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Vignettes
WINSLET
LAUNCHES FILM COMPANY
Titanic star Kate Winslet has formed a film production company with her
husband, and they aim to begin shooting their first film in 2001. Based
at London’s Shepperton Studios, Telltale Films was formed in mid-1999
by Winslet and husband Jim Threapleton, to develop and produce U.K.- and
European-based films. Details of projects on their slate were not disclosed.
Telltale has signed an exclusive first-look development and production
deal with sales firm Intermedia, which will distribute the films worldwide.
“We are both enjoying exploring the exciting depth of writing on
offer in the U.K., and believe we have a number of strong ideas that,
with work, will make powerful films,” Winslet said in a statement.
Intermedia developed a relationship with Winslet through her work on the
upcoming Intermedia projects Enigma and Therese Raquin.
Winslet, a two-time Oscar nominee for her work in Sense And Sensibility
and Titanic, has just completed filming the thriller Enigma, directed
by Michael Apted. She will also star in and act as executive producer
on Therese Raquin, scheduled to start shooting next spring.
After an early career as an assistant director on feature films in the
U.K. and U.S., Threapleton has spent the last 18 months laying the foundations
for Telltale, and has developed a portfolio as a writer-director. The
couple met on the set of Hideous Kinky in 1997, and married the following
year.
BAFTA
AWARDS TO COME BEFORE OSCARS
Britain’s top film awards will move out of the shadow of the Oscars
next year and adopt a “pivotal role” in the run-up to Hollywood’s
biggest night of the year, its organizers said. The British Academy of
Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) will choose its winners on February 25
next year, exactly a month before its American counterpart doles out the
Oscars. Previously the British awards came after the Oscars.
“The decision places the event in a pivotal role during the pre-Oscars
lobbying process,” said BAFTA chairman Simon Relph, “As a platform
the new date will undoubtedly attract more talent to the ceremony, increasing
its stature and influence considerably.”
Peter Dunne of Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks production company backed
the British academy’s decision to move the date. “In international
terms... this move will make the awards more important, since they will
take place during those weeks when the global media is fully focused on
our industry,” Dunne said.
This year’s BAFTAs crowned American Beauty as Best Film, and its
stars Kevin Spacey and Annette Benning as Best Actor and Actress. Pedro
Almodovar scooped the Best Director prize for All About My Mother. Veteran
British actor Michael Caine was awarded a BAFTA fellowship for long and
distinguished service.
CONNERY KNIGHTED AT LAST
Veteran actor Sean Connery, more popular as James Bond, was knighted by
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth on July 5, two years after he was reportedly
denied a knighthood because of his passionate Scottish nationalism. Wearing
full Highland dress in the dark green MacLeod tartan, ‘Sir Sean’
emerged from the hour-long ceremony at Edinburgh’s Holyrood Palace,
to meet reporters and cheering crowds who had gathered to see him. His
wife Micheline and brother Neil were by his side.
“It’s one of the proudest days of my life,” said a beaming
Connery, 69, proudly showing off the gold medal on its bright red sash,
“It means a great deal for it to happen in Scotland.”
Connery’s knighthood was announced in the Queen’s New Year’s
Honours list. But many believe the Hollywood star should have been honoured
before now. In 1998, he was at the heart of a bitter political row after
it was widely reported that the ruling Labour party had blocked plans
to award him a knighthood. The 007 actor is a high-profile supporter of
the Scottish National Party, now the official opposition in the Scottish
Parliament, and a vocal campaigner for an independent Scotland. But Sir
Sean refused to comment about his long wait.
The return to his native Edinburgh for the knighthood is a poignant reminder
of Connery’s extraordinary rise from a poor upbringing to global
superstardom as the suave British secret agent, James Bond. He grew up
in a four-story tenement in Edinburgh, working as a milkman on a horse-drawn
float, before serving a three-year stint in the Royal Navy. His move into
acting followed, and he quickly shot to stardom 40 years ago in the first
Bond film, Dr. No. But despite his love for Scotland — he sports
a ‘Scotland Forever’ tattoo from his Navy days — the star
now lives in Marbella, Spain.
SEARCH ON FOR SPIDER-MAN
With the long-awaited Spider-Man movie set to start production in November,
Columbia Pictures is still trying to find the right young actor to play
the dual roles of earnest teenage photographer Peter Parker, and his wall-crawling
alter ego. The studio has seen many notable young thesps for the web-slinger
role, but the search continues. Word is that Columbia is keen on American
Beauty star Wes Bentley, among others, while director Sam Raimi wants
Tobey Maguire, thinking that the Cider House Rules star would be eminently
believable as the sweet-natured Parker. Whether he can be equally convincing
as an evil-battling superhero is a question not yet answered. The project
is being produced by former Fox 2000 president Laura Ziskin, Marvel Studios
president/CEO Avi Arad and Ian Bryce (Forces Of Nature).
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