Atom Egoyan is squeezing in one project before filming his next movie, Ararat, in the spring. He's writing a script that he might not direct for Universal. Untitled so far, it's about two women who meet by accident and a love triangle that results. Egoyan working for Universal may cause some of his fans to be perplexed. A Canadian nationalist, he does not reject Hollywood offers out of hand, but he just wants control over the movies he does.

Meanwhile, Bruce Greenwood, who stars as John F. Kennedy in the coming Hollywood release, Thirteen Days, and Charles Aznavour have announced they will co-star in Ararat. It will be a movie within a movie focused on an 18-year-old driver for the production being filmed (a recreation of a historic battle in Armenia).

Neither has signed a contract, but Aznavour is to play the movie's director and Greenwood its star.

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Yahoo Daily Dish / Daily Variety
2/1/01

GREENWOOD'S ATOM DESTINY: The critical acclaim given Beacon/New Line's "Thirteen Days'' has given a major career boost to Bruce Greenwood, who, after portraying President Kennedy, has a deal in place to star for Atom Egoyan in "Ararat,'' in which Greenwood would once again play a real person, this time Dr. Clarence Ussher, a Canadian doctor who for 15 years ran a mission in Turkey.

Greenwood will be playing two roles: the doctor and an actor who's playing the role of the doctor in a film about his work. The pic, which co-stars Charles Aznavour, will shoot in June in Canada, pending the outcome of Screen Actors Guild (news - web sites) contract negotiations. Greenwood will most certainly take another part before then.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010201/en/film-dish_7.html

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The Irish Times
2/22/01

Toronto-based, Armenian-born writer-director Atom Egoyan has cast the French singer and actor Charles Aznavour as the director of the film-within-the-film of Egoyan's Ararat. which starts shooting in May in Toronto and and Alberta.

It will follow a film crew shooting a historical drama about the 1920s uprising of Armenians against the Turks and the brutal repression that ensued. Aznavour will co-star with Canadian actor Bruce Greenwood, - who was in Egoyan's Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter and plays JFK in the Cuban Missile Crisis movie, 13 Days.

http://cgi.ebay.aol.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=561301665

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'Ararat' brings four on board in star roles
Hollywood Reporter
Fri 4/6/01
By Zorianna Kit

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Christopher Plummer, Tony-winning performer Brent Carver ("Kiss of the Spider Woman"), French actor Charles Aznavour and newcomer David Alpay will topline writer-director Atom Egoyan's feature "Ararat" for Serendipity Point Films and Alliance Atlantis. Shooting is scheduled to start late next month in Toronto and Alberta, Canada.

Bruce Greenwood and Egoyan's wife, Arsinee Khanjian, both of whom regularly appear in the filmmaker's features, also will be featured in the project.

"Ararat," described as a film within a film, is a contemporary story of the making of a historical epic about the Armenian holocaust. The story line follows how making the film transforms the life of an 18-year-old (Alpay) man hired as a driver on the production.

Robert Lantos ("Sunshine") will produce through his Serendipity Point Films with Egoyan. Alliance Atlantis will distribute the film internationally and in Canada. The project does not yet have domestic distribution, and Serendipity will rep the film in the United States.

Serendipity Point Films produced the upcoming feature "Claire's Hat" starring Gina Gershon and Juliette Lewis. The company is prepping "Men With Brooms" for director Paul Gross, who also will star.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/bpihw/20010405/en/_ararat_brings_four_on_board_in_star_roles_1.html