Both Sue W and Denise sent me this review of Otherwise Engaged at exactly the same minute. It’s from the BBC website and I’ve included an excerpt below:

“It could just be first-night nerves but the visible expiration of air by Richard E Grant during the curtain call of the opening night seemed to suggest this fine actor’s first stage appearance for the best part of 10 years had been a bit of an ordeal.

He needn’t have worried. The play – set in that period when the world seemed to change irrevocably, the mid 1970s – stands up well, while his own performance as Simon Hench, the sophisticated, Wagner-loving publisher, is rarely less than spot on.”

To read more, click here.

We also have a few reviews of Wah-Wah from various sources. The first (sourced by Sue W) is from a blogger called Dan Cunningham who enthusiastically gave the film two thumbs up. You can read that here.

Anne told us about a review at AintItCool.com which was also quite glowing. You can read that one here.

More reviews soon. Thanks guys.

I’m finally getting around to putting up some of the backlogged stuff I’ve had here for a while now. Todays offerings are from Wah-Wah, REG’s latest film offering which was written and directed by him.

First off we have part of the Edinburgh Film Festival Guide which Pat scanned and typed up for The Temple. It includes a cool article about Wah-Wah – which just happened to be the opening film at this year’s event. You can see that here.

Next, Denise gives us a transcript from an interview with Richard that she saw on BBC2. You can check that out here.

And finally a report on the Wah-Wah premiere from the Empire Online website, which you can check out here. This one is also courtesy of Denise.

More to come soon. Thanks guys.

The new Temple redesign is almost complete. The pictures section is up and running again as well as the fan stuff (REGiment). The Books section is the last to come but it shouldn’t be that long now. Apart from that there are a couple of single pages and then a bit of a cleanup. I’m organizing all the backlogged updates so there’ll be plenty of new stuff heading this way in the coming months.

Speaking of pics, Stargazer sent me the above pics of Richard’s character, Barkis Bittern, from Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride which is currently screening in the U.S.

Also just a reminder (via Sue W) that there’s been a few new REG related DVD releases in the past month or so – Most notably Twelfth Night, Monsieur N (English and French at different times throughout the film with English subtitles), Hard Times and Tooth. All releases are region 1 (U.S.A. and Canada).

I’d also like to point out that DVD’s and videos can can be bought direct from Amazon via the Filmography section of the site. I’ll set up some links to REG’s films from the “Buy Stuff” section as well in the next week or so.

Thanks guys.

News from the Toronto Film Festival…

Roadside Attractions picked up North American distribution rights to “Wah-Wah,” while Hopscotch Films will handle the distribution for Australia and New Zealand.

With an ensemble cast that includes Gabriel Byrne, Julie Walters, Miranda Richardson and Nicholas Hoult, “Wah-Wah” is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story set during the last gasp of the British Empire in Swaziland.

The film was produced by Loma Nasha Prods. and Scion Films in association with DV8 Films and with the support of the South African Department of Trade and Industry.

The deals were negotiated by Joy Wong, head of the Works International, which handles sales on the title; Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff of Roadside Attractions, and Troy Lum and Sandie Don for Hopscotch.

“Richard E. Grant has made a beautiful, heartfelt film filled with stunning performances by the cream of British acting talent,” Cohen said. Roadside plans to release the film in mid-2006.

Thanks to Sue W for the news.

I received this info from Susan Getgood about a current eBay auction featuring REG (and others). Details below:

Hewlett-Packard is sponsoring a charity auction of 40 signed celebrity photographs taken at the recent Toronto Film Festival, and one of the featured photos is of Richard (the complete list is at the bottom).

The auction for his photo ends September 29th. The winning bidder will get the autographed photo and an HP Photosmart 375 Compact printer, also signed by REG.

The proceeds from the auction will benefit the American Red Cross (www.redcross.org) and DATA, (www.data.org) the not-for-profit organization co-founded by U2 lead singer Bono.

You can find the auction at http://www.ebay.com/hp. Be sure to scroll down to the middle of the auction page. When you “click for more images” you’ll be taken to a slide show that shows the autograph on both the photo and the printer.
Complete List:
There are two groups of photos in the auction. Here is the complete list of stars in the auction, with the dates people will be able to bid on the photo.

September 12-22
Anne Hathaway
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Elle Macpherson
Zooey Deschanel
Robin Wright Penn

September 19-29
Alan Cumming
Anthony Hopkins
Cameron Crowe
Elijah Wood
Eva Longoria
Felicity Huffman
Forest Whitaker
Freddy Rodriguez
Gabriel Byrne
Greg Kinnear
Gretchen Mol
Isabella Rossellini
Kate Hudson
Kevin Bacon
Kurt Russell
Liev Schreiber
Miranda Richardson
Pierce Brosnan
Ray Liotta
Richard E. Grant
Bono
the Trust the Man cast:
Bart Freundlich
David Duchovny
Eva Mendes
James LeGros
Julianne Moore
Maggie Gyllenhaal
the Edison cast:
LL Cool J
Piper Perabo
Dylan McDermott
Justin Timberlake
Morgan Freeman

Thanks to Susan Getgood for the news.