Alan Rickman News & Information

(March - April 2004)

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All rightie. For your listening pleasure, I present:

1992 Radio Interviews from Toronto, Canada (1992RadioInterviews.wav, 18.6MB, 28 mins, 45 secs)

(please do NOT upload sound files to other websites or link directly to files (please link to the Sound Gallery or this page instead) or use in any other way aside from your own personal use without my permission by e-mail, thank you!)

The above file is in the .wav format. If you'd rather have an .MP3 file, let me know and I'll convert it.

Great find, Strega, thank you!

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Friday, April 30, 2004


Thanks for the great link Strega!! Here is the link for the Pix and New Trailer too.
Sue
England - Friday, April 30, 2004


Sorry if this has already been mentioned (can't visit here as often as I'd like!), but there's a wonderful interview with AR on HBO's website. The address is www.hbo.com/films/stlm/interviews/. There are also loads of photos and other goodies if you click around a bit.
Strega
- Friday, April 30, 2004


ATTENTION ALL! (Sorry for shouting) UK press this morning has the first HP&POA ad for pre-booking tickets. Previews are May 31st, June 1, 2 & 3. Get those tickets now!
A Fish Needing Help
UK - Friday, April 30, 2004


Found this on playbill.com:

Broadway Stars Alan Rickman and Mos Def Lead HBO Film "Something the Lord Made," May 30

By Ernio Hernandez April 28, 2004

Alan Rickman (Private Lives) and Mos Def (Topdog/Underdog) lead the cast of a new HBO Films presentation "Something the Lord Made" set to debut on the cable network, May 30.Directed by one-time Broadway performer Joseph Sargent ("Miss Evers' Boys"), the screenwork is penned by Peter Silverman and Todd Philips.

Set mainly in and around Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University in the 1940s, "Something The Lord Made" follows the story of an ambitious white surgeon (Rickman) and his gifted black lab technician (Def) who defied the racial tensions in the Jim Crow era and pioneered the field of heart surgery.

Kyra Sedgwick (Ah, Wilderness!, The Exonerated), Mary Stuart Masterson (Nine, "Fried Green Tomatoes"), Charles S. Dutton (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) and Gabrielle Union ("Deliver Us from Eva") also star in the movie.

Rickman, who was Tony Award-nominated for his Broadway turns in Private Lives and Les Liaisons Dangereuses, won a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for the title role in HBO's "Rasputin." He is known for his screen roles in the "Harry Potter" series, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," "Sense and Sensibility" and "Truly, Madly, Deeply," "Love Actually," "Galaxy Quest," "Judas Kiss," "Dogma" and "Die Hard."

Rapper Mos Def, who appeared in Suzan Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog and Fucking A, has found success as an actor, also appearing in such films as "Bamboozled," "Monster's Ball," "The Italian Job" and "Brown Sugar." He hosts the HBO series "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry," which served as the basis for the Broadway incarnation.

The executive producers for "Something the Lord Made" are Robert Cort and his partners David Madden and Eric Hetzel. Producers include Mike Drake and Julian Krainin. Andrea Kalin, Dr. Koco Eaton and Dr. J. Alex Haller, Jr. served as consultants on the film.

Recent HBO Films presentations have included the screen versions of the Tectonic Theatre's The Laramie Project and Tony Kushner's Angels in America. Ruben Santiago-Hudson's Lackawanna Blues is currently in production under the direction of George C. Wolfe.

"Something the Lord Made" debuts on HBO May 30 at 9 PM (ET) and continues to play through June. Check your local listings. For more information, visit the HBO website at www.hbo.com/films.
Slope
Canada - Wednesday, April 28, 2004


I was flipping through the May issue of Dish Flicks today and came across a blurb about Something the Lord Made which includs this great photo of AR (without the glasses!):

StLM in Dish Flicks

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Wednesday, April 28, 2004


Just saw this on the-leaky-cauldron;
"Maureen in Australia reports that Roadshow Pictures in Australia (the Down Under distributors of the series) are planning a special premiere event for PoA in Sydney, Australia on Sunday June 6th - that's four days before the movie opens in cinemas around that country. We'll keep you posted if we learn anything more about whether any of the actors will be in attendence - we don't know if any will, as of the now."

martha
main - Tuesday, April 27, 2004


Fausta has excellent CME info on her News Page. The region 2 dvd is out on 14th June (I thought it was going to be May??)and will have director's commentary plusa 15 min specially recorded interview with AR!!:))))))))
Sue
England (have been waiting for this dvd for years!) - Tuesday, April 27, 2004


Special Screening: Truly Madly Deeply

Mon 3 May at 5.40pm

National Film Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 8XT

Part of the National Films Theatre's season celebrating RADA's 100th Birthday this brilliant, funny and deeply touching film stars Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson, two of RADA's best known ex-students. Directed by Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, The Talented Mr Ripley, Cold Mountain) the film is now regarded as a milestone of British cinema and has won a host of awards both in the UK and abroad.

Following the screening Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson will be taking part in a Q&A and talking about their work together on the film.

We have a limited number of discounted tickets available for this screening. Visitors to this website can purchase tickets at a special rate of £5.00 on presentation of this print out at the NFT Box Office.

Terms and Conditions
Offer subject to availability.
Offer only valid against the Truly Madly Deeply screening on 3 May and is not transferable. Not be used in conjunction with any other offer. Maximum of two discounted tickets per printout. Excludes online and telephone bookings. NFT Box Office Manager still reserves the right to refuse admission. Ends 4.5.04

Susan Picken
NFT Special Events

Suzanne (on behalf of Melanie Parker)
- Monday, April 26, 2004


The Independent on Sunday ABC magazine 25 April 2004

..."It's 1987, we're on Broadway, and Davies's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuse - an 18th century dance of seduction starring Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan - is so successful that he is hiring a new cast. Glenn Close and Kelly McGillis have already signed but no one wants to step into Rickman's terrifyingly impressive shoes. Frazzled, Davies continues to audition for the smaller roles.

"One morning this geezer walks in, slightly overweight, a bit wild. He was reading for the junior part of Cheavlier Danceny." Only a few years out of the prestigious Juilliard drama school, the actor had not a single screen credit. His name? Kevin Spacey.

..........That energy had never left him and when Davies witnessed the audition, he was blown away. He and Christopher Hampton, who had adapted the original novel, called him back for another audition and decided Spacey's youth and power could put a new slant on what had been Rickman's role. "I told the producers and they said 'Who is he?he's not a name, he's an anonymous nobody.' I said, "It's him or nothing'" They opted for the latter: they closed the show.
Sue
England - Sunday, April 25, 2004


From Atkins to Whishaw: Rada celebrates a century as theatre's forcing house
By Louise Jury, Arts Correspondent
24 April 2004

The Alumni list reads like Who's Who. From Sir John Gielgud to Kenneth Branagh, Rada - a byword for classical theatre - has provided the acting world with some of its greatest names.

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, which celebrates its centenary this year, has been no slouch at turning out soap stars either.

Joan Collins and Steve McFadden, who created two of television's most memorable villains, Alexis Carrington in Dynasty and Phil Mitchell in EastEnders, both studied at the academy.

Rada is using a series of centenary celebrations to launch an image overhaul which it hopes will bring the school into the 21st century and attract vital funding.

Past students such as Alan Rickman, Lord Attenborough and Jonathan Pryce will get involved in a series of events aimed at helping the academy raise much-needed funds.

Nicholas Barter, the school principal, said of the centenary events: "It's more significant than just celebrating what has been a remarkable 100 years. It's about the whole repositioning of Rada for the 21st century."

The diversity of former students' careers comes as no surprise. Rada trains them for television, radio and voice-overs for adverts as well as schooling them in classical stage work, the core of their studies.

Mr Barter said the students' high level of training ensured they were ready for anything, from Shakespeare to The Bill. "If you can do classical acting, you can do anything. Anthony Hopkins didn't have any problem scaling it down to the camera when he was required to. They need to be ready to do anything from a little part in The Bill to playing Hamlet," he said.

The academy was set up at His Majesty's Theatre in London's Haymarket by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, the leading actor-manager of the day. It quickly won the backing of George Bernard Shaw, who donated the royalties from Pygmalion, and a Royal Charter.

Lord Attenborough, who trained at Rada during the war and is now its president, said it has changed considerably.

In 2001, it became a founder of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, an official part of the higher education establishment for the first time. This enabled students to have their fees paid and also helped to shake off its upper middle-class image.

One recent graduate has found fame in director Trevor Nunn's new production of Hamlet at the Old Vic.

Ben Whishaw said the role was still daunting but the training "helped me enormously".

"Training can't equip you with the insight that you might need to play a role like Hamlet. But you have it to fall back on."

More than 30 years after he was at Rada, Pryce - currently in The Goat in the West End - agreed. "As much as we'd like acting to be instinctive, you do need to support it with technique," he said. "What Rada has done over the years, especially since the days of Finney and Courtenay, is to take people from every walk of life ... There was this whole energy that went into theatre and film from there."

With a week that includes 38 hours of classes and rehearsals, Rada finds its students have little time for employment and tries to offer bursaries instead.

Last Monday, a gala in London in memory of Rada-trained Gielgud - which included non-Rada stars such as Judi Dench - raised funds for a bursary. And a £50,000 donation from Alan Rickman has launched a centenary appeal to alumni.

Lord Attenborough said the fundraising was crucial. In addition to the need for bursaries, around £2m must be raised to finish work on Rada's Chenies Street annexe, the final part of bringing facilities up to date.

Other centenary events include a season of films, such as Truly Madly Deeply at the National Film Theatre in London, all starring Rada alumni.

On 9 May, there will be a gala screening of a silent 1917 movie, Masks and Faces, which was originally made as a fundraiser for Rada. It will be shown with a new score by the late Hollywood composer Michael Kamen. And Rada students will present a programme of music and poetry to the Queen in June.

Lord Attenborough said the centenary mattered because Rada graduates' contribution to Britain's culture was "enormous". "What Britain has gained in terms of theatre, film and television is significant, as good as any that exists anywhere in the world."

TEN DECADES, TEN GRADUATES

1904-13 Robert Atkins (Graduated 1908) Actor, director and producer who appeared in several films including a number of Shakespeares and the 1946 classic, A Matter of Life and Death.

1909-1923 John Gielgud (1923) One of the most distinguished and versatile performers of the 20th century. He played many of the major Shakespearean roles but won popular fame in films such as Arthur. He died in 2001.

1924-1933 Vivien Leigh (1932) Famed for playing Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind, for which she won an Oscar, Leigh was praised for stage roles including Ophelia opposite her future husband Laurence Olivier.

1934-1943 Joan Littlewood (1941) An advocate of community and political theatre, she is best known for the company she established at the Theatre Royal, Stratford, London, which showed working-class pieces.

1944-1953 Joan Collins (1953) Best known as the predatory Alexis Carrington in the American TV series Dynasty, Collins' long career includes more than 80 films, including The Stud, as well as many stage performances.

1954-1963 Joe Orton (1960) Although he was known as a writer of outrageous black farces, Orton trained at Rada, which was where he met his lover of 16 years, Kenneth Halliwell, who eventually murdered him.

1964-1973 Robert Lindsay (1970) He may be remembered by millions for TV series such as Citizen Smith and My Family, but his stage roles have included Richard III for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

1974-1983 Juliet Stevenson (1977) Her performance in the 1991 film Truly Madly Deeply won her international attention but she made her name on stage, with companies including the RSC and the National Theatre.

1984-1993 Steve Mcfadden (1987) As Phil, McFadden has been a regular fixture of EastEnders since 1990 after early credits in shows such as Bergerac, Minder and The Firm with Gary Oldman.

1994-2003 Ben Whishaw (2003) Whishaw, 23, had some experience before Rada, which he left in May. Since then he has been in Enduring Love, not yet released, and won the part of Hamlet in February.
Sue
Sorry it's long but the link will disappear in a few days. - Saturday, April 24, 2004


As promised a picture in tonight's ES magazine taken at the private view of "American's greatest living Artist, Cy Twombly" (is he???)Exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery.
Sue
England - Friday, April 23, 2004


Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information US, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Video Business
April 12, 2004
SECTION: Tipsheet; Special Edition Views; Pg. 19
LENGTH: 383 words
HEADLINE: Love the one you're with
BYLINE: By Mayna Bergmann

Love Actually

Universal, R, 135 min. plus supplements, Dolby Digital 5.1, widescreen, Street: April 27, $26.98; First Run: W, Nov. 2003, $59 mil.

British romantic comedies such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill have played well in America, strengthening an aging genre and crowning Hugh Grant as its king. The latest of these, Love Actually, written and directed by veteran screenwriter Richard Curtis (who wrote Weddings and Hill; Love Actually is his directorial debut), splinters the story lines among a handful of London couples experiencing love's trials and tribulations a month before Christmas. Some of the romances work out and some don't, but the overall point of the movie is to prove that, as Grant says in the movie's voiceover, "love actually is all around." Fortunately for viewers, Grant is around for the DVD's commentary track, which also features Curtis and two other members of the large ensemble cast: Bill Nighy, who plays a washed-up rock star, and Thomas Sangster, who portrays the son of recently widowed Liam Neeson. It's regrettable that co-stars Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman are not on hand, but the cheeky Grant, who's just as funny and charming as one might expect, plays off of the more serious-minded Curtis well. We don't hear much from Sangster, although he does reveal that he and Neeson "had toothpicks hidden in our pockets," or from Nighy, who spends much of the time bemoaning his tacky character (Nighy himself is a Shakespearian trained actor). It's a casual commentary that doesn't reveal much, except that everyone involved in the production was obviously fond of each other (even as they are gently mocking). Rounding out the disc are a slew of deleted scenes (better left out of the already two hour-plus film), a music video by Kelly Clarkson and the featurette The Music of Love Actually produced by Special Treats. Curtis is keen on music--he estimates that 60%-70% of the film has music--and here explains many of his choices. Viewers should be careful though, since once they get the song "All I Want for Christmas Is You" into their heads, they won't be able to get it out. Place Love Actually front and center, because this crowd-pleasing romantic comedy is going to do well.

Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, April 22, 2004


Copyright 2004 Guardian Newspapers Limited
The Guardian (London) - Final Edition
April 12, 2004
SECTION: Guardian Features Pages, Pg. 11
LENGTH: 1273 words
HEADLINE: G2: 'It's Pinocchio, in reverse': The theatre director Howard Davies has turned Cyrano de Bergerac into a truth telling carbuncle on society. He tells Michael Billington why
BYLINE: Michael Billington

Who is the best director in Britain? We could come up with half-a-dozen famous names. Yet one who, I suspect, would come high on the list of everyone in the business is Howard Davies: a Welshman who, in the past 30 years, has moved from the outer fringe to the mainstream without losing his radical spirit or his essential privacy. In recent years, his productions of The Iceman Cometh and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the Almeida, and All My Sons and Mourning Becomes Electra at the National, suggest he may be the best interpreter of American drama since Elia Kazan.

. . . . . . . . . .

For Davies, this is not a compromise but an opportunity; it is a reminder of his radicalism. "I started out doing fringe agitprop. All my interests were in the social and political purpose of theatre, and I half-wrote a version of the Oz trial that Buzz Goodbody picked up for the RSC. That led to an invitation to join the company and my being spat on by all my friends for betraying alternative theatre. But I told Trevor (Nunn) that I'd only join the RSC if I could set up a new-writing base at the Warehouse where we put on 35 plays in five years. I was part of a whole gang of young directors and we brought in our own acting generation - Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman and Bob Peck - while still working with established classical actors. At the RSC I was seduced by acting talent, which made me unafraid later of working with big names."

Even at the RSC, Davies retained a slight bolshiness. Shortly after joining he protested to David Jones, head of the London company, about the way it was run. He was told if he didn't like it, he could leave. He replied that he'd prefer to change the company from within. To which he now says: "Fat chance!" And in his published diaries, Richard Eyre offers a crisp portrait of Davies that suggests he hadn't changed much when he joined the National. While acknowledging his gifts as a director, Eyre writes: "Slightly self-regarding and self-conscious about his politics, as if they were a badge of credibility."

Not having read the diaries, Davies chuckles when I put the quote to him. "Implicit in Richard's remark is that I was a bit pompous and assumed that I alone had any politics. But certain plays come in my direction which I find I just can't do. Duncan Weldon was interested in reviving The Philadelphia Story but, although it's adroit and funny, it's about the rich and spoilt and has certain ley lines of comedy you just have to observe. And Private Lives lay on my desk for three months because I had this huge class-prejudice against Coward without knowing his work. It was my partner, Clare Holman, who made me read the play and I found it was about a compulsive, self-serving, narcotic attitude towards sex that is powerful but also disruptive. The play seems to be about social behaviour but the second act is actually about two people in Paris screwing each other for a week without even bothering to get dressed."

Davies's magnificent production was helped by the fact that he had previously worked with the two stars, Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan, on Les Liaisons Dangereuses. But did he feel any butterfly tremors on the first day of rehearsal of David Hare's The Breath of Life, which starred Judi Dench and the reputedly formidable Maggie Smith?

"I'd worked with Judi before at the RSC, but not Maggie. What you realise quickly is that, if you tell actors of that calibre that they shouldn't be doing something, you have to say, 'Because. . .' The 'because' part of the sentence is crucial. On the second day I very foolishly wagged my finger at Maggie and went, 'No, no, no.' Maggie looked askance at my wagging finger and said, 'What's that for?' I quickly apologised and said, 'I don't think you should do that because . . .' and I was over that hurdle."

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana (Lord willing, I'll be seeing this one a week from Saturday matinee...)
Seattle - Thursday, April 22, 2004


Copyright 2004 EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS
Sunday Express
April 18, 2004
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 9
HEADLINE: DOGGONE IT - FILM MAKERS WANT TO BRING CLASSIC ADVENTURE BACK TO ORIGINAL SETTING; US FANS GROWLING AS LASSIE COMES HOME TO YORKSHIRE
BYLINE: EXCLUSIVE By Ivan Waterman

IT'S NO shaggy dog story.

The cute canine who melted the hearts of millions is returning to her roots for a new film role - in Yorkshire.

But plans to make the GBP 8million adventure in its original setting have caused more than a few growls of displeasure among Lassie's American fans.

They are demanding that the faithful collie stays in the States and accuse film maker Charles Sturridge, who has also written his screenplay from Yorkshireman Eric Mowbray Knight's 1938 bestseller, of "dognapping" their idol.

Fan Julie Carter of the We Love Lassie Foundation in Oklahoma said: "So far as we are concerned, Lassie is already at home with us.

"We appreciate that the story derived from Britain and was written by a Briton. But Mr Knight gave her to us as a young man and he did all his work here. Lassie remained and became a star here. She is part of our heritage and represented a way of family life.

"For us this would be like taking Roy Rogers and putting him in the Scottish Highlands. Apart from anything else, it will just confuse kids the world over."

Sturridge, 53, made the award- winning TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited and the critically-acclaimed biographical drama Shackleton starring Kenneth Branagh.

His production company Firstsight is making the new movie using the original source material about a poor Yorkshire miner's family being force to sell their dog to buy food.

Their pet - a black and white border collie in the book - is then whisked off to start a new life in Scotland by his uncaring aristocratic new owner.

Sturridge's partner, producer Francesca Barra, says a great British cast is being lined up for the re-make, which is likely to be set in the depression years before the Second World War.

There is talk of real-life partners Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson playing the lead roles, with Alan Rickman as the lip-curling villain. Cameo appearances can also be expected from Edward Fox, Maggie Smith and John Cleese.

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana (I wonder if the talk has actually involved the supposed principals)
- Thursday, April 22, 2004


Copyright 2004 New Statesman Ltd
New Statesman
April 19, 2004
HEADLINE: Michael Portillo - Wherefore art thou passion?; Theatre - These star-crossed lovers lack all signs of sexual chemistry, writes Michael Portillo Romeo and Juliet Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford
BYLINE: Michael Portillo

Sex gets into everything these days, they say. Well, if that's your worry, hasten to Stratford-upon-Avon for the Royal Shakespeare Company's entirely sexless Romeo and Juliet. Two young actors who are strikingly good-looking (Matthew Rhys and SIan Brooke) produce no sparks from what is meant to be the greatest tale of passion ever written. You would not guess for a moment that sex was on their minds or that they do it off stage during the play.

. . . . . . . . . .

I was reminded of the dreadful 1998 production of Antony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre, starring Alan Rickman and Helen Mirren, which led one critic to compare them to 'a pair of glumly non-mating pandas at London Zoo, coaxed to do their duty'. In that case, we supposed, the lack of chemistry between the actors was to blame. This time the problem may be the same. When Rhys and Brooke took their bow, entering the stage from different points, their bodies seemed to strike each other no more than a glanc-ing blow before heading off apart. She didn't even get a luvvie-style hug.

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana (Some sentiments never die...)
- Thursday, April 22, 2004


Finally, the NFT corrected their info about the Q&A with Alan and Juliet after TMD
slope
canada - Wednesday, April 21, 2004


Found these two items in a list of 40 facts about the BBC's first 40 years:
"Alan Rickman and Alfred Molina were the original actors cast in the Red Dwarf lead roles - eventually filled by the successful cult duo of Craig Charles and Chris Barrie as Lister and Rimmer."
"Anthony Minghella opted out of directing one of his scripts for Inspector Morse as his debut to concentrate on filming Truly, Madly, Deeply because he thought it would only get a small audience so it did not matter if it did not work. The film went on to win a Bafta."
The whole article is at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3629569.stm

martha
main - Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Okay, here's the Videogram:

Something the Lord Made preview (StLM-preview1.exe, 1.4MB, 40 seconds)

(Videograms are NOT to be linked directly to or uploaded to other websites or used in any other way aside from your own personal use without my permission by e-mail, thank you!)

Oh, doctor, doctor... LOL

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Sunday, April 18, 2004


TV ALERT!: I just saw (and luckily caught on tape) a preview on HBO of Something the Lord Made! It only lasted around 30 seconds, but it looks fantastic (lots of AR!). So I suspect HBO will be showing more clips in the coming weeks until the premier on May 30th. In the meantime, I'll make a Videogram clip and post it here on the GB (hopefully by tonight or tomorrow at the latest). Looking forward to this movie!

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Sunday, April 18, 2004


A couple of new shots of AR on WireImage taken at the Sepentine Gallery on the 16th.
Sue
England - Sunday, April 18, 2004


Just phoned the NFT - TMD with the Q&A session is definitely on the 3rd, not the 8th as the bfi site says. A lovely chap at the Box Office has kindly switched my tickets for me, hurrah!

Thanks to Meeresternchen (I think?) for the initial shout and to Claudia for being the Godsend (whether she likes it or not, heh) plus everyone else who has so generously pointed out the change in date. Give me an AR fan any day of the week. :)

Big hugs to all, and I shall deliver the best report I can. xx
Karen's Big Brown Jersey
London, - Saturday, April 17, 2004


Look what I've found! :)) I surfed the net, and had a look at the RADA site in the events section...:

MAY 2ND - MAY 9TH RADA FILM SEASON AT THE NATIONAL FILM THEATRE

[...]RADA students and members of the Friends of RADA may buy one ticket at the reduced price of £5.70 (plus £1.00 discount) on the day of the performance only. Proof of concession must be shown when collecting the ticket. Offer ends on 31.05.04. Normal price of tickets £7.90; £6.00 concessions.

NATIONAL FILM THEATRE, South Bank, London SE1. Box Office 020-7928-3232 www.bfi.org.uk/nft Nearest tube stations: Waterloo and Embankment.

[...]Truly Madly Deeply (1990) featuring RADA trained actors -Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson. The performance on Saturday May 8th will be introduced by Anthony Minghella, Alan Rickman, and Juliet Stevenson. Monday May 3rd 5.40pm NFT 1 Saturday May 8th 8.45pm NFT 2

May be this helps someone living near London...

Meeressternchen
- Monday, April 12, 2004

Daily Variety
April 2, 2004, Friday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 12
LENGTH: 3316 words
HEADLINE: FILM PRODUCTION CHART
HIGHLIGHT: Films in the future

. . . . . . . . . .

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Rowan Atkinson, Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman

PROD, David Heyman; DIR, Mike Newell; SCR, Steve Kloves; DISTRIB, WB.

1492 Pictures/Heyday Films. 4/04, U.K.

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana (not too far in the future--seems to me that's just about now...)
Seattle - Wednesday, April 07, 2004


I recently discovered Greasy Git.com
http://www.manson-net.com/snape/news.html
which is an AR site, not just a Snape site. 2 items in News re POA:

ABC Has 10 Minute POA Preview
06 Apr 2004: According to [Wizard News], ABC will be airing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on May 9th complete with deleted scenes, interviews as well as a 10 minute (!) preview of Prisoner of Azkaban.
And also.........a POA "Making Of" to broadcast on HBO May 25 and 31.
Impressive design and other worthwhile goodies at this site.

Brooke at rickman-fan.com referenced the site a few days ago. Hers is another site with very creative design and a huge picture gallery.
Aurora
Ohio US - Tuesday, April 06, 2004


Box Office Prophets(!?) mention Acts of Charity:

Act of Charity

Release Date: TBA 2005

The modern era of moviedom peaked in 1989 with the release of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. And I'm not even kidding that much.

The profound tale of two boys enjoying each other's company in a phone booth might sound like gay porn but in actuality, it was a sweeping historical epic that touched upon all the tribulations of being a maturing teen boy in San Dimas, California. One of the stars of the movie, Keanu Reeves, had some success outside of this franchise, but to this day, he has never surpassed the performace as Ted Theodore Logan. His counterpart, Alex Winter, has been for the most part the Andrew Ridgeley to Keanu's George Michael (for younger audiences, Keanu is to Beyonce as Winters is to the rest of Destiny's Child).

Do not weep for Mr. Winter, though. Lately, he has been demonstrating a nascent talent in the field of writing and directing. While his debut outing in these fields occurred over a decade ago with Freaked, it is Winter's current MTV Films production of the Shawn Fanning/Napster story that has put Bill S. Preston Esquire back on Hollywood's radar.

Suddenly hot again, Winter is leveraging his newfound respect into a greenlight for a black comedy project called Acts of Charity. The movie shows the difficulties faced by a business world newbie sent to an African jungle as a P.R. move/humanitarian mission. While there, he meets up with a cynical British journalist (played by the world's foremost sardonic thespian, Alan Rickman) who educates the youngster on how things work in the jungle.

Professor Snape directed by Bill S. Preston Esquire? How can this movie fail? (David Mumpower/BOP)

Main cast: Alan Rickman
Director: Alex Winter
Screenwriter: Chips Hardy

Sue
- Tuesday, March 30, 2004


Copyright 2004 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
Mail on Sunday (London)
March 28, 2004
SECTION: NIGHT & DA; Pg. 11
LENGTH: 958 words
HEADLINE: Why Ian McShane is bigger than Beckham
BYLINE: TOBY YOUNG

. . . . . . . . . .

Oddly, British actors are far more likely to make it in America if they play bad guys rather than good guys, and several recent film releases feature Brits as villains (Michael Gambon in Open Range and Dominic West in Mona Lisa Smile).

I once asked Alan Rickman why Brits are so good at playing the bad guy, having himself played the villain in both Die Hard and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. 'Because we can act, dear boy,' he replied.

. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana (and to think, I could have been on vacation in neighboring Chile just about now)
- Tuesday, March 30, 2004


*News Flash* from Daily Variety:

Crossroads asks for 'Charity'
Rickman to play role of a British ex-pat journo

By DANA HARRIS

Current news....

Crossroads Films has optioned the dark comedy spec "Acts of Charity," written by Chips Hardy. Alex Winter ("Fever") is attached to direct the pic, which follows the trials and tribulations of a young corporate executive sent on a humanitarian mission in the African jungle. Story was developed by Hardy and Winter.

Alan Rickman is attached to play the role of a British ex-pat journalist.

Winter is currently writing and directing the Napster story for MTV Original Pictures.

Crossroads principals Dan Lindau and Cami Taylor will co-produce the film with Paul Miller. East Coast head of development David Title brought the project to Crossroads.

Crossroads, which has a first-look deal with United Artists, also houses commercial, musicvideo, television and editorial divisions.

Date in print: Tue., Mar. 23, 2004, Los Angeles


X
- Tuesday, March 23, 2004


Here is a translation that was done of a newpaper article done on AR. This, again, was posted in one of the yahoo groups by a lovely Argentinian fan that did the tranlation herself.

From the newspaper"La Capital" from the city of Mar del Plata the day 17th of March.

The British Actor, a guest to the Festival

"I do not know the meaning of English"

Mainly ironic, Rickman said that the stiff characteristic that surrounds the English people is nothing more than a stereotype. It explained why it considers that everything that he does entails a political vision. For the British interpreter Alan Rickman, "whenever an actor gets on stage or faces a camera he carries out a political act, because whichever the message, the actor is saying before a captive audience what life is about. Is not the theme but the vision behind the written words."

"It is very exciting to come to Argentina - he went on - and to see the cinemas full of people, with an audience who looks for answers not only on the political situation, but answers about themselves. From this point of view, any film in which I get involved will be a political cinema, but in an wider way ".

This way he defined, in a press conference that took place in the Hotel Hermitage, its acting work, in cinema and theater, that already earned him a wide international recognition.

For that reason the organization of this Festival of Cinema decided to invite him to offer a masterful class (he is one of the more known personalities in the festival).

The public will be able to remember several memorable interpretations of the English actor born in London in 1946, under the name of Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman.

He became the Russian doctor Rasputin, in "Rasputin", one of his finest works. He joined the cast of "Sense and Sensibility" in the 1995 movie directed by Ang Lee, where he worked next to Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant. He shared the screen with Kevin Costner in "Robin Hood: prince of thieves" and in 1988 he co-stared Bruce Willis in "Die Hard".

Lately the children have seen him in the series of Harry Potter movies, where he plays professor Severus Snape in "The Philosopher stone" as well as in "The Chamber of Secrets". His experience extends to the field of the direction: he has made a short for the Discovery Channel about high risky sports, at the same the time that he was behind cameras in the film "The winter guest", acted by Emma Thompson and her mother, the actress Phyllida Law.

Before talking about his last projects he said about the job of directing: "To make a film means a lot for me, it is a responsibility to direct, because if you are going to spend a year or eighteen months filming a history it must be worthwhile, it must be strong and brave".

He acted in a HBO’s film on a medical surgeon, and next to that, a film to be shoot in Spain waits for him, whenever its commitment with the production of Harry Potter with which he is still related, allows it.

About the ductility of its work he observed: "I am a privileged person, I have a profession that allows me to jump from a character to another one like in Harry Potter. And to work for Hollywood is a good opportunity to interpret characters with singularities."

"I have never arrived"

Dressed in black, with his white hair and his pale skin, a skin that he protects from solar rays, the actor was kind, but always distant, with the distinction that could identify a "lord". However, he avoided common places: "I do not know what means English", he said and denied having a stiff or unalterable character, a quality with which some people identifies the British.

"I believe that one is a stereotype. To say English also is to say John Lennon and Wiston Churchill ", exemplified, with a smile that was barely drawn in its face, the same smile he used to end all his ironies, an attitude that he repeated in several occasions.

Talking about the exigencies of the profession, he said: "The problem of being actor is that you never make it, my perception is that I have never arrived, I did not arrive where my imagination had thought that I was going to arrive".

One of my heroes is Fred Astaire, he must have been one of the more perfect actors that have never been seen".

When asked about the kind of roles that are frequently offered to him, the actor recognized that the English continues to be a classy (*¿classycist?*) society, that’s why it is difficult that anyone ask him to personify workers, roles that he had never approached. "They do not offer worker parts to me, but I do not lose hope", he said.

He also confessed that he is interest in defying cinema directors, who summon him driven by preconceived ideas on his acting capacity: "I like when they know who I am and I came to be somebody different from the person they thought. Those are the parts that I like the most because every time, more and more, I am getting interested in the risk factor".

In Mar del Plata, a city that he did not know, either Argentina nor South America, he was dedicated to see films, some of them Japanese, the Briton "Kiss of life" of its compatriot Emily Young and attended the exhibition of "The divided hug", directed by Daniel Burman.

"I did not know the Argentine cinema", he indicated.

Before putting itself to sign autographs for the fans who followed his phrases close by and shared his ironies, the actor expressed: "I would go to any festival of cinema, because it is the suitable moment, the appropriate celebration of something important. The proof for this is to see the cinemas full of people, because to tell stories is a part of a human need and the festivals respond to that need"

Finally he laughed: "I said to Pino Solanas that he can come to England to make a film about Tony Blair".


Claudia
GA - Monday, March 22, 2004


According to the online Isle of Man Examiner, MURML will be filming on the island:

Alan Rickman, who plays Professor Severus Snape in the hit films about the young wizard, and Jason Isaacs, who played Lucius Malfoy in the Chamber of Secrets, are being lined up to appear in Manchester United Ruined My Life.

Adapted from the best-selling novel by Colin Shindler, it's being made by Samuelson Productions, which has made several films in the Island. The novel is a rites of passage story about a Jewish boy in the 1950s and 1960s, growing up under the shadow of the famous Manchester United team of the time, and the script has been written by Shindler. Full story in today's Isle of Man Examiner, out at lunchtime.
Magda
Canada - Monday, March 22, 2004


From London Spy column in Saturday's Daily Telegraph:

Intimate dinner with Alan Rickman, anyone? The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art celebrates its centenary this year, and will cash in on the occasion with a series of high-profile fundraising events. In May, Rada invites corporate clients to the screening of Masks and Faces, a silent film. In June, the Queen will attend a celebratory lunch at Mansion House, for which a sponsor is being sought. However, the biggest fundraising wheeze involves members of the public paying £1,000 a head to dine with some of the drama school's best-known alumni. "There will be four very intimate dinners, followed by cabaret shows, for 100 people, in the Vanbrugh theatre," says an organiser. "We are busy asking former students to take part; guests should be able to dine with some very famous people indeed.'' Spy understands that Harry Potter star Alan Rickman has already agreed to come on board. Other old boys, including Sir Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt and Kenneth Branagh, are being contacted. I'm sure they will all go out of their way to help.

This is lottery win money for me, but can anyone else on the GB afford it, or will we have to have a whip round to send a representative, I'm willing to fall on my sword and volunteer to go! LOL.
Juliet
UK - Monday, March 22, 2004


Hello all
I was very excited to get a letter from RADA a couple of days ago! They are happy to announce that they received a grand total of £1209.86 from the donations this year! The money has gone straight to a 2nd year student who has been impacted by ill health, who needs it to complete her course. The letter also says that "...Alan...was thrilled that so much had been raised..." so that really is the icing on the cake! So, from RADA too, thanks once again to all who contributed and made this year's donation to RADA such a great success!

Catherine <catherineharpham@hotmail.comfoo>
England - Saturday, March 20, 2004


Thanks to an incredibly generous fan (thank you!) who wishes to remain anonymous, we have this wonderful translation of the HP-PoA article from the Feb. 16, 04 French Gazette magazine:

(Part of a piece on Slytherin House)
Focus on Professor Snape:
With his pale complexion and dark hair, Professor Snape is a mysterious character. One time Deatheater, he has today rejoined the cause of Dumbledore, despite appearances. Teaching the art of potions in the depths of a dungeon, he terrorizes most of his students and doesn't hesitate to favor Slytherins. Better not to rub him the wrong way!

Professor Snape
Enemy or Friend?

If you wanted one word to define Professor Snape, it would surely be "engimatic." Of course, "cruel" or "sinister" come equally to mind, but "enigmatic" summarizes this character well. From his adolescence at Hogwarts up until today, in going over the somber hours of his existence we will try to lift the veil from this wizard, who is as unappealing as he is fascinating.

A Life At Hogwarts:
A brilliant student, though unpopular, Severus Snape completed his studies at Hogwarts in Slytherin House. Always with his nose buried in his books, he hardly had any friends, actually none at all. He was the object of ridicule for James Potter and Sirius Black, the latter having played on him the cruel joke that could well have cost Snape his life. When Lupin was transforming into a werewolf, his friends used to hide him, thanks to a secret passage in the Whomping Willow. Sirius lured Snape there, delivering him to the beast. Luckily, James Potter intervened and save his life, but since that day, he's held a ferocious hatred for them, which has been deferred equally to Harry and which has become reciprocal.

Passionate about the black arts, he has always aspired to being the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. For unknown reasons, this job has always escaped him, sharpening his rancor. Today at Hogwarts, he teaches in the depths of his dungeon the science of potions. Though he is a master of his subject, he is nonetheless an unjust teacher.

As director of Slytherin House, he doesn't hesitate to favor his students. So Harry and Neville are regularly subjected to his sarcasm while Draco Malfoy is clearly the teacher's pet.

An Ambiguous Character:
Snape gives off a negative aura, as we have seen. Unjust, calculating, sometimes cruel, he inflicts punishment to his students in a sadistic murmur. At these times, it is not rare to see an evil smile spread over his thin lips.

If his character seems so disagreeable, it must be said that he is physically striking. Always dressed in a wizard's black robe, he has a long thin face, framed by greasy hair as dark as ebony. His waxy complexion only accentuates the darkness of his regard.

But his appearance isn't all. Snape also has some dark shadowy areas in his past. Indeed, he was once a Deatheater. His arm carries the vestiges of this period, the mark of the Dark Lord. Since his return, he is more active than ever. However, Dumbledore has complete confidence in him. He belongs to the Order of the Phoenix and takes part in the battle against Lord Voldemort and his supporters.

However, one can pose the following question: In which camp is he really? His relationship with the director of Hogwarts is not clearly defined. What role does he play in the Order of the Phoenix? Double agent infiltrating the circle of dark wizards or double agent working for Voldemort infiltrating the side of Dumbledore? His attitude doesn't allow us to decide. Even if his actions justify the confidence that Dumbledore has in him, his behavior is always detestable and his hatred for Harry doesn't decrease an iota despite the discrete aide he gives him. On the other hand, for what reason does he hate the Potters in such a lively and tenacious fashion? Of course, James, then Harry saved his life and Snape hates having debts. However, it seems that the roots of this hatred are deeper…What happened between James and Severus? Was he secretly in love with Lily? No one knows. And what if the director of Hogwards, as sage and learned as he is, is wrong about Snape? Though he affirms to those who doubt Snape that he stands by him, we can't believe him. What proof justifies such a confidence? For on the face of it, Dumbledore must have this proof of good intentions on the part of Snape for him to affirm so strongly that he is worthy of confidence! But for the moment, we remain ignorant of them. The doubt continues to weigh heavily….

Suzanne <webmistress@alan-rickman.comfoo>
TX USA - Saturday, March 20, 2004


Looks like AR might be "down under" this weekend. According to the online Australian Daily Telegraph, he's going to a wedding in Melbourne:

Towering Tara Moss will marry film producer Mark Pennell in a church wedding in Toorak in Melbourne.

With the model-turned-author one who rarely misses a photo opportunity, Confidential expects this to be quite the media circus. Earlier this week she revealed she was still considering offers from magazines for the exclusive pics but no deal had been done - yet. "We've had offers, but we haven't made any decisions yet," she said. "It's the last thing I want to think about on my wedding day."

Family and friends of the couple have been flying in from around the world for the event, including three of her five bridesmaids. Her Canadian friend Gloria Reimer, her sister Jackie and Pennell's sister, LA-based TV reporter Louise, will all attend to the former Sydneysider on her day.

Other guests tipped to attend include Love Actually star Alan Rickman, Cameron Daddo and wife Alison Brahe and Pennell's close friend Deborra-Lee Furness, the wife of Hugh Jackman.
Magda
- Friday, March 19, 2004


On the e-bay ad which featured the pic that Claire put up there is also a quote:
"At the Festival, he said that he relished playing a teacher - the much-hated type who was a crack shot with the blackboard rubber - in the upcoming UK film, "Manchester United Ruined My Life."

Sue
- Friday, March 19, 2004


Another Rickman Argentina picture receiving an award

Claire
- Friday, March 19, 2004


Thanks very much Fausta and what a nice Picture too!
Sue
- Friday, March 19, 2004


AR's in ARgentina this week, and he gave an interview while at the Mar del Plata film festival, now available at the Rickmanista Review (my translation). Please visit.
Fausta
- Friday, March 19, 2004


Minghella bemoans 'jaundiced' British for cultural negativity
By Ian Burrell, Media Editor 17 March 2004

Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning film director, said yesterday that the British had a "jaundiced" view of their culture and were "too quick to concede defeat" over the demise of the creative industries.

The director of The English Patient and Cold Mountain complained that he found it "exhausting" that "the death-knell of British culture" was "always ringing".

Mr Minghella, the chairman of the British Film Institute, was speaking before the launch of a venture aimed at bringing together young British talent in film, theatre and television.

The Stellar Network, which has been set up by the director's daughter Hannah Minghella and her colleague Nicola Behrman, is also backed by the actors Jude Law and Alan Rickman and the playwright Sir David Hare.

Mr Minghella said: "Sometimes you wish that all of us would be a bit less jaundiced. The death-knell of British culture is always ringing and that can be exhausting."

The director, who lives for much of the year in America, said the British appeared to view their own culture in a very different way from the way it was seen overseas.

"Anybody outside Britain will look into our cultural life and say that they envy it," he said.

"We are a country which is quick to concede defeat. We are comfortable always with identifying the end of an industry or the end of an era. The film industry has always been 'in crisis' from its first day until today."

Mr Minghella said that there was "actually a lot of fantastic stuff going on here", citing the current productions at the National Theatre and exhibitions at the National Museum of Film, Television and Photography in Bradford.

"It's quite a healthy culture we have. You have to step away from it a bit," he said. "When you are in America, people are very envious of the depth of talent we have in actors, writers, producers. Everybody is coming over here to vacuum up the talent we have."

The Stellar Network, which is launched in Leicester Square in London tonight, hopes to bring a new confidence to young British film-makers.

The organisation, which is based on a concept developed in America, promises to put on special screenings of new films attended by star Hollywood actors and directors who will give master-classes.

Hannah Minghella said the New York arm of the network, founded two years ago, has 400 members, and had recently put on a screening of Chicago , attended by the actors Renée Zellweger and Richard Gere and the director Rob Marshall, and Frida , attended by the actor Salma Hayek.

Ms Minghella, who works for the film company Miramax, said she believed Britain was awash with film-making talent but that young writers and directors were often pessimistic of their chances of success.

"I met so many people in New York who have ideas for short films or projects and, three months later, the film was made or a contract signed," she said. "But in London, people sit upstairs in a pub and moan that it's not possible to get a film done." She hopes to change that with monthly meetings and film screenings in Soho, central London, at which young film-makers can exchange ideas and make contact with the organisation's American-based members.

Although Mr Minghella decried British negativity, he conceded that the outlook might be a spur to creativity. "Maybe it's our irritation with ourselves that creates the pearls. That it's out of this sense of dismay at our apparent lack of achievements that we create work," he said.
Sue
England - Thursday, March 18, 2004


Just to be thorough, the Guardian also mentioned the Man U film.

Here's the text: In brief: Rickman picked for tale of Man City woe Tuesday March 16, 2004 Alan Rickman, Derek Jacobi and Jason Isaacs have been picked for a film based on a book which details the sufferings of a lifelong Manchester City fan. Colin Shindler's tome, Manchester United Ruined My Life, is the tale of a young Jewish boy who grows up supporting the second most successful club in Britain's third city. Mark Brozel, whose previous experience includes the BBC docu-drama Holy Cross, will make his feature film debut as director.
Slope
Canada - Tuesday, March 16, 2004


Whilst checking out the Man U Ruined My Life story on Screen Daily I found another Rickman link which led to Stellar Network
Sue
England - Tuesday, March 16, 2004


Empireonline have picked up on the Man U story.
Sue
England - Tuesday, March 16, 2004


Coming Soon also reports the Man U film starring Alan...Manchester United Ruined My Life.
Slope
- Monday, March 15, 2004


Has anyone heard anything about this? I've Googled and Googled, and so far, I have only found two mentions of this, so if anyone finds any further confirmation, that would be awesome, but . . . my friend Carla was reading a Jason Isaacs forum on ezboard, and someone there posted the following article from Screen Daily.com:

"15 March 2004 04:00

Rickman signs for Manchester United Ruined My Life

Adam Minns in London

Alan Rickman, Derek Jacobi, Jason Isaacs, Janet McTeer and Henry Goodman are set to star in Manchester United Ruined My Life, the feature debut of director Mark Brozel.

The adaptation of Colin Shindler's best-selling novel is a rites of passage story about a Jewish boy in 50s and 60s Manchester, growing up under the shadow of the mighty Manchester United football team.

Samuelson Productions, which is producing from a script by Shindler, is aiming for a spring/summer shoot. Financing from the Isle of Mann, with which the Samuelson's struck a three-year deal in 2002, is in place, covering 25% of the budget.

Brozel is a documentary and TV director, represented by ICM's Michael McCoy, who made his mark with Holy Cross, an award-winning BBC single drama about the dispute over the rights of Catholic schooolgorls to walk through a loyalist area.

"I want people to be caught up in the story," Brozel said. "I want them to go on a journey, to be completely rooting for the boy."

So far, I've only been able to find mention of this project on britfilms.com, but here is the info they list:

"MANCHESTER UNITED RUINED MY LIFE Director: Mark Brozel Producer: Samuelson Productions Screenwriter: Colin Shindler Cast: Derek Jacobi, Alan Rickman, Henry Goodman, Janet McTeer Enquiries: Samuelson Prods, +44 (0)20 7439 4900 Status: in pre-production; shooting summer 2004"
Jen
Cow Land, MD USA - Monday, March 15, 2004


Copyright 2004 Times Newspapers Limited
The Times (London)
March 6, 2004, Saturday
SECTION: Features; 51
LENGTH: 66 words
HEADLINE: Ladies who launch

Will Sutcliffe, Toby Litt, Maggie O'Farrell and Nicolas Blincoe, right, at the launch party of O'Farrell's third novel, The Distance between Us, held at the Hakkasan restaurant in London on Wednesday.

Helena Kennedy (Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws) and Alan Rickman, far right, at the publication party for her latest book Just Law held at Gray's Inn, London WC1, on Thursday evening.

Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, March 08, 2004


Hey, fans! There's a blurb at hbo about StLM:
http://www.hbo.com/films/upcoming.html

Aurora
Ohio, US - Saturday, March 06, 2004


*LOVE ACTUALLY DVD SPOILERS*
EMPIRE REVIEW: Some critics were a bit sniffy about audience favourite and box office smash Love Actually on its cinema release late last year.

The patchwork quilt storyline, interweaving the love lives of 22 characters, was unashamedly feel-good and the perfect Christmas antidote to the glut of ‘serious’ Oscar contenders that crammed themselves into the last couple of months of 2003. But what really rankles about Richard Curtis’ directorial debut is that it should have been one of those contenders.

This is a solidly entertaining and at times very funny British movie, but there are flashes of greatness that suggest it could have been something more.

In the commentary, Curtis is forced to confess that one of the early scenes was actually lifted from his original Four Weddings And A Funeral script. With this nugget of knowledge, the film suddenly makes sense.

It’s as if Curtis has taken all the leftover bits from previous scripts - and a few that he was gestating - and just crammed them all together. The result is a roller coaster ride of highs (Emma Thompson and Laura Linney, both heartbreaking in their bittersweet strands) and lows (Grant dancing around No. 10, Grant standing up to stick-up-his-butt President Billy Bob Thornton, Grant’s opening voice-over… let’s just say, buying Grant as Prime Minister is a hard sell). But for many, the joy of the film is seeing such a fantastic cast united. Kudos to Bill Nighy as the gnarly rocker whose bid for a comeback gets the biggest laughs.

Alan Rickman and Liam Neeson should be in mainstream films more (and not just franchises). Andrew Lincoln’s unrequited feelings for stunning Keira Knightley gain a pay-off that will swell his army of female fans, while Colin Firth and Lucia Moniz’ romance of misunderstandings works best mid-way through the film.

Then the saccharine level goes up another notch, and you’re either swept along with it or left fighting the tide. So it’s back to that nagging feeling about Curtis once more. Anyone who can nail a perfect Ant ’n’ Dec joke and make the breakdown of marriage so real must have a five-star movie in them. But Love Actually isn’t it. The quartet of writer-director Curtis, Nighy, Grant and - bizarrely - 11 year-old Thomas Sangster provide the commentary. This starts badly (Grant is stuck in traffic), goes a bit wobbly (they realise Sangster is technically too young to watch the film), but still manages to contain a few gems. There’s an all-too-brief behind-the-scenes documentary (from the comments shown, more from producer Duncan Kenworthy and the cast would have been nice), a poor Thunderbirds trailer and an Oxfam campaign ad that seems incongruous until you’ve seen the deleted scenes. These, though, are the highlights, with a lot of material that didn’t make the cut mainly because of length. An African sub-plot provides the Oxfam link, there’s also a love story for the school’s headmistress (Anne Reid), extra scenes for most of the characters and an alternative gymnastic version of Sangster’s sprint through the airport. Curtis also introduces key songs from the soundtrack, and should you have the desire to have your version of All I Want For Christmas humiliatingly compared to the jaw-dropping, schoolgirl’s vocals on screen, the lyrics are provided, too.

Empire review:

Sue
England - Tuesday, March 02, 2004



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