Keir and Skyfall actress Berenice Marlohe have joined the film VALLEY OF THE GODS, according to Variety. No word as to Keir’s character, but as news becomes available I’ll post. Great news for Keir and us fans.

Berenice Marlohe, Keir Dullea Join ‘Valley of the Gods’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Berenice Marlohe (“Skyfall”) and Keir Dullea (“2001: A Space Odyssey”) have joined “Valley of the Gods” opposite Josh Hartnett, Charlotte Rampling and John Rhys-Davies, Variety has learned.

The high concept fantasy film, which will begin shooting in May in Poland, Italy and Utah, is directed by Lech Majewski (“The Mill and the Cross”).

Royal Road Entertainment’s Filip Jan Rymsza is producing along with Majewski, who is producing on behalf of Angelus Silesius. Peter Safran is executive producing on behalf of the Safran Company and Jan Harlan is co-producing alongside Royal Road’s Carla Rosen-Vacher.

Harlan was Stanley Kubrick’s executive producer on “The Shining,” “Full Metal Jacket” and “Eyes Wide Shut.”

Joseph Runningfox (“Geronimo”) and Steven Skyler have joined the “Valley of the Gods” cast as well.

The story features the richest man on earth, a Navajo legend and a writer (Hartnett) who possesses an unbridled imagination and has the ability to alter reality. It involves three narratives about characters who attempt to escape the drama that follows when supernatural visions clash with reality.

Variety reported that the project was in the works a year ago. Majewski’s 2011 film “The Mill and the Cross” starred Rutger Hauer, Michael York and Charlotte Rampling.

French actress Marlohe first came to international attention when she was cast in “Skyfall” following French TV roles including “R.I.S. Police Scientifique” and “Medical Emergency.” She recently wrapped Joe Miale’s sci‐fi thriller “Revolt” opposite Lee Pace and Terrence Malick’s “Weightless” alongside Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara.

Dullea is best known for portraying astronaut David Bowman in Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “2010: The Year We Made Contact.” He also starred in “Infinitely Polar Bear.”

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I just found this on that bastion of video…. And may I say it’s one of the best discussions I’ve had the pleasure to listen to on 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. The video was from a discussion held in England back in April of this year where Keir, Gary (Frank Poole), scientist and astrophysicist Dr. Brian Cox, film historian Christopher Frayling and moderator Matthew Sweet talked about the film for the BFI (British Film Institute) film series. A fascinating talk where we get a more tunneled look into the film and Stanley Kubrick’s motivations, plus some interesting insights about Arthur C. Clarke’s view on the film. We are once again treated to Keir’s favourite parts of the film in the scientific gobbeldy gook, as Keir calls it, he had to memorize for the one scene that was cut. Then his story of coming back into the Discovery via the air lock and the circus roustabout who had the rope, plus his cute way of imitating Derek Cracknell’s version of the HAL-9000’s voice as being a pseudo Michael Caine. I loved what they all said about the longevity of the film. My only wish is they’d gotten a little bit into Keir’s reprisal of the part of Dave Bowman for the Peter Hyams film 2010: ODYSSEY TWO where the symbiosis of HAL and Dave was at the core of the film.

The title says it all. Recently the website DenofGeek compiled their list of the most under appreciated films of 1984. Included in that list were films like Repo Man, One Upon A Time In America, A Breed Apart, Brother From Another Planet and one other film from that year. Apparently they named 2010: THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT or ODYSSEY TWO as I call it as part of that list. They cited the fast paced directing of Peter Hyams and Roy Scheider (Dr. Heywood Floyd) as two of the main reasons the film is on that list. They also mention that the return of Keir as Dave Bowman and Douglas Rain as the voice of the HAL-9000. Read what they had to say on it.

5. 2010: The Year We Make Contact

When this sci-fi sequel was announced, many wondered aloud: does 2001: A Space Odyssey really need a sequel? Director Peter Hyams doesn’t try to ape Stanley Kubrick’s style of filmmaking, and opts instead for a faster paced approach more akin to a Cold War thriller than a sci-fi meditation on life, the universe, and everything. Roy Scheider stars as Dr. Floyd, a scientist who investigates the discovery of life on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.

Hyams has a specific way of lighting and framing his movies that gives them an almost oppressive air of tension; where 2001’s spaceship interiors were bathed in light, 2010’s are dimly-lit and claustrophobic. It’s of a piece with Outland, Hyams’ underrated space western starring Sean Connery; cut off from society, blue skies and clean air, life in space is akin to a spell in prison.

The visual effects in 2010 were groundbreaking at the time, though less conspicuously so than those in 2001 – even then, audiences had become numbed to the sight of ships majestically orbiting planets – and they still hold up well today. With return appearances from Keir Dullea and Douglas Rain, the latter again providing the soothing voice of HAL, 2010’s far better than its tepid reception suggested.

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Well not the state, but the playwright. Keir and Mia are planning to take the stage to bring power to the words of Tennessee Williams in a reading of his works. More below.

Keir Dullea & Mia Dillon Plan Tennessee Williams Theater Fest Return

In YEAR TENN: A Decade of Tennessee Williams in Provincetown, the TW Fest celebrates its 10th Anniversary in grand style by bringing back popular Festival actors to take part in a special reading of excerpts from the 11 Tennessee Williams’ premieres presented over the last decade.

“This event brings the power and beauty of Williams’ words front and center,” says Executive Director Jef Hall-Flavin who has adapted the excerpts to flow in this ensemble presentation. “The words Tennessee Williams wrote have the power to transform. Heard together in one evening, ten years of transformations unfold, resonating from play to play.”

Festival Curator David Kaplan added, “We are paying homage not just to the plays that have premiered here, but also to a decade of hard work, belief, passion, and love for this Festival.”

Film and stage actors Keir Dullea and Mia Dillon starred as Big Daddy and Big Mama in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at TW Fest 2013.

Joining them from past productions are Festival stars Irene Glezos, Beth Bartley and Brenda Currin (Orpheus Descending 2010-11; In the Summer House, 2013-14), with Lou Liberatore (Something Cloudy, Something Clear 2011), Jeremy Lawrence (The Traveling Companion 2007 & 2011, among many other productions 2006-13), and local Provincetown actors Jody O’Neil, Ben Berry, Adam Berry, Darlene van Alstyne, Ian Leahy, plus a special appearance by Miss Coney Island 2011, Lefty Lucy.

Among the plays at TENN @ Town Hall are this year’s curious Aimez-Vous Ionesco?, the sultry Green Eyes, the down and dirty Madame LeMonde, the heart-warming Parade, the bawdy Dog Enchanted by the Divine View, the mini-tragedy of The Enemy: Time, the road-tripping Once in a Lifetime, the heroic Sunburst, the revolutionary Pronoun “I”, the stylish Curtains for the Gentleman, and the myth-bending American Gothic.

Threaded throughout are plays inspired by Williams’ writing that have also been presented at past Festivals. Excerpts include Wendy Kesselman’sThe Shell Collection, along with Gift of an Orange by Charlene A. Donaghy and Rancho Pancho by Greg Barrios.

The celebration at Town Hall also features live music by George Maurer on piano and Ukumbwa Sauti on percussion. Composer Maurer adapted Williams’ poetry into Autumn Song at TW Fest 2011.

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Keir will be appearing at a screening of BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING in New York. The screening is being hosted by Foster Hirsch who wrote a book about the director of the film, Otto Preminger called The Man Who Would Be King, published 2006 by Knopf Publishing in both book and ebook form. Tickets are available for the screening. Click on the title below for more information. Keir played the part of Steven Lake. If you haven’t seen the film, then I’m not going to spoil the ending.