Jonathan at premiere party

Jonathan recently attended a premiere party in France for “The Importance of Being Ernest”, a film due for release in the UK on September 6. An article about this party was featured in the September 1 Style issue of the Sunday Times. There is also a photo of Jonathan from this party in the latest Hello Magazine. His next film, “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead”, is due to start production this month. It’s being made in part by Paramount Classics, a US production company.

Jonathan wins the Canal Grande Award

“Bend It Like Beckham” has been getting a lot of press attention. The film recently had a big London premiere. Jonathan did attend the premiere (I’ve added some photos in the Gallery). You can find contests, goodies, reviews and more at BBC Online (you can see Jonathan arriving in a video on that site and he is interviewed at around 40 minutes into the one hour special) and at the film’s official website.

In other cool news, Jonathan was recently awarded the Canal Grande Award for the Best Young Promising Actor at the Venice International Television Festival 2002 for “The Magnificent Ambersons”. Jonathan attended the festival and received his award. Thanks to Alec and Ronan for passing this info along. The festival jury had this to say about awarding Jonathan with this honor: “For his compelling depiction of a young man who has had everything and who lost everything.”

Lastly, there is a full page photo (from the Instyle photo shoot, nothing new) and small article on Jonathan in the May 2002 issue of UK Glamour magazine. And more good news for those in the UK, “Tangled” has been released on DVD. Still no word of when this might come to the States. Apparently “Tangled” is also out in a few other countries as a rental.

Bend It Like Beckham reviews are good

Some good and bad news… First, the bad… the release date for “Prozac Nation” has apparently been pushed back to January 24, 2003.

Now on to some good… “Bend It Like Beckham” is due in theatres in the UK on April 12, not April 19. So those in the UK get to see this even sooner. There is going to possibly be a premiere for the film in Leicester Square, London on April 11. No further details are known. For a peek at a couple of trailers, visit Cinemas Online. They have a plot summary and two different trailers available online. Both contain some nice bits with Jonathan. Randomly, according to Amazon.co.uk, they are going to release a movie tie-in novel April 18.

So far “Bend It Like Beckham” has been getting fairly good reviews. The BBC gave it 4 out of 5 stars:

Following on from the success of her earlier comedies “Bhaji on the Beach” and “What’s Cooking?”, Gurinder Chadha turns this British-Asian film about a clash between traditional values and the modern world into a fantastic feel-good movie. Chock full of wonderful characters - Jess’ long-suffering mother, her slapper sister, and her fellow teammates - “Beckham” is a real crowd pleaser.

Although it’s set up as an Asian comedy in the “East is East” mould, it’s also a great football movie, with some hilariously surreal on-pitch moments…

It’s sweet without ever becoming schmaltzy and finishes by tying up every loose end. The only fault is that it runs on too long, if the ref had blown her whistle earlier, it would have been absolutely perfect. But since it’s the kind of film that’ll have the whole audience clapping by the time the credit sequence outtakes appear, it’s easy to forgive that minor fault. Mr Beckham ought to be proud to have his name on such a great film.

Gormenghast airing in Canada

For those in Canada, “Gormenghast” will be re-airing on the Space Network on August 15, 22, 29 and September 5 at 8:30 PM ET. Thanks to Raine for passing this info along.

And coming from Rebecca, there is some corrected information about the “Titus” premiere. It will be premiering at the Edinburgh Film Festival August 26. The August 30 showing is a preview only. Jonathan will most likey not be attending either showing.