Theo James Jokes About Dying After Deflowering Michelle Dockery's Lady Mary on Downton Abbey

E.
by ZACH JOHNSON



Years before he was cast as Four in the Divergent movie, Theo James had a brief but memorable role on PBS' Downton Abbey. The 29-year-old actor stopped by E!'s Chelsea Lately Tuesday, where he opened up about deflowering Michelle Dockery's Lady Mary during the show's first season in 2010.

"I first saw you on Downton Abbey and you had sex with Lady Mary and then you died," host Chelsea Handler told James, whose character, Kemal Pamuk, died of a heart attack in the throes of passion.

"We did that method style," James joked of his now sex scene with Dockery, which was inspired by true events. "Obviously not the death, but I said that I had to do it full-on and be there in the moment in the castle doing it full penetration." He added, "It's incredible sex for him to die midway through."

"Have you ever passed away during sex before?" Handler asked, smiling. "No," the Brit replied.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.eonline.com/news/522658/theo-james-jokes-about-dying-after-deflowering-michelle-dockery-s-lady-mary-on-downtown-abbey

Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ray Stevenson on the Red Carpet, Divergent Premiere

Martin Clunes: Celebrities Doodle For Epilepsy Action

LOOK TO THE STARS
March 21, 2014



Celebrities who put pen to paper to raise much-needed cash for charity have raised over £9,000 for national charity Epilepsy Action.

A host of famous faces had their scribbles auctioned on eBay over ten days, with Martin Clunes' doodle going for the highest price at £500.

The celebrities donated their doodles as part of the National Doodle Day fundraising campaign, which kicked off on Friday 7 March. Clunes’ drawing, of an elephant from the rear, ranked highest of the top ten doodles, including those of Eddie Redmayne, Karl Pilkington, former Dr Who Colin Baker, pianist Stephen Hough, Emma Freud, Terry Gilliam, illustrator Axel Scheffler and artist Mark Kaiser.

National Doodle Day, supported by Dodo Pad, publishers of the original family ‘doodle’ diary, aims to get as many people doodling as possible. The event raises money to help support the 600,000 people across the UK with epilepsy.



READ MORE HERE: https://www.looktothestars.org/news/11721-celebrities-doodle-for-epilepsy-action

Downton Abbey star Allen Leech launches sudden death charity run for pal who died from syndrome

SUNDAY WORLD.COM
Friday 21st March 2014
● NEWSBy Eugene Masterson

DOWNTON Abbey star Allen Leech was back in his hometown of Dublin today to call on Irish ladies to run, jog or walk for CRY Ireland.

Allen - who plays Tom Branson in the hit period drama Downton - lent his support to CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) at the sixth annual CRY Pure Style Fashion Luncheon in association with Arnotts today.

And the event has an extra personal signifcance for Allen as he reveals a personal friend died of the syndrome.

 The annual event, which has become a staple of the Irish fashion calendar, took place at the Shelbourne Hotel today.

While he was in town Allen posed for photographs to promote the charities drive to get participants of the Flora Mini Marathon to run for CRY on June 2.

Allen was a close personal friend of teenager Peter Greene who died of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome in 1996.

Devastated by his death his parents Michael and Marie Greene set up the charity CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) in 2002 to support other families who lost loved ones to Sudden Cardiac Death.

The Cry Pure Style fund-raising  fashion show event is held annually in aid of CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young), with the funds raised going towards the invaluable work that is ongoing at the Centre for Cardiac Risk in Young Persons in Tallaght Hospital.

“I am delighted to attend this event today and show my support to Michael and Marie Greene and to honour the memory of my friend Peter. CRY is a fantastic and life-saving charity and a most worthy cause,” he says. “I would call on those thinking of running the marathon this year to run it for CRY.”


READ MORE HERE: http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/news/downton-abbey-star-allen-leech-launches-sudden-death-charity-run

Toby Stephens: 'British scripts often make my heart sink'

BBC
By Tim Masters
Entertainment correspondent, BBC News



He's been a Bond villain and his latest film has been compared to Blade Runner. So why does Toby Stephens think British screenwriters need to up their game?

Toby Stephens has some strong words to say about the British film industry.

"Generally, when I get sent British scripts - and this isn't a generalisation - nine times out of 10 my heart sinks after about three pages," Stephens says when we meet at Bafta in London to discuss his latest project.

The stage and screen actor, son of Dame Maggie Smith, stars in a new British sci-fi thriller The Machine, out this week, playing a scientist working on a top secret artificial intelligence project.

Directed by Caradog James, the film won the Raindance award at the British Independent Film Awards in December.

The story is set in a future Britain gripped by recession and locked in a Cold War with China.

Ministry of Defence scientist Vincent McCarthy (Stephens) is tasked with creating a super-intelligent android, but has his own personal agenda - to use the new technology to help his sick daughter.

The cast also includes Denis Lawson as McCarthy's militaristic boss and Caity Lotz as Ava, an artificial intelligence expert.

"This script came through and it blew me away. It's not about football violence, it's not about gangsters, it's not about some depressing estate," says Stephens.

"It's a no-budget sci-fi movie dealing with really interesting ideas about where we're headed. We will one day create a machine with something akin to human consciousness.

"When we do how are we going to treat them, and how are they going to treat us - and what does it mean for us as a species?

"I loved the idea - it had echoes of not just Blade Runner but also Frankenstein and Metropolis."

Reviews have picked up on The Machine's Blade Runner homages such as its Q&A tests to weed out android imposters and its Vangelis-like score.

"I remember going to the cinema to watch Blade Runner when I was 14 or 15," recalls Stephens.

"It was a huge flop when it came out. The cinema was almost empty. I was blown away by it. I liked that kind of sci-fi: 2001, Alien, Blade Runner, Silent Running - you could kind of believe them. I don't like total escapism."

An experienced theatre actor, Stephens' first feature film role was Othello in Sally Potter's Orlando, opposite Tilda Swinton in 1992.

He appeared in Trevor Nunn's film version of Twelfth Night (1996), and played the lead in 1997 romantic fantasy Photographing Fairies.



But Stephens' most widely known screen role is that of that of Bond baddie Gustav Graves in Die another Day, appearing alongside Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry and Rosamund Pike.

He has also played the part of James Bond in several radio adaptations of the Ian Fleming novels for BBC Radio 4.

The Machine marks the 44-year-old actor's first foray into movie science fiction.

"It's a weird hybrid," he says. "It's like an arthouse but it's also a sci-fi film. It was also seemingly ridiculously ambitious. It had no budget. It was a bit of a punt really."


READ MORE HERE: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26528834

Benedict Cumberbatch Will Star as HAMLET at the Barbican, Aug 2015

BROADWAY WORLD.COM
March 20, 2014



According to the Daily Mail, Benedict Cumberbatch as solidified his place as HAMLET in the West End. The Shakespearean drama will run at the Barbican Theatre, beginning in August 2015 and will be produced by Sonia Friedman and directed by Lyndsey Turner.

Cumberbatch's recent film roster includes The Fifth Estate, 12 Years a Slave, and August: Osage County with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. His upcoming projects include The Imitation Game, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, Magik, The Penguins of Madagascar, Everest, The Lost City of Z and Flying Horse.

He is well known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the UK series "Sherlock". Other recent film credits include J.J. Abrams' Stark Trek Into Darkness.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Benedict-Cumberbatch-Will-Star-as-HAMLET-at-the-Barbican-Aug-2015-20140320#

Jeremy Piven Reveals Beef With Benedict Cumberbatch: He's a 'Cumberb----'

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
11:32 PM PDT 3/19/2014 by Debbie Emery

Jeremy Piven was the special guest on Jeremy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday, and while he is currently shooting his most famous role in the Entourage movie, it was the PBS series Mr. Selfridge that he was most keen to talk about.

It is like Willy Wonka meets Rob Ford -- if you take mushrooms you can appreciate that," he told Jimmy Kimmel, in his strange description of the period drama that tells the story of the founder of London department store Selfridge & Co.

"PBS is putting it out and we went and did a Q&A for the critics and they said we were going to share it with Sherlock," explained Piven, who was told: "'You'll do your Q&A, they'll do theirs, then we'll put it out to the critics and if they have any questions they will come to the stage and ask you or Sherlock questions.'

"They guide me to the stage in the dark and when the lights come on they say, 'Please give your questions to Sherlock,' and they forgot to say Mr. Selfridge. I am standing there on the stage while hundreds of people made their way to Benedict Cumberb----," he joked as ABC's censors beeped out his obscene version of the British star's name.

"By the way, he is a brilliant actor and a true gentleman and Sherlock is genius. I am a huge fan and he'll never speak to me again!" Piven said, adding that being ignored by the masses on stage "was so humbling and horrifying."


READ MORE HERE: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jeremy-piven-reveals-beef-benedict-689847

Benedict Cumberbatch on Being a Workaholic, Coping With Fame and Avoiding Social Media (Exclusive Video)

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
5:38 PM PST 2/16/2014 by Scott Feinberg



Why does Benedict Cumberbatch prefer to shoot many takes of a scene? Why did he initially fear that Sherlock would be "cheap and cheesy"? What advice did the greatest actress of all offer him when he asked her to describe her "acting process"? And why does he fear that social media could "take over my life and probably ruin it"?

These are among the questions that the 37-year-old A-lister answered last week over the course of an hour-long conversation moderated by yours truly as part of In Conversation, a new series on which BAFTA-New York and The Hollywood Reporter are partnering -- and which THR is pleased to debut exclusively here. The conversation was taped in front of a BAFTA audience at New York's The Standard High Line hotel.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/sherlock-star-benedict-cumberbatch-being-680622

David Tennant, Olivia Colman back to Broadchurch

THE LIST
Source: Bang Showbiz
Date: 18 March 2014



David Tennant and Olivia Colman will return for the second series of 'Broadchurch', according to actress Jodie Whittaker, but the rest of the cast are being kept in the dark about their future.

David Tennant and Olivia Colman will return to 'Broadchurch'.

Jodie Whittaker, who played grieving mother Beth Latimer in the first series of the murder mystery drama, says the two lead stars will both be back for the ITV show's second series - but the rest of the cast have been left in the dark about their future.

She exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "David and Olivia will obviously be in season two. It doesn't shoot for a few months, I think - middle of the summer sometime.

"None of us know if we're in it, or if we're not in it. It was exciting and wonderful to be a part of, I really enjoyed it, so there's no part of me that wouldn't do it if I was asked."

The 32-year-old actress has also defended the upcoming US remake of the drama - titled 'Gracepoint' - which will see David reprise his role as TV detective Alec Hardy.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.list.co.uk/article/59505-david-tennant-olivia-colman-back-to-broadchurch/

Hugh Bonneville on Downton Abbey, W1A and falling foul of BBC security

EVENING TIMES
Wednesday 19/03/2014

Hugh Bonneville, centre, and his W1A co-stars - Jason Watkins, Jessica Hynes, Monica Dolan, Hugh Skinner, Nina Sosanya, and Sarah Parish

But global fame didn't stop Hugh Bonneville falling foul of the BBC's security system while shooting new comedy W1A at the corporation's London headquarters.

"We were filming in the lobby the other day, 20 of us milling around, and the chaps on the doors were chuckling watching us do it. Then I tried to get back inside to get changed and they wouldn't let me because I didn't have the right pass," he recalls.

"People who have worked here a long time will know what I'm talking about; the bureaucracy of the machine is part of the thing that is so lovable about it.

"And so confusing," the actor adds with a laugh.

London-born Bonneville is reprising his role as bumbling boss Ian Fletcher in W1A, a spin-off from the award-winning Olympics mockumentary Twenty Twelve. Filmed amid the bustle of Broadcasting House, W1A sees the BBC turn its satirical sights on itself.

Ian, former head of deliverance for the London Games, has a new and equally vague job title as the broadcaster's head of values as it gears up for charter renewal and a new licence fee settlement.

As with Twenty Twelve, the corporate jargon is rife. There are hot desks, digital handshake sessions, daily senior team damage limitation meetings, and a 'balancing area' which consists of a huge orange see-saw (a prop, not a permanent fixture, presumably).

On the day I visit the set, the BBC's creative director Alan Yentob is sitting near the aforementioned see-saw, preparing to film a cameo.



Fictional crises discussed - and then discussed some more - in W1A range from Jeremy Paxman falling asleep during an interview with Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, to claims that Cornwall is under-represented by the BBC.

It seems like a brave move for the corporation to poke fun at itself - indeed, the new show was announced just a day after director of television Danny Cohen hit out at "the daily chorus of BBC-bashing".

Bonneville thinks the organisation is right to show it has a sense of humour.

"It's wonderful. In the same way Sebastian Coe got the joke about Twenty Twelve - that it wasn't actually satirising the notion of the Olympics - and allowed us to film him, we're not having a go at the BBC.

WE are highlighting the strange corporate speak and structures of in any organisation, be it a FTSE 100 or the village hall."


READ MORE HERE: http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/entertainment/tv-radio/bonneville-is-a-leader-and-lord-156227n.23663818

Joanna Lumley and her Bond girls kneel before Toby Stephens as 007

RADIO TIMES
Susanna Lazarus
3:44 PM, 18 March 2014



There are many perks to playing James Bond – expensive suits, cool gadgets, Martinis on tap and, if you're Toby Stephens, the attentions of Joanna Lumley...

The pair are starring together in a new Radio 4 adaptation of Ian Fleming's fourth Bond novel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and, by the looks of it, they're having plenty of fun during recording...

READ MORE HERE:http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-03-18/joanna-lumley-and-her-bond-girls-kneel-before-toby-stephens-as-007

Benedict Cumberbatch steps out in a blue waistcoat, shirt and flat cap to have lunch with female friends

MAIL ON LINE
By TANIA WILLIS
PUBLISHED: 13:04 EST, 18 March 2014 | UPDATED: 08:07 EST, 19 March 2014



He regularly tops sexiest film star polls, so it is no wonder The Fifth Estate star was surrounded by females as he stepped out for lunch in London on Tuesday.

Benedict Cumberbatch was dressed to rival his dapper character Alan Turing as he emerged from a London restaurant in a denim shirt and navy fleck waistcoat, paired with a black flat cap.

Benedict, 37, still kept his look quirky with a white T-shirt with red cartoonish lettering underneath his shirt, and was joined by two female friends for the outing.

Benedict finished off his smart off duty look with black skinny jeans and pale blue brogue style shoes.

The former Sherlock actor has just finished filming The Imitation Game where he plays mathematician and British cryptographer Alan Turing, due out in 2014.

In an interview with T magazine the actor revealed he is tired of playing intellectually demanding roles, having played Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate and Sherlock in the BBC TV series with a stratospherically high IQ.

The British actor said: ‘I am so ready to play a really dumb character’



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2583683/Dapper-denim-Benedict-Cumberbatch-steps-blue-waistcoat-shirt-flat-cap-lunch-female-friends.html#ixzz2wPpZVSz2 
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Gerard Butler gatecrashes delighted bride-to-be's bachelorette party on Sydney Harbour

DAILY MAIL
By KATE LYONS
PUBLISHED: 20:27 EST, 17 March 2014 | UPDATED: 07:40 EST, 18 March 2014



Since Gerard Butler arrived in Sydney two weeks ago he has been snapped around the city with his arms around a variety of adoring female fans.

But the 44-year-old Hollywood heartthrob took it to the next level on the weekend when he crashed a hen’s party, much to the delight of the bride-to-be.



Dragana Ogorelica, a close friend of the bride, says they got ‘the shock of our lives’ when they saw the 300 star standing on the boat they hired for the day.

When the girls arrived at the dock, they expected a fun day out on Sydney Harbour, but the manager of the boat hire company said he had a surprise waiting for them.

‘We thought it was a stripper, because it was a hen’s party. But then we saw [Gerard] standing on the boat. We all just started screaming,’ said Dragana.

She reported that the actor called down to the girls: ‘Is this a hen’s party? Can I join? We’re going to dance a little bit, drink a little bit.’

Gerard Butler then told his management they could leave because he was going to stay and party with the girls.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2583012/Gerard-Butler-gatecrashes-delighted-bride-bes-bachelorette-party-Sydney-Harbour.html#ixzz2wMGKLIx1 
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Jeremy Brett - the OTHER Holmes, and equally magnificent

I am a great fan of Benedict Cumberbatch - that's fairly obvious, and rather recent.  But, I've been a Sherlock Holmes fan forever, from the early black and white film, Basil Rathbone days.



However, the only Holmes to compare with Benedict, in my mind, is the wonderful Jeremy Brett.  He speaks here about his character, and I could not help but believe that Benedict Cumberbatch would say many of the same things.  Jeremy Brett:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J_VJHMCTmY

"I'm too weird looking to be a leading man": But Martin Clunes "odd" face has made him a national treasure

DAILY MIRROR
Dec 12, 2012 00:00 By Claire Donnelly

"I work to provide for my family": Martin Clunes with his wife and daughter

With his Toby jug ears, fleshy lips and wide, wonky grin, his is one of the most recognisable faces on British TV.

But, as actor Martin Clunes readily admits, there was a time when he worried that his unconventional looks would prevent him being a success.

Decades later – with hugely popular roles in Men Behaving Badly and Doc Martin under his belt – he’s finally come to love the “odd” face that’s turned him into a national treasure as well as made his fortune.

He has carved a career out of playing interesting rather than romantic leads and he says he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I never intended to be a leading man because I’m tall and odd-looking,” he laughs. “And I’m certainly no sex symbol, no, no, no.

“I’ve never been a leading man in the Brad Pitt, Hugh Grant way, that kind of traditional romantic lead.

“I’m no Martin Shaw if you know what I mean, I’m not that kind of hero.

“But I don’t want to watch me being a hero, frankly. No, I’ve always played oddballs or an undertaker or a nasty doctor or a silly flatmate – but not Mr Handsome Saves The Day.”

At the start of Martin’s career, his cousin, the actor Jeremy Brett, even offered to pay for his cosmetic surgery – to have his ears pinned back.



http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/martin-clunes-im-too-weird-looking-1485393#ixzz2wLObM2QD 
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Video Of Tom Hiddleston As A Singing Pirate

BUZZ FEED
Ellie Hall
BuzzFeed Staff
March 17, 2014



This clip of Tom Hiddleston recording a song for the new Disney movie The Pirate Fairy is almost too much to handle.

Read More Here:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/you-need-to-see-this-video-of-tom-hiddleston-as-a-singing-pi

Teaser trailers for Fargo TV series, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman and Oliver Platt in stellar comic cast

MAIL ON LINE
By CANDACE SUTTON
PUBLISHED: 02:05 EST, 17 March 2014 | UPDATED: 12:42 EST, 17 March 2014



Two men struggle with a sack out on a windswept frozen lake until one protests, in deaf sign language, that the hole in the ice is too small, and the other grasps the leg of the body protruding from the bag and signs, 'guy's too fat'.

The solution? Get a chainsaw.

A truck rumbles along a frozen highway, and as it passes an icy breeze loosens the snow on the side bank to reveal a pair of human nostrils protruding from the drift.

Soothing piped music is playing as a man pushing a shopping trolley along the aisle of a hardware store throws in his purchases: an axe, duct tape, a crow bar, a hunting knife, boxes of ammunition, and a rifle bag.

The Coens acted as producers of the new ten-episode TV series, which was developed by screenwriter Noah Hawley (Bones),and stars Martin Freeman as Lester Nygaard, a man who has his life drastically changed when he encounters a mysterious man who arrives in town.

Billy Bob Thornton, a Coen brothers favourite, plays Lorne Malvo, a boastful and manipulative crook who FBI agents Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are obsessed with tracking down.

In one of the teasers, the scene where the 'fishermen' who speak sign language as they attempt to stuff a body down an ice hole, would seem to reference the famous scene in the original film when Marge happens upon one of the hit men feeding the body of the other into a woodchipper.

In the FX spin-off, Freeman as Nygaard plays a henpecked insurance salesman who is based loosely on the Macy role.

The series also stars Oliver Platt (The Big C) and Bob Odenkirk (‘Better Call Saul’ in Breaking Bad), Kate Walsh (Greys Anatomy), and tom Hank's son Colin Hanks (Mad Men, Orange County and Parkland). 

The dark humour and Midwest setting remains, but the series has an entirely new plot. It was filmed in Canada and premiers in the US on April 15.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2582470/Dark-humour-new-Fargo-teasers-upcoming-Coen-brothers-TV-series-starring-Billy-Bob-Thornton-The-Hobbits-Martin-Freeman-Oliver-Platt-large-comic-cast.html#ixzz2wKVV0tZN
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DOWNTON ABBEY: Risk of new romance

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
SUE YEAP The West Australian
March 18, 2014, 10:38



If there's one thing most fans agree on about British period drama Downton Abbey it's that middle sister Edith Crawley, played by Laura Carmichael, is hard done by.

Unlucky in love, left at the altar, despised by imperious older sister Mary and often overlooked by her parents, Edith has, over the past season and a half, quietly broken with Crawley tradition and carved out a niche as a newspaper columnist, having previously, shock horror, learnt to drive.

"It has been a really lovely transition for her the last few seasons," Carmichael said down the line from London during a recent break in filming season five.

It was Edith's newspaper writing that led her to strike up a friendship, then relationship, with her editor and publisher, Michael Gregson, played by Charles Edwards.

In last Sunday's episode, the fourth of season four, Edith snuck back into her Aunt Rosamund's (Samantha Bond) house after spending the night with Gregson, whose wife has been in an asylum for many years.

So desperate is Gregson to be with Edith, he has been making plans for them to move to Germany to be together.

"Things start off so well but it doesn't quite all go smooth sailing," Carmichael revealed.

"I liked having time at the beginning of the series to show her slightly more rebellious side and really living and grabbing life with both hands.

"She takes some risks with Gregson; she's out with this married man and that causes a lot of drama to come, therefore she doesn't quite get away with it all.

"I think it is great, she has really sort of matured and is doing the things she wants to rather than the things she has to, which is really fun to play."

Carmichael said Edith was a bit of a black sheep and it was interesting to see how Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, who play her parents Robert and Cora, behaved differently towards her.

"It's heartbreaking, isn't it," she exclaimed. "I love playing this sort of underdog character."

Away from screen, however, Carmichael has formed solid bonds with her on-screen family, particularly Michelle Dockery, who plays Mary, and Jessica Brown Finlay, who played Sybil until the character's tragic death last season.

"We have all been through this mad journey together doing this full-on TV show for ITV that has gone kind of global," she said.

"Michelle and I are similar ages, have similar interests and have become really close."

Although Downton is one of the most-watched dramas in the world, Carmichael still manages to get about mostly unrecognised because she wears a wig to play Edith.

"I was recently out and about with Jim Carter (who plays the butler, Carson) and I couldn't get over how much he gets recognised, which is completely different to my experience," she said.

READ MORE HERE: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/22038261/risk-of-new-romance/