All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 188
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Menzel ready to Serve The King
Oscar-winningCzech director Jiri Menzel is edging ever closer to a starting date for hislong-gestating I Served The King Of England. The Euros 3m project, puttogether by producers AQS and Bioscop as a Czech/Hungarian/German/Slovakianco-production, is close to being fully financed. The first part of the 61-dayshoot is slated to take place ...
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Julian Richards gets Prolific with new slate
Prolific Britishdirector/producer Julian Richards (The Last Horror Movie) has announced a slate of new projects through hisdevelopment and production outfit, Prolific Films.Krizia is a supernaturalhorror film scripted by Andrew Miller (Cube, Nothing) about a schizophrenic girl with telekinetic powers.Long Dark Hours, backed by the Arts Council of Wales, is billed ...
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Kaurismaki embarks on Nightwatchman shoot
Shooting has begun inFinland on Nightwatchman, thethird part of Aki Kaurismaki's Finland trilogy. Having dealt withunemployment in Drifting Cloudsand homelessness in Man Without A Past, the Finnish auteur is now taking as his subject "loneliness in suburbanHelsinki." The film is being made through Kaurismaki's production companySputnik.Among the starsis Paju, the ...
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Verhoeven's Black Book closes financing
VIP Mediafondshas boarded Black Book,Paul Verhoeven's long-gestating $20m wartime thriller, as majority financier,finally giving a start-date to the project in August on location in TheNetherlands and at Studio Babelsberg.The cast is ledby Dutch star Carice van Houten, Halina Reijn and Dutch actor Thom Hoffman. Thelead German parts are played by ...
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Petit embarks on Unrequited Love shoot
Shooting hasbegun on Unrequited Love, the latest feature from cult British filmmaker Chris Petit (LondonOrbital, Asylum). Adapted from abook by Greg Dart, the film is an essay-drama exploring the links betweenunrequited love and stalking.The film is aco-production set up by Illuminations with Mediopolis in Berlin, LondonFilm,.MDM, ZDF/ARTE, YLE and the ...
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Blue Star launches Tracker, My Favourite Game
London-basedBlue Star Movies is handling international sales on two new projects.Tracker is a $20mdrama-thriller set in New Zealand. It will be co-produced with the UK's EdenFilms. David Burns (Eden Films) and Pete Maggi (Blue Star Movies) will produce,while Nicolas van Pallandt, who also wrote the script, is set to direct.Set ...
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Svankmayer project headlines Barrandov Studios slate
Theproduction arm of Barrandov Studios has announced further details of itscurrent slate.It is shortly to appoint asales agent for Lunacy, the newproject from cult Czech animator Jan Svankmayer. A co-production withAthanor, Czech TV and C-GA Film, Lunacy is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and the Marquis De Sade. Combining liveaction ...
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Lucky Red embarks on Cannes buying spree
Upscale Italian arthousedistributor Lucky Red has been on a buying spree in Cannes, snapping up rightsto three new titles. It has picked up Korean gangster drama A BittersweetLife from CJ Entertainment, Thaihorror hit Shutter from GMM ThaiHub and Carlos Reygadas' competition entry, Battle In Heaven from The Co-Production Office.Just prior ...
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Bond plots shooting defection from UK to Prague
Having boosted the Britishproduction sector for decades, James Bond is in advanced negotiations to headto Eastern Europe for his next outing, Casino Royale.A spokesperson for Prague'sBarrandov Studios confirmed that the studio is well along in talks with EonProductions, the production outfit behind the James Bond franchise, to come to the ...
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Starfield's Rabbit sex comedy arouses interest
UK-basedStarfield Productions has been enjoying some enjoyable tremors with its raucousnew sex comedy about a vibrator, Rabbit Fever, directed by Ian Denya. An all-starcast has been assembled for the project, about the best-selling vibrator in theworld, known as The Rabbit. Sienna Guilroy, Tom Conti, Stephanie Powers, Tara Summers,Flora Montgomery, Sam ...
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High Point scores Vinci sales to Japan, US
UK outfit High Point Filmshas announced sales on Juliusz Machulski's Vinci, which screened at Cannes earlier in the week. The comedy crime caper hasbeen picked up by New Select Co in Japan, Bonton Film for the Czech Republicand Slovakia and Pegaz Art Production for North America.Vinci officially opens its festival ...
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Participant gobbles up Fast Food Nation
eBay mogul Jeff Skoll'sParticipant Productions has munched up North American rights as well a healthymouthful of equity in Fast Food Nation, it was announced in Cannes yesterday by Participant ProductionsPresident Ricky Strauss. The deal was done with London-based Hanway Films.Fast Food Nation is a Recorded Picture Company production. It isbeing ...
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Slimline Rotterdam festival to roll back the years
The Rotterdam Festival(IFFR) is to downsize, festival director Sandra den Hamer has confirmed inCannes. Aiming torecapture some of the intimacy which characterised the festival's early yearsunder founder Hubert Bals, Den Hamer says she is planning to cut the programmeby around 20%."One of the biggest challenges for me isto make it ...
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Storitel funding rouses horror Arising
Manchester-based producerPaul Sherwood's Storitel Films is to fully finance Arising, a new Britishhorror film marking the directorial debut of veteran TV director Bob Baldwin. Scripted by Dan Spencer,Nick Ryan and Mark Barron, the film moves into production next month. Also new on Storitel's slateis (Seymour's Adventures in) Bookworld, billed as ...
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Alzheimer Case wins China entry deal
The Alzheimer Case is China-bound. Erik Van Looy'spsychological thriller has been chosen as one of the quota of 20 westernfeatures that the Chinese Government has passed for release this year. The dealwas negotiated with Hong Kong distributor Domo Media and China Film by UK-basedsales agent, The Works. The Chinese Censorship ...
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Basic Instinct 2 star revs up Merseyside movie shoots
In a bid tokickstart movie production in the Merseyside region of England, BasicInstinct II starDavid Morrissey's Tubedale Films is to partner with England's North WestVision. North West will invest £145,000 over the next year on a slatepartnership with Tubedale.The deal,it is claimed, is the first of its kind from a ...
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Four Horsemen ride with lads mag icon Ellison
British lads' mags iconJennifer Ellison is to star in The Cottage, one of four new horror films being launched in Cannes by Four HorsemenFilms (the genre horror label of UK production company Random Harvest.)Ellison, aged 21, leaped tofame aged 14 when she joined the long-running UK soap opera Brookside. Ellison ...
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Fiennes uncovers Mata Hari
Martha Fiennes (whose newfilm Chromophobia closes theCannes Festival later in the week) is plotting a new film about MargarethaZella, also known as Mata Hari - the notorious exotic dancer who was shot bythe French in 1917 for allegedly spying for the Germans during the Second WorldWar.Fiennes is setting up theproject ...
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Stars gear up for Driving Lessons
Oscar nominees Julie Waltersand Laura Linney are to star alongside Harry Potter's Rupert Grint in Driving Lessons, writer Jeremy Brock's directorial debut.The story is about a shyvicar's son (Grint) with an overprotective mother whose world changes when hemeets a retired actress. Brock loosely based the comedy-drama on his own life.The ...
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Bristol Media handles Greek drama
MatthewModine, Richard Griffiths and Greek billionaire-turned-actor Alki David are toheadline new UK-Greek co-production OPA! Directed by Udayan Prasad (My SonThe Fanatic.)Sales for OPA!, which recently started shooting in Patmos,are being handled by Tony Manne's Bristol Media International.Modine plays anarchaeologist who comes to Greece and falls under the spell of a ...