[Fwd: Alan Rickman Newsletter, 5 March 2001]

[Amanda Lewanski]

I post this mostly for the first item, for you Sherlock Holmes types.
But I forwarded the whole thing so I'd be sure to get all the credits
and disclaimers and such in.

--Amanda

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Alan Rickman Newsletter, 5 March 2001
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 18:45:34 -0800
From: Rickman Fans <RickmanFans at yahoo.com>
Reply-To: RickmanFans at yahoo.com
To: AR_Newsletter at topica.com

If you have any gossip, suggestions, queries or tips, please send them
RickmanFans at cybamuse.com.
REMEMBER: if you wish to be acknowledged (first name only), you will
need to let me know.

In this newsletter...

1. Elementary, my Dear Watson
2. Debut of the Harry Potter movie trailer
3. Its enough to get your hair all tied up in knots!
4. Possibly change of agents on the horizon
5. Name in vain

1. ELEMENTARY MY DEAR WATSON

It takes Catherine Zeta-Jones to get this project
noticed, but as she deliberates on taking part in a
role in a Sherlock Holmes movie, an article at Ananova
reports that ALAN RICKMAN IS ALREADY lined up to play
Sherlock:

Catherine Zeta Jones is considering a part in a film
based on the life of Sherlock Holmes .
Baker Street is loosely based Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
story The Sign of Four.
Alan Rickman is tipped to star as Holmes, with Gabriel
Byrne playing his sidekick Dr Watson.
The Sign of Four also focuses on a secret love affair
between Holmes and a married member of the
aristocracy.
Zeta Jones is reported to like the idea of making the
movie with her own production company, which is
jointly run by her younger brother Lyndon.
A source told Ananova: "Catherine is fully occupied in
America at the moment but she would love to come back
to the UK to do some work and this is an ideal
opportunity.
"She doesn't feel she has anything to prove but her
career has shifted up at least two gears since she
left for Los Angeles about five years ago."
The script for Baker Street is currently being
developed, with a view to start filming in Spring next
year.

(Source:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_225584.html)

----------------------------
DEBUT OF THE HARRY POTTER MOVIE TRAILER

****** On the 2nd March, 2001, the highly anticipated
Harry Potter movie trailer was unveiled. Fans flocked
to see the 100 second-long trailer. You too can see it
at the Official Harry Potter website (requires the
free Real Player plugin):

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/web/dailyprophet/article.jsp?id=movie_trailer1

ALAN RICKMAN as Snape appears early on in the trailer
 and indeed, is practically the first big name star
to appear in the trailer! As for the potential of the
movie (as based on 100 seconds of footage.)  looking
good, and likely to retain the feel of the book!

Many newspapers flocked to detail their opinion of the
trailer, here is but one example (although most had
similar positive opinions):

Western Daily Press 
March 2, 2001 
Wizard! Fans of Harry get first taste of Potter film 
BYLINE: Anthony Barnes 
FANS had their first taste of the magical world of
Harry Potter yesterday as the trailer for theeagerly
awaited movie was given its premiere. With a further
eight and a half months before the film hits screens,
film company Warner Brothers gave a sneak preview to
devotees who logged on to the teenage wizard's web
site, www.harrypotter.co.uk. Top British stars such as
Dame Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane and Alan Rickman
featured in the 100second clip which will be shown in
cinemas in coming months. 
Screen veteran Richard Harris narrates the trailer in
his role as Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts
School for witchcraft and wizardry. Coltrane is
transformed into the hirsute groundkeeper Rubeus
Hagrid, while Dame Maggie becomes deputy head
Professor Minerva McGonagall. Fans also had their
first glimpse of the mysterious game of Quidditch as
Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe, and his school pals
stare up into the air, holding on to their
broomsticks, as the match begins. Harry is seen
travelling to the school on the Hogwarts Express after
being summoned by Dumbledore from his life in the
cupboard under the stairs. In the shots his school pal
Hermione Granger, played by Emma Watson, levitates a
feather with her magic wand, although the footage is
largely free of any lavish special effects. 
The movie, Harry Potter And The Philospher's Stone, is
released on November 16. Much of the movie was shot in
the West, with Gloucester Cathedral magically turned
into Hogwart's School, where young wizard Harry and
his friends learn their craft. Lacock in Wiltshire
also saw action in the historic Abbey and nearby
church. Local schoolchildren joined the cast as
extras. 
A cat also features in the story and the word is that
while members of the cast were freezing in the Abbey
cloisters during filming, a special heater was used to
warm up the stones so the cat would sit on them.

(Source: Georgiana, AR GB*, March 2, 2001) 

The UK newspaper, The Guradian, had a more generic
article summing up current activites surrounding the
film and the trailer:

Cinemagoers are well accustomed to being told a film
is "the most eagerly awaited movie of the year" - but
the tired claim seemed as if it might actually be
justified yesterday as thousands of internet users
rushed to catch a first glimpse of Harry Potter on
celluloid in a trailer posted on the internet. 
But the movie will not be coming to a cinema near you
soon. 
Audiences will have to wait until November to see it -
making the trailer the most premature that Warner
Brothers has ever released. 
The studio plans to schedule the 110-second snippet
for exhibition in cinemas, where it will serve less as
an advertisement than as a temporary sedative for
already hyperventilating fans. 
A Warner spokeswoman said there had been "overwhelming
interest" in the trailer, posted yesterday afternoon
on the official website www.harrypotter.co.uk. 
It follows the trainee wizard from his enrolment in
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to his
discovery of the full extent of his magical powers,
via special effects-laden scenes depicting the
broomstick-piloting game of Quidditch. 
Numerous enthusiasts, sounding suspiciously like
adults, flocked to the site's discussion forums
yesterday to analyse the brief clip in detail. 
It is hard to draw many conclusions about the quality
of the acting - 11-year-old Daniel Radcliffe, playing
Harry, does not speak once. 
However, the scenes drip with evidence of the 80m
that has been poured into shooting of the film at the
Leavesden studios in Hertfordshire. 
Directed by Christopher Columbus, whose credits
include Mrs Doubtfire and Stepmom, the film stars Alan
Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane and Ian Hart -
plus a flock of computer-animated owls. These figure
heavily in the online trailer. 
The sneak preview should provide Warner with some
respite from a spate of bad publicity surrounding the
movie. It has left the studio risking looking as much
of a representative of the forces of evil as Potter's
diabolical nemesis Voldemort himself. 
Within days of signing a $103m merchandising deal with
Coca-Cola, Warner announced a partial cessation of
hostilities in its bid to force several young fans
operating websites to surrender internet domains which
include the name Harry Potter.

(Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,445241,00.html)

***** Even royalty awaits the release of the  Harry
Potter movie. When author of the Harry Potter books,
J.K. Rowling, received an O.B.E. (Order of the British
Empire) the other day, Prince Charles felt compelled
to enquire after the film:

And even the Prince of Wales showed his curiosity
yesterday, when he revealed he was a Harry Potter fan
and asked the schoolboy wizards creator JK Rowling:
"Is the film as good as the book?"

(Source:
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/scotland.cfm?id=51656&keyword=the
NB: The Scotsman do not usually keep articles posted
more than 24 hours)

-------------------------

3. ITS ENOUGH TO GET YOUR HAIR TIED UP IN KNOTS!

***** The action surrounding the film, Blow Dry, heats
up With its debut in North America this week, and the
UK a few weeks later, the gala events are popping up!
ALAN RICKMAN will be attending the UK premiere of the
movie according to the UK Newsquest Regional Press (2
March 2001)

HEADLINE: Blow Dry: All star line-up for premier
By Richard Brugger 
Movie mega-stars Alan Rickman and Natasha Richardson
are now on the guest list for the glittering European
premiere of Blow Dry. The movie from the pen of Full
Monty writer and local man Simon Beaufoy is being
premiered at The Picture House, in Keighley, on March
15. 
It has been confirmed that tickets for the event will
go on sale from 1pm next Wednesday at The Picture
House not next Tuesday as originally planned. It is
also understood that there is a "good chance" that at
least one of the film's top stars will attend the
unique evening. 
They will join several other big-name cast members who
are expected to be at the spectacular charity night,
which will raise money for the Lord Mayor's appeal.
Among those confirmed as attending is award-winning
comedian Bill Nighy, who plays unscrupulous
hairdresser Ray Roberts in the film. Stars of
Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Heartbeat have also
been invited, and Keighley's own BBC weatherman Paul
Hudson will join the line up. 
Blow Dry( Certificate 15) which is set in Keighley as
the town hosts the glamorous national hairdressing
championships is on general release from March 30. 
A special Keighley News souvenir supplement, being
produced to mark the occasion, will be included free
in next week's issue.

(Source: Georgiana, AR GB*, March 02, 2001)

***** Another trailer of the movie Blow Dry has also
been released  with many more scenes containing Alan
Rickman. You can see it (with the assistance of the
free Real Player plugin) at:
http://www.moviefone.com (just do a quick search for
blow dry)

(Source: Originally brought to everyones attention in
the AR GB*)

*****  Extensive monitoring of Australian movie
websites reveals the extremely disappointing news that
Australian fans of Alan Rickman will have to wait
until DECEMBER 26, 2001 to see Blow Dry! We will all
be seeing it on DVD before then at this rate They
will be seeing Alan Rickman in the much anticipated
Harry Potter movie before then  as it is scheduled for
an Australian release on November 29, 2001

(Source: www.village.com.au)

------------------------

4. POSSIBLY CHANGE OF AGENTS ON THE HORIZON

In a very confusing article published at Variety.com,
(27 February, 2001), it would appear that ALAN
RICKMANs agent, Patrick Whitesell, has defected to
another agency in America. According to Variety, ALAN
RICKMAN and other stars are expected to keep move
change agencies as well to remain with  Whitesell:

With chilled champagne growing warm and hot pizzas
cooling, Endeavor's nine partners waited until well
past 10 p.m. on Sunday night to welcome Patrick
Whitesell. They would wait in vain.

Whitesell, having taken in a premiere on Sunday
afternoon, spent some five hours that evening
notifying and negotiating his exit with CAA topper
Richard Lovett in talks that lasted until midnight.

When it was over, Whitesell, CAA's co-head of motion
picture talent department, had defected to become
Endeavor's 10th partner. He reps a slew of
high-profile thesps including Drew Barrymore, Ben
Affleck and Matt Damon. Insiders at CAA say that all
three thesps would likely follow him, along with
longtime clients Jada Pinkett Smith and new signings
like Jerry O'Connell ("Dracula 2000") and Hugh Jackman
("The X Men").

"I think in the end, what attracted me was the idea of
contributing to the vision of where this company is
going," Whitesell said, adding that "I'm going to be a
part of something that is very exciting."

Whitesell also reps thesps Jessica Alba, Jennifer
Aniston, Christian Bale, Natasha McElhone, ALAN
RICKMAN, Gary Sinise, Kimberly Williams and Sam
Worthington -- all seen as potentially accompanying
Whitesell to Endeavor. (Whitesell's CAA clients Jon
Bon Jovi, Jordana Brewster, Kate Hudson and Craig
Kilborn are thought likely to stay with CAA.)   
  
(Full article at:
http://www.variety.com/body.asp?HbkId=3052572&subcat=-1&ArticleId=1117794355)
---------------
5. NAME IN VAIN

When you are as well known as Alan Rickman, people
will always try to make comparisons using Da Man as a
reference:

***** DailyNews, Yahoo (26 February, 2001) ran an
article with the British crowing about their prowess
in the acting realm. Of course, ALAN RICKMAN, being a
famous alunmi of RADA popped up
(Full article at:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/bpibs/20010226/en/_b_h1_the_british_alternative_u_k_acting_schools_are_ok_h1_b__1.html)

***** According to the Scotsman Newsaper (28 February,
2001), a rash of musicals with British origins opening
on Broadway brought in a comparison with Alan Rickman
It would appear that one of the stars of Jane Eyre,
The Musical has a star who reminded the article
writer of Alan Rickman:

Pray, gentle reader, pray that when Jane Eyre comes
to Britain she brings with her James Barbour. He is
Alan Rickman with a singing voice and a hint of Bryan
Ferry. Such personal magnetism, I could feel my
fillings loosen as I watched.

No, I have no idea if the writer was of the male of
feminine persuasion

(Source:
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=50738&keyword=the
NB: The Scotsman do not usually keep articles posted
more than 24 hours)
***** On a more creative note, Tom Horton of the
Scotsman (28 February, 2001) compared returning to the
UK town of Wick to  Alan Rickman in Dogma in his
opening paragraph:

ANY doubts over the existence of God and the Divine
nature disappeared on Saturday, when it became clear
that I was going to have to spend the night in Wick.
As the angel played by ALAN RICKMAN in Kevin Smiths
film Dogma says about the Creator, a wicked sense of
humour is central to the nature of the Deity: spend
years making fun of Wick in print and on the radio,
and youll have to go there.

(Source:
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/searchresults.cfm?id=50878&keyword=the
NB: The Scotsman do not usually keep articles posted
more than 24 hours)

***** More praise for Alan Rickmans presence on
stage:

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON) 
March 03, 2001, Saturday 
"Top five moments of theatrical Viagra"
3 Les Liaisons Dangereuses, RSC (1985/86) Christopher
Hampton struck box-office gold with his adaptation of
Laclos's epistolary novel, in which two amoral French
aristocrats corrupt the innocence of a 15-year-old
girl and a virtuous married woman. Howard Davies's
production was sexy, funny and chilling and there were
hypnotic performances from Alan Rickman as the
seducer, and Lindsay Duncan as his evil former
mistress. I will never forget the sight of Rickman
using a whore's naked back as a desk on which to write
a love letter to the woman he will betray.

(Source: Georgiana, AR GB* March 03, 2001)


--------------------
*(OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION LISTED IN THIS
NEWSLETTER:
AR GB: Alan Rickman Guestbook 
http://alan-rickman.hypermart.net/guestbook/ar-guestbook.htm


=====
--------------
For all the best and latest on Alan Rickman, be sure to keep checking
back at
 http://www.cybamuse.com/movieThemes/actors/arickman/

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. 
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

-------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, please send an email to
AR_Newsletter-unsubscribe at topica.com

-------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: The items mentioned in this newsletter are collected from
various sources on the web and other media. Every endeavor is made to
verify rumors, but the author of the newsletter cannot be held
responsible for rumors which turn out to be false. 

 The Alan Rickman Newsletter is in no way connected to Alan Rickman or
his agents, therefore the opinions and comments presented represent
those of the respective author(s) only, and no harm is intended. 

Cybamuse Media Services owns the copyright to the Alan Rickman
Newsletter and it is not to be re-produced on the web or in any other
media format without prior consent from Cybamuse Media Services. IF THIS
NEWSLETTER IS REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM CYBAMUSE MEDIA
SERVICES, THE OFFENDER(S) WILL BE REMOVED IMMEIDATELY FROM THE
DISTRIUBTION LIST. 

 If articles are quoted within the newsletter, the copyright for their
content remains with the original authors. Cybamuse Media Services does
not support any one online shop and all recommendations are not to be
considered endorsed advertising. 

Please email RickmanFans at cybamuse.com for any comments or further
information that you require.

--------------------------

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an email to:
AR_Newsletter-unsubscribe at topica.com

------------------------------

____________________________________________________________
T O P I C A  -- Learn More. Surf Less. 
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose.
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01