Naomi will be jetting over to France to attend some parties at Cannes in the next week! Read about the other Cannes parties here and here.

May 17: Women in Film event in collaboration with Calvin Klein
Diane Kruger, Naomi Watts, Jessica Chastain and Ludivine Sagnier are just some of the A-listers set to attend the second annual Women in Film event hosted by the Independent Filmmaker Project, Calvin Klein Collection and Euphoria Calvin Klein. Hosted by Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP, the event celebrates notable female directors, actresses, and producers.

May 23: de Grisogono’s gala dinner
Naomi Watts will be the ambassador of this year’s de Grisogono’s gala dinner at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc. The event always attracts some of the music industry’s biggest rising talents, with hip-hop star Taio Cruz and DJ Julio Santo Domingo set to provide entertainment this year.

Showing ‘Mothers’ love

French mini-major Gaumont has closed a raft of sales on Anne Fontaine’s “Two Mothers,” a Australia-set drama-romance toplining Naomi Watts and Robin Wright.

In the runup to Cannes, the $16 million pic sold to Italy’s BIM, Israel’s United King Films, Hungary’s Budapest Film, Singapore’s Cathay and Lithuania’s Acme. Gaumont previously sold the film to Switzerland (Pathe) and Canada (Remstar). Hopscotch and Gaumont will release in Australia and France, respectively.

CAA, which reps Watts and Wright, is representing the film’s sales in the U.S.

Christopher Hampton, whose credits include “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Atonement,” wrote the screenplay, based on Doris Lessing’s 1997 Nobel Prize-winning novel “The Grandmothers.”

Decribed as an erotic tale, “Two Mothers” stars Watts and Wright as lifelong pals whose deep friendship is tested when they engage in affairs with each other’s sons.

Lensed in Australia, the high-profile drama toplines a flurry of local stars, notably “Animal Kingdom” thesp duo Ben Mendelsohn and James Frecheville, Sophie Lowe (“The Slap”), Xavier Samuel (“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”) and vet thesp Gary Sweet (“Small Time Gangster”).

Fontaine, a thesp-turned-helmer, is well-known on the international scene. Her 2009′s Audrey Tautou starrer “Coco Before Chanel” was nommed for an Oscar and four BAFTAs. It grossed $50.8 million worldwide.

Pic is produced by Philippe Carcassonne at Cine@, Dominique Besnehard at MonVoisin, and Andrew Mason at Australia’s Hopscotch Features, which is owned by eOne. Gaumont is a co-producer.

“Two Mothers” finished shooting and will soon go into post. Delivery is scheduled for early 2013.

Gaumont’s international sales team, which comprises topper Cecile Gaget, Yohann Comte and Adeline Falampin (who just joined the shingle from TF1 Intl.), will unveil a promo reel Thursday.

- Variety

Belgium-U.S. production and sales group Corsan has come on board as a producer and financer of Third Person, the new drama from two-time Oscar winner Paul Haggis (Crash).

The drama features three interlocking storylines, all love stories set in Rome, Paris and New York. Liam Neeson is set to star as a journalist opposite Olivia Wilde playing a New York gossip columnist. Naomi Watts is also believed to be attached. The film is currently in pre-production with principle photography set to begin in September.

“Third Person is a script where life can change on the turn of the page,” said Haggis in a statement. “It is a project that Liam and I identified to work on together and then finding the right financier became the key that we were looking for to unlock what we hope is a great film. Sitting with (Corsan CEO) Paul (Breuls) and seeing that he shared our vision made going forward with Corsan the obvious choice.”

Under the deal, Corsan World Sales will represent all international rights for Third Person, while CAA and Paradigm co-represent the domestic rights.

Third Person is only the latest high-profile title Corsan has taken on. The company’s Cannes slate also includes Robert de Niro/John Travolta-starrer Killing Season from Daredevil director Mark Steven Johnson, which Corsan is producing together with Millennium Films; the period thriller Emperor from The Devil’s Double team of director Lee Tamahori and writer Michael Thomas; the time travel adventure film Singularity from director Roland Joffe starring Josh Hartnett and the Chet Baker biopic The Prince of Cool, which Corsan CEO Paul Breuls is set to direct.

- hollywoodreporter.com

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) today launched a new campaign, “Believe it. Do it.”, aimed at bringing attention and action to the global goal of ending new HIV infections among children by 2015 and ensuring mothers living with HIV remain healthy.

Each year, about 390 000 children become newly infected with HIV and as many as 42 000 women living with HIV die from complications relating to HIV and pregnancy.

In 2011, world leaders at the United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS committed to ending new HIV infections among children by 2015 and saving mothers’ lives. A bold new global plan was adopted and action is underway.

“We have an amazing opportunity to change the world,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “We have the commitment of world leaders but the clock is ticking and we cannot get from 390 000 to zero without you.”

UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassadors Naomi Watts and Annie Lennox are among the personalities adding their voices and commitment to “Believe it. Do it.” In addition, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Whoopi Goldberg joined Blair Underwood, Denis O’Hare, Alexandra Wentworth, George Stephanopoulos and Sujean Rim to create a public service announcement for the campaign with the message “I believe children everywhere can be born free from HIV—Believe it. Do it.”

Under the premise that ‘every day is Mother’s Day!’ UNAIDS also teamed up with artist Sujean Rim to create a series of e-cards celebrating families. Through public service announcements, an interactive web site and social media outreach, the campaign asks the public to take three simple actions:

Get the facts about ending new HIV infections among children
Send a message about the issue and the actions people can all take
Support a mother through one of the great organizations working with families

The campaign will be featured ahead of Mother’s Day on 11 May on the American morning television show Good Morning America and the 30-second public service announcement will appear on CNN International, CNN Domestic (U.S. market) as well as other media outlets.

For more information visit http://www.unaids.org/believeitdoit/

Sunlight Jr. will be revealed to the industry this month at the Marche Du Film, which is the largest film marketing event taking place alongside the Cannes Film Festival. Apparently it the largest market for film distribution deals in the world. A promotional reel/extended trailer will be shown to potential international distributors at the festival.

I don’t know whether this means it will be screened to the press, or just to industry buyers, and I don’t know whether this means that Naomi will be at Cannes to promote the film. I guess we will find out more soon. It’s great that the film is being unveiled at this festival, and I hope it gets bought quickly!

The gritty, inspirational drama SUNLIGHT JR. will be unveiled to international buyers by Hyde Park International at this year’s Marche du Film (the business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival). Written and directed by the award-winning Laurie Collyer (SHERRYBABY) and starring Naomi Watts (J. EDGAR, KING KONG), Matt Dillon (CRASH, THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY) and Norman Reedus (THE BOONDOCK SAINTS, THE WALKING DEAD). The film is produced by Original Media’s Charlie Corwin (HALF NELSON, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE), Freight Yard Films’ Andrea Roa and Ariel Elia, who is producing on behalf of Empyrean Pictures. Joshua Skurla and Dan Klabin are executive producers for Empyrean, which fully financed the film, and are joined by Simon Fawcett (HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLE, IN THE LOOP) as executive producer.

SUNLIGHT JR. is currently in post-production and a promo will be shown at Cannes. Shot on location in southern Florida, the story spotlights hard-working convenience store clerk Melissa (Naomi Watts) and her paraplegic boyfriend, Richie (Matt Dillon), who are trapped in a generational cycle of poverty and ignorance. They are genuinely excited, however, once they learn that Melissa is pregnant. But when she loses her job and they are evicted from the motel they live in, things go from bad to worse. Through this adversity, the couple realizes that they can never lose everything as long as they have each other.

Continue reading this entry » »

As all our other content sections are now ‘complete’, it’s just the Naomi section that remains to be re-added and worked on, and so today I have started on that. I’ve re-added the first 4 pages in that section – Astrology Reports, Awards & Nominations, Bernard Pivot Quiz, and the Biography. After several years in the works, the Biography has now been properly started – I’ve been working hard today to put together information on the first half of Naomi’s life and career, and have now completed it up til 2001. This is an original, exclusively written biography by me for our fansite, so firstly please do not redistribute it, and secondly, I’m trying to fill it up to make it as accurate and interesting as possible so I hope you enjoy reading it!

So have a read of these pages if you’re interested, and check back soon for more Naomi section pages to be re-added, including the rest of the Biography…

Naomi will reportedly be attending the Met Ball in New York City tonight, which is the biggest fashion event of the year. Naomi has attended several times over the years (including in 2005, when she met Liev!), and has always wowed with her fashion choices there. This year, for the first time, the red carpet arrivals are being streamed online for fans to watch, and you can try to catch a glimpse of Naomi by watching the stream between 6:30pm and 8:30pm EDT (US) by clicking the link below.

We will have photos and any tidbits etc. from the big event for you tomorrow

EDITED on May 8th: Turns out I and my source were wrong about the Met Ball – it seems that Naomi did not attend, unfortunately!

Naomi Watts has been added to the cast of Paul Haggis’s THIRD PERSON.

The film follows three couples around the world dealing with problems. Watts is the third confirmed cast member for the film, joining previously cast Liam Neeson and Olivia Wilde. Although Watts herself is British, it is conceivable that she may be playing an Australian character in order to offset American Wilde and Irishman Neeson and give the film a broader feel.

With Haggis directing, writing and sharing producing credit, it’s almost certain that the film will be dramatic and dark. Watts is no stranger to heavy roles, having starred in such unrelenting dramas as “Eastern Promises” and “21 Grams”, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination.

Michael Nozik will produce the film with Haggis for Hwy61 Films. Production is scheduled to begin in the fall, with shooting taking place in Rome, New York, and Budapest.

Watts is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.

- tracking-board.com

The Becker Film Group has just acquired Australian and New Zealand rights to Caught in Flight, the film in which Naomi Watts is to play Princess Diana.

The UK film is scheduled to go into production in July and is the first to be represented internationally by sales and financing company Embankment Films, which has already made sales to more than 40 territories.

“From my perspective, Princess Diana is one of the great stories of our time, and Naomi Watts has a great profile in Australia and I hope she will come out and support the release,” said Richard Becker.

The film is a love story between Princess Diana and heart surgeon Dr Hasnat Khan to be directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, who made Downfall. The producers are Robert Bernstein and Douglas Rae of Ecosse Films, and the script has been written by Stephen Jeffreys.

- Read the full article at IF.com.au

Back in December, we saw Naomi on the cover of West East magazine, but unfortunately didn’t see or hear anything else from the magazine … until now! I’ve now come across four fantastic photos from the shoot taken for the magazine. As we saw from the cover, Naomi was styled as Marilyn Monroe for the photoshoot, presumably because of the reports that she will star in the Marilyn biopic Blonde – the status of which is still unknown. Naomi recreates several famous Marilyn poses in the photoshoot, and she looks amazing! Check out our exclusive shots in the Gallery…

• 2011 – Session #008 x4