Coast, Qld Australia - Saturday, June 03, 2000 at 06:33:37 (PDT)

Karen: on the GQ DVD main menu, there's a section called Special Features; the interview is called "Making a Movie in Space" or something. It's pretty good and describes the making of the film and some of the special effects; I thought AR and Tim Allen looked tired in their portions. It's too bad they didn't put that hour-special about GQ the TV show on it too, they must have had the room.
Magda
Canada - Saturday, June 03, 2000 at 03:04:42 (PDT)

Fausta: tengo algunos problemas con mi Outlook, así es que te escribo por aquí. Gracias por tu e.mail. He estado buscando libros de Trollope en castellano, pero no hay ninguno traducido. Me he comprado uno de Hardy, Tess... en inglés para este verano, ya te contaré. También entré en e-bay, y hay bastantes cosas, pero no dicen si es en Pal o no. Un beso
Chelo Vela <chelovel@wanadoo.esfoo>
Madrid, Spain - Saturday, June 03, 2000 at 01:41:41 (PDT)

Oh, Sue! My sides hurt from giggling so hard! (I can't laugh out loud, it's 4:20 in the morning) I loved it! Unbelievable, yes, but no more so than the original script. I get the feeling that a lot was left on the cutting room floor that would have fleshed out the story ... Too many holes in this one.
LynnP <lperrego@eudoramail.comfoo>
York, PA USA - Saturday, June 03, 2000 at 01:26:10 (PDT)

Several people have mentioned the interview with Alan on the GQ DVD, (where he apparently is wearing his normal hair :-)) Do you have a different DVD than I do? I thought I'd been to all the options on mine, but I find no interview, only a general cast listing with brief backgrounds and film credits for each actor. What am I doing wrong? Thanks for your help.
Karen <kmccauleysb@yahoo.comfoo>
Seal Beach, CA USA - Friday, June 02, 2000 at 20:12:25 (PDT)

I really liked Alan's interview on the DVD version of the film, I think it makes him very human to admit how interesting it was to be in a wool costume in Utah in the middle of summer....very classy guy I thought. Lailari
Lailari Nesmith <galaxyqst@yahoo.comfoo>
Los Angeles, CA USA - Friday, June 02, 2000 at 19:27:21 (PDT)

Wow, Sue! You should be writing stories next door. :-)
Emma
USA - Friday, June 02, 2000 at 18:54:03 (PDT)

Caution: spoilers. I've been thinking about Dark Harbor... (and, no question, Georgiana, there were some wonderful scenes in it--but I just didn't buy into the screenwriter's underlying thesis and subsequent screenplay construction.) The writer never really gave me a good reason why David simply didn't walk away, get a good "lawyer" job in Boston [or London, for that matter (for an American company?)], and move in with his friend, making the whole brouhaha academic. So, sitting home sick with the flu, I came up with the following "remake": [FIVE O'CLOCK SHADOW David Weinberg, known and beloved to audiences for over 25 years as "Big Dave" West, star in his virile younger days of action mega-hits like "Hard Up" and "Blow Me Down" (rated G for the Guestbook), has been unhappily married for the past 15 years to Polly Paley, 13 time loser of the daytime Emmy for her starring role as Holly in the CBS soaper, "The Rich and the Thin", and daughter of CBS broadcasting magnate Melvin "Melvin" Paley. Recently bankrupted by grifter-to-the-stars Dean Paul Crocetti, who is currently facing charges from the SEC, David has just been anointed with a ray of hope to resuscitate his bank account and his flagging career--a 13-episode commitment from CBS for a new one hour TV action series this fall titled "West Coast" where he plays a Coast Guard inspector assigned to the Malibu beach. Unfortunately, Polly, heartbroken after an acrimonious split with her trainer, is growing increasingly intolerant of David's casual affairs with his make-up artists, agent trainees, personal assistants, and even a few women. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the audience--and Polly, David has, to his surprise, actually fallen passionately in love with a young, handsome struggling actor who auditioned for the role of "Drake" on his new series. Now we have a real trap for David--and a solid set-up for the movie: if David leaves Polly for "Drake", he will not only lose Polly's money, but his new show. He'll be broke and, likely, truly hard-up to find work and keep his fan base if he's been "outed", as he's marketed himself as a romantic lead a la Cary Grant or Rock Hudson. Plus, will "Drake" want to hang out with him if he loses his money or his show...? David needs to find a way to get rid of Polly, keep Daddy Melvin on his side, and not rock the "Malibu" boat. So, he drags Polly out to their island hideaway ostensibly to avoid the paparazzi and "rekindle" their relationship, and the Dark Harbor plot events then ensue. Of course, what David doesn't know is that his series will not be the success he hoped...sure, it'll be picked up for a second thirteen weeks on the "sympathy" demographic, but dropped in the spring when it's trounced in the ratings by the sixth night of "Who Wants to Marry A Millionaire", on which "Drake" himself was the celebrity guest. "Drake", of course, gets his own beach show for the coming Fall, "Drake's Chicks", and is spotted having dinner at the Chateau Marmont with Regis Philbin. And what of David? His pager silent, his calls unreturned... Well, there are still a few mushrooms left...] On second thought, best to leave the movie as it is...who'd buy this unbelievable story...?
Sue Zen
El Lay, CA USA - Friday, June 02, 2000 at 11:27:07 (PDT)

Ohhh, Claire...you did it to me again....*thud* ;-)
LynnP
sweltering at 95 degrees in York, PA USA - Friday, June 02, 2000 at 05:46:31 (PDT)

Ohmigosh!! Claire-wonderful pics!! Anybody got a drool mop? :) And Heather-I hope you get your comp fixed soon. Viruses are nasty. :(
the OTHER Heather :) <BeenBaby25@aol.comfoo>
CA USA - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 23:10:41 (PDT)

Fabulous pictures Claire!!!!

I have recently bought another VCR so if anyone would like copies of anything I have or I can rent please let me know. I would love to repay what some other great people here have done for me. :-)
Heather
Atascadero, USA - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 20:18:25 (PDT)

The only signs I had of the virus was that when I started up my computer, down on the start line I would get a quick box pop up saying 'Driver Memory Error' and then it would disappear. Once every third time or so I would get a big box that came up on start up that said Registry Editor then listed a problem but if I clicked 'okay' then it was fine and I had no other problems. It never caused anything to crash. I do know it is a fairly new virus but my guy used a virus checker off the internet that found it. I hope this helps.
Heather <who really hates being the bearer of bad newsfoo>
Atascadero, CA USA - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 20:16:00 (PDT)

Heather, what are the signs of this virus? Does it cause your computer to crash completely? I had no end of problems with mine last night; kept getting told that the program had performed an illegal function and would shut down. Made it sound like the cops were going to bust down my front door! Seems to be working fine today though.
Georgia
Anaheim, Ca USA - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 19:12:21 (PDT)

Just wanted to warn everyone of an internet worm virus that has infected my computer. There are only a few sites I frequent so my concern is that it has somehow attached itself to one of those. I had my "computer doctor" take it off two days ago and it is back again. It is called the JS/kak.a virus. It seems to be benign, but no virus is a good virus. I will get complete details of how to remove it from my computer when I talk to my "computer doctor" again. Sorry to pass on bad news such as this.

Great June issue Fausta!!!
Heather <arbgfan@yahoo.comfoo>
Atascadero, CA USA - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 17:51:56 (PDT)

Why thank you, Neva! I'm having a lot of fun writing it, too. And Claire...GEORGE pics...WHOOHOO!!!! (I'm still disappointed that all that hair was nothing but a wig *grumble*.)
Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 15:50:35 (PDT)

Thanks, Sandy. FOF does seem to be working now. Maybe it was just me ;-) (BTW, I'm enjoying your new story! I love it!).

Claire, great pics once again!
Neva
USA - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 14:50:58 (PDT)

Hi Neva-FOF seems to be fine now.
Sandy <fiebrans@prodigy.netfoo>
Tewksbury, MA USA - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 13:42:30 (PDT)

Please visit the June Monthly Rickmanista, with wingspread!
Fausta <emma-mail@mailexcite.comfoo>
USA - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 11:50:25 (PDT)

Now here's a parallel that would never have occurred to me, from the 30 April 2000 Guardian:

The hilariously funny Galaxy Quest is about a group of superannuated actors, stars of a long defunct Star Trek-style TV series, who spend their time attending conventions organised by their obsessive fan club. Tim Allen is their leader, Alan Rickman is the English thesp who sacrificed his stage career by playing a Spock-like alien, Sigourney Weaver the female interest.

They find a new lease of life when recruited to assist a distant planet that has modelled its ethical system and technology on Galaxy Quest and we have the spectacle of actors playing characters who are mistaken for real people by extraterrestrials. This is a lighthearted variation on Jean Genet's The Balcony (1963) where three clients acting out their fantasies of being a judge, a bishop and a general in a Latin American brothel are forced to act their roles for real during a revolution. The movie is played straight, the observation precise, and the invention sustained to the final credits.

Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 10:21:43 (PDT)

The Times lists "Galaxy Quest" as no. 8 at the box office, right after "Scream 3," giving it a resounding "OK," which appears to be high praise compared to the "average," "poor" and "tragic" garnered by other films on the top 10 in the UK list.
Georgiana (oh, I *do* run on!)
Seattle - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 10:14:55 (PDT)

For some reason, I can't get to FOF. The message says something like-- "The document contained no data." Can someone help me?
Neva
USA - Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 07:51:16 (PDT)

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