The actor, musician and all-round subversive talks about getting his own back on critic AA Gill, his favourite football song and why he’d really like a part that involves lying down
You’ve performed naked on stage with Max Bygraves, bared all in Danny Boyle’s Shallow Grave and posed nude for the BBC’s Celebrity Painting Challenge. Do you enjoy getting your kit off? VerulamiumParkRanger
I should point out that in two of those instances, I was paid to do so. The Max Bygraves one, I chose to do, merely to disrupt his show. I did a whole one-man show naked at the Albany Empire called Whatever Happened to the AA Man’s Salute, so I’m not afraid to be naked. I don’t think Saltburn is up my alley, but if a part came along and I had to dance naked to a song at the...
You’ve performed naked on stage with Max Bygraves, bared all in Danny Boyle’s Shallow Grave and posed nude for the BBC’s Celebrity Painting Challenge. Do you enjoy getting your kit off? VerulamiumParkRanger
I should point out that in two of those instances, I was paid to do so. The Max Bygraves one, I chose to do, merely to disrupt his show. I did a whole one-man show naked at the Albany Empire called Whatever Happened to the AA Man’s Salute, so I’m not afraid to be naked. I don’t think Saltburn is up my alley, but if a part came along and I had to dance naked to a song at the...
- 4/11/2024
- by As told to Rich Pelley
- The Guardian - Film News
Read the Guardian editorial staff's choices and add yours in the comments below
It was the year of the Olympics, the omnishambles, the Higgs boson and the Facebook flotation. In American and Russian elections voters stuck with the faces they knew, while France and China ushered in a new slate of leaders. The eurozone teetered on another brink, while the southern hemisphere powered ahead. But who were the people that shaped 2012? Below, Guardian editors and staff nominate their pick for Person of the Year. Add your selection, or endorsement, to the comment thread below. We will then conduct a readers' poll of the six most popular choices.
Malala Yousafzai – nominated by Lucy Lamble, global development editor
The assassination attempt on 14-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai made the world acknowledge her bravery in defending girls' right to education.
In a speech last November, Malala said: "I know the importance of education...
It was the year of the Olympics, the omnishambles, the Higgs boson and the Facebook flotation. In American and Russian elections voters stuck with the faces they knew, while France and China ushered in a new slate of leaders. The eurozone teetered on another brink, while the southern hemisphere powered ahead. But who were the people that shaped 2012? Below, Guardian editors and staff nominate their pick for Person of the Year. Add your selection, or endorsement, to the comment thread below. We will then conduct a readers' poll of the six most popular choices.
Malala Yousafzai – nominated by Lucy Lamble, global development editor
The assassination attempt on 14-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai made the world acknowledge her bravery in defending girls' right to education.
In a speech last November, Malala said: "I know the importance of education...
- 12/4/2012
- by The Guardian, Guardian readers
- The Guardian - Film News
There are few forms of journalism more entertaining than a really good bad review. But it has to be done right: here's how
Among the terrible reviews of Liz and Dick, this week – "stunningly cynical" (TV Guide), "unbearably hilarious" (Hollywood Reporter), "badly paced, cheap-looking and encrusted with a tinkly, preposterous soundtrack designed to make viewers go insane" (Huffington Post) – none was quite brutal enough to ascend to that category of criticism that sweeps the internet now and then, and warms the darkest recess of the heart: the magisterial takedown.
(David Wiegand in the San Francisco Chronicle gave it his best shot with "It's so terrible, you'll need to ice your face when it's over to ease the pain of wincing for two hours." but there wasn't quite enough artistry in his bitching.)
No. For a negative review really to fly, it must meet five broad criteria.
1. Have about it the...
Among the terrible reviews of Liz and Dick, this week – "stunningly cynical" (TV Guide), "unbearably hilarious" (Hollywood Reporter), "badly paced, cheap-looking and encrusted with a tinkly, preposterous soundtrack designed to make viewers go insane" (Huffington Post) – none was quite brutal enough to ascend to that category of criticism that sweeps the internet now and then, and warms the darkest recess of the heart: the magisterial takedown.
(David Wiegand in the San Francisco Chronicle gave it his best shot with "It's so terrible, you'll need to ice your face when it's over to ease the pain of wincing for two hours." but there wasn't quite enough artistry in his bitching.)
No. For a negative review really to fly, it must meet five broad criteria.
1. Have about it the...
- 11/28/2012
- by Emma Brockes
- The Guardian - Film News
What my followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ saw today: • Is "local" viable in the Net age? "Linda Taylor, 70, thinks that cable and the Internet have led to a decline in the quality of local television shows she watches from the kitchen television of her Herndon home. She’s disappointed by what she says is too much repetition and not enough original reporting. She can’t rely on her Washington area stations for national and international news, Taylor said." As users flock to iTunes, Hulu and Netflix, TV stations struggle to survive • Oops. Michael Moore Finding It Harder To Get People To Talk to Him • Why Johnny Depp's Tonto is not a Native American Jack Sparrow... Johnny Depp Talks the Inspiration Behind His Tonto in 'Lone Ranger' • The Telegraph illustrates a story about the Chicago L with a photo of the Mta's No 7 train in New York City. Lol.
- 4/24/2012
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Veteran actor Robert Wagner has launched a scathing attack on a famed food critic who slated one of his favourite restaurants in Paris, France.
The TV star was shocked when British writer A.A. Gill, who works for the U.K.'s The Sunday Times, gave a negative review of Chez L'Ami Louis in the French capital and compared one dish to "an accident involving rat babies in a nuclear reactor".
Gill also griped, "It is, all things considered, entre nous, the worst restaurant in the world."
But Wagner has now taken aim at the critic, slamming the unsavoury review in a letter to Vanity Fair magazine.
The actor writes, "Is Gill telling the thousands of diners who love it that only he knows what is good? Not only is he wrong, but one feels that Gill's labial, proctologic, colonic, urinary and suppository references apply solely to himself rather than to one of the best restaurants anywhere."...
The TV star was shocked when British writer A.A. Gill, who works for the U.K.'s The Sunday Times, gave a negative review of Chez L'Ami Louis in the French capital and compared one dish to "an accident involving rat babies in a nuclear reactor".
Gill also griped, "It is, all things considered, entre nous, the worst restaurant in the world."
But Wagner has now taken aim at the critic, slamming the unsavoury review in a letter to Vanity Fair magazine.
The actor writes, "Is Gill telling the thousands of diners who love it that only he knows what is good? Not only is he wrong, but one feels that Gill's labial, proctologic, colonic, urinary and suppository references apply solely to himself rather than to one of the best restaurants anywhere."...
- 5/19/2011
- WENN
The Wall Street Journal has stumbled upon an individually sized, sugar-coated scandal: the Sex and the City tour will no longer be serving cupcakes from Magnolia. The Bleecker Street bakery, which has been mobbed by out-of-town fans ever since Carrie and the gals executed their first face plant into its yummy frosting, “just couldn’t fulfill the need of our tour. It was an issue of supply and demand,” a tour spokeswoman told the Journal. The new treats will be outsourced from Billy’s Bakery in Chelsea, which is not the West Village. Also, tour leaders will no longer utter the name “Magnolia.” In a Bushnellian twist—sure, let’s go with “Bushnellian twist”—the owner of Billy’s is actually a Magnolia refugee. Magnolia owner Steve Abrams says of the switch, “[the tour organizers] are obviously not providing an authentic experience to their customers.” More balkanization in the war-torn, sprinkle-covered cupcake community!
- 5/26/2010
- Vanity Fair
From top, Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba, who were both photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the June issue of Vanity Fair.This month, Vf.com went behind the scenes of Annie Leibovitz's shoot for Playing For The World, by A.A. Gill, to find out what it takes to get eleven of the world's greatest athletes camera ready. Grooming for Didier Drogba was done by Antonello Rossello and Grazia Riverditi, who used Bumble and Bumble and Dolce and Gabbana products. Johnnie Sapong, who used Aveda products, was on hand to style Cristiano Ronaldo's hair. Find out what products they used after the jump.
- 5/24/2010
- Vanity Fair
Well, that's one way to get more Americans to watch soccer.
The June issue of Vanity Fair features a number of the marquee players in the 2010 World Cup in far less than their regulation kits. Cover subjects Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast (and English Premier League club Chelsea) and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal (and Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid) are in nothing but patriotic briefs.
The piece also features shots of such stars as Landon Donovan of the United States, Kaka and Pato of Brazil and Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon -- all shot by Annie Leibovitz -- and an essay by British journalist A.A. Gill on the appeal of "the beautiful game" worldwide.
And no, it's not called that because of things like Leibovitz's cover shot.
The World Cup gets under way June 11, when host South Africa takes on Mexico in Johannesburg. The United States has its first match the following day against England.
The June issue of Vanity Fair features a number of the marquee players in the 2010 World Cup in far less than their regulation kits. Cover subjects Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast (and English Premier League club Chelsea) and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal (and Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid) are in nothing but patriotic briefs.
The piece also features shots of such stars as Landon Donovan of the United States, Kaka and Pato of Brazil and Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon -- all shot by Annie Leibovitz -- and an essay by British journalist A.A. Gill on the appeal of "the beautiful game" worldwide.
And no, it's not called that because of things like Leibovitz's cover shot.
The World Cup gets under way June 11, when host South Africa takes on Mexico in Johannesburg. The United States has its first match the following day against England.
- 5/4/2010
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
A.A. Gill at the Creation Museum. Photograph by Paul Bettany.It has come to our attention that residents and assorted boosters of Cincinnati, Ohio, have found cause to object to A.A. Gill’s description of their fair city in his recent article about the Creation Museum, located 20 miles away, on the far side of the Kentucky border. Specifically, they take issue with his declaration that “It’s not in the nature of stoic Cincinnatians to boast, which is fortunate, really, for they have meager pickings to boast about.” In response, certain of these civic-minded individuals have taken it upon themselves to share examples of the cultural richness for which their city is so justly renowned, from the museum hosting the first-ever retrospective of accused copyright infringer Shepard Fairey to the local restaurant whose gustatory delights were found by two impartial local residents to surpass even those of Alice Waters’s exalted Chez Panisse.
- 2/18/2010
- Vanity Fair
Earth Angel: Paul Bettany as a renegade Archangel Michael in Scott Stewart's Legion On the surface, Paul Bettany’s two movies coming out Friday couldn’t be more different. In Creation, a good, old-fashioned period piece released by Newmarket films, he plays Charles Darwin, torn between the implications of his revolutionary theories and the religious faith of his spouse (played by Bettany’s real-life wife, Jennifer Connelly). In Legion, meanwhile, he plays the Archangel Michael, who takes mankind’s side against a wrathful God in an apocalyptic battle, trading his wings for an Ak-47. (Really, the trailer speaks for itself.) But both films actually exist on a continuum: whereas Creation focuses on mankind’s origin, Legion imagines its possible end. But let’s be frank: high among the reasons Bettany took on the projects is that he gets to play with monkeys in the former and toss a dwarf in the latter.
- 1/20/2010
- Vanity Fair
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