Exclusive: Award-winning screenwriter Brock Norman Brock has signed with Artist International Group for management.
Brock most recently co-wrote the script for Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s acclaimed drama The Mustang, starring Matthias Schoenaerts. That title, about a convict who trains wild mustangs as part of a rehabilitation program, was released by Focus Features in 2019.
Brock is perhaps best known for co-writing Nicolas Winding Refn’s critically acclaimed 2009 feature, Bronson, starring Tom Hardy, which told the story of the notorious British criminal of the same name. That Vertigo Films title premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and was in competition at Sundance, as well as the Sydney Film Festival, where it won Best Film.
Brock began his career in theater, seeing his play Here is Monster, directed by Mark Ravenhill, secure a nomination for the Verity Bargate Award, celebrating emerging playwrights. He also adapted the cult novel Yardie for Warp and StudioCanal,...
Brock most recently co-wrote the script for Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s acclaimed drama The Mustang, starring Matthias Schoenaerts. That title, about a convict who trains wild mustangs as part of a rehabilitation program, was released by Focus Features in 2019.
Brock is perhaps best known for co-writing Nicolas Winding Refn’s critically acclaimed 2009 feature, Bronson, starring Tom Hardy, which told the story of the notorious British criminal of the same name. That Vertigo Films title premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and was in competition at Sundance, as well as the Sydney Film Festival, where it won Best Film.
Brock began his career in theater, seeing his play Here is Monster, directed by Mark Ravenhill, secure a nomination for the Verity Bargate Award, celebrating emerging playwrights. He also adapted the cult novel Yardie for Warp and StudioCanal,...
- 5/18/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The pairing of acting legends Sir Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi is a match made in heaven, but putting them together in a bawdy, bitchy British sitcom playing lovers who have been together for nearly 50 years? Yes, please!
Vicious aired last year in the UK and had its share of fans and critics. American viewers are finally getting a chance to decide for themselves if this show is the gay sitcom that we’ve been waiting for. (One good sign is that Vicious already has a second season order and will start shooting this fall. Hopefully the Us airings will garner solid ratings to continue airing beyond the first season).
TheBacklot sat down recently in West Hollywood with series creator Gary Janetti, who you know as a writer on such comedies as Will & Grace and Family Guy as well as being partnered with celebrity stylist/TV personality, Brad Goreski. Janetti...
Vicious aired last year in the UK and had its share of fans and critics. American viewers are finally getting a chance to decide for themselves if this show is the gay sitcom that we’ve been waiting for. (One good sign is that Vicious already has a second season order and will start shooting this fall. Hopefully the Us airings will garner solid ratings to continue airing beyond the first season).
TheBacklot sat down recently in West Hollywood with series creator Gary Janetti, who you know as a writer on such comedies as Will & Grace and Family Guy as well as being partnered with celebrity stylist/TV personality, Brad Goreski. Janetti...
- 6/27/2014
- by Jim Halterman
- The Backlot
Her | The Lego Movie | Bastards | The Monuments Men | Cuban Fury | 8 Minutes Idle | Love Is In The Air | Endless Love | Bette Bourne: It Goes With The Shoes
Her (15)
(Spike Jonze, 2013, Us) Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara. 126 mins
Technophilia will only get you so far, Jonze's near-future parable suggests, as it engineers a blind date between a lonely man and a sentient operating system with no concept of privacy settings – and finds both partners wanting. More successful is the marriage of sci-fi and romantic drama: the focus is more on the heart than the hardware in this soulful, often sorrowful movie.
The Lego Movie (U)
(Phil Lord, 2014, Us) Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett. 100 mins
Using pop-culture humour and star voices to overcome blatant product placement, this canny, rapid-fire comedy adventure is like a Matrix parody rendered in CGI plastic bricks.
Bastards (18)
(Claire Denis, 2013, Fra/Ger) Vincent Lindon, Chiara Mastroianni.
Her (15)
(Spike Jonze, 2013, Us) Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara. 126 mins
Technophilia will only get you so far, Jonze's near-future parable suggests, as it engineers a blind date between a lonely man and a sentient operating system with no concept of privacy settings – and finds both partners wanting. More successful is the marriage of sci-fi and romantic drama: the focus is more on the heart than the hardware in this soulful, often sorrowful movie.
The Lego Movie (U)
(Phil Lord, 2014, Us) Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett. 100 mins
Using pop-culture humour and star voices to overcome blatant product placement, this canny, rapid-fire comedy adventure is like a Matrix parody rendered in CGI plastic bricks.
Bastards (18)
(Claire Denis, 2013, Fra/Ger) Vincent Lindon, Chiara Mastroianni.
- 2/15/2014
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
The history of gay culture in Britain is explored in the life story of one drag artist in this affecting documentary
This sweet, affecting documentary profiles the eponymous actor/drag queen/activist Bette Bourne (Peter Bourne), now a grand dame in his 70s with a lavender rinse in his hair, a fetching array of oversized brooches and a great store of anecdotes.
Prompted by co-director Mark Ravenhill, who pootles about London with him, checking out old haunts and meeting ageing friends, Bourne narrates the story of his life. It's practically a microcosm of 20th-century gay culture, covering the closet culture of the 50s, the gay liberation movement, Bourne's success with his cabaret company the Bloolips, and the arrival of Aids.
As a documentary, it is hardly radical or ground-breaking (although the archive material is ace), but it's an engaging oral history, about a lovely person who gives good quip. The...
This sweet, affecting documentary profiles the eponymous actor/drag queen/activist Bette Bourne (Peter Bourne), now a grand dame in his 70s with a lavender rinse in his hair, a fetching array of oversized brooches and a great store of anecdotes.
Prompted by co-director Mark Ravenhill, who pootles about London with him, checking out old haunts and meeting ageing friends, Bourne narrates the story of his life. It's practically a microcosm of 20th-century gay culture, covering the closet culture of the 50s, the gay liberation movement, Bourne's success with his cabaret company the Bloolips, and the arrival of Aids.
As a documentary, it is hardly radical or ground-breaking (although the archive material is ace), but it's an engaging oral history, about a lovely person who gives good quip. The...
- 2/13/2014
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Dallas Buyers Club | The Invisible Woman | RoboCop | Mr Peabody & Sherman | The Patrol | Lift To The Scaffold
Dallas Buyers Club (15)
(Jean-Marc Vallée, 2013, Us) Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Denis O'Hare, Steve Zahn. 117 mins
What McConaughey loses in body mass he gains in compassion in this drawn-from-real-life drama, which cleverly disguises its awards-friendliness beneath thespian commitment and non-issue-movie storytelling. Diagnosed with Aids in 1980s Texas, McConaughey's rodeo-loving electrician takes matters into his own hands and devises his own grey-market treatment programme for the ravaged gay community (in partnership with Leto's lovable transgender cohort, Rayon). The authorities don't approve; the Academy probably will.
The Invisible Woman (12A)
(Ralph Fiennes, 2013, UK) Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott-Thomas. 111 mins
Working to Claire Tomalin's biography, Fiennes gives us a tale of two Dickenses: the charismatic literary celebrity and the self-absorbed love rat. But the passion of his secret affair with Jones's teenage actor is smothered by repression,...
Dallas Buyers Club (15)
(Jean-Marc Vallée, 2013, Us) Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Denis O'Hare, Steve Zahn. 117 mins
What McConaughey loses in body mass he gains in compassion in this drawn-from-real-life drama, which cleverly disguises its awards-friendliness beneath thespian commitment and non-issue-movie storytelling. Diagnosed with Aids in 1980s Texas, McConaughey's rodeo-loving electrician takes matters into his own hands and devises his own grey-market treatment programme for the ravaged gay community (in partnership with Leto's lovable transgender cohort, Rayon). The authorities don't approve; the Academy probably will.
The Invisible Woman (12A)
(Ralph Fiennes, 2013, UK) Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott-Thomas. 111 mins
Working to Claire Tomalin's biography, Fiennes gives us a tale of two Dickenses: the charismatic literary celebrity and the self-absorbed love rat. But the passion of his secret affair with Jones's teenage actor is smothered by repression,...
- 2/8/2014
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
On stage, Philip Seymour Hoffman excelled playing characters driven by desire. As a theatre director, he pushed his actors towards abandon
Although best known for his Oscar-nominated turns in films such as Capote and The Master, Philip Seymour Hoffman was also a visceral stage actor and a sensitive, vigorous theatre director. On stage, he had a savage, vital and vulnerable presence that his film appearances approached, but never really equalled. He traded in a kind of heightened naturalism that made even the most absurd scenarios seem likely. Doughy, slouchy, unhandsome and unkempt, Hoffman distinguished himself with his fierce commitment to preparing roles and his lack of vanity in playing them.
A graduate of New York University, he cut his theatrical teeth downtown, in plays including Caryl Churchill's The Skriker and Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking, before assuming more high-profile roles. He alternated with John C Reilly as Austin...
Although best known for his Oscar-nominated turns in films such as Capote and The Master, Philip Seymour Hoffman was also a visceral stage actor and a sensitive, vigorous theatre director. On stage, he had a savage, vital and vulnerable presence that his film appearances approached, but never really equalled. He traded in a kind of heightened naturalism that made even the most absurd scenarios seem likely. Doughy, slouchy, unhandsome and unkempt, Hoffman distinguished himself with his fierce commitment to preparing roles and his lack of vanity in playing them.
A graduate of New York University, he cut his theatrical teeth downtown, in plays including Caryl Churchill's The Skriker and Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking, before assuming more high-profile roles. He alternated with John C Reilly as Austin...
- 2/3/2014
- by Alexis Soloski
- The Guardian - Film News
Stage and screen actor best known for his roles in Only Fools and Horses, The Vicar of Dibley and Harry Potter
The talented and idiosyncratic character actor Roger Lloyd Pack, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 69, achieved national recognition, and huge popularity, as Colin "Trigger" Ball, the lugubrious Peckham road sweeper in John Sullivan's brilliantly acted comedy series Only Fools and Horses. He appeared alongside David Jason's Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst's "plonker" Rodney from 1981 for 10 years, with many a seasonal "special" for another decade.
This success cemented a career in which, up to that point, he had played important roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Almeida theatre in north London – he was a notably anguished Rosmer in Ibsen's Rosmersholm at the National in 1987, opposite Suzanne Bertish – without recognition any wider than usually appreciative reviews.
His enhanced status led to another...
The talented and idiosyncratic character actor Roger Lloyd Pack, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 69, achieved national recognition, and huge popularity, as Colin "Trigger" Ball, the lugubrious Peckham road sweeper in John Sullivan's brilliantly acted comedy series Only Fools and Horses. He appeared alongside David Jason's Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst's "plonker" Rodney from 1981 for 10 years, with many a seasonal "special" for another decade.
This success cemented a career in which, up to that point, he had played important roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Almeida theatre in north London – he was a notably anguished Rosmer in Ibsen's Rosmersholm at the National in 1987, opposite Suzanne Bertish – without recognition any wider than usually appreciative reviews.
His enhanced status led to another...
- 1/17/2014
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
Will & Grace exec producer Gary Janetti created Vicious with playwright Mark Ravenhill. When the sitcom premiered on ITV last April, it was the highest-rated comedy launch on any UK channel in 2013. The first six-part series has not run in the U.S., but I hear negotiations are underway. The second series order was announced today at the Edinburgh TV Festival. Veteran British thesps Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi play a constantly bickering couple who’ve lived together in a small London flat for nearly 50 years. Vicious is a Brown Eyed Boy production in association with Shine’s Kudos. Related: Kevin Spacey Cautions TV Biz On Laziness At Edinburgh TV Fest...
- 8/23/2013
- by NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor
- Deadline TV
Shock And Gore | British Airways Silent Picturehouse | Pride film festivals | Mogwai + Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait
Shock And Gore, Birmingham
Like all good horror festivals, this is a mix of old classics and new blood, the latter led by James "Saw" Wan's Amityville-like The Conjuring. Talking of blood, Xan Cassavetes makes her fiction debut with modern vampire flick Kiss Of The Damned, while a post-dinner dare game gets horribly messy in Would You Rather. For the more civilised there's Coppola's Dracula, and for the sincerely debauched, Saturday is an all-nighter, with films, parties, horror-director guests and offbeat awards such as Best Death and Worst Nicolas Cage Movie.
Various venues, Sat to 25 Jul
British Airways Silent Picturehouse, London
Cementing the relationship between movies and air travel, BA transforms the arched caverns of Vinopolis into a sumptuous cinema lounge this week, where you can choose between five films playing simultaneously (in different...
Shock And Gore, Birmingham
Like all good horror festivals, this is a mix of old classics and new blood, the latter led by James "Saw" Wan's Amityville-like The Conjuring. Talking of blood, Xan Cassavetes makes her fiction debut with modern vampire flick Kiss Of The Damned, while a post-dinner dare game gets horribly messy in Would You Rather. For the more civilised there's Coppola's Dracula, and for the sincerely debauched, Saturday is an all-nighter, with films, parties, horror-director guests and offbeat awards such as Best Death and Worst Nicolas Cage Movie.
Various venues, Sat to 25 Jul
British Airways Silent Picturehouse, London
Cementing the relationship between movies and air travel, BA transforms the arched caverns of Vinopolis into a sumptuous cinema lounge this week, where you can choose between five films playing simultaneously (in different...
- 7/20/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Comic hints that a high-profile hunger strike might be on the cards. And if that wasn't confusing enough, Sunday is now a day of atheism and Jo Brand a product of patriarchy
This week's comedy news
Is Frankie Boyle about to go on hunger strike? As reported by the Guardian last week, the human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith is currently hunger-striking in solidarity with his client Shaker Aamer, who is imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay and has been striking for 150 days. In an interview last Thursday on Radio Scotland, and again the following day on this website, Stafford Smith claimed the standup and ex-Mock the Week star is lined up to "take over from me when I fail" – ie starve himself to raise awareness of the plight of inmates at Guantánamo. The move would represent a strong break with Boyle's cynical public image, but all his management will say...
This week's comedy news
Is Frankie Boyle about to go on hunger strike? As reported by the Guardian last week, the human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith is currently hunger-striking in solidarity with his client Shaker Aamer, who is imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay and has been striking for 150 days. In an interview last Thursday on Radio Scotland, and again the following day on this website, Stafford Smith claimed the standup and ex-Mock the Week star is lined up to "take over from me when I fail" – ie starve himself to raise awareness of the plight of inmates at Guantánamo. The move would represent a strong break with Boyle's cynical public image, but all his management will say...
- 7/16/2013
- by Brian Logan
- The Guardian - Film News
I’m a huge fan of eccentric people – otherwise known as “me”. It’s all the more better when they’re eccentric gay people – otherwise known as “me”, I think. This new show Vicious only attracted me because of the involvement of both Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi, veterans of stage and screen and damn fine actors to boot. They play Freddie (McKellen) and Stuart (Jacobi), a couple who have spent the past forty-eight years living in a flat in Covent Garden’s and survive by mocking each other and being generally vicious. This show also features, as Freddie and Stuart’s friend Violet, famed-by-Harry Potter actress Frances de la Tour and as their neighbour Ash, Iwan Rheon. It is created by Mark Ravenhill, primarily known for his work on the stage and writer Gary Janetti, producer of Will & Grace.
The idea of two legends (as-well as actual gay men...
The idea of two legends (as-well as actual gay men...
- 4/30/2013
- by Quinn Steers
- Obsessed with Film
ITV has released a first trailer for its new sitcom Vicious.
Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi star in the comedy as ageing partners Freddie (McKellen) - a retired actor - and Stuart (Jacobi) - a former barman.
Vicious - from Will & Grace writer Gary Janetti - also stars Misfits actor Iwan Rheon and Frances De La Tour, who plays Freddie and Stuart's feisty best friend Violet.
ITV's Myfanwy Moore said: "'ITV is thrilled this exciting and bold sitcom, with stellar performers and writing talent is to join the increasing slate of new-look comedy shows on the channel."
Vicious has been co-created by award-winning playwright Mark Ravenhill and will be directed by Red Dwarf's Ed Bye.
> Russell Tovey, Sarah Hadland in ITV's The Job Lot - watch trailer
> Tom Rosenthal on ITV2's Plebs: "We're in Rome and we're d**kheads!"...
Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi star in the comedy as ageing partners Freddie (McKellen) - a retired actor - and Stuart (Jacobi) - a former barman.
Vicious - from Will & Grace writer Gary Janetti - also stars Misfits actor Iwan Rheon and Frances De La Tour, who plays Freddie and Stuart's feisty best friend Violet.
ITV's Myfanwy Moore said: "'ITV is thrilled this exciting and bold sitcom, with stellar performers and writing talent is to join the increasing slate of new-look comedy shows on the channel."
Vicious has been co-created by award-winning playwright Mark Ravenhill and will be directed by Red Dwarf's Ed Bye.
> Russell Tovey, Sarah Hadland in ITV's The Job Lot - watch trailer
> Tom Rosenthal on ITV2's Plebs: "We're in Rome and we're d**kheads!"...
- 4/11/2013
- Digital Spy
A Fake Moon rises over Bristol at the Ibt festival, Philip Pullman's I Was a Rat! scurries into Birmingham, and James McAvoy tackles the Scottish play in London
North
The big opening this week is Roger McGough's new version of Molière's The Misanthrope at Liverpool Playhouse, which should be fun. Theatre meets music gigs in 154 Collective's Dancing With the Orange Dog, which is at Stockton Arts Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hairspray is out on tour again and is at the Lowry in Salford. In Manchester, meanwhile, Queer Contact celebrates the best in Lgbt art and culture this weekend. The moving first-world-war drama, The Accrington Pals, continues at the Exchange. David Copperfield begins at the Oldham Coliseum tonight. This looks intriguing: at Haphazard at Z-arts on Saturday is Word of Warning's day of live art for all ages. The Edinburgh hit, Unmythable – all the Greek myths in 70 minutes...
North
The big opening this week is Roger McGough's new version of Molière's The Misanthrope at Liverpool Playhouse, which should be fun. Theatre meets music gigs in 154 Collective's Dancing With the Orange Dog, which is at Stockton Arts Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hairspray is out on tour again and is at the Lowry in Salford. In Manchester, meanwhile, Queer Contact celebrates the best in Lgbt art and culture this weekend. The moving first-world-war drama, The Accrington Pals, continues at the Exchange. David Copperfield begins at the Oldham Coliseum tonight. This looks intriguing: at Haphazard at Z-arts on Saturday is Word of Warning's day of live art for all ages. The Edinburgh hit, Unmythable – all the Greek myths in 70 minutes...
- 2/8/2013
- by Lyn Gardner
- The Guardian - Film News
It looks set to be an intriguing year on stage that will also see Philip Pullman take on Cinderella and the RSC tackle Voltaire
The Audience
After starring in Peter Morgan's The Queen, Helen Mirren gets a second go at Hm, this time on stage, in the same writer's account of the monarch's weekly audience with prime ministers from Churchill to Cameron. Presumably it'll be a battle of the handbags when it comes to those allegedly frosty encounters with Thatcher. Stephen Daldry directs. Gielgud, London W1 (theaudienceplay.com), 15 February to 15 June.
Feast
This epic exploration of Nigerian Yoruba culture is a multi-authored show focusing on three sisters separated by a mischievous trickster and obliged to travel the world. Top actors such as Noma Dumezweni and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith join forces with drummers and Cuban dancers. Young Vic, London SE1 (youngvic.org), 25 January to 23 February.
Peter and Alice
In 2009, John Logan...
The Audience
After starring in Peter Morgan's The Queen, Helen Mirren gets a second go at Hm, this time on stage, in the same writer's account of the monarch's weekly audience with prime ministers from Churchill to Cameron. Presumably it'll be a battle of the handbags when it comes to those allegedly frosty encounters with Thatcher. Stephen Daldry directs. Gielgud, London W1 (theaudienceplay.com), 15 February to 15 June.
Feast
This epic exploration of Nigerian Yoruba culture is a multi-authored show focusing on three sisters separated by a mischievous trickster and obliged to travel the world. Top actors such as Noma Dumezweni and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith join forces with drummers and Cuban dancers. Young Vic, London SE1 (youngvic.org), 25 January to 23 February.
Peter and Alice
In 2009, John Logan...
- 12/31/2012
- by Michael Billington, Lyn Gardner
- The Guardian - Film News
The Observer's critics pick the season's highlights, from the Misanthrope to Johnny Marr, Lulu to Lichtenstein, H7steria to Hitchcock. What are you most looking forward to? Add your comments below and download a pdf of the calendar here
December | January | FebruaryDecember
1 Film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (3D)
Well, not so very unexpected. Every move has been tracked by fanboys, from the casting of Martin Freeman as Bilbo and Benedict Cumberbatch as the dragon Smaug to the return of the king, Peter Jackson, to take over directing from Guillermo del Toro. But Middle-earth (or, as it's sometimes known, New Zealand) is back for the next three Christmases.
3 Pop Scott Walker
The avant-garde Walker Brother returns with his first album since 2006's The Drift. Not for the faint-hearted, Bish Bosch finds the former romantic hero deep in dystopian territory, at once sonorous and rigorous.
3 Classical H7steria
World premiere of...
December | January | FebruaryDecember
1 Film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (3D)
Well, not so very unexpected. Every move has been tracked by fanboys, from the casting of Martin Freeman as Bilbo and Benedict Cumberbatch as the dragon Smaug to the return of the king, Peter Jackson, to take over directing from Guillermo del Toro. But Middle-earth (or, as it's sometimes known, New Zealand) is back for the next three Christmases.
3 Pop Scott Walker
The avant-garde Walker Brother returns with his first album since 2006's The Drift. Not for the faint-hearted, Bish Bosch finds the former romantic hero deep in dystopian territory, at once sonorous and rigorous.
3 Classical H7steria
World premiere of...
- 12/2/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
London - U.K. network ITV on Monday said it has commissioned a studio sitcom called Vicious, starring Ian McKellen, British stage veteran Derek Jacobi (The King's Speech, My Week with Marilyn) and Frances De La Tour (Alice In Wonderland, Hugo). The show was co-created by Family Guy writer and Will & Grace executive producer Gary Janetti, who is also writing the series, and British playwright Mark Ravenhill. The show is described as a comedy about "friends that bicker, argue and are delightfully vicious to each other." ITV said it will start airing the show in 2013. McKellen, who
read more...
read more...
- 11/5/2012
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fresh from his latest turn as Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies, Ian McKellen is headed to the small screen. He’ll star with Derek Jacobi in ITV sitcom Vicious, from Family Guy and Will & Grace producer Gary Janetti. Janetti is scripting and co-created the comedy with playwright Mark Ravenhill. The British acting icons will play partners Freddie and Stuart, two men who have lived together in a small Covent Garden apartment for nearly 50 years. Freddie was a budding actor and Stuart a barman when they first met, but their careers are now pretty much over and their lives consist of reading books, walking their dog and bickering. Frances De La Tour (Hugo, Alice In Wonderland) plays the pair’s best friend. Vicious is produced by the Shine Group’s Brown Eyed Boy in association with Shine’s Kudos Film and TV. Brown Eyed Boy’s Gary Reich is co-producing with Janetti.
- 11/5/2012
- by NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor
- Deadline TV
Allen is adapting his 1994 movie for the stage, Matilda wins the public vote at the Whatsonstage awards, and Chortle's female-unfriendly comedy awards shortlist is no laughing matter
Screen to stage
Yet another film is being adapted into a stage musical. This might not sound like news – but the film in question is Woody Allen's Oscar-winning 1994 movie Bullets Over Broadway, and the adapter is Allen himself. You'll recall that the plot follows a struggling writer trying to get a big break into New York theatre. Which all sounds rather wonderfully circular. No word yet on when the show might open or who it might star.
Stage to screen
It's not all one-way traffic, though. Sky Arts announced that it is to broadcast a filmed version of Simon Callow's one-man play about the Bard, Being Shakespeare, while the BBC and Arts Council England unveiled a project of an even more intriguing kind,...
Screen to stage
Yet another film is being adapted into a stage musical. This might not sound like news – but the film in question is Woody Allen's Oscar-winning 1994 movie Bullets Over Broadway, and the adapter is Allen himself. You'll recall that the plot follows a struggling writer trying to get a big break into New York theatre. Which all sounds rather wonderfully circular. No word yet on when the show might open or who it might star.
Stage to screen
It's not all one-way traffic, though. Sky Arts announced that it is to broadcast a filmed version of Simon Callow's one-man play about the Bard, Being Shakespeare, while the BBC and Arts Council England unveiled a project of an even more intriguing kind,...
- 2/24/2012
- by Alistair Smith
- The Guardian - Film News
The seventh series of the new Doctor Who will likely start airing in the autumn of 2012 and may run into the fiftieth anniversary year, 2013. News is just starting to emerge of who the writers and directors will be and so the countdown to series seven feels like it has begun.
The last series – as usual – delighted some and frustrated others. As one who was both frustrated and delighted, here are some of my thoughts about what show-runner Steven Moffat could do to make both devoted fans and casual viewers more delighted and less frustrated over the 13 episodes which are on their way.
1. Less of the “arc” plotting
Moffat has already indicated that following the series-long storyline of the Doctor’s apparent death and Amy and Rory’s baby last year, he intends to “throw the lever back the other way” this year, even to the point of not initially commissioning any two part stories.
The last series – as usual – delighted some and frustrated others. As one who was both frustrated and delighted, here are some of my thoughts about what show-runner Steven Moffat could do to make both devoted fans and casual viewers more delighted and less frustrated over the 13 episodes which are on their way.
1. Less of the “arc” plotting
Moffat has already indicated that following the series-long storyline of the Doctor’s apparent death and Amy and Rory’s baby last year, he intends to “throw the lever back the other way” this year, even to the point of not initially commissioning any two part stories.
- 2/20/2012
- by Tom Salinsky
- Obsessed with Film
Comedy has been a mainstay of the fringe for years. But now serious plays are attracting a broader range of stars
Film stars have developed a habit of venturing on to the West End stage to hone their acting skills in front of a live crowd. But now an unprecedented number of big names in showbusiness are to take the challenge one step further by facing Edinburgh fringe audiences in a series of intimate, temporary venues. The city's pavements may still be lined with student hopefuls during the annual festival, but suddenly there are familiar A-list faces vying for attention too.
This summer the world's largest fringe arts event, which opened in earnest in the Scottish capital this weekend, will boast performances from the Los Angeles-based British film star Julian Sands in a solo show directed by John Malkovich, and from the television and film actor Art Malik, who will...
Film stars have developed a habit of venturing on to the West End stage to hone their acting skills in front of a live crowd. But now an unprecedented number of big names in showbusiness are to take the challenge one step further by facing Edinburgh fringe audiences in a series of intimate, temporary venues. The city's pavements may still be lined with student hopefuls during the annual festival, but suddenly there are familiar A-list faces vying for attention too.
This summer the world's largest fringe arts event, which opened in earnest in the Scottish capital this weekend, will boast performances from the Los Angeles-based British film star Julian Sands in a solo show directed by John Malkovich, and from the television and film actor Art Malik, who will...
- 8/6/2011
- by Vanessa Thorpe
- The Guardian - Film News
When music and theatre gel, as Terry Gilliam did with Eno, the result can be unmissable art
When a critic describes a production as getting "a riotous reception", as one recently wrote of Eno's reinterpretation of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, it's not necessarily complimentary. In our case, he was referring to the fact that boos sounded among the cheers from the opening night audience.
This kind of reaction is more common on the continent than it is in the UK. Opera houses in Munich and Paris compete for the rudest audience prize. Audiences often boo singers mid-performance, and they sometimes resort to jeering in the interval.
Not that I'm inviting that from our audiences, but great art that takes risks can provoke a strong reaction, especially when it's in the hands of truly individual thinkers who hold up a mirror to the audience and ask questions about the world in which we live.
When a critic describes a production as getting "a riotous reception", as one recently wrote of Eno's reinterpretation of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, it's not necessarily complimentary. In our case, he was referring to the fact that boos sounded among the cheers from the opening night audience.
This kind of reaction is more common on the continent than it is in the UK. Opera houses in Munich and Paris compete for the rudest audience prize. Audiences often boo singers mid-performance, and they sometimes resort to jeering in the interval.
Not that I'm inviting that from our audiences, but great art that takes risks can provoke a strong reaction, especially when it's in the hands of truly individual thinkers who hold up a mirror to the audience and ask questions about the world in which we live.
- 5/27/2011
- by John Berry
- The Guardian - Film News
Luke Treadaway could be about to eclipse his twin brother Harry – thanks to his role as a plummy stoner in space invasion movie Attack the Block
Does Luke Treadaway have attachment issues? In his first film, he spent the summer strapped to his identical twin, Harry: they were playing conjoined twins and proto-punk rockers in the disturbingly brilliant Brothers of the Head (2006). Later this summer, he will appear handcuffed to a rival rock star in David Mackenzie's You Instead. This week sees the opening of Joe Cornish's eagerly awaited Attack the Block, in which Treadaway plays a plummy stoner whose attachment to weed brings him in close contact with the "big alien gorilla wolf monsters" rampaging through a south London estate.
Off screen, of course, there is the press interest in his relationship with his acting twin, Harry. Both were inspired by their drama teacher while growing up...
Does Luke Treadaway have attachment issues? In his first film, he spent the summer strapped to his identical twin, Harry: they were playing conjoined twins and proto-punk rockers in the disturbingly brilliant Brothers of the Head (2006). Later this summer, he will appear handcuffed to a rival rock star in David Mackenzie's You Instead. This week sees the opening of Joe Cornish's eagerly awaited Attack the Block, in which Treadaway plays a plummy stoner whose attachment to weed brings him in close contact with the "big alien gorilla wolf monsters" rampaging through a south London estate.
Off screen, of course, there is the press interest in his relationship with his acting twin, Harry. Both were inspired by their drama teacher while growing up...
- 5/12/2011
- by Patrick Barkham
- The Guardian - Film News
From Twelfth Night to Danny Boyle's new production at the National Theatre, theatre adores twins and doppelgangers. What's really going on?
Danny Boyle's hotly anticipated production of Frankenstein, in a new version by Nick Dear, opens next week at the National theatre. The show's two leads, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, will be alternating the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature, so, unless they can afford to go twice, audience members are going to have to choose which way round they want to see the casting. But is this doubling up just an astute marketing ploy? Or is it, perhaps, a broader commentary? Can the relationship of Frankenstein and the Creature tell us anything about the symbiotic relationship of stage and audience? Even about the theatre itself?
There is quite a history of doubling parts in the theatre. The renowned 19th-century actors William Macready and Samuel...
Danny Boyle's hotly anticipated production of Frankenstein, in a new version by Nick Dear, opens next week at the National theatre. The show's two leads, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, will be alternating the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature, so, unless they can afford to go twice, audience members are going to have to choose which way round they want to see the casting. But is this doubling up just an astute marketing ploy? Or is it, perhaps, a broader commentary? Can the relationship of Frankenstein and the Creature tell us anything about the symbiotic relationship of stage and audience? Even about the theatre itself?
There is quite a history of doubling parts in the theatre. The renowned 19th-century actors William Macready and Samuel...
- 2/17/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Info Meme
Jon Stewart is set to appear on Bill O’Reilly’s show on Wednesday. They know they have ratings gold, and actually plan to split the interview up over Wednesday and Thursday. Stewart hasn’t trekked over to see Bill on his own turf since 2004. Hopefully related: The 8 Greatest Jon Stewart Pwnages. Please let the list go up to eleven by the weekend.
I’ve been known to toss spare change to the homeless, and I harbor no illusions as to what they did with the money. But if I’d seen any of these guys, I would have bought them a steak dinner just for the honesty and creativity.
Lionsgate and Crest Animation are going to give Pixar a run for it’s money with Norm of the North, about a polar bear whose melting environment causes him to take refuge in an arctic research station until...
Jon Stewart is set to appear on Bill O’Reilly’s show on Wednesday. They know they have ratings gold, and actually plan to split the interview up over Wednesday and Thursday. Stewart hasn’t trekked over to see Bill on his own turf since 2004. Hopefully related: The 8 Greatest Jon Stewart Pwnages. Please let the list go up to eleven by the weekend.
I’ve been known to toss spare change to the homeless, and I harbor no illusions as to what they did with the money. But if I’d seen any of these guys, I would have bought them a steak dinner just for the honesty and creativity.
Lionsgate and Crest Animation are going to give Pixar a run for it’s money with Norm of the North, about a polar bear whose melting environment causes him to take refuge in an arctic research station until...
- 2/3/2010
- by lostinmiami
- The Backlot
Ten young candidates have been shortlisted for our Terry Pratchett and National Theatre competition, here's a first look at their shortlisted films
Back in October we challenged young readers to adapt an extract from Nation by Terry Pratchett, as Mark Ravenhill's staging of the book is being performed at the National Theatre this winter.
We can now reveal the shortlist that judges - Terry Pratchett, Mark Ravenhill, Guardian theatre critic Lyn Gardner and National Theatre director Nicholas Hytner - are currently mulling over, as they make the difficult decision as to who will win, and have their films screened as part of the Nt Live event on January 30.
Many thanks to all entrants for taking part; the winners will be announced in the next few weeks.
The shortlists for each age category are:
10-14
Freya Roberts, 12, Cranleigh
Angel Ssemanda-Nakirayi, 12, London
Zoe Woolley, 12, London
Ollie Inglis, 13, Aberdeen
Billy Godfrey, 14, Oxford
15-17
Katie Ager,...
Back in October we challenged young readers to adapt an extract from Nation by Terry Pratchett, as Mark Ravenhill's staging of the book is being performed at the National Theatre this winter.
We can now reveal the shortlist that judges - Terry Pratchett, Mark Ravenhill, Guardian theatre critic Lyn Gardner and National Theatre director Nicholas Hytner - are currently mulling over, as they make the difficult decision as to who will win, and have their films screened as part of the Nt Live event on January 30.
Many thanks to all entrants for taking part; the winners will be announced in the next few weeks.
The shortlists for each age category are:
10-14
Freya Roberts, 12, Cranleigh
Angel Ssemanda-Nakirayi, 12, London
Zoe Woolley, 12, London
Ollie Inglis, 13, Aberdeen
Billy Godfrey, 14, Oxford
15-17
Katie Ager,...
- 12/9/2009
- The Guardian - Film News
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.