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Copyright 2004 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd.
Daily Record
February 24, 2004, Tuesday
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 24,25
LENGTH: 1138 words
HEADLINE: MAKING UP WITH MADONNA;
KEVIN COSTNER ADMITS HE COULD HAVE HELD A GRUDGE AGAINST THE QUEEN OF
BYLINE: BY JOHN MILLAR
KEVIN Costner ought to spit and curse every time Madonna's name is mentioned.But even though she humiliated the Oscar winning star, he's still a fan.
And despite the way she ridiculed him when they met backstage in her film In Bed With Madonna, it seems the pop diva also has a soft spot for the Dances With Wolves actor.
Costner, who has saddled up as leading manand director in his latest western Open Range, exclusively revealed to the Record hehad patched up his differences with Madonna.
. . . . . . . . .
HE smiled when I remarked that Duvall was on scene-stealing form in Open Range. 'I've never been frightened of that,' said Costner. 'I knew when I made Robin Hood that Alan Rickman would do that. And I wanted that to happen. It helped the movie to succeed.'
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Copyright 2004 Reed Elsevier Inc.
Daily Variety
February 20, 2004, Friday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 18
LENGTH: 3091 words
HEADLINE: FILM PRODUCTION CHART
HIGHLIGHT:
Films in the future
. . . . . . . . . .
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Rowan Atkinson, Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman
PROD, David Heyman; DIR, Mike Newell; SCR, Steve Kloves; DISTRIB, WB.
1492 Pictures/Heyday Films. 4/04, U.K.
Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, February 20, 2004
Washington
To the Editor:
Full disclosure. I am an actor who works in Washington.
With that out of the way, I feel compelled to respond to Sara Watson's letter.
While she has every right to spend her money and free time on whatever pleases her, the entire premise of her letter begs the question of where worthwhile theater comes from
in the first place. The cast of "M*A*S*H*," Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman, whom the writer lists as actors she has enjoyed in shows, did not materialize on the planet out of
thin air. Once upon a time, they were struggling actors.
As for Tennessee Williams, once upon a time he was nobody. And for every successful musical that has become a classic, there are countless shows that were tried and failed.
The bottom line is this: It's fine to want the cream, but if theaters restrict themselves to "fun plays" and known actors, we are going to run out of scripts we don't all know by
heart, and the actors to do them will grow old and die off. Yes, ticket buyers take a chance by going to a show they never heard of with a local cast. It could very well be two
hours of their life they will never get back.
LISA LIAS
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Copyright 2004 The Liverpool Daily Post & Echo Ltd
Daily Post (Liverpool)
February 13, 2004, Friday
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 6,7
LENGTH: 966 words
HEADLINE: TREADING THE BOARDS ...IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF A GREAT;
LEW BAXTER MEETS A MAN AIMING TO STEP INTO ONE OF CINEMA'S MOST
BYLINE: LEW BAXTER
FEW who have seen the 1960s film will forget the manic screen performance of Jack Nicholson in the role of heroic rebel Randle in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Directed
by Czech Milos Forman it is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time and Nicholson had snatched the lead role from rivals like James Caan,Marlon Brando and even
Gene Hackman.
These are hard acts to follow for Swansea-born actor Robert Perkins, who aims to carve out his own theatrical niche in the part of the crooked but free-spirited chancer who
cons his way into the mental institution to escape the prison work camp, unleashing mayhem.
Naturally,he is aware of the pedigree of the part and Nicholson's stamp on it. Robert reveals, however, that he is approaching it in his own and very different way. And director
Terry Hands seems more than relaxed about this stance -indeed he may have encouraged it.
"To give truth to the book and film,I think it would be fatal to imitate the way Jack played it. It is my Randle and nothing like Jack's," says Robert.
"I haven't seen the film for a long time and don't intend to do so now. I guess if you are playing Hamlet, you do it differently from someone else,"comments the affable actor, who
is fresh,it must be pointed out, from hobnobbing with Kevin Costner.
Movie world gossip relates that Costner can be a tad tetchy at times. There are those who hark back to Alan Rickman's scene-stealing efforts as the wild-eyed Sheriff of
Nottingham against a rather lack lustre Costner as Robin Hood. It seems large chunks of Rickman's work ended up on the cutting room floor, such was Costner's angst.
This movie world gossip takes Robert by surprise and he quickly dismisses it,almost aghast at idea that Kevin is anything but an all-round good egg.
"He's charming; one of the nicest people you could hope to ever meet. He is also a superstar. He is just Captain Charisma; it oozes out of his pores,"enthuses Robert, who
declares that he and Costner work well together.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Copyright 2004 Times Newspapers Limited
The Times (London)
February 16, 2004, Monday
SECTION: Features; Times2; 16
LENGTH: 1294 words
HEADLINE: Love at its wit'send
BYLINE: Ian Johns
AS WHEN HARRY MET SALLY TAKES TO THE STAGE, IAN JOHNS MEETS ITS WASPISH AUTHOR
NEVER HAS AN onscreen orgasm been more memorable than when Meg Ryan's table-slamming, ego-shattering faux climax in a New York diner in When Harry Met Sally
revealed to Billy Crystal -and to men everywhere -that they might not be as, well, talented as they once thought. Now male theatregoers are being put in their place again as the
1989 romantic comedy comes to the London stage.
"I always thought it could work well as a play," says the film's screenwriter, Nora Ephron. "It's dialogue-heavy, character-driven and full of conflicting emotions. What more do
you want from a play?"
. . . . . . . . . .
Just look at the different actors who've been in Private Lives, like Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan. They were so different from Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence and turned the play into a rediscovery."
, , , , , , , , ,
Georgiana (Great to see you, Claire!)
Seattle - Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Hi there you all
I found something really intersting. Anyone heard about this?
An evening of WH Auden's Poetry at the British Library 18 February 2004
Auden's first poems were accepted by TS Eliot at Faber & Faber. His work continued Eliot's weaving of easy contemporary language into poetry of great technical achievement (he was the master of verse form) and philosophical illumination for 'the muddled heart'.
West End Poetry grew out of the Gallery Poets readings in the 1980s and The Eliot Season and Poetry Hour sessions on Shaftesbury Avenue. The performances by leading actors are woven into a critical commentary by novelist Josephine Hart. It is a unique theatrical experience that will delight lovers of poetry, students and scholars.
The cast will vary according to theatre and film commitments. The West End Poetry company includes Eileen Atkins, Sean Bean, Simon Callow, Judi Dench, Joseph Fiennes, Edward Fox, Julian Glover, Gayle Hunnicutt, Elizabeth McGovern, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Harriet Walter.
Interesting, huh?
Starbuck
- Saturday, February 14, 2004
Copyright 2004 Guardian Newspapers Limited
The Guardian (London) - Final Edition
February 7, 2004
SECTION: The Guide, Pg. 42
LENGTH: 119 words
HEADLINE: The Guide: PREVIEW: events: Shouting Match LIVERPOOL
BYLINE: Tony Naylor
In the late 1980s, British video artist George Barber pioneered the "scratch" video style. In the 1990s, he preferred lo-fi narrative-led pieces. However, his latest work,
Shouting Match, breaks with these forms in favour of, well, people shouting at each other, incomprehensibly. In the age of I'm A Pop Idol Get Me Trisha's Naughtiest Blunders,
when "empty vessels make most noises" has become a blueprint for modern culture, is it satire or a pitch to ITV2? The show also includes comic monologues Refusing
Potatoes (". . . a description of his father's difficulties with Alan Rickman over Christmas lunch") and I Was Once Involved In A Shit Show.
Open Eye Gallery, to Mar 6, www.openeye.org.uk
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, February 09, 2004
The Washington Post
February 8, 2004 Sunday
Final Edition
SECTION: Sunday Arts; N09
LENGTH: 740 words
HEADLINE: Fun Plays and Known Actors: That's the Ticket
:
To the Editor:
In Peter Marks's Feb. 1 article "They Strut, They Fret, They Build!," theater owners expressed their great concern over whether they could get new customers to fill all those
new seats. I have a suggestion for them. Offer plays with casts that the great majority of the public, instead of just the elite few, wants to see. Offer fun plays with character
actors that people recognize. Why is it that when I travel on business to suburban New York or the Midwest, I see shows with "second tier" actors who are nonetheless great fun
to see -- but those shows never come to D.C.? For example, the cast of "M*A*S*H*" has had several touring shows -- not high theater, but I would pay to see people I've
grown fond of through their work on TV or in film.
Instead, theaters around D.C. tend to offer all highbrow, exhausting plays or experimental theater that don't leave most of us with a good feeling. Tennessee Williams is great --
but give us a cast that makes it feel like dessert, not broccoli. I'm fairly typical of people in this area in that I work hard all week at a very demanding job with high intellectual
content (I'm a program officer for the Pew Charitable Trusts and have a PhD) -- so in my entertainment, I want to relax, laugh and look forward to seeing interesting actors.
That's what I'll pay money for.
Just to give you an example, last year I saw Alan Rickman in "Private Lives" and Bill Pullman in Edward Albee's "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?" on Broadway and next month we
will travel to New York to see Christopher Plummer in "King Lear." By contrast, D.C. rarely offers actors I want to see -- I did see Arena's production of "Camelot" and loved it.
We also loved seeing the magician David Copperfield.
Does anyone on staff remember the Shady Grove Music Fair in the 1970s? Richard Kiley playing in "Man of La Mancha"? I saw that as a young teenager and will always
remember it. There is already plenty of serious theater -- give us a treat now and then and you'll see the audiences grow.
SARA WATSON
Silver Spring
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, February 09, 2004
Copyright 2004 Newspaper Publishing PLC
Independent on Sunday (London)
February 8, 2004, Sunday
SECTION: COMMENT; Pg. 23
LENGTH: 1171 words
HEADLINE: THE IOS PROFILE: EMMA THOMPSON - SCREEN ANGEL;
THE ACTRESS WHO WAS MARRIED TO KENNETH BRANAGH WAS PRETTY GOOD. BUT
BYLINE: DAVID THOMSON
This tribute to an actress appears half-way through the British presentation of her latest work - what you might almost think of as her comeback. So the most immediate task is
to hail the work itself, a six- hour television production of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America, commissioned and persevered with by Home Box Office, not just the most
enterprising cable channel in business today, but the model of what a modern film studio might be - daring in its material, spectacular in its effects, yet economical in its
practice. No one watching Angels in America is going to complain of lack of production values, and I can tell you that on a theatre screen it is not just burnished and radiant,
but as beautiful as any current movie. The cast - with Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Jeffrey Wright and Mary- Louise Parker as well as Emma Thompson - speaks for itself.
The director is Mike Nichols, and no one seems the least deterred about showing us a subject that is frightening, as basic as cell structure, and devoted to our sexual
confusion.
Angels in America is an event, and one glorious aspect of it is the figurehead of Emma Thompson as a thoroughly carnal angel, just a little nervous in case her wires may drop
her (Nichols and Kushner know that there are special effects all the lovelier for being underlined), and buxom, sisterly, maternal and a lover all in one. Ms Thompson has never
been one to fuss with her age in public, and she was never a stunning vision as a young woman. (Remember her first impact in Fortunes of War, 1987, when she was still in her
late 20s.) Never mind, coming up on 45, the maturity that was always her (in the range of her understanding) is now ravishing. It's easy enough in the context of Angels in
America for the angel to be a trumpet, a messenger and a promise of hope. But a sexpot, too! It's the best advertisement for heaven next to San Francisco.
I said a comeback (coupled with her very sharp portrait of another brave wife in Richard Curtis's Love Actually). And it's a matter of plain fact that by her own standards of
unswerving, hard work, she has been away - and at just that turning point, 40, when many actresses waver.
There had been previously two main periods in Emma Thompson's work: with Kenneth Branagh and without. When they were a couple, a marriage, and a hoped-for long-lived
theatre company, they did Fortunes of War, Henry V, Look Back in Anger together, plus a lot of theatre and such perilous movie ventures as Dead Again, Peter's Friends and
Much Ado About Nothing. What might they not do, innocent admirers asked, missing the most obvious test - that of breaking up because they were both so lovable and
talented, and both set fair in such a competitive world.
Branagh has never been the same again, I fear, which is hardly fair: his Heydrich in the television film about the Wannsee conference in 1943, Conspiracy, is magnificent. But
with their separation, Emma Thompson soared. In the mid-1990s, she became a regular at awards shows and a fascinating actress who never boasted of her own great craft.
She was in Howards End; outstanding paired with Anthony Hopkins in The Remains of the Day; the lawyer in In the Name of the Father; cheerfully with Arnold Schwarzenegger
in Junior; never better than as the suicidal artist in Christopher Hampton's neglected film Carrington; as Elinor Dashwood in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, for which she also
did the screenplay; and as a kind of Hillary Clinton in Mike Nichols' Primary Colors, where she had to run through every variation on the pained looks of a wife who thinks she is
being betrayed - but will still vote for the unzippered jerk as president.
That was 1998. A year later, Thompson gave birth to her daughter, Gaia. The father was Greg Wise, an actor some years her junior, who had played John Willoughby in Sense
and Sensibility. It's not that Thompson refused all work for the next few years, but she plainly dedicated herself to being with a young child and working out the relationship with
Wise - they eventually married last summer. This is as much in character as a sign of healthy attitudes, for Thompson had always testified to the tender upbringing she had
from her father Eric (creator of the Magic Roundabout show) and her mother, the actress Phyllida Law - they played mother and daughter in a movie, The Winter Guest, directed
by Alan Rickman, one of Thompson's best friends.
Still, from 1998 to 2002 she had only three credits: a small part in the film Maybe Baby; a voice- over in the animated picture Treasure Planet; and another television job, for
HBO and Mike Nichols again, in a performance that rivals Carrington - the cancer patient (or impatient) Vivian Bearing in Wit. After that, she took a leading role in Christopher
Hampton's Imagining Argentina, one among many small parts in Love Actually, and then a fantastic trio in Angels in America - not just the Angel, but Nurse Emily and a figure
hunched over a small fire on an urban wasteland, identified in the cast list as "Homeless Woman". When I saw Angels in preview in America, without credits, I thought the
vagrant was a man, yet I knew it had to be Emma Thompson. There was no one else in the movie - not even Meryl Streep - who could abandon herself with such lack of show or
show-off. Tune in tonight for more of the same.
What next? Well, the only announced project is her Professor Sybill Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which promises a welcome shot of comedy for that
series. After that? Emma Thompson will be in her late 40s, in a show-business world that generally regards middle-aged people as unwholesome. Just because she has wit and
talent enough to run rings round younger players does not mean that the world will insist on starring her in every production. She will have to insist - and it may be that she has
much too much respect for real life, to say nothing of pleasure in family, to make that her main task. Only the other day I noted that Vanessa Redgrave was not just the voice of
a Great Dane in an animated film. Unless my ears deceived me, she was also doing the dog's voice in a commercial for dog food. It might be that Emma Thompson needs to go
back on the stage - and that might fit better with family life. Hedda Gabler? Chekhov? Blanche DuBois, even? Or, better still, some movies that really ran with her beauty, her
mischief and her energy. For myself, I have seen her play the wronged wife far too many times for the good of that archetype. It's about time she was a criminal wife, so
attractive that no man could ever blame her or give her up. I mean a woman entirely without guilt or grief, a life force, gobbling up lesser mortals, cracking jokes and making
sure that the world ran according to her plan. Not just an angel, but the woman in charge, the mistress of ceremonies, running the whole show and reaching up a hand if ever a
wire breaks. The confinement of Emma Thompson in "good woman" has got to stop.
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, February 09, 2004
Copyright 2004 Cornish Guardian
Cornish Guardian
January 29, 2004
SECTION: Features; Cinema/Video; Video; Pg. 54
LENGTH: 185 words
HEADLINE: IT'S RICKMAN'S SHOW ALL THE WAY
There's one reason and one reason only why Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (PG, minor violence, 1990, 120 mins) is worth a look. No, it's not star Kevin Costner's mullet, nor his total refusal to even attempt an English accent as one of this island's greatest heroes.
Nor is it the admittedly thrilling derring-do, or the excellent support of Morgan Freeman playing a nevertheless unlikely Moor and sidekick to Robin.
No, the real reason for hiring/buying this special edition and all its attendant extras is one Alan Rickman, who plays the Sheriff of Nottingham with pantomime-like relish.
In fact, he makes Costner's overly earnest Robin look a right dullard, the sort of person you wouldn't want to share a train journey with, let alone the arborial splendour of Sherwood Forest.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's performance straddles, as it were, these two otherwise extreme offerings by the two stars.
But it's Rickman's show all along - rumour has it his performance was cut before release because it overshadowed Costner's - and well worth of few quid of anyone's hard-earned.
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, February 02, 2004
Copyright 2004 Guardian Newspapers Limited
The Guardian (London) - Final Edition
January 31, 2004
SECTION: Guardian Jobs and Money Pages, Pg. 28
LENGTH: 536 words
HEADLINE: Jobs & Money: Work: My work space
BYLINE: Stephen Poliakoff
. . . . . . . . . .
Following his success with The Lost Prince he is currently working on another large-scale work for the BBC. He says that when he's developing a character he avoids thinking about one particular actor who he'd like to play the part. They might be busy, and then he would be disappointed. Instead, "I try to cheer myself up by thinking of two or three people." Timothy Spall, Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman are all regular visitors to his house.
Stephen's plays were once described as an alternative A-Z and he admits that he doesn't like leaving London. "The country's OK for two or three days but I'm a very urban person," he says.
Perfect Strangers, Shooting the Past and Caught on a Train are released on DVD by BBC Worldwide on February 9.
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, February 02, 2004
Copyright 2004 MGN Ltd.
The Mirror
February 2, 2004, Monday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 15
LENGTH: 170 words
HEADLINE: LOVE THE DRESS ACTUALLY, EM
BYLINE: VANESSA ALLEN
HIGHLIGHT:
BACKLESS: Cutting It's Sarah Parish; GLAMOUR: Star Emma last night
LOVE Actually star Emma Thompson was in the pink at a film awards ceremony last night.
Emma, 44, grabbed the attention as she teetered down the red carpet on stilettos with diamond-studded ankle straps in a dress slashed to the thigh.
And to complete the glamorous look her hair had also had a transformation. Gone was the usual brown, replaced with blonde highlights.
Emma said she chose the dress for the Evening Standard British Film Awards at the Savoy in London to show off her tan. She added: "I thought I've only got a few years left to wear things like this, so I might as well make the most of them."
Emma, who won a Best Actress award for her role as Alan Rickman's wife in Love Actually, spent much of the night with Joely Richardson.
Joely, 39, who often wears stunning dresses, including a backless gold number at the premiere of Maybe Baby, chose a more modest outfit.
But Sarah Parish, of BBC drama Cutting It, was happy to assume Joely's role wearing a backless black gown.
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, February 02, 2004
Copyright 2004 BPI Communication, Inc.
BPI Entertainment News Wire
January 29, 2004, Thursday
SECTION: Entertainment News
LENGTH: 638 words
HEADLINE: Billboard Bits: Mos Def, Manilow, Iggy, Sharon Osbourne
BYLINE: Billboard.com
Rapper Mos Def will star as the alien Ford Prefect in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' cult novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Production is scheduled to get underway in April. The project centers around the fate of Arthur Dent, who is spared from the Earth's destruction by his good friend Prefect, the alien origin of whom had been previously unknown to him. Mos Def recently wrapped work on "Something the Lord Made" for HBO, a chronicle of the relationship between open heart surgery mavericks Vivien Thomas and Alfred Blalock (Alan Rickman). He will also been in the controversial Kevin Bacon film "The Woodsman," which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. A spokesperson confirms that the artist will release a new album sometime this year on Geffen, which recently absorbed the artist roster of Def's former home, Rawkus Records. It will be his first set since his breakthrough 1999 solo debut, "Black on Both Sides." (Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.)
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, January 30, 2004
Copyright 2004 Newspaper Publishing PLC
The Independent (London)
January 30, 2004, Friday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 9
LENGTH: 480 words
HEADLINE: ROYAL SHAKESPEARE UNDERSTUDIES TO TAKE LEADING ROLE IN CUT-PRICE PRODUCTIONS
BYLINE: LOUISE JURY ARTS CORRESPONDENT
HIGHLIGHT:
Before they were famous: from left, the cast of Antony and Cleopatra' (1978) directed by Peter Brook included, among others, a young Alan Rickman (far right); Much Ado About Nothing' (1988) had Ralph Fiennes playing Claudio (left); Glenda Jackson as Cleopatra to Juliet Stevenson's Iras in Brook's Antony and Cleopatra' Reg Wilson
THEATRE AUDIENCES are to be offered a chance to spot the stars of the future this summer after the Royal Shakespeare Company announced that understudies are to take the leading roles in cut-price performances.
From April, there will be an understudy in each new production of the new season, including Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and King Lear.
Tickets will be priced up to pounds 5. The actors will follow a long line of now-famous names who were understudies at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) at the start of their careers, among them the Hollywood actors Ralph Fiennes and Alan Rickman. Other successful former understudies include Julia Stevenson, Emily Watson and Matthew MacFadyen.
Even one of the RSC's most accomplished directors, Gregory Doran, who is working with Judi Dench on All's Well That Ends Well, was a substitute for a 1988 production of The Merchant of Venice.
Announcing the scheme yesterday, Michael Boyd, the RSC's artistic director, said the innovation would be welcomed by the actors and theatre-goers.
"I think it's giving the public a lovely opportunity to look behind the scenes and to see a Ralph Fiennes in the making," he said. "You might see the new Ralph Fiennes in a major challenging role and you might see the actual Fiennes playing the huntsman, third on the left, just chipping in to help out the others."
For years, understudies have been giving full performances at rehearsals to prepare for the possibility of having to play their major role. But few members of the public ever see their renditions of the great roles. Mr Boyd said: "Understudies are too often the unsung heroes of the company. They put an incredible amount of energy into preparing for major roles, but don't really get acknowledged in their own right. In just one production - Peter Brook's 1978 Antony and Cleopatra with Glenda Jackson and Alan Howard - the understudy company included Juliet Stevenson, David Bradley, John Bowe, Alan Rickman and Ruby Wax." He said the company was full of potential stars but singled out Trystan Gravelle and Meg Fraser.
Gravelle will get his chance as Hamlet and Fraser as Lady Macbeth. Gravelle was "someone people will really say, Watch out.' He has passion and lyricism. He is very bright, instinctively bright."
And Fraser, who worked with the Dundee Repertory Company, "treads that knife-edge between being a great comedienne and a great tragedienne".
Knowing that there was a planned performance instead of being thrown in at the deep end because of ill health or an accident was already making a difference to the actors in rehearsals.
The RSC said it hoped that giving actors the chance at leading roles early on would encourage them to stay with the company and develop, instead of departing for the more lucrative fields of film and television.
Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, January 30, 2004
Copyright 2004 Telegraph Group Limited
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
January 30, 2004, Friday
SECTION: News Pg. 03
LENGTH: 231 words
HEADLINE: RSC turns spotlight on understudies
BYLINE: By Richard Alleyne
TRADITIONALLY, understudies only get their chance to shine when the stars of the stage are ill, injured or otherwise unavailable.
But in an unprecedented move by the Royal Shakespeare Company, the usually unsung heroes are to move out of the shadows and into the limelight.
The theatre company is to stage special "understudy performances" of four of its plays in a move to give young actors experience and a boost in their careers.
Audiences will be charged less than pounds 5 a seat - a 90 per cent cut on the normal prices - for the performances, which it is hoped will lead to the emergence of a number of new stars.
The four matinee performances in the 2004 Festival Season will be Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet.
Michael Boyd, the artistic director, said: "Understudies are too often the unsung heroes in the company. They put an incredible amount of energy into preparing for major roles, but don't really get acknowledged in their own right.
"These understudy performances are an important part of a much bigger movement at the RSC I want to establish that really concentrates on developing actors' talents."
Countless actors including Ralph Fiennes, Alan Cummings and Emily Watson all started as understudies at the RSC.
In just one production of Antony and Cleopatra in 1978 the understudies included Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman and Ruby Wax.
Georgiana
Seattle - Friday, January 30, 2004
Royal Shakespeare understudies to take leading role in cut-price productions
By Louise Jury, Arts Correspondent
30 January 2004
Theatre audiences are to be offered a chance to spot the stars of the future this summer after the Royal Shakespeare Company announced that understudies are to take the leading roles in cut-price performances.
From April, there will be an understudy in each new production of the new season, including Macbeth , Romeo and Juliet , Hamlet and King Lear .
Tickets will be priced up to £5. The actors will follow a long line of now-famous names who were understudies at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) at the start of their careers, among them the Hollywood actors Ralph Fiennes and Alan Rickman. Other successful former understudies include Julia Stevenson, Emily Watson and Matthew MacFadyen.
Even one of the RSC's most accomplished directors, Gregory Doran, who is working with Judi Dench on All's Well That Ends Well , was a substitute for a 1988 production of The Merchant of Venice .
Announcing the scheme yesterday, Michael Boyd, the RSC's artistic director, said the innovation would be welcomed by the actors and theatre-goers.
"I think it's giving the public a lovely opportunity to look behind the scenes and to see a Ralph Fiennes in the making," he said. "You might see the new Ralph Fiennes in a major challenging role and you might see the actual Fiennes playing the huntsman, third on the left, just chipping in to help out the others."
For years, understudies have been giving full performances at rehearsals to prepare for the possibility of having to play their major role. But few members of the public ever see their renditions of the great roles. Mr Boyd said: "Understudies are too often the unsung heroes of the company. They put an incredible amount of energy into preparing for major roles, but don't really get acknowledged in their own right. In just one production - Peter Brook's 1978 Antony and Cleopatra with Glenda Jackson and Alan Howard - the understudy company included Juliet Stevenson, David Bradley, John Bowe, Alan Rickman and Ruby Wax." He said the company was full of potential stars but singled out Trystan Gravelle and Meg Fraser.
Gravelle will get his chance as Hamlet and Fraser as Lady Macbeth. Gravelle was "someone people will really say, 'Watch out.' He has passion and lyricism. He is very bright, instinctively bright."
And Fraser, who worked with the Dundee Repertory Company, "treads that knife-edge between being a great comedienne and a great tragedienne".
Knowing that there was a planned performance instead of being thrown in at the deep end because of ill health or an accident was already making a difference to the actors in rehearsals.
The RSC said it hoped that giving actors the chance at leading roles early on would encourage them to stay with the company and develop, instead of departing for the more lucrative fields of film and television
Claire
- Friday, January 30, 2004
Copyright 2004 Haymarket Publishing Services Ltd
Campaign
January 23, 2004
SECTION: WORLD, Pg. 17
LENGTH: 1095 words
HEADLINE: MEDIA ANALYSIS - HBO'S 'NO ADS' ATTITUDE KEEPS TOP PROGRAMMES OUT OF REACH
BYLINE: By Jim Edwards
. . . . . . . . . .
HBO'S NEW SHOWS
TV SHOWS
Carnivale Gothic creep-fest set in a Depression-era circus, in which a boy who can heal the dead is hunted by a brimstone-preaching priest.
K Street Developed by Steven Soderburgh and George Clooney, Washington lobbyists star as themselves in this political drama.
The Wire Deeply stressful, realistic crime drama about undercover cops wire-tapping drug dealers in Baltimore and the compromises, brutality and threats they endure.
MOVIES
Iron Jawed Angels Hilary Swank and Julia Ormond star as militant women struggling for the right to vote.
Strip Search Glenn Close and Maggie Gyllenhaal feature in this drama, described vaguely as being about crime and punishment in post-9/11 America.
(April 2004)
Something the Lord Made Alan Rickman and Mos Def star in this 40s drama about a white doctor and his black assistant who pioneer new techniques in heart surgery.
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers A BBC co-production biopic starring Geoffrey Rush, Charlize Theron and John Lithgow.
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, January 26, 2004
Copyright 2004 The West Briton
The West Briton
January 22, 2004
SECTION: Features; Cinema/Video; Films; Pg. 63
LENGTH: 185 words
HEADLINE: ONLY ONE REASON TO BUY ROBIN HOOD DVD - ALAN RICKMAN
There's one reason and one reason only why Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (PG, minor violence, 1990, 120 mins) is worth a look. No, it's not star Kevin Costner's mullet, nor
his total refusal to even attempt an English accent as one of this island's greatest heroes.
Nor is it the admittedly thrilling derring-do, or the excellent support of Morgan Freeman playing a nevertheless unlikely Moor and sidekick to Robin.
No, the real reason for hiring/buying this special edition and all its attendant extras is one Alan Rickman, who plays the Sheriff of Nottingham with pantomime-like relish.
In fact, he makes Costner's overly earnest Robin look a right dullard, the sort of person you wouldn't want to share a train journey with, let alone the arborial splendour of
Sherwood forest.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's performance straddles, as it were, these two otherwise extreme offerings by the two stars.
But it's Rickman's show all along - rumour has it his performance was cut before release because it overshadowed Costner's - and well worth of few quid of anyone's
hard-earned.
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, January 26, 2004
Copyright 2004 Telegraph Group Limited
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
January 24, 2004, Saturday
SECTION: Arts Pg. 15
LENGTH: 267 words
HEADLINE: DVDs
BYLINE: by Tim Robey
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - Extended Version
PG, Warner, DVD pounds 19.99, VHS pounds 7.99
The Adventures of Robin Hood - Special Edition
PG, Warner, DVD pounds 19.99, VHS rental only
Ned Kelly
15, UIP, DVD pounds 17.99, VHS pounds 13.99
Kevin Costner's megabudget Robin Hood flunks the first test of any outlaw movie: its creation of a true underdog hero. In 1991, having just won seven Oscars for Dances with
Wolves, Costner was the biggest star on the planet; he's so badly miscast here, and his Merry Men look so inexhaustibly well-resourced, that one can't help but side with Alan
Rickman's pantomime Sheriff of Nottingham. The new extended version is 12 minutes longer - 12 minutes of Rickman chomping on the castle set, basically - and gives
credence to the rumour that his part was halved by way of damage limitation.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana (Thanks for the birthday wishes, Kimberly)
Seattle - Monday, January 26, 2004
Copyright 2004 Newcastle Chronicle & Journal Ltd
EVENING CHRONICLE (Newcastle, UK)
January 21, 2004, Wednesday Edition 1
SECTION: ENTERTAINMENT, Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1703 words
HEADLINE: Our word perfect winner
BYLINE: By Gordon Barr, The Evening Chronicle
. . . . . . . . . .
This sense of the film being a group effort is refreshing, but some of the tales do have more impact than others. Hugh Grant gives the kind of performance we know and love him
for as a bachelor Prime Minister who falls for his tea lady. Across town, the PM's sister [Emma Thompson] finds herself doubting her husband Alan Rickman's ability to resist
the charms of a nubile young secretary.
Thompson and Rickman give, for my money, the film's best performances, demonstrating an aptitude for comedy while also providing some of the more serious moments. . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, January 22, 2004
Copyright 2004 National Post, All Rights Reserved
National Post (Canada)
January 9, 2004 Friday National Edition
SECTION: Post Movies; On Celebrity; Pg. PM01
LENGTH: 707 words
HEADLINE: To Sir with love and money: These days, every blockbuster needs an old British actor
SOURCE: National Post
BYLINE: Adam Sternbergh
I hesitate to speak for old British actors, as I've never been one myself. But is there any group in Hollywood that's having more fun right now? If you want to be a player, you
better have Shakespeare on your resume, grey in your beard and a Sir in front of your name. Because to paraphrase Will Ferrell from Zoolander: Old British actors -- they're so
hot right now!
And it's not as if these master thespians are spearheading a revival of the classics. They're lending their skills to Hollywood's most garish blockbusters. There isn't a single
successful film franchise that doesn't have at least a few old British actors as the spark plugs in its engine.
In large part, we can thank the world's recent fascination with all things wizard, whether they be of the Potter-teaching, ring-chasing or Jedi-training variety. Why, the Harry
Potter series alone is like a make-work project for theatre legends, drawing on the talents of John Hurt, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman and Richard Harris. (Harris, recently
deceased, will be replaced in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by the lovely and capable old British actor Michael Gambon.)
Meanwhile, Christopher Lee, the grand baron of horror, who made his film debut way back in 1942, is enjoying a second career as Hollywood's go-to greybeard villain. He's lent
his considerable malevolence to the role of Count Dooku in the Star Wars movies and Saruman in The Lord of the Rings -- though Saruman was excised from the third
instalment, one of the film's few disappointments. Even so, Lee must be cackling, onscreen and off. Ten years ago, he was stuck doing movies like Curse III: Blood Sacrifice
and The Stupids. Now he's starring in two of the biggest movie franchises around.
Patrick Stewart, for his part, now pilots both the Star Trek and X-Men films -- a kind of geek-love double whammy. If there is such a place as Nerdvana, Stewart is surely the
king.
But the most gleeful general in this RSC-trained army must be Sir Ian McKellen. He tromps through The Return of the King, white robes a-rippling. He even doles out some
whup-ass with his twirling quarterstaff.
If that weren't enough, he also gets to sink his chompers into the delicious role of Magneto, Stewart's nemesis in the X-Men films. Here, McKellen, an astonishing actor, brings
the crackle of high camp. To my ear, his response in X2 when another character tells him that "they" say he's the bad guy -- "Oh, is that what they say?" Sir Ian purrs -- was
the most delicious line delivery of the entire year.
Of course, the revelation that British actors are wonderful performers isn't a revelation at all. That's always been the stereotype -- the musty, Hamlet-spouting English
thespian, croaking with serious purpose.
What's surprising is that all these British (and Irish and Scottish and Welsh) actors are doing the heavy lifting in some quintessentially American movie romps. Where would the
X-Men franchise be without the gamesmanship of McKellen and Stewart? Sure, Hugh Jackman, the Aussie, brings his burly charm, but the Americans are dead weight. Halle
Berry, for example, goes into a hypnotic trance every time she controls the weather or prepares to deliver a line, whichever comes first. Cyclops and Phoenix read their dialogue
as though they've learned it phonetically from a speech therapist.
Even Lee, alas, can't defibrillate the Star Wars movies out of their catatonia. But the films' odd stiffness must be blamed on American mythmaker George Lucas. His movies
could do with a few more generous dashes of aged British brio. Does anyone think Attack of the Clones would not have been in some way improved if Ian McKellen had been
involved?
We always knew old British actors could act. We expect them to tear through Shakespeare -- but Marvel comics as well? Who knew they could have such grand, pulpy fun?
For the moment, the hottest actors in Hollywood are also the oldest and the most accomplished -- a turnabout that on its own is worth celebrating. But we, the audience, are the
real victors in this old British actor invasion. We should be shocked, and grateful, that the world's best actors are wielding their formidable talents to bring our high-pulp
fantasies alive.
GRAPHIC: Black & White Photo: Pierre Vinet; Sir Ian McKellen brings prestige and power to the role of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. He doles out some whup-ass, too.;
Color Photo: Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men.
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Copyright 2004 Belfast Telegraph Newspapers
Sunday Life
January 11, 2004
LENGTH: 687 words
HEADLINE: Eye spy;
Covergirl finalists show how choosing the right shape of glasses can give you specs appeal
BYLINE: SUE CORBETT
LOOKING for an image that will really catch the eye?
Well, the good news is that new glasses could be the answer, because spectacles can make an enormous impact on how you look - as much as a new hairstyle or fabulous clothes!
Style pundits agree that glasses are now the ultimate fashion accessory - a reflection of your personal image or even a decorative piece of jewellery to enhance your face.
Just as your clothes can be a powerful expression of your individuality, so your glasses can make all the difference to your appearance.
And who better to illustrate that fact that the four finalists in this year's Sunday Life Covergirl competition.
We've kitted each of them with designer spectacles from Mackey Eyecare.
. . . . . . . . .
The top five sexiest male celebrity specs wearers were: Jack Osbourne 19pc; Alan Rickman 15pc; Des Lynam 12pc; Jimmi Harkishin (Coronation Street's Dev Alahan) 7pc and Matthew Perry 3pc.
The top five least sexy male celebrity specs wearers were: Tony Blair, Dr Fox, Rolf Harris, Elton John and Chris Evans.
. . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Copyright 2004 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd.
Daily Record
January 13, 2004, Tuesday
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 10,11
LENGTH: 179 words
HEADLINE: THE RAZZ: LONDON'S BURNING FOR HOT HAGGIS TICKETS
BYLINE: JOHN DINGWALL
TICKETS for a charity Burns night in London have been snapped up by celebrities including Stella McCartney, Alan Rickman, Richard Wilson and top photographer Mario Testino.
A galaxy of stars of stage, catwalk and screen have forked out for the pounds 150-a-head briefs to see Sharleen Spiteri and Ewan McGregor host proceedings.
The cash raised from the night will go to the Children's Hospice Association of Scotland (CHAS), of which Ewan and Sharleen are patrons.
Sharleen hopes the Burns night, on January 25, will raise tens of thousands for CHAS, which help the families of sick kids.
Sharleen said: "Ewan is in New York at the moment. He should be home soon and we'll have a lot of fun on the night.
"We did one last year and it was in no way stuffy. It's thesame this year. There will be auctions of items which have been donated throughout the year, including holidays and golfing trips."
Sharleen got together with disabled fan Samuel Bell and confessed that the pair had a mutual interest.
She said: "He likes comics and so do I."
Georgiana (nice to know where he'll be on my birthday...)
Seattle - Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Copyright 2004 The Telegraph Group Limited
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
January 11, 2004, Sunday
SECTION: Pg. 03
LENGTH: 654 words
HEADLINE: BA under fire for cutting 9/11 speech from Love Actually Producer attacks airline for censoring in-flight screenings of the hit film 'to spare the feelings of
passengers', reports Gary Anderson
BYLINE: by Gary Anderson
IT IS meant to be one of the most cheerful and uplifting films of the moment, but Love Actually, the box office hit seen by millions of Britons, has been judged to be too
frightening for airline passengers.
British Airways has decided that the film, which stars Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson and Colin Firth among others, will have to be censored before it is shown on its aircraft
because of a reference to September 11.
The decision has infuriated the film's producer, Duncan Kenworthy, who described the censorship as "ludicrous". It will prompt renewed concern that the airline is over-reacting
to the threat of terrorism.
British Airways, which plans to screen Love Actually, on flights from March, insisted, however, that the film would have to be cut before it was suitable to be shown to
passengers.
A spokesman for BA said that the offending passage was an opening speech by Hugh Grant, which includes the lines: "When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know,
none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge. They were all messages of love."
The spokesman said: "We have made a very small edit to the beginning of the film and removed a reference in the script to the tragic events of September 11.
"We feel that this is justified given the terrible events of that day and in no way detracts from the rest of the film."
Mr Kenworthy, however, criticised BA's argument, adding that he was disappointed by the way in which airlines generally imposed more stringent cuts than those demanded by
sanitised American television networks.
"I find it ludicrous," said Mr Kenworthy. "If it's OK to watch on American television it should be available for viewing on airlines."
. . . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, January 12, 2004
Copyright 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 9, 2004 Friday Home Edition
SECTION: Features; Pg. 1B
LENGTH: 642 words
HEADLINE: TV CRITICS WINTER TOUR: Inmate's story poses life-altering challenge
BYLINE: JILL VEJNOSKA
SOURCE: AJC
Hollywood --- It may be a gathering of TV critics, but Thursday was all about movie stars. From Oscar winners Hilary Swank and Julia Ormond (stars of HBO's upcoming "Iron Jawed Angels") and Catherine Deneuve (WE's March remake of "Dangerous Liaisons") to Alan Rickman (HBO's "Something the Lord Made") and Juliette Lewis (Court TV's "Chasing Freedom"), it seemed like anyone who was anyone with a film agent was talking up a small screen.
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana (to go with Sue's pictures from Wire Image...)
Seattle - Friday, January 09, 2004
I found this article on "Something the Lord Made". (from "The JHU Gazette")
TV crew comes calling
01/05/04
HBO Visits Homewood, East Baltimore to Tell Story of 'Blue Baby' Pioneers
A strip of the Homewood campus underwent a brief identity crisis late last month as the university got the chance to play the role of Johns Hopkins Hospital circa 1940s for a day.
On Dec. 22, an HBO film crew descended upon the campus to shoot a portion of the cable network's upcoming feature Something the Lord Made, filling the Levering courtyard with a fleet of antique cars, an ambulance and actors in period dress.
The film depicts the true story of Johns Hopkins surgeon Alfred Blalock and lab technician Vivien Thomas, who in 1944 co-developed a method to save oxygen-deprived "blue babies." The men, who died in 1965 and 1985, respectively, will be portrayed by Alan Rickman and rapper/actor Mos Def.
The previous day the crew shot scenes at the actual JHH, which played itself.
Later this month, HBO will spend another day filming at the East Baltimore campus and wrap up principal photography. Veteran television director Joseph Sargent is directing the film, which also stars Mary Stuart Masterson and is scheduled to air in late spring or early summer.
Claudia
- Wednesday, January 07, 2004
[Sorry--forgot to change the name entry on that last one...]
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
January 2, 2004, Friday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section E; Part 1; Page 29; Column 1; Movies, Performing Arts/Weekend Desk
LENGTH: 3219 words
HEADLINE: MOVIE GUIDE
A selective listing by critics of The Times: New or noteworthy movies playing this weekend in New York City. * denotes a highly recommended film. Ratings and running times are in parentheses.
Now Playing
. . . . . . . . . .
"LOVE ACTUALLY," starring Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney and Liam Neeson. Written and directed by Richard Curtis (R, 128 minutes). An indigestible Christmas pudding from the British whimsy factory responsible for such reasonably palatable confections as "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill" and "Bridget Jones's Diary." A romantic comedy swollen to the length of an Oscar-trolling epic -- nearly two and a quarter hours of cheekiness, diffidence and high-toned smirking -- Mr. Curtis's film is more like a record label's greatest-hits compilation or a "very special" sitcom clip-reel show than an actual movie. A sparkling Anglo-American cast of newly minted and long-familiar stars chirps, swoons, pines, quips and sheds the odd tear. Presiding over it all is the new prime minister, a twinkly bachelor with a tonsorial resemblance to Tony Blair, who is played by none other than Mr. Grant. He is just one of a number of men (Mr. Rickman and Mr. Firth are the others) who fall for younger women in their employ. A half-dozen subplots are strewn hither and yon as the movie swerves between cynicism and maudlin sentiment, oblivious to its own sleaziness and dishonesty. The only genuine comic spark comes from Mr. Nighy as a washed-up rock star trying to make a comeback with a treacly Christmas single. The song, he's happy to admit, is rubbish. So is the movie, though it is decked out with the outward signs of sophisticated good taste (Scott).
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana (short version also picked up by the Press Association) (Three people to write 88 words?)
Seattle - Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Copyright 2004 Boston Herald Inc.
The Boston Herald
January 1, 2004 Thursday ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: THE EDGE; Pg. 037
LENGTH: 260 words
HEADLINE: Comedy has rich history
BYLINE: By Robert Nesti
Background: Noel Coward conceived of "Private Lives" while visiting Tokyo in 1929. Weeks later he wrote the play in four days while bedridden with the flu in Shanghai.
Famous productions: Premiered in London, Septtember 1930; New York the following year with Coward, Gertrude Lawrence and the young Laurence Olivier. Served as a vehicle for Tallulah Bankhead in the 1940s and '50s. Celebrated London revival in 1963 brought renewed interest to Coward's work. Tammy Grimes (Tony Award) and Brian Bedford starred in a Broadway revival in 1970; Maggie Smith followed in 1975; as did Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in 1983; Joan Collins in 1992; and Lindsay Duncan (Tony Award) and Alan Rickman in 2002.
Famous lines: It has been written that perhaps only "Hamlet" has more famous lines than "Private Lives." These include:
- "Moonlight is cruelly deceptive."
- "Extraordinary how potent cheap music is."
- "Women should be struck regularly, like gongs."
- "Let's be superficial and blow trumpets and squeakers, and enjoy the party as much as we can."
- "I think very few people are completely normal really; deep down in their private lives."
Coward on "Private Lives": "A reasonably well-constructed dialogue for two experienced performers, with a couple of extra puppets thrown in to assist the plot and to provide contrast . . . as a complete play it leaves a lot to be desired."
Assorted Cowardisms:
- "If it's a play with a message, I shan't dress."
- "I can take any amount of criticism, so long as it's unqualified praise."
Georgiana (short version also picked up by the Press Association) (Three people to write 88 words?)
Seattle - Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Copyright 2004 EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS
The Express
January 2, 2004
SECTION: COLUMNS; Pg. 34
LENGTH: 88 words
HEADLINE: DAY & NIGHT; ALAN LOVES BEING ON A ROLL
BYLINE: KATHRYN SPENCER, JULIE CARPENTER & KATE BOHDANOWICZ
WHILE many of us vow to stop smoking or lose weight, actor Alan Rickman has a rather more off-the-wall New Year's resolution.
"Mine is to take more time out from acting to indulge in my true passion in life - rollercoasters. I absolutely love them, they are pure adrenalin and sensation, " says the Harry Potter star, 57.
"Every rational thought and all your worldly cares disappear for three minutes. I can't be bothered with this Hollywood obsession with 'the couch' - rollercoasters are my personal therapy."
Georgiana (short version also picked up by the Press Association) (Three people to write 88 words?)
Seattle - Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Copyright 2004 The Telegraph Group Limited
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
January 04, 2004, Sunday
SECTION: Pg. 21
LENGTH: 745 words
HEADLINE: Monkhouse, me and the Viagra factor
BYLINE: By NIGEL FARNDALE
. . . . . . . . . .
An Iranian-born actor is claiming racial discrimination by his (British) agency, complaining that the only parts it recommended him for were as kebab-shop owners and terrorists. This is a shame, if true. But perhaps he should be grateful for the work, any work, given that even successful actors find themselves "resting" for about 70 per cent of their careers. In fact, he should be grateful that since September 11 the demand for sinister Middle Eastern villains has risen and is likely to continue rising.
It is Caucasian British actors - the Alan Rickmans, Jeremy Ironses and Steven Berkoffs, who once cornered the Hollywood villain market - who should be complaining.
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Copyright 2004 Century Newspapers Limited
Belfast News Letter (Northern Ireland)
January 5, 2004, Monday
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 14
LENGTH: 123 words
HEADLINE: TAKE A BREAK: THEY SAID IT . . .
[ends with. . .]
I can't be bothered with this Hollywood obsession with the couch. Rollercoasters are my personal therapy
Actor Alan Rickman
Georgiana
Seattle - Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Copyright 2004 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd.
Daily Record
January 6, 2004, Tuesday
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 15
LENGTH: 451 words
HEADLINE: THE RAZZ: SLIMMING? FAT CHANCE;
EXCLUSIVE MICHELLE IS TOO BUSY TO WEIGH IN..
BYLINE: BEVERLEY LYONS AND LEE-ANN FULLERTON
SHE is about to embark on superstardom and millions voted for her to win Pop Idol, but someone forgot to tell Michelle McManus' slimming club she was busy.
As she wowed millions of viewers every week on the TV talent show, Weight Watchers wondered why she wasn't taking to the scales.
So the company sent a letter to Scotland's most famous slimmer reminding her she had missed her weigh-in.
. . . . . . . . . .
She said: "The next time round I would love to go to Barbados with lots of scantily clad, hunky men and, ideally, Colin Firth.
She adds: "If Alan Rickman can appear in a Texas video with Sharleen Spiteri then perhaps Colin Firth can appear with me."
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Melting in Seattle - Wednesday, January 07, 2004
opyright 2004 Telegraph Group Limited
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
January 06, 2004, Tuesday
SECTION: Pg. 03
LENGTH: 191 words
HEADLINE: West End no longer excited by Les Liaisons Dangereuses
BYLINE: By Hugh Davies
A WEST END revival of Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, one of the most thrillingly erotic hits of the 1980s, yesterday became the first casualty of London's theatrical New Year.
The costly failure, while no shock after a series of appalling reviews, is a setback for the industry because the show had a cast of young stars.
Jared Harris, son of the late Richard Harris, was cast as the predatory Vicomte de Valmont, a part made famous by Alan Rickman and John Malkovich. Harris has appeared in films including Natural Born Killers. The cast also included Emilia Fox, daughter of the actor Edward Fox.
The director was Tim Fywell, who made the film I Capture the Castle and directed the recent television series Cambridge Spies.
However, Charles Spencer, theatre critic of The Daily Telegraph, described the production as tedious and said: "To say I was bored stiff clearly isn't the mot juste in these circumstances. Bored flaccid would be nearer the mark."
The play will close at The Playhouse on Saturday after only a month. It was originally booked to run until the end of March.
Georgiana
Melting in Seattle - Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Copyright 2003 Reed Elsevier Inc.
Daily Variety
December 19, 2003, Friday
SECTION: SPECIAL SECTION1; Pg. A15
LENGTH: 320 words
HEADLINE: The Veterans: Seven directors kick it up a notch with tales that span from screwball comedy to fantastic realism
BYLINE: STRAWBERRY SAROYAN
HIGHLIGHT:
Newell: 'Smiles' on feminism in the '50s
When Mike Newell signed on to helm Julia Roberts' latest, "Mona Lisa Smile," it was the "schizophrenia" of the script that hooked him.
. . . . . . . . . .
He's come a long way. Next up, he'll helm "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the fourth installment of the series. Of the project's allure, he says, "What's new with Harry Potter is that you have to make a Bollywood movie. You're not honing it to a fine point. They have to have a clean sharp spine, but you have to weave a variety show around them. I've never done a (film) like that."
Georgiana (Rickman is not mentioned--but I thought the original commitment was for the first FOUR films...)
Seattle - Monday, January 05, 2004
Copyright 2004 Reed Elsevier Inc.
Daily Variety
January 2, 2004, Friday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 10
LENGTH: 2919 words
HEADLINE: FILM PRODUCTION CHART
HIGHLIGHT: Films in the future
[Includes:]
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Maggie Smith, Rowan Atkinson
PROD, David Heyman; DIR, Mike Newell; SCR, Steve Kloves; DISTRIB, WB.
1492 Pictures/Heyday Films. 4/04, U.K.
Georgiana (Rickman is not mentioned--but I thought the original commitment was for the first FOUR films...)
Seattle - Monday, January 05, 2004
Copyright 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 2, 2004 Friday Home Edition
SECTION: Movies & More; Pg. 1C
LENGTH: 2220 words
HEADLINE: FIFTY MOVIES for 2004;
Big names (Pitt, Crowe, Roberts), big projects ('Troy,"Alexander'), sequels will vie for viewers this year
BYLINE: BOB LONGINO
SOURCE: AJC
. . . . . . . . . .
JUNE
* "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." The darkest in the series yet, ever-aging Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint return. Showings on jumbo Imax screens are expected to begin the same day as the theatrical release. (June 4)
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, January 05, 2004
Copyright 2003 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
December 29, 2003, Monday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: LIFE; Pg. 8D
LENGTH: 200 words
HEADLINE: Critic's corner
BYLINE: Robert Bianco
. . . . . . . . . .
* 1995's Sense and Sensibility (TCM, 8 p.m. ET/PT) is a newer movie than you usually find on Turner Classic Movies, but it certainly is a fine one. The movie stars Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson, who also won an Oscar for her adaptation of the Jane Austen novel.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, January 05, 2004
Copyright 2004 Times Newspapers Limited
The Times (London)
January 3, 2004, Saturday
SECTION: Features; Weekend Review 19
LENGTH: 135 words
HEADLINE: Five best events
SAMUEL BECKETT FILM SEASON ICA, SW1 (020-7930 3647), to Jan 23 Channel 4's films of Beckett's plays feature names like Alan Rickman, Damien Hirst, David Mamet and Julianne Moore.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, January 05, 2004
Copyright 2004 Reed Elsevier Inc.
Daily Variety
January 5, 2004, Monday
SECTION: SPECIAL SECTION1; Pg. 30
LENGTH: 343 words
HEADLINE: EMMA THOMPSON: "Love Actually"
BYLINE: Matt Wolf
Emma Thompson is no stranger to the Oscars.
Fourth-billed over a decade ago in the Merchant Ivory film of E.M. Forster's "Howards End," the then-barely-known Thompson trumped co-stars Helena Bonham Carter, Anthony Hopkins and Vanessa Redgrave to win the actress Oscar and went on to garner three more acting nods --- including two in one year for "The Remains of the Day" and "In the Name of the Father" --- before winning again, this time as a screenwriter, for Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" in 1996.
In "Love Actually," she brings a delicate, even wounded, sensibility to an often raucously funny film, playing the wife of a man (Alan Rickman) whose romantic interests are starting to lie elsewhere.
"She's the sad one," Thompson, 44, says of her character, Karen, who, like the thesp, knows her Joni Mitchell. ("I lived through 'Ladies of the Canyon,' " she deadpans.) And as a performer, she notes, "often you get more attention when you're being sad. That's a dreadful fact of life, I fear."
So is the backdrop of the AIDS crisis informing Thompson's concurrent appearance of the season: as the large-winged angel in Mike Nichols' HBO feature "Angels in America."
"Love Actually" writer-director Richard Curtis tells Variety he wanted someone "who could imbue the normal life of a housewife with something extraordinary --- who would give Karen warmth and depth in 3-D."
Thompson, says Curtis, who has known the actress nearly 25 years, "in a short time makes you feel so involved in Karen that it is painfully true when the crunch comes."
Once touted as a possible Mary Poppins on the West End stage, Thompson is adapting her own nanny saga for the screen and will be seen in 2004 as a new recruit to the world of Harry Potter, playing Professor Trelawney in the third film in the ongoing franchise, this time directed by Alfonso Cuaron.
But with awards season approaching, the Oscar vet isn't getting too distraught. "I fully expect Russell Crowe to win best supporting actress, anyway; he's up for most things, so why not that?"
Georgiana
Seattle - Monday, January 05, 2004
Thanks to Joan who sent me email on this. SRO (did it run on Sky? Did any of our Europeans tape it?) is to show at the Palm Springs Film Festival.
Standing Room Only
United Kingdom, usa, 12 min.
Standing Room Only is a short humorous silent film that takes a wry look at the people queuing for theatre tickets featuring a stellar cast, including Hugh Jackman.
Monday, 12 January 1:30 p.m. Signature
Tuesday, 13 January 1:30 p.m. Signature
Georgiana (Thanks, Joan!)
Seattle - Monday, January 05, 2004
Copyright 2003 Financial Times Information
All rights reserved
Global News Wire - Europe Intelligence Wire
Copyright 2003
The Western Mail
December 26, 2003
LENGTH: 1723 words
HEADLINE: PAN'S PEOPLE
BYLINE: ROB DRISCOLL
. . . . . . . . .
Peter Pan (Cert PG, 113 mins) ***
I've really taken to PJ Hogan's new adaptation of the classic JM Barrie story about the little boy from Neverland.
. . . . . . . . .
Although the young cast all do good work the stand out turn in Peter Pan is definitely Jason Isaacs as the villainous Captain Hook.
Having already cornered the market in sneering baddies in films as diverse as the Harry Potter series, Soldier, and The Patriot, Isaacs is in spectacular form in this outing and
it's his performance that carries the film.
At times he reminds you of Alan Rickman's brilliant turn in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and that's no mean feat to try and equal.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana (lest we forget that in "Die Hard" and "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves," he wrote the book.)
Seattle - Friday, January 02, 2004
Copyright 2003 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd.
Sunday Mail
December 28, 2003, Sunday
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 26
LENGTH: 229 words
HEADLINE: ENTERTAINMENT: TOP TEN MOVIES
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (12A) The greatest epic of all time comes to a triumphant and moving end. Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen and
Liv Tyler take their final bows.
2. Elf (PG) One of Santa's not-so-little helpers (Will Ferrell) discovers he's human and heads for New York to find his real dad (James Caan).
3. Love Actually (15) Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman head star-studded cast in this romantic comedy for Christmas.
. . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, January 01, 2004
Copyright 2003 Guardian Newspapers Limited
The Guardian (London) - Final Edition
December 28, 2003
SECTION: Observer Review Pages, Pg. 13
LENGTH: 1733 words
HEADLINE: Review: Screen : Mother of Pearl: On the eve of its cinema release, Tracy Chevalier describes how she felt as she saw her bestselling novel Girl with a Pearl
Earring being transferred to the screen
BYLINE: Tracy Chevalier
'I HEAR A FILM has been made of your book! Have you seen it? Did you like it? Did you have anything to do with making it? Did you meet Colin Firth? What are you wearing
to the premiere? Do you get to go to the Oscars if it's nominated? Will your other books be made into films?'
. . . . . . . . . . .
I didn't write Girl expecting it to be made into a film. Nor did I expect it to sell two million copies around the world. Of course I secretly hoped both things would happen - who
doesn't dream of success? Sometimes during low points in the writing, I kept myself going by imagining the perfect cast (a younger Alan Rickman as the painter Vermeer,
and some unknown actress, plucked fresh from drama school, as his servant and muse, Griet). I was aware too that the book is very visual, as well as having a
straightforward story line, and so might translate easily into a film.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana (Didn't we all?)
- Thursday, January 01, 2004
Copyright 2003 NewsQuest Media Group Limited
UK Newsquest Regional Press - This is Lancashire
December 30, 2003
LENGTH: 554 words
HEADLINE: Frustration but a nice 'present' at the end
. . . . . . . . . .
I recommend the film we saw Love Actually. I am told that the smarter newspapers have rather panned the film on the grounds that it is too light and sentimental and does not
leave you in emotional distress at the end of it. All true which is why I liked it. After 10 weeks of EU negotiations and much else it was exactly what I needed. The film is very
very funny in parts.
The title is based on the interesting (and accurate) observation that if you turn up at the long distance arrival hall of any international airport and just watch the joy on the faces
of those reunited you can see that "love actually is all around".
But it is not soppy and there is one sub-plot which is really very poignant. It's also got a star-studded cast with Emma Thompson Alan Rickman Bill Nighy playing an ageing
rocker and Hugh Grant in the improbable but entertaining role of a bachelor Prime Minister who in the end falls in love.
. . . . . . . . . .
Georgiana
Seattle - Thursday, January 01, 2004
