Why Eddie Redmayne And Benedict Cumberbatch Get All The Good Acting Jobs according to Rupert Everett

Peter Black , Design & Trend Staff Writer
May, 14, 2015, 09:53 AM
peter.black@designntrend.com




Sophisticated Englishmen are what the American people want, and that is therefore what the American people get, according to British actor Rupert Everett.

Therefore, Everett told Radio Times, Brits should stop complaining that rich private school grads like Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne are nabbing all the seven figure acting jobs in Hollywood.

"Everyone's whining about that but the fact of the matter is, acting is like hooking," Everett said. "What people want to see is what people want to see. What the Americans want to see of the English -- they don't want to see snaggle-toothed working class people, obviously. They want to see upper class people -- that's what they want. That's why they love 'Downton Abbey.'"

"The upper class people are making the films that the Americans like but that's how it is. There's nothing we can do about that," added Everett, star of "My Best Friend's Wedding." "We can't force the Americans to change their minds but we could also just not be so envious and bitter about it and celebrate at the same time all the other people who do amazing work and are huge stars in our own country and then get to break out as well."


READ MORE HERE: http://www.designntrend.com/articles/50866/20150514/rupert-everett-explains-why-eddie-redmayne-benedict-cumberbatch-get-all-the-good-acting-jobs.htm

Colin Firth, Rupert Everett & Julian Mitchell - 'Rupert Everett was a complete b*****d to me'

THE INDEPENDENT
ADAM JACQUES  Author Biography   Sunday 23 March 2014

Julian Mitchell, 78

Mitchell is a screenwriter and playwright, whose work includes the award-winning 1981 production, 'Another Country', which was subsequently adapted into a film starring Colin Firth. He lives in west London

Another Country had been running for more than a year when Colin started in it. It was set in a 1930s boarding school [loosely based on the early life of Cambridge spy Guy Burgess] and we were recasting the play for a third time. I was looking for the two main characters: a flamboyant gay pupil, Guy Bennett [based on Burgess] and a dour Communist one, Tommy Judd. The part of the gay character was played by Rupert Everett initially, then Daniel Day-Lewis – a hard act to follow.

Colin had been playing Hamlet at the London Drama School when he came to audition. He was quite reserved, quiet in himself, though I liked him at once. We cast him as Bennett, and though he was not obviously flamboyant, you don't have to be the part you're playing. He gave a fantastic performance and I felt he could be one of the most talented actors one of his generation.

When it came to making the [1983] film version, Kenneth Branagh, who had played the part of Judd in the stage production, had gone off to Australia to do TV, so I decided to give the part to Colin – he was the only actor ever to play both roles. As a naturally reserved person, I think Colin had less difficulty playing that role, while Rupert returned to play Bennett. At that time, Rupert could be very difficult, and he was not friendly to Colin, so it was not easy for Colin. Though actually, not long ago over lunch [while Firth was filming the comedy St Trinian's co-starring Everett], Colin said to me, "Rupert and I: I think we're supposed to be best friends now!"

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Colin Firth, 53

Firth's big break came in the 1983 West End production of 'Another Country'. He has since won 48 awards, including a Best Actor Academy Award for 'The King's Speech'. He lives in west London with his wife

I was at drama school when Another Country was on in the West End, and it was one of those shows that was talked about. I didn't see Rupert Everett in the role [as Guy Bennett] but my fellow students were saying the dialogue was dazzling, and the reviews were fantastic.

When it came to the point of recasting it for the third time, I got my foot in the door for a cattle-market audition. Julian was the first writer I ever met: it was for my second audition, at his home in Chelsea, and it felt like meeting the Wizard of Oz. I wondered whether he'd come in like a tortured maestro – I've met those – but I found him delightful; he wasn't imperious, he twinkled, and he tried to put me at my ease. He probably thought I was awfully serious, because I was just terrified of a living-room audition.

The rehearsal period was haphazard, as the director only showed up twice a week, so the [producers] got Julian to direct us the other days. As the creator, he was able to give us his own experiences, as it was partly based on his time at Winchester College. I was in awe of him but I liked how he was happy to engage about the play. I once disagreed with him about what a moment was about, and flippantly said "I don't think you understand the play!" He laughed. Being in the role felt meteoric – the play was showered with awards – but they were such wonderfully conceived characters that they flattered any actor.

I always thought after [playing Bennett] that if I was going to be typecast, it would be as a loquacious, outrageous character. But then Julian cast me as Tommy in the film, with Rupert playing Bennett.

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Being Madonna's 'ami necessaire', fancying Colin Firth and liking Alastair Campbell: Rupert Everett on his desert island pictures By RUPERT EVERETT

 

Firth among equals, 1984: With Colin Firth on the set of Another Country. Colin had been cast in the role Kenneth Branagh played on stage. At first I quite fancied him, until he produced a guitar and began to sing protest songs between scenes. It took us 20 years to become friends

The farce be with me, 2009: Dreams do come true! Angela Lansbury, Julie Andrews and me backstage at the Shubert Theatre – I performed with Angela for six months in Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit

Fired? No, I quit! 2006: Sitting at a table for Celebrity Apprentice with Ross Kemp, Danny Baker, Alastair Campbell and Piers Morgan. I knew I could not spend four days with these people. I was sitting with the man who’d sexed up the dossier that took us to war in Iraq. Actually he was rather a nice person...

The odd couple, 2000: On the set of The Next Best Thing, with Madonna. The film tore my career to shreds, but for a few short months – when it was made but not seen – I was her ‘ami necessaire’. The world was fascinated by us and so were we

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-2336143/Rupert-Everett-Being-Madonnas-ami-necessaire-fancying-Colin-Firth-liking-Alastair-Campbell.html#ixzz2VgLyyqz8 

Film Geeks at the Theatre – James McAvoy on the Differences Between Stage and Screen May 15, 2013 By Ben Mortimer (HEY U GUYS UK)

Not all that long ago there was a pretty clear distinction between a theatre actor and a film actor. Once in a blue moon you’d see an A-lister getting back to their roots with a role at the National Theatre, but on the whole the closest you’d get to a well-known thesp on a West End stage was Jason Donovan in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat.

Recently, though, things have been changing. London theatre-goers can see Luke Treadaway, Brian Cox, John Simm, Roger Allam, Zoe Wanamaker, Rupert Everett and Helen Mirren. And that’s just the ones that immediately sprang to mind.

With this in mind, we’ve decided to do something a little different at HeyUGuys: an occasional column looking at the cross over between the worlds of stage and celluloid. We’re calling it ‘Film Geeks at the Theatre.

READ MORE: http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/film-geeks-at-the-theatre-james-mcavoy-on-the-differences-between-stage-and-screen/

Helen Mirren reigns at London's Olivier awards April 28, 2013 | 11:22 pm JILL LAWLESS Associated Press The Washington Examiner

LONDON (AP) -- Helen Mirren was crowned queen of the London stage at the Olivier Awards Sunday, while compelling, canine-titled teen drama "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" emerged as best in show with seven trophies.

Mirren, 67, was a popular and expected best actress choice for her regal yet vulnerable Queen Elizabeth II in "The Audience," Peter Morgan's behind-palace-doors drama about the relationship between Britain's queen and its prime ministers.

The actress, who won an Academy Award in 2007 for playing Britain's monarch in "The Queen," quipped that it was 87-year-old Elizabeth who deserved an award, "for the most consistent and committed performance of the 20th century, and probably the 21st century."

Backstage, it turned out she wasn't kidding. Mirren, who has been Olivier-nominated three times before, said that finally winning "doesn't mean that I was the best actor. There were so many incredible performances out there."

"I was making a joke about the queen winning, but I think actually it is a reflection of the kind of respect the queen is held in," she said.

Her "Audience" co-star, Richard McCabe, who won the supporting actor trophy for playing 1960s and 70s Prime Minister Harold Wilson, said Mirren was a joy to work with.

"It's important as an actor to be absolutely fearless, and she is," he said.

While the queen herself hasn't been to see the Stephen Daldry-directed show -- rumored to be Broadway-bound -- McCabe said "a lot of people in the royal household have been coming in and watching incognito, and they must be reporting back."

The surprise of the awards ceremony at London's Royal Opera House was "Curious Incident," an adaptation of Mark Haddon's best-selling young-adult novel about a teenage math prodigy with Asperger's Syndrome who sets out to find the killer of his neighbor's dog, with destabilizing results.

The show, which premiered at the state-subsidized National Theatre last year before transferring to a commercial West End playhouse, has won praise for its creative use of movement and technology to make the leap from page to stage.

The Simon Stephens-scripted drama was named best new play, and 28-year-old Luke Treadaway was crowned best actor, beating a strong list of contenders including Rupert Everett, Mark Rylance and James McAvoy.


READ MORE: http://washingtonexaminer.com/helen-mirren-reigns-at-londons-olivier-awards/article/2528386

Hugh Bonneville: Olivier Awards ceremony details announced (LONDON THEATER)

Details of some of the performances and guests planned for the Olivier Awards ceremony on Sunday 28 April 2013, at the Royal Opera House, to be broadcast on television on ITV in an extensive highlights package that night, and live on radio on BBC Radio 2.

As previously mentioned, Hugh Bonneville and Sheridan Smith will host proceedings with voiceover by Julia McKenzie.

The Nominations for the 37th Olivier Awards are.

Best Actor
Rupert Everett - The Judas Kiss at Hampstead/Duke of york's
James McAvoy – Macbeth at Trafalgar Studios
Mark Rylance – Twelfth Night at Globe/Apollo
Rafe Spall – Constellations at Royal Court/Duke of York's
Luke Treadaway – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at Cottesloe, NT/Apollo

Best Actress
Helen Mirren – The Audience at Gielgud
Hattie Morahan – A Doll’s House at Young Vic
Billie Piper – The Effect at Cottesloe, NT
Kristin Scott Thomas – Old Timesat Harold Pinter

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Paul Chahidi – Twelfth Night at Globe/Apollo
Richard McCabe – The Audience at Gielgud
Adrian Scarborough – Hedda Gabler at Old Vic
Kyle Soller – Long Day’s Journey Into Night at Apollo

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Janie Dee – NSFW at Royal Court
Anastasia Hille – The Effect at Cottesloe, NT
Cush Jumbo – Julius Caesar at Donmar Warehouse
Helen McCrory – The Last Of The Haussmans at Olivier, NT
Nicola Walker – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at Cottesloe, NT/Apollo

Best New Play
Constellations by Nick Payne at Royal Court/the Duke of York's
The Audience by Peter Morgan at Gielgud
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens at Cottesloe, NT/Apollo
This House by James Graham at Cottesloe/ Olivier, NT

Best Revival
Long Day’s Journey Into Night at Apollo
Macbeth at Trafalgar Studios 1
Old Times at Harold Pinter
Twelfth Night at Globe/Apollo

Best Director
Stephen Daldry – The Audience at Gielgud
Marianne Elliott – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at Cottesloe, NT/Apollo
Jeremy Herrin – This House at Cottesloe/ Olivier, NT
Simon McBurney – The Master And Margarita at barbican

Best Actor in a Musical
Michael Ball – Sweeney Todd at Adelphi
Alex Bourne – Kiss Me, Kate at Old Vic
Tom Chambers – Top Hat at Aldwych
Will Young – Cabaret at Savoy

Best Actress in a Musical
Heather Headley – The Bodyguard at Adelphi
Imelda Staunton – Sweeney Todd at Adelphi
Summer Strallen – Top Hat at Aldwych
Hannah Waddingham – Kiss Me, Kate at Old Vic

Best Performance in A Supporting Role in a Musical
Adam Garcia – Kiss Me, Kate at Old Vic
Debbie Kurup – The Bodyguard at Adelphi
Sian Phillips – Cabaret at Savoy
Leigh Zimmerman – A Chorus Line at Palladium

Best New Musical
Loserville at Garrick
Soul Sister at Savoy
The Bodyguard at Adelphi
Top Hat at Aldwych

Best Musical Revival
A Chorus Line at Palladium
Cabaret at Savoy
Kiss Me, Kate at old Vic
Sweeney Todd at Adelphi

Best Entertainment & Family
Cinderella at St James Theatre
Goodnight Mister Tom at Phoenix
Hansel And Gretel at Cottesloe, NT
Room On The Broom at Lyric

Best Theatre Choreographer
Scott Ambler – Chariots Of Fire at Hampstead at Hampstead/ Gielgud
Bill Deamer – Top Hat at Aldwych
Scott Graham & Steven Hoggett – The Curious Incident of the dog in the Night-Time at Cottesloe, NT/Apollo
Stephen Mear – Kiss Me, Kate at Old Vic

Best Set Design
Hildegard Bechtler – Top Hat at Aldwych
Miriam Buether & Wang Gongxin – Wild Swans at Young Vic
Bunny Christie & Finn Ross – The Curious Incident of the dog in the Night-Time at Cottesloe, NT/Apollo
Tim Hatley – The Bodyguard at Adelphi

Best Lighting Design
Paul Anderson – The Master And Margarita at Barbican
Paule Constable – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at Cottesloe, NT/Apollo
Lee Curran – Constellations at Royal Court/Duke of York's
Mark Henderson – Sweeney Todd at Adelphi

Best Costume Design
Bob Crowley – The Audience at Gielgud
Jon Morrell – Top Hat at Aldwych
Jenny Tiramani – Twelfth Night at Globe/Apollo
Anthony Ward – Sweeney Todd at Adelphi

Best Sound Design
Ian Dickinson – The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time at Cottesloe, NT/Apollo
Paul Groothuis – Sweeney Todd at Adelphi
David McSeveney – Constellations at Royal Court/Duke of York's
Gareth Owen – Top Hat at Aldwych

Audience Award for Most Popular Show
Billy Elliot The Musical
Matilda The Musical
The Phantom Of The Opera
Wicked

Outstanding Achievement In An Affiliate Theatre 
Caroline Horton for You’re Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy at the Bush Theatre
The production of Red Velvet at the Tricycle Theatre
The season of new writing at the Royal Court Upstairs
Kate Bond and Morgan Lloyd for You Me Bum Bum Train, presented by Theatre Royal Stratford East

Best new Opera Production
Billy Budd, English National Opera at the London Coliseum
Caligula, English National Opera at the London Coliseum
Einstein On The Beach at the Barbican Theatre
La Traviata, English National Opera at the London Coliseum

Outstanding Achievement in Opera
Edward Gardner for his conducting of The Flying Dutchman and Billy Budd at the English National Opera, London Coliseum
Bryan Hymel for his performances in Les Troyens, Robert Le Diable and Rusalka at the Royal Opera House
Music Theatre Wales for In the Locked Room/Ghost Patrol at the Linbury Theatre, the Royal Opera House
The Stage Management teams at English National Opera, London Coliseum and the Royal Opera House

Best New Dance Production
Aeternum by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, choreographed by Christoper Wheeldon
Cacti by Nederlands Dans Theatre 2 at Sadler’s Wells, choreographed by Alexander Ekman
A Streetcar Named Desire by Scottish Ballet at Sadler’s Wells

Outstanding Achievement in Dance
Lez Brotherston for the set and costumes for Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty, New Adventures at Sadler’s Wells
ILL-Abilities company in Breakin’ Convention at Sadler’s Wells
Marianela Nunez for Aeternum, Diana & Actaeon and Viscera, The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House

Special Award
Former Olivier Award winners Gillian Lynne and Michael Frayn are to be honoured with Special Awards for their outstanding contributions to theatre.

READ MORE: http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/londontheatre/news/ap13/olivierawardsceromony111664.htm

Helen Mirren nominated for an Olivier Award TELEGRAPH

By Daisy Bowie-Sell

1:45AM GMT 26 Mar 2013

She has won an Oscar, a Bafta and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of The Queen, and now Helen Mirren will have the chance to add an Olivier to her list of awards won for playing Elizabeth II.

Mirren has been nominated in the Best Actress category this year, for her role in the new play The Audience, directed by Stephen Daldry.

The Audience opened to a string of favourable reviews earlier this month, with Charles Spencer, The Daily Telegraph's theatre critic, calling Mirren's performance 'Magnificent'.

The actress will be competing for the award against Hattie Morahan, who won this year's Evening Standard Theatre Award for her role as Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House, Billie Piper for The Effect and Kristin Scott Thomas for Old Times.

In the Best Actor category Mark Rylance has been nominated for his acclaimed, cross-dressing performance in Twelfth Night. He is up against Rupert Everett in The Judas Kiss, James McAvoy in Macbeth, Rafe Spall in Constellations and Luke Treadaway in The Curious Incident.

READ MORE:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/9953945/Olivier-Award-nominations-Helen-Mirren-nominated-for-best-actress.html

Benedict Cumberbatch : Parade's End, the New Downton Abbey? (WALL STREET JOURNAL VIDEO)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJT_WvTAM5s

Move over, Downton Abbey: Parade’s End is moving in Stellar writing and cast make British period piece a winner By Bill Brownstein, Montreal Gazette February 20, 2013 (CALGARY HERALD)

MONTREAL - Great news for those going through the initial stages of Downton Abbey withdrawal: another sterling British period piece is set to make its North American debut.

The five-part miniseries Parade’s End begins Tuesday on HBO Canada. But unlike Downton Abbey, viewers won’t have to wait endless weeks for it to wrap. This Parade comes to an end on Feb. 28; the entire series airs over three nights.

Saving the best for last: Not to detract from Downton Abbey, but Parade’s End packs even more of a punch. Yet it, too, has epic sweep, replete with lavish costumes, tony castles and manicured gardens.

Not that time-honoured servitude doesn’t come into the fray, but Parade’s End is much more upstairs than downstairs-oriented. There is also more passion and more mirth at play here than in Downton Abbey. The tension builds dramatically in this bittersweet tale of love and valour. And the “whiff of sex permeates like a vapour,” as one character so accurately assesses.

Not to detract from the work of Maggie Smith et al at the Abbey, but Parade’s End stars Benedict Cumberbatch (yes, the same guy somewhat slumming in the Sherlock TV series), Rebecca Hall, Adelaide Clemens, Rupert Everett, Stephen Graham, Janet McTeer, Miranda Richardson and many more give the equivalent of a master class in acting. Even the late Sir Larry Olivier would be dazzled.

And not to detract from Downton Abbey creator/writer Julian Fellowes, but it’s hard to top scripts penned by playwright Tom Stoppard, who has adapted this series from the acclaimed four novels of Ford Madox Ford. The dialogue, be it tongue-in-cheek droll or deliciously treacherous, is brilliant. To wit: “He’s not dead. He’s in Glasgow.” Or, “He’s a great lump of wood … (I want) to kill him to see if he has any blood in him.”



Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Move+over+Downton+Abbey+Parade+moving/7990821/story.html#ixzz2La6W2suT

Parade's End, final episode, BBC Two, review Serena Davies reviews the final episode of Tom Stoppard’s BBC Two adaptation of Ford Madox Ford's Edwardian novels Parade's End. (TELEGRAPH)

So what, finally, did Parade’s End amount to? The last episode of Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of Ford Madox Ford’s doorstopper has aired on BBC Two. Half its scenes were of war and gory wounds; the other half of society chat, which came with its own form of lacerations, in the cutting remarks of the witchy Sylvia Tietjens (Rebecca Hall).

The BBC has thrown a lot at this drama: huge amounts of cash (American moneybags HBO helped out), two leads (Hall and Benedict Cumberbatch) with burgeoning Hollywood careers, and a script by Britain’s Greatest Living Playwright (arguably).

Stoppard duly delivered a screenplay that was ever astute, often funny and nearly always lucid – a feat considering the source material is frequently impenetrable. The script was also that remarkable thing in this Downton-saturated age: never sentimental.

In the final episode, noble, unglamorous hero Christopher Tietjens (Cumberbatch) finally got to the Front. There he met a shell-shocked CO who liked to summon pot shots from the Germans by careering across No Man’s Land. In Steven Robertson’s mercurial performance he had a whiff of Brideshead’s Sebastian Flyte about him: destroyed by hateful circumstances, but a bit of an immature fool to begin with.

The CO was spared the snipers (that would have been too obviously sad) but Sylvia’s twerp of a lover, Potty Perowne, was buried up to his neck by a shell, a fixed grin turned heavenwards. This moment elicited the evening’s funniest line. Sylvia, after defending her affair with him to her mother by saying it was an act of charity – “as Jesus would have done” then added: “They say he died with a smile on his face. Potty, that is.”

READ MORE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9558694/Parades-End-final-episode-BBC-Two-review.html

Colin Firth - Colin Firth confirmed for Rupert Everett's Oscar Wilde film 19 September 2012 16:10 (CONTACT MUSIC)

Colin Firth will take part in Rupert Everett's Oscar Wilde biopic 'The Happy Prince'.

Rupert confirmed the Oscar-winning star has agreed to take part in the movie - which he has written and will star in and direct - and while he is currently waiting for financing, he is hopeful it will all come together.

He said: ''I'm trying to scrabble together the money. Colin Firth is going to do it, he has to be in it. So that's going to be good.

''I think directing and playing Oscar will be very difficult - I wrote it as well, it's going to be pretty hard. But lots of actors do direct and act themselves and I feel it is a subject that I really know very well so hopefully it's all going to come together.''

read more: http://www.contactmusic.com/news/colin-firth-confirmed-for-rupert-everett-s-oscar-wilde-film_3285759

Benedict Cumberbatch: Parade's End, episode four, BBC Two, review Episode four of Parade's End, Tom Stoppard's lush adaptaion of Ford Madox Ford's Edwardian tetralogy, was darkly humorous in tone, writes Patrick Smith. (TELEGRAPH)

By Patrick Smith
10:30PM BST 14 Sep 2012

There were shades of Evelyn Waugh in tonight's penultimate instalment of Parade's End (BBC Two), Tom Stoppard's lush, languorous adaptation of Ford Madox Ford's Edwardian tetralogy. Darkly humorous in tone, it found the putty-mouthed aristocrat Christopher Tietjens (Benedict Cumberbatch) stationed in a base depot near Rouen, fed up with the monotony and harebrained bureaucracy of life on the Western Front.

Though within range of German artillery, this was supposedly a safe posting; his day-to-day duties involved ordering fire extinguishers and dreaming of his would-be lover Valentine Wannop (Adelaide Clemens).

There was a problem, however, in the form of his wife, Sylvia (the wonderful Rebecca Hall). Determined to get written approval from her husband to move into his family estate, Groby, Sylvia decided that she wanted to pay him a visit – despite General Campion (Roger Allam) being vehemently against the idea. “I’ve never known a woman like her," he fumed. "On no account is Mrs Tietjens to be allowed within 50 miles of Rouen, understood? I will not have skirts around my HQ."

Nevertheless, we watched as she charmed her way through France to show up at the General's camp. Indeed, Sylvia remained the most compelling thing about Parade's End: alluring, insouciant and deliciously duplicitous. We also saw her display a rare moment of vulnerability. “I haven’t had a man for five years," she said to her husband, sorrowfully. "I haven't let myself be kissed or touched. Not once. Not since Perowne (Tom Mison). Potty Perowne. Can you see how I must have been feeling to go with a fool like Perowne?" It made for affecting television.


READ MORE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9544475/Parades-End-episode-four-BBC-Two-review.html

Colin Firth project for Canongate 22.08.12 | Benedicte Page (THE BOOKSELLER)

Canongate is working with a group of actors and musicians including Academy Award-winner Colin Firth on a multimedia project called The People Speak.

Alongside a book, the project will include a stage show which will bring to life the voices of British campaigners, dissidents and visionaries from the 12th century to the present day.

The idea began life in America, where performers such as Matt Damon and Bob Dylan supported the scheme. Author and editor Anthony Arnove has now brought the idea to the UK, where a cast including Ian McKellen and Rupert Everett will perform at the Tabernacle in Notting Hill, west London, on 16th September.

Canongate will publish an accompanying book, The People Speak, on 13th September priced at £17.99, compiled by Firth, Arnove and historian David Horspool, collecting a range of speeches, songs and letters from British history by writers including Emmeline Pankhurst and Oscar Wilde

READ MORE: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/firth-project-canongate.html

Two sex scenes in the first six minutes... the steamy saga that the BBC hopes will grab Downton's crown By CHRIS HASTINGS and EMILY HILL (DAILY MAIL)

On the night before her wedding, in a sumptuous Parisian hotel suite, a beautiful bride-to-be with tumbling red hair opens the door to her lover. Although he is not the man she is to marry in the morning, they kiss passionately, before he rips off her clothes and ravishes her on the carpet.

This is the arresting opening to the BBC’s latest period drama, Parade’s End.

It boasts two sex scenes in the first six minutes. The second features the show’s stars, Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall, breathlessly panting and grappling at one another through illicit sexual congress in a railway carriage. A scene in a later episode shows a naked Hall smoking in the bath.


Downton Abbey’s Lord and Lady Grantham would be appalled – never dreaming of such lewdness. But the BBC hopes that Parade’s End will soon be beating Downton in the battle for ratings and critical plaudits.

Cumberbatch has already launched an attack on ITV’s hit costume drama, denouncing it as  ‘sentimental’, ‘cliched’ and ‘atrocious’.

Outraged Downton devotees are now labelling the actor ‘Cumberbitch’ but its creator, Julian Fellowes, appears to be talking down the furore, claiming: ‘I am quite sure what Ben said has been taken out of context.’

Like Downton, Parade’s End opens in 1912 and unravels the tangled love lives of the English upper-classes in the run-up to the First World War. It soon makes Fellowes’s version of Edwardian life – in which a Turkish gentleman has died in Lady Mary’s bed after making love with her and Lady Sybil has run off with a chauffeur – look positively prim and proper. TV insiders have already dubbed the BBC production ‘Downton for grown-ups’.

‘I like the idea of it being called an adult drama,’ says Susanna White, director of the new five-part series. ‘The two shows are very different animals and although they may appear to have the same spots, they don’t.
‘The only similarity is the period in which they are set and the fact that they are both about a load of toffs.

‘Downton is just a lovely thing to curl up in front of with a glass of wine but ours is the opposite. I like to think of Parade’s End as Downton Abbey meets The Wire,’ she adds, referring to the gritty American crime series.


The £12 million production – one of the most expensive dramas ever commissioned by the BBC – was adapted from acclaimed modernist writer Ford Madox Ford’s series of four novels also called Parade’s End.

In contrast to Downton Abbey, which many viewers feel at times descends into soap opera, the BBC drama could not be more highbrow. ‘Ford Madox Ford tracks the shifting moods of the nation, from chauvinistic pre-war Edwardian complacency to post-war exhaustion,’ says Professor of Literature John Sutherland at University College London. ‘It was a big subject. For those inspired to pick up Penguin’s tie-in edition of Parade’s End be warned: it’s 856 pages. At two minutes a page . . . well, you can do the maths.’

Adapted by playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, Parade’s End was filmed across 150 sets and boasts a cast that also includes Miranda Richardson, Rupert Everett and Anne-Marie Duff.


Read more:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2190323/Parades-End-Two-sex-scenes-minutes--steamy-saga-BBC-hopes-grab-Downtons-crown.html

Judi Dench heads to West End and cygnets take on Swan Lake Judi Dench, Daniel Radcliffe and Jude Law set for West End stage, Max Stafford-Clark opens up rehearsals and a French ballet company hatches a plan for Swan Lake with real swans Share 0 Email Alistair Smith guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 June 2012 09.52 EDT

A veritable galaxy of stars are lining up to tread West End (and off-West End) boards in the coming months, with a slew of star-led shows announced. Rowan Atkinson, most recently seen on stage as Fagin in the musical Oliver!, will be performing in his first play in more than 20 years when he appears in a revival of Quartermaine's Terms by Simon Gray. Meanwhile, Sheridan Smith – fresh from critical acclaim for a run of theatrical turns – will take on the title role in Hedda Gabler at London's Old Vic. Another meaty female role is in the offing – for Anna Friel, who will appear as Yelena opposite Ken Stott as Uncle Vanya and with Samuel West as Astrov. And, in north London, Rupert Everett and Freddie Fox are lined up to star in Judas Kiss at the Hampstead Theatre: the play tells the story of Oscar Wilde's relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas.

Not to be outdone, former Donmar Warehouse boss Michael Grandage has just announced a 15-month West End season launching this December, spanning five plays and featuring stars including Judi Dench, Daniel Radcliffe, Simon Russell Beale, David Walliams, Jude Law and Sheridan Smith again. If that weren't impressive enough, 100,000 tickets will be available at the distinctly un-starry price of £10.


READ MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/jun/15/judi-dench-west-end-swan-lake?newsfeed=true

Men on Fire: George Clooney, Colin Firth and Denzel Washington have been named as the sexiest men over 50. (CONTACT MUSIC)

George Clooney, Colin Firth and Denzel Washington have been named as the sexiest men over 50.
The actors are among 21 hunks to make AARP magazine's 'Men on Fire' list of older heartthrobs.

Other stars to make the cut include actors Viggo Mortensen, Liam Neeson and Samuel Jackson, rocker Jon Bon Jovi and Antonio Banderas.

When asked by the magazine whether he feels pressure to look younger, Antonio, 51, said: ''No. Well, yes, I'm a little bald, but I don't think the pressure is just a Hollywood thing. It's a social thing.
 

AARP magazine, Men on Fire list 2012:
George Clooney
Colin Firth
Denzel Washington
Jon Bon Jovi
Antonio Banderas
Jon Huntsman Jr.
Samuel Jackson
Liam Neeson
Denzel Washington
Brian Williams
Yo-Yo Ma
Scott Bakula
James Brolin
Rupert Everett
John Irving
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Andy Mill
Leslie Moonves
Viggo Mortensen
Paul Sereno
George Strait
Mario Van Peebles



READ MORE:  http://www.contactmusic.com/news/george-clooney-and-denzel-washington-are-men-on-fire_1332113

Colin Firth To Play Noel Coward In 'Mad Dogs And Englishmen,' & Co-Star In Rupert Everett's Oscar Wilde Biopic NEWS BY CAIN RODRIGUEZ | MAY 22, 2012 3:50 PM (INDIEWIRE)

Colin Firth is set to play famed English playwright Noel Coward, in the Willy Holtzman-penned project, “Mad Dogs And Englishmen,” about Coward’s eventful two week stay at The Desert Inn in Las Vegas in 1955. Although there’s still no director attached, this seems like a great role for the actor to sink his teeth into, as Coward was famous for what Time called “a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise.” So we’ll be definitely be looking forward to this project in the future. [Screen Daily]

And finally, Rupert Everett will make his directorial and screenwriting debut with “The Happy Prince,” an Oscar Wilde biopic. Everett, pulling triple duty, stars as Wilde, and has drafted a talented cast to help him realize Wilde’s life, including Colin Firth (him again?) legendary character actor Edward Fox, Emily Watson, and Tom Wilkinson.The film will take place during Wilde’s final days as he looks back on his life with characteristic dry wit and black humor, and seeing as it shares a name with Wilde's classic fairy tale, it may well end up including some elements of that story. There’s been a whole slew of actors getting behind the camera over the past few years, hopefully Everett ends up on the Ben Affleck side of the spectrum. Shooting starts summer 2013. [Hollywood Reporter]

READ MORE:  http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/colin-firth-to-play-noel-coward-in-mad-dogs-and-englishmen-co-star-in-rupert-everetts-oscar-wilde-biopic-20120522

Rupert Everett to Direct Wilde Biopic 22nd May 2012 (FEMALE FIRST)

Actor Rupert Everett will make his directorial debut with a biopic about OSCAR WILDE.

The My Best Friend's Wedding star, who appeared in movie versions of Wilde's plays An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, will step behind the camera for The Happy Prince.

Everett will also portray his literary hero in the film, which will co-star Colin Firth as the Irish writer's friend and confidante Reginald Turner.

The actor, who is a published author, will also write the script for the film, which chronicles Wilde's final days.



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

Rupert Everett and Colin Firth in "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Colin Firth Will Star As Oscar Wilde For Director Rupert Everett BY JEREMY KINSER MAY 21 2012 12:03 PM ET (ADVOCATE)

Colin Firth will portray legendary writer and wit Oscar Wilde in a film biography that will mark the feature directorial debut of out actor Rupert Everett, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Happy Prince is described as a comedy biography that will look at "Wilde’s final, tragic days as he looks back on the disasters of his life with characteristic dry wit and black humor." Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, and Edward Fox are also attached to star in the film. Shooting for the film is expected to begin Summer 2013. Everett previously starred in two film versions of Wilde's plays, 1999's An Ideal Husband and 2002's The Importance of Being Earnest.

READ MORE: http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/film/2012/05/21/colin-firth-will-star-oscar-wilde-director-rupert-everett

Colin Firth and Rupert Everett - St. Trinian bloopers and the kiss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4wXoqU0ep4