"Becoming Jane" starring Anne Hathaway

by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE (July 25, 2007)
The latest feature film to tackle author Jane Austen is Julian Jarrold's "Becoming Jane" starring Anne Hathaway in the role of the writer during her early years. It follows Austen in her on-again-off-again romance with Tom Lefroy, played by James McAvoy, considering how the relationship might later affect her writing. Introducing the New York premiere at the Sunshine Cinema on the Lower East Side on Tuesday night, Miramax president Daniel Battsek praised the stunningly-outfitted Hathaway for her English accent, adding that he should know, being someone with "highly attuned British ears." Later, the actress good-naturedly shot some pool and hung out with friends and well-wishers during the low-key Bowery Hotel after-party. Sipping their Moet champagne at the bash, observers enviously commented on her recent good fortune acting alongside such hot leading men: Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback Mountain," Adrien Grenier in "The Devil Wears Prada" and now James McAvoy in "Becoming Jane." The film opens next week from Miramax. [Eugene Hernandez]

Ulrich Muhe star of "The Lives of Others"

From the iPOP Archive.] At the Toronto International Film Festival in September '06, is the late actor Ulrich Muhe (left), star of "The Lives of Others" with the film's director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (center) and Sony Pictures Classics co-president Tom Bernard. Muhe, an acclaimed German actor who played a Stasi agent in the movie, died earlier this week of stomach cancer at the age of 54, five months after the film won the Oscar for best foreign language film. The Associated Press reported that Muhe died in Walbeck, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, quoting a town mayor. "Germany mourns an outstanding artist and a great personality," wrote German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a condolence letter to Muhe's widow, according to Spiegel Online. In the Guardian Unlimited, Shane Danielsen noted that Muhe is well known in his home country for "The Last Witness" (Der Letzte Zeuge), "a TV show screened on ZDF about a pathologist that's widely regarded as Germany's best crime series. For nine seasons, as the fastidious, melancholy Dr Robert Kolmaar, he displayed the same qualities of watchfulness and intelligence he bought to his role in 'The Lives of Others' - arguably the finest screen performance of 2006..."

Heather Matarazzo ("Welcome to the Dollhouse")

Well-known for her role alongside Anne Hathaway (and Mandy Moore) in "The Princess Diaries," Heather Matarazzo ("Welcome to the Dollhouse") dropped in at The Bowery Hotel in Manhattan last night to toast Hathaway on her role in the upcoming Miramax film, "Becoming Jane." Notably, one guest casually observed that the premiere after-party "felt more like a NewFest party," given the pronounced presence of numerous gay men in attendance at the bash. How fitting considering that Matarazzo has just joined the board of NewFest: New York's queer film festival, as it prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary. After the party, many of the aforementioned gay men made their way across the street for New York's crowded weekly queer bash, Beige at Bowery Bar. (Others, however simply decided to call it a night and head home...) [Eugene Hernandez]