#it is a crime that this man has no baftas

[mizgnomer]

David Tennant at the 2023 BAFTA TV Ceremony

for Tennant Tuesday (or whatever day this post finds you)

[thealogie]

Chris Bennion in The Telegraph says comedy Bafta is a "three-way race between Salmon, Animashaun and Gilgun". And lol at British critics continued dismissal of DT deserving anything on his own merits, Chris outright says "Well, he did such a nice job of hosting the Film Baftas that it would be rude not to nominate Tennant for something. Always nice to have him on the red carpet too".

Hey, Doctor Who, come here and charm our big US cousins with your incomprehensible inside jokes and give the UK plebs something to 'awww' about on the telly. Here is your long-awaited Bafta nom that you don't really deserve and won't actually win, oh, and thanks for being pretty on the red carpet!

I also liked the projected win of Steve Coogan "whose bravura performance as Jimmy Savile outstripped an uneven and disappointing drama". Because Des was too brutal to even nominate for (even though no critics said it was "an uneven and disappointing drama"), and everyone said how voters are tired of true crime Bafta bait etc. That's fair, but here's Coogan (whom I love, even though I don't plan on watching the Savile thing), and he is nominated all right and projected to win, even if the whole thing has mixed reviews.... Do I sound bitter about the award troubles of a celeb from another country? You bet! It'll pass in an hour, but if we as a society go on like this we will NEVER cure David Tennant of his religious trauma.

He did mention that no Michael Sheen for Best Interests was "harsh" though. So one half of this old man yaoi at least got some respect.

*looking at the British* these people’s hate mail game is insane. I genuinely have never been more historically, sociopolitically and personally victimized by a nation more than the UK.

Why are they constantly going between “he’s one of your finest actors” and “aw he’s kind of cute to keep around.”

[oswincoleman]

The Jetty reviews!

Beware, some of these reviews contain spoilers! I will highlight some non-spoiler parts of the reviews here though.

Soundsphere magazine: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The newest BBC One series ‘The Jetty’, which is full of shocks, twists, and more turns than you can shake a stick at, will immediately grab your attention and won’t let go until the credits of the final episode roll.

It’s safe to say, from the opening few scenes, The Jetty is an outstanding piece of cinematography!  The beautiful lakes of West Yorkshire are almost characters themselves, from their haunting stillness to their choppy and aggressive waves.  The metaphor never seems lost with this series.

With a stellar cast helmed by the ever-brilliant BAFTA and Emmy Award nominated Jenna Coleman (The Wilderness, Doctor Who) as recently widowed and single mother, Detective Ember Manning as she investigates a fire in a small town in Lancashire

Coleman shines as Ember, just as she does in almost all of her dramatic roles, she plays grief in a new light and as the case rears its head, Coleman just goes to prove she really is one of the best actresses of our generation.

Inews: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The ever-reliable Jenna Coleman is the glue that holds the series together, but it’s these flashes into the past where the drama really comes to life. 

Amid the tennis and the football and Glastonbury taking up the schedules recently, TV has been crying out for a series like The Jetty – one the entire nation can really get stuck into and chat about at work the next day. I can’t remember the last time a BBC crime series gripped me this much.

The Standard: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Jetty is a complex series, and Coleman carries it beautifully; whether she’s doggedly interviewing suspects or breaking down at home, she’s never less than magnetic. The police case is just the start of the story, really: what the show is really about is power, and how power can be abused, especially in relationships between young girls and older men.

The setting is also a stroke of genius. The picturesque lake acts as the focal point of all the action, veering from pretty to ominous as it laps at the titular jetty of Mack’s boathouse, hiding both secrets and bodies. The end result can be unbearably tense at times, but the show also offers flickers of light in the form of Ember’s relationships with her nearest and dearest.

It’s a welcome breath of fresh air in a series that spotlights and celebrates women – as well as pointing out the dangers of being a young girl in a world where men lurk in the shadows. It’s a message that feels all too relevant today; the show doesn’t offer any easy answers, but the end result is electric.

The Guardian: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jenna Coleman stars in a very good thriller that evolves into a dark, funny and moving look at how women navigate the brutally male world. It’s better than you would ever expect … especially after that opening

The Times: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/the-jetty-review-a-thoughtful-metoo-thriller-with-a-smart-twist-cx3z2z2zm

Still, it is an impressively mature and engaging role for Coleman. Her dry put-downs of her sidekick Hitch (Archie Renaux) were neatly done, showing that sexism operates on many levels, big and small, conscious and unconscious. Sometimes it can just be a thoughtless remark. And Jones was also careful to show that toxicity in this community wasn’t entirely male. 

Horse pleasuring aside, it also looks fabulous: breathtaking winter sunsets, the lovely lake glinting in the sharp grey light serving as an emblem for all the murkiness that lies beneath the surface of what shapes into a carefully calibrated four-parter. Too many dramas seem to voyeuristically revel in the terrifying threats that women and girls face. This shows what can be done about it.

What to Watch:

The Jetty should come with a warning because this new thriller is about to become your next TV obsession. 

I hope you haven't got much on for the next few days, because you are going to be busy watching Jenna Coleman in her latest thriller - and her first-ever role as a police detective.

I have always been a big Jenna fan, right from her early career as Jasmine Thomas in Emmerdale back in 2005. Since then the British star has spent almost two decades in film and television starring in huge shows like Doctor Who, Victoria, The Serpent and more recently her gripping Prime Video thriller, Wilderness (another show you really have to check out of you haven't already - you won't regret it!).

But somehow The Jetty feels different. While Jenna is very familiar with taking on lead roles in huge TV shows, this four-part thriller marks her first role as a TV detective.

So if you do one thing this week, set aside four hours to yourself and watch The Jetty - this is a show that everyone is going to be talking about. 

Stylist

The new BBC miniseries stars Jenna Coleman in a magnetic, layered turn as Detective Ember Manning, a whip-smart, no-nonsense police officer in Lancaster. After the old yacht club, now a showy holiday home, is burned down, Ember’s investigations lead her back to the cold case of Amy Knightly, a local teen who went missing 17 years ago. As her investigations continue, Ember is faced with the disturbing possibility that her late husband, Mac, may have been involved in the girl’s disappearance. To give away much more would spoil the delightfully twisty-turny plot that ensues, but suffice it to say, this show offers up a truly gripping crime story. 

But what makes The Jetty a true work of nuance is that it refuses to be overcome by the very real darkness it is portraying – as such, it feels quietly, doggedly brave. Instead of succumbing to doom, gloom and victimhood, it is littered with moments that capture the vast array of experiences of womanhood. Some particularly lovely moments of release include Ember and Hannah belting out KT Tunstall’s Suddenly I See in the car and, later, dancing wildly to The Killers’ When You Were Young. Being a woman in the world is still profoundly dangerous, but it is also filled with elation, joy, friendship, silliness and hope. The Jetty may seem like your average nail-biting detective thriller, but below the surface, it has surprisingly poetic depths.

Financial Times: ⭐⭐⭐

[vonlipvig]

so, loch henry.

i mean, HOLY FUCK.

i actually really, really liked this one! i have some thoughts that give me pause, but overall this was such a good episode!

so, our true crime obsession episode. that's actually a very clever idea for a black mirror episode, cause it's definitely very current yet grounded in reality, and it made for a very interesting episode.

the plot twist...yeah, i didn't see that one coming, i'll be honest! sincerely left me with my jaw hanging. if anything, it's a damn good little thriller!

but yeah, the true crime criticism...i'll be honest, for a moment i thought we were kinda losing the plot of that because of it being such a good fun thriller and kinda moving away from the effect these shows can have on the victims, families, communities, etc...but man, the ending. the revitalized morbid tourism industry, the awards and the fame, the blatant disregard the studio has for the actual victims involved in the story, already planning to turn it all into a dahmer-esque franchise...and the shot at the very end with davis and his BAFTA, reading his mom's note, and crying...MAN THAT WAS GOOD.

that all said...i do feel very weirded out by all this being a NETFLIX PRODUCT, y'know? netflix? the ones that help contribute to all this true crime mania? feels disingenuous for that. i mean, it's not on the writers, they probably wanted to tell this story and that's great, but with this and last episode being all 'haha netflix evil' it's like...ok cut it with the self-referential bullshit, ok?

last unrelated note, but is it streamberry or is it netflix? cause stuart mentioned netflix, but in-universe it's streamberry? or do both exist?

wait, scariest part of the whole thing was that their bathroom had a glass window on the door. wtf.

yeah this one was good i loved it.

[lboogie1906]

Shelton Jackson “Spike” Lee (born March 20, 1957) is a film director, producer, writer, actor, and professor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks has produced more than 35 films since 1983.

He was born in Atlanta, the son of Jacqueline Carroll (néeShelton), a teacher of arts and black literature, and William James Edward Lee III, a jazz musician, and composer. He has three younger siblings, Joie, David, and Cinqué, each of whom has worked in many different positions in his films. Director Malcolm D. Lee is his cousin. When he was a child, the family moved from Atlanta to Brooklyn. His mother nicknamed him “Spike” during his childhood. He attended John Dewey High School in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood.

He graduated from Morehouse College with a BA in Mass Communications, where he made his first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn. He took film courses at Clark Atlanta University. He did graduate work at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned an MFA in Film and Television.

He made his directorial debut with She’s Gotta Have It. He has since written and directed such films as Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, He Got Game, The Original Kings of Comedy, 25th Hour, Inside Man, Chi-Raq, and BlacKkKlansman. He acted in ten of his films.

His films have explored race relations, colorism in the African American community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. He has won numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Student Academy Award, a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, two Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and the Cannes Grand Prix. He has received an Academy Honorary Award, an Honorary BAFTA Award, an Honorary César, and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize.

He married attorney Tonya Lewis Lee (1992). They have two children. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[mthguy]

One of the best young actors of his generation, Tom Holland's accolades include a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA),  three Saturn Awards, an Empire Award, a Hollywood Film Award and two Jupiter Awards. He was featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list of 2019. 

Holland achieved international recognition playing Spider-Man in six Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) superhero films, beginning with Captain America: Civil War (2016). The following year, Holland received the BAFTA Rising Star Award and became the youngest actor to play a title role in an MCU film in Spider-Man: Homecoming. The sequels, subtitled Far From Home (2019) and No Way Home (2021), each grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, and the latter became the highest-grossing film of the year. He had another action film role in Uncharted (2022), and also expanded to play against-type roles in the crime dramas The Devil All the Time (2020) and Cherry (2021). Holland has additionally directed the short film Tweet (2015) and voiced roles in animated features, including Spies in Disguise (2019) and Onward (2020).

In spring 2024, he starred on stage in the West End, London in Romeo and Juliet.

[heavenboy09]

Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 To You

The Most Influential & Dedicated Scottish 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Actor In The Best & Biggest Blockbuster Films & Independent Movies 🎥 Of The 21st Century

McAvoy was born on 21 April 1979 in Glasgow, to bus-driver-turned-builder James McAvoy Sr. and psychiatric nurse Elizabeth

He is a Scottish🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in The Near Room (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his feature film career began. His notable television work include the thriller State of Play (2003), the science fiction miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003), and the drama series Shameless (2004–2005).

McAvoy gained recognition for playing Mr. Tumnus in the fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) and an assassin in the action film Wanted (2008). His performances in the period dramas The Last King of Scotland (2006) and Atonement (2007) gained him nominations for the BAFTA Award. In 2011 he voiced the title character in Arthur Christmas, and portrayed Charles Xavier in the superhero film X-Men: First Class, a role he reprised in future installments of the X-Men series. McAvoy gained praise for starring in the independent crime film Filth (2013) and as a man with 23 alternate personalities in M. Night Shyamalan's Split (2016) and Glass (2019). He portrayed Lord Asriel in the fantasy series His Dark Materials from 2019 to 2022, and starred as Bill Denbrough in the horror film It Chapter Two (2019).

On stage, McAvoy has starred in several West End productions, such as Three Days of Rain in 2010, Macbeth in 2013, The Ruling Class in 2015, and Cyrano de Bergerac in 2020, for which he received four nominations for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.

Please Wish This Highly Acclaimed & Prestigious Scottish 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Actor Of The 21st Century A Very Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊

YOU KNOW HIM AS MANY ROLES OF MANY ICONIC 🎥 FILMS

YOU SEEN HIM PERFORM THE BEST KIND OF CINEMA 🎥 IN ANY GENRE

& THE LADIES 🚺 CANT HELP THEMSELVES BUT STARE AT HIM & LOVE THE HIGHLADER ACCENT

THE 1 & ONLY

MR. JAMES MCAVOY🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 AKA YOUNG CHARLES XAVIER OF THE X-MEN FILM SAGA 🎥

HAPPY 45TH BIRTHDAY 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 TO YOU MR. MCAVOY🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 & HERE'S TO MANY MORE YEARS TO COME

#JamesMcavoy #TheChroniclesOfNarnia #Wanted #XmenOrigins #XmenDaysOfFuturePast #XmenApocalyspe #DarkPhoenix #Split #Glass

[denimbex1986]

'Paul Mescal said he “fell in love” with Andrew Scott while filming their BAFTA-nominated movie, All of Us Strangers.

“It’s a very easy thing to do,” he told British Vogue. We agree. In fact, it’s too easy.

Scott has always been in plain sight, yet he’s always flown under the radar, and lived a fairly normal existence for a big star.

Supporting roles he’s made legendary. From the ‘Hot Priest’ in Fleabag, to the titular character’s devilishly handsome nemesis Moriarty in Sherlock, and now a lonely screenwriter opposite Mescal in All of Us Strangers, Scott delivers a new and memorable character every time.

In his next project, Netflix’s Ripley, we expect he’ll deliver a killer performance as Tom Ripley.

The eight-episode limited series is based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 crime novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, which Matt Damon brought to screens in the 1999 film adaptation of the same name.

Despite Ripley being a sociopath and a grifter, Scott has some sympathy for his character, telling The Guardian, “To me, it’s about what it’s like never to be invited to the party. We all know people who don’t make it easy for themselves, who are maybe a bit strange."

"But if you’re constantly ignored, or sidelined, or don’t fit in, what happens? Is it that something dark emerges?”

Playing such a creepy character did end up having an emotional effect on Scott, who began filming when the rest of the world was locked down.

“I don’t mind saying that playing him was challenging,” the 47-year-old admitted. “It was very lonely. We filmed during COVID, and the five-day isolation requirements that were in place both here and in Italy meant people couldn’t come and visit, and I couldn’t come home … he’s a solitary figure in this version, so I was on my own a lot.”

Being alone and delving into the mind of a psycho killer sounds like hell, but for Scott it helped get the job done, and that’s one of the reasons why fans, and his friends, adore him.

“Andrew is a very easy person to fall in love with,” Mescal told Screen Daily, explaining that they were friends before shooting the desperately moving All of Us Strangers, but their bond grew stronger during filming.

“He’s kind, generous, talented. We shot the film at the perfect junction in our friendship where there was a lot we didn’t know about each other, but there was mutual admiration and respect. And a similar sense of humour,” he added.

Scott called his connection with Mescal “immediate”. He told People, “A lot of that is kind of a magic [that] happens and you don’t necessarily know what it’s down to and you’re just grateful that it’s there.”

Fans of Strangers, which centres around Mescal and Scott’s characters falling in love, have called the movie’s Oscars snub an abomination.

Meanwhile, film critics have credited Scott’s performance in the role, as a man also searching for answers about the death of his parents decades earlier, as a “masterpiece” and “one of the greatest displays of acting in modern times”.

“When I was growing up, the idea that a film like this would even exist, and that I would be able to play that role in it – it’s miraculous,” he told Vanity Fair.'

[astrovian]

Richard Armitage acquires film and TV rights to Ellis’ Jackman and Evans series and will play lead

Richard Armitage’s White Boar Films and Sprout Pictures have acquired the film and TV rights to Joy Ellis’ Jackman and Evans crime series, with Armitage to play the lead character in a television adaptation “based on the novels” and entitled “The Fens”.

Rebecca Watson at Valerie Hoskins Associates negotiated the deal on behalf of Lorella Belli at the Lorella Belli Literary Agency representing Joffe Books, the English language publisher. The television adaptation is being developed in association with international distributor Eccho Rights.

Written by BAFTA-nominated screenwriter Tim Dynevor, it will star Richard Armitage as Rowan Jackman. Based on Joy’s novels, “The Fens” will be “an unsettling, atmospheric returning crime thriller set in the remote, hauntingly cinematic landscape of the Fenlands.”

The show’s synopsis continues: “With its numerous unexplained events – vanishings, murders, black fog clouds drifting across the marshes, strange lights that invariably precede an imminent death, and sounds apparently emanating from nowhere – even in the 21st century the isolated Fenlands retain an unshakeable reputation for superstition and secrecy. Some are born evil. Some are raised evil. Some choose evil. Welcome to the Fens. A world that will literally take your breath away.”

According to Lorella Belli Literary Agency, Joy Ellis has sold more than 3.4 million copies of her novels in English. Her latest novel is Solace House, the ninth book in the Jackman and Evans series. Book seven, The Patient Man, was shortlisted for Best Crime Thriller at the British Book Awards 2021.

Armitage commented: “I met Joy on the pages of Their Lost Daughters, her second novel. Then we met in person and I told her one day we would make a TV show of her stories and it became a labour of love. I believe Joy Ellis is the closest thing we have to a contemporary Agatha Christie.

“Through a collaboration with Gina Carter at Sprout, Adam Barth at Eccho Rights and the brilliant mind of Tim Dynevor, I believe we have built a family that will propel the Jackman and Evans stories from the page to the screen, over multiple seasons. That would be my greatest joy.”

Ellis said: “I am absolutely delighted that Sprout Pictures and Richard Armitage’s White Boar Films are going to take my Jackman and Evans series to our television screens. It’s a dream come true. The icing on the cake is that Richard will play Jackman – he will be perfect. Since hearing his incredible performances with Audible, I now see and hear him in my mind when I write new Jackman books!”

[eddieredmayneargentinablog]

New Article and Video!!

"BEST PERFORMANCES: Eddie Redmayne Taps Into His Dark Side"

The Golden Globe-nominated star of The Good Nurse talks playing one of America’s most notorious serial killers.

Interview by Lynn Hirschberg

Photographs by Jamie Hawkesworth

Styled by Sara Moonves

01.09.23

Eddie Redmayne is the sort of actor whose talent across stage and film precedes him. Having won Academy, BAFTA, Tony, and Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards for dramatic roles like Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything and Shakespeare’s Richard II, he also has a certain cross-generational appeal for his leading role as wizard Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts series. Redmayne has now put his natural charisma and deep sense of performance to work for a darker role in Netflix’s The Good Nurse. His portrayal of the real life serial killer Charles Cullen who murdered dozens, if not hundreds, of patients earned the British star a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Below, Redmayne discusses preparing for the grim role and his attempts at being a cool dad.

In The Good Nurse, you play Charles Cullen, a nurse who may have killed as many as 400 people, making him the most prolific serial killer in American history. Are you a fan of true crime dramas?

I’m not. I know the world is obsessed with true crime, but I have a slightly moral opinion of fetishizing killers. Our film is not just about this monster—it’s about the hero who stopped him. And she stopped him by using compassion and empathy rather than through violence. That felt like an important message.

No one knows exactly why Charles Cullen killed all those people. Was that frustrating for you?

He never expressed why, and when I read the script, I was like, “Why?!” It’s a human instinct to need to know why, so we can look at the murderer and go, “Well, he had this happen to him, and I’m nothing like that, so it would never happen to me.”

You’re so likable as a performer and as a person. Was it hard to take on the mantle of a sociopathic serial killer and live with that every day?

One of the things that I found intriguing about it was that, speaking to the real Amy Loughren, who Jessica Chastain plays, Charles Cullen was a kind, generous, open-hearted, brilliant nurse who saved her life. And then there was this other person who was a monster. There were various reasons he was able to get away with this for as many years as he did, but one of them was that he was kind and gentle and self-deprecating and, at times, sort of invisible. So it was interesting to try and find this empathetic man, and then the other version of him, who was weaponizing that empathy.

You went to nursing school to prepare for the role.

Jessica and I went to nursing school for two weeks, which I found hilarious. The older you get the more you romanticize education. You go, ‘Well, maybe I want to go back to university. Maybe that would be a wonderful thing to do.’ And then you do go back, as we did, and quite promptly, you turn into the 15-year-old version of yourself. I was leaning back in the classroom. I couldn't really concentrate. It was all science, and none of that made any sense to me. When I was practicing with needles, I succeeded in injecting my finger. It was a disaster.

Early in your career, what was your first love scene?

It was in a film called Savage Grace. It was based on a true story. The character I played was gay, and his mum, played by Julianne Moore, tried to sleep with him. There ended up being a ménage à trois with another man, played by Hugh Dancy. It was definitely one of the more surreal experiences of my life. And it turns from incest to violence. My early work! [Laughs] Before I found tweeds and period dramas.

You have two young children. Have they seen the Fantastic Beasts films?

No, they haven’t. They've seen a bit of the trailer. They both asked, “Daddy, are you a wizard?” Which is tricky because one of the perks of the job is that you get to do these cool things and be an interesting dad. You want to say yes, but you also don't want to lie to your children, so in the moment, I said, "Sort of.”

---

[magicalhideoutengineer]

"With Pickett, it has always been a little bit more difficult because he is literally a little stick man. These pictures are from the beginning of the film, where he takes the button from Newt’s coat and then chases it. We thought it would be funnier if he doesn’t notice Newt at all at first – and then suddenly he does notice him, but carries on for a bit. Again, we are relating to the sorts of things that domestic animals do that we all see.

“The most difficult thing is to work out how to make those moments really sing. With Pickett, it’s almost like the Gromit effect – those simple poses and expressions that replicate what we see as humans in each other, which get across those emotions – that he’s really cross or he’s really happy. Everybody loves those moments because you really get his connection with Newt.”

“As the guardians of the French Ministry, the Matagots had to have a bit more menace. We went through quite a journey with the design of them. Because they are more ‘familiars’ than beasts, initially we had them posed on two legs – almost human-like but cat-like at the same time.

“But again, we went back to nature. We started looking at bald cats, and how evil they can look. And then we added the slow gait of a prowling tiger. Then we started playing around with the proportions, so that they’ve got greater limb length and more human-like front legs so it just feels a little bit more uncomfortable. And then obviously the glowing blue eyes, so they have have a bit more sense of threat – we initially tried them with more realistic eyes, but they just looked bizarre.

“The idea of them turning into real black cats came to us quite early in preproduction. We had a wonderful artist who had the idea of what they would look like when they come out of the magical boundaries of the Ministry and how they would appear in the real world. That idea actually did make the cut. It’s a good example of where we are given the freedom by David and Jo to play and come up with stuff, which makes these films – and we’re going into the third one now – such a collaborative experience. It’s not a bad job!”

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Stephen "Dougray" Scott born on November 25th 1965.

In my opinion Dougray is one of the most underrated Scottish  actors, with his broad Scottish brogue he oozes Scottishness whenever he speaks in his native tongue.

After attending Auchmuty High School in Fife trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where he was named most promising drama student and took the his stage name from his grandmother's surname, "Dougray

Scott's early work was in Scottish national theatre and television, first appearing in the series Soldier Soldier as well as on the stage in the Tim Fleming directed production of Wallace. Early television credits to follow included The Rover, Taggart: Nest of Vipers, Lovejoy, and Soldier Soldier. Scott followed this up with impactful turns in the films You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, Black Beauty, and Another Nine & a Half Weeks. Shortly thereafter, Scott could be seen opposite Drew Barrymore in the hit film Ever After, opposite Robert Duvall, Tea Leoni, and Vanessa Redgrave in the film Deep Impact, as well as the second installment in the hit Mission: Impossible franchise, Mission: Impossible 2. 

He also starred in a film I mentioned the other day, alongside Dougie Henshall, This Years Love, look out for it, it is very funny and full of Scots, but set in London.

Scott also appeared opposite Kate Winslet in Michael Apted's Enigma as well as the 2002 film Ripley's Game, opposite Ray Winstone. Starring opposite Jennifer Connelly in the 2005 film Dark Water and the 2007 film Hit Man, Scott soon appeared in US television for the first time in the ABC miniseries The Ten Commandments as well the Hallmark TV movie Arabian Nights.

Other film roles have included the hit film Ever After, opposite Drew Barrymore Then with Robert Duvall, Tea Leoni, and Vanessa Redgrave in the film Deep Impact, as well as the second instalment in the hit Mission: Impossible franchise, Mission Impossible 2. Scott also appeared opposite Kate Winslet in Michael Apted’s Enigma as well as the 2002 film Ripley’s Game, opposite Ray Winstone. In 2006 Dougray  appeared in US television for the first time in the ABC miniseries The Ten Commandments as well the Hallmark TV movie Arabian Nights. US television audiences next saw Scott in the NBC series Heist as well as the hit series Desperate Housewives. He followed these impressive turns with the BBC miniseries adaptation of the cult classic novel The Day of the Triffids .

He was also been seen in the critically-acclaimed movie My Week With Marilyn, the hit Netflix series Hemlock Grove, and the Cinemax series Strike Back. On this side of the Atlantic, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was great as well as another film was New Town Killers, set in Edinburgh, and in an episode of Dr Who with Matt Smith. He was also in the TV series, Snatch, based on the film of the same name.

During the last few years  playing  Colonel Jacob Kane in the series Batwoman. The series was cancelled after 3 seasons.  He has also appeared in La Cha Chis a dark comedy which also stars the excellent Rhys Ifans, it was written and filmed in South Wales in four weeks over the coronavirus lockdown.

At present you can find Dougray in the Irvine Welsh series Crime, where he platys troubled detective DI Ray Lennox. I’m really looking forward to the second installment, which will see the excellent English actor John Simm join the cast. 

In the second season Ray is ready to return to the fray at Edinburgh Serious Crimes, keen to prove he is fully recovered from his breakdown, I’ll say no more in case you haven’t watched series one, please go do it! Dougray has one a Scottish Bafta for his portrayal and just this weekend in the 50th International Emmy Awards was also awarded Best Performance by an Actor.   Vigil, set in Scotland won the Best Drama Series

In a post on social media, Welsh congratulated the Hollywood star, who he claims “battled for years” to play the lead role in Crime.

Dougray will also be in the Sky series  A Town Called Malice about a  family of petty thieves from South London who decamp to Spain to profit from an unexpected windfall. I’m also looking forward to the film, Irena's Vow telling the true story of Polish nurse Irene Gut Opdyke, who was  awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal for showing remarkable courage in her attempt to save Polish Jews during World War II. The film is based on the Broadway play of the same name. It is set to premiere next year.

[justforbooks]

The actor Robbie Coltrane, who has died aged 72, was regularly described as a big man of the British screen. Journalists said he was heavy on talent yet thin-skinned as an interviewee. He disliked his encounters with the press. But the larger-than-life roles with which he was most associated – the criminal psychologist Fitz, Harry Potter’s half-giant friend Hagrid – demonstrated something else: they were performances of a kind of crumpled vulnerability that was also characteristic of the man.

Coltrane recalled that during the filming of Ocean’s Twelve (2004), he found himself sitting at a table with George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt. “These are about the three most successful, most beautiful actors in the world at the moment. And here am I. A fat boy from Rutherglen … What the fuck am I doing here?”

The fat boy from Rutherglen also had a splendidly eviscerating wit, useful for rebuffing questions premised on his girth. Once, he was telling an interviewer how he was trying to raise money for a film about Laurel and Hardy. Who would you play, his interlocutor asked? “I’d be playing the wee one with the funny hair, like yourself,” snapped back Coltrane.

It was easy to confuse the big man with his big roles. In the 1990s ITV crime drama Cracker, scripted by Jimmy McGovern, for which Coltrane won the best actor Bafta three years in succession, he played Dr Eddie “Fitz” Fitzgerald, an obese, alcoholic, foul-mouthed, sarcastic, yet cerebral criminal psychologist. “I drink too much, I smoke too much, I gamble too much. I am too much,” Coltrane’s Fitz shouted in one episode. That self-description seemed to fit actor as much as character. True, smoking and gambling were not Coltrane’s vices, but alcohol was: “Booze is my undoing,” he said once. “I can drink a gallon of beer and not feel the least bit drunk.” And Coltrane was regularly written up as just too much, dominating conversations with anecdotes and funny voices rather than listening.

There could also be too little of the big man. When, for instance, he fulfilled his manifest destiny and played the boozy, libidinous, life force Falstaff in Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 film of Henry V, the critics felt short-changed. “Mr Coltrane is not on the screen long enough to create any true idea of Falstaff’s magnificence,” decided the New York Times. “Instead, he simply looks like a woozy Santa Claus.”

He could also erase himself exasperatingly: once in 2012, after disclosing to an interviewer that he was diabetic and had lost four and a half stone in order that a leg operation could proceed, he turned tight-lipped. How did he lose weight? “I just stopped eating for a while.” Seriously, how did he manage it, pursued his interviewer. “No, no, no! I don’t want to talk about this in the press!”

Born Anthony McMillan in Rutherglen, near Glasgow, he changed his name, on becoming an actor, in honour of the great jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. His mother, Jean Ross, was a pianist and teacher, and his father, Ian, a GP who also worked as a police surgeon. His son recalled that Dr McMillan “used to spend all weekend stitching up knife victims”. Their son attended Glenalmond college, an independent school in Perthshire, often described as Scotland’s equivalent to Eton. “It was a very strict school and I didn’t respond well to discipline.” Indeed, he was nearly expelled for hanging prefects’ gowns from the school clocktower, but also played for the school’s rugby team, captained the debating team and won prizes for his art.

At Glasgow School of Art (1968-72), he was nicknamed Lord Fauntleroy for the posh accent he quickly repressed. Contemporaries included the poet Liz Lochhead and TV presenter Muriel Gray. He soon became known as Red Robbie for his involvement with radical causes. In 1971, he supported the campaign by workers to keep the Glasgow shipyards open. “I believe I showed a pornographic movie and charged people five shillings to look at it and gave the money to Upper Clyde shipbuilders.”

To his lasting regret, he never became a painter. In 2014, when invited back to art school to open the Reid Building, Coltrane said: “I wanted to paint like the painters who really moved me, who made me want to weep about humanity. Titian, Rembrandt. But I looked at my diploma show and felt a terrible disappointment when I realised all the things that were in my head were not on the canvas. I felt there was something wrong with my hands. That was a heartbreaking day.”

At art school he had started acting. Lochhead saw him in Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter and recalled his performance as “fantastic … bloody terrifying”. His memory was different: “I threw up every night before going on stage.” He went on to study art for another year, at the Moray House College of Education, Edinburgh, and acting became his vocation: “One day, [the renowned Scottish actors] Bill Paterson and Alex Norton came to me and said ‘Are you just going to carry on showing off in pubs, or are you going to take this seriously?’ and they sent me to the Traverse theatre”. His first success was in John Byrne’s trilogy The Slab Boys (1979), about a group of young working-class Scots in the 1960s.

Coltrane came to British TV viewers’ attention in a string of 1980s sketch shows, including A Kick Up the 80s and Laugh? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee, working alongside Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry and Rik Mayall. He went on to become a fixture of TV comedy, starring in Blackadder and several films in the Comic Strip Presents series.

He was particularly fine as the butt of Blackadder’s wit as an increasingly apoplectic Dr Samuel Johnson in a 1987 episode. “Here it is, sir. The very cornerstone of English scholarship,” the doctor declared to Blackadder, brandishing the manuscript of his recently completed dictionary. “This book, sir, contains every word in our beloved language.”

“Well, in that case, sir,” retorted Blackadder, “I hope you will not object if I also offer the Doctor my most enthusiastic contrafibularities.”

He was better yet at the difficult task of playing Charles Bronson playing Ken Livingstone in the Comic Strip Presents … GLC: The Carnage Continues (1990). After preventing the Tories from flooding south London to turn it into a yacht club, Coltrane’s Livingstone strives to thwart Margaret Thatcher from beheading the Prince of Wales and taking over the kingdom.

Coltrane’s success had downsides. “I’d been broke for a long time and suddenly I had enough money in the bank not to worry if I could afford to eat out or drink a whole bottle of whisky and suddenly I was famous. It went to my head. It only lasted for 15 years.” His friend the actor John Sessions once said that Coltrane had a “strong self-destructive streak … a deep, driving melancholy”.

In the late 1980s, nearing 40, he met Rhona Gemmell. They had a son and daughter and married in 1999, but split up four years later.

The funny man went straight in 1987, when he starred opposite Thompson in Tutti Frutti, a six-part drama by Byrne about a faded Scots rock’n’roll band called the Majestics, newly fronted by the dead singer’s brother, Danny McGlone (Coltrane), who has a romance with a former classmate, Suzi Kettles (Thompson). Danny proves his fondness for Suzi at one point by taking a drill to the teeth of her estranged husband, a dentist. The performance earned him his first Bafta nomination.

Though his subsequent performances in Cracker (1993-96, plus a 2006 revival episode) won awards and critical plaudits, it was the cheesy British film comedies such as Nuns on the Run (1990) and The Pope Must Die (1991) that made Coltrane a movie star. He also appeared in two consecutive James Bond films, GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999). In 2000, he came sixth in a UK poll to find the “most famous Scot”, behind the Loch Ness monster, Robbie Burns, Sean Connery, Robert the Bruce and William Wallace.

In 2001, though, Coltrane’s celebrity status went global when he was cast as Hagrid, the half-giant gamekeeper of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry in the first film adaptation of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, reportedly at Rowling’s insistence. The 6ft 1in actor had to adjust to the novelty of being looked up to by adoring small fans. “Kids come up to you and they go: ‘Would you like to sign my book?’ with those big doe eyes. And it’s a serious responsibility.” In 2006 he was appointed OBE.

Coltrane had a passion for classic cars, which he indulged in two travelogues. For Coltrane in a Cadillac (1993) he drove from Los Angeles to New York in a convertible; in 1997 he drove from London to Glasgow in an open-top Jaguar for Robbie Coltrane’s B-Road Britain.

When, in 2009, Coltrane hung up Hagrid’s beard for the last time, after filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2, the eighth and final adaptation from Rowling’s books, it was with regret. He went on to star in David Pirie’s well-received cop drama Murderland (2009) and in the last episodes of the US sitcom Frasier.

He memorably captured the years when entertainment crashed into investigations of sexual abuse as the veteran comedian Paul Finchley in the Channel 4 drama series National Treasure, written by Jack Thorne, with Julie Walters as his wife and Andrea Riseborough as his troubled daughter. Times and attitudes had moved on: again there was a crumpled vulnerability as Finchley failed to come to terms with what was happening to him. In 2020, Coltrane appeared in Sky Arts’ Urban Myths series as Orson Welles in Norwich.

He is survived by his son, Spencer, daughter, Alice, and sister, Annie.

🔔 Robbie Coltrane (Anthony Robert McMillan), actor, born 30 March 1950, died 14 October 2022

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Decided today that I have spent too much time lately seeing and hearing Tim Minchin play bit parts in other people’s shows, while I watch old comedy festival clips on YouTube and listen to Mark Watson’s radio shows and things like that, and not enough time on his own stuff. It’s probably been 3 or 4 years since I last had a night of just clicking through Tim Minchin videos and watching them. I used to do that every six months or so.

I’ve spent this morning fixing that, and it’s a great way to spend a morning. I start, as always, with the first Tim Minchin video I ever saw, and work outward from there. I remember it well, one day in 2014 when my friend from New Zealand was crashing on my couch for a couple of weeks. He was training for the Commonwealth Games, so he basically had a month of incredibly hard exercise and eating almost nothing (weight cutting: it’s bad for you and you shouldn’t do it, kids, I do not endorse it, but sometimes if you do it really well they let you fly to Glasgow and get beaten up by people from India, so that’s pretty cool), and was sore and exhausted all the time, so we’d get back from practice together and just lie down on the living room carpet and talk about nothing as a distraction from being sore and tired.

One night, we’d gone from discussing our shared left-wing political views to our shared views on what women in our sport were most attractive, and then started questioning whether the second discussion might sort of clash with the first. And he said, “I have to show you something,” and opened his laptop. We’d already bonded over shared love of Flight of the Conchords, so he was confident that our comedy tastes overlapped enough for this to not be wasted on me. And it wasn’t. I watched that one and immediately demanded to see more of this strange red-haired man. This red-haired man gets it.

Here are a couple of my other favourites, discovered since then:

The time he raised money to help survivors of the Catholic Church’s sex crimes to fly to Rome and hear evidence about it, by writing a song in which he called a Cardinal accused of covering it up a God damn coward:

I just listened to this one for the first time in several years, and I can’t believe I never realized before that the Chocolate Milk Gang has a theme song:

It occurred to me today that I haven’t seen much of him recently, and thought I’d look up what he’s done in the last few years. And good news! This isn’t a case of one of those people used to be awesome but then you find out they went in some terrible direction or other. These days, as far as I can tell, the biggest difference is that he’s moved away from the comedy-about-serious-subjects and toward more serious songs, which are beautiful and seem to be mainly about how much he loves his wife and kids. He’s grown his hair even longer and looks a bit like Bill Bailey now. So that’s pretty much the ideal answer when you think “I wonder what that guy who was great ten years ago is doing now”. Much better than the answer you’d get if you’d been a fan of, say, Russell Brand in his stand-up days.

I could show you what he looks like now by sharing one of those beautiful serious songs, which everyone should definitely look up, but I’m instead going to show you his current look (or at least, only a couple of years old) via this video he did at the 2020 BAFTAs, because “I know our job is to hold the mirror up to society, but I’ve been avoiding mirrors of late because it’s got so God Damn ugly” is a really good line. Tumblr won’t let me embed more than five videos in a post, but click on this link to see Tim Minchin looking a bit like Bill Bailey.

Also, it turns out that Rock ‘n’ Roll Nerd has a follow-up now, and it’s really fucking good. So good. Most musical comedians are comedians who can also play music; Tim Minchin is clearly leagues ahead of that. Amazingly talented musician.

[elen-000]

Blood on the Border

Sicario (2015) is an intense and gripping action thriller directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Taylor Sheridan. Starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, and Josh Brolin, the film takes viewers deep into the heart of the U.S.-Mexico drug war. Blunt plays Kate Macer, a dedicated FBI agent who gets pulled into a covert government task force to take down one of Mexico’s most dangerous drug cartels. However, as she descends deeper into the mission, she begins to question the ethical and legal lines being crossed.

Premiering at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the prestigious Palme d’Or, Sicario gained immediate critical acclaim for its dark and suspenseful storytelling. Released in the U.S. on October 2, 2015, it captivated audiences with its intense performances, expertly crafted action sequences, and stunning cinematography by Roger Deakins. The film earned three Academy Award nominations, including Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Editing, along with BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Music.

The Plot of Sicario

The story begins in Chandler, Arizona, where FBI agents Kate Macer (Blunt) and Reggie Wayne (Daniel Kaluuya) lead a raid on a house connected to the powerful Sonora Cartel. Inside, they make a horrific discovery—dozens of decomposing bodies hidden in the walls. Outside, a booby trap explodes, killing two police officers. This raid sets the stage for Kate’s recruitment into a secretive joint task force led by CIA officer Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and the mysterious Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro), a former prosecutor turned hardened assassin.

The team’s mission is to bring down Manuel Díaz, a lieutenant in the Sonora Cartel, but the operation quickly proves to be far more dangerous and morally complex than Kate anticipated. Their journey takes them across the border to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, where cartel violence is rampant. After a high-tension shootout with cartel hitmen during a border crossing, Kate begins to see just how ruthless this war is. Her idealistic view of law enforcement is shattered as she realizes the task force is operating outside of standard legal and ethical boundaries.

As the mission unfolds, it becomes clear that Alejandro has his own vendetta. Once a prosecutor in Juárez, his wife and daughter were brutally murdered on orders from cartel boss Fausto Alarcón. Now, Alejandro is driven by a singular goal: revenge. The plot thickens when Alejandro abducts Díaz’s drug mule, Silvio, and uses him to track down Díaz and, ultimately, Alarcón.

The film builds toward a brutal climax as Alejandro takes matters into his own hands, infiltrating Alarcón’s compound and exacting a deadly personal revenge. In the film’s most harrowing moment, Alejandro confronts Alarcón and murders his entire family before killing the drug lord himself.

Themes of Sicario: Morality, Power, and the Cost of Justice

Sicario explores the thin line between justice and vengeance, highlighting the murky ethics of the drug war. Kate, the moral center of the film, is constantly faced with choices that force her to question her principles. As she becomes more entangled in the violence and corruption, her belief in doing the right thing is repeatedly challenged.

The film also delves into themes of power—who holds it, and how it is wielded. The U.S. government’s efforts to control the drug trade, as portrayed in the movie, are not just about stopping crime but about re-establishing control over a complex and dangerous system. The moral ambiguity of these actions leaves the audience wondering: is the end goal worth the cost?

A Cinematic Masterpiece

What makes Sicario stand out is its relentless tension, atmospheric direction, and standout performances. Benicio del Toro’s portrayal of Alejandro earned him widespread praise, portraying a man driven by grief and revenge in a subtle, haunting performance. Emily Blunt brings vulnerability and strength to her role, while Josh Brolin’s Matt Graver represents the ruthlessness of government power.

Roger Deakins’ cinematography is another star of the film, capturing the stark beauty of the desert landscape and the ominous underworld of cartel violence. Johann Johannsson’s haunting musical score further enhances the sense of dread and moral conflict that pervades the story.

The Legacy of Sicario

Following the success of Sicario, a sequel titled Sicario: Day of the Soldado was released in 2018, directed by Stefano Sollima. A third film, titled Sicario: Capos, is currently in development, promising to continue the exploration of the dark and dangerous world of the drug cartels.

For fans of action, suspense, and thought-provoking narratives, Sicario remains a must-watch—a chilling and thrilling ride through the complexities of modern warfare.

[lucsayimann-12-63]

Tom Holland: The Rising Star of the Marvel Cinematic UniverseTom Holland is an English actor who has gained worldwide fame for playing Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). He is also known for his roles in The Impossible, The Devil All the Time, and Cherry. He is one of the most popular actors of his generation and has won several awards, including a BAFTA Rising Star Award and three Saturn Awards.Holland was born on 1 June 1996 in Kingston upon Thames, in south west London, to a photographer mother and a comedian father. He has three younger brothers and a paternal grandmother from Ireland. He was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of seven and attended various schools, including the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology.Holland's career began at age nine when he enrolled in a dancing class, where a choreographer noticed him and arranged for him to audition for a role in Billy Elliot the Musical at London's Victoria Palace Theatre. After two years of training, he secured a supporting part in 2008 and was upgraded to the title role that year, which he played until 2010. His performance received positive reviews and he appeared on several television shows to promote the musical.Holland made his film debut in the disaster drama The Impossible (2012) as a teenage tourist trapped in a tsunami, for which he received praise and nominations for various awards. He then decided to pursue acting as a full-time career, appearing in How I Live Now (2013) and playing historical figures in the film In the Heart of the Sea (2015) and the miniseries Wolf Hall (2015).Holland achieved international recognition playing Spider-Man in six MCU superhero films, beginning with Captain America: Civil War (2016). The following year, Holland received the BAFTA Rising Star Award and became the youngest actor to play a title role in an MCU film in Spider-Man: Homecoming. The sequels, subtitled Far From Home (2019) and No Way Home (2021), each grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, and the latter became the highest-grossing film of the year. He had another action film role in Uncharted (2022), and also expanded to play against-type roles in the crime dramas The Devil All the Time (2020) and Cherry (2021).Holland has additionally directed the short film Tweet (2015) and voiced roles in computer-animated features, such as Onward (2020). He is also involved in charitable work, having founded The Brothers Trust, a non-profit organization that supports various causes around the world. He is currently dating actress Zendaya, his co-star in the Spider-Man films.Tom Holland is a versatile and talented actor who has proven his ability to play diverse and challenging roles. He is one of the most successful and influential stars of the MCU and has a bright future ahead of him.

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