Hans' Co-stars

[Virgil Reality]

This sounds interesting - Alexandra Maris Lara and Samantha Morton in the same movie

From Screen Daily www.screendaily.com/story.asp?storyid=25066

Sam Riley cast as lead singer in Anton Corbijn’s Control

by Sandy George in Sydney 08 February 2006 14:10

Sam Riley has been cast as lead singer Ian Curtis and Alexandra Maria Lara as his lover Annik on music video director Anton Corbijn’s Control, his fact-based debut feature on UK post-punk band Joy Division.

It is a first big role for newcomer Riley – the troubled Curtis was in his early 20s when he committed suicide in 1980 – whereas Lara played Hitler’s secretary in Downfall and has just finished work on Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth By Youth alongside Bruno Ganz and Tim Roth.

It was already known that Samantha Morton would play Deborah Curtis, who wrote the book on which Matt Greenhalgh’s script is based. Curtis will also get a co-producer credit, as will former Joy Division manager and Factory Records founder Tony Wilson, the subject of the biopic 24 Hour Party People. The producers are Orian Williams and Todd Eckert from Claraflora.
Sales agent Becker has sold Control to Momentum for the UK, Paradiso for Benelux, Dendy for Australia and La Fabrique de Films for France. It aims to do more pre-sales at EFM.

The Control team is still closing finance but hopes to being shooting in mid-2006 in Manchester, Macclesfield and other areas of England.
The film’s title was inspired by the classic Joy Division song She’s Lost Control. New Order, the band that succeeded Joy Division, will be recording new tracks for the film and the soundtrack album will feature a number of re-recorded Joy Division songs.

Corbijn has worked on U2, Depeche Mode, Nirvana and Metallica videos and is also known for his photographs of such musicians as the late Miles Davis, R.E.M., David Bowie and Elvis Costello.

[starkiller]

Ooh that Joy Division film sounds interesting. Though of more interest to me b.c of the Joy Division history.

[JenoWhatIMean]

Check out Kelly MacDonald in No Country For Old Men. Took me half an hour to recognize her...I saw her eyes and mouth and kept thinking Hans Costar? No. It can't be. Yes, it is, but who? It's not Keira, it's not Claire...finally...Oh my God, it's Stella!! I was completely thrown by her long straight hair, Texan accent and being 10 years older. She does a nice, understated job, very convincing...but I have to ask...how does a Scot end up playing an American? Now let's see, I'm a director trying to cast someone in the part of a Texan woman, wouldn't I perhaps start with actors from Texas? And if I couldn't find one of those, well maybe I could find one from the Southwest...OK, no good candidates there...maybe just an American actress...OK, can't find any of those, how about a Scottish woman? Now, I understand a bit more when a big name American gets to play a Brit...they're going for recognizability and Hollywood star power, and if they're really good people will think, wow, so and so did a great job with that accent! But this...I don't quite get...

[Virgil Reality]

Haven't seen the movie (any good?) but is it possible Kelly McDonald was the best / most suited for the role of all the actresses who auditioned / were available for that particular role? It's not as if Kelly is huge box office draw.

I do get where you are coming from. It does seem unlikely that they couldn't have found a local girl, but it is an international market

I have a similar 'problem' when they cast drop-dead-gorgeous women in roles that require someone to be plain or homely or worse and then make a big deal about how they've uglified them with prosthetics and make up. They even get Oscars for it Think Charlise Theron in Monster and Nicole Kidman in The Hours.. Surely that's the opportunity for one of the many legions of plainer 'character' actresses to get a good role. Or is it all about the box office? or is it easier for us to watch an "ugly" person on screen if we can tell ourselves, Its alright, she's really beautiful under the make up. Pity about all the people in real life who can't just wipe off the make up and bam underneath they're beautiful. Oh except for the "everyone is beautiful" line of course

[JenoWhatIMean]

The movie was great...very dark and intense...think Fargo but without the humor and more relentless. Has a lot of amazing desert scenery that reminds me a lot of where we live.
Yes, I suppose instead of being negative and whiny I should be extremely pleased for Kelly that she must have been head and shoulders above all the other actresses for the role, which no doubt she was.

[JenoWhatIMean]

I have to admit though, I was a huge fan of Charlize Theron's performance in Monster... as Roger Ebert put it "more an embodiment than a portrayal" (or something like that) perhaps she truly was the best actress for the role? Touche! I was actually more annoyed that they made her lover cute, young and beautiful by casting Christina Ricci, because when I saw a documentary on this story, Oh my God, her lover that she killed all those people for was truly hideous, (and close to her age, it looked like)...more of a monster than (I've forgotten her real name) the murderer. I guess they felt they had to make it easier for us to comprehend...an ugly woman killing for a beautiful one I guess is romantic tragedy...but an ugly woman killing for another ugly one is just scraping the bottom of the barrel of pathetic white trash stories.

[Gg]

speaking of which....

Keira Knightley AND James McAvoy GG nomination for "Atonement", as well as the film itself-- duh

AND "Pushing Daisies" (comedy/musical series -- with Anna Friel)

PLUS "Tudors" (drama mini)

But as to the discussion at hand

To say the best actor gets the job is a huge simplification -- the best suited MARKETABLE box-office draw gets the CHANCE to be amazing. Whether or not they ARE amazing is where their own greatness lies. My experience is that there are a good number of people who can do a role -- and brilliantly -- but if they bring an audience with them, HUGE asset!

But I think, in terms of Kelly McDonald -- there comes a point where an actor becomes an international presence (not just internationally recognizable to an audience, but inside the industry amongst people looking for up-and-coming, experienced work), not to mention if the director or writer or producer just loves your work and wants to cast you... if you live in LA, or are willing to work there, you can get the job. I don't know that there is often too much concern for finding an actor that is "authentic",... rather, convincing. Why would they go to Texas, when there are a thousand women willing to audition in LA with their accents under their belts... who cares where she's from so long the audience believes she's Texan? Kelly is hardly limited in scope to being considered simply a Scottish actor anymore (Nanny McFee, her (GG, and Emmy) award winning Girl in the Cafe -- will Bill Nighy, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Finding Neverland, Gosford Park, Elizabeth, and guest appearances on a good number of US tv series...). She's somewhere in that sphere with Gerald Butler and Timothy Spall and Colin Firth and Anna Friel and Billy Connollly...etc etc. NOT quite at INTERNATIONAL superstar level of, say, Cate Blanchet, but hardly an obscure brit actor -- not that there's anything wrong with obscure brit actors - I'm actually quite fond of them.

"Journeyman" -- prolific Kevin McKidd -- on film, sings operatically, shoots smack (with Kelly, as a matter of fact), you name it -- Brit (lowlands Scots if I'm right) as the day is long --- not a brogue in sight on Monday nights -- or another NBC darling -- the new "Bionic Woman" -- Michelle Ryan from Middlesex. Charlie Hunnam -- goes form Nicholas Nickleby to a very scary albino Civil War Georgian in "Cold Mountain" -- with Jude Law and Nicole Kidman also dawning the accent. Jude and Nicole, duh, box-office... Charlie -- he just got the job -- and an evil scary job he did. It is, indeed, and international market.

If you pulled all the stats, I think you'd find that there are more Brit professionals working the industry in the US then you'd ever imagine, and in reverse, you'd be amazed how many EDUCATED US actors have either performed or studied in the UK -- easily 60% of the actors I know/haveworkedwith/wenttoschoolwith... because aside from NY, that's where the theater is!!! Not to diss Toronto,...or neglect improv-central Chicago... but you get my point.

[Virgil Reality]

Re Golden Globes; Anna Friel's nom for Pushing Daisies has got to be a plus for Bathory promos.

Also Jonathan Rhys Meyers for Tudors, and Tudor for best TV miniseries will mean plenty of promotion for series two.

Did you notice Andy Serkis also got a nom - for Longford (which also starred Samantha Morton.

Funny how we always seem to be thinking of James McAvoy as a Hans co-star when he actually didn't actually get to (but he is married to two-time co-star Anne Marie Duff) Seems he can't put a foot wrong these days.

All these people seem to have gone on to bigger and better things. Sigh. Well, maybe 2008.......

[Gg]

I also forgot to mention "No Country for Old Men" got a nom

[Gg]

From Entertainment Weekly -- an actual mention!

could've been lovely to have been amongst the featured, but there is more than one co-star in there! I'm not sure if we can assume that is an official announcement about the new Dr Who casting, or not...



Bits and Bobs (Vol. 21): Unsung British actors (Part 2)
Dec 1, 2008, 03:00 PM | by Aubry D’Arminio

Categories: Bits and Bobs

The James McAvoy-Angelina Jolie actioner Wanted hits DVD tomorrow in standard, special, and gift-set editions. I say skip them all and Netflix the bugger. It's a ho-hum film (for James' best, see Shameless) and it's painful to see a Brit thesp as remarkable as Marc Warren (known only in the movie as "the Repairman") go so underused. Pick up any season of Marc’s grifter series Hustle, watch his fab Doctor Who episode "Love & Monsters" (he dances to ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky"), or check out his key role alongside James in the British State of Play, and you’ll know what I mean. (Just don’t get me started on the casting of the big screen SoP remake. Ben Affleck as David Morrissey’s character? Russell Crowe as John Simm’s? Ouch, my ulcers).

Thus, in Marc, David, and John’s honors, it’s time for another list of British (and Irish) Joes you should know (after the jump) — those actors that nab tiny roles in blockbusters or popular TV, but whom Anglophiles adore. And who are hopefully bound to be huge. You know, like Russell Brand was a year ago. That way, when people say things like, “I’m so sick of Russell Tovey, he’s all over the place,” you can be like, “Dude, I pegged him as the next Doctor, last year.” (P.S. My new favorite, The Seagull actress Carey Mulligan, gets her own column next week).


1. Russell Tovey. You may remember him: as Gavin’s friend Budgie on Gavin & Stacey or athlete Rudge in History Boys. Look for him: as John Chivery in Masterpiece Classic’s Little Dorrit (premieres March 29th).
2. Dylan Moran. You may remember him as: the Notting Hill shoplifter or Simon Pegg’s doomed nemesis in Shaun of the Dead. Look for him: on DVD in his own brilliant sitcom, Black Books (he’s the boozing owner of an independent book store) or starring in the upcoming Irish dark comedy, A Film with Me in It.
3. Toby Stephens. You may remember him as: Baddie Gustav Graves in Die Another Day (he’s also Dame Maggie Smith’s son). Look for him: possibly outfoxing Richard Armitage as Prince John in Season 3 of BBC America’s Robin Hood next year.
4. Gemma Arterton. You may remember her as: Quantum of Solace’s Strawberry Fields (who didn’t coo over her five minutes of screen time?). Look for her: opposite Tudors’ star Hans Matheson as the titular heroine in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Masterpiece Classic’s new adaptation premieres January 4th.
5. Anne-Marie Duff. You may remember her as: James McAvoy’s arm candy at every award show last season (they’re married). Look for her: Being absolutely knock-out brilliant on DVD in Shameless and The Virgin Queen, and alongside her husband in next year’s Tolstoy biopic, The Last Station.
6. Tom Hardy. You may remember him as: Failed Picard clone Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis or RocknRolla’s Handsome Bob. Look for him: as Heathcliff in Masterpiece’s Wuthering Heights (premieres January 18th) and Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist (February 15th).
7. Gina Bellman. You may remember her as: Ditsy, lovelorn Jane from BBC America’s Coupling. Look for her: as a sophisticated con woman and Timothy Hutton’s love interest in the new TNT series Leverage (premieres December 7th).
8. Lee Ingleby. You may remember him as: Knight Bus conductor Stan Shunpike in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Look for him: on DVD in George Gently and opposite Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy, and Max Minghella in Beeban Kidron’s upcoming Hippie Hippie Shake.
9. Paterson Joseph. You may remember him as: “NumberWang” contestant Simon on BBC America’s That Mitchell and Webb Look, or from the two-episode Doctor Who reality show farce “Bad Wolf” and “The Parting of Ways.” Look for him: as a rival sleuth when The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency becomes a short series next year.
10. Rupert Penry-Jones. You may remember him as: brother Piers du Pré in Hilary and Jackie, his eight minutes of screen time as “Henry” (yeah, I don’t even remember him) in Match Point. Look for him: on DVD January 20th as spy Adam Carter in MI-5, Vol. 6 (which never made it to TV in the states).
11. Maxine Peake.You may remember her as: dirty-talking, platinum blonde Veronica in Shameless. Have I mentioned that show yet? Look for her: also in Little Dorrit as Miss Wade, and next summer in Marple: They Do It With Mirrors.

So, who's on your list? Whom did I miss? And what other works by these actors would you recommend?

Bits and Bobs Calendar:
Monday: Daniel Radcliffe guests on Bravo’s Inside the Actors Studio at 8 p.m.
Tuesday: Kevin McKidd sits down with ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel at 12:05 p.m. Paul Weller at the BBC debuts on on DVD.
Wednesday: Keane stops by Ellen (check local listings), while Tom Jones visits NBC’s Tonight Show at 11:35 p.m. TCM airs a five-film Vivien Leigh marathon beginning at 8 p.m. Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... premieres on Sundance at 9 p.m. (first guest: Elton John).
Thursday: Rhys Ifans stars in Danny Deckchair on IFC at 2 p.m. If you haven’t done so already, start watching MI-5 season 7 on YouTube here.
Friday: Jamie Bell stars in Dear Wendy on Sundance at 7 p.m.
Saturday: DVR Orlando Bloom in comedy The Calcium Kid at 7:30 a.m. on Sundance.
Sunday: Paul McGuigan’s Gangster No. 1 airs on IFC at 10:30 p.m.

Photo Credit: Marc Warren: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images; Paterson Joseph: Gerard Burkhart/Getty Images; Maxine Peake: R. Stonehouse/Retna
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CommentsAdd Your Comments
Jonas Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 03:41 PM EST


Paterson Joseph will be a brilliant Doctor Who!!!
..and yes, Shameless is fantastic.
(Is it just me or does Sundance Channel have better stuff from the UK then BBC America??,,,just look at the Bits and Bobs Calendar)

Anyway,
Liz White who played Annie Cartwright on the original Life on Mars is a great! She was in The Street and Ultimate Force as well.


Julian Rhind-Tutt best known Inspector Monty Pippin from Keen Eddie on this side of the pond.

Alex Wyndham from Rome Series II and in the Swedish film Arn - The Templar Knight. (I have to be patriotic and recomend this knights in shining armor flick...and it is mostly in English so no need to read subtitles...and it stars some other Brits as well).


Laura M. Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 11:26 AM EST


I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the fact that Paterson Joseph is all but certain to be the next Doctor Who. And I, for one, think it's an exciting choice (even though I am still going to miss David Tennant terribly).

Also, glad you included Toby Stephens on this list, but how could you fail to mention his brilliant, fan-girl cementing turn as Mr. Rochester in the excellent 2006 BBC mini-series of "Jane Eyre"? Sacrilege!


josher Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 11:03 AM EST


I noticed in a British newspaper that there have been several new Poirot films with David Suchet shown on ITV. Do you know if they're scheduled for Masterpiece Mystery?


Verity Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 10:19 AM EST


Thanks for all the great highlights! It looks like we're in for a treat with all the new Masterpiece stuff coming out next year. Also, can't wait for next week's "Carrey Mulligan" column! That girl is going to be huge. I keep hoping we'll see Sally Sparrow again on Doctor Who but I believe CM may be getting too busy for that to ever happen.



Aubrey, can you confirm the whispers I've been hearing about a new BBC adaptation of Emma? If it's true, I'd like to start the petition to get Richard Armitage cast as Mr. Knightley right away!

[jessyjellybean]

about april The Unloved will be broadcast its directed by Samantha Morton and is about growning up in care,sorry it isnt much to go on but its all the suppliment had to say

[jessyjellybean]

although I dont watch I know Richard Armatage is playing on Spooks right now ;)he hasnt been spoken of in the Dr Who magazine,they really are keeping this a deep dark secret Robert Carlyles name keeps cropping up as it has from the begining.The Crimble show was excellent it made me chuckle when they talked of the Cyberking being on the rise :-[do you think they may have been being rude

[jessyjellybean]

Anna Friel has recorded an episode of The Street,but I dont know when its gonna be broadcast

[Virgil Reality]

Don't know if you're still around Liz, but love to know what you think of this!

[url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1126430/EXCLUSIVE-Keira-Knightley-signs-play-reclusive-actress-London-Boulevard-film.html}Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley to co-star[/url]

Meanwhile, I seem to be catching Jude Law everywhere these days. "Closer" and "My Blueberry Nights" - Really liked his character in MBN and slightly scruffy Jude was pleasant enough.

Has anyone seen a movie called "Breaking and Entering"? I believe it didn't do so well at the box office but I really liked it - I imagine it must have been quite challenging for him to film as it seemed a bit 'close to home'. I believe that's literally as well as he lives in the area when the film is set and was filmed.

Actually it's also where I stayed last time I was in London so that was cool.

And, believe it or not, they used the same exterior of a house along the canal as in Half Light!

[jessyjellybean]

Ruth Jones is taking a big part in this years Comic Relife charity bash,she Rob Bryden and Tom Jones are doing the song,it a cover of Islands In the Stream ;D