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[gkfi]

I know, it's not been filmed yet, and to be honest I haven't read the novel. But I'm very excited to see Kirsten in another witty, hilarious, and entertaining comedy again, and with Pegg in the lead role and "Curb your enthusiam" helmer Robert B. Weide directs, I personally can't wait to see it!

So How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is originally the memoir of the British journalist Young who was brought over to work for Vanity Fair and found himself laughably out of place at the mag, the movie version is scheduled to hit theaters sometime in 2008. And kiki will play a Vanity Fair writer, my bet is that she's the romantic interest of the Toby Young character, which is changed to Sidney Young in the movie maybe to avoid some legal complication.

According to the director, he thought the script by British writer Peter Straughan was something special before he finished the first page. The words he used to describe the script was fresh and funny and smart, and totally suited to his sensibilities.

The film was being produced by a Stephen Woolley. Stephen had a list of credits longer than a baboon's arm, including all the films directed by Neil Jordan (''The Crying Game,'' "Interview with the Vampire,'' ''Michael Collins,'' etc.) Apparently the movie will be shoot in England during this summer, so John, get prepared again! LOL

[Nellie]

I really wanna see this movie too! It's her next project?

[Tigger]

any ideas where abouts in london it's going to be shot? Bet Johnny Borrell is going to be pleased!

[Nellie]

lol.. yeah... 

[rkidbrooksy]

It does sound like it should be good viewing. And I'm sure johnny will be chuffed too lol

[iRe]

It sounds good...
I hope she'll have an important role..

[gkfi]

I really wanna see this movie too! It's her next project?

Yes, it's her next project.

[aurochs]

I'm a big fan of simon pegg, as well. I'm definitely going to see this one.

[TopHat]

Jeff Bridges is a four time Academy Award Nominee.  The Fabulous Baker Boys is one of my favorite movies.  Great addition to the cast of this film.


Bridges is aboard to 'Alienate'

By Stuart Kemp

May 18, 2007
CANNES -- Jeff Bridges, whose turn as the Dude in "The Big Lebowski" gave him instant cult status, has joined the cast of "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" alongside "Spider-Man" star Kirsten Dunst and British comedy actor Simon Pegg ("Hot Fuzz").

Producer Stephen Woolley said inking Bridges to play Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter for the Robert B. Weide-directed adaptation of Toby Young's comic novel of the same name was key to his plans for it. He said securing Bridges had been a long labor of love because date conflicts had meant he had originally been unavailable.

"He (Bridges) brings gravitas to the part and the notion that he once would have been a rebel in his younger days," Woolley said. "Casting Jeff as the Carter character will stop people asking all the time who got the part."

He added that Gillian Anderson ("The X Files," "The Last King of Scotland") had signed on for a turn in the movie as a doyenne of New York PR.

Woolley is producing "Alienate," which is being repped in Cannes by Intandem through production banner Number 9 Films with backing from FilmFour. The project is being made without the need of having a U.S. deal in place.

The project is set to shoot in London and New York beginning June 4. Young's memoirs talk about when he went to New York to work at Vanity Fair while looking for love.

Woolley said he still had to decide which movie he wanted to helm next, having gone behind the lens last year for his directorial debut, "Stoned."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3icaf38d093b12e7d0b4b6ef275a379fec

[John.]

I believe that Danny Huston, who played Kirsten's older brother in Marie Antoinette, will appear in the film too.
That's quite an interesting cast being put together.

[gkfi]

Indeed!
Great casts!

[John.]

A bit more info re the film.
Rehearsals for the film started on monday in London and will continue for the next 2 weeks. Filming begins (as previously stated) on June 4th and is scheduled to last for 10 weeks. The vast majority of the filming will take place in London (woohoo !) with some additional filming in New York (i guess this will be for the outdoor scenes set in New York).
The final cast members have yet to be confirmed/announced but are expected to include British actresses Lindsay Duncan and Miriam Margoyles, and rising US stars Megan Fox and Max Minghella.

[iRe]

Does anyone know something about Kiki's role?

[gkfi]

A bit more info re the film.
Rehearsals for the film started on monday in London and will continue for the next 2 weeks. Filming begins (as previously stated) on June 4th and is scheduled to last for 10 weeks. The vast majority of the filming will take place in London (woohoo !) with some additional filming in New York (i guess this will be for the outdoor scenes set in New York).
The final cast members have yet to be confirmed/announced but are expected to include British actresses Lindsay Duncan and Miriam Margoyles, and rising US stars Megan Fox and Max Minghella.

John, the ever reliable Kirsten source! LOL

I'm so looking forward to this movie! I was digging some information for this one the other day, and found rumors that Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts were once attached to this project, quite surprising! But I'd much prefer the current cast.

[rsvpjrdot]

Greetings,

Archer sent us a link to a great article about this new movie on the Chatbox on our front page, so I thought I would post it here.

This looks to be a fun movie...


By Robert Weide, the movie's director.

After the theatrical release of Mother Night, and the completion of my long-gestating documentary on Lenny Bruce, I felt it was time to make a move towards directing a feature film. Then, in October of 1998, I got a phone call from my old friend Larry David, asking if I'd like to direct him in a one-hour HBO special. I figured, ''Why the hell not? This should only take about six months.''

Then I blinked my eyes and seven years had passed. After five seasons of producing and directing Curb Your Enthusiasm (the series based on that original special), I decided it was time to return to the game plan I was ready to enact when Larry first called.

As ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' continued to gain momentum over the preceding years, and especially after I received my directing Emmy for the ''Krazee-Eyez Killa'' episode, I started to receive a lot of feature scripts. There were a few along the way that I really responded to, but most of them were films I couldn't see spending two hours watching, let alone a year making. I did have a low-budget indie I had written myself called ''American Standard,'' for which I was hunting down financing. I was also attached to direct a terrific script by Pete Dexter called ''Florence,'' which was going out to actors (and which I still plan to make), but nothing was set up and ready to go.

Then my agent sent me a script with the unlikely title, ''How to Lose Friends & Alienate People.'' I knew it was something special before I finished the first page. By page ten, I had to keep myself from calling my agent to tell him to get me a meeting. I did call him once I finished the script, as my initial excitement remained undiminished. The script was fresh and funny and smart, and totally suited to my sensibilities.

The film was being produced by a Stephen Woolley, a formidable name in contemporary British Cinema. Stephen had a list of credits longer than a baboon's arm, including all the films directed by Neil Jordan (''The Crying Game,'' ''Interview with the Vampire,'' ''Michael Collins,'' etc.)

''How to Lose Friends?'' was based on a best-selling memoir by British journalist Toby Young. Toby was a rather celebrity-struck, model-ogling hack who, in the early-mid 90's, was publishing an intellectual/pop culture hybrid rag in London called ''The Modern Review.'' One day he got a call from Graydon Carter at ''Vanity Fair,'' asking him to come to New York and work for the magazine. Toby was like the proverbial pig in shit as he was thrust into the promised land of celebrities and super models. However, he somehow managed to piss off just about everyone he came in contact with, until he was finally fired by Carter and sent back to England with his tail between his legs.

I learned that the book was a huge seller in England, and also sold respectably in the U.S. When I finally read Toby's book, I truly enjoyed it, but I was glad it wasn't up to me to pen the adaptation. I don't know that I would have ''found'' the movie in it. This made me all the more impressed with the brilliant screenplay by British writer Peter Straughan. He was smart to take a certain amount of creative liberty with the actual events from Toby's life. He absolutely captured the spirit of the book and preserved many of the more memorable anecdotes, but structured a beautiful multi-layered story (even brought out the boy-meets-girl), and found the movie in Toby's loser-take-all memoir.

Woolley brought me to London in April, 2006, where I met with Peter Straughan and Toby Young, respectively. I returned in June to meet with Simon Pegg who had read the script and was interested in playing the lead. This was thrilling news. Simon's fans are myriad and I'm one of them. I knew his work initially from the cult zombie comedy ''Shaun of the Dead'', and later from his remarkable BBC series, ''Spaced.'' He struck me as perfect for the part of Sidney Young. (The names of the film's characters differ from the real-life counterparts who inspired them.) The prospect of working with Simon makes it impossible for me to curb my enthusiasm about this project. If all goes according to plan, we should be in active pre-production in January of '07, and in production this spring. Filming is due to take place in London and New York.

As additional parts get cast over the next while, I'll update this webpage, so if you're interested in staying apprised of the casting, check in regularly. (And please, don't attempt to contact me about casting, if you're an actor. Your agent will know how to contact the casting director.)

Update: 20 May, 2007.
Greetings! Updating you from London, where I've been since March 25. We commence filming on June 4, and I'm winding up with a dream cast.

Pegg's co-star in the film is the fabulous Kirsten Dunst, whom I last worked with on "Mother Night" when she was thirteen years old. (I know she hasn't done much since then, so I thought I'd give her a break.)

Playing editor-in-chief Clayton Harding is Jeff Bridges. Jeff and I have been friends for ten years and have long talked about finding the right project to do together. Well, we found it.

Other cast members include the amazing Danny Huston (whom I've been stalking for months to play this role), the very lovely and talented Gillian Anderson, and the rapidly ascending upstart Max Minghella. We are close to closing a deal with the delicious Megan Fox from "Transformers," to play our ingenue, Sophie Maes. Rounding out the cast are the highly regarded British thespians Lindsay Duncan and Miriam Margolyes. More announcements to come, so stay tuned....