The upcoming Chicago Film Festival will have a special screening of “August Rush” on October 13th at 12:00pm as part of a Family Focus showcase for films geared to family audiences. You can look into purchasing tickets online.
Like last year, Jonathan again played in a charity football match for St. Killian’s in Dublin to aid the Bray Women’s Refuge early this month. And this Saturday, Jonathan is expected to participate in a special event for Tara Heritage Day. From the Gaiety School of Acting website:
Help Stuart Townsend, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and internationally reknowned Aerial Artist, John Quigley create the worlds’ first GIANT HUMAN HARP at TARA HERITAGE DAY.
We need hundreds of people to gather at the Hill of Tara on Sunday, 23rd September from 1:30pm to 3:30pm to form the human aerial art image of a giant harp and a Tara heritage preservation message. Many of Ireland’s top harpists will accompany the performance. The event will be directed by internationally reknowned Aerial Artist, John Quigley and participants include Irish born international film stars Stuart Townsend and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as well as musicans, historians and scholars. The image will be photographed from an aircraft at 3pm. Families are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch.
Spectral Q and the Save Tara Campaign are hosting Tara Heritage Day. Spectral Q has created similar human ‘aerial art’ images around the world including the Arctic, Antarctica, the Amazon Rainforest, London, New York, Los Angeles, Geneva, Miami, Toronto, Washington D.C., Copenhagen, New Orleans and others. To see images please check: www.SpectralQ.com. The Save Tara campaign is seeking to reroute the M3 motorway to preserve the ancient sites of the sacred Tara Valley. For more information please check: www.savetara.com.
Sources: tdonline, mouret, Gaiety School of Acting
Jonathan is featured in the October issue of the UK edition of InStyle magazine. It’s in promotion of the new XX/XY fragrances coming out.
“August Rush” will be screening at a premiere event at the 2007 Heartland Film festival on October 18 in Indianapolis, IN. Producer Richard Barton Lewis is scheduled to attend the premiere. No other cast or crew have been announced to attend. You can buy tickets online for a 4:30pm matinee screening ($20) or the 7:30pm evening screening with a reception and Q+A afterwards ($30). They are also selling tickets for a special dinner before the evening screening ($125).
“August Rush” was also recently awarded a Heartland Truly Moving Picture Award. This is a watermark that studios can use in posters and ads to inform audiences about a film’s uplifting message and appeal.
Finally, the soundtrack for “August Rush” is due for release on November 6. You can pre-order it on Amazon now. There is no track listing or cover yet, but it’s very likely songs Jonathan sings for the movie will be featured on the soundtrack.
Sources: casbahkitten, Shelia63, JRM Update
From the Yorkshire Post, comes more news about Jonathan’s next project Bronte to start filming this fall. Includes a possible release next year at the Toronto Film Festival:
Bronte sisters film set to boost region
07 August 2006
Their novels still exercise a hold over popular imagination and now their lives are about to be made into a major film which will introduce cinemagoers around the world to Yorkshire’s hills and dales.
Filming is due to start in October on the film which will chronicle the lives of the Bronte sisters and is set to be a massive boost for the local economy as audiences are introduced to the landscapes that inspired their work.
It will star Michelle Williams, who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Brokeback Mountain, as Charlotte. Natalie Press, who has appeared in the BBC’s adaptation of Bleak House will play Emily and Anne will be played by Emily Barclay, from New Zealand, who was in the film In My Father’s Den.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who was in Bend it Like Beckham, will play Branwell and Ben Chaplin will play Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls. Brian Cox takes the role of Rev Patrick Bronte.
Yesterday film co-producer Alistair MacLean Clark, of AMC Pictures said filming would begin in October, although they would not be shooting in Haworth itself. He said they were looking at two or three locations.
“The house they lived in has changed quite dramatically over the years so we are trying to find a local town or village which is not too far away where we can build a set,” he said.
“The story begins with them as children and moves on to them at the age of 17/18 and continues for the rest of their lives. It focuses on what drove, Charlotte, Emily and Anne to write. The challenge with a film like this is do you cover their whole lives or just one section. We’re doing the whole lot. I felt it was important to show their entire lives as they were so short. We go into what they were like growing up and where their imagination and passion came from to write books because they led austere lives.”
The script was originally written for Dreamworks film company nine years ago but then shelved until Mr MacLean Clark picked it up five years ago.
“It was a story that needed to be told. There have been variations of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights but there has never been an English language variation of their lives, which is really close to the truth,” he said. “They are still some of the best-selling authors in the world who are also quite contemporary.”
He added: “It’s important to be shooting the movie as close as possible to Haworth because that’s where it all took place and it needs to be accurate. A lot of the extras will be locally cast and where possible the crew will also be employed locally.”
Alan Bentley, director of the Bronte Parsonage Museum, in Haworth, said: “This will tell the lives of the Bronte’s to a wider audience. I am sure it will boost the economy, what’s good for the parsonage is also good for the local area.”
He said members of the cast would be welcome to visit the parsonage to help them with preparations for the film. They will spend eight weeks filming and hope to launch the film at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2007. It is hoped it will be in cinemas by January 2008.
Last week, Jonathan was honored in Cork, Ireland for his Golden Globe win. Cork held a civic reception in his honor and to award him with the Cork Person of the Month award. You can see video of this from RTE News (scroll down to “Rhys Meyers honoured in home town”, you need Real Player to view the file). Jonathan also joined Cillian Murphy to launch the 4th Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.
The French website for Match Point is now online. The film will be released there October 26. You can also view the first look at a trailer for the film (both the dubbed and subtitled versions). The trailer can also be viewed along with a clip from the film at Kino Express (thanks Shelia). Match Point was recently shown during the San Sebastian Film Festival and is set for limited release in the US on December 28.
Lots of cool news to report. First off, “Vanity Fair” will be shown at the London Film Festival on November 1 and 2. It’s not due out theatrically in the UK until January 14 of next year.
The release date for “Alexander” has been pushed back from November 5 to November 24. The premiere will be November 16 at the Village theatre in Westwood, California. You can view more trailers of “Alexander” that include snippets of Jonathan at The Movie Box. HBO is airing a first look at “Alexander”. Check HBO.com for all showtimes and channels.
And last but not least, the October issue of Nylon magazine has a full page photo and article on Jonathan. The October 2004 issue of UK Vanity Fair also features a full page stunning photo of Jonathan in a Alfred Dunhill salute to UK Film feature.
Just got word that Jonathan has signed on for a part in Woody Allen’s next film. Production starts in July. More from movies.com:
Woody Allen Flick Gets Cast
Woody Allen, a director never content to rest on his laurels (even when some critics might wish that he would), has begun casting his upcoming summer movie project. Kate Winselt, Emily Mortimer, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers are the first actors to sign on for the film, according to Variety.
Interestingly, the notoriously reclusive and Manhattan-centric auteur has decided to film the as-yet-untitled movie entirely outside of New York, primarily, if not entirely, in London. The story, though (as usual) still unannounced, will reportedly focus on the upper class of the British capital.
Allen told Variety, “I have a great admiration for English actors and actresses and have used them at every opportunity over the years, but now I won’t have to import them to New York. ? I only hope I can live up to the high standards of British movies I grew up with.”
Filming is expected to take place in July and August. Allen’s next film to hit theaters, Melinda and Melinda, likely to be released this fall, has wrapped. Will Ferrell stars.
Thanks to Shelia and Mr. Crofts. A bit more film festival news to pass on. Outfest 2004 is having a special screening of “Velvet Goldmine” on July 10 at 6:45pm in Los Angeles. They are giving director Todd Haynes the Outfest Achievement Award to open the festival. Todd will be at the screening in person. You can purchase tickets for $10 online.
“The Emperor’s Wife” is playing May 7 at the Commonwealth Film Festival in Manchester, England. (Thanks to Gadhelic for that info.) Jonathan is featured in the May issues of the Japanese editions of Glamourous and Dazed & Confused. There is also an excellent write-up in the May issue of Sight & Sound on “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead”. You can view a wonderful video message from Jonathan to all his fans about his recent trip to Japan and “The Tesseract” at the Artist Film website. It’s not to be missed!
“Prozac Nation” and “The Lion in Winter” are now out on DVD in Russia. First Look Home Entertainment no longer holds the rights to “The Tesseract” and has pushed back “Octane” for a mid-July release (thanks to Caroline for this new info). “The Tesseract” is making the film festival rounds. It recently screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and is scheduled to be part of the Method Fest. That festival will be held in Burbank, California during the week of April 2-8. You can now view a trailer for “The Tesseract” at the Japanese official website. Jonathan will be in Japan at the end of this month for promotion for the film. The premiere is not yet set but will be towards the end of May or beginning of June in Tokyo.
Lastly, for those trying to track down Homme Numéro, you can purchase a copy online (thanks Daisy). It helps to know some French.
Lots of movie news to report. First up, “Prozac Nation” is now out on DVD in Japan. “The Tesseract” will finally be released in Japanese theatres this spring. There is an official website up with a few new images. According to First Look Home Entertainment, both “The Tesseract” and “Octane” will be out on DVD and video April 2004. No word when exactly or in what formats.
“Alexander” has finished production in Thailand. Jonathan recently attended the 2004 Bangkok International Film Festival in support of “Alexander” with fellow cast members. “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” has been making the rounds of many U.S. film festivals including the Santa Barbara Film Festival and the Portland International Film Festival. It’s set for a limited U.S. release June 11. And lastly, “The Lion in Winter” will air this May on the Showtime cable network in the U.S.
