simon callow Tagged Articles at Cinematical

When shivering to the sounds of Iron Maiden, one never dreamed that some day Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer would one day be swanking it with the stars at the Cannes Film Festival. The BBC announced Dickinson's coup, noting that he's flying to Cannes himself (he's a pilot) as well as playing on an American tour this year. Dickinson co-wrote the upcoming film Chemical Madness with director Julian Doyle, who directed the Maiden's 1988 video "Can I Play With Madness?" Principal photography wrapped in September 2007.

It's all not to be confused with Dickinson's 1998 album The Chemical Wedding which concerns such arcana as alchemy, Rosicrucian thought and William Blake's prophecies. Monstersagogo.com has the poster with a scary flaming pentagram on it, as well as a link to a Reuters interview that I couldn't open. We do know that Simon Callow -- a first-rate actor and author of an authoratative study on Orson Welles -- is going to be playing the reincarnation of Aleister Crowley (seen above in a pointy hat), the world's most intimidating asthmatic bisexual. Crowley has always put the scare into British populace in general and British musicians in particular. Jimmy Page, for one, took pride in owning Bolskine House, the address of the Beast.

And now for a classic movie tie-in: "The most evil man who ever lived" was personally known to Preston Sturges, whose mother was temporarily a disciple. Crowley referred to Sturges "the brat" in the book The Great Beast. In his autobiography Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges, the great comedy film director returned the insult, commented that Crowley's modified mohawk haircut was "nauseating," his fingers were fat, and he had the habit of cutting himself rather like a depressed female high school student. But Sturges didn't underestimate Crowley. "Reading about some of his subsequent exploits," Sturges concluded, "I realize my mother and I were lucky to escape with our lives. If I had been a little older, he might not have escaped with his."

Here in America, our box office returns show that we're awash in aliens, predators, chipmunks, secrets and a self-made legend, but Swedish cinema lovers supported one of their own when it opened on Christmas Day. Variety reports that Arn: The Knight Templar has earned a robust $2.2 million in its first two days of release. That breaks down to a per-screen average of $10,821 at 207 engagements and is the "biggest opening ever" for a Swedish film in its homeland.

As I reported in August, Arn is the most expensive film and TV project ever made in Scandanavia, budgeted at $30 million to adapt the trilogy by Jan Guillou into two movies and a TV series. The books revolve around a fictional character forced into service as a Knight Templar during the Crusades. Variety says that local reviews "ranged from positive to negative with the majority falling somewhere in-between," but producer Valdemar Bergendahl gave the mixed reaction a positive spin: "It was expected. But I'm happy with all the copy that has been written about the film. It has shown what great interest there is in it." There's a good producer for you: any news is good news!

Arn will expand from Sweden and Norway into Denmark and Finland in the next two months, with the second feature film scheduled for release next fall. In the meantime, an international version will be stitched together from the two features; already it's been sold in 10 territories. With a cast that includes Stellan Skarsgård (Breaking the Waves), Mads Mikkelsen (After the Wedding), Vincent Perez (Queen Margot), Bibi Andersson (Persona), Simon Callow (A Room with a View) and Michael Nyqvist (Next Door), we'll wait to see if any US festivals or distributors display an interest.

2008 should be a very big year for Jim Broadbent. In May, we'll see the Oscar-winning actor appear alongside Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (as Indy's academic colleague). Then, later in the year, we'll see him in another giant franchise. According to Dark Horizons, Broadbent has definitely been cast in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as the new (formerly retired) potions teacher Horace Slughorn (hmm, from crystal skulls to crystallized pineapple -- next up: a Crystal Gayle biopic?). As one of today's finest English actors, it's hard to believe he hasn't already appeared in the series, which is known for its casting of the best of the Brits. I guess it just took the perfect role to come around for him to finally be considered. Sure, Jette had suggested Simon Callow for the role, but I think Broadbent will do a much finer job. Plus, we already know from Topsy-Turvy and Moulin Rouge! that he looks great with a big mustache.

I must remind that Half-Blood Prince is the first Potter book that I didn't read, and so I'm not too familiar with Slughorn, aside from what I've read and seen. The character returns to his position at Hogwarts, at the suggestion of Dumbledore, after many years of retirement, because he's to be a valuable asset in the battle against the Death Eaters. With Snape now moved to the job of teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, Slughorn takes over the potions class he had taught for near-half a century. He also re-starts the Slug Club, an exclusive extra-curricular society made up of celebrated or favored Hogwarts students, including Harry, of course. Compared to J.K. Rowling's description of Slughorn, as well as Mary GrandPré's illustration of him, Broadbent may be too tall and not quite fat enough. But rest assured the actor will be perfect in his "tweedy" costumes and aged makeup. And hopefully the fans think so, since Broadbent will likely be required to return in the role for Deathly Hallows.