| Madge closes in on Maj Prince Edward was among members of the royal family who 'jumped at the chance' to help the queen of pop with historical accuracy in her forthcoming film W.E.Madonna has been liaising with members of the royal family in an effort to gauge the tone of her forthcoming film about Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, reports the Sun.Prince Edward, Princess Michael of Kent and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester are among those who have spoken to the singer turned film director, who plans to release W.E. next year. It marks her second directorial effort following the critically panned Filth and Wisdom two years ago, and stars James D'Arcy and Made in Dagenham actress Andrea Riseborough. Madonna has also met with Buckingham Palace staff and leading historians in an effort to maintain historical accuracy, the newspaper says.A source told the Sun: "The entire royal family were contacted and asked if they would like to meet Madonna and production staff – and many took up the opportunity. Some senior figures turned it down. But others, including Princess Michael of Kent, Prince Edward and the Gloucesters, jumped at the chance."In an interview with the director Gus Van Sant in Interview magazine earlier this year, Madonna said her film was not really about Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson's romance. "The Duke and Duchess of Windsor are in the movie, but it's not going to be about them," she said. "It's really about this other woman's journey, and the Duchess is kind of her spiritual guide."The Sun, however, insists the film will be about Edward's decision to give up the throne to marry his true love, who was still wed to her second husband when they met. The newspaper does, however, admit that there is another strand to the narrative which centres on a parallel modern-day romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard.Period and historicalMadonnaPop and rockBen Childguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Peter Mullan's Neds: world exclusive trailer Peter Mullan's first film for eight years is a coming of age tale set in Glasgow in the 1970s. It won top prize at San Sebastian this month and screens at the London film festival next week guardian.co.uk |
City of God: No 6 Fernando Meirelles, 2002This ground-level report on gang life in the slums of Rio de Janeiro exploded with thrilling and terrible force. An electrifying piece of cinema packed full of visual invention and dazzling set-pieces, it owes a debt to Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and audaciously pays it off. Though it unfolds at an exhilarating pace and crackles with danger, the film never allows itself to become seduced by the abundant violence of favela life. Instead, it keeps its lens trained on the attendant horrors, which mount up as the narrative jumps forward in time. What is most horrifying of all is how those caught up in the violence – victims and perpetrators alike – keep getting younger and younger. The film begins in the relative innocence of the late 60s, soon after the City of God (a real-life Rio slum, ironically named) was constructed. Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) is an 11-year-old at the margins of gang life. His older brother's crew are involved in petty crime, holding up trucks carrying propane gas and selling the loot to local residents. Things start getting out of control when Rocket's younger gang target the clients of a sleazy motel and the raid, intended to be bloodless, becomes a killing spree.The film's most chilling image, revealed later on in flashback, is of the tiny Li'l Dice returning to the motel alone and gleefully slaying everyone inside. Flash-forward to the 70s and Dice, now restyled as Li'l ZĂ©, is the most fearsome gang leader in the City of God. And yet even ZĂ©, for all his psychotic tendencies, has a sense of order, and the favela is relatively peaceful once his reign is established. Other criminals are simply executed – or in one unforgettable instance, shot in the foot – if they cause trouble. But the peace is shakily constructed and warfare erupts on a massive scale as the film moves into the early 80s. When ZĂ© meets his end, it's at the hand of a gang populated by nine- and 10-year-olds with designs on his drug-dealing monopoly. It's a profoundly disturbing sequence of events, but the film is still hugely enjoyable thanks to CĂ©sar Charlone's camerawork and the magnificent, sprawling cast of non-professional actors who were recruited from the City of God itself and adjacent slums. Meirelles went on to direct The Constant Gardener and Blindness, but this film, with a co-director credit for Kátia Lund, is still his best by some margin. Look out for the bravura party scene, cut to Carl Douglas's Kung Fu Fighting, which marks the beginning of all-out war.Action and adventureWorld cinemaFernando MeirellesKillian Foxguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
The best horror films: the full list Just the list, no snazzy extras? You've come to the right place1) Psycho2) Rosemary's Baby3) Don't Look Now4) The Wicker Man5) The Shining6) The Exorcist7) Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror8) Let the Right One In9) Vampyr10) Peeping Tom11) The Innocents12) Ring13) The Haunting14) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre15) Dead of Night16) The Cabinet of Dr Caligari17) Halloween18) Bride of Frankenstein19) Les Diaboliques20) Dracula21) Audition22) The Blair Witch Project23) The Evil Dead/Evil Dead II24) Carrie25) Les VampiresHorrorguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Charlie Sheen taken to hospital in New York for psychiatric tests Actor agrees to undergo evaluation after police find him in apparent state of high intoxication in hotel roomCharlie Sheen has been taken to hospital for a psychiatric evaluation after a woman called police to say he was throwing furniture and yelling in his room at The Plaza hotel in New York, a law enforcement official said.Police were called to the room at about 2am today and Sheen appeared highly intoxicated. The actor was not arrested and went voluntarily, the official said. It, is not clear who the woman was in the hotel room with him. Sheen was reportedly in New York on a family vacation.His publicist Stan Rosenfield said the 45-year-old was expected to be released tomorrow. "What we are able to determine is that Charlie had an adverse allergic reaction to some medication and was taken to the hospital," he said.It was the latest in a series of troubles for Sheen, the star of CBS' "Two and a Half Men," who has had problems with alcohol and drugs in the past.In August, he pleaded guilty in Aspen, Colorado, to misdemeanour third-degree assault after a Christmas Day assault on his wife, Brooke Mueller Sheen. Prosecutors dropped more serious charges and he avoided jail and he was sentenced to 30 days in a rehabilitation centre, 30 days of probation and 36 hours of anger management.Mueller Sheen told police that the actor threatened to kill her and brandished a knife after she told him she wanted a divorce. Charlie Sheen said they argued but he denied threatening her, and he told police that he was upset by the divorce threat. Sheen previously went through a bitter divorce and custody battle with actress Denise Richards, the mother of his two children, Sam, 6, and Lola, 5.In December 1996, he was charged with attacking a girlfriend at his Southern California home. He later pleaded no contest and was placed on two years of probation.In 1998, his father, actor Martin Sheen, turned him in for violating his parole after a cocaine overdose. He was ordered to undergo a rehabilitation program.New YorkUnited Statesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |