David Tennant - Nativity 2 screening | Derry City of Culture update

Footage of David Tennant's movie Nativity 2 screened from today at Cannes
The Cannes Film Festival opens today (16 May) and footage from David Tennant's forthcoming movie Nativity 2 The Second Coming will be screened there.

The Cannes Film Festival is the most well known film festival in the world but, along with the movie premières which make headlines in the newspapers, a large part of Cannes is devoted to the business side of movies as distributors view upcoming movies in order to decide whether to distribute them in their own markets.

David Tennant filmed Nativity 2 during October, November and December last year and the movie has a release date of 23rd November. It is still in post-production but Moviehouse Entertainment (an independent film sales company) will be showing footage of the movie in the LERINS Stand R1 at Cannes.

Moviehouse are show casing nine movies at Cannes but Nativity 2 is the only movie with just footage. Most of the movies they are selling either have screenings or trailers available.

Last year David Tennant's movie The Decoy Bride was shown at Cannes but was unfortunately only picked up by a couple of distributors. With the success of the original Nativity movie it is likely that demand for Nativity 2 will be quite high.

Unfortunately fans can not just go along and watch this footage as Cannes is limited to industry professionals only.

Cannes continues until Sunday 27th May.

Source: David Tennant on Twitter









A cautionary update about David Tennant in Derry in May 2013
Following an announcement in The Derry Journal last week regarding the city’s 2013 City of Culture draft events programme, there was a flurry of retractions; the whole situation is summarised at David Tennant on Twitter 




 All the latest news (updated daily) on David's projects can be found here




 

Genesis punches with Glasgow crime story

 

Genesis Film Sales is in Cannes with The Wee Man, a new crime thriller that has a market screening today (16 May).

The film is based on the true story of Glaswegian gangster Paul Ferris.

John Hannah (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Martin Compston (The Disappearance of Alice Creed) lead the cast, which also includes Rita Tushingham, Stephen McCole, Patrick Bergin, Clare Grogan and Dennis Lawson.

Ray Burdis (The Krays) directs.

Ferris described as ‘the most feared man in Glasgow,’ was brought up in the 1960s on the notorious Black Hill estate before turning to a life of crime. 

Ian Hall, CEO of Genesis, said: “We are very proud of our Cannes slate this year, and we expect this to be our strongest market to date. We are especially excited to be premièring The Wee Man which tells a great, gritty British story with fantastic performances.”

Source: Screen Daily

Cannes screening of David Tennant's romantic comedy

A Scottish movie starring former Dr Who actor David Tennant was screened at the Cannes Film Festival this weekend.

The romantic comedy Decoy Bride is set on the fictional Scottish island of Hegg, but was filmed in Nithsdale in Dumfries and other locations.

The film stars Tennant, Kelly MacDonald, Alice Eve, Michael Urie - who plays Marc in Ugly Betty - and Federico Castelluccio from The Sopranos. It was being shown to possible distributors.

Decoy Bride tells the story of a superstar actress marrying her British boyfriend, played by Tennant, away from the glare of the world's media. But when an ingenious paparazzo tracks them down, the diva must find a decoy bride and chooses a local girl, played by MacDonald.

Source: The Scotsman

On the set of 'Decoy Bride'

The folks over at For Argyll have a pretty extensive look at what shooting is like for David Tennant, and the rest of the cast and crew on the set of Decoy Bride. You can check out on-set photos and the entire article here; For Argyll does reveal that the movie will likely screen at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Photo by Rebecca Martin

Ewan McGregor joins 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' + 'Jackboots' to premiere at Cannes

Ewan McGregor has been cast alongside Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas in Lasse Hallström's Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Written by Simon Beaufoy, the romantic comedy is based on Paul Torday's novel of the same name. The film is being sold to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival. A synopsis is below:

Dr. Alfred Jones is a henpecked, slightly pompous middle-aged scientist at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence in London when he is approached by a mysterious sheikh about an outlandish plan to introduce the sport of salmon fishing into the Yemen. Dr. Jones refuses, but the project, however scientifically absurd, catches the eye of British politicians, who pressure him to work on it. His diaries of the Yemen Salmon Project, from beginning to glorious, tragic end, form the narrative backbone of this novel; interspersed throughout are government memos, e-mails, letters, and interview transcripts that deftly capture the absurdity of bureaucratic dysfunction.

With a wickedly wonderful cast of characters--including a weasel-like spin doctor, a missing soldier and his intrepid fiancée, and Dr. Jones's own devilish wife--Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is the whimsical story of an unlikely hero who discovers true love, finds himself first a pawn and then a victim of political spin, and learns to believe in the impossible. [ComingSoon.net via Best of Ewan]

There are also reports that animated movie Jackboots on Whitehall featuring Ewan McGregor and Alan Cumming will premiere at Cannes.

Scottish films at the Festival de Cannes

May is pretty much Cannes Film Festival month (this year it runs from May 14 to May 25), which is huge for the film industry. Indie films New Town Killers starring Dougray Scott and Stone of Destiny starring Billy Boyd will be represented at the festival. The production team of New Town Killers will try to sell the film and attendees can view a promotional screening at their office at the festival, while a filmmaker from Stone of Destiny will be on a panel about producing and making films in Scotland.

I'm not sure if Stone of Destiny will actually be screened at Cannes because there are reports that its world premier will be at the 62nd Edinburgh International Film Festival (June 18 to June 29) where it will be competing for the UK Film Council-sponsored Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature. Here's a synopsis of Stone of Destiny from Newsahead:

The Anglo-Canadian film is the story of Ian Hamilton, a dedicated nationalist who reignited Scottish national pride in the 1950s with his daring raid on the heart of England to bring the Stone of Scone back to Scotland. Often referred to as the Stone of Scone, it was the stone upon which all monarchs of Scotland were crowned from the very first King back in 847. After a long and colorful history, it ended up back in Edinburgh Castle 11 years ago and still resides there.

You can read a synopsis of New Town Killers in a previous post.

Source: Dougray Scott Unplugged, Boyd oh Boyd, iofilm, Newsahead