What ever happened to Harry Potter 6?
The Half-Blood Prince was postponed to July 2009. to prowde a Summer tent pole movre (ahem). to plug a gap in the blockbuster season left by the
recent Hollywood writers‘ strike.
Where is porn actress Jenna Jameson‘s Zombie Strippers?
The stars venture into softcore horror comedy.
which premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival.
has fallen off this release schedule. We wait for further news with baited breath.
well written and a great scene to watch. so I wanted to build on that.‘ he says.
Away from making movies. De Niro set up his own Tribeca Film Festival as part of a plan to regenerate New York‘s post 9/ l l downtown area. It has rapidly acquired a reputation as a serious and exciting date on the crowded calendar.
‘1 left a meeting right after they hit the World Trade (‘enterf he says. ’I went to my apartment and I watched it out of my window. I could see the line of tire across the North Tower. I had my binoculars and a video camera ~ though I didn‘t want to video it. I saw a few peoplejump. Then I saw the South Tower go. It was so unreal. I had to confirm it by immediately looking at the television screen. That was the only way to make it real. Like my son said. “It was like watching the moon fall".‘
The actor recently decided to quit his long-time agency. Creative Artists (CAA). which resulted in a vindictive email from one of the staff. berating De Niro for having too high an opinion of his own worth and being ungrateful for the roles (‘AA had put his way. The email also suggested that De Niro was over the hill as far as
the younger generation of filmgoers was
concerned. Rather than getting shirty. he says of
this incident: 'There are certain facts about it that are just inaccurate. I hate to think the email came from someone at (‘AA. because I felt it was beneath them. It‘s like an obscene telephone call. You just don't know where it comes from.‘ lnevitably. De Niro frequently gets asked about the earlier part of his career. particularly his enduring collaboration with director Martin Scorsese on films such as Mean Streets. Taxi Driver. Raging Bull and (laud/e/las. The actor claims he never felt rejected when he started out as a jobbing actor desperate for work. ‘When you go into an audition. you’re rejected already.
There are hundreds of other actors. At this point in my career. I don‘t have to deal with audition rejections. so I get my rejection from other things. My children can make me feel rejected. They can humble you pretty quick.‘
De Niro is also fairly sanguine about his famed Method preparations. which included gaining 60 lbs and learning to box for his role as Jake La Motta in Raging Bull.
‘I spent lunchtime in a grave during the filming of Bloody Mama.‘ he says. ‘When you‘re younger. you feel that‘s what you need to do to help you stay in character. When you get older. you become more confident. and less intense about it — and you can achieve the same effect. When you‘re relaxed and confident. you get the good stuff.‘
He relishes the new horizons that have opened up to him on the other side of the camera. ‘1 like directing. With The Good Shepherd it took me years to get things going. I started nine or ten years ago and it really took that long to get it going. I'd like to do a ‘next episode' of The (irmrl .S'lzeplierd. which goes from 196] with the Berlin Wall going up to 1989 with the Wall coming down. Then I‘d like to do a third film from 1989 to the present.’
He would love to work with Scorsese again and the pair have a couple of projects under wraps. ‘We‘ve done eight movies together and I‘d like to do another couple with him. We‘re going to do this project in a year or two. l‘m superstitious about talking about it. but it‘s supposed to be happening. Marty's open to unexpected things on that — this is a flowery way of saying it — on that voyage. He takes ideas. and he‘s not afraid to try them.’
Righteous Kill is out on Fri 26 Sep; What Just Happened? is out on Fri 10 Oct.
In a hospital in 19208 Hollywood Lee Pace's injured stuntman takes a little girl's mind off her broken arm with tales of five mythical heroes in director Tarsem Singh's follow-up to The Cell. (3 Oct)
Fear(s) of the Dark Scary-as-hell portmanteau horror movie. despite being made in French and black and white by five comic book creators working in conjunction with animation boffins. (3 Oct)
Simon Pegg plays a thinly disguised Toby Young in a star- studded adaptation of the British writer's scandalous memoir about working for a high profile New York magazine with the initials VF. (3 Oct)
Body 0! Lies
Russell Crowe makes his umpteenth film with Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio ditches Scorsese for the Scottster for a thriller about a journalist hunting an al-Qaeda leader in Jordan. (10 Oct)
When Anna Faris' Playboy bunny is thrown out of Hugh Hefner's mansion she ends up in a sorority house where the glamour puss teaches the girls a thing or two. Not as filthy as it sounds. unfortunately. (70 Oct)
4—18 Sep 2008 THE LIST 23