A Look at Luci: From Stills to Screen

Holiday treats abound for sure, as there is a new update that filming is complete on Luci! CONGRATULATIONS COLIN AND CO!
Bonus tho is word there are some great new stills from the production of Colin Kennedy's I Love Luci online today! Colin started an I Love Luci group on the ever awesome Facebook (it's open to all, dont be shy, I joined lol shock i know, so check it out!) There, you can see the first photos from the shoot!


Yay! I was really happy to see that today,
including this wonderful photo of Colin directing his stars, as well as
the one from DoP Derrick Peters
who shot a very cool pic of Colin and crew with a closeup-LOVE
LOVE LOVE THESE! :)))))

As such (Please dont be pissed at me Colin oy! BUT I HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT THIS) there is something very cool that caught my eye.

Along with our first look at the leads Camilla Rutherford and Colin Harris and Wilson/Luci in action lol, the part that honestly appealled to me was how you can compare the prep work to a scene in production for the film. In addition to writing a screenplay, the part that truly fascinates me the most is locations used in films, and I'm honest to god thinking of chucking all this news stuff to the retirement bin and looking into this part of the film industry and learn more about it. Anyway, Colin had posted up on flickr some great early location scouting pics of locales he was thinking of using for this short film, I Love Luci. So here is what is cool-we can now see how they've taken these and are filming there. Witness:
Fight scene scouting pic from Colin Kennedy:
To the production stills by Pete Murphy for the I Love Luci group photos with Colin Harris, Camilla Rutherford filming a scene under the direction of Colin.
Now to a dorkette like me I think this is hugely cool, and yea totally I realise that this type of posting is purely twee fangirl drivel, but frankly too, tis a good example of how a location can work within a scene. I do a lot of archaeology as a hobby, and my favorite part is the reconstruction-what did the inhabitants do think act. I like this part of location- what can you do with a scene,how will it work as a backdrop, will it enhance help convey the proper environment attitude emotion of the moment. So too do I wonder what is going on here- look at the urgency on their faces, what is amiss etc? I LOVE THIS type of stuff! yes!

So right, be sure to follow the getyourpeople/iloveluci blog for more pics including some cool ones of Sigmas own Brian Coffey (producer on Luci), updates from Colin and more, and while you are at it, check out the facebook groups for Friends of Sigma Films and now I love luci, plus I think FilmCityGlasgow pretty cool too!
Rock on Luci! :))

David Mackenzie's "Spread" Starring Ashton Kutcher to Premiere at Sundance?

Later this week, the fabled Sundance Film Festival is set to unveil some of the many movies that will be screening at their event at the end of January 2009. Naturally a few reports have surfaced online about a few of said films, including ones from Reuters and slashFilm, both which had a nugget that really caught my attention: "Spread" the new film starring Ashton Kutcher and directed by Sigma Films own great David Mackenzie is apparently due to have a premiere at the festival.

IF TRUE WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Yes! I am so going there I cant even believe my good luck! This would be such great news if true, just have to wait to see if its officially reported later this week. The Reuters/Hollywood reporter article states that "some potential Sundance entries already are beginning to generate talk ahead of next week's slate announcement. Ashton Kutcher's raunch comedy "Spread," Endgame Entertainment's '60s coming-of-age story "An Education," Shana Feste's lost-child drama "The Greatest" and Antoine Fuqua's cop tale "Brooklyn's Finest" are setting tongues wagging"

Slash film elaborates on that hideous dumb ass phrase "raunchy comedy" bleh with the following:

David Mackenzie’s (Mister Foe) raunchy sex comedy about a serial womanizer and his jilted lover. Ashton Kutcher and Anne Heche star (Jennifer Jason Leigh was originally attached). Early word is that Heche has some sort of nude scene.

I absolutely refuse REFUSE to believe that David is putting his name on a film that is blatantly 'raunchy'. Sure David does sex scenes, well done and often uncomfortable true enough, but raunchy? ...sigh Besides this may be sorta predictable, but Ashton has given earlier interviews and I got the impression (perhaps just hope on my part) that this was going to be an honest reflection sorta of his past player life in Hollywood, yet step above for him..Regardless the r word is one I am refusing to believe for the time being /stubborn fangirl rant.

Anyway, over at Voltage pictures it seems a new poster has surfaced, this of Ashton soaking in the pool with the less than stellar tagline 'it's a business doing pleasure.'
Eh eh can we try again with that maybe please?
Also there is a new photo of Ashton walking by the pool- Im almost certain I posted some of the pics from the omnipresent paps pics taken during filming during or around these scenes, I'm going ot go look that up. But in the meantime SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS of a sort as there is a new and longer synopsis of the film now available.

Freeloading, perennial womanizer Jason (Ashton Kutcher) is at a trendy L.A. nightclub looking for his next target. His usual targets? Older, successful women looking for company … or sex. On this night, his eyes lock on Samantha, an attractive, successful attorney. He approaches her and feeds her his usual lines. With a little prodding, the two are soon on their way to her place.
At her stylish home, Jason heads into the next phase of his seduction and they quickly jump into bed. In the morning, Samantha (Anne Heche) heads off to work at her law firm, while Jason, on the other hand, spends the day lounging by Samantha's pool. When Samantha returns home, she is surprised to find Jason still there but before she can kick him out, Jason surprises her with a romantic dinner. She succumbs to his charms and weeks later, Jason is still living at Samantha's. But after Samantha catches Jason in a compromising position with a wildly attractive brunette, Samantha tells him to cut the act and they soon clear the air about their relationship. They are simply "friends with benefits.” Samantha is fine with the situation and Jason can stay.
In the following weeks, Jason’s role as Samantha’s gigolo continues … until Jason meets Heather, a sexy and intelligent waitress at a coffee shop. Jason is instantly smitten, especially when his usual moves don’t work. Eventually, posing as a high-powered lawyer, Jason charms her into a date and they get along famously. But Heather is a woman after Jason’s own heart. She is also sleeping with a wealthy restaurateur for his money, in addition to having a boyfriend, Will, who is an heir living in New York.
Finally getting a taste of his own medicine, Jason becomes fixated with Heather. But when Heather leaves for New York to figure out her relationship with Will, Jason must choose between his cushy life with Samantha or give up his philandering ways and take a chance on a life with a woman who challenges him. Even if Jason chooses Heather, can she accept who he really is? Or will she choose the safer path with Will?

I am going to try and get some some info/press pics etc out of Ashtons company, perhaps they will be cooler to bloggers and nontraditional media (read wont piss in my face like Magnolia did and Independent Film sales who never answered :(((

Feel the Love People, Production Begins on I Love Luci!

Great news this week, as filming has officially begun on Colin Kennedy's short film I Love Luci! This is great news!

Quick background: Colin Kennedy, a filmmaker with Sigma Films of Glasgow, Scotland, served as the main author for what I call the real tales of Hallam Foe, seen via the GetYourPeople blog. Colin has made other films, music videos and the like, and has now embarked on a short film that has a been a labor of love. Its called I Love Luci, and the synopsis (relatively spoiler free) is:

I Love Luci is a comedy of missing teeth, an inappropriate paramour and one dog's ability to shape the fortunes of a couple destined never to be together.

Today is the last day Tommy has to win Marjory's heart before her man returns from another stint in the clink. But things aren't looking good. Marjory is totally pre-occupied by the fact she's lost her teeth, and it's about to get a whole lot worse.

I've been lucky enough to hear from Colin, who in many shades of awesomeness and kindness and class, patiently endures all my goofy mails full of !!!! and :))) and woots and yays! Word is things are going well on the shoot, great crew and cast at hand, and he's been very busy at the helm of this new film from Sigma. THANK YOU COLIN! I also noted too that on the FilmCityGlasgow Facebook group, that Luci is using that lovely facility as their production base,which is very cool as well.

Bonus news: Casting List for I LOVE LUCI! Check it out!

*Camilla Rutherford (if I have this right, she was in the superb Gosford Park, and I think the Edge of Love with Sigma co-founder and ace actor Alastair Mackenzie, plus Rome which of course starred Kevin McKidd and Ciaran Hinds- learn this for your future Six degrees of Sigma Films separation games ;) .... anyway, I think this is a great coup!)
*Colin Harris
*Sanjeev Kohli
*Jimmy Chisholm: This dude has been in some great films and UK shows, but gets bonus points cause he was in One Last Chance with my fave Jamie Sives...just sayin :)
*Marty Docherty
*Leo Horsefield
and of course WILSON AKA LUCI!

Note: no idea if all the dread imdb links are right, could be way the hell off, but I am trying. Will see if I can dig up some pics soon..
Currently am in New Orleans for the Thanksgiving holiday, and there's family time to spend, loads of rum to be drunk, turkey to be deep fried, oyster stuffing to be made and all sorts of indulgent,utterly non productive behavior at hand, plus 2 days of driving back-can I just say I am getting too old to drive that far anymore by myself bleh.

I Love Luci is a new short film by Colin Kennedy of Sigma Films
I believe that Gillian Berrie is serving as Exec Producer along with Brian Coffey as producer too. Not sure about the whole crew yet, but I have great faith there is an excellent team at hand working to make all of this to be another quality film from Sigma!

Dawn Steele Nominated for Theatre Award

Not quite Sigma film related per se, but there is some good news relating to the all kinds of fab Dawn Steele , who of course is well known for her role in Monarch of the Glen with Alastair Mackenzie.

Dawn has been nominated as Best Actress in a Visiting Production at the Manchester Evening News for her turn in Blackbird at the Lowry. Congratulations on the nomination!

I think this is aces, so nice to hear something on Dawn, she really is wonderful. I know we are all looking forward to seeing her next year for her appearance on the ITV show, but this is good she is getting recognition for her theatre work.

These awards are due to be presented on Dec 2. While on the WhatsonStage.com site (really a weekly must read for theater fans) its worth a re-visit to the older 20 questions feature with Dawn from earlier this year.

Finally, Mister Foe DVD is Here

Sorry for the long delay in posting, life continues to interrupt my blogging fun- curses :P

Well one glorious week ago, my long awaited MISTER FOE DVD arrived promptly in the am from Amazon. I've watched the film several times now enjoying it more and more, luxuriating in the ability to watch a scene at my choosing, thinking back on some of the scenes Colin blogged about via GetYourPeople while filming and being able to pause it at that moment, marveling again at David's astonishing eye, demand and command of detail revealed with Giles superb cinematography-I MUST GO TO EDINBURGH SOOOON; all in all reveling in countless fangirl moments becoming enchanted with the movie all over again.

Super joyful moment: TWO OF Colin Kennedy's WONDERFUL podcasts/behind the scenes features made it to the disc! woot! Sure I have them already on my iPod, but still its a thrill to see them playing up on my Sony Bravia high def TV! woot! Not sure why Magnolia couldnt suck it up and put all of it on there- such a wonderful look and behind the scenes look at the making- surely the Jamie Bell fans alone would have reveled in it! whatever, at least there was this and I was glad to have that at least.

Also a couple deleted scenes- some in particular lovely camera movements following Hallam through the house, showing his relationship more with both his sister and his father. Not sure why these were deleted, would love to hear David's thoughts on why this was cut.

UBER WHINEY SELFISH MOMENT: NO DIRECTORS COMMENTARY- boooooooo! Stab stab stab through the heart again, I am deprived yet again of the opportunity to hear the thoughts of my favorite director on his work. What the hell? *slaps hand on head* Dear Magnolia, why why was this not included? WHY????? You just hate me right? :P Seriously though, when the filmgoing audience has the opportunity to hear someone of the high calibre and true visionary outlook that David has, why on earth was this not included. Man oh man, the UK DVD has more than this. baaaah.
I guess I will have to go buy the UK version just to hear it but it will be worth it-still a final piss on you move from Mag I guess heh.

Positive notes: Not sure how well the sales are going but the reviews seem to be mostly positive so far. Even Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+ which considering they didnt like the movie lol, this is good. Also the other day I happened to stumble over an older but nice review from Jeffery Lyons at Reel talk and they were very enthusiastic about the movie, worth a look if you are into watching these types of reviews.

New Pics of Jamie Bell at "Defiance" Premiere

Jamie Bell drives in Style :) Or so the marketing/photo ops went for a red-carpet event in Hollywood





The fansites are awash in new Jamie Bell photos of late, especially since the premiere of Defiance, starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell, was held last night in Los Angeles, California. (Be sure to click that link to the Defiance website that has some additional background and testimonies about the story the film is based on as well as a nice bio of Jamie that mentions Hallam Foe). Online today, there is a brief interview with Jamie in one of the UK papers where he says:

"It feels like LA is so far away from there," added the 22-year-old. "It's unfortunate my family couldn't be here tonight but that's always going to be home for me for sure."

Jamie stars alongside 007 actor Daniel Craig in the movie, which is about Jewish brothers who join Russian resistance fighters to fight the Nazis in the Second World War. Despite Daniel being one of the biggest names in the movie world right now, Jamie insists there were no diva antics during filming in Lithuania."None of us went back to our trailers, we were in the woods and we'd all sort of hang out and drink coffee and be together, we really felt like we were part of a family," he said.

I have a few wire pics, be sure to check out this link to WireImage for loads more!

New: Mister Foe DVD Back and Front Cover, Disc photos

As we know Mister (Hallam) Foe is coming out on DVD here in the US, just weeks after its limited theatrical release (and still continues to play in theaters for the remainder of the month plus one engagement next year.) Tonight, Huge Thanks going to CDcovers who originally posted this, we can now see the entire front and back cover art for Mister Foe, plus the disc. Woot! I can not wait to get mine Tuesday! :)))

Mister Foe is a Sigma Films Production, and is directed by David Mackenzie. The film stars Jamie Bell, Sophia Myles, Ciaran Hinds, Claire Forlani, Jamie Sives, Ewan Bremner. You can read more about the filming and journey of Hallam Foe via the original GetYourPeople blog written by Colin Kennedy and co. Check it out!

David Mackenzie Contributes, will be Guest at Cromarty Film Festival

Director David Mackenzie will be a guest at the Cromarty Film Festival, due to be held next month December 5-7 in Scotland. According to the Press and Journal, the festival "theme will be “My Favourite Film” and will feature movies picked out by 10 guests including broadcaster Kirsty Wark, BBC DJ Janice Forsyth, and David Mackenzie, a director of Hallam Foe and Young Adam.

Films including Finding Nemo and Whale Rider will be screened for children at the lighthouse field station.

Tony Farquhar-Smith, one of the animators from Corpse Bride, will also bring along some of the puppets used in the film, and will give a demonstration and talk on the ups and downs of animation."

One fun event is due to be held later this month in advance of the film festival where "the ferry that regularly crosses the Cromarty Firth during the summer will host a tiny, floating drive-in cinema. It will launch the second Cromarty Film Festival and organisers believe it will be the world’s smallest drive-in picture house. They have picked cult 1950s Scottish film, The Maggie, to show on the ferry, which travels between Cromarty and Nigg, after ruling out any disaster-at-sea movie.

Film director Don Coutts, who lives at Cromarty and helps run the festival, said: “We wanted a sea-themed film but decided against Titanic or The Poseidon Adventure. No need to frighten the audience.”

Up to 10 film fans will be able to watch from the warmth of their own cars but another 10 foot passengers will have to brave the weather to see the screening."

LOL! No word if David will be among those sailing the seas to see the film :)
I had no idea where Cromarty is located, but after looking it up (here via one of my fave sites: Undiscovered Scotland), learned it is up near Inverness, which surely looks to be a beautiful and I would very much like to visit there one day. Visiting the Highlands is definitely high on the wishlist/agenda , and this Cromarty does look so lovely but burrrrr I bet its plenty (read hella too cold) in the winter. According to the festival site the city "has only 720 residents, no through road, a wonderful pizza restaurant, a great bakery, two pubs, two museums and more artists and musicians than you can shake a stick at." Rock on! very cool that David helped contribute to this festival, hope they post some pics!

Katie Dickie Attends Scottish Baftas

The always wonderful Katie Dickie made an appearance at the Scottish Baftas held tonight in Glasgow, Scotland. This fantastic actress was looking fab at the award ceremony, where a film that she appeared in earlier this year, Summer, directed by Kenneth Glanaan was a winner at the event as well. More pics available via Getty. Can't wait till next year when I completely think Katie will be a winner for
Sigma Film's upcoming Rounding up Donkeys
(and I love Luci is a winner too! :) )