BRENDAN GLEESON, CILLIAN MURPHY: Three Irish actors to star in new Ron Howard movie (INDEPENDENT) LAURA BUTLER – 05 JULY 2013

HOLLYWOOD filmmaker Ron Howard has enlisted three Irish actors to star in his new blockbuster movie.

Silver screen veteran Brendan Gleeson will join Cillian Murphy and newcomer Sam Keeley in a story of a ship destroyed at sea, entitled 'In The Heart of The Sea'. 

The production is based on the book by Nathaniel Philbrick, which follows the real-life tale of the survivors of the Nantucket whaling ship the Essex.

The boat was attacked by a sperm whale in 1820 and is what inspired author Herman Melville in writing his classic novel 'Moby Dick'.

Gleeson (58) will take on the role of a surviving crew member in his later years of life, who is interviewed about the near-death experience.

It is going to be a busy year for Gleeson, who is currently filming psychological thriller 'Eliza Graves' with Michael Caine and Kate Beckinsale.

The Dubliner is then due to begin shooting with the cast of 'In The Heart of The Sea' in September, with production of Howard's latest project expected to take place in London before moving to the Canary Islands.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/three-irish-actors-to-star-in-new-ron-howard-movie-29397191.html

Benedict Cumberbatch reads a chapter of MOBY DICK (BIG READ)

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN TO
YOUR SCOOP.IT.DAILY
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH FOR SCOOPING THIS

Read by Benedict Cumberbatch Introduced by Peter Donaldson, Recorded by Adam Low, Martin Rosenbaum & Edit Store, Edited and Mixed at dBs Music
http://www.mobydickbigread.com/chapter-58-brit/?_tmc=RpoUj_WMp_kbZKIDjg3YtKEZXY24OuS2_XtRMLVa2Cc

Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Fry, whales, Moby Dick and Google, in the news, togetherOctober 18, 2012. 6:40 am • Section: The Cine Files (GAZETTE)

Benedict Cumberbatch (left) Tilda Swinton and Stephen Fry are among the people taking part in a project called the Moby Dick Big Read. Photos by Stuart Wilson/Getty Images, Frazer Harrison/Getty Images and Frazer Harrison/Getty Images For BAFTA Los Angeles.

In other whale-related matters, The Moby Dick Big Read is an online project that was  commissioned by the  University of Plymouth,  and created by writer Philip Hoare and artist Angela Cockayne, to draw attention to the book itself, and to the dangers facing whales and dolphins these days.

People who listen to the chapters are asked to consider making a donation to Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

When the project is completed, it will have put all 135 chapters of Moby Dick on the Internet.

Chapter 1, Loomings, read by actress Tilda Swinton, went up on Sept. 16, 2012. Since then, a new chapter has  been added each day. The most recent one, as I write, is Chapter 33: The Specksynder, read by Cheryl Hurrell.

Actor, author and director Stephen Fry reads Chapter 10: A Bosom Friend. Other participants include British Prime Minster David Cameron, singer Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, Captain R. N. Hone, and other faculty members at  Britain’s University of Plymouth, which commissioned the project, novelist and playwright Nigel Williams, Witi Ihimaera of New Zealand, the author of Whale Rider, U.S. filmmaker and actor John Waters, New Yorker blogger and copy-editor Mary Norris, and several residents of  Provincetown, Mass., a town which once depended on the whaling industry.

While Benedict Cumberbatch’s Chapter 58: Brit, won’t be up on the project’s page until Nov. 2, it was made available earlier, to the Radio Times, presumably because his popularity would help draw attention to the project. You can hear him by clicking on what looks like a video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HLMtzGTntzE
READ MORE: http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2012/10/18/benedict-cumberbatch-stephen-fry-whales-moby-dick-and-google-in-the-news-together/