It’s been four years since 007 was on screen — one of the longest gaps between sequels in the James Bond franchise — so when Daniel Craig returns as the British secret agent in November’s Skyfall it will be a very welcome return.
Okay, so it’s hard to think of David Schwimmer as anyone else than Ross on TV’s Friends, a character he played on the highly-rated show for ten seasons. In fact, Schwimmer seems completely aware of this problem, spending much of his post-Friends life behind the camera as a director. But Schwimmer, who began his acting career in theater, is actually returning to the stage in New York in the new comedy Detroit at Playwrights Horizons.
Usually a film from WWE Studios means it’s some wacky action-comedy starring one of the company’s many wrestling stars. But The Day, a post-apocalyptic thriller, looks like a major break from that mold — and it doesn’t feature any wrestlers. But it does star Lord of the Rings and Lost star Dominic Monaghan as the leader of a group of people who refuse to resort to cannibalism, although they begin to look like a tasty meal to another group.
The three-time Oscar nominated Amy Adams is so beautiful that if she wanted to she could have made an entire career out of starring as the ditzy, pretty face lead in cheesy romantic comedies. Thank goodness she didn’t, because along with cute family films like Enchanted and The Muppets, Adams has starred in heavy dramas like Doubt, The Fighter, and perhaps the most challenging role of her career, The Master.
One of the perks of being a big star is not having to audition for parts. After all, if an actor is well-known enough, his or her reputation and ability precedes him or her. But that wasn’t the case for the next big movie musical, Les Miserables. Despite stars like Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, and Anne Hathaway starring in the film, director Tom Hooper made all of them audition for their roles.
Seth Rogen has probably set the bar of good taste back a few dozen yards in his films, but believe it or not even he has limits. He actually ended up crossing one of those lines in his cameo in For a Good Time Call…
Let’s be clear: most celebrities don’t want to be bothered when they’re, say, eating in a restaurant. I mean, you can’t really blame them for that — there’s a time and place for autographs and publicity, and then there’s trying to finish your sandwich. Of course, there are many exceptions — there are celebrities that don’t even want to be bothered when doing anything in public, and there are some celebrities who… well, will go to extremes to accommodate your wacky requests.
Like many successful actors, Cristin Milioti wasn’t a name anyone would have recognized a year ago. Yet now she is the star of the hit Broadway musical Once (for which she was nominated for a Tony), starring in the indie film Sleepwalk With Me, and soon will have a major role in The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese.
There’s a famous, though embellished, story about classically trained actor Laurence Olivier and method actor Dustin Hoffman on the set of Marathon Man. According to the legend, Olivier asked Hoffman why he looked so tired on the set one morning, and Hoffman explained that he had stayed up the whole night in order to properly play a character who had stayed up all night. As a joke, Olivier replied something to the effect of, “Why not try acting? It’s much easier.”
Ever notice how many unimportant and/or uninteresting messages people post on social networks? To get to the good stuff you often have to wade through the same inspirational quotes (which are often misattributed), pictures of meals, and broadcasts of political views that probably don’t coincide with your own. Another form of social network clog is the braggers, who often post about all the wonderful things happening in their lives. One of the worst forms of that is when a person posts about how excited he or she is to interview for a job, which is never a good idea since if you don’t get that job you’ll still have many people ask you “did you get that job?” for several weeks following. In other words… sometimes it’s better to play your cards close to your vest.
While many Saturday Night Live cast members begin their careers in standup, others aren’t so comfortable with being themselves on stage all by themselves. Bill Hader, for example, might be nominated for an Emmy for his work on the long-running sketch show, but the idea of doing stand-up comedy is something so challenging for him.
I’ve always been impressed by Amy Adams because there aren’t many actresses who can star is cheery family films (Enchanted, The Muppets) and heavy dramas (Doubt, The Fighter) and be apt at both. For example, in September alone she stars in two very different films, the father-daughter comedy/drama Trouble with the Curve and the controversial drama The Master written and directed by visionary Paul Thomas Anderson.
We all know it’s difficult to make it in Hollywood. You might be working as hard as you can and end up feeling hopeless after playing your fifteenth bit part (if you even get that!) You might even consider doing something extreme to get attention
While I like Joseph Gordon-Levitt and really like Michael Shannon and films set in New York City, I’m not sure how much I’m going to get into Premium Rush, a movie featuring Gordon-Levitt as a bike courier in New York. But I’m sure the film will be filled with a lot of great action sequences that we haven’t seen before since there aren’t many action bike movies, although I’d love to see a flying bike tackle take-down like on USA’s old Pacific Blue series.
Frank Langella is one of those veteran actors who I would love to share a few drinks with (I’d even pay the tab!) He seems to be so full of great stories about his long career in theater and film. He also stars in one of my favorite films of 2012, Robot & Frank, which he talks about Reuters. He opens up about the importance of working from a good script, acting against a robot, and whether or not the Hollywood of his youth has changed.
Ron Howard hasn’t appeared in a meaningful acting role since the 1986 TV movie Return to Mayberry, reprising his role of Opie Tyler from The Andy Griffith Show, preferring to sit in the director’s chair. It has worked out well for him, since he won Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for A Beautiful Mind along with directing several other popular films.
Alfred Molina has had a long and varied career of film, television, and stage roles ever since his first major appearance in the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark. While Molina is currently starring as artist Mark Rothko in a production of Red (a role that he originated
Frank Langella has been talking all over the place lately to promote his new film, Robot & Frank, and he had perhaps his most extensive interview with NPR. In the interview he talks about how he got into acting and why he has had such a varied career acting in film, television, and on the stage.
Stories of child actors being abused physically and sexually during their careers are unfortunately too common. Even more shocking is the amount of managers, publicists, production assistants, and other behind-the-scenes individuals who inappropriately interact with children as a direct result of being left with them unsupervised. But a bill making its way though the California legislature will lay out precautions to prevent such crimes from happening again.
LaBeouf starred in the three Transformers movies, but he will not be in the planned fourth film in the franchise. That doesn’t seem to bother him much, as he says, “There’s no room for being a visionary in the studio system. It literally cannot exist.”
