Irish actor Brendon Gleeson defines what it means to be Canadian at TIFF

THE STAR.COM
By: Peter Howell Movie Critic, Published on Wed Sep 11 2013

Brendan Gleeson, left, seen here with Taylor Kitsch and Gordon Pinsent in a scene from "The Grand Seduction," gave an eloquent description of what the "Canadian voice" is during a Q-and-A session following a Tuesday morning screening of the film at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Irish actor Brendan Gleeson came to the rescue Tuesday when The Grand Seduction director Don McKellar was having trouble defining Canadians.

McKellar was puzzling over an audience member’s question about “the Canadian voice” in his comic film, during a Q-and-A session following the 9 a.m. screening at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Gleeson, the film’s main star, was standing near McKellar on the stage. He jumped in to offer his own interpretation of what it means to be Canadian, something he sounds like he’d really like to be.

“I think we have to do an Ontarian remake now, because you have two provinces with vastly different cultures, and we tell the same story from both places. And they’re each separate, but it is part of what is the Canadian voice,” Gleeson said.

“I think it’s an extraordinarily rich thing and what’s important about making films of this nature is that you express and share something that’s unique culturally. And that’s really where universality comes into play most, when you know what you’re talking about.


READ THE REST OF HIS LOVELY STATEMENT HERE: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/tiff/2013/09/11/tiff_2013_irish_actor_brendon_gleeson_starring_in_the_grand_seduction_defines_what_it_means_to_be_canadian.html

RICHARD ARMITAGE BRINGS A FILM CLIP TO HIS INTERVIEW ON CANADA'S MARILYN DENIS SHOW (COMIC BOOK MOVIE)

Actor Richard Armitage brought a new clip (low-resolution) from Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with him to a recent interview that features his character, Thorin Oakenshield, protecting his group from harm.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qAZNlPGbD54

Love her question, "How do you play a dwarf at 6'2"?"

READ MORE:  http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/nailbiter111/news/?a=70813

Ray Stevenson: ***SPOILER*** 'Dexter' faces his new reality 4 BY BILL HARRIS ,QMI AGENCY (TORONTO SUN)

There's a TV show that debuted this fall called The New Normal. That's exactly what Dexter Morgan is facing right now.

But having seen the second episode of the seventh season of Dexter, which aired Sunday night on The Movie Network and Movie Central in Canada and on Showtime in the United States, what we don't know is this:

For Dexter, is his "new normal" truly a life-altering reality, or will it prove to be merely an inconvenience?

SPOILER ALERT: This is a review of the Dexter episode titled Sunshine and Frosty Swirl, and is meant for people who saw it. If you don’t want to know what happened, now’s the time to bail.

Okay, the first episode of the seventh season ended with Dexter (Michael C. Hall) being confronted by his foster sister Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), who posed the question, "Are you a serial killer?" Dexter answered, "Yes."

Episode two picked up where that conversation left off, with Deb understandably freaking out. But she didn't freak out quite as much as I would have thought. She went to work the next day. Despite the fact she's a police lieutenant now, don't you think she'd have to take a day or two off?

READ MORE: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/07/dexter-faces-his-new-reality

Colin Firth: At long last, Intouchables has arrived By T’Cha Dunlevy, GAZETTE FILM CRITIC April 12, 2012 5:02 PM (MONTREAL GAZETTE)

MONTREAL - There comes a point where a hit movie takes on a life of its own. When Canadian distributor Alliance announced last week that the French dramatic comedy Intouchables' $281-million box office made it the most successful non-anglophone film of all time last week (beating Spirited Away), that point seemed well past. And yet, the film is just now opening in North America; so it may have more lives yet.

 Based on a true story, it’s the feel-good tale of an unlikely friendship between a rich, paraplegic man, Philippe (veteran French actor François Cluzet), and Driss (breakout star Omar Sy), a young black man from the ghetto who is hired to take care of him. The movie has had audiences rolling in the aisles since Day One.

When we held the first screening on Aug. 24, something happened,” Olivier Nakache said while in Montreal last month for the premiere. He co-wrote and co-directed the film with long-time creative partner Éric Toledano.

“We said, ‘Merde, what happened?’ We said that a lot (over the next two months), because there were many more screenings before the release. We knew we had something, but not to this extent.” Intouchables has raked in more than $280 million at the box office since it hit theatres in November.

Maverick producer Harvey Weinstein is pushing the film in North America, and has acquired rights for an English-language remake. Coming on the heels of Weinstein’s Oscar-winning triumph with another French film, The Artist, it is confirmation that Intouchables’s adventure is far from over. “We’ve talked a lot about a remake,” Nakache said. “We’re not opposed to the idea. But it’s a true story that has been entrusted to us, so we’d like to at least see the script and be consulted. The details are still fuzzy.

Colin Firth saw the film and said he wants to play the role of Philippe. Weinstein is very powerful. We met him and it went well.”


READ MORE:  http://www.montrealgazette.com/long+last+Intouchables+arrived/6448948/story.html

Michael Fassbender: New Regency May Distribute Fassbender & McQueen’s ’12 Years a Slave’ Apr 10, 2012 by Mike Lee (SCREEN RANT)

Deadline reports that New Regency is in negotiations to co-finance and distribute the film, which sees Chiwetel Ejiofor play Northup, Fassbender as a plantation owner, and Brad Pitt in the role of a Northern lawyer who helps free Northup.

Pitt’s Plan B production company will also help produce the film.

For those who are not familiar with story, Twelve Years a Slave is based on a book of the same name written by Northup, who was actually born free but became a slave after he was drugged by two men who claimed to be circus promoters.

Forced to claim he was born a slave, Northup suffered the hardships of slavery and was beaten often but, with the help of a white carpenter from Canada, not only was Northup able to send word to his wife in the North, he was also able to secure the legal counsel needed to regain his freedom.

Twelve Years a Slave marks the third time that Fassbender and McQueen have worked together. The two actually started their working relationship with McQueen’s Hunger, a movie that centers on Fassbender’s character going on a hunger strike.


READ MORE:  http://screenrant.com/steve-mcqueen-michael-fassbender-twelve-years-slave-new-regency-mlee-164034/

Ringo Starr's 40 years of stage fright sickness The Beatles drummer admits he regularly throws up before performances and has done so ever since the Fab Four started outBy Mark Jefferies (MIRROR)

Music legend Ringo Starr has revealed he still suffers so badly from stage fright that he is frequently sick – despite 50 years in the limelight.

 The Beatles drummer admits he regularly throws up before performances and has done so ever since the Fab Four started out. Ringo, 71, said: “I have actually puked before I went on as all my nerves come to the fore. “It is part of what I am and it happens before every show.

There have been times that I just wanted to go back to bed as I just get so nervous. “Every night I just hope that tonight is the night when I am going to feel like Frank Sinatra. “I hope, ‘You are just going to stroll on’, but I haven’t made it yet – I always run.”

 He said he felt like running away three seconds before he was due on stage, adding: “That’s why I always run on to it. I would love to coolly stroll on stage but I cannot.”

 Ringo, who says he is fine as soon as he grabs the mic, is currently promoting his 17th solo LP called Ringo 2012, and will take the album on tour this summer with his ­All-Starr band, kicking off in Ontario, Canada, on June 14.


READ MORE:  http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/ringo-starrs-40-years-of-stage-785329

Has Canadian TV gone American? (CASTANET.NET)

Sean Bean portrays Eddard Stark in a scene from the HBO series, "Game of Thrones." If you've noticed that your cable package looks a lot more American these days, with more brands like HBO, MTV and Fox's FX Canada, you're not alone, and Canadian TV executives are betting that increased familiarity those sexy names will convince you to tune in. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP Photo/HBO, Nick Briggs

by The Canadian Press - Story: 72949 Mar 25, 2012 / 7:42 pm

If you've noticed that your cable package looks a lot more American these days, with more brands like HBO, MTV and Fox's FX Canada, you're not alone, and Canadian TV executives are betting that increased familiarity those sexy names will convince you to tune in.

The trend has picked up momentum, particularly over the past year with the planned launch of no less than five new U.S.-branded networks in Canada, including Oprah Winfrey's OWN network and ABC Spark, which debuts on Monday. Later this year, the Cartoon Network lands in Canada as part of a joint venture with Teletoon, bringing with it the popular Adult Swim prime time lineup, a programming block of mostly animated shows targeting adults, which have seen a ratings boom in the U.S. for years.

The pairing of U.S. brands and Canadian broadcasters is part of a proven marketing strategy that has grown in favour with local executives over the past decade as they look to cut costs and find more reliable business strategies.

Julian Fellowes new miniseries - Titanic (TORONTO SUN)

So here we are with a new version of Titanic, this one an international television co-production between Global in Canada, ITV in Britain and ABC in the U.S. We all know what happens in the end. But is there anything new to say? The answer: No, and then yes. Written by Oscar and Emmy winner Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Downton Abbey), Titanic is told through the eyes of characters ranging from upper-class guests -- a couple of them played in notable fashion by Linus Roache and Geraldine Somerville -- to those poor souls stranded in steerage. Each of the four episodes culminates in a cliff-hanger as the ship falters, building to a conclusion that draws all the stories together, and reveals who survives, and who doesn't. It's an interesting structure. But it really would have helped had we known about it before sitting down to watch.


READ MORE:  http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/16/titanic-rises-with-mini-series

Christopher Plummer/BARRYMORE Movie: Oscar 2013? (ALT FILM GUIDE)

The play Barrymore, which in 1997 earned Christopher Plummer a Tony Award for his portrayal of legendary stage and screen star John Barrymore, will be shown at movie houses in Canada in May. Screenings in the United States and elsewhere will follow in October.

Could that possibly mean a third Oscar nomination for Plummer, this year's Best Supporting Actor winner for Mike Mills' Beginners? Unless Academy rules have changed in that regard — and Barrymore gets shown for a week in the Los Angeles area — that's certainly a possibility.

Filmed plays — Barrymore was filmed with multiple high-definition cameras last year — have earned Academy recognition in the past. For instance, a 1965 filmed version of Britain's National Theatre presentation of Othello earned acting nods for Laurence Olivier, Frank Finlay, Maggie Smith, and Joyce Redman.

In 1975, James Whitmore was shortlisted in the Best Actor category for the Theatrovision production of his one-man show Give 'em Hell, Harry!. Written by William Luce, Barrymore offers a portrayal of John Barrymore while rehearsing Richard III several months before his death.

In addition to the actor known (back in his heyday) as The Great Profile, the play features only one more character, the stage manager, who communicates with the actor through a loudspeaker.


READ MORE:  http://www.altfg.com/blog/movie/christopher-plummer-barrymore-movie/

Donald Sutherland: "'The Hunger Games' could be the most influential American film since I can’t remember" (TELEGRAPH)

Donald Sutherland: "'The Hunger Games' could be the most influential American film since I can’t remember" Surprised to see the sparring partner of Eastwood and Marvin, boundary-pushing leading man and unlikely sex symbol starring in a teen fantasy being called 'the new Twilight?' You're not the only one, Donald Sutherland tells SEVEN magazine.

Shaking hands with Donald Sutherland is like being greeted by the head wizard at a Nordic potions academy. He is 6ft 4in with shoulder-length white hair and a long white beard. The beefy hands grip you firmly while the pale blue eyes inspect you unhurriedly. Up close, he is a dead ringer for Getafix the Druid from Asterix the Gaul. His manner, on the other hand, could not be more different. “There is no such thing as Chilean sea bass,” he intones decisively. I’m waiting in the doorway of his suite at the Four Seasons Hotel, Beverly Hills, while his lunch order is being organised. “The Chilean sea bass is a marketing invention,” he declares in his velvety baritone. “It is in fact the Patagonian toothfish.” I later Google Chilean sea bass and discover he is completely correct.

But then Sutherland’s hallmark, as a veteran actor of some 120 movies, is a majestic kind of old pro, no-frills precision. His fellow Canadian Christopher Plummer may have taken home the Best Supporting Actor Oscar this year, but one can’t help feeling that Sutherland could – with a rich, juicy lion-in-winter role – do the same. His vast CV takes in a few oddities (Beerfest, The Poky Little Puppy’s First Christmas), but the high points are enduring peaks (MASH, Klute, Ordinary People and, of course, Don’t Look Now). Indeed, no British interview with Donald Sutherland is complete without a discussion of his and Julie Christie’s legendary sex scene in that film. I lasted all of 22 minutes before I brought up my conspiracy theory – but more of that later.

READ MORE:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/9130828/Donald-Sutherland-The-Hunger-Games-could-be-the-most-influential-American-film-since-I-cant-remember.html

Viggo Mortensen on the Genies Red Carpet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCnX40SXfHM&feature=player_embedded

How Canadian are the Genies in the age of co-production? (CBS NEWS TORONTO)

A Dangerous Method, a film about Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud shot in Austria, and starring three big international stars, is a leading contender for Genie Awards with 11 nominations.

Not only does Canadian David Cronenberg have a nomination for best director, but German star Michael Fassbender and American Viggo Mortensen are in the running for performance awards. 

The German-Swiss-British-Canadian co-production is just one of the internationally backed films in line for the Canadian film awards. There’s also The Bang Bang Club, a South African-Canadian film, In Darkness, a Polish-German-Canadian film and The Whisteblower, a German-Canadian film about Bosnia.

Read further:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/03/07/videp-stub-genies-copros.html

Who's afraid of Canadian film? We are (THE PROVINCE)

Vanessa Paradis stars in Cafe de Flor, the latest from Quebec director Jean-Marc Vallee (C.R.A.Z.Y.). Photograph by: Handout


By Katherine Monk,
Postmedia News


The Top 10 films at the Canadian box office last year were all foreign, meaning, not from Canada.

From Harry Potter and The King's Speech to Fast Five and Transformers, the big hits largely responsible for our $1-billion box office came from elsewhere. But that doesn't mean we've failed on the film score as a nation.

Christopher Plummer crowned the list of Canadian Oscar winners for his performance in Beginners, and Philippe Falardeau's nod for best foreign picture continued a now-two-generation tradition of Quebecois honorees on Hollywood's big night.

Even the numbers looked good. Ken Scott's story of a contrite sperm donor in Starbuck pulled in more than $3.5 million here at home, and, early this year, Goon cross-checked the competition and claimed the top spot among Canadians with a $1.2-million weekend opening.

That's nothing to sneeze at, but as this year's annual celebration of Canadian film steams closer with Thursday's broadcast of the Genie Awards - with Andrea Martin and George Stroumboulopoulos hosting the big fat gala at Toronto's Harbour Castle - it's clear we're still suffering from a curious disease: Canadian-filmophobia.


Read the rest of the article:  http://www.theprovince.com/entertainment/afraid+Canadian+film/6253008/story.html

Benedict Cumberbatch: Elementary a Sherlock clone? (THE OWEN SOUND SUN TIMES)

By STEVE TILLEY, QMI AGENCY
Posted 3 hours ago

What's the best way to dilute the success of a clever and imaginative British television series?

Elementary, my dear Watson: Let some Americans rip it off.

 Much praise has been heaped on BBC TV's Sherlock (Thursdays at 8 p.m. on BBC Canada), and with good reason. Starring wonderfully named Brit actor Benedict Cumberbatch ( Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as a present-day Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman ( Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the UK version of The Office) as army veteran Dr. John Watson, Sherlock has breathed new life into the played-out police procedural drama.

The show's got wit and brains and guts and -- maybe most remarkably -- a reverence for the Sherlock Holmes characters and stories on which the six 90-minute episodes are loosely based. But the particular success of Sherlock's modern-day setting has made CBS sit up and take notice. And not everyone seems happy with the idea of Holmes coming to America.

Debuting this spring on CBS, the pilot episode of a new series dubbed Elementary will star Brit-born actor Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone, Dexter) as yet another present-day Sherlock Holmes, but with a couple of significant twists.


Read the rest:  http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3490974

'Ticket to Ride': Beatles play 'Backbeat' to hit Toronto after London

The Beatles, clockwise from top left, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison are shown on an album cover in 1965. A music-infused play about the birth of the Beatles has a “Ticket to Ride” to Toronto. Mirvish Productions says it plans to bring “Backbeat,” adapted from the 1994 film of the same name, to the Royal Alexandra Theatre next summer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Robert Freeman-Copyright Apple Corps Ltd.) ** NO SALES **

Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian PressNov 30, 2011 14:44:00 PM

TORONTO - A music-infused play about the birth of the Beatles has a ticket to ride to Toronto.

Mirvish Productions says it plans to bring "Backbeat," adapted from the 1994 film of the same name, to the Royal Alexandra Theatre next summer.

"We saw the show and kind of fell in love with it and think that it's quite special and it would do quite well here," John Karastamatis, director of communications at Mirvish Productions, said Wednesday in a telephone interview.

"We would like to do this show in Toronto, making it the North American premiere of this production."

Co-penned by Iain Softley, who directed and co-wrote the film, "Backbeat" details how the Beatles came together in Liverpool and then chased success in the seedy red-light district of Hamburg.

The story focuses on the relationship between John Lennon, his best friend and original Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe (a.k.a. the fifth Beatle), and German photographer Astrid Kirchherr.

"It wasn't what I expected when I went to see it," said Karastamatis, notinghe and the Mirvish producers saw the show for the first time last week in London.

"I thought I was going to get a fairly traditional musical about the Beatles and instead I got this very compelling, very poignant story about the triangle between John Lennon, Stuart Sutcliffe and Astrid."

"Backbeat," which includes tunes by the Beatles and other groups, debuted in Glasgow, Scotland in February and began performances in London's West End in September.

The London run was originally slated to close in March but producers announced Wednesday that it will now finish Feb. 18, 2012 so they can make changes to the show.

Karastamatis said producers want to tour the show around the U.K., but he's not sure if that would happen before or after the Toronto run.

Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre is available to stage the play next summer but nothing is in stone, he added.

"Nobody knows. This is being created as we go along," said Karastamatis.

"With any luck, all this will happen. It may not happen on the schedule that we want because that may not be possible —we may want more time — but that's our desire and our intention."

Karastamatis also said Mirvish doesn't know whether the Toronto run would feature the London cast or a homegrown one. They also aren't sure if the show will move to Broadway after Toronto.

"It's kind of like 'Mamma Mia,'" he noted. "When we did 'Mamma Mia' here in 2000 there was no talk of Broadway. We were the entry point for 'Mamma Mia' to North America and the original London producers and us, we just wanted to see how the show would do, how it would fare here before anything happened and with that production it fared really well."

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