Brought to book
In a brief scene in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Penelope Wilton is pictured relaxing in the garden of the eponymous Indian hotel reading a book. A quick shot reveals it's the novel Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach, who also happened to write These Foolish Things, upon which Ol Parker based the screenplay to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It's a sweet in-joke and recalls the one at the end of Notting Hill, where Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant are reposing on a garden bench and she's reading Captain Corelli's Mandolin. This was, at the time, a nod to Notting Hill director Roger Michell's proposed next film – he was slated to direct the Louis de Bernières bestseller. However, illness meant Michell had to drop out and Corelli duties were picked up by John Madden, who of course now directs The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Does this mean that the long-mooted production of Tulip Fever is back on? That film was scheduled to shoot with Jude Law and Keira Knightley back in 2004, with Madden directing, when closure of a tax loophole forced a sudden halt. More recently Tom Hooper was rumoured to be following the success of The King's Speech with Tulip Fever, although he is now deeply involved in making the film of Les Misérables. Moggach says she's still unsure what's going on with the film of Tulip Fever but she told me: "If you notice, in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel she's still reading the book at the end of the film, when weeks have passed. It's obviously not a page-turner. Or maybe she loved the book so much she was reading it for the second time..."
Licensed to dress
With a documentary appearing following 12 years in his personal and professional life, the flamboyant tailor Ozwald Boateng has made a bid to become personal outfitter to James Bond. Ozwald is the subject of Varon Bonicos's A Man's Story, tracing the charismatic black designer's life from Savile Row to Givenchy in Paris, to dressing Jamie Foxx to collect his Oscar for Ray, to putting on a fundraiser in Ghana for 54 African presidents. Ozwald told me last week that movies have always been an inspiration. He did many of the clothes for Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels [see footnote] and won plaudits for the clobber in Gangster No 1. Since then, however, film work has been thin on the ground. "We have great men's designers in the UK but the film industry doesn't seem to be that interested in using them," he told me. "It's a shame, as the two should be good shop windows for each other – film and fashion. Having a great British designer dress a film seems like an easy win on the ground to me. I can't wait to do more clothing for films. For me it was always The Italian Job and The Thomas Crown Affair – maybe a dash of The Saint and for sure Sean Connery's James Bond. These things influenced my clothes and still do. Oh my god, I would love to dress James Bond now, get him into some great British tailoring and return him to Savile Row. The thing about him is that he goes all over the world and fits in and that's the Boateng ethos too. So if anyone should be wearing Boateng, it's James."
Dancing on the ceiling
The line-up for Sundance London should be announced next week. Organisers are bringing 14 of the "biggest hits" of the recent Colorado festival to London's O2 over four nights (26-29 April). It's a huge venue, so they are also filling it with music acts. Robert Redford himself will be there, talking to composer T Bone Burnett on opening night, moderated by Nick Hornby, about the relationship between music and movies. Placebo will be playing and I hear that Tricky will also be one of the main acts, performing his ground-breaking Maxinquaye album for the first time in years.
• This correction was published on 4 March 2012:
Trailer Trash (New Review) said Ozwald Boateng had supplied many of the costumes for the film Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels but costume design was by Stephanie Collie, working with Carlo Manzi Ltd.
