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11/17/04 - Snaps from the DVD Movie review: Owen shines in 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead' - Jeff Strickler, Star Tribune (CA). Thanks, Jannie Excellent, insightful review of ISWID thanks to Mike Ray Pride at Movie City News: (Scroll) A Hard Man is Good to Find Thanks, Mike From Mike: Ebert & Roeper have given I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD, TWO THUMBS WAY UP. The program is scheduled to air on ABC, Saturday, July 10. Here is part of their commentary:
Good review at SF Gate: Former criminal dips back into old life - Mike Hodges on familiar turf with stylish drama Excellent audio review of ISWID at NPR by LA Times Kenneth Turan. Metroactive Movies - Review of ISWID - Thanks, Jannie The SF Chronicle on Mike Hodges: REAWAKENED CAREER GOES ON WITH 'SLEEP' Excellent review at the LA Times - Thanks, Mike The Catholic News Service: "Superb British actor Owen is quite sympathetic in his powerfully taciturn way, and you can really feel his conflict as he tries to suppress his desire for revenge of his beloved brother while resisting going back to his criminal ways." Thanks, Jannie 7/2/04 - Perceptive review from the Washington Post Film Critic.com: "...By tossing the normally lithe and urbane Owen out in the woods, covered in scruffy facial hair and shapeless, Paul Bunyan-like outfit, Hodges has made a pretty daring choice – it’s like putting Cary Grant in overalls." From a not so great review of ISWID at NY Press - on Clive in Croupier... "Owen held it together. An up-and-coming star whose glacial machismo seemed to predate feminist thought, Owen regarded other characters (women especially) with a poker-faced fascination that hid his character's true feelings—or made you wonder if he had any. He smoked more than he talked and didn't care if anybody liked him. You liked him."
Meta Critic's page of reviews for ISWID E! on line - film openings: "...In limited release the highest per-screen average belonged to Paramount Classic's R-rated I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. The British crime caper, starring Clive Owen and directed by Mike Hodges, averaged $7,232 at just two sites to tally $14,463." 6/21/04 -- From Mike: "I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD had its first US opening in New York this weekend and business is very promising. Reviews from most of the key outlets have been very good which bodes well for this challenging, gripping film. Will be forwarding the most interesting press as it appears. ISWID opens in LA, Washington and Chicago on July 2 and will be playing in most of the key cities by the end of the summer. The UK release, which opened April 30, continues." Well thought out review of ISWID from Slant Magazine. Thanks, Mike From Mike: Film shows at the LA Film Festival Monday the 21st. Google links to all the ISWID reviews 6/18 - Two reviews for ISWID - The NY Times (...The grim pleasures of "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" — the parts that will keep you awake as you're watching and filter into dreams later on — are the things that creep in around the edges of the story: the feeling of London at night, the fog of melancholy and menace that seeps into every scene, and the wounded watchfulness of Mr. Owen's eyes as he moves toward the kill.") - and Salon. ("...He can't bring himself to go anywhere near the city, and the mere thought of doing so fills him with anxiety. Owen is a subtle, intense actor: You can't see his quaking, but you can feel it as if it were in Sensurround.") Thanks, "Kapsm@aol.com" Time Magazine 6/21/04 issue -- Stylish Revenge - I'll Sleep When I'm Dead finds menace in jarring rhythms and edgy violence Article on Mike Hodges in the NY Times for Sunday, 6/13 (ISWID opens this week in NYC) The NY Times - Terrance Rafferty on ISWID -- "...Like the implacable Carter, Will Graham is so narrowly focused on his mission that he never blinks. Literally. (Mr. Owen may be even more unnervingly cool here than he was in Mr. Hodges's 2000 sleeper "Croupier.")" 5/9 - NY Times - Auguat 20: I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD In the movies, master criminals have a hard time being able to retire. In this thriller, directed by Mike Hodges, one London gangster, Will Graham (Clive Owen), has given it all up to live in the woods. But when his brother (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) is killed, Will heads for the city to seek revenge. Charlotte Rampling plays Will's restaurateur ex-lover, and Malcolm McDowell is the bad guy among bad guys. 5/8 - Film Force: I'll Sleep Trailer -- Clive kicks butt in I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. Trailer in Quick Time HERE - Thanks, Alice 5/3/04 - More reviews from the UK thanks to Chris 5/2/04 - Thanks to Gill -- Sunday Times Culture Magazine: "I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead 15, 103 mins -- From the director of Get Carter (Mike Hodges) comes another Get Carter rip-off that could have been called: Get the Nonce Who Shagged My Brother. Former hardman Will Graham (Clive Owen) has come out of the rural wilderness and back to London to find out why his brother Davey (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) committed suicide. When Will learns that Davey was raped by a man, he wants revenge. Trevor Preston’s ponderous, pretentious script is full of half-formed characters and clichés. The theme is masculinity, and guess what, ’ard geezers have a bit of a problem with gay sex — well, blow me down. Charlotte Rampling pops up for no reason at all. A pointless film that should have gone straight to video. No star - Cosmo Landesman" 4/30/04 - The Guardian - Hodges and ISWID -- The return of the outsider 4/29/04 - Evening Standard Review thanks to Paul F 4/25/04 - Scotsman so so review: "A strong, granite-like presence, Owen does his best to match the emotional numbness of his character, and even brings conviction to some of the deadpan dialogue." 4/24/04 - The Guardian - Interview with Malcolm McDowell (mention of ISWID) Sight and Sound May 2004: Tough guys don't dream - Mike Hodges' 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead' has a hard man out to avenge his brother's death. Its similarity to 'Get Carter' ends there, says Ryan Gilbey - "...Owen, on the other hand, renders the breaches of Will's hard-nut exterior as violations no less cataclysmic for being muted. When Will discovers from the coroner that Davey was raped, Owen offers nothing more than a slow parting of the lips and a fleeting thunderclap of incredulity. It's a fine piece of minimalist acting...," Thanks, John R David Mamet - The Guardian, 11/28/03 - Black for good According to RopeofSilicon.com, the film will be released in LA and NYC on Aug 20, 2004 2/17/04 - Favorable mini-review for the Oregon Film Festival Ray Price at Movie City News on ISWID: "Clive Owen holds the screen like Sean Connery and Cary Grant combined." 1/20/04 - Stella's report on the ISWID (BBC) [not flattering] The Sundance Festival 2004 filming schedule 9/16/03 - Review at AICN from the Toronto festival. Thanks, padawan A review of ISWID at Z Review: "...I am beginning to admire Owen a lot; he plays cold, unemotional characters that also seem to care deeply about some things. Some people just don’t feel the need to express all of their innermost feelings. Pay close attention to his excellent timing; he knows how, and when, to talk, so we get the message, and he has not needed to make any grand gestures." Again, thanks, padawan
Publicity Photos from Romantic Movies - About.com. (Sample above) Thanks, Padawan I'll Sleep When I'm Dead is filming at the Toronto Festival (September 9 and 13) -- "...Hodges’s gangster films are restrained, subdued and spare. Not for him the baroque excesses or elaborate bloodfests of recent additions to the genre; this director is much more intrigued by the inexorable logic of fatalism that underlies the material, as well as in the physical locations in which his stories play out. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead is a compact, no-nonsense film that shows us a London we rarely see on screen anymore; a London of dank side streets, underpasses and cobblestone walkways, all carefully chosen to build a specific mood and tone and to stand at odds with the city’s sleek, contemporary image. Hodges never panders to the image of his high-profile cast (which includes Clive Owen, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Charlotte Rampling and Malcolm McDowell) – their taut performances are superb while befitting the film’s muscular aims. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead is for the true connoisseur, a tight, well-made, evocative piece of filmmaking that is completely sure of every step it takes." 8/27/03 -Excellent Review of I'll Sleep When I'm Dead from the Hollywood Reporter. "...Already noted for "Croupier" and currently filming the title role in "King Arthur," Owen has a star-making role here -- handsome, intelligent and all coiled anger -- and he grabs it. He's already been tipped as the next James Bond, and though he may be too big a star by the time Pierce Brosnan steps down, there's a scene in "When I'm Dead," where Graham emerges clean-shaven and expensively tailored, that suggests 007 is his for the taking." 8/27/03: Thanks to Gillian for her report on the film and the Hodges Q & A iofilm review of ISWID Thanks, Alice Review of ISWID from The Independent Thanks, Chris T iofilm festival diary: Mutual Appreciation Society Screen stars Jonathan
Rhys Meyers (Velvet Goldmine, Bend It Like Beckham) and Clive Owen (The
Bourne Identity, Gosford Park) came along for the press conference of
I’ll Sleep When I’m The Guardian Review: "...Played out against a south London landscape of lock-up garages and sweeping headlights, this stars Clive Owen as a reformed hard man who returns from self-imposed exile to investigate his brother's suicide. Owen is the sort of actor who splits an audience: what fans see as daringly minimalist can strike others as wooden, verging on the comatose. Yet here he appears to have found his perfect fit. His monotone delivery and 1,000-yard stare are just right for the role of Will, a grey husk of a man, blasted by a breakdown and living out of the back of a van. Owen makes a still, quiet centre for the other players (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers's strutting little brother, Charlotte Rampling's jaded restaurateur and toxic, tuxedoed Malcolm McDowell) to circle around." |
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Left:
6/21 - At the ISWID Premiere in LA. Thanks, Paul
Dead.
The two sung the praises of director Mike Hodges (Get Carter, The Terminal
Man, Croupier), saying that he was kind and gentle and the best director
that they’d ever had the pleasure of working for, couldn’t
remember a nicer, more stress free film set etc etc ad nauseum. In fact,
it went on so much that Hodges himself chipped in, saying, "Perhaps
this is when we should all just take our clothes off and start embracing
or something!" As for Jonathan Rhys-Meyers’ broody, dark
and troubled performance in the film, it turns out that he actually
had a stomach ulcer as they were filming and some of those pained facial
expressions were not just good acting – more like real life agony.
Rather confusingly, the film’s scriptwriter, Trevor Preston wanted
to point out that despite the film’s violence, revenge plot and
male rape scenes (all discussed at length during the press conference),
he was adamant that the film was NOT a male rape film, a gangster film
or a revenge film. Righto. Clear as mud then.