05 March 2008

• The dates and times for the screenings of The iDol at the Yubari Film Festival have been decided. The iDol will show twice in the "City Hall Salon":
  Friday 3/21 at 6:45pm
  Saturday 3/22 at 7pm
  
  Director Norman England will be attending the show along with scriptwriter Jiro Kaneko. The two will be there throughout the entire four-day event.
  
  Additionally, the screening times for The iDol on cable network Sky PerfecTV has been announced. The iDol will show twice on ch 174:
  Saturday 3/22 at 12:30pm
  Sunday 3/23 at 5:30am
  

14 January 2008

• The iDol has been entered into the competition at this year's Yubari Fantastic Film Festival. The show will be held this March in the city of Yubari in Hokkaido, Japan. Attending the show will be The iDol director Norman England and possibly other members of the staff. Details to be posted when they are available. In addition, The iDol is slated to be shown on Sky Perfect TV in Japan this March. For details on the Yubari show, please visit their website:
  
  http://yubarifanta.com/index_pc.php?ct=main2008.php&langue=21002
  
  
• For the upcoming screening on Sky Perfect TV, the teaser trailer of The iDol has been reworked. You can find the new version HERE.
  

12 December 2007

• At long last, the first trailer from The iDol is available! Click HERE to view!

25 November 2007

• Now with The iDol officially done, a press kit detailing the story, production, cast and crew is available for download in PDF format. You can find it on the right hand side of the alien-kun icons at the top of the website. Also included in the press kit are a collection of film reviews and photos from the film and production.
  
  In addition, the website Sci-Fi Japan has created an article based on information in the press kit, which can be accessed here:
  
  - www.scifijapan.com/articles/2007/11/25/the-idol-press-notes/
  

21 October 2007

Artist Eric Joyner, well known paintings featuring tin robots, various pop icons and donuts, has adorned one of his masterworks with The iDol's Oavian alien from the film's pre-title sequence. For those in the Miami Florida area you can catch the original at a showing going on now at the Howard Golens Gallery. All others can enjoy the splendor of "Sunken Treasure" by downloading a JPEG graciously donated by Eric.

Eric's phenomenal work can be perused at his website:
www.ericjoyner.com

09 October 2007

• For those in the Vancouver area, you can catch The iDol in a double feature with the film Death Note at the Vancouver Comicon. The film will be playing on 20 October at the Film Society Theatre at University of British Colombia. The show starts at 2:15pm. The screenings will be attended by The iDol director Norman England and Death Note director Shusuke Kaneko. On Sunday, 21 October, director Norman England will be giving a talk about his ten year experience on the set of Japanese films as well as the production of his own films at "Of Horrors and Heroes."
  
  Please visit the following websites for further details:
  
  - http://users.uniserve.com/~lswong/Comicon.html
  - www.scifijapan.com
  

17 September 2007

On the way to Osaka...

• The iDol enjoyed a successful screening in Osaka last month at the Kansai International Film Festival. Director Norman England was able to attend the Saturday screening after which he gave a 30 minute talk about the film's production and fielded questions from the audience.
  
  
• Next up for The iDol is a screening in the Canadian city of Vancouver in late October 2007. Director Norman England will be flying out to present the film. The exact date, time and venue will be listed in the coming days.
  
  
• The next issue of Kansai Time Out will feature a piece about The iDol and its director. http://www.japanfile.com/modules/news/
  
  
• The iDol will be screening at Club Bollywood in Osaka on 13 Oct at 7pm.
  http://www.clubbollywood.net/index.html
  
  

25 July 2007

• Although a while since the last update, much has been happening in the universe of The iDol. Last February writer / director Norman England was interviewed in Creative Screenwriting magazine. To read a PDF of the article, CLICK HERE
  
  
• The iDol was reviewed in the latest issue of Shock Cinema (issue #32). The mag goes so far as to write, "Any questions are eventually answered in a brilliantly-simple twist worthy of any classic TWILIGHT ZONE episode." If that's not enough, they go out on a limb to say that The iDol comes "equipped with excellent production values, charming performances and impressive special effects... definitely worth a look."
  
  
• The latest news is that The iDol is under going a final edit. The previous edit was done under the gun to make it on time for its premiere at Fantasia 2006. This new version of The iDol will have its premiere at the Kansai International Film Festival on August 24 ~ 26 at Planet Hall in Morinomiya, Osaka. The iDol will screen twice. Writer / Director Norman England is planning to hop over to Osaka to attend the Saturday screening and to take part in a Q/A. For further information on the festival please visit their homepage accessible here: www.kansaifilm.com

07 November 2006

• British Sci-Fi writer and reporter M.J. Simpson fires his six-question mini-interview at The iDol's director, Norman England:
  www.mjsimpson.co.uk/interviews/normanengland.html

28 September 2006

• The iDol will have its debut in Japan at the Nipponbashi International Film Festival in Osaka on Sunday October 8th. For information go here:
  http://cganime.jp/filmfes/index.htm
  
  
• The iDol goes to Europe and will play at the 12th Lyon Asian Film Festival in Lyon, France. The date hasn't been announced, but the show happens in early November:
  www.asiexpo.com

26 August 2006

• A new interview with The iDol director Norman England is online available at the Monster Island News website:
  http://monstermovieblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/idolizing-idol.html

19 August 2006

• UK writer MJ Simpson casts an analytical eye on The iDol. Travel to his website to read the review: www.mjsimpson.co.uk/reviews/theidol.html

17 August 2006

• The iDol will mark its English debut when it plays at The Festival of Fantastic Films 2006 in Manchester, England. The dates for the show are September 1 - 3. For further information, please visit their website:
  http://fantastic-films.com/festival

02 August 2006

• Director Norman England has returned from Canada where The iDol enjoyed a tremendously warm reception at the Fantasia Film Festival. Norman kept a journal of his time at the show. CLICK HERE to read about his journey to Montreal.

13 July 2006

• SciFi Japan has run an extensive interview with director Norman England, covering the conception and production of The iDol, along with lots of new images. You can check it out here:
  www.scifijapan.com/articles/2006/07/11/idol-worship

29 June 2006

• The website for Fangoria magazine has an article about The iDol and a short interview with its director. You can access the story here:
  www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=6258

26 June 2006

• The date for the premiere of The iDol is set for Sunday July 16th at Fantasia in Montreal. Director Norman England will be flying in from Tokyo to attend the premiere. For more information visit the Fantasia website:
  www.fantasiafest.com

07 June 2006

• The iDol will be enjoying its debut screening at the 2006 edition of Fantasia in Montreal this July! The date is not set but should be available within the next week or two. More information will be posted when it is made available
  
  
• Added some photos to the post production section. Notably photos of the extremely enjoyable ADR session with actor Toshiyuki Watarai, who provides the voice of the alien figure in The iDol. A rising star in Japan, Watarai can be seen in this summer's releases of God's Left Hand - Devil's Right Hand and Death Note. In fact, director Norman England choose Watarai during a visit to the set of Death Note, where he was impressed with the on-set voice reading Watarai did for Ryuk, the film's demonic character.
  
  
• Kow Otani has delivered a stunning, original score for The iDol. Well known for his work on films such as the Heisei Gamera trilogy, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, as well as countless anime, Otani has created a spot-on soundtrack that captures and brings added focus to the film's quirky makeup.
  
  
• Hajime Matsumoto and his team at Big X have completed their portion of FX work for The iDol. Despite being bogged down with the position of Effects Supervisor on the upcoming The Grudge 2, Matsumoto found the time and has rendered some striking effects work for The iDol.

07 April 2006

• What with the production coming to an end, it's time to clean up the credit list. An updated version appears on this site. More names to be added soon.

13 March 2006

• Too many months between updates. It's not for lack of material, just lack of time! Basically, the production is moving along and the completion date of 1 May, 2006 is doable.
  
  The past several months of activity saw a few extra days of pickups shots as well as a major day in the studio (postponed from the summer shoot due to a schedule conflict with our makeup artist Kakusei Fujiwara and his commitment to do FXs for Shusuke Kaneko's upcoming feature God's Left Hand - Devil's Right Hand.)
  
  Photos have been added to the production section that give a visual glimpse into some of the additional shooting days. CLICK HERE for a direct link to the new pages.
  
  The iDol production would like to extend a warm congratulations to our resident CGI master and brilliant cameo actor Takashi Yamazaki for winning this year's Best Director award at the Japan Academy Prize for his film Always: Sanchome no Yuhi. In addition, his film won best picture, best actor, best screenplay, etc. It won so many you'd think no other film was released in Japan last year! It's a testament to both the accessibility of the Japanese film world and the kind hearted nature of Yamazaki-san that he would lend his time and talent to a smaller production such as The iDol. Only in Japan!
  
  Coming up for The iDol is its ADR session. While most of the audio captured during shooting came out great, there were a few scenes that need to be replaced. In Japan, the cicada situation gets particularly bad in the summer. In fact, at some locations the wind was so loud that you could hardly hear the person next to you.

24 November 2005

• Director Norman England was interviewed by the recently launched all-horror network. Norman was also interviewed by Pen Magazine. The interview will appear in their January issue.

24 November 2005

• Rough edit of The iDol complete. Lots left to do, but looking good.

08 October 2005

• Panasonic Japan, one of our sponsors, has put up a story about their day on the set of The iDol. You can access it HERE.

03 October 2005

The production of The iDol is pleased to lay out the welcome mat for several new members of our team:

• Handling the score for The iDol is Kow Otani. A well known composer, Kow has written outstanding soundtracks for films such as the Heisei Gamera series, Pyrokinesis, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack and Gundam. Kow's a marvellous musician (not to mention a super cool guy all around) who is graciously lending his considerable talent to The iDol.
  
  
• As the film enters post production, neglected detail such as poster art rears its ugly head. Taking over this not-to-be-belittled task is Bob Eggleton. Eight times winner of the coveted Hugo Award for his book cover illustrations, Bob is geared to produce a stunning art poster aimed at capturing the essence of The iDol.
  
  
• With his sharpest razor blade in hand, Rob Moreno will be cutting The iDol. While the days of editing with such tools are long past, the sprit of assembling footage remains the same. Rob will be working closely with director Norman England to bring the film's various sequences into order.