Saturday, September 25 1999
Big thanks to Erica who typed a whole article for us! It is from an U.K.-magazine called "More" (from 98). It has a long interview with Joaquin about some usual stuff like about Liv, River and his death, and changing his name to Leaf and back again. But there are also some interesting details like that he has a jacket from "My Own Private Idaho" and that he thinks Sean Penn is a "sweetheart."

What was it like working with Sean Penn?

I'm nut's about him. I came onto the set about a month after they'd started shooting and I was teriffied because they shot everything so quickly. Sean was an absolute veteran actor sweetheart - he took me under his wing, calmed me down and said nice thing's to me. He very much put me at ease. He's a wonderful, intelligent fellow who shared some of his poetry with me, about memory.

The character you play in U-Turn has an Elvis style quiff and cares passionately about the way he dresses. Is that jacket you're wearing one of the costumes for the film?

That's funny because this is from the same costume designer who worked on U-Turn - this is her jacket that she found but i've had it for years. She worked on My Own Private Idaho, which River was in, and i believe that this jacket was in that film. I found it in my closet a couple years ago and put it on. It must have belonged to River.

Any plans to do any more modelling?

Not at the moment. I did an advertising campaign for Prada but I haven't done alot of modelling. I honestly didn't care that much about it. I went to Milan, some person put some stuff in my hair, I did this pose, we took some pictures and then they put it in the magazine with the Prada logo in, and that's it. I got some nice free clothes and i had a blast.

What's your own sense of style - do you like fifties gear?

No. If you saw me yesterday, I don't know what you'd think. I mean, my style is always changing. I don't have one set style. I don't think.

Read the whole article here.

Saturday, September 18 1999
Wanna see an autograph of Joaquin? Click here

Monday, September 13 1999
upcomingmovies.com now says that "The Yards" will be released in April 2000.

Sunday, September 12 1999
Finally I have here some new pics I can show you. Do you remember the article from the FACE magazine from 1995? Now you can also see the pictures that belong to that article. (And by the way, that pics are so cool!)
   pic1     pic2       - we have to thank Antonella for them!

Right here at aint-it-cool-news you will find an on-set report from  "QUILLS" from somebody who worked as an extra at the movie.

The working titel is "Quills". The same titel as the 1995 play, which it is based on. But there were some strong indications on the set that the film's titel would change before being released. Mentioned was "The Marquis".

The story takes place at a criminal lunatic asylum in France where De Sade (Geoffrey Rush...great) is commited. The infamous pornographer is being commited because of his tales of horror and sexual obsession, and worse. Sexual crimes. He is being tortured by Priest Abbe De Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix ... great). Coulmier is not a violent person but he is being forced to do it by the asylum doctor. Royer-Collard (Michael Caine...even greater). So why does De Sades' tales still turn up in public once in a while ? Because of the young maid (Kate Winslet...just as great) who works at the asylum. So they take away anything for De Sade to write on. But he still has bedclothes and writes on them with wine, blood, and some things you can't even imagine! Now Sade is left naked in his cell with nothing but straws to sleep on. So he starts whispering the stories from cell to cell. To one lunatic to another. Untill Madeleine, the maid, can write them down on the other side of the walls. A plan with disastrous consequences for both Madeleine and De Sade.

The film will be very dark and scary. With everything from torture to ghosts coming back to haunt the dying lunatics. And normal people going totally bonkers because of the influence from De Sade (like Priest De Coulmier does). And then you ask; Will it have a lot of sex in it ? I don't think so. It will be a sexual film. But only in terms of the relationship between De Sade and the young maid Madeleine, who's actually a virgin and obsessed with fantasies about De Sades' writing.

So the scenes I was in involved a conversation between the doctor and the priest. Michael Caine and Joaquin Phoenix. It was at the point were the priest gets ordered to start torturing De Sade, after they find out that the maid is releasing his writings. This looks like a really great performance from Phoenix. His part is the most demanding in the movie. Going from a noble priest to a lunatic haunted by ghosts.

Tuesday, September 7 1999
I already know that a couple of you are from England. Anybody who lives near Oxford? Why? Well, that person could be interested in watching the filming of "Quills".
In the Kate Winslet - newsgroup (alt.fan.kate-winslet) they already chat about it:

" ... As I have previously informed the group, Kate Winslet is filming in Oxford. I found out that it was this week they would be filming. I decided to go on a hunt (no, not technically stalking) and found catering vans etc outside Mansfield College, then we walked round Mansfield College and found nothing. I stumbled upon the filming after giving up and going to a pub. There was a huge crowd outside the Sheldonian Theatre. I then saw Joaquin Phoenix, who is to anyone who's interested, very fine in the flesh however slightly smaller than I imagined. He was pretty good looking. He was all in period costume, white shirt untucked showing off his back which had whip marks on it which looked scarily real. I just spent about half an hour drooling. He looks like he's lost weight. Perhaps the camera does add 10 lbs. I then saw my friend who was being an extra in the film and he informed me that Kate was not there today but might be tomorrow and that he'd sat next to Michael Caine and found out (by overhearing) that Michael is trying to give up smoking. Anyway, I suggest any die hard Kate fans come up to Oxford. I'm not sure where they're shooting tomorrow as they don't tell the extras anything (though they do get paid £60 a day and 73.50 with over time). I shall be wondering the streets of Oxford tomorrow and keep you lot updated. ......"