JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 NEWS:

02.26.06:

There's a new featurette at the BEOWULF AND GRENDEL official web site that's called "King Hrothgar" - the narration has been heard before, but there are several new scenes. Check it out! The film will premiere in Canadian theatres on March 10th with a DVD release scheduled for August.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and so perhaps it's true! Yes, he's obviously had an injury, but not on a glamorous movie set. He happened to slip on a spot of ice in Stockholm several days ago. Stellan says, "I told the doctors not to put on a cast. I've got supports on the upper arm where I broke it." In the meantime, it appears that a scarf is filling in for a sling. Since he's on his way to the Bahamas for another week of filming the third PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN film, he adds, "You can't tell when I hold it still. I hope they haven't added any huge action sequences."

The injury didn't stop Stellan from partying at the opening of Sweden's Göteborg Film Festival on a snowy Friday evening. Attending the screening of BEOWULF AND GRENDEL was his first opportunity to see the fruits of his labor (and very cold labor, I might add)  when they filmed in Iceland during the fall of 2004. Having to leave the party early, he said, "I have to leave at 10 in the morning tomorrow, and that's too bad. I like it here, but I'll have another beer before I leave." When it comes to film festivals, Stellan admits he'd rather be in Göteborg or Colorado's Telluride than Cannes, which he refers to as a media circus. He says, "This is a nice, relaxed festival where people have fun." Stellan guesses it was 1996 when he first attended the Göteborg Film Festival.  "I had a great time back then with HARRY OCH SONJA. A lot of good parties and a nice mood as always... Everybody hangs out with each other, people from different countries and occupations. It's worse at Cannes with industrial parties and where you only do interviews for four days."

You can read his 1/26/06 interview published in Göteborgs-Posten. In another interview, Stellan commented on working on GOYA'S GHOSTS. He said, "It was completely beardless and a lot of fun. He (director Milos Forman) is an amazing person and a strong director. There is life in the old man, one might say. Natalie Portman is brilliant, and Javier Bardem is completely amazing. And we had good food in Spain." Commenting on why he hadn't been in a swedish film in a long time, he said that none had come along to fit his schedule or attract him enough. He thinks a film like Tillsammans (Together) would not do well if he starred in it. "It breaks the illusion. And Lukas Moodysson is so good at bringing out the natural life from his actors. I don't think you should have any stars in a film like that."

When questioned about what projects he's most proud of, he responds, "I don't think I feel proud at all. I only see it like this: I want to do things and have more or less fun doing them, and try to achieve things. But I still haven't done anything I'm completely satisfied with. So it's a bit hard to be proud. The only thing measurable is that I've done a lot of films. The rest is just opinions and tastes."

As far as future projects, he still has more filming for POTC 3 in the fall. This spring he's planning to do a small independent film in Northern Ireland called W DELTA Z. Stellan describes it as "some kind of black crime movie or thriller where I play a cop." Once Stellan gets settled back home from the Bahamas and his arm has had a chance to heal,  I'll catch up with him with a Q&A about his recent films.

The interviews plus all these great tidbits have been graciously translated from Swedish newspapers by my friend, Robin Solsjö Höglund, whose help is invaluable in making stellanonline.com such a comprehensive source of all things Stellan.

Sweden's Göteborg Film Festival announced this week that BEOWULF AND GRENDEL will open its festival with a screening at 5:30 p.m. on January 27th. Both this screening and the one at 8 p.m. the following night have been sold out. The film is in competion for the Nordic Film Award. The festival has also announced that Stellan will be in attendance on opening night. The above photo of Stellan as Hrothgar is being used by the festival to publicize the film.

01.13.06:

The official web site for BEOWULF AND GRENDEL is now featuring a new look on its home page. Could this be the eventual poster? If you visit the official site, you can now view a NEW trailer. The photos below are a few screen caps of Stellan taken from the trailer. The filmmakers still haven't found a distributor for the US (darn), but in March there will be a theatrical release in Canada and Portugal. Last weekend the film had its US premiere at the Palm Springs Film Festival. An anonymous fan attended posted these IMDB comments:  "It was fabulous... beautiful story, breathtaking cinematography and outstanding performances. It seemed to be very well received. Sturla Gunnarsson, the director, was at the screening and was very warm and generous. He stayed well after the film ended to sign autographs and answer questions."

Canada's Exclaim! web site posted this mini-review: "Anyone with even a passing interest in poetry should recognise that the foundation of this movie is the epic poem Beowulf and not the comic book. Focusing on the human aspect of the story instead of the heroic deeds of Beowulf transforms the basic tale of vengeance and honour into a symphony of other subtler flavours that do well to mask the shortcomings of the story."

01.03.06:

As previously announced, BEOWULF AND GRENDEL will have its US premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival this weekend. It will be screened on Friday at 4 pm and Sunday at 3 pm. Director Sturla Gunnarsson has announced he will attend the festival. Sweden's Göteborg Film Festival (January 27-February 6) will host the film's European premiere, at which time Stellan will see it for the first time.

Masterfoods USA has decided to use DEAD MAN'S CHEST to introduce a white chocolate M&M. The white chocolate M&Ms will be called "Pirate Pearls" and will have unique candy shell color blends. The promotion campaign will feature the signature M&M characters in pirate garb. Look for Pirate Pearls in stores by June 2006. The trailer for the film was shown on many screens when The Chronicles of Narnia premiered last month. The photo is of Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow running from the natives - great scene!

I love the first photo showing Stellan with wife My on their wedding day back in 1975. The other photos were all taken at the RONIN premiere in Los Angeles on September 23, 1998.