Five BIFA Nominations for A Cock and Bull Story
Posted at 2:01 PM (PDT) on Friday, October 28, 2005



On October 25, nominations were announced for the 8th Annual British Independent Film Awards to be held on Wednesday 30 November at Hammersmith Palais, London W6

Best British Film A Cock & Bull Story The Constant Gardener The Descent The Libertine Mrs Henderson Presents

Best Supporting Actress/Actor Rob Brydon: A Cock & Bull Story Bill Nighy: The Constant Gardener Rosamund Pike: The Libertine Tom Hollander: The Libertine Kelly Reilly: Mrs Henderson Presents

Best Director Michael Winterbottom: A Cock & Bull Story Fernando Meirelles: The Constant Gardener Neil Marshall: The Descent Laurence Dunmore: The Libertine Stephen Frears: Mrs Henderson Presents

Best Screenplay Martin Hardy: A Cock & Bull Story Jeffrey Caine: The Constant Gardener Geoff Dean & Tim Firth: Kinky Boots Frank Cotrell Boyce: Millions Martin Sherman: Mrs Henderson Presents

Best Technical Achievement Peter Christelis-Editing: A Cock & Bull Story C�sar Charlone-Cinematography: The Constant Gardener Jon Harris-Editing: The Descent Sandy Powell-Wardrobe: Mrs Henderson Presents Ben van Os-Production Design: The Libertine

Read more.

Gillian on "Richard and Judy"
Posted at 5:53 AM (PDT) on Thursday, October 27, 2005

Pictures and a video clip of Gillian's talk show appearance on "Richard and Judy" are available to download here. Thank you to Lorna!

New Photos from the Alinyiikira Junior School
Posted at 6:25 AM (PDT) on Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Godfrey, the headmaster, has provided us with photos of the children with the first donations they've received which include pencil cases, pens, erasers, jigsaw puzzles, and soccer balls. Godfrey and the children thank everyone for their kindness and generosity!




* All pupils from P3 -P7 were given a pen each.
* The 20 pencils cases were given to pupils of P1 & P2.
* The 20 erasers were given to the best two performers in each class from P1-P7.
* The kids in Nursery Section are to use the jigsaw puzzles with the help of their teacher.
* The two balls will be used by the whole school (one for the girls and the other for the boys).

Reminder: We do not advise people to send packages. Although these two packages arrived safely, several others shipped simultaneously have yet to appear.

Covance Drops Lawsuit Against PETA
Posted at 4:07 PM (PDT) on Monday, October 24, 2005

Previously on GA.ws.

When PETA conducted an 11-month investigation into the deplorable cruelty in Covance's testing labs and went public with its findings�including damning videotape footage of workers who are slapping, choking, throwing, threatening, and psychologically tormenting monkeys�the billion-dollar animal-testing giant hoped to muzzle PETA by carrying out its bullying tactics in court. The attempt to stop PETA from publicizing the videotape footage and other evidence of the cruelty toward monkeys in its Vienna, Virginia, labs ended when the company dropped its lawsuit.

With the settlement agreement, PETA can continue to show the critical videotape and can cooperate with the federal investigations that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration, and the Commonwealth's Attorney for Fairfax County are conducting into Covance in response to PETA's complaints. PETA agreed to the settlement after learning that some of the workers involved in the abuse have been dismissed from Covance.

Read more.

Woman's Hour Interview
Posted at 3:42 PM (PDT) on Monday, October 24, 2005

Gillian was on Woman's Hour today. If you'd like to hear the interview, click here.

Bleak House starts airing this week in the UK on BBC1, Thursday (Oct. 27), 8pm & Friday (Oct. 28), 8.30pm.

BBC's press pack phase two is now available. Click here.

Observer Magazine
By Sarah Hughes

One of the finest of Charles Dickens's novels, Bleak House is a fantastic detective story, a condemnation of the Victorian legal system and one of the few books to feature death by spontaneous combustion. It is also, as Andrew Davies recently noted, a wonderful soap opera.

Davies kicks off his atmospheric adaptation with an hour-long scene setter but thereafter the show will be broadcast, like a soap, in a half-hour chunks. It's a format that works surprisingly well, allowing Davies and his all-star cast to truly bring Dickens's tale to life. Everything is included here - from the ghastly Mrs Jellyby neglecting her own children for the starving of Africa to the haunted Lady Dedlock announcing 'I am so very bored of life,' as she stares mournfully at the rain.

This is costume drama as it should be done, with a sense of fun and an understanding of the source material. Charles Dance slithers magnificently as the self-interested Tulkinghorn, Gillian Anderson steals the show during her brief minutes as Lady Dedlock and Anna Maxwell Martin is a suitably plain and highly sympathetic Esther Summerson. From the fog at the heart of Chancery to the Lincolnshire gloom, Davies rarely misses a step. Quite brilliant - and there's still that spontaneous combustion to come.

Message from Gillian
Posted at 6:36 AM (PDT) on Monday, October 24, 2005

Thank you so much everyone for your extremely generous donations to the Ugandan school. I am going to be visiting the school in the next month and I hope that during that time, as the direct result of your support, we will be able to get them hooked up to the power grid for the very first time.

I think it is important, as it has previously been announced, that we move slowly and not inundate them with too much from the west. That we respect how overwhelming it might be and that our ultimate goal is sustainability.

That said, the connection to the grid will be the goal before Christmas. Perhaps then, when the new term starts it will be appropriate for the book donations to get made.

In the meantime, I will continue to discuss with those involved when it would be best for the donations of tuition for individual students to start up. But just know that we are moving forward and I will keep you posted with how the school is doing and where your very helpful $ have gone.

Gillian.

"Bleak House" in Magazines
Posted at 9:05 AM (PDT) on Thursday, October 20, 2005

Click here to view the latest images that have appeared recently in magazine articles to promote "Bleak House." Scans are courtesy of DavidandGillian.net.

Gillian on Richard & Judy
Posted at 11:22 AM (PDT) on Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Gillian is scheduled to be on Richard & Judy next week: Tuesday, October 25.

Radio 4 Update
Posted at 10:05 AM (PDT) on Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Gillian was unable to make her appointment with Radio 4 today. However, she will be on the programme next Monday, October 24.

Thanks, Laura!

TV Times Interview
Posted at 9:55 AM (PDT) on Tuesday, October 18, 2005

TV Times
October 22-28, 2005

Full House
By Mary Evans

This is going to be tricky. It's well-known among interviewers that actors hate talking about the role that made them famous. However, you can't possibly meet Gillian Anderson without mentioning her role in The X-Files as Special Agent Dana Scully. But how to broach the subject...?

'Last year, I went to talk to the Cambridge University Students' Union' she volunteers. 'All they wanted to ask me about was X-Files! After a while I thought, "Have they got nothing else to talk about?", but then I realised - I haven't done anything else!'

Well, at least that's got that out of the way, but Gillian does herself a disservice. Since the sci-fi phenomenon ended in 2002 after nine series and nearly 10 years, Gillian has been busy with stage and screen roles, including starring opposite Robert Carlyle in the recently released film The Mighty Celt, and several long runs in plays in London's West End. Add to that being a mum to daughter Piper, 11, marrying British journalist and documentary maker Julian Ozanne last Christmas, and moving to London to live, it's no wonder we've not seen Gillian on our screens for a while.

But that is all about to change. For the next seven weeks, Gillian will be appearing twice-weekly in BBC1's Andrew Davis adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, Bleak House. Set to break the mould of TV period drama, Bleak House will be shown in a manner in keeping with the original publication of the novel. Back then, Dickens's work was serialised in small chunks in a newspaper, with each part ending on a cliffhanger, much like our modern-day soaps. And so the novel has been turned into 15 half-hour episodes (except for the opening, hour-long instalment) which will go out twice a week after Eastenders.

Gillian plays the mysterious Lady Dedlock, an aristocrat with a scandalous secret, who - just like Agent Scully - knows that the truth is out there. 'She has had a hard time in her life, but has had to keep it a secret so she could participate in society,' explains Gillian, 37. 'She has built up this facade of everything being fine, but her unhappiness comes out in the hard way she treats people. There's something stern about her and you sense that she feels everything will unravel unless she's like that. It's not a pity, because she's not a victim, but I like her.'

That said, playing Lady Dedlock had it's downsides. 'When you initially put those beautiful Victorian costumes on they're lovely,' she says. 'But come lunchtime you have to decide whether to eat two bites, because that's all you can fit in your corset, or to take it off, eat too much and feel miserable all afternoon! In hot weather it was very uncomfortable, but still fun.'

Although American by birth, Gillian spent nine years of her childhood living in north London. Her family moved back to America and she has flitted between the two ever since, but she is now happy to call England her home. 'I never felt like I belonged anywhere - I was considered a Yank over here because I was born in America, but when I moved back there, I was a Brit,' she says. 'Finally, I feel like this is home. I don't miss Los Angeles when I'm here, but when I go there, I miss London, so that indicates to me that this is where I'm more comfortable.'

While Gillian is happy here and really enjoyed the experience of filming Bleak House (corset notwithstanding) she's making no promises about becoming a regular on our screens. 'I won't be doing any more TV for a while,' she says. 'There are lots of other things I'd like to do. But it was incredibly impressive to work with the cast - they are so amazingly and effortlessly good. The whole thing was a really wonderful experience.'

Thanks, Wendy!

Gillian on Radio 4
Posted at 1:32 PM (PDT) on Monday, October 17, 2005

Gillian on Radio 4

From the Radio 4 Website Newsletter:

Tuesday 18 October

Woman's Hour, 10.00-10.45am
Interview with Gillian Anderson, who appears in Bleak House, on BBC One; childbirth rituals; Helen of Troy.

Thanks, Wendy!

Bleak House starts on BBC One on 27 October, 2005.

Cafe Press Fall Sale
Posted at 3:53 PM (PDT) on Friday, October 14, 2005

Film Festivals plus BBC's Bleak House
Posted at 11:23 AM (PDT) on Friday, October 14, 2005

BBC has a section dedicated to Bleak House with a clip of the first episode, a photo gallery, and all sorts of information. Click here.

Thanks, Raquel!

The Mighty Celt will be screened at the Liverpool Irish Festival 2005

7.30pm, Tuesday 18 October,
Philharmonic Hall, Hope St, L1

For more info, click here.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story at the 49th London Film Festival

Oct 21 - 10:30pm Odeon West End
Oct 26 - 04:00pm Odeon West End

For more information, click here.

Thanks, Maggie!

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story at the American Film Institute Festival 2005

Nov 10 - 07:00pm ArcLight Theatre 10

For more information, click here.

Thanks, Diane!

TS: ACABS at the Austin Film Festival
Posted at 1:11 PM (PDT) on Thursday, October 13, 2005

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story will be screened at the Austin Film Festival: October 20 - 27, 2005

Tuesday, October 25 - 9:30 PM
Paramount Theatre
713 Congress Ave
Austin TX 78701
(512) 472-5470

Thanks, xfrgg!

Gillian News RSS Feed
Posted at 9:35 AM (PDT) on Thursday, October 13, 2005

Now you can have our headlines at your fingertips by subscribing to our RSS news feed, located at

/news/rss.xml

RSS is supported by the latest versions of many browsers and email clients (such as Firefox and Safari), allowing you to view our headlines in the form of bookmarks or emails.

For more information and a list of available RSS software, click here.

Note that this feature will not replace our e-mail newsletter.

TMC at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival
Posted at 2:10 PM (PDT) on Tuesday, October 11, 2005

The 20th Annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
October 14 - November 20, 2005

The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival presents the most compelling and thought-provoking international films, hosts special tributes and seminars and introduces some of the greatest talents to South Florida audiences. The 37-day FLIFF festival screens over 100 films from Boca Raton to Miami and is the longest film festival in the world.

The Mighty Celt:

Screening Time
Friday, October 21, 6:00 PM
Cinema Paradiso, CP-801

Tickets are $8 general admission, $7 seniors and students, $5 FLIFF members

Thanks, xfrgg!

In the news
Posted at 10:22 AM (PDT) on Tuesday, October 11, 2005

In the UK, Bleak House begins on BBC1 on 27 October.

Thanks for the photo, Wendy, Clare, and Lilith!

*************************

The Express
October 10, 2005

Don't expect to see Gillian Anderson dodging axe murderers in bloodthirsty films. The London-based X Files actress has, we learn, developed
a fear of gore.

"In the past five months I've passed out three times while watching violent movies, " she says.

"I was watching Million Dollar Baby and saw a split second of the manager readjusting Hilary Swank's nose after it was broken in the ring and I
was out - my husband had to carry me from the cinema."

*************************

indieWIRE
October 9 - 15, 2005

Picturehouse Moves "Tristram" To January (USA Release)

Fresh from its debut at the New York Film Festival last week, Michael Winterbottom's "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story" has been bumped to next year. Distributor Picturehouse has decided to move the film from its November 4th release date to January 27, 2006. The comedic new film is an adaptation of Laurence Sterne's infamous novel, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman."

*************************

International Cinekid Festival 2005: 23-30 October, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Mighty Celt:

Monday 24 Oct 2005, 16:00, Path� City 2
Tuesday 25 Oct 2005, 14:00, Path� City 2
Wednesday 26 Oct 2005, 16:00, Path� City 2

Thanks, Susan!

*************************

Heads up! Gillian should be appearing on Jonathan Ross within the next couple of weeks.

Gillian at Paris Louis Vuitton Store Launch
Posted at 10:21 AM (PDT) on Monday, October 10, 2005

Gillian was a guest at the opening of a new Louis Vuitton in Paris on October 9th. Photos are available to view in our photo gallery, courtesy of L C Wilson, DavidandGillian.net, and Phil.

Louis Vuitton Hosts a Star-Studded Celebration for the Inauguration of Its Champs-Elysees House
Sunday October 9, 11:56 pm ET

PARIS, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Last night, Louis Vuitton returned to the Champs-Elysees in grand style, marking the reopening of its historic house on the most famous avenue in the world with a glittering celebration for more than 1,000 guests.

The evening began with an exclusive cocktail reception in the new Champs-Elysees house, which was officially inaugurated at 6:30 pm by Bernard Arnault, President of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and Yves Carcelle, President of Louis Vuitton Malletier. The Champs-Elysees house, jointly designed by architects Eric Carlson and Peter Marino, represents a groundbreaking architectural achievement, conceived as a promenade of terraces in homage to the historical and cultural importance of the Champs-Elysees as the world's most stylish promenade.

Equally unprecedented is the integration of art and architecture, with works by three leading contemporary artists displayed as landmarks of the house promenade. Exclusively for the Champs-Elysees, the American artist James Turrell created an impressive "Wide Glass" modular light sculpture, while fellow American Tim White-Sobieski contributed a cutting-edge video installation alongside the house's spectacular 20-meter long "traveling staircase." Meanwhile, the Danish conceptual artist Olafur Eliasson transformed an elevator linking up directly with the top floor of the Champs- Elysees building, which will open in January 2006 as a permanent space of artistic and cultural expression, into a "chamber of sensual entropy" isolated from its surroundings.

Joining the architects and artists at the cocktail reception were a host of international celebrities, including Uma Thurman, Sharon Stone, Winona Ryder, Salma Hayek, Catherine Deneuve, Bob Geldof, Takashi Murakami, Yun-Fat Chow, Tomoaki Nagao (Nigo), Diane Kruger, Ludivine Sagnier, Emmanuelle Seigner, Rossy de Palma, Ryoko Yonekura, Guillaume Canet, Eva Green, Gillian Anderson, Samantha Morton, Jade Jagger, Nadja Auermann and Eva Herzigova.

Guests then moved on to a party at the Petit Palais, one of Paris' most flamboyant landmarks, newly reopened after renovation and taken over for the occasion by Louis Vuitton. One of its galleries was devoted to an exhibit of Louis Vuitton trunks dating from 1900, the year of the World Exhibition for which the Petit Palais was constructed, alongside a video by Tim White- Sobieski featuring outtakes of his artwork for the Champs-Elysees house. Other highlights included, in a separate room, a live performance by the artist Vanessa Beecroft, and exclusive routines by Dita Von Teese and Pharell Williams. Guests danced the night away to music provided by star DJs Mark Ronson, Asia Argento, Jonathan Wooster and Richard Battye.

Gillian at the NY Film Fest
Posted at 9:41 AM (PDT) on Saturday, October 8, 2005

Gillian attended the New York Film Festival's screening of Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story on Friday, October 7th.



Pictures are available to view in the Photo Gallery.

Thank you to L C Wilson and Philiater.

Three more nominations for The Mighty Celt
Posted at 2:13 PM (PDT) on Tuesday, October 4, 2005

Three more nominations for The Mighty Celt

Irish Film & Television Awards 2005

The Awards are a platform to honour and celebrate outstanding Irish creativity, talent and achievement; and to set an Irish standard for young crafts people to aspire to in the future.

Jury Categories Shortlisted Nominees:

Best Irish Film Mickybo & Me The Mighty Celt Pavee Lackeen Tara Road Trouble With Sex

Best Cinematography Seamus Deasy - The Mighty Celt Brendan Galvin - Flight Of The Phoenix Seamus Mc Garvey - Sahara Owen Mc Polin - Trouble With Sex

Best Script for Film Anthony Byrne - Short Order Pearse Elliott - The Mighty Celt Terry George - Hotel Rwanda Terry Loane - Mickybo & Me

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Bleak House: BBC One Press Pack Phase One
Posted at 12:33 PM (PDT) on Tuesday, October 4, 2005

Bleak House Press Pack Phase One
Category: TV Drama
Date: 04.10.2005

Introduction

Gillian Anderson, Denis Lawson, Charles Dance, Alistair McGowan, Pauline Collins and Johnny Vegas lead a star cast in a ground-breaking adaptation of Dickens' Bleak House for BBC ONE.

Bleak House is one of Dickens' most celebrated achievements - generally regarded as the greatest-ever depiction of Victorian London in fiction. It is a skilfully crafted thriller and passionate indictment of the legal system - which is as searingly relevant today as it was in the mid-19th century. The adaptation, written by multiple Bafta award-winner Andrew Davies, comprises a one-hour opening episode followed by 14 half-hour episodes. Shot in High Definition format, Bleak House will be shown twice weekly, using the pace, multiple storylines and cliff-hanger endings more usually associated with popular drama.

The cast has been assembled from different areas of the acting profession and their skills have blended seamlessly to recreate Dickensian England.

"We wanted to cast known faces from a variety of different backgrounds, all known to the audience that we are trying to attract," says Stafford Clark. "Getting Gillian Anderson was a huge coup for us and very unexpected because, although we wanted to get her, we weren't sure we'd be able to. Gillian is a big star - The X-Files has made her a household name - and yet from the moment she stepped on the set she was there for the show. She was a trouper and just got on with it and helped set the tone. If she had to roll her sleeves up and do something 25 times in pouring rain then she was there - not a problem. Other people started committing to the project, which was fantastic, and we ended up assembling the most extraordinary cast list - it's a cast list to die for. It covers the whole spectrum - from really well-established classical actors through to actors who people wouldn't necessary expect to see in a period drama. People really wanted to be part of it - and with 40 principal roles, there really isn't a weak performance. Everybody stepped up."

Click here to read the whole Press Pack.

Gillian hopes people will get hooked.

"Appointment television, something that people make sure they never miss, that they consider to be their show, has become very popular over the last ten years," she says. "Even though it is not set in a contemporary setting, there is something contemporary about the way it is shot - it's filmed in HD and it's in a half hour format and there are a lot of actors in it who people will recognise. And the way that Andrew Davies has written each episode means each ends in a tantalising way and people will really want to know what happens next."

Gillian's character, Lady Dedlock, is a society beauty and on the surface appears icy cool. But she has a skeleton in the cupboard that, if revealed, could destroy her.

"Lady Dedlock is a woman who is a hiding a secret � in fact a couple of secrets," explains Gillian. "And they are the kind of secrets that could ruin her. So it is the holding of the secrets and the grief around them which contributes to her iciness, which is something that has built up over many years. It's all about not following one's heart, it's all about settling for the socially acceptable way of handling a situation, which is an empty unfulfilling way."

Read more.

Gillian to star in Straightheads
Posted at 9:47 AM (PDT) on Monday, October 3, 2005

CONFIRMED: Gillian will star in this movie.

Variety
September 12, 2005
By Adam Dawtrey

Gillian Anderson is in negotiations to star in "Straightheads," a dark revenge thriller that's the feature debut of acclaimed British documentary director Dan Reed. "Straightheads" is the story of a middle-class couple who embark on a spree of vengeful violence after they are assaulted by a gang. Reed has drawn on his frontline experience filming the real-life violence in Kosovo and among inner-city gangs, and transplanted those emotions into a more privileged British social milieu. Kevin Loader and Damien Jones are producing, with financing from FilmFour, the U.K. Film Council, Screen West Midlands and U.K. distrib Verve. Shooting starts in late October.