Carice van Houten Joins 'Vivaldi' Biopic

Any day now, Carice van Houten is going to become a major international movie star, and when that day comes I will have a million-times fewer chances with the Black Book beauty. Right now I think I only have to fight Ryan and actor Sebastian Koch for her. Soon, I will have to fight the world. She's worth it, though, as you'd know if you saw Black Book, or you will know once you see any number of films she's slated to star in, including Bryan Singer's Valkyrie, in which she plays wife to Tom Cruise. Other projects I look forward to seeing her in are Paula van der Oest's Smoke and Ochre and Bond 22, which both Ryan and I insist she be officially cast in (last we heard she was being considered). Of course, there's also older films of hers that I'm dying to see available in the States, such as Zwarte Zwanen and the TV movie Suzy Q.

Fortunately her latest casting is in a movie we'll definitely see released in America, Boris Damast's Vivaldi. Written by Jeffrey Freedman, the film will be a biopic of the 18th century Venetian composer, to be played by Joseph Fiennes, and is expected for U.S. distribution sometime in 2008. In addition to Fiennes, Van Houten joins Malcolm McDowell, Lena Headey, Gérard Depardieu, Jacqueline Bisset and little Elle Fanning. Van Houten is playing a character named Julietta, but I'm unaware of what relationship the character has to Vivaldi. In fact, none of the named actors' characters are listed anywhere in the composer's Wikipedia bio, so I guess I just need to do some deeper research. All I can find is that the character of Julietta was previously attached to actress Zuleikha Robinson. I'm not sure, though, if the change is because van Houten replaced her. The only thing I honestly know or care is that I love classical music and I love van Houten, and I will no doubt love this movie, good or bad.