Filming for Cemetery Junction (fka Men at the Pru) Starts in June

From Empire Online:

But [Ricky Gervais] was all up for discussing his next projects, which include his directorial debut The Invention Of Lying and Cemetry Junction, which is fast becoming Brideshead Revisited 2, having recently cast Matthew Goode and Felicity Jones for the 70s insurance dramedy: “We are in pre-production now and start filming the first week of June. It’s myself, Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, Matthew Goode and a whole new cast. It’s about a group of twenty-somethings, so we’ve started again like we did with The Office and we’ve found this great new talent: that’s the most exciting bit for me really. I play the romantic lead’s dad. It’s gotten to that point already. I missed out on the bit where I was romantic lead and jumped straight to old codger.”

Chéri Premiere Video

Brief interview with Felicity at 1:00.

Chéri Premiere Photos

Felicity with co-star Rupert Friend, director Stephen Frears and writer Christopher Hampton at the Chéri premiere, Cine Lumiere, London, May 6, 2009.

Click to enlarge thumbnails.

Much improved look from her first red carpet appearance. Her hair looks great now the bangs have grown some.

(Photos: The Fashion Spot and Empire Online.)

Felicity on Cemetery Junction

on Cemetery Junction (aka The Men at the Pru): “Ricky and Stephen are very funny, as you would expect. I just thought 'I’m not going to focus on the fact that I am auditioning for the comic geniuses of our time'. You sort of go into this strange mode of survival, and there is no point in feeling nervous; you’ve got to use those nerves, otherwise you don’t do the best that you can do.”

on Michelle Pfeiffer: “She’s brilliant. She is special because I think people underestimate her comic timing. She’s an incredible wit as well as being this beautiful woman and a good actress.” (Empire)

Felicity on filming Cheri

on Michelle Pfeiffer: "She is amazing, she's so cool, just totally open and very straight forward and very friendly. We had a scene with Rupert (Friend) and we all had to come back later to finish an eye line off and we were all there crouched behind the camera (together) and she is a really good sport."

on filming on location: "It was very sort of intimate because we were filming in this chateau just outside Paris and there were big grounds and it was really sunny so we would all go round walking and it was all very easy, even the people in the house were always cooking things for us so it was all very relaxed and intimate."

on Rupert Friend: "It was quite fortunate that he's so wonderful and friendly, it made it easier to do such horrible scenes where he's pretty mean to me throughout the whole film, luckily off camera it was much more friendly." (Press Association)

Felicity on Russell Brand & The Tempest

on Russell Brand (who plays Trinculo in The Tempest): "He is completely insane but he is great. We did one day together and, as ever, he entertained everyone - I am sure he must be exhausted when he gets home because he is very funny."

on The Tempest: "The main change is that obviously Prospero is now Prospera who is a woman. It does sort of change some of the themes in a way because obviously it shifts the characterisation a little that it's the relationship between the mother and the daughter and obviously it does make a difference when it's not the father and the daughter. But essentially it is very faithful to Shakespeare's text." (This is Bristol.)

More on "Men at the Pru"/"Cemetary Junction"

It's being reported as both Men at the Pru and Cemetary Junction -- not sure which one is the latest title.

If the film doesn't work, Gervais will need something to fall back on fast, and that something appears to be Cemetary Junction, which he co-wrote with Stephen Merchant, who will be directing. You'll remember that Gervais and Merchant are the masterminds behind the original, actually funny The Office and Extras. It's been two years since they last collaborated, and this period comedy (it's set in London in the 70s), which starts filming this June, is their big rematching.

Twitchfilm has the full details of the story: “In 1970s England, three blue-collar friends spend their days joking, drinking, fighting and chasing girls. Freddie (Christian Cooke) wants to leave their working-class world but cool, charismatic Bruce (Tom Hughes) and lovable loser Snork (Jack Doolan) are happy with life the way it is.When Freddie gets a new job as a door-to-door salesman and bumps into his old school sweetheart Julie (Felicity Jones), the gang are forced to make choices that will change their lives forever.”

I don't know what role Gervais is playing here (and Twitch also says that Ralph Fiennes co-stars), but he and Merchant are apparently name dropping the British New Wave films as their inspiration. We're not talking skinny ties and synths but rather the British film movement of the 60s that gave us films like The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Look Back in Anger, Billy Liar and Tom Jones. That's a pretty lofty goal to set for themselves, but if anybody can get that real life, quasi-documentarian thing, it's these two.

(CHUD.com.)