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| ... December 2003 News willkemp.org |
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| December 29th: Here Come the Brides. Our first chance to meet a very suave but sinister Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) and his bevy of beautiful brides (Josie Maran, Silvia Colloca and Elena Anaya) comes to us on Josie Maran's website. Please note, her site may be temporarily down due to excessive bandwidth usage. But I can point you to two of the photos until it's back up. Visit comingsoon.net for one photo and CHUD.com for the other. So, we've seen Drac, we've seen a fuzzy Frankenstein, but where oh where is our Wolf Man? Okay, so no Wolf Man photos, not even a paw print. But I do have a few more screen shots from Mindhunters. Admittedly, these aren't great quality, but I'm very grateful to have them all the same. And just to let you know, I do have some doozies coming up for you soon.....I wasn't even sure the shots were from the movie when I first saw them. Let's just say Will goes retro big time. Wardrobe must have had some kind of fun. Only a little over three weeks until Mindhunters opens!!! A couple of Wind in the Willows reviews, but sadly no photos. Also, I've heard that Matt Hart missed at least one performance due to illness. William Tuckett, the show's director and choreographer, played Toad in his stead which must have been quite something. Hope Matt is feeling better, is back in his little car and catching flies instead of the flu quite soon. Financial Times review and Independent review. I have more reviews, but they are in print form and I have to transcribe them manually, so I will have them for you in the new year. That about wraps it up for today and for 2003. But I would like to say a few thank you's before I head out of town. First, to AICN, ballet.co.uk, CHUD.com, cinescape.com, comingsoon.net, countingdown.com, criticaldance.com, darkhorizons.com, empireonline.com, filmforce.com, IMDb.com, londondance.com, and whatsonstage.com, all sites where I get the majority of my information, my sincerest gratitude for your hard work and continued excellence. You make my job infinitely easier. To everyone who has helped out with tips, information and photos, many, many thanks. It's impossible for me to catch everything. Next year will be crazy so I hope to hear from even more of you as we all know Mr. Kemp is going to be a lot more visible than he was this past year and we don't want to miss anything. To Mandy, Jane, Karen, Carol, and Ann - thanks for helping me realize my dream to do a website for Matthew Bourne, which by the way, launches on Matt's birthday, January 13th. A special thanks to Matthew for his support and his kindness. To Jackman's Landing, thanks for always keeping the bar high when it comes to integrity, dedication, and quality in a website and for the pure joy experienced in visiting it. Hugh Jackman you are a lucky man. Special thanks to Nic for everything! To Roy....I've embarrassed you enough with praise. So, simply, thank you. To Will....On behalf of everyone who visits this site and supports you and your phenominal work, thank you for being the kind of artist and person for whom it is a pleasure to be a fan. I hope you are ready for the whole world to know who you are because it's about to happen. You can bet that wk.org will be cheering you on the loudest and will continue to be your truest supporters. Have a fantastical 2004. To Everyone - A Happy New Year full of great promise and every blessing. I'll see you all in 2004!! December 23rd: The very best Christmas present of all. Will - you are very good at picking out gifts because this one truly qualifies as the perfect gift for me and for everyone who visits wk.org. So, on behalf of all us, I extend a heartfelt thank you for this truly thoughtful gesture. It is most sincerely appreciated and will be long treasured. I am sure you know that all of us wish you a joyous holiday and some relaxation of your own after WITW closes, because 2004 is gonna be some kind of wild and wonderful for you......and in turn for us. By the way, I loved your use of the words 'eventful release' for Van Helsing and 'eventual release' for Mindhunters. Good one. Thanks again Will. So, hard to follow that up, but I do have some more screen shots from the Mindhunters trailer to share. I think I've seen Will with every color of hair now except red. And I don't think we want to go there. Don't forget. You can keep Ratty around your house or office all year long as the Royal Opera House Shop has all sorts of goodies with Ratty's debonair looks embossed upon them. I'm partial to the magnets myself. Thanks to Heather and Sarah for the reminder on this. Barring any huge developements (and I always welcome those), this will be the last update until next Monday and that will be the last update until the Monday after that because I am a very lucky girl and will be spending New Years Eve in London. Lots of theatre, people to meet and hopefully many great things to share with you when I return....that is if I can make myself get on the plane home. So Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate and to everyone a safe and joyous holiday. Special hugs and kisses to the rockin' girls over at Jackman's Landing, to Mandy, to Roy, and again, to you Mr. Kemp. Many blessings. December 22nd: One sheet to the wind. Have a look at the first poster (or one sheet as they call it) for Van Helsing, courtesy of Latino Review. Apple.com has a gorgeous version of the Mindhunters trailer up now. It's bigger, it's brighter, it's scads better than the other one and.....you can save it as a movie and export stills. I've put up just four of them for now, but will have more up in the next couple of days. For the moment however, these mere morsels will have to do. Good news for some statesiders. Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker! will be aired on Trio TV, December 24th and 25th. So if you are lucky enough to get that cable station here in the States, you better be sure your VCR is set to record. Thanks to Joanna for that heads-up. I've got one review for you at the moment, which I rather like as it combines my two favorite artists - Will Kemp and Matthew Bourne. It's a double review of both Wind in the Willows and Play Without Words. I will have some other reviews for you as well, but I am in the process of transcribing them as they appeared in print only. My thanks to Mandy for kindly scanning those over. December 19th: A marvelous night for a moon dance...A new photo of Hugh Jackman as the legendary Van Helsing comes to us courtesy of United International Pictures. Wow! Nothing on Wind in the Willows yet, but hopefully by Monday the first reviews (and photos) will roll in to start the holiday week off just right. Until then, have a joyous weekend. December 18th: Taking stock of Will Kemp. Eons ago I told you about the Hollywood Stock Exchange, a website where you can buy, sell and trade virtual shares of celebrities, movies and music, using a 'virtual' currency called the Hollywood dollar. Mindhunters and Van Helsing have been available on the boards for some time now. But up until today, Will was considered personna non grata, as he had not yet made a movie. That is about to change. Mr. Kemp is due to go up for trading sometime today. This is a fun and interesting site which is actually used as a marketing research tool to find out what clicks with the public - who and what in the entertainment industry are hot and who's not. For instance, if you bought Van Helsing shares less than a year ago, you are seeing your initial investment pot sweeten nicely as the price of VH has more than doubled. So, get on over there and let's corner the market on Will Kemp. It's easy, it's fun and it doesn't cost a penny. A huge thank you to Tony for this hot stock tip. December 17th: Dear Universal. Well, sometimes it's just that simple . One fan dashed off an inquiry to Universal about their timeline for the Van Helsing website's next update and the release of the trailer. And whatdaya know. They wrote back. They advised her that the site is due to be updated the beginning of the year and the trailer will premiere on January 16th with the movie 'Along Came Polly', which stars Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston. Good job Joanna and thanks a mil. Ever the optimist, I still hold hope that Universal will take us by surprise and sneak the trailer in with 'Peter Pan', which opens Christmas day. Does that mean I'm living in Fantasyland or Never Never Land? Don't answer that. Please check out Empire Movies where the first theatrical banner for Van Helsing has been posted. December 16th: William Tuckett talks furry animals. I have the first Wind in the Willows news piece for you as the show prepares to open tomorrow night. Break a leg Ratty! Van Helsing's sidekick Carl, played by David Wenham, talks to Scifiwire about his role in the film and the 'extraordinary weapons' his character develops to take down the most 'feared creatures of all time.' Jumping from most feared to one of the most loved creatures (judging by his ever growing legion of fans), Adam Cooper has updated his diary again. He promises new photos are on the way for his website. By Christmas? Don't know. But wouldn't that make for a lovely Christmas present to 'unwrap'? Also on the Cooper front, Mandy has sent in this link to a taped interview that Adam did while in Japan. Looking pretty sharp there Mr. Cooper. My thanks to Mandy for that scoop. And happy holidays from wk.org to Adam, Jane and Karen at ac.com. December 15th: We are two for two on great Mondays. Last week we had the Mindhunters trailer. This week we have screen shots. And they are not from the trailer. These shots are courtesy of Teri, who runs a fabulous fansite for Val Kilmer - Val Kilmer Newsletter. Please do check it out. Teri has bestowed upon us a series of shots from the film, the first ten of which, are now ready for your viewing pleasure. Teri, a million and one thanks from all of us. One more Mindhunters item. Flight Logistics, the company that handled action and camera helicopters during the shoot, has some cast and crew photos, including a group shot, online. Thanks Heather for the good spot. And yes, I know. Like I needed another project besides battling bandwidth, reformatting and reloading photos, and fininshing Matt's site by January. Truth is, I had planned to 'renovate' this site the first of the year. But as I was already fixing things up, I decided just to do everything all at once. So, don't mind me. Like Oz behind the curtain, I will be tinkering around for a bit. December 12th: Van Helsing the Ride. C'mon, you knew it was coming. After all, it is Universal Studios. Jackman's Landing has a super scooper who tipped them off to several newsbites, including the theme park tie-in. Best of all, however, is the possibility that the DVD release for Van Helsing may be sooner rather than later - how about Halloween of 2004? For all the goodies my gorgeous gal pals at JL have to offer up, head this way......and be sure to check out the photos of the Van Helsing toys. Of course, you guessed it, no close-ups of The Wolf Man. You know you are getting desperate when you would be satisfied just to see a photo of the Wolf Man doll.......... Nonetheless, I actually do have something pretty wonderful to show and tell you. Nutcracker! has opened at Sadler's Wells, again to great reviews. Even if you don't live in London, or are not in one of the cities to which the production will travel next year, I can at least give you a tiny taste of Matthew's magical twist on this timeless classic. Check out londondance.com where you will find a short video clip with various scenes from the show. It is easy to see, just from this small clip, what a truly spectactular production this really is and why it drew record crowds last year and will undoubtedly do the same this year. I also have something even better to offer on Nutcracker! - front row seats - and you don't have to go to London to sit in them. That is because Nutcracker! is due to be released on DVD December 22nd. For the time being, it is only Region 2 (Europe, Middle East, Japan). Don't know yet about Region 1 (North America) but will let you know if and when it's going to happen. For more info on purchasing Nutcracker!, off you go to matthewbourne.org. Wind in the Willows opens next week. Maybe some photos , certainly some press. Wolf Man eludes us, but we still have loveable Ratty. That's it. That's all. Happy weekend one and all! December 8th: Get ready to be happy. The Mindhunters trailer is at long last online and comingsoon.net had it first...... Okay, now that you're back, having rushed over immediately to watch it (I certainly would have); to coincide with the trailer finally pulling into town, I have opened up the Mindhunters section on this site. Hopefully we will get some promos and photos to add closer to the film's release. This particular version of the trailer won't allow me to export it as stills, so we will have to see if a different version comes online for making screencaps. Right now, I'm just happy to have this trailer and the chance to see even the tiniest bit of Will working, as I am sure you all are. It took forever to get here, but it was definitely worth the wait. Well, like anything he does wouldn't be. Happy Monday!! December 5th: Welcome back Ratty. Wind in the Willows began rehearsals earlier this week. With that comes the happy thought of Will puttin' on those dancing shoes again. I bet it makes him pretty happy too. While we all wait to see what articles and photos come out of this year's production, I've got a rehearsal photo from last year which I just found a few weeks ago. I didn't say anything about it when I added it, so if you haven't been in the WITW photo section lately, have a look. It's a little dark but still a very nice shot of the two 'Wills' at work. If you live in London, Christmas has already arrived and will last into 2004. This month is nonstop with some of the most brilliant choreographers, dancers and productions to be found anywhere in the whole wide world. Arthur Pita's Open Heart, which looks absolutely delightful, opens tonight. A 'you'll think you've died and gone to heaven' mixed bill which includes works by McGregor, Maliphant, Morris and Tuckett; with the likes of Nunn, Trevitt, Guillem, Cooper, Yanowsky, Watson, and Tapper to name a few, performing. And of course, two tremendous Matthew Bourne productions, Nutcracker! and Play Without Words. Icing on the cake - Wind in the Willows of course. I thought the Magic Kingdom was in DisneyWorld. But more and more I am beginning to think it's in London - I mean it's definitely one big E-ticket when it comes to theatre. (Yes that dates me - I admit it - I am a bone fide baby boomer). This feels like an E-ticket moment - being able to report that the site appears to be in stable condition and slowly on the mend. This all thanks to some incredible friends who came to my rescue with their time, talents and support. There is still a tremendous amount of work to do to patch things up, make some changes and such, but the bullet seems to have been dodged and a lot learned from the experience. Better now than when Mindhunters and Van Helsing open...... I shudder to think. A great and happy weekend all. To Rik - free beer for life mate!! December 3rd: Could Jackman's Van Helsing kick Buffy's arse? Empire magazine has the answer. Check out Jackman's Landing for the article that went along with the recent photos of Hugh and Kate. There is also one additional photo of his Hughness and Sommers on the set. Again, thanks to Nic for spoon-feeding me VH info whilst I tackle my bandwidth raiders. Speaking of which, you may have noted my message up top about deleting quite a few photos to cut their link to my site. I told Nic I felt a little like Rapunzel having her head shaved as I removed all those beautiful photos of Will - heartbroken. But those photos will be back and new ones will continue to be added and one way or the other, wk.org will prevail. My sincerest gratitude to everyone who has sent me kind words of support. Trust me, it does make a difference. December 2nd: Not in time to put under the Christmas tree.... But our first good description of the Van Helsing action figures is now available over at Previews. And yes, our very own Velkan, complete with transforming Wolf Man figure, is included. Figures are available for pre-order. Just click on the site's Order Form link and download the Toys page. A hugh, I mean huge, thanks to Nic and Jackmans Landing. December 1st: Hate to start the day off this way but....over the weekend, this site got hit with a bad case of bandwidth theft. The biggest culprit is another site (and in turn its visitors) who have downloaded photos from this site but have saved them with my url address instead instead of saving them to their own servers. The result is causing a monumental bandwidth drain on my site - one which continues to escalate with every hit the site takes. Please click here for more information on this very serious situation. I am trying to resolve the matter with the other site before I run out of bandwidth space. I have set up a new yahoo!group in case the site does close down temporarily. Let's hope it doesn't come to that, but please bookmark that group because that is where I will post information on any news involving interuption of service on this site. Please note it is not a forum or chat group and will only be used if you can't access this site. Van Helsing looms closer. A couple more photos for you over at comingsoon.net. Love the photo of Kate Beckinsale - quite ravishing. Still no Will. Probably too ravishing. The Mindhunters trailer is definitely out there. I finally saw it. Will looks, well, what else, great. The clip starts out slow, but typical thriller, the images get quicker, more choppy, more intense. The whole trailer is very dark and grainy. Will is in several of the scenes and has lines in many of those. I bet most of you have probably never heard him speak outside of the GAP commercial. Ah well, you are in for a treat. In any case, I'm sure we all knew he'd make the jump to film work with finesse but the proof's in that two minute Mindhunters trailer. By the way, it was attached to Bad Santa here in Washington. Thanks to 'H' at the Loews Georgetown for calling me and letting me know it had come in. And for allowing me to see it several times without having to sit through Bad Santa even once!! I love ya. |
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