Tag: Sean Connery (Page 1 of 2)

A Chat with Robert Carlyle of “Stargate Universe”

To the world at large, Robert Carlyle is best known for his roles in “The Full Monty” and “Trainspotting,” though James Bond aficionados likely remember him more fondly for his villainous turn as Renard in “The World Is Not Enough.” Since 2009, however, sci-fi buffs have been thrilling to Carlyle’s work on “Stargate Universe,” where he plays the ever-scheming Dr. Nicholas Rush. Premium Hollywood had a chance to chat with Carlyle just as the series returns for its second season, and in addition to offering up a few ideas of what we can expect to see from Rush in the near future, he discussed his opportunity to direct an “SGU” episode, which actor on the show he’d like to work with more often, and what led him to venture away from motion pictures and take this gig in the first place.

Stay tuned for…

Premium Hollywood: Hello, Robert, how are you?

Robert Carlyle: Very well, thanks.

PH: It’s good to speak with you again. You and I chatted briefly a few years ago when you were at the TCA tour.

RC: Oh, right, okay!

PH: Well, you’ve been talking up Season 2 of “Stargate Universe” since Comic-Con in late July. You’ve got to be glad it’s finally here!

RC: Yeah! You know, it’s one of these things where suddenly it’s upon you! You get in the middle of it up there in Vancouver, and then it’s, like, “Okay, we’re on!” (Laughs)

PH: I’ve read some of the reports about your panel there. It sounded like you guys had a good time.

RC: Yes, absolutely! But, I mean, I enjoy everything about this. I really, really do love everything about this job. There’s nothing at all that’s upset me so far, or else I’d be gone. I wouldn’t be here. (Laughs) I’d be off doing something else. But this is all good .

PH: Do you enjoy the Comic-Con experience?

RC: Well, you know, you’re supposed to say that you don’t. Actors are supposed to say, “Nah, I hated it.” To be honest with ye, the first time ‘round, the first year, was a wee bit strange. It’s a strange, strange world. This time, I really enjoyed it. I really began to understand it a little bit more, what the convention’s about, and understanding that a lot of these people, the fans that come to these things, they meet each other at other conventions, and there’s kind of like a little community…and I felt kind of honored to be part of that this time. So I enjoyed it. I sat beside my wife one night, and the zombie parade came past…like, a thousand zombies came past the table. That’s not something you’re going to see every day, you know? (Laughs)

PH: Plus, you’ve got zombie street cred, thanks to “28 Weeks Later.”

RC: Well, you know something? I’m sitting there, I’ve got my shades on and my beard, but there were still zombies who stopped to shake my hand as they walked past. (Laughs) I thought, “My God, you’re real fans of that genre, aren’t ye?”

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Movie news for a semi-new week

I was going to put this off as long as possible this week, but the movie news tonight is like a burden upon my soul.

* In case you haven’t heard, the epic speculation about just who will play the Pippi Longstocking-via-the-Velvet-Underground Lisbeth Salender of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” (American style) is over. The part has gone to 25 year-old Rooney Mara. Anne Thompson has the inside dope on this relative unknown.

rooney-mara

Still, I find the comparisons with the legendary battle to cast the role of Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind” to be slightly much. It’s more like casting Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter or Sean Connery as James Bond.

The obvious differences aside, Connery was, by the way, very much like Mara. He was actually the second person to play the role. The first was Gene Barry in a nationality flipped 1954 TV version of “Casino Royale” in which “Jimmy Bond” was American and “Clarence Leiter” was British.

* As if we Angelenos don’t have enough problems with aliens invading our town and the ensuing legal battles therein. The President’s in L.A. raising money from the godless sodomites of H-wood with help from communist money hating writer-producer-director-moguls John Wells and J.J. Abrams. And we know what this means — a new round of liberal criticism of the Obama Administration for, yes, the traffic. Even Hef was bothered.

* I once transcribed and informally partially edited an “as told to” book by the son of the entrepreneurial founder of a major multinational with huge ties to the film industry through his son. Nikki Finke today reminds me of a quip the second-generation captain of industry quoted: “There’s nothing wrong with nepotism, as long as you keep it in the family.”

* It sounds like he’ll be okay, but think good thoughts for Michael Douglas anyway.

* Because of my recent roundtable piece with Kevin Pollak, I’ve been giving his interview program a listen. Ironically, Christopher Walken, like William “the Shat” Shatner before him, is jumping into the interview game, perhaps inspired by Pollak for all anyone knows. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I’ve heard.

* Some of my best friends have post-graduate degrees in psychology but, Lord amighty, headline grabbing psychologists and their journalistic/PR enablers can really produce a special kind of stupid and shallow when they go all pop-cultural on us. Get this:

“In today’s media, superheroes and slackers are the only two options boys have,” said Lamb. “Boys are told, if you can’t be a superhero, you can always be a slacker.”

They were writing the same thing when I was kid, only the terms were different. I’d give you a more detailed case on why I consider this complete idiocy, but since I’m clearly not a superhero, I must be a slacker. (H/t Anne Thompson.)

slacker

“Robin and Marian” — your weekend online viewing tip

Crackle is offering up the entirety of what I’m pretty sure will stand as the greatest revisionist film about Robin Hood ever made. Directed by the underrated Richard Lester (“A Hard Day’s Night,” among many others) and with a knockout, if not 100% taut, screenplay by James Goldman (‘The Lion in Winter”), this clearly post-Vietnam view of Robin Hood is bitter and comic and bracingly cynical about the bloodthirsty nature of power, while being ravishingly romantic about true love. It helped solidify Sean Connery’s post-Bond career and started a late career comeback for 47 year-old Audrey Hepburn, more moving than ever.  Since this was the mid-seventies, Robert Shaw was the villain — though Richard Harris’s genocidal Lionheart wasn’t exactly nice — and was absolutely perfect as a badass Sheriff of Nottingham. Imperfect, perhaps, but all in all, pretty hard to top.

If you just want a taste right now, here’s a slightly corny trailer that will give you some idea of what you’re in for.

H/t to my currently blog-less friend Zayne for this one.

Your end of week movie news dump

A ton has happened since my last of these posts and I’m sure I’m missing plenty, but here are just a few of the interesting things going on in the movie world as this rather loony week finally ends.

* Bryan Singer will be producing, not directing, the next “X-Men” prequel. He’ll be directing “Jack, the Giant Killer” instead. And another Mike Fleming story, an exclusive this time: “Paranormal Activity 2” has a director. He’s Tod Williams, best known for “The Door in the Floor.” Sounds to me like Paramount is keeping things modest, wisely.

* The very ill Dennis Hopper got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today.  Amy Kaufman has video of the ceremony which included Hopper rather gently chiding the paparazzi for an incident which caused him to fall. The video itself ends with photographers yelling “Viggo!” and “Jack!”

* Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood” with Russell Crowe as Robin will be opening Cannes this year. The plot description put me somewhat in mind of the angle the great director Richard Lester and writer James Goldman took on the legend in a film I’m quite partial to, “Robin and Marian,” which starred Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn.

robin-hood-russell-crowe-and-his-merry-men

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Give ‘Em Hell Malone

Director Russell Mulcahy may be responsible for bringing the “Highlander” franchise to the big screen, but he’s fallen pretty far since working with the likes of Sean Connery. After a long stint in the music video business and some terrible sequels to other film franchises like “Resident Evil” and “The Scorpion King,” Mulcahy’s career doesn’t show any signs of improving with his latest B-movie, “Give ‘Em Hell Malone.” Thomas Jane stars as the title character, a hardboiled detective type who finds himself in hot water with the local mob boss after he fails to turn over the case he was hired to retrieve. What’s inside the case, you ask? You don’t want to know, but it’s pretty stupid considering all the crap that Malone has to go through to keep it safe. At the top of that list are the bad guys hired to take him down. Ving Rhames looks annoyed he agreed to even appear in the film, while Doug Hutchison goes a little too far over the top as a sadistic arsonist who calls himself – wait for it – Matchstick. (Did they just use a random villain name generator for that one?) Not even Jane seems completely up for it, and he’s starred in movies far worse than this, because although it’s a fun nod to the pulp noir genre, “Give ‘Em Hell Malone” is every bit deserving of being dumped direct to DVD.

Click to buy “Give ‘Em Hell Malone”

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