Sam Mendes on making Bond, coming home and turning Charlie And The Chocolate Factory into a musical
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has taken five years to become a stage musical, for reasons logistical – Sam Mendes, the director, was out for three of them doing Skyfall – and practical: the book is a tricky one to adapt. There are the kids; the old folks in bed; the pyrotechnics of the chocolate factory. There is the ambiguous character of Willy Wonka himself. And there is the question that hangs over the entire production: what on earth to do about the Oompa-Loompas. "It's big," Mendes says of the task before him. "Christ, it's so big."
We are in a rehearsal space in south London, where the company is going through its paces before moving to Drury Lane. Anticipation for the show is feverish, thanks to the success of Matilda, another Dahl adaptation, and Mendes's post-Bond nuclear glow.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has taken five years to become a stage musical, for reasons logistical – Sam Mendes, the director, was out for three of them doing Skyfall – and practical: the book is a tricky one to adapt. There are the kids; the old folks in bed; the pyrotechnics of the chocolate factory. There is the ambiguous character of Willy Wonka himself. And there is the question that hangs over the entire production: what on earth to do about the Oompa-Loompas. "It's big," Mendes says of the task before him. "Christ, it's so big."
We are in a rehearsal space in south London, where the company is going through its paces before moving to Drury Lane. Anticipation for the show is feverish, thanks to the success of Matilda, another Dahl adaptation, and Mendes's post-Bond nuclear glow.
- 4/19/2013
- by Emma Brockes
- The Guardian - Film News
New York — Nothing is so much of a boys' club as a James Bond movie. That is, except when Judi Dench is on screen.
As MI6 head M, Dench has been the Bond matriarch: the strong-willed, no-nonsense mainstay of feminine authority in a movie franchise that has, more often than not, featured slightly more superficial womanly traits.
"Skyfall" is Dench's seventh Bond film, an unimpeachable reign that has encompassed both the Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan eras of the British spy. For a number of reasons, "Skyfall" is her most notable Bond film. For the first time, Dench isn't just dictating orders from headquarters, but is thrown directly into the action when a former MI6 agent (Javier Bardem) is bent on revenge against her.
"It's very nice to be out from behind the desk," Dench said in a recent interview by phone from London. "It's extremely nice to get a go in the field,...
As MI6 head M, Dench has been the Bond matriarch: the strong-willed, no-nonsense mainstay of feminine authority in a movie franchise that has, more often than not, featured slightly more superficial womanly traits.
"Skyfall" is Dench's seventh Bond film, an unimpeachable reign that has encompassed both the Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan eras of the British spy. For a number of reasons, "Skyfall" is her most notable Bond film. For the first time, Dench isn't just dictating orders from headquarters, but is thrown directly into the action when a former MI6 agent (Javier Bardem) is bent on revenge against her.
"It's very nice to be out from behind the desk," Dench said in a recent interview by phone from London. "It's extremely nice to get a go in the field,...
- 11/9/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Sam Mendes is the film and theatre director famous for helming American Beauty, Road to Perdition and, more recently, the 23rd instalment of the James Bond franchise, Skyfall. Starting his career in theatre, Mendes directed several plays before moving into film in 1999. In celebration of the release of Skyfall, we take a look at ten things about Sam Mendes. 1. Samuel Alexander Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England. His mother Valerie was a children's author, his father Jameson was a university professor, and his grandfather is famed Trinidadian writer Alfred H Mendes. He attended Cambridge University where he got a first in English and directed several plays. 2. After he graduated he was hired by the Chichester Festival Theatre where he directed Judi Dench in The Cherry Orchard. He then went on to direct plays for (more)...
- 11/2/2012
- by By Natasha Wilson
- Digital Spy
After a five-film 'apprenticeship' in America, the English director's first British movie is the 007 picture Skyfall. Here, stars including Daniel Craig and Naomie Harris reveal exclusively what it is like working with him
Sam Mendes has proper English credentials. He grew up amid the spires and meadows of Oxford, where cricket was his passion. Taking a first in English at Cambridge, he then spent time in the provincial city of Chichester, learning how to handle the theatrical types who strut across British stages.
Yet Mendes, who has been hailed since American Beauty in 1999 as a leading Hollywood film-maker, has taken a long time to come home. Now after five films, each fairly hardboiled takes on life across the Atlantic, he is trumpeting his return to British cinema by directing the latest instalment in the most quintessentially English franchise of them all: James Bond.
It is a twist that amuses his star and friend,...
Sam Mendes has proper English credentials. He grew up amid the spires and meadows of Oxford, where cricket was his passion. Taking a first in English at Cambridge, he then spent time in the provincial city of Chichester, learning how to handle the theatrical types who strut across British stages.
Yet Mendes, who has been hailed since American Beauty in 1999 as a leading Hollywood film-maker, has taken a long time to come home. Now after five films, each fairly hardboiled takes on life across the Atlantic, he is trumpeting his return to British cinema by directing the latest instalment in the most quintessentially English franchise of them all: James Bond.
It is a twist that amuses his star and friend,...
- 10/22/2012
- by Vanessa Thorpe
- The Guardian - Film News
With her seventh Bond film about to hit the big screen, Judi Dench shows no sign, even at 77, of curbing her enormous drive. She talks about painting landscapes, playing M and why she hates to be alone on stage
At one point sitting opposite Dame Judi Dench over a pot of tea at a hotel in Covent Garden, I find myself asking her if she has that recurrent dream, the one in which you are on a stage and the curtain is about to go up but can't remember any of your lines or the part you are supposed to play. It seems, as I'm saying it, a bit ridiculous to ask that question of Dench, who not long ago was by a margin voted "the greatest actor of all time" in an exhaustive poll of the readers of The Stage magazine. She is a woman who has hardly put a foot wrong,...
At one point sitting opposite Dame Judi Dench over a pot of tea at a hotel in Covent Garden, I find myself asking her if she has that recurrent dream, the one in which you are on a stage and the curtain is about to go up but can't remember any of your lines or the part you are supposed to play. It seems, as I'm saying it, a bit ridiculous to ask that question of Dench, who not long ago was by a margin voted "the greatest actor of all time" in an exhaustive poll of the readers of The Stage magazine. She is a woman who has hardly put a foot wrong,...
- 10/16/2012
- by Tim Adams
- The Guardian - Film News
HollywoodNews.com: This year’s winner of the Hollywood Fashion Awards – Best Dressed at Gala Ceremony was actress Michelle Williams.
Michelle dressed in a blue chiffon Nina Ricci gown. See video below:
Michelle Williams – See Photo Gallery Below
My Week With Marilyn Monroe ◄ Back Next ►Picture 1 of 15
Michelle Williams in "My Week With Marilyn Monroe"
Last month, Academy Award-nominated Michelle Williams was also honored with the “Hollywood Actress Award,” for her performance in “My Week with Marilyn,”at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony, which took place October 24, 2011, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Michelle Williams’ performances have established her as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after and respected actors earning her two Academy Award® nominations.
Williams was last seen in Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine opposite Ryan Gosling. Williams’ captivating performance earned her an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actress as well as Golden Globe and Broadcast...
Michelle dressed in a blue chiffon Nina Ricci gown. See video below:
Michelle Williams – See Photo Gallery Below
My Week With Marilyn Monroe ◄ Back Next ►Picture 1 of 15
Michelle Williams in "My Week With Marilyn Monroe"
Last month, Academy Award-nominated Michelle Williams was also honored with the “Hollywood Actress Award,” for her performance in “My Week with Marilyn,”at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony, which took place October 24, 2011, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Michelle Williams’ performances have established her as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after and respected actors earning her two Academy Award® nominations.
Williams was last seen in Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine opposite Ryan Gosling. Williams’ captivating performance earned her an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actress as well as Golden Globe and Broadcast...
- 11/19/2011
- by Josh Abraham
- Hollywoodnews.com
HollywoodNews.com: The 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment, are pleased to announce that Academy Award-nominated actress Michelle Williams will be honored with the “Hollywood Actress Award,” at the festival’s Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony, which will take place October 24, 2011, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
The announcement was made today by Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the Hollywood Film Festival. “It is a privilege to honor Michelle Williams for her excellent talent and remarkable career,” said Mr. de Abreu.
The Hollywood Film Awards Gala launches the awards season. In the past eight years a total of 73 Oscar nominations and 27 Oscars were given to the honorees of the Hollywood Awards.
The 2011 Hollywood Film Festival has also announced that they will honor Academy Award-nominated actor Christopher Plummer with the “Hollywood Supporting Actor Award” for “Beginners,” actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt...
The announcement was made today by Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the Hollywood Film Festival. “It is a privilege to honor Michelle Williams for her excellent talent and remarkable career,” said Mr. de Abreu.
The Hollywood Film Awards Gala launches the awards season. In the past eight years a total of 73 Oscar nominations and 27 Oscars were given to the honorees of the Hollywood Awards.
The 2011 Hollywood Film Festival has also announced that they will honor Academy Award-nominated actor Christopher Plummer with the “Hollywood Supporting Actor Award” for “Beginners,” actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt...
- 9/28/2011
- by Josh Abraham
- Hollywoodnews.com
Anna Massey, a Tony nominee who played supporting roles in more than 40 movies, died of cancer on Sunday, July 3, in London. Massey was 73. The daughter of Academy Award nominee Raymond Massey (Abe Lincoln in Illinois) and sister of another Oscar nominee, Daniel Massey (Star!), Anna Massey began her acting career in the late '50s. She was nominated for a Tony for her performance in The Reluctant Debutante (1958), which was made into a movie that same year. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, the movie version starred Sandra Dee as an Americanized version of the role Massey had originated in the West End and on Broadway. Massey's first film appearance also took place in 1958, in John Ford's crime drama Gideon's Day, starring Jack Hawkins. Other notable film roles, invariably supporting bigger names, include those in Michael Powell's controversial Peeping Tom (photo, 1960), with Karl Böhm as a fetishistic serial killer; Otto Preminger...
- 7/4/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The award-winning actor of stage and screen, who became the mainstay of the British costume drama, has died after suffering from cancer
Anna Massey, the award-winning British actor who played innocent victim for both Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Powell, has died from cancer at the age of 73. The news was confirmed in a brief statement from her agent: "Anna Massey Cbe passed away peacefully on Sunday 3rd July, with her husband and son by her side."
The daughter of the Hollywood actor Raymond Massey, Anna Massey began her career on stage, picking up a Tony nomination for her turn in The Reluctant Debutante at the age of 18. She made her screen debut in the 1958 crime drama Gideon's Day, directed by her godfather John Ford, and co-starred with Laurence Olivier on the cult 60s thriller Bunny Lake is Missing.
Yet Massey looks set to be best remembered for her roles in two of the most controversial pictures of post-war British cinema. In 1960 she played Helen, the sweet-natured friend of a serial killer in Michael Powell's notorious Peeping Tom. In 1972, she was cast as sacrificial barmaid Babs Milligan in Hitchcock's grubby, London-set thriller Frenzy. Peeping Tom found itself reviled by contemporary critics as "perverted" and "beastly", while Frenzy remains the only Hitchcock film to receive a prohibitive X-certificate in the UK. Today, both films are widely regarded as classics.
Anna Massey, the award-winning British actor who played innocent victim for both Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Powell, has died from cancer at the age of 73. The news was confirmed in a brief statement from her agent: "Anna Massey Cbe passed away peacefully on Sunday 3rd July, with her husband and son by her side."
The daughter of the Hollywood actor Raymond Massey, Anna Massey began her career on stage, picking up a Tony nomination for her turn in The Reluctant Debutante at the age of 18. She made her screen debut in the 1958 crime drama Gideon's Day, directed by her godfather John Ford, and co-starred with Laurence Olivier on the cult 60s thriller Bunny Lake is Missing.
Yet Massey looks set to be best remembered for her roles in two of the most controversial pictures of post-war British cinema. In 1960 she played Helen, the sweet-natured friend of a serial killer in Michael Powell's notorious Peeping Tom. In 1972, she was cast as sacrificial barmaid Babs Milligan in Hitchcock's grubby, London-set thriller Frenzy. Peeping Tom found itself reviled by contemporary critics as "perverted" and "beastly", while Frenzy remains the only Hitchcock film to receive a prohibitive X-certificate in the UK. Today, both films are widely regarded as classics.
- 7/4/2011
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
'What really buys you freedom is being successful. So long as you deliver, they leave you alone'
For someone best known for Shooting the Past, a television drama apparently so slow and un-televisual that BBC executives begged him to speed it up, Stephen Poliakoff is a very fast talker. Sentences tumble into one another, thoughts jerkily digress, regroup and change their angle of attack. Ideas flit in and out of focus as all the while a plastic drinking straw is furiously twiddled between his fingers. Outlining details of his latest venture, Glorious 39, his first feature film for 12 years, Poliakoff makes glancing references to George W Bush, Bulldog Drummond, the history of the wire tap and Norfolk's evergreen oaks in expressing his fascination and horror at the aristocratic and establishment appeasers who, in the run-up to the second world war, mounted a desperate last effort to do a deal with...
For someone best known for Shooting the Past, a television drama apparently so slow and un-televisual that BBC executives begged him to speed it up, Stephen Poliakoff is a very fast talker. Sentences tumble into one another, thoughts jerkily digress, regroup and change their angle of attack. Ideas flit in and out of focus as all the while a plastic drinking straw is furiously twiddled between his fingers. Outlining details of his latest venture, Glorious 39, his first feature film for 12 years, Poliakoff makes glancing references to George W Bush, Bulldog Drummond, the history of the wire tap and Norfolk's evergreen oaks in expressing his fascination and horror at the aristocratic and establishment appeasers who, in the run-up to the second world war, mounted a desperate last effort to do a deal with...
- 11/28/2009
- The Guardian - Film News
"9 to 5," the musical version of the 1980 hit movie comedy, received a generous stimulus package from the Drama Desk on Monday, netting a record 15 nominations from the organization of New York-based theater critics, reporters and editors for its annual awards.
Other top nominees included "Shrek the Musical" with 12, "Billy Elliot" with 10, "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" with six and the "Hair" revival with eight.
The previous record for the most noms was 14 shared by five shows -- "The Secret Garden" (1991), "Ragtime" (1998), "The Producers" (2001), "Hairspray" (2003) and "The Drowsy Chaperone" (2006).
"9 to 5" opened March 30 on the same night as Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of "Waiting for Godot," which received two nominations. Those are the last two productions of the 2007-08 Broadway season.
Unlike the Tony Awards, the DDs consider Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway equally in all of its categories. The noms were determined by a seven-member committee. The winners will be voted on by...
Other top nominees included "Shrek the Musical" with 12, "Billy Elliot" with 10, "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" with six and the "Hair" revival with eight.
The previous record for the most noms was 14 shared by five shows -- "The Secret Garden" (1991), "Ragtime" (1998), "The Producers" (2001), "Hairspray" (2003) and "The Drowsy Chaperone" (2006).
"9 to 5" opened March 30 on the same night as Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of "Waiting for Godot," which received two nominations. Those are the last two productions of the 2007-08 Broadway season.
Unlike the Tony Awards, the DDs consider Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway equally in all of its categories. The noms were determined by a seven-member committee. The winners will be voted on by...
- 4/27/2009
- by By David Sheward, Back Stage
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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