Matthew Goode, Matthew Rhys: The Wine Show: it's Top Gear for booze … I hate myself for loving it

THE GUARDIAN
Stuart Heritage
11 April, 2016

When ITV ran its first trailer for The Wine Show about a month ago, you could be forgiven for thinking the whole thing was a joke. An obscene joke about two highly acclaimed actors – a wildly-bearded Matthew Rhys and an unstoppably plummy Matthew Goode – who’d exploited their star power to get smashed on plonk inside a beautiful Umbrian villa, while getting paid for it.

The trailer was startlingly awful in every conceivable way. The narration was awkward and stilted in a manner that suggested it had been translated into English and back again several times. The photography looked as if it had been shot for a CNN Europe commercial about the economic benefits of utilising Montenegro as a regional trade hub. And in the middle of it were the two Matthews, obsequiously yucking it up like a grotesque Fluck and Law parody of the coddled one-percent. It was like watching a piece of deranged Alan Partridge fan fiction come to life. It must have been a joke. Surely it was a joke. I watched the trailer over and over again, looking for the slightest wink to prove that this was all somehow an elaborate joke. The title? Was that it? Was The Wine Show supposed to be a deliberately awful pun on The One Show? Was that the joke

The Wine Show began on ITV4 last night. I watched it specifically to hate it. The fact that I couldn’t has made me almost irreversibly furious.

Because, god help the lot of us, The Wine Show is actually quite good. It is, in essence, somewhere between a Countryfile and a Top Gear for booze. Given time to breathe, the photography that came off as cheesy in the trailer is actually rather beautiful. The production values are astonishing. It’s dappled, woozy, HD travel porn that lingers on beads of early-morning vineyard dew and charmingly tumbledown magic-hour Italian villages in a way that immediately makes you want to chuck some shirts in a bag and head for the airport.

And the actual content is surprisingly grown up, too. Despite the trailer strongly suggesting that the series would consist of nothing but Rhys and Goode slowly contracting gout, the bulk of the presenting is left to wine expert Joe Fattorini. He’s a revelation, arguably the Attenborough of Oddbins. Simultaneously knowledgable and awestruck, Fattorini managed to turn the climax to a throwaway 10-minute segment about Napoleon’s favourite booze into a genuinely compelling piece of television. “This wine probably cheered someone up when Mozart died”, he quavered at one point, and it didn’t even sound a tenth as stupid as it looks written down.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/apr/11/the-wine-show-its-top-gear-for-booze-i-hate-myself-for-loving-it

What Can Matthew Goode Bring to Downton Abbey Season 6?

MOVIE PILOT
by Peter Flynn ⋅ Posted on May 6th, 2015 at 6:46am



Matthew Goode is now in Downton Abbey! I can't stress enough what great casting that is! Of all the choices of well-mannered slightly adorable classy men, he fits the show perfectly. Tom Hiddlesdon? Too widely loved. Ben Wishaw? Too tasteful (dude was Paddington, y'know!) But Matthew Goode? He's the perfect culmination of tacky class. He's like a well-refined savant Ken Doll, and I would love him to return for Downton Abbey Season 6.

If his other main project, The Good Wife permits, we may well see more of Matthew Goode in Season 6. What might Downton Abbey gain from this precious porcelain man returning to our screens?

He Has Chemistry With Lady Mary!

Lady Mary's exploits, and the men those exploits rope in are where the sexy elements of Downton Abbey emerge (as sexy as you can expect Downton to be). Matthew Goode's Henry Talbot made his first appearance in the 2014 christmas special. While I'd misunderstood a joke sketch and was thoroughly fed up with the lack of George Clooney on my screen, Matthew Goode suddenly pops up and starts shooting grouse, and I'm in a stupor of wonderment for the rest of the episode.

I can speak for the fans when I say that everyone wanted Henry and Mary's snappy back and forth to be taken further. Their wry chemistry was palpable, and can be taken places, which the show seems to know! Why else would they explicitly address Henry Talbot's perchance for racing cars? It's kinda weird that Mary is totally into this, since it was a car crash that literally killed her ex-husband, Dan Stevens! I'm just not sure why she would be getting all hot and bothered for fast, dangerous machines.

He Can be Sinister

Matthew Goode is a funny actor. Just put him in stuff, and I will laugh at it, like a gnome being photographed going round the world. That said, he has more depth than just being a funny action-figure man, and has shades of lurid ominousness that make him a joy to watch. He could certainly adapt to some of the dark DARK places Downton Abbey is willing to go. Goode's range could tonally do some interesting things to Season 6.

If you want proof of Goode's ability to play the unsettling villain, look no further than Park Chan-Wook's masterful Stoker. His performance as Uncle Charlie is a truly terrifying delight, and if Henry Talbot were to descend into some sort of villainous figure in Season 6, Goode could manage it spectacularly.

READ MORE HERE: http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/05/06/what-can-matthew-goode-bring-to-downton-abbey-season-6-2909516?lt_source=external,manual

Matthew Goode Hits It Big With ‘Good Wife,’ ‘Downton Abbey’ Roles

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By KARA MAYER ROBINSON
Feb. 26, 2015 6:17 p.m. ET


Matthew Goode at Freemans, a restaurant on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. PHOTO: CLAUDIO PAPAPIETRO FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

In less than a year, British actor Matthew Goode joined the cast of a critically acclaimed TV drama (“The Good Wife”), appeared in an Oscar-nominated film (“The Imitation Game”) and secured a role in another, equally successful series (“Downton Abbey”).

“It’s been a really good year. There’s no question about that,” said the 36-year-old actor who grew up in England, studied at London’s Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts, then performed mainly in theater (“The Tempest”) and film (“Match Point,” “A Single Man”).

Mr. Goode was offered the “Good Wife” role of prosecutor Finn Polmar last winter, just as producers Michelle and Robert King were secretly plotting the exit of one of its lead characters, Will Gardner, played by Josh Charles. He quickly accepted, temporarily moving his family—Sophie, his wife, and daughters Matilda, 5, and Teddy, 1—to New York.

It has been a good run, but Mr. Goode is eager to return to England.

He will pack up his family in April, in time to film the next season of “Downton,” shoot a show about wine with friend and fellow actor Matthew Rhys and prepare for a new arrival. His son is due in August.



WSJ: Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch, you...Is there some sort of British actor boom going on?

There’s so much work over here. I think the Americans are much more open-minded than British audiences. But you’ve still got to pull it off. America isn’t just a couple of accents; it’s a vast country with a myriad of different accents and classes. You’ve got to get it right.

WSJ: Was it difficult to step into “The Good Wife” midseason, just as Josh Charles’s character was being killed off?

I never felt like I was stepping into his role. When I discussed it with Robert and Michelle, I said, “I think it would be a mistake to throw me in as this immediate replacement love interest. I think the audience needs to mourn and I don’t think it’s that interesting.”

So far, I like Finn. A lot of the characters are quite arch. You think you know them and suddenly they’ll do something that’s actually quite immoral. It hasn’t happened to Finn yet.

WSJ: How did you acquire your American accent?

I found a bloke on the Internet…this lawyer. He was talking to the press for a good five minutes. I didn’t memorize it, but I watched him. I could just learn his rhythms and what he said.

WSJ: Will you return next season?

I don’t know yet. We haven’t had the discussion. I might, but I’m all about the family, really. You can’t keep uprooting your children all the time.

WSJ: How did your “Downton Abbey” role come about?

I knew a few people in the cast already, like Allen [Leech] from “The Imitation Game.” I met Michelle [Dockery] a long time ago. We had a really good laugh and ended up dancing the night away. It’d been on the cards and suddenly it came to fruition.

I don’t know how long I’m going to be doing it, but the game is afoot. My character’s a guy called Henry Talbot. That’s all we know so far.



WSJ: “The Imitation Game” has caused quite a stir. What are your thoughts about it?

The story of Alan Turing is fascinating. We see that he thinks differently, we see that he has an incredible mind. Ultimately, he wins the Second World War. And for his efforts, because he likes to make love with men…?

Because Alan Turing achieved this incredible thing, he’s been pardoned by the queen. What about pardoning the other 49,000 men who you condemned for just being gay? There’s a petition you can sign. They wanted to get 49,000 signatures and I think it’s on its way to 100,000.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.wsj.com/articles/british-actor-matthew-goode-hits-it-big-with-good-wife-downton-abbey-roles-1424992619

Matthew Goode: A Goode addition to 'The Good Wife'

By SARAH LYALL , NEW YORK TIMES
January 05, 2015 - 3:17 PM



Lovers of “The Good Wife” found the death last spring of Will Gardner, everyone’s favorite sexily arrogant lawyer, shocking and traumatic. But even as they adjusted to the cold new reality (Will was never coming back), they were struck by a frisson of something that felt, inappropriately, like delight.

It arrived in the form of Finn Polmar, a sweet and morally upright prosecutor whose entrance just as Will was exiting provided solace to the audience and the grieving characters in the show. If this sudden attraction seemed disloyal — Will is dead; long live Someone Other Than Will — then so be it.

What does Finn, aka British actor Matthew Goode, make of all this?

“You can’t replace Will — you can’t replace a character who’s that influential and that loved,” Goode said. “But what they have tried to do with Finn was make him be one of the few people so far on the series who doesn’t have hidden agendas, who is sort of morally unambiguous.”

Goode, 36, let a wicked smile cross his face. “Although you might find out he’s a coke dealer in a couple of weeks,” he said. “Things can flip quite quickly on this show.”

‘Spectacular sense of humor’

Things can also flip quite quickly in Goode’s life. Long one of those slightly under the radar actors who log one impeccable performance after another, Goode suddenly is showing up all over the place.

Perhaps best known in America for his turn as Colin Firth’s longtime boyfriend in Tom Ford’s “A Single Man,” Goode in the past few years has played (briefly but memorably) a dashing 18th-century naval captain in “Belle,” the caddish Wickham in the BBC adaptation of P.D. James’ “Death Comes to Pemberley” and a charming yet psychopathic uncle in the thriller “Stoker.”

Most recently, he has injected a little sex appeal into “The Imitation Game,” playing a brilliant and flirtatious code breaker, a welcome foil to Benedict Cumberbatch’s aggressively unflirtatious Alan Turing.

But it is in “The Good Wife” — where he enjoys smoldering, get-a-room chemistry with the title character, Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) — that Goode truly has made his mark. Now into its sixth season, the series remains a favorite of audiences and critics, even though Alicia is not behaving with particular goodness (or wifeliness) these days.

Charles’ decision to leave last season deprived the show of one of its most enticing plot lines, Will and Alicia’s steamily tortured on-again-off-again relationship. In looking for a replacement, show runners Michelle and Robert King sought to introduce a character of a different sort, someone who was cerebral and slyly disarming, in contrast to Will’s street-smart scrappiness.

“We wanted someone who was witty in court, who didn’t hit you with brass knuckles but when you weren’t looking might devastate you with his wit,” Robert King said.

They had seen Goode in various productions, including the pilot of the short-lived Ridley Scott miniseries “The Vatican.” They hired him without even meeting.

“He had this spectacular sense of humor on the phone, and that’s what Julianna is into — she likes having a good time with someone who is funny,” King said. “You want someone who is not too unctuous in his acting, who can take a U-turn from drama to comedy in a moment.”



Claret, veggies and marriage

Goode in person was not unctuous at all and had the added bonus of speaking in his real English-accented voice. He had all but disguised himself under a pair of large dark-framed eyeglasses and a floppy wool cap. He had just taken a shower and felt unhappy about his hair. “I’m not a blow-dry kind of guy,” he said.

Neither is he the kind of guy eager to discuss his career, necessarily. Instead he cheerfully digressed on various subjects: the asparagus, potatoes and other produce he helped cultivate as a child at his father’s garden; the oeuvre of Aaron Sorkin; a bottle of claret he bought on eBay; his success in quitting smoking and switching to e-cigarettes; the television program about wine he has signed up to film in France with his friend Matthew Rhys (the star of “The Americans” with whom he drank the claret); the joys of the Golf Channel, and the winsomeness of his wife, Sophie Dymoke, and two young daughters, Matilda and Teddie.


READ MORE HERE:http://m.startribune.com/entertainment/tv/287555411.html?section=/entertainment

Downton Abbey spoilers: ****** ***** joins cast as Lady Mary's new love interest?

MIRROR
Nov 07, 2014 10:23 By Tufayel Ahmed



Downton Abbey’s Lady Mary is getting a new love interest - and he’s Goode, real Goode.

Watchmen and The Good Wife star Matthew Goode has reportedly signed up to play the widow’s latest suitor in the hit ITV period drama, reports the Daily Mail.

The actor was spotted filming scenes for the Christmas special and it's claimed he will also appear in several episodes of series six which begins filming in February.

A spokesperson for the show confirmed Goode will be in the Christmas special, telling Mirror TV: "Matthew Goode will appear in the Christmas episode as a guest character."

Goode, 36, is currently starring opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley on the big screen in The Imitation Game.

Lady Mary - played by Michelle Dockery - has been fending off potential love matches over the last two series following the death of her husband Matthew Crawley.



READ MORE HERE: http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/downton-abbey-spoilers-matthew-goode-4584612

Colin Firth - Colin Firth's Spy Wardrobe To Hit Stores

CONTACT MUSIC
by WENN | 13 June 2014



Oscar winner Colin Firth's smart wardrobe for new movie Kingsman: The Secret Service will be made available to fans.

The bespoked suits, watches and shoes the actor's dapper spy character Harry Hart wears in the Matthew Vaughn movie will be available as a 60-piece collection when the film is released in October (14).

Costume designer Arlene Phillips, who helped director and fashion icon Tom Ford create Firth's look in A Single Man, is creating the line with Vaughn for Mr. Porter.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.contactmusic.com/story/colin-firth-s-spy-wardrobe-to-hit-stores_4242186

Colin Firth devastated when real life Railway Man died during production (exclusive)

YAHOO
By Mark Lankester | Yahoo UK Movies News – Thu, Jan 9, 2014 16:17 GMT

Colin Firth has revealed he was “devastated” when real life POW Eric Lomax, the man he plays in hard-hitting WWII drama ‘The Railway Man’, died midway through the film’s production in 2012.

Asked if it was a “dark day” for the film’s crew, Firth replied: “It was, yeah. It was devastating. [But] there’s also that sense of, in some ways, triumph; that he didn’t die in his early 20s - in 1943/44 - which he thought he was going to, and could easily have done. And it’s actually a miracle that he didn’t.”

 “I think if someone had told him then that he was going to die in Berwick, in the year 2012, I think he would have bean heartened by that,” he added, “And rather astonished.”

Watch the full interview below, exclusive to Yahoo Movies UK.


READ MORE HERE:http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/colin-firth-devastated-when-real-life-railway-man-died-during-production--exclusive--161732758.html

Colin Firth: So why has Mr Darcy gone on a diet? Actor sheds the pounds (DAILY MAIL)

After his turn as Mr Darcy, Colin Firth’s fans were, to put it delicately, rather eager to relieve him of that wet shirt.

These days, however, they are more likely to want to sit him down for a proper home-cooked meal.

The Oscar-winning actor, 52, seemed far slimmer than usual as he attended a launch party thrown by designer Tom Ford in Mayfair, with his face and neck looking a little gaunt.

But fans can rest easy about his health – his weight loss is for a movie role.

Firth, who looked smart in a suit and black-framed glasses, has shed pounds to play a prisoner of war in upcoming film The Railway Man.

It is based on the true story of British officer Eric Lomax, played by Firth, who is captured by the Japanese during the Second World War and forced to work on the Thai-Burma railway.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2344781/Why-Colin-Firth-gone-diet-Actor-sheds-pounds.html#ixzz2WlTGUvdU 
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COLIN FIRTH - Watch: First 10 Minutes Of 'Arthur Newman' Starring Colin Firth & Emily Blunt Plus Lots Of New Pics (INDIEWIRE) BY KEVIN JAGERNAUTH

BitTorrent, perhaps one of a few words that can strike fear in the hearts of movie executives, has long been synonymous with piracy. But Cinedigm are hoping to change the game. Today they tried out a new marketing tactic, one that embraces the file sharing tool and tries to use it as promotion, and while time will only tell if the industry and movie viewers dig this kind of personalized touch, it has resulted in a pretty generous look at "Arthur Newman."

READ MORE & PICTURES: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-10-minutes-of-arthur-newman-starring-colin-firth-emily-blunt-plus-lots-of-new-pics-20130422?page=1#blogPostHeaderPanel

Colin Firth and Emily Blunt talk accents and ‘Arthur Newman’ By Matt Prigge Published: April 22, 2013 (METRO)

People tend to freak when a Britisher adopts an American accent, or vice versa. Partly, it’s about the supposed athletic ability required to wield a foreign tongue. (And partly, it’s the sadness of hearing someone with a euphonious accent forced to sound like a boring Yank.)

“It’s not that big a deal for us,” confesses Emily Blunt. “We just see it as another character, and taking on another voice.” Blunt stars with fellow countryperson Colin Firth in “Arthur Newman,” as two people running away from their lives who meet up on the road. In the film both actors talk American.

“I’ve rarely done a film in England that doesn’t include an American actress, often doing an English accent,” says Firth.

Blunt points out Renee Zelwegger as Bridget Jones. “I remember when she got the part every woman was up in arms, because everyone thought they were Bridget Jones. She was in the public domain. There was outrage. Then she turned out to do the most amazing job.”

Firth, like Blunt, has a very proper English accent — or at least one would assume. “The accent that people think comes naturally to me is not the one I grew up with,” reveals Firth. “I am from what is known as the ‘west country’ of England.” He says he deliberately lost his native accent when he was first trying to be an actor.

“In England you’re trained to learn what is known in our field as ‘BBC English.’ Basically the idea is that it is a neutral sound from which you can do other things. I think people I went to school with probably got a bit of a shock when they first heard me trying to sound patrician.”

“There’s a tendency in England that if you come from a family that speaks a bit posh that you want to reject that,” says Blunt. “A lot of kids who come from upper middle class family walk around [adopts Cockney-ish accent] talking like that, know wha’ I mean?”

READ MORE: http://www.metro.us/newyork/entertainment/2013/04/22/colin-firth-and-emily-blunt-talk-accents-and-arthur-newman/

Colin Firth plays name game in ‘Arthur Newman’ Tuesday, April 23, 2013 By: Stephen Schaefer, Movies (THE EDGE)

What’s in a name? For an actor, a lot — which is why so many change theirs to fit a big-screen image.

Colin Firth, however, kept the one given to him at birth.

“It makes a huge difference to people. I don’t know how reliable this is but I read a study of people who’d been given silly names — names where their parents decided to give their kids some sort of comical name or something — and they had a higher percentage of psychological problems and even suicides.

“I do think what we call things makes a difference to how we see them, and what we call people might make a difference as well,” said the 52-year-old Oscar winner.

“I remember feeling how ordinary my name sounded growing up. I thought it would be wonderful to have an Italian sounding name or one from central Europe, something like that. Maybe we adjust ourselves to how our name sounds.

“My last name sounds a bit like a grunt on the phone,” he noted.


READ MORE: http://bostonherald.com/entertainment/movies/2013/04/firth_plays_name_game_in_arthur_newman

Colin Firth Bio Video - Vancouver Sun

The Vancouver Sun Videos

Colin Firth, Emily Blunt Star in Road Trip Movie Arthur Newman by PAULA SCHWARTZ on APRIL 1, 2013 · 5:00 PM (REEL LIFE WITH JANE)

Academy Award winner Colin Firth and Emily Blunt star in the upcoming road trip movie “Arthur Newman.” The film, which opens April 26, 2013 is directed by Dante Ariola and also stars Anne Heche.

The story follows Wallace Avery (Firth), who’s tired of being a loser. Once a hot shot in the world of competitive amateur golf, Wallace failed miserably when he turned pro.

Ten years after retiring from the pro tour, he’s lost his job at FedEx, his ex-wife openly pities him, and his 13-year-old son hates him. Unable to face his life of quiet desperation any longer, Wallace stages his own death and buys himself a new identity as Arthur Newman.

RED CARPET DIARY

READ MORE: http://www.youtube.com/user/redcarpetdiary?feature=watch

Colin Firth & Emily Blunt Go American in the 'Arthur Newman' Trailer by Ethan Anderton March 27, 2013 Source: EW (FIRST SHOWINGS)

Sometimes people fake their own deaths to escape danger. In the case of Arthur Newman, he's just escaping his disappointment of a life. Colin Firth plays a has-been golfer who fakes his death, abandons his family, and takes on the new titular identity. On the path to his new life, he encounters a young woman (Emily Blunt) who's running from problems of her own. The two fall in love as they take solace in pretending to be married, or engaged or whatever feels right, seemingly living the dream. But they can't pretend forever. It's strange to hear Firth as an American, but he works well with Blunt in this first trailer.

Here's the first trailer for Dante Ariola's Arthur Newman, originally from EW:

READ MORE: http://www.firstshowing.net/2013/colin-firth-emily-blunt-go-american-in-first-arthur-newman-trailer/

Colin Firth takes a mulligan in 'Arthur Newman' -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO AND POSTER by Denise Warner - EW (Inside Movies)

In Arthur Newman, Oscar-winner Colin Firth plays a man who fakes his death and buys himself a new identity. Wallace Avery is a divorced, washed-up amateur golfer whose son and girlfriend both hate him. He “once had very big dreams and has reached an age where he’s on the brink of writing himself off. He’s disappointed, ” Firth says. “They called him the choker because he would always choke on the final hole [in golf]. His marriage proved unsatisfactory. His relationship with his son is unsatisfactory. He has a bad relationship with his current girlfriend. And he just decides not to accept it.”

Watch the exclusive trailer here!

COLIN FIRTH + LIVIA FIRTH = Two Hearts (and Frank Sinatra)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5pjuijzmls

Keep Calm and Carry On

Colin Firth Safety Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00OcRqKXF_I

Too little Colin news lately!  Where is the guy?

PorSiempreDarcy

Colin Firth is my mentor (Nicholas Hoult) 08 March 2013 (CONTACT MUSIC)

Nicholas Hoult says his 'A Single Man' co-star Colin Firth has given him advice on making it in Hollywood ever since the pair met in 2009.

Nicholas Hoult admits Colin Firth is his mentor.

The 23-year-old actor looks to his 'A Single Man' co-star for advice about the cut-throat film industry and the pair regularly have catch-up dinners to discuss the 'Jack the Giant Slayer' star's progress in Hollywood.

He said: ''I had dinner with him the other night; he's always the best person to go to for advice.'

Asked what the best advice Colin has ever given him is, he told the Evening Standard magazine: ''You have to take your work seriously, obviously, but you have to also recognise the ridiculousness of it. Colin has had the ups and downs, been through all the actor breakdowns, and he's very intelligent, so he can see it for what it is.''

READ MORE: http://www.contactmusic.com/news/nicholas-hoult-colin-firth-is-my-mentor_3545327

Colin Firth - Pride and Prejudice Sunday Morning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWAVKscuvV0

mgcrules's channel

Aaron Taylor-Johnson & Colin Firth: Tom Ford Party! (JUST JARED)

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Colin Firth attend a private dinner hosted by Tom Ford to celebrate his runway show during London Collections: Men on Wednesday (January 9) at Loulou’s in London, England.

The guys were joined by their wives Sam Taylor-Johnson and Livia Firth.

Colin worked with Tom on the film A Single Man in 2009.

READ MORE: http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/2763881/felicity-jones-jeremy-irvine-london-evening-standard-theatre-awards-01/