They're saving ODB for "The View";-D (Moon)Especially since she gave in and said that Scarlett was perfect and in turn implying that Colin as Vermeer, was not. The movie is bound to be better than the book anyway ,which I thought was borrr-ing.

(evelyn) which I thought was borrr-ing. *gasp* Really? Hmmmm.... But you *liked* HS, correct? ;-)

But you *liked* HS, correct? ;-) Yup...witty.

I saw 2 trailers for LA on TV last night, and neither one showed or even mentioned CF. v.v.disappointing, to say the least. "Starring Liam, Emma, Hugh, Kiera in smash hit for the holiday season." Why promote only THOSE names, I wonder? Only good news was that Sneak Previews will be shown this Sat. night (check your local theaters).

Woo hoo! Thanks for the heads-up Deb! Sure enough...and the Sneak Preview is even at my favorite theater! **doing happy dance!**

The article to go with the Chiswick conservatory pic: http://www.firth.com/articles/03w_nov.html

And I've been told that Huge and Emma will be on Oprah on Monday.

A couple of galleries of pics from the Rome promotional tour for LA, which now includes the Tracey Chevalier's "perfect" Vermeer ;-) Mr AR: http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=gls====40862 http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=gls====40861

(Karen)And I've been told that Huge and Emma will be on Oprah on Monday.,/i. Damn! I was holding out hope that she would do one of those all cast interviews for LA like she has done in the past for other films. She just did one late summer.(can't remember for which film) and I remember thinking, at the time, this would be great for LA.;-( Thanks, Karen for the W article...I just walked in the door with the magazine. (Deb)I saw 2 trailers for LA on TV last night, and neither one showed or even mentioned CF I know. I've seen them. He was in the trailers they were showing about two weeks ago. Just got my 'sneak preview' tickets for Saturday;-)

closing tags

I've been told that Hugh answered a few questions in Italian! I'm sure not as well as ODB would have. Colin seems to have a small role promoting LA. Thanks, for the articles and pictures, Karen!

Quick check in from Kansas City. The LA promos are playing here and I saw a lot of ODB on one the other night and his name was included in the voiceover. I also received my screening pass in the mail for LA on Nov 6. It says seats are not guaranteed and are first-come, first-serve. I think I'll be standing in line starting early afternoon. I wish, but I won't be able to get downtown until after business hours and it starts at 7:30. Anybody know how busy these screenings usually are? Will being an hour early be enough? Thanks, Michelle

(mj) The LA promos are playing here and I saw a lot of ODB on one the other night and his name was included in the voiceover. I've seen some ads that have a slight bit of Colin and mention of Rowan Atkinson, too, as well as of course, Huge, Emma, and AR.

I just can't see Rickman playing Vermeer at any age. He's an excellent actor, was a very good Nottingham in Robin Hood, and the voice is very, very nice, but he seems to be too coarsely drawn to play Vermeer, maybe Van Ruijven, but not Vermeer. Also, I think that like many actors, Rickman needs lines. There aren't too many actors that can pack pages and pages of script into a few gestures and a look like CF.

(Karen)The article to go with the Chiswick conservatory pic: Thanks for putting them together and in the *articles* location at f.c! I love to garden and that pic of ODB in or around a greenhouse is just my cuppa.

I just can't see Rickman playing Vermeer at any age. He's an excellent actor, was a very good Nottingham in Robin Hood, and the voice is very, very nice, but he seems to be too coarsely drawn to play Vermeer, maybe Van Ruijven, but not Vermeer. Also, I think that like many actors, Rickman needs lines. There aren't too many actors that can pack pages and pages of script into a few gestures and a look like CF.

I have to tell you all now, I am being a negligent Sit Up Drool correspondent, sitting at home while the gala for GWAPE is on right now. But waiting to hear if he did show, I assume that he would, and really looking forward to seeing it tomorrow.

Oh No Emma!!! He showed!!! Pearly King Colin Firth reigns at Girl With a Pearl Earring gala 30/10/2003 Outside the Odeon West End is hardly a venue of choice on a particularly miserable October night but when Colin Firth is scheduled to make an appearance the (female) crowds will brave all manner of elemental hardships to catch a glimpse of the dapper star. Arriving for the gala of Girl With a Pearl Earring, Firth caused gridlock in the foyer as festival goers refused to leave the entrance hall until they had gawked themselves silly. His co-star Scarlett Johansson followed Tuesday's Lost in Translation appearance with an encore for Peter Webber's film, which is based on Tracy Chevalier's best-selling novel. Girl With a Pearl Earring tells the imagined story behind Johannes Vermeer's best-loved artistic work. Johanssen plays a girl forced into becoming a servant in the artist's household and soon becomes adept at assisting him in his studio. Their relationship begins to disrupt the running of his household however and becomes a risk to her own respectability. "It's quite exciting and gives me the opportunity to wear two really nice dresses," said Johanssen of her second festival gala. "I'm tired but I'm doing alright. I keep drinking a lot of your coffee. I've been here for three days and I haven't done anything but all this." While much swooning and drooling carried on around her, Johnassen was rather less reverent of her co-star's looks. "Did you see his hairy wig in the film? That gave me a lot of cause to make fun of him. He looked like an Oompa Loompa - very Fabio. " Never one to hold a grudge, Firth was quick to lay on the praise for the young actress's performance in the film. "She's absolutely fantastic, she's one of the best actresses I've ever worked with," he declared. "Before I knew her I didn't expect such a mature performance because she was only 17. But you only have to know her for about half an hour and you start to realise that she's a very sophisticated, worldly person. " Playing the famous artist, Firth was asked whether his own skill with the brush was something to shout about. "I think I put Vermeer to shame to be quite honest http://www.empireonline.co.uk/news/news.asp?story=5129

(ODB) "I think I put Vermeer to shame to be quite honest Woohoo, someone's feeling his oats! *crossing fingers -- hoping for good pics*

(Michelle) Anybody know how busy these screenings usually are? Will being an hour early be enough? More than enough time; I usually show up a half hour before. Admin note: Drool's software isn't like a message board, where you hit Reload/Refresh to see if there are new messages. If you've posted something and hit Reload/Refresh, your message will be posted again. The best way to navigate is to use the location bar at the top or go out to the Main Drool page and you'll see if anything new has been posted. Write me at "the office" or Topic 61 if you have further questions.

Empire now has a gallery up of pics from the Gala: http://www.empireonline.co.uk/img/features/events/lff2003/large/large28.jpg

Oops, messed up a bit: For gallery: http://www.empireonline.co.uk/features/events/lff2003/gallery2.asp

For more photos of the LFF gala go to: http://www.empireonline.co.uk/features/events/lff2003/30event.asp#lff2003 Livia's hair is long now, unlike at the HS premiere, and she's back to her pre-baby slimness.

I'd say hair extension or fall. Colin's suit looks velvet. I think he's worn that before...

and BTW, in the last pic, it is Tracey C with Cillian Murphy and Judy Parfitt, not Olivia Heetred.

(Karen)I'd say hair extension or fall. Must be, no way could that bob have grown out in 5 months. They look great. Thanks Karen, Maria and Katty.

damn, I did it again

Great photos! He again looks AFG! How does he do that? He and Livia must be wearing their contacts.:-)) (Karen)Colin's suit looks velvet. I think he's worn that before... Oh, I thought he pinched it from GWAPE;-)

Re Pics: (Karen) Colin's suit looks velvet. Yeah, I was thinking velvet too. Probably warmer (tired of being cold on TEOR set) (Katty)she's back to her pre-baby slimness. Repeat after me: Life is so unfair. (Karen) I'd say hair extension or fall. I bet so. Someone should have told Cillian to spit his gum out or shut his mouth. I like Scarlett's dress (better than blue shawl thing she wore before) and love the necklace, but the hair Louisa! Gawd, I can hardly wait for this movie!

In the latest set of paparazzi pics, her hair was pulled back and you couldn't see its length, but I'd say "removable."

And Huge will be on Jay Leno on Monday, Nov 10. The View's guests are scheduled for the premiere week, so perhaps that will also occur the week of Nov 10...as long as *some* people are still in NY.... ;-0

Oh! Thanks for the pics Karen & Katty! They look great! Love the velvet suit (no pups or cats at home obviously) and Livia looks amazing! Like the faux hair (Has to be! Even with prenatals you can't grow it that fast!). I like Scarlet's dress too...(and agree with Barb about the hair)

Thanks Karen and Katty for the LIFF photos. Don't the Firth's look fantastic in black? She's always looking at him adoringly in pics like these, but who can blame her?;-)

Karen and Katty, thanks for the great pics. (Hen) She's always looking at him adoringly in pics like these, but who can blame her?;-) Certainly not me. I also look at him that way ;-)

Thanks for all the pics and news! There is so much going on Firthwise I'm having a hard time keeping it all straight--is it news about LA, GWAPE or TEOR? Or is that GWAPE in LA? or LA in LA? or both? or is that GWAPE at the LIFF gala? or TEOR filming in L? or all of the above???? :-)

Great review in today's Times and an article describing Colin as one of the indusrty's "hottest stars":-) I cannot seem to copy from that site so go to http://www.the-times.co.uk and register. The review is entitled One's art in the right place :-(

Hey, sometimes what's going on at home means you gotta sacrifice standing in the rain outside a movie theatre =). It may be crazy but I was spoiled last week so oh well. Plus today I get to go inside so that's even better -- whether or not any of them from last night turn up is another story. That is crazy about Livia's hair - I know it's been 6 months since HS and PEN but I think my hair has grown about an inch at most since then.

I can't seem to access the Times review without signing up for a paying subscription (godferbid.;-) Hopefully someone will be able to post it. Looking at the pics, I can almost hear Bobby Vinton. "He wore Blue . . .VEL-vet . . . ta-dum." ;-) Wot is Colin doing with the front of his hair? :-( Full page ads in today's papers for the LA sneak preview on Saturday night. Arranged a bit differently than the poster we've seen; Colin is literally front and center.:-)

(Mari), Looking at the pics, I can almost hear Bobby Vinton. "He wore Blue . . .VEL-vet . . . ta-dum." ;-) Wot is Colin doing with the front of his hair? :-( LOL! The hair, Louise, both of them!!! ;-) I like the velvet suit. Call me Mod Hippie chic. Thank you, Karen and Katty! Will look out for the Times article.

(Mari) Wot is Colin doing with the front of his hair? :-( It looks like they cut it too short on the front part or layered it and that's not a great overall cut for his hairline maybe, unless it's combed back and styled. It's looked alright, for the most part everywhere else recently. Or he just had it cut again. :-( Yeah, and what *is* the deal with *her* hair, Louisa? ;-) I'm not so much a fan of that dress myself, except the color. Thought the one in Toronto was much more flattering.

James Christopher of the Times gave GWAPE 4 out of 5 stars One's art in the right place THE TIMES Gala film, Girl with a Pearl Earring, picklocks an erotic mystery from one of Vermeer's most famous portraits. No one knows much about the painting which hangs in the Maurithuis in the Hague, but it inspired Tracy Chevalier to write a bestselling novel about the relationship between subject and artist which Peter Webber has now fashioned into this thrilling melodrama. Set in 1665, Delft, a humble peasant called Griet is employed by the Vermeers to launder sheets and scrub his studio. It's a thankless job. The household is stony broke, and Colin Firth's depressed and tetchy artist is as blocked as a crumbling, exhausted drain. But something about the 17-year-old waif with eyes as large as marbles inspires Vermeer to pick up his brush. Without at first knowing it, or indeed desiring it, the vulnerable char becomes muse to one of his greatest works. Not much happens in Vermeer's gloomy attic, apart from appreciative grunts from Firth's lugubrious stickler, or small suggestions from Griet about the angle placement of a chair. Yet the intimacy is electric, whether it's mixing paints, or wiping the grime off windows to let in more light. The power of these taboo moments has almost everything to do with Scarlett Johansson's performance as Griet. She is simply marvellous casting, with skin like talcum powder, pendulous pink lips and eyes that withhold their mystery as eloquently as Vermeer's original oil. Griet barely speaks a word, yet the entire drama is quietly frozen in her face. It's here that Webber makes us intensely self-conscious of the relationship between still life and cinema, and it's eloquently underpinned by Eduardo Serra's exquisite lighting. The household seethes with indignation at this unholy conspiracy between master and drudge. Vermeer's highly strung wife, Catharina, can barely bring herself to look at Griet, but can't afford to sack her. The witchy mother-in-law is torn between pure spite and relief that Vermeer might actually finish a painting. "You're a fly in his web," she scowls like Miss Haversham. "We all are." The artist's lascivious patron, van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson), pimps a fat commission for the promise of a tumble with Griet. Can she rely on the unpredictable artist to fight her corner? Put like this, Webber's film sounds like the most unsubtle of melodramas. The real art is that it is anything but.

Thanks for the head's up about the LA sneak preview in the US on 11/1. Am getting it here in the Southeast.

Thanks for the review, Karen, but where's the part about Colin? They barely mention him. And they spelled Havisham wrong. ;-)

Love the special Halloween picture today, Boss! I'll take a Trick from ODB any ol' day, especially if it involves wet clothing. That would be a Treat, indeed!

A lot of the same from the Evening Standard and mainly about Scarlett: Scarlett's a sensation By Richard Simpson and Andre Paine, Evening Standard She is still only 18 years old, but Scarlett Johansson is proving her star quality as one of Hollywood's most talented young actresses. The American actress, who looked stunning in a low-cut green dress, was last night being lauded in London for her starring role in Girl With a Pearl Earring. Johansson - who was at the film's premiere last night - stars opposite Colin Firth in the scandal-filled romance. Now many are tipping her for Hollywood greatness. Film bible Variety wrote of her "wondrous central performance" in the film, which she did when she was only 17. The author of the original novel Tracy Chevalier said: "It was so beautifully done, I burst into tears." The film is based on the relationship between 17th century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer - played by Firth - and his 17-year-old maid, Griet, the young girl who appears in the famous painting. Firth, 43, was quick to praise the young actress. He said: "She's absolutely fantastic, she's one of the best actresses I've ever worked with. Before I knew her I didn't expect such a mature performance because she was only 17. But you only have to know her for about half an hour and you start to realise that she's a very sophisticated, worldly person." [yadda yadda SJ bio] Firth, in a dark blue velvet suit, was joined by his Italian wife, Livia Guiggioli for the premiere at Leicester Square's Odeon - and despite the miserable weather, the stars mingled with the fans. For New Yorker Johansson, it was her second London premiere in three days. She also turned heads on Wednesday for art house film, Lost In Translation. She said: "It's quite exciting and gives me the opportunity to wear two really nice dresses. I'm tired but I'm doing alright. I keep drinking a lot of your coffee. I've been here for three days and I haven't done anything but all this." But while his female admirers were swooning over Firth, Johansson clearly does not take stardom too seriously. She said of Firth's appearance as Vermeer: "Did you see his hairy wig in the film? That gave me a lot of cause to make fun of him. He looked like an Oompa Loompa." But she has also said: "Colin's gorgeous - I saw him in Pride and Prejudice." Firth's next film will be the Bridget Jones sequel - and last night, the clearly suffering actor was giving a few clues about his fight with Hugh Grant. He said: "Filming (Bridget Jones) last week, I ended up in a pond and it was very cold. I'm now losing my voice." Having let the cat out of the bag, he later attempted to backtrack, with: "Oh, I can't tell you who wins the fight. I am sworn to secrecy." At the afterparty at the Institute of Directors building in Pall Mall, Firth was asked if he could beat Hugh Grant in a fight in real life. He joked: "I could kick his arse any day." Other guests at the premiere included Firth's co-stars Cillian Murphy and Judy Parfitt, director Peter Webber, and writer of the novel on which the film was based Tracey Chevalier. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/entertainment/films/articles/7471313?

Finally, some pics: http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=gls====41131 I'll go grab the larger ones now...

British actors don�t often get the sort of reception afforded Hollywood stars - but to the crowds outside the screening of Girl with a Pearl Earring, and the audience inside, Colin Firth is one better than a Hollywood star. The cheering for the man verges on the ecstatic. Of course he has to field yet another question about a certain Mr Darcy (brushed aside with the smoothness of his black velvet suit), but Firth is smilingly effusive about his role as the old master, Johannes Vermeer, in the film. �One of the wonderful things about this profession is that you get the opportunity to indulge hopeless, rather nerdy hobbies and interests,� he says. �For this I was allowed to play with paints in a way I�ve not been allowed to do since I was five years old.� Festival Diary: Day Nine As for how convincing he was, �I took comfort in the fact that a brilliant painter looks the same as an awful one when they have a brush in their hand.� At the party for the film, a sumptuous do at the stately Institute of Directors on Pall Mall (complete with arias and a chocolate fountain), the author Tracy Chevalier says that having a novel adapted into a film is �every writer�s dream. It�s just one of those fantasies you use to keep yourself going day after day.� Praising the adaptation as �like a sister, a companion piece to the book,� she adds that �You just don�t think you�re going to have a night like this. It�s great and I�m just going to revel in every minute of it.� http://www.lff.org.uk/films_editorials.php?EditorialID=42

Here's the beginning of the gallery... http://www.firth.com/gwape_premgal4.html

Actually I take it back, they cut the rest of the hair too short and kept the front too long. Wasn't as obvious to me before. (Eve Std) in a dark blue velvet suit (lff.org) his black velvet suit Will the real color of the suit, please come forward. (SJ) "Colin's gorgeous - I saw him in Pride and Prejudice." She needed to watch him *on TV* to determine that? ;-)

He said: "She's absolutely fantastic, she's one of the best actresses I've ever worked with. Before I knew her I didn't expect such a mature performance because she was only 17 He said almost the exact same thing about Amanda Bynes, too;-) He's just a charmer;-) (Mari), Looking at the pics, I can almost hear Bobby Vinton. "He wore Blue . . .VEL-vet. LMAO...pretty darn daring to wear velvet in bad weather. (CF)I ended up in a pond and it was very cold. I'm now losing my voice.". And so it begins;-)

Sorry, but I forgot my thanks to Karen and all for the pictures and articles. and...Happy Halloween to you, too, Richard. In fact, Happy Halloween to all.

Thank you Karen for the pics! ODB still needs his bangs trimmed (but looks lovely nonetheless)... and Scarlet.... The Kewpie Doll hair has got to go! Happy Halloween everyone!

The Kewpie Doll hair Oh. Is that what you call it? I'm still trying to figure it out. Looks like a skinned-back ponytail with the end brought up in a bad comb-over. YIKES!

Thanks ladies for all the articles and pics. "I'm in heaven ...."

Don't remember reading this one... 'Love' looms as hit for Uni, Working Title http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/columns/grove_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2002205

Just seen an ad for "Love Actually" in the break in "Coronation Street", our primetime soap (18 million viewers). Probably the best (and most expensive) advertising slot. Also "Love Actually" has a spread in this month's "Total Film". Good review for LA. CF and Richard Curtis seem to get on well - used to have dinner together during the France shoot. Thanks for the review, Karen, but where's the part about Colin? They barely mention him I'm afraid some UK film reviewers aren't exactly generous towards CF. British actors don�t often get the sort of reception afforded Hollywood stars - but to the crowds outside the screening of Girl with a Pearl Earring, and the audience inside, Colin Firth is one better than a Hollywood star. The cheering for the man verges on the ecstatic. UK film critics please take note!

The pics are super, boss. I think SJ looks stunning as does Livia, as usual.

Thanks for all the pics and articles. Livia looks wonderful. I wish I looked so good 3 months after giving birth! But his hair did look awful. I know how uncooperative curly hair can be(having the same type myself) but I do think he could have made more of an effort!

Happy Halloween everyone! I wanted to be cheesy for a moment and ask that each of you check out Love Actually when it comes out in your town. I promise you will really enjoy this wonderful film. In all the years I've done this I have to tell you that I have not enjoyed any film more than this one. Hands down! Richard Curtis' work is pure joy. All the actors, the writing, the production...everyone worked perfectly to create a film that has been a hit with the critics and those who have screened it thus far. Everyone involved in this project is extremely pleased and proud with the end result and I encourage you to tell your friends about it. At every screening I have attended the response has been overwhelming with people cheering and clapping at the end. Now having said all that, of course I have to say that I loved Colin in this film, he was brilliant as usual. He speaks Portuguese beautifully! :) And I loved Hugh and Liam and Emma. But I am truly crazy about Thomas Sangster. I think once you see this movie you will agree! :) Please bear with me as this is obviously a very busy time for us here and I can't come by as often as I would like. We are working very hard and this is a very hectic time of year. I will have Rosemary stop in with some shows and dates for Colin coming up. Look for the next few days and weeks especially. I know some will probably be disappointed that most of the attention will be on Hugh and some others. But that's the reality of things at the moment. He is more well known and will be carrying most of the PR. But Colin is being featured as much as is feasible with his schedule. Oh and thanks for all the lovely congrats on the baby en route. We are all ecstatic. It's a running joke that everytime we do a Working Title project someone is pregnant. Colin's wife for BJD1 and Love Actually; Kim, one of Hugh's people for About A Boy; and me for Edge of Reason. :) Take care Hola Lola From LA

(Ms Hola)ask that each of you check out Love Actually when it comes out in your town. I promise you will really enjoy this wonderful film... LOL! Wild horses couldn't keep me away! I know some will probably be disappointed that most of the attention will be on Hugh and some others. But that's the reality of things at the moment. He is more well known and will be carrying most of the PR. But Colin is being featured as much as is feasible with his schedule. Will take what I can get and am appreciative that you keep us posted during this busy (and personally a magical) time. Love getting the inside poop!

Hola, thank you for stopping by and congratulations on the baby :-) I promise to do my part about promoting LA and have allready made arrangements with 5 people to go see it. :-) Karen, Maria and all: Thank you for all the articles, reviews and pictures. This is a joyful time to be drooling :-)

The GWAPE website is up. Photos, production notes, reviews, trailer, desktops. Go to it!:-) http://www.girlwithapearlearringmovie.com/

Globe took a lot of pics: http://www.globephotos.com/scripts/kws30pre.exe?site=GLOBEPH&maxhits=12&picktype=GfxOnly&type=GfxOnly&search=A13862&hmessage=SCREENING+OF+THE+GIRL+WITH+A+PEARL+EARRING++LONDON+10/30/2003&ShowTotal=on&fmaxhits=&submit=lsearch but can't seem to tell the difference between Colin and that other guy with Scarlett. ;-)

Phew!, finally caught up with all the goings on. (Caribou) There is so much going on Firthwise I'm having a hard time keeping it all straight (Meredith) Thanks for the head's up about the LA sneak preview in the US on 11/1. Am getting it here in the Southeast. (Deb) Love the special Halloween picture today, Boss! (Sandy) Thanks ladies for all the articles and pics. (Hola Lola) I wanted to be cheesy for a moment and ask that each of you check out Love Actually when it comes out in your town. Ditto, ditto, ditto, ditto. Got my ticket in my pocket and am ready to go.

Ack! I don't have time to Drool for a few days (got to save up my energy for NYC) and suddenly I find myself hundereds of messages behind. Thanks all for the lovely pics! That velvet suit just makes me want to rub my hands all over it and.... ;-) Congrats Hola Lola, and thanks for all the inside info! (Beedee)Love getting the inside poop! Bee?!? Is this a Freudian slip? (Annette)This is a joyful time to be drooling :-) Indeed! I'm planning my schedule around the sneek peek tomorrow.

Hola, no problem. I'm a one-woman box office wonder. But the rest of this gang does just as well. I plan to go several times, and have already lined up the sheep I will lead there;-) I can't wait to see Colin in this. Congratulations, again! Thanks for stopping by. (Hola He speaks Portuguese beautifully! He speaks everything, beautifully! Mari, thanks for the GWAPE website news and pictures Karen thanks, again, for working overtime as usual.

Wow, what a beautifully done website! Thanks, Mari!

I have found a sneak preview of LA tomorrow night at a theatre just 8 miles from my home. Betcha can't guess where I'll be tomorrow ;-)

Mari, thanks for the heads up about the GWAPE site, it's wonderful! I got goosebumps all over when I heard that beautiful music again. It faded from my memory since I heard it last time, and I missed it. Karen, love the pics, thanks! Livia and Colin make a darn good looking couple. (Did I just say that without choking on it? I think I should go and pat myself on the back) Yeah, his hair sure looks too long on the front, but since he is in the middle of filming I wonder if he is allowed to have it cut in any other way than the way they want it. Or am I just making an excuse for him? It wouldn't surprise me one bit. Hola, thanks for popping in, and congrats about the baby. And don't worry, the moment LA opens we'll all be there. :-)

(Dorine)Will the real color of the suit, please come forward. Definitely dark blue velvet. Despite the awful weather, as soon as Colin arrived he went straight to the fans and signed autographs for a very long time. SJ arrived shortly before him and did exactly the same. I loved this film and agree with other droolers who have seen GWAPE, it is a beautiful film to watch. IMO Scarlett is Griet. I can�t imagine Kate Hudson in the role.

Thanks Aishling for your report; hope to hear more. At the GWAPE site, I've added this new pic to firth.com's gallery: Who remembers that very old commercial or was it from the Ernie Kovacs show about Dutch Masters cigars? LOL! Am kind of vague about it.

It was Ernie Kovacs and later Edie Adams did the commercials(after he died,I believe).

Thanks, Bonnie. I remember the apes a little better. ;-) Since I received an email from a European fan about Scarlett's Fabio reference, here's a pic of him: He became quite famous a number of years ago as a model for romance book covers and he did some TV commercials too.

Colin always looks wonderful in hats. Someone should claim this one.

Karen, you are so right. I remember the cigar commericals and box. I had crayons in one of those boxes. Dh also had a flashback when he saw this picture. Thank you for all the pictures, articles and info, boss. Michelle

Been away this week, and returned to all the wonderful pictures and comments. Thanks to all. Karen, I remember the Dutch Masters...but I surely don't remember it this way! Wow!! Congrats, Hola Lola....and rest assured, this girl will be seeing ODB on the big screen as many times as possible. Can't make our local sneak preview tonight, but I'll be first in line on Nov 7....

(Karen)He became quite famous a number of years ago as a model for romance book covers and he did some TV commercials too. "I can't believe it's not buddah......" Yeah, I remember the Dutch Masters (and Ernie) but don't remember them looking this hot! I spent some time drooling over this one last night so thanks for putting it here Karen.

(Aishling)Despite the awful weather, as soon as Colin arrived he went straight to the fans and signed autographs for a very long time. SJ arrived shortly before him and did exactly the same. Well, then I can forgive them the dodgy hair if they were out signing in the rain for fans!:-) Way to go, Aishling! *Blowing kisses across pond* Would love to hear more. (mj)I had crayons in one of those boxes. LOL, me too! And to think of all the time I spent seaching in that box for cerulean and burnt sienna, when what I really wanted was right on the lid.;-) THANK YOU, Karen, for the enlarged photos from the LFF GWAPE night. Some nice ones there. The ones where he has to "lose a little height" for SJ remind me of another time and another place.;-);-)

There's a two-page spread on Love Actually in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly (November 7). Individual photos of all the main cast memebers, including a new one of Colin (who once again has a staple through his head;-). Quotes from each of them; here's Colin's: COLIN FIRTH Actually He's . . . Jamie, the cuckolded writer who flees to France and falls for his Portuguese housekeeper (Lucia Moniz). His Take: "I have one of the most uncomplicated story lines in the film. I'm upset at the beginning, but from that moment on I fall in love and it just gets better and better." Whom He Wishes He Had Played: Bill Nighy's role. "He's the guy who gets to say 'f---' a lot."

(Mari) The ones where he has to "lose a little height" for SJ remind me of another time and another place.;-);-) Ha ha ha!! Actually I was grateful he did it, so the watermarkings didn't go through his head as they usually do, when he's photographed with shorter folk. ;-)

I had a Dutch Master's box as well (don't remember commercials but I was overseas when I was younger so may have missed the fun). I kept colored pencils in it and I don't remember any of the men on the front (because....wasn't there a whole line of them?) looking this freakin' hot (though that's the 'pilgrim hat' and I was relieved when ODB took it off. (it just looks like a giant 10 gallon hat to me....and although I do fancy the idea of seeing him in buckskin, riding the range, I never imagined a hat)..he has the shoes to match too). Love his 'look' that he is giving 'Griet' in this pic. Thanks Karen! (Bee) "I can't believe it's not buddah......" LOL...I feel as if I have come full circle with ODB and 'buddah' this week! (Mari) Well, then I can forgive them the dodgy hair if they were out signing in the rain for fans!:-) All is forgiven! Scarlet just must have known it was going to shower and said "give me something that most resembles a rain hat" ;-) And well....ODB is always forgiven (except for L'dum...I'm still sore about that) ;-D (Mari) LOL, me too! And to think of all the time I spent seaching in that box for cerulean and burnt sienna, when what I really wanted was right on the lid.;-) ROTFL! (ODB re: role he wished he'd played) "He's the guy who gets to say 'f---' a lot." Now that's what you want to look for when choosing your projects! I can completely understand (as it is a word I enjoy using as well). ;-) Thanks Karen and Mari! And Aishling...so glad you liked GWAPE and thanks for the report!!!!

I have my tickets for LA, tonight. :-) Thank you, Karen, Mari, Aisling, lucky girl!

(ODB re: role he wished he'd played) "He's the guy who gets to say 'f---' a lot." That's the funniest thing he's said in recent interviews. I wish he'd do that more often....instead of soooo serious. (Tress)(as it is a word I enjoy using as well). ;-) I'm holding out for "asshole".

Thanks for all the new pics Karen! And Mari, thanks for alerting to the GWAPE website, my computer hissed and spit and took an age to load but it was worth it! Bee, the wild horses have been hoofing and snorting outside my door all day in an effort to drag me away from the LA screening in 3 hours and 4 minutes, but a few apples and carrots turned them around.. Woohooooooo!!!! Film Review: "Love Actually" Written 11-01-2003 by BrianOrndorf �Love Actually� is smug, childish, clich�d, unrelentingly and sickeningly upbeat, and when Hugh Grant decides to shake his ass to the Pointer Sisters� �Jump (For My Love),� the picture becomes embarrassingly silly. But, inner-preciousness detectors be damned, I couldn�t take my eyes off the screen. It�s only five weeks until Christmas in London, and love is in the air for a large variety of citizens. There�s a married couple (Emma Thompson and national treasure Alan Rickman) facing relationship woes. An emotionally-burdened office worker (Laura Linney), who secretly desires a co-worker. A widower (Liam Neeson) who is trying to piece his life back together while helping his stepchild (Thomas Sangster) land a girlfriend. Two adult film lighting stand-ins (Joanna Page and Martin Freeman) who connect while at work. A lonely young man (Andrew Lincoln) who secretly desires his best friend�s wife (Kira Knightley). An aging rocker (Bill Nighy) who is taking his manager for granted. A romantically undesirable man (Kris Marshall) who feels he must travel to America to find love. A writer (Colin Firth) who is pining for his maid (Lucia Moniz). And the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant), who can�t keep his assistant (Martine McCutcheon) out of his head. All these people collide during the holiday weeks as they try to fi d love in the face of overwhelming odds. �Love Actually� is the latest crushingly happy affair from Working Title Films, the producers of �Four Weddings and a Funeral, �Notting Hill,� and �Bridget Jones�s Diary.� The company has elected to give screenwriter Richard Curtis his first big shot at directing, having already scripted the aforementioned smashes, along with his extensive work on the �Mr. Bean� franchise. For his big debut behind the camera, Curtis has made the excellent decision and decided to call in every possible favor from the top tier of British acting talent. He has also added a pinch of American intelligence (Linney) and eye-candy (Shannon Elizabeth, Denise Richards, Elisha Cuthbert, and January Jones appear briefly), and has chosen the greatest cinematic holiday from which to work from: Christmas. �Love Actually� is smug, childish, clich�d, unrelentingly and sickeningly upbeat, and when Hugh Grant decides to shake his ass to the Pointer Sisters� �Jump (For My Love),� the picture becomes embarrassingly silly. But, inner-preciousnes detectors be damned, I couldn�t take my eyes off the screen. �Love� isn�t the most romantic featured I�ve come into contact with, but it�s the one film that stands out in brilliant colors for being so defiantly in love with the idea of love. Bombastic audience-hooting moments aside, Curtis has written his best film yet, and found time to direct the hell out of it as well. And it�s even gloriously R-rated! Assembling a cast of about 20 main characters (the above synopsis leaves a lot of people out) to follow in the continually intertwining story, �Love Actually� often resembles a Robert Altman film if it were on Prozac and maybe a touch of Viagra. It zigzags through two handfuls of stories about all kinds of love found in the world, whether it�s platonic, romantic, fraternal, reliable, detestable, forgettable, desirable, taken for granted, or so heartfelt it crushes all in its path. Curtis opens the film up in an airport, having Hugh Grant explain to the audience that no matter how impossible the world can be, there is always a capacity for love in humanity, seen everyday in the arrivals area of the average airport. This sets the tone expertly since, as saccharine as the plot and the characters appear to be, Curtis maintains a level of realism not often seen in a picture this fanciful and filled with holiday cheer. Yes, there are the romantic comedy staples such as a last minute dash to find the one true woma that dreams are made of, oodles of meet cutes, and there is a teetering on the brink of truly nauseating romantic comedy dialog that Curtis has been known to dish out time and again in his earlier scripts. But the malarkey stops right at the point of no return. There isn�t a silver lining to some of the characters� futures, and Curtis doesn�t pretend that he knows all the answers. Like another gem from 2003, �Lost In Translation,� there is a palatable sense of regret strung, much like the tinsel, throughout �Love,� with heartbreaking characters unable to get what they want, or unable to voice their desires clearly. It�s in these delicious glimpses of frustrated yearning that Curtis develops a real bond with his characters and the audience, balancing out the more improbable takes on romance with little eggnog sips of aching reality. To wax rhapsodic about the cast would take days, so suffice it to say that this is one amazing ensemble. Extra credit is certainly due for Emma Thompson�s return to the screen, after a long hiatus, as a fidelity-questioning wife, Liam Neeson showing signs of likeability again as the widowed father of a love-struck child, and Andrew Lincoln doing his best unspoken desire routine as he pines for a woman he cannot have, taking with him the film�s finest, Bob Dylanesque moment. And Hugh Grant makes for a very fashionable Prime Minister, with a performance that is reliable in all the good ways Grant is known for. All this is trumped by Bill Nighy, who commits grand theft movie in the role of aging rocker Billy Mack, who wants nothing more than one last hurrah on the holiday charts, using unflappable honesty and public desperation as his way there. He�s an absolute scream. In actuality, the whole cast is aces, making Curtis look like a better director than he might very well be. It�s easy to be blinded by the show stopping, rollicking sequences that close �Love Actually,� but attention must be paid to what Curtis doesn�t show the audience. For every celebratory shot of a love connection, Curtis gives us a relationship that is on the brink of crumbling, or never even getting a chance to begin. The film closes with a moment of reassurance, but under the buttery crust lies the truth about relationships, and �Love Actually� deserves major credit for steering clear of becoming a complete game of Candyland. Still, I�d advise viewers to bring floss, because the sight of a 12 year-old chasing the girl of his dreams through Heathrow is sweet enough to cause major moviegoing cavities. I would hazard to guess that the only depressing aspect of �Love Actually� is that Curtis has been giving his scripts away to other directors all these years when he should�ve been doing the job himself. �Love Actually� isn�t nearly as cringe inducing as it looks (or that I was expecting in all honesty), and if you�re any kind of romantic, it�s a marvelous choice for both the holiday season and a reminder to appreciate the loved ones that surround you. My Rating: A http://www.filmjerk.com/nuke/article673.html

(Tress)Scarlet just must have known it was going to shower and said "give me something that most resembles a rain hat" And she got a duck's ass;-) Well they're waterproof aren't they?(sorry, Scarlet, but the hair was just a bit too...?) (CF)He's the guy who gets to say 'f---' a lot." How many times have I said I love when he says f--k? It's that back of the throat "u" that gets me. Too bad he doesn't get to say it here, or does he? I'll find out tonight. Off to the sneak preview... Thanks Karen, and Mari. Ashling and you lucky UK'ers...blowing air kisses across the pond. Thank you.

(Dorine)Will the real color of the suit, please come forward. (Aishling) Definitely dark blue velvet. Thanks!! What troopers *everyone* were that night. (Aishling) IMO Scarlett is Griet. I can�t imagine Kate Hudson in the role. I haven't seen it, but I never could imagine KH as Griet. (Karen re Fabio) He became quite famous a number of years ago as a model for romance book covers and ..... And for having those chisled good looks threatened when his nose was broken after a bird flew into his face while he was on a rollercoaster. ;-) Sign me up for the Dutch Masters crayon box club, too. ;-D (Mari) And to think of all the time I spent seaching in that box for cerulean and burnt sienna, when what I really wanted was right on the lid.;-) ROTFL! (Tress) Scarlet just must have known it was going to shower and said "give me something that most resembles a rain hat" ;-) LOL!!! Yes, who wants to carry unruly, wet accessories to repel water. Just have them styled in. ;-) (Tress)(as it is a word I enjoy using as well). ;-) I'm holding out for "asshole". I'm holding out for the whole shebang...."F'n A" (Evelyn) That's the funniest thing he's said in recent interviews. I wish he'd do that more often....instead of soooo serious. That W magazine interview has some pretty amusing bits to me, too..... "It's hard to talk about any paintings without sounding airy fairy..." "A lot of the interest one takes in this stuff is quite nerdy, and I don't know whether it helps the performance," he admits. "It just may be rather masturbatory,...." "Most people write carefully worded, very Jane-Austen-esque letters -- no filthy perverted stuff and no nude pictures. Which I find very sad,".... (Hola Lola) I wanted to be cheesy for a moment and ask that each of you check out Love Actually when it comes out in your town Silly wabbit!! ;-D

Have added a bunch of new pics (and Colin's ass-numblingly boring quote from the production notes) to the site. So there are changes in the: On location gallery (minor) http://www.firth.com/love_gal_loc1.html Publicity pic (major, many humungo clickables): http://www.firth.com/love_gal_pub1.html And the production notes, with some new pics: http://www.firth.com/love_notes.html

Please remember to use the Spoiler topic for discussing newly released films. Thanks. :-)

Oh yes, I forgot... the caption for the pic of Colin standing amidst a bunch of people is: "Jamie (COLIN FIRTH), surrounded by a good deal of Aurelia's village, confesses his love (finally) in Richard Curtis' romantic comedy Love Actually." Does this sound like the press conference at the end of Notting Hill (which scene I happen to adore)? Can you spell retread? ;-)

If this is a repeat, please excuse... The Independent: Selling England by the pound Richard Curtis's new film, Love Actually, is sure to be a success - just like all the others. Yet Ryan Gilbey thinks this smooth operator has nothing to be proud of 31 October 2003 Disciples of Quentin Tarantino complained about having to wait five years for his new movie, but the less demonstrative admirers of the British screenwriter Richard Curtis have been twiddling their thumbs for almost as long. The comparison is not spurious. Only now that Curtis's latest picture, Love Actually, has arrived can we see that he shares more with that bloodthirsty reservoir dog than was first apparent. With its self-referential irony, its preference for tics and eccentricities over flesh-and-blood characterisation, and its escalating structure of competing climaxes, Love Actually is the Kill Bill of romantic comedies. The movie, Curtis's first as director, continues and clarifies the intercontinental love affair that has run through his film work. Three of Curtis's earlier screenplays - The Tall Guy (1989), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and Notting Hill (1999) - focused on Anglo-American love affairs between a self-deprecating man and an effortlessly serene woman. Even the one exception, Bean (1997), hinged on the idea of America being seduced by an unpretentious, idiosyncratic Brit. And when you think about it, what is Hugh Grant anyway but Mr Bean with better table manners? The impression is of a battle that Curtis keeps winning, but is compelled to restage from scratch in order to prove that he can win it all over again, perpetuating the same myths - each time - about British reserve and American cool. The Tall Guy can be seen now as a rehearsal for the format that paid dividends in Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, but from a commercial perspective it was too skewwhiff to succeed. The US market was never likely to go cock-a-hoop for the story of a gawky American who must prove he is the equal of a sardonic Brit. Curtis is nothing if not a stunning entrepreneur, and it must surely have been his sound business sense that told him to invert the mismatch, to play up to the stereotypes. It's no coincidence that Four Weddings and a Funeral opened a few months after the last of Merchant-Ivory's heritage pictures. That producer-director team had been the international face of British cinema since Heat and Dust in 1983. But, following The Remains of the Day in late 1993, their interest wandered away from stately homes and literary treasures; not only did their popularity wane, but the image of Britishness that those films promoted dissipated instantly. Curtis found himself in the right place at the right time. His films are elitist in a social context - few of his characters are short of money in the bank, and most of them have the reflexive chirpiness of people who've been to more dinner parties than you've had hot dinners. But what has made them more accessible and successful than the Merchant-Ivory films is their rejection of an intellectual elitism. It's important to remember that the opening line of Four Weddings is a string of profanities delivered by Hugh Grant in his now-familiar plummy chirrup. It feels now like a statement of intent: Yes, these are toffs, but don't be afraid - they swear just like you and me in the cheap seats. So audiences who might have been frightened away from literary adaptations of books they know they should have read can experience a plush life that feels far more attainable than any intellectual prosperity. After The Tall Guy, in which the hero lived in a dingy North London bedsit with a broken answerphone, something aspirational crept into Curtis's writing. His movies started to be about the audience's desire to inhabit the world on screen, rather than just the wish to see two star-crossed lovers united. It seems unbelievable now that the character played by Emma Thompson in The Tall Guy was a nurse in an understaffed NHS hospital. By the time of Notting Hill, the films would be characterised by a different kind of incongruity, such as the complete absence of black citizens in that film's west London setting. (Viewers of Love Actually should take heart. Many of the new film's characters have best friends who are black. Some of them even get dialogue.) The governing principle behind his recent work would appear to be: We're all the same underneath. So you could be a gay man in an unfortunate waistcoat (Four Weddings and a Funeral), a multi-millionaire movie star (Notting Hill) or even the British Prime Minister (Love Actually) but that's not to say you don't have the same feelings as everyone else. The new film even ends with multiple images of people hugging - a chaste version of the split-screen sex that was such a naughty delight in Stephen Frears' Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. But there has to be more to a movie career than a declaration of homogeneity endlessly reiterated. Divorced from all social and economic reality, the films assure us that love can conquer all, which is the common message of the romantic comedy genre, where love can blossom between a man and a mermaid (Splash), a prince and a showgirl (The Prince and the Showgirl) or a man and his keyring (Marco Ferreri's I Love You). But what Curtis's films fatally lack is the conflict of the most robust romantic comedies. How easy it is for love to conquer all when "all" amounts only to the difference between Britain and America. For Curtis to continue ploughing his humble furrow, he needs America in more than just the commercial sense. His dithering British heroes are invariably defined by the presence of the Americans around them. That's the function of actresses like Andie MacDowell and Julia Roberts, but it also applies to the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) who looks like a little-boy-lost next to the sinister president (Billy Bob Thornton) in Love Actually, or the hero of Notting Hill (Grant again) who is mistaken for a lowly porter by a boorish movie star (Alec Baldwin). A British actor in the romantic comedy genre will always look like the little guy when placed in the same frame as an American counterpart. The day that Curtis risks pitting his alter ego against someone of equal status could be the day he starts developing as a dramatist. These films feel shallow because the most convincing love story on display is the one between the writer and his potential marketplace. This stopped being a case of big fish/small pond syndrome a long time ago. In Britain, Curtis is more like a whale languishing in a puddle. A film adapted from the doodles on his telephone pad would make it into the top ten hits of the year, so it can't be surprising that his attention seems focused more than ever on America. But he has no need to "crack" the States: he's done that. A Hollywood agent recently admitted, "It's hard to bet against Richard Curtis." Each of the last four films he has worked on, including Bridget Jones's Diary, which he co-wrote, has grossed over �100 million, with Bean and Notting Hill passing �200 million. So what exactly does Richard Curtis want? In one way he's the walking fulfilment of Alan Parker's depressing announcement that British film-makers should reject the parochial in favour of the transatlantic. But then Curtis is lucky enough not to need to choose anymore: he has flogged his brand of Britishness across the world, no matter that it is as artificial as the images of pink-haired punk rockers on sale to tourists in Trafalgar Square. Curtis says he'd like to make a movie that addresses a social issue (he's a fan of Lukas Moodysson's Lilya 4-Ever - about the child sex trade). But don't hold your breath; if Love Actually is anything to go by, he's feeling more business-like than ever. Curtis may not be anywhere near the peak of his powers, but he knows all the angles. Even as it's draped in the Stars and Stripes, the film emphatically waves its Union Jack. The picture is rigged to appeal to British audiences, especially those who never venture into the cinema. Curtis has cast some of the smaller roles from British television, and with each recognisable face that appears - Martine McCutcheon, Andrew Lincoln (Teachers), the pop-eyed Kris Marshall (My Family), the doughy Martin Freeman (The Office) - you experience the same slump that you get when a promising actor turns out to be mixed up in a sex scandal, or involved with the Church of Scientology: There goes another one. Those actors will be balm for some viewers, as will the proliferation of cameos by TV celebrities such as Ant and Dec, Jo Whiley and Michael Parkinson, whose vocal acclaim the film has cleverly bought. Everybody wins - the audience is soothed by familiar performers, the celebrities are flattered that their popularity has been further ratified by this promotion to the cinema screen, and the film-makers can be certain that these double-agents will use their media outlets to endorse the movie. But then the movie, like all Curtis's work since The Tall Guy, is nothing if not calculated. Its Christmas setting, guaranteed to ensure longevity in the form of seasonal television screenings for decades to come, is only the most obvious example. When Jarvis Cocker wrote "Disco 2000", he had the decency to confess that his inspiration came from contemplating the hefty royalties Prince would pocket - come the end of the decade - from the song "1999". In that sense, Love Actually will be the gift that keeps on giving, to the Curtis family if no one else. But what did we expect? If there is a single scene which encapsulates this man's facile oeuvre, it's the dinner party in Notting Hill. In it, a group of troubled-but-happy Londoners quiz the Hollywood star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) on her salary and her lifestyle. The scene is played entirely without irony, begging comparison with a near-identical moment in the excellent Six Degrees of Separation where a house guest purporting to be the son of Sidney Poitier is grilled by his anecdote-hungry hosts. That film explored the chasm between the lives we lead and the lives we yearn to lead, but no such disparity could be accommodated in a Richard Curtis script because it doesn't exist in his world. Hugh Grant recently explained that Curtis has "this very rare thing of actually quite liking life." Isn't there a word missing from that sentence? It seems rather that Curtis actually quite likes his life. You can't blame him. But as the basis for a movie career it leaves something to be desired. 'Love Actually' goes on release on November 21

OMG, the HUGE clickable publicity pics. I think I've died and gone to heaven. The one where he's standing alone in the tweed coat looking like AFG, melted me right into my bowl of cereal. I know, cereal for dinner, but oh well. If I wasn't so self-conscious I'd have my new wallpaper. Got to say that's one of the best I've seen other than some of the natural setting pics. Great set of pictures. I just can't wait to see the movie Thursday night. I've got the pass sitting right here next to the laptop so I can stare at the pictures. I saw the Entertainment Weekly spread last night at my parents' house. I laughed very hard at CF's quote. (Dorine) I'm holding out for the whole shebang...."F'n A" I'm waiting for all the words you can't say on radio. We learned it in school (not in class) as one long expletive. To hear it with *that* voice would sound quite nice. Language in this house is quite censored for obvious reasons. Loved the quotes from W Magazine. "Airy Fairy" has to be my favorite. Was really good friends with an Art Historian in grad school. Lots of meaning there with that quote. Hola Lola, Congrats! Happy and Healthy 9mo to you. I've told everyone I can think of including the clerks at Barnes & Noble this morning about LA and GWAPE. Michelle

(The Indep) it was too skewwhiff to succeed Translation, please, someone. :-) (Michelle) I'm waiting for all the words you can't say on radio. We learned it in school (not in class) as one long expletive. To hear it with *that* voice would sound quite nice. Yeah, doesn't sound quite so mesmerizing from George Carlin. ;-) Thanks, Murph. That guy is quite the Scrooge.

I will go to spoilers to discuss LA, but first just a bit of stuff. Hola Lola, you need not worry about being cheesy. This film is a winner. The sneak preview was sold out. We had people on the floor at our viewing. The crowd loved it. The laughter was non stop except for ET's storyline. I must say, Bill Nighy stole the show. Hugh Grant was excellent, and Colin was simply fantastic. At the end, the guy behind me said I will see this 15 times. I thought, hey that's my line;-) When it was over loud explosion of applause, cheers, whistling and what have you. I left feeling v.v. good, and didn't feel cheap at all;-)Not even a hint of emotional manipulation! It does need further viewings and my DH said it first...he's learning;-) Bravo!

OK, back from the sneak preview (and a long hiatus due to too much real life/work, etc). Big audience, lots of couples. (Wives dragging husbands along?) My DH liked it. Nudged me every time there was a London view that he recognized. (He is hopeless at remembering names of actors, but he's fair on places.) A few other Firth fans were sitting near me. They had bought their tickets on line Friday morning as soon as they saw the ad. They were hoping to see more skin than there actually was. I explained about the red fingernail test for scripts. (They did not know about drool or firth.com--didn't know about GWAPE, either. Clearly not die-hards.) Several big laughs, the biggest for an early scene with Emma Thompson and one of her kids. I think Curtis definitely gave HG the greatest number of cute moments. Most of Colin's laughs came from his stumbling with language. One one brief flash of MPB, very much in the back not the top. Dare we hope that one of the DVD features will be options to see just one character's storylines? That will save a lot of fast-forward/jumping.

Like the rest, I'll take my further comments about LA to the spoilers room, but I did want to post this spoiler free (I Hope) review/critique. I just returned from the sneak preview of LA in the Jacksonville Florida metro area. Before the program started, I took a minute to scan the house, just to get a feel for the general make-up of the audience. They were pretty well mixed. So...I will tell you up front that I liked the movie VERY MUCH. THere were scenes that had all of us on the floor, and some that, I was the only laugh. Those were due to the fact that the film has a distinctly British feel and if you don't know Brit humor and/or watch BBCAmerica, you would miss some of the slang and references. Colin was delicious. It was great to see him really cut loose and smile. His character was altogether loveable and he has really good comedic timing. Hugh was also excellent (though he should keep his day job and not pursue a singing or dancing career), as were Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman. The young man played the love sick 12 year old was totally adorable with huge and expressive eyes and was well matched with Liam Neeson. Watch him, I think he'll grow into something very special. My main issue with the film was that, because Curtis tried to do so many stories, you aren't given the opportunity to get to know or care about any of the characters, and that might be the film's downfall. Two or three related storylines, perhaps, but 10 or 12 is just way too many for any kind of character development. It felt like a superficial "skimming" over the characters and left me, at any rate, wanting more. I'm extremely glad that I braved the teenaged hoards at the local mall and cineplex (something I would ONLY do for Colin or Hugh). Will I recommend it to friends...oh, YES. Will I go see it again...OH YES! Will I buy the CD when it's released...Do you have to ask? This is Eithne reporting for the NE Florida bureau of Sit Up Drool. Now back to the studio.

From NY Times today, from the Dorchester PA, only RC and HG but hopefully we will see more soon?? Pic looks like HG is playing hopscotch with RC... Four Comedies and a Collaboration By SARAH LYALL Published: November 2, 2003 LONDON AS with lovers who take a while to warm up to each other, the couple's first meeting promised nothing but mutual dislike. Richard Curtis, auditioning actors for "Four Weddings and a Funeral," felt that Hugh Grant was unreasonably handsome. Mr. Grant was annoyed by the way Mr. Curtis, the film's screenwriter, leaned impassively against a bookshelf and said nothing during his reading. But the 11th-hour decision to cast Mr. Grant as the lead in "Four Weddings," a low-budget romantic confection that became one of Britain's most successful films ever, was the start of an unusually felicitous, not to mention profitable, collaboration that has continued through "Notting Hill," "Bridget Jones's Diary" and now, imminently, "Love Actually." The new film, which Mr. Curtis wrote and directed and which features Mr. Grant as a bachelor prime minister awkwardly in love, is opening Friday in New York and other cities. Despite a striking difference in outlook (Mr. Curtis is a romantic and an optimist; Mr. Grant, under all that charm, is not), theirs is a marriage of comic minds. Mr. Curtis, 46 � the writer responsible for some of the best-known British film and television comedies in recent years � has found in Mr. Grant, 43, the perfect muse, an actor with the comic instincts, sense of timing and particular sensibility to spin his finely calibrated words into gold. For better or worse, the two together have successfully made Mr. Curtis's rosy-eyed vision of a loved-up England one of the country's most visible exports in the last decade: their first three films have earned $886 million at the box office worldwide. Now, for the first time, Mr. Curtis is directing that vision himself. "The central character in Richard's films is always Richard himself," said Tim Bevan, co-chairman of Working Title, the London-based production company responsible for most of Mr. Curtis and Mr. Grant's films together. "In finding Hugh, Richard found the alter ego who could play him. There's no one better who can carry a Curtis gag with timing and polish than Hugh Grant, and they're very lucky they found each other." The alter ego description comes up often in discussions of Mr. Grant and Mr. Curtis, but in a recent interview here neither wanted to admit to anything quite so straightforward. They are both extremely English, after all: Mr. Curtis bespectacled, affable and boyish, despite graying hair; and Mr. Grant sharp-eyed and effortlessly good-looking, despite suffering from what he said was a serious hangover. Ensconced in a plush suite at the Dorchester Hotel at the start of a long day of media appearances � the sort of cringe-inducing event that Mr. Curtis lampooned so deftly in "Notting Hill" � the two could easily have been a small mutual-admiration society, if not for their gently abusive banter. So symbiotic have they become that by now Mr. Curtis, who agonizes over the smallest word and trick of timing in every joke the way a mathematician frets about a minute change in a proof, allows Mr. Grant at times to meddle with his dialogue, even the shape of his character. In "Love Actually," a romantic roundelay of interlocking stories, Mr. Grant repeatedly pressed Mr. Curtis to make his character more authoritative and less haplessly charming. "I thought, `Well, look, he's the prime minister, and almost every joke in every scene will be about the fact that he's not behaving in a prime ministerial manner,' " Mr. Curtis said. "But Hugh said, `Well, we'd better make sure that people believe he is the prime minister in the first place, because if he hasn't got a little bit of presence, they might not buy the story.' " Much of the Curtisian vision remained � toward the end of the movie Mr. Grant's character goes door to door in a working-class London neighborhood on Christmas Eve in search of the object of his affections, an office tea girl (played by Martine McCutcheon), but Mr. Grant successfully tempered the characterization. "The key is generally not to be too cuddly," said Mr. Grant, who says he feels more affinity with Daniel Cleaver, the slightly wicked, slightly kinky editor he played in "Bridget Jones's Diary" (and which he is reprising in the sequel currently being filmed) than with his characters in other Curtis films. "I found, in doing some of the more recent films like `Bridget Jones' or `About a Boy,' that I quite liked breaking out of that. I quite found that girls found me more attractive that way." Both men were at turning points when they met. Mr. Curtis, who had made his name with classic television comedies like "Not the Nine O'Clock News" and "Blackadder," had just one film under his belt, "The Tall Guy," and was at a loss to find the right actor for the "Four Weddings" lead. Then came Mr. Grant, whose recent work had included such projects as a potboiling mini-series and "The Lair of the White Worm," a high-concept horror film. Mr. Grant said: "I remember stomping up the stairs there � wherever it was, in Carnaby Street or somewhere � and thinking, `This is positively the last audition I ever go to. It's undignified.' " Mr. Curtis said: "You'd been running around the park teaching Juliette Binoche how to do an English accent." Mr. Grant said: "That was a low point." (A long story ensued about how Mr. Grant, instructed by his agent to help Ms. Binoche, who is French, prepare for a part in an English film, ended up chasing her around a park in London at her behest, shouting, "Would you like a cup of tea, Madam?" Then, Mr. Grant recalled, he was handed an envelope containing �200, about $350, "like the plumber.") Meeting Mr. Grant, even at a low point, proved a revelation for Mr. Curtis. "Suddenly in walked someone whose sense of humor was very similar to mine," Mr. Curtis said. "It was a huge relief to find someone who actually got what the joke was meant to be." Mr. Grant had a similar moment of truth when he read the script. "I remember thinking, `This is bizarre because it's good,' and literally everything else I'd read was bad," he said. Yet Mr. Grant said he did not fully understand Charles, the slightly bumbling, altogether sweet Englishman he played in "Four Weddings," until he got a better sense of Mr. Curtis. "He was a strange combination of being cynical and being positive, and I thought, `I can't hear this character at all,' " he said of the role. "But as soon as I started rehearsing and Richard was there, I thought, `I see � it's him,' " he added. "The joke was that I played Richard in the film, and then for years afterwards everyone said, `You're such a nice person, Hugh.' " The famously unattached Mr. Grant freely embraces his pessimism, however, even in the face of his collaborator's sunnier outlook. Mr. Curtis's longtime partner, Emma Freud, is about to have the couple's fourth child, and his films all celebrate the triumph of love over adversity. "Love Actually" is perhaps the most rosy of all. "That's the whole basis of your success, really," Mr. Grant said, turning to Mr. Curtis. "If one were to distill it, it's you being unbelievably positive and up and � I don't think sentimental is the right word � but romantic. And just at the point where you're about to say, `Oh, give us a break,' a really good joke comes which undercuts it and makes you think, `That's all right; I like these people anyway.' " Mr. Curtis said, "Actually, I don't think the world is a place without pain and sorrow, but on the other hand I have had a very happy life, and I see a lot of good things around me." He believes love really is the answer. "I'm sure if I said to an assembled room of journalists, `How many people do you hate?,' they'd be quite hard-pushed to name five people." Mr. Grant said, "With the British journalists, you'd be there all day." Asked whether he shared Mr. Curtis's optimism, he said, "Profoundly not." "That's the whole joke of the film," Mr. Grant added. "The voice-over begins, `Some people think the world is full of hatred and greed.' And I'm one of them." But Mr. Grant and Mr. Curtis share not only similar backgrounds � both come from the same middle-class English milieu that Mr. Curtis writes about so effectively � but also the same rigorous approach to comedy. It is here that Mr. Grant's insouciance begins to seem like a clever dramatic performance. Underneath the self-deprecation and the easy-going wit and the louche charm lurks someone who takes it all very seriously. "A curious thing has happened with Hugh," Mr. Curtis said. "He is the most disrespectful actor in the world about his acting. I remember on `Four Weddings' he said, `I can only do three things: normal; sexy, which is down an octave; and serious, which is up an octave.' " "That's pushing it," Mr. Grant said. Mr. Curtis continued: "But as it turned out, Hugh now takes the job in some ways more seriously than any of the other actors. He reads the lines and actually knows what is the perfect delivery of them in the same way that when you write a line you think you know what the perfect delivery of it is. And I think you find it very frustrating" � he turned to Mr. Grant � "when in the circumstances, with the rhythm and all that, you don't convey what's in your head." Mr. Grant said: "It's one of the reasons I'm so violently anti-rehearsal. You sit there rehearsing a film, and � partly to impress the actors around you, and partly to encourage the author or impress the director or whatever � you give it your best in rehearsal and you do something pretty funny, you get a good laugh. And from that moment on, you can never get it again." The two occasionally clash. At one point during the filming of "Love Actually," Mr. Grant was heard to mutter, "I am not a puppet!" at Mr. Curtis ("It was like `The Elephant Man,' " Mr. Curtis said). By the same token, Mr. Curtis sometimes bristles when Mr. Grant messes with his lines, but often ends up conceding the point. In the scene in "Love Actually" where the prime minister's sister (played by Emma Thompson) telephones him at the office, for instance, Mr. Curtis originally had him pick up the phone and say, "Hello, prime minister speaking." "But then you insisted on doing your version, which was, `Hello, I'm very busy and important � may I help you?' " Mr. Curtis said to Mr. Grant. "And that was funnier than my line." Conversely, in a scene in which the prime minister stands up to the American president (Billy Bob Thornton) with a rousing speech listing Britain's greatest assets, the actor drew the line at including "Catherine Zeta-Jones's breasts." "You couldn't say it," Mr. Curtis said to Mr. Grant. "You were like a horse running up to a fence and refusing to go over it." "I shied," Mr. Grant said. "You shied three times," Mr. Curtis said. "I balked," Mr. Grant agreed. Mr. Grant frets endlessly on film sets but enjoys his collaboration with his old friend. "The fun thing about `Love Actually' was being directed by Richard, rather than having to sneak off and get his notes on the sidelines," he said. "It's always nice to be able to say to the director who's just given you an important note, `Oh, shut up.' "

Theater 3/4 full. Mostly women in pairs or groups. 1/4 of audience were couples. Older demographic. Not one child in the bunch, not even teenagers. Some laughs but not as much as expected (from the audience or me). No applause, no whistling. (Kate) Wives dragging husbands along Was walking out of the theater, overheard two DH (wives were strolling ahead of them) chatting away when "CF is his name." One DH was telling the other "he was in BJD. HG was in that one too. CF was on that series on TV, the good one based on a book by Jane Austen". I kid you not. Was too stunned to whisper P&P. DH's talking about ODB without being prompted by their wives! You're doing good work, ladies. (Indep) Yet Ryan Gilbey thinks this smooth operator has nothing to be proud of [well not much anyway](...) These films feel shallow because the most convincing love story on display is the one between the writer and his potential marketplace. [sure is starting to look like it] (Dorine) That guy is quite the Scrooge. Yet now that I've seen LA, I'm with Scrooge. Bah humbug :-(

(Sonia)No applause, no whistling. Totally opposite reaction in out theater. Still in that feel good mode, so I needed to post again, to thank the boss for the updates on the clickables, and pictures.