Silk

November 9th 2010
- Mystery No.1: Why the people who made the currently-showing UK TV spot for London Boulevard have the word 'KIERA KNIGHTLEY' in big letters on the screen? Completely unacceptable to spell her name wrong now. She's hardly an unknown.
- Mystery No.2: Why the UK premiere of Silk is on Film4 on Friday December 3rd at 1.10 *AM* ?? This film will be seen by about as many people as saw it on its 24-screen UK cinema release. For one week.

August 10th 2009
It's easy to forget just how long some people have to wait for Keira's movies to come out. Silk has only this week been released in France (I hope they get a wider release than the UK did). Russia gets The Edge Of Love this Thursday 13th, while Brazilians will have to wait until November 27th.

August 26th 2008
Silk premieres in the US on MOMAXe at midnight on the 3rd.

March 14th
Silk is out on UK DVD on Monday. Order here.

March 10th
Silk won four awards at the Jutra Awards last night, celebrating the best in Quebec cinema (represented by director Francois Girard). It won Best Sound, Cinematography, Costume and Art Direction. Article.

January 29th
Silk has been nominated for Canadian movie technical awards, the Genies. It's up for Production Design, Costume Design, Sound, Cinematography and Score by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Winners will be announced on March 3rd.
As it virtually by-passed most cinemas, Keira fans will be interested to know that Silk will be out on DVD in North America on February 26th and March 3rd in Europe.

November 23rd
Figures I came across yesterday stated that Silk has been showing in the UK on just 24 screens. Was there any point in making this movie ? Keira's films will be going straight to DVD at this rate !

November 18th
The North American DVD of Silk will be released on February 26th.

November 9th
Silk opened in the UK today. Not that you'd notice - no premiere, no promotions of any kind. And the few reviews I've read have been atrocious to say the least. The Daily Mail gave it a grand total of 0 out of 5 stars, with most criticism levelled at the 'listless' Michael Pitt and the general feeling (a concern I voiced when the project was announced) that there's just not enough in the book to make it an interesting movie.

November 3rd
Silk debuted at No.8 in the Italian box office, taking $512,000 on 197 screens. Not fabulous, then, but still already halfway to the US total, as it only opened on 122 screens in the US and has now tallied $1,089,000 after seven weeks. Look out for a UK review on Film 2007 Tuesday night on BBC1.

October 18th
And two more stills from Silk.

October 5th
Silk is now playing at just 83 cinemas across the US and has a total tally of just under $700,000. It should fare much better in Japan, where it will premiere as part of the Tokyo Film Festival on October 28th. No sign of a UK premiere in Leicester Square's calendar, but the movie opens here on November 9th.

October 1st
Here's a Silk article featuring interviews with Keira and Francois Girard.

September 28th
Keira is due to attend the Rome Film Festival next month to promote Silk. Article.

September 15th
Silk's Friday debut in the US took in $388,000, Variety reports. It's only on 122 screens at present but it's still a poor $311 per screen. Eek.

September 14th
Well, Silk opened in the US today... to abysmal reviews. RottenTomatoes.com has only 12% positive reviews, compared with an unbeatable 100% positive reviews for Atonement. Even Roger Ebert, who predicted the Oscar nom for Keira's Lizzie Bennet describes Silk as "...languid, too languid...". They liked the scenery though. American citizens, do Keira the honour this weekend of going to see it ! It opens in the UK on November 9th.

September 12th
Another day, another premiere. Keira attended the world premiere of Silk at the same venue as the Atonement prem the previous day in Toronto. Co-stars Michael Pitt and Sei Ashina also attended. Pics here and here.

And a Silk interview from The Toronto Star.
Thanks Cassie

August 22nd
The Silk official site is now partly online.
Thanks Adam Reed

August 19th
The full Silk trailer has now been posted at Yahoo! Movies, but you'll just have to struggle with it in QuickTime on the site. I won't be ripping it for YouTube.
Thanks Caladonia

August 16th
Here is the first clip from Silk, courtesy of iVillage. View it on-site or on my YouTube page. Keira's character Helene has an American (or Canadian) accent, strangely. I rather imagined her accent to be, well, French.

And here are two variations on the poster for Silk: English - French-Canadian.
Thanks Caladonia

August 12th
Silk will be screened at the Tokyo Film Festival, taking place between October 20th and 28th. It was part-produced and filmed in Japan. A Canadian release has been set for September 21st, following a Special Presentation at the Toronto Film Festival. (Atonement will also be shown at Toronto). US release is still set for September 14th in limited release, opening wider in the following weeks. UK release is currently listed as November 9th. See the section on the left for the current release calendar. All dates are subject to change.

July 17th
And Silk has today been confirmed for the Toronto Film Festival, which takes place between September 6th and 15th.

July 3rd
And more from Silk too - see here.
Thanks Fliss

June 10th
BoxOfficeMojo is listing September 14th as the new US release date for Silk, which would make it the same day as Atonement in the UK.

May 16th
Here is the French-Canadian version of the Silk poster.

May 13th
Movie industry journal Playback is suggesting that Silk will be headliner at this year's Toronto Film Festival in September.

April 21st
Silk is now slotted in for an August 3rd release in the US (the same week as Bourne Ultimatum). The UK release should be around the same time, one month before Atonement. So the release calendar now looks like this:
May 25th - Global - Pirates AWE (previews on the 24th)
August 3rd - US & Others - Silk
September 14th - UK - Atonement
December 7th - US - Atonement
Best Time Of Our Lives - God knows, but at least it won't have Lindsay Lowlife :)

April 20th
Well the films for Cannes have been announced and there's no sign of Atonement or Silk....

April 10th
This Singapore newspaper claims that Silk will premiere (or at least be previewed) at Cannes, as well as Atonement. The final selection for this year's festival screenings will be announced around a week from now.

February 22nd
IMDb has new, earlier dates for the US release of both Silk (August 3rd) and Atonement (August 31st). Subject to change.

February 15th
Someone, known only as 'a source', has told the press about Keira's nude scenes in Silk. As long as that's not going to be the only selling point of the film, like her bum double in Domino turned out to be. Article.

February 11th
I'm very pleased to announce that the soundtrack for Silk has been composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto, winner of multiple Oscars, BAFTAs, Golden Globes and Grammy Awards, and familiar to me since my, ahem, younger days when he was one third of the Yellow Magic Orchestra and his subsequent work with my all-time fave band Japan and its frontman David Sylvian.

January 20th
The first teaser trailer for Silk has appeared online. Watch it here embedded (FlashVideo). I've made a downloadable copy in wmv here.
Thanks Elizabeth, Drew

The director Francois Girard talks briefly about Silk here.
Thanks Drew

November 26th
Playback magazine has an interview with Silk's DOP (director of photography). It's a subscription magazine but you can read the article in full on the Newsletter.

October 15th
Canadian cinema production newswire Playback have announced that Rhombus Media are now officially in post-production on Silk, and hope to have a final cut available by March. Clips and official shots should start appearing shortly after, to whet our appetites through the summer until its autumn release.

September 20th
For those interested in the evolution of films from page to screen, Variety has an interesting article on the ups and downs of getting Keira's next-but-one release Silk financed and filmed. Variety is subscription only, but you can read the article on the Newsletter.

May 1st
Filming on Pirates 3 resumes this week outside of LA. Not sure if Keira will be involved in that, but the Silk filming in Italy was due to finish at the weekend, and as those were the scenes set in France (the only scenes Keira's character is in, at least in the novel), she may well be done and dusted for her scenes as Helene. Rumour has it filming of Herve's journey now moves to the Toronto area.

April 14th
E!'s new celeb gossip show The Daily 10 has just shown this pic of Keira and Michael in wedding attire from the set of Silk. A deviation from the novel, I believe. Perhaps a scene-setter for the beginning of the movie, as she is already his wife before his journeys begin. Today's Daily Mirror also has a few pics from this scene, with the front page's eyecatching headline 'Keira Weds'.
Thanks David

Here's a French interview with Silk director Francois Girard, which Uncle Google has translated into English here.
Thanks Rayna (Michael Pitt fan site)

April 12th
Some more Silk pics have come to light. See them at WalkingInDaydreams.

April 11th
Justjared.com has the first pics of Keira on the set of Silk. Cassie from knightley-infos.com has uploaded them here.
Thanks Cassie

April 2nd

Pym from the Koji Yakusho fan site has found another Japanese behind-the-scenes page from the filming of Silk, which is now complete in Japan. Scroll down for short videos from the locations.

March 31st

Keira is now in Rome for rehearsals and filming of Silk in various parts of the country. Pics.

March 30th

There is a French interview with Michael Pitt about Silk here (Google translation here), and a gallery of production photos here. It's looking quite the epic already.
Thanks Pymmik

March 13th

Japanese actress Sei Ashina has been cast from among 800 hopefuls to be the beautiful Japanese woman whom Herve Joncour meets in the home of silkworm baron Hara Jubei in Silk, now filming in Japan. This is another departure from the novel as the woman in the story was of European descent. Jun Kunimura has been cast as Hara's manservant Umon. Miki Nakatani is confirmed as the brothel madam in France.
Thanks Pymmik's site.

So the cast now reads:
Herve Joncour - Michael Pitt
Helene Joncour - Keira Knightley
Baldabiou - Alfred Molina
Hara Jubei - Koji Yakusho
'Brothel Madam' - Miki Nakatani
'Concubine' - Sei Ashina
Umon - Jun Kunimura

March 10th

For those who, like me, had never heard of Michael Pitt before his casting opposite Keira in Silk, you can see this interview about his recent movie Last Days. I don't know about you but the guy looks and sounds like a complete junkie! I'll assume he's just tired. He's shattered my reading impression of Herve Joncour anyway :-)
Thanks Pymmik

March 2nd

More Silk tidbits from Pymmik:
- Another male character has been cast, Jun Kunimura (Kill Bill, Black Rain).
- The actress playing the concubine is yet to be announced, so it's not Miki Nakatani.
- A Japanese newspaper article has a photo of one of the sets in Iriyamabe which is active now until mid-March.
- Italian filming (those featuring Keira) will start in April in Rome, Sermoneta and the Northern region of Piemonte.
Thanks Pymmik

February 26th

Filming of Silk has started in Japan, in the Geibikei valley, the Iwate Nippo newspaper reports, and has a photo of the shoot. This scene is part of Herve's journey up-river to Hara Jubei's residence, after landing in Japan.
Thanks Pymmik

February 21st

Koji Yakusho fan site reports from a Japanese newspaper this week that his character name will be Hara Jubei, not Hara Kei as per the novel. It also confirms that Miki Nakatani will play the Japanese brothel Madam.

January 20th

ScreenInternational have become the first trade journal to acknowledge Silk today, with much more information, including the casting of Alfred Molina (Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man 2). Filming will take place from late February to late May. The full press release can be read on the Casting page.
Edit: Today's Variety now has much the same information, also to be found on the Casting page.

January 17th

An 'insider' who has read the current screenplay of Silk has emailed me to say that the concubine will be a Japanese woman, and not a European as per the original novel.

January 15th

We now have a translation of the Japanese newspaper report about Silk. They say it has a budget of Y2.2bn (around $20m) and that it will be released through New Line Cinema (as was Domino). However, it states that the lead, Mon. Joncour, falls in love with a Japanese woman while in Japan, not a European woman as per the novel. Perhaps this is Miki Nakatani's role ? More here.
Thanks Pym

January 14th

Here's one of a set of pics of Keira in Rome recently for a meeting about Silk. The guy in the specs is the movie's director Francois Girard.
Credit: Paul Burgman

January 13th

More information on the filming of Silk has been uncovered. The webmaster of a site dedicated to Japanese actor Koji Yakusho reports that a Japanese newspaper announced he and Miki Nakatani (Chaos, The Ring) will be starring in the movie and that it will be filmed in Sakata City from March 20th. Koji will likely play the silkworm baron Hara Kei, but Miki's character is less clear. The concubine, although living in Japan, is a Western woman. The only Japanese woman is a brothel madam living in France, but I, at least, interpreted her character to be of at least middle age, certainly not as young and beautiful as Miki.
I confirmed with Keira's agent earlier this week that Keira will be playing Helene Joncour, the stay-at-home French wife of the travelling silkworm smuggler Herve (and not the concubine, as had been variously rumoured). Although three-quarters of the novel is set in Japan - hence the decision to film in authentic settings rather than build a set in London or LA - none of Keira's scenes are, so they may be filmed elsewhere, as had the internal scenes. IMDb now has brief details, and includes France as a filming location.
Thanks Corey, Pym

January 8th

Keira was in Rome last week for a meeting with her future Silk co-star Michael Pitt and the movie's production company Fandango Pictures, who are based in the Italian capital.

January 4th

I finished reading Silk today and it's going to be very much Michael Pitt's film, the two women in the story are not very prominent at all. The story itself doesn't appear to be 'meaty' enough for a movie, so I'd guess the screenplay has 'padded out' the story somewhat.