The National Theatre of Scotland unveiled its trump card for the 2012 season yesterday, with actor Alan Cumming – currently a star of American TV show The Good Wife – playing a one-man Macbeth.
It is the NTS’s first production of Shakespeare, six years after the theatre was founded. Cumming will star in the multi-media show in Glasgow in June before taking it direct to New York.
“I’ve always wanted to do Macbeth,” the actor said yesterday. “I’ve been obsessed with the play all my life.”
Other projects unveiled yesterday for 2012 included Glasgow Girls, a new production by award-winning director Cora Bissett, described as a “feelgood musical” about the true-life Glasgow teenagers who campaigned for a family of asylum-seekers. Bisset’s last production, Roadkill, was a major Fringe hit.
The first behind-the-scenes still from the new latest flick in the franchise, Death Race: Inferno, has just made its way online courtesy of writer Tony Giglio, and we have it for ya here!
Ewan McGregor Moves to TV for HBO’s “The Corrections”
Ewan McGregor is set to star in HBO’s The Corrections, which is based on the Johnathan Franzen novel of the same name.
McGregor joins the pre-existing cast of Dianne Wiest and Chris Cooper, who will be playing his parents. The plot centers on elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children and follows their lives from the mid 20th century right up until their last Christmas together near the turn of the millennium. McGregor’s role is Chip, the middle son, a Marxist who works for a Lithuanian crime boss after being fired from his professor job because he had an affair with a student. The roles of the other two children remain to be cast.
It’s not the usual petrolhead fare, but an Isle of Man company is hoping a new documentary about the TT will be as groundbreaking as the bikes it's based on. Charge is directed by Mark Neale and puts the zero emission racing centre stage as it follows electric bike teams.
Narrated by Ewan McGregor, the movie is finally getting a DVD release in Britain thanks to Tromode-based Duke Marketing.
Charge is released on December 19 and you can find out more about it at dukevideo.com
From Rain Dog: Robert Carlyle - A very nice article about Robert and the film Summer in which he starred, in 2008. Comes with two videos with Robert:
Sometimes, as an entertainment journalist with a bit of a readership, you just feel the urge to advocate for a particular project. You want everyone possible to see a gem of a film, read a book, or listen to that CD that’s never had much of a distribution network to speak of, even if that hidden jewel has been out for a few years. Actor Robert Carlyle (currently starring in Once Upon a Time as Rumpelstiltskin) has a long history of making little, low-budget, but incredibly well-made films. (The Full Monty, featuring Carlyle’s breakout performance as Gaz began as one of those little films).
Lamenting a couple of years ago about the state of independent film in the U.K., Carlyle noted the difficulty of finance and distribution for the well-made, low-budget fare that has been always been his passion. Case in point is the understated 2008 British film Summer, a wonderful, gorgeously shot and flawlessly-acted character study, that, as Carlyle has noted, has only been seen by a handful of people. Not even available on DVD in the North America, it is a terrible shame that the movie has been seen by so few.
Director Kenneth Glenaan’s quiet and introspective film is the story of friendship, guilt, the costs of terrible childhood mistakes, and ultimately redemption. The film unfolds through Shaun’s (Carlyle) sad, soulful eyes as we learn why he has become the caregiver of his childhood best friend, the bitter, wheelchair-bound Daz (Steve Evets). Sharing a flat in run down working class area along with Daz’s teenage son Daniel (Michael Socha), they have nothing to live on by Daz’s disability check and Shaun’s earnings as a petrol station clerk.
When we meet them, Daz is dying of liver cirrhosis and acute kidney failure with only weeks to live. Shaun attends to Daz’s many needs, from cleaning house to bathing him; he also looks after Daniel, trying to keep him out of trouble. How Shaun and Daz get to this place in their lives is revealed as Shaun reflects on life and on the terrible mistakes of youth that cost him so much. It is a lifetime of regret, played out through flashbacks of Shaun’s best—and most tragic—Summer as a teen. We catch him gazing through the years—and one Summer in particular—as if through a picture window, longing to go back, but stuck here on the other side. As the movie unfolds often through Shaun’s memories of his youth, you understand the heartbreaking toll one mistake can take on the lives of two men. But it is not only their error.
Shaun (Sean Kelly, playing him as a teenager) is an intelligent, sensitive, but slightly wild kid in love with Katy (Joanna Tulej, as the teenage Katy), the smartest girl in his class. Dyslexic, Shaun is constantly frustrated in school by what he cannot accomplish and a writing hand he cannot properly control with his brain. Classified as “slow,” with a low IQ, Shaun slips through the cracks in a system that has no clue what to do with him—or the means (or desire) to help him. Tormented by his classmates, Shaun’s frustration builds until it boils over into an act that marks the bullied Shaun as the bully. And as time goes on, he turns his frustrated destructiveness on himself. A series of events unfold over one Summer that leads both Shaun and Daz to the place we find them so many years later. Daz is now a bitter, broken man, whose had enough with life; Shaun cannot escape the past, but part of him lives within its best moments: hanging around with his best friend and girlfriend; discovering love, and enjoying friendship. It was, as he acknowledges so many years later to Katy (Rachael Blake), the best Summer of his life.
Carlyle has played many down-on-their luck men throughout his distinguished career, some of whom seek redemption, and others clinging to violence and mayhem. His BAFTA (Scotland)-nominated portrayal of Shaun is beautifully understated and heartbreaking, particularly in his reaction to Daz’s death. The other performances are also brilliant.
Winner of the 2008 BAFTA (Scotland) Best Picture Award, Summer is an incredibly moving film. Although it would seem to be bleak (yes, tissues are not optional), it is an ultimately redemptive portrait. Unfortunately, Summer is not readily available in the U.S.; however, you can find the DVD at Amazon’s U.K. store (but only in a Region 2 version).
It is available for streaming on MovieBerry (as are many other difficult to find films). It is the sort of movie that might pop up on IFC or Sundance, and perhaps, with Carlyle’s U.S. fanbase growing (with the recent Stargate Universe series, and now with Once Upon a Time), who knows? We might eventually see a release of Summer on our shores.
A huge steel mural of Billy Connolly has been unveiled on a wall in Glasgow as part of a £50m regeneration project.
The 20ft (6m) by 16ft (4.8m) mural has been created by artist Andy Scott.
It is near the comedian's birthplace, overlooks the shipyards where he once worked as a welder and can be seen from the Kingston Bridge.
Connolly said he was "humbled" by the artwork. "It is an unexpected honour for which I am extremely grateful," he said.
Sanctuary Scotland Housing Association commissioned the 500kg (79st) mural which formally completes phase 1 of the regeneration project.
"This iconic mural looking out across the shipyards where Billy worked is a fitting tribute to one of the world's most recognised, living Glaswegians”
Councillor Bob Winter Glasgow Lord Provost
Connolly, 68, said: "I consider myself a citizen of the world, but I was born and raised in Glasgow - it is where my first children were born - where I learnt to play the banjo - where I served my apprenticeship as a welder, and where I first performed in public.
"My heart beats to the rhythm of Glasgow - it is in my blood.
"I am happy and humbled that Sanctuary Scotland Housing Association commissioned a mural of me, to be erected in my home city, and thrilled that it was so skillfully created by artist and master craftsman Andy Scott."
Mr Scott said: "We're delighted Mr Connolly likes the mural as it's been a long and challenging commission.
"It's been interesting capturing a living legend but Mr Connolly never interfered and very quickly gave the finished artwork his blessing."
He said he had tried to capture the comedian in his early days to reflect his roots in the city.
Mr Scott's early sketches were hand-drawn in pencil on a giant timber wall in his workshop, which replicated the gable end in Anderston.
Once he was happy with the drawing, it became the template for the steel mural. Read more at BBC
The first two episodes of The Crews: The Dutch Connection and The Old Firm are now available online by clicking on the links below, as is SANDWICH the short film on which it was based.
The Crews follows the exploits of two seasoned underworld figures Tommy Granger (Robert Harrison) and Mick Turner (Jim Sweeney) and the police who are trying to convict them.
The series features cameos from renowned Scottish actors David Hayman, Stephen McCole, and World Snooker Champion John Higgins.
A new episode will be posted each week so stay tuned.
Greys Gabble gives a McKidd-centric commentary on the Blu-ray release of Trainspotting, due out on 29 November
Trainspotting takes place in Scotland and follows Marc Renton (Ewan McGregor) and his gaggle of misfit friends; Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Begbie (Robert Carlyle), Tommy (Kevin McKidd) and Spud (Ewen Bremner). Each one of them is a far cry from what one would consider a respectable human being and nearly all of them, save for Begbie, is addicted to heroin.
Mo 11/28: Aisha Tyler, Justin Moore, Tom Lennon as the voice of Geoff Tu 11/29: Margaret Cho, Michael Connelly, Tom Lennon as the voice of Geoff We 11/30: David Sedaris, Needtobreathe, Jeff Cesario, Tom Lennon as the voice of Geoff Th 12/1: Kristin Chenoweth, Ken Tucker Fr 12/2: Ana Gasteyer
Mo 12/5: Justin Long, Noomi Rapace Tu 12/6: Valerie Bertinelli, Chris Pratt We 12/7: Trace Adkins
New portraits of some of Scotland’s most famous faces are to be unveiled at the refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery, when it re-opens next month. Photographs of Scots including actors Sir Sean Connery, David Tennant and Karen Gillan and singer Paolo Nutini are among the images to be displayed in the gallery when it opens to the public on December 1.
The collection, called Hot Scots, a display of 18 works recently acquired for the national collection, will feature well-known Scottish names from TV, film and music including Hollywood stars James McAvoy and Gerard Butler.
Among the other new portraits are images of the writer Armando Iannucci, Michelin star chef Tom Kitchin and artist and playwright John Byrne.
The portraits have been taken by a series of noted photographers including Eva Vermandel and Albert Watson.
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery has been redeveloped in a £17.5 million project.
Hot Scots will be shown in the new Contemporary Gallery on the ground floor. Source: Herald Scotland
Merida’s wild red hair takes over her tiny frame in the new trailer for Brave.
Brave summary: Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).
Merida’s actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Witch for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late.
Wales Online has several pictures of David Tennant, taken during the filming of Nativity 2 in mid-Wales last week Source: Wales Online. Also reported by Scottish Sun
DVD Review: Doctor Who: The Complete David Tennant Years Blog Critics have an in-depth review of the DVD box set, released in October Read more here
Two of Scotland's top actors, Billy Connolly and Brian Cox, will star in a Christmas Day radio drama.
The pair will play brothers who join forces in a journey across Scotland to trace a childhood sweetheart.
The drama, The Quest of Donal Q by Scots writer David Ashton, is loosely based on the classic Cervantes tale Don Quixote.
It will be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland on 25 December and repeated on BBC Radio 4 in the new year.
Connolly will play Donal while Cox will star as Sandy, brothers who were separated as children in an orphanage.
Donal is adopted by a rich couple and brought up in California; Sandy remains in Dundee.
Ten years after falling out in a fierce row, Donal returns to ask his brother for help tracing Jeanette, a fellow orphan they both loved, now said to be in dire straits and in need of a "knight in shining armour".
Head of BBC Radio Scotland Jeff Zycinski said it was "fantastic news" to have two of the biggest stars in Scotland coming together.
"This is a lovely Christmas gift for our BBC Radio Scotland audience to enjoy as one of the highlights of this year's fantastic festive line-up of programmes," he said.
Next year BBC Scotland's drama department will deliver about 65 hours of commissions to Radio 4, Radio 3 and Radio 4 Extra as well as BBC Radio Scotland.
Highlights include a Victorian detective drama, McLevy, starring Brian Cox and Siobhan Redmond.
Also planned are productions of two classic American novels, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
Douglas Henshall (South Riding, The Silence) will play award-winning journalist, Sean Langan, who was kidnapped and held hostage by the Taliban in 2008, in BBC Four’s gripping and intense single drama, Hotel Taliban, co-written by Norman Hull and Sean Langan.
Currently in production for transmission in 2012, Hotel Taliban will dramatise the events as told in Sean’s diaries, as well as Sean’s testimony to the film producers in which he described the ordeal he and his interpreter Sami went through during their three-and-a-half months in captivity.
In early 2008, documentary filmmaker Sean Langan was ready for his next assignment – to gain access to the Taliban training camps in the tribal areas of Pakistan, despite being a no-go zone for foreign journalists. After months negotiating access to key Taliban leaders via his fixer, Sami, Sean crossed the border into Pakistan. But things didn’t go to plan. Kidnapped and accused of being a spy, Sean and Sami were held hostage for three-and-a-half months, awaiting their fate – death or release. During his captivity, Sean’s survival instinct found him befriending the family holding him hostage, and from a difficult and dangerous situation, Sean discovered a central common humanity, as well as bizarre moments of cultural misunderstanding.
Richard Klein, Controller, BBC Four, says: "It’s a mad, mad, mad world - that's the sentiment I got when Sean Langan told me of his astonishing three-and-a-half month kidnapping by the Taliban. Not just terrifying, though it truly was, but also absurd, moving and funny: Sean's story is really a story of our times, how a journalist obsessed with getting his story finds himself instead locked in a game of words with captors who have as far removed a view of the Western world as Martians. And yet what Sean discovered was that these people were in many ways just like him. Hotel Taliban tells a gripping, terrifying and thrilling story that has a happy ending, thank goodness.”
Key cast also include: Jimi Mistry (Strike Back, East Is East) as Sami; Ramon Tikaram (EastEnders, This Life) as Mr C; Kate Ashfield (Diary Of Anne Frank, Collision; Line Of Duty) as Anabel Langan; Matthew Marsh (Hidden) as Kane; and Andreas Karras will play Gul Jan.
A Garden Production for BBC Four, Hotel Taliban is co-written by Norman Hull and Sean Langan. The director is Norman Hull. The producer is Flavia Taylor; and the executive producers are Stephen Wright and Jamie Laurenson for the BBC and Magnus Temple for Garden.
Hotel Taliban was commissioned by Richard Klein, Controller, BBC Four and Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning. Source: BBC Also reported by The Stage and ATV Today
With director Steven Sodebergh‘s spy-action flick Haywire opening January 20th, Relativity Media has provided us with two exclusive images from the film. Staring MMA fighter Gina Carano as a burned spy who takes revenge against her handlers, Haywire also stars Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Angarano, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, and Bill Paxton. I caught Haywire last week at the AFI Fest in Hollywood and thought it was great. Especially the action scenes. While Carano’s acting still needs a bit of work, whenever she’s punching or killing, she’s fantastic. Haywire should definitely be on your radar. Read more at Collider You can also check out the latest trailer here.
