Baz Luhrmann’s Australia was a celebrated film of the year 2008, and it secured plenty of Oscar nominations. This was a one-of-a-kind film that did work fifteen years ago, a historical drama that was set against the backdrop of the struggles of the indigenous culture of the country and their fight for recognition. This two-hour, forty-five-minute historical saga has now been released as a six episodes series on Hulu, with many additional subplots and scenes included. Nothing around it has changed except the format, and it was released on the streaming platform on November 26, 2023.
The story of Faraway Downs was like the one presented in the film, with many significant changes made to the re-release. Set in the late 1930s, Lady Sarah Ashley was in Australia seeking her rich husband, Lord Maitland Ashley, who seemed to be running a huge cattle ranch and was facing intense competition in the land down under.
The story of Faraway Downs was like the one presented in the film, with many significant changes made to the re-release. Set in the late 1930s, Lady Sarah Ashley was in Australia seeking her rich husband, Lord Maitland Ashley, who seemed to be running a huge cattle ranch and was facing intense competition in the land down under.
- 11/27/2023
- by Smriti Kannan
- Film Fugitives
Baz Luhrmann (Elvis) revisits his Australia feature film and transforms the nearly three-hour epic into the six-episode series Faraway Downs. The limited series will include an hour of footage that didn’t make the film’s final cut, as well as a different ending.
“I got the idea and started to relook at the footage and realized I’ve shot enough to do it as episodic storytelling through a revisiting of the piece, not necessarily as a better film than Australia, but a different variation on the themes,” explained Luhrmann in an interview with TheWrap. “I was able to use the strengths of episodic storytelling to breathe those things out and explore them in a stronger way.”
The feature film, and now the Hulu limited series it spawned, stars Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Bryan Brown, Brandon Walters, and Ben Mendelsohn. 2008’s Australia, which currently sits at 54% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes,...
“I got the idea and started to relook at the footage and realized I’ve shot enough to do it as episodic storytelling through a revisiting of the piece, not necessarily as a better film than Australia, but a different variation on the themes,” explained Luhrmann in an interview with TheWrap. “I was able to use the strengths of episodic storytelling to breathe those things out and explore them in a stronger way.”
The feature film, and now the Hulu limited series it spawned, stars Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Bryan Brown, Brandon Walters, and Ben Mendelsohn. 2008’s Australia, which currently sits at 54% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes,...
- 10/19/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Hulu has unveiled the official trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s Faraway Downs TV series starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, ahead of its November 26 launch.
The story centers on an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) who travels halfway across the world to confront her wayward husband and sell an unusual asset: a million-acre cattle ranch in the Australian Outback called Faraway Downs. Following the death of her husband, a ruthless Australian cattle baron, King Carney (Bryan Brown), plots to take her land and she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle drover (Jackman) to protect her ranch. The sweeping adventure romance is explored through the eyes of young Nullah (Brandon Walters), a bi-racial Indigenous Australian child caught up in the government’s draconian racial policy now referred to as the “Stolen Generations.”
Luhrmann also directed Oscar-nominated 2008 movie Australia and he returns for the Hulu series, which debuts in two...
The story centers on an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) who travels halfway across the world to confront her wayward husband and sell an unusual asset: a million-acre cattle ranch in the Australian Outback called Faraway Downs. Following the death of her husband, a ruthless Australian cattle baron, King Carney (Bryan Brown), plots to take her land and she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle drover (Jackman) to protect her ranch. The sweeping adventure romance is explored through the eyes of young Nullah (Brandon Walters), a bi-racial Indigenous Australian child caught up in the government’s draconian racial policy now referred to as the “Stolen Generations.”
Luhrmann also directed Oscar-nominated 2008 movie Australia and he returns for the Hulu series, which debuts in two...
- 10/19/2023
- by Jesse Whittock and Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Baz Luhrmann is looking at the benefits of streaming content.
The “Elvis” director recut his 2008 epic “Australia” for a Hulu limited series titled “Faraway Downs.” The film followed an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) who inherits a cattle range run by a cattle drover (Hugh Jackman). The limited series will have a new ending and a new soundtrack; “Australia” originally shot three endings, with only one making it into the theatrical release.
“I was inspired to re-approach my film ‘Australia’ to create ‘Faraway Downs’ because of the way episodic storytelling has been reinvigorated by the streaming world,” Luhrmann said in a press statement. “With over two million feet of film from the original piece, my team and I were able to revisit anew the central themes of the work.”
Six-episode limited series “Faraway Downs” will premiere at the closing night of the inaugural SXSW Sydney Screen Festival October 21, with Luhrmann in attendance.
The “Elvis” director recut his 2008 epic “Australia” for a Hulu limited series titled “Faraway Downs.” The film followed an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) who inherits a cattle range run by a cattle drover (Hugh Jackman). The limited series will have a new ending and a new soundtrack; “Australia” originally shot three endings, with only one making it into the theatrical release.
“I was inspired to re-approach my film ‘Australia’ to create ‘Faraway Downs’ because of the way episodic storytelling has been reinvigorated by the streaming world,” Luhrmann said in a press statement. “With over two million feet of film from the original piece, my team and I were able to revisit anew the central themes of the work.”
Six-episode limited series “Faraway Downs” will premiere at the closing night of the inaugural SXSW Sydney Screen Festival October 21, with Luhrmann in attendance.
- 10/10/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Baz Luhrmann’s Faraway Downs, a six part series that extends his 2008 epic Australia, will close the inaugural SXSW Sydney Screen Festival on Oct. 21 with a world premiere.
The Elvis filmmaker will be on hand to present the limited series told in six chapters and starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Bryan Brown, Brandon Walters and Ben Mendelsohn. The SXSW festival bow will be followed by Faraway Downs launching simultaneously on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America and on Disney+ in all other territories on Nov. 26, 2023.
Faraway Downs, with 20th Television as the studio, will expand on Australia, which starred Kidman and Jackman, using original footage and a new ending and updated soundtrack. When Australia first premiered in 2008, Luhrmann said he had filmed three endings. The theatrical cut of Australia has a running time of two hours, 45 minutes. There’s no word on how long the full six-episode series will run.
The Elvis filmmaker will be on hand to present the limited series told in six chapters and starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Bryan Brown, Brandon Walters and Ben Mendelsohn. The SXSW festival bow will be followed by Faraway Downs launching simultaneously on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America and on Disney+ in all other territories on Nov. 26, 2023.
Faraway Downs, with 20th Television as the studio, will expand on Australia, which starred Kidman and Jackman, using original footage and a new ending and updated soundtrack. When Australia first premiered in 2008, Luhrmann said he had filmed three endings. The theatrical cut of Australia has a running time of two hours, 45 minutes. There’s no word on how long the full six-episode series will run.
- 10/9/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ahead of her 88th birthday, we look back at the actor’s best roles, from a down-on-her-luck dame to everyones favourite umbrella-flying nanny
Not every moment of Andrews’ career has been brilliant. Ronald Harwood co-wrote this hypnotically shoddy romcom starring Marcello Mastroianni as Cesareo, an Italian, living in Paris, whose much-younger wife is having an affair with the spouse of uptight Briton, Pamela (Andrews). When the cuckolds get together, sparks fly – in one highlight, Cesareo swallows a glass of water containing Pamela’s contact lenses, then burps.
Not every moment of Andrews’ career has been brilliant. Ronald Harwood co-wrote this hypnotically shoddy romcom starring Marcello Mastroianni as Cesareo, an Italian, living in Paris, whose much-younger wife is having an affair with the spouse of uptight Briton, Pamela (Andrews). When the cuckolds get together, sparks fly – in one highlight, Cesareo swallows a glass of water containing Pamela’s contact lenses, then burps.
- 9/21/2023
- by Charlotte O'Sullivan
- The Guardian - Film News
Welcome back to Oscars Playback, in which Gold Derby editors and Experts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng revisit Oscar ceremonies and winners of yesteryear. This week, we cover the 75th Academy Awards in 2003, honoring the films of 2002.
Oscars’ diamond jubilee crowned “Chicago” Best Picture. The Rob Marshall musical took home six trophies total, the most of the night, and was the heavy favorite going in, but the “Chicago” team was probably sweating bullets down to the wire. That’s because “The Pianist” pulled off three huge upsets, winning Best Actor for Adrien Brody, Best Director for Roman Polanski and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ronald Harwood. How close was “The Pianist” to winning Best Picture?
See Experts slugfest: Revisiting the 2002 ceremony when Halle Berry made history at the longest show ever
The biggest loser of the night was Martin Scorsese‘s “Gangs of New York,” which went 0-10. Backed by Harvey Weinstein,...
Oscars’ diamond jubilee crowned “Chicago” Best Picture. The Rob Marshall musical took home six trophies total, the most of the night, and was the heavy favorite going in, but the “Chicago” team was probably sweating bullets down to the wire. That’s because “The Pianist” pulled off three huge upsets, winning Best Actor for Adrien Brody, Best Director for Roman Polanski and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ronald Harwood. How close was “The Pianist” to winning Best Picture?
See Experts slugfest: Revisiting the 2002 ceremony when Halle Berry made history at the longest show ever
The biggest loser of the night was Martin Scorsese‘s “Gangs of New York,” which went 0-10. Backed by Harvey Weinstein,...
- 7/18/2023
- by Joyce Eng and Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
A stage adaptation of The Pianist, based on the Władysław Szpilman memoir that was the source of the Oscar-nominated 2002 film, is being developed by director Emily Mann with an eye toward Broadway. An industry reading is set for New York City this month with Tony Award winner Santino Fontana (Tootsie) starring as Szpilman.
The project was announced today by producers Robin de Levita Productions, Gorgeous Entertainment, and Wolk Transfer Company. Described as a play with music, The Pianist features an original score by Dutch concert pianist Iris Hond.
The invitation-only industry reading is set for June 23, with Fontana leading a company that includes Richard Topol, Georgia Warner, Claire Beckman, Arielle Goldman, Paul Spera, Addison Finley, Jordan Lage, Robert David Grant and Tina Benko.
The Pianist tells the true story of Szpilman, a survivor of Nazi-occupied Warsaw in World War II. The 2002 film adaptation of Szpilman’s 1946 memoir won Adrien Brody...
The project was announced today by producers Robin de Levita Productions, Gorgeous Entertainment, and Wolk Transfer Company. Described as a play with music, The Pianist features an original score by Dutch concert pianist Iris Hond.
The invitation-only industry reading is set for June 23, with Fontana leading a company that includes Richard Topol, Georgia Warner, Claire Beckman, Arielle Goldman, Paul Spera, Addison Finley, Jordan Lage, Robert David Grant and Tina Benko.
The Pianist tells the true story of Szpilman, a survivor of Nazi-occupied Warsaw in World War II. The 2002 film adaptation of Szpilman’s 1946 memoir won Adrien Brody...
- 6/21/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
“Promising Young Woman” scribe Emerald Fennell and “His Dark Materials” scribe Jack Thorne were among those honored at the 29th Writers’ Guild of Great Britain awards on Monday night.
The ceremony, which was hosted by Wggb president Sandi Toksvig in London, handed out awards in 16 categories including film, television, radio, theatre, comedy, books, and videogames.
Awards covered the past two years of work, after the 2021 ceremony was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Which is why Fennell won a prize for first screenplay for “Promising Young Woman” while Thorne picked up the award for outstanding contribution to writing.
Also walking away with gongs were Chinonyerem Odimba for best musical theater bookwriting for “Black Love,” Russell T. Davies for best long form TV drama for “It’s a Sin” and Simon Blackwell and Armando Iannucci for best screenplay for “The Personal History of David Copperfield.”
“I think all writers would say that being...
The ceremony, which was hosted by Wggb president Sandi Toksvig in London, handed out awards in 16 categories including film, television, radio, theatre, comedy, books, and videogames.
Awards covered the past two years of work, after the 2021 ceremony was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Which is why Fennell won a prize for first screenplay for “Promising Young Woman” while Thorne picked up the award for outstanding contribution to writing.
Also walking away with gongs were Chinonyerem Odimba for best musical theater bookwriting for “Black Love,” Russell T. Davies for best long form TV drama for “It’s a Sin” and Simon Blackwell and Armando Iannucci for best screenplay for “The Personal History of David Copperfield.”
“I think all writers would say that being...
- 2/15/2022
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” has been a critical darling, after garnering stellar reviews and winning the top prize from the New York, Los Angeles and National Society of Film Critics. The last films to win those three prestigious groups were Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” (2009) and David Fincher’s “The Social Network” (2010), with the former winning the Oscar for best picture. Interestingly, those two films’ years were among the last time the Academy nominated 10 picture nominees, which will happen again this year.
Co-distributed by Janus Films, which had Oscar success with “Revanche” (2009) and “Sideshow,” Hamaguchi’s feature is representing Japan and on the Oscars shortlist for best international feature. With this added success on the circuit, the film aims to contend outside of its traditional space, notably in best picture, director, actor (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and adapted screenplay (Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe). But can the three-hour, non-English language...
Co-distributed by Janus Films, which had Oscar success with “Revanche” (2009) and “Sideshow,” Hamaguchi’s feature is representing Japan and on the Oscars shortlist for best international feature. With this added success on the circuit, the film aims to contend outside of its traditional space, notably in best picture, director, actor (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and adapted screenplay (Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe). But can the three-hour, non-English language...
- 1/25/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Who will be included for the special “In Memoriam” segment for Sunday night’s Oscars 2021 ceremony? With last year’s Academy Awards happening over 14 months ago, it means an even larger number of film veterans have died. Producers will hopefully be offering a longer remembrance and not leaving out people for the sake of time.
Superstar actor Chadwick Boseman died late last summer and is a nominee as Best Actor for his role in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Previous Oscar winners from acting categories show who will likely be honored include Sean Connery, Olivia de Havilland, Cloris Leachman and Christopher Plummer. Past acting nominees include Hal Holbrook, Ian Holm, Shirley Knight, George Segal, Cicely Tyson, Max von Sydow and Stuart Whitman.
SEE2021 Oscars presenters: Last year’s winners Renee Zellweger, Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Dern, Brad Pitt returning
Almost all of the near 100 people on the list below were Academy members.
Superstar actor Chadwick Boseman died late last summer and is a nominee as Best Actor for his role in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Previous Oscar winners from acting categories show who will likely be honored include Sean Connery, Olivia de Havilland, Cloris Leachman and Christopher Plummer. Past acting nominees include Hal Holbrook, Ian Holm, Shirley Knight, George Segal, Cicely Tyson, Max von Sydow and Stuart Whitman.
SEE2021 Oscars presenters: Last year’s winners Renee Zellweger, Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Dern, Brad Pitt returning
Almost all of the near 100 people on the list below were Academy members.
- 4/23/2021
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.***"Like watching Shirley Temple pull the wings off a fly," was one critic's evocative summary of A High Wind in Jamaica (1965), Alexander Mackendrick's disturbingly faithful rendition of Richard Hughes' striking novel.The book had been a passion project of Mackendrick for years, and he'd tried unsuccessfully to set it up at Ealing, the little British studio which had launched his career, but the story, in which a crew of anachronistic Victorian pirates find themselves inadvertent abductors of a family of schoolchildren, was much too strange and upsetting for producer Michael Balcon. You see, the children utterly destroy the pirates. It was a variation on the theme of "lethal innocence...
- 10/29/2020
- MUBI
Back in 1999, Anthony Hopkins was ready to quit acting after playing the demanding title role in Julie Taymor’s “Titus.” “I put it behind me,” the 82-year-old actor said on a recent phone call from his home in Santa Monica. “Most of the time, things have been pretty good. When I was younger, I had a healthy ego and ambition and I was insecure. The great thing about getting older is that it falls away. I look in the mirror at myself, and say, ‘What’s the big deal? Come on! Thank you very much!’ I don’t know what I’m doing half the time.”
Methinks he doth protest too much. At the moment, the 82-year-old Hopkins is on a roll. Last year he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as Pope Benedict in “The Two Popes,” opposite fellow Welshman Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis. “I didn’t know Jonathan,...
Methinks he doth protest too much. At the moment, the 82-year-old Hopkins is on a roll. Last year he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as Pope Benedict in “The Two Popes,” opposite fellow Welshman Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis. “I didn’t know Jonathan,...
- 9/14/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Back in 1999, Anthony Hopkins was ready to quit acting after playing the demanding title role in Julie Taymor’s “Titus.” “I put it behind me,” the 82-year-old actor said on a recent phone call from his home in Santa Monica. “Most of the time, things have been pretty good. When I was younger, I had a healthy ego and ambition and I was insecure. The great thing about getting older is that it falls away. I look in the mirror at myself, and say, ‘What’s the big deal? Come on! Thank you very much!’ I don’t know what I’m doing half the time.”
Methinks he doth protest too much. At the moment, the 82-year-old Hopkins is on a roll. Last year he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as Pope Benedict in “The Two Popes,” opposite fellow Welshman Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis. “I didn’t know Jonathan,...
Methinks he doth protest too much. At the moment, the 82-year-old Hopkins is on a roll. Last year he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as Pope Benedict in “The Two Popes,” opposite fellow Welshman Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis. “I didn’t know Jonathan,...
- 9/14/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Ronald Harwood's Adaptations Oscar-winning screenwriter and playwright Sir Ronald Harwood has died, of natural causes, at the age of 85.
Tributes were paid last night to Harwood, who won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for Roman Polanski's The Pianist in 2003. He had previously received two other Oscar nominations in the same category - for The Dresser in 1983 and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly in 2007, for which he won a BAFTA. His filmography also included screenplays for Being Julia, Cry, The Beloved Country and Love In The Time Of Cholera . In addition to his screenplays and stage work, including Taking Tea With Stalin, he also wrote the book Adaptations, about the art of writing for cinema.
Among those paying tribute on Twitter was documentarian David Nicholas Wilkinson, who distributed Harwood's film adaptation of his play Taking Sides.
He wrote on Twitter: "When Ronald Harwood won the Oscar for The.
Tributes were paid last night to Harwood, who won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for Roman Polanski's The Pianist in 2003. He had previously received two other Oscar nominations in the same category - for The Dresser in 1983 and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly in 2007, for which he won a BAFTA. His filmography also included screenplays for Being Julia, Cry, The Beloved Country and Love In The Time Of Cholera . In addition to his screenplays and stage work, including Taking Tea With Stalin, he also wrote the book Adaptations, about the art of writing for cinema.
Among those paying tribute on Twitter was documentarian David Nicholas Wilkinson, who distributed Harwood's film adaptation of his play Taking Sides.
He wrote on Twitter: "When Ronald Harwood won the Oscar for The.
- 9/9/2020
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Sir Ronald Harwood, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of the 2002 film “The Pianist,” has died. He was 85.
He died Tuesday of natural causes, his agent Judy Daish said in a statement to BBC. “His wife Natasha died in 2013 and Sir Ronald is survived by their children Antony, Deborah and Alexandra,” Daish said.
Harwood was born in South Africa and went on to become one of Britain’s greatest playwrights. He is perhaps best known for his play “The Dresser,” which follows the assistant of an aging actor and is based on Harwood’s own time as a dresser. The play debuted on West End in 1980 and then on Broadway in 1981.
“The Dresser” was then adapted into a 1983 film, for which Harwood wrote the screenplay. Star Tom Courtenay, who portrayed the dresser, won the Golden Globe for best actor in a drama. The story was also adapted for TV and radio.
Harwood wrote...
He died Tuesday of natural causes, his agent Judy Daish said in a statement to BBC. “His wife Natasha died in 2013 and Sir Ronald is survived by their children Antony, Deborah and Alexandra,” Daish said.
Harwood was born in South Africa and went on to become one of Britain’s greatest playwrights. He is perhaps best known for his play “The Dresser,” which follows the assistant of an aging actor and is based on Harwood’s own time as a dresser. The play debuted on West End in 1980 and then on Broadway in 1981.
“The Dresser” was then adapted into a 1983 film, for which Harwood wrote the screenplay. Star Tom Courtenay, who portrayed the dresser, won the Golden Globe for best actor in a drama. The story was also adapted for TV and radio.
Harwood wrote...
- 9/9/2020
- by Liz Lane
- The Wrap
Sir Ronald Harwood, an Oscar-winning screenwriter and playwright, died on Tuesday of natural causes, his agent told BBC on Wednesday. He was 85.
The British writer won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist” in 2003. Harwood was nominated in the same category for Peter Yates’ “The Dresser” in 1983 and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” in 2007.
Harwood was highly regarded as one of Britain’s most successful post-war dramatic scribes. Two of his plays, “The Dresser” and “Quartet,” were adapted from stage plays to the big screen. His other screenwriting credits include Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia,” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, Polanski’s 2005 adaptation of “Oliver Twist,” “Being Julia” starring Annette Bening, “Love in the Time of Cholera” and more.
Some of this written stage plays include “Taking Tea With Stalin,” “Taking Sides,” “Ivanov,” “The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold” and many others.
The writer...
The British writer won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist” in 2003. Harwood was nominated in the same category for Peter Yates’ “The Dresser” in 1983 and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” in 2007.
Harwood was highly regarded as one of Britain’s most successful post-war dramatic scribes. Two of his plays, “The Dresser” and “Quartet,” were adapted from stage plays to the big screen. His other screenwriting credits include Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia,” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, Polanski’s 2005 adaptation of “Oliver Twist,” “Being Julia” starring Annette Bening, “Love in the Time of Cholera” and more.
Some of this written stage plays include “Taking Tea With Stalin,” “Taking Sides,” “Ivanov,” “The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold” and many others.
The writer...
- 9/9/2020
- by Jordan Moreau
- Variety Film + TV
Ronald Harwood, a South African screenwriter most known for The Pianist has died. The Oscar-winning writer was 85.
Harwood, who also wrote The Dresser and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, died Tuesday of natural causes in his Sussex home.
The writer was born in South Africa in 1934. His first credit was for 1961’s Playdate. Throughout the sixties he went on to write a number for a number of titles including TV series ITV Television Playhouse, Knock on Any Door and ITV Play of the Week.
As his career progressed he went on write films, ranging from the 1966 film Arrivederci, Baby! to the 1981 picture Evita Peron. In 1983 Harwood wrote the screenplay for The Dresser, which follows a personal assistant’s struggle to help a veteran actor get through a difficult performance of King Lear. The film, which starred Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay, received five nominations in 1984 included a nod for best Harwood’s screenplay.
Harwood, who also wrote The Dresser and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, died Tuesday of natural causes in his Sussex home.
The writer was born in South Africa in 1934. His first credit was for 1961’s Playdate. Throughout the sixties he went on to write a number for a number of titles including TV series ITV Television Playhouse, Knock on Any Door and ITV Play of the Week.
As his career progressed he went on write films, ranging from the 1966 film Arrivederci, Baby! to the 1981 picture Evita Peron. In 1983 Harwood wrote the screenplay for The Dresser, which follows a personal assistant’s struggle to help a veteran actor get through a difficult performance of King Lear. The film, which starred Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay, received five nominations in 1984 included a nod for best Harwood’s screenplay.
- 9/9/2020
- by Alexandra Del Rosario
- Deadline Film + TV
Sir Ronald Harwood, the Oscar-winning British screenwriter of The Pianist and films such as The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Dresser and Quartet, has died. He was 85.
His agent, Judy Daish, told the BBC that Harwood died of natural causes on Tuesday.
Harwood wrote the script for Roman Polanski’s World War II drama The Pianist, which won him the 2003 Academy Award for best-adapted screenplay. He was nominated for a best-adapted screenplay Oscar on two other occasions for 1983’s The Dresser and 2007’s The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.
Highly regarded in Hollywood for his film work, in his native Britain, Harwood ...
His agent, Judy Daish, told the BBC that Harwood died of natural causes on Tuesday.
Harwood wrote the script for Roman Polanski’s World War II drama The Pianist, which won him the 2003 Academy Award for best-adapted screenplay. He was nominated for a best-adapted screenplay Oscar on two other occasions for 1983’s The Dresser and 2007’s The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.
Highly regarded in Hollywood for his film work, in his native Britain, Harwood ...
Sir Ronald Harwood, the Oscar-winning British screenwriter of The Pianist and films such as The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Dresser and Quartet, has died. He was 85.
His agent, Judy Daish, told the BBC that Harwood died of natural causes on Tuesday.
Harwood wrote the script for Roman Polanski’s World War II drama The Pianist, which won him the 2003 Academy Award for best-adapted screenplay. He was nominated for a best-adapted screenplay Oscar on two other occasions for 1983’s The Dresser and 2007’s The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.
Highly regarded in Hollywood for his film work, in his native Britain, Harwood ...
His agent, Judy Daish, told the BBC that Harwood died of natural causes on Tuesday.
Harwood wrote the script for Roman Polanski’s World War II drama The Pianist, which won him the 2003 Academy Award for best-adapted screenplay. He was nominated for a best-adapted screenplay Oscar on two other occasions for 1983’s The Dresser and 2007’s The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.
Highly regarded in Hollywood for his film work, in his native Britain, Harwood ...
Alexander Mackendrick’s exhilarating pirate adventure mixes accurate history with a fine story of innocence corrupting the corrupt: Anthony Quinn’s pirate goes soft for a 12 year-old girl, and jeopardizes his highly insecure professional standing. James Coburn is superb as the first mate trying to keep the skullduggery on course with a passel of interfering kids on board. And young Deborah Baxter offers an un-sentimentalized portrait of the ordinary magic of childhood. No Summer Magic this! Region-Free German disc.
A High Wind in Jamaica
Blu-ray Caution This May be Region B only see below
Explosive Media GmbH
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date July 20, 2018 / Sturm über Jamaika / Available at Amazon.de
11.99 Euros Starring: Anthony Quinn, James Coburn, Deborah Baxter, Dennis Price, Lila Kedrova, Nigel Davenport, Isabel Dean, Kenneth J. Warren, Gert Fröbe, Vivienne Ventura
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Art Director: John Hoesli
Film Editor: Derek York
Original Music: Larry Adler
Written by Stanley Mann,...
A High Wind in Jamaica
Blu-ray Caution This May be Region B only see below
Explosive Media GmbH
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date July 20, 2018 / Sturm über Jamaika / Available at Amazon.de
11.99 Euros Starring: Anthony Quinn, James Coburn, Deborah Baxter, Dennis Price, Lila Kedrova, Nigel Davenport, Isabel Dean, Kenneth J. Warren, Gert Fröbe, Vivienne Ventura
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Art Director: John Hoesli
Film Editor: Derek York
Original Music: Larry Adler
Written by Stanley Mann,...
- 8/31/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Albert Finney was not yet 50 when he earned his third Oscar nomination playing a volatile ball of ego and insecurity in Ronald Harwood’s brilliant backstage drama “The Dresser.” At one point, the character — a high-maintenance Shakespearean stage actor slowly collapsing in upon himself like some kind of dying sun — bellows, “I can’t do it anymore! I have nothing more to give!”
That was 35 years ago. His character Sir may have been primed to expire after more than 200 performances as King Lear In “The Dresser,” but Finney, who died Thursday, still had at least half of his career — and two more Oscar nominations — ahead of him: as the epically self-destructive drunk in John Huston’s “Under the Volcano,” and the surly boss-turned-champion in “Erin Brockovich.”
Younger audiences probably know the 82-year-old British actor best as the baritone-voiced mastermind behind the shadowy CIA operations in the first two Jason Bourne sequels,...
That was 35 years ago. His character Sir may have been primed to expire after more than 200 performances as King Lear In “The Dresser,” but Finney, who died Thursday, still had at least half of his career — and two more Oscar nominations — ahead of him: as the epically self-destructive drunk in John Huston’s “Under the Volcano,” and the surly boss-turned-champion in “Erin Brockovich.”
Younger audiences probably know the 82-year-old British actor best as the baritone-voiced mastermind behind the shadowy CIA operations in the first two Jason Bourne sequels,...
- 2/8/2019
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Albert Finney, one of the leading actors of the postwar period, has died after a short illness. He was 82.
The robust British actor began as a stage actor before transitioning to film. With his gravely voice and rumbling stare he brought an intense realism to his work, rising to fame in such 1960s classics as “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning” and “Tom Jones.” He later memorably played Agatha Christie’s legendary sleuth Hercule Poirot in “Murder on the Orient Express” and impressed critics and audiences with towering performances in “The Dresser” and “Under the Volcano.” Finney was nominated for five Oscars but never won the prize.
In 1963, Finney played the foundling hero in Tony Richardson’s Oscar best picture winner “Tom Jones.” The role made Finney an international movie star and earned him the first of four best actor Oscar nominations. A year earlier, Finney had turned down the title...
The robust British actor began as a stage actor before transitioning to film. With his gravely voice and rumbling stare he brought an intense realism to his work, rising to fame in such 1960s classics as “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning” and “Tom Jones.” He later memorably played Agatha Christie’s legendary sleuth Hercule Poirot in “Murder on the Orient Express” and impressed critics and audiences with towering performances in “The Dresser” and “Under the Volcano.” Finney was nominated for five Oscars but never won the prize.
In 1963, Finney played the foundling hero in Tony Richardson’s Oscar best picture winner “Tom Jones.” The role made Finney an international movie star and earned him the first of four best actor Oscar nominations. A year earlier, Finney had turned down the title...
- 2/8/2019
- by Rick Schultz
- Variety Film + TV
This year the Screen Actors Guild Awards celebrates its 25th anniversary, so we thought it’d be fun to look back at the past quarter-century to see how many times they disagreed with the Oscars when it came to honoring the year’s Best Actor. As it turns out, there are only a handful of differences as both organizations matched up 19 times out of 24 ceremonies. Scroll down to see the five times that the Oscars clashed with SAG.
See 5 reasons why I knew Lady Gaga would soar in ‘A Star Is Born’
Year: 2000
Oscar winner: Russell Crowe (“Gladiator”)
SAG winner: Benicio Del Toro (“Traffic”)
What happened: After winning the SAG Award for a leading performance, Oscar voters then decided to nominate Del Toro as a supporting actor. It’s rare for this kind of quirky category switcheroo to happen between awards shows, with Kate Winslet (“The Reader”) being another recent example.
See 5 reasons why I knew Lady Gaga would soar in ‘A Star Is Born’
Year: 2000
Oscar winner: Russell Crowe (“Gladiator”)
SAG winner: Benicio Del Toro (“Traffic”)
What happened: After winning the SAG Award for a leading performance, Oscar voters then decided to nominate Del Toro as a supporting actor. It’s rare for this kind of quirky category switcheroo to happen between awards shows, with Kate Winslet (“The Reader”) being another recent example.
- 10/27/2018
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Oscar-winner Ronald Harwood and twice-nominated William Nicholson urge industry to give writers credit they deserve
Without their words, there would be no films, but screenwriters have never received the recognition they deserve in Hollywood. Now two of the industry’s most talented screenwriters, Sir Ronald Harwood and William Nicholson, have spoken out.
Harwood, who won an Oscar for the harrowing Holocaust film The Pianist, said that even the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, is “pretty disparaging” towards his profession.
Continue reading...
Without their words, there would be no films, but screenwriters have never received the recognition they deserve in Hollywood. Now two of the industry’s most talented screenwriters, Sir Ronald Harwood and William Nicholson, have spoken out.
Harwood, who won an Oscar for the harrowing Holocaust film The Pianist, said that even the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, is “pretty disparaging” towards his profession.
Continue reading...
- 5/21/2017
- by Dalya Alberge
- The Guardian - Film News
At just 20 years old, Lucas Hedges is the youngest acting nominee among the 2017 Oscar hopefuls. Still, he’s been preparing for his big Academy Award red carpet moment for more than a decade.
“My dad was nominated for an Oscar 13 years ago and I came with him as his plus-one,” he told Ryan Seacrest during the E! pre-show red carpet broadcast. Hedges’ father, Peter Hedges, scored a Best Adapted Screenplay nod in 2002 for About a Boy.
“Oscars were our Super Bowl,” he continues with a smile. “To be here is really kind of out of a fairytale.”
While his dad...
“My dad was nominated for an Oscar 13 years ago and I came with him as his plus-one,” he told Ryan Seacrest during the E! pre-show red carpet broadcast. Hedges’ father, Peter Hedges, scored a Best Adapted Screenplay nod in 2002 for About a Boy.
“Oscars were our Super Bowl,” he continues with a smile. “To be here is really kind of out of a fairytale.”
While his dad...
- 2/26/2017
- by Jordan Runtagh
- PEOPLE.com
The 2017 Golden Globe nominations are here, and although a few big names earned awards buzz leading up to the noms, they won’t have a shot at the prestigious award.
A few lesser known films, television shows and actors, however, pulled some unexpected nods (congrats to Sing Street and Aaron Taylor-Johnson!).
Here’s who will have – and who should have had – a chance at a Golden Globe award on Jan. 8.
Films Snub: Denzel Washington
Although the Oscar winner was recognized for his acting in Fences, his directing work for the 1950s-set drama failed to secure him a nomination or a best motion picture drama honor.
A few lesser known films, television shows and actors, however, pulled some unexpected nods (congrats to Sing Street and Aaron Taylor-Johnson!).
Here’s who will have – and who should have had – a chance at a Golden Globe award on Jan. 8.
Films Snub: Denzel Washington
Although the Oscar winner was recognized for his acting in Fences, his directing work for the 1950s-set drama failed to secure him a nomination or a best motion picture drama honor.
- 12/12/2016
- by Stephanie Petit
- PEOPLE.com
“The Dresser” was not only intensely personal for Anthony Hopkins in returning to his bittersweet theatrical roots, but also for costume designer Fotini Dimou (“Ripley’s Game”) — the real dresser, so to speak.
The World War II-set backstage drama about the symbiotic relationship between an aging English actor, Sir (Hopkins), and his personal assistant, Norman (Ian McKellen), brilliantly explores the tension between approval and rejection.
“Dressers were like personal assistants and looked after the stars in every way,” explained Dimou. “And what I researched is how these companies used to work. They didn’t have designers as such but what they had was a wardrobe mistress or master or the chief dresser, the role that Norman plays, who provides the costumes for the actor/manager, who ran the company.”
“The Dresser,” by Ronald Harwood (who had personal experience as a dresser), first opened in London’s West End in 1980 and...
The World War II-set backstage drama about the symbiotic relationship between an aging English actor, Sir (Hopkins), and his personal assistant, Norman (Ian McKellen), brilliantly explores the tension between approval and rejection.
“Dressers were like personal assistants and looked after the stars in every way,” explained Dimou. “And what I researched is how these companies used to work. They didn’t have designers as such but what they had was a wardrobe mistress or master or the chief dresser, the role that Norman plays, who provides the costumes for the actor/manager, who ran the company.”
“The Dresser,” by Ronald Harwood (who had personal experience as a dresser), first opened in London’s West End in 1980 and...
- 7/13/2016
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
In this summer blockbuster season of franchise overkill and souped-up CGI decadence, it’s not hard to crave the more understated, yet still electric thrill that can be found in watching two performers encircle one another, building in intensity with every exchanged snatch of dialogue, exploring their respective ranges through mere interaction.
The Dresser, Starz’s stately entrance into the original filmmaking game, is an archetypal reminder of what makes those sorts of movies, when done right, so inherently cinematic. Two-handers are a classic of real, performance-driven entertainment, and with the starry one-two punch of Sirs Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins leading this latest take on the Ronald Harwood play, The Dresser goes for the theatric jugular early on, with an extended conversation between steadfast backstage assistant Norman (McKellen) and his boss’s quietly miserable wife (Emily Watson) that effortlessly lays out the main drama.
Norman is the long-suffering yet consummately devout attendant to “Sir,...
The Dresser, Starz’s stately entrance into the original filmmaking game, is an archetypal reminder of what makes those sorts of movies, when done right, so inherently cinematic. Two-handers are a classic of real, performance-driven entertainment, and with the starry one-two punch of Sirs Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins leading this latest take on the Ronald Harwood play, The Dresser goes for the theatric jugular early on, with an extended conversation between steadfast backstage assistant Norman (McKellen) and his boss’s quietly miserable wife (Emily Watson) that effortlessly lays out the main drama.
Norman is the long-suffering yet consummately devout attendant to “Sir,...
- 5/31/2016
- by Isaac Feldberg
- We Got This Covered
Every once in a while something made for television comes along that seems like art for art's sake, a production meant less to be a hit or an event than simply a good idea matched with the willingness to do it and a place to show it. Such is the case with The Dresser, the Starz-bbc co-production premiering Monday night on Starz (it aired on the BBC last year) based on Ronald Harwood's famous play of the same name (which ran in the U.K. and on Broadway and also was made into an acclaimed 1983 film) starring
read more...
read more...
- 5/30/2016
- by Tim Goodman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
There are movies that exist only to highlight the towering work of their performers, and then there are films like "The Dresser." A play by Ronald Harwood first staged in 1980 and re-envisioned for the silver screen in 1983 with Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay, the feature-length appreciation of the theatre — with an eye toward the actors willingly indentured to it — functions almost surprisingly well as a meta-narrative on aging, acting and the differing perspectives on the importance of both. With Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen digging into the meaty roles in front of them, there's plenty of juice for the audience to savor, even if each viewer digests "The Dresser" differently. Considering its history, both on stage and now with two filmed versions, "The Dresser" could have easily gone the other way. Harwood's play has always walked a fine line between doing service to the script (and thus the art form it honors) and satirizing it,...
- 5/30/2016
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
The play’s the thing in The Dresser. King Lear, to be exact. And whether — apologies, Hamlet — it is to be or not to be. And a pair of Sirs make Starz’ upcoming film adaptation of the Ronald Harwood play a must-see, whether you’re a Shakespeare lover or not. The Dresser follows Sir (Sir Anthony Hopkins), an embittered, once-famous actor whose star has faded to twilight in a local Shakespeare troupe. As Sir’s anger and despair get the better of him — and World War II rages across England — Sir’s faithful dresser Norman (Sir Ian McKellen) tries to ensure that Lear … Continue reading →
The post The Dresser — Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Ian McKellen shine in Starz original film appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
The post The Dresser — Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Ian McKellen shine in Starz original film appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
- 5/13/2016
- by Lori Acken
- ChannelGuideMag
Before crowning its final champion, American Idol will welcome back two of its most successful victors.
Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are set to perform on Idol’s series finale, airing Thursday, April 7, at 8/7c. The divas will take the stage as part of Fox’s three-night Grand Finale event, beginning with the 90-minute retrospective American Idol: American Dream on Tuesday, April 5, at 8 pm.
More from TVLineLaw & Order Recruits Veep's Reid Scott as New Detective for Season 23, Replacing Jeffrey DonovanAhead of Cancellation, Yellowstone Was Set to Introduce a Long-Lost Dutton BrotherTVLine Items: BTS' New Docuseries, MasterChef Junior Holiday Promo and...
Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are set to perform on Idol’s series finale, airing Thursday, April 7, at 8/7c. The divas will take the stage as part of Fox’s three-night Grand Finale event, beginning with the 90-minute retrospective American Idol: American Dream on Tuesday, April 5, at 8 pm.
More from TVLineLaw & Order Recruits Veep's Reid Scott as New Detective for Season 23, Replacing Jeffrey DonovanAhead of Cancellation, Yellowstone Was Set to Introduce a Long-Lost Dutton BrotherTVLine Items: BTS' New Docuseries, MasterChef Junior Holiday Promo and...
- 3/24/2016
- by Rebecca Iannucci
- TVLine.com
Before crowning its final champion, American Idol will welcome back two of its most successful victors.
Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are set to perform on Idol’s series finale, airing Thursday, April 7, at 8/7c. The divas will take the stage as part of Fox’s three-night Grand Finale event, beginning with the 90-minute retrospective American Idol: American Dream on Tuesday, April 5, at 8 pm.
RelatedAmerican Idol: Get the Full Set List for Sia Songbook/American Rock Night!
The last-ever performance show will then air April 6 at 8 pm, leading up to Idol‘s swan song the following night.
Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are set to perform on Idol’s series finale, airing Thursday, April 7, at 8/7c. The divas will take the stage as part of Fox’s three-night Grand Finale event, beginning with the 90-minute retrospective American Idol: American Dream on Tuesday, April 5, at 8 pm.
RelatedAmerican Idol: Get the Full Set List for Sia Songbook/American Rock Night!
The last-ever performance show will then air April 6 at 8 pm, leading up to Idol‘s swan song the following night.
- 3/24/2016
- TVLine.com
Starz has debuted the first trailer for "The Dresser," its upcoming telemovie adaptation of Ronald Harwood's acclaimed play which will premiere on the cable network on May 30th.
Richard Eyre ("Notes on a Scandal," "Iris") directs and Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen star in the film which is set on one night in a small regional theatre during World War II as a troupe of touring actors stage a production of Shakespeare's "King Lear".
With the curtain call coming and the leading man nowhere to be found, it's up to his dresser to keep the production alive. Emily Watson, Sarah Lancashire, Edward Fox and Vanessa Kirby also star.
Richard Eyre ("Notes on a Scandal," "Iris") directs and Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen star in the film which is set on one night in a small regional theatre during World War II as a troupe of touring actors stage a production of Shakespeare's "King Lear".
With the curtain call coming and the leading man nowhere to be found, it's up to his dresser to keep the production alive. Emily Watson, Sarah Lancashire, Edward Fox and Vanessa Kirby also star.
- 3/24/2016
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Plus: Tribeca unveils Sloan screenwriting winner; and more…
Starz will premiere its first movie for television, Richard Eyre’s adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s acclaimed play The Dresser starring Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins, on Starz on May 30.
The film will also be made available simultaneously for Starz subscribers on Starz Play and Starz On Demand in the Us.
Tribeca Film Institute announced on Thursday that Nyu’s Tisch School Of The Arts film student Shawn Snyder will receive the 2016 Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize for screenwriting. Snyder co-wrote and will direct To Dust. Jennifer Edwards of UCLA will receive an honourable mention for her screenplay, Family Brew. The American Film Institute has announced its collaboration with the White House on the third annual White House Student Film Festival, to be held in late summer. Participant Media joins AFI in support of their work with young filmmakers of the White House Student Film Festival for a second...
Starz will premiere its first movie for television, Richard Eyre’s adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s acclaimed play The Dresser starring Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins, on Starz on May 30.
The film will also be made available simultaneously for Starz subscribers on Starz Play and Starz On Demand in the Us.
Tribeca Film Institute announced on Thursday that Nyu’s Tisch School Of The Arts film student Shawn Snyder will receive the 2016 Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize for screenwriting. Snyder co-wrote and will direct To Dust. Jennifer Edwards of UCLA will receive an honourable mention for her screenplay, Family Brew. The American Film Institute has announced its collaboration with the White House on the third annual White House Student Film Festival, to be held in late summer. Participant Media joins AFI in support of their work with young filmmakers of the White House Student Film Festival for a second...
- 3/24/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Ahead of its Berlinale debut, Screen talked to the producers behind the buzzed-about John le Carré adaptation, which cost $5m per episode.
With a budget and creative team that most film producers can only dream of, it’s easy to see why Susanne Bier’s The Night Manager is among the most anticipated projects to screen at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
It’s a sign of the times, however, that the project isn’t a feature screening in main competition but in fact a six-part TV series whose first two episodes are showing in the glittering TV strand Berlinale Special Series.
The BBC-amc co-commission combines acclaimed source material from iconic spy novelist John le Carré, Oscar-winning director Bier, a cast including Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Debicki, Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman and Tom Hollander, and in-demand screenwriter David Farr.
At $30m, The Night Manager has a budget bigger than any film playing at this year’s...
With a budget and creative team that most film producers can only dream of, it’s easy to see why Susanne Bier’s The Night Manager is among the most anticipated projects to screen at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
It’s a sign of the times, however, that the project isn’t a feature screening in main competition but in fact a six-part TV series whose first two episodes are showing in the glittering TV strand Berlinale Special Series.
The BBC-amc co-commission combines acclaimed source material from iconic spy novelist John le Carré, Oscar-winning director Bier, a cast including Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Debicki, Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman and Tom Hollander, and in-demand screenwriter David Farr.
At $30m, The Night Manager has a budget bigger than any film playing at this year’s...
- 2/16/2016
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Class
BBC America has announced a 2016 air date for "Class," an upcoming eight episode "Doctor Who" spinoff which was confirmed on Friday at the Television Critics Association press tour.
Young-adult author Patrick Ness is behind the series which will be executive produced by Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin. BBC America and BBC Cymru Wales will co-produce the Cardiff-shot series. [Source: Variety]
Grease Live
Legendary R&B group Boyz II Men will make a cameo appearance as a group version of the Teen Angel character to perform the iconic song "Beauty School Dropout" as part of the "Grease: Live" event airing January 31st on Fox. Frankie Avalon played the singular version of the role in the classic 1970s musical. There's also a new featurette for the production which you can see below:
TNT
TNT is making an unprecedent move - planning to cut the number of advertisements during three new 2016 drama series by 50% - roughly 8-9 minutes.
BBC America has announced a 2016 air date for "Class," an upcoming eight episode "Doctor Who" spinoff which was confirmed on Friday at the Television Critics Association press tour.
Young-adult author Patrick Ness is behind the series which will be executive produced by Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin. BBC America and BBC Cymru Wales will co-produce the Cardiff-shot series. [Source: Variety]
Grease Live
Legendary R&B group Boyz II Men will make a cameo appearance as a group version of the Teen Angel character to perform the iconic song "Beauty School Dropout" as part of the "Grease: Live" event airing January 31st on Fox. Frankie Avalon played the singular version of the role in the classic 1970s musical. There's also a new featurette for the production which you can see below:
TNT
TNT is making an unprecedent move - planning to cut the number of advertisements during three new 2016 drama series by 50% - roughly 8-9 minutes.
- 1/9/2016
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
The playwright behind The Dresser has said that his 'criticism' of the upcoming BBC TV adaptation was a joke, and that his quotes were "wrongly reported".
Ronald Harwood was previously quoted as saying he was only "happy-ish" with the adaption of his play, which stars Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen and Emily Watson.
At a BFI screening of the adaptation, Harwood had also suggested that he was initially reluctant to make a TV programme, saying: "What I was keen on was it being revived in the theatre... But it didn't happen that way, and then they put pressure on me, and I thought, 'Oh screw it'."
The playwright has now released a statement saying that he was being sarcastic, and he is in fact "extraordinarily proud" of the TV production.
"The truth is that for a lifetime I've been burdened by my wit and intellect and while it doesn't always translate...
Ronald Harwood was previously quoted as saying he was only "happy-ish" with the adaption of his play, which stars Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen and Emily Watson.
At a BFI screening of the adaptation, Harwood had also suggested that he was initially reluctant to make a TV programme, saying: "What I was keen on was it being revived in the theatre... But it didn't happen that way, and then they put pressure on me, and I thought, 'Oh screw it'."
The playwright has now released a statement saying that he was being sarcastic, and he is in fact "extraordinarily proud" of the TV production.
"The truth is that for a lifetime I've been burdened by my wit and intellect and while it doesn't always translate...
- 10/23/2015
- Digital Spy
'About a Boy,' with Hugh Grant and Baby 'About a Boy' movie review: Some men should remain islands On the surface, Chris and Paul Weitz's 2002 movie About a Boy has a profound, affecting premise. No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. With the above statement, seventeenth-century English poet John Donne reached beyond the apparent isolation of each individual by affirming the invisible oneness that encompasses all of humankind – and, why not, all living creatures.
- 5/12/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Being Julia' movie: Annette Bening and Shaun Evans 'Being Julia' movie review: Annette Bening showcase tells us a little about Avice A little Being Julia movie background: In Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1950 Oscar-winning classic All About Eve, Bette Davis plays Margo Channing, a major Broadway star who, despite her talent, wit, and some forty-odd years on this planet, falls prey to the youthful, ambitious wannabe Eve Harrington: sweet, soft-spoken Anne Baxter on the outside; ruthless, poisonous gargoyle on the inside.* More than a decade earlier, in 1937 to be exact, W. Somerset Maugham had written Theatre, a novel about West End diva Julia Lambert. In Maugham's tale, Julia, despite her talent, wit, and some forty-odd years on this planet, succumbs to her vanity when she falls madly in love with Tom Fennel, a handsome – and deceptively innocent-looking – American half her age. Through Tom's "special friendship" with the renowned Julia, an ambitious young actress,...
- 5/10/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
I. The Rattigan Version
After his first dramatic success, The Winslow Boy, Terence Rattigan conceived a double bill of one-act plays in 1946. Producers dismissed the project, even Rattigan’s collaborator Hugh “Binkie” Beaumont. Actor John Gielgud agreed. “They’ve seen me in so much first rate stuff,” Gielgud asked Rattigan; “Do you really think they will like me in anything second rate?” Rattigan insisted he wasn’t “content writing a play to please an audience today, but to write a play that will be remembered in fifty years’ time.”
Ultimately, Rattigan paired a brooding character study, The Browning Version, with a light farce, Harlequinade. Entitled Playbill, the show was finally produced by Stephen Mitchell in September 1948, starring Eric Portman, and became a runaway hit. While Harlequinade faded into a footnote, the first half proved an instant classic. Harold Hobson wrote that “Mr. Portman’s playing and Mr. Rattigan’s writing...
After his first dramatic success, The Winslow Boy, Terence Rattigan conceived a double bill of one-act plays in 1946. Producers dismissed the project, even Rattigan’s collaborator Hugh “Binkie” Beaumont. Actor John Gielgud agreed. “They’ve seen me in so much first rate stuff,” Gielgud asked Rattigan; “Do you really think they will like me in anything second rate?” Rattigan insisted he wasn’t “content writing a play to please an audience today, but to write a play that will be remembered in fifty years’ time.”
Ultimately, Rattigan paired a brooding character study, The Browning Version, with a light farce, Harlequinade. Entitled Playbill, the show was finally produced by Stephen Mitchell in September 1948, starring Eric Portman, and became a runaway hit. While Harlequinade faded into a footnote, the first half proved an instant classic. Harold Hobson wrote that “Mr. Portman’s playing and Mr. Rattigan’s writing...
- 3/25/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
On the Ealing Studios lot, which once played host to Alec Guinness and the Ealing Comedies — and is now the residence of Downton Abbey — Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen have been shooting BBC/Starz's upcoming The Dresser. This is the adaptation of Ronald Harwood's classic play that's produced by Colin Callender's Playground Entertainment. It's the first time in many years that a play has been adapted in such a way for television. And it joins the two veteran stars…...
- 3/20/2015
- Deadline TV
Feature Film Casting Call From Nina Gold Casting For 7 - 9 Year Old Boy- Goodbye Christopher Robin
Goodbye Christopher Robin is a beautifully written account of a young boy growing up in the shadow of his own fame.
Written by Simon Vaughn, Ronald Harwood & Frank Cotterell Boyce and to be directed by Simon Curtis (My Week With Marilyn, Woman In Gold) in the UK Summer 2015.
This is the story of AA Milne, the celebrated children’s author of Winnie The Pooh, and his relationship with his young son, Christopher Robin, who was the unwitting inspiration for one of the most successful children stories ever created.
Set in England, midst World Wars this story focuses entirely around the young Christopher Robin. A painfully lonely little boy, an only child with little to no relationship with his successful socialite parents, who becomes an overnight international star due to the immense success of his father’s books.
Goodbye Christopher Robin is a beautifully written account of a young boy growing up in the shadow of his own fame.
Written by Simon Vaughn, Ronald Harwood & Frank Cotterell Boyce and to be directed by Simon Curtis (My Week With Marilyn, Woman In Gold) in the UK Summer 2015.
This is the story of AA Milne, the celebrated children’s author of Winnie The Pooh, and his relationship with his young son, Christopher Robin, who was the unwitting inspiration for one of the most successful children stories ever created.
Set in England, midst World Wars this story focuses entirely around the young Christopher Robin. A painfully lonely little boy, an only child with little to no relationship with his successful socialite parents, who becomes an overnight international star due to the immense success of his father’s books.
- 3/13/2015
- by noreply@blogger.com (ScreenTerrier)
- ScreenTerrier
The first picture of Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen in the BBC's The Dresser has been released.
The actors are starring in Richard Eyre's TV adaptation of the Ronald Harwood play alongside Emily Watson, Sarah Lancashire and Edward Fox.
The play is set one night during World World Two as a theatre company puts on King Lear, but with main actor Sir missing and no-one with any idea of where he is, it falls to his dresser Norman to keep the production going - with or without Sir.
Both Hopkins and McKellen have played Lear on stage and are both renowned for their Shakespearean roles, but this is the first time the pair have shared a screen together.
Ben Stephenson, Controller BBC Drama Commissioning, said: "To bring such incredible and world class talent together for The Dresser is testament to Ronald's wonderful play which is as current and...
The actors are starring in Richard Eyre's TV adaptation of the Ronald Harwood play alongside Emily Watson, Sarah Lancashire and Edward Fox.
The play is set one night during World World Two as a theatre company puts on King Lear, but with main actor Sir missing and no-one with any idea of where he is, it falls to his dresser Norman to keep the production going - with or without Sir.
Both Hopkins and McKellen have played Lear on stage and are both renowned for their Shakespearean roles, but this is the first time the pair have shared a screen together.
Ben Stephenson, Controller BBC Drama Commissioning, said: "To bring such incredible and world class talent together for The Dresser is testament to Ronald's wonderful play which is as current and...
- 3/3/2015
- Digital Spy
Ian McKellan and Anthony Hopkins have a new effort for Starz and BBC, and The Dresser is now in production.
The made-for-television film based on the famous play is loaded with stars, and is going to be one of the most interesting efforts to come along in quite some time. At least, if the cast itself can be taken as grounds for extremely high hopes. McKellan and Hopkins are perfect for the roles, and the story has proven itself, not only as a great story, but one that holds up over time.
Get all the details below, and make sure you watch out for this one.
Starz, in partnership with the BBC, today announced that production has officially begun on the movie for television “The Dresser,” an adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s play, to be directed by Richard Eyre (Notes on a Scandal, Iris). The production will film in and around London.
The made-for-television film based on the famous play is loaded with stars, and is going to be one of the most interesting efforts to come along in quite some time. At least, if the cast itself can be taken as grounds for extremely high hopes. McKellan and Hopkins are perfect for the roles, and the story has proven itself, not only as a great story, but one that holds up over time.
Get all the details below, and make sure you watch out for this one.
Starz, in partnership with the BBC, today announced that production has officially begun on the movie for television “The Dresser,” an adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s play, to be directed by Richard Eyre (Notes on a Scandal, Iris). The production will film in and around London.
- 3/3/2015
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
Production has begun in London on BBC Two/Starz drama The Dresser. Richard Eyre is directing the adaptation of Ronald Harwood's classic portrait of theater life backstage. Teaming for the first time on screen, Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins star. The two-hour TV movie has also now added Emily Watson, Happy Valley‘s Sarah Lancashire and Edward Fox — who appeared in the 1983 Oscar-nominated Peter Yates version of The Dresser that starred Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay…...
- 3/3/2015
- Deadline TV
The Dresser's Us TV rights have been picked up by Starz.
Based on Ronald Harwood's classic play, the film marks the first time Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Anthony Hopkins have worked together.
The movie will be set during World War II and is based on Harwood's own experiences as a dresser for the distinguished British actor Sir Donald Wolfit. Hopkins has been cast as Wolfit, while McKellen will play his dresser, Norman.
The BBC co-production is directed by Richard Eyre and executive-produced by Colin Callender, Sonia Friedman, Polly Hilly and Ben Stephenson.
"The Dresser is a timeless and poignant story about the relationship between artists, and to have this classic play brought to life on-screen by such acting giants as Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen is thrilling," said Starz managing director Carmi Zlotnik (via Entertainment Weekly).
"We are glad to be working in partnership again with the...
Based on Ronald Harwood's classic play, the film marks the first time Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Anthony Hopkins have worked together.
The movie will be set during World War II and is based on Harwood's own experiences as a dresser for the distinguished British actor Sir Donald Wolfit. Hopkins has been cast as Wolfit, while McKellen will play his dresser, Norman.
The BBC co-production is directed by Richard Eyre and executive-produced by Colin Callender, Sonia Friedman, Polly Hilly and Ben Stephenson.
"The Dresser is a timeless and poignant story about the relationship between artists, and to have this classic play brought to life on-screen by such acting giants as Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen is thrilling," said Starz managing director Carmi Zlotnik (via Entertainment Weekly).
"We are glad to be working in partnership again with the...
- 1/10/2015
- Digital Spy
Starz will co-produce the movie “The Dresser,” which will feature legendary actors Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen performing together for the first time.
The film, a co-production between Starz and BBC, will be directed by Richard Eyre (“Notes on a Scandal”), with Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment and Sonia Friedman Productions also producing, with Callender and Friedman serving as executive producers.
Also Read: Starz Drops New Trailers for ‘Outlander,’ Season 2 of ‘Power’ (Video)
“The Dresser,” an adaptation of the Ronald Harwood play, is set against World War II. Welsh actor Hopkins will star as Sir, while English counterpart McKellen will portray Sir’s dresser,...
The film, a co-production between Starz and BBC, will be directed by Richard Eyre (“Notes on a Scandal”), with Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment and Sonia Friedman Productions also producing, with Callender and Friedman serving as executive producers.
Also Read: Starz Drops New Trailers for ‘Outlander,’ Season 2 of ‘Power’ (Video)
“The Dresser,” an adaptation of the Ronald Harwood play, is set against World War II. Welsh actor Hopkins will star as Sir, while English counterpart McKellen will portray Sir’s dresser,...
- 1/10/2015
- by Tim Kenneally
- The Wrap
Sir Ian McKellen has spoken about The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
The actor suggested that the final Hobbit movie isn't necessarily the last film based on Jrr Tolkien's novels that fans will see.
McKellen, who has starred as Gandalf in all six of Peter Jackson's Middle-earth films, spoke to the BBC at The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies's world premiere in London about the saga.
"I was told by Peter, in 2001, that that was the end, that it was all over," he said.
"Here we are 13 years later. So I don't believe necessarily this is the end of the journey.
"Maybe [the movies] endure because they're not about evil just for evil's sake, they're not about frightening and exciting things just to thrill the audience," McKellen continued.
"They're actually about something important. They're about what it takes to be a good person, really."
It...
The actor suggested that the final Hobbit movie isn't necessarily the last film based on Jrr Tolkien's novels that fans will see.
McKellen, who has starred as Gandalf in all six of Peter Jackson's Middle-earth films, spoke to the BBC at The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies's world premiere in London about the saga.
"I was told by Peter, in 2001, that that was the end, that it was all over," he said.
"Here we are 13 years later. So I don't believe necessarily this is the end of the journey.
"Maybe [the movies] endure because they're not about evil just for evil's sake, they're not about frightening and exciting things just to thrill the audience," McKellen continued.
"They're actually about something important. They're about what it takes to be a good person, really."
It...
- 12/2/2014
- Digital Spy
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.