Tom Hiddleston Talks Shakespeare, THOR & AVENGERS

BROADWAY WORLD
Tuesday, August 20, 2013; 06:08 PM - by Pat Cerasaro

Film superstar and dedicated thespian Tom Hiddleston discusses his integral role in the forthcoming four-film Shakespeare series premiering on PBS later this Fall, dubbed THE HOLLOW CROWN, as well as his AVENGERS and THOR roles, as part of a new interview.

Hiddleston first remarks upon his first experience with the Bard, relating, "My first Shakespearean production I ever saw, I was 13 years old. It was the RSC, A Midsummer Night's Dream. I thought some bits were funny but, to be honest, a lot of it went over my head, and it was really being taken to see Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing and sort of being dragged, kicking and screaming because it wasn't an action film and then go, "'Oh. Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves are in this. Oh. This is hilarious and I understand everything and it's great.'"

He adds of his affection for Baz Luhrmann's wildly imaginative re-telling of Romeo & Juliet, "I was 15 when Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet came out so it's as if he made that film for me. The soundtrack to that film was my soundtrack. Romeo or Juliet, I can't remember which character, one of them is actually supposed to be 15 and it seemed so romantic and so true."


READ MORE HERE: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Hiddleston-Talks-Shakespeare-THOR-AVENGERS-20130820

Alec Guinness personal letters and diaries acquired by British Library Archive of theatre knight, famed for Ealing comedies, reveal Pooterish moments and brickbats for Sir Laurence (THE GUARDIAN)

Maev Kennedy
The Guardian,

Alec Guinness as Colonel Nicholson in the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai. Photograph: Allstar/COLUMBIA/Sportsphoto

On July 12 1989, one of the greatest actors of his generation was reflecting in his diary on the death of another. If Sir Alec Guinness's thoughts/words of praise for Sir Laurence Olivier were extracted, as theatre promoters routinely do with critics' write-ups, it could read as a rave review.

The full text, revealed for the first time in the actor's personal archive just acquired by the British Library, tells a different story. In his impeccably neat tiny script, Guinness wrote of Olivier: "I greatly admired his extraordinary courage … as a comedian he was superb … technically brilliant … he was a great actor."

But he also wrote: "Like so many people whose ambition drive them to great eminence, he had a cruel and destructive streak. Side by side with his generosity, he could be unpleasant, possibly even vindictive. Consciously or not, he made attempts to destroy John G [Gielgud], [Michael] Redgrave, [Paul] Scofield and if he had been given the chance, me."

The theatre knights meet again in the library. The vaults also hold the archives of Olivier, Gielgud, and an actor of whom Guinness writes with uncomplicated affection, Ralph Richardson.

Olivier and Guinness were near contemporaries, born respectively in 1907 and 1914, and met constantly on stage and elsewhere over more than half a century.

Guinness said: "There was a touch of pretension about him, and his public speeches were fulsome and awful. I first met him in 1935, in Romeo and Juliet. We all thought he looked and behaved like the leader of a dance band. But his Romeo was as arresting and beautiful as his Mercutio was vulgar and gimmicky."

That production was famous for the fact that Olivier and Gielgud opened as Romeo and Mercutio respectively, and then swapped roles.

Guinness conceded: "Many of us were … too admiring of John to value Larry's qualities fairly." However, he then added a snide line recalling: "The sniggers that went round when he said, during a rehearsal I think, of the procession at George V's jubilee … 'I had a wonderful view of the whole corsage'."

Guinness was unforgettable in a string of classic Ealing comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters, and for his long collaboration with the director David Lean, including with the film The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957, for which he won an Oscar.

He was also acclaimed as John le Carre's spy George Smiley, in the television adaptation of the novels. However to fans of a certain age his true stardom came in the 1970s, as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy.


READ MORE:http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/feb/07/alec-guinness-letters-british-library

Anna Karenina, Les Miserables: Adaptations Of Classic Novels Go Head To Head (FEMALE FIRST)

Since the announcement that the popular texts Les Miserables and Anna Karenina are being remade for the big screen later this year, there has been much hype and speculation as to whether they will live up to the original versions.

With both trailers recently released, revealing glittering A-List casts, critics have predicted this year’s Oscar battles will be between that of the classic remakes.

Les Miserables has revealed an enviable cast including Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe. Not to be outdone, Anna Karenina features a sordid love triangle starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Johnson.


However, it seems that in the case of this production, having a big name doesn’t always translate into casting success following the news that Taylor Swift narrowly missed out on her choice part as Eponnie to relatively unknown Samantha Barks.

As we eagerly await the release of both classic tales and speculate about the final films, it’s also got us thinking about how some of our favourite stories have transformed over the years.

So we’ve decided to take a look back at our favourite adaptations of popular classic stories and the constant revitalisation of their tales to suit a fresh audience.

Take a look at our top 5 re-makes as we compare some of the best oldies to the most unforgettable newbies and the stars that made them.


READ MORE: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/movies/Les+Miserables-245556.html

The Great Gatsby trailer

Boy this looks beautiful.  I loved Moulin Rouge too, same look.

David Tennant launches the BBC’s ambitious Shakespeare season Former Doctor Who actor stars in Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet by E Jane Dickson 9:45 AM, 22 April 2012 (RADIO TIMES)

David Tennant is a little baffled by the Cultural Olympiad: “I’m a bit hazy as to what it actually means, what it all adds up to,” he says.

“But if it means more Shakespeare, it’s fine my me.” In cultural terms, the Bard is a world-beater, Team GB’s biggest hitter. (“Well, him and Adele,” offers Tennant. “I think they’re the book-ends of our culture.”) Themes from The Tempest will form the centrepiece of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and this week sees the launch, as part of the Cultural Olympiad, of BBC’s Shakespeare Season, with new productions, for Radio 3, of Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet (which is broadcast next Sunday).

Tennant, who picked up the Best Actor award for Kafka: the Musical in the BBC Audio Drama awards in January, takes a part in both productions. Despite a dose of flu, he’s closeted with fellow cast members in the green room at Broadcasting House, prior to recording his performance as Malvolio in Twelfth Night.


READ MORE:  http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-04-22/david-tennant-launches-the-bbcs-ambitious-shakespeare-season

Julian Fellowes talks 'chaste' Romeo and Juliet (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

By: Bang Showbiz

Julian Fellowes says the new version of 'Romeo and Juliet' will be chaste. The 'Downton Abbey' creator has adapted William Shakespeare's classic tale of a pair of star crossed lovers for the big screen and rather than try to modernise the story, which stars Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld, Julian insisted it reflected old fashioned values with the couple not consummating their relationship until they are married.

He told the Daily Mail newspaper: "Love is life-shaping and moving. We did feel it would be nice to have romantic, married love, and that purity was an important part of the film. They don't make love until they have been married. "One always sounds like 'Disgusted of Cheltenham' when you have these kind of discussions, but there is room for an understanding of the power of love.


READ MORE:  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/celebrities/julian-fellowes-talks-chaste-romeo-and-juliet-143951146.html

Spotlight On ANONYMOUS: Shakespeare's Top 5 Lines; videos from prior great Shakespeare films

BroadwayWorld 

Thursday, October 27, 2011; Posted: 01:10 PM - by Pat Cerasaro

Today we continue our special SPOTLIGHT ON series consisting of five entries total, each of which highlight a different facet of the rich and wonderful world of William Shakespeare and all with a particular emphasis on the controversial new feature film that explores the time, place, politics and goings-on of the Elizabethan era and focuses on the possibility that the true author of the esteemed plays we now know may very well have been someone else entirely - Edward de Vere - and how the question of the canon’s true creation then comes into play - ANONYMOUS.

“All the world’s a stage,” after all, so it should come as no surprise that acts of lust, bloodshed and betrayal would exist in the actual life - or even the supposed one - of the man who created the most bloody and thought-provoking tragedies in the history of literature - whoever he may have actually been. Perhaps some brief analysis of the finest leading players, most memorable lines and moments, as well as an exploration of other notable acts of grand betrayal in Shakespeare’s plays will aid us on the journey to understanding the thesis of ANONYMOUS and bring us into a closer relationship with the individual who penned the greatest plays in the English language.

Since we have now analyzed the top ten male and female Shakespearean performers of the last few decades, today we are going to take a look at some of the most famous lines from Shakespeare’s plays and some of the best audiovisual examples of them given full weight in their dramatic context - ROMEO & JULIET, AS YOU LIKE IT, RICHARD III included - with leading players as iconic as Marlon Brando, Kevin Kline, Sir Ian McKellen, Kenneth Branagh and Leonardo DiCaprio!

Be sure to check out the introductory essay in this SPOTLIGHT ON ANONYMOUS series here, as well as the two previous columns in this 5 Top 5 special series singling out the top present day leading men and leading ladies of Shakespeare both onstage and onscreen.

A little bit AMADEUS, with a touch of TIMON OF ATHENS; a dash of DANGEROUS LIASONS and a heaping of HENRY IV: Parts 1 and 2; a generous helping of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE with a wink to MERCHANT OF VENICE; a bit of BARRY LYNDON and a hint at HAMLET; romance and jealousy ala ROMEO & JULIET; Iago-ian sexual intrigue evocative of OTHELLO; maybe even a malicious, macabre moment of murderous violence or two reminiscent of MACBETH; then, all of it collectively taken, shaken, stirred and whipped up into a visual feast only the man behind THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW could possibly conjure up - like THE TEMPEST's Trinculo himself. That is only some of what ANONYMOUS can and could very well turn out to be. Find out for yourself on October 28!

All The Men And Women Merely Players

As the forlorn and disillusioned artist and balladeer Jaques intones in AS YOU LIKE IT, “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players,” and so goes today’s spotlight on some of the greatest and most-quoted Shakespeare lines to date. While every highschooler knows the balcony scene from ROMEO & JULIET and Marc Antony‘s funereal oration for the fallen JULIUS CAESER, perhaps the RICHARD III material - oh so applicable to modern times, particularly the fearless and prescient McKellen version sampled herein - may also ring a bell or three for you, too. Iago is one of Shakespeare’s finest creations and his monologues in OTHELLO are littered with famous phrases and quotable quips, yet his chilling “I am not what I am” cuts closest to the quick insofar as compelling drama revelations are concerned. From Kenneth Branagh to Marlon Brando to Kevin Kline, as well as modern-day Shakespeare stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, these lines are just a handful of the many momentous occasions of poetic brilliance throughout the comedies, tragedies, histories and latter plays and give an idea of the extent of rich imagery and unforgettable rhetoric inherent in the works of the world’s greatest dramatist, William Shakespeare.

#5 AS YOU LIKE IT - “All the world’s a stage…”

Taken from Kenneth Branagh’s recent film adaptation of the gender-bending comedy/drama AS YOU LIKE IT, first seen on HBO in the US but released in cineplexes internationally, here we have noted Shakespeare interpreter Kevin Kline as an award-winning Jaques, delivering a lovely and lilting song before reciting one of the most recognizable and adored speeches from any Shakespeare comedy - or any play at all, for that matter - the Seven Ages Of Man monologue, which is of course otherwise known as “All the world’s a stage….”



#4 ROMEO & JULIET - “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?”

Baz Luhrmann’s simply stunning and unprecedented modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare’s most classic romantic tragedy shocked and awed audiences when it was released fifteen years ago, yet the power of the Bard’s most potent and youthful speeches come through in full force now as much as then, if not more - particularly in the balcony scene as effectively and innovatively directed by Luhurmann and acted by an assured Claire Danes and a deeply romantic Leonardo DiCaprio, ideally cast in the tragic title roles.




#3 RICHARD III - “Now is the winter of my discontent…”

In perhaps the most ironic staging of any famous and notable Shakespearean line in today’s countdown, see master thespian Sir Ian McKellen deliver Richard III’s immortal “Now is the winter of my discontent” speech as you have most certainly never seen it before: while in the men’s room and making a pretty clear - as it were - comment with an in-your-face visual metaphor to beat the band. What a bustling musical accompaniment we get to go along with the irony, to boot!




#2 OTHELLO - “I am not what I am”

Kenneth Branagh’s worldwide presence as one of the foremost Shakespeare interpreters of the twenty-first century has been firmly established prior here with his appearance as one of our Top Ten Leading Men - if for his Hamlet alone - yet his palpably, desperately sinister portrayal of the diabolical anti-hero Iago in the 1995 film version of OTHELLO is proof that he can conjure considerable dramatic magic even when performing under another director besides himself, as he does so brilliantly and subtly and memorably here in Iago’s most pivotal of his many genius scenes in the complex, sex-drenched tragedy.


#1 JULIUS CAESAR - “Friends, Romans, countrymen…”
Saving the most remembered and riveting for last, here is perhaps the best known Shakespeare line of all - or at least one of the many, many quotable lines that have become a part of our language and culture in the last near-five hundred years - delivered with earth shattering gravitas by one of the greatest and most beloved American actors of all time, Marlon Brando. Here is Mark Antony’s funereal remembrance of his fallen leader, Julius Caesar, and his impassioned words of potential perseverance and, at last, naked honesty, given to the people of Rome.


So, which Shakespeare line do you think will go down in the history books as the most memorable and oft-quoted of all? Surely, more people are familiar with the balcony scene from ROMEO & JULIET than perhaps any other play or musical in history, so, at the end of the day, that may take the prize. Yet, who can help but me moved by Mark Anthony’s heroic words - particularly as performed by the legendary Marlon Brando? As with all of our entries in this special column, limiting the possible entrants to five precludes some of the riches in this collection of the greatest dramatic writing the world has ever known.
Be sure to stay tuned to BroadwayWorld for all things ANONYMOUS as we anticipate its release in movie theaters on October 28. Also, check back for our next Top 5 features, highlighting the Bard's most memorable scenes and moments of deception.

Read more: http://broadwayworld.com/article/Spotlight-On-ANONYMOUS-Shakespeares-Top-5-Lines-20111027#ixzz1cBIUPdF6

Stage Version of ‘Shakespeare in Love’ Moving Ahead

October 21, 2011, 1:09 pm

New York Times

By PATRICK HEALY

“Shakespeare in Love,” the 1998 romantic comedy that won seven Academy Awards, including best picture and acting honors for Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench, is the latest film being eyed for adaptation to the stage. Two leading producers, Disney Theatrical Productions and the British impresario Sonia Friedman, have been holding meetings with the playwright Tom Stoppard – who shared an original screenplay Oscar for “Shakespeare in Love” with Marc Norman – and the director Jack O’Brien about the project, according to theater executives familiar with the creative discussions.
The new version would be a straight play, an exception to the movie-to-stage trend; most films these days are turned into musicals, most recently “Catch Me If You Can,” “Ghost,” “Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” and “Sister Act.” Mr. Stoppard and Mr. O’Brien are long-time collaborators on plays: They won Tony Awards — for best play and best director — in 2007 for Mr. Stoppard’s Russian-history drama “The Coast of Utopia,” and they were both Tony nominees in 2001 for “The Invention of Love.”

No deals have been signed by the two men, but the producers want to collaborate with them as well as with the designer Bob Crowley on the project, according to the executives. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the project is meant to be confidential at this stage.

The plot centers on a young Shakespeare (played in the film by Joseph Fiennes), lovelorn and suffering from writer’s block. In a fit he destroys his latest play, “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter,” and decides to rewrite it as “Romeo and Juliet,” while falling into a romance with a young would-be actress (Ms. Paltrow) who has disguised herself as a man to star in the new play. Ms. Paltrow won the Oscar for best actress, while Ms. Dench won a supporting actress Oscar for a few brief scenes as Queen Elizabeth I.

Thomas Schumacher, the president of Disney Theatrical, was scheduled to fly from Madrid – where a new production of “The Lion King” opened on Thursday night – to London for business meetings next week. It was not clear if he would be meeting with Mr. Stoppard, though executives described their talks about “Shakespeare in Love” as ongoing. Disney holds the rights to develop “Shakespeare in Love,” which was produced by Miramax Films, which at the time was a part of the Walt Disney Company.

A spokesman for Disney Theatrical on Friday declined to comment on the project. Ms. Friedman is one of the busiest producers in London and New York; she is currently represented on Broadway with “The Mountaintop” and “The Book of Mormon,” and last season was a producer of the Broadway revival of Mr. Stoppard’s “Arcadia” (as was Disney Theatrical) as well as “Jerusalem,” The House of Blue Leaves,” and “La Bete.”