DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

In the sixties and seventies, when making films about contemporary reality in Spain was a tricky option given the energetic activities of Franco’s censor, a number of directors developed a nice little line in international revenue with English-language (or dubbed) horror movies whose budgets were substantial by local standards, minimal in international terms.

For a while, thanks to the work of genre masters like Jesus (Jess) Franco and Jorge Grau, Spain was home to a certain kind of horror flick: stylish, gory and erotic in equal measure. Now, some 30 years later, expanding Spanish mini-major Filmax has returned to the source, putting together a stylish package which stands a pretty good chance of getting international distribution.

The highest-profile film in the package, set in a dark and brooding house in a remote part of the Spanish countryside, went into production in April. It is called Darkness, and is directed by Jaume Balaguero, whose last film was a stylish, scary little number called Sin nombre (Nameless).

That film, however, didn’t boast much in the way of name cast. Darkness does. Heading the line-up are Oscar-winner Anna Paquin (seen most recently in X-Men) and Lena Olin, who recently appeared in husband Bille August’s Chocolat. Also cast, along with a number of Spanish actors, are Iain Glen and Giancarlo Giannini, whose most recent international outings have been Tomb Raider and Hannibal respectively.

Miramax’s Dimension Films - which recently took a step up the status ladder itself with Spy Kids - will be distributing Darkness in all English-speaking territories.

TIME OUT

When ‘another director’ is called in, it’s usually because the original one turns out to be useless, has gone way over budget or has fallen out with the star. Those who remember The Double will know that even helmers of the stature of Roman Polanski are not immune to this fate.

But with the new version of The Time Machine, this is apparently not quite the case. The original director - Simon Wells, great grandson of HG Wells, who wrote the novel - has indeed been temporarily replaced, but that is reportedly because he collapsed from exhaustion with three weeks of principal photography to go. Warner Bros and DreamWorks had to bring in Gore Verbinski (a real chameleon director, having come to Time Machine by way of Mouse Hunt and The Mexican) to finish shooting for him. Wells will be back for post-production, according to the studio.

The film, which stars Guy Pearce, Jeremy Irons and Mark Addy, began shooting on February 5, paused at the beginning of May and wrapped in early June. It is expected to be a Christmas 2001 release.

AND FINALLY...

Just to recap on the casting of About a Boy, about which this boy seems to have been spreading rumours since (at least) Christmas. The Working Title film - which went into production in mid-April with the Weitz brothers (American Pie) behind the camera - stars (as it has always been going to) Hugh Grant as the serial womaniser who forms a bond with the 12-year-old son of one conquest, then finds it hard to move on to the next.

The former (the mum) is being played by Toni Collette (not Emma Thompson), with Rachel Weisz segueing from her derring do exploits in The Mummy Returns and her harrowing wartime experiences in Stalingrad in Enemy at the Gates to play the girl with whom he falls in love. There will now be no further mention of this film until it qualifies for the ‘Coming Soon’ pages of Preview.