Theatre - The Real Thing. Samuel West - Cultural Capital. Theatre - Enron - Broadhurst. Rosamund Pike - Television - Women in Love. Hayley Atwell. Theatre - Born Yesterday. Television - Any Human Heart. BBC Radio.

[updated 30 March]

• The Real Thing
• Rehearsal photos [link]
• Hattie Morahan "Cultural Life" interview from the Independent [link]
  
  
• Sam attended the Cultural Capital: A Manifesto for the Future launch on Thursday.
• Articles from the Evening Standard, the BBC, the Independent and the Guardian evening standard|bbc|independent|guardian
• The manifesto is available for download from MLA [link]
  
  
• Enron (Broadway)
• Pictures of the cast, writer Lucy Prebble and director Rupert Goold at Friday's photocall 1|2|3|4
• Lucy Prebble, Rupert Goold and cast members Norbert Leo Butz and Stephen Kunken will take part in a discussion with Tom Santopietro at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes & Noble on Thursday 22 April at 5pm (via Theatermania) [link]
  
  
• From Baz Bamigboye's Daily Mail column:
  
  Rosamund Pike will play Gudrun Brangwen in a BBC4 adaptation of Women in Love.
  
  Hayley Atwell may star in a Broadway production of Born Yesterday - confirmation is dependent on co-star Chris Noth's availability.
  Hayley will play Freya in Channel 4's miniseries adaptation of Any Human Heart by William Boyd.
  
  
• BBC Radio
• Tamsin Greig and Neil Pearson are the readers for Words and Music "The South Country" [link]
• David Suchet and Anna Francolini star in the Woman's Hour Drama David Golder [link]
• Emma Thompson will be on Desert Island Discs [link]
• Maggie Steed, Justine Waddell and Julian Rhind-Tutt star in Mrs Warren's Profession [link]

Ruth Wilson, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson. British Independent Film Awards. Radio - The Custom of the Country.

[updated 11 December]

• Excerpt from a Ruth interview about her film project with Hayley and Emma:

  "...Wilson has got together a stellar team of women writers, directors and actresses and the idea, cooked up with fellow actress Hayley Atwell, is to produce a feature film made up of shorts by and for women. 'Seven writers and seven directors, all women,' she says, reeling off names. 'Some of the women who are keen to direct are Rachel Weisz, Gillian Anderson, Tara Fitzgerald. Emma Thompson is going to mentor the writers and Susanna White, who directed Jane Eyre, will work with the directors...'"

• The British Independent Film Awards
  
• Links about Rosamund Pike's outfit and makeup 1|2|3
• elizabethtoni's arrival's videos (featuring Hayley Atwell, Gemma Arterton; Jason Isaacs, Carey Mulligan, Armando Iannucci; Peter Capaldi, David Morrissey; and Rosamund Pike) 1|2|3|4
• Some videos from t5m jason isaacs|rosamund pike
• Article from the Independent [link]
  
• Dan Stevens and Tom Hollander star in The Custom of the Country, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 3 January [link]

Emma Thompson, Ruth Wilson, Samuel West.

• Film festival
  
• An article from the Stage about the film festival Ruth is planning with Emma [link]
• Previous posts about the festival 1|2|3
• An excerpt from a statement Sam wrote for the Stand Up For the Observer's website:
  

  "Leaving aside the obvious (The Observer is authoritative, incisive, funny and stuffed with great writing), we have to ask ourselves at a time like this: what makes a civilised society?..."

Film - London Film Festival

• Clive Owen, Carey Mulligan, Rosamund Pike, Emma Thompson, Dominic Cooper, Juno Temple and Hugh Bonneville will be attending [link]
• Premieres and screenings include The Boys Are Back, Bright Star, An Education, Nowhere Boy, Balibo, Astro Boy, Glorious 39, A Single Man, The Limits of Control, The Disappearance of Alice Creed and Don't Worry About Me [link]

Ruth Wilson, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson. Theatre - A Streetcar Named Desire. Television - The Prisoner.

Ruth's Official London Theatre Guide interview is mainly about A Streetcar Named Desire, but there are also mentions of the film festival she's working on with Hayley Atwell and Emma Thompson, and The Prisoner:

"...It was while working on The Prisoner, alongside a cast full of British talent including Ian McKellen, Hayley Atwell and Lennie James, that Wilson took the quad bike trip around the Namibian sand dunes, went on safari and, along with Atwell, took an unnaturally close look at a shark's teeth, separated from their flesh-ripping points by a cage. 'It was quite frightening, very funny, but brilliant.'
While the Namibian pastimes sound enthralling, the shoot itself, Wilson says, was 'difficult; I can't lie.' Changes in directors and unfinished scripts made the process fraught and Wilson is still unsure how the series will end. She says that she thinks the photography 'will look amazing' and that, though she is unsure entirely how the plot will play out, she should still be in the final cut as she recently recorded additional dialogue...

...her next project, scheduled for any time she has off in the coming year. She is the driving force behind a film festival that will bring together six or seven short films written and directed by women. Though she can't quite pin down the role she is playing – 'I'm Executive Producer… I suppose' – she has already enlisted the help of her role model Emma Thompson as mentor for the writers. 'I've got no idea really what I'm doing,' she smiles, 'I'm just pushing the idea forward. I want other people to do the nitty gritty, I'll just push the idea. But through it I'll learn how to do the nitty gritty as well. For me, it’s learning new skills and learning to be adept at loads of different things...'"

Samuel West - Television - New Tricks. Ruth Wilson. Television - Small Island. Theatre - A Streetcar Named Desire. Hayley Atwell.

• Sam guest stars in "Fresh Starts," episode 3 of series 6 of New Tricks. It will be broadcast Thursday 30 July on BBC1 at 9pm [link]
  
• The BBC press office has released some clips for BBC1 Autumn 2009. Here are screencaps of Ruth from the Small Island teaser (click thumbnails for full size):
  
• A Ruth interview from the Spectator is here. It's mostly about A Streetcar Named Desire but there is a mention of the film festival she's working on with Hayley Atwell and Emma Thompson:
  
  

  "'...We started talking about it last year and formulated the idea of commissioning a series of short films written by women and directed by women. It's not that we want to ostracise men — we love them — but we want to celebrate women and what they can achieve. There still aren't enough good roles for women, especially when you get beyond a certain age, and there certainly aren't enough women writers and directors. It's the writing we're really keen on, concentrating on that, making sure they're good scripts. We're looking for people through the Script Factory and the Royal Court, and the plan is to have six shorts, each about 15 to 20 minutes long, that are connected by a single theme and can be distributed as one film.'
  Does she intend to take part in any of these films herself? 'Devising and producing is already a huge undertaking but I wouldn’t mind performing in one...'"

Tags: Samuel West, TV, Ruth Wilson, Hayley Atwell, theatre, film, television, Sam West, New Tricks, BBC1, Small Island, Benedict Cumberbatch, A Streetcar Named Desire, Emma Thompson, Script Factory, Royal Court

Simon Russell Beale, Ruth Wilson, Hayley Atwell, Samuel West. Television - The Prisoner. Film - Dagenham Girls.

• Simon will star in Deathtrap by Ira Levin at Wyndham's [link]
• Ruth interview from WWD. Excerpts:
  

  "'...[The Prisoner is] quite weird,' says Wilson. 'We all have numbers rather than names. To some people it will make no sense, to other people it will be some kind of philosophical story.'
  ...she's working on putting on a film festival for female writers with Atwell and Emma Thompson. 'Producers [say] women don’t bring in the money,' says Wilson. 'That's the aim of the festival: for writers to start improving women's roles. And not to write boring dramas…[but] action movies and genre movies...'"

• Sam interview about his favourite teacher [link]
• Dagenham Girls (formerly titled We Want Sex) has begun filming. The film stars Sally Hawkins, Andrea Riseborough and Rosamund Pike. [link]
  

Tags: Andrea Riseborough, film, Hayley Atwell, Rosamund Pike, Ruth Wilson, Sally Hawkins, Sam West, Samuel West, Simon Russell Beale, theatre, TV, television, Deathtrap, Ira Levin, The Prisoner, Emma Thompson, Dagenham Girls

Entertainment news

• Green Lantern, a DC Comics adaptation directed by Martin Campbell, will be filmed in Sydney [link]
  
• Charlotte Rampling and Sally Hawkins have been cast in Never Let Me Go, which stars Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan and Andrea Riseborough [link]
• Adam Elliot's claymation film Mary and Max (starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette) took in $296,000 on its opening weekend [link]
  
• Zooey Deschanel SXSW interview (via ONTD) [link]
• Reviews of Realism by Paul Galloway and Travesties by Tom Stoppard by Alison Croggon [link]
  
• Ralph Fiennes is in talks to take an uncredited cameo in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, the Nanny McPhee sequel which stars Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans and Maggie Smith [link]
• Werner Herzog interview about his new film Encounters at the End of the World [link]
  
• According to a report released by Access Economics, the film and TV industry contributes $4.4 billion to the Australian economy annually. But of much of that is locally generated? Access Economics is currently preparing a separate report detailing the economic contribution by the Hollywood Studio members of MPA [link]
• In the Loop
• The film will be screened at the Sydney Film Festival (via the Hollywood Reporter) [link]
  
• Positive review from the Guardian [link]
  
• Producer Simon Channing Williams (Happy-Go-Lucky, The Constant Gardener, Topsy-Turvy) has died [link]
• New producers for Doctor Who have been announced (via Media Guardian) [link]
  
• Michael Sheen will portray the leader of the Volturi, an Italy-based coven of vampires, in New Moon, the sequel to Twilight [link]
• Fabulous rant by screenwriter James Moran (Torchwood, Spooks) about camera shakiness [link]
• Article about this year's Cannes Film Festival [link]

Film - London Critics Circle Film Awards nominations

British Actress of the year - Rebecca Hall; Sally Hawkins; Kristin Scott Thomas; Tilda Swinton; Kate Winslet

British Actress in a supporting role - Hayley Atwell; Kristin Scott Thomas; Tilda Swinton; Emma Thompson; Alexis Zegerman

The full list of nominations is here. The awards will take place at the Grosvenor House Hotel,
London on 4 February.

Tags: London Critics Circle Film Awards, nominations, Rebecca Hall, Sally Hawkins, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tilda Swinton, Kate Winslet, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Alexis Zegerman, film

Hayley Atwell - Film - Brideshead Revisited

• Interviews 1 (alternate link here)|2
  
  
• Quotes from reviews:
  
  afrotoronto.com
  "...very well performed from the likes of Goode, Atwell and Thompson..."
  
  Leonard Link
  "...I was much taken with Matthew Goode as Charles Ryder, Ben Whishaw as Sebastian Flyte, and Hayley Atwell as Sebastian's sister, Julia..."
  
  
• This is what Hayley has said about the rumours that Miramax had asked her to lose weight for the film (from philly.com):
  
  

  All's well that's Atwell
  
  British actress Hayley Atwell stopped in Philadelphia to talk with Daily News movie critic Gary Thompson about "Brideshead Revisited" (opening today) and to talk down rumors that Miramax asked her to lose weight for the role.
  
  "That was a misquote," said the actress, of reports that co-star Emma Thompson threatened to quit if producers stuck to a demand that Hayley trim a few pounds.
  
  Thompson's close inspection of Atwell's curves indicated no need to lose weight, a fact confirmed by the dozens of heads that turned to watch the shapely star traverse the Swann Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel.
  
  Atwell, who debuted in Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream," said the weight-loss stories probably grew out of on-set efforts to help her fit into the period garb necessary to play Julia Flyte in "Brideshead," set in the 1930s and '40s.
  
  "They had to tape my boobs down," she said. "That was the look back then. Very long lines, slim profiles. The reason women used cigarette holders was to elongate their arms. That was the look we were going for."
  
  Allen, needless to say, placed no such restrictions on Atwell, cast in "Dream" as the object of desire who moves Ewan McGregor to murder. The role was a big break for the stage-trained Atwell (to be seen in the upcoming "The Duchess"), although the audition process was brutal.
  
  "Coming from a theater background, I like to do as much preparation for a role as possible, so you can be as relaxed and as confident as you can be, knowing you have stuff to draw from. I show up at the audition, along with every bloody actress in London, and they gave us nothing. No name, no synopsis, just five lines of dialogue. It was horrendous. I came away thinking, if this is what Hollywood is like, I'm going back to theater. I don't even smoke, but I went out and bought a pack of cigarettes straight away," Atwell said.
  
  She was stunned when her agent called a few weeks later, saying Allen wanted to meet her in New York.
  
  "I flew over, spoke with him for half an hour, and got the part."
  
  A decision seconded by the Swann lounge.

Tags: Hayley Atwell, Brideshead Revisited, film, movie, adaptation, Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Emma Thompson, Charles Ryder, Sebastian Flyte, Julia Flyte

Hayley Atwell - Film - Brideshead Revisited

• Interview from the New York Daily News [link]


• 7 clips from the film are at collider.com [link]


• Excerpts from a short article about the film:
  

  "...Atwell, who got her start in film with director Woody Allen’s 2007 flick Cassandra’s Dream thoroughly enjoyed working with Academy-Award winning actress Emma Thompson. 'She's incredibly empowering and inspiring to be around,' she said.
  
  Atwell and Goode did not have any excuses for fellow Brit Amy Winehouse though... 'For people to look at her and judge her... ultimately she is an addict. She needs help,' Atwell told the Herald.
  
  'It's an alternative for the summer. We had a great time making it,' Atwell said of the film."

Tags: Hayley Atwell, Brideshead Revisited, Cassandra's Dream, Woody Allen, Emma Thompson, Matthew Goode, Amy Winehouse

Hayley Atwell - Film - Brideshead Revisited

• Brideshead Revisited will open the Locarno Film Festival on 6 August [link]


• Matthew Goode and Hayley were at an advance screening, where there was a Q&A [link].

Hopefully more screenings reports will be in the blogosphere over the next week or so - Miramax has been putting on advance screenings in selected cities.


• A short article from WENN:
  

  Emma Thompson prepared for her role as a matriarch in forthcoming film Brideshead Revisited by cooking "family" meals for her co-stars.
  
  The actress plays Lady Marchmain in the new film version of the novel, and became a "mother" for the film's other actors by inviting them to her London home for dinner.
  
  Hayley Atwell, who plays Thompson's daughter Julia, says, "She would have us round to her house and we'd stand in the kitchen as she prepared these delicious Sunday roasts. It was her way of getting us all to bond as a family for the film."

  
  Speaking of food, isn't it an outrage that Miramax asked Hayley to lose weight for the film?! Emma Thompson found out and threatened to quit the film, thus saving Hayley from becoming a skinny creature. (Emma Thompson ftmfw y/y?) I think this story was initially reported in The First Post [link].



• An interview from That Indie Film Show:
  

I made some screenshots of Hayley from the film's official site [link], they should be up in a few days.

Tags: Brideshead Revisited, Locarno Film Festival, film, movie, Matthew Goode, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Lady Marchmain, Miramax

Charles Edwards - Film - Untitled Woody Allen Project

[update 9 February - the film now has a title, Whatever Works]

Excerpt from the Daily Mail:

"[Watch out for] Emma Thompson, who will be part of the star-studded ensemble cast for Woody Allen's next movie, as yet untitled, which sees him going back to basics and shooting once more in New York after making several movies in Europe. Emma, currently filming An Education, based on a memoir by writer Lynn Barber (it also stars Carey Mulligan, Sally Hawkins, Alfred Molina and Peter Sarsgaard) will join Woody's film in April. By the way, Emma's also in the forthcoming movie of Brideshead Revisited. Evan Rachel Wood, Larry David, Conleth Hill and Charles Edwards are also in Woody's New York movie..."

Links
IMDB [link]
Cinematical article [link]

Tags: Charles+Edwards, film, movie, Woody+Allen, Larry+David, Evan+Rachel+Wood, Conleth+Hill, Emma+Thompson