We shared this on 6/29/05 at 04:27 PM

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There will be a test screening for the new Harry Potter movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Saturday July 9th in Chicago area.

So go out this weekend and next and get a pass.. AMC area theaters would be a good place to scout out since it is being screened at the same theatre that did CATCF.

This is a good chance to see it months early!!!

WB is supposed to show new CATCF clips before hand ......

Info on a Q&A that Keira did for Pride and Prejudice on: 8/21/05 at 06:17 AM

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THIS INFO IS A JDR EXCLUSIVE.

PLEASE DO NOT COPY, RETYPE, REWORD, DOWNLOAD, SCAN OR IN ANY OTHER WAY REPOST THIS INFO anywhere.



If you want to share it, please post the link back here to JDR. Thanks



Sunday, August 28 in Los Angeles
"Pride & Prejudice" advance screening followed by a Q&A with Keira...
Knightley
4 p.m.


More info to follow
About the movie and Keira
The glorious world of Jane Austen is at last brought back to the big screen in all its romance, wit, and emotional force in "Pride & Prejudice.

Faithful to the setting and period of the beloved novel and filmed entirely on location in the U.K, this is the first movie version of the story in 65 years.

The classic tale of love and misunderstanding unfolds in class-conscious England near the close of the 18th century. The five Bennet sisters – Elizabeth, or Lizzie (Keira Knightley), Jane (Rosamund Pike), Lydia (Jena Malone), Mary (Talulah Riley), and Kitty (Carey Mulligan) – have been raised well aware of their mother’s (two-time Academy Award nominee Brenda Blethyn) fixation on finding them husbands and securing set futures. The spirited and intelligent Elizabeth, however, strives to live her life with a broader perspective, as encouraged by her doting father (two-time Golden Globe Award winner Donald Sutherland).

When wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods) takes up residence in a nearby mansion, the Bennets are abuzz. Amongst the man’s sophisticated circle of London friends and the influx of young militia officers, surely there will be no shortage of suitors for the Bennet sisters. Eldest daughter Jane, serene and beautiful, seems poised to win Mr. Bingley’s heart. For her part, Lizzie meets with the handsome and – it would seem – snobbish Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), and the battle of the sexes is joined.

Their encounters are frequent and spirited yet far from encouraging. Lizzie finds herself even less inclined to accept a marriage proposal from a distant cousin, Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander), and – supported by her father – stuns her mother and Mr. Collins by declining. When the heretofore good-natured Mr. Bingley abruptly departs for London, devastating Jane, Lizzie holds Mr. Darcy culpable for contributing to the heartbreak. But a crisis involving youngest sister Lydia soon opens Lizzie’s eyes to the true nature of her relationship with Mr. Darcy.

The ensuing rush of feelings leaves no one unchanged, and inspires the Bennets and everyone around them to reaffirm what is most important in life.


KEIRA KNIGHTLEY (Elizabeth Bennet)

Keira Knightley is one of today’s true rising stars in films.

She is known to audiences worldwide for her performances in Gore Verbinski’s blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, starring opposite Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom for producer Jerry Bruckheimer; Gurinder Chadha’s sleeper hit Bend It Like Beckham (for which she was honored with the London Critics Circle Award for British Newcomer of the Year); and Richard Curtis’ ultimate romantic comedy Love Actually, also for Working Title Films.

Ms. Knightley next stars in Tony Scott’s action thriller Domino, as real-life bounty hunter Domino Harvey. She is currently at work filming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (the first of two sequels to be filmed back-to-back), reunited with the original cast and filmmakers and joined by Pride & Prejudice costar Tom Hollander.

The U.K. native acquired an agent at an early age, and appeared in her first television drama (Ferdinand Fairfax’ Royal Celebration) at the age of 6. Her subsequent television credits included playing Lara in Giacomo Campiotti’s miniseries remake of Doctor Zhivago (opposite Hans Matheson).

Ms. Knightley’s first big-screen role was as a handmaiden in George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Among her subsequent films were Gillies Mackinnon’s Pure; Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur (again for producer Jerry Bruckheimer), as Guinevere; and John Maybury’s The Jacket.

JDR had some people at this Q&A with Keira, here is what they posted on
8/28/05 at 09:38 PM

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NEWBIE posted:

Thanks to our ANGEL on JDR we managed to get into the screening and Q&A with Keira today. It was fabulous! Gina and her friend Mo, and I were there too. I must say that this version holds up and can stand on its own compared to the famous BBC version with Colin Firth of 10 years ago. The costumes, cinematography and acting are all award-worthy. Keira has matured and she is so talented. Her scenes with Matthew Macfadyen (Mr. Darcy)were romantic and spine tingling to say the least. The moderator of the Q&A was Lou Diamond Philips.



I found Keira to be very down to earth and as charming as any 20 year old young lady could be, but still very mature and serious about her craft. There were numerous questions, e.g. when she started acting (she said at age 7) what inspired her acting, her background in acting and how she prepared for the role of Eliza Bennet. She said she grew up watching the BBC version ever since she was 9 years old and although she hasn't taken acting lessons before, she had a little coaching from her father (who is in the business) to prepare for this film. They only had about 2-1/2 weeks to rehearse and it was nerve-wracking to work with the great stars like Dame Judi Dench, Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn. Keira has been a busy lady and said she is now in L.A. filming the POTC sequels, and doesn't expect to be finished until next October. That is one long shoot!

And then Gina added on Woo hoo...I was one degree away from Johnny for an hour!!



As Jane said, she, my friend Mo and I went to see P&P and wow...what a performance from Keira. She certainly has honed her acting chops since Bend it Like Beckham and is really starting to command the screen. She has some scenes that just take your breath away and at such a young age (20), it'll be great to continue to watch her star rise.



The supporting cast is great, Donald Sutherland had some great scenes as did Brenda Blethyn, but Dame Judi Dench...she's phenomenal. Methinks one look from her could freeze the Sahara desert! As for Mr. Darcy, those of you who've seen the Colin Firth version of P&P will not be disappointed. Matthew MacFadyen does a great job as Mr. Darcy. The pivotal scene with he and Keira will have you holding your breath...trust me!! If you get a chance to see P&P, definitely check it out.



Jane covered Keira's Q&A, but here are some things I remembered:



She didn't think she was ready for the role of Elizabeth so that's when her dad offered to work with her on some things. She read the book as she read the script and wrote notes in the script about what Elizabeth was feeling in the book.



She doesn't get every role she goes up for...she said she's been either too pretty, too tall, not tall enough, too British, etc. She didn't think she'd get P&P as there was another actress reading for it (Keira wouldn't name her) that Keira thought was perfect for the role.



Keira said that working with Judi Dench was the "best day ever" because Judi couldn't remember her lines, so Keira thought that was fantastic to see from such a seasoned actor.



She mentioned how much she liked working with Matthew MacFadyen because she said there aren't too many really macho men working these days. I don't remember her exact statement, but it was something like "there are so many androgynous looking men around and no real strong male types", so she was pleased that Matthew won the role since he's a big guy with really defined features.



She didn't mention Johnny by name, but said the Pirates sequels are coming along nicely.



My impression of Keira is that she's someone you'd like to be friends with. She was friendly, funny and not pretentious at all. She repeated numerous times that she knows to enjoy her success because it could end tomorrow. Her parents taught her that this is a rough business and to savor the highs since the highs don't last forever.



That's it for now...I'll add more if I remember anything. Thanks again to Karen, Jeff and our JDR angel for (yet another) opportunity to do something unique!

JDR had someone at Keira's Q&A and we posted about it on 2/06/06 at 05:18 PM

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JDR had someone there that night and they just wrote their report up for us. Thanks so much to them for getting this to us!


On January 17 Keira Knightley did a Q&A after a screening of Pride & Prejudice for SAG in LA. The Q&A was after the movie and was moderated by Todd Amorde who is the director of Member Education for the Screen Actors Guild. Keira had her extensions in so her hair was long again (she must have done it that day since she did not have them at the GG ) and she was wearing all black. Her Q&A was about 35 - 45 minutes long. After the Q&A she gladly posed for fans in the audience. The theater held 353 but was not full at all. That may be because she did a Q&A for SAG already or because she was not nominated for SAG.

I am only going to report what she said about Johnny and POTC. IF you have any other questions let me know .

About POTC-- Keira said that she was getting tired of it, she joked, and said that movies are supposed to fun and it was, but doing them back to back was getting to be too much cause it was taking too long. When asked when it would be over, she said October and that they would be taking a break in mid March then going back in July or August. Todd said "Well at least you will get a break." She said "No I am filming another movie in between that time."

About Johnny Depp -- When asked what it's like to work with Johnny Depp? Keira said "just great and that he is very nice and very funny." Then she said that "you never know what he is going to do or say". Then she told the story that when they were first doing the table read for the first POTC that Johnny was reading the lines regularly. Then the second day he started reading in his Capt. Jack voice and that they were all looking at him like "is he drunk or just what?" Then Johnny explained that when he went back home that night he thought of an idea for the character's voice that night and wanted to try it out.

When asked what have you learned from Johnny? She said how to roll cigarettes.... and how to take risks.

The GGs were the night before so she was asked about it. She said that everyone at their table knew that they were going to loose so they kept saying that they were the loser table and just to enjoy it and have fun. So every time one of them would lose they all would do the Loser sign and laugh. ( She did it to show what she means ). She said that the GGs was a big zoo, all the people in one room and how they would run from table to table during the breaks and how different it was to go to an award show as a nominee. She also said how a few people at the table was telling her to go get Johnny to come over to say hello and she was like no.

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This was posted on 2/12/06 at 07:22 AM

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We offered this industry screening to our JDR members and we had some attend, but unfortunately that night BBM stars Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams were unable to attend the Q&A due to the illness of their baby. The Q&A was rescheduled for a later date. That Q&A was rescheduled for this week and one of our members was able to attend and graciously wrote this wonderfully detailed report for us.



While this is not Johnny related, as you know occasionally we are able to offer this type of goody for JDR members and I thought some of you might like to read what she has to say about that night. Thanks to her for writing this up for us.


The screening of Brokeback Mountain was originally scheduled for the end of January, to be followed by a Q&A with Heath Ledger & Michelle Williams. They did indeed screen the film, but afterwards announced that Heath & Michelle had cancelled because their baby daughter was sick and they did not want to leave her. The Q&A was rescheduled for Friday, Feb. 10th. In the meantime, both Heath & Michelle had received Oscars nominations. I thought this was really classy of them to follow up with the Q&A – after all, they don’t need any more publicity for the film, and it would have been so easy to just blow it off! Instead, they showed up and talked for almost an hour!



The Q&A was done first, to be followed by another screening of the film. The moderator was Janelle Kirby from Backstage Magazine. Janelle read a list of all the nominations that the film has received, and all the nominations that Heath & Michelle have received, which were just too many to write down!



I tried to scribble down all the questions and answers, and I think I’ve gotten the heart of what they said. This is as close as I could get to their actual answers, and I hope I’ve done them justice!



Question: How did you hear about this project?



Heath: My agent pitched it to me as being extremely controversial with many many fears attached to it. But these were other people’s fears, not mine. I read the script and thought it was one of the most beautiful stories I’d ever seen. I left with a lump in my throat.



Michelle: Exact same story.



Heath usually took the lead in answering the questions, with Michelle echoing his thoughts and adding her comments. She’s obviously very secure in letting him be the front person. When they first came out, the chairs were equally spaced apart, but while Janelle was reading the list of awards, Heath slid his chair close to Michelle’s. After the first question, Janelle made a comment about how there was such a distance between herself and them on the stage. Heath said “Well I just want to be next to her.” (Sweet!)



Question: Ang Lee said casting for this movie was very very hard. His description of Heath was “a walking poetic cowboy”. Can you tell us about how the casting happened?



Heath: I flew out to LA for a day to meet with the producer (James Schamus) and Ang

and we just sat around for awhile and James kind of kept the conversation going. I wasn’t sure if I had the role or not. I always go into things like this thinking that I’ll never be hired for anything and that I’m not any good. (much audience laughter) Then it’s such a pleasant surprise when I DO get the role. (I guess all actors have the same insecurities about their abilities!)



Michelle: Same feelings. I never feel confident enough. But in light of everything that’s happened since, I feel that I was fated to be Alma. I remember everything about this film in such great detail and the process that we went through, that it was meant to be.



Heath talked about the aging process for the characters. They had to age 20 years over the course of the film. Heath said aging was a major concern, because the character of Ennis was so emotionally fixed and he couldn’t age him emotionally, so he was left with using his voice to age him. Ennis’ voice got more tragic as he got older. And they played around with the makeup too – he said the first day in makeup they came out looking 120, but then they of course toned it down a bit. (laughing about this)



Michelle: “I feel 16 and 40 at the same time, so aging doesn’t daunt me.”

She talked about how she focused on Alma’s frustration and misery and how it would manifest itself over 20 years.



Heath made a comment about how all people are basically the same and we all have the same emotions He read Annie Proulx’s short story after he read the script and he said that they all just wanted to please Annie. That was what they were aiming for – to do justice to her story.



Heath talked about Ang’s directing:

“Ang is careful and delicate in presenting information. He gives you a lot of things to think about and then he shuts up.”

“It’s like working with Yoda.” (huge laugh)

“We were all listeners and Ang trusted our instincts as actors.”

“Overdirection can sometimes really f**k you.”

“He’s not one to shower you with compliments”.



As an example, Heath talked about the scene around the campfire where Jack’s drunk and he jumps around & pretends like he’s on a horse “rodeoing” – Heath said they were all asking Ang “was it okay, how’d we do” – trying to get some feedback. Ang just stood there and shrugged his shoulders and made noises (Heath did a funny impression of how he must have looked) and all Ang said was “Light was good.” So every night Heath would go home feeling like a failure and he’d come back the next day trying to do better. He called this Ang’s “directorial manipulation”.



Question: Hardest scene to do?



The snow sledding scene with Ennis & Alma. This was the one of the first scenes they shot, and Michelle fractured her knee & had to be taken to hospital. Great way to start a film, on crutches.


The Thanksgiving scene with the confrontation in the kitchen. Again, one of the first scenes they shot. All the emotional history had to be there, and “the entire movie had to be in our heads at all times”.



A question from the audience came later about how many cameras were used in this scene. Heath talked about how Ang crossed the line in editing, because he shot over all 4 shoulders of the characters and moved all around them during the scene. This works as long as the people remain static. (I’m sure you actors/directors will understand what he means more than I do.)


Janelle asked Michelle about the scene where Alma discovers Ennis & Jack outside the apartment, and asked her to repeat her comment on this, which was “I wanted to be like water – strong enough to hold up a ship but soft enough to flow through your fingers.”

(Beautiful comment!)



Janelle also asked about a scene where Ang sat in for Jack. Heath said it was a scene where Ennis was getting beat up by a “hockey player” & Jack was asleep in the truck. Apparently Jake G. was off making another movie or something so Ang sat in the truck with a hat over his eyes (another Heath imitation of Ang – very funny). Janelle asked how could Heath do it – wasn’t he cracking up? Heath said that’s probably why the scene never made the movie because he couldn’t keep a straight face.



Question: When you were making the movie, did you know you were onto something special?


Heath: It’s very dangerous to think that way, because then you start catering to people’s opinions. I have to allow myself to be totally vulnerable by pretending that no one is ever going to see the movie.

Michelle: The bliss of acting is when you have no idea about what people will think. You can be completely open & in the moment.



Question from the audience about Heath being offered the role of Jack Twist but he took the Ennis character because he could tell Ennis’ story?



Heath said he was more attracted to the “tragedy of Ennis” and his physical aspects. He talked about the love scenes and how Ennis feared & hated the emotions. Heath said he knew he as an actor could show his own fears about the same situation and his fears about having to do scenes like that. “I knew how to walk and breathe as Ennis. If I played Jack, I’d be acting more. With Ennis, I could give a gift to this film”.



Audience question about the process of shooting out of sequence?



Michelle said that you get used to it doing film. In theater, it’s great to have the story unfold as it happens and you build on that, but in film, “you have to learn how to hold all this in your head.” She elaborated on the actor’s preparation, how you do your homework and research, and then when you do the actual scene, you throw it all out the window and leave yourself open to the other actors. (Sounded almost identical to what Johnny said on Inside the Actor’s Studio.)



Heath talked about the scene in the phone booth where Ennis calls Jack’s wife after he gets the postcard back. He said they were using a real phone and that Anne Hathaway was actually on the phone calling from her apartment in New York, reading the lines to him. He said she read them exactly like she shot them and he just reacted to them.



Audience question about Casanova and other movies that they have done. Which film(s) did they enjoy most & why?



Heath: This was quite a schizophrenic year for me. I was emotionally exhausted after BBM and then I went to do Casanova, which was asking for my “fluffy” side and it was all giggles and laughing. I couldn’t have done Candy right after Brokeback, so I think things were nicely scheduled.



Heath talked briefly about Brothers Grimm & how he loved doing it. “I wanted to be in Monty Python so badly”. “Terry Gilliam is like God.” “Terry got beat up by the Weinsteins over and over with this film”. (hmmmmm…..I’m just quoting here.)



Michelle said her favorite film was “this” (BBM). She wanted to emphasize the production design (done by Judy Becker) and said how much that added to the feel of the film – when she walked into Alma & Ennis’ living room she saw an old pair of slippers stuffed under the sofa and she felt like she had walked into someone’s house. (We all know how essential set design & props are….they’re brilliant and often overlooked. It’s nice to hear Michelle appreciate the details.)

Heath added that “you could smell the story.” (Nice comment!)



Heath said this film was extra special because it was so much more than just a film. “We were given a family out of this.” (Obviously referring to the birth of their daughter, who’s 3 months old now.)



End of questions. Heath & Michelle both did a lot of autograph signing afterwards and were very very sweet to everyone. Heath signed a book for someone (didn’t see the title) but he scrawled a line inside the cover and then stopped & showed it everyone and said “look at that….what’s that…..that’s not a signature…..that’s terrible!” He was trying so hard to sign everything for everyone before his “handler” took him away!



Again, gracious thanks to Karen & JDR for giving us opportunities like this to get up close & personal & learn a little more about the humanity of acting