Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Casting for extras is speeding

According to Lloyd Gilbert, a regular poster on the google forum, "I have it on reasonably believable authority that a colleague of a friend of mine is going to be in The Movie. She's cast as an alien. Via the medium of emailing my friend, who then emailed his colleague, who then emailed back to my friend, who then emailed back to me, I've been able to ascertain the following information:
1. She doesn't yet know what sort of alien she will be. 2. She got the part via the means of: "some scout found my info from iam.bmezine.com" 3. She'll be filming in June/July kind of time, on a set in London on Carnaby Street. 4. She's not sure what scene(s) she will be in.

When I asked if it was OK to use her name in this posting, the reply was : "Nope no publicity please.. or you could say Bravo's world of pain girlie does hitchhikers.. " Which my friend translates this to mean that his colleague has been on TV before, apparently she "had a branding" done."

It's of course not an isolated or surprising case. Let's remember that the shooting starts the 19th april in London. MJ Simpson, well known Douglas' biographer and fan, has told in the same thread that "A friend of a friend of mine has been cast as a Vogon". Wow! I really dont want to see what he looks like!

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Various little news from Hollywood and beyond !

Sorry for the lack of news' updates these last weeks but there was nothing terribly exciting going on in Hollywood regarding our (already) beloved movie (and i was honestly a little busy !). Of course it could be only calm before the tempest. The beginning of the shooting is still due to begin the 19th April so in now less than one month !

SOME NEW NAMES

The biggest news was certainly the announcement on imdb.com of two new persons being involved in the movie thing. The director of Photography Igor Jadue-Lillo (an English guy who has already worked a lot with Hammer & Tongs) and English editor Niven Howie (The Hole, Dawn of the Dead...) are the newcomers. Niven Howie has won a Bafta for the Best editing (Lock, Stock and two smocking barrels) a Grammy award (for a video with Sting) and has been nominated for an Emmy Awards with "Back in the USA - Paul McCartney tour" (which would have certainly pleased Douglas a lot - Douglas was a great fan of McCartney). As you have maybe already noticed, I have of course updated straight away the "who'who in the movie" page.

DOUGLAS' FAMILY VISIT THE STUDIO

Douglas’ family (mother, sisters, brother and daughter) came to the Studio on Friday 12th march and, according to executive producer Robbie Stamp, they "were very moved and delighted by what they saw. I think its fair to say that we have the Estate/Family’s full support for what is going on!".

THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE STILL ON THE WAY

Robbie Stamp is still closely working on the official h2g2 movie website with the guys at Disney. We should see the result of their work soon online.

MARTIN FREEMAN GIVES LITTLE AWAY ABOUT H2G2 IN HIS INTERVIEWS

Martin Freeman (Arthur) did some interviews lately, but is still not talking much about h2g2. His interview in The Observer at the end of February was interesting but he talked mainly about The Office' incredible success ("the most significant British sitcom since Fawlty Towers" according to the journalist). About the hitchhiker's guide, he just says that “We had the books at home when I was a kid and I’d always liked it without being mental about it, which I think is probably the best way to approach the film, because it means I’m not deferring to it too much. I think it’s a good story rather than the thing I’ve been waiting all my life to play.”

Douglas' brother tells us more about Douglas' family visit to Elstree Studio

As I told in the previous news, Douglas’ family (mother, sisters, brother and daughter) came to Elstree Studio on Friday 12th march and, according to executive producer Robbie Stamp, they "were very moved and delighted by what they saw. I think its fair to say that we have the Estate/Family’s full support for what is going on!".

James Thrift, Douglas' brother, kindly told me more about this event : "We were at Elstree about 2 weeks ago and spent the morning with Robbie, Nick and Garth. It must be very hard for these guys to finally put something down on film that has been the product of so many imaginations for so many years; we all have "the real" Arthur Dent in our heads.

Well Nick and Garth have to give us their view of Arthur, Ford and all the others, and just hope that the wider world out there are entertained by the product. They also had to share it all with Douglas' family, those of us who have been with this "thing" since it emerged from the room at the end of the corridor all those years ago, and you must remember that until now very few if any major hitchhiker projects have occurred where Douglas has not held considerable control.

Well, as Robbie has said, we all loved it, the ideas, the casting, the whole project and those working on it seem to have a very Douglas feel to them. Everyone seems so determined to create something he would have loved.

We have a saying of having "Douglas" moments, moments when something happens that "is just so Douglas". Recently Robbie Mcintosh getting the Norah Jones gig, that was a very Douglas moment, he would have been ecstatic.

I had suspected that I might see things on the set/ in the art department that wouldn't be my "image" of that scene, not my take on that situation, and sure enough there were a couple. What I did not expect was to leave feeling so comfortable inside that this film is in safe, or should I say the best hands.
So sit back, put your feet up, and get ready for a 2 hour Douglas moment at a cinema near you soon. "

Slartibartfast has officially been cast

After months of wait, the british actor Bill Nighy (recently seen in "Love Actualy") will definitly and officially play our old planet designer, Slartbibartfast.

As Nighy said to BBCi films when his name was first anounced : "I'm a big fan of the book and the people who are making it are very cool people and I think they're going to do a good job," says Nighy. "It's a really good script. It's really, really faithful (to the book). All the jokes are there and they're big fat jokes. It's wonderful. And with all the technology we have now, it can not only be a big satisfying comedy but I figure it could be quite exciting as well."

Saturday, March 6, 2004

Nick Goldmsith announces that Asylum will make the SFX on the movie

For the first time since the announcement of their official implication in the h2g2 movie last october, Nick Goldsmith has writen an entry on Hammer & Tong's official website : "So we are just 6 weeks away from the start of shooting on Hitchhikers. All is going extremely well, and the team is stronger than ever check out ASYLUM who are doing all of our SFX on the film."

Like Hammer & Tongs themselves, or Shynola the team which will make the guide entry graphics, Asylum is an english team and has worked a lot in advertising. But unlike Hammer & Tongs and Shynola, they are a much older and more established company.

Asylum is "established for 20 years, Asylum has an unrivaled reputation for world-class model making and special effects. Consistently delivering exemplary standards of design, engineering and craftsmanship for film, television, exhibition and events. Asylum are responsible for the BBC2 identities, much of the Body Zone at the Millennium Dome, the fully workable figures and vehicles for the Bob the Builder LIVE! stage show as well as countless feature films and well-known TV commercials for Reebok, Guinness, BT, BP, Mercedes, BMW and Shell. Purpose built facilities allow most projects and processes to be developed and handled on-site. As well as extensive engineering and construction facilities, our workshops include modelmaking, costume, fabrication and molding departments, whilst our in-house CAD design/CNC facilities allows rapid protyping. Asylum also offer a number of costumes and rigs for hire. Please contact us for more information and for daily rates."

Here is Asylum website : CLICK HERE