Pirates trilogy Blu-ray DVD
posted by Jas, 08/31/08
Disney will release the Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy (3 film collection) on Blu-ray DVD on September 16, 2008. There's no difference from the first three Blu-ray releases, it's just packed in one neat package and is priced at $57.95. Pre-order a copy here
New York, I Love You screenings and movie info
posted by Jas, 08/24/08
TIFF site has posted movie info on New York, I Love You and it's screening at the festival. Some stills from the movie here.
Public Screenings:
Saturday, September 6, 06:45 pm at VARSITY 8
Monday September 8, 12:00 pm at RYERSONCountry: USA
Year: 2008
Language: English
Runtime: 112 minutes
Format: Colour/and Black and WhiteHDCAM
Rating: PGPrincipal Cast: Eva Amurri, Kevin Bacon, Jacinda Barrett, Justin Bartha, Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom, James Caan, Hayden Christensen, Julie Christie, Bradley Cooper, Chris Cooper, Andy Garcia, Taylor Geare, Carla Gugino, Ethan Hawke, John Hurt, Irrfan Khan, Shia LaBeouf, Cloris Leachman, Blake Lively, Heather Matarazzo, Drea de Matteo, Emilie Ohana, Natalie Portman, Nicholas Purcell, Maggie Q, Shu Qi, Christina Ricci, Olivia Thirlby, Goran Visjnic, Eli Wallach, Saul Williams, Robin Wright Penn, Anton Yelchin, Burt Young, Ugur Yücel
International Sales Agent: QED International
And who doesn't love The Big Apple? In a series of overlapping love stories all set in New York City, thirteen directors and a huge, star-studded cast range from Central Park to Chinatown, the Village, the Upper East Side and Coney Island, all in search of what makes the heart beat faster. It turns out the city that never sleeps never stops pining either.
In the Diamond District, a young Hasidic bride (Natalie Portman) negotiates with a Jain man from India (Irrfan Khan) over a diamond purchase, each flirting with the other's culture and finding surprising common ground. In a cramped downtown apartment, a musician (Orlando Bloom) rushes to finish a soundtrack for an animated film. The director, through an intermediary, keeps pushing him to read Dostoevsky. And when that intermediary (Christina Ricci) turns up on his doorstep, Russian literature suddenly comes alive.
And so it goes, one lovely sliver of love after another, some of them overlapping. Ethan Hawke turns in a firecracker performance as a sidewalk romancer, trying to lure a gorgeous woman (Maggie Q) from the curb to his apartment. Two lovers rush to meet for the first time after a one-night stand, each anxious with nerves. Anton Yelchin plays a guy who finds his last-minute prom date (Olivia Thilby) to be full of surprises. And in one of the film's most haunting stories, the magnificent Julie Christie plays a famous opera singer who returns to her favourite Manhattan hotel. She's brought not just her luggage, but her baggage too.
Like a collection of New Yorker stories, some of the sequences in New York, I Love You carry gratifying twists, while others simply capture telling moments. The directors of this omnibus film are a global bunch, including Joshua Marston, Mira Nair, Natalie Portman, Fatih Akin, Shunji Iwai, Brett Ratner and Scarlett Johansson, as well as Shekhar Kapur, who stepped in to complete a contribution by the late Anthony Minghella. New York has never had it so good.
New York, I Love You teaser trailer
posted by Jas, 08/24/08
Mollyran has captured the New York, I Love You teaser trailer, download here.
Orlando to attend Trump party
posted by Jas, 08/20/08
LA Times reports that Orlando is among the guests who've been invited to an exclusive party to launch the Trump International Hotel & Tower Dubai at a private estate in Bel-Air on Saturday night. Update 08/24/08: Some photos at Ka-Bloom.
New York, I Love You screening at Toronto Film Festival
posted by Jas, 08/19/08
New York, I Love You will be shown at the Toronto International Film Festival which runs from September 4-13. Orlando stars with Christina Ricci in one of the 12 short films describing love in the Big Apple. The film was inspired by the popular Paris je t'aime.
The Reluctant Hero
posted by Jas, 08/19/08
Rory Stewart talks about his first meeting with Orlando and his reaction to the news about a forthcoming Hollywood film based on his life.
"I'm absolutely not a heroic figure. I'm a comic figure," he says, as the news emerged that Orlando Bloom – as handsome and heroic-looking as movie stars can get – is the person behind this project and also planning to take the lead role. The English actor, who built his fan base as Legolas in Lord of the Rings, proposes to play a man who used his experience as the deputy governor of Iraq's Dhi Qar province to expose what he believed was intrinsically wrong there.The Eton-educated Stewart is undoubtedly a romantic figure; he would be well-placed as a Scottish hero on film. From Oxford University, he served a year in the Black Watch. He later worked as a tutor to Princes William and Harry and served in the Foreign Office, including a stint in Indonesia. He has been made OBE and heads a charity that aims to improve lives in war-ravaged Afghanistan. He wrote his first book, The Places in Between, based on his walk across Afghanistan, crossing snow-filled passes, staying as an unwilling guest of the Taleban and being beaten up at a Kabul checkpoint.
Then he turned up in Iraq and signed up with the Coalition Provision Authority, serving in senior positions in two provinces there. That experience was the basis for his next book, The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq. About two weeks ago Bloom turned up in Perthshire, where Stewart's family has its home, after a visit to the Edinburgh Festival. The two men went walking through the glen, down into Crieff. It was the second time they had met in Scotland; Bloom also came to listen to Stewart speak publicly about his charity, the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, and it was supposedly this first encounter that inspired Bloom to film Stewart's story.
The film project now emerging is to be scripted by the Irish novelist Ronan Bennett and is said to focus on three stages of Stewart's life: his travels on foot through Afghanistan; his work at the Foreign Office; and his aid work in Kabul. Stewart is reluctant to discuss the film. It's a "very early-stage thing", he insists. "We haven't got as far as signing a contract … I'm a bit ambivalent about it. I think what my books are really about is my sense, in Afghanistan, of what culture outside Kabul seems to be like for a foreigner, and in Iraq to talk about why the coalition was so unsuccessful and the project so doomed."
"I try to keep myself out of the books, I don't talk about my own personality or life. I'm not quite sure how this could work." However, "if it was something that was able to draw attention to the work of the charity in Kabul, it would be exciting." Full article.
Bloom to portray diplomat with a difference
posted by Jas, 08/18/08
The Independent reports that Orlando will play a diplomat in a biopic movie about former diplomat, Rory Stewart. The movie will be written by award-winning novelist and script writer Ronan Bennett
An intrepid Scot, he has been called a modern-day Lawrence of Arabia, renowned for his work as a high-level diplomat and his enlightening travails across conflict regions in which he has lived humbly, wearing native dress among villagers. So inspirational is the life story of Rory Stewart, an Eton-educated former diplomat, that he is to become the subject of a Hollywood biopic starring the English-born actor Orlando Bloom. Stewart has earned an international reputation at the relatively tender age of 35 for his work in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. He has taught Princes William and Harry, run a charity in Kabul, written three books and received an OBE.After becoming disenchanted by the Allied invasion of Iraq, he left the British diplomatic corps to undertake a two-year journey on foot across 6,000 miles from Turkey to Bangladesh. En route, he was held at gunpoint by Maoist guerrillas, beaten up by the Taliban and imprisoned several times – all of which helped him understand the way communities really live, he says.
The idea for the film came from Bloom after he heard a talk given by Mr Stewart on behalf of his Turquoise Mountain Foundation charity. The project could hail a new direction for Bloom into more politically conscious film-making, after his star billing in such blockbusters as the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Lord of the Rings. Last week, he announced he would co-produce and appear in a film about the siege of Sarajevo. Bloom hopes the film, which is based on the memoirs of the American writer Bill Carter, Fools Rush In, would be made in the Bosnian capital itself.
Mr Stewart, who was born in Hong Kong and studied at Oxford University, was briefly an officer in the Black Watch before joining the Foreign Office, serving as the British representative to Montenegro from 1999 in the wake of the Kosovo campaign, then as the occupying coalition's deputy governor in Southern Iraq in 2003. He was aged just 30.
In Iraq, he grew bewildered by the out-of-touch advice on how to rebuild a devastated society. His 2006 book The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq gives a bleak but humorous account of the bungled advice that he received. He plans next year to move to America to take up an academic post as a professor of human rights at Harvard University.
The film, to be written by the award-winning novelist and script writer Ronan Bennett, will focus on three central "chapters" of his life: his epic journey on foot, his return to the Foreign Office, and his aid work in Kabul, which began two years ago as a one-man operation. The Turquoise Mountain Foundation now employs 35 people and runs a artists' school. The charity was conceived by Prince Charles, who enlisted Mr Stewart's help.
He went back to the Foreign Office because of his belief in human intervention, such as in Bosnia and Kosovo. "I arrived [in Iraq] quite hopeful," he said. "It was a long year of disillusionment. I realised that America, Britain and international forces in general lacked the power, legitimacy and knowledge to transform Iraq. I left very doubtful about how much good Britain could do."
Neeson joins Orlando in Fool's Rush In
posted by Jas, 08/13/08
Variety reports that Liam Neeson has joined the cast of "Fool's Rush In" and Javier Bardem is in talks for a supporting role. The movie will be produced by Elliott Lewitt and Julie Kirkham and Orlando will also co-produce.
Bloom to act in film on Sarajevo Siege
posted by Jas, 08/12/08
Orlando will star in an independent film about life in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, based on the book "Fools Rush In: A True Story of War and Redemption"
Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom said on Tuesday he was stepping aside from the big productions that made him a star to work in a film about life in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo during the 1992-95 siege. The film is based on the book Fools Rush In by American writer and filmmaker Bill Carter who lived in Sarajevo at the height of the siege. It will be directed by Brazilian director Andrucha Waddington and produced by Elliot Lewitt."A film is a very specific and personal account of Bill Carter's experience in Sarajevo during the war and we would very much like to make the film here," the star of the Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lord of the Rings told reporters in Sarajevo. "This is a departure from the very big Hollywood productions," Bloom said after the film's crew met with the Sarajevo Mayor, who promised financial and other support for the film.
"I'm not in fact playing Bill in this movie but I read the script and the very human story at the very core of this film spoke to me very clearly," he added. In the book, Carter described his life as an aid worker in besieged Sarajevo in 1993-94 and difficulties and joys he shared with local people trying to preserve the sanity during the 43-month-long shelling of the city by the Bosnian Serb forces.
Bloom declined to provide more details about the film but said he hoped the shooting would start at the end of the year. "Hopefully, we can get this movie to be made at the end of this year. To come here and shoot would be just wonderful," he said. Carter made documentary Miss Sarajevo, produced by U2's singer Bono and late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, after he managed to make the first satellite link between Sarajevo and U2's Zooropa tour in 1993.
Family ties Bloom at Festival
posted by Jas, 08/04/08
News Scotsman reports that Orlando attended Samantha's performance at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Bloom, 31, is in town to deliver an acting masterclass to his elder sister Samantha, 32, who is making her Fringe debut. As Bloom mounts the stage to help Samantha transform herself into the male mindset of Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky in his tale of unrequited love, there is a brief, respectful silence. Bloom stops Samantha as she acts out a scene where Mayakovsky pricks his finger."Don't do it like that, don't suck your finger like that, that's what a woman does. Do it like this" and acts out a quick gnawing mannerism with his finger held at the side of his mouth and in that moment the star quality beams out. Earlier, Bloom talking about his sister's appearance in A Cloud in Trousers, at the city's Underbelly venue, said: "I've been very fortunate but my sister's had to work very hard to carve out a career.
"It's been quite an undertaking for her and to begin with I marvelled at how it seemed almost like a stream of consciousness. "Appearing on stage in a theatre rather than a Hollywood film is like using a different sort of muscle for an actor..." Suddenly the hall is plunged into darkness as lights are tested. Then power is restored.
Bloom, without missing a beat, smiles and continues: "At first I thought Samantha was joking about being on stage alone for 40 minutes I don't know if I could do it, it's a different sort of journey." Taking a break from the masterclass Samantha said she had no qualms accepting advice from her brother: "He encourages and supports me in everything I do and I like to ask his opinion. I'd been interested in playing a male role, but rather than playing a tough guy what I discovered was the fragility of men's emotions and the basic instincts we share."
As Orlando Bloom leaves the venue to fly to Sarajevo for filming commitments, a member of the Zawose Family, a group of musicians from Tanzania, appearing at the church venue enquires via co-ordinator and translator Robert Ngoroma, "Who is that guy?" Told he is a big Hollywood star and quite a heart throb, he responds: "Like Mr Bean?" It's Edinburgh, it's the Fringe, egos are left at the door.
Another report from the same paper.
A member of the Bloom family made an unexpected cameo at the White Belly on Saturday. Orlando Bloom, in Edinburgh to catch some shows, was in the audience watching sister Samantha's Edinburgh debut performance of A Cloud in Trousers by a Girl in a Suit. When Samantha took to the stage, Orlando's dog Sidi was so excited to see her dressed as a man that he mistook her for her brother and bounded on stage. Samantha took it in her stride, and involved the dog in the love story of a Russian poet. Orlando, who was also spotted handing out fliers to stunned Fringe-goers before the show, said: "Sam was fantastic. It's a beautiful poem that resonates with all of us."
What makes a summer blockbuster?
posted by Jas, 08/04/08
SF Gate takes a look at some of the movies that make Summer blockbuster, included is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
Year: 2006Starring: Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom
High concept: Pirates chase some artifact or other, supernatural villains pop up, Keira Knightley must choose between two dreamy guys (or not).
Zeitgeist grabber: The thing is, it didn't, really. This was an absolutely terrible movie. And yet it came within cannon range of double the original's booty.
Say what?: Lord Cutler Beckett: "No doubt you've discovered that loyalty is no longer the currency of the realm, as your father believes." Elizabeth Swann: "Then what is?" Beckett: "I'm afraid currency is the currency of the realm." Money moment: None. Seriously. What do you remember about this film, and are you sure it was from this one and not one of the two others?
The secret: Follow the money. Sequels don't even have to be watchable; they just need enough familiar elements to advertise the same ride as the original. This one could have been titled "Dead Brain's Screenplay" and it still would have raked in the bucks.
The haul: $1.066 billion. Yes, billion, with a b.
Art-lover Orlando Bloom joins the celebrities celebrating Tracey Emin
posted by Jas, 08/02/08
Hello magazine reports that Orlando was part of the star-studded audience at the opening of acclaimed artist Tracey Emin's new exhibition - a major retrospective of her work - at Edinburgh's Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Photos at Ka-Bloom
Orlando looked very much at home as he chatted to the Turner Prize-nominated artist and the gallery staff, as well as mingling with guests, including Scottish author Ian Rankin and artist Sam Taylor Wood and her partner, Jay Jopling.
Another report from Sunday Herald
Actor Orlando Bloom who all arrived to view Emin's collection before sitting down to a meal in the museum's grounds. In an entrance not exactly befitting a movie star, Bloom arrived with Emin's aunt in a black taxi towards the end of the show. Wearing a suit jacket and a pair of jeans, he looked relaxed and was jovial with Emin and the gallery staff.
