Heya

Closer is being released in the UK on the 14th (we also get it here in South Africa on the same day) so we could be seeing some goodies coming from the UK in the next week. Much like this new Guardian article. Here’s an excerpt:

Her next project, however, has taken her back to Israel, which she considers to be her true home (her father is Israeli and her family moved to the US when she was three). Plans to make The Smoking Room with Slacker director Richard Linklater have been “put off indefinitely”, and work is just beginning on a film with Israeli director Amos Gitai. Appropriately, she is to play a Jewish-American girl, and has been busy steeping herself in her native country’s history and culture, not only as research but also to explore her own heritage: she has been studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has just finished a novel by David Grossman and is working her way through Yitzhak Rabin’s memoirs. While everything in Israel is political, she says, the film is not explicitly so. She speaks passionately about the conflict, but for her, “living in Israel is really beautiful. One of the most shocking things is how peaceful it feels.”

I hope The Smoking Room (aka The Smoker) will still happen at some point but it’s nice seeing her do something close to her heart. Thanks to Kerry.

Speaking of her new project, Free Zone, this blurb tells us that Juliette Binoche and Carmen Maura are also starring. Thanks to Eric.

JC found some good news about how Garden State is doing on rental and in DVD sales. Check it out over here.

And finally, here is the official press release for V for Vendetta.

The Wachowski Brothers and Joel Silver, the creators and producer of the revolutionary, $1.6 billion-grossing “Matrix” trilogy, will unleash the action thriller “V For Vendetta” for Silver Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, with Natalie Portman (“Star Wars: Episodes I-III,” “Closer,” “Garden State”) set to star.

“Natalie Portman is one of the most gifted actresses working today, and we’re thrilled that she is bringing her extraordinary talents and presence to this film,” Silver said.

Set in the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, “V For Vendetta” stars Portman as a young woman who becomes the unlikely ally of a mysterious revolutionary.

“With ‘V For Vendetta,’ the Wachowski Brothers have created an uncompromising vision of the future driven by a totally original superhero,” said Silver.

The screenplay by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski is based on the acclaimed graphic novel “V For Vendetta” by author Alan Moore (“The Watchmen,” “Swamp Thing”) and illustrator David Lloyd. Originally collected by DC Comics as a ten-part series in 1988, “V For Vendetta” has been praised for its vision, potency and eloquence. Moore is widely considered to be one of the finest comic writers of all time, and has been credited with single-handedly expanding the potential of the comic book medium with his work.

Produced by Joel Silver, Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, “V For Vendetta” will be directed by James McTeigue, who served as the First Assistant Director on the “Matrix” trilogy.

“V For Vendetta” will be filmed on location in Berlin beginning in early March and will be released in the Fall of 2005 by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Alright, that’s all for now.