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Colin Firth has done well in previous years to break out of the shadows of his costume drama past with roles in Genova, a stunning turn in A Single Man and, of course, the award magnet that was King George VI in The King’s Speech.

What the previous films have done is allow the actor space to find new ground and craft some unforgettable characters, and in Eric Lomax there is a strong foundation for Firth and director Jonathan Teplitzky to create an extraordinary performance.

Yesterday we posted our interview with Jeremy Irvine, who plays the younger Eric Lomax, you can see that interview here and read our review of the film here.

Our friend James Kleinmann sat down with the actor to talk about the film, what drew him to it and why he felt the story needed to be told.

The post Interview: Colin Firth on The Railway Man...

More like an Avengers Assemble sequel than a tired third instalment, the reinvigorated action hero powers in at No 1

The winner

As Disney prepared Iron Man 3 for release, the question was always: would it perform like the first two instalments in the Tony Stark series, or could it fly close to the astonishing success of The Avengers last summer? Iron Man opened in May 2008 with £5.47m including £667,000 in previews. Iron Man 2 followed two years later with £7.66m including previews of £877,000, an increase of 40%. Then April 2012 saw The Avengers soar away with £15.78m, including £2.55m in previews – more than double the Iron Man 2 debut.

With £13.71m including £2.32m in previews, Iron Man 3 is 79% up on the opening of Iron Man 2 and just 13% down on the equivalent number for Avengers. In other words, the film has performed more like a sequel to Avengers than to the Iron Man movies.

Chicago – At the dark heart of Luis Buñuel’s Oscar-nominated 1970 classic, “Tristana,” is a character so spectacularly hypocritical and richly fascinating that he upstages everyone including the titular heroine. As played by the great Fernando Rey, ignoble nobleman Don Lope is a self-professed libertine bound by traditional values. He passionately believes in the virtues of freedom, but only on his terms.

Lope may insist that his beloved Tristana (Catherine Deneuve, never lovelier nor icier) is free to leave his murky mansion whenever she pleases, but she knows all too well that’s not the case. After taking on the role of the parentless 19-year-old’s guardian, Lope quickly falls for the wide-eyed woman, alternately treating her as his daughter and wife. Rey is both comically ludicrous and deeply pitiful as he attempts to claim the heart of a woman who can’t stand the sight of him.

Blu-ray Rating: 4.5/5.0

Taken out of its historical context,...

Stellar performances continue to outweigh flimsy storytelling in BBC drama The Hour, while the final series of The Killing looks like a return to form

The Hour (BBC2) | iPlayer

Everyday (C4) | 4oD

The Killing (BBC4) | iPlayer

Falcón (Sky Atlantic)

A BBC current affairs programme is caught up in a crisis. There are internal machinations, a star presenter gone off-message, an editor undermined from above, government pressure and a gathering scandal involving establishment figures and sexual abuse; if it were not for the 1950s costumes, The Hour could almost be mistaken for a behind-the-scenes look at Newsnight in 2012.

With so much of the BBC's news coverage devoted to the meltdown at the BBC, it's a kind of relief to be transported back to a time before Twitter, before Jimmy Savile and before the Beeb became a self‑consuming behemoth.

The problem with The Hour is that, far from being unmanageably large,...

Release Date: Oct. 11, 2011

Price: DVD $24.98

Studio: IFC/Mpi

Rob Brydon (l.) and Steve Coogan feast—and kvetch--in The Trip.

Best friends Steve Coogan (The Other Guys) and Rob Brydon (TV’s Little Britain) are the travelers who embark on The Trip, a 2010 comedy film that plays as one part documentary and one part fiction.

When a newspaper offers Coogan the chance to review a series of fine restaurants in the English countryside, he thinks it will make for a lovely getaway with his girlfriend. When she backs out, Brydon—Coogan’s dear buddy and a source of eternal aggravation—fills in as a less-than-ideal travel companion.

Directed by Michael Winterbottom (A Summer in Genoa), The Trip uses largely improvised dialogue from Coogan and Brydon (who co-starred in Winterbottom’s similar reality/fiction mash-up, 2005′s Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story). The two can’t help but try to outdo...

Michael Winterbottom makes so many movies that some of them creep into festivals very quietly and, just as quietly, creep out, never to be seen again. That wasn't the case with The Trip, which played here last year, a woolly exploration of middle-aged angst that featured Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon (as themselves) bickering and trading Sean Connery impersonations as they made their way through the English countryside. But two years before that, in 2008, Winterbottom brought a picture called Genova to the festival, a mildly engaging drama in which Colin Firth plays a father who moves his family to Italy after the death of their mother. The picture never got a U.S. release, fading like the worn face of a stone saint on a medieval church.

If there is one thing you that you can guarantee from Michael Winterbottom, it's that you can never predict where he will go next. His last few efforts have seen him move from the romantic drama "Genova" to the grim genre piece "The Killer Inside Me" to the delightful low-key character comedy "The Trip." So what's next? Again, something completely different, this time an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel, "Tess of the d'Urbervilles." Titled "Trisha," Winterbottom has relocated the story to contemporary India, telling the story of the tragic relationship between Jay and Trishna, the former the son of a…...

Man on Wire's James Marsh among just three film-makers to repay lottery funding in full since 2006, according to recent report

Who is Britain's most commercially successful film-maker of the past five years – at least among those backed by lottery money from the UK Film Council? Take a bow, James Marsh. His Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire repaid 100% of its UKFC investment, and his chimpanzee documentary Project Nim is set to follow suit.

According to figures published quietly in Hansard last week by culture minister Ed Vaizey, only two other films since 2006 – St Trinian's and The King's Speech – have so far returned their lottery cash in full. Streetdance 3D is also expected to do so.

And who must own up to being the least successful of Britain's lottery-subsidised film-makers? According to the figures, that unwanted honour goes to Stephen Frears. Two of his recent films have received some £1.7m...

Catherine Keener has been a supporting actor for years, with a reputation for being interesting in valuable, offbeat pictures

Catherine Keener is a beloved figure among the several million who are always hoping for the best from American independent pictures. She promises feeling, humour and a sense of life as it is really lived, plus a nice acidity. Keener has been attractive without threatening outright beauty or glamour. Her persona springs from ironic intelligence and that's what any wise man or woman should be searching for in life. The trouble is that in America, women actors are often supposed to be knockouts who dominate their pictures just by virtue of standing there and letting themselves be photographed.

So Keener has been a supporting actor for more than 25 years, with a reputation for being different and interesting in valuable, offbeat pictures. Indeed, she has often been taken as a talisman and even a guarantee.

Chicago – There are few things more cinematically depressing than a funny comic trapped in an unfunny movie. Think Larry David in “Whatever Works.” Scene to scene, his eyes repeatedly indicate that there’s a funnier punchline residing in his mischievous skull than there is in the lifeless script. You know a picture’s in trouble when you find yourself yearning to watch the actor eat lunch rather than finish the godforsaken movie.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The supposed masterstroke in Michael Winterbottom’s new comedy, “The Trip,” is that it consists of nothing more than two very funny men eating lunch. And dinner. And driving in the car to the next restaurant. There isn’t a conventional plot (or script) to get in the way of the performers’ improvisational genius. In the opening moments of the film, the actors are heard riffing over the phone, sliding into the personas they mastered together in Winterbottom’s 2005 comic gem,...

Summer in Genoa is one of those deserving-of-an-audience movies that goes unnoticed because there isn’t any blood or guts, or grand statements about life, or ostentatious love affairs played out by big-name stars. What this movie is offering instead is an honest look at a family struggling with the death of a loved one. In the film, Joe, played by a passive and soft-spoken Colin Firth, decides to take a teaching job in Italy. And by going there with his two daughters, he tries to escape the grief that still lingers six months after the car accident that killed his wife.

In Genoa, where they’ve moved to and where the dark narrow alleyways are as complex as their rattled psyches, Kelly (played by The Oc’s Willa Holland) is in the midst of a sexual awakening; her younger sister Mary, who blames herself for the death of their mother,...

A look at what's new on DVD this week:

"A Summer in Genoa"

Directed by Michael Winterbottom

Released by Entertainment One

Of the many films Michael Winterbottom ("A Mighty Heart," "9 Songs") has directed in recent years, you wouldn't guess the one starring recent Oscar winner Colin Firth as a father who must take care of his two daughters in the wake of a car accident involving their mother (Hope Davis) would be the one to have trouble making it to the U.S. But here we are three years after "Genova," as it's known in much of the rest of the world, was shot and it's finally arrived on DVD, a mix of supernatural thriller and human drama that's actually getting reasonably good reviews upon its delayed release. Catherine Keener co-stars.

"Belladonna"

Directed by Annika Glac

Released by Osiris

Glac's debut as a writer/director centers on a man whose...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

The Conspirator – Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Tom Wilkinson

Rio – Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, George Lopez

Scream 4 – Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette

Movie of the Week

Scream 4

The Stars: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette

The Plot: Ten years have passed, and Sidney (Campbell), who has put herself back together thanks in part to her writing, is visited again by the Ghostface Killer.

The Buzz: Wes Craven returns to the franchise that single-handedly rejuvenated the horror industry. Lots of pretty girls run around, most of them get killed, and repeat. But it’s all good fun (somehow). I enjoyed the first two films, but thought the third was pretty blah. I think enough time has passed though to make this a potentially smart beating of a dead horse.

Every Friday we’ll have new reviews of the latest films.

Tsr’s complete Film...

Welcome to our weekly look at this week’s DVD releases of the week! Did I mention that this is a weekly column? It’s true. The titles coming to DVD this week run the gamut from documentaries to horror, and the only common thread is that they’re releases you probably haven’t heard of before. That is, with one fairly big exception. Harry Potter, one of the biggest franchises in cinema history, is coming to an end with a two part finale. Part one was a commercial and critical success, and part two promises to be even bigger when it hits screens later this year. It will be a sad day indeed for folks who enjoy watching teenage boys playing with their wands. Editor’s Note: Click on any of the titles or cover art below to find out more about the release at Amazon.com. A Summer In Genoa A car crash takes the...

Chicago – At age 50, Michael Winterbottom is still one of the freshest talents on the block. His ability to reinvent himself is almost unparalleled at a time when many of the world’s most respected filmmakers go to the same well once too often. Granted, some of Winterbottom’s experiments pay off more than others, but when they succeed, they do so on a grand scale.

“A Summer in Genoa” is one of the best films Winterbottom has ever made. Americans audiences already seem to have forgotten the picture, which debuted to little fanfare in 2008 (a year after the director’s Angelina Jolie vehicle, “A Mighty Heart”). Since Winterbottom’s prolific work ethic parallels that of filmmakers half his age, he approached “Genoa” as yet another shoestring experiment, baring several stylistic similarities to the documentary realism in his 2004 effort, “9 Songs.”

DVD Rating: 5.0/5.0

Yet “Genoa” proves to be a riveting example of...

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp

Highlights from the 11th Annual Phoenix Film Festival and Int’l Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival Part I By Ray Schillaci

The best of both worlds and a real treat for film lovers was the combining of two film festivals even though it proved to be a little confusing at times. But what they had to offer was a dynamite line up of talent that may be pegged as the best yet. In fact, there was so much offered I could not possibly see it all, hence breaking this review up. What I did see throughout both festivals was very ambitious or exciting talent that blew away audiences at the screenings.

This year Live Action Shorts was a huge buzz at the festival.

DVD Playhouse—April 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood’s spiritual thriller follows a trio of characters whose seemingly disparate paths converge: Matt Damon as a blue collar Joe who tries to fight against his psychic powers that see “the other side,” Cecile de France as a journalist who somehow survives the tsunami that crushed Indonesia, and a London schoolboy (Frankie and George McLaren) who seeks answers after losing his twin brother. Like all of Eastwood’s films, the narrative construction is tight as a drum, with solid work by all involved. That said, “solid” would have to be the operative word to describe the proceedings here, as well as “unremarkable” and “uninvolving” on an emotional level. Perhaps we expect too much when we see Clint’s name on a film these days, but that’s the flip side of being one of the best. Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

DVD Playhouse—April 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood’s spiritual thriller follows a trio of characters whose seemingly disparate paths converge: Matt Damon as a blue collar Joe who tries to fight against his psychic powers that see “the other side,” Cecile de France as a journalist who somehow survives the tsunami that crushed Indonesia, and a London schoolboy (Frankie and George McLaren) who seeks answers after losing his twin brother. Like all of Eastwood’s films, the narrative construction is tight as a drum, with solid work by all involved. That said, “solid” would have to be the operative word to describe the proceedings here, as well as “unremarkable” and “uninvolving” on an emotional level. Perhaps we expect too much when we see Clint’s name on a film these days, but that’s the flip side of being one of the best. Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

“This is essentially a story of human frailties and foibles — all wrapped up in a lovely package and scored by the great Georges Delerue”.

Day for Night (La Nuit Américaine)

Directed by François Truffaut

Written by François Truffaut

France, 1973

A clutch of in-jokes and a plethora of film references punctuate François Truffaut’s Day for Night, an insider’s view of movies and the people who make them. A decade earlier, Jean-Luc Godard directed Contempt/Le Mépris (1963), a dazzlingly shot but frustratingly opaque anti-love story, that’s also stuffed full of cinematic bric-a-brac. But while Godard gives you a semi-nude Brigitte Bardot, philosophical ramblings and (let’s be honest) a bit a of a headache, fellow New Wave auteur Truffaut just wants to enfold you in his warm and distinctly Gallic embrace.

Even if you suffer from subtitle phobia, or harbour a sneaking suspicion that the leading lights of the...

The King's Speech continues to bask in Oscars glory, with a huge surge of interest in the film and in all previous titles featuring Best Actor award winner Colin Firth.

The historical drama, which won four Oscars, has experienced a 281 per cent increase in rental pre-orders and is predicted to become the biggest rental title of 2011.

There has also been a major boost for Firth's earlier releases, including a rise of more than 1000 per cent in viewers watching 2008's The Accidental Husband via online streaming.

According to subscription service LOVEFiLM, DVD rentals of Relative Values, a film adaption of the 1950s play, have jumped by 400 per cent, and those for romantic comedy Fever Pitch are up 340 per cent.

LOVEFiLM's Watch Online streaming service has also experienced a boost: The Accidental Husband directed by Griffin Dunne is up by a staggering 1145 per cent and A Single Man based on Christopher Isherwood...

The front runner for this year’s Best Actor Oscar, Colin Firth of The King’s Speech, fondly remembers his time in Ireland filming a small part in Circle of Friends, the film adaptation of Maeve Binchy’s best-selling book that starred Minnie Driver and Chris O’Donnell. "I had a minor role in Circle of Friends, which was filmed in Kilkenny and directed by one of my closest friends, Pat O'Connor,” Firth told the Irish Independent during a promo chat for The King’s Speech, why by the way is the top grossing film in Ireland since the New Year. "I only had a small part in the film, meaning there was no burden at all, so it was all a playground for me. I had a very young son with me, so it was a lovely countryside region to be in with a child. “There were sessions every Monday night in Thomastown,...

Summer In Genoa starts out with a mother and her two daughters traveling down the highway playing a game guessing what color the next oncoming car will be. The younger daughter, Mary (Perla Haney-Jardin), is incorrect for every passing car but the older daughter, Kelly (Willa Holland), is correct every time. Mary then covers Kelly’s eyes to make sure that she is not peeking and Kelly continues to be correct. Mary becomes frustrated and covers the mother’s eyes while she is driving resulting in a deadly car crash. The film is about the different ways each member of this family deals with the mother’s death. The father, Joe (Colin Firth) decides to leave the confines of their home and country and take a teaching job in Genoa, Italy. Kelly resents her little sister for the changes in the family life; the mother’s death and the move.

Colin Firth and Natalie Portman will be respectively presented the Desert Palm Achievement Award for Actor and Actress at the 22nd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival. The Awards Gala will kick off the 2011 awards season on Saturday, January 8 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

This award is very fitting for both actors. Firth is receiving major Oscar buzz for his performance as King George VI in "The King's Speech," and Portman for Darren Aronofsky's "The Black Swan."

I'm excited for these two actors, and I'm excited for the Film fest. I'm a Palm Springs resident so this is good news! Here's the complete press release:

The 22nd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff) will present Colin Firth and Natalie Portman with the Desert Palm Achievement Award for Actor and Actress, respectively. Presented by Cartier, the Awards Gala will kick off the 2011 awards season on Saturday, January 8 at...

Filed under: Movie News, Cinematical

True crime stories are always ripe for multiple adaptations, because there are always at least two sides to any case of legal and/or moral conflict. The latest real-life incident to garner a second telling is the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher and subsequent conviction of flatmate Amanda Knox and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, for the horrible act. According to the Guardian, prolific and versatile filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, who debuted three separate and very different films this year alone, is interested in depicting the tragedy from an investigatory perspective. For this "fictional drama," Winterbottom has talked to his 'Summer in Genoa' star, Colin Firth, about portraying the lead, a journalist character covering the news story.

The first movie announced related to the murder will be made for cable TV, specifically for Lifetime (unless Sollecito's lawyers squash it with legal action). It will also focus on Knox,...

Filed under: Movie News, Cinematical

True crime stories are always ripe for multiple adaptations, because there are always at least two sides to any case of legal and/or moral conflict. The latest real-life incident to garner a second telling is the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher and subsequent conviction of flatmate Amanda Knox and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, for the horrible act. According to the Guardian, prolific and versatile filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, who debuted three separate and very different films this year alone, is interested in depicting the tragedy from an investigatory perspective. For this "fictional drama," Winterbottom has talked to his 'Summer in Genoa' star, Colin Firth, about portraying the lead, a journalist character covering the news story.

The first movie announced related to the murder will be made for cable TV, specifically for Lifetime (unless Sollecito's lawyers squash it with legal action). It will also focus on Knox,...

Nicolas Whatson, general manager for Palace Films, says the company’s experience of distributing Australian films has been “thrilling, frustrating, humbling, excruciating, enriching, nerve-wracking… in no particular order.”

What were your strongest performing films of the 2009/2010 financial year?

Michael Winterbottom’s Genova. We quadrupled the UK, and ended up with the best result worldwide. Never bet against [Colin] Firth.

What titles didn’t necessarily meet your expectations?

The French Kissers didn’t really take hold outside of Sydney which was a bit disappointing. Still, we broke even theatrically and now the DVD is doing great.

Were there any surprises, positive or negative?

I always thought Welcome would provoke an emotional reaction from anyone who bothered to come, but had reservations that the immigration theme might be an obstacle. It was lovely to see the exact opposite happen – audiences embraced it and we ended up grossing $750k, which was incredibly satisfying.

Palace...

Here are the new MPAA ratings from Bulletin No: 2129.

2 Million Stupid Women Rated R For sexual content and pervasive language. All American Orgy Rated R For strong sexual content including graphic dialogue throughout, language and drug use. Answer This Rated PG-13 For sexual content, language and smoking. Bangkok Adrenaline Rated R For some violence and brief language. Cairo Time Rated PG For mild thematic elements and smoking. Release Date: August 6, 2010 The Concert Rated PG-13 For brief strong language and some sexual content. Release Date: July 30, 2010 DC Showcase Delivery Rated PG-13 For violence and some sexual content. Expecting Mary Rated PG For thematic elements involving teen pregnancy, and some language. The Hitmen Diaries: Charlie Valentine Rated R For bloody violence, sexual content and pervasive language. I Am Comic Rated R For language, sexual content and some drug material. King Of Paper Chasin' Rated R For pervasive language, violence and sexuality. The Last Brickmaker In America...

Michael Winterbottom is a fast talker. Which seems in character -- he's also a quick, prolific filmmaker, tirelessly turning out a movie a year in genres ranging wide, from meta-literary adaptation "A Cock and Bull Story" to hardcore romance "9 Songs" to 2008's Colin Firth-led family drama "Genova," still without a distributor. His newest -- for now -- is "The Killer Inside Me," itself one of two films (along with Naomi Klein-based documentary "The Shock Doctrine") he had showing at Sundance this year.

It can be hard to imagine people getting incensed about on-screen violence in our hardened times, but "The Killer Inside Me" has the dubious distinction of managing just that. Adapted from a Jim Thompson novel, the film's an exhilarating, nihilistic kick-to-the-teeth of a noir tale with a star-filled cast, centered on and narrated by small-town sheriff Lou Ford (played by Casey Affleck) whose explosive affair with...

The sequel remained at the top of the charts, but the sunshine – and the reviews – lured many away. Meanwhile Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me succeeded in tempting a mass market with niche fare

The chart-topper

While over in the Us, Sex and the City 2 has slid down the box-office charts to a relatively humble fifth position, in the UK it's a different story, with the female-friendly sequel once more strongly dominating the market. After two weekends in the Us, it has grossed $73.1m, a figure that would suggest a UK result in the £7-8m range, by industry rule of thumb. In fact, Sex and the City 2 has taken £13.7m here.

But it's not all good news for Carrie and pals. Warm weather caused most films to experience heavy drops from the previous weekend, but none remaining in the top 10 were bigger than Sex and the City 2...

Due to unavailability of cinema venue in India because of the success of My Name Is Khan , the ‘From Blighty with Love’ season will now start on 5 March, not 26 February as previously scheduled. The season will run from Monday 5 March until Thursday 18 March.

From Blighty with Love will be the first time that independent British films will be presented to the English speaking audience in India, and will feature the simultaneous screening of each film on multiple screens in 2K digital cinemas in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. It will also feature three live ‘in-conversation’ events with British directors.

The ‘in-conversation’ events will include Stephen Poliakoff, director of the season’s opening night film Glorious 39, and Armando Iannucci, the Oscar-nominated director behind In the Loop, who will take part in live webcast Q&A answering questions from Indian audiences from a studio in London. Sally Potter, the director of Rage,...

His Bafta triumph has been a very long time coming, and could be as career changing as both his Mr Darcys

Colin Firth proved a popular winner last night, and perhaps this very public recognition will prompt him to get over his grumpiness with the whole Mr Darcy/Bridget Jones thing. Up there on the podium, Firth – by some process of thespian stealth – seemed suddenly in possession of genuine gravitas: is this a man, you wonder, who is about to step into the shoes vacated some time ago by Anthony Hopkins, and become the Great British Actor of our time?

If so, it's been a long time coming. Firth had his first major role back in 1984, alongside Rupert Everett in the public school spy drama Another Country. Winning the lead role in Valmont in 1989 wasn't the one-way ticket to stardom everyone expected – it was the "other" Dangerous Liaisons, the one that lost.

Firth will now reunite with the filmmaker on a completely different blend - The Promised Land political crime thriller set in British-ruled Palestine at the end of World War II - circa 1948 when the partition of Palestine and the subsequent creation of the state of Israel. Basically, this could be an explosive indie film. Written by Laurence Coriat (who wrote pair of Winterbottom projects in Genova and Seven Days), Firth and Matthew Macfadyen will join the already cast Jim Sturgess. - Michael Winterbottom's Genova was a little seen family drama that played out in the cobblestone streets of the touristy, beach town. If my memory serves me right, Thinkfilm owned the title and the indie unit capsized without ever releasing it -- I caught it at Tiff and thought it was an interesting mix of a teen dealing with loss and leaving her teen life behind with the worried look of her father,...

Cary Fukanaga’s adaptation of Jane Eyre and Michael Winterbottom’s The Promised Land loaded up their casts today with some very talented actors. First up, THR reports that Jamie Bell (Defiance), Judi Dench (Nine), Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) and Imogen Poots (Me and Orson Wells) are all in negotiations to join Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Michael Fassbender (Hunger) in the adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.

Here’s The Hollywood Reporter’s rundown of the story and casting: The Gothic tale follows young governess Jane Eyre (Wasikowska), who falls in love with her employer, Edward Rochester (Fassbender), but discovers he harbors a dark secret. Bell will play St. John, a clergyman who turns out to be Eyre’s cousin. Dench will play Mrs. Fairfax, the housekeeper of Thornfield Manor, who disapproves of Eyre’s engagement with Rochester. Hawkins is Mrs. Reed, Eyre’s aunt, who adopts her...

The Berlin Film Festival is underway and reports of what’s next for some big stars is coming thick and fast.

First up in the news that Colin Firth is to join Matthew Macfadyen and Jim Sturgess in Michael Winterbottom’s film The Promised Land, a political thriller set in Palestine at the end of the Second World War. Fans of Firth or Macfayden may enjoy the notion of the two Mr. Darcys joining forces on screen and following his amazing turn in Tom Ford’s A Single Man Firth will be seen in The King’s Speech, and his reunion with director Winterbottom (after 2008’s Genova) should maintain Firth’s ascending star.

Watchmen’s Comedian and forthcoming Loser Jeffrey Dean Morgan is set to take the lead Michael Barrett’s psychological thriller The Unblinking Eye, Morgan will play a reclusive detective tracked down by a journalist years after he...

The actor's fame was assured in a clinging wet shirt in Pride and Prejudice and now he has an Oscar nomination for his starring role in A Single Man. His true passion, however, is far removed from the trappings of stardom

The idea of being a minority taste appealed to Colin Firth. It was a comfortable place to be. There would be fans around, of course, but not banks of adoring hoi polloi lining the pavement when he went out for a stroll.

"There are some actors who, wherever they go, people show up because they think they are fantastic," he once mused. "Then there are slightly marginalised people who are like somebody's secret. I feel like a Second Division football team that has this following who are more into it for the fellowship of each other."

An Oscar nomination for his lead role in Tom Ford's debut feature, A Single Man,...

London -- India is awaiting a heavy dose of British movies with Julian Jarrold's "Brideshead Revisited," "In The Loop," directed by Armando Iannucci and Stephen Poliakoff's "Glorious 39" all landing on the subcontinent with U.K. Film Council backing.

The Council's "From Blighty With Love" is a startup project aiming to push British movies into Indian theaters.

Eight movies will debut in India through the program, which will unspool in theaters in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore from Feb. 26 through March 11.

The project is supported by partners including the Mumbai Film Festival, BBC Entertainment and Reliance.

The other projects are James Marsh's "Man On Wire," Stephan Elliot's "Easy Virtue," Michael Winterbottom's "Genova," Sally Potter's "Rage" and Francois Ozon's "Angel."...

Cinema distributor behind The Counterfeiters, Genova and Thirst clinches landmark deal with Apple to put titles on internet

Metrodome Group, the arthouse film distributor behind the 2007 Oscar-winner The Counterfeiters, is understood to have clinched a landmark deal with Apple to make its titles available on iTunes for internet users to buy or rent.

Metrodome, which is listed on the junior Aim market, is the first small independent distribution company to sign a direct agreement with iTunes. Traditionally, "indies" have had to rely on doing a deal with a large studio or major distributor such as Momentum to get their films on to iTunes, paying their partner a percentage in the process.

Apple will still take a share of the revenues in return for giving access to the huge iTunes audience but the deal is more attractive for Metrodome and an important endorsement for a business that was struggling a year...

I'm not always eager to post promo and sales trailers for movies when they find their way online because they're usually too long, rough around the edges, and quick to be pulled off the web anyway. They're not intended for the general public, and shouldn't really be judged as such. In this case, however, we've got our first look at what appears to be a very promising flick, and with all the talent involved I simply couldn't help posting about it. Michael Winterbottom's most recent film Genova didn't get a ton of attention at Tiff last year, but his previous two films, A Mighty Heart and The Road to Guantanamo both made my top 10 lists in their respective years. This time around he's teaming up with Casey Affleck, who is riding a wave of critical acclaim from outstanding performances in Gone Baby Bone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,...

• We aren't yet close enough to the moment where Toronto's Bloor street, or more specifically, a three-block radius of upper scale designer name shopping portion of it, pulls out the red carpet to receive Tom Ford, and yet, I'm beginning to think that my original assessment on the probabilities of this being only slightly better than what he could pull off during a Vogue fashion shoot were off. I didn't think much about the idea of a fashion designer making his feature length filming debut - sure he'd bring his A game to costume design department and perhaps have a clear idea about the interior shots, but what else could he theoretically do? I once had that apprehensive feeling about a painter/artist turned filmmaker named Schnabel. We'll wait before official critical word from the Lido to push this title up as a high priority film to cover at Tiff,

...

Filming begins on the Roman epic adventure The Eagle of the Ninth, directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald and produced by Duncan Kenworthy. Shooting entirely on location in Hungary and Scotland, the film is co-financed by Film4 with Focus Features, which holds worldwide rights excluding U.K. free-tv. The cast is headed by Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the upcoming Dear John), Jamie Bell (Defiance, Jumper), two-time Golden Globe Award winner Donald Sutherland, and Mark Strong (the upcoming Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood). Mr. Macdonald is reunited on the new film with Jeremy Brock, BAFTA Award-winning screenwriter of his 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, who has adapted the screenplay of The Eagle of the Ninth from Rosemary Sutcliff's classic novel of the same name.

Duncan Kenworthy, an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominee for Four Weddings and a Funeral, developed and is...

Filming begins on the Roman epic adventure The Eagle of the Ninth, directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald and produced by Duncan Kenworthy. Shooting entirely on location in Hungary and Scotland, the film is co-financed by Film4 with Focus Features, which holds worldwide rights excluding U.K. free-tv. The cast is headed by Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the upcoming Dear John), Jamie Bell (Defiance, Jumper), two-time Golden Globe Award winner Donald Sutherland, and Mark Strong (the upcoming Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood). Mr. Macdonald is reunited on the new film with Jeremy Brock, BAFTA Award-winning screenwriter of his 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, who has adapted the screenplay of The Eagle of the Ninth from Rosemary Sutcliff's classic novel of the same name.

Duncan Kenworthy, an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominee for Four Weddings and a Funeral, developed and is...

Filming begins on the Roman epic adventure The Eagle of the Ninth, directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald and produced by Duncan Kenworthy. Shooting entirely on location in Hungary and Scotland, the film is co-financed by Film4 with Focus Features, which holds worldwide rights excluding U.K. free-tv. The cast is headed by Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the upcoming Dear John), Jamie Bell (Defiance, Jumper), two-time Golden Globe Award winner Donald Sutherland, and Mark Strong (the upcoming Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood). Mr. Macdonald is reunited on the new film with Jeremy Brock, BAFTA Award-winning screenwriter of his 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, who has adapted the screenplay of The Eagle of the Ninth from Rosemary Sutcliff's classic novel of the same name.

Duncan Kenworthy, an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominee for Four Weddings and a Funeral, developed and is...

Filming begins on the Roman epic adventure The Eagle of the Ninth, directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald and produced by Duncan Kenworthy. Shooting entirely on location in Hungary and Scotland, the film is co-financed by Film4 with Focus Features, which holds worldwide rights excluding U.K. free-tv. The cast is headed by Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the upcoming Dear John), Jamie Bell (Defiance, Jumper), two-time Golden Globe Award winner Donald Sutherland, and Mark Strong (the upcoming Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood). Mr. Macdonald is reunited on the new film with Jeremy Brock, BAFTA Award-winning screenwriter of his 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, who has adapted the screenplay of The Eagle of the Ninth from Rosemary Sutcliff's classic novel of the same name.

Duncan Kenworthy, an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominee for Four Weddings and a Funeral, developed and is...

The Eagle of the Ninth began shooting today in Hungary. This Roman epic adventure is being directed by Kevin Macdonald and stars Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, and Mark Strong. Here is the official press release:

Filming begins today on the Roman epic adventure The Eagle of the Ninth, directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald and produced by Duncan Kenworthy. Shooting entirely on location in Hungary and Scotland, the film is co-financed by Film4 with Focus Features, which holds worldwide rights excluding U.K. free-tv.

The cast is headed by Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the upcoming Dear John), Jamie Bell (Defiance, Jumper), two-time Golden Globe Award winner Donald Sutherland, and Mark Strong (the upcoming Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood). Mr. Macdonald is reunited on the new film with Jeremy Brock, BAFTA Award-winning screenwriter of his 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, who has...

(Cert 15)

Viewing Michael Winterbottom's supernatural family drama Genova for a second time - I saw it first at the San Sebastian festival last year - is an intriguing but frustrating re-encounter. It is impossible not to admire the fluency and intelligence of Winterbottom's film-making, and his prolific output. Yet Genova is a disappointment, more like a tentative sketch for a movie than the actual finished product.

When Marianne (Hope Davis) dies in a car crash, tragically caused by one of her kids clowning around in the back seat, her widower Joe (Colin Firth) decides on a clean break and takes his two daughters Mary (Perla Haney-Jardine) and Kelly (Willa Holland) away to Genova, in Italy, for the summer - Kelly has a romance with a local boy and Mary is plagued by visions of her dead mother, which she discloses to her father partly in the time-honoured scary-movie fashion of doing creepy kiddy drawings.

Catherine Keener has described Michael Winterbottom an intimate director who operates with a limited crew. The actress worked with Winterbottom on last year's Genova, and told The Guardian about how he made his movies. Keener said: "Michael works in a very personal way, As for the crew, they were virtually invisible, except for a director of photography and a sound guy. "It shows (more)...

More Filmart news

London -- The U.K. Film Council, with backing by U.K. Trade & Investment, is throwing its support behind 11 British film companies traveling to this year's Hong Kong Filmart, the Asia Film Financing Forum and the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

For the fifth year running, the Council is funding a market stand to support the British firms at Filmart, which runs Monday-Thursday. The delegation is part of the Council's export strategy to promote the British film industry overseas.

The 11 British sales companies involved are Av Pictures, Celsius Entertainment, Ealing Studios International, Exclusive Film Distribution, Fiction Sales, Goldcrest Films International, Handmade Films International, HanWay Films, Jinga Films, K5 International and WestEnd.

As well as relationship building between British and Asian companies, U.K. activity will see six Brit movies unspool during the Hong Kong International Film Festival including Michael Winterbottom's "Genova," Steve McQueen's "Hunger" and...

Irish actors Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Brendan Gleeson along with a host of international talent have been confirmed to attend the 2009 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival (12–22 February 2009). Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt have been confirmed to attend the screening of new feature 'Five Minutes of Heaven' along with the film's director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) on Saturday 21st. Colin Firth (Bridget Jone's Diary) will attend the screening of his new film 'Genova' on Friday 20th, while on Sunday 22nd, the Irish animated feature 'The Secret of Kells,' will be attended by Ifta nominated actor Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) along with the animators from Cartoon Saloon. Irish director John Crowley will also be in attendance at the festival as two of his films the BAFTA winning 'Boy A' and 'Is There Any Body There?' starring Michael Caine are to screen.

Colin Firth has revealed that he is now being asked to play "father roles" in films, adding that the task is more interesting than portraying younger romantic leads. The British actor was speaking at the UK premiere of Michael Winterbottom's Genova, in which he plays a university lecturer who moves his family to Italy following the death of his wife. "I've reached (more)...

In the latest chapter of his troubled odyssey through Hollywood, film financier David Bergstein is forming a new Los Angeles-based company that will be headed by former New Line theatrical distribution president David Tuckerman.

The unnamed venture will consolidate several of Bergstein's existing companies under one roof, combining elements of indie distributor ThinkFilm and U.K.-based film sales outfit Capitol Films.

In addition to Tuckerman -- a free agent since Warner Bros. shut down New Line's distribution operation -- Bergstein has been meeting with other L.A.-based execs about joining his new team. The future of ThinkFilm and its six-person New York office is bleak. ThinkFilm has operated without a president since Mark Urman departed for Senator Us on Oct. 1.

Bergstein did not return repeated calls, but according to sources familiar with the venture, the company would produce, acquire and distribute films -- from smaller documentaries, a ThinkFilm specialty,...