Jennifer Ehle: 'Millions would see me naked on telly' Actress Jennifer Ehle shares what she wishes she'd known at 18... (THE SUN)

By GARTH PEARCE

JENNIFER EHLE played Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 award-winning BBC TV adaption of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice and launched a film career.

The American-born star, 43, has a major role as a CIA officer in the thrilling action movie Zero Dark Thirty, which is the hottest tip for a Best Picture Oscar.

She lives in America with writer husband Michael Ryan and children George, nine, and Talulah, three.

She tells GARTH PEARCE what she wishes she’d known at 18.

“I WISH I’d not taken off all my clothes in my first television series, The Camomile Lawn.When I took the job, I did not realise there would be so much nudity. But no one forced me to do it.

Jennifer Ehle with her mother, British actress Rosemary Harris

I played the young Calypso (her English actress mother, Rosemary Harris, played the character as an older woman) and had some very full-on scenes.

I only got British citizenship the year we did Pride And Prejudice. I thought London would be a nicer city to be unemployed in than New York or Los Angeles.

Colin Firth? He is a very nice guy and a very good actor. We did have a relationship for about a year. But by the time Pride And Prejudice came out, we were not a couple any more.

READ MORE: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/4777166/Jennifer-Ehle-I-wish-Id-known-millions-would-see-me-naked.html

KENNETH BRANAGH: Manchester Interational Festival to Feature Kenneth Branagh, Rob Ashford, Robert Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Mikhail Baryshnikov By Mark Shenton 28 Feb 2013 (PLAYBILL)

Kenneth Branagh

Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging

This year's Manchester International Festival will feature newly commissioned productions from actors and directors that include Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford (co-directing Macbeth starring Branagh), Robert Wilson (directing Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Old Woman) and Maxine Peake and Sarah Frankcom, who will collaborate on Shelley's epic poem The Masque of Anarchy.

Macbeth will run July 5-21 in a deconsecrated Manchester church, for which details of the meeting place will be revealed to ticket holders beforehand. Kenneth Branagh, who last appeared in Shakespeare in the title role of Richard III at Sheffield Crucible in 2002, will play the title role, and co-direct with Rob Ashford. During the run, there will also be a one-off live relay on a big outdoor screen at the NCP Bridgewater Hall Car Park July 20.

READ MORE: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/175428-Manchester-Interational-Festival-to-Feature-Kenneth-Branagh-Rob-Ashford-Robert-Wilson-Willem-Dafoe-Mikhail-Baryshnikov

Jerome Flynn: Robson & Jerome - I Believe - He's a cutie and a good singer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGNh3xtuCGE

Matthew Macfadyen - It's You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmOX-KP1Ek8

Lizzie MM

Old photos of a teenage Daniel Day-Lewis show hints of Lincoln By Soraya Roberts | The Juice – 23 hours ago

Want to see Daniel Day-Lewis as a 16-year-old? No, it's not his latest acting role -- this is the three-time Oscar winner as an actual teenager.

Photos have emerged of the 55-year-old "Lincoln" star in some of his first roles: as a Lincoln-esque Russian soldier Alexander Vershinin in Chekhov's "Three Sisters," and as a long-haired Feste in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night."

Day-Lewis transferred to Bedales, a creative independent school in Hampshire, England, in his early teens, and the move reportedly led to his film debut as a 14-year-old vandal in "Sunday Bloody Sunday." After graduating in 1975, he attended the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.


READ MORE: http://ca.omg.yahoo.com/blogs/the-juice-celeb-news/old-photos-teenage-daniel-day-lewis-show-hints-164546383.html

RIPPER STREET: 5.2M Tune In To ‘Ripper Street’ Season Finale 28 Feb 2013 : By Eva Hall (IFTN)

http://tvseriesobsessed.tumblr.com/

More than five million viewers tuned into the series finale of Irish/UK co-production ‘Ripper Street’ last Sunday night.

5.2 million people watched the eighth and final episode of series one, which saw Detective Reid, played by Matthew Macfadyen, attempt to end a slavery ring in Whitechapel.

The period drama aired on BBC One for eight weeks, starring Macfadyen (Pride and Prejudice) and Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones) as policemen, and Adam Rothenberg as a doctor. The trio were shown trying to instill order in the East London town of Whitechapel, during the aftermath of the Jack the Ripper murders.

The series shot entirely in Dublin last summer, and was a co-production between Ireland’s Element Pictures and the UK’s Tiger Aspect Productions and Lookout Point. All post production was also carried out in Dublin, with Egg Post Production working on all picture and sound post-production and Screen Scene looking after VFX.

The series has already been commissioned for a second run by the BBC, however it has not yet been confirmed whether it will return to the Clancy Barracks location of season one. Creator Richard Warlow will return for series two.

READ MORE: http://www.iftn.ie/news/?act1=record&only=1&aid=73&rid=4285823&tpl=archnews&force=1

Paul McCartney: The first woman to break Paul McCartney's heart: The Beatle reveals his dearest wish would be to see his mother again

By RAY CONNOLLY
PUBLISHED: 20:16 EST, 27 February 2013 | UPDATED: 02:42 EST, 28 February 2013

Paul McCartney penned Let It Be and Yesterday in tribute to his mother

We have all said things that we’ve immediately and eternally regretted.

For Paul McCartney it’s a thoughtless, inexplicable quip made when he was 14 and had just been told his mother had died.

‘What will we do without her money?’ the teenage Paul blurted, not knowing how to handle his shock and grief.

Then he went to bed and cried all night, clasping his hands in prayer, promising God he would be good if only his mother could come back.

So, it comes as little surprise to learn this week that McCartney, now 70, has told a Brazilian fan that if he had a time machine he would like to ‘go back and spend time with my mum’.

To lose a mother at any age inevitably leaves a well of regret. To lose her at 14 can be devastating, and it’s quite possible the death of Mary McCartney in 1956 from an embolism after an operation for breast cancer, affected Paul’s life for ever.

His brother Michael, who was then aged 12, would later say how, just after their mother’s death, Paul’s growing interest in the guitar turned into an obsession.

Eight months later, in the summer of 1957, Paul was to meet John Lennon, who was also soon to lose his mother in a road accident. Paul believes their shared sense of loss helped bond them, cementing their early friendship.

Decades ago, when I was at a Beatles recording session at London’s Abbey Road, Paul took me into an empty studio, sat at a piano and played me a song he was writing.

It sounded to me like a hymn and, though at that point, he didn’t have many lyrics, one phrase he repeatedly sang that night stayed in my head for more than a year until the record was released. It was: ‘Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom . . .’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2285670/The-woman-break-Paul-McCartneys-heart-The-Beatle-reveals-dearest-wish-mother-again.html#ixzz2MCvqpNJq 
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David Tennant: A PIANIST’S dying wish has been fulfilled after the actor David Tennant used his skull in a performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet. (INDEPENDENT)

By Stephen Adams – 28 February 2013

When André Tchaíkowsky died of cancer in 1982 aged 46 he donated his body for medical science.

David Tennant has used the skull of a former pianist in performances of Hamlet at Stratford

But he added the proviso that his skull "shall be offered by the institution receiving my body to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical performance."

Since then it has only been used in rehearsals because no actor felt comfortable enough using it on stage in front of an audience.

David Howells, curator of the RSC's archives, said: "In 1989 the actor Mark Rylance rehearsed with it for quite a while but he couldn't get past the fact it wasn't Yorick's, it was André Tchaíkowsky's."

Now, unbeknownst to the paying public, Dr Who actor Tennant has used the skull in 22 performances of Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon.

- See more at: http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/pianists-dying-wish-fulfilled-as-david-tennant-uses-his-skull-in-hamlet-performance-29101090.html#sthash.xXuQLYxy.dpuf

Benedict Cumberbatch: Parade's End director calls Benedict Cumberbatch "one of the finest actors of his generation" Susanna White admits that "without Cumberbatch, Parade’s End would be nothing like it is" (RADIO TIMES)

Tom Cole
11:24 AM, 27 February 2013

Bafta award-winning Parade’s End director Susanna White has called Benedict Cumberbatch “one of the finest actors of his generation” and admitted that “without him, Parade’s End would be nothing like it is.”

White is currently promoting the BBC period drama in the States ahead of its transmission on HBO, and opened up earlier this week about how lucky she was to secure the 36-year-old Sherlock star for the lead role of aristocrat Christopher Tietjens.

“There were less than a handful of actors who could have played that role," White told Collider. "Christopher is so buttoned up and so self-enclosed, and yet you have to really care about his situation. I knew Benedict could do that.”

The 52-year-old director also admitted that she was grateful to find an actor capable of tackling the role, who looked nothing like the “fat ox” described in Ford Maddox Ford’s 1920s novels, which formed the basis of the drama.

“I wanted women to really fall in love with him, so it was important to find somebody who would be both attractive and who also could play the emotional layers and have the intelligence,” she said.

READ MORE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-02-27/parades-end-director-calls-benedict-cumberbatch-one-of-the-finest-actors-of-his-generation

Downton Abbey: Maggie Smith, Queen of the Double Take (MASTERPIECE)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLzkQfVIJun2KXuW_3l0gct_0X5yiFs8SN&v=3ZiPV-nEhbQ&feature=player_embedded#!

Can you spot Liam Neeson (BALLYMENA TIMES)

Published on Wednesday 27 February 2013 09:56

Remember Murphy’s bottlers, Railway Street? Then you may recognise one or two of the faces photographed on an outing to the Guinness Brewery at St James’ Gate, Dublin.

Can you pick out a young Liam Neeson or our current Mayor, PJ McAvoy?

READ MORE: http://www.ballymenatimes.com/news/local/can-you-spot-liam-neeson-1-4830702

They never do say in the article where Liam is but I think he's in the second row, third from the left.  What do you think?

Downton Abbey star HUGH BONNEVILLE is evidence that prioritising acting over academia at Cambridge can pay off. He talks to NATALIE GIL. By Natalie Gil Features | 27th February 2013 (CAMBRIDGE TAB)

Hugh Bonneville has become something of a legend to the loyal Sunday night TV viewers of Britain. His current role, for which he is arguably best known, is as Lord Grantham in the mind-bogglingly popular Downton Abbey. But those less enthusiastic about costume dramas and the elevated segregation of the upper classes might also have spotted him as the eponymous and irritable tramp in Mr Stink, or as Ian Fletcher, Head of Deliverance for the Olympics in the BBC mockumentary, Twenty Twelve. Oh, and don’t forget his role as the lovably ignorant Bernie in Notting Hill.

What Do You Do?: One of the most amusingly awkward moments in Notting Hill. Hell, maybe even in the history of British rom coms.

After a stint at a London drama school, Bonneville studied Theology at Corpus Christi in the eighties, where he admits he was a ‘pretty pants’ student, having done ‘far too many plays than was healthy’ for his academic career. Possibly explaining why he came away with a Desmond 2:2 in Theology. But his stellar career and (well-merited) celebrity status, re-ignited by Downton, suggest there’s hope for us all regardless of our results in Finals.

Like a butler with a tray of foie gras canapés, costume dramas come and go in Britain, so why does Bonneville think people have warmed to Downton more than the rest? “If I knew that I’d be a millionaire, having bottled the recipe”, he jokes. Then he re-thinks: “one reason why it’s appealed to a broader audience than one might expect from a traditional costume drama is that it’s about tension not violence, romance rather than sex. It’s not so in your face. And it just breathes out in way that a lot of contemporary shows, which are brilliant, don’t.”

- See more at: http://cambridge.tab.co.uk/2013/02/27/interview-hugh-bonneville/#sthash.gH2N6HaM.dpuf

WATCH: Warm Up with Heated British Costume Drama Scenes By Brigid Brown | Posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2013 (BBC AMERICA)

 

The queen gets what she wants. (The Young Victoria/Sony)

It’s that heartwarming time of year that only rolls around once. You guessed it, it’s time to get cozy on the couch with that special loved one – yep, your laptop – and check out some heated scenes from British costume dramas.

The Young Victoria

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9LXtex_b_tk

The new bride (Emily Blunt) doesn’t have time to take a proper honeymoon, being the Queen of England and all, but her adoring husband Prince Albert (Rupert Friend) makes the best of their three days together.

 Jane Eyre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Z7_uNOTpG5Y

Governess Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) had a rocky life but never complained nor did she expect anything. She kept her head down, but Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender), her employer, noticed her.

 Pride and Prejudice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dBgaO9Va5cA

Elizabeth (Jennifer Ehle) reluctantly accepts a dance from Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth), but once on the floor the sparks fly. 

North and South

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kcVIV8plzWk

Mr. Thornton (Richard Armitage) uses both hands to embrace Margaret Hale’s (Daniela Denby-Ashe) face, pulling her in for a kiss.

READ MORE: http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2013/02/watch-warm-up-with-heated-british-costume-drama-scenes/

Luke Evans: A True Villain Makes ‘Fast 6′ the Most James Bond-y FF by Zack Kraimer

What makes a true action movie thrilling isn't always the good guy. Sure, the protagonist is always necessary to a film, but the villain is equally essential, often even taking a franchise to new heights. That seems to be the case for Fast & Furious 6 and its new lead antagonist Owen Shaw, portrayed by Luke Evans.

Evans wants to make it very clear that his rogue ex-military Shaw isn't going to be what people expect of a British villain.

"...Everybody’s like, oh, is he gonna have a plummy accent and a white furry cat and a swivel chair? No, he’s none of that. He can do everything that you want from a villain in this day and age. He can stand up to these guys, and he does stuff that they can’t do. He has weapons and machinery that they've never seen."

Just how formidable a threat is Shaw? Aside from his dashing good looks and suave demeanor, he's handy and crafty with lots of fight training. He and his team are dangerous, Evans says, but they lack the camaraderie of Dom and Brian's crew.

“He’s very successful. Very very clever. As you can imagine SAS, they have a huge amount of fight training. They know a lot of different forms of fighting. He can change his accent. He can change his look. And he has a team of people around him who sort of respect him, but they don’t have the same sort of dynamic or respect for each other as the team that you all know from the franchise, which makes them very separate and very different."

READ MORE: http://www.heavy.com/entertainment/2013/02/luke-evans-fast-furious-villain/

Jerome Flynn: GAME OF THRONES Season 3: Jerome Flynn Hints At Bronn Arc by ROCO on FEBRUARY 26, 2013 ·(Seriable)

Game Of Thrones actor Jerome Flynn has teased his character’s fractious trajectory in the fantasy serial’s upcoming third season, premiering March 31 on HBO.

In a chat with Access Hollywood, Flynn hinted that the love-in between his character Bronn and Peter Dinklage‘s Tyrion Lannister could meet stormy weather in the wake of Tyrion losing his job as Hand of the King to Tywin Lannister.

“He’s just about sticking it with Tyrion. He’s getting a bit frustrated, underpaid. He’s not got the position he had, but there’s still love between them. And some good, some nice scenes together, but not much.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRKidXDTkzQ

Originally posted: http://seriable.com/game-of-thrones-season-3-jerome-flynn-hints-at-bronn-arc/#ixzz2M7bYaNMN

Richard Armitage says "PON" for Japanese video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oGn0V4OJWbs

Oscars 2013: Daniel Day-Lewis collects record third Oscar with a smile Lincoln star says he needs to 'lie down for a couple of years' as he dismisses attempts to label him greatest ever actor as 'daft' Maev Kennedy and Catherine Shoard The Guardian, Monday 25 February 2013 17.43 EST

Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway, and Christoph Waltz. Photograph: Peter West/Rex Features

Long after the Californian sun rose, the Oscar winners and losers were waking up after a night of loud applause and louder frocks, hilarious acceptance speeches and dire jokes.

As universally predicted, Daniel Day-Lewis took the Oscar for best actor for his towering performance in Lincoln, and also enters the record books as the first male actor to be a third-time victor, after winning for My Left Foot in 1990 and There Will Be Blood in 2008.

Day-Lewis is sometimes seen as a remote and slightly chilly figure, renowned for his obsessive preparation and for remaining in character throughout the filming – hard on his wife, the actor and director Rebecca Miller, given that the 16th president of the United States had a notoriously difficult relationship with his wife, who spent time in a mental hospital after his death.

"Since we got married 16 years ago, my wife Rebecca has lived with some very strange men," he told the audience. "Luckily she's the versatile one of the family and she's been the perfect companion to all of them."

Day-Lewis also won the audience accolade for the best joke when he insisted that Meryl Streep, presenter of his Oscar, had been Steven Spielberg's first choice to play Abraham Lincoln, and in return he himself had been destined to play Margaret Thatcher.

Backstage after his win, he said he could not think of anyone else he urgently wants to play. "I need to lie down for a couple of years. It's really hard to imagine doing anything after this." He dismissed any attempt to label him the greatest actor of all time as "daft".


READ MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/feb/25/oscars-2013-winners-lincoln-argo

Matthew Macfadyen Tribute - Filmography 1997 - 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-C_q9i-I-Y#

AWAKE MY SOUL - YOUTUBE

Martin Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 2013 Oscar nominees honored at Shorts Awards by Emily Rome (EW)

Martin Freeman starred in one of the lengthiest movies of 2012, but Friday night he was honored for his work in films with much shorter runtimes and much smaller budgets than the 169-minute-long Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. At the third annual ShortsHD Shorts Awards, Freeman picked up the Visionary Actor Award.

The English actor has continued to make short films, even after performing in high-profile projects like BBC’s Sherlock and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

“I love doing [short films] for the same reason that everyone in this room really likes them – because very often it’s the time that you get to really express an idea or ideas without someone breathing down your neck or without someone arguing about how big your trailer is,” Freeman told the audience gathered at the Paley Center for Media last night. “No one’s getting rich or famous out of it, but people are actually trying to express something – and it doesn’t take 18 months like The Hobbit does.”


READ MORE: http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/02/23/oscars-short-awards-martin-freeman/

Benedict Cumberbatch: 'Parade's End': A Plum Role for Benedict Cumberbatch

By Ross Langager 26 February 2013
Quavers and Hesitations

A moment in the premiere hour of Parade’s End explains the title in one deft stroke. In the midst of a luncheon with a friend and colleague, the brilliant but conventional government statistician Christopher Tietjens (Benedict Cumberbatch) receives a letter from his free-spirited wife Sylvia (Rebecca Hall). In blunt terms, she asks his leave to come home to Britain after deserting him for a fling with another man on the Continent. As Tietjens details a grimly rational plan for reestablishing a semblance of domestic stability upon her return, his more impulsive Scottish colleague McMaster (Stephen Graham) bluntly wonders why Tietjens does not simply divorce his wife for her serial infidelity. “For a gentleman,” replies Tietjens haltingly, “there is such a thing as… call it, ‘parade’.”

The BBC/HBO miniseries, adapted from Ford Madox Ford’s epochal tetralogy of 1920s novels, goes on to depict a long “parade” of failing conventional propriety. Tom Stoppard’s teleplay amplifies the frosted, caustic wit of the British upper class while maintaining the original’s core themes. The trajectory veers towards the titular expression of finality, as the inherited privilege of the Gilded Age and vestigial Victorian behavioral codes are eclipsed by the slaughter of the First World War and the profound social changes it engendered. Tietjens embodies initially the imperial establishment’s standard of gentlemanly self-possession, gradually becoming a harbinger of its agonizing downfall.

What a plum role for Cumberbatch this Tietjens is. Launched to prominence as a beloved 21st-century Sherlock Holmes, the fantastically named English actor here slips into the skin of another furiously logical genius who struggles to connect emotionally with those closest to him. Though the role is not wholly outside of his comfort zone, Cumberbatch rarely makes the obvious choice with the character, especially when Tietjens sees action at the Front and returns with acute shell shock (very literally expressed, in one haunted monologue about the varieties of explosives used in artillery bombardment). Quavers and hesitations in his Received Pronunciation utterances bespeak a considered intellect before the trenches, afterwards suggest mental trauma, and Cumberbatch gestures to the shift without ever telegraphing it.


READ MORE: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/168728-parades-end-a-plum-role-for-benedict-cumberbatch/

Is James McAvoy The New Crow? Rumour has it that he's in talks 26 February 2013 | Written by Owen Williams | (EMPIRE ON LINE)

Relativity's reboot of James O'Barr's The Crow has been thrashing around in development for ages now. Last we heard, a year or so ago, attached star Bradley Cooper and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo had both left the project. The Crow refuses to stay dead, however, and word this morning is that James McAvoy is in talks to wear the leathers and the corpse paint. F. Javier Gutierrez is the man currently in the director's chair.

We are slightly dubious about this news, since BD seem disinclined to talk about any sort of source for their scoop. But they point out that they previously correctly announced Mark Wahlberg's brief involvement, so maybe they have a secret insider source. McAvoy seems like an odd choice, but we wouldn't necessarily have pegged him for Professor Xavier either, and look how well that worked out.


read more:http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=36622 

Daniel Craig, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill: Actors naked in movies Published Tuesday, Feb 26 2013, 1:41pm EST | By Naomi Gordon (DIGITAL SPY)

Seth MacFarlane opened the 85th annual Academy Awards with a song called 'We Saw Your Boobs', celebrating Hollywood actresses' naked breasts on the silver screen.

So we take a look at the films which feature completely nude male stars instead - including Michael Fassbender in Shame, and Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting and Young Adam to name but a few.

  Tom Hardy in Bronson

Ewan McGregor in...just about anything

Daniel Craig as Francis Bacon's lover.  

Fassie in Shame

Henry Cavill - not even really in this article.  I just felt compelled to include him for some reason

READ MORE:  http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/i541904-8/naked-male-stars-in-movies-daniel-craig.html#a461779

Michael Fassbender Youtube - I Just Want to Make Love To You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9aqZHbnWjQ

FASSYnated by Michael Fassbender

Matthew Macfadyen and EPIC THE MAKING OF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gb_FvBTqQk

Ok, I don't really know what's going on here - they say it's the making of the movie EPIC with Matthew Macfadyen and MyAnna Buring (they do make a gorgeous couple!) uh huh.

Here's what I think.  It's the secret Russian version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.  Matthew Macfadyen is Mr. Darcy (of course), MyAnna Buring is Lizzy Bennet, Lasha Ramishvili is Colonel Fitzwilliam (or Mrs. Bennet...possibly)

The first few seconds are a tangle of arms and legs, none of which, unfortunately, belong to Matthew Macfadyen. Then there's heavy breathing - again, I don't think it's Matthew, because there is no British accent.   It's probably just the film crew reacting to the cold.

We next see Pemberley surrounded by luxurious RV's, and someone named Ben Hopkins combs his hair.  Then the Three Musketeers come in to the ball.

Ewan McGregor: Watch Ewan McGregor in His 1993 Film Debut ‘Family Style’ Features By Christopher Campbell on February 24, 2013 (FILM SCHOOL REJECTS)

Short Starts presents a weekly short film from the start of a filmmaker or actor’s career. 

Twenty years ago, a young Ewan McGregor began his acting career with a short film made for Channel 4 called Family Style. The 11-minute, black and white effort was also the directorial debut of Justin Chadwick, whose latest, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, was just acquired for distribution by The Weinstein Co. Back in 1993, McGregor still had long hair, a look you’ll find familiar if you’ve seen Shallow Grave, and was far from being a great actor. His crying scene in Family Style is pretty awful. But look at what two decades does for a guy, going from a breakthrough role in Trainspotting to portraying a young Obi-Wan Kenobi and working with Woody Allen, Baz Luhrman, Peter Greenaway, Todd Haynes, Tim Burton, Ridley Scott, Ron Howard, Steven Soderbergh and Roman Polanski, earning two Golden Globe nominations… And now co-starring in a big budget, live-action adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk (Jack the Giant Slayer). Well, he’s mostly had great run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CwSWbJVHrK8

READ MORE: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/watch-ewan-mcgregors-1993-film-debut-family-style.php

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH: Not the Same Old Cup of British Tea By ALESSANDRA STANLEY (NEW YORK TIMES)

Saying that a television series depicts the English aristocracy on the brink of World War I and beyond is almost a disservice — the description sounds like yet another big Masterpiece Theater bore, or worse, an amusing one like “Downton Abbey.” “Parade’s End,” a co-production of the BBC and HBO that begins on Tuesday on HBO, looks like a lush elegy to the Edwardian age, but it’s not nearly as swoony and nostalgic as most others of the genre. Tom Stoppard adapted Ford Madox Ford’s tetralogy into a five-part series, streamlining and speeding up the story without dumbing it down.


Like Ford’s modernist opus, and its brainy, punctilious hero, Christopher Tietjens (Benedict Cumberbatch), the series is not easy to follow or instantly love, but it is impossible to dismiss. That’s partly thanks to artful storytelling and gifted acting, especially by Rebecca Hall, who is a bewitching hoot in the role of Christopher’s bored, unfaithful wife, Sylvia.

It’s a series that inevitably draws comparisons with “Downton Abbey,” since they share the same upper-class trappings and totems. Tietjens, a brilliant statistician, is an old-fashioned English gentleman, good with horses, furniture and propriety. He is chivalrously loyal to Sylvia, a spoiled beauty who scorns her husband’s stuffy rectitude, even as she is piqued by it. She dismisses him as a “great lump,” yet can’t stop poking him.


“Parade’s End” tells the story of a bad marriage, set in a much broader context of a rotting civilization.

And that’s the real difference between it and “Downton Abbey.” That show is a gauzy anachronism in period costumes; the first novel of “Parade’s End” was published in 1924, and the series is enmeshed in the great cataclysm of the time, underscoring the cruelty of the age as much as its charm.


READ MORE: http://tv.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/arts/television/parades-end-with-benedict-cumberbatch-and-rebecca-hall.html?pagewanted=all

MATTHEW MACFADYEN IN GEORGIA...I think

I have absolutely no idea what is going on here, lots of scenes from his movies, some personal bits at the end, Myanna Buring teaching the Texas Two Step, the meteor hits nearby and then he says good bye (I think) to Georgia - but not for long....

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2840350583916

HENRY CAVILL '50 Shades of Grey' Movie Cast: Fan Favorite Henry Cavill Fits Christian Grey Role, Ian Somerhalder and Others Among Considered (LATINOS POST)

By Peter Lesser |

Immediately after the "50 Shades of Grey" targeted release date was announced, rumors and polls as to who would play the role of Anastasia ran rampant on the Internet, with Alexis Bledel topping the polls.

Now it's time to turn to Christian Grey. Henry Cavill is the current fan favorite, but there are a slew of actors being considered for the domineering role.

Fans believe Cavill is even dressing like Christian in hopes to catch E.L. James' eye. Cavill's 'Christian Grey-inspired' outfits to recent PR events have got people buzzing about his alleged interest in the role, according to Mstarz.

READ MORE: http://www.latinospost.com/articles/12924/20130225/50-shades-grey-movie-cast-fan-favorite-henry-cavill-ian-somerhalder-taylor-lautner-christian-grey.htm

DOWNTON ABBEY: First black character appears in Downton Abbey (SUN)

DOWNTON Abbey is introducing its first black character as part of a storyline about race relations in the 1920s.

The award-winning stately home drama is seeking an actor to play musician Jack Ross.

Casting notes were sent out to actors’ agents earlier this month. They describe Ross as “Male, 25-30. A musician (singer) at an exclusive club in the 20s.

“He’s black and very handsome. A real man (not a boy) with charm and charisma.”

Whoever lands the role should “ideally be able to sing brilliantly”. The notes add: “Overall he should be a very attractive man with a certain wow factor.” Jack Ross will play a key part in the fourth series of the hit TV saga alongside a string of other fresh faces.

Lady Mary Crawley gets a new love interest — dashing Lord Anthony Gillingham.


Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4812825/first-black-character-in-downton-abbey.html#ixzz2M1GJziCg

Daniel Radcliffe Wanted To Be A Knight In Shining Armor For Kristen Stewart At The Oscars (PEREZ HILTON)

Chivalry is so not dead!

And we are thanking Daniel Radcliffe today for proving that to us.

The actor presented last night at the Oscars alongside a newly injured Kristen Stewart, and he was willing to go to great lengths to ease her pain.

Daniel revealed just what kind of a gentleman he is as he admitted he didn’t want KStew to have to hobble her way on stage:

“I felt so bad. I just wanted to pick her up, put her in my armsand carry her onto the stage.”

Awww, love it!

READ MORE: http://perezhilton.com/2013-02-25-daniel-radcliffe-kristen-stewart-oscars-injury-carry-on-stage#.USzSlzBUU9g

Golden Boy’s Theo James goes from Mr. Pamuk of Downton Abbey to New York police commissioner Actor says recognition from his brief time on Downton has been astounding

By: Tony Wong Staff Reporter, Published on Tue Feb 26 2013

James plays the youngest police commissioner of New York City in CTV’s Golden Boy, which debuts Tuesday at 10 p.m. on CTV and CBS.

But convincing viewers he’s not a Turkish emissary who dies in the bed of Lady Mary Crawley and almost ruins her life in the massively popular British soap opera Downton Abbey will be hard going.

The British actor said the recognition he’s received from appearing in just one episode of Downton has been astounding.

“I didn’t realize how popular the show would be,” said James. “I mean, I’m onscreen for about 20 minutes and I still get people going, ‘Mr. Pamuk!’”

His character, Kemal Pamuk, a cad who seduces Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), was involved in a key turning point in the series that resonated beyond the first season.

“I didn’t really see it coming,” James said.

READ MORE: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2013/02/26/golden_boys_theo_james_goes_from_mr_pamuk_of_downton_abbey_to_new_york_police_commissioner.html

See Henry Cavill, Tom Hardy, and Adrien Brody 'Driven to Extremes' (philstar.com) | Updated February 26, 2013 - 9:19am

SIBERIA
Hollywood celebrity, Tom Hardy, and former Finnish Formula One driver, Mika Salo, drive from Yakutsk, the coldest city on Earth, to Oymyakon, where temperatures have been recorded at minus 70 degrees Celsius. The only way to travel by car is along the 1,260-mile Kolyma Highway, known as the Road of Bones. Built by Gulag prisoners from the Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, this frost-covered track is only passable in winter when the rivers are frozen over. Drivers need follow only one rule: do not turn off your engine as it might never start again.

CHINA
Action hero actor Henry Cavill, star of the new Superman film ‘Man of Steel,’ and world superbike champion, Neil Hodgson, take on the Taklamakan Desert, northwestern China.  Summer temperatures are a staggering 50 degrees Celsius. The duo must cross 470 miles of the largest shifting sand desert in the world, from Hami to Urmqi, where water is as scarce as life. One mistake and you will be stranded; one misjudgment of speed and the car rolls; among the scorching dunes, there is no rescue.


Driven To Extremes premiers Sunday March 27th at 9.00pm.

Discovery Channel released the images (credit: Discovery Networks; All Rights Reserved).



READ MORE: http://www.philstar.com:8080/2013/02/26/913392/see-henry-cavill-tom-hardy-and-adrien-brody-driven-extremes

Luke Evans Arriving at LAX Airport, Los Angeles, CA

CONTACT MUSIC: http://www.contactmusic.com/photo/luke-evans-celebrities-arriving-at-lax-airport_3519036

Eileen Atkins wins an award for off-West End work Upstairs Downstairs actress Eileen Atkins has won the OffWestEnd award for best actress for her role in All That Fall at Jermyn Street Theatre. (TELEGRAPH)

By Daisy Bowie-Sell
6:00PM GMT 24 Feb 2013

She is a Dame, has been awarded a CBE and won many awards including Baftas, Tonys, Oliviers and Emmys for her film, theatre and television work.

Now, the 78-year-old actress Eileen Atkins has been recognised for her work on London's fringe theatre scene.

At a ceremony at Battersea Arts Centre today, Atkins picked up the best actress award at the Offies – the Off West End theatre awards.

She was recognised for her role in a Beckett radio play All That Fall, which was staged for the first time at the Jermyn Street Theatre last year. Atkins starred alongside Michael Gambon in the show, which earned a four star review from The Telegraph's Charles Spencer.

Atkins attended the ceremony along with other theatre greats including Simon Callow, Toby Jones and Richard Bean who appeared alongside a long list of up and coming theatre names.


READ MORE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/9888032/Veteran-actress-Eileen-Atkins-wins-an-award-for-off-West-End-work.html

HENRY CAVILL: 50 Shades of Grey Movie Casting News UPDATE: Henry Cavill Dons Sexy Christian Grey Signature Tie, 'Vying' for E.L. James' Attention? [PHOTOS] BY Danica Bellini,Mstarz reporter |

Christian Grey fan-favorite Henry Cavill looks dang good donning the sexy, signature tie of E.L. James' kinky leading man. Is the 29-year-old "Tudors" heartthrob vying for some "Fifty Shades of Grey" attention... or does the handsome star simply enjoy dressing well? According to several "Fifty Shades" fans, the fact that Cavill recently flaunted the Christian Grey, BDSM-inspired look at two major PR events simply proves that he definitely wants to snag the highly-coveted role! Check out Cavill's drool-worthy Christian Grey attire below... should E.L. James take some notice?

READ MORE: http://www.mstarz.com/articles/8801/20130225/50-shades-of-grey-movie-casting-news-henry-cavill-dons-sexy-christian-grey-signature-tie-vying-e-l-james-attention-photos.htm

Henry Cavill: We get the inside scoop about working with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Henry Cavill

With The Tudors, which chronicles the early years of King Henry VIII, soon to be shown from the very beginning on Sony TV, Entertainmentwise took the opportunity to sit down with Michael Hirst, the writer, creator and executive producer of the award-winning television drama. We got the inside scoop on what it was like working with a star-studded cast including 'Bend it Like Beckham'’s Jonathan Rhys Meyers and the new Superman himself, Henry Cavill.

 Q. What inspired and drew you to create a television show around the life of a young Henry Tudor?
A. The truth is that I was asked to do it. A young American TV producer came over to meet me and he thought he could turn the Tudor dynasty into an American TV soap opera, which made me laugh. Of course I had written a film about Elizabeth I, and I loved the Tudor period, and I think at the time Working Title and I had debated on whether to do Elizabeth I or Henry VIII. I’d always wanted to do Henry VIII. Like Elizabeth I’d had this feeling that it had never properly been addressed.


Q. Tell us what it was like working with Henry Cavill who plays Henry's best friend Charles Brandon in The Tudors?
A. (Laughs) Yes well he’s Superman now!

Q. I know! When you cast Henry Cavill, did you think he would become a massive star and be cast as Superman in the new Man of Steel film?
A. My partner, who is a producer in Ireland, had worked with Henry Cavill since he had been a boy and he had shot a couple of movies in Ireland. He suggested him for the show, but we had to convince the Americans. And after the first casting with all the executives, the reaction was: 'We have to have him!'

Q. I would cast him!
A. Yes that was the general feeling from everyone, and he was absolutely lovely to work with. He’s very quiet and modest and shy. He would ask me how I wanted him to play scenes, he even asked me once: 'I want to go to the gym what should I work on?' (Laughs) He is very endearing. It’s great that he is with Henry for the whole four series and he remained Henry’s best friend – they died within a short time of each other. It was wonderful that I could take him through all these series.


READ MORE: http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/68488/1/Entertainmentwise-Chats-With-The-Tudors-Michael-Hirst

Downton Abbey’s Dubious Departures (THE MODERATE VOICE)

eason 3 is gone and so are two of the most appealing characters, reflecting not the choice of series creators but career moves by young actors, latest in a long list of modestly talented young people who keep overestimating their contributions to a TV triumph.

Julian Fellowes, mastermind of “Downtown,” makes it clear that killing off Lady Sybil and Matthew Crawley was not his idea, that “the actor wanted to leave rather than anyone’s dying just for the sake of the plot…They would both be in the series till the end of it, if it were up to us.”

There is something primal here about young people rejecting nurturing homes to strike out before they are ready, causing pain to those who love them. If precedent is any guide, Jessica Brown-Findlay and Dan Stevens will survive in show biz, but “Downton” will be their high point.

Stevens’ Broadway debut in “The Heiress” is labeled “shiny, well spoken and lacking in discernible undercurrents” by the Times, while Brown-Findlay bears her breasts in a movie “Albatross,” notable for “the clang of cliché.”

Read more at http://themoderatevoice.com/177067/dowton-abbeys-dubious-departures/#91Mp6uTz63B0WiaU.99 

Jennifer Lawrence after her Oscar win (I know she's not British but this is so adorable)

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/hl-60184553/entertainment_tonight_j_law_swarmed_by_family_after_oscar_win_season_32/

Daniel Day-Lewis makes Oscars history with best-actor win (CBS NEWS)

Daniel Day-Lewis won the Oscar for best actor for his exactingly authentic performance as President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's historical drama at Sunday's Academy Awards. Going into the night, the British actor was the favorite to win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwnj-l6EGwQ

READ MORE: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57571024/daniel-day-lewis-makes-oscars-history-with-best-actor-win/

(SPOILERS) Ripper Street, Series Finale, BBC One Powerful climax to 19th century detective series by Adam Sweeting Monday, 25 February 2013 (THE ARTS DESK)

Victorian villains beware: it's DI Reid (Matthew Macfadyen, left) with DS Drake (Jerome Flynn)

Last week we left Homer Jackson, the raffish ex-Pinkerton detective with the exceedingly chequered past, languishing in jail, after being fitted up for a Ripper-style killing by the murderous Frank Goodnight (played by cultish US actor Edoardo Ballerini). For this week's finale, Matthew Macfadyen's DI Reid urgently needed to get Jackson out again in order to apply his advanced forensic skills to unravelling a white slaving racket.

Jackson was slickly able to prove his own innocence, then quickly extracted crucial clues about the gang who were drugging and kidnapping young women. His medical know-how and boffinly mucking about with test tubes, chemicals and tissue samples have made him a kind of Victorian prototype of CSI's Gil Grissom, and it's reflective of Ripper Street's wider interest in new trends and fashions of its era (Adam Rothenberg as Jackson and MyAnna Buring as Long Susan, pictured below).

Strong characters, generally dynamic stories and a powerful sense of period have meant that Ripper Street has grown steadily as it's gone along. Series two is already under construction


READ MORE: http://www.theartsdesk.com/tv/ripper-street-series-finale-bbc-one

Review of Ripper Street ‘What Use Our Work?’ By Neela Debnath Arts (THE INDEPENDENT)

SPOILERS: Do not read this if you have not seen episode 8 of ‘Ripper Street’

As the curtain fell on our heroes of the East End, these past two months have offered an interesting insight into this faux, hyper-real Victoriana version of Whitechapel, complete with its cockney geezers and top hats.

This week saw the resolution of Jackson’s storyline whereby he cleared his name using forensics to rightly prove that Goodnight framed him as the Ripper. There was also a subplot involving date rape and human trafficking, with Rose getting caught up in something that required Drake to rescue her yet again. On top of that the audience learnt the whole story of the night Reid lost his daughter Matilda.

The three simultaneous stories which were interwoven into the episode created a thrilling finale. It was a race against the clock to save Rose and also the girl thought to be Matilda but who turned out to be a street urchin.

It was a fantastic red herring thrown in there in amongst all the other things that were going on. There was the hope that finally Reid might find some peace and closure instead this dark shadow will always be there in his life. The sense of guilt will hang over him, the same guilt which caused a rift in marriage and led him to stray from his wife. As a rule all detectives need to remain workaholics, driven deeper into their work by the guilt of a dark and hunting past, Reid is no different in this respect. It would just be plain wrong if we saw him strolling jauntily through the streets of the East End, whistling a tune. If police officers are to be brilliant then they must remain troubled and either be alcoholics or philanderers or both.

What Use Our Work? was a strong finale to the series and by the last scene it felt like the trio were ready for more. Hobbs was not forgotten either which was a really nice touch and really honoured the character. The scene where Artherton, the officer with the great big bushy ginger beard who usually communicates only through his eyes, belted out a tune in the pub to mark the passing of the young officer was wonderfully poignant. All in all, it worked with a usual mixture of action, intrigue and drama, along with nasty little violent or visceral moments that pepper the series.

Ripper Street is a great Sunday night cop show, it’s engaging with three really interesting leads. Yes, there are a multitude of anachronisms but it is still good fun and essentially a police procedural in the Victorian age, i.e. CSI: Whitechapel. It is also worth mentioning that it has been beautifully shot. It may not have the same sweeping sets of other production but it manages to look like the east end of London, even if it is filmed in Ireland, most notably in Kilmainham Gaol with its Panopticon building and a car park outside Dublin Castle.


READ MORE: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/24/review-of-ripper-street-what-use-our-work/

Tom Ellis rules out Downton Abbey role (METRO)

Tom Ellis has decided not to take up a role in hit ITV period drama Downton Abbey.

Ellis, who plays Miranda Hart’s long-term love interest in her BBC1 sitcom, had been lined up to portray Lady Mary’s new suitor in Downton, according to sources.

But now the actor has revealed that he has opted not to join the Golden Globe-winning drama.

‘OK, so it’s been lovely to hear all the congrats for Downton but the truth is I’m not going to be in it… but thank you for your messages,’ the star tweeted.

READ MORE: http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/24/miranda-star-tom-ellis-rules-out-downton-abbey-role-3511604/