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Focus Features Pays $10 Million for $9 Million Movie
23 January 2008 (StudioBriefing)
Focus Features has shelled out $10 million at the Sundance Film Festival for the comedy Hamlet 2, starring Steve Coogan, about a high-school drama coach who attempts to save the school's theater department with a sequel to the Shakespeare play. The film reportedly cost $9 million to produce. Reports said that the deal represented one of the biggest sales in the history of the festival and that the figure was clearly the most paid for any film at this year's edition. Today's (Wednesday) Wall Street Journal said that an all-night bidding war broke out following enthusiastic audience reaction at the film's screening. Focus CEO James Schamus told the newspaper that ordinarily his company likes to make its own films and has not bought a film at Sundance in three years. However, he said, "When our senior team walked out of that screening, every single one of them believed that it was a film that we needed to have."

Coogan Hits Out at Reports He's Responsible for Wilson's Decline
30 August 2007 (WENN)
British funnyman Steve Coogan is taking swift legal advice after he was accused of providing Owen Wilson with the hard drugs that sent the actor spiraling to an all-time low. The Life Aquatic star is now recovering from the confirmed suicide bid at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as speculation about his mental state circulates through the world's media. And now Coogan has been dragged into the controversy after Fox News claimed friends of Wilson's were blaming the actor's Night At The Museum co-star for getting him into drugs. The news report features a quote from Courtney Love, who reportedly dated Coogan. She says, "I tried to warn Owen... I hope from the bottom of my heart that Owen stays the hell away from that guy." But Coogan insists he's innocent to the charges he aided Wilson's decline, stating, "These accusations are unfounded, unhelpful and hurtful to all concerned." The Brit adds, "We are taking legal advice."

Coppola Film Jeered at Cannes
25 May 2006 (WENN)
Movie-maker Sofia Coppola has defended her new period drama Marie-Antoinette after it was booed during a press screening at the Cannes Film Festival Tuesday night. Despite admitting the response was "disappointing," Coppola insisted the Kirsten Dunst-starring movie was always going to provoke heated debate. She said, "It's better to get a reaction, it's better than a mediocre response. Hopefully some people will enjoy it. I think it's not for everybody." Coppola was defended at the festival by the film's stars Dunst, who also appeared in Coppola's The Virgin Suicides in 1999, and British actor Steve Coogan. Dunst said, "I like the movie and I'm really proud." Coogan added, "When you make something that's personal and specific it's inevitable that there will be some naysayers, and it's better to have that than just have a bland uniform response. I think it shows that Sofia is true to her voice. I've seen the film and it's consistent with all the qualities that make her films great in the past. People who like Sofia Coppola will love this film. People who don't won't but then they're not really under her radar anyway." The biopic of the tragic French queen premieres in Cannes tonight.

Critics Revolt at 'Marie Antoinette' Screening
24 May 2006 (StudioBriefing)
Many Cannes attendees had been forecasting that Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst, would turn out to be the sleeper at the festival. After an early screening for the press today (Wednesday), many agreed that it was a sleeper all right -- but in the wrong sense of the word. A thunder of boos erupted when the closing credits appeared, followed by a smattering of applause. At a news conference, Coppola insisted that she had intended to make a film that reflected life at the court of Versailles prior to the French Revolution and the life of the young queen in particular. She insisted that the film had no political intent (even though it argues that the French revolution was caused in large part by the costly decision of the king to send troops to America to support the colonists' revolt against the British). One reporter observed that it seemed ironic that $40 million had been lavished on a movie that depicts royal decadence. Co-star Steve Coogan responded that $40 million does not represent a decadent film budget.

Love Denies Pregnancy Claims
23 August 2005 (WENN)
Troubled rocker Courtney Love has slammed reports she is expecting English comedian Steve Coogan's baby, declaring their relationship is purely platonic. On Sunday, British newspaper News Of The World claimed Love had told the publication she is pregnant after a two-week affair with the funnyman in Los Angeles. The paper claimed Love had said, "Yes, I am pregnant with Steve's baby, but I'd rather not talk about our relationship." However, the 41-year-old singer has released an official statement through her management company, Sanctuary Artist Management, denying she is pregnant. The statement says, "Courtney Love wishes to make it clear that she denies recent stories suggesting she is pregnant or has had a relationship with Steve Coogan. She confirms that she and Steve are good friends and have met a few times in Los Angeles." Yesterday, I'm Alan Partridge star Coogan's spokesperson said, "He is astonished by this. It is ridiculous." Love was admitted to rehabilitation for her ongoing drug problem last Week after she admitted to a Los Angeles judge she had violated her probation for three separate cases.

Movie Reviews: 'Around the World in 80 Days'
16 June 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Reviews of the latest remake of Around the World in 80 Days are decidedly mixed. On the one hand, Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times is calling it "a jolly comedy made from the wheezy high concept." Stephen Holden in the New York Times calls it "a deliriously silly caper that goes out of its way to thumb its nose at logic." And Manohla Dargis in the Los Angeles Times writes glowingly that the movie "sails along on a slipstream of pleasant scenery, amusing incident and the boundless charms of its appealing leading men, Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan: It's an unexpectedly buoyant spectacular." On the other hand, Chris Kaltenbach writes in the Baltimore Sun: "Heaven knows what the suits at Disney were thinking, for what they ended up with was a bland Jackie Chan movie and a lifeless travelogue." Similarly Lou Lumenick writes in the New York Post that the film amounts to "an exceedingly lame vehicle for an increasingly tired-looking Jackie Chan. [It] might as well be called Around the World in 80 Yawns." Noting that the film reportedly cost $110 million to make, Stephen Hunter asks in the Washington Post: "How could they spend so much money and end up with something that looks so Orlando?" Liam Lacey in the Toronto Globe and Mail notes dolefully that while Disney bought the film and didn't produce it itself, it nevertheless "resonates with the Magic Kingdom experience." And Jack Mathews in the New York Post grumbles that the movie "is one of the lamest remakes of a classic film I've ever seen."

Schwarzenegger Says He Won't Mix Governing and Acting
9 October 2003 (StudioBriefing)
Arnold Schwarzenegger indicated Wednesday that he will not attempt to emulate the dual careers that Jesse Ventura juggled when he was governor of Minnesota and a sports announcer for NBC at the same time. "There will be no time for movies or anything else," he told a news conference. "My mind is not on movies at all." Schwarzenegger will be seen on screen while serving as California governor, however. He has a role in the new version of Around the World in 80 Days, starring Steve Coogan and Jackie Chan, which was financed -- to the tune of $110 million by Philip Anschutz's Walden Media. The film has yet to land a distributor. Reporting on Schwarzenegger's post-election news conference, today's (Thursday) Wall Street Journal observed: "A break in Mr. Schwarzenegger's movie career may be just as well, given the performance of many of his recent films."

U.K. TV Star Cast in New 'Around the World' Movie
12 February 2003 (StudioBriefing)
Steve Coogan, a popular British TV comedy star, has been set to play the role of Phileas Fogg in a new, $100-million movie version of Jules Verne's classic Around the World in Eighty Days, the British trade publication Screen International said on its website today (Wednesday). Jackie Chan has been signed to play Passepartout, and Frank Coraci (The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer) will direct. The film is being produced by Walden Media, a company backed by the theater and sports company The Anschutz Group.

Film Bio Of Peter Sellers In Works
27 August 2001 (StudioBriefing)
A British-American production team is developing a film about actor/comic Peter Sellers (the Pink Panther movies, Dr. Strangelove, Being There), who died in 1980, the London Sunday Times reported. The newspaper said that Kevin Spacey, along with British comics Steve Coogan and Ali G, are being considered for the Sellers role and that it will be directed by Stephen Frears (My Beautiful Laundrette, Dangerous Liaisons, Accidental Hero, High Fidelity). Suggesting that the film is intended for a pay-TV release, the Times said that two HBO writers are working on the script along with Lee Hall, the writer of Billy Elliot.