«Tradition Prepared Her. Change Will Define Her.»



читать дальшеThe real Queen Elizabeth II refuses to watch this film, as she does not wish to relive "one of the worst weeks of her life."

Helen Mirren's performance received a five minute standing ovation at the film's premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Helen Mirren arranged for the actors playing members of the Royal family,
specifically James Cromwell, Sylvia Syms and Alex Jennings to spend a lot of time together off camera.
This was done so that they would feel comfortable with each other like a real family.

Helen Mirren says transforming herself into the Queen came almost naturally after the wig and glasses,
especially since she shares a default facial expression, a slightly down turned mouth, with the monarch.
She also regularly reviewed film and video footage of Elizabeth and kept photographs in her trailer during production.
The writer Peter Morgan says it was convincing enough that, by the end of production,
crew members who had been accustomed to slouching or relaxing when they addressed her were standing straight up
and respectfully folding their hands behind their backs.

The writer Peter Morgan reconstructed the events of the week after the death of Princess Diana
through extensive interviews with many unnamed sources close to the Prime Minister and the royal family.
Many of these sources were able to corroborate the accounts of others, giving Morgan enough information to imagine intervening scenes.

Some aspects of the characters are known to be true to their real-life counterparts.
Cherie Blair's hostility to the monarchy has been widely reported, including her refusal to curtsy
(said to amuse the Queen in private, as it does in the film).
According to Peter Morgan, "cabbage" is an actual term of endearment Prince Phillip uses for his wife.

The jewelry Helen Mirren wears is based on actual jewels owned by Elizabeth II. Some pieces shown include:
her trademark 2 or 3 strands of pearls, Queen Victoria's bow brooch (at Diana's funeral),
and Queen Mary's button earrings (the large pearl earrings each topped by a tiny diamond.)

The scenes within the Royal household were shot on 35mm film, so they would look lush and cinematic,
while those within Blair's world were shot on 16mm, so they would look more like television,
in order to give visual contrast between commoners and royalty.

The second time that Michael Sheen plays Tony Blair.
He previously played him in The Deal and would play him for a third time in The Special Relationship.

Helen McCrory once again would play Cherie Blair in The Special Relationship (again opposite Michael Sheen as Tony Blair).

Helen Mirren, who plays the Queen, is of Russian ancestry.
In real life, it is Prince Philip who is connected to Russian royalty, through his father he is the great-great grandson
of Nicolas I of Russia and his maternal grandmother was the eldest sister of Tsarina Alexandra Romanov,
the last Tsarina of Russia.

@темы: Helen Mirren, Photo, Cinema, Awards, UK

@темы: France, Mickey Ryan, Любимые фильмы, / Rewatching /

Timing is everything.

Всё таки невозможно хорошо рассказать такую историю в виде 2часового фильма, как и ожидалось.
Одно из великих преимуществ оригинального и успешного мини-сериала именно в степенном повествовании.

А теперь о втором великом преимуществе - актеры, к успеху которых не приблизиться ни одна экранизация.
В данной версии, единицам из них удалось понять, и правильно показать своих персонажей.
В версии же 1980 года, характеры героев были ясны, и понятны.

У меня вообще к героям "Брайдсхед" отношение такое - ни один из них не кажется мне близким по духу.
Только если в различные периоды. Но это не значит, что я не могу увидеть,
удалось ли актеру воплотить персонажа этой легендарной истории.

Скажу кто здесь, на мой взгляд, показался мне правдивым - Чарльз, Кара, Корделия, отец Чарльза, жена Чарльза отец Себастьяна, Брайди, кузен Джаспер, Рекс.
И половину, удалось успеть заценить, насколько это позволяло время.

Возможно дело в ограниченном времени, но следующие герои на мой взгляд, не получились, не были ясными at all!
Бен Уишоу, и как бы я его не любила, и как бы хорошо он не играл здесь, да и везде, не показался мне тем самым Себастьяном.

Леди Марчмэн, в исполнении Эммы Томпсон почему то не показалась знакомой. Всё таки образ Клэр Блум был яснее.

Джулия - ну она вообще не мой персонаж ни в какое время. И опять же, люблю Хейли, но даже не знаю ...
Вот опять же, к актерам из мини-сериала трудно сопоставить кого-либо.

Главное, Энтони Бланш - я еще думала, что актер из мини-сериала переигрывал. Но нет.
Как раз так и нужно играть Энтони. Увидев здесь ровным счетом НИЧЕГО, я это сразу поняла.

God knows сколько ошибок в сюжете допустили создатели, т.к. книгу мне еще только предстоит прочитать.

Правда, фильм красиво снят и музыкально оформлен. Но в итоге, вся эта картина довольно красивое нечего.



читать дальшеCastle Howard, which 'plays' Brideshead in this film, was also used to represent the same location in Brideshead Revisited.

David Yates was set to direct this film, but had to step aside from the director's chair to direct Гарри Поттер и орден Феникса instead.
While Yates was attached, Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly and Jude Law were cast in the roles of Charles, Julia and Sebastian respectively.
It was also announced that Chatsworth House in Derbyshire would be used as Brideshead.

For the Oxford scenes, real Oxford students were recruited to play their 1920's counterparts.
For the scene where Charles and Sebastian first meet, real members of the exclusive Bullingdon Club can be seen behind him wearing their traditional blazers.
A few of them can also be seen in the luncheon scene that takes place the next day.

Filmed in summer 2007, one of the rainiest summers on record in England.
The crew suffered rainfall at nearly every location, and even had to contend with rain while on location in Venice.

@темы: BOOKS, Mickey Ryan, Photo, Ben Whishaw, Сериалы, Cinema, UK, Emma Thompson

@темы: Andy Garcia, Photo, Cinema

Этот фильм я очень долго собиралась, чтобы посмотреть.
Я не люблю эти песочные страны типа Афганистана, Ирака, Ирана и прочих ...
В такие моменты задумываешься, как и один из экс-президентов США - а какая разница?
Неужели всем не скучно снимать эти фильмы про эти войны, волнения, восстания?
Но на каждой из трёх главных кино-наградах я видела интересные отрывки из фильма.
И в связи с триумфами фильма решила посмотреть.
Тем более сюжет был гораздо интереснее обычных, которые разыгрываются в таких странах.

И знаете - это действительно очень хороший и интересный фильм.
Реально, очень напряженный, я просто локти искусала и кричала в стрессовых ситуациях!

Задача была невероятной, но другого выбора не было. Нужно было действовать.

Я вообще не часто попадаю на фильмы с Беном Аффлеком. Но когда попадаю, он мне нравится.
Да и в жизни, знаете очень приятный он человек.
Сколько забавных, но искренних благодарственных речей от него я выслушала за эти 2 месяца,
и везде он вызывал у меня симпатию.
Конечно по-началу я не была сильно уверена в его режиссерских способностях.
Но в конечном счете, я аплодирую, ибо фильм вышел замечательный.
Да, он изменил некоторые вещи, ибо некоторые вещи иногда не кинематографичны и не идут на пользу ритма картины.
А в остальном, Бен буквально жаждал и добился максимально доступной аутентичности фильма.

Все актеры замечательные. Особенно запомнился светящийся Алан Аркин, и неувядающий Джон Гудман.

Единственная вещь, которая тревожит многих историков,
особенно с канадской стороны, и я могу их понять, это то, что именно канадские власти были более
заинтересованы в спасении американцев из ИХ посольства, дабы не подвергать опасности своих сотрудников,
укрывавших их. В то время как американская сторона была больше заинтересована в освобождении 66 заложников
из своего посольства в Иране, которые кстати, пробыли там все 444 дня, перед тем как наконец были освобождены.
Всеобщими усилиями, миссия была выполнена. Но в фильме явно приуменьшены заслуги канадцев в спасении американских граждан.
Хотя по сути, они наоборот, гораздо больше помогли в процессе операции.
Никто не говорит, что роль американцев не была важна. Но это кино они посвятили только себе.
Да, герой Тони Мендес, безусловно. И фильм вообщем-то об этом. Но канадцы помогали, также подвергая свою жизнь опасности.
И мне кажется, стоило это упомянуть. Но это не так страшно. просто некоторым людям тоже неприятно.






читать дальшеBesides being the title of the "movie" being filmed in the movie, "Argo" is from Greek mythology.
It was the ship Jason and the Argonauts sailed in to retrieve the Golden Fleece.

The sсript for Argo (used by the CIA, not for this film) is from the unmade feature film "Lord of Light"
based on the novel by Roger Zelazny.

In order to make the movie feel like the 1970s, Ben Affleck shot it on regular film, cut the frames in half,
and blew those images up 200% to increase their graininess.
He also copied camera movements and bustling office scenes from All the President's Men
for sequences depicting CIA headquarters; for L.A. exteriors, he borrowed from The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.

As shown in this movie, by the late 1970s, the Hollywood sign
(which had first been erected in 1923 as "HOLLYWOODLAND" to advertise an upcoming real estate development)
had fallen into severe disrepair. In 1978, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce had a fund-raising campaign
in which they solicited nine prominent people to give about $28,000 each
(one donor for each letter) for the restoration.
Some of these benefactors included: Playboy Magazine founder Hugh M. Hefner, who gave the Y;
singers Gene Autry and Andy Williams (the second L and the W, respectively),
and heavy metal/shock rock star Alice Cooper, who replaced the third O
(by far the most damaged of the letters) in memory of Groucho Marx. Warner Bros.
Records, a division of the company that later released Argo, donated the second O.
However, unlike the movie's depiction, this renovation was completed by the end of November 1978 -
- a year before the hostages in Iran were even taken.

The character of Jack Kirby (played by Michael Parks), shown briefly as the artist of the storyboards
for the fake movie, is the same Jack Kirby who was a pioneer of the American comic book industry
and a co-creator of such seminal comic book characters as Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, the Silver Surfer,
and the teams known as The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, and The X-Men.
Kirby did indeed create storyboards for the adaptation of Roger Zelazny's novel Lord of Light,
which were used as "proof" of the movie production during the real-life "Canadian Caper."

While Chambers, Mendez, and Siegel are trying to figure out how to make their fake movie project look plausible,
Siegel recalls that he made a movie once with Rock Hudson, and from that draws the conclusion
that if you want people to believe a lie, you should have the media disseminate it for you.
This seeming non sequitur is a reference to the fact that Hudson, one of the biggest Hollywood stars
and sex symbols of the 1950s, was secretly gay, and his agent, Henry Wilson,
actively fed misinformation about Hudson's "girlfriends" (really studio-arranged dates for publicity only)
to the mainstream media. When the gossip tabloid "Confidential" threatened to expose Hudson's homosexuality,
Wilson instead fed them then-scandalous information about two of the less-famous stars on his roster
(Rory Calhoun and Tab Hunter) and arranged a sham marriage between his secretary and Hudson.
Hudson's homosexuality was not widely known outside of Hollywood until about half a decade after this movie takes place.

It is stated that both British and New Zealand embassies turned away the six, leaving the Canadian as their only refuge.
In fact the British embassy did shelter them for a few days but it was agreed by everyone that the Canadian embassy
was the most secure and suitable so they moved.
A New Zealand official transported them and the British embassy helped other Americans trapped in the country at the time.
Director Ben Affleck acknowledged that he intentionally deviated from the real events in order to quicken the pace and build up the tension.

Lester Siegel (played by Alan Arkin) is said to be a composite character.
However, in real life, makeup artist Robert Sidell, a friend of John Chambers, posed as the fake film's producer.
Sidell's wife, Andi, was the fake production company's receptionist.
Ben Affleck assumed Sidell, like Chambers, had passed away, but was informed just prior to the film's release that he was still alive and well.
Affleck had Robert Sidell flown to the film's LA premiere, and, in his opening remarks, gave recognition to Sidell for his part in the Canadian Caper.

Comic book artist Jim Lee owns some of the storyboards from the fake film.
He stated on Twitter when this film was released that he had no idea they had been used in the mission,
he only bought them being a fan of Jack Kirby.

@темы: Music, Mickey Ryan, Photo, Cinema, Awards

Сразу говорю, что смотрела фильм в два захода.

Только из-за лучшего усвоения огромного количества исторической информации.

What can I say? Daniel, Daniel and once more - DANIEL DAY LEWIS!

Spielberg's 'Lincoln' focuses on the man, not the monument.

Всегда легче и всегда найдется место какому-нибудь ублюдку, который возьмет и застрелит хорошего, доброго человека. Грустно.

читать дальшеAfter 10 years of development, director Steven Spielberg finally decided he would only "make 'Lincoln' if Daniel Day-Lewis decided to play him, and I would not make 'Lincoln' had Daniel decided not to play him."

Liam Neeson, who was attached to play Abraham Lincoln since the project began development, decided to drop out.
According to Neeson, he felt he was too old to play the part after waiting so many years for the project to get the go-ahead.
Incidentally Daniel Day-Lewis is only five years Neeson's junior, though still closest in age to Lincoln, who was 55 and 56 years of age at the time portrayed in the film.

After Liam Neeson dropped out, Steven Spielberg returned to his original choice for the titular role, Daniel Day-Lewis.
Day-Lewis declined because he didn't know if he could play such an iconic role.
It was Leonardo DiCaprio who convinced him to take the role after Spielberg told him that Day-Lewis declined. It is unknown how DiCaprio convinced Day-Lewis to take the role.

Daniel Day-Lewis originally turned down the role of Lincoln, sending Steven Spielberg this letter:
"Dear Steven. It was a real pleasure just to sit and talk with you. I listened very carefully to what you had to say about this compelling history,
and I've since read the sсript and found it -- in all the detail of which it describes these monumental events and in the compassionate portraits of all the principle characters
- both powerful and moving. I can't account for how at any given moment I feel the need to explore one life as opposed to another.
But I do know that I can only do this work if I feel almost as if there's no choice; that a subject coincides inexplicably with a very personal need and a very specific moment in time.
In this case, as fascinated as I was by 'Abe,' it was the fascination of a grateful spectator who longed to see a story told rather than that of a participant.
That's how I feel now in spite of myself, and though I can't be sure this won't change, I couldn't dream of encouraging you to keep it open on a mere possibility.
I do hope this makes sense Steven. I'm glad you're making the film. I wish you the strength for it and I send both my very best wishes and my sincere gratitude to you for having considered me. Daniel."

Actor Daniel Day-Lewis previously portrayed Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting in Martin Scorsese's Банды Нью-Йорка, a character who opposed Lincoln's political plans.

Once Daniel Day-Lewis decided on the voice that he would use to portray Lincoln, he sent an audiotape of it to
Director Steven Spielberg in a box with a skull & crossbones on it so no one but he would hear it first.

Steven Spielberg spent 12 years researching the film. He recreated Lincoln's Executive Mansion office precisely, with the same wallpaper and books Lincoln used.
The ticking of Lincoln's watch in the film is the sound of Lincoln's actual pocket watch.
Lincoln's watch is housed in the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort, Kentucky (not the Lincoln Presidential Library.) It is the watch he carried the day of his assassination.

Describing his experience playing Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis said, "I never, ever felt that depth of love for another human being that I never met.
And that's, I think, probably the effect that Lincoln has on most people that take the time to discover him... I wish he had stayed [with me] forever."

During the three and a half months of filming, Steven Spielberg addressed his actors in character: he called Daniel Day-Lewis "Mr. President," and Sally Field "Mrs. Lincoln," or "Molly."
Additionally, he wore a suit every day on set: "I think I wanted to get into the role, more than anything else, of being part of that experience - because we were recreating a piece of history.
And so I didn't want to look like the schlubby, baseball cap wearing 21st century guy; I wanted to be like the cast."

During production, the part of Abraham Lincoln is listed on the call sheet as being played by Abraham Lincoln, not Daniel Day-Lewis.

Sally Field was so determined to play Mary Todd Lincoln, she begged Steven Spielberg for the chance to screen test alongside Daniel Day-Lewis.
Spielberg believed she was too old to play the part, but Field was adamant. She recalled,
"I'm 10 years older than Daniel and 20 years older than Abraham Lincoln's wife was and Steven told me he didn't see me in the role.
But I knew I was right for this part and begged him to let me audition for it.
He was kind enough to do that and Daniel is such a sweetheart that he flew over from his home in Ireland to screen test with me. I'll love him forever for that."

Sally Field gained 25 pounds in order to more accurately portray Mrs. Lincoln.

Steven Spielberg told a preview audience in Manhattan that screenwriter Tony Kushner spent about six years working on the movie.
Originally it was conceived of as a bio film exploring Lincoln's entire life story, but eventually was whittled down
to the events surrounding the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the U.S. detailed in Doris Kearns Goodwin 's book "Team of Rivals".

Steven Spielberg has explained that during the movie's climactic scene in which the names of House of Representative members are being called to vote on the 13th Amendment,
the names of many of the men who voted 'No' - for various reasons - were actually changed in the film
so as not to embarrass the living descendants of these men whose reputations might have been stained by their negative vote-casting.

Abraham and Mary have one of their famous fights, in which he threatens to have her committed to a mad house.
In the case of this film, the issue they fight over is Robert's enlistment in the army.
Coincidentally, it would be Robert who ultimately did commit her to an insane asylum, tragically leading to their permanent estrangement.

Lobbyist William N. Bilbo's (James Spader) appearance was created from scratch because not a single photo of him exists. His eccentric presence was taken from various sources.

James Spader was personally instructed by Daniel Day-Lewis to be "as nasty as possible" to portray William N. Bilbo.

Every major character in the film was a real person or at least a composite of real figures and the film strives to reflect the actual actions or thoughts of the historical figures.

@темы: Mickey Ryan, Photo, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cinema, Awards

@темы: Helen Mirren, Photo, Julie Walters, Cinema, UK

Я буду вечно любить этот замечательный фильм!
У меня в памяти хорошо запечалилось знакомство с ним.
В школе один мой одноклассник дал мне посмотреть диск с этим фильмом.
Я была поражена уже в том возрасте.
Первое - самим фильмом, и второе - что у моего одноклассника есть вкус к хорошему кино.




читать дальшеLee Hall, who wrote the screenplay, said in an interview: "I wrote the movie of 'Billy Elliot' when I was still a neophyte playwright.
I was trying to find a way of telling my own story but in a visual way.
The first image that came to my mind was a kid jumping up and down on the bed like I used to do.
Once I had that bit, the whole thing about dance just came tumbling out."

Partly inspired by Royal Ballet dancer Philip Marsden whom writer Lee Hall met while researching the sсript.
Marsden is from the North of England, and his family had a militant mining background.

Jamie Bell took ballet and other dance classes while in secondary school, which caused him to often be ridiculed by his peers.
He used some of these experiences as inspiration while playing Billy Elliot.

One of the great qualms of the entire film was whether Mrs. Wilkinson should be there in the final scene,
where the older Billy Elliot performs Swan Lake. Eventually, it came down to the fact that 'Julie Walters' wasn't available for filming.

Billy Elliot's original title was 'Dancer', but when they took the film to the Cannes Film Festival, there was another film called
Танцующая в темноте, which won the Palmes D'Or, prompting confusion; indeed, Universal Studios called the directors, producers
and writer up and congratulated them. They then realized they had to change the name and settled
('rather lamely', joked the writer) on 'Billy Elliot'.

When Elton John first saw the film at Cannes he immediately pitched the idea of making a stage musical of it to director Stephen Daldry.

The first release from Working Title's low-budget WT2 division.

Jamie Bell is the only one of the four principals to actually come from the area where the film is set.

Jamie Bell was going through puberty at the time of filming. Some of his dialog had to be post-synched as his voice had broken.
And the opening scene in which he jumps up and down on a bed to T-Rex's "Cosmic Dancer" was shot over a lengthy period of time.
For the latter takes, Bell had acquired hair on his legs and had to have them shaved.

@темы: Music, Mickey Ryan, Photo, Julie Walters, Cinema, Accent, Любимые фильмы, UK, / Rewatching /, ~La Vita e Bella~

Давно когда-то очень невнятно ознакомилась с фильмом, и с тех пор он мне часто попадался.
Решила пересмотреть. Интересно.
Только то "интересно", которое используют когда вроде как и что-то есть, и нет.
Хорошие актеры, вот что здесь точно есть.

Дэниел здесь ну такой сладкий! Ммм, еще и в очках!
А кадры с его телом ...

@темы: Rhys Ifans, Photo, Cinema, UK, Daniel Craig

@темы: Music, Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Mickey Ryan, Photo, ~La Vita e Bella~