Toronto Star, Canada Feb 28 2006 Atom Egoyan and Arsinee Khanjian, Toronto's leading movie couple, are both nominated for Genies, but neither will be present when the statuettes are handed out on April 14. But don't get the idea they are boycotting glitter night in Hollywood North. Here's where the truth lies: both have had better offers. Each has signed on for a project that involves spending months in Europe. Egoyan, though best known as a movie director, has been offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity directing a stage play at the Barbican Centre in London and the Gate Theatre in Dublin as part of a festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett's birth. Meanwhile, Khanjian will be going to Bulgaria to star in a new movie by the Taviani brothers (best known for Night of the Shooting Stars) about the Armenian genocide. "I am just thrilled to get this chance to direct the first stage production of a little known Beckett play called Eh Joe," Egoyan explained in a phone interview. "We try to arrange our lives so that we are not both away from home at the same time," explains Khanjian, "but these two projects were both such gifts it was impossible for either of us to say no." Egoyan has plenty of reason to be excited. This is the first time in decades anyone has had a chance to direct the world premiere of a Beckett play. And one of the greatest living actors, Michael Gambon, has agreed to play the title role. The play, just 25 minutes long, was written for television and was originally produced by the BBC in 1966. But Egoyan - who previously directed a film version of Beckett's play Krapp's Last Tape - has long felt Eh Joe could work on stage. "It was a huge victory getting permission from the Beckett estate to do a stage version of the play," says Egoyan, "but I am convinced that as a result the play will find a new life, because it's a scintillating and exquisitely witty piece that is not as well known as Beckett's other plays." When he returns to Toronto, Egoyan will turn his attention to another stage project: re-mounting his production of Wagner's Die Walkure for its presentation in the Ring Cycle in September at the Canadian Opera Company's new home in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Meanwhile, Khanjian - nominated for a Genie for her performance as a Muslim woman who rebels against her family's rules in the low-budget movie Sabah - is preparing for her role in The Lark Farm. "It's based on a novel that won a lot of awards," she says. "It's set in World War I. My character belongs to a family living in Turkey under the Ottoman Empire." She was delighted to have a chance to work with the Taviani brothers, who have long been on her list of cinematic heroes, especially because of Padre, Padrone (which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1977). She feels lucky that the legendary Italians would be interested in the subject of the Armenian genocide. Much of the shooting will take place in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, where Armenian architecture of more than 100 years ago still exists. One thing is guaranteed. Khanjian, who figured prominently in Egoyan's controversial Ararat, will go down in cinema history as the only actor ever to star in two movies about the Armenian genocide. OSCAR TIP: The Dutch film Darwin's Nightmare, one of the five nominees in the feature documentary category, came and went so fast last year that hardly anyone saw it. It will be screened Saturday, March 4 at Cinematheque Ontario as part of this year's Human Rights Watch Festival. Directed by Hubert Sauper, it illustrates the downside of globalization and tells a story of how a fish factory destroyed the whole economy of a town in Tanzania.
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