Andie MacDowell, Alfre Woodard and Bryce Wilson are joining the cast of MGM's Queen Latifah comedy Beauty Shop. MacDowell will play a conservative Southern socialite who goes through a rebirth when she follows Queen Latifah's character from her fancy hairdressers, run by Jorge (Kevin Bacon), to her new salon. Woodard is set to play Miss Josephine, the shop's Afrocentric stylist, who spouts Maya Angelou poetry. Wilson, meanwhile, will play James, a con/truck driver turned hairstylist. Nobody can figure out whether he is the ultimate metrosexual or actually gay. Alicia Silverstone, Djimon Hounsou, Mena Suvari and Lil' JJ round out the cast of the Barbershop spinoff. Bille Woodruff directs from a script by Kate Lanier, Norm Vance and Audrey Wells. Beauty Shop is being produced by Queen Latifah, her producing partner Shakim Compere, Mandeville's David Hoberman and State Street partners Robert Teitel and George Tillman. Mandeville president of production Todd Lieberman and CubeVision's Ice Cube and Matt Alvarez are executive producing. Elizabeth Cantillon, Erik Baiers and DeVon Franklin are overseeing for the studio. MacDowell next appears in The Last Sign from director Douglas Law. Woodard's upcoming features include The Forgotten with Julianne Moore. MacDowell is repped by ICM. Woodard is repped by WMA. Wilson is repped by Anonymous Content.
- 4/14/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Despite fine performances by Stephen Fry and Jude Law, "Wilde" is a disappointingly predictable and uninvolving film portrait of Victorian wit and writer Oscar Wilde, who was imprisoned for being homosexual.
The Sony Pictures Classics limited release is a tony entry in the presummer sweepstakes, but it lacks a compelling point of view and resorts to hoary melodramatics, and the dialogue is often painfully earnest. An initial flurry of boxoffice interest, buoyed by admiring reviews, will not last long.
"Wilde" opens with the long-haired, flamboyant dresser Oscar (Fry) lecturing miners in Colorado, circa 1882. On his return to England, he woos and weds the beautiful Constance (Jennifer Ehle) and appears ready to settle down into a literary career.
Enter Robert Ross (Michael Sheen), a house guest who seduces Oscar and starts scandalmongers talking. With his Irish mother (Vanessa Redgrave) on his side, Oscar leads a double life -- devoted husband and covert homosexual -- while his career successes make him a celebrity.
At the premiere of his play "Lady Windermere's Fan", Oscar meets and instantly falls for handsome young sonnet writer Lord Alfred Douglas Law), causing Ross much pain. But nothing rivals the vicious reaction of Douglas' homophobic father, the Marquess of Queensberry (Tom Wilkinson), who eventually brings about Oscar's downfall and imprisonment in 1895.
While one learns a little about the man (he read prodigiously at a fast rate and had a poet's precise memory), there's not enough spontaneity to many of the exchanges. Most of the time, Oscar comes off as a walking omnibus of classical quotations, as if he's always playing to an audience, while supporting characters talk about him with the measured insight of an undergraduate lecture on the subject.
At the center of it all, Fry is a dignified, comfy presence, but he's often upstaged by Law playing the spoiled, showoff Douglas with sizzling charisma. Sheen registers strongly in his scenes, and Wilkinson is suitably menacing as the heavy.
Director Brian Gilbert ("Tom & Viv") and crew have mounted a handsome widescreen production on a limited budget, with locations including London's Athenaeum Club, Somerset House and Oxford Prison.
WILDE
Sony Pictures Classics
Dove International presents
a Samuelson production
Director: Brian Gilbert
Producers: Marc Samuelson, Peter Samuelson
Screenwriter: Julian Mitchell
Executive producers: Michiyo Yoshizaki,
Michael Viner, Deborah Raffin,
Alex Graham, Alan Howden
Director of photography: Martin Fuhrer
Production designer: Maria Djurkovic
Editor: Michael Bradsell
Costume designer: Nic Ede
Music: Debbie Wiseman
Casting: Sarah Bird
Color/stereo
Cast:
Oscar Wilde: Stephen Fry
Lord Alfred Douglas: Jude Law
Lady Speranza Wilde: Vanessa Redgrave
Constance Wilde: Jennifer Ehle
Robert Ross: Michael Sheen
Marquess of Queensberry:Tom Wilkinson
Running time -- 117 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The Sony Pictures Classics limited release is a tony entry in the presummer sweepstakes, but it lacks a compelling point of view and resorts to hoary melodramatics, and the dialogue is often painfully earnest. An initial flurry of boxoffice interest, buoyed by admiring reviews, will not last long.
"Wilde" opens with the long-haired, flamboyant dresser Oscar (Fry) lecturing miners in Colorado, circa 1882. On his return to England, he woos and weds the beautiful Constance (Jennifer Ehle) and appears ready to settle down into a literary career.
Enter Robert Ross (Michael Sheen), a house guest who seduces Oscar and starts scandalmongers talking. With his Irish mother (Vanessa Redgrave) on his side, Oscar leads a double life -- devoted husband and covert homosexual -- while his career successes make him a celebrity.
At the premiere of his play "Lady Windermere's Fan", Oscar meets and instantly falls for handsome young sonnet writer Lord Alfred Douglas Law), causing Ross much pain. But nothing rivals the vicious reaction of Douglas' homophobic father, the Marquess of Queensberry (Tom Wilkinson), who eventually brings about Oscar's downfall and imprisonment in 1895.
While one learns a little about the man (he read prodigiously at a fast rate and had a poet's precise memory), there's not enough spontaneity to many of the exchanges. Most of the time, Oscar comes off as a walking omnibus of classical quotations, as if he's always playing to an audience, while supporting characters talk about him with the measured insight of an undergraduate lecture on the subject.
At the center of it all, Fry is a dignified, comfy presence, but he's often upstaged by Law playing the spoiled, showoff Douglas with sizzling charisma. Sheen registers strongly in his scenes, and Wilkinson is suitably menacing as the heavy.
Director Brian Gilbert ("Tom & Viv") and crew have mounted a handsome widescreen production on a limited budget, with locations including London's Athenaeum Club, Somerset House and Oxford Prison.
WILDE
Sony Pictures Classics
Dove International presents
a Samuelson production
Director: Brian Gilbert
Producers: Marc Samuelson, Peter Samuelson
Screenwriter: Julian Mitchell
Executive producers: Michiyo Yoshizaki,
Michael Viner, Deborah Raffin,
Alex Graham, Alan Howden
Director of photography: Martin Fuhrer
Production designer: Maria Djurkovic
Editor: Michael Bradsell
Costume designer: Nic Ede
Music: Debbie Wiseman
Casting: Sarah Bird
Color/stereo
Cast:
Oscar Wilde: Stephen Fry
Lord Alfred Douglas: Jude Law
Lady Speranza Wilde: Vanessa Redgrave
Constance Wilde: Jennifer Ehle
Robert Ross: Michael Sheen
Marquess of Queensberry:Tom Wilkinson
Running time -- 117 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
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