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“Shakespeare in Love” adapter revels in rave reviews in London

July 25, 2014 0

By Edward Baran LONDON (Reuters) – The Disney-backed stage adaptation of the hit film “Shakespeare in Love” won nearly across-the-board rave reviews in London this week, to the relief of its creators who are pleased that their big gamble looks set to pay off. The show, based on the 1998 Hollywood movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes, received a standing ovation from its opening night audience on Wednesday at the Noel Coward theatre in London’s West End theatre district. With the backing of the Disney organisation, which is behind money-spinners like the “The Lion King”, and co-production by leading British producer Sonia Friedman, the stage revamp has gone straight to a commercial theatre instead of having the benefit of a first run at a government-subsidised venue, as is common in British theatre. “Obviously something like this was such a huge production which is probably the biggest play that has even been put on in the West End,” playwright Lee Hall, who did the adaptation from the movie script that was in part written by Tom Stoppard, told Reuters on Wednesday.

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Denzel Washington to receive Lifetime honor at San Sebastian Film Fest

July 24, 2014 0

Washington, July 24 (ANI): Denzel Washington will be receiving the Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival, which will be held in September. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the ‘Flight’ star will also open the Spanish festival with the European premiere of his latest movie ‘The Equalizer’, which is directed by Antoine Fuqua. The festival organizers cited Washington’s past roles in such films as ‘Glory’, ‘Malcolm X’, ‘Philadelphia’, ‘Inside Man’ and ‘Flight’, as well as his many acting awards and nominations while announcing the lifetime achievement award. Other events at the 62nd San Sebastian Film Festival will be announced soon.

This time, Obama fundraising is a bit of ‘Scandal’

July 24, 2014 0
President Barack Obama walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at San Francisco International Airport, Tuesday, July 22, 2014, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fact met fiction Wednesday in one of those Hollywood ways: The real-life president of the United States complains about “phony scandals” in the presence of the producer and the star of a hit TV drama about indignity and dishonor among Washington’s political elite.

Woody Allen conjures up illusion for ‘Magic in the Moonlight’

July 24, 2014 0
Director Allen arrives for the premiere of his film "Magic in the Moonlight" in New York

By Patricia Reaney NEW YORK (Reuters) – Woody Allen explores the mysteries of illusion and love in “Magic in the Moonlight,” a period romantic comedy inspired by 1920s clairvoyants who were debunked by leading magicians of the day. In “Magic in the Moonlight,” which opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, reality and illusion collide on the Cote d’Azur in the Roaring Twenties, when spiritualism and seances were in vogue. “I set films very often in the past because I can create the illusion more tantalizingly.” Like “Midnight in Paris,” Allen’s most successful film with global earnings of more than $151 million, “Magic in the Moonlight” travels back to 1920s France. It is a world of blue skies, vintage cars and costumes, sumptuous villas and an international cast headed by Briton Colin Firth.

Toronto Film Festival unveils lineup

July 24, 2014 0
Toronto Film Festival unveils lineup

The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled a star-heavy lineup amid increased festival jockeying for the most plum premieres of Hollywood’s fall season. Toronto’s slate for Sept. 4-14, announced …

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“Shakespeare in Love” bows on London stage – with the dog

July 24, 2014 0

By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) – The 1998 hit movie “Shakespeare in Love” wove the Bard’s famous words into a Hollywood romantic comedy. Now it’s back in a stage version that retains the sly humour of Tom Stoppard’s script while making it all seem a bit more Shakespearean. The play that opened at London’s Noel Coward theatre on Wednesday night, backed by Disney and leading British producer Sonia Freedman, inevitably lacks the star power of Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare, Gwyneth Paltrow – who won an Oscar for best actress – as Viola de Lesseps and Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth I. But Tom Bateman as Shakespeare and Lucy Briggs-Owen as Viola bring an engaging and youthful energy to a script adopted from the screenplay by Stoppard and co-writer Marc Norman.

A Minute With: Jon Voight on his second act, on smaller screen

July 23, 2014 0
Actor Voight poses at the 4th annual Critics' Choice Television Awards in Beverly Hills

By Eric Kelsey BEVERLY HILLS Calif. (Reuters) – When Jon Voight joined the growing list of top-flight film actors on television last year as a small-time Boston gangster on drama “Ray Donovan,” he felt the role of the aging family patriarch take him back to his early days as a character actor. The 75-year-old’s return to his acting roots as Mickey Donovan, the cynical father of a Hollywood fixer in the series now in its second season on the premium cable network Showtime, has also given him a chance to join the rare club of actors who have an Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy awards. He spoke to Reuters about the benefits of television, what makes a good lead actor and how he always wanted to work with Liev Schreiber, a reluctant leading man. Q: Did you have any reservations about doing a television series at this stage in your career?