Elizabeth McGovern: Why I turned down marriage to Sean Penn and begged on my knees to play Downton's mistress

MAIL ON LINE
By LOUISE GANNON
PUBLISHED: 16:00 EST, 14 September 2013 | UPDATED: 21:20 EST, 14 September 2013

Are you ready for the return of Downton-mania? The frenzied craze for the costume drama to end all costume dramas is set to shoot right off the scale when series four launches next weekend.

And even the normally unflappable Royals are getting in a lather over the imminent return of Lady Mary, Carson, the Earl of Grantham and his porcelain-skinned wife, Lady Cora, the Countess, played by the stunning American actress Elizabeth McGovern.

Except, unlike normal Downton fans, when the Royals crave a hit of their favourite show, they can simply turn up at Highclere Castle – the stately home where it is filmed – to meet the stars.

‘Pippa Middleton came with her mum and her brother,’ McGovern reveals, as she whisks Event on a whirlwind tour.

‘They were lovely. They asked lots of questions, stayed to watch some of the filming.

‘Pippa was very pretty and polite and I’d definitely say the cast were probably more excited than the guests. I had a big chat with her mum, too.’

The massive success of the show is not something McGovern, 52, imagined.

It’s ITV’s most successful period drama ever, winning Emmys in America, spawning a Hollywood career for Dan Stevens who – as Matthew Crawley – was killed in a car crash in the last series.

‘We miss him,’ she says. The Downton cast are extremely close.

‘It is incredibly hard work, long days, late shoots, but we are a real team. It’s an amazing thing to work on a show that is so successful; that has an unbelievable effect on the cast.

‘There’s definitely a split between the young ones and the older ones. But on set we have ways of keeping ourselves amused.

'Michelle (Dockery, Lady Mary) and Allen (Leech, the chauffeur-turned-gentleman) are brilliant mimics. He does a flamboyant fashion designer act, Michelle does a great LA actress on the red carpet. Then Maggie (Smith) has all her anecdotes, which are amazing.’

I meet McGovern in the restaurant of a West London studio, and over cappuccino she casually gives me a great Downton scoop: as the Grantham family move into the Roaring Twenties, the women are finally granted their freedom .  .  . from their clothes.

‘That’s right, no corsets this time, a big bonus. We can breathe again! The dresses are a lot more comfortable.’

I push McGovern for more revelations, but she remains cagey about what we can expect – Downton stars are kept on a famously tight leash when it comes to revealing forthcoming script details.



Like Cora – whom she loves (‘She’s a really good, decent woman. She doesn’t make dramas, she just tries to make everything right for everyone else’) – McGovern is an American in England married to film director and producer Simon Curtis (My Week With Marilyn, The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice).

Her eldest daughter, Matilda, is reading English at Oxford and her youngest, Grace, is 15. Her life has been about gently breaking rules. Her parents are American academics. Her mother was a teacher, her father a professor, her great-grandfather a famous diplomat.

As revealed in the Mail on Sunday last month, McGovern plays and sings ‘mum music’ in her band Sadie And The Hot Heads, but she never went to a rock concert as a teenager.

‘In my family it was classical or maybe jazz,’ she says.

She grew up in LA and became an actress contrary to family expectations. Success was instant, overwhelming and huge.

Her first film, at 19, was Ordinary People, with Donald Sutherland and Timothy Hutton. It won four Oscars. Her second, Ragtime, earned her an Oscar nomination. Her third, Once Upon A Time In America, pitched her against Robert De Niro as the object of his sexual obsession.

The same year – 1984 – she starred in Racing With The Moon with Sean Penn. Penn fell madly in love with her, they got engaged – everything was pointing to a Hollywood superstar future. So she split from Penn and left LA to study theatre in New York.




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-2418897/Downton-Abbeys-Elizabeth-McGovern-Why-I-turned-marriage-Sean-Penn-begged-knees-play-Downtons-mistress.html#ixzz2evTi53oz 
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BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH ON MANNING: HE TOOK AN OATH AND HE BROKE THAT OATH

BREITBART TV
by MARY CHASTAIN  14 Sep 2013, 12:33 PM PDT

British actor Benedict Cumberbatch shot to fame with his role as Sherlock Holmes, and now he's creating Oscar buzz as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the movie The Fifth Estate. Cumberbatch was interviewed by The Guardian about the movie, and it may come as a surprise that the British actor does not necessarily agree with Assange and whistleblowers Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden.

A day before filming began, Cumberbatch said Assange sent him a 10-page email begging him not to do the movie. Cumberbatch considered it, but ultimately told Assange he would make the movie. He said it would not be a documentary, but only for entertainment.

Cumberbatch told The Guardian he took the role because he is "a vain actor," not because of moral reasons or to celebrate what Assange did. The Afghanistan war leaks Assange published in 2010, given to him by Manning, did horrify Cumberbatch, but it was not enough to change his mind. Cumberbatch is sympathetic towards Manning, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the leaks, but thinks he should not receive a presidential pardon.

"But he broke a law. He knew what he was doing." Manning has applied for a presidential pardon, but Cumberbatch can't see why Obama should grant it. "He did what he did out of a conviction that an alarm bell needed to be sounded. But his superiors might have been right to say to him, it's not your position to be worried about it within the hierarchy of the military organisation, which is why he had to be sentenced. He took an oath, and he broke that oath."


READ MORE HERE: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2013/09/14/Cumberbatch-on-Manning-He-Took-an-Oath-and-He-Broke-That-Oath

Rob James-Collier 'Devastated' At Siobhan Finneran's Departure From Downton Abbey

E.
BY HAYLEY MINN ON SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Talking to Radio Times, the actor, who plays Thomas Barrow, described Siobhan, who played Thomas' partner-in-crime O'Brien, as “the best actor” he's ever worked with. He said: "I was devastated. She’s the best actor I’ve ever worked with.

I’ve not worked with many so it’s not much of a badge of honor! But she was brilliant. "She was also really funny and we were really good friends. Really strong character, a very funny woman, brilliant actor." Rob also confessed that he will miss having Siobhan on set, due to the fact that he would copy acting techniques off of her: "I copied everything off her - the stillness, the economy of movement, throwing everything away because it makes you more sinister. I was going to go over the top and try and be Marlon Brando.

"I think she left behind a superb character. I think she was a lot of people’s favourite and quite rightly because she was just so enigmatic and dark... I love her and I want her to come back!"

aube74

Read more at http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/126398/Rob-James-Collier-Devastated-At-Siobhan-Finnerans-Departure-From-Downton-Abbey#0Q2B7P4rP91TwZkO.99

Jude Law: Vanity Fair interview from TIFF with Krista Smith

David Tennant: Trailer for RSC's David Tennant-Led RICHARD II, Premiering in Cinemas 12/3 (TV Content)

A new trailer for The Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) production of RICHARD II, which will be played in cinemas around the world, has debuted, featuring a voiceover by Michael Pennington, playing John of Gaunt. Check it out below!

Richard II – Schools Can Now Register at David Tennant News) For 15th November RSC Broadcast

Posted by Diane Malkin on Saturday, 14 September 2013 in Theatre

The Doc Martin effect (MARTIN CLUNES)

CORNWALL LIFE
Friday, September 13, 2013
2:42 PM

Thirty years ago Port Isaac was just another picturesque village on the North Cornwall coast exuding an air of innocence. Along Fore Street pretty colour-washed cottages leaned against each other facing out across the harbour. The Grade 11 listed Old School House was a place to enjoy a cream tea and the original Life Boat Station building housed the Post Office and served as general store. In the 1980s Port Isaac had its own chemist, The Drugstore, with a connecting door to the adjoining miniscule Fish Shop, which served the best fish and chips and Cornish pasties for miles around to a steady stream of visitors.

Further down the road, a delightful couple, who had ‘emigrated’ from Surrey years before, ran a charming old fashioned clothes shop and jovial Eric was the village’s unofficial poet laureate writing poems for Trio, the local magazine. A few yards down the gently sloping main road, was Rose Hill, where the corner cottage and gift shop, ‘Demelza’, was named for the much loved heroine of the ‘Poldark’ series filmed locally. Close by on the bend was Squeezy Belly Alley, a tiny lane measuring eighteen inches at its most narrow. It enticed folk to peer through the shadows, to the entrance to the inner village - still crammed with former fishermen’s cottages of all shapes and sizes, built upon hills and down tiny lanes, bearing names like The Birdcage and The Pump.

But Port Isaac has changed – and who has changed it? A grumpy, fictional character called Doc Martin, who arrived in 2004.

Today instead of Barclays Bank which opened once a week, there is a shop selling Doc Martin merchandise and memorabilia.

During filming of the series Port Isaac transforms into Port Wenn, where the surly doctor can be seen striding back and forth, insulting everyone.

When filming was halted on Fore Street because of rain, a couple, sheltering beneath an umbrella, explained how they had travelled from New Zealand to see ‘Port Wenn’, never dreaming they would be watching the filming of a new episode. ‘Oh look’ squealed the woman ‘There’s the Doc!’ Actor Martin Clune, beneath a massive umbrella, was yawning widely, unaware that he was being watched, videoed and photographed by awe-struck fans.

Despite not all being happy about the filming, mostly they agree the popular Doc Martin series has cheered up the appearance of the ancient village. Cottages have been refreshed – and prices quadrupled. The small house used as Doc Martin’s surgery recently sold for more than £600.000! Now a signpost directs tourists who wish to photograph the house! Doc Martin has introduced the world to one of the most beautiful Cornish locales, convincing tourists to spend their money there.


READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE: http://www.cornwalllife.co.uk/out-about/places/the_doc_martin_effect_1_2463522

Ladies Mary and Edith may be a prickly pair as sisters in Downton but Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael have a much easier friendship

MAIL ON LINE
September 13, 2013

For a number of the cast, the new series – the fourth – marks as many years of working together, and they have developed their own rhythms on set.

Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, as Lord and Lady Grantham, have the ease of an old married couple.

‘We have our own little ways of getting on with things,’ says Bonneville, ‘but we can be very direct with each other if something’s not clicking.’

He finds McGovern ‘completely adorable and just so easy to work with’ – a sentiment echoed by all the cast regarding their colleagues.

Ladies Mary and Edith are a prickly pair as sisters but Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael have a much easier friendship. ‘Whenever there’s a scene together, we get the giggles as we walk into the house as it’s such a treat,’ says Carmichael.

Lesley Nicol and Phyllis Logan – Mrs Patmore and Mrs Hughes – have also become something of a double act. ‘We do have a laugh,’ says Nicol. ‘She remembers the words of every song ever written and I bop around in the background.’ Some actors are very different to their roles.

‘Brendan [Coyle] is the complete opposite,’ says Joanne Froggatt. ‘He’s hilarious. I love Bates, but Brendan is much more fun-loving.’




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2418691/Downton-Abbey-Michelle-Dockery-Laura-Carmichael-easier-friendship-Ladies-Mary-Edith.html#ixzz2epBFO5Gn 

Downton Abbey's Elizabeth McGovern angry at stuck-up pompous snobs on set

EXPRESS
By: Elisa Roche
Published: Fri, September 13, 2013

The American actress, who plays Lady Cora, Countess of Grantham, says she sometimes feels like taking a swing at her on-screen husband, actor Hugh Bonneville, because he is so convincing at playing a pompous aristocrat.

Elizabeth, 52, says she would love to have the “grace and dignity” of her Downton character but she has too much “anger” inside.

“I get totally suckered by his [Hugh’s] portrayal of Robert,” she says. “I don’t know if you can see it on screen but I’m often sitting there thinking, ‘One of these days I am going to wring your damn neck, you stuck-up, pompous snob.

“Watch me closely in the new series… see if you can catch me getting ready to kick his ass.”


READ MORE HERE: http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/428959/Downton-Abbey-s-Elizabeth-McGovern-angry-at-stuck-up-pompous-snobs-on-set

Benedict Cumberbatch Slams Speculation About His Private Life

ENTERTAINMENT WISE
BY DEEPIKA RAJANI ON SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch has admitted that he's not a fan of the questions he is asked about his private life by the media after he branded it as "s**t".

Speaking about his fan base who have come to be known as 'Cumberbitches' with some of them calling themselves the 'Cumbercollective', Benedict who will soon be seen returning to our TV screens as Sherlock, also explained: "I'm not like Holmes. I don't have his capacity to compartmentalise.

"I'm now haunted with, 'But he did want children, and now he doesn't? What's gone wrong? Is he gay? Can't he commit to relationships?' All this speculative s**t." Revealing that there comes a time when he stops talking about his private life, Benedict continued: "There's a point where I just go, 'I've said all I have to say.'"

Meanwhile, Benedict also revealed to US Vogue magazine that he didn't become successful over night. Speaking about his fame, the 37-year-old actor who clarified that he has had roles in numerous shows including Heartbeat and Spooks.

The actor said: "Somebody said to me the other night 'You're an overnight success', but it didn't happen overnight."

Read more at http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/126375/All-This-Speculative-St-Benedict-Cumberbatch-Slams-Speculation-About-His-Private-Life#Z4jL5D2TdPIIOzCZ.99

Sherlock Series 3: Lara Pulver teases Irene Adler return, saying “I didn’t say you wouldn’t be seeing me”!

UNREALITY TV
September 12th, 2013 by Anna Howell.

After previously admitting that she could see her character making a Sherlock return, actress Lara Pulver has hinted that we may be seeing Irene Adler again in series 3!

Pulver’s entrance as Adler in series 2 as a dominatrix who repeatedly outwitted Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) before being finally defeated herself, caused quite a stir in “A Scandal in Belgravia” with many complaining to Ofcom about her opening scene, in which she sits completely naked. The flirty minx got right inside Sherlock’s head, and heart a little bit after bombarding him with text messages asking him to meet her for dinner.

However, despite the obvious attraction, it was earlier reported that the character would not be featuring in the new series of Sherlock, which is due to air on our screens either late this year or early next, despite Lara Pulver suggesting that we have not seen the last of her. However, in a recent interview with the Radio Times Pulver has now hinted that these reports could be wrong and that her character might be making an appearance in the tightly guarded series 3.


READ MORE HERE: http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/sherlock-series-4-lara-pulver-teases-irene-adler-return-saying-i-didnt-say-you-wouldnt-be-seeing-me/

Win a pair of tickets to see Matthew Macfadyen and Stephen Mangan as Jeeves & Wooster plus an overnight stay in London

THE GUARDIAN
the guardian.com, Friday 13 September 2013 05.41 EDT

When a perfectly delightful trip to the countryside takes a turn for the worse, Bertie Wooster is unwittingly called on to play matchmaker – reconciling the affections of his host's drippy daughter Madeline Bassett with his newt-fancying acquaintance Gussie Fink-Nottle. If Bertie, ably assisted by the ever-dependable Jeeves, can't pull off the wedding of the season, he'll be forced to abandon his cherished bachelor status and marry the ghastly girl himself! Jeeves & Wooster in 'Perfect Nonsense' opens at the Duke of York's Theatre next month.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THIS COMPETITION

Emily Blunt And John Krasinski Expecting Their First Child Together!

PEREZ HILTON
September 11, 2013

Do we smell a Dunder Mifflin bun in the oven???

Why, yes! Yes we do!!

The totes adorbz couple Emily Blunt and John Krasinski are officially on the road to parenthood, as one of their reps confirmed that they are expecting their first child together!!

How exciting!!

READ MORE HERE: http://perezhilton.com/category/emily-blunt#sthash.a89WqVzW.dpbs

Colin Firth to play Paddington Bear, Hugh Bonneville will play Mr. Brown

MAIL ON LINE
By BAZ BAMIGBOYE

Colin Firth will play Paddington Bear in a movie from the man behind the Harry Potter films.

And Nicole Kidman has signed on to play the villain in the film.

Firth, who won an Oscar for The King’s Speech, will give voice to the bear from darkest Peru.

‘Paddington will be computer generated, and I will speak his lines with, I suspect, a slight Peruvian flavour,’ the actor  told me.

‘Every other character in the film will be real, live, human beings,’ he said.

‘But the idea is that Paddington will have something of me in his DNA because I’m going to do some sessions wearing one of those helmets with cameras to capture my face muscles, and all that data will somehow be incorporated into Paddington.

Because Paddington is digitally created I’m spared having to over-indulge in marmalade sandwiches,’ Firth joked, referring to Paddington’s habit of keeping a stash of sarnies under his hat for emergencies.

The bear was created by Michael Bond and first appeared in the book A Bear Called Paddington in 1958.

He was sent to England by his Aunt Lucy, when she went to live in a home for retired bears in Lima, and was discovered by Mr Henry Brown and his wife Mary at Paddington Station. He was wearing a note round his neck stating: ‘Please look after this bear, thank you.’

Paddington was taken in by the Browns and their two children and lived in a Victorian semi at 32 Windsor Gardens off the Portobello Road.

Heyman confirmed to me that Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey’s Earl of Grantham, and Sally Hawkins, soon to be seen in Woody Allen’s superb movie Blue Jasmine, will play the Browns.

Julie Walters has been cast as Mrs Bird, their housekeeper, and Jim Broadbent may also take a role.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2419423/Colin-Firth-play-Paddington-bear-movie-man-Harry-Potter-films.html#ixzz2eipAP7jq 

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‘The Railway Man’ Trailer: War Leaves a Heavy Mark on Colin Firth

TECHNOLOGY TELL
by Adrian Diaconescu on September 11, 2013 at 1:40 pm

Quick, what’s the last World War II-centric film that moved you? And I mean really moved you and drove you to tears, without necessarily trying too much and overdramatizing the tragic events of the early 1940s.

“The Reader”? “Letters from Iwo Jima”? “Saving Private Ryan”? “Schindler’s List”? Well, I think you’ll soon have to make room on that list of masterpieces for one more title – “The Railway Man”.

Overlooked by many for reasons that are beyond me in what’s shaping up to be an uber-competitive Oscars race, the drama debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival to rave reviews and now has a trailer.

And boy, is the 150-second clip emotional, tense and touching. Don’t want to jinx it, but I think Colin Firth can already book his presence at next year’s Academy Award gala. Maybe even prepare a little speech.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.technologytell.com/entertainment/26854/the-railway-man-trailer-war-leaves-a-heavy-mark-on-colin-firth/

Michael Fassbender's Secret Weapon: TV Trivia [WATCH]

HUFFINGTON POST
Posted: 11/09/2013 19:13 BST  |  Updated: 11/09/2013 19:13 BST

Scoring a trivia point against walking, talking movie encyclopedia Quentin Tarantino is no easy feat. But Michael Fassbender, who played a Nazi in Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," managed to impress the hyperactive director by showing off his in-depth knowledge of 80s TV trivia. Turns out Fassbender, who grew up in Ireland but apparently had access to American crime shows, knows his 80s TV pets. Specifically, he knows their names.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11/michael-fassbender-tv_n_3908206.html?utm_hp_ref=uk&ir=UK

Once Upon a Time, Benedict Cumberbatch Was Kidnapped and Almost Killed

CELEBUZZ
POSTED A DAY AGO   •   BY ROBERT KESSLER

Before he was Tumblr's favorite actor, Benedict Cumberbatch was just a working actor with a seemingly made up name and, holy shit, an incredibly harrowing near-death experience.

Cumberbatch is on the cover of this month's The Hollywood Reporter, and in the accompanying article he tells the magazine about his sun-drenched north London apartment, his philosophical Buddhism and, oh right, that one time he was kidnapped and nearly killed by a pack of anonymous South Africans with guns. It's not exactly a run-of-the-mill magazine profile.

"We were in South Africa, in KwaZulu-Natal, this amazing district north of Durban," Cumberbatch tells the magazine. Cumberbatch was in South Africa to film the 2005 miniseries To the Ends of the Earth. "We were wary because that's a notoriously dangerous place to drive."

And that's when all hell broke loose. A tire popped in the car Cumberbatch was riding in with two friends. As they were fishing out the spare, the group was ambushed.

Tears spring into Cumberbatch's eyes as he recounts every petrifying detail, explaining how the abductors drove him and his friends off and then, when the actor protested that his bound limbs were losing sensation, yanked him out of the car and threw him in the trunk. Finally, they came to a halt in the middle of nowhere and tossed Cumberbatch on the ground. Deep into the night, he remained in terror. "I was scared, really scared. I said: 'What are you going to do with us? Are you going to kill us?' I was really worried that I was going to get raped or molested or just tortured or toyed with in some way, some act of control and savagery."

READ MORE HERE: http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-09-11/once-upon-a-time-benedict-cumberbatch-was-kidnapped-and-almost-killed/

Keira Knightley: Weinstein Bid for Knightley Film Likened to Sparta Battle

BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK

By Ari Altstedter September 12, 2013

The lights hadn’t even come up at the world premiere of “Can a Song Save Your Life?” when Marc Schipper’s BlackBerry began buzzing with messages from distributors clamoring for rights.

The drama, starring Keira Knightley playing a singer trying to make it in the music business, had been flagged by publicists and organizers at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival as one of the hottest titles for sale. It didn’t disappoint.

“Even before the credits were rolling, we had a bunch of offers in, people saying, ‘Don’t go to anyone else because we really want this movie,’ ” Schipper, chief operating officer of Exclusive Media Group and the negotiator for the film’s producers, said in a Sept. 10 telephone interview.

After an all-night bidding war, Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s namesake company bought the U.S. distribution rights for $7 million. Organizers say the deal was one of the biggest in the festival’s 38-year history and highlighted Toronto’s place as one of the world’s leading film markets.

Perhaps the greatest battle played out at downtown restaurant Patria on Sept. 7. As Knightley, co-stars Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green and director John Carney (“Once”) held court on a narrow patio, representatives from The Weinstein Co., Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc. and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (LGF:US) pressed through the party’s 250 guests to make their pitch, according to Tobin Armbrust, one of the film’s producers.

Band of Spartans

He likened the scene at the restaurant to a battle depicted in the 2006 movie “300” in which the Persians struggled to surge through a gap in the mountains defended by a small band of Spartans.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-09-12/weinstein-toronto-bid-for-knightley-film-likened-to-sparta-s-war

Henry Cavill ‘Superman’ Parties In Vegas With Kellan Lutz And Ryan Lochte While Ex Kaley Cuoco Dating New Boyfriend Ryan Sweeting, Seen At US Open

By Erika W. Smith , Fashion n Style Reporter   |   Sep 11, 2013 12:59 PM EDT

Henry Cavill has been enjoying the single life, partying in Vegas with friends Kellan Lutz and Ryan Lochte, while his ex girlfriend Kaley Cuoco has moved on to a new boyfriend, tennis pro Ryan Sweeting.

Vegas News writes that the “Man Of Steel” star, 30, was spotted at the nightclub at Hakkasasn Las Vegas at MGM Grande with “Twilight” star Kellan Lutz and US Olympian Ryan Lochte in late August.

Cavill was seen drinking and dancing with a group of friends as DJ Danny Avila spun his hits.

Meanwhile, Cavill’s ex, Kaley Cuoco, 27, seems to be getting serious with her new boyfriend, tennis pro Ryan Sweeting, 26. The two posed for photos at the 2013 US Open on September 9 in New York, writes Just Jared.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.fashionnstyle.com/articles/11196/20130911/henry-cavill-girlfriend-2013-superman-parties-vegas-kellan-lutz-ryan-lochte-ex-kaley-cuoco-dating-tennis-pro-ryan-sweeting-us-open.htm

The Confessions of Benedict Cumberbatch

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

 6:00 AM PDT 9/11/2013 by Stephen Galloway

The cover star of The Hollywood Reporter's New A-List issue -- who stars in four movies this fall, including awards contenders "August: Osage County" and "The Fifth Estate" -- reveals how he was abducted at gunpoint, what he thinks about "Star Wars" rumors and the spotlight: "Is he gay? Can't he commit to a relationship? All this speculative shit."

This story first appeared in the Sept. 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. 

I am 45 minutes into an interview with Benedict Cumberbatch, and frankly, it's not going well.

The English actor, 37, sits hunched within a tiny trailer, his gaunt frame swathed in modern-day Sherlock Holmes regalia, his preternaturally blue eyes alert to danger. He scorns media encounters of this ilk, especially when they wrench him from the set of his BBC series Sherlock, today being filmed at a Ministry of Defense base near Cardiff, Wales.

The rat-tat of guns peppers the air as real British soldiers prepare for possible war; turmoil in the Middle East days earlier prompted Cumberbatch to scrawl a note for his posse of paparazzi, bidding them, "Go photograph Egypt and show the world something important." But now his mind is reluctantly on something else: this interview.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/benedict-cumberbatch-confessions-fifth-estate-625408

‘Thor 2’ Star Reunites With Jessica Chastain In ‘Kinky’ New Movie ‘Crimson Peak,’ Did They Date?

(Photo : REUTERS/Eric Gaillard)

By Erika W. Smith , FashionnStyle Reporter   |   Sep 11, 2013 12:07 PM EDT

Tom Hiddleston will soon reunite with actress Jessica Chastain, who he’s been romantically linked to in the past, as they film the new movie “Crimson Peak,” which director Guillermo Del Toro describes as “kinky.”

“The thing is we’re really good friends, and as soon as Guillermo called, I called Benedict and I said this is happening, and he was like, ‘Amazing!’” Hiddleston said. “So, I had his blessing.”

The new role will bring Hiddleston in close contact with a potential ex, Jessica Chastain. The two actors were linked in January of this year.

“Tom is taken with Jess and it’s serious,” a source told the Daily Mail at the time.

“Before Christmas she visited Britain to stay with him and meet all his family for the first time.”

Chastain later denied the rumors.

"Why would they say that?" she said to USA Today. "It's not true at all."


Speaking to the Guardian about his new role, Hiddleston said that he knows Chastain “very well.”


READ MORE HERE: http://www.fashionnstyle.com/articles/11188/20130911/tom-hiddleston-girlfriend-2013-thor-2-star-reunites-jessica-chastain-kinky-new-movie-crimson-peak-did-date.htm

Tom Hiddleston: Petition For Loki Movie From Marvel Studios Passes 10,000 Signatures

COMIC BOOK
By: Scott Johnson on September 10, 2013

Usually when fans start a petition to a movie studio it’s about a controversial casting decision, which they disagree with. However, in the case of Marvel Studios casting Tom Hiddleston as Loki, the exact opposite has occurred.

THE FREE LOKI PETITION

Even though Loki is a villain and supervillains don’t usually get their own movies, fans want to see a Loki movie so much that they’ve started a petition. The Free Loki petition states: “The character Loki, as portrayed by Tom Hiddleston in the films ‘Thor,’ ‘Thor 2,’ and ‘The Avengers’ (2012), has become one of the most recognizable and cherished film characters in recent years. Hence, we respectfully yet strongly request Marvel put into action a full-length feature film production based on the Marvel character Loki portrayed by Tom Hiddleston.”

READ MORE HERE: http://comicbook.com/blog/2013/09/10/petition-for-loki-movie-from-marvel-studios-passes-10000-signatures/