Alan Rickman Charms Audience During BAFTA Life In Pictures Event

DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD
by Ali Jaafar
April 17, 2015 6:21am


Copyright BAFTA

August actor-director Alan Rickman effortlessly charmed audiences on a balmy London evening as he took a stroll down memory lane for the latest in BAFTA’s Life in Pictures series. Recalling a career that has seen him work with some of the film industry’s most talented and eclectic directors, including Neil Jordan, Alfonso Cuaron, Tim Burton, Ang Lee and the late Anthony Minghella, Rickman mused on his late start in the film business. “To be perfectly honest, having a film career is a bit of a surprise,” said the RADA alumni, who was in his 40s when he appeared in his first film. It didn’t hurt his career for that first film to be the era-defining Die Hard in 1988.



“I was extremely cheap,” quipped Rickman about what made the newbie thesp attractive to Die Hard producer Joel Silver, before remembering he almost turned the role down. “I read it and said, ‘What the hell is this? I’m not doing an action movie.” Thankfully for Rickman, and audiences, he was persuaded by friends to take that first role even though it might also have proven his last. Recalling how he had to perform his own stunt in the climactic fall from the top of the skyscraper — this was in the pre-CGI days — Rickman was given one afternoon’s training to prepare for the scene, “which was the very last shot — just in case.”

He also commended Die Hard for its ahead-of-its-time racial diversity. “Every single black character in that film was positive. So, 28 years ago, that was quite revolutionary and quietly so.”

The decade he spent working on the Harry Potter series, seven weeks a year for ten years as Snape, began with him having no idea where the initially ambiguous character was going. “People thought  I knew a lot but I didn’t. There were only 3 three books (when we started), so I was learning with the readers, going, ‘Oh, he’s still in it,” joked Rickman. “At first I thought I can’t play this. I don’t know who Snape is. I’m going to need to speak to her (J.K. Rowling)….she gave me one piece of information I promised to never share and I never did but it made me know I had to drive down two roads at the same time.”

Britain’s child labour laws also meant that there were tight limits on how many hours the triumvirate of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint could work, so when the camera was focused on Rickman, “in would come the very small adult actors aged 33 with a wig on their heads…That ain’t the back of Daniel’s head.”

READ MORE HERE: http://deadline.com/2015/04/alan-rickman-bafta-die-hard-harry-potter-robin-hood-kate-winslet-1201411669/

Downton Abbey's Laura Carmichael joins the cast of Madame Bovary

RADIO TIMES
Emily Dixon
4:07 PM, 01 October 2013

Downton Abbey’s Laura Carmichael – better known to viewers as Lady Edith – has joined the cast of Sophie Barthes’ upcoming adaptation of Flaubert's classic novel Madame Bovary, according to Variety. Carmichael is the second Downton star to be cast, alongside Paul Giamatti, who will debut as Lady Edith’s playboy uncle in the current season.

 Carmichael is cast as Henrietta, a character not named in the book but possibly based on that of Heloise, the first wife of Madame Bovary's husband Charles. Mia Wasikowska, star of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, will play the titular Emma Bovary, a country girl whose idealistic notions of romance, and her disillusionment with her husband, lead her to ill-fated infidelity and financial trouble.

READ MORE HERE:http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-10-01/downton-abbeys-laura-carmichael-joins-the-cast-of-madame-bovary

Helena Bonham Carter: 25 Things You Didn't Know About the British Actress Posted July 5th, 2013 1:00PMby Erin Whitney TAGS (MOVIEFONE)

14. Johnny Depp is the godfather of her child, Billy Ray.

15. She is a distant cousin of Kate Middleton.

16. Helena McCrory, who played Narcissa Malfoy in "Harry Potter," was originally cast as Bellatrix Lestrange. However, after McCrory became pregnant, she was unable to shoot all of Lestrange's scenes, so Bonham-Carter got the part.

17. She wore fake teeth in "Planet of the Apes" (2001), "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005), and the the "Harry Potter" films.

18. While filming "Terminator Salvation" in New Mexico in 2008, her relatives were involved in a tragic bus accident in South Africa. Helena's cousin Fiona Bonham-Carter survived, but four of her family members died.

19. Why is Bonham-Carter so great as Mrs. Lovett in "Sweeney Todd"? Because she underwent extensive vocal lessons and studied baking in preparation for her role in the 2007 musical f Let's hope she practiced with the normal kind of meat pies...

20. Bonham-Carter was originally set to play a cyborg in "Terminator Salvation" (2009). However, after the script was leaked online her character was rewritten, a move that significantly cut down her screen time.

21. During the shooting of "Fight Club," Bonham-Carter insisted that her makeup artist (Julie Pearce) apply all of her eye makeup with her left hand, because the actress felt that Marla was not a person who would be particularly skilled at (or concerned with) correctly applying makeup.

22. She's a believer in "multiple drinking," which she described in an interview with the Guardian as drinking more than one drink at a time to sustain a balanced diet. While she admitted this wasn't a scientific fact, Bonham-Carter still enjoys having options when it comes to quenching her thirst.

23. She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2012 Queen's New Years Honors List for her services to drama.

24. She was considered for the role of Sarah in "Labyrinth" (1986), but lost out to Jennifer Connelly.

25. She grew up dreaming of becoming one of the "Charlie's Angels."

Sources: IMDb, Wikipedia, Digital Spy, The Guardian

READ 1 THRU 13 HERE: http://news.moviefone.com/2013/07/05/helena-bonham-carter-25-things-you-didnt-know/

Ewan McGregor: Watch Ewan McGregor in His 1993 Film Debut ‘Family Style’ Features By Christopher Campbell on February 24, 2013 (FILM SCHOOL REJECTS)

Short Starts presents a weekly short film from the start of a filmmaker or actor’s career. 

Twenty years ago, a young Ewan McGregor began his acting career with a short film made for Channel 4 called Family Style. The 11-minute, black and white effort was also the directorial debut of Justin Chadwick, whose latest, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, was just acquired for distribution by The Weinstein Co. Back in 1993, McGregor still had long hair, a look you’ll find familiar if you’ve seen Shallow Grave, and was far from being a great actor. His crying scene in Family Style is pretty awful. But look at what two decades does for a guy, going from a breakthrough role in Trainspotting to portraying a young Obi-Wan Kenobi and working with Woody Allen, Baz Luhrman, Peter Greenaway, Todd Haynes, Tim Burton, Ridley Scott, Ron Howard, Steven Soderbergh and Roman Polanski, earning two Golden Globe nominations… And now co-starring in a big budget, live-action adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk (Jack the Giant Slayer). Well, he’s mostly had great run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CwSWbJVHrK8

READ MORE: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/watch-ewan-mcgregors-1993-film-debut-family-style.php

Helena Bonham Carter gets better with age Updated: 06:19, Monday October 29, 2012 (SKY NEWS)

Helena Bonham Carter thinks her acting gets better with age.

The 'Great Expectations' star is happy with being offered film roles for older women and thinks it proves how versatile her skills are, despite feeling like a "fraud" when she first started out because she felt so inexperienced.

Helena said: "Mother and granny parts? I'm up for them. Fine by me. I think that most people in the industry know that I have a range, you know. Actually, I do truly believe that ageing has made me a far better actor.

"When I was in films with people who had so much experience, I felt a total fraud. I was waiting to be exposed. I was bluffing it."


READ MORE:http://www.skynews.com.au/showbiz/article.aspx?id=810528 

Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp: Dark Shadows (ET)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6IC9z-aK6d8#!

Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Dark Shadows Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpWvkFlyl4M&feature=player_embedded

I can't wait to see this - it looks hysterical!  If you remember the original Dark Shadows, #1 you're old and B. it was probably the very worst soap opera on TV and we all loved it!!  Scenery fell over, set workers smoked off screen and passed outside the windows when the scene was supposed to be the second story of Colinwood - Joan Bennett looked as if she had passed away the year before and no one informed her.

We would race home from school and everyone watched it.  This version, however, is meant to be funny and Johnny Depp looks fantastic.  

Dark Shadows trailer divides fans (MTV)

Get More: Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloe Moretz, Eva Green, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

Our columnist defends Tim Burton's comedic re-imagining of the vampire soap.
By John Mitchell


The first trailer for Tim Burton's big-screen adaptation of the late-'60s/ early-'70s vampire soap opera "Dark Shadows" dropped Thursday, and it has sharply divided fans. In one corner are "Shadows" purists, who seem none too pleased with the director's decision to re-imagine the campy but deadly serious soap as a gonzo comedy. In the other corner are more casual fans and Burton enthusiasts, who are seeing shades of "Beetlejuice" and "Edward Scissorhands" and loving it.


READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE:  http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1681234/dark-shadows-trailer-reactions.jhtml

Royal recognition for 'Queen Mother' Helena Bonham Carter (The Independent)

New Year Honours: Entertainment

Nick Clark

Saturday 31 December 2011

Helena Bonham Carter started the year playing the Queen's mother. Next year she will enjoy a real visit to Buckingham Palace to be honoured for services to acting.

The actress, who starred in The King's Speech opposite Colin Firth, is appointed CBE in today's New Year Honours list. Other entertainers to be recognised include the veteran comedian Ronnie Corbett and the presenter Lorraine Kelly.

Bonham Carter, who lives in London with her husband Tim Burton, the film director, got her first acting job at 16, in a television advert. Her breakthrough role came in 1985 as Lucy Honeychurch in the Merchant Ivory film A Room With A View. She has also appeared in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite and played Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter film series.

The King's Speech went on to win four Oscars including Best Picture.

Corbett is appointed CBE for his services to entertainment and charity work, 33 years after he was created OBE. The 81-year-old, who started out in cabaret, moved into television in the 1950s. The much-loved Scot remains most famous for The Two Ronnies, with Ronnie Barker, which ran from 1971 to 1987, and Sorry. More recently, he appeared in the comedy film thriller Burke And Hare, and the BBC Radio 4 sitcom When The Dog Dies.

Lorraine Kelly, who presents Lorraine on ITV, is created OBE for services to charity and the armed forces. Kelly, who left school at 17 to join her local paper before moving to GMTV, said she was "thrilled and deeply honoured". She has supported charities including Comic Relief, Muscle Help Foundation and Freedom from Fistula.

Remi Adefarasin, a cinematographer working in television and films, is appointed OBE. His work includes the Second World War television series Band Of Brothers.

The actor David Harewood, who played Nelson Mandela in the TV film Mrs Mandela, is created MBE.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/royal-recognition-for-queen-mother-helena-6283405.html

Helena Bonham Carter's Sassy Lass (Daily Buzz)

Dec 27, 2011 by DESIREE FAWN

Helena Bonham Carter and her adorable daughter Nell - who celebrated her 4th birthday earlier this month - were spotted out on a little shopping trip together in London, England on Tuesday afternoon. The duo made a stop at Tesco to pick up a few things before heading home.

The cheeky tot stuck her tongue out at someone as she made her way outside - perhaps she was letting the paps know she spotted them!

Recently, in reference to her Oscar nomination for her role in The King’s Speech, the 45-year-old actress joked to producer Harvey Weinstein about the award she’d rather receive:

I’ve been kind of lying low, frankly. I’d told him I prefer to be best supporting mom than best supporting actress.

Helena and her partner, Tim Burton, are also parents to 8-year-old Billy Raymond. The couple met in 2001.

Photos: Bauer Griffin

http://celebritybabyscoop.com/2011/12/27/helena-bonham-carters-sassy-lass

'Dark Shadows': Johnny Depp, Vampires, Spooky First Looks In 2011

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp in production for "Dark Shadows"

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

 

We relive the best moments of the year as production on Tim Burton's 2012 adaptation finally kicked off.

By John Mitchell This year, filming finally began on director Tim Burton's long-in-the-works big-screen adaptation of "Dark Shadows," a campy, late-1960s soap opera about vampires, witches and time travel. Burton is a lifelong fan of the series and, as his partner Helena Bonham Carter told MTV News this month, "This was a thing that he raced home to see when he was about age 10."

With its atmospheric New England setting and myriad mysterious characters, "Shadows" has the feel of a classic Burton film, more akin to his "Sleepy Hollow" and "Batman" flicks than his more candy-colored efforts like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." And Burton at his dark and spooky best, working on a passion project, is something to get excited about.

Production began on "Shadows" at Pinewood Studios outside of London in May. The director lined up a dream cast — from Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer to Chloe Moretz and Jackie Earle Haley, not a single part appears miscast.

And while Burton has kept the film under lock and key, paparazzi did catch a fleeting glimpse of Depp during production, which briefly became cause for worry among some fans of the series. The shot of Depp in character as Barnabus Collins, wearing heavy white makeup walking down a seaside hill, found its way online in mid-September and was derided by fans as being too cartoonish, too reminiscent of Depp's styling in Burton's "Alice in Wonderland." Based on those initial images, the world Burton looked to be creating seemed to have little in common with the Gothic aesthetic established in the soap.

Concerns were alleviated, however, when just a week later, Entertainment Weekly debuted the first official image from the film. Through Burton's lens (and some creepy filters), Depp's makeup took on the undead-but-oddly alluring look you'd expect from a traditional vampire movie. The rest of the cast captured the feel of their TV counterparts too: Pfeiffer looked regal and sullen as family matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard; Johnny Lee Miller's smarm as Roger Collins was apparent; and Bonham Carter looked every bit the orange-haired, eccentric "alcoholic psychiatrist," Dr. Julia Hoffman.

Of the film, Moretz, who plays Carolyn Stoddard, had this to say when talking to MTV News last month: "It straddles the typical Burton line: camp and drama. It's an amazing movie. Going in and working on this movie with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter — it really does get back to Tim's roots. It gets back to 'Beetlejuice,' 'Edward Scissorhands,' back to true Burton. So working on this movie was epic for me because he's always been my dream director to work with because, god, he's so iconic."

Moretz's "Shadows" co-stars share the love for Burton. Pfeiffer, who worked with the director on 1992's"Batman Returns," described work on the new film as a "dream job." "[It is] such a fun cast and we had so much fun. I just love working with Tim [Burton], I love watching him direct. [There's] nobody like him," she told MTV News. "I loved meeting Helena and getting to know her. I hope it's successful so that we can do a bunch of them because it was such a fantastic, creative group of people."


Hopefully, that on-set camaraderie and excitement will help "Shadows" fulfill fans' high expectations. The original soap spanned some 1,225 episodes, so there's plenty of plot for sequels if Pfeiffer gets her wish. While we're still waiting for a trailer for the May 11, 2012, release (come on, Tim, give us something!), what we've seen so far gives us faith that Burton and Co. are getting it all exactly right!


MTV

Tim Burton Enters Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

 Jessica (Tuesday, November 15th, 2011 at 5:37 pm)

Tags: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Tim Burton

Calling it now–Helena Bonham Carter is going to star in this movie along with Johnny Depp. And it shouldn’t be too hard for Bonham Carter to land the role since she’s married to Tim Burton in the first place. Deadline is reporting that Tim Burton is in early talks to come aboard “Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children”, the Ransom Riggs novel that 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment acquired last spring. Burton is in talks to develop the book as a potential directing project, and he would be involved in setting a writer to adapt the tale.


Here’s the book’s description via Amazon:

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs.
It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

Burton currently has lots on his plate. Most recently wrapping his work on “Dark Shadows” for Warner Bros with Johnny Depp, and directed the feature-length version of his short film “Frankenweenie” by Disney. Burton also produced the Timur Bekmambetov-directed “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” for Fox.

MH

Brace yourselves - Johnny Depp's "Dark Shadows" is vintage Tim Burton

Perez Hilton

Tim Burton has truly created his own world within the realm of cinema. But while new generations are falling in love with Alice in Wonderland, seasoned ones know his earlier films, like Edward Scissorhands, were the best.

And according to Dark Shadows star Choe Moretz, Tim's brought the spOOky edge back!
This Chloe girl is super lucky. She's only fourteen years old and already she's working with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Michelle Pfeiffer, and the god of dark dramedy - Tim Burton.
So we guess since she's cool enough to work with them, she probably knows what she's talking about when it comes to film. And that's why we believe her when she describes Dark Shadows like this:

I think it’s special because it goes back to Tim’s roots. It goes back to Beetlejuice, and Edward Scissorhands and it goes back to the true Tim. I love it because he gets in it, and he's in that little circle with Michelle, and Helena and Johnny, and it just, it happens. Everything goes down in the movie.

Girlfran, do you know what you just did to us?? We were already tired of waiting, but now we're about to go nutz!
[Image via WENN.]

First Official Image from Tim Burton’s DARK SHADOWS Starring Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp

COLLIDER

After the leak of disconcerting photos of Johnny Depp in make-up on the set of Tim Burton’s adaptation of the 1960s cult TV series Dark Shadows, Warner Bros. has released a somewhat-reassuring image of the cast. The look is unmistakably Burton with an emphasis on distinctive costumes (I would say they look retro but the movie is in the 1970s) and daunting architecture. Oh, and there’s Helena Bonham Carter’s ridiculous bright orange hair and white pancake make-up because Burton clearly can’t help himself. As for Depp, you’ll notice the whiteface and big blue sunglasses are gone, but this a promo shot and the set photos are from another scene in the movie where his character, vampire Barnabas Collins, has to go out into broad daylight.

Hit the jump to check out the full image along with the official synopsis and descriptions for some of the character. The film also stars Chloe Moretz, Eva Green, Gulliver McGrath, Bella Heathcote, Ray Shirley, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Dark Shadows opens May 11, 2012.
Image via EW.

Here’s the official synopsis for Dark Shadows:

In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.
Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.
Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins, (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.

[Update: I have removed the character descriptions I originally included because they were copy-pasted out of the EW article and I should have taken the time to either paraphrase or comment on them. I didn't and that was wrong of me. I apologize to the article's author, Mr. Breznican, and to anyone else who was offended by my actions. They did not meet the level of integrity I try to hold for myself personally or professionally.

If you would like to read more about the characters in Dark Shadows, please click here.]