#david is not the GREATEST actor in the world I'm not saying that

[allthebestcowboyshavedaddyissues]

"SMG is the only one acting well in this scene" Angel is completely disoriented after months of not being himself and she stabs him within a minute of 'gaining consciousness'

[rainbowpopeworld]

(So you don’t have to deal with all the annoying ads on The Mirror’s website, here’s the whole article interview)

EXCLUSIVE: David Tennant reveals his wife Georgia's role) in his 'huge' Rivals series decision

By Nicola Methven

“David Tennant says he jumped at the chance to star in Jilly Cooper’s 1980s bonkbuster Rivals - because his wife said it would be “sensational”.

The former Doctor Who star said she was thrilled when the first script arrived. “I told Georgia and she was convinced that this was something I had to be involved with,” he explains. “She said, ‘This series is going to be huge. This is going to be exactly what the country needs, exactly what the world needs.’

"She knew the books from her teenage years, as I understand, and knew that this was going to make sensational television.”

He duly accepted the role of Lord Tony Baddingham, one of the show’s main villains and was delighted when Georgia eventually got to watch the episodes, and loved them.

"Her reaction was so positive and so joyous," he says. "I know when she's being genuine."

Tony is a grammar school boy with a chip on his shoulder about not being a proper toff. His character runs a regional TV station facing franchise renewal and has a dependable upper-crust wife, played by Sherwood's Claire Rushbrook, but is also having a very steamy affair with the new TV executive he's lured over from New York (Nafessa Williams).

The actor, 53, argues that poor old Tony is just horribly misunderstood. "From the inside, no character believes they're a villain, do they? I think Tony's motivations are very clear. He's very easy to understand in many ways. Tony sees himself as hard done by and someone who's just struggling to survive and to win."

While he can remember the 80s quite clearly, Tenant says that filming Rivals felt very much like being on a period drama. "It's almost like being on the set of a Dickens novel," he muses.

"The 80s seems quite recent history to me, but once you start recreating that world, you realise it's actually very different. That's wonderful fun to film - to be on a time capsule of a set is glorious."

As the Doctor he got to time-travel all over the place in the TARDIS but Tenant says he loved spending time in the 80s, not least because of the music. When you're a teenager at the time, a lot of it, however good it is, is uncool, and therefore you're not really allowed to like it," he says. "Whereas now, as a jaded 53-year-old, I can just go, 'Oh, do you know what I loved? A-ha'."

And what else did he love? "I didn't have to ride a horse, which was a mercy, because I'm a little bit allergic."

Tenant admits that filming the incredibly saucy bedroom scenes was a bit awkward but he felt there was safety in numbers thanks to the huge number of them. Barely any of the cast don't end up getting involved in one way or another.

"| mean, sex scenes are never comfortable, you know? But again, because everyone was in the same boat, there was a lot of discussion about, 'When are you doing that scene?' and 'Have vou done that yet?'

He believes it's fine for Rivals to be labelled a “bonkbuster" - it's full of sex at the end of the day - but only if it's said with due respect for what Dame Jilly achieved with the Rutshire Chronicles. "There are a generation of readers who were so influenced by her, and for whom these novels meant so much, it means that that writing is obviously better than some would have you believe," he says. "The way she writes character is timeless, and people having sex is pretty timeless. So these books have been tenacious for a reason." The actor says an early scene where the pathologically competitive Tony leaps from his helicopter onto the croquet lawn is his favourite career moment so far.

"That hole-in-one, I would like you to know, was probably the greatest day of my professional life," he laughs. Instructed by the director to "whack it" from 30 feet away he was told the cameras would keep running until he managed it. "I thought the crew are gonna hate me by take 402," he remembers. "And I nailed it on take four. I've never felt more pleased with myself than that moment. I felt like a sporting God."”

[pochiperpe90]

[Eng] Elle Italia - Daily Venezia: THE HISTORY IS US

Luca Marinelli is almost unrecognizable in the role of Mussolini in the series M. Son of the Century, directed by Joe Wright. Two greats together to tell one of the darkest and most criminal periods in History

Personal opinion: M. Son of the Century is one of the masterpieces of the 2024 Mostra. It's a shame it can't win, because it's a TV series, even if its director continues to call it a film. A seven-hour long film, which will be released in eight episodes on Sky and Now in the early months of 2025. It’s produced by Sky Studios and Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment, a Fremantle group company, based on the novel by Antonio Scurati, written by Stefano Bises and Davide Serino. The director is Joe Wright, the protagonist is Luca Marinelli. It tells with historical accuracy the rise of Mussolini and our country's surrender to dictatorship.

Sensitive material, it reminds us that we invented fascism, and perhaps a foreign director, let's say, could have approached it with greater detachment, without our sense of guilt.  Wright looks at me almost with pity, in a good way: “But I share that sense of guilt, I reject national borders, there are no nations: the similarities between us human beings are more than the differences, I feel as responsible as you Italians…I was very careful to tell the truth without being didactic, I tried to understand without sympathizing, maintaining a critical distance... Mussolini was fascinating, he seduced a nation and many others. If I hadn't shown that charm then people might have thought that Italians were all idiots. That balance was my main concern... On a more personal level it's a series about toxic masculinity, which is like nothing else in us, we have it inside us. We have to understand our responsibilities and turn our backs on them, so as not to end up morally bankrupt".

Every day it took Marinelli two hours of makeup and hair to get into Mussolini's shoes. "It was something I brought home with me," the actor confesses, "in the same shape as on the set: the 22 kilos I had gained, my hair cut as you see it in the scenes.  The black lenses. were the things I could leave in the makeup van. Working with all the different departments was fascinating”.

It must not have been easy for him to shoot so convincingly in the fascist salute: “These are filthy and brutal things that the role required of me, but of course there is a big difference between what is considered right and what the role requires. I certainly did not take pleasure in carrying out certain actions or even in expressing myself in that way, but rather the opposite. What I had to face during the production of the project, as a convinced anti-fascist that I am, really cost me a lot. I did not come out of it intact”. But he was in the hands of an excellent director, a master in the cinematic transpositions of great books (Anna Karenina, Atonement, Pride and Prejudice).  How does he approach them? "The film," Wright continues, "is what happens in my head while I read the book. I'm dyslexic and so when I read I think I see beyond the words, I create the scenes and I edit, zooming in on small details that interest me. M. is a mash up between Scarface, Man with a Movie Camera and 90s rave culture." Tom Rowlands' techno music creates the right atmosphere: "I didn't want anything classic, kids have to see it too, they have to understand the roots of fascism." Luca Marinelli is monumental in the role of the "duce." "He's one of the greatest actors in the world, along with Gary Oldman. But, like Gary Oldman, he doesn't know it."

[shelyue99]

More from Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers, by James Andrew Miller:

ANNE THOMOPOULOS: Richard Winters, who commanded Easy Company, was very reticent about being involved in the project. Richard was very conservative and very suspect of Hollywood. He didn't want to share his life. At the end of our lunch I said, "Regardless of what you decide, I need to thank you because my mother-and father-in-law were married during the war and decided that they wouldn't have children until they knew their children would be okay. My brother-in-law was born in a bombing seven months after you landed on the beach in Normandy. I owe you my life. My daughter is a result of your efforts and she's my greatest joy. Whatever hap-pens, I am eternally grateful." Carmi told me it was because of that that he changed his mind.

MARA MIKIALIAN: I had this idea to pair actors and veterans, so we flew actors to where the veterans were. The one who portrayed Babe Heffron was from Scotland-Robin Laing-and had never even been to America. While Robin is on his way from Scotland to Philadelphia, Babe ends up in the hospital. So Robin landed and I greeted him and said, "Do you want to rest? You want to go see the Liberty Bell? You've never been in America before." He said, "Bring me to Babe." We immediately went to the hospital and of course Bill was there because those two were inseparable. It was important to Babe that Robin and also Frank see their world. Bill basically set out an itinerary for us, drove us all around in his car with his only one leg that he had. We went to the restaurant where they had breakfast every day. We went to the Irish bars. We did that with four other pairings. Honestly, to this day, I think I'm still so proud of that story and how it came out [in People magazine] and how the actors and the veterans felt about it.

TONY TO: A big ingredient of the magic was that the actors were talking to the people they were playing. The spirit was everybody wanted to honor them. You would have a call sheet with the characters who were supposed to be there, but then two or three other actors who had a day off would come and they would be in wardrobe. They would say, "I talked to my guy yesterday. He said, 'I was on that patrol. You don't have to give me any lines, but we want to do right by them. We're going to be here even if we're treated like extras."

ANNE THOMOPOULOS:

To get on that train was really touching, and I realized something about the bond that happens between soldiers that I had never really understood before. They basically said, "We love our wives, our kids, their families. But the love we have for each other is different." These men had faced death over and over again together.

According to Tony To, BoB never used a stunt man, everything was done by the actors.

David Frankel directed and shot Ep 7 The Breaking Point and Ep 9 Why We Fight. It took 55 days of production, for two hours of television. The longest schedule Frankel had on a feature film he has made is 55 days.

Originally BoB had 12 episodes but it’s over the budget so they had to cut out 2 from the bible.

[randomfoggytiger]

Fail Better Premium: David's Thoughts (Part XIII, 2/2)

Creating a breadcrumb trail with David Duchovny's personal growth.

"As we were talking about parents-- as I was talking about parents-- and um... the idea of making your parents happy. That's another thing: when you go into your parents line of work, um, you feel like they're the greatest judge.

"I'm sorry that my dad was not alive when I was, when I had been publishing novels; because I would love to hear what he thinks. About my writing." [Voice cracks.] "I would love it. I... to have my dad tap me on the head and say," [voice wobbles] "...'Good book.' Um." [Inhales, voice clears up.] "I got it from my mom a little bit. Uh, I have an image of her holding my first novel Holy Cow! in her hands like it was a relic, like it was a holy relic!" [Laughs softly.] "And just, like, feeling the weight of it; and, and... like there it existed in the world, this thing, in her hands, that her, her boy had made. Something that I had never got from, um, whatever work I'd done as an actor-- it's hard to hold a movie in your hands. Or a tv show, in your hands, right-- I guess you could have a DVD box back in the day; but whatever, it's different. Certainly it was different to her because she would have valorized writing more than acting which she thought was superficial, and weird. Didn't, she didn't understand my need-- or my desire-- to, to act. Never did. Um, I'm not sure I ever did, either. Maybe I will, one day. Or maybe that's not for me to know. Maybe that's just inspiration. Compulsion, whatever. Um.

"But there is a sense in which.... If we grow up with-- for lack of a better word-- sad parents, um. In Griffin's case, y'know, a father who is n-n-not living an authentic existence-- closeted, in that case-- brings with it... certain amounts of shame and sadness." [Large, shallow breath.] "In my mother's case, um, very, very sad after the divorce-- heartbroken; sad, and, um, fragile. And I took it upon myself to... heal her, in a way. Even at a young age: at eleven, twelve. To make her happy. Probably happy again, would have been my thought; although I don't know that she ever was happy-- she had a tough upbringing.

"But I remember I had this occasion-- um, my mother was Scottish, and I had an occasion where I could get her to, uh, Great Britain for a premiere of a movie Return to Me that I did in, like, 2000. And Prince Charles was throwing the premiere. So, my mother who was born, y'know, in poverty in 1930... I was going to fly her back on the Concord; fly her to Edinburgh, which is close to where she was brought up; and she was going to meet her prince, now king. And I..." [voice cracks] "...I was very proud to do it; but I didn't realize it was like, I was trying to make her whole. Y'know, not that my mother was this royalist, or-- really, she was a very realistic person and she didn't care about... whatever. But it was, it's something. It's something to be able to take your mom to meet the prince. And that the prince is throwing a party for something you did.

"And I realized at some point-- probably in talking to my therapist, back them-- was that, this was--" [voice cracks, verges on tears] "--my greatest try to, to make her happy. Uh," [voice recovers] "my greatest attempt to prove that what I was doing, acting, also was legitimate. And that it was somewhat pathetic in that way. But also moving, I think. And that it was a gift, in a way; because then I could see that that didn't make her happy, either. Nor should it have-- that's the illusion: uh, that my achievement, or my perceived achievement, um, shouldn't make her happy, in the grand scheme of things. But it is an illusion that a child has. And that could have been a liberating moment for me, that could have been a liberating failure: like, 'Oh. This movie failed; or, or'-- not that the movie failed; but that the effect that this movie has on your mom, uh, failed. Didn't make her happy, didn't solve the problems in her world, in our world. Um, and it was one of those, uh-- it, it's a discussion I've had with a friend over, uh, fame. Y'know, because fame is seen as a cure-all by many that don't have it. And those that get it, um, they can see the failure of fame as a liberation. Uh, doesn't always happen that way; but you can step back and go, 'Well, that didn't work. I'm still pretty miserable; or I'm still-- there's still a hole, there's still a lack. There's still sadness.'

"Um. Anyway. Mm, that one rambled."

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV: 1/3, Part IV: 2/3, Part IV: 3/3, Part V: 1/3, Part V: 2/3, Part V: 3/3, Part VI: 1/2, Part VI: 2/2, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI,Part XII: 1/2, Part XII: 2/2, Part XIII: 1/2)

[gaykarstaagforever]

I just watched When the Wind Blows (1986). Yes, because this guy did this video.

Do you know that 90s BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances? Sure you do, it was a plague on the entire English-speaking world for 5 years. Well. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch Hyacinth and Richard slowly die of radiation poisoning for an hour? Of course you haven't. But that's basically what When the Wind Blows is. Written and illustrated by the guy who did The Snowman.

Yes. THAT The Snowman.

His next project was exploring the existential horror of quaint British bumbling vs. the nuclear holocaust. And the same people turned it into another TV movie.

Featuring the music of Roger Waters, David Bowie, and Genesis. Because sure, thing I never heard of before today. Someone on staff was friends with an agent.

The animation is a combination of hand-drawn and real object stop-motion, which makes it feel like a CG animated film, which it isn't, because it's 1986. The sound editing is also amazing, the voice actors acoustics changing as they move through an animated house. If you are an animation nerd, you already know about this movie. If you aren't, go watch it free on Tubi and see some goddamn brilliance.

People call it England's Grave of the Fireflies. Fair enough, but Grave came out two years later. I'm not saying it ripped off this obscure English TV cartoon. It was just that people in the 1980s were concerned about dying in nuclear fallout, for some reason.

Grave hits me harder. But that is because it is about little children; if you prefer adorable elderly people, this will hit you just as hard.

The way the couple here interacts is fantastic. While these are supposed to be Greatest Generation members from England in the 1980s, most of you will immediately recognize their terrible banal overconfidence in the midst of abject ignorance. Regardless of the specifics of what they're saying, you will recognize friends or family in these people. As you watch in horror as a woefully unprepared government gives them bad advice about how to survive what is an utterly inevitable death.

This is a delightful, horrifying, funny, brilliant, sad movie about people who are simply too average to survive the End of Days. And as that probably describes 99% of us, we should all watch this.

Poor bastards, the lot of us.

[ninewheels]

Oppenheimer thoughts

It's weird that I was posting so much before it came out and then didn't post my thoughts after actually watching the dang thing, but whatever.

Just saw it for the second time, and my opinions haven't changed much. I actually absorbed a lot more on my first viewing that most people would have because I had just finished reading American Prometheus, so I was primed to pick up on every detail. And I was impressed and just how much biographical detail Nolan managed to pack into the dialogue, but I wonder if it isn't simply too much information to give to an audience who haven't done the reading as it were. I mean, I haven't seen a lot of complaints about that in particular, so maybe not, though I have seen people taking issue with the pacing, which is definitely a related issue and which I can also acknowledge without being personally bothered by. There's a lot of story to tell in Oppenheimer's life, and it took Bird and Sherwin 600+ pages to tell the most comprehensive version of it possible, so obviously not all of the things are going to be given time. On that subject, Jean Tatlock is underserved by the film, and as someone fascinated by her (and also as a fan of Florence Pugh for that matter) I am disappointed, but I can't fault the film too much for that, because like I said, there's a lot to tell and she's a relatively small piece of the puzzle. I do appreciate the reference to the possibility that she was assassinated, but in context the meaning of that reference is so oblique that it feels like another thing intended for the already-knowledgable like me. Again, though, I'm the guy who gets it, so.

Despite the flattening of some dynamics and relationships, I feel like the film generally prioritized the most important elements. I heard someone describe it as a deconstruction of Great Man History, and I'm not sure (yet, maybe I'll change my mind) if I'd go so far as "deconstruction," but it's definitely built around the conceit that even the Great Men of History are not masters of their own destiny. It doesn't matter what Oppenheimer wanted, how he would have chosen for things to play out if he had control over everything, because of course, he didn't have control--not over his terrible creation, and not over the story of his life either. It's a film about unintended consequences, fittingly symbolized in the metaphor of the initially theorized world-ending chain reaction.

I almost forgot to note it because it feels obvious, but also, the film looks and sounds fantastic and the acting is great across the board. I feel like that's been shouted from the rooftops loudly enough that I only need to say "seconded" to communicate the point. I will also say though that with all the big names in small roles, (Affleck, Malek, Branagh, Oldman, even Pugh to a lesser extent) I am delighted by the fact that some of the character actors here got some real play. David Krumholtz as Isidor Rabi absolutely delights me in every scene, and Tom Conti does a lot to make that ending as strong as it is.

Also, one final note: the film references the fact that the Japanese were already defeated when the US dropped the atomic bombs on them (I would have had a serious problem with the film if it didn't, especially given that the book doesn't pussyfoot around the issue in the slightest) but I don't feel like it emphasized the point enough, so here's me doing it. The government knew for an absolute certainty that Japan was about to surrender. It's fact. It's known. The idea that the bombing reduced the total casualties compared to invasion is, in addition to still not being justification for the greatest single war crimes in history, is also simply a falsehood.

[viewfromplanetx]

Samurai movies 5

Roruoni Kenshin - Not your typical spaghetti western. Sure, you got your good-bad guys—former bad guys turned good. You got your bad-bad guys who just want to go back to the olden days when the world was full of hot chicks and retards and you could spill guts freely. And, of course you have your ugly-bad guys, who are just retards. One of the big differences here is that all the good-bad guys are female. The title character Kenshin is played by the beautiful Maggie Q. Her Vietnamese Kung Fu is well utilized here with flying kicks, flying fists, and flying flying. What are the films values? Good? Bad? Ugly? Doesn't matter, it's all about the trickiness of redemption.

Lady Snowblood - I was pleasantly surprised. Seriously—every scene, shot, line, look, glance and gesture is beautiful. She's an Asura, which is Japanese for "Jedi"—no attachments, no emotions, remorseless and violent. The message here is that vengeance is tricky. That nut-sack for a chin Tarantino could've learnt a lot from this flick.

The Yakuza - I won't lie, it takes a bit to get past the 70s aesthetic. This is a classic story of loyalty and honor with katanas and blood. Of course there's also a hot chick, a MILF, some retards playing dice, plus Robert Mitchem and Ken Takakura, who turn in top performances. I have seen this movie so many times and still choke up at the ending. My takeaway, apologizing is tricky.

The Hidden Blade - Hey, wait a hot minute. They right off engage in witty sarcastic banter. I was told... never mind. Anyway, it's no Hidden Blade. Time passes on screen, not much happens, you feel all mushy at the ending.

Love and Honor - They say this is the third installment in the Twilight Samurai series. Don't know how it's a series. Different stories, different characters, different actors. Same values? The dad in this case is a food taster at the palace. Due to some shenanigans and hi-jinks in the kitchen he is accidentally blinded. Not to give too much away, but this does not please his honey. Apparently, making non-poisonous food is tricky.

13 Assassins - Whoa, this might be the greatest thing since 47 Ronin! The action that is. The story, meh. Twelve Ronin and a retard team up for vengeance against an evil lord. Blah, blah, blah heard it before. Luckily, there's no lack of action, as mentioned--swords, spears, blunt objects, guts, heads, spiky traps, flaming arrows, things blowing up. H-h-h-holy c-c-c-cow... just see it!

The Eyes of Laura Mars - Not sure how this got on the list. No Samurai, no swords, no retards, but it does have some very hot chicks—super models actually. It’s an olden film, made about the same time as the classics, so 60s. I guess it’s David Cronenburg’s first attempt at horror. As you can imagine it’s not very scary. Just a who-done-it crime/detective story with the usual Cronenburg psycho-delics,  psychoer chicks (ed: now you’re just making up words?) and creepy cinematography. That infomercial about creepy skin is scarier.

Okay, yeah, I'm taking a break from Samurai for a bit. (ed: Really, hmmm) These are some other movies that I can recommend.

Heat - Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, are you effing kidding me? And, it can't be the same Val Kilmer who plays a retard in Willow and the asshole in Top Gun. This is one of those odd flicks where you want to root for the bad guys, even though they are murdering thieves. Apparently, murdering and thieving are tricky.

Reality - From the trailer, I honestly thought she was the winner of some reality show. Nope, her name is Reality Winner :] Unbelievably tense. You will be rivetted just by watching Sydney Sweeney's face and won't believe 100 minutes just went by. Phew...

John Carter - If you're into sci-fi with a steampunk aesthetic, you will certainly enjoy this flick. The Princess of Mars is smokin hot and John isn't too hard to look at either. The CGI has aged well for older technology. The green six-limbed Tharks look real enough to me. As do the flying machines, fantastical cities, and space-angel temples. That dog-monster is hilarious.

Prince of Persia - Another hottie princess and good lookin prince. Good sword play, lots of parkour, gorgeous landscapes and pretty horses. I don't know how Disney gets away with so many racist stereotypes. I guess they never really say the bad-bad guys are Arabs. They call them Hassansins or something like that. The good-bad guys are Persians (Iranians) and Gandhi plays the ugly-bad guy.

The Banshees of Inisherin - Nope nuh-uh. Cannot more highly not recommend this movie. I can't believe I'm saying this, but there can be too many retards. Apparently, for some people, making a good movie is tricky. If I ever meet the wee-brained sonofabitch that made this flick, I swear I’m gonna punch him on his hairy nut-sack chin.

[damn-stevens]

Dan Stevens continues to live his best life outside the world of good boy characters in historical dramas.

The idiosyncratic actor/fashion plate has been seemingly quiet of late while working on some of his characteristically unique projects. I'm Your Man is the current big news in Dan fan circles, and rightfully so, but something that's nearly slipped under the radar is that it's highly likely that he's playing the big bad in Marvel's The Eternals.

This is the leader of the Deviants, Kro. He's got a thing going on with Thena, Angelina Jolie's character. It's a relationship which is fraught with juicy drama.

In the trailers we only see Kro in a few shots as the shapeshifting Deviant who manhandles Jolie a bit and whispers, "You can't protect...*huge pause*...any of them." The line is a bit hard to hear and I can't determine if it's Dan's voice or not, but Dan as close to outright said that he's playing him, without just saying, "I'm playing Kro."

Now since this is a cgi character, ntm a shapeshifter, it's impossible to say whether Dan just voiced him or did any mo-cap or live acting in this. I'm hoping for all three. One of the greatest joys about Dan Stevens is listening to his voice (for instance, he recently did a hilarious animated turn as both Prince Philip and Prince Charles in HBO Max's The Prince), but that still comes in a distant second to watching him on screen. And Kro has apparently posed as the Devil in front of humans during part of his history, so...Kro-phisto confirmed?

What's exciting about this for me as a Dan fan is that if the movie and Kro are a hit with audiences, we could see Dan continue to emerge as a great character/mo-cap actor, like the iconic Andy Serkis. Stevens is intensely physical and emotive, and he did a fantastic job as the prince/Beast in the Beauty and the Beast live action remake. That movie is not remembered all that fondly though, and especially not for its use of cgi, even though Dan's performance easily stole the film. He deserves a quality team like the one that the MCU provides to technologically back up his acting.

So here's me crossing my fingers for some big success to Dan Stevens in the MCU! 🤞

Enjoy this obligatory Dan photo

[snowfianna]

Fable IV rant:

I'm so pumped up for the 23rd because everything has led me to believe that Fable 4 will be announced this year and the game's existence has been confirmed for a while anyway it's just a matter of time of when will Fable 4 show itself. It's a badly kept secret tbh.

So to those who don't mind a big rant or wish to add on to my rant- here we go!

Can you imagine how good the graphics would be for this game, we've all seen modern games, surely, and they're all bloody fantastic looking. Fable Legends is technically the most recent Fable game despite it being a free to play online game

and that it's cancelled

but it also had a gorgeous look to it all! And the character models did great justice to the concept art and honestly that has my hopes real high because I love the concept art of Fable, specifically from Mike McCarthy, so exaggerated and recognisable- yet in all the games I can confidently say they did not do justice to his character design, specifically for Reaver. Sure, he looks stunning in the third game, but not quite what he looks like in his concept art sadly.

But also, since Fable was made in Unreal Engine (I'm pretty sure at least) we've seen examples of what can be done in Unreal Engine now and it's absolutely breath taking!

If you haven't seen here are some examples and they're so life-like.

Moving on from graphics!

Since Playground Games is behind the development of Fable 4, they would be spectacular at an open spaced world, judging from the Forza games.

I always loved the open world feature added to Fable, it made things more adventurous and you could do so many things that weren't at all related to the main quest to progress the story and it was just thrilling to see there were other things going on! I'd love to just have my dog companion running through fields, fighting enemies left and right and finding buried treasure or forgotten chests.

Run into strangers who request aid in something silly or rather serious and it would be up to you with how you go about the quest or if you even accept it to get renown or gold. Cause a massacre in towns and villages, running off with low morality and plentiful loot- oh one could fantasise of this all day.

Story, characters, writing and voices.

Fable has always had a fun environment of fantasy and a rather good story (despite the curse of mundane or pathetic boss fights in which I hope Fable 4 breaks this cycle) but the one thing that's always kept me on my feet in the games is the writing and the characters. It always just tried not to take itself too seriously, throwing in absurd quests that probably requires cheese or a really weird-looking outfit. It always kept my attention rather than just pure edge and seriousness of life or death.

The characters are a given, the writing done for them all is perfect in my eyes, I love hearing the variations of how characters of NPCs interacted (enough so that I even bought two of the Fable books written by Peter David). Despite Fable 3 not being the greatest at it's time, I found myself absolutely enjoy the characters for how they were- I even cried over Walter's death because it genuinely felt like I lost somebody pretty close (RIP Walter🙏). The writing and the chosen voice actors were superb and I'd love more of it.

I hope this time we can receive a full story instead of how Fable 2 and 3 were where plenty of plot points and such were cut out due to time constraints- thanks Microsoft, very cool. I'm still in anguish when listening to the Developer's Diary 3 of Fable 3 hearing lines that were just never said in the final product and it was definitely not just additional lines that weren't required as it seemed to mention entirely different things that weren't in the game; i.e. Reaver talks about his pirates in Bloodstone and how he misses them- in the final product he never mentions it and it's even shown that he's tried to completely bury his pirate past for whatever reason.

The pacing in Fable 3 was rather strange too, it felt like the revolution should've lasted longer.

Another hope of mine is to have choices that aren't so painfully black-and-white because it's very obvious which is the good or bad option to a scenario- personally for me I'd like to be morally grey rather than pure good or pure evil.

They better have kept the mechanic of your actions affecting your appearance too to the point where you grow horns and get cracked magma-like skin or this slight glow and aura around you and this flawless skin. It kind of died down in Fable 3, only looking more tired or have completely black eyes and the good- eh yeah not much I can say for when you're good. Purity and corruption seemed to also vanish in Fable 3 (at least I think) since you couldn't really change prices of the homes you were renting out, unless I've been a big goof who didn't arrange the rent prices in the game because I didn't know how.

Combat

Combat in all the games was rather straight forward, especially in Fable 2 and 3 where everything was just easy to beat or you could get overpowered around the start of the game. I'd hope the combat improves greatly this time and even bring back real consequences to dying instead of immediate revival with some lost experience and a scar. We need more serious consequences to your actions (this can be applied to all decisions rather than just if you die in a battle) even if it's just having to reload the last checkpoint. Makes things more challenging this way.

Another thing is to make boss fights less repetitive and simple- sure I can forgive it if the boss is from around the start but if they had phases you had to keep ontop of and didn't rely on summoning a bajillion other enemies to strike you, I'd be ever so grateful.

And if there's other characters fighting along side you, I'd hope they'd genuinely be helpful and keep up to speed with the player. I'm sure the AI in the past was the problem for this as AI wasn't at its best during that time so characters fighting by you didn't do too much or just did whatever that wasn't helpful. Now though, AI has improved immensely (I mean look at The Last Of Us 2, the AI is👌) and due to this, I'm sure characters would make battles more fun and the characters be more involved with the fight and even story.

Mana should be brought back as well, in Fable 2 and 3 mana just ceased to exist so you could just endlessly and repeatedly use the same spells and it just gave you too much power and the enemies barely stood a chance.

We need challenges people- CHALLENGES!

Medieval times? Yes.

I love Medieval fantasy and as much as I like the Victorian era too, I didn't think it quite suited Fable, as fascinating as it was to see fantasy turn industrial, it kind of took away from the Fable feel that I so crave. If they have indeed brought the game back to medieval times it means more creatures and enemies are back rather than driven away or limited to the same handful of enemies.

We can all also agree the guns were overpowered, though I did like receiving the Red Dragon late in Fable 2 to absolutely mow down enemies, it was satisfying to say the least. However, guns were far too powerful for the game, so I demand the bows and crossbows back thank you very much- or even throwing knives- I'll take what I'm given.

I'd love to see more of the natural landscape rather than towns or buildings that took over once entirely natural areas (Millfields/Bowerlake). However, I won't object to ruins of old buildings taken over by nature.

Skeptical with Playground Games? Don't be.

Are you worried that Playground Games wouldn't do justice to Fable since it's not Lionhead Studios? Don't be, it's been noted that Playground Games has hired several ex-lionhead workers and plenty other skillful workers to ensure we get the best product. I have high hopes and expectations for Fable 4 even if it's developed under a different studio, I've seen great things from them and I will believe they'll deliver us only the best.

Side note to all this

I will crash and burn if I don't see a crumb of Reaver or Jack of Blades in Fable 4- I don't know how true any rumours are of Fable 4 with time travelling and Jack returning, but we'll just have to see. Reaver still remains as my absolute favourite character of all time and I'd love to see more of him, even see him before he was 'Reaver'.

Jack too, more of his lore is stated elsewhere rather than in the game itself and I'd love to see it all be brought into light and really expand on his lore and make it known- rather than have ever-loving Fable fans like me dig around for these rather delicious bits of canon information.

That's my big rant, feel free to share your thoughts and what you'd look forward to!

Have some accidental art leaks from a Playground Game concept artist- believed to be for Fable 4👀

[leoninapelliolovesconchitawurst]

ENGLISH TRANSLATION ( Jeannette Nobbe)

VOLSKRANT.NL 31/01/20

by Mennon Pot

https://www.volkskrant.nl/cultuur-media/conchita-wurst-sorry-dat-ik-zo-n-wandelend-cliche-ben~b0477817/

(Conchita) Wurst: 'I'm sorry I'm a walking cliché'.

Above all we know Conchita Wurst as the bearded 'female 'singer who won the ESC in 2014. But we've moved on and are a bit wiser. It´s just Wurst now, but the beard is still there.

With light feathered steps, Thomas Neuwirth (31) enters the conference room of the hotel in Groningen where he is staying: black combat boots, black leather pants, tight black T-shirt, the black beard and the perfect short trimmed jet black hair..

He introduces himself as Tom. It's not difficult to recognise the bearded drag queen Conchita in him. (Kopenhagen, 2014, remember?) but the dress and wig are stowed away for a while. Conchita has a sort of sabbatical, so to speak.

Neuwirth is on tour as a man. Stage name: Wurst. Yesterday evening he performed in Groningen; the next concert will be 7 february at the Melkweg in Amsterdam. His new album 'Truth over Magnitude' also carries the artist´s name Wurst.

Let's get this straight: when the subject is Conchita Wurst, the word 'transgender' sometimes comes a long. Wrongly. Neuwirth is a man, ('but incredibly gay, of course'), who has a choice from now on: being on tour as a drag queen (Conchita) or as a man (Wurst) .

´a lot of fun, being a masculine stage persona', he says. Conchita will turn up again somewhere else.

Holland appreciated Conchita's 'Rise like a Phoenix' with the highest score, almost 6 years ago.

Neuwirth didn't forget: twelve points, douze points from Holland for the bearded diva from Austria.

Then hectic years followed. 'After the Song Contest I thought, I have to make the most of it now, build my fame and cash it in. So I surrounded myself with all kinds of experts, managers, stylists, make/up artists, the whole circus. After 3 years I was exhausted. I couldn´t do it anymore. I told my audience every nigh, be yourself, believe in yourself. But along the way, I forgot myself.´

He got rid of the experts’ circus and is having a relaxed tour now, with a small entourage. He feels good again, although in 2018 he had to announce he is infected with the HIV virus. His manager politely asks, almost in an humble manner, not to talk about that.

Tom doesn´t appear to be very worried about that. There has seldom been a star who starts an interview so cheerfully. ´A great photo shoot and after that talk about things I find beautiful and fun.

Terrific, I was already looking forward to it when I came out of bed.´

´Curriculum Vitae'

1988 – Born as Thomas Neuwirth in Gmunden, Austria

2007 – Candidate at the talentshow Starmania, and boyband Jetzt anders!

2011 – Debut as female persona Conchita Wurst, the debut single `I´ll be there´

2012 - Second place at the Austrian Songfestival

2014 – ESC winner with ´Rise like a Phoenix

2015 – First album ´Conchita´, co-presenter ESC

2018 – Second album ´From Vienna with Love´

2019 – Debut as male stage persona ´Wurst´, third album ´Truth over Magnitude´

2020 – Wurst ´Trust over Magnitude´ Sony Music

Wurst will be performing in the Melkweg in Amsterdam on February 7

SOUNDTRACK

Music from the Motion Picture Titanic ...1997

´My first CD. I was 9 years old when I bought it. `My heart will go on´’changed my life´. As it were, Céline Dion gave me permission to be utterly dramatic and to be over the top. When I came out of the closet, I heard that song in my head.

It was also a liberation for me as a singer. My mom always sang with a thin, high falsetto voice. I thought that was how it should be. Dion taught me, you may yell as hard as you can, with all the power you have in you. When you sing so loud, you can’t fake it. The sound you push out of your body, is the sound of your body, unique and by definition authentic. Céline Dion taught me that singing is something really physical.´

SERIES

The Crown ..Netflix..., 2016 until 2019

´For me it´s getting difficult to watch a movie to the end. I guess that´s because of all the series on Netflix and HBO. My favorite is `The Crown´.. ´the intro alone is so beautiful, that liquid gold that forms a crown, such art. I used to watch it twice. Ít says something about the fact that I can´t choose between the two women who play Elizabeth and the two men who play prince Philip. All the actors are great. The costumes, the stories, the palaces, it´s so delightful. The history also intrigues me, after every episode I checked on Wikipedia if it was really what had happened.

PARTIES

´At Christmas I always come back to Vienna. I love the lights, glitters and decorations, my inner Mariah Carey is looking forward to it every year. Christmas 2019 was extra special because it had been a long time since the whole family came together at my grandmother´s house.´

I would love it to be like that every year... A couple of days being together in one home. Talking, getting to really know my family. Maybe now you think, days on and on with uncles and aunts, such horror! It is easy to say that I don´t really have much in common with these people. But I do, Really. They all have a story and similarities with your stories. Ask them about your life and tell them about yours.´

That´s what Christmas is all about to me. To me, the birth of Jesus has not that much to do with it.´

ISLAND..

I have an agreement with my best friends to go on vacation at least once every two years. We have been to Mykonos a couple of times, THE especially gay island. I´m sorry I sound like a walking cliché.´

The sun, the sea, the beaches, the small streets, so cosy. We rent a house with a pool and for a week or two we live in our own little paradise, actually being a bit tipsy the whole time. Go shopping and cook.´

`What´s also very important, on Mykomos, the wind is always blowing the right way. I love to watch the women, because their dresses and their hair flutter so beautifully.´

STYLE ICON

Victoria Beckham

I was and still am a big Spice Girls fan and I especially admire Victoria Beckham, because she lives her life the way she wants. She appears in tabloids every day, but has survived a crisis in her relationship and has stayed happy with the love of her life and her family. I think that it´s really strong.´

In regard to her style, she can go from very classy to very trashy, I like that. One day she´s wearing a designer dress, the next she and David Beckham are walking in identical jogging suits. She couldn’t care less. I think that it´s inspiring.´

´I think she is utterly authentic, raging through the glamour. Although I have never met her, I´m sure that I could have a lot of fun with her. I´d love to drink some tequila with her for an afternoon or so.´

AGE

30

´I thought becoming 30 was really special, I lost my wild behaviour, came to be more restful. Some way or another I think a lot about some things my mother said: in my twenties, I ignored those lessons, but now I´m 30, I suddenly realised she was right for example how important family and friends are.

I´m 31 now, I have inner peace and my life in order, but I still feel young. I´m convinced that this the best period of my life´. My advise to everybody... be 30.´

ALBUM

Recomposed by Max Richter / The Four Seasons ..2012

I don´t play any instruments and until not too long ago, I didn´t really know much about music. I really found that a pity sometimes. Fortunately, my good friend Martin studies at the School of Musical Arts... !! He´s studying the history of music intensely and tells me about a lot of great composers. I learn a lot from that.´´I never understood classical music and didn´t really know anything about it, but thanks to the listening sessions with Martin I fell in love with Vivaldi..

The pop artist of the classical artists.

´Max Richter interpreted Vivaldi´s Four Seasons and composed it in a modern fashion. It´s a modern, post minimalistic piece, completely different from the original one, but you still recognise it. Greatly done, at the moment it´s my favorite album.´

BOOK

Friedrich Schiller « Ueber die aesthetische Erziehung des Menschen ». About the aesthetic upbringing of the people..´

´A good friend advised me to read the philosophical letters from Friedrich Schiller ..Letters, 1794-1795)

That´s a hard job to do. Because of the old fashioned German I had to read some sentences 5 times. You always have to wrestle yourself through a thick layer of 18th century sexism.

´But further on you´ll find something beautiful. Schiller writes a lot about finding your inner beauty and your own truth. Dare to be yourself. Embrace your darker sides. Those are important as well.´

´At the same time he preaches self-perspective.. don´t take yourself too seriously, you´re not the center of the universe. That is very worthy to me. Namely because I DO think I´m the center of the universe, haha.

`Still it´s very wise of him, to send a message from 1795 to a 21st century queen with a Mariah Carey complex.´

CLUB

Circus in Vienna

´The Arena is a huge complex in Vienna, a concert building with a mega discotheque. A couple of times a year they organize Circus, my favorite gay club night. I always go there with my group of closest friends, but it´s actually a bit of a rule that we lose each other and disappear into the crowd.´

´I roam around all night- Every room, every floor has its own musical theme and decoration. I love the types of people I meet there, their clothes, their fetishisms, everything.´

….Arena Vienna, Baumgasse 80, Vienna

CITY

Amsterdam

´I live in Vienna, I love Vienna and I will always come back there, but the greatest city I´ve been to is Amsterdam – since then I traveled all over the world so I know what I´m talking about.

´Of all the cities I visited, Amsterdam is the only one where I would want to live a period of time. So that´s what I´m gonna do, this summer, for a few months to begin with.´

´I can see that Amsterdam also has the flagship stores from all known store chains. And a lot of tourists, like every special city. But I see all these small jewelry shops where they sell their self-made jewelry. Little bakeries. Cosy streets. And a lot of water. I love water. I love cities with lots of water.´