All Finance articles – Page 271

  • News

    Kidman in talks with Aardman for Flushed Away

    2004-10-29T04:00:00Z

    Nicole Kidman is in talks tostar in Flushed Away, the next title to roll out of the multi-pictureanimation deal between the UK's Aardman Animations and DreamWorks SKG.Kidman is likely to play astreet-smart sewer rat named Rita, with Hugh Jackman voicing Roddy, a posh ratwho is swept out of his penthouse ...

  • News

    Canada - Production Listings: October 30

    2004-10-29T00:00:00Z

    CANADA - October 29PRE-PRODUCTIONMODERN LOVE(Cirrus Productions/ Les Films Locomotions) Budget: $4.1m. Backer: TelefilmCanada. Dist: Equinoxe Films (Canada). Romance. Maddie is a marriage and sextherapist but when her boyfriend rejects her marriage proposal and leaves her,she is confronted with the harsh realization that she knows nothing of thehuman heart and modern ...

  • News

    Perabo clicks with Parker debut

    2004-10-28T04:00:00Z

    US actress Piper Perabo (pictured) has joined the cast of Click, a romantic comedy that has just started shooting in London.The directorial debut of screenwriter Ol Parker, the film tells the story of a woman who faces doubts as she's about to marry her long-term boyfriend.Click is produced by Cougar ...

  • News

    UK faces co-production reality-check

    2004-10-27T04:00:00Z

    UK filmcommissioner Steve Norris has called for the British qualifying certificationof UK co-productions to be taken over by the UK Film Council.Speaking during apanel discussion on co-productions at Screen International's UK Film FinanceSummit in London last week (Oct 21), Norris said that the UK film industryneeded to develop a co-production ...

  • News

    Verhoeven's Blackbook postponed

    2004-10-27T00:00:00Z

    Dutch director Paul Verhoeven has postponed the filming ofhis new thriller Blackbook (Zwartboek).Shooting should have started this week, but the 66 year old director recently underwenta heart operation and will be recuperating for at least a couple of weeks.Producer San Fu Maltha has rescheduled shooting of the filmfor April 2005, ...

  • News

    Emmerich strikes first look deal with German fund

    2004-10-26T04:00:00Z

    Director Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow) has signed a "first look" agreement withthe German private media fund VIP for his own in-house developed film projectsas opposed to those offered to him by Hollywood studios.As part of the agreement, the German-born director and VIP'sAndreas Schmid are planning to set up ...

  • News

    Trouble continues for River Queen

    2004-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Director Vincent Ward is off the New Zealand shoot of River Queen and, unlike Samantha Mortonwho earlier took time out because of illness, isn't coming back.A statement issued today from the production office saidonly that Ward "has been removed". It did not give a reason andpublicist Sue May declined to ...

  • News

    Warner gets its Superman in Brandon Routh

    2004-10-22T04:00:00Z

    Brandon Routh (pictured) hasbeen confirmed as Superman in Warner Bros Pictures' new as yet untitled theatricalversion of the comic strip superhero to be directed by Bryan Singer.Routh is a 25 year-oldnative of Iowa whose TV credits include soap opera One Life To Live, serials Gilmore Girls and Cold Case and ...

  • News

    ...while African American specialist Lee signs with Focus

    2004-10-22T04:00:00Z

    DeaconEntertainment producer Damon Lee, whose credits include the comedy UndercoverBrother, has signed afirst-look deal with Focus Features.Focus presidentof production John Lyons and vice president of production Kahli Small will workclosely with Lee to develop such Deacon projects as the comedy Holidaze, written by Richard Murphy. Focus willhold worldwide rights to ...

  • News

    Australia, New Zealand generate star power

    2004-10-21T04:00:00Z

    Films of all shapesand sizes are now underway in New Zealand and, after a considerable productiondrought, in Australia - and both countries are awash with internationallyrenowned acting talent.In Australia, HeathLedger and Geoffrey Rush are to star in Candy,and Cate Blanchett is the focus of LittleFish, which also stars Sam Neill ...

  • News

    Swedish journalists question state funding choices

    2004-10-20T04:00:00Z

    The Swedish Film Institute (SFI) has attracted localcriticism for its selection of seven new features to receive state funding.Among the seven films that received $3.1M (SEK 23M) in totalfrom the SFI, not one will be directed by a woman. Furthermore, five of thefilms are adaptations of books written by internationally ...

  • News

    Von Trier turns to Antichrist

    2004-10-20T04:00:00Z

    Danish maverick Lars von Trier might be in the middle of editing his Dogville follow-up, Manderlay, but he has promised producer and Zentropa co-founder Peter Aalbaek Jensen that he will make a more commercial film before turning to the final instalment in the USA trilogy, Wasington.While a finished script has ...

  • News

    AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND - Prod Lists Oct 21

    2004-10-20T00:00:00Z

    AUSTRALIA - October 20PRE-PRODUCTIONTHE BOOK OF REVELATION(Wildheart Zizani)Budget: n/a. Backers: Film Finance Corporation Australia, New South Wales Filmand Television Office, Film Victoria, ContentFilm. Int'l sales: ContentInternational. Distrib: Palace Films (Aust/NZ). Drama. A dancer disappearswithout a trace for 12 days, then returns just as mysteriously. Prod: Al Clark.Dir: Ana Kokkinos. Scr: ...

  • News

    Germany mulls sale and leaseback scheme

    2004-10-19T04:00:00Z

    Germany's State Minister for Culture and MediaChristina Weiss has called for the introduction of a tax incentive system onthe lines of the British sale and leaseback model.Speaking to the German weekly magazine DerSpiegel, Weiss criticised the current situation where the US film industryhad been the prime beneficiary of the country's ...

  • News

    Tanovic embarks on shoot of Hell

    2004-10-19T04:00:00Z

    Oscarwinner Danis Tanovic will start shooting next week his latest film, Hell,which was written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz for the late Krzysztof Kieslowski aspart of his Heaven-Hell-Purgatory trilogy.The No Man's Land director begins the film'seight-week shoot in Paris on October 25. Hell focuses on three sisters whosechildhoods were marked by a ...

  • News

    O'Donnell readies Noir as Dancing follow-up

    2004-10-19T04:00:00Z

    Damien O'Donnell is readyingthe tentatively-titled Noir as his next project after Working TitleFilms' Inside I'm Dancing, which opened this week through MomentumPictures.O'Donnell is to startshooting next year on the quirky, dark romantic comedy for producer DavidParfitt, whose credits include Shakespeare In Love, and his TrademarkFilms.Inside I'm Dancing opened with a ...

  • News

    Besson commits to $78m Arthur

    2004-10-19T04:00:00Z

    Luc Besson will mark a return to directing with the 3-D animatedfilm, Arthur, which is now in production. Representing the biggestinvestment yet for Besson and Pierre-Ange Le Pogam's four year-old EuropaCorp, Arthurhas a budget similar in scale to Shrek and is currently pegged at $78m(Euros65m). It will be ready for ...

  • News

    Hopkins in the saddle for World's Fastest Indian

    2004-10-18T04:00:00Z

    Anthony Hopkins plays a motorcycling legend in TheWorld's Fastest Indian, whichwriter/director Roger Donaldson has been shooting for three weeks on the Utahsalt flats and moves shortly to New Zealand for a further 11 weeks.The New Zealand Film Commission and New Zealand FilmProduction Fund are the financing partners on what is ...

  • News

    Warner Bros wraps first solo Spanish shoot

    2004-10-18T04:00:00Z

    Warner Bros Pictures has wrapped shooting on its first soloSpanish production, Manuel Gomez Pereira's Reinas.The Euros 4.5m filmheadlines a star-studded ensemble cast in a comedy turning on the first gaywedding in Spain.Reinas is the first100% Warner production since the company opened its local production arm inSpain with plans to produce, ...

  • News

    Spanish, Swiss partners go to Boarding School

    2004-10-18T04:00:00Z

    Spain's Morena Films and Switzerland's ZodiacPictures have agreed to develop two new feature films together, starting withEnglish-language comedy Swiss Boarding School.School (workingtitle) is set in an uppity institute in the Swiss Alps which is turned upsidedown by the arrival of an outrageous Spanish student. Morena regular writerJuan Carlos Rubio (Slam) ...