HAVING secured Brad Pitt to present a recent documentary on Nick Drake, BBC Radio 2 has lined up Johnny Depp and Val Kilmer for its autumn schedule.
Depp will present a documentary on James Dean, to be broadcast on September 27th, three days before the 50th anniversary of Dean's death. Bob Geldof's company is producing the documentary, which features interviews with Dennis Hopper, David Puttnam, Paul McCartney and Morrissey.
Kilmer, who has been starring in The Postman Always Rings Twice on stage in London, will present a documentary on Marlon Brando, which Radio 2 will transmit on October 2nd. Kilmer, who co-starred with Brando on The Island of Dr Moreau, will discuss Brando's life and work with, among others, Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola and Bernardo Bertolucci, who directed Brando in Last Tango in Paris.
Indies get the Spinal Tap
Following his lampoons on rock musicians (This Is Spinal Tap), folk singers (A Mighty Wind) and dog shows (Best in Show), Christopher Guest is directing a satire on the movie business. It deals with the production of a low-budget US indie - "an extraordinarily poorly written melodrama," Guest says - and how the lives of the cast are turned upside down when the buzz builds that they are likely awards winners. Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey and Harry Shearer play the actors in the film-within-the-film, with Ricky Gervais as the studio head. The apt title is For Your Consideration, the euphemism used in trade paper ads to promote movies for awards.
3-Iron scores with critics
The international federation of film critics, FIPRESCI, makes an annual award to celebrate a film that represents "the most audacious, original and personal cinema". With the votes of 300 critics counted, this year's award goes to South Korean director Kim Ki-duk for 3-Iron, which played at the Irish Film Institute last month. The award will be presented on September 15th, at the opening of the San Sebastian Film Festival. Former winners include Magnolia, The Circle, The Man Without a Past, Uzak and Notre Musique.
Tales of the Weinsteins Grimm
Relations between Terry Gilliam and brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein clearly were tense during the production of Gilliam's long-delayed The Brothers Grimm, which stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger and finally opened in the US last weekend. Gilliam told the New York Daily News that he wanted to put a bump on Damon's nose and that it made him look like a young Brando.
"The night before the first day of shooting," Gilliam said. "I got a call from Bob saying, 'You put a bump on his nose and we close down the movie tomorrow'." The bump was promptly consigned to the props closet.
Elton gets the fangs out
Undaunted by the costly failure of recent Broadway musicals based on Dracula and Dance of the Vampires, Elton John and his songwriting collaborator, Bernie Taupin, have written a musical based on Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, which spawned Neil Jordan's 1994 hit Interview with the Vampire. The new musical, Lestat, has its world premiere in San Fransisco in December before opening on Broadway next spring.
Bond waits on new script
The long, drawn-out Casino Royale saga drags on with the news that Million Dollar Baby writer and Crash director Paul Haggis has been hired to rewrite the screenplay. Martin Campbell, who made GoldenEye, is on board to direct the 21st official Bond movie, and the release date is set for November 17th, 2006. Now all they're missing is an actor to play 007.
You have been warned
Movies generally open in the US on a Friday, although some are released on Wednesdays. Breaking the mould, 20th Century Fox has already slotted in a Tuesday opening next summer for Omen 666, Irish director John Moore's remake of the 1976 horror hit, The Omen, which starts shooting in October and stars Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles. The release is scheduled for Tuesday, June 6th - or as it will read in all the ads, 6/6/06.
