Matthew Macfadyen - "The Von Trapp Family – A Life of Music" Heading to the Screen This Christmas

PLAYBILL
By Adam Hetrick
04 Jun 2015



"The von Trapp Family – A Life of Music," a new film from Dutch filmmaker Ben Verbong based on Agathe von Trapp's autobiography, promises to tell the story behind the Sound of Music legend.

Currently shooting on location in Salzburg and Bavaria, the new film stars Eliza Bennett, Matthew Macfadyen and Tony Award winner Rosemary Harris. The film is expected to arrive in theatres this Christmas.

Lionsgate acquired U.S., Canada and U.K. rights on the film. Christoph Silber and Tim Sullivan penned the screenplay based on Agathe von Trapp's "Memories Before and After The Sound of Music."

Here's how the film is billed: "'The von Trapp Family – A Life of Music,' tells the fascinating and exciting story of Agathe von Trapp (Eliza Bennett), who has been searching for her path in life since her youth: She is the eldest daughter among many siblings, and her relationship with her father, the distinguished marine officer Georg von Trapp (Matthew Macfadyen) and his second wife Maria von Trapp (Yvonne Catterfeld), is often difficult. She develops her beautiful voice and stimulating musical talent together with her family and with the support of the famous singer Lotte Lehmann (opera singer Annette Dasch). She constantly struggles for the love of her childhood sweetheart Sigi (Johannes Nussbaum) and, not least, she must confront the menacing rise of fascism in Germany and Austria. Emigration to the U.S. finally brings a decisive step toward freedom and world success.




READ MORE HERE: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/the-von-trapp-family-a-life-of-music-heading-to-the-screen-this-christmas-350645

Colin Firth to Take On Henry Higgins in Broadway Revival of MY FAIR LADY?

BROADWAY WORLD
by Caryn Robbins
May 27, 2015



Reports of an upcoming Broadway revival of MY FAIR LADY from James Nederlander Sr continue to surface and according to Page Six of the New York Post, the lead role has already been cast.

The Post quotes Nederlander Sr.: "New generations never saw it. Colin Firth is already set. The female isn't cast yet."

Asked if Firth, who showed off his singing abilities in the big screen adaptation of Broadway's Mamma Mia!, has the vocal chops to pull off the role of Henry Higgins, the 93-year-old theater owner and producer quipped, "Rex Harrison didn't either. And everyone wants to see Colin Firth."


READ MORE HERE: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Colin-Firth-to-Take-On-Henry-Higgins-in-Broadway-Revival-of-MY-FAIR-LADY-#.VWYXNSkPtbU.facebook

Pride and Prejudice is 20: Here’s 10 reasons why mortal men will never match up to Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy

Ross McG for Metro.co.uk
Friday 22 May 2015 12:42 pm



Pride and Prejudice is 20 years old.

Yes, everyone’s favourite author from the 1990s, Jane Austen, penned her modern classic novel two decades ago, inspiring Helen Fielding to write her 1996 bestseller, Bridget Jones’s Diary, a year later.
Hang on, that’s not right.

Pride and Prejudice was, of course, published in 1813, but if you say the two ‘P’ words to anyone these days, the first thing that comes into their head is an image of Colin Firth dripping wet in a white shirt.

The six-part BBC adaptation of Austen’s novel, broadcast in 1995, was a phenomenon, like the furore over that buff guy from Poldark’s abs multiplied by a thousand.

While the show itself was splendid and Jennifer Ehle was the definitive on-screen Elizabeth Bennet, P&P soared because of Colin Firth’s portrayal of Mr Darcy.

There is no way puny mortal men can ever match up to him. Here are the reasons why.

1. His wet white shirt

It looks like the kind of thing your grandad wore in bed. A normal bloke would look like a giant baby in it, but not Colin Firth, whose one-man wet T-shirt contest echoes through the ages.

2. His name

Mr Darcy isn’t just called Mr Darcy, you know. Like us, he has a first name too. But unlike us, it isn’t Colin or Phil or Dave or something equally unlikely to wow members of the opposite sex, or any sex: it’s only flipping Fitzwilliam. There’s no way us norms can match a guy with a name like that.

3. His hair

If George Best’s and Michael Hutchence’s hair follicles went out for a drink, stumbled back to a hotel room together and fumbled around for a few hours, they might just produce Firth’s Darcy thatch. That barnet is a thing of beauty.



4. His sideburns

Today’s hipsters are morons, obviously.

But chief among their many foibles is their preference for full beard. Full beard does not make grown women and men swoon.

Mr Darcy knows this, opting to display his facial hair in a more subtle manner. Crucially, his burns are bushy but not too bushy. Get sideboards wrong and you end up looking like an angry farmer.

Get them right, and you could have some Darcy magic. Except you can’t. Cos you’re not 1995 Colin Firth.



6. His steed

The dude has a horse! How can an average guy compete with that?


Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2015/05/22/pride-and-prejudice-is-20-heres-10-reasons-why-mortal-men-will-never-match-up-to-colin-firths-mr-darcy-5209867/#ixzz3auy4syCU

Cannes: Lionsgate Nabs U.S. Rights to 'Genius' With Colin Firth

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
by Rebecca Ford 5/13/2015 12:41am PDT

On the first official day of the Cannes film festival, Lionsgate has nabbed U.S. rights to hot project Genius, starring Colin Firth.

Directed by Michael Grandage, the film, also starring Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Guy Pearce, has been considered one of the hottest projects going into the festival.

The film, now in postroduction, is an adaptation of A. Scott Berg's biography about renowned book editor Max Perkins, who worked with Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Kingsman: The Secret Service actor Firth stars as Perkins, while Law plays Wolfe.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-lionsgate-nabs-us-rights-795270

Poldark-style six-packs 'smack of vanity', says Matthew Macfadyen

THE GUARDIAN
John Plunkett
@johnplunkett149
Tuesday 5 May 2015 05.47 EDT



The actor Aidan Turner’s topless scenes in Poldark were some of the most talked about TV moments of the year but the Ripper Street star Matthew Macfadyen has criticised attempts by TV and film studios to make their male stars increasingly hunky.

The former Spooks actor said the growing obsession for male actors to have a six-pack was not true to life and “smacks of vanity”.

Macfadyen, 40, was told to undergo a rigorous diet and fitness regime when he landed the role of Mr Darcy in the 2005 adaptation of Pride And Prejudice.

“You do the deal and then the personal trainer gets in touch,” he told the new issue of Radio Times.

“When I see it on screen, it immediately smacks of vanity because I know what’s happened – they’ve been doing crunches, 50,000 press-ups before breakfast and a character in a period drama wouldn’t have done that.

“Darcy would have been quite fit because he rode horses and all that stuff, but if I ripped off my shirt to show a six-pack... well, that’s a gym thing.”

The former Spooks star added: “I remember when we did Warriors [a 1999 BBC drama about the conflict in former Yugoslavia], we were shooting with squaddies from the Royal Green Jackets – they were the real thing, they’d just come back from Bosnia.



Macfadyen is set to play Georg von Trapp in a new film about the family who served as inspiration for The Sound of Music. He also stars in the drama The Enfield Haunting.

He said of his Victorian crime drama Ripper Street being axed by the BBC: “I think there was a new person and anything that wasn’t their baby was ... I don’t know, I really don’t know ... but it’s been a rocky old ride.” The drama has since been picked up by Amazon’s on-demand TV service, and will be repeated on the BBC.


READ MORE HERE:  http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/may/05/poldark-six-pack-smack-vanity-period-drama-macfadyen

Matthew Macfadyen says he has an open mind about poltergeists

ENFIELD INDEPENDENT
First published Wednesday 22 April 2015 in News
Last updated 04:58 Thursday 23 April 2015



Matthew Macfadyen plays Guy Lyon Playfair, who was sent to the Hodgsons house to investigate what was going on.

What attracted you to the project?

Timothy Spall and Rosie Cavaliero, both of whom I’ve worked with before. I worked with Tim on a Stephen Poliakoff drama called Perfect Strangers, and I did Little Dorrit with Rosie for the BBC. It always comes down to the script, though, which was well-written, fascinating and properly scary.

Were they the sort of scripts you could just rattle through?

 That’s my litmus test, how quickly I can get through them. You know it’s a chore when you think, oh, I could be doing something else right now.

The Enfield Haunting isn’t just a jolty story about a mean poltergeist, either, is it?

No, it’s nuanced and beautifully written. It’s not a documentary, but a dramatic retelling, so there are bits which are teased and pushed in certain directions for the purposes of telling a story. I love everything to do with Maurice and his daughter. If it hadn’t been so delicately handled, it could have been quite naff.

How much did you know about the Hodgson case before you signed on?

I didn’t know anything about it and, stupidly, I didn’t read The House is Haunted, the book by Guy Lyon Playfair that the series is based on. I came straight from Ripper Street on to this and was a bit frazzled. They kindly organised for me to meet the real Guy, though, which was interesting.

What did you make of him?

He’s in his 80s now and absolutely fascinating. It’s always daunting when you play someone who is real, although I’m not doing an impersonation, that’s not the gig. I’m just taking what I fancy. Saying that, I hope Guy isn’t too horrified at what he sees. I’ll have to write a letter of apology. The Hodgsons’ story is very divisive. Some people believe them, others think they made the whole thing up.

What’s your take?

I have an open mind. I think the sensible stance to take in this situation is to be agnostic and go, I just don’t know. I’ve never experienced anything like it, but I know plenty of people who have and they’re not gullible. There was definitely something going on, it’s just unexplained. I’m certainly not in the ‘that’s all cobblers’ camp. That would be very short-sighted.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/12893746.Star_of_The_Enfield_Haunting_Matthew_Macfadyen_says_he_has_an_open_mind_about_poltergeists/

Timothy Spall: I was terrified making new poltergeist drama The Enfield Haunting

RADIO TIMES
By Ben Dowell
Tuesday 7 April 2015 at 10:50AM



Playing a man who investigates ghosts can have its drawbacks, according to Timothy Spall – especially when it comes to going to bed at night.

Spall is starring alongside Ripper Street actor Matthew Macfadyen in The Enfield Haunting, Sky Living’s upcoming drama about the supposedly genuine haunting of a small house in north London in the late 1970s.

In preparation for the role, the Mr Turner actor met parapsychology investigator Guy Lyon Playfair who is played by Macfadyen in the series and who wrote the book This House is Haunted on which the drama is based.

According to Spall, the encounter calmed his terrors about taking on the job which he initially turned down because it “frightened the life out of me”.

“I asked him, ‘didn’t you worry that when you came back there would be demons sitting on your bed or something?’ and he said, ‘oh no, made a nice cup of tea, went to bed’.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-04-07/timothy-spall-i-was-terrified-making-new-poltergeist-drama-the-enfield-haunting

Keira Knightley Deserves A High Five For These Feminist Truth Bombs

MTV
By Nova M. Bajamonti
April 4, 2015

Patrick Demarchelier/Interview

Actress Keira Knightley proudly labels herself a feminist and regularly stands up for women. She’s been outspoken in interviews, advocating for better treatment of women in entertainment, whether it’s the roles available to them or the way their bodies are portrayed in magazines.

Yet, why is it that when we think of celebrity feminists, she isn’t in the notorious feminist echelon of Beyonce, Lorde, Taylor Swift and Emma Watson?

She’s fearless when it comes to her bold opinions, and that’s why, when we’re looking for more role models in Hollywood, we should look straight at Knightley. It’s time for Keira Knightley to take her rightful place in the ranks of Hollywood feminist heroes.

Here are just a few reasons we’re loving her right now.

When it comes to Photoshop, she just says no.

In November she protested against the way women are constantly picked apart through Photoshop by posing topless in Interview Magazine, refusing retouching. Not only did this please those who support the #freethenipple campaign (Miley’s a proud one!) but it demanded that women are respected for the body that they naturally have.

“Knightley told Time. “That [shoot] was one of the ones where I said: ‘OK, I’m fine doing the topless shot so long as you don’t make them any bigger or retouch.’ Because it does feel important to say it really doesn’t matter what shape you are.”

While celebrity photography can be artful, she also said it can be problematic when it manipulates women’s images. “I think women’s bodies are a battleground and photography is partly to blame,” she said.

An old photoshop from "King Arthur"  She's really just as gorgeous without the bigger cup size.

READ THE REST HERE: http://www.mtv.com/news/2123530/feminist-keira-knightley/

Rosamund Pike as Bond? Ed Miliband is the man with the Midas touch

THE GUARDIAN
Anne Perkins
April 1, 2015


 Pierce Brosnan and Rosamund Pike in Die Another Day. 'Pike has also been a Bond girl. This idea is the stuff of dreams.' Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

The election campaign can stop here. There is not going to be a better idea. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, thinks Rosamund Pike should be the next Bond. This is, simply, the perfect proposal – perfect for Bond and incidentally pretty good as a piece of political positioning, all the better for looking like the sort of off-the-cuff idea you would like your prime minister to be capable of having.

Pike is surely out in front as the actor of her generation. Most recently she was in Gone Girl as the woman who sat down and invented her life and also her husband’s; plausible, irresistible and icily cruel as she plotted the perfect revenge.

She was beautiful and funny in Lynn Barber’s wonderful film, An Education, in which she pulled off the even trickier feat of being thick too. She’s as brilliant on stage. Her genius was first confirmed to me when I saw her in the title role of the weird Madame de Sade at the Donmar Warehouse, subtly commanding attention even alongside Judi Dench.



Describing her like that makes her sound a bit overqualified for Bond. But Daniel Craig’s Bond is a more intelligent, nuanced creation than his predecessors, and the franchise would not be half as successful if it did not mature to keep pace with the more complex and demanding thrillers out there in the market. Pike could raise the bar. Or not. Stay with it, Sam Mendes, please.



There is, purists will argue, the gender thing. So far, the feminist revolution has been largely limited to comics. We pointed out last week that there is a thing going on in that world with feminist superheroes. If Thor can be a woman, so can Bond. (Idris Elba could obviously be Bond too, but that is a different piece).

What would be dazzlingly transformative about Pike as Bond is the effect on the mental landscape. The whole James Bond proposition is constructed around the idea of women as throwaway accessories, baubles recruited exclusively for what they say about Bond himself. It is true that Craig’s Bond has occasionally shown an approach marginally more evolved than the caveman, but still women are there – except Dench, who is M as in Mother – purely instrumentally.

Pike’s Bond would turn the whole premise on its head. Even better, she would do it completely differently. Pike as Bond would obviously be smart enough to crack a cypher, tough enough to withstand being doused repeatedly in icy water, and ruthless enough to make use as necessary of her licence to kill. While retaining the capacity to make dry asides about the gruesome fate of her enemies, she would not be casually exploitative of the people around her, or if she was, then only because it was a necessary, if nasty, aspect of her character, rather than on the basis of their gender, race, creed etc. Also, she has been a Bond girl. This is the stuff of dreams.


READ MORE HERE;

In Ross Poldark, we have reached romantic hero nirvana

THE GUARDIAN
Sarra Manning
March 25, 2015


 ‘He straddles different social classes with the same mastery with which he straddles his stallion.’ Aidan Turner as Captain Ross Poldark. Photograph: Mike Hogan/BBC/Mammoth Screen

Stripped to the waist, his pecs lightly furred, a faint, photogenic sheen of sweat delineating his six-pack, the sun glinting on his dark Byronic tumble of curls, the classic patrician lines of his face given distinction by the devilish scar that lovingly caressed one sharp cheekbone, Captain Ross Poldark treated the nation to some hot scything action on Sunday night – and the nation did swoon. By the time Poldark, aka Aidan Turner, had saved a misguided young poacher from transportation, gainfully employed the local peasantry by reopening his father’s mine, then bedded and wedded Demelza, his flighty young serving girl, Twitter was a’twitter with love for the kind of romantic hero that has been absent from our screens for far too long.



Not since Colin Firth, as one Fitzwilliam Darcy, strode purposefully out of the lake at Pemberley, his white shirt clinging to the planes of his chest, have Sunday nights been such a treat.

In Ross Poldark we have reached romantic hero nirvana. Whether he is straddling different social classes or his stallion, it is always with the same mastery. He has the life experience that can only come from fighting in a war then returning home to find his father dead, the family tin mine all but derelict and his one true love married off to his doughty cousin. He’s equally at home in the drawing rooms of the gentry as he is supping cider in the fields with the great unwashed. He has contempt for those who are rich only by accident of birth and knows how to perform all manner of household tasks. He’s part alpha male, part metrosexual, all combined in one HD-ready, smouldering package.



Now, compare Poldark to that other romantic hero of our age, Christian Grey. Grey’s deep inner turmoil comes from the kind of mummy issues so basic that even a GCSE psychology student would roll their eyes at them. He may be suited and booted, but in the box office-busting adaptation of Fifty Shades Of Grey, with every extraneous hair felled from his body, Grey looks disturbingly pre-pubescent for a tortured torturer. Even more disturbing is that Jamie Dornan looked sexier playing a serial killer in The Fall than he ever did when he was getting down to some sexy slapping in the Red Room.

There’s something incredibly reductive and old-fashioned about the pumped-up posturing of the BDSM-lite billionaire. It harks back to the days when steamy bodice-rippers featured brutish heroes and love scenes that bordered on rape – the kind of romances that have long fallen out of favour with the readers of romantic historical fiction, who now prefer the more considered and contemporary novels of writers like Courtney Milan, Stephanie Laurens and Elizabeth Hoyt. Their heroines have backbone, their heroes aren’t autocratic arseholes, and any bodice-ripping is entirely consensual.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/25/ross-poldark-romantic-hero-nirvana-alpha-male-socila-conscience

Colin Firth: How ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ Blew Away Bond, Bourne in South Korea

THE WRAP
MOVIES | By Todd Cunningham on March 23, 2015 @ 5:41 pm



In South Korea the movie “Kingsman: The Secret Service” is a cultural phenomenon and record-breaking $40 million box office smash, out-grossing the super spies — like James Bond and Jason Bourne — that it spoofs.

Just as mind-boggling are the unlikely factors powering its breakout, seized upon by clever and opportunistic Fox marketers who have pulled off a media coup.

To become Fox’s biggest hit in Korea since “Avatar,” the movie capitalized on a spate of recent high-profile beat-downs of poor Koreans, the bizarre mid-air meltdown of a Korean Air executive’s daughter and the country’s fascination with British dandies — perfectly personified in “Kingsman” by Colin Firth as the suave and stylish agent Harry Hart.

“We decided to take advantage of this and made three viral videos similar to real-life incidents to promote the film,” said Tom Oh, one of Fox’s top men in Korea. “Everything came together to create a massive hit.”

“Kingsman,” an action adventure adapted from the Mark Millar-Dave Gibbons comic book “The Secret Service,” has been a hit just about everywhere for Fox.

It has grossed $114 million domestically since it opened with a surprising $41.7 million against “Fifty Shades of Grey” over the Presidents Day weekend. It also has brought in $180 million at the foreign box office, and it will add to that figure when it opens in China this weekend. But for “Kingsman,” there’s been nothing like South Korea, which ranks as its No. 1 market abroad.

“The national mood at the time of release was one of strong dissatisfaction for politicians and the super-rich, like the second- and third-generation children of chebol (business families),” said Oh. “The most hated was the vice-chairwoman of Korean Air, whose abusive tantrum towards the flight attendants and forcing the plane to return to the gate put her behind bars.”

READ MORE HERE: http://www.thewrap.com/how-kingsman-the-secret-service-blew-away-bond-bourne-in-south-korea/

Poldark TV Review: Has Aiden Turner done for Poldark what Colin Firth did for Pride and Prejudice?

GLOUCESTERSHIRE ECHO
By Gloucestershire Echo  |  Posted: March 16, 201

BBC One        ✔ @BBCOne

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Poldark caught the British public's attention last week – and hunky star Aiden Turner appeared to have a lot to do with it. And he's probably going to keep the viewing figures high among a certain demographic after tonight's bit of skinny-dipping off the Cornish coast. It brought to mind Colin Firth's wet-shirt stint as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice back in the 1990s.

Reheating an old 1970s classic can be risky, but it seems as if bringing Poldark back has paid off for the BBC with women swooning and men seeming to enjoy the old-fashioned nature of the 18th century drama.

For its second episode on Sunday on BBC One, the question was whether Poldark will cement its place in the viewing schedule of the public, or whether people's interest would wane.

Judging by the Twitter reaction, it's probably got another series at least to come.

As we know from last week, poor old Ross Poldark (Turner, seen recently in The Hobbit trilogy and before that in the BBC's Being Human) has returned to Cornwall in 1783 from fighting in the American War of Independence to a rather flat homecoming.



His dad is dead and his lover Elizabeth (Heida Reed) is engaged to his drippy cousin Francis (Kyle Soller).

His family's old Cornish tin mine is in rack and ruin and it all looks as if he would be better heading off to London, as suggested by his uncle Charles Poldark (the late Warren Clarke)

But as chance would have it, a young 'child' he rescues from a dog-fight gone wrong, turns out to be the rather fetching (and very much a woman) pouty Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson).

Cue the setting up of a love triangle between heart-broken Ross being intrigued by wild Demelza while prim Elizabeth is wed to Francis but clearly still in love with her ex, who she had feared dead.

So far, so wearingly predictable - even if it is all set against beautiful scenery with the wind gently blowing through the actors' hair.

And in the second episode, last week's strands were picked up.

BBC One @BBCOne · Mar 15

Q. How do you know Ross Poldark has entered the room? A. The ladies start doing this… #Poldark

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Read more: http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Poldark-TV-Review-episodes-BBC-reheating-1970s/story-26177552-detail/story.html#ixzz3UkzhP89Z

(VIDEO) COLIN FIRTH AND TRIUMPH THE INSULT COMIC DOG

 Colin Firth, Mack McBrayer, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Jimmy Fallon on Tonight!

Rosamund Pike keeps a low profile in black hoody and leather jacket as she cradles her son at LAX airport

DAILY MAIL
By NOLA OJOMU FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 07:24 EST, 7 February 2015 | UPDATED: 08:23 EST, 7 February 2015



It was recently reported that she has named her newborn son, Atom.

And Rosamund Pike was pictured holding her precious two-month-old close to her chest as she made her way through LAX airport on Friday.

The Gone Girl actress worked a low-key look as she covered up with a black hoody underneath her black leather jacket.

After giving birth to her first son Solo in 2012, Rosamund went on to have another boy in December with Old Etonian adventurer and reformed heroin addict Robie Uniacke.

Sticking to the singular theme, a source told Daily Mail that the couple have called their newborn Atom because Rosamund found her home birth ‘so easy and elemental’.

Rosamund was on America’s Tonight Show this week (pictured) talking about her Oscar nomination for best actress.

She has revealed that she has no plans to marry her partner of five years.

‘It is interesting to break all the rules,’ she once said.

‘I’m not married, I have a baby, and it feels infinitely more right.’

READ MORE HERE: 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2943760/Rosamund-Pike-keeps-low-profile-black-hoody-leather-jacket-cradles-son-LAX-airport.html

Colin Firth started rumours that he was the next James Bond

ONE NEWS NEW ZEALAND
Published: 12:01PM Saturday January 31, 2015 Source: BANG Showbiz



Colin Firth used to start rumours that he was going to be the next James Bond.

The 54-year-old actor has joked that while he's now too old to take on the iconic role, he doesn't think he was ever in the running, apart from when he tried to spark some speculation himself.

When asked how he feels about never having played the suave spy, he said: "I suppose this has got to be it for me in a way, I suppose. I think it would never have happened. I remember lists being around of speculation ... never from the Bond people, just lists ... in my handwriting."

The star plays secret agent Harry Hart in 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' and he was delighted his role drew comparisons between himself and British sitcom 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em' funnyman Frank Spencer because he did his own stunts in the movie.

Speaking on London Live, he added: "That's a huge honour. I remember thinking actually that there was nothing cooler in the world than a courageous, athletic, dynamic man pretending to be a complete klutz and loser. I thought that was absolutely wonderful.

"The fact he was Superman pretending to be Clark Kent effectively."

READ MORE HERE: http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/colin-firth-started-rumours-he-next-james-bond-6226460

Colin Firth video on Jonathan Ross

Matthew Macfadyen (video) interview at the London Comedy Film Festival

Trailer for Lost in Karastan

‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ Review: Colin Firth Rocks Suits, Stunts, and ‘Splosions

THE WRAP
 By James Rocchi on
December 27, 2014 @ 8:00 am

The fifth and, yes, best film from director Matthew Vaughn (“Layer Cake,” “X-Men: First Class”), “Kingsman: The Secret Service” is a startlingly enjoyable and well-made action film leavened by humor and slicked along by style, made by, for, and about people who’ve seen far too many Bond films. Fleet-footed and unrepentantly British, it’s a reunion of sorts behind the scenes for Vaughn and comics writer Mark Millar, but it’s infinitely better than their 2010 collaboration “Kick-Ass.”

Credit for that goes to Vaughn’s adaptation of the script alongside producer Jane Goldman, which finds cheer and cleverness in Millar’s mixture of retro-style spy action with a snobs-versus-slobs twist.

The basics are basic indeed: Super-spy Harry Hart (Colin Firth, surprisingly capable and up for it), obligated to recruit a new member for the independent spy group from which the film takes its name, chooses the grown-but-aimless son of a late comrade, Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin (Taron Egerton). Eggsy is put through his paces as a potential spy even as Hart investigates whether telecommunications mogul Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson, playing a mix of Russell Simmons and Bill Gates by way of Blofeld with a comedy lisp) is the target of a round of kidnappings and killings or if he is, in fact, the mastermind behind them.



With its fashion-forward flair — the film may borrow liberally from the Roger Moore 007 era, but there’s also a touch of Patrick Macnee’s bespoked gentleman spy Mr. Steed from “The Avengers” — “Kingsman: The Secret Service” feels like a well-made gentleman’s suit, with superb cut, distinctive color, and excellent construction.  In terms of cut, the film’s style is precise and yet broad, with the hidden lairs, jump-suited minions and maniacal villains of a long-gone era of Bond movies, perfectly walking the fine line of mocking what it loves and vice versa. You get the gear, the gadgets, and the gusto, but you also get sly winks at how ludicrous it all is; it’s a movie that fakes a stiff upper lip but also constantly raises its eyebrow in amusement.

In terms of color, important for both a film and a men’s ensemble, Vaughn has cast his film fairly perfectly. Firth is game and great in his computer-aided fight scenes and his dialogue delivery, with Egerton a naturally charismatic presence with smarts behind his smile. Mark Strong plays gadgetmaster Merlin, while Michael Caine is briefly brilliant as the head of Kingsman. Jackson goes for broke and strikes riches as Valentine, supported by henchwoman Gazelle (Sofia Boutella), who sports a pair of sharpened-and-bladed prosthetic legs as divinely mad as any deadly dentures Richard Kiel ever wore as Jaws. The score, by Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson, offers perfectly fun pastiches of John Barry’s iconic work on the 007 films.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.thewrap.com/kingsman-the-secret-service-review-colin-firth-samuel-l-jackson-michael-caine/