Happy birthday to the wonderfully talented Reese Witherspoon!
Monday 22 March 2021
Sunday 21 March 2021
Happy birthday Gary Oldman
Happy birthday Gary Oldman!
The man from London was born on March 21, 1958.
What's your favourite film by this exceptionally talented actor?
Brief bio:
Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation, he is known for his versatility and intense acting style. He has received several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and three British Academy Film Awards. His films have grossed over $11 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors to date.
Oldman began acting in theatre in 1979 and made his film debut in Remembrance (1982). He continued to lead a stage career, during which he performed at London's Royal Court and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with credits including Cabaret, Romeo and Juliet, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Saved, The Country Wife and Hamlet. He rose to prominence in British film with his portrayals of Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986), Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears (1987) and Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), while also garnering attention as the leader of a gang of football hooligans in the controversial television film The Firm (1989). Regarded as a member of the "Brit Pack", he achieved greater recognition as a New York gangster in State of Grace (1990), Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK (1991) and Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).
Oldman went on to portray the villain in films such as True Romance (1993), The Fifth Element (1997), Air Force One (1997) and The Contender (2000); corrupt DEA agent Norman Stansfield, portrayed by Oldman in Léon: The Professional (1994), has been ranked as one of cinema's best villains. He also played Ludwig van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved (1994) and later appeared in franchise roles such as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series, James Gordon in The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012) and a human leader, Dreyfus in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour (2017), and was also nominated for his portrayals of George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and Herman J. Mankiewicz in Mank (2020).
Oldman has served as executive producer of various films such as The Contender, Plunkett & Macleane (1999) and Nil by Mouth (1997), the latter of which he also wrote and directed. He has also featured in television shows such as Fallen Angels, Tracey Takes On... and Friends, as well as providing the voice of Viktor Reznov in the Call of Duty video games and appearing in music videos for artists such as David Bowie, Guns N' Roses and Annie Lennox.
Discover more: 10 Must See Gary Oldman Films You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
Sunday 14 March 2021
Friday 12 March 2021
Mad Science & Eccentric Invention in 1980s Cinema
Off-screen the 1980s was giving consumers a technological revolution - videotapes, mobile phones, home computers and video game consoles. On-screen we saw this sudden attraction to scientific exploration and life-changing tech characterised by a number of memorable scientists and inventors. Here we check out some of our favourites.
The poster boy for this niche is undoubtedly Back to the Future’s Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), the time machine inventor with the wild white hair who inadvertently sends Marty McFly on a mission into the past to ensure his mother and father fall in love. But he isn’t the only memorable character to dabble with science and similarly get into a bit of bother.
What "mad scientist" springs to mind for you?
Seth Brundle, a narcissistic but brilliant scientist, has developed a transportation device that, after initial tests, appears to only work with inanimate objects. Further development sees him successfully transport a baboon prompting him to consider using the device himself. However, when he does so, a house fly finds its way into the transportation pod with him causing his agonisingly slow transformation into a humanoid-fly crossbreed. Amongst other things, it plays havoc with his love life!
Check out the Top 10 Eccentric Inventors & Mad Scientists In 1980s Film.
Wednesday 10 March 2021
Steven Spielberg, Michelle Williams teaming for coming-of-age drama
Extract from article by Borys Kit:
Spielberg wrote the script with frequent collaborator Tony Kushner and will direct the project, which is loosely based on the filmmaker's formative years growing up in Arizona.
Many people have wanted and tried to be the next Steven Spielberg, but now someone may actually be Steven Spielberg… as a teen boy, that is.
According to multiple sources, Spielberg is working on his post-West Side Story movie project, a story rooted in his childhood that he wrote Tony Kushner, a frequent collaborator with whom he worked on films such as Munich and Lincoln, and will direct.
The filmmaking legend is enlisting four-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams as one of the leads and, under the radar, is conducting test screenings for young actors that would star in the modestly-budgeted untitled drama that said to be loosely based by the filmmaker’s formative years and by his relationship with his parents.
Goldie Hawn: ‘I was born with a high set point for happiness’
Extract from article by Amy Fleming:
Goldie Hawn is Hollywood royalty, but that’s not how she sees it. Sure, she won an Oscar at 24, for her role starring opposite Ingrid Bergman and Walter Matthau in 1969’s screwball comedy Cactus Flower, and was a box-office favourite for much of the 1970s, 80s and 90s. The ultimate tongue-in-cheek ditzy blonde expanded successfully into producing, too, with movies such as Private Benjamin and Overboard. Kurt Russell, her co-star in the latter, has been her partner for 37 years. And yet, she says: “I consider myself more a dancer than anything else.”
Her mother was a dance teacher and, pre-fame, Hawn performed as a ballerina and go-go dancer before being spotted on a can-can line in Los Angeles and drafted into TV comedy. She go-go danced on TV, too, barefoot in a bikini, with graffiti all over her body. Even now, at 74, she posts compelling videos of herself dancing around her home with an almost childlike lack of self-consciousness.
Celebrating the work of Goldie Hawn
A look at the best Goldie Hawn films including Seems Like Old Times, Private Benjamin, Shampoo, and Overboard.
From Imdb.com:
Goldie Jeanne Hawn was born on November 21, 1945 in Washington D.C. to Laura Hawn (née Steinhoff), a jewelry shop/dance school owner, and Rut Hawn, a band musician. She has a sister, Patti Hawn, and a brother, Edward, who died in infancy before her birth. She was raised in the Jewish religion. Her mother was Jewish and the daughter of Hungarian immigrants. Her father was Presbyterian, and had German and English ancestry. At the age of three, Goldie began taking ballet and tap dance lessons and, at the age of ten, she danced in the chorus of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo production of "The Nutcracker". At the age of 19 she ran and instructed a ballet school, having dropped out of college where she was majoring in drama. Before going into the film business she worked as a professional dancer.
Hawn had her feature film debut in The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968), with a small role as a giggling dancer. Her first big role came in 1969, where she played opposite Walter Matthau and Ingrid Bergman in Cactus Flower (1969), a role which earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. After her Academy Award win her career took off and she followed with roles in successful comedies such as There's a Girl in My Soup (1970) and Shampoo (1975), and more dramatic roles in The Girl from Petrovka (1974) and The Sugarland Express (1974). In 1978, she starred alongside Chevy Chase in the box office hit, Foul Play (1978). In 1980 she starred in another box office hit, Private Benjamin (1980), where she also served as producer. During the 1980s she starred in hit movies such as Best Friends (1982), Protocol (1984) and Wildcats (1986). In 1987, she appeared with her boyfriend Kurt Russell in Overboard (1987), which became both a critical and box office disappointment. Her career slowed down after that until 1990 when she starred alongside Mel Gibson in Bird on a Wire (1990). In 1992 she starred in the successful film, Death Becomes Her (1992), with Meryl Streep and Bruce Willis, which was followed by another successful film HouseSitter (1992), which co-starred Steve Martin. In 1996 she played the role of an aging alcoholic actress in the comedy, The First Wives Club (1996), with Diane Keaton and Bette Midler; it became a critical and financial success. She also starred in the Woody Allen film Everyone Says I Love You (1996) and The Out-of-Towners (1999), which reunited her with Martin. In 2001 and 2002 she starred in Town & Country (2001) with Warren Beatty, and The Banger Sisters (2002) with Susan Sarandon.
Goldie has been married twice. First to actor/director Gus Trikonis, from 1968 to 1973. In 1975 she married musician Bill Hudson and became a mother for the first time in 1976, when she gave birth to their son Oliver Hudson. In 1979, she had her second child with Hudson, daughter Kate Hudson. The marriage ended in divorce in 1980. Since 1983, she has been in a relationship with actor Kurt Russell. They had a son in 1986, Wyatt Russell.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anna G.
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