Because I am made of all kinds of fangirl fail, I caved and had to check to see what was happening with the progress of David Mackenzie's Spread. To no surprise (and frankly great joy) there were not only new tabloidy set photos X17online, but these photos involved a scene where they go SHOPPING.
Filming apparently took place a couple days ago on the very hip Robertson Blvd in LA, a place I actually know. In these photos you can clearly see Anne Heche filming with actor Ashton Kutcher, carrying a slew of shopping bags from these stores. On this road (major haven for press seeking celebs and major papparazi lurking land), there are loads of chic trendy shops, including a few I know such as Kitson, Citizens of Humanity. While my dull wardrobe staples are basics from BananaRepublic/Ralph Lauren/DKNY/Gap even I cautiously branch out once in a while to wear something (sorta) hip, and know this Lisa Kline, though I've not shopped there before.
Now clearly product placement is an issue/monetary bonus for the film industry anymore, but I wasnt sure to what extent David has done this in his previous films with Sigma (aside from say various cars and the locales they filmed in for say Hallam Foe) I mean, Anne and Ashton flash those bags around big time and I figure this was totally deliberate, and not just indicative/in keeping with the trendy frivolous nature of the character. Even more evidence of this is in VIDEO and lots of it from Hollywood Bubble, of them shooting this scene over and over (Bonus: at the end, David is there :) and joking about with his star) Ps----------> Anne is wearing some killer shoes!
Side note: What precisely is the deal with Ashton and his leaping about over the car??? I swear this is like the third or fourth filming pic I've seen where he goes skipping gleefully around the edge of the car. Unless you are say Cary Grant, it has been my experience that most men do NOT leap over the edge of the car, especially after a day of what is long (and expensive due to all those bags) day of shopping-run for freedom yes lol, leap merrily, NO. :)
Today is a day of celebration, for today is the officialTARTAN DAY here in the US! On this day the speeches are in full flow there are parades, piping, dancing colorful costumes, good talk and good spirit and most certainly good will from all of us celebrating our Scottish heritage.Nunquam Non Paratus
US politicians weighed in already, heh shock-not!The ever popular Sean Connery also weighed in with his thoughts on the matter in the LA Times, especially on the topic of a Scottish Independence, noting "Independence is something Americans inherently understand. My whole adult life, I have waited and worked for the day that Scots are able to decide democratically if they wish to rejoin the community of nations as an independent and equal member. A recent poll showed that two-thirds of Scots would welcome that opportunity under certain circumstances.
I believe that day -- Scotland's independence day -- is closer than ever."
As for me, I just wish for a thriving growing successful Scotland (and much more world wide notice and respect and success for the fine work being done by Sigma Films), and while I cant be there today, I will be among those happily celebrating Scottish heritage and good things from that fabulous country!
Fancy a drink and something good to eat? Well go to Scotland...well not quite lol but tis Friday, and Scotland week would not be complete of course without a mention of some of the food and beverages as a source of tourism.
Speaking from experience, all Southern people here in the states think they know all about what makes good cooking, and while there are places that leap to mind when you traditionally think of fine cuisine (France, Italy, Greece, some cities in the US etc) frankly I dont know that many folks goo oh yea, lets head to Scotland for all that fine food!.... Unfair of course, because there is good food to be found EVERYWHERE, although there is the dreaded Haggis that is so associated with the food in Scotland which errm well doesn't exactly appeal to me. I gotta say that is one food I have zero desire to try, cowardly lol perhaps but i dunno (then again there is a certain understandable amount of disdain for some meals served in the South ie Crawfish which aren't generally considered haute gourmet despite ole Emeril and his blams! Personally I recommend Commander's Palace and well just about anywhere in New Orleans really)
Right, well in my family beer reigns supreme with my father in his retirement now serving as a consultant to many of the microbrewers who focus not just on quality beers (which is my dads area) but are also hiring great chefs as microbrew food is big thing (and totally not complete common pub fare anymore!) On a few occasions Ive tagged along with my parents on this visits, I've spoken to the chefs and have been impressed at the quality and talent, yes really, that is actually going into some of these places. As much as I enjoy wine, I do enjoy beer and would love to go to where they brew McEwans and try some of the various local whiskies ,Pop also mailed last year quite excited about some beer trail thing he hopes to drag us all on when we descend on Scotland hopefully next year for that Gathering 2009 event which I fear will dominate the time there alas lol (great a whole week of drunken Americans tourist roaming rampant in the country, just what the Scots want lol NOT). Anyway, I enjoy going to restaurants (clearly as no skinny minnie I appreciate good cooking!) I also pay attention to things in the culinary world and food tourism too. Most certainly food tourism is a hugely profitable thing no matter what country, and as such I saw there is a nice EatScotland page online which is definitely worth checking out.
Now, I'm fairly certain the fine folks at Sigma Films all appreciate the finer art of cooking for in at least two videos Ive seen Gillian Berrie being interviewed in the kitchen cooking or doing something with the groceries in one of Colin's podcasts. (nitpicky me: I so wish Glasgow film office would offer the films they have on their site easier to link too, and bigger so you can see what is going on, the tiny size is so frustrating!) Plus die hard Monarch of the Glen fans like me remember that Archie clearly was into the restaurant scene, and Lexie the housekeeper/cook and all round awesomeness of course ,with food and the practical aspect of running an estate being a nice and honest, and realistic backdrop in the show.
I was thrilled to stumble over a pretty nice film Alastair Mackenzie did outside of acting, where he interviewed a famous chef regarding his modern cuisine. The restaurant is someplace in Cumbria and while not all of the food appealed to me, some of it looked fabulous and it was especially nice to see Mr. Mackenzie talking about something he so clearly enjoys. Food network hire him please!!! He was also apparently a host at something called The London Gathering celebrating things Scottish in the fabulous London, and not sure if besides presenting he did anything with the food displays or anything but that would be a FUN event to go to this year.
While all the various cities and such have pages on the restaurants and bars in their respective cities, places to hit while in Glasgow are fore on my mind. I really would love to try a couple great restaurants and see as much as I can, so reading up on all of this, I was thrilled when I saw that they have a page up now featuring the awesome Dawn Steele doing a tour of the city. There is a video she narrates on the page, plus on iTunes there is a slew of really good podcasts (free! bonus!) she does about various things in the city...such a nice surprise and what a great way to end the week! Cheers!
Today, words are on my mind. Well, given by the multitude of lengthy posts in this blog, clearly its safe to say I love words! Words in a book, words in a script, even the word of the day emails; to me, words are a thing to savor and enjoy. It is to my great regret I am not better adept at presenting words in a more enjoyable (or as witnessed by latest pitiful attempt at a thesis which bombed badly) more intelligent manner that I am capable, but none the less, the love of words and all things written remains.
Peter Jinks, he the author of Hallam Foe and clearly a lover of words too lol, is giving a presentation for Word Weekend at the University of Aberdeen on Sunday May 11. According to the description of the event, there will be a screening of Hallam Foe after his presentation, where he will probably discuss the adaptation and working the Sigma Team (David Mackenzie and Ed Whitmore) on developing the screenplay to Foe. I remember that Mr. Jinks was part of a panel on this at the Edinburgh film festival which I missed last year, but perhaps I can catch a similar panel this year (although no foe , woe ;) ) In the interviews I've read/seen with the author about his experience with the film, one interviewer cites him saying “Everyone who writes a book hopes it will get optioned and made into a film,” says Jinks. “But I didn’t have any idea how it would work with my book. I knew that I liked Dave’s films and that he understood the underlying idea of the novel, but the book was just source material. They’ve been making their own piece of art.”
Indeed! I love David and Sigma's art but that is pretty obvious now isn't it? Now that Ive read the HF book and seen the film, I can understand the changes made (much better to have Hallam work in the hotel than at the charity I think, plus much better visually and a greater chance to showcase that gorgeous city). Their history of adapting of books to film is impressive of course, and Im certain it will continue with whatever they have in the works (not sure if that Ewan Morrison Swung movie is going to happen) If there is one thing I admire about David and Gillian and well all of the team is that they have a clear appreciation of literature and the written word matters in their films, so bring more on I say!
Speaking of words and Sigma ...well sorta, the words and phrase 'Rounding up Donkeys' is certainly an interesting choice for a film title and I believe they chose the title from something in the script. I don't suppose it will generate the buzz and uber hipness that the "I drink your milkshake" phrase has gained (in part because of the extraordinary talents and performance of Daniel Day Lewis in the Oscar nominated and winning film There Will Be Blood which was adapted from Upton Sinclair's Oil! .. and who alas is not in Donkeys or prob not in any Sigma films any time soon, but a girl can always dream! ) I believe that the movie must be nearly done filming if they are holding to the six week time frame or have a week or so to go. Last word on the film's progress came in the form of a blogger who is apparently friends with the director Morag Mckinnon and the screenwriter Colin McLaren. The author of Shadowplay, who also has a joyful abundance of love for words too, mercifully provided a morsel of news writing that the shoot is undergoing "six-day weeks and 50% night shoots. Some scenes are being shot night-for-night purely for cost reasons — without enough funds to black out the windows of a church, the production was forced to shoot after nightfall."
As for the script, an older piece regarding the Advance Party series found via indieWire went into detail on the collaborative nature of the films and hence some story elements. More hints about RUD came from the director who said in the lengthy profile piece:
In the development stage, the directors added two entirely new characters, a teenage girl that McKinnon needed, as well as another man. "We added a significant new character to facilitate the tone we wished to achieve," says McKinnon, who hopes to shoot her own film this fall. "Although he started out as Avery"--described as a 40-year-old who stays far away from drugs and alcohol because he knows that his interior contains anger'--"that wasn't going to work with the casting that Andrea needed."
And because McKinnon wanted to add these two characters, "the rules were that if somebody incorporated a main character that wasn't included in the main list, everyone had to agree to include them," explains Arnold....
"We were all going for different main characters which meant that we would not be in conflict about the casting," explains McKinnon, whose own film is about a 64-year-old character named Alfred who realizes he is dying and tries to make amends with Jackie, his estranged daughter. "Had we chosen similar main characters then it would probably have made for a more difficult situation," she adds.
"It's kind of a collaborative process," McKinnon notes, "but in terms of the casting, it's safe to say that we all had to compromise somewhere." McKinnon worries about the impact "Red Road"--having come first in the series, and winning much acclaim--will have on her own film. "'Red Road' will definitely influence ours," she says. "When people see it, it will set up a sense of expectation which will be very difficult to live up to. People have got used to seeing these characters in this way, and if they loved them like that they might not want to see them change."...[Rud] will be "tragi-comic," she says. "I hope we will have something that is naturalistic yet absurd, both funny and sad."
Bonus video of the exceptional Daniel Day Lewis, an actor who can always make a word speak volumes in the most amazing of ways.
So right, in effort to maintain the positive, first many good wishes certainly are the order of the day, as a big Happy Birthday goes out to Sigma Film maker, GetYourPeople blogger, We are the Physicsmusic video guru and Luci the dog lover Colin Kennedy. Cheers Colin!
In other news, Scotland week continues, so its time to focus on another random Sigma Film reference. With tourism and promoting all things Scottish to the fore this week, I was checking out the various Scottish tourism sites. Visit Scotland. com has gotten a new makeover, featuring a much brighter and cleaner layout, complete with updated info on tours etc. They still have these city breaks pages, although I personally think the SeeGlasgow (Scotland with Style) website is much better for info on that city; not sure about a good Edinburgh site yet. Although I am interested in Glasgow of course and not just because of Sigma!, I have to say Edinburgh really appeals to me, however I have friends who are urging me to try and get a job in Aberdeen which seems quite lovely to be honest but a bit to remote (read=COLDer than other parts of Scotland lol) for my tastes.
"The other end of the equation: still a study of extreme acts, but told in a sedate, poetic, melancholic style. It's about a young traveller working on a river barge who knows more about a dead woman in the river than he's letting on. With excellent performances by Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton and Peter Mullan, it offers a true sense of the mysteries of human character and motivation."
Side note: I find it amusing that the photo they use is her with the awesome Jamie Bell, star of Hallam Foe. I still think a very good review of Young Adam can be found at the Verging Writer blog spot that is well worth a re-read. Heh and of course, the entire Young Adam movie is up on YouTube, where you can also see a video which contains some very good and interesting comments from director David Mackenzie, and the cast including Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton in the following behind the scenes feature:
Bad news today! Many thanks to Magnolia who told me the release for Mister Foe now has been changed to a August/September time frame. No specific date was given alas. I had remembered last year even seeing the September date on the AOL site for example among all the various dates that have been bandied about too...ITS SO discouraging! I am uncertain why the change from the May 23 date (which is ALL OVER the trailer that is blasting everywhere), perhaps due to a busy and box office/press grabbing competition from the long awaited Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which is to open on the 22, and Speed Racer, which frankly will just clobber any other films up against them. Meh, who knows. IMO this does not bode well for the success of the film I believe, esp given they have been playing up the film festival already with all those "premieres," of Mister (Hallam) Foe, but then again maybe the schedule in the theaters is light during that period, and people will see this as a good film to see before the huge and busy fall movie season. Perhaps it has to do with availability of the cast/crew for publicity or something too, or heck at this point I do not know anything other than this is most discouraging news for those of us who have waited ages now for a proper US release. Good thing I made the trip to Chicago last year.
Well now that we've all been suitably Rickrolled enough for one year and April fools is almost over (here in the states) there is an legitimate bit of news of interest tonight. Variety is reporting that Alastair Mackenzie is to star with Dougray Scot in the New Town Killers film which is now filming in Edinburgh, Scotland. This film is written and directed by Richard Jobson, with Alastair to play the character of Jamie, in a "tale of two high-flying financial whiz kids who get their kicks hunting people on the margins of society. " On his blog, the director described the film he was then developing when he wrote
VIOLENCE IS PART OF WHAT AND WHO WE ARE
We were born from violence. The stardust that is the fabric of all nature was born from the largest single act of violence ever known. Nature lives by a code of violence. We as a race are given to extraordinary moments of distilled violence prosecuted against the vulnerable and the innocent. The next film I hope to make THE NEW TOWN KILLERS is the story of two private bankers who have everything life can give them but they need to search further for new sensation; this takes the shape of hunting people. They create a scenario where they research someone they would regard as being at the bottom of the social ladder and offer them £1k to hide for twelve hours with the notion that if they are not found they get to keep to the money. Edinburgh becomes a playground for the two nihilists as they crash and burn their way through the night. The violence in the story is real and extreme and absolutely appropriate in the context of the story. The central characters have no respect for the people they encounter, abusing them with a venal corporate arrogance, as they think their will be no consequence to their actions. They at one point play a game on a computer called THE NEW TOWN KILLERS, which indicates that they are/feel part of a virtual world rather than something thats real. Their victim is a 16 year old rent boy who is awaiting the results of an AIDS test. He is to all intents and purposes invisible, a social leper, who would not be missed if he disappeared. Could this happen in our society. If you have to ask the question you're asleep or already dead.
Quite! I think this looks interesting, and although I never picture Alastair Mackenzie as one who should be trying with the bad guy roles, he does seem to want to strike against the stereotype casting and take on another part which hopefully will allow him the chance to showcase some edgier sides to his acting repertoire. Imdb also says the cinematographer is Simon Dennis who shot Sigma Films/David Mackenzie's The Last Great Wilderness which of course, starred Alastair. What's this, Archie has developed a mad killer streak all those years up there in the highlands? the illusions are shattered!boo lol just kidding ;) Mr Jobson, the former lead singer for the Skids, is also the same man who directed and wrote A Woman in the Winter that starred the wonderful Jamie Sives (Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself).
(Side notes for the Six Degrees of Sigma Separation game: Dougray Scott is married to Claire Forlani who of course starred as Verity in Hallam Foe along side Ewan Bremmer who starred in Richard Jobson's first film 16 Years of Alcohol that also starred Kevin Mckidd. Kevin Mckidd, who appeared in the series Rome with Ciaran Hinds (Papa Julius Foe in HF) also starred with Jamie Sives in a film called On a Clear Day which was up against A Woman in the Winter in the same category at the Scottish Baftas...Phew! Crazy Scots film world, love em all! :)
As much as I adore Jamie, that Woman in the Winter film is one I struggle with. I mean, it was gorgeously shot, and there were several really great moments, but overall it was too slow at times and I got a bit distracted with the use of slowmo time travel stuff. As a person who enjoys most of the sci-fi fantasy genre, I thought the plot was OK not entirely original, but appreciated they were trying to do an original and fresh type of film coming out of the UK/Scotland, for which I give him/them serious props. Problem for me was I had just re watched Truly Madly Deeply which is one of my all-time most favorite films, and wrongly or rightly that movie pretty much owns that whole ghost lover storyline these days and I think took away from my enjoyment of the movie which I need to go see again (dont own the DVD yet alas, slacker Jamie fan I am!) Can I just say though the whole physics time travel thing is HUGE again...coughLOSTDesmond/Penny /Faraday storylinecough*
for the film industry anymore, but I wasnt sure to what extent David has done this in his previous films with Sigma (aside from say various cars and the locales they filmed in for say Hallam Foe) I mean, Anne and Ashton flash those bags around big time and I figure this was totally deliberate, and not just indicative/in keeping with the trendy frivolous nature of the character. Even more evidence of this is in VIDEO and lots of it from Hollywood Bubble, of them shooting this scene over and over (Bonus: at the end, David is there :) and joking about with his star) Ps---------->
?? I swear this is like the third or fourth filming pic I've seen where he goes skipping gleefully around the edge of the car. Unless you are say Cary Grant, it has been my experience that most men do NOT leap over the edge of the car, especially after a day of what is long (and expensive due to all those bags) day of shopping-run for freedom yes lol, leap merrily, NO. :)
