The Daily Telegraph from London, Greater London, England • 15

THE DAILY. TELEGRAPH Saturday, September 1, 2001 15 Showbusiness Tosca, the movie, charms fiery divas ENOIT Jacquot, best that crafted known explore for French finely rela- films tionships, has unveiled a new Tosca, starring the most fiery married couple in the world of opera. But it almost didn't get made. "Italian opera is not my cup of tea," he admitted at the Venice Film Festival. Producer Toscan du Plantier noted for Joseph Losey's 1979 movie Don Giovanni managed to whet 1 the Frenchman's appetite by telling him about the opera singers Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna.

"Daniel described the type of wild beast I would have to subdue the sub-text being that I was qualified to be an animal-tamer. I found that rather amusing. Roberto and Angela have a reputation for. being total divas capricious and hot-tempered," said Jacqueeting was set up in London because Alagna was singing Covent Garden. "When I met them, they became absolutely charming as soon as they heard the word 'cinema'," continued Jacquot.

"Angela and Roberto, with their aura and life- Hugh Davies Saturday Premiere at the Venice Film Festival style, are the kind of stars that we thought had disappeared." Gheorghiu, who is Romanian, sometimes reminded of the great actresses of silent films, he added. "She has a great expressive density, an intense temperament." Appearing with them in the movie is Ruggero Raimondi, a veteran of screen operas including Carmen, directed in 1983 by Francesco Rosi. The film moves between a documentary segment that shows the music recorded in a London studio Brad Renfro: a teen idol with a wild reputation A 'moral' message in the most shocking film on show THE most shocking film on show in Venice, which features crude scenes of rape and violence, is based on a true story. Starring Brad Renfro, Bully reprises the crimes of Marty Pucio, now serving a life sentence for the chilling murder of his best friend Bobby Kent. The film's director, Larry Clark, has already been criticised here for depicting too much sex, nudity and violence including a scene in which Kent, 20, is repeatedly stabbed and then thrown into the Florida Everglades by Pucio's band of teenage slackers.

But he claimed that the movie, which charts how casual acquaintances came to be co-conspirators in the killing, was an attack on American society, which, he believes, has lost all moral values. Renfro, who is already a teen idol and the perceived successor to Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp, is likely to attract a young audience. Nicknamed he came to public attention in John Grisham's The Client. Later, the actor was arrested for possession of cocaine just as he was named the winner of the Hollywood Reporter's Young Star Award. He was also caught trying to steal a yacht from Fort Lauderdale Bay and put on probation.

Three months ago, Renfro was arrested for alleged drunken driving but let off with a caution. It is thought that his wild reputation cost him the role of young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. Bowie's American Dream DAVID Bowie has agreed to retouch his hit song This Is Not America for a new police drama starring Denzil Washington and Ethan Hawke. The song will be retitled American Dream and feature Bowie in a duet with rap star Sean "Puffy" Combes. Before agreeing to sing for Training Day, Bowie insisted on seeing the completed film.

The director Antoine Fuqua is best known for directing music videos for the likes of Prince, Stevie Wonder and the rap star Coolio. Telegraph Information Service Business Information Hire your own researcher for tailored reports back to you in hours Companies Industries Markets Countries Pay by card or company invoice 0800 1 382 384 VISA Mastercard Open 6.30am to 10.30pm, Monday to Friday. 9am to 5pm on Saturday. A service from Info Ltd INFORMATION Telegraph Group Limited accepts no liability for any losses which result SERVICE from the use of this service Picture: STEPHEN LOCK had disappeared' Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna: 'the kind of stars that we thought MORTGAGES a Nationwide An easy way to remortgage? MORTGAGES Nationwide The Takeaway Remortgage It's in the bag The simple mortgage way to to Nationwide move your 0000 max do a pet Moving your mortgage is hassle-free with our Takeaway Remortgage Contact us now for your remortgage pack 4.95% Follow the simple process Great rates now and in the future FIXED FOR 1 YEAR MAR Nationwide. Underlining the difference CAT SESS TE www.nationwide.co.uk 0800 30 20 10 OPEN or just call in STANDARD 3 Banking Credit Card Insurance Investments Loans Mortgages Pensions Savings Ken Loach puts his track record to the test and the actual staging of the opera, for which the stars performed in the three real Tosca locations the church, the room the palace and the terrace of the Castel Sant'Angelo prison that still exist in Rome.

But, for most of the scenes, they had to lip-synch as recording live proved almost impossible. Jacquot explained: "Every morning, they trained with the coach, who made them rehearse their songs with great exactitude so that they could perfectly reproduce the movements of their mouths. It didn't bother me at all that the singers were synchronised at certain moments them, it was awful, as if they had been made to commit a mortal sin." Gheorghiu said that while lip-synching, she actually sang softly. "With six or eight takes at a time, it would have been impossible to sing at full strength. But it all worked out well." Her husband said that he had been keen to make the film "because, at the age of 10, I saw Mario Lanza in the The Great Caruso.

From that moment on, I dreamed of being a 5.9% APR (VARIABLE) TYPICAL EXAMPLE ASSUMES BORROWERS TAKE OUT. A 1 YEAR FIXED RATE OF 4.95%. NEW BORROWERS TO NATIONWIDE REQUIRE A MINIMUM DEPOSIT OF FOR THIS RATE. A BORROWER APPLYING FOR A £60,000 REPAYMENT MORTGAGE OVER 25 YEARS BASED ON A PURCHASE PRICE OF £80,000, 12 MONTHLY PAYMENTS OF £349.01, FOLLOWED BY 288 MONTHLY PAYMENTS OF £376.08 WILL BE REQUIRED. 5.9% APR (VARIABLE).

APR ASSUMES A 25 YEAR TERM. TOTAL AMOUNT PAYABLE (TAP) WILL BE £113,098, WHICH INCLUDES 300 MORTGAGE INTEREST PAYMENTS, SOLICITOR'S MORTGAGE COSTS OF £100 EXCLUDING VAT (AND ASSUMING THE SAME SOLICITOR ACTS FOR BOTH OF US), AND A VALUATION FEE OF £175 WHICH IS REFUNDED ON COMPLETION. APRS ON OUR FIXED RATE MORTGAGES ARE BASED ON OUR CURRENT BASE MORTGAGE RATE APPLYING FOR THE TERM OF THE LOAN AFTER THE SPECIAL RATE PERIOD HAS EXPIRED. APR QUOTED ASSUMES THAT COMPLETION TAKES PLACE ON THE 1ST OF THE MONTH AND ALL MONTHLY PAYMENTS TAKE PLACE ON THE 28TH OF THE MONTH. MORTGAGES ARE SUBJECT TO STATUS, VALUATION AND SECURITY.

AVAILABLE TO THOSE AGED 18 OR OVER ONLY. WRITTEN QUOTATIONS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST FROM NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY. NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY, NATIONWIDE LIFE LIMITED AND NATIONWIDE UNIT TRUST MANAGERS LIMITED REPRESENT ONLY THE NATIONWIDE MARKETING GROUP WHICH IS REGULATED BY THE PERSONAL INVESTMENT AUTHORITY FOR LIFE ASSURANCE, PENSIONS AND UNIT TRUST PRODUCTS. NATIONWIDE UNIT TRUST MANAGERS LIMITED IS ALSO REGULATED BY IMRO. CALLS RECORDED.

NATIONWIDE IS A MEMBER OF THE BUILDING SOCIETIES OMBUDSMAN SCHEME AND SUBSCRIBES TO THE BANKING AND MORTGAGE CODES, COPIES OF WHICH ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST. SECURITY WILL BE REQUIRED ON PROPERTY. YOUR HOME IS AT RISK IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR OTHER LOAN SECURED ON IT. IT IS just as well that Ken Loach has such a good reputation as a film-maker. His next project, which is already exciting the Italians, is about the thrilling topic of British Rail privatisation.

Loach, now 65, attempts to apply to The Navigators the idealism that has marked his previous work. "It is about the people whose job was to keep ep the railways safe, and how their security of employment was destroyed," he said. The plot climaxes with a scene depicting the derailment of freight cars, with fictitious officials arguing over who was to blame. There is a tragic postscript to the film. Its scriptwriter Rob Dawber, a redundant trackman, got his break from Loach in the same week that he discovered he was suffering from lung cancer caused by exposure to white asbestos at work.

He sought treatment in America, but died earlier this year, aged 45, after winning damages of nearly £450,000 in Sheffield county court for contracting the industrial disease pleural mesothelioma. Loach's previous includes the political thirtiller Hidden Agenda, Bread and Roses about illegal Mexican immigrants in America and the powerful Raining Stones. Nicole Kidman at the Aids charity gala last night Cruise hopes to soldier on WHILE Nicole Kidman mingled last night with Elizabeth Taylor and Claudia Schiffer at an Aids benefit in a Venetian palace, her ex-husband was setting up a new film project. Tom Cruise is anxious to play Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier, in an adaptation of Charles Frazier's bestselling novel Cold Mountain. Renee Zellweger, the Texan who played Bridget Jones with such flair, has agreed to be his co-star.

The movie will follow Inman's struggle to return home to be reunited with his pre-war sweetheart, who is battling to keep her family's Southern farm. Filming is due to start in February. 6.