Edinburgh Film Festival

“I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival on August 23. You can read about the premiere screening where Jonathan, co-star Clive Owen, and director Mike Hodges attended at iofilm.

Octane opening Fright Fest

“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.

Vanity Fair details

Jonathan will be traveling to Japan in August for the premiere of “The Tesseract”. He is currently filming a new movie, “Vanity Fair”. This high profile project co-stars Reese Witherspoon, Jim Broadbent, and Rhys Ifans. It’s being directed by Mira Nair. “Vanity Fair” is an adaption of the William Thackeray novel by the same name. If you live close to Bath, you can audition to be an extra. The movie is being shot in Bath for one week of filming in June. For more details, read the article on This Is Bath. The plot summary from that article on this movie is: “The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and revolves around the rise and fall of Becky Sharp, an impoverished but beautiful young woman played by Witherspoon, and Amelia Sedley, the pampered daughter of a rich City merchant.”

The Overseas Film Group will be holding screenings of “Octane” at this year’s Cannes Film Festival starting May 16. They will also be holding special promo premieres of “The Tesseract” and “The Emperor’s Wife”.

Nominations for Bend It Like Beckham

“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.

Bend It Like Beckham release date

Happy New Year! Plenty of Jonny films to look forward to this year. Starting with the US release of “Bend It Like Beckham”. It now has an official date of March 12 for limited release in New York and Los Angeles. It is also premiering at the Sundance Film Festival January 18 at 6pm at the Egyptian Theatre. Additionally, it is scheduled to screen January 19 at 2pm at the Holiday Cinema II, January 21 at 11:30am at the Holiday Cinema III, and January 25 at 6:45pm at the Broadway Cinema 5 in Salt Lake City.

There is now an official website up for The Emperor’s Wife. The film just wrapped production and Jonathan sports blonde hair for his part.

Jonathan signs on to a new project

Some exciting news to report. First off… Jonathan has been cast in a new film already in production in Luxembourg called “The Emperor’s Wife”, directed by Belgian Julien Vrebos and co-starring Max Beesley, Johnny de Mol, and Leticia Dolera. Jonathan will be playing the part of the Chamberlain in what sounds like a grand love story with many twists. This is a period piece that is not set in any specific time or place. The story is inspired by the life of Suraya of Persia and the court of Istanbul in the 1920’s. Jonathan’s lead role is described as: “Distinguished, utterly loyal to his Emperor. Emotionally intense, yet meanwhile radiating the immemorial grace of royalty. Deeply moved inside, but outwardly obedient to protocol. Eventually his loyalty begins to shift from the Emperor to Sabah as he falls in love for the first time in his life.” The film is scheduled for release in Europe next fall. Check out the website for Fu Works productions for a complete film summary and plot description.

“Bend It Like Beckham” will be making it’s US debut at the Sundance Film Festival. Exact details on when it will be shown are not yet available. “Bend It Like Beckham” was also recently nominated for Best European Film at the 2002 European Film Awards.

BILB gets a US release date

Good news coming out of the Toronto Film Festivial, where “Bend It Like Beckham” was shown. It was one of two runners up for the AGF People’s Choice Award, which is voted on by festival audiences. Fox Searchlight has also announced a US release date “Bend It Like Beckham”, April 2, 2003. Also, listen to Jonathan reading from The Best of Saki by Hector Hugh Munro, featured on Radio 1 (thanks Alec). The show runs until October 4.

Happy Now at film festival

“Bend It Like Beckham” is being released in Australia on July 4. For those in Toronto, Canada, you get the chance to see “Happy Now”, premiering at Britpics 2002, a film festival for the best of new British cinema. It will be screening at 7pm on Monday July 22 and takes place at Toronto’s Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West). Single tickets are $9 and $7 (seniors/students). For further information please call the Britpics infoline at: (416) 604-4702. Tickets go on sale July 2. Thanks to Kazza for passing along this information.

Jonathan engaged?

Good news about “Prozac Nation”. It’s been picked up by Miramax for distribution. And from showbizireland.com comes the following (note Jonathan was questioned, not arrested and this hopefully confirms he will be in Minatour as well as a new film based on an Alex Garland novel):

Rhys Meyers talks to ShowBiz Ireland…

Cork actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers was arrested and detained last week in Italy due to security measures after the terrorist attacks in America.The actor, who has stared in such films as Michael Collins and Velvet Goldmine as well as taking the lead role in the hit TV show Gormanghast, was on his way to Morocco when he was arrested by police before boarding a flight in Milan last week.

‘I have an apartment in Morocco and was flying from Italy. But, when I was checking in at the desk for Morocco it was next to the United Airlines desk. I guess they just saw a guy on his own with a one steel case and thought they should check me out. So, they took me away and questioned me for three hours. Finally they let me go when they realized I was Irish and not one of Bin Laden’s boys. So I got on the next Royal Air Morocco flight down to my place.’

Jonathan also told ShowBizIreland.com that he has recently got engaged to his girlfriend of two years Sasha Singe, a student of anthropology from D4. ‘We are madly in love and got engaged ages ago but we kept it quiet as we just like to keep things to ourselves. We have no current wedding plans. I’m going to the UK to film Minatore and then doing a movie version of an Alex Garland novel. So, we will have immediate plans for the wedding.’ The actor currently lives between his hometown of Cork, his apartment in Dublin and his place in Morocco. Before Sasha, Jonathan dated the actress Toni Colette, star of Murials Wedding and The Sixth Sense.

Congratulations to Jonathan on his engagement!

In other news, thanks to the ever amazing alec757 for sending along news about Jonathan attending the launch of the Foyle Film Festival in Derry, Northern Ireland. The festival will be held from November 9 - 18. The Belfast Telegraph has an interview with Jonathan that I’ve put in the Press section of the site that also mentions Jonathan will be going to Bangkok in January to work on a new film based on an Alex Garland novel. Currently, Alex Garland only has two novels. One (The Beach) has been made into a film already. The other is The Tesseract. While there is a film being made currently based on an Alex Garland screenplay, that is supposedly being filmed in London right now so The Tesseract seems like the one Jonny is going to do. Visit Amazon.com for more details about the novel.

Prozac Nation premiere

Thanks to Alec, Dawn and Lisa for letting me know that “Prozac Nation” will be premiering at the Toronto Film Festival being held September 6-15. Information on schedules will not be up on the official festival website until August 28. Alec also passed along an article that mentioned “Happy Now” may be set for release later on the year in the UK. No word on a US release for this film.