NEWS:  MARCH/APRIL 2015

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In an effort to keep fans updated on the filming of ALONE IN BERLIN, I will continue to post info and photos as they become available. International productions in Germany tend to be based at Studio Babelsberg outside Berlin but Vincent is shooting on location, presently in Görlitz on the German/Polish border. Apparently the city was never hit by WW II and it has retained its old charm. There is very little non-period signage, as it is not allowed, which makes it easy to set up a camera at any street corner and shoot a period picture with very little prep. Görlitz has recently also been used for "The Grand Budapest Hotel" as well as "The Book Thief".

Back at home, it was girls night out for Vincent's wife Karine and daughter Iman. Style, glamour and hospitality came together at The Peninsula Paris’ long-awaited official inauguration with over 1,000 guests and the finest food, wines and guest artists. Steeped in Parisian history, The Peninsula Paris opened its doors quietly in August 2014. However last night, the hotel celebrated its grand opening in a blaze of color, music and an international guest list. You can watch a short video here of their arrival. Iman looks like she was dragged to the event not enjoying the spotlight one bit. Definitely catatonic.

Filming for ALONE IN BERLIN is now taking place in Görlitz, Germany, where production will continue for two weeks. Along Emmerichstraße, one can see vintage vehicles and a butcher shop is being adapted for the film. Even the road is being changed. About 40 meters of asphalt was removed because Vincent wanted a cobblestone pavement in keeping with the time period. For costumes and make-up, the House of Crafts on Bahnhofstrasse has been selected, just a few hundred yards from Emmerichstraße. The townspeople think it's a bit strange to see uniformed men in the middle of Görlitz. Caravans are also lined up along the road, one reserved for the director.

Cast member Daniel Brühl is no stranger to this city for he previously filmed here when he starred in one of my favorite Quentin Tarantino movies, "Inglourious Basterds". Tomorrow is Emma Thompson's birthday so perhaps the production team will take time to celebrate her 56th birthday.

And here is our director with his stars, Daniel Brühl and Brendan Gleeson. I cannot identify the woman and the other man in this photo.

While her husband is in Germany, Karine is hanging out with the girls. On April 9th she attended the inauguration of another Comptoir des cotonniers boutique in Paris. In the first photo, she's posing with Comptoir creative director Anne Valérie Hash and Sarah Lavoine and, in the second, with Marie Poniatowski.

Here's another family photo taken on January 8th when Vincent had a portrait exhibition at the Galerie Cinéma rue Saint-Claude in Paris. That's 15-year-old daughter Iman on the left. The woman on the right is unidentified.

ALONE IN BERLIN has begun filming. I am thrilled for Vincent as he has awaited this day for years. He says, "It's been eight years since I began the fight to make this film and I never gave up." In a 2004 interview Vincent said that his bedside book was Hans Fallada's "Alone in Berlin", and two years later, he obtained the rights to the book and flew to LA to begin his hunt for producers. He believes the novel is a very important book in German literature. After reading it, he shared, "I felt what it was like to be living in Germany under the Third Reich. I understood how it was to deal with that pressure around you." Vincent's heritage is German on his mother's side and he discovered that his own family had resisted the Nazis and that his uncle had been gassed by them so he has taken a deep and personal interest in this project. Previously the plan was to shoot in German with a German-speaking cast, but in 2012, the decision was made to do the film in English. Joining the production team are cinematographer Christophe Beaucarne, production designer Jean-Vincent Puzos and editor Francois Gedigier. Vincent's goal is to have the film ready for the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

On March 19th Vincent's wife attended the Salon du Livre 2015 opening at Parc Des Expositions Porte de Versailles. Karine is photographed below with publisher Muriel Beye from Editis.

And on March 25th, she attended the Lumiere! preview at Le Grand Palais in Paris.

With only a week away before filming begins on ALONE IN BERLIN, it's no surprise that Vincent was a no-show at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. It had been previously announced that he would accompany director Mary McGuckian and actress Orla Brady for yesterday's premiere of "The Price of Desire". On the newsfront for the upcoming German film about to be directed by Vincent, the cast now includes British actress Emma Thompson, German actor Daniel Brühl, Irish actor Brendan Gleeson and Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt. A very international cast. And will they all speak with perfect German accents? I find it interesting that, like his director, Mr. Brühl's heritage is split between German and Spanish. He's a very fine actor. Production will begin on March 27th. Film locations will include Berlin, Cologne and Görlitz, where "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was filmed.  Wasn't that a deliriously funny movie!

The first review for "The Price of Desire" comes from film critic Darren Mooney who attended the premiere. Let's hope future reviews will be more positive. His comments include, "the script is credibly clunky. Characters don't talk in conversations or sentences; they offer trite clichés, "feels like a very rough first draft", and "McGuckian's direction is as awkward as her scripting." In conclusion, he writes, "The Price of Desire is an interesting idea that has been processed through to an abominable film. Both the script and the final edit both seem several long drafts away from being a functioning movie. There are a lot of potentially intriguing ideas here, but the movie lacks even the basic skill necessary to tie a functional flowing narrative together – let alone to develop ideas about the true meaning of art."  Ouch!

The second review comes from Spooool, the Irish source for film news and reviews - "We are led to believe Gray was a slave to her craft and would sacrifice all to the altar of architecture. Yet this is at odds with the core story of her relationship with Badovici. While certainly her relationships would have no doubt impacted on her work, we get a stereotypical portrayal of a woman besotted by her lover longing for his approval and reciprocation of her devotion... The costumes, look of the film and acting are all well worth enjoying. It is the material they have been presented with and ultimately how it has been sewn together and presented to us that is the film’s downfall. The blame for this rests solely at Mary McGuckian’s feet."