News

Oscar-winners Helen Hunt and Dustin Hoffman have signed on to star in the new, still-untitled feature from British director Peter Greenaway (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover).

Principal photography for the film has begun in Lucca, Italy.

Sofia Boutella (Kingsman), Giacomo Gianniotti (Grey’s Anatomy), Jonno Davies (Kingsman: The Secret Service) and Laura Morante (The Son’s Room) co-star in the drama, the first feature from Greenaway since 2015’s Eisenstein in Guanajuato.

Based on Greenaway’s original script, the film is the story of an intelligent man whose final big adventure is intended to be his own death, which he wants to organize in an elegant, sensible and tidy manner, with as few loose ends as possible.

“The theme of this film is highly relevant and topical in these times, where the end-of-life topic is headline news on a daily basis,” said Greenaway. “As such, I am very excited...

Peter Greenaway studied as a painter and worked for 15 years as a film editor for the Central Office of Information, the U.K. government’s marketing and communications agency, so it’s no surprise that his early films tend to prioritize visual and structural elements over their slender narratives. In fact, the earliest of his films often have no narrative at all. Intervals, from 1969, consists of footage of Venetian backstreets and alleyways accompanied by various sound sources (including stray snatches of Vivaldi) that lend each interval its own distinct tenor. This short also introduces an abiding Greenaway obsession: the abecedarian sequence (here a disembodied voice can be heard rattling off their ABCs in Italian).

Bucolic and beautifully shot, 1973’s H Is for House carries Greenaway’s preoccupation with alphabetical lists even further. Narrator Colin Cantlie, who provides voiceover work for four subsequent Greenaway films, articulates a series of increasingly improbable items...

Acclaimed writer/director David Lowery joins Josh and Joe to discuss the films that inspired The Green Knight.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Green Knight (2021)

Peter Pan & Wendy (2022)

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

The Old Man And The Gun (2018)

A Ghost Story (2017)

Pete’s Dragon (1977)

Pete’s Dragon (2016) – Glenn Erickson’s review

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013)

Ghost Story (1974)

Sword of the Valiant (1984)

Gawain and the Green Knight (1973)

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014)

Masters of the Universe (1987) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Andrei Rublev (1966) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review, Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards blurb

War And Peace (1966) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Heaven’s Gate (1980)

The Passion Of Joan Of Arc (1928) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Devils (1971)

Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

The Conjuring (2013)

Jubilee (1978)

Benedetta (2021)

Dune (1984)

Dune (2021)

Hard To Be A God (2013)

Jodorowsky’s Dune (2013)

Moby Dick (1956) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary,...

Festival reflects popularity of the cinematic fringe movement, with pop-up events and home screenings on the rise

In a large, dark back room behind a red velvet curtain at a London bar, sticky tables, mismatched chairs and battered red leather sofas face a projector screen. From the other side of the curtain, comes the usual hubbub of the post-work drinks crowd, but here a respectful hush has descended. The screen flickers red, white, black. Rousing violins from Michael Nyman's score for Prospero's Books fill the room. Bombastic slogans flash across the screen: "Cinema is not just film!", "Where there is a film and an audience, there is cinema!" and the clarion call, "Fill the land with cinemas!" Then, fade to white. Silence. Wild applause. This is the call-to-arms event for Scala Beyond, a new nationwide season of fringe cinema screenings that aims to unite the UK's growing army of independent film exhibitors.

"Swedish actor Erland Josephson, who collaborated with legendary film director Ingmar Bergman in more than 40 films and plays, has died," reports the AP. He was 88. "Josephson was born in Stockholm in 1923 and met Bergman while training as an amateur actor at 16. He appeared in several Bergman plays and films. He shot to international stardom with the role of Johan in Berman's film Scenes from a Marriage, in 1973. Josephson also starred in Andrey Tarkovskiy's films Nostalghia [1983] and The Sacrifice [1986]."

"It is Josephson's face which makes him so effective on film," reads his entry in the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, "that bearlike aspect, his ability to look lost and forlorn, to convey a sense of suffering and bewilderment, in spite of his bluff exterior. Were one to repeat Kuleshov's famous experiment of the 1920s and to intercut the same shot of Josephson with images of joy, of sadness, of anger,...

A film of the opening minutes of Herbert Beerbohm Tree's production of The Tempest was made in 1905. But there was no cinematic follow-up until after the second world war, when the play inspired a western (William Wellman's Yellow Sky) and a remarkable sci-fi yarn (Forbidden Planet), neither using Shakespeare's text. Then came Paul Mazursky's likable The Tempest (John Cassavetes as a self-exiled New York architect), which also dispensed with the text, and Derek Jarman's homoerotic version, which uses Shakespeare's words and turns the masque into a cabaret featuring Elisabeth Welch singing "Stormy Weather" with a chorus of prancing matelots. Peter Greenaway's postmodernist Prospero's Books had the 85-year-old John Gielgud (fulfilling a dream of playing Prospero on screen) speaking the lines of all the characters.

A decade ago, Julie Taymor made a well-acted, at times breathtakingly inventive film of Titus Andronicus that modulated from the ancient...

'National treasure'; 'sexy at 60' – the cliches continue to pile up around Helen Mirren's feet. But, as she tells Ryan Gilbey, she's been battling against being stereotyped for her entire career

Helen Mirren first gave an interview to this newspaper 42 years ago. All things considered, it could have gone better. The article was headlined "I've been sexy-looking since I was 14." Three days later she wrote to the letters page. "It is a shame that being interviewed by the Guardian should turn out to be such a miserable experience." Yes, she says with a rueful smile, she well remembers that interview, and its emphasis on her ambition and her looks. ("Miss Mirren is still widely regarded as a sexy actress.") She's foggier on the matter of her correspondence, but chuckles when I read out the sign-off line, in which she laments that the grotesque image of herself presented...

Reconfigured as a study of modern warfare, complete with news channel inserts, Ralph Fiennes's directorial debut is a triumph

Ralph Fiennes played Coriolanus on stage more than a decade ago, and presumably it seemed like a safe choice with which to embark on a directorial career; like Kenneth Branagh before him with Henry V (and Laurence Olivier before him, with the same play), high-achieving theatre actors will be confident, and entirely credible, in their handling of the intricacies of the Shakespearean text. It's ironic, therefore, that the best film Shakespeares tend to be furthest removed from the British stage tradition: foreign-language versions such as Kurosawa's Throne of Blood and Ran, and Kozintsev's King Lear, don't need to worry about getting the poetry right. The most interesting English-language ones, such as Derek Jarman's Tempest and Peter Greenaway's Prospero's Books, affix their own preoccupations to the Shakespearean motifs, and...

That headline is not a typo. Peter Greenaway, who is among the most art-oriented directors alive (Prospero's Books, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover) is set to write and direct his first romantic comedy. The film is called 4 Storms and 2 Babies, and is scheduled to shoot in Amsterdam later this year. Has the whole world gone crazy? Variety [1] says the film is "an unconventional love story about two men and a woman who becomes pregnant after a night of three-way sex with them." Whew! So 4 Storms and 2 Babies won't quite be The Proposal. In fact, this sounds very much like something Peter Greenaway might do. It actually sounds like something the Peter Greenaway of 1988 might do. That's kind of striking, since the director has of late been more interested in films that are either more conceptual art than narrative (The Tulse Luper Suitcases) or rooted in centuries-old art more than anything else.

Peter Greenaway has his sights set on developing a romantic comedy called 4 Storms and 2 Babies as both writer and director, Variety reports. Greenaway, best known for independent dramas like Prospero's Books and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover , will tell the story of a woman who becomes pregnant after a menage a trois with two men and is said to be "an unconventional love story." Greenaway, currently working on a Goltzius and the Pelican Company , will target 4 Storms as his following project and plans to shoot in Amsterdam.

I supposed my reaction to Julie Taymor's photographically bold, yet cinematicly flat rendition of William Shakespeare's play could be summed up by comparing the performance of Alan Cumming from her previous film Titus to the one he yields here. In Titus, he is a campy-over-the-top force of nature, a pure delight of showmanship. In The Tempest, he is yawning his way through the inevitable march across the Hawaiian voclanic badlands with an equally subdued Chris Cooper and David Strathairn. Maybe the gory Grand Guignol of Titus was a more suitable fit than the more introspective, meta-ish nature of The Tempest for her particular sort-of-a-stage-production-sort-of-a-film style. Outside of the farcical comedic elements, Alfred Molina is at his bawdy best here, with Russell Brand providing somewhat consistent support, which seem to capture the best elements of Shakespeare's ability to play to the back of the room, The Tempest merely makes...

This drama about Rembrandt is Peter Greenaway's best film since Prospero's Books in 1991, writes Philip French

This is Peter Greenaway's first movie to be released here in a decade and his best since Prospero's Books in 1991. Characteristically intelligent and ludic, he meditates on life, death and art in a manner that goes back 20 years to his remarkable breakthrough into the popular consciousness with The Draughtsman's Contract. The film unfolds in a series of spare, elegant tableaux and stars Martin Freeman as a puckish young Rembrandt, very different from Laughton's 1935 version. It deals with his unruly household, his relationships with three women – Saskia Uylenburgh (his wife and niece of his dealer), Geertje Dircks (cunning servant and mistress), and Hendrickje Stoffels (young model, servant and last love) – and most of all with the origins and meaning of Rembrandt's gigantic 1642 masterwork The Night Watch.

In a close reading of the painting's sometimes arcane symbols and iconography,...

All Things Fangirl how traditionally trained our Oscar's acting nominees? This is hot. Yay, for new coverage angles.

Towleroad My latest column: Prodigal Sons has opened (finally!) so watch for it in your city. Plus, a few more words from my Lee Daniels (Precious) interview and Kathryn Bigelow's enviable man harem.

Movies Kick Ass Jose unveils his "best of '09"

The Critical Condition helps you win your Oscar pool with the live action and animated shorts

Cinematical "How open are you moviewise?" That's a good question. We like to think all of Film Experience's readers are wide open

I Need My Fix Angelina Jolie is 'Pretty in Paris' filming The Tourist

Pop Watch post Olympic competition, Johnny Weir continues to be awesome. Speaks out for all future girlyboys. Someone give him a medal, now please.

i09 With Dollhouse wrapped, what's next for Eliza Dushku on the bigscreen?

C'est La...

St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold

Opens: 2010

Cast: Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, David Tennant, Gemma Arterton, Talulah Riley

Director: Oliver Parker, Barnaby Thompson

Summary: A rollercoaster-style treasure hunt for the legendary Fritton’s Gold ensues as the feisty and ever-resourceful schoolgirls of St Trinian’s face their most fearsome establishment rivals yet - the villainous Pomfrey and his sidekicks from the women-hating secret society known as AD1.

Analysis: While it didn't travel much beyond the UK, 2007's reboot of the "St Trinian's" franchise nearly doubled its £7 million production budget in sales in the UK alone - making it one of the top grossing independent British films of the past decade. Reviews were decidedly mixed but generally pretty weak at the time, so the greenlighting of a sequel surprised quite a few.

Despite a critical drubbing, the core audience of young British teenage girls seemed to be satisfied by...

Regarded as one of the most innovative British filmmakers today - Andrea Arnold got that distinction via the film, Red Road - which also happens to be her first feature film. At the recent Cannes, her second feature was received with criticial praise, Fish Tank. The Times Online was very generous about her new film and I quote:

- - -

- - - It's only her second feature film, but with Fish Tank, the British director Andrea Arnold demonstrates that she more than deserves her place in a Cannes competition lineup that includes work from some of the most celebrated directors currently working. And it's fitting that her picture screens alongside the latest from Ken Loach - there is an obvious debt here to his brand of compassionate naturalism. Arnold builds on the humanistic, low key intimacy of her feature debut, Red Road, which won the Jury prize at...

Regarded as one of the most innovative British filmmakers today - Andrea Arnold got that distinction via the film, Red Road - which also happens to be her first feature film. At the recent Cannes, her second feature was received with criticial praise, Fish Tank. The Times Online was very generous about her new film and I quote:

- - -

- - - It's only her second feature film, but with Fish Tank, the British director Andrea Arnold demonstrates that she more than deserves her place in a Cannes competition lineup that includes work from some of the most celebrated directors currently working. And it's fitting that her picture screens alongside the latest from Ken Loach - there is an obvious debt here to his brand of compassionate naturalism. Arnold builds on the humanistic, low key intimacy of her feature debut, Red Road, which won the Jury prize at...

Regarded as one of the most innovative British filmmakers today - Andrea Arnold got that distinction via the film, Red Road - which also happens to be her first feature film. At the recent Cannes, her second feature was received with criticial praise, Fish Tank. The Times Online was very generous about her new film and I quote:

- - -

- - - It's only her second feature film, but with Fish Tank, the British director Andrea Arnold demonstrates that she more than deserves her place in a Cannes competition lineup that includes work from some of the most celebrated directors currently working. And it's fitting that her picture screens alongside the latest from Ken Loach - there is an obvious debt here to his brand of compassionate naturalism. Arnold builds on the humanistic, low key intimacy of her feature debut, Red Road, which won the Jury prize at...

Regarded as one of the most innovative British filmmakers today - Andrea Arnold got that distinction via the film, Red Road - which also happens to be her first feature film. At the recent Cannes, her second feature was received with criticial praise, Fish Tank. The Times Online was very generous about her new film and I quote:

- - -

- - - It's only her second feature film, but with Fish Tank, the British director Andrea Arnold demonstrates that she more than deserves her place in a Cannes competition lineup that includes work from some of the most celebrated directors currently working. And it's fitting that her picture screens alongside the latest from Ken Loach - there is an obvious debt here to his brand of compassionate naturalism. Arnold builds on the humanistic, low key intimacy of her feature debut, Red Road, which won the Jury prize at...

Your votes have been tallied. 262 people entered the Actress Psychic contest this year. I play too, (I just am ineligible for the win) so that makes 263 Psychics. How well can the contestants predict the future? Does the wisdom of crowds really apply to something as unpredictable as awards season, and ten months early at that before virtually any of the movies have been seen?

In late January will the Oscar nominees for Best Actress really be... ?

Michelle Pfeiffer, Chéri (157 votes... more than half of the ballots)Hilary Swank, Amelia (142 votes... more than half of the ballots)Carey Mulligan, An Education (127 ballots)Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia (120 ballots)Penélope Cruz, Los Abrazos Rotos / (Broken Embraces) (on 75 ballots)Nobody else came close to these five, making your collective prediction quite decisive indeed. That's a Best Actress shortlist composed of three Oscar winners (Cruz, Streep and Swank) and a possible comeback queen (Pfeiffer). The...

One of Empire's favourite actors, Chris Cooper, has signed up for a new version of Shakespeare's The Tempest, to be directed by Titus director Julie Taymor.He'll be playing Antonio, one of the baddies of the piece, who along with Alonso the King of Naples (Jeremy Irons), deposes the sorcerer Prospero and his daughter Miranda and 'casts them adrift' on a boat. They end up marooned on an island for twelve years, but when the sorcerer gets wind that his detractors boat is passing by, he plots his revenge.Now, in your normal run of The Tempest, Prospero is played by a man (even in Peter Greenaway's Prospero's Books, the titular character's sandals were filled by Sir John Geilgud), but Taymor has never been one to follow convention, and this version has Prospera, who has already been cast - none other than Dame Helen Mirren. Miranda is played by Felicity Jones.

(clockwise from left to right) Repo! poster, Diablo Cody with sexy fake long hair, pic from The Spirit, Whore poster, Rose McGowan, Revolutionary Road poster, "Knight Rider" First off, HBO's "True Blood" has been renewed for a second season. I already reviewed the first two episodes right here and HBO just sent me the next three so I will be getting to those very soon. Next, I have a new behind-the-scenes set video from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen right here, the trailer for Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York right here, the new Inkheart trailer right here and the new red band trailer for Saw V right here. Oh, and an extended clip from How to Lose Friends and Alienate People can be found here. The poster for Frost/Nixon is now online here, the poster for Repo! The Genetic Opera is right here, the poster for Role Models...

London -- Michael Fassbender will star opposite a cast of newcomers including Katie Jarvis in Andrea Arnold's sophomore movie "Fish Tank," the backers said Monday.

Arnold's latest celluloid outing -- after her debut "Red Road" picked up the Festival de Cannes jury prize -- is backed by BBC Films, the U.K. Film Council and Limelight.

Artificial Eye has U.K. theatrical rights while ContentFilm International is handling worldwide sales.

Produced by Kees Kasander ("Prospero's Books"), for Kasander Films, and executive produced by Paul Trijbits (Ruby Films) and Christine Langan and David M. Thompson for BBC Films, the movie is shooting on location in the U.K.

Arnold's second movie tells the story of a volatile 15-year-old who is always in trouble whose mother brings home a mysterious stranger who promises to change everything and bring love into all their lives.

Arnold won an Oscar for her short movie "Wasp."...

LONDON -- House star Hugh Laurie was awarded an Order of the British Empire award in the Queen's New Year's Honors list, it was announced Monday.

The British actor was recognized for his contribution to drama in a career that has spanned over 20 years. The actor began his career as a sketch comedian in A Bit of Fry and Laurie and later played a series of English upper class twits in such shows as Jeeves and Wooster and Blackadder before crossing the pond to take U.S. audiences by storm as the curmudgeonly but brilliant medic.

Also honored in the Royal list was director Peter Greenaway who was named a Commander of the British Empire for a career featuring such textured and intricate films as The Draughtman's Contract, Drowning by Numbers, A Zed and Two Noughts and Prospero's Books.

Other leading media figures named in the annual honors list include singer Rod Stewart, television actress Penelope Keith and former Ofcom chief executive Stephen Carter, who were awarded CBEs.