Alison Lohman Aboard Somebody Loves You 

Alison Lohman will star opposite Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth in Atom Egoyan's Somebody Loves You, reports Production Weekly. The film is an adaptation of Ruper Holmes' acclaimed novel, "Where the Truth Lies".

Lohman will play Karen, a young female journalist who tries to uncover the truth behind the breakup, years earlier, of a celebrated comedy team after the duo found a girl dead in their hotel room. Though both had airtight alibis and neither was accused, the incident put an end to their act.

The project will shoot on location in Toronto, Los Angeles and London starting August 30.

Atom Egoyan may be headed for mainstream with new star-filled film project

TORONTO (CP) - Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth in an Atom Egoyan film? 

Looks that way. The two international stars will be featured in Somebody Loves You, described as a "sumptuously seductive film noir" for which principal photography begins Aug. 30 in Toronto, Los Angeles and London. Based on a novel by Rupert Holmes, Somebody Loves You will be written and directed by Egoyan and produced by Robert Lantos's boutique company Serendipity Point Films. 

"I love this project," says Lantos. "Of all my collaborations with Atom Egoyan, it is my favourite. It is in-your-face provocative and at the same time delightfully intelligent." 

In what appears to be a departure from the Canadian filmmaker's art-house style, the Canada-U.K. co-production is a study of fame, fortune and the mores of sexual convention. 

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Virgo's Lie is hot but Egoyan's Love is cooler

Summer is always the busiest season for film production. In Canada, where the summer is as short as it is hot, that makes it busier than most. In terms of heat, the hottest production by far is Clement Virgo’s new film, Lie With Me, which started shooting in Toronto on June 16. 

Virgo co-wrote the screenplay with Tamara Faith Berger based on her “brazenly pornographic” novel. Mark Urman head of theatrical distribution for THINKFilm, which picked up world rights for the project, is already making comparisons with sensual sensations of the past. “Clement and Tamara’s script explores human sexuality with a bravery and honesty not seen on screen since Bertolucci’s Last Tango In Paris,” says. 

“We are thrilled to be in bed with such a provocative filmmaker and fully expect Clement, Tamara and their terrific actors [Eric Balfour and Lauren Lee Smith] to create the most honest, erotic and intimate film about sex ever made in North America.” No small feat.

Second perhaps in sensation but higher in prestige is the prospect of a new film from auteur Atom Egoyan. The heat is on the auteur and in more ways than one. His previous film, Ararat, a film that explored the historical impact of genocide, was critically lauded and created its share of controversy. But it didn’t perform at the box office. The new film, Somebody Loves You, is a clear departure from weighty subject matter. But it also offers an opportunity for Egoyan to break from the “intellectuals-only-need-watch” track his career has lead him. Based on the widely-admired novel by Broadway wunderkind Rupert Holmes, the story follows a young celebrity journalist as she tracks the secrets of a showbiz duo who were driven apart by a bizarre death in which one of them may have played the part of murderer. The deeper she digs the more she finds herself involved with both men and perhaps risking more than she bargained. The project offers some audience-friendly genre landmarks (1970s LA noir) with Egoyanesque touchstones like identity confusion. It’s the third novel Egoyan has adapted (the others were 1997’s The Sweet Hereafter and 1999’s Felicia’s Journey) but is by far the least depressing. The film starts shooting at the end of August under Egoyan’s long-time collaborator producer Robert Lantos, who is a third source of heat. After the failure Norman Jewison’s The Statement, Lantos’ Serendipity Point Films needs a hit.

 Thanks Anne

Egoyan recruits stars with big box-office pull

Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth in film noir

"After directing a movie about genocide and an opera from Wagner's Ring cycle, I thought I could use a bit of fun," says Atom Egoyan.

That's his explanation for what must rank as the most startling showbiz bulletin of the week. Collaborating with producer Robert Lantos (of Serendipity Point Films) for the fifth time, Egoyan will soon begin shooting Somebody Loves You — a $30 million film noir that sounds a lot more like mainstream Hollywood entertainment than the not-for-the-multiplex films for which Egoyan is best known.

Unlike other Egoyan movies, this one will have popular Hollywood stars — Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth as an American comedy team whose careers go into a tailspin as a result of a mysterious death.

"It may be different from what I've done before insofar as the main characters are popular entertainers," says Egoyan, speaking by cell phone yesterday during a camping trip in northern Ontario. "It's based on a novel that a Los Angeles agent had the imagination to think I might be interested in, and she was absolutely right." 

The book, Where The Truth Lies, published last year and recently released in paperback, is by Rupert Holmes, previously known as a man of the theatre. (Holmes won three Tony awards for his work on a musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens saga The Mystery Of Edwin Drood. Oddly enough, the 1979 pop hit "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" was also written — and sung — by Holmes.)

Egoyan wrote the adaptation. It's the third novel he has brought to the screen. Shooting of the film — a Canada/U.K. co-production — begins in Toronto at the end of August, moving later to L.A. and London.

"It's dark and sexy, and it makes my head spin," says Lantos, speaking by cell phone from a café in Vancouver on his way home from a fishing trip. "It's stylish, steamy and humorous, and it has smart banter between smart people. And while it reflects some of Atom's preoccupations, this is very much in the mainstream. It is going to be accessible to large audiences, not just cinephiles."

Certainly the presence of Bacon (right after his memorable work in Mystic River) and Firth (best known for Bridget Jones' Diary and Love, Actually) guarantees that this movie will draw the attention of moviegoers who do not hang out at the Carlton and the Cumberland.

Earlier collaborations between Lantos and Egoyan include Ararat, Felicia's Journey, The Sweet Hereafter (nominated for two Academy Awards) and Exotica.

Set in Los Angeles in the 1970s, the story is told from the point of view of a 20-something female celebrity journalist digging into the history of two comedians whose partnership ended years earlier when a girl's body was found in their hotel room while they were running a telethon. The role of the journalist has not yet been cast.

Serendipity Point is co-producing the movie with U.K.-based First Choice Films. The financing was set up by executive producer Donald A. Starr, a Canadian who moved to London and created new ways of using British tax laws. A few months ago, some of those methods were ruled out of bounds — causing the financing of several films to unravel. But because the Somebody Loves Me deal had already been approved, it was allowed to go forward. 
 thanks Wendy

Somebody Loves Firth and Bacon

Some comedy double acts seem born to perform together – Laurel and Hardy, Lemmon and Matthau, Firth and Bacon? The intriguing pairing will appear together in Atom Egoyan's Somebody Loves You, which he has adapted from Rupert Holmes' novel Where The Truth Lies. 

Readers of a less-than-art-house persuasion may not be familiar with the work of Atom Egoyan, but he's been something of a hero in indie circles since his hugely acclaimed 1997 film The Sweet Hereafter. This latest story looks much more accessible than most of his work, dealing as it does with a murder investigation.

The book follows a young female journalist prying into the death of a young woman in the hotel room of a celebrated comedy double act. While both had airtight alibis and were never accused of the murder, the journalist becomes intrigued by the fact that the two broke up immediately after discovering the corpse. The whole thing is apparently a film noir looking at the "underbelly of fame", so we're hoping for an LA Confidential style take on the darker side of glamour. Meanwhile, you can catch Kevin Bacon playing a paedophile in disturbing drama The Woodsman, and Colin Firth in Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason.

Thesps love 'Somebody'

Cathy Dunkley, Michael Fleming, STAFF
VARIETY

Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth have signed on to star in Atom Egoyan's next pic, "Somebody Loves You," produced by Robert Lantos' Serendipity Point Films.

Egoyan adapted Rupert Holmes' acclaimed novel "Where the Truth Lies" and will direct.

Book follows the story of a young female journalist who tries to uncover the truth behind the breakup, years earlier, of a celebrated comedy team after the duo found a girl dead in their hotel room. Though both had airtight alibis and neither was accused, the incident put an end to their act.

Pic is a film noir that digs deep into the underbelly of fame, fortune and the mores of sexual convention. It will shoot on location in Toronto, Los Angeles and London starting Aug. 30.

Pic marks the latest collaboration between Egoyan and producer Lantos, whose relationship dates back to 1991's "The Adjuster." The two recently teamed on Egoyan's pics "Ararat," "Felicia's Journey" and "The Sweet Hereafter."

Lantos is in post-production on "Being Julia," directed by Istvan Szabo and starring Annette Bening and Jeremy Irons.

Bacon, who recently starred in Clint Eastwood 's "Mystic River," will next be seen in Sundance favorite "The Woodsman," directed by Nicole Kassell. It will be released by Newmarket Film Group later this year.

Firth will next appear in Universal's upcoming sequel "Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason." He also recently wrapped production on Working Title's "Nanny McPhee," starring Emma Thompson .