Bel Ami is already out in theaters in the UK, and Amazon UK is listing a release date for the DVD.

According to the site, the release date for the DVD is July 23, 2012.

You can pre-order the DVD by clicking here.

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Philip Glenister is not given to musing about his work. He’s a jobbing actor – or at least that’s what he’d have you believe. When asked what made him commit to playing Charles Forestier, a journalist in 19th-century Paris in new film Bel Ami he quips, ‘I was free on a Tuesday.’

But much about Philip is a front. Behind the gruff exterior – which he used to great effect as the brash DCI Gene Hunt in Life On Mars and its sequel Ashes To Ashes – is not quite a softie, but certainly someone who cares about his craft and works hard. He just likes to joke about it.

I ask him whether he had any journalists in mind when playing Forestier, the man who gives Robert Pattinson’s caddish character Georges Duroy his big break. ‘I based it on Piers Morgan,’ he says with a cackle.

Forestier and his wife, Madeleine, played by Uma Thurman, take Duroy under their wing, and she advises him the best way to get on in Paris is via the city’s most influential wives. Duroy embarks on some torrid affairs and steamy bedroom scenes as he scales the social ladder.

So how was it working with such impressive actors on the risqué period drama? Word is, Uma can be temperamental. ‘She’s bonkers,’ he jokes. And then there was Robert, one of the hottest actors in the world thanks to his role in the Twilight films. ‘We were filming at a house in Hertfordshire adjoining a school. The pupils got wind of it and started chanting, “Robert, Robert”. We had to threaten them with cattle prods!’

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During his visit to Brazil to promote the comedy War is War!, Reese Witherspoon took the opportunity to talk about the actor Robert Pattinson, who appeared opposite the drama Water for Elephants.

In the movie, Twilight star plays a veterinary student who joins a circus at the beginning of last century.

Reese now lives the character Marlena, the star of the circus, bride of an animal trainer.

- He’s great. And my God, how beautiful!

The actress Pattinson praised the effort to reconcile two jobs at the same time.

- What surprised me was his dedication. He filmed the entire weekend, then spent the week with Twilight, then the other weekend had more to write, and then more Twilight … And yes it had a lightness, humility. And he is very grateful for everything that is living.

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Magnolia Pictures acquired ‘Bel Ami’ and there’s finally a US release date: June 8th

From Deadline:

New York – (March 12, 2012) – The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Pictures announced today the June 8th U.S. theatrical release of BEL AMI, starring Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci, and Colm Meaney. BEL AMI had its World Premiere as an Official Selection of last month’s 62nd Berlin International Film Festival.

In this sexy retelling of Guy de Maupassant’s classic tale of blackmail, manipulation, and social-climbing, set against 19th century Paris, Pattinson stars as the young and very ambitious George Duroy, who discovers that his unadulterated passion and seduction skills with influential Parisian ladies (Ricci, Thurman, and Thomas), above-all, is the fastest and most effective way to the upper echelons of the society he so desperately wants to control.

Directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, the film was written by Rachel Bennette, produced by Uberto Pasolini (The Full Monty), and Simon Fuller of XIX Entertainment (“American Idol,” “So You Think You Can Dance”) executive produced.

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) will handle all other U.S. media.

“BEL AMI is a well-crafted, appealing film with a terrific ensemble cast,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “We think it’s a great fit for our Ultra VOD program.”

The deal was negotiated for Magnolia by SVP of Acquisitions Dori Begley and Head of Business Affairs Chris Matson with SPWA’s EVP of Business Affairs Michael Helfand and VP Acquisitions and Distribution Tana Evans.

From Variety:

Magnolia Pictures has acquired Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod’s Robert Pattinson-starrer “Bel Ami” and will give the period pic a theatrical release in the U.S. on June 8.
Deal was made with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, which will handle all other U.S. media.

A retelling of Guy de Maupassant’s classic tale of blackmail, manipulation, and social-climbing, set against 19th century Paris, “Bel Ami” stars Pattinson as an ambitious young man who discovers that his unadulterated passion and seduction skills with influential Parisian ladies is the fastest and most effective way to the upper echelons of the society he so desperately wants to control.

Pic, which co-stars Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci and Colm Meaney, had its world premiere at last month’s Berlin International Film Festival.

Donnellan and Ormerod direct from a script by Rachel Bennette. Uberto Pasolini (“The Full Monty”) produced the film, which was exec produced by Simon Fuller (“American Idol”) of XIX Entertainment.

“‘Bel Ami’ is a well-crafted, appealing film with a terrific ensemble cast,” said Magnolia prexy Eamonn Bowles. “We think it’s a great fit for our Ultra VOD program.”

Deal was negotiated for Magnolia by senior VP of acquisitions Dori Begley and head of business affairs Chris Matson, along with SPWA’s exec VP of business affairs Michael Helfand and VP of acquisitions and distribution Tana Evans.

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So how is the film world treating you?
Donnellan: The red carpet in Berlin was absolutely amazing. We’d never had much intrusion from Robert’s fans, and Rob’s really serious – he insisted on rehearsing for a whole month before we started to shoot. There was no intrusion on the set. The thing they had in common – all the principles came from completely different background in cinema. They all had one thing in common, in that they were doing something they’d never done before – the roles stretched each of them. Then we hit Berlin… [laughs] It was incredible fun.
Ormerod: We expected something fairly extraordinary, and it was amazing.
Donnellan: Nick burst out laughing one morning when he was reading the emails. He couldn’t stop laughing, saying “we had a letter from Hugo Boss, asking permission to dress us in Berlin!”
Ormerod: This is a Hugo Boss jacket!

Were there changes from the novel?
Ormerod: Obviously you have to leave out whole great chunks of a novel. Part of the story is an opposing newspaper, and he has a duel with one of the journalist. We focused on what we felt was the heart of the story, which is his relationship with the four women.
Donnellan: And his profound love affair with himself! That’s the love story at the heart of Bel Ami!
Ormerod: The politics are there, but the point being that Georges Duroy is not interested in the politics. He couldn’t give a – this isn’t on the radio, is it? – about the politics. So they bubble up, but only in as far as they direct his pocket basically.

Georges has no redeeming qualities at all – I enjoyed how brutal he was.
Donnellan: Rob was completely fascinated by the fact he has no redeeming qualities. The other thing is that he’s not really ambitious for money, and he’s not really that bright, and hasn’t got any ambitious grand plans. He just wants what you’ve got. He’s completely reactive to what the other guy’s got. He’s so completely consumed by envy. I think he’s got one huge redeeming feature, in that he wants to live. That’s why we fought to keep in the death he witnesses at the heart of it. For me it’s really important that he sees this one thing that makes him think, “I’m going to fucking live.” I think that’s a completely admirable quality for a human being. It’s very tough, as not everybody wants to live that much, because we’re a mixture of wanting to live and wanting to die, and he so purely wants to live.

Can I ask how you get such a cast on a relatively modest budget?
Ormerod: The more you hear about film, you realise that people [actors] aren’t well-paid and they will do a project they want to do. I’m glad to say they wanted to work with us, but they also loved the script – Rob really grabbed at it, and loved the character.
Donnellan: We know a lot of movie actors – the ones you can imagine we know – and it’s very interesting how little they get paid. All the interesting projects don’t pay very much. All the gazillion pounds that you hear tends to be for other kinds of movies, the type that famous actors do, if you see what I mean. People do do things for very little. You hear it cost 9 million euros, and that sounds like a huge amount but it really isn’t once hundreds of people are paid and you have to move from one location to the other. I’ve never been on Easyjet so often! It wasn’t glamorous, I can tell you!

What was it about Rob that you liked?
Ormerod: I think he’s perfect for the role. He has those matinee idol good looks, the sort of gigilo looks that those women completely fall for, and yet he has a darkness, and interest, and a vulnerability sometimes too.
Donnellan: He’s very bright too, and he understood the character. Rob’s got an enormous amount of talent, but we’re all fascinated by this character who has no talent. It’s a modern story – the person who gets to the top with no talent. A journalist asked us the other day, “was this the first time the two of you have worked together?” You do start asking, how did they get the job? When I was young, it was really difficult to get jobs, and I think a lot of people get jobs because… I don’t know. There’s this fascination with how people get to the top of their jobs. They get there because they’re empty, because they have no imagination, so other people can pin fantasies on them.
Ormerod: In every organisation you see them – their one talent is to get to the top.

Were you under any pressure to tone down the sex scenes when Rob came on board, in terms of attracting a wider audience?
Ormerod: No, the film is about sex. It’s not titillating sex.
Donnellan: It’s about a guy who sells his body, basically. All these women are in comfortable marriages, and none of them want to get divorced. Their relationship with him is essentially sexual.

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In fact, Almaric — best-known to American audiences through his roles in “Munich, “Le Scaphandre et le Papillion” (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”), and “Quantum of Solace,” has been a director longer than he’s been an actor. As a teenager, he took a job as a trainee AD on Louis Malle’s “Au Revoir les Enfants” and he won Best Director at Cannes in 2010 for “Tournee.” He has also worked with some of France’s best directors, of course — among them Arnaud Desplechin and Alain Resnais — and he’ll next be seen in David Cronenberg’s forthcoming “Cosmopolis,” playing a “pastry assassin” who creams Robert Pattinson in the face as part of his mission to sabotage power and wealth worldwide. Almaric sat down with The Playlist to talk about his philosophies on- and off-screen, and why he feels an actor is “nothing.”

As the pastry assassin, you get to throw a pie in Robert Pattinson’s face and then give a six-page monologue.

Cronenberg is very close to the book. And Rob is a great guy. Yeah, yeah — it’s a tough scene. I had to speak in English, and Cronenberg shot it in one sequence, where you do the whole scene in one shot. It was very physical, and I spoke so much. And you’re afraid, because it’s Cronenberg! [Laughs] But you manage to learn your lines, and I’m always surprised when I manage to be able to say the words in complete order, you know? I don’t know how it’s possible. But I think it’s going to be an amazing film, especially because he shot it in order, exactly as it happens in the book, about a man who gets broken.

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You worked with R-Patz five years ago. Does that mean you weren’t all googly-eyed over Twilight’s ‘Edward’?

If I hadn’t have known him I might have been slightly intimidated. I hadn’t even seen Twilight but I watched the first film after Bel Ami and I was like: ‘Now I get what all the hype is about.’

Is he the same bloke, except now he’s called R-Patz?

Yeah, I think he’s handled it brilliantly and managed to stay down to earth. When we went to the Bel Ami premiere, he went early so he could go and sign all the fans’ pictures. As much as I’d love to be a successful actor, the thought of being recognised in the street is petrifying.

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Kristin Scott Thomas knows a thing or two about typecasting in her native land. “If the character is cold, witty and a snob, they’re going to call me,” she opines.

What she finds less easy to understand is the hold two of her recent co-stars – Ryan Gosling and Robert Pattinson – have over other women. “It is rather extraordinary that I have ended up acting with these incredible heart throbs,” she says. “I have to say, I don’t get it really.”

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