Weekly schedule for Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Mo 1/30: Don Cheadle, Andrea Riseborough
Tu 1/31: Ringo Starr
We 2/1: William Shatner
Th 2/2: Daniel Radcliffe, Mark Forward
Fr 2/3: Rachel Bilson, David Milch

David Tennant: 'Decoy Bride' trailer | new narration project

The Decoy Bride
IFC Films have released the trailer for The Decoy Bride


The official Decoy Bride Facebook page has the news that the movie's director Sheree Folkson will hold a Question and Answer session after the screening on 21st February at the Glasgow Film Festival.

Both The Sun and the Daily Mail attempted to tie up promotional photos from The Decoy Bride with David's personal life
WARNING: both articles contain spoilers!!!

Source (and more information) DavidTennantOnTwitter



Wild About Pandas
David Tennant will narrate the documentary Wild About Pandas which will be broadcast on BBC One Scotland on Wednesday 1st February. (It will also be available on Sky.)
See here for more details about the programme.

John Barrowman: TV appearances and book signings

TV:
It's John Barrowman Day on UKTV on Friday 3 February 2012

Hustle
John's episode (series 8, episode 4) of Hustle will air on Friday 3 February 2012 on BBC1 at 9pm. He plays a character called Dr Dean Deville. There are spoilers for the whole series including John's episode on Cultbox site here.
Promotional photos in the gallery here

Chris Moyles Quiz Show
John won his round of Chris Moyles' Quiz Night and will now appear in the final of the series, competing against Alesha Dixon and boy-band JLS.
The show is at 10.30pm on Channel 4 on Friday, 3 February 2012. Right after Hustle!
Read more about the show here

All About Me Pilot Quiz Show
A comedy panel show which is hosted by, and all about, a different celebrity each week.
In the pilot episode, John Barrowman presents a series of rounds all based on his life for the two team captains, Jason Manford and Myleene Klass, who are joined by celebrity and comic guest panellists.
Free tickets to the recording can be bought here

Source: John Barrowman: The Official Site


Dallas
Channel Five has announced a number of new programmes in development, including a cookery show fronted by Marco Pierre White, a documentary presented by John Barrowman on the TV show Dallas
Source: The CMU website


Hollow Earth:
Torchwood star John Barrowman has written a children’s book inspired by his Scottish childhood. The star, who was born in Glasgow and moved to America when he was eight, wrote the book with his sister Carole. They are in talks to turn the novel into a TV series.

Hollow Earth, which is set on a Scottish island, is about 12-year-old twins with special powers. It comes out next month.
Source: Daily Record

John and Carole Barrowman's children's fantasy book is due out in February 2012 and available for pre-order from Amazon

Hollow Earth book signings are listed here

Radio interviews have now been confirmed for John and Carole Barrowman. See John's Official site for details.

More details of the book at Largs & Millport Weekly News and a booksigning at Waterstones in Bluewater shopping centre at 1pm on Saturday, February 4 is reported in the Dartford Messenger

'California Solo' to première at Sundance

In Marshall Lewy's film California Solo, Scottish actor Robert Carlyle, known for his roles in Trainspotting and the James Bond action flick The World Is Not Enough, let's his hair grow out and plays an ageing Britpop musician who lives in the U.S.

When he is arrested for drunk driving and faces deportation, Carlyle's character must face his past and come to terms with his inner demons.

The idea of using a Scottish character, instead of an illegal alien to examine the immigration and deportation topic was a different twist that really stemmed from Lewy's love for Britpop music that hit its stride in the mid- to late- 1990s.

"Britpop was a movement that I loved in college," Lewy said to The Park Record during a telephone interview from Los Angeles, Calif. "I went to visit some friends in Ireland and I returned with a lot of music that hadn't made it to the U.S., at that time."

Bands such as Oasis, Blur, Supergrass, Echobelly and Shed Seven are a few examples of the genre, which was influenced by the music that emerged from Manchester, England, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"When it came time to write the script, I thought about how old Robert Carlyle's character would have been during the movement's heyday in the early to mid 1990s," Lewy said. "That took me back to the music that I loved and I just started listening to it again while I wrote the script."

Lewy was again drawn to the emotional and anthemic quality Britpop.

"I felt the character was like the music, which has this epic and intimate quality going on at the same time," he said. "In fact, that's how the character sees himself."

Although Lewy had never met Carlyle before, he had him in mind when crafting the characteristics.

"I didn't know him and I didn't know I could get him, so I had a back-up plan because there are so many great actors from Scotland or Ireland that I could get, but he was the one I wanted," Lewy said. "So, even though the character was not like me, I was able to write in a voice that was able to capture him because I knew the characters he plays in his films."

In California Solo, Carlyle plays Lachlan MacAldonich, a man who can become his own worst enemy.

"I know many people who have trouble getting out of their own way," Lewy said. "They have settled into this comfortably numb state over the years and aren't able to just sit tight in that space. The events of the film rock Lachlan out of that and force him to deal with his demons."

When Carlyle did sign on, he was able to bring a lot of that quality and a history of Britpop culture to the character, because he hung out with a lot of those musicians at that time, Lewy said.

"Robert arrived in Los Angeles for the shoot and had a lot of the clothes he used to wear to the Hacienda, which is like the Studio 54 of Manchester," he said. "He wore those in the film and buttoned the top button up to the neck, which was the image back then."

Furthermore, Carlyle has appeared in an Oasis music video and is good friends with the now-defunct band's founders Noel and Liam Gallagher.

"He also knows Paul Weller, who is known as the "Modfather" and the leader of the band the Jam," Lewy explained. "In fact, Robert wears a bracelet throughout the film that was given to him by Paul."

Those little details made brought MacAldonich to life for the shoot, which, when stripped down, could have become just another film about the United States immigration dilemma.

"Obviously, a lot of the stories we hear about immigration are focused on Latin-American families or Arab families," Lewy said. "In fact, there is a line in the film where Robert's boss, who is of Mexican descent says, 'I have all these Mexicans working on my farm and it's the Scottish guy that gets into trouble with immigration.'

Although Lewy found irony in basis of the film, he talked to an immigration lawyer as part of his research.

"The lawyer walked me through what can happen to someone even if they have a Green Card and is a permanent legal resident of the U.S. who has lived here for years," he said. "They can still be deported, or as they say, now, removed, for something like a DUI, even if they have grandchildren here.

"The more I learned, the more I realized it would be a good basis for the spine of the film," he said.

Lewy shot California Solo last summer in 20 days.

"We filmed around the areas where I live in Los Angeles," he said. "It was fun, and the reason I had such a good experience with his film is that I saw what I have learned from the past. I found collaborators and when I worked with them, I knew we were making the same movie."

Lewy was able to set a tone to the movie and then let his collaborators loose to do their work.

"Directors come in all types," he said. "There are the Clint Eastwoods who are very hands off and there are the David Finchers and Stanley Kubricks who are known to be extreme micro managers.

"I try to do it with a loose hand to allow for improv and be open to other people's ideas, while still getting the movie that I want," he said. "I'm looking forward to seeing how people react to the film, starting with Sundance. I haven't watched it with an audience, yet. So it will be interesting to hear what they will have to say."

California Solo is one of the premières at the Sundance Film Festival. It will screen on
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 9:45 p.m., Eccles Theatre, PC
Thursday, Jan. 26, 8:30 a.m., the MARC, PC
Friday, Jan. 28, 9:30 p.m., Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Saturday, 29, 10 a.m., Screening Room, Sundance Resort

Source: Park Record

Tommy Flanagan to guest on 'Law & Order: SVU'

Sons of Anarchy star Tommy Flanagan has won a guest role on Law & Order: SVU.

The Scottish actor will play a bookie in forthcoming episode 'Home Invasion', according to TVDoneWright.

Flanagan plays biker Chibs on FX drama Sons of Anarchy and has also appeared on 24 and Lie to Me.

His SVU episode will additionally feature a guest stint from Isiah Whitlock, best known for playing Senator Clay Davis on HBO's The Wire.

Law & Order: SVU will return to NBC on February 8 at 10/9c.
Read more at Digital Spy

Also reported by TV Line

'Filth' starts filming in Glasgow

Principal photography on comedic thriller Filth started this week in Glasgow. Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting), Filth is written and directed by Jon S. Baird, and the cast includes James McAvoy, Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan, Joanne Froggatt and Imogen Poots.

The story is centred on an Edinburgh police detective who manipulates everyone in his path to secure a promotion and win back his wife and daughter.

Writer/director Baird said: “Filth is filled with irreverent comedy and some extremely surreal moments, but ends with a sharp twist of poignancy. The character of Bruce Robertson has to show such a wide range that it could only take an actor as talented as James McAvoy to pull it off with the necessary charm and humanity.”

Producer Ken Marshall of Steel MIll added: “Bruce Robertson is not only a guilty pleasure, but a character edgier than all the other characters from Irvine Welsh’s works combined. With Filth we have the chance to make a bold and outrageous film that I have no doubt will be unique, darkly funny and ultimately commercial.”

Shooting is set for Scotland, primarily Glasgow, as well as locations in Sweden, Belgium and Hamburg.

Source: BritMovie

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Ewan McGregor Talks 'Haywire'

I Am Rogue speaks exclusively with actor Ewan McGregor about his role in Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh's new revenge film Haywire, which opened in theatres on January 20th.


Source: Go!Rogue on YouTube





McGregor and Boorman keen for new series
Charley Boorman has revealed that he and Ewan McGregor are keen to make a third big biking series together.

The pair motorbiked 20,000 miles from London to New York via Europe and Asia for their 2004 hit series and book Long Way Round, and from John O'Groats to South Africa for the follow-up Long Way Down.

Charley said: "We've always spoken about doing a third series - maybe to South America - it's just a matter of timing. These things take a lot of time and commitment, so we need to get the diaries right and then I'm sure we'll head out."

The pair met in 1997 on the set of the film The Serpent's Kiss, and they hit it off immediately.

"We became very good friends. We both had motorbikes and we'd both just had our first child, so we had a lot in common. We ran motorbike race teams together and eventually started talking about the big trip."

Ewan has now moved to Los Angeles but Charley still sees him when they're in the same town and they speak regularly on the phone.

This year Charley will be doing a motorcycle tour of Africa, another Extreme Frontiers series in a different country and is also hoping to open a motorcycle clothes shop in London.

Source: UK Press Association

'Ecstacy' gets UK premiere

The film adaptation of Scottish author Irvine Welsh's book Ecstasy is to have its British première at the Glasgow Film Festival in February.

The film is based on the short story The Undefeated, one of three tales featured in the best-selling book.

Starring Lord of the Rings' Billy Boyd, it is one of 239 films to be shown at the 10-day event.

Other highlights include The Decoy Bride starring David Tennant, and Emily Blunt's Your Sister's Sister.

Read more at BBC

Alan Cumming lands cartoon cameo role

Hollywood star Alan Cumming has landed a role on children’s cartoon Dora The Explorer.

The Scottish star, originally from Perthshire, announced the cameo role on his Twitter page yesterday and told fans that he even sang a song on the popular cartoon.

The Good Wife actor, 46, then boasted about the impressive range of food available in the studio and Tweeted a picture of his fruit plate.

He tweeted: “I did it! Voiced a Dora the Explorer episode, even sang a song! Nice array of fruits in studio. #loveshowbiztoday.”

One day earlier, the star let it slip that he would be voicing an episode of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon, which features an adventurous eight-year-old girl called Dora.
Read more at Deadline

Also reported by Starpulse

The Glasgow Film Festival 2012

Jonathan Melville tweeted recently: "With @glasgowfilmfest tickets now on sale, here's my interview/preview with co-director Allan Hunter bit.ly/yttfvq #GFF12"

This is that interview:
‘It’s about being as open-minded as possible’: Allan Hunter on Glasgow Film Festival 2012

The Glasgow Film Festival has gone from strength-to-strength in the past few years, with the launch of the 2012 programme much-anticipated by film fans around the country.

Ahead of the press launch on the evening of 18 January, we sat down with Festival co-director Allan Hunter to find out what’s coming to Glasgow between 16 – 26 February, how the team decide what to show and what it’s been like to see the Festival grow to its current stature.

What can you tell me about the films you’ve chosen for 2012, particularly the Scottish talent on offer?

The opening gala is Your Sister’s Sister, about a man who’s getting over the death of a friend so he arrives at his friend’s family cottage and when he turns up her half sister is already there, and I can’t tell you more than that. The closing gala is Aki Kaurismäki’s Le Havre, which was at Cannes and has won a lot of prizes.

There are quite a lot of Scottish films this year, such as Zam Salin’s Up There, starring Burn Gorman. Zam’s done quite a lot of shorts, including Laid Off, which this is based on. It’s a sort of lugubrious existential black comedy and the premise is that a guy dies and discovers that the afterlife isn’t as exciting as he wants it to be, it’s all a bit disappointing really. He’s sent to work to look after the newly-dead and it takes off from there.

We’ve got Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy, starring the charismatic Adam Sinclair, and there’s Silver Tongues which is based on a Scottish short but it’s now an American indie because that’s where the funding came from. Decoy Bride is there, starring David Tennant and Kelly Macdonald, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen with Ewan McGregor.

You might remember at last year’s Scottish BAFTAs that David Peat was given the Outstanding Contribution for Craft Award, so we’re going to show the Billy Connolly documentary, Big Banana Feet, which he worked on with Murray Grigor and they’ll chat over old times.

The big film in our Out of the Past strand is Bertrand Tavernier’s Death Watch, a film set in Glasgow which has been out of circulation for a while. There is a glorious digital restoration and Tavernier is coming over for that; he’s a big fan of Glasgow and of The Ubiquitous Chip!
Read more at Reel Scotland


Classic Glasgow movie among festival highlights
The resurrection of a classic Glasgow-shot movie, along with new films starring David Tennant, Emily Blunt and Gene Kelly, as well as writer Irvine Welsh's new movie, are all part of this year's Glasgow Film Festival (GFF).

Death Watch, or La Mort en Direct, was shot in Glasgow in 1980, starring Harvey Keitel, Romy Schneider and Harry Dean Stanton, but has long been unavailable in the UK.

However, the Glasgow festival, growing in popularity and acclaim and this year running from February 16 until 26, is to show a digital restoration of the movie, which will be re-released later this year.

The festival will open with the UK premiere of Your Sister's Sister, directed by Lynn Shelton. It stars Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt and Mark Duplass in a "painfully funny and utterly captivating tale of bad timing, broken hearts and the healing power of love", according to the festival.
The festival's closing gala is Le Havre, made by Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki and which won the prestigious Prix Louis Delluc in France and a number of other international awards.

The 2012 festival features 239 films in total, including a record number of UK and European premieres.

Films are being shown at 16 venues across the city. They include Welsh's Ecstasy, the romantic comedy The Decoy Bride co-starring Tennant and Kelly Macdonald, the acclaimed American independent drama In the Family, the period drama Bel Ami starring Robert Pattinson and Cloudburst with Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker.

Allison Gardner, co-director of the festival, said: "I think the superb quality and international credentials of the opening and closing galas reflect the very special programme of films and events that we have put together for the 2012 festival."

Allan Hunter, co-director of the festival, added: "This year's programme is a rich and diverse selection of prize-winners and premieres from around the globe and around the corner."
Read more at Herald Scotland and STV

Weekly schedule for Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Mo 1/23: Craig tours the Eiffel Tower (R 8/1/11)
Tu 1/24: Kristen Bell, Eddie Izzard, Jean Reno (R 8/2/11)
We 1/25: Jean-Michel Cousteau, Craig visits the Louvre (R 8/3/11)
Th 1/26: Craig tours the Palace of Versailles (R 8/4/11)
Fr 1/27: Craig performs at the Moulin Rouge (R 8/5/11)

David Tennant makes shortlist for BBC Audio Drama Awards

David Tennant, Damian Lewis and Rory Kinnear will compete for the best actor title at the inaugural BBC Audio Drama Awards this month.

Tennant is nominated for Kafka - The Musical, by Murray Gold, while Lewis is up for Giovanni’s Room by Neil Bartlett and Kinnear is nominated for Flare Path by Terence Rattigan. All were aired on BBC Radio 3.

The awards celebrate the cultural importance of audio drama, on air and online, and honour the actors, writers, producers, sound designers, and others who work in the genre. The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held on January 29 in the Radio Theatre at BBC Broadcasting House, presented by David Tennant.

Read more at The Stage

Also reported by BBC and UK Net Guide

Ecstasy to screen in the Sault on February 4

Way back in 2010, the cast and crew involved in the film Ecstasy called Sault Ste. Marie home.

Portions of this dark romantic comedy, based on Irvine Welsh's book of the same name, were filmed here over the month of December and a number of local aspiring actors enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of the production.

Mr. Welsh’s first book, Trainspotting, published in 1993 (and voted by Waterstone, Europe’s largest bookstore chain, as one of the Ten Best Books of the Century), sold over 1 million copies in the UK alone, and has its own cinematic Cinderella success story.

Now the Sault will have a chance to finally see Ecstasy in its entirety when it screens at the Grand Theatre (641 Queen Street East) on Saturday, February 4 at 6:30 p.m.

Ecstasy, scripted and directed by music video director Rob Heydon, includes cast members Kristin Kreuk (Smallville, Chuck), Billy Boyd (Lord of the Rings), Carlo Rota (Little Mosque on the Prairie) and Adam Sinclair (Van Wilder 2).

For more information about the film, please click here.

Source: SooToday.com



Also reported by The Sault Star

Denis Lawson to get up to New Tricks with ‘unorthodox’ role

Ewan McGregor’s uncle – and fellow Star Wars alumni – Denis Lawson is set to inject some star wattage when he joins the cast of New Tricks for the show’s ninth series.

As well as starring in every one of the original Star Wars trilogy as Wedge Antilles, the Crieff-born 64-year-old has also appeared in much loved Scottish comedy drama Local Hero and Bleak House.

Lawson will play Detective Inspector Steve McAllister in New Tricks, an addition to Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman’s (Amanda Redman) team of retired police who take on unsolved cases.

The actor said: “I’m delighted to be joining Amanda, Alun and Dennis on New Tricks. I’ve long admired the show and love its ability to be warm, humorous and gritty simultaneously. I’m really looking forward to being part of it.”

McAllister is set to rub people up the wrong way with an “"unorthodox and sometimes unprofessional approach to policing", and has been described as "a bundle of energetic optimism with a tendency to get personally involved in the cases he’s working on".

Richard Burrell, executive producer at Wall To Wall, the production company behind the show, explained: “Denis brings warmth, wit and charm to the character Steve McAllister and is a very welcome addition to the New Tricks family."

The new series is currently being filmed at Pinewood Studios and on location, and will be on BBC1 later this year.

Source: STV

Gerard Butler among Golden Globes presenters

It's Golden Globes weekend! And all of Hollywood's hottest stars are gearing up for the big event.

Just announced: Emily Blunt, Pierce Brosnan, Gerard Butler, George Clooney, Bradley Cooper, Johnny Depp, Colin Firth, Jane Fonda, Harrison Ford, Dustin Hoffman, Felicity Huffman, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Queen Latifah, Jane Lynch, William H. Macy, Madonna, Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore and Brad Pitt are among stars that have joined the line-up of presenters at Sunday's awards show.

For the second year in a row, Ricky Gervais is set to host the event which airs at live from the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on NBC.

Read more at USA Today

SCANDAL premieres on ABC on 5 April

The creator and executive producers of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice delve into the behind-the-scenes machinations of a mesmerizing top crisis manager, Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), in ABC's highly anticipated new drama, Scandal, premièring on Thursday, April 5 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Everyone has a secret... and Olivia Pope has dedicated her life to protecting and defending the public images of the nation's elite and keeping those secrets under wraps. Revered and feared at the same time, Olivia, a former communications director to the President of the United States, left the White House to open her own prominent crisis management firm. She is hoping to start a new chapter in her life -both professionally and personally-but she can't seem to completely cut ties with her past.

Olivia's former boss, President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn), and his chief of staff, Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry), are never far, and it soon becomes clear that Olivia's clients aren't the only ones with secrets. Olivia's accomplished staff includes Stephen Finch (Henry Ian Cusick), a womanizing lawyer who's trying to settle down; Harrison Wright (Columbus Short), a slick litigator with his fair share of secrets; Huck (Guillermo Diaz), a hacker extraordinaire with a CIA past; and Abby Whelan (Darby Stanchfield), an investigator who has a love/hate relationship with Stephen. Although Olivia and her team specialize in fixing the lives of other people, they can't quite seem to fix the problems closest at hand-their own.

Read more (spoilers!) at We Love Soaps

John Hannah and Karen Gillan in Radio Times' "TV to look forward to"

Radio Times presents their guide to some of the best television programmes to look forward to this year:

A Touch of Cloth (Sky 1)

'The motivation behind A Touch of Cloth was simple', writes the show’s creator Charlie Brooker. 'Along with my co-writer, TV Burp’s Dan Maier, I wanted to create the silliest programme we could muster, but disguise it as the most serious. Writing this was a joy: we all sat round a table attacking our favourite clichés and lobbing in as many extra gags as possible.'

The result is a deadpan spoof of detective shows like Messiah and Luther, starring John Hannah as DI Jack Cloth and Suranne Jones as DC Anne Oldman.

Expect lots of moody glances, disturbing flashbacks, gruesome crime scenes, and bits where a maverick cop battles with demons. Inner demons, not actual outer demons, obviously. Inner demons are cheaper to shoot – you don’t need CGI.


We'll Take Manhattan (BBC4)


In her first leading television role without the Doctor by her side, Karen Gillan will be stepping out of the TARDIS and into the shoes of 60s supermodel Jean Shrimpton. We’ll Take Manhattan tells the story behind David Bailey’s photo shoot with Shrimpton for Vogue that changed fashion photography forever.

“I was quite interested in David Bailey’s photographs, and in the 60s in general” says Gillan. “Whenever I’d send pictures to stylists of the sort of things that I liked, she was always in the pictures. So when I saw this script, I thought it was perfect!”

The drama chronicles not only the legendary photo shoot but the love affair between the rebellious but talented Bailey and his young muse. Full of nostalgic 60s fashion and gorgeous young things frolicking around New York, it presents the modelling world as incredibly glamorous and exciting.

Gillan was in fact a model herself while she was trying to make her break into acting, but for her it wasn’t quite the exhilarating experience it was for Shrimpton.

Now that Amy Pond is soon to meet a “heartbreaking” end on Doctor Who, would she ever consider returning to the catwalk? “I don’t think so. It was just a way to get by, to be in London and to go for auditions.”

Read more at Radio Times

Scots actress Kari Corbett to star in Channel 4 show 'Shameless'

Kari Corbett is moving to the Chatsworth Estate to play the first Scots character to appear in smash-hit show, Shameless. She will play trouble-making Ruby Hepburn, niece of crime queen Mimi Maguire.

The 27-year-old actress, who has starred in River City, Hollyoaks and The Royal, follows fellow Scot James McAvoy, who got his big break on the Channel 4 show – but he didn’t play a Scot on the hit show.

Kari said: “My character brings in the odd Scottish phrase, which I think is quite interesting for national television. But of course you also need to be understood, so I need to ensure my accent doesn’t become too thick.”

Kari first appears as Ruby on January 24. And the Cheryl Cole clone soon locks horns with the show’s most iconic character, Frank Gallagher, played by David Threlfall.

She said: “They seem to clash quite a lot. Their lives seem to cross, and it can be quite confrontational. She calls him a ‘p**-soaked tramp’ and tries her hardest to be as scathing as possible in true Shameless manner. Ruby can be very dismissive of him as some sort of tramp who she thinks is sexually inappropriate, and inappropriate in general. But what’s so wonderful about how they’re writing these two characters is that they manage to see each other as very intelligent in a room full of people who don’t see their intelligence.”

Kari, who is from Paisley, trained at the Scottish Youth Theatre and Langside College in Glasgow before her first role as Kirsty Henderson in River City. From there she’s built up a strong CV on Monarch of the Glen and Doctors. She then played Marian McKaig in The Royal at the same time as she was Caroline in Hollyoaks.

Although she watched the first series of Shameless, Kari admitted she caught up on events in Manchester’s Chatsworth Estate by watching DVDs of all the series while she was filming the current one.

She said: “It was a big help. I watched them while I was filming, so as I was filming I was getting to know the characters, and then coming in and performing with them. There isn’t another job like Shameless in British television. So I don’t know if anything can quite prepare you for how challenging it can be to play a dark comedy.”

While Ruby looks like Cheryl Cole, in real-life Kari says she wouldn’t want to follow the Girls Aloud star’s style.

She added: “Not even slightly. Ruby models herself on mass pop culture. She’s an early 20s woman with not a lot of money, but she can do approximations of what’s fashionable. How we dress her is that she understands what’s in fashion, but she can’t afford it, so she always gets it a little bit wrong. I think that’s very true of a lot of people who live on the Chatsworth Estate – it’s nearly there, but it’s a version of what’s fashionable that always looks slightly off.”

Source: Daily Record

Sean Biggerstaff as Robert Burns

The National Theatre of Scotland recently tweeted a link to this video of Sean Biggerstaff as Robert Burns as part of their Five Minute Theatre project in 2011


It's a not entirely serious imagining of the moment when William Shakespeare and Robert Burns meet each other in some other dimension and discuss poetry, girls and the connections between the two.

Performed by Barrie Hunter, Sean Biggerstaff
Directed by Robert Dawson Scott

Source: National Theatre of Scotland

Weekly schedule for Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Mo 1/9: Howie Mandel, Randy Houser
Tu 1/10: Isaac Mizrahi, Sophia Bush
We 1/11: Adam Goldberg
Th 1/12: Hugh Laurie
Fr 1/13: Kristen Bell, Louie Anderson

Mo 1/16: Lucy Liu, Kevin Sorbo
Tu 1/17: Colin Firth
We 1/18: David Duchovny, Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Th 1/19: Steven Wright, Sara Paxton
Fr 1/20: Larry the Cable Guy, 3 Doors Down

David Tennant: movie updates

The Decoy Bride to Open on IFC in Feb, Theaters in March
The Decoy Bride, what was once tipped as David Tennant’s first turn at the whole British romantic comedy thing has had a strange journey. It’s opened in a bunch of strange markets before opening in the UK. They don’t seem to be in a hurry to release it anywhere else.
One can only assume from this that the movie isn’t very good. We have no idea – there isn’t even a publicly available trailer.
That said – IFC Films is going to distribute the film in the US – it will be released first on On Demand services on February 3rd and then wide into theaters on March 9th 2012.

Source: Anglotopia

In the UK, the DVD is available to pre-order on Amazon, with a release date of 12th March 2012. The movie's official release date in the UK is Friday 9th March.
Source: DavidTennantOnTwitter





Emotional Rescue
Actor David Tennant has been handed another chance to make a name for himself in Hollywood. The 40-year-old is to star in an upcoming movie in a leading role alongside A-lister Heather Graham. He will be hoping the film, Emotional Rescue, is more successful than the last project he was in. Although he himself received good reviews in vampire thriller Fright Night, the movie was a box office flop.
But this presents a second chance at cracking America for the Doctor Who actor, who recently married Georgia Moffet, who also starred in the BBC series.
Romantic comedy Emotional Rescue, set in New York and Connecticut, is about an award-winning journalist who finds love with Tennant’s character after the breakdown of a previous romance.
Shooting for the film is set to begin in the Big Apple in coming weeks.
Cast for the movie also includes Oscar winner Timothy Hutton and actress Alysia Reiner.

Source: Edinburgh Evening News

More info at DavidTennantOnTwitter and DNA Music

Two projects pulled for James McAvoy

Warner Bros Shut Down AKIRA Production
Warner Bros has shut down the Vancouver production offices for the highly controversial live-action remake of the anime cult favourite Akira. The Hollywood Reporter cite the failures in locking down a cast which still only had Garrett Hedlund as the confirmed lead but with high-profile names in Brad Pitt, Kristen Stewart, Gary Oldman, Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield, James McAvoy and many, many more spoken to but no contracts signed, and issues over the budget for the lock down.

The movie, which has been hit with problems since day one, now looks doomed. “Everybody is being sent home,” said an insider with the director, producer (and maybe the script writer) set to lock themselves in a room with the screenplay to see if they can reduce the budget by $20-30 million and iron out the story problems.

Read more at WhatCulture!





Elton's Rocket ban on James McAvoy
POP icon Sir Elton John has snubbed Scots movie idol James McAvoy by backing Justin Timberlake to play the singer on screen. X-Men: First Class star McAvoy was the red-hot favourite to land the role of flamboyant Elton in next year's blockbuster Rocketman, but his dream appears to have been crushed by Elton's sudden support for US chart heart-throb turned actor Justin Timberlake.

Read more at The Sun

This story was reported slightly differently by Worst Previews

John Barrowman writes children's fantasy book

John Barrowman has written a children’s book inspired by his Scottish childhood.

The star, who was born in Glasgow and moved to America when he was eight, wrote the book with his sister Carole. They are in talks to turn the novel into a TV series.

Hollow Earth, which is set on a Scottish island, is about 12-year-old twins with special powers. It comes out next month.

Source: Daily Record

Also reported (in more detail) by The Herald

Greg Hemphill on how The Wicker Man inspired his new play

Still Game star Greg Hemphill has got the fear.

The Still Game and Chewin’ The Fat star is in rehearsals with the National Theatre of Scotland for An Appointment With The Wicker Man, a play he wrote with Donald McLeary.

Their take on the 1973 creepy classic – once dubbed “the Citizen Kane of horror movies” with one of the most memorable and nightmarish endings in film – has singing, dancing and jokes.

Someone is going up in flames and Greg just hopes it isn’t him.

He said: “Somebody asked, ‘Do you think people will be picketing outside because you have put jokes in it?’ I said, ‘Yes, I would probably picket it myself because I love it.’

“There will be humour in it but we are not making fun of the film.

“I would call it a celebration of the movie. It is to The Wicker Man what Mamma Mia is to Abba, bearing in mind The Wicker Man is a horror.

“We want to give the audience frights, laughs and a good time and celebrate the music, score, story and fantastic ending.

“It will play like a horror comedy. The Wicker Man is all about the ending. You want people to come and enjoy the ride.”

An Appointment With The Wicker Man is set on a remote Scottish island, where the Loch Parry Theatre Players’ production of The Wicker Man is disrupted when their lead actor goes missing and they ask a TV detective from the mainland to step in and save their production.

The play parodies the plot of the original –starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland and Christopher Lee – which followed a policeman travelling to a remote island to search for a missing girl who the strange islanders claim never existed.

Greg’s show was originally intended to be a straightforward stage adaptation of the film – remade in 2006 starring Nicolas Cage. But NTS artistic director Vicky Featherstone suggested doing a play within a play. Greg said: “The story of the movie parallels the Loch Parry players, finding out what happens to their missing actor Roger Morgan. They are sort of intertwined and the line gets blurred between the two.

“The humour comes from this rag-tag group of amateur drama players trying to put on a horror movie.

“I think audiences don’t have to know the film back to front to understand what’s going on with our story.”

Greg, 42, who is married to actress Julie Wilson Nimmo, with whom he has two sons, has come to know The Wicker Man intimately. In preparation for writing the play, he watched the film 10 times, bringing his total number of viewings to around 30. But it’s been no hardship. He said: “A lot of films, when you watch them a lot, get less scary. But The Wicker Man never fails to unnerve you.

“I first saw it in 1986. I remember being horrified by the end. I didn’t think movies ended that way.

“As writers, we have nothing but respect for the film. It is a perfect story with an amazing ending.

“If you flip it comedically, it’s a joke – you have a great story followed by a punchline. In my opinion, it has the greatest ending in cinema history.

“But because it relies so heavily on this punch-to-the-stomach finale, there is not necessarily a value in adapting it slavishly. A surprise ending is only good at the time. It is going to lose its impact so we had to come up with something else which salutes it. That was our challenge.”

An Appointment With The Wicker Man, which stars Jimmy Chisholm and Harry Potter actor Sean Biggerstaff, will also see Greg teaming up with his Chewin’ The Fat and Still Game co-star Paul Riley.

Despite the reunion, a return to Still Game is unlikely.

Greg said: “You would be an arrogant fool to say it’s never happening again but it’s unlikely because I am not a fan of programmes that go away and come back.

“Comedy is lightning in a bottle. It speaks to a generation, to a certain time. I think when you bring shows back, you almost upset the apple cart with the audience.

“Sometimes the journey is better than the arrival. But who knows.”

Greg’s partnership with McLeary, who also writes Radio 4 comedy Fags, Mags And Bags and stars as Mickey John on CBeebies show Me Too!, has seen them write two films, now in development.

They are also due to film a pilot for their new sitcom, Blue Haven.

But first there is the burning ambition of An Audience With The Wicker Man to deal with. Greg said, laughing: “It says on the poster, ‘Someone’s going to burn for this’ – and it could well be us writers.”

● An Appointment With The Wicker Man is on at His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, from February 21 to 25; at Theatre Royal Glasgow, February 28 to March 3; Eden Court, Inverness, March 6 to 10; and the Alhambra, Dunfermline, March 21 to 24.

Source: Daily Record

Angus MacFadyen to guest star in the Chuck season finale

Angus MacFadyen is to guest star in the Chuck season finale.

Synopsis and further details (spoilers!) can be found at Examiner.com

Karen Gillan and Gerard Butler on The Graham Norton Show

Karen Gillan and Gerard Butler were guests on The Graham Norton Show on Saturday 7 January

There are several extracts on YouTube here and here

The episode is also available to rewatch on BBC iPlayer

Alan Cumming gets wed!

Congratulations to Alan Cumming, who married partner Grant Shaffer at the Soho Grand Hotel in New York City on Saturday 7 January.

Photos and more information at OnTop Magazine and Broadway World

Kevin McKidd records LP of old Scottish songs

Grey's Anatomy star Kevin McKidd has recorded an album of old Scottish songs.

The actor, who first came to prominence in Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting before then landing a lead role in HBO’s Rome, spent the festive period recording a folk album in his native Scotland.

The news emerged when he Tweeted of his achievements, saying: “It is a week long recording of local musicians from my home area, all old Scottish songs. Done in hopefully a new way.”

McKidd, who has previously confessed to being a frustrated musician, was recently seen singing in a musical episode of Grey’s Anatomy, in which he plays war veteran Dr Owen Hunt.

It is not yet known when the album will be released.

Source: Indie London

Also reported by Digital Spy and Contact Music

Weekly schedule for Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Mo 1/9: Howie Mandel, Randy Houser
Tu 1/10: Isaac Mizrahi, Sophia Bush
We 1/11: Adam Goldberg
Th 1/12: Hugh Laurie
Fr 1/13: Kristen Bell, Louie Anderson

Mo 1/16: Lucy Liu, Kevin Sorbo
Tu 1/17: Colin Firth
We 1/18: Dr. Sanjay Gupta

David Tennant gets wed!

Congratulations to David Tennant, who married fiancée Georgia Moffet in a private ceremony in London on Friday 30 December.

Photos and more information at Daily Mail

Nerdist Podcast: David Tennant

Yes! The 10th Doctor himself, David Tennant, in a sit down chat with Chris in a very posh English library! This is the full unedited audio from the segment on the Nerdist TV show (originally aired 12/24 on BBC America, probably available on iTunes now).

Chris and David chat about Doctor Who, Harry Potter, The Incredible Hulk, and working shirtless. PLUS! MANY fan questions answered. He was nine kinds of awesome. You asked for him (so did I)! Here he is! Now enjoy this Scottish burrito (which sounds like a filthy sex-thing but it isn’t)!

The podcast can be played at Nerdist.com

David Tennant to voice Chitty Chitty Bang Bang sequel

David Tennant is to voice the audiobook version of Frank Cottrell Boyce's sequel to Ian Fleming's beloved children's tale Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
The former Doctor Who star was contacted personally by the estate of Ian Fleming, which asked him to provide his voice for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again after the novel was released to critical acclaim in October.

Ian Fleming's niece Lucy said Tennant brings 'wry humour and great characterisation' to the audiobook version of the novel, which the Guardian's John Lacey described as 'much funnier and more engaging than Fleming's original tale' in his review.

'We are thrilled that David agreed to read the audiobook. He is such a talented actor and his voice brings Frank Cottrell Boyce's story to life. Chitty could not have been in safer hands with him behind the wheel,' Lucy added.

Tennant said the story is 'very clever, slightly surreal and hugely readable' and also praised the connections to Fleming's most famous creation – James Bond – that Boyce wrote into the story.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was first published in 1964, shortly before Fleming's death from a heart attack, with a successful film adaptation released in 1968 and an acclaimed stage version premiering at the London Palladium in 2002

Source: Foyles



The Guardian has an audio interview with David in which he
talks to Lucy Fleming, niece of Chitty's creator Ian Fleming, about the character and the books.

In this interview with Lucy Fleming, Tennant describes how he would "love to have a car that would take off, escape the traffic, and fly you to any country in the world" and discusses some of the James Bond references Frank Cottrell Boyce has woven into the story.

A version of this interview is available with the audio download of the book.

The novel by Frank Cottrell Boyce, the first official sequel to Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, is available as an exclusive download for £10.99 from Audible and iTunes.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again is also published as hardback and e-book by Macmillan Children’s Books.

5 Questions With ... Billy Boyd

Billy Boyd, actor and vocalist/guitarist for Scottish indie alternative band Beecake, was the recent guest for an installment of The Recording Academy's 5 Questions With … series.

Held at The Academy's headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif., Boyd discussed managing an acting and music career, his songwriting process, advice for aspiring artists, and starting a band, among other topics.

Read and watch more at Grammy.com

The Good Wife - third series to air in UK

For viewers in the UK: the third series of The Good Wife, starring Alan Cumming, is starting on More 4 on Thursday 12th January at 9pm

Sean Biggerstaff on stage in National Theatre of Scotland’s production of An Appointment with The Wicker Man

BBC Still Game and Chewin’ the Fat actors Greg Hemphill and Paul Riley are to re-unite for the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of An Appointment with The Wicker Man in 2012. The production is co-written by Donald McLeary and Greg Hemphill, who is also appearing as Lord Summerisle, and opens at His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen on 21st February before touring Scotland.

Greg Hemphill and Paul Riley worked together on Chewin’ The Fat and the spin off Still Game in which Greg played Victor and Paul the part of Winston. They will be joined on stage by Sean Biggerstaff who is known for playing Oliver Wood in the Harry Potter films and has won a Scottish BAFTA for the BBC4 film Consenting Adult.

Regularly popping up at the top of “Best Horror Film of all Time” lists, The Wicker Man is regarded as a cult film classic. An Appointment with The Wicker Man, directed by Vicky Featherstone, is an all-singing-and-dancing love letter to a unique and timeless cult masterpiece.

Read more at Northings

Weekly schedule for Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Mo 1/2: Tim Meadows, Eliza Doolittle, Myq Kaplan
Tu 1/3: Carrie Fisher, Matthew Gray Gubler
We 1/4: RZA, Melissa Rauch
Th 1/5: Tom Selleck, Daniela Ruah
Fr 1/6: Michael Clarke Duncan, Laura Prepon

Mo 1/9: Howie Mandel
Tu 1/10: Isaac Mizrahi