DVD cover NYT ad 06.16.06 Links DVD at Amazon The Lake House Official site & trailer IMDB: The Lake House Heartland - Truly moving picture award Box Office Mojo Metacritic reviews Rotten Tomatoes reviews Comingsoon.net Dark Horizons more photos Bullock, Reeves fan sites, more at their links Club-keanu.com more photos Keanuweb Keanua-z.com Keanuholic Sandra-bullock.co.uk/ Sandra Bullock Online Sandrabullockcentral.com

1. --> July 3, 2006, New York Observer, Lake Offers Murky View
2. --> Dec. 9, 2005, Variety, New shores for WB's 'Lake' 'House' moves to summer slot
3. --> April 14, 2005, Clarin.com (Argentina), Agresti y Keanu, una extraña pareja
4. --> March 28, 2005, Chicago Tribune, More Keanu
5. --> March 23, 2005, Hollywood Reporter, Walsh joins 'Mare' cast for Warners
6. --> March 22, 2005, Chicago Sun-Times, Stella's Column
7. --> March 21, 2005, Chicago Tribune, Keanu Shoots
8. --> March 21, 2005, Hollywood Reporter, Aghdashloo checks mail for 'Il Mare'
9. --> March 20, 2005, Chicago Tribune, Armour & Co
10. --> March 20, 2005, Chicago Tribune, This isn't job site; gee, it's Hollywood
11. --> March 2005, Clarin.com (Argentina), Super production with Argentine director
12. --> February 23, 2005, The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros.' 'Il Mare' calls for Plummer
13. --> January 24, 2005, Interview with director Alejandro Agresti
14. --> January 19, 2005, The Hollywood Reporter, Bullock back with Reeves for 'Il Mare'

Screencaps

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Alejandro Agresti’s The Lake House, from a screenplay by David Auburn, is based on a Korean film, Il Mare, which I have not seen and cannot really imagine. This is to say that The Lake House is longer on a kind of furtive charm than on narrative logic. How, people are asking in and out of print, can a man and a woman fall in love by mail postmarked two years apart, his letters written and delivered to the lake house mailbox in 2004, and hers in 2006? The question is never really answered, so, as you might imagine, the “romance” is one long saga of frustration.

Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are reunited for the first time since their huge box-office hit Speed (1994), the mad-bomber/perpetual-motion/booby-trapped-runaway-bus thriller in which their characters are caught in a tense rather than cute encounter, surviving last-minute destruction just barely for a fade-out clinch. They were both 29 at the time; now they are playing a romantic team at 41, which, in movie terms, is impossibly late to find the great love of one’s life. Of course, Speed was no love story drenched with feeling and chemistry. Its kinetic frenzies did not provide the quiet moments of mutual adoration most romances require. Hence, Keanu and Sandra never had much practice looking deeply into each other’s eyes.

Fortunately, Mr. Agresti and Mr. Auburn have distanced their lead characters from their time-travel destiny by imposing a mostly abstract visual style full of towering overhead shots and views of Chicago’s architectural and natural landmarks—not to mention innumerable camera movements suggesting quasi-magical passages of time.

It helps that Mr. Reeves’ character, Alex Wyler, is a visionary developer whose own father designed the lake house in which Wyler and Ms. Bullock’s Dr. Kate Forster both live, though two years apart. These sci-fi shenanigans seem made-to-order for two performers and personae who have spent most of their careers confronting improbable if not impossible situations. The film’s ultimate leap into befuddled absurdity is performed by a scene-stealing, chess-playing dog shared by the two characters in two different time zones. By this point, viewers can be forgiven for the impression that the filmmakers are mocking them.

Still, I have always felt that both Ms. Bullock’s patented expressions of anguish and Mr. Reeves’ stoical minimalism have been somewhat underrated. Both Alex and Kate have back-stories of commendable complexity and cultural texture. Alex is afflicted with an Oedipal relationship with his famous father, Simon (Christopher Plummer), who delivers the movie’s best lines from what turns out to be his deathbed. Mr. Plummer, with all his theatrical grandeur, passionately explains the architect’s use of light to accommodate the different skies of Barcelona and Tokyo; the scenic virtuosity of the film as a whole prevents such purple prose from becoming obtrusive.

For her part, Kate is consoled through her ordeal by two perceptively articulate women, her mother (Willeke van Ammelrooy) and a hospital colleague, Dr. Anna Klyczynski (Shohreh Aghdashloo). Kate is also blessed with a remarkably patient boyfriend, Morgan (Dylan Walsh), with whom she enters into a temporary liaison, and this only after Alex has unavoidably stood her up on a date made two years in advance through the old trusty lake house mailbox. Alex is even less distracted from his foreordained romantic fate by a pathetically clinging co-worker (Lynn Collins), who literally throws herself at Alex, succeeding only in making him uncomfortable.

I have recently been scolded by a reader for “giving away” the plot of La Moustache. I plead guilty and throw myself on the mercy of my readers. At the very least, I should have warned my readers not to read my review until they had seen the movie themselves. I have resorted to this precaution in the past and shall do so in the future. The truth is that the ending of La Moustache didn’t make any sense to me, and I may have unconsciously become a little hostile to the film and decided to “spoil” it for my readers. I bring up this issue not because I intend to do the same here, but because, in a crazy way, I found that the pieces of The Lake House finally fit together more coherently than those in La Moustache. This is not to say that one picture is better than the other. If pressed, I would say that La Moustache is more sérieux than The Lake House.

But what finally surprised me about the film is that by the conclusion, I felt that the directorial style had transcended the ridiculously shopworn narrative premise that true love can conquer even time and death. Even before then, there was a sequence of disconnected incidents that suddenly clicked for me. On one of his quixotic journeys into the future, Alex moves a sapling from the lake house into the midst of Chicago’s skyscrapers. Much later, as a conversation ends in front of a large tree, the camera soars around the tree so majestically and so expressively that this old Ophülsian knew instantly that this was the same one Alex had transplanted, and that, in some mysterious way, time—seemingly his mortal enemy—would be the agent of his obsession’s fulfillment. In their way, Mr. Reeves and Ms. Bullock are humble artists in the service of eternity, but the few moments they share in the conjoined epiphanies of Alex and Kate lift them above the swirling mass of mortal humanity.

Warner Bros. Pictures has relocated romance "The Lake House," starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, from Super Bowl weekend to a competitive summer slot dominated by two testosterone-laden pics. Bowing on June 16 are Universal's "The Fast and the Furious 3" and 20th Century Fox's Viking adventure "Pathfinder."

"Lake House" was originally set to bow Feb. 3, but the studio needed to find a new release date because of additional post-production work. Studio decided to counterprogram the pic on June 16.

Alejandro Agresti directed "Lake House," which was penned by "Proof" playwright David Auburn. Film, a remake of Korean pic "Il Mare," concerns a lonely doctor and frustrated architect who live in the same house two years apart. They begin exchanging love letters through a mailbox with mysterious power.

In a separate move, the Weinstein Co. has decided to push back "Hoodwinked" out of the crowded Christmas frame to Jan. 13. TWC still plans a one-week L.A. run starting Dec. 16 to qualify the pic for kudos.

April 14, 2005 Clarin.com (Argentina)

The director of "Valentin" is rolling "Il Mare" in Chicago, the film in which he reunites the "Speed" stars: Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

This is the first image from the "Il Mare" production, the film with which the Argentine director Alexander Agresti makes its debut in Hollywood. With Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in the main characters. The film is rolling in and around the city of Chicago.

The fist time, he is saying, Reeves and Bullock act together since 1994, when "Speed" speeded success for the pair. Recently, Reeves could be seen in "Constantine," whereas Bullock will soon be seen in "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous."

In this adaptation of the Korean romantic drama "Il Mare" ("The Sea" in Italian) a solitary doctor (Bullock) begins to interchange love letters with a frustrated architect (Reeves). They discover both are living with two years of time difference between each other.

Also starring in this Agresti film is Dylan Walsh (from the "Nip/Tuck" TV series), as the ex-fiancee of Bullock; and for "House of Sand and Fog" Oscar nominated actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, as the friend and informer of Bullock; Ebon Moss-Bachrach ("American Splendor"), as the brother of Reeves; Lynn Collins ("The Merchant of Venice"), as the fiancee of Reeves; the Dutch actress (from the country where Agresti lived for many years) Willeke van Ammelrooy ("Antonia"), as the mother of Bullock, and Christopher Plummer ("A Beautiful Mind"), as the father of Reeves, a famous architect with whom he has a difficult relation.

Distributed by Warner Bros. Il Mare is a production by Vertigo Entertainment and its script was written by the Pulitzer Prize winner, David Auburn. The director of photography is the same one with "Star Wars: Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith," David Tattersall, and the production designer is the one with the new "Batman Begins," Nathan Crowley.

Agresti sticks with two partners for a long time already, the Dutch musician Paul M. van Brugge and the Argentine editor Alejandro Brodersohn, with whom he collaborates for the sixth time (before in "Buenos Aires Vice Versa", "La Cruz", "Wind with the Gone", among others). Brodersohn also was editor with films such as "Moebius", "Mala época", "Hidden River", "Little Sky", and the recent films "Iluminados por el fuego" and "Whisky Romeo Zulu," with colleague Jacopo Quadri.

The distributor expects the film will be released internationally in 2006.

El director de "Valentín" está rodando en Chicago "Il Mare", filme que reúne a la pareja de "Máxima velocidad": Keanu Reeves y Sandra Bullock.
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Esta es la primera imagen del rodaje de Il Mare, la película con la que el director argentino Alejandro Agresti debuta en Hollywood, con Keanu Reeves y Sandra Bullock como protagonistas, y que se está rodando en la ciudad de Chicago y sus alrededores.

Se trata, como se ha dicho, de la primera vez que Reeves y Bullock actúan juntos desde 1994, cuando se consagraron como una pareja de éxito gracias a Máxima velocidad. Hace poco, a Reeves se lo vio en Constantine, en tanto que a Bullock se la verá en breve en Miss Simpatía 2: Armada y peligrosa.

Adaptación de un drama romántico coreano, en Il Mare (El mar, en italiano), una doctora solitaria (Bullock) comienza a intercambiarse cartas de amor con un arquitecto frustrado (Reeves), y allí descubren que ambos están viviendo con dos años de diferencia entre sí.

En el filme de Agresti actúan además Dylan Walsh (de la serie Nip/Tuck), como el ex novio de Bullock; la nominada al Oscar por La casa de la arena y la niebla, Shohreh Aghdashloo, como la amiga y confidente de Bullock; Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Esplendor americano, como el hermano de Reeves; Lynn Collins (El mercader de Venecia), como la novia de Reeves; la actriz holandesa (país donde Agresti vivió muchos años) Willeke van Ammelrooy (Memorias de Antonia), como la madre de Bullock, y Christopher Plummer (Una mente brillante) como el padre de Reeves, un famoso arquitecto con el que tiene una difícil relación.

Distribuida por Warner Bros. Il Mare es una producción de Vertigo Entertainment y su guión fue escrito por el ganador del Premio Pulitzer, David Auburn. El director de fotografía es el mismo de Star Wars: Episodio III: La venganza de los Sith, David Tattersall, y el diseñador de producción es el de la nueva Batman Begins, Nathan Crowley.

Agresti mantiene a dos colaboradores suyos de larga data, como son el músico holandés Paul M. van Brugge y el montajista argentino Alejandro Brodersohn, con el que trabaja aquí por sexta vez (lo hizo antes en Buenos Aires viceversa, La cruz y El viento se llevó lo qué, entre otras). Brodersohn también es montajista de filmes tales como Moebius, Mala época, Río escondido, El cielito, y las inminentes Iluminados por el fuego y Whisky Romeo Zulu, donde compartió tarea con Jacopo Quadri.

Según estima la distribuidora, el filme se lanzará internacionalmente durante 2006.

The Keanu patrol . . .

Actor Keanu Reeves, who has been painting the town red during filming for "Il Mare," was spotted munching on chicken hash at the posh RL eatery Sunday, where the star graciously obliged an autograph seeker.

I Spy . . .

Actor Christopher Plummer, who is co-starring in "Il Mare," was spotted leaving a generous tip at Coco Pazzo late last week. ... Spotted at Pili Pili's downstairs private dining room: 55 members of the cast and crew from the Lyric Opera production of Richard Wagner's "Gotterdammerung," toasting their show's success.

More Keanu

Filming for "Il Mare" continued last week at Wyler Children's Hospital. Keanu Reeves and Christopher Plummer had a few long days filming in the hospital.

In the scenes, Reeves' character (he plays an architect named Alex) rushes into the hospital and goes straight to the admissions desk. Reeves' father, who is played by Plummer, is in the hospital, and Reeves waits for some test results on Plummer.

Filming will continue this month and next in Palos Heights and downtown locations such as the Art Institute. Co-star Sandra Bullock is scheduled to arrive in the couple of weeks. She and Reeves star as lovers who have to find each other in a race against time, or else one will die.

"Nip/Tuck" star Dylan Walsh has joined the cast of "Il Mare" for Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow. Walsh will play Morgan in the film, which stars Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves and is loosely based on the Korean hit "Siworae." Walsh steps into the role for which John Corbett had been announced. Shohreh Aghdashloo, Ebon-Moss Bachrach, Willeke van Ammelrooy and Christopher Plummer also star. "Il Mare," which is shooting in Chicago, is directed by Alejandro Agresti and produced by Doug Davison and Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment. Vertigo's Sonny Mallhi is co-producer. The executive producers are Mary McLaglen, Erwin Stoff, Robert Kirby and Bruce Berman. The screenplay is by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Auburn ("Proof"). Repped by UTA, manager Bob McGowan and attorney Rick Genow, Walsh has appeared in films including "We Were Soldiers." He is shooting David Mamet's latest feature, "Edmond," with William H. Macy and Julia Stiles.

ON THE SCENE: The Bella Lounge has been the place to be and be seen since opening in November. Recent celebs include Christina Applegate, David Schwimmer, Judge Greg Mathis, the Bears' Jerry Azumah and Brian Urlacher. . . . Jack LaLanne, the 90-year-old health/fitness guru, and his 78-year-old wife, Elaine, dined at Gene & Georgetti's over the weekend. Dining at a separate table, actor Christopher Plummer and "Il Mare" film director Alejandro Agresti. . . The NBA's Kendall Gill eating at LaVita.

Keanu shoots

"Keanu Reeves has been busy filming scenes for his movie, "Il Mare." Reeves filmed scenes Thursday and Friday at Roosevelt University's library. On Friday evening, filming moved downtown to Prairie Avenue Bookshop on Wabash Avenue. In the scene, Reeves, who plays an architect, enters the bookstore to visit his estranged father, played by Christopher Plummer. The cast and crew had Saturday and Sunday off. Filming is scheduled to continue Monday at Wyler Children's Hospital."

Oscar-nominated actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, John Corbett and Ebon Moss-Bachrach have joined the cast of "Il Mare" (working title) for Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow.

They join Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock and Christopher Plummer in the picture, which is based on the 2000 Korean romance/sci-fi feature, "Siworae." The story revolves around two people (Reeves and Bullock) who fall in love via a mysterious mailbox.

Aghdashloo is set to play Bullock's medical colleague and confidante. Corbett will star as Bullock's former fiance. Moss-Bachrach will play Reeves' younger brother. Also joining the cast is veteran Dutch actress Willeke van Ammelrooy ("Antonia's Line"), who will play Bullock's widowed mother.

"Il Mare," which is shooting in Chicago, is being directed by Alejandro Agresti and produced by Doug Davison and Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment. Vertigo's Sonny Mallhi is the co-producer. The executive producers are Mary McLaglen, Erwin Stoff, Robert Kirby and Bruce Berman. The screenplay is by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Auburn ("Proof").

The key filmmaking crew includes cinematographer David Tattersall, production designer Nathan Crowley, composer Paul M. van Brugge and Agresti's longtime film editor, Alejandro Brodersohn.

"Il Mare" will be released worldwide next year by Warners, with Village Roadshow handling select territories.

Aghdashloo and Corbett are repped by CAA. Moss-Bachrach is repped by the Gersh Agency and Benderspink.

You've probably noticed that the South Loop's world-famous Prairie Avenue Bookshop, 418 S. Wabash Ave., has been closed for business. That's because it's being used as the site of CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER's office during the shooting of "Il Mare," which also stars KEANU REEVES and SANDRA BULLOCK. Plummer plays Reeves' architect dad (the bookstore is known for its massive architectural collection) in the movie, which will be shooting here through April. We hear Reeves has spent a lot of time with owners BILL and MARILYN HASBROUCK, making sure he's got the architecture lingo down.

AURORA -- Plumber Hector Saldana Jr. snagged a front-row seat to a live Keanu Reeves performance Tuesday in Aurora without even having to leave his job site.

Saldana, an Aurora native, has been working at Pulte Homes' Madison Park Townes construction site on East New York Street in Aurora for the last five months. But the site really began to buzz Monday when "Hollywood moved in," as Saldana put it.

Reeves was in town working on the romantic comedy "Il Mare (The Sea,)" a remake of a Korean film, in which he plays an architect.

In the Warner Brothers film, Sandra Bullock plays a doctor who exchanges letters with Reeves through a mysterious mailbox. Their connection is a house they both have inhabited, but at different times. Chicago publicist Ernie Malik said the film, written by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Auburn, is set in the city. "We're shooting in Palos Park, Riverside, Willow Springs and at the Park Grill in Chicago's Millennium Park."

The Aurora site was chosen because it had "all phases of construction in one place, and the director wanted a variety of looks," said Malik.

Saldana's co-worker, Ted Wilson of Lockport, said watching the production has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"You got Keanu Reeves standing 10 feet away from you," Wilson said. Saldana said he heard Bullock might appear at the site. Wilson and Saldana said they were disappointed that extras were hired to play construction workers in the scene. "I'd have done it for free," Wilson said.

The movie is scheduled for release around Valentine's Day.

Since before yesterday, in the cold and windy Chicago, the Argentine director Alejandro Agresti is filming Il Mare, a more than 60 million dollars super production for Warner Bros. with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, re-teaming their Speed partnership. But this time they're not reunited for an action movie, but for a romantic drama about an architect and a doctor who fall in love via letters. In the middle of the preparations, O Clarín talked with the Buenos Aires director just a few hours before the film shooting started.

Alejandro, are you anxious, nervous, driven crazy that you are about to start filming?

-- The truth is that I'm not nervous. There were many months of preparation, in this phase of shooting we are very prepared.

You felt in the rehearsals that Keanu is a star. In what did you noticed that?

--Yes, he is. He is a fantastic type, a great companion and a hard worker. I said already that I don't want to work otherwise. From now on I want to rehearse as we did and to continue perfecting the dialogues like part of this process. It's very interesting to mix our methods of work.

What is, in your opinion, the quality that stands out best in him?

--He is a very hard worker, we never stopped. During the day we did rehearsals and at night he would come to my house to eat and continue to work, discovering the emotional details of his and others characters.

What do you expect from Keanu in relation to his character in "Il Mare"?

-- Keanu's character is the picture of solitude, an architect son of another famous architect, Simon Wyler - actor Christopher Plummer - that tries to go beyond things his father determined, in the life and in the art. It is a history with 267 scenes, is complex under any standard. The work on the script, based on a Korean movie, took two years to complete, in which I participated rewriting nine versions in four months. Jeremy Irons is in the cast too. It will take twelve weeks of filming and the movie may be released in the first trimester of 2006 in the USA.

Superproducción, con dirección argentina

Desde anteayer, en la fría y ventosa Chicago, el argentino Alejandro Agresti está filmando Il Mare, una superproducción de más de 60 millones de dólares de la Warner Bros., con Keanu Reeves y Sandra Bullock, repitiendo la pareja de Máxima velocidad. Pero esta vez no los reúne un filme de acción, sino un drama romántico sobre un arquitecto y una médica que se enamoran por vía postal. En medio de los preparativos, Clarín se comunicó vía telefónica con el director de Buenos Aires Viceversa horas antes de comenzar la filmación.

Alejandro, ¿qué tan ansioso, nervioso, enloquecido estás a un día de comenzar este rodaje?

La verdad es que no estoy nervioso. Son muchos meses de preparación, la fase de filmación nos encuentra muy preparados.

¿Sentiste en los ensayos que Keanu es una estrella? ¿En qué lo advertiste?

Sí, lo es. Es un tipo fantástico, muy compañero y muy trabajador. El dice que no quiere ya trabajar de otro modo. De ahora en más quiere ensayar como ensayamos, y seguir perfeccionando los diálogos como parte de este proceso. Es muy interesante mezclar nuestros métodos de trabajo.

¿Cuál es, a tu juicio, el valor, la cualidad que más se destaca en él?

Es muy trabajador, no paramos nunca. Durante el día ensayamos y la noche viene a comer a casa y le seguimos dando, descubriéndole detalles emocionales a los personajes.

¿Qué esperás de Keanu con respecto al personaje que le toca componer en "Il Mare"?

El personaje de Keanu, Alex, es un retrato de la soledad, un arquitecto hijo de otro famoso arquitecto, Simon Wyler —que en el filme interpretará Christopher Plummer, actor de El informante y el Capitán von Trapp de La novicia rebelde— que trata de ir más allá de lo logrado por su padre, en la vida y en el arte. Es una historia de 267 escenas, es complejo bajo cualquier estándar. El trabajo, basado en su intriga en un filme coreano, llevó dos años de escribir el guión, del que yo participé reescribiendo nueve versiones sobre cuatro meses de trabajo.

En el elenco también está Jeremy Irons (premiado con un Oscar por Mi secreto me condena). Se calculan doce semanas de rodaje y su estreno está, en principio, previsto para el primer trimestre de 2006 en los EE.UU.

Pablo O. Scholz

Información

El regreso de Keanu Reeves como héroe de acción ha dado rédito en las taquillas. Actualizadas las cifras de este fin de semana en los Estados Unidos, Constantine lleva recaudados 66,5 millones de dólares. A Reeves, las explosiones y los efectos especiales le sientan bien.

Christopher Plummer has joined the cast of Warner Bros. Pictures' "Il Mare," which Argentinian helmer Alejandro Agresti is directing. Plummer will play the father of Keanu Reeves' character in the film, which co-stars Sandra Bullock. "Il Mare" is a remake of a Korean film, "Siworae," which also was released under the title "Il Mare." The new film is being produced by Doug Davison and Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment. Village Roadshow is co-financing the movie. A romantic comedy, "Il Mare" revolves around a lonely doctor (Bullock) and a frustrated architect (Reeves) who live in the same house, only two years apart. They fall in love via letters they exchange through a mailbox that mysteriously links the two of them. Pulitzer Prize winner David Auburn wrote the script. Mary McLaglen will executive produce, and manager-producer Erwin Stoff will get an unspecified production credit. Plummer's recent credits include "Alexander" and "National Treasure." He is represented by ICM.

Thanks to Ale for translating this interview with Il Mare director Alejandro Agresti:

70 million dollars, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in the main roles, music composed especially by Prince, Warner Bros production. What more could Alejandro Agresti ask for?

"I'm living a dream", said in Los Angeles the director of Valentin, in a rest from the rehearsing he was having with The Matrix star. "We are in pre-production for "Il Mare" for two weeks now, and we are going to film it in Chicago", reason why he is traveling from a city to another, rehearsing with Reeves and Bullock in Hollywood and supervising the design production in Chicago. "The movie is based on a Korean production, Siworae, and deals with scheme of time and space. I changed some things, and now we are working together with David Auburn, Pulitzer Prize Winner, who co-signed the script.

Reeves will be an architect and Bullock a doctor when "in the original movie she worked making voices in movies and he in another thing, so now it's different", says Agresti. The ambient is different, it's so much more worked, being him (Reeves) a very famous architect, around Frank Lloyd Wright. "Visually it has much to do with Chicago, that it is a wonderful city."

The plot indicates that the characters lived in the same house with two years of difference, and for a strange reason "they share the mailbox of the house." In the beginning, she leaves the house "a very peculiar one, that we constructed on a lake. Suddenly he finds the letter, dated of 2005, when he is in 2003. First they think that it is a game, every day leaving a letter to each other, and they are approaching day after day, and what it seems illogical has it's own logic: you discover that they met once."

The idea to reunite Speed stars eleven years later was not deliberate. "No. I was meeting different actors. Bullock wanted to know me two months ago in New York, and accepted. And once I had Sandy, I met many actors until the day I met Keanu. He is such a fan of "Valentin", saw "Un mundo menos peor", both like the way I direct, and then I said to the studio: "I have both". "That they were both in Speed was a coincidence. In the beginning Warner worried if it was a good step or no." "It is not a comedy - he clarifies -, it's a romantic drama. One gives a touch of life and humor, but they are not comedy roles."

The rest of the cast is determined? The only ones that are confirmed are they both (Sandra and Keanu). Another role goes to Jeremy Irons, the father of Keanu, and there are other three actors, who we are deciding.

The technical crew is a must. We have the director of photography David Tattersal (worked on the three episodes of Star Wars), the production designer is Nathan Crowley (from Batman Begins), the producer of the film is Doug Davison (the same one of Dark Water, the new Walter Salles movie). There would not be Argentineans in films. "it will be filmed in twelve weeks, beginning in march 14 in Maple Lake, 25 minutes of the center of Chicago. The predicted date of opening is the first trimester of 2006. I am finishing in 10 or 11 of June, and the edition I will do with Kevin Tent, the same one that works with Alexander Payne (Sideways) in Chicago edition offices while I film, and when we finish the running we will be transferred to a farm near San Francisco, property of George Lucas", he confesses.

The work rhythm, he says, is "maddening, by the tools we have. It is a very original film, you can say to everybody. It is very rare that a big studio turns it in one of its super productions. I have an enormous privilege, the power to work with so much freedom, that's what the studio is giving to me. This is industrial cinema, but a very good cinema is being made here ", trusts him. Agresti comments that he has a great contract "with Warner Bros. to produce and to direct my own films, that is like Alfonso Cuaron (last Harry Potter) signed with Warner". Agresti already had commented to Clarin that he was a friends with Alexander Payne. "I really like him very much, but he does not work for Warner. One that have his own producer within Warner, and I have the emotion of being able to relate to him, is Clint Eastwood. And a month ago I had the luck to seat to see with him the first copy of Million Dollar Baby ", says on the possible Oscar candidate.

He continues dreaming wide-awake. "After so many films, I believe that in the last years Hollywood offered things to me and I took them as I could. Here many directors were immigrants, from William Wyler to Billy Wilder. It is not easy to come and to make anything, the dream is that one, to be able to count with the tools and to make good cinema, good stories. I hope to be able to do it."

Agresti says that he does not have time "to feel strange". "Yes sometimes I think how beautiful would be to be able to share all this with my friends, but I always have my friends in mind and imagine them seeing the movie. Your work is not made only for you, you do it for the ones you love. "

Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves have signed on to star in "Il Mare" for Warner Bros. Pictures. The project will mark the first reteaming of the actors since their 1994 action thriller "Speed." A remake of the Korean feature "Siworae," which also has been known by the title "Il Mare," the romantic drama follows a lonely doctor (Bullock) who begins exchanging love letters with a frustrated architect (Reeves), but they then discover they are separated in time by two years. Based on a screenplay by David Auburn ("Proof"), "Il Mare" will be directed by Argentinean helmer Alejandro Agresti ("Valentin") and produced by Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment. Erwin Stoff also will receive a production credit. The executive producer is Mary McLaglen. "Il Mare" is set to begin production in March in Chicago and will be released worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures. Reeves has appeared in Warners' "The Matrix" trilogy and will be seen in the upcoming Warners release "Constantine." Bullock, another Warners mainstay, stars in the upcoming "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous." Both actors are repped by CAA.