1.
Royal Opera House
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The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is referred to as simply Covent Garden. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, originally called the Theatre Royal, it served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented, a year later, Handels first season of operas began. Many of his operas and oratorios were written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there. The current building is the theatre on the site following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1856. The façade, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858, the main auditorium seats 2,256 people, making it the third largest in London, and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery. The proscenium is 12.20 m wide and 14.80 m high, the main auditorium is a Grade I listed building. The letters patent remained in the possession of the patentees heirs until the 19th century, in 1728, John Rich, actor-manager of the Dukes Company at Lincolns Inn Fields Theatre, commissioned The Beggars Opera from John Gay. In addition, a Royal Charter had created a fruit and vegetable market in the area, at its opening on 7 December 1732, Rich was carried by his actors in processional triumph into the theatre for its opening production of William Congreves The Way of the World. Despite the frequent interchangeability between the Covent Garden and Drury Lane companies, competition was intense, often presenting the plays at the same time. Rich introduced pantomime to the repertoire, himself performing and a tradition of seasonal pantomime continued at the modern theatre, in 1734, Covent Garden presented its first ballet, Pygmalion. Marie Sallé discarded tradition and her corset and danced in diaphanous robes, george Frideric Handel was named musical director of the company, at Lincolns Inn Fields, in 1719, but his first season of opera, at Covent Garden, was not presented until 1734. His first opera was Il pastor fido followed by Ariodante, the première of Alcina, there was a royal performance of Messiah in 1743, which was a success and began a tradition of Lenten oratorio performances. From 1735 until his death in 1759 he gave regular seasons there and he bequeathed his organ to John Rich, and it was placed in a prominent position on the stage, but was among many valuable items lost in a fire that destroyed the theatre on 20 September 1808. In 1792 the architect Henry Holland rebuilt the auditorium, within the shell of the building but deeper and wider than the old auditorium. Rebuilding began in December 1808, and the second Theatre Royal, the Old Price Riots lasted over two months, and the management was finally forced to accede to the audiences demands. During this time, entertainments were varied, opera and ballet were presented, kemble engaged a variety of acts, including the child performer Master Betty, the great clown Joseph Grimaldi made his name at Covent Garden
2.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
3.
Atonement (film)
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Atonement is a 2007 British romantic drama war film directed by Joe Wright and based on Ian McEwans 2001 novel of the same name. The film stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai and it was produced by Working Title Films and filmed in England. Distributed in most of the world by Universal Studios, it was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 7 September 2007, a commercial success, the film earned a worldwide gross of approximately $129 million against a budget of $30 million. Critics gave the positive reviews, praising its acting performances, its cinematography. Atonement won an Oscar for Best Original Score at the 80th Academy Awards and it also garnered fourteen nominations at the 61st British Academy Film Awards, winning both Best Film and Production Design, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. In 1935, Briony Tallis is a 13-year-old girl from a wealthy English family and has just finished writing a play. Briony attempts to stage the play with her three visiting cousins, twin boys and their sister, Lola, however, they get bored. Briony stays behind and witnesses a significant moment of tension between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, a servants son. Robbie returns home and writes several drafts of letters to Cecilia, including one that is explicitly sexual, initially written for the sake of humour, he does not intend to send it and sets it aside. On his way to join the Tallis family for dinner, Robbie asks Briony to deliver his letter, Briony secretly reads the letter and is simultaneously disgusted and jealous. She tells Lola of its contents and they call Robbie a “sex maniac” while debating whether to turn him in to the police and that afternoon, Lola and her younger brothers meet a friend of the Tallis family, a wealthy chocolate manufacturer named Paul Marshall. Though he is older than her, he excites Lola by flirting with her. That evening, Cecilia confronts Robbie about the letter which she has since read and they meet in the library where they make love and tenderly confess their love for one another. During the act, Briony watches through the open door. At dinner it is revealed that Lolas twin brothers have run away and she eventually stumbles upon a man running away from apparently raping Lola. Lola claims that she not know the identity of her attacker. In a fit of pique, the still-hurt Briony tells everyone that she saw Robbie commit the act and she shows Robbies shocking letter to her mother and the police. Everyone believes Brionys story except for Cecilia and Robbies mother, Robbie is arrested, four years later, Robbie is released from prison on condition that he join the army
4.
Marion Cotillard
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Marion Cotillard is a French actress, singer-songwriter, musician, environmentalist and spokesperson for Greenpeace who achieved international fame with the film La Vie en Rose. She is the recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, Cotillard has appeared in more than 50 feature films and is also known for being the face of Lady Dior handbags since 2008. She became a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France in 2010 and she received Frances highest honor and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 2016. She made her Hollywood debut as Joséphine Bloom in Tim Burtons Big Fish and her performance of Luisa Contini in the musical Nine, earned her a second Golden Globe nomination. She next starred in Michael Manns Public Enemies as Billie Frechette, Cotillard became one of only six actors to receive multiple Academy Award nominations for foreign-language performances. Cotillard played Joan of Arc on stage in different countries between 2005 and 2015 in the oratorio Jeanne dArc au bûcher. She provided voice acting for animated films as The Rose in The Little Prince, April in April and the Extraordinary World and Scarlet Overkill in the French version of Minions. Her other notable French and Belgian films include La Belle Verte, Furia, War in the Highlands, Lisa, Pretty Things, Love Me If You Dare, Innocence, Toi et Moi and Dikkenek. Cotillard was born in Paris, and grew up around Orléans, in an inclined, bustling. Her father, Jean-Claude Cotillard, is an actor, teacher, former mime, Cotillards mother, Niseema Theillaud, who has Kabyle ancestry, is also an actress and drama teacher. Her two younger brothers Quentin and Guillaume are twins, Guillaume is a screenwriter and director. Cotillard began acting during her childhood, appearing in one of her fathers plays, or How I Got into an Argument, and the comedy La Belle Verte, directed by Coline Serreau. In 1998, she appeared in Gérard Pirès action comedy Taxi, playing Lilly Bertineau, the film was a hit in France and she was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress. Cotillard reprised the role in two sequels, Taxi 2 and Taxi 3 and she then ventured into science fiction with Alexandre Ajas post-apocalyptic romantic drama, Furia in 1999. That same year, Cotillard starred in the Swiss war drama film War in the Highlands, in 2001, she appeared in Pierre Grimblats film Lisa, playing the title role and younger version of Jeanne Moreaus character, co-starring with Benoît Magimel and Sagamore Stévenin. In the same year, she starred in Gilles Paquet-Brenners film Pretty Things, in the drama, Cotillard portrayed twins of completely opposite characters, Lucie and Marie, and she was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress for her performances. In 2002, Cotillard starred in Guillaume Niclouxs thriller A Private Affair, in 2003, Cotillard had a notable supporting role in Tim Burtons film Big Fish. In the same year, she starred in the French romantic comedy film Love Me If You Dare, as Sophie Kowalsky, the film was directed by Yann Samuel and was a box office hit in France
5.
Coen brothers
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Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, collectively referred to as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody and their best-reviewed works include Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis. The brothers write, direct, and produce their films jointly, although until The Ladykillers, Joel received sole credit for directing and they often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. The duo also won the Palme dOr for Barton Fink, and were nominated for Fargo, the Coen brothers have written a number of films that neither of the two directed. Ethan is also a writer of stories, theater. Their films No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen were born and raised in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Their mother, Rena, was an art historian at St. Cloud State University, when they were children, Joel saved money from mowing lawns to buy a Vivitar Super 8 camera. Together, the brothers remade movies they saw on television, with a kid, Mark Zimering. Their first attempt was a romp entitled Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go, cornel Wildes The Naked Prey became their Zeimers in Zambia, which also featured Ethan as a native with a spear. Joel Coen has said, in regards to whether our background influences our film making, theres no doubt that our Jewish heritage affects how we see things. Joel and Ethan graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1973 and 1976 and they both also graduated from Bard College at Simons Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Joel then spent four years in the film program at New York University. Ethan went on to Princeton University and earned a degree in philosophy in 1979. His senior thesis was a 41-page essay, Two Views of Wittgensteins Later Philosophy, Joel has been married to actress Frances McDormand since 1984. They adopted a son from Paraguay, named Pedro McDormand Coen and she also did a voice-over in Barton Fink. Ethan married film editor Tricia Cooke in 1990 and they have two children, daughter Dusty and son Buster Jacob, who goes to Vassar College. Both couples live in New York, after graduating from New York University, Joel worked as a production assistant on a variety of industrial films and music videos. He developed a talent for film editing and met Sam Raimi while assisting Enda Ruth Paul in editing Raimis first feature film, in 1984, the brothers wrote and directed Blood Simple, their first commercial film together
6.
Shia LaBeouf
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Shia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor, performance artist, and filmmaker. He made his debut in Holes, based on the novel of the same name by Louis Sachar. In 2004, he made his debut with the short film Lets Love Hate and later directed a short film titled Maniac, starring American rappers Cage. In 2007, LaBeouf starred in the successful films Disturbia. The same year he was cast in Michael Bays science fiction film Transformers as Sam Witwicky, despite mixed reviews, Transformers was a box office success and one of the highest-grossing films of 2007. LaBeouf later appeared in its sequels Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers, Dark of the Moon, in 2008, he played Henry Mutt Williams Jones III in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth film in the Indiana Jones franchise. His other films include Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps, Lawless, The Company You Keep, Nymphomaniac, since 2014, LaBeouf has pursued a variety of public performance art projects with LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner. LaBeouf was born in Los Angeles, California, as the child of Shayna. His mother is a dancer and ballerina turned visual artist and clothing jewelry designer and his father is a Vietnam War veteran who had numerous jobs. LaBeoufs mother is Jewish, and his father, who is of Cajun descent, is Christian, LaBeouf has described himself as Jewish, and has stated that he was raised around both sides, he had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony, and was also baptized in the Angelus church. One of the camps he attended was Christian and his first name is derived from the Hebrew shai Yah, meaning gift of God. During his childhood, he accompanied his father to meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, LaBeouf has also said he was subjected to verbal and mental abuse by his father, who once pointed a gun at his son during a Vietnam War flashback. LaBeouf has stated that his father was on drugs during his childhood, LaBeoufs uncle was going to adopt him at one stage because his parents could not afford to have him anymore and they had too much pride to go on welfare or food stamps. As a way of dealing with his parents divorce, he would perform for his family, LaBeouf remains close to and financially supports both of his parents. He attended 32nd Street Visual and Performing Arts Magnet in Los Angeles and Alexander Hamilton High School, in an interview, LaBeouf said that, looking back on his childhood, he feels grateful and considers some of those memories scars. Prior to acting, LaBeouf practiced comedy around his neighborhood as an escape from a hostile environment, at age 10, he began performing stand-up at comedy clubs, describing his appeal as having disgustingly dirty material and a 50-year-old mouth on the 10-year-old kid. He subsequently found an agent through the Yellow Pages and was taken on after pretending to be his own manager. In the early 2000s, LaBeouf became known among young audiences after playing Louis Stevens on the Disney Channel weekly program Even Stevens and he has said that grew up on that show and being cast was the best thing that happened to him
7.
Anthony Hopkins
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Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins CBE, is a Welsh actor of film, stage, and television. In 1968, he got his break in film in The Lion in Winter, since 2016, he has starred in the critically acclaimed HBO television series Westworld. Along with his Academy Award, Hopkins has won three BAFTA Awards, two Emmys, and the Cecil B, in 1993, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, Hopkins was born on New Years Eve 1937, in Margam, a suburb of Port Talbot, Glamorgan. His parents were Annie Muriel and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker and his school days were unproductive, he would rather immerse himself in art, such as painting and drawing, or playing the piano, than attend to his studies. In 1949, to discipline, his parents insisted he attend Jones West Monmouth Boys School in Pontypool. He remained there for five terms and was educated at Cowbridge Grammar School in the Vale of Glamorgan. Hopkins was influenced and encouraged by Welsh compatriot Richard Burton, whom he met at the age of 15, Hopkins promptly enrolled at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, from which he graduated in 1957. After two years in the British Army doing his national service, he moved to London, where he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Hopkins made his first professional appearance in the Palace Theatre, Swansea. In 1965, after years in repertory, he was spotted by Laurence Olivier. Hopkins became Oliviers understudy, and filled in when Olivier was struck with appendicitis during a production of August Strindbergs The Dance of Death, despite his success at the National, Hopkins tired of repeating the same roles nightly and yearned to be in films. He made his debut in a 1967 BBC broadcast of A Flea in Her Ear. His first starring role in a film came in 1964 in Changes, in 1968, he got his break in The Lion in Winter playing Richard I. Although Hopkins continued in theatre he gradually moved away from it to more established as a television. He portrayed Charles Dickens in the BBC television film The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens in 1970, and Pierre Bezukhov in the BBCs mini series War and Peace. In 1972 he starred as British politician David Lloyd George in Young Winston, in 1980, he starred in The Elephant Man as the English doctor Sir Frederick Treves, who attends to Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man in 19th century London. That year he starred opposite Shirley MacLaine in A Change of Seasons
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