Summary

TAPE: EF01/0630 IN_TIME: 17:37:43 DURATION: 11:20 SOURCES: APTN/Tele??? RESTRICTIONS: No re-use/re-sale of film/video/tv clips without clearance DATELINE: 31/08/01 to 02/09/01 SHOTLIST APTN Material - SEPT 1ST 1. GV men carrying AMFAR's red carpet in from rain 2. CU AMFAR sign with rain pouring over it 3. Dr Matilda Krim with Portia de Rossi 4. MS Krim with de Rossi 5. Tilt up Claudia Schiffer 6. Pull focus CU jewelled necklace 7. SOT Claudia Schiffer (German): "It happens very often in my life because I am working in the couture business and a lot of people which I have known die because of Aids, for example make-up artists, photographers, hairdressers I worked very close with. That's why I hope they find a vaccination against Aids pretty soon." 8. WS arrival Nicole Kidman 9. MS Kidman 10. MS Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend 11. Arrival Elizabeth Taylor 12. SOT Elizabeth Taylor: (Reporter: "Do you feel there's a danger with the young today that they are too blaise about it and not safe enough?") "I absolutely do. Because they don't like to use condoms because it doesn't feel as good but death feels much worse." 13. MS Elizabeth Taylor 14. Pan of dining room 15. MS Charlize Theron in a passionate embrace with her beau 16. WS Nicole Kidman walks to table 17. WS Elizabeth Taylor gets up and walks to stage 18. C/a diners 19. SOT Elizabeth Taylor: "Tonight at AMFAR we come to you with commitment and a vision. Please, please would you meet our vision with your money." 20. WS auctioneer starting bidding with Claudia Schiffer 21. GV necklace is sold to Francesco Lombardi (ex-boyfriend of Charlize Theron, Italian Miramax) APTN Material 22. GVs Nicole Kidman arriving at Casino Tele Material 23. WS presser 24. MS Kidman 25. SOT reporter: "One hero in a Chekhov play states that she likes tall men, apple pie, and the name Roland. What would you like?"" 26. SOT Nicole Kidman: "I'll take a tall man!" 27. Film Clip 'The Others' (Courtesy - Studio Canal Material) Tele Material 28. SOT Kidman (English) : "A week before we were about to start I asked Alejandro to let me not do the movie because I was scared to do it because I'd come off 'Moulin Rouge' which was a love story that was very light and it was operatic but it was heightened reality and this meant that I was going into this dark psychological place and I didn't want to do it." 29. C/a audience 30. SOT Kidman (English): "You know who Robbie Williams is here. Probably not. Yeah, we did 'Something Stupid', the Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra cover of that song. It was fun." APTN Material 31. GVs Martin Scorsese arriving at Casino Tele Material 32. GVs photocall for 'Monsoon Wedding' 33. Film clip 'Monsoon Wedding' (Courtesy Orfeo Films International material) APTN Material 34. SOT Mira Nair (English): "India is like that. It's all about density and layering and I love to do that cinematically, to layer and pack the frame in with all this stuff. To tell five interwoven stories was our agenda and to give people, I hope, a grand time, we wanted to really make a meditation on aspects of love, abusive love, dysfunctional love, old shoes love, the love of being married to a man for 25 years who doesn't want to sleep with you any more and then telling him quietly from the female angle." 35. GVs 'Monsoon' Wedding party 36 . Film clip 'Waking Life' (Courtesy 20th Century Fox) APTN Material 37. SOT Bob Sabiston (artistic director): "For me it's really the result of this technique I've been developing with the rotoscoping and it's just a continuation of these short films I've been making where you're animating from real life and taking the traditions of painting into the film world." 36. Film clip 'Waking Life' (Courtesy 20th Century Fox) APTN Material 37. SOT Richard Linklater (director): "I like characters in this case that are no less intelligent than an audience member so you have to meet them on their own terms. It sounds challenging but we do that all the time when we read. It's just in cinema. Why did cinema get so stupid?" 38. Film clip 'Agua e Sal' (Courtesy Gemini Films) APTN Material 39. B-roll Joaquim de Almeida 40. SOT Joaquim de Almeida (English): "Obviously while we were shooting she must have been going through some of the problems what her character was going through." 41. Film trailer 'Bully' (Courtesy Wild Bunch) APTN Material 42. SOT Larry Clark (Director (English): "It seemed like a very American story. It's something that can only happen in America where our children have so much time on their hands. They were middle class kids from good families and they were bored." 43. Film trailer 'Bully' (Courtesy Wild Bunch) APTN Material 44. SOT Brad Renfro (English): "Larry kicks ass. He tells the truth." 45. GVs Michael Cimino doing reading of his book 'Baby Jane' with cast of Bully 46. C/A audience Tele Material 47. GVs Nicole Kidman on Passerelle for premiere of 'The Others' APTN Material 48. Arrival Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington 49. SOT Ethan Hawke: "For me, it's really fun. I'm here with three couldn't be more completely different movies. One big mainstream studio drama, one very experimental movie of just three actors in one room and then one animated movie so it couldn't be more different." 50. Film clip 'Training Day' (Courtesy Warner Bros) APTN Material 51. SOT Denzel Washington (English): "He has to suffer because at one time the studio were like maybe he goes to jail.... And I was like 'no, no, no. I won't do the movie if he does that.' He has to pay in the worst way. " 52. Film clip 'Curse of the Jade Scorpion' (Courtesy Capitol Films) APTN Material 53. SOT Helen Hunt (English): "Any time I had a question or a suggestion he was honestly anxious to know what it was. He counts on the actress he hires will come up with strong ideas." APTN Material 54. GV Venice HOLLYWOOD STARS LIGHT UP DARK VENICE SKY Despite dark skies and torrential rain, the Venice Film Festival was lit up Saturday night (1SEPT01) by Hollywood stars, including Nicole Kidman, Elizabeth Taylor and Charlize Theron, who shone brightly for the cause celeb that is the AMFAR Aids charity. Benefits for the The American Foundation For Aids Research, which boasts Elizabeth Taylor as a patron, are an annual event at both the Cannes and Venice film festivals and are guaranteed to bring out the stars. Elizabeth Taylor was quick to warn youngsters about the dangers of being ignorant about Aids, the world's fastest growing disease which has taken many millions of lives around the globe. "They don't like to use condoms," said Taylor on the red carpet, "because it doesn't feel so good. But death feels even worse." Kidman, in an elegant silver-colored and white dress, posed for photographers before joining Taylor's table for dinner. The Australian actress appears in two festival films, Alejandro Amenabar's 'The Others' and Jez Butterworth's out-of-competition 'Birthday Girl.' For Charlize Theron it was another opportunity to show off Irish actor Stuart Townsend, the new man she has been presenting to the paparazzi since touching down at Venice airport. She was also accompanied by her mother. The 26-year-old South African actress stars in Woody Allen's out-of-competition 'The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.' Supermodel Claudia Schiffer stepped up to give a hand with the traditional AMFAR benefit auction, and used all her feminine powers of persuasion to coax bids from the male members of the audience for the jewels on sale. The jewels went for 27,000 dollars - to an old flame of Charlize Theron's. Among other stars who turned out in support of the cause were Ally McBeal star Portia de Rossi, Lady Helen Taylor, Bijou Phillips, and South American singer Alexandre Pires, who performed later on in the evening. Participants paid from 1,500 to 50,000 dollars to attend. THE OTHERS - PRESS CONFERENCE Nicole Kidman continued to be the centre of attention at Venice on Sunday (2SEPT01) when she was pursued by paparazzi to the much anticipated press conference for her competition film 'The Others'. 'The Others' is written and directed by popular Spanish filmmaker, ALEXJANDRO AMEN?BAR ('Open Your Eyes', 'Butterfly Tongues'). The dark film tells the story of a pious English woman whose children suffer from a rare disease which means they can't be exposed to sunlight. Set on the island of Jersey in 1945, Grace's (Kidman) husband has not returned from the front and she is bringing up her children alone in a remote Victorian mansion, within the menacing constraints of her strict religious principles. Her young son and daughter (ALKINA MAN, JAMES BENTLEY, both making their feature film debuts) suffer from the strange illness and when three new servants join the family, they must learn a vital rule: the house must always be kept in semidarkness; no door opened before the previous one is closed. But they fail to stick to Grace's rigorous order, sparking off an unexpected chain reaction. In their isolation, they discover they are not alone: there is a ghostly presence in their house. Although it is set on the British Channel island of Jersey, 'The Others' was filmed in Madrid and Santander, on Spain's northern coast, and cost $20 million to produce. Amenabar has said that the idea for the film was influenced by Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock movies, and he has created a chilling piece of storytelling. Kidman's previous films have included ' Eyes Wide Shut', 'The Peacemaker' and 'Far and Away'. It's the first time Kidman has made a film in this genre, but she was keen to work with the director. Kidman was also asked about her forthcoming roles on the London stage. She is set to return to work with Sam Mendes at the Donmar Wharehouse, where she famously starred nude in 'The Blue Room', as well as teaming up with the director of the UK's National Theatre, Trevor Nunn. But Kidman was unable to reveal any details because, she said, "Sam would kill me!". Nicole Kidman will be in London this evening (3AUG01) for the premiere of Moulin Rouge, directed by Baz Luhrmann. 'The Others' also stars FIONNULA FLANAGAN ('Waking Ned', 'Ulysses'), CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON ('Gone In 60 Seconds', 'Elizabeth') and veteran British performer ERIC SYKES ('Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines'). 'The Others' is the American directorial debut for young Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar who was responsible for the acclaimed film 'Open Your Eyes' ('Abre Los Ojos'), which starred Penelope Cruz and has recently been Americanised by director Cameron Crowe as 'Vanilla Sky', starring - yes, you've guessed it, Tom Cruise. MONSOON WEDDING One of the hottest tips to win the main competition is the Indian film 'Monsoon Wedding', which as the title indicates, is about a wedding during the Indian monsoon season, in New Delhi. The story surrounds the Punjabi Verma family as they prepare for a last minute marriage that will also bring together a family scattered across the globe. The movie traces five intersecting stories concerning members of the family with themes ranging from love and class to morality and loyalty. The family's hopes, anxieties and secrets all gush out amid the preparations and when the monsoon rain finally comes, there are even more revelations and romances. According to critics, 'Monsoon Wedding' portrays modern, cosmopolitan India in a way that hasn't been presented to the Western world before. The cast and crew of the film last night celebrated their glowing reviews by throwing a big knees-up at the Excelsior Hotel. MARTIN SCORSESE Legendary director Martin Scorsese was also in Venice Saturday (1SEPT01) promoting his pet project, The Film Foundation, at a press conference at the festival's Casino. The Film Foundation, of which Scorsese is the President, was set up to preserve films from the past that either through time or negligence would otherwise be lost or destroyed. Supporters of the project include Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, George Lucas, Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg. The two films being shown at the festival are rare examples of Italian American movies which were made to make up for the dearth of Italian motion pictures in the States at the beginning of the 1930s. He talked about the project and later on he will be presenting two films from the foundation, CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION The press conference for 'Curse of the Jade Scorpion' followed swiftly on from 'The Others' premiere but, despite marshalling Charlize Theron and Oscar winner Helen Hunt, was somewhat overshadowed by the earlier appearance of Nicole Kidman. And the hype generators where also not helped by the total absence of writer, director and star, Woody Allen. 'The Curse of the Jade Scorpion' takes Allen back to a period he knows well - the 1940s - where he plays CW Briggs, the top insurance investigator in 1940s New York. Or that's what he keeps telling his new colleague, the top efficiency expert, Betty Ann Fitz Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt). Briggs prides himself on being able to crack any insurance caper by getting into the mind of the thief, but when a hypnotist waves the precious jewel entitled the Jade Scorpion in front of Briggs, suddenly Briggs' mind is turned into the mind of a thief without his knowledge. Allen has directed and written more than 30 films, at the rate of one a year, and says he always has more ideas for films than he has time to make them. Among his best-known are 'Annie Hall', 'Manhattan', 'Hannah and Her Sisters', 'Broadway Danny Rose', 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' and 'Small Time Crooks'. Winning an Oscar playing opposite Jack Nicholson in 'As Good As It Gets' turned Helen Hunt into one of Hollywood's most sought after actresses. She has since starred opposite Mel Gibson in 'What Women Want', with Tom Hanks in 'Cast Away' and with Richard Gere in Robert Altman's 'Dr T and The Women'. Dan Aykroyd has starred in some of the most popular comedies of the last two decades, including 'Ghostbusters', 'Trading Places' and 'Blues Brothers'. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in 'Driving Miss Daisy'. Charlize Theron most recently appeared in 'The Legend of Bagger Vance', 'Men of Honor' and 'The Yards'. Other credits include 'The Cider House Rules' and 'Mighty Joe Young'. She previously worked with Woody Allen on 'Celebrity'. Actor David Ogden Stiers (TV's 'MASH') has co-starred in several Allen projects, and says he never passes up the opportunity to work with the director. Stretching her acting talents in a new direction, meanwhile, as another cast member of 'Jade Scorpion' is a dressed down Elizabeth Berkley ('Showgirls', 'Any Given Sunday'). WAKING LIFE A refreshing new style of movie hit the festival Sunday (3SEPT01) when one of the darlings of this year's Sundance Film Festival, 'Waking Life', was shown. 'Waking Life' may have been filmed like most movies, but that's because the picture's unique quality was added afterwards - not by the computer special effects boffins at Industrial Light and Magic, but by real artists who painted by hand every frame of film. However, the quirkiness of the film doesn't stop there as the movie is constructed out of small sections of philosophical ideas and metaphysical theories. These sections either stand independent from the main storyline of the film, or they appear in the form of professors, theorists or just passers-by who approach the main character, Wiley Wiggins, as he wanders through the world of his dreams. Wiggins finds himself unable to leave the dream world, raising the questions about whether he is in fact alive or dead - which is another basic philosophical conundrum: how can we ever know that what we experience is real? Richard Linklater, the director of 'Waking Life', was responsible for 'Dazed and Confused', 'Slacker', 'Suburbia', and 'The Newton Boys'. Many of the actors of those films, like Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke appear once again as some of the theorists or philosophical conversationalists - even the main character Wiley Wiggins, which is also the name of the actor, appeared as Mitch Kramer in 'Dazed and Confused'. The painted style of the film is courtesy of computer animation savant Bob Sabiston who created the unique 'interpolated rotoscoping' software that helped the artists create the effects in 'Waking Life'. AGUA E SAL Personal controversy dogged the premiere of 'Agua e Sal' ('Water and Salt') whose Portuguese director, Teresa Villaverde, has been accused by her husband of kidnapping their daughter. Jon Jost, director of 'Frame Up', has demanded that the film, which stars their daughter, be taken out of the Venice lineup and competition. Apparently fearing personal questions, Villaverde canceled an appearance at the film's press conference Friday (31AUG01) at the last minute. Producer Paulo Branco cited personal reasons. "It is essential that her private life be distinct from the professional one," said the press release circulated to journalists around the festival. 'Water and Salt,' Villaverde's fourth feature, is described as a woman's search for herself as she tries to come to terms with the end of her marriage. According to Joaquim de Almeida, who is a close friend of Villaverde, the film was based on the Portuguese director's personal experiences during filming, when she would lose her temper with actress Galatea Ranzi for not portraying the troubled woman Ana as the director had envisioned. Ironically one of the two storylines in 'Agua e Sal' is about Ana's quest to retrieve her kidnapped daughter from her estranged husband (Joaquim de Almeida). BULLY Larry Clark's 'Bully' shocked Venice to its foundations earlier this week with the frank portrayal of a gruesome murder carried out by a group of respectable teenagers in Florida some years ago. The movie tells the story of two good-looking small town slackers, Bobby and Marty (Nick Stahl and Brad Renfro) who have been lifelong friends and who spend their spare time taking drugs, hustling cash from homosexuals and doing dead-end jobs. Bobby treats Marty like a toy, dominating him and destroying his self-esteem, until one day the pair meet up with two beautiful rich girls, Lisa and Ali (Rachel Miner and Bijou Philips) on the beach. They decide to go on a double date together, where Ali is viciously humiliated by Bobby whilst Marty and Lisa begin a relationship. Marty's feelings for Lisa get stronger and when she falls pregnant, Lisa encourages Marty to stand up for himself. She tells friends and aquaintances that Bobby has raped her and consistently abused Marty - and needs to be dealt with. Rather than avoid him, or go to the police, her answer is to plot a murder. She draws six friends and aquaintances into her plan - including sometime teenage prostitute Ali, Ali's boyfriend Donny (Michael Pitt), and a young girl just out of rehab called Heather (Kelli Garner). Lisa and Ali contact a hitman (played by Leo Fitzpatrick - 'Kids') to get them guns. At 23, Fitzpatrick is one of the oldest members of the cast. The film was shot in and around the neighborhoods where Bobby Kent lived and died, and some of the film crew had been at high school with the teens. Stahl explains they took him to the area Bobby had grown up - Broward County, a suburb much like any other. The attack sent ripples through the community, stunning neighbours and crushing parents. Locals say what they found most shocking was that it was a group of middle class, suburban kids who carried out the brutal ambush, pointing to lack of parental guidance, boredom and drugs. 'Bully' isn't the first time a Larry Clark film has created waves - he scooped the Cannes Palme d'Or with his harsh portrayal of street kids living in Manhattan, 'Kids'. Aside from making films, Clark is a photographer, artist and writer, with his focus always being on the youth of America, whether it be teenagers with AIDS, speed freaks, or young criminals. The group involved in the murder or Bobby Kent were convicted, but have never repented for the crime. MICHAEL CIMINO On the avant-garde side of the festival, Oscar winning director Michael Cimino of 'The Deerhunter' fame was here to present his first novel, 'Big Jane'. Cimino paired up on the stage with 'Bully' stars Bijou Philips and Brad Renfro to give a seated reading from his new novel. Set in the 50s, 'Big Jane' tells the adventures of a young woman, 19 year old Jane Kerinan, who Cimino says he based on a real-life Big Jane. In the novel, Jane, together with Billy McBain, a motorcyclist and poet, leaves home and crosses the vast spaces of the Montana and Dakota plains in search of a new life. Cimino has had a career of magnificent ups and terrible downs - his 1978 movie 'The Deerhunter' won 5 Oscars while his 1981 'Heaven's Gate' went hugely over budget and almost bankrupted the production company - but as the author of over 40 screenplays, he has never suffered from writer's block. In fact, he claims that he doesn't follow trends in deciding what stories to tell, and that his aim is to introduce the reader or audience to people they have never met before and to places they have never been. THE OTHERS - PREMIERE Nicole Kidman revelled on the Passerelle Saturday night (1SEPT01) at the premiere of 'The Others' at the Venice Film Festival, spending plenty of time meeting and greeting fans before going in to see the late night screening of the movie. After the screening, the Australian actress unexpectedly turned out at one o'clock in the morning for the party opposite the Des Bains hotel where she chatted with guests until three in the morning. See 'The Others' - Press Conference above for details of the film. TRAINING DAY Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke boosted the star power of Venice as they arrived for the launch of their latest project 'Training Day.' 'Training Day' isn't Ethan Hawke's only film at the festival. There's also the aforementioned 'Waking Life', but the two films couldn't be more different. In 'Waking Life' he appears as a man discussing reincarnation with his lover Julie Delpy (his co-star in the Richard Linklater film 'Before Sunrise'), while 'Training Day' sees him playing a rookie cop called Jake Hoyt who is being escorted around by veteran cop, Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington), on his first brutal day with LAPD's tough inner-city narcotics unit. When Hoyt discovers that Harris is corrupt along with many other members of the unit, he has to decide whether to turn away from the corruption or accept it. 'Training Day' is director Antoine Fuqua's second film. He made his debut with 'Replacement Killers, which starred Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino.