Carey Mulligan Spotlight

Carey Mulligan makes her mark

2009-02-17T10:29:00.000-08:00

Get ready to hear a lot more about indie films' newest It Girl

PARK CITY, Utah -- Some things can't be taught.

Such as how to manage the whiplash stardom that arrives with being Hollywood's newest overnight sensation.

Just ask little-known British actress Carey Mulligan, who finds herself hailed as the industry's It Girl after breaking big at this year's just-wrapped Sundance film festival.

Until a week ago, few outside the industry knew Mulligan's name. Now the 23-year-old is being compared to everyone from Ellen Page to Audrey Hepburn.

No pressure or anything.

"It's a crazy circus, quite an out-of-body experience, very surreal," she tells Sun Media. "This is my first festival, period, so I've got to enjoy it because I'll never have it again -- it's all downhill from here."

Don't bet on it. Mulligan is a stand-out in two very different films: the tear-jerker The Greatest and the coming-of-age memoir An Education.

In the latter, she plays Jenny, an English teenager in the 1960s seduced by an older man played by Peter Saarsgard. Adapted by High Fidelity and About A Boy author Nick Hornby and directed by Lone Scherfig, it's generated the most critical accolades of any film at this Sundance.

Reviews for The Greatest have been more tepid -- aside from raves for Mulligan's turn as a pregnant 18-year-old who, after the baby's father is killed in a car accident, moves in with his mourning parents, played by Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon. And yet, as with all Next Big Things, it has been a career years in the making for Mulligan.

"It's been a very long process," she says, recalling how she first auditioned for An Education in 2006.

Shortly thereafter the production collapsed before eventually being remounted with Scherfig at the helm.

"It's always touch and go on all independent films. I never let myself believe it would really get filmed until I was on the set," says Mulligan, who has small roles in two upcoming high-profile movies: Michael Mann's Public Enemies opposite Johnny Depp and the war-themed drama Brothers with Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire.

Now, though, An Education is both finished -- and poised for release. After a bidding war, distributor Sony Pictures Classics snapped it up for $3 million, buoyed by the buzz for Mulligan's performance as a 16-year-old who transforms from middle-class teenager to worldly woman.

"Playing 16, you are so bad -- or I was at least -- at capping emotions and holding back and not saying the first thing that comes into my head. And that's what Jenny does a lot of," she says. "I was quite socially awkward. Not an introvert but I could say the wrong thing quite a lot. I was always massively enthusiastic. I never had a cool thing. Even now I'm not cool."

For proof of this, she offers up her recent appearance on the Sundance party scene.

"We went to see some big DJ. We got in, right next to the speakers and deck, apparently the best seats in the place. But it was so loud and unpleasant. I'm sure he's brilliant at what he does, but it's so not my scene."

Moreover, Mulligan is swiftly learning that once you have success as an actor, you no longer have your characters to hide behind.

"I love telling stories and love being somebody else. I'm not so good at being myself. I can't public speak and a lot of the time I can't articulate myself very well, so I think I really enjoy playing other people more than I like being me. I find that whole photo-taking quite difficult.

"When I get here and I'm wearing a dress and they're taking my picture and saying, 'Give us something' you're like, 'Give me a character.' It's very hard to just be you when you're used to being other people. This public side of things is tricky. I don't know what kind of look to pull. I can't stand there with my hand on my hip. I just kind of stand and stare and hope that's good enough."

SOURCE
http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/M/Mulligan_Carey/2009/01/26/pf-8143691.html

This fame lark is quite an education

2009-02-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

Carey Mulligan has been turning heads. The 23-year-old London-born actress had a meeting with Warren Beatty in Los Angeles.

'It's surreal!' she told me. 'I was thinking: "I'm talking to Warren Beatty - what is going on?"'

When I spoke to Geoff Gilmore, the director of the Sundance Film Festival, and mentioned Carey's name, his eyes lit up. 'Where did she come from?' he asked.

Well, London, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Wales - and Bleak House and Dr Who - is the short answer.

Harvey Weinstein called her the 'belle' of the festival, and her gamine beauty has been compared to that of a young Shirley MacLaine or Audrey Hepburn. She arrived in Park City, high up in the snowy mountains above Salt Lake City, Utah, with two films: An Education and The Greatest. And she's beyond sublime in both.

In An Education - written by Nick Hornby from Lynn Barber's brief memoir about class, sexual mores and education in the early Sixties (before they started swinging) in Twickenham - Carey plays a 16-year-old schoolgirl whose eyes are opened wider than is polite by an older Lothario.

Then, in The Greatest, which is a big weepie, she plays an American college student who is forced by circumstances to live with her boyfriend's parents, played by Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan.

Carey has two other films due out this year, which explains why, whenever I bumped into her, she had a different hairstyles.

She went Jean Harlow-esque peroxide-blonde to play a Thirties flapper - a small role - opposite Johnny Depp's John Dillinger in Michael Mann's Public Enemies. 'I'm in a nightie, smoking a cigarette, playing a high-class hooker - and then Dillinger dumps me for Marion Cotillard,' Carey said with a laugh.

She was struck by the difference in scale of working on An Education, where every penny counted, to the set of Public Enemies in Chicago, where one scene might feature 300 extras, 50 vintage cars and enough food to feed a small country. 'You could eat anything you wanted, at any hour!' she marvelled.

Carey's a film festival virgin and was pleasantly shocked by the circus-like atmosphere.

'I've never had my photograph taken in the street before, other than when I've been with Keira. But it's happened here - although it hasn't got to a madness level,' she said, referring to the intense paparazzi attention on Keira Knightley, with whom she worked on Pride And Prejudice (Carey played Kitty Bennet). She also met Rosamund Pike on that movie and they're together again in An Education.

She has more movies to make this year, but next spring Carey hopes to return to the stage (she was in The Seagull at the Royal Court and on Broadway with Kristin Scott Thomas) in another Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, starring Ralph Fiennes and Ken Stott, and directed by Matthew Warchus.

When we chatted in Park City, Carey told me she felt jetlagged, even though she wasn't. 'It's like I'm out of my body and looking down, going: "What's going on?" '

What's going on? A star is being born, that's what.

SOURCE
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1126845/Sienna-Miller-make-Broadway-debut-sexually-provocative-landowners-daughter.html

Carey Mulligan is a Sundance sensation

2009-02-17T10:18:00.000-08:00

A 23-year-old British actress called Carey Mulligan (pictured) has become an overnight Hollywood sensation at the Sundance film festival, now underway in Utah. She's the star of An Education, a coming-of-age drama based on the Observer journalist Lynn Barber's early 1960s memoir about a 16-year-old schoolgirl who falls in love with an older man.

Directed by Lone Scherfig, the Danish filmmaker known for her 2000 comedy Italian for Beginners, and with a script by the London writer Nick Hornby, the film has been receiving rave reviews since it was screened on Sunday night. “There's no movie in this festival that's quite as ravishing, as witty, as well-acted or as satisfying overall as An Education," writes Andrew O’Hehir on salon.com. He goes on to describe Mulligan’s turn as the precocious 16-year-old Jenny as “a performance of Audrey Hepburn-esque starmaking intensity”.

The ”older man”, a 30-something bounder who drives a sports car, charms her parents (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour) and steers Jenny off the path to Oxford, is played by the American actor Peter Sarsgaard. Emma Thompson plays Jenny’s strict headmistress and Olivia Williams her favourite teacher.

But the break-out performance comes from the little-known Mulligan, who until now has had parts in Waking the Dead and Doctor Who and the regulation costume dramas. According to a review on IndieWire.com, Mulligan is "fantastic, utterly believable as a schoolgirl who desperately wants to be seen as a sophisticated adult".

An Education began as a 12-page story by Barber, best known for her newspaper interviews, in Granta magazine. Some critics are already claiming it’s the best film at Sundance and, to the delight of Hornby and Scherfig, Sony have snapped up the US distribution rights for between $3m - $4m.

SOURCE
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/people,0,lynn-barber-memoir-makes-a-star-of-carey-mulligan,72017

An Education’s Carey Mulligan on Not Playing a Lolita

2009-02-17T10:14:00.000-08:00

Carey Mulligan had this year’s one true star-is-born moment at Sundance. She’s on her way to being a serious movie star, with a sharp ensemble part in The Greatest and a gobsmacking star turn in the Nick Hornby–scripted An Education. We spoke to Mulligan about having an “out-of-body experience” at Sundance and realizing how young she looks in a school uniform.

You’re the talk of the festival. Are things getting busy for you?
It’s been mostly photos and TV-thingies. This is the first day I’ve really interviewed all day. I am not bored or jaded. I’ve never really done very much of this. I am having an out-of-body experience.

You’re such a newcomer, I know next to nothing about you — sorry! Where are you from?
I was born in London, lived in Germany until I was 8. My father ran hotels. And then back. Now I’m just outside London. I acted all the way through school. My first job was Pride and Prejudice when I was 18 turning 19, and then I just carried on after that.

You’ve worked on stage and TV, but this is your first starring film role. How’d you nab it?
I got the job about five months before I started shooting, but I’d read it two years before. I felt like it’d just been going on for ever and ever and ever, and I’d wanted it forever. It’s so disheartening and sad when independent films collapse. So I tried to not get my hopes up. When we started shooting, I was like, “Really? Okay.”

Was there any advice from Susan Sarandon or Emma Thompson for the newcomer?
You learn a lot about how to handle yourself on a film set from people like Emma. At the end of the day, she bought three crates of wine and beer, and pizza for the whole crew, and I thought, “Now that’s a proper leading lady…”

Most people will assume you’re 16, but you’re really 23. How’d you tap into a teenage self?
Mainly it was just thinking about the awkwardness of being 16 and your inability to cap your emotions — your inability to stop yourself from saying what’s on the tip of your tongue. Then I watched it, and I was like, “I don’t think I look that young.” And when I am in a school uniform, I’m like, “I am a child, it’s so horrible!”

You don’t play a victim, and Sarsgaard doesn’t play a predator. But she’s clearly being taken advantage of…
I wouldn’t want it to be that sort of young girl, completely being taken advantage of — and I don’t think you’ve seen a film with this kind of dynamic. There are scenes where she initiates things, actually flips it round. He is not a bad guy; he is not a villain; there’s nothing sexual about what they have together. When it collapses, it collapses because he is just [such] a lost soul.

There’s been a bit of silly controversy in America over The Reader, since Kate Winslet’s middle-aged character seduces a teenage boy. Has that been on your radar?
I don’t know how an American audience would view it, but for an English audience, sex is consensual from 16. Sixteen or seventeen seems fairly respectable to most people, I think.

So what’s next?
I am doing Uncle Vanya in spring 2010. And I just finished this film with Jim Sheridan, my first time doing an American accent, improvising, whilst holding a 3-month-old baby. It was just intense.

SOURCE
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/01/an_educations_carey_mulligan_o.html

THE NEW AUDREY?

2009-02-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

PARK CITY, Utah - A little-known 24-year-old British actress has emerged as the "It" girl of this year's Sundance Film Festival. Carey Mulligan is being compared to Audrey Hepburn for her vastly different performances in two films directed by women that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

MORE: Lou Blogs From the Sundance Film Festival

In Lone Scherfig's "An Education," which has garnered perhaps the best critical response of any film so far, she plays an English schoolgirl in the early 1960s who is seduced by a sophisticated 30-something man played by Peter Saarsgard. Scripted by novelist Nick Hornby, "An Education" co-stars Dominic Cooper, Emma Thompson, Alfred Molina and Sally Hawkins.

Mulligan plays an 18-year-old American in first-time director Shana Feste's "The Greatest," which premiered in the dramatic competition. Critical response to this tearjerker shot in Nyack, NY, has been mixed.

But Mulligan was acclaimed for her performance as a young woman who becomes pregnant during a one-night stand with a classmate. He dies in a car accident - and she goes to live with his grieving parents, played by Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan.

Mulligan, who had small roles in "Pride and Prejudice" and "And When Did You Last See Your Father?," will be seen later this year in a pair of big-budget American flicks, "Public Enemies" opposite Johnny Depp and "Brothers" with Jake Gyllenhaal. In the meantime, buyers are reportedly pursuing both of her Sundance titles. The producers of "An Education" accepted a $3 million bid yesterday from Sony Pictures Classics.

Searchlight did snap up a low-buzz title, "Adam," for an undisclosed sum. Max Mayer's romantic dramedy stars Hugh Dancy as a Manhattanite with Aspberger's syndrome who falls for neighbor Rose Byrne.

And Magnolia was reported to have paid in the low to mid- six figures for rights to "Humpday," one of the most talked-about starless titles at the festival.

Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard, veterans of the DIY, improvised genre known as mumblecore, star as two straight guys who plan to make a gay porn movie together in the comedy, directed by Lynn Shelton.

In a sign of the rapidly changing direction of distribution for small indie features, "Humpday" will be made available on video-on-demand a month before its theatrical debut this summer.And IFC announced it would use its video-on-demand network to make five features available simultaneously with their debuts at March's South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

SOURCE:

* - http://www.nypost.com/seven/01212009/entertainment/movies/the_new_audrey__151184.htm

A Young Actress Wins Over Sundance

2009-02-17T09:53:00.000-08:00

It would be an understatement to call actress Carey Mulligan busy. The newcomer spent the better part of the last year shooting two films back-to-back — “An Education,” and “The Greatest” — followed by making her Broadway debut as Nina in the acclaimed revival of “The Seagull” opposite Kristin Scott Thomas. And so far, critics and audiences alike have been pleased to meet the button-nosed 23-year-old: “An Education” sparked a bidding war at the Sundance Film Festival after its premiere before finally selling to Sony Classics for a rumored $4 million, and her turn in “The Greatest” also won strong reviews at the festival.

“It’s been a really good year,” says the London native, who manages to exude Brit appeal while in Park City, Utah, thanks in part to a pinstripe blazer pinched from her “An Education” co-star Peter Sarsgaard’s significant other, Maggie Gyllenhaal. “I went to her house and she had bags and bags from cleaning out her closet, so I did rather well,” Mulligan says.

Costume played an important role in “An Education,” a Nick Hornby-scripted film based on famed British journalist Lynn Barber’s coming-of-age memoir set in swanky Sixties London and Paris. As Jenny, a precocious 16-year-old whose aspirations for Oxford are derailed by an older man (Sarsgaard), Mulligan alternates between little-girl kilts and sophisticated frocks. “It was really funny. The male camera crew couldn’t adjust to a 22-year-old actress in a schoolgirl uniform,” she laughs. Of the more sophisticated dresses she dons as Sarsgaard’s arm candy, she says, “I wanted to keep all of them.” She only made off with one, though, plus the Prada heels that went with it.

“I just thought Jenny was such a brilliant female character,” continues Mulligan, whose co-stars include British actresses Emma Thompson, Olivia Williams, Rosamund Pike, Sally Hawkins and Cara Seymour. “When you’re 16, there’s a lot going on with hormones and becoming a woman. It’s easy to get caught up in a whirlwind and that’s what she does.”

Mulligan had to switch gears — and accents — to make “The Greatest,” a contemporary film costarring Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon as a couple who lose a child. “We shot ‘The Greatest’ in 25 days, so it really was the fastest you could work,” she says. “It was brilliant because it was my first American lead role, so that was a real challenge.”

Although she never had formal acting training, Mulligan landed her first film role at an open casting call for 2005’s “Pride and Prejudice,” starring Keira Knightley. Having such experienced co-stars has certainly helped the budding starlet find her footing. “It’s like one great drama training for me every time I meet someone like Pierce or Emma,” she says. “I just try and watch and learn as much as I can.”

And despite her burgeoning film career, Mulligan vows to act in at least one play a year. “Next year I’m doing ‘Uncle Vanya’ in the West End [in London]. I’m trying to knock out all the Chekhov while I’m still young,” she laughs (as it turns out, Gyllenhaal has reportedly been approached to appear in the production as well).

Between jobs, Mulligan heads to her family’s house in the Austrian Alps to ski and hike, and goes to the theater. “I’m going to fly to New York on the way home to see my friend Jenna Malone in ‘Mourning Becomes Electra’ and I’m seeing ‘The Cherry Orchard,’” she says.

She may also do some shopping — her favorite labels include Chloé and Miu Miu. “I borrowed my friend’s Miu Miu handbag for Sundance because I’m completely obsessed with it, but I can never shell out the money to buy it,” she sighs.

SOURCE

* - http://www.wwd.com/lifestyle-news/eye/a-young-actress-wins-over-sundance-1961661?gnewsid=236b9f133b6a571fe48ed76ea2a9e588

The Greatest - News Round Up

2009-02-17T05:58:00.000-08:00

The Greatest

Starring Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon, The Greatest marks the debut of a young filmmaker and screenwriter, Shana Feste, and follows a family coping with the sudden death of their teenage son. Newcomer Carey Mulligan plays the girlfriend of the son who shows up to further complicate the grieving process for the parents. There's some buzz about both Brosnan's and Sarandon's performances as well as talk that this could be a "career-launching" role for Mulligan.

Pierce Brosnan Makes Up For Mamma Mia!

Pierce Brosnan, in search of a career path post James Bond, didn’t do himself any favors singing in the film of “Mamma Mia!” He was awful in a cheap looking, terrible movie that was an inexplicable hit.

But with “The Greatest,” which premiered last night at Sundance, all is forgiven. Brosnan and the remarkable Susan Sarandon are just perfect in a film that clearly echoes Robert Redford’s classic “Ordinary People” but has enough new twists to make it very interesting.

In the film, Allen (Brosnan) and Grace (Sarandon)’s 18-year-old son has been killed in a car accident just after losing his virginity to the girl he loves and graduating from high school. Director Shana Feste indicates well enough that Bennett (Aaron Johnson) has been the apple of their eyes. But they still have a younger teenage son (Johnny Simmons) to deal with, plus Allen’s been having an affair with a fellow professor at his college, so you know the marriage hasn’t been perfect.

Grief envelopes the family. Grace is obsessed with the man whose truck collided with her son’s and keeps vigil at his coma bedside to find out what Bennett might have said in his final moments. Allen bottles up his emotions until they make him ill. Ryan has a teen drug problem, and goes on the sly to group therapy. And there’s Bennett’s girlfriend. She’s pregnant.

Feste could have turned this all into bad “Ordinary People” or a soap opera. A first time director and screenwriter, she takes her team into a field already well trodden with clichés. But she manages to avoid most of them, and carve out a simple new take on an old story with class and subtlety. Carey Mulligan makes a powerful debut herself as Rose, the pregnant and scared girlfriend. Sarandon is a knockout as the grieving and not necessarily sympathetic mom. And Brosnan, this time, is in right key.

Sundance Review: The Greatest

As I was walking out of the theater after seeing The Greatest, I had the urge to find myself a broom closet or some other nearby private place so I could cry for at least five minutes. It’s that type of movie and not just because it’s so sad. It’s a very emotional film all around that will likely have people dabbing their eyes as they watch two parents come to terms with the loss of their son. The Greatest is both heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once.

The film opens with a semi-steamy scene between Bennett (Aaron Johnson) and Rose (Carey Mulligan). Afterwards when they’re in the car together, Bennett is about to confess his feelings to Rose when a truck hits them from behind and Bennett is killed. The story follows Bennett’s mother (Susan Sarandon), father (Pierce Brosnan), his brother Ryan (Johnny Simmons) and almost-girlfriend Rose (Carey Mulligan) as each of them grieves both separately and together for the loss of Bennett, whom we learn throughout the movie, was an all around great guy.

Bennett’s mother grieves day and night for her son, while his father is attempts to detach himself from the loss in an effort to stay strong for his family. Ryan has lived in the shadow of his brother all of his life and now even after his brother’s death he’s still playing second fiddle. He turns to a teen grief support group where he meets Ashley (Zoe Kravitz), another grieving sibling who understands what he’s going through. Rose, shows up at Bennett’s family’s house to introduce herself and having no where else to go, they agree to take her in. Her presence adds a new layer of grief as Rose wants to know Bennett better through them, yet no one in the family is really emotionally capable of talking to her.

As we watch Bennett’s family and Rose grieve, we get the occasional flashback of Bennett through Rose’s memory. It is through these flashbacks that we come to understand just how unique their relationship was. While the flashbacks are happy, they’re bittersweet because we know how things are going to turn out for Bennett and Rose’s budding romance.

The Greatest has moments of levity that keep the movie from becoming entirely too depressing but for the most part, this is a film about love and grief. Sarandon in particular delivers such a raw performance that at times, it becomes uncomfortable to watch her because it’s clear her character is on the verge of falling apart and though her husband wants to help her, he doesn’t know how. Brosnan delivers a fantastic performance as the helpless husband who’s bottling up his grief for the sake of his family. As Ryan, Simmons carries the role well as the occasionally strung out and slightly bitter younger brother who secretly admired his big brother despite always being outshined by him. Surrounded by exceptional acting, Mulligan holds up well as Rose, the sweet girl who’s dealing with her own grief and looking to get to know the man she believes was the love of her life.

In general, I’m apprehensive to see films that seem to be sad for sadness’ sake, however The Greatness really does successfully capture the heartbreaking grief involved in the loss of a child as a family tries figure out how to move past it. The grief in the film feels real and if you can handle the almost painful realism, this could be a cathartic experience for anyone who has had the unfortunate experience of losing a loved one. What’s more, there’s a love story here that is both happy and sad, as we see how Bennett and Rose got together and how their relationship played out up until the final moments of his life. I let the theater wanting a good cry and not just because the movie was sad but because there’s an emotional depth here which rings true.

MOVIEHOLE AT SUNDANCE DAY TWO

The actress is sublime in this film. British newcomer Carey Mulligan deserves a special mention as Rose, the 18-year old who fell in love with a boy only to have never gotten to know him before his tragic death. This is a ferociously talented actress to watch for.

Mulligan dismisses Sundance buzz
Monday, January 19, 2009, 14:22

Carey Mulligan has dismissed the buzz around her at the Sundance Film Festival as "a bit blah".

"No [I don't feel pressure]," the British actress said, when asked how she felt about being touted as "the next big thing" at the festival, where she is promoting two films.

"It's all sort of blah. It's just good to be here with two films that I really love and that I had a good time working on."

The 23-year-old was speaking at the Sundance premiere of her new film The Greatest, in which she stars alongside Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan.

She also appears in An Education, adapted from the Nick Hornby novel and starring Alfred Molina.
Click here!

"Sundance is a circus but it's really cool," she said. "I love it. We were so excited when we got in."

SOURCE

* - http://www.buzzsugar.com/2700125
* - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480474,00.html
* - http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Sundance-Review-The-Greatest-11604.html
* - http://www.moviehole.net/200917361-moviehole-at-sundance-day-two
* - http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/showbiz/Mulligan-dismisses-Sundance-buzz/article-625102-detail/article.html

An Education - News Round Up

2009-02-17T05:01:00.000-08:00

The 2009 Sundance Film Festival Preview

An Education teams one of Denmark's finest directors, Lone Scherfig, with British novelist Nick Hornby, and the results should certainly be interesting. It's a coming-of-age tale of a 16-year-old named Jenny (played by Carey Mulligan) set in 1961 London, who becomes involved with a much older man played by Peter Sarsgaard. It has what possibly what could be deemed as one of the most impressive who's who of British actors including everyone from Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson to Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike.

The 5 Films Likeliest To Cause A Sundance '09 Bidding War

Those tall, icy piles of matter smothering Park City every January aren't always snow — they could just as easily be discarded Sundance dreams. But as usual, a few lucky ones will avoid the freeze.

Amid the contraction and pocketbook panic gripping the independents and mini-majors this winter, predicting a Sundance bear market seems a safe, obvious choice for 2009. But it also seems relative — especially following a year when sales of festival films reportedly plunged 66 percent from their collective 2007 high of $45 million, and eight-figure buys like Hamlet 2 (and its subsequent seven-figure gross) signaled a reality check that had little or nothing to do with an imploding economy. Distributors need content; they just don't need to walk away with one film to show for $11 million.

So what will they be spending on — and for how much — over the next 10 days? We scoured this year's selections for a few intrepid predictions:

· An Education. Nick Hornby adapted his novel about Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a 16-year-old London girl whose coming of age is kick-started after meeting an older man (Peter Sarsgaard) in 1961. She's on her way to Oxford, he's on his way to a nightclub, holy Christ what will she choose? Word is that An Education is a starmaker for Mulligan, aided by another anticipated film at the fest (see below) and a supporting cast — Sarsgaard, Emma Thompson, Alfred Molina, Sally Hawkins — that will attract the likes of Sony Pictures Classics, Miramax and Focus Features for at least $4 million.

· The Greatest. Setting itself up as an In the Bedroom without the undercooked revenge subplot, The Greatest thrusts Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon into grief over the loss of their teenage son in a car accident. Mulligan appears as the dead kid's girlfriend, lessons are learned, Oscar clips ensue — again, if it's any good: Sundance's bead on middle-class white mourning is growing tired, and Brosnan's executive producer credit whispers "vanity project." But to the extent they even show up with any money at all, the Weinsteins and Paramount Vantage are suckers for this kind of stuff. It may not leave Park City with a deal, but we'll probably hear numbers between $4 million and $5 million throughout the week.

Sundance Unveils A New Star, So Does Ecuador

Remember the name Carey Mulligan. The twenty three old British actress is about to become an It girl. Everything is in place for it too. Yesterday at Sundance the fire marshall had to turn away ticket holders at the Egyptian Theatre because word was Mulligan’s star role in “An Education” was so hot. I hate to say it—because who knows what will happen—but Mulligan turns in an Oscar and award winning performance much on the par of Ellen Page in “Juno” in the Lone Scherfig (a gorgeous Danish director) film.

“An Education” is just about perfect, too: written by Nick Hornby based on the memoir of a British journalist, the early 60s suburban London story has all the makings of a substantial hit for any distributor. The cast includes Peter Saarsgard, Dominic Cooper, Emma Thompson, and a terrific Alfred Molina in this coming of age story. But it’s 23-year-old Mulligan playing a wise 16-year-old who just pops off the screen. The amazing thing, she’s just as memorable in “The Greatest,” a film seen on Saturday that was so good it prompted a standing ovation.

So 2009 should be the year of Carey Mulligan. Isn’t it interesting too that she’s already got powerhouse CAA talent agency on her side, with Kevin Huvane and Chris Andrews—who know talent—steering her along. Shades of Gwyneth and Cate!

"An Education," an early-'60s London coming-of-age fable from writer Nick Hornby and director Lone Scherfig. (This is a surprise of a different sort, in that Sundance has only started to become a major showcase for non-American films.) In a performance of Audrey Hepburn-esque starmaking intensity, young English actress Carey Mulligan plays 16-year-old Jenny, a precocious student, talented cellist and aspiring woman of the world who's trapped in the middle-class suburban dreariness of Twickenham, circa 1961.

As writer Hornby (the author of "High Fidelity" and "About a Boy") explained after the vastly oversold downtown screening I attended, England in the early '60s wasn't yet, you know, '60s England. When Jenny meets a charming and handsome older guy who we can instantly tell is bad news, he knows about jazz and Ravel and art auctions and supper clubs and weekends in Paris; Carnaby Street and Twiggy and Brian Jones are still in the future. David, the smooth operator, is played by Peter Sarsgaard, who does such a good Ewan McGregor I convinced myself he was McGregor for a while.

David is in the vicinity of 30 and drives a sports car and has nice clothes and knows "colored people." He tells outrageous lies and charms Jenny's parents and gradually steers her off her track of Oxford-bound academic excellence and onto one of his own devising. On one hand, clearly a bad idea. On the other, as Jenny demands of her school headmistress (a forbidding cameo for Emma Thompson), what the hell can Oxford do for young women in profoundly unliberated early-'60s England? A long, dull grind of study followed by a long, dull grind behind a desk at spinsterish jobs like hers? At least hanging out with David is fun.

You could say that there's nothing surprising in the oft-told tale of the seducer and the schoolgirl -- hanging out with David is indeed fun, until the dynamic between them begins to shift subtly -- but this one's told superbly, with heart, humor, a marvelous supporting cast and a dazzling recreation of a long-lost, pre-Mod London. It's a movie with many wonderful small moments, courtesy of Alfred Molina as Jenny's dad or Dominic Cooper as David's more cautious best friend or the beautiful Olivia Williams as Jenny's favorite teacher. Fundamentally it belongs to the irresistible Mulligan as Jenny, a mouthy, awkward, almost-sexy combination of innocence and wisdom. You almost never see movies about teenagers that treat them with this much respect; sure, Jenny is governed by her hormones and her half-realized dreams of the future, but she's also much smarter than the grownups around her. As her relationship with David grows murkier, it becomes less and less clear which one is the adult and which the child.

Sundance: An education and 'An Education'

So much for preamble. On to An Education. This slight, charming, lulling coming-of-age story tells of teenaged Jenny (Carey Mulligan, poised for breakout after this showpiece and her central part as dead-boy's-girlfriend in The Greatest), and David (Peter Sarsgaard), the mysterious thirtysomething man who introduces her to a world of sophistication beyond her stodgy London suburb in dull, pre-Beatles Britain. Danish director Lone Scherfig (Italian For Beginners) has an appropriately gentle, feminine touch. (Is it okay for me to say feminine? This year's festival is a casual marvel when it comes to the number of female filmmakers in the mix, and I trust that from now on, no mention of sexual equality will be necessary since the situation will just be ... normal.) The friendly and soothing script is adapted by the redoubtable Nick Hornby of glorious High Fidelity and About A Boy fame from an autobiographical magazine piece by British journalist Lynn Barber.

And certainly the cast is plummy and hip: Sarsgaard plays a fine balance of suave and slippery as the gentleman caller; Mulligan, 22 at the time of filming, emerges from schoolgirl togs to look Audrey Hepburn-yummy; Dominic Cooper and an effortlessly funny Rosamund Pike nearly steal the pic as David's ever-so-raffish friends; and Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour fuss and fumble as Jenny's tea-cup-rattling parents, a pair that might have been played by Graham Chapman and Terry Jones in an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

HOW TO MAKE GREAT MOVIES ON A SHOESTRING

And yet, bad or good, the films were easier to enjoy than last year's grim parade. BBC Films' An Education, for instance, lived up to its Sundance hype. This delicately told age-gap drama from Denmark's Lone Scherfig sees 23-year-old Carey Mulligan stepping deftly either side of the child-adult divide as the A-level schoolgirl who finds herself being charmed by Peter Sarsgaard's older man. The world of riches and travel his character opens up threatens the girl's progress out of Twickenham to Oxford University. A sharp critique of the meaning of learning, An Education couldn't be more timely.

SUNDANCE RUNDOWN

An Education (dir. Lone Scherfig) – Thousands of journalists and industry wags and filmgoers arrived at Sundance without a clue who British actress Carey Mulligan was. One week later, she was the industry’s hottest name and not because of her supporting role opposite Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon in The Greatest. No, expect to be hearing much more about the coming-of-age period film An Education and Mulligan’s starring turn as a schoolgirl in 1961 England whose dreams of A-levels and Oxford are put on hold when she falls for a much older (and somewhat shady) man (Peter Sarsgaard). Scripted with wit and intelligence – would we expect anything else? – by Nick Hornby and directed with polish and sensitivity by Lone Scherfig, An Education avoids nearly every Lolita tendency, instead concentrating an on a sometimes hilarious and sometimes devastating critique of what it meant to be a middle class girl on the eve of the Sexual Revolution. Featuring memorable supporting turns by Alfred Molina, Olivia Williams, Rosamund Pike and Dominic Cooper, An Education was swiftly swooped up by Sony Pictures Classics. This was the finest film I saw at Sundance and I’d expect it to be an Oscar contender.

Sundance 2009: In the Loop puts rest of the fest in the shade

There's been some aggro this week. On Wednesday, a Variety critic called John Anderson punched Jeff Dowd, the producer who inspired the character of the Dude in The Big Lebowski, when the latter pestered him about his unfavourable response to a doc called Dirt! The Movie. Disappointingly there was no return punch, nor was there any blood. I guess you take what you can when the business of buying and selling has been so slow. After the Brooklyn's Finest deal at the weekend there was a light flurry of small sales. The highlights have been Sony Pictures Classics stumping up about $3m (£2.2m) for Lone Scherfig's drama An Education, which stars new British It girl Carey Mulligan as a modern day Holly Golightly. IFC, which buys movies every five minutes to feed its growing VOD pipeline, took the Norwegian Nazi zombie horror flick Dead Snow from the French sales agency Elle Driver (how cool is that name?), while Magnolia Pictures bought the mumblecore 2.0 comedy Humpday, a real crowdpleaser all week.

As the weekend approached buyers continued to swirl around the Anna Wintour doc The September Issue and the drama The Greatest (again starring Carey Mulligan), plus several studios were interested in the Uma Thurman comedy Motherhood (co-star Minnie Driver inflicted a five-song set on the after-party on Wednesday). There's been plenty of acclaim for Lee Daniels's drama Push: Based on the Novel By Sapphire and Oliver Hirschbiegel's Five Minutes of Heaven, which tackles the Troubles. I liked Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as gay lovers in the wild and wildly uncommercial comedy I Love You Phillip Morris, as well as The Cove, an eco-doc about dolphin slaughter in Japan that plays like a thriller and has adaptation potential. I walked out of an interminably drippy romance called Peter and Vandy and tried – believe me – to flee the Polish brothers' 1960s-set comedy Manure (it's too easy, so I won't go there) starring Billy Bob Thornton and Téa Leoni. Alas I was thwarted, flanked as I was on one side by a middle-aged woman who laughed spikily in all the wrong places and was not about to get up for anybody (even if you were having a heart attack) and on the other by an elderly man who fell asleep within the first couple of minutes. He had the better time.

An Education stars British actress Carey Mulligan as an early '60s teenager caught between marrying an older man (Peter Sarsgaard) and chasing a riskier life of creativity and independence. The movie was acquired by Sony Classics — and won the international drama audience award.

Mulligan, 23, was poised for a Sundance starmaking moment with two films. In the other, The Greatest, she's a teenager who tells her deceased boyfriend's family she is carrying his baby. By the time she turns up this summer as Johnny Depp's lover in the 1930s gangster movie Public Enemies, Mulligan may already have broken through.

As the festival began, she was cautiously hopeful about mercurial "festival buzz."

"As a young actress, when you haven't done big films, you come up against the name thing time and time again, where you're not enough of a name and studios don't want you," she said. "If there's anything that comes out of Sundance, it might make it slightly easier for me to get seen."

Others came with distribution locked up, but were seeking — or found — validation of other kinds.

DRAMATIC GRAND PRIZE: "An Education"

An almost painfully perfect recreation of early-'60s London -- before it really became '60s London, that is -- and a starmaking performance from Carey Mulligan as mouthy, precocious, cello-playing and French-speaking 16-year-old Jenny, so eager to escape her suburban family that she falls for suave, older, Mr. Obvious Bad News (Peter Sarsgaard). Scripted by English novelist Nick Hornby ("High Fidelity") and directed by Danish helmer Lone Scherfig ("Italian for Beginners"), this is marvelously well-constructed period entertainment with a feminist bite. One can argue it's less substantial than the next three films on my list, each completely different from "An Education" and from each other. But the way to settle a four-way tie is with your heart, and I loved this film as I loved no other at Sundance this year. Sony Pictures Classics apparently felt the same way, which is why "An Education" should reach theaters later this year.

AN EDUCATION REVIEWS
http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=reviews&Id=11531
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939422.html?categoryid=2471&cs=1
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Sundance-Review-An-Education-11635.html

SOURCE

* - http://defamer.com/5130965/the-5-films-likeliest-to-cause-a-sundance-09-bidding-war
* - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480692,00.html
* - http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2009/01/19/sundance_3/
* - http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/01/sundance-an-edu.html
* - http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/feb/15/berlin-film-festival-budget-films
* - http://www.filter-mag.com/index.php?id=18389&c=1
* - http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-01-25-sundance-wrapup_N.htm
* - http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2009/01/26/sundance_wrap/

Carey Mulligan - Straight to the top of the class

2009-02-17T04:51:00.000-08:00

At just 23, UK star Carey Mulligan is working with Johnny Depp and Michael Mann and was the toast of the Berlin Film Festival. Gaynor Flynn meets her

In the space of a few weeks, Carey Mulligan has gone from being a virtual unknown to the next big thing in the film industry. Some are even predicting an Oscar nomination next year for the 23-year-old British actress after her star turn in Lone Scherfig's An Education, a coming-of-age tale in which she plays a London schoolgirl in the Sixties who falls for a much older man (Peter Sarsgaard). Based on the journalist Lynn Barber's memoirs, and written by Nick Hornby, the film wowed audiences, first at the Sundance Film Festival last month and now in Berlin, and has turned Mulligan into the newcomer of the moment.

"They didn't want me for the role, initially," laughs the actress. "I auditioned ages ago with Beeban Kidron. Then Beeban pulled out and it collapsed. That was two years ago. Then Lone came on, but they didn't want to bring me in. She had a list of people, and the ones that they thought she should bring in had ticks next to their names. I didn't have a tick, but she saw my tape and said, 'She should come in.' If she hadn't had the time to watch all the tapes, I wouldn't be talking to you today."

Mulligan probably wouldn't be in Berlin this week either, where she was named one of the 10 Shooting Stars of 2009 (former winners include Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz). "This week has been freaky," she says, laughing.

It began on Sunday night when she had to present her very first award – at the Baftas. The previous Wednesday, An Education had had its European premiere in Berlin. She admits that she was concerned "that the Europeans might hate it", but she needn't have worried. The film generated more rave reviews for the young actress, and sparked even more comparisons with Audrey Hepburn (Mulligan has short, cropped hair, and a similar elfin beauty).

Mulligan has four films due for release in 2009, with some of the biggest names in the business. Besides An Education (which also stars Emma Thompson and Alfred Molina), there's The Greatest (with Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon), Michael Mann's Public Enemies (with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale) and Jim Sheridan's Brothers (with Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman).

"Presenting a Bafta was more nerve-wracking than anything else I've done," she laughs. "I was terrified. I've never worn a full-length gown, and I never wear strappy shoes. I couldn't walk in them."

Mulligan first came to the attention of audiences in 2005, when she made her feature-film debut as Kitty Bennet in Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice. She then put in a confident turn in Anand Tucker's And When Did You Last See Your Father?, did some television (Doctor Who) and recently impressed audiences on stage in New York with her performance in The Seagull.

" It was one of the most important experiences of my life," she says. "I love making films, but doing theatre is like falling in love with life every night. It took me a while to believe they'd cast me, so I was determined to be the best Nina ever." She had surgery for appendicitis in the middle of the run, but was back on stage within a week.

The Belgian director Marion Hansel, who was on this year's Shooting Stars jury in Berlin, isn't surprised by Mulligan's success. "Carey started very young, so she's already a real professional. You can see that in the different material she's done. She has had a lot of experience in very different parts. She has a wide range of possibilities, which is very exciting."

"It doesn't feel like things are changing that much," says the actress about the hype surrounding her. "It's probably made it easier for me to get a job, but nobody's seen An Education apart from people at Sundance and Berlin. It's all very well this buzz, but it's not based on an awful lot. It's not like the world's going, 'This is a great film.' My parts in Brothers and Public Enemies are both small: I'm not running around with Johnny Depp for the whole movie,even though I wish that was the case! An Education was the one I was most excited about seeing. I was sobbing. You never ever imagine that you're going to get to play a lead."

Mulligan was born in England. Her father is a hotel manager, and when she was two and a half, the family moved to Germany for several years because of his work. That's where she first discovered her passion for acting.

"My brother and I were at the International School of Düsseldorf, and they did these amazing, lavish productions. Because they had boys and girls up to the age of 18, they could have people playing men and women. They did The King and I, and my brother was cast as one of the little kids. My mother and I went to watch the rehearsals, and I burst into tears because I wasn't in it, so the director let me in."

As for what's next, she's not allowed to say, she jokes. "It's annoying, but they want to make an announcement. When I knew I was coming to Berlin, I said, 'They're going to ask me what I'm doing next.' And they said, 'Yep, but you can't say.' And I was like, 'It'll make it sound like I don't have a job!' But I do have a job; I'm not going to be sitting around on my arse eating crisps waiting for the phone to ring."

Right now, however, Mulligan has far more important things on her mind.

"I don't like having my photo taken," she admits. "But I got much better at doing stills on set with An Education, because Lone said, 'Look, the stills promote the movie before it comes out. If they're dull, nobody will want to see it.'

But she's less happy when the focus is just on her. "It's hard," she says. "We did this Vanity Fair shoot for Shooting Stars, and we were all naked under a rug. I've never done anything like that. I always find looking down a lens difficult. All the brilliant people know their best angle, not because they're vain, but because they know how to present the most powerful shot. They say that about Ben Kingsley. He knows exactly where to be for the camera for a line to deliver an emotion. You probably get that after 30 years. Right now, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't even know if I have a best angle!"

'An Education' is out in the autumn

SOURCE

* - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/carey-mulligan--straight-to-the-top-of-the-class-1607933.html

The Electric Slide - News Round Up

2009-02-17T04:37:00.000-08:00

Ewan McGregor Becomes Antiques Dealer, Does ‘The Electric Slide’
Published by Brian Jacks on Friday, February 6, 2009 at 10:32 am.

It’s nice to see Ewan McGregor back on the big screen, in the trades, and away from his motorcycle. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he’s tapping into that daredevil side for his next film, “The Electric Slide” which will see him robbing the rich to … well, feed himself. British actress Carey Mulligan is in talks to join McGregor.

Directed and scripted by newcomer Tristan Patterson, “Slide” is based on the true story of Eddie Dodson, a former antiques dealer who ran with with the rich and famous of Hollywood. In order to feed his heroin habit and impress his new girlfriend, he decided to rob a bank — the first of 72 he would rob in his lifetime. Dubbed “The Yankee Bandit” for the Yankees hat he always wore, he always slipped away just as the authorities arrived. He was eventually caught, and died in prison in 2003.

The film will be based on a Gear magazine article penned by journalist Timothy Ford, Dodson’s friend and biographer. While McGregor and Mulligan are not yet signed, the film is being pre-sold at the Berlin Film Festival.

Ewan McGregor and Carey Mulligan Do The Electric Slide

Ewan McGregor and Carey Mulligan are not doing a dance, but they're signing up for a new film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, McGregor and Mulligan are in negotiations to star in The Electric Slide.

The film is based off the true story of a Los Angeles furniture salesman named Eddie Dodson who became a bank robber. Dodson owned a pricey furniture boutique on Melrose Ave. and lived a glitzy lifestyle in the 80s. When he fell in love with his new girlfriend, he took a huge risk trying to impress her and robbed a bank. Dodson robbed 72 banks in the L.A. area before the FBI apprehended him. McGregor is in talks to portray Dodson while Mulligan is in talks to portray his new love.

Tristan Patterson wrote the script, based off Timothy Ford's article in Gear magazine entitled "The Yankee Bandit: The Life and Times of Eddie Dodson, World's Great Bank Robber." Patterson will also make his directorial debut on the film.

SOURCE

* - http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/02/06/ewan-mcgregor-becomes-antiques-dealer-does-the-electric-slide/
* - http://www.movieweb.com/news/NE120428fqRJ35

Carey Mulligan - Fresh Talent on RT

2009-02-17T04:18:00.001-08:00

RT profiles the young actress ready to make an impact.
by Joe Utichi | February 10, 2009

Coming out of Sundance this year, one name rang out as a talent to watch. Carey Mulligan made her big-screen debut in Joe Wright's 2005 Pride & Prejudice adaption, but as she premiered An Education and The Greatest in Park City, Utah, tongues started wagging about her obvious talent. Now RT profiles a name you're likely to hear a lot in 2009.

It was a letter to Julian Fellowes asking for advice that led to Carey Mulligan's big-screen acting debut as the youngest Bennet in Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice in 2005. She's barely stopped since then and the 23 year-old actress has no fewer than four projects on her slate for release this year. Two of them premiered at Sundance in January to stellar reviews, with Park City audiences celebrating Mulligan as one of the festival's finest performers. She presented an award at the BAFTAs, announced intentions to star in The Electric Slide alongside Ewan McGregor and travelled to the Berlin Film Festival to represent Britain in the Shooting Stars programme -- all this month.

A ferocious appetite for acting seems to inspire Mulligan to work so hard, and it's clearly paying off. This year her co-stars include Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan. And all indications are that she holds her own alongside such seasoned thesps, delivering performances that belie her short CV.

It's April 2008, and RT has come to the West London set of An Education to meet Mulligan. Her passion for her craft is immediately obvious - when we arrive she has her head buried in a script, emerging occasionally to seek advice from her director and co-stars and laugh and joke with the whole crew. She has the good sense to enjoy what she's doing, and that seems to give her the necessary confidence to deliver as a performer. Most would be intimidated by the starry names around them -- Mulligan seems to be thrilled by the opportunity to learn from them. "I had a dream day working with Emma Thompson last week," she gushes when we finally sit down with her. "I have literally dreamed about getting to do stuff like that."

It's not without irony that she's decked out in period school uniform on the day we visit -- the eager student surrounded by masters - though the costume is having a rather odd effect on the crew. "They've started talking to me differently," she laughs. "I feel 16 again! The first day of filming in the school I kept falling asleep on set because I was in a classroom. It was some kind of psychological thing, as soon as I was put in a classroom I started nodding off. I was on all sorts of caffeine pills trying to stay awake!"

As her 2009 releases start unspooling for audiences, what's clear is that while she may be keen to keep improving her skill, there's plenty of natural talent already present. Salon claimed her performance in An Education was full of "Audrey Hepburn-esque starmaking intensity," while Collider calls her "outstanding ... she allows us to watch her become a woman onscreen, the resulting portrayal intimate and lovingly crafted." Todd McCarthy writes in Variety that her performance in The Greatest is "a revelation ... [she brings] a bracing resilience to a teenager for whom one night changed the rest of her life."

It's clear that she's won over the critics, but with Michael Mann's Public Enemies due out in July, Jim Sheridan's Brothers in October and The Greatest and An Education expected before the end of the year, Mulligan is ready to make her mark with audiences. That she balances enormous talent as an actor with a classical, natural beauty and beguiling charisma should ensure that impact is wide indeed.

SOURCE
* - http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/an_education/news/1795919/carey_mulligan_fresh_talent_on_rt

Doctor Who - News Round Up

2009-02-17T04:18:00.000-08:00

10 Doctor Who companions that might have been

Sally Sparrow Blink
Carey Mulligan's performance as Sally Sparrow in Blink is mesmerising. As the main protagonist, she really makes the episode work and somehow the feeling she may return isn't completely out of the realms of possibility. A creation from the pen of soon-to-be show runner Steven Moffat, there is a great deal of anticipation that the Doctor and Sally Sparrow may eventually team up. Moffat is on record saying Carey Mulligan is "one to watch" though his recent pronouncement that his Doctor Who will see fewer returning characters suggests her future may not lie with the Doctor...

SOURCE
* - http://www.denofgeek.com/television/102848/10_doctor_who_companions_that_might_have_been.html

The Seagull on Broadway – News Round Up

2009-02-17T04:17:00.000-08:00

Carey Mulligan (Nina) For the Royal Court: The Seagull and Forty Winks. Other theatre includes: The Hypochondriac (Almeida) and Tower Block Dreams (Riverside Studios). Television includes "Dr. Who," "Northanger Abbey," "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," "Waking the Dead," "Miss Marple," "Bleak House," and "Trial & Retribution X". Film includes When Did You Last See Your Father?, Pride and Prejudice and the upcoming An Education, Brothers and Public Enemies.

Broadway's The Seagull Changes Opening Night to October 2
The forthcoming production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, which begins previews on September 16, has rescheduled its opening night a day later than the previously announced date of October 1. The production, starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Peter Sarsgaard, will now open at the Walter Kerr Theatre on October 2. The change was made to take advantage of a newly open date vacated by To Be or Not To Be, which has delayed its own opening to October 14.

Broadway played it safe during 2008
Even a cockeyed optimist would have trouble arguing that Broadway became more daring in 2008. USA Today's Elysa Gardner surveys a few peaks and valleys

Ingenue of the year— Carey Mulligan of "The Seagull." With her unmannered, heartbreaking portrait of Chekhov's Nina, the rising British actress stole this revival from her more established co-stars.

SOURCE
* - http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Tickets_for_The_Seagull_at_Walter_Kerr_Theatre_Go_On_Sale_825_20080820
* - http://www.broadway.com/Broadways-The-Seagull-Changes-Opening-Night-to-October-2/broadway_news/570948
* - http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20090101/COMMUNITIES/901010305

When Twickenham starts swinging

2008-04-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Carey Mulligan plays a teeanger in the movie An Education who, she told me, 'lives this dull beige life in Twickenham'. Until, that is, an older man drives into her life.

Carey plays Jenny, a highly intelligent 16-year-old who lives with her parents in their boring semi-detached home in a south-west London suburb.

Everything changes when she meets David (Peter Sarsgaard), a man with fingers in many pies who drives a red Bristol car.

'Jenny's looking for something more than she's got,' Carey said.

On the cusp: Peter Sarsgaard and Carey Mulligan

The film is set in 1962, a really specific time just before the decade started the swinging sixties.
'It's really a time of paste sandwiches and Battenburg cake,' 22-year-old Carey noted.

It's a fantastic role for an actress on the cusp of stardom. The screenplay is by Nick Hornby and is based on an intimated memoir that award-winning journalist Lynn Barber wrote a few years ago for Granta about how, essentially, her parents allowed her to romp around with a much older man and his friends.

Hornby has opened out Barber's story, fictionalising certain elements and changing some names to protect the guilty.

Jenny gets taken to art galleries and auctions on a trip abroad and is hurled into a lifestyle that is the antithesis of life at school and with her parents.

Producers Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey have nursed the project for a long time and at one point Variety, the showbusiness trade paper, voted Hornby's script one of the best un-produced screenplays.

I've read it and it's hilarious, yet bittersweet look at our country at a certain time and place. As Carey noted, 'it's very British' yet the specific story has a universality about it.

Director Lone Scherfig told me she has been thrilled working with the likes of Carey, Emma Thompson, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, Alfred Molina and Dominic Price.

From An Education, I believe Carey will graduate as a star.

As David Thompson, who supported the project when he ran BBC films, told me: 'She's luminescent.'

• There's a lot of interest in playing Heathcliff in the big-screen Wuthering Heights that John Maybury is preparing to direct this autumn.

I gather he has met Colin Farrell, Dominic Cooper and Sam Riley, but no decisions have been made. Maybury has the film The Edge Of Love coming out, with Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller giving top performances, but neither will be in Wuthering Heights.

By BAZ BAMIGBOYE - More by this author »
Last updated at 12:25pm on 4th April 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/bazbamigboye.html?in_page_id=1794&in_article_id=556768

Orlando Bloom Doesn't Want 'An Education' .. But Dominic Cooper Does!

2008-03-19T05:43:00.000-07:00

Last month, I was sold on the idea of Peter Sarsgaard being a lascivious '60s swinger who gives Carey Mulligan An Education. In the sea of my hopes for a good film, I sort of glossed over the fact that Orlando Bloom was also involved. (He might make a great, stunt-performing Legolas, but he hasn't impressed me in anything else.) Well, now it seems that he's not on the roster.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that the actor has pulled out of Lone Scherfig's An Education, citing scheduling conflicts, which seems a bit weird since the film just began shooting. One would think that he would have someone watching his calendar and noticing that he was double-booked...

Whether that's the real reason or not, Orlando is out, and has been replaced by Dominic Cooper, the guy who recently popped up in The History Boys, and who will soon be a leading man in Mamma Mia! The Brit already has experience acting in the '60s/'70s as well -- he was a "Squaddie at Disco" in 2005's Breakfast on Pluto.
http://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/17/orlando-bloom-doesnt-want-an-education-but-dominic-cooper/

Almost the same story about Dominic Cooper replacing Orlando Bloom are on the following websites.
http://www.andpop.com/article/11116
http://www.ifmagazine.com/new.asp?article=5922
http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2266353,00.html
http://www.pr-inside.com/bloom-pulls-out-of-nick-hornby-r490563.htm
http://hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i70b16620fc842bc83cabb0c50bf74512?imw=Y
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/bazbamigboye.html?in_article_id=533669&in_page_id=1794

'Education' gets four stars

2008-02-13T06:10:00.000-08:00

By Gregg Goldstein
Feb 12, 2008

NEW YORK -- Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson will star in the 1960s coming-of-age drama "An Education."

Writer Nick Hornby ("About a Boy") adapted the screenplay from a memoir by Lynn Barber, published in literary magazine Granta. Endgame Entertainment and BBC Films are financing the film.

Danish director Lone Scherfig will helm the story of a 17-year-old girl (Mulligan) living in the quiet London suburbs. As the swinging '60s culture emerges, her world turns upside down after she meets a 35-year-old sportscar-driving Brit (Sarsgaard). He courts her with chic dinners, clubs and foreign trips, charming her father (Molina) but putting her future at Oxford University in jeopardy. Thompson plays the disapproving headmistress of her school.

Finola Dwyer ("Backbeat") and Amanda Posey ("Fever Pitch") are producing. Endgame CEO James D. Stern, Wendy Japhet, Douglas E. Hansen and BBC Films' David M. Thompson are executive producing. Principal photography is set to begin in late March in London.

The film will be Hornby's second produced screenplay after "Pitch," the 1997 U.K. film adaptation of his novel, and his first script not based on his own novel.

Sarsgaard is repped by CAA, Jon Rubinstein of Authentic Talent & Literary Management and attorney Jodi Peikoff. Mulligan is repped by CAA and U.K.-based Julian Belfrage Associates.

Molina is repped by Endeavor, manager Joan Hyler and U.K.-based Lou Coulson Associates.

Thompson is repped by WMA and U.K.-based Hamilton Hodell.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3if2a7312d15f5f54fa3ea5e76a6d02a11

CAREY MULLIGAN ON MY BOY JACK

2008-02-13T05:39:00.000-08:00

Carey Mulligan, the up and coming young actress who made such an impression in the BBC's lavish adaptation of Bleak House recently appeared in the ITV drama My Boy Jack alongside David Haig and Daniel Radcliffe. Here she talks about appearing in the production.

Carey was attracted to the character of Elsie because she did not conform to the wallflower role often written for young women in period dramas. This was a girl, barely an adult, who was fiercely protective of her little brother and was not afraid to tell her domineering father so:

“Although Elsie is dearly loved, I think it’s obvious from what you read about the Kiplings that Jack was the main focus of the family and Elsie was there to support him. After Josie died, that was Elsie’s position in the family - to be Jack’s confidant and friend.

“She’s stuck at home and a bit bored, but she loves her little brother desperately. In some of the letters to her parents I’ve read, she writes about Jack with such affection. The one thought that was in my mind the whole time was ‘she can’t lose another sibling [after Josie]’. I just don’t think she or the family can take losing another child.

“Elsie comes across as quite feisty in the film, but you get the feeling that the arguments they have are brought on by her real passionate belief that Jack shouldn’t go to war. I don’t think their lives are usually like that because it wouldn’t be proper or right for a girl of that age to argue with her father, but it is clearly something she feels she has to fight for, and the minute she has to defend something, the feistiness comes out of her.

“I’m glad Elsie is a feisty character - there are so many wallflower roles for girls in period drama but she has real guts. She’s interested in politics. She isn’t going to change the world, but she talks about the suffragettes. She’s quite forward thinking and finds it hard to sit through the speeches Rudyard makes about the war and to support a war which has been built up to be this magical, wonderful thing. She can see straight through to the reality of it, where many people didn’t. Also Elsie is very aware of how it’s going to affect her. It’s very close to home - it’s as if she knows John isn’t going to survive.

“I loved it that Elsie was not in any way two dimensional. She was a fully rounded character and had so much spirit. I loved the family, and the script was just one of the best things I’d read. I would read it on the tube on the way to rehearsals and I couldn’t get to the end of it without crying, and crying on the tube is quite embarrassing. As I said, there are so many wallflower parts but Elsie is so special. David has written a really good ‘girl’ and he really understood her. He didn’t write someone airy-fairy - he wrote someone very strong. She was much more ‘masculine’ than other girls of the time and that was really interesting. And I’ve never had a younger brother, so that was lovely.

Carey also relished the challenge of playing ‘a real person’, a first for her. She stepped into the character’s shoes with the help of letters Elsie had written to her family back in the early 1900s.

“I have never played a non-fictional character before. I read as much as I could about the Kiplings and the story of Jack. Not a great deal is written about Elsie [compared to the others], so the letters she wrote were an important insight into who she was. It’s hard because you can only do so much reading around the real person. At the end of the day you’ve got a script to follow, and there was such a clear character coming out of the script. Having said that, it’s so helpful to have those pictures in your mind about their life. They travelled so much and had such an amazing education being brought up by Rudyard. They were special children.”

Carey was both moved and enchanted by the world of the Kipling family, listening to Rudyard’s magical stories in one scene and witnessing a shell-shocked soldier’s pain in the next.

“I love the birthday party scene where Rudyard tells an audience of children a story. The extras weren’t all that interested in what David was saying because whenever Daniel (Radcliffe) walked in, all the kids were just fighting the urge to look at him. But Kim and I were grinning like idiots because David has such an amazing story-telling voice - it was magical. I also enjoyed the scene when the witness to Jack’s death tells the family what happened. I think Martin McCann is a brilliant actor. I remember at the read through, his speech towards the end of the film had most of the production in tears.

“It felt eerie filming at Bateman’s. Sometimes you’d think ‘do they actually approve of what we are doing?’ And would they be happy with the way their story is being told?’ I remember at one point Daniel grabbed my hand and took me to the house where, in the archway, all four of them had etched their names into the stone. I almost burst into tears. David (Haig) did the same thing. He took me down to the sundial where Rudyard had written ‘it’s hotter than you think’. It’s those tiny details which made it such an odd and emotional experience. It was so beautiful, sitting in the garden. It felt like their own little world - you could just imagine them all there, hidden away from everybody else and the press who hounded them.”

As eerily realistic as filming at Bateman’s was, it was the dialogue between Jack and Elsie which transported Carey to another time entirely – a time she had tried to persuade her own brother, an officer in the Territorial Army, from serving in Iraq.

“I had the exact same arguments with my brother about going to serve in Iraq last year. He was dead set on going. I tried to argue with him, I tried to make him give me solid reasons, and he could, which drove me mad. At the end of the day you’ve got to realise if someone is going to do something regardless, you’ve just got to love and support them as much as you can.

“When I read the script I recognised many of the arguments which went on in our house, and it very much mirrored the angst we all felt. Every time I switched the television on over the six months and saw images of Iraq, my heart just stopped. The fear and the waiting, that’s what people can relate to. When I read the script, I could see exactly what David was getting at. I’d been through it myself. The poems and the writing enhanced and articulated it in a different way but the sentiment was the same.

“It’s interesting because that’s what you rarely get to see in war films - the people who are left behind. Can you imagine how they got through the day? Did they wake up and write a list of things they would try and accomplish to fill their time so they didn’t have to think about it? And to be a girl of Elsie’s age… Rudyard could go off and throw himself into the war effort but the women were just left to think a lot. Elsie is so desperate to fill her day. Was Jack being horribly maimed the best they could hope for? If they had that in their mind, then god only knows how they got through each day.”

Carey’s hope for the film is a simple one – that it makes people think about a young boy who dies for a cause.

“I hope audiences are moved by Jack’s story. I hope they remember that boy, that they think about him for a while. And hopefully it will make people think about all those we have lost in war and those who have never been found. I think it’s such an accurate portrayal of living with someone who is in the army, fighting a war.

“It’ll touch people because they will see themselves in it. The overriding thing that comes out of the film, however, is that we can only show those who go to war that we love them. I think that’s what people do in real life. You can argue and worry about them all you like but, at the end of the day, all you really have to do is love them.”

My Boy Jack was broadcast on the ITV1 Network on Sunday 11 November 2007 / 9:00pm - 11:00pm

http://theuktvguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/carey-mulligan-on-my-boy-jack.html

Review: 'Northanger Abbey' a better effort for 'Masterpiece' series

2008-02-13T05:37:00.000-08:00

Review: 'Northanger Abbey' a better effort for 'Masterpiece' series
David Wiegand, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, January 19, 2008

If any of Jane Austen's novels could be acceptably adapted for a 90-minute film, "Northanger Abbey" is probably the best candidate. After an unfortunate launch of its three-month Jane Austen series with Sunday's "Persuasion," PBS redeems itself with a nicely pitched version of the author's first completed novel as part of "Masterpiece" on Sunday night.

"Northanger" is interesting in part because, in addition to being an amusing send-up of Gothic romance novels, it is a sketchbook for the plots and characters that would come to full bloom in Austen's later novels. There is, of course, a young, somewhat plain heroine who is pursued by a perfectly pleasant but bland chap, while her heart flutters for a more aloof man. And, of course, there is the theme of money versus sincerity, character and true love.

But "Northanger" also has its own charms, slight though they may be in comparison with Austen's later masterpieces. Catherine Morland (Felicity Jones) is a young woman with a vivid imagination and a young girl's fondness for Gothic romances. The daughter of a country clergyman, she is dispatched to provide company for wealthy family friends the Allens (Desmond Barrit and Sylvestra Le Touzel) during the social season in Bath. Catherine meets the Thorpe siblings, Isabella (Carey Mulligan), who is already smitten by Catherine's older brother, and John (William Beck), who quickly develops a crush on Catherine.

For her part, however, Catherine is already half in love with brooding Henry Tilney (JJ Feild), whose overbearing father, Gen. Tilney (Liam Cunningham), encourages the romance because he thinks Catherine will receive a large fortune from the Allens.

Money and love are, of course, at constant odds in "Northanger Abbey." Henry's sister Eleanor (Catherine Walker) is in love with a young man who, unfortunately, is the second son in the family and, thus, not slated to receive much of an inheritance. Accordingly, the general has forbidden the marriage. And Henry's character, like many Austen "heroes," is ambiguous. While he seems genuinely charmed by Catherine, he does allow that the best thing he could do would be to fall in love with a girl who comes with a large dowry. While the complexities of this character type would be more credibly explored by Austen in later figures such as "Persuasion's" Capt. Wentworth, and, of course, Mr. Darcy of "Pride and Prejudice," we can, again, see their beginnings in Henry Tilney.

While later Austen heroines would show a bit more sophistication, Catherine often comes off as a more than just a little naive. Her fondness for Gothic romances has led her to imagine that highwaymen are going to overtake her carriage on the way to Bath at any moment. That notion can be easily dismissed as the musings of a silly schoolgirl, but later, while staying at Northanger Abbey with the Tilneys, she endangers her relationship with Henry by conjuring up the idea that his father may, in fact, have murdered his wife. At various points in the "Masterpiece" film, Catherine's imaginings are dramatized as part of the action. In fact, the first time it happens, you'll probably believe that her carriage really is being overtaken by highwaymen. While the scenes may seem silly, they correctly represent Austen's gentle satire of this overheated genre. In fact, there's a running debate in the story about whether it is in fact dangerous to read too many novels.

While "Persuasion" is a bigger challenge to try to squeeze into 90 minutes, the real difference between that film and "Northanger" is the latter's consistency of high-quality performances, a careful and attentive adaptation by Andrew Davies and solid direction by Jon Jones. Jones is quite winning as Catherine, although she does seem a bit too young to know whether she's actually in love or not. That's fine for the earlier scenes, but it becomes a bit of a stretch when Tilney is actively courting her.

As an aside, let it be known that in its finite wisdom, PBS has decided to truncate the name of its Sunday night warhorse from "Masterpiece Theatre" to "Masterpiece." In a similar vein, no doubt we can expect future PBS offerings such as "Myst," "Live From Linc," "Great Perf" and, for the kids, "Cliff the Big."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/19/DDVDUF61U.DTL

'Northanger Abbey' is lighthearted Austen

2008-02-13T05:13:00.000-08:00

'Northanger Abbey' is lighthearted Austen
By Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff | January 19, 2008

This new PBS adaptation of Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey," tomorrow at 9 p.m. on Channel 2, was written by Andrew Davies. If you're a fan of filmed classic novels, you've probably already admired Davies' work as the screenwriter of some of PBS's best "Masterpiece Theatre" productions - "Bleak House," "Middlemarch," "The Way We Live Now," and the "Pride and Prejudice" - that would be the 1995 version starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, with all due respect to Sir Laurence O.

Davies has a pleasing way of staying true to his masterful sources in spirit and detail, never imposing a contemporary vision onto them in the way Jane Campion and Laura Jones did in 1996 with "The Portrait of a Lady," by making the Henry James novel into a tale of domestic abuse. And yet Davies knows how to clear off the dust, too, to translate all the 19th-century manners and obscurities for today's audiences. There's a nice scene early in "Northanger Abbey" when heroine Catherine Morland and hero Henry Tilney are talking about flirting while flirting, and Davies makes their clever "meta" exchange - talking about talking - feel like a Victorian invention.

There are things to like about Davies' "Northanger Abbey," even while it is flawed and superficial, particularly when the storyline collapses awkwardly toward the end. It is not one of Davies' most consistent adaptations, but still, it's an easy-to-watch introduction to one of Austen's lesser-known novels. Austen wrote "Northanger Abbey" early in her career but, after a publishing misadventure, it was not released until after her death. About an imaginative young woman who reads too many Gothic novels, the story is Austen's most lighthearted.

Catherine Moreland (Felicity Jones), an impressionable 17-year-old from a large, not particularly wealthy family, is brought into Bath leisure society by family friends. There she meets two very different pairs of siblings. Isabella Thorpe (Carey Mulligan) and John Thorpe (William Beck) are lively and, perhaps, scheming. Eleanor Tilney (Catherine Walker) and Henry Tilney (JJ Feild) are quieter, more mysterious, and more dignified. Having only learned about life through heightened, supernatural novels, Catherine is ill-equipped to parse out the good and the bad in the Thorpes and the Tilneys.

The movie gives us black-and white flashes of Catherine's vivid fantasies - scenarios in which she is captured by thieves, Henry rescues her, and she swoons in quasi-sexual ecstasy and fear. In the novel, Austen is teasing Catherine, and Davies carries that gently mocking tone into the movie through an authorial voiceover that musingly tells us, "Something must and will happen to throw adventure in her way."

At one point while staying with the Tilneys at their large home, Northanger Abbey, Catherine imagines that their father, a stiff general, was in some way responsible for the death of their late mother. Swept up in her sense of drama, she shares her theory with Henry and appears to trigger a series of unpleasant events. By that moment, though, the movie has already given up on its storytelling efforts and on making the secondary characters anything more than sketches. Davies and director Jon Jones seem to be saying, "OK, you know where this is all going, so let's just go there. You've seen an Austen movie, that's good enough."

Part of "The Complete Jane Austen" presented by "Masterpiece" this season, "Northanger Abbey" probably needs more than 90 minutes to do justice to Austen's novel. While it is a fairly obvious piece of work, in that the perceptions of characters generally match their realities, the story still deserves enough time to explore more thoroughly how the Thorpes' behavior affects our heroine, and how our heroine grows. As she learns not to be so easily influenced by others and by books, we need to know more about the allure of those influences.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com.

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2008/01/19/northanger_abbey_is_lighthearted_austen/

Masterpiece Theatre: Northanger Abbey (2007)

2008-02-13T05:04:00.000-08:00

Masterpiece Theatre: Northanger Abbey (2007)
WGBH // Unrated // $24.95 // January 22, 2008

Review by Paul Mavis | posted January 21, 2008

WGBH Boston Video and Granada International have released Northanger Abbey, the latest Jane Austen adaptation that premiered this past spring on Britain's ITV Channel. Streamlined to a sprightly 86 minutes, this enjoyable little romp make take liberties with Austen's affectionate parody of Gothic novels, but it's fairly faithful to the spirit of her novel, providing a diverting lark that fans of Austen - provided they're not purist sticklers - should find entertaining.

Catherine Moreland (Felicity Jones), a 17-year-old beauty-in-waiting from rural Fullerton, is given an invitation by her family friends, Mr. and Mrs. Allen (Desmond Barritt and Sylvestra Le Touzel), to join them in Bath, England, a spa city of culture, entertainment, and high society. The naive Catherine, who is obsessed with romantic Gothic novels, has one of her primal dreams come true when she meets handsome, wealthy clergyman Henry Tilney (J.J. Feild) at a society ball. Tilney shows obvious interest in the beautiful country girl, but Catherine has reason to believe he may just be a passing fancy, since he soon leaves Bath, with no explanation, for several days. No matter, though; another young man, John Thorpe (Willam Beck), also watches Catherine at the ball.

When Catherine is introduced to Isabella Thorpe (Carey Mulligan), a naughty new best friend is made. Isabella, a saucy minx whose brother John knew Catherine's brother James (Hugh O'Conor) in college, immediately sets her sights on ensnaring James, incorrectly assuming the Morelands to be potentially wealthy when the Allens, who are childless, leave their fortunes to Catherine and James. Interest in James doesn't stop Isabella, who also loves Gothic romances - the more salacious the better - from flirting with Henry's dashing, cold older brother, Captain Frederick Tilney (Mark Dymond), and eventually becoming his lover. Catherine, despite attempts by John Thorpe to press himself on her, renews her courtship with Henry, which is good news to Henry's father, General Tilney (Liam Cunningham), who is led to believe by a jealous John that Catherine is indeed wealthy (and therefore a safe match for wealthy Henry). Inviting Catherine up to their forbidding mansion, Northanger Abbey, for several weeks, stern General Tilney initiates with his invitation a series of events that will turn Catherine and Henry's life upside-down.

SPOILERS ALERT!

Last week, I reviewed one of the other new Jane Austen adaptations that ITV kicked off their Jane Austen Season last spring; three films that I understand will appear on the newly rebooted Masterpiece Theatre (you can read my review of Persuasion here). Like that film version, Northanger Abbey has been retooled specifically to appeal to new viewers who may find older film versions of Austen's novels staid or too dense. Gone is quite a bit of Austen's profuse backgrounds of various characters - and the resulting nuances, as well. Events have been compressed, or invented out of whole cloth, and the energy level has been jacked up to reinvigorate viewers more accustomed to the stately pace of previous Masterpiece Theatre presentations.

Naturally, there are those who find such "improvements" not improvements at all, but those same viewers usually find fault with any film adaptation of a literary classic. While Persuasion was beautifully naked in its fever-like emotions, creating a direct plea to the audience to connect with its heroine, Northanger Abbey is quite different in tone, with a fast-paced comedic sensibility that may not be pure Austen, but which comes close to what she was trying to achieve with her novel. Northanger Abbey, her first completed novel, was a gentle parody of the Gothic form that still featured submerged, stinging Austen commentary on the dynamics of men's and women's relationships, as well as on the nakedly venal jockeying of the various classes in the pursuit of profitable marriages. Her "heroine" was an inversion of the typical Gothic heroine, in that she turned out to be completely wrong in her dangerous, highly romantic assumptions about the Tilney family. Suffused with the sensibilities of the coarse, common Gothic novels that were considered declasse for a young woman of her position, Catherine assumes that something terrible happened to General Tilney's wife, who died years before. Taking the word of flighty Isabella and scheming John Thorpe, Catherine eventually works herself up into believing that the General committed murder, with the foreboding edifice of Northanger Abbey fueling her fictional obsessions. Among the several thematic elements that Austin attempted to expound on, the central one was illustrating how real-life events are far more prosaic in details - and yet far more devastating in their life-long impact - than any overheated, cardboard histrionics of a Gothic novel.

And on illustrating that central theme, Northanger Abbey is fairly successful. Providing us with brief, delirious little dream sequences courtesy of Catherine's fevered imagination, the viewer immediately understands that almost all of Catherine's thinking has been adversely affected by the newly popular medium of the novel. The suspense of the film comes from our wondering if she'll snap out of her dreamworld long enough to truly understand the players on the scorecard, before her actions - again, based on highly improbably fictional conceits - irreparably harm her real-life future. While the film shifts occasionally in tone, with the earlier sequences veering dangerously close to an almost-slapstick ambience, Northanger Abbey is fairly consistent in its aims. Those Masterpiece Theatre fans not accustomed to screenwriter Andrew Davies' more flamboyant additions - and severe eliminations - may initially pass off Northanger Abbey as a Avon romance novel come to life. But the spoofy, obvious comedic tone of the piece is wholly self-conscious and intentional, and entirely in keeping with Austen's original intention.

Evidently, some English viewers were put off by the Irish location work (for whatever reasons - perhaps monetary - the more expensive prospect of dressing authentic Bath locations for period filming was abandoned). But the skimping won't bother the majority of U.S. viewers who won't know the difference, and as with Persuasion, the production design and lensing is quite nice, with all costumes and set decorations up to par. The acting, as with most British period productions, is exemplary. Felicity Jones pulls off the neat trick of appearing both country-bumpkinish naive and sexually desirable - perfect for her character. She handles the comedy well, and has nice, heated chemistry with Feild (he looks rather disconcertedly at times like Jude Law). He's quite adept at getting across Henry's cynicism, while providing female viewers with the required handsome, wistful romanticism called for in this type of film. Carey Mulligan is ideal as the sexually active, willful, scheming Isabella, and William Beck is suitably odious as the opportunist John Thorpe. Directed by Jon Jones in a manner befitting this abbreviated, amped-up adaptation, the cast is obviously having fun with this speedy little comedy - which translates well to the viewer.

Just a small note, however, concerning this U.S. disc version of Northanger Abbey. According to some sources I've read, there may be a scene or scenes in the original British TV version that are not present here. Specifically, there's a sequence where Isabella and Catherine discuss a rather torrid Gothic novel, The Monk, which leads to a dream sequence where Catherine, in her bath, imagines Henry coming to her naked. The initial discussion between the two girls is here, leading to a brief shot of sleeping Catherine writhing in obvious sexual pleasure on her bed, but an abrupt cut to an opera performance may indicate that the subsequent dream sequence was cut. This particular DVD times out at 86 minutes, while other sources say the film was 90 minutes in Britain -- perhaps this accounts for the lost sequence. Again, I stress "may," because I haven't seen the original British TV version.

The DVD:

The Video:
The anamorphically enhanced, 1.78:1 widescreen image for Northanger Abbey looks scrumptious, with a beautifully hued color scheme and no compression issues in the super-sharp picture.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English 2.0 stereo audio mix is quite adequate for this dialogue-heavy presentation. All lines are heard crisply and cleanly. Close-captioning is available.

The Extras:
Unfortunately, there are no extras for Northanger Abbey, which is a shame, considering the fact that I'm sure promotional materials were shot for such a prestigious TV production.

Final Thoughts:
Purists may squawk, but I rather enjoyed the heated ridiculousness of Northanger Abbey, which takes Austen's gentle parody of Gothic novels, and turns it into an appropriately-toned bodice ripper - at least at the start. Austen's social commentary is still there, though, albeit in severely abbreviated form, and the final wrap-up is suspensefully handled. A good introduction to the novel, and entertaining in its own right. I recommend Northanger Abbey.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/print.php?ID=32085

An Austen heroine with a fertile imagination

2008-02-13T04:07:00.000-08:00

The central character in 'Northanger Abbey' tends to cast herself in Gothic romances, which makes her fun to watch in Masterpiece Theatre's adaptation.
By Mary McNamara
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

January 19, 2008

In the good old days, before Jane Austen was a pop star, with assorted websites and an action figure, "Northanger Abbey" was what used to be called a "lesser-known work." "Emma," "Pride and Prejudice," "Sense and Sensibility," even "Persuasion" all could be referred to in casual conversation by those desirous of proving their good taste and general familiarity with English literature. Mention your devotion to "Northanger Abbey," however, and you instantly identified yourself as a Jane Austen geek.

This is strange, since "Northanger Abbey" is the most lighthearted of Austen's novels, a gentle take-down of the popular Gothic novels of the time, with their swooning, sexually endangered heroines, mildly depraved villains and heroes in thigh-high boots.

Catherine Morland is a typical Austen character -- young, innocent, neither classically beautiful nor rich, but with an endearing nature and spirit to compensate for such deficits. She is also a novel-addict, longing for a swoon scene of her own and finding potential intrigue wherever she looks. Especially in the grim and echoing pile of the title, where lives the man she admires and his beloved sister.

All of which makes "Northanger Abbey" particularly perfect for TV adaptation. The second in Masterpiece Theatre's "Complete Jane Austen," "Northanger" lends itself more freely to the term "based on." Thus Andrew Davies (who has done many Austen adaptations, including the 1995 TV production of "Pride and Prejudice," not to mention those Bridget Jones movies) may hew faithfully to the essential story, but he also has a little fun with it.

Instead of being told of Catherine's runaway imagination, we see it in action -- a young woman is thrown into the clutches of a jailer; imagined ruffians attacking a stagecoach; Catherine writhes against a tree, the seduced and seductive prize of a duel. Hot stuff, considering the source. (But then, Mr. Davies also adapted a version of "Fanny Hill" for television.)

If the dream-time Catherine seems a bit more wanton than an Austen character has any right to be, the real-time character makes up for it with her fresh-faced likability.

The young and lovely Felicity Jones plays Catherine as a true innocent and, as Austen would say, the soul of amiability. One of 10 children, Catherine is thrilled when wealthy friends of her parents offer to take her to fashionable Bath, where her wide-eyed, winning ways capture the attention of two men: the quick and quirky Henry Tilney (J.J. Feild) and the overbearing but handsome John Thorpe (William Beck). Each has the requisite sister -- Eleanor Tilney (Catherine Walker) is as gentle and gracious as Isabella Thorpe (Carey Mulligan) is vivacious and, as it turns out, scheming.

Mulligan, last seen in "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" and "Bleak House," is a versatile actress who could just as easily (sans blond ringlets) played Catherine. As it is, she's a perfect Austen foil -- pretty, lively and, oh, so fond of our heroine. When she becomes engaged to Catherine's brother but continues her flirtatious ways, we know betrayal is only a matter of time.

But Catherine, defining the role of ingénue as she does, reserves her suspicions for the Tilney household, fearing, and desiring, that in Northanger Abbey's looming towers and locked rooms lurks a secret worthy of any Gothic plot. Like every Austen heroine, she is at last taught the dangers of predisposition, and then, of course, there is a wedding.

Oh, you could poke a few holes in the production -- the 90-minute playing time does not leave much room for mood. Beck's John Thorpe is not polished enough to fool even a young woman for more than a few minutes, while Feild seems to downplay Tilney's rather zany charms. Davies gets a bit carried away with the sexiness -- "there's a young peach ripe for plucking," comments the young roué as he catches sight of Catherine, while Austen no doubt turns in her grave.

And as always happens with a screen adaptation of Austen, much of the author's sharp humor is lost in translation, though mercifully a voice-over preserves such wonderful lines as: "A family of 10 children, of course, will always be called a fine family where there are heads and arms and legs enough for the number, but the Morlands were, in general, very plain."

We also get all the pretty hats and dresses, the candlelit interiors, the sylvan walks and, of course, all that witty dialogue while dancing. So who's going to complain?

"Northanger Abbey" the novel was as fun as it gets for Austen, and the television film quite lives up to the same standard. Which is not to recommend it as a substitute for the novel, which it is now quite the fashion to have read.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-northanger19jan19,1,785732,print.story?ctrack=3&cset=true

Have you news of my boy Jack?

2008-02-13T03:55:00.000-08:00

It's rare today - in TV's lightweight world of tacky reality shows and insignificant tittle-tattle tosh - that something reaffirms television's power to educate, shock, inform, overwhelm, grip and entertain. But My Boy Jack does just that and considerably more. One of the most potent programmes you'll see on television this year, it's so powerful that at times it's almost unbearable to watch. Seriously good, haunting TV, it will stay lodged in your memory for a long time.

Written by actor David Haig - and based on his own stage version of a true-life story - My Boy Jack reveals how author and poet Rudyard Kipling used his influence to get his 17-year-old son John (called Jack) a commission with the Irish Guards, despite his son's poor eyesight, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War.

It was a terrible mistake, for a few months later Lieutenant John Kipling was killed in action, slowly and very cruelly cut down in a hail of machine-gun bullets at the Battle of Loos in September 1915, just one day after his 18th birthday.

But that wasn't the end of it. It took Kipling and his wife Caroline years to uncover the awful truth about their son's terrible death, and they never found his body. And, understandably, it altered Kipling's attitude to a war that he had previously whole-heartedly supported and publicly promoted.

It's not just a powerful story. The casting here is carefully chosen and top-notch. Haig himself plays Rudyard Kipling, giving a bravura performance as the writer, best known for The Jungle Book and Just So Stories, but here shown in his true colours as a hectoring, lecturing, often overbearing, bombastic paterfamilias with dangerously jingoistic leanings.

Daniel Radcliffe - playing his first major role on TV since the Harry Potter film series - is superb, keeping things finely understated as young Jack, the lad who wants to break away from his father and the suffocating, privileged world of his upbringing. Rebuffed twice by two military medical boards, through his father's influence he gains a commission, then trains hard with his men, and bravely goes over the top of the trenches to meet his death. Complementing the two leads are fine support roles from Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City's Samantha Jones) as Kipling's wife Caroline and Carey Mulligan as their daughter Elsie.

The script is tight and taut, running very smoothly, the locations are beautifully shot, the attention to detail - especially the battlefield scene - is superb, and the piece is brilliantly directed and edited, building unbearably in tension. And the closing scenes, over which Haig solemnly reads Kipling's poem My Boy Jack (written after his son's death), are a masterstroke.

Appropriately scheduled for peak-time viewing on Remembrance Sunday, this is TV at its finest. Harrowing, yet essential viewing.
Paul Strange

http://forums.digiguide.com/topic.asp?id=22515

Granada Unveils Slate for NATPE

2007-12-14T05:24:00.000-08:00

LONDON, December 12: Granada International is heading to NATPE with a raft of new titles covering genres like comedy, entertainment, music and drama, led by the British TV movie My Boy Jack, which stars Daniel Radcliffe and Kim Cattrall.

In his first television role since Harry Potter, Radcliffe stars alongside Sex and the City’s Cattrall in the wartime drama, My Boy Jack. The 95-minute production, an Ecosse Films/WGBH Boston/Ingenious Broadcasting co-production for ITV in association with Octagon Films and Granada International, is based on the true story of Jack Kipling (played by Radcliffe), the son of British author Rudyard Kipling. After Jack becomes a soldier in WWI and goes missing, Rudyard and his wife Carre (played by Cattrall) begin their search to find their son.

David Haig (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Thin Blue Line) stars as Rudyard Kipling, and wrote the drama, which is directed by Brian Kirk (The Tudors, Middletown) and also stars Carey Mulligan (Bleak House, Northanger Abbey). My Boy Jack recently aired in the U.K. on ITV1, and achieved a 25-percent share of viewers in a prime-time Sunday-night slot.

Other drama offerings include the 13x48-minute series Murdoch Mysteries, which is set in Toronto, Canada in the 1980s. Yannick Bisson stars as William Murdoch, a young detective who solves challenging murders using emerging and progressive forensic techniques. The series is a Shaftesbury Films production in association with CHUM Television, Granada International and UKTV. BAFTA Award-winner Victoria Wood (Housewife 49) and Emma Watson (Hermione in Harry Potter) star in the drama Ballet Shoes, from Granada for the BBC.

Other titles in Granada’s catalogue for NATPE include entertainment programming like Corteo, which features circus skills and avant-garde theatrical techniques presented by Cirque du Soleil, along with its backstage counterpart Through The Curtain. On the music and celebrity programming front, Granada will offer up The Kylie Show, Divas and Audience With Celine Dion, among others.

Additional highlights include the comedic entertainment series The Friday Night Project, which is also available as a format. Other formats from Granada’s catalogue include the cooking competition reality show Best Dish… and the game show format Born Winners. Also available from Granada at NATPE are the wildlife series Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures, the HD animated series Supernormal, the children’s series Boowa & Kwala, Hollywood TV movies like Matters of Life And Dating, the series Old Skool with Terry and Gita, as well as the popular Hell’s Kitchen series from both the U.S. and the U.K.

By Kristin Brzoznowski

http://www.worldscreen.com/newscurrent.php?filename=granada121207.htm

Carey to star at charity concert

2007-12-14T05:17:00.000-08:00

HOLLYWOOD actress Carey Mulligan will be among the hundreds of guests at a Christmas charity concert.

The Chapel at Wellington College will be the venue tomorrow (Thursday) for Thames Hospicecare’s annual fundraiser.

Ms Mulligan, who has shot to fame starring in the ITV series My Boy Jack and alongside Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice, will give a reading, while the Windsor Boys’ School Wind Band will be among the musical performers.

http://www.thisisslough.com/live/stories/story.php?story_id=2927

Pride & Prejudice (2005) A film review by Joel Meares - Copyright © 2005 Filmcritic.com

2007-11-23T07:28:00.000-08:00

English students of the world rejoice – another reason not to read Jane Austen. Joe Wright’s latest incarnation of Austen’s classic Pride & Prejudice is a mostly blissful time-traveling bus tour through a giggly and gorgeous English countryside. To your left note the lovely ladies Bennet, all sideways glances, blushing cheeks and innuendo. To your right, lenses at the ready for the dapper, tall, dark, and handsome objects of their affection, Darcy, Bingley, and Wickham! Swoon… Watch them as they play and woo, mismanage and miscarry, repress and reveal. This flighty matrimonial preamble is the pleasure of Wright’s adaptation, briskly played in balls and manors. When at its playful best, it dances lightly with humor and delight. However, the film’s occasional missteps, rhythm-less moves into the shadows of darker and more serious emotional territory, threaten to sink rather than anchor Wright’s film with any of the depth they intend to provide.

For those who are unaware of Austen’s novel (it might be helpful to consider that The Lion King is to Hamlet as Bridget Jones’ Diary is to Pride & Prejudice), Pride & Prejudice is the story of the Bennet sisters, and particularly, second eldest child Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). These desperate housewives-to-be are in dire pursuit of a man. For the younger girls, and Elizabeth’s squawking mother (a superbly erratic Brenda Blethyn), a man’s greatest endowment is his wallet. However, for Elizabeth and oldest sister Jane (Rosamund Pike) love is the only currency in which they wish to deal. Convenient then that the objects of their affections, Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods) for Jane, and the infamously standoffish Mr. Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen) for Elizabeth, are moneyed up to the kilt when they ride into town to stir trouble and steal hearts. Elizabeth’s very cinematic blindness to Darcy’s very British advance is the centerpiece of both novel and film, with all suspense drawn from the “will they or won’t they” dilemma.

The film opens gloriously and sails solidly for sometime thereafter, compelled by a freshness in its handling of the period. The camera is relaxed but never stagnant. An early shot following Elizabeth through the Bennet household (echoed later at a dance) has an Altman-esque charm, paying mild attention to sisterly passers-by, eavesdropping, before moving on and regaining focus. The dialogue is snappy (“Believe me, men are either eaten up with arrogance or stupidity”) and full of the fruity and literary language one would expect from an Austen adaptation. As if we were on tour, Wright’s schedule is full, Austen’s agenda dictates that it must be, and in its first half, Pride & Prejudice delights in entertaining us at balls, in fields, in parlors and giggling with teenage girls under bed sheets. The Bennets are charming company, Jena Malone and Carey Mulligan as the youngest sisters offer an amazing energy to the production as a pair of mawkish desperados. Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet delivers a fine performance, and is given the film’s best line and most poignant moment seconds before the credits roll.

However, when Wright moves away from the Bennet household Pride & Prejudice loses much of its charm and flow. The tour becomes plodding as Elizabeth takes center stage and we are dragged with her to various uninspiring locations across England in a doggedly inevitable march to Darcy. Part of the flaw, dare I say it, is a structural problem inherited from the novel. Darcy and Elizabeth are never given the opportunity to fall in love, so that when their confessions come (and it is not giving much away to say that they do), one wonders when they possibly had the time or inclination to fall for each other so deeply. The only evidence Wright offers is in the unspoken chemistry between his leads, MacFadyen and Knightley, at times almost scorching enough to justify their inevitable union. This pause in the film, away from the Bennet home, pulls from under it the emotional investment achieved in its earlier stages. And unfortunately, the casting of Knightley as the iconic Elizabeth does not help.

Knightley is an intelligent and photogenic actor and for much of the film, particularly when lit by the blue hues of dawn, is a more than adequate protagonist. Yet when the rain comes, the film delves deeper, and more than a wry smile is required, Knightley is lacking. Her shrill hurt and played realization ring false and only confirm the growing feeling that Pride & Prejudice is a fairly superficial exercise. Elizabeth Bennet is a complex character, a contradiction between youth, femininity, wisdom and sass, and Knightley’s admirable attempt does Austen’s character only infrequent justice.

Joe Wright’s adaptation is diligent, faithful, sweeping, full of witty retorts, generally well cast, and yet emotionally unpersuasive. The audience is offered a glance through the looking glass into the lives of the Bennets and their dark and handsome pursuits, but never are we allowed off the bus to fully engage. Sumptuous and diverting, this Pride & Prejudice is delightful, but only hints at being anything more.

http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Pride-and-Prejudice-(2005)

'What I've learned from the real legends'

2007-11-23T07:26:00.000-08:00

Keira Knightley talks to Robert Hayes about her latest role, winning awards and working with Depp, Dench and Donald

By Robert Hayes
Thursday November 22 2007

She was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice, acted opposite Orlando Bloom and Keith Richards in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, and this week Atonement star Keira Knightley was crowned film actress of the year at the Variety Club Showbiz Awards in London.

The Oscar buzz is intensifying around 22-year-old Keira, who is currently filming Tony Scott's period drama The Duchess, but has taken some time out to answer our questions about life as a child actress, body fascism and working with Johnny Depp.

NATALIE PORTMAN SAID ALL THE YOUNG ACTORS WHO ARE GETTING ROLES BEGAN WORKING AS CHILDREN. IT SEEMS TO BE SUCH A HARD BUSINESS. ARE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW EASY IT HAS BEEN OR HAS IT BEEN A TOUGH ROAD?

No, not particularly. I'd love to say it was that dramatic. I think that this is an industry of smoke and mirrors. I think everybody thinks they know what the entertainment industry is and very few people actually do.

I think the wonderful thing about having been a child actor is that I've seen the truth of it from a very, very early age. I've never come into it with this idea of what it was going to be.

I always saw a kind of reality and I think that's very helpful. It is hard. If you don't have the support there, it's very easy to crumble under the strain of that.

YOU'RE CURRENTLY SHOOTING 'THE DUCHESS'. WHAT ROLE DO YOU PLAY?

I'm the Duchess, and it's set in the 1780s. It's about Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, who was a political hostess for the weaker party in the 1780s. It's about her marriage and various relationships along the way.

I've done a lot of modern-day pieces though such as Bend It Like Beckman, Love Actually and The Jacket. But I do like period films. I think if you're working in England, then more often than not, you're going to be working in period pieces because I think that's what sells abroad the most. I've always loved them from a very early age.

For me, film is about escapism. What excites me about my job is trying to find realities that are impossible to find today, so therefore going back in time is definitely one of them. I love trying to find the way these people thought in such different societies.

In a funny way, I find it more liberating, because we don't actually know what it was like, so you can play around with it.

THERE'S DEFINITE OSCAR BUZZ AROUND 'ATONEMENT', AND YOU'VE EXPERIENCED THIS BEFORE WITH 'PRIDE & PREJUDICE' SO DO YOU LIKE THE 'BEST ACTRESS' RACE?

I don't make films in order to get awards. I obviously don't make films for an audience of one. You want as many people to see films as possible. You want them to enjoy or get moved by films that you're in. I think if it got nominations, if it got awards, then that would be the icing on the cake.

If it doesn't, that does not devalue the piece of the work. It must never turn into 'I'm doing this to get...' and so it doesn't. But, yes, how lovely that people are actually mentioning this film in the same sentence as the Oscars.

WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU'VE PICKED UP FROM THE GREAT GROUP OF ACTORS YOU'VE WORKED WITH?

I'd watch Johnny [Depp], I'd go right, you're a genius, you're a legend, I'm going to understand how that works, and I'm going to be better, and you watch it and you have no idea how that happens. I don't know what they're doing, I don't know where it comes from.

So I don't think you can actually pick up something or I haven't been able to steal anything. I think what I've learned -- actually from working with everyone -- but mostly from Donald Sutherland and Judi Dench. They're both living legends, and they were both really nervous when we started [filming Pride & Prejudice], and both so excited by it.

They were watching Carey Mulligan and Talulah Riley, who were playing two of my sisters, and they were so excited about how good they were.

For people who've made hundreds of films, to still be that excited, and still be that nervous, and you're kind of [amazed]. As a 20-year-old actress, you go yeah, they're sitting there, they're still learning, nothing's ever good enough, they're still hungry for it, and you think that's brilliant.

And it's the same with Johnny Depp, you watch him playing Jack Sparrow, and he's loving it, he's excited by it, and sometimes he goes 'oh, was that all right; was that okay?'

And you say, 'you're Johnny Depp, man! You know that's okay! You know that's okay!' But he doesn't. He's still going, 'Gore [Verbinski], help!' I mean, that's amazing, it's cool. It just is a privilege to see the human side of it, it's really exciting.

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR TIME OFF?

I really don't have any time off, but I've got a couple of weeks holidays over Christmas, I'm going to go home to London and sit in my flat and not move.

- Robert Hayes

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/film-cinema/what-ive-learned-from-the-real-legends-1226428.html

TV Review – My Boy Jack, ITV1, Sunday 11th November, 9pm

2007-11-18T04:27:00.000-08:00

My cousin is fascinated by World War I, buys all the books and watches all the films. Down the years, thanks to her storytelling and encouragement, I've also become fascinated by this horrible war. Why? I often ask myself that question, as I'm not that keen in wars, full stop. I guess it's to do with the enormous amount of casualties, the horrifying conditions the war was fought out in, the way huge swathes of the Europe's male population were killed, and how pretty much every town and community was affected by this thing.

One man who can empathise with all these points is Rudyard Kipling. The man who wrote The Jungle Book and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907 couldn't do any wrong. He was married, had a big house in the country, was loved everywhere and mates with the King. Like many fathers up and down the land, his life was about to change when Britain declared war on Germany in 1914.

I'd already watched an excellent Jeremy Paxman documentary earlier in the evening on BBC1, about the inspirational World War I poet Wilfred Owen, so I was looking forward to watching My Boy Jack. All I knew about it was that David Haig was reprising his role as Rudyard Kipling from the West End play, and the cast was strong – Daniel Radcliffe, Kim Cattrell and the always-excellent Carey Mulligan (who's becoming a bit of costume drama Queen these days).

The opening sequence saw Rudyard Kipling race to some big, posh house to meet his mate the King, no less, where they had a whiskey, said pip-pip to each other and discussed the state of things, what-ho. The King asked Rudyard to go easy on his public speaking – Rud had been whipping up a fervour recently by shouting that the British Army simply wasn't ready for war, and that recruits were needed, and needed fast... so come on, what are you waiting for? It's your time to serve King and country!

The King wanted him to calm down, but Rud, patriotic veins bulging in his temples, refused and said he bally well wouldn't (or something along those posh, early 20th century language lines). We then cut to Rud's son John, or Jack, failing a medical at the Navy because of his myopia and fears from Army people that wearing spectacles may endanger himself and his fellow men.

When the family all got home to their beautiful, rural pile we were introduced to the rest of the Kipling family – Rud's wife Cassie (Cattrell) and mischievous daughter Elsie (Mulligan). Their idyllic lifestyle was laid out in front of us in all its glory – rose gardens, motorcycles in the shed, smoking rooms... the whole nine yards. Just below this surface of tranquility Rud was seething at his son's rejection and vowed to help him out by talking to a few of his influential friends down at the war office. You got the impression that he – another spectacle wearer – wanted his son to live out what he always wanted to.

Thanks to his dad's political wheeling and dealing, Jack finally got into the Army, and the fresh-faced young man (or “old man” as his dad insisted on calling him) was off to boot camp quicker than you can say, "Mr Kipling bakes exceedingly good cakes". This is when the drama started to pick up – after a slowish start I did wonder if I could feel enough for Rud to feel sorry for him. It was obvious what was going to happen – rabidly patriotic and pro-war dad (who likened Empire to 'Britain's family of nations' and the need for war as, 'the parents looking after the nation of children') tries his best to get his son into the army, son goes to war, son dies, dad feels awful.

This is pretty much what happened of course, but not before we saw Jack become a man at boot camp, return home with a 'tache and an officer's badge. There was a very moving moment when mother and son said their goodbyes before his journey to France (and impending doom). This is what these war stories are all about for me – the family relationships, how the dynamic between the mother/father and son changes, and the way, however old and mature these young men think they are, they are reduced to babies when they're forced to say goodbye. Kim Cattrell played this moment very well.

Jack Kilping was 17 years old when he went off to the front line in France. His mother and father were left at home, a once lively and colourful country paradise, now empty and foreboding. We got a glimpse of the horrors of trench warfare, but before you knew it, Jack was to go over the top... the day after his 18th birthday.

The day (and time) of the big push saw the drama produce one of its most powerful scenes. While Jack rallied his troops in the trenches – who were shaking and vomiting with fear – Rud and Cassie got out of bed and went into the garden to sit quietly in their pyjamas. Two different calms before the storm.

You just knew what was going to happen, and the next hugely powerful scene saw Rud receive a telegram at the home. The walk from his front door to the reading room, unopened telegram in his pocket, was the sort of scene where time stood still – every parent's nightmare.

Jack was pronounced missing in action, but Rud and Cassie doggedly clung to hope. While Rud slowly came to terms with his part in his son's death, Cassie was stoic and searched for answers. But the writing was on the wall – a moving testimony from a wounded soldier, who went over the top with Jack, confirmed that he did indeed die behind enemy lines.

Having read a bit more about Rudyard Kipling, commentators say that his post-war work was severely affected by what happened to his son (not least his poem, My Boy Jack). You’re not kidding! I think it would severely affect any parent who has lost a son at war, no matter what they did for a living.

So what did I think of all this? It was a fascinating story, but not up there in the top drawer of dramas, I have to admit.

The performances were all terrific, it looked lavish and the war scenes were Saving Private Ryan-esque (or as much as a TV drama can), but there was just something missing. Perhaps I didn't warm to Rud's character, perhaps both the pacing and plotting were a bit choppy and, perhaps, the story wasn’t quite as gripping as other WWI stories I’ve read.

I also have to say that there's just something different and wrong about ITV dramas. Something undefinable and slightly odd – maybe it's the commercial breaks, but I've never seen an ITV drama that's well-paced or well edited. Maybe a Cracker or a Prime Suspect, but that's about it.

But what can you do when you review a WWI drama? Criticise the plot? Have a go at a mother and father coming to terms with the loss of their son? Pour scorn on one young man's coming-of-age that, tragically, wasn't completed? Of course not. It's another hugely worthy, human story that serves to remind us how different things were then – the British stiff upper lip was in full-effect, boys and men from across the land were willing to lay down their lives unconditionally for King and country, and the glamour of war (if there is such a thing) was in stark contrast to the sickening reality.

In that respect, My Boy Jack was a moving reminder why we should all never, ever forget.

http://www.tvscoop.tv/2007/11/tv_review_my_bo.html

OT: Ratings Roundup - No.01 (17.11.07)

2007-11-18T04:25:00.001-08:00

This is the first off topic posts which focus on Ratings for this website.

Our daily hit count is around 30 to 50 hits, but in the week surrounding the ITV Showing of My Boy Jack, we got over 500 hits altogether. Before this our rating peaks of around 88 and 92 hits on the tranmission date of Doctor Who's 'Blink' in the US. So far in the past month, this site has gained 1,454 Page Views since it's launchwith around 340 people being regular vistors to this site

Top Visiting Countries

01. United Kingdom - 468
02. United States - 293
03. Canada - 044
04. New Zealand - 025
05. Australia - 021
06. Spain - 007
07. Germany - 005
08. Japan - 005
09. Sweden - 004
10. Ireland - 004
11. South Korea - 003
12. Chile - 002
13. Netherlands - 002
14. Taiwan - 002
15. Argentina - 002
16. Italy - 002
17. Singapore - 001
18. Hong Kong - 001
19. Norway - 001
20. Israel - 001

Reasons For Visiting This Blog

This is an interesting chart showing the Top Keywords and Search results that has led people to visiting this blog all about Carey Mulligan. The results may just surprise you very much.

01 - Carey Mulligan Herself - 365
02 - "Doctor Who" - 262
03 - "The Amazing Mrs Pritchard" - 175
04 - Nude Pictures/Video of Carey Mulligan - 130
05 - "When Did You Last See Your Father" - 103
06 - "My Boy Jack" - 101
07 - Carey's Theatre Work - 101
08 - "Bleak House" - 088
09 - "Pride and Prejudice" - 060
10 - "Northanger Abbey - 043
11 - Pictures of Carey Mulligan - 040
12 - Who is Carey's Agent/ Send Fanmail - 018
13 - "Waking The Dead" - 005
14 - "Marple: The Sittaford Mystery" - 005
15 - "Trial & Retribution X" - 004

Thats the results until next time

A Remembrance Day disservice

2007-11-18T04:25:00.000-08:00

As ever, it was the week of the sorrow and the pity. The week on television that contains November 11 always has something that stuffs you with emotion. A boy wearing his father’s medals, an old man as straight as a Roman road in the cap of a long-amalgamated county regiment. This year, for me, it was Harry Patch, the last surviving combatant at Passchendaele. He spoke with that clear, reedy voice that surfs on the thin breath of the very old; and there was a moment when he paused and looked away, apparently caught on the wire of some flickering memory. To see the connection of this man, made venerable and precious by time, with the photographs and snatches of film from the first world war can never cease to astonish. The public interest in remembrance seems to be more intense than it was a few years ago: perhaps it’s because of the current cruel little wars, or maybe it’s the realisation that the generation who fought the second, and made the modern world, and who have always been there for us, are swiftly emigrating to that grainy other country across the Styx.

The showcase remembrance drama was My Boy Jack(Sunday, ITV1), a fictive version of the death of Rudyard Kipling’s only son at Loos just as he turned 18, and of the guilt and remorse felt by his jingoistic father. Daniel Radcliffe was rather touching as Jack, the shortsighted son of a shortsighted dad, given that he had little by way of motivation in an underwritten part in a woefully underwritten script by the actor David Haig, who himself played Kipling as a simple, childlike old duffer, awash with wholesome romance and naive patriotism – which is far less than a fraction of the truth about this complicated, immensely energetic, accomplished and inspiring man. His wife (played by Kim Cattrall) and daughter (Carey Mulligan) were written as completely modern figures who had modern feelings and put them in modern terms. It was altogether an annoyingly glib and shallow portrayal, seen with perfect hindsight. The truth was far more poignant and would have made a much better, if more complex, drama.

We were shown Jack Kipling’s heroic death, storming a machinegun that looked like something from the Thunderdome. This gave a cheap, saccharine neatness to the story, the sort of thing Kipling would have loathed. Actually, they never did find out how Jack died. There was one dubious report that he had been seen with a wounded jaw, weeping. The Kiplings spent years trying to find his grave, but never did. And that is a much more typical, tragic and universally unresolved ending. It is only with the smugness of looking back that you can see Jack Kipling’s death as ironic comeuppance for the patriotism of Rudyard. Nobody in 1914 foresaw the breadth and depth of the calamity, or the fathomless lake of grief the war would dig.

Jack was the second child Kipling lost prematurely. His adored first daughter died of pneumonia; the Just So stories were told for her. He wrote them down and published them in her memory. For Jack, he wrote his longest and least read book, a regimental history of the Irish Guards (the “Wild Geese”) in the first world war. In all its hundreds of grindingly detailed pages, Jack’s death merits only one bleakly factual line. Kipling wouldn’t give his son any special treatment in death, or single him out above anyone else’s son.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article2871022.ece

My Boy Jack [from Manchester Evening News]

2007-11-18T04:10:00.000-08:00

JUST a reminder not to miss one of the TV dramas of the year tonight.

My Boy Jack will certainly be in the running when the awards are handed out.

In particular, David Haig as Rudyard Kipling and Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe as his son John – known as Jack.

“I certainly felt a lot in common with my character,” said Daniel at the Imperial War Museum screening this week.

David not only gives a superb performance as Kipling, he also wrote the drama.

“I’m more interested in the individual devastation a single loss in a war creates,” he explained.

“And the collateral damage to families, friends, relations, for generations to come.

“One single loss does that.

“On the morning of John’s death, 7,500 soldiers set off equal chain reactions, destruction within families.”

Kim Cattrall, who plays Jack’s mother Carrie, is a revelation for those who only know her through Sex And The City.

She says the story in the ITV1 drama, screened at 9pm, is just as relevant today as it was in 1915.

“I think the only thing that’s changed is that now young women are dying. It’s the sons and daughters.

“Unfortunately, we’ll never truly be rid of war.

“I think the most we can hope for is to continue to try and educate generations.”

Off screen, Kim has been trying to persuade an 18-year-old nephew not to sign up and serve in Iraq.

“And I have been anything but silent about it.”

Carey Mulligan, who plays Jack’s sister Elsie, says no acting was required for her scenes with Daniel.

“I had the exact same arguments with my brother about going to serve in Iraq last year.

“At the end of the day you’ve got to realise if someone is going to do something regardless, you’ve just got to love and support them as much as you can.

“Every time I switched the television on over the six months and saw images of Iraq, my heart stopped.

“The fear and the waiting, that’s what people can relate to.

“When I read the script, I could see exactly what David was getting at.

"I had been through it myself.

“The poems and the writing enhanced and articulated it in a different way, but the sentiment was the same.”

************************************************

My Boy Jack by Rudyard Kipling:

"HAVE you news of my boy Jack?”
Not this tide.
“When d’you think that he’ll come back?”
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.
“Has any one else had word of him?”
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.
“Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?”
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind—
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.
Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!

***********************************************

http://blogs.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ianwylie/2007/11/my_boy_jack.html

In 1915 as in 2007, boy soldiers didn’t always come home [from Sunday Herald]

2007-11-11T05:08:00.000-08:00

The Imperial War Museum in London is one of the very best museums in the country, as you can tell from the jib of its millions of visitors, from bewitched and boggle-eyed five-year-old kids to solemn German tourists to veterans spinning around in their wheelchairs, to anyone else who has a connection to any war, which is to say, pretty much everyone else on Earth.

For me, personally, it's the second world war, the war my dad served in and was a prisoner of war of the Japanese in, for three and a half years, in Burma, Bridge Over The River Kwai territory with none of the cinematography. Mum took her gas mask to school for years.

Her brother, meanwhile, the uncle I never knew, was killed on duty in the Black Watch, aged 21. As bald facts go, these unleash lifetimes of profound effect, and in the Imperial War Museum you can see, touch, imagine and hear the most minuscule echo of what some of that might have felt like: from original letters home from the PoWs of the Japanese to wandering the mocked-up ravines of the terrifying trenches; from shuffling through the reconstruction of a 1940s house to the sight of a ballistic missile, standing on end, as colossal and imposing as a rocket ship off to the moon.

You know it was all real, of course, but suddenly, it's really real. This week a press conference was held in the Imperial War Museum for the ITV drama My Boy Jack, which airs tonight, starring Daniel Radcliffe in the true story of Rudyard Kipling's teenage son, who was killed in the first world war, aged 18, in 1915.

Perched up on stage in the museum's cinema, Radcliffe sat alongside the scriptwriter and actor David Haig (Rudyard Kipling), Sex And The City's Kim Cattrall (Jack's mum, Carrie) and Bleak House actress Carey Mulligan (Jack's sister, Elsie). Here, then, as some kind of Remembrance Day tribute, are the selected conference highlights from the year in which, as an introductory big-wig from ITV had it, "there are 18-year-olds going to Iraq and still not coming back".

On the parallels between the troops in the first world war and the troops in Iraq today: Radcliffe: "I think it would be kind of arrogant of me to comment."

Haig: "I was especially interested in the individual devastation that a single loss in a war creates. The peripheral damage to families and friends, for generations to come. One single loss. On the morning of Jack's death, 7500 soldiers set off equal chain reactions of destruction."

Cattrall: "All of us, in some ways, have a connection. My grandfather served, he was gassed and I wish my father had known his father. And that maybe would've made him a different kind of dad."

On Radcliffe's great-uncle Ernie, who served at Loos, which means theoretically that Jack Kipling and great-uncle Ernie could have passed each other in the trenches: Radcliffe: "Yes, and that would be a rather remarkable coincidence. But he was one of three talismans that I had during filming. A picture of Uncle Ernie, two medals I was given as a present and a copy of Kipling's study of the Irish Guards The Irish Guards In The Great War.

"It was a pretty bizarre moment when I was told the medals had been presented to a William French, and then looked in the index in the back of Kipling's book and his name was there. You think: This man died then, at war, I don't know anything about him but he's entered my consciousness in 2007 and he entered Rudyard's 90 years ago'. And I thought that moment of shared experience was quite important."

On having a brother serve in Iraq while the character you're playing is the main family voice of dissent: Mulligan: "Yes, my brother was in the Territorial Army in Iraq for seven months, so I wasn't really acting. Funnily enough, there was a man on the news this morning, a lance-corporal, and he said he'd just come back and it was very hard because everyone was talking about The X Factor. And Emmerdale. Not that I'm blaming ITV "

On Radcliffe's interesting moustache: Radcliffe: "We filmed out of sequence, so I would've had to grow it back overnight, so it wasn't real, no. Another week and it would never have survived, it was seriously disintegrating "

As, indeed, did the rest of the press conference, which ended with The Sun wondering if Radcliffe was a Sex And The City fan (he'd never seen it) and the phenomenally successful weekly gossip bugle Grazia magazine wondering if Cattrall preferred her saucy Sex And The City outfits to the rather more austere garb of 1915. "Well," she said, "I've never been a big fan of the corset." Then the cast left, leaving us to contemplate exactly where we are nearly 100 years after the outbreak of the first world war.

"We are living in fast times," trumpets the official Grazia website, helpfully. "Life-changing news stories can gallop past us, delicious gossip can flutter and die, and fashion trends that are hot today are gone tomorrow.

"We will investigate the big issues of the week. You want to read the kind of interviews and reports that make you think seriously about your own life. There is no spin, no fluff, just straight-shooting information. Grazia: A Lot Can Happen In A Week!"

9:17pm Saturday 10th November 2007

Carey Mulligan: All or nothing

2007-11-10T02:00:00.000-08:00

Carey Mulligan has wanted to be an actress since she was a child. She wouldn't let her family's doubts get in the way, and now she is a shining light in the classiest of British productions. By Chloe Fox. Photograph by Poppy de Villeneuve

'As I read the script, over and over again, every time I cried,' Carey Mulligan says of the story of My Boy Jack, which documents a heartbreaking episode in Rudyard Kipling's life when his son Jack went missing during the First World War. Written by David Haig (who also stars as Kipling), the television film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Jack and Kim Cattrall as his mother, Caroline. For Mulligan, who plays Jack's beloved sister Elsie, it was an offer she couldn't refuse. 'The minute I heard I had got the part, I went to my room and highlighted all my lines, like an excited schoolgirl,' she admits.
Carey Mulligan

Having been acting for only three years, Mulligan is already one of our brightest stars. 'It's like a dream come true,' says the girl who, when she was six years old, was so inconsolable at not being allowed to join her elder brother in a school production of The King and I that she was eventually let into the chorus.

It was only the beginning of a determined battle to get her way. Ten years later, while at Woldingham School in Surrey, she went to see Kenneth Branagh play Henry V. So inspired was she by his performance that she wrote asking him to be her mentor. 'I explained that my parents didn't want me to act, but that I felt it was my vocation in life,' she says. She still has the letter she got back from Branagh's sister saying, 'Kenneth says that if you feel such a strong need to be an actress, you must be an actress.'

Two years later Mulligan was on her gap year, waiting, at the insistence of her parents (her father is a hotel management consultant, her mother a lecturer), to start at Reading University. 'It was as if I had got into an arranged marriage and the clock was ticking away,' she says. 'The only actor I had ever met in my life was Julian Fellowes, who came to do a talk at my school. I wrote to my headmistress explaining that I didn't want to go to university and wanted to get in touch with him. I knew it was a bit of a long shot, but I was desperate.'

A few weeks later Mulligan received a phone call from Fellowes's wife, Emma, asking her to a dinner they were having for young hopefuls at Le Caprice. Shortly afterwards, her new mentors told her that the director Joe Wright was looking for unknown young actresses to play Elizabeth Bennet's sisters in his production of Pride & Prejudice. Mulligan landed the role of Kitty. Her elder brother, she has since discovered, sent a text to their mother on hearing the news that read, 'Looks like we will have to eat our words.'
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Since that happy summer three years ago, Mulligan, who has the added advantage of looking like the most delicate of English roses, has been working solidly on some of the classiest British television, film and theatre productions. Her television credits include Northanger Abbey, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard and most notably Bleak House, the award-winning BBC series in which she played Ada Clare. On film she recently gave a confident turn in And When Did You Last See Your Father? But it is on stage that she has most excelled, notably in this year's sell-out Royal Court production of The Seagull, in which she played Nina to Kristin Scott Thomas's Arkadina and Chiwetel Ejiofor's Trigorin. Her reviews were certainly the stuff that careers are built on. The Daily Telegraph said she was 'quite extraordinarily radiating'; the Observer described her as 'almost unbearably affecting'; 'exquisite' was the Independent's view.

'The time I spent doing The Seagull was everything to me,' Mulligan, now 22, remembers. 'It was like falling in love with life.' In the middle of the run she was struck down with appendicitis. Having been told the recovery period was three to six weeks, she was back on stage in one, although she couldn't wear a corset because of the stitches.

Her agent had sent her the script of My Boy Jack before she finished the run but it wasn't until several weeks later that Mulligan could bring herself to think about anything else. When she did read the script she knew she had to play Elsie. 'I could relate to her in every way,' Mulligan says of her character, who is vociferously opposed to her brother going to war.

After graduating from Oxford University, Mulligan's own brother volunteered to serve with the Territorial Army in Iraq. He is now back home but, perhaps as a result of her empathy, Mulligan's presence in the film is as affecting as its subject matter. Her Elsie veers from youthful optimism to profound sadness without drawing attention to the process. It is a very accomplished performance, especially from one who has had no real training. 'I consider it a great advantage,' she smiles, 'that every job I do is like going to drama school.'
# 'My Boy Jack' is on ITV1 tomorrow

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/10/sm_careymulligan.xml

If you can remember [from living.scotsman.com]

2007-11-10T01:58:00.000-08:00

My Boy Jack Sunday, ITV, 9pm Forgotten Heroes: The Not Dead Monday, Channel 4, 10pm Sold Thursday, ITV, 9pm

EVERY NEW GENERATION HAS ITS wars but there's something about the lost generation of 1914-18 which seems to resurface again and again as the ultimate symbol of the horror of military conflict. By all logic of selective human memory and the incredible changes in how wars have been fought since, it shouldn't still mean as much as it does - it's a remarkable tribute, in a shallow world, to the fierce determination of its survivors that we never forget.

And those iconic images of doomed youth swarming hopelessly over the top of the trenches keep recurring: in the 1960s, there was Oh! What a Lovely War; in the 1970s, the TV adaptation of Testament of Youth; in the 1980s, the final moments of Blackadder Goes Forth; in the 1990s, the novel Birdsong and now, perhaps, My Boy Jack.

The war scenes themselves are obviously shot on a small budget, though they do evoke the terror of the moments before an offensive. But really the power of this moving drama is in its portrayal of the home front, where families watch and wait. Those waiting for soldier Jack are not just any family but Rudyard Kipling's: hugely successful writer, friend of the king, jovial storyteller adored by children - and warmonger, whipping up national fervour to fight Germany and send Britain's boys off to the front.

Unlike today's warmongers, he put his son where his mouth was, pulling strings to get 17-year-old Jack into the army despite the boy's desperately poor eyesight. There are no happy First World War stories, so it's no spoiler to say this is something that Kipling comes to regret horribly.

I haven't mentioned so far what will be the biggest draw of My Boy Jack for most - that Daniel Radcliffe plays the son in his first TV role since appearing in the highest grossing movie series of all time. It's tempting to bill it as Harry Potter and the Trenches of Death (especially as Jack Kipling wears little round glasses), but unfair: Radcliffe's involvement may have helped to get the film a primetime slot, but he gives an excellent performance as a young man struggling in his father's shadow until, ironically, being sent to command troops in France. Radcliffe's many young fans may freak out at the sight of him smoking, drinking and wearing a dodgy moustache, but it may also bring them to an understanding of the First World War in a way school lessons never could.

It is, though, really David Haig's show. Having written and starred in the original play, then adapted it for TV, he is so steeped in the role that he is note-perfect as Kipling, by turns kind, blind, gung-ho and idealistic. Kim Cattrall as his elegant American wife (also slipping off her usual Sexpot and the City image) and rising star Carey Mulligan as his cynical, overlooked daughter are very good too.

But it's easy to get sentimental about the gallant men of a long-ago war: you can feel both sorry and superior about how they rushed off to volunteer, thinking they'd be back by Christmas having saved the jolly old Empire. It might be harder to empathise with the more recent veterans of conflicts we might disapprove of, or haven't been able to fit into a neat historical narrative. Poet Simon Armitage marks this Armistice Week with an attempt to give voice to those less familiar war stories.

While the Great War poems are about those who perished, Armitage focuses on The Not Dead who didn't return as they left. Damaged, traumatised men, trying to forget what they saw, what they did, are harder to glorify than tragic martyrs. The poems represent three (real) soldiers from three conflicts, from 78-year-old Cliff who fought in Malaya to 23-year-old Rob, recently back from Iraq. But their stories are similar and it's an affecting and troubling film.

Like Daniel Radcliffe, Kris Marshall is attempting to reinvent himself in Sold, as more than just a dopey teenage son (My Family and variations on the same role) or a dopey but techno-savvy TV advert stepdad. But he's less successful: this alleged comedy drama series about estate agents is neither funny nor believable. Marshall makes manic efforts as the amoral boss who'll commit any dirty tricks to get his commission, and makes frequent declarations like: "As from today, you're already tomorrow's yesterday's man".

But the script is flaccid and the dramatic elements just silly. The hero, Danny (Bryan Dick), is keener on solving his clients' personal problems than finding them a house, but nevertheless pulls big sales just by being so gosh-darned nice. The tone is wildly messy and the show is at least twice as long as it should be - although really I'd rather they hadn't bothered at all.

http://living.scotsman.com/tv.cfm?id=1783022007

NEW DVD Spin - Doctor Who: The Complete Third Series (BBC Warner)

2007-11-10T01:54:00.000-08:00

Oh, these last three years have been gold for us long-time fans of BBC TV's Doctor Who. For starters, we finally get to come out of the closet and display our Dalek toys proudly because this newly regenerated incarnation of TV's longest-serving science fiction series has become not just a national institution in the UK; it's a U.S. and international hit, and has picked up more serious, non-fanboyish awards than you can shake a sonic screwdriver at. These last three years have been hit or miss (a Doctor Who tradition since 1963), but when it hits it's some of the best sci-fi on TV (at times some of the best TV on TV).

With David Tennant returning for his second year as the wayfaring Time Lord (redefining "the DTs" for swoony fans worldwide), Season 3 starts strong with the arrival of the Doctor's new companion, Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), in a good old-fashioned monster romp that transports a London hospital to the moon, where we find blood-sucking aliens, rhino-headed galactic stormtroopers, and the revelation of interstellar Magic Markers.

Other adventures pit the Doctor and Martha against ancient witches in Shakespeare's Globe Theater, a super-traffic jam billions of years in the future, and a malevolent force plunging a starship crew into a sun. The low points here are the "Daleks in Manhattan" two-parter, which does everything wrong, and (I can hear the fan forums gnashing now) the three-part season finale that resurrects the Doctor's arch-nemesis, the Master. While there's much to enjoy in John Simm's energetic turn as the evil Time Lord, those three episodes prove once again that series' creator Russell T. Davies really shouldn't be the one writing the season cappers.

However, some of the best stories the series has seen, ever, come from its two best writers -- Paul Cornell's chilling, moving two-parter "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood" drives home both the Doctor's alienness and his humanity, and Steven Moffat's scary, enthralling "Blink" is worth the DVD set all by itself (and has us scouring the TV listings for more from young guest star Carey Mulligan, who's going to around for a long, long time).

All 13 eps are here, along with the feature-length Christmas special "The Runaway Bride," in 1.78:1 widescreen and DD 5.1 sound. They're of course uncut, which shouldn't need to be mentioned unless you've seen these only in their whittled-down Sci Fi Channel airings, in which case it's a bonus. This series' DVD sets have been generous with the extras, and this time we get episode commentaries from the cast, producers, writers, directors and others; selections from David Tennant's Video Diary; this season's thirteen "Doctor Who Confidential" episodes (totaling 2 1/2 hours); "Music And Monsters" (one hour) connects the "Doctor Who Confidential" entry for "The Runaway Bride" to the live "Children in Need Concert" of music from the show (joined on stage by David Tennant and assorted alien hordes); trailers and previews.

For devotees of old-school Doctor Who, this week also sees BBC Warner DVD releases of two lesser serials from 1982 with Peter Davison playing the Doctor: Doctor Who: Time-Flight and Doctor Who: Arc of Infinity. Although these are by no means the best of the Peter Davison years, the DVD releases of "classic" Doctor Who are always superbly produced with painstaking restorations and quality extras.

http://www.film.com/dvds/story/newdvdspindrwhoflightoftheconchordscolbertreport/11597476/17228828

Daniel's journey of remembrance

2007-11-10T01:52:00.000-08:00

HARRY Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is wearing his poppy with pride in remembrance of a young man killed almost a century ago.

He takes on a very different role in My Boy Jack (ITV1, Sunday, 9pm), his first major TV drama since achieving global fame in the Potter films.

Set during the First World War, it tells the true story of how Rudyard Kipling used his influence to get his 17-year-old son Jack a commission with the Irish Guards, despite his son's poor eyesight.

Jack, caught up in the euphoria of the time, was every bit as keen to do his duty in northern France, and made the ultimate sacrifice.

He went missing in action during the Battle of Loos in Sept 1915. It was eventually learned that he had been killed in the pouring rain, unable to see a thing, shot down the day after his 18th birthday.

Daniel, also 18, says he hopes Potter fans will be watching when the moving two-hour film is screened on Remembrance Sunday.

Sitting at the Imperial War Museum, in London, I asked him what he thought they might take away from watching it. "I just hope that they're moved and that it sticks with them. To me the thought of forgetting all the people that fought is terrible. It is quite upsetting.

"I feel that we need to make the effort to remember them and realise how lucky we are to not ever have to endure those conditions again. And, if people watch it, who might not have watched it otherwise, then fantastic."

The film is written by David Haig, who also plays celebrated author and poet Kipling, a superstar of his day, author of The Jungle Books and Just So stories, as well as poems, including If. Sex And The City actress Kim Cattrall is Kipling's wife, Caroline, with Carey Mulligan as Jack's sister Elsie. The TV drama is based on David's own stage play version of the story.

It has been a labour of love for him, ever since a co-star on stage mentioned his striking resemblance to Kipling. "It's a dream that has taken 22 years to realise," explains David.

"Ultimately, what I find most moving about war is not necessarily the rights and wrongs, but the fact that every single casualty is an entire family devastated forever.

20,000 men

"The chain reaction of a single death in Iraq is huge, and yet in this particular war we're talking about sometimes 20,000 men in one day.

"Rudyard never lost his faith in the rightness of the war but what he couldn't bear was the thought that the country let those boys who fought down. After the war, he wrote a two-line phrase, through the eyes of the sons who died, which is, `If any question why we died, tell them our fathers lied.'"

Daniel says: "I don't think you can help but feel parallels when you realise that boys of Jack's age are still going to war. I think the film will have resonance for that reason.

"But the tragedy isn't just about the war, it's the idea of the parents outliving the children, which is the greatest tragedy imaginable.

"The story was the first thing that attracted me to this project. It's beautifully written. I've also had a relatively long-running fascination with the First World War.

"All war is, to a certain extent, beyond anyone's imagination, but particularly what it must have felt like to be in the trenches. These were probably some of the worst conditions any human has had to deal with. You feel compelled to learn about it so that the people who went through it don't just fade away into the past."

Daniel has been making Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, the sixth movie, to be released next year.

He's also "incredibly excited" about reprising his West End role in Equus on the Broadway stage next September. And My Boy Jack certainly shows there's life after the boy wizard for Daniel.

On the last day of the production, he filmed the scene where Jack leaves home to go to war. It was shot at Kipling's former home - Bateman's in Sussex - on what would have been Jack's 110th birthday.

"To be filming that scene on the day he was born was amazing. What was more significant was to do what would have been the same walk Jack did up the same pathway to leave for war.

"In the archway of the door of the house, Jack had inscribed his initials and every time I walked out of the door to do a take, I walked right past them. That was a particularly moving moment for me. To see those initials was so sad and poignant, especially knowing what we know now. It was incredibly moving."

Review: Doctor Who - The Complete Third Series - DVD Talk

2007-11-10T01:51:00.000-08:00

After Billie Piper (Rose) departed in the series 2 finale "Doomsday," many fans were deeply saddened and wondered if the show would collapse with a new companion (Martha Jones). However, as any "Doctor Who" fans know, a companion change is a trademark element of the show. It spices up the program by making it continuously fresh. While the character of Rose will surely be missed, I'm happy to report that Martha Jones (and series 3 for that matter) will no doubt please fans.

A summary of Series Three: The third series was a tragic year for the Doctor. Not only is he still trying to cope with the loss of Rose, but the Doctor is starting to feel alone in the world. True, he picks up a new companion (Martha Jones) to fill that void, but it doesn't seem to be enough for him. He misses his home. On top of that, the Doctor winds up losing a close friend, and meets two of his biggest foes (the Daleks and The Master).

Series Three consists of 13 episodes plus the Christmas Special "The Runaway Bride." Here's a rundown of each ep:

"The Runaway Bride"- Aside from a gripping Tardis chase and a nifty scene involving planet Earth's creation, the story about the Empress Of Racnoss trying to bring back her species treads familiar ground. Additionally, the inclusion of Catherine Tate as Donna, who will be the main companion in series 4, was a bit mixed. Tate starts out obnoxious by screaming non-stop, but she eventually mellows down and becomes more likeable as the story progressed. It will be interesting to see how she fares in an entire series.

"Smith And Jones"- The story about a fugitive blood sucking Plasmavore is by no means brilliant, but I felt this was a perfect opening to the season. The story superbly introduces Martha Jones and her family to viewers while also presenting a new alien species (The Judoon). In my humble opinion, the Rhino headed Judoon are the best realized aliens of the new series alongside the Ood.

"The Shakespeare Code"- The plot: A group of witches named the Carrionites are using William Shakespeare to bring back their sisters from another dimension. Naturally, the Doctor plans to stop them from carrying out their plan. This is simply put my favorite historical episode of the new series thus far. David Tennant is at the top of his game here with his hilarious dialogue about "Harry Potter," "Back To The Future," and Shakespeare play references. Freema Agyeman's chemistry with Tennant begins to grow here as well.

"Gridlock" sees the Doctor returning to New Earth and discovering a massive traffic jam, the Macra, and other mysteries that he must uncover. Much like fine wine, this episode gets better with age. Not only does the episode contain stunning imagery (the Macra, the motorway), but "Gridlock" also has some of the most touching scenes in "Doctor Who" history (notably the death of reoccurring character, the Doctor's determination to save Martha/the city, and the hymn).

"Daleks In Manhattan" and "Evolution Of The Daleks"- This 2 parter about the Daleks showing up in 1930's New York to create a new army starts out promising enough with astonishingly detailed sets, f/x, and costumes, but the story quickly becomes a tiresome routine tale of the daleks killing and escaping. Flaws aside, however, I was intrigued by the inclusion of the Human/Dalek Hybrid. It's a shame this story idea fizzled out because it would have made for an original story arc for the Daleks.

"The Lazarus Experiment" - The plot: A scientist named Professor Lazarus creates a machine that makes humans become young again. He tests it on himself and it appears to go according to plan until he transforms into a giant, grotesque monster. There's no bones about it, this is a good-old-fashioned "Doctor Who" monster story complete with corridor chases and peril a plenty. In addition to the action, we actually get to see (and learn) A LOT more of Martha's family here. True, they aren't as charismatic as Rose's family and friends, but it's hard to top Jackie Tyler and Mickey Smith.

"42"- The Doctor materializes aboard a ship that is about to crash into the sun. Additionally, an unwelcome alien visitor slowly begins to kill off the crew one by one. "42" is easily the weakest of the season. The story is too much like "24," "Sunshine," and last year's "Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit." The script is also dumbed down by a eye-rolling subplot about trivia questions. The only redeeming element is seeing the Doctor become possessed by an alien.

"Human Nature" and "The Family Of Blood" sees the Doctor hiding out as a human schoolteacher in 1913 England to avoid a nasty group of aliens. When the aliens eventually land in England, only Martha knows how to bring the Doctor back to his normal self. This 2 parter is a nice departure from the usual adventure, but there's simply not enough material here to warrant two parts. Granted, it's nice to see a greater emphasis on character, but most of it feels like filler. My favorite moment of this 2 parter was seeing the Doctor's darker side during the montage in which he "deals" with the Family Of Blood.

"Blink"- The plot: After an encounter with the Weeping Angels (alien statues), the Doctor finds himself trapped in time. His only hope is to reach out to a young woman named Sally Sparrow. Writer Steven Moffat is arguably the show's best scribe. "The Empty Child," "The Doctor Dances," "The Girl In The Fireplace," and now "Blink" are all brilliant episodes. "Blink" is a tour-de-force horror tale with plenty of clever plot devices (DVD Easter Eggs!) that will keep the viewer enthralled. Also, the character of Sally Sparrow is absolutely charming. The GORGEOUS actress Carey Mulligan lights up every scene she is in. She puts Billie Piper and Freema Agyeman to shame. Hopefully Sally Sparrow will become a future companion.

"Utopia" sees the return of Captain Jack Harkness (finally!). The story: Jack, Martha, and the Doctor travel to the end of the world where they meet a Professor Yana (played by the exquisite Derek Jacobi) who turns out to be the Master. "Utopia" is hands down my favorite episode of the season. From the opening of Captain Jack grabbing hold of the Tardis to the shocking regeneration scene, this adventure yarn was a non stop thrill ride.

"The Sound Of Drums" and "Last Of The Time Lords" find the Doctor returning to present day England (AKA Martha's home) to find that political candidate Harold Saxon IS the Master. Even worse, he has just been elected Prime Minister. With this power, the Master's plan of world domination begins to take effect. Will the Doctor be powerless to stop him? Of all of the finales of the new series, this 2 parter is by far the weakest. True, we do get a geektastic flashback of Gallifrey, a revelation about Captain Jack, and two other surprises at the end, but the story is rather ho-hum. "The Sound Of Drums" merely re-states all that has happened up to this point and sets up the second part. "Last Of The Time Lords" doesn't deliver on the promise of the set-up and wraps up way too quickly and predictably. The finale also boasts some frightfully bad moments (the psychic energy resurrecting the Doctor, the Master musical number). As for John Simm's Master, while he may be a tad over the top at times, his scenes with Tennant made for some good drama.

Overall, series three is on par with the last two seasons of the new series. All three seasons have their ups and downs, but the good far outweighs the bad. For my money, "Doctor Who" is the most exciting and fulfilling show on television today. Bring on series 4!

The DVD

Video:
Since I reviewed a promo copy, the 1.78:1 widescreen picture quality may not appear as clear as the finished version. I did notice some lines during darker scenes, but overall the transfers were very sharp. This may be considered blasphemous, but I love seeing non-video tape/widescreen Who episodes. It makes the adventures appear more epic.

Sound: The 5.1 Dolby Digital audio certainly has a stronger mix than classic "Doctor Who" discs, but the show suffers from loud music cues that overpower the dialogue (a common complaint among fans). PLEASE tone down the music for series 4.

Extras: Disk 1:

* Previews for "Torchwood" DVD and a BBC America channel.

* 2 teasers and 4 launch promos.

* A self-explanatory 18 minute Freema Agyeman Studio Tour. She guides us through the production offices, stages, prop offices, etc.

* 5 1/2 minutes of outtakes mainly showing David Tennant messing up.

* A 9 minute David Tennant Video Diary on "The Runaway Bride" set. He interviews Catherine Tate and Sarah Parish about their roles.

* Julie Garland and David Tennant give us a commentary track on "The Runaway Bride." The two chat up a storm about green screen work, scenes that were cut, and Catherine Tate.

* 18 mins. of deleted footage (mostly short extended scenes). I'm sad to report there isn't anything really notable here aside from scenes with Doctor packed into a small car in "The Runaway Bride," and the Doctor singing in "Human Nature."

* "Music And Monsters" (58 1/2 minutes) is the "Doctor Who Confidential" episode for "The Runaway Bride" and the "Children In Need Concert." The concert consists entirely of music from the show with various actors (David Tennant) and creatures (Dalek, Cybermen, Ood) appearing on stage. I wish I could have been there!

Disk 2:

* Trailers for "Jekyll," "The Shakespeare Code," and "Gridlock."

* A 29 minute David Tennant's Video Diary featurette on "Smith And Jones," "The Shakespeare Code," and "Gridlock." David shows off his new suit and talks to Freema about her first day on set.

* Commentary- "Smith And Jones"- Russell T. Davies and David Tennant seem to be having fun as they talk back and forth about costumes, the focus on panicking citizens, and the Sontaran/Judoon comparisons.

* Commentary- "The Shakespeare Code"-Christina Cole and David Tennant give some insight into shooting at the Globe theater. The highlight includes Tennant talking about a cut scene between the Doctor (in his underwear) and Martha in bed. That would have been awkward.

* Commentary- "Gridlock"- Julie Gardner, Travis Oliver and Marie Jones mainly blabber about the F/X and catsuits.

Disk 3:

* Trailers for "Daleks In Manhattan," "The Lazarus Experiment," and "42."

* Commentary- "Daleks In Manhattan"- Miranda Raison, Louise Paige, Helen Raynor comment on the horrendous weather plaguing production and the superb New York sets.

* Commentary- "Evolution Of The Daleks"- David Tennant, Nicholas Briggs, and Barney Curnow give my favorite commentary track of this set. Briggs is an absolute hoot to listen to as he introduces himself as Tom Baker, talks in Dalek voices, etc. I hope he will do voice acting in series 4.

* Commentary- "The Lazarus Experiment"- David Tennant and Mark Gattis ramble on about prosthetics, old man makeup, RTD's love of anagrams, and much more.

* Commentary- "42"- Russell T. Davies and Chris Chibnall talk VERY fast in this track. The highlight includes RTD comparing "Sunshine" to this episode and stating how the ship in this episode was originally called Icarus (the name of the ship in "Sunshine").

Disk 4:

* "The State Within" preview.

* David Tennant's Video Diary on set of "Daleks In Manhattan," "The Lazarus Experiment," "Evolution Of The Daleks," "42," "Family Of Blood," "Human Nature" and his stint on "The Weakest Link: Doctor Who Special" (40 minutes).

* Charles Palmer, Paul Cornell and Murray Gold provide commentary for "Human Nature." Cornell is overly excited about everything little thing and questions Gold and Palmer frequently. Cornell does offer a few tidbits about comparisons to his "Doctor Who" book of the same name.

* On "Family Of Blood," Suzie Liggat, Tracie Simpson, and Arwel Wyn Jones provide commentary. The three mainly discuss technical aspects such as the costume designs, locations that the crew shot at, character roles, etc.

* Commentary- Murray Gold and Steven Moffat chat about "Blink's" intricate time travel story, music, and classic Who episodes.

Disk 5:

* Trailers for "MI-5" Volume 1, "Utopia," "Sound Of Drums," "Vote Saxon," and "Last Of The Time Lords."

* A 27 minute David Tennant's Video Diary from the sets of "Utopia," "The Sound Of Drums," and "Last Of The Time Lords." Highlights: A tour of John Barrowman's trailer, Tennant dancing in the old man costume, and Barrowman getting a Dalek cake for his birthday.

* Commentary by Russell T. Davies and David Tennant on "Utopia." The two talk about the crazy filming schedule, continuity, the Master and how John Barrowman was going to do the commentary track.

* "The Sound Of Drums" commentary features Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson. Highlights include discussions of the celebrity cameos and a reference to the superb "Sea Devils" episode.

* Russell T. Davies, Julie Gardner, and Phil Collinson show up on the "Last Of The Time Lords" commentary track. In between fits of laughter, the 3 chat about the big "revelation" at the end of the episode, and how the Master won't be returning in season 4. RTD does state that he purposely set it up so that he could return in some form down the road.

Disk 6:

* "Doctor Who" Series 2 preview.

* 13 "Dr. Who Confidential" episodes running 2 1/2 hours in length. The most notable bits include writer Helen Raynor and crew members visiting New York for research and plate shots for the Dalek episodes, behind the scenes shots, early memories of the show with various writers/actors, interviews, etc.

My only complaint with the bonus features is the absence of the animated "Doctor Who: Infinite Quest" series.

Final Thoughts:
"Doctor Who" series 3 is a must buy. I am proud to give this set my first DVD TALK COLLECTOR SERIES rating.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review.php?ID=31196

To celebrate Frankenstein: The top ten literary adaptations

2007-11-10T01:47:00.000-08:00

Now that the nights are getting colder and darker, the TV networks are bringing out their winter heavyweights, which traditionally have included literary adaptations. On Monday night, BBC4 welcomed John Cleland’s saucy Fanny Hill while tonight will see ITV1 strive to reinvent Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for a modern audience. And so to celebrate these new interpretations of classic novels, TV Scoop brings you our top ten literary adaptations.

Note how keen I am to stress that the source of these television gems must be those heavy things that fill libraries: books. A period drama, such as Rome or Band of Brothers, is keen to set the piece in a bygone era, but is not bound (ho!) to a plot by the work of a novelist. Other conditions of the list include no long-running serials (Jeeves and Wooster), no collective works of an author (Marple) and no, repeat no Catherine Cookson. The adherence to the author’s original work is all too often not what it should be, but any attempts to introduce the likes of Elizabeth Bennet, Rochester and Flora Poste to a mass audience must always be a good thing. And so on to the top ten

1. Bleak House
2005’s 15-part dramatisation of Dickens’ 1852/3 classic assumed an unconventional approach, being packaged in 30 minute instalments rather than the genre’s traditional 60 minutes, with two shown per week (at 8pm on Thursdays and 8.30pm on Fridays). This allowed it to follow Eastenders in the scheduling and like the Walford show, was promoted almost as a soap opera. This risk paid off with strong viewing figures, as it went on to BAFTAs and creative Emmys. The cast included respected British actors such as Charles Dance and international star Gillian Anderson alongside less expected figures such as Johnny Vegas and Matthew Kelly. But at the heart of the story featured three virtual unknowns: Anna Maxwell Martin, Patrick Kennedy and Carey Mulligan. The plot might be that of a long-running legal dispute, but Bleak House’s eccentric supporting characters, touching love stories and spiky humour resulted in another Andrew Davies triumph.

2. Brideshead Revisited
Bleak House might have packed some impressive names, but the 1981 adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s self-proclaimed ‘magnum opus’ carried probably the biggest on this list – Sir Lawrence Olivier. Of course, Sir Larry did not enjoy either of the starring roles of Charles Ryder or Lord Sebastian Flyte, these being handed to Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews, but his presence testifies to the ambition, scope and quality of the 11-part mini-series. The show enjoyed impressive production values, beautiful location work and had everyone talking about the homosexual subtext between the two leading males. In 2000 the British Film Institute placed the programme as its tenth best British programme ever.

3. Pride and Prejudice
What is there left to say about P&P? The show gave us Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in his wet shirt, a heroine in Elizabeth Bennet to root for and many laughs courtesy of the hysterical Mrs. Bennet and her droll hubby. P&P had people watching a literary adaptation who would never think to do so and its widespread appeal transferred to fashion, interior design and launched the phenomenally successful Bridget Jones. Amazingly, the 1995 six hour production is rated on entertainment review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes with a 100% quality rating. Every girl’s favourite.

4. The Forsyte Saga
So good they made it twice in 1967 and 2002. John Galsworthy’s three novel set follows generations of Forsytes, with the materialistic and cold Soames at the heart of the action. The 2002 Granada version was presented in two parts and starred top British talent such as Damian Lewis, Rupert Graves and Ioan Grufford, while the original was such a hit for the BBC that 18 million tuned in for the grand finale.

5. David Copperfield
This Dickens two-parter was screened over Christmas Day and Boxing Day in 1999 and saw an ickle Daniel Radcliffe appear as a young David Copperfield. The starry cast also featured fellow Harry Potter stars Maggie Smith and Imelda Staunton with cockney hard man Bob Hoskins. This semi-autobiographical tale of a boy overcoming terrible adversities earned the BBC more BAFTAs and interestingly starred Harry Lloyd, the great-great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens as Young Steerforth.

6. Lady Chatterley
Director Ken Russell introduced a slight change to the name, snipping off the word ‘lover’ but remained loyal to Lawrence's bawdy plot of a young woman’s affair with gruff groundskeeper Mellors. The sexy shenanigans of stars Joely Richardson and Sean Bean caused a media uproar when broadcast in 1993, but helped rocket them both to stardom.

7. Jane Eyre
The most recent adaptation on the list, 2006’s four-part version of Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 classic romance cast unknown Ruth Wilson as our steely heroine with Toby Stephens on moody-mode as Rochester. The programme earned plaudits both here and in the US, and despite a few, very slight discrepancies maintained the haunting quality of the novel.

8. Cold Comfort Farm
Twice adapted for television, the 1995 interpretation of Flora Poste’s comic struggles with the bizarre Starkadder clan at Cold Comfort Farm came with many names (Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley) but provided a terrific platform for star-on-the-rise Kate Beckinsale. This entry is unusual, both as a product of the twentieth century (author Stella Gibbons penned it in 1932) and especially since it parodies the grim realities in books by authors such as Dickens.

9. Tipping the Velvet
Written by Sarah Waters in 1998, this Victorian saga of lesbian love was her debut novel and earned this adaptation in 2002. Telling the story of Nancy Astley’s (Rachael Stirling) love affair with male impersonator stage performer Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes), the three-part drama refused to shy away from the graphic lesbian sex and provided an unusual spin on the conventional period drama romance.

10. Crime and Punishment
A philosophical examination of the moral dilemmas of committing crime, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel is a world away from bonnets, picnics and chaste kisses. With TV Scoop darling John Simm in the lead role as tortured soul Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, we witness the mental anguish of the individual in what Simm has revealed is his favourite book. As expected, 2002’s version is a heavy, intense and darkly challenging piece of television.

http://www.tvscoop.tv/2007/10/to_celebrate_fr.html

Review: 'Amazing Mrs. Pritchard' takes charge - from sfgate.ocm

2007-10-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard: "Masterpiece Theatre" miniseries. Starring Jane Horrocks, Janet McTeer. 9 p.m. Sunday, with subsequent episodes 9 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 18, and encore broadcasts, on KQED.

Back in 1923, F. Scott Fitzgerald tried to maintain the early momentum of his literary success with his play "The Vegetable," which was subtitled "From Postman to President." Later on, Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" appeared, and remains perhaps the best-known American treatment of the ancient fantasy that the average Joe can make it to the higher echelons of power and change the world.

The latest treatment of the subject comes with the new "Masterpiece Theatre" miniseries "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," starring the equally amazing Jane Horrocks, who plays a supermarket manager who gets fed up with the antics of politicians during one of Britain's national elections and suddenly finds herself running for Parliament. Ros Pritchard is a thoroughly modern woman who balances a career and being wife to her bean-counter husband, Ian (Steven Macintosh) and their two daughters, Emily (Carey Mulligan) and Georgina (Jemma McKenzie-Brown). One day, while breaking up a brawl between two competing politicians in front of her market, Ros is caught on TV camera expressing exasperation at the prevarication and deceptiveness of most politicians and offering that she could do a much better job in Parliament than either of the clowns she's just sent packing.

Soon enough, Ros finds herself running for Parliament. And quicker than you can say, well, "Gordon Brown," she's managed some major defections from the Tory and Labor parties and has succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister. On taking office, she vows to the British people that she will never lie to them and, with the support of her Purple Alliance party, she tries to bring a populist program to government. Most of her ministers, for example, are women, a point that is subtly but effectively made in Sally Wainwright's exquisitely detailed, character-driven script.

Soon enough, she begins to understand both Lord Acton's observation that "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" and Kissinger's view that "power is the greatest aphrodisiac." Who is out to get her? Someone on the inside, it seems. Could it be formidable Catherine Walker (Janet McTeer), a defector from the former dominant party who's become the chancellor of the exchequer and is viewed by Pritchard detractors as the real power behind the front bench? Or the home secretary, Hilary Rees Benson (Geraldine James), whose altruism may have driven her to betray the boss? Maybe it's Kitty Porter (Frances Tomelty), the reptilian owner of the supermarket chain, who's dumped a frightening amount of money into Ros' campaign.

What gives "Mrs. Pritchard" a good deal of verisimilitude is that writer-creator Wainwright has freighted the series with a good many real-world details, including Ros' distrust of George Bush's influence on British foreign policy, her belief that Blair erred in getting the United Kingdom involved in the Iraq war, and the very real threat of terrorist attacks on Britain.

Meanwhile, very human dramas are playing out all around her. Ros' elder daughter is enticed to pose nude for a racy magazine, a member of Parliament from Ros' party goes out drinking when her marriage falls apart and is caught by a photographer from a sleazy tabloid, Ros' husband has a secret in his past that, if known by his wife, could topple her government, and, to top it all off, Catherine begins bedding down with her much younger speechwriter and finds herself both in love and preggers.

The performances are extraordinary, from the starring roles on down. Horrocks, best known for playing the addle-headed Bubble in "Absolutely Fabulous" and the lead character in the wonderfully quirky film "Little Voice," is so good in the role, you'll wish she'd been born in the United States and could toss her hat into the American presidential race. Wisely, she never plays Ros in an over-the-top way. The same decisiveness and capability she shows when Ros is "only" managing the supermarket characterizes her style of running the country. McTeer, another actress we'd watch in virtually anything, is superb as Catherine - tough as nails, but then, in the face of real love, not so much. The rest of the cast is equally great, in part because of the performances, of course, but also because of the care Wainwright has put into the details of their characters.

The three directors on the series - Simon Curtis, Declan Lowney, Catherine Morshead - clearly share a unanimity of vision. And there's no doubt that vision comes primarily from Wainwright's script and concept of the story. In the end, the action comes down to certain choices that, depending on their resolution, will have inevitable consequences for some of the major characters. My one quibble with the series is that the resolution is not played out, but rather comes in a printed afterword. Regardless of how we might have wanted things to turn out at that point, Wainwright undervalues her audience a bit here by not giving it the satisfaction of seeing the finale dramatized.

No matter. "Mrs. Pritchard" is still amazing and great fun. Of course, something like it could never happen in real life. And that makes it rather wistful as well.

More TV Highlights for Mrs Pritchard

2007-10-20T04:28:00.000-07:00

From Desret Morning News

Masterpiece Theatre (8 p.m., Ch. 7): In Part 1 of "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," a supermarket manager (Jane Horrocks of "Absolutely Fabulous") is unexpectedly elected prime minister.

From HeraldNet

She's a caring, efficient supermarket manager: How does she rise to the position of her country's prime minister? That's the saga of "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," a five-part "Masterpiece Theatre" miniseries about a frustrated British subject who runs for Parliament to make a point: The people in power are a lousy lot.

A political neophyte, Ros Pritchard finds herself at the forefront of a feminist revolution -- the new Purple Democratic Alliance -- which wins in a landslide. But once in office, she must learn fast while holding on to the qualities that got her there.

By turns funny, touching and inspiring, this series will speak to any viewer who ever scoffed at government and thought: I wouldn't do a bit worse if I were in charge. Starring Jane Horrocks, it premieres at 9 p.m. Sunday on PBS.

From Star Tribune

See Jane run
Jane Horrocks stars in "Masterpiece Theatre: The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" (8 p.m. Sunday, KTCA, Ch. 2), a five-part miniseries about an English superstore manager who finds herself running for Parliament. We'd find this premise entirely inplausible if we didn't remember a pro wrestler who wound up as our governor. Now when is "Masterpiece Theatre" going to get to that tale?

From Newsday.com

FROM GROCERY TO GOVERNMENT. Jane Horrocks of "Absolutely Fabulous" (wifty Bubble) stars in a very contemporary new "Masterpiece Theatre" (tomorrow 9-11 p.m., WNET/13). As "The Amazing Mrs Pritchard," airing through Nov. 18, she's a supermarket manager turned political sensation, running a grassroots race for Britain's Parliament and suddenly serving as prime minister. All you need to know at pbs.org/wgbh /masterpiece/mrspritchard.

From Freep.com

The viewing polls are open. And lovers of witty Brits just might want to vote for "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," a sly fable about a plucky supermarket manager (Jane Horrocks, "Little Voice," "Absolutely Fabulous") who shocks the establishment to become Britain's newest prime minister when "Masterpiece Theatre" kicks off its 37th season with the lively five-part miniseries at 9 p.m. Sunday on PBS. Working mother of two Ros Pritchard (Horrocks) captures the fancy of a disillusioned electorate and is swept into office, sparking a feminist political uprising that thoroughly shakes up Parliament. Move England's capital, demote the queen and actually do something about global warming? Those are just a few of Prime Minister Pritchard's bold moves. Amazing indeed... as well as lots of fun. "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" has my vote.

The Amazing Mrs Pritchard Review from South Coast Today.com

2007-10-20T04:21:00.000-07:00

The great comic actress Jane Horrocks has made a career of playing mousey little women who roar. She channeled the fire and passion of singers like Judy Garland and Eartha Kitt in the 1998 film "Little Voice" and became an integral part of the cast of "Absolutely Fabulous," arguably the best and most influential sitcom of the past 20 years.

Now she stars in "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" (9 p.m. Sunday, PBS) a five-part "Masterpiece Theatre" presentation from Britain. A perky, advice-dispensing supermarket manager in a West Yorkshire suburb, Mrs. Ros Pritchard is inspired to run for Parliament when she has to break up a fistfight between male Tory and Labor candidates outside of her store.

As the police converge, the press captures her exasperation at the arrogance of politics as usual. Her slogan, "I could do better than you," captures the public imagination. Soon, she's not only running but also heading a Purple coalition of fed-up citizens, almost exclusively women. The resulting tidal wave washes Pritchard and her coalition to a majority, turning the former store manager into the most unlikely and admittedly unprepared prime minister.

"Pritchard" has the feel-good optimism and inspirational faith in the common man (and woman) found in Frank Capra movies of old. But like the best fairy tales, "Mrs. Pritchard" has its nightmare elements, particularly for her husband, Ian (Steven Mackintosh), and fetching teenage daughter, Emily (Carey Mulligan). The miniseries does a good job of balancing the personal and the political, exploring the furious multitasking required for a woman to put together a Cabinet, face a foreign-policy crisis and find a new school for her youngest daughter — all on her first day on the job.

It doesn't help that her husband may have some dark secrets to hide, or that the press will stop at nothing to find photos of Emily in the nude, or that some of Ros' new allies may have less than pure motives. It may seem beyond incredible that a major democracy would choose a perfectly ordinary stranger to head their government, but viewers will have no problem casting their vote and falling a little bit in love with Horrocks and "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard."

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071020/LIFE/710200311

'Mrs. Pritchard': Her life less ordinary - from Los Angeles Times

2007-10-20T02:56:00.000-07:00

The acting is terrific in 'Mrs. Pritchard,' an otherwise standard British series about a citizen-politician.

By Mary McNamara
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 20, 2007

At some point, almost everyone thinks he or she could do a better job running the country than those pesky politicians, making the conceit of an ordinary citizen suddenly propelled into the halls of power an evergreen. From "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" to "Dave," Americans love to believe that there's nothing wrong with the system that a little real-people common sense and integrity couldn't put right.

And now, it seems, the Brits agree. In "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," debuting Sunday night on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre," a brightly brisk grocery store manager, played winningly by Jane Horrocks, watches in horror as Tory and Labor candidates come to blows outside her shop. She decides she could certainly do a better job than "that lot" and, after a well-timed display of televised outrage, gathers enough public support to form a third party, the Purple Alliance. With the deep-pocket support of the grocery chain owner and the insightful murmur of a top political advisor in her ear, Ros Pritchard gains key defections from both Tory and Labor, the Purple Alliance sweeps the nation and next thing we know, Ros is settling in at 10 Downing Street as prime minister.

There, she spends the next four episodes learning that there's a bit more to running a country than she once thought; that no one, including herself, is quite what they seem; and that power is a complicated and mercurial suitor.

As an argument for the citizen-politician, "Mrs. Pritchard" is not terribly persuasive -- the innovations she introduces, the stands she takes, are not earth-shattering by any means, particularly to an American audience. The personal conflict she finds herself embroiled in is not terribly believable and, as far as plot lines dealing with inter-party power plays and the price a world leader's family pays, there's nothing here that wasn't already done much better on "The West Wing."

What "Mrs. Pritchard" does have going for it, what makes it worth watching, is terrific acting from its rather astonishing ensemble. Horrocks, best known here for her title role in the film "Little Voice," as well as a turn as Bubble, the ditzy secretary in the British television cult classic "Absolutely Fabulous," goes completely against type. Yes, there are times when the voice gets high enough, and the Lancashire accent broad enough, to remind us that she also gave voice to a particularly dim-witted hen in "Chicken Run," but she manages, without fanfare, to portray the metamorphosis of perky grocery store manager to prime minister in an organic, very physical way.

The wonderful Janet McTeer appears as Catherine Walker, the former Tory representative who becomes Ros' deputy prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer. Catherine gives "Mrs. Pritchard" whatever grounding in actual politics it may have. Smart, tough, unblinking and unapologetic, she is the sort of woman you would like to have as prime minister, or president, for that matter. Even when given a fairly ridiculous romantic story line to sort out, McTeer, who was also just seen in the amazing "Five Days," manages to lend the whole thing a complexity and maturity it might not actually deserve.

Likewise, Jodhi May creates, rather than plays, Miranda Lennox, the political advisor who steers Ros through her campaign and into the treacherous waters of politics. With her soft, fair face and enormous dark eyes, May is an actress who moves easily through time, showing up in costume dramas and modern narratives with an almost archetypal presence.

As Ros' elder daughter, Emily, Carey Mulligan (Ada in "Bleak House") is a caldron of adolescent emotions, and Frances Tomelty makes a powerful and inscrutable Kitty Porter, the millionaire who smooths Ros' way.

It's difficult to imagine a similar ensemble of American actresses, mainly because in the U.S., even on television, only a relatively few get enough work to achieve this level of craft. Those who do find themselves corseted, sometimes literally, by our narrow standards of beauty, which too often involve Botox, plastic surgery and eating disorders.

Perhaps in deference to the queen, Britain is kinder and wiser with its women -- there has already been a female prime minister, after all -- allowing all manner of womanhood their personal beauty. On British television, you don't have to have legs that go on forever or visibly toned arms or a face that miraculously never ages to land a significant role. Down to the wardrobe -- most of the politicos wear a few outfits over and over, just like real women do -- "Mrs. Pritchard" takes American television to task. It may not be the most revealing portrait of political leadership available, but it is a reminder of how important real people are. Not just to politics, but to the cultural tapestry as well.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-pritchard20oct20,1,1544549,print.story?coll=la-entnews-tv&ctrack=1&cset=true

The Amazing Mrs Pritchard series launches PBS 37th season of ‘Masterpiece Theatre’.

2007-10-19T08:57:00.001-07:00

TV Highlights – from freep.com

"The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" (9 p.m., WTVS-TV, Channel 56, PBS). Jane Horrocks ("Little Voice," "Absolutely Fabulous") stars as a West Yorkshire working mother who brashly takes on the political pros and shocks a nation to become Britain's most unlikely new prime minister as "Masterpiece Theatre" launches its 37th season with a lively, entertaining five-part miniseries fable. Say yes to PBS with a vote for Mrs. Pritchard.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071018/COL30/710180352/1038/ENT03

Cast your vote for the grocer - from South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

2007-10-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

What becomes of Britain when a supermarket manager, new to politics, impulsively runs for office — and wins?

In The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard, Ros Pritchard (Jane Horrocks) uses her power as prime minister to institute a one-day-a-week car ban and to propose moving the seat of power from London to the suburbs. She even suggests the British royalty is archaic and no longer needed.

Peppered with salty language, this light-hearted five-part BBC miniseries, airing as part of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre, follows Ros' political rise, beginning with her "Purple Party" candidacy and her surprise victory.

Aided by her all-woman cabinet, Ros works quickly to get up to speed on issues. She meets with heads of state while juggling the demands of her husband, Ian (Steven Mackintosh), and two daughters. Her family is ambivalent about Ros' newfound ambition, and a secret of Ian's could derail her career.

Writer Sally Wainwright said she created Ros out of her own dissatisfaction with England's political choices in the 2005 national election.

"Ros reminded me of a very bright but ordinary woman," she said. "People go into that situation with ideals and optimism, then are shocked by the reality of dealing with people who don't think like they do."

The miniseries airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on WXEL-Ch. 42, at 10 p.m. on WPBT-Ch. 2.

Tom Jicha
TV and Radio Writer
October 20, 2007

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/columnists/sfl-tvpritchardnboct20,0,4524905,print.column

Miniseries improves with every episode - from inrich.com

2007-10-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

Tiny Jane Horrocks -- or at least she seems tiny compared with everyone else in the cast -- turns in a bravura performance in "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," a five-part "Masterpiece Theatre" miniseries beginning Sunday.

What's amazing about this Mrs. Prit-chard (accent on the second syllable)?

One day, she's the every-vegetable-in-its-place manager of a supermarket in small-town England. Months later, she's prime minister of Britain. And that's the only implausible note in the entire miniseries.

"The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" made its British debut last year, just weeks after Tony Blair announced he would be stepping down as prime minister. It airs here as various presidential campaigns heat up with a possible female front-runner.

Ros Pritchard has nothing in common with these professional politicians. She's a not-so-average wife and mother fed up with the usual candidates for Parliament.

"I can do better than that," she thinks, and suddenly has a groundswell of support. Her newly formed Purple Democratic Alliance party wins the majority, and she finds herself leading the country -- or, as the opposition claims, being led by members of her Cabinet.

As a newcomer to 10 Downing Street, Mrs. Pritchard has much to get used to. A personal secretary joined at the hip. A schedule that keeps her shuffling from one very important meeting to another in 15-minute increments. Scant time to spend with her husband, played by Steven Mackintosh, and two daughters.

And the international crises never end. Within minutes of becoming prime minister, Mrs. Pritchard must contend with a military emergency in the Middle East. (She's anti-Bush, by the way; also anti-monarchy.)

Mrs. Pritchard is an empathetic, caring leader. She can afford to be, because her Cabinet members, almost all female, are professional politicians who know how to work the system. This is especially true of Janet McTeer as Catherine Walker, a high-ranking member of another party who defects to the Purple Alliance.

Walker is the opposite of Pritchard: tall, single, painfully career-minded. Her affair with a much younger speechwriter is one of several soap opera elements that spice up the drama.

This is a miniseries that gets better with each episode and every crisis.

Mrs. Pritchard may be perfect, but not the people around her. Her older daughter hates not having an identity of her own. Her husband has a secret that could harm her politically. Her party members, many of them political newcomers too, aren't immune from scandal or bad judgment.

Watching Mrs. Pritchard evolve from naive do-gooder to savvy head of state, with salty language to match, will test the viewer's political beliefs as well.

Will you see her as becoming corrupted or learning how to best navigate political waters?

One warning: As an outsider from West Yorkshire, Mrs. Pritchard doesn't speak in easy-to-understand BBC English. Be prepared not to understand everything she says, although her intent will always be clear.

When: 9 to 11 p.m. Sunday,
then 9 to 10 p.m. on subsequent Sundays through Nov. 18
Where: PBS

By DOUGLAS DURDEN

TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST

PBS unfurls an 'Amazing' political race "Masterpiece Theatre: The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard"

2007-10-19T07:59:00.001-07:00

COMIC STEPHEN COLBERT seems to be tossing his clown shoes into the ring to run in both the Democrat and Republican primaries in his native South Carolina as a candidate for the President of the United States.

"After nearly 15 minutes of soul-searching," Colbert said on his Tuesday night Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report," "I have heard the call. I am doing it."

Truth or truthiness? I think we all know the answer to that question. Yet it didn't stop TV and print news outlets across the country reporting it. Chalk it up to a slow news day, or the fact that even Colbert looked better than some of the candidates out there.

We know this makes great television for "The Colbert Report," but what if the political joker actually got on the ticket and people voted him into office?

That far-fetched idea of disenfranchised voters going for the nontraditional candidate forms the basis of "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," a miniseries that aired last year in Britain to poor ratings before PBS imported it here.

Despite the tepid British response, we think this is a grand series for anyone who has ever been dumbfounded by the antics of our elected officials, anyone who has ever said a howler monkey makes more sense than our president and especially for anyone who has ever shaken a fist at the tube

and said they could do a better job than these yahoos.

"The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" answers the question: What would happen if an ordinary person of reasonable intelligence and a good helping of common sense ever made it into a high elected office?

Mrs. Ros Pritchard — played by the engaging Jane Horrocks ("Little Voice") — decides to make a point by running for Parliament. She is spurred after witnessing the two candidates acting like bullies in a schoolyard brawl.

She makes the life-altering statement that she could "do better than this lot." So she plunks down 500 pounds, gets a few fliers together and runs for office.

"I will never lie to you," she tells her supporters. "I will never mislead you."

Suddenly, both powerful and powerless women are joining her on her independent Purple Alliance platform, and the British people have found a new hero. In this fantasy, Ros not only wins a place in Parliament, she earns enough votes to become Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, her loving but less-than-perfect family is bearing the brunt of suddenly being pushed into the spotlight. To quote a cliche older than "This isn't my first rodeo," be careful of what you wish for.

Husband Ian (Steven Mackintosh) hides a horrible secret that could topple Ros' rise to power, and worse, destroy his family. Rebellious beauty Emily (Carey Mulligan) revels in being the daughter of the Prime Minister, but quickly becomes emotionally crippled by the association.

The series is billed as a comedy, and though it has a somewhat comic tone at the beginning, "Mrs. Pritchard" changes dramatically through the course of the five installments starting with the two-hour premiere and subsequent one-hour episodes thereafter.

After a giddy beginning, in which Ros transitions from an efficient, well-meaning grocery store manager, wife and mum to a powerful world leader, things turn decidedly darker.

The script by Sally Wainwright takes plenty of shots at the inefficiencies of British government, but even more at President George Bush. There's no denying where Wainwright stands as her characters rail against supporting Bush's foray into Iraq, the lack of movement by world leaders to stop global warming and the government inefficiencies that result in poor school funding and soft safety policies.

The anti-Ros is career-obsessed Catherine Walker, a high-ranking member of the Conservative Party who defects to Ros' campaign in a rare spontaneous moment. She's rewarded with the post of Deputy Prime Minister. Janet McTeer steals the show with her intense portrait of a woman who stumbles in her private life, but never in her public one.

Harsh reality keeps pounding on Ros' door until she must finally decide if staying in office is worth tossing her moral compass. In the final scene, we may be left wondering what decision she makes. In the British version, there was an epilogue that told you how it all ends. That piece of information was lacking in the review copy sent out. If it doesn't come on, you can go to my blog at http://www.ibabuzz.com/unscripted on the final night, Nov. 18, where I'll reveal it.

by Susan Young

Vote for 'Mrs. Pritchard' – from Philly.com

2007-10-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

The theme of outsiders revolutionizing government has always been popular in Hollywood, which, long before Ronald Reagan - and "Dave" - gave us Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

But it turns out Americans aren't the only ones who can get romantic about politics.

PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" launches its 37th season this weekend with "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" (9 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 18, Channel 12), a miniseries about a supermarket manager (Jane Horrocks) who gets herself elected prime minister of Great Britain.

Even in Britain, which has had more experience than the United States in being led by a woman (more than one if you count the queen), Ros Pritchard's rapid rise to power plays like a bit of a fairy tale.

But that's more than half the fun of "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," whose first exhilarating episode is followed by a few reality checks, both political and personal.

By the end, you might feel as if you're watching a different series altogether.

If you want to know how the British entertainment industry really feels about the United States and the war in Iraq - and about those in their country that have supported both - you've only to turn to Hugh Grant's portrayal of a Yank-resistant British PM in "Love Actually."

Or to Ros Pritchard, whose down-to-earth approach to politics doesn't rule out some George Bush-bashing along the way.

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/features/20071018_Ellen_Gray___Viva__Lifeless__even_with_the_music.html

Review of The Amazing Mrs Pritchard DVD from DVD Talk.com

2007-10-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

One of our most enduring modern fantasies is that of the common person thrust into politics. Once there, in a seat of high power, this average citizen can bring a more down-to-earth perspective to things. After all, our leaders seem so far removed from reality that the very notion of common sense itself is foreign to them. Jefferson Smith brought honesty and integrity back to the Senate; Dave Kovic rescued a corrupt White House.

Now comes "The Amazing Mrs Pritchard," the 2006 BBC mini-series finally arriving Stateside on DVD. (It also premieres this month on PBS.) To "make a point" about the embarrassing state of politics today, and to publicly complain about the disturbing position of having to vote for a lesser of two evils, supermarket manager Ros Pritchard (Jane Horrocks) decides to run for Parliament. Her decision turns her into a media darling and public favorite literally overnight, and soon the independent is forced to create a new political party - the Purple Alliance - when dozens of other non-politicos (almost exclusively women) opt to stand up themselves and also make a run for office. To everyone's surprise, including Ros', the party wins in a landslide, and Ros is thrust into the role of Prime Minister.

It sounds rather far-fetched, to be sure, but series writer/creator Sally Wainwright ("At Home with the Braithwaites") uses a very common sense of disappointment with political figures to show how the right person in the right circumstances could indeed trump the fatcats. Ros' enthusiasm, sincerity, and sharp tongue make her instantly lovable, the sort of strong personality that could very well indeed capture the public eye.

What Wainwright does with her heroine is use her to challenge the very notions of righteousness we all insist we would carry with us into such a situation. When Ros says in an inauguration speech that she would never lie to or mislead the public, it's a bold statement, one we're sure we'd love to make ourselves. Better than those dirty liars in power, we'd think. But what happens when reality slams headfirst into Ros' ideals? Will Ros stand firm by her promise, or will she break it, if only once, if it's for the greater good?

It's an ethical dilemma that truly challenges Ros' notions of life at 10 Downing Street. Ros' husband Ian (Steven Mackintosh) has a dark secret Ros' aides work overtime to keep buried from Ros herself. If she were to discover the truth, would she be forced to resign? Or should she remain in office while hiding the secret, a solitary instance of dishonesty toward the public? When does "not bringing it up at all" become a form of lying? And if every Prime Minister, even the good ones, had at least one skeleton in the closet, shouldn't Ros be allowed the same?

Between this, we get a steady blend of domestic drama (Ros' family struggles to adjust to the new life) and "West Wing"-style political intrigue (each episode presents a new challenge for Ros - and yes, we even get a recycling of Sorkin's trademark "walk and talk" staging). Wainwright uses the series as a platform for unabashedly liberal ideas, some of which deliver a peek inside the national mood of the U.K. While some of these ideas remind us of the series' mere fiction-ness (Ros pushes to move the capital out of London and into a working class town in the center of England), and others come across more as clumsy rhetoric than workable drama (Ros keeps mentioning Bush and Blair's screw-ups in Iraq, yet the series never forces her to deal with the subject beyond a line of two of dialogue), there is a steady supply of crises and ideas put forth a notion of just what's on the mind of a nation. Ros asks the public for their input into a major policy-making speech, and we get a montage of citizens offering a wide variety of solutions.

Again, we drift heavily into liberal territory here. Ros implements "Green Wednesday," a permanent law banning most car usage one day a week as a means of curbing global warming. It's met with stern opposition (I'm curious what conservative viewers would make of the series' cartoonishly villainous Tory leader; while the script works hard to present a more balanced view of most political ideas, the intelligent rebuttals to Ros' ideas come from within her own party, leaving the Tories to rant and rave with scenery-chewing buffoonery) but becomes a success. It's a common theme in this series, these wildly optimistic points of view that earn mild counter-arguments before ultimately proving Ros right. At least Aaron Sorkin had his liberal president lose a few fights, just to keep the balance.

Wainwright does manage to find more grey areas in the plotting than the above paragraph suggests, yet she still finds a way for Ros to win out. Consider the episode in which a plane explodes over London. The knee-jerk Tories scream of terrorism, while Ros and her allies demand we step back and not rush to judgment. Wainwright offers an alternate solution, complete with grey area intact: the plane itself, a foreign model, was faulty, but such faults have been allowed by sloppy legislation by the British government. Such a solution highlights concerns with British dealings with the European Union while simultaneously pointing fingers at a Parliament that's asleep at the wheel - and yet Wainright still manages to make her heroine flawless, both in our eyes and in those of the fictional public.

Despite this push to keep Ros and her political beliefs above reproach, the series succeeds wonderfully, thanks to some sharp writing (it's liberal fantasy, sure, but it's exceptionally written liberal fantasy), a spotless cast (Horrocks is downright brilliant throughout, while a set of supporting players, including Janet McTeer and Jodhi May, handle the subplots elegantly), and the decision to take the title character into increasingly darker corners as the series progresses. The further we get into her term as P.M., the more complex the stories become, as if Ros' initial naïveté gets washed away as she becomes more comfortable with the office.

By the time we reach the final episode, Ros is neck-deep in political intrigue, locked in an inescapable ethical quandary - to resign or not to resign? - that challenges our notions of the character, and her notions of herself.

Not-quite-a-spoiler alert: The series ends on a heavy note of ambiguity, with a key plot point withheld from the viewer. It's the perfect final note, really, as it allows us to project our own ideals onto the lead character, asking ourselves what we would do in the same situation, or, at least, asking what we're we so certain she would do.

Unfortunately, international releases of the series, including this DVD, tack on a text epilogue, explaining what happens to the characters - and promptly ruining the very ambiguity the series deserves. It's a pitiful move on the part of the BBC, done either to avoid the chance of a second series (the show's low ratings last fall virtually guaranteed the lack of a sequel) or out of some lame-brained notion that American audiences wouldn't know how to appreciate an open-ended finale. Or maybe both.

The DVD

Acorn Media collects all six one-hour episodes of "The Amazing Mrs Pritchard" onto a two disc set. The discs come in two single-wide keepcases which are then housed in a single cardboard slipcover. The artwork showcases a fairly awful portrait of Horrocks as the title character - she does an amazing chameleon job in the role, and the publicity photo used for the slipcover art doesn't do her performance justice.

Video & Audio

The anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) transfer and Dolby 2.0 soundtrack both come across as your typical modern BBC production - clean, clear, if fairly unimpressive. Grain pops up occasionally during nighttime sequences, but that's as close to an issue as we ever get. The stereo track makes solid use of the dialogue-heavy series. No subtitles or alternate tracks are provided.

Extras

Sadly, only a set of cast filmographies is included.

Final Thoughts

Set firmly and unashamedly in the land of fiction, "The Amazing Mrs Pritchard" is a fully engaging peek into the British political landscape, marked with terrific acting and highly memorable characters. Recommended to anyone who likes a little bit of wishful thinking with their political drama.

Sorry about lack of updates

2007-09-24T05:13:00.000-07:00

But there should be more news once 'My Boy Jack' and 'When Did you last see my father' are near its release.

And When Did You Last See Your Father? Variety Review

2007-08-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

Immaculately acted, professionally helmed and saturated in period British atmosphere, “And When Did You Last See Your Father?” is an unashamed tearjerker that’s all wrapping and no center. Showcase for English vet Jim Broadbent, as a charismatic dad whose son feels perpetually overshadowed, just about manages to go its hour-and-a-half distance by dint of its performances. Undeniably effective at a gut level despite its dramatic shortcomings, pic should find a specialty welcome among fans of Blake Morrison’s 1993 memoir, offshore Brit-fare enthusiasts and distaff auds of a certain age.

Skedded for release in Blighty Oct. 10, and Stateside through Sony Pictures Classics in February, the film should also figure into the upcoming awards season (following its Toronto screening) as the kind of tony Brit-lit picture older voters go for. But by never getting to the heart of the matter, nor having even one scene where father and son really talk, the movie has a big black hole at its core. In the smorgasbord of father-son relationship pics, this one is very low-cal.

Film opens exactly as Morrison’s memoir does: with boyish Blake (Bradley Johnson) stuck in a country traffic jam with his dad, Arthur (Broadbent), and mom, Kim (Juliet Stevenson), during a summer in the late ‘50s. As a voiceover by the adult Blake (Colin Firth) explains, “My father could talk his way into, and out of, anything.” Soon, the irrepressible Arthur has managed to skip the car queue and parlayed his way into reserved seating at the races.

It’s the first of several set pieces in which Arthur, a country doctor whose bragadaccio masked a real love for his wife and children, shows not the slightest embarrassment for those around him. Cut to London in 1989, where Blake is having some quick nooky with his wife, Kathy (Gina McKee), and their lovemaking is interrupted by dad’s knock on the door. “The sex police,” mutters Blake, a phrase that is shown to resonate from his teenage years, when dad was always interrupting his fumbling attempts at sexual congress.

Soon afterward, Arthur is diagnosed with terminal cancer and, as Blake visits him in the family home, the script starts freely moving among three timeframes: the late ‘50s, with Blake as a kid in short pants; through the ‘60s, in which Matthew Beard plays Blake as a hormonal teenager; and 1989, when Blake is a grown adult with his own career as a writer-poet.

Collection of episodes, mostly from the ‘60s, contain some amusing stuff: Blake and Arthur getting waterlogged on a camping expedition; Blake falling head-over-heels for their gutsy young Scottish au pair (Elaine Cassidy, in pic’s standout support); and Blake’s clumsy attempts to chat up Rachel (Carey Mulligan), a girl he meets on holiday who’s more interested in his dad. This is just as well, as there’s precious little happening onscreen in the relationship between father and son.

Morrison’s memoir managed to sustain a fairly ordinary story through the easy grace of its writing. Divorced from the page, and with little backgrounding on any of the characters, the yarn lacks the drama and conflict necessary for a feature film, and largely ambles along on good performances.

Things aren’t helped any by Firth’s dour perf, as his Blake comes across as a self-centered whiner, a latter-day Me Generation figure who’s obsessed with finding problems when there really aren’t any. And with Broadbent playing Arthur as a charming blusterer who wouldn’t hurt a fly, there’s no true conflict at script’s heart.

Supporting performances are strong, with Stevenson aces as the underplayed mom, Beard good as the teenaged Blake and Mulligan ditto as the elusive Rachel. McKee, who’s really developing as an actress in her middle years, is notable as Blake’s wife, as far as her part is written.

Period flavor -- with saturated colors in the ‘50s scenes that grow duller in subsequent timeframes -- is strongly detailed in Alice Normington’s production design and Caroline Harris’ costumes, both heightened a notch beyond naturalism. Composer Barrington Pheloung’s chordal washes flood the yarn with wistful emotion.

Camera (color, widescreen), Howard Atherton; editor, Trevor Waite; music, Barrington Pheloung; production designer, Alice Normington; art director, Lynne Huitson; costume designer, Caroline Harris; sound (Dolby Digital), Jim Greenhorn; visual effects, One of Us; assistant director, Ben Howarth; casting, Priscilla John. Reviewed at Edinburgh Film Festival (British Gala), Aug. 21, 2007. (Also in Galway, Telluride, Toronto film festivals.) Running time: 92 MIN.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/story.asp?l=story&r=VE1117934468&c=31

Radcliffe leads the way in ITV1’s dramatic autumn schedule

2007-07-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

ITV1 is pinning its hopes on a number of new dramas to secure ratings in its autumn schedule, including a one-off about Rudyard Kipling’s son.

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe will join Kim Cattrall, Carey Mulligan in My Boy Jack, an Ecosse Films production, which tells the story of how Kipling used his influence to get his 17-year-old son in the Irish Guards.

Other dramas in the channel’s autumn schedule are Sold, a comedy-drama set in an estate agents starring Kris Marshall and Anthony Head, and A Room With A View, featuring real-life father and son, Timothy and Rafe Spall.

Elsewhere in the line-up, Frankenstein gets reworked with Dr Victor Frankenstein reborn as a 21st century female biologist and Charles Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop gets brought to life with a cast featuring Derek Jacobi and Toby Jones.

Entertainment shows include a new series of The X Factor, with new judge Dannii Minogue and Grease is the Word’s Brian Friedman joining as the show’s creative director.

Pop star Elton John also features in the line-up, with a programme about his life and Harry Potter author J K Rowling shares her experiences writing the last book in the series with a documentary that follows her over a year.

FASHION: COSTUME DRAMAS

2007-07-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

Carey Mulligan, 20, and Emma Williams, 22, know a thing or two about this seasons biggest trend, having lived and breathed Victoriana thanks to their starring roles in Bleak House, the BBCs new period drama.

You get quite strict about your corset its like, Come on, tighter, tighter, says Carey, who plays Ada Clare. I had this gorgeous dress for a wedding scene, but it was ridiculously small. I nearly fainted, my corset was so tight. I wore it for eight hours, breathing really slowly so I wouldnt fall over. Im sure I cracked a rib that day.

Emma, who plays Rosa, the maid to X Files star Gillian Andersons character, Lady Dedlock, also suffered in the name of her art. I had original Victorian corsets, so they were really heavy. I spent half the day crouching down to take the weight off my back, she says. But you do get addicted to them. I might start wearing one round the house, doing the cleaning marigolds and a corset. Im a classy girl, me.

So how was working with the series big-name stars? God, it was terrifying, especially when I heard people like Charles Dance were in it, says Carey. I couldnt really believe I was in a show with all these people. I remember just looking around, thinking, Theres Alistair McGowan, and theres Johnny Vegas. A lot of them look like Dickens characters, theyve got amazing faces.

Emma, meanwhile, worked very closely with Gillian Anderson. She could afford to be a diva, but shes lovely. The first thing she said to me was, Why are all my girls so tall? Im 5ft 7in and shes tiny. But she looks stunning, even without make-up.

As part of Rosas duties, Emma had to style Gillians hair on camera. She had this amazing wig. Im putting combs through it, thinking, Please dont let me ruin it, remembers Emma. Gillian thought mine was a wig, too, but it was my own. One time, she thought I had a hair loose, so she grabbed it and ended up pulling a big chunk out of my head.

Outside Bleak House, both girls admit they lack a little in the style department. My wardrobe is a disaster, laughs Emma. I once went out in wide purple chiffon silk pants with a matching vest top. I was a mass of mauve. Careys no better. When I was 11, I went to a disco wearing a shiny purple shirt with green flares and silver wedge shoes. I wasnt cool, and Im still not.

Despite being no strangers to fashion faux pas, both girls love shopping. Im very excited about winter because I love jackets and coats, says Carey. Ive got so many I cant fit them into my flat.

Emma agrees. My favourite thing is a floor-length cream wool coat, flecked with black fake fur and a huge black furry collar. A woman once started shouting at me for wearing fur. Im like What animal looks like this? A badger with highlights?

Bleak House is on BBC1, Fridays, 8.30pm

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20051030/ai_n15815752/print

From Russia, with love

2007-07-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

The director Ian Rickson has decided that the best way to perform Chekhov's The Seagull at the Royal Court is to give his cast a crash course in the art of being Russian.

Rickson, who is staging his last play as the theatre's artistic director, took his leading lady Kristin Scott Thomas - who will play the actress Arkadina - to Moscow so she could scope out the city and meet Russian actors.

"It's like us with Shakespeare," Rickson said. "They've got Chekhov in their souls."

Rickson also believes "Chekhov is best when it's performed from the gut".

To that end, he's encouraged his Royal Court company to soak up Russian culture through literature, art and food (avoiding any sushi bars, of course).

Mackenzie Crook has come straight from the third episode of the Pirates Of The Caribbean films to play Konstantin, Arkadina's son, a troubled soul who wants to write.

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the experienced novelist Trigorin, Arkadina's younger son. Ejiofor, who is excused from Russian indoctrination for a couple of days so he can attend Monday night's Golden Globes ceremony in Beverly Hills, where he's nominated in the best comedy actor category for his role in the film Kinky Boots, also woos the ingenue Nina, played by Carey Mulligan.

"Ian keeps calling me the Golden Child because Nina's chasing fame in the pursuit of glory," Ms Mulligan told me.

Rickson is convinced audiences will see parallels between Nina's character and today's obsession with celebrity.

Conversely, however, from Ejiofor's and Crook's points of view, the play is all about another kind of obsession - writing.

Both actors met playwrights to get some idea of the psychological processes a dramatist endures.

And Christopher Hampton, a playwright long associated with the Royal Court, was on hand to explain the background to his adaptation of The Seagull, which begins performances at the Royal Court on January 18.

The wise and brilliant actress Denise Black, who plays Polina, summed up the play succinctly. "Life does hurt," she said, and then laughed. "Hurt and laughter," she added. And that's The Seagull.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/bazbamigboye.html?in_article_id=428380&in_page_id=1794

Who'll be the stars of the arts in 2007?

2007-07-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

Our critics introduce the names to watch out for over the next 12 months - the ones you won't have heard of before, the ones that you'll suddenly see everywhere – and the one the critics will love best in 2007...

THEATRE
Carey Mulligan
When Carey Mulligan learned that she was to be Nina, "the part that's completely obsessed me", in the Royal Court's forthcoming, star-studded production of The Seagull, the excited 21-year-old did herself an injury with some curling tongs. Mulligan's blonde tresses will be familiar from juicy parts on television (Bleak House, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard); now live fame beckons.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/events/article-23380155-details/Who'll+be+the+stars+of+the+arts+in+2007/article.do

Billie's West End debut back on

2007-07-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

Spotlight on stand-ins as star's illness nearly turns show into a no-show

Last updated at 17:33pm on 7th March 2007

It is the hottest show in town - the real-life rollercoaster drama of Billie Piper's West End debut.

Less than two days ago she came out of the theatre where she is due to appear in Treats to announce: "I'm doing really well."

Then the troubled actress - who has been seen weeping in public with ex-husband Chris Evans - was forced to pull out of a preview performance of Christopher Hampton's play because of illness.

But today doctors gave the 24-year-old the go-ahead for tonight's preview at the Garrick Theatre. The play is due to open tomorrow, a week later than originally planned.

Spokesman Ewan Thomson said: "Billie was delighted to hear she is allowed back tonight. She hates letting people down and - fingers crossed - she will be okay for Thursday's opening night."

Piper is the latest in a line of West End stars who have pulled out of performances because of illness.

Connie Fisher was ordered to take a two-week break from playing Maria in The Sound Of Music to rest her strained vocal cords. Sophie Bould is standing in.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is offering to exchange tickets for those who have booked for performances while star Fisher is off sick - but seats for the popular show may not be available until November.

Meanwhile Richard Griffiths, in Equus as a psychiatrist treating Daniel Radcliffe, has the flu.

Although illness is unavoidable, audience disappointment at the absence of star performers has often been exacerbated by understudies' apparent lack of familiarity with their roles.

When Griffiths was replaced by Colin Haigh in last Friday's performance, he seemed to be reading the script from a notebook. A spokesman said: "Within the psychiatrist's manual he had a reminder of some of the lines.

"After all, the play had only been open two days. You know how they change plays right up to the first night."

Fisher's absence from The Sound Of Music coincides with a two-week break for co-star Lesley Garrett, who missed a performance a fortnight ago because of illness.

The Royal Court, staging The Seagull starring Kristin Scott Thomas, does not have understudies on financial grounds.

When Carey Mulligan, who plays Nina, fell ill with appendicitis last month, the theatre had to find a stand-in at the last minute. "We were fortunate enough that Jodie Whittaker was available," said a spokesman.

"She obviously is a brilliant actress and she stepped in and did the show with a script in hand." But Whittaker could only do two performances and another actress, Anna Madeley, had to take over until Mulligan was well enough to return.

Director Harry Burton once spent a year as "walking cover" for the part of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.

He said: "You could almost hear the murmur behind the curtain when they make the announcement that the part of Henry Higgins will be played by Harry Burton - 'Who the bloody hell is he?'

"But sometimes it is a bit of a thrill for the audience, because they think they are witnessing a star being born." The productionwas infamous for the many absences of former EastEnders star Martine McCutcheon.

Burton said: " Martine brought in an interesting East End audience - none of whom took kindly to being told she was not appearing."

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=440753&in_page_id=1773

The Hollywood Reporter review of Northanger Abbey

2007-07-07T01:45:00.000-07:00

By Ray Bennett

Mar 23, 2007

This mines Jane Austen's first-written but last-published novel to find purest nuggets of wit, romance and social satire.

9-11 p.m., Sunday, March 25
ITV1 (U.K.)

LONDON -- ITV's season of new Jane Austen films hits full stride with a wonderfully evocative version of "Northanger Abbey" written with flair and imagination by Andrew Davies, adding to his list of fine credits including "Bleak House," "Tipping the Velvet" and "Bridget Jones's Diary."

Capturing vividly the flush and wonder of adolescence, the film mines Austen's first-written but last-published novel to find purest nuggets of wit, romance and social satire. The story's 18th-century heroine, Catherine Morland, has a fevered imagination and Davies draws on Austen's droll illustrations of it to create scenes of gothic adventure.

This is Austen for those who imagine wrongly that her novels are dry and dainty. There's lust and hunger in these characters and Davies, along with director Jon Jones ("A Very Social Secretary," "Archangel"), gives them full rein while never betraying the social straightjackets of the time.

A voice-over using Austen's words sets the scene as Davies matches the author for economy in showing Catherine's growth from a plain and awkward child to a smart and pretty teenager.

Felicity Jones is all wide eyes and passionate heart as the young woman who seeks to be a heroine in her own love story if she could ever find the right hero. Like all Austen characters, her hardworking father (Gerry O'Brien) and gentle mother (Julia Dearden) know that money is more important than romance, however, so they are happy for Catherine to accept an invitation from the better-off Allens to live with them in Bath.

Mr. Allen (Desmond Barrit) has a decent living but Mrs. Allen (Sylvestra Le Touzel) is easily impressed by the Bath elite and only too aware that she lacks acquaintance with any of them. Catherine's personable brother James (Hugh O'Connor), however, has won the attentions of the young women in the Thorpe family and their eldest, Isabella (Carey Mulligan), seeks to make Catherine her best friend.

Meanwhile, the impressionable girl has become enamored of an affable snob named Henry Tilney (J.J. Field) and his sweet-natured sister Eleanor (Catherine Walker). Into the mix comes Isabella's opportunist brother John (William Beck) and Henry's selfish brother Captain Frederick Tilney (Mark Dymond).

Hovering above all the young people and key to their fate is Henry's father, General Tilney (Liam Cunningham) for whom the state of marriage is a financial contract and nothing but.

Catherine is soon whisked off to the Tilney home, the magnificent but spooky Northanger Abbey, where the teenager's appetite for tales of ghoulies and ghosties brings about the expected series of Austen misunderstandings.

Filmed on location in Ireland, with Lismore Castle standing in for Northanger, the film is shot beautifully by Ciaran Tanham while composer Charlie Mole's score adds to the quickening pace of Catherine's fantasies.

Mulligan as the over-confident but naive Isabella and Walker as the charmingly secure Eleanor make convincing opposites while Field has an offhand but winning charm as Henry. At the center of it all, Jones is captivating as breathless adventuress, gullible innocent and an Austen heroine hungry for life.

Woldingham's Drama Star

2007-07-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

Woldingham past pupil Carey Mulligan stars in the recently released Working Title 'Pride & Prejudice' film, alongside Keira Knightley, Dame Judi Dench and Donald Sutherland, shortly after leaving Woldingham.

carey at Oxted cinema with head of drama Judith Brown and current 6th form girls

Carey did not forget her teachers and old school friends when she recently attended a viewing of the film at Oxted cinema with Head of Drama Judith Brown and members of the current Sixth Form.

In an article in the Caterham and District Advertiser, the young star said that she believes her love for the stage and screen was first kindled at Woldingham. 'Everyone was so encouraging. You could do anything you wanted to, although you had to take it seriously.'

Her amazing success has come as no surprise to her former drama teacher Judith Brown. She said 'We are all so proud of Carey and everything she has achieved in her career since leaving Woldingham School. We always knew she was someone special. Not only is she talented but she also has the right temperament and determination to succeed in what is a very difficult profession.'

Watch out for this budding star in the forthcoming TV adaptation of Bleak House.

Why Carey's delighted to be an orphan

2007-07-05T00:31:00.000-07:00

As Andrew Davies' adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel Bleak House nears its dramatic denouement, Carey Mulligan is hugely enjoying the role of Ada Clare.

Ada is an orphan and a ward of court whose fortunes are tied up in the protracted case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. She meets and falls in love with fellow orphan Richard Carstone (Patrick Kennedy) and ends up at Bleak House, taken in by their generous and caring guardian, John Jarndyce (Denis Lawson). "I don't think that Ada has encountered many men before," explains 20-year-old Carey. "I never had it in my head that she did, anyway. But when someone is thrust into your life and you see them every day, and you have to live with them, it's probably inevitable they will get on well with each other."

"I went to boarding school and you become really good friends with people within about a week, because you have to as you're living with them," says Carey. "Richard and Ada meet before they meet Esther (the heroine of the story who is employed as a companion to Ada), played by Anna Maxwell Martin.

"They give each other all these sideways glances in the first episode. I think it was just instant."

Ada falls in love with Richard but slowly becomes frustrated by his obsession with the Jarndyce lawsuit. "It's really hard, because she has this complete loyalty to Richard and he's the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with," says Carey.

"When they ask Jarndyce if they can get married, he says no. Part of Ada is really still loyal to Jarndyce, because obviously he's looking after her and she's living with him, but part of her is so in love with Richard and she really does want to get married. It's horrible, though," she says.

"Does she agree with Jarndyce and wait to get married, or does she fight with Richard? She has to make all these decisions as to who she is most loyal to."

Bleak House is Carey's first major TV role and she admits to finding it all a little daunting.

"I was really terrified. But when I got into it, it was OK," she smiles.

"There are so many storylines, though, that I didn't even get to meet a quarter of the cast. I auditioned twice for the role but had to go back again, as the tape hadn't worked in my second audition and they didn't get any of it on camera,"

Carey, who appeared in Forty Winks at the Royal Court Theatre last year and plays Kitty Bennett in the 2005 film version of Pride And Prejudice, can also be seen in the forthcoming drama Trial And Retribution X, due to air in 2006.

She was unfamiliar with much of Dickens' work before she became involved with Bleak House, but she thoroughly enjoyed the filming.

"The beginning is really beautiful. My mum read the novel and just couldn't stop," laughs Carey.

"The thing I noticed about it is that it seems to be really fast- moving. With a lot of costume dramas, you sit there and see a sweeping shot of a beautiful house, but it's like: 'What's happening with the story?' But this adaptation is all really quick. It's really cool."

• Bleak House, BBC One, Thursday, 8pm, and Friday, 8.30pm

This article: http://living.scotsman.com/tv.cfm?id=2345752005

Last updated: 03-Dec-05 14:09 BST

The Stage Review of Doctor Who - Blink

2007-07-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the late arrival of our weekly Doctor Who review. I’ve only just emerged from under the duvet after Blink scared the living daylights out of me.

Die-hards will always tell you that Doctor Who is such a great idea because it’s such a flexible format, can go anywhere in time and space, can give us an urban techno-thriller one week, silly alien invasion the next, with a tear-jerking romance not far behind. It’s a cliché because it’s true. The format is so loose and broad that we can even have episodes that barely feature the two leads at all, while still managing to feel so much like Doctor Who it hurts (in a good way).

Blink is Stephen Moffat’s third story for Doctor Who on the telly, having given us scary boys in gasmasks, girls in fireplaces, and now we have terrifying statues. Moffat, more than any other writer, takes chances with his Who writing, loosening a nut here, tightening a bolt there, to do things that keep the Doctor Who structure intact while encouraging us to look at it in a different light.

When Sally Sparrow explores an abandoned house of a very spooky variety, she is drawn into a story that spans across time. She discovers a message from the Doctor behind some wallpaper, advising her to duck, which she does, just in time. Later, she drags flatmate Kathy back there to make sure she didn’t imagine the whole thing. Some spooky wandering around later, during which Sally takes delivery of a mysterious package, Kathy disappears… But then our plot thickens even further, as the package turns out to be from Kathy, who ended up back in time and lived a full and happy life until her death. There’s something screwy going on, and I wouldn’t be at all be surprised if it had something to do with that really scary looking statue of a weeping angel… And when Sally gets home, why is the Doctor speaking to her from a DVD extra?

Once again, Doctor Who serves up some seriously good television thanks to a clever script that zings along with Moffat’s trademark dialogue and some great performances from a cast who are doing Doctor Who without the Doctor. Carey Mulligan is so thoroughly likeable as Sally that you long to give her a hug and take her out for coffee. She’d make a great companion for the Doctor should he have need of a new one in the future (although the one he’s got is working out just fine, thank you…). I wanted to see more of Cutting It’s Lucy Gaskell as Kathy (probably because I unashamedly fancied her more than Sally), but it’s down to Moffat’s writing that he can sketch characters so deeply with only a handful of scenes to do it in.

And then there’s the Weeping Angels, a race of aliens who can only move when nobody’s looking at them – so in other words, don’t blink. Ever. As soon as you do, you’re dead… And if they get you, you’re blasted back in time, the potential energy of your future absorbed by the angels. And that’s what happened to the Doctor and Martha, who ended up in 1969, cut off from the TARDIS.

With the Angels, we probably have Doctor Who’s most pant-wettingly scary monsters of all time, and their very concept has you questioning the inner workings of the writer’s mind. This is quickly followed by the sad realisation that you haven’t a hope in hell of ever being that clever, even if you spent the rest of your life trying.

With Blink, we have what has become known in fan circles (of which I obviously know nothing about) as the ‘Doctor-lite’ episode. It’s a thumbnail heading to denote that two filming blocks are ongoing, and as David Tennant and Freema Agyeman can’t be in two places at once, one episode has to be light on scenes for them. Without this, the shoot would go beyond the nine months it currently spans, so it’s a logistical necessary so the leads don’t go doolally-tap from over-work.

Last year we were given the Peter Kay-starring Love and Monsters, which was a love it or loath it affair in its tricksiness. Where Blink scores over Love and Monsters is managing to have an episode without the Doctor and Martha, yet which manages to give them so much presence in the narrative for this to still feel deliciously Who-ey. This also gives us a chance to see just how well Tennant and Agyeman really do work together. When they do pop up, it feels so natural, that it’s always been the Doctor and Martha. Personally, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Blink continues the high-quality run of episodes we’ve had from this third series of Doctor Who, and it easily ranks as one of the best (although I still favour Moffat’s The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances from his three stories to date). And that stridently confident ending will strike fear into the hearts of children for years to come, going down in Doctor Who lore as ‘The One with the Bloody Scary Statues’.

Just as it should do…

Published Tuesday 12 June 2007 at 16:59 by Mark Wright

http://www.thestage.co.uk/tvtoday/2007/06/doctor_who_310_blink.php

Actress Carey's pride and joy

2007-07-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

AN ASPIRING actress who has been catapulted to stardom with a role in the new Pride and Prejudice film says she owes her success to her old school.

Carey Mulligan plays the giggly Kitty Bennett alongside Keira Knightley, Dame Judi Dench and Donald Sutherland, in the latest film version of Jane Austen's famous novel.

And the young star believes her love for the stage and screen was first kindled at Woldingham School.

The 20-year-old said: "I had wanted to act for a really long time, but other schools I had been to did not have such good drama departments.

"Everyone was so encouraging. You could do anything you wanted to, although you had to take it seriously. If you missed rehearsals, you were out."

Carey was thrilled when she got the job of theatre prefect and made sure she spent every moment working in the department, helping out with workshops for younger students and putting on productions.

Now her hard work has paid off and after a spell working in a pub worrying she might never make it as an actress, she got her big break.

Carey said: "I was on the train going to work when I got the call saying I had the part. I had to go and work at the pub that evening - I was pulling pints with a massive grin on my face."

Although she admits she was terrified when they first started filming, at Groombridge Place in Kent, she soon took to it like a duck to water.

Carey said: "We were like one big family. We took over the house. It was so much fun. Brenda Blethyn (Mrs Bennett) mummied us all - when we had days off she took us on day trips to a llama farm."

Since finishing the movie, the actress, who lives in Covent Garden, has been kept busy with a host of job offers, performing in Forty Winks at London's Royal Court Theatre and starring in the BBC's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House, which will be broadcast later this autumn.

But her amazing success has come as no surprise to her former drama teacher, Judith Brown.

She said: "We are all so proud of Carey and everything she has achieved in her career since leaving Woldingham School.

"We always knew she was someone special.

"Not only is she very talented but she also has the right temperament and determination to succeed in what is a very difficult profession."

Sep 23 2005

By Emily Attwood And Brian Haran