Daniel Craig with Rachel Weisz & Alan Cumming at BAFTA LA 2012 Britannia Awards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlzciEQINAQ&feature=relmfu

James McAvoy 'amazing' in Filth (PRESS ASSOCIATION)

James McAvoy is "absolutely amazing" in Filth, author Irvine Welsh has revealed.

The Scottish star plays drug-addicted and misogynistic detective sergeant Bruce Robertson in Jon S Baird's big-screen adaptation of Irvine's best-seller, alongside Jamie Bell, Alan Cumming and Imogen Poots.

"He is absolutely amazing. It's just one of the greatest acting performances I have ever seen," Irvine said.
"I think he's better than Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver. He is absolutely electric and is right into the character. It's a fantastic emotional performance."

Irvine - who is promoting the release of Ecstasy on DVD and Blu-ray on August 20 - said film fans will be surprised by James' transformation.

"This is a totally different thing from anything he has ever done before. I've never seen him in that kind of role.

When you meet him in real-life, he's such a nice guy but he plays this monster, which he humanises too," the writer explained.

READ MORE: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5h3cOItyD1Xc0Zfv5ZWdg7JHFrhaA?docId=N0386901344605796732A

Sean Connery, Alan Cumming: Independence for Scotland?

EDINBURGH, Scotland, May 25 (UPI) -- Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has launched a drive to encourage his compatriots to vote for independence.

Salmond, who wants a referendum on independence in 2014, was joined at Thursday's event in Edinburgh by actors Alan Cumming and Brian Cox, The Scotsman reported. He also read a message from Sean Connery, possibly the best-known supporter of Scottish independence, who said the launch of the campaign was a "historic day."

About 550 people attended the event, 100 of them reporters. Others were asked to sign a declaration: "I want a Scotland that speaks with her own voice and makes her own unique contribution to the world: a Scotland that stands alongside other nations on these isles, as an independent nation."

Cumming, best-known in the United States as a presenter on the PBS "Masterpiece" series and as political fixer Eli Gold in "The Good Wife," said Scotland has made progress under devolution.

"I believe that independence can only add to that potential and bring a whole new wave of confidence and pride," he added.



Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/05/25/Salmond-kicks-off-independence-campaign/UPI-60941337972266/?spt=hs&or=tn

The second season turns its gaze from class war on a great estate to the actual Great War. (Slate)

Downton Abbey, Reviewed

By Troy Patterson|Posted Friday, Jan. 6, 2012, at 3:40 PM ET

“Who knew it would be so much fun to watch a house full of magnificently dressed aristocrats and their servants living all under one roof?” Here comes Laura Linney—lovely in black lace, a gracious hostess strolling before a backdrop like a crimson curtain—to ask a trick question of viewers like you, this Sunday on PBS.

The heathens among my readership may not recall that, a few years ago, PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre—that cherished staple of upper-middlebrow media diets—split into Masterpiece Contemporary, Masterpiece Mystery!, and Masterpiece Classic. Contemporary, now hosted by David Tennant, ranges across genres in a tumultuous quest for West End class and BAFTA glamour.

Masterpiece Mystery!, emceed by Alan Cumming, is where Inspector Morse and Miss Marple cock their eyebrows perspicaciously. Classic, with Linney at the helm and on the prow, is devoted—well, to shows about magnificently dressed aristocrats and their servants.

Some Classic programs are greatish-book adaptations, but Downton Abbey, imported from Britain’s ITV, is original and simply great. As a PBS hit, it rivals 1981’s Brideshead Revisited for cultural impact and may yet outrank as a crossover phenomenon.* Linney’s excitement about this is such that she sighs with bliss and gratitude as she introduces the first episode of its second season.

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Linney reminisces with viewers about their first go-round with Downton, ticking through a brief catalog of passion and worries, of fond hopes and rousing hatreds, of roiling scandals and simmering romances. “We were hooked—and then they all went away,” she says. “It’s a great pleasure for me to say that tonight we return at last to that great country house with its hundreds of rooms.” That is a lot of imaginative space to inhabit as we trot up the steps alongside the handsome hunting dog that serves as the show’s mascot.

 

Part of the appeal of Downton Abbey, like Brideshead before it, lies in its presentation of a grand household as an organism. To be sure, the new series vibrates excitingly on many frequencies, but it specially resonates as a rare hybrid of domestic drama and shelter porn. This genre combines the gratifications of “sheer plutography” (to use a term of Tom Wolfe’s that I’ve elsewhere applied to Brideshead) with the more common pleasures of observing efficient household management. There is action in the setting.

 

The parlors and pantries are theaters of war, and the show stimulates a kind of class warfare in the viewer’s human heart and reptile brain. In the interactions between the man of the house (Robert Crawley, played right honorably by Hugh Bonneville) and his valet (John Bates, played by Brendan Coyle), we discover a rich and intimate fantasy of power, dependence, and dedication, a business relationship with love in it. In the dining room, the caste system is ordered as precisely as a table setting.

 

There is very much else going on besides, with heirs and airs and mustard gas. “It’s 1916,” Linney says, to bring us up to date. “The bonds of social class and tradition are exploding in the trenches of World War I. …” Shortly thereafter, Masterpiece abruptly drops us into an actual theater of war, the Battle of the Somme, with an image of writhing fallen soldiers to linger in your head and their atmosphere. One combatant—Matthew Crawley, heir presumptive to cousin Robert’s earldom—is preparing for a furlough. Back home, ladies hopeful of aiding the war effort are learning how to do things previously considered unladylike, like driving cars and boiling water, activities that complicate the business of husband-hunting. The central question of this domestic drama is: What is correct? That’s the issue animating its droll chatter about manners and its swift playlets about morals. With the coming of the war, the question picks up meaning in the Wilfred Owen sense. When is it fitting to die for your country?

 

The author of Downton Abbey is Julian Fellowes, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for Robert Altman’s Gosford Park, about a house full of magnificently dressed aristocrats and their servants living all under one roof. The earlier work was playfully tricksy and dense with incident. With its murder-mystery engine, its roving friskiness, and its Hollywood-imposter subplot, Gosford Park plays like Upstairs, Downstairs as adapted by M.C. Escher. Its brilliance feels cold and a touch cynical when compared with Downton Abbey’s warm and generous sprawl. Appropriate to the pace and the space of series television, it welcomes you into its intrigues at a walking pace. On TV, a great country house must be a home.

 

*Correction: This piece originally incorrectly referred to Brideshead Revisited as a Masterpiece hit. It was a Great Performances program. (Return.)

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/television/2012/01/downton_abbey_season_2_reviewed_.html

 

 

 

 

James McAvoy: 'Filth is the biggest risk of my career' (Digital Spy)

Published Tuesday, Dec 27 2011, 6:40pm EST | By Jennifer Still | 

 

© WENN / Patricia Schlein

James McAvoy has confessed that he worries about how his career will fare after starring in Filth.

The X-Men: First Class actor plays the role of depraved Edinburgh police officer Bruce Robertson in the big-screen adaptation of the Irvine Welsh novel. Robertson is a bigot and racist who partakes in bestiality and cross-dressing.

McAvoy told The Daily Record: "I'm taking probably the biggest risk of my career in playing the part in Filth.

"It's an incredible role for me, unlike anything I've ever done and a massive ­challenge. One I hope I don't dash myself on."

However, McAvoy insisted that he understands the importance of taking on more challenging parts, not only as an actor, but as a lover of film.

"If you stop taking risks, then you get bored, or you just keep playing the same part, over and over again. Eventually audiences get bored of that as well," he explained.

"It is difficult because everyone is watching now. You can't fail in secret, or quietly. It's a public failure and people notice. It's not that I'm saying people rejoice in tearing you down. Not at all. But, people notice. They go, 'What a disappointment', and that's the worst thing, to disappoint people. So, it makes taking risks riskier."

Filth, which also stars Jamie Bell and Alan Cumming, will begin shooting in January

 

http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a357480/james-mcavoy-filth-is-the-biggest-risk-of-my-career.html

 

Alan Rickman: Tavern burlesque (New York Post)

Last Updated: 3:02 AM, December 22, 2011

Posted: 2:01 AM, December 22, 2011

 

Burlesque dancers entertained the cast of “Seminar” at Lower East Side bar Nurse Bettie on Tuesday night. Cast members including Alan Rickman and Lily Rabe enjoyed tricks by “The Great Deceiver” Albert Cadabra, a performance by contortionist Ekat MissEkatarina and burlesque by Gal Friday and Hazel Honeysuckle. Brooke Shields popped in with Alan Cumming after her “Addams Family” show, and they jumped onstage to join Rabe in a dance-off.

 

Dave Allocca/Startraksphoto.com

Alan Rickman

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/tavern_burlesque_LLXWaL7fOjwYKbOqrYVwOL#ixzz1hMAXtHfH

TV Guide Network airs BAFTA Awards Dec. 4, British Designer Showcase added

By April MacIntyre Nov 17, 2011, 8:04 GMT

05/02/2011 - Stella McCartney - "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art - Arrivals - The Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York City, NY, USA © Janet Mayer / PR Photos

TV Guide Network will exclusively telecast the BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards on Sunday, December 4 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. The broadcast will begin with a 30-minute Britannia Award red carpet special.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles (BAFTA Los Angeles) has announced that it will add a British Designer Showcase to its 2011 Britannia Awards on Wednesday, November 30 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

High end British fashion designers will provide one outfit as well as accessories, jewelry and bags for the Britannia’s silent auction.

Designers include Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney, Mulberry, Temperly London, Jimmy Choo, Jenny Packham, Roksanda Ilincic, Dunhill, Stephen Webster, Anya Hindmarch, Ted Baker, Nicholas Kirkwood, Richard Nicoli, Thomas Wylde, Todd Lynn, Reiss, ATELIER SWAROVSKI by Holly Fulton, Stella & Jamie and Izmaylova.

Proceeds from the auction will support BAFTA Los Angeles’ ongoing education, scholarship, community outreach and archival projects.

“The film and television industries have long been synonymous with beauty and style, and fashion is an integral part of the movies on screen and off,” says Donald Haber, Executive Director of BAFTA Los Angeles. “We are delighted to have assembled, with help from our members collaborating with the fashion industry, an outstanding array of established and up-and-coming British designers to give our guests and members the chance to bid on their exquisite pieces, and in turn support our educational outreach programs.”

The Britannia Awards are BAFTA Los Angeles’ highest accolade, a celebration of achievements honoring individuals and companies that have dedicated their careers or corporate missions to advancing the entertainment arts.

The 2011 honorees are Warren Beatty (Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film), Helena Bonham Carter (Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year), John Lasseter (Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment), Ben Stiller (Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy), and David Yates (John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing).

This year’s presenters include Anne Hathaway, Robin Williams, Helen Mirren and Jason Isaacs. Emmy nominated and Tony winning actor Alan Cumming will serve as Master of Ceremonies.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles is the only Anglo-American professional organization founded to promote and advance original work in film, television and interactive media. Maintaining a long tradition of recognizing the finest filmmaking and television talent, BAFTA Los Angeles hosts a series of events, including the prestigious Britannia Awards, the Awards Season Film and Television Tea Parties in January and September and the annual Garden Party.

For more information on the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles, visit www.baftala.org


M & C

Jamie Bell excited for Filth film

 

(UKPA) – 5 hours ago

Jamie Bell has said he can't wait to start work on Filth.

The Tintin star is set to play Ray Lennox alongside James McAvoy as lead character Bruce Robertson and Alan Cumming as his boss Toal in Jon S Baird's big-screen adaptation of Irvine Welsh's controversial novel.

"That's going to be great. James McAvoy is playing a great character in that. Hopefully we will be starting that at the beginning of next year," he said.

Jamie is a huge fan of Irvine, who will be producing Filth: "I read it and love the book. I love all of Irvine's work. I consider him such an interesting character and he always puts so much substance into all of his books."

It's an edgy change of direction for the 25-year-old Scottish actor, who recently appeared in period piece Jane Eyre, action epic The Eagle and sci-fi adventure Jumper.

"I don't like to be pigeon-holed, I don't want to categorise myself as one particular actor," he continued.

"It's always great for an actor to show range. You always want to do something different and I'm very lucky that I have had those kinds of opportunities to do that kind of stuff. It's really exciting."

Jamie added: "The choices I make are always driven by the filmmaker, who has the beginning and final say on what the movie is going to be. They are the visionary in front."

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