 Fragile Ealing Restored
Ealing Studios is to receive a thoroughly deserved and much needed £70m renovation after its new owners, Fragile Films, acquired permission on Wednesday to build production offices, refurbish the studios and the famous White House. The studio will be end up as an extremely tempting media village whilst continuing its role as a studio with acres of post-production suites, sound stages, and rehearsal rooms. Despite recent visitors like Star Wars: Episode II, the historic site has long since enjoyed such popularity as it did in it's heyday in the 50's but these broad improvements, including extra accommodation and a pedestrian area to enhance the community feel, should breathe fresh life into the institution. The new owners, who include developers The Manhattan Loft Corporation, introduce the improvements incrementally to ensure as many of the facilities stay open during construction. Sky Dive Bombs
As Murdoch cuts back costs across his increasingly troubled empire, Sky Pictures is the latest casualty, in a cull that has seen jobs and divisions cut worldwide. Having spent $25m over two years, with some success such as Brenda Belthyn-staring Sky-high pic Saving Grace, the closure came as a suprise to many, and on a basic level means less money invested in British films. However, Sky Pictures had fallen into controversey over their marketing of the films they produced, with the filmmakers of George Best biopic Best taking BSkyB to court to prevent them from broadcasting the film before it gained a theatrical release.
UK BO OK
The Cinema Advertising Association published the month of May's cinema admissions for the UK on Thursday - the results were even more promising than last month's. The highest in the UK for that month since 1975, admissions during May were up 2.5% on 2000 by reaching 11.6m people. With a string of blockbusters still on screens around the country like Bridget Jones and The Mummy Returns, which have grossed nearly $60m already, as well as Pearl Harbor and Captain Corelli's Mandolin performing very ably. If these figures hold then the end of year tally could be as much as 150 million - 10 million higher than last year. It is still very early in a year of blockbusters of course, Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, AI, Jurassic Park 3, Shrek, Tomb Raider and Oceans Eleven, 2001are all yet to be released Oldman to Play Rusell's Pretty Boy
Ananova reported during the week that Ken Russell is planning a mid budget gangster flick. The director's long awaited movie, budgeted around $25m focuses on the chequered life of Pretty Boy Floyd, the notorious and dapper bank robber who made a name for himself during the Depression. Russell is currently enjoying a much-deserved revival and has managed to lure the Gary Oldman to star as Floyd opposite a possible Matt Damon as the police chief intent on hunting down the felon. Loosely scheduled for a February shoot in locations close to the Great Lakes and in Chicago, American starlets Claire Danes and Reese Witherspoon have expressed interest to play Floyd's high-school sweetheart.
Sexy Beast Shines Stateside
Jonathan Glazer's brutal British gangster movie Sexy Beast has broken the hearts of film critics Stateside. The FilmFour backed film, starring Ray Winstone, Amanda Redman and Ben Kingsley, debuted in New York and LA in the week to storming reviews such as the LA Times' Ken Turan, "has style that burns," while The New York Daily News reflected that "[Glazer] makes the smallest gesture and the brightest sun seem foreboding." The Post fell in further in love with Ben Kingsley, "Effectively banishing memories of Gandhi and Schindler's List, Kingsley is riveting and, well, sexy." That has to be a first. Boyle Virus Strikes Fox
Variety reported during the week that Danny Boyle and Andrew MacDonald will team up again for the first time since The Beach. The studio funded sci-fi thriller called 28 Days Later will be written by Alex Garland, and tells of a lethal virus that decimates the world's population. Co-financed by Film Council and Searchlight though by Macdonald and Duncan Kenworthy's DNA Films, production is set to begin in the UK in August.
Fox Searchlight's President Peter Rice told Variety, "We are extremely excited to continue our successful relationship with Andrew, Danny and Alex. They are groundbreaking, world-class film-makers and 28 Days Later is exactly the kind of original and distinctive material that we relish making at Searchlight." War of the Spears
According to chud.com, Pendragon Films are on the verge of signing Michael Caine to star in their remake of the HG Wells classic, War of the Worlds. Set in Seattle, the $50m latter day sci-fi will be model effects heavy rather than implementing CG generated aliens ships. With an Autumn shoot scheduled for a release in the Spring of 2003, reports were lacking in specific cast information although the veteran Caine is expected to sign within a week. Law Backs Angel Rutger
Jude Law is being tipped to join the near legendary Rutger Hauer in The Angel Of Zin, based on Clifford Irving's novel. Set around Adolf Hitler's death camps the film concentrates on a Waffen SS captain and will be shot on location in Berlin and Poland. The troubled officer, played by Law, is sent to investigate crimes committed by an officer known as the Angel of Death. Emily Walker (Angela's Ashes) has is in talks to play Law's screen wifeon the $18m that is supposed to begin production in Germany in the spring of 2002.
Humanitas Hall
Lee Hall, the British writer nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the tremendously successful Billy Elliot is in line for a further accolade. The award-winning is among 34 film and television writers nominated for the Humanitas Prize, carrying a top prize of more than £90,000. Previous winners include Aaron Sorkin and Tim Robbins as writers whose works "explore the human condition and shed a positive light on life." Other scribes vying for the cash are Stephen Gaghan for his Oscar-winning screenplay, Traffic, and Kenneth Lonegran, writer (and director) of You Can Count On Me. The winner will be announced at a ceremony on June 28. Two Terry's Tell Python Tales
Pythons Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam, who are promoting the re-release Monty Python and the Holy Grail, have been sharing hilarious anecdotes concerning the film's reception when shown to its original investors. The 1975 hit, featuring the famous Knights of Ni and a ravenous white bunny rabbit, was re-released in six markets over the weekend but apparently when first shown to investors, nobody laughed. Jones told Friday's New York Daily News, "Oh, they laughed right at the beginning, then they stopped... from then on, nothing. Nobody laughed the whole way through." Indeed, preview screenings in England were so poor that, before showing the film at a Los Angeles film festival, they considered editing out a scene in which a character asks the audience whether they were enjoying themselves. Thankfully that scene "got the biggest laugh of the evening" and the classic comedy got the wide release it deserved. Britney Spears Died Today
According to an investigation by the Guardianunlimited.co.uk, hackers were able to divert those trying to access an area of the BBC's website (news.bbc.co.uk) to a dummy site leading with a report that Britney Spears had died. Apparently the spoof was created on a site called Tossthecoin.com, hosted by a Californian server called maple.he.net. The story said that rapper Eminem was "distraught" by the news but that Britney's rival Christina Aguilera was "too happy for words." A BBC spokesman was vehement in response to the Guardian's findings, "We take matters like this very seriously. We investigate, contact the server that is hosting it, and get them to pull it down."
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