Emmy submissions: PBS ‘Masterpiece’ category placements for ‘Sherlock,’ ‘Dark Angel,’ ‘Victoria,’ 'Churchill's Secret' ... Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, Joanne Froggatt, Jenna Colman, Rufus Sewell, Mark Gatiss...many more

GOLD DERBY
Chris Beachum
TV May 3, 2017 2:30 pm

In a Gold Derby exclusive, we have learned the category placements of the key Emmy Awards contenders for PBS and its legendary “Masterpiece” programming. The network does not have perennial winner and nominee “Downton Abbey” but does have champ “Sherlock” returning with past winners Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Other TV movies include “Churchill’s Secret” (Michael Gambon), “Dark Angel” (Joanne Froggatt), “King Charles III” (Tim Pigott-Smith), and “To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters.”

Below, the list of PBS lead and supporting submissions for drama series and telefilms. More names might be added by the network before ballots are finalized this season. Also note that performers not included on this list may well be submitted by their personal reps.

'CHURCHILL’S SECRET”
TV Movie
Movie/Limited Series Actor – Michael Gambon
Movie/Limited Series Actress – Lindsey Duncan
Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor – Matthew Macfadyen
Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actress – Romola Garai

“DARK ANGEL”
TV Movie
Movie/Limited Series Actress – Joanne Froggatt

“THE DURRELLS IN CORFU”
Drama Series
Drama Actress – Keeley Hawes
Drama Supporting Actor – Josh O’Connor, Milo Parker, Callum Woodhouse
Drama Supporting Actress – Daisy Waterstone



REAL MORE EMMY SUBMISSIONS HERE: http://www.goldderby.com/article/2017/emmy-submissions-pbs-masterpiece-category-placements-sherlock-dark-angel-victoria/

Cast As Brooding Leads, Rufus Sewell Says His Real Talent Is Comedy

NPR
January 28, 20178:11 AM ET
Heard on Weekend Edition Saturda

Brooding? Just a bit. Rufus Sewell stars as American Nazi leader John Smith in The Man in the High Castle.
Liane Hentscher

People are seeing a lot of Rufus Sewell these days.

He's starring in the play Art at the Old Vic theater in London. On PBS, he's playing Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria's first Prime Minister — and perhaps prime minister indeed, if you catch my drift.

And he's also receiving raves for his role as John Smith, the Nazi leader of America, in the alternate universe of Amazon's The Man in the High Castle, which has been renewed for a third season.

The series is increasingly loosely based on Phillip K. Dick's 1962 novel in which the Nazis win World War II, America is occupied, and many Americans seem happy with that. Sewell tells NPR's Scott Simon that recently, a fan of the show tried to give him a Nazi salute through a coffee-shop window. "And he was not, you know, the usual suspect, kind of alt-right looking fellow. He was a kind of beardy Hollywood hipster," Sewell says, "and it didn't occur to him that I might be a slightly inappropriate thing to do ... people do it to me sometimes, but luckily they don't appear to be believers."

Interview Highlights

On bringing life to John Smith

The Nazi ideology is loathsome, but people essentially are not ... Admittedly in Season 1 he seemed like a relatively one-dimensional character, and I wasn't interested until I saw episode 2, which was already written, where it became a bit more confusing — you saw him with his family — and I would describe him as a person with an alternate history inside him, you know, a person who has turned out one way, who had history gone a different way would seemingly be a different person entirely.

The way you do it, or the way I've tried to do it, is try to get as familiar as I can with what happens to people, and how they create a narrative for themselves in which they're the good guys ... and I think that's what Philip K. Dick was writing about — he was writing about what people do in order to get on.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.npr.org/2017/01/28/511886261/cast-as-brooding-leads-rufus-sewell-says-his-real-talent-is-comedy

London Year-End Roundup: Five Best Productions of 2013 (Matt Smith, Rupert Grint, Brendan Coyle, Rufus Sewell...)

BROADWAY BUZZ
 By Matt Wolf December 25, 2013 - 12:00AM



American Psycho, Almeida Theatre
Critics were divided on the merits of Spring Awakening composer Duncan Sheik’s stage take on the era-defining Bret Easton Ellis novel, and who can blame them? One must look back to Sweeney Todd to find a musical that makes such a compelling case for putting psychosis center-stage. In Rupert Goold’s expert production, British TV name Matt Smith (Doctor Who) makes the gym-fit Patrick Bateman a charismatic killer of anyone’s dreams…or, make that nightmares. You have until February 1 to be drawn in—and then recoil—for yourself.

Mojo, Harold Pinter Theatre
Can a play that looked show-offy and posturing in one incarnation seem mournful and even profound the next? The answer is there to be savored in Mojo, running through February 8 at the Harold Pinter Theater (an apt locale given that Pinter himself appeared in Jez Butterworth’s 1997 film adaptation of gangster low-life in 1950s London). The cast—encompassing Harry Potter star Rupert Grint, Skyfall’s Ben Whishaw and Downtown Abbey’s own Bates, Brendan Coyle—remains the starriest seen in London all year, and the peerless director is Ian Rickson.

Old Times, Harold Pinter Theatre
Two brilliant actresses, Oscar nominee Kristin Scott Thomas and Tony nominee Lia Williams, traded roles throughout the run of Ian Rickson’s quietly dazzling take on Harold Pinter’s 1971 play, which meant audiences got two chances to ponder the shimmering mysteries at the heart of the text. This was a big year on both sides of the Atlantic for the Nobel laureate, with Broadway’s starry No Man’s Land and Betrayal competing for attention, as well. But Rickson and his cast of three, including the divine Rufus Sewell, stood a league apart. Can they go to Broadway, as well, please?


READ MORE HERE: http://www.broadway.com/buzz/173767/london-year-end-roundup-five-best-productions-of-2013/harold

Matthew Macfadyen talks 'Pillars Of The Earth'

YAHOO NEW ZEALAND
September 24, 2013, 3:10 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxeoqgr1vpQ

TV mini-series 'The Pillars Of The Earth' hits our screens from this week - one of the stars, Matthew Macfadyen, talks about what it was like working on the adaptation of the popular Ken Follett novel.

About his character, Prior Philip:

Well it's interesting in terms of his character (as) he knows himself quite well. I think that he knows that his chief temptation is vanity and pride because he’s intelligent and he’s ambitious for the church and for the greater glory of God I suppose in his way of thinking. And to do that you have to make compromises I suppose; and you have to be able to put yourself in a position of power.

About the cast:

Talking about the other cast members; I can’t remember a job where everyone has enjoyed being in [each other’s] company so much. I can’t speak for the other actors but I, we all really get on. And they are just great; everyone is fantastic and very different.

And I think because it is such an ensemble piece, because you’ve got the monks, and you’ve got the builders, you’ve got the royals, and you’ve got the big powerful noble families, it feels, when everyone gets together it feels like a party.

About the sets:

I mean, you can’t see this, but it is just extraordinary. I had just come off another medieval set, Ridley Scott’s ‘Robin Hood’ project, and there really is no difference. There is a difference in budget but there is no difference in scale here. So it’s just great. When it is like that it’s fantastic because you don’t need to use your imagination the same that you do when you are in a studio.


READ MORE HERE: http://nz.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/article/-/19089184/matthew-macfadyen-talks-pillars-of/

MOST HANDSOME HERO FROM PERIOD DRAMAS Our favourite gents from film and TV (STYLIST)

Richard Armitage

***The Winner***

When it comes to escapism, there's nothing quite like a period drama - especially when that drama features a handsome brooding hero who knows his way around a horse and wears a pair of breeches particularly well.

With a new series of Downton Abbey back on our screens (ITV1, Sundays at 9pm), we've taken a look at our favourite leading men from period dramas past and present in the gallery below. Prepare to imagine yourself at a debutante ball or running across some moody moors...

(people were asked to vote for their favorite and Richard Armitage was the winner!  See how your favorite star fared...to my eyes, they are all winners!)

MOST HANDSOME PERIOD DRAMA HEROS

Blue Christmas for Period Drama Men...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKvy-R_IFH4

Michelle Dockery to star in Restless Downton Abbey actress Michelle Dockery will star in BBC adaptation of William Boyd novel Restless. (TELEGRAPH)

Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery is to join Rufus Sewell and Michael Gambon in a BBC adaptation of best-selling novel Restless. The two-part film - based on the book by William Boyd - will also star Hayley Atwell and Charlotte Rampling playing the same character more than 30 years apart.

Acclaimed theatre director Edward Hall is to dramatise the tale about a female spy on the run who has led a double life for three decades Dockery plays a young woman, Ruth Gilmartin, who learns that her mother Sally (Rampling) was recruited by the British Secret Service at the start of the Second World War, but has been in hiding since a mission went awry. Atwell - who plays the younger Sally - has previously starred in a Channel 4 adaptation of Boyd's Any Human Heart.


READ MORE:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/downton-abbey/9354284/Michelle-Dockery-to-star-in-Restless.html

Beautiful British Actors = GERARD BUTLER, RICHARD ARMITAGE, RUFUS SEWELL, TOBY STEPHENS

Britscene: Casting Catch Up – Idris Elba, Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Danny Mays, Felicity Jones & More

Written on December 9, 2011 by Paul

As always some of your favorite British stars are heavily in-demand. We have all the latest rumors that are circling, and can tell you who has signed on for what movie with our latest casting catch up.
In this busy week we feature Idris Elba, Sam Riley, Danny Mays, Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Felicity Jones, Jared Harris, Rufus Sewell, Sacha Baron Cohen and David Oyelowo. See what they are all up to below.
If the rumors are true, in-demand actor and Luther star Idris Elba could be a living legend with his next role. According to flickering myth and their reliable sources Elba is about to sign up to play the former South African President Nelson Mandela in an official biopic about his life that will start filming sometime next year. If true Elba will be following in the footsteps of greats like Morgan Freeman (Invictus), Sydney Poitier (Mandela and De Klerk), Terrence Howard (Winnie) who have all taken on the role before him.
Clive Owen looks set to continue with the action roles, after recently starring in Killer Elite the British actor has now signed up to star in Recall directed by Harold Becker (Mercury Rising). According to Empire it will see Owen taking the role as NSA agent who has lost his memory and is attempting to figure out what happened during a failed plan to rescue some prisoners. As his memory of the events slowly begins to return, he discovers there’s no one he can trust. You can next see Owen in Intruders out in the US April 2012.
Zen star Rufus Sewell has joined Bradley Cooper in Paradise Lost, an action-heavy take on the epic poem centered on the war in heaven between archangels Michael and Lucifer. Directed by Alex Proyas (Knowing) Sewell will play Samael, Lucifer’s agent who tells him to begin the rebellion in heaven. As well as Cooper, Sewell will star alongside Benjamin Walker, Casey Affleck and Djimon Hounsou in the movie due out late next year.
Hot off the press is the latest rumor about Helen Mirren. THR is reporting that the ageless British actress will be joining fellow Brit Anthony Hopkins in Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, a project based on the non-fiction book by Stephen Rebello that tracks how Hitchcock, at the height of his game as a director, decided to make a “lowly” horror movie. Filming is expected to start sometime next year.
Felicty Jones has not been short of work this year, (Chalet Girl, Like Crazy, Hysteria) and now she is taking even more on. According to the Daily Mail, the upcoming British actress has been chosen by Ralph Fiennes to portray Charles Dickens’s mistress, Nelly Ternan, in a film about their secret affair. The Dickens movie is called The Invisible Woman and is based on Claire Tomalin’s detailed examination of the relationship between the author and Nelly, which lasted 13 years until the day of his death.
Two bits of casting news in one here! As Neil Jordan’s vampire fantasy thriller Byzantium, that has just started filming in Ireland, has added both Sam Riley (Brighton Rock) and Daniel Mays (Dcotor Who) to its cast. Cinema Blend reports that Riley will play Darvell, a man allegedly caught in the middle of a deadly pact formed between a mother-daughter vampire pair, Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan.
Another movie that keeps adding Brits to its cast is Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, a biopic about the former US president that will feature Daniel Day-Lewis. In recent weeks the film has added former Spooks star David Oyelowo as a cavalryman and Jared Harris (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) will play Ulysses S. Grant, a Union general in the Civil War who later became the 18th President of the United States. Lincoln will be in theaters in 2012.
According to reports Sacha Baron Cohen is in talks and very close to land a role in King’s Speech director Tom Hooper’s latest film “Les Miserables”. The actor best known for his comedy roles in Borat and Bruno looks set to tackle the role of the main villain in the big screen adaptation of the famous play. Baron Cohen is expected to star as Monsieur Thenardier, who is described as the father of Eponine and Azelma. Along with his wife, he spoils and pampers them as children, before they leave them on the streets.


BRITSCENE

Masterpiece Mystery and their wonderful detectives, Wallender (my favorite), Holmes, Zen now Brodie

San Antonio Express

When did the detectives on PBS' “Masterpiece Mystery!” start getting so sexy?

Before, I could count on crime-solvers of the comfy old-shoe variety — Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and other wise, but not exactly alluring, characters — to lull me to a peaceful slumber on Sunday nights.

Nowadays, I'm put on edge — pleasantly, mind you, but still on edge — by the seductive charms of male detectives such as Aurelio Zen (played by slow-sizzle handsome Rufus Sewell) or the passionately geeky and Heathcliff-like Sherlock Holmes ( Benedict Cumberbatch). Even the rumpled Kurt Wallander ( Kenneth Branagh) has a quiet sex appeal as he thoughtfully goes about investigating murders across the Swedish countryside.

Most hot and bothersome — so far, anyway — is “Masterpiece's” latest sleuth, Jackson Brodie (played by intensely masculine Brit Jason Isaacs), whose tortured brow, sensitive nature and powerful build are like catnip to the ladies in tonight's first installment of “Case Histories.”

The trilogy of intriguing tales from the novels of Kate Atkinson bows at 8 tonight on PBS and continues for two subsequent Sundays. Right away, brooding ex-cop Brodie stands out as appealingly human and a bit quirky — whether he's remembering a shocking tragedy from his childhood or listening to moody folk and country tunes from Lucinda Williams and Seguin-born Nanci Griffith.
In the opener, the divorced dad is in the midst of helping an eccentric oldster locate her missing cat when he happens upon two sisters who live next door. They still mourn the loss of their beloved youngest sibling, who mysteriously disappeared one night many years ago when they were children. Their wound is freshly opened by a discovery of the girl's favorite stuffed toy, “Blue Mouse,” stashed in the heretofore locked desk of their deceased father.

Brodie is irresistibly drawn to the cold case; it doesn't hurt, of course, that one of the sisters is blonde, pretty and, as we see later, willing. Meantime, in the signature style of Atkinson, Brodie gets tangled up in two other mysteries that eventually intersect. He's talked into helping a grieving father find his daughter's murderer and also seduced into aiding a female stranger who is bent on locating her wayward niece.

Did I say “seduced”? What I really meant was the lady shares a steamy bedroom romp with our hero. Ah, yes, as I said at the outset, don't expect PBS' new detectives to relax you.


Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Sexy-PBS-detective-goes-under-the-covers-2217671.php#ixzz1ax2X6lkC

PICTURES FROM THE EMMYS

Julian Fellowes

Alan, Cumming, Rufus Sewell  (Pillars of the Earth)

Benedict Cumberbatch's shoes

EMMY PREDICTIONS

This year, the Emmys have combined the races for Best TV Movie and Best Miniseries into one category for the first time since 1991; so few miniseries qualified in 2009 and 2010 – only two were nominated each year – that separate categories were deemed unnecessary. So it's ironic that four of the six nominees in this year's hybrid category are miniseries.

Frontrunner "Mildred Pierce" is one of them. Director Todd Haynes's five-and-a-half-hour adaptation of James M. Cain's novel makes excellent use of its running time. It's packed with scenes even more memorable than in Michael Curtiz's 1945 adaptation, which won Joan Crawford her only Oscar. This time around, the title role is played by Kate Winslet, who is all but guaranteed to win Best Movie/Mini Actress for her performance.

 

"Mildred Pierce" is a grand melodrama. Set in Glendale, California, during the Great Depression, it chronicles a divorcee's ascent from struggling single mother to wealthy restaurant entrepreneur. In addition to Winslet, a whopping five of the miniseries's supporting actors contend for Emmys, including #Brian F. O'Byrne# as Mildred's ex-husband, Guy Pearce as her mercurial new beau, Melissa Leo as her best friend, and Mare Winningham as the waitress who mentors her and later becomes her employee. But it's Evan Rachel Wood who makes the strongest impression, as Veda Pierce, Mildred's spoiled, conniving daughter. Nominated for 21 Emmys overall, more than any other program this year, it is likely to win this award handily.

Its toughest competition is "Downton Abbey." Created and written by Oscar-winner Julian Fellowes ("Gosford Park"), whose sharp-witted script makes it one of the freshest period dramas in quite some time, "Downton" is an epic of romance and class conflict at a sprawling English estate during the early 20th Century. Airing as part of PBS's "Masterpiece Theatre," it has the same subdued charm as the network's previous Emmy contenders "Bleak House" and "Jane Eyre." Much of its success is owed to its cast, including Hugh Bonneville and Emmy nominees Elizabeth McGovern and Maggie Smith. Though it's not easy to pick a standout among the large ensemble, Rob James-Collier's turn as a conniving servant is also striking.

The program aired in the US in four 90-minute installments, but instead of telling a complete story it ended on a cliffhanger. That's because "Downton Abbey" is not actually a miniseries but a continuing drama in disguise; it returns next year for a second season. Nevertheless, it's a strong threat to win, which would make it the network's third winning miniseries in the last ten years, following "Little Dorrit" (2009) and "The Little Prince" (2005).

Starz is recognized in this category for its first original miniseries, "The Pillars of the Earth." The eight-part epic, based on Ken Follett's novel set in 12th Century England, was broadcast over six weeks last summer, but each installment is so heavily burdened with plot that there's no breathing room, and episodes often leap years forward in time, which suggests that maybe viewers should read the book to truly comprehend what's going on. But the cast is well-assembled. Rufus Sewell and Hayley Atwell give impressive performances. Matthew Macfadyen, Eddie Redmayne, Ian McShane, and Donald Sutherland, however, have all given far better performances elsewhere.

Without any nominations for acting, writing, or directing, a win by "The Pillars of the Earth" would be a shocking upset. The last time a miniseries won without nominations in any of those fields was "Steven Spielberg Presents 'Taken'" in 2003, but that was such a weak year for miniseries' that none received nominations for writing or directing.

"The Kennedys" strains credulity to its breaking point; stars Greg Kinnear, Katie Holmes, and Barry Pepper could scarcely look or feel any less like the real-life Kennedys, but the History Channel reject – which later found a home on ReelzChannel and earned a surprising 10 Emmy nominations – plods along for six hours anyway. In that time, the miniseries spans decades, resulting in expository dialogue in lethal doses; the writing, by Stephen Kronish and Joel Surnow ("24"), was justifiably snubbed.
Though episodes explore major historical watersheds, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, the miniseries is inert throughout. The History Channel's determination that it was "not a fit for the History brand" was perhaps a generous understatement.

 

 Gold Derby experts, editors, and users expect "Mildred Pierce" to prevail, but "Downton Abbey" is a possible spoiler. "Cinema Verite," "The Kennedys," "The Pillars of the Earth," and "Too Big to Fail" pose little threat.