Benedict Cumberbatch Reveals That He Was Late to His First ‘War Horse’ Meeting With Steven Spielberg

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.  You don’t spit into the wind.  You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger.  And if you’re an actor, you definitely don’t show up late to a meeting with Steven Spielberg.

English actor Benedict Cumberbatch has found himself in high demand, especially since he started appearing on Sherlock as the titular master detective in 2010.  Not only did he appear in two critically acclaimed films this year — Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and War Horse — and over the next two years he’ll appear in The Hobbit films as the voice of the villainous Necromancer and the dragon Smaug and as the as-yet-unknown main villain in the next Star Trek film. 

But Cumberbatch almost jeopardized that bright future by showing up late to a meeting with Steven Spielberg, director of War Horse.

“I couldn’t find a parking space and I couldn’t put my motorbike in a parking bay around the corner,” Cumberbatch tells the Belfast Telegraph– instantly scoring some major awesome points by driving a motorbike — “I thought I’d have to just walk in or I would be very late. But when I did, I was told the meeting was earlier, so I went in there going, ‘Gosh, the first time I am meeting Spielberg and I’m apologising for being late!’”  Read more

The Best Oscar® Speech From Last Night

Michael Giacchino has created some of the best scores in movies (and TV – Lost) in recent years.  The scores to both Star Trek and Up were just beautiful.

Last night he won for Best Original Score for his work on Up.

Here’s the speech… the best one of the night:

“Thank you, guys. When I was… I was nine and I asked my dad, “Can I have your movie camera? That old, wind-up 8 millimeter camera that was in your drawer?” And he goes, “Sure, take it.” And I took it and I started making movies with it and I started being as creative as I could, and never once in my life did my parents ever say, “What you’re doing is a waste of time.” Never.

And I grew up, I had teachers, I had colleagues, I had people that I worked with all through my life who always told me what you’re doing is not a waste of time. So that was normal to me that it was OK to do that.

I know there are kids out there that don’t have that support system so if you’re out there and you’re listening, listen to me: If you want to be creative, get out there and do it. It’s not a waste of time. Do it. OK? Thank you. Thank you.”

©AMPAS

Armin Shimerman: “Luck is a huge factor in every career”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:29 — 8.0MB)

Armin Shimerman made his name in television - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Seinfeld, Boston Legal (to name a few) – by playing unique, memorable characters. But did you know his true love is theater?

I caught up with Armin at the tail-end of his run of The Seafarer where he was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to talk about theater, how he prepares for a role and much more!

For ticket information on The Seafarer at the San Diego Repertory Theater, click here!

You’re currently starring in The Seafarer. Even though it’s a short run, how do you keep your performance fresh night after night?
How do I do that?  How does any actor do that?  By being inspired every night by what the other people are doing and finding new things in the play as we go along.  Although it’s a rehearsed and performed piece, there’s always something new.  That’s the great thing about live theater, you can always find something new and fresh each performance.  The audience and the actors give you things.

How do you choose your theatre projects?  Do you have a master list of shows or characters that you want to do somewhere?
I tend to prefer classical theater.  That is what I’ve been trained in and what I’ve mostly done and what intrigues me the most.  However, I saw this particular play in New York when I was visiting a couple years ago, and it was an incredible production directed by the playwright on Broadway.  And when I saw it, after I saw it, I was just absolutely enthralled by it and there was a particular part in it that I really wanted to play.  That is not the part that I’m playing, but I was really enthralled by the play.  And I particularly wanted to play the Devil, but instead the theatre here, very wisely in my opinion, cast me as Richard Harkin which is the host of the party for want of a better term.  And I’m just tickled pink.  Without doubt it’ll always be one of my favorite character’s that I’ve ever played.

I’ve heard you’re fantastic in the show.
It’s turned out very well.  We’ve had a wonderful director.  Delisha [Turner Sonnenburg] did a great job directing it.  The theatre has done a terrific job of producing it.  And it’s an incredible ensemble of actors.

Read more

Eric Bana talks his career, his roles and his upcoming films

From LATimes.com:

How he got started:
He knew he wanted to act but had no idea how to get into it, so he wound up performing stand-up. Discovered quickly, he worked on sketch comedy television shows in Australia. After a few years he started feeling burned out, just at the time he was offered the lead role in the drama “Chopper,” a film about Mark “Chopper” Read, a legendary criminal in Australia. His intense performance resounded thousands of miles away in Hollywood.

On past roles:
He likens his roles to tattoos: “They all leave a little bit behind.”

On career strategy:
He employs no career strategy in choosing parts. “Just because I’ve been given the opportunity to play leading roles doesn’t mean I have to feel the pressure to always take them,” Bana says. He finds supporting roles like Nero and Clarke liberating. Working on a film for a short time is a much different ride than being on set every day.

Read more

Faran Tahir

Farah Tahir has been all over the place recently. In Iron Man, Lost, 24 and Chuck it’s a sure bet you’ve seen his face.  This weekend he is appearing in the new Star Trek film and I pulled this from an interview he recently did.

From goerie.com

Considering all the different roles in your career, is there anything in particular that stands out?

When you go into a project, you absolutely have a responsibility to yourself and the people working with you to make it the best experience you can.

When you create that environment and then you work in that environment, it pushes all of us to do better work.

I have been very fortunate. In the last two years I got to do “Iron Man,” which was a ball, and then I got to do “Star Trek” and both of those really brought out the 10-year-old kid in me because you had all these cool gadgets and this thing with superheroes and space and all that.

Star Trek starring Matt Damon?

What do you think? Matt Damon as Captain Kirk? It could have happened.

Director J.J. Abrams has finally come out and said that he originally approached Matt Damon to take on the iconic role – but the actor turned him down.

“I actually approached Matt and we had some discussions, but everything happens for a reason. On the one hand, it would have been great to work with Matt – but at the end of the day, it was such a better move to cast the movie with unknowns,” he told Life magazine

With Damon turning him down he turned to lesser known actors. “It is fun to discover the stars of tomorrow, but even more so, just like with the first Star Wars, you didn’t know who those people were when you saw the movie. You believed that guy was Luke Skywalker. You didn’t recognize him from six other movies. You bought into who this guy was. It is a slippery slope when you cast any actor that is somewhat known. We weren’t beholden to any fame meter.”

By the way, isn’t my photoshop work awesome??

Yeah, not so much.