Kate vs. Orli's Evil Fangirls
Actress Kate Bosworth refuses to allow jealous fans of her boyfriend
Orlando Bloom bring her down - because such bitter people are "not
worth bothering about".
The Blue Crush beauty accepts she's the subject of resentment for
many of Bloom's lusty followers, but learnt from an early age to
ignore those with such shallow views.
She says, "It doesn't bother me. I've realised as I've got older that
people being jealous of you and nasty because of it aren't worth
bothering about.
"When I was younger it would have got me down if people didn't like
me, but now I know it's the people I really love who are important.
"It's like water off a duck's back for me now. I can deal with it."
*******************
My opinion probably isn't the popular one, but I think it says something for her as a person that she deals (or doesn't deal) with it so well.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Obsession
Last Updated: 20/05/2004
Sometimes I worry about myself. I was hunting around online yesterday, trying desperately to find somewhere to get a copy of Gimlet on DVD, when suddenly I thought, "Hang on. Don't I already HAVE a copy??" And, of course, I did. I've had it for a few months now. I'm not quite sure why I never got around to taking any grabs from it....
But anyway, the pictures are up now. They're pretty dreadful quality, it has to be said, but there aren't many places around to get copies, so I took what was available. The film was surprisingly good, and Viggo was his usual magnetic self. If you can track down a copy, I can recommend it.
Look for the pictures on Gallery pages 84 & 85, or the new Gimlet Categorised Gallery.
hugs
lynn
xxxx
This came from the update newsletter I signed up for at the site so I know whenever she updates with more of loverly Viggo and what she added- WOOHA!!
Last Updated: 20/05/2004
Sometimes I worry about myself. I was hunting around online yesterday, trying desperately to find somewhere to get a copy of Gimlet on DVD, when suddenly I thought, "Hang on. Don't I already HAVE a copy??" And, of course, I did. I've had it for a few months now. I'm not quite sure why I never got around to taking any grabs from it....
But anyway, the pictures are up now. They're pretty dreadful quality, it has to be said, but there aren't many places around to get copies, so I took what was available. The film was surprisingly good, and Viggo was his usual magnetic self. If you can track down a copy, I can recommend it.
Look for the pictures on Gallery pages 84 & 85, or the new Gimlet Categorised Gallery.
hugs
lynn
xxxx
This came from the update newsletter I signed up for at the site so I know whenever she updates with more of loverly Viggo and what she added- WOOHA!!
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Sean Bean: Troy Story
Sean Bean stars opposite Brad Pitt in Hollywood's new $200m swords-and-sandals epic. Not bad, says Deborah Ross, for a man who couldn't cut it on the cheese counter at M&S
15 May 2004
Meet Sean Bean at a London hotel. I arrive first, light up, then he arrives, and lights up, but that's OK because, come the weekend, he's off to see Allen Carr, the give-up-smoking man - that's the GIVE-UP-SMOKING MAN for those of you who have read his books and know Mr Carr repeats everything in capitals - and "I've spoken to 'im and 'e says carry on, like, for now. No point torturing yourself."
I say the trouble with becoming a non-smoker is that you no longer get to hang out with smokers and, as every smoker knows, smokers are a lot more fun than non-smokers. "It's true, that," he says. "I used to travel from London to Sheffield quite a lot when I was a student and I always found that in the smoking carriage there was a lot of chatter and laughter. It was quite dull in the other carriages."
I further point out that smokers are less likely to know what things like endowment mortgages actually are, which seems like a good thing to me. "Absolutely," he agrees. "That's one of the words you hear so often but have no interest whatsoever in finding out what it means." Rather like the offside rule? Of course, Sean being a crazed Sheffield United fan with, even, "100% Blade" tattooed up one arm, I say this purely to torment him (tee-hee, not that I do understand the rule). He then, naturally, does what all men do in these instances, which is try to explain it with whatever props are to hand. In this case, it is coffee cups.
"Now, what 'appens is ..." he says, rearranging the cups on the table between us.
"Oh, pur-lease," I say. "I can feel my brain closing down already. Going into a coma, going into a coma ... impending coma alert ... shoulders slumping, eyes closing ..." "You don't want to know?"
"Sorry."
"Fair enough," he says.
I hope this won't drive a wedge between us, though. I'm already quite taken with him.
Dishy? not conventionally, not in the usual Hollywood way, and his hair-do does teeter dangerously on the brink of mullet-hood, which is never especially classy in a man. But he does have something. Certainly, lots of ladies think so, judging by the number of adoration-proclaiming fan websites out there where messages are posted every time he puts his socks on. Spooky? "It's a bit strange, yeah, but I'm not familiar with computers and I've no wish to go to websites and have a look at what is going on with me. I suppose if you thought about it, it could make you feel a bit shaky." Do you see yourself as a bit of a dish? "Not really. I'm not complaining about it but it's not something I would describe myself as."
What does he have? I think it might be a sex thing. Pure and simple. "He's lovely and hairy and a bit rough," says a colleague. Good in bed, then? "He looks like he should be." She does not think, if it came to it, that she'd put out an impending coma alert. On the other hand, if he got too Mellorsy - "we come off together that time, m'lady" - she might have to have a word. Ladies first, after all.
Anyway, we are here, ostensibly, to talk about Troy, the mega Hollywood, $200m blockbuster based on Homer's epic poem, The Iliad, in which Sean plays Odysseus, who also has a hair-do dangerously teetering on mullet-hood. (Strange how some hairstyles don't change even after thousands of years.) Sean is great in it. And looks cracking - take note, girls! - in leather skirt thingy and sandals. Did you get to keep the outfit, Sean? "No. Just the Greek helmet which I've got on me sideboard." It was a wonderful film to make and, yes, he liked Brad Pitt - "very down to earth; not a prima donna at all" - and it was a joy to work with Peter O'Toole, one of his all-time heroes. "First time I met him he was in a robe with a cigarette holder and he said, 'Sean, how are you, dear boy?' He was just how I imagined him to be. It was a great moment."
Did you explain the offside rule to him, with swords and breastplates? "Didn't need to. We talked mostly 'bout cricket. Yorkshire cricket." Sean's a big fan of the old-school stars: Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Robert Stephens. "They lived life on their terms, and why not? There are no rules saying you have to do this and you have to do that. They did it on their own terms and had a great time doing it." Anyone left like that, apart from O'Toole? "John Hurt. Really fabulous actor. He's got that wonderful quality. That elegance, charm, humour, wit and passion. All those qualities combined. "
I'd sort of expected Sean to be bloody hard work. Previous interviews have indicated he is a reluctant subject, to say the least, and curiously passionless. "A few years ago I was very averse to publicity and perhaps too proud and reclusive and I weren't doing anyone any f good, including meself. I understand now there is a reason to do it and it can be positive. I'm much more comfortable with it now." He says he's never been at ease with the whole celebrity shebang. "I know it's a cliché but it's the work that I do and the parts that I play that I enjoy rather than the fame or anything." Has your head ever been turned? "Yeah, yeah. There are times when it's all very pleasant. You get looked after with cars and limos and nice hotels. You do become very mollycoddled and you are tempted to believe ... I don't know ... that you are someone other than yourself. I think everyone's head is slightly turned by it." Best bit of mollycoddling? "Um ... toiletries. You get a lot of toiletries. It's a courtesy thing." I assume we are not talking big tubs of E45. "No," he confirms, "we're not."
I don't think he is passionless, but it can be tricky getting him going. He is understandably keen to keep his private life (three marriages; three divorces; three daughters) private. I ask only if he regrets not being better at being married. "Not really, no," he says, "I thought I was all right." And he doesn't really have a public life, never appearing in Heat or party snapshots or the like. Plus - and this is a big plus, I think - he just isn't into self-analysis. As an actor, he just sort of goes and does it, which, I should add, doesn't make him any less of an actor.
His big breakthrough role was as Sharpe in the TV adaptations of the Bernard Cornwell novels, and Cornwell is huge fan. "I don't think Sean was how I'd imagined my Sharpe," he says, "but the moment I saw him on screen I found him utterly convincing. I now have him in mind as I write the books. He's a very powerful actor." He adds that when Sean played Macbeth in the West End last year, "I went twice, because it was just such a stunning performance." So not just a tattooed tough nut from the terraces, as sometimes assumed. A chauvinist, though? Did you really once remark that a woman's place is in the home? "I didn't really say that. I just said something about most women wanting to be at home when they have a baby, and it got interpreted as me saying women should be in the kitchen doing chops." Or hotpot? Sometimes a woman can get bored of only doing chops, you know. "Or 'otpot," he concedes.
Sean Bean was born in Sheffield, son of a steelplater dad and secretary mum. Earliest memory? "I suppose my house in Sheffield. Me dad walking down the road after work. Waiting for him at the gate. That's still vivid for me." As a Seventies schoolboy, was it a Chopper or a Chipper? "A Chopper. I got one for Christmas. Big leather seat. Wing mirrors. It were orange but I wound black tape all over the frame because you had to customise them." I say his family must live in a constant state of astonishment at the way things have turned out for him. He says they do, but he doesn't. Come on, Sean. You once worked for your dad's steelplating business and now here you are, being showered with limos and toiletries that aren't E45, and going on set with Brad and Peter and Orlando (Bloom). Don't you ever think: bloody hell! "Yeah. You do look around and there are some quite big names, but I don't tend to be phased by that." Perhaps they are thinking: bloody hell, Sean Bean! "Yeah."
He never got his head down at school, just wasn't interested. "I can hardly remember anything about it. I didn't really start reading until I'd left school when I was 17 when I just had this real hunger for literature." What blew your socks off? "Oscar Wilde. Loved reading his work. Still do. And that led to other things - plays, philosophers, Nietzsche, Homer. I didn't realise there was such a world." He could, post-school, have had a career in cheese, but seriously mucked up. "I got a job in M&S, Sheffield, on the cheese counter. I lasted for about four hours on a Wednesday morning. It were in the basement. Big lumps of cheese. Really unpleasant smell. Used to wear a white coat and white paper hat. Stayed till dinner time, had me dinner, then got on the bus and went home. I just felt an idiot, walking round in this paper 'at." Sean, call yourself an actor? Couldn't you at least have acted like someone interested in cheese? "Cheese, cheese, smell my lovely cheese ..." That's the ticket. "That's Alan Partridge." Oh, you nearly had me convinced. I was about to order a half pound.
He also tried art college "I didn't go for very long. I went for a day." Well, your life in art, at least, lasted twice as long as your life in cheese. "After my life in cheese," he says, beginning over, "I went to one art college but then went to another one in Rotherham." What was wrong with the first one? "It weren't what I thought it would be. There was a lot of posing going on and I felt a little bit uncomfortable with it. I thought people were being a bit pretentious, but I suppose they would be as art students, wouldn't they?" He thought he would be a painter, was a painter, even sold a few of his paintings - "figurative, but influenced by all the surrealists" - but two weeks (a record!) into the second art college he happened upon the drama course. "I was looking though the door and I saw people acting and I thought maybe I should try this."
Why? Why did you think you should try it? What was it in you? I mean, presumably you'd seen people mend cars or whatever but you never thought: I should try becoming a mechanic. "I used to like flamboyant artists like David Bowie and Iggy Pop and all that. I found their theatricality exciting, but couldn't think of a way of doing that meself. I was doing everything. I was painting, writing poetry, learning piano, learning French ... and acting seemed to combine everything. It just seemed to solidify everything. And once I'd switched from art to drama that was it." Did you ever doubt you could act? "No." Ever regret what could have been re: cheese? "No."
Eventually, he applied to Rada and was accepted. He remembers getting the letter. "I knew it was from Rada because it had the stamp on it. I took it up to my bedroom. It was quite a big moment when I opened it and it said: 'We are pleased to accept you ...' I were totally overjoyed. I ran down the road to my girlfriend of the time - she lived about 300 yards away - and knocked at her door and said: 'I've got in, I've got in!'" A Billy Elliot moment? "The best moment." He has largely played rough types, angry types, warrior types like Boromir in Lord of the Rings, and I wonder if he ever longs to play, say, a sensitive poet. "Why would I?" Why wouldn't you? "What did you say?" Sensitive poet. "Oh, I thought you said 'Jasper Carrot'." Well, you could play him too, if you like. "I would. If it's a good script, and the character has potential, I'll play anything."
He lives in Belsize Park, north London, and seems happy enough. He sees a lot of his daughters and is fond of his garden. "I like gardening and it's a great time of year. Everything is coming to leaf. I gained an interest when I was quite young and I watch Gardeners' World." What's the last thing you planted? "A rose," he says, "I planted a rose." He is not without tenderness. Roses are nice, we agree. We'll smoke to that. Or, for Allen Carr readers: WE'LL SMOKE TO THAT.
'Troy' is released nationwide on Friday
Sean Bean stars opposite Brad Pitt in Hollywood's new $200m swords-and-sandals epic. Not bad, says Deborah Ross, for a man who couldn't cut it on the cheese counter at M&S
15 May 2004
Meet Sean Bean at a London hotel. I arrive first, light up, then he arrives, and lights up, but that's OK because, come the weekend, he's off to see Allen Carr, the give-up-smoking man - that's the GIVE-UP-SMOKING MAN for those of you who have read his books and know Mr Carr repeats everything in capitals - and "I've spoken to 'im and 'e says carry on, like, for now. No point torturing yourself."
I say the trouble with becoming a non-smoker is that you no longer get to hang out with smokers and, as every smoker knows, smokers are a lot more fun than non-smokers. "It's true, that," he says. "I used to travel from London to Sheffield quite a lot when I was a student and I always found that in the smoking carriage there was a lot of chatter and laughter. It was quite dull in the other carriages."
I further point out that smokers are less likely to know what things like endowment mortgages actually are, which seems like a good thing to me. "Absolutely," he agrees. "That's one of the words you hear so often but have no interest whatsoever in finding out what it means." Rather like the offside rule? Of course, Sean being a crazed Sheffield United fan with, even, "100% Blade" tattooed up one arm, I say this purely to torment him (tee-hee, not that I do understand the rule). He then, naturally, does what all men do in these instances, which is try to explain it with whatever props are to hand. In this case, it is coffee cups.
"Now, what 'appens is ..." he says, rearranging the cups on the table between us.
"Oh, pur-lease," I say. "I can feel my brain closing down already. Going into a coma, going into a coma ... impending coma alert ... shoulders slumping, eyes closing ..." "You don't want to know?"
"Sorry."
"Fair enough," he says.
I hope this won't drive a wedge between us, though. I'm already quite taken with him.
Dishy? not conventionally, not in the usual Hollywood way, and his hair-do does teeter dangerously on the brink of mullet-hood, which is never especially classy in a man. But he does have something. Certainly, lots of ladies think so, judging by the number of adoration-proclaiming fan websites out there where messages are posted every time he puts his socks on. Spooky? "It's a bit strange, yeah, but I'm not familiar with computers and I've no wish to go to websites and have a look at what is going on with me. I suppose if you thought about it, it could make you feel a bit shaky." Do you see yourself as a bit of a dish? "Not really. I'm not complaining about it but it's not something I would describe myself as."
What does he have? I think it might be a sex thing. Pure and simple. "He's lovely and hairy and a bit rough," says a colleague. Good in bed, then? "He looks like he should be." She does not think, if it came to it, that she'd put out an impending coma alert. On the other hand, if he got too Mellorsy - "we come off together that time, m'lady" - she might have to have a word. Ladies first, after all.
Anyway, we are here, ostensibly, to talk about Troy, the mega Hollywood, $200m blockbuster based on Homer's epic poem, The Iliad, in which Sean plays Odysseus, who also has a hair-do dangerously teetering on mullet-hood. (Strange how some hairstyles don't change even after thousands of years.) Sean is great in it. And looks cracking - take note, girls! - in leather skirt thingy and sandals. Did you get to keep the outfit, Sean? "No. Just the Greek helmet which I've got on me sideboard." It was a wonderful film to make and, yes, he liked Brad Pitt - "very down to earth; not a prima donna at all" - and it was a joy to work with Peter O'Toole, one of his all-time heroes. "First time I met him he was in a robe with a cigarette holder and he said, 'Sean, how are you, dear boy?' He was just how I imagined him to be. It was a great moment."
Did you explain the offside rule to him, with swords and breastplates? "Didn't need to. We talked mostly 'bout cricket. Yorkshire cricket." Sean's a big fan of the old-school stars: Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Robert Stephens. "They lived life on their terms, and why not? There are no rules saying you have to do this and you have to do that. They did it on their own terms and had a great time doing it." Anyone left like that, apart from O'Toole? "John Hurt. Really fabulous actor. He's got that wonderful quality. That elegance, charm, humour, wit and passion. All those qualities combined. "
I'd sort of expected Sean to be bloody hard work. Previous interviews have indicated he is a reluctant subject, to say the least, and curiously passionless. "A few years ago I was very averse to publicity and perhaps too proud and reclusive and I weren't doing anyone any f good, including meself. I understand now there is a reason to do it and it can be positive. I'm much more comfortable with it now." He says he's never been at ease with the whole celebrity shebang. "I know it's a cliché but it's the work that I do and the parts that I play that I enjoy rather than the fame or anything." Has your head ever been turned? "Yeah, yeah. There are times when it's all very pleasant. You get looked after with cars and limos and nice hotels. You do become very mollycoddled and you are tempted to believe ... I don't know ... that you are someone other than yourself. I think everyone's head is slightly turned by it." Best bit of mollycoddling? "Um ... toiletries. You get a lot of toiletries. It's a courtesy thing." I assume we are not talking big tubs of E45. "No," he confirms, "we're not."
I don't think he is passionless, but it can be tricky getting him going. He is understandably keen to keep his private life (three marriages; three divorces; three daughters) private. I ask only if he regrets not being better at being married. "Not really, no," he says, "I thought I was all right." And he doesn't really have a public life, never appearing in Heat or party snapshots or the like. Plus - and this is a big plus, I think - he just isn't into self-analysis. As an actor, he just sort of goes and does it, which, I should add, doesn't make him any less of an actor.
His big breakthrough role was as Sharpe in the TV adaptations of the Bernard Cornwell novels, and Cornwell is huge fan. "I don't think Sean was how I'd imagined my Sharpe," he says, "but the moment I saw him on screen I found him utterly convincing. I now have him in mind as I write the books. He's a very powerful actor." He adds that when Sean played Macbeth in the West End last year, "I went twice, because it was just such a stunning performance." So not just a tattooed tough nut from the terraces, as sometimes assumed. A chauvinist, though? Did you really once remark that a woman's place is in the home? "I didn't really say that. I just said something about most women wanting to be at home when they have a baby, and it got interpreted as me saying women should be in the kitchen doing chops." Or hotpot? Sometimes a woman can get bored of only doing chops, you know. "Or 'otpot," he concedes.
Sean Bean was born in Sheffield, son of a steelplater dad and secretary mum. Earliest memory? "I suppose my house in Sheffield. Me dad walking down the road after work. Waiting for him at the gate. That's still vivid for me." As a Seventies schoolboy, was it a Chopper or a Chipper? "A Chopper. I got one for Christmas. Big leather seat. Wing mirrors. It were orange but I wound black tape all over the frame because you had to customise them." I say his family must live in a constant state of astonishment at the way things have turned out for him. He says they do, but he doesn't. Come on, Sean. You once worked for your dad's steelplating business and now here you are, being showered with limos and toiletries that aren't E45, and going on set with Brad and Peter and Orlando (Bloom). Don't you ever think: bloody hell! "Yeah. You do look around and there are some quite big names, but I don't tend to be phased by that." Perhaps they are thinking: bloody hell, Sean Bean! "Yeah."
He never got his head down at school, just wasn't interested. "I can hardly remember anything about it. I didn't really start reading until I'd left school when I was 17 when I just had this real hunger for literature." What blew your socks off? "Oscar Wilde. Loved reading his work. Still do. And that led to other things - plays, philosophers, Nietzsche, Homer. I didn't realise there was such a world." He could, post-school, have had a career in cheese, but seriously mucked up. "I got a job in M&S, Sheffield, on the cheese counter. I lasted for about four hours on a Wednesday morning. It were in the basement. Big lumps of cheese. Really unpleasant smell. Used to wear a white coat and white paper hat. Stayed till dinner time, had me dinner, then got on the bus and went home. I just felt an idiot, walking round in this paper 'at." Sean, call yourself an actor? Couldn't you at least have acted like someone interested in cheese? "Cheese, cheese, smell my lovely cheese ..." That's the ticket. "That's Alan Partridge." Oh, you nearly had me convinced. I was about to order a half pound.
He also tried art college "I didn't go for very long. I went for a day." Well, your life in art, at least, lasted twice as long as your life in cheese. "After my life in cheese," he says, beginning over, "I went to one art college but then went to another one in Rotherham." What was wrong with the first one? "It weren't what I thought it would be. There was a lot of posing going on and I felt a little bit uncomfortable with it. I thought people were being a bit pretentious, but I suppose they would be as art students, wouldn't they?" He thought he would be a painter, was a painter, even sold a few of his paintings - "figurative, but influenced by all the surrealists" - but two weeks (a record!) into the second art college he happened upon the drama course. "I was looking though the door and I saw people acting and I thought maybe I should try this."
Why? Why did you think you should try it? What was it in you? I mean, presumably you'd seen people mend cars or whatever but you never thought: I should try becoming a mechanic. "I used to like flamboyant artists like David Bowie and Iggy Pop and all that. I found their theatricality exciting, but couldn't think of a way of doing that meself. I was doing everything. I was painting, writing poetry, learning piano, learning French ... and acting seemed to combine everything. It just seemed to solidify everything. And once I'd switched from art to drama that was it." Did you ever doubt you could act? "No." Ever regret what could have been re: cheese? "No."
Eventually, he applied to Rada and was accepted. He remembers getting the letter. "I knew it was from Rada because it had the stamp on it. I took it up to my bedroom. It was quite a big moment when I opened it and it said: 'We are pleased to accept you ...' I were totally overjoyed. I ran down the road to my girlfriend of the time - she lived about 300 yards away - and knocked at her door and said: 'I've got in, I've got in!'" A Billy Elliot moment? "The best moment." He has largely played rough types, angry types, warrior types like Boromir in Lord of the Rings, and I wonder if he ever longs to play, say, a sensitive poet. "Why would I?" Why wouldn't you? "What did you say?" Sensitive poet. "Oh, I thought you said 'Jasper Carrot'." Well, you could play him too, if you like. "I would. If it's a good script, and the character has potential, I'll play anything."
He lives in Belsize Park, north London, and seems happy enough. He sees a lot of his daughters and is fond of his garden. "I like gardening and it's a great time of year. Everything is coming to leaf. I gained an interest when I was quite young and I watch Gardeners' World." What's the last thing you planted? "A rose," he says, "I planted a rose." He is not without tenderness. Roses are nice, we agree. We'll smoke to that. Or, for Allen Carr readers: WE'LL SMOKE TO THAT.
'Troy' is released nationwide on Friday
"I'm getting to explore 'Macbeth' in space," Urban says with some delight during a break. He's sweating under his armor which adds an authenticity of sorts to the tension between him and Newton. "We're very conscious of taking this archetype and seeing how we can add to that dynamic, how we can raise the stakes, as it were. It's a lot of fun."
"Vaako is a commander in the Necromonger Armada," Urban continues. "He's number three in the hierarchy, next to the Lord Marshal and the Purifier, the High Priest. He is a fierce warrior and loyal in his faith. He can be sadistic and cruel, and has no mercy. He absolutely detests humans, whom he calls 'breeders'. He sees that they are in the way of Necromongerdom achieving their goals. He also has an achilles heel -- a fatal flaw, like 'Macbeth' -- and that's his woman. She's very ambitious, and she's coaxing and prodding him into committing regicide, the murder of the Lord Marshal. As a loyal Necromonger, he resists her as long as he can.
In preparation to play Vaako, Urban, with Twohy's blessing, wrote an outline of the Necromongers' history and used it as a personal backdrop against which to play his part. "On Lord of the Rings, we had the luxury of a mythology that was already established," Urban explains, "and we could reference it whenever we wanted. Quite often I'd be sitting in the makeup trailer next to Ian McKellen or Viggo Mortensen, and both of them would have a copy of the book out, reading. We don't have that luxury here. In some ways that's a blessing, because we can make it up. In other ways, it's a burden, because we have a lot to live up to."
"When I entered into this project," he continues, "I felt that it was imperative that I be as specific as I could about the history of the Necromongers, and really define where this culture came from, and where they arose. I felt their genesis was spawned from the depths of a conquered race. They were looking for salvation. The first Lord Marshal gave them the hope that they could rise. And the way they're doing that is by expanding the 'underverse,' and they way they're doing that is by collecting matter from the universe. They're slowly taking all the planets and all the lifeforms, and if they're not converting them, they're killing them."
Following up a fantasy epic like 'Lord of the Rings' with 'The Chronicles of Riddick' might strike some actors as potentially and unecessarily confining, but Urban (also seen in 'The irrefutable truth about Demons') is game about it. "I like playing with the big boys and the big toys, I guess," he laughs. "I was a fan of the original Pitch Black; I thought it was a great film. They had a limited budget, and to me it was one of the strongest sci-fi films to come out in a long time. It introduced an amazing anti-hero. Years and years ago, I could see in Pitch Black that there was enourmous potential to develop that story. So after finishing Lord of the Rings, I heard that David Twohy was doing The Chronicles of Riddick and I thought 'Wow! I've got to be in that film!' Science Fiction is Twohy's forte. Nobody does it better."
Urban even read early drafts of the script, acquiring them by "begging, borrowing, and stealing. I tracked the project and where it was going. He heard that Twohy didn't want anyone from 'Rings' due to his reluctance to borrow from another sweeping trilogy; Urban begged for a meeting with Twohy, and the audience was granted. "I said, 'look, I know you don't want to hire me, but just for shits and giggles, I wanted to come by and say hello'. We had a really lovely meeting. He had all the artwork and schematics on the walls, and it looked phenomenal."
At the end of the meeting, Twohy agreed to give Urban a shot. Three days later, he auditioned and won the role.
c. 2004 Fangoria Magazine
********
Wow! I didn't even realise Karl was in "The Chronicles of Riddick. That gives me even more reason to see it...
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Lost & Blown Away -- Dominic Monaghan
Hurray! More Dommie!!
News on "Lost"
J.J. Abrams' much-anticipated desert island drama "Lost" is getting strong positive reaction from
ABC screening rooms, with some cautious observers, however, wondering if the two-hour pilot can
play out as a full-length series.
Source: Variety.com
Hurray! More Dommie!!
News on "Lost"
J.J. Abrams' much-anticipated desert island drama "Lost" is getting strong positive reaction from
ABC screening rooms, with some cautious observers, however, wondering if the two-hour pilot can
play out as a full-length series.
Source: Variety.com
Yahoo! News - Bello, Bean in the 'Dark'
Thu May 13, 4:04 AM ET
CANNES (Hollywood Reporter) - Maria Bello and Sean Bean will play bereaved parents in the indie thriller "The Dark," which will begin shooting in June.
Based on the novel "Sheep," by Simon Maginn, "The Dark" stars Bello and Bean as parents who lose their daughter in a tragic drowning accident at an ancient site. The same night, a seemingly harmless young girl shows up at their remote farmhouse showing remarkable similarities to their dead daughter.
John Fawcett ("Ginger Snaps") will direct. Shooting will take place in London and the Isle of Man. Bello recently starred in "Secret Window," while Bean plays Odysseus in "Troy," which opens around the world on Friday.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Thu May 13, 4:04 AM ET
CANNES (Hollywood Reporter) - Maria Bello and Sean Bean will play bereaved parents in the indie thriller "The Dark," which will begin shooting in June.
Based on the novel "Sheep," by Simon Maginn, "The Dark" stars Bello and Bean as parents who lose their daughter in a tragic drowning accident at an ancient site. The same night, a seemingly harmless young girl shows up at their remote farmhouse showing remarkable similarities to their dead daughter.
John Fawcett ("Ginger Snaps") will direct. Shooting will take place in London and the Isle of Man. Bello recently starred in "Secret Window," while Bean plays Odysseus in "Troy," which opens around the world on Friday.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Magazine watch courtesy of Stacie from LOTR Gossip:
Dom is all over the place these days.
He's in the June Cosmo with Viggo and Elijah at the Hidalgo premiere.
He's in the new Hollywood Life holding a bottle of kahlua at a party for Melora Waters.
He's in Jane magazine under a section called Stupid DJ Requests. A cute girl asked him to play a long record so they could make out. He obliged and made out with her.
Viggo was in the May 3 issue of In Touch. It was one of the stalker shots of him bending over and it said, "Hot Buns Alert: Viggo Mortensen cleans his own backyard -- doing some weeding solo at his home."
Star magazine has the Boys of Troy -- Brad, Eric and Orlando -- but only includes pics from the film. The astrology section advises "handsome Libra Viggo Mortensen to open up more and let his feelings show."
Dom is all over the place these days.
He's in the June Cosmo with Viggo and Elijah at the Hidalgo premiere.
He's in the new Hollywood Life holding a bottle of kahlua at a party for Melora Waters.
He's in Jane magazine under a section called Stupid DJ Requests. A cute girl asked him to play a long record so they could make out. He obliged and made out with her.
Viggo was in the May 3 issue of In Touch. It was one of the stalker shots of him bending over and it said, "Hot Buns Alert: Viggo Mortensen cleans his own backyard -- doing some weeding solo at his home."
Star magazine has the Boys of Troy -- Brad, Eric and Orlando -- but only includes pics from the film. The astrology section advises "handsome Libra Viggo Mortensen to open up more and let his feelings show."
Kruger Turned Troy Downtime Into Karaoke Contest
May 10, 2004 - World Entertainment News Network
German model-turned-actress Diane Kruger sparked a karaoke craze on the set
of Troy in Mexico when the cast were left idle after Hurricane Marty destroyed
the set.
The beautiful star, who plays Helen of Troy in the epic, hated the idea of
sitting around for weeks while filming was shut down, so she started karaoke
wars among the cast and crew.
She says, "Mexico was really tough on everyone, with the set being destroyed
and the weather being so bad, and everyone was really worried, so nobody was
allowed to leave in case the weather changed.
"I was there for two months and I shot nine days, so I did this karaoke thing
even though I'm the worst singer. It was bad.
"Orlando (Bloom) isn't bad and Seam Bean is good. He's a good singer."
But one star who didn't join in the karaoke fun was Brad Pitt.
Kruger adds, "He didn't do karaoke. It's really hard for him to go anywhere
outside his house. We did a few dinner parties in people's houses.
"He's so normal, though. I guess it's been happening to him for so long, he
made peace with all the fame and stuff."
***************
Now that's a karaoke contest I'd have loved to sit in on!
****************
And as if Vin Diesel isn't reason enuf to watch it, Karl Urban's also starring in "The Chronicles of Riddick" (sequel to Pitch Black). The flick premieres June 3rd.
Intresting facts from Orlando's mom in recent interview found on the LOTRGossip group:
"He's still in Morocco. She's going out to see him this weekend.
Although he was confirmed at Canterbury Cathedral as a youngster, we can
reveal that Orlando has turned to Buddhism to help cope with the strains of
Hollywood. He chants every day after having been introduced to the ancient
Eastern faith while at the Guildhall School of Drama in London.
"The peaceful nature of the religion, he believes, is perfect to help keep him
centered and protected against the worst excesses of life in Tinseltown".
"After late teens spent clubbing and partying, Orlando says he now prefers to
stay at home and cook a nice meal for his girlfriend, up-and-coming Hollywood
actress Kate Bosworth, as well as family and friends."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nice to see "Useful Dave" and "Beanie" getting a little press for once:
Unsung sidekick
By BUGS ONLINE
THIS YEAR sees The Lord of the Rings´ two brothers of Gondor - Boromir and
Faramir - starring in two blockbuster films. Actor Sean Bean who plays the
older brother Boromir is in Troy as the legendary Odysseus. Meanwhile, the actor
who plays his character´s younger brother in the trilogy, David Wenham, makes
an appearance on the silver screen this year in Van Helsing.
In Van Helsing, Wenham plays the stereotypical sidekick, Carl - in other
words, the total opposite of the hero. With a funny hairstyle and a hunch, there
is no trace of the heroic Faramir in Carl at all.
Visiting The Lord of the Rings site we stopped at
the actor´s page. Only basic information is given here. What we´ve learnt is
that Wenham is an Australian who is known in his homeland for his diverse
performances in all three mediums of entertainment - film, theatre and television.
He is best known for playing a "laconic fisherman" in the series Seachange.
Some of his other roles have been playing a criminal in an Australian feature
film titled The Boys and Audrey, the transvestite playwright in Moulin Rouge.
Clicking on the Internet Database, we learn that Wenham was cast in LOTR because of his resemblance to Bean. Wenham has his own theory why he was chosen - it´s because Bean and him have big noses (heh!). Another interesting bit of trivia listed out at this site is that before acting, Wenham used to call bingo back in his hometown in Sydney and he was also an insurance
clerk for a while too.
We finally arrive at a fansite called Wenham Wonderland. First thing that greets you when you open this page is a big face of Wenham; and he´s right, with the face filling up almost the whole screen, you tend to look at his nose.
It says in the biography section that he was born in Sept 21, 1965, and that
he´s the youngest of one brother and five sisters. He has a child with his
long-time girlfriend, actress Kate Agnew. The site also lists the awards and
nominations Wenham has received so far. However, what caught our eye is how an
Australian artist won a prize for painting a portrait of Wenham. There´s a link
and you can take a look at it yourself - it´s quite interesting.
The webmaster has also kindly included the latest articles written on Wenham
in line with the release of Van Helsing. There are loads of pictures too for
leisure viewing.
If you have no time to read all the articles, read the one titled Fangs for
the fun, fellas published in The Courier Mail. It starts off like this: "Hugh Jackman calls him one of the funniest guys on the planet, Richard Roxburgh counts him as a good mate, Kate Beckinsale says he´s like one of her brothers, and everyone calls him Daisy."
According to this article, Wenham auditioned for the part in Van Helsing by
sending the director a videotape of himself with his neck hunched up, his ears
taped and an incredibly bad haircut. Apparently, he tries to get the worst
haircut possible for some roles.
From this fansite there are a whole lot of links. While waiting for the truly
extended version of The Return of the King where Faramir and Eowyn´s
relationship is expanded, you can visit the "Faramir and Eowyn" fansite listed here.
There is also a Russian fansite on David Wenham!
Do visit this site There´s something about David which has the latest updates and more information on the 1.83m actor.
If you still want more articles and pictures do drop by www.theonering.net.
Click on scrapbook and then search for David Wenham. Here you can see the
mullet hairdo he sports for a project.
There is more than enough to browse on Wenham while we wait for his next
appearance. However, just like Hollywood is finally taking notice of this Aussie
talent, we can be sure that the number of sites on Wenham will also grow pretty
soon.
What kind of haircut do you think suits David Wenham? Leave us a note at
bugzoff@yahoo.com.
May 10, 2004 - World Entertainment News Network
German model-turned-actress Diane Kruger sparked a karaoke craze on the set
of Troy in Mexico when the cast were left idle after Hurricane Marty destroyed
the set.
The beautiful star, who plays Helen of Troy in the epic, hated the idea of
sitting around for weeks while filming was shut down, so she started karaoke
wars among the cast and crew.
She says, "Mexico was really tough on everyone, with the set being destroyed
and the weather being so bad, and everyone was really worried, so nobody was
allowed to leave in case the weather changed.
"I was there for two months and I shot nine days, so I did this karaoke thing
even though I'm the worst singer. It was bad.
"Orlando (Bloom) isn't bad and Seam Bean is good. He's a good singer."
But one star who didn't join in the karaoke fun was Brad Pitt.
Kruger adds, "He didn't do karaoke. It's really hard for him to go anywhere
outside his house. We did a few dinner parties in people's houses.
"He's so normal, though. I guess it's been happening to him for so long, he
made peace with all the fame and stuff."
***************
Now that's a karaoke contest I'd have loved to sit in on!
****************
And as if Vin Diesel isn't reason enuf to watch it, Karl Urban's also starring in "The Chronicles of Riddick" (sequel to Pitch Black). The flick premieres June 3rd.
Intresting facts from Orlando's mom in recent interview found on the LOTRGossip group:
"He's still in Morocco. She's going out to see him this weekend.
Although he was confirmed at Canterbury Cathedral as a youngster, we can
reveal that Orlando has turned to Buddhism to help cope with the strains of
Hollywood. He chants every day after having been introduced to the ancient
Eastern faith while at the Guildhall School of Drama in London.
"The peaceful nature of the religion, he believes, is perfect to help keep him
centered and protected against the worst excesses of life in Tinseltown".
"After late teens spent clubbing and partying, Orlando says he now prefers to
stay at home and cook a nice meal for his girlfriend, up-and-coming Hollywood
actress Kate Bosworth, as well as family and friends."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nice to see "Useful Dave" and "Beanie" getting a little press for once:
Unsung sidekick
By BUGS ONLINE
THIS YEAR sees The Lord of the Rings´ two brothers of Gondor - Boromir and
Faramir - starring in two blockbuster films. Actor Sean Bean who plays the
older brother Boromir is in Troy as the legendary Odysseus. Meanwhile, the actor
who plays his character´s younger brother in the trilogy, David Wenham, makes
an appearance on the silver screen this year in Van Helsing.
In Van Helsing, Wenham plays the stereotypical sidekick, Carl - in other
words, the total opposite of the hero. With a funny hairstyle and a hunch, there
is no trace of the heroic Faramir in Carl at all.
Visiting The Lord of the Rings site we stopped at
the actor´s page. Only basic information is given here. What we´ve learnt is
that Wenham is an Australian who is known in his homeland for his diverse
performances in all three mediums of entertainment - film, theatre and television.
He is best known for playing a "laconic fisherman" in the series Seachange.
Some of his other roles have been playing a criminal in an Australian feature
film titled The Boys and Audrey, the transvestite playwright in Moulin Rouge.
Clicking on the Internet Database, we learn that Wenham was cast in LOTR because of his resemblance to Bean. Wenham has his own theory why he was chosen - it´s because Bean and him have big noses (heh!). Another interesting bit of trivia listed out at this site is that before acting, Wenham used to call bingo back in his hometown in Sydney and he was also an insurance
clerk for a while too.
We finally arrive at a fansite called Wenham Wonderland. First thing that greets you when you open this page is a big face of Wenham; and he´s right, with the face filling up almost the whole screen, you tend to look at his nose.
It says in the biography section that he was born in Sept 21, 1965, and that
he´s the youngest of one brother and five sisters. He has a child with his
long-time girlfriend, actress Kate Agnew. The site also lists the awards and
nominations Wenham has received so far. However, what caught our eye is how an
Australian artist won a prize for painting a portrait of Wenham. There´s a link
and you can take a look at it yourself - it´s quite interesting.
The webmaster has also kindly included the latest articles written on Wenham
in line with the release of Van Helsing. There are loads of pictures too for
leisure viewing.
If you have no time to read all the articles, read the one titled Fangs for
the fun, fellas published in The Courier Mail. It starts off like this: "Hugh Jackman calls him one of the funniest guys on the planet, Richard Roxburgh counts him as a good mate, Kate Beckinsale says he´s like one of her brothers, and everyone calls him Daisy."
According to this article, Wenham auditioned for the part in Van Helsing by
sending the director a videotape of himself with his neck hunched up, his ears
taped and an incredibly bad haircut. Apparently, he tries to get the worst
haircut possible for some roles.
From this fansite there are a whole lot of links. While waiting for the truly
extended version of The Return of the King where Faramir and Eowyn´s
relationship is expanded, you can visit the "Faramir and Eowyn" fansite listed here.
There is also a Russian fansite on David Wenham!
Do visit this site There´s something about David which has the latest updates and more information on the 1.83m actor.
If you still want more articles and pictures do drop by www.theonering.net.
Click on scrapbook and then search for David Wenham. Here you can see the
mullet hairdo he sports for a project.
There is more than enough to browse on Wenham while we wait for his next
appearance. However, just like Hollywood is finally taking notice of this Aussie
talent, we can be sure that the number of sites on Wenham will also grow pretty
soon.
What kind of haircut do you think suits David Wenham? Leave us a note at
bugzoff@yahoo.com.
Friday, May 07, 2004
Hugh Jackman: Matinee idol
To movie lovers, he's the all-action hero tipped as the next James Bond. But to Broadway fans, he's the song-and-dance man with a sensitive side. No wonder we're intrigued by Hugh Jackman, says Liz Hoggard
01 May 2004
It's junket day in New York. Universal Studios has flown in a handful of journalists to promote its spring blockbuster - the period vampire flick Van Helsing, starring Hugh Jackman. It's a typically soulless affair held in a swanky Park Avenue hotel. The film is not being previewed yet, but the trailer - all three seconds of it - looks ravishing and quite bonkers. Still, it's not a lot to go on, and I'm just beginning to feel sleep-deprived when I'm ushered in to meet the Australian actor - and whoosh, the energy in the room changes.
Jackman, 34, is magnetic. Antipodean sex symbols, from Mel Gibson and Russell Crowe to Guy Pearce and Heath Ledger, may be two-a-penny these days, but Jackman is widely tipped as the new James Bond. Given his ability to handle both A-list action blockbusters and light romantic comedy, he could do it. As Wolverine, the solitary fighting machine with retractable claws, he won over hard-to-please X-Men fanatics in the 2000 screen version of the comic book story (though it was the sexy sideboards that the rest of us fell for). And he retained his dignity in the not-terribly-good rom-com Kate and Leopold (2001), with Meg Ryan, by earning a Golden Globe nomination. Oh, and he can do gay, too. He is currently playing the late Australian singer-songwriter Peter Allen (one-time husband of Liza Minnelli) in the hit Broadway musical, The Boy From Oz. Jackman's performance - which sees him singing, dancing on a piano and camel-riding on stage eight times a week - has drawn ecstatic reviews.
My first impression is of a tall, beautiful man dressed in jeans and a moulded black top. His feet are bare and he is wolfing down an omelette for breakfast (performing on Broadway makes him a late riser). Jackman's manner is warm and unaffected, but you sense a fierce intelligence. He trained as a journalist before switching to acting, so he understands how the celebrity interview works, the need for a scoop at any price. You'd think it would make him wary, but if anything, he says, he has compassion for the poor hack. He is quite open that he and his wife, the Australian actress Deborra-Lee Furness, spent a long time trying to adopt their son, Oscar, who's now nearly four (they forged a close tie with his biological mother and even attended the birth). And he had no issue with playing a gay character in The Boy From Oz, despite potential backlash from his X-Men fans. "If I'm meeting people, I'm not thinking about their sexuality as a defining quality. To me it's the least interesting aspect of their personality."
Jackman is impatient for a time when we can move beyond labels. "We've adopted a son who is mixed race and, of course, it doesn't mean anything to us - but we do wonder what perception people will have of him. At the moment we live in New York. But what would it be like for him growing up in Australia where there aren't so many black people? We hope that eventually - in the same way that we're talking about sexuality - we'll become a melting pot of so many different types of people that it will be beyond definition."
By the sound of it, Van Helsing, co-starring Kate Beckinsale, is a love letter to Universal's back catalogue of horror films, including Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931). Stephen Sommers (director of 1999 blockbuster The Mummy) was brought in to construct a 19th-century gothic romance around the enigmatic figure of Dr Gabriel Van Helsing, the vampire hunter in Dracula. Heaven knows what the film will be like but visually it promises to be a high-camp fest - the cinematographer is the renowned Allen Daviau (of ET fame), while the choreographer is from Cirque du Soleil.
During filming in Prague (which doubles as 19th-century Transylvania), Jackman became fascinated by the new political landscape of the Czech Republic. "I know people who were there in 1989, and of course now they think it's terribly passé and horribly touristy, but for me it was very exciting. The first play I ever did was The Memorandum, this absurdist play by Vaclav Havel [then the country's President]. I wrote him a letter but I never sent it because he was leaving office the week we arrived. He was going to Havana, I think, to chill out with Fidel. But I spoke to Matt Damon, who met him when he was there, and he said he was a really cool guy who knew how to live."
Jackman's favourite scene in Van Helsing was shot in the 12th-century St Nicholas Church, with 300 ballroom-dancing extras. "It was a masquerade ball and you couldn't believe these costumes. The make-up woman called me over to put the finishing touches and she said, 'You know this organ was played by Mozart?' I was like, 'What?' And there are cans of Diet Coke all over it. She takes the cover off and I'm playing the keyboard. Only in Prague. Incredible that we were even allowed to shoot in this place because as anyone who knows film crews will tell you, you never let them shoot in your house."
Jackman brings a high seriousness to every role, not least The Boy from Oz . "I live like a nun," he laughs. Dinners after the show are banned, along with coffee and sugar. "The hard thing about theatre is that level of physical, emotional and spiritual energy you've got to put out every night. I say that, but last night I saw Christopher Plummer do three and a half hours of King Lear and I felt like a complete lightweight. He's extraordinary. I felt like crying in the first five minutes. It's the first time I've heard that play done perfectly." It's significant that Jackman spent his night off at the theatre. Growing up, his heroes were British actors such as Alan Bates, Judi Dench and Ian McKellen. "When I was studying, the RSC, the National, that for me was the holy grail, not Hollywood."
Jackman brings a likeable, regular-guy quality to the screen. But there is also an erotic-naive quality which directors pick up on. In the Australian hit comedy Paperback Hero (1999) he plays a macho trucker who pens a romantic novel under the nom de plume Ruby. As the heroic mutant Wolverine, he hopelessly covets Famke Janssen's sassy Jean Grey. And f even the thriller Swordfish (2001) has Jackman as a geeky computer hacker in thrall to the dominatrix charms of Halle Berry. In one scene, Berry and John Travolta force him to hack into a state computer, gun to his head, while a call girl gives him a blow job. It's an ugly moment but Jackman makes it supremely sexy. Few Hollywood actors would go there, but like Daniel Day-Lewis and Robert Downey Jr, Jackman is not afraid to show the vulnerable side of male sexuality. "I can't vouch for what people see in me, but I try to make these characters human - whether it's a superhero like Wolverine or the warrior Van Helsing. The first task of the actor is to imply a little more beneath the skin, to make them interesting. I have no real interest in acting in anything that is just cool. I couldn't do that very well."
Rumour has it he had to fight to convince his Hollywood handlers that it was worth putting his movie career on hold for over a year to do a Broadway musical - particularly to play Peter Allen. Jackman admits his first try out was way too camp. "The director said, 'Hugh, because you're straight, you're thinking you have to put something in about Peter being gay, and it's not the way to go. You've got to think of him as like a little kid who wants everything. Women found him sexy, men found him sexy.' So that really helped. It's more about letting go of any idea of what being gay is, and just being comfortable in yourself. Peter was very brave when you think where he came from - back then in the 1960s, Tenterfield would have been the most macho, down-the-line farming town. And there he was tap-dancing on the front door of his grandfather's saddle-making shop."
Jackman himself was born in Sydney to English parents in 1968, the youngest of five. His mother returned to England with his sisters when he was eight, but he refuses to attach any blame: "It helps, in a way, dealing with the transience of this business." He went to an élite all-boys prep school where he did a lot of acting, but dropped dancing when his brothers made fun of him. "I watched Billy Elliot - that kid had more guts than I did." At college he switched from journalism to drama when he became disillusioned by the idea of what he calls "death knocks", or doorstep journalism. After graduating, he turned down a role in Neighbours to do an acting course in Perth. At the age of 26, he joined the cast of prison TV series Corelli, where he met his wife.
Today the Hollywood machine may be less than thrilled that he's hitched to an Australian actress eight years his senior, but back then Deborra-Lee Furness was the big star. In 1987 she cut a memorable figure in the Australian cult film Shame, as a leather-clad avenger on a motorbike, taking on a group of young rapists. Shame was a wake-up call to Australia about domestic violence and Furness toured the States lecturing about the film. So when Jackman joined the cast of Corelli, in which Furness starred, she was out of his league. "Everyone had a crush on her," he later confided. "She was just - aaaah! - electricity." At a drunken dinner party Furness asked him why he'd been avoiding her and revealed she had a crush on him. Nine years on, American Vogue quotes Furness's close friend Nicole Kidman saying, "The thing about them as a couple is that they are so generous to each other. It's my belief that he's very lucky to have her."
In 1997 Trevor Nunn visited Sydney and saw Jackman in a production of Sunset Boulevard. Nunn invited him to London to audition for his revival of Oklahoma! at the National Theatre. Virtually penniless, Jackman and Furness were put up by Herbert Ypma, author of the Hip Hotels books, and now a close friend. Jackman was cast as Curly, the lead, and his muscular performance won him an Olivier nomination - and a reputation as a sex symbol. The producer Harvey Weinstein reportedly saw the show and roared, "I want this guy in one of my movies!"
Once he made it to Hollywood there seemed to be no stopping him. In 2002 he was one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People, and in the same year he presented an Academy Award. Yet one senses he still hasn't quite been offered the film roles he deserves. I for one think he'd be wasted as Bond. There's no big career plan, he insists. For all the comparisons with the young Clint Eastwood (even Jackman says he drew on the Dirty Harry archetype for Wolverine), he prefers the role model of Frank Sinatra, who combined films with being a song-and-dance man. It amuses him that musicals are now cool, but he says he turned down Richard Gere's role in Chicago because he felt he wasn't old enough to do it justice.
It's a good time for Jackman, but he is aware that his wife's acting career has been sidelined. I mention that, for feminists of my generation, her role in Shame is still hugely influential, making her arguably the more interesting one in the couple, and he is thrilled. Recently Furness directed the film Standing Room Only in London (they retain a family home in Pimlico) with Jackman, Michael Gambon, Andy Serkis and Sophie Dahl. "Deb's an amazing actor but I think she'll be an even better director - she's just all those qualities that don't get used in acting. She jokingly calls London the Film Prevention Society. We shot outside the Ivy restaurant, and that road dissects two councils, Camden and Westminster, which have chalk-and-cheese rules. Between certain hours you can't have a camera on either side of the street. It was a nightmare. But she did it."
What Jackman does relish about London, though, is the lack of a Hollywood star system. "It's just a community of actors. I've met Judi Dench and even at the highest level you'll find the most artistically humble people. I find it so inspiring to be around them. What I love about England is that Oklahoma! was a hit, and I was the lead in it, but there was always that feeling of" - and here he assumes the perfect English accent - "'Good job. And when you've done another 10 like that, maybe we'll start to give you a table by the window.'"
Van Helsing is released on Friday
To movie lovers, he's the all-action hero tipped as the next James Bond. But to Broadway fans, he's the song-and-dance man with a sensitive side. No wonder we're intrigued by Hugh Jackman, says Liz Hoggard
01 May 2004
It's junket day in New York. Universal Studios has flown in a handful of journalists to promote its spring blockbuster - the period vampire flick Van Helsing, starring Hugh Jackman. It's a typically soulless affair held in a swanky Park Avenue hotel. The film is not being previewed yet, but the trailer - all three seconds of it - looks ravishing and quite bonkers. Still, it's not a lot to go on, and I'm just beginning to feel sleep-deprived when I'm ushered in to meet the Australian actor - and whoosh, the energy in the room changes.
Jackman, 34, is magnetic. Antipodean sex symbols, from Mel Gibson and Russell Crowe to Guy Pearce and Heath Ledger, may be two-a-penny these days, but Jackman is widely tipped as the new James Bond. Given his ability to handle both A-list action blockbusters and light romantic comedy, he could do it. As Wolverine, the solitary fighting machine with retractable claws, he won over hard-to-please X-Men fanatics in the 2000 screen version of the comic book story (though it was the sexy sideboards that the rest of us fell for). And he retained his dignity in the not-terribly-good rom-com Kate and Leopold (2001), with Meg Ryan, by earning a Golden Globe nomination. Oh, and he can do gay, too. He is currently playing the late Australian singer-songwriter Peter Allen (one-time husband of Liza Minnelli) in the hit Broadway musical, The Boy From Oz. Jackman's performance - which sees him singing, dancing on a piano and camel-riding on stage eight times a week - has drawn ecstatic reviews.
My first impression is of a tall, beautiful man dressed in jeans and a moulded black top. His feet are bare and he is wolfing down an omelette for breakfast (performing on Broadway makes him a late riser). Jackman's manner is warm and unaffected, but you sense a fierce intelligence. He trained as a journalist before switching to acting, so he understands how the celebrity interview works, the need for a scoop at any price. You'd think it would make him wary, but if anything, he says, he has compassion for the poor hack. He is quite open that he and his wife, the Australian actress Deborra-Lee Furness, spent a long time trying to adopt their son, Oscar, who's now nearly four (they forged a close tie with his biological mother and even attended the birth). And he had no issue with playing a gay character in The Boy From Oz, despite potential backlash from his X-Men fans. "If I'm meeting people, I'm not thinking about their sexuality as a defining quality. To me it's the least interesting aspect of their personality."
Jackman is impatient for a time when we can move beyond labels. "We've adopted a son who is mixed race and, of course, it doesn't mean anything to us - but we do wonder what perception people will have of him. At the moment we live in New York. But what would it be like for him growing up in Australia where there aren't so many black people? We hope that eventually - in the same way that we're talking about sexuality - we'll become a melting pot of so many different types of people that it will be beyond definition."
By the sound of it, Van Helsing, co-starring Kate Beckinsale, is a love letter to Universal's back catalogue of horror films, including Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931). Stephen Sommers (director of 1999 blockbuster The Mummy) was brought in to construct a 19th-century gothic romance around the enigmatic figure of Dr Gabriel Van Helsing, the vampire hunter in Dracula. Heaven knows what the film will be like but visually it promises to be a high-camp fest - the cinematographer is the renowned Allen Daviau (of ET fame), while the choreographer is from Cirque du Soleil.
During filming in Prague (which doubles as 19th-century Transylvania), Jackman became fascinated by the new political landscape of the Czech Republic. "I know people who were there in 1989, and of course now they think it's terribly passé and horribly touristy, but for me it was very exciting. The first play I ever did was The Memorandum, this absurdist play by Vaclav Havel [then the country's President]. I wrote him a letter but I never sent it because he was leaving office the week we arrived. He was going to Havana, I think, to chill out with Fidel. But I spoke to Matt Damon, who met him when he was there, and he said he was a really cool guy who knew how to live."
Jackman's favourite scene in Van Helsing was shot in the 12th-century St Nicholas Church, with 300 ballroom-dancing extras. "It was a masquerade ball and you couldn't believe these costumes. The make-up woman called me over to put the finishing touches and she said, 'You know this organ was played by Mozart?' I was like, 'What?' And there are cans of Diet Coke all over it. She takes the cover off and I'm playing the keyboard. Only in Prague. Incredible that we were even allowed to shoot in this place because as anyone who knows film crews will tell you, you never let them shoot in your house."
Jackman brings a high seriousness to every role, not least The Boy from Oz . "I live like a nun," he laughs. Dinners after the show are banned, along with coffee and sugar. "The hard thing about theatre is that level of physical, emotional and spiritual energy you've got to put out every night. I say that, but last night I saw Christopher Plummer do three and a half hours of King Lear and I felt like a complete lightweight. He's extraordinary. I felt like crying in the first five minutes. It's the first time I've heard that play done perfectly." It's significant that Jackman spent his night off at the theatre. Growing up, his heroes were British actors such as Alan Bates, Judi Dench and Ian McKellen. "When I was studying, the RSC, the National, that for me was the holy grail, not Hollywood."
Jackman brings a likeable, regular-guy quality to the screen. But there is also an erotic-naive quality which directors pick up on. In the Australian hit comedy Paperback Hero (1999) he plays a macho trucker who pens a romantic novel under the nom de plume Ruby. As the heroic mutant Wolverine, he hopelessly covets Famke Janssen's sassy Jean Grey. And f even the thriller Swordfish (2001) has Jackman as a geeky computer hacker in thrall to the dominatrix charms of Halle Berry. In one scene, Berry and John Travolta force him to hack into a state computer, gun to his head, while a call girl gives him a blow job. It's an ugly moment but Jackman makes it supremely sexy. Few Hollywood actors would go there, but like Daniel Day-Lewis and Robert Downey Jr, Jackman is not afraid to show the vulnerable side of male sexuality. "I can't vouch for what people see in me, but I try to make these characters human - whether it's a superhero like Wolverine or the warrior Van Helsing. The first task of the actor is to imply a little more beneath the skin, to make them interesting. I have no real interest in acting in anything that is just cool. I couldn't do that very well."
Rumour has it he had to fight to convince his Hollywood handlers that it was worth putting his movie career on hold for over a year to do a Broadway musical - particularly to play Peter Allen. Jackman admits his first try out was way too camp. "The director said, 'Hugh, because you're straight, you're thinking you have to put something in about Peter being gay, and it's not the way to go. You've got to think of him as like a little kid who wants everything. Women found him sexy, men found him sexy.' So that really helped. It's more about letting go of any idea of what being gay is, and just being comfortable in yourself. Peter was very brave when you think where he came from - back then in the 1960s, Tenterfield would have been the most macho, down-the-line farming town. And there he was tap-dancing on the front door of his grandfather's saddle-making shop."
Jackman himself was born in Sydney to English parents in 1968, the youngest of five. His mother returned to England with his sisters when he was eight, but he refuses to attach any blame: "It helps, in a way, dealing with the transience of this business." He went to an élite all-boys prep school where he did a lot of acting, but dropped dancing when his brothers made fun of him. "I watched Billy Elliot - that kid had more guts than I did." At college he switched from journalism to drama when he became disillusioned by the idea of what he calls "death knocks", or doorstep journalism. After graduating, he turned down a role in Neighbours to do an acting course in Perth. At the age of 26, he joined the cast of prison TV series Corelli, where he met his wife.
Today the Hollywood machine may be less than thrilled that he's hitched to an Australian actress eight years his senior, but back then Deborra-Lee Furness was the big star. In 1987 she cut a memorable figure in the Australian cult film Shame, as a leather-clad avenger on a motorbike, taking on a group of young rapists. Shame was a wake-up call to Australia about domestic violence and Furness toured the States lecturing about the film. So when Jackman joined the cast of Corelli, in which Furness starred, she was out of his league. "Everyone had a crush on her," he later confided. "She was just - aaaah! - electricity." At a drunken dinner party Furness asked him why he'd been avoiding her and revealed she had a crush on him. Nine years on, American Vogue quotes Furness's close friend Nicole Kidman saying, "The thing about them as a couple is that they are so generous to each other. It's my belief that he's very lucky to have her."
In 1997 Trevor Nunn visited Sydney and saw Jackman in a production of Sunset Boulevard. Nunn invited him to London to audition for his revival of Oklahoma! at the National Theatre. Virtually penniless, Jackman and Furness were put up by Herbert Ypma, author of the Hip Hotels books, and now a close friend. Jackman was cast as Curly, the lead, and his muscular performance won him an Olivier nomination - and a reputation as a sex symbol. The producer Harvey Weinstein reportedly saw the show and roared, "I want this guy in one of my movies!"
Once he made it to Hollywood there seemed to be no stopping him. In 2002 he was one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People, and in the same year he presented an Academy Award. Yet one senses he still hasn't quite been offered the film roles he deserves. I for one think he'd be wasted as Bond. There's no big career plan, he insists. For all the comparisons with the young Clint Eastwood (even Jackman says he drew on the Dirty Harry archetype for Wolverine), he prefers the role model of Frank Sinatra, who combined films with being a song-and-dance man. It amuses him that musicals are now cool, but he says he turned down Richard Gere's role in Chicago because he felt he wasn't old enough to do it justice.
It's a good time for Jackman, but he is aware that his wife's acting career has been sidelined. I mention that, for feminists of my generation, her role in Shame is still hugely influential, making her arguably the more interesting one in the couple, and he is thrilled. Recently Furness directed the film Standing Room Only in London (they retain a family home in Pimlico) with Jackman, Michael Gambon, Andy Serkis and Sophie Dahl. "Deb's an amazing actor but I think she'll be an even better director - she's just all those qualities that don't get used in acting. She jokingly calls London the Film Prevention Society. We shot outside the Ivy restaurant, and that road dissects two councils, Camden and Westminster, which have chalk-and-cheese rules. Between certain hours you can't have a camera on either side of the street. It was a nightmare. But she did it."
What Jackman does relish about London, though, is the lack of a Hollywood star system. "It's just a community of actors. I've met Judi Dench and even at the highest level you'll find the most artistically humble people. I find it so inspiring to be around them. What I love about England is that Oklahoma! was a hit, and I was the lead in it, but there was always that feeling of" - and here he assumes the perfect English accent - "'Good job. And when you've done another 10 like that, maybe we'll start to give you a table by the window.'"
Van Helsing is released on Friday
Enjoyment
Good to hear that Lij doesn't plan on Mark Hamill-ing into oblivion... what a sad sad loss that would be..... Keep busy, boy, we want more Lij!!! [Blink. Blink.]
Good to hear that Lij doesn't plan on Mark Hamill-ing into oblivion... what a sad sad loss that would be..... Keep busy, boy, we want more Lij!!! [Blink. Blink.]
Thursday, May 06, 2004
The Orlando Bloom Files: Words
With his dark brown hair, soulful eyes and chiseled cheekbones, Orlando Bloom may have at first seemed an odd choice to play the blonde Elven warrior Legolas in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but he appears right at home playing a prince in Troy opposite Brad Pitt, Peter O'Toole and Eric Bana.
The movie tells the story of how Prince Paris (Bloom) of Troy stole the beautiful Greek woman, Helen (Diane Kruger), away from her husband, Menelaus, the king of Sparta, setting the two nations at war with each other. The Greeks then began a bloody siege of Troy using their entire armada, led by Achilles (Pitt), that lasted more than a decade.
Born and raised in Canterbury, England, Bloom joined the National Youth Theatre at age 16 and spent two years honing his craft before winning a scholarship to London's British American Drama Academy. He went on to make his film debut as an attractive rent boy in Wilde (1997), the biopic of Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. In 1999, Bloom was cast in the star-making part of Legolas, solidifying the young actor's standing as a rising talent.
Last year he starred opposite Johnny Depp in the blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean, and has signed on for the sequel. For Orlando Bloom — anything seems possible.
What is the best and worst part of being an actor now?
O.B. The best part is the work for me, and the worst part is, not the interviews, but it's just feeling like sometimes when the pace quickens, that you're not hitting all of the bases, that you're not responding to everyone or you can't. On a daily basis, it's much harder to connect with as many people as you would when the pace is a bit slower. When you're moving quite quickly with work and stuff, you sometimes can't always give enough attention to the people around you, and when that starts affecting the people closest to you, and gradually out from there, it stresses me out. That's the hardest thing.
Do you feel it's a bit out of control, that the fame thing happened much too quickly?
O.B. No. I mean, I'm 27. I'm very lucky. I'm very lucky with that. I'm just working really hard. I'm taking the opportunities as they come and working on as many movies as I can, which is really great.
Do you have a sweetheart?
O.B. [Laughs] I'm very happy in my life and I'm really focused on my career and I'm very happy with all the relationships in my life, but I try not to get into or talk too much about my personal relationships, because I'd like to try and keep those as sort of separate and without putting as much pressure on those, do you know what I mean, as possible, and so, without putting them into the spotlight.
In the context of being too busy, is there something that you feel guilty about?
O.B. You feel bad because you can't always return all of the phone calls all of the time, but you try to do your best. I should probably get some help, that's what I should probably do, and yet, I'm too much of a control freak and want to do most of it myself.
Or someone sends you something, a really nice gift, because you get sent really nice gifts and stuff, and you go, 'Oh, that's amazing, wow. I must remember to write cards out to them or I must remember to thank that person or give a phone call in,' and it'll get lost in the shuffle and then, you feel bad and then, too much time has passed and then, that's the sort of scenario that you find yourself in. Those are quality problems though.
Is it hard to keep your feet on the ground at times with all of the attention?
O.B. Yeah, I guess that it is. Absolutely, for sure, but it's more concentrated when you're in that environment. If you're at a premiere, people go crazy because they're all amped up. They're waiting to see the movie stars that are in the movie, and they're all excited and they've come particularly for that purpose. They know that they're not going to go and see the movie that night, but they're just waiting by the red carpet for that purpose and I think that creates that.
Are you done with Troy?
O.B. I'm done with Troy, yes. I play Paris.
Paris Hilton?
O.B. [Laughs] I've never played with Paris, but I play Paris who's the prince of Troy and the brother of Hector. The story is really focused on the 'Iliad' and the story of Hector and Achilles, the rivalry and Paris taking Helen and creating this terrible, awful war situation.
How has that experience been?
O.B. Crazy. Amazing. Wolfgang [Petersen] is an incredible director and Eric [Bana] plays my brother and he's lovely and Peter O'Toole played my dad and he was amazing.
Who plays Helen?
O.B. A young girl named Diane Kruger. She's really, really adorable.
How was it working with Peter O'Toole?
O.B. He's got the sharpest wit that I've ever met. I mean he's like Ian [McKellen]. One time, he was walking up these stairs with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and someone said to him, 'Peter, have you ever thought about giving up cigarettes?,' and he goes, ''No, but I've thought about giving up stairs.' [Laughs] I mean, he's just one of those.
Has there been a time when it was so hard that you just wanted to quit?
O.B. You just have to remind yourself of what you'd be doing if you weren't in this opportunity. I'd rather be working on amazing films and having great opportunities than not. That's the flip side of the coin. Also, it always feels that it could quite easily be ripped away from you. It's like, if it comes that quick, it can go that quick, do you know what I mean?
What's next for you?
O.B. I'm doing Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven project. So, that's very exciting. It's about the crusades.
Your films all seem to have a historical slant.
O.B. I think people who cast movies, and directors, think, 'right, if they played elves, we can fit them into some of these other categories,' and that's what I was trying to explain when I said that it put me into this forum of being able to work on those sorts of other movies like Pirates or Troy. You want someone to be able to do that, and I love the opportunity.
With his dark brown hair, soulful eyes and chiseled cheekbones, Orlando Bloom may have at first seemed an odd choice to play the blonde Elven warrior Legolas in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but he appears right at home playing a prince in Troy opposite Brad Pitt, Peter O'Toole and Eric Bana.
The movie tells the story of how Prince Paris (Bloom) of Troy stole the beautiful Greek woman, Helen (Diane Kruger), away from her husband, Menelaus, the king of Sparta, setting the two nations at war with each other. The Greeks then began a bloody siege of Troy using their entire armada, led by Achilles (Pitt), that lasted more than a decade.
Born and raised in Canterbury, England, Bloom joined the National Youth Theatre at age 16 and spent two years honing his craft before winning a scholarship to London's British American Drama Academy. He went on to make his film debut as an attractive rent boy in Wilde (1997), the biopic of Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. In 1999, Bloom was cast in the star-making part of Legolas, solidifying the young actor's standing as a rising talent.
Last year he starred opposite Johnny Depp in the blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean, and has signed on for the sequel. For Orlando Bloom — anything seems possible.
What is the best and worst part of being an actor now?
O.B. The best part is the work for me, and the worst part is, not the interviews, but it's just feeling like sometimes when the pace quickens, that you're not hitting all of the bases, that you're not responding to everyone or you can't. On a daily basis, it's much harder to connect with as many people as you would when the pace is a bit slower. When you're moving quite quickly with work and stuff, you sometimes can't always give enough attention to the people around you, and when that starts affecting the people closest to you, and gradually out from there, it stresses me out. That's the hardest thing.
Do you feel it's a bit out of control, that the fame thing happened much too quickly?
O.B. No. I mean, I'm 27. I'm very lucky. I'm very lucky with that. I'm just working really hard. I'm taking the opportunities as they come and working on as many movies as I can, which is really great.
Do you have a sweetheart?
O.B. [Laughs] I'm very happy in my life and I'm really focused on my career and I'm very happy with all the relationships in my life, but I try not to get into or talk too much about my personal relationships, because I'd like to try and keep those as sort of separate and without putting as much pressure on those, do you know what I mean, as possible, and so, without putting them into the spotlight.
In the context of being too busy, is there something that you feel guilty about?
O.B. You feel bad because you can't always return all of the phone calls all of the time, but you try to do your best. I should probably get some help, that's what I should probably do, and yet, I'm too much of a control freak and want to do most of it myself.
Or someone sends you something, a really nice gift, because you get sent really nice gifts and stuff, and you go, 'Oh, that's amazing, wow. I must remember to write cards out to them or I must remember to thank that person or give a phone call in,' and it'll get lost in the shuffle and then, you feel bad and then, too much time has passed and then, that's the sort of scenario that you find yourself in. Those are quality problems though.
Is it hard to keep your feet on the ground at times with all of the attention?
O.B. Yeah, I guess that it is. Absolutely, for sure, but it's more concentrated when you're in that environment. If you're at a premiere, people go crazy because they're all amped up. They're waiting to see the movie stars that are in the movie, and they're all excited and they've come particularly for that purpose. They know that they're not going to go and see the movie that night, but they're just waiting by the red carpet for that purpose and I think that creates that.
Are you done with Troy?
O.B. I'm done with Troy, yes. I play Paris.
Paris Hilton?
O.B. [Laughs] I've never played with Paris, but I play Paris who's the prince of Troy and the brother of Hector. The story is really focused on the 'Iliad' and the story of Hector and Achilles, the rivalry and Paris taking Helen and creating this terrible, awful war situation.
How has that experience been?
O.B. Crazy. Amazing. Wolfgang [Petersen] is an incredible director and Eric [Bana] plays my brother and he's lovely and Peter O'Toole played my dad and he was amazing.
Who plays Helen?
O.B. A young girl named Diane Kruger. She's really, really adorable.
How was it working with Peter O'Toole?
O.B. He's got the sharpest wit that I've ever met. I mean he's like Ian [McKellen]. One time, he was walking up these stairs with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and someone said to him, 'Peter, have you ever thought about giving up cigarettes?,' and he goes, ''No, but I've thought about giving up stairs.' [Laughs] I mean, he's just one of those.
Has there been a time when it was so hard that you just wanted to quit?
O.B. You just have to remind yourself of what you'd be doing if you weren't in this opportunity. I'd rather be working on amazing films and having great opportunities than not. That's the flip side of the coin. Also, it always feels that it could quite easily be ripped away from you. It's like, if it comes that quick, it can go that quick, do you know what I mean?
What's next for you?
O.B. I'm doing Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven project. So, that's very exciting. It's about the crusades.
Your films all seem to have a historical slant.
O.B. I think people who cast movies, and directors, think, 'right, if they played elves, we can fit them into some of these other categories,' and that's what I was trying to explain when I said that it put me into this forum of being able to work on those sorts of other movies like Pirates or Troy. You want someone to be able to do that, and I love the opportunity.
Don't know if this one's the truth or a rumour, kiddies, but I'd love to see Dommie and Viggo in another flick together!
From Variey magazines [sic] website.
New York-LOTR stars Dominic Monaghan and Viggo Mortensen have been
cast in the film London Stories alongside Minnie Driver. The movie
will feature seven different storylines in London that intertwine (ala
Love Actually). Mortensen has taken the role of Drivers [sic] mousy
husband who can't call his wife on her affair. While Monaghan has
taken the more contraversial [sic] role of a visiting American who
takes up with a much younger man, little does he know the man in
question is underaged. Jim Sheridan is directing.
From Variey magazines [sic] website.
New York-LOTR stars Dominic Monaghan and Viggo Mortensen have been
cast in the film London Stories alongside Minnie Driver. The movie
will feature seven different storylines in London that intertwine (ala
Love Actually). Mortensen has taken the role of Drivers [sic] mousy
husband who can't call his wife on her affair. While Monaghan has
taken the more contraversial [sic] role of a visiting American who
takes up with a much younger man, little does he know the man in
question is underaged. Jim Sheridan is directing.
I just found out that Ian McKellen has an online scrapbook of the pics he took during the filming of the LOTR. Just thought you'd like to know....
Sexy pic of Orli from Lime Magazine
Sexy pic of Orli from Lime Magazine
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | What to say about...
Oh, big surprise.... who's have expected a Hollywood director would differ from the true story for the sake of a prettier film? [insert look of mock shock here]
And poor little Brad Pitt suffered so for his art..... sad little millionaire...
Oh, big surprise.... who's have expected a Hollywood director would differ from the true story for the sake of a prettier film? [insert look of mock shock here]
And poor little Brad Pitt suffered so for his art..... sad little millionaire...
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