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FILMNET DAILY 2.099 Wednesday August 25 1999
THE FREE ONLINE DAILY AUSTRALIAN FILM INDUSTRY NEWSLETTER
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CONTENTS
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Oz Hollywood news galore
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COMMENT
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Australia is certainly being very successful at exporting talented
directors and actors as evidenced by today’s news. If Oz directors shoot
at Fox Studios are they actually coming home and would the movie be
considered Australian if it has a US production company? It’s amazingly
hard to determine exactly what is truly Australian these days and
perhaps we should be happy seeing Australians do well overseas and
playing host to foreign productions. Better than nothing and the film
schools can just keep pumping out the talent. It happens to most other
industries and its globalisation at work.

Note that news is Australianised so Fall 2000 is rejuvenated as Spring
2000. The LEMAC HDTV sessions could be worth popping down to if you are
seeking HDTV facts. Note that the website is not fully reconstructed!
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NEWS
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MATRIX MONEY
Keanu Reeves will receive a $US10M salary for the Matrix sequel and
share of gross that could result in him being paid $US30M per film if
Matrix 2 & 3 perform as well at the box office as the original film. If
this occurs then he will be entitled to a whopping 15% of the 3rd
movies’ gross. Matrix 2 & 3 will be filmed back to back in Sydney in
Spring 2000 over 250 days. Warners and Village Roadshow pictures split
the $US60M costs of Matrix 60-40 but there is no word yet on how Matrix
2 and 3 will be funded. Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss are
expected to be cast in the sequels too.

Keanu obviously knows his way around the Matrix these days and will be
at home in Zion city, the last refuge of mankind. Hopefully Hugo and
Belinda will reappear and receive commensurate salaries. I am always
worried when I walk down the street that Beautiful women wearing red
dresses will turn out to be Hugo Weaving wearing a dress!

LIGHT FALL OF SNOW EXPECTED
Scott Hick’ Snow Falling on Cedars has according to Dark Horizons been
shifted a little into a staggered US release date plan. There will be
limited openings on December 22nd in New York and LA to allow it to be
included for Oscar contention and a wide opening on January 7th.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news.htm

PHIL BONES UP
Australian director Phillip Noyce’s (Dead Calm) Bone Collector looks set
for a November 5 US opening. It stars Denzel Washington as a
quadriplegic homicide detective (makes martial arts hard) who along with
his female partner (Angelina Jolie) track down a serial killer. It’s
reported to be “a familiar but creepy thriller with good acting.”

IMPOSSIBLE MISSION
Paramount is urging the Utah State Parks and Recreation Board to film a
parachute drop off the Redrock promontory overlooking the Colorado River
called Dead Horse Point after having initial requests rejected.
http://www.canoe.ca/JamMovies/aug24_cruise.html

WEB MOVIES
The Quantum Project, produced by the What Dreams May Come crowd will be
initially released on the internet in association with
http://Sightsound.com. A great marketing idea but hopefully they don’t
cast Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jnr. It could be a waste of
bandwidth that you could use downloading pirate copies of Matrix 2!
http://www.canoe.ca/JamMovies/aug24_internet.html

GET SHANGHAIED
The 4th Shanghai International Film Festival (Oct 22-31) is desperate
for Australia films made over the past few years to screen alongside 300
other films and the deadline closes in 8 days. Screening charges and
transport are not paid for but films will be returned and the organisers
guarantee the films will not be pirated (mmm!). However they will fund
the airfares and accommodation for a director, producer and actor of a
competition film. Only one person's travel will be funded for
non-competition films. Contact Adrienne Farrelly on
a_farrelly@..., 86 21 6390 6141(work) or 86 21 6279 0337 (home)
for more details.

BLANCHETT’S OTHER HALF
Screenwriter, film editor and short film director, Andrew Upton has had
his short film Bangers screened at the Edinburgh film festival. However
it may be more known for its main star, Cate Blanchett who is also his
wife. Who was giving directions?

PIP GETS PAST THE POST
Oz director Pip Karmel’s, Me Myself I will be screening in the Gala
section of the upcoming Toronto Film Festival (Sep 9-18) alongside Scott
Hicks’ Snow falling On Cedars and numerous other major films. Toronto is
likely to be bigger then ever before now that so much Hollywood film
production has headed to Canada. Phillipa was the editor on Shine and
MMI stars the ever busy Rachael Griffiths (Amy) and Sandy Watson.
If anyone attends Toronto Filmnet would love to hear what you think Of
MMI or Cedars.

FILM & TV INDUSTRY PANASONIC HDTV PRESENTATIONS (MEL) Aug 25-26
Stuart Pointon, Rexel's product manager for PANASONIC HDTV products,
will showcase the new HD-D5 Multi Standard VTR with its true 1920x1080
performance, 50Hz/60Hz 24P or interlace, featuring HDTV cameras and
mixers as well. The new low cost DVCPRO HD system will also be
discussed.

On display will also be HD Mixers, HD cameras and VTRs.
Sessions will be held at 10am and 2pm on both days at the LEMAC
Theatrette, 277 Highett Street, Richmond VIC 3121 Please RSVP to Andrew
at Lemac (Melb) on 03 9429 8588 or email: aneilson@...

ORAL STATEMENT
Actor Gordon Piper (A Country Practice) has pleaded not guilty to
forcing an 11-year-old girl to give him oral sex. The girl’s mother said
that he “became just like a family member”, coming around during
breakfast and dinner.
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BUSINESS
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SOUTHERN SINKHOLE
Southern Stars net profit to March almost halved to $A5.5M after a
massive slump in European demand for product. And the executive
chairman, Neil Balnaves sees few signs of an international upturn. SS
will however co-produce a mini-series remake of On The Beach, a Nine
Network kids show titled Pig’s Breakfast and continue to make Water Rats
and Blue Heelers

BE STUDIOUS
The Studio City prospectus for the $A258M of public funding will be
released in about 3 weeks and an ASX float is expected by mid November.
Visitors are hoped to spend $28 on average at the theme park, retail
precinct and cinema complex and it is expected that international
visitors will comprise only 10% of patrons.
Viacom’s small commitment to the project of $A25M is starting to seem
pretty insignificant! At least Melbourne is getting some new studios but
I’m not sure I’ll put my money into it.

FACTS GETTING LOST
FACTS are being dubbed as the “Federation Of Some Commercial Stations
after Seven’s breaking of ranks. Some viewers might be less kind and
think it stands for Fuc**** Arsehole C*** TV Stations. Ok, I admit,
Filmnet is becoming slightly PC! Meanwhile the Federal Government seems
to have put off making a decision on HDTV till October after being
bamboozled by intense lobbying from all the major media players. Why
doesn’t 4 Corners quickly put an episode together to clear the air with
some concise unbiased report of the situation?

===IN BRIEF===
Austar is set to offer subscribers net access.
Southern Star’s share price jumped 14% despite the company’s gloomy
outlook.

===OZ FILM SHARE PRICES===
(Closing Prices Of Previous Day in Australian cents)
AHD (Amalgamated Holdings) 438
BAE (Barron) 5.5
BKR (Becker) 25.5 +0.5
BYI (Beyond International) 85 +5
CIA (Cinema Plus) 81 -3
CIC (Cinimagic) 11
MED (Media Entertainment Group) 40 –0.5
SOX (Scanbox) 33
SSR (Southern Star) 97 +12
VRL (Village Roadshow) 296 -4
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MAIL
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Dear Filmnet Editor,
I was surprised to see HITMAN mentioned in your on-line report. I would
like to correct the shooting schedule supplied by "Sandy" from Screen
International which suggests that the film shot for three weeks. The
film, in fact, shot for five-and-a-half weeks with a sensational crew.
All the best, - Mark Savage

<G: No-one expects the Filmnet inquisition! That may have been the
original planned shooting time. I look forward to seeing the film.>
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Dear Gawain,
Stony-faced? Nup, I'm all goodness and light, despite you casting
nasturiums on my professionalism -- what do you mean you're amazed how
few Oz prods get a listing in Screen? Yes, I try and include anything
that has the possibility of getting a theatrical release whatever its
shot on.
Regards, Sandy George.

<G: I was just surprised how few producers bother to let such a
well-read International film mag like SI know about their productions.
Advertising doesn’t come much cheaper than a 45c stamp and buyers galore
read it.>
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(C) 1998-99 Gawain McLachlan
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