DIGITAL SPY
By Tom Eames
Wednesday, Jun 11 2014, 8:06am EDT
The film follows Doug (Tennant) and Abi (Pike) and their three kids, as they travel to the Scottish Highlands for Doug's father Gordie's (Connolly) birthday.
However, the parents soon realize that it is almost impossible for their children to keep a secret from the rest of the family.
The movie will be released at UK cinemas on September 26, 2014.
FILM STARS: Rosamund Pike and David Tennant are filming What We Did On Our Holiday.
Pictures: Nick Ponty
SCOTTISH actor David Tennant and a former James Bond girl provided an unusual sight in the leafy west end of Glasgow.
Tennant was filming scenes with actor Rosamund Pike, who appeared opposite Piers Brosnan in the blockbuster Die Another Day, at a property in Scotstoun.
The duo were working on the BBC movie What We Did On Our Holiday. Film cables littered the pavement outside the semi-detached home as Tennant fine-tuned his humorous role as Doug – a man whose marriage is in tatters. It centres on a dysfunctional family's return to Glasgow to celebrate a relative's birthday.
There was no sign of one of the comedy's other big stars, Billy Connolly, who plays a character called Georgie.
Children who were being picked up by their parents at Scotstoun Primary caught a glimpse of the famous stars.
Tracey Andrews, 43, who was collecting her son Ronnie, nine, said of Tennant: "I really wanted to get a picture with him."
The movie is being filmed in different locations across the Highlands and Glasgow until August 3. Other actors appearing in the film include Celia Imrie, and Ben Miller of Death In Paradise fame. No date for its release has yet been set.
Rosamund Pike (right) and David Tennant will head north next month, playing a couple going through marital discord as they travel from their home ‘down South’ to visit relatives in Scotland.
What We Did On Our Holiday shoots through June and July.
Billy Connolly also stars in the picture, directed by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin (the team behind the hit TV series Outnumbered)
for BBC Films.
STEVEN REA, INQUIRER MOVIE COLUMNIST AND CRITIC
POSTED: Thursday, January 24, 2013, 2:31 PM
'Old age ain't no place for sissies," Bette Davis once famously observed. In Quartet, set in a Georgian-style mansion on a lovely patch of English countryside, the "ain't" has been changed to a more proper "is not." But still, the point is clear: Even here at Beecham House, a stately home for retired musicians, getting old is a challenge.
The body breaks down, and sometimes the mind. And memories of past glory rush back to remind you that there's not much glory happening at present.
Adapted by Ron Harwood from his stage play, and directed - in a smart and accomplished debut - by Dustin Hoffman, Quartet is a charming and poignant investigation into the autumn years in which four friends, former opera company stars, come together to put on a show. Of course, there are obstacles to surmount along the way: Jean Horton (the ever droll and beguiling Maggie Smith), a reluctant new arrival at Beecham House, long ago broke the heart of Reginald Paget (Tom Courtenay), a dapper chap who is not happy to see Jean again.
Meanwhile, the bubbly Cissy (Pauline Collins) is showing signs of Alzheimer's - forgetfulness, disorientation - and the randy Wilf (Billy Connolly) has prostate issues. A hopeless flirt, Wilf's nonstop come-ons to Beecham's female staff, and to the attractive young doctor who runs the place (Sheridan Smith), would be offensive if his lechery weren't so benign. A man with a waggish smile and a Scottish brogue can be forgiven much.
From left, Billy Connolly, Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins are determined to go down singing.
By Linda Barnard
Movies Writer
Starring Pauline Collins, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay and Maggie Smith. Directed by Dustin Hoffman. 98 minutes. Opens Jan. 18 at major theatres. PG
Dustin Hoffman’s directing debut, Quartet is a bit shameless in its approach, but for those who enjoy a whimsical drama that includes scenery chewing from grand dames and hammy fellows, it’s a welcome if often predictable treat.
This gentle comedy about life in Beecham House, a British county home where retired musicians are put out to pasture while refusing to extinguish their creative sparks, is based on Oscar winner (The Pianist) Ronald Harwood’s 1999 play of the same name.
Thanks to Hoffman, it boasts well-crafted dialogue for a cast that’s about as good as it gets when it comes to actors of a certain age: Maggie Smith, fresh from collecting bouquets for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and dispensing brickbats in Downton Abbey, is joined by Tom Courtenay (The Dresser), Scottish funnyman Billy Connolly (Mrs. Brown) and Pauline Collins (Shirley Valentine).
Former opera stars Wilf (Connolly), Cissy (Collins) and Reggie (Courtenay) are beavering away with the rest of the musical seniors on the home’s annual gala fundraising concert. When legendary diva Jean Horton (Smith) reluctantly arrives to stay, they think they may be able to reunite what was a London operatic dream team and wow the audience with their famous quartet from Rigoletto.
Fat chance, according to waspish Jean, horribly shamed to have ended up at Beecham House. But her acid tongue deflects from her real fear: she can’t sing like she used to and high notes elude her. She’d flounce off, but her cane makes that difficult.
Sweet and simple Cissy is eager to befriend her again, reminiscing about their years on the opera stage together, but Jean nastily rebuffs her. Reggie, who has a curious history with Jean, is clearly still smarting. Only Wilf, a bottom pincher and public urinator who blames his lapses in decorum on a stroke removing his social filters (don’t you believe it) can seem to sweet-talk Jean, but the effects rarely last.
By Robbie Collin, Chief Film Critic12:43PM GMT 01 Jan 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNYJZbci31c
Dir: Dustin Hoffman; Starring: Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Michael Gambon. 12A cert, 98 min.
Quartet is a lovely old lolloping Labrador of a film. It bounds over to you, eyes bright and tail wagging, and you smilingly allow it curl up on your feet, despite the faint smell of damp fur and digestive biscuits.
This lighthearted drama, savvily adapted by Ronald Harwood from his own 1999 play, marks the directorial debut of Dustin Hoffman, 75, which is as strong an argument as any offered by the film itself for the good work we can still accomplish in our dotage. Hoffman may have won two acting Oscars for his roles in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Rain Man (1988), but Quartet has nothing of those films’ high-strung intensity: instead this is the work of Hoffman the twinkly oldster, of Meet The Fockers (2004) and Last Chance Harvey (2008).
Quartet is smarter and better acted than both of those projects, thank goodness. It’s a film about the pressure of performance, centred on four actors who appear to be feeling next-to-none. Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins play inhabitants of Beecham House, a plush retirement castle for classical musicians. (The magnificent Hedsor House in Buckinghamshire, where the film was shot, deserves some kind of best supporting mansion award.)
Veteran British actor Tom Courtenay deliberately avoided watching Dame Maggie Smith in 'Downton Abbey' before playing her love interest onscreen because he didn't want to be "put off".
Courtenay puckers up to kiss Smith in their movie 'Quartet', about a group of retired opera singers, and admits he didn't want to see her as feisty character the Dowager Countess of Grantham in the hit TV show before their big moment.
Billy Connolly sobbed as he received a Scottish Bafta award last night (10 Dec)
He was presented with a gong for an Outstanding Contribution in Television and Film by stand-up comedian Kevin Bridges.
Kevin thanked Billy for being a inspiration to generations of Scots comics and Billy replied: “This is a delightful thing, especially coming from Scotland.
“I’ve been nominated for loads of things and got b***** all. I occasionally get these good attendance things, like the guy in remedial class getting a prize for being kind.
“Genuinely, to get this from Scotland, I almost say it breaks my heart. It just hits me somewhere where I live.”
As Billy burst into tears, the crowd in Glasgow’s Fruitmarket applauded wildly.
He continued: “I don’t know what to do now. It’s been a real pleasure to talk to you. I guess you only get these things once … but could we meet every second week?”
The presentation came at the end of a 90-minute discussion about Billy’s Life In Pictures alongside a few dodgy jokes about thalidomide and the Gorbals.
The Big Yin talked about his roles in films such as 1978’s Absolution with Richard Burton and Mrs Brown with Judi Dench.
Of Burton, he said: “The funny thing was, I was drunk and he was sober.
“They shot the graveyard scene from the back and what you couldn’t see was him singing I Belong to Glasgow.
“He was a priest and I showed him where the pocket was in the cassock for his fags.”
Mrs Brown also left a big impression. Billy said: “At one point, I thought that Judi Dench fancied me. She kept giving me the eye in one scene and I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’ I danced about more and she started doing it again.
“It was getting worse and then it dawned on me that she was being Queen Victoria, so I fancied her back.”
Billy admitted he was disappointed to miss out on a Bafta for Mrs Brown – instead it went to Ewan McGregor for Trainspotting.
He said: “Ewan beat me with that filth about drugs in Edinburgh – and that language, too.
“I hate Ewan for beating me. When you get beaten by somebody you like, it’s worse.
BY: BRAD BREVET
PUBLISHED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 3RD 2012 AT 5:48 PM
Any "Downton Abbey" fans out there? If so, before you check out the poster for Quartet you may want to rush over to Amazon and buy the first two season of the popular show on sale for 60% off. Otherwise, I'm sure you're recognize the face and name front and center on the just-released poster for Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut.
Based on the play by Ronald Harwood and adapted for the screen by the same man, Quartet centers on Cecily (Pauline Collins), Reggie (Tom Courtenay) and Wilfred (Billy Connolly) living in a home for retired opera singers. Every year, on October 10, there is a concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday and they take part. Jean (Maggie Smith), who used to be married to Reggie, arrives at the home and disrupts their equilibrium. She still acts like a diva, but she refuses to sing. Still, the show must go on... and it does.
The UK trailer for Dustin Hoffman's Quartet has been released.
Hoffman's first film as director stars Dame Maggie Smith as one of four retired musicians who were formerly members of the same operatic quartet.
The foursome are reunited when Smith's Jean comes to live at the same retirement home as the others, but her reluctance to perform and her failed marriage to Reg (Tom Courtenay) injects tension into proceedings.
The first part in "The Hobbit" trilogy hits screens in under 2 months and features an epic sized cast that includes; Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Evangeline Lilly, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Aidan Turner, John Bell, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Barry Humphries, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O'Gorman, Lee Pace, Billy Connolly, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott and Jeffrey Thomas.
By Anita Singh,
Showbusiness Editor11:00PM BST 15 Oct 2012
Hollywood should stop treating cinema-goers “as if they were five years old” and start catering for mature audiences, Dame Maggie Smith has said.
The 77-year-old actress, star of Downton Abbey, appealed for more films aimed at “grown-ups”.
Her latest, Quartet, is directed by Dustin Hoffman and set in a home for retired opera singers. Pauline Collins, Tom Courtenay and Billy Connolly co-star.
Dame Maggie’s last film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, also featured a mature cast and was a box office hit.
“I think it’s because a lot of grown-ups would like films for grown-ups and about grown-ups,” she said.
Dustin Hoffman so loved Billy Connolly’s stand-up that the Hollywood star cast him in his debut film as a director — and even let him ad-lib.
Connolly, who will walk the red carpet at the British premiere at the BFI London Film Festival tonight, joins a stellar British cast of Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins and Sheridan Smith in Quartet, a comedy about opera singers in a retirement home.
He revealed that Hoffman allowed him to bring his wit to the script which Ronald Harwood adapted from his own play. “My character, Wilf, was a dirty old man in the nicest imaginable way. But I found him one-sided,” the comedian said. “So I ad-libbed a lot. It took the grubby air off me.”
The Big Yin, 69, got to know Hoffman, 75, in America where the Oscar-winning star is a regular at the Scotsman’s stand-up gigs. He said he was momentarily overwhelmed to be asked to join the cast but accepted after remembering how much he enjoyed playing Queen Victoria’s Scottish servant in Mrs Brown.
“I just kept thinking about Judi Dench and what a pleasant experience that was and not to be a coward.”
It happens about two-thirds of the way into Quartet, a wryly funny and often touching late-life aria about aged opera singers at a British retirement home that premiered last week at the just-ended Toronto International Film Festival.
Smith's nerve-racked diva is being pressured by her fellow residents to perform at their annual birthday salute to Verdi, and she has had enough of their goading. She prefaces her remark with the words, "I'm going to say something very rude," and then proceeds to let loose with a two-word utterance that begins with an F and ends with "you."
Fans of her imperiously proper Dowager Countess of Grantham on the TV sensation Downton Abbey, a role that might garner her another Emmy when the awards are announced Sunday, will have to wait to revel in that gasp-worthy moment until Quartet reaches theaters Dec. 28.
Has the 77-year-old dame ever employed that phrase before in a storied film career that includes two Oscar wins -- as the lead in 1969's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and a supporting turn in 1978's California Suite?
"Onscreen, never." She pauses. "But frequently in real life."
That the notoriously press-averse legend is seated here at an upscale eatery while waiting on a Cobb salad and sipping sauvignon blanc is a bit of a miracle.
Blame her reluctance on a "ghastly" male reporter who made her cry during her very first interview when she was starting out in the late '50s. Her friend and collaborator, Kenneth Williams, advised, "Don't do it anymore." And save for the occasional taped Charlie Rose appearance, Smith has mostly been able to avoid such grilling without any ill effect.
"The thing is, often press people ask questions that are so personal that even your nearest and dearest wouldn't ask them," she explains.
What sorts of questions? "Well," she replies. "THAT'S quite personal." She continues: "You know what I mean, things about past marriages." Given that her first of two nuptials caused a minor scandal when she had an affair with the married actor Robert Stephens and gave birth to the first of their two sons 10 days before they wed in 1967, her reluctance is somewhat understandable.
Oscar winnerRonald Harwood ("The Pianist") adapted his play about a group of retired opera singers who reunite for one final performance. The Weinstein Co. is rolling out this performance piece, which could appeal to the academy's aging demographic, as a Christmas treat.
Hoffman handled helming duties with aplomb, helped along by the stellar cast. Two-time Oscar winner Maggie Smith ("The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," 1969; "California Suite," 1978) plays the diva at the center of the action. Oscar nominees Pauline Collins ("Shirley Valentine") and Tom Courtenay ("The Dresser") and Billy Connolly round out the foursome.
Smith, who has racked up six Oscar bids dating back to 1966, has not contended since her 2001 scene-stealing turn in "Gosford Park." That role was written by Julian Fellowes who went on to create for her the part of the doubtable Duchess in "Downton Abbey."
A new poster for The Hobbit’s forthcoming installment entitled ‘An Unexpected Journey’ has been revealed for San Diego’s Comic Con. The image was released by director Peter Jackson with a message for eager fans. “We made it! Shoot day 266 and the end of principal photography on The Hobbit. Thanks to our fantastic cast and crew for getting us this far, and to all of you for your support! Next stop, the cutting room. Oh, and Comic Con!”
The panel for ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ will take place at the annual event this coming July 14th. The movie will finally open in theaters this coming December 14th with a cast line-up of Martin Freeman, Elijah Wood, Billy Connolly, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, and Hugo Weaving. One year later Journey’s follow up, The Hobbit: There and Back Again’, will debut on December 13, 2013. Get a closer look at the poster that shows Gandalf the Grey as he makes his way through the Hobbits’ Shire and check out the full synopsis below per IMDb.
Having wildly out-grossed expectations after banking more than $122 million worldwide, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has shown the box office drawing power of the such seasoned stars as Maggie Smith and Judi Dench.
It stunned box office analysts by becoming the highest grossing specialty film of 2012, neatly proving there is a market for movies that don't star physically flawless twenty and thirty-somethings.
So there's really no better time for Dustin Hoffman to unveil his trailer for his first directorial effort Quartet, which stars the remarkable Smith along with Oscar nominees Pauline Collins (Shirley Valentine) and Tom Courtenay (The Dresser), as well as the ever-charming Billy Connolly, who can now be heard as the rambunctious King Fergus in Pixar's Brave.
While some stars of Sir Peter Jackson's The Hobbit have enjoyed relaxing weekends, Sir Ian McKellen has toured his one-man show - Ian McKellen on Stage - around the country after working a five-day week on set.
He's been raising funds for Christchurch's earthquake-damaged Isaac Theatre Royal. The tour ended at the weekend.
On Saturday night, at Wellington's Opera House, Jackson and a collection of Hobbit stars - including Billy Connolly, James Nesbitt, Martin Freeman, Aiden Turner and Richard Armitage - were in the audience to watch McKellen's final performance.
They took to the stage at the end, joining McKellen for a spot of Shakespeare.
The invitation was extended to the crowd, too.
"It's a good opportunity if anyone wants to come on to the stage and do a little bit of Shakespeare acting with me and the cast," McKellen invited.
The audience did not need to be asked twice. Dozens raced on stage, eager to be a part of the action.
Rounding his flock like a shepherd, McKellen gathered everyone around, gave a few instructions, then faced the audience and recited from Henry V.
On cue, The Hobbit stars and the audience members, performing the role of slain French troops, fell down dead.
The audience applauded wildly.
Later, carrying white buckets, The Hobbit stars collected donations in the foyer as the crowd exited the building. Like McKellen, Connolly, Freeman, Nesbitt and co were doing their bit for Christchurch.
"It must be dreadful living in Christchurch right now," McKellen told the Dominion Post. "The Isaac Theatre Royal is one of the few iconic buildings that has survived, so it's going to make it all the more precious that the sooner it's up and running, the better for locals."
Shooting on The Hobbit is expected to finish at the end of next month.
The world premiere of the first film will take place in Wellington in November, while further premieres are set for London, New York, Berlin and Tokyo.
Ian McKellen was joined on stage by stars of the upcoming Hobbit film at a performance of his one-man show on Saturday night (June 23).
The veteran actor launched the show in an effort to raise money for the Christchurch Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand.
