Little Intveriews from Cinema.com

Joaquin Phoenix Is A Maniac For The Camera

Joaquin Phoenix. "Gladiator" Premiere, Hollywood, 01/05/2000.Quiet GLADIATOR actor JOAQUIN PHOENIX is a maniac for work, acting in three movies back to back in the last 18 months.

He says that he loves the pressure of making movies but hates rehearsing. "When you roll that ******* camera it's magic. I'm gone and can't be held accountable. I'm a maniac for work. When I've got nothing to do I go a bit kooky. I just stay at home and swim and read scripts and play backgammon."

But he adds, "I've worked a lot this and last year,three in a row. I pushed myself physically and emotionally with just a week off between pictures, so I guess I need a bit of resting. But what I'd like now is a really big,stupid comedy where all I do is laugh. I feel that lying somewhere inside is a ley line of comedy waiting to be tapped."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joaquin's Just A Softie

Hollywood's heart-throb JOAQUIN PHOENIX has problems living up to his hardman image - because he feels he's a wimp.

The 8MM actor found it hard playing gang leader WILLIE GUTIERREZin new flick THE YARDS and spent his time on set hiding from theother actors.

He says, "I'm just a little wuss and my character was so not me. "I spent the whole time going 'F***, I'm with these really tough guys and they're from Queens and MARK (WAHLBERG) he's a real tough kid and they're going to beat me up cause they know I'm a fraud.'"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix'x Tattoo Mistake

JOAQUIN PHOENIX is regretting agreeing to his first tattoo -because it isn't the perfect circle that he wanted.

The GLADIATOR star opted to get a circle tattooed on his inner arm during a recent trip to Italy, but now he's upset he can't send it back. He says, "It isn't what I wanted. I went for a circle because I can add to it, so I drew this circle on a piece of paper and told the guy that's what I wanted. "He did it and it really hurt - there I was crying and bleeding, and after all that it wasn't a circle at all. It's confused. It's only a circle when I'm not stretching my arm, so who sees it?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Press Release: FilmFour Announce Start of Principal Photgraphy on BUFFALO SOLDIERS

FilmFour's Buffalo Soldiers, an action drama set on a US military base in Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, began principal photography on November 6 in southern Germany. Shooting will continue until 6th January 2001 in the Rhein-Neckar region, in and around the city of Karlsruhe.

Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator, The Yards), Ed Harris (Apollo 13, The Truman Show), Scott Glen (The Virgin Suicides, Silence of the Lambs) and Anna Paquin (X-Men, The Piano) head the cast of this dark and exciting drama. The film is directed by Gregor Jordan.

Set in West Germany in 1989 before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Buffalo Soldiers follows the misadventures of US Army Base Battalion clerk Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix). A scam and con-artist, Elwood runs a blackmarket operation behind the back of Supply and Logistics Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Wallace Berman (Ed Harris).

Elwood's illicit operation comes under threat when the military brass send in battle-hardened Commanding Sergeant, Robert Lee (Scott Glenn). Tensions heighten when Elwood learns that his new love Robyn (Anna Paquin) is Sergeant Lee's daughter. The film deals with a criminal subculture operating amonst US soldiers stationed in West Germany during the Cold War. In the tradition of MASH, Buffalo Soldiers is filled with black comic touches, strong characters and tense confrontations.

Buffalo Soldiers is directed by Australian Gregor Jordan, whose first feature Two Hands received five awards from the Australian Film Institute.

The script was co-written by Gregor Jordan, Nora Maccoby and Eric Weiss, and is based on the cult novel of the same title by Robert O'Connor.

Filmfour's Chief Executive Paul Webster said: "All of us at FilmFour are so proud of the filmmakers. We wish Gregor Jordan and his talented cast and crew all the best for the shoot."

Buffalo Soldiers is majority financed by UK production, sales and distribution company Filmfour and co-produced by Germany's Gorilla Entertainment. Producers are Rainer Grupe and Ariane Moody of Gorilla Entertainment. Executive producers are Paul Webster of Filmfour, James Schamus of Good Machine, New York and Reinhard Klooss of Odeon Pictures, Munich. UK financier Grosvenor Park and German regional funding board MFG are co-financing.