Film Focus

Video: Reel Review: Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire

Xan Brooks on Danny Boyle's new feel-good film that follows a boy from the slums of Mumbai to bright lights of the Indian version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'.

Watchmen producer sends open letter to judge

His name is at the centre of a high-profile legal battle over the future of Watchmen, the forthcoming big screen adaptation of the celebrated 1986 graphic novel. But producer Lawrence Gordon is refusing to accept that the current debacle, which could see the $150m movie miss its planned March 6 release slot, is in any way his fault.

Gordon yesterday fired off an open letter to Los Angeles judge Gary Feess claiming he had been subjected to "significant public scorn" for his part in the legal case. Feess is responsible for deciding whether studio Fox has a legal interest in Watchmen, which has been developed by rival Warner Bros. Fox says that it does, and cites a 1991 "turnaround" agreement which its lawyers say gives it a legal claim to any movie adaptation of Watchmen.

Gordon, it is claimed, shopped the property to Warner and others without paying Fox for the development work it had put into its own planned version, which was eventually never filmed.

But in his letter, Gordon claims he does not recall any conversations with Fox in 1994 relating to Watchmen. He blames the studio and his lawyers at the time, and he says he was unaware of an agreement that granted Fox distribution rights to the film and a share of profits if he took it elsewhere.

Feess has already ruled that Gordon is not a party to the case and should not have his voice heard on the issue because he had "refused to testify" to key questions during his deposition to the court. The judge refused to read the letter out yesterday.

The court is due to decide on January 20 whether to proceed to a full trial for damages or grant an injunction halting Watchmen's release until it has been decided who owns what rights to the film.

Could Bafta's Rising Star award turn Brit wannabes into Hollywood titans?

On the face of it, winning Bafta's Rising Star award is just about the best thing a struggling young actor can do if he or she wants to set themselves on the gilded path towards Hollywood fame and fortune. Just look at the past recipients: James McAvoy, now a bona fide Hollywood star thanks to the success of Wanted and Atonement, won in 2006, while 2007's winner was Eva Green of Casino Royale and The Golden Compass. Shia LaBeouf, who won last year, has been one of 2008's biggest box office draws with a headlining role in the thriller Eagle Eye and a supporting turn in the latest Indiana Jones adventure.

Did winning the gong do anything to help the careers of the above? Of course not: the award, which is the only Bafta voted for by members of the public (via text message), is simply a convenient rubber stamp which can be handed out to anyone vaguely young and modish who looks like they might be doing rather well for themselves. Vital sponsorship cash is sourced, and crucially the award doesn't clash with any of the established Bafta categories. Everybody wins.

Yesterday it was announced that three Brits and an Irishman who has been one of homegrown cinema's most compelling recent performers are up for this year's award. Toby Kebbell, so memorable as Joy Division manager Rob Gretton in Control, Adulthood's Noel Clarke, and Frost/Nixon's Rebecca Hall join Michael Fassbender, who appeared as the Hunger striker Bobby Sands in Steve McQueen's Hunger. The token north American is Canadian Michael Cera, the Superbad star who's become Hollywood's go-to guy for geeky teen cool.

To be fair, while the Rising Star award itself may be a little opportunistic, this year's list of nominees is a pretty classy bunch. One suspects that Cera is the frontrunner, provided the great British textarati can work out how to spell his name. Those in the know might plump for Fassbender, whose emaciated turn in Hunger has been sending judders through critical cerebral cortexes since its Cannes debut, and who was also excellent as a gas-guzzler-driving suitor menaced by 'orrible chavs in the widely-praised Brit horror Eden Lake.

Kebbell, whose Pete Doherty aping turn as a crack-addicted singer in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla was probably seen by enough of the target voting audience to give him a fair stab at the gong, was on hand to accept his nomination at Bafta's Piccadilly HQ. No, he protests, he doesn't especially fancy a career like LaBeouf's.

"I'm quite happy playing sideline, character parts at the moment, because I'm learning. I think that when my face matures I'll actually be able to take the roles I want to take."

Clarke, the former Doctor Who sidekick who has been nominated for writing, directing and starring in Adulthood, the follow up to his 2006 tale of urban disaffection, Kidulthood, has also turned up to meet and greet the assembled press corps. Isn't he, at 33, a bit on the elderly side to be in the running?

"I think I was just in the age bracket," he says. "But I do feel that these other actors are already pretty established and doing great and amazing work, and I think I'm probably still 'rising', so maybe that's why I'm in."

Was he surprised at the success of Adulthood, which last year battled it out for several weeks with the likes of Sex and the City, Indiana Jones and The Incredible Hulk at the top of the British box office chart.

"I was. It convinced a lot of people that we weren't just glamourising that life: we were showing that even if you come from these areas you can do something creative with your life. You don't just have to give up and do things you shouldn't be doing. Hard work and dedication is something that can actually get you somewhere."

There's a tenacity and pleasantness about Clarke that means despite his advanced age, you wouldn't bet against him defying the odds and rising even further up the movie ladder.

But what's your take? Have Bafta winnowed wisely? Or is the whole business just a joke?

Chinese director sets 1bn yuan box-office record

Feng Xiaogang has become the first Chinese director to earn more than 1bn yuan (£95m) at the box office, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

While western audiences are more likely to be aware of the big-budget martial arts epics of his compatriot Zhang Yimou, Feng ploughs his own furrow with assistance from the Chinese government, which has been increasing investment in homegrown films in the past few years to help them compete with Hollywood's efforts as well as movies from US-backed Hong Kong studios.

Feng specialises in a genre known as the "hesui pian" (Chinese New Year films): usually lighthearted, feelgood films that arrive in time for the festive period.

He passed the 1bn yuan milestone after his latest film, If You Are the One, took more than 310m yuan (£29.5m) in China. It marks a return to the style for which the director is best known after his 2007 war film Assembly, and features his longtime collaborator Ge You.

The 50-year-old director, who never attended film school and began his career as an army theatre troupe scene painter, is proud to admit his commercial leanings.

"A film is like a cup of wine," he once said. "I'm trying to ensure that the audience gets the most fun and inspiration from the screen. But I would never make a movie to win an award."

Feng's films are usually approved in their entirety by China's strict censors, unlike many western films, which are often cut for theatrical release. While his work is popular in Hong Kong, Taiwan and south-east Asia, If You Are the One is unlikely to get a European release. Feng's lavish 2006 costume drama, The Banquet, made it to the UK under the title Legend of the Black Scorpion, as did Assembly. But they failed to take much at the box office, and experts predict the already small market for Chinese fare in Europe may shrink further in the current economic climate.

Video: Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire takes home five awards at the Critics' Choice awards
Danny Boyle's Mumbai melodrama bags five awards at the star-studded ceremony in Santa Monica