Believe it or not, Sir Ian McKellen had reservations about returning to his role as Gandalf for The Hobbit movies, which are prequels to the beloved Lord of the Rings films.
Chevy Chase continues to demonstrate that he must be a joy to work with on the set of Community. It hasn’t been six months since Chase’s very public spat with Community creator Dan Harmon. Then last month (after NBC removed Harmon as showrunner) Chase made it clear that he still wasn’t happy, calling the hours “hideous” and sitcoms “the lowest form of comedy,” and though he complimented the young cast (calling them his “friends”) he made sure to mention that he was aware that he wasn’t “working with the great innovators of all time.”
Forbes has released its annual list of highest paid television actors, and topping this year’s list again is a star from ABC’s Two and a Half Men. Of course, this time it isn’t Charlie Sheen… it’s his replacement, Ashton Kutcher.
Though popular plays are produced all over the world, quality control is a major issue that can come up when a production wants to put their own stamp on the play. Even if the production feels that those changes might be relatively minor, the authors of such works or their estates may not see it the same way to such a degree that they can prevent the production from going forward.
Hugo Weaving is no stranger to big-budget genre films as a key character in both The Matrix trilogy and The Lord of the Rings films (he will reprise his Rings character, the elf lord Elrond, in The Hobbit prequel movies).
After the announcement that Oscar-nominated workaholic actress Jessica Chastain would be making her Broadway debut in The Heiress in the lead role of Catherine, one wonders how Chastain feels about stepping out on a Broadway stage for the first time.
As you may know, Uggie, perhaps the most famous film pooch since Rin Tin Tin, has retired from major roles in film at the ripe old age of ten. What you probably do not know is that Uggie has written a book. Kind of. Uggie — My Story is a
Though Seven Psychopaths didn’t do the business at the box office this weekend that CBS Films was hoping for, the film got rave reviews — with much of the praise centered on Christopher Walken’s character, Hans. Walken has been an immensely popular actor for years, and he spoke about his surprising early years and why he thinks he’s remained so popular all these years.
Just a few weeks ahead of her 78th birthday, Dame Judi Dench shows no sign of retiring or even scaling back on her award-winning acting. But despite that Dench doesn’t consider herself a proficient actress by any means, and she reveals some reasons why she still doesn’t consider herself a “good actor” to The Guardian.
Among Hollywood’s current biggest stars, I’d say that Brad Pitt has the best track record in recent years in choosing the right roles for himself.
Bruce Willis is best known as a macho action movie icon from films like Die Hard, so it’s sometimes hard to remember that his first big break was on the television drama-comedy Moonlighting, which he starred in opposite Cybill Shepherd for five seasons.
The new crime comedy Seven Psychopaths, directed by Martin McDonagh, has gotten some excellent pre-release buzz, with much of it focused on star Christopher Walken. Long a favorite of audiences, Walken reveals in an interview his thoughts on his character, what he finds fascinating about the film, and also assesses
I recently got to see Smashed, a film about a recovering alcoholic, and I was impressed that the film didn’t adhere to the same old cliches that we’ve seen in countless television movies about alcoholism. Much of that credit goes to star Mary Elizabeth Winstead. It’s a brave role for Winstead, who allows herself to be shown in a very ugly light in order to portray a young elementary school teacher who is struggling with her sobriety.
With the film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s “unfilmable” novel On the Road about to be released, it’s not a surprise that new interest is being drummed up in the counterculture author’s work. Perhaps most notable is the University of Massachusetts Lowell is holding a Jack Kerouac Literary Festival, and the festival, which is celebrated in Kerouac’s hometown of Lowell, is centered around the premiere of the only play Kerouac ever wrote, Beat Generation, which was written in 1957 (the same year Kerouac published On the Road).
It’s funny how people who often claim that they have “street smarts” actually possess none, but that’s not something you can accuse actor/writer Chazz Palminteri of misrepresenting. Born in the Bronx, Palminteri’s A Bronx Tale is viewed as a classic coming-of-age story that dispenses as much wisdom as it does violence. In that vein, Palminteri has started his own website, www.AskChazz.com, to dispense advice for both the movie industry and for life in general. The site has been such a success that Palminteri will be hosting four “Ask Chazz” shows on SiriusXM radio.
The cast of the classic fairytale film The Princess Bride reunited at the New York Film Festival earlier this month for the film’s twenty-fifth anniversary, and though one of the film’s stars, Mandy Patinkin, has other projects to promote — he currently stars on Showtime’s Homeland — Patinkin spoke to NPR about his experience staring in the film as Spanish swordsman Inigo Montoya and whether or not that line of dialogue — you’re probably saying it now — ever gets tiresome to him.
Musicals based on films can sometimes be wonderful (Once and The Producers come to mind), but often risk being blasted for unoriginality. One that falls in the latter category is the infamous 1966 musical adaption of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which only ran four previews (!) before being canceled by the producer despite starring Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlin and having a score by Bob Merrill (Funny Girl) and a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee.
Every media outlet wants to talk to Ben Affleck about Argo, his new film based on the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, and Affleck is happy to talk about his dual roles as a director and an actor (along with also being one of the film’s producers!) Though many of these interviews has focused on Affleck’s second-career success as a director, in others he has spoken about his acting approach to the film and how he worked with the cast as actors.
The acting in Grace is extraordinary, with all four actors being seasoned professionals with the ability to portray the array of emotions required of the material.
In major news that proves that television programming is more diversified than ever, gay rights group GLAAD is reporting that the current television season has a record number of gay, bisexual and transgender characters among its shows.
