TOP 100 ACTOR SITES
| |||
|
| |||
| |||
|
| |||
| Waterman denies weight loss ended marriage Actress Hannah Waterman today insisted her break-up with husband Ricky Groves had nothing to do with her dramatic weight loss. breakingnews.ie |
Hugh Jackman – aka Wolverine – to be the face of Lipton Ice Tea X-Men star signs up with drink firmHugh Jackman, the actor most famous as the testosterone-fuelled Wolverine in X-Men, is to show his softer side in a global advertising campaign for Lipton Ice Tea.Jackman, who also played the rugged stockman Drover opposite Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's Australia, has signed a three-year deal to front a multimillion-pound campaign, the first he has starred in outside his native Australia.The European marketing director for Lipton Ice Tea, Francois Bazini, said that it was Jackman's singing and dancing performance as a host at last year's Academy Awards that convinced the company to sign him up."He has a great personality liked by men and women," said Bazini. "He is very different from many other actors. He is a true entertainer who can dance, sing and act. We will use all of his skills."Lipton Ice Tea, which is owned by PepsiCo and Unilever, used celebrities in its TV advertising during the 1980s and early 1990s, including Tom Selleck, when he was at the height of his fame from Magnum PI, Sylvester Stallone in Rocky-style ads for the US and the tennis star Jimmy Connors. But the brand has not used a "face", according to Bazini, since 2002, when Eric Cantona fronted a campaign across Europe.Two Lipton ads featuring Jackman are now being shot in Brazil, for a worldwide launch in March.They are the work of the agency DDB Paris, and aim to position Lipton as a positive, guilt-free, optimistic drink.Jackman was quoted as saying: "I'm delighted with my new role as the Lipton Ice Tea ambassador, which is a totally new experience for me, so it's very exciting."Lipton Ice Tea is a really positive brand and its values match those that are important in my life, so I can't wait to get started on all our plans."• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".AdvertisingHugh JackmanMark Sweneyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
'Agitated' Boyle makes scene at Heathrow Susan Boyle stunned passengers at London’s Heathrow airport with a string of bizarre actions. breakingnews.ie |
Star wars and stripes: Adidas flies to a galaxy far, far away | Media Monkey Sportswear firm launches range based on George Lucas filmsPop quiz: What do Woolworths, Orange and now Adidas have in common? The answer: they have all had promotional tie-ins with Star Wars. Adidas has flown to a galaxy far, far away and is pushing a new range of Star Wars-themed gear with a snazzy video that draws heavily on the original (and best) films. To keep it down with the kids, the ad features Snoop Dogg, David Beckham and Daft Punk. There are plenty of references to George Lucas's classic films – and Darth Vader himself also appears at one point, to satisfy the true geeks out there. Monkey's verdict, however? All this effort makes the range look a bit try-hard – think Jar Jar Binks rather than Yoda.Marketing & PRStar WarsMonkeyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Chris Morris's Four Lions: a mixed dish that fails to satisfy The Brass Eye creator's feature debut is by turns Ealing comedy, tragedy, thriller, buddy movie and satireHalfway through Four Lions, Chris Morris's dark comedy about a hapless British gang of wannabe suicide bombers plotting death and destruction in London, one of the antiheroes, surveying the aftermath of an unscheduled encounter between a co-conspirator and a flock of sheep, screeches, "Is he a martyr or is he a Jalfrezi?" It's one of the movie's great lines, and as it floated above the heads of a largely American audience unfamiliar with the nomenclature of Indian cuisine, the thought dawned that it asks a pertinent question of the movie itself.Morris's brilliant work on The Day Today, Brass Eye and Blue Jam set the bar vertiginously high and his first foray into movie writing and directing arrives saddled with expectations. The story – which follows a Sheffield-based gang as they train, bicker, strategise, bicker, bicker some more and finally set off to London on their dastardly mission – is by and large engaging, and occasionally very funny. But you get the sense that the demands of cinema, namely a longer run time and the need for a linear, conservative story structure, have coerced Morris into sacrificing his anarchic vision in favour of a curry of not entirely complementary flavours.By turns Ealing comedy, tragedy, thriller, buddy movie and satire, Four Lions isn't well served by the tonal shifts, but is always watchable for the performances of Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Arsher Ali, Nigel Lindsay and Adeel Akhtar as the jihadis. Their internecine warfare brings the biggest laughs, and there is much fun to be had from the trademark Morris doggerel; bilious, surreal convoluted outpourings coated in invective that spill out in Urdu (the gang switches between Urdu and English).However, as a satire on terror, Four Lions seems to be a missed opportunity precisely because of those tonal shifts. Morris, utterly charming on stage after the screening, said he started working on the movie four or five years ago after he read an account of a botched terror attack. He read more widely on the subject, even going so far as to sit in on terror trials, and was amazed by the "staggering" evidence of incompetence on the part of real jihadis. "It was like an Ealing comedy," he said. "I felt there was a missing link and these guys were pretty foolish."It takes serious guts to poke fun at terrorists, sheer idiots or not, especially when their intended target is a place like London, where terror has reared its head so often and did so to devastating effect less than five years ago. So for this, Morris must be applauded as he tries to shed some light on an aspect of terror – the farcical cock-ups – that has slipped through the wall-to-wall media coverage of the past decade. But the switching back and forth from jihadi thriller to farce suggests Four Lions doesn't really know what it wants to be. What emerges most completely though is a buddy movie about confused men who would struggle to organise a barbecue in their own back garden.Sundance film festivalJeremy Kayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |