Keira Knightley’s Good Luck Card
Keira Knightley’s Good Luck Card
When she was snubbed in the Oscar nominations for her role in “Atonement,” some of Keira Knightly’s former school teachers decided to take action.
Reportedly a few of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actress’ high school teachers came together to wish her well at the upcoming BAFTAs with a good luck card.
One teacher from Teddington School told press, “We have kindly made a card to send to Keira Knightley, congratulating her on being nominated for a BAFTA for Atonement. We are disappointed that she missed out on an Oscar nomination. I know lots of the staff, who were here when she was a pupil, have very fond memories of her.”
And reportedly, the Domino starlet was the model student during her years at Teddington. “She was really hard working and never made a fuss when she was away filming. She just quietly made up the work and slipped back into school life. Most of the students at Teddington are very proud to be associated with Keira through the school. I am always being asked if I taught her and where she sat.”
Oscar-Winning Director Minghella Dead at 54
Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director of films including The English Patient, Cold Mountain and The Talented Mr. Ripley, has died. He was 54.
Minghella's death was confirmed Tuesday by his agent, Judy Daish. He reportedly suffered a brain hemorrhage at London's Charing Cross Hospital, following a routine operation on his neck.
The acclaimed helmer won the Academy Award for Best Director for 1996's The English Patient and was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film, which tallied nine Oscars in all, including Best Picture.
He picked up an additional Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Other notable films on his résumé include 1990's Truly, Madly, Deeply and last year's Michael Clayton, on which he served as executive producer.
More recently, Minghella was in Botswana working on a small-screen adaptation of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, on which he served as both director and writer.
Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose star in the project, which will debut this weekend as a 90-minute TV movie on the BBC. Based on the strength of the initial telepic, HBO has ordered 13 one-hour episodes of the drama to debut early next year.
Though Minghella originally intended to direct a feature film version of the novel, he ultimately acknowledged that it probably wouldn't be a good fit for the big screen.
"Because of the addiction to action in American cinema, the cut-to-the-chase excitement of American film, I think it's unlikely that this will work in a movie theater," Minghella told the New York Times in September.
"This is not an easy film to make. In fact it's been incredibly hard."
However, he went forward with the project in any case, calling it "one of those processes of slow seduction."
Up ahead, Minghella was attached to pen a segment for the anthology film New York, I Love You and was scheduled to direct the murder mystery The Ninth Life of Louis Drax, per IMDb.com.
House producer heading to Court K
Paul Attanasio, House executive producer, has conjured up a legal drama for Fox. The network greenlighted a one-hour pilot, Court K, which is set in Milwaukee and involves a judge, a prosecutor and a public defender. Just because it’s set in Milwaukee, don’t expect to see Laverne and Shirley.
Like House is not your typical medical drama, Court K will not be a typical lawyer show, not that Boston Legal is typical, but you know what I mean. Court K is reportedly a lot grittier, with sardonic, dark comic elements. We’ll have to see if any of the principals are hooked on Vicodan. I wonder if it’ll remind me of the movie …And Justice For All, which was also a dark comic look at a Baltimore courthouse. But then, wasn’t that Night Court, too?
Attanasio is an interesting and prolific writer. He was once the film critic for the Washington Post before breaking into movies by writing the screenplay for Robert Redford’s Quiz Show in 1985. He won an Oscar nomination for that script, and another for Donnie Brasco in 1998. On TV, though, he really made his mark writing for Homicide: Life on the Streets and Gideon’s Crossing — so you could say he and Andre Braugher had a good thing going.
In 2006, he split his time producing House by writing the screenplay for The Good German, but even George Clooney couldn’t make that picture watchable.
Roy Scheider dead at 75
He’s best known for his role as Police Chief Martin Brody in the first two Jaws films, but Roy Scheider had a long television career as well.
He played Captain Nathan Bridger on Seaquest DSV in the mid-90s, and also had a regular role on Third Watch. His other TV appearances included spots on Law and Order: CI, Cannon, Saturday Night Live, Coronet Blue, Love of Life, The Edge of Night, and the TV movie Assignment: Munich. His other film roles include All That Jazz (a role that got him a Best Actor Oscar), The French Connection (an Oscar nomination), Klute, Marathon Man, Sorcerer, The Men’s Club, Naked Lunch, The Peacekeeper, The Rainmaker, and two movies that are still in production, Dark Honeymoon and Iron Cross.
He died on Sunday in Little Rock, AR at age 75.