A Harrow man is to be royally thanked by the Prince of Wales for his outstanding dedication and commitment to helping young people.

Prince Charles, president and founder of The Prince's Trust, and the Duchess of Cornwall have invited Christopher Cook to Buckingham Palace on Friday (July 14).

Christopher is one of 1,500 employees of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group who have given their time to support disadvantaged young people.

The palace garden party has been organised to mark the trust's 30th anniversary.

It will pay tribute to the exceptional commitment of more than 6,000 volunteers from across the UK who have supported the charity since 1976.

The trust's chief executive, Martina Milburn, said: "Over the last 30 years, more than half a million young lives have been changed through Prince's Trust programmes.

"The trust would not have been able to do this without the valuable support of its volunteers and this garden party is our way of thanking them for all their help."

Christopher will rub shoulders with several celebrity ambassadors, including Rod Stewart and Penny Lancaster, Joseph Fiennes, Dame Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons and former Spice girls Emma Bunton and Geri Halliwell.

He said: "I'm very honoured.

"The work of the Prince's Trust is truly amazing in changing young people's lives. It is so rewarding and fulfilling to be able to support young people and I'm glad I have had the opportunity to make a difference."

Actor Fiennes at garden party for drug addiction charity

SILVER screen heart-throb Joseph Fiennes was in St John's Wood to promote the work of an addiction charity.

The actor, famous for his role in Shakespeare in Love, attended a garden party thrown by the Core Trust. Based in converted railway cottages in Lisson Grove, the trust helps people overcome drug and alcohol problems. It was opened 20 years ago by the late Princess Diana, and to mark the anniversary crowds gathered last Thursday to enjoy a raffle, tombola, cake and plant stalls.

"The garden party went really well and everyone enjoyed themselves," said services manager Sarah Reynolds. "Top prize in the raffle was an Albert Square sign signed by the cast of Eastenders, which helped raise £140.

"We also had 20 balloons - one for each year we've been operating - which were released into the air. It was great to have Joseph Fiennes come along, as he takes a keen interest in the work we do."
(Source)

The tourists who amble up the gravel drive to Althorp, the childhood home of the late Princess Diana, this summer will be walking in the footsteps of Orlando Bloom, Claire Danes and Joseph Fiennes, who were among the 400 guests at the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation fundraiser held at the ancestral Spencer home in mid-June. The Northamptonshire estate will once again welcome the public on July 1st, and will remain open through August 30th.

Every year, throughout the world, roughly half a million men, women, and children are killed by armed violence – that's one person every minute.

Together with international celebrities and activists Nicolas Cage, Joseph Fiennes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson and Arundhati Roy over 12,000 New Zealanders have joined one million people calling for an international treaty on small arms trade by lending their faces to the Control Arms Million Faces global petition.

These faces will be presented to the Minister for Disarmament Phil Goff at 2.45pm, Monday 12 June at Parliament, in front of 1000 red crosses on Parliament's lawn representing the number of people killed every day by small arms around the world.

Read full article.

Following in the flashy footsteps of Ewan McGregor, Joseph Fiennes is the next young British actor to develop an unhealthy passion for motorcycling.

According to friends of the Shakespeare In Love star, Fiennes recently approached the biking giants Triumph to express his interest in taking up the sport.

As a result, Triumph have not only leased him one of their scramblers on a year-long loan, they've very generously offered to throw in a bunch of lessons to teach him how to ride it.

"We heard from a source that Joseph likes our bikes a lot, so we've lent him one for the rest of the year," explains a Triumph spokesman.

"It was a mutual arrangement and there are no plans for Joseph to do any promotional or advertising work for us."

A car bomb explosion at a film set in Cape Town must have given quite a few people a fright on Sunday morning. The explosion formed part of a scene in Goodbye Bafana, a South African drama based on the relationship between former president Nelson Mandela and James Gregory, his prison warder at Robben Island.

The explosion took place shortly after 10:00 in the parking lot in front of the Chevron building (previously the Caltex building) next to the Naspers Centre on Heerengracht.

Local and international actors star in the movie and filming will be completed within the next few days, said Lesley-Anne Mulder, media manager for Film Africa.

The actors include Tsotsi's Terri Pheto who plays the role of Mandela's daughter Zinzi, Joseph Fiennes (William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love), who plays the role of James Gregory, and Diane Kruger (Helen of Troy in Troy), in the role of Gregory's wife. Dennis Haysbert (President David Palmer in 24), plays the role of Mandela.

"The explosion was a re-enactment of the car bomb that exploded outside Airforce House in Church Street, Pretoria, in 1983," said Mulder. The vehicle used was an 80's-model Mitsubishi Tredia sedan.

Edward Daniels, a security guard from Future Guarding, who watched the explosion, said it was quite impressive.

"I watched them put the bomb under the bonnet, and there was a loud bang when it exploded. The front of the car was completely destroyed, and there were flames everywhere."

Goodbye Bafana should be released in about a year's time.

Joseph Fiennes in 'Rani of Jhansi'?

Shakespeare in Love and Merchant of Venice star Joseph Fiennes is poised to do a Toby Stephens in Ketan Mehta's next film Rani Of Jhansi.

No confirmation is available yet, but the director does let on that he is in talks with the British actor for one of the key on-screen roles in the upcoming production.

Fellow Brit Stephens was outstanding in Mehta's Mangal Pandey - The Rising and Mehta, of course, has a fan following in the West among industry professionals as well as sales agents.

Last year The Rising was in the Cannes Film Market. This year the filmmaker does not have an entry here, but he is taking in as many films as he can even as he waits for the take-off of his next venture. Most details related to the film are still firmly under wraps and Mehta isn't willing to talk about Rani Of Jhansi except in rather general terms.

For one, he quashes media speculation that Aishwarya Rai is on board to play the eponymous heroine.

Mehta says Rani Of Jhansi will roll later this year and be ready for distribution by 2007 end. Will that be in time for the 2008 Cannes Film Festival?
(Source)

And another New Voices writer, poet and novelist Owen Sheers, is well advanced in developing his first stage work, Unicorns Almost, a one-man play about the Second World War poet Keith Douglas which Sheers has written specially for actor Joseph Fiennes. Old Vic New Voices coordinator Kate Packenham told Whatsonstage.com they hope to mount a production of Unicorns Almost, directed by Josie Rourke, later this year or early next – though, again, not at the Old Vic.

Durban, May 1: A film depicting the special friendship between former South African President Nelson Mandela and his prison warder in 1970s, who had changed from a racist to a humanitarian under his influence, is being shot at a cost of 155-million-rand (USD 25 million).

The film, Goodbye Bafana, is based on a memoir by Mandela's white prison guard, James Gregory, which chronicles the initially racist warden's close relationship with the Nobel Peace Prize winner and the firstblack president of South Africa.

Dennis Haysbert, who plays US President David Palmer in the TV series 24, will feature as Mandela, with movie stars Joseph Fiennes, William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, as Gregory and Diane Kruger (Helen of Troy in Troy) as his wife, Gloria.

South African actress Terry Pheto, cast of the country's Oscar-winning Tsotsi, will portray Zinzi, daughter of Mandela and his former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

The film, which has already been in production for six weeks, will move onto Robben Island, where Mandela had spent most of his 27 years in jail for his leading role in anti-apartheid struggles, in a month.

Gregory was Mandela's warder for 20 years -- from Robben Island to Polls moor in Cape Town and then Victor Verster Prison in Paarl, from where he was released in 1990.
(Source)

Filming on Robben Island for a R155 million movie on former president Nelson Mandela and the warder who guarded him, James Gregory, will start in six weeks.

Yesterday David Wight of Film Afrika confirmed that they had already started shooting the movie Goodbye Bafana two and a half weeks ago and that they would be filming on the island towards the end of their nine-week schedule.

"It's going terrifically. I'm very excited. It's going to be a great film," said Wight.

Film Afrika is co-producing the film, which is being directed by award-winning Dane Bille August and is due to be released in 2007.

Screen stars Diane Kruger and Joseph Fiennes have been billed, alongside South Africa's Tsotsi star Terry Pheto.

The film is based on the memoir Gregory wrote of how Mandela altered his initially racist perceptions during the 20 years that he guarded him at Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison.

Cape Town locations for filming include Long Street, Observatory, Plumstead (where Gregory lived), Pollsmoor, the former Roeland Street Prison and Robben Island.

Although earlier reports said filming on the World Heritage site had been hampered because the island's management demanded various requirements, Wight said last night that filming would only take place on the island towards the end of their schedule.

Asked about the environmental and heritage assessments and the disaster management plans that had to be submitted, Wight said things were being sorted out.

"We are still going through the logistics," he said.

Pheto will star as Mandela's daughter Zinzi while Fiennes, who starred as William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, and Kruger, who starred in the movie Troy, will play James and Gloria Gregory.

Dennis Haysbert, who plays US president David Palmer in the TV series 24, will star as Mandela, and Johnny Clegg has been asked to write a song for the movie.
(Source)

A big-budget film depicting a special friendship between South Africa's international icon Nelson Mandela and his warden in the 1970s will be shot in the country, a South African newspaper reported on Sunday. Film producers are still negotiating with authorities of Robben Island off Cape Town to shoot Goobye Bafana (Boy) on the island, where Mandela spent most of his 27 years in jail for his leading role in anti-apartheid struggles, said Sunday Times.

Special requirements by the management of the island, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 1999, have stunted filming on the 155-million-rand (25 million U.S. dollars) production, which was initially scheduled to begin two weeks ago, it said.

The film is based on a memoir by Mandela's white prison guard, James Gregory, which chronicles the initially racist warden's close relationship with the Nobel Peace Prize winner and the first black president of South Africa.

Dennis Haysbert (President David Palmer in 24) will feature as Mandela, with Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) as Gregory and Diane Kruger (Troy) as his wife, Gloria. South African actress Terry Pheto, cast of the country's Oscar-winning Tsotsi, will portray Zinzi, daughter of Mandela and his former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

The filmmakers are hoping to shoot scenes in the prison's B section, which housed Mandela; in the lime quarry, where Mandela sweated and suffered damaged to his eyesight; and the island's harbor, said the newspaper report.

It said the Robben Island Museum demanded environmental and heritagbe assessent plans for the iflming, and wante dto know how the filming would affect the flow of visitors to the island, a popular tourist spot.

Gregory was Mandela's warden for 20 years--from Robben Island to Pollsmoor in Cape Town and then Victor Verster Prison in Paarl, from where he was released in 1990.

Gregory, a typical white Afrikaner who regarded blacks as sub-human, grew up on a farm in the Transkei where he learned to speak Xhosa at an early age. This made him an ideal choice to become the warden in charge of Mandela and his anti-apartheid comrades because Gregoy could spy on them without them knowing it.

But the ploy backfired, according to the film's website. Through Mandela's influence, Gregory's allegiance gradually shifted from racism to outright support of Mandela in his quest for a demorcractically free South Africa.

Mandela's office invited Gregory to the presidential inauguration in 1994.

"Goodbye Bafana tracks the unlikely but profound relatinoship that develops between these two men," said the website, www.goodbyebafana.com.

Sunday Times said Mandela himself neither endorsed nor objected the movie, directed by the award-winning Danish director Billie August. "We do not raise any objection to he book or film, as people are allowed the freedom of opnion, but at the same time we are also not endorsing it, as we do with most of these initiatives," Mandela's spokeswoman Zelda la Grange was quoted as saying on behalf of Mandela, 87.

"We do, however, request writers, artists, and producers to ensure that whatever they portray is factually correct," she said.

A low profile was kept on purpose, [Sloan] explained to ShoWest delegates, in order to perfect the new business model that combines the "bold creative freedom, the freshness, and energy of our filmmaking community with the efficiencies and expertise of major studio distribution and marketing." All the while, his team also assembled a lineup with "many of the best actors, producers and directors in the business" that includes [...] Joseph Fiennes, [...], among others.

[...]

On the volume front, with a broad range of genres and subjects represented, "the first thing about our films is that they will be wide releases." Sloan contends, "There are no limited releases on our schedule at this time."

(Source)

Venus and Mars may be the most balanced composition, but The Choice Between Virtue and Vice (owned by the Frick) has more juice, with its Joseph Fiennes-lookalike in a pink-with-white-highlights jersey pulling away from the orange-skirted Vice, his left stocking torn to reveal a calf scratched bloody. Ooooh, the wages of sin! The Roman-booted beauty of Virtue pulls him back, her calm face a cool compensation, but who could forget the deliciously torn hose?

That's Veronese.

Soccer Aid launches a summer of football on ITV with World Cup legends and top celebrities teaming up to go head-to-head in England versus The Rest of The World, all in aid of charity UNICEF.

Former England manager Terry Venables will again take charge of the home nation, ably assisted on the pitch by superstar captain, Robbie Williams, while Gordon Ramsay leads out The Rest of The World team.

Soccer Aid will be presented by Ant and Dec.

Robbie Williams saw there was a great opportunity to lead his own football competition with all the benefits going to UNICEF and together with Jonny Wilkes, they finessed the idea with help from Initial into what has now been realised as Soccer Aid.

Robbie said "I have been an Ambassador for UNICEF since 2000, and some of the best moments of my life have been those spent with children in Mozambique and Sri Lanka. During my last UNICEF trip I met so many kids who gave me reason to smile. Now, through UNICEF and Soccer Aid, I want to be able to give them something to smile about too."

Both squads contain eleven international celebrities and five world cup greats. Daily programmes on ITV1 and ITV2 follow them as they spend the week training, bonding, socialising, and competing for a coveted place in the starting line-ups. Stars from the world of showbiz and sport, as well as experienced football pundits will also give their view on who should – or shouldn't - make the starting XI.

The big match – to be played on the hallowed turf of Old Trafford in front of a capacity crowd on Saturday 27th May – sees the culmination of all their hard work.

Soccer Aid is in aid of UNICEF's work for children throughout the world. UNICEF works jointly with partners to help children reach their full potential through long-term and emergency work on health, education and protection for children at risk. UNICEF is funded entirely by voluntary contributions and funds raised by Soccer Aid will enable UNICEF and partners to help more children worldwide.

Tickets are £15 for adults and £5 for OAPs and concessions. Please call 0870 4421999 for more info and to buy tickets. You can also buy tickets at www.manutd.com/tickets/ to buy online.
(Source)

Robbie Williams has been recruiting his celeb mates to play in his charity footie tournament Soccer Aid.

...

Other game celebs who are set to play in the charity match to raise money for Unicef are Joseph Fiennes, Damian Lewis, Angus Deayton and that bad boy of snooker, Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Ant and Dec will host the match, which will be played at Old Trafford on 27 May just before the real World Cup.
(Source and full article)

A new 'cheeky' advertising campaign is being launched next week by housing charity Shelter, using images of naked bottoms!

The ads aim to draw attention to the 'big Shelter sit-in exhibition', a collection of more than 5,000 photographs of celebrities and members of the general public 'taking a stand' in Shelter's red armchair.

The eye-catching ads can be seen from Monday 27 March on postcards in bars, clubs and cinemas across the Capital, on posters along the South Bank and in the Evening Standard and Metro newspapers. They will invite the public to 'sit on your backside and do something' at Shelter's exhibition at the.gallery@oxo from Wednesday 29 March to Sunday 2 April.

Davina McCall, Joseph Fiennes and Dame Kelly Holmes are just some of the famous faces who have been snapped sitting on their backsides for Shelter to register their protest at the fact that more than one million children in Britain are suffering in bad housing. The photographs are part of a national 'sit-in' protest backing Shelter's call for the Government to make a commitment to ending bad housing for the next generation of children.

Adam Sampson, director of Shelter, said: "We hope these cheeky ads will encourage Londoners to come along to our photography exhibition at the Oxo Gallery. With pictures of thousands of people from all walks of life, even celebrities, sitting on their backsides for Shelter this sit in protest should create quite a stink!"

Members of the public who come along to gallery will have the chance to become a part of the exhibition too - by having their picture taken in Shelter's red chair to protest at the scandal of bad housing for children.

The exhibition, sponsored by the Mears Group, is the latest phase in the charity's Million Children Campaign, which revealed that more than one million children are suffering in bad housing in Britain today with a devastating impact on their health, education and future prospects. The campaign aims to get a commitment from government to end bad housing for the next generation of children and, as a first step towards this, to build more social rented homes.

The ads were written and art directed on a freelance basis by Hutton and Helen Jones who worked pro bono.

The photographer was Damian Russell.

Useful links: www.shelter.org.uk/cheeky | www.mearsgroup.co.uk

Sandrew Metronome picks up rights to Goodbye Bafana
March 2006

Sandrew Metronome has bought the rights and closed the deal, which covers all the Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland, with the film's co-producer Ilann Girard and his company Arsam.

Goodbye Bafana, written by James Gregory and Bob Graham, tells the true story of a white South African racist whose life was profoundly altered by the black prisoner, Nelson Mandela, whom he guarded for twenty years.

The warden James Gregory, a white Afrikaner who viewed all blacks as inferior grew up on a farm in the Transkei where he learned to speak Xhosa. Gregory was therefore able to spy on Mandela and the other prisoners on Robben Island without them being aware that he could understand what they were saying.

Over the course of many years, Mandela changed Gregory's outlook on life from a bigoted racist to a supporter of the leader-in-waiting's view of a democratically free South Africa. Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love, Enemy at the Gates) stars as James Gregory, and Dennis Haysbert (24, Far From Heaven) plays Mandela. The budget is $30 million and the film goes into production on March 27th.

Dane Screens Nelson Mandela Film

Danish director Bille August, famous for The House of Spirits, will screen Goodbye Bafana in South Africa, a film about the years in prison of Nelson Mandela.

The movie will be an Anglo-Danish-German-Belgian-South African co-production that will be screened in English with Dennis Haysbert as Mandela and Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) as his jail guardian James Gregory.

The film is based on the memoirs of James Gregory, and adapted for the screen by Gregg Latter. Celluloid Company is in charge of the selling and financing movie.
(Source)

Joseph popped in to answer questions during a Drama Live course for unemployed 16-25 year olds. His experience and knowledge gave participants a good insight into how to get started in the business and gave great value to the programme. The course tutors felt his inspiration was a big reason the final night performance was one of the best ever.
(Source)

Prince's Trust celebrates 30 years

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are due to join a host of celebrities to kick off the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Prince's Trust. The royal couple are attending the Celebrate Success event at the Theatre Royal in London, which recognises young people who have overcome adversity.

Pierce Brosnan, Joseph Fiennes, Jade Jagger, Gary Lineker, Jenson Button, Will Young and Lemar are among the stars joining youngsters, volunteers and staff at the awards ceremony.

Long-term supporters will also be among the 1,500 people gathering for the event.

The star-studded celebration will feature a performance from percussionists Stomp.

Nine prizes will be handed out, including Young Achiever of the Year and the coveted RBS Enterprise Award.

It is the first event in a year of celebrations to commemorate 30 years of the Prince's Trust, a charity which aims to help young people through training and support. (Source)

A twist in the tale: Pakistani author puzzles Hollywood director with book about penguins

Karachi: Hollywood director Michael Radford was rather sceptical about accepting an offer to be part of the launch of a children's book written by Pakistani Mahnaz Malik, an award winning international lawyer.

"This was a book about penguins by a Pakistani writer. Do I really want to do this, I said to myself," Radford said at the launch of 'Mo's Star' at a local hotel on Wednesday. However, once he read the book, he was so impressed that he directed the audio version read by Joseph Fiennes.

[...]

All proceeds will go to The Citizens Foundation. According to the managing director of the publishing house, each copy of the book sold will send a child to school for ten days.

(Source and full article).

Italy's Istituto Luce has boarded the Billie August-directed Goodbye Bafana, a South Africa-set drama rooted in the real-life rapport that Nelson Mandela developed during his incarceration with his white prison guard.

Variety reports shooting starts in South Africa in March on the $25 million film that Joseph Fiennes and Dennis Haysbert will topline, with Diane Kruger also attached.

Bafana is being executive produced by David Wicht's Cape Town-based Film Afrika, and mounted as a South African-European co-production. Gaul's Ilann Girard's Arsam is the co-producer and the film is being sold by Celluloid Dreams.

The first impression is that it's like living in a huge museum lined with an endless gallery of towering art work, velvet chairs, dangling crystal chandeliers and golden hand-carved everything. Or as actor Joseph Fiennes observes while attending a charity banquet: "It's all a bit over the top."

(Source and full article).

Madrid, Spain - infoZine - Recently in Madrid Oxfam launched the first edition of the AcTUa (Act!) International Short Film Festival, a new cultural event that aims to raise awareness of day-to-day life in poor countries while also discovering new cinema talents.

This year the Festival will also contribute to the Control Arms campaign, run jointly by Amnesty International, IANSA and Oxfam all over the world. The campaign has already won support from over 650,000 people who want to bring about the signing of an international treaty to control the arms trade.

Among those backing this campaign are well-known artists such as Carlinhos Brown, Joseph Fiennes, John Hanna, Emmanuelle Bιart, Bob Geldof, Youssou N'Dour, Manu Chao, Franz Ferdinand, Carlos Santana and Billy Bragg.

The festival will be held in Madrid, June 8-10.

Read full article.

Celluloid Dreams strengthens sales slate for Berlin

French sales agent Celluloid Dreams is flexing its muscles pre-Berlin, boarding yet more English-language productions in advance of the European Film Market.

New to Celluloid's roster is Bille August's Goodbye Bafana, based on the diaries of Nelson Mandela's former prison guard. Co-produced by Banana Films with France's ARSAM, Goodbye Bafana traces Mandela's prison guard, James Gregory, over a 20-year relationship which neither have forgotten. Cast already confirmed includes Joseph Fiennes and Dennis Haysbert, with further announcements to be made at the European Film Market.

German stars Daniel Bruhl and Benno Furmann, who both appear in Christian Carion's French foreign language Oscar entry Merry Christmas and Moritz Bleibtreu (Run Lola Run, Das Experiment) have joined the cast of Jon Amiel's Angel Makers.

Film Bridge International is handling worldwide distribution on the picture, which as previously announced stars Helen Mirren, Joseph Fiennes and Anna Friel and will commence principal photography in March 2006.

Angel Makers recounts the true story of British World War One veterans who return to their homes in Yorkshire to discover that German prisoners of war have taken their jobs and their wives.

Jeanna Polley and her company The Producers will produce the project and Film Bridge International is overseeing the financing. Amiel's credits include Entrapment, Copy Cat and Sommersby.

Look up Angel Makers on the IMDb.

"There's a Preston Sturges thing going on with Joseph and Winona."

New kid on the block Bauer Martinez paid 2 million dollars for North American distribution rights to Darwin Awards, written and directed by three-time Sundance filmmaker Taylor. The slapstick comedy stars Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder as well as the late Chris Penn.

While the movie did not wow the older members among its Sundance audiences, it turned away hundreds of would-be viewers and played well to the younger generation. On that basis, Bauer Martinez acquisition exec Steve Break aggressively chased the movie and landed it after a protracted 24-hour negotiation.

The film is based upon the real-life Darwin Awards, an Internet phenomenon that salutes individuals who improve the human gene pool by accidentally killing themselves in foolish ways. Taylor organized several of these true stories into a romantic comedy about a detective (Fiennes) and an insurance investigator (Ryder) on a road trip to investigate the often hilarious deaths.

"I've been a fan of the Darwin Awards for six or seven years," said Break, "reading the e-mails and going on the Web site. This movie is for people who enjoy watching stupid people make stupid decisions."

Taylor said he was "excited" that Bauer Martinez was "able to see and believe in The Darwin Awards' commercial viability at a very crowded festival."

"I worked with Chris and he was wonderful. I knew his work. I was shocked and saddened."

Yesterday's big premiere movie was The Darwin Awards, a kind of high-brow screwball comedy from Sundance vet director Finn Taylor (Cherish) starring Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes (pictured), and just about everyone else with a SAG card: David Arquette, Juliette Lewis, Tim Blake Nelson, Nora Dunn, Lukas Haas, and the always hilarious, inimitable Judah Friedlander (American Splendor). Also among the supporting cast was Chris Penn, who died on Tuesday. At the Q/A following the screening, Finn and Ryder had lovely things to say about Penn. "He wasn't just Sean's little brother," the actress said, holding back tears.

When news hit the wires late Tuesday that the body of Chris Penn – star of over 50 films, from Footloose to Reservoir Dogs to Starsky and Hutch, and brother of Oscar winner Sean – had been found in a Santa Monica condo, most outlets didn't file the item alongside their coverage of Sundance. But Penn was fourth-billed in The Darwin Awards, the much-anticipated film by Finn Taylor which premieres here in Park City tonight, and the actor's death is already having an impact on that film's festival blitz. Out of respect for their co-star, the film's actors (including Winona Ryder, Joseph Fiennes and David Arquette) have cancelled all planned interviews and media appearences. Tonight's premiere will go through as planned, but sans press line. There's also a Darwin awards party tonight, but with cast and crew in mourning, we imagine it probably won't be much of a party.
(Source).

Why it will do the book justice:

Ryan Murphy directs Annette Bening as a crazy, self-involved mom. Nip/Tuck meets American Beauty! And that cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Vanessa Redgrave...

Why it won't live up to the book:

Augusten Burrough's 2002 memoir has outrageous characters who just might come off as too over-the-top. And Murphy certainly knows from over-the-top.

As a huge fan of the hilarious series of Darwin Awards books, I was bemused and fascinated when I learned that writer/director Finn Taylor was mounting a movie version of the series – mainly because I'm wondering how this type of book would translate into cinematic form, but also because it's got a cast that includes Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, David Arquette, Juliette Lewis, Metallica, Wilmer Valderrama, Tim Blake Nelson, Julianna Margulies, Nora Dunn and Judah Friedlander. Just try and keep me away from this particular screening.
(Source).

Among this year's minnows is the comedy The Darwin Awards, starring Winona Ryder, Joseph Fiennes and Metallica. Three-time Sundance player Finn Taylor spent seven years arranging independent financing.

"I hope people are buying into the unique script and characters," Taylor said. "We realized as the process unfolded that the studios would make a watered-down version of what we wanted to do. A watered-down version of The Darwin Awards wouldn't be funny."

The main character is a 15-year-old girl who heats the oven, washes the laundry, and, among other things, listens in to conversations, as she knows English and is obliged to inform on people. The story is told from this girl's point of view.

At the end of the war all the women who worked in this brothel were put on three barges, taken out to sea and drowned.

In the screenplay, several of the characters are foreign sailors, so we are trying to bring in some Americans.

American screenwriter Gregory Marquett and Alexander Chervinsky are re-writing the story.

Two American studios have shown interest, but they will make a decision based on the final screenplay. We plan to film it in Russian and English.

It's early days yet to say who the actors will be, but one person has already been confirmed - Andrei Smirnov, who played Bunin in "His Wife's Diary". He will play the brothel guard, a cripple, drunk and brawler."

Later this year, Aleksei Uchitel, one of the leading post-Soviet era directors and an Oscar nominee, will start shooting the film, based on documents recently unearthed from Soviet naval archives.

'The documents reveal that the official army nightclubs, affectionately known as Churchill clubs, were in fact Russian bordellos,' said Uchitel. 'They were set up in an extraordinary secret pact between Churchill and Stalin to provide high-class prostitutes for British sailors after their epic 1,600-mile voyage to Murmansk.

'The clubs, also referred to as doma druzbi or "friendship houses", were staffed by highly educated English-speaking Russian women, especially trained by the KGB to minister to the sexual needs of the Allied sailors.'

Joseph Fiennes and Jacqueline Bisset, both long-standing friends of Uchitel, have expressed an interest in starring in the film, which will be the first Russian production to be made in English. John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton and Russia's most famous actor Evegeny Mironov have also been approached to appear in the film - which has a working title of The Churchill Houses.

Read full article.

According to the IMDb, Joe has a new film project in the pipeline, ie, Goodbye Bafana (2006). If their info is correct, Joe will play James Gregory, and the film is about an extraordinary friendship between James Gregory and his prisoner Nelson Mandela. The project has an official site with some more information but there is no cast list as of yet. Budget is quoted on the IMDb as 30 million USD. The film is based on the book Goodbye Bafana: Nelson Mandela, my prisoner, my friend, by James Gregory.

Joseph Fiennes plays Michael Burrows, a brilliant but overly cautious forensic detective, who turns his fascination with the Darwin Awards into an avocation. He is paired with Winona Ryder who plays Siri Taylor, a take-no-prisoners insurance claims investigator and together they embark on a road trip to see if they can better understand the motivation of potential Darwin Awards recipients.

Featuring re-enactments of some of the better known entries to the Darwin Awards roster, THE DARWIN AWARDS is a hilarious comedy about the extremes only a few human beings dare to pursue. Also starring Metallica, David Arquette, Ty Burrell, Kevin Dunn, Nora Dunn, Judah Friedlander, Lukas Haas, Tom Hollander, Brad Hunt, Juliette Lewis, Julianna Margulies, Tim Blake Nelson, Alessandro Nivola, Chris Penn, Max Purlich, D.B. Sweeney, Robin Tunney and Wilmer Valderrama and the hosts of Mythbusters.

Sheers' second collection, Skirrid Hill (£7.99), is just out from Welsh independent publisher, Seren. As well as the two books of poetry, he has published The Dust Diaries - a "creative" (ie fictionalised to some degree) biography of his missionary great-uncle Arthur Cripps - and written a one-man play about the Second World War poet, Keith Douglas. Joseph Fiennes will perform it in 2006 under the auspices of the Old Vic New Voices programme. Sheers is also working on a novel, waiting to hear about a couple of commissions for radio plays and toying with an idea for a screenplay.

Winona Ryder, Joseph Fiennes, David Arquette and Juliette Lewis are among the ensemble in "The Darwin Awards," about a forensic detective and an insurance investigator looking into a potential winner of a prize given to people who kill themselves in idiotic ways.