Stephen Dillane

I thought I would open up this topic with a great pic of SD as Hamlet that I found on the web.

There's an interview with Jemma Redgrave in Saturday's Times, about her cultural life (various categories). Under City, it has the following: I am torn between New York, Paris and Rome for my favourite city, but if you held a gun to my head, I'd plump for Rome. I love the way the Romans live on and around their monuments. And I love the steaminess of it all: sexiness just seems to hang in the air there. Maybe it's because Italians generally live at home until they are into their thirties, so they are forced to do their courting outdoors. I discovered Rome without a map and it was an amazing experience. I spent three weeks there in 1993 filming an Italian television drama and on my days off I would wander around aimlessly with my co-star, Stephen Dillane. My mother went to school in Rome and so I'd heard all about it, but nothing prepares you for the intense beauty of it all. You walk into a square and suddenly, there's the Pantheon. You hear the rush of water and look, there's the Trevi Fountain. That said, I haven't been to Venice yet and I suspect all those gondolas might make me change my mind. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,342-101996,00.html

(Jemma Redgrave) on my days off I would wander around aimlessly with my co-star, Stephen Dillane Note to self: must change occupation. (She must have been talking about the movie La Chance, which of course, we will never get to see.)

What happened to that movie?

(Karen) What happened to that movie? Dunno. Must have been shown on TV in 1994 and then quickly disappeared. It's an Italian backed film listed in IMDB.

From Ananova today: ] New Alan Partridge series will be the last, says Coogan Steve Coogan says the next Alan Partridge series will be the last, because he finds the character so annoying. He says thinking like the failed chat-show host for the nine months it takes to write a series is hard to bear. Coogan is currently at the Cannes Film Festival promoting his forthcoming film, The Parole Officer.

(Karen) Steve Coogan says the next Alan Partridge series will be the last, because he finds the character so annoying. He says thinking like the failed chat-show host for the nine months it takes to write a series is hard to bear. Hee hee. How refreshingly honest. That guy is annoying. Coogan is currently at the Cannes Film Festival promoting his forthcoming film, The Parole Officer. Speaking of Cannes, here's an interesting tidbit from Variety, 1997: Would there be a Cannes Film Festival without the British theater? Of course, but greatly diminished, particularly in a year in which a May 10 fashion parade of theater-trained British talent (Rufus Sewell, Emily Watson, Jude Law, etc.) atop the Palais du Festival managed, however momentarily, to steal attention away from the Spice Girls. Consider the evidence: In "Welcome to Sarajevo," Stephen Dillane tackles the main role of English journalist Michael Henderson with a restrained, matter-of-fact authority that embodies the precisely judged, understated cool of Michael Winterbottom's ultimately searing film. "Who is this guy?" people were heard to ask after a screening. The answer would be known to any British theater devotee. From the original Royal National Theater cast of Brian Friel's "Dancing at Lughnasa," where he twirled Brid Brennan's withdrawn Agnes around the garden in a jaunty version of "Anything Goes," through to his self-mocking, cynical Hamlet for Peter Hall on the West End, Dillane has been a theatrical mainstay for much of the last decade. As recently as the week before Cannes, Dillane was playing Artie opposite Rupert Graves (another in the so-called "New Wave" parade of English talent May 10) in the Old Vic production of David Rabe's "Hurlyburly." In "Welcome to Sarajevo," he inherited a part once intended for Jeremy Irons. *********************************************** So Irons opted out of Welcome to Sarajevo and SLOW. *snort* He was too busy filming Lolita.

From Ananova: Joanna Lumley 'overwhelmed' by work making debut as producer Joanna Lumley says she was overwhelmed by the work involved in producing a new BBC1 period drama. The actress co-produced the six-hour saga The Cazalets. She is best known for her roles in Absolutely Fabulous and The New Avengers. Joanna says: "Acting is a doddle, a holiday compared to producing. I've never known so many things to have to be carried around in the head. "We had 65 actors and it was like a phenomenal 3-D game of chess." The �3 million drama was shot at Home Place in Surrey and Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire. Joanna says she tried to buy the rights for the Elizabeth Jane Howard novels but discovered veteran programme-maker Verity Lambert, who has worked on Minder, Dr Who and The Naked Civil Servant, had bought them already. "The same day I inquired about the TV rights, I discovered a message on my answer machine from Verity asking if I'd like to join her in making it," she says.

More on an SD project: Billy Elliot director to make new film in Leicestershire Stephen Daldry's new film will be partly shot on location in Leicestershire. The Hours will star Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore and is based around the life of Virginia Woolf. According to the Leicester Mercury the Great Central Railway in Loughbrough will be used for some of the main scenes in the film. It says Kidman and Daldry have visited the Railway to look it over before filming begins. The film's producers will hold an open casting session for 100 extras for the shots at the station. Graham Oliver, chief executive of the railway, says it will boost the local economy: "We are pleased producers have chosen the railway as the set. This is the only working mainline steam railway in the country and we offer authentic rolling stock and facilities available nowhere else." The Hours is the story of three women from different eras who are affected by the works of Virginia Woolf, who is played Nicole Kidman.

The film's producers will hold an open casting session for 100 extras for the shots at the station. Ahem, will a certain Burburry-suited gentleman please get thee to the station and give us a blow-by-blow? And it will help if you're dressed in the appropriate period attire. :-) Nicole is scheduled to be on The View this Friday. Hope the gals get a chance to talk about more than just Moulin Rouge and Tommy.

Ahem, will a certain Burburry-suited gentleman please get thee to the station and give us a blow-by-blow? And it will help if you're dressed in the appropriate period attire. :-) Hey, c'mon. When it's 10 minutes from my office, let me know - 150 miles is more than I can manage.

What's 150 miles of good road? ;-D

Also from Baz's column in last Friday's paper in an item about Nicole Kidman: The actress is appearing in a fictionalised chapter of Virginia Woolf's life in Stephen Daldry's film The Hours. Nicole has what she terms a supporting role, although it's her story that binds the film's three distinct sections - the others feature Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore - together. ...she has been busy shooting scenes with Stephen Dillane, who plays Leonard Woolf, Miranda Richardson as Vanessa Bell, and Linda Bassett as the Woolf's housekeeper. This particular part of the film is set in 1923, when Woolf was writing her novella Mrs Dalloway.... Filming on The Hours will continue for a further two weeks. Producers Robert Fox and Scott Rudin (the same men behind the movie Iris, starring Judi Dench and Kate Winslet) hope to release the picture in America at the end of the year, where it's bound to be an important Academy Award contender....

"...the movie Iris, starring Judi Dench and Kate Winslet" Judi Dench must be in every single Brit movie shooting this year.. Enough already....

Whaddaya you care? It's not as though she's taking roles from JE. ;-) Also, there's a pic of Nicole in Virginia Woolf mode in this week's Time, which just arrived. (Psst, it's in the mail too.)

Whaddaya you care? It's not as though she's taking roles from JE. ;-) What can I say? I'm involved with the family... ...there's Rosemary, y'know.

The Cazalets -- BBC1, Friday 22 June, 21:00 to 22:00 Drama series focusing on a family which is transformed by the tumultuous events of World War II. As the storm clouds of war gather over Europe in 1938, the Cazalet brothers and their families retreat to their parents' country home. Hugh remains scarred by the events of World War I, Edward (Stephen Dillane) is risking his marriage with a series of clandestine affairs, and Rupert's wife is growing impatient with his artistic lifestyle.

Great! I wonder when it will start playing in the US. Next fall? Next spring? Just saw this, an Indiewire report on the Newport Intl Film Fest: The 4th edition of the Newport International Film Festival came to a close Sunday night in Rhode Island. A handful of awards were doled out during the fest, with Harata Marada's Berlin 2001 entry, "Inugami," having its U.S. premiere at the festival, winning for Best Feature and French documentary "Avant de Partir" by Paul De Laubier, nabbing the prize for Best Doc. Other big winners included Michael Kalesniko's "How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog," which won the Audience Award and a youth jury prize in the narrative competition, and Gillian Grisman's Jerry Garcia/David Grisman portrait "Grateful Dawg," which world premiered at the fest, taking home the Audience Award for documentary. Special Jury Prizes went to Lukas Moodysson's "Together" and Matthew Testa's documentary "The Buffalo War," and a Best Director award went to partners Billie Eltringham and Simon Beaufoy for their work on the UK feature "The Darkest Light."

This description of The Cazalets from Radio Times: "It is 1938, and the storm clouds of war are gathering over Europe. But the prospect of conflict seems very far away for the Cazalet dynasty as they gather for a country-house weekend. The family is cocooned by snobbery, complacency and privilege in an Elysian England where the sun always seems to shine. Of course, things are not what they seem in the first episode of this major six-part series based on Elizabeth Jane Howard's novels. Behind the facade, the Cazalets are driven by deceit and prejudice. The whole sweep of human life is here. As you would expect from such an obviously expensive undertaking, The Cazalets look fabulous, so if your mind does start to wander, you can always look at the scenery and the clothes before getting back to the workings of this singular and quixotic family." Speaking of prejudice, Miss Bingley is in it. Since she's not listed as a Cazalet, I'm thinking she might be one of Edward's mistresses.

From the June 16 Independent: A new wartime saga from the BBC looks familiar by Gerard Gilbert It seems to be the year that television has reconnected with the family saga. The Nancy Mitford adaptation, Love in a Cold Climate; the 13-part (an almost unheard of luxury for non-genre drama) In a Land of Plenty; Stephen Poliakoff's Perfect Strangers - each has taken the family both as its subject and as a way of exploring the times. Families have always been at the heart of soaps, of course - but in the competitive world of soap operas, the ceaseless search for novelty has largely obliterated the slower moving sagas of kith and kin. Families are fodder for the next plot twist. Phil Mitchell used to have Grant Mitchell down the barrel of a gun one week and be sharing a drink with his brother the next, as if nothing had happened. Soap families are largely without memory, even in the shortest term. However the role of memory in the family was the subtext of both In a Land of Plenty and Poliakoff's Perfect Strangers. The Cazalets, BBC1's big, new, Joanna Lumley-produced costume drama, is an altogether more straightforward affair. Faithfully adapted from Elizabeth Jane Howard's quartet of books, The Cazalet Chronicles, it's both a semi-autobiographical recherche du temps perdu by Howard (one-time wife of Kingsley Amis), and a look at how English life - in particular English upper-middle-class life - changed through the Second World War years. The story journeys from 1937 to 1947, during which period the Cazalet family are big in the timber business. Eldest brother Hugh (Hugh Bonneville) is scarred by his experiences in the First World War, middle son Edward (Stephen Dillane) is a philandering cad, and the youngest, Rupert (Paul Rhys) is an artist-cum-socialist, resisting his father's efforts to bring him into the family firm. Lesbianism, dead cats, sadistic German housemaids, the cruelty of children and lines such as "a bit of shrapnel's better than half a brain" also feature in this week's introductory episode, but the tumultuous times and country house milieu are hardly the most original fictional material. The Camomile Lawn, Channel 4's adaptation of Mary Wesley's similar wartime saga, is the series with the most obvious parallels - especially the surprisingly frank sex scenes that litter the opening episode. The male characters are almost defined by the way they bed their women. But there are elements also of Howards End (the casual anti-semitism of the pre-war years), Love in a Cold Climate (the dotty, autocratic father), and of the endless other evocations of this much-mined era. The telly-literate will also clock the early use of Ray Nobel's 1934 ditty "The Very Thought of You" - the recurring incidental music from Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective. That's quite a bold, or foolhardy, comparison to invite at the very s art of a new television series. 'The Cazalets' starts on Friday at 9pm on BBC1. ~~~~~~~~ Hmmmmm, wouldn't you think the cad would feature in those scenes that litter the first episode? ;-)

Looks like The Cazalets is on PBS' fall schedule. From Masterpiece Theatre's newsletter: COMING THIS FALL Summer officially begins this week, but before you head off on holiday, take a minute to read ahead for details of our coming season. Highlights include Trevor Nunn's 20th-century take on The Merchant of Venice [with Henry Goodman!]; the next installment of the American Collection, Eudora Welty's The Ponder Heart (starring Peter MacNicol of Ally McBeal fame); and a sweeping look at pre-World War II Britain in Elizabeth Jane Howard's The Cazalets. The Cazalets In the idyllic summer of 1937, the Cazalet family unites as always at Home Place, their large ancestral home in Sussex. When war breaks out, the annual summer holiday becomes a permanent evacuation. The Cazalets follows the family's fortunes before, during, and after World War II. Douglas Livingstone has faithfully adapted the story from the books of Elizabeth Jane Howard, who spent seven years writing the series after the collapse of her 15-year marriage to author Kingsley Amis. Starring Hugh Bonneville (Take A Girl Like You), Stephen Dillane (Anna Karenina), Ursula Howells (A Rather English Marriage), and Lesley Manville (David Copperfield).

Cazalet *** SPOILER *** below: (description from Radio Times) The notable rotter in this hardly prepossessing bunch is Edward (a vulpine Stephen Dillane), an ostensibly happily married family man whose frequent "business lunches" have nothing to do with business or lunch, though there is always a very particular set menu. Viewers' immediate dislike of Edward will turn to outright revulsion during a disturbing scene towards the end of the episode when he returns home with his nubile daughter Louise after they have both celebrated her birthday with dinner at the Cafe Royal. The young woman is thrown into appalled shock and confusion by his subsequent actions. Quite apart from being a debauched, louche snob, Edward is also an anti-Semitic, racist, anti-intellectual who dismisses George Bernard Shaw as "an Irish, vegetarian, teetotal Commie. Not my idea of fun." And we are all familiar by now with Edward's idea of fun.

Uh oh. I bet we don't see those scenes on Masterpiece Theatre.

Is SD a "method actor"? If so, wonder what experiences he's digging up for this role;-)

The Cazalets, BBC1 Independent on Sunday - United Kingdom; Jun 24, 2001 BY THOMAS SUTCLIFFE Pre-war platform rendezvous- complete with slam-door carriages and clouds of steam. Source: The Cazalets. An unusual instance of this mass-produced television trope, in that the "Sid" who eventually appears, after an agony of apprehension on the part of the waiting Rachel, turns out to be a woman. The Cazalets may yet turn out to deliver other minor surprises - since the conventional disclaimer in the credits about no resemblance to persons living or dead (poignantly redundant in the case of so much costume drama) is preceded by a concession that the narrative "was loosely inspired by the author's own family". On one level this adaptation of two of Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet novels is the kind of sumptuous dramatic antique we've seen many times before on British television, full of dinner-jacketed chaps who smoke their cigarettes underhand and dash orf to the country for weekend hice parties. The air is alive with the cries of peacocks, the crunch of gravel, and the indefinable vintage rustle given off by a newspaper which bears the headline "Hitler and Mussolini form Alliance". I say, old man, isn't that the sound of a storm cloud gathering over Europe? On the other hand there's no cheap veneer in its construction. The thing is solid mahogany and built to last - from the quality of the acting to the visual polish with which it is filmed. There are also enough sharp edges to ensure that you can't just take its presence for granted. Stephen Dillane, for instance, plays the family beast - casually anti-Semitic and assiduously unfaithful - but also, it seems, trembling on the brink of an incestuous assault on his daughter. Rachel, meanwhile, looks bound to end up consummating her vaporously platonic passion for Sid. All this and eiderdowns, too. I confess I began watching with a determined detachment and a slight curl to the lip but more than once since I've caught myself wondering what happens next. Damn!

A review of the Spy Game's script. No mention of SD's role, but it is very positive.

This from Saturday's The Times, describing the 4th episode to be aired July 13th. The Cazalets continues to be the treat of the week. By now, we have had time to get used to the minute attention to detail. The language, too, has become more familiar, so that exclamations such as "It�s really too tiresome. You can�t even have a little fun without those beastly Germans trying to spoil it" seem to have developed a naturalistic ring. One also knows by now that death, disease and sex are part of the package. But it is the sudden flashes of inspired acting that catch you unawares. Watch out tonight, for example, as Edward Cazalet (Stephen Dillane) reacts to his wife�s indignation down the telephone.

From a very interesting article about British TV and Film in The Guardian: The bigger example is The Parole Officer, a film to be released on August 10, starring Steve Coogan, one of the most easily identifiable TV brands of recent years: a comedy character actor known through his incarnation of existentially troubled broadcaster Alan Partridge and, among others, lowlifes Paul and Pauline Calf. The Parole Officer is a comedy with an original screenplay by Coogan and gives him his first starring role in a feature film. The premise: honest but inept probation officer witnesses a serious crime and is framed for murder. The only way to clear his name is to break into a bank vault where the crucial piece of evidence is stored. Will it be a success? Of course it will, not least because there is some heavyweight talent behind Coogan. Co-writer is Henry Normal who helped Caroline Aherne script the Royle Family; it's directed by industry regular John Duigan (Lawn Dogs, Sirens) and produced by two of the most canny British film producers, Duncan Kenworthy and Andrew Macdonald. But, more than anything else, the film's commercial success is underwritten by the strength of Coogan the brand. Like many British films, the brand was established on TV and its transfer to cinema is a safe bet. Will the film be any good? It hardly matters. http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,520492,00.html

Not a mention of SD... What is he...a potted plant in the film? Sheech...

The article is principally about British television.

This excerpt from an early review: "Quite old-fashioned in feel, �The Parole Officer� contains the almost obligatory "knob" (in an art gallery; perhaps a nod to Woody Allen) and puke (Simon vomits a curry over kids on a roller-coaster) gag. However, it also possesses some priceless visual gags and some good lines: "I saw a man strangle a human being�well an accountant" (Simon). The acting is uniformly respectable, even if heavyweight British talents Lena Headey (magnificent in �Aberdeen� and pictured) and Stephen Dillane (�The Darkest Light�) are slightly under-used, and there are a couple of bonus cameos from Jenny Agutter and Omar Sharif. However, it is Steve Coogan�s incredible comic timing that keeps the film afloat." under-used... :-(

From today's Radio Times: "Friday 27 July, 2001, 21:00 to 22:00 BST Oh darling, Friday nights just won't be the same without The Cazalets, which finishes tonight. And there are no plans for another series which is a truly wretched shame. So, Cazalets converts, make the most of what is left of this entertainingly arch drama series, an oasis of gentility and civility, which ties up a few of its loose ends tonight." Darlings, pages with pics and snappies: http://fp.enter.net/~purrfect/cazalet.htm http://fp.enter.net/~purrfect/cazalet2.htm

Can't wait for this one.Like the pics...esp. the one in the tux!!

Look who appeared in Remington Steele! I actually remember seeing this episode when it first aired (1985). Remington, armed with a bunch of fake passports, goes to London in search of his father. Of course he didn't in this episode. Hmmm, can't remember if he ever did...

I meant Remington didn't find his father in this episode.

Omigod! I used to watch that show all the time and the reruns a few years ago. About the father, wasn't Daniel (Efrem Zimbalist) revealed as his father when he died??

Had to look up the answer: Yes. The truth was revealed in the last season. Steeled With A Kiss Part 1&2 02/17/87 Written by:Brad Kern and Robin Bernheim Guest Stars: Daniel Chalmers:Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. || Marisa Peters:Barbara Babcock || Kemadov:Stephen Yardley || Fitch:Ronald Leigh-Hunt || Petrossian :Jeremy Clyne || Mikeline O'Flynn:Derry Power || Inspector O'Brien:Alan Devlin || Bridgit:Eleanor Feeley || Bartender:Brendan O'Duill Synopsis: The Irish castle Steele inherited seems to be the perfect hiding place for Tony until he can prove he's not a double agent. Meanwhile, Daniel Chalmers must deliver Tony to the KGB as part of a scam he is running. We learn that Daniel Chalmers is Steele's father, but he dies before we learn Steele's real name. Laura and Steele apparently consummate their relationship amid Tony's promises not to give up on Laura.

Wow...wonder what happened to all that beautiful black (!) hair)!!! Such a pity...:-(

From Screendaily: The Parole Officer July 31, 2001 Dir: John Duigan. UK. 2001. 90 mins. Few television comedians manage to become film stars, and fewer still succeed outside their home turf. But The Parole Officer should serve lengthy time at the British box-office on the strength of Steve Coogan's huge popularity as a stand-up comic and small-screen character actor, compounded by the anticipation attending his first major film role. A sunny future domestically also awaits on video further down the line. Lacking major international names in the supporting cast, the film's overseas prospects are more uncertain (though there is an amusing cameo from an unbilled Omar Sharif). Still, Coogan's own profile may rise after the release of 24 Hour Party People early next year, Michael Winterbottom's forthcoming film about the vibrant Manchester music scene from the late 1970s to early 1990s, in which Coogan takes the lead role. Certainly The Parole Officer represents a much sturdier commercial prospect for DNA Films following the company's disappointing debut production Beautiful Creatures. Coogan could easily have chosen to spin a feature-length character out of one of his successful TV sketch personae: the yobbish Paul Calf, smarmy lounge singer Tony Ferrino or the blazer-wearing failed talkshow host Alan Partridge. Instead, he has created a new alter ego who bears a recognisable resemblance to his stablemates but is considerably more likeable and credible than his predecessors in the Coogan canon. Like them, Simon Garden is a mildly irritating loser: a well-meaning but nerdy probation officer who has only ever rehabilitated three prisoners in his entire career and who, forcibly relocated from the seaside resort of Blackpool to the tough big city of Manchester, finds himself slightly out of his depth in these murkier waters. His mettle is put to the test when a crooked police chief (Stephen Dillane) frames him for murder and he is forced to prove his innocence by robbing a bank vault containing an incriminating CCTV surveillance video. To do so, he urges his three reformed crooks (Om Puri, Ben Miller and Steven Waddington) to return temporarily to a life of crime, much to their reluctance and astonishment. Also along for the ride is one of Simon's new clients, a feisty teenage ramraider (Emma Williams). The central gag is the idea of a klutz from the Social Services attempting Secret Service style derring-do, and Coogan proves himself fully up to the exacting physical demands of the role, performing many of his own stunts. Most of the hit-and-miss humour relies heavily on pratfalls and slapstick and is definitely on the unsophisticated side: in one typical scene, for instance, Simon breaks the oversized phallus off a fertility statue in an exhibition of erotic art, and escapes detection by faking acute diarrhoea in the gallery toilet. Some inconsistencies in the plotting also suggest that Coogan and co-writer Henry Normal haven't yet mastered the move from sketch-length to feature-film scripts. As Coogan himself remarks of Simon: "You'd buy him a drink but you wouldn't want to spend the whole evening with him," and the film wisely does not allow itself to become a one-man-show. Heavyweight dramatic actors such as Puri and Dillane bring heft to the secondary roles, while Lena Headey, in her first major comic turn, projects a cool intelligence as the film's romantic interest, a sexy policewoman who finds herself drawn to Simon's unlikely charms. John Duigan's direction gives all these actors the space to develop the relations between the seven or eight major characters.

Here's the url: http://www.screendaily.com/shtml_files/left_bar_redirect.shtml

Well, maybe he hasn't RSVP'd yet... From Ananova: Steve Coogan to attend premiere of his new film Steve Coogan will be at the premiere of his new film The Parole Officer in London next week. He not only stars in the film but also co-wrote it. Other cast members expected at the premiere on August 8 include Ben Miller, Om Puri who starred in East Is East, and the film's director John Duigan. The Parole Officer is released in the UK on August 10.

The movie poster:

Thanks Karen. Would someone pl.help me find Stephen in the poster? Is he the one with the hard hat holding the pizza? ;-) Sounds like a winner....in UK. :-(

Excerpts from a long review of The Cazalets: "You are much more likely to have seen the trailers for The Cazalets than to have seen The Cazalets. In them, no expense has been spared to put us off the show itself. Here it is, they seem to say, and you have seen it all before: the steam trains, the black-tie dinner parties, the frumpy wife wittering about her husband's business meeting, the quick cut to his rumpy-pumpy back in town..." *hee hee* "...This six-part serialisation of Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles novels has production values coming out of its ears, but its adaptor, Douglas Livingstone, has written a screenplay that makes you concentrate on character, not costume..." "...most scenes are stolen by Stephen Dillane as the womanising second brother, Edward. Dillane gives him the most deliciously self-satisfied laugh..." full article

Still missing from the guest list, but we'll have our fingers crossed anyway, from Ananova: Starry premiere for Coogan film Stars will gather in London tonight for the world premiere of comedian Steve Coogan's first feature film, The Parole Officer. The creator of such classic characters as Alan Partridge and Paul Calf, has co-written the comedy with long-time collaborator Henry Normal. The films tells the story of Simon Garden, a mild mannered Parole Officer, played by Coogan, who is forced to turn to crime to clear his name after he is framed for murder. Among those expected to attend the glittering premiere are Helena Bonham Carter, Amanda Holden and Atomic Kitten, whose current number one single Eternal Flame, is taken from the film's soundtrack. Also starring in the film are Om Puri, from East is East, and Steven Waddington, who appeared in Sleepy Hollow. It is directed by John Duigan and produced by Duncan Kenworthy, who produced Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral. The film opens in the UK and Ireland on Friday.

Info on SD's character from the DNA Films' website: http://www.dnafilms.com/flashhome.htm "Burton is a bent cop, unscrupulous and habitually corrupt," says Dillane of the character he portrays. "He also seems to be quite a popular figure on the force." To the people of Manchester, DI Burton is the policeman who is about to receive the Police Federation Bravery Award for rescuing 15-year-old Kirsty from a burning Porsche. Only we know he set the Porsche alight himself. If Simon can't pull off the bank job. nobody will ever know better. From the bio section: More familiar with serious dramatic roles, THE PAROLE OFFICER has offered Dillane his first chance to try out the screen tradition of playing the "baddie" in a comedy. A fan of John Duigan's celebrated 1990 film FLIRTING, Dillane was thrilled to have an opportunity to work with the director on THE PAROLE OFFICER. You can also see the trailer Quicktime (which is downloadable and screen-capturable); the Windows Media option did not work for me. Plus the official site (uip.co.uk) only has the trailer in Quicktime too. http://www.uip.co.uk/ There are some review snippets on the uip site: Empire ***** Combining all the best elements of homegrown romcoms and gangster capers, this breathes fresh life into both genres, emerging as one of the most entertaining Britflicks you're likely to see all year. If it can hold its own against the blockbusters, it's got serious box office potential. UNCUT **** "A great English caper - the Italian job with bicycles." "A cracking blend of James Bond stunts and Alan Partridge stumbles." "Best British comedy since The Full Monty." TOTAL FILM **** This summer, the nation's favourite hero will be wearing corduroy trousers. Lottery-funded movies have been in the dock recently, but The Parole Officer is their Get Out Of Jail Free card. It's a brilliantly polished, very funny script that catapults one of Britain's best TV comedians into a whole new cinematic sphere. LOADED (8/10) Coogan has a new comic creation to equal Alan Partridge's finer moments.

Among those expected to attend the glittering premiere are Helena Bonham Carter With or without monkey suit? :-)

The Times liked the film. An excerpt: "The well-meaning but hopeless Garden witnesses a murder perpetrated by crooked police officers, led by a deliciously nasty Stephen Dillane, who then proceeds to frame Garden for the crime." Full review at: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,142-2001272711,00.html

Not so hot from The Independent: http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/film/reviews/story.jsp?story=87849 Plus a good one from the Financial Times: Partridge plus a dash of ham: CINEMA: Despite some reservations, Nigel Andrews is won over by Steve Coogan's largely successful first venture into film The phrase "Ealing comedy" goes numb on our lips after events of recent days. What a place for a bomb. The home of comfy laughter turns to Armageddon, W5. Where once cameras turned to catch well-loved actors playing nincompoop crooks, they now purr to catch real would-be killers spectrally hugging their anonymity on midnight pavements. The Parole Officer comes somewhere between the two extremes. As Alan Partridge might say in one of his anything-for-a-link flights of ill taste, it isn't a bomb; but it isn't halcyon Ealing either. (The makers themselves have clamoured for the comparison by invoking The Lavender Hill Mob). Besides, in 2001 do we still have the innocence for comedies of innocence? And if we do, is Steve Coogan the right comedian? He must be tired of being told - but let's tell him again - that he is brilliant as Partridge and pass-grade in other comic incarnations, from Paul Calf to Tony Ferrino. His TV/radio compere with the slick hair and slicker vacuity is a stupendous creation: a swaggering twerp with a faux pas for all occasions, a retro dandy who would walk straight past Emporio Armani into Lillywhites, a man who thinks of the smart thing to say too late but still says it. Ealing could never have invented something so cruelly funny, so showbiz-naff: a man in whom innocence is what is left after you discount normal adult wit, judgment and intelligence. Half a Partridge is better than none and Coogan's Simon Garden, probation officer, boasts some of the same surreal, self-absorbed twittishness. He will think nothing of opening and eating a bag of crisps while "silently" staking out the storeroom where a bent detective (Stephen Dillane) is about to murder his cocaine-scam accomplice. (This leads to the plot: our hero recruits three ex-jailbirds to raid the bank where Dillane has deposited the incriminating security video. Why didn't Dillane just destroy it? Silly question: no movie). And Coogan/Garden, like Coogan/ Partridge, cannot accept that the world does not fall silent on proper occasions in respect for his ego. Frogmarching his quarry up the aisle at a climactic police awards convention, he spouts off about citizenly justice but has to turn at one point and say, "I can't believe there are some people talking at the back." Oddly, Coogan looks less like Partridge here than like Ben Elton, his bete noir of the alternative/satirical circuit. Metal-rim specs, cropped hair and out-there facial expressions. Did someone tell him to act larger for the movie camera? The film goes wrong whenever it goes broad. Garden's pompous early speechifyings about his vocation are mockingly accompanied by Elgarian music: too obvious, too hammy. Falling off a tilted chair is barely funny once, let alone twice. And though we laugh at the scene where Garden snaps the phallus off a museum fertility symbol, it is mainly because anything is a relief during romantic interludes with woman policeperson Lena Headey. The film's goodheartedness, though, finally vanquishes audience grouchiness. And Coogan does reach the finishing post still in the saddle. Think of the TV comics who entered the Great Cinema Steeplechase - Hancock, Frankie Howerd, Morecambe and Wise - and collapsed at an early fence in a chaos of legs, limbs and horse's hindquarters.

v.g. review from Shadows on the Wall, but no mention of SD: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rcline/swparoff.htm Have seen a bunch of pics from the premiere, including some group shots. Someone's missing. :-(

Report, review and gallery of photos from the premiere at Empire, but no SD. Also Lena Headey appears to be missing. http://www.empireonline.co.uk/features/theparoleofficer/default.shtm

The Parole Officer will actually be released in the US in November! Yippee! While the comedy has been getting mixed reviews, SD has been walking away with the kudos for his supporting role. Some more excerpts: Coogan, who co-scripted with regular collaborator Henry Normal, plays bumbling hero Simon Garden, who witnesses a murder committed by a bent copper (Stephen Dillane, whose repellent smoothie is much the classiest turn here). Sunday Independent and Dillane, especially, is splendid as the smooth, smiling police villain. Reuters/Variety

Parole Officer checks in at the UK box office UK TV comedian Steve Coogan launched himself on the big-screen at the weekend with The Parole Officer. Pulling in a strong $1.3m (�902,028) from 288 sites, the comedy saw a site average of $4,468 � better than either Jurassic Park III or Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Arriving at number five in the UK chart the healthy figures came despite mixed reviews for the film. The film also stars Lena Headey, previously seen in Gossip with X-Men�s James Marsden and Kate Hudson and soon to be seen in Neil LaBute�s Possession which stars Gwyneth Paltrow, and Om Puri. Puri, who as well as starring in many Bollywood productions was recently seen in 1999 UK hit East Is East. However, The Parole Officer was unable to secure box office dominance. With the wide release, growing from one to 382 sites, Columbia TriStar saw its Final Fantasy take fourth place with $1.4m (�954,488) from 382 sites. Meanwhile Cats & Dogs, Rush Hour 2 and Jurassic Park III held their previous week�s top three places. Most impressive of the three leaders was box office champ Warner Bros� canine/feline feud flick Cats & Dogs, which dropped off a mere 11% from its opening three-day total.

Can now report on "The Parole Officer" if anybody wants.

(Mark) Can now report on "The Parole Officer" if anybody wants. Are you kidding? Spill it ;-)

Well, it's a very Britcom film, and plainly not as likely to internationalise as The Full Monty. Having said which, I found it ranged between a bit amusing and very funny. Steve Coogan as Simon Garden is not really sympathetic enough for you to actually like him, but his situation and friends are so hopeless as to give a real sense of the underdog. As the reviews state, the plot is held together with sticky-tape, and the attempted scope is too broad, but the film is quite deft, if that's possible, at slapstick and smut (not to everybody's taste). Most of the support cast is leadenly two-dimensional, with the honourable exceptions of SD, Om Puri and the two girls. I know Lena Headey may not have been to the critics' taste, but I thought she was good, though possibly outshone by newcomer Emma Williams. SD was a thinking man's cold-hearted villain, very cruel but quick on his feet. All in all, this undiscriminating viewer thought quite a lot of the film. Will play well on TV for years in due course.

at slapstick and smut (not to everybody's taste). The statue bit? Will play well on TV for years in due course. Ah! The Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. ;-) Steve Coogan's a total unknown in the US. I don't think the Alan Partridge series has ever been shown here (whether that's a pro/con I don't know). The film will have to stand on its own and won't have any popular figure coattails to ride on here.

(MarkG) smut (not to everybody's taste) Guaranteed to be a winner in the US. SD was a thinking man's cold-hearted villain, very cruel but quick on his feet. Ah, I love my villains cold-hearted and quick on their feet. Hope he's well dressed like Hans Gruber. :-) this undiscriminating viewer thought quite a lot of the film If it's good enough for Burburry man, then it's good enough for me. :-)

(MarkG) Will play well on TV for years in due course. (Karen) Ah! The Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. ;-) ROTF (Karen) I don't think the Alan Partridge series has ever been shown here I think only one season was aired on BBC America earlier this year. Someone said that it was actually the last season. It was where Alan (Steve Coogan) was living in a motel and working on the radio. He was pathetic and annoying, and I thought very funny. His relationships with the hotel workers, his secretary, and some other characters were a hoot. But in the last couple of episodes, he hosted a TV show and all the action was in the studio, and I thought those episodes were not that funny.

From THR (Aug 24, 2001, by Zorianna Kit): Ricci sights on 'Gathering' for Granada Films Christina Ricci is toplining Granada Films' supernatural thriller "The Gathering" for director Brian Gilbert and Samuelson Prods. The project, budgeted at about $17 million, is slated to go into production Sept. 3 in England. The project reunites Gilbert and producers Peter and Marc Samuelson, the latter of whom produced the Gibson-directed features "Wilde" and "Tom & Viv." "Gathering," written by Anthony Horowitz, also stars Ioan Gruffudd, Kerry Fox and Stephen Dillane. Set in rural England in present day, "Gathering" centers on a first century church that is unearthed near an English countryside town, where a remarkable and sinister mural is found. At the same time, a young American backpacker (Ricci) traveling through an English village finds herself involved in a car accident and gladly accepts help from a female driver and her family only to become drawn into their troubled lives. In the aftermath of the accident, the girl begins to hallucinate and believes terrifying strangers are following her, putting into question as to whether the images are from a concussion or a newly found gift of second sight, both of which might be connected to the church. Granada head of film Pippa Cross also is producing the project with the Samuelsons. Steve Christian, Simon Franks, Anthony Horowitz, Zygi Kamasa, Patrick McKenna and Duncan Reid are executive producing "Gathering," with Rachel Cuperman associate producing. International sales for the film are being handled by Capitol Film, with presales in place at Helkon SK for the United Kingdom and Helkon AG for Germany. The film is equity financed by the Isle of Man Film Commission, Granada Film and Ingenious Media. Following the completion of "Gathering," Ricci will make her directorial debut on the indie feature "Speed Queen," a dark comedy in which she will star (HR 8/20). The financing is being finalized. Ricci produced and stars in Millennium Films' "Prozac Nation," which will have its world premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival. She also stars in and produced through her production company, Blaspheme, the MGM/American Zoetrope feature "Pumpkin," slated for release next year. The actress, repped by ICM, recently wrapped shooting the Film Four feature "Miranda" for director Marc Munden and producer Laurence Bowden. The Samuelsons most recently produced "Arlington Road." Granada most recently produced "Ghost World," "House of Mirth" "My Left Foot" and the upcoming feature "The Hole."

the girl begins to hallucinate and believes terrifying strangers are following her OK, he was a marvelous cad in Cazalets, a scrumptious scoundrel in Parole Officer. But I will not accept terrifying stranger! :-/

He could be female driver's (Kerry Fox??) family...or not. Ioan is too young to be Kerry's husband.

The Cazalets will air on PBS, Mondays, October 22 - November 19, 2001.

Whoopee! Roll on October! On Saturday I saw a big screen trailer for Spy Games due out November 2001. Looks like November will be SD month!

Empire has an item about Nicole Kidman from the UK premiere of MR with Stephen Daldry. Love it when the journalists haven't done their homework as the question was about her working with Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. ;-) Empire Online however had more professional queries to make of Ms. Kidman. Noting that the actress had come to the party on the arm of director Stephen Daldry, we asked Nicole when she had filmed her role in Daldry's next movie, The Hours. 'A couple of months ago,' she explained. 'He�s really great to work with and I�d love to do something else with him. He really pushed me artistically, which is good.' Kidman's co-stars in the movie, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, are both powerhouse actresses, so how were they to work with? 'Well I know Meryl, we�ve worked together and Julianne I�ve met before. But we never met while filming. I have no scenes with either of them. When you see the film, you�ll see why.' The project clearly had a lot of appeal for Kidman, who went on to say that 'the great thing about that film is there�s three really strong female characters and it�s based on such a unique book. Michael Cunningham wrote such a great book, and David Hare managed to do an adaption of a book that was very difficult to adapt. But I think his screenplay was really strong and really solid.' http://www.empireonline.co.uk/news/news.asp?3366

Was finally able to see PO. I thought it was a funny, decent flick. Had its share of ha-ha moments. Definitely worth a repeat viewing, and from what I've read, it's light years better than the L-word being discussed elsewhere, LOL. I'm not sure how it will play in the US. If the star were American, I would say that this is about as funny as some of John Candy's films. There are parts where you really belly-laugh, some where you smirk, and some moments when you want the plot to move along. But overall, I'd give it thumbs-up. And the critics were right on the money regarding SD's performance. He was fab as a baddie. I love his style. When he really wants to intimidate the "hero", he lowers his voice and talks quietly and gently. Very effective. No method-acting histrionics for him, nosiree. :-)

When do we get to see this in US....Spy Games is November. Glad to hear it's a winner.

Spy Games is November So is PO, according to IMDB.

FRom sunday's NY times: Films to watch for; "SPY GAME" Ready to retire from the international espionage business, a C.I.A. agent (Robert Redford) is called back on the job when it appears that his prot�g�, Brad Pitt, has gone over to the dark side. Directed by Tony Scott. Nov. 21." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ But no mention of The PO.

I saw the previews, but no sign of SD. Is he really in it?

This from NY Daily News, August 26, 2001: Spy Game Stars Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack, Stephen Dillane, Kimberly Paige. Directed by Tony Scott. Scheduled opening: Nov. 21. Here's a mother-daughter's night-out action film if there ever was one � Redford and Pitt as mentor-pupil spies: "You take the old blond, mom, I'll take the young one." Father-son teams should like it, too. It's got that old bull, young bull appeal. Redford plays a CIA agent who, on the eve of retirement, discovers that his protege (Pitt) has been arrested in China for espionage. As he heads to the Far East, he recalls tutoring the young agent and their years as smooth-as-silk partners and the woman (McCormack) who had to choose between them.

Start saving DonnaDL:-)) From Baz, Daily Mail - 5.10.01 Watch out for Stephen Dillane who will lead a new drama by Australian playwright Hannie Rayson called Life After George into the West End next year. Mr Dillane, who won acclaim in Tom Stoppard�s The Real Thing, will play George, an academic whose brand of Seventies radical idealism gradually went out of fashion. Now, though, with folk rebelling against the frivolity and decadence of the Nineties, George is back in style. Celebrated director Michael Blakemore, whose Kiss Me Kate opens soon, will stage the play in the New Year.

Sounds v. interesting and with an excellent director. I like that Stephen is taking risks with this new play.

Whoopee!!Now we have to find out when!Big time director too! Way t'go Stephen!

With their track record, we might be looking at a return to Broadway too. :-)

Was Michael Blakemore the one who gave the "I Love Broadway/I Love America" speech at the Tony's 2000?

*** SPOILER *** below. Found this review of The Cazalets. Things hot up in this Thirties potboiler now that it has been established that Edward (Stephen Dillane) is a first-class shit, having snogged his daughter and turned her into a frightful frump. Meanwhile, Ed's good brother - an artist so he must be right about everything, including not having to work - has also noticed his own daughter's burgeoning beauty, but instead of shoving his tongue down her throat, he paints her portrait. Now we see why he has to live off the family billions - completely talentless but posh. Enter the Bloomsbury Group, stage right. The Enid Blyton lesbians are also quite amusing. Incredible to think this is all 50 years before Brookside.

Was Michael Blakemore the one who gave the "I Love Broadway/I Love America" speech at the Tony's 2000? Yes, that was he. Roy Dotrice loved Americans. :-) It's a mutual admiration society.

Just thought you would all like to know that SD has NOTHING to fear from Neil Pearson in the current revival of TRT. AS they say in advertising "Good, but not that good."

it has been established that Edward (Stephen Dillane) is a first-class shit, having snogged his daughter and turned her into a frightful frump. Oh, sh... do we need this? Again? Why can't these writers transcend themselves???

Review of Pearson's TRT. No comparisons to the Dillane/Ehle version. Independent The Real Thing, Bristol Old Vic, Bristol By Toby O'Connor Morse 22 September 2001 In the past theatre critics have tended to focus on the more tangential aspects of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing. This is hardly surprising, since it contains some punchy speeches about the meaning of (good) writing and the role of the writer. For those who spend too much of their lives scribbling in notebooks in darkened auditoria, any discussion of words and theatre is going to gain a magnified importance. However, for the ordinary theatregoer who is not riveted by the esoterica of all things theatrical, The Real Thing is primarily a play about love. The central character, Henry (Neil Pearson) is a playwright. He is also a romantic, a man who has a strong belief in what constitutes love: faithfulness, trust, total immersion in "the real thing". Confronted with both a first and a second wife who have a different view about what makes relationships tick and the importance of fidelity, he is reduced to striving for dignified cuckoldry. In the end love strips all of us of our dignity and our sophistication, and so the curtain could comfortably fall on Henry's anguished cry of "please don't" after Annie (Geraldine Alexander) has gone off to see her lover once again, eliminating the final scene with its suggestion of a tolerable modus vivendi. While this would lend a gratifying emotional bleakness to the piece, it would erase the final conclusion in Stoppard's dissertation on love, an intellectual exercise which does not strive for empathy, but for edification. There is a sense that the characters are merely being used to illustrate hypotheses, walking embodiments of conflicting propositions. The female characters are all as beguiling, amoral and blindly lacerating as an Evelyn Waugh heroine, and slightly two-dimensional as a result. This does not help create any sense of electricity between Henry and Annie. Love may be hard to write about, as Henry claims, but it is also hard to act. Alexander's performance is too mannered, too theatrical, and Pearson's too polished to truly suggest a passionate fire raging between them. Nonetheless, Pearson is beautifully cast as Henry, since he does quick-witted charm very well, but also has a firm grasp on sincerity and anguish. His recent TV performance as John Diamond in A Lump in My Throat showed that his light touch and deadpan delivery are an excellent medium for communicating that uniquely British concoction of emotional turmoil simmering below a crust of eloquent wit. It's his performance that comes closest to tempting the audience to become emotionally involved and empathise. Ultimately, however, one is left with the sense that the characters we have been watching are really lab rats in Dr Stoppard's loquacious laboratory of emotion. As a result, The Real Thing ends up offering food for the intellect rather than the soul.

Telegraph review:"Alexander's performance is too mannered, too theatrical, and Pearson's too polished to truly suggest a passionate fire raging between them" Sounds like the Jeremy Irons/Glen Close version.

I have to say that I think she was truly awful, her voice grated but she does not know how to use her body and move when on stage, often seeming ill at ease and arkward. Thanks for finding that review Lauren, I hadn't read it before.

I just hope Steverino doesn't disappoint us all by getting a case of "my worst fears were fulfilled".... :-(((

From Richard Brooks' Biteback column in the Sunday Times: Not all's well, I hear, with Stephen Daldry's next film, The Hours, based on Virginia Woolf and her book Mrs Dalloway, and starring Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman. The Billy Elliot director is having to recut to make it good enough for release.

From "What's on Stage": Dillane Returns as Professor George??? 10th October 2001 Stage and screen star Stephen Dillane is being tipped to appear in the West End early next year, in Life after George by Melbourne playwright Hannie Rayson. The play concerns a charismatic professor whose three wives meet up to arrange his funeral. The trio of women represent the fulcrum of the Professor's free-loving life, from the carefree 1960s to the present day. Dillane began his working life as a journalist before attending the Bristol Old Vic School. His theatre credits include the lead in Peter Hall's 1994 production of Hamlet and Angels in America. Dillane later received an Olivier nomination and a Tony Award for his role in the revival of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, originally at the Donmar Warehouse in 1999. His TV breakthrough came with the series The Rector's Wife, while subsequent films have included Sarajevo and Firelight. Life after George is due to be directed by Michael Blakemore (whose recent credits include award-winning productions of Copenhagen and Kiss Me Kate) and produced by Mich el Codron." Michael Blakemore won two Tonys in 2000 for Copenhagen and Kate. Codron produced Copenhagen, I think. I bet Steverino is B'way-bound with that team. Wonder who the three wives are going to be???? Exciting times!!!

Anybody see the trailer for "Spy Games" last night on ET? Guess who came on screen.... Donna already has posted the pics http://fp.enter.net/~purrfect/spygame.htm http://fp.enter.net/~purrfect/dillane1.htm

&^%$* If you right click, then "View Image" you'll get the pic....

Wow! That was fast. Ev, you can't post an .htm It has to be the .jpg or .gif That's why it isn't showing up.

Ev, you can't post an .htm It has to be the .jpg or .gif That's why it isn't showing up. Well it's Donna's fault then;-)Grrrrr

They're showing Firelight on French TV right now. I wish I'd known about it sooner. It's dubbed though, unfortunately. It's called Le lien secret in French;-)

NY Times had a nice review: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/arts/television/22JAME.html?searchpv=past7days The PBS buggers edited the series again! A few short scenes cut, which would have added texture to some of the characters. After Edward (SD) molested his daughter for the first time, she runs up the stairs and closes her bedroom door behind her. The UK version showed a Potemkin-like sequence of door-close, door-close, door-close, which was missing from last night's broadcast. The next morning, after Edward and Louise are having breakfast and she can't look at him, the UK version has her scrambling through the house trying to find a key that will enable her to lock her bedroom door. I think they also cut a scene between Rupert (the artist) and his daughter. It showed the healthiness of their relationship as compared to Edward and Louise's relationship. Other small scenes cut between the chauffeur and cook, and the children listening to Zoe having her first baby (the one that died, fathered presumably by the date-rape doctor). Did they show the funeral procession for the dead cat that was strangled by the German maid? I can't recall, but it was a humorous moment. Duchy played the funeral march on the grand piano, while the family, children and adults, followed the procession dressed appropriately in black armbands. Am so fed up with PBS for tinkering with these productions and editing scenes out. They did the same thing when they aired the UK version of Anna Karenina.

Well, what a soap opera this one is! I couldn't tell the adulterers without a scorecard.;-) So many cliches here. If a woman has illicit sex, sure enough, next scene we see her vomiting and we just know she's pregnant. Doesn't anybody just vomit for the hell of it on these shows? ;-) Two close female friends can't just be friends, they have to be lesbians. A father and daughter can't enjoy a grown-up night out together; no, he has to try to sexually assault her. A woman can't have negative thoughts about her baby; no, she must be punished and the baby killed off. And shouldn't Edward's last name be Cad-zalet?;-)

Well, what a soap opera this one is! I couldn't tell the adulterers without a scorecard.;-) Sounds awful!

(Mari) I couldn't tell the adulterers without a scorecard.;-) LOL! Definitely would've helped. Was the Olympics of adulterers. ;-) But I got confused with the babies. Whose baby was in the backseat of Edward's car when he was with Duckface? Thanks for the missing pieces, Lauren. I was wondering what was snipped out so that we could hear Russell Baker give his background spiel.

Whose baby was in the backseat of Edward's car when he was with Duckface? Edward and Duckface's

That's what I kind of thought, but when was she pregnant or even mentioned that she might be?

I don't recall any mention of her pregnancy. The baby was just there. It does become clearer that he is theirs.

Ah! Good. Thought I was going to have to have my hearing tested. ;-)

So what's Rupert's problem...or will that be revealed in a later episode? I mean all these Cazalet brothers are fathering children left and right, and Zoe gets pregnant by Dr Date Rape?

(Mari). Doesn't anybody just vomit for the hell of it on these shows? ;-) Druggies and anorexics . Whose baby was in the backseat of Edward's car when he was with Duckface I thought it was her (and presumably her husband's). Despite all the holes (thanks to PBS) and cliches....I like this production.This period (pre-WWII )is v. appealing . Reminds me of "Cammomile Lawn"with Jennifer.I enjoyed taking a peak into their lives. People behaved differently in those times. Not gripping...but perhaps that 's what I like about it. And Edward is an appealing cad. I saw lots of same mannerisms as in "The Real Thing". He does the best eye-rolls!!Not bad in the steamy scenes, either;-))

Whose baby was in the backseat of Edward's car when he was with Duckface I thought it was her (and presumably her husband's). So did I. She tells Edward's wife that she has 3 kids, including the 3-month old. I just assumed they were all her husband's already, before she met Edward. I guess we can't tell paternity without a scorecard either. ;-) People behaved differently in those times. Yes, apparently they never heard of condoms. ;-)

I just saw my tape of Cazalett Episode II.. Lots of Stephen in this one.... See Stephen singing Christmas Carols.(Has a sonorous voice.) See Stephen in an RAF uniform.Yummmm See Stephen in bed with Duckface!!!She's defintely a "brown bagger".Couldn't they find a prettier actress to play a femme fatale? See Stephen in theatre with Duckface...pinching her boobs!! Gorgeous house.World War II has just started, and the family will go through tragedies, I fear. Good series.Great acting. (Hey, I don't embrace moral standards from TV shows;-) Butler is excellent.

Did you recognize the actor who played Michael Hadley, the painter? He's the bearded chap who is starting to romance Louise, Edward's daughter. He will play a larger role in the next 2 episodes. Anyhow, that's the actor who originally played Billie in TRT at the Donmar!

Didn't see TRT at the Donmar, but I have caught up on my Cazelets. What a soap! Poor Louise. First her father hits on her, then she sees him with another woman. Now she getting involved with this Hadleigh guy, who is bound to be a real jerk.

Hadley sure has grown up since Billy. Looking at Cazalet 3 last night I thought of the country-western song: "Looking for love in all the wrong places" If they weren't all so repressed and show a little genuine affection life would be kinder to them. Looks like poor Louise is about to enter a minefield with the artist. Rachael is already regreting her steamy relationship with Sid. Duckface is losing Edward to the RAF chick. I only like Hugh and Sybil and she's about to check- out with cancer!! All of these situations are so predictable. Still, I'm hooked.

(Evelyn) I only like Hugh and Sybil and she's about to check- out with cancer!! LOL. Actually I thought those 2 little kids were awfully cute. Nothing like a little naked boy singing "doing the Lambert walk - oi"! :-)

About the pic of the singing/dancing little naked boy: Did you notice the black rectangle covering his pelvic area? Wonder if the Brits covered that part, or just Masterpiece Theatre. Or maybe it was just my TV doing it.

(Yippy) Wonder if the Brits covered that part, or just Masterpiece Theatre LOL, the British broadcast had the same thing. I think it was the stragetically placed latch on the door. Loved the look on the maid's face. :-)

From Ananova, there must've been a press release: Stephen Dillane returns to West End in Life After George Stephen Dillane returns to the West End next February to play the title role in Life After George. The play's central character is a dead person called George whose three ex-wives have gathered together to discuss his funeral arrangements. It takes the form of a series of flashbacks showing George at various stages of his academic career. It was written by Australian playwright Hannie Rayson. Michael Blakemore directs and the supporting cast includes Cheryl Campbell and Joanne Pearce.

Really good supporting cast, sounds like one to catch.

15th November 2001 - What's on Stage News Blakemore Brings Dillane & George to Duchess Award-winning stage and screen actor Stephen Dillane (pictured) will return to the West End in February to star in Life After George, a new play by Australian playwright Hannie Rayson. The production, directed by Michael Blakemore follows Joe Penhall's Blue Orange into the Duchess Theatre from 19 February 2002. Life After George concerns a charismatic professor, Peter George, whose three wives meet up to arrange his funeral. The women represent the fulcrum of the professor's free-loving life, from the carefree 1960s to the present day. The play unfolds in a series of flashbacks, told from the perspectives of the women who shared in three different eras of his life. Dillane will play the deceased professor, while Cheryl Campbell and Joanna Pearce will feature as two of his wives. Other casting has not yet been announced. Dillane began his working life as a journalist before attending the Bristol Old Vic School. His theatre credits include the lead in Peter Hall's 1994 production of Hamlet and Angels in America. He was last seen opposite Jennifer Ehle in the 1999 Donmar Warehouse revival of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, which later transferred to the West End and Broadway. The much-lauded production garnered numerous accolades, including a Tony Award and Olivier nomination of Best Actor for Dillane. On television, the actor has appeared in The Rector's Wife, while films have included Sarajevo and Firelight. Director Michael Blakemore is currently enjoying great success with the transfer of his multi award-winning Broadway hit Kiss Me Kate at the Victoria Palace. His other recent credits include the National's Copenhagen (another multi award winner, on both sides of the Atlantic), Alarms and Excursions and Mr Peters' Connections. Life After George is produced by Michael Codron.

Given Blackmore's history of taking shows back and forth across the Atlantic, wonder if this one stands a chance of coming to NY since its never played there. I suppose it will depend on how well it is received and if Anita and/or Harvey like it. ;-)

Gaah! It just hit me (must be rather slow today) that Stephen's play might have been going on when we were *supposed* to be in London for something else. Rats! Double Rats!! :-(

Much Gnashing of teeth from both sides of the pond Karen :-(

Oh, now I have to get depressed all over again. Am not a happy camper about sitting home come February. This one sounds like great material for Stephen. Brings back fond memories of seeing TRT, laughing myself silly, and meeting Jennifer afterwards. BTW, is this a good time to admit that I've stuck with The Cazalets and that it's really grown on me?;-) Still soapy, but very interesting soap! Can't believe Edward hit on his daughter again. And was that dear-but-apparently-not-departed Rupert I saw in the preview for the final episode? His wife's character (Zoe?) has really grown and matured.

I've stuck with it too. Couldn't believe it either that Eddie hit on Louise again. What a letch (sp?)!

Couldn't believe it either that Eddie hit on Louise again. She should have just closed her eyes and enjoyed it. ;-) Joanna Pearce on left (playing Ophelia with Branagh), Cheryl Campbell on right

I misspelled a name, it is Joanne Pearce, not Joanna. Joanne�s recent theatre credits include: �Ancient Lights�, �A Place at the Table�, �Shang-a-lang�, �Unsuitable for Adults� and �Love Field� and �Arcadia�. Her work with the Royal Shakespeare Company includes: �Little Eyolf�, �Cymbeline�, �Hamlet� and �Henry IV�. Television includes �Silent Witness�, �Lovejoy� and �Way Upstream�. Film work: �Morons From Outer Space�, �Whoops Apocalypse�, �Murder East, Murder West�, and �Falling Star�. Here's another pic of Cheryl Campbell and some good reviews of her in The Seagull: http://members.aol.com/dramaddict/ETTcgull.htm (Notice Mark Bazaley (Cazalets and original Billy in TRT) on that page.)

Mark Bazeley looks different with a beard (Michael Hadley (artist in Cazalets). I too think Cazalets are intriguing. Though I wonder where all the relationships are going. I really like that era. A review of Gosford Park commented: .." illuminates a society and a way of life on the verge of extinction". A real turning point in the British class system.It was never the same after War.

Did anyone watch the end of The Cazalets last night? Talk about an abrupt ending! We're never told if Rupert made it back. And wasn't Zoe's reaction to receiving his note a bit nonplussed? "Oh, good, he's alive." That was it. Lots of plot points left hanging. Are they doing more episodes??

Are they doing more episodes?? This was posted at VV: The BBC had originally planned on airing 11 hours, with the first 6 filmed in 2000 and aired this year. The remaining 5 hours were to have been filmed this year and aired next year, and would have tied up the loose ends. But the project was cancelled after the first 6 hours were filmed and before they were broadcast in the UK. No real explanation was given, so we don't really know whether it was due to budgets, perceived ratings, or availability of actors, or other.

(Lauren)The BBC had originally planned on airing 11 hours,..... But the project was cancelled after the first 6 hours were filmed and before they were broadcast in the UK. You'd think they'd have the decency to tell us that at the beginning. One of the B's in BBC must stand for "Bahstards"!

I knew there was a reason for me not to watch. I would be fuming too!

Haven't caught up on my Cazelets yets so will shield my eyes (wot?! incomplete storyline!) No glimpse of SD at the LA premiere of Spy Game on E! News Daily. Wonder if there will be a "Making of..." on one of the cable channels. Nothing listed that I can find through the end of November, but that doesn't preclude it being shown after Dec 1 sometime.

French website has three exclusive clips (Quicktime) from Spy Game: http://www.cinemovies.fr/films/spy_game/ba/dossier/main.htm plus this pic:

Thanks for the info, Lauren. Hard to believe they'd film only a portion of the books. If anyone here has read them, can you tell me if Rupert comes back and if so, does he go back to Zoe? What about the injured fellow she's been reading to? Does Edward's wife discover his philandering? Does the daughter's marriage to the artist work out?

I just caught up with The Cazalet gang last night, and I didn't think the ending was all that elusive. Rupert obviously is still alive...recovering in France from his broken leg. He and Zoe will reunite.Clary believes it.The veteran in hospital loses out on Zoe, but is recovering from surgery. The pacifist kid is recovering with the dog.Louise and Michael get married. Sybil checks out as we all knew. Rachael and Sid will have to deal with a platonic relationship.Mrs Cripps (maid)and Tonbridge are going to hook -up. Edward will go on to new conquests and Villy (stupid woman) will let him. Diana will deal with baby and chuck Edward. What struck me as I finished 5 hrs of this stuff...is what a vacuous existence they all lived.Did they just spend their days walking around the grounds , waiting for the next meal? Actually, I was glad BBC didn't expand it to 12 episodes. I had enough. Going to see Spy Games this weekend.

Look forward to your report on that one Evelyn. Had mixed reviews, especially for RR here.

Saw Spy Games this weekend. Really enjoyed it. Not subtle, but a rapid-fire action, US variety spy-thriller...car chases, buildings blown-up. Robert Redford, even with the craggily face, has not lost that charisma; still this is not a "pretty -boy",drooly movie despite Brad Pitt. SD plays a smug and arrogant young administrator with CIA.Interesting trans-Atlantic accent. Reminded me of RF's in "Quiz Show". Superb acting all around.Has gotten v. positive reviews in the US, but it's the type of film that would go here.

Snippets of reviews: The Mail - "Particularly impressive is another Brit, Stephen Dillane, playing an ambitious, humourless CIA apparatchik. Dillane's American accent seems a little wobbly at first but his facial expressions are an understated treat: delicious and, I hope, careertransforming." Independent - "sniffy superior Stephen Dillane", "dastardly Dillane" The Times - "a marvellously slimy Stephen Dillane" MSNBC - "The movie has a deck of good actors, like Stephen Dillane" THR - "At Langley, the good cop/bad cop routine is played expertly by Larry Bryggman's Troy Folger and Stephen Dillane's Charles Harker, one an old-school spy and the other a sharp bureaucrat." Variety - "Supporting actors are mainly cast for their faces and the attitudes they can quickly convey. Most crucially, given their significant time on-camera, Stephen Dillane, as Muir's chief agency adversary, and Larry Bryggman, as a more sympathetic inquisitor, register extremely well."

Saw "Spy Games" this weekend and enjoyed it v. much also. Had no idea SD had so much screen time! I'm also a big fan of Larry Bryggman, so it was a really enjoyable experience. Not your run-of-the-mill spy movie.

Had no idea SD had so much screen time! I know! You could not even tell by the previews that he was in the movie.

(Meredith) Had no idea SD had so much screen time! Yeah...he had a lot more than Catherine Mc Cormack. Got gypped on the fourth billing. BTW how come this film got an R rating? I didn't see any R-stuff;-((

(Evelyn) Not subtle, but a rapid-fire action, US variety spy-thriller...car chases, buildings blown-up Interesting! The little bit I've read (so as not to spoil) has indicated that this is more character-driven and less action-oriented. More in the LeCarre mode of spymanship than a Bond film. R stuff can also be language and violence. Will go to see it this week.

(Evelyn) Not subtle, but a rapid-fire action, US variety spy-thriller...car chases, buildings blown-up )Karen)Interesting! The little bit I've read (so as not to spoil) has indicated that this is more character-driven and less action-oriented. More in the LeCarre mode of spymanship than a Bond film. Like "Traffic" it takes place in several locations.Langley and China simultaneously. Berlin, Viet-Nam, Beirut,Hong Kong, London,in flash-back. The director constantly swishes you around to these places.The dialogue is clever,but this is Nathan Muir's (RR) picture. He gets the best lines.

Thanks for the Spy Game reviews. Sounds like one I can take my son to see? The R rating can really be misleading sometimes. Not always easy to find films that hold your and your kids' interest. I liked K-Pax for that reason, but then again anytime Spacey and Bridges are on screen, it's a good thing. :-)

(Mari)Sounds like one I can take my son to see? Hmmmmm. A little violence, no graphic sex ; I think he might be a little young for the subject matter.I'm liberal at this sort of stuff. Anybody else have an opinion?

(Evelyn) no graphic sex Pffft, no sex whatsoever! ;-) The R is mainly for language, I would think. Some violence, but if your son has seen other action flicks, this one is no different. But the storyline is not as straightforward as other action flicks, so a younger person might have trouble following the plot twists. Nevertheless, he would probably enjoy it. And *** SPOILERS *** are below regarding how The Cazalets ended. Someone had sent me this: THE CAZALETS - *** SPOILERS **** Rupurt stays in France through the war, living with the French farmer (seen in the last episode). He has a sexual/love relationship with the woman (whom we saw)and delays his return several months past the time when he could have come back. The British army actually calls him on the carpet for not coming back and not getting in touch with officials while he was in France. He actually did not want to come back. He arrives home and he and Zoe begin to readjust. They have a very difficult time and almost do not make it. While Rupurt was away, Zoe fell in love with the injured soldier, who eventually committed suicide (in the book, his name was Jack but I don't think that is what he was called in the series - or it was another man she loved which was in book 3. She never forgot him or ceased loving him, more than she ever did Rupurt. She realized her love for Rupurt was immature, etc. Eventually, however, she and Rupurt adjusted and began laying the foundation for the rest of their lives together. Louise and Hadleigh stay together about 4 years. While visiting N.Y. she realizes that she cannot stay with him. And he was making out with someone else. A couple other men unsuccessfully groped her. She was supposed to be a great beauty. She returned to England, leaving their child (whom she never wanted) with him. She took a bedsit apt. in London, got a job as a clerk and was looking into studying to try to get a better job. Diana began and continued to nag Edward to leave Vily and live with her. She now has 2 children - oldest maybe Edward's, 2nd one definitely his. She did not mention marriage for some time, but eventually included that in the nag. He promised and then never mentioned it to Vily, giving Diana various excuses. Eventually, he and Vily bought a smaller home in London and moved there with Roly. He never lived there and never intended to. On moving in, he told Vily he was leaving her and was going to move in with Diana immediately. Vily was taken completely by surprise. She had not a clue that he was philandering. She was devastated. In the last scene with Edward, he is sick in bed in his new home which he has bought for Diana. She has hired several servants and is spending like mad. He is having to dip into his principal to finance her and Vily. He has suffered a ruptured appendix and has been at death's door, but is now improving and able to sit up in bed but not get around. She has complete control over him and his visitors and has refused to let Louise visit him for several weeks. Eventually, Louise visits unannounced and gets in to him. He is wan and depressed looking. He brightens up when he sees Louise. He gives her his war medals and tells her to hide them and tell noone. Apparently Diana has him essentially as a prisoner. She comes in and tells Louise to leave and gives Edwards his orders. He is not a happy camper, and it doesn't look like it will get any better. Before he got sick, he was staying late at work and on business trips; she was calling to check his hotel, etc. Well, you know, what goes around, comes around. The Brig has died and all move away from Sussex. Clary sort of floats around, having deep thoughts and feelings, and getting pregnant by some young hippie who is living with and laying several girls. In the very end she realizes she is in love with Archie and he has found his love for her the same week. Archie is Rupurt's army buddy who visited the Cazalets at Sussex at the end of the series. He has developed as sort of a family confident. They are to get married.

WOW...looks like we missed the best part of this soap. IMO BBC should have just give a voice -overnarrative for the beginning and televised the last 5 episodes. Zoe was really after Rupert's money from the beginning.And Rupert was lonesome for his deceased wife. Maybe Hugh and Villy hooked up. Wonder what happened to the pacificist? Am glad for Clary:-)) Thanks Lauren.

LOL. My friend just sent me the last installment of The Cazalet SPOILERS: *** SPOILERS *** Vily lived til end with Roly & the old governess. She whined and complained and eventually grouped with Sid and Rachael in setting up some sort of clothing store. Was much happier and doing quite well. She felt liberated. Hugh remained a grieving widower for years. Eventually began to have feelings for a new secretary in his part of the family business. He and Edward were never close after he (Hugh) tried to talk Edward out of the affair with Duckface. Implications were that he would come alive again and marry the secretary. The pacifist cousin more or less petered out. He lived in a camper and did good things and thought good thoughts. There were some side treks to Duckface's retarded brother, his employment in Edward's business; and Edward's son Teddy who married an American tart - 10 years his senior. He worked for the business but was paid minimum. Edward could not and would not help him more as they both were selfish and spoiled and Edward was feeling pinched in the funds dept. In the end (& to everyone's relief) Teddy's tart-wife left him to return to the good-ol-U S of A.

" Edward's son Teddy who married an American tart " Would this have been the baby that was born to Edward and Villy or Edward and Duckface? Pl thank your friend, Lauren.I feel you should send this ending to PBS and have them put it on their website. Think of all the viewers who are in total misery;-)

I feel you should send this ending to PBS and have them put it on their website. LOL, in that case we need to add more smut. :-) Teddy was a teenage boy in the family when the story began, so he was Villy's son. He was only briefly seen because he was usually away at school.

Martin Grove's column in THR goes over the year's film release schedule: October: Films based on best selling novels come into the marketplace with added familiarity that's helpful in attracting media attention. That will add to the potential for Paramount's drama "The Hours" (Oct. 4), based on a book that imagines a link between Virginia Woolf writing in London in 1923, a bored L.A. housewife in the '50s and a third woman who's a present day poet in New York. Directed by Stephen Daldry, its all-star cast includes Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Ed Harris and Claire Danes.

(Ooops, should've kept reading before I posted...continuing the October rollouts) Remakes of hit movies always attract media attention, but they also can attract unfavorable comparisons. That was, for example, exactly what happened with Sydney Pollack's 1995 remake of "Sabrina," starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear. The 1954 original, of course, was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden. Universal's dark comedy "The Truth About Charlie" (Oct. 11), a remake of the classic 1963 comedy thriller "Charade," will give critics a new opportunity to praise or damn. The new film is directed by Jonathan Demme and stars Mark Wahlberg, Thandie Newton and Tim Robbins. The original, directed by Stanley Donen, starred Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau and James Coburn.

The Parole Officer available to buy in March Steve Coogan's The Parole Officer will be available to buy from March 11. The film is being released on both video and DVD. The Parole Officer is available to pre-order with a 10% discount from Ananova's ecommerce partner Blackstar at �12.89 on video and �16.69 on DVD. http://www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_496518.html?menu=

Review by Michael Coveney of Daily Mail. Verdict: Theatrical surprise in tale of an academic Lothario 4 star rating Peter George, the academic hero of Hannie Rayson�s award winning Australian play, is a colonial cousin of Malcolm Bradbury�s womanising History Man. He is also the son of a Newcastle miner, and is now dead, having crashed his light aircraft on Flinders Island, near Melbourne University, where he has taught history since 1969. Life after George recaps his life with three wives and one daughter at the moment they gather to remember him. Michael Blakemore�s involving and alertly performed production is the first real surprise package of the new West End season. At its heart is a furious row between George and his second wife, Lindsay (deep-voiced, lip-trembling Joanne Pearce), about what is happening in universities all over the world. Students are allowed to choose vocational courses. George erupts in fury. Instead of educated citizens, the university is producing corporate fodder. This is the centre of Stephen Dillane�s unshowy yet hypnotic performance as the philandering George, a man for whom hope is a moral responsibility and sensuality a proof of existence. Cheryl Campbell and Ann Wilson-Jones as the other wives � one wise and embittered, the other dewy-eyed with devotion � come at him in a pincer movement of affection and accusation. A bright new play, a feast of good acting. Bravo! Pic of a bearded Stephen with Anna Wilson-Jones

Doing naked dance of joy.

Wow! Sounds great. (What is it with these male critics and their fixation on lip-quiverers?) ;-)

" This is the centre of Stephen Dillane?s unshowy yet hypnotic performance as the philandering George, " [My bolds] Way to go Stephen!! Psst...Stephen...how about getting a "normal guy" role some time

Thanks for posting the reviews. Can't wait ;-)

A quasi-review (mainly just effusive impressions vs a review) of The Hours at AICN: http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=11614 Absolutely no mention of SD or the storylines, just how brilliant all the actresses are and this: "Being a woman myself, I'm not 100% sure how men will respond to the film. I saw a lot of men leaving the screening, shaking their heads. I was shaking mine too, but it was to try and stop crying. What an amazing women's picture!!!"

Three write-ups of the first test screening of The Truth About Charlie (Charade remake) held in Philly. No mention of SD but plenty of dissing of Wahlberg, like that's a surprise. http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=11958

Well Thandie better be wearing a gorgeous wardrobe, or I'll really be upset. :-/

There is a review of The Hours at Oscar Central. http://www.oscarcentral.com/

WOW ! Glowing review.But hey we wanna know about our Stephen!!

Our thanks to Aishling who found this in today's Daily Mail...from Baz (who else?) "Trevor Nunn this week started rehearsing the large ensemble cast, led by Stephen Dillane, of Tom Stoppard's trilogy The Coast of Utopia at the National Theatre. The playwright told me his plays follow a group of Russian immigrants in the 19th century. The works are called Voyage, Shipwreck and Salvage, and the trilogy beings June 27th - although there will be occasions when all three plays are staged in one day" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TS has been writng this one for years. Much anticipated. Way to go Steverino...."large ensemble cast"....I'm all ears.

Don't you think SD's previous experience portraying Karenin should help out? ;-D All kidding aside, this sounds wonderful. After how well SD did with the role of Henry in TRT, I wouldn't be surprised if Stoppard considered him the actor most likely to portray his alter ego characters. Many writer/directors have established such relationships with actors. To be known as Stoppard's hand-picked actor would be a real coup.

Another test screening review of All About Charlie: http://www.the-trades.com/column.php?columnid=1111 Interesting that the reviewer makes no mention of original film and how it was able to blend suspense with "believable" romance. Loved how he says about Wahlberg: "His character seems so flat and predictable, which is hard to comprehend since his character is supposed to be so multi-layered. He hinders the progress of the film." But then, he completely misses the boat when he makes this statement: "The story was interesting and suspenseful, but a few key elements detracted from making "The Truth About Charlie" a memorable film. First, at least two key characters had several different names in the film, and none of them were clearly defined, nor did the audience get to know just what these characters' cohorts knew about them and their different pseudonyms." Who can forget the ending of Charade when Audrey Hepburn says, "I love you Adam, Alex, Peter, Brian, whatever your name is." Plus how cute it was each time he would tell her a new name and she would ask if there was a Mrs. Whatever. No mention of Charlie again.

Anna Karenina is going to show on my PBS on May 20 &27.

From Ananova: Tom Stoppard trilogy to play at the National Stephen Dillane will head the 30-strong cast of a trilogy of plays by Sir Tom Stoppard at the National Theatre this summer. Under the title The Coast Of Utopia, the trilogy focuses on three people over 25 turbulent years in 19th century Russia. The cast will also include John Carlisle, currently appearing in The Forsyte Saga on TV, Eve Best, Guy Henry, Douglas Henshall and Janine Duvitski. The plays will be staged both separately and together on special seven-hour trilogy days.

...together on special seven-hour trilogy days. Bring a cush for your tusch;-) Would love to see this. Go Steverino!

A friend sent me this: Top Stoppard Trilogy At The National 29/04/2002 by Paul Webb One of Britain's most distinguished playwrights, Sir Tom Stoppard, will return centre-stage with the production of the trilogy of plays that Trevor Nunn commissioned him to write for the National. Under the overall heading of The Coast of Utopia, the three plays - which Nunn will direct - are: Voyage, Shipwreck and Salvage. These three sequential plays tell an epic story of romantics and revolutionaries caught up in the struggle for political freedom in Tsarist Russia, beginning in the reign of Nicholas I - a ruler noted for his repressive attitude to politics and intellectual freedom. The main characters are the idealist and anarchist Michael Bakunin (played by Douglas Henshall) who was to challenge Marx (played by Paul Ritter) for the soul of the masses; Ivan Turgenev (played by Guy Henry) author of some of the most enduring works in Russian literature; the brilliant, erratic young critic Vissarion Belinsky (played by Will Keen) and Alexander Herzen (played by Stephen Dillane, who won the 1999 Evening Standard Best Actor award for the revival of Stoppard's The Real Thing at the Donmar Warehouse), a nobleman's son and the first self-proclaimed socialist in Russian history, who become the main focus of a drama of politics, love, loss and betrayal. The action, involving more than fifty characters, takes in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, Nice and London. The epic nature of the plays and the intellectual and political ideas that are represented within them rely on the erudition of the playwright as well as his skill with words, and Stoppard's extraordinary ability to write about philosophy and abstract ideas, bringing in discussions of rareified artistic movements or mathematical probabilities into challenging but witty and well-plotted plays, makes him uniquely suited to this task. That he has a lightness of touch that makes a string of literary and cultural allusions enetrtaining, in the exact opposite of the current trend for dumbing down in order to make literature 'accessible', was demonstrated in Shakespeare in Love, the multiple Oscar-winning film starring Joseph Fiennes and Gywneth Paltrow, (which earned Stoppard an Oscar for the screenplay and Judi Dench one for her role as Elizabeth I), about a fictional romance between the young Shakespeare and an Elizabethan lady, which sparks the writing of both Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night. Shakespeare was the inspiration for Stoppard's first commecial success, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; with his customary intellectual and verbal fireworks he imagined Hamlet as seen from the perspective of two hapless minor characters who lose their lives in the course of Shakespeare's greatest play. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead was produced, in 1967, by the National Theatre (then at the Old Vic), thus beginning an association with the National that further developed in the 1970s with the NT's productions of Jumpers and Travesties. Stoppard's other plays have included his sophisticated spoof on The Mousetrap and similar plays, The Real Inspector Hound (seen last year in a 1960s double bill at the Comedy Theatre with Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy). More recently, Arcadia, set in a Regency country house and looking at the nature of literary critcism, poetry and mathematics, and Indian Ink, a play which looked at the inter-action between British and Indian cultures, and was partly based on his wartime evacuation as a child to India. For all his Englishness, the product of a middle-class childhood in colonial Singapore and the British Raj, Stoppard was born in Czechoslovakia, and there is a very central European feel to his interest in philosophy and the world of ideas. This connection also resulted in a passionate interest in the plight of dissidents behind the Iron Curtain during the period of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and he worked closely with organisations like Index on Censorship and Amnesty International. Few playwrights would have the background or interest to write a trilogy based on Imperial Russian history and literature. Stoppard, however, is certain to justify Trevor Nunn's commission, and the act of commissioning is in itself a proof that the idea that Nunn has somehow lowered the tone at the National by produccing a handful of hit musicals (including Oklahoma!, South Pacific and My Fair Lady) is clearly unfair. This collaboration between two of the most distingusihed men in their fields over the last thirty-five years has produced the most eagerly-awaited (intellectually) heavyweight plays in London, and is likely to prove one of the highlights of Nunn's period as Director of the National, as well as giving theatre audiences a triple-whammy of Sir Tom Stoppard's sparkling and thought-provoking stagecraft. Previews for Voyage start on 27th June, Shipwreck on 8 July, and Salvage on 19th July. Press day for the trilogy is 3rd August. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chat room goss is that it will run through October:-)))))

An early review (sort of) on The Hours: http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=12328

"Sort of" is right..."Great perfomances, stately camera movements, atmosperhic music, one of the ten best....but won't sell" huh??

A more detailed commentary on The Hours at AICN, but this might be an earlier version of the film. http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=12387

Coast of Utopia page is up: http://fp.enter.net/~purrfect/coast.htm It seems Tom Stoppard has been writing this play for years....5? Sounds like his most ambitious yet. The plays will no doubt join the canon of British greats.A coup for Stephen to play Alexander Herzen in the inaugural production.

Another test screening review of The Hours at AICN: http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=12614 The acting in this movie is, as expected, phenomenal on everyone�s part. Everyone is a well thought out, intense, character. Everyone stands out in this movie, men and women. Nicole is completely unrecognizable under the makeup job they did. The only reason I knew it was her was because I checked out who she was playing before hand. She takes on a total transformation in body and voice. Everyone gives an oscar caliber performance. This movie is full of oscar moments. Everyone does something amazing in this movie.

". I liken this movie to Schindler?s List. It?s a movie I enjoyed thoroughly, but will never watch again for fear of killing my self. Get what I?m saying? Heavy, heavy stuff." OMG. This one sounds like a winner.Courageous of this cast to take this one on. David Hare script, Phillip Glass music....WOW

National Theater Stages Stoppard Marathon Sat Aug 3, 6:33 PM ET LONDON (Reuters) - The National Theater on Saturday completed a nine-hour, three-part play in a marathon sell-out session, ending with three curtain calls and a standing ovation, a theater spokeswoman said. With meal breaks, the world premiere of a new work by the Czech-born, British playwright Tom Stoppard lasted a punishing 12 hours. An estimated 1,000 people attended all three parts of the trilogy in the 1,300 seat Olivier auditorium, with others coming to watch just one or two of the play's parts, the spokeswoman said. The atmosphere at the end of the performance was "exhausted but elated," she added. Stoppard's "The Coast of Utopia" is made up of three self-contained, but sequential plays which trace a group of 19th century Russian radicals caught in a struggle for political freedom. The production, described by theater bosses as "unbelievably demanding," saw 30 actors playing 70 parts. Backroom staff fitted 416 costumes and 96 wigs. Stoppard, whose other works include "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," said his latest work had snowballed from an original idea for a single play. "I began to think I would need two plays," he told the Daily Telegraph. "Then I thought, let's go for broke." The back-to-back performance is booked for another eight appearances, though those lacking the nerve for an all-day event can catch each part of the trilogy in separate shows.

An exquisite review in the Financial Times by Alastair Macaulay. Some excerpts: ... I find this trilogy beautiful. Watching it for the first time, I found many passages when, while watching, I could not have said what each play was "about", where I could not see where Stoppard was heading; but, after the first play's first half-hour or so, I was happy just luxuriating in the sheer texture of the scenes Stoppard sets before us... I fell in love with the trilogy during a scene in Act One of Voyage (Part One) when eight different characters are spread across the stage, sitting and talking, all on different wavelengths, about poetry, the weather, philosophy, romance, and the history of a penknife. The scene becomes important later when Belinsky bursts into a passionate speech, but I was already in its thrall. "It restores one's faith in theatre", said my companion. Trevor Nunn's National Theatre production is superlative... Virtually all the acting is of a very high order, and most of the leading roles take their actors to new peaks in their careers. Guy Henry (Turgenev), Will Keen (Belinsky), Douglas Henshall (Bakunin), John Carlyle, Eve Best, Lucy Whybrow, Charlotte Emmerson, Raymond Coulthard, Felicity Dean all do superbly, and Stephen Dillane, apparently acting with that complete relaxation that Gielgud said was crucial to great acting, makes Herzen the heartbeat of the trilogy, as marvellously natural when he is just listening in a chair as when he is racked by the most powerful emotion. The meanings of the play cohere as you watch, not as narrative but as poetry, and keep growing in recollection.

and Stephen Dillane, apparently acting with that complete relaxation that Gielgud said was crucial to great acting, makes Herzen the heartbeat of the trilogy, as marvellously natural when he is just listening in a chair as when he is racked by the most powerful emotion. This is wonderful to read, being singled out like that. Douglas Henshall (Bakunin) Oh dear, he's playing a Russian again. Wonder if he's tamed his Scottish accent this time. ;-)

"makes Herzen the heartbeat of the trilogy, " What an accolade for an actor. "Coast" sounds like a winner all around.So happy for him after the creepy reviews Life After George received. Matt Wolf come through yet with a review? SD is his poster boy. Nice to have a critic who appreciates your work.

(Karen) Wonder if he's tamed his Scottish accent this time. ;-) ROTF. (Evelyn) So happy for him after the creepy reviews Life After George received. LOL. Alastair Macaulay is the same critic whose review of LAG was entitled "Play not good enough for its star".

Part of a review of Simon Russell Beale's Uncle Vanya at the Donmar. Simon has been getting wonderful notices, as is this one from the Financial Times. But the critic also had a nice mention of Stephen's production from 1998. THE ARTS: Praise for a beloved 'Uncle' By Alastair Macaulay Financial Times; Sep 24, 2002 Simon Russell Beale comes to the role of Chekhov's 47-year-old Uncle Vanya only 12 years after he played definitively, with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the 25-year-old Konstantin in The Seagull. The wonderful irony about Russell Beale is that, as Vanya (and Konstantin, and in many other roles), he is lovable even where he is unloved. His Vanya has warmth, pathos, humour, vulnerability, practical good sense, sweetness. When he loses control and runs amok with a gun, it wrings the heart. And he has the imagination that distinguishes the finest actors. London has seen first-rate Vanyas in the past 14 years - Michael Gambon, Ian McKellen, Stephen Dillane - and there have been others elsewhere (notably Wallace Shawn in Vanya on 42nd Street). I don't give Russell Beale first prize among these stars - the memory of Dillane's motionless pain in the final act of Katie Mitchell's 1998 Young Vic is still fresh in my memory...

Nice mention? I'd say more than that. So many of Stephen's stage appearances have left indellible images on the critics minds. v. impressive

Oh, thank heaven. A discussion board for someone who is intelligent, wry and handsome in an off-kilter way. :) I liked him lots in "The Rector's Wife." I saw part of "Firelight." An old Rickman fan, I applaud the daring theatre roles -- even though I can't hop a plane to London. Nice to know someone else uses both heart and head, as well as the rest of himself. Keep the reviews coming. :) Is it just me, or do the photos at the top of this board refuse to load for other people? Even after hitting "Refresh"? Please check the links. Thanks.

It's very possible that the pics were taken down from the other site, where they originated. If, when you right click, to "view the image" and you get an error message page, then you know the pic isn't there anymore.

"Duckface" wouldn't happen to be an actress I'd recognize from "4WA1F" or "Gosford Park"?

4 Weddings, yes.Not Gosford Park... Miss Bingley in P&P, Glynnis in WAGW,

Excerpt from a review of The Hours. The review can be found at: http://www.thehotbutton.com/today/hot.button/index.html "As great as the trio of actresses is, it is the supporting performances that really shine here. Alison Janney, Claire Danes and John C., Reilly are great. But Stephen Dillane, Miranda Richardson, Ed Harris and Collette are each worth the price of admission all by themselves."