Hilary Swank is currently wrapping up work on a project in which she plays the legendary pilot Amelia
Earhart. The films is directed by Mira Nair, of Vanity Fair and The Namesake, and is inspired by
numerous published biographies of Earhart. Courtesy of Filmz.ru, we have our first look at a couple of
visually appealing photos from the new film, titled simply Amelia. I'm actually really impressed - these
look great. I don't know whether this film will be anything amazing, but at least Hilary Swank looks like
the perfect fit for Earhart and the costumes look great. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for
something truly incredible, but I'm unfortunately not expecting much besides just a solid biopic. Take a
look for yourself.

Starring along side of Swank and featured in a few of the photos below is Richard Gere as Amelia's
husband George Putnam. Mysteriously missing is Ewan McGregor who plays Amelia's other love
interest Gene Vidal.

Amelia is directed by Indian filmmaker Mira Nair of Vanity Fair and The Namesake previously. The film is
based on various biographies of Amelia Earhart, including Mary S. Lovell's The Sound Of Wings: The
Life Of Amelia Earhart. The screenplay was written by Ron Bass of Rain Man, Dangerous Minds, Waiting
to Exhale, Entrapment, and Mozart and the Whale previously. Amelia is being distributed by Fox
Searchlight and is expected to arrive sometime in 2009.
Updated July 2, 2008
Richard Gere ~ Recent News Page VII
Counter
Fiat apologizes to China over Gere ad
Jun 20, 2008

MILAN–Italian car maker Fiat has apologized to China over its new television commercial featuring U.
S. actor Richard Gere and a reference to Tibet after Chinese newspapers carried reports about it.
In a statement issued on Friday, Fiat said it did not endorse Gere's political views. The actor supports
Tibet's autonomy from China.
"Fiat reiterates its neutrality in connection with any political matter, be it on a national or international
basis," it said. "Fiat Group extends its apologies to the Government of the People's Republic of China
and to the Chinese people." A spokesman said Fiat decided to issue the statement after reports
about the commercial appeared in Chinese newspapers.
The commercial, which began airing in Italy this month, is for the Delta, a new car under Fiat's Lancia
brand. It is featured on www.youtube.com.
Its shows Gere driving the car from Hollywood to Tibet, whose autonomy from China he supports.
Tibet has become a focal point for protests against China as the country prepares to host the Olympic
Games this summer.
Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne spoke in favour of the commercial when it was first shown to
reporters at the launch of the car on June 4.
"I obviously like it," he said.
Officials at the Chinese embassy in Rome could not be reached for comment.
Actor Richard Gere testifies during a hearing before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee's East Asian and
Pacific Affairs Subcommittee in April.
Fiat Wusses Out on Tibet Question

A Fiat commercial featuring Tibet supporter Richard Gere tooling
around in a shiny new Lancia and chilling with some Tibetan
monks has the Reds in China all steamed. Why the hell would the
Italian car-maker give a crap what China thinks? Zillions of dollars
in slave labor! So naturally they're apologizing to the thin-skinned,
human rights-abusing regime. "Gere is well known for supporting
Tibet's independence from China, which subjected the tiny state to
a brutal crackdown this year. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne backed
the commercial when it was shown to reporters on June 4. 'I
obviously like it,' he said. Chinese newspapers responded with
reports criticizing the ad, however, and Fiat issued an apology on
Friday. 'Fiat reiterates its neutrality in connection with any political
matter, be it on a national or international basis,' it said. 'Fiat Group
extends its apologies to the Government of the People's Republic
of China and to the Chinese people.'" [Variety] See the offensive ad
after the jump.
Amelia takes flight
Biopic about history-making aviator Amelia Earhart touches down in Nova Scotia

Sat. Jun 21, 2008
AMELIA EARHART’S plane Friendship did actually touch down in Halifax, says Paul
Austerberry, who is working as a visual consultant on the biopic of the pilot who made
aviation history in 1928 as the first woman to cross the Atlantic.

The Fokker Trimotor, an early floatplane, stopped in Halifax in June on the way to
Trepassy, Nfld. , where the transatlantic flight began, he explained Thursday outside
St. Mary’s Boat Club which he helped transform into a 1928 Boston boat club.

But the visit didn’t make it into the script for Amelia, the biopic starring Hilary Swank
and Richard Gere that is filming for a week in Nova Scotia before moving to South
Africa for a three-week shoot. The first eight weeks of shooting were in Toronto.

The scene being shot Thursday was one in which Gere, playing George Putnam who
married Earhart in 1931, was bidding Earhart farewell in Boston, prior to her
momentous trip to Newfoundland, says Austerberry.

""At this point she’s more of a business partner. He’s hired her as a pilot because she’s
photogenic and he wants her to be the first woman to cross the Atlantic, it’s mostly a
money thing.

""He’s here to see her off and she’s giving him letters to send to loved ones in case she
dies. A lot of pilots died trying to cross the Atlantic, it was very dangerous."

Read More
The Flock Movie Trailer
Fiat to keep running ad featuring actor Richard Gere in Tibet despite
apology to China
The Associated PressPublished: June 23, 2008


ROME: Fiat said Monday it will keep running an ad featuring actor Richard Gere and a reference to
Tibet that has angered some in China and prompted the Italian automaker to issue an apology.

Gere, a Buddhist who has been active in the movement to free Tibet, appears in the TV ad for Fiat's
new Lancia Delta, using the car to whiz from Hollywood to the snows of the Himalayas, where he plays
with a group of young Buddhist monks.

Fiat said in a statement Friday that casting Gere for the ad had not been a "political choice" and was
not driven by the desire to "interfere with the internal political system of any country."

The company apologized to China's government and its people for any offense arising from
"misinterpretations of its well-established position of neutrality."

However, a Fiat spokesman said the company would continue to run the ad in Italy and would
introduce it in other European countries as the Lancia Delta goes on sale across the continent.

Today on IHT.com
At South Korean cram school, a singular focusThai leader under fire ahead of no-confidence
votePakistan agency accused of plotting attack on KarzaiThe spokesman, who could not be identified
under company policy, said the ad was not being aired in China, where the car is not on sale.

The video is easily accessible on YouTube and it has generated angry comments on the Internet and
in some of the more sensational corners of the entirely state-controlled Chinese media.

Gere has been vilified in China for criticizing Beijing's human rights records and policies toward
Tibet, which Chinese communist troops occupied in 1951. He is also a close supporter and student of
the region's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, who Beijing says is a separatist.

Fiat now joins a long list of foreign companies that apologized for or removed advertisements due to
complaints they offended China's communist government or the Chinese public.

Late in May, French fashion house Christian Dior dropped Sharon Stone from its Chinese
advertisements and released a statement from the actress apologizing for saying the devastating
earthquake that struck China may have been "karma" for its treatment of Tibet.

---


Note from the Webhostess ~ In my opinion FIAT SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO RICHARD GERE! They should be
ashamed of themselves for buckling under the pressure of the Chinese government. In no way is that commercial critical of China!
Starring Richard Gere is the only issue at hand and frankly, Fiat is being very disrespectful of him.


June 28, 2008

A-LIST Hollywood stars Hilary Swank and Richard Gere are to star in a film to be partly shot on the
Wild Coast.
The movie, which will chronichle the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, will be shot near
the Trennerys Hotel.
The Saturday Dispatch understands that the stars are expected here in two weeks and that the
whole crew, including the actors and production team would be staying at Trennerys and Seagulls
hotels. Work on building the sets at the airfield near Trennerys is already underway.
When the Dispatch contacted Trennerys Hotel we were referred to Cape Town-based production
company Moonlighting, which specialises in offering production services for commercials, films and
stills.
But producer Genevieve Hofmeyer would neither confirm nor deny it.
“Well they are not granting interviews,” she said before asking that all correspondence be sent via
e-mail. Moonlighting is the same company that worked on Blood Diamond starring Leonardo Di
Caprio, which was also partly shot at Port Edward and Port St Johns.
But Internet Movie Database, an authoritative website on films, lists South Africa as one of the
locations where shooting of the film Amelia would take place.
Directed by Mira Nair, the film looks at the life of Earhart who disappeared while flying over the
Pacific Ocean in 1937. The story centres on the legendary pilot’s life and traces her rise to fame,
marriage to publisher George Putnam and her affair with Gene Vidal, father of author Gore Vidal.
Swank will play the role of Earhart, Gere the role of George Putnam and Ewan McGregor the role of
Gene Vidal.
Born in 1897, Earhart’s story is an interesting one mixing inspiration, love and mystery in a package
that not even Hollywood could script.
From a young age she defied conventional feminine behaviour by climbing trees, hunting rats with a .
22 rifle and riding a sled.
She later went on to set a number of flying records during her career, including becoming the first
woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932.
During an attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937, Earhart along with navigator Fred Noonan,
disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island and fascination with her life, career
and disappearance continues to this day.
Theories of what happened to her abound, but two possibilities concerning her fate have prevailed
among researchers and historians. Many believe the the plane ran out of fuel and Earhart and
Noonan ditched at sea, which is the most widely accepted explanation for the disappearance.
The second theory has it that Earhart and Noonan may have flown on without radio transmission for
two-and-a-half hours and landed on an uninhabited island and ultimately died as no one knew where
to search for them.
Swank is well versed to play the role of Earhart having won the Best Actress Oscar for Boys Don’t
Cry and a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and a second Oscar for Million Dollar Baby
directed by Clint Eastwood.
Heart-throb Gere is no stranger to South African filmgoers.
The second of five children, he’s most well known for the role he played alongside Julia Roberts in
the 1990 blockbuster film Pretty Woman. It propelled him onto a new level and he has since gone on
to star in several films including Runaway Bride, The Mothman Prophecies and Unfaithful.
Off screen Gere is well known for his humanitarian work and is a founding member of “Tibet House,”
a non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture. He has also been an
active supporter of Survival International, an organisation that supports tribal peoples.
This Week In Hollywoodland
June 28, 2008

Hollywood stars don’t do many commercials in the U.S, but A-list stars like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and
even super private Richard Gere are always pitching goods and services in Europe and Asia. Gere
recently starred in one which has landed him and the Italian car firm, Fiat, in big trouble in China.
Company bosses have apologized to the Chinese government, fearing a nationwide boycott of Fiat
cars, after airing a commercial which shows Mr. Gere driving from Hollywood to Tibet. The flack from
this commercial has followed months of protest around the globe over the plight of Tibet in the build-
up to this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing. The nation of Tibet is attempting to gain autonomy
from China, with the help of supporters, including well-known Richard Gere.

Although a Fiat spokesperson insists the ad will not be pulled, he has issued an apology: "Fiat ...has
recently been advised that certain advertising could disturb the sensibility of the people within
China." And he ended by saying, "Fiat Group extends its apologies to the Government of the
People's Republic of China and to the Chinese people." Can’t we all just get along? Apparently not.
Gere and Swank to shoot movie at Wild Coast
Andrew Stone
July 1, 2008
SHOOTING IN SA: Hilary Swank and Richard Gere will be in South Africa to shoot film
"Amelia"
A-list Hollywood stars Hilary Swank and Richard Gere are to star in a film to be partly shot on
the Wild Coast.
The movie, which will chronicle the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, will be
shot near the Trennerys Hotel.
The Saturday Dispatch understands that the stars are expected here in two weeks and that
the whole crew, including the actors and production team would be staying at Trennerys and
Seagulls hotels.
Work on building the sets at the airfield near Trennerys is already underway.

When the Dispatch contacted Trennerys Hotel we were referred to Cape Town-based
production company Moonlighting, which specialises in offering production services for
commercials, films and stills.
But producer Genevieve Hofmeyer would neither confirm nor deny it.
“Well they are not granting interviews,” she said before asking that all correspondence be
sent via e-mail. Moonlighting is the same company that worked on Blood Diamond starring
Leonardo Di Caprio, which was also partly shot at Port Edward and Port St Johns.
But Internet Movie Database, an authoritative website on films, lists South Africa as one of
the locations where shooting of the film "Amelia" would take place.
June 30, 2008
On the Set of Brooklyn's Finest
Starring: Richard Gere
Posted July 2, 2008
Brooklyn’s Finest Keeping Out Of Sight In Flatlands
Brooklyn’s Finest was filming in Flatlands today, but unfortunately Filming In
Brooklyn couldn’t get any pictures of the actual shoot, as it was taking place in
an enclosed backyard. But Brooklyn’s Finest still has some shooting left to do in
Brooklyn, so we’ll give it another try next week.
Richard Gere's Fiat fiasco
Posted July 2, 2008
Richard Gere just can’t catch a break in Asia these days. First it was the Shilpa Shetty kiss
heard round the world, which led to him being threatened with lawsuits for public indecency.
Then it was his outspoken remarks about the upcoming Olympics, and how the opening
ceremonies should be banned due to the Chinese government’s treatment of Tibet. Both of
which, yes, were either intentionally or unintentionally bound to push some buttons. But now
an ad that Gere filmed for Fiat’s Lancia Delta sedan is causing an uproar. The reason?
Towards the end Gere plays in the snow with some pint-sized Buddhist monks.
Seriously? The Chinese are that paranoid that an ad with no spoken words and no overtly
political message can be interpreted as inflamatory? Apparently, yes. So much so that the
Italian auto maker issued a public apology, saying it feels bad for “misinterpretations of its
well-established position of neutrality.” Which, let’s face it, is like saying, ‘I’m sorry you blew
things out of proportion,’
Recent News Page VIII
July 3, 2008