I’m really up for this film, it look’s like a visual feast. You can tell director Anton Corbijn is an accomplished photographer, the film looks so stylish. Corbijn has released a bunch of new images from set of the film and a couple from the film itself via his blog.  Clooney is good people, he’s got a great ear for working on projects that have vision and integrity.

Alone among assassins, Jack is a master craftsman. When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, he vows to his contact Larry that his next assignment will be his last. Jack reports to the Italian countryside, where he holes up in a small town and relishes being away from death for a spell. The assignment, as specified by a Belgian woman, Mathilde, is in the offing as a weapon is constructed. Surprising himself, Jack seeks out the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto and pursues romance with local woman Clara. But by stepping out of the shadows, Jack may be tempting fate. The American stars George Clooney, Anne Carey, Jill Green, Grant Heslov, Enzo Sisti, Ann Wingate, Moa Westeson and is directed by Anton Corbijn. It’s scheduled for release 26th November.

[View with PicLens]

Everyone pretty much likes George Clooney, even the internet haters, which when considering he was the worst Batman in cinema history (yes he was worse than Val Kilmer) and the fact that your Mum, Sister, Aunt, Girlfriend, Wife, Grandma, Dog fancies him is a fine achievement. He pretty much wins everyone over with his effortless charm and humour (another reason to hate on him), and now  he is playing an Assassin which will give him even more brownie points, especially on the manly side of things. I’m stoked for this film, the trailer looks great, you can tell that director Anton Corbijn is an accomplished Photographer , the film looks beautiful. The American is directed by Anton Corbijn and also stars Bruce Altman, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli and Violante Placido. It’s is in cinemas September 1, 2010.

Alone among assassins, Jack is a master craftsman. When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, he vows to his contact Larry that his next assignment will be his last. Jack reports to the Italian countryside, where he holes up in a small town and relishes being away from death for a spell. The assignment, as specified by a Belgian woman, Mathilde, is in the offing as a weapon is constructed. Surprising himself, Jack seeks out the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto and pursues romance with local woman Clara. But by stepping out of the shadows, Jack may be tempting fate.

I’m completely stoked for this film. As the release date inches closer we are slowly being revealed more and more, Nolan has done an excellent job in keeping the story under wraps, that has just fed into my excitement, hopefully a new trailer will be released in the next few weeks. It’s good to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt in this, his career is going from strength to strength. The premise seems to be about people who go into people’s dreams and steal their ideas, sounds mad, but awesome at the same time. Christopher Nolan is the mastermind behind Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige and The Dark Knight, I was sold just on his back catalogue. You can check out some more Inception images here.

Here’s part 2 (check out part 1 here) of my interview with the lovely Gemma Arterton to talk about her brilliant new film The Disappearance Of Alice Creed. In Gemma’s young career to date she’s best known for her roles in Quantum of Solace, Clash of the Titans and the upcoming Prince of Persia. The Disappearance Of Alice Creed is in UK cinemas the 30th April.

What does it feel like having so many films out within two or three months?

Gemma Arterton: It’s mad, Prince Of Persia wrapped a year and a half ago and Clash Of The Titans wrapped almost a year ago, I made these films over a long period of time, but they all have come out at the same time, which is fortunate and unfortunate (laughs). I don’t wanna be that annoying girl that’s in everything. There’s gonna be a very big gap until my next film though, people won’t have to see me any more for a while (laughs).

I know you do a lot of theatre work, is that what you’ll be concentrating more on in the coming months?

Gemma Arterton: Yeah, I always make sure I do theatre, I turned down four films to work on my next one, everyone was going WHAT ARE YOU DOING? It’s really important to me though. I love theatre and I learn so much from it, I learn so much more about acting. Hopefully I’ll do at least one play a year. I think it’s one of those thing’s you really have to go for.

What is it about theatre that you love, is it the immediacy?

Gemma Arterton: Yeah, I know everyone says it but it’s true, it is the purest form, you have to get it right, this film was a bit like being in a play though, you had to get it right then and there, you had to have built up the relationships and there were no special effects. It’s scary doing a play though, even though I feel much more at home on a stage than on a set, it’s still very frightening, which is the reason I think you should do it. You have control over what you do as well, in film an editor can change your performance and shape it sometimes. I just worked with Stephen Frears though, he keeps texting me to ask when I’m coming into the editing sweet to edit my role, he says if I come in and remember I done a good take, he’ll take that into consideration, I really like that, the fact that he’s not completely precious and willing to trust his actors.

The ability to keep doing it over and over, night after night is fascinating to me.

Gemma Arterton: Luckily with my last play, even on the last day we were always finding things, that’s why Shakespeare’s plays will continually be out there, because you can always find something new in them. If I done a bog standard play that’s really dull I think I would go out of my mind. As an actor I think your required to imagine you don’t know the ending, you don’t know what’s coming next, imagine that you’ve never said this before. I worked with one director who would go ‘never before’ just before I went on, just saying that helped me though. That’s one of the hard things of acting, imagining that you’ve never done it before, the good thing is that the last play was a comedy so every night was so different, I’ve never experienced nothing like it, different audiences laugh at different things as well. You take a lot from the audience.

I’m not gonna pretend that it doesn’t get monotonous though, because it does at times, especially on matinée day. I find it really valuable to do it because you the skill of acting like you’ve never said what your going to say before is hard, it’s an invaluable skill to have as an actor.

I recently caught up with the lovely Gemma Arterton who was in a right old chipper mood to talk about her new film The Disappearance Of Alice Creed. In Gemma’s young career to date she’s best known for her roles in Quantum of Solace, Clash of the Titans and the upcoming Prince of Persia. She gives a brilliant performance in this film. There’s so much twists and turns in this that I can’t really write much about it, I don’t wanna spoil it! I’m usually pretty quick to figure out what’s going on in films, but with this I was baffled! All I can say is that it was brilliant, a definite must see, especially for fans of intense thrillers. Gemma Arterton, Martin Compston (Sweet Sixteen, Red Road) and Eddie Marsan (Happy-Go-Lucky, Sherlock Holmes) were great. It’s also the début feature film from writer-director J Blakeson who from this looks like he’s got a great future ahead of him, I’m already looking forward to his next project. The Disappearance Of Alice Creed is in UK cinemas the 30th April.

First of all how did you get involved in the film and what attracted you to it?

Gemma Arterton: They sent the script through Elizebeth Bennett who cast it, she’s the lady who is kind of responsible for my career, she’s been very supportive to me. She sent me the script and I read it and loved it, I then met up with J who had only seen me in a couple of things so he wasn’t too sure if I was right for it, so I went in and did my thing, then got offered the part. That’s it really.

Given all the nudity not just with yourself, with the two men as well, what made you have faith in J that he wouldn’t shoot it in a sleazy way?

Gemma Arterton: Because of the script, he wrote the script. People always talk about the nudity and to me it’s quite boring because there has always been nudity in film, they talk about it more when it’s a girl, because guys can get excited (laughs), the guys get there kit off as well. I dunno Alice wasn’t a victim, if she was a victim I wouldn’t have done it. She’s actually a really really strong woman with a great mind, very intelligent and savvy. I have experienced someone who shot me badly with nudity and obviously you get a little bit worried, it was something about the way the script was written, the style and taste of the script, I didn’t feel like it was centering around the nudity at all, if it was a different director from the script writer maybe I would have been more cautious. Me and J spoke about it a lot. It was a necessary tool in the film because you see her humiliation and you have to see how shit it was for her in that moment.

You’re in a distressed state and had to do so much crying in the film, did your eyes get sore?

Gemma Arterton: Yeah they do get sore, when I was in Drama School I never thought I’d work because I could never make myself cry, then actually the trick is too not actually make yourself cry. Sometimes I’d listen to certain music to get me in the mood, the best thing is to just really imagine you’re in that situation. I was in tears a lot, there was a day, the scene with the gun, I couldn’t see any more because I had been crying so much, I remember J saying please just one more Gemma please, I was like I can’t see, I can’t see the gun, luckily in this film I didn’t have to look beautiful my eyes were so puffy. I had to go away sometimes.

I had never had the me the opportunity to reallly really act in a film so far, usually you have to serve the style, serve the script or make the guy look really good, this was the first one I had taken on that I needed to do work on, I needed to work, not just work as in work it (laughs). It was so gratifying but it was exhausting. I felt like this is what I do, it was great, I felt really comfortable doing this.

Do you think you’ll go after more meaty roles in the future?

Gemma Arterton: Yeah, I did Clash Of Titans just after this, I’ve learnt a lot in two and a half years. J’s in an amazing situation because he’s being offered every film but he’s able to turn them down, because he started off with a cracking film, where as I started off having to work my way up, I started off with a couple really shitty films, which lead to this brilliant film (laughs). Now hopefully I will be able to choose the films I want to do more, unfortunately when you are a female actor you have to do some bums on seats films. I don’t myself really go and see Blockbusters, I do when everyone’s telling me to see them, like Avatar for example. It’s not what I’d choose to go and see, I’m much more interested in something like this, it’s funny when I saw the script I was like YES I’m doing it, occasionally though I got the odd LA agent saying it’s a little risky, but I want a challenge, for me that’s what excites me about film and theatre. I’m having a little break now, but the next thing I do I want it to scare me, I want it to be a challenge. I’ll be playing a stalker though, who’s really fat and ugly YEAAAAAAHH (laughs). The girl I stalk no one wants to play her, because it’s similar to Alice, she gets humiliated, I’m really trying to get these great actresses to play it.

Check out part 2 here.

This is the best bit of movie news I’ve heard in a while, it made my day, literally! Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Terrence Malick has his next film lined up, an untitled romantic drama which is ready to start shooting Autumn 2010. I’m a HUGE (note the caps lock) admirer of Terrence Malick, patience has definitely been a virtue for a fan of Malick, this is the guy who has made 5 movies in 37 years, including a 20 year break between Days Of Heaven and The Thin Red Line, his fifth film is being released this year – The Tree Of Life. To put the cherry on top the cast on board is great Christian Bale (who had a role in Malick’s 2005 film, “The New World”) , Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams, and Olga Kurylenko. Romance movies generally don’t prick my ears up,  if anyone could make a moving romance film that I personally would enjoy, it would be Malick, his movies are always visually stunning, philosophical and touching.

Host Ricky Gervais

MOTION PICTURES:

-Best Motion Picture Drama, “Avatar.”

-Director: James Cameron, “Avatar.”

-Actress, Musical or Comedy: Meryl Streep, “Julie&Julia.”

-Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds.”

-Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

-Foreign Language: “The White Ribbon.”

-Animated Film: “Up.”

-Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, “Up in the Air.”

-Original Score: Michael Giacchino, “Up.”

-Original Song: “The Weary Kind” (theme from “Crazy Heart”), (written by Ryan Bingham, T Bone Burnett).

Halle Berry, the most beautiful looking woman at the ceremony (for me)

TV:

-Series, Drama: “Mad Men,” AMC.

-Actor, Drama: Michael C. Hall, “Dexter.”

-Actress, Drama: Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife.”

-Series, Musical or Comedy: “Glee,” Fox.

-Actor, Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock.”

-Actress, Musical or Comedy: Toni Collette, “United States of Tara.”

-Miniseries or Movie: “Grey Gardens,” HBO.

-Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Kevin Bacon, “Taking Chance.”

-Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Drew Barrymore, “Grey Gardens.”

-Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: John Lithgow, “Dexter.”

-Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Chloe Sevigny, “Big Love.”

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED

Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Martin Scorsese.

I’ve never been a fan of the A-Team television series to be honest, I was born in the mid eighties so it was a bit before my time. From the trailer and the cast though this looks like it could be a lot of fun.

The film stars Bradley Cooper as Lt. Templeton ‘Faceman’ Peck, an almost unrecognisable Liam Neeson as Col John ‘Hannibal’ Smith, Sharlto Copley as Capt. ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock, and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson as Sgt Bosco ‘B.A.’ Baracus aka Mr T. The film is currently in production and set to be in cinemas June 11th 2010. Joe Carnahan is set to direct and Ridley and Tony Scott are set to produce. The plot will involves a shift from Vietnam to the Middle East, and both Jules Daly and series creator Stephen J. Cannell are involved in the project.

This is an unexpected news story, just yesterday I read that Bond 23 was on hold due to the financial problems at MGM, yet today thehollywoodreporter have reported that Oscar winning Director Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road, American Beauty, Road To Perdition and Jarhead ) is set to direct the next installment in the James Bond movie series.

Production is being fast-tracked and could begin as early as June with an eye toward a 2011 release. Plans for the film are moving forward despite a possible sale of MGM. Sony co-produced and distributed the most recent installment of the 007 series with MGM.

For me this is very good news, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of Mendes’ movies. It also stoked me because Mendes is much more of an artsy independent Director who can a tell a meaty story, rather than a big budget, guns blazing, hero saves the day and get’s the girl kind. Hopefully for my personal tastes this shows what Direction Bond 23 is going in, I do prefer Daniel Craig’s incarnation of James Bond, I really enjoyed Casino Royal (to a lesser degree Quantum Of Solace). As a young straight man I still wanna see hot girls and explosions though

I’m still not fully sold on this for some reason, the cast is great, with Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Toby Kebbell and Ben Kingsley, all actors I look out for. The first  featurette features a short interview with Jake Gyllenhaal talking about his character Prince Dastan. The second featurette is a behind the scenes look at the film. This definitely looks like it will be one of the big blockbusters of 2010. Check out the 2 Trailer here

From the team that brought the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy to the big screen, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films  present Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, an epic action-adventure set in the mystical lands of Persia. A rogue prince ( Jake Gyllenhaal) reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess (Gemma Arterton) and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time—a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world

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