Jamie Bell on David Mackenzie's work in Independent Film: 'David is going to be at the forefront of that world'

There is that expression that when it rains it pours, and heh while in some cases too much rain (or hurricanes) is bad, the good news and new interviews are starting to pour in for all of us Mister (Hallam)Foe fans at last! Collider.com has a decent new interview online with Jamie Bell tonight -and promises his exclusive David Mackenzie interview to follow soon, with some new info too on "Spread" with Ashton Kutcher woot!-where Jamie discusses working on the soon to be released Mister Foe. Two highlights for me: One is when Jamie is directly asked, thank god, about the stupid name change for the release of the film here in the US, and he replied :

It’s strange, I don’t know why they’ve done that. I don’t know if it’s because it sounds like camel toe?

Collider: Maybe cause there’s no one named Hallam over here, some people would recognize it as a name.

JB: Right, right, that makes sense.

Collider: But at the same time, I like “Hallam Foe” better.

JB: No, I like “Hallam Foe” because it seems like a riddle or an enigma and it is kind of exactly what he is, but that’s alright.

EVERYONE LIKED HALLAM FOE BETTER!!!...except for those who hold the US distrib rights alas...

Although I quite QUITE was thrilled that the interviewer (Charlie Mihelich of Collider) actually bothered to do his homework and ask about reservations on doing the film after reading the script by Peter Jinks, with Jamie noting that he "Absolutely, I had every reservation. You know, working on the Clint Eastwood movie and portraying these kind of heroic marines who did this amazing thing and then there’s a script on my desk “a guy who draws lipstick in circles around his nipples, what?” but as the script continued and as the character evolved, that I really connected with."...my favorite part was of course hearing about the actors thoughts

on the director DAVID MACKENZIE, and spoke to the fine FINE work David does, taking on the role in a small independent film, and more Relevant Quotage:

It’s a tiny film. A tiny little British independent film, with a very ambitious schedule with a real visionary director behind the helm, tough but fun.

Collider: It’s always great when you get a tested director behind the wheel of an Independent film because then you know it’s got a chance.

JB: Right, right, absolutely, and you know it’s, in terms of the British film industry we’ve had some great talents come out recently, as far as Paul Greengrass, Chris Nolan, like really storming ahead, but this other realm of British filmmakers that are really into this independent world, smaller independent films, I think David is going to be at the forefront of that world, and it was a pleasure to work with him.

Hear HEAR!

Two More Interviews with Jamie Bell on Mister Hallam Foe

It would be a huge lie to say Im not at all panicked of late, because I am in fact, quite distracted and worried now that Gustav is about to pay a visit...my beloved old city still hasnt fully recovered, and now, god forbid, more doom on perhaps an even larger and more catastrophic scale, is surely about to befall that place. Family and dear friends drove hours and hours and hours to get out already, but still even now, some are in Baton Rouge which is at least above sea level!, yet I fear they will bear a huge blunt of the storm. New Orleans is below sea level, and when those levies fail, so much was lost-not sure if they will be able to survive this one. Example what would happen if say Venice got hit by a hurricane...The highest danger in all of this is from the flooding that will wreak such havoc on NOLA and the parishes to the south and west (not that 155 mile an hour winds dont pack a hell of a punch either...), so its good that everyone is getting the hell out (im not there but my heart very much is as twee as it is to say) Its also quite easy to tell yourself well tis nothing since youve been through several hurricanes in your life and they can be relatively ok to endure, but this one, I am not so hopeful, as it is especially hard on the elderly and the wee ones too, and its bloody well hard not to be worried..

Right so to distract myself today, got an mail from my friends at the wonderful LA Times about a piece they are running on Jamie Bell. While not sure if they went to the recent junket, its a good read, short but at least its something! (btw NEW DAVID MACKENZIE PHOTO, along with Sophia Myles and JAMIE BELL online at Hollywoodnewswire.net from the recent junket at the Four Seasons Hotel held last week on August 26 -David is looking very zen, with his longer hair and beard, cant help it David -ADORE YOU lol. You can see the non watermarked photos at the excellent SophiaMyles.org too)

Although there is plenty of other film discussions, including his work in the highly anticipated Defiance with Daniel Craig, Jamie does discuss a bit on Mister Foe and working with David in this LA Times piece as follows:

" 'Mister Foe' is a bizarre, twisted, multilayered character study," Bell said. "It deals with very many dark subjects, but David brought this incredible lightness to it as well, comedy elements. There's a sweetness which I think the film really needed. And also, it was the first time I'd explored myself sexually on-screen; especially because of 'Young Adam,' [Mackenzie] definitely does it in a way that's very visceral, very alive with energy."

Bell clearly put a great deal of thought into his title role in "Mister Foe": his motivations before, during and after the film. The complex story involves a young man struggling to understand the death of his mother, touching on voyeurism, suicide and Oedipal themes. "I don't think it's going to gross $40 million in its opening weekend," he said with a smile. "Even in England to some extent it was, 'That's really pushing boundaries.' But I enjoy that. It played very well in Germany!"

Although Bell had been working with top-notch directors such as Clint Eastwood and Peter Jackson on major Hollywood projects, he missed nothing in switching back to shoestring cinema.

"Loved it. Really loved it. Working six-day weeks, freezing Scotland," he said, beaming. "Because my first film, 'Billy Elliot,' was such a collaborative, small, communal experience, that's what I'll always prefer, rather than bigger things. If you're a mechanism in a big machine, of course you care and you put your energy into it, but it's not the same as if you are the machine."


In addition to the Times piece, the Hartford Courier also has an article online, but the discussion on Hallam Foe is quite limited alas. Quotage: Bell describes the movie as the "ultimate troubled boy to young man story" but feels his professional arc to grown-up parts will be near completion with the Holocaust epic "Defiance," out in December. "That's very much young boy to man," he says.

BTW: The official Magnolia site for Mister Foe has added a few new theaters where the film will actually be shown on the big screen. List as of now stands thusly:

Opening

9/5/2008
Los Angeles, CA: The Landmark 12
New York, NY: Angelika Film Center

9/12/2008
San Diego, CA: Hillcrest Cinemas
San Francisco, CA: Embarcadero Center Cinema
Denver, CO: Mayan Theatre
Seattle, WA: Harvard Exit Theatre

9/19/2008
Chicago, IL: Music Box
Cambridge, MA: Kendall Square Cinema

9/26/2008
Philadelphia, PA: Ritz 5 Movies

10/10/2008
Washington, DC: E Street Cinema
Gainesville, FL: Hippodrome - Gainesville

10/22/2008
Wilkes-Barre, PA: FM Kirby Center for Performing Arts

Alastair Mackenzie Talks "New Town Killers," New appearance in a TV series and More

Finally, a bit of joyful news for last: There is a new interview with Alastair Mackenzie now available where the actor discusses his role in the upcoming Richard Jobson film "New Town Killers" with Dougray Scott and more.

Found as part of the aforementioned Made in Scotland TV promotion from Scottish Screen, the new piece on Alastair has the header quote reading "I seem to have played a number of darker characters lately." Indeed! In the piece (full page here, yea completely, I totally fail at being able to work photoshop to make that more ledgible meh) Alastair discusses his past work in Reichenbach Falls, as well as news that he will be seen on a Canadian TV series called "Murdoch Mysteries" which he describes as a "detective story set in the Victorian era: kind of CSI 1890." LOL

Alastair also goes on to discuss his work in the upcoming "New Town Killers" film, where he says his character is the "moral barometer" of the story." Alastair notes this character though is quite dark, and offers high praise to the director Richard Jobson for his script which has done "a brilliant job of nailing those dark, nilhistic characters for whom human life has lost its value."

The Trifecta of S and Sigma Films News

The sweet news continues as the Scottish Screen filmsite comes through for me yet again (and yea Im probably the only non Scottish film person who reads that on a regular basis but my squirrelly loopy little fangirl's heart is really glad she did today!)

There is yet another huge feature online now, this promoting "Made in Scotland TV" Now while I am still pouring over this because there is soo much interesting stuff (note: I work in broadcast cable news, so I actually enjoy reading about all sorts of tv things, even to promote stuff) Right, so as Im sipping my coffee this am, what do I see but woohoo three new articles on yep, the trifecta of S and Film City Glasgow. Again, given the huge size of the original pdf file, I nabbed things of interest to me: Lovely feature on Film City Glasgow created by the impressive Gillian Berrie and home of Sigma Films (clearly my faves :P) Full article here on my flickr, with the interview a bit closer in part one and part 2.

Features on some of the major inhabitants at Film City Glasgow can be found here: Serious Facilities-feature on kick ass post production/editing here where they discuss the work on the new BBC drama "PAs", and general header of article here , and Savalas Sound, with an interview with Giles Lamb here (enjoyed this photo too, bet he had fun shooting that lol) BONUS: Thanks to those guys who update a lot, we know for sure Rounding up Donkeys is well into post production!

Finally, on the (sorta) Sigma Films news front, SS also has an update on a short film called "Dog Altogether" produced in part by Sigma and their producer Anna Duffield -who is a co producer with Gillian Berrie on the Advance Party/Red Road sequel from Morag McKinnon called "Rounding Up Donkeys" Dog Altogether is another short from the wonderful Paddy Considine, and will be screened with Somers Town when it shows in selected theaters this month in the UK. They describe the film as follows; "Dog Altogether is the story of Joseph (Peter Mullan), as a troubled man with a dead dog in his hands. After a momentary loss of self-control, he begins to realise his personality and lifestyle have a terrible impact on others and seized by this sudden illumination, he falls to pieces and takes refuge by hiding in a Christian charity shop."

Btw: Somers Town from Shane Meadows, also has a short appearance from one of my fave actresses, Katie Dickie. The trailer for this lovely Somers Town can be seen here via youtube.

New Location Report from Set of Valhalla Rising with Mads Mikkelsen

Well call me sweetie, the super slacker cause I surely cant believe what I found today and I need to get the lead out with three new posts here! Hah a monday that doesnt actually suck! ;)

First, Scottish Screen has uploaded their latest issue of Roughcuts, and it contains new photos and a location report from the Nicholas Winding Refn film "Valhalla Rising" starring Mads Mikkelsen. Since the file (pdf here) is so huge, I nabbed the stuff on VH up here on my flickr, with page one/interview here, page 2-the new photos here. The page one contains a photo of the young boy who will be starring in the movie with Mads, named Maarten Steven, that was cast I believe during that open casting call they made a few months ago.

There is also mention of the guys who work behind the scenes and dont often receive enough credit, including the guy who made one of the errr decapitated heads you will see in the film. The director's assistant Saskia, who is so wonderfully making her production diaries on youtube, had made an installment on this same head, which you can watch below lol.

Sophia Myles to Promote Mister Foe on Craig Ferguson, Tickets Available for Sept 8th Show

So thanks to her major (and quite well done) fan site, there is word tonight that actress Sophia Myles is due to be a guest on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Show, Monday, September 8.

Now I checked into the site, and discovered that TICKETS TO THIS ARE FREE AND AVAILABLE, so if you are in the LA area and want to catch the live taping of the show with Sophia, you can do so by registering via this link. Available to people ages 17 years and up, you must arrive that day at 3:30pm. Yea it seems early but all of these shows make you get there early-there is a lot of standing in line, but fun chatting to everyone who is excited to see the show and such. I figure there will be a be a good demand (given there is are actually quite a lot of Moonlight fans). Anyway, good luck to all who try for these! Will keep an eye out to see if Jamie or others will be about to do press, not at all confident on that, but hope springs eternal (as witnessed by my refusal to give up and keep on with this blog lol) :)

ps- the other guest is actor Neil Patrick Harris, who is currently doing a great side gig on the Josh Whedon genuis/hilarious Dr. Horrible, which really is funny-this should be a good episode of Ferguson for sure!

*UPDATE: David Germain and the AP have now posted their annual fall movie preview. For those using google alerts, this means you will Mister foe pop up a bit more in the next day, as most papers/tv/websites world wide will carry the accompanying movie list, which includes MISTER FOE, described thusly: "MISTER FOE: A runaway Scottish teen (Jamie Bell) plays Peeping Tom, obsessing on a young woman who resembles his dead mother." David's main piece mentions just mentions Jamie Bell solely in context with the "Defiance" preview, and that film-thanks no doubt to mr. craig- looks like it will be getting loads of press in the coming months, so a plethora of new JB mentions/photos to look forward to for sure!

Mister Hallam Foe Opens in US, Pre-Order Soundtrack

What a long strange trip its been...years in the making, years of following the progress faithfully, almost daily for years, learning growing hoping and waiting- now, now at long last
Mister (Hallam) Foe OPENS TODAY IN THE US!

Screening today for the lucky down in Austin Texas, Mister Foe will be showing in a few locations here in the US. Not quite what I had hoped for of course (in fact pretty much a disappointment I wont be able to travel to one of the cities to see it -wont be in DC for a while and not in New York till end of next month, when Im sure it will be long gone-alas. Perhaps another road trip to Chicago again for it hmmm) Anyway, as of today, the official Mag pic site (and the mister foe mini-site) has ticket info up and the handful of theaters here in the US where you can actually watch this on the big screen over the next few weeks (and eerily the theaters are in places where the film screened earlier this year at various festivals I think too, not all but a few to be certain).

On Screen

Austin, TX: Dobie Theatre

Opening

9/5/2008
Los Angeles, CA: The Landmark 12
New York, NY: Angelika Film Center (6)

9/12/2008
San Francisco, CA: Embarcadero Center Cinema
Seattle, WA: Harvard Exit Theatre

9/19/2008
Chicago, IL: Music Box
Cambridge, MA: Kendall Square Cinema

9/26/2008
Philadelphia, PA: Ritz 5 Movies

10/10/2008
Washington, DC: E Street Cinema
Gainesville, FL: Hippodrome - Gainesville

10/22/2008
Wilkes-Barre, PA: FM Kirby Center for Performing Arts

If you are interested in the fabulous Mister Foe soundtrack, you can pre-order it here at BestBuy, or here via Target.com, and of course the ever reliable Amazon.com, plus Im thinking it might be on iTunes /the Domino site for download when its released here in the states on September 9.


Dear David Mackenzie
Thank you so so much for making this film. Thank you to all the great cast (Jamie Bell, Sophia Myles, Ciaran Hinds, Claire Forlani, Ewan Bremner, and of course Jamie Sives =much love and affection for them all for this film), thanks to the entire crew who worked so hard on the film, and fine folks at Sigma Films, to Peter Jinks for such a good novel (and screenplay) and most especially to Colin Kennedy for the writing the blog so faithfully and letting me and all us diehards who are still hanging on come along for this crazy wild and completely wonderful journey for the last several years now. I've grown so so fond of Hallam; very thrilled that he's finally made it here to our shores at last. Welcome Hallam Foe! Cheers and much affection, S

The Hot Men of Valhalla Rising

ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!






Gah I had been soo down, filing too many stories yesterday about plane crashes and other unspeakables, when poof! There is laughter and light and hot men lolol and best of all NEW JAMIE SIVES in the latest installment from the set of Nicholas Winding Refn's Valhalla Rising!

Yes! Cheers indeed to Saskia for making these (and esp for including Jamie-oh man, just hella great!)
ps- I still vote for Scottish men as being the hottest, but yea Mads is ok too :P

Ps-Speaking of Mads, The Daily Record has a new interview with him, where the star speaks about filming in the highlands of Scotland, and is very complementary of the cast and crew. Quotage: "Mads was full of praise for his young co-star, as well as for the cast and the crew from Scotland and Denmark.

"I have worked with the director Nicolas three times.

"We started out together so it's very natural for us and nice to do something again, but this is very different from the kind of things we've done before.

"I have filmed in Scotland before and there is a good cast here.

"Martin has been fantastic to work with. He is a natural talent, and is one in a million.

"He has the talent to do whatever he wants in acting. There are no limits and it's now up to him what he does."

Mads has loved the chance to see so so much of the Scottish countryside, which has included locations in Glen Affric in Invernessshire, Loch Lomondside and Ardnamurchan.

But he admits that the schedule of the 10-week shoot has been so hectic that he has been unable to do any sight-seeing."

Press Release Finally Issued on Mister Hallam Foe Preview on HDNet

Even though its been on the Magnolia website for some time, a formal press release finally hit the wires recently about the upcoming sneak preview of Mister Foe on HDNet, Wednesday, September 3 at 8:00 p.m. ET. Now, while I hope there will be more dates added, the page on the US Mister Hallam Foe distributors website has the actual opening date of the August 22 screening in Austin, Texas, while many websites are still claiming the Sept 5 opening (and dont forget the soundtrack re-issue/issue for US Sept 9). Colin had also updated the front of the official blog with the August date some time ago as well, but no idea if he has any more updates coming with additional dates etc. Still thinking the best bet for most to see the film though, will be thru Netflix in November of this year.

While not everyone will be able to access the HDNet channel, this is one I actually can get and will remain firmly planted in front of the tv that night lol-perhaps I should haul out all the badger stuff I can find and have my own wee premiere party lol *sigh*
Right, here's what the release said:

HDNet Movies presents a special Sneak Preview of the movie MISTER FOE, starring Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, Jumper), Sophia Myles (Underworld) and Claire Forlani (Meet Joe Black). MISTER FOE premieres exclusively on HDNet Movies Wednesday, September 3 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Philip French of The Observer (UK) calls MISTER FOE " ... Erotic, well-acted and beautifully photographed," while Wendy Ide of The Times (London) says "The originality of this unexpectedly upbeat rites-of-passage film is a breath of fresh air."

In MISTER FOE Hallam Foe (Jamie Bell) is a troubled young man whose knack for voyeurism paradoxically reveals his darkest fears, and his most peculiar desires. Driven to expose the true cause of his mother's death, he instead finds himself searching the rooftops of the city of Edinburgh for love.

Directed and co-written by David Mackenzie, MISTER FOE is a darkly twisted, entertaining work of magical realism from one of the leading lights of new Scottish cinema.

MISTER FOE is the latest installment in the HDNet Movies "Sneak Preview" series. Only HDNet Movies presents these exclusive "Sneak Previews" of films to viewers before they premiere in theaters. All Sneak Preview films are free to HDNet Movies subscribers.

MISTER FOE premieres on HDNet Movies on Wednesday, September 3 at 8:00 p.m. ET with encore presentations at 9:45 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. ET.

As a reminder too (just like last month) here are the dates posted on the Magpics site

8/22/2008
Austin, TX: Dobie Theatre

9/5/2008
Los Angeles, CA: The Landmark 12
New York, NY: Angelika Film Center (6)

9/12/2008
San Francisco, CA: Embarcadero Center Cinema
Seattle, WA: Harvard Exit Theatre

9/19/2008
Chicago, IL: Music Box

10/10/2008
Gainesville, FL: Hippodrome - Gainesville

10/22/2008
Wilkes-Barre, PA: FM Kirby Center for Performing Arts

Mister Foe is directed by the wonderful David Mackenzie, and stars Jamie Bell, Sophia Myles, Claire Forlani, Ciaran Hinds and Jamie Sives among many others. This film is very good, please give it a chance! If you are new and just learning about this movie, be sure to check out Colin's blog he wrote covering the filming of the movie, plus the official Hallam Foe YouTube channel for some great videos including one of my favorite trailers ever, the teaser trailer (and yea given that Jamie Sives features in it prominently probably has a lot to do why I think its fab too ;)

Sweet Its Good to Be Back to New Behind the Scenes Footage of Jamie Sives and "Vahalla Rising"

errrm... hello?
Doubt by this point that anyone is still out there, given it's been nearly a month since I last updated here, alas. I truly regret I have been unable to post write or do much of anything meaningful in the blogosphere I guess, but Ive had a load of incredible adventures (Helge if you read this zomg the people I met at Comic Con oy! huge email due on that one, plus my panel was standing room only for the whole entire hour, flipped me out beyond words! even though I felt like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights and frozen half the time it went pretty well by the reaction and as stupid as it sounds, I love my fellow geeks-everyone was so nice and enthusiastic, just woah!), travels galore, then I was ill with some sort of freaky vertigo thing where I could only sit up for a short time, manage one bit of news , and then nearly pass out over and over all the time from constantly being so dizzy-I do not recommend this to anyone as it was frankly another level of hell that Dante surely must have missed. It could have been sheer exhaustion too I guess (coupled with the massive liters of alchol consumed nightly and only 2-3 hours of sleep on and off for several weeks straight lol), but mercifully that has all passed.

Anyway I am still surviving and what do I find the very day I manage to check all the alerts and mails-New behind the scenes footage of "Valhalla Rising" with Mads Mikkelsen and WOO Jamie Sives! Yes!
In this video seen here on the Ekstra Bladet TV website (also reposted on Twitchfilm.net) you can see Mads looking scary awesome with his one eye, and yes yes yes, I believe that was the wonderful Jamie Sives (Hallam Foe, Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself) roaming about, with ...wait for it.. a BEARD! lol My day is complete! No idea what they are saying of course, and eh those dreaded Midges must truly play havoc with filming-thank goodness they have those net things but blurg not my idea of fun to say the least. Anyway, a true treat to have this greet me tonight!

So I obviously misses a huge amount of other news while I was away that I am endeavoring to find out more on (ie Andrea Arnold is filming Fish Tank, Mister Hallam Foe continues to meander towards the comparatively feeble US opening day here etc, but more on this later), but I did read a few things of interest relating to Valhalla Rising besides the new footage.

First, the FilmCityGlasgow Facebook groups notes "Blind Eye Production are still have a core production crew here for 'Valhalla Rising' whilst the rest of their production crew are based up north in Invernessshire." More on FCG when I can get caught up, but Im so so grateful they continue to give updates like that for sure. There is a temporary lull in the action with Colin's GetYourPeople blog, and while Ive been away as well, my interest has not waned one bit (maybe they were hoping Id go away lol but southern women are notoriously stubborn and I flat out adore David and Colin and all things related to Sigma so this blog isnt going anywhere anytime soon)

So right, speaking of Invernesshire, The Press & Journal had an article a few weeks ago about the filming ongoin in the highlands, including the lovely Glen Affric area. Apparantly Forestry Commission Scotland has been working with the team, and one of the film's producers is mentioned. Quotage: Karen Smyth of La Belle Allee said: “We searched the whole of Scotland to find a place which could emulate Canada. It had to be a place with qualities of otherness that could not be found anywhere else and Glen Affric has this star quality.”

I learned about the filming and the Glen Affric area earlier of course, because of some kind soul named John Peet who is making a bike ride for charity by cycling 1500 miles around the UK, to raise awareness and funs for L'Arche, and mentioned it in his blog. Well Im thinking it was a friend of his named Thomas also very kindly left me a GREAT bit of news in the comment on an earlier post about this -THANK YOU SO MUCH THOMAS! His tip was about this wonderful and hilarious series of videos made by a production assistant on Valhalla Rising. Her You Tube channel is here, and these feature the clever and funny videos of a person named Saskia, and she flat out rocks. In addition to the behind the scenes and so not glamorous film work she and the crew are doing on this shoot, there are some really good glimpses of what is happening, the director Nicholas Winding Refn is in these things a LOT-very droll and funny too, and even Mads has shown up a few times (lol at the most recent one with the glaze on the rolls, him with his one eye and all, so funny. I really like this person's sense of humor and cool approach to these, and am truly thrilled to get to watch these)... next time PLEASE LETS DO MORE OF THESE FOR DAVID Mackenzie and please please Colin on Luci too..yea ok Im hopeless but there you go :)))))
Right, Im off to catch up on more sigma news, and hope to be able to post on a more regular basis again.