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I woke to find the fabulous CatsPlay has found (and posted to the Download Haven guest book) a very short clip from Snow Cake YAY!!!

Dendy Reel

Thanks CatsPlay!

Claudia
GA - Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Here's some excerpts from the Soo Today's article...

Snow Cake world premiere set for February
By David Helwig
SooToday.com
Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Snow Cake, the British-Canadian co-production filmed earlier this year in Wawa and Toronto, was named today as a competition selection for the Berlin International Film Festival in February.

The film, starring Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss, will have its world premiere at Berlinale 2006.

It will be in the running for the festival's prestigious Golden and Silver Bear awards, festival organizers said.

...

Berlinale 2006: first competition titles include one debut and six world premieres

The first entries in the Competition of the 56th Berlin International Film Festival have now been confirmed.

Six of the nine films selected so far will have their world premieres in Berlin.

...

An unusual love story will be presented by a British-Canadian co-production: Snow Cake. Director Marc Evans recounts the story of a friendship between a man (Alan Rickman) who has been seriously traumatized by a car crash and an autistic woman (Sigourney Weaver).

Snow Cake will also have its world premiere in Berlin.

...

The selection for the Competition of the 56th Berlin International Film Festival will be completed by mid January 2006.

There will be a total of 26 films – including those running out of competition – in the Competition programme.
full article

Slope
Canada - Wednesday, December 21, 2005

I have the most wonderful Monday news and its all thanks to Emily!!!! She emailed me with the following Snow Cake news.

2 entertain goes theatrical

The leading UK-owned DVD and video distributor 2 entertain has made three all-rights movie acquisitions and has inked a deal with Momentum Pictures to distribute them theatrically in the UK while 2 entertain handles UK DVD and TV rights.

The first of the titles the West-London based operation, formed late last year, has picked up is the drama Snow Cake starring Alan Rickman and Signourney Weaver and directed by Marc Evans (Resurrection Man).

2 entertain acquired the film from Baby Cow Productions (Marion & Geoff) and plans to release the title theatrically in March 2006 with the DVD to follow four months later.

(rest of article snipped)

It sounds like this might be just the UK release but thank goodness its a start! Maybe release elsewhere will soon follow.

Also, she found a blog from the sister of the woman that edited Snow Cake!!!! coolnina97

Here's what she had to say about the film:

Snow Cake One minute I was laughing, the next close to tears, and then feeling terribly inspired to take life by the cajones. This was how I spent yesterday afternoon while watching a screening of the new film my sister is editing called Snow Cake.

IMDB outlines the plot as: "A drama focused on the friendship between a high-functioning autistic woman and a man who is traumatized after a fatal car accident." It has an excellent cast: Alan Rickman as Alex, Sigourney Weaver as the unforgettable Linda, and Carrie-Anne Moss (from Matrix fame) as Maggie.

This is not a film for people who demand at least three car chases and an explosion to feel really entertained. It is however a touching study of human nature and relationships, with a very uplifting message, and I have no doubt it's going to be well reviewed upon release.

When I worked on Long Acre in Covent Garden I would often see my sister for lunch and she'd show me a scene and asked me if I felt it worked or not, as she poured over every minute detail. To see it all together yesterday was just wonderful, and she's done a brilliant job.

And in case you think I'm being biased, I sat next to the great Jim Clark's (Vera Drake, The Mission, The Killing Fields etc) wife, Laurence, (a film editor herself instrumental in the French film movement in her day), who told me she thought my sis was a wonderful and very talented editor and was glad she had returned to work after having her daughter. I was terribly proud.

Thank you Em!!!!!!

Claudia
GA - Monday, December 19, 2005

Pardon if this is old news re: Snow Cake

SC sold to additional outlets. I keep looking for news on the films in post-production. That from Nov. 20.
This from Dec. 11
FORTISSIMO SELLS NEW TERRITORIES ON UK DRAMA SNOW CAKE

By Wendy Mitchell in Santa Monica.Fortissimo Films has sold UK feature Snow Cake to several more territories. The new deals are with DCA in Argentina, A Film in Benelux, United King in Israel, Media Film International in Korea and Thailand, Monolith in Poland, and Lusomundo in Portugal.
http://www.fortissimofilms.com/whatsnew/

Y'all folks in the Austral lands may see it before we do oop North. Are these groups TV or cinema?
Aurora
- Tuesday, December 13, 2005

5th December 2005 - What's on Stage News
Two Donmar Hits & Corrie in South Bank's Running

Another batch of award nominations for the 2005 theatre year – this time for the tenth annual South Bank Show Awards, which honours the UK’s creative talent across a wide range of the arts – was announced today.

In the Theatre category, the Donmar Warehouse is battling against itself with its productions of The Philanthropist and Mary Stuart, now transferred to the West End’s Apollo Theatre, both in the running. The productions have already netted the Evening Standard awards for Best Actor (Simon Russell Beale in The Philanthropist) and Best Actor (Harriet Walter in Mary Stuart) as well as multiple Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Award nominations (click here to vote now!).

The third production in the South Bank line-up is the Royal Court’s My Name Is Rachel Corrie, which has been nominated for three Whatsonstage.com Awards: Best New Play, Best Solo Performance (Megan Dodds) and Best Director (Alan Rickman).

In the Breakthrough Award field, run in association with The Times newspaper in recognition of rising British talent, actor Ben Silverstone, who co-starred with David Suchet in Man and Boy on tour and at the West End’s Duchess Theatre, is up against nine other contenders, one apiece from the other arts (Film, Dance, Opera, Pop, Visual Arts, TV Drama, Literature, Classical and Comedy).

Winners of the 2006 South Bank Show Awards will be announced at a star-studded ceremony, hosted by South Bank Show presenter Melvyn Bragg, at the Savoy Hotel on Friday 27 January 2006. The ceremony will be aired, as part of the ITV1 arts programme, on Sunday 29 January.
- by Terri Paddock whatsonstage.com
Slope
Canada - Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Here's some more "AR Christmas".....

Pose 4

Pose 5

Pose 6

Claudia
GA - Saturday, December 03, 2005

Rex Features has some new and yummy pics of Our Man. I look at them as sort of AR's Christmas prezzie to his fans. *grin*

There are some wonderful ladies working on removing the watermarks so I'll post them as they come in.

Here's the whole set from Rex

And here are the "watermarkless" ones so far:

Pose 1

Pose 2

Pose 3

Claudia
GA - Friday, December 02, 2005

Orikono posted over at the Download Haven Guest Book about a new charity AR is involved in. World Swim for Malaria Check out the video section.

Claudia
GA - Thursday, December 01, 2005

AR mentioned in interview with Eliza Dushku, who appears in "Nobel Son". Pertinent excerpt follows.

5 minutes with...Eliza Dushku

"...I just finished an independent movie, "Nobel Son," with Alan Rickman, Danny DeVito, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. I play this poet and artist who helps kidnap the son of this physics Nobel Prize winner. She's dark and kind of a wacko."

Slope
Canada - Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Yup, Alan attended the Whatsonstage Theatregoers' Choice Awards event. He's been nominated for Best Director. Excerpts follow.

WOS Theatregoers' Choice Nominees Announced

...Other notable nominees include Ewan McGregor, Jane Krakowski, Suranne Jones, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Stephen Daldry, Matthew Bourne, Anthony Head, Gary Kemp and, swapping his actor’s hat for the director’s chair, Alan Rickman.

...Amongst some of the stage stars who were in attendance to raise their glasses were: Rob Lowe, Suranne Jones, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Daldry, Sheila Hancock, Haydn Gwynne, Tim Healey, Alan Rickman, Helen McCrory, Anthony Head, Conleth Hill, Lesley Manville, Claire Price, Gary Kemp, Rosemary Ashe, Amanda Drew, Amanda Ryan, Peter Wight, Daniel Evans, Anna-Jane Casey, Charlotte Emmerson, Una Stubbs, Janie Dee, Andrew Scott, Jefferson Mays, Barry Howard, Michael Praed, Rolf Saxon, Clint Dyer, Tameka Empson, Saskia Reeve, Jenny Agutter, Michelle Ryan, Toby Young, Rhashan Stone, Julian Glover, Isla Blair, Charlotte Randle, Daniel Kramer, Earl Carpenter, Clint Dyer, Joseph Millson, Rebecca Johnson, Liza Sadovy, Frances Ruffelle, Giles Terera, Michael O'biora, Graham Bickley, Katherine Kingsley, Jason Pennycooke, Laura Wade, David Eldridge, Simon Stephens, Roger Lloyd Pack, Robert Delamere, Samantha Spiro, Sara Crowe, Scarlet Strallen, Sean Foley, Tamara Harvey, John Gordon Sinclair, Peter Quilter, Lucy Bailey, Ian Gelder, Richard Baron, Phelim McDermott and Lee Simpson.

THE LONDON CALLING BEST DIRECTOR: Alan Rickman - My Name Is Rachel Corrie at the Royal Court
Melly Still - Coram Boy at the NT Oliver
Michael Grandage - Guys & Dolls at the Piccadilly
Phyllida Lloyd - Mary Stuart at the Apollo
Richard Eyre & Matthew Bourne - Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward
Stephen Daldry - Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace

Slope
Canada - Wednesday, November 30, 2005

AR is busy in London these days!

30th November 2005 - What's on Stage News
WOS Theatregoers' Choice Awards Bash Held Today

The shortlists for the fifth annual Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Awards, the only major theatre awards wholly voted for by the paying public, are announced today. Following this afternoon’s star-studded launch party, held at Planet Hollywood (See News, 1 Nov 2004), the shortlists will be published online here at Whatsonstage.com, with voting for the eventual winners opening from tomorrow, 1 December 2005.

Midweek matinees notwithstanding, representatives from many of 2005’s biggest shows will join this afternoon’s celebrations, including Billy Elliot, Mary Poppins, The Big Life, Elmina’s Kitchen, Don Carlos, A Few Good Men, Mary Stuart, Richard II, As You Like It, Shoot the Crow, Glorious!, Some Girl(s), Telstar, Otherwise Engaged, Pillars of the Community, Scrooge, Coram Boy, Death of a Salesman, Tick Tick Boom, Two Thousand Years, My Name Is Rachel Corrie, Henry IV and, just opened last night, Sunday in the Park with George.

Amongst those individual performers due to attend today’s launch party are: Rob Lowe (pictured), Suranne Jones, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Daldry, Sheila Hancock, Haydn Gwynne, Tim Healey, Alan Rickman, Helen McCrory, Anthony Head, Conleth Hill, Lesley Manville, Claire Price, Gary Kemp, Rosemary Ashe, Amanda Drew, Amanda Ryan, Peter Wight, Daniel Evans, Anna-Jane Casey, Charlotte Emmerson, Una Stubbs, Janie Dee, Andrew Scott, Jefferson Mays, Barry Howard, Michael Praed, Rolf Saxon, Clint Dyer, Tameka Empson, Saskia Reeve, Jenny Agutter, Michelle Ryan, Toby Young, Rhashan Stone, Julian Glover, Isla Blair, Charlotte Randle, Daniel Kramer, Earl Carpenter, Clint Dyer, Joseph Millson, Rebecca Johnson, Liza Sadovy, Frances Ruffelle, Giles Terera, Michael O'biora, Graham Bickley, Katherine Kingsley, Jason Pennycooke, Laura Wade, David Eldridge, Simon Stephens, Roger Lloyd Pack, Robert Delamere, Samantha Spiro, Sara Crowe, Scarlet Strallen, Sean Foley, Tamara Harvey, John Gordon Sinclair, Peter Quilter, Lucy Bailey, Ian Gelder, Richard Baron, Sally Ann Triplett, Phelim McDermott and Lee Simpson.

Each year as part of the Awards event, Whatsonstage.com highlights the work of one outstanding arts-related charity. This year’s adopted charity is Sophie’s Silver Lining Fund, which will be represented at Planet Hollywood by patrons David Haig (who recently completed his run in Mary Poppins) and Jenny Agutter. Also taking part in the awards presentations today at Planet Hollywood will be Rosemary Squire - the new president of the Society of London Theatre and co-founder and executive director of the Ambassador Theatre Group, one of the UK’s largest theatre owners - who will speak about the resilience of the West End post-7 July.

Voting for the final winners of the 2005/6 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Awards commences from tomorrow, Thursday 1 December 2005 and continues through December and January with winners announced online simultaneously with the live Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards ceremony – a demonstration of the spectrum of popular and critical opinion – at midday on 31 January 2006. Each week over the next two months, a different awards field will be highlighted on the site.

Every registered voter will be automatically entered into a prize draw to win a luxury three-day theatre break for two, courtesy of one of our sponsors, Superbreak. What’s more, every voter will also receive a £20 voucher to redeem against any Superbreak purchase on www.superbreak.com.

In addition to Planet Hollywood and Superbreak, the sponsors of this year’s Theatregoers’ Choice Awards are playtext publisher Samuel French, arts marketing solution provider London Calling, and the capital magazine Ms London.

- by Terri Paddock

Slope
Canada - Wednesday, November 30, 2005

There's a pic of AR at Rex Features from the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. You can also find it by entering his name in the Rex search box.
Aurora
- Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Is the Evening Standard theatre awards show televised in the UK? Apparently Alan was a guest...and his old chum Harriet Walter scooped the Best Actress award! ;-)

"Star guests included Emilia Fox, Alan Rickman, John Hurt, Maureen Lipman, Nicholas Hytner, Michael Frayn, Brenda Blethyn, Rupert Graves, Lesley Manville, Diana Quick, Jonathan Pryce, Timothy West and Patrick Stewart."
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/articles/21044184?source=Evening%20Standard&ct=5

Here's an article about Harriet Walter for those interested.
Slope
Canada - Monday, November 28, 2005

Alan to attend Evening Standard awards on Monday Nov 28?? I thought he was in L.A.!

Sir Elton to cheer on Billy
By Tom Teodorczuk, Evening Standard
24 November 2005

Sir Elton John and Gillian Anderson are among the stars who will attend the 51st Evening Standard Theatre Awards at the Savoy on Monday.

Anderson, who is starring as Lady Dedlock in BBC1's adaptation of Charles Dickens's Bleak House, will present the best designer award at the capital's most prestigious theatre event.

Since she quit the hit sci-fi series The X-Files, Anderson has twice appeared on stage in London - in The Sweetest Swing In Baseball and What The Night Is For.

The contenders for the award are Paul Brown for As You Desire Me, Bob Crowley for Mary Poppins and Christopher Oram and Paule Constable, jointly, for Don Carlos.

Sir Elton will be cheering on Billy Elliot, the smash hit show for which he wrote the songs, in the best musical category. He will be joined by the show's executive producer and his partner, David Furnish. Billy Elliot faces competition from Sir Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins and The Big Life.

This year's awards will be presented by Ned Sherrin, marking a welcome return for the writer who last fronted them in 1997.

"It's always my favourite gig," Sherrin said. "It's a great reunion of all the people you want to meet in theatreland. There's a very good list of contenders this year."

Shortlisted for the Sydney Edwards Award for best director are Sir Richard Eyre for Hedda Gabler and Mary Poppins, Michael Grandage for Don Carlos and Grand Hotel and Jonathan Kent for As You Desire Me.

The award will be presented by Joseph Fiennes who is currently starring in the revival of Epitaph For George Dillon, by John Osborne and Anthony Creighton, at the Comedy Theatre. The award for best play will be presented by Sinead Cusack who will soon be seen in BBC1 sitcom Home Again.

In the running for best play are Bloody Sunday by Richard Norton-Taylor, Harvest by Richard Bean, The Home Place by Brian Friel and Two Thousand Years by Mike Leigh. Felicity Kendal will present the best actor award to one of three nominees: Brian Dennehy for Death Of A Salesman, Simon Russell Beale for The Philanthropist and Derek Jacobi for Don Carlos.

Arnold Wesker, who won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for most promising playwright in 1959, will present the Charles Wintour Award for most promising playwright, which comes with a £30,000 cheque.

Wesker is currently enjoying a run of success with his new play Longitude, which was staged at the Greenwich Theatre last month while the Tricycle Theatre recently revived his first play Chicken Soup With Barley. The nominees for the most promising playwright award are Ryan Craig for What We Did To Weinstein, Neil Leyshon for Comfort Me With Apples and Simon Mendes da Costa for Losing Louis. The ceremony will be hosted by Lady Rothermere, wife of Lord Rothermere, chairman of Daily Mail and General Trust, owner of the Evening Standard.

Other stars at the event include John Hurt, Stephen Daldry, Emilia Fox, Alan Rickman, Nicholas Hytner, Michael Frayn, Fiona Shaw, Brenda Blethyn, Sir Peter Hall, Diana Quick, Jonathan Pryce, Prunella Scales, Timothy West, Eve Best, Claire Bloom, Peter Bowles, Brian Friel, Rupert Graves, Clare Higgins, Julia McKenzie, Lesley Manville, Alison Steadman and Patrick Stewart. This is London article
Slope
Canada - Thursday, November 24, 2005

Had a chance to visit The Leaky Cauldron today and wanted to share a few things.

hpana.com has a video clip (Windows Media and QuickTiime) of HBO's "First Look at HP-GoF" (which is still running on HBO throughout this month). Snape can be seen a few times, but no dialog. However, as Mary said, it does get you hyped-up about seeing the movie!

And here's a few reviews of HP-GoF:
Variety
BBC News
Empire Online
Hollywood Reporter
Manchester Online

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Friday, November 11, 2005

Hi there, everybody, there are two German articles on "The Parfume", one dated 18 Oct in the newspaper "Die Welt" and one in the latest "TV Spielfilm". Here are short summaries: "Die Welt":
Title: How to visualize ordour -

It's quite a sophisticated article basically telling us about Tom Tykwer's stamina and endurance, how much the film actually costs ( 60 million Euros, 10 out of it for P. Süßkind and 10 times more than the average German/European film would cost), the financial involvement of Gigi Oeri, wife of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche owner and what she has done in her life; that Eichinger and Tykwer mainly shooted in Barcelona (and not near Bordeaux) because they had everything at one place (no moving which would have involved more days, more money etc) and there are much cheaper and more enthusiastic extras etc.

About AR: 1766 ermerged again on the ivy-filled terrace by night. Antoine Richis, a rich merchant, celebrates his daughter's 16th birthday. Richis himself looks like a better humoured Hogwarts Professor Snape, no miracle, because AR plays both roles. Laura reminds us of Wendy in the latest Peter Pan, where they discovered Rachel Hurd-Wood as the perfect victim for Grenouille.

And the best of all: Grenouille says one single sentence in the whole film as far as I understand the article...??

"TV Spielfilm":

well, there are two new pics, one of BW in the streets of Barcelona and a beautiful one of the ivy-filled house and terrace of Richis (see my short report of the Welt article below). In addition there is the well-known pic of AR and Rachel during her birthday party and some more.

The article: Tykwer and Eichinger are a picture of harmony sitting narrowly together on their chairs. About 70 extras cavort on said terrace, two gas balloons provide moonlight.

Alan Rickman towers above the Spanish extras in their historical costumes (well, isn't THAT snapish), in between the crew members in their battlefield dress: Jeans or short Cargo trousers and T-shirts with Kojak motive or the label: "Three Nippled Cousin F***er".

Tom Tykwer is very relaxed, looking like an economy student on his way to play tennis.

Ben Wishaw convinced them by his "Hamlet"-play.

They are shooting the birthday party scene until 6:30 in the morning (lunch was served right after midnight).

Whether Tykwer, Eichinger etc had the right instinct for making this film will be seen on 14 September 2006...at the end there is an interview with Tom in which he talks enthusiastically about his film.

That's it for today,

Cheers
Hikity
Hikity
sunny November day, Germany - Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Emily pointed out last night that we have yet another chance to vote on AR and this time its a chance for us to get something out of it! I'm just going to paste Em's post below.

Since you all enjoy voting, here's another opportunity to stuff the ballot box in AR's favor. Remember the "21st Century Leaders" organization, which solicited celeb artwork and self-portraits for charity? See below:

AR's art for 21st Century

This organization has been slow to follow through on making the wristbands, T shirts, etc., with the celeb artwork on them. But now, they say that they will make the items that get the most votes. You have to register with the site to vote. Once you've registered, go to the voting gallery. The celeb names are in alphabetical order by first name. Then you can vote for each of the products with AR's design on them: wristband, T-shirt, mug, plate and trainers. You can vote for all of them, it doesnt limit you to just one item. Follow the link below and then look for "sign up" on the menu.

What Ever It Takes

I would love to have a wristband, t-shirt, and mug with AR's art on it!

Claudia
GA - Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Hello everyone!
I received a message today from AR's assistant, Melanie, with an update of his schedule. She has confirmed he is in LA and says:

"...Alan is shooting Nobel Son and it was his first day on set yesterday [Oct. 31]. It’s not clear how long he’ll be there just now but it should be completed sometime towards the end of November. He certainly won’t be able to attend the London premiere of Harry Potter, nor will he be attending Shared Experiences 30th Birthday Celebration on Nov 9th. I can’t imagine he could get to the NY premiere of Harry Potter either as things stand at the moment."

The Leaky Cauldron also has a lot of great HP-GoF clips and interviews this week. None of AR that I could see, aside from the three clips posted last Friday (unless I missed something!), but lots of great stuff, including a couple of cool sweepstakes, so go check them out.

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Copyright 2005 Reed Elsevier Inc.
Daily Variety
October 14, 2005, Friday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 39
LENGTH: 109 words
HEADLINE: Cast follows the 'Son'
BYLINE: PAMELA McCLINTOCK

Alan Rickman, Mary Steenburgen and Bryan Greenberg will star in Randall Miller's family drama "Nobel Son," which Miller is writing and producing with his wife, Jody Savin.

Indie film, which begins shooting next week in L.A., also features Shawn Hatosy, Eliza Dushku, Bill Pullman and Danny DeVito.

Story concerns a son struggling to finish his thesis when his father wins the Nobel Prize in chemistry, making life all the more difficult for him and his mother, a well-known forensic psychiatrist.

Ron Savin and Henry Suarez are co-producing. Art Klein, Tom Soulanille and Michael Ravine are exec producers. Film does not have a distributor.

Georgiana (italics added)
Seattle - Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Copyright 2005 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
DAILY MAIL (London)
September 20, 2005
SECTION: ED_1ST_04; Pg. 39
LENGTH: 113 words
BYLINE: RICHARD KAY
EVEN being voted one of the 100 sexiest stars in film history doesn't help you get a reservation at the best restaurant in the world, as arch actor Alan Rickman has found to his cost.

The self-confessed gourmand, 59, has yet to dine at legendary Spanish eatery El Bulli, where chef Ferran Adria uses liquid nitrogen to create the 'molecular cuisine' that has earned three Michelin stars.

'I've been trying in vain to get a reservation all week,' complains Alan, who is in Barcelona filming the movie version of Patrick Suskind's cult novel Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer.

It had better be a long shoot, Alan: the next available reservation is April 2006.

Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Limited
The Times (London)
October 7, 2005, Friday
SECTION: Home news; 14
LENGTH: 81 words
HEADLINE: Alan's not potty for Harry
BYLINE: Hugo Rifkind

ALAN RICKMAN must be getting sick of all the Harry Potter questions. Cornered by a People person at the launch of Roberta Taylor's Too Many Mothers, the sometime Professor Snape gave short shrift to inquiries about all things J. K. Rowling. "I really do not want to talk about Harry Potter in any way, shape or form," he said, preferring to discuss his Royal Court production, My Name is Rachel Corrie. "It might upset some people. I don't know, and I'm not sure I care."

Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Below are a couple of more clips (from iesb.net, which has 13 HP-GoF clips!) with a bit of Snape:

We Now Have Our Three Champions
The Rules Are Absolute

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Friday, October 28, 2005

GOF SPOILER FILM CLIPS! Among these video clips getting dates is the one from which we have seen stills of Snape grabbing Harry and Ron by the hair. lots of non-speaking Snape action! Re-setting the scene is an interesting departure from the book.
Aurora
- Friday, October 28, 2005

Saw this last night: "Erin O’Connor, David Walliams, Matt Lucas, Laura Bailey, Lily Cole, Nick Rhodes, Alan Rickman, Jennifer Saunders and Isabella Blow are among celebrities expected to join friends at The Supper Club on1 November to raise money for Terrence Higgins Trust - the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity."
Article here.
martha
maine - Friday, October 28, 2005

One CD, 40 years of theatre's greatest hits

• Live recordings resurrect legendary RSC moments
• Tapes were previously only heard by academics

Charlotte Higgins, arts correspondent
Wednesday October 26, 2005
The Guardian

From Peggy Ashcroft's spleen-wrenching, chilling Queen Margaret, to the gorgeous cadences of Laurence Olivier's Coriolanus, some of the most remarkable performances from the Royal Shakespeare Company's illustrious history are to be made available for the first time on CD.

Until now, the existence of more than 200 complete live recordings of RSC Shakespeare productions has been known only to a few. The British Library sound archive has been recording performances for 40 years, but they have been available only by appointment to academics.

From tomorrow such legendary theatrical moments as Paul Scofield's 1964 King Lear and Janet Suzman's Cleopatra of 1973 - performances that have existed only in the memories of theatregoers - can be heard by the public once more. Gregory Doran, associate director at the RSC, has selected 20 complete scenes from 18 plays for the double CD. His choices range from Donald Sinden's 1971 Malvolio in John Barton's production of Twelfth Night, to Alan Rickman's melancholic, dry-as-a-bone Jaques in the 1986 As You Like It. "I had no idea that the recordings existed, but suddenly there you were listening to Laurence Olivier doing Coriolanus, something I thought had completely disappeared," he said.

Choosing between the many interpretations of great roles such as Hamlet and Henry V was punishing. The director John Barton, according to Doran, suggested it would be invidious to select a single Hamlet. In the end he chose David Warner's 1966 version - at the time revolutionary for its naturalism and youthfulness.

Nostalgia caused him to plump for Richard Pasco's Richard II from 1974, which he saw as a schoolboy. "These are personal options so it's in no sense supposed to be 'definitive'," he said, adding that he hoped there would soon be a volume two. "I'm sure people will be saying, 'Where's David Suchet's Shylock? Where are Fiona Shaw and Juliet Stevenson?"

The peculiar quality of these live recordings, as Steve Cleary, curator of drama and literature at the sound archive said, is that "it gives you a sense of what it was like to be in that audience".

"There's an astonishing immediacy," added Doran. "Of course sometimes there are fluffs; and sometimes a whole performance is ruined by someone in the audience having a coughing fit." Lines are sometimes obscured by laughs, and the listener can only imagine, or if lucky remember, the visual gags. "There's a whole five-minute laugh for Donald Sinden's Malvolio," said Doran, "at the moment when he entered the garden, checked his watch against the sundial, and then altered the sundial."

It will be for the listener to judge whether today's demotic immediacy wins out over the verse-speaking technique that once prevailed. "It's really good for young actors to hear the speed and dexterity of some of the old performances," Doran said. "To listen to the greats doing Shakespeare with such ease, and realising the skills required to create the illusion of such ease, is very important."

David Oyelowo, whose Henry VI, in Michael Boyd's 2001 production, is on the CD, said: "There's a joy and a sadness in the fact that as a theatre actor your toil will live on only in people's minds. I feel honoured to be heard alongside the actors who inspired me to become an actor - but I'm also excited at the prospect of hearing what all the fuss was about."

(For the full article, see Guardian
Slope
Canada - Friday, October 28, 2005

The Essential Shakespeare Live
The Royal Shakespeare Company in Performance

From the Talking Bookshop: "The British Library and the Royal Shakespeare Company join forces to publish this remarkable treasury of live Shakespeare recordings. Selected from an extensive collection of recordings made by the "British Library Sound Archive", this set offers scenes and speeches from some of the most celebrated Shakespeare productions in the history of the Royal Shakespeare Company. All the recordings in it are being published for the first time. The twenty extracts have been personally selected by RSC Associate Director, Gregory Doran. They cover a period of over four decades of exceptional Shakespeare performances, from Laurence Olivier as Coriolanus in 1959 to Judi Dench in All's Well that Ends Well in 2002. Here are some of the RSC's most celebrated productions - the now legendary "Wars of the Roses" from 1963, Peter Brook's "King Lear with Paul Scofield", and John Barton's "Richard II" with Richard Pasco and Ian Richardson. Other notable actors represented include Peggy Ashcroft, Alan Howard, Derek Jacobi, Ian McKellen, Alan Rickman, Anthony Sher, Donald Sinden, Robert Stephens, Patrick Stewart, Janet Suzman, and David Warner.

Two CDs with this booklet includes the texts of the extracts from the plays."

Track Number 6 on Disc 2 is "As You Like It", featuring Alan Rickman.

The CD's listed as not yet published, the cost is £15.95 and the ISBN is 0-7123-0524-6

Here is the site for more information.

Renie
- Friday, October 28, 2005

The Leaky Cauldron now has HUGE, high-resolution photos of the two I posted yesterday plus another:

Snape, Ron & Harry-HUGE
Teachers-HUGE
Teachers at Yule Ball-HUGE

And from http://www.filmfocus.co.uk/, this really cool Snape photo

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Sunday, October 23, 2005

I was just checking out the Leaky Cauldron website for some HP News and found a couple of new nice and clear Snape photos (which came from Unforgivable-curses.net):

Snape, Harry & Ron in class
Karkaroff, Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore at Yule Ball

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Saturday, October 22, 2005

I copied and pasted this from the Valley Press Web Site
--------

With ominous clouds lurking in the background, the crew of the low-budget comedy-drama "Nobel Son" set up for another shot. The makers of the movie pressed on with filming Monday, despite threatening storms.

'Nobel Son' film crew braves storms

"We were able to find local financing," he said, "which turned out to be fortunate.
Donna
CT - Saturday, October 22, 2005

Found this story on CNN.com.

Short films in spotlight at London festival

Thursday, October 20, 2005 Posted: 1:42 EDT (17:44 GMT)

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The international film community -- with all its glam and glitter -- will share the spotlight next week with up-and-coming talent at the 49th annual London Film Festival.

The TCM Classic Shorts competition brings together some of the world's best in short film offerings.

A shortlist of six films has been draw up by a panel of judges, including the biggest names in British film.

Among them are actors Dame Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman and Kate Winslet, as well as director Gurinder Chadha -- best known for film such as "Bhaji on the Beach," "Bend it Like Beckham" and "Bride & Perjudice."

The six film finalists are: "The Clap," directed by Geoff Lindsey; "Ashes," by Corinna Faith; "Jane Lloyd," directed by Happy; "Special People," from Justin Edgar; Andrew Greener's "End Game," and "The Banker," directed by Hattie Dalton.

The top award carries with it a £10,000 (about $17,600) cash prize.

Screenings will take place October 26 at the National Film Theatre during the Short Cuts and Animation portion of the London festival. (Full story) They will also be shown at the TCM Classic Shorts award ceremony November 2.

In addition, the films will air on the TCM (Turner Classic Movies) television channel as part of its Classic Shorts weekend November 5 and 6.

TCM Classic Shorts, which began six years ago, has grown to become one of the most prestigious short film competitions in Europe. Last year's winner, "Nits," was screened as part of the Quinzaine des Realisateurs at the Cannes Film Festival.

Two previous finalists -- "Brown Paper Bag," directed by Michael Baig Clifford, and "About A Girl," directed by Brian Percival -- followed up their TCM Classic Shorts success by winning top short film honors from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

TCM -- launched in Europe in 1999 -- is a division of Time Warner, which is also the parent of CNN.
cathy
- Saturday, October 22, 2005

FilmAid International, on the charityfolks.com website, is having an auction for two tickets to the GoF premiere and after party! The description says,

"Calling all Harry Potter fans... bid on this lot for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the world premiere and after party of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York this November."

The current bid is now $5,500 but hey, it's going to charity. But hurry, it ends in 2 days!
Linda
NJ - Tuesday, October 18, 2005

While I was looking at the Royal Court Theatre web site I clicked on the "educational pack" link for the RC play and discovered this really nice interview of Alan Rickman. Sorry I don't know if it was posted before but I can't remember ever reading it.

ROYAL COURT YOUNG WRITERS PROGRAMME

Interview with Alan Rickman; co-editor, director.

How did you first come across Rachel Corrie, and can you describe the process which lead you to turn her writings into a play?

I first read Rachel’s emails in The Guardian in March 2003. They were so vibrant that they kind of demanded to be said out loud. I took them to Ian Rickson which then lead to a meeting with Rachel’s parents, Elyse Dodgson and Katharine Viner. Ian took a big brave jump and said ‘alright, I’ll do it’. Almost a year later, we got the 187 page document which contained many of Rachel’s journals, letters and poems which had been typed up very bravely by Rachel’s sister Sarah Corrie.

Why does Rachel Corrie inspire you?

I suppose because we live in a time of such prevarication where people who are in the business of letting us know their opinions are careful and manipulative, and it is not always clear what they really think. Rachel Corrie, whether she was or not, seems to be like an arrow. Her thoughts, opinions and reactions are crystal clear. This is inspiring, especially from someone so young.

What do you want audiences to experience when they watch this play?

I want audiences to experience what they experience. As long as they think something when they watch the play, I don’t expect anything that I could possibly predict. I hope they will be informed and realise that this is relevant to their own lives.

Can you describe the process of working with a design team to recreate Rachel’s world? How hard was it to imagine Rachel’s environments and experiences?

I had a fairly immediate image of a wall for the set of Rachel Corrie. Because I knew that there was going to be a solitary young woman on stage, the real question was what kind of backdrop to give her. A wall is divisive, immovable and inhuman. As well as referencing the actual environment of Gaza, the wall is also a metaphor. And then Hildegard Bechtler, the designer, made the set real and workable. We looked at photographs of Palestine, and many videos to get a sense of the physical environment, the sounds, the light and how different this world was from the world she left behind. America also exists in the set for the first part of the play, and it was essential to the power of the production that Megan could move from one world to another. America was a small, personal world which she created herself, rather than a world which was imposed in Gaza, which she had to find a way of living in. The play moves from personal to impersonal. In her bedroom, the walls are decorated with pictures, poems and photographs. In Palestine, the landscape is ruined, and there is a sense of people’s lives being ripped apart.

What was your biggest challenge in staging Rachel’s words?

My biggest challenge was that Rachel’s words were not written to be staged. We had to create a kind of narrative and progression so that you could feel her mind alive and changing and growing. This also involved using the acting skills of Megan, and the luck of all sorts of gifts, such as suddenly hearing for the first time that Rachel had a very beautiful singing voice.

Here is the link where you can download the whole educational pack.
Sarah
- Saturday, October 15, 2005

I received an e-mail from Jennifer (thank you!) with this amazingly large HP-GoF behind-the-scenes photo of Snape laughing that she downloaded from www.hpana.com. Now, if only they'd let us in on the joke. :-)

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Saturday, October 15, 2005

Another snippet about "Nobel Son", which apparently starts filming in Los Angeles next week. New film

[relevant text]:

Trio in Miller's Nobel Son

Source: Variety

Alan Rickman, Mary Steenburgen and Bryan Greenberg will star in Randall Miller's family drama Nobel Son, which Miller is writing and producing with his wife, Jody Savin.

Variety says the independent film, which begins shooting next week in Los Angeles, also features Shawn Hatosy, Eliza Dushku, Bill Pullman and Danny DeVito.

The story concerns a son struggling to finish his thesis when his father wins the Nobel Prize in chemistry, making life all the more difficult for him and his mother, a well-known forensic psychiatrist.
Glowbox
France - Saturday, October 15, 2005

Lisa sent me this amazing looking photo from the set of Perfume (thank you!)! She said it's from the current issue of Focus. Not sure I like the wig, may take some getting used to. But the clothes, ahhhh... :-)

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Hello Rickmaniacs :)
BritFilms has posted a synopsis of the film Snowcake, along with a small photo of Alan from the movie.
Check it out here:

britfilms.com

[relevant text, POSSIBLE SPOILERS]:

Snowcake
Brief Synopsis

When Alex begrudgingly decides to pick up Vivienne, a young and feisty hitchhiker, little does he know that his world is about to be turned upside down. During the journey a snowplough hits them and Vivienne is killed.

Devastated by the accident Alan visits Vivienne's mother Linda only to discover that she is autistic with little understanding of what has happened.

Alan feels compelled to stay with Linda and aid with the funeral arrangements. He tries his best to be understanding of Linda's obsessive-compulsive nature, but can't help but find her behavior frustrating.

Whilst staying with Linda he begins an affair with her neighbor Maggie, much to the unhappiness of Clyde, a local policeman who has a crush on her. Clyde discovers that Alan recently left prison after being convicted for killing a man and immediately tells Maggie, but this doesn't dissuade her from her new and passionate liaisons.

Alan slowly begins to understand and care for Linda, but as the funeral approaches the dark secrets of Alan's past emerge.

With the help of Maggie's understanding and Linda's unique window into the world he manages to open his eyes to his past, enabling him to confront both the sadness and anger that have built up within him.

Snowcake is an emotionally powerful drama about learning to deal with the past, taking hold of the present and looking to the future.

Ulrika <ulrika.svenson@gmail.comfoofoo>
Stockholm, Sweden - Monday, October 03, 2005

Yet another film project? Nobel Son

[source: moviehole.net, relevant text]:

The ever-so-welcomingly foxy Eliza Dushku ["Tru Calling"] has a message for Joss Whedon : She wants to be "Wonder Woman".

Dushku, who worked with Whedon on both "Buffy" and "Angel", says she'd like to be considered for the role of the Invisible Jet-flying superheroine, which Whedon's writing and directing.

"Joss is doing a little movie called Wonder Woman. I'd slap on the Dukes for that!", the actress told attendees at Saturday's Wizard World Convention in Boston.

Next, says the 24-year-old actress, is "Nobel Son about a dysfunctional family. The father, played by Alan Rickman, wins the Nobel Prize. I play City Hall, and insane asylum escapee. Bill Pullman, Danny Devito and Peter Boyle are also in it.
Glowbox
France - Monday, October 03, 2005

Another from Leaky: Snape and McGonagall
martha
maine - Monday, October 03, 2005

Snape is back!!! Don't know if you guys have already seen this pic of Snape, Ron and Harry from Goblet of fire. Anyway, isn't he GORGEOUS??!!!!

Check it out here: the-leaky-cauldron.org
Ulrika <ulrika.svenson@gmail.comfoofoo>
Stockholm, Sweden - Monday, October 03, 2005

Here's another message from Jack Binder today with a small synopsis and some wonderful soundbite reviews:

Reminder: Hope to see you there and kindly help circulate this invitation to the Opening Night screening of this hilarious quality comedy film!

Thank you very much,
Jack Binder - Producer.

**********************************************************

"The Search For John Gissing" starring Alan Rickman, Janeane Garofalo, Mike Binder Opens the Westwood International Film Festival
- Friday, September 30, 2005 at 7:30pm
- Crest Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd., Westwood, California

Q&A with Writer/Director Mike Binder ("The Upside of Anger") immediately following the screening.

"The Search For John Gissing" tells the story of American businessman (Mike Binder) and his wife (Janeane Garofalo) whose lives are turned upside-down by the British co-worker (Alan Rickman) he has unknowningly come to London to replace.

Also Starring: Sonya Walger, Allan Corduner, Juliet Stevenson, Owen Teale, Nigel Terry

www.westwoodfilmfestival.com
www.searchforjohngissing.com

------------------------------------------------
Mike Binder might just be on to something with “The Search for John Gissing,” a precious commodity – an indie comedy that actually delivers the goods. –HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

A refreshing antidote to gross out comedies … a very funny film, sometimes uproaringly so … executed with deft comic timing and plentiful guffaws … a throwback to the mod English comedies of the 1960s and ‘70s. –VARIETY

… Janeane Garofalo in her best role since The Truth About Cats And Dogs … this could easily be the next big, yet totally unexpected, comic sleeper to come out of London’s independent scene. –MAYFAIR NEWS

“The Search for John Gissing” is the funniest independent adult comedy in years. –SIXTY SECOND PREVIEW

“Wall to wall big laughs. A perfect independent comedy. Could easily be a sleeper hit.” –ENTERTAINMENTSTUDIONEWS.COM

Wonderfully silly comedy … fast-paced … an irresistible combination of witty writing … and talented comic actors. –FILM GUIDE MAGAZINE

Great! … the acting here is dead on … Binder and Garofalo have great chemistry … check out this film, it's a great date movie. –AIN’T IT COOL NEWS

Highly Recommended! … Pick of the Litter! … Rickman steals the show in this Brit-out-of-water comedy … plays like Sixties Neil Simon or Blake Edwards. –THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE

“…an unpretentious mockery of the business world that pits Matthew Barnes (Mike Binder) against John Gissing (played spot-on by Alan Rickman) …impressive supporting cast that includes the hilarious Janeane Garofalo…a wild-goose-chase-turned-revenge-plot refreshing and consistently funny.” –NICOLE COHEN – EYE TORONTO

A non-stop roller coaster ride of a comedy … Writer/Director Mike Binder stars along with the amazing talents of actors Alan Rickman and Janeane Garofalo… –THE HERALD TRIBUNE

… excellent cast … Binder’s briskly written screenplay and snappy pacing, The Search for John Gissing makes for a … funny off-Hollywood farce. – FILM THREAT MAGAZINE

Hilarious! –THE MOVIE TIMES

WINNER BEST PICTURE FILM CRITICS AWARD SARASOTA FILM FESTIVAL

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Friday, September 30, 2005

That's fantastic news, Claudia, thank you! As it happens, I received an e-mail from Jack Binder (the producer of TSJG) with some additional info. Below is his message:

For Immediate Release: "The Search For John Gissing" to Open the Westwood International Film Festival
- Friday, September 30, 2005 at 7:30pm
- Crest Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd., Westwood, California

Q&A with Writer/Director Mike Binder ("The Upside of Anger") immediately following the screening.

Greetings,
Your assistance in distributing news of this Opening would be greatly appreciated as we continue in our efforts to bring this comedy to the general public.

Thank you,
Jack Binder - Producer

And he also included these two wonderful advertisements! One and Two

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Monday, September 26, 2005

For those of you in the LA area, here's your chance to see The Search for John Gissing

Its screening at the Westwood International Film Festival on the 30th of this month!

Westwood International Film Festival

Claudia
GA - Sunday, September 25, 2005

Thumbs up for ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’ DVD

The timing of the release of a comic disaster film is not exactly fortuitous given the real-life horrors of Hurricane Katrina. Then again, part of what made the book version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," whose film version is now out on DVD, a cult classic for decades is the need to find hope in desperate circumstances.

That, and it's awfully funny in a deliciously subversive way. Gotta love a film that starts off with a literally splashy Broadway-style number starring dolphins: "So long, and thanks for all the fish." The DVD extras include a sing-along version. The dolphins, it seems, are the second smartest life form on Earth. And guess what? Humans aren't the first.

Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) lies down in front of a bulldozer trying to stop the crew from demolishing his house for a bypass. What he doesn't know is that Earth is minutes away from being demolished for a bypass. This news comes from his best friend, Ford Prefect (Mos Def), who reveals himself as an alien researcher for "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" who has been stranded on Earth for years. What you learn from the book, not the movie, is that he picked his name because he thought cars were the dominant life form.

Ford helps Arthur hitch a ride on the Vogon ship about to destroy the Earth. Their adventures get going as they run into a strange cast of characters, including the two-headed president of the galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell), his appealing Earth girlfriend, Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), a depressed robot named Marvin (voiced by Alan Rickman), a planet builder (Bill Nighy) who brags about creating Earth's fjords, and a computer, Deep Thought (voiced by Helen Mirren), working on the answer of the meaning of life.

You get the answer, too. Just don't expect it to do you any good. The film takes a softer approach than the books. There's a romance that works out a bit too neatly and an ending that will bring "The Wizard of Oz" to mind - don't worry, it's not all a dream. The best extra, besides the sing-along dolphin song, is Marvin's hangman game. The game is nearly impossible, but that's kind of the point. Marvin's appendages fall off as the robot complains with each wrong choice.

Copyright © 2005 KRT News Service

© 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)

Georgiana (hope this isn't old news...)
Seattle - Thursday, September 22, 2005

Add this to your Christmas shopping list:

CD The Essential Shakespeare
The British Library and the RSC join forces to publish this remarkable treasury of live Shakespeare recordings. 20 extracts selected by Gregory Doran spanning 4 decades, including Dench, Olivier, Scofield, Ashcroft, Jacobi and Mckellen.(2 CDs) £15.95
NOTE: In the RSC Gifts 2006 catalogue that I received in the mail, the blurb for this CD also mentions ALAN RICKMAN.

Available through the RSC. See RSC: Shopping Online
Slope
Canada - Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Hi all!

I received some pics AR from the set of Perfume from a film extra. Enjoy!

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 4

Pic 5

Claudia
GA - Wednesday, September 21, 2005

I can't wait to see this! Goblet of Fire (moviesonline.ca rough cut review)
Glowbox
France - Wednesday, September 21, 2005

There is now a new date and time for the "In Conversation: Andrew Marr talks with Alan Rickman" event at Chelsea College of Art. It has been re-scheduled to Tuesday 25th October 2005 at 6:30pm, got my tickets for it.
delighted
- Saturday, September 17, 2005

A first look at Snape in GoF. (source: usatoday.com/) Enjoy!
Valerie
Ohio USA - Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Yesterday, on Claudia's site, Emily posted a link to new photos from a Barcelona press conference: Photos

I had fun this morning trying to translate the above web page, and here's what I came up with:

Running of the Perfume in Barcelona (A pun on “Running of the Bulls”?)

This afternoon, a press conference was held in Barcelona with the director and the producers of the film Perfume, based on the novel of Patrick Süskind, along with three of the film’s stars.

Present were actors Ben Wishaw (Layer Cake), Alan Rickman (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone) and Rachel Hurd-Wood (Peter Pan); the director Tom Tykwer (Lola Runs); and the producers Bernd Eichinger and Julio Fernández.

We have some images of the press conference as well as a small video (please excuse the quality), and information on this German-Spanish-French co-production whose opening is scheduled for 2006. At the moment, with filming in Munich completed, the filming continues in Barcelona and Girona until October.

Perfume is the story of a man who does not give off scent, but that paradoxically, has an extremely developed sense of smell. Obsessed to find a perfume that distills the essence of beauty, he ends up becoming a serial assassin.

This thriller, about the brilliant and ruthless perfumer Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, was based on a world-wide best-seller published for the first time in 1985 in Switzerland by the Diogenes-Verlag publishing house. The author, Patrick Süskind, born in 1949 near Munich, became an international literary sensation. The novel has sold more than 12 million copies throughout the world and has been translated into 42 languages.

Constantin Films (in conjunction with Filmax and Ikiru Films), the same producers that have already adapted the novels The Name of the Rose and The NeverEnding Story, hopes that the 60 million budget of Perfume likewise results in an excellent cinematographic adaptation and a great success with the public.

This film, in addition to the afore-mentioned actors, also features Dustin Hoffman (Meet the Fockers) and the collaboration of La Fura dels Baus [a Spanish performance ensemble] for the elaboration and development of some of the main scenes.

Carol
MI - Monday, September 12, 2005

I came across some big news while googleing today. Alan is scheduled to attend the reception of Shared Experience's 30th birthday gala on November 9th! Tickets are a little steep IMO (I'm assuming 75.00 is pounds sterling which would be about what, $140?), but I would definitely buy tickets if I were there at that time (i'll be in England at the end of November! dagnabit). Here's the LINK with the following information.

30th Birthday Gala Celebration Event

Wednesday 9 November, 7pm,
Lyric Hammersmith

We're 30 years old!!

On Wednesday 9 November 2005 at the Lyric Hammersmith, London W6, artist Paula Rego will be hosting a 30th anniversary celebration for Shared Experience, in aid of Shared Experience and the Neurofibromatosis Association.

7pm Reception
7.30pm Performance of BRONTE by Polly Teale
10pm Post-performance reception

Tickets cost 75.00 and are available from:

Shared Experience
The Soho Laundry
9 Dufours Place
London W1F 7SJ

020 7434 9248

Or to reserve a place email us now:
admin@sharedexperience.org.uk

The reception will be attended by Simon Callow (Patron of the NFA), Maureen Lipman, Alan Rickman, Michael Frayn, Claire Tomalin and Lady Antonia Fraser*.

* List correct at time of publication
Sarah
- Saturday, September 10, 2005

More on Andy Gott’s “Degrees” book (remember that?) of celebrity photos: the book will be available on October 6th. The 'Degrees' exhibition begins Sept. 30th and continues until Oct. 29th in London. On the preview night there will be an auction of prints that have been signed by the featured actor, to raise funds for diabetic research. Lots include: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Michael Caine, Tom Hanks, Minnie Driver, Ewan McGregor, Julia Roberts, Kirk Douglas, Patrick Stewart, and others—-you can check with sales by email about any AR signed copy. The preview night will be by invite only but Gotts’ website will be taking bids online until 27th September.

Click the “portfolio list” off the main page to see the list of sitters (including AR) for the project. (Fausta, Alan Bates wrote the forward for the book; it was Bates’ last penned work.) Sorry if someone updated us on this already and I missed it.
Renie
- Wednesday, September 07, 2005

FYI for risk-takers: Information on the RADA DVD lists it as region 2 but I really believe its a region 0 because it plays on 3 of the 4 players in my home. 2 of the players it plays on are region 1 and never been hacked. The player it wouldn't play in is actually a DVD recorder which is pretty finicky about what it will play any way.

The RADA DVD has quickly become one of my favorites in the entire collection.
Claudia
GA - Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Perfume press conference in Barcelona, Spain on 8-29-05
Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Wednesday, September 07, 2005

And then this one from Mel. Oh la la....

AR, Rachel and Ben in Barcelona

Claudia
GA - Wednesday, September 07, 2005

At last a photo from Spain:
HERE
Caption:
BARCELONA, Spain: British actor Alan Rickman poses during a photocall for their film 'Perfume - The Story of a Murderer' in Barcelona, 29 August 2005, a film based on the bestselling book by Patrick S?skind. AFP PHOTO/LLUIS GENE (Photo credit should read LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty Images)
sue
England - Monday, August 29, 2005

This just in today from The Leaky Cauldron!

The premieres of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire are:
London, Nov. 6th
New York, Nov. 12th

Let's cross our fingers that AR will be able to attend!

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Friday, August 26, 2005

From Press: [snip] "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy DVD will be released in the UK on September 5 - eight days before its release in the US. Special features include behind-the-scenes interviews with the film's cast and crew, a special 'making of' documentary and deleted scenes."

I saw the releveant parts of this movie, finally, on a plane--and, ummm, saying that AR's voice was the best part of the film is a kind understatement, I'm afraid.
Renie
Maybe all future movie contracts ought to require use of his voice AND hands. (Is that too demanding?), - Thursday, August 25, 2005

This is not much news, but it's always nice to hear someone else appreciates Alan, isn't it? ;P

Quotes from James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George in Harry Potter series)' interview with the Snitch Seeker:

Who are your favorite characters in the movies?
James: *hesitates* “I’d have to say probably Snape” *much laughter and surprise* “and George obviously” *laughs and looks at his brother*

On Alan Rickman:
James: “We do see him around. He’s such a nice guy to talk to. His voice is like this, very deep (deepens voice) and he’s especially intimidating as Snape. But he’s a really nice guy."

Apology if this is old news. In case you're interested, the full interview is at the snitch seeker

aef
Thailand - Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Several weeks ago, Emily mailed a link to me to RADA Enterprises because it had a listing for Behind the Scenes at RADA DVD. The listing was very vague at the time and she wanted to try to find out more before posting about it. Well, I decided I would take a leap of AR faith and try to order it. I figured even if it didn't have any AR on it, I'd still enjoy it and the money would go to a good cause.

Well, I received the DVD yesterday. And its so much more than I expected. AR does make an appearance twice. Once he talks and the other is towards the end and are some sexy poses on the stage.

I'm sorry but I will not be making a clip from this DVD for the download haven because it is readily availabe and the money does go to a very worthy organization. I highly reccomend this DVD for anyone that might be curious about what goes on at a drama school. It is a brilliant tour of RADA and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The link above now has an order form you can download. Or you can order it like I did. I called RADA at 44 207 908 4805 and gave them my information (name, address, phone number, credit card, and email address). They will forward the information to the right department and in a few weeks, you'll have your DVD. The man I dealt with, Andrew was very helpful and prompt. You can reach him at info@radaenterprises.org

The site states £20 but my invoice says £14.95. For US buyers, after conversion the total was $19.96. I don't know what to say about the price difference but I didn't question them on it.

I've posted a few screen caps from the DVD on the Alan Rickman Download Haven Guestbook.

Claudia
GA - Tuesday, August 16, 2005

From RADA's site:

New Book and Exhibition - 100 Portraits to celebrate the RADA Centenary

As a special commission Cambridge Jones (http://www.cambridgejones.com) has spent the centenary year photographing all the best known faces who trained at RADA. Everyone from Lord Attenborough and Kenneth Branagh to Joan Collins and Sir Roger Moore.

This has never been done before and the intention, when Nicholas Barter and Cambridge Jones first sat down to discuss the possibility of the project, was to show the public just how much of the talent they see and hear everyday came from one single institution: The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

The portraits will be exhibited at The Getty Images Gallery, Eastcastle Street in Summer 2005. (Getty Show opens August 10th). The Observer and BBC2 are covering the project.

An accompanying book of the photographs will be published in August 2005. This will have an essay by Miranda Sawyer to accompany the portraits and an introduction by Lord Attenborough. Published by Dewi Lewis Publishing.

RADA are offering a limited number of advance copies of the book, signed by Cambridge Jones at a 15% discount (Thus reduced to £17) if you purchase them and pick them up from RADA itself. Please email admin@cambridgejones if you would like one reserved for you.

Rickman's picture can be found here

Jeremie
- Friday, August 12, 2005

"...Perfume, by the brilliant Patrick Süskind, to start filming in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter and Poble Español on Wednesday 3rd August, starring Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman and Ben Whishaw, and directed by Tom Tykwer."

Excerpt from Eve Tomkis on 2005/7/30 @ 18:15 in Film & Theatre
Slope
Canada - Sunday, July 31, 2005

Hey! Saw at Claudia's; somebody posted this link to Mike Binder's website. It has some funny video clips from "Search for John Gissing" and a couple of awesome photos of Alan! How cool is that to finally see some of this movie?! But when will it come out on DVD?????
Angie
California U.S. - Friday, July 29, 2005

Excerpt from interview with Lesley Manville (the original 'Cecile' in LLD):

Favourite production you’ve ever worked on
When I was in the original RSC production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, I knew it was something special. Initially, we were in The Other Place in Stratford, which is this corrugated iron shed and absolutely baking in summer. But the building suited the play and its themes of decadence, decay and degradation. I remember the first performance, realising that what we were doing would have a life way beyond that night, and yet I know Lindsay Duncan, Alan Rickman and I all felt how perfect the play was in that space at that time and that it could never be repeated. We had tamed the beast.
20 Questions With…Lesley Manville
Slope
Canada - Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Here is a link to an article on the filming of "Perfume" from "The Week in Germany" Newsletter from the German Embassy Information Service: The Week in Germany

[text of article]:

"Perfume” filming has begun in Munich

July 22, 2005

Filming has begun for the Tom Tykwer film adaptation of the Patrick Sueskind novel “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.” Along with its star-studded international cast, “Perfume” pairs German “Run Lola Run” director Tykwer with producer and German film icon Bernd Eichinger, best known for his work on film adaptations of the novels “The Never-ending Story” and “In the Name of the Rose.”

Director Tykwer is said to have dreamed of a making a film adaptation when he read the novel two decades ago, well before it became one of the most popular German books of all time. But it was years before author Sueskind agreed to sell the rights to the film, a decision that came as a surprise to producer Eichinger.

“For a long time, he just didn’t want it. Then, all of a sudden, he did,” Eichinger said about Sueskind’s change of heart. Eichinger paid a reported $10 million for film rights to “Perfume.”

Sueskind’s hesitation may have slowed production plans, but shooting is now underway after the cast was set earlier this year. Set designers are sparing no expense to create the elaborate sensual details for which Sueskind’s novel is so well known. Indeed, sets in Munich have already been built to resemble an 18th-century Parisian perfumery, complete with a distiller used to extract the essence of flowers.

Although early reports had heartthrob Orlando Bloom playing the leading role, Tykwer recently announced that a relative newcomer, 24-year-old English stage actor Ben Whishaw, will play Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the novel’s main character, a young man with the greatest nose in the world. Whishaw recently earned rave reviews for his portrayal of Hamlet at London's Old Vic Theatre.

The film will also star Alan Rickman as the wealthy landowner Antoine Richis, while Dustin Hoffman rounds out the cast as the perfumer Baldini. All three actors represent what Tykwer has called his “dream cast.”

Hoffman first read the book over 20 years ago, when it was first published in translation in the United States. “At the time, it was one of those books that you just had to have read,” he recently told the Associated Press.

Indeed, since its publication in 1985, Patrick Sueskind's "Perfume" has entranced readers worldwide with its strange mix of suspense, history, and post-modern poetic imagery. It begins amid the bustle and stench of a fish market in 18th century Paris, where Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born to an unwed mother and survives a horrifying attempt at infanticide. He grows up in the slums of Paris among the putrid smells of the city, discovering that he himself has no discernable scent.

Born without a scent of his own but endowed with the world’s most sensitive sniffer, Grenouille becomes a local legend as the preeminent Parisian perfume artist. Tortured by his own lack of scent, Grenouille's story takes a dark turn as sets out to create a perfume that will make him human and worthy of love.

The film will be released in 2006.

Christine
NJ - Saturday, July 23, 2005

Swiped this from Claudia's. It's an article by the people who own the place where "the stars" stayed while filming CoS in Cheltenham.
martha
maine, - Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Hey guys!
I received a message from Melanie, in which she says that Alan will be (unusually) in London for a few days (she met up with him yesterday). Anyway, I just thought you'd be interested to know that she also said that while AR was in Munich, it was for costume fittings and meetings, etc. and that filming for Perfume hasn't actually started yet.

Or not his part, anyway. I asked her if he has (or will be) committed to any of the HP films after GoF, but haven't received an answer yet. So I'll keep you posted!

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Tuesday, July 19, 2005

To help celebrate RADA's Centenary there is to be an exhibition of photographs by Cambridge Jones of RADA people including Alan Rickman.

The exhibition Off Stage: The RADA Centenary Portraits will be at the National Theatre from 22nd August to 17th September, opening from Monday to Saturday from 10am to 11pm (Bank holidays 4pm - 11pm). Admission is free.

Here is what is said about the photographs "Cambridge Jones's photographs are intimate, honest and warm. Many of the portraits were taken in the subjects' homes, capturing them off duty, off-stage and away from their stage or screen persona. John Hurt is caught midway through a story about Lord Attenborough & Gandhi; Fiona Shaw is photographed having just flown back from the States; Imelda Staunton is captured talking about the wonders of parenthood; Maxine Peake sits astride a chair on her dining room table; and Matthew Macfadyen is pictured lying on the photographer's bed."

There is also going to be a book: The book Off Stage will be published on 11th August by Dewi Lewis. It includes a foreword by Lord Attenborough and an introductory essay by Miranda Sawyer.

Kind regards
Sheena <dragon@amberdragon.freeserve.co.ukfoo>
Berkshire, UK - Thursday, July 14, 2005

Anybody remember that film Acts of Charity set in Africa that Alan was suppposed to be doing a year or so back? Well director Alex Winter is still talking it up and saying it will be filmed next year. Read HERE
Sue
England - Tuesday, July 12, 2005

So, here comes what the Spiegel basically writes about Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,druck-363400,00.html

The Murderer and his Women

Producer Bernd Eichinger has been dreaming of filming the story ever since Süsskind's book was published 20 years ago....

At midnight on the hills of Gréoux les Bains, a small village in South France, Tom and Bernd finally dicided about which of the red-haired two actresses Héloise Adam (F) and Caroline Herfurth (Germany) would play the great love in Grenouille's life, after the two women had just played a brief love scene with Ben. It was important to see the actors act together and find out whether they could convince their audience about their (undying, ) love. Beautiful Caroline got the job.

In contrast to the book's character Grenouille will be shown as a man with emotions who desperately wants do be loved. Therefore, he will be much more "human" in the film. As Tom and Bernd emphasize the film is mainly about beautiful women. The audience will love Grenouille although he oversteps any moral. Grenouille is an artist rather than a monster.

Süsskind (shy) does not intervene (friend of Eichinger)

Tom has to demonstrate his ability to transfer his special style (penchant for extremities) into a historical story of 18th century France, but Bernd is convinced that Tom succeeds (budget: 50 Mio Euro).

Directors such as Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott and Milos Forman were interested in the material, but Eichinger believes Tom to be the one to be able to get the book's character under control.

The last girl Grenouille falls in love with is Rachel Hurd-Wood (Peter Pan), but -as all the other women (except for the first one) she is only an echo. With the first woman on scene he could have found fulfillment.

Before they decided on Ben, they considered Orlando Bloom and esp. Leo DiCaprio, who half agreed but backed away eventually (most probably because of his managers who were afraid of his reputation...). Ben, however, has the exact age and the mysterious/arcane charisma. He has devilishly good looks (even in rags he looks great). He has the mixture of innocence and abysm Tom was looking for.

Altogether, Tom and Bernd had checked more than 100 candidates for the leading role.

The rest is about Eichinger's works in general.

Quite interesting - if true, which we never know with journals such as GALA - Dustin and Tom have been friends ever since DH phoned Tom after he had seen "Lola rennt" and congratulated him on his great film.

Alan is not that known in Germany I 'm afraid, especially not his voice and its effects....

love you all, xxx
Hikity
- Friday, July 08, 2005

Canadian AR fans, I see that Amazon.ca has Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on dvd to be released Sep 13.
Slope
Canada - Friday, July 08, 2005

Chalebh and Daydreamer are reporting that the AR drought is coming to an end!!! AR is in Munich!

Daydreamer first reported that she saw him on German TV in Punk 9 news.

Then, Chalebh posted this new picture of the Perfume film crew.

Thank you Daydreamer and Chalebh!!!

Claudia
GA - Friday, July 08, 2005

This article will be archived in a week, so I'm posting the whole thing here now...

4th July 2005 - What's on Stage
20 Questions with ...Megan Dodds

Actress Megan Dodds - now starring in "This Is How It Goes", which heads to Bristol & Salford this month after its Donmar Warehouse premiere - discusses small-town America & praises Alan Rickman for his direction of "My Name Is Rachel Corrie."
------------------------------------------------------

Born in California and trained at the Julliard School in New York City, American actress Megan Dodds moved to London in 1997 to make her West End debut playing starlet Brook Daniels in Ben Elton’s Popcorn.

Since then, she has played Ophelia opposite Paul Rhys’s Danish prince in the Young Vic’s 1999 production of Hamlet, and back in the West End, shared the Wyndham’s stage with Madonna in 2002’s Up for Grabs.

On screen, Dodds’ credits have included Sword of Honour, Poirot, Love in a Cold Climate, The Rat Pack, Urban Folk Tales and Ever After: A Cinderella Story, as well as the BBC spy drama Spooks, in which she played CIA liaison officer Christine Dale.

This year, Dodds has made a big impact back on stage. First, she starred in the one-woman show My Name Is Rachel Corrie at the Royal Court. Devised and directed by actor Alan Rickman, the play tells the true story of the 23-year-old American woman of the title who died while trying to defend a Palestinian home from a bulldozer. Critically acclaimed when it premiered in April, it returns to the Royal Court, moving from the Upstairs studio to the Downstairs main house, in October (See News, 3 May 2005).

Dodds is now starring in the UK premiere of Neil LaBute’s This Is How It Goes, which is at London’s Donmar Warehouse ahead of a brief regional tour. Set in small-town America, the three-hander puts race and infidelity under the microscope by dissecting an inter-racial love triangle.

-------------------------------------------------------

Date & place of birth
I was born on 15 February 1970, in Sacramento, California. I came over to do Popcorn in the West End in 1997, and I’ve been in London pretty much ever since.

First big break
Getting into drama school was a really big deal to me at the time. I went to Julliard and it was great to be meeting so many new people. It was a good training ground. I have stayed friends with many of the people I met there. It was a fantastic experience to be in New York and I see that as the start of my career.

Career highlights to date
My Name Is Rachel Corrie is definitely my career highlight. It was a new thing for me to do a one-woman show, and something I hadn’t really considered before, but it was amazing and I am so glad that it has gone so well.

Favourite productions you’ve ever worked on
I always have a good time with whatever I do really, so I can’t think of any specific productions because I have enjoyed almost all of them.

Favourite co-stars
This is a difficult one. I always seem to be most in love with and enthusiastic about the production I am working on at the moment! I really do think the guys in This Is How it Goes - Ben Chaplin and Idris Elba - are wonderful. We’re getting along really well and having a fantastic time.

Favourite directors
Alan Rickman is my favourite director for what he has done with Rachel Corrie. He really inspired me and made me think ‘yes, I can do this’. Other than him, the same applies with directors as it does with cast members - I love the people I am working with at the time!

What roles would you most like to play still?
I don’t have anything specifically in mind that I particularly want to do, but my experience with Rachel Corrie has made me decide I definitely want to do more plays (as opposed to film). The reaction you get from a live audience is just incredible. Rachel Corrie was very intimate and being aware of the audience’s reaction was very moving and intense.

How did My Name Is Rachel Corrie initially come about?
Alan Rickman approached me with the idea a couple of years ago and, being a true story, the material wasn’t made available to us until the family was ready to release it. But then we spent a lot of time looking at all the information we could lay our hands on to build up a picture of the life of this amazing woman.

How would you describe My Name Is Rachel Corrie?
It’s all about growing up and the things that happen to this young American woman during her everyday life as well as in the more extraordinary part of her life. I think that is why it works so well, because it is so human and so personal. It shows that, during all sorts of conflicts and major events, people’s lives still go on. They still have their own little dramas, as well as the big ones, to contend with.

Why do you think it was such a hit with audiences?
It is just so moving and it really affects people. It is about one girl’s really human story, and there are a lot of issues in there that make it really vibrant and also heartbreaking.

What's the best thing you've seen on stage recently?
Primo with Antony Sher at the NT Cottesloe. When I saw it, I was worrying about whether or not I could do Rachel Corrie and it was a great boost. It was so reassuring to see that a much wider issue (in Primo, the Holocaust) could be adapted into a very moving story of one person’s life, which is what we were trying to do with Rachel Corrie.

Favourite books
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is my favourite. It’s so well written and it’s a classic.

Favourite holiday destinations
Tuscany is very hard to beat, I really love it there. I also enjoy it when I go home, back to the States. Last summer a group of us friends went to Connecticut. We all brought our babies with us and it was such a relaxed, fun holiday.

Favourite after-show haunts
We normally seem to end up just closing the theatre bar because we have friends coming to see us every so often and they stay to chat. It’s a great way to get to know the theatre you’re in even better!

What made you want to accept your part in This Is How It Goes?
I really like the play. I thought it was provocative and interesting for a woman to be doing the kinds of things my character (Woman) does. I just thought the script was great, and I’m enjoying doing theatre at the moment so I was glad to accept the part.

How did you research the role of Woman?
I just thought really hard about the play and the type of situations she gets into. She could turn out to be a big victim and I didn’t want to play her like that.

Do you identify with the role in any way?
I had that same kind of small town experience when I grew up so I know how it feels to live in that kind of community.

What do you like the most about This Is How It Goes?
It gets you to question your own ideas about life, about issues the play deals with, and everything really. The characters are engaging and the audience really gets drawn into their stories.

What are your future plans?
I am going to be in a film called The Contract starring Morgan Freeman, so that is my next project straight after This Is How It Goes, and then after that I am doing Rachel Corrie again, which will be absolutely wonderful.

Are you looking forward to reprising your role as Rachel?
Yes, definitely! It is the most fantastically written play and I enjoyed it so much the first time round.

Slope
Canada - Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Hallo,
here are new pics from Alan in Beverly Hills !!
Best reagards
Mel

AR leaves Mr. Chow's on June 27, 2005
Mel <Bkamla@gmx.defoo>
Hannover, - Saturday, July 02, 2005

Here's a lovely article in praise of our Man:

Very good at being bad By Duane M. George
Pacific Daily News
dmgeorge@guampdn.com

It's difficult to think of an actor who plays the bad guy as well, or with as much panache and flair, as Alan Rickman. He's a memorable villain, playing them so well that he often upstages the major movie star heroes who are supposed to carry the film. He manages to put a human face on the dastardly evildoers he portrays. Not only does he convey the malice, cold-bloodedness and meanness that mark most great villains, but he also gives th em a biting, sarcastic sense of humor that makes them more real.

It all started with his first really big movie, "Die Hard." Rickman played Hans Gruber, the cold and calculating leader of a gang of highly trained armed robbers, who posed as terrorists. Rickman was a big part of the movie's success because he was the perfect counterpoint to Bruce Willis' character, John McClane. Willis was the blue-collar cop with a juvenile sense of humor; Gruber was the slick and ruthless Euro-baddie -- the chemistry was magical.

In "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," Rickman was about the only saving grace. In fact, he's the only thing that makes this painful-to-watch film worth watching. He's got the best lines, and his oozing-with-villainy delivery makes them even better. The best line?

"Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings ... and call off Christmas!"

Rickman does another great turn as bad guy in one of my favorite (and I really can't explain why) Westerns, "Quigley Down Under." Rickman is Elliott Marston, a might-makes-right ranch owner who's fascinated with the American West.

And can you imagine any other actor playing the darkly dangerous Professor Snape in the "Harry Potter" movies?

But as much as Rickman shines when playing a villainous role, he's also adept in other fare.

He was great as the jaded, sarcastic angel in "Dogma," and I thought he did a great job in "Galaxy Quest," in which he played a washed-up "Star Trek"-ish actor who's called upon to live his former role, along with the rest of the cast.

Rickman was also perfect in "Love Actually," playing the magazine editor who bites when his sexy secretary proffers herself, only to be discovered by his wife.

But for a really fun Rickman role you probably never heard of, check out "Blow Dry." Rickman plays a former hairdresser extraordinaire who now runs a barbershop, along with his son, in a small, quiet England town. He was a former maestro of the competitive styling circuit, which comes to his town. Love, drama and quirkiness. A great little film for those who can appreciate Rickman when he's not living la vida evil.

Duane M. George is editorial editor of the Pacific Daily News and is a big movie buff.

Originally published July 1, 2005

Glowbox
France - Saturday, July 02, 2005

This scan from the July 2005 issue of Feature magazine was posted over at Rickman Daily.

Rickman gazes in wonder
Claudia
GA - Friday, June 24, 2005

Coucou everyone! RL extremely busy here but I keep looking in. A couple of fleeting mentions of AR here but the article is worth a read if you need some light relief. Villains
Glowbox
France - Friday, June 24, 2005

There was a new Make Poverty History ad released last week (I found it in the free newspaper "Metro"), you can find the full ad here, and the featured pic of AR here.
AFNH
- Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Emily first reported that Google Alert on the ARDLH-GB last night and then almost immediately came back with this:

Ignore earlier post about Yahoo and Google alert tonight on a possible new movie with AR and Ned Beatty. There was bad reporting on the original story from the Minnesota newspaper, and then it got picked up and transmitted all over the Internet. I did a little Googling of my own and discovered that the movie stars Ned Beatty and Alan Cumming. You know, all those British guys named Alan are interchangeable. Alan Rickman, Alan Cumming, what's the difference?
Claudia
GA - Wednesday, June 16, 2005

In the middle of an on-line article about a former theme park executive who now photographs barns in Minnesota, which was the subject of a Yahoo 'alert' yesterday, is this little tidbit:

His most recent project is a book entitled Barns of Minnesota, published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. It features Ohman's photographs of barns from across the state, accompanied by a novella from author Will Weaver.

. . . . . . . . . .

Will Weaver is a fiction writer who teaches at Bemidji State University. His 1989 collection of short fiction, A Gravestone Made of Wheat & Other Stories, won the Minnesota Book Award and is currently being made into a film starring Ned Beatty and Alan Rickman.

Copyright 2005 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
Mail on Sunday (London)
June 5, 2005
SECTION: YOU MAG; Pg. 38
LENGTH: 1721 words
HEADLINE: ALTHORP'S LADY OF LITERATURE
BYLINE: LOUETTE HARDING

Charles Spencer's new wife, Caroline, has gone from Notting Hill yummy mummy to running the Literary Festival at magnificent Althorp House.

And she has roped in her ex-brother-in-law Richard Curtis to help out As it's a glorious spring afternoon at Althorp House in Northamptonshire, Caroline Spencer suggests we sit in the enclosed garden adjoining her kitchen, 'As long as you don't mind climbing out of the window,' she adds.

. . . . . . . . . .

After Oxford she 'let the tide take me', spending a year at Freud Communications (though she didn't start dating the boss until after she had left); a couple of years working on the men's professional tennis tour, and a stint at the talent agency ICM.

'My claim to fame is launching Hugh Grant's career,' she says.

'Richard Curtis was casting Four Weddings and a Funeral. He wanted Alan Rickman but I said, "No! You've got to have Hugh!"' By the end of it, though, she had had a surfeit of glitz.

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, June 13, 2005

Copyright 2005 National Post
All Rights Reserved
National Post (f/k/a The Financial Post) (Canada)
May 31, 2005 Tuesday
Toronto Edition
SECTION: ARTS & LIFE; Scene; Pg. AL3
LENGTH: 985 words
HEADLINE: Designer's model mother: 'He's going to be more famous than you,' mom of Rashid tells Starck
BYLINE: Shinan Govani, National Post

. . . . . . . . . .

I SEE, I HEAR...

That Alan Rickman -- out on the town without Harry Potter - visisted George restaurant on Queen East last Thursday where he thoroughly enjoyed chef Lorenzo Loseto's five-course tasting menu ...

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, June 13, 2005

Copyright 2005 Reed Elsevier Inc.
Variety
May 30, 2005 - June 5, 2005
SECTION: LEGIT; Pg. 43
LENGTH: 391 words
HEADLINE: West End venues playing name game
BYLINE: MATT WOLF

LONDON Two long-established West End playhouses, the Strand and the Albery, are being rechristened the Novello and the Noel Coward, respectively. Both venues are expected to have new signage in place by the end of 2006.

The renaming is part of impresario Cameron Mackintosh's ongoing refurbishment program for his Delfont Mackintosh empire. That roster swells to seven prime London venues in March 2006, when the Gielgud Theater's lease reverts back from Really Useful Theaters to Delfont Mackintosh.

Work begins almost immediately on the Strand, which opened as the Waldorf 100 years ago and is being renamed in honor of actor-composer Ivor Novello, who lived above the playhouse between 1913 and 1951.

The Albery is on a later, longer timetable, since management of that playhouse (along with the neighboring Wyndhams) doesn't pass from the Ambassador Theater Group to Delfont Mackintosh until September.

The Albery is well-matched to its new moniker. Coward's first play, "I'll Leave It to You," briefly occupied the building in 1920 under its previous incarnation as the New Theater. More recently, the Albery hosted the smash 2001 revival of "Private Lives," with Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan, later a Tony winner on Broadway.

While London's Globe Theater was renamed the Gielgud in 1995 to honor the late actor John Gielgud, such name changes are relatively infrequent in the West End compared with Broadway. "In New York, it's almost a daily occurrence," Mackintosh org chief exec Nicholas Allott told Variety. "Where did the Ford go? Oh, hello: It's the Hilton!"

Gotham's Plymouth and Royale theaters were officially renamed May 9 in honor of Shubert organization execs Gerald Schoenfeld and the late Bernard B. Jacobs. In June 2003, Broadway's Martin Beck Theater became the Al Hirschfeld, to honor the legendary illustrator who died earlier the same year at age 99.

A new studio theater, a 500-seater to be named for composer Stephen Sondheim, is planned for London, but it looks unlikely to open until 2009. "We can't even start until 'Les Miz' finishes," Mackintosh told Variety, since the new auditorium will be built above the Queen's, where the long-running musical now is, "and 'Les Miz' is still doing very well."

When it's built, the Sondheim will be the first new theater on Shaftesbury Avenue since 1931.

Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, June 09, 2005

Copyright 2005 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
June 3, 2005 Friday
Final Edition
SECTION: Weekend; T50
LENGTH: 5268 words
HEADLINE: Film Capsules Capsule review ...

. . . . . . . . . .

{sstar} THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (PG, 110 minutes) -- It was a wonderful television miniseries, radio series and a five-book "trilogy," all created by Douglas Adams. Now comes this respectably amusing movie, which has Martin Freeman of the BBC series "The Office" as Arthur Dent. The hapless earthling, with an alien pal Ford Prefect (Mos Def), embarks on a massively epic and wonderfully improbable trip that includes visits to other spaceships and planets. The companions meet a bevy of oddballs, including the two-headed president of the galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell); the eternally depressed robot Marvin (voiced by a hilariously misanthropic Alan Rickman); an extremely bizarre quasi-spiritual leader named Humma Kavula (John Malkovich); and a sort of planet construction engineer known as Slartibartfast (Bill Nighy). Given the fact that a quintessentially British show-book-franchise has been peopled with Brits and Americans and spearheaded by a Hollywood studio, this is more than a pleasant surprise. Contains some sophisticated thematic elements and minor strong language. Area theaters.

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, June 09, 2005

Copyright 2005 VNU Business Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
hollywoodreporter.com
June 3, 2005 Friday
SECTION: NEWS; International
SOURCE: Online
BYLINE: Anna McQueen

PARIS -- Top U.S. stars including castmembers from "Desperate Housewives" will join the usual array of local talent at the Monte Carlo Television Festival, organizers announced Thursday.

French pay TV platform Canal Plus has chosen the June 26-July 1 event, in the tiny principality of Monaco, to launch the upcoming season of "Desperate Housewives," which begins in September.

The show's Marcia Cross, Nicolette Sheridan, Mehcad Brooks, Ricardo Chavira, and Brenda Strong will be at the festival, according to organizers. The first episode of the season will be shown at the festival on June 29, after the premiere of a documentary about the phenomenon.

Other American stars confirmed for the event include "Six Feet Under"' star Michael C. Hall; Mariska Hartigay and Diane Neal from "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit"; "Days of Our Lives" star Brody Hutzler; and Jeanne Cooper, Kristoff St. John and Jess Walton of "The Young and the Restless."

"Arrested Development" star Will Arnett; John C. McGinley from "Scrubs"; and "Lost" actors Dominic Monaghan, Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly also will be in attendance.

The festival opens with a screening of HBO's telefilm "Something the Lord Made," starring Alan Rickman and Mos Def. Veteran helmer Joseph Sargent, who previously made "A Lesson Before Dying" and "Miss Evers' Boys" for HBO, will also be at the screening.

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, June 09, 2005

Copyright 2005 Reed Elsevier Inc.
Daily Variety
June 3, 2005, Friday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 12
LENGTH: 1748 words

HEADLINE: FILM PRODUCTION CHART

HIGHLIGHT:
Films in the future

. . . . . . . . . .

PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER
(aka PERFUME)
Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman, Ben Whishaw

EXP, Thomas Friedl; PROD, Bernd Eichinger, Martin Moszkowicz; COP, Gigi Oeri; DIR, Tom Tykwer; SCR, Tykwer, Eichinger, Caroline Thompson, Andrew Birkin; ED, Alexander Berner; COMP, Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, Tykwer.

Constantin Film Produktion (9200 Sunset Blvd., Suite 730, Los Angeles, CA 90069). 7/05, Spain, France, Germany.

Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, June 09, 2005

I received some wonderful news from Connie (thank you!). MNiRC may be Broadway bound!

The Telegraph, London
June 4, 2005

Almost Famous: Megan Dodds, actress

Who is she?
Celestial good looks and an enthralling, understated talent make Megan Dodds – now appearing in Neil LaBute's critically acclaimed play This is How It Goes – one of the most enticing actresses currently on the West End stage. TV fans may also recognise the graceful American blonde as CIA agent Christine Dale from BBC spy-drama Spooks.

Where does she come from?
Born in rural North Carolina, Dodds took up acting at night school in San Francisco before winning a place at Juilliard, New York's prestigious performing arts college. "I still remember going through the door at Lincoln Centre for the first time," she says. "I saw this red carpet winding up a marble staircase and realised I had a lot to live up to. It was never going to be a cosy, comfortable experience." A role in Ben Elton's Popcorn brought Dodds to England in 1997 and she has remained here ever since.

What's next?
Earlier this year, Dodds wowed the critics with an astonishing solo performance in My Name Is Rachel Corrie, a monologue based on the journals of the American protester killed in Palestine. She will reprise the role in the Royal Court this October, after which there are tentative plans for a Broadway transfer. "I don't know how American audiences will take to the politics of it," says Dodds, "but I'm really curious to find out."

Suzanne
- Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Daydreamer posted on the Download Haven Guestbook that John W MacDonald has updated his blog with a couple more piccies of AR.

Thanks, Daydreamer!
Claudia
GA - Saturday, June 04, 2005

Julia, Germany just posted this over at the Download Haven Guest Book!

Alan Rickman Takes In Some Culture

The pictures are positively gorgeous!!! Thanks Julia, Germany!
Claudia
GA - Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Thank you so much, Martha and Stephanie! I was just visiting the Ottawa Citizen website and noticed this very nice photo accompanies that article.

Suzanne
TX USA - Saturday, May 28, 2005

From Stephanie, over at Claudia's:

Canadians 'lucky' to have Clarkson, actor Alan Rickman declares

Governor General befriended 'villain' after play in New York

Greg McArthur

The Ottawa Citizen

Saturday, May 28, 2005

Canada's Governor General is so charming she can soften the heart of a villain -- even one of Hollywood's most evil tyrants.

Alan Rickman, the British actor best known for his dark, sinister characters in blockbuster movies such as Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the Harry Potter series, rolled into Ottawa by rail yesterday to dine with Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson at Rideau Hall.

It's a friendship that was forged in New York in 2002, when Mr. Rickman was starring in the Broadway play Private Lives and Madame Clarkson was a fan in the crowd. She asked to meet the actor after the performance and they've been pals ever since.

"She's a smart, intelligent, attractive woman," Mr. Rickman said yesterday with his distinct, English inflection, after he stepped off the escalator at the Ottawa train station. "She knows what she's talking about and you guys should be grateful she's in the job. If the rest of the world had an Adrienne Clarkson, they'd be lucky."

He's also friends with Madame Clarkson's husband, John Ralston Saul -- considered one of Canada's most revered minds -- though not so close that he's felt obligated to comb through one of his notoriously dense books: "They take a lot of reading," he said.

Ottawa is one of many Canadian stops for Mr. Rickman, who is touring the country, going from east to west, half of it by train, this spring. And though he's only filmed two movies in Canada, he has enough links that the country feels like a second home, he says.

Two of his best friends, whom he met as a student at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, are Canadian and he just had dinner with them a few nights ago: Richard Greenblatt, one of the creators of the critically acclaimed live musical, 2 Pianos 4 Hands, and Nicky Guadagni, a stage actress who won a Gemini Award for her guest role on the drama Blue Murder. Mr. Rickman's god-daughter is also currently in theatre school in Montreal.

He's already had a candid, extensive glimpse at a Northern Ontario town, one that many Canadians have probably never been to.

For more than two weeks in April, Mr. Rickman was holed up in Wawa, a place with 3,600 people that's 1,008 kilometres northwest -- about a 13-hour drive -- from Ottawa. The town, which is known for its giant, steel Canada Goose statue and its strange name -- "the town's so nice they named it twice, Wawa" -- was hand-picked by a director to be the setting for the drama, Snow Cake.

Mr. Rickman plays an English drifter who befriends an autistic woman, played by Sigourney Weaver. Carrie-Anne Moss also stars.

More than 100 members of the cast and crew slept in the Wawa Motor Inn, a set of 50 hotel rooms and 18 log chalets that usually host snowmobilers. The chalets, which were reserved for the film's stars, sit next to a cliff that overlooks a municipal sewage lagoon -- which looks quite scenic, unlike how it sounds, said the inn's general manager, Donna Harris.

Mr. Rickman became a common sight on the streets of Wawa, whether he was shopping or raving about the general store's butter tarts. He was courteous with the staff and became a regular in the inn's diner, often ordering the club house sandwich with a Diet Coke after a long day of filming. "He has a dry sense of humour," said Ms. Harris. "He didn't smile very much, but when he does it's precious."

Unlike the characters he often portrays in films, Mr. Rickman didn't look at all dastardly yesterday, with his sandy blond hair, taupe jacket and beige shirt, and offered a wide grin to a grey-haired woman at the train station who asked him about Die Hard.

This is the same guy who, while playing the Sheriff of Nottingham, told a henchman that he'd use a spoon to cut out Robin Hood's heart, "because it's dull you twit, it'll hurt more!" He was also selected as the 46th best villain in film history by the American Film Institute for his portrayal of Hans Gruber, the terrorist mastermind in Die Hard who takes over an office building only to be killed by a renegade police officer, played by Bruce Willis.

Despite his long career, he's probably best known by millions of schoolchildren as the scary Professor Severus Snape, the master of potions who always seems to have it out for Harry Potter. Mr. Rickman will reprise the creepy role in November when the fourth instalment of the Harry Potter movies, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is released in theatres.

Mr. Rickman was accompanied to Ottawa yesterday by Canadian producer Niv Fichman, one of the producers behind Snow Cake, but best known for his film, The Red Violin, starring Samuel L. Jackson. Mr. Rickman's longtime girlfriend, Rima Horton, a teacher and former British politician, was also with them, though her boyfriend didn't want to delve into politics. He reportedly used to raise money for British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party, but on this trip he's acting just like his non-partisan host and is reluctant to discuss world affairs. He sums up his opinions with: "I'm with Michael Moore on most things."

(Hope I didn't miss any paragraph marks...)
martha <mainefoo>
- Saturday, May 28, 2005

The first issue of a new magazine called British Film has a sensational full-page black and white portrait of AR. (Not new, but sensational.) The editor will sell single copies within the UK, and those of us in other places can buy from Amazon.UK within a day or two.

Terence Doyle, Editor

Britishfilm-magazine

69 Charlotte Street

London W1T 4PJ

www.britishfilm-magazine.com

Tel : +44 (O)2O7 636 7455 Mob : +44 (O)788 431O 146

"The only magazine in the world ... celebrating British films & stars"
Susan
CA - Thursday, May 26, 2005

At last here it is Toronto Star picture May 22/05

Sorry the quality is not that great but newsprint doesn't scan very well on my machine.
bunks
Whitby, - Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Yesterday's Toronto Sunday Star has a Rickman mention - he was seen last Saturday at 6.10 p.m. outside Holt Renfrew(about the swankiest store in town) in the pouring rain, laden with shopping bags. He was also seen at the Roots store on Friday. Fancy, our AR a shopoholic!

There is also a photo of him, Sigourney, and a couple of cast members of 'Cavalia', which he apparently saw during the past week. Oh yes, and the handsomest thing in the photo a snow-white stallion called Bandolero peering over AR's shoulder and probably wondering where the promised apple is! I don't know if any of you have seen the show as it toured the US over the past year. It takes place in a sort of circus ring and is an amazing mix of horses, gymnasts, music and dance. One of the cast members featured in the photo is the 'horse-whispering' trainer and his empathy with the horses is incredible. Now that the show has the AR seal of approval catch it if you can.
Gail
Cobourg, Ontario Canada - Monday, May 23, 2005

BECKETT on Film is out on Region 2 DVD May 23rd. The UK Times theatre critic votes Play with Alan Rickman as the best track.

Claire
- Saturday, May 21, 2005

And here's another article from britfilms.com:

TCM Classic Shorts Competition

GURINDER CHADHA, ALAN RICKMAN AND KATE WINSLET JOIN TCM IN SEARCH FOR BEST BRITISH SHORT FILM FOR 2005

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) launches its sixth annual TCM Classic Shorts competition on 16th May. For the first time the launch takes place as part of the prestigious Quinzaine des Realisateurs (Directors’ Fortnight) during Cannes Film Festival. As with previous years, the awards ceremony is held during The Times bfi 49th London Film Festival in the autumn (20th Oct - 3rd Nov) at the National Film Theatre. The shortlisted titles will be screened at the awards and within the Short Cuts and Animation strand as part of TCM's continued sponsorship of the LFF.

Each year, the competition grows in stature and exposure, which is reflected by the film industry luminaries who are giving their valuable time to participate as judges in TCM’s search to find the best short film of 2005. TCM is delighted to welcome its first female director, Gurinder Chadha, on to the panel this year.

TCM Classic Shorts is now established as one of the most prestigious and valuable short film competitions in Europe with £10,000 of prize money. Having discovered some of the best new film making talent in the UK in recent years, this year looks to be as popular as ever. Since the competition began, many of the short-listed films have gone on to receive further acclaim. Last year’s winning film, Nits directed by Harry Wootliff received a BAFTA nomination, whilst 2002 entry Brown Paper Bag directed by Michael Baig Clifford and 2001 winner About A Girl directed by Brian Percival, both went on to win BAFTAs for Best Short Film. Nits will be screened on 20th May at Quinzaine des Realisateurs (Directors’ Fortnight) during Cannes Film Festival.

TCM Classic Shorts is open to all UK made short films. The opening date is 1st May 2005 and all films must be received by 1st September 2005 at the very latest. The short-listed nominations are aired during a special weekend of programming on TCM and also screened at The Times bfi 49th London Film Festival during the awards ceremony.

Further information and entry forms are available at: www.tcmonline.co.uk/classicshorts and for further information about The Times bfi London Film Festival, please log on to: www.lff.org.uk
Published on www.britfilms.com 2005-05-16

Slope
Canada - Friday, May 20, 2005

Don't know if this has been posted before... From britfilms.com: Snow Cake

Snow Cake

Brief synopsis:
Snow Cake is a film about friendship, snow, acceptance, obsessive cleaning and a dog called Marilyn. Tight-lipped Englishman Alan (Alan Rickman) arrives in snowy Canada and is bullied by 19-year-old hitchhiker Vivienne into giving her a ride. Despite her attitude, Vivienne turns out to be a funny, lovable character who succeeds in melting Alan's frosty exterior. When the car is hit by a truck on the outskirts of her home town, Vivienne dies instantly. Alan finds himself, for the second time in his life, grieving for someone he never knew. Shocked and stranded in a snowbound town, he is drawn to seek out Vivienne's mother and comes face to face with Linda (Sigourney Weaver). Linda is no ordinary Mom. When Alan agrees to stay until the funeral he finds himself caught up in a world that is at the same time wonderful and a pain in the arse. Alan becomes increasingly involved in Linda's life and the community she is indifferent to. He forms a relationship with her sassy independent neighbour Maggie, the ineffectual local law enforcement officer Clyde and bitchy do-gooder Diane Wootten. When Alan finally gets back on the road he has exorcised his inner demons and the town he leaves behind has also been transformed. As the snow melts the characters' memories remain in tact. Ultimately it is a film about embracing the unusual and finding joy in places you may well have overlooked. About finding the warmest of friendships in the coldest of places.

Format: Super 16
Year of Production: 2005
Running Time: 100 mins
Director: Marc Evans
Producer: Gina Carter Andrew Eaton
Editor: Mags Arnold
Screenwriter: Angela Pell
Director of Photography: Steve Cosens
Leading Players: Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Ann Moss

Production Company:
Revolution Films
9a Dallington Street
London EC1V OBQ, England
Tel +44 (0)20 7566 0700
Fax +44 (0)20 7566 0701
gina@revolution-films.com

Sales Agent:
Fortissimo
Slope
Canada - Friday, May 20, 2005

I received an e-mail today from Cathy (thank you!) with more bad news. I'm afraid the Andrew Marr interview has been postponed. Here is the Info from the Chelsea website:

IN CONVERSATION: Andrew Marr talks with Alan Rickman

Tickets:  £7 (£4 concessions), to book tickets phone 020 7269 1606 or email info@cochranetheatre.co.uk

Suzanne
TX USA - Thursday, May 19, 2005

Ref: John Donne Celebration, St Paul's Cathedral

I hate to spoll people's day, but I just received the following message:-

John Donne Celebration - Saint Paul's Cathedral

Dear Ticketmaster Customer,

Our records show you have purchased tickets for the John Donne Celebration at Saint Paul Cathedral on the 9th June 2005.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Alan Rickman can no longer take part in this event.

Your tickets remain valid and all other details are unaffected.

If you require any further assistance please contact us via the helpdesk at www.ticketmaster.co.uk

Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Kind Regards
Customer Service Department

Heather <hjd29@cam.ac.ukfoo>
Bury St Edmunds, UK - Tuesday, May 17, 2005

A small quote lifted from Variety re Fortissimo Films:

"Fortissimo Films is continuing its push into English-language movies with three new Australian projects to go with an expanding slate of American, British and South African pics.

The sales company, based in Hong Kong and Amsterdam, is best known as a specialist in Asian fare, such as the Cannes competition entry "Shanghai Dreams."

But over the past couple of years Fortissimo has made a concerted effort to diversify into English-speaking pics. Its Cannes slate includes the Robin Williams-starrer "The Night Listener" from Hart Shap, the Anglo-Canadian romance "Snow Cake" starring Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver, the Australian Un Certain Regard entry "Jewboy," and the Sundance docu "Mad Hot Ballroom."
Sue
England - Friday, May 13, 2005

(From the May 9, 2005 UK Times)

John Donne, 17th-century poet of pop
By Dalya Alberge, Arts Correspondent

JOHN DONNE was the Cole Porter of his day, a writer of subtle popular songs rather than just the author of cerebral poetry, according to new research.

The discovery of four musical scores by various composers of the day reveal that Donne intended some of his words to be sung rather than read.

Jonathan Holmes, a Donne scholar who is working on a play about the poet for The Globe theatre in London, found the material among piles of unidentified manuscripts in the British Library in London and the Bodleian in Oxford. He said: “This now alters how we think of Donne. His reputation is as a poet of metaphysical, intricate poetry that you have to spend hours to get to know — but, when performed, the music is an immediate aid to understanding it.”

The first performance in 400 years of text and music together will take place on June 9 at St Paul’s Cathedral, where Donne was Dean from 1621 until his death in 1631, frequently preaching before Charles I. The performers are Emma Kirkby and Carolyn Sampson, who are early music specialists, accompanied by The Sixteen with Harry Christophers and the lutenist Matthew Wadsworth. The recital will be interspersed with performances of Donne’s sermons, letters and poetry read by the actors Mark Rylance, Alan Rickman, Juliet Stevenson and Harriet Walter.

Donne (1573-1631) is the foremost English poet of the metaphysical school, noted both for his secular poetry, written largely before his ordination in 1615, and his religious verse and sermons, which rank among the best of the 17th century. His most famous poems are his love lyrics in various moods.

Dr Holmes said of the scores: “The material was never lost. It was just in a place where people weren’t looking for it.” He unearthed it by sifting through collections of music scores from the period. He recognised Donne’s lyrics immediately, either in a line beneath the stave of music or at the foot of the sheet, in a stanza. They included the love poems The Bait and The Message.

Although a couple of Donne’s poems were known to have been set to music, the extent to which his work inspired composers had not been realised. Dr Holmes has identified at least seven contemporary composers who set Donne’s words to music: “No other playwright, poet or prose writer had received such attention from musicians and composers.”

Another love poem, Break of Day, was set and printed simultaneously by three composers — John Dowland, Orlando Gibbons and William Corkine. “That would only have been possible if the songs themselves were popular enough to sell well,” Dr Holmes said.

BREAK OF DAY

’Tis true, ’tis day; what though it be?
O, wilt thou therefore rise from me?
Why should we rise because ‘tis light?
Did we lie down because ‘twas night?
Love, which in spite of darkness brought us hither,
Should in despite of light keep us together.

Light hath no tongue, but is all eye;
If it could speak as well as spy,
This were the worst that it could say,
That being well I fain would stay,
And that I loved my heart and honour so
That I would not from him, that had them, go.

Must business thee from hence remove?
O! that’s the worst disease of love,
The poor, the foul, the false, love can
Admit, but not the busied man.
He which hath business, and makes love, doth do
Such wrong, as when a married man doth woo.

K.
- Monday, May 09, 2005

I wonder if Alan had any idea MNiRC might be this controversial? And the dubious hohour of a nomination by someone as misguided as David Irving would irk me more than a bit. Either that or make me laugh at the absurdity.

From the Jerusalem Post:

May. 9, 2005 11:18
News of the Muse
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF

Corrie compared to Anne Frank

As Israelis remembered the Holocaust last week, theater critics in Britain compared Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner's new controversial play My Name is Rachel Corrie to Primo Levi and Anne Frank, and notorious Holocaust denier David Irving even nominated the Royal Court Theater play for a Nobel Peace Prize, according to a mass mailing sent out from his Web site.

Writing in The British Theater Guide, Philip Fisher compared the Corrie play to Anthony Share's dramatization of the life of Holocaust survivor Levi, who was deported to Auschwitz in 1944.

He wrote: "Like Sir Antony Sher's Primo, My Name Is Rachel Corrie is a remarkably moving 90-minute solo piece about human dignity and suffering. Corrie was little more than a girl and while she could be naive, she also had a saintly aspect, meeting death with the beatific happiness of a martyr."

And Britain's BA Magazine has likened the play to the diary of Anne Frank: "Like The Diary of Anne Frank, this piece has problems as the text was not written to engage or entertain an audience, but was a private correspondence." The magazine summed up its review by saying: "This play tells an amazing story about a modern day martyr that is all the more astonishing because it is true."

The Corrie play recreates the last few days of the ISM activist's life through excerpts from her diary and e-mails. Corrie, who is played by Megan Woods in the London production, died in 2003 while attempting to prevent a bulldozer from destroying a home being used to supply Palestinian terror networks with weapons.

An IDF investigation ruled her death accidental, the play and her family and friends dispute this. - Yaakov Lappin

I take that back. I bet he knew exactly what he was doing and just wish to stir things up a bit and make us THINK.
lablanche
- Monday, May 09, 2005

Snape is in the GoF trailer, at least the one at Apple and downloadable from Veritaserum.com. Look behind Dumbledore when he has the teachers sat behind him during his speech about the Tournament. It is a very brief scene but Severus is sat there.

Sheena <dragon@amberdragon.freeserve.co.ukfoo>
Berkshire UK - Sunday, May 08, 2005

From today's Toronto Star 2005
bunks
Whitby, Canada - Sunday, May 08, 2005

We have some fantastic scans of the McLean's photos, thanks to Slope (thank you!)! I believe we've seen one of them before, but any AR pic is worth another look. :-)

AR signing autographs
AR & SW in snow

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Sunday, May 08, 2005

Hi all - I have lurked here for a LONG time. Coming out of the shadows with this first post. I have an online membership with the Jerusalem Post. They have yet another 'review' of My Name Is Rachel Corrie. Here is the article in full.

Rachel Corrie brought back to life
-----------------------------------------------------------
YAAKOV LAPPIN, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 8, 2005
-----------------------------------------------------------

London's small Royal Court Theatre, situated in the elegant Sloane Square, is permeated by Arabic music as actress Megan Woods delivers a 90-minute soliloquy about the Palestinian struggle against Israel to a packed audience.

Oscillating between light-hearted reflections on life and toxic rationalizations of Palestinian terror, the blonde-haired and blue-eyed Woods is the star and only performer in a play which rivals Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ in its antipathy toward the people of Israel.

Woods plays 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, an International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist who died in 2003 while attempting to prevent the bulldozing of a home being used to supply Palestinian terror networks with weapons.

According to the play, Corrie was killed after climbing on top of a moving bulldozer. Corrie's family alleges that she was killed deliberately, but an IDF investigation concluded that her death was accidental.

My Name Is Rachel Corrie, written by Guardian Weekend magazine editor Katharine Viner (who herself is Jewish) and actor/editor Alan Rickman, is based on Corrie's diary and e-mail messages, and begins with the reflections of a young American woman who leads a dull and unfulfilled life. Then the entries suddenly shift in tone to sarcastic, rhetorical, and highly politicized statements.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, however, Viner denies that the play is in any way political.

"My Name Is Rachel Corrie is not a vehicle for a political message, but a portrait of one woman and her experiences - and how she's changed by them, both in the US and in Gaza," she says.

Yet Viner and Rickman have produced a manipulative play that attempts to delegitimize Israel under the pretense of exposure to "accessible writing." And the audience at the Royal Court Theatre is bombarded with descriptions of alleged IDF actions devoid of context.

"The soldiers bombed a market in Gaza city!" yells Woods/Corrie.

"Water was stolen in the night by bulldozers they are shooting anonymously into homes what we are paying for here is truly evil."

Throughout the play, Palestinian terror is described only as "resistance" and is either defended, justified or downplayed, usually in high-pitched tones.

"I look forward to seeing people resist," says Woods/Corrie in an email, after approvingly reading out her mother's description of suicide bombings: "They are trying to feebly defend themselves!"

Viner portrays Corrie's words as simply the curiosity of a young American trying to understand her government, and cites the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington as the point of transition.

"After September 11th, she [Corrie] became increasingly interested in US foreign policy," claims Viner, who was asked by the Royal Court Theatre last year to edit Corrie's writings into a drama.

"Corrie said she was 'missing a connection to the people who are impacted by US foreign policy.' An obvious place to travel to make such a connection would be Israel, Gaza and the West Bank."

After lying to an Israeli customs official about "visiting an Israeli friend," (a tactic recommended by the ISM Web site), Woods gains entry to Gaza and sets to work "trying to prevent demolitions of civilian homes."

But even here, in such a harsh criticism of Israel, Woods/Corrie shows her ignorance and naivete: "I'm really new to talking about Israel and Palestine."

Woods goes on to deliver a two-minute lecture to Jewish Americans about "the differences between Israeli government policies and all the Jewish people." Viner also suggests that the majority of Israelis would be sympathetic to the play: "The implications of what Rachel Corrie said and did are clearly critical of the occupation and its impact on the Palestinians in Gaza. But isn't opposition to the Gaza occupation increasingly reflective of mainstream Israeli opinion, given that a majority supports the planned pullout?"

Watching My Name Is Rachel Corrie, however, it is somehow difficult to believe that an Israeli audience would identify with a play that so successfully ignores their plight.

"Everyone must feel safe. That is the most important rule I know," says Woods, reading out one of Corrie's diary entries.

"What is left for people here?" she asks, referring to the question of organized terror. "What about the right of people to defend their land? Can 50-year-old Russian guns and homemade explosives really damage the fourth-largest military power?"

Woods/Corrie then demands of the audience: "Do you not think most people in similar situations would do the same?"

Apparently none of this extends to the people of Israel, however, for not a single reference is made to the traumas suffered throughout the four-and-a-half-year terror campaign against the Israeli population.

The play concludes with a short video in which a fellow ISM activist describes Corrie's death, and images of Corrie as a child addressing her school.

British audience members left the hall sobbing and comforting one another.

"It's so sad," said a middle-aged man with tears in his eyes.

Robin Stamler, who has recently completed a PhD at Birckbeck College and is a member of the Academic Friends of Israel group, told The Jerusalem Post that the play is being used by leaders of Britain's media who are hostile to Israel as a vehicle to delegitimize the country.

"The play openly serves to promote an anti-Israel narrative that is already entrenched in important parts of British society," said Stamler, adding: "This is a play written by a Guardian editor, heavily promoted by that newspaper, produced by one of the top British actors, and staged at the leading venue for political theater. Pro-Israel Jews won't find a comfortable home in this section of British society, and it is a section with great influence and power."

In a letter to colleagues, Stamler said he was "distressed that the deaths of other Rachels, together with the deaths of so many other Israelis, have been dismissed within the anti-Israel narrative promoted by the theatrical establishment and sections of the media that are focusing on this play. Somehow I doubt that the Royal Court will be staging a play to commemorate them."

In a recent Guardian article, however, Viner wrote: "She [Rachel Corrie] became a martyr to the Palestinians, a victim of their intifada who had stood up to the mighty Israeli army."

Corrie play is not alone
My Name Is Rachel Corrie is only one of a host of plays that have emerged in Britain focussing on or referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Talking To Terrorists, written by Robin Soans, also produced by the Royal Court Theater, deals with terrorism in Africa, Israel, Turkey and Iraq, and seeks to "understand what makes ordinary people do extreme things."

The play appears to be guided by the notion that terrorism has negotiable demands, and that dialogue with terror groups is "the answer."

Another Soans play, The Arab Israeli Cookbook, which opens for a second run in July, is an ambitious production with 42 characters who are supposed to represent an amalgamation of the Jewish and Arab Middle East, where Israeli and Palestinian culture, food and suffering are expressed.

Theater critic Alen Sierz said of the play that "the show has a lot of humanity and charm, but it also overstays its welcome."

While European and western playwrights attempt to understand the Middle East, the realities of the region seem to elude their intellectual and political grasp. As Egyptian playwright Ali Salem, shunned in Egypt for his cultural contacts with Israel, once wrote: "I'm not ready to deny reality as I see it."

SererinaSnape (Lisa) <www.mitsawokett_uk@yahoo.co.ukfoo>
London, UK - Sunday, May 08, 2005

Gail sent me the link to the online version of the Maclean's article (thank you!) that Leslie informed us about yesterday. No pictures, unfortunately, but it's a great article/interview. Though if anybody happens to get their hands on this magazine, we'd still love to have scans of those photos! :-)

When stars fall on Wawa

May 6, 2005

Ripley, Trinity and Professor Snape invade a northern Ontario town

BRIAN D. JOHNSON

Sigourney Weaver is in Wawa, northern Ontario, shooting a movie called Snow Cake. She plays an autistic woman who has a thing for snow. She likes to roll in it, eat it and make snow men out of it. There's just one problem: Wawa had an early spring. "I've lived here 37 years and can't remember an April this nice," says Micheline Hatfield, taking time out from her drilling and blasting operation to join a crowd on a residential street waiting to get a glimpse of Weaver. "I came back from a week in Vegas, and the snowbank on my front yard had dropped six feet." Now it's melted to nothing. But unlike the rest of Wawa, this street of '50s bungalows where Weaver's character lives actually has snow: piles of it have been trucked in, dumped on lawns and arranged in slushy mounds over beds of white Dacron.

There's a woman on the sidewalk hoping "Sigourney" will autograph all four of her Alien DVDs. One for each of the kids. She comes to the set each day. And she's invited a bunch of the crew to her house for a venison supper. Myself, I spend three days waiting for Weaver to make good on a promised interview, while trying to keep out of her "eye-line." She's a method actress trying to stay in character -- which means avoiding people. Everyone on the crew treats her with kid gloves. And by the time we meet, I'm beginning to wonder if celebrity -- with its hypersensitivity and childlike sense of entitlement -- isn't so far removed from autism. Everything has to be just so.

This is the story of what happens when a small town is turned into a set, and when three stars -- an American, a Canadian and a Brit -- become local attractions. They're all famous for a major fantasy franchise. Weaver is the alien-wrangling Ripley; Carrie-Anne Moss is Trinity, The Matrix dominatrix ; Alan Rickman is Harry Potter's reptilian Professor Snape. And in Wawa, a town of 3,700 north of Lake Superior -- known for its giant goose and for stranding hitchhikers on the Trans-Canada Highway -- they're the biggest news since the gold rush of 1897.

But Snow Cake is not a Hollywood movie. Directed by British filmmaker Marc Evans, it's a $6.5-million indie project based on a script from a novice screenwriter, England's Angela Pell, who has an autistic son. Although she'd never been to Canada, Pell dreamt up a dark comedy, imagining Rickman as a sardonic Englishman on a road trip in the Canadian north. He is cajoled into giving a ride to a local girl, who's killed when a truck slams into his car. He then gets stuck with the girl's autistic mother (Weaver), and seduced by her free-spirited neighbour (Moss). When the British producers came looking for a location, Toronto producer Niv Fichman of Rhombus Media (The Red Violin) suggested Wawa. With most of the crew and some cast from Canada, Snow Cake became a majority Canadian co-production. And Wawa is proudly playing itself.

For two weeks in April, crowds gather to watch the cameras roll. Folks from across the street, and from half an hour out of town. Mothers with strollers. Children playing hooky. And a journalist who's come to interview the stars and see what happens when a movie crew consumes a town. Which is how I end up sharing fries with Rickman in the dining room of the Wawa Motor Inn beside "the largest fireplace in the North." With his downturned mouth and amber-green eyes full of intrigue, this is an actor who seems to work from a deep reserve of intelligence. He was the droll ghost in Truly Madly Deeply and the caustic sheriff who acted rings around Kevin Costner's Robin Hood, and now he's the director of a controversial play that has London's West End abuzz -- My Name is Rachel Corrie, about the American activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer.

It's incongruous to find him in Wawa. But as Rickman points out, there's something unreal about shooting in any real location. "A film comes in and colonizes it," he says, between bites of an unruly BLT. "You start thinking, 'Oh, could we just move that pile of trees?' And sometimes you can. It's like you own it. We're filming on a real street and it already feels like a set. You have to keep reminding yourself that the people coming out of their houses are not extras. They're real people. We've invaded their life pretending to be real people, and the real people stare at us pretending to be them."

Of Snow Cake's stars, Rickman has been the most accessible. Between takes outside JDD's Diner in Hawk Junction, a hamlet of 300 people near Wawa, he goes in to sign autographs and sample the pies. He was so knocked out by the rhubarb and wild blueberry, he started ordering five pies a day for the crew, urging the baker to set up a franchise. He also raves about "this incredible thing called a butter tart that's so good I don't even want to know what's in it." Rickman is even sanguine about the lack of snow: "The director expected a Fargo landscape. But the film is about a thaw. With a bit of slush around, it makes for an edgier landscape."

As the actor heads off to work, I spend the afternoon in my motel room, waiting for permission to visit the set. Weaver has decided she doesn't want a journalist watching her act. But half the town is on the sidewalk, doing just that, so I see nothing wrong with joining the crowd. But one of the producers tells me I'm too "distinctive looking," and if Sigourney spots me, she could get spooked and cancel my interview. Crew members propose various ruses. They could park me in a van with tinted windows. Or put me through "honeyland" -- hair, makeup and wardrobe -- to disguise me as a local. Instead, they decide to hustle me onto the set right away, before Sigourney arrives.

It's a warm day. Onlookers in shirt sleeves soak up the sun, watching nothing happen. I'm ushered into a bungalow, where a camera shoots out the back window as Carrie-Anne Moss walks across the snowy yard. In the background, kids play basketball. I ask if they're extras. No, they're "real." After a couple of takes, I'm suddenly whisked out the door, like a hostage. Sigourney is in the bungalow. Whew! She hasn't seen me.

Later I visit Moss in her trailer. She's in costume -- a white parka, a black slip dress over blue jeans, and deerskin boots with pompoms. She's a bit rattled, having just been besieged by some kids who wanted her autograph without knowing who she was. At least one mistook her for Sigourney. "I got a little irritated," she admits. "It's not such a big deal. It just feels rude. I'm in the middle of a conversation and a mother with her children comes up to me, not even teaching them how to behave. Would she treat another adult that way?" The Vancouver-born actress, who lives in Los Angeles, is away from her 18-month-old son for the first time. While she misses him, she's enjoying her log chalet at the Wawa Motor Inn. "I've just been staying in my room," she says. "Watching TV, sleeping and reading. I have fires."

Weaver, meanwhile, has been housed in a chalet next to the one where Wawa's mayor, Rod Morrison, a former CEO of Via Rail, lives with Donna Harris, the motel manager. Like the mayor in State and Main, the David Mamet farce about a small-town film shoot, Morrison has tried to invite the stars for dinner, without success. But he did land a role as an extra in a restaurant scene. The word on the street in Wawa is that Weaver is standoffish, yet the mayor wants to give her the benefit of the doubt. "If she's cold," he says, "it's because her character requires such concentration."

Weaver has been studying autism for her role since July. So who could blame her for not wanting to socialize or do press in her first two days of shooting? But I do get summoned to her trailer for a quick hello. After some small talk about the sewage plant beside our motel, I propose that she do the interview in character. She laughs. Her character, she says, would just tell me to "piss off."

That night Weaver finishes shooting at 4 a.m. I've given up on the interview. But a few hours later, as I'm about to leave for the airport, I get a call saying she's changed her mind, and now wants to talk to me over breakfast. It's her day off. She shows up in sloppy blue jeans and a soft-checked shirt, unbuttoned to show some cleavage and a glimpse of gold bra. Wearing no makeup, she looks in fine shape for 55, and has a girlish smile that makes the years melt away. She orders one scrambled egg -- "Is it a real egg?" -- with multi-grain toast, then cancels the toast.

The way she orders makes me wonder if she's acting slightly autistic, or just being fussy. Weaver, who has spent a lot of time with autistic adults, explains that they have no mental filter, no membrane shielding them from outside stimulus. "Without underestimating the pain of autism," she says, "they have extraordinary access into a world that we no longer open the door to -- this world of play, of being in the moment and just seeing the way light glimmers off a photograph." When I suggest it sounds like being on a permanent acid trip, she says, "I haven't done acid. I tried some grass once and hallucinated the Virgin Mary. I get drunk on a glass of wine. I'm very, very sensitive."

Many with autism are so sensitive that they avoid eye contact and feel the need to calibrate any input with a lot of precise rituals. "Our world throws so much at them, they want to retreat to a world where they can be in charge," says Weaver. "And I can relate to that. I find change very difficult. Every time I start a film...here I am in Wawa! It's very unreal to be in this place doing this."

The crew was instructed "to act as if there is someone with autism on the set -- you have to be quiet, you have to give her space." Weaver laughs. "That is an actor's dream. I do feel like the film is a little nest. In my chalet, I can bounce around and be autistic as much as I want. I'm not as comfortable taking it out on the street. Once you get in that frame, people coming up to you is very jarring. I find people coming up to me jarring anyway." As for all the children who want her autograph, Weaver has asked for their names to be put on a list. "I'm happy to do it at the end. It sounds very Spoiled Movie Star. You want to say, 'Thank you, yes I'm glad I was in Ghostbusters. Who you gonna call, love Sigourney.' But it's hard for me to play the character and shift into that."

Weaver stresses that she's just playing a character, and not trying to represent autism. Yet whether he likes it or not, she may become autism's new poster child, inheriting the role from the star of Rain Man. "Dustin Hoffman has been representing autism for a long, long time," she acknowledges, "and I'm sure he never meant to do that." Meanwhile, she's enjoying the "great gift" of learning to live in the moment. "I've always been so impatient," says Weaver, as she methodically folds a paper napkin holder. "Now I see it would be much more satisfying if, instead of thinking what I'm going to do in an hour, I just think about folding this...perfectly."

So how will she spend her day off? "I haven't made any plans. As my character says, 'I don't know what I'll feel like in half an hour. I only know how I feel now.' "

Copyright by Rogers Media Inc.

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Thursday, May 05, 2005

TV ALERT! In addition to the sneak peek at HP-GoF on ABC this Saturday, E! News Daily will be showing exclusive on-the-set footage on Monday (May 9th) 7 PM ET.

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Thursday, May 05, 2005

Here's a "Starz: On the Set" H2G2 Videogram. After downloading, double click file to play (best played in restored mode). I also made a separate sound file of Marvin's segment:

Starz H2G2 behind-the-scenes special (H2G2-bts-4-05.exe, 14 min, 55 secs, 27.3MB)
Marvin sound file (Starz-Marvin.wav, 1 min, 3 secs, 680kb)

Suzanne
TX USA - Monday, May 02, 2005

Hi all,
just wanted to give you a heads up on a sneek peak of HP and the Goblet of Fire. It is being shown next Saturday night at 8PM on ABC TV along with their broadcast of HP and the chamber of secrets (with an added 10 minutes of deleted scenes!)
Cant wait--have a good one. Off to bed trying to shake a nasty cold bug..Pam
Pam
- Sunday, May 01, 2005

Here's some very interesting news from Ann (thank you!). Another great event to look forward to!

Andrew Marr Interview at Chelsea
IN CONVERSATION: Andrew Marr talks with Alan Rickman:
Andrew Marr talks with Alan Rickman
Lecture Theatre
21 June, 2005 6.30pm
Andrew Marr, broadcaster (BBC Political Editor) talks with Chelsea graduate Alan Rickman, one of the UK’s leading actors.
Tickets £7 (£4 concessions) by telephoning 020 7269 1606

Also received this wonderful news (via google) today:

My Name Is Rachel Corrie Autumn Transfer

The sold-out run of MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE ends this Saturday (30 April). Because of its huge public acclaim and critical success, it will now transfer to the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from 11 October to 29 October. Early booking is advisable as tickets will go quickly.
Ticket Prices

"My Name is Rachel Corrie is a powerful, thought-provoking and deeply moving piece of theatre...vividly brought to life by an astonishing solo performance by Megan Dodds" Daily Telegraph

"Theatre can't change the world. But what it can do, when it's as good as this, is to send us out enriched by other people's passionate concern." The Guardian

"Rickman's direction of the piece hits the right note again and again." The Independent *****

REVIEWS

MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE
The writings of Rachel Corrie, edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner.
Directed by Alan Rickman.
Cast: Megan Dodds.

Produced by the Royal Court International Department with the kind permission of Rachel Corrie's family.

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Saturday, April 30, 2005

London plays engender both solidarity and controversy

[excerpt]'Rickman, star of numerous movies and stage productions, in a bold move is already looking at taking "My Name is Rachel Corrie" to the U.S. where the 23-year-old's murder has generated much less media coverage.'

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&art icle_id=14637
Slope
Canada - Friday, April 29, 2005

Article on Carrie-Anne Moss in Globe & Mail: Motherhood, not movies, is Moss's motivation
Slope
Canada - Friday, April 29, 2005

This is from Claudia's guestbook. I hope it will help to develop a truly open, balanced view. Sorry for the long post...

The forgotten Rachels
----------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------

Tom Gross, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 25, 2005
----------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------

My Name Is Rachel Thaler is not the title of a play likely to be produced anytime soon in London. Thaler, aged 16, was blown up at a pizzeria in an Israeli shopping mall. She died after an 11-day struggle for life following the February 16, 2002 attack when a suicide bomber approached a crowd of teenagers and blew himself up.

She was a British citizen, born in London, where her grandparents still live. Yet I doubt that anyone at London's Royal Court Theatre, or most people in the British media, have heard of her. "Not a single British journalist has ever interviewed me or mentioned her death," her mother, Ginette, told me last week.

Thaler's parents donated her organs for transplant (helping to save the life of a young Russian man), and grieved quietly. After the accidental killing of Rachel Corrie, by contrast, her parents embarked on a major publicity campaign. They traveled to Ramallah to accept a plaque from Yasser Arafat on behalf of their daughter. They circulated her emails and diary entries to a world media eager to publicize them.

Among those who published extracts from them in 2003 was the influential British leftist daily The Guardian. This in turn inspired a new play, My Name Is Rachel Corrie, which opened this month at the Royal Court Theatre, one of London most prestigious venues. (The New York Times recently described it as "the most important theatre in Europe.")

The play is co-edited and directed by Katharine Viner, editor of The Guardian's weekend magazine, and by film star Alan Rickman (of Die Hard and Harry Potter fame). Their script weaves together extracts from Corrie's journals and e-mails.

For those who don't recall the story, Rachel Corrie was a young American radical who burned mock-American flags at pro-Hamas rallies in Gaza in February 2003. A short while later she died after jumping in front of an Israeli army bulldozer that was attempting to demolish a structure suspected of concealing tunnels used for smuggling weapons.

Partly because of the efforts of Corrie and her fellow activists in the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the IDF was unable to stop the flow of weapons through these tunnels. Those weapons were later used to kill Israeli children in the town of Sderot in southern Israel, and elsewhere.

However, in many hundreds of articles written on Corrie and published worldwide in the last two years, most papers have been careful to omit such details. So have Rickman and Viner, leaving almost all the critics who have reviewed the play completely clueless about the background of the events with which it deals.

"Corrie was always a progressive with a conscience she went to work with the International Solidarity Movement in Gaza," wrote Michael Billington in The Guardian last week, without a shred of explanation as to what the ISM actually is.

ISM is routinely described as a "peace group" in the Western media. Few make any mention of ISM's meeting with British suicide bombers Omar Khan Sharif and Assif Muhammad Hanif, who a few days later blew up Mike's Place, a Tel Aviv pub, killing three and injuring dozens – including British citizens. Or of the ISM's sheltering in its office Shadi Sukia, a leading member of Islamic Jihad. Or of the fact that in its mission statement the ISM says "armed struggle" is a Palestinian "right."

"'Israel' is an illegal entity that should not exist," wrote ISM media coordinator Flo Rosovski, clarifying the ISM's idea of peace.

Unfortunately for those who have sought to portray Corrie as a peaceful protester, photos of her burning a mock American flag and stirring up crowds in Gaza were published by the Associated Press and on Yahoo News on February 15, 2003, before she died. But the play doesn't mention this.

So British reviewers are left to tell the British public that the play is a "true-life tragedy" in which Corrie's "unselfish goodness shines through" (Evening Standard).

"Corrie was murdered after joining a non-violent Palestinian resistance organization," writes Emma Gosnell in the Sunday Telegraph ("murdered" is a term even Corrie's staunchest defenders have hesitated to use up to now).

Charles Spencer in The Daily Telegraph talks of "Corrie's concern for suffering humanity one leaves the theatre mourning not only Rachel Corrie but also one's own loss of the idealism and reckless courage of youth."

In one of the most astonishing comments, Michael Billington, the Guardian's critic, writes of the play: "The danger of right-on propaganda is avoided."

It is ironic to reflect that there have been several real victims of the intifada called Rachel – and hard to believe that these critics have ever heard of them. All these other Rachels died within a few months of Corrie but – unlike her – in circumstances that weren't disputed. They were deliberately murdered:
Rachel Levy (17, blown up in a grocery store); Rachel Levi (19, shot while waiting for the bus); Rachel Gavish (killed with her husband, son and father while at home celebrating a Pessah meal); Rachel Charhi (blown up while sitting in a Tel Aviv cafe, leaving three young children); Rachel Shabo (murdered with her three sons aged 16, 13 and five, while at home).

Only one critic (Clive Davis in London's The Times) dismisses parts of the play as "unvarnished propaganda." At one point Corrie declares: "The vast majority of Palestinians right now, as far as I can tell, are engaging in Gandhian non-violent resistance." As Davis notes, "Even the late Yasser Arafat might have blushed at that one."

Rachel Corrie's death was undoubtedly tragic. But ultimately, this play isn't really about Corrie, but about fomenting hatred of Israel. The production is now sold out and there is talk of it being staged in America. The Royal Court is also rushing out a printed edition of the play to give to schools.

The writer is the former Jerusalem correspondent of The Sunday Telegraph.
A Voice
- Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Another 4* review of MNiRC in the The Sunday times
sue
england - Sunday, April 24, 2005

Thank you, Slope! Okay, folks, here they are. :-)

AR walking dog #1

AR Walking dog #2

AR walking dog #3

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Sunday, April 24, 2005

OK, eTalk Daily showed three of their photos from the last day of shooting in Wawa. They move to Toronto this weekend!! Bunks, did you hear that? Alan was walking a dog in his photo. I might be able to make a still of that photo, but who can host it? Claudia?
Slope
Canada - Sunday, April 24, 2005

I was just looking at the London National Film Theatre website and I noticed that Michael Billington interviewed Alan Rickman on January 7, 1998. A copy of the interview is available to listen to at the National Library. Has anyone heard this or have a transcript of this interview? Here's a link to the list of available recordings:

Alan Rickman Interview

K.
- Sunday, April 24, 2005

RACHEL CORRIE ARTICLE FROM TODAY'S LONDON OBSERVER:

sunday observer london
Diary of an American martyr inspires a young audience in
theatre's hit play

Mark Townsend
Sunday April 24, 2005
The Observer

She was the young American with blond hair whose death became an unlikely but powerful political symbol for the
troubles of Palestine.

Now Rachel Corrie, crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip two years ago, has caught the imagination of a fresh audience as her life story emerges as one of the most sought-after theatre tickets in the country.

The Royal Court in London announced yesterday that My Name is Rachel Corrie had become one the fastest sell-outs in its 50-year history. Tickets for the play's 24 performances sold out in less than two days, the majority of them bought by one of the youngest audiences the theatre can recall. Actor and director Alan Rickman, whose idea it was to transform Corrie's life into drama, is already looking at taking the play to the US where, unlike in Europe, the 23-year-old's death has generated modest media coverage.

In Britain in particular, the woman from Olympia, Washington, has become an aspirational figure for young people often seen as apathetic and uninterested in international issues.

Katharine Viner, editor of the Guardian Weekend magazine, co-edited Corrie's writings with Rickman. The diaries form the entire script. Viner said: 'What's been so exciting is how young people have been responding to it. It's not just that they are moved by Rachel's death, but also that they are inspired by her words and actions, that she found a way to be political in a depoliticised age.'

In contrast to the young people who have seen the play and the number of leading literary stars who are expected to attend this week, not a single politician from any of the major parties has watched the production, which began on 7 April.

Ewen Thomson of the Royal Court added: 'It's great that so many young people are coming to the theatre; that is quite rare.'

Rachel's parents, Craig and Cindy, who last week flew to London to watch the play, said: 'It is absolutely fantastic that she has inspired so many young people. The play was wonderful.'

The play's script draws wholly on letters Corrie wrote from as young as nine along with the emails she sent home from Gaza while working for the International Solidarity Movement. Before her death, Corrie had successfully prevented the demolition of Palestinian homes by standing in front them as bulldozers approached.

Her family is attempting to sue Caterpillar for supplying dozens of bulldozers to the Israeli government, which uses them to destroy Palestinian property. Corrie was killed on 16 March 2003 by a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer. Her father, Craig, said that Caterpillar has contravened US torture laws by allowing its equipment to be used against the Palestinian people and their homes.

'It's immoral but also more to the point it is illegal. They continue to sell bulldozers knowing how they have been used in the past,' Craig said.

K.
- Sunday, April 24, 2005

VCR ALERT! I turned the TV on and there was Marvin! For those that get the Starz! Channel, their new "On the Set" program is showing the making of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It lasts about 15 minutes and they have interviews with many of the cast & crew. Not AR, of course! But we do get to hear a few of his lines. I believe a rerun will air at 3:40 a.m. ET, but check your TV guide to make sure. I'll catch the entire thing tomorrow morning and make a Videogram for you guys.

Suzanne
TX, USA - Saturday, April 23, 2005

Professor Snape Wows Wawa

Yowzers! Look at that photo!

[text of article - source: saultstar.com]

Prof. Snape wows Wawa
Rickman talks about making the just-wrapped Snow Cake

By Camilla White-Kirkpatrick, Special to The Star
Local News - Saturday, April 23, 2005 @ 09:00

WAWA — Small towns bode well for Alan Rickman.

Filming in Wawa has been ideal for the veteran actor, who just finished a two-week location shoot in the community for the movie Snow Cake.

“I love filming in small towns because that means you can really get to know a place and focus on your work at the same time — you don’t have many distractions,” said Rickman in an interview Friday night on location at a Wawa home that was converted into a set for the Canada/UK production.

The movie, which also stars Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss, will relocate to Toronto for studio filming, wrapping on May 19.

An “excellent script” is what attracted Rickman to the role of Alex, a tightlipped Englishman who, as a result of a tragedy, forms a relationship with Linda, an autistic woman, played by Weaver.

The British actor helped to get the independent movie off the ground. “All independent movies go through that. It’s not a strange or unique story. It’s a road we’ve all traveled down. A fragile road. Sometimes you win sometimes you don’t.”

Referring to a movie he directed, Rickman said, “It happened very quickly but the actual play script took a long time to develop and then suddenly it was a movie. There’s no rules. This one was obviously governed, to a large extent, by the title.”

Having been involved in acting, directing and writing, Rickman has high regard for first-time screenwriter Angela Pell. “That’s a real pleasure to me to see somebody’s first script being made.”

This is the second time Rickman co-stars with Weaver having worked with her and Tim Allen in Galaxy Quest, which he calls one of the funniest films. “It made us laugh making it.

“It’s been wonderful working with her. It’s probably a part that people don’t expect her to play.”

Rickman said Weaver has been committed to the script and has put a lot of hard work and time into researching her role. “It’s going to be a totally accurate portrayal of what it is to be an adult autistic.”

Well known for his villainous characters in Die Hard, Quigley Down Under and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Rickman says he does not feel he was typecast in those roles.

More ‘RICKMAN’ — A2

“Not at all because I was doing all sorts of other things at the same time,” he said, referring to his roles in Michael Collins and Sense and Sensibility.

Rickman says he is not surprised at the success of the Harry Potter movies, in which he played Professor Snape. “Why would it not be a success, I mean, the books alone would mean everybody would go running to it.”

Rickman says his younger fans recognize him “only if I’m in a black wig and a long black coat, they don’t really know me otherwise. They kind of stare in some confusion but it’s great.”

“I love seeing their faces when they come on the set when they visit us,” said the 59-year-old actor who signed many autographs for children while he was in Wawa. “And it’s not just children, there’s a lot of adult devotees of Harry Potter.”

A modest Rickman added, “It’s not me, it’s the character they love and all that galaxy of people that JK Rowling had created. So we just kind of put on a costume and say the lines.”

The fourth movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is due out at Christmas.

Beginning his career in theatre and than breaking into movies, Rickman said, “I love them both. I’m very happy in either. It’s all acting and it’s all working with other people.”

He said the script is what makes a role appealing. “Everything one does, you’re only as good as the writing so I’m just interested in working with good writers. I don’t mind whether it’s on film or in the theater.”

Rickman said he always wanted to act. “I probably always thought that it was the thing I liked doing most but oth er things got in the way like going to art school and being a graphic designer. But then life has a weird way of working itself out.”

When he became a director, Rickman said his art school background was invaluable. “So life is one weird jigsaw puzzle and somewhere along the line, you find the straight piece that was on the floor somewhere.”

While he makes his home in London, England, Rickman has made one movie in Canada called The January Man and has visited the country several times as he has many friends here.

He added, “I’ve never been to Northern Ontario before so I hope after this I’m going to travel a bit across Canada.”

As for the Hollywood scene, Rickman said he’s always had a good time in Tinseltown but “I don’t spend a lot of time there.”

Presently, he is directing a play in London called My Name is Rachel Cory and in the summer plans to film a movie called Perfume.

Asked about a favourite movie he’s done, Rickman couldn’t answer. “When you make a film, it’s not just a movie, it‚s also a big lump of your own life.”

Rickman, attached to the Snow Cake project for the past year, said production will take two months to shoot in Canada. “When you attach yourself to a project, a whole slew of new people come into your life so you make a whole bunch of new friends.”

Rickman said he and the entire crew are thankful for the warm temperatures in which they’ve had to work during their stay in Wawa.

Referring to a gift the production crew received in the community, Rickman said a woman “gave us a kind of Madonna figure and it said underneath, Our Lady of Snow. I don’t know who it is who has been looking after us but somebody has.”

On Friday, the actor had to do a hot tub scene in freezing temperatures and strong winds. “If it had been like this the whole time, we would have never got through it.”

On top of the problems caused by freezing cameras and cables, Rickman said, “Snow is one thing, but below freezing temperatures and windchill is another.”

“I did a film once in very cold temperatures and my mouth froze so it’s not too good for the acting.”

He said the great weather added to the film. “It means the sun has become a feature in the film and I think that’s a very good thing for the script because it’s a hopeful film.”

Describing this interview as feeling like it was taking place in a holding bay at a movie theater, he said, “But it’s somebody’s home and the people who own it are living downstairs. It feels like you sort of take over and the people have happily become extras in the film.”

“When you go on location with the film, it’s like the film possesses the location,” said Rickman.

Referring to his time in the community, Rickman calls it “a really happy interaction between us all. We’re incredibly grateful for the generous hearts that let us come here and invade their lives.”

As for his memories of Wawa, Rickman said he will remember the log fires at the Wawa Motor Inn, rhubarb pie at JDD’s Diner and buttertarts, which he had never eaten until now.

© 2005, OSPREY Media Group Inc.

Claudia <http://britbitsandclips.comfoo>
GA - Saturday, April 23, 2005

Hollywood comes to Wawa
By Carl Clutchey - The Chronicle-Journal
April 23, 2005

The “wine” in his glass wasn’t real. It was only cranberry juice.

But Wawa’s John Morrison, thrilled to be a movie extra, drank as if his glass contained a rare vintage — and tried to act like any normal restaurant patron about to chow down on a plate of deep-fried wontons.

And tried to remember what the director had said: Don’t look at the camera.

“I was sitting by the window, and the camera came right up to my shoulder at one point,” Morrison, 66, recalled Friday.

“So I’m sure I’m in (the film) somewhere, but my wife says I’ll probably end up on the cutting-room floor.”

The retired iron-ore mine employee was among about 200 Wawa locals lucky enough to be chosen for small, non-speaking parts in Snow Cake, the latest work by enterprising Hollywood director Marc Evans.

About 30 minutes of the film about an encounter between a reclusive autistic woman (Sigourney Weaver) and a shy car-accident victim (Alan Rickman) is expected to contain footage shot in Wawa over the last two weeks.

Few were more surprised than Ray and Debbie MacDonnell, who were approached early last month by Snow Cake’s production team for the use of their 40-year-old bungalow as the Weaver character’s fictional home.

Apparently, the producers like its 1960s decor. But they still changed the light fixtures, installed a different front door and altered the look of the garage. (They’re going to change it all back when they’re done.)

The MacDonnells, who have four young children, agreed to the arrangement (which netted them a modest, undisclosed fee) because it guaranteed their kids a small part in the movie.

In one scene, the MacDonells’ offspring play catch in the background as Rickman’s character goes past, walking a dog.

“We got the call March 3, and then a week later, (the producers) called back and said, ‘We want your house,’” said Debbie MacDonnell.

Of the film’s main actors, the 55-year-old Weaver has seemed to locals a bit remote — consistent with the character she plays.

MacDonnell said she felt too nervous to introduce herself to Weaver when she was allowed inside her home to retrieve something during a break in the filming.

“She was standing in my kitchen, but she was writing something, so I didn’t say anything to her.”

By contrast, Rickman, 59, known to many as Prof. Snape in the Harry Potter series, has by all accounts been friendly and warm, making small talk with extras and willing to give autographs.

Unfailingly polite, the British stage veteran even thanked the MacDonnells for the use of their house.

“He said: ‘I know you, I saw your picture on the fridge,’” recalled nine-year-old Amy MacDonnell.

Around 4:30 Thursday afternoon, with Wawa’s Ross Street blocked up with supply trucks and film-crew roadies sporting ball caps and communication earpieces, the strikingly tall Weaver suddenly emerged from the MacDonnell house.

Murmurs of recognition spread among a handful of onlookers on the sidewalk. Looking a bit shy and a good 15 years younger than what her driver’s licence undoubtedly reveals, the Alien star briefly stopped in the middle of the street. She smiled. Then a van pulled up and she was gone.

About two hours later, the film crew had picked up and descended around Wawa’s giant tourism goose overlooking Highway 17, for what was to be one of the last scenes to be shot in the former mining town.

The crew and stars were to pull out today to continue filming in Toronto. Snow Cake isn’t expected to be in theatres for about a year.

It was said this week that the 40-year-old steel goose clinched Wawa as a site for the movie: A Snow Cake producer reportedly remembered seeing the imposing structure as a child.

Before the cameras rolled, a big road grader fitted with a snowblower tossed some real white stuff around the goose on the tourist centre’s snow-free lawn. A couple of fake trees were put there, as well as a phone booth.

While this was going on, Rickman appeared serene in a long black coat, glancing at the view of the sun’s fading, early-evening rays shimmering on Wawa Lake.

Taking in the hive of activity around the goose was local mill worker Peter Friedrich, who had been away for a few weeks and just learned they’d been a making a film here.

Friedrich, out walking his dog, lamented that Wawa has been on the decline economically for the past few years. He hoped a Hollywood movie would generate some interest.

It just might: Snow Cake’s script was altered so that Wawa will be the name of the town in the movie.

On being told Sigourney Weaver had been in town for the past two weeks, Friedrich perked up.

“Really?” he said. “I would have liked to see her. I liked those Alien movies.”

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/story.shtml?id=26825
Slope
Canada - Saturday, April 23, 2005

Here's a glowing review of MNiRC from yesterday's UK Independent, courtesy of Beth (thank you!):

My Name is Rachel Corrie, Royal Court, Theatre Upstairs, London

By Paul Taylor
***** (5 stars)
Published : 22 April 2005

Rachel Corrie was a young American woman who went a long way in her 23 years. From origins that weren't especially propitious for political activism (she came from a comfortable background), she journeyed into a conscience-stricken awareness of the world's injustices, and especially that people on the receiving end of activities funded by the US military budget were sometimes victims rather than beneficiaries.

It was this that prompted her, in January 2003, to travel to Palestine and to join other foreign nationals working for the International Solidarity Movement in Gaza. On 16 March of that year, while trying to protect Palestinian homes from demolition by forming a human shield, she was killed by an Israeli bulldozer.

Just opened at the Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs, My Name is Rachel Corrie is a solo theatre piece directed by Alan Rickman, who collaborated with Katharine Viner on editing a script derived from the writings that Rachel left behind. They are, this production makes piercingly clear, an enduring legacy to the world. The event is deeply moving - to which you may say: "well, it would be, wouldn't it with material like that?" So is a critic in danger of simply reviewing the life of Rachel Corrie and giving her, in questionable taste, a posthumous five-star rating? That, though, would be to discount the many ways in which a show like this could have gone wrong - by applying, say, insufficient tact or tact of the wrong kind, or by ever-so-slightly milking the sentiment that is bound to be in a story with a foreknown tragic ending. But Rickman's direction of the piece hits the right note again and again. A tribute to Rachel Corrie and to the spirit that remains alive in her writing, the production leaps into being thanks also to the acting of Megan Dodds. The directness, the humour, the poetry, the capacious-yet-never-morbid conscience: all of these are beautifully captured.

In contemplating the suffering of the world, we all, when young, have conflicting impulses. On the one hand, we want to show solidarity by sharing in that suffering. On the other, we want to be as politically effective as we can, which may involve operating far from the scene of the crime.

What is distressing about this piece is that Rachel Corrie was not allowed to get to that second stage. But she acted out the first with a courage and self-awareness at which the majority of us can only marvel.

To 30 April (020-7585 5000)

© 2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd.

Suzanne
TX USA - Saturday, April 23, 2005

The Wawa News had an short article today about a "magical phone booth" appearing beside the giant goose.

Here's the article. There's also a photo, but it's nothing to get real excited about.

Snow Cake finally filmed their scenes out at the Wawa Tourist Information Centre. Early yesterday afternoon, construction could be seen as a brand new telephone booth was installed on the grass beside the Wawa Goose. Shortly a bus stop sign appeared. Later, the magical snow appeared, in huge drifts and even in spots on the highway.

This was the second last day of shooting, reports have everyone pulling out and heading back to Toronto for indoors shooting.

Dee
Indiana - Saturday, April 23, 2005

HHG2TG: From the article Who is Garth Jennings?:

CS!: What about the inspiring casting of Marvin as an amalgam of Warwick Davis (the Ewok from "Return of the Jedi") with the voice of Alan Rickman (from the Harry Potter movies)?
Jennings: Warwick just came down to the creature shop to see the suit and help us find someone to fit it and he looked at the suit, said that he might able to fit it, and just took over. For the whole four months and all through editing, I was working with Warwick. The character in the radio and TV series has this wonderful low depressed pitch; Alan Rickman just popped in to test and it was done. His test was pretty much what we used in the end. It was just very easy. In two hours, he'd done the whole movie.
Slope
Canada - Friday, April 22, 2005

Alan is mentioned in this article:

22nd April 2005 - What's on Stage News
ETT Tours Stoppard's Rosencrantz, Star Patrons

Less than 18 months after a financial crisis caused a year-long halt to its programming (See News, 19 Nov 2003), English Touring Theatre has bounced back and announced one of its most ambitious seasons since being founded in 1993. Its revival of Tom Stoppard’s 1966 existential comedy, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, launches a two-month tour on 20 May 2005 and will be followed by new productions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet (this autumn) and Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children (next spring).

Stoppard’s play turns the spotlight onto the apparently inconsequential experiences of the two minor courtiers in Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are by turn comic, tragic and philosophical as they try to make sense of the pointless and arbitrary nature of their own existence.

Premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe before being acquired by the National Theatre, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead was Stoppard’s first major success. His subsequent plays have included Jumpers, Travesties, Night and Day, The Real Thing, Hapgood, Arcadia and the epic Coast of Utopia trilogy. Following the death of American dramatist Arthur Miller in February, Stoppard has just been voted the world’s “Greatest Living Playwright” by Whatsonstage.com theatregoers (See Big Debate).

The new production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, directed by ETT artistic director Stephen Unwin and designed by Michael Vale, stars Nick Rowe and James Wallace in the respective title roles. Interestingly, Rowe and Wallace have previously played their opposing characters in the 1995 Almeida production of Hamlet, starring Ralph Fiennes, both at London’s Hackney Empire and on Broadway.

The Rosencrantz cast also includes: James Faulkner, Grant Gillespie, Edmund (son of Ben) Kingsley, Charlie Roe and Ed Browning. The production opens on 20 May 2005 at the Oxford Playhouse before continuing to Guildford, Malvern, Lowry, Coventry, Greenwich, Bristol, Richmond and Cambridge, where it concludes on 23 July. Full dates have not yet been announced for the subsequent tours.

In other ETT news, leading actors Joanna Lumley, Diana Quick, Alan Rickman, Simon Russell Beale and Timothy West have joined Ian McKellen to become patrons of the company, and Nic Lloyd has been appointed its new chairman.

Since its foundation, ETT has presented more than 30 productions, several of which have garnered awards and transferred to the West End, as well as touring countrywide. Recent ETT award winners have included the Timothy West-headed King Lear, Ghosts, starring Diana Quick, and the world premiere of Peter Gill's The York Realist, with Richard Coyle and Lloyd Owen.
- by Terri Paddock

ETT Tours Stoppard's Rosencrantz, Star Patrons
Slope
Canada - Friday, April 22, 2005

Alan is not mentioned as one of those attending the UK preem of Hitchhiker's Guide as per this article from the BBC: Hitchhiker film set for take-off .

Interesting side-by-side comparison of film and tv versions of Hitchhiker also: In pictures: Hitchhiker's Guide

There's a review also: Review: Hitchhiker's Guide

Slope
Canada - Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Copyright 2005 Telegraph Group Limited
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)

April 18, 2005, Monday

SECTION: Features; Comment Pg. 019
LENGTH: 503 words
HEADLINE: Vigour and courage of youthful idealism Reviews
BYLINE: By Charles Spencer
BODY:
Theatre

My Name is Rachel Corrie

ROYAL COURT UPSTAIRS

I HAVE said some harsh things about the Royal Court recently, so it's good to report that My Name is Rachel Corrie is a powerful, thought-provoking and deeply moving piece of theatre.

The latest in the stream of verbatim drama that has so enriched our political theatre, it is based on the journals and e-mails home of Rachel Corrie, who grew up among a loving, liberal family in Olympia, capital of the Pacific state of Washington.

Even at the age of 10, Corrie was concerned with the state of the world, and her idealistic spirit took her to Gaza in 2003. She joined the International Solidarity Movement of "non-violent resistance to Israel military occupation" and was killed by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to defend a Palestinian home from demolition. She was 23, and had been in Gaza for less than two months.

Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner, who have edited Corrie's writings, offer a fully rounded picture of this passionate, idealistic and at times infuriating young woman, vividly brought to life in an astonishing solo performance by Megan Dodds. Corrie's concern for suffering humanity is coupled with the self-obsession and exasperating certainty of youth, and she isn't above giving her understandably anxious parents priggish and self-righteous lectures on politics and morality.

As she describes the suffering of the Palestinians, and their "Ghandian resistance", she ducks the question of suicide bombers and the carnage they have wreaked on entirely innocent Israelis. At times in this performance, one longs for calmer and more informed viewpoints than can be provided by a 23-year-old who has only been in Gaza for a few weeks.

But quarrelling with Corrie's occasionally glib convictions, even as you admire her courage, lends the show dramatic tension, and forces you to try to tidy up your own muddled thinking on this vexed subject. And there is no doubt that Corrie was a natural writer, who described life in Gaza with rare power and precision.

Her descriptions of the doctor who spent 30 years raising the money for a house that Israeli bulldozers could destroy in three hours, of retrieving a dead body under gunfire or guarding a vitally needed well are blessed with remarkable vigour and freshness. She also displays a real empathy with those she is trying to help, amazed that "they defend such a large degree of their humanity against the horror occurring in their lives".

Rickman directs a gripping production, on a fine design by Hildegard Bechtler, which moves from Corrie's chaotic student bedsit to the devastation of Gaza. And Dodds is superb as Corrie, candid, passionate, self-mocking and original, her eyes brimming with tears as she describes the dreadful things she has witnessed and her fading belief in "the goodness of human nature".

One leaves the theatre mourning not only Rachel Corrie's death but also one's own loss of the idealism and reckless courage of youth.
Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, April 19, 2005

More news and pix from Wawa [source: www.sootoday.com]
Here is a new Pic
sue
england - Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Review in The Times for My Name is Rachel Corrie:

My Name is Rachel Corrie
Clive Davis at Royal Court, SW1

THE inevitable problem with political theatre is how to avoid preaching to the converted. Being outraged about Guantanamo Bay is not enough in itself to make an interesting piece of drama, and I suspect that the acclaim lavished on David Hare’s sloganising Iraq play Stuff Happens had more to do with the audience’s visceral contempt for the Bushies and Blairites than the script’s intrinsic qualities.

My Name is Rachel Corrie is an unabashedly one-sided tribute — directed by the actor Alan Rickman — to the left-wing American activist who was killed in Gaza two years ago while trying to prevent an Israeli army bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian house. (The exact details of her final moments were hotly disputed, a point not acknowledged in this production.)

A member of the controversial International Solidarity Movement, Corrie has since been turned into a martyr of the Palestinian cause. A website honours her memory, and on press night campaigners were handing out literature promoting the campaign launched against the American manufacturer of the bulldozer.

Rickman and the Guardian journalist Katharine Viner have skilfully woven together extracts from Corrie’s journals and e-mails. Megan Dodds delivers a compelling performance as a Washington State romantic who despises consumerism and keeps a copy of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl lying by her bed. The evening is suffused with a sense of a tragic waste of life. But does it convince us that we are in the company of an individual of exceptional gifts and perceptions? Not really. Rachel Corrie was 23 years old when she died, and — I feel heartless saying this — most of her writings are exactly what you would expect from a bright, young, progressive woman from a bright, young, progressive background.

As for the scenes set in Israel — brilliantly evoked by Hildegard Bechtler’s bullet-pocked concrete set — an element of unvarnished propaganda comes to the fore. With no attempt made to set the violence in context, we are left with the impression of unarmed civilians being crushed by faceless militarists. Early on, Corrie makes a point of informing us that more Israelis have been killed in road accidents than in all the country ’s wars put together. As she jots down thoughts in her notebook and fires off e-mails to her parents, she declares that “the vast majority of Palestinians right now, as far as I can tell, are engaging in Gandhian non-violent resistance”. Even the late Yassir Arafat might have blushed at that one.
sue
england - Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Hi Everyone,
Just noticed yesterday that a DVD of HHGTTG (30 minutes)is included in the Sunday Times on 24.04.05 as part of their monthly DVD. It might be worth a look, so I'm giving you all fair notice !.

LTVNEWS.COM HAS SOME PHOTOS FROM THE SET OF SNOWCAKE in the attached images section and also a few new pics from yesterday, the last photo looks like it could be Alan in the snow although it is from a distance.
Hitchhiker scene 1,2,3 show Alan getting into the car and driving the car and one from a distance- anyway it's worth a look at the site.

Someone mentioned on another site they thought Alan looke like W.B Yeats in the photo from Wawa. I think I know what they mean. Hey, Would n't it be great if Alan played a poet,- he'd certainly have no problem with the delivery. Yeats has always been one of my favourite poets and Alan is certainly my most favoured man!
Bluebeatbabe
Bluebeatbabe
Sheffield, UK - Monday, April 18, 2005

Reviews of My Name is Rachel Corrie:

London Evening Standard
Independent on Sunday
And also a good review on BBC
sue
england - Monday, April 18, 2005

Snow Cake News

[source: www.chroniclejournal.com, text of article]:

Wawa abuzz about visiting movie stars

By Carl Clutchey - The Chronicle-Journal
April 16, 2005

April is usually one of the slowest months of the year for Wawa tourist operators.

Not so this spring.

The former mining town has been buzzing like a blackfly in the middle of July ever since a Hollywood film crew rolled in last week.

“You can’t buy this kind of publicity,” commented Wawa motel operator Donna Harris, whose 88 rooms are fully booked with a crew of 100 big-name actors, producers, stunt-men makeup artists and the like.

The movie that was being filmed all this week is Snow Cake, the story of an autistic woman who encounters a man traumatized by a fatal car accident.

It stars Sigourney Weaver (already spotted working out at a Wawa fitness centre) and renowned British actor Alan Rickman.

The film, directed by Hollywood’s Marc Evans, may include about 30 minutes of footage that was shot in Wawa, including the town’s huge replica of a goose that overlooks Highway 17.

Harris said locals have been allowed to watch a bit of the filming, some of which took place on Wawa’s main street and at a restaurant.

“As long as you don’t get in the way, they’ll let you stand there and watch,” said Harris.

Harris, who has been kept up to date on the film crew’s schedule, said it’s expected to be in town for another week.

She said stars like Weaver and Rickman haven’t been mobbed by autograph seekers. Some locals are being used an extras and reportedly being paid $9 per hour.

Helmut Kienitz, who owns a Wawa diner, said a few film-crew members have been in for coffee, but the crew is taking its meals at its own mobile kitchen.

“They have their own kitchen set up,” Kienitz said. “There hasn’t been much spin-off here.”

Harris said the actors and crew, who have been putting in 12-hour days, are taking the weekend off “to see the sights.”

It’s the not first time Wawa has been used as a set for a Hollywood film. The slasher thriller Rituals, which starred Hal Holbrook, was made there in 1977.

Copyright © 2004 The Chronicle-Journal

K.
- Sunday, April 17, 2005

Go to www.mugglenet.com for two absolutely lovely pics (large and crystal clear) of Alan posing with fans during a break from the filming of Snow Cake.

BM
- Saturday, April 16, 2005

GOF preview alert from the Leaky C: ABC is showing COS on May 7 p.m. EDT with "interstitials throughout featuring an exclusive first look at film clips, cast interviews, and behind-the-scenes footage from the fourth "Harry Potter" film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," opening in theatres November 18th, 2005."

[Full Official Press Release can also be found at Wizard News:]
Goblet of Fire first look on ABC TV in May

Aurora
- Saturday, April 16, 2005

More news from SooToday.com, courtesy of Kathy (thank you!), which includes a photo of Snape:

Wawa kids hang with Professor Severus Snape

By David Helwig
SooToday.com
Friday, April 15, 2005

On Ross Street in Wawa Thursday, Alan Rickman thrilled a small group of young people by signing autographs during a break from filming Snow Cake.

Rickman, best known as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films, is turning out to be a hot ticket in Wawa, where he did one scene on Ross Street yesterday with Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss and a couple of extras, and another with Weaver alone outside the Kinniwabi Pines Restaurant on Highway 17.

CURRENTLY WRITING

Suzanne
TX USA - Friday, April 15, 2005

First reviews of MNiRC....and it got 4 stars!!!

The Guardian

I am sooo thrilled to read this. I envy everyone that will get to see this play. I do hope it makes if over to the States with or without AR directing.
Claudia
GA - Thursday, April 14, 2005

Carrie-Anne Moss becomes a somebody

By David Helwig
SooToday.com
Tuesday, April 12, 2005

It's really cool having your own action figure like Carrie-Anne Moss, shown here as Trinity in the Matrix films.

But you can't be the bomb unless you've been to Wawa.

And we don't mean those 550 Wawa stores in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, famous for drive-by shootings and really good Italian hoagies.

Principal photography started this week in Wawa, Ontario for Snow Cake, the joint Canadian-UK production starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver.

Here's the official publicity boilerplate distributed today:

******************
Cameras roll on Rhombus Media and Revolution Films' production Snow Cake

Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss star

Toronto, ON/London, UK, (April 12, 2005) - Principal photography is underway on Snow Cake, starring Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss.

The film began shooting in Wawa, Ontario April 10 and relocates to Toronto at the end of April, wrapping May 19.

Snow Cake is a Canada-UK co-production produced by Niv Fichman and Jessica Daniel from Rhombus Media and Gina Carter and Andrew Eaton from Revolution Films.

The script is by first-time UK screenwriter Angela Pell.

Snow Cake is a film about friendship, snow, acceptance, obsessive cleaning, a dog called Marilyn, and about finding the warmest of friendships in the coldest of places.

Tight-lipped Englishman Alex (Alan Rickman) arrives in Northern Ontario and is bullied by lovable 19-year-old hitch-hiker Vivienne into giving her a ride.

When the car is hit by a truck on the outskirts of her home town, Vivienne dies instantly.

Alex finds himself, for the second time in his life, grieving for someone he never knew.

Shocked and stranded in snowbound Wawa, he is drawn to seek out Vivienne’s mother and comes face to face with Linda (Sigourney Weaver).

Linda is no ordinary Mom.

Alex becomes increasingly involved in Linda’s life and the community to which she feels complete indifference.

He forms a relationship with her sassy independent neighbour Maggie (Carrie-Ann Moss), and is the object of intense interest by the ineffectual local law enforcement officer Clyde (James Allodi).

When Alex finally gets back on the road he has exorcised his inner demons, and the town he leaves behind has also been transformed.

As the snow melts, the characters' memories remain intact.

"It's such a heart-warming script and a truly inspired cast," says Fichman, Oscar-winning producer of The Red Violin, starring Samuel L. Jackson.

"Snow Cake is an exquisitely intimate story exploring some fairly explosive themes - the relationships between damaged and disparate individuals, the meaning of grief and the nature of imperfect love."

"Angela sent me her debut script a year ago and I knew at once she had created something very special. It is a testament to the quality of her writing that we have managed to bring together such a brilliantly talented group of people. It is especially great to be working with Marc again," said Andrew Eaton who produced Marc Evans' Resurrection Man.

"Angela's screenplay is the best thing I had read in a long, long time, and we have managed to attract a really tremendous cast. I am very excited at the prospect of starting work," said director Marc Evans, whose credits include Trauma, My Little Eye and Resurrection Man.

Alan Rickman will shortly be seen in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, while his previous work include three Harry Potter films, Sense and Sensibility, Galaxy Quest (co-starring with Sigourney Weaver), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and The Winter Guest which he directed and wrote.

Sigourney Weaver has three Oscar nominations – two as Best Actress for Gorillas in the Mist and Aliens, and one as Best Supporting Actress for Working Girl. Other credits include The Village, Ice Storm and Death and the Maiden.

Carrie-Ann Moss is probably best known for her starring role in The Matrix, The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Reloaded, as well as Memento and more recently, Chumscrubber and Mini's First Time with Alec Baldwin and Luke Wilson.

Rhombus Media is renowned for its award-winning feature films as well as television series and programmes on the performing arts.

Recent projects include:

- Don McKellar's Childstar, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh

- Clean, a France-Canada-United Kingdom co-production, by Olivier Assayas starring Nick Nolte and Maggie Cheung, who received the 2004 Palme D'Or for her performance.

- Guy Maddin's The Saddest Music in the World starring Isabella Rossellini, Mark McKinney, and Maria de Medeiros; and Slings and Arrows, a comedic television series about a small town theatre festival starring Paul Gross, Rachel McAdams and Mark McKinney.

Rhombus also produced Francois Girard's Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, Don McKellar's Last Night and the Academy Award-winning The Red Violin starring Samuel Jackson.

Revolution Films was established in 1994 by Andrew Eaton and Michael Winterbottom. In the last 10 years it has become one of the most prolific film companies in the UK, producing 16 feature films including Jude, The Claim, Wonderland, 24 Hour Party People and the BAFTA and Golden Bear winner In This World. They have just released 9 Songs, the most sexually explicit film ever in the UK and recently completed production on A Cock and Bull Story, an adaptation of Laurence Sterne's classic novel 'The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy,' starring Steve Coogan.

Steve
- Wednesday, April 13, 2005

John Donne Celebration [source: peacedirect.org]

John Donne Celebration, St Paul's Cathedral
Thursday 9th June, 7.30pm,
St Paul’s Cathedral, London, EC4

A performance of hitherto unseen songs and poems by the greatest English poet, John Donne, performed for the first time in four hundred years by the most celebrated early music performers in Europe.

These recitals will be set amongst performances of Donne’s sermons, letters and poetry, read by some of the most distinguished classical actors of their generation:

Emma Kirkby
Carolyn Sampson
The Sixteen with Harry Christophers

Harriet Walter
Alan Rickman
Juliet Stephenson
Imogen Stubbs
Mark Rylance

Proceeds to Peace Direct to aid redevelopment,
reconstruction and peace building in areas affected by the
Asian tsunami.

Tickets available from ticketmaster
£35, £25, £15
0870 534 4444 (groups 0870 594 9494)
www.ticketmaster.co.uk

K.
- Wednesday, April 13, 2005

More Snow Cake set pix and descriptions from LTVNews.
sue
England - Wednesday, April 13, 2005

From 4rfv:

12 April 2005
Cameras roll on new Revolution Films & Rhombus Media production

Principal photography is underway on 'Snow Cake', a Canada-UK co-production produced by Niv Fichman and Jessica Daniel from Rhombus Media and Gina Carter and Andrew Eaton from Revolution Films.
The film began shooting in Wawa, Ontario April 10 and relocates to Toronto at the end of April, wrapping on May 19. The script is by first-time UK screenwriter Angela Pell and stars Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss.
Snow Cake is a film about friendship, snow, acceptance, obsessive cleaning, a dog called Marilyn, and about finding the warmest of friendships in the coldest of places.
Tight-lipped Englishman Alex (Alan Rickman) arrives in Northern Ontario and is bullied by lovable 19-year-old hitchhiker Vivienne into giving her a ride. When the car is hit by a truck on the outskirts of her hometown, Vivienne dies instantly. Alex finds himself, for the second time in his life, grieving for someone he never knew.
Shocked and stranded in snowbound Wawa, he is drawn to seek out Vivienne's mother and comes face to face with Linda (Sigourney Weaver).
"It's such a heart-warming script and a truly inspired cast," said Fichman, Oscar-winning producer of 'The Red Violin', starring Samuel L. Jackson. "Snow Cake is an exquisitely intimate story exploring some fairly explosive themes - the relationships between damaged and disparate individuals, the meaning of grief and the nature of imperfect love."
Andrew Eaton, who produced Marc Evans' 'Resurrection Man', added: "Angela sent me her debut script a year ago and I knew at once she had created something very special. It is a testament to the quality of her writing that we have managed to bring together such a brilliantly talented group of people. It is especially great to be working with Marc again."
(GB)
Sue
England - Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Aurora, thanks for the link. Here is another one: The Stars Come Out in Wawa as Snow Cake Begins Filming

[source: ltvnews.com]
Peekabooh
the Netherlands - Monday, April 11, 2005

Keep watching the wawa news. Article yesterday about filming. [including many behind-the-scenes photos]
Aurora
- Monday, April 11, 2005

And an amusing article with a few mentions of our Man: Older Men

[source: sfgate.com]
Glowbox
France - Sunday, April 10, 2005

Here's an interesting bit of background on the RC play: Rachel Corrie

[source: theolympian.com]
Glowbox
France - Sunday, April 10, 2005

Article from today's Guardian regarding My Name Is Rachel Corrie. You can find it here. Written by Katherine Viner, who also co-wrote it with the Man. It includes some quotes from him too.
AFNH
UK - Friday, April 08, 2005

And another Perfume article from mysan.de, via PRNewswire:

News: DreamWorks Will Give Domestic Audiences the Smell of ’Perfume’

GLENDALE, Calif., April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- DreamWorks Pictures has pacted with Germany’s Constantin Film to acquire the domestic distribution rights to the new thriller "Perfume," based on the bestselling novel by Patrick Suskind. The joint announcement was made today by Rick Sands, President and COO of DreamWorks SKG, and Martin Moszkowicz, Member of the Board and President of Production at Constantin Film.

Set in 18th-century France, the terrifying story of murder and obsession centers around a man who, strangely lacking any scent of his own, has a unique talent for identifying smells, which he uses to create the world’s finest perfumes. His gift leads to obsession when he turns to murdering young women on the verge of womanhood in order to capture their aroma.

Ben Whishaw, the acclaimed young British actor, who won several awards for his performance in the independent film "My Brother Tom," will star in the central role of the killer on the hunt for the perfect scent. Emmy and Golden Globe winner Alan Rickman ("Rasputin," the "Harry Potter" franchise) has also been set to star in the film.

"Perfume" will be directed by Tom Tykwer, the award-winning director of "Heaven" and the German film "Lola Rennt." Bernd Eichinger ("Downfall," "The House of the Spirits") will produce the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Andrew Birkin ("The Name of the Rose") and Tykwer.

In making the announcement, Rick Sands stated, "’Perfume’ is one of those rare projects that comes along with a gripping story to tell and top-tier talent to tell it. Even more exciting, however, is the opportunity to work with director Tom Tykwer and Constantin Film, which is one of the most successful production companies in Europe. The acquisition of ’Perfume’ illustrates a new direction for DreamWorks: We will be actively pursuing interesting projects throughout the world and thus bringing the works of talented international directors, actors and writers to American audiences."

Martin Moszkowicz added: "We are enthusiastic about this cooperation with DreamWorks, which we have always seen as our favorite domestic distribution partner for ’Perfume.’ We are convinced that, with their outstanding marketing and distribution expertise, DreamWorks will ensure an excellent release for ’Perfume’ in North America."

DreamWorks SKG was formed in October 1994 by its three principal partners- Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. The studio is actively involved in the production of live-action motion pictures and network and cable television programs, and the distribution of live-action and animated feature films, as well as home video entertainment.

Constantin Film has been the most successful producer and independent distributor of feature films in Germany for more than 25 years now. The company, which has been listed on the stock market since 1999, is also involved in the domestic and international production of theatrical films as well as television production, both longform and series. The classic production and distribution operations have been supplemented successfully since 2003 by licence trading, in-house exploitation of video and DVD rights, and television entertainment production, which have made Constantin Film one of the leading media houses in Europe. Constantin Film’s international box- office successes include "The Neverending Story," "The House of the Spirits," "Resident Evil," "Resident Evil - Apocalypse" and this year’s Academy Award(R) nominee "Downfall."

Posted on Thursday, April 07 @ 19:01:03 CEST by PRNewsWire

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Friday, April 08, 2005

Another one from The Hollywood Reporter:

DreamWorks Buys 'Perfume'
04.07.05

Remember when DreamWorks first started, and they made a lot of serious movies. What happened to those days? What happened to movies like Saving Private Ryan, American Beauty and Gladiator. Instead, the last couple of years have seen a move to projects like Shrek 2, Shark Tale and Anchorman.

Now, it looks like DreamWorks might turn it around, picking up North American rights to director Tom Tykwer's period serial-killer drama, Perfume.

The movie, based on the novel "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" by Patrick Suskind, stars Ben Whishaw as Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a man born with a supernatural sense of smell who sets out to create the perfect fragrance by distilling the essence of young virgins.

Alan Rickman will play perfume merchant Antoine Richis, who's daughter becomes one of Grenouille's targets. Dustin Hoffman will play master perfumemaker Giuseppe Baldini.

Shooting begins in July in Munich and on location in Spain and France.

The gothic novel, first published in 1985, has sold more than 12 million copies.

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Thursday, April 07, 2005

Something the Lord Made won a Peabody Award. Click on the link to see the list of Peabody Award winners.
Keyser
USA - Thursday, April 07, 2005

According to an alert I received this morning, Perfume will be distributed by DreamWorks! So I don't think we have to worry about it going the way of TSJG. Here's the article from Reuters:

"Perfume" set for big screen

Thu Apr 7, 2005 05:56 AM BST

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In a move that could lead to DreamWorks jumping into the specialty film market, the studio has picked up North American rights to "Perfume", the period serial-killer drama based on Patrick Sueskind's international bestseller. German filmmaker Tom Tykwer, whose credits include the 1998 thriller "Run Lola Run", has been tapped to direct "Perfume", his first big-budget feature. Production is set to begin in July in Munich and Barcelona, Spain.

Adapted from Sueskind's "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer", the film will star British actor Ben Whishaw ("Enduring Love") as the twisted Grenouille, a man born with a supernatural sense of smell who sets out to create the perfect fragrance by distilling the essence of young virgins.

Alan Rickman will play Grenouille's rival, Antoine Richis, the merchant father of a young woman who becomes the target of the killer's obsession. Dustin Hoffman has signed on as master perfumemaker Giuseppe Baldini.

DreamWorks' acquisition was jointly announced Wednesday by the studio's new president and chief operating officer, Rick Sands, and Martin Moskowicz, president of production at Constantin Film, which is producing the project.

Sands said "Perfume" illustrates a new direction for DreamWorks as it seeks to place greater emphasis on "bringing the works of talented international directors, actors and writers to American audiences."

In his previous job as chief operating officer of Miramax Films, Sands played a role in overseeing that company's international operations.

There has been speculation that he would like to take DreamWorks, which has focused on mainstream studio features, into the specialty film arena -- possibly using the company's Go Fish Pictures label, which to date has been used to release animated films like "Millennium Actress".

Whether released under the Go Fish banner or the DreamWorks logo, a slate of smaller film acquisitions could be used to augment DreamWorks' current output of 10 or so films per year.

"Perfume" also marks the latest in a long line of literary adaptations for producer Bernd Eichinger, whose credits include Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose", Hubert Selby Junior's "Last Exit to Brooklyn" and Peter Hoeg's "Smilla's Sense of Snow". Most recently, he produced the Oscar-nominated war epic "Downfall".

For Tykwer, "Perfume" is his first full-length film since 2002's "Heaven", which starred Cate Blanchett.

Sueskind's book has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide since 1985, making it the most successful German novel since Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front".

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Thursday, April 07, 2005

SNOWCAKE: The cast and crew are about to arrive - Alan & Sigourney apparently this Friday or Saturday with the first 'shoot' to take place in a local restaurant this weekend. The on location filming is reported as taking about 3 weeks.

Municipal Council of Wawa (Township of Michipicoten) has been approached to give its blessing to the use of the Wawa name, goose and logo by the producers - they are copyrighted - that motion will certainly pass unaminously - guess the film credits will have to include a reference to that - will post the wording next week if anyone is interested .
Howard Whent
Wawa, ON - Wednesday, April 06, 2005

A Flurry Of People Try Out For Snowcake Extras
Brenda Grundt, LTVNews.com
Friday, April 1 2005, 9:57AM
Courtesy: Wawa-News.com

It seems that any other year, a number of Wawa (and indeed, all of Northern Ontario) would be praying for the snow to melt and winter to be over!

This year, however, in a drastic change of events they are praying for snow and colder weather. The last three days have seen an incredible amount of snow disappear. Historically the warmest day in March, from years 1971-2004 was in 1990 when the thermometer climed to 18.6C on March 15. On the other end of the thermometer it dropped to -35C on the 8th day in 1982. In the past five years the highest temperature was 5.5C (2001) for the last day of March.

But weather worries aside, if you are interested in having a part in Snow Cake, you are asked to be at the Polish Hall (42 Mission Road, beside ValuMart) anytime from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. There your photograph will be taken and you will be asked to fill out a form. They do note that all extras will be paid $9.00 an hour. Shooting is planned to commence in and around Wawa from the third of April to about the 23rd. All extras must be over the age of 6 years.

UPDATE: As of 10:30 this morning over 120 photos of interested "extras" have been taken.

http://www.ltvnews.com/viewarticle.php?id=799
Slope
Canada - Friday, April 01, 2005

I found the video with Mr. Rickman in it.

Make Poverty History video

Carolina <i_castejon@hotmail.comfoo>
- Friday, April 01, 2005

Hello ladies and gents...I just wanted to leet you know that Mr. Rickman took part of the ¨Click Campaign¨ launched by Make Poverty History.

Here is the site: MPH

Iveth <ivcacaur@hotmail.comfoo>
Venezuela - Friday, April 01, 2005

More "Snow Cake" News: Native returns

The Sunday Telegraph; 3/20/2005; By TIM WALKER
The Sunday Telegraph

03-20-2005

Native returns
Byline: By TIM WALKER
Section: News; Mandrake

ALTHOUGH she has now established herself as a bona fide American star thanks to Sex and The City, the lovely Liverpool-born Kim Cattrall let it be known that she would love to make a British film.

Andrew Eaton and Gina Carter of Revolution Films were all too happy to oblige and have cast the actress in the leading role in Snow Cake. Kim will begin filming the quirky drama once she completes her run in Whose Life Is It Anyway? in the West End.

``The real winner in this is Alan Rickman who will have some steamy sex scenes with her in the film,'' says my man with the clapperboard. ``Kim plays a vampish neighbour who begins an unlikely affair with Rickman, who is grieving for a lost son.''

While it is a British film, Kim, 48, will still have to travel across the Atlantic to make it as it's set in Canada, but she's said she is only too happy to return to the country where she grew up after her parents emigrated.

(Copyright 2005 Telegraph Group Limited)

K.
- Wednesday, March 30, 2005

RE: SNOWCAKE

As of yesterday the filming has been delayed a week, to start April 10 - about 300 'extras' to be cast on April 7 according to an article published in the Sault Star (March 29) It appears that all the set preparation etc. has taken longer than anticipated.

According to an earlier Sault Star article, the director was attracted to this site in part due to a childhood memory of his first trip across Canada - remembering Vancouver and in particular the image of the Wawa area and its landmark goose statue - which apparently will be a scene in the film with Alan in it.

As to Wawa being a 'site' for film, this movie is not the first. The north shore of Lake Superior has attracted many artists etc. for many years, being rated as one of the top scenic areas in Canada.

Al Holbrook starred in a movie called 'Rituals' in the 1970's. The first IMAX film 'North of Superior' which appeared at Ontario Place featured scenes from the area. The National Film Board's 'Longest Road' (history of Trans-Canada Highway) was in part filmed here several years ago (and in which I played a role.) There are others.

Many scenes were painted by members of Canada's famous Group of Seven. Artists like Glen Gould, (after whom a CBC Toronto site is named) often came here - and Glen stayed in the same hotel that is hosting the Snowcake crew etc. (In fact, they have booked the whole hotel). etc.

Anyway, anyone wanting an extra part, they are paying $9 per hour. With the warm weather, don't know how much snow will be left by then.

Cheers
Howard Whent <hwhent@onlink.netfoo>
Wawa, ON Canada - Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Another Google Alert:

British Movie Star Alan Rickman Protests US anti-Cuba Attacks

London, Mar 28 (Prensa Latina) Hollywood film Star Alan Rickman has joined a list of British personalities to protest against United States" anti-Cuba attacks by joining the movement "Let"s stop a new anti-Cuba manoeuvre".

More than 2000 intellectuals around the world have denounced the US motion at the UN Commission onHuman Rights condemning the Caribbean Island for human right abuses, another step in the escalation of anti-Cuba actions.

Rickman, who joined renowned Britons Hanif Kureishi, Caryl Churchill, April de Angelis, Elyse Dodgson and Ian Rickson, is one of the most prestigious stars of theater and movies in Britain.

He has worked with Bruce Willis (Die Hard), Kevin Costner, (Robin Hood), and Liam Nesson (Michael Collins), plus the Harry Potter sequel.

Kureishi is one of the most outstanding British dramatists from the generation of rock stars David Bowie and Billy Idol; Churchill (playwright); April de Angelis (playwright); Elyse Dodgson and Ian Rickson, executives from the Royal Court Theatre.

Other intellectuals joining the drive are Ann McLaren, President of the British Association for the Advancement of Sciences, from Cambridge University.

ef/emw/js/jwp

Suzanne
TX USA - Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Here is the full text of the Google Alert:

KIM CATTRALL knocked alluringly around big and small screens for years until her defining role as the casually promiscuous Samantha of Sex and the City. Since putting her clothes back on after the HBO series folded, Kim has appeared in the recent Ice Princess, which does not look as if it will make anybody's career. Kim also has produced and directed a documentary on sex through the centuries and is currently on the boards in a London West End production of Whose Life Is It Anyway? She has garnered excellent notices as a paralyzed woman who wants to die. Now this native of Liverpool, who seems so utterly American, wants to continue her British invasion. She will make an English movie. Gina Carter and Andrew Eaton of Revolution Films jumped at the chance to star Kim in Snow Cake, which she'll shoot as soon as her play ends. Kim will portray a vamp who begins an affair with a man grieving for his lost son. That man is Alan Rickman, often arch and often a villain, but not here, apparently. The good news for Rickman is that the role requires steamy scenes with Cattrall. Even though Kim is getting her wish to make a British movie, filming will be in Canada. But Kim is cool. She grew up in Canada, after her parents emigrated from England.

I just did a search on Kim Cattrall and couldn't find out anymore re her appearance in Snow Cake. This information was posted by the gossip columnist, Liz Smith, in the Baltimore Sun, btw. I did find some interesting trivia about Miz Cattrall, however:

She was born in Liverpool, England and her birth name was "Clare Woodgate." This is strange as Georgina Cates' (Stella in AABA)birth name was also "Clare Woodgate." Cue the "Twilight Zone" music here.....*LOL*

K.
- Tuesday, March 29, 2005

I do not know whether it has been posted that Alan Rickman will perform at the Hans Christian Andersen Bi-centennial April 2, in Copenhagen. The show will be televised live to a number of countries and will probably be available on video and dVD later. I suspect that he will read a fairy tale. Kenneth Branagh, Rene Fleming, Olivia Newton John, Connie Nielsen, Tina Turner and other stars will also attend.
effy
- Tuesday, March 29, 2005

More Snow Cake news from The Sault Star, courtesy of Steve (thank you!).

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Sunday, March 27, 2005

A pleasant little review of the Barchester Chronicles DVD - I'm going to have to get hold of this soon! Review

[text of review]

The Barchester Chronicles
By Dale Reynolds, Special to Zap2it.com

Wed, Mar 23, 2005, 01:03 PM PT

STUDIO: BBCAmerica
RELEASE DATE: Now Available
PRICE:$30
TIME: 374 mins.
DVD EXTRAS: Middle England's Marvel: a 30-minute featurette on Peterborough Cathedral, the location of the miniseries; cast and writer biographies
INTERNET SITE: www. bbcamericashop.com

ZAP2IT RATING: *** (3 stars)
First time on DVD, this respectable 1984 BBC translation (script by Alan Plater and direction by David Giles) of two of the 19th Century works of British novelist Anthony Trollope, The Warden & Barchester Towers, are worth noting. Very PBS, in that part of its importance lies in its terrific production values. Just watching these kinds of elongated films is a superb way to learn how middle-class and upper-class life was lived 150 years ago.

In short: the community of Barchester in the south of England is shaken from its cozy complacency when a newspaper's crusade against the Church of England's practice of self-enrichment misfires. Overnight, the Rev. Harding becomes a pawn in a battle between his young daughter's beau and his older daughter's husband, an Archdeacon. You can tell this is Veddy British. And utterly beguiling.

It was especially well-cast, including a riveting debut performance by Alan Rickman as the pious Rev. Slope and star turns by the late Donald Pleasence and Nigel Hawthorn as the Rev Harding and his outraged son-in-law, the Archdeacon. Other outstanding performances include the ever-reliable Geraldine McEwan and a youngish Clive Swift (he was a middle-aged husband to Patricia Routledge in BBC's long series, Keeping Up Appearances).

Many of us are vastly entertained by this form of entertainment; others (mainly younger, one suspects) are bored senseless with the lack of action and its dependence on quality and well-spoken dialogue. But no one will walk way unenlightened over the pain of social barriers and lack of women's rights.

The mini-series has been very nicely shot in vivid color with sensible music behind it all.

Glowbox
France - Sunday, March 27, 2005

Here's some new news about Snow Cake from The Sault Star. Check out that goose!

[Text of article] :

Fond memories of small town with big goose brought film to Wawa

By Camilla White-Kirkpatrick
Local News - Wednesday, March 23, 2005 @ 09:00

WAWA — A young boy’s special memory of Wawa led to the community being chosen for the location of the movie Snow Cake.

The suggestion came from producer Niv Fichman who, at 10, took a one-month road trip with his family that passed through Wawa.

“Wawa’s always been a mythological place for me,” said Fichman, one of four producers of the film starring Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman and Carrie-Anne Moss.

The movie is being produced by Canada’s Rhombus Media Inc., and the United Kingdom’s Revolution Films. Canadian producers include Fichman and Jessica Daniel along with Brits Andrew Eaton and Gina Carter.

Emigrating from Israel at nine, Fichman said, “The following year, we went on a trip . . . we wanted to see the land that we landed in.”

“Wawa is one of the few places that I remember specifically, first of all because of the name — it was unbelievable to us, there was that amazing name — and secondly because of that goose.”

Fichman, 46, said he couldn’t remember many other places along the way apart from Vancouver.

“Wawa was this kind of place I’ve always dreamt of.”

Upon receiving the script from Revolution Films, the producer said he loved it but that a specific location had not been chosen. “The story is of a man traveling somewhere in Canada or North America and snow is a big part of it so it was perfect for Canada,” said Fichman, adding that the writer, Angela Pell, didn’t specify any place. “I just felt that the place had to be far away to really really be Canadian,” said Fichman. “It had to be really different than the smaller pretty towns closer to Toronto that would have sort of familiar Victorian architecture. It had to be really Northern.”

Glenn Gould, the well known Canadian composer and musician, also had an influence on Fichman, who produced the film 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould. “Glenn Gould himself used to always come to Wawa,” said Fichman. One scene in the Gould film was set in Wawa but wasn’t shot on location.

“It was set in an interior of a motel and he was talking on the phone so we didn’t have to go there but I always had it set in my mind to actually go to Wawa and shoot it there.”

Returning to Wawa last Friday for the first time since his youth, Fichman said, “I have to say the goose seemed a little smaller than I thought. I guess I remember it from the bottom of the highway, not the top, because I remember it huge and towering over me.”

The community lived up to Fichman’s expectations and what he perceived as a typical Northern town. “It’s what I was hoping for in a town. It’s fantastic, everybody is so friendly and great, so its wonderful.”

As for the Wawa Goose, Fichman said the famous monument will be used in the movie.

In one scene, Rickman’s character travels to Wawa.

“He has to ride by bus so I’ve asked for the bus stop to be where the goose is. The bus will stop. You’ll see the goose and Alan Rickman will get off the bus and be standing alone with the goose.”

Terri
UT US - Friday, March 25, 2005

Updated Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy site HERE. Keep clicking on Marvin as you explore and you get lots of soundbites:)
Sue
England - Saturday, March 19, 2005

© 2005 Johnston Press Plc
Biggleswade Today
March 11, 2005
LENGTH: 176 words
HEADLINE: Film fame

Move over Leonardo - Ben grabs leading role

Film fame is beckoning for an east Beds actor who is set to star alongside Hollywood heavyweights in a multi-million pound movie.

Ben Whishaw, 24, has been chosen to play the lead role of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille in the movie Perfume alongside Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman.

The former student of Samuel Whitbread College in Clifton told Biggleswade Today: "I'm a big fan of both of them and it would be an honour to share the same room with them and act with them.

He added: "It's thrilling because I'm quite relatively inexperienced in film. There's huge pressure, but it's an amazing role and an amazing story so I'm very excited to be doing it."

Lord of the Rings start Orlando Bloom and Oscar nominee Leonardo DiCaprio were also linked with the part.

But it is the actor from Langford who has secured the lead.

The £35million project is due to start filming in Germany and Barcelona this summer.

For the full report see the March 11 edition of the Biggleswade Chronicle.

Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, March 18, 2005

Copyright 2005 Newsquest Media Group
All rights reserved
The Herald (Glasgow)
March 17, 2005
SECTION: GOING OUT; Pg. 23
LENGTH: 805 words
HEADLINE: GET AWAY; Be spontaneous: ideas for weekend breaks
BYLINE: COMPILED BY MARISA DUFFY

HIGHLIGHT:

SUN AND FUN: celebrate Easter in the paradise that is Grenada. Picture: PA

FAMOUS SON: Hans Christian Andersen's statue in Copenhagen.

OCCIDENTAL TOURISTS: the Shaolin monks, some as young as seven, perform some breathtaking martial arts stunts. Picture: Channel 5

DENMARK

Next month: Hans Christian Andersen bicentenary Copenhagen, the home city of Hans Christian Andersen, steps up a gear this year to celebrate 200 years since the birth of the man who brought the world the Little Mermaid and the Ugly Duckling.

Celebrations start with a gala with 300 artists at the Parken national stadium on April 2.

Details are a closely guarded secret until the night, but Matt Dillon and Roger Moore will be presenting and Jean Michel Jarre will introduce his take on Andersen's tale the Shadow.

Susan Sarandon, Alan Rickman and Kenneth Branagh will also appear. See www. hca2005. com for details.

Edinburgh or Glasgow to Copenhagen with BMI from pounds-205.30 return, www. flybmi. com

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, March 18, 2005

The Alan Rickman contribution to the Free Tibet Auction tonight raised £2100, Emma Thompson £25, Imelda Staunton £30, Joanna Lumley £100

Claire
- Thursday, March 17, 2005

They'll start filming [perfume] in July. Here is a German link

I quickly try to translate the article from Facts Online (Switzerland):
20 years ago it smelled of a superhit: On 26 February 1985 "The Perfume", written by the German (Munich)author Patrick Sueskind, was released by Diogenes Publ. House, Zuerich, The plot around Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (means "frog" by the way, :)), who murders girls for a perfect odour in 18th century Paris enthused both critics and readers alike. 8 weeks later more than 100,000 books were sold. Meanwhile, the novel has been translated into 42 languages. Even the pope should keep one issue in his shelves, since it has been translated into Latin, too. A murder story in a dead language. However, the plot comes back to life in a film version. Shootings will start in July directed by the German director Tom Tykwer. Actor Ben Whishaw plays the leading role. Moreover, US-actor Dustin Hoffman and the English Alan Rickman (Harry Potter)will be seen in the film: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.

Dear me, translations....hope yu get the gist. Lovely day,
Hikity
Hikity
- Thursday, March 17, 2005

More Pix from Empires own site: AR on the podium
AR & Kevin Smith
AR &KS at their table
Sue
- Wednesday, March 16, 2005

That is so fabulous, Catherine! Thanks, everyone, for making the RADA birthday donation a marvelous success, and in such a short amount of time. That's nearly $3,000! And thank you once again, to Catherine for all the time and work you put into this. We greatly appreciate it!

And so many great links, photos and news! Thank you, Peekabooh, Sue, K., Aurora, Georgiana, KBBJ, Carol, bluebeatbabe, Hikity and everyone else! Though I still haven't yet read Perfume, it's actually sounding better to me as a movie. As for the Empire Awards, wow, that was fab! Will the awards air on BBC America? If so, or when I get a videotape, I'll make a Videogram. Though I just checked Claudia's wonderful site and see she already has two clips on her "Awards" page, courtesy of Elaine and SuzyQ. You guys are fast, thank you so much!

Sorry for being a bit tardy, but here are the two photos from wireimage.com:
Empire Awards: AR
Empire Awards: AR and Kevin Smith

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Hi all

The donation for this year has topped £1500 - how wonderful is that?! More than last year, too! Superb! RADA are hopeful that because it's so much money this year, that several students can be helped out by it. If anyone wants to add to the total collected this year, they can do so by the end of this week - donations close on the 18th. After that, RADA will announce the total collected and give details of the student(s) it will be going to.

Thanks once again,
Catherine <catherineharpham@hotmail.comfoo>
Reading, UK - Wednesday, March 16, 2005

And per this biggleswadetoday.co.uk Perfume link, "The £35 million project is due to start filming in Germany and Barcelona this summer."

[full text]:

Film fame
Move over Leonardo – Ben grabs leading role

Film fame is beckoning for an east Beds actor who is set to star alongside Hollywood heavyweights in a multi-million pound movie.

Ben Whishaw, 24, has been chosen to play the lead role of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille in the movie Perfume alongside Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman.

The former student of Samuel Whitbread College in Clifton told Biggleswade Today: "I'm a big fan of both of them and it would be an honour to share the same room with them and act with them.

He added: "It's thrilling because I'm quite relatively inexperienced in film. There's huge pressure, but it's an amazing role and an amazing story so I'm very excited to be doing it."

Lord of the Rings start Orlando Bloom and Oscar nominee Leonardo DiCaprio were also linked with the part.

But it is the actor from Langford who has secured the lead.

The £35million project is due to start filming in Germany and Barcelona this summer.

For the full report see the March 11 edition of the Biggleswade Chronicle.

Carol
Michigan - Wednesday, March 16, 2005

A bit more news on Perfume from the Hollywood Reporter---evidently, AR is going to play "Antoine, the merchant father of a young woman who becomes the subject of obsession for Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the central character in the film..."

[full text]:

Thanks to 'Lacey'.

Carol
Michigan - Wednesday, March 16, 2005

KBBJ, who is having trouble with the GB gremlins, asked me to post this for her, which she acquired from The Leaky Cauldron website (thanks KBBJ!), in hopes that the UK GB-ers don't miss out on a taping opportunity:

"Cast members from the Harry Potter films attended last night's Empire Film Awards in London. CBBC Newsround reports that Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) presented the award for Best British Film. Also attending were Jason Issacs (Lucius Malfoy) and Alan Rickman (Professor Snape). Be sure to check the Empire Online Gallery for a nice photo of Emma and also one of Jason. WireImage also has some photos up as well, including a few of Alan Rickman. For those that live in the UK, the show will air on Channel 5 Tuesday, March 15th."

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
- Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Here's a bit referencing AR from the Empire website about the 2005 Empire Awards:

7.25-7.45pm: Food is served. Empire, despite it being our party, is reduced to eating in the room where the food is being prepared by the caterers, and not in the main hall with the celebs. Bah humbug. However, this paves the way for the inarguable highlight of the evening when, halfway through a lovely salmon/rice combo, we look up to see Alan Rickman himself walk in and grab some food. Readers, let Empire confirm that there is nothing on this planet more fun than quoting Die Hard lines to Alan Rickman. Mind you, we were quoting them under our breath and only after we were fairly certain he couldn't hear. Still… 'you ask for miracles, Theo, I give you the F… B… I….', 'Shoot! The! Glass!' and our favourite 'Yippee-kay-yay, motherf***!' all got good airings.

K.
- Monday, March 14, 2005

Another Empire pic
Sue
- Monday, March 14, 2005

Lots of AR pix taken at last nigh't Empire Awrds on GettyImages
Sue
England - Monday, March 14, 2005

Oooooh, thanks for the link Dee! It's nice to see He's still practicing his art and for such a worthy cause. I have never heard of it either but I felt the same way you described the first time I saw Closet Land. Like I was living a sheltered life and how my eyes were truly opened for the first time and my view of the world was changed forever.

I also got this from Claudia's: there's a black and white picture of Alan taken by a professional photographer named Kevin Westenberg that I've never seen before. Go to this website and click on "celebrities/actors" in the right-hand column to see it.
Kathy
- Friday, March 11, 2005

I wanted to share a link I picked up at Claudia's. It shows artwork donated by AR (along with Emma Thompson and others) for a celebrity auction to raise funds for the Free Tibet organization. Seeing AR's artwork is an interesting glimpse of the man.
Free Tibet Art Gallery

OT: Amazing how many charities and causes that AR supports. It's strange... I've never heard of most of them. It's almost like my small, rural community is in a box, unaware of what's happening in the world. I don't know anyone personally who "does" causes. No one marches, or pickets, or attends rallies. The charities we support are local: Boys & Girls Clubs, 4-H, churches, families who have suffered a fire or illness, etc. I never knew Tibet had a problem. Heck, I'm not even 100% sure where Tibet even is!

I'm rambling. I just feel so...I can't think of a good word...Uninformed? Sheltered? Blind?

Sorry! I'll get off the shrink's couch now:)
Dee
Indiana - Thursday, March 10, 2005

Copyright 2005 The Press Association Limited
Press Association
March 4, 2005, Friday
SECTION: HOME NEWS
LENGTH: 147 words
HEADLINE: SON OF CORLEONE 'TOP CINEMA CRIMINAL'
BYLINE: Sherna Noah, PA Showbusiness Correspondent

The Godfather's Michael Corleone has been voted the king of movie criminal.

Corleone, played by Al Pacino in the three Godfather films, came top of a list of law-breakers in a survey carried out by Sky Movies.

Alan Rickman is the only British name on the list - he came fourth for his role as Hans Gruber in the Bruce Willis action movie Die Hard.

Goodfellas' character Tommy DeVito, the part taken by fellow Italian-American Joe Pesci in the 1990 Martin Scorsese movie, came second.

Robert De Niro's Max Cady, the character he played in the thriller Cape Fear, was third followed by Rickman's Hans Gruber.

Jack Nicholson's Joker in Tim Burton's Batman took fifth place, and Eddie Bartlett, played by James Cagney in the 1939 movie Roaring Twenties, came sixth.

The survey of 1,400 people on skymovies.com was carried out to mark Sky Movies 2 Crime Spree Weekend.

Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, March 07, 2005

Copyright 2005 The Liverpool Daily Post & Echo Ltd
Daily Post (Liverpool)
March 5, 2005, Saturday
SECTION: North Wales Edition; NEWS; Pg. 19
LENGTH: 56 words
HEADLINE: STAR GAZING: SHOW SOME RESPECT; BRINGING YOU GOSSIP FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE

THE Godfather's Michael Corleone has been voted the king of movie criminals.

Corleone, played by Al Pacino in the three Godfather films, came top of a survey carried out by Sky Movies.

Alan Rickman is the only British name on the list - he came fourth for his role as Hans Gruber in the Bruce Willis action movie Die Hard.

Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, March 07, 2005

Copyright 2005 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
DAILY MAIL (London)
March 4, 2005
SECTION: ES MAG; Pg. 5
LENGTH: 71 words
HEADLINE: Cause celebrity

It may not have won any Oscars but the premiere of Hotel Rwanda drew a worthy crowd of celebrities to the Vue West End in aid of Amnesty. The film was great, but Imelda Staunton and Chris Ofili jostled with the likes of Alan Rickman and John Simpson to get hold of the nibbles: a smorgasbord including Yorkshire puddings with rare roast beef, lemon and pepper chicken skewers, and fishcakes that had everyone drooling.

Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, March 07, 2005

Here's another article about Snowcake. Filming in April

[source: saultstar.com, text of article]:

Bulajic said it’s unusual for a creative team and actors to come on board for a fraction of their fees as was the case for this movie. “It’s something that they believed in the project and that’s something when that many people are standing behind the project. It’s just a fabulous project.”

Glowbox
France - Monday, March 07, 2005

Wawa residents will be the first to see Snow Cake
By Carol Martin
SooToday.com
Thursday, March 03, 2005

The producers of Snow Cake, the film that's bringing Sigourney Weaver to Wawa next month, definitely don't want to be viewed as some kind of cash cow sloshing buckets of money around the community.

At the same time, they do want to create a good image for Wawa.

At this afternoon's media conference at the Wawa Motor Inn,, Director Marc Evans said the crew will be looking to come back later in the year for an advance screening that will show the people of Wawa how their community has been depicted.

"What we can offer is mutual respect for you guys and that the image of the town will be in good hands," said Evans.

The screenplay for Snow Cake will allow producers of the feature film to showcase Wawa at its best, said Production Manager Bora Bulajic, shown today with Wawa Mayor Rod Morrison.

"It's very unusual to find a script that actually creatively works with the small setting of a Northern Ontario town," Bulajic said. "Usually in our business, we have to cheat, you know, a small-town area with a number of American flags."

Article

Slope
Canada - Friday, March 04, 2005

Pssst - wanna be in Sigourney Weaver's newest film?
By Carol Martin
SooToday.com
Thursday, March 03, 2005

Well yes, they will be looking for local extras for the new Sigourney Weaver film being shot in Wawa.

Details of the joint UK-Canadian production, first disclosed by SooToday.com on February 21, were announced this afternoon at the Wawa Motor Inn.

Welsh director Marc Evans confirmed that they'll be needing extras to appear in Snow Cake, which is expected to begin shooting sometime between April 5 and 10.

"We hope to begin around then and plan to shoot for a few weeks on location here in Wawa," said Bora Bulajic, the film's production manager.

Three-time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver (shown) and costar Alan Rickman (Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films) are expected to arrive in Wawa shortly before filming begins.

Parts of the production will be filmed on location and parts in the Toronto studios.

The Canadian portion of the international production is being handled by Toronto-based Rhombus Media Inc.

Director Evans said today that the film will be set in Wawa and will use local landmarks to establish the setting.

He also said the crew will likely film at a few highway locations around the town.

In Snow Cake, Weaver plays a high-functioning autistic adult whose daughter is killed in a tragic accident when she accepts a ride from Rickman’s character.

The screenplay was written by Angela Pell, who has an autistic son.

Evans described her script as one with real heart.

He credited it as being the primary factor that brought big-name actors like Weaver and Rickman on board with the project.

Jennifer Tilley has been approached about playing Weaver's daughter in the film, but has so far not signed.

Soo Today article

Slope
Canada - Friday, March 04, 2005

Brenda's report is up! Snow Cake

[text of article]:

LTVNEWS Staff
LTVNews.com
Thursday, March 3 2005, 12:56PM

By Brenda Grundt In Wawa
Special to LTVNEWS.COM

Mayor Rod Morrison introduced himself at the press conference which was held at 12:00 noon in the Cornell Room at the Wawa Motor Inn (Wawa). "I'm the proud and excited mayor of Wawa. The Town of Wawa, and myself as mayor, and our council are absoloutely delighted to be chosen to be part of this feature film.". Rod went on to introduce the Production Manager Bora Bulajic and Director Marc Evans.

Bora Bulajic, Production Manger took the stage first explaining that "we have a feature film named "Snow Cake" a beautiful story. This is also interesting because it is a co-production between the U.K. and Canada. My job is primarily to make sure that all the nuts and bolts of this film gets executed and that they work." The two companies that are involved in the production of "Snow Cake" is Revolution Films in the U.K., the producing company in Canada is Rhombus Media Inc. Rhombus Media Inc. produced and received an Academy Award for THE RED VIOLIN.

Director Marc Evans, commented on the film, "Snow Cake is from a script written by Angela Pell, who has an autistic son. She has written a script about an autistic main character named Linda, who lives in a community like Wawa. A small town where she is looked after, but also left to her devices, and allowed to live a dignified life as an autistic individual. She has a daughter called Vivian and The film begins with Vivian getting a lift with an English character, Al (Allan Rickman). He gives her a lift, and there is a car accident, and she dies in the car accident. The film centres around the relationship between Allan Rickman's character, Al and Linda's character played by Sigourney Weaver." At this time the character of Vivian has not yet been signed, so her identity cannot be confirmed.

Marc explained "It is very great to have a script as Bora says, which is so humane and so lovely, and yet, fits right into a community like Wawa for its reality. And, I think it is fair to say that what's got the film into production has been the commitment of people to the writing and the spirit of the piece. In particular, I'd say that what has brought Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver to the project, although I'd like to think it was me; I think that really it has more to do with the strength of the characterizations and the heart and emotions. Although it has its fantastical elements like any film, it is basically a touching and real portrayal of real characters".

In fielding questions from the press, questions centered around the hiring of locals, using them as fillers, and particular locations that may be featured. Bora explained that although some elements such as the car crash may have to be filmed near Toronto due to staffing requirements and equipment.

Filming is anticipated to begin between the 5th and 10th of April. They are looking at spending two to three weeks in Wawa in total. The current visit is being used to get all the production and filming people together and looking at all the elements available in Wawa, and how they can be used to the best benefit of the movie. It was also comfirmed that Allan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver will indeed be in Wawa for location filming.

Carol
Michigan - Thursday, March 03, 2005

Suzanne and all other Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy fans, go over to hitchhikers.movies.go.com to see their new bonus trailer online of the hitchhiker. I guess they just released this day before yesterday on their site. I cant wait to see this movie-it looks awesome.
Pam
Massachusetts - Thursday, March 03, 2005

It is confirmed they will be filming part of Snow Cake here in Wawa! LTVnew will have more as soon as I can finish writing it. The mayor Rod Morrison had an interview on JJAM-FM this morning. There is also to be a news conference in Wawa Thursday at noon, and I will also be covering it for LTVnews.com.

[article pasted below]

SNOW CAKE to be filmed in Wawa (Updated)

There will be a news conference held Thursday, March 3, 2005 at the Cornell Meeting Room, at 12 noon.

Brenda Grundt <grundt@xplornet.comfoo>
Wawa, ontario Canada - Wednesday, March 02, 2005

It is confirmed they will be filming part of Snow Cake here in Wawa! LTVnew will have more as soon as I can finish writing it. The mayor Rod Morrison had an interview on JJAM-FM this morning. There is also to be a news conference in Wawa Thursday at noon, and I will also be covering it for LTVnews.com.

Brenda Grundt <grundt@xplornet.comfoo>
Wawa, ontario Canada - Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Snowing up here too--perfect weather to shoot..."Snowcake"!

Hollywood says yes to Wawa

LTVNEWS Staff
LTVNews.com
Tuesday, March 1 2005, 8:47AM

The Hollywood movie "Snowcake" will start shooting in Wawa in a few weeks. That announcement made this morning in Wawa.

LTVNEWS has learned that the producers of the movie starring Sigorney Weaver will arrive at the Sault Ste. Marie airport Wednesday afternoon and then head off to Wawa for a meeting with officials.

Wawa correspondant, Brenda Grundt attended the press conference this morning and will have full details coming up. Snowcake update

Slope
Canada - Wednesday, March 02, 2005

From Freeze Dried Movies Dot Com

The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

MOVIE DETIALS
Release Date: 2005-04-29
Studio: Spyglass Entertainment/Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Garth Jennings
Writer: Douglas Adams, Karey Kirkpatrick
Starring: Martin Freeman, John Malkovich, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Bill Nighy, Sam Rockwell, Warwick Davis, Steve Pemberton, Anna Chancellor
Genre: Sci-Fi
Official Site: http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com/main.html

"The movie started strong and continued to hold pace through the rest of the film, which is a rarity now days. A large portion of the film was just how I imagined it in the book, especially the Improbability Drive."

FILM SCORE: 10 / 10
by: Bob G. Smithe

The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy: (A Work Print Review By Bob G. Smithe) You won’t find any real spoilers on this one cause I don’t like giving away good movies.

Greetings all, Bob G. here again with another splendiferous review, this time shifting gears into sci-fi comedy with, The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. I must tell you I loved this film, I take no issue with any liberties as Douglas Adams shared screenwriting credit on this one so any changes made were obviously approved. For those who don’t know, this is the story of Arthur Dent, who is rescued from Earth’s destruction by good friend and Betelgeusian Ford Prefect and their adventures from that point forward.

The movie started strong and continued to hold pace through the rest of the film, which is a rarity now days. A large portion of the film was just how I imagined it in the book, especially the Improbability Drive. The overall design of the film was very inspired and kept the irreverent tone of the books without becoming outlandish or out-right silly. I’ve seen some complaints about the film’s design and FX, it seems some people forgot we were watching a work print, yes some of the FX look a little iffy, but that’s because it’s not done yet. So yes, things like Zaphod’s third arm and second head looked a bit out of place, but when it’s finished and all slicked out it’ll look fine. Even with the unfinished FX they did a good job mixing models & men in suits with CGI, there was nothing I saw that was out of place at all. All roughness aside the FX worked well, the costumes were great, and the creature design was wonderful! I love the way the Vogon’s look in this, maintaining some elements of the BBC mini while doing something new with it.

The performances were top notch, yes they weren’t all British, but who says they have to be just because Douglas Adams was, Arthur was Arthur, Ford was Ford, etc. Besides, most of the characters are aliens and why should all aliens talk in a British accent? Mos Def really impressed me as Ford, I was worried that they would update the character make him from the South Bronx or Long Beach and homie him out, luckily for us he is Ford Prefect. It’s nice to see someone from the hip hop community playing someone who isn’t a spin on the usual rap characters, and he pulled it off quite well. Sam Rockwell as Zaphod was a great mix of George W. swagger and bumbling idiot (although some would say that those are one and the same). The way he carries himself in the film you can tell he was having fun with it and that translates into laughs from the audience. Zooey Deschanel was, at times, was a little dry as Trillian but overall her performance was very heartfelt. Alan Rickman’s voice work as Marvin was perfect, it fit the personality like a glove and I wish there was more of him, there’s quite a bit, but you can always use more. Martin Freeman was Arthur Dent, just as I’d pictured him, right down to the bathrobe, every bit as awkward and confused as I’d remembered him from the book, and yes he is British.

There are added scenes and such but these were all things written by Douglas Adams for the script, so it’s not really in my opinion anyplace to argue faithfulness to the book. Each adaptation has incorporated new things and taken out some old things, all these changes approved by Adams so I see no reason really to nit pick any of it. It was entertaining and that’s the most important part. One can make changes to anything it is all a matter of if it works, and in this case any added scenes, love story, story arcs, gags, etc. are firing on all cylinders. The love triangle did feel a bit forced at first but it was dispatched rather quickly, it really was only very brief then moved to the background. There were hints of it in the BBC Mini (I know because I just watched it), but it was conveyed more as Arthur’s jealousy towards Zaphod for snatching Trillian up; rather than a fully realized love triangle.

One thing I’d like to touch on is the music. They use various cues from older films, most notably in the beginning when they use one of the more prominent musical cues from Back To The Future and when they first show Deep Thought they use the cue from Raiders of the Lost Ark whenever the ark is brought up or looked upon. I found this to work very well on a comedic level and would recommend they keep those in the film. The title song So Long And Thanks For All The Fish is an instant classic and when the book flies the title out on screen to the old theme of the BBC Mini it was amazing! I wouldn’t change a thing about the music it should be left as is.

Overall this is a really well done film, all it needs is to be finished and not released against Episode 3. Really it would be criminal to put this up against the bulldozer of box office cash that is Star Wars. If they put this out against something heavy like Kingdom of Heaven it will have a much better chance of making decent money. Yes there are changes, yes Ford Prefect is now a very funny black man, but none of these changes harm the story at all. I highly recommend seeing this film when it is released in May and suggest buying the DVD whenever it comes out and if they release a soundtrack you will want it! I’m also looking forward to the toys that NECA are putting out they look quite good.

Georgiana ("You can always use more"--ain't it the truth...)
Seattle - Tuesday, March 01, 2005

From Zap/2it March 1 What to Watch

'Harry Potter's' Snape Lends Voice to 'Hitchhiker'
Sat, Jan 15, 2005, 08:01 AM PT
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Alan Rickman, who kids will recognize as Prof. Severus Snape from the "Harry Potter" films, is about to get paranoid.

The 58-year-old Brit will lend his unique voice to Marvin the Paranoid Android in the big-screen adaptation of Douglas Adams' sci-fi comedy "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," report news sources. Operating the mechanical robot suit is fellow "Harry Potter" star Warwick Davis.

"Hitchhiker's Guide" follows the adventures of Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) after he is the only human to escape the demolition of Earth by the Vogons, who intend to use it for hyperspace freeway development. He joins a ragtag bunch of intergalactic travelers who are trying to discover the meaning of life.

Other wacky characters include: cult leader Humma Kuvala (John Malkovich), three-armed former president of the galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell), intergalactic guide reporter Ford Prefect (Mos Def), brilliant scientist Trillian (Zooey Deschanel) and planetary architect Slartibartfast (Bill Nighy).

Also recently joining the cast is "Saving Grace" actor Bill Bailey as the voice of the sperm whale.

Rickman's most recent films include "Love Actually" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." He next stars in "Hitchhiker," which will open nationwide in May, and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Rickman And Bailey Hitch A Ride To The Galaxy

Two of our favourite people join sci-fi comedy…
07 January 2005

With the planet’s first big-screen adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy only six short months away, there’s a definite whiff of excitement in the air. (Well, either that or the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal is nearby.) After all, the thoroughly likeable Martin Freeman is in the frame as bewildered hero Arthur Dent and the moviemakers have been granted a lavish budget to splurge on Vogon spaceships and intergalactic sperm whales.

There’s only a couple of potential problems — namely, director Garth Jennings’ inexperience and the difficulties inherent in trying to keep Douglas Adams’ absurdist wit intact in a mainstream blockbuster. Then again, Jennings appeared as “Fun-Dead Zombie” in Shaun Of The Dead — surely a sign that his sense of humour’s in the right place — and inspired casting choices suggest that Adams’ eccentric comedy hasn’t been completely purged.

The most recent — and utterly fab — news is as follows: Alan Rickman will voice Marvin the Paranoid Android (a highly intelligent but clinically depressed cyborg), while comedian Bill Bailey will lend his troll-like tones to the musings of the aforementioned sperm whale (formerly a pair of nuclear missiles and close relative to a bowl of petunias — don't ask).

Both actors are British, come with sci-fi credentials (Rickman starred in Galaxy Quest and Bailey claims to be part-Klingon) and, most importantly, are funny as hell. That whiff of excitement has just got a little, well, whiffier…

Georgiana (today's articles courtesy of Suzanne from an anonymous donor)
Seattle - Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Sigourney Weaver ready to shoot film in Wawa
By David Helwig
SooToday.com
Monday, February 21, 2005
Copyright ©2005 SooToday.com

Actress Sigourney Weaver, nominated three times for Academy Awards for her roles in Aliens, Working Girl and Gorillas in the Mist, is expected to come to Algoma next month to shoot a major film.

SooToday.com has learned that a producer and location manager are in Wawa this morning, scouting locations for Snow Cake, starring Weaver and Alan Rickman (shown together in the 1999 sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest).

Rickman is Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films.

Shooting in Wawa isn't expected to begin until late March, and final decisions on location aren't expected until later this week at the earliest, but the script has been specifically written for Wawa.

This morning, Wawa Mayor Rod Morrison is escorting the scouting team around town.

'They love our Broadway Avenue'

"We're quite excited. They're very close to making a decision," Morrison told SooToday.com during a break from his tour-guide duties.

"The script called for a place with a lot of snow, and Wawa came to their mind," the mayor says. "They love our Broadway Avenue."

Rickman and Weaver, will come to Wawa to film the picture, Morrison tells SooToday.com, adding that the cast is also expected to include Jennifer Tilley.

Other locations that have so far impressed the location team include Wawa Lake, Lake Superior, the Queens Park residential area, and of course, the famous Wawa Goose.

The advance crew is also enthusaiastic about the Michipicoten Mission and the cozy fireplace at the Wawa Motor Inn.

Weaver plays high-functioning autistic woman

Snow Cake is described as a "quirky" drama set in Wawa in mid-winter.

It portrays a relationship between a high-functioning autistic woman and a brooding man traumatized by a fatal car accident.

Weaver spent time last summer with a group of autistic adults to prepare for the role.

"It's not about autism per se, but I would say it maybe tries to show you that people with this condition are maybe not that comfortable in our world," the star told one online news outlet.

The script is written by Angela Pell, a novice British screenplay writer, and the director is a 'indie' Welshman, Marc Evans.

Click here to learn how Evans persuaded Weaver to take the role

Producer did The Red Violin

It's a joint UK-Canadian co-production linking Niv Fichman, who produced The Red Violin, with UK producers Gina Carter and Andrew Eaton.

In a story published last week, ScreenDaily.com quotes Carter as saying that Rickman signed onto the concept immediately and sent the script to his Galaxy Quest co-star Sigourney Weaver, who took only four days to agree to participate.

"Anyone who has ever read it has really loved it. It's very fresh. Angela hasn't been in years and years of script writing courses; her characters have a type of innocence," the producer said.

Sigourney Weaver's three Oscar nominations:

- Aliens (1986) - best actress in a leading role

- Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey (1988) - best actress in a leading role

- Working Girl (1988) - best actress in a supporting role

Weaver, 54, is currently starring in Sony Pictures' Imaginary Heroes, playing a tobacco-addicted suburban mom who feuds with her neighbor.

Sorry, but it's not currently showing at Galaxy Cinema at Station Mall or at the Varsity Cinemas in the Michigan Soo.

Weaver's acting job this month is in Every Word Is True, about Truman Capote's relationships with two convicted murders while researching his book In Cold Blood.

Her co-stars in that production are said to include Gwyneth Paltrow, Sandra Bullock and Toby Jones.

Printed from SooToday.com on 3/1/2005

Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Barchester Chronicles is being relesed on Region 2 dvd on 25th April 2005
Sue
England - Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Those clever dudes on the Ain't It Cool News site have seen a rough cut of Hitchhiker's Guide, and their review (including some nice comments about Alan Rickman as Marvin) are included. aint-it-cool news Enjoy! (Or, as Marvin would look at it, only one paragraph about what I really want to know?)
Quester
- Monday, February 28, 2005

Slightly different New HitchHiker's trailer on SKY
Sue
England - Sunday, February 27, 2005

From the Daily Telegraph website:

Alan Milburn, Labour's general election supremo, came under fire yesterday for hosting a champagne reception for well-known supporters as the party's poll lead over the Conservatives was trimmed.

Mr Milburn will co-host the event tomorrow night at an undisclosed location in central London with Patrick Stewart, the Star Trek actor, who is one of Labour's leading showbusiness supporters and donors. Invitations have been sent to an array of stars, including the actors Alan Rickman and Richard Wilson, as well as Mick Hucknall, the Simply Red singer.

Tony Blair is also understood to be attending the event, from which the media have been excluded.
Shanda <shandamint@yahoo.comfoo>
North Carolina United States - Saturday, February 26, 2005

New "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" trailer at www.ugo.com with a couple of scenes with Marvin/AR's voice!
k.r.
- Saturday, February 26, 2005

From the Mirror.co.uk website's "3am" column:

Amy Nuttall sipping a £350 cocktail called Cristal Tipps at Huddersfield's Lounge 68... Alan Rickman the cast of Channel 4's Green Wing and Ridley Scott, dining at the Wolseley, London... The Queen smoothing her hair as police stopped traffic to let her car pass Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly, London...

From Toptable Reviews : Once upon a time The Wolseley was the name of a top-of-the-range motorcar, all traditional British engineering and sharp Italian styling. These days, the marque's flagship showrooms are a new centre of British tradition and international styling, although this time it's all about food, decor, seeing and being seen. The Wolseley is the newest enterprise of super-restaurateurs Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, the chaps behind The Ivy, Le Caprice and J Sheekey. The listed building is kitted out in fine style, quite elegant but laid out brasserie-style so discreetly craning necks can spot the stars. And stars there are, not him-off-the-telly stars, but actual hushed-voice-oh-my-God stars. The genius of the place is the way they're mixed in with us plebs, like cashmere with trainers - it's fun and funky and it works. Chris Galvin, formerly of Conran restaurants, oversees the menu, a mixture of the familiar from the other kitchens, like Eggs Benedict and Bubble and Squeak, caviar, smoked salmon, added to some Austro-Hungarian empire delicacies, like Wiener Schnitzel. The Wolseley serves from early to late, breakfast to supper, with a nice line in Austrian pastries for teatime. The prices are not stratospheric, either. Expect this classic to still be shining for years to come.

The Wolseley
160 Piccadilly
London>br> W1J 9EB

cuisine: Modern Eclectic
average price : £37 (€54)
dress code: smart casual

K.
- Thursday, February 24, 2005

Suzanne, Keith, Sheena, Carol -- thanks for sharing and linking to all those great photos of Alan at the Hotel Rwanda preem. He looks sleek and handsome.

There's one small photo of him at LFI too --

And some thumbnails at Rex Features --

Slope
Canada - Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Photo in tonight's Evening Standard from last night's Hotel Rwanda Premiere.
Sue
England - Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Your photos are great, Keith, thank you! And for the info and links, too.

And thanks, Carol and Sheena for more links! He's looking SO good. Hope he had a fantastic time on his birthday.

I have an account at wireimage.com, so I have some larger photos for you:
Hotel Rwanda premiere 1
Hotel Rwanda premiere 2
Hotel Rwanda premiere 3
Hotel Rwanda premiere 4
Hotel Rwanda premiere 5
Hotel Rwanda premiere 6
Hotel Rwanda premiere 7
Hotel Rwanda premiere 8

And thanks, Howard, for the Snow Cake update! Things are getting exciting.

I'm so happy to see we surpassed our £1,000 goal for RADA and are now over £1,200! Congratulations, everyone! What a wonderful birthday present for AR. Thanks again, Catherine, for arranging it!

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Monday, February 21, 2005

Snowcake Update: Pre-production people are in Wawa this week doing location selection/evaluation. It appears that the script has been re-written with 10 to 15 minutes of location content and I noticed on another website mention is made of sometime in March. No 'formal' announcement has been made, but,.. it appears this location is almost a sure bet.

For those who have never travelled along the north shore of Lake Superior, it is rated as one of the top ten drives in Canada - particularly popular during the fall colour season. A lot of history in this area...you have to know where to go..

One thing for sure, we do have snow - still is snow at the end of March, and a lot of snowmobilers come this way then. The 'cold' is not that bad... it tends to be dry... despite some of the weather we get off of Lake Superior. Felt a lot colder 'down south' where it is much damper. March mean temps min/max are in the freezing to -10 below freezing range.
Best Wishes

Howard Whent <hwhent@onlink.netfoo>
Wawa, Ontario Canada - Monday, February 21, 2005

Here are some more pictures from the Premiere tonight Isifa.

Sheena <dragon@amberdragon.freeserve.co.ukfoo>
Berkshire, UK - Monday, February 21, 2005

Hope this link works---here are some of tonight's pictures from Getty!

Carol
Michigan - Monday, February 21, 2005

[Keith's photos]: PHOTO #1

PHOTO #2

PHOTO #3

PHOTO #4

PHOTO #5

PHOTO #6

PHOTO #7

KEITH <screentwo_uk@hotmail.comfoo>
BEDFORD, UK - Monday, February 21, 2005

KEITH , <screentwo_uk@hotmail.comfoo>
BEDFORD, UK - Monday, February 21, 2005

I can tell you that there will be some on WIREIMAGE later (Shami, James and Tim were all there, but I know 2 of them were off on another job afterwards and they were not expecting to get the pix in to Wire till midnight or even the morning). FILMMAGIC were also there, the 2 French guys they use Goffredo (Max Artis) and Fred (Sarah Seymour) will have their pics up probably before you American ladies go to bed. Mark and Can were there for LFI, but Mark's first few pics are on site, but only those of Sophie Okonedo, Alan's will be added in the morning I guess.

There are some on WENN currently (and a right pair of muppets their snappers are!)

There will be some pics on UPPA, As Nathan was shooting next to me - try http://www.uppa.co.uk/uppa/event/index.bhtml - tomorrow
KEITH <screentwo_uk@hotmail.comfoo>
BEDFORD, UK - Monday, February 21, 2005

Well, I did tell you all....

Despite today being Alan's Birthday, he did brave the snow flurries tonight to attend the UK Charity Premiere of 'Hotel Rwanda' in aid of Amnesty International.

He arrived fairly early in the proceedings at 6.40pm (with a smaller red haired lady - Rima?), posed by the doors for the waiting Press photographers - myself amongst them. Then went inside to hopefully enjoy the movie, relax and have the rest of his Birthday in peace.

I did shout out to him "Happy Birthday Alan" and I'm sure I heard a "thank you" in reply - he was in the midst of a barrage of flashes at the time too.

KEITH <screentwo_uk@hotmail.comfoo>
BEDFORD, UK - Monday, February 21, 2005

Hi all!

I was just wondering if anybody knows anything about this event?
You'll have to scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you'll see that The Man will be having a "conversation" with a leading journalist in June of this year. I was just wondering if anybody knew anything about this event, i.e is it open to the public? will anyone here be attending? etc.

Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can share!

SARF
NZ - Sunday, February 20, 2005

I received a couple of e-mails from Steve (thank you!) with the following Snow Cake news:

MOVIEFONE EXCLUSIVE Q&A WITH SIGOURNEY WEAVER:
From Action Hero to 'Imaginary' Hero
- by Kevin Polowy

(relevant text):
Q: What do you have coming up next?
A: I'm playing a character in a movie called 'Snowcake,' which stars Alan Rickman. And I play a woman with autism and OCD that he has to stay with a few days. And the great thing about the movie is the story is written by the mother of someone who's autistic, but it's not about this woman with a "handicap" -- Linda is a great character and she has autism. And I've done a lot of research, I'm really excited. We start in about three weeks. And before that I'm going to play Babe Paley, who's a big fashion icon in the '50s and '60s, married to the head of CBS, and a good friend of Truman Capote's; its for Doug McGrath, who wrote 'Every Word is True' about Truman Capote writing 'In Cold Blood.' And I'm one of his swans in this group of very attractive, cosmopolitan women that he hung out with when he was in the city. So it's a nice balance to go from one thing to another, and they're both great scripts.

------------------------------------------------

And the following article from today's issue of ScreenDaily.com:

Icing sealed on Cake Weaver, Rickman set to roll

Adam Minns in Berlin
18 February 2005 04:00

A year after Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver committed to the project, Snow Cake has finally come together.

UK producers Andrew Eaton and Gina Carter have set up the drama as a UK-Canadian co-production with Niv Fichman, producer of The Red Violin.

Fortissimo Film Sales is selling worldwide rights, while a deal is being finalised with support body the UK Film Council's Premiere Fund. Director Marc Evans is now in Canada preparing to start shooting next month.

First-time writer Angela Pell, the wife of actor-comedian Steve Coogan's business partner Henry Normal, wrote 'casting: Alan Rickman' when she sent out the script a year ago. Rickman liked it immediately and sent it to Sigourney Weaver, his co-star in Galaxy Quest, who committed after just four days.

"When you read a name of the front, it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role," said Carter. "We were terribly nervous meeting Alan because we had nowhere else to go. We had allocated an hour for the meeting to try to persuade him, but he walked in and said, 'if this was a house I would ask you to take it off the market.'"

But casting was the least of the filmmakers' problems as changes in UK tax financing rules blew a hole in the budget. Carter and Eaton - who worked with Coogan on Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People and Tristram Shandy - had been counting on 25% of the budget from tax money. They had to patch up the budget with a sale and leaseback deal and Canadian soft money.

"The problem was mostly about being able to make it for the right level of budget," said Eaton. "When you lose 10%, it's a big difference."

The script revolves around the relationship of Rickman and Weaver's characters. He is traumatised after being involved in a fatal car accident; she is a complex single mother with autism.

"It's not about autism per se, but I would say it maybe tries to show you that people with this condition are maybe not that comfortable in our world," Weaver told one online site.

Carter added: "Anyone who has ever read it has really loved it. It's very fresh. Angela hasn't been in years and years of script writing courses; her characters have a type of innocence."

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Saturday, February 19, 2005

IMPORTANT INFO FOR U.K FANS

I've just received this email from the PR Company organising Monday night's HOTEL RWANDA Premiere in London. It reads....

"Please find attached press release on this Monday's event.

Attended by Oscar® Nominee Sophie Okonedo And Director Terry George

Hosted for Amnesty International by John Simpson CBE

Other guests confirmed to attend --- Imelda Staunton, Amanda Donahoe, Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Rickman, John Madden, Mark Thomas, Bill Bailey, Sean Hughes, June Sarpong, Tamzin Outhwaite, Colin Salmon, Chris Ofili, Ian Hislop, Tom Paulin, Paul Ross, Jay Jopling and Sam Taylor-Wood"

Well, it obviously not guaranteed Alan will attend, but he's on the list as 'confirmed attendees' according to the PR Company. He supports causes like Amnesty, so.......Anyone in London might like to look in at the Premiere at ODEON WEST END, LEICESTER SQUARE

KEITH <screentwo_uk@hotmail.comfoo>
BEDFORD, UK - Friday, February 18, 2005

Received an e-mail from Emma (thank you!) with the following two photo attachments:

The first photo, by Simon Annand, was taken backstage at the Albery Theatre, London, during Private Lives and is included in an exhibition of his work titled "The Dressing Room" at the Theatre Museum, London, which Georgiana kindly posted an article about on the News & Info page on Feb. 3rd. It was also published in the Feb. 1st issue of Time Out magazine, which can be downloaded here for £2.35. And in case you haven't seen it already, the second photo is the cover of the current issue (February #92) of Xpose magazine, which includes an article about 13 Magic Moments from the Harry Potter saga. PLUS a Coming Attractions Special, previewing the upcoming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire film, complete with new photos! If you can't find it on newsstands, it can be ordered online here

Thanks again, Emma!

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Thursday, February 17, 2005

Here's a link to a HHGTTG trailer - but unfortunately there's none of our Man's voice included. Trailer

Glowbox
France - Wednesday, February 16, 2005

OK, this sounds more like it...in another Sigourney Weaver article, it says--"In the spring she continues, filming two new movies: ``Snow Cake,'' a British film co-starring Alan Rickman, and ``Every Word Is True,'' one of two upcoming movies about Truman Capote."

From `Imaginary' obstacle: Sigourney Weaver doesn't let Hollywood's ageism stand in her way

(source: bostonherald.com)

Slope
Canada - Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Limited
The Times (London)
February 15, 2005, Tuesday
SECTION: Home news; 12
LENGTH: 121 words
HEADLINE: Extra special help for Minghella
BYLINE: Andrew Pierce

To the palatial dining room of the Middle Temple for a Valentine's Day poetry recital with Alan Rickman, Adrian Lester, Jerry Hall, Simon Callow, Imogen Stubbs, Patricia Hodge and Juliet Stevenson. There was also an auction for the Arvon Foundation, which helps young people's writing skills. It was for a walk-on role and a day on the set of the Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella's next film Breaking and Entering.

Bidding was fast and furious but when it reached £6,000 it emerged that the two bidders were Callow and Hall, who were enjoying the wheeze hugely. When they retired, bidding resumed for the day out with Minghella, the patron of the foundation, and reached £2,000...from a real bidder.

Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Copyright 2005 NewsQuest Media Group Limited
UK Newsquest Regional Press - This is Bradford
February 11, 2005
LENGTH: 703 words
HEADLINE: Craven through the years

. . . . . . . . . .

10 Years Ago

TOP actor Alan Rickman (who starred in the films Robin Hood Prince of Thieves; Die Hard and Truly Madly Deeply visited Aireville School to carry out a theatre workshop. He had presented them with an award for their play Launching PTL which had been performed at the National Theatre where he was so impressed that he promised to visit the school. The play had been written and produced by the school's drama teacher Patrick Dowman.

. . . . . . . . .

Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, February 14, 2005

HERE is the picture taken at The Royal Court Theatre gala on Wednesday night.
Sue
England - Friday, February 11, 2005

Hi everyone - it's birthday time!

I've been in touch with RADA again this year about another donation to them to celebrate Alan's birthday, and they are very keen to be involved again. Last year we raised over £1000, which was more than double the nearly £400 we raised in 2003.

RADA guarantee that funds raised via the Alan Rickman birthday donation go through their student bursary fund to an individual student who, because of circumstances outside of their control, need money to enable them to continue their study and training at RADA. Alan regularly shows his continuing support for RADA, and he is joint Vice Chairman there.

For anyone who wishes to donate, here's how it works. It is all done through a website called Justgiving. This simplifies the process for all who want to donate, and also ensures that RADA receive the maximum amount of money possible from the donations. For those who pay tax in the UK (like me!), it is possible to use their Gift Aid option to increase the money even further.

The site has just gone up today, and I have tested it out by starting the donations off. It's just as quick and easy as last year. The site address is
http://www.justgiving.com/alanrickmanbirthday
which will take you straight to the correct page, and then all you need to do is follow the steps to make a donation via credit or debit card (it's no different to using a site like Amazon). You can also add a birthday message for people to read, or make donations anonymously if you wish.

If anyone wants any more information, please e-mail me (catherineharpham@hotmail.com), and I'll do what I can to answer your question.

So, let the celebrations begin - happy donating, and of course an early Happy Birthday wish to Alan, too!

Catherine , <catherineharpham@hotmail.comfoo>
Reading, UK - Wednesday, February 10, 2005

Copyright 2005 NewsQuest Media Group Limited
UK Newsquest Regional Press - This is Local London
February 10, 2005
LENGTH: 412 words
HEADLINE: A film revolution
BYLINE: Craig Nelson

Budding movie stars at Carshalton's Camden Junior School have been given a crash course in cinematic craft by the head of acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Jenny Buckman took a special acting class for 50 pupils who have been cast to appear in a short film Death of the Revolution which is being shot at the school during half-term.

As well as learning about life on a film set the children were also introduced to members of the 30-strong film crew which includes the three time BAFTA-nominated directors Chris and Ben Blaine.

Head teacher Denise Birkett said: "All the children involved have been having a wonderful time. They loved every minute of their time with Jenny and are getting really excited about the film shoot.

"It's such a fantastic opportunity for them."

Part-time film producer Barrington Robinson worked with Chris and Ben on their last film Free Speech which was featured at last year's Cannes Film Festival.

When they showed him the script for Death of the Revolution he suggested Camden Juniors of which he is a parent governor as a location.

Chris and Ben hand-picked the 60-strong cast which is almost entirely made up from pupils at the Carshalton School.

Each child had to take part in a week of auditions and only four parts were given to children from outside the junior school to pupils from Sutton Stagecoach.

Alistair Marshall a year six pupil at Camden Juniors was chosen to play the lead character a young boy who dreams of starting a classroom revolution after being told off by his teacher for stealing a pencil.

Barrington said: "We have some great people working on this film. Co-producer Quinny Sacks has vast experience as a choreographer. Her last film was Troy.

"Our first assistant director Toby Hefferman recently finished work on Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We even had the chance to cast Alan Rickman in a cameo role as the headmaster but we didn't want him to overshadow the children.

"This film is all about the children. It will be a great experience for them. I wish I'd had the chance to star in a film when I was 10-years-old."

While the film may be part-funded by Jonathan Ross Barrington would still be grateful of any last minute help from the local business community. Volunteers from Carshalton College will be catering and ASDA has supplied some food but more is needed.

If you can help email ben@charlieproductions.co.uk

Georgiana (Is he or isn't he?)
Seattle - Thursday, February 10, 2005

Copyright 2005 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
The Evening Standard (London)
February 10, 2005
LENGTH: 144 words

Paxman bites back

JEREMY Paxman responds in his inimitable style to a stinging attack by Michael Leapman in last week's New Statesman.

In a pi

NDiana Quick, Rosamund Pike and Alan Rickman (pictured from left) were among a stellar line-up at the Royal Court Theatre's annual fundraising gala last night. In a silent auction, the theatre's artistic director Ian Rickson offered acting lessons; actress Gillian Anderson offered one lucky bidder the chance to have dinner with her; and actor Richard Wilson - better known as Victor Meldrew - offered to have lunch at The Wolsley with whoever put in the highest bid for his lot. Samuel West, who is shortly to leave London to become artistic director of the Sheffield Theatres, told me he was looking forward to lunch with Wilson. 'I'll probably bore Richard senseless,' he said with a smile.

Georgiana (I know it doesn't make sense--this is how it came up on LexisNexis)
Seattle - Thursday, February 10, 2005

Copyright 2005 BPI Communication, Inc.
BPI Entertainment News Wire
February 9, 2005, Wednesday
SECTION: Entertainment News
LENGTH: 1003 words
HEADLINE: Suburban Sigourney; ENTERTAINMENT NEWS WIRE FEATURE; (1,000)
BYLINE: By ANGELA DAWSON, Entertainment News Wire
DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD

In her newest film, "Imaginary Heroes," Sigourney Weaver plays a caustic, nicotine-addicted suburban mother engaged in a nasty feud with her next-door neighbor and hiding enough skeletons in her closet to make the Desperate Housewives blush.

. . . . . . . . . .

Bouncing between studio productions and independent fare, her recent credits include "Tadpole," "The Guys," "Holes" and "The Village." She recently wrapped "Snow Cake," a British independent drama co-starring Alan Rickman.

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana (I guess it was Ontario in the winter!)
Seattle - Thursday, February 10, 2005

Copyright 2005 Financial Times Information
All rights reserved
Global News Wire - Europe Intelligence Wire
Copyright 2005 Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited
The Independent
February 10, 2005
LENGTH: 577 words
HEADLINE: OSCAR HOPES FOR SCORSESE'S AVIATOR' ARE GIVEN LIFT BY THE CRITICS CRITICS' CIRCLE AWARD BODES WELL FOR SCORSESE'S OSCAR HOPES
BYLINE: Louise Jury Arts Correspondent

MARTIN SCORSESE was named director of the year by the London Critics' Circle yesterday for The Aviator, his epic about the life of the millionaire, Howard Hughes, in a vote that will cheer those who believe this is the year when he will be finally honoured at the Oscars.

But Scorsese, one of the most feted directors never to have won a best director Academy Award, was beaten to the film of the year award at last night's glittering awards by Sideways, the wine-centred buddy movie that is also a hot favourite for the Oscars.

The director headed the list of stars, including Cate Blanchett, Imelda Staunton, Daniel Craig, Bob Hoskins and Alan Rickman who attended the 25th anniversary ceremony which was hosted by Mariella Frostrup at the Dorchester Hotel in London in aid of the NSPCC.

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, February 10, 2005

Copyright 2005 Telegraph Group Limited
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
February 07, 2005, Monday
SECTION: Features; The Arts Pg. 15
LENGTH: 448 words
HEADLINE: The insider guide to coming attractions
BYLINE: by Nicola Christie

He was a revelation as a wan and tormented Hamlet in Trevor Nunn's "youth" production at the Old Vic last year. Now 24-year-old Ben Whishaw has landed the role of the murderous Jean-Baptiste Grenouille in a film adaptation of Patrick Susskind's 18th-century period thriller Perfume. "I'm really happy to be a part of this exciting project," Whishaw says. One would imagine he is. Every actor worth his salt has been trying to get his hands on this gig. In this gripping tale set in the Paris slums, Grenouille is born without his own smell but an extraordinary ability to sniff out that of others. Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer apparently beat Ridley Scott to the job of directing. Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman will co-star. Shooting is set to start in early July -- one location that has been hinted at is Barcelona. Whishaw, in the meantime, is on stage at Plymouth Theatre Royal in Philip Ridley's new play Mercury Fur. The production will transfer to London's Chocolate Factory on March 1. . . .

Georgiana
back in Seattle - Wednesday, February 09, 2005

ADVANCE NOTICE....

LONDON - 26 April - Film Premiere of 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'. - Cinema to be confirmed.

With Alan directing his stage play around that time, I guess there might be a good chance that 'Marvin the Paranoid Android' might make an appearance...??

NOTE This is the date that was released by the Movie's PR Agents TODAY. It might not be 'set in stone', but it also coincides with a license application to Westminster City Council for the Premiere on that date. So put it in your diaries, but dont book those flight tickets just yet, ladies.

Also - British Academy Awards this Saturday... will Alan be there? He's around town at the moment.
KEITH <screentwo_uk@hotmail.comfoo>
BEDFORD, UK - Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Another sighting/pic of Alan from a couple of days ago - which I bet none of you have seen before at all....at the 'make Poverty History' Rally in Trafalgar Square, London. Nelson Mandela was the main speaker and Alan was 'in the crowd'...

HERE

And think yourselves lucky as I've not seen any pics of Alan from this event on any other Pic Agency site - this one comes from PHOTOlink, a US Agency that I supply pics to.
KEITH <screentwo_uk@hotmail.comfoo>
BEDFORD, UK - Saturday, February 05, 2005

Copyright 2005 Time Out Group
Time Out
February 02, 2005
SECTION: Pg. 140
LENGTH: 389 words
HEADLINE: Focus on. . .'The Dressing Room'; Theatre: Preview

For the last twenty years, Simon Annand has been taking photographs of actors intheir dressing rooms during 'the half', the half hour before the show starts, when all members of the public are required to leave the backstage area and the actors prepare to go on stage. On February 9, 'The Dressing Room', an exhibitionof his work, opens at the Theatre Museum, which will include photographs of CateBlanchett, Daniel Day-Lewis, Michael Gambon, Mark Rylance, Imelda Staunton and Alan Rickman.

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana (off to New York)
Seattle - Thursday, February 03, 2005

Here's the latest on Hitchhiker's Guide: Test Screening review
Glowbox
France - Thursday, February 03, 2005

An Awfully Big Adventure is released on Region 1 dvd on April 19th. See HERE for details.
Sue
England - Thursday, February 03, 2005

There is a website about the group which is currently under construction: Dimpho Di Kopane

I will add more about the book later, as I don't have time to write much at the moment. However, I can tell you that Alan Rickman is a member of The International Council of Dimpho Di Kopane, along with Lord Attenborough CBE, and Simon Callow, to name a couple of the more famous Council members.

The book reads as a wonderful marketing tool to publicize the Dimpho Di Kipane lyric theatre company and may have been created for just that purpose. The company was created after the end of Apartheid to provide a platform for South African performers. The book is filled with magnificent color photos of the company in performace.

Mystery Guest
- Wednesday, February 02, 2005

It has been ages since I've read this Guest Book, and lo and behold there is something I can add! On January 26th, SARF asked about Alan's foreword to the book, "A Short History of Dimpho Di Kopane: A South African Lyric Theatre Company." I happen to have a copy of this beautiful book. SARF, to answer your question, this what Alan's foreword consists of:

Audiences seem to spend too much time in the theatre wondering what's for dinner. All too often they're watching something vaguely tasteful that can comfortably be filed away for future reference. Occasionally theatre creashes through its own boundaries and redefines itself. Tells us something we didn't know. Provides a shock to the senses. Reminds us that we are alive. I first saw Dimpho Di Kopane in Yiiminangaliso The Mysteries at Wilton's Music Hall in 2001. Their skill and total absence of self-consciousness, added to a love of performing that ran from head to foot of every member of the company, gave the audience an almost vicarious thrill. It continued with Carmen and Ibali looTsotsi The Beggar's Opera and I felt it again when I visited the set of U-Carmen eKhayelitsha as it was being filmed in South Africa.

It is clear that the work of Dimpho Di Kopane, Mark Dornford-May and Charles Hazlewood has a kind of joyous inevitability about it. Their time has come. I am glad to be in the audience, clinging happily to their coat-tails.

Alan Rickman

Mystery Guest
- Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Just in case any of you missed it - NEW pic of Alan is here on Getty from last night's Almeida Theatre's 25th Anniversary Gala Evening in London

ALAN

KEITH <screentwo_uk@hotmail.comfoo>
BEDFORD, UK - Saturday, January 29, 2005

Hi everyone, it's been a long time since I posted here so I really hope I don't mess this up.

I have had an email from Scott Stevens, the producer of Broadway Bears, with reference to the Alan Rickman Bear that is to be auctioned on 20th Feb [See http://www.broadwaycares.org/events]. He says:

"The Alan Rickman bear commemorates his performance as Le Vicomte de Valmont in LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES. The bear has been finished for some time and our webmaster has the photo already so it shoudl not be much longer I wouldn't think, before it is up on line!"

He describes the bear in an earlier mail as "beautiful" :-)

Frankie
Wales UK - Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Copyright 2005 Reed Elsevier Inc.
Daily Variety
January 21, 2005, Friday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 8
LENGTH: 124 words
HEADLINE: Fry hitches star ride with 'Galaxy'
BYLINE: ADAM DAWTREY

LONDON --- Stephen Fry has joined the cast of Disney feature "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Fry will play the disembodied voice of the eponymous electronic book, which dispenses advice about backpacking through the universe.

Martin Freeman plays hapless hero Arthur Dent, Mos Def is his extra-terrestrial best friend Ford Prefect, Sam Rockwell is galactic president Zaphod Beeblebrox and Zooey Deschanel is Trillion, Zaphod's girlfriend.

The supporting cast includes Bill Nighy and John Malkovich. Voice cast members include Alan Rickman, Richard Griffiths and Ian McNeice.

Pic, in post-production, is directed by Garth Jennings and produced by Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Jonathan Glickman, Jay Roach and Nick Goldsmith.

Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Copyright 2005 EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS
The Express
January 25, 2005
SECTION: U.K. 1st Edition; COLUMNS; Pg. 39
LENGTH: 367 words
HEADLINE: NOW JULIE FALLS VICTIM TO HARRY POTTER AXE; DAY & NIGHT
BYLINE: KATHRYN SPENCER, JULIE CARPENTER & KATE BOHDANOWICZ

SHE IS unquestionably one of the nation's best-loved actresses but the effervescent Julie Walters has been snubbed by the makers of the fourth Harry Potter film. The Educating Rita star played Molly Weasley - the congenial mother of Harry's best friend Ron - in the first three wizard flicks, based on JK Rowling's best-selling novels.

But Walters, whose acclaimed films include Billy Elliot and Calendar Girls, will not, we can reveal, be featuring in the eagerly-awaited next instalment - Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire - as film execs have completely cut her part.

"To be honest, I was a bit hurt not to be in it, " the affable 54-year-old tells us. "The kids love the Harry Potter films so much and I get lots of mail about it.

"I can understand why they've had to pare down the film as the book is so long but I am really hoping I'll be in again for the next one." The twice Oscarnominated actress, who received an OBE in 1999 and is a multi BAFTAw inner, is not the only casualty of some fierce character pruning. As w e revealed last year, Richard Griffiths and Fiona Shaw, who play Harry's reprehensible Uncle and Aunt Dursley, have already found themselves surplus to requirements.

Actors reprising their roles in the new film include Michael Gambon as headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall, Alan Rickman as Professor Snape, Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid and Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry. New stars who have come on board include Ralph Fiennes, who will play Lord Voldemort, and warbler Jarvis Cocker.

"With such a sizeable book it's not possible to include all scenes and all characters", says a spokesman for the film. "That is not to say that we won't see characters returning in future films."

Walters, who has a 17-year-old daughter Maisie with her husband Grant, is gearing up to reprise her role as the traywielding Boadicea Overall in the musical version of Acorn Antiques opening at London's Theatre Royal on Thursday and will be seen in ITV drama Ahead Of The Class.

Asked whether she favours a campaign to re-instate her in the next Potter flick, she smiles sweetly: "Oh yes - do start one."

Consider it done.

Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, January 25, 2005

More info pinched shamelessly from Claudia's site. Someone (Frankie, I believe) emailed the Arvon Foundation for more details.

"Hello and thank you very much for your email. Yes, the actors who we are working with will be involved in romantic readings at tables throughout the evening. We yet to confirm the actors but they will be from a pool who have agreed to participate, subject to availability, including Simon Callow, Tara Fitzgerald, Patricia Hodge, Adrian Lester, Andrew Lincoln, Angharad Rees, Alan Rickman, Rufus Sewell, Fiona Shaw, Juliet Stevenson and Imogen Stubbs. The readings that participants can make sealed bids for prior to the evening are:

1. Christina Rossetti The First Day

2. William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18, Shall I compare thee

3. Letter from Bonaparte Napoleon to Josephine, Paris December 1795

4. Edmond Rostand Cyrano de Bergerac Letter from Cyrano to Roxane

The idea is that you can bid for an actor to read one of these at your table for someone you are with, or even for yourself!"

martha
maine - Friday, January 21, 2005

The Arvon Foundation and Anthony Minghella are hosting

LOVE LETTERS - A Gala Dinner and Auction

Guests will be able to bid on dedicated romantic readings from:

Simon Callow, Tara Fitzgerald, Patricia Hodge, Adrian Lester, Angharad Rees, Alan Rickman, Rufus Sewell, Fiona Shaw, Juliet Stevenson and Imogen Stubbs (amongst others, subject to availability)

Love Letters will take place at 7pm on Thursday 10th February 2005 at Middle Temple Hall, Middle Temple Lane, London EC4

Tickets: £125

For more information or to book your tickets contact Philip Cowell on 020 7931 7611 or email london@arvonfoundation.org

Okay, ladies?

Renie
*sigh*, - Thursday, January 20, 2005

"Something the Lord Made" has four "Satellite Award" nominations.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy opens May 6 according to this: H2G2

Official H2G2 site here
Slope
Canada - Friday, January 14, 2005

Can anyone find a picture of the AR bear? (I always thought he was a cuddly teddy bear!)

Broadway Bears VIII to Benefit BC/EFA
by BWW News Desk

It’s time for the fur to fly this year at the eighth annual BROADWAY BEARS auction on Sunday, February 20, 2005 at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill (237 W. 42nd St), in support of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Sure to out-do last year’s collection, 40 one-of-a-kind BROADWAY BEARS - each dressed in original, handmade costumes representing some of the theater’s most legendary performers and/or performances - will be put up for auction.

Once again this year’s BROADWAY BEARS will be hosted by Bryan Batt (Beauty and the Beast, Jeffrey, and La Cage Aux Folles).

This year's cast of forty bears features autographed bears representing such shows as Avenue Q,, Dame Edna: Back With A Vengence, Thoroughly Modern Millie, A Year With Frog & Toad, Rent, Wicked, Cats, Bombay Dreams, I Am My Own Wife, The Frogs, A Raisin In The Sun, Movin’ Out, Wonderful Town, Master Class, Tea And Sympathy, Sweeney Todd, Jelly’s Last Jam, Beauty And The Beast, Anything Goes, Anna In The Tropics, Brooklyn, High Button Shoes and The Boy From Oz.

Once again, many of THE BROADWAY BEARS will be autographed by the stars they represent, including Hugh Jackman, Eileen Atkins, Dame Edna, Tonya Pinkins, Kristin Chenoweth, Audra McDonald, Vanessa Redgrave, Angela Lansbury, Glenn Close, Bernadette Peters, Sutton Foster, Stephen Sondheim, Melba Moore, Tovah Feldshuh, Beth Fowler, Nathan Lane, Tammy Grimes, Jefferson Mays, Phylicia Rashad, Idina Menzel, Donna Murphy, Linda Ronstadt, Billy Joel, Alan Rickman, Sean Combs, John Barrowman, Barbara Cook, John Cameron Mitchell, Moisés Kaufman, Donna Murphy, Doris Eaton Travis, Anthony Rapp and Zoe Caldwell.

The entire Broadway Bears VIII collection can be previewed online at www.BroadwayCares.org.

Tickets for a private reception beginning at 6PM are $150 and include a VIP advance preview of all the bears to be auctioned, reserved priority seating, and open bar. General admission tickets (unreserved seating) are $35, and also include open bar. Doors open at 7PM for all general admission ticket holders, and the auction begins at 8PM.

Reservations may be made by calling BC/EFA at (212) 840-0770, extension 268. For those who cannot make it to the auction, but nonetheless want to take part in all the excitement, live telephone bidding will also be available as are pre-registered fixed bids by calling (212) 840-0770, extension 228. Internet bidding is available by visiting www.BroadwayCares.org.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) is the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fund raising and grant making organization. BC/EFA is the on-going, committed response from the American theater community to an urgent worldwide health crisis. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of this community, BC/EFA raises funds for AIDS-related causes across the United States. Since it’s founding in 1988, BC/EFA has distributed over $100 million for critically needed services for people with AIDS, HIV, or HIV-related illnesses.
Alan bear
Slope
Canada - Friday, January 14, 2005

Copyright 2005 NEWS GROUP NEWSPAPERS LTD
The Sun
January 10, 2005
SECTION: TELLY SURVERY SPECIAL; TV BIZ; TELEVISION
LENGTH: 736 words
HEADLINE: KING OF DEL-EVISION
BYLINE: Emily Smith

DAVID "Del Boy" Jason is crowned the telly star you love the most - and Only Fools And Horses your all-time favourite show in a revealing Sun telly poll.

With EastEnders' ratings in freefall, talk of the reality bubble bursting and debate over the licence fee, we decided to get YOURthoughts about TV.

When it comes to glamour, Samia Ghadie, far right - who plays Corrie's sexy hairdresser Maria Sutherland - is easily on top in the telling snapshot of Britain's viewing habits.

In our nationwide poll we get to the bottom of exactly what you love and what you loathe on the box.

BBC1 is your favourite channel - but nearly two thirds of you want the TV licence fee axed.

Here are the results in full. [I've retained only the one category of interest--G]

SEXIEST MAN

Nigel Harman 7%
Shane Richie 2%
Alan Rickman 1%
George Clooney 1%
Phillip Schofield 1%
Donny Osmond 1%
Martin Kemp 1%

Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Found this while Google-ing this morning:

Douglas Adams biographer M.J. Simpson says on his official website that Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy director Garth Jennings said both Alan Rickman and Bill Bailey are on board.

The voice of Marvin will be Alan Rickman and Bill Bailey will play the whale! Alan Rickman is a highly regarded actor whose notable recent movies have included Dogma (directed by Hitchhiker's Guide fan Kevin Smith), Galaxy Quest (alongside Sam Rockwell) and the Harry Potter films. Garth did say that Rickman's contract wasn't signed yet but this interview was almost certainly taped befire Christmas and it would not have gone out if Rickman wasn't locked down for the role. Bill Bailey will be well-known to British comedy fans through his role in the award-winning sitcom Black Books and his position as a team captain on the game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks, though he is less well-known outside the UK. He has a reputation as a big science fiction fan and does a remarkable Klingon impression.

Who's Who in the movie

Carol
Michigan - Friday, January 07, 2005

According to IMDb, Alan is going to be playing the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android in the upcoming 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' film. As a fan of the books, I can't think of a better person to play the eternally depressed robot; just a shame he won't be appearing in it. His name is about sixth from the bottom on the cast list at IMDB.com

Laura from Wales
- Thursday, January 06, 2005

A portion of an article from the January/February issue of The Atlantic Monthly:

he new year brings the promise of a new best seller, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due to arrive on bookshelves soon. Along with Muggles and magic, this installment features a morbid resolution: Harry's creator, J. K. Rowling, kills off another character. The Internet is abuzz with Potter fans' worried speculation about who will be sent to that great Sorting Hat in the sky...Perhaps it is they who are flocking, as if spellbound, to the British betting site BlueSquare.com, which is offering odds on who will die. So where should your Galleon gold go?...Here is the latest action on which Harry Potter character will die. —John Sellers

6:4 Rubeus Hagrid. Has Rowling simply run out of alliterative exclamations for this loyal brute, who spews nonsense like "Gallopin' Gorgons!" and "Gulpin' gargoyles!"?

2:1 Professor Minerva McGonagall. Severe-looking assistant headmistress is an all-around bummer.

2:1 Professor Albus Dumbledore. Old-as-the-hills flowing-robed Hogwarts headmaster might die of natural causes. Possible last words: "I was just a Gandalf wannabe!"

5:1 Professor Severus Snape. If the hooked-nose potions master, who detests Harry Potter, gets offed, there goes the only enjoyable part of the films: Alan Rickman...
Carol
Michigan - Wednesday, January 05, 2005

This might be old news (I was computerless for a good while) but Romeo and Juliet is being release on R2 DVD on 7 March this year DVD I never could get my hands on a copy of the video, so this makes my day.
Maureen
UK - Wednesday, January 05, 2005

I assume "Glowbox" meant this link to today's NYNewsday.com, which includes this lovely little paragraph:

"My husband teases me that I have a list of guys I'd leave him for," jokes Holly Sklar, a screenwriter and Warner Bros. story analyst in Los Angeles. "Alan Rickman, Colin Firth...."

"Snowcake" has apparently received in excess of a million Canadian to shoot.
Telefilm Canada Supports Four English-Language Feature Film
Now - are there any pubs in Wawa, Ontario?

[editors' note - source: www.telefilm.gc.ca, relevant text as follows]:

Montreal, December 13, 2004 – Telefilm Canada is pleased to announce that following the recent Canada Feature Film Fund English-language national comparative, four films out of 11 applications received nationally, have been selected. The projects: Step, directed by Clement Virgo; Citizen Duane, directed by Michael Mabbot; Snowcake, directed by Marc Evans and Partition, directed by Vic Sarin, represent a potential financial commitment of close to $10.4 million from Telefilm.

“The selected projects are examples of scripts that will create a balanced portfolio of diverse, highly original feature films that tell compelling Canadian stories,” said Ralph Holt, Telefilm Canada’s Head of English Feature Film. “These features bring with them experienced creative teams, and an approach to the art and business of filmmaking that is in line with Telefilm’s objective of connecting with audiences.”

Snowcake, a co-production with the United Kingdom, is a quirky drama set in Wawa, Ontario in the middle of winter. This engaging and original story explores the odd friendship between an autistic woman named Linda and Alan, a quiet, brooding man who comes into her life following a personal twist of fate.

[truncated]

sometimepeeker
- Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Here's some more info on Snow Cake than we've had in a long while. I'm not sure how recent it is, but it sounds wonderful. I hope they make it! Read to the bottom of the page; there's an intriguing bit about Galaxy Quest at the beginning.
Sigourney Weaver on "Galaxy Quest" and Working with Alan Rickman Again

(editor's note. source: About.com, entire interview is four pages long, but relevant AR part starts on page 4 as follows):

Do you think they’ll ever be another “Galaxy Quest?”

Wouldn’t that be fun?

Tim Allen has said he wanted to do it.

One time the producer wrote me and said they were going to do a second one. I thought that was exciting, because one of the things that happened on the first one was that they re-cut it at the last minute because they wanted it to go up against “Stuart Little.” So it was actually much more sophisticated and had other scenes in it that, I don’t even know if they’re in the DVD. I don’t think DreamWorks quite knew what they had. We never did an overseas tour and really I thought it was one of those movies that you could absolutely show all over the world and anyone who’d ever seen “Star Trek” would love it.

[cut]

What's next for you?

Well, I’m doing a wonderful movie, working again with Alan Rickman. We’re doing a movie called “Snowcake,” which is an English script, [an] independent film. Alan plays a guy traveling through the northeast of America and there’s a terrible accident and someone is killed. He comes to my house to tell me about it and, as it turns out, I’m on the spectrum. I have autism and that’s just one of the things about this character. She’s many, many ‘out there’ things, but one of them is she’s OCD and she’s on the spectrum and very up-front about it. He has to spend a number of days with Linda because there’s a wake at her house and, of course, she never lets anyone in her house. She cleans the whole kitchen every time she makes a cup of tea. So she suddenly has 75 people in her house.

It’s a very unusual, beautifully written script. It’s not about autism per se, but I would say it tries to show you that people with this condition are maybe not that comfortable in our world. But they have worlds of their own which we are not part of, which are amazing. It’s a great story about Alan’s time in this town. He plays a character named Alan, and he has a romance, not with me, and a few other things. But it’s a beautiful, beautiful script by a first time screenwriter and it’s an English production. We’re going to start, hopefully, in January six hours north of Toronto or something really cold. And I can’t wait to work with Alan again.

Laura from Wales
UK - Monday, January 03, 2005

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