Award season is upon us and “Bend It Like Beckham” has been getting some attention. It made Entertainment Weekly’s top 10 films of the year at #5. The Editor’s Guild announced it’s nominations and “Bend It Like Beckham” received a nod for Best Film Editing (Comedy). It’s has been nominated for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) at this year’s Golden Globe awards. The awards will be telecast on January 25.
Some good news about “Vanity Fair” to announce. It will have it’s world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with a possible Fall 2004 release in theatres.
“Bend It Like Beckham” is now out on DVD in the US today. The DVD features commentary by director Gurinder Chadha and co-writer Paul Mayeda Berges, theatrical trailers, 10 deleted/extended scenes, “Who Wants to Cook Aloo Gobi?” featurette, “The Making of Bend It Like Beckham” featurette, Music video for “Hot Hot Hot”, Aloo Gobi recipe, and the film is presented in widescreen anamorphic format. You can order it through Amazon today.
In other news, Oliver Stone’s “Alexander” began principal photography on September 22 in Marrakesh, Morocco. The project will then shoot interiors in London and more location shooting in Thailand. Warner Bros. Pictures has scheduled to release the film in the US in November 2004.
More release date news… “Prozac Nation” is now out in theatres in Japan. “Octane” is set for release in the UK on November 14. “The Tesseract” recently played at the Toronto Film Festival (along with “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead”), where Momentum Pictures picked up the UK distribution rights. No word on any release date but the film is getting very good buzz.
Lastly, there’s rumors of a possible new film project for Jonathan:
Rhys-Meyers in talks on horror pic
Source: rte.ie, 22/08/2003
Irish actor and ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ star Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is in talks about a role in a new horror movie. Variety reports that vampire film ‘Perfect Creature’ will be shot in New Zealand. Should Rhys-Meyers sign up for the movie, he will play the villain. Dougray Scott will play the lead with actress Saffron Burrows also in talks about a role.
Nothing is confirmed on this one.
“Octane” will be the opening film of the 2003 Fright Fest to be held in London on August 22. Cast and crew are to be in attendance for the opening but no word on if Jonathan will have the time to make it for this or not. “Bend It Like Beckham” continues to perform well at the US box office. It has now reached $30.6 million with an additional $39 million gross overseas.
Jonathan has accepted the role of Cassander in Oliver Stone’s upcoming project “Alexander”. Rehearsals start late August in Morocco. Filming has just wrapped on “Vanity Fair”, a day past his birthday. And while Jonathan has been invited to attend the premiere of “The Tesseract” in Japan, time may not permit him to attend.
“Bend It Like Beckham” recently won for Best Sports Movie at the 11th annual ESPY Awards. You may have noticed more ads on TV lately for the movie… after all this time in limited release (it was first released in a handful of theatres in the US back in March!) Fox Searchlight is releasing “Bend It Like Beckham” in wider release on August 1. It should be hitting more theatres then ever before. It’s already made over $26 million at the US box office with an over $39 million overseas gross. Getting a wide release after so long means Fox has faith this movie can reach an even larger audience.
Jonathan has confirmed that the James Bond rumors are just that… silly rumors in a recent article on Dublin Daily saying, “I don’t know where that rumour came from… There is absolutely no truth to it. I have never even been asked to go for a screen test for the part. I have to admit it’s a nice thought though.” The full article has been archived in the Press section.
Jonathan is currently in rehearsals for “Vanity Fair” with production to start in June.
“Bend It Like Beckham” continues to do well in the US making over $13.5 million dollars so far. The last two weekends it has even made it into the top 10 grossing films in release.
Some news out of Cannes from Indie Wire:
“First Look Media also announced two deals. The company acquired worldwide rights excluding Japan and Thailand to Oxide Pang’s ‘The Tesseract.’ The film, adapted from the book by frequent Danny Boyle collaborator Alex Garland, stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Saskia Reeves.”
Jonathan is featured in the April 2003 issue of L’Uomo Vogue with Daniel Day Lewis on the cover. Also, apparently “Octane” will be released in Japan this coming fall.
“Bend It Like Beckham” has been doing very well at the US box office so far. Each week, it’s being released in more theatres and steadily increasing it’s box office take. So far, in 5 weeks of release, it’s earned $4.2 million dollars. It’s now playing on just 216 screens with a very high per screen average, lots of press hype, and plenty of positive reviews. You can track its box office climb at Box Office Mojo.
“Bend It Like Beckham” is now out in limited release in the US! Unfortunately, “Prozac Nation” is not coming out this Friday. Instead it is looking like it will be released in June instead according to Miramax’s website. Let’s hope Mixamax does not push back this film once again and that it might finally make it to theatres.
Lots of cool news to report… First off, Jonathan has another movie to add to this credits. This time it’s a Hallmark Entertainment produced remake of “The Lion In Winter” that will air on the US cable network Showtime in late 2003. Jonathan stars as King Philip of France (Timothy Dalton played this role in the original award winning film). The movie also stars Glenn Close and Patrick Stewart. You can found out more information at an unofficial website for the original film and at the Hallmark Entertainment website. The character Jonathan plays is described as “venomous” in the synopsis on the Hallmark website.
The production website for the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Last Unicorn and IMDB have now listed Jonathan as part of the cast. Here’s what the production website had to say about Jonathan: “We have also the pleasure to announce that Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is willing to be Schmendrick the Magician. His incredible versatile and inspired acting style will add to the character humour, depth, passion and unforgettable moments.” The film is not scheduled to start production until this June with a possibly release date in December 2004. Christopher Lee and Mia Farrow are also to star. If you have not read this classic fantasy book, Schmendrick the Magician is one of the main roles and Jonathan is perfectly cast for this.
Fox Searchlight has finally put up an official website for Bend It Like Beckham. It opens March 12 in 6 theatres but will be opening in more theatres gradually. To find out where it will be playing, visit the Fox Searchlight website. It has also been confirmed that the film has not been dubbed. Only the trailer was altered.
“Prozac Nation” is also due for release March 14th. Nothing new has been posted on the Miramax website in months… but plenty of websites have the release date listed. Check out Moviefone to keep an eye on what theatres it may play in.
“Bend It Like Beckham” has recieved 3 nominations for the Empire Magazine Awards (Best Newcomer for Parminder Nagra, Best British Actress for Kiera Knightly, and Best British Film) and 1 nomination for a BAFTA for Outstanding British Film. “Bend It Like Beckham” is also making the rounds around the US playing in various film festivals like the Miami International Film Festival being held Feb. 21 - March 2. Watch out for advertisements and reviews of this film in various magazines out now like Elle Girl (thanks to Robby for the sighting on this) and Seventeen.
You can now view the new US trailer for Bend It Like Beckham online! Be warned, it does seem they have changed some of the slang and words from the original version of the film unfortunately.
