Contributed by Nicol WistreichI’d kept myself eerily cool right up until the moment he walked in the room.In those few brief seconds, it suddenly hit me. This is Renton. Sure there’s Star Wars and Big Fish and Robots and Moulin Rouge and even Shallow Grave. But Trainspotting was the film that made me and everyone I knew at that time sit up and say ‘hot shit that’s a good British film’ – and Ewan was what made it. And before that I can still remember sitting down to watch my first Dennis Potter series and seeing McGregor, brylcreamed-back hair, calmly stiring a cup of teain Lipstick on Your Colllar and wondering – who is that guy that make me have to watch every move he makes?Yet from the first email to his agent, then his publicity officer, right through to the email that sounded almost as suprised as I was when I read it: ‘Ewan has said he’ll do this’, it was just another interview. But there are some actors who you feel like you’ve grown up with, become an adult with, and as he walked in the back room of the Soho club we met at, hand thrust forward, I finally got those eery spine sweating shivers.He’d agreed to do the interview – not connected to any film release – for a documentary I was making for TAG Theatre while launching Netribution at the start of the year. TAG is Scotland’s longest running theatre in education company, and travels the country engaging with kids and exciting them about life and learning and – at its best – making them feel that expressing themselves creatively is a good thing. As I made the film I became converted to the overwhelming benefits of drama for young people – it boosts confidence, social skills, imagination, emotional inteligence, awareness, empathy and so on. It also – to get a bit academic – can teach something to a kid regardless of their learning style (some students need to act out, others need to listen, others need to write things down, etc) which may not sound like much but if you have to engage a class of 30 completely distinct children without the use of a cane, it’s kind of a god send.Thanks to Roberta for sending the interview 🙂
The Santa Fe Film Festival delivers a Halloween treat ? the initial announcement of 79 titles and programs that will comprise the bulk of this year’s festival, running Dec. 6-10 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Check back frequently as we begin to provide you with more background on these offerings, not only credits and synopses, but also images, links to online trailers and websites, and, of course, their scheduled showtimes and the halls where they will play in Santa Fe. Also, look for a few more surprises, as we aren’t completely done with our programming yet and will be fleshing out this slate with a few additional titles, as well as unveiling a packed lineup of parties, panels, workshops and related events ranging from a photo exhibit to a one-act play starring Gary Farmer.46. Miss Potter (World premiere starring Ren?e Zellweger as children’s author Beatrix Potter)Official ticket sales begin Novemeber 13th at our Box Office and over the telephone.Source: www.santafefilmfestival.com
According to this scan (kindly provided by Roberta) from French magazine, Studio, Wild Bunch is the co-producer and distributor for Woody Allen’s latest project, ‘Cassandra’s Dream”From Wild Bunch’s site:CASSANDRA’S DREAM : SYNOPSISAlthough with a totally different plot, this is a movie in the same genre as Match Point. It is a crime melodrama; the story of two brothers. It is about lust, romance, and the desire for quick money. It’s also about what happens as the web gets more and more tangled, leading, as it did in Match Point, to murder with surprising consequences.The film takes place in present day London and while the actual tale is far removed from Match Point (the characters and milieu being much more working class and the story line nothing like it) there are, as in the form of a thriller, a number of unexpected plot twists.Source: www.wildbunch.bizThanks to Roberta for the scan and for the info!
Ewan McGregor has signed on to star in the futuristic thriller “Franklyn,” shooting next summer in the U.K. First-time writer-director Gerald McMorrow, will make his helming debut on the film set simultaneously in contemporary London and in a future metropolis where there is no separation between church and state. It’s the story of four lost souls, – Esser, Milo, Emillia, and Preest – divided by two parallel worlds, on course for a cataclysmic collision when a single bullet will decide all their fates.Preest is a masked vigilante detective, searching for his nemesis on the streets of Meanwhile City; a monolithic fantasy metropolis ruthlessly governed by faith and religious fervor. Esser is a broken man, searching for his wayward son amongst the rough streets of London’s homeless. Milo is a heartbroken thirty-something desperately trying to find a way back to purity of first love. Emilia is a beautiful art student, her suicidal art projects are becoming increasing more complex and deadly. Reality hasn’t got a prayer. Source: www.productionweekly.comMcGregor lands in futureThesp to star in McMorrow-helmed picEwan McGregor has signed on to star in “Franklyn,” a futuristic British movie by first-time writer-director Gerald McMorrow. Jeremy Thomas will produce.Hanway Films will handle worldwide sales for the project, shooting next summer in the U.K.Pic is a split narrative set simultaneously in contemporary London and in a future metropolis ruled by religious fervor. It’s the story of four lost souls, divided by two parallel worlds, on course for an explosive collision when a single bullet will decide all their fates.McMorrow is a commercials director whose surreal sci-fi short film “Thespian X” won the TCM Classic Shorts prize in 2002.Visual effects will be created by London-based f/x house Double Negative. Source: www.variety.com
by Andrew ClarkeNovember 1, 2006It may have a slightly erotic, come-hither, title but to East Anglian film-makers Ed Blum and Aschlin Ditta, Scenes of a Sexual Nature, their debut movie together, is a gentle, poignant – and above all funny – look at the lives of seven couples who pass by one another on Hampstead Heath.It’s obviously an opinion shared by most of Britain’s acting luminaries because, based on the quality of the script alone, Ewan McGregor, Adrian Lester (Hustle), Catherine Tate, Hugh Bonneville, Gina McKee (Notting Hill), Benjamin Whitrow (Pride and Prejudice), Eileen Atkins, Douglas Hodge (Red Cap), Mark Strong (Syriana), Polly Walker (Rome), Andrew Lincoln (This Life) and Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) all signed up to take parts in the film for Equity minimum wages and with no financing for the film in place.Newmarket-born director Ed Blum is still is state of shock. He says that with two weeks before filming began, they had virtually no cast and no money. Hugh Bonneville was the first to come on board, then Gina McKee, then Ewan McGregor and Douglas Hodge – who were then appearing in Guys and Dolls together at the Piccadilly Theatre.Ed remembers the moment when he took the phone call which told him that Ewan, Britain’s biggest contemporary movie star, had committed to his debut feature. “It took a minute or two for the news to sink in. Then I put the phone down and just started jumping up and down.”Source: www.edp24.co.ukThanks to Roberta for the link
