Picturehouse Entertainment has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Berlinale Competition title La Cocina.
Picturehouse’s newly-announced acquisitions team James Brown and Julia Trawinska acquired the film from sales agent HanWay Films in Berlin.
La Cocina had its world premiere on Friday, February 16 in Berlin.
The black-and-white drama follows a Mexican cook in a New York tourist trap restaurant, who is in love with an American waitress who cannot commit to a relationship with an undocumented alien.
Rooney Mara stars alongside Raul Briones Carmona. The film is co-financed by Fifth Season, which co-represents North America rights with WME Independent.
Picturehouse’s newly-announced acquisitions team James Brown and Julia Trawinska acquired the film from sales agent HanWay Films in Berlin.
La Cocina had its world premiere on Friday, February 16 in Berlin.
The black-and-white drama follows a Mexican cook in a New York tourist trap restaurant, who is in love with an American waitress who cannot commit to a relationship with an undocumented alien.
Rooney Mara stars alongside Raul Briones Carmona. The film is co-financed by Fifth Season, which co-represents North America rights with WME Independent.
- 2/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
“La Cocina,” the Rooney Mara-starring drama that recently bowed in competition at the Berlinale, has been acquired for most international territories.
HanWay Films has closed sales for France (Originals Factory), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Spain (Avalon), Italy (Teodora Film), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Scandinavia (Mis. Label), Poland (Monolith), Romania (Bad Unicorn), Baltics (Acme), Czech Republic (Film Europe), South Korea (The Coup Inc.), Japan (Sundae), Taiwan (Filmware International), China (HiShow), Greece (Tfg), the Middle East (Front Row), Israel (Forum Film), Singapore (Shaw), Ukraine (Arthouse Traffic), Indonesia (Falcon Pictures) and Ships and Airlines (Cinesky). Before the Berlin Film Festival began, a key deal with Germany and Austria was closed with Square One Entertainment.
Variety understands that a U.K. and Ireland deal is very close to being finalized, while Fifth Season — which co-financed the film — is co-representing the North American sale with WME.
The fourth feature from one of...
HanWay Films has closed sales for France (Originals Factory), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Spain (Avalon), Italy (Teodora Film), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Scandinavia (Mis. Label), Poland (Monolith), Romania (Bad Unicorn), Baltics (Acme), Czech Republic (Film Europe), South Korea (The Coup Inc.), Japan (Sundae), Taiwan (Filmware International), China (HiShow), Greece (Tfg), the Middle East (Front Row), Israel (Forum Film), Singapore (Shaw), Ukraine (Arthouse Traffic), Indonesia (Falcon Pictures) and Ships and Airlines (Cinesky). Before the Berlin Film Festival began, a key deal with Germany and Austria was closed with Square One Entertainment.
Variety understands that a U.K. and Ireland deal is very close to being finalized, while Fifth Season — which co-financed the film — is co-representing the North American sale with WME.
The fourth feature from one of...
- 2/26/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Everyone knows that most big restaurant kitchens are a mess. Everyone also knows that restaurant workers are overworked, underpaid, usually some of the most stressed out people on the planet, who work tirelessly where we can't see them to prepare our food and keep the restaurant running at full speed. There have been a number of good films made about kitchens and restaurant workers recently (Boiling Point and "The Bear" are two of the most prominent) and now there's another new one to add to that growing subgenre. La Cocina is the latest feature film made by a Mexican filmmaker named Alonso Ruizpalacios, who directs this B&w drama based on the acclaimed stage play by Arnold Wesker. Alas, La Cocina is unfortunately a messy, tiresomely chaotic, frustrating film that is so obsessed with its own chaos that it becomes annoying to sit through, especially the final 30 minutes. Check, please! I don't want a desert today,...
- 2/23/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
It was when Alonso Ruizpalacios was in London working as a dishwasher at the (now-extinct) Rainforest Cafe that he came up with the idea for La Cocina.
“I was a drama student and I’d just read the [1957] play The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker and to make the work — which is tough, monotonous and very, very hard — bearable, I’d look at it through the creative lens of the play. If you see how a kitchen works, you realize it is much like the world, like [how] society works. Wesker says for Shakespeare all the world is a stage, whereas for him all the world is a kitchen.”
It was decades later, after success with Mexican films like Museo and A Cop Movie, that Ruizpalacios came back to the idea, taking The Kitchen as the jumping-off point for his English-language debut, transferring the action from late-’50s London to modern-day New York.
“I was a drama student and I’d just read the [1957] play The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker and to make the work — which is tough, monotonous and very, very hard — bearable, I’d look at it through the creative lens of the play. If you see how a kitchen works, you realize it is much like the world, like [how] society works. Wesker says for Shakespeare all the world is a stage, whereas for him all the world is a kitchen.”
It was decades later, after success with Mexican films like Museo and A Cop Movie, that Ruizpalacios came back to the idea, taking The Kitchen as the jumping-off point for his English-language debut, transferring the action from late-’50s London to modern-day New York.
- 2/18/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Soap Kitchen: Ruizpalacios Underwhelms & Over Bakes Food Drama
Making his English language debut with fourth feature La Cocina, based on the notable stage play by Arnold Wesker, Alonso Ruizpalacios presents an absurd, impulsive microcosm of oft invisible experiences. Taking place behind-the-scenes in what appears to be a mediocre tourist mainstay in Times Square (set in an era before cellphones), a teeming community of workers tossed together like a makeshift family goes about the daily grind. As circumstances dictate, the focus is one particularly grueling lunch shift in which various coinciding dilemmas come to a show stopping head.
Much like his exceptional 2018 title Museo, Ruizpalacios gravitates towards the power of process, drifting into tangentiality of the narrative to collect the milk of human experiences.…...
Making his English language debut with fourth feature La Cocina, based on the notable stage play by Arnold Wesker, Alonso Ruizpalacios presents an absurd, impulsive microcosm of oft invisible experiences. Taking place behind-the-scenes in what appears to be a mediocre tourist mainstay in Times Square (set in an era before cellphones), a teeming community of workers tossed together like a makeshift family goes about the daily grind. As circumstances dictate, the focus is one particularly grueling lunch shift in which various coinciding dilemmas come to a show stopping head.
Much like his exceptional 2018 title Museo, Ruizpalacios gravitates towards the power of process, drifting into tangentiality of the narrative to collect the milk of human experiences.…...
- 2/16/2024
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Egos are charred and tempers seared in La Cocina, a kitchen nightmare set in the engine rooms of a vast Times Square eatery where the staff have more pressing things to worry about than rising temperatures. Take Pedro, a hardened and still-undocumented line cook whose outbursts of ideology can only mask his resentments and vulnerability for so long. Then there’s Julia (Rooney Mara), who is carrying Pedro’s unborn child, hiding her morning sickness in the staff room and planning to sneak out on break to get an abortion. And then there’s Estela (Anna Diaz), our eyes and ears: fresh off the proverbial boat, with barely a word of English, asking strangers on the subway how to get to 45th street before being unceremoniously tossed into a lunch shift that soon resembles The Raft of the Medusa, adrift on a sea of Cherry Coke.
The director of this lively tableaux is Alonso Ruizpalacios,...
The director of this lively tableaux is Alonso Ruizpalacios,...
- 2/16/2024
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
If “the kitchen as war zone” has become a veritable sub-genre unto itself, Alonso Ruizpalacios’ “La Cocina” is the closest thing it has to its own “Gallipoli.” The trenches are made out of stainless steel instead of rotten wood, and the steady bombardment of orders comes with a greater threat of deportation than it does that of immediate death, but a job at The Grill just outside of Times Square is no less dehumanizing than a deployment along the frontlines at Suvla Bay, and it comes without any of the same hope for glory.
On the contrary, the soul-crushing system that compels undocumented immigrants to do this kind of work depends upon keeping them out of sight; not only from Ice, but also from the tourists who can only enjoy their rubber-fried lunch because they don’t have to look at the labor that went into making it. Capitalism is...
On the contrary, the soul-crushing system that compels undocumented immigrants to do this kind of work depends upon keeping them out of sight; not only from Ice, but also from the tourists who can only enjoy their rubber-fried lunch because they don’t have to look at the labor that went into making it. Capitalism is...
- 2/16/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios has had a winning record coming to the Berlin Film Festival since 2013, when his film Gueros took the Best First Feature prize. Five years later he was back with his second, the sensational museum-heist film Museo, and deservedly won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay. His third, A Cop Movie, which plays with the traditional docu form by using actors, won Best Documentary at Mexico’s Golden Ariel Awards.
Ruizpalacios belongs in the same league as iconic current Mexican directors Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and particularly Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose cinematic style seems closest to what Ruizpalacios has been doing. His latest trip to Berlin, La Cocina, reinforces the thrilling talent of this singular filmmaker who for the first time has shot a film using both Spanish and English. It features American star Rooney Mara as well as a stunning, uninhibited, shoot-for-the-stars turn from Raul Briones,...
Ruizpalacios belongs in the same league as iconic current Mexican directors Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and particularly Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose cinematic style seems closest to what Ruizpalacios has been doing. His latest trip to Berlin, La Cocina, reinforces the thrilling talent of this singular filmmaker who for the first time has shot a film using both Spanish and English. It features American star Rooney Mara as well as a stunning, uninhibited, shoot-for-the-stars turn from Raul Briones,...
- 2/16/2024
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Before demonstrating himself to be one of Mexico’s most original and exciting new filmmaking talents, Alonso Ruizpalacios washed dishes in a bustling big-city kitchen. That experience informs every second of the “Museo” director’s fourth feature, “La Cocina,” a thrilling in-spirit adaptation of Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play “The Kitchen,” transposed from midcentury London to modern-day New York.
A chaotic symphony of nearly two dozen characters, this black-and-white indie confection (garnished with sparing touches of color) mixes biting social critique with stylistic bravura. The setting is in the guts of a high-volume midtown Manhattan restaurant called The Grill — a hectic pressure cooker where personal and professional concerns come to a boil.
The food looks edible at best, and a lot less enticing after we’ve witnessed the commotion that goes into preparing it. In Ruizpalacios’ version, practically the entire staff — not Rooney Mara’s pregnant waitress, but the ones touching the food,...
A chaotic symphony of nearly two dozen characters, this black-and-white indie confection (garnished with sparing touches of color) mixes biting social critique with stylistic bravura. The setting is in the guts of a high-volume midtown Manhattan restaurant called The Grill — a hectic pressure cooker where personal and professional concerns come to a boil.
The food looks edible at best, and a lot less enticing after we’ve witnessed the commotion that goes into preparing it. In Ruizpalacios’ version, practically the entire staff — not Rooney Mara’s pregnant waitress, but the ones touching the food,...
- 2/16/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Rooney Mara has become increasingly selective with her roles, often prioritizing projects from A-list auteurs and taking long hiatuses when the right films don’t materialize. At the Berlin Film Festival press conference for her new film “La Cocina” (via Variety), Mara attributed some of her choosiness to her insistence on working with directors she trusts.
“I really go by the director. I learned that pretty early,” Mara said when asked about her criteria for selecting roles. “I had some bad experiences as an actor. And then I think it was probably after the first time I worked with David Fincher that I was like, ‘Oh, follow the director.’ So I really make my choices based on the filmmaker and who I want to work with because at the end of the day, it’s all them.”
“La Cocina” is directed by “A Cop Movie” filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios, whom Mara...
“I really go by the director. I learned that pretty early,” Mara said when asked about her criteria for selecting roles. “I had some bad experiences as an actor. And then I think it was probably after the first time I worked with David Fincher that I was like, ‘Oh, follow the director.’ So I really make my choices based on the filmmaker and who I want to work with because at the end of the day, it’s all them.”
“La Cocina” is directed by “A Cop Movie” filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios, whom Mara...
- 2/16/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Rooney Mara says she chooses movie projects these days based on who is seated in the director’s chair and has been doing so for some time.
“For me, I really go by the director. I learned that pretty early,” the Women Talking and Girl With a Dragon Tattoo actor said Friday when explaining how she ended up starring in director Alonso Ruizpalacios’ English-language debut, La Cocina, which bowed at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday.
The two-time Oscar nominee plays a waitress at a high-stress Manhattan restaurant where she strikes up a relationship with a backroom cook, played by Raúl Briones. “I had some bad experiences as an actor,” Mara continued.
So it took her role in David Fincher’s The Social Network, where she played Erica Albright, to restore her faith in acting. “It was the first time I worked with David Fincher and I realized follow the director.
“For me, I really go by the director. I learned that pretty early,” the Women Talking and Girl With a Dragon Tattoo actor said Friday when explaining how she ended up starring in director Alonso Ruizpalacios’ English-language debut, La Cocina, which bowed at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday.
The two-time Oscar nominee plays a waitress at a high-stress Manhattan restaurant where she strikes up a relationship with a backroom cook, played by Raúl Briones. “I had some bad experiences as an actor,” Mara continued.
So it took her role in David Fincher’s The Social Network, where she played Erica Albright, to restore her faith in acting. “It was the first time I worked with David Fincher and I realized follow the director.
- 2/16/2024
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Inspired by Arnold Wesker’s 1957 stage play, “The Kitchen,” Alonso Ruizpalacios’ “La Cocina” dives deep into the bowels of the industrial-size kitchen of a restaurant in New York City’s Times Square where food is churned out to serve throngs of diners, mostly tourists.
For Ruizpalacios, whose feature debut, “Güeros,” won the best first feature award at the Berlinale nearly 10 years ago, “La Cocina” (“The Kitchen”) is basically an anti-food-porn movie. “I wanted to show the other side of the food industry where expediency is more important than the quality of the food. It’s a metaphor for corporate capitalism,” he says.
The story takes place at the fictional The Grill in Manhattan, where cash has gone missing from the register. All the undocumented cooks, hailing from a diversity of countries, are placed under scrutiny, particularly Pedro (Raúl Briones), who is already on the line for his troublemaking.
Pedro is...
For Ruizpalacios, whose feature debut, “Güeros,” won the best first feature award at the Berlinale nearly 10 years ago, “La Cocina” (“The Kitchen”) is basically an anti-food-porn movie. “I wanted to show the other side of the food industry where expediency is more important than the quality of the food. It’s a metaphor for corporate capitalism,” he says.
The story takes place at the fictional The Grill in Manhattan, where cash has gone missing from the register. All the undocumented cooks, hailing from a diversity of countries, are placed under scrutiny, particularly Pedro (Raúl Briones), who is already on the line for his troublemaking.
Pedro is...
- 2/16/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: HanWay Films has closed a Germany & Austria pre-sale on Berlinale competition title La Cocina with SquareOne Entertainment.
From Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios (A Cop Movie), and starring two-time Oscar nominee Rooney Mara (The Girl with Dragon Tattoo) and Mexican star Raúl Briones (A Cop Movie), the love story is set over one day in a Times Square kitchen.
The deal was negotiated by SquareOne Entertainment‘s Head of Acquisitions Thomas Sierk with Vinh-Minh Nguyen and CEO Al Munteanu, and Nicole Mackey, Head of Sales at HanWay Films.
Fifth Season has co-financed the film and is co-representing North America with WME.
The film’s synopsis reads: “It’s the lunch rush at The Grill in Manhattan, and money has gone missing from the till. All the undocumented cooks are being investigated, and Pedro (Briones) is the prime suspect. He’s a dreamer and a troublemaker, and in love with...
From Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios (A Cop Movie), and starring two-time Oscar nominee Rooney Mara (The Girl with Dragon Tattoo) and Mexican star Raúl Briones (A Cop Movie), the love story is set over one day in a Times Square kitchen.
The deal was negotiated by SquareOne Entertainment‘s Head of Acquisitions Thomas Sierk with Vinh-Minh Nguyen and CEO Al Munteanu, and Nicole Mackey, Head of Sales at HanWay Films.
Fifth Season has co-financed the film and is co-representing North America with WME.
The film’s synopsis reads: “It’s the lunch rush at The Grill in Manhattan, and money has gone missing from the till. All the undocumented cooks are being investigated, and Pedro (Briones) is the prime suspect. He’s a dreamer and a troublemaker, and in love with...
- 2/14/2024
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Battered by disappointing markets at Toronto and AFM, both of which were held under the shadow of the actors strike, buyers and sellers are looking to Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM), which runs Feb. 15-21, to re-energize the indie business. The outlook, coming out of Sundance, is good.
“The difference in Sundance from last year to this was extreme, there were a lot more deals being down, both by distributors and streamers,” says Janina Vislmaier, head of sales at Protagonist Pictures, which screened The Outrun with Saoirse Ronan and Sasquatch Sunset with Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg in Park City, both of which will screen at the EFM. “Everyone is really excited ahead of Berlin, especially because all the buyers are back, including from Asia, which is a really good sign.”
The end of the SAG and WGA strikes hasn’t, yet, delivered the flood of new projects and packages many had predicted,...
“The difference in Sundance from last year to this was extreme, there were a lot more deals being down, both by distributors and streamers,” says Janina Vislmaier, head of sales at Protagonist Pictures, which screened The Outrun with Saoirse Ronan and Sasquatch Sunset with Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg in Park City, both of which will screen at the EFM. “Everyone is really excited ahead of Berlin, especially because all the buyers are back, including from Asia, which is a really good sign.”
The end of the SAG and WGA strikes hasn’t, yet, delivered the flood of new projects and packages many had predicted,...
- 2/13/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Double Oscar-nominee Rooney Mara is all wrapped up, literally, with her co-star Raúl Briones in her new film, La Cocina. In it, the English-language debut of Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios (A Cop Movie, Museo), Mara plays Julia, an American waitress working the high-stress lunch rush in the Manhattan restaurant The Grill, whose relationship with undocumented Mexican grill cook Pedro (Briones) is about to be put to the test.
The official posters for the film, exclusively revealed to The Hollywood Reporter, show the Women Talking and Girl With the Dragon Tattoo actress back-to-back with Briones, bound together by a seemingly unending ticker tape of lunch orders. In the bottom corner, a loose lobster appears to be making a break for freedom.
A second poster shows Mara cleaning the glass of the lobster tank while Briones looks on. Submerged inside the tank is a mini Statute of Liberty, symbolic of the (broken?...
The official posters for the film, exclusively revealed to The Hollywood Reporter, show the Women Talking and Girl With the Dragon Tattoo actress back-to-back with Briones, bound together by a seemingly unending ticker tape of lunch orders. In the bottom corner, a loose lobster appears to be making a break for freedom.
A second poster shows Mara cleaning the glass of the lobster tank while Briones looks on. Submerged inside the tank is a mini Statute of Liberty, symbolic of the (broken?...
- 2/8/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: HanWay Films will represent international sales at next month’s EFM on Berlinale Competition title La Cocina. Fifth Season co-financed the film and is co-representing North America with WME.
Two-time Oscar nominee Rooney Mara (Carol) stars in the movie which is set over one day in a Times Square kitchen. Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios (Güeros) directs and Raúl Briones (A Cop Movie) co-stars.
The film’s synopsis reads: “It’s the lunch rush at The Grill in Manhattan, and money has gone missing from the till. All the undocumented cooks are being investigated, and Pedro (Briones) is the prime suspect. He’s a dreamer and a troublemaker, and in love with Julia (Mara), an American waitress who cannot commit to a relationship. Rashid, The Grills owner, has promised to help Pedro with his papers so he can “become legal”. But a shocking revelation about Julia compels Pedro to spiral...
Two-time Oscar nominee Rooney Mara (Carol) stars in the movie which is set over one day in a Times Square kitchen. Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios (Güeros) directs and Raúl Briones (A Cop Movie) co-stars.
The film’s synopsis reads: “It’s the lunch rush at The Grill in Manhattan, and money has gone missing from the till. All the undocumented cooks are being investigated, and Pedro (Briones) is the prime suspect. He’s a dreamer and a troublemaker, and in love with Julia (Mara), an American waitress who cannot commit to a relationship. Rashid, The Grills owner, has promised to help Pedro with his papers so he can “become legal”. But a shocking revelation about Julia compels Pedro to spiral...
- 1/23/2024
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
We were a bit surprised that Alonso Ruizpalacios‘ La Cocina didn’t shore up at a major film fest in 2023, so it’ll be readying to get out of a kitchen for a prime film festival date in ’24. His fourth feature after Güeros (2014), Museum (2018) and A Cop Movie (2021), this has Rooney Mara in the lead and is based on Arnold Wesker’s stage play (set in 1950s London restaurant and revolves around an affair). Will there be carryover docu-esque elements like his last film? It’s a possibility.
Gist: Follows the life in the kitchen of a NYC restaurant where cultures from all over the world blend during the lunchtime rush.…...
Gist: Follows the life in the kitchen of a NYC restaurant where cultures from all over the world blend during the lunchtime rush.…...
- 11/9/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
La Cocina
Another project that was working under the radar, Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios quickly moved back into production on his fourth film project only moments after launching his non-fiction 2021 entry A Cop Movie. Based on the play by Arnold Wesker, La Cocina (aka The Kitchen) was in production in April of last year in NYC with – and Ruizpalacios lassoing Rooney Mara. the drama certainly recalls of his 2008 short film.
Gist: This follows the life in the kitchen of a NYC restaurant where cultures from all over the world blend during the lunchtime rush.
Release Date/Prediction: We think Ruizpalacios will return to the Berlinale – in comp for the Golden Bear.…...
Another project that was working under the radar, Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios quickly moved back into production on his fourth film project only moments after launching his non-fiction 2021 entry A Cop Movie. Based on the play by Arnold Wesker, La Cocina (aka The Kitchen) was in production in April of last year in NYC with – and Ruizpalacios lassoing Rooney Mara. the drama certainly recalls of his 2008 short film.
Gist: This follows the life in the kitchen of a NYC restaurant where cultures from all over the world blend during the lunchtime rush.
Release Date/Prediction: We think Ruizpalacios will return to the Berlinale – in comp for the Golden Bear.…...
- 1/19/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
(Superhero Bits is a collection of stories, updates, and videos about anything and everything inspired by the comics of Marvel, DC, and more. For comic book movies, TV shows, merchandise, events, and whatever catches our eye, this is the place to find anything that falls through the cracks.)
In this edition of Superhero Bits:
Christina Ricci is our latest Harley Quinn in a new DC podcast.
Kumail Nanjiani has no idea if his "Eternals" character Kingo is coming back.
"The Flash" delivers an emotional trailer for its final season.
The NAACP Image Awards go big on "Wakanda Forever."
All that and more!
Jada Toys Is Releasing Some Fun Marvel Heroes And Vehicle Combo Packs
The folks at Jada Toys are introducing some new toys that will give a couple of classic Marvel heroes a sweet ride to cruise in whilst crime fighting. As showcased in the above video, the toy...
In this edition of Superhero Bits:
Christina Ricci is our latest Harley Quinn in a new DC podcast.
Kumail Nanjiani has no idea if his "Eternals" character Kingo is coming back.
"The Flash" delivers an emotional trailer for its final season.
The NAACP Image Awards go big on "Wakanda Forever."
All that and more!
Jada Toys Is Releasing Some Fun Marvel Heroes And Vehicle Combo Packs
The folks at Jada Toys are introducing some new toys that will give a couple of classic Marvel heroes a sweet ride to cruise in whilst crime fighting. As showcased in the above video, the toy...
- 1/12/2023
- by Ryan Scott
- Slash Film
Love makes people do unpredictable things, but what is amour without a touch of madness to keep things interesting? In partnership with DC and Warner Bros., Spotify announced today that the all-new audio series Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind starring Christina Ricci and Billy Magnussen, premieres on January 31, 2023, exclusively on Spotify. The 7-episode series, written and directed by Eli Horowitz, is the latest audio project bat-swinging out of Spotify’s multi-year deal with DC and Warner Bros. following the success of Batman Unburied. By the way, Batman Unburied is outstanding! You should all check it out immediately.
Here’s the official synopsis for Spotify’s Harley Quinn and The Joker podcast:
Starring Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets, Wednesday, The Matrix Resurrections, The Addams Family) and Billy Magnussen (No Time To Die, Made for Love) as our titular characters, Harleen Quinzel and The Joker, the series tells a new story from...
Here’s the official synopsis for Spotify’s Harley Quinn and The Joker podcast:
Starring Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets, Wednesday, The Matrix Resurrections, The Addams Family) and Billy Magnussen (No Time To Die, Made for Love) as our titular characters, Harleen Quinzel and The Joker, the series tells a new story from...
- 1/12/2023
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
Spotify, in partnership with DC, and Warner Bros. announced today that the all-new audio series Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind, starring Christina Ricci and Billy Magnussen, will premiere with all episodes available to listeners on January 31, 2023.
The 7-episode series, written and directed by Eli Horowitz (Homecoming), is the highly-anticipated second project to be released as part of Spotify’s multi-year agreement with DC, and Warner Bros. following the global sensation, Batman Unburied.
Starring Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets, Wednesday, The Matrix Resurrections, The Addams Family) and Billy Magnussen (No Time To Die, Made for Love) as our titular characters, Harleen Quinzel and The Joker, the series tells a new story from the perspective of one of Gotham City’s most iconic villains.
When we meet Dr. Harleen Quinzel, she’s fresh out of grad school, a new psychologist at Arkham Asylum, determined to help the patients her colleagues have written off.
The 7-episode series, written and directed by Eli Horowitz (Homecoming), is the highly-anticipated second project to be released as part of Spotify’s multi-year agreement with DC, and Warner Bros. following the global sensation, Batman Unburied.
Starring Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets, Wednesday, The Matrix Resurrections, The Addams Family) and Billy Magnussen (No Time To Die, Made for Love) as our titular characters, Harleen Quinzel and The Joker, the series tells a new story from the perspective of one of Gotham City’s most iconic villains.
When we meet Dr. Harleen Quinzel, she’s fresh out of grad school, a new psychologist at Arkham Asylum, determined to help the patients her colleagues have written off.
- 1/12/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Mexican auteur cinema appears to be moving northwards as Michel Franco will not be the only one to film there this Spring. TheFilmStage folks confirmed that production has indeed began on Alonso Ruizpalacios‘ fourth feature — which began filming in Mexico on La Cocina and will move to NYC shortly afterwards. Rooney Mara is part of what we figure will be a two-hander — as the original text is Arnold Wesker’s stage play is actually set in 1950s London restaurant and revolves around an affair.
Peter, a high-spirited young cook, seems to thrive on the pressure. In between preparing dishes, he manages to strike up an affair with married waitress Monique.…...
Peter, a high-spirited young cook, seems to thrive on the pressure. In between preparing dishes, he manages to strike up an affair with married waitress Monique.…...
- 4/22/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
After taking a few years off, Rooney Mara returned last winter with Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley and she’ll be seen later this year in Sarah Polley’s highly-anticipated drama Women Talking. Now, we’ve learned her next role in a project that has already quietly begun production.
Mara is leading La Cocina, the latest film from Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios, who helmed Gueros, Museo, and last year’s A Cop Movie. With production already underway in Mexico City, the film is reportedly based on Arnold Wesker’s play, following “the life in the kitchen of a vast New York City restaurant where all the cultures of the world mix during the lunchtime rush.”
Additional casting is not known at this point, but one can see various snaps from the Mexico City set below, before production heads to NYC. With shooting underway, there’s a chance we could...
Mara is leading La Cocina, the latest film from Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios, who helmed Gueros, Museo, and last year’s A Cop Movie. With production already underway in Mexico City, the film is reportedly based on Arnold Wesker’s play, following “the life in the kitchen of a vast New York City restaurant where all the cultures of the world mix during the lunchtime rush.”
Additional casting is not known at this point, but one can see various snaps from the Mexico City set below, before production heads to NYC. With shooting underway, there’s a chance we could...
- 4/22/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Update, with reactions Mark Blum, a veteran New York stage actor whose credits also include roles in the film Desperately Seeking Susan and the Netflix TV series You, has died due to complications from the coronavirus. He was 69.
His death was announced by the Off Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons. SAG-aftra confirmed the news.
“He was a wonderful actor and a very good and kind man,” tweeted Rosanna Arquette, his co-star in 1985’s Desperately Seeking Susan. Arquette said she was deeply saddened by “this very very hard news…” (Read her tweet and others here.
His death was announced by the Off Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons. SAG-aftra confirmed the news.
“He was a wonderful actor and a very good and kind man,” tweeted Rosanna Arquette, his co-star in 1985’s Desperately Seeking Susan. Arquette said she was deeply saddened by “this very very hard news…” (Read her tweet and others here.
- 3/26/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Even though we’re all pretty geeked for what’s sure to be a pivotal episode of Gotham airing later this evening, “Ace Chemicals,” the time will soon come for us to turn our attention toward next week’s installment. And from what we can tell, it’ll live up to its title, that being “Nothing’s Shocking.”
For starters, it features the debut of the Ventriloquist and Scarface, whom we were led to believe were cut from the final season. Then again, executive producer John Stephens and company probably found a way to shoehorn the inseparable duo into the saga once they were granted an additional two episodes.
No matter how you slice it, this is the first time we’re seeing them in live action – and that’s pretty exciting, if you were to ask me. But strangely enough, the actor being used for the Ventriloquist is that of Andrew Sellon,...
For starters, it features the debut of the Ventriloquist and Scarface, whom we were led to believe were cut from the final season. Then again, executive producer John Stephens and company probably found a way to shoehorn the inseparable duo into the saga once they were granted an additional two episodes.
No matter how you slice it, this is the first time we’re seeing them in live action – and that’s pretty exciting, if you were to ask me. But strangely enough, the actor being used for the Ventriloquist is that of Andrew Sellon,...
- 2/21/2019
- by Eric Joseph
- We Got This Covered
Over the course of its previous four seasons, Gotham sure did put its stamp on a wealth of villains taken from the Batman mythos. In addition to favorites such as the Penguin, Riddler, Mr. Freeze and Ra’s al Ghul, more obscure baddies like Professor Pyg and Flamingo were brought to the mainstream, not to mention Hugo Strange finally getting his first appearance in live action.
Naturally, the fifth and final season will pile a few others on top of that, as Shane West’s debut as Bane is no doubt the biggest addition. Plus, we have the return of Cameron Monaghan as the Joker-like Jeremiah Valeska on the horizon, so it’s safe to say he’s going to steal more scenes.
As for the new blood in town, we learned months ago to expect the likes of Scarface and Ventriloquist, but that, unfortunately, will no longer be happening.
Naturally, the fifth and final season will pile a few others on top of that, as Shane West’s debut as Bane is no doubt the biggest addition. Plus, we have the return of Cameron Monaghan as the Joker-like Jeremiah Valeska on the horizon, so it’s safe to say he’s going to steal more scenes.
As for the new blood in town, we learned months ago to expect the likes of Scarface and Ventriloquist, but that, unfortunately, will no longer be happening.
- 10/8/2018
- by Eric Joseph
- We Got This Covered
Even though Gotham‘s fifth and final season will be a truncated 13-episode affair, we’d be fools not to think that at least a few more villains culled from the Batman mythos will be introduced. Having already brought the likes of Professor Pyg, Clayface, Flamingo and Hugo Strange to the mainstream, it should be exciting to see who else this show will bring to the party before it’s all said and done.
On that note, when recently speaking with Cbr, executive producer John Stephens let us all know which aces him and his colleagues will pull from their sleeves before having to take their final bow, saying:
“There are a whole bunch of characters I want to see that I feel the viewers at large aren’t fully aware of, like Scarface or Ventriloquist. There’s a great dark version of that character somewhere out there who I...
On that note, when recently speaking with Cbr, executive producer John Stephens let us all know which aces him and his colleagues will pull from their sleeves before having to take their final bow, saying:
“There are a whole bunch of characters I want to see that I feel the viewers at large aren’t fully aware of, like Scarface or Ventriloquist. There’s a great dark version of that character somewhere out there who I...
- 5/17/2018
- by Eric Joseph
- We Got This Covered
Long live the candy man. Gene Wilder, the actor best known for his iconic role as Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, has died at the age of 83. The Associated Press reports that Wilder's family confirmed the actor's death. The actor was also a frequent collaborator of Mel Brooks, and had starred in a string of iconic comedies including Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Wilder was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Jewish Russian parents. The budding star made his first big break in the business partaking in an off-Broadway production of Arnold Wesker's Roots. Soon after, the...
- 8/29/2016
- by Alexandra Hurtado, @AliMarieHurtado
- PEOPLE.com
Marian Seldes, the Tony Award-winning star of A Delicate Balance who was a teacher of Kevin Kline and Robin Williams, a muse to playwright Edward Albee and a Guinness Book of World Records holder for most consecutive performances, died Monday at age 86. She died peacefully at her home after an extended illness, her brother Timothy Seldes said. "It is with deep sadness that I share the news that my dear sister Marian Seldes has died," he said in a statement. "She was an extraordinary woman whose great love of the theater, teaching and acting was surpassed only by her deep love for her family.
- 10/7/2014
- by Associated Press
- PEOPLE.com
Powerful stage and screen actor often cast as an aristocrat, king or moustachioed villain
When the whisky flowed, according to the writer John Heilpern, the actor Nigel Davenport looked "as if he might knock you through the wall for sport". However, words such as "imposing" and "heavyweight", both often applied to his performances on stage and screen across more than 40 years, do not do sufficient justice to his lightness of touch and comic energy.
Davenport, who has died aged 85, was a founder member of the English Stage Company (Esc) at the Royal Court – in the first season, he was in every production except Look Back in Anger – and a distinguished president of Equity, the actors' union; he played leads in Restoration comedy and absurdist drama as well as King Lear.
In a recent rerun of the BBC's Keeping Up Appearances, he loomed as a lubricious old navy commodore coming on...
When the whisky flowed, according to the writer John Heilpern, the actor Nigel Davenport looked "as if he might knock you through the wall for sport". However, words such as "imposing" and "heavyweight", both often applied to his performances on stage and screen across more than 40 years, do not do sufficient justice to his lightness of touch and comic energy.
Davenport, who has died aged 85, was a founder member of the English Stage Company (Esc) at the Royal Court – in the first season, he was in every production except Look Back in Anger – and a distinguished president of Equity, the actors' union; he played leads in Restoration comedy and absurdist drama as well as King Lear.
In a recent rerun of the BBC's Keeping Up Appearances, he loomed as a lubricious old navy commodore coming on...
- 10/30/2013
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
To start this review off with a little bit of colour (ahem), I was going to add some background info on Batman: Black & White’s history. What it is and how it came to be, that sort of thing. However, I sincerely doubt that there is anyone reading this who doesn’t already know that stuff, so I’ll skip it and get straight to the review. If you are interested in learning more, then have a look Here. I’ll wait…
DC has made a Really strong start with this one. In fact, this debut issue is so cool that I’ve taken to keeping my copy in the freezer (Note: this is not actually true). This first issue of the relaunched B&W is a comic that just oozes quality and charm.
The Marc Silvestri cover makes for a striking opening shot, a graphic representation of everything...
DC has made a Really strong start with this one. In fact, this debut issue is so cool that I’ve taken to keeping my copy in the freezer (Note: this is not actually true). This first issue of the relaunched B&W is a comic that just oozes quality and charm.
The Marc Silvestri cover makes for a striking opening shot, a graphic representation of everything...
- 10/28/2013
- by Chris Quicksilver
- Obsessed with Film
Batman seems to be everywhere in the news today. I can’t surf the web without seeing a new article about the character. Be it about a Batman movie reboot, the coming Batman vs. Superman movie, the Batman: Arkham Origins video game, or the newly announced Gotham TV series, The Dark Knight is a hot topic. Indeed, he always has been. Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego is just one of those amazing characters that can transcend a medium. It was no shock to me when I turned on my computer to find messages asking me about what I thought about the idea of this show. So my thoughts?
Bring It!
A film/series that centres the Gotham Police Department is something that I (and many others) have been seeking for ages now. Granted many of us when thinking about it, thought we would get it in a world inhabited by Batman.
Bring It!
A film/series that centres the Gotham Police Department is something that I (and many others) have been seeking for ages now. Granted many of us when thinking about it, thought we would get it in a world inhabited by Batman.
- 9/29/2013
- by Dan Wilson
- Obsessed with Film
Another of this month’s DC villain one-shots, The Ventriloquist focuses on Shauna Belzer, the New 52′s excellent replacement for Arnold Wesker.
Presumably set just after the events of Forever Evil #1, Beltzer embraces Gotham’s city-wide power cut and takes over an abandoned theatre where she lures desperate members of the public. It reads like Batman as if written by Stephen King, and considering some of the stuff that happens I’m frankly amazed DC got away with given it a Teen Rating.
Belzer is an interesting character with mental instability unusual for even a Dark Knight rouge, her sanity levels coming in at about the same as Mad Hatter’s, if not a bit less. The story is deeply creepy and a pleasure to read, but it does have a few unfortunate problems contained within its pages. First off, if you don’t know Shauna Belzer has telekinetic powers...
Presumably set just after the events of Forever Evil #1, Beltzer embraces Gotham’s city-wide power cut and takes over an abandoned theatre where she lures desperate members of the public. It reads like Batman as if written by Stephen King, and considering some of the stuff that happens I’m frankly amazed DC got away with given it a Teen Rating.
Belzer is an interesting character with mental instability unusual for even a Dark Knight rouge, her sanity levels coming in at about the same as Mad Hatter’s, if not a bit less. The story is deeply creepy and a pleasure to read, but it does have a few unfortunate problems contained within its pages. First off, if you don’t know Shauna Belzer has telekinetic powers...
- 9/4/2013
- by Charlie Oldfield
- Obsessed with Film
Star of War Horse and Thor will play opposite Mark Gatiss in Shakespeare tragedy, which he calls 'play for our time'
The film star Tom Hiddleston, whose recent hits include War Horse, The Avengers, Midnight in Paris and Thor , will return to one of the smallest stages in London's West End, the Donmar Warehouse, to play the title role in Shakespeare's blood-soaked tragedy Coriolanus.
Hiddleston described it as "a play for our time", adding: "The fate of Coriolanus dramatises the conflict in the heart of every public figure: the war between integrity and popularity; the difference between military action and politics; the debate between public responsibility and private freedom."
He will play opposite Mark Gatiss, co-founder of the League of Gentlemen, who will soon return to television screens as Mycroft Holmes in the BBC series Sherlock, making his first professional appearance in a Shakespeare play. The production, opening in December,...
The film star Tom Hiddleston, whose recent hits include War Horse, The Avengers, Midnight in Paris and Thor , will return to one of the smallest stages in London's West End, the Donmar Warehouse, to play the title role in Shakespeare's blood-soaked tragedy Coriolanus.
Hiddleston described it as "a play for our time", adding: "The fate of Coriolanus dramatises the conflict in the heart of every public figure: the war between integrity and popularity; the difference between military action and politics; the debate between public responsibility and private freedom."
He will play opposite Mark Gatiss, co-founder of the League of Gentlemen, who will soon return to television screens as Mycroft Holmes in the BBC series Sherlock, making his first professional appearance in a Shakespeare play. The production, opening in December,...
- 5/20/2013
- by Maev Kennedy
- The Guardian - Film News
Stage actors – with minimal scope for makeup or prosthetics between scenes – tend to find it easier to age down than up
There are various ways of measuring a play: the number of characters or scenes, the presence or absence of an interval, and the average length of speeches. But Di and Viv and Rose – the Amelia Bullmore tragi-comedy currently having a second, sold-out run at the Hampstead theatre in London – suggests a new statistic: story years.
In 120 minutes of action, Bullmore follows three college friends across almost three decades (1983-2010), which places the play just ahead of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along (which covers 23 years, 1957-80, in the Maria Friedman production that is deservedly about to transfer from the Menier Chocolate Factory to London's West End). These shows travel through history so rapidly that the Simon Stephens play Port, which recently opened at the National, feels almost laggardly...
There are various ways of measuring a play: the number of characters or scenes, the presence or absence of an interval, and the average length of speeches. But Di and Viv and Rose – the Amelia Bullmore tragi-comedy currently having a second, sold-out run at the Hampstead theatre in London – suggests a new statistic: story years.
In 120 minutes of action, Bullmore follows three college friends across almost three decades (1983-2010), which places the play just ahead of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along (which covers 23 years, 1957-80, in the Maria Friedman production that is deservedly about to transfer from the Menier Chocolate Factory to London's West End). These shows travel through history so rapidly that the Simon Stephens play Port, which recently opened at the National, feels almost laggardly...
- 2/21/2013
- by Mark Lawson
- The Guardian - Film News
With Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy now officially closed, many fans have already begun theorizing who the Caped Crusader will face in the next film series. While it may be a few years before we see a new film documenting Batman’s exploits, it’s never too early to cross your fingers in hopes of your favorite villain being given the chance to grace the silver screen.
With that said, I believe that there are a few members of Batman’s rogue’s gallery that will never be part of a blockbuster hit. This may be because of their lack of public recognition, the director’s fear of tackling that character, their odd background/origin, or perhaps because they’re simply not meant for the realm of film. For every subsequent Batman film that incorporates the Joker, Riddler, Two-Face, or Catwoman, we will definitely (maybe) never see…
10. The Ventriloquist
A meek,...
With that said, I believe that there are a few members of Batman’s rogue’s gallery that will never be part of a blockbuster hit. This may be because of their lack of public recognition, the director’s fear of tackling that character, their odd background/origin, or perhaps because they’re simply not meant for the realm of film. For every subsequent Batman film that incorporates the Joker, Riddler, Two-Face, or Catwoman, we will definitely (maybe) never see…
10. The Ventriloquist
A meek,...
- 2/20/2013
- by Tim Barzditis
- Obsessed with Film
The Royal Court in London, one of the most important new-writing theatres in the world, has over the years been crucial in making the names of writers including Arnold Wesker, Christopher Hampton, Caryl Churchill, Hanif Kureshi, Sarah Kane, Martin McDonagh and Simon Stephens. Hell, it was even where "The Rocky Picture Horror Show" started out. And in the last few years, it's been on as impressive a run as any in its history, premiering the acclaimed likes of Jez Butterworth's "Jerusalem," Lucy Prebble's "Enron," Polly Stenham's "That Face," Bruce Norris' Pulitzer Prize-winning "Clybourne Park" and Nick Payne's "Constellations," all of which went on to ecstatic reviews, and often transfers to the West End or the U.S. So far, though, none of this recent batch have made it to the screen, though several are in development: George Clooney picked up the rights to "Enron," while...
- 2/5/2013
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
by Ryan Rigley
The Dark Knight's villains come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, some of them being more overtly threatening than others. Bane, for example, is one of Batman's most physically threatening opponents and was the perfect villain for the epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan's trilogy. And then, on the other side of that coin, is The Ventriloquist, a villain that is not very imposing and not that well known, to say the least.
But what Arnold Wesker lacks in notoriety he makes up for in being a genuinely interesting character. Often times, Batman villains will personify a certain psychosis, i.e. The Joker's antisocial personality disorder and The Riddler's obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Being a ventriloquist, Wesker has an extreme case of dissociative identity disorder, blaming all of his crimes on a puppet named Scarface.
Read on for more about how The Ventriloquist could have worked in the Nolanverse!
The Dark Knight's villains come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, some of them being more overtly threatening than others. Bane, for example, is one of Batman's most physically threatening opponents and was the perfect villain for the epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan's trilogy. And then, on the other side of that coin, is The Ventriloquist, a villain that is not very imposing and not that well known, to say the least.
But what Arnold Wesker lacks in notoriety he makes up for in being a genuinely interesting character. Often times, Batman villains will personify a certain psychosis, i.e. The Joker's antisocial personality disorder and The Riddler's obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Being a ventriloquist, Wesker has an extreme case of dissociative identity disorder, blaming all of his crimes on a puppet named Scarface.
Read on for more about how The Ventriloquist could have worked in the Nolanverse!
- 8/8/2012
- by Splash Page Team
- MTV Splash Page
Our critics' picks of this week's openings, plus your last chance to see and what to book now
• Which cultural events are in your diary this week? Tell us in the comments below
Opening this week
Theatre
Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad
Shakespeare's epic love tragedy relocated to present day Iraq, a society riven by sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia. In Arabic with English surtitles. Swan Theatre, Stratford upon Avon (0844 800 1110), Thursday to 5 May; Riverside Studios, London W6 (020-8237 1111), 28 June until 30 June.
Enquirer
A new site-specific production from the National Theatre of Scotland based on interviews with leading figures in the newspaper industry, from editors to retailers. Andrew O'Hagan co-edits with directors John Tiffany and Vicky Featherstone. Hub at Pacific Quay, Glasgow (0141 429 0022), 26 April until 12 May.
Film
Marley (dir. Kevin Macdonald)
A documentary about the life and times of Bob Marley. He was a musical legend, but a flawed and vulnerable human being.
• Which cultural events are in your diary this week? Tell us in the comments below
Opening this week
Theatre
Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad
Shakespeare's epic love tragedy relocated to present day Iraq, a society riven by sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia. In Arabic with English surtitles. Swan Theatre, Stratford upon Avon (0844 800 1110), Thursday to 5 May; Riverside Studios, London W6 (020-8237 1111), 28 June until 30 June.
Enquirer
A new site-specific production from the National Theatre of Scotland based on interviews with leading figures in the newspaper industry, from editors to retailers. Andrew O'Hagan co-edits with directors John Tiffany and Vicky Featherstone. Hub at Pacific Quay, Glasgow (0141 429 0022), 26 April until 12 May.
Film
Marley (dir. Kevin Macdonald)
A documentary about the life and times of Bob Marley. He was a musical legend, but a flawed and vulnerable human being.
- 4/22/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
With British theatre looking backwards, even the one new play that almost everyone enjoyed was a skilful reworking of an 18th-century classic
The British theatre is living off its past. Just think of the plays that left a strong impression in 2011: Caryl Churchill's Top Girls (1982), Harold Pinter's Betrayal (1978), Edward Bond's Saved (1965), Arnold Wesker's The Kitchen (1959) and his Chicken Soup With Barley (1958), and Terence Rattigan's Flare Path (1942). Even the one new play that almost everyone enjoyed, Richard Bean's One Man, Two Guvnors, was a skilful reworking of an 18th-century classic.
I admired Mike Bartlett's 13 at the National and Alan Ayckbourn's Neighbourhood Watch in Scarborough for their ability, in very different ways, to reflect the tenor of the times. Two other old hands, David Hare with South Downs and David Edgar with Written on the Heart, turned in highly accomplished pieces. But, even...
The British theatre is living off its past. Just think of the plays that left a strong impression in 2011: Caryl Churchill's Top Girls (1982), Harold Pinter's Betrayal (1978), Edward Bond's Saved (1965), Arnold Wesker's The Kitchen (1959) and his Chicken Soup With Barley (1958), and Terence Rattigan's Flare Path (1942). Even the one new play that almost everyone enjoyed, Richard Bean's One Man, Two Guvnors, was a skilful reworking of an 18th-century classic.
I admired Mike Bartlett's 13 at the National and Alan Ayckbourn's Neighbourhood Watch in Scarborough for their ability, in very different ways, to reflect the tenor of the times. Two other old hands, David Hare with South Downs and David Edgar with Written on the Heart, turned in highly accomplished pieces. But, even...
- 12/5/2011
- by Michael Billington
- The Guardian - Film News
Author and playwright best known for his literary drama Tom and Viv
Michael Hastings, who has died aged 74, shot to prominence in the first wave of new playwrights at the Royal Court in the 1950s. His best known play, Tom and Viv, about the difficult marriage of Ts Eliot and Vivienne Haigh-Wood, was presented there in 1984, by which time he was well established as a novelist, biographer and author of short stories. He was an unclassifiable writer, despite his sporadic allegiance over the years to the Royal Court. Much of his work is imbued with his experience of travelling in Spain, Kenya and Brazil. The fractured domestic relationships which he documented in Tom and Viv, and in his last West End play, Calico (2004), reflect his own difficult childhood and a lifetime interest in psychoanalysis.
Hastings was brought up by his mother, Marie, in a council flat in Brixton, south London.
Michael Hastings, who has died aged 74, shot to prominence in the first wave of new playwrights at the Royal Court in the 1950s. His best known play, Tom and Viv, about the difficult marriage of Ts Eliot and Vivienne Haigh-Wood, was presented there in 1984, by which time he was well established as a novelist, biographer and author of short stories. He was an unclassifiable writer, despite his sporadic allegiance over the years to the Royal Court. Much of his work is imbued with his experience of travelling in Spain, Kenya and Brazil. The fractured domestic relationships which he documented in Tom and Viv, and in his last West End play, Calico (2004), reflect his own difficult childhood and a lifetime interest in psychoanalysis.
Hastings was brought up by his mother, Marie, in a council flat in Brixton, south London.
- 12/1/2011
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
It’s a movie. It’s a play. It’s National Theatre Live, the 2-year-old film initiative that brings the best of the British boards from London’s National Theatre to international movie screens. Now, thanks to a partnership with Ncm Fathom, they’re adding 200 more U.S. sites, starting with today’s showing of the James Corden-led, rapturously reviewed (and possibly Broadway-bound) One Man, Two Guvnors. Then comes Arnold Wesker’s ’50s-set The Kitchen on Nov. 3, Trainspotting scribe John Hodge’s newest, The Collaborators (about an imagined meeting between Mikhail Bulgakov and Joseph Stalin) on Dec. 1, and comedian...
- 10/20/2011
- by Aubry D'Arminio
- EW.com - PopWatch
St Katharine Docks; Theatre Royal, Haymarket; Olivier, National Theatre; Southwark Playhouse, all London
Figures are pressed against a long pane of glass. They are spread-eagled, as if blown there by a huge wind, and aghast. In a restaurant a trio of widows meet on their shared anniversary, to tell the story of their year: one is eager to uphold the tradition, the others impatient to move on. A Muslim shopkeeper is visited by a well-heeled regular customer: she chucks a brick through his window.
In Decade, Rupert Goold has drawn on 20 writers to provide scenes about 9/11 and its legacy, and made an uneven but absorbing evening. His first good decision is to tackle the scepticism which most people will feel at the idea of making a catastrophe into a theatrical event. Miriam Buether's design puts the audience in the Windows on the World restaurant at the World Trade Centre, with...
Figures are pressed against a long pane of glass. They are spread-eagled, as if blown there by a huge wind, and aghast. In a restaurant a trio of widows meet on their shared anniversary, to tell the story of their year: one is eager to uphold the tradition, the others impatient to move on. A Muslim shopkeeper is visited by a well-heeled regular customer: she chucks a brick through his window.
In Decade, Rupert Goold has drawn on 20 writers to provide scenes about 9/11 and its legacy, and made an uneven but absorbing evening. His first good decision is to tackle the scepticism which most people will feel at the idea of making a catastrophe into a theatrical event. Miriam Buether's design puts the audience in the Windows on the World restaurant at the World Trade Centre, with...
- 9/10/2011
- by Susannah Clapp
- The Guardian - Film News
A political radical, as an actor he excelled at playing tortured establishment figures
Corin Redgrave, who has died aged 70, was both a formidable actor and a strenuous political activist. But, while it is fashionably easy to suggest that his career was blighted by his political activities, I suspect his talent was intimately related to his radical political convictions. And, if he enjoyed a golden theatrical rebirth from the late 1980s onwards, it may have had less to do with politics than with his determination to inherit the mantle of his revered father. Before he suffered a severe heart attack in 2005, Redgrave's later years yielded some of his finest work.
Redgrave was born, in London, into the theatrical purple. His father, Sir Michael, was both a great classical actor and a popular film star; his mother, Rachel Kempson, was also a distinguished actor. Educated at Westminster school, Redgrave won a scholarship to King's College,...
Corin Redgrave, who has died aged 70, was both a formidable actor and a strenuous political activist. But, while it is fashionably easy to suggest that his career was blighted by his political activities, I suspect his talent was intimately related to his radical political convictions. And, if he enjoyed a golden theatrical rebirth from the late 1980s onwards, it may have had less to do with politics than with his determination to inherit the mantle of his revered father. Before he suffered a severe heart attack in 2005, Redgrave's later years yielded some of his finest work.
Redgrave was born, in London, into the theatrical purple. His father, Sir Michael, was both a great classical actor and a popular film star; his mother, Rachel Kempson, was also a distinguished actor. Educated at Westminster school, Redgrave won a scholarship to King's College,...
- 4/6/2010
- by Michael Billington
- The Guardian - Film News
LONDON -- Pop singer Tom Jones, jazzman John Dankworth and playwright Arnold Wesker received knighthoods in the British New Year's Honors list announced Saturday. The U.K.'s top lifetime achievement awards, the Queen's honors, which include varied ranks, go to people from all walks of life. Designer Vivienne Westwood was made a dame for services to British fashion. Former BBC Radio chief Liz Forgan, now chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, was made a dame for services to broadcasting. Olympic athlete turned politician Sebastian Coe was made a knight for his work on London's successful bid for the 2012 Olympiad.
- 12/31/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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