Rhys Ifans Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Review: Pirate Radio
Filed under: Comedy », Music & Musicals », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », Focus Features »
Tethered to reality by only a slender thread, Pirate Radio quickly cuts loose and floats off into its own imaginary layer of the Earth's atmosphere, where only good-hearted, pleasant-thinking, die-hard romantics can survive. Welcome home, Richard Curtis, where have you been?
Writer/director Curtis rose to fame on the basis of his screenplay for Four Weddings and a Funeral, featuring an ensemble of quirky yet appealing men and women chasing love and happiness, followed, notably, by his script for Notting Hill, but he's been writing off-kilter comedy sketches and episodic television for many years. Pirate Radio proves that his gift for writing witty one-liners and creating funny situations remains intact. His skills as a film director and shaper of material are a little more fuzzy and undefined, however.
As with Love, Actually, his previous directorial effort, Pirate Radio (AKA The Boat That Rocked) is filled with episodes that feel randomly assembled, knit together by proximity and happenstance more than narrative necessity. For all the laughter and positive feelings that Pirate Radio generates, it's a lightweight treatment of a potentially heavyweight subject.
Ben Stiller Gets His 'Greenberg' Cast
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Casting »
These days, we've become accustomed to watching projects get oversaturated with big-name talent. Step by step, the biggies sign on until there's literally no room left on the big screen. But Noah Baumbach is switching things up with Greenberg and creating a pretty fresh cast of big-name talent, mumblecore, newbies, and international flavor.Variety reports that Brie Larson, Rhys Ifans, and Juno Temple are joining Ben Stiller and Greta Gerwig in the upcoming dramedy. The Baumbach story focuses on a New Yorker (Stiller) who moves to LA to figure out his life while housesitting for his brother, and ends up getting involved with his brother's assistant (Gerwig). Ifans will play Stiller's best friend, who is going through a divorce, while Larson will provide herself as "college-age temptation," and Temple plays her friend.
I'm thinking we've finally got someone to give Ellen Page a run for her money. These days, young talent that doesn't take the mainstream path is hard to find, but Larson is picking a pretty interesting mix of projects thus far -- including her television time as Toni Collette's daughter on United States of Tara. Mix that with Ben Stiller getting back to dramedy, and how can you go wrong?
The Infamous Howard Marks to Hit the Screen as 'Mr. Nice'
Filed under: Drama », Casting »
On the one side, there's Howard Marks -- international drug smuggler and U.K. spy. On the other, there's some faces that you might not expect to find in international drug and spy territory. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Rhys Ifans, Chloe Sevigny, and David Thewlis are wrapping up negotiations to star in Mr. Nice -- Bernard Rose's adaptation of Marks' autobiography of the same name. Ifans, who long ago played Puff in Michel Gondry's Human Nature, will head the cast as Marks. Once Britain's most-wanted man, he morphed from Oxford grad and teacher into a drug smuggler -- all to impress his wife Judy (Sevigny). Thewlis comes into the picture as an Irish Republican Army boss he asks for a job, which leads Marks to his other gig -- informant for British intelligence.
But wait -- don't expect lots of violence and action -- according to Wikipedia, Marks says that he never used violence during his smuggling career. But with these actors, and the director behind Immortal Beloved, methinks the action won't matter.
Kenneth Branagh and Rhys Ifans Board 'The Boat that Rocked'
Filed under: Comedy », Music & Musicals », Casting », Universal »
It was over a year ago that news first surfaced about Richard Curtis' (Love Actually) rock 'n' roll comedy, The Boat that Rocked. But at the time, there was no cast in sight. Well, we've waited long enough, and now it looks Curtis has finally found his stars. Variety reports that Rhys Ifans and Kenneth Branagh have signed to star in the musical flick for Universal and Working Title Productions.The story is set in the wild and heady times known as the 1970s. The two men will play pirate radio DJ's who run their station from a leaky boat out at sea. When an American woman comes to visit the deejays, she falls for her boyfriend's pal (Ifans) and chaos ensues. Joining Branagh and Ifans is January Jones (best know as the depressed hausfrau on TV's Mad Men) as the beguiling American gal.
Curtis wrote the script himself and will also direct. The story has been described as "Animal House meets Titanic," which probably isn't the most likely pairing of styles, but what can you do? Ifans has made a name for himself in ensemble comedies playing characters that are a little -- shall we say, 'out there'? Branagh, on the other hand, might not seem to be the obvious choice for a comedy, but if you have seen A Midwinter's Tale, then you know that he has a few giggles up his sleeve. So in the end, it seems that the two actors make a good fit for the seemingly 'wacky' flick. The Boat that Rocked is set to start shooting in early March on location in London.
Mwah: Shaken (not stirred) by a Kiss
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy », Fandom », DIY/Filmmaking », James Bond »
I've tried as hard as conceivably possible to avoid this story because it's about as lame as a story can get: Daniel Craig, my fantasy-husband and your future James Bond, has been caught kissin' a man -- specifically, Truman Capote, in the latest Capote biopic, Infamous. As we are all likely aware, Mr. Craig will play the role of Perry Smith, one of the duo of killers Capote interviews as the subject for his book, In Cold Blood. This news has turned up everywhere, absurdly. Basically, I'm of the opinion that Mr. Craig may kiss whomever he wants and take whichever movie roles he'd like, regardless of what the script calls for him to do with his lips. Frankly, I love him and he can do no wrong. What totally upsets me is that none of these articles acknowledges that this is not the first time Mr. Craig has kissed another man onscreen, and by failing to acknowledge this, all these cheesy gossip rags have overlooked an excellent, important film of Mr. Craig's - 2004's Enduring Love. Maybe this latest kiss is catching all the flak because Craig's character entered into it voluntrily, unlike his kiss in Love with Rhys Ifans, which came at the tensest moment in the film. But Craig's character in Love is the Devil certainly voluntarily submits to a love affair with British painter Francis Bacon, played by Derek Jacobi. I've never seen Love is the Devil, but I think you get the idea that Enduring Love is highly recommended.
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