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15 insane actor weight gain transformations

In this age of buff bodied movie stars with their cucumber water and kale smoothies, the attraction of acting roles that require a bit of weight gain must be irresistible. Emma Stone recently revealed she’d added 15lbs to play tennis legend Billie Jean King in ‘Battle of the Sexes’ through protein shakes and hardcore workouts.

Here’s 15 more actors who beefed up and bulked out in the name of art.

Christian Bale – ‘American Hustle’

After playing the buff Batman for years, Bale really let himself go to play conman Irving Rosenfeld, putting on 43 lbs (3 stone) for the role, injuring himself in the process. "At one point I said enough already,” said his director David O Russell. “He lost three inches of height, and even got a herniated disc.”

Jared Leto – ‘Chapter 27′

In order to gain the 67 lbs (over 4 stone) to play John Lennon’s killer Mark Chapman in this little-seen thriller Leto guzzled pints of microwaved ice cream mixed with soy sauce and olive oil. The intense weight gain gave the actor gout.

George Clooney – ‘Syriana’

The Cloonster piled on 30lbs (over 2 stone) in 30 days to play CIA agent Robert Baer by eating mountains of pasta. “My job was just to eat as fast as I could, as much as I could,” Clooney told The Tech. “But mostly you just ate until you wanted to throw up, and made sure you didn’t throw up.” He was rewarded with an Oscar for his work.

Colin Farrell – ‘The Lobster’

Farrell says he gorged on cheeseburgers, fries, cake, fizzy drinks, and melted ice cream at breakfast to gain 40lbs (just under 3 stone) for Yorgos Lanthimos’ black comedy. When he finally saw himself on screen at the premiere he said: "I gasped. I'd forgotten what it looked like."

Renee Zellweger – ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’/’Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’

The Texan star famously put on 30lbs twice to play the frustrated singleton by guzzling ice cream, before shedding it all quite rapidly after shooting wrapped. She’s not bothering for the upcoming third film, ‘Bridget Jones’ Baby’.

Charlize Theron – ‘Monster’

To play real life killer Aileen Wuornos, the South African star shaved her eyebrows and piled on 30lbs by eating douhnuts and crisps, lots of them. “I love potato chips, so that was a good thing for me. I’m a salty girl so I had my secret stash with me of potato chips at all times,” she said.

Robert De Niro – ‘Raging Bull’

Instead of wearing a fat suit, the method actor piled on 60lbs (over 4 stone) in four months in order to play the older, fatter Jake La Motta. He credits a food tour of Europe for his impressive weight gain, where he binged on 3 large meals a day including lots of pasta, butter, and ice cream.

Tom Hardy – ‘Bronson’

The ‘Mad Max’ star hulked up to play Charlie Bronson putting on 3 stone in five weeks with a grueling training regime that consisted of millions of reps in the gym.

Vincent Donofrio – ‘Full Metal Jacket’

To play the “fat, slimy, scumbag puke piece o' s***” Private Pyle (Sergeant Hartman’s words, not ours) in Stanley Kubrick’s war movie, D’Onofrio gained 70lbs (5 stone) over 7 months through a diet of greasy food. “My thighs were tremendous, my arms were tremendous, even my nose was fat,” he told the New York Times.

Russell Crowe – ‘Body of Lies’

To play CIA veteran Ed Hoffman in Ridley Scott’s political drama Crowe bulked up to over 18 stone by chowing down on burgers. “If you want to put on weight, you just elect to live a sedentary life style,” he told Access Hollywood.

Ryan Gosling – ‘The Lovely Bones’

After being cast in Peter Jackson’s literary adaptation, Golsing secretly piled on the pounds by tucking into gallons on melted ice cream. He thought Jack Salmon, the distraught father of the missing girl, would have let himself go but Jackson disagreed and Gosling was promptly sacked and replaced by Mark Wahlberg.

Bradley Cooper – ‘American Sniper’

To play real life Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, Cooper bulked up from 185 lbs (13 stone) to 230 lbs (16 stone) in 10 weeks. He ate over 5000 calories a day, training intensely, just to make his performance more believable. “Chris wasn’t ripped,” Cooper says. “He wasn’t sinewy. He was just a bear.”

Will Smith – ‘Ali’

The Fresh Prince trained 6 hours a day, 5 days a week packing on 35lbs of muscle to look like heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali. “Beyond looking like a fighter, my goal was to learn to think like a fighter,” says Smith.  “To do that I had to eat like a fighter, sleep like a fighter, assess situations in life like a fighter… become a fighter.”

Matt Damon – ‘The Informant!’

The usually lithe ‘Bourne’ star piled on 30lbs for Steven Soderbergh’s dark comedy by eating whatever he wanted. "At my age, all I had to do to gain weight was eat the way I did when I was in college and the weight went on instantly," he said. "It was a little horrifying."

Sylvester Stallone – ‘Cop Land’

In a bid to be taken seriously as an actor again, the ‘Rambo’ star packed on nearly 3 stone for James Mangold’s criminally under-rated crime thriller. "For me to gain even 10 pounds was a sacrilege," says the actor. "But I knew I had to get rid of the armament of the action star."

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The WORST changes made to the Star Wars trilogy since its original release

George Lucas has a long and chequered history of tinkering with the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy since release. 

“Films never get finished, they get abandoned” he once famously said, and he’s never managed to fully abandon his sci-fi trilogy yet. The first changes were made to ‘Star Wars’ just weeks after the film hit cinemas in 1977 when a new audio track was added featuring amended sound effects and alternate dialogue takes.

How Hollywood gets medicine wrong Actors you forgot were in Star Wars

Since then, Lucas’ itchy fingers have wreaked havoc with the original films, for better and worse, as these recent comparison videos demonstrate.

Some of the changes are subtle and enhancing, while others are incongruous and jarring. Here’s the worst changes made to the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy since their release to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the infamous Special Edition re-releases in 1997.

As a counterpoint, here’s our list of the best changes made to ‘Star Wars’…

Greedo shot first

The most controversial and debated change made to ‘Star Wars’ came in the 1997 Special Edition release. In the cantina confrontation where Han coolly dispatches Greedo in cold blood (watch the original here), George Lucas made it look like the bounty hunter shot first in a misguided bid to make the Millennium Falcon pilot seem less ruthless. 

The exchange now looks stilted and has caused countless nerd arguments ever since. Aware of this, Lucas has continued to tinker with the scene multiple times for the DVD release and the Blu-ray release, but it’s still completely pointless; Han Solo IS a scoundrel and that’s why we love him.

Jabba the Hutt

George Lucas originally planned to include Jabba The Hutt in the first ‘Star Wars’ film and shot a scene with Scottish actor Declan Mulholland playing a human incarnation of Jabba. 

For the Special Edition, Lucas reinserted the scene replacing Mulholland with CGI, but the ‘new’ Jabba looked terrible and was never convincing, particularly when Han steps on his tail. The CGI was improved for the 2004 DVD release but it still sticks out like a sore thumb.

New Max Rebo song

The original Jabba’s palace scene featured a very brief musical interlude from the funky, blue-snouted Max Rebo band, called ‘Lapti Nek’ which saw Jabba lusting over green-skinned dancer Oola. 

For the Special Edition, Lucas bafflingly decided to add a whole new musical number called ‘Jedi Rocks’ complete with new fully CGI band members, a dance routine, and teeth-gratingly irritating singing. This addition is totally pointless and badly executed.

Luke’s scream

In the 1997 Special Edition release of ‘Empire Strikes Back’ a scream was added to Luke’s fall when he decides he’d rather jump to his death than join his father Vader on the Dark Side. The implication being that his leap was not entirely intentional. It’s a controversial amendment as it suggests he fell rather than jumped. It’s since been changed back to no scream for the DVD and Blu-ray versions.

Young Anakin ghost

This addition to the original trilogy has proved to be the most contentious behind the whole “Greedo Shot First” controversy. 

For the final scene of ‘Return of the Jedi’, Lucas in his infinite wisdom changed Anakin Skywalker’s Force ghost from Sebastian Shaw (who played the unmasked Vader) to Hayden Christensen – the actor who played Anakin in the prequels – for the 2004 DVD release. 

You could argue that it makes sense for the redeemed Anakin to appear to Luke as a Force ghost, but you’d be wrong. It's pointless. We’ll let Robot Chicken have the final word on this.

Revels on Naboo

Following the destruction of the second Death Star in ‘Return of the Jedi’, scenes of celebration from across the galaxy were added in the 1997 Special Edition. 

Parties, fireworks, and revelers can be seen on Coruscant, Bespin, and Tatooine, but annoyingly, for the 2004 DVD release a scene showing celebrations on Naboo was also added, featuring someone who suspiciously sounds like Jar Jar Binks shouting “Weesa free!”

Ewok celebration

As well as the new scenes of jubilation across the galaxy, the ending of ‘Return of the Jedi’ has been significantly altered audibly too. The Ewok song known as ‘Yub Nub’ or ‘Ewok Celebration’ has been ditched entirely and replaced with an insipid new orchestral number from John Williams called ‘Victory Celebration’. The Ewoks may not have been great, but they had decent tunes.

Rocks

Inexplicably, for the 2011 Blu-ray release, rocks were digitally added in front of R2-D2 in the scene where he’s hiding from the sandpeople. This just reeks of tinkering for tinkering sake; what does it add? Nothing.

Read more The best movie posters of 2016 Star Wars 8 is now The Last Jedi The incredible true story of Hacksaw Ridge

Image credits: 20th Century Fox/Lucasfilm

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11 times The Simpsons predicted the future with eerie precision

Dismiss ‘The Simpsons’ simply as a cartoon for kids at your peril. In the 25+ years it’s been running, Matt Groening’s hit animated sitcom has delivered countless storylines over 27 seasons and one movie, and nestled among the anarchic tales of America’s premiere nuclear family have been some weirdly prescient predictions about the near future.

Here’s the 10 most chillingly accurate predictions made by ‘The Simpsons’.

President Trump - Predicted in 2000

Episode: S11 E17 ‘Bart To The Future’

Donald Trump has just been elected as the next President of the United States, but his ambition was foreseen by this classic ‘Simpsons’ episode where Bart was shown his future by a Native American.

Lisa has become President and, in a scene where she addresses her inner circle, she says: “We’ve inherited quite the budget crunch from President Trump.” Spooky.

The Higgs Boson Particle – Predicted in 1998

Episode: S10 E2 ‘The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace’

Simon Singh, the author of a book titled ‘The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets’, claims Homer Simpson predicted the mass of the Higgs Boson particle 14 years before it was actually figured out for real by scientists at the Large Hadron Collider.

Singh says this equation, written by Homer on a blackboard, is eerily accurate. “If you work it out, you get the mass of a Higgs boson that's only a bit larger than the nano-mass of a Higgs boson actually is.”

Greece’s economic collapse – Predicted in 2012

Episode: S23 E10 ‘Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson’

Three years before this year’s government debt meltdown in Greece that saw it become the first country to default on an IMF loan repayment, a throwaway gag on this 2012 episode predicted how outlandish the situation would become.

A ticker on a rolling news station that Homer appears on reads “Europe puts Greece on eBay”. We wonder if the Greeks have considered this option during their darkest hours.

Ebola outbreak – Predicted in 1997

Episode: S9 E3 ‘Lisa’s Sax’

A crackpot viral video that did the rounds in 2014 claims ‘The Simpsons’ predicted the recent American Ebola outbreak. The episode saw Marge offering to read Bart a book titled “Curious George and The Ebola Virus”, which the YouTube creator Thecontroversy7 says proves that the makers of the show knew about the future outbreak and are, of course, members of the illuminati.

It was almost convincing before the illuminati stuff wasn’t it?

Siegfried and Roy tiger attack  - Predicted in 1993

Episode: S5 E10 ‘$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)’

The stage career of flamboyant German magic duo Siegfried & Roy was brought to a shocking end in 2003 when Roy Horn was mauled by one of their trademark white tigers while performing live on stage in Las Vegas.

Ten years earlier, in a ‘Simpsons’ episode that sees Springfield briefly legalise gambling, a flamboyant Germanic magic duo with a penchant for albino big cats called Gunter and Ernst make an appearance at Mr Burns’ casino. Their performance is cut short when their mauled by their trademark white tigers. Makes you paws for thought doesn’t it?

The NSA scandal – Predicted in 2007

Episode: ‘The Simpsons Movie’

Six years before Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the true extent of the NSA’s spying on American citizens, ‘The Simpsons Movie’ featured an extended gag about the extensive surveillance network of the National Security Agency.

A chance remark from Marge chastising Lisa for worrying about spies while on the run sparks an alarm in a NSA building. The building contains thousands of workers listening to private conversations across the country and Marge’s loose lips lead to the family’s arrest.

Horse meat scandal – Predicted in 1994

Episode: S5 E19 ‘Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song’

A full 19 years before it was revealed that some beef sold in Europe had been contaminated with horse meat, ‘The Simpsons’ made a joke about Lunchlady Doris cooking with “assorted horse parks – now with more testicles”.

On a side note, Lunchlady Doris is now Lunchlady Dora, a name change facilitated when the character’s original voice actor Doris Grau died in 1995.

Faulty voting machines – Predicted in 2008

Episode: S20 E4 ‘Treehouse of Horror XIX’

In the 2008 Halloween special, Homer tries to vote for Barack Obama at an electronic voting both, but the machine malfunctions casting a vote for his rival John McCain instead.

Just 4 years later, a Pennsylvania voting machine was taken out of service when it was filmed casting votes intended for Obama in favour of his real-life rival Mitt Romney.

FIFA Scandal - Predicted in 2014

Episode: S25 E16 ‘You Don't Have to Live Like a Referee’

A year before the football world was turned upside when a series of high-ranking FIFA officials were arrested by the FBI on charges of corruption, a similar thing played out in this 2014 episode of ‘The Simpsons’.

Homer is visited by the executive vice president of the “world football federation” who wants him to be a referee in the upcoming World Cup. He’s promptly arrested by American authorities for corruption and carted off. The episode even predicted Germany as the winners of that year’s tournament.

9/11 – Predicted in 1997

Episode: S9 E1 ‘The City of New York vs Homer Simpsons’

You’re deep into the conspiracy theory rabbit hole if you think this one is even vaguely feasible, but here we go anyway.

A YouTube video from user “truthwillfindyoubru” points to a moment in the 1997 series 9 opener that sees Lisa holding up a bus coupon ad that promises New York tickets for $9. The placement of the price, next to the Big Apple’s skyline including the World Trade Center, makes the ad read “New York 9 11” which they suggest means the show’s makers had “foreknowledge” of the attacks.

2016 Nobel prize winner

Episode: S22 E1 ‘Elementary School Musical’

In the 2010 season opener Lisa, Millhouse, and a bunch of her nerdy friends have stayed up late to hear the winners of the Nobel prize, in which Krusty wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

So far, so Simpsons, but then we get a look at Martin’s betting pool card and we see Millhouse had predicted an Economics prize for Bengt R. Holmstrom, who actually went on to win in earlier this year. MIT’s Holmstrom was joint winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics with Oliver Hart for their work on “contact theory”. No, us neither.

Image credits: 20th Century Fox

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Ron Howard: Women LOVED Tom Hanks' mullet... critics, not so much

This week sees the release of ‘Inferno’, the third Dan Brown film adapted by Ron Howard, starring Tom Hanks as symbology expert Robert Langdon.

All of the literary franchise’s usual tropes are present and correct – lavish European locations, mad dashes from museum to museum, symbols and puzzle-solving – but there’s one key factor missing from the new movie: Robert Langdon’s iconic mullet.

The character’s flowing locks – the source of much derision when ‘The Da Vinci Code’ was released in 2006 – have gradually retreated over the course of the trilogy, all because the critics didn’t approve.

“We all loved that haircut on ‘Da Vinci Code’,” explains Howard to Yahoo Movies.

“But fans not so much, and critics worse.”

Tom Hanks’ in ‘Da Vinci Code’, ‘Angels and Demons’ and ‘Inferno’ – Credit: Columbia Pictures

The BBC famously suggested “the mullet hairstyle [Hanks] sports throughout deserves a credit of its own”, and Howard told us it’s one of the few times he or Tom Hanks has ever bowed to public opinion, toning it down in the second film ‘Angels and Demons’, and ditching it altogether for ‘Inferno’.

He says he was surprised by the vitriol aimed at Langdon’s hair though, saying it had been a big hit with the ladies on the shoot.

Fantastic Beasts expands to five-movie franchise Tom Hanks attacks Trump’s comments Real-life conspiracies that inspired Dan Brown

“Women loved this haircut throughout the whole shoot,” Howard adds, “Everywhere [Hanks] went, it was ‘oh, I like his hair, wow, wow’, and then, either because it’s just not what Tom looks like or not what they imagined Robert Langdon looked like or something, it became this sticking point.

Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones in ‘Inferno’ – Credit: Columbia Pictures

“So we felt like we didn’t need to be stubborn about that. That wasn’t at the centre of this Dan Brown brand of entertainment.”

One factor that IS part of Brown’s brand of entertainment is rooting the plot in real-world conspiracies and fears. This latest film sees Langdon embroiled in a plot formed by an elusive billionaire – Bertrand Zobrist played by Ben Foster – who wants to unleash a plague on the world to solve the burgeoning overpopulation crisis.

Here’s what Felicity Jones and Ron Howard had to say about the threat posed to the globe by overpopulation versus the threat posed by Donald Trump…

‘Inferno’ is in cinemas now.

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Darth Vader looms large in the new and final Star Wars Rogue One trailer

After months of teasing, the new – and final – ‘Rogue One – A Star Wars Story’ trailer has finally given us a good look at the return of Darth Vader.

Set before the events of ‘Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope’, but after ‘Revenge of the Sith’, ‘Rogue One’ promises to show Vader at the height of his power, and as he strides across the screen in the new trailer you’re reminded of the Dark Lord Sith’s incredibly menacing screen presence.

Look who’s back – Credit: Lucasfilm/Disney

The new trailer seems to be made of entirely new, and as-yet-unseen, footage revealing more of the film’s dark foreboding atmosphere, and a lot of more its actual plot.

‘Rogue One – A Star Wars Story’ is in UK cinemas from 15 December.

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The Beatles finally available in LEGO as Yellow Submarine set announced

LEGO® Ideas 21306 Yellow Submarine – Credit: LEGO

Every Beatles fans dream (well, mine at least) of owning the Fab Four in LEGO form will finally come true on 1 November when the Danish toy form releases a new set based on the 1968 animated film ‘Yellow Submarine’.

All four Beatles are faithfully recreated as Minifigs alongside a tiny Jeremy from the film, as well as the yellow submersible itself.

LEGO® Ideas 21306 Yellow Submarine – Credit: LEGO

The set, officially titled ‘LEGO® Ideas 21306 Yellow Submarine’, that goes on sale next month for £49.99 was designed by LEGO fan Kevin Szeto who originally submitted his design to the company’s crowd-sourcing design program Ideas.

The scheme was also the source of previous entertainment-inspired sets including the ‘Ghostbusters’ car, the ‘Doctor Who’ TARDIS, and the ‘Back To The Future’ DeLorean.

LEGO® Ideas 21306 Yellow Submarine – Credit: LEGO

“As an amateur musician and songwriter, I have always been drawn to the music of The Beatles,” Kevin Said. “The creation of the Yellow Submarine model was really my way of showing my affection for The Beatles, as well as trying to pay a small tribute to The Beatles phenomenon. The Yellow Submarine is bright, fun, and colourful, which also made it a good subject to translate into LEGO form”.

Amen to that.

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Emojimovie: Express Yourself: James Corden joins cast as first image and synopsis released

Emojimovie: Express Yourself – Credit: Sony Pictures Animation

James Corden and Ilana Glazer have joined the cast of Sony’s Emoji movie as Hi-5 and Jailbreak.

The cast announcement was made along with the reveal of the film’s official title – ‘Emojimovie: Express Yourself’ – and the first details about the animated movie that also stars T.J. Miller (‘Silicon Valley’) in the lead role.

Here’s the official story synopsis for the film that’s headed to cinemas in August, 2017…

‘EMOJIMOVIE: EXPRESS YOURSEL’F unlocks the never-before-seen secret world inside your smartphone. Hidden within the messaging app is Textopolis, a bustling city where all your favourite emojis live, hoping to be selected by the phone’s user. In this world, each emoji has only one facial expression – except for Gene (T.J. Miller), an exuberant emoji who was born without a filter and is bursting with multiple expressions.

“Determined to become “normal” like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5 (James Corden) and the notorious code breaker emoji Jailbreak (Ilana Glazer). Together, they embark on an epic “app-venture” through the apps on the phone, each its own wild and fun world, to find the Code that will fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it’s deleted forever.”

It sounds to us like a cross between ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ and ‘The LEGO Movie’, both high watermarks for the crowded animation genre, so they’ve quite a challenge on their hands.

The film is being directed by Anthony Leonidis, the filmmaker behind Dreamworks’ recently-cancelled ‘B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations’.

‘Emojimovie: Express Yourself’ is coming to cinemas on 11 August, 2017.

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George Takei on the day William Shatner shut down Star Trek in a fit of jealousy

Sulu and Kirk in ‘Star Trek: The Original Series’ – Credit: Paramount

‘Star Trek’ celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, so when Yahoo Movies was offered the chance to speak to George Takei, one of the original USS Enterprise crew members, we jumped at the chance.

His character Hikaru Sulu has been a mainstay of ‘Star Trek’ ever since the first episode of ‘The Original Series’ was broadcast on Thursday, 8 September, 1966. After the show was cancelled in 1969, he reprised his role in ‘Star Trek: The Animated Series’ (available now on Blu-ray for the first time), and again in six feature-length ‘Star Trek’ movies.

Top of the agenda when speaking to the 79-year-old was his long-running feud with William Shatner, the actor who played Captain Kirk. In 2008 Shatner called Takei “psychotic” in a since-deleted YouTube rant, after he wasn’t invited to the Sulu actor’s wedding saying “I literally don’t know him”, and Takei responded by saying it was just his former co-star trying to drum up publicity for his new talk show ‘Raw Nerve’.

Shatner’s weirdest moments Fourth Star Trek reboot movie confirmed 10 actors you forgot were in Trek

Takei says tensions with the Canadian actor began back while they were shooting the ‘Original Series’ in the 60s, but it wasn’t just him that got rubbed up the wrong way by Shatner.

“The entire cast, even Leonard [Nimoy] had an unbelievable clash [with Shatner],” Takei told Yahoo Movies.

“We lost a whole half a day filming. Leonard Nimoy was getting enormous fan reaction, his fan letters were outnumbering Bill’s.

Shatner and Takei at Destination Star Trek Europe, 2016 – Credit: Joe Giddens PA Wire/Press Association Images

“One morning Leonard was getting a TV Guide photo essay done: ‘Leonard Nimoy becoming Mr Spock’, the process of the make-up and so on. Leonard reported to the make-up department earliest, because of the more elaborate make-up, so he came at about 5:30am.

“He was having his eyebrows put on. The photographer was capturing each phase of it. Then, at about 6-6:30am, Bill came in. He saw what was going on, and he was still festering a little bit because of the fan mail imbalance. He turned around, went out, made a phone call to the front office, and a minion came from the front office and dismissed the photographer.

“‘What’s happening?’ Leonard said, ‘we’re not finished. Why was the photographer dismissed?’ And the minion said ‘I was just told to dismiss the photographer’. So Leonard said ‘stop, don’t put another dab of make up on me’. And he got up with the cloak still on him, and went to his dressing room to tap his toes. And Bill went to his dressing room.

The original crew of the USS Enterprise – Credit: Paramount

“The rest of us arrived got into make-up, got into costume, and reported to the set, which was still dimly lit, and we got a cup of coffee, and we sipped coffee, and sat there chatting. We asked ‘what’s happening?’

“And we found out that Bill had in his contract approval of photographer on the sound stage, and apparently he’d exercised that clause. He’d had the photographer dismissed. Then a flock of black suits came in, went to Leonard’s dressing room, they were there for about half an hour. Then they went to Bill’s dressing room, and they kept going back and forth. The assistant came and said, ‘why don’t you guys go for a break at the commissary? This is going to be a while!’

“So we ambled down to the commissary, had a sweet roll, and had a relaxing time. And we ambled back, and the coven of black suits were still going back and forth. We sat around the set again just jawing, and the assistant came and said, ‘it looks like this is going to take some time, go for an early lunch’. We went for an early lunch, we came back, still the same situation.

“And finally, the lighting people started to light up the set. The Geneva Accord was signed! Leonard finished his make up, the photographer captured all the stages, and we got filming done. But it was because of that kind of tension.”

Here’s what else we learned from George Takei when we spoke to him about the ‘Star Trek 50th Anniversary TV and Movie Collection Blu-ray Boxset’ which is in shops now.

  How was Sulu first pitched to you by series creator Gene Roddenberry?

Sulu goes shirtless fencing in S1 E4 ‘The Naked Time’ – Credit: Paramount

It was a very unusual interview because this was a pilot for a series, and they usually have a battalion of executives there who are all glaring at you, it’s usually like an inquisition. But when I went to the Star Trek interview it was just Gene Roddenberry. He came out from behind the desk, and as a matter of fact, I mispronounced his name – I remember that – I called him Mr Rosenberry.

And he mispronounced my surname, he called me George Takay [rhymes with high]. The “ei”, he wanted it the Germanic way, like Einstein, when actually the vowels in Japanese are pronounced the Mediterranean way, Spanish, Italian, like “ae” – Takei [rhymes with hay].

So I corrected him, I said ‘It’s pronounced Takei’. And he said, ‘oh, i’m ever so sorry’. I said ‘no, I don’t object to the mispronunciation, because there is a Japanese word that’s pronounced Takei and that translates into English as ‘expensive’’.

And he said, ‘oh my goodness’. A producer doesn’t like to call actors expensive, you’re definitely Takei. So I reminded him, ‘well, Takei doesn’t mean cheap either’.

So, already meeting him we’d broken the ice. But he started by discussing the headlines of the day, and we talked about current events, and that drifted over to movies that we’d seen recently, and he had seen the movies and he would critique them.

I thought, ‘is this how I’m going to be interviewed?’ So I turned the tables on him and I said, ‘can you tell me something about the character and the series?’

And so then he described it. The series would take place in this massive starship which was really a metaphor for starship Earth. And it was the teeming population of this starship, in all its diversity, coming together that was the strength of this star ship. People of different cultures, races, faiths, different backgrounds. And I thought, ‘that’s interesting’.

I asked about the character and he said, ‘he is one of the officers of Starfleet, number one from Starfleet Academy’. The bridge crew would be the leadership of the team, and that captured my imagination.

Because up until then, almost all Asian characters and all Asian-American characters spoke with an accent and they were one-dimensional stereotype characters. [They were] either the silent manservant, or the chauffeur, or the buffoon, or the villain, they were all insignificant roles to begin with, and this was a member of the leadership team, speaking without an accent, and a crack professional.

That was exciting and I recognised immediately it would be a breakthrough role if I got cast, certainly for me as an individual actor, but more importantly the image of Asians and Asian-Americans. So I desperately wanted that role when I left.

Hollywood likes to torture actors. It was unbearable. A long week of sitting on pins and needles, and finally I got the phone call from my agent – I had the part.

What was the reception to the show when it aired?

Personally for me it was a great opportunity. Television at that time generally was filled with pap – game shows, variety shows, sitcoms, cowboys and Indians. And America at that time was turbulent. Gene said that this turbulence in America, the civil rights movement, the peace movement during the Vietnam war, the Cold War, all this would be used as the basis for the metaphorical science-fiction stories.

George Takei – Credit: Paramount

That was exciting and important. Television was a wasteland and so I wanted to be a part of that.

On the first day of filming we gathered for a table read, the entire cast, and Gene Roddenberry and the studio head, and he explained that to all of us, as a group. He introduced us individually.

He said, ‘North America will be represented by Captain Kirk and he will be played by a Canadian, from Montreal Canada, Bill Shatner’. All of Europe will be represented by the Scottish engineer Montgomery Scott, and he will be played a Canadian too: Jimmy Doohan from Vancouver, British Columbia. Africa will be represented by Nichelle Nichols, an African-American woman’.

We later learned she had French blood as well as Cherokee blood, so Nichelle was probably the most American of us all. And I was the represent Asia, me from Los Angeles, California.

So he had that introduction and then he went into the thing about Starship Enterprise being a metaphor and so forth.

Who were your best friends amongst the cast?

Jimmy [Doohan, played Scottie] was a real down to earth, easygoing guy, and my favourite drinking buddy. He told me that he got famous playing a Scotsman, but he’s really an Irish-Canadian from Vancouver, but he emphasised to me, ‘I may be Irish, but I’ve drunk enough libation of Scotland to qualify playing a Scotsman’, and I can attest to the fact that he qualified. He did!

Nichelle [Nichols, played Uhura], I knew from before ‘Star Trek’. I was doing a Civil Rights musical and she knew one of the cast members, so after the show she came backstage and her friend introduced Nichelle to all the rest of the cast.

But what I was most stunned by when I met Nichelle – this was back in the 50s, when African-American women straightened their hair, they called it conking, they conked their hair and sculpted it into recognisable fashionable hairdos. Nichelle had let it grow out naturally, and it was a huge bubble of an afro, it went out about 3 feet, it was a huge thing. It was like an animated ball of African-American hair and she was gorgeous underneath all that, she was stunning. The hair made her even more stunning, but alas for Star Trek they put a wig on her!

The original cast of ‘Star Trek’ – Credit: Paramount

I was impressed by Leonard [Nimoy, played Spock] from before because I saw him in a small off-Santa Monica Boulevard play, Jean Genet’s play ‘Deathwatch’. He played one of the three inmates in that jail cell, and it was a very serious and logical part, and I was impressed by him as an actor in that, and we were going to be working together in this.

The others I didn’t know, I was meeting them for the first time. The blessing of Star Trek is that many of them became life friends, my professional colleagues became friends. As a matter of fact, Walter Koenig who played Chekov was the best man at our wedding.

We asked Nichelle Nichols to be our matron of honour, and she said ‘I am not a matron! If Walter can be the best man, why can’t I be the best lady?’ And we said, ‘of course you are, and of course you will be.’

In the documentary on the new boxset, producer Jeffrey Katzenberg says about ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’ “everything that could go wrong did go wrong” – what was your experience of making that film?

We had a very relaxing time. There was a lot of sitting around the set, a lot of chit chatting, a lot of coffee.

The special effects person was absolutely incapable. He wouldn’t let the executives see what he was planning. His special effects plans were as secret as Donald Trump’s foreign policy plan. It was secret, he wasn’t going to let the enemy know.

And so he was fired. Doug Trumbull was brought in to finish that, but it went way over budget, way over schedule, and it was way… too… boring.

We thought that was going to be the end of it, and so did the studio. They announced it was going to be the only Star Trek movie. But it exploded the box office. Bless their hearts, the Star Trek fans came to see it, loved it for whatever reason, and they came back. They came back for repeated viewings of Star Trek, and that’s what helped build the box office.

So it became a series of Star Trek movies. We found that our fans were very dedicated and very, very loyal, and so we have lived much longer than we expected, and prospered in so many wonderful, unexpected ways.

George Takei: Gay Sulu is ‘unfortunate’ Star Trek cast unite to oppose Trump Watch Star Trek Beyond gag reel

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Suicide Squad Extended Cut coming to Blu-ray with 13 minutes of new footage

#SuicideSquad Extended Cut. Spread the word. pic.twitter.com/lNPjUqieVt

— Suicide Squad (@SuicideSquadWB) October 5, 2016

An extended version of ‘Suicide Squad’ is coming to Blu-ray later this year, Warner Bros. has announced.

An official tweet from the @SuicideSquadWB account revealed the news with a new trailer accompanied by the caption “#SuicideSquad Extended Cut. Spread the word.”

Watch it above.

‘Suicide Squad Extended Cut’ is coming to Digital HD on 28 November, with a Blu-ray release on 5 December, just in time for Christmas. It features 13 minutes of new footage, previously unseen in the theatrical release.

Dr. Harleen Quinzel makes an appearance in the trailer – Credit: Warner Bros.

Not much else is revealed in the teaser video, but it ends with a shot of Margot Robbie as Dr. Harleen Quinzel before she transforms into Harley Quinn which suggests we’ll get to see some more of her relationship with Jared Leto’s Joker.

Jared Leto complained that a lot of his scenes had been cut from the theatrical release, so this may be his moment to shine.

‘Suicide Squad: Extended Cut’ features more action and more Squad with 13 more minutes of footage not previously seen in cinemas. Credit: Warner Bros. HE

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War On Everyone director: Don't watch this film if you're easily offended

John Michael McDonagh, the acclaimed director of ‘The Guard’ and ‘Calvary’, has a warning for the politically correct: don’t watch his new film ‘War On Everyone’ (in cinemas Friday) if you’re easily offended.

“It’s setting out to be deliberately, comedically offensive towards as many people as possible,” the writer-director tells Yahoo Movies.

“Whatever your race, religion, or country you’re from, whether you’re able bodied, disabled or whatever, everyone gets a jibe against them.”

Michael Peña as Detective Bob Bolaño and Alexander Skarsgård as Detective Terry Monroe in ‘War On Everyone’ – Credit: Icon

The films sees a pair of corrupt cops, played by Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña, who investigate a criminal mastermind while hustling, blackmailing, drinking, taking drugs, and generally causing chaos across Albuquerque, New Mexico. It pokes fun at blacks, whites, asians, latinos, muslims, christians, transexuals, homosexuals, and everyone else in between, which is how it gets away it, at least that’s what Skarsgård thinks.

“That’s why the movie is egalitarian in a way,” he explains.

“They really do offend everyone. It’s not racial profiling, they’re not a specific group, or creed or colour.”

John Michael McDonagh, alongside Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña during the film’s premiere crawl across London – Credit: Icon

But are we, as a society, too easily offended these days?

“I think we’re very anxious and very worried about being a bit too politically correct,” muses Skarsgård, “and it’s quite refreshing – for me at least – reading a script that’s so out there.”

McDonagh, the writer of that script, thinks it’s “obvious” that people are too easily offended, but that any “backlash” is often blown out of proportion.

“A lot of that is white noise on Twitter and social media,” he says, “I don’t go anywhere near social media because I drink far too much bourbon, so there’s no point me even attempting it. There’s an outrage industry, but it usually only lasts two or three days though. So it’ll be interesting to see what the Twitterati make of this film, but we’ll wait and see.”

Read more Anger over Bruce Lee biopic Film stars who were fired on set Tim Burton backlash over diversity comments

‘War On Everyone’ is in UK cinemas from Friday, 7 October. Watch the NSFW red band trailer below.

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Hugh Jackman reveals Wolverine 3's official title

Hugh Jackman is returning as Wolverine for the final time – Credit: 20th Century Fox

In 2009 there was ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, then in 2013 came ‘The Wolverine’, and now we can confirm the third and final solo Wolverine film will be called ‘Logan’.

Hugh Jackman revealed the official title of ‘Wolverine 3’ via Twitter, sharing a photo of a huge billboard bearing the name, with a matching caption and release date of March 2017.

LOGAN pic.twitter.com/IeIvcvFyTE

— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) October 5, 2016

The post was retweeted by 20th Century Fox so we think it’s safe to assume this is the film’s official title. It’s not clear where the billboard is but it’s safe to assume it’s probably in New York where New York Comic Con is taking place this weekend.

Here’s the poster in all its glory:

How long are those kid’s fingers?! Credit: 20th Century Fox

The new movie is said to have been inspired by Mark Millar’s ‘Old Man Logan’ comic book series, and will be set in the future with Wolverine finally starting to show his age. Patrick Stewart is returning as Charles Xavier, with Boyd Holbrook, Richard E. Grant, Stephen Merchant, Eriq La Salle, Elise Neal and Elizabeth Rodriguez also in the cast in as-yet-undisclosed roles.

It’ll be the last time Hugh Jackman plays the X-Men hero, and producer Simon Kinberg has promised it’ll be the most adult Wolverine film to date telling Collider earlier this year the film, “takes place in the future, and as you and others have reported, it is an R-rated movie. It’s violent, it’s kind of like a western in its tone. It’s just a very cool, different film.”

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Why Moana is Disney’s most complicated CG animation yet

Moana and Maui – Credit: Disney

It’s been three years since Disney Animation Studios released ‘Frozen’, the most successful animated movie of all time, during which time the studio has also released ‘Big Hero 6’ and ‘Zootropolis’ (both big hits in their own rights), all while simultaneously developing its most technically complex movie to date.

‘Moana’ doesn’t just mark the return to the world of musicals for the animation giant, it also marks the return of two of Disney’s most successful co-directors John Musker and Ron Clements, with the filmmakers responsible for ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘Aladdin’, and ‘The Princess and the Frog’, making their first ever CG-animated movie.

It’s a mammoth task for the pioneers of hand-drawn animation who’ve not just had to learn a whole new discipline, they’ve also got to deal with water – famously one of the most difficult things to animate – and lots of it. Oceans of it to be precise.

“The majority of the movie is set at sea”, explains producer Osnat Shurer.

“There’s water, there’s lava, and none of the sets are static, they’re on a boat and always travelling.”

Producer Osnat Shurer, the voice of Moana Auli’I Cravalho, directors John Musker and Ron Clements – Credit: Disney/Hugh E. Gentry

The animation veteran is the woman tasked with guiding these two directors through those choppy CG waters, but as she puts it “animation is animation, and they’re animation greats.”

Here’s what we learned from Osnat about the challenges of ‘Moana’ (in UK cinemas 2 December), the innovations required to bring the Pacific Island-set adventure to the big screen, and the puzzle of how to top ‘Let It Go’…

Yahoo Movies: What challenges have Ron Clements and John Musker faced in directing their first 3D animated film?

Osnat Shurer: It’s a very interesting transition. It’s a transition Brad Bird had to do with ‘The Incredibles’ too.

Animation is animation, and they’re animation greats. So it’s all about the story and it’s all about acting. And all of that – they definitely have down. What they needed to learn, and what gets confusing in computer animation, is what you’re looking at, and when.

It works in a completely different process. In traditional animation, you finish a sequence, you’ve finished that sequence. It’s done.

In CG animation, there’s layers and layers that they’re able to review, and go, ‘OK, that rock doesn’t look right’, but it’s like ‘don’t look at that’. ‘Well the sky doesn’t look right’ – ‘don’t look at that’. You have to teach them ‘just look at this’.

And so learning that and getting used to what to look at, and when; what you’re committing to, and when; what’s hard and what’s easy is very different in traditional animation versus CG animation.

Read more Moana voice cast revealed Everything you need to know about Moana Fantastic Beasts set visit report

In CG we have to create and rig the models, so let’s say ‘how many transformations can Maui have?’ That’s the kind of thing that in computer animation it has to be limited and very specific, because we have to model them. In traditional animation, you just draw it, and you can have a hundred.

So some things were harder to do in CG that they had to learn, and some things were easier and so much more promising like the ocean.

Maui is covered in moving tattoos, including a miniature version of himself dubbed “Mini Maui” – Credit: Disney

Or creating a character with all those tattoos for example, like Maui [the demigod voiced by Dwayne Johnson], in traditional animation that would be incredible – what we call – pencil mileage. You would just have to draw that over and over and over again. In CG, you create it and now it moves.

So what’s easy and what’s hard, what comes when, those are things you have to learn, but the bottom line is telling a good story, and understanding animation. Knowing what you can bring to life, and they’re geniuses at that. They idea of the ocean being alive, with the tattoos that move on his body, all those things are very classic animation ideas that come from people like that.

What new innovations were needed to bring this film to life?

There were a lot of innovations on this film, because it’s such an FX heavy film.

Our movie was 85% FX, which in CG animation is quite a lot. There’s water, there’s lava, and none of the sets are static, they’re on a boat and always travelling. There were quite a few things that were invented for the film. There were a lot of smart people writing incredible programs. They wrote three different programs for the sea, one for distant water, one for midway water, and one for water very close up, and then a fourth program to stitch all those together.

Then, with the idea of water actually being a character in the film, we suddenly needed a huge collaboration between FX and character animation.

So aside from the programs written specifically to figure out water, they also had this incredible breakthrough where they created these buoyancy tests, to figure out the physics of when a boat is moving on the water and it leaves a wake.

Moana riding the waves – Credit: Disney

And if we had to hand draw every single one of those wakes, we’d still be doing that right now, and so they figured out a way to automate that based on what is the wake that’s on the boat, and what is the level of agitation in the ocean.

Another thing that was huge for our movie is we wanted that gorgeous thick long hair, and to have the ability to work with what shapes it creates, which in traditional animation, you’re always figuring out shapes.

So we wanted to have that ability, so that Ron and John could really direct that, so a whole new program called Tonic was written for that, for how the hair moves, how it collides with itself, what it does, how it behaves when it’s wet.

We have characters where you have quite a bit of the skin exposed, so in order to really work with an animation, with how muscles really work under the skin, again, incredible programs were written by a lot of very, very smart people, the details of which are a little over my head, but definitely the application of which saved us on this movie.

So hair movement has come along way since ‘Tangled’?

We’ve come a very, very long way. In our world of CG animation ‘Tangled’ [2010] was a LONG time ago, and they did incredible work which was a breakthrough at the time.

But these were… I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like what our guys achieved on the ocean animation, it’s magnificent what our FX team is able to do. I was blown away by it.

Was the story always Moana’s story, was she foundation of the original idea?

Moana, voiced by Auli’i Cravalho, won’t have a romance in this film – Credit: Disney

From after our first trip, the idea of a young woman destined to be a female navigator was the leading light for us for the movie. It’s very much her film, she’s in it from beginning to end, and while it’s her transformation story, she’s also an agent of change.

Everyone around her is dealing with identity questions. Her father and her cultures, reconnecting to the past. Maui, who’s lost touch with who he is and he regains that, and later on in the movie you’ll see more characters that that happens with.

So she helps bring a renewed identity and connection with who each one is into the film.

So yeah, from the moment we decided it’s her story we worked very hard to keep it her story. It’s not easy in a film where one of the characters is magical, to keep it the story of your main character, because the magical character always wants to steal the movie, but it’s a fascinating challenge, and that’s a lot of fun to make it work.

If you can make it work, because we can all identify with Moana. We don’t shape shift. We all have dreams and we all get told by others who we’re supposed to be, and we need to get in touch with our inner sense of who we’re meant to be, so I think she’s a character we can all identify with.

What can you tell us about Taika Waititi’s first drafts and whether any of that survives in the film?

He always jokes that he’s made two films [‘What We Do In The Shadows’ and ‘The Hunt For The Wilderpeople’] and had two kids since he started working on this movie*, which is true, our movies take a long time.

Taika has this incredible sense of humour, it’s a combination of his background, and it’s cheeky and it’s lovely, and he brought a beautiful authentic tone to it, but also a mischief into the characters that, yes, is still there today.

Though the story has transformed a hundred times since then, since he worked on the film. We did stay in touch with Taika and he gave us notes, and usually it just elevates most of the humour. We’re big fans of his movies.

*Read what Taika Waititi had to say about first draft script on ‘Moana’ here.

So the story has evolved since then?

It has evolved from that. But everyone who’s touched the film has affected the film, and certainly Taika as the first scriptwriter on the movie, bringing his own Maori background into this has helped inform the film, definitely.

There’s the a very thin line between cultural appreciation and appropriation, so what will be the moment that you learn whether you’ve got it right with this?

The design of Maui faced some criticisms from Pacific Islanders – Credit: Disney

There’ll be a lot of moments like that I think, and at every stage of the game we’ve tried to find that line. Animation is incredibly collaborative anyway, and so we’re all very used to collaborating and used to everyone on the film brings so much to it, so for us to expand that circle and include our Oceanic Story Trust*, to include people from within the culture, both as advisors – within the trust – and inside of the film.

If it’s Taika, if it’s Opetaia Foa our songwriter, if it’s our cast who all have Pacific Island backgrounds, so we’ve looked to co-create the film. Clearly it’s a work of the imagination, and the imagination of Ron Clements and John Musker is pretty rich.

It’s a rich, big wonderful imagination that’s brought us so many incredible films, so it’s a balance, a collaboration. Our big dream and hope is that people are happy with it, but you never know. You do your best, keep your heart in the right place, and your intentions in the right place, and just hope for the best.

*The Oceanic Story Trust is a team of Pacific Island academics, archeologists, anthropologists, linguists, and historians employed by Disney to advise on the film.

Tell us about Maui’s design, because there’s a risk when you make him larger than life – physically – that could be offensive to Pacific Islanders.

We thought a lot about the design of every one of the characters, and we worked with our Oceanic Story Trust members and our fabulous character designers that we have at Disney, to create each and every one of the characters.

With Maui he’s an amalgam of a lot of ideas of who Maui is. We’re not talking about one culture, we’re talking about many, many Pacific Island cultures. The movie is set very early on, before Tahiti was settled, before Hawaii was settled, before New Zealand was settled, but we spoke to people from every one of these cultures as we were putting it together.

It was very important that he be larger than life, that he be big, and strong, and capable – he’s a demigod, you don’t want him to look like the guy next door.

And it’s animation. If we’d wanted to work in live action, we’d have worked in live action. In animation you can do things like make the ocean alive, you can make a tattoo character come alive, and you want the character to, in a sense, embody the characteristics.

We collaborated on the design and came out hoping for the best.

Everyone’s very excited to hear the soundtrack – what’s this film’s ‘Let It Go’ moment?

It’s really hard to tell. On ‘Frozen’, we didn’t entirely know that that the ‘Let It Go’ moment would go on to be the ‘Let It Go’ moment, because there were so many fabulous songs. My office was right next door to them and I knew when I first heard it, that song is really good.

We have some incredible songs in this movie that are collaborations between those three, it’s an amazing thing to watch, and I hope one of these becomes a Let It Go moment but I have two or three to vote for, so we’ll have to wait and see what the audience thinks.

How did Lin-Manuel Miranda cope with writing this while he was dealing with the work on ‘Hamilton’?

We knew his performance schedule, 8 shows a week, and we had regular meetings at least twice a week. They would be in a specific time for him, between the time he arrived at the theatre and before the show, but some of the demos in our movie, the demos for the songs were done in his dressing room with other cast members from ‘Hamilton’.

Lin-Manuel Miranda on stage for his hit Broadway musical ‘Hamilton’ – Credit: Getty Images/CBS Photo Archive

I’m not complaining, we had some pretty good sound on this movie right from the top.

He’s very fast in how he works but he also is a deep thinker, so we would always figure out the amount of time he needs for some thinking, so that we could collaborate back and forth.

We also had different people in different time zones all over the world, so some of the scheduling was challenging, and he was busy, but he was always available to us. This is first love When we first interviewed him he came into the room and said to John, ‘I’m in this industry because of ‘The Little Mermaid’’.

So his love for this and his joy at getting a chance to do this, and his facility for working with multiple cultures and bringing them together, which is what he’s done in some of his earlier shows he’s written, it really came through in the film.

So the combination of Mark, Opetaia, and Lin, while all over the world was really powerful. Yeah, we might be on a phone call and he’ll have to take a call and be like, ‘oh I just won a Pullitzer prize, what were you saying?’

So a lot was happening in his life, and he had his first baby during the making of our film, so a lot changed in his life, and yet he’s one of the most humble, down to earth together people you ever want to meet, so it never became weird.

‘Moana’ is coming to UK cinemas on 2 December, 2016.

Read more 22 mind-blowing Disney in-jokes 6 controversial Disney films Real-life inspirations of Disney characters 

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Luke Evans throws his hat into the ring for James Bond

The name’s Evans, Luke Evans. Licence to thrill.

The 37-year-old Welsh actor, who stars in this week’s new thriller ‘The Girl on the Train’, has admitted he’d love to be the second Welsh James Bond, following in the footsteps of Timothy Dalton.

“[The James Bond role] is probably one of the most attractive roles – in a franchise – for a male actor of my age right now,” Evans tells Yahoo Movies.

“So I’d be a fool to say, ‘No, I don’t want to play it.'”

The much-coveted role of James Bond is still – until we hear otherwise – filled by Daniel Craig, who has four films as 007 under his belt. However, with uncertainty surrounding his future in the role, speculation has been swirling about who could take over from the Scouse star with names like Tom Hiddleston, Jamie Bell, Aidan Turner, and Tom Hughes all recently linked to the franchise.

Luke Evans attending the Olivier Awards 2016 held at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. Credit: Ian West PA Archive/Press Association Images

Evans admits though that Craig’s boots will be hard to fill.

“I think it’s a great role,” he adds.

“What Daniel Craig has done with that role in the last however many years he’s been playing it is incredible.”

What do you think? Could Luke Evans be the man to don the iconic tuxedo next? Let us know in the comments below.

Read more Amazing James Bond films that nearly happened Big stars you forgot were in Bond films Bond’s most un-PC moments

‘The Girl On The Train’ is in cinemas from 5 October. Watch a trailer below.

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Emily Blunt: I’ve done dangerous things when drunk (exclusive)

The adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ hit novel ‘The Girl on the Train’ hits cinemas this week on 5 October, with Emily Blunt in the lead role as Rachel, the unreliable drunk who gets embroiled in a murder mystery.

She may hold a vital piece of information but – due to being blackout drunk – she simply can’t remember it. It’s a situation that Emily Blunt herself can relate to.

“I have done dangerous things while drunk,” explains the 33-year-old star.

“I’ve done very silly things in my early 20s.”

Emily Blunt in The Girl on the Train – Credit: eOne

She’s not the only one. Co-star Luke Evans, who plays Scott Hipwell in the film, says it’s something everyone does.

“We’ve all been there,” says Evans.

“We’ve all drunk a bit too much, and woken up in the morning and been reminded of something stupid that we’ve done. I don’t think I’ve ‘blacked out’ to the point where Rachel does, waking up with no knowledge except blood on her hands, that would be a terrifying moment.”

Fans of the book will notice a few changes have been made to the story, most noticeably in its setting.

Luke Evans and Hayley Bennett as Scott and Megan Hipwell – Credit: eOne

Where the Rachel of the book trundled along on her train through the sleep British countryside into London, the Rachel of the movie lives in upstate New York, with her train travelling into Grand Central Station, but why did they relocate the story?

“I think it was moved more for a universal scope for the film,” explained Emily Blunt to Yahoo Movies.

“It’s quite cinematic, that Hudson Line going into Grand Central.”

Early reports on the film suggested the film was relocated to America to accentuate the depths of Rachel’s drinking habits. The logic being that the UK has a much more normalised drinking culture than the USA, where casual drinking is seen as a bit more taboo, however Blunt refutes this theory.

“I don’t think [it was moved] because of the British drinking culture, although I do feel it is a little more acceptable in the UK. I think [drinking] is just part of our DNA to drink.”

‘The Girl On The Train’ is in UK cinemas from 5 October.

Read more The tragic life of Terry-Thomas Insane Marlon Brando stories Movie couples that hated each other

Interviews by Jody Clark

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BFI London Film Festival 2016: 7 films you shouldn't miss

The 60th BFI London Film Festival, opening Wednesday 5 October, is bringing together some of the most exciting, buzzed-about films of the year, and it’s completely open to the public.

This is your chance to catch some amazing films before they are released in cinemas, so we’ve have rounded up some of the best titles you must absolutely catch while you can.

Free Fire

Dir-Scr Ben Wheatley With Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Jack Reynor

The highly-anticipated Closing Night film is a homage to 70s shoot-em-up films.

Justine (Brie Larson) has brokered a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two Irishmen (Cillian Murphy, Michael Smiley) and a gang led by Vernon (Sharlto Copley) and Ord (Armie Hammer) who are selling them a stash of guns.

But when shots are fired in the handover, a heart-stopping game of survival ensues. With Ben Wheatley’s unique aesthetic and flare for mayhem, this is like no other high-octane thriller you’ve seen.

A United Kingdom

Dir Amma Asante With David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Jack Davenport, Terry Pheto, Tom Felton, Laura Carmichael

Amma Asante is emerging as one of the UK’s pre-eminent filmmakers with this year’s Opening Night Gala.

‘A United Kingdom’ is a powerful testament to the defiant and enduring love story of Seretse Khama, King of Bechuanaland (modern Botswana) and Ruth Williams, the London office worker he married in 1948 in the face of fierce opposition from their families and the government of the time.

An elegant, impassioned drama that also exposes a painful episode in the history of British race relations, and imperial politics. A film for this time and for the ages.

La La Land

Dir-Scr Damien Chazelle With Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, JK Simmons

One of the most talked about films of the year, Damien Chazelle’s love letter to the city of Los Angeles, with captivating lead performances by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling is a thing of beauty.

Mia (Stone) is an aspiring actress, barely holding down a day job on a studio lot while juggling auditions for second-rate parts. Sebastian (Gosling) is a pianist who struggles to keep his job at a family restaurant where he plays freewheeling jazz instead of stale, cheesy favourites. Already the frontrunner in awards talk, catch the film of the year before anyone else.

Lion

Dir. Garth Davis With Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, David Wenham, Nicole Kidman, Sunny Pawar

A film so remarkable in its narrative, if it weren’t based on a true story you’d think it was Hollywood at its most fanciful.

As a boy, Saroo, whilst out one night with his brother, falls asleep in a stationary train carriage only to be trapped on board when it departs. Days later, he arrives in Kolkata, hundreds of miles from home and entirely alone. He eventually lands in an orphanage and is adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman, David Wenham).

25 years later, the adult Saroo (Dev Patel) discovers a new technology and begins an obsessive search for his original family. A spectacular tribute to the tenacity of the human spirit and an undeniably uplifting cinematic experience.

Queen of Katwe

Dir Mira Nair With David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o, Madina Nalwanga

Based on the inspirational true story of young Ugandan chess champion, Phiona Mutesi (newcomer Madina Nalwanga).

From an impoverished existence in a Ugandan township Phiona – whilst unable to read or write – defies the odds and manages to master the intellectually rigorous, incredibly tactical game of chess under the guidance of Robert Katende (David Oyelowo).

With an incredible, vibrant style and extraordinary cast, Mira Nair manages to perfectly capture the authenticity of the story whilst crafting a film of great beauty.

Arrival

Dir Denis Villeneuve With Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg

Amy Adams is magnetic as the professor of linguistics enlisted to decipher the language of extra-terrestrials.

Accompanied by scientist Ian Donelly (Jeremy Renner), the chemistry between the two is compelling. One of the most inventive science fiction films of recent years that has implications much closer to home that the typical Alien encounter movie. Denis Villeneuve has created a film that is epic in scope, meditating on the very nature of communication, intimacy and they way we experience love and loss.

Their Finest

Dir. Lone Scherfig With Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy

Gemma Arterton and Bill Nighy in Their Finest – Credit: Lionsgate

This year’s Mayor of London’s Gala, ‘Their Finest’ is a triumph of British cinema, continuing Lone Scherfig’s fascination with British manners finding a new register in this comedic drama.

Gemma Arterton is luminous as Catrin, a young Welsh copy-writer enticed to London by her husband (Jack Huston), a self-obsessed and wayward artist with little interest in her emotional needs or ambitions. She soon lands a job as a script editor with the Ministry of Information, hired to provide a ‘woman’s touch’ to propaganda films being made during the Blitz.

Thrown into the colourful and surprisingly active world of filmmaking in London in the 1940s, her confidence grows and new interests and desires soon ignite. With a slew of top of the board performances, Scherfig has made another intoxicating, yet poignant and socially aware British film that is a delight to watch.

For tickets & further information – www.bfi.org.uk/lff

[tom-i-butler]

Fantastic Beasts set visit: Newt Scamander has a dark secret

The Fantastic Foursome – Credit: Warner Bros

Newt Scamander, the hero of ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them’, has a dark secret, “as some of JK Rowlings’ characters do” says director David Yates in a contender for ‘Understatement of the Year 2016’. But he won’t leave us hanging as he promises we’ll learn more about Newt’s past when the film hits cinemas in November.

It’s been a long, lonely, non-magical 5 years since we last visited JK Rowling’s Wizarding World in ‘Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part II’. Next month fans will embark on another magical adventure, but with no Harry, Ron, Hermione, or even Neville Longbottom to keep us company for this new trilogy of movies, who exactly are we to root for this time around?

Read more Why David Yates returned for Fantastic Beasts Warner Bros refutes Cursed Child movie plans Fantastic Beasts trilogy confirmed

We visited the film’s set in Leavesden in December last year to get the low down on the Wizarding World’s new cast of heroes who include Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne as Newt “dark secret” Scamander, a travelling magizoologist carrying a briefcase full of magical creatures, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), a muggle baker returning from active duty in World War I, Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) a recently demoted witch, and her mind-reading sister Queenie (Alison Sudol).

These four make up the film’s fantastic foursome who must unite to save 1920s pre-Empire State Building New York when Newt’s beasts are accidentally let loose.

They have just a few days to sort out the mess, but with Colin Farrell’s mysterious Percival Graves amongst many other obstacles standing in their way, are they up to the task?

Eddie Redmayne is Newt Scamander: David Attenborough meets Buster Keaton

Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander – Credit: Warner Bros

David Yates, director: Newt’s a real sweetheart. He’s obsessed with magical creatures so he’s quite geeky, very knowledgeable, but not very good with people, so he’s a little detached from society and the real world.

Eddie Redmayne: One of the things I love about Newt is that he’s like a good wizard, but he’s not like an extraordinary wizard.

Newt goes and finds fantastic beasts that are in danger, because they’re a threat to the statute of secrecy [in the Wizarding World] and he looks after them. He’s quite an idealist. He believes that – with the right education programs – fantastic beasts should be able to exist in magical society.

There’s something in the script that J.K. Rowling describes as Keaton-esque in the way that he walks. He’s not someone that’s used to big cities and that was where I sort of started with him.

Alison Sudol: It’s not just about Newt coming into contact with new people; it’s like an entirely different universe for him. He’s been out in the wild for a while so it’s really extra new for him.

David Yates, director: Newt’s absolutely charming and very knowledgeable – he’s like David Attenborough in the wild world, except he deals with these crazy animals that are off the scale of extraordinary.

He’s really absorbed with the beautiful things in nature, the most amazing things in the natural world and so in this movie his journey is really to sort of appreciate what it is to have intimacy with things other than amazing beasts.

Eddie Redmayne and Katherine Waterston as Newt and Tina – Credit: Warner Bros.

Eddie Redmayne: He does have a vulnerability but it’s not like he’s striving for a connection with humans. At the beginning of the film, he’s very happy in himself. He’s seemingly completely content in his skin, but it’s only when he realises that he can have a connection, that he sort of begins to fall for Tina. He connects with Tina and it’s very slow burn but it’s been wonderful to play. They start as antagonists, finding each other deeply frustrating, but by the end there’s a kind of sense of something.

David Yates, director: What’s lovely about Newt is that he’s very funny but very lonely at the same time, so there’s something really compelling about him. I think the audience will feel for him but they’ll also find him very endearing and very funny.

And he has a dark secret – as some of Jo’s [JK Rowling] characters do – which we discover as the movie unfolds.

Eddie Redmayne: The film takes place over 2 days, so it’s a short period, and I love that. But these four people find themselves unexpectedly thrown together and they really are kind of very different people – two sisters and the muggle – which is Jacob – and then myself, and this is not a natural fit at all.

Katherine Waterston is Tina Goldstein: The unusual witch

Katherine Waterston as Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein – Credit: Warner Bros

Katherine Waterston: Tina’s a recently demoted witch. I don’t think I can tell you why she was demoted but obviously, as it would do to just about anyone, her confidence isn’t at an all-time high at the moment, at least not when we first meet her at the beginning of the film.

Colleen Atwood, costume designer: Tina is a very smart kind of person, very nerdy, not thinking about clothes. She’s also at the same time, very modern – she’s the only character other than Seraphina [Picquery, the President of the MACUSA, the American Ministry of Magic] who is ever in trousers as a woman.

She’s definitely not thoughtful about the process – she’s an eccentric person. Her clothes are a little bit messy always and a little bit off kilter, but they’re solid clothes and she pretty much wears the same thing the whole movie.

Katherine Waterston: Tina has a sister who she lives with, Queenie, who is a very different woman. And they’re very close. She’s sharp, she’s her own worst enemy at the beginning of the film when you meet her, because she’s got good instincts, she’s just not trusting them.

Her relationship with Newt? I think if you’re peculiar, it’s nice to meet other peculiar people. Whether it’s romantic or not, it’s lonely when you feel like you’re the only peculiar person out there. I think Newt and Tina are both kinda offbeat and have a lot of qualities that have often been attributed to geeks. I don’t really think of them as geeks, just a little bit unusual.

I’m a weakling so I feel like the role is really physically demanding, but I don’t know if a normal person who has muscles would feel the same way. But I had this wand duel last week and the next day I have what I can only describe as Wand Elbow – it’s like Tennis Elbow, you know? This aching, miserable feeling in my elbow. And I was just completely broken

Dan Fogler is Jacob Kowalski: The soldier-turned-baker muggle

Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski – Credit: Warner Bros

David Yates, director: Newt gets a buddy in this film, played by Dan Fogler, so he has a mate, and there’s a sort of bromance that goes on.

Dan Fogler: My character is a baker. He very much wants to be a baker and have a bakery – it’s in his blood. He’s just fresh back from World War I – he’s like, the last guy back from World War I.

He’s extremely loyal, and he’s the kind of guy you give him an order, he gets it done no matter how ridiculous or crazy it sounds. He comes back home to New York to get a loan to open up a bakery.

He’s got this case full of all of these delicious pastries that he’s made and he bumps into Newt who has a very similar case filled with creatures… a giant zoo of magical creatures.

And they swap, and later on I’m down on my luck and I’m like ‘all I want is just one of my Danish’s’ and I open up the case and release all the creatures out into Manhattan and we spend the rest of the movie trying to track them down.

David Yates, director: Dan Fogler plays Jacob and he’s Newt’s buddy in this movie. He’s the only non-wizard in this story, and he’s a real presence. He’s very funny and he can be very moving at the same time. He’s a real comedian.

Jacob and Newt find themselves in a tight corner – Credit: Warner Bros

Dan Fogler: Jacob’s a very likeable guy and very sociable and he knows the New York streets and he’s definitely on the other side of the spectrum to Newt.

Newt is very cerebral, he’s like the Charles Darwin of magical creatures and I’m just this guy from New York that wants to open a bakery, you know? That’s it, he’s just a really loveable, likeable guy and the two of them kind of balance each other. It’s like a Sherlock and Watson situation.

I go on a full rollercoaster with these guys and yeah, it’s really cool to be led into that world. I equate it being very much like myself entering this insane juggernaut of a franchise.

I get to look behind the veil, you know? The part reminds me of Bottom from Midsummer Night’s Dream. You know he’s just a regular schmoe that gets to play around with all the fairies in the forest.

JK Rowling was like ‘When I saw your tape, I knew this is the guy. I’m really excited to write for you’ and she just seemed like a Weasley character at heart – you know, like the Weasley family.

Alison Sudol is Queenie Goldstein: The mind-reading dreamer

Alison Sudol and David Yates on set – Credit: Warner Bros

Alison Sudol: Queenie is just the most wonderful, playful, empathetic, kind, funny, fun human being ever.

She’s a delight to play, she is horribly bored in her dead-end office job and so when the possibility of an adventure comes up, basically it’s the best thing that’s ever happened. Even when things are scary or difficult or whatever, she is just thrilled by the fact that she’s not doing whatever it is that she does in the office

Queenie is able to read minds. Everybody else is just traditionally more about wand magic, but  Queenie’s magic is just inside her. It’s much more about her understanding of human beings and her ability to tune in that she leans on more than traditional spells, which I think is quite different for this world.

There’s this wonderful simplicity to Queenie’s presence. Not simple in a bad way, more that she’s very pure and very present and very herself.

David Yates, director: The reason I went with Alison for Queenie is that she’s a really pure spirit – she’s very funny, she’s utterly charming.

I saw hundreds of auditions of really experienced actresses and not-so-experienced actresses being that character. It’s a really difficult character to pull off and she does it beautifully. There’s a real purity and innocence.

Queenie and Jacob – Credit: Warner Bros.

Alison Sudol: She doesn’t dress or look like anybody else in the film – she’s just her own thing. She just has a very particular way of putting herself together, and it’s not over the top – she’s not overboard, she’s not being showy.

Coleen Atwood, costume designer: Queenie is like, lighter than air so she’s sort of a kind of bubbly character so her costumes are light. They’re pale colours, they reflect that sort of energy that she has.

Alison Sudol: But she’s incredibly feminine and there’s a real delicacy to the way that she dresses. She just enjoys being a girl, which I find really wonderful because I grew up feeling like you had to choose between being nice and having friends or being smart or being pretty – there was no duality. She’s just like, ‘I’m a girl and I like to be a girl and I can be kind and I can be young and I can also be angry if I need to’. She’s just all of the things that women are and she dresses like that and it’s fabulous.

‘Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them’ is coming to UK cinemas on 18 November. On 13 October, fans will be able to get a sneak preview of footage from the film at a global IMAX fan event. For ticket details click here.

Read more 20 exciting films to watch in Autumn Potter characters who could cameo in Beasts Watch JK Rowlings’ Fantastic Beasts set visit

[tom-i-butler]

Terry Jones makes first public appearance since revealing dementia diagnosis

Monty Python star Terry Jones received a standing ovation at the Bafta Cymru Awards last night where he collected a lifetime achievement award for his outstanding contribution to television and film.

It was Jones’ first public appearance since it was revealed that he’s been diagnosed with a severe form of dementia, and his Python co-star Michael Palin was there to present him the award.

Jones, who collected the Bafta trophy with his son Bill, told the crowd to “quieten down” before his son thanked the audience on his behalf.

Michael Palin (L) and Terry Jones arrive for the 25th British Academy Cymru Awards at St David’s Hall on October 2, 2016 in Cardiff, Wales. Credit: Horwood/Getty Images

“It’s a great honour for Dad,” Bill said. “With the struggles we’re having at the moment it’s been hard, but we’re so proud of him.”

“His force of character and tireless workaholism kept us all up to the mark,” Palin said as he presented the award.

“Terry has been relentlessly prolific, whilst remaining the nicest man, and the most wonderful friend.

“For all the joy and the pleasure and the laughter and the stimulation he’s brought to so many people, I can think of no one more worthy of recognition tonight.”

???? 'It's a great honour for dad… we're so proud of him'

Monty Python legend Terry Jones wins Bafta Cymru Outstanding Contribution award pic.twitter.com/iXc1Y105Fr

— BBC Wales News (@BBCWalesNews) October 2, 2016

The 74-year-old actor, comedian, and director has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia, which affects his ability to communicate.

In a touching Facebook post Palin said the illness of his former writing partner is “painful to watch”, adding that “Terry doesn’t say very much but he smiles, laughs, recognises and responds, and I’m always pleased to see him.”

Read more Michael Palin pays tribute to Terry Jones 10 most controversial movies ever Why Life of Brian was banned in Bournemouth