Loose Women – 11th April, 2011

Here’s a video of Richard’s appearance on “Loose Women”

The Northerner, Guardian.co.uk – 5th April, 2011

Penrith fights to save its cinema. Harry Potter team and Withnail star Richard E Grant line up to buy shares. And why the M6 south of the town has just been a dodgy spot.

It can’t be bad to have Harry Potter on board, but Penrith still needs £600,000 plus to save its venerable Alhambra cinema.

Campaigners have until the end of the month to find the balance in donations or the sort of £50 share which the Potter saga’s director David Yates has bought; and which could secure admission to glitzy AGMs if the project succeeds.

Other sharebuyers include the visual effects supervisor of the Potter films, Tim Burke, and the actor Richard E Grant. They might not turn up to vote and have cups of tea once a year, but you never know. Grant still talks wistfully of tatty old Sleddale Hall in nearby Wet Sleddale which was Uncle Monty’s country cottage in the film Withnail and I.

Small town cinemas have enjoyed a revival in recent years, after their worst days in the late 20th century. Even little Ambleside has a flourishing one, as does Keswick, whose own Alhambra helped promote Keswick Film Club and premieres a season of members’ shorts. It seems a shame that bigger and bustlier Penrith may go dark; but the cinema’s owners say that their next-door bingo hall is losing too much money and it only makes sense to sell the entire building; probably to demolisher-developers.

The ‘save it’ campaign has just had a gala fund-raising evening, complete with a showing of Brief Encounter which was mostly filmed just down the West Coast main line at Carnforth train station. Tim Burke is doing his bit to spread the word via his Facebook page and says that closure would be “a tragedy for the people of Eden” – the otherwise appropriately Paradisiacal name for the Penrith area.

To help out with the fundraising, just click here.

Creation Studio Productions – 9th April, 2011

Creation Studio Productions recently showcased Madrigal the Secret Witch at Annecy, and as one of the only British animation studios with a stand, we had a great deal of critical acclaim and this led to us completing a pilot for the TV series, which is now currently under negotiation with several major networks and distributors

Madrigal The Secret Witch
based on the range of succesful book’s written by Elizabeth Webb, Madrigal is an every day dinner lady who holds a big secret that only the kids of Malaprop school know – she is a Secret Witch and none of the other adults can know.

Creation were commissioned to produce a pilot episode and bible and following a successful showcase at Annecy, we are currently pitching Madrigal the Secret Witch to major networks and disitributors throughout the World.

The following sections show more information and excerpts from the show…

Part 1 – The Opening Sequence
As part of a small series of videos, the following clip shows the opening titles for the show, Creation created the entire town of Malyprop, as well as the main builidngs which include a supermarket, shops and church, there are over 130 street lights, over 200 houses and nearly 400 trees and plants within the scene – although just the one bird!

The whole town took a little over a month to model and texture and the animation itself took several hours to render each frame due to the level of detail and lighting.

Part 2 – Madrigal Collects Ingredients
After receiving her first set of spells, Madrigal consults her spectacular spells book and ventures out to pick up the ingredients for her first spell.

This short sequence involved several detailed shots, and the rendering time of this section was the highest of the whole show due to the fact most of it takes place in the town and involves partical effects to create the magical cloud which flows behind Madrigal as she collects the ingredients.

Part 3 – Raz Wakes Up!
In this sequence Madrigal has just cast her first spell, to make a doll come to life. Razamataz springs to life, and it is soon obvious that he really is a bit of a clown!

To bring Raz to life our animators used a mixture of key frame animation and motion captured elements to add life to the living doll. Raz’s hair was created using the new fibre and furs system within Lightwave – as always with animation, we used a few editing tricks to hide the fact that we avoided hard dynamics for the fruit, and simply used quick cuts and keyframe animation to give the effect of the fruit being thrown from the bowl.

Part 4 – Raz is Bored
After being told off by Madrigal, Raz sits bored in the armchair, but it isn’t long before he has an idea!

For this sequence the animation was all keyframed animation, giving the necessary life and fun to the character. Although the plate falling could have been created with dynamic effects we decided to animate this by hand with keyframing to ensure the path of the plate matched the exact movement required for the shot.

After completing the pilot episode of Madrigal the Secret Witch, we pitched the show to various networks and distributors and held several private screenings of the show, all to critical acclaim. To help promote the show further we recently produced the following teaser, highlighting several shots from both the pilot episode and future episodes of the show.

Madrigal is a magical show aimed at 6-9 year olds. Narrated by Richard E Grant, the show follows the adventures of both Madrigal and the kids of Malyprop school and Razamataz her clown doll. We are currently going out to distributors and networks for acquisition, commissioning or co-production and if you would like to view the full screener, please contact us or alternatively please book an appointment to meet us at Annecy or Mipcom this year!

[pro-player image=’http://www.richard-e-grant.com/Multimedia/Films-TV-Theatre/Trailers/SottoilVestitoNienteLUltimaSfilataTrailer.jpg’]http://www.richard-e-grant.com/Multimedia/Films-TV-Theatre/Trailers/SottoilVestitoNienteLUltimaSfilataTrailer.flv[/pro-player]

NOTE: “Sotto il Vestito Niente – L’Ultima Sfilata” translates to “Nothing Under The Dress – The Last Parade” in English.

Sotto il Vestito Niente website – 9th April, 2011

Title: Nothing Under The Dress – The Last Parade
Genre: Thriller
Cast: Francesco Montinari, Vanessa Hessler, Richard E. Grant, Giselda Volodia, Virginie Marsan
Release Date: 25/03/2011
Country: Italy
Directed by: Carlo Vanzina
Duration of film: 96 min.
Production year: 2011
Distrubutor: Medusa
Official site: sottoilvestitoniente.libero.it /

Plot in a nutshell: In the parade of famous designer Frederick Marion (Richard E. Grant), the audience goes into raptures by Alexandra (Alexandra Burman), the beautiful supermodel years linked to the jaws of the couturier. To her that is a consecration and a triumph … But it will be the last parade. A few hours later, he is overwhelmed by a pirate of the road that runs away. To investigate the case, Inspector Vincent Malerba (Francesco Montanari), which is not convinced by the argument of the accident. Meanwhile, Marinoni replacing his late icon Alxandra with Britt (Vanessa Hessler), whose arrival creates rivalries and resentments within the family. The more jealous and Cris (Virginie Marsan), a model who was best friends with Alexandra. She thought she would take his place, and now meditates revenge. But I do not have time to put it into practice because it is killed by a mysterious murderess. The alleged culprits, suspected by the inspector Malerba, now many are …