Tag Archives: ian McKellen

Dates for your diary

Lots of celebs will be out and about in London over the next few weeks so here are a few dates you might want to make note of:

May 26: Sir Ian McKellen will be at the Apple Store on Regent Street to promote his new film, Mr Holmes. He plays a much older Sherlock Holmes who is living in retirement but has started thinking back to one unsolved case from 30 years ago.

May 27: Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law and Jason Statham will walk the red carpet at the UK premiere of their new film, Spy.

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McCarthy stars as a CIA operative who finds herself working undercover for the first time. The film also features Miranda Hart in her first Hollywood role. The premiere is at the Odeon Leicester Square.

Also on Wednesday, Rhys Ifans attends a special screening of his new TV drama, The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, at BAFTA. The four part drama, directed by Jake Chapman, will be screened on Sky Arts.

On Thursday, Daniel Rigby and Sarah Alexander will also be at BAFTA to promote their new show for Dave, Undercover. The comedy series follows an undercover police officer who finds himself hopelessly out of his depth when he infiltrates an Armenian crime family.

On June 1, Gemma Chan will be at BFI Southbank for a preview screening of her big new UK/US scifi series, Humans.

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The show will be broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 and The drama is set in a world where the new must-have gadget is a “Synth”—an eerily lifelike robotic servant.

Greg Wise, George MacKay and Jessica Barden will be at the BFI on June 3 for the first screening of their BBC drama, The Outcast. The two part drama is based on the novel by Sadie Jones and follows a young boy who struggles to fir into life in post-War Britain following the death of his beloved mother.

The Entourage gang hit London on June 9 for the UK premiere of the big screen version of the hit show. Adrian Grenier, Jeremy Piven, Kevin Dillon and Thierry Henry (!) are all expected to walk the red carpet at the premiere which takes place at Vue West End.

Ian McKellen describes Beauty and the Beast table read

It’s not often actors reveal information about what happens before the cameras start rolling on a major film, but Sir Ian McKellen has written about the table read for his new film, Beauty and the Beast.

Reading McKellen’s words you can tell he’s really excited about what’s to come, not least because he’ll be singing and dancing!

He took to Twitter to describe the first read through for the film’s cast.

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With McKellen’s description and Josh Gad’s cast selfie, I’m starting to get really excited about this film.

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News round-up April 12

A quick round-up of some of the news you might have missed this week including Ian McKellen, Daniel Radcliffe, the Avengers and dates for your diary.

Continue reading News round-up April 12

2015 preview: Theatre

2015 kicks off with the return of James McAvoy to the London stage.

He opens in The Ruling Class at the Trafalgar Studios on January 16. The play is about a paranoid schizophrenic with a Messiah complex who inherits his father’s Earldom.

So nothing like the Earl of Grantham in Downton then!

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In March, Emma Thompson returns to the London stage for the first time in 25 years as she co-stars with Bryn Terfel in Sweeney Todd at the ENO.

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It’s a really limited run – just 13 performances – and the show went down a storm when it was performed in New York in early 2014. I have tickets and I can not wait!

Another Hollywood star set to tread the London boards in 2015 is Damian Lewis who will lead the cast of a new production of David Mamet’s American Buffalo.

The play will run from April to June and it explores the fickle nature of honour among thieves.

No date yet, but I’m really excited about the return of Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart to London.

They’re teaming up again for a staging of No Man’s Land. I saw it in New York in 2013 and recommend it!

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And finally the biggest thing in theatre in 2015 sold out within minutes of going on sale in 2014.

Benedict Cumberbatch will play the gloomy Dane in Hamlet at the Barbican in the autumn. I suspect it’s going to be huge.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies clip

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies finally arrives in cinemas on Friday.

I’ve seen it and it pains me to say it, but I think it’s the weakest of all the Middle-earth films.

The first hour drags until it gets to the battle and then you see why Peter Jackson is an absolute master at action sequences.

And I admit, I spent the final 20 minutes in tears – Martin Freeman, who isn’t on screen that much, is fantastic!

Here’s a clip of Freeman’s Bilbo getting all feisty with Gandalf

The Hobbit world premiere – live stream

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Are you as excited/sad as I am about the world premiere of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies? I’m excited because that means I’ll get to see it soon but I’m also incredibly sad as I don’t want to say goodbye.

Anyway the big world premiere takes place in London on Monday evening and if you can’t make it there’s a live stream! Hurrah.

Peter Jackson will walk the green carpet alongside his cast including Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lily, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, Lee Pace, Andy Serkis, Stephen Fry, Sylvester McCoy, Mikael Persbrandt, Ryan Gage, John Bell, Aidan Turner, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Adam Brown, Jed Brophy and Billy Boyd.

It all starts at 5.30pm and you can watch it here: https://www.warnerbros.co.uk/insider/articles/2014/november/watch-the-world-premiere-of-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-live-from-the-green-carpet

The Hobbit – final trailer

So here we are then, the final trailer for the final Hobbit film has been released. This is the last time we’ll ever see a trailer for one of Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth films and it makes me very sad.

I absolutely loved Lord of the Rings and always name the trilogy as my favourite film. I’ve enjoyed The Hobbit but it’s never real,y lived up to my expectations. I hope The Battle of the Five Armies gives the series a fitting send-off and actually the trailer looks pretty epic.

i both look forward to and dread seeing the final film – it really will be the end of a chapter for me, I started writing about LotR before Fellowship was even released and 14 years later it’s time to say goodbye…

http://youtu.be/Y6Fv5StfAxA