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Happy Birthday John

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John Marwood Cleese (IPA:/?kli?z/; born 27 October 1939) is an English
actor, comedian, writer, filmproducer, and singer who is probably best known as being a prominent member of Monty Python, a group of comedians responsible for the legendary sketch show Monty Python’s Flying Circus and for three memorable motion pictures; Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life
of Brian and The  Meaning of Life. Outside of Python, he also co-created, wrote and starred in the renowned sitcom Fawlty Towers and has also starred in multiple films, most notably A Fish Called Wanda and the first two Harry
Potter movies as well as playing Q in a couple of James Bond movies.

Mamma Mia! It’s Monica’s birthday and Eric Stoltz.
Happy Birthdays guys!

Paul Newman: ‘A pretty boy actor, but a hell of a good one’, says film critic Barry Norman .

Lee Strasberg, who trained him at the Actors Studio, once said that he could have been as great an actor as Marlon Brando if he had not ‘relied too heavily on his looks and coasted through roles’.

But Strasberg was wrong. Newman might not have been as good as Brando (who is?) but as he said himself: ‘I may have looked
like Little Red Riding Hood but I was always a character actor.’

And so he was. In his day he was an even bigger sex symbol than Cruise, Pitt, Depp or any of the present lot, but in his best films - such as The Hustler, Hud and Cool Hand Luke - there is one
hell of a good character actor at work.

He’s probably mostly remembered as Butch Cassidy and the lovable conman in The Sting, but a lot of his best performances were in far more complex roles - a cynical chancer in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, a rapist in The Outrage, a bandit turned lawman in The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean and, his last significant role, the gangster boss in Road To Perdition.

His peers, his fellow actors, recognised his gifts and nominated him ten times for Oscars but he won only once, for The Color Of Money, an award which he maybe didn’t deserve.

I believe the Oscar voters gave this one to Newman out of a sense of guilt, a belated recognition that they had overlooked him far too often and that, since he was already 61, they might not get another chance. Well, at least he won the Oscar, not that he would have bothered too much if he hadn’t. He didn’t even turn up that night when, finally, they gave him the award. Newman never took himself too seriously. In later life he even urged people to catch reruns of himself in one of his earliest movies, The Silver Chalice, in which, as a beskirted Greek slave, he gave a performance that he cheerfully acknowledged to be quite appalling.

But by then he must have known how good he really was, that he had the ability granted to very few movie stars to become completely the character he was playing while retaining the attractive, charismatic persona of Paul Newman. I met him many years ago when he was a young actor. I remember he was utterly charming but his eyes were slightly less blue than they appeared on screen.

I once asked Joanne Woodward, his wife of 50 years, how he retained his enviable looks. She said he would plunge his face into cold water
several times every morning because it kept the skin taut - and added: ‘Anyway, he’s never had an ugly day in his life.’

Couldn’t resist this, not with a tagline like that. It reminded me so much of my camping holiday recently:

Tag: “They came for a holiday…now they’re running for their lives…” (Love it!)

Plot: When a suburban couple go camping for the weekend at a remote beach, they discover that nature isn’t in an accommodating mood.

This amazing film is available from SynapseFilms with loads of extra features. It is currently available from any reputable DVD seller or online e-tailer!

Sounds like my sort of deal! I’ll pop right over!!

 You want the trivia? Here it is:

• Director Colin Eggleston cameos as the voice of Marcia’s lover on the phone.
• Actor George Mallaby was originally wanted for the role of Peter, but executive producer Richard Brennen pushed to have John Hargreaves cast in the role having worked with him previously on The Removalists (1975).
• Even though star Briony Behets was married to director Eggleston at the time, she wasn’t his first choice to play the role of Marcia. She only got the role later after another actress fell through.

• The decision to have rainy weather in the early driving scenes was an effort to hide the fact that the interior scenes in Peter’s jeep were filmed inside a darkened garage. During the shooting grips would run past carrying flashlights to make it appear like they were lights from passing cars.
• Shot in four and a half weeks.
• Mike McEwen was cast as the truck driver (who appears at the gas station, then plays an important role in the finale) because he bore a resemblance to star John Hargreaves.
• Cinematographer Vincent Monton said that the weather conditions while shooting the film were eerily co-operative. He said when the script would call for a scene with sunny skies the weather would be beautiful, but as the intensity and strangeness of the script grew the weather conditions would change to match the moody atmosphere of the scenes being filmed. Throughout the shoot the weather always seemed to change to suit the scene that was being made!
• The mysterious shadow near Peter in the ocean was actually made by a crude structure of trash bags that was being pushed along through the water by Richard Brennen, who was submerged just beneath it.
• Despite winning numerous awards and being a success overseas, the film was a flop both critically and commercially in its home country of Australia.
• The possum that bites Peter had to be heavily tranquilized just so it would move slow enough to be seen attacking on film.
• The tree that the harpoon gets impaled into, then later dies and decays throughout the climax, wasn’t actually part of the forest at the filming location. It was cut and transported to the location for the shoot so that it could gradually be destroyed during the film.
• The last 20 minutes of the film has practically no dialog at all.
• When the film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, producer Richard Brennen noticed a man get up and leave the screening after only 10 minutes of the film. He followed the man out to ask him why he was leaving. It turned out the gentleman was a film distributor for South America and was going to buy the rights to the film after seeing only minutes of it. In total four foreign distributors bought rights to release the picture during the screening.

Photo: John McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harry Sloan.

John McCain told a crowd of some 300 supporters at the home of MGM chief Harry Sloan that if he is the Republican nominee, California will be in play.

The event, held as the Democrats were debating at Hollywood & Highland on Thursday, was McCain’s first major Hollywood fund-raiser since his phoenix-like rise to GOP front-runner.

According to sources who were there, McCain vowed to campaign in the state — unlike the past four election cycles, when the GOP has largely ceded California in the general election to the Democratic nominee.

It may not be rhetoric, as McCain’s maverick status and his stances on global warming and immigration could help him draw independent voters.

There’s also the enthusiastic backing of Arnold Schwarzenegger,who also was at Sloan’s home and also addressed McCain supporters. Back in 2004, Schwarzenegger campaigned for President Bush — but in Ohio, not the Golden State. Even if McCain doesn’t win the state, he could force the Democratic nominee to spend precious time here, robbing them of what has been a solid firewall in general election contests.

Sloan’s event drew a crowd that included politicos likeJack Kemp and industry types like Tim Allen, Jerry Bruckheimer and Bruce Ramer. Also there were Kelsey Grammer and Jon Voight, big backers of Rudy Giuliani.

Sloan introduced McCain and noted that “Now that he is risen from the ashes, the only thing left for him to perform is for him to walk on water.” It was a fitting comment, as the Arizona senator spoke atop a piece of see-through plexiglass that covered a jacuzzi.

I know I’m concentrating on the photography right now but that doesn’t
mean I’m neglecting the rather amazing fact that I also have a film career.

Yes, hard to believe isn’t it but alas true as I’m laying here typing this up. As well as being an extra on a couple of
Hollywood blockbusters being filmed in London (one with Ridley Scott directing
and starring Russell Crowe) I’m still negotiating on TV series I wrote
and the gangster Brit flick I penned some time ago which I keep rewriting because I’m an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist.

Looks like another draft of the latter is due soon anyway so I’ll have to keep you posted on that one.

Always good to hear from other filmmakers about any new developments concerning
HDV and the like as I am a fan of all that good stuff and I’m a member of raindance (so is Chris Nolan)so if any of you are maybe I’ll see you there sometime.

I am with 3 agencies as an actor and extra and have a manager and lawyer for my
writing and directing and have a producer; but new ones are always welcome.
Defo!

CANNES, France (Reuters)
- Indiana Jones returns 19 years after his last adventure, and early reaction
suggests the majority of Cannes film festival’s notoriously picky critics
are happy the whip-wielding archaeologist is back. Harrison Ford reprises
his most famous role in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull”, a high-octane fantasy set in the 1950s when Jones no longer faces
Nazis but a KGB agent after the ultimate Cold War weapon — mind control.

Full Story here.

13.5.08

Eastwood’s latest directorial outing is a 1920s thriller, called “Challenging,” and it stars Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich and Amy Ryan.

Quentin Tarantino will attend the festival, where he will give a film directing masterclass.

No British films have been announced as part of the Cannes Festival’s line-up which is no surprise.

Read on

Kelly’s single

Thankfully Kelly Brook has finally come to her senses and dumped that awful American wanker Billy Zane.

Keen-eyed fans spotted Kelly arriving at this weekend’s TV Baftas without her engagement ring, sparking rumours of a rift between
her and Willy.

Read on

Jack at the 2008 Oscars.

Read full article here.

Starring Samuel L. Jackson

Budget: $22,000,000

Directed by Neil LaBute

Lakeview Terrace hits theaters on September 19th.