"Articles 2005 archive"

Top 10 Canadian films announce by Bruce Kirkland.

Toronto Sun, 14 December 2005

Three of the country's most acclaimed filmmakers -- Deepa Mehta, David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan -- all made the 2005 list of Canada's Top Ten films.

They are joined by an elite group of Quebecois talents as well as fresh faces from the rest of Canada.

The 10 winners were named yesterday by the Toronto International Film Festival Group, which administers the program and selects an independent jury of filmmakers, academics, programmers and film critics (including yours truly -- your faithful Toronto Sun scribe).

Mehta earned the honour for Water, a solid theatrical hit and the third in her elemental trilogy of films about her homeland of India.

Cronenberg made it for A History Of Violence, a U.S. film shot in Toronto, but cited because it so powerfully explores what jury member and critic Martin Bilodeau calls "the depths of the American social fabric."

Egoyan is on the list again for Where The Truth Lies, his controversial film noir, another story set in the U.S.

Overall, the selections are a snapshot of the country's diversity, including the mature Quebec film industry. Four titles on the list come from La Belle

Province: Jean-Marc Vallee's wildly entertaining C.R.A.Z.Y., Louise Archambault's edgy Familia, Ricardo Trogi's droll Horloge Biologique (Dodging The Clock) and Bernard Emond's elegant reverie about faith, La Neuvaine.

Two other English-langage dramas were honoured: Michael Mabbott's gonzo music-driven The Life And Hard Times Of Guy Terrifico and Aubrey Nealon's thoughtful search for self-identity, A Simple Curve.

The one documentary cited this year is veteran Toronto filmmaker Allan King's ode to the aged, Memory For Max, Claire, Ida And Company.

The 10 films will screen in Toronto from Jan. 27 to Feb. 5 with intros and Q&A sessions with some of the directors. There are also three panel discussions set. Info is at 416-968-FILM and on the web at www.topten.ca.

The importance of being Darcy by Mary Beth Ellis (really funny!)

MSNBC, 11 November 2005

I was speaking to an older colleague about the latest essay I was writing; I informed her it concerned a new movie based on ”Pride and Prejudice,“ which she last read at approximately the same time the Earth was first cooling.

And first words out of her mouth were: ”Oh! Mr. Darcy!“

Yes, Mr. Darcy. Thanks loads, Jane Austen, for ruining generations of perfectly good women with your ballgowns and your rolling barouches and your Mr. Darcy. Many are the ladies who wait in vain for their own personal, portable Darcy, complete with estate in Derbyshire.

The number has increased since 1995, when Colin Firth took on the role for a BBC miniseries. Colin was Action Figure Darcy. He fences! He swims! He bathes! Naked! He gives and fixes and scowls and rides his horse and just in general Firths all over the place, and we are much the better for it.

He also stares, a lot. There is a great deal of staring on the part of Darcy, mostly at Elizabeth Bennet, who occasionally stares back, which in the Regency era I suppose was the equivalent of text messaging.

A difficult act to follow

Primarily, what sets Colin apart from all other Darcys is his hair. It truly is wonderful hair. The man rides thither and yon — sometimes yon twice in the same scene — and not once does he suffer hathead.

You kind of get the feeling that Darcy, in college, was not a frat boy. He wasn’t showing up at your doorstep with Game Cube and a 12-pack of Natural Light and calling it a romantic evening. Darcy would at least change out of the ball cap he had been wearing for the past eight consecutive days first. He’s a difficult act to follow.

But now the Lord has now bestowed upon us a new incarnation of Darcy, now played by Matthew MacFayden, which … good luck, Matt. Sometimes actors simply define roles; I cannot imagine Professor Higgins without Rex Harrison, Harold Hill without Robert Preston, or, of course, Larry Gigli without Ben Affleck. So has Colin’s stare enamored any number of Austen fans.

It’s all in the smolder, you see. For in today’s culture, there is little time to smolder; the next episode of ”The Apprentice“ is roaring down the pike, or the plane is circling the airport yet again, or our cell phone is insistently informing us, via a tinny version of ”La Bamba,“ that our best friend is currently standing 10 feet away — where are we? I don’t think modern society loves Elizabeth and Darcy as much as we covet their spare time. House parties would last up to six weeks at a time in the 1880s. Who, outside of Paris Hilton, has that much alcohol on hand?

Among his other fine attributes, Colin Firth’s Darcy possesses the ability to selectively bilocate. It really is quite extraordinary; one moment he’s brooding on horseback, the next his face is floating to the forefront of Elizabeth’s mirror or carriage window, issuing dark, repetitive, and sonorous pronouncements about how very icky he finds her family. ”You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you … but your mother is horrid and will have to stay in the basement. Dad needs to go too, and I seriously hate your sisters. And how attached are you, really, to the family dog?“

Darcy also maintains quite the respectable crib, and, it’s safe to imagine, the most pimped-out carriages available. The driveway alone could serve as a landing strip for the space shuttle. And the pond — all proper estates require a pond. All I have is a sad puddle of warm beer beneath the refrigerator.

And you just know that Darcy gets into all the best clubs, too. He really is the ultimate date. There would be no standing at the hostess station, light-up seating alert device limply in hand for Darcy. No, he walks into Friday’s, and he sits right down!

Shall we dance?

Impressive, too, is this whole business of dancing. I welcome any new adaptation of ”Pride and Prejudice,“ Firthed or un-Firthed, so long as the dancing is done properly. People in Regency England didn’t dance quite the way we do. There was, for example, precious little grinding. Smoke machines were rarely used. I doubt lasers made much of an appearance. On the other hand — fortunate generation! — everyone was spared the Electric Slide.

Physical contact between unmarried men and women was pretty much limited to a lot of bowing and fan fluttering. In dancing there was a great deal of twirling, which — and I say this as a square dancer from way back — is a lot harder than it sounds. I’ve thrown off the rotation of the planet with a poorly directed alamand left. But Colin manages this admirably, and with a remarkably small amount of dorkiness. He even skips in a manly manner.

Darcy, however, may not be well suited for the long haul. Once all the smoldering is done — what is there to burn after, really? A really excellent pot roast on Michaelmas, or whatever in the world people yearned for once plights were trothed? I mean, Pemberly is quite the hizzy, but how many chandeliers does one person need?

And is he really the best judge of character? Look at his friends: He hangs out with Wickham, who is the leading candidate as a spokesman for Rohypnol, and the overly smiley Bingley, who never met a pile of dog poop he didn’t like. ”Colin-as-Darcy,“ I would say — for I’m sure Colin Firth prefers to be addressed as nothing but — ”Colin-as-Darcy, you may stay for as long as you like, but your friends are only allowed inside when I’m off at Pilates class.“

However, given the bilocation and the preference for pond-swimming, I suppose I could settle in for a nice life of horses and twirling. An 80-year-old Colin Firth is still far preferable to a 27-year-old Kevin Federline.

"Pride & Prejudice": In the mood for a dreamy romance? by Moira Macdonald.

The Seatlle Times, 11 November 2005

All right, let us talk about the elephant in the room. More precisely, let us talk about the smoldering British thinking-woman's- heartthrob who isn't in the room. Colin Firth isn't in Joe Wright's new screen version of Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice," but he casts an elegant shadow over it, simply because everybody who asks me about this movie wants to know if it's as good as "the Colin Firth one." And then they usually start talking about Colin Firth, and the conversation tends to get all giggly.

For those mystified by the previous paragraph, the "Colin Firth one" is the 1995 BBC made-for-television version of "Pride & Prejudice," featuring Firth as the enigmatic Mr. Darcy. This five-hour version has legions of fans who've watched it over and over, and to whom no other Austen adaptation will do. (This, of course, has nothing to do with the fact that at one point Firth jumps into a pond and gets his shirt all wet and clingy. I've carefully viewed this scene — for research purposes, mind you — and don't remember it at all.)

"Pride & Prejudice," with Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Tom Hollander, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, Judi Dench. Directed by Joe Wright, from a screenplay by Deborah Moggach, based on the novel by Jane Austen. 129 minutes. Rated PG for some mild thematic elements. Several theaters.

Those who think the 1995 version is perfect may well find this one lacking. Deborah Moggach's thoughtful screenplay trims out much of the plot, by necessity, to fit into two hours, and Austen purists may grumble. Nor does it quite have the wit and depth of my own favorite Austen film, Ang Lee and Emma Thompson's adaptation of "Sense & Sensibility," which seemed to find the perfect balance of brevity, intelligence and swoony British men. Nor does it have Firth, whose quietly intelligent Darcy will remain definitive.

But Wright's film offers ample charms of its own, not the least of which is a confident and lovely performance by Keira Knightley as the heroine Elizabeth Bennet. Younger than many other screen Elizabeths (like the character she plays, Knightley's barely out of her teens), the actress brings a fetching and often fiery exuberance to the role. It's the best work she's done on film.

Matthew Macfadyen, as Darcy, won't make anyone forget Firth — he's not so much brooding as sad. But his quiet frost pairs nicely with Knightley's warmth; he makes no attempt to ingratiate his character to us but holds Darcy's passions tightly within until he finally confesses his feelings to Elizabeth in a sudden gasp of "I love you, most honorably" (fittingly, outdoors in a rainstorm).

Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn contribute nicely detailed portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (we're allowed to sense, in tiny hints, that these two are in love with each other). Rosamund Pike is daintily pretty as Jane, and Judi Dench trumpets nicely as the much-feared Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Filmed at an array of British stately homes and filled with swirling skirts and green gardens, this "Pride & Prejudice" is a treat for the eyes. Roman Osin's camerawork in particular deserves singling out: One scene, a party at Netherfield Park, is a dazzlingly long single take as the camera winds from room to room through the crowds, like a slightly tipsy party guest taking in the sights.

Ultimately, as Darcy emerges through a swirl of mist (squint a bit and you'll think it's Firth), "Pride & Prejudice" satisfies as dreamy romance. It's not the razor-sharp satire that Austen can be, but it's lovely entertainment. In a charming scene near the end, an unexpected visitor arrives at the Bennet home and the ladies, who had casually been lounging about, rush to arrange themselves into a pleasing tableau. This society was never quite as picture-perfect as it would like to appear — but this film couldn't be prettier.

No rating still an issue for 'Where the Truth Lies' by Barbara Vancheri.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 11 November 2005

Almost all roads -- and questions -- lead back to the ratings kerfuffle.

Look at the ads for "Where the Truth Lies" and you'll find no rating. No NC-17, no R and certainly nothing more family-friendly. That's because the MPAA initially gave the film an NC-17 (which means no one 17 and under admitted) and director Atom Egoyan appealed but failed to muster enough votes to secure an R rating.

So, the movie will have no rating, which means it won't play in some theaters, won't be as widely available for sale or rental down the road and will have what Hungarian-born producer Robert Lantos calls the "mark of the leper" in the United States.

"We now have to get over the fact that people think of this as a sex movie," actor Kevin Bacon told a press conference during the Toronto International Film Festival. "This is a murder mystery."

Egoyan chimed in, "It's a murder mystery, it's a drama" and Bacon continued, "It's a movie that is about celebrities, it's about the entertainment industry, about the '50s and the '70s, the story of a girl who's on the trail of finding the truth. It's not really a sex movie."

"Where the Truth Lies," adapted from a Rupert Holmes novel, stars Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth as Lanny Morris and Vince Collins, a hugely popular comedy duo of the 1950s. Their partnership comes to an abrupt, mysterious end when a woman is found dead in their hotel suite.

Years later, an ambitious reporter (Alison Lohman) lands the plum assignment of writing the true story of the breakup and it leaves her disillusioned about her childhood heroes.

On this day, with Egoyan, Bacon, Lantos and supporting actress Rachel Blanchard facing the press (Firth was on his way to Toronto from Africa), the main topics were ratings, sex, the cult of celebrity, mutual manipulation of interviewer and interviewee and the changes necessary to make the book into a movie.

"There's a vulnerability and a narcissism to celebrity culture which is fascinating to me," Egoyan said. "As fortified as the walls that a celebrity builds around himself might be, there is also an incredibly vulnerable place where you feel that if you are exposed, that might all shatter."

Egoyan ("Exotica," "The Sweet Hereafter," "Ararat") is a festival darling but Bacon has a celebrity game actually named after him. He's also married to actress Kyra Sedgwick.

"I think celebrity is something that is addictive," Bacon said. "I think that once you have it, it becomes something that's very difficult to let go, and the character of Lanny kind of addresses that in the film when he says to this reporter that he's just met, 'You didn't watch me on the "Today" show?' " Lanny interprets her sleeping through the interview as a sign his fame is fading.

Go from movie to movie, press conference to press conference, festival to festival and that may be how a performer defines himself, Bacon said. "When that starts to wane, which it inevitably will, it can have a kind of devastating effect on people, and that's where you see people that really self-destruct."

Since his 1978 debut in "Animal House," Bacon has amassed a long list of credits, including his recent work as a stylist in "Beauty Shop," a pedophile in "The Woodsman" and a homicide detective in "Mystic River." He and his brother, Michael, recording under the name Bacon Brothers, just released a new CD with their blend of "Forosoco" or folk, rock, soul and country.

"I count myself among the lucky ones that, at some point in my life for whatever reason, I tried to find something outside of the movie business and celebrity to give me some kind of focus. ... As I endured the peaks and valleys of this career, in those valleys, those are the things that have given me sustenance."

Bacon, looking youthful with his long hair parted down the middle, remembers when he was young and horrified by the idea of a People magazine cover. "I went kicking and screaming onto the cover of People; this is not what I want to be, I'm a serious actor. Of course, now, I would kill to get the cover of People magazine."

And then Bacon lets the very reporters who regularly interview him in on a secret, since the talk has turned to the new breed of journalist depicted in the movie. She gives a little information, some true and most not, to get a little.

"I always say that the secret to giving an interview is to try to convince the interviewer that they're actually meeting the real Kevin, which is the greatest acting exercise, when in fact, it's just an acting exercise. You stop and you say something from your heart and you look 'em in the eye, this is the real me.

"I think Lanny talks about that in the movie, too. He says, 'What's the real me? Well, the real me you wouldn't want to know.' "

Then the talk returns to the rating and how Bacon feels as the only American on the panel.

"The movie is oftentimes about power and the power of celebrity and how sometimes that is abused in a sexual way, and that's what it's there for. There's nothing that is shot in any kind of way I would find objectionable or titillating. ...

"I don't get it when I see films that are -- I have a 16-year-old and a 13-year-old -- extremely, extremely violent, extremely objectionable oftentimes in terms of the roles that women play, and they slide by with an R, no problem, because people happen to have more clothing on."

Egoyan says he tried to play by the MPAA rules. He provided two versions that addressed concerns "as far as we could." But there were some changes he considered inconceivable or laughable, as when one official asked, "Isn't there a way to digitally just make it all fuzzy?"

The filmmakers agreed the movie was never intended for adolescents.

Egoyan would not take his 11-year-old to the movie but said, "I would consider taking my 17-year-old. I would prefer to be in that room with my 17-year-old, as opposed to them watching it alone, perhaps in their basement with some friend, which they're going to do anyway."

Blanchard, the youngest member of the panel, said she knows that the MPAA insists an NC-17 doesn't mean obscene or pornographic. "But it doesn't matter what it's meant to mean, that's what people take it to mean, and when it's not shown in theaters, suddenly that's what's associated with you."

Maybe if the movie hadn't featured established stars, it might have flown under the radar. "Probably because it's shot like a studio movie and looks so gorgeous and there are major actors involved in these scenes, and that's what's disturbing and that's what they're reacting to. I think if this was a grainy, 16mm kind of underground independent film, it would have passed by," Egoyan said.

But isn't all publicity good?

No, said Egoyan, who had hoped to reach a wider, more mainstream audience.

And no, said Lantos. "It's a stigma, it's like the mark of the leper, and in a significant part of the U.S. market, it means that the film will not be available, so the publicity doesn't do any good."

Nanny McPhee defeats Gromit movie

BBC News, 8 november 2005

Emma Thompson's latest movie Nanny McPhee has knocked Wallace and Gromit from the top of the UK and Ireland weekend box office chart.

Nanny McPhee took £1.65m, moving up from second place to end the three-week reign of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Terry Gilliam's fantasy film The Brothers Grimm entered in fourth place after receiving poor reviews.

Three Indian films - Garam Masala, Kyon Ki? and Shaadi No 1 - entered the top 20, Screen International figures show.

All three films were released during Eid al-Fitr, as Muslims celebrated the end of Ramadan.

UK & IRELAND BOX OFFICE CHART

1. Nanny McPhee (£1.65m)

2. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (£1.62m)

3. Saw II (£1.23m)

4. The Brothers Grimm (£919,713)

5. The Legend of Zorro (£676,202)

Source: Screen International

Nevertheless Screen International box office analyst Robert Mitchell said the prominence of three Bollywood films in last weekend's chart was "quite rare".

"It is interesting that Garam Masala performed better than Kyon Ki? and Shaadi No 1, despite opening on a smaller number of screens," he said.

"But smaller films are often released and do well at this time of year, before the big Christmas market begins - this year with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

Who's the sexiest Mr Darcy? by Julie Middleton.

The New Zealand Herald, 22 October 2005

Matthew Macfadyen and Colin Firth

Forget the new Government, Air New Zealand layoffs, Saddam Hussein or bird flu - the big issue of the week may be who makes the sexier Mr Darcy: Colin Firth or Matthew Macfadyen?

The new (and umpteenth) version of Jane Austen's 1813 novel of manners and marriage, Pride and Prejudice, sees Macfadyen - last seen in the film of Maurice Gee's novel In My Father's Den - challenging Firth for the prize of sexiest thing to fill a pair of 18th-century breeches.

The BBC's 1995 television series made Firth a surprised and rather reluctant sex symbol.

It's the story, you see.

Austen's tale of middle-class Elizabeth Bennet and the repressed, considerably wealthier Mr Darcy creates the most romantic and erotic tension possible between fully clothed characters.

The new film, also starring Keira Knightley and directed by Joe Wright, opened in Auckland on Thursday night.

A highly unscientific survey on Queen St didn't find a hands-down winner, but did reveal that women knew why they had a favourite.

"I'd say deffo Matthew Macfadyen," said one.

"Colin Firth just isn't, well, manly. Charming, perhaps, but that's not enough to ring one's bell and wave one's knickers in the air.

"Matthew Macfadyen is much more the smouldering type. Colin Firth did make an excellent arrogant twat, though. I'll give him that."

Here's Amy Baker, an avowed Firth fan: "If you saw him in Girl with a Pearl Earring [in 2003], his eyes were like milk chocolate buttons that were melting, and you just wanted to pick them out and eat them!"

Er, right you are then.

For Jackie Wadham, 51, it's also about Firth's eyes.

"They talk to you more [than Macfadyen's]. They say 'come hither', definitely."

Funny what some people will reveal to a complete stranger on the street.

"Oooh!" shuddered one woman, rolling her eyes. "Colin Firth ... him in leather pants on a motorbike!"

But a couple of 18-year-olds plumped immediately for Macfadyen.

Sorry Colin, they said, you lost some of your sex appeal playing such a dork in the film Bridget Jones' Diary, which leans very heavily on Austen's story.

Some women who had gone into Pride and Prejudice as avowed Firth fans were wavering.

"Ooh," said a colleague, "I have to say I'm leaning very heavily towards Matthew.

"I never thought I would say it, but I really thought the movie was better than the TV show. Matthew's voice is spectacular, so deep and caramelly."

Another admitted she just couldn't choose.

"In the afterglow of the film, I'd say Matthew. But I think that might be a bit unfair on poor Colin, whose breeches I would happily have jumped a few years ago."

COLIN FIRTH

Born 1960.

Played in TV series Pride and Prejudice in 1995.

Has played a Mr Darcy on three occasions. Once in Pride and Prejudice (1995) (mini), in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and again in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004).

Married to Livia Giuggioli, three children (one with actress Meg Tilly).

MATTHEW MACFADYEN

Born 1974.

Played spy Tom Quinn in BBC drama Spooks.

Came to NZ to film In My Father's Den.

Married to actor Keeley Hawes, one daughter.

Red carpet galas attract fans

CTV.ca, 15 September 2005

There's something peacefully thrilling about sitting in a darkened theatre watching a movie with hundreds of others who are just as passionate about the experience as you are.

That's what it's like attending screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival. But the red carpet arrivals for a gala presentation have an entirely different energy, especially for fans and members of the press. On the red carpet, a passion for film gives way to an appetite for celebrity.

The red carpet events at the festival have grown over the years, now rivalling Hollywood premieres in popularity among the press.

"It's international, U.S. and Canadian," said Andrea Grau, manager of communications for the festival. She said the breakdown of reporters is diverse. "Across the board you see all of them there."

The media people -- made up of print, radio, but mostly television crews -- line up for hours to secure a prime location along the scarlet walk. But this year, press were restricted to lining up no more than two hours before the start of the red carpet arrivals.

"Here at the festival, we're very democratic. It should be fair game for everybody," said Grau. "Not every outlet can afford to ... have someone there all day. So we just decided to level the playing field."

As the stars approach, so do the star reporters. On-air personalities for entertainment programs arrive in gowns and ensembles glamorous enough to walk the carpet in their own right.

"I think that's always been the case," said Grau of the popularity of celebrity journalists. "Anyone who's in the media spotlight...I don't think it's strictly entertainment-based."

But glamour falls to the wayside quickly once the movie stars start to arrive. Crammed with roughly six-to-10 reporters for every two or three metres of carpet, the press pen becomes a tangle of microphones, cables and watch-your-head-under-that-camera.

The reporters strain and stretch, dip and bend, each trying to outdo the others to get the best clip or sound bite, while still being respectful of one another and the celebrities. There may be tension and competition, but in the end, they're all there to do the same job.

But the relationship between celebrity and the media doesn't always run smoothly. Earlier this summer, Cameron Diaz settled a libel case against a British tabloid and testified in the conviction of a photographer who had tried to sell topless photos of the actress.

Diaz spoke about her clashes with the dark side of the press during her visit to the film festival.

"It's an interesting existence at this point in time in the world of celebrity," she said. "It's a little overwhelming sometimes."

Diaz's co-star in the film In Her Shoes, Shirley MacLaine, said Diaz was being far too diplomatic. "I'm glad she won all the lawsuits," she said of Diaz.

"I don't know how these young famous, wonderfully talented, beautiful stars do it," said the veteran actress. "I didn't have that in our day."

"This is a terribly dangerous soul-scarring thing and I abhor it," said MacLaine. "I went through watching the same thing with Nicole (Kidman) on Bewitched and the same thing with Jennifer (Aniston)." That type of voracious tabloid journalism doesn't seem to be present at the Toronto festival.

"We have good relationships with them. These guys are amazing," said Grau of the festival's accredited press. "(There are) a lot of high-profile people on some of those red carpets and we haven't had any problems."

Across the street and flanking the red carpet during any festival gala are fans and autograph hounds. Depending on the film, the crowd is a fairly even mix of male and female, and ranges in age from school kids to grandparents.

"The fans in Toronto are so good. They're just so polite and respectful," said Grau. "They come out in droves."

Andrea and Sue, both 15, were still dressed in their private school uniforms at the early evening gala they attended. They spent two and a half hours waiting outside Roy Thomson Hall but their persistance earned them autographs and pictures of the stars of Walk The Line, Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix. Other fans spent more than four hours waiting to see Witherspoon.

"We came yesterday, too, probably a total of about three hours," said Christine, 22, a Humber College student who had already snagged autographs from Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins.

"We're hoping to meet Colin," said Michelle, 50, a member of a Colin Firth fan message board whose members had arranged to meet up in person for the first time at the festival. The ladies came from as far away as Minnesota and New York to join their Toronto counterparts at the screening of Atom Egoyan's Where The Truth Lies, in which Firth stars.

"I think it's amazing," said Grau of the red carpet experience for the fans. "The proximity that the fans have to the talent. You feel that energy on that carpet."

Firth movie keeps explicit rating

BBC News, 8 September 2005

Colin Firth's new film Where the Truth Lies will be released with a restricted rating in the US after its director lost an appeal against the decision. The sexually explicit film was granted an NC-17 rating by the Motion Picture Association of America a month ago.

Director Atom Egoyan made cuts to the film, which includes an orgy scene, in a failed bid to challenge its rating.

Some cinemas in the US refuse to show NC-17 films, which cannot be seen by anyone aged 17 or under.

Firth and co-stars Kevin Bacon and Rachel Blanchard appear in the lengthy orgy scene in the movie, which screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Canadian director Egoyan argued that the scene could not be cut any further without making the plot incomprehensible. "We couldn't trim any more without destroying the heart of the movie," he said.

"As a parent, I would feel comfortable taking a mature 17-year-old to this movie. "I feel dismayed they wouldn't now be able to see it in a theatre."

'Redeeming' film

Independent distributor ThinkFilm said it would now release the uncut version seen in Cannes."The good news is the film will go out as it was originally intended," said Egoyan.

Where the Truth Lies, which screens next week at the Toronto Film Festival, tells of a 1950s comedy duo implicated in the death of a woman.

"The film is basically about the power of celebrity and the abuse of that power," said Blanchard, who appeared with Egoyan before the MPAA appeals board on Wednesday. "It's a redeeming film and it has a positive message.

Film board upholds NC-17 rating for 'Where the Truth Lies' by Gary Gentile

San Francisco Chronicle, 7 September 2005

A week before its world premier, the new film from director Atom Egoyan was slapped with an explicit rating in the United States, which will severely limit its distribution and advertising here.

The film "Where the Truth Lies," stars Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth and Alison Lohman. It includes several explicit sex scenes, including one with Bacon, Firth and Rachel Blanchard.

The Motion Picture Association of America gave the film a rare NC-17 rating about a month ago. The rating means no one under 17 can be see the film in theaters.

The producers appealed the rating and Egoyan made several suggested cuts, but the appeal was denied Wednesday.

The MPAA said the rating was for "explicit sexuality."The film's distributor, ThinkFilm, must now decide whether to release the film in the U.S. with the NC-17 rating or release it unrated. The movie has its premier next week at the Toronto Film Festival.

Either way, many theaters, especially outside of New York and Los Angeles, will be hesitant to book the film and many newspapers and television stations will not accept advertising for it.

"What's wrong is that in America when a film is rated for adults, then it becomes marked like a leper," the film's producer, Robert Lantos, said Wednesday. "That rating is then turned into a form of self-censorship by some exhibitors and some media outlets."

Lantos said the only upside is that now the film will be released uncut, the way it was meant to be seen.

Egoyan and co-star Blanchard appeared before a 10-person panel in Los Angeles on Wednesday to state their case. The panel voted 6-4 to overturn the NC-17 rating — one vote short of the two-thirds needed.

Egoyan said the rating is an "unwarranted response given the story it's telling and the way it needed to be told."

He said that while some scenes could be trimmed or replaced by footage taken from one of the other cameras that filmed it, others, including the threesome, could not because it was shot with one camera and no alternative depictions exist.

"We couldn't trim any more without destroying the heart of the movie," Egoyan said.

Adapted from Rupert Holmes' novel, "Where the Truth Lies" stars Bacon and Firth as a comedy duo in the 1950s living it up with all the drugs, sex, booze and adoration of the public they can handle.

At the height of their popularity, they split amid a scandal and cover-up involving a woman found dead in their hotel suite.

Fifteen years later, journalist Karen O'Connor (Lohman) tries to peek behind the public masks of the duo and discover what actually happened to the dead woman.

Blanchard said she fears the rating will mean the film will not get as wide an audience as it deserves, even when it is released on home video. Many video store chains will not carry NC-17-rated films.

"Kids are going to hear about this and they're going to look up the 10 second clips" on the Internet, Blanchard said. She said she agreed to do the sexual scenes because they are integral to the film's message.

"The film is basically about the power of celebrity and the abuse of that power," she said. "It sort of expands on how abusing that power sexually has consequences. It's a redeeming film and it has a positive message."

A literary sensibility that makes solid financial sense (Jane Austen)

by Steven Morris.

The Guardian, 3 September 2005

The doors of the elegant Georgian town house in Bath swung open promptly at 10 yesterday morning and the first of the "Janeites" swept in. In the course of the day, 300 or so visitors were given scholarly insights into the city's impact on the life and work of Jane Austen, and a flavour of how Bath would have looked and felt in Regency times.

And then most of them were tempted into the Jane Austen Centre's gift shop, where they could choose souvenirs ranging from Austen fridge magnets to tea towels, from Austen cross-stitch kits to goat's-milk soap.

Certainly, they could pick up copies of the books they had been learning about, and modern spin-offs, from a spoof called Pride and Promiscuity, which promises to reveal "the lost sex scenes of Jane Austen", to DVDs of last year's Bollywood-flavoured movie, Bride and Prejudice.

And should those Janeites, as aficionados of the writer are termed, be feeling thirsty after all that shopping, they were invited to head upstairs to the tearoom for a cup of Jane Austen tea - a secret blend made by the Bath teamaker Gillards. Bath is where Austen lived for five years, and both Persuasion and Northanger Abbey are substantially set in the city.

Austen's peerless depictions of Regency England still chime with audiences across the globe. But in 2005 she is also a brand, perhaps the most profitable literary brand. Her stock is certain to rise again in the coming weeks as the new Hollywood version of Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, hits cinemas in the UK.

The UK's multi-million pound Austen industry is gearing itself up for a busy autumn. If the film takes off, some believe the next few months could be as hectic as the heady days that followed Colin Firth's dripping Mr Darcy emerging from the lake in the 1995 television adaptation of Austen's best known work. David Baldock, director of the Jane Austen Centre, said: "The interest in Austen and her work continues to grow and grow. There is always a worry it will become too commercial, but what is happening is positive. It is bringing new people to her work."

The centre attracts 42,000 visitors every year, 90% of them women. In addition, its website is hugely popular, hosting 40,000 visitors last month alone. Encouragingly, the books are the best-selling items in the gift shop, probably followed by lacework, which the Americans and East Europeans particularly favour.

Mr Baldock said the centre was unashamedly commercial. An Austen festival it is organising later this month will include events such as Taste and Tasteability (already sold out), at which visitors will sample the sort of foods enjoyed by the writer, and "Jane Austen's Guide to Dating" - a chance to find out which Austen character would be your ideal romantic match.

Fever

At Austen's family home in Chawton, Hampshire, the curator, Tom Carpenter, hopes the new film will not reignite the sort of fever that followed the 1995 TV series. On the Monday after the latter began, the centre expected around 150 visitors - and 400 turned up. In 1996, 57,000 visitors arrived, compared with 25,000 in a normal year. The numbers have dropped back to the 25,000-30,000 mark, though Mr Carpenter accepts that the new film could spark another rush. But he said: "We wouldn't go looking for those numbers again. The village began to feel uncomfortable about it."

Others are not being so shy. Derbyshire county council plans to use the film, partly shot at Chatsworth, to promote long weekends. And a company called Hampshire Safaris is offering tours of north Hampshire, where the writer spent the early part of her life before moving to Chawton and Bath.

Perhaps surprisingly, many scholars appear at ease about the modern Austen cult and the commercialisation. Kathryn Sutherland, professor of textual criticism at Oxford University, said: "I don't really think of Jane Austen as precious. I don't think she should be fenced around."

Professor Sutherland said Austen became commercial "hot property" at the end of the 19th century. "At that point dons tried to turn her into something less accessible." But the people simply refused to let her go and she remained both "canonical novelist" and "abiding consumerist fantasy".

Deidre Lynch, assistant professor of English at Indiana University, admitted that after visiting Austen landmarks in England she had returned to the US with "tat", including a figure of Mr Darcy. "Austen has become part of the female gift culture," she said. "One curious thing is that 100 years ago, Austen was read mostly by men. Now it's a woman's thing because of the way the films have been marketed. Modern marketing seems to work by targeting one segment at a time."

Maggie Lane, honorary secretary of the UK's Jane Austen Society, is not a fan of the film adaptations, but is not worried that the writer is becoming too commercial. "That side isn't forced upon anyone. I think there is something in Jane Austen for everyone, and the more people that know about her the better."

Andrew Davies, who adapted Pride and Prejudice for the 1995 series, accepted "partial responsibility" for the Austen craze. He said: "I was surprised. I'm a terrific Jane Austen fan, but I never saw it as a majority sport.

"I find it quite amusing that there are products like a Pride and Prejudice board game on the market, but I'm pleased the figures seem to have been based on Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle [who played Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC version]. Of course, it trivialises the thing, but actually you do need to be quite an expert on the book to do well. In the end I think it's harmless fun."

Novel destinations ...

Bath

Canny entrepreneurs have long been cashing in on Austen's association with this elegant watering hole (visit the Jane Austen Tea Rooms). She lived here for five years in her late 20s - you can see the plaque in Gay Street to prove it. It has been a backdrop for any dramatisation of the novels set in Bath - Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. The pump room, the named streets, the assembly room all remain. But most biographers believe her time in Bath was miserable (her beloved father died here). In the novels it is the resort of the vulgar and meretricious. Anne Elliot in Persuasion wishes to flee its 'white glare' (all those new buildings). Austen loved its theatre.

Derbyshire

Elizabeth Bennet tours the Peak District in Pride and Prejudice and encounters Mr Darcy when visiting his country seat, Pemberley. Mythology has identified the house with Chatsworth (far too grandiose) and hostelries in Buxton have implied they once entertained her. Austen almost certainly never visited. She got all her topographic detail from travel guides.

Lyme Regis

Already it was a picturesque destination for well-heeled trippers (equal to 'the far-famed Isle of Wight'). Austen visited and bathed. The Cobb still snakes into the Channel and you can enjoy locating where Louisa Musgrove rashly tried an exciting leap into Captain Wentworth's arms, only to have a near-death experience.

Devon

In Sense and Sensibility Eleanor and Edward have a memorable debate about whether this hilly county is lovely or horrid. Austen had a nice holiday in Dawlish and Teignmouth.

Weymouth

Near Lyme, but not as genteel. How ironical was she when she wrote to her sister Cassandra, 'Weymouth is altogether a shocking place, I perceive, without recommendation of any kind'? But seaside towns are dodgy: Portsmouth is Fanny Price's grim home; Brighton is the den of sin where Lydia Bennet falls.

Surrey

Not 'the garden of England' as the idiotic Mrs Elton claims, but the location for the Emma Woodhouse's Hartfield and her eventual husband Mr Knightley's idyllic Donwell Abbey. Based on this novel, a lovely place with horrible people. Visit Box Hill, where Emma insults Miss Bates over cucumber sandwiches.

Kent

Austen's rich relatives, the Knights, lived at Godmersham Park, near Canterbury, where her best vacations were taken. The grandest house she knew well, it is thought the model for Mansfield Park. Still, a grand house in Kent is home to the ghastly Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

London

Austen loved trips to the capital. She would stay with brother Henry in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. Londoners (John Knightley in Emma, the Gardiners in P&P) are often sensible people (though there are also the Crawfords ...).

· John Mullan is senior lecturer in English at University College London

Film's threesome proves troublesome

New York Daily News, 14 August 2005

Kevin Bacon (l.), Rachel Blanchard and Colin Firth figure in a steamy scene director Atom Egoyan is fighting to retain in 'Where the Truth Lies.'

Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth and Rachel Blanchard have a wild ménàge à trois in their new film, "Where the Truth Lies." But how much of their three-way will you get to see?

Director Atom Egoyan and ThinkFilm execs are wrestling with the MPAA ratings board over whether the film should get an NC-17 or the preferable R.

Word is the ratings sheriffs have gotten hung up on four scenes in the movie, based on Rupert Holmes' novel about a journalist trying to find the truth behind the breakup of a famed comedy team years before.

A lesbian sex scene - featuring a woman dressed as Alice in Wonderland - was less troubling than Blanchard's trifecta romp with Bacon and Firth, who play the comic duo loosely based on Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. The next morning, Blanchard is found dead in the hotel room.

The "Sweet Hereafter" director writes in SLM magazine that the MPAA is concerned with "the actual number of thrusts seen." Before shooting his actors, he recalls, "I resorted to playing with dolls, trying to figure out angles and configurations." But in the end, he couldn't disguise the sexual mechanics.

"I needed these scenes to feel lurid and unbridled," says the Oscar-nominee and four-time Cannes Film Festival prize winner.

Having promised producer Robert Lantos an R, Egoyan has continued whacking away at the offending scenes.

But one insider tells us, "The mystery of the girl's death hinges on that scene. If he cuts any more, the audience won't know what happened."

ThinkFilm is due to get a verdict on the latest edit this week. If the NC-17 sticks, the company could appeal, or it could release "Where the Truth Lies" without a rating, as it did with its raunchy comedy "The Aristocrats."

It's safe to say the movie is a departure for Blanchard, that sweet girl from TV's "7th Heaven." She admits her boyfriend "cringed" when he saw her triple-header - partly because "he would suffer endless taunts of 'One degree of Kevin Bacon!'"

Ash's hollywood debut in Last Legion

Mid-Day Mumbai - India, 1 August 2005

Director Doug Lefler says Aishwarya Rai was the obvious choice for The Last Legion…

Who’s making it

The Last Legion is a Dino De Laurentiis presentation, produced by Martha De Laurentiis and Raffaella De Laurentiis and directed by Doug Lefler.

The film is an independently financed film produced in partnership with Quinta Communications’ Tarak Ben Ammar and British co-producers Chris Curling and Phil Robertson of Zephyr Films.

The Last Legion re-teams Dino De Laurentiis and Martha De Laurentiis with Tarak Ben Ammar, Chris Curling and Phil Robertson, who recently completed principal photography in Italy on Decameron: Angels and Virgins.

Harvey and Bob Weinstein have acquired North American distribution rights to The Last Legion. Filming is to commence in Tunisia on August 5.

Rare beauty

Director Doug Lefler, whose credits include second unit direction on Spider-Man and A Simple Plan, explains the reason for Ash’s inclusion.

”The list of requirements for the one major female role in the film, Mira, was long. We needed an actress of rare beauty, with enough screen presence to hold her own against the likes of Colin Firth and Sir Ben Kingsley. Aishwarya was the obvious choice.“

What’s it about?

Part fact, part legend, The Last Legion is an epic adventure based on acclaimed author Valerio Massimo Manfredi’s international best-selling 2003 novel by the same name. The film is set against the fall of the Roman Empire in 470AD and its last emperor, 12-year-old Romulus Augustus (Thomas Sangster).

Over-run with rebellion, Rome is a city on the brink of chaos and destruction. Imprisoned by rebels on the island of Capri, Romulus, aided by the clever strategies of his teacher Ambrosinus (Sir Ben Kingsley) and the heroic skills of his legionnaire Aurelius (Colin Firth), escapes the island.

This small band of Roman soldiers, accompanied by Byzantine warrior Mira (Aishwarya), are determined to continue their mission to restore the Empire.

Great cast

Colin Firth recently starred in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Atom Egoyan’s Where the Truth Lies, which screened in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Next up for Firth is Nanny McPhee, opposite Emma Thompson. Academy-award winner Sir Ben Kingsley stars as Fagin in Roman Polanski’s upcoming Oliver Twist and in director Paul McGuigan’s thriller, Lucky Number Slevin.

Rounding off the cast are 15-year old Thomas Sangster, signed to play the major role of the young Romulus Augustus; Peter Mullan as Goth general Odoacer, John Hannah and veteran Scottish actor James Cosmo.

The return of Bridget Jones by Dominic Ponsford.

Pressgazette, 28 July 2005

Independent editor Simon Kelner has launched a major salvo against The Guardian ahead of its autumn Berliner relaunch by signing up Helen Fielding to revive the column which made her millions - Bridget Jones's Diary.

Kelner is understood to be squaring up for a tough circulation fight with Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger in the coming months, with more big signings in the pipeline.

Since The Independent first launched a tabloid version in September 2003 it has made strong in-roads into The Guardian's historically rock-solid circulation - up from 221,369 to 262,124, while The Guardian has slipped back from 395,304 to 361,406.

Kelner is keen to ensure that The Guardian's full-colour relaunch on £50million Berliner-size presses, expected at the end of September, does not wipe out these gains. The return of Fielding, with her strong appeal to female readers, is understood to be central to Kelner's anti-Berliner strategy.

It is now ten years since Bridget Jones, the archetypal 30-something single girl about town, was born in the pages of The Independent.

The weekly column was a cult success but Fielding jumped ship when the Daily Telegraph offered to quadruple her then modest Independent salary in 1997.

Kelner has lured her back with a lucrative contract believed to be well into six figures.

The deal is understood to be open-ended, which means Fielding could be with the Indy for some years to come.

The 1996 novel Bridget Jones's Diary was a multi-million selling international success and the character finally settled down with Mr Darcy in the equally successful 1999 follow- up Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason.

Fielding, 47, has also left her singleton days behind after moving to LA with The Simpsons scriptwriter Kevin Curran and having a baby.

But from next Thursday, Jones will be back in The Independent along with many of the original cast of characters.

The paper is planning a major radio and TV advertising campaign to accompany the return of the weekly column. And the following Saturday the paper is to give away a free paperback book containing the first 40 Bridget Jones columns as they originally appeared back in 1995.

Kelner has known Fielding for 10 years, since he worked with her when he was features editor of The Independent, and he is understood to have been wooing her back for some months.

The final deal is believed to have been done last week at the Savoy Grill in London where the pair were spotted having lunch.

When Fielding was enticed over to the Telegraph in 1997, then deputy editor Sarah Sands said: "It was madness of The Independent to have let her go. It was one of the main reasons for reading the paper.

"Her column is one of those wonderful things that has caught on and become the voice of her generation of women in the Nineties. It's an absolute seminal column."

Fielding studied English at Oxford before starting her career as a trainee producer with the BBC.

She spent ten years making documentaries before becoming a newspaper feature writer in the early 1990s.

"Last Legion" Begins Production by Garth Franklin.

Dark Horizons, 27 July 2005

Filming commences in Tunisia on August 5th on THE LAST LEGION, a Dino De Laurentiis presentation produced by Martha De Laurentiis and Raffaella De Laurentiis, to be directed by Doug Lefler. Aishwarya Rai has been signed to star alongside Colin Firth and Sir Ben Kingsley. THE LAST LEGION is an independently financed film produced in partnership with Quinta Communications' Tarak Ben Ammar and British co-producers Chris Curling and Phil Robertson of Zephyr Films.

Part fact, part legend, THE LAST LEGION is an epic adventure based on acclaimed author Valerio Massimo Manfredi's international best-selling 2003 novel of the same name. The film is set against the fall of the Roman Empire in 470AD and its last emperor, 12-year-old Romulus Augustus (Thomas Sangster).

Over-run with rebellion, Rome is a city on the brink of chaos and destruction. Imprisoned by rebels on the island-fortress of Capri, Romulus, aided by the clever strategies of his teacher Ambrosinus (Sir Ben Kingsley) and the heroic skills of his legionnaire Aurelius (Colin Firth), escape the island. Despite the turbulent events around them, this small band of Roman soldiers, accompanied by Byzantine warrior Mira (Aishwarya Rai), are determined to continue their mission to restore the Empire. This resolute group sets out on an arduous and dangerous trek for Britannia in search of the Last Legion, in their bid to make one final stand for Rome.

The producers have assembled a stellar cast on this epic film about courage, loyalty and unfailing resolve. Previously hailed as the Queen of Bollywood, Aishwarya Rai most recently starred in 'Bride and Prejudice' directed by Gurinder Chadha. Her other credits include 'Devdas', which was nominated for a BAFTA and she has just completed filming on Roland Joffé's 'Singularity' alongside Brendan Fraser.

Director Doug Lefler, whose credits include second unit direction on 'Spider-Man' and 'A Simple Plan', explains that "The list of requirements for the one major female role in the film, Mira, was long. We needed an actress of rare beauty, with enough screen presence to hold her own against the likes of Colin Firth and Sir Ben Kingsley.) Aishwarya was the obvious choice".

Colin Firth most recently starred in 'Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason' and Atom Egoyan's 'Where the Truth Lies', which screened in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Next up for Firth is Working Title's "Nanny McPhee" opposite Emma Thompson.

Academy-award winner Sir Ben Kingsley, stars as Fagin in Roman Polanski's upcoming 'Oliver Twist' and in director Paul McGuigan's thriller 'Lucky Number Slevin'.

Rounding off this headline cast are 15-year old Thomas Sangster ('Love Actually', 'Nanny McPhee') who has signed to play the major role of the young Romulus Augustus; Peter Mullan ('Braveheart', 'Trainspotting', 'Criminal') as Goth general Odoacer; John Hannah ('The Mummy Returns', 'The Hurricane', 'Sliding Doors'); and veteran Scottish actor James Cosmo ('Troy', 'Trainspotting', 'Highlander').

The production will move from Tunisia to Slovakia in September. Filming is scheduled to complete at the end of October.

THE LAST LEGION reteams Dino De Laurentiis and Martha De Laurentiis with Tarak Ben Ammar, Chris Curling and Phil Robertson, who recently completed principal photography in Italy on 'DECAMERON: Angels and Virgins'. The film stars Hayden Christensen, Mischa Barton and Tim Roth.

Harvey and Bob Weinstein have acquired North American distribution rights to THE LAST LEGION.

Invasion of the body-snatchers by Sally Raikes.

The Scotsman, 3 July 2005

Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh. Picture: Sean Bell

BEHIND the classical façade of the Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh lie the murky remains of medical specimens: a jar containing a two-headed foetus; a mummified hand; the pickled head of a cholera victim.

Or so people think. Actually, the museum as it stands today is disappointingly devoid of such gruesome trophies, which were certainly on display in the 18th and early 19th centuries. But even though the college has left its grisly past behind, it's hard to dissociate it from the macabre tales of its early beginnings.

The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh was formally established in 1505, with a document called the Seal of Cause. This granted barbers and surgeons the same privileges, although over the years their interests grew more and more separate. By 1722, the surgeons ditched the barbers, and in 1726 the college founded its medical school.

Over the years, the college has made stratospheric advances in medical knowledge, from Lord Joseph Lister (1827-1912), who discovered antiseptics while studying inflammation in frogs on Duddingston Loch, to John Fraser (1825-1906), who helped free mankind from the scourge of tuberculosis. Thomas Annandale (1838-1907) was the first surgeon to repair the torn cartilage in a miner's knee, and Norman Dott (1892-1973) pioneered surgery on the brain, as did Henry Wade (1876-1955) on the kidney.

But Edinburgh's Evening News summed it up in 1979: "Edinburgh has attracted more than its fair share of men of genius, and a history sometimes more in keeping with a Victorian melodrama than a hallowed alma mater of medicine."

Much of the Royal College's colourful history sprang up around the thorny subject of anatomy. Once a year in the early days, the body of an executed criminal would be handed over to the college for anatomical study. As the number of students increased, so the demand for bodies grew, and the situation got more difficult. Alexander Monro (1697-1767) was the first in a long line of the Monro family to hold the chair of anatomy at Edinburgh, and also the first to publicly condemn the crime that arose as a result of the need for more specimens: grave robbery. He had the backing of a horrified public, too: the outcry against body-snatching, as it was called, was so great that in 1725 there were threats to demolish the Surgeons' Hall, and Monro was forced to move his specimens to a separate anatomy theatre and museum.

But the demand for cadavers grew higher still. Master anatomist Robert Knox (1791-1862), arguably the most notorious figure in the college's history, taught an average of 500 medical students a year at his anatomy school in the 1820s, each of whom required a body to dissect. With the supply of executed criminals running low, grave-robbing became a lucrative and booming business - a fresh corpse could bring in £15, which was good money. Competition was hot: one man reportedly attempted to sell his heavily pregnant wife as a corpse for dissection; and a band of students was caught battling with relatives waiting beneath the gallows to collect a woman's body.

But the most infamous tale is that of the notorious William Burke and William Hare, who found a novel way of increasing the supply of cadavers: murder. Their 16 victims, killed over the course of a single year, included sickly lodgers and old prostitutes. Knox, who accepted the bodies for dissection, was thought to be well aware of the situation. In 1828 the pair's killing spree came to an end - as did Knox's brilliant career.

Burke was hanged the following year, and with a suitable sense of irony his body was taken off the gallows and used in a medical dissection (the students kept enough of his skin aside to cover a card case and notebook, which took pride of place in the college museum, alongside a life-size model of Knox). And while the anatomist was never officially charged in connection with Burke and Hare's crimes, the damage was done. The following year, he resigned and left Scotland to live in the east end of London for the rest of his life.

Of course, controversy such as this was rare, but nevertheless you didn't have to look far to find eccentricity among the college's fellows. Alexander Wood (1725-1807), an Edinburgh surgeon and 'character' who befriended most of the city, was usually to be seen accompanied by his two pets - a tame sheep, which trotted alongside him, and a raven, which perched on his shoulder everywhere he went, including on home visits to his patients. Nicknamed Lang Sandy, because of his lanky figure, Wood caused a stir by being the first person in Edinburgh to use an umbrella. After attending to Robert Burns's leg when he fell from a coach, the two were said to have developed a mutual admiration.

When the college was first set up, however, disease and accident were believed to be the will of God, and qualified doctors found themselves competing against quack physicians, soothsayers and herbalists. One such man was Dr Adam Donald (1703-1780), a spiritualist who practised his craft in Oldmeldrum. He was consulted by a wide audience eager to hear his wild prophecies. James Morison (1770-1840) was an even more controversial character, much satirised and attacked by medical professionals. A pill manufacturer from Aberdeenshire, he produced vegetable tablets that he claimed would purify the blood of evil. Patients were advised to take up to 30 a day, and many died as a result.

Warfare over the years presented doctors with an invaluable opportunity to hone their surgical skills on casualties. Naturally, this brought with it its own set of hazards - Dundee doctor David Kinloch (1560-1617) found himself imprisoned during the Spanish Inquisition for heresy and spying. He endured torture, which he later referred to as "six years in bitter torment", and legend has it that he was only released from prison in Spain after curing the grand inquisitor of illness.

Charles Bell (1774-1842), the surgeon who first described Bell's palsy, also served as a medical officer at the Battle of Waterloo, in 1815. A renowned artist, he returned with gruesome portraits of casualties, which today adorn the college's museum walls. And Sir Michael Woodruff (1911-2001), who was a pioneer in organ transportation and carried out Edinburgh's first kidney transplant, was captured by the Japanese in Singapore in 1942. A prisoner of war, surrounded by disease-ridden, starving patients, he devised a grinding machine that allowed simple Malaysian grasses to be turned into an evil-tasting but life-saving powder.

Unsurprisingly, women appear only rarely in the college's history. It was as late as 1920 that the first female fellow, Alice Headwards, was admitted. By the second half of the 20th century, only 4% of surgeons nationwide were female, and it wasn't until 1984 that Caroline Doig became the first female member of the college council. Since then, much progress has been made - in the same year that Mother Teresa was awarded an honorary fellowship, in 1991, the government-funded group Women In Surgical Training (WIST) was established to assist women wishing to take up a surgical career. It aims to double the number of female consultants by 2011. Today, there are 629 female members of the Royal College.

Meanwhile, its macabre history continues to be immortalised in both film and print. In the 19th century, Arthur Conan Doyle, a student working under the supervision of Joseph Bell - the surgeon who was then president of the college - used his tutor as a model for his famous fictional character, Sherlock Holmes. Ian Rankin set several scenes from his Rebus novel The Falls in the college's museum. And the infamous tale of Burke and Hare has inspired a number of films. The most recent, The Meat Trade, due out later this year, is a modern-day interpretation of the story and stars Robert Carlyle and Colin Firth.

With our morbid appetite sated, the public's appreciation and recognition of the importance of the Royal College of Surgeons is reflected in their continued generosity. Some £5 million was raised between 1997 and 2000, and a further £5 million was raised last year to fund upgrading work. When a fundraising campaign was launched in 1980, there was all manner of responses. One elderly woman anonymously handed over a brown paper bag containing £1,000 in five- and ten-pound notes.

Today the college has more than 17,000 fellows and members, with 1,560 working in Scotland, more than 7,000 in England and a similar number overseas. The influence, power and technological advances that the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh can lay claim to are evident worldwide.

Ash goes to Hollywood, finally! by Subhash K Jha.

Rediff.com, 20 June 2005

Aishwarya Rai begins work on her first Hollywood project this August.

The film, entitled The Last Legion, will be shot in Tunisia, Capri and Slovakia.

It is a classic period drama featuring Ben Kingsley (Gandhi) and Colin Firth (Bridget Jones' Diary), with Ash as the only female lead.

Ash isn't allowed to speak about the costume drama as yet. But it's reliably learnt that the Dino De Laurentiis production is to be shot with an estimated $70 million budget.

The project's buzz was so positive at Cannes last month that Harvey Weinstein (who recently left Miramax to start his own production and distribution company with his brother, Bob) immediately bought the North American distribution rights to Last Legion.

Doug Lefler, who directed several episodes of the television shows Hercules and J.A.G., and served as the second unit director on Spider-Man, will direct the film.

Restraining from commenting on The Last Legion, Ash spoke about her international career. "There never was any doubt in my mind about which way my career abroad would go. Only the doubters back home seemed to feel I was imagining the offers from abroad, when in fact they were coming in constantly.

"Yes, I've been offered several international projects which I couldn't do because of date problems. When it came to choosing between a film in Bollywood and its international counterpart, I was very clear I'd always opt for the former," she says.

All said and done, Ash's career abroad is starting now. After (Gurinder Chadha's husband) Paul Mayeda Berges' Mistress Of Spices and Jagmohan Mundhra's Provoked where she plays Indian characters for an international audience, in The Last Legion she'll finally play a character that has nothing to do with her nationality.

GOSSIP: The Buzz in Cannes: Kevin and Colin couldn't join the party by Thomas Crampton.

International Herald Tribune, 16 May 2005

BARED France's main Sunday newspaper called it the festival's "finest discovery." And it didn't stop there: Le Journal du Dimanche also published a front-page photo triptych showing the actress Sophie Marceau inadvertently baring a breast outside the Palais des Festivals as she arrived for the screening of her new film, Atom Egoyan's "Where the Truth Lies." Marceau, wearing a loose white halter top with a plunging neckline, was a fashion victim, French television quipped. Although there were the inevitable parallels to Janet Jackson, whose wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Super Bowl fueled an American indecency campaign, the event did not seem staged and created no outrage - merely a sensation.

BOAT CLUB This year's film festival has turned the bay of Cannes into a show-and-tell for owners of the world's largest yachts. Those in port include Octopus, the largest yacht in the fleet of Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder. Allen was dubbed "the accidental zillionaire" in an unauthorized biography. His 413-foot vessel - that's a whopping 126 meters - lies moored alongside the boat that displaced it as the world's largest yacht: The 425-foot Rising Sun, owned by the Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison. A quick jet-ski ride away lies Athena, the recently launched three-masted schooner made to exacting measure for the Silicon Valley venture capitalist Jim Clark. The queen of the bay, however, remains Christina O, the yacht that Aristotle Onassis made legendary and that was recently refitted by the current owner, the Greek shipping tycoon John Paul Papanicolaou.

DESPERATE PARTIES The party scene kicked into high gear over the weekend, with venues ranging from hotel suites to megayachts and rented châteaux. On the Champagne-colored sands of the Cannes beach, house music throbbed from makeshift nightclubs guarded by black-suited bouncers - whose rabid-pitbull methods went so far as roughing up some guests who were attempting to leave the festivities. For those happy few able to get tickets, the best choice often became a jaunt out of Cannes via shuttle bus to some of the more exclusive soirées. Canal Plus, the French pay-television group, set the tone for decadence at a party amid the lavender bushes and palm trees of the Moulin de Mougins, a 15th-century olive mill taken over by the chef Alain Llorca earlier this year. With a guest list dominated by the French cinema community, including Sophie Marceau and the actor Jamal Debbouze, Champagne flowed alongside a swan-filled pool while guests reclined for a foot massage as hostesses fed them chocolate-dipped strawberries. As if the luxuries on offer were not enough, the A-list crowd nearly rioted when Eva Longoria, a star of "Desperate Housewives," rolled up to the front entrance.

TOSSED OUT The party for Soho House, the haughty London and New York club for the arts and media elite, was notable more for those turned away than those who attended. Among those asked to leave were the British heartthrob Colin Firth and his American co-star in "Where the Truth Lies," Kevin Bacon. They were bounced out with John Madden, director of "Shakespeare in Love." The party they didn't attend was at the Château de la Napoule, a seaside 14th-century walled fortress boasting ramparts, a turreted gatehouse and a topiary garden. Those who got past the door discovered the hazards of drinking at a bar made of ice: As the room heated up, drinks and bottles began sliding to the floor. The trio took solace in a drink at the Hotel Martinez, where Firth, who starred with Renée Zellweger in "Bridget Jones' Diary," said he felt grateful to be served. "It is probably a good thing for some thick-necked bouncer to remind you that presenting in competition at Cannes doesn't mean you are better than a useless tosser," said Firth. "After all, he's probably right."

EASY LISTENER For proof that time mellows all, look no further than the musical menu served up for the actor Dennis Hopper's exclusive 69th birthday party on a yacht moored off the Carlton Beach. There was a dance floor set up on the yacht's helipad and a London-based DJ, Max Chipchase, brought in for the occasion. But Chipchase, who normally plays a heavy beat for crowded dance clubs, said that Hopper and the 30 friends of the erstwhile counterculture icon just wanted to chill. "It never got stronger than French jazz and Brazilian bossa all evening," Chipchase said, "and then they all went home just after midnight."

Cannes competition hots up

Indian Daily, 15 May 2005

Barely four days into the 58th Cannes Film Festival, cinematic gem-hunters have already discovered much to gloat over although none of the films unveiled so far have evoked unqualified praise. Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan's rare studio film cast in the mould of whodunit, Where the Truth Lies, American filmmaker Gus Van Sant's defiantly uncompromising portrait of an angst-ridden musician, Last Days, and Woody Allen's darkly sly out-of-Competition film, Match Point, have whipped up excitement all around.

Interestingly, all the above-mentioned films probe the dark side of the human mind without the slightest semblance of apology, Woody Allen's Match Point especially so.

Set entirely in London - unusual for filmmaker who rarely moves out of Manhattan for his films - his latest work is about social climber who finds a rich godfather on marrying the latter's daughter. But then he goes and commits the mistake of beginning an affair with a struggling but smouldering American actress. The mistress declares that she is pregnant even as his wife makes heavy weather of conceiving her first child. All hell breaks loose. The cosy life that the man has meticulously built is in danger of falling apart. So he makes another mistake. He kills the mistress. But that folly turns out to be a perfect murder and he goes scot-free.

Allen's typically tricky premise here is that man has no control on his life and everything, yes everything, is driven by luck. So if you are lucky you can get away with murder. A dangerous message all right but the humour that the writer-director injects into the tale saves Match Point from teetering over the edge. The tennis analogy in Match Point is all too obvious - a service can hit the top of the net and either move forward or knocked back into the server's court. If it topples over to the other side, you win. If it doesn''t, you lose. We know that, but the witty, even devious and dodgy manner in which Woody Allen states the obvious makes Match Point a film that, at a level, provokes thought.

In the Competition with his second successive film, Gus Van Sant delivers a characteristically slow, meditative, unadorned look back at the 1994 suicide of Kurt Cobain, leader of the grunge group Nirvana. His last film, Elephant, inspired by the real-life Columbine shootout, bagged the Palme d''Or in 2003. Is Last Days in the same league as Elephant? It is probably better. Van Sant appears to have perfected his minimalist storytelling style where the linear and the episodic co-exist in remarkable harmony. But it would be too much to expect the jury to make it two-in-three years for Van Sant especially when the rest of the field is exceptionally strong.

One of the Competition films that has made a strong impression is Where the Truth Lies, Egoyan's adaptation of a novel about a 1960s murder of a luxury hotel waitress in the room of a popular showbiz duo. Many years later, a woman journalist wants to unravel the truth behind what exactly happened that night. The search is fraught with heartburns and surprise revelations even as the girl plays mental games with the two ageing men, played with remarkable felicity by Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth.

Where the Truth Lies is as dark as any Egoyan film one has seen, but it does let in a few, stray moments. They lighten the burden of the moral trauma that the key players face in this journey into a dark secret of the past. It is not vintage Egoyan but it works remarkably well as a whole. The Cannes Competition has only just got underway and it has already thrown up films that are as intriguing as they are exciting. Will the fare spread out for the week ahead sustain the momentum? There is reason to believe that it will.

Where the Truth Lies by Ray Benett.

The Hollywood Reporter, 14 May 2005

Atom Egoyan has delivered a big, slick and sexy mystery in "Where the Truth Lies," turning the Rupert Holmes novel into a sumptuous tale of show business hype and duplicity.

Boasting a handsome cast, top-flight design and evocative music, the film should have no trouble attracting audiences seeking high-style, grownup entertainment.

Rich in backstage atmosphere and the glamour of big-time hotels and nightclubs, the movie delves with considerable wit into the ugly side of the entertainment industry.

In the late '50s, Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon) and Vince Collins (Colin Firth) are the biggest comedy duo in America. The last thing they need is the naked body of a beautiful blonde in the bathtub of their New Jersey hotel room.

In fact, the last thing the comedians do as partners is to deny they had anything to do with the dead woman, and they promptly break up their long-standing and hugely successful act.

Fifteen years later, a young writer named Karen O'Connor (Alison Lohman) wins a fat contract from a publisher to write a book about Vince Collins, and it is through her eyes that the secret behind their split is slowly revealed.

Using flashbacks from different points of view, Egoyan traces the lies and deception that have kept the sordid events that followed a Miami telethon from a still-adoring public.

Larry and Vince had been forced by a no-nonsense gangster named Sally Sanmarco (David Hayman) to fly directly from the Miami gig to the opening of his New Jersey nightclub, where the corpse was found.

As O'Connor discovers, many facts were quickly hidden and the comics appear to have covered their tracks cleverly but with their careers pretty much over by the '70s, their mutual desire for public acclaim drives them to reveal a version of the truth.

But the young writer cannot resist being drawn into the pair's intense world of fabrication and celebrity worship. "Having to be a nice guy is the hardest job in the world when you're not," Larry tells her.

Egoyan has enormous fun peeling the wrappers of showbiz lore so that we see the hoodlums, the drug taking, kinky sex and unstoppable violence. Soon O'Connor is wrapped up in it as much as the superstars who might or might not have committed murder.

The film obeys the sometimes strained logic of mystery novels so that there's more than the occasional need to suspend disbelief, but Egoyan's script moves slickly along to a satisfying conclusion.

Bacon is as taut and effective as usual, and Firth might prove a revelation to those who have seen him only in period pictures and English comedies. Lohman carries the weight of lead investigator with immense charm and no