GET A NEO LOOK KEANU

SURELY millionaire Hollywood hunk Keanu Reeves is able to afford some new clothes.

The 40-year-old, who plays snappy dresser Neo in the Matrix movie series, was snapped doing a spot of shopping in North London on Thursday in a pair of ripped jeans, a grubby grey T-shirt and shabby brown jacket.

But it's too bad he didn't pick some clean clobber, because that night he went out to dinner at posh Nobu restaurant wearing the same stained T-shirt and jacket, only changing his manky kecks.

We hope he didn't put the other customers off their food...

Exclusive Interview: Rob Cohen "Stealth"

Exclusive Interview: Rob Cohen
"Stealth"

Question: So what are... are you taking a break after this movie comes out or are you... �

Answer: I've been developing the 8th Voyage of Sinbad - a whole new... �

Question: As a live action film? �

Answer: Live action, Keanu Reeves, Xiang Xi �as a, you know, new, new saga of an Arab explorer in Asia in the 10th century. The idea of going back after all this ultra contemporary stuff and all of these issues in the real world I really have, you know, I have a big first-edition book collection of western exploration and, ah, ah, I have Captain Cook's diaries and the logs. It's just - to me the idea that these people who went out into the unknown and what happened when they met other cultures is just really fascinating... � �

Question: Are you doing it for Sony or is it... or you don't have a studio yet? �

Answer: It's Sony. �

Question: So you're looking at another three years.� �

Answer: Ahhh... yeah, probably.�(Laughter) �

Question: Ah, God, I'll be 52 by then.� I don't know if I can keep on doing this every three years... �

Answer: Oh, I don't want to tax you, Paul.� But I'll try to make it painless.�

Hot 'Constantine' tops DVD sales

Warner Home Video's "Constantine" has become the latest comic book-based movie to top the sales charts, entering VideoScan's First Alert chart at No. 1 its first week in stores. Another new release, Buena Vista Home Entertainment's "Ice Princess," took the No. 2 spot on the preliminary national sales chart for the week ending July 24, bumping last week's top seller, Warner's "Million Dollar Baby," to No. 3. "Constantine," which grossed $75.5 million in theaters, proved so popular at retail that while the regular DVD was ranked No. 1, the deluxe edition, which includes a comic book-and a heftier price tag-clocked in at No. 4. "Million Dollar Baby," however, remained the top renter for the week ending July 24, according to Home Media Retailing's rental chart, earning an additional $12 million to bring its two-week take to $27.4 million. (Thomas K. Arnold) FULL STORY

REEVES SHOCKS CROWD AT TINY JOSEPH ARTHUR GIG

Fans of up-and-coming rocker JOSEPH ARTHUR were astonished to see KEANU REEVES enjoying one of his gigs at an intimate venue in Manchester, England on Monday (25JUL05).

The MATRIX star is a close friend of the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, and travelled 320 kilometres (200 miles) from London to watch him in action at the intimate Night And Day cafe, before drinking tequila with amazed concert-goers after the performance.

Reeves said, "It's my first time in Manchester and I have had such an awesome time."

28/07/2005 01:57

Reeves attempts to join elite movie smokers

By NATE HENSLEY
July 28. 2005 6:01AM

I n "Constantine," Keanu Reeves valiantly attempts to enter the upper ranks of cool movie smokers.

He plays a man named John Constantine, cursed with psychic powers, who works Los Angeles as a freelance exorcist and ad-hoc consultant against the forces of evil. His love of killing half-breed demons is rivaled only by his love of cigarettes, and Constantine lights up a fresh one every time he walks into a room. Or out of a room. Or, when he does anything inside of a room.

At one point, he lights a smoke at the beginning of a scene, then sets it down, performs an exorcism and then hustles back to get the cig before it burns out.

And why does he smoke so much? Quite simply, because it looks cool.

There have been a handful of truly great movie smokers over the years. These are actors who use the cigarette like an accessory. They use the smoke as part of their character, playing with the way it obscures shadow and light. Others use smoking on-screen as a method-acting prop; they actually smoke the cigarette and enjoy it, and you can see this in their body language and on their faces.

Humphrey Bogart was a great movie smoker. His characters tended to be sharp and to the point, and he used a smoke like a tool. And how about Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats in "The Hustler?" The guy was a rolling fogbank masquerading as a pool shark, and possibly the coolest screen smoker ever.

Robert De Niro always smokes like he means it. Johnny Depp has smoked memorably in several films, but, in particular, his work with cigarettes in "The Ninth Gate" is stunning.

It is to this high standard that Reeves aspires in "Constantine." And though he does not make the Top 10 list for puffing coffin nails, it is a valiant effort, undermined only by the movie around it.

John Constantine works for the side of good, but he's certainly not a nice guy. His business picks up, and he senses something big coming, something end-of-the-world big. He takes a case helping a disillusioned cop (Rachel Weisz) unravel the mystery of her psychic twin sister's suicide and gets involved with demons, angels, half-breeds, living piles of pestilence, and the ever-popular Spear of Destiny.

If that wasn't an ugly enough prospect, Constantine has also been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. As he is told he has only weeks to live, he lights up a cigarette - big gold star for that scene.

"Constantine" is an interesting movie. Not a great one, not even a very good one, but interesting nonetheless. It's a paranormal detective story, a hellbound noir, that has a lot of fun with the darkness and shadows behind reality. The cast of supporting characters is fairly entertaining, as well, particularly Djimon Hounsou as Papa Midnite, owner of a bar for magicians and demons, and Peter Stormare, who plays the devil as an effeminate Southerner.

The movie starts to run out of steam in the second half. The ideas and attitude are slowly replaced by "Blade"-like action scenes and cheesy conflict resolution. And the ending is really pretty bad, enough to spoil what potential the film had. (Side note to comic fans - "Constantine" is based on a comic book, but changes so much about the story that original creator Alan Moore refused to acknowledge it as a real adaptation. Thus, nor will I.)

Still, it gets the smoking right. The character of John Constantine is a lifelong confirmed smoker, and Reeves does a pretty good job of getting that message across.

Keanu shows up in Night & Da

Mark Richardson

Keanu ReevesHOLLYWOOD hearthrob Keanu Reeves made a surprise appearance in Manchester last night when he turned up to watch Joseph Arthur at Night and Day.

New Yorker Arthur, who was the first rock artist to sign to Peter Gabriel's Real World label, is touring in support on his fifth album Our Shadows Will Remain.

Reeves, who was dabbled in music with his own band Dogstar, travelled up from London for the night.

Keanu sighting

Unexpected celebrity sighting: Keanu Reeves isn't on the TV critics press tour, but he was spotted, bearded and wearing a motorcycle helmet, getting coffee in the lobby of The Beverly Hilton this morning.

New Xbox Screenshots: The Matrix : Path of Neo

The Matrix : Path of Neo marks the second collaboration of Atari and its Shiny Entertainment development studio; the Wachowski Brothers, creators of The Matrix trilogy; and Joel Silver, producer of the trilogy. In May 2003, Atari released Enter The Matrix, a parallel timeline to The Matrix Reloaded and a bridge to The Matrix Revolutions, which debuted at #1 atop gaming charts around the world and has sold nearly 6 million units worldwide to date.

Set in the Matrix universe, The Matrix : Path of Neo will enable players to actually play as "Neo," the central character, and relive his most important and memorable scenarios from the complete film trilogy, including the original film, The Matrix. Throughout the game, the path the player takes to resolve each scenario and the resulting consequences will be scripted and directed by the Wachowski Brothers. The likenesses of all of the films' key actors -- including Keanu Reeves ("Neo"), Laurence Fishburne ("Morpheus"), Carrie-Ann Moss ("Trinity), and Hugo Weaving ("Agent Smith") -- will be featured in The Matrix : Path of Neo, which will also include footage from all three feature films, as well as The Animatrix.

Echo

Echo
USA (17 mins)

If nothing else, let the inspired casting of a movie star in the role of Narcissus draw you to the theatre. Reminiscent of Pasolini's Oedipus Rex, this superb short evokes the stark brutality of Greek myth through the story of Echo.

D/S Stephen Hamel P Stephen Hamel, Keanu Reeves WS Company Films TD video/B&W/2004/17mins

Sessions 3057 Greater Union, Saturday, 30 July at 7:15 PM [Buy Tickets] ::

Comic-Con 2005: Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly Panel

New details drop about the new Richard Linklater pic.

July 14, 2005 - Comic-Con attendees got their first exclusive look at Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly here in San Diego. More of the story unspooled today in an extended trailer created specifically for the Con and a three-minute clip starring Woody Harrelson, Wynona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, and a frenetic Robert Downey Jr. A Scanner Darkly is a Richard Linklater animated film using "interpolated rotoscoping," a technique where animators overlay existing live-action content. It's Linklater's second foray into the technique, having first dipped in for Waking Life.

The film is looking fantastic. In the three-minute sequence, Robert Downey Jr.'s character has just purchased what could be a stolen bike and goes home to ruminate on his purchase with his friends. What follows is the kind of staccato dialog that Linklater excels at. The animation is a step beyond that of Waking Life, with considerably more detail in facial expressions and movement, a conscious effort on the part of the animators.

Producers Tommy Pallotta and Lead Animators Sterling Allen, Evan Cagle, Nick Derrington, Christopher Jennings, and a Philip K. Dick "android" took questions from the audience. Things IGN has learned:

Filming was completed last year

Tentative release date of March 2006, but there is "another Keanu film" out around that same time. As for the release date constantly shifting, Pallotta says he believes that was because the studio initially set the date without checking in with them to see how long it was going to take to complete.

The actors worked for scale and so the entire production costs did not exceed $8 million dollar budget.

IGN sat down with Producer Pallotta for more details on the film. Interview coming soon.

-- Steven Horn

Sandra Bullock got married

Sandra Bullock, the 40-year-old actress, who shot to fame in the film Speed alongside Keanu Reeves, wed reality TV star Jesse James at the weekend.

Bullock wore a white, lace dress as the couple exchanged vows during a sunset ceremony at Folded Hills Ranch in California's Santa Ynez Valley. Her vintage ring was bought from jeweler-to-the-stars Neil Lane. Bullock presented her 36-year-old groom with a ring she fashioned herself after learning how to do metalwork.

More than 300 of the couple's friends and family attended what is being called ''the biggest Hollywood wedding in recent memory.'' Guests included ''Boston Legal'' nutjob William Shatner, actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Regina King, Metallica frontman James Hetfield.

The guests were shuttled by a fleet of buses to the ceremony from hotels in the beach resort of Santa Barbara, and weren't told they were there for a wedding until shortly before the ceremony took place. The pair arrived in a red monster truck with James driving.

Bullock's affair with James, 36, surprised many in Hollywood as she built her career on her sweet girl-next-door persona, while he is notorious for his bad-boy past.

A juvenile delinquent and ex-college football player, he worked as a bodyguard for stars such as Madonna, Slayer, Nirvana and Metallica before an injury forced him to quit. James is the founder of West Coast Choppers, which manufactures high-end motorcycles and includes a number of celebrity clients. He also produces and stars in The Discovery Channel's "Monster Garage."

James, 35, has been married twice before, most recently to adult-film star Janine Lindemulder. He has three children. For Bullock, who will turn 41 later this month, it's the first marriage. She was previously engaged to actor Tate Donovan and romantically linked to actor Matthew McConaughey.

The couple kept their romance low-profile, although they were spotted together on holiday last year in Hawaii, in her home town of Austin, Texas, and taking in a drag race near Las Vegas, Nevada.

After a year off, Bullock returned to the big screen this year with two films, comedy sequel Miss Congeniality 2: Armed And Fabulous and the racial drama Crash, due for release next month.

Cohen Defends Reeves As Sinbad

Rob Cohen, who will direct Keanu Reeves in the upcoming fantasy film The 8th Voyage of Sinbad, told SCI FI Wire that he believes the Matrix and Constantine star is perfect as the eighth-century hero Sinbad the Sailor, despite reactions to the contrary. Cohen added that Reeves is not too contemporary an actor to play the role, as some critics have said. "One of the things I love about Keanu is I've always found him a guy out of time," Cohen said while promoting his latest movie, the SF film Stealth. "Even in contemporary movies I find him kind of removed, not [like] the surfer-dude kind of thing he did [in the Bill and Ted movies]."

Cohen (Dragonheart) added: "Keanu has a depth that's sort of unknowable. He has an unknowableness, and I think that works really well for a hero who's sort of for the ages. You don't have all your questions answered, and it isn't completely obvious what's going on with him. Some people can say, 'Oh, well, it's vacant.' Or they're still stuck with what he did early in his career, like 'Duuuude' kind of acting. But I have seen him in a different way, that he has achieved an iconhood that is about this sort of drifting in his own universe, no matter what universe the story is in. And I think that's one of the keys to the hero in these mythic sagas. You know what they do, and you suspect you know why, but you're not exactly sure, and I think he has that dimension."

Cohen said that if all goes according to plan, production on The 8th Voyage of Sinbad should commence early next year.

Keanu draws the line

Everyone cuts the bathroom line at Bungalow 8 - everyone but Keanu Reeves.

The actor patiently waited for 15 minutes, while his girlfriend, Lynn Collins, nibbled at his neck. Drunken patrons kept cutting in front of the actor, who merely stood there like a gentleman, until one overly aggressive fellow jumped the line.

"Dude, whoa," Keanu drawled, sounding just like one of his Valley-boy characters. The dude bristled but, recognizing the "whoa," quietly retreated to the end of the line.

Enter The Bank Balance( Interview )

As much of a global smash hit as Enter The Matrix was, it's fair to say that it was hardly the game Matrix fans demanded. As Shiny boss Dave Perry himself admits in this revealing interview, you wouldn't get away with releasing a Batman game that didn't allow you to play as the Caped Crusader, and it's stating the obvious to note that gamers wanted to play as Neo.

Whether by accident or design, The Path Of Neo seemingly rights all the wrongs of that still-born game and finally puts players in full command of Neo, creating probably the most acrobatic videogame hero ever seen.

Set across all three Matrix movies, Shiny has had the luxury - and the curse - of having everything handed to them on a platter, with even the Wachowskis playing a close role in the game's conception and evolution as they did with Enter The Matrix. They've even filmed a new ending and provided a director's cut of the trilogy accessible throughout the game. We're not sure if that's the best movie/videogame association ever, or just evil marketing blackmail, but the game itself already looks very promising indeed; dare we suggest as close to what any Matrix fan could have dreamed? In time-honoured fashion, we grabbed Shiny boss Dave Perry to spill the pills.

AdvertisementEurogamer: Everything we've seen so far about The Path Of Neo suggests that it's the game you should have made two years ago.

Dave Perry: Yeah, exactly! [coy smile]

Eurogamer: What exactly is keeping the brand alive two years or more after the event?

Dave Perry: The thing about The Matrix [as a brand] is that it's been a lot of different things, not just three movies. Our game, Enter The Matrix, was just one. The Matrix Online was the most recent, but [the brand is] just this massive thing now. It is just like this giant rolling machine at this point. There are hardcore Matrix fans out there; there are a ton of books out there about the philosophy of The Matrix.

Eurogamer: Is The Matrix scene as serious as it appears from the outside?

Dave Perry: Yeah, it's getting really serious. Some people think they're actually living in The Matrix! [laughs]

Eurogamer: What was your favourite out of the movie trilogy?

Neo's rendered defenceless by the hexagonal sleeves.Dave Perry: My favourite was the first Matrix, you know, because there's so much to learn, and I like that. [At this point we're shown a video with Bill Gates, Steve Balmer and Bruno Bonnell dressed up in Matrix fancy dress, tragically]. You still see Matrix popping up all over the place. It's interesting, because after the third movie came out they released it onto DVD [and] the only thing stopping it from being number one was The Return Of The King - which was an awesome movie - but the thing that's interesting is that a lot of people are obviously still Matrix fans and are still buying Matrix stuff.

Warner Brothers itself seemed to get even more serious about games. They put Jason Hall, who's a game developer, in charge of Warner Interactive and they worked on The Matrix Online. They also got into the Keanu Reeves business and did a Constantine game with THQ [SCi in Europe - Ed's note].

We [Shiny] kind of went quiet. I had an interesting one. A magazine contacted me to see what had happened. They were doing an article on people who had left the videogames business - we were that quiet! And I was like 'no, no, I'm still here!' We've just basically been quite quiet.

Eurogamer: You used to be a lot more prolific back in the old days...

Dave Perry: Yeah I know. I'm kind of easing back a little bit. I had a child last year, and I'm getting older now, right? I'm 38, but still holding together, still having fun!

Eurogamer: What else did you do during this so-called quiet phase?

Dave Perry: Basically what we did was invested a lot in new technology and all that kind of stuff, so, yes, you can stop bullets in the air! The Wachowskis kept working and they're releasing their new movie 'V For Vendetta' - you'll have to keep an eye out for that - and that's going to be out in November, probably worldwide. They also have their own comic book company called Burlyman Entertainment, and they're making their own Matrix comic books. These are actually two different volumes of Matrix comics - it's pretty cool stuff.

One big question we had was if you make a Batman game, you want to play as Batman, and if I tell you that you can't be Batman in the game then you'd want to be Robin, and that's what happened with our last game. We told people you can't be Neo, and they said 'okay, so I'm Trinity then?' and we said 'no you can't be Trinity either', 'so I'm Morpheus then?' and it actually got worse than that. I've got friends who refused to play [Enter The Matrix] because they couldn't be Neo [laughs]. They were like 'I want to be Neo, I don't want to be anyone else!'

Eurogamer: The explanation from Atari reps at the time was that Neo was too powerful, and that wouldn't be a fun game to play. That's something of a U-turn.

Dave Perry: Well it was actually this: with the storyline, one was what Neo was doing, and one was what we were doing to fit in with that, so we couldn't be where he was. That was the reason.

The twister we have in The Path Of Neo is that the Wachowskis recently decided to work on this game. We actually did a deal to make sure that they would work on the game themselves, and that's the one thing that's very interesting, because in Hollywood all of the big directors are working on a game right now. You've got George Lucas with LucasArts, James Cameron, Peter Jackson's got King Kong, Steven Spielberg. The point is: all the big directors are here, but we have the only ones - which is fascinating - that will actually work on the game themselves.

Eurogamer: How much are the Wachowskis into videogames? Are they big gamers? They're not just saying that to make us feel better?

The noble art of facial levitation was new to Neo.Dave Perry: They are. They're big time gamers. They call me up saying 'hey man, I've just finished Halo 2', and I'm like 'I haven't even finished it!'

Eurogamer: What will the Wachowski brothers input be in The Path Of Neo? Is it more than the usual 'endorsed by' stuff we've seen?

Dave Perry: They're going to do a directors' cut of all three movies into The Path Of Neo. They never do any editing of their movie footage, so they've given it to us so it's going into the game. It's really quite exciting for us. For Matrix fans it's cool to see it; they do interesting cuts. For example, you'll see the spoon boy, and then he'll say 'It's not the spoon that bends, it's you yourself,' and then you see a cut of him bending over backwards, and they've done a really interesting edit of the whole thing. I thought that was great, but then they said: 'you know what; we're going to change the ending of the trilogy'. So we have a new ending, and this new ending is really dramatic and will make a great videogame ending instead of a movie ending.

Eurogamer: Interesting. It'll give the fans a real incentive to see what happens, and obviously an incentive to buy the game.

Dave Perry: Right. If you're a big Matrix fan, you have to buy it. The interesting point is that if you [finish] the game they'll actually talk to you. It's like 'huh!' The Wachowski brothers talk to you in a funny graphical style, and they'll tell you why they changed the end of the movie - which is great, because they never do any press or anything like that.

Eurogamer: Is it all cut together with real footage from the movies?

Dave Perry: Yes, and we're making some new movie footage for the end. We've got all of the characters, but we've also got the original Oracle. She passed away, I don't know if you know that. She died during Matrix Reloaded, and her family agreed to let her be in the game.

Eurogamer: So basically you can use any of the characters?

Dave Perry: Yes, but it's a blessing in disguise. Anyone who licenses anything in Hollywood, they do it one movie at a time; you do this movie, and do that movie and then this movie. Imagine if someone says: 'here, have the whole trilogy'. It's like if I said to you 'here have the whole trilogy of Star Wars'. You'd be, like, 'wow, that's great!', until you realise you have to build every character from all three movies. [As a result] we've had to sign everyone from all three movies. And - hold on a sec - they change costumes every other scene! I mean, how many costumes does everyone wear? It's a lot more work.

Eurogamer: Just how long are the in-game cinematics going to be?

"I'm sure my foot wasn't stuck to the pillar in the movie..."Dave Perry: The Path Of Neo will have an hour of cinematic story.

Eurogamer: But are the cinematics just recycled clips from the movie trilogy?

Dave Perry: No, there are new cinematics too. There's a 50-50 split of director's cut and new CG stuff we've created using the game engine.

Eurogamer: What other changes have you made to the core game?

Dave Perry: We also have a lot of new weapons - you can pull them off the wall, and there's pole fighting. We did a demo out in Berlin of the pole fighting. In one trailer there was 60 Smiths on-screen, but it's not enough. One of my programmers managed to get 750 Smiths on-screen on the PS2 at once with no frame drop at all.

Eurogamer: Do you think you've really nailed the PS2 now?

Dave Perry: I think we're really kicking butt on PS2 now. So we had 750 people with all the geometry of the level and the trees and all that stuff, and then I came back to my office and the programmer was still working on it, and he'd managed to add another layer on top and got it up to a quite ridiculous level - which is another 750. So that'll be the most amount of people you've probably ever seen on a PlayStation 2; 1500 people with no slowdown at all. If you think about it, with directors, I can now do a battle movie without any trouble at all - like a Lord Of The Rings.

Eurogamer: What other technical boundaries are you pushing?

Dave Perry: Well, for a The Path Of Neo is [one of] the first PS2 games to feature normal mapping. So although there's nothing on the wall, when the light moves you can see the glint on the bricks, and this is all done by software. We've really stepped it up on The Path Of Neo - the screen is re-rendered 19 times to make that happen.

Something the directors put in was the atmosphere, and the difference is staggering. There's lots of attention to detail; you can see all the reflections in the puddles, and when the camera moves you can see all the mist and stuff. It's the sort of thing that makes directors happy. We have depth-of-field effects as well; we can focus on any point in space so that one object can be in focus while the rest is out of focus.

On top of that we have Code Vision, the ability to take any part of the game, press a button and turn it into that cool Matrix-style code. It's all animated code; you'll even see reflections of the code in the code, which is kinda crazy. Interestingly, we have to actually work harder on the Xbox to handle all that code, because the Xbox doesn't like seeing through things. One more thing we have is rippling - when he hits the ground we have this effect that makes it go BOOOOM! It's a stunning-looking game.

Eurogamer: Coming back to Enter The Matrix: just how well did it do in the end, sales-wise?

Neo tries to work out which one's Morrissey.Dave Perry: Enter The Matrix sold nearly six million copies, so I figured if we're number one all over the world for our last game, we must be doing something right. I don't know what, but we must be doing something right! We were also number one in rental, and that was after it was released

It's interesting because videogames are starting to make the same kind of revenue that movies do, you know, and that's the stuff that should make Hollywood sit up and pay attention. ETM grossed $250m across the world.

Eurogamer: $250 million? How does that compare to other games?

Dave Perry: $250 million is high. It's very high [smiles].

Eurogamer: Presumably ETM is the biggest-grossing game you've ever worked on?

Dave Perry: Oh absolutely [huge smile].

Eurogamer: A bit more than Everyone's A Wally?

Dave Perry: Oh god, you remember those kind of games! You're old school!

Eurogamer: ...and Pyjamarama?

Dave Perry: Holy sh*t!

Eurogamer: Herbert's Dummy Run? There's a copy under the bed at home...

Dave Perry: Oh that's scary, you've gotta throw that one in the trash! Yeah that was my second game. My first professional game was making Pyjamarama for the Amstrad, and then I did Herbert's Dummy Run across everything, then I did Three Weeks In Paradise across all formats as well.

Eurogamer: Bring back Wally, that's what I say!

Dave Perry: Yeah, they were fun days [grins].

Eurogamer: Dave Perry, thank you.

The Path Of Neo is coming to the PS2 and Xbox from Atari later this year. Check back soon for our full hands-on first impressions.

Festival bill Grants us a line-up of major stars

GARETH EDWARDS

A STAR-STUDDED world premiere of Richard E Grant's directorial debut will mark the start of this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival.

The British star, perhaps still best known for his role in the classic comedy Withnail and I, will be joined by cast members Emily Watson, Gabriel Byrne and Julie Walters for the screening of his film Wah Wah.

The semi-autobiographical film follows the story of Grant's childhood in Swaziland at the end of the 60s, as it is about to receive independence from Great Britain.

The festival will close with another world premiere of an eagerly awaited British film, gangster flick The Business, directed by Nick Love.

Another stand-out event at the festival is the tenth anniversary of Mirrorball, which has championed the work of music video directors such as Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry.

As a special treat, this year's Mirrorball will have a few feature films including Mike Mills' Thumbsucker, starring Keanu Reeves and Tilda Swinton.

Elijah Wood will be promoting his latest movie Green Street, about English football hooligans, and American Pie star Jason Biggs is expected in the Capital to promote his film Guy X.

Mr Danielsen said: "We have a huge selection of British films covering all genres and it really is an unbelievably strong line-up.

"Edinburgh has certainly become the showcase for the best in British cinema."

Bookings for the festival, which runs from August 17 to August 28, can be made from Friday.

Keanu Forgetful of Co-star

Keanu Reeves has been particularly weird in interviews lately, and it’s not because of lackluster films following his opus The Matrix. In an eloquent interview with Vanity Fair, Keanu said, “I’ve had wonderful experiences. I mean really wonderful ... about life. You know what I mean? Relationships to nature. Relationships with the self. With other people. With events.” Whoa! Maybe what he really means to say is that he has a great relationship with Mary Jane since he was caught smoking a joint outside the Beverly Hills Hilton fire escape. At the Bewitched screening, Keanu was looking forgetful and frumpy as ever. So forgetful that, according to E! Online, he was spotted snuggling with an unknown dark-haired girl with an empty wine bottle —he must’ve forgotten about his girlfriend, blond Il Mare co-star Lynn Collins.

McGREGOR: 'I WOULD HAVE LOVED MATRIX ROLE'

EWAN McGREGOR is furious about rumours he turned down the lead role in the MATRIX movies - because he would have leaped at the chance to star in them.

The Scottish actor was reportedly offered the role of NEO in the sci-fi blockbusters - a part which eventually went to KEANU REEVES.

And McGregor is concerned his agents may have rejected it and not told him.

He tells PLAYBOY magazine, "I didn't turn it down. Not to my knowledge anyway. F**king people will hang if I did."

San Diego Comic-Con Line-Up

Its that time of year again. Every year San Diego plays host to 'Comic Con', officially the biggest comics convention in the world. Unofficially however it has become one of the biggest conventions in the world for premiere movie presentations with stars galore turning up to promote their upcoming films and projects with interviews, panels and never before seen footage. In recent years the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Angelina Jolie, Jude Law, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, Sam Raimi & James Cameron have all been on hand to talk about their projects.

This year the line-up remains stelar with the likes of Charlize Theron, The Rock, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz, Eva Mendez, Kate Beckinsale, Jack Black and Karl Urban alongside filmmaking luminaries Tony Scott, Kevin Smith, Darren Aronofsky, Bryan Singer, Richard Kelly, Joss Whedon, David Cronenberg, Jon Favreau and Joel Silver putting in appearances. Its going to be bigger than ever literally - months ahead of time practically every hotel/motel/flophouse across the city has been booked out, and with both another convention and baseball playoffs on that weekend - Friday & Saturday night are going to be one hell of a party.

Naturally I'm going to be there in person myself (this will be my fifth) to achieve two goals - to get utterly and repeatedly sloshed as usual, and to cover all the action. For those going feel free to come up and chat, you'll spot me either wandering the halls, at one of these presentations below or passed out in some bar around the Gaslamp or Horton Plaza area.

Anyway, here's a breakdown of all the key film and television related events taking place, hope to see you there. For the complete list which includes all comic presentations and minor discussion panels, click here. The San Diego Comic Con runs from July 14th-17th:

THURSDAY

[Snipped for Keanu]

1:30-2:30 Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly: The MovieLike a graphic novel come to life, A Scanner Darkly, based on the science fiction novel by author Philip K. Dick, will use live action photography overlaid with an advanced animation process (interpolated rotoscoping) to create a haunting, highly stylized vision of the future. The technology, first employed in Richard Linklater's 2001 film Waking Life, has evolved to produce even more emotional impact and detail. Appearing in person to present a look and discuss the creative process of this ground breaking film will be producer Tommy Pallotta and lead animators Sterling Allen, Evan Cagle, Nick Derington and Christopher Jennings. Also on the panel, in order to answer the question: "Do Androids Dream of Being Phil Dick?" will be Philip K. Dick in android form! Come and see for yourself ... he'll even answer your questions! Written for the screen and directed by Richard Linklater, the film stars Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder and Rory Cochrane, and will be released by Warner Independent pictures in 2006. Room 6CDEF

[Snipped for Keanu]

King of the road

New York's film-making community shares the aesthetic appreciation. Mackie has rebuilt a 1960s Triumph Tiger for the director Jim Jarmusch in the last couple of years. Hugh Grant's management company rented a Triumph Bonneville for the actor to ride on a fashion shoot last year, and Keanu Reeves always brings his Norton Commando to New York when he's filming here.

But the billions of dollars earned from The Matrix movies account for a particularly flavoursome tale of Mackie's celebrity biking pals. "Larry Fishburne is a bike guy, but has always been into more modern stuff than we deal with. But he knows Keanu Reeves is a huge Brit bike fan, who owns a couple of perfect Nortons," Mackie laughs. "When they were shooting The Matrix movies together, Larry decided he wanted to give Keanu a present and had me renovate this cracking wee BSA 250 for him, which I did.

"The complication came when Larry got home to his apartment one day to find that Keanu had secretly had 50 grand's worth of hi-fi equipment installed there as a gift. Now, this was a nice wee BSA, but, well, it wasn't quite in that league.

"So Larry kept the bike. I had it shipped down to his place in New Orleans and thought that was the end of it. Two months later the phone rang in the workshop, and someone shouted to me, 'It's that guy from The Matrix on the blower, sounding a bit out of puff!'

"I picked up the phone and, sure enough, it's Morpheus. Wants to know 'how the hell you're supposed to kick-start these f**kin' things'! He was stranded at a gas station about 50 miles outside the city. I had to go through the whole hot-starting procedure with him and coax him through it until the wee bike kindled up again. He was a good laugh and still rides it from time to time."

At 46 and married with two children, Mackie laughs at the idea of being considered a cult figure. "My work here has just begun," he protests. While there are old British bikes on many of the street corners in the East Village, he reckons he'll be happier when there's a machine on every corner and their riders become regular visitors to Sixth Street Specials. "Spreading the love" is how one of his cronies describes it.

And he has just started racing again - old souped-up BSAs, mostly - taking on stripped-down Harleys and Ducatis in what he calls outlaw racing, a competition with very few rules.

As he talks, his eyes fix on a scarlet Triumph that's revving up outside. Its owner, it transpires, comes from the American south, his neck matching the colour of his bike perfectly. He's heard great things about Sixth Street Specials and wonders if it's true that this whole Try Yumph thayng is a bit of a cult round these here parts.

Mackie chuckles out the door, delighted, as ever, to spread the word.

Think Stars Can Flee Hollywood and Hide Out in NYC? Well, Think Again!

Gossip 'n' Gab: Clearly, I'm in the right spot, because as we launch into dessert, Keanu Reeves arrives with a dark-haired girl, who, as far as I can tell, is not his supposed girlfriend and Il Mare costar Lynn Collins. That is, unless she suddenly dyed her hair black (but just a few days ago at the Bewitched premiere, she was California blond). Keanu, who looks uber-scruffy with disheveled hair and an unshaven puss, slouches into the booth, and the babe slides in next to him. They don't seem exceptionally lovey-dovey as they share a bottle of wine with their meal, but they are snuggled together in the booth. Time will tell, I'm sure.