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

MATTHEW MACFADYEN: Ripper Street Series Four finally coming to BBC America

TV SERIES FINALE
by Jessica Pena, May 31, 2016

Ripper Street is headed back to the States. BBC America recently announced that season four of the UK drama will premiere this summer.

Set in Victorian London, the historical drama stars Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, and Adam Rothenberg. The series moved to Amazon in the UK when the BBC cancelled it after two seasons.

Earlier, Amazon announced that season five would be the last season for Ripper Street. Season four will premiere on BBC America on July 28th.



http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/ripper-street-season-four-finally-coming-bbc-america/

Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch to film The Lost City of Z in Belfast

RADIO TIMES
Radio Times Staff
10:18 AM, 25 June 2014



Can Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch solve the mystery of explorer Percy Fawcett, who strangely went missing in the Amazon in 1925? We will soon find out…

The Immigrant director James Gray will begin filming The Lost City of Z in not so sunny Belfast early next year. Twilight actor Robert Pattinson will also star in the movie, based on the novel by American writer David Grann.

Belfast isn’t the first location that comes to mind when trying to find a jungle setting, however, the Amazon scenes won’t actually be taking place in Northern Ireland, but the film's London scenes will.

Instead, the sweaty jungle backdrop will be shot in Columbia, and then move onto Northern Ireland later.

"The Lost City of Z is almost set on two different planets – the jungle and Victorian England," explained director Gray to the Belfast Telegraph.

It’s thought that around 100 people never made it out of the Amazon while searching for Fawcett or retracing his footsteps attempting to find the ancient civilisation he was looking for.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-06-25/sherlock-star-benedict-cumberbatch-to-film-the-lost-city-of-z-in-belfast

(Photos) New series of axed BBC drama Ripper Street being filmed in Dublin today after being saved by online giant Amazon

DAILY MAIL
By LIZZIE EDMONDS
PUBLISHED: 12:59 EST, 11 June 2014 | UPDATED: 14:29 EST, 11 June 2014

 

The cast and crew of axed BBC drama Ripper Street were today filming the show's third series after the Victorian costume drama was saved by online giant Amazon.

The show, set in London's Whitechapel in 1889 - six months after the gruesome Jack The Ripper Murders, was axed by the BBC at the end of last year due to poor viewing figures.

There were also some issues with sound -  with dozens of viewers complaining to the BBC about  'meaningless mumbling' throughout the second series.

And, if today's pictures are anything to go by, filming for the latest series - which will see the return of crime-fighting duo Matthew Macfadyen and Jerome Flynn - appears to be going swimmingly.

Jerome Flynn - or Detective Sergeant Bennet Drake as he is known in the show - could be seen milling about on locations in full costume, chatting to numerous members of cast and crew.

Following the announcement in February, BBC drama boss Ben Stephenson said the deal was 'an exceptional opportunity' to bring the show back - while freeing up BBC money for new drama series.

Tiger Aspect’s Head of Drama, Will Gould added: 'In the past year we’ve transmitted two series of Ripper Street in the UK, had highs of eight million viewers, sold the show to over 150 countries, got Bafta nominated and voted Radio Times best show of the year, were cancelled and resurrected.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2655340/Ripper-Street-saved-Amazon-filming-series-Dublin.html#ixzz34Qsaf0fJ 
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Colin Firth, other stars to read Amazon.com audio books

Tech Blast - Amazon Log

by Aislyn Greene on Monday, October 3, 2011, 7:12am PDT

Comments | Permalink

Technology | Retailing & Restaurants | Audible | Amazon.com | Samuel L. Jackson | Tina Fey | Annette Bening | Kim Basinger | Dustin Hoffman | Jane Lynch | Naomi Watts | Colin Firth

Wish you could hear Colin Firth or Annette Benning read your favorite book on one of the new Kindle tablets? Amazon.com subsidiary Audible, an audio book company, said it's readying a new line of audio books that will be read by famous actors.

A number of stars are already lined up to read both literary classics and modern fiction, including Colin Firth reading "The End of the Affair" by Graham Greene, Samuel L. Jackson reading "A Rage in Harlem" by Chester Himes, and Annette Bening reading "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Wolff
Dustin Hoffman, Naomi Watts and Kim Basinger are all on board as well, reports the New York Times. The actors will help select the books they read, choosing characters and story that appeal to them.

Audible already has a few celebrities reading their own memoirs, including Jane Lynch's "Happy Accidents" and Tina Fey's "Bossypants."

Amazon acquired the company back in 2008. Audible has more than 85,000 selections that can be downloaded to a variety of devices.