JANUARY/FEBRUARY NEWS 2009:

02.18.09:    

According to TV 2 Underholdning, Stellan's next project will be a Norwegian independent film with director Hans Petter Moland. He will be headed to Norway next month where filming will continue through mid-May. The name may be familiar because Stellan has done two previous films, outstanding ones I might add, with Moland. Both ABERDEEN and ZERO KELVIN are among my favorites. When asked about his previous collaboration with Stellan, Moland replied, "We met when I asked him to be in 'Zero Kelvin'. He came in and told me that he had five criteria for working on a film. He said he'd do it if three of them were met. He had to have a good editor, a good script, director, producer, DP and cast. I told him that he had four out of five out the gate so it didn't matter if I was terrible. So we became great friends during the shoot. The conditions were challenging to say the least, and afterwards we vowed to each other that we really had to work together again and five years later we did."

So now Stellan has agreed once more saying he has longed to work with Moland and that he's really looking forward to it. He explains that he takes the roles he wants and up until now hasn't had many interesting offers from Norway. The film is called REGNSKAP (aka Accounts).

ET recently aired an interview with the cast of ANGELS & DEMONS. You can find it at this link.  He admits he tries to be nice on the set - "I want everybody to love me." There's also a new trailer, much better than anything released before. Check it out at this link. Yes, the soundtrack sounds energetic and the photography looks good though there's not enough lighting for my cinematic tastes. You may remember that Tom Hanks was faulted for his performance in the prequel in that he seemed miscast, looked uncomfortable, failed to capture the enthusiasm of the character and was particularly stiff in action scenes. I had to agree, so I'm a bit anxious about the success of this film, mainly because of Hanks not being suited for the role.

02.06.09:    

We're only a little more than three months away from the premiere of ANGELS & DEMONS. As usual, there's a plethora of hype, and I guess that's to be expected with a possible blockbuster hit. According to director Ron Howard, "Angels" is actually a sequel to "The Da Vinci Code", instead of a prequel. He recently told the press that his film is literally a "ticking bomb story, and it's very much about modernity clashing with antiquity and technology vs. faith. In comparing this film to the "Da Vinci Code", he described how the tone of the story is very different this time. He adds, "We also took a lot more license to take liberties with this plot because this is a great story, but it doesn't carry with it the weight the previous Dan Brown book did for its readers."

Stellan was back in LA last month finishing up the film, specifically with dialect advisor Roman Wyden. Stellan plays the head of the Swiss Guard and needs a Swiss German accent. Wyden recalls, "I arrived on time and entered sound stage one where Stellan, editor Mike Hill and the ADR (dubbing) director were ready. I was introduced as the Swiss dialect coach to Stellan and we shook hands. What a nice man! He was so genuine and down-to-earth and we struck up a conversation that seemed like five minutes long. We talked abut how Sweden often gets confused with Switzerland and how he just flew in the night before to do the ADR. They had worked his schedule around mine to make sure I was there to authenticate his accent. 'Can you do my voice', he says followed by a firm laugh. 'Let me hear it,' I said. He spoke a line and I repeated it as good as I could. He stops, smiles and says, 'You're good. We started the session with a few simple Swiss lines, then progressed to more complicated Swiss expressions and dialogue specific to certain Swiss regions... Needless to say, I had a blast, learned a ton and left inspired."

I've added two more pages to the IMAGE section: Stellan & Megan Everett and the Film Society Tribute to Meryl Streep.

01.16.09:

Swedish newspapers today are reporting the marriage of Stellan and Megan Everett. The civil ceremony took place on Monday, January 12th, in Nacka, Sweden. Soon after, Stellan flew directly to LA where the final work on his film Angels & Demons was waiting. He was previously married in 1976 to My Gunther and together they had six children. In recent years Stellan and My have remained separated.  Stellan's new love is from Ireland and is rumored to work in the film industry. There's a good chance they met during the filming of Waz in Ireland back in the spring of 2006. The couple was first noticed during the filming of Mamma Mia! in Greece during the fall of 2007. They were later seen at the Swedish premiere of Arn in December, followed by two April 2008 appearances in NYC - the screening of The Life Before Her Eyes at the IFC Center and Lincoln Center's Gala Tribute to Meryl Streep. They were then photographed at the UK premiere of Mamma Mia! in June and lastly at the True Blood premiere in Hollywood in September.