Hans' Co-stars

[Virgil Reality]

Just found out that Christopher Eccleston (Leo from "I Am Dina") has been cast as the new Doctor Who.

Personally I've only been able to watch Doctor Who when Tom Baker was the Doctor

Any Doctor Who fans out there or am I showing my age here?

[Gg]

We use to get that on PBS, late at night with Bennie Hill, but I have a friend who's husband was big into Dr.Who (and a bunch of other sci-fi brit series) -- when I visited them in Germany they had no local television so it's all they watched. The dedication was amazing!

Will they give Chris a curly black wig??!!

On the subject of co-stars, watched the commentary for "Love Actually". Bill Nighy obviously finds watching himself an excruciating experience. Thought he might talk about "Still Crazy" in comparison, but not a word. He did however fawn all over Keira Knightley every time she was on scene, as did the other three commentators, but Bill was obviously her biggest fan in the group! Universally loved it seems! Good for her! One of them, can't remember which told her he thought "Pirates" would be an obvious failure, and confesses he was not joking. So much for the credibility of insider perception/prediction.

I must say I found Hugh Grant's constant ribbing of Colin Firth pretty entertaining all by itself. My mother told me I had to rent it just to hear that -- she's SUCH a Colin Firth groupy and I am in a position to judge!

I am the kettle she is the pot

[Virgil Reality]

Strangely, you were mentioning all the co-stars who have gone on to bigger and better things and just the other day I was wondering "Whatever happened to Melanie Thierry?"

Well in the way of these things, who should turn up in Charles ll - The Power and the Passion on TV tonight but Melanie herself! Sharing the actual scene with Anna Marie Duff from Doctor Zhivago Still very pretty and I think, though I couldn't watch it all, but I taped it, she'll get to kiss Rufus Sewell. Also had Charlie Creed Miles - a rather tenuous connection

Edited to add:

Would you believe it? Melanie Thierry makes a brief appearance in "Nerone"! She scatters some rose petals on Nero.

[Virgil Reality]

King Arthur is about to hit the cinemas with all the hhopla of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie

Noticed that not only does it STAR Keira Knightley and Iaon Gruffudd but also Mads Mickelson (sp?) fro "I Am Dina"

And check out Gawain - Aussie Joel Edgerton who IMHO wiped both Orlando Bloom and Heath Ledger off the screen in "Ned Kelly"

Needless to say in all the Keira publicity Doctor Zhivago is not mentioned. Is it because it was just television and no-one in the US saw it on PBS, is Keira ashamed of it or doesn't she want the prudish American press to realise that she did nude sex scenes at just over 16?

Your thoughts .... or do I have this catgeory all to myself?

[Elizabeth]

I'm from the states and quite honestly, I had never seen or even heard of Doctor Zhivago until I came accross it at a store that has movies donated to it. I have no clue why it's not being mentioned. It must sound bad that I'm dissing on my own country's press, but you're right. If they did know about her being nude at 16, they'd probably have a ball with it.

[Robin]

Keira did acknowledge Zhivago and her nude scene.

She was on The Jay Leno show promoting the first installment of Pirates of The Caribbean.

Leno applauded her for being given such a prestigous role at such a young age. He asked her about the nude scene. She said she had to appear nude in only one scene, and she claimed she was 17 turning 18.

She lied about her age. The American public were viewing Zhivago for the first time in 2003. Americans did not realise it was first aired in 2002; in the DVD interview with Hans, he tells us she was 16 turning 17 during the production.

[Elizabeth]

Ah, I see. Gotcha.

[Virgil Reality]

As I thought, sounds like an interesting girl

Rebecca Palmer

[Robin]

I know, I read that article this afternoon, and I immediately wanted to see all her films.

The first one I looked for was This Filthy Earth, but of course it's not available.

Then I looked up Intimacy....

I wish British shows were on American TV. I wish we had access to Channel 4. America has the trashiest, shallowest, mindless shows. I think I'm the only American who's never seen a "reality" show.

[Virgil Reality]

What should really scare you you is that we buy and watch your reality shows AND then make our own version!

Rebecca Palmer was also briefly in Quills, the one with two young men listening to Kate Winslet read the stories

[Virgil Reality]

And nearly a year later, the Doctor Who series starring Christopher Eccleston , which opened this thread, finally makes it to my local TV station. ANd now I find he only made one series and pulled out. He's rumoured to have done a great job as Dr Who Anyone see it?

Whether co-incidently or because it was deferred because of the recent demise of Pope John Paul 11 and election of his successor, they also showed a prog called "Second Coming" starring Chris It was er interesting and thought provoking and I'm sure some thought it sacriligious.

I heard also that he's possibly going to play Silas in The movie of the Da Vinci Code.

But I digress.. I started here with the intention of discussing the apparent rise to high profile status of Bill Nighy , presumably since "Love Actually" Hans wathcers will maybe have noticed already that he and Timothy Spall seem either or both to be in just about everything made in UK but lately Bill seems to be just everywhere Anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

Seems to prove that as someone said ( and I think it was Lou Coulson) you need a memorable role in a movie that does well at the box office to really get noticed and get 'on the map' .

[Gg]

It's true, he's everywhere!

But true enough -- both of them are pretty prevalent, although Bill (can I call you Bill - babe?) seems to be stepping up in the credit list.

AMEN -- I think working actors can work consisantly (thoughmany of us are horrific spellers) without high-profile recognition, but as far as "being on the map" -- yeah! And then you perhaps have to fight the parels of type-casting. (I think you're right aboutit being Lou Coulson). But I also think there are character actors with huge resumes, far longer than many of your box office personas (because perhaps their parts are smaller, so the time commitment is less, don't limit themselves to one genre or medium, etc). The question is how do they measure their own personal success?

[Virgil Reality]

I'm somewhat surprised that Barb, webmistress of "Half Light" co-star Henry Ian Cusick's site hasn't popped in to let us know about Henry Ian's role as Desmond in the latest series of "Lost". It's not showing here at the moment but I gather Desmond's getting quite a following and of course it's one of those shows with a large number of fanboards and live journals etc.

That's got to be a good thing when and if "Half Light" gets released - may even help it along? What do you think?

[Virgil Reality]

Bill Nighy is also in Pirates 2... just while I'm mentioning.

Well it just goes to show what " a memorable role in a movie that does well at the box offive" can do for an actor's profile and bankability.

I'd never heard of Bill Nighy till I watched "Still Crazy" and then noticed how many films he and Timothy Spall are actually in. But I'm sure most people 'noticed' Bill after "Love Actually". He's certainly paid his dues - he's been in 60 movies and about 20 notable television appearances according to IMDb. But eighteen of them are since "Love Actually" - and I'm sure the remuneration is better too, even if some of these roles are more or less cameos.

But I really came here to mention another actor whom I'd not have heard of if she were not in "Poldark" - Kelly Reilly.

She doesn't seem to have done a great deal since but now she is caroline Bingley in the Keira Knightley version of "Pride and Prejudice' and yesterday I saw her in "Mrs Henderson Presents" which is also doing well with critics as well as the public. The cinema was booked out last week when we tried to go and was full when we went yesterday. Great show. I took my Mum and she loved it. And Kelly was much better in this than in Pride and Prejudice IMHO.

Expect to see more of her in the future - well in Mrs Henderson Presents you do get to see ALL of her.

[JenoWhatIMean]

Just rented Star Trek Nemesis and noticed a familiar face...Tom Hardy plays the villain in this film...quite convincingly!