Downton Abbey Movie - Release date 13 September, 2019

Radio Times

Production has wrapped on the film, which is set to star Downton favourites Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery and Hugh Bonneville – and features a visit from the King and Queen.

Starring: Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Imelda Staunton

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The Current War - Release Date 26 July, 2019 Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon

Radio Times - New Movie Releases 2019

Chart Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse’s 19th century race to provide America with electricity for the first time. With a starry cast, this film was once set for released by The Weinstein Company and is finally getting a much-delayed distribution.

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Tom Holland, Nicholas Hoult Matthew Macfadyen, Katherine Waterston, Tuppence Middleton

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Everything you need to know about Netflix's groundbreaking royal drama The Last Czars (Harper's Bazaar)

 BY NAOMI GORDON
 JUN 27, 2019

Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the ruthless assassination of the Tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and their five children; Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei by communist agitators in 1918.

Netflix's six-part series The Last Czars delves into the fascinating history of the dynastic family and their devastating downfall during the social upheaval that swept across Russia in the early 20th century. The Russian revolution abruptly and violently ended the Romanov family's reign of the imperial throne after a 300-year rule.

After abdicating from the throne in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917, Nicholas and his family were imprisoned in the Russian town of Tobolsk. A year later, they were transferred to the local Ural Soviet council in the city of Yekaterinburg, and on the night of July 17, the family were executed by their Bolshevik guards.

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Get Your First Look at Jane Austen Drama 'Sanditon' 6/26/2019 in Drama by Lacy Baugher

Rose Williams in "Sanditon" (Photo: ITV Studios for Masterpiece)

Jane Austen’s final, unfinished novel Sanditon is heading to the small screen, courtesy of PBS’ Masterpiece and the U.K. network ITV.

This is the first ever adaptation of Austen’s incomplete last work, which she abandoned due to poor health just before her death in 1817. Only eleven chapters exist, but Emmy and BAFTA-winning writer Andrew Davies has expanded the story to fill eight hour-long installments.

Davies is also the man responsible for the – IMO, best – beloved adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that starred Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, so at least we know Austen’s work is in good hands, even if necessity requires some of its story elements to be made up out of whole cloth.

And now we finally have our first look at the series and its cast in a series of just-released production shots from the show.

Rose Williams and Theo James in "Sanditon" (Photo: ITV Studios for Masterpiece)

Reign’s Rose Williams stars as spirited young heroine Charlotte Heywood, an impulsive, joyous and optimistic girl who leaves her rural hometown of Willingden for the would-be coastal resort of Sanditon. Unfamiliar with the rules of high society, she discovers her confidence shaken, and her run-in with the prickly Sidney Parker does little to boost her self-esteem.

Will she be able to make her way in this world on her own terms, or will she find herself overwhelmed by the many intrigues in the seaside town?

READ MORE HERE AT TELLY VISIONS

Jane Austen’s tips for “health and happiness”

The official website for BBC History Magazine and BBC World Histories Magazine
HISTORY EXTRA

Descriptions of health, says author Bryan Kozlowski, run throughout the work of famed novelist Jane Austen – from the character of Mr Woodhouse in Emma to the health resort setting of her unfinished Sanditon. Writing for History Extra, Kozlowski shares four tips that can be found in the Regency-era writer’s classic novels, and what they tell us about contemporary attitudes towards healthy figures, women’s exercise and more…

While most of us have focused on the heart of Jane Austen’s novels or its portrayal of the society of the period, Austen herself was equally fascinated by something rather more functional: health. For some time now, I’ve been following the Jane Austen diet. Yes, you did read that correctly. To quote the character Mr Collins in the author’s Pride and Prejudice, “do not make yourself uneasy”. Because not only is the diet real, it’s been hiding right under our literary noses for more than two centuries.

It is incorporated into nearly everything Austen wrote, as this quote from Emma (1816) shows: “Where health is at stake, nothing else should be considered.” Themes of health are woven into her earliest stories; they continue strongly throughout Emma and Persuasion (1817); and are centre-stage in her last, unfinished novel Sanditon (set in a seaside health resort). Ironically, as Austen’s own health was fading [she died at the age of 41 after becoming ill with what is today thought to have been Addison’s disease], she wrote about cherishing true health even more.

In fact, look closer at her fiction and you’ll find that “improvement of health” has always been a part of Austen’s happily-ever-after package, freely bestowed on her most worthy characters, from Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1811) to Anne Elliot in Persuasion, who begins her own story a bit “faded” in the physical department. Yet to gradually regain one’s natural “bloom” is the birthright of Austen’s great and good. Even the word “health” itself pops up more than a hundred times in her six classic novels.

What Austen had to say about health and what science says today are astonishingly similar

Yet if Austen’s passion for doling out “secure and permanent health” is news to you, join the club; I only recently discovered it myself. Though interested in Jane Austen since adolescence it wasn’t until I neared my 30th birthday that I noticed something remarkable. What Austen had to say about health more than 200 years ago, and what science says today, is astonishingly similar.

The way her healthiest characters eat, exercise and think about their bodies can be seen to have unique patterns and modern parallels to heed. The discovery led me on a personal research project that has forever transformed my image of Austen – from ‘dowdy Hampshire spinster’ to timeless health guru with a sparkling wit. So, for lack of a better description, I’ve been on the Jane Austen ‘diet’ for more than two years now, incorporating wellness strategies found her in her writing into everyday life, finding new and fascinating ways to approach old body problems. Here are just a few of the many health lessons that Jane Austen advocated in her writing…

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The story of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, a heroine of French literature, focuses on her early struggles. KEIRA KNIGHTLEY

NOTED

No one ever made a good movie about writing. Scribbling or tapping away at keys does not a gripping drama make. It’s the life of the scribe that matters: scandal, strife, experience. An Ernest Hemingway biopic would be unwatchable if it weren’t for the constant drinking and occasional plane crashes.

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, the French woman of letters and Nobel nominee, crammed in about as much as Hemingway, her career spanning the charmed peak of La Belle Époque to the end of World War II. With Keira Knightley in the titular role, Colette charts her earlier years, from prim country girl to dedicated libertine.

During the film’s unpromising opening, she’s plucked from her idyll by handsome suitor Henry Gauthier-Villars (Dominic West), better known to Parisian society as “Willy”: a muckraker and connoisseur of popular filth, for whom the truth is something that always needs to be sexed up.

He introduces Colette to the city’s voluptuous charms: a demure Louisiana belle (Eleanor Tomlinson), saucy vaudeville acts, the transgender pioneer Mathilde de Morny (Denise Gough). But he turns out to be both adoring and manipulative. He publishes one of Colette’s novels under his own name, takes the credit for creating the semi-innocent, semi-Sapphic schoolgirl character of Claudine and bows alone for the applause of an enraptured audience. We’re in similar territory to the recent Glenn Close movie The Wife, or the rumours about Vladimir Nabokov and F Scott Fitzgerald.

Willy is no outright villain, though. His love for Colette is genuine, although selfish, earnest but blind. He’s a product of a scandalous age. And it’s here that Knightley, so familiar with these bodice-ripping period pieces, truly excels. She plays Colette with an irrepressible sense of dignity: rather than condone her husband’s philandering, she demands honesty. Rather than churning out Claudine novels, she runs off to the theatre.

Persuasion, by Jane Austen EPISODE TWO

Persuasion, by Jane Austen EPISODE ONE

Single Ladies, Don’t Despair on Valentine’s Day 2019! From Rochester to Darcy, Here Are Hot Literary Heroes to Lust Over

It’s Valentine’s Day 2019. Honestly, do you really need this intimation from us? Nope. Look around you, everyone is gripped by Valentine’s Day fever. Markets are flooded with greeting cards, flower bouquets and soft toys. People are buying roses and heart-shaped balloons for their loved ones. 

And if you’re single and feeling depressed by this ‘love is in the air’ atmosphere, it’s totally okay. It’s not your fault. But all said and done, I cannot let you beautiful single ladies aka my virtual gal pals feel miserable the entire day. It’s time to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the most desirable men alive. I am taking you on a joyride where you are going to meet the hottest characters ever in books (yes, books) who will set your heart on fire. Happy Galentine's as well as Valentine’s Day!!

Edward Rochester

Does not boast of a handsome face. Has a crazy wife locked up in his mansion’s attic. He is also moody, arrogant, cynical and jaded. That’s Charlotte Brontë’s hero (read: anti-hero) from Jane Eyre – Edward Rochester. Despite a long list of shortcomings, Mr Rochester sweeps the novel’s young heroine, Jane (as well as readers) off her feet. The brooding, difficult and secretive master of Thornfield Hall is not your ideal man. In fact, this Byronic hero is far from perfect. But despite all odds, you cannot stop from falling in love with him. Watch this "There Is No Debt" clip from 2011 movie Jane Eyre based on Bronte’s novel. It starred the very talented Michael Fassbender as Mr Rochester and wonderful Mia Wasikowska as Jane.

Fitzwilliam Darcy or Mr Darcy
Is it just me or has everyone been in search of their Mr Darcy (full name: Fitzwilliam Darcy)? The hero of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is your quintessential archetype of the aloof romantic hero. His pride makes the novel’s protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet outrightly reject his marriage proposal, and she declares him to be ‘the last man in the world’ she could ever be prevailed upon to marry! Ouch. Despite his pride and her prejudice, they continue to be drawn to each other. Jane Austen’s most favourite work has been adapted on many occasions, and you can relive Elizabeth and Mr Darcy’s chemistry with this short clip from 2005-film Pride and Prejudice. It starred Keira Knightley Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Here's a clip from Pride and Prejudice:

LY FESTIVALS EVENTS Rashmi Mishra Feb 14, 2019 01:50 PM IST

History of Jane Austen

How Colin Firth and Hugh Grant devised their 'ineffectual' fight in Bridget Jones's Diary

Every day until Valentine’s Day, Entertainment Weekly is celebrating our special romantic-comedy-themed Untold Stories issue. Check out all our behind-the-scenes tidbits, reunions, and oral histories — and follow #LoveEWstyle on Twitter and Instagram.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that there’s nothing more swoony or hilarious than Hugh Grant and Colin Firth having an inept fistfight over everyone’s favorite verbally incontinent spinster.

But the famous brawl in Bridget Jones’s Diary between Daniel Cleaver (Grant) and Mark Darcy (Firth) — so beloved it even earned a retread in the 2004 sequel — only came after much deliberation. “We couldn’t think of a way to bring that end-of-act-2 climax. We spent ages on it,” director Sharon Maguire recalls to EW. “[Screenwriter] Richard Curtis said, ‘In Westerns and in the old days, it would have been a fight or a duel.’ We both thought, ‘Well, that’s it.’ Middle-class men fighting — they just don’t have a clue.”

The shooting script had few specifics, merely noting that “a fight ensues.” Maguire called in a stunt coordinator to choreograph, but Firth and Grant found that rang false, since their characters wouldn’t know any fighting moves. “I said, ‘Well, what would your characters do?’” Maguire says. “Then [Hugh] said, ‘Well, he would probably just bitch-slap him.’ And Colin said, ‘I’d probably kick him in a rather ineffectual way.’”

They ditched the stunt coordinator and let Grant and Firth infuse the scene with their own feeble attempts at violence. “We shot it with lots of action shots, but really the funniest bits were just the wide shots of them bitch-slapping each other,” Maguire says with a laugh. “All of it is the comedy of humiliation, really.” No stunt doubles were required, except for the final moment when the two crash through a restaurant window. (The stunt used sugar glass and was done in one take.)

Maureen Lee Lenker

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston Kickstart BAFTA Celebrations, Remember Albert Finney

Patrick Stewart, Michelle Yeoh, Jeremy Irons, Joanna Lumley and Jason Isaacs were also on hand at the pre-awards bash in London.

Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Michelle Yeoh, Jeremy Irons and Anna Friel honored the charitable side of BAFTA on Friday night as London began its celebrations in anticipation of Sunday’s film awards with the lavish annual Film Gala, this year at the city’s Savoy Hotel.

Host of the Sunday film ceremony, Joanna Lumley, was showing no nerves ahead of her gig, saying she was “thrilled, looking forward to it so much." Returning for a second year to front the ceremony, Lumley told THR, “you don’t have to stress because it’s just me saying ‘isn’t our industry great and here are the brilliant people in it’.”

The death of actor Albert Finney was fresh on everyone’s mind, with Lumley saying she "adored: him. "We did A Rather English Marriage – I did it with him and Tom Courtenay. I couldn’t have loved him more. He was generous, funny, wise, ridiculously attractive. Everyone adored him, men and women alike. We used to do The Times crossword puzzle together.”

Hiddleston also worked with Finney and remembered him fondly. "He was the most kind, the most gracious, the most inspiring actor,” Hiddleston said. “It was really my first significant professional acting role, playing Randolph Churchill in The Gathering Storm, in which he (Finney) played Winston Churchill. I was 20 years old, very nervous, and he could not have been more charming and helpful, kind and considerate. And he bought me a whiskey afterwards!”

As for the evening’s gala, the aim of which was to raise funds to benefit those wanting to break into the industry, Hiddleston explained how BAFTA does “so much work, often unsung work, about leveling the playing field for everyone, keeping the doors open for everyone no matter where you’re from, whatever background. If you have a story to tell, BAFTA want to hear from you.”

Added Yeoh: "Any opportunity you get to be able to shine the light on a charity is always good. It’s important that we are not just seen to be doing something frivolous or glamorous, but it’s got heart and it’s got soul because I think the movies that we do have heart and soul, so it all ties in.”

Change is being seen, claimed Jason Isaacs. "When you work in the industry, and you may not know what BAFTA is doing, but you see around you the landscape is changing in terms of the number of women, people of color and people from different social backgrounds coming through the industry," he said.

After a champagne reception, a Great Gatsby-themed dance opened proceedings with host Claudia Winkleman welcoming on stage recent winners of the BAFTA young presenters’ scheme.

The Hollywood Reporter

Natalia Jamieson

'Sherlock' Season 5 Air Date, Spoilers: Will Benedict Cumberbatch And Martin Freeman Reprise Their Roles?

By Nica Virtudazo

Feb 07, 2019 05:05 PM

Many fans are now thrilled for the up-and-coming series Sherlock Season 5, which explains why it is one of the much-talked-about shows online. However, due to the lack of information about it, avid followers of the franchise are forced to create their theories and predictions.

EconoTimes reported that Sherlock Season 5 is very unlikely to premiere soon due to many personal and technical reasons. One major reason why the imminent fifth installment is not dropping any time soon is because of the tainted friendship of series main stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

Followers of the two actors can recall how they previously shaded each other. Freeman voiced his aversion at fans' unrealistic expectations for the series and how they responded to the series' fourth installment. Cumberbatch did not like his co-star's statement and even described it as "pathetic." This, then, made fans speculate that Sherlock Season 5 might not happen at all.

Freeman, however, made it clear that he is very appreciative of the things the series had done to the fans, staff, and cast. Despite the alleged spat, showrunners Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat are still interested in doing Sherlock Season 5.

"Well, we're never not talking to each other because we're friends! We hang out," Moffat told CinemaBlend when asked about the possibility of having Sherlock Season 5. "We've never said necessarily goodbye to Sherlock. No, we'll see. We'll see," the series creator added.

What most fans do not know is that Moffat and Gattis are, currently, doing a new series titled Dracula, which is a project in collaboration with BBC and Netflix. This, according to the same report, is also one of the major hindrances that prevent them from working on Sherlock Season 5.

BUSINESS TIMES

 

Darcy and Fitzwilliam excerpt (A Pride and Prejudice continuation)

"Did you just spit on your hand before you patted down my hair?” he asked indignantly.

“Oh, I did no such thing. Now be still. Of all the rude, impertinent accusations to make! Bend down lower. I will have you know that members of the aristocracy do not have ‘spit’ as you crudely refer to it, young man. We do not acknowledge saliva in any form. Straighten your collar. There, you look nearly presentable.” She grumbled in aggravation, “Do you even own a brush?” 

Grabbing his chin, she brusquely turned his face from side to side. “For heaven’s sake, Richard, what did you use to shave—a shovel?”

“Leave now, Catherine, and I may spare your life.” There was a moment of quiet from behind the door. “Go, woman! I intend to begin ravishing my wife shortly; however, I will not even consider it before I see that little dwarflike body of yours waddling down this corridor! Away with you! Shoo!”

“Oh, all right!” she finally capitulated. “By the way, mon chou, I should tell you that when you two finally get around to reconciling and retire upstairs, Amanda is occupying the large blue suite down the east corridor, not your usual bachelor room at the end of the west corridor.” She reached up to kiss his offered cheek then turned on her heels to leave. 

“You have finally earned an upgrade in accommodations, Richard. Well done, you." 

— Karen V. Wasylowski

Queen Live at LIVE AID, Side by Side, Freddy Mercury vs.Rami Malek

 Alper Alimoglu Published on Dec 4, 2018

Oscar-nominated British actor Albert Finney has died aged 82 after a short illness.

Oscar-nominated British actor Albert Finney has died aged 82 after a short illness.

He was a five-time Oscar nominee who began his career at the Royal Shakespeare Company before making his mark in film.

His big film break came as "angry young man" Arthur Seaton in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.

He went on to star in Tom Jones, as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express, Erin Brockovich and Skyfall.

Finney's other memorable roles include Winston Churchill in The Gathering Storm, for which he won a Golden Globe and a Bafta.

He also played the title role in Scrooge, billionaire Daddy Warbucks in Annie, Ed Bloom Senior in Tim Burton's Big Fish and the mobster Leo O'Bannon in Miller's Crossing.

BBC News

Benedict Cumberbatch: Actors shouldn't take jobs where their female co-stars aren't paid equally

Abigail Hess | @AbigailJHess  2 Hours Ago
CNBC

Gareth Cattermole/Disney via Getty Images

Benedict Cumberbatch attends the UK Fan Event to celebrate the release of Marvel Studios' 'Avengers: Infinity War'

Benedict Cumberbatch, known for playing Marvel's Dr. Strange and the BBC's Sherlock Holmes, suggested in a recent interview that male actors — including himself — should turn down roles in productions in which women are not paid equally.

"Look at your quotas. Ask what women are being paid, and say: 'If she's not paid the same as the men, I'm not doing it,'" Cumberbatch said in an interview with Radio Times Sunday while promoting his latest series, "Patrick Melrose."

Cumberbatch hopes to enact this policy at his new production company, SunnyMarch, as well.

"I'm proud that [business partner] Adam [Ackland] and I are the only men in our production company," he said. "Our next project is a female story with a female lens about motherhood, in a time of environmental disaster. If it's centered around my name, to get investors, then we can use that attention for a raft of female projects."

He says that focusing on women-centric stories is both the right thing to do, and good business.

"Equal pay and a place at the table are the central tenets of feminism," said Cumberbatch, who has long spoken about his identity as a feminist.


READ MORE HERE

Michelle Williams Eyes ‘Rio’ With Benedict Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal

Variety
By Justin Kroll

Michelle Williams is in talks to join Benedict Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal in the StudioCanal pic “Rio.”

“Call Me By Your Name” helmer Luca Guadagnino is directing from a script by Steven Knight.

The film follows a financial reporter (Gyllenhaal) who travels to Rio de Janeiro to visit a wealthy friend (Cumberbatch), only to get sucked into a plot to fake his friend’s death.

Studiocanal will finance and produce along with Cumberbatch and his Sunny March production company with Adam Ackland as well as Jake Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker who will produce through their Nine Stories banner.


http://variety.com/2017/film/news/michelle-williams-rio-benedict-cumberbatch-jake-gyllenhaal-1202617247/

Hayley Atwell leaves little to the imagination during no holds barred sex-scene with co-star Matthew Macfadyen in resurfaced scenes from 2010 drama Any Human Heart

Daily Mail
By Jason Chester for MailOnline
PUBLISHED: 09:22 EST, 13 November 2017 | UPDATED: 12:10 EST, 13 November 2017

A mesmerising, multi-generational tale exploring youth, middle-age and the inevitability of death is given a provocative flourish thanks to Hayley Atwell in recently resurfaced scenes from 2010 miniseries Any Human Heart.

The British actress strips off for a passionate love scene with co-star Matthew Macfadyen in the three part period drama, adapted from William Boyd’s 2002 novel of the same name.

Leaving little to the imagination, Hayley, 35, embraces her role as the flighty Freya Deverell, with whom MacFadyan’s existential protagonist Logan Mountstuart embarks on an all-encompassing affair.

The screen-lovers are seen working up a sweat as they writhe across a double bed, lost in the throes of passion, during one particularly heated tryst.

Sitting astride Macfadyen, Atwell smothers him with an embrace before leaning in for a series of fervent kisses.

Winning the Drama Serial gong at the 2011 British Academy Television Awards, Any Human Heart follows Mountstuart from exuberant adolescence to reclusive old age, charting his marriages, affairs, tragedies and triumphs along the way.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5077573/Hayley-Atwell-leaves-little-imagination.html#ixzz4yMgccsee
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Hold on to your ovaries, ladies – here’s Tom Hiddleston holding a puppy

Metro
Pascale Day
November 10, 2017

Oh, is it Christmas already? Because this was weirdly on the top of our list. Twice.

Yes, Tom Hiddleston was spotted carrying a teeny tiny Cocker Spaniel through London this week.

Now, there could be a number of reasons for the debut of this furry little fella:

One: this is a therapy dog to help Tommy Hiddles through Taylor Swift album release week, and the number of songs about him will dictate how long he gets to keep the puppy.

Two: T-Hidz is due to appear in Hamlet at RADA in London, and he is using this pup is the perfect wriggly little stand-in for a skull during rehearsals at home.

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2017/11/10/hold-on-to-your-ovaries-ladies-heres-tom-hiddleston-holding-a-puppy-7070302/?ito=twitter?ito=cbshare
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