(Dorine) That guy is quite the Scrooge. (Sonia), Yet now that I've seen LA, I'm with Scrooge. Bah humbug :-( I agree. I'm with Scrooge too. :-( LA is totally overrated. Bill Nihey(sp?) was the best part. Hugh was terrible. Hard to buy Colin's storyline as well as others. The ending was more pat than a classic "happy" one. And my DH would have to comment, "it's summer in France and they're passing it off as late Nov." LOL! Thank heavens we have GWAPE!

Not having seen The Tall Man, I can't (read: won't bother to) comment... Sneak was totally sold out in advance, but was in one of the smaller theaters in the complex. Two seats over from me, I heard a woman telling her husband how she "loved Colin Firth" as the film was starting. There was no applause or whistling at mine. Laughter was sporadic. Bill Nighy definitely became a crowd fav, but the biggest laughs were when the character Colin said he had a plane ticket to Wisconsin (you have to understand, the Wisconsin border is merely an hour or so away from where I was) and then again when the guy was in the bar in Wisconsin and meets up with that pert trio of American Heartland nymphomaniacs. ;-) Jamie/Colin's segment got some very warm-hearted laughter with the language issues. Over to Spoilers with my other comments...

The theater I went to was completely sold out. I bought tickets in advance, and wound up sitting in the third row. Not a seat to be had. Audience laughed a lot. Typical comments heard repeatedly on the way out: --Too many storylines and none of them fleshed out adequately. --Hugh Grant is the same in every movie. --Emma Thompson was great. --Funniest parts were the has-been rock star, and the subtitles in Colin Firth's storyline. I'll take spoilers over to that topic, but overall, I liked it, didn't love it. I can't see this doing as well as BJD, Notting Hill, or 4 Weddings. Just IMO.

--Hugh Grant is the same in every movie. They're just not watching him closely. I thought he was great. That one look after the BBT/Martine thing was brilliant. (Mari) I can't see this doing as well as BJD, Notting Hill, or 4 Weddings. Just IMO. Agreed.

From Aishling, an excerpt from the Telegraph's magazine article "On the Set of Love Actually": As Jamie, a writer who unexpectedly finds love with a young Portuguese woman in the south of France, Colin Firth shot his scenes in Marseilles; here he anxiously waits at the door of her family home. 'Night shots are wonderful if you're on location,' he reflects. 'There's this united feeling-we're all up when everyone else is asleep. This night in the city's old port district was bizarre. We were working with Portuguese people in France, I was acting in Portuguese, which I can't imagine ever happening again, and a local heavy from this dodgy neighbourhood was running security. In one scene, I accumulate a crowd as I go down the street. Five, then 15, then 30 Portuguese people marching behind me in the streets of Marseilles at three in the morning. Extraordinary.'

From the NY Post by Megan Lehmann, with Contents page pic from Time mag: November 2, 2003 Hopeless romantics rejoice! In time for the holidays comes a gift from Richard Curtis - undisputed master of the romantic comedy (author of the screenplays for "Notting Hill," "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Bridget Jones's Diary"). "Love Actually," opening Friday, is a great big bliss bomb of feel-good sentiment, set in fairy-tale London during the holiday season. The movie also serves as Curtis' directorial debut, and it pops with his trademark blend of sharp humor and unabashed emotion. An impressive A-list cast - including Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Colin Firth and "Pirates of the Caribbean's" Keira Knightley - cavorts through a dizzying array of bittersweet romantic entanglements. Curtis says he didn't find it such a challenge to write such a dense story peopled with so many characters. "I think it may be that I decided that films take me such a long time - about three years, in the end - and I thought that if I wanted to go on writing romantic films, I would spend the rest of my life doing it," says Curtis. "So I decided that I would try to write nine or 10 of them all at the same time." There are 10 interweaving vignettes dealing with love in all of its forms - between husband and wife, brother and sister, boss and employee, boy and girl, father and son. Despite an R rating and Curtis' penchant for having his characters curse profusely, the pile-up of love connections puts "Love Actually" in danger of prompting a nauseating sugar overload. But Curtis - a gray-haired, bespectacled Londoner whose longtime girlfriend, Emma, is a descendent of Sigmund Freud - is an unapologetic Pollyanna. "I do seem to have written a great deal about love," Curtis has said. "But, I mean - if you look at the world, there are huge amounts of love and affection, and yet so much of art portrays the darker side of humanity. When I look around the world I notice a lot of things that are rather gorgeous, lots of people with kind hearts." (It should be noted that this is a man who considers "The Sound of Music" to be "quite a realistic piece of work.") Grant, who has starred in all three of Curtis' other films, endorses the writer/director's view of the world. "The comedy is hugely important in the success of Richard's work, but equally important is this very rare thing of actually quite liking life," Grant has said. Curtis - currently working on "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" - has been dubbed the "British Spielberg." The modestly budgeted "Four Weddings" raked in more than $250 million worldwide in 1994; "Notting Hill" made $390 million in 1999; and 2001's "Bridget Jones's Diary" made more than $170 million. "One of the strange things about these films is how well they've gone down in other countries," Curtis said recently. "I can't explain that." In Britain, one bookmaker is offering odds-on that "Love Actually," made for $51 million, will become the highest-grossing British film ever. "It's going to be huge," says Adam Dawtrey, Variety's European editor. "It is Curtis' best film yet - a real advance for him, much more interesting than anything he's done before." http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/9662.htm

The "official" hype for LA is making me sick. (It should be noted that this is a man who considers "The Sound of Music" to be "quite a realistic piece of work.") I love TSOM. Realistic? Well, yeah, I break into song too when the mood hits.;-D

Well, America was clearly more in "Love" than some here. From Variety; these are outstanding numbers: Universal drew 78% capacity auds to 565 sneaks of Working Title's holiday romancer "Love Actually." A big 78% of moviegoers rated pic "excellent." Overall, 73% of "Love" moviegoers were over 30 and 68% femmes. Richard Curtis penned-and-helmed pic, starring Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson and others, unspools in limited release next weekend.

Nice little bit in the NYT today. No mention of CF though (but hey, the article is about RC and HG); some of this is old or repeted elsewhere. November 2, 2003 Four Comedies and a Collaboration By SARAH LYALL 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.' "

Thanks to everyone for the photos and articles! Any Canadians here should check out Movietelevision this week for a bit on LA. And I do mean 'bit'! From the London interviews, there's some of HG and RC, then a few words from Laura Linney with Colin on her right and Liam on her left. CF took his glasses off for this. Lovely faded jeans. We get to see him nod as LL talks about love.

If anyone has the tv times and dates of Colin appearances, please email them to me so I can put tivo to work capturing them. terry@spring.net.

If this has been posted, I apologize for the duplicate - I scanned the past week or so of posts and didn't see anything. My TiVo, which can do "actor wish lists" in which it scans upcoming programming for an actor's name, is claiming that ODB will be on "Today" on Monday the 10th. Speaking of TiVo, promotional bits for LA have shown up there off and on for the past week or so. At first it was the theatrical trailer plus a three-minute behind-the-scenes mini-featurette. Then yesterday it switched to the behind-the-scenes thing plus a clip from the film (the one in which Huge offers to have Martine McC's ex-boyfriend killed).

UKers: Thursday's Evening Standard this week will have a free LA dvd with extended preview, two trailers, documentary, intro to film's characters from the stars. Big pic in the Metro today advertising it.

Thanks for the info re the Evening Standard, Emma. I'll ask my brother in London to get me a copy, as its unobtainable in my neck of the woods. The December issue of Empire has 4 pages of behind the scenes photos from the set of LA with accompanying comments by RC. They include a rather nice pic of CF sheltering in a doorway between takes. The photo appears under the charming heading "Git" and RC comments: "This was CF waiting for the rain to stop before we could start filming the proposal scene in Marseilles. That's the irritating thing about CF - even when he's just hanging out in a battered od doorway, bored out of his box, he still looks attractive."

Why would the heading be "Git?" What does that mean in that context?

(gomezdo)Why would the heading be "Git?" What does that mean in that context? A abbreviation of 'jammy git' ie lucky so and so, for managing to look attractive, even in the most unlikely circumstances. - You've either got it, or you haven't!!

TV Guide also shows Colin for Monday's Today Show. Excellent!!

(Karen)biggest laughs were when the character Colin said he had a plane ticket to Wisconsin (you have to understand, the Wisconsin border is merely an hour or so away from where I was) forgot about that one, it got a good laugh in NJ, too

WARNING! On 60 Minutes last night there was a story on "pirating" and file sharing, etc. One of the people interviewed claimed that there is some kind of (infrared?) sensor that can be used to catch people taking pictures/clips from the movie screen. I don't know if that's true, but I thought I'd share the info. (I know, Boss, it sounds more more like something for O&E, but given current, um, temptations, I thought I'd post this here) SO BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!

On Oprah this a.m., the clip of Huge and RZ rolling on the floor was shown and then she asked about the sequel. He said the usual stuff about RZ and her gaining the weight, etc., then mentioned Colin, "who now looks too old for the role - they wheeled him on." For the intro to LA, Oprah naturally said it starred Emma and Hugh and then Liam Neeson, Colin Firth and many others. The montage of stories did show Colin at the lake working away, but otherwise that was it. The show was live (which I think is unusual) and Greg Wise was in the audience (very much greying at the temples). Hugh and Emma were typically very funny and she looked v. good. Hugh backtracked on the retirement thing, about the only serious thing he said (how friends had said it was a mistake to have made that comment).

Thank you for the Today Show and Oprah news! (Janet)You've either got it, or you haven't!! He's got it, big time!

(HG) "who now looks too old for the role - they wheeled him on." And no one in the audience would know that Huge is a day older than Colin. ;-)

The whole "Wisconsin" thing got big laughs here in the Southeast. I think it's a joke for Americans ;-)

Thanks for the heads up about the Today Show. Looks like there are many LA related interviews this week (Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson). Does anyone know who was on this AM (Monday). Time has passed, so the web site has moved on...

(HG) then mentioned Colin, "who now looks too old for the role - they wheeled him on." He's just jealous 'cause Colin looks so much better for their age. ;-) (Kate) One of the people interviewed claimed that there is some kind of (infrared?) sensor that can be used to catch people taking pictures/clips from the movie screen. I don't know if that's true, but I thought I'd share the info. They have special security people hired by the studios in screenings to monitor the audience. Usually 2 of them depending on the room size. They kicked out one guy yesterday who had a really expensive camera with him. Not sure if he just planned to take pics at the Q&A, or what. Either they kicked him out or he refused to leave, what he claimed was a $4000 camera, anywhere for safekeeping. Not sure if it had video capability. For that price it should cook and clean the house. ;-)

(Meredith) Thanks for the heads up about the Today Show. Does anyone know who was on this AM (Monday). Time has passed, so the web site has moved on... I don't remember, but nobody associated with LA was on. Here's a calendar of what I've found (this is the first time I've used the TiVo "wishlist" feature and I like it!). The dates are of course the ones for my local listings: 11/4 - Liam Neeson on "Today" and "Regis & Kelly" 11/5 - Emma Thompson on "Today" and "Regis & Kelly" 11/6 - Colin Firth on "The Daily Show" 11/7 - Laura Linney on "Today" 11/7 - "Access Hollywood" has a piece about LA 11/8 - Review of LA on "Ebert & Roeper" 11/10 - Colin Firth on "Today" (I wonder if he'll also do R&K?) 11/10 - Hugh Grant on "Tonight" 11/11 - Hugh Grant on "Today" 11/12 - Emma Thompson on "Ellen DeGeneres" There could be other things - some shows don't submit the details of their upcoming programs (such as guest lists) to TiVo, or only submit them for the current week.

(Kate F) One of the people interviewed claimed that there is some kind of (infrared?) sensor that can be used to catch people taking pictures/clips from the movie screen. I don't know if that's true, but I thought I'd share the info (Dorine) They have special security people hired by the studios in screenings to monitor the audience. Usually 2 of them depending on the room size. When I was at the GWAPE Gala, there was an announcement after the stars left the stage and before the film began that they would have infrared sensors in use and to keep all cameras/camcorders off. 11/10 - Colin Firth on "Today" (I wonder if he'll also do R&K?) This is great news for those staying on in NYC!! I'll have to watch from home, but expect to see droolers outside waiting for ODB !!! (Go Rika, Go Rika!!)

Colin is also scheduled for The View on Tuesday, Nov 11th. Let's just hope he's not on Reege on Monday too, as the Poster Girl for Too Much Plastic Surgery--Joan Rivers--is shown as the main guest. It could be more awful than with just Reege and Kelly. ;-)

Nov issue of Esquire Magazine UK (Meg Ryan on cover)- COLIN FIRTH The star of "Love Actually" on getting into Bridget Jones's wet swimming trunks 1 PAGE Q&A FEATURE

Found this at Canoe.... Love Actually' a curious cultural artifact Ensemble cast works quite well, actually By BRUCE KIRKLAND -- Toronto Sun LONDON -- Every actor has an ego and no actor ever loses it, no matter how sweet in disposition and disinclined to ego-driven tantrums. "Actors never give up their ego!" Irish star Liam Neeson says. "We place it in different places," he muses with a mysterious air and a hushed voice. "We surrender it to a point -- but only to a point!" So Love Actually, the new film from New Zealand-born, England-based Richard Curtis, is a curious cultural artifact. That is because Love Actually is a true ensemble from the man who wrote the film scripts for The Tall Guy, Four Weddings And A Funeral, Bean, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary. There are nine major stories going on separately and simultaneously, weaving together only briefly at the end. Each concerns a different kind of love: Fresh or faded, youthful or mature, platonic or sexual, happy or miserable, hopeful or doomed, and so on. Critically, there are a clutch of stars in the film, including Neeson, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Laura Linney, Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean himself), Keira Knightley (the breakout star from Bend It Like Beckham), Billy Bob Thornton (in a cameo as the bully-boy president of the United States), Martine McCutcheon (a singing star in Britain, known for two albums and a West End revival of My Fair Lady) and Bill Nighy (a brilliant character actor who shamelessly steals this picture). Egos had to be surrendered to Curtis, who is making his directorial debut. Linney, for one, says it was easy and describes Love Actually as a case study in how to make actors happy, and ego-less, in their work. "I would so have to disagree with you!" she says to Neeson, while sitting at a podium during a group interview. "I've worked with this man a lot and he's one of the most ego-less people to work with -- period! There is the idea that you have to be really selfish to be an actor. It's really the opposite. You have to have be as selfless as possible. "This was just great fun. This was just a baseball team of people coming together. For me, an American, to be able to come over here was just heaven. I find these the most satisfying experiences, when you're in a fabulous group of actors you're proud to be a part of and you're all sort of looking to the same end." Grant, being the bratty and bemused English schoolboy even in his 40s, claims he only wants to do ensembles now, if anything at all. In Love Actually, he plays the newly elected British prime minister, a single man with his eye on his sexy assistant (McCutcheon). "Well," Grant says with a droll tone in his voice, "I'm going through a phase in my life where I'm not that keen to act at all, really, especially not in lead parts. I just find it too stressful. I'd rather sit at home and watch the telly or play golf. "So, in a way, it's absolutely ideal to just come in and do a bit. There was no grand idea of sharing or diluting myself." In that spirit of NOT sharing, Grant had some sharp words for Firth, who so bested him on screen as a competing character in Bridget Jones's Diary. "I always hoped Colin would be bad," Grant says of Firth's acting in Love Actually, "and, indeed, he is!" Grant, of course, is kidding. He admires Firth. He just won't admit it. Firth, in a separate interview, gets serious, as is his wont. In the film, he plays a jilted English author who falls hopelessly in love with his Portuguese housekeeper during a writing session in Provence. Firth's scenes with Lisbon actress Lucia Moniz are the most exuberantly romantic in the entire movie. "There's no subtlety here," Firth says. "Part of the reason we have to be so bold is that we had very little time to tell our story, each (of us). We would have four or five scenes in order to develop the whole concept of a story. You tend to have to use broader strokes. "And I was fortified by Richard Curtis in this, partly because (I trust) a man with his track record in storytelling success. I must say, I have never felt so little pressure on any film because there were so many of us and so many other stories and so many talented people around me. Nobody felt the film on his shoulders, so you could abandon yourself." The actors also believed, Firth says, they would be cut out if they screwed up. "I think most of us were fairly certain we'd be the first to go!" McCutcheon did feel that, although she is delightful in her role. She just didn't feel she belonged at first. "For me," she says, "there was definitely no ego involved because I was just absolutely gobsmacked that I got the part. Most actresses would cut their arm off for my part. "You know, I've done lots of TV work and music stuff and, for me, the movie business and the people who are in it are the creme de la creme of the business. I actually found that they were the people with the least ego. They were so gracious. So, I was absolutely honoured to be working with everyone: Very excited, very nervous and convinced that someone was going to find me out and that I was rubbish and would get kicked out." Nighy, like McCutcheon, was happy for the role, in his case as an insane, washed-up, self-indulgent rock star who catapults back into infamy with a cocked-up Christmas CD. He was, like the rest, delighted to be in an ensemble that actually is stellar in the true sense. "I think you can use the word, for once, properly," Nighy says. Credit goes to Curtis, as writer and director, and to the actors for recognizing that being part of a whole is creative and cool. "And," Nighy says, "everyone has big, fat, fundamental, profound, groovy jokes -- not the least me! That makes me think: 'What did I do to deserve all this shite?' " Surrendering an ego doesn't mean you have to give up your sense of humour, especially in Love Actually.

(Karen) Let's just hope he's not on Reege on Monday too, as the Poster Girl for Too Much Plastic Surgery--Joan Rivers--is shown as the main guest. It could be more awful than with just Reege and Kelly. ;-) I'm torn. On one hand, I'd hate to see him subjected to that idiocy, but on the other, if he's on the show, I'll be unable to resist the temptation to get up early and get in the standby audience line. Rather like someone hoping there won't be a car wreck, but if there is, she wants a front-row seat, but there it is.

Hello. I'm supposed to give you some tv dates for Colin Firth. Here goes: Colin Firth is on the Daily Show this Thursday, on the Today Show next Monday, on The View and Extra next Tuesday, on Kilbourne next Wednesday Bye

Firth, in a separate interview, gets serious, as is his wont. I wonder how long it took Kirkland to come to this conclusion? ;-)

Hola Lola: ...Kilbourne next Wednesday OMG, I better call and see if I can get tickets.

Thanks Rosemary, standing in for Hola!

Thanks, Lola! Good article, Ada - thanks! In that spirit of NOT sharing, Grant had some sharp words for Firth, who so bested him on screen as a competing character in Bridget Jones's Diary. Of course they're probably just referring to the fight, but I'll second this emotion!

Sorry to follow up my own post, but Kilbourne comes on at 12:37 am or so EST. So if CF is on Wednesday, does that mean Wednesday at 12:37 am? Or Wednesday night, which would actually be Thursday at 12:37 am?

I posted an SF Gate story on Alan Rickman and LA on Odds and Ends...

(Rika) Or Wednesday night, which would actually be Thursday at 12:37 am? This would be my bet.

Thanks, Rosemary standing in for Lola. (Karen) Let's just hope he's not on Reege on Monday too, as the Poster Girl for Too Much Plastic Surgery--Joan Rivers--is shown as the main guest. Just as long as she isn't co-hosting. The two of them wouldn't be out there at the same time, would they? (remembering Chevy Chase makes me ill) Nice article, thanks, Ada.

(Linda) The two of them wouldn't be out there at the same time, would they? No, but merely the thought of the two of them being in the Green Room together kind of makes me ill...no very ill.

Oprah is reall in love with this movie. I could have done without the catty remarks about C.F. that Hugh Grant made though. I don't think emma Thompson thought much of them either.

Lucie)I could have done without the catty remarks about C.F. that Hugh Grant made though. I think it was all in fun, and it may have been in response to Colin saying (At the LFF)that he kicked HG arse last week when filming the fight scene. (Or because Colin accidently connected with a punch.) That still cracks me up;-)

(Lucie) I could have done without the catty remarks about C.F. that Hugh Grant made though. My opinion only: Hugh sees the future and it belongs to CF. HG's range is narrow. He finds acting torturous work and is generally pessimistic. Contrast that with CF's broad acting range and successes, his enjoyment for his work and add to that a happy family life. CF is proof that being a nice person and a movie star are not mutually exclusive. HG just might be a little envious.

Closing tags - I hope

I think it was all in fun, and it may have been in response to Colin saying (At the LFF)that he kicked HG arse last week when filming the fight scene. (Or because Colin accidently connected with a punch.) That still cracks me up;-) I think it's in fun too and it's another way to get his name out! I say keep it up Huge.

Now?

(Beedee) I think it was all in fun . . . Me too. It's great to see CF in this company. Wouldn't it be awesome to see CF and Emma Thompson as the leads in a movie?

(Beedee) I think it's in fun too and it's another way to get his name out! I say keep it up Huge. Of course it's all in fun! If you're going to take pseudo-shots at someone in a movie, you have to up the ante and encourage people to think there's undertones. This movie (LA) together is the best possible advertising for TEOR there could be and they'd be fools not to use it. (Even if some of it is maybe true...)

Very happy to hear that Colin will be making a number of TV appearances for LA. I knew Katie wouldn't let him out of the country before doing Today, and The View ladies will eat him up! GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING Film Journal International review: If ever a film was Oscar bait for cinematography and production design, Girl With a Pearl Earring is it. First-time director Peter Webber and his team have adroitly channeled the look of Vermeer into a celluloid facsimile. In this adaptation of Tracy Chevalier's eponymous novel, which invents a backstory to Vermeer's immortal painting, the filmmakers have uncannily reproduced the painter's color tonalities�the Delft blues and yellows, the dull gleam of pewter cutlery, pale shimmering robes edged in white and black ermine. They've nailed as well the quality and light source we associate with Vermeer: that gauzy bath flooding in from a window to the subject's left. The sepia-colored exteriors capture the flavor of 17th-century Delft, and there's one knockout scene of lovers strolling along a poplar-lined canal that deserves an award all its own. It's as if Webber and friends had touched a magic wand to the Dutch master's oeuvre and wakened it to life. That said, the story content could hardly be more puerile. In fact, Pearl Earring is a chick flick dressed up in Old Master clothes, a 'You go, girl' essay in female empowerment, threaded through with that old chestnut, 'My wife doesn't understand me.' Griet (Scarlett Johansson) is forced by her father's accident to work as a servant in the household of Johannes Vermeer (a glowering Colin Firth in a major wig). Ruling the roost is Vermeer's harridan mother-in-law (Judy Parfitt), who focuses on the bottom line and lobbies patrons such as van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson) for commissions. Meanwhile, the painter manages to keep his wife (Essie Davis) perpetually pregnant. When Vermeer forms an attachment to Griet, who develops an interest in art and assists him in his studio, his wife becomes the queen of mean. Meanwhile, Griet must weigh a marriage proposal from the local butcher boy, played by the divine-looking Cillian Murphy of 28 Days Later, got up in gear to trigger a new fashion craze. Spoiler ahead: Griet and Vermeer, separated by class and age, never consummate (which, to judge by recent films such as Lost in Translation, has become the theme of the season). The psychology feels jarringly anachronistic. The 17th-century dude Vermeer gravitates toward Griet not only for her bruised-fruit lips, but because she understands his art, unlike his hysterical wife ruled by hormones. When the wife pitches tantrums and Vermeer escapes to his studio (and Griet), it seems a retread of unappreciated husband taking up with the secretary. Griet is conceived as a girl waking to art and life's finer things, but assigned by class strictures to slicing veggies and emptying slops. That's uplifting, but the film fails to render Griet's growing artistic sensibility dramatically credible. The villains are flat-out melodrama: the patron a grabby lech, the wife a spite machine. Meanwhile, Firth's Vermeer has little to do besides glower and sweat under his copious curls, curb his libido, and filch his wife's pearl earring. It's to Johansson's credit that she alone pulls something plausible out of her character. Her haunting beauty is a throwback to an earlier century, her screen presence luminous, her stillness and intelligence mesmerizing. And let's hear it for the make-up artists and DP Eduardo Serra, who have fashioned a face that morphs so thrillingly at the end into Vermeer's actual painting. �Erica Abeel

Rolling Stone review of Love Actually ** out of **** One movie, ten love stories -- only half of them funny. Actually Hugh Grant is a world-class charmer, and he pours it on as Britain's prime minister, a sort of bachelor Tony Blair in heat for a chubby staffer (Martine McCutcheon) who also attracts the U.S. prez, played as a Clintonesque horn dog by Billy Bob Thornton. The PM has a sister (marvelous Emma Thompson), whose husband (Alan Rickman, of the witty sneer) lusts for his secretary. There are laughs laced with feeling here, but the deft screenwriter Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill) dilutes the impact by tossing in more and more stories. As a director (it's his debut), Curtis can't seem to rein in his writer. Did we need Liam Neeson as a widower teaching his ten-year-old stepson about shagging? It's tough to see talented Laura Linney and Keira Knightley wasted in nothing roles. It's even tougher to endure the language-barrier humor between Colin Firth as a writer in love with his Portuguese housekeeper. And why the ungallant fat insults? As for the girl-boy porn actors too shy to ask for a date, that's one joke pounded into hash. And the subplot about the geeky British kid (Kris Marshall) who has to go to Wisconsin to find babes is not only subpar, it wouldn't work in any movie. It helps that the great Bill Nighy nails every comic line as an aging rocker who claims Britney Spears was a lousy lay. Nighy's rocker refers to the old song he's recycled into a Christmas chart-topper as "solid-gold shit." If only Curtis' ear had stayed that acute. He ladles sugar over the eager-to-please Love Actually to make it go down easy, forgetting that sometimes it just makes you gag. PETER TRAVERS (November 3, 2003)

In case it hasn't been mentioned, someone at ebay is selling the December issue of the UK Marie Claire. Fabulous bathtime photo! I had posted it as a birthday present to Rika yesterday at O&E. I'm happy with the scheduled Kilbourne visit next week! Would love to see ODB do 5 Questions. I didn't think he'd fly to LA. And I still wish there'd been a Letterman appearance. Dave's a daddy by now and they could share war stories. A bunch of you are probably making your way to NY soon. Best wishes and good luck! Take plenty of film!

And I still wish there'd been a Letterman appearance. Dave's a daddy by now and they could share war stories. It looks like LA didn't place anybody on Letterman - not even Huge - unless it's happening the week of the 10th. Dave would have loved having Keira Knightley - he goes for the sweet young things.

Village Voice review: Odd Couplings: Brit Stars Flounder in Singleton Dysfunction by Michael Atkinson Love Actually No critic likes kicking lapdogs (though many semi-secretly enjoy, as I do, punting the occasional Rhodesian Ridgeback), and Richard Curtis's Love Actually is a veritable teacup poodle. It's so lovey-dovey, anything but permissive coos may seem cruel. The word itself is pounded with Pentecostal insistence: love, love, love, lovelovelovelovelove. An old-school romantic with a soft skull and a heart as big as a cement mixer, Curtis here extends the niche he eked out with Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Bridget Jones's Diary: love British style, handicapped slightly by corny circumstance and populated by colorful neurotics, one of whom is always Hugh Grant. In a rare moment of inspiration, Curtis casts Grant as a new, Blairean prime minister�and one sequence pits him, gently, against slimy Texan president Billy Bob Thornton. But all that appears to be on this PM's mind is the curvaceous sweetness of his office servant (Martine McCutcheon), and Grant hems, haws, and ho-di-hos his character's way around the Parliament's corridors of power, wondering how to ask her out. That's just one thin story filament among many: Liam Neeson's bruised widower trying to deal with his love-struck stepson, Alan Rickman's office boss succumbing to his horny secretary's come-ons, Laura Linney as a lovelorn nebbish-ess working up the courage to approach a hunky co-worker, Colin Firth as a hack novelist slowly falling for his gangly Portuguese housekeeper, ad infinitum. Most hilariously of all, Bill Nighy salts up the Christmas-eve-countdown scenarios as a spent, self-loathing rock star making a comeback with a seasonal revamp of his old hit, and his blisteringly honest media blitz stands as the film's only, badly needed chord of cynicism. Cretinous love songs from yesteryear clot the soundtrack like factory-dumped phosphates. When he isn't overreaching for absurdity, Curtis can write bouncy patter, but each character gets about 60 seconds before the movie jumps deck to the next love-seeker and the next moony pratfall.

Er, thanks for that review Mari..I think... (VV Review)In a rare moment of inspiration, Curtis casts Grant as a new, Blairean prime minister�and one sequence pits him, gently, against slimy Texan president Billy Bob Thornton. He finds that inspired? It figures, the whole PM and Prez bit was some of my least favorite scenes in the whole movie... As Daphne might have said, "Mr. Atkinson, why don't you pull your lip over your head and shove it up your..." The movie is not perfect, but I'd rather be clobbered by the obvious and killed with kindness a hundred times over by RC's ideas on love than listen to the ramblings of one bitter pri*** spewing his vitriol on the world like this...

Oops, one too many ***..

(Maira)Oops, one too many ***.. It's this thing you have about threes.;-)

(Beedee) It's this thing you have about threes.;-) I'm just an open boook...:-)))

Just had a browse-not-buy look through some of the current UK magazines - all the December film mags are now out. Love Actually gets so-so reviews. Hot Dog magazine has as its heading "Not so good actually" but says that there are some gems, notably Bill Nighy, and Colin Firth's relationship with the Portugese maid, which is "genuinely touching". But all the reviewers expect LA to be very popular with audiences! (isn't that what matters?) There's an interview with CF in Marie Claire - some new facts - he's trying to write a book, cooks a mean curry, reads voraciously but slowly, and has fallen in love with a new area in Italy. And Matteo gives him sleepless nights. Oh, and he prefers dramatic roles to comedy! There's a great new serious photo, but also a very (IMHO) silly photo of him in a foam bath. GWAPE is featuring very strongly as one of the successes of the London Film Festival and is being mentioned as a possible Oscar contender. Will certainly do very well in the BAFTAs. "Trauma" got another mention (in the Independent) as one of the highlights for next year.

From one Catholic viewpoint.... Love Actually -- By Anne Navarro Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) -- C.S. Lewis eloquently wrote about four loves: affection, friendship, erotic love and the love of God. In the entertaining romantic comedy "Love Actually" (Universal), writer-director Richard Curtis also tackles love in its many forms. And though Curtis isn't up to Lewis' depth and fluency, he manages to be witty while mostly resisting the sappy traps of most romantic comedies. With its huge -- and impossibly good-looking -- cast, "Love Actually" means to please. And with 10 interweaving story lines to choose from, the moviegoer is likely to find at least one amusing subplot to follow. However, there are a few startling sexual scenes that may pull up the viewer and detract from the enjoyment of watching the film. A shy young couple meets. They are naked stand-ins for the stars of an erotic movie. The not-too-subtle gag is that though the duo pretends to perform a variety of sexual acts for the camera both are sweet, almost naive characters who end their first real date with an innocent grade-school peck, and are thrilled by it. Nevertheless, the viewer is taken aback as the filmmaker includes borderline lewd visuals within an otherwise engaging story. Showing off a cozy London without the typical stock shots of Big Ben, "Love Actually" doesn't unreel its story in the traditional sense, but instead cuts among the unfolding lives of the characters in the weeks leading up to Christmas. While none is original or compelling in and of itself, the story lines work to develop the film's theme that "love is everywhere." It doesn't confine itself to romantic love either, but allows for the true love that exists among friends, that flows from parents to children, and is present between siblings. Uppermost on the social ladder is the newly elected prime minister (Hugh Grant) who is immediately smitten with his curvaceous secretary (Martine McCutcheon) upon stepping inside 10 Downing Street. His sister (Emma Thompson) is comfortably ensconced in her role as mother and wife until she fears her husband (Alan Rickman) is contemplating an affair with his alluring and most-willing assistant (Heike Makatsch). Another office romance is brewing between an expatriate American (Laura Linney) and the office's shy dreamboat (Rodrigo Santoro), but pangs of guilt wrack her as she is torn between having a love life and caring for her mentally ill brother. As the writer of "Notting Hill," "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral," Curtis (who directs for the first time here) gets the wedding and the funeral out of the way early on. A recently widowed stepfather (Liam Neeson) struggles to form a loving relationship with his late wife's son (Thomas Sangster) who is dealing with his very first case of puppy love (an endearing subplot with the single drawback that Neeson's character bafflingly shares sexual profanity with his pre-pubescent son). Another thread, in the form of unrequited love, exists when a bride (Keira Knightley) realizes what is behind the hostility her husband's best friend (Andrew Lincoln) seems to have for her. Unlucky in love, a writer (Colin Firth) flees his native London for the refuge of the French countryside where he becomes love-struck by his young Portuguese maid (Lucia Moniz), despite each being unable to speak the other's language. An aging rock star (a very saucy Bill Nighy) attempts a comeback with the help of his faithful manager by launching a Christmas CD that he willingly admits is rubbish. And -- can you believe there's more? -- there's the geeky waiter (Kris Marshall) who believes the answer to his dating woes is to move to the United States, where his English accent will charm the pants off -- literally, he hopes -- hot American women. The novellas are mostly made up of comical and emotional moments threaded together with an unbendingly cheering attitude. Curtis' view is of the silver lining -- not the cloud. Even the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, are spun so as to highlight the expressions of love amid the peril. The film's driving force is that love in its every form is within grasp, if only we reach for it. Curtis does strike one rather sour note in his otherwise sweet confection. With the exception of Laura Linney, the Americans portrayed in the film come off rather shabbily. The American president (played with veiled dignity by Billy Bob Thornton) is a sleazy womanizer and American females are uniformly ditzy and promiscuous. Clever dialogue, several perfectly delivered zingers and fine performances camouflage the narrative's flimsy parts. By film's end, everything is neatly, if not quite believably, wrapped up like a Christmas gift. Too bad the film is seriously marred by the inclusion of the unwarranted, brazen sexual visuals. Because of several scenes of sexual encounters with nudity, a few sexual references and innuendoes, and intermittent rough language with an instance of profanity, the USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. - - - Navarro is a part-time reviewer in the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Ebert & Roeper TV this weekend: early reviews of: "LOVE ACTUALLY" with Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Laura Linney, Alan Rickman and more. -- "MASTER AND COMMANDER: Far Side of the World" with Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany and more. http://tvplex.go.com/buenavista/ebertandroeper/today.html

Guess half of everybody's packing........

Yes, I suppose they are, but I hope that they remember the 'poor folks' here on the other side of the world. I live for details which such excursions bring ;-) And also, if anyone is watching the TV interviews, details please, remember, I live for details...

I saw Liam Neeson on "Today" and "Regis & Kelly" today. Nothing much to report, except that Katie Couric may have gotten over her crush on ODB. Either that, or she's trying to play it cool. She was reviewing the names of the cast members, and they ran through Thompson, Linney, Rickman... then Katie said, "...Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant, who's excellent in this movie." (That's a paraphrase)

I noticed Katie mentioned the Time article a couple of times. LN seemed lost when she said something about Schindler's list and also the vomit comment.

Love's actually funny to Curtis By Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY TORONTO � Richard Curtis is a hopeless romantic. A pathetic one, actually. "I always said I would never go to Venice until I found the girl I would spend the rest of my life with," says the British scribe behind such sublimely swoony movie hits as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary. (Related item:five films and a directorial debut) At 35, "I did finally take my current girlfriend. Then I got stomach poisoning on the first night. So she spent two days in Venice. I spent two days in a hotel. Throwing up." Like we said, pathetic. But funny. And when it comes to being romantic onscreen, the bespectacled fellow who looks like an Oxford-educated version of Charlie Brown is a regular Colin Firth or Hugh Grant, two of his favorite actors who just happen to have plum parts in his directorial debut, Love Actually. Looks as if this bloke, 46, has another winner on his hands after a successful sneak preview last weekend and a roaring reception at the film festival here. A bookmaker in England is even laying odds that Love might actually become the country's biggest moneymaker ever. Curtis' multi-tiered cake of comedy, slathered in eye-candy icing and set mostly in London at Christmas, serves sundry slices of love � sad, sweet and silly � in all of their messy, often surprising, glory. Other performers among the 20 main roles include Emma Thompson, Rowan Atkinson (his Mr. Bean is a Curtis invention), Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley and Bill Nighy, whose antics as a faded rock star making a desperate comeback with a tacky yuletide version of the Troggs' oldie Love Is All Around ("Come on and let it snow," he warbles sheepishly) provide a framing device. Curtis promised himself he would direct his next script. That it is an unwieldy ensemble piece that weaves nine stories together is just the luck of the draw. "But the flip side is that nobody had time to see through me," he says, ever the optimist. A few cranky critics have dismissed this typically glossy Curtis confection as so much saccharine goo with uneven resolutions. But there is one crowd-pleasing piece of Risky Business that would melt the heart of even the most jaded journalist: Grant's unlikely prime minister, smitten with an underling (newcomer Martine McCutcheon), shakes a tail feather and then some to Jump by the Pointer Sisters. In the hallowed halls of 10 Downing Street, no less. "Hugh now says he will never dance again in public because he feels he's outed," Curtis says. "We've got some fantastic outtakes, as you can imagine. There's a shot where he goes across a hallway and he did that 47 times. So we've got every single variation. Riverdance dancing, the funky chicken, the Egyptian. We've got him leaping on the word 'jump.' He was very game that day. At least he got to keep his trousers on." Curtis came up with the idea for Love Actually while on vacation in Bali recovering from a bad back. "Every day I would go on an hour-long walk in order to stretch and get a bit healthier. I just scoured through my life and the lives of people I knew, and every day I would come back with one story." He enjoyed working with more diversity in both his cast (two couples are interracial) and his material (love is explored between a child and his widowed stepfather). Probably the relationship Curtis most relates to, however, is the one between Nighy's effete musician and his chubby, long-suffering manager. "I used to work with Rowan all the time (since the late '70s), and I remember realizing that I spent more time with him than with any girlfriend. We were married." But he met broadcast journalist Emma Freud, who is indeed related to the big Id himself. "He's her great-grandfather. She's instinctively very much like him," he says of his companion of almost 13 years and mother of his three children, ages 1, 6 and 8. (A fourth is due in December.) They never bothered to marry because, much like Grant's character in Four Weddings, "between the age of 25 and 35, I worked out that I went to 72 weddings. I couldn't think of a way to distinguish my wedding from all these other weddings I've been to. But we might do it when I turn 50." Hitched or not, no one has been more committed to renovating the romantic image of the citizens of England, too often painted as repressed cold fish. "I see a lot of love around me," Curtis says. "And that's the truth." http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2003-11-04-curtis-profile_x.htm

(Beedee) Guess half of everybody's packing........ Sigh, yes, I guess so. Wonder if O&E would be an acceptable place for anyone sympathetic to those of us living vicariously through them to keep us posted? Surely someone has a laptop or the hotel a computer.

On the following link http://www.prosieben.de/film/specials/tatsaechlichliebe/ You can find a picture gallary of LA Picture Number 8 shows Colin On the following link (the official german website) http://movies.uip.de/tatsaechlichliebe/ you may notice, that picture 4 on the left side of the poster shows somebody else instead of Martine McCutcheon. It�s Heike Makatsch, a popular german actress who is in the movie, too. She was guest on a german TV show an spoke only a litte about the movie and no word about Colin :o( . She said that Hugh Grant is really charming, but also cynical and honest. Futhermore she said that she was pleased to have most of her scenes with Alan Rickman because Hugh Grant would have made her to nervous.

(AdaVW, about Katie Couric's interview of Liam Neeson)and also the vomit comment. She said it again with Emma Thompson - basically the same as yesterday, "I loved it, I ate it up, but aren't some people going to think it's really treacly", and miming vomiting. Interesting. (BarbS)Wonder if O&E would be an acceptable place for anyone sympathetic to those of us living vicariously through them to keep us posted? Surely someone has a laptop or the hotel a computer. I'm not going till tomorrow, but I'm taking mine, and I'm sure I'm not going to be the only one who does. Seems to me in the past the reports of premieres and such have gone right here in the CF topic, haven't they?

Likeable actually By Steve Sullivan, Movie Review November 05, 2003 How do you criticize a movie that stars more big name British actors than all the "Harry Potter" films and is built on the warm premise that "love is all around." Well, when the movie is "Love Actually" criticism is actually kind of easy. Then again, so is praise. There is so much going on in this ambitious romantic comedy that you are bound to find some things you like . . . and some things you don't. A cheerful, mildly satisfying romantic comedy that's as frustrating as it is sweet. "Love Actually" marks the directorial debut of screenwriter Richard Curtis ("Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Notting Hill"). Working with an immense and immensely talented cast and nine interwoven plot lines, Curtis has created a light, uneven film with enough assets to diminish its flaws. "Love Actually" takes place in London in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It stars the loose and charming Hugh Grant as the new British prime minister, who scores big when he tells off the president of the United States (a slick cameo by Billy Bob Thornton) at a press conference. (The scene is a sly swipe at the Blair administration.) But, international affairs aren't the biggest issue for the new P.M. He is falling in love with his attractive, foul-mouthed secretary Natalie (Martine McCutcheon). The P.M.'s sister Karen (Emma Thompson) is married to Harry (Alan Rickman), who owns a business of some sort. Harry is contemplating an affair with his very willing new secretary. Sarah (Laura Linney), who works at Harry's firm, has been infatuated with an incredibly attractive co-worker for years. He has similar feelings for her. But, the needs of her mentally ill brother interfere with her love life. Meanwhile, Sarah's friend, Mark (Andrew Lincoln), is struggling with the love he feels for his best friend's new wife. The strongest story involves Jamie, a crime writer played by Colin Firth. After he discovers his wife is having an affair with his brother, Jamie retreats to a cottage in France to write and let his broken heart heal. There, he falls in love with Aurelia, a Portuguese maid. Neither can speak each other's language, but, of course, love transcends that minor hurdle. A touching story involves Karen's friend Daniel (Liam Neeson), who is mourning the recent death of his wife and raising his young stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster). Sam is sad about his mom, but his real problem is that he's fallen for a girl at his school. Sam needs Daniel's help dealing with the "total agony of being in love." The cast is strong, particularly Thompson, Rickman, Grant, Firth and the tow-headed Sangster. But, it is Bill Nighy who steals the entire movie as burned out rock star, Billy Mack. Hoping for a comeback, Mack has recorded a special Christmas version of the Troggs' "Love is All Around." Nighy is a riot and "Love Actually" gets needed jolts whenever he appears on screen. He plays Mack as a cross between Rod Stewart and Keith Richards, and gets to say a lot of hilariously improper things like "Kids, don't buy drugs...Become a pop star and they give them to you for free." Nighy is a well-known actor in England and "Love Actually" should substantially raise his profile on our shores. Curtis does a good job juggling his multiple stories, but he never makes the characters' connections mean much. The comedy is all over the place, ranging from broad to sophisticated. The broadest bit, involving a pimply waiter who flees London to pursue American babes in Wisconsin, is ridiculous and could easily have been cut. Another expendable plotline involves two stand-in actors who "meet cute" while blocking a sex scene on a movie set. The actors spend much of their screen time nude, which helped "Love Actually" earn an almost otherwise needless R rating. "Love Actually" begins and ends at Heathrow Airport, with scenes of full of hugging and kissing as people greet each other. The opening features narration by Grant, who talks about how 9-11 victims who were able to make phone calls talked not about anger or revenge, but of love. "Love Actually" isn't the perfect answer to our troubled times, but, right now, it may be all we've got. 'Love actually' 3 out of 5 stars Directed by: Richard Curtis Starring: Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Kiera Knightly, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney The bottom line: This is a sweet but frustrating romantic comedy. Details: Universal Pictures, 128 minutes, rated R for sexuality, nudity and language.

There was more of the Colin, Laura and Liam interview on etalk daily in Canada yesterday. The camera kept cutting off Colin's face which was very rude. He was asked what the most romantic time of year is and he said Christmas and that September in London was nice with the leaves changing colour and the shadows being longer. The chill in the air. Then he was asked what the worst advice about love that he'd ever received was and he said "Tell her the truth". He smiled but didn't laugh at that.

(Brenda)Then he was asked what the worst advice about love that he'd ever received was and he said "Tell her the truth". He smiled but didn't laugh at that. LOL! Thanks for that Brenda. My DH would agree with that whole heartedly.;-)

BBC Talking movies which airs on Thursday mornings 2:30am (in South Africa) will feature the New York Premier of Love Actually, on 13 Nov. {and no I don't watch the programme, that's what video machines were made for ;-) }

Found this at Zap2it.com...gave it 2 stars out of 4 Love Actually (R) By Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune The ensemble romantic comedy "Love Actually" opens with one of its least familiar actors, Bill Nighy, as a wonderfully crooked-faced pop singer recording a lame, Christmas-themed remake of the Troggs' "Love Is All Around." The running joke, which provides the movie's most reliable laughs, is that this old-timer is so candid and good-natured about the record's crassness that the British public sends it zooming up the charts. Alas, "Love Actually" has more in common with the renamed "Christmas Is All Around," at least in terms of commercial calculation, than writer-director Richard Curtis probably would wish to admit. Curtis is the smart writer behind "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill" and "Bridget Jones's Diary," three of the more accomplished romantic comedies of recent vintage, so he must realize how patronizing "Love Actually" is. He's taken the most crowd-pleasing conventions of his films and photocopied them over and over in an apparent attempt to maximize the consumer-friendliness of his directorial debut. He should have called this overstuffed comedy "Love, British Style," as it interweaves eight stories in a manner reminiscent of a certain corny TV series of the early '70s. Individually, the tales wouldn't stand up as short stories. Together, they make for sporadically amusing, ultimately wearying viewing. Perhaps Curtis just wanted an excuse to work with an all-star cast of appealing, mostly British performers. Curtis has Hugh Grant, his longtime stand-in of sorts, playing England's new bachelor prime minister, a glib, likable chap (surprise!) who finds himself drawn to 10 Downing Street's young catering manager, Natalie (likable newcomer Martine McCutcheon). The movie also gets Colin Firth to do his trademark yummy-to-the-ladies, shy-guy thing as a cheated-on writer who heads to the country and falls for the Portuguese housekeeper (Lucia Moniz). Emma Thompson brings her characteristic warmth and intelligence to a housewife whose husband, played by Alan Rickman, appears to be tempted by his new seductress secretary (Heike Makatsch). Rickman also plays boss to Laura Linney's shy Sarah, who's been harboring a crush on her company's chief designer (Rodrigo Santoro) but is constantly distracted by phone calls from her mentally ill brother. The other stories involve the awkward relationship between a best man (Andrew Lincoln) and a newlywed couple (Keira Knightly and Chiwetel Ejiofor); a lovesick 11-year-old boy (Thomas Sangster) who seeks advice from his recently widowed stepdad (Liam Neeson); a happy-go-lucky twit (Kris Marshall) who hopes to hit the hot-chick jackpot by moving to Wisconsin; and a pair of porno film stand-ins (Joanna Page and Martin Freeman) who strike up sweet conversations while enacting lewd poses. Each segment has its moments, but they're rarely more than moments, and there are so darned many of them. Curtis just cuts from one to the other, never establishing depth anywhere. He's a talented enough writer with a talented enough cast that you'd be a killjoy to dismiss the whole kaboodle. Much of the dialogue is sharp, but Curtis also reveals a cutesy, precious streak. Grant's introductory voiceover, for instance, makes the pro-love case by citing heartfelt phone calls from doomed Sept. 11 jet passengers before concluding, "I've got a sneaking suspicion that love actually is all around." The movie grows more cloying and repetitive as it stretches well beyond two hours. Almost every main character boasts the same bashful, puppy-dog attitude toward romance. Three segments feature someone being ridiculed for being overweight, and characters keep pointing out that Christmas is the traditional time for declaring one's love to another. (I thought it was the traditional time for being driven nuts by your family.) If Curtis could fling cotton candy from the screen into the audience, he probably would. At one point he shows Grant doing a "Risky Business"-style dance to the Pointer Sisters' "Jump," followed by Firth trying to save his blowing-in-the-wind manuscript (ugh) by jumping clothed into a lake. The Grant scene may draw laughs, but you suspect that Curtis won't respect you in the morning. Curtis tries tying everything together neatly at the end, but he's working with too many strands. The Rickman-Thompson and Linney stories, in particular, get short shrift, and characters who appear to be close friends early on -- such as Neeson's and Thompson's -- don't even acknowledge one another when they're in the same place. The most satisfying relationship turns out to be a non-romantic one, between Nighy's rock star and his manager. Otherwise, "Love Actually" is too much tease, not enough satisfaction.

At DVD Talk: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=8180 Followers of The Aisle View know my feelings on romantic comedies: I loathe them. But for some reason, Love, Actually did not make me want to vomit like all the others. Typically, when viewing a romantic comedy, the predictable scenarios and contrived dialogue make me feel like my soul is being sucked from my corporeal body. Love, Actually opens with scenes of people hugging and I began to mentally compose my will; but after the first ten minutes, the film began to win me over. With no fewer than twelve different stories of love and relationships, Love, Actually doesn't have time for redundant jokes or insipid smarminess. The writing is very smart and it sparkles with tongue-in-cheek creativity. In the first scene of the actual film, Bill Nighly grudgingly records a Christmas-themed cover of "Love is All Around," (the song from Four Weddings and a Funeral). He is clearly disgusted by the schmaltziness of the whole affair, and his unchecked disgust for the project makes for one of the most hilarious stories in the film. In addition to the Nighly story, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, and Liam Neeson each star in their own mini-plots. Each actor skillfully carves out dynamic, complex characters in a matter of moments which helps keep the story confusion to a minimum. However, those already familiar with who's who in the cast will benefit greatly. It's nearly impossible to list all of the various intertwining stories of Love, Actually, but my favorites included: the young man who dreamed of going to Wisconsin where he would sleep with dozens of hot American girls who were immediately charmed by his, "cute accent," Hugh Grant as the neurotic and romantically tortured Prime Minister, and the complicated married couple played by Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman. Not all of the stories are successful. Though I like Colin Firth immensely, and his Mark Darcy-esque performance was enjoyable, his story of a cuckolded husband who falls in love with his non-English-speaking housekeeper was a little contrived. His character's attempts at speaking Portuguese were funny, but the rest of the story was either boring or plagued by dramatic violin music. With a running time of over two-hours, Love, Actually would have benefited by dropping this story and re-using Colin Firth somewhere else. One bad story out of twelve ain't bad especially when writer/ director Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones' Diary) displays a conscious love for his audience. When Hugh Grant (as the Prime Minister) danced around his living room to the Pointer Sister's "Jump for my Love," I swear the lady sitting behind me screamed like she was reliving a Beatles concert, and every scene with Colin Firth prompted a chorus of longing sighs. I enjoyed Love, Actually more than I expected to mostly because of the constantly rotating series of stories and unique group of characters (I think the relationship between the two sex scene stand-ins is a cinematic first). I won't say that Love, Actually isn't painfully predictable or forcefully heartwarming, but it inflicts the usual tortures with thoughtful wit and decorum. -Megan A. Denny I haven't posted in a while but thank you all for pics, news, etc... And best of luck to the NY contingent of Drool reps. :)

(Odile)...best of luck to the NY contingent of Drool reps. :) Ditto! Can't wait to hear all the stories...

Someone sent this to me, so I figured I'd pass it on:-)! Firth on breasts and bad hair by Annette Dasey Colin Firth's new film Girl With A Pearl Earring is a far cry from Bridget Jones � in it, he plays 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer who befriends his young maid (Scarlett Johannson). But you can see why he's often cast as the tall, dark, handsome, silent and mysterious type. For one, he is tall, dark and handsome (pretty much a prerequisite), and he's also enigmatic, thoughtful and intelligent. Firth seems serious at first but once he warms up he proves a right cheeky monkey. That's clear in his banter with Girl With A Pearl Earring co-star Scarlett Johannson. The film illustrates eroticism with furtive glances as opposed to naked flesh. When Johannson explains the pressure put on them to make that more concrete by having him watch her wash her breasts in a basin, Firth quips: "All that pressure was from me." To play the Dutch master, Firth donned a fetching hair piece his co-star describes as "a Fabio wig". "The wig was ah... it was a lovely script and if you know if you accept this part, a wig awaits you, it's an alarming prospect," he says. "Had it been anyone other than brilliant hair designer Jenny Shircore, it would have been the kiss of death." Firth is well aware his bad hair film could change his sex symbol status. "My fear was that the rest of the world would react to my wig the way Scarlett did," he laughs, referring to the fact that his co-star said the wig looked particularly weird the first few days before it fell properly. "I'm doing what I think is a sexy, smouldering look and she's giving me, 'I can't believe it's not butter'." Not much is known about Firth's character Johannes. "The secret was in the mystery. What you have in terms of historical understanding is mystery. The author Tracy Chevalier also wrote mystery. I was perpetuating that interpretation," says the 43-year-old star. "It was a balancing act � fleshing him out without revealing too much and preserving the enigma." Much is being made of the fact that Girl With A Pearl Earring has a lot less dialogue than many modern movies. "Dialogue is often very limiting, particularly if it's anything other than excellent," says Firth. "Mediocre dialogue is utterly crippling to the process and brilliant dialogue a free ride, but no dialogue is a very liberating and inspiring thing to do as long as you've got the confidence of a great director. "I've got this complex view of this woman and am going to have to do it all with my eyes. It gave us an added sense of responsibility." Referring to some of the terrible lines he's had in the past, he says, "I insisted someone else's line was cut as I refused to be in the same room with the line. It was, 'You played me, Ross, you played me... and I'm not a piano'." Here's the link if anyone wants it... http://www.teletext.co.uk/entertainment/generic.asp?slot=32&page=1&ref=31

OOOOHHHHHHHH! I'm so anxious about tonight!!! I can't stand it. It's now my turn to sit by the computer, calculate what time it is in NY and just wait, wait, wait to hear what is happening. SO, I'll take this time to make small talk about the articles. Thanks ladies for taking the time to share. They are fantastic and if they had come during the Dirth of Firth would have carried us through a week easily.:-) (Bethan's article)There's an interview with CF in Marie Claire - some new facts -... and has fallen in love with a new area in Italy. Did it say which area? Wonder if he's planning to buy there? (Odile's article) Not all of the stories are successful. Though I like Colin Firth immensely, and his Mark Darcy-esque performance was enjoyable,..... With a running time of over two-hours, Love, Actually would have benefited by dropping this story and re-using Colin Firth somewhere else. That girl needs her mouth washed out with soap! Let not the thought be thunk! Glad she didn't get through to the moviemakers while they still had scissors in their hands. Seriously, though, I was surprised to find it had been written by a woman. Almost anything negative about CF usually comes from a guy who seems jealous and clueless. I'm very surprised that the only negative I've read about CF's storyline came from a female. (Ada's article)Referring to some of the terrible lines he's had in the past, he says, "I insisted someone else's line was cut as I refused to be in the same room with the line. It was, 'You played me, Ross, you played me... and I'm not a piano'." Snort! I think we can all guess where that came from!:-) I didn't think it had been cut though. It's sounds awfully familiar. I'm amazed he is still thinking about it ten years later! Playmaker must really have been a low point and a turning point for him. IMO, it's when he mentally "left Hollywood" and turned his attention back to Britian where he has said his pickings are better. I can't complain because that led to P&P2 and I'd rather see him in that anyday rather than Tales from the Hollywood Hills, Femme Fatale(even as much as Joe is a prince to me), and Playmaker.

(Ada's rticle) 'You played me, Ross, you played me... and I'm not a piano' LOL, so he's still having nightmares about it ;-) He's in good company. (Caribou) Playmaker must really have been a low point and a turning point for him. IMO, it's when he mentally "left Hollywood" and turned his attention back to Britian And for that I'll always be grateful for that @#%**! movie. (Odile's article) but my favorites included: the young man who dreamed of going to Wisconsin where he would sleep with dozens of hot American girls who were immediately charmed by his, "cute accent," Is she from Wisconsin and flattered by that storyline? That was the most moronic storyline, imo. I've seen better beer commercials. With a running time of over two-hours, Love, Actually would have benefited by dropping this story and re-using Colin Firth somewhere else. Couldn't agree more. Sorry Caribou :-/ And to redeem myself, LMN has something going on with LA. They randomly show clips interspersed with interviews. Caught LL, RC with HG, LN and ODB(!!) wearing the now famous black rimmed pink glasses. Note to self, always keep vcr at the ready. Sending good thoughts to the NY contingent. May the weather be fair, the sightings and pictures plentiful, and your fingers do the walking on your computer keyboards.

Just spoke with the NYC contingent on the phone - They are having a ball - Saw Hugh Jackman last night. They will tell you all about it -- And are ready for the red carpet tonight. Karen says they will look for an internet cafe, so stay tuned in...

What's the time and place of the premiere, I have a friend in NYC who's going with Kyra Knightly to see Colin and he asked when and where. Anyone know?

Paul, the location is at Ziegfeld Theatre, 141 West 54th Street. The stars arrival at 6:30 and the movie stars at 7:30.

(Murph)And are ready for the red carpet tonight. Ooohhhh! the red carpet! How I long for a red carpet! Thanks for the update, Murph. Every little tidbit is appreciated while we wait for the feast. :-)

A LA review that only likes ODB's romance, snippets only: http://boxofficemojo.com/review/movies/?id=loveactually.htm �Smug Actually� by Scott Holleran ..Though the tenderness of his previous movies comes in patches, Love Actually is too modern, too long and too much...There are more affairs than a Love American Style marathon... The story's main thread is an annoying rock star who possesses none of the charm of Rhys Ifans's underwear-clad flatmate in Notting Hill . Don't bother trying to keep track of the dozens of episodes; they�re all interconnected through work, blood and friendship and not one stands completely on its own -- only one couple's story holds together. A writer (Colin Firth) who escapes to the country to work on his novel falls for a Portuguese maid (L�cia Moniz), and theirs is the only courtship that evokes genuine romance. A countdown to Christmas lets Curtis express the movie's cheerfulness, but it's overwhelmed by a distinctly modern sensibility: to love is to suffer. These martyred people don't fall in love so much as avoid falling in love, and what are supposed to be cute foibles are serious character flaws. Watching an adult ensemble in a state of arrested development wears thin... Funny lines, an infectious soundtrack and several promising newcomers -- L�cia Moniz as the maid is cool and captivating in the movie's best performance, and seductive Rodrigo Santoro owns the screen � can't save Love Actually from playing like a special two-hour episode of The West Wing with its smug cast cruising on the Love Boat . Grade: C-

More snippets from various reviews posted on rottentomatoes.com singling out ODB in LA. The last one is especially sweet: Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Some stories are better than others. We could watch the burgeoning romance between Colin Firth's language-challenged Englishman and his Portuguese-speaking maid for hours. Rickman and Thompson bring their stage-honed savvy to the enterprise, while Firth reminds us why Bridget Jones fell for him. Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews: Colin Firth (last seen as the single, adorably flustered PM of "What a Girl Wants") is author Jamie who whisks his broken heart off to a French villa to write, but instead is distracted by the charms of his Portuguese-speaking housekeeper Aurelia (Luca Moniz). This is one of the more poorly written segments, beginning with wobbly confusion before segueing into fantastic romantic comedy overkill, but the two actors have chemistry... Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews: ...Brit heartthrob Colin Firth and Lucia Moniz have the most charming story in the film with him only speaking English and her only Portuguese, making for some of the most sparkling and amusing dialogue in �Love Actually...� Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: ...and followers of Colin Firth�s torso will be ecstatic to hear that the dishy actor , as a diffident mystery writer with a radar for the wrong woman, once again dives shirtless into a pond... Betty Jo Tucker, ReelTalk Movie Reviews: Still, how could anyone resist ... Firth, playing a writer enamored of his Portuguese housekeeper (Lucia Moniz) and struggling valiantly to communicate with her? ... ...At the screening I attended, other members of the audience felt the same way. It's the first time I've heard people go "Ahhhhh" out loud over a movie kiss. That happened when Firth (who gets better and better with each movie, if that's possible) finally buzzed his lovely housekeeper...

(Murph)And are ready for the red carpet tonight. (Caribou) Ooohhhh! the red carpet! How I long for a red carpet! AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGG!!! What I wouldn't give to be there! Can this be endured?!

(BarbS) What I wouldn't give to be there! Can this be endured?! My thoughts exactly! You know, seeing Colin in the flesh is like making love. Once you do it and discover how great it makes you feel you want to do it all the time. I'd give a lot if I could be there. I hope all the lucky ones are going to have the time of their lives tonight.

Well, obviously our Droolers are still out partying with ODB. In the meantime, here's a clip from etalk daily. It takes a while to get playing. Click under Web Exclusive in the upper right (etalk daily update). http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/news/Entertainment.html

Okay so was it any of our fellow DD's greeting ODB outside the hotel on his way to the taping of The Daily Show, when he slipped on the *cobbles* on his a**?

Just saw and taped Colin on the Daily Show! He was adorable. He and Jon have a nice rapport. But he mentioned that on the way to his limo to get to the Daily Show interview that he ran into about 7 members of his "fan base." After signing autographs for them he said he then managed to fall right on his arse on the way back to the limo! Poor man, he said he was so embarrassed. Was that our contingent of "fan base" there with him? Did you guys help him up? What happened? He seemed fine on the show, just a little wiped out, poor guy. You guys must have made him nervous ;-), if it was you... Hope you're enjoying yourselves. So was it a kindly drooleur who came to his rescue to help him up? What a grand opportunity!

Jon Stewart used the term *drool* in his initial introduction of Colin at the beginning of the show,too!

(Bonnie)when he slipped on the *cobbles* on his a**? We posted at the same time! Love the way he called the sidewalk "cobble." LOL!

Just finished watching ODB on The Daily Show. He looked wonderful, was absolutely charming, had a twinkle in his eye the whole time....and why haven't I heard that adorable laugh before? I've got it TiVoed, and, for sure, it will get good use. Now, can't wait for next week, and his other TV visits. Also, hope that the members of the "fan base" he spoke about were Droolers. Everyone must be having a great time in NYC, can't wait to hear about the fun.

Lora,do you think his glance to his right upon sitting was to Livia?

Daily Show rough cut http://spring.net/drool/firthdaily.wmv You'll need Windows Media Player to view this.

(Bonnie)Jon Stewart used the term *drool* in his initial introduction of Colin at the beginning of the show,too! And the reaction of some audience members when he mentioned at the beginning of the program that his guest was CF, made me think there were DD's there too. JS thought they sounded like males, but they didn't sound like that to me. I'm going back to listen for that part again and for the word *drool.* I missed that.

(Bonnie)Lora,do you think his glance to his right upon sitting was to Livia? I'm sure she was there. Especially after the fall he had. If she was there after the cold fountain fight in TEoR filming, then she surely went with him to the DS after a tumble on the cobble. Will be rewatching tape for "a glance to his right upon sitting" too!

Wonder if the fans he spoke of are some of the folks on this board? He said he stoppped to sign fans autographs after he left the hotel, just before the fall.

I just watched the rough cut Terry linked-ODB looked to the right as soon as he faced the audience, then again upon being seated.(You're in Miami, right? I'm in Jupiter)

I'll get a final cut up tomorrow, this one has my tivo message toward the end. That will get cleared out in the next rev.