DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 149

Knightley: “It is my life now. There is nothing else! We’re doing them bothat the same time, and we were halfway through as of yesterday. We were at100 days yesterday, and we have at least another 100 to go. We’ve been goingsince February, but we’ve had about a month and a half off for hiatusbecause it’s hurricane season.”

“I have no idea [why the first one was such a hit]. It’s still a mystery.What’s amazing is that there’s such a wealth of stories there – you know,the pirating stories – and if you can tap into it and if you can do it wellthen it’s just that spark of imagination.”

“There’s all those films when you’re a kid that you kind of remember as partof your childhood that you’ve sort of lived through. I’m thinking like aWizard Of Oz or something like that so many people go ‘Yes, that was me whenI was 7 or 11,’ and I think, in a funny kind of way, with a lot of kids,Pirates has managed to do that.”

“What’s clever about it is that it’s got that thing where it’s got humourfor adults and it’s got humour for kids, and the kids won’t get the stuffthat the adults are laughing at. I think in a funny way, that makes the bestkind of kids’ movie.”

“It’s a totally different beast [than Pride and Prejudice. It’s a spectacle,and it’s a totally different headspace, because it’s a marathon and you’vegot to keep going. Sometimes you feel yourself slipping out of it, and youhave to keep going again. It kind of makes it exciting, as well.”

“You have no idea what’s going to happen in the second one, and I promiseyou, it will surprise you.”

THE PRESTIGEDirector Christopher Nolan (Memento) is re-teaming with his Batman Beginsstar, Christian Bale, for his next movie The Prestige. The film will starBale and Hugh Jackman (X-Men) as duelling magicians in 19th-Century London.

MISS POTTERRenée Zellweger (right) has agreed to play famous children’s author Beatrix Potterin a new biopic, reports ‘Variety’. Ewan McGregor, her co-star in Down WithLove, is in talks to play Norman, Potter’s publisher and love interest.

Chris Noonan (Babe) is directing a script by Richard Maltby Jr., withZellweger executive producing. Shooting is scheduled to begin on location inthe UK in March 2006.

The movie, Miss Potter, explores the life of the author of such belovedchildren’s books as The Tale Of Peter Rabbit and her struggle forindependence in Victorian England. The live-action film will have someanimated elements.

All figures are weekend box-office gross.

• 1. Flightplan ($14.8m)
• 2. Serenity ($10.1m)
• 3. Corpse Bride ($10.0m)
• 4. A History of Violence ($8.1m)
• 5. Into The Blue ($7.06m)
• 6. Just Like Heaven ($6.13m)
• 7. The Exorcism of Emily Rose ($4.38m)
• 8. Roll Bounce ($4.03m)
• 9. The Greatest Game Ever Played ($3.66m)
• 10. The 40 Year Old Virgin ($3.12m)

UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)

• 1. Pride and Prejudice (2005) (£1.47m)
• 2. A History of Violence (£1.13m)
• 3. Goal! (£0.85m)
• 4. Four Brothers (£0.78m)
• 5. Land of the Dead (£0.46m)
• 6. The 40 Year Old Virgin (£0.44m)
• 7. The Longest Yard (£0.41m)
• 8. Revolver (£0.30m)
• 9. Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (£0.28m)
• 10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) (£0.21m)

All the following are U.K. release dates, and are subject to change.

• 7th October 2005: Night Watch, Oliver Twist (2005), Serenity, Kinky Boots, Rag Tale
• 14th October 2005: Wallace & Gromit Movie: Curse of the Wererabbit, Lord of War, Out on a Limb, Domino
• 21st October 2005: Nanny McPhee, Broken Flowers, Corpse Bride, Cry Wolf, Sky High, Into the Blue
• 28th October 2005: Doom, Flightplan, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Saw II, Thumbsucker, The Legend of Zorro
• 4th November 2005: Murderball, Elizabeth Town, Brothers Grimm, The Exorcism of Emily Rose
• 11th November 2005: The Constant Gardener, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Hustle & Flow, In Her Shoes
• 18th November 2005: Transporter 2, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Rize
• 25th November 2005: White Countess, Mad Hot Ballroom, The Matador, Mrs Henderson Presents, The Libertine, The Proposition, Just Like Heaven, Bee Season
• 2nd December 2005: Tickets, Keeping Mum, Ice Harvest, Where The Truth Lies, Family Stone
• 9th December 2005: Everything is Illuminated, The Chronicles of Narnia: Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Shopgirl
• 14th December 2005: King Kong (2005), Joyeux Noel
• 16th December 2005: Lassie (2005)
• 30th December 2005: Stray Dogs, Brokeback Mountain, Proof

Page Content copyright © Dan Owen, 2005.