Screendaily movie news 4/08/02
Jaime Jeske
Mike Goodridge in Genting Highlands April 08, 2002
Epic historical drama Lagaan was the big winner at the third annual
International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards at a glitzy ceremony
held in Malaysia on Saturday night. Ashutosh Kovariker's film, which was
nominated for a foreign language film Oscar recently, won ten trophies
including best film, best director and best actor (Aamir Khan) as well
as a special honor from the Academy for its achievement in gaining
international recognition. Khan, who was also the producer of Lagaan,
was a no-show at the ceremony held at the Genting Highlands resort
outside Kuala Lumpur.
The IIFA Awards, which are sponsored by Electrolux Kelvinator, take
place every year in a location outside India in order to raise the
profile of "Bollywood" cinema outside the country. The main categories
are voted on by the public after industry members have nominated five to
a shortlist in each category.
Box office blockbuster Khabie Khushi Khabi Gham - or K3G as it is
popularly known - won a total of eight awards but mainly in technical
categories, with only the supporting actress and male playback singer
awards of the popular categories.
The IIFAs have risen quickly to prestige in the Indian industry, vying
for pre-eminence with the National Awards or the Filmfare Awards held in
February. Lagaan was also the big winner at the Filmfare Awards, taking
the picture, director and actor awards, although Kajol won the best
actress trophy for K3G.
Bollywood has gained ground in the last year in achieving international
recognition. Hindi-speaking audiences in North America and the UK made
themselves heard by taking K3G into the top ten of both countries' box
office charts. As well as the Oscar nomination and numerous western
festival appearances for Lagaan, hit US musical Moulin Rouge openly paid
homage to the "masala" films of Bollywood with their blend of styles,
high drama, song and dance, while Mira Nair's personal love letter to
Bollywood Monsoon Wedding won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film
Festival and is still playing in US theatres through USA Films.
FULL LIST OF IIFA AWARD WINNERS
Best picture: Lagaan
Best director: Ashutosh Gowariker Lagaan
Best actor in a leading role: Aamir Khan Lagaan
Best actress in a leading role: Tabu Chandni Bar
Best actor in a supporting role: Saif Ali Khan Dil Chahta Hai
Best actress in a supporting role: Jaya Bachchan Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham
Best performance in a comic role: Govinda Jodi No. 1
Best performance in a negative role: Akshay Kumar Ajnabee
Best male playback singer: Sonu Nigam (You Are My Soniya) Kabhi Khushi
Kabhi Gham
Best female playback singer: Asha Bhosle (Radha Kaise Na Jale) Lagaan
Best story: Ashutosh Gowariker Lagaan
Best music direction: AR Rehman Lagaan
Best lyrics: Javed Akhtar Lagaan
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED WINNERS
Best choreography: Farah Khan for Dil Chahta Hai
Best sound recording: (tied) Anui Mathur for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham &
Nakul Kamte for Lagaan
Best makeup: Mickey Contractor for Kabhi Khushi Khabhie Gham
Best cinematography: Santosh Sivan for Asoka
Best screenplay: Farhan Akhtar for Dil Chahta Hai
Best dialogue: (tied) Karan Johar for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham &
Shaktiman for Gadar - Ek Prem Katha
Best editing: Ballu Saluja for Lagaan
Best art direction: Sharmishta Roy for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
Best action: Tinu Verma for Gadar - Ek Prem Katha
Best song recording: Vijay Benegal for Dil Chahta Hai
Best sound re-recording: H Sridhar for Lagaan
Best special visual effects: Paul Sims for Aks - The Reflection
Best background score: Babloo Chakravarthy for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
Best costume design: Manish Malhotra for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
SPECIAL AWARDS
Personality of the year: Amitabh Bachchan
Life achievement awards for invaluable contributions to Indian cinema:
Sadhana & Yash Chopra
***
FilmFour options bestselling Vanity Fair expose
Adam Minns in London April 05, 2002
The UK's FilmFour has optioned How To Lose Friends And Alienate People,
Toby Young's best-selling account of his time in New York on upmarket
magazine Vanity Fair.
Young will write the screenplay and act as associate producer on the
project, which charts how the British journalist was fired after faux
pas such as asking celebrities about their sexual orientation. He once
hired a strip-o-gram to come to the office on Take Our Daughters to Work
Day.
"This is the ultimate revenge on my former employers," said Young. "I
fully expect to be admitted to the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2004
clutching an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay."
The book, published in the UK by Little Brown, has been on the UK
best-seller list for 22 weeks.
"This is the funniest, cleverest, most touching new book I've read for
as long as I can remember" wrote Julie Burchill in The Spectator. UK
newspaper The Independent on Sunday called it "a funny, authentic and
compelling examination of a media world obsessed with celebrity".
Elinor Day, deputy head of production at FilmFour, will oversee the
project. The deal was brokered by Emma Parry, Youngs' agent at Carlisle
& Company, Andrew Hildebrand, director of business affairs for FilmFour,
and David Brook, Channel 4's director of strategy and development.
"We're thrilled," said FilmFour chief Paul Webster. "With his acerbic
wit, Toby Young is the natural successor to Billy Wilder and I A L
Diamond."
***
Stars, crew take $3m deferrals to save Cromwell
Adam Minns in London April 04, 2002
Stars Rupert Everett, Tim Roth, Dougray Scott and Olivia Williams have
agreed to take deferments worth around $3 million to help save troubled
period production Cromwell & Fairfax.
The producers, crew and suppliers on the $20 million Natural Nylon
production are also contributing to the deferrals after shooting ground
to a halt last month when the original financing arrangements could not
be completed. Scott, who has been working on the English Civil War story
for more than two years, used close to $100,000 of his own money to pay
wages when production stopped.
"There are some things in life you just cannot walk away from," said
Scott, who plays Roundhead general Thomas Fairfax. "This is one of them.
It feels special".
Under a refinancing plan frantically pieced together over the last three
weeks, Screenland Movieworld is putting in some $2.2 million. The German
fund was part of the original financing scheme under sales company IAC
and contributing heavily to the initial production costs before the film
collapsed. Christopher Petzel and Scott Karol of Fierce Entertainment,
who represent Screenland's investment in the film, have been working
closely with producer Kevin Loader and Natural Nylon's chief operating
officer Tony Miller to put alternative financing in place.
"Christopher Petzel and Scott Karol have worked relentlessly over the
past few crucial weeks to keep the film alive," said Loader, whose
credits include Captain Corelli's Mandolin. "It's no exaggeration to say
that without them, this film would have fallen apart. We've also had the
amazing support of our cast and crew, who have not only stuck with the
film, but have also agreed to take deferred fees to complete the
production".
Also instrumental is UK-based sales outfit HanWay, which took worldwide
rights after viewing footage from the first three weeks of production,
including the execution of King Charles I, played by Everett. HanWay and
its financing partners DZ Bank and Visionview, introduced to the project
by director Mike Barker's agency Peters Fraser & Dunlop, are thought to
be covering around $7.5 million. HanWay's investment includes putting up
an advance against Spain after IAC's original Spanish distributor failed
to materialise.
"Ten days to raise $20 million has got to be a record," said Peter
Watson, chief executive of the sales company's parent, Recorded Picture
Company.
Future Filmgroup is providing a sales and leaseback deal, deferring
costs at its post production operation and putting in equity worth
around $500,000.
***
Metro Tartan snares Fortissimo's Party Monster
Patrick Frater in Hong Kong April 05, 2002
Marking one of the highest profile deals at the Hong Kong Asia
Screenings, leading UK art-house distributor Metro Tartan has struck a
three picture deal with Fortissimo Film Sales.
The trio are headed by biopic Party Monster, which marks Metro Tartan's
biggest acquisition to date. Continuing its growing portfolio of Asian
pictures, Metro Tartan also grabbed rights to two Thai films;
psychological thriller The Eye and stylish gangster thriller One Take
Only.
The deal was negotiated by Metro Tartan's managing director Laura De
Casto Fortissimo executive Winnie Lau and co-founder Michael Werner.
De Casto said: "Party Monster was an irresistible package; great
production team, great script and a great cast." The film, which starts
shooting next week under the direction of documentarians Fenton Bailey
and Randy Barbato, is a biography of outrageous night club-owner Michael
Alig based on Disco Blood Bath by celebutante James St James. Produced
by Killer Films with backing from Ed Pressman and John Schmidt's
ContentFilm it stars Macauley Culkin and Chloe Sevigny. Marilyn Manson
has just been added to the cast as Alig's superstar Christina.
The Eye is produced by Hong Kong-based, pan-Asian production house
Applause Pictures and directed by two of the top cross-over talents
Danny and Oxide Pang. Oxide Pang's One Take Only, premiered at the
Bangkok festival in November and screened at January's Rotterdam
festival. "Danny and Oxide are two of the most fresh and dynamic young
directors from Asia. We want to develop an on-going relationship with
them. And we have made a commitment to supporting Asian the best of
Asian cinema both theatrically and through our Asia Extreme home
entertainment label," said De Casto.
Other deals concluded by Fortissimo on its Cannes hopeful Springtime In
A Small Town by Tian Zhuangzhuang which was sold to CineArt-CineLibre
and A-Film for Benelux and to Golden Screen for Malaysia.
***
Singing Horse strikes right note with China Star
Patrick Frater in Hong Kong April 08, 2002
Singing Horse Productions, a company owned by director Joe Ma Wai Ho
International Pacific Artists head Thomas Leong and producer Ivy Kong,
has struck a deal to produce three pictures for Hong Kong powerhouse
China Star Entertainment.
All three will be directed by Ma, who has notched up a string of
profitable low-medium budget pictures including Fighting For Love. China
Star will fully finance and hold world rights. Production is by Leong
and Kong.
The first film Lion Of The East River, a Chinese equivalent of
Shakespeare's Taming Of The Shrew, will shoot in June in China. It will
feature China Star contract star Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi (Twelve Nights,
The Legend Of Zu, Failan) and be made on a $2m (HK$16m) budget with a
yet to be announced Chinese co-producer.
Next up will be romantic comedy Catwalker about a regular guy who finds
himself becoming a male model. The third picture has yet to be
finalised.
Copyright EMAP Media Limited ©2002 - all rights reserved.
Jaime