Jonathan honored in Cork

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.

Minor Trouble

Jonathan was recently involved in a minor domestic dispute and arrested in London the day after attending the London premiere of “Alexander”. No charges were formally filed and he is now in New Orleans filming the CBS mini-series “Elvis”. No official statements or details are known aside from the press and gossip reports.

Media alerts! Jonathan is interviewed and featured in the February issue of i-D magazine (UK), the Sunday Times (UK) January 9 issue, and the January 7 issue of the Day & Night supplement of the Irish Independent newspaper.

The Lion in Winter coming soon

You can now view a trailer for “The Lion in Winter” at the Hallmark Entertainment website. The film is set to air Sunday, May 23 on the Showtime Network. There will be a premiere for the film in Los Angeles in early May. Showtime is going to also air a behind the scenes look at “The Lion in Winter”:

TRACKING “THE LION IN WINTER” 17m
A look at the production of the Showtime Original Picture “The Lion in Winter” starring Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close in the fact-based story of the internecine feuds tearing apart England’s royal family during the reign of King Henry II. This remake of the 1968 original is based on the same Oscar-winning script from James Goldman.

Apr 20 10:40 PM
Apr 24 4:15 PM
Apr 25 5:00 PM
Apr 27 7:00 PM
Apr 27 11:45 PM

You can view lots of recent images of Jonathan during his promotional visit to Japan on C. Monkey’s Jonathan fansite. His Japanese fans gave him a warm welcome when he arrived in Tokyo.

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.

More on BILB release and the Tesseract

Thanks to alec757 again for passing along some cool tidbits… First, according The Irish News from February 1, Jonathan was part of a top list of the sexiest men in Ireland voted on by readers of Ireland’s celebrity and style magazine, Who. The list was called “the definitive list of Ireland’s 20 sexiest men for 2002″. Jonathan made it to number 4.

From the Hollywood Reporter comes the following report regarding Jonathan’s latest film project that is currently shooting in Thailand:

February 22, 2002
Major Japanese publisher Artist House is moving into film production, beginning with an adaptation of “The Tesseract,” Alex Garland’s second novel after best seller “The Beach.” Directed by acclaimed Hong Kong-based filmmaker Oxide Pang, the crime thriller previously was in development at BBC Films.

The project toplines Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Saskia Reeves and is shooting in Bangkok, Thailand. Co-production partners with Artist House are Japanese agency Aoi Advertising Promotions, Toshiba Digital Frontiers and Thailand’s Pang Bros. Production. Pang, who directed the recent Thai boxoffice hit “Bangkok Dangerous,” has scripted the adaptation with British novelist Patrick Neate. According to Artist House’s Tazu Mori, the film is the first in a lineup of properties the company is identifying for production with a particular focus on properties that straddle both English and Asian audiences. […]

And lastly, a little bit about “Bend It Like Beckham” from the Daily Mail that includes a UK release date:

February 1, 2002
If David and Victoria Beckham’s crazy schedules can be coordinated, the couple may shoot the briefest of scenes for Gurinda Chadda’s entertaining movie Bend It Like Beckham. Filming has already finished, but the Beckhams have indicated they would like to appear in it, albeit fleetingly.

The hilariously funny movie is about a young Asian woman who takes the view that anyone can make aloo gobi, but no one can curve a football like Beckham. There are lovely performances from Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Juliet Stevenson. It opens here on April 19.

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.

Jonathan Can’t Understand Women

From IMDB.com:

Jonathan Can’t Understand Women
- WENN, 27 November 2000

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is struggling to understand the opposite sex - and sometimes feels like he never will. Although he is now dating a “beautiful” Irish girl called Chacha following his split with his Velvet Goldmine (1998) co-star Toni Collette, the star doesn’t feel like he has a complete grasp of women. The hearthrob actor says, “I’ve had a very hard time with women. But I’ve made that hard time myself, I’m trying to understand women, but I never truly do. The only thing I can do is accept. They’re completely different creatures and they’ve got a different way of thinking. I think if you accept them rather than try to understand them you have a better time.”

Thanks Rebecca.

Small role in new film

According to Myriad Pictures, Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek, the composers of “Run Lola Run”, will be scoring “Tangled”. A promo was screened at London/MIFED. These are screenings set up in London and Milan in hopes to attract buyers for films in order to distribute them.

Also, if you happened to write Jonny a fan letter in the past, you may be in for a treat this Christmas. Jonny has sent out holiday cards to his fans (which you see above — thanks to Miki for this scan).

Back in Ireland

Jonny is back in Ireland. He has wrapped filming on both “Prozac Nation” and “Tangled”. Currently he is looking for his next role. It appears “Marlowe” isn’t going to be working out. You can catch some more amazing images of Jonny with Ewan McGregor in the August issue of Moviestar magazine (Japanese publication).

Clearing up Rumors

There is a wonderful feature on “Titus” in the February 2000 issue of American Cinematographer. And you can catch Jonny in the February issue of Cult Times. He’s been popping up in numerous publications over in the UK. Which has lead to some rumors that I’ve been asked about. The incident of Jonny being held up at gunpoint is something that happened to him several years ago and not something that has just occured. That is why I haven’t posted anything about it. And Jonny did state in an interview that he’s thought of marriage with his girlfriend Chacha, but he is not currently engaged. Jonathan is still trying to figure out what his next film choice will be. Here’s wishing him lots of good luck in that.