Oxford Academic Reveals Horrible Conditions for Elizabethan Child Actors

History has shown that child actors on film and television often face tremendous “growing pains,” with many of them spiraling into drug and alcohol abuse and falling prey (in a variety of terrible ways) to older people that they trust.  But according to one academic, child actors of today have it easy compared to child actors in the Elizabethan era.

Dr. Bart van Es of the University of Oxford says that child actors in the Elizabethan era underwent “systematic exploitation and abuse.”  By studying court documents, Dr. van Es discovered that children were picked up off the streets and made to perform by “violence and force” (including whipping). Read more

Jane Lynch Talks Broadway, the “Mistake” of Moving to New York When She Was a Young Actress and the Advice Harrison Ford Gave Her

Five years ago Jane Lynch was best known for her hilarious appearances in Christopher Guest‘s ensemble mockumentaries and doing abbreviated runs on soon-to-be-canceled television series.  Though she was a familiar face, she never seemed to reach her potential.  Then came Glee and her career-changing starring role as Sue Sylvester… and Lynch’s world has never been the same since. 

Now she is fulfilling one of her longtime dreams starring in Broadway’s Annie as Miss Hannigan.  She gave a lengthy interview with The Star about how she got here and how she doesn’t really care where she ends up going.

Despite Miss Hannigan being a nasty character, Lynch admits that she’s really enjoying her Broadway turn.  She says, “I’m having a blast.  She’s an amazing character. She hates what she is, but she’s got enough energy to try and get past that. But don’t get the wrong idea. Once I’m doing a part, I just show up every day, put on the clothes and do my thing.” Read more

Can IMDb Pro Help Your Acting Career?

For all the ill will IMDb got during the recent lawsuit that accused the website of fostering ageism in Hollywood and the reveling personal details, it’s worth noting that The Los Angeles Times did a recent article about how IMDb Pro has helped actors profoundly in the past.

The prime example used in the article is Robert Pattinson, a virtual unknown before being cast in the starring role of the Twilight film series.  When looking to cast the part, Summit Entertainment’s casting directors browsed IMDb when Pattinson’s name came up and based on the information on there decided to contact him.  $3.3 billion dollars in box office money later, Pattinson is no longer an unknown. Read more

John Krasinski on Adding Writing, Directing & Producing to His Resume: “All these other avenues have been fascinating roads to go down but, for sure, acting is the most fun”

It’s incredibly hard for actors on a long-running television series to find success in other roles — mainly because audiences want to keep seeing them as the character that the actor became famous for in the first place.  As a result, it’s likely John Krasinski will have a difficult time being seen as anyone else as the affable Jim from The Office for the next few years… at least!  Yahoo! News spoke with Krasinski about his upcoming work and whether his decision to move into behind-the-scenes roles means we’ve seen the last of him on camera.

Krasinski’s first post-Office releases were a small role in the revival of Arrested Development and voiceover work for the Disney/Pixar movie Monsters University.  Krasinski points out that he enjoyed both, saying, “It was fun to do both those roles but they were small, fun roles … For me it was just supporting two things I love so much.  I think Arrested Development is one of the best shows ever on television, so I was just honored to be a part of that in any way. And it is exactly the same with Monsters University. Not only am I a fan, but my nieces and nephews are bigger fans than I am, so it is the first time in my career that I reached hero status in their eyes.” Read more

Playwright Neil LaBute Strikes Back at Critic Who Gave His Work a Negative Review

As someone who writes reviews of films and theater, I’m no stranger to the creators of what I review lashing back at me if I say something critical about their work.  Of course, this is nothing new — just recently Alec Baldwin called for the firing of New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley because he felt Brantley’s review of his recent play was too harsh and said nobody he knows likes Brantley anyway — but most people in the arts seem to understand that the simple act of making your work public immediately opens yourself up to criticism, both constructive and petty.  However, because of the internet and social media, it’s easier for those criticized to bite back.

Such is the case with playwright Neil LaBute and a recent review of his play Reasons to be Happy, which is now running off-Broadway at the MCC Theatre and stars The Office‘s Jenna Fischer and Crossing Jordan‘s Leslie Bibb.  Time Out‘s David Cole not only gave the play a negative review, but he called aspects of it boorish, monotonous, predictable, and banal.  In fact, he began his review with, “If Neil LaBute were to teach a course on playwriting, I bet his lesson plan would look something like this: ‘Week 1: Dumbing down characters to pad out dialogue and pump up conflict’” and it just went downhill from there. Read more

Robert Downey Jr. Disappoints Young Fan Who Thought He Would Meet Iron Man

As most parents can tell you, kids can be hard to please.  For example, most adults would find it pretty cool to meet Robert Downey, Jr.  After all, he’s a fantastic actor and comes off as quite the character in interviews.

But not for one and a half year-old Jaxson Denno, who cried when he met Downey.  But I guess I could understand it — he was told he was going to meet Iron Man and Downey didn’t show up in costume.  Well, it’s probably a bit more difficult for Downey to bring Iron Man’s gear around than it is for Johnny Depp to bring his Captain Jack Sparrow costume to visit children.

Read more

Henry Cavill on Handling His “Super” Fame: “There’s no knowing what it’s going to feel like and how it’s going to affect my life” (video)

Henry Cavill was certainly a known actor before he was cast as Superman in Man of Steel, but there is something about playing one of the world’s most famous and beloved fictional characters that pushes “known actor” to international superstar.  Cavill spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his expectations for how his life might change now that everyone and their mother has seen him wearing that S-shield.

When asked if he has a plan for coping with the fame, he responds, “I don’t know if you can be ready for that, to be honest.  There’s no knowing what it’s going to feel like and how it’s going to affect my life.  Going to Starbucks is now a thing of the past.”

However, he adds, “I think what I’m going to do is just enjoy the journey, ride the wave, and if the punches come, roll with them.” Read more

Johnny Depp Regularly Visits Sick Children as Captain Jack Sparrow

We hear so many stories about how self-centered and arrogant Hollywood stars can be (and I’ve met a fair share) that it’s always nice to hear a story about an actor who actually does give back in a more substantial way than writing big checks to their favorite charities. 

Case in point: Johnny Depp visits sick children in the hospital dressed as his popular Captain Jack Sparrow character from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Read more

Clint Eastwood Wants to Cast Veterans of ‘Jersey Boys’ Productions for His Film Adaptation

Jersey Boys has not only been a Broadway hit since opening in 2005 at the August Wilson Theatre, but has been a popular favorite in in theaters all over the world.  All in all, the various Jersey Boys productions have grossed over one billion in sales over the past eight years — so all those talented performers must have been doing something right.

Clint Eastwood seems to agree with that sentiment because now that he is directing the film adaptation of Jersey Boys he isn’t looking to cast Hollywood or pop music stars to tell the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  According to Deadline, Eastwood wants to cast the movie with the stage performers who have done those roles night after night all over the world. Read more

Craig Robinson on ‘This Is The End’, Playing a “Heightened” Version of Himself and Saying Goodbye to ‘The Office’

Darryl on The Office is a perfect example of a character whose role on a show expanded as the actor portraying him, Craig Robinson, got increasingly famous.  Thankfully there wasn’t anything wrong with that — Robinson’s Darryl was one of the best characters on the show because Robinson himself is a very funny guy.  He actually portrays a version of himself in the movie This Is The End, and spoke about doing that and what The Office did for his career in an interview with Yahoo!

Most actors don’t get the chance to play themselves (or versions of themselves) in a movie, and Robinson admits that the on-screen version is a bit exaggerated.  He says, “It’s obviously heightened versions of ourselves but because you’re playing yourself, you can really make no mistakes. It was really about being as close to you as you can but also having these crazy things that you would never say or do as we played the characters.” Read more

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