The Following: Kevin Bacon, James Purefoy and Kevin Williamson Preview TV's Next Big Thriller (E!)

by Jenna Mullins

How do you get someone like Kevin Bacon to star in your TV show? Kevin Williamson (The Vampire Diaries) apparently has the key.

"When it came time to cast Ryan Hardy I was like, 'Well, we need someone like Kevin Bacon. We should get someone like Kevin Bacon,' thinking we'd never get someone like Kevin Bacon," Williamson tells us. Turns out, Kevin had all the ammunition he needed in the form of his pilot script.

"I knew that I wanted to do something that was heroic. And I knew that if I was going to do something heroic the guy would have to be complex and have vulnerabilities…and have a certain kind of damaged nature," Bacon says to us about his retired FBI character. "The show moves at a breakneck speed, and every time I get a new script, I pick it up and what I'm mostly amazed at is that both from a plot standpoint and from a character standpoint, there are so many things I don't see coming."

READ MORE OF THE STORY: http://www.eonline.com/news/380470/the-following-kevin-bacon-james-purefoy-and-kevin-williamson-preview-tv-s-next-big-thriller

Benedict Cumberbatch discusses the assumptions people make about him based on the characters he plays (THE GUARDIAN)

Benedict Cumberbatch: 'People assume things about you because of who you play.' Photograph: Spencer Murphy

It's been a while since Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch complained about "posh-bashing" and people castigating him as a "moaning, rich, public school bastard". He is complaining again – or is he? – in the latest issue of Radio Times, about the assumptions people make about him based on the characters he plays. "They know you from the trail you leave with your work," he told the listings magazine. "They assume things about you because of who you play and how you play them, and the other scraps floating around in the ether. People try to sew together a narrative out of scant fact."

READ MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mediamonkeyblog/2013/jan/08/is-benedict-cumberbatch-moaning

Jeremy Piven: Brit actors are so humble (BELFAST TELEGRAPH)

Jeremy Piven has revealed he reckons British stars are more modest than their US peers.

The New York-born actor plays the lead role in new ITV1 Sunday night drama Mr Selfridge alongside a cast including Katherine Kelly, Frances O'Connor and Samuel West.

"What's so interesting is this is the best cast I have ever worked with, and everyone is so unbelievably good and I'm not just saying that," he told Daybreak.

"I feel like everyone is overqualified for their role. In the States we really love to celebrate ourselves and take victory laps - that's what we do as Americans. And the Brits just go to work and they work really hard and they just get on with it and everyone works on a very high level and that's just the norm.



Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/news/piven-brit-actors-are-so-humble-16259221.html#ixzz2HUrAurWi

Tarantino: Idris Elba Not in ‘Django’ Because He’s a Brit January 6, 2013 | Posted by ABS Staff (ATLANTA BLACK STAR)

I know, we said no more Django Unchained posts. However, this isn’t so much a Django Unchained item (no critique nor praise of the film here), as much as it is a nod to several conversations and debates that you folks have had in various comment sections of this blog, relating to the casting of black British actors in roles as African-Americans (and vice-versa, or as Africans) whether on TV or film, as well as the, shall we say, “accent problem.”

So I thought it was worth sharing and elaborating on, as well as connecting it to previous conversations, regardless of where you stand on the matter.

In an interview with the U.K.’s Sun newspaper, while plugging the film across the pond, where it opens on the 18th of this month,Quentin Tarantino stated, while, Idris Elba was one of the actors he looked at for the lead role eventually played by Jamie Foxx, “he never stood a chance of getting the part,” because “he’s British.”

Tarantino said. “Yeah, Idris is British and this is an American story. I think a problem with a lot of movies that deal with this issue is they cast British actors to play the Southerners and it goes a long way to distancing the movie. They put on their gargoyle masks and they do their phoney accents and you are not telling an American story any more. They are just making hay of it, whether it be James Mason in Mandingo or Michael Caine in Hurry Sundown, they get British actors to do this.”

The first thing that I thought was, if he never really stood a chance of getting the part, why even look at him for the part in the first place…?

Although, I’ll say that while Idris did an excellent job portraying Stringer Bell in HBO’s The Wire, pulling off the accent rather well – so much that most audiences, and even many of his fellow Brits didn’t even know he was British – you might recall he did have some difficulty with his southern accent in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus last summer.

READ MORE: http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/01/06/tarantino-idris-elba-not-in-django-because-hes-a-brit/

In absence of Bette Midler to play lawyer, HBO film on Phil Spector falls to Plan B: Helen Mirren (NY DAILY NEWS)

DAVID HINCKLEY

PASADENA, Calif. — No Bette Midler?
No problem. Just ring up Helen Mirren.

When Midler had back problems that forced her to drop out of HBO’s upcoming movie on Phil Spector, titled “Spector,” the producers fortunately had a Plan B: Mirren.

We should all plan so well.

The British actress is better known for elegant BBC productions than the crazy world of the convicted record producer, which premieres next month. But she told TV critics here she enjoyed the ride — and that having no time to research the role wasn’t a problem.

“It’s a strange amalgamation of imagination and reality,” Mirren told TV critics here. “The imaginative part, I think, is as important as the realistic element.”


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/helen-mirren-subs-midler-hbo-phil-spector-biopic-article-1.1233829#ixzz2HDJdgEC6

Watch: Teaser Trailer For 'Parade's End' Starring Benedict Cumberbatch & Rebecca Hall

BY KEVIN JAGERNAUTH, The Playlist
JANUARY 4, 2013 5:29 PM

Well, that was fast. Just a few hours after HBO announced that they'll be bringing the U.K. miniseries "Parade's End" starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall to American shores next month, they've gone ahead and dropped the first teaser trailer. And yes, it's look pretty damn good.



READ MORE: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-teaser-trailer-for-parades-end-starring-benedict-cumberbatch-rebecca-hall-20130104?_tmc=D_o9I06a_8slt4iX8bOKsxgr0J-7w4uFjdcWMyPb4kY