Stephen Dillane, who stars in Welcome To Sarajevo, joins Greta Scacchi and Daniel Craig (from Our Friends In The North) in the cast of Cathal Black's first film since Korea - the period drama, Love And Rage, originally titled Lyncheaun, which is now shooting on Achill Island and the Isle of Man. The screenplay by Brian Lynch deals with "a dark tale of lust and revenge set against the backdrop of late 19th-century Ireland".
It's that time of year again. Even though dozens of potential Oscar contenders have yet to be released in the US before the cut-off point of New Year's Eve, the trade papers already are full of "for your consideration" advertisements and offers of free screenings for Academy members. Jim Sheridan's The Boxer, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Emily Watson, will open in New York and Los Angeles on December 31st to qualify for nominations. However, Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy, which had been mooted for a pre-Christmas release in the US, has been deferred to next year, as have a number of other movies tipped as Oscar contenders such as The Horse Whisperer, starring Robert Redford and Kristin Scott Thomas, and Peter Weir's The Truman Show, featuring Jim Carrey.
Forty-four countries have submitted nominations in the Oscar category of best foreign-language film. Unusually, two of the submissions are animated features - The Little Shoemaker from Croatia and Princess Mononoke from Japan. Surprisingly, the Spanish entry is not Pedro Almodovar's Live Flesh, but Montxo Armendariz's Secrets Of The Heart.
Among the better-known nominees are Maunel Poirier's Western (France), Alain Berliner's Ma Vie En Rose (Belgium), Pal Sletaune's Junkmail (Norway), Youssef Chahine's Destiny (Egypt), Pupi Avati's The Best Man (Italy), Arturo Ripstein's Deep Crimson (Mexico), Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Gabbeh (Iran), Manoel De Oliviera's Journey To The Beginning Of The World (Portugal), and JeanLuc Godard's Forever Mozart (Switzerland). Godard can be replied upon to shake up the Oscars ceremony in the unlikely event that he wins on the night. Then again, anything is possible in this most unpredictable of all the Oscar categories.
Some of the best recent films have been adapted from books which had been deemed unfilmable - such as Trainspotting and The Butcher Boy. Now the Austrian director Kurt Palm has brought Flann O'Brien's 1939 novel, At Swim-Two-Birds, to the screen, and it had its world premiere in Vienna last week. "I know quite positively that the film will receive the most diverse and controversial reviews," says Palm in the film's press book. "Some people will find it fantastic, others will find it terrible." We eagerly await the opportunity to make up our own minds whenever the movie is screened in Ireland.
Busy Jude Law, from Wilde and Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, has been signed for David Cronenberg's next movie, eXistenZ. He will co-star with Jennifer Jason Leigh, who, as a result, will not be able to team up with Quentin Tarantino in the new Broadway production of Wait Until Dark. Marisa Tomei is now set to play Tarantino's blind prey in the play.
Director Ang Lee will follow Sense And Sensibility and The Ice Storm with To Live on, a US Civil War western which will star Johnny Depp lookalike Skeet Ulrich.
Chic French fashion designer Agnes B is making a move into movies, having set up the production company, Love Streams. The company's first film will be J'ai Fait Un Reve, to be directed by newcomer Emilie Deleuze. No word yet on who's signed as costume designer.
