News Items: |
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U.S. Box office figures from Yahoo! Movies: |
Weekend
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This Week
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Last Week
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Feb 23-25 | 36 | 31 | $173,859 | $6,471,673 | 14 | 156 |
Feb 16-19 | 31 | 45 | $330,730 | $6,217,308 | 13 | 199 |
Feb 9-11 | 45 | 41 | $61,362 | $5,856,139 | 12 | 36 |
Feb 2-4 | 41 | 34 | $101,100 | $5,754,301 | 11 | 56 |
Jan 26-28 | 34 | 29 | $132,561 | $5,589,615 | 10 | 94 |
Jan 19-21 | 29 | 26 | $234,309 | $5,359,129 | 9 | 136 |
Jan 12-15 | 26 | 20 | $472,207 | $5,002,987 | 8 | 177 |
Jan 5-7 | 20 | 19 | $615,595 | $4,284,664 | 7 | 223 |
19 | 22 | $825,044 | $3,350,819 | 6 | 216 | |
Dec 22-25 | 22 | 17 | $433,511 | $2,055,744 | 5 | 216 |
Dec 15-17 | 17 | 22 | $442,182 | $1,405,023 | 4 | 61 |
Dec 8-10 | 22 | 21 | $160,164 | $890,654 | 3 | 9 |
Dec 1-3 | 21 | 20 | $207,337 | $640,439 | 2 | 9 |
Nov 24-26 | 20 | -- | $249,383 | $324,456 | 1 | 9 |
There are a couple of articles today about the reaction to the Oscar nominations: |
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - For many showbizzers, the road to Oscar is the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Every year, there is speculation about Oscar ''snubs.'' But somebody had to come in sixth place -- especially in the wide-open 2000 race Some of the most talked-about omissions on Tuesday were in the best film category, where ''Almost Famous,'' ''Billy Elliot,'' ''Cast Away'' ''Thirteen Days'' and ''Wonder Boys'' had often been mentioned. Other no-shows include directors Cameron Crowe (''Almost Famous,'' though he's up for original screenplay) and Lasse Hallstrom (''Chocolat''); actors Jamie Bell (''Billy Elliot''), Michael Douglas (''Wonder Boys'') and Sean Connery (''Finding Forrester''); actress Bjork (''Dancer in the Dark''); supporting thesps Bruce Greenwood (''Thirteen Days''); and supporting actress Kate Winslet (''Quills''). |
Other somewhat notable absences include Michael Douglas, for either his turn as the American drug czar in Traffic or as a Pittsburgh professor-writer struggling with writer's block in Wonder Boys; Kate Winslet as the Marquis de Sade's laundress Madeline [LeClerc], who smuggles his last writings out of an asylum in Quills; and Gillian Anderson, who early on had heavy buzz for her portrayal of an early 20th century New York socialite who loses everything when she is rumored to be the mistress of a wealthy man. |
Feb 12: More critics are publishing their Oscar predictions: |
Marcia Gay Harden, who has won three different awards in this category for her portrayal of the abused wife of [Jackson] "Pollack," was curiously missing from the SAG selections; instead, SAG went with a less likely Oscar contender: Kate Winslet of "Quills." Otherwise, SAG's candidates seem ripe for Oscar's attention: Kate Hudson and Frances McDormand, both for "Almost Famous," and the effortless efforts of two British actresses working on reserve: Julie Walters in "Billy Elliott" and Judi Dench in "Chocolat." If there's any variation of this, it could be Catherine Zeta-Jones by virtue of 1) getting a lot of ink last year and 2) being part of "Traffic's" powerhouse ensemble. Left by the wayside: Elaine May in "Small Time Crooks," Laura Linney in "The House of Mirth," Frances McDormand in "Wonder Boys" and Lupe Ontiveros in "Chuck & Buck." |
CZJ a 'shoo-in'? Judi Dench and Kate not even on the list of 'possibles'? |
The best supporting actress race also has four fairly certain nominees - Kate Hudson and Frances McDormand - both from Almost Famous, Julie Walters for being Billy Elliot's ballet teacher and Dame Judi Dench for a small, but strong role in Chocolat. The fifth spot is up for grabs and it's anyone's guess who will get it. It could go to a British actress, either Catherine Zeta Jones who was quite impressive as the scheming wife of a drugs kingpin in Traffic, or Kate Winslet for her role in Quills. There is also a strong American contender, Marcia Gay Harden, who plays opposite Ed Harris in his Jackson Pollock biographical picture Pollock |
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February 9: Entertainment Weekly Online calls the Oscar race for Best Supporting Actress this way: |
Last year, the festival drew 390,000 visitors, a Berlinale record. It is valued by industry insiders for its compact nature. "The Berlinale, because of the weather and the location, is a working festival," in contrast to Cannes and Venice, [Susanne] Reinker [of the German Film Export Union] said. Some organizers were concerned, however, that Hollywood stars would be too preoccupied by contract negotiations to make it to the festival. A guest list that includes Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Juliette Binoche and Pierce Brosnan remains fluid. |
Also in the Oscar discussion is the film 'Quills-Power of the Obsession' with the British actress Kate Winslet, who had already come [to Berlin] on Tuesday to receive the film and telelvision award 'Golden Camera'. There, Winslet was distinguished in the category 'film international'. |
![]() February 8: The San Francisco Gate has an article today about campaigning for Oscars, with prominent mention of Quills: Fingernails are bitten to the quick, Maalox is purchased by the case and the entertainment trade newspapers each weigh about three pounds. |
Yep, it's that time of year again, Academy Awards season, when the studios spend millions of dollars promoting their movies through advertisements in the trades
Nancy Utley, president of marketing for Fox Searchlight, started campaigning early for 'Quills,' which got a jump on the end-of-the-year competition by opening in November. Utley aims to earn 'Quills,' directed by San Francisco's Philip Kaufman, Oscar nominations in technical categories as well as best picture, screenwriter, director and acting nods for Geoffrey Rush, Joaquin Phoenix and Kate Winslet. Encouragement has arrived in the form of other awards: The National Board of Review honored 'Quills' as best picture and Phoenix as best supporting actor, and the Screen Actors Guild tapped Rush and Winslet for nominations. So far, 'Quills,' which is still in theaters, has pulled in $5.7 million in the United States. "I think it's reached the level of gross that it's going to reach without nominations," says Utley, who also worked on last year's campaign for 'Boys Don't Cry,' which helped Hilary Swank take home an Oscar. "We're counting on the Oscar nominations" to get more people to see it, she said. |
BERLIN (Reuters) - Actors, directors and critics descend on Berlin Wednesday for the opening of Europe's first major film showcase of the year, where 16 international movies make their world premiere and Oscar-hopefuls seek the limelight. The Berlinale, considered one of the world's top film festivals after Cannes and alongside Venice, is expected to attract 14,000 viewers to 300 films over 12 days. Stars including Kate Winslet, the British star of blockbuster 'Titanic', Latin pop singer Ricky Martin and British actor Peter Ustinov were due in Berlin Tuesday evening to receive German television awards. Winslet, who is expected to bring her three-month-old daughter Mia, will also be promoting her latest film, Philip Kaufman's 'Quills,' a potential Oscar contender built around the French writer the Marquis de Sade. |
The Berlin festival is one in which many things turn around the kings of cinematography. In fact, it is considered like the great airdrop platform of North American openings in Europe. For that reason the star presence expected are participates in films of the United States, like Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones, Anthony Hopkins, Sean Connery, Sean Penn, Jack Nicholson, Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet, who will support their productions. |
January 27: Quills is the 'Film of the Week' in the January 26th issue of OK! Magazine. Along with this photo of Kate and Geoffrey Rush, there is a nice, brief review (posted in its entirety on the 'Reviews' page). Excerpts: With the help of a buxom maid, beautifully played by Kate Winslet, he smuggled his very naughty manuscripts from behind bars to his publisher, who was conveniently waiting, on horseback, outside the asylum There is no doubt that this is a classily made, intelligently written and sumptuously acted film It's fair to say that Quills deserves some kind of recognition come Oscar time, but will it prove too hot for the Academy? |
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2000 was the year of the genre flick - gladiator epics, hurricane movies, and chicken runs - and it's now up to the Oscars to plow through all the storms and feathers and find some actual humans worth citing. The nominations will be announced on February 13, but being blessed with amazing mystical powers and a subscription to Daily Variety, I can tell you right now who's going to get what. Maybe. My predictions: |
Sorry, ladies: Lupe Ontiveros for Chuck & Buck (the nominators aren't that swift), Zhang Yi Yi for Crouching Tiger (ditto), Jennifer Ehle and Rosemary Harris for Sunshine (their Tony Awards battle was scary enough). |
January 11: The January issue of American Cinematographer Magazine contains a very interesting, detailed article about Quills, including a few new photos from the set. The article and pics are posted on a separate page - Go Here! Excerpt: |
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"We wanted to give the impression that the walls were alive and dripping with madness," says [Production Designer Martin] Childs with a delighted laugh. "What was fantastically helpful to me - though probably not to anybody who had to schedule the film - was that Kaufman wanted to shoot the film in [continuity]. So we were adding green and decay as the story happened, a luxury we're normally never allowed. We were, for the first time in my experience, able to make a set live." |
Sir Sean Connery and Sir Anthony Hopkins are to head the list of film stars at this year's Berlin Film Festival. Kate Winslet is also expected at the festival next month where the Golden Bear is awarded to the winners in a number of categories. It is not yet clear whether the newly married Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones will also be attending the festival which runs from February 7 to 18. |
4) "Quills" - Giving comfort to neither the people who'd ban art nor the defenders who insist, "Art can't hurt you" (as some of Robert Mapplethorpe's supporters did a few years back), Philip Kaufman's nuanced and damnably smart Grand Guignol entertainment about the last days of the Marquis de Sade (Geoffrey Rush) is an argument for the danger that's always inherent in art: the possibility of giving rise to madness. Brazen and witty, Kaufman invites us to flatter ourselves as sophisticates able to chuckle at Sade's tales of depravity. And then he opens up the abyss, leaving us beyond laughter, deep in a world of horror. Great performances from Rush, Michael Caine, Joaquin Phoenix and Kate Winslet. |
I consider my top films of this year, 'Quills,' 'Wonder Boys' and 'Best in Show' more than equal to my favorite films of 1999 ('Three Kings, 'The Insider' and 'The Straight Story') "Quills" and "Wonder Boys" - Directors salute writers, with delirious results. Philip Kaufman's 'Quills' limns the Marquis de Sade as an irresistible object who meets an immovable force -- the moral guardians (and hypocrites) of Napoleon's France. Curtis Hanson's 'Wonder Boys' pivots on a contemporary novelist who finds it difficult to keep his footing in the success-crazed culture of America. Kaufman's film is funny and fierce, Hanson's funny and melancholic. Both overflow with a love of words and of the actors who speak them -- Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix and Michael Caine in 'Quills,' and Michael Douglas, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr. and Tobey Maguire in 'Wonder Boys.' |
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1) A 3" square ad for Joaquin Phoenix on page one of the Hollywood Reporter; (BTW - Three of Joaquin's performances are being pushed for a nom in the supporting category - Quills, Gladiator and The Yards. Rules forbid an actor being nominated for more than one performance - in the same category. I imagine votes for him will be split between Quills and Gladiator, lessening his chance for a nomination. |
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2) Full-page ad for the film and director Kaufman (pictured with Kate) in Daily Variety; |
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3) Full-page ad - on the cover - for Michael Caine in Weekly Variety. (I understood this better after I opened the magazine and found inside a two-page spread on Caine about being the "U.K. Personality of the Year".) |
New York (Variety) - The 2000 award season began on a literary note Wednesday as the National Board of Review crowned "Quills,'' Philip Kaufman's film about the last days of the Marquis de Sade, this year's best picture. The picture's distributor, Fox Searchlight, was one of several specialty labels reaping the benefits of an awards field generally considered the most wide open in years. Seven of the Board's 10 best films of the year were arthouse and foreign selections. As a film that candidly addresses questions of freedom of expression, ``Quills'' is an unsurprising choice for an organization founded in 1909 to fight censorship of the film industry. Comprised of educators, editors, screenwriters, historians and film students, the Board has also traditionally shown a propensity for specialty films. |
Quills is playing in nine theaters in five cities (it has the highest per-screen box office average of any film) and expands to more Dec. 15. |
1. Quills ; 2. Traffic; 3. Croupier; 4. You Can Count on Me; 5. Billy Elliot; 6. Before Night Falls; 7. Gladiator; 8. Wonder Boys; 9. Sunshine ; 10. Dancer in the Dark |
Of course, Kate Winslet always has a shot, as she's an Academy fave already. |
December 4: Estimated box office for Quills this past weekend is $209,500 in nine theaters. That's a great per theater average of just under $23,280! |
The second weekend at the boxoffice wasn't painful at all for Fox Searchlight's "Quills" as the drama continued to pique audience interest, slipping a scant 16% from its debut and taking in an estimated $209,500 from nine theaters. The Geoffrey Rush-Kate Winslet starrer averaged a stellar $23,278 per theater and has generated positive word-of-mouth, the distributor said. The film's total stands at roughly $642,600. |
Nomination prospects could improve for standout performances by Ellen Burstyn in "Requiem for a Dream" and pop singer Bjork in "Dancer in the Dark," somber films that Academy voters might find too off-putting in other years. Likewise, the comically savage Marquis de Sade film "Quills'' and its four stars - Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Michael Caine and Joaquin Phoenix - could benefit from the dearth of more conventional Oscar movies. Studios are revving up Oscar campaigns for an anything-could-happen season. |
November 30: I have posted on the "Features" page a new article by Michael Sragow of Salon Magazine. Here's an excerpt: |
Geoffrey Rush: "Then I heard that Kate Winslet was interested, and I am a really big fan of hers -- I'm fascinated by her repertoire. We mutually flattered and excited one another by saying, 'Oh, I'll do it if she does it,' or, 'I'll do it if he does it.' Which is sort of real in a way, because you think that with material like this, you need a great actress like her. " |
November 29: An interview with Kate that was done November 2nd was shown this morning on "The Early Show". (See "Rewind II" page for the transcript / captures I have done, along with a link to the interview on RealVideo.) Following are Kate's comments about Quills: |
Tom Fenton: [voice-over clip] Kate Winslet plays a laundry maid in the mad house where the Marquis de Sade is imprisoned. [To Kate] Well, you have a reputation as an uncompromising, very brave, straightforward actress. |
Kate: Mmm, that's right [laughs]. |
Tom: Then, the answer is 'yes'. |
Kate: Well, I do like to be straight forward and I yeah, and being brave is very important because sometimes, you know, you can find yourself in scary situations at work, you know, when there are scenes that are difficult to do. And you can't run away from it, so you just have to go headlong into it. And I've always been like that as an actress, and I think in life as well, really. |
November 28: E! News Daily had a segment last night on Quills. I have transcribed it and done a couple of captures. (Unfortunately, in the "new" clips with Kate, we only see the back of her as she is filming or speaking with Phil Kaufman.) |
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With only a handful of December releases still under wraps, the Oscar field is shaping up as one of the thinnest in years Unlike recent years when films such as "Saving Private Ryan" and "American Beauty" were early favorites, no best-picture front-runners have emerged [T]he comically savage Marquis de Sade film "Quills" and its four stars - Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Michael Caine and Joaquin Phoenix - could benefit from the dearth of more conventional Oscar movies. |
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November 26: Quills had a great opening weekend! From Yahoo! News: In limited release Quills, starring Geoffrey Rush as the Marquis de Sade, and Kate Winslet as his fetching apostle, averaged a provocative $34,889 at nine theaters. The "R" rated historical treatise, chasing Oscar attention, grossed a shiny $314,000 for Fox Searchlight in five days of release. |
Three 1/2 stars "Quills" -- This fictionalized account of the Marquis de Sade's final days in a French insane asylum in the 1810s are memorably evoked by director Philip Kaufman, screenwriter Doug Wright, and set designer Martin Childs. But it's the actors -- Geoffrey Rush (as Sade), Kate Winslet (as his conspiratorial chambermaid), Joaquin Phoenix (as his priest-jailer), and Michael Caine (as the doctor sent by Napoleon to undo Sade) -- who make "Quills" hurt so good. R. 125 minutes. (Bob Ivry) |
From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:Dec. 1 -- Philip Kaufman's latest film is called Quills and it's about the last days of the Marquis de Sade, which means it's not exactly something you might want to catch right after a big turkey dinner. Our reviewer reports it's a challenging and impressive film for adults, featuring Geoffrey Rush and the nervy Kate Winslet with Joaquin Phoenix turning in what has become his trademark creepy performance. That Dec. 1 opening date is for big markets; it's not arriving here until Jan. 5. |
From the Ottawa Citizen: There are also a few art films among the contenders and, inevitably, a bit of controversy. This year it centres on Quills, the Philip Kaufman film about the Marquis de Sade and his time in Charenton Asylum. The film co-stars Joaquin Phoenix as the real-life Abbe de Coulmier, who in the film urges de Sade to write in order "to purge his evil thoughts upon the page." However, the portrayal has raised the ire of the Catholic League, an American civil rights organization that defends the Church from what it calls defamation and discrimination. The league says that the real Abbe was "an unattractive, four-foot tall hunchback who remained celibate." In the movie, it says, he is transformed into a good-looking man who is depicted having sex with a dead laundress, played by Kate Winslet. "None of this is surprising given Hollywood's fondness for Catholicism, but it is disgraceful nonetheless." Quills, inevitably, opens in Ottawa on Christmas Day. |
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: Dec. 25 "Quills." Philip Kaufman ("Henry and June") directed this film about the aging Marquis de Sade (Geoffrey Rush), who, while an inmate at Charenton Asylum, wrote some of his most explicit erotica. Kate Winslet plays the maid who smuggles his work to the outside world. |
"And Winslet, flirtatious, conspiratorial, maidenly even at her sauciest, is pure delight. Sade is, of course, in love with her, in his own twisted way. ('You've already stolen my heart, as well as another organ south of the equator,' he assures her.) When she creeps into his cell to procure a manuscript, he holds it away from her, telling her she'll have to pay a kiss for every page. When she obliges, it's clear she's half turned-on. But she's more of an accomplice to Sade, a partner in crime, than a lover. She reads his prose aloud to her friends... with voracious joy. With her eternally flushed cheeks and excitable curls, Winslet embodies the thrill that art, at its best or its most devious, can bestow on us - a suggestion that the excitement is sometimes more valuable than the work itself." -- Stephanie Zacharek, Salon Magazine |
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"New Movies Opening This Week" -- "QUILLS" This is a fictionalized version of the final imprisonment of the notorious Marquis de Sade. In the Charenton Asylum, the Marquis (Geoffrey Rush) is imprisoned and allowed to live with his furnishings and eat decent meals. He is allowed to pursue friendships with the chambermaid Madeleine (Kate Winslet) and the Abbe de Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix). When the Marquis' pornographic writings are sneaked out of the prison, printed and sold to the French populace, Napoleon orders the cold-hearted Doctor Royer-Collard (Michael Caine) to take over the asylum and break the spirit of the Marquis. Directed by Philip Kaufman. Rated R. 124 minutes. Opening Wednesday at the Embarcadero Center Cinemas. |
November 21: "Checkout" has a review of Quills (posted on the "Reviews" page). Here's an excerpt: |
November 20: I just watched the Quills trailer on E! Channel's "Coming Attractions" program. It's exactly the same as the trailer on the official site, but included a bonus - comments from Kate! She was interviewed on the Quills set and was in costume as Madeleine. I've transcribed it for you and included two screen captures: |
Kate: "She sort of his friend, his confidant, his muse, really. She's the only sort of privileged laundry lass who gets to speak to the marquis, take the linens to the Marquis de Sade, who's kind of like the Mick Jagger of the asylum. He's hidden somewhere, and he's this kind of famous, secret sort of special person that no one else is allowed to communicate with, largely because he's meant to be so dangerous. But she sort of sees him as a silly old codger." |
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As of this writing, Steven Soderbergh's Erin Brockovich, Philip Kaufman's Quills and Gus Van Sant's Finding Forrester are the movies to beat at this year's Oscars. All three are from edgy, indie-minded but experienced filmmakers. All three are from first-time screenwriters (Susannah Grant, Doug Wright, and Mike Rich). All three have sure-bet acting nominees in lead and, probably, supporting roles. None are conventional, saw-it-coming movies. And all three are from major studios (Universal, Fox Searchlight, Columbia). Go figure. |
November 20: The UK Telegraph published an interview with Kate today (posted on the "Article Archive" page). Here's the portion about Quills: |
Phoenix, Caine and Rush did their best to bring some levity to the set. "We had so much fun," she says. "It had to be like that, because if we hadn't had a laugh we'd have been bogged down with a black, heavy story." |
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I have scanned the article on Phil Kaufman from the November 17 edition of Entertainment Weekly magazine. It features the nice pic of Kate with Kaufman that was published in the New York Times on September 10. (Click on pic for larger version.) This issue of EW also has the article "Contenders - Who does Hollywood want to see nominated?" There is a brief mention of Quills there: Searchlight is pushing Philip Kaufman's Marquis de Sade film Quills, featuring Oscar winners Geoffrey Rush and Michael Caine and two-time nominee Kate Winslet. |
A full-page advertisement for Quills appears in today's Los Angeles Times. While it's nice that Kate was mentioned in the ad, I was a bit disappointed in the wording - "Winslet may be the most daring actress working today." Too bad a comment such as "there may be no better actress of this generation" (by David Poland), or other praise for her work in this film wasn't used as well. Hopefully, future ads will contain varied comments. |
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November, and chilly breezes rush from the west: it's the movie studios combining the holiday heft of wanna-be blockbusters Studio-supported art films like Quills curry exposure from journalists and critics -- see David Poland's Hot Button columns since Telluride on Philip Kaufman's filming of Douglas Wright's play. Although against that backdrop, the small movie seems increasingly endangered, titles good and bad keep getting released But truly, all movies are made in the same style nowadays: work on it for years, open it on a Friday in a sea of sharks, cross your fingers, maybe pray. | ![]() |
November 9: A preview of Quills in Box Office Online: |
He appears in Quills, the story of the Marquis de Sade. Towards the end of his life, de Sade (Geoffrey Rush, from Shine) was interned in the Charenton insane asylum. "I'm the priest and administrator, an optimist and idealist, with unorthodox methods," Joaquin says. "He uses artistic expression as a means of exorcising mental illness. But underneath all his seeming contentment are strong desires." These fasten on de Sade's lusty yet virginal chambermaid, played by Kate Winslet. "If any two people should fall in love, it should be them, but this man is married to God. I'm a sex machine enclosed in this cassock. It's something that the Marquis sees in my character and tries to draw out. It's about how we repress our natural desires and how they sometimes manifest themselves in other ways that are more brutal." | ![]()
This is a capture I took of Kate and Joaquin
in one of their scenes (yowie!)
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"Star Kate's Gone Totless" Kate Winslet went totless at a film premiere last night - by turning up without her new baby Mia. Kate, 25, told fans it felt "really horrible" leaving Mia behind. Her trip to a screening of her new movie Quills was her first public outing since the birth. Co-stars Michael Caine and Joaquin Phoenix joined Kate at the West End premiere. |
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"Kate's Great - Despite Missing Mia" Kate Winslet braved the cold to make her first public appearance since the birth of her daughter. The star thrilled crowds at the premiere of Quills, the latest movie to take centre stage within the London Film Festival. Yet wearing a black top and trousers and floor length satin jacket, she admitted it was a wrench to leave Mia behind - and confessed she was taking seven months off to spend time with her. 'Children most important thing' -- She said: "It's horrible, really awful, she is back at the hotel with her daddy. Motherhood will always come first. Children are the most important thing to me. It's just not about being a famous actor. It's about privacy and my own life - and now Mia." |
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First off was Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush, who plays the Marquis de Sade in the movie. 'There's a dimension to a character like this,' he told us. 'He comes with a tabloid reputation that's unavoidable. He was known for his wild and excessive debauches. It's the kind of role that will come along in your career very rarely where you get to play those sort of extremities.' Asking about his next movie, called Lantana, he told Empire Online; 'Its's a kind of scrappy bush that grows in Australia. It has thorny, nasty branches with a beautiful flower, so it's sort of a metaphor.' The movie begins shooting in Australia in a couple of weeks. 'I play a professional lawyer,' said Geoffrey, 'he and his wife have lost their child in rather grisly circumstances so it's an exploration of their relationship held together by grief. It's a winner!' |
Next up was the emminently affable Michael Caine. We asked him what was more of a challenge, playing the saintly Dr Larch in Cider House Rules or the evil doctor in Quills. `I enjoy the bad doctor more,' he told us, `because I'm a very good man, so I empathise much more with the doctor in Cider House Rules. This one was someone completely against my own nature. 'The message [of the film] is about individual freedom. I think [De Sade] should be free to write his books, and I should be free not to read them, because the people who try to stop you reading his books usually have a book they want you to read like Mein Kamp or Das Kapital.' So what's he working on next? 'I've been working all day on a movie called Last Orders. It's a small group British picture with Ray Winstone, Helen Mirren, Tom Courtenay, Bob Hoskins and David Hemmings We've been filming in a pub in Clapham so I've been drinking alcohol-free beer all day.' |
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Last, but by no means least, was the lovely Kate Winslet, come straight from her most important role as the nursing mother. 'What attracted me to the movie,' said Kate, 'is that [my character] is the moral centre of the movie and you really need her at the end to be a part of this story because she's so vulnerable and so innocent. I love the fact that she's different to every role I've played before. I don't think people would expect to see me playing a scrubber and it was for that reason that I wanted to do that.' |
October 7: The AFI "Fest 2000" site has been updated today. (Yes, I do check the festival sites daily for updates, LOL.) The program for the fest has been added. This pic of Kate with director Philip Kaufman appears in the program. Go to my AFI "Fest 2000" page for more! | ![]() |
Picture: Quills Director: Philip Kaufman, Quills Actor: Ed Harris, Pollock Actress: Joan Allen, The Contender Supp. Actor: Willem Dafoe, Shadow of the Vampire Supp. Actress: Julie Walters, Billy Elliot Orig. Screenplay: Almost Famous Adap. Screenplay: Quills |
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"Film frenzy at London festival" - The 44th London Film Festival opens on 1 November and will screen almost 200 feature films and 65 shorts across 16 days. The festival was launched in Leicester Square on Wednesday by Joan Bakewell, chair of the British Film Institute. .. Philip Kaufman's Quills, to be shown at the festival, is just one of several forthcoming films dealing with the life and work of the Marquis de Sade. |
September 13: Film critic David Poland has again stated that he feels that Quills is one of the best films of the year: |
September 8: Here's another mention of Quills in David Poland's "Hot Button" column: |