Exclusive: The Nile Hilton Incident director Tarik Saleh has become attached to helm The Red Circle, a remake of Jean-Pierre Melville’s classic 1970 cat-and-mouse thriller. Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, an Oscar nominee for Dirty Pretty Things, has written the script. Arthur Sarkissian Prods and Graham King’s GK Films are partnered to produce with Studiocanal which fully-financed development.
The project has been in the works for a while, but now has real momentum. I understand Knight recently met with Saleh in London to discuss, and Saleh is now doing his own work within the current draft before going out to cast. Miss Sloane scribe Johnathan Perera has also done work on the script.
The updated story follows two escaped criminals from the West and an ex Hong Kong cop who plan an elaborate heist while trying to avoid a local crime boss and a relentless police investigator.
Saleh is a fast-rising talent.
The project has been in the works for a while, but now has real momentum. I understand Knight recently met with Saleh in London to discuss, and Saleh is now doing his own work within the current draft before going out to cast. Miss Sloane scribe Johnathan Perera has also done work on the script.
The updated story follows two escaped criminals from the West and an ex Hong Kong cop who plan an elaborate heist while trying to avoid a local crime boss and a relentless police investigator.
Saleh is a fast-rising talent.
- 8/2/2018
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
The selection of the hot titles can be fluid until the first Friday, when packages either fall together or fall by the wayside when elements drop out, or just don’t coalesce quickly enough. The latter happened on Destroyer, the WWII drama that Mel Gibson will direct from a Rosalind Ross script, with Mark Wahlberg to play Becton, the captain of the USS Laffey who skippered one destroyer sunk by Japanese Kamikaze planes during World War II, and is hellbent on not seeing it happen again. The film got a very important tax break to shoot in Australia, and has strong interest from Warner Bros for a world rights deal and Lionsgate for domestic. The film likely will be Gibson’s next directing project – the visceral war chaos he brought to Braveheart, Apocalypto and Hacksaw Ridge shows how well tailored he is to Ross’s script, but no Cannes do at this market.
- 5/8/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Tarik Saleh (The Nile Hilton Incident) to direct thriller.
Liam Neeson will star in Charlie Johnson In The Flames, a thriller that Michael London will produce via his Groundswell Productions and Sierra/Affinity will introduce in Cannes next week.
Tarik Saleh (The Nile Hilton Incident) will direct from Justin Haythe’s adaptation of the Michael Ignatieff novel, and Jawal Nga and Edward Saxon are producing with London.
Charlie Johnson In The Flames centres on a BBC war correspondent in the Congo who becomes embroiled in murder, corruption, and violence after he sets out to investigate the death of an innocent woman.
Liam Neeson will star in Charlie Johnson In The Flames, a thriller that Michael London will produce via his Groundswell Productions and Sierra/Affinity will introduce in Cannes next week.
Tarik Saleh (The Nile Hilton Incident) will direct from Justin Haythe’s adaptation of the Michael Ignatieff novel, and Jawal Nga and Edward Saxon are producing with London.
Charlie Johnson In The Flames centres on a BBC war correspondent in the Congo who becomes embroiled in murder, corruption, and violence after he sets out to investigate the death of an innocent woman.
- 5/3/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Liam Neeson has signed on to star in Charlie Johnson in the Flames, an adaptation of a novel by Canadian academic and ex-politician Michael Ignatieff that will be directed by Tarik Saleh, the Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The thriller will follow Neeson as Charlie Johnson, an American-born war correspondent reporter who works for the BBC and witnesses the death of a young woman while covering a war in the Congo. Johnson, haunted by her death, returns to find the young woman's killer, only to become entangled in a web of violence and intrigue.
Justin Haythe penned the adapted screenplay, with...
The thriller will follow Neeson as Charlie Johnson, an American-born war correspondent reporter who works for the BBC and witnesses the death of a young woman while covering a war in the Congo. Johnson, haunted by her death, returns to find the young woman's killer, only to become entangled in a web of violence and intrigue.
Justin Haythe penned the adapted screenplay, with...
- 5/3/2018
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Another hot Cannes package: Liam Neeson, starring in Charlie Johnson in the Flames. Tarik Saleh will direct an adaptation of the Michael Ignatieff thriller novel. Script is by Justin Haythe. Michael London is producing through Groundswell Productions, along with Jawal Nga and Edward Saxon. 30West is financing. Sierra/Affinity will broker international sales and CAA and 30 West will broker U.S. rights. CAA Media Finance arranged the pic’s funding.
Neeson will play the title character, a peerless BBC war correspondent covering civil unrest in the Congo. When the death of an innocent woman shakes him to his core, he risks everything to expose the truth, only to find himself embroiled in a network of murder, corruption, and violence that forces him to question his humanity.
Neeson has as strong a global track record as anyone with a film in the Cannes market, including the Taken trilogy and most recently The Commuter.
Neeson will play the title character, a peerless BBC war correspondent covering civil unrest in the Congo. When the death of an innocent woman shakes him to his core, he risks everything to expose the truth, only to find himself embroiled in a network of murder, corruption, and violence that forces him to question his humanity.
Neeson has as strong a global track record as anyone with a film in the Cannes market, including the Taken trilogy and most recently The Commuter.
- 5/3/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Liam Neeson has signed on to star in <em>Charlie Johnson in the Flames</em>, an adaptation of a novel by Canadian academic and ex-politician Michael Ignatieff that will be directed by Tarik Saleh, <em>The Hollywood Reporter</em> has confirmed.
The thriller revolves around Charlie Johnson (Neeson), an American-born war correspondent reporter who works for the BBC and witnesses the death of a young woman while covering a war in the Congo. Johnson, haunted by her death, returns to find the young woman's killer, only to become entangled in a web of violence and intrigue.
Justin Haythe penned the adapted screenplay, with Michael London ...
The thriller revolves around Charlie Johnson (Neeson), an American-born war correspondent reporter who works for the BBC and witnesses the death of a young woman while covering a war in the Congo. Johnson, haunted by her death, returns to find the young woman's killer, only to become entangled in a web of violence and intrigue.
Justin Haythe penned the adapted screenplay, with Michael London ...
World premieres of Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, Fred Schepisi’s Words And Pictures and John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo are among the Tiff line-up of galas and special presentations.
The Contemporary World Cinema strand includes first views of Jan Hrebejk’s Honeymoon, Donovan Marsh’s iNumber Number and Fernando Coimbra’s A Wolf At The Door.
The Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from Sept 5-15.
Wp = World premiere
IP = International premiere
Np = North American premiere
Cp = Canadian premiere
Tp = Toronto premiere
GALASBlood Ties Guillaume Canet (France-us) NAPBright Days Ahead (Les Beaux Jours) Marion Vernoux (France) NAPWords & Pictures Fred Schepisi (Us) Wpspecial Presentationsa Promise (Une Promesse) Patrice Leconte (Belgium-France) NAPThe Armstrong Lie Alex Gibney (Us) NAPBlind Detective Johnnie To (Hong Kong) NAPChild Of God James Franco (Us) NAPThe Face Of Love Arie Posin (Us) WPFading Gigolo John Turturro (Us) WPThe Finishers Nils Tavernier (Belgium-France) WPHow I Live Now Kevin Macdonald (UK) WPThe...
The Contemporary World Cinema strand includes first views of Jan Hrebejk’s Honeymoon, Donovan Marsh’s iNumber Number and Fernando Coimbra’s A Wolf At The Door.
The Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from Sept 5-15.
Wp = World premiere
IP = International premiere
Np = North American premiere
Cp = Canadian premiere
Tp = Toronto premiere
GALASBlood Ties Guillaume Canet (France-us) NAPBright Days Ahead (Les Beaux Jours) Marion Vernoux (France) NAPWords & Pictures Fred Schepisi (Us) Wpspecial Presentationsa Promise (Une Promesse) Patrice Leconte (Belgium-France) NAPThe Armstrong Lie Alex Gibney (Us) NAPBlind Detective Johnnie To (Hong Kong) NAPChild Of God James Franco (Us) NAPThe Face Of Love Arie Posin (Us) WPFading Gigolo John Turturro (Us) WPThe Finishers Nils Tavernier (Belgium-France) WPHow I Live Now Kevin Macdonald (UK) WPThe...
- 8/13/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
World premieres of Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, Fred Schepisi’s Words And Pictures and John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo are among the TIFF line-up of galas and special presentations announced on Tuesday [13].
The Contemporary World Cinema strand includes first views of Jan Hrebejk’s Honeymoon, Donovan Marsh’s iNumber Number and Fernando Coimbra’s A Wolf At The Door.
The Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from Sept 5-15.
Wp = World premiere
IP = International premiere
Np = North American premiere
Cp = Canadian premiere
Tp = Toronto premiere
GALASBlood Ties Guillaume Canet (France-us) NAPBright Days Ahead (Les Beaux Jours) Marion Vernoux (France) NAPWords & Pictures Fred Schepisi (Us) Wpspecial Presentationsa Promise (Une Promesse) Patrice Leconte (Belgium-France) NAPThe Armstrong Lie Alex Gibney (Us) NAPBlind Detective Johnnie To (Hong Kong) NAPChild Of God James Franco (Us) NAPThe Face Of Love Arie Posin (Us) WPFading Gigolo John Turturro (Us) WPThe Finishers Nils Tavernier (Belgium-France) WPHow I Live Now [link...
The Contemporary World Cinema strand includes first views of Jan Hrebejk’s Honeymoon, Donovan Marsh’s iNumber Number and Fernando Coimbra’s A Wolf At The Door.
The Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from Sept 5-15.
Wp = World premiere
IP = International premiere
Np = North American premiere
Cp = Canadian premiere
Tp = Toronto premiere
GALASBlood Ties Guillaume Canet (France-us) NAPBright Days Ahead (Les Beaux Jours) Marion Vernoux (France) NAPWords & Pictures Fred Schepisi (Us) Wpspecial Presentationsa Promise (Une Promesse) Patrice Leconte (Belgium-France) NAPThe Armstrong Lie Alex Gibney (Us) NAPBlind Detective Johnnie To (Hong Kong) NAPChild Of God James Franco (Us) NAPThe Face Of Love Arie Posin (Us) WPFading Gigolo John Turturro (Us) WPThe Finishers Nils Tavernier (Belgium-France) WPHow I Live Now [link...
- 8/13/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The 37th Toronto International Film Festival® will roll out the red carpet for hundreds of guests from the four corners of the globe in September. Filmmakers expected to present their world premieres in Toronto include: Rian Johnson, Noah Baumbach, Deepa Mehta, Derek Cianfrance, Sion Sono, Joss Whedon, Neil Jordan, Lu Chuan, Shola Lynch, Barry Levinson, Yvan Attal, Ben Affleck, Marina Zenovich, Costa-Gavras, Laurent Cantet, Sally Potter, Dustin Hoffman, Francois Ozon, David O. Russell, David Ayer, Pelin Esmer, Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski, Andrew Adamson, Michael McGowan, Bahman Ghobadi, Ziad Doueiri, Alex Gibney, Stephen Chbosky, Eran Riklis, Edward Burns, Bernard Émond, Zhang Yuan, Michael Winterbottom, Mike Newell, Miwa Nishikawa, Margarethe Von Trotta, David Siegel, Scott McGehee, Gauri Shinde, Goran Paskaljevic, Baltasar Kormákur, J.A. Bayona, Rob Zombie, Peaches and Paul Andrew Williams.
Actors expected to attend include: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jackie Chan, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Bill Murray, Robert Redford,...
Actors expected to attend include: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jackie Chan, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Bill Murray, Robert Redford,...
- 8/21/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
London (Reuters) - They may be witnessing their global superpower influence decline in the face of challenges from other emerging players on the world stage, but Americans have been voted the world's "coolest nationality" in an international poll.
Social networking site Badoo.com (www.badoo.com) asked 30,000 people across 15 countries to name the coolest nationality and also found that the Spanish were considered the coolest Europeans, Brazilians the coolest Latin Americans and Belgians the globe's least cool nationality.
"We hear a lot in the media about anti-Americanism," says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Director of Marketing. "But we sometimes forget how many people across the world consider Americans seriously cool."
Of course, not all Americans are cool far from it. Some like Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, Samuel L. Jackson, Johnny Depp and Quentin Tarantino are way cooler than others.
Americans, however, are the dudes who invented cool and who still embody it...
Social networking site Badoo.com (www.badoo.com) asked 30,000 people across 15 countries to name the coolest nationality and also found that the Spanish were considered the coolest Europeans, Brazilians the coolest Latin Americans and Belgians the globe's least cool nationality.
"We hear a lot in the media about anti-Americanism," says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Director of Marketing. "But we sometimes forget how many people across the world consider Americans seriously cool."
Of course, not all Americans are cool far from it. Some like Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, Samuel L. Jackson, Johnny Depp and Quentin Tarantino are way cooler than others.
Americans, however, are the dudes who invented cool and who still embody it...
- 9/6/2011
- by Reuters
- Huffington Post
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to unveil his party's election platform in the Toronto-area Friday, not far from where his chief rival Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is touting his party's health care policies.Harper is expected to unveil the Conservative Party's five-point platform at a Mississauga, Ont. convention centre Friday, in a town hall-style format that could be interpreted as an attempt to answer allegations of undue security screening at Tory campaign events.The platform itself, which bears the title "Here for Canada," will feature a collection of new crime bills, new policies for seniors and the details of government Arctic investments. It is otherwise expected to rehash the priorities -- job creation, support for families and deficit reduction -- outlined in the federal budget plan tabled the week before the election call.The platform will also include the party's promise to compensate Quebec for harmonizing its sales tax,...
- 4/8/2011
- Filmicafe
London's Lancaster House has witnessed historic meetings, but Tuesday's conference on Libya was not among them. Instead, Salil Tripathi says, the event revealed the limited power of post-Iraq Western governments.
As foreign ministers and senior officials from 40 countries and international organizations arrived at London's stately Lancaster House on a mildly wet, bleak morning, they had hoped to present the blueprint of what post-Gaddafi Libya would look like. It may be an Arab Spring, but in London, Tuesday was a typical cold day. The gray sky dampened some enthusiasm, and the leaders went back with less clear directions than they would have liked but with greater realization that they couldn't afford to get the intervention in Libya wrong.
Related story on The Daily Beast: My Harrowing Libya Escape
Lancaster House is the site of many a historic conference, including the 1979 agreement that paved the way to the independence of Zimbabwe. On that scale,...
As foreign ministers and senior officials from 40 countries and international organizations arrived at London's stately Lancaster House on a mildly wet, bleak morning, they had hoped to present the blueprint of what post-Gaddafi Libya would look like. It may be an Arab Spring, but in London, Tuesday was a typical cold day. The gray sky dampened some enthusiasm, and the leaders went back with less clear directions than they would have liked but with greater realization that they couldn't afford to get the intervention in Libya wrong.
Related story on The Daily Beast: My Harrowing Libya Escape
Lancaster House is the site of many a historic conference, including the 1979 agreement that paved the way to the independence of Zimbabwe. On that scale,...
- 3/30/2011
- by Salil Tripathi
- The Daily Beast
German director Robert Schwentke ("Flightplan," "Red") is under consideration to direct a new adaptation of 'Bourne Identity' author Robert Ludlum's 1972 novel "The Osterman Weekend" at Summit Entertainment reports Pajiba
The second and shortest of Ludlum's works, the story has the host of an investigative news show becoming convinced by a CIA agent that the friends he has invited to a weekend in the country are engaged in a Kgb conspiracy that threatens national security.
The book was adapted once before in 1983 and marked the final film of trend-setting helmer Sam Peckinpah's career. John Hurt, Craig T. Nelson, Rutger Hauer, Dennis Hopper, Meg Foster, Burt Lancaster and Chris Sarandon all starred.
Despite the book's acclaim, the resulting film was a legendarily incomprehensible mess thanks mostly to a convoluted script which took many liberties with the book. Peckinpah's ill health and slow psychological breakdown brought on by years of major substance abuse also didn't help.
The second and shortest of Ludlum's works, the story has the host of an investigative news show becoming convinced by a CIA agent that the friends he has invited to a weekend in the country are engaged in a Kgb conspiracy that threatens national security.
The book was adapted once before in 1983 and marked the final film of trend-setting helmer Sam Peckinpah's career. John Hurt, Craig T. Nelson, Rutger Hauer, Dennis Hopper, Meg Foster, Burt Lancaster and Chris Sarandon all starred.
Despite the book's acclaim, the resulting film was a legendarily incomprehensible mess thanks mostly to a convoluted script which took many liberties with the book. Peckinpah's ill health and slow psychological breakdown brought on by years of major substance abuse also didn't help.
- 7/17/2010
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
The early buzz on Red (a.k.a. the Helen Mirren machine gun movie) has been largely positive on the basis of the trailers alone, and director Robert Schwentke looks to be going in to Comic-Con with a head of steam, the awful adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife notwithstanding. Schwentke, who also directed 2005's Flightplan, may in fact become a very much in-demand director in the next few years.
One of the projects he's now considering, according to The Hollywood Cog, is Summit Entertainment's The Osterman Weekend, which has the double marketing advantage of both being a remake of a 1983 Sam Peckinpah film starring Rutger Haur and Dennis Hopper, as well as being another adaptation for Schwentke to tackle, this one from author Robert Ludlum, he of Bourne fame.
The Osterman Weekend follows a hardworking attorney and loving husband, John Tanner, who is convinced by a CIA agent...
One of the projects he's now considering, according to The Hollywood Cog, is Summit Entertainment's The Osterman Weekend, which has the double marketing advantage of both being a remake of a 1983 Sam Peckinpah film starring Rutger Haur and Dennis Hopper, as well as being another adaptation for Schwentke to tackle, this one from author Robert Ludlum, he of Bourne fame.
The Osterman Weekend follows a hardworking attorney and loving husband, John Tanner, who is convinced by a CIA agent...
- 7/15/2010
- by Dustin Rowles
First of all, I apologize for not having the time to see films like An Education, Thirst, Bright Star, The Road (hey, I'm reading the novel) or Moon just to name a few films that were lauded by critics. Nonetheless, here are my choices for 2009.
#10: Inglourious Basterds
I certainly didn't put it there because of the quality of its script. In fact, I found it as simple as - minus the violence - a comic book for children (the fight of the good against the evil). However, let's render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's: Christopher Waltz, Mélanie Laurent and Brad Pitt rock!
#9: In the Loop
What happens when you give a comedy to an aficionado of politics like me? You get an aficionado of politics who wish he did In the Loop, despite its few flaws, in order to laugh at politicians regardless of their nationalities.
#10: Inglourious Basterds
I certainly didn't put it there because of the quality of its script. In fact, I found it as simple as - minus the violence - a comic book for children (the fight of the good against the evil). However, let's render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's: Christopher Waltz, Mélanie Laurent and Brad Pitt rock!
#9: In the Loop
What happens when you give a comedy to an aficionado of politics like me? You get an aficionado of politics who wish he did In the Loop, despite its few flaws, in order to laugh at politicians regardless of their nationalities.
- 1/13/2010
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
(Cult)ure is at the Ottawa International Writers Festival, at the St. Brigid's Centre for the Arts and Humanities, in the Byward Market, from April 22nd to May 2nd.
On Friday night, Michael Ignatieff discussed his new book, "True Patriot Love," with Adrian Harewood of CBC Radio. It was a great opportunity to learn more about a man who may one day become Prime Minister of our country.
Ignatieff was at pains to point out, though, that he had not written a political manife [...]...
On Friday night, Michael Ignatieff discussed his new book, "True Patriot Love," with Adrian Harewood of CBC Radio. It was a great opportunity to learn more about a man who may one day become Prime Minister of our country.
Ignatieff was at pains to point out, though, that he had not written a political manife [...]...
- 4/24/2009
- by cultureemag@gmail.com
- CultureMagazine.ca
TORONTO -- Veteran Canadian broadcaster Laura Albanese on Tuesday said she is entering provincial Ontario politics and will run as provincial Liberal candidate in York South-Weston, a suburb of Toronto.
Italian-born Albanese said she is taking a leave of absence from her co-anchor chair at Omni, which is owned and operated by cable giant Rogers Communications Inc., to possibly succeed outgoing Liberal MP Joe Cordiano in an upcoming by-election.
Albanese joins a long list of Canadian journalists and broadcasters to take runs at provincial or federal politics. These include Carole Taylor (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) and Peter Kent (Global Television).
Most recently, Ralph Klein, a former Calgary reporter, retired as the long-serving premier of Alberta, while long-time BBC and Channel Four broadcaster-turned-federal member of Parliament Michael Ignatieff in November failed to succeed Paul Martin as head of the opposition Liberal Party.
Italian-born Albanese said she is taking a leave of absence from her co-anchor chair at Omni, which is owned and operated by cable giant Rogers Communications Inc., to possibly succeed outgoing Liberal MP Joe Cordiano in an upcoming by-election.
Albanese joins a long list of Canadian journalists and broadcasters to take runs at provincial or federal politics. These include Carole Taylor (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) and Peter Kent (Global Television).
Most recently, Ralph Klein, a former Calgary reporter, retired as the long-serving premier of Alberta, while long-time BBC and Channel Four broadcaster-turned-federal member of Parliament Michael Ignatieff in November failed to succeed Paul Martin as head of the opposition Liberal Party.
- 12/26/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
BANFF, Alberta -- The war on terror requires a vigilant media to ensure constitutional democracy is not undermined by covert actions and a lack of judicial and media scrutiny, Canadian writer and broadcaster Michael Ignatieff said at the Banff TV festival. "As long as we face terrorist threats, secret government will grow, and adversarial justification and review -- the keystones of democracy -- will be weakened unless the press does its job," Ignatieff said while delivering the Banff fest's keynote speech Sunday. Ignatieff said the war on terror is fought necessarily by secret agencies operating below the radar of judicial, legislative and media review.
- 6/15/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- The Banff Television Festival has named TV presenter and historian Michael Ignatieff as its keynote speaker on the theme of media coverage of terrorism. Ignatieff, a Harvard University professor on human rights, will deliver a speech titled "Media Responsibilities in an Age of Terror" on June 14, the first day of formal proceedings at the 25th Banff TV Festival. "Michael is a great mind and a brilliant television presenter," Pat Ferns, president and CEO of the Banff Television Foundation, said in explaining this year's choice for a keynote speaker. Ignatieff in May will publish his latest book, The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror, which considers the moral case for the use of force as a lesser evil to counter terrorism. Past keynote speakers at Banff include former PBS newscaster Robert MacNeil, Canadian financial writer Gordon Pitts, author Thomas Homer-Dixon and U.S. talk show pioneer Steve Allen. The Banff Television Festival is set to run June 13-17 in the Canadian Rockies.
- 3/25/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In "Onegin", which is her directorial debut, Martha Fiennes displays a sensuous visual style and an assured touch with actors.
A commercial and music video director and the sister of actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes, Martha Fiennes has created a lyric and melancholy film out of the famed narrative poem by Russia's most beloved poet, Alexander Pushkin.
With Ralph Fiennes and Liv Tyler starring in this tale of lost love, the film should find sophisticated audiences in movie houses where its wide-screen splendors will have the greatest impact. The film's theatrical success could make this a solid title in ancillary markets as well.
The major question is, will audiences accept the leisurely pace Fiennes bravely adopts, which is so at odds with much of today's MTV-influenced cinema? Fiennes takes her time to get viewers acquainted with the utterly cynical, gossipy and decadent life of the privileged classes in Russia in the early 19th century. Its denizens are heavily influenced by all things French and despair of all things smacking of social experimentation.
Starting in snowy St. Petersburg in 1827, then moving to the countryside and concluding back in St. Petersburg in 1834, the film focuses on a very simple story. Evgeny Onegin (Ralph Fiennes), a supremely selfish sophisticate firmly committed to a life of idleness in the city, inherits the country estate of his wealthy uncle. While visiting it, the bachelor suddenly decides to stay for awhile.
He develops a fast friendship with his neighbor, Vladimir Lensky (Toby Stephens). He is charmed by Vladimir's fiancee, Olga Larin (Lena Headey), but is even more taken with her younger sister Tatyana (Tyler), the very essence of physical and spiritual purity.
But when the young woman impulsively writes Onegin a letter declaring her love for him, the jaded Onegin politely but callously rejects her love. A misunderstanding between him and Vladimir then results in a duel in which Onegin kills his new friend.
Grief stricken, Onegin goes into self-imposed exile abroad. Returning to St. Petersburg six years later, he is startled to find Tatyana married to his cousin, Prince Nikitin (Martin Donovan). Even more startling and disheartening to Onegin is his discovery that fires of love are erupting inside him for the woman he once so cavalierly rejected.
The script by Michael Ignatieff and Peter Ettedgui bristles with witty dialogue, giving all the actors plum roles to play. The performances nicely capture both the rhythms of early 19th century country life and the world-weariness of St. Petersburg society.
Fiennes treats this intimate story with a lush and fluid style, letting one scene slide into the next or turning down the soundtrack so as to concentrate on the emotions playing across people's faces. Cinematographer Remi Adefarasin has beautifully married exteriors shot in St. Petersburg, which still looks much as it did then, to Jim Clay's interior sets of decaying grandeur, built in Shepperton Studios in the U.K.
The film coolly examines this foreign world with sadness for all that was lost to these characters -- not only love but an appreciation for the grand opportunities life presents if only one seizes the moment. The film's final image of a man who has lost the one thing that would have made his life worthwhile is as painful as it is moving.
ONEGIN
Seven Arts International
Onegin Productions Limited/Rysher Entertainment
Producers: Ileen Maisel, Simon Bosanquet
Director: Martha Fiennes
Writers: Michael Ignatieff, Peter Ettedgui
Based on the verse novel by: Alexander Pushkin
Executive producer: Ralph Fiennes
Director of photography: Remi Adefarasin
Production designer: Jim Clay
Music: Magnus Fiennes
Costumes: Chloe Obolensky
Editor: Jim Clark
Color/stereo
Cast:
Evgeny Onegin: Ralph Fiennes
Tatyana Larin: Liv Tyler
Prince Nikitin: Martin Donovan
Vladimir Lensky: Toby Stephens
Olga Larin: Lena Headey
Guillot: Jason Watkins
Zaretsky: Alun Armstrong
Running time -- 106 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A commercial and music video director and the sister of actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes, Martha Fiennes has created a lyric and melancholy film out of the famed narrative poem by Russia's most beloved poet, Alexander Pushkin.
With Ralph Fiennes and Liv Tyler starring in this tale of lost love, the film should find sophisticated audiences in movie houses where its wide-screen splendors will have the greatest impact. The film's theatrical success could make this a solid title in ancillary markets as well.
The major question is, will audiences accept the leisurely pace Fiennes bravely adopts, which is so at odds with much of today's MTV-influenced cinema? Fiennes takes her time to get viewers acquainted with the utterly cynical, gossipy and decadent life of the privileged classes in Russia in the early 19th century. Its denizens are heavily influenced by all things French and despair of all things smacking of social experimentation.
Starting in snowy St. Petersburg in 1827, then moving to the countryside and concluding back in St. Petersburg in 1834, the film focuses on a very simple story. Evgeny Onegin (Ralph Fiennes), a supremely selfish sophisticate firmly committed to a life of idleness in the city, inherits the country estate of his wealthy uncle. While visiting it, the bachelor suddenly decides to stay for awhile.
He develops a fast friendship with his neighbor, Vladimir Lensky (Toby Stephens). He is charmed by Vladimir's fiancee, Olga Larin (Lena Headey), but is even more taken with her younger sister Tatyana (Tyler), the very essence of physical and spiritual purity.
But when the young woman impulsively writes Onegin a letter declaring her love for him, the jaded Onegin politely but callously rejects her love. A misunderstanding between him and Vladimir then results in a duel in which Onegin kills his new friend.
Grief stricken, Onegin goes into self-imposed exile abroad. Returning to St. Petersburg six years later, he is startled to find Tatyana married to his cousin, Prince Nikitin (Martin Donovan). Even more startling and disheartening to Onegin is his discovery that fires of love are erupting inside him for the woman he once so cavalierly rejected.
The script by Michael Ignatieff and Peter Ettedgui bristles with witty dialogue, giving all the actors plum roles to play. The performances nicely capture both the rhythms of early 19th century country life and the world-weariness of St. Petersburg society.
Fiennes treats this intimate story with a lush and fluid style, letting one scene slide into the next or turning down the soundtrack so as to concentrate on the emotions playing across people's faces. Cinematographer Remi Adefarasin has beautifully married exteriors shot in St. Petersburg, which still looks much as it did then, to Jim Clay's interior sets of decaying grandeur, built in Shepperton Studios in the U.K.
The film coolly examines this foreign world with sadness for all that was lost to these characters -- not only love but an appreciation for the grand opportunities life presents if only one seizes the moment. The film's final image of a man who has lost the one thing that would have made his life worthwhile is as painful as it is moving.
ONEGIN
Seven Arts International
Onegin Productions Limited/Rysher Entertainment
Producers: Ileen Maisel, Simon Bosanquet
Director: Martha Fiennes
Writers: Michael Ignatieff, Peter Ettedgui
Based on the verse novel by: Alexander Pushkin
Executive producer: Ralph Fiennes
Director of photography: Remi Adefarasin
Production designer: Jim Clay
Music: Magnus Fiennes
Costumes: Chloe Obolensky
Editor: Jim Clark
Color/stereo
Cast:
Evgeny Onegin: Ralph Fiennes
Tatyana Larin: Liv Tyler
Prince Nikitin: Martin Donovan
Vladimir Lensky: Toby Stephens
Olga Larin: Lena Headey
Guillot: Jason Watkins
Zaretsky: Alun Armstrong
Running time -- 106 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/23/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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