ITV

Category: International

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger signs second film

    Arnold Schwarzenegger signs second film

    MUMBAI: Arnold Schwarzenegger, who some time ago marked his return to films when he signed up for The Last Stand, is in talks to star in an action film Captive.

    The film will have him play an American real estate mogul who is kidnapped and held for ransom. The character, he will play, is held in an armoured truck hidden in a Sao Paolo landfill from which he tries to escape.

    No other casting announcements have yet been made.

    Once a director for the film is finalized, the filmmaker Furls Films hope to start filming Captive next year.

    Schwarzenegger‘s link to the film comes days after it was revealed he will play a small role in Sylvester Stallone‘s The Expendables 2.

  • Antonio Banderas and Jessica Alba reign at ALMA awards

    Antonio Banderas and Jessica Alba reign at ALMA awards

    MUMBAI: The National Council of La Raza to honour Latino artists, which promotes a positive image of their community recently presented top honours to Antonio Banderas and Jessica Alba at the ALMA awards.

    While Banderas received the award for best actor for his work in the Woody Allen film You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, Alba lapped up the best actress prize for her role in Machete.

    A Better Life, about illegal immigration, won in the best film category, beating out From Prada to Nada, Machete, Rio and Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World.

    Actress Eva Longoria and comedian George Lopez were in charge of hosting Sunday‘s gala event. Longoria, who changed outfits multiple times during the ceremony, took home – along with castmates Felicity Huffman and Marcia Cross – the ALMA prize for best television series for Desperate Housewives.

  • Russian film Faust wins top honour at Venice fest

    Russian film Faust wins top honour at Venice fest

    MUMBAI: Russian film Faust directed by Aleksander Sokurov has won the Golden Lion for the Best Film at the 68th Venice International Film Festival.

    The Silver Lion for Best Director was awarded to Shangjun CAI for his film Ren Shan Ren Hai.
    The Coppa Volpi award for the best actor was awarded to Michael Fassbender in the film Shame while the best actress award was presented to Deanie Yip for Tao jie. The Marcello Mastroianni award for the best new young actor or actress was won by Shota Sometani and Fumi Nikaidô for the film Himizu directed by Sion Sono.

    Among the technical awards, UK-based Robbie Ryan won the Osella for the best cinematography for the film Wuthering Heights directed by Andrea Arnold, while the Osella award for best screenplay was annexed by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou for Alpis (Alps) directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.

    The special jury prize went to Terraferma by Emanuele Crialese of Italy.

    Indian films that were screened at the festival were Amit Dutta’s Sonchidi and Gurvinder Singh’s Anhey Ghore Da Daan.

    The festival ended on 10 September with the award ceremony.

  • Andy Whitfield ‘Spartacus’ no more

    Andy Whitfield ‘Spartacus’ no more

    MUMBAI: 39-year old Andy Whitfield, who is known for Spartacus: Blood and Sand has expired in Sydney. His death came 18 months after he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, it is understood.


    “On a beautiful sunny Sydney spring morning, surrounded by his family, in the arms of his loving wife, our beautiful young warrior Andy Whitfield lost his 18 month battle with lymphoma cancer,” Whitfield‘s wife Vashti has been quoted in a statement.
    “He passed peacefully surrounded by love. Thank you to all his fans whose love and support have help carry him to this point. He will be remembered as the inspiring, courageous and gentle man, father and husband he was,” she added.
     
    Andy Whitfield – who was born in Wales and moved to Australia in 1999 – was a virtual unknown when he was cast as the legendary Thracian slave in Spartacus, a role made
    famous by Kirk Douglas in the 1960 Stanley Kubrick film.
     
    In all, the actor appeared in all 13 episodes of the first season that aired in 2010 and was preparing to shoot the second when he was diagnosed with Cancer.

  • Knightley to play Anna Karenina

    Knightley to play Anna Karenina

    MUMBAI: Keira Knightley, know for her films Pride & Prejudice and Atonement is set to star in Joe Wright‘s adaptation of the epic Leo Tolstoy novel Anna Karenina. She 26-year-old will be seen opposite Jude Law and Aaron Johnson in the film.
     
    “Joe Wright will direct the epic romance Anna Karenina, adapted from Leo Tolstoy‘s classic novel by Academy award winner Tom Stoppard. The film made under the banner of Working Title Films, will be filmed in the UK and Russia this month.
     
    Anna Karenina was published in 1873, the novel is considered one of the world‘s great pieces of literature and is the story of love within the Russian aristocracy.
     
    Knightley first came to national attention after starring in 2002 comedy drama Bend It Like Beckham and gained international recognition following her appearance opposite Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.

  • Mel Gibson set to make biblical drama

    Mel Gibson set to make biblical drama

    MUMBAI: Mel Gibson, who was acclaimed for his 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, is set to produce a biblical drama about Jewish hero Judas Maccabeus.
     
    The 55-year old actor producer Gibson is working with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas to tell the story of the celebrated Jewish warrior, who defeated the Greek-Syrian armies in the second century BC and inspired the Hanukkah celebration, it is gathered.
     
    It is said that Gibson wanted to do a film on Maccabee for more than a decade. The Jewish warrior, considered to be one of the great warriors in Jewish history, led a popular revolt against he Seleucid king Antiochus IV, seizing Jerusalem and reconsecrating the Temple, an event remembered by the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

  • Depp’s Rango to receive Hollywood animation award

    Depp’s Rango to receive Hollywood animation award

    MUMBAI: Johnny Depp‘s film Rango is all set to receive the 2011 Hollywood Animation Award.
     
    The film, directed by Gore Verbinski, will be honoured at the at the 15th annual Hollywood Film Festival‘s gala ceremony on 24 October in Beverly Hills.
     
    “It is a great pleasure to recognize Rango as the recipient of our animation award. This piece of cinematic treasure borders on surrealism and Rango will be a classic for generations to come,” said, the Hollywood Film Festival founder and executive director Carlos de Abreu has been quoted to have said.


    The 48-year od Depp voiced for the titular lizard character in the film that also has the voices of Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone and Timothy Olyphant.

  • Russel Crowe in Les Miserables!

    Russel Crowe in Les Miserables!

    MUMBAI: Russell Crowe is in talks to star opposite Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables, Universal and Working Title‘s big-screen musical adaptation to be directed by Tom Hooper. The film has been set for a 7 December, 2012 release.


    In addition, Helena Bonham Carter, who starred in Hooper‘s The King Speech, is also in talks for an important role in the film.
     
    Crowe will play Javert, the uncompassionate police inspector who will stop at nothing to recapture Jean Valjean (Jackman), the man who steals bread to feed his sister and spends the ensuing years in prison (or trying to escape it) while also becoming the guardian of a young woman named Cosette.
     
    The story is set against the backdrop of a 19th century French rebellion. Carter would play Thenardier‘s greedy wife.
    William Nicholson wrote the script and the movie will use Claude-Michel Schoenberg‘s score from the beloved musical, which is based on the Victor Hugo book.

  • Telluride fest honours Clooney

    MUMBAI: George Clooney and Tilda Swinton were honoured at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado for their contributions to the world of films.
     
    While Clooney received a Silver Medallion award for his significant contribution to the cinema world, Swinton and Pierre Etaix also received the honour.
     
    The stars turned out for the 38th annual festival that saw the screenings of films including The Descendants, The Artist and Albert Nobbs, and Butter, Contactmusic reported.

  • Atkinson mulls retiring as Mr Bean

    MUMBAI: Rowan Atkinson, who reprised the role of Mr Bean, is mulling with the idea to hang up his boots as he feels that he is too old to play the funnyman anymore. The 56-year-old actor last played the character in the Holiday.
     
    Mr Bean first appeared on television in an ITV series that ran for five years from 1990. Despite the derision of some critics, the programme proved a huge ratings success with viewers amounting to more than 18 million, it is reported. The character even made its foray into movies with Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie in 1997 and Mr Bean‘s Holiday in 2007.
     
    Said Atkinson, “I‘ve got a feeling I probably won‘t play the character again. Never say never, but I just feel I‘m getting too old for it. I‘ve always liked Mr Bean as a cartoon-like figure, who doesn‘t really age much. I‘ve always seen him as an ageless and timeless being and I‘m clearly not ageless and timeless. The older I get, I feel I am less qualified to play him.”