Myers Shagging $25 Million for Austin Powers

From Yahoo! News:

Everyone’s favorite shag-loving, brown-toothed swinging superspy is ready to work his mojo again.
Yeah, baby! It’s Austin Powers 3!

Mike Myers has all but sealed a deal with New Line Cinema to return as Austin Powers (and his archnemesis, Dr. Evil) for a shagalicious sum, according to Daily Variety.

Myers will receive a whopping $25 “mee-llion” advance (yeah, baby!) against 21 percent of gross profits. For your math-impaired types, that means if the new movie does the boffo business of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, which took in $309 million worldwide, Myers would pocket around $65 million.

Crikey!

Myers’ fellow scribe Michael McCullers, who cowrote the first two Powers pics, is also set to return. Sources tell the Hollywood Reporter the duo has already developed an idea for the script they will write together. The storyline is being kept close to the (granny) vest.

Negotiations are ongoing with Jay Roach (Meet the Parents) to return for a third time as director. And James Bond refugees Sean Connery and Honor “Pussy Galore” Blackman have reportedly been approached by Myers to costar as Powers’ parents. However, there’s no word on whether Austin vets like Rob Lowe, Robert Wagner, Will Farrell or Verne “Mini-Me” Troyer will be back.

Though some may argue Myers’ phenomenal mojo is behind his biggest upfront payday, it is more likely those little receipts with big numbers on them that are responsible. In addition to the sequel’s huge take, the first installment, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, grossed $88 million worldwide at the box office and became a runaway smash on video, generating another $50 million.

The biggest mystery is exactly how Myers will work the film into his busy schedule. He’s also currently in talks to star in a remake of The Pink Panther for MGM and director Ivan Reitman, and he’s working on an original script for Universal Pictures as part of his settlement deal for backing out of Dieter.

According to reports, producers are targeting a fourth-quarter start for the new Austin in order to have it ready for a 2002 release.

Brosnan is a father again

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The fiancee of actor Pierce Brosnan, environmental journalist and author Keely Shaye Smith, has given birth to the couple’s second son together, a spokesman for the star said Wednesday.

Paris Beckett Brosnan was born Tuesday in Los Angeles, according to a brief statement issued by publicist Dick Guttman.

The couple’s first son together, Dylan Thomas Brosnan, is three years old.

Smith and the Irish-born James Bond star had planned to marry last year but postponed their wedding after Sean Brosnan, the actor’s teenage son from his first marriage, was seriously injured in an automobile accident.

The couple are now planning to tie the knot this summer.

Brosnan’s wife of 10 years, Cassandra, died in 1991.

Why Roger Moore Love's Skiing

BBC Sport has published this damn funny interview with Roger Moore and why he loves skiing. It’s definetley worth a read as it mentions Bond here and there.

Roger Moore is annoyed. If there is one thing that really makes him furious, it’s snowboarders on the ski slopes.

Driver who hurt actor Brosnan's son in crash begins jail time

LOS ANGELES(Reuters) – A driver who seriously injured the son of actor Pierce Brosnan in a car crash in Malibu, Calif., last April began serving a six-month jail term Monday in connection with the accident.

James Hall, 20, pleaded no contest Jan. 30 to one count of drunken driving causing injury, Deputy District Attorney Martin Herscovitz said. Hall, a native of England who had been living in Malibu, surrendered to authorities on Monday and began serving a six-month jail term, the official added.

Brosnan’s son, Sean Brosnan, 16, of Malibu, suffered serious abdominal injuries while riding with four other passengers in a Chevrolet Blazer driven by Hall that tumbled about 200 feet down a steep cliff near Malibu on April 22.

The younger Brosnan was the most seriously injured of the passengers. His family, along with another person in the car, waived their right to restitution from Hall, Herscovitz said. A hearing will be held next month to determine whether Hall would be required to compensate a third passenger.

At the time of the accident Hall told authorities he was traveling 30 miles (48.2 km) per hour and swerved to avoid a rock, when the Blazer plunged over the side.

Pierce Brosnan, the latest actor to play British secret agent James Bond, thanked Los Angeles rescue workers for “taking my son and his friends from the jaws of death.”

Connery shaken, not stirred, by his Bond roles

BERLIN (Reuters) – Fans might consider him the greatest British film star ever, but Scottish film legend Sean Connery would rather watch anyone else play the role that made him famous.

‘Each one has a hard time playing the Bond role,’ Connery said at a news conference at the Berlin Film Festival, where he was presenting his new film “Finding Forrester.” ‘Everyone plays it differently. Maybe I set too high a standard.’

Connery, 70, did not want to say which actor he thought embodied the James Bond role best but he said that the current actor, Pierce Brosnan, was doing a good of keeping the role alive. Connery was the first Bond, playing in “Dr. No” four decades ago.

‘It’s a difficult question to answer,’ said Connery. ‘I’d rather watch all the others but me.’

He said he didn’t mind being identified with the famous British agent even though he hasn’t played the role in 17 years.

In “Finding Forrester,” which is based loosely on a figure like the American novelist J.D. Salinger, Connery stars as a elderly novelist in New York who lives as a recluse 40 years after writing a Pulitzer-prize winning novel and helps a talented young writer get his start.

In his news conference in Berlin, Connery also evaded a question about the secret of his sex appeal.

‘Sorry, but I am going to take that with me to the grave,’ the septuagenarian said.

Connery, recently ranked as Britain’s greatest film star of all time in a Orange Film survey of 10,000 fans, said that he was never completely satisfied with his work. He said that his favorite film to work on was “Indiana Jones.”

‘The best experience was “Indiana Jones” because I enjoyed working with Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford,’ he said. ‘It was hard-working film-making. It was a fun-spirited film-making experience.’

Connery said there were other films that were successful but not as much fun to work on, but he did not name them.

Austin Powers 3 To Star Connery & Blackman

Austin Powers, the Mike Myers series series that manages to spoof everything from James Bond to Star Wars, is to become a trilogy with plans announced to create Austin Powers III.

The third Austin Powers film was confirmed in May of 1999 when New Line worldwide theatrical marketing co-chairman Rolf Mittweg revealed “There is definitely going to be a sequel, but (not until) Mike can put his mind to writing it. It will take a little while, I think. It is like James Bond. There’s a different love interest in every movie and they’re different stories (that) take place in different parts of the world.” For those of you who don’t know New Line release the films.

More recently director Jay Roach, who is attached to Austin Powers 3, revealed that We have a concept based on a prequel, where Dr. Evil and Austin are together in the 1950’s as young men in some academy…Of course something goes wrong. Dr. Evil goes off to some zone and Austin launches the British revolution in American music and colour, just to annoy Dr. Evil.”

If the film is a prequel it leaves open several characters, include Austins father. On this Roach says, “We’ve always wanted Sean Connery to do something. We’ve tried to talking to his people, but they were very polite – schedules and stuff – but he may just not want to go there.”

The last December 26 (that’s Boxing Day guys!!!) NY Daily Columnists Ruch and Molloy revealed that Mike Myers and director Jay Roach have been actively courting Connery to jump on board the next film in the role of Austin Powers father. That wasn’t that exciting news was it?

Well is Connery on board? There has been no official word so no one yet knows all too much. However, most recent word has it that the film will not only star Sean Connery but former Bond girl Honor Blackman as well.

Honor Blackman, once a star of the TV Series “The Avengers” who would later purr those immortal words “My name is Pussy Galore…”, will reportedly portray Austin’s mother along side Connery.

That’s all the news on Austin Powers III and two former Bond stars. We’ll let you know more as it becomes available.

Dame Judi Dench Receives More Nominations

Only five days after being names Britains second best female actress Dame Judi Dench, who has played M (Barbara Mawdsley) in the last three James Bond movies, has again been given another awards nomination as “Best Supporting Actress” for her performance as Amande Voizin in Lasse Hallström’s ‘Chocolat’.

This awards nomination comes from The Screen Actors Guild who will present the seventh annual SAG awards on March the 11th. This awards comes three days after Dench was nominated for “Best Supporting Actress” for the BAFTA Awards.

Along with the nomination for “Best Supporting Actress” Dench has also been nominated in the category of “Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture” along with the other main cast from ‘Chocolat’. Competing with the cast of Chocolat are the movies: Billy Elliot, Gladiator and Traffic.

Good luck to Dame Judi with both awards. We’re still waiting upon the nominations for the 73rd Annual Academy Awards on February the 13th to see if Dame Judi is nominated yet again.

Dench & Yeoh Up For BAFTA Awards (Updated)

In a press release today The British Acadaemy of Film and Television Arts has accouned that two actresses, Dame Judi Dench and Michelle Yeoh, are both contenders for a BAFTA Award when the awards ceremony is held on February the 25th.

Dame Judi Dench, who has played the role of M in the last three James Bond movies and will do so again in Bond 20, has been nominated for “Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role” for her portrayal of Amande Voizin in Lasse Hallström’s ‘Chocolat’. Chocolat also starred Johnny Depp (Sleepy Hollow) and Juliette Binoche (The English Patient). Binoche has also been nominated for a BAFTA Award for “Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role”.

Michelle Yeoh, who was made famous to Bond fans with her portrayal of Chinese Agent Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies, has been nominated for “Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role” for her portrayal of Shu Lien in Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. Yeoh, and her Bond character of Wai Lin, are both rumoured to make a reappearence in Bond 20 when it is released in 2002.

Good luck to both of them, especially Dame Judi cause she’s just fabulous! You can see the full list of nominees at BAFTA’s homepage. If we missed anyone else from the Bond series be sure to let us know.

And just as an after thought this years BAFTA Awards are being present exactly one month before this years Academy Awards. Using the BAFTA Awards as an indication we may just see Dench and Yeoh up for Oscar Nominations when the nominees for the 73rd Anual Academy Awards are announced on February 13 at 5:38 a.m. Pacific Time.

Updated!:

Just to let you know the official Academy Awards site for the 73rd Annual Academy Awards has now opened and announced that the nominees list will be released on February the 13th and the awards ceremony will take place on March the 25th. We’ll keep our eye on this and keep you posted!

Britt Ekland Discusses Movie on Former Husband Peter Sellers

Britt Ekland, that stunning Swedish blonde bombshell who excited every man with her performance as Mary Goodnight in The Man With The Golden Gun, has confirmed that she is working on a film about her late husband Peter Sellers.

Ekland was only married to Sellers for a four year period and has confirmed that she is not penning the script for the movie about the legendary British star – she is only advising on the period surrounding their four year marriage. She says, “I am not writing a film script about Peter Sellers. However, I am though contributing to the film on my life with Peter Sellers – when I met him, married him and divorced him. That’s all I’m doing, nothing else.” And the petite blonde bombshell has also dispelled reports that she wished to portray herself in the movie, she does however add that she “would like an unknown Swedish girl to play [her]self”. As for portraying Peter Sellers, she says “The only person in the world that can play Peter Sellers is Kevin Kline.”

Though Ekland has her claim to fame in the Bond series Sellers himself does as well. Sellers portrayed Evelyn Tremble, just one of the 007’s, in 1967’s Casino Royale opposite former Bond girl Ursula Andress. Despite this claim Sellers is most famous for portraying Inspector Jacques Clouseau in 1963’s “The Pink Panther” and later as Clouseau again in 1974’s “The Return of the Pink Panther”.

No details about the release of the movie have been released.

Brosnan's Tailor Of Panama Rated & Trailer Released

This news comes to use from Daniel Dykes Tailor Of Panama @ Blue Haze Movies news page.

After a plagued shooting schedule that ran overtime continuosly Sony have finally released more information on The Tailor Of Panama & they’ve even released a trailer.

Full Trailer 1 – Lo Res (7.1Mb, Mov)

Full Trailer 1 – Hi Res (13.7Mb, Mov)

I’m downloading those trailers now! As soon as I’ve seen it I’ll let you know more.

Also we know how a rating for the US release of ‘Tailor’ “Restricted Audiences”! How much does that suck! At least in Australia it will be about MA 15+!

Don’t forget to see Daniel’s excellent Tailor Of Panama @ Blue Haze Movies web site. If you see the trailer please send in your comments!