IRELAND

Let's start right the way with the now very classic (but always delightful) Ozymandias News !!

- Papers here report that pop superstar Robbie Williams is set to become a movie star as a 70's hippie in the upcoming comedy FAR FROM THE MUSHROOM CLOUD. It's about a group of people who travel to the wilds of Ireland in 1978 to shelter from the possible outbreak of nuclear war! The movie has a budget of £3.2m (about $3.6m) and will be filmed in West Cork, Brendan Gleeson (THE GENERAL, MI:2) is also tipped to appear and details of the production are set to be announced at Cannes.

- According to the Star newspaper Kevin Reynolds is due here this autumn with his $40m production of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Jim Caviezel (THE THIN RED LINE) stars. More US filmmakers are expected to flock here this year due to tax incentives for filmmakers and the weak Punt/Dollar exchange rate (damn the Euro anyway!!!). (Note from Edgard : Guy Pearce should join the Kevin Reynolds film also)

- Demi Moore may have found her comeback vehicle. And she could have Madonna's sweetie to thank. The formerly hot actress, who became branded box-office poison after a series of flops, including G.I. JANE and STRIPTEASE is said to be the top choice to play Jane Couch, a British boxing champ. Guy Ritchie, the father of Madonna's forthcoming child and the director of LOCK, STOCK... is planning to make a movie based on the colourful Couch, who worked in a factory and had several run-ins with the law before putting her aggression to work for herself in the ring. A spokesman for Moore said he knew nothing of the film and Ritchie's spokesman had no comment. But one source says the possible casting probably came about because Ritchie knows Moore through Brad Pitt, who he's been directing in the film SNATCH. Pitt has long been friendly with Moore, says the insider. "I wouldn't be surprised if he set it all up. They're all very cosy. Demi could really use a hot movie right now, and she would be perfect for it. " One person who seems to disagree is Couch. She reportedly said she doesn't think that Moore is as pretty as she is.

- Daniel Day-Lewis is set to make his big-screen comeback in GANGS OF NEW-YORK. The IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER star will be re-teaming with AGE OF INNOCENCE director Martin Scorsese in the $80million gangster drama, which starts shooting this August. Day-Lewis's last film was THE BOXER, four years ago, and he's spent the last few years living with wife Rebecca Miller in Ireland. (The two first met on the set of THE CRUCIBLE, written by Rebecca's playwright father, Arthur.) Scorsese spent several months trying to coax the actor out of semi-retirement to replace Robert De Niro, who dropped out when it became apparent that the film would be filmed in Rome. In GANGS OF NEW-YORK, Day-Lewis will play the wonderfully-titled Bill the Butcher, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. Liam Neeson and Pete Posthlethwaite are still in talks to star.

That's it for Ozymandias, Irish fans do not hesitate to send your news to him at : ozymandias@ireland.com

UK

* This has been announced before on AICN, but we remind you that Jerry Goldsmith will conduct two concerts in London on May 22nd (Screen Classics) and May 23rd (World of Fantasy) - both days at 7.30 pm - with the London Symphonic OrchestraDear at the Barbican Centre, London.

* News for all the DOCTOR WHO's fans : In the 1970's, nearly two hundred episodes of the classic TV sci-fi series, DOCTOR WHO, was lost by the BBC. Over the years, many episodes have now returned, but over 109 still remain missing. Today, Gareth Parker has launched "The Doctor Who Project(http://missingdrwho.tripod.com), which represents the first major, mainstream effort to restore and find lost footage. At the Site, there is a history of the lost episodes, a current inventory of missing footage and who to contact if you believe you can help restore the BBC Archive. However, The Doctor Who Project goes further than any other Website has before: using the latest developments in Computer Technology (specifically, what has the 1999 Warner Bros. movie "The Matrix" to do with 1960's Doctor Who), it look at ways that the Archive could be restored without the return of such footage. This release is here to make Doctor Who fans, film collectors and CGI enthusiasts aware that they may have such footage which would be welcomed back by the BBC, or may be excited by the ideas the Website has to offer.

* Ben Elton has signed up to write the script to the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's perversely popular musical THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. It marks a step forward in the long-running saga of the film, which has spent years in development hell. It has also been the cause of much debate among fans of the original Phantom, Michael Crawford, who was passed over for the lead role. Antonio Banderas will be donning the mask and warbling through Lloyd Webber's 'tunes'. ELIZABETH director Shekhar Kapur is on board to helm the project, although there's no word on who will play Christine. A career in the movies is looking to be a lucrative prospect for Ben Elton. The writer and comedian has just written and directed his first movie, MAYBE BABY, and also hopes to turn his novel, 'Popcorn', into a film. MAYBE BABY is released on June 2 (Source : Popcorn).

* The "director we all love" Joel Schumacher has shown some interest in adapting for the big screen a British TV film called TRUTH OR DARE (but first he has to make TIGERLAND and PHONE BOOTH). This film was made for BBC in 1996 by John Madden (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE) and tells the story of four friends, 3 men and a baby, oups !, no, it's not that..., 3 men and a woman, who knew each other from high school. After being away for a while from her male friends, the woman will understand that they're threatening her life... And just for the record, the movie will be called simply DARE (as TRUTH OR DARE is already a Madonna project).

* According to 'Morrissey-Solo.com', Morrissey, UK singer formerly of the 80's group 'The Smiths', has recorded a duet with Johnny Depp. Johnny is a neighbour of Morrissey in Los Angeles and also has a love of all things British, especially British humour!. He is a massive fan (and imitates word for word) characters and sketches from Hit BBC2 TV programme 'The Fast Show'. Johnny has also previously contributed to projects with Oasis and Shane McGowan, Former lead singer-songwriter of the Irish group The Pogues. (Thanks to The Man with No Nickname)

* Mole gives us this report from the papers : some brit company is to try and work BIGGLES up into a "James Bond or Indiana Jones type franchise", ie a series of blockbuster films. The first film will be "Biggles Flies North" which I believe was the title of the 1st book, so looks like they are doing straight adaptation(s) rather than transplanting the characters. I would guess, therefore, that the period would not be updated.

* Two cool websites to get reports or tons of info on movies : - http://www.sightandsound.homestead.com - and of course our friends at Netribution who just put on their site some interviews about a new comedy called LARGE and many more news from UK at : http://www.netribution.co.uk

SPAIN

* Actor John Malkovich and producer Andres Vicente Gomez of Lolafilms have unveiled the full cast of DANCER UPSTAIRS which will include Juan Diego Botto, Laura Morante, Elvira Minguez and Abel Folk alongside Spanish star Javier Bardem. The project, which marks Malkovich's directorial debut, will shoot in English on a budget of $4.8m from nine weeks from May 8. Locations include Madrid, Oporto and Quito. The script, written by Nicholas Shakespeare based on his own novel, is a thriller about a police detective's search for a fictionalised guerrilla leader in an unidentified Latin American country. The story is based on the capture of Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman. (Source : Screendaily)

* Jeff Smith was a VIP visitor at the "Salón del Cómic de Barcelona 2.000" (Barcelona's Comic show). Smith, creator of Bone, commented several things about the character he's designing for a new animated motion picture by Nickelodeon/Paramount. But it will take a while before it comes out... (Thanks to Angel).

THE NETHERLANDS

* The Slightly Wicked Witch of the Southeast (cool name, but a bit long) reports on a new film from John Badham (please make it more like BLUE THUNDER or WAR GAMES than NICK OF TIME).: "An interview appeared in the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant with director John Badham and Canadian environmental activist John Watson, about their new film called OCEAN WARRIOR (after Watson's book). Watson, one of the earliest members of Greenpeace, was asked to leave that organisation in 1977 because of his use of violence in attacking whalers (trying to sink their ships), giving him a reputation as an environmental terrorist, which he claims is unjust, since he never hurts people, only equipment. The film, which is said to feature a mix between drama and action, will be produced in the Netherlands, and will feature both Dutch and US actors. Watson will be played by actor James Marsters . Martin Sheen, John Voigt and Dutch actors Thom Hoffman and Kim van Kooten have been mentioned for smaller roles. Badham indicated that he would need computer generated special effects to assist the real heroes of the film, the whales. Shooting starts in September.

ITALY

* Masse reports on the casting of the new Dario Argento film : "Max Von Sydow has been confirmed as the lead in Dario Argento's new film I CAN'T SLEEP. He will be joined by Stefano Dionisi. Shooting starts in one week time". For more info check : http://www.darkdreams.org/news.html

GERMANY

And now some news from our German top-spy Scythe :

- JONATHAN 2001 or GOTT & DIE WELT (the producers still can't decide between the names) is in the can and in post-production. This funny as hell movie will be one of the next big German movie events. As I've already reported before it deals with a comic-writing guy who is set to become the replacement of God, because God fucked up the last 2000 years. The female God of the Universe has decided so.... but the guy won't leave is earthly existence for he has just fallen in love. (This sounds like Kevin Smith would dig it, right?). Oliver Korritke, star of DIE MUSTERKNABEN and famous for his love for comics and movies, leads an all-star cast. He also made the contact to a comic-book writer who will adapt the story to the little pages. They already sold t-shirts with the cover of it and it looks very promising.

- Mr. Brown Entertainment (the company from Til Schweiger) co-produces NACH DER ZEIT ("After The Time"). The movie tells the story of three old ladies that dream of a trip on the sea and want to get the hardly earned money from card games to the bank. Unfortunately the bank gets robbed and the money is gone. What can they do? They decide to rob a bank, too, which is very difficult if these ladies are 80, 76 and 74 years old......

- The first fully digital made German movie will be made until late 2000. DIE HITLERKANTATE features Juergen Prochnow as a composer who writes a birthday cantata for Adolf Hitler. Original movie clips from the 30's will be edited together with new material so that one might think the movie was made in 1938.

- Interested in a link to the HEAVY METAL F.A.K.K. 2-Trailer?: http://www.mediabiz.de/mbdata/download/HeavyM2.mov

- You reported that Tom Tykwer will make his American debut with HEAVEN, written by Krzysztof Kieslowski, but I think you didn't notice that like THREE COLOURS this was intended as a trilogy.(Although I can't say if it will be made as one.) Filming will start in July in Italy and Germany.

- DANCER IN THE DARK the new Lars von Trier movie, made a lot of press in Denmark recently. Bjork, famous singer from Iceland and main actress, seems to have had a very bad time with him. Newspapers report that she has bitten off parts of her costume and even ate some of it. (Yikes!). She also seems to have vanished during filming for 4 whole days, running barefoot through Copenhagen. The reason she claims is that Trier tried to hypnotise her, trying to get more potential out of her, because she had many problems shooting her best friend, according to the script. Trier and Bjork seem to have had several nervous breakdowns and Triers production company almost went bankrupt. All this didn't stop the film and now it will debut in Cannes.

- AUF HERZ UND NIEREN, the second directing-instalment from Til Schweiger, is going to be filmed in autumn. It's a comedy about unorthodox organ transplants. Steffen Wink (KAI RABE & DIE VATIKANKILLER, SCHIMANSKI) will star.

- DIE SAMS will be filmed in autumn in Bavaria and Italy. Ulrich Noethen and Armin Rohde will star in this movie written by children's book author Paul Maar and Ulrich SCHTONK! Limmer. This may be an adaptation of one of the most famous German children's books. The "Sams" is a little guy that makes wishes a reality. Everytime he does so he loses a freckle. The two stories with the "Sams" were already shown in TV years ago. This is a production for the big screen.

FRANCE

* Catherine Deneuve is to star in Olivier Dahan's LE PETIT POUCET (Little Tom Thumb) with Elodie Bouchez (THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS) and Romane Bohringer (TOTAL ECLIPSE). The budget of that fairy tale movie is estimated at $12m.

* Virginie Ledoyen stars in SANS TITRE (Untitled) a second film by Jean-Francois Richet (MA CITE VA CRAQUER). The revenge tale is currently in post-production and will be distributed in France by Bac Films.

* Benoit Poelvoorde (MAN BITES DOG) will star this august in VELO, from director Ghislain Lambert. This is the story of a cyclist confronted to drug-taking. Philippe Harel, José Garcia and Daniel Ceccaldi will co-star.

* Old news now but still worth telling it again : French star Jean Reno will join the ROLLERBALL remake directed by John McTiernan to play the "bad guy"... Before that, American audiences will see him in the American remake of French mega-hit comedy THE VISITORS and here we will see him this fall in the new movie from Mathieu Kassovitz (LA HAINE) : LES RIVIERES POURPRES.

* If you like old French movies you certainly know Jean Gabin, actor of such classics as THE SICILIAN CLAN, GRISBI, PORT OF SHADOWS or GRAND ILLUSION. His son just found in the family house a copy of a unsuccessful and not well-known movie of him : L'AGE INGRAT(starring also another French star from that period : Fernandel). The film will be shown on French TV channel France 3 in a few months...

DENMARK

* Not really a movie news, and certainly not really Danish... but still it's fun I believe : Steven Spielberg and Danish Toy company LEGO are working together to launch a kit called "MovieMaker" that will allow kids to make their own digital films. This will include a digital camera, an editing software, Lego pieces (??) and a guide... all for more than 200$. In American stores next November and around the world in January 2001. This was presented last week during the Electronic Entertainment exhibit in L.A. Profits of the sales will go to the Starbright Foundation and the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.
This was confirmed by Le Samouraï who just sent us a report from Denmark... so here it is :

* Some news from Denmark and further background information on a couple of films you've mentioned in Friday's report from Cannes:

- Danish producer Thomas Mai is going to head Zentropa's new American division. Whether the new company will be named Zentropa US (Mr. Mai's favourite) or Zentramerica (apparently Lars von Trier's and producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen's pick) is yet to be decided, and Thomas Mai yesterday told Danish newspaper Politiken "it probably will have to be settled in a tennis match". Whoever the better tennisplayer might be, the decission has to be made soon, since the company will start production of it's first feature this summer. As part of their profile final cut will be given to all directors, and first film is to be SCRATCH by Italian director Cecilia Minuichi (?), starring Harvey Keitel.

- American company Fine Line Features, who I believe are the American distributors of von Trier's new musical DANCER IN THE DARK have made a deal with Zentropa to co-produce three films. Budgets are estimated to end between 8-15 million $ for each and Fine Line Features will contribute with as much as up to 30% of it. This might of course not sound as much to some of you, but mind that the ordinary Danish film production has a budget of 2-3 million $ (and in the case of the Dogme 95 productions only around 1 million $), which makes the deal somewhat historical for the small national film industry of a minor country. The three films in the deal are sci-fi thriller LAST BORN by Niels Arden, an adaption of Jostein Gaarders THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY by Susanne Bier, and MOMENTS OF CLARITY by writer Michael Colville Andersen. No director attached yet to the last one.

- Other things danish? Well, LEGO announced the "Steven Spielberg MovieMaker Set", which should arrive in the stores in january 2001. This first set of a series will include a webcam, editing software, soundfiles, and of course actors, props and sets made out of LEGO. Apparently it also includes a couple of plastic LEGO dinosaurs, so maybe Mr. Spielberg is looking for someone to replace Joe Johnston in the director's chair on Jurassic Park 3? Sounds pretty cool to me.
Kindly regards
LeSamuraï

EURO PICK OF THE WEEK by Edgard
To follow this week's actuality, I will present you a Belgian movie which got a double price for the male actors at the 1996 Cannes Festival : THE EIGHT DAY. It follows the story of Georges, who has Down's syndrome, and is living in a mental-institution, and Harry, a busy businessman, giving lectures for young aspiring salesmen. The two will meet : Georges has escaped from his institution, Harry lives in despair since his wife left him. The basic story line reminds RAIN MAN of course (the classic tale of two people learning to know each other's difference) but this one is probably far more stretched out in the fantasy and real human emotions. Director Jaco Van Dormael creates a world where mouse talks or singer appears everywhere (if you saw his other film TOTO THE HERO, you know how original his universe is). And more important than the pseudo-scandal that followed this film for "using" an actor with Down's Syndrom, this film shows real emotion... you can feel that the two lead actors Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne share a true relation, this is beyond acting and it's why I urge you to see that one.

Cheers. DB That's it for the Euro AICN News... but we will stay in touch with the Cannes Festival Reports...