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| October 31, 2003 |
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It's All Smiles Now...
"This photo was taken during a shoot in Selfridge's that lasted from 9pm until 5am the next morning. It must have been taken early. By 5am, no-one was smiling anymore."
There is also a review of the film which they give 3*.
FYI Selfridges is a large department store in Oxford Street, second only to Harrods in fame, reputation etc.
Sue
England - Friday, October 31, 2003
| October 29, 2003 |
|---|
Copyright 2003 Newsweek
Newsweek
November 3, 2003, U.S. Edition
SECTION: MOVIES; Pg. 73
LENGTH: 692 words
HEADLINE: Playing to the Crowd
BYLINE: By David Ansen
HIGHLIGHT:
The Brit comedy 'Love Actually' aims to please. Before it makes $125 million, quick question: is it any good?
Here's a verbal Rorschach test: when you hear the term "crowd-pleasing" attached to a movie, does it seem a recommendation or a dis? How you respond to this may
determine your reaction to Richard Curtis's "Love Actually," a panoramic, star-studded British romantic comedy that is very eager to be liked. Curtis is the talented fellow who
wrote "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Notting Hill" (not to mention "Bridget Jones's Diary"). This is the first feature he's both written and directed, and it seems designed
to guarantee he'll get to direct another: failure is not an option. In pursuit of laughs and lumps in the throat, Curtis employs every clever or hoary trick he's ever learned, freely
pillaging his own movies and others'. Offering up nine loosely connected love stories, Curtis has whipped up a heaping meal of cinematic comfort food, sweet as English pudding
and just spicy enough to earn an R rating.
The movie baldly announces its "love is everywhere" theme with a montage of embraces at the arrivals area of Heathrow airport, a sequence that could easily be mistaken for a
long-distance-telephone commercial. "Love Actually" then plunges into its multiple tales of heterosexual romance, which unfold in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The
sheer size of the cast is dizzying--as you'll soon see. At the top of the social ladder is the bachelor Prime Minister (Hugh Grant, in his best diffident-charm mode), who finds
himself preoccupied with a curvaceous staffer (Martine McCutcheon) from a dodgy part of town. The P.M.'s sister (Emma Thompson) is grappling with the wandering eye of her
husband (Alan Rickman), whose saucy secretary (Heike Makatsch) is doing her best to seduce him. This triangle doesn't really resolve itself, it just peters out.
Meanwhile, a cuckolded mystery writer (Colin Firth) retreats to France for solace, where he falls for his Portuguese maid (Lucia Muniz). Unfortunately, neither understands the
other's language. (You wonder if Curtis is aware that, in most of the affairs here, men are masters and women are servants.) Puppy love is represented by 11-year-old Sam
(Thomas Sangster), who is coached in courtship by his recently widowed father (Liam Neeson). The tone shifts uneasily from bedroom farce to masochistic creepiness in a
strand involving a pathologically unassertive American (Laura Linney) whose guilt-ridden devotion to her mentally ill brother continually foils the consummation of her lust for
her co-worker (hottie Rodrigo Santoro). Are you following all this? There's more.
The unexpected MVP of the cast is Bill Nighy, who gets the biggest laughs playing a lewd, jaded, over-the-hill rock star hoping to make a comeback with a dismal Christmas
makeover of "Love Is All Around." Further broad comic relief comes in the form of a randy, oft-spurred young waiter (Kris Marshall) who's convinced that sexual salvation
awaits him in Wisconsin, where his English accent will charm the pants off the natives. Then there are the shy young lovers who meet, naked, as stand-ins for the stars of an
erotic movie--a one-joke gag Curtis milks twice too often.
Yet another thread, on the theme of unrequited love, involves a newly wed beauty (Keira Knightley) who discovers that her husband's best friend (Andrew Lincoln) is hopelessly
in love with her. The Hugh Grant sequences are among the most delightful (if not the most plausible), and they allow Curtis to get in a barbed anti-Blair and anti-American aside
in the form of Billy Bob Thornton's visiting U.S. president, a reptilian amalgam of skirt-chasing Clinton and bully-boy Bush.
As a director, Curtis is nothing if not promiscuous, equally embracing his best and worst ideas. This is the sort of movie in which a crowd of strangers breaks into applause as
one character publicly proposes to another (a device that was overworked 10 years ago). Yet the scene works because the proposal itself is hilarious. Slick, expertly acted and
shameless, "Love Actually" is alternately beguiling and bloated, witty and warmed over, smart and pandering. The majority is likely to swoon; the minority will squirm their way
through it.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Affairs of the Heart: (Counterclockwise from above) Prime Minister Grant and his staffer McCutcheon in an awkward moment, Neeson and Sangster trading
insights, Rickman counseling Linney, Knightley beaming
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Copyright 2003 PR Newswire Association, Inc.
PR Newswire
October 28, 2003, Tuesday
SECTION: ENTERTAINMENT, TELEVISION, AND CULTURE
DISTRIBUTION: TO ENTERTAINMENT AND FILM EDITORS
LENGTH: 220 words
HEADLINE: UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND WORKING TITLE FILMS HOST THE WORLD PREMIERE OF 'LOVE ACTUALLY' THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6 AT THE ZIEGFELD
THEATRE IN MANHATTAN
:
WHAT: The world premiere of "LOVE ACTUALLY"
WHO: "LOVE ACTUALLY" cast members Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Colin
Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson,
Martine McCutcheon, Rowan Atkinson, Thomas Sangster, Claudia
Schiffer, Shannon Elizabeth, Olivia Olson and January Jones;
director/screenwriter Richard Curtis; producers Duncan
Kenworthy, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner; and soundtrack artist
Kelly Clarkson.
Plus, additional celebrity guests including: Anthony Edwards,
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Fab 5 (Ted Allen, Kyan
Douglas, Thom Filicia, Carson Kressley, Jai Rodriguez), Josh
Groban, Heather Matarazzo, Greg Wise, and many others.
WHERE: Ziegfeld Theatre
141 West 54th Street
New York City
WHEN: Thursday, November 6, 2003
5:30 PM Press Call Time
6:30 PM Celebrity Arrivals
7:30 PM Screening Begins
"LOVE ACTUALLY" opens in theaters across the country on
Friday, November 7, 2003
SOURCE Universal Pictures
CONTACT: Television, Stacey Rosen, +1-212-445-3804, or Print/On-Line/Photographers, Damion Stene, +1-212-445-3833, all of Universal Pictures
URL: http://www.prnewswire.com
Georgiana (seeing a preview tonight! Sorry if this formats badly.)
Seattle - Wednesday, October 29, 2003
| October 26, 2003 |
|---|
Copyright 2003 Reed Elsevier Inc.
Daily Variety
October 24, 2003, Friday
SECTION: Pg. 02
LENGTH: 1585 words
HEADLINE: Love Actually
BYLINE: Todd McCarthy
(U.K.)
A Universal release of a Universal Pictures and StudioCanal presentation of a Working Title production in association with DNA Films. Produced by Duncan Kenworthy, Tim
Bevan, Eric Fellner. Co-producers, Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin.
Directed, written by Richard Curtis. Camera (Deluxe color, widescreen), Michael Coulter; editor, Nick Moore; music, Craig Armstrong; music supervisor, Nick Angel; production
designer, Jim Clay; supervising art director, Jonathan McKinstry; art directors, Rod McLean, Justin Warburton-Brown; set decorator, Caroline Smith; costume designer, Joanna
Johnston; sound (Dolby Digital/SDDS/DTS), David Stephenson; line producer, Chris Thompson; assistant director, Christopher Newman; second unit camera, David Morgan;
casting, Mary Selway, Fiona Weir. Reviewed at Arclight Cinemas, Los Angeles, Oct. 22, 2003. (In Toronto Film Festival---Special Presentation, work in progress.) MPAA
Rating: R. Running time: 135 MIN.
Harry .... Alan Rickman
Billy Mack .... Bill Nighy
Jamie .... Colin Firth
Karen .... Emma Thompson
The Prime Minister .... Hugh Grant
Sarah .... Laura Linney
Daniel .... Liam Neeson
Natalie .... Martine McCutcheon
Juliet .... Keira Knightley
Rufus .... Rowan Atkinson
Mark .... Andrew Lincoln
The U.S. President .... Billy Bob Thornton
Judy .... Joanna Page
Colin Frissell .... Kris Marshall
Aurelia .... Lucia Moniz
John .... Martin Freeman
Sam .... Thomas Sangster
Mia .... Heike Makatsch
Peter .... Chiwetel Ejiofor
Karl .... Rodrigo Santoro
Carol .... Claudia Schiffer
Joe .... Gregor Fisher
Joanna Anderson .... Olivia Olson
Tony .... Abdul Salis
Harriet .... Shannon Elizabeth
Carla .... Denise Richards
Jamie's Girlfriend .... Sienna Guillory
A roundly entertaining romantic comedy, "Love Actually" is still nearly as cloying as it is funny. Grandly conceived by contemporary British genre master Richard Curtis as a
mosaic of love stories that collectively stress the primacy of amour even in difficult times, this doggedly cheery confection persists in going overboard with smiles, hugs,
kisses and musical reassurances that all you need is love. But its cheeky wit, impossibly attractive cast and sure-handed professionalism are beguiling all the same, qualities
which, along with its all-encompassing romanticism, should make this a highly popular early holiday attraction for adults on both sides of the pond.
After stellar TV work on the likes of "Not the Nine O'Clock News," "Blackadder" and "Mr. Bean," the New Zealand-born Curtis emerged as Blighty's most eminent commercial
screenwriter with "The Tall Guy," "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill" and "Bridget Jones's Diary." He now moves confidently into the director's chair. For what it's
worth, he gets both the wedding and the funeral out of the way early on in "Love Actually."
Set in a spectacularly decorous London in the five weeks running up to Christmas, pic makes a very big point of always looking on the bright side, with the opening narration
positioning even 9/11 as an event that occasioned an outpouring of love, however distressed.
To be sure, any number of the characters here have to deal with frustration, disappointment, loss and pain, but in almost every case these feelings are transitory and
non-depressing. The characters scoot from misery or emotional paralysis to bliss in the time it takes to change clothes, or whenever they discover that someone is interested
in them. And in a move designed to give men some special satisfaction at a film many will be dragged to by women, rarely have so many extraordinarily attractive women come
on so eagerly to so many guys in a movie not about athletes or rock stars.
Showing no strain putting as many balls as he wishes in the air and keeping them aloft, Curtis deftly introduces his ensemble: Drug-ravaged old wild man pop star Billy Mack
(Bill Nighy) "looking for a comeback at any price" by cutting a sappy lyrics-altered Christmas version of "Love Is All Around;" newlyweds Juliet (Keira Knightley) and Peter
(Chiwetel Ejiofor), with the latter's best friend Mark (Andrew Lincoln) secretly in love with the bride; a bachelor Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) taking up residence at 10 Downing
St. and becoming instantly smitten by young tea girl Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), and the PM's sister, efficient housewife and mother Karen (Emma Thompson), whose
husband Harry (Alan Rickman) may be induced to stray by the provocations of his foxy secretary Mia (Heike Makatsch).
Harry has an employee, Sarah (Laura Linney), who's harbored a helpless crush on shy dreamboat Karl (Rodrigo Santoro) for nearly three years; also feeling the pangs of
unrequited love is 10-year-old Sam (Thomas Sangster), whose mother has just died and who confesses to step-dad Daniel (Liam Neeson) his anguish over a girl in school;
jilted writer Jamie (Colin Firth) retreats to the south of France, where he begins a linguistically-challenged romance with Portuguese housekeeper Aurelia (singer Lucia Moniz);
movie stand-ins John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) are painfully reticent with one another even though they spend their days together simulating sex in the nude,
and then there's Colin (Kris Marshall), a gawky, enthusiastic lad who is convinced that the answer to his dating woes lies in America.
Woven together, and occasionally intersecting, so effectively that only one of the strands wears out its welcome --- the John and Judy interlude is archly drawn and doesn't go
anywhere --- the vignettes are composed mostly of comic and emotional highlights, with no down time. Due to the inspired concept and casting, the wonderful passages
featuring Grant as the debonairly rumpled new head of state are bound to be the most remarked upon, especially in Britain. Specifically positioned as the next leader after Tony
Blair, Grant's PM gets off some sharp zingers at his predecessor and, in a scene designed specifically to appeal to the home market, boldly stands up to the arrogant U.S.
President (Billy Bob Thornton), a cowboy with an interest in young ladies to rival that of Bill Clinton.
However, the Prime Minister reveals a Clintonesque side as well in his obsession with Natalie. As neatly played by former pop tart and "My Fair Lady" McCutcheon, the
self-professedly overweight character bears a resemblance to Monica Lewinsky that cannot have been unintentional. Dismayed by the distraction Natalie presents, Grant's PM
brings down the house when he peers up at an office portrait of Margaret Thatcher and asks, "Did you have this kind of problem? Oh, of course you did, you saucy minx."
Another highlight is Nighy's sly portrait of the seen-and-done-it-all rocker so self-amused and unconcerned with what anyone thinks that he can't help but tell the rude truth at
all times. At once leathery and pickled, theater and TV vet Nighy has all the moves down as a sort of tidier Keith Richards for whom reclaimed success is just one giant and
unexpected lark.
In their own ways, other storylines become engaging as well. Although Neeson's Daniel seems overly anxious to move on from his wife's death, and he much too readily uses
sexual profanity with his little stepson (a trait off-puttingly shared here by other adults around pre-pubescent kids), Sangster is so winning as the lovelorn but resourceful Sam
that spending time with the two of them is more than pleasant. Marshall is a joy as the enthusiastic bloke who hits the babe jackpot the moment he arrives in the U.S. The
nervous attraction between Jamie and Aurelia, who don't comprehend a word they're exchanging but understand one another perfectly all the same, is expertly played for laughs
as well as heart tugs, and die-hard romantics will fall hook, line and sinker for the very public climax to their courtship.
Portraying more melancholy emotions are Thompson's Karen, who succinctly captures the controlled anxiety of a woman who senses her marriage might be fracturing before her
eyes, and Linney's Sarah, who's selflessly boxed herself into a place where romance is truly impossible. Overall, the cast is outrageously attractive playing characters almost
uniformly hot to trot at a moment's notice.
Still, as the episodes are stacked into a mile-high love sandwich, the film comes to seem too insistent, too calculated, too much the cheerleader for a cause that doesn't need
such relentless persuasion. The grand finale, which brings most of the characters --- and hundreds of others ---together in a Heathrow arrivals hall, socks over the picture's
overriding theme in a way that will send mainstream auds out in a happy mood.
Curtis has presided over the creation of a package that feels as luxuriously appointed and expertly tooled as a Rolls-Royce. Michael Coulter's resplendent lensing makes the
beautiful people and terrific locations look even more fabulous than they do already, a cause aided by Jim Clay's production design and Joanna Johnston's costumes. Editor
Nick Moore helps balance the storylines with keen senses of rhythm and proportion. Composer Craig Armstrong and music supervisor Nick Angel make catchy contributions
that occasionally become overbearing. Pic has an invigorating and teasing sense of Anglo-American interplay that ranges from the political to the sexual.
"Love Actually" was presented at the Toronto Film Festival in September, but was screened on digital video as a work in progress, with score, sound mix and credits
incomplete.
Georgiana
Seattle - Sunday, October 26, 2003
"I first met and worked with Rex Doyle at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, when he directed me in his own play about the life of the great dancer Nijinsky.
Everything that makes Rex such a fine director and teacher was evident in that production. Meticulous research and great leaps of imagination. But perhaps most importantly it was a production that was guided at all times by Rex's openness and generosity towards the actors and his boundless gift for encouragement. And it was fun. The rehearsal room was by definition a market place for common sense, fleeting instincts, and mad ideas.
This excellent book is fed by exactly the same balance of the creative and the practical. Whether you need information on fund-raising, auditioning, running a rehearsal or making a prop, it is all here.
Youth Theatre continues to prove its worth not only in training young actors, directors and technicians, but also in developing the confidence and self-esteem of young people in a much wider sense. Dedicated youth leaders will benefit hugely from the guidance and inspiration which this book offers in abundance. Alan Rickman"
X
- Sunday, October 26, 2003
"For instance Grant's Prime Minister character spends a lot of time off the subject, doling out anti-American political fodder that seems to have been included more because the Director wanted to slip in a political statement rather than having anything to do with the film itself. Maybe that time could have been used to wrap up a few unaddressed plot points? Most threads are tied up in a suitably satisfying fashion, but some, such as the status of Rickman and Thompson's marriage are simply left hanging. Good though it may be, in some ways, I get the sense that Love Actually wishes it was P.T. Anderson's much better Magnolia, set as it is on bringing so many disparate stories together, right down to doing so with unifying musical cues. In the end, despite Curtis' absolutely heroic efforts, Love never seems to have the necessary deftness to reach that high a plateau."
Magda
Canada - Sunday, October 26, 2003
So we can watch happily knowing that he only takes his pants off in the right bedroom.
Magda
Canada - Sunday, October 26, 2003
| October 25, 2003 |
|---|
PIRATES of the Caribbean beauty Keira Knightley is Britain's sexiest female film star. The 19-year-old won more fans in Bend It like Beckham before starring with Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in the swashbuckling Disney hit. But dishy Bloom lost out as Britain's sexiest film star to Bridget Jones hero Colin Firth, who won female hearts as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.
More mature sex symbols Alan Rickman, Sean Connery and Sean Bean also made the top five in the poll of 4500 people by internet provider Tiscali.....
MEN1 Colin Firth (left) 2 Orlando Bloom 3 Alan Rickman 4 Sean Connery 5 Sean Bean 6 Hugh Grant 7 Colin Farrell 8 Liam Neeson 9 Robert Carlyle 10 Ewan McGregor
Magda
Canada - Saturday, October 25, 2003
| October 24, 2003 |
|---|
***SPOILERS***
Copyright 2003 BPI Communications, Inc.
The Hollywood Reporter
October 24, 2003, Friday
LENGTH: 662 words
HEADLINE: 'Love Actually'
"Love Actually" reminds you of an elaborate Christmas card that tumbles apart with pop-up figures, silly/charming greetings and perhaps even a jingle. It probably cost more than the
gift it heralds, and you can't help but laugh at the audacity of such an aggressively cheerful card. Clearly, the gift giver wants to love and be loved, and only a Scrooge would deny him
his reward. But you also wish he'd heard the phrase "less is more."
The gift giver is Richard Curtis, a writer ("Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill") and, for the first time here, director of comedies that focus on the pursuit of love. Curtis' real
gift is that of sharp, rapid-fire dialogue, easily recognizable characters, a benign view of humanity and a knack for making sentimentality feel righteous. This movie, for all its
calculation and manipulation, comes from a true believer. He really does believe _ as Oscar Hammerstein II once insisted a composer such as himself must _ in "raindrops on roses and
whiskers on kittens." Audiences should respond to the determinedly feel-good nature of "Love Actually" as a top-flight cast of (mostly) British actors sells its love message very well.
The movie is less a traditional story than an elaboration of a theme. This gets pronounced by a narrator at the opening as you watch friends and family tearfully greet at London's
Heathrow Airport: "General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. Seems to me that love is everywhere."
The movie flips among myriad stories in the weeks before Christmas, none terribly original or compelling in itself, but in the aggregate, they illustrate Curtis' theme. A new bachelor
prime minister (Hugh Grant) walks into 10 Downing Street and is immediately smitten with a staff member (Martine McCutcheon). A recently widowed stepfather (Liam Neeson)
struggles to forge a deeper relationship with his late wife's son (Thomas Sangster). An executive (Alan Rickman) encourages a female employee (Laura Linney) to act on her longtime
crush on a fellow worker (Rodrigo Santoro), even as he debates the wisdom of falling into an affair with a most willing colleague (Heike Makatsch), thus betraying his wife of many years
(Emma Thompson).
A bride (Keira Knightley) comes to realize that her husband's best mate (Andrew Lincoln) is madly in love with her. A cuckolded novelist (Colin Firth) flees to the south of France only
to become infatuated with the Portuguese maid (Lucia Moniz) despite their inability to speak each other's language. An aging rock star (a hilarious Bill Nighy) launches a comeback
with a Christmas song he knows is crap and freely says so on a truth-telling tour.
Squeezed between these subplots are eminently disposable ones such as two movie stand-ins who shyly fall in love while entirely naked or a food vendor who believes a trip to any bar
in America will yield a bevy of beauties to fall for his English accent.
These plot threads (and they really are threads) contain little substance. Each is intriguing, but with the exception of the widower and stepson, none achieves any resonance. All are
too fragmentary, though containing enough clever dialogue and sexy moments to distract from the sheer flimsiness.
The production is a winning one, with London turned into a winter wonderland with a side excursion to a rather summery-looking France. As always with a Curtis comedy, the stories
pivot around major set pieces _ a wedding, funeral, a school Christmas pageant and an implausible news conference in which the British PM dresses down an arrogant American
president (Billy Bob Thornton). Curtis imbues his tales of broken hearts and ecstatic adoration with a festive passion and a cheerful optimism that sweeps the viewer up. It's only
afterward that you wonder when the writer fell in love with the maid or why a prime minister would have no social life or how the wife forgave her wandering husband.
Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, October 24, 2003
``Love Actually'' -- It would not be saying nearly enough about this touching romantic comedy from Richard Curtis (``Four Weddings and a Funeral,'' ``Bridget Jones' Diary'') to call it a feel-good movie. ``Love Actually'' -- shown here as a work-in-progress -- is actually the feel-fantastic film of the fall. And even when it's trying too hard to be all of that, it remains so luminously bathed in the light touch of Curtis' writing, and the beguiling performances of Hugh Grant, Firth, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman, it is rarely less than wonderful.
Renie
- Friday, October 24, 2003
| October 21, 2003 |
|---|
LA opens on Nov. 7 in San Francisco, I'm pleased to say. Sorry, Georgiana, that Detroit was picked over Seattle. 8-0
Renie
- Tuesday, October 21, 2003
| October 20, 2003 |
|---|
Copyright 2003 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
DAILY MAIL (London)
October 18, 2003
SECTION: ED_1ST_MER; Pg. 46
LENGTH: 435 words
HEADLINE: Emergency surgery for Prunella in heart scare
BYLINE: ALISON BOSHOFF
PRUNELLA Scales is recovering from an emergency heart operation after being taken ill in the middle of the night while alone at home.
The 71- year- old actress realised she was seriously ill, called herself an ambulance and was immediately taken in for surgery.
Miss Scales, who is best known as Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, was on her own as her husband, actor Timothy West, was away in Bristol working.
She is said to be feeling ' wobbly but getting better' after the angioplasty operation, during which a tiny balloon is inserted into a narrow artery to widen it.
The actress has been making a good recovery at home in Wandsworth, South London, although she has been left badly shaken.
'It has been a terrifying experience for her,' said a family friend.
'She was absolutely petrified when she was taken ill and was all on her own because Tim was away. She's getting better quickly but does seem a bit frailer than before.' Miss
Scales, who earns 250,000 a year as the face of Tesco adverts, has been appearing on stage nightly despite her ill-health and requests not to from her family.
The West End cast of the Oscar Wilde play A Woman of No Importance is aware of her operation last month.
Critics, however, were not and reviews of her performance as Lady Hunstanton have been tepid.
A coronary angioplasty is performed when coronary arteries are severely narrowed. A catheter with a small balloon at its tip is passed into the blood vessel, usually from the
groin.
Once at the correct spot, the balloon is inflated to widen the narrowing.
The catheter contains a stent, a short tube of stainless steel mesh. As the balloon is inflated, the stent expands so that it holds open the narrowed blood vessel.
The balloon is then let down and removed, leaving the stent in place.
Recovery is normally quick.
The operation did not prevent Miss Scales and her husband, who have two sons, celebrating their ruby wedding anniversary last weekend with a big party on a paddle steamer
on the Thames.
Neil Kinnock, comedian Ronnie Barker and actor Alan Rickman were among the guests.
The couple met while rehearsing a television drama when Mr West was still married to his first wife Jackie, with whom he has a daughter.
As actors, they have worked almost constantly, leading to long periods of separation.
In a candid moment she said: 'It's highly unlikely Tim has been totally faithful to me all our married life but he's taken enough trouble to conceal it.
'Since he's done that, I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.'
END
GRAPHIC: MISS SCALES: 'WOBBLY BUT RECOVERING'
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, October 20, 2003
| October 19, 2003 |
|---|
Copyright 2003 Herald Express (Torquay)
Herald Express (Torquay)
October 18, 2003
SECTION: News; People; Royals; Pg. 3
LENGTH: 330 words
HEADLINE: These Songs Are Fit For A Duke
BYLINE: S. TEVE PEACOCK
And it will all be down to dozens of singing schoolchildren at Berry Pomeroy. The youngsters from the village school will be giving the Duke a nostalgic welcome as they belt out
a selection of Second World War standards.
The children have been learning the songs as part of a project.
All 60 of them will be in the village church on Monday afternoon to treat the Duke to a few of their favourites as the royal visitor formally unveils the recently restored William
and Mary coat of arms which is part of the church and village history.
Meanwhile the 500-year-old church has been given a bit of a brush-up in preparation for the royal visitor.
Volunteers have even been giving the new church loo - installed only three months ago - a quick once over just in case it also gets a royal visit. The school project has
involved visits from local people who lived through the war to explain what life was like on the home front more than 60 years ago. One veteran even turned up with his uniform
and medals for his chat with the youngsters.
The William and Mary plaque has been on the church wall for the last 300 years. The five foot by three foot oak panel plaque has recently been restored at a cost of £5,000
after it was noticed it was looking a bit worse for wear.
During his visit the Duke will also meet some of the local dignitaries.
The Duke's own flag will be flying from the church tower during his short stay - run up the pole by Berry Pomeroy churchwarden Nigel Ash.
Berry Pomeroy's St Mary the Virgin church is no stranger to famous visitors. In its time, it has been a bit of a star itself.
It is most famous for its part in the marriage scene in the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility starring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslett, Robert Hardy and Alan
Rickman.
But it also played lesser known parts in the 1996 children's adventure film Forest Warrior starring Chuck Norris and the 1993 Martin Sheen thriller Hear No Evil.
Georgiana (Suz, I forgot to close the indent on my last posting--Help!)
Seattle - Sunday, October 19, 2003
| October 18, 2003 |
|---|
| October 17, 2003 |
|---|
Entertainment Weekly has emailed its subscribers offering the first 30 to respond in the following cities passes for two to attend a screening of "Love Actually" on November 6. The offer states the film will open on November 7. The cities are:
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Detroit
Los Angeles
New York
Philadelphia
San Francisco
Washington DC
Georgiana (Detroit? Nice to see the publicity, nonetheless)
Seattle - Friday, October 17, 2003
| October 16, 2003 |
|---|
Copyright 2003 NewsQuest Media Group Limited
UK Newsquest Regional Press - This is Hampshire
October 16, 2003
SECTION: Whatson
LENGTH: 398 words
HEADLINE: Role call for Daniel.
BYLINE: Echo reporter (author email newsdesk@soton-echo.co.uk)
DATELINE: BASINGSTOKE
HIS LAST appearance at the Haymarket Theatre was as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
He has played in The Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure and, for the Manchester Library, he played Fortinbras in Alan Rickman's Hamlet.
But surely Hamlet is such a procrastinator, a ditherer, and Alan Rickman is such a forceful actor. Diplomatically, Daniel York comments: "Let's say he dithered forcefully."
. . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, October 16, 2003
| October 15, 2003 |
|---|
Copyright 2003 EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS
The Express
October 14, 2003
SECTION: COLUMNS; Pg. 28
LENGTH: 73 words
HEADLINE: DAY & NIGHT; DAY & NIGHT
BYLINE: WITH KATHRYN SPENCER, JULIE CARPENTER AND KATE BOHDANOWICZ
TIMOTHY WEST and Prunella Scales held their ruby wedding anniversary bash on Sunday, we learn, on an old Scottish ferry boat steaming up and down the Thames.
Among the guests at the star-studded party were Sir Ian McKellen, Alan Rickman and Dame Maggie Smith. Towards the end of the event, however, a loud Scottish voice was
heard exclaiming: "Do you realise if we all go down, Christopher Biggins will never be out of work again?
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Copyright 2003 Guardian Newspapers Limited
The Observer
October 12, 2003
SECTION: Observer News Pages, Pg. 12
LENGTH: 962 words
HEADLINE: For movie fans, for Christmas, with much love: New film by writer of Notting Hill is odds on favourite to be the greatest British hit of all time
BYLINE: David Smith, Arts and Media Correspondent
IT IS the box office banker to end them all. Ten love stories, a dozen A-list stars, a comic script by 'the British Spielberg' and the feel-good formula for Christmas - all in a
single film.
It is called Love Actually and, more than a month before its release, has already been tipped to become the biggest British hit of all time.
The strength of the cast list has had the movie industry rubbing its eyes in disbelief. Established stars Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Martine McCutcheon, Bill
Nighy, Liam Neeson, Billy Bob Thornton, Alan Rickman and Rowan Atkinson are combined with Britain's hottest young talent: Keira Knightley, Martin Freeman (best known as
Tim in The Office ), Andrew Lincoln of Teachers fame, Kris Marshall from My Family and rising stage actor Chiwetel Ejiofor.
But the key to the success of Love Actually , made for pounds 23 million and predicted to gross more than pounds 250m, could lie behind the camera. The film's screenwriter,
Richard Curtis, who wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral , Notting Hill , Bridget Jones's Diary and Bean , is also making his debut as a director.
The movie played to packed houses at private screenings in London last week and has won ovations from audiences in Los Angeles and Toronto. Bookmaker Ladbrokes is
offering odds of 3-1 on that it will become the highest-grossing British film ever. 'It's got all the right ingredients to smash every record,' said spokesman Warren Lush. 'You
can't go wrong with Richard Curtis and a cast of this stature.'
The film weaves together 10 love stories that unfold in the run-up to Christmas and climax on Christmas Eve. The festive theme, with its potential for TV repeats, has earned
comparisons with It's A Wonderful Life . Curtis's film is set in London, and is said to make the city seem as glamorous as Paris or New York. Grant plays a bachelor Prime
Minister who falls in love with his Downing Street tea lady, played by McCutcheon, while Nighy is an ageing rocker with a surprise hit. There is also a pop soundtrack with
distinct market potential.
Love Actually receives its premiere, in aid of Comic Relief, at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 16 November, five days before its UK release. Adam Dawtrey, European
editor of the industry journal Variety , said: 'It's going to be huge. It combines all the elements of Richard Curtis's work but with other things too. It is slightly less glossy and
has more of an edge of realism. There is a little more nudity but the normal bucketfuls of swearing.
'It is Curtis's best film yet, a real advance for him, much more interesting than anything he's done before. It's more grown-up in a way and very funny and moving.
'The cumulative effect is of a comic and emotional juggernaut running over you, which the audience won't be able to resist. It does feel like a compendium of great British
actors. This will be a must-see film.'
In Hollywood, too, Love Actually is the title on industry lips. Chris Petrikin, of the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, said: 'It's hard to bet against Richard Curtis, the type
of stories he writes and the quality of the ensemble casts he puts together. For actors it's similar to what is was like to be in a Woody Allen film: a feather in your cap that
brought you instant cachet.'
Curtis, 46, partner of the broadcaster Emma Freud, has written many of Britain's most popular comedies for TV and helped its cinema recapture the glory days of Ealing
Studios. Four Weddings , made for pounds 4m, took pounds 150m worldwide, Notting Hill , made for pounds 27m, took pounds 230m, and Bridget Jones's Diary , made for
pounds 18m, took more than pounds 100m. He is currently working on Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.
Curtis recently explained his decision to direct: 'It was reaching a point where I'd stolen enough hints from other people. In particular, I got very involved in the edits. I now
had strong opinions about where the camera should be, how the actors should act. I just think it was time I dared.'
Like Four Weddings and Notting Hill , the movie is made by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner's Working Title, produced by Duncan Kenworthy and stars Hugh Grant in a fairytale
London. It is likely to face criticism for being formulaic, corny and overtly sentimental - it begins with a voice-over about 11 September, 2001, musing on the 'I love you' phone
calls of those trapped inside the World Trade Centre after the terrorist attacks.
Kenworthy said last night: 'Of the three films I've done with Richard, this is in many ways his most personal. It's his philosophy of life. He's not embarrassed or ashamed to
say: "Love actually is all around." Love motivates people in all walks of life in every way possible. Embarrassment is the biggest English emotion, but Richard is not like that
and it comes through in his writing. Movies are all about what you're feeling.
'Richard writes about things he knows about. He was very proud for years that everything he wrote about could take place within 200 yards of where he lives. He doesn't think:
"I'm going to con the public again with this." He writes it because it's funny, coming from experience. It's not calculated, although of course you're calculating will this work or
won't it. In retrospect everything looks calculated if you want to be cynical about it.'
John Lloyd, who worked with Curtis when producing Not the Nine O'Clock News and Blackadder for the BBC, said: 'Richard seems to be the British Spielberg, he has the golden
touch. Some people just know what's going to be an enormous hit. Richard is a great spreader of joy both as a person and in the stuff he makes. You can't complain about
somebody who is trying to make life more pleasurable.'
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Copyright 2003 EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS
Sunday Express
October 12, 2003
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 3
LENGTH: 520 words
HEADLINE: BOOKIES CLOSE BETTING AS THE SMART MONEY GOES ON ALAN DAVIES TO BE THE NEW DOCTOR COMIC IS THE FAVOURITE BUT EDDIE IZZARD
SAYS: YOU WON'T CATCH ME IN THE TARDIS; WHO ME?
BYLINE: By Pam Francis
BOOKIES are calling for a stewards' inquiry after a flood of bets on Alan Davies to be the new Doctor Who. They reckon that punters have received a tip-off from a television
insider.
. . . . . . . . . . .
The BBC's Doctor Who website has been inundated as fans make their views known about the show, which is being made by BBC Wales and will probably be transmitted in
2005. Among the names touted are Alan Rickman, Derek Jacobi, Brian Capron, Kenneth Branagh, Martin Clunes and even David Blaine. One fan suggested Tony Blair - with
George W Bush as The Master.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, October 15, 2003
| October 13, 2003 |
|---|
For movie fans, just in time for Christmas, with much love
New film by writer of Notting Hill is odds-on favourite to be the greatest British hit of all time
David Smith, arts and media correspondent
Sunday October 12, 2003
The Observer
It is the box-office banker to end them all. Ten love stories, a dozen A-list stars, a comic script by 'the British Spielberg' and the feel-good formula for Christmas - all in a single film.
It is called Love Actually and, more than a month before its release, has already been tipped to become the biggest British hit of all time.
The strength of the cast list has had the movie industry rubbing its eyes in disbelief. Established stars Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Martine McCutcheon, Bill Nighy, Liam Neeson, Billy Bob Thornton, Alan Rickman and Rowan Atkinson are combined with Britain's hottest young talent: Keira Knightley, Martin Freeman (best known as Tim in The Office), Andrew Lincoln of Teachers fame, Kris Marshall from My Family and rising stage actor Chiwetel Ejiofor.
But the key to the success of Love Actually , made for £23 million and predicted to gross more than £250m, could lie behind the camera. The film's screenwriter, Richard Curtis, who wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary and Bean, is also making his debut as a director.
The movie played to packed houses at private screenings in London last week and has won audience ovations in Los Angeles and Toronto. Bookmaker Ladbrokes is offering odds of 3-1 that it will become the highest-grossing British film ever. 'It's got all the right ingredients to smash every record,' said spokesman Warren Lush. 'You can't go wrong with Richard Curtis and a cast of this stature.'
The film weaves together 10 love stories that unfold in the run-up to Christmas and climax on Christmas Eve. The festive theme, with its potential for TV repeats, has earned comparisons with It's A Wonderful Life. Curtis's film is set in London, and is said to make the city seem as glamorous as Paris or New York. Grant plays a bachelor Prime Minister who falls in love with his Downing Street tea lady, played by McCutcheon, while Nighy is an ageing rocker with a surprise hit. There is also a pop soundtrack with distinct market potential.
Love Actually receives its premiere, in aid of Comic Relief, at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 16 November, five days before its UK release. Adam Dawtrey, European editor of the industry journal Variety , said: 'It's going to be huge. It combines all the elements of Richard Curtis's work but with other things too. It is slightly less glossy and has more of an edge of realism. There is a little more nudity but the normal bucketfuls of swearing.
'It is Curtis's best film yet, a real advance for him, much more interesting than anything he's done before. It's more grown-up in a way and very funny and moving.
'The cumulative effect is of a comic and emotional juggernaut running over you, which the audience won't be able to resist. It does feel like a compendium of great British actors. This will be a must-see film.'
In Hollywood, too, Love Actually is the title on industry lips. Chris Petrikin, of the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, said: 'It's hard to bet against Richard Curtis, the type of stories he writes and the quality of the ensemble casts he puts together. For actors it's similar to what is was like to be in a Woody Allen film: a feather in your cap that brought you instant cachet.'
Curtis, 46, partner of the broadcaster Emma Freud, has written many of Britain's most popular comedies for TV and helped its cinema recapture the glory days of Ealing Studios. Four Weddings , made for £4m, took £150m worldwide, Notting Hill , made for £27m, took £230m, and Bridget Jones's Diary , made for £18m, took more than £100m. He is currently working on Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason .
Curtis recently explained his decision to direct: 'It was reaching a point where I'd stolen enough hints from other people. In particular, I got very involved in the edits. I now had strong opinions about where the camera should be, how the actors should act. I just think it was time I dared.'
Like Four Weddings and Notting Hill , the movie is made by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner's Working Title, produced by Duncan Kenworthy and stars Hugh Grant in a fairytale London. It is likely to face criticism for being formulaic, corny and overtly sentimental - it begins with a voice-over about 11 September, 2001, musing on the 'I love you' phone calls of those trapped inside the World Trade Centre after the terrorist attacks.
Kenworthy said last night: 'Of the three films I've done with Richard, this is in many ways his most personal. It's his philosophy of life. He's not embarrassed or ashamed to say: "Love actually is all around." Love motivates people in all walks of life in every way possible. Embarrassment is the biggest English emotion, but Richard is not like that and it comes through in his writing. Movies are all about what you're feeling.
'Richard writes about things he knows about. He was very proud for years that everything he wrote about could take place within 200 yards of where he lives. He doesn't think: "I'm going to con the public again with this." He writes it because it's funny, coming from experience. It's not calculated, although of course you're calculating will this work or won't it. In retrospect everything looks calculated if you want to be cynical about it.'
John Lloyd, who worked with Curtis when producing Not the Nine O'Clock News and Blackadder for the BBC, said: 'Richard seems to be the British Spielberg, he has the golden touch. Some people just know what's going to be an enormous hit. Richard is a great spreader of joy both as a person and in the stuff he makes. You can't complain about somebody who is trying to make life more pleasurable.'
Sue
England - Monday, October 13, 2003
| October 11, 2003 |
|---|
| October 10, 2003 |
|---|
Daily Variety
October 10, 2003, Friday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 4
LENGTH: 146 words
HEADLINE: 'POTTER' ADDS THOMPSON
BYLINE: CATHY DUNKLEY
Emma Thompson has joined the ensemble cast of Warner Bros. Pictures' "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," currently shooting in the U.K. with helmer Alfonso Cuaron.
Thompson will play the ethereal and eccentric Professor of Divination Sybill Trelawney, known at Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft & Wizardry for her somewhat questionable
predictions.
Thesp stars opposite Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman and newcomers Gary Oldman (as Sirius Black), David Thewlis
and Michael Gambon.
"I am very excited to work with Emma," Cuaron said. "She brings such life and spirit to the characters she portrays. It will be exciting to see her as Trelawney."
"Prisoner of Azkaban" is the third feature film adaptation in J.K. Rowling's bestselling "Harry Potter" series. It will be released Stateside next summer.
Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, October 10, 2003
| October 8, 2003 |
|---|
Copyright 2003 Newspaper Publishing PLC
The Independent (London)
October 9, 2003, Thursday
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 7
LENGTH: 689 words
HEADLINE: TALES OF THE CITY: IDARLING, YOU'D BE A MARVELLOUS PM...
BYLINE: JOHN WALSH
HIGHLIGHT:
Yes, minister: if Arnold Schwarzenegger can run for office, why can't our very own Alan Rickman?
Watching Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigning for the governorship of California, one has been struck by three things. One, how little any of it has to do with politics (the only unpredictable thing about Arnie's Republicanism is his moderate stance on women's issues, which is ironic given his Tourette's-syndrome wandering hands). The second is how naively Arnold tried to be both honest and self-exculpatory at the same time, as in this exchange:
Arnold (on NBC Television): "A lot of these are made-up stories. I never grabbed anyone and then pulled up their shirt and grabbed their breasts and stuff like that. This is not me."
NBC TV: "So you deny all those stories about grabbing?"
Arnold: "No, not at all."
(So, let me get this straight, Arnie. What you're denying is the sequence of events, the grab-pull-fondle tripartite attack? Oh, I get it. You didn't do it in that order.)
The third thing is: why can't British actors stand for political appointments in the same clueless way? Danny Glover, who co-starred in the Lethal Weapon movies, is campaigning on behalf of Gray Davis, the sitting Governor. Both Glover and Arnie can point to Clint Eastwood's mayorship of Carmel, without starting on the honourable precedent of Ronald Reagan. Haven't we got any power-crazed thespians to go down the same route?
It's depressing to think Glenda Jackson is the only British actor who has successfully switched to politics (you can't count Lord Attenborough and the other darlings in the Lords, because they never campaigned for election). What we need right now is the sudden appearance of a maverick leading man in his fifties, making a shameless bid for popular support - to wrest mayoral power from Ken Livingstone, to sweep into office through a by-election in Tower Hamlets, or to stand for a specially-created Governorship of Cornwall. God knows there's a power vacuum at the top of the Conservative party and while we're waiting to see if Oliver Letwin or Theresa May fills it, why not consider some alternative candidates?
I'm thinking Alan Rickman here. I can easily see him, in a ticker-tape cascade in Whitehall, waving to cheering crowds with that cold sneer he wore to such effect playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. I can hear him addressing the faithful on election night, giving the words "Ladies and gentle-mennnn" the metallic intonation that made him such a charismatic baddie in Die Hard. Admit it: you'd vote for him tomorrow, wouldn't you? You just know he'd take no crap from Mr Chirac, Mr Berlusconi, and, more to the point, Mr Bush. Somehow you couldn't say the same for Simon Callow or Stephen Fry; both would make charismatic political speakers, but only provided the former wore one of his beards, and the latter deployed his pipe and went on about spanked bottoms.
Sir Ian McKellen would supply the gravitas that's lacking in, say, Liam Fox, but he may be a bit glum and Old Testament-ish to lift the nation's spirits. Hugh Grant could ride into power tomorrow at the head of a breakaway faction called the Hopelessly British Party, but his murky past would be sure to catch up with him. ("He grabbed me and said, Look here, I wonder if you'd mind awfully if I... that is to say, were I to, you know, kiss you, would you, so to speak... yes I suppose you probably would.' Well, I think it was sexual harassment...") Ralph Fiennes, I don't think so (too pained-looking), ditto Ian Holm (too short, too indecisive- looking), likewise Billy Connolly (remember how rudely he treated politicians, and royals, in Mrs Brown?).
That leaves just one British leading man who eclipses all others in possessing the charisma that makes people vote for people, and that's Sean Connery; but he's fatally tied up with the Scots Nationalists, and he's lived abroad for too long, so he's blown his chance there. No, it has to be Mr Rickman who makes a Schwarzenegger-like bid for political stardom very soon. He has nothing to fear, unless his enemies dig out a clip of him trying to sing "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More" in Truly, Madly, Deeply.
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Copyright 2003 Guardian Newspapers Limited
The Guardian - Final Edition
October 8, 2003
SECTION: Guardian Leader Pages, Pg. 25
LENGTH: 17 words
HEADLINE: Letters: No need for the Tories
BYLINE: Chris Ainsworth
* FAO IDS: Alan Rickman for Sheriff of Nottingham?
Chris Ainsworth
Rawtenstall, Lancs
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Copyright 2003 NewsQuest Media Group Limited
UK Newsquest Regional Press - This is The Lake District
October 8, 2003
LENGTH: 473 words
HEADLINE: Adrian Mullen's Arts Diary - October 10th - 16th
BYLINE: Adrian Mullen
DATELINE: The Lake District
Film fans are in for a treat on Saturday October 18 as Alan Rickman makes a surprise appearance at the Film Laundry a new element to the Old Laundry's annual autumn festival.
Best known for his appearances in flicks such as like Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves Die Hard Sense and Sensibility Truly Madly Deeply and the Harry Potter films organisers have created an all-day event exploring the full range of the Hollywood star's talents.
Starting at 11am at The Royalty Cinema Bowness he introduces films in which he starred (Galaxy Quest) or directed (Winter Guest at 2.30pm) and later appears in conversation with radio broadcaster Paul Allen at the Old Laundry Theatre (5.30pm). Finally the Royalty screens Sense and Sensibility (8.30pm). Festival director Roger Glossop said it had been great fun putting together an event reflecting all the facets of the top actor's work. Full details on 015394-88444.
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, October 08, 2003
"A total of eight director awards will be handed out at this year's Cork Film Festival which takes place from Sunday 12 to Sunday 19 October. The UIP Directors Awards are the largest of their kind in Ireland, with a prize fund totalling €30,000.
The presentation to the winning directors will take place in the Cork Opera House prior to the 8.30pm gala screening of 'Love Actually' on Saturday 18 October.
Magda
Canada - Wednesday, October 8, 2003
| October 7, 2003 |
|---|
Worth watching for short AR interview and TMD excerpts plus he has made some other wonderful films and seems like a nice guy.
Sue
England - Tuesday, October 07, 2003
| October 6, 2003 |
|---|
Copyright 2003 EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS
The Express
October 6, 2003
SECTION: TV; Pg. 43
LENGTH: 117 words
HEADLINE: TVEXPRESS - FILM OF THE DAY BY ANGELA COOKE; DOGMA 10PM C4
BYLINE: TV EXPRESS EDITED BY CHARLOTTE CIVIL
Real-life friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (right) star as angels banished from heaven for past misdeeds, but intent on reclaiming their places in paradise after finding a
loophole in a new-style religion. However, this isn't what the Almighty wants at all. So he gets his messenger Metatron (Alan Rickman) to send Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) and a
string of oddballs, including ex-museturned-stripper Serendipity (Salma Hayek) and the 13th disciple, Rufus (Chris Rock), to stop the pair. While nothing can match Monty
Python's Life of Brian, Dogma follows in its footsteps, taking a satirical look at organised religion. A great cast and some brilliant one-liners make it excellent viewing.
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, October 06, 2003
Copyright 2003 Times Newspapers Limited
Sunday Times (London)
October 5, 2003, Sunday
SECTION: Features; Driving; 14
LENGTH: 1435 words
HEADLINE: It's an ancient Briton, and it's not wearing pants
BYLINE: Jeremy Clarkson
Whenever an actor is asked to slip into a toga he sees it as an excuse to go all swivel-eyed and bonkers. When it comes to the Romans, no speech defect is too preposterous,
no gait too far fetched.
We've had Derek Jacobi with his club foot and his stutter, and Malcolm McDowell helping himself to every bride, groom and farmyard animal in Rome. Oh, and let's not forget the
one with the funny mouth who stabbed Russell Crowe in Gladiator.
. . . . . . . . . .
And look at the names TVRs have had over the years: Griffith, Chimaera, Cerbera - all terrifying mythological creatures with goat heads and seven sets of teeth.
That's why I'm unnerved by the latest version, the T350C. What kind of a name is that? It makes it sound like an electric toothbrush. And while a toothbrush has a revolving
head and bristles, it's not as scary as, say, a hammerhead shark. Could this mean, then, that the new car has lost some of its bite?
Two things back this up. First of all, it's a coupe with a boot and a hatchback, and I'm sorry but I just don't equate the concept of TVR motoring with all this stuff. It's like trying to imagine a Saxon despot in a cardigan.
. . . . . . . . . .
So what we have here is a TVR with all the savagery of the olde worlde coupled with the practicality of a useable boot and a soft ride. It's an ancient Briton with Roman
overtones and as a result Alan Rickman wouldn't be able to play it properly in a film. He'd be too mad. Think more in terms of Alan Titchmarsh--a little bit raunchy but actually a
little bit not.
. . . . . . . . .
Georgiana (This is an article about a new auto, would you believe?)
Seattle - Monday, October 06, 2003
Copyright 2003 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
DAILY MAIL (London)
October 4, 2003
SECTION: ED_1ST; Pg. 51
LENGTH: 1102 words
HEADLINE: CREATE YOUR OWN DVD LIBRARY ABSOLUTELY FREE!
TODAY the Mail is launching its own library of smash-hit movies on DVD for you to collect Absolutely Free. Over the next two weeks, you will be receiving inside Weekend
magazine a FREE DVD of that classic romantic movie, The French Lieutenant's Woman.
Because of the sheer scale, we cannot distribute all the DVDs in one week.
If you have not got yours in today's magazine, don't worry, it will be in next Saturday or the following one.
But that's not all. If you collect the tokens we're printing every day in October - the first one is here - we'll send you another smash-hit movie on DVD. You can choose from the
following ten titles: The Man In The Iron Mask, Manhattan, When Harry Met Sally, Get Shorty, A Fish Called Wanda, A Fistful Of Dollars, Moonstruck, No Way Out, Thunderbirds
Are Go and Reversal Of Fortune.
There'll be another ten titles for you to choose from next month, too.
To claim your free DVD, just send the tokens with your name, address and a cheque or postal order for 60p to cover postage to the address we will print later this month.
You can only choose one free, but you can buy any on the list for 12.99 each (plus p&p) by completing the coupon.
As well as the ten films listed above, you can buy another ten titles for only 12.99 each (plus p&p).
. . . . . . . . . .
TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY
This is a moving comedy about life, love and death - though not necessarily in that order. Juliet Stevenson plays Nina, a woman mourning the sudden death of her husband
Jamie (Alan Rickman). When he appears in her living room, she must make a difficult decision: to live with Jamie in the past, or move on and find new love.
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, October 06, 2003
| October 4, 2003 |
|---|
Copyright 2003 Times Newspapers Limited
The Times (London)
October 4, 2003, Saturday
SECTION: Features; The Eye 19
LENGTH: 1009 words
HEADLINE: The Cool Fusion Kid
BYLINE: Angus Batey
Angus Batey meets "the David Beckham of jazz"
The best rock, jazz and classical releases, plus prize pop puzzle The brightest and most controversial new star to appear in the British jazz firmament in years is explaining how
he first became interested in the music.
Tellingly, Jamie Cullum's reference points are not what one would expect.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Though a multi-instrumentalist, Cullum concentrated on piano and started playing jazz gigs in his teens in Wiltshire, even while he was involved in other bands playing
everything from rap to rock. He recorded his first album in a day during 2001 while studying film and English literature at Reading University, paying for it out of his student
grant. The profit he made selling it at gigs paid for a second LP, Pointless Nostalgic, which Michael Parkinson started playing on his radio show in 2002, before booking him to
appear on his television programme this year. An invitation followed to perform at what Cullum describes as a "surreal" party held in St James's Palace this May, where he
played Sinatra to Alan Rickman's Noel Coward before 40 members of the royal household. Yet he remains level-headed, still unable to believe that as you read this he will be
midway through the first residency by a European musician at the Algonquin Rooms in New York, and endearingly starry-eyed about a November booking to appear on Blue
Peter.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana (trying again...)
Seattle - Saturday, October 04, 2003
| October 3, 2003 |
|---|
Copyright 2003 Guardian Newspapers Limited
The Guardian (London)
October 3, 2003
SECTION: Guardian Features Pages, Pg. 17
HEADLINE: Films: Pick of the day
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Chris Columbus, 2001) 12.45pm, 8pm, Sky Movies Premier Fed up with ploughing through the latest Potter tome? Then why not take
a break with the first Potter movie, which proves to be more magical than Muggle. Everyone knows, of course, that this is the story of young wiz Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), plus
chums Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint), who enrol at the wonderful Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and have their first encounter with evil Lord
Voldemort. Columbus's directing is a little stodgy, but there is some marvellous CGI invention, from the dumbfounding Diagon Alley to a deadly game of chess and a thrilling
game of quidditch; and with a whole coven of British acting talent (including Alan Rickman, the late Richard Harris, Fiona Shaw, Julie Walters, and biggest and best of all, Robbie
Coltrane's Hagrid) playing a gallery of colourful characters, there's enough magic dust sprinkled about to keep fans young and old spellbound.
Truly, Madly, Deeply (Anthony Minghella, 1991) 8pm, FilmFour This was seen as the British version of Ghost, the 1990 Hollywood tale about a man returning after death to
comfort his grieving girlfriend. Minghella's film (he wrote the script as well as directed) is less sentimental, more emotionally true, and funnier. He's helped by fine acting: Juliet
Stevenson as the bereaved Nina makes you feel her pain in all its choking, runny-nosed misery, while Alan Rickman does a very funny ghostly turn as Jamie, invading her flat
with a bunch of fellow ghouls. Tears and laughter, all at once: clever stuff.
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, October 03, 2003
Here's the AR portion:
"One of the couples at the center of Love Actually-Karen and Harry, a married couple with two children-have grown overly comfortable with their love for each other. In drawing their story, Curtis wanted to investigate “the whole idea of what happens when domesticity is interfered with.”
The director sought two actors for whom the task of playing a long-term couple would be second nature and cast Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman (who had previously worked together in several projects, including Sense and Sensibility and The Winter Guest) in the roles.
Rickman says, “It’s good to work with people that you’ve worked with before, when you know, like and trust them. Emma Thompson’s playing my wife, in a sense, meant that we almost didn’t have to rehearse the relationship-not that we’re married, but we do know each other well and we’ve worked together a few times now.”
In explaining his and Thompson’s on-screen counterparts, Rickman says, “Karen and Harry both have very busy lives and that often leads to little chinks in the armor…and into one of those chinks steps a young woman called Mia who works in Harry’s office. It’s just like a moment in time - you turn your head one way and one thing happens, turn another way and something else happens - but like perhaps a lot of men he had a weak moment, weak enough to give in.”
Thompson relishes her reuniting with so many of her colleagues and observes, “Richard’s a master at this kind of light material that also has a wealth of hidden depth. The stories are cross sections of different lives that all line up, either thematically or tangentially. It was fabulous to team up with Richard and Hugh and Alan and everyone again.”
Magda
Canada - Friday, October 3 2003
| October 2, 2003 |
|---|
"We have decided against a repressing of the 'Not Alan Rickman' single at this time, although the song is likely to appear on a forthcoming rarities compilation."
They sent her a link to a .mp3 and streaming versions of the song, though:
"Not Alan Rickman" It's very interesting! I think I like it LOL, although it's kind of difficult to understand what he's saying! (I had the lyrics close by the second time I played it. LOL)
Jen
Cow Land, MD, USA - Thursday, October 2 2003
| October 1, 2003 |
|---|
Love Actually trailer
Renie (the one showing in theaters in the US--Georgiana)
- Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Copyright 2003 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
The Evening Standard (London)
September 29, 2003
SECTION: A; Pg. 10
LENGTH: 114 words
BODY:
ACTORS Alan Rickman and Damian Lewis were among 180 friends and colleagues who attended yesterday's memorial service for screenwriter Leigh Jackson, who worked on
controversial New Labour drama The Project and Warriors, the awardwinning dramatisation of peacekeeping in Bosnia. Jackson died of cancer aged 52 earlier this year.
Highlights of the service at the Church of St Paul, Covent Garden were a Buddhist chant and a singing of 'Mr Tambourine Man', by Bob Dylan, one of Jackson's favourites. "It
could have been worse," said Jane Tranter, head of drama at the BBC. "Leigh was also a great fan of Dire Straits. We could all have been singing 'Sultans of Swing'."
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, October 01, 2003
