TOP 100 ACTOR SITES
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| Winstone, Hurt and Berkoff – is that all you've got? 44 Inch Chest stars Deadwood's Ian McShane alongside a who's-who of British beefcake, but who would make John Patterson's dream team of UK movie hard men?I have to admit I like the look of 44 Inch Chest, and particularly its wall-to-wall cast of British hard men: Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Steven Berkoff and John Hurt.John Hurt, you say, a British tough guy? Well, it's all about stunt-casting here; almost every major piece of casting works because somewhere in each actor's back catalogue is at least one meaty outing as a nasty piece of work brandishing a gun. For Hurt it was Stephen Frears's mid-80s Spanish revenger's road-movie The Hit.Ian McShane is actually a two-stage piece of stunt casting. When he was cast as the ambi-sexual crime lord in Sexy Beast, the film-makers were referencing his role as Richard Burton's gangland catamite in Villain (1971), and leapfrogging right over the embarrassing decade when McShane, in his supernaff puffed-out perm, played sleuthing antique dealer Lovejoy. And look at him now, with Deadwood's vituperative Al Swearingen under his belt: magnificent with his now-straightened shiny Black-Irish mane, face like a bag of hammers, mean as a snake, just perfect.Then there's Steven Berkoff, who's ridden his patented brand of extreme shoutiness and physical intimidation for many a crooked mile, including The Krays and Prisoner Of Rio, in which he played a variant of Ronnie Biggs.All of which got me to thinking: which British movie hard men would offer the dream cast – if you could somehow cram figures from all ages into the same movie?First on my list would have to be Stanley Baker, that transformative figure in British movie masculinity, the first star to show that in staid old 1950s Britain you could be a scoundrel, a bastard, and regional and working class onscreen – and still become a huge movie star. Michael Caine – who owed his big break to Baker – would have to join him, if only for his imperishable Jack Carter, the yardstick for British gangster movies then and now, as would Bob Hoskins in non-cuddly mode.I could add Richard Harris and Albert Finney, more for potential thuggishness than for actual gangsters played (though Finney is wonderfully menacing in Miller's Crossing). Then Malcolm McDowell for Gangster No 1 and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (not the young Malcolm, though – too pretty). And then I'd reach into the lower depths for faces like John Bindon (a real ex-criminal), from Get Carter, Poor Cow and Performance, and a personal favourite, John Blundell from Scum (best line: "There's no Dolly Mixtures in 'ere, pooftah!"), who still looks pretty tasty. And since London gangsters used to farm out their thug work to Glaswegian hardmen, I'd happily add David Hayman, who played real-life gangster Jimmy Boyle in A Sense Of Freedom, and Maurice Roëves, with his iron face and splenetic delivery.Can't you just imagine them all screaming at you in unison, "Stitch that, arse'ole!"CrimeJohn HurtSteven BerkoffHBOJohn Pattersonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
'The Beatles' on board Yellow Submarine remake Director Robert Zemeckis has chosen Cary Elwes, Peter Serafinowicz, Adam Campbell and, er, Kev from Shameless to play the Fab Four in a new version of the 1968 filmThe cast of the Yellow Submarine film has been chosen, and there's not a Harrison, Lennon, McCartney or Starr among them. When director Robert Zemeckis's remake of the Beatles classic arrives in cinemas, it's Cary Elwes, Peter Serafinowicz, Adam Campbell and, er, Kev from Shameless who will be masquerading as mop-tops.Though Zemeckis reportedly invited the Beatles' surviving members to appear in the film, neither Paul nor Ringo now seem to be involved. Instead, Reuters reports, the four actors are in final negotiations to play the Fab Four. Zemeckis, best known for Back to the Future and Forrest Gump, will be replacing the 1968 film's hand-drawn animation with CGI and motion-capture techniques – the same technology he used on recent films like Beowulf and A Christmas Carol.The bona fide Beatles weren't much involved in the original movie either, which hired actors to voice the musicians' psychedelic voyage to Pepperland. Zemeckis will reportedly follow a similar storyline, borrowing 16 original Beatles songs – to be mimed by yet another gang of impostors, a tribute act called the Fab Four. However, most of the heavy lifting will be done by Shameless and Robin Hood star Dean Lennox Kelly, playing John, The Princess Bride's Elwes, playing George, TV regular Peter Serafinowicz, playing Paul, and Adam Campbell, who recently appeared in Epic Movie, playing Ringo.As the Chief Blue Meanie does not yet appear to be cast, we would like to propose the esteemed Eddie Izzard. You can thank us later.The BeatlesPop and rockSean Michaelsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Golden Globes host Gervais ready to play favorites LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Golden Globe Awards host Ricky Gervais has firm ideas about who should win Sunday and who should have been nominated in the first place - for instance, him.... hosted.ap.org |
Charlie Sheen's wife in intensive care BROOKE Mueller may have suffered pneumonia due to complications from oral surgery. news.com.au |
BFI and UK Film Council plan merger Proposals for the merger of the BFI and the UK Film Council have been drawn up, at least in outline; still to come is the inevitable horse-trading between the two bodies. Is the new outfit to become a cultural organisation with a film-enterprise arm, or a film-enterprise organisation with a cultural arm? The merger will provide a good opportunity for the Film Council to take a look at its salary bill. In the financial year ending March 2009, eight senior staff were paid more than £100,000, four of those more than £150,000 – that even manages to make Arts Council England look modest. Such salaries do nothing for a quango's credibility.Film industryCharlotte Higginsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |