JANUARY 2005
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27th January 2005
Happy Birthday/Anniversary CM!
- I'm a day late, but yesterday
marked Catherine Martin's 40th birthday as well as her 8th wedding anniversary
to Baz Luhrmann! It was also Australia Day, so celebrations all round! 
Craig Armstrong Update
- Congratulations to Craig Armstrong, whose many works include Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge soundtracks, for scoring a BAFTA nomination this year! This news was announced in the latest e-mail newsletter sent directly from Armstrong's excellent official website. I will post this latest update on my Craig Armstrong page, where I am keeping a log. :-)
If anyone is lucky enough to see any of Armstrong's performances detailed below, please feel free to e-mail me with your comments. His official website is even giving away free tickets to his performance in New York City on 1st February 2005! And, also, best of luck to Armstrong at the BAFTA awards!
"BAFTA NOMINATION
Craig receives his 3rd Bafta nomination for the film Ray. The nomination is for the
Anthony Asquith award for Achievement in film music. Craig is thrilled to have been nominated!
LIVE DATES!
Craig Armstrong will be performing two extremely rare concerts in the United States on January 26th at the
Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and February 1st at the Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, NYC.
On both evenings Craig will be playing material from his latest Sanctuary release,
'Piano Works', his most beautifully compelling solo work to date. Craig will be
accompanied by AGF, fans will be aware of AGF from her work on 'Piano Works' and for their beautiful
collaboration together on 'Waltz' from 'As If To Nothing', Craig's 2nd solo album.
Tickets are available for the Sundance gig at the festival itself. Details for the performance as follows: 8:30 pm – 9 pm Sundance Music Café, Park City Utah, located at the Star Bar. There will be a screening of Craig's film from 8pm – 8:30 pm prior to his set.
On Tuesday 1st February Craig will be performing to an
exclusive invited audience in the Weil recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, NYC. We would like to offer 5x pairs of tickets to
www.craigarmstrong.com fans. If you are over 18 years old and able to attend the Carnegie Hall, concert please email
your contact details to Nielem@iemusic.co.uk with the words 'Carnegie Hall' in the subject. 5 winners will be
chosen at random and will be invited to the performance with a guest. You need to email your name, date of birth,
address. Proof of ID will be required at the performance."
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21st January 2005
'Moulin Rouge' memories
- As we await a decision from Luhrmann regarding the future of ATG and his plans for 2005, I thought this would be a good time to reflect on his most recent film. Moulin Rouge is my favourite instalment of Luhrmann's Red Curtain Trilogy, which three years ago took home three Golden Globe awards. The 2002 Golden Globe ceremony took place on 20th January, and Moulin Rouge was awarded Best Picture - Musical or Comedy, Best Actress - Musical or Comedy for Nicole Kidman, and Best Original Score for Craig Armstrong. The film also received three further nominations - Best Actor for Ewan McGregor, Best Original Song for Come What May, and Best Director for Baz Luhrmann. While watching the 2005 Golden Globe awards last weekend, I couldn't help but reflect on the 2002 ceremony and wondered when we would see a Luhrmann film honoured again...
Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox UK has re-released the Romeo + Juliet/Moulin Rouge box set as part of the 'Romance Collection' for Valentine's Day 2005. This new Region 2 box set has a brand new cover, and it is excellent to see these titles are still being heavily promoted by Fox. More details can be found on the relevant webpage here.
'My Shakespeare' update
- As has been stated on my My Shakespeare page, as far as I know, the UK premiere of My Shakespeare on 27th December 2004 was the first and only screening of the programme. A few weeks ago, I e-mailed Channel 4 and asked them 1) if it will be repeated on British television, 2) if it will be shown outside of the UK and, if so, when and where, 3) if it will be released on DVD, and 4) is a full recording of the performance of Romeo and Juliet available?
Today, I received a reply from Viewer
Enquiries, which read as follows:
"There are no plans to repeat this programme at present, I am afraid. We do not
know yet, if it will be released on DVD. There is no recording available of the actors performance of Romeo and Juliet."
The information officer apologised for not being able to provide more information, but I can't help but feel disheartened by this response. It has now been confirmed there are no plans to repeat My Shakespeare on UK television. Since this was a British production, it seems unlikely the programme will be screened elsewhere in the world any time soon. Channel 4 does not know of a DVD release, and there is no recording of the actor's performance of the play. My Shakespeare was not a Bazmark Inq production, and was instead produced by Shine Limited. I guess we can only hope that this production company eventually decides to market the programme? In the meantime, I will post this information on the relevant section of my site. If anyone has any further details, please feel free to contact me.
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17th January 2005
'Alexander' movie review
- It's taken me all week to get it posted online, but I have finally finished my Alexander review! The film opened here in the UK on 7th January 2005, and I went along to a session a couple of days later to finally find out what all the fuss is about. I have now created a separate Alexander movie review page which can be accessed through my ATG section, or simply by clicking here.
Meanwhile, Australian newspaper, The Age, today published an article regarding Stone's Alexander and the implications it may have regarding the future of historical epics in Hollywood. The article is self explanatory, but the final paragraph indicates that the writer of the article believes it is not likely that Luhrmann's ATG will go ahead.
US tunes out of tunic revival
By Phillip McCarthy
January 17, 2005
"The advertising tagline for Alexander, Oliver Stone's entry in Hollywood's burgeoning swords and sandals revival, was "fortune favours the bold". It didn't quite work out that way in Stone's home country, America, although the film has done much better in Europe and Asia.
Even before its release in big markets such as the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Australia, the film had made more money in the rest of the world ($US43 million - $A56 million - and counting) than it did in the US ($US33 million and spluttering). Stone blamed Americans' ignorance of, and lack of interest in, ancient history.
"I have to start with American apathy to ancient history because it's real," he said. "Where there is a knowledge of and appreciation of Alexander the Great, the film has done very well. And so far, quite frankly, that's included countries as diverse as Morocco and Poland. Americans don't really know, aren't really interested."
Stone has a point - Variety estimated that the film is on track to make $US100 million outside the US - but that won't count for much at home. The Oscars will ignore the epic, if only for Colin Farrell's unflattering blond coiffure and for the film's meandering three-hour running time. And Stone didn't soft-pedal Alexander's bisexuality either, which won't help in a country that has become more conservative.
Does the fact that Stone mishandled the material give new life to the rival Alexander project Australia's Baz Luhrmann was trying to get made? Probably not. Alexander's underwhelming US performance - and that of last year's other ancient epic, Troy, probably means Hollywood won't be too anxious to shell out big bucks on another swords and sandals."
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16th January 2005
Baz and CM in Sydney
- Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin are currently residing in their home town of Sydney and were spotted by the media out and about last week. The couple were photographed (above) at the Sydney Festival attended the opening night of The Black Rider (click here for the related article). They also attended the show's after party (click here for the related article). Furthermore, the couple were present at the baptism of baby Estella, daughter of Australian celebrities Collette Dinnigan and Richard Wilkins (click here for the related article).
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5th January 2005
Stone's 'Alexander' & Luhrmann's 'Alx'
- As we enter the New Year, Oliver Stone's Alexander continues to be released at cinemas throughout the world. Alexander opens here in the UK this Friday, and I look forward to finally having the opportunity to see the film for myself. According to the largely negative press I've read so far, I most probably will not be able to write a very favourable review of this movie. However, I do intend to write a review of Stone's Alexander once I have seen the movie.
As for Luhrmann's ATG, there is still hope for this project according to an Australian article published by The Daily Telegraph. The article mainly focuses on Stone's Alexander, with Stone admitting he is "dismayed by the widespread attacks on the film". His words could be genuine, although the article hints that Stone's comments could actually be a clever marketing ploy. Whatever the case, there is information about Luhrmann's production near the end. The article reads as follows:
Top of the movie flops
January 03, 2005
"GET ready for a real stinker later this month - and it has nothing to do with a hot Sydney summer.
The year's first movie epic, Oliver Stone's Alexander, opens on January 20, and it's already shaping up as one of the biggest box-office flops in film history.
The $200 million toga epic has bombed big time overseas. Now even the director is talking it down, apologising for the biggest flop of his career.
Panned by audiences and critics alike, Alexander is being pulled from theatres in the US after taking just $42 million in more than a month - even less than its $51 million marketing budget.
Stone said at the weekend he was "dismayed" by the widespread attacks on the film, which he admitted was too long, didn't tell the story of Alexander the Great very well and was too focused on outing the ancient Greek hero.
A group of Greek lawyers have threatened to sue film distributor Warner Bros for depicting Alexander as bisexual, with star Colin Farrell sporting blond hair and waxed legs and openly kissing two men in the three-hour epic.
The biopic has been dubbed Queer Eye for the Macedonian Guy, but Stone insists the film is historically accurate and reflects the pagan rituals of around 330BC, when the Macedonian king captured Persia.
"I still think it's a beautiful movie, but Alexander deserves better than I gave him," said Stone, the director of JFK.
"There was clear resistance to his homosexuality. It became the headline to the movie.
"They called him Alexander the Gay. That's horribly discriminatory, but the film simply didn't open in the Bible belt. Kids weren't comfortable with men who hugged or a king who cried and expressed tenderness."
In what could also be a clever marketing ploy, Stone said he "failed to communicate" the story.
It is understood Australian distributors have no plans to cut back on the number of screens Alexander will play on.
Stone could not film in Greece because of the Greek Government's objections to his portrayal of Alexander, a prodigy of Greek philosopher Aristotle who was king of the Macedonians at 20 and ruled the Persian empire by 30. He died at 32.
One critic wrote: "Easily the most fantastic self-destruction I have witnessed in years, Alexander is sordid evidence of what happens when Hollywood producers, burned-out directors and unenthused stars stand in a circle and set fire to $150 million.
"The real Alexander isn't just rolling in his grave, he's clawing his decayed eyes out."
Australian director Baz Luhrmann's own Alexander the Great project, with a working title Alx, is still on the drawing board.
The Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom director "still intends to make it", a spokesman said.
"He currently has a number of projects in development and he has yet to decide which will be next on his slate,"
the spokesman said.
Stone, who hasn't made a film in five years, said he had dreamed of making Alexander since film school and was devastated by the ferocity of the critics' attacks on him."
As highlighted above, this article indicates that a spokesman has said that Luhrmann still intends to make his ATG film but, at the same time, he currently has a number of projects in development and has not yet decided which project he will do next. So, it would appear that, as I kept stressing last year, Luhrmann's ATG is indeed still very much a possibility.
Furthermore, the highlighted text above states that Luhrmann's ATG project now has a working title of Alx. I do remember reading something about this new title late last year, but I did not want to report it until further confirmation had been made. If true, I consider Alx to be a rather strange choice of title! I had previously understood that the whole reason Stone called his movie 'Alexander' was because Luhrmann and co. were already planning to use 'Alexander the Great'. But now? It seems they have changed their minds? I am curious to know how this working title came about. Hopefully, there will be more to report regarding Alx soon! :-)
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