1.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
British Film Institute
–
The British Film Institute is a film and charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI maintains the worlds largest film archive, the BFI National Archive, previously called National Film Library, National Film Archive and National Film, the archive contains more than 50,000 fiction films, over 100,000 non-fiction titles and around 625,000 television programmes. The majority of the collection is British material but it also features internationally significant holdings from around the world, the Archive also collects films which feature key British actors and the work of British directors. The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and London IMAX cinema, both located on the bank of the River Thames in London. The IMAX has the largest cinema screen in the UK, and shows popular recent releases and short films showcasing its technology, BFI Southbank shows films from all over the world particularly critically acclaimed historical & specialised films that may not otherwise get a cinema showing. The BFI also distributes archival and cultural cinema to other venues – each year to more than 800 venues all across the UK, the BFI offers a range of education initiatives, in particular to support the teaching of film and media studies in schools. In late 2012, the BFI received money from the Department For Education to create the BFI Film Academy Network, the BFI runs the annual London Film Festival along with BFI Flare, London LGBT Film Festival and the youth-orientated Future Film Festival. The BFI publishes the monthly Sight & Sound magazine as well as films on Blu-ray, DVD, SIFT has a collection of about 7 million still frames from film and television. The institute was founded in 1933, the institute was restructured following the Radcliffe Report of 1948 which recommended that it should concentrate on developing the appreciation of filmic art, rather than creating film itself. Thus control of film production passed to the National Committee for Visual Aids in Education. From 1952-2000, the BFI provided funding for new and experimental filmmakers via the BFI Production Board, the institute received a Royal Charter in 1983. This was updated in 2000, and in the year the newly established UK Film Council took responsibility for providing the BFIs annual grant-in-aid. As an independent registered charity, the BFI is regulated by the Charity Commission, in 1988, the BFI opened the London Museum of the Moving Image on the South Bank. The Museum was temporarily closed in 1999 when the BFI stated that it would be re-sited and this did not happen, and MOMIs closure became permanent in 2002 when it was decided to redevelop the South Bank site. This redevelopment was itself then further delayed, the BFI is currently managed on a day-to-day basis by its chief executive, Amanda Nevill. Supreme decision-making authority rests with a chair and a board of up to 14 governors, the current chair is Josh Berger, who took up the post in February 2016. He succeeded Greg Dyke, who took office on 1 March 2008, Dyke succeeded the late Anthony Minghella, who was chair from 2003 until 31 December 2007. The chair of the board is appointed by the BFIs own Board of Governors but requires the consent of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media, other Governors are co-opted by existing board members when required
3.
Christopher Fowler
–
Christopher Fowler is an English thriller writer. The recipient of the 2015 Dagger In The Library, his works include screenplays, video games, graphic novels, audio. He writes a column in The Independent on Sunday called Invisible Ink. He was born in Greenwich, London and he lives in Kings Cross, London and Barcelona. Bryant and May, as well as characters from this series, also appear in Fowlers Rune, Darkest Day. The Bryant and May series is set primarily in London, with stories taking place in years between World War 2 and the present. While there is a narrative, each of the cases stand alone as separate stories. Fowler weaves many factual layers of Londons history and society throughout the series, Most of the locations are recognisable London landmarks such as St Pauls Cathedral, The Tate Gallery and various theatres. A major feature of The Water Room is the networks of tunnels, London can be considered a separate character in the novels There are many references to other literary works throughout the series. Seventy-Seven Clocks contains references to Gilbert and Sullivan throughout the narrative, other puzzles, paradoxes and jokes are tucked into the narratives, rewarding regular readers. His book Rune is an update to a setting of the M. R. James story Casting the Runes. It also features Bryant, May, and several characters from that series and his story The Master Builder was filmed as Through the Eyes of a Killer, starring Richard Dean Anderson, Marg Helgenberger and Tippi Hedren. His tenth short story collection, Old Devil Moon, won the Edge Hill Audience Prize 2008 and his short story Left Hand Drive was made into a film that won Best British Short. His stories On Edge and The Most Boring Woman In The World were both filmed and his novella Breathe won the British Fantasy Society Award for best novella in 2005. His memoir of a lonely 1960s childhood, Paperboy, won the inaugural Green Carnation prize, a sequel, Film Freak, charted his travels through the British film industry. His collection ‘Red Gloves’ consisted of 25 new stories marking a quarter-century in print and he also wrote a Sherlock Holmes audio drama for BBC7 entitled The Lady Downstairs and the War Of The Worlds videogame with Sir Patrick Stewart, for Paramount. Fowler wrote a column for The Independent titled Invisible Ink. In this series, he looked at a range of writers whose works
4.
The Lobster
–
In the films setting, single people are given 45 days to find a romantic partner or otherwise be turned into animals. It stars Colin Farrell as a man trying to find someone so he can remain human. The film is co-produced by Ireland, United Kingdom, Greece, France and it was selected to compete for the Palme dOr at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the Jury Prize. It was shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, the film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 89th Academy Awards. David discovers that his wife has left him for another man, the hotel manager reveals that single people have 45 days to find a partner, or they will be transformed into an animal, the dog accompanying him is his brother. David chooses to become a lobster, due to their life cycle, David makes acquaintances with Robert, a man with a lisp, and John, a man with a limp, who become his quasi-friends. John explains that he was injured in an attempt to reconnect with his mother, the hotel has many rules and rituals, masturbation is banned, but sexual stimulation by the hotel maid is mandatory, and guests attend dances and watch propaganda extolling advantages of partnership. Robert is caught masturbating, and the hotel manager burns his fingers in a toaster, relationships require partners to have a distinguishing trait in common. John is told a woman has arrived with a limp, residents can extend their deadline by hunting and tranquilizing single people in the forest, each captured loner earns them a day. On one such hunt, a woman with a fondness for biscuits offers David sexual favors and she tells him that if she fails to find a mate, she will kill herself by jumping from a hotel window. John then wins the affections of a woman with constant nosebleeds by purposely smashing his nose in secret and they move to the couples section to begin a month-long trial partnership. David later decides to court a notoriously cruel woman who has tranquilized more loners than anyone else and their initial conversation is interrupted by the screams of the biscuit-loving woman, who has severely injured herself jumping from a window. Although troubled by the incident, David pretends to enjoy the suffering to gain the heartless womans interest. He later joins her in a jacuzzi, and she feigns choking, the two are shifted to the couples suite. When David wakes up one morning, he finds she has kicked Davids brother to death, when David cries in response, she concludes their relationship is a lie and drags him to the hotel manager to have him punished by turning him into an animal that no one likes. However, he escapes and, with the help of a maid, tranquilizes. Escaping the hotel, David joins the loners in the woods, in contrast to the hotels rules, they forbid any romance, with mouth mutilation as punishment. The hotel maid is found to be a mole for the loners, soon after her encounter with the leader of the loners, the loners visit the city to get some supplies, where David has a close encounter with a police officer
5.
The Selfish Giant (2013 film)
–
The Selfish Giant is a 2013 British drama film directed by Clio Barnard. It is inspired by the Oscar Wilde story of the same name, the film follows the lives of Arbor and Swifty, teenage boys growing up in a poor and run down area of Bradford, northern England. Arbor suffers from hyperactivity disorder, which gets him into trouble even when it is not his intention. When the boys are suspended from school after a fight, they decide to earn money collecting and selling scrap metal and they quickly realize that stealing copper from telecom, railway, and power utilities can be lucrative. They sell their scrap to a scrap dealer, Kitten. Kitten allows Swifty to work with the horse, once he realizes Swiftys surprising affection for, Kitten also lets the boys borrow a horse and a cart to collect scrap metal. Arbor is envious of Kittens kindness toward Swifty, Arbor decides to steal pieces of scrap from Kitten and sell them, along with some other scrap, to a dealer in Huddersfield. The plan ends up backfiring, Arbor is refused entrance at the dealer. Kitten finds out and physically intimidates Arbor into stealing a piece of high voltage electric power transmission wire to make up for his loss. The boys are not fully aware of the dangers of high voltage wire, after Arbor cuts the wire, Swifty helps to lift it, but is electrocuted and killed. Arbor is devastated and Kitten is arrested, telling the police he is responsible, Arbor sits resolutely outside Swiftys mothers house until, after several rejections, she allows him to hug her and share their pain. In a final scene, Arbor takes care of the horse Swifty adored, conner Chapman as Arbor Shaun Thomas as Swifty Sean Gilder as Kitten Lorraine Ashbourne as Mary Ian Burfield as Mick Brazil Steve Evets as Price Drop Swift Siobhan Finneran as Mrs. It was also nominated for the 2013 Lux Prize, the film was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. It won Best Film at the 24th Stockholm International Film Festival in November 2013, peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film five out of five stars. The film was nominated for the 2014 Bafta for Best British Film, the Selfish Giant at the Internet Movie Database The Selfish Giant at Rotten Tomatoes
6.
Frank (film)
–
Frank is a 2014 comedy-drama film directed by Lenny Abrahamson, produced by David Barron, Ed Guiney and Stevie Lee and written by Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan. It stars Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy, the film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. It was released theatrically in Ireland on 9 May 2014 and on DVD and it was released in cinemas in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2014. Jon Burroughs, a songwriter, lives a mundane life working in an office. Jon dreams of being a brilliant songwriter one day, but believes his uneventful, one day Jon witnesses a man trying to drown himself while walking along the beach of his town. As the man is taken away to the hospital, Jon talks to Don, who explains the man was a keyboardist in an experimental band, Don laments that the band cannot play its gig that night. Jon mentions that he plays keyboards and is invited to play with them, Jon goes along and meets the rest of the band, Nana, Baraque, Clara, and Frank, the band leader who wears a papier-mâché mask. The band plays strange discordant music while Frank sings nonsensical lyrics, Jon picks up the swing of things and begins to play along with the group, until Clara breaks her theremin and storms offstage ending the concert. Back at home Jon returns to his life, but remains enraptured by his experience on stage. While at work Jon receives a call from Don, who tells him Frank wants him to play with the band again, Jon readily accepts, believing this to be another gig, so he accompanies them to Ireland. Jon quickly discovers the band isnt playing a gig, but rather are recording their first album in a cabin for the next year. Undeterred, Jon decides to leave his job and stay with the band, Don bonds with Jon, and tells him that he first met Frank when they were in a mental institution together. As the months progress it is apparent that the band is mentally unstable, as they spend their time recording bendy straw noises and reinventing music notation. A family of vacationers arrive at the cabin believing it to be empty, Frank somehow convinces the family to leave, and Jon volunteers to use his inheritance nest egg to fund the recording of the album. Throughout the year Jon secretly records the band and posts updates on Twitter, one evening Jon talks to Frank, and tells him that he also writes songs, promising to play them for Frank one day. Clara comes in and tells Jon to play one right now, Jon tries to get out of the situation, but cannot, and ultimately embarrasses himself in front of the band. Clara is very antipathic towards Jon, and continually torments him for being mediocre, later, Don explains to Jon that he wanted to be a songwriter too, and just like Jon lacked talent and was terrible. He plays a song for Jon, who compliments it, despite it being very depressing and awful
7.
Odeon Cinemas
–
Odeon is a cinema company operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, which along with UCI Cinemas is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group. It uses the name of the Odeon cinema circuit first introduced in Britain in 1930. The first Odeon cinema was opened by Oscar Deutsch in 1928, in Brierley, Staffordshire, the first cinema to use the Odeon brand name was Deutschs cinema at Perry Barr, Birmingham in 1930. Ten years later Odeon was part of the Rank Organisation who continued their ownership of the circuit for a further sixty years. Through a number of sales and acquisitions in the early 2000s the company was purchased by Terra Firma, most UCI cinemas then took the Odeon brand name in 2006. Terra Firma sold the company to AMC Theatres in November 2016, in 2016, Odeon was the largest cinema chain in the United Kingdom by market share. Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch, the name Nickelodeon was coined in 1905 and was widely used to describe small cinemas in the United States during that era. However the company is most associated with J. Arthur Rank, the first cinema opened by Oscar Deutsch was located in Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, England in 1928. The building has long since demolished, but as of 2006. However, its style is more functional than that of original Odeon cinemas, ironically, the first cinema that opened under the Odeon brand was located in Perry Barr, Birmingham. It was designed by Harry Weedon, the frontage was remodelled following damage sustained during the Second World War and, having been a bingo hall, has since been converted into a conference venue. By 1930, Odeon was a name and the cinemas known for their maritime-inspired Art Deco architecture. This style was first used in 1930 on the cinema at Perry Barr in Birmingham and he liked the style so much that he commissioned the architect, Harry Weedon, to design his future buildings. It is currently a club in the Mecca chain. It featured central linear lighting, a feature that became characteristic of his work, in 1935, Oscar Deutsch commissioned John Maltby, a professional photographer, to photograph every cinema in the Odeon chain at that time. The resulting collection, of internal and external photographs, is held in the archive of English Heritage. Deutsch sold the chain to the interests of J. Arthur Rank. By the time of Oscar Deutschs death in 1941,258 Odeons had opened throughout Britain, after the sale to J. Arthur Rank Corporation, Odeon also operated a wholly owned Canadian subsidiary, Odeon Theatres Ltd. with more than a hundred cinemas in Canada, coast-to-coast
8.
Vue Cinemas
–
Vue Entertainment, formerly SBC International Cinemas, is a cinema company operating in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The company was formed in May 2003 by the acquisition of Warner Village Cinemas by SBC, the companys flagship site is Vue West End, the former Warner Village cinema in Leicester Square. The company expanded through a number of acquisitions, including the Ster Century chain, Apollo Cinemas, the company was bought by the private equity firm Doughty Hanson & Co in 2010. In June 2013, Doughty Hanson & Co announced the sale of the company to the Canadian firms OMERS, the companys original slogan was entitled The Future of Cinema, which was announced from its opening in May 2003 until November 2015. Thereafter, the decided to have a makeover, and – with a new rebranding and black covering instead of orange – renamed the slogan as Big Screen Entertainment. The slogan has remained the same since then, the company was formed in May 2003, when SBC bought Warner Village Cinemas from Warner Bros. for £250 million. At the time, SBC owned four cinemas, and Warner Village Cinemas owned 36, in April 2005 the chain acquired the Ster Century chain from Aurora Entertainment, this included the highest grossing cinema in the UK or Ireland at Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in Dublin, Ireland. On 20 June 2006, Vues executive team completed a management buy-out of the company with the backing of Bank of Scotland Corporate, also, as part of the buy-out, Vue took full ownership of the four Village sites it had been operating under contract from Village Roadshow. The private equity firm Doughty Hanson & Co acquired Vue in 2010, on 13 September 2011, Vue Opened their biggest cinema in the UK at the new Westfield Stratford City. The Company opened at the other Westfield at Shepherds Bush in 2010, Vue bought the company Apollo in 2012, retaining 14 new sites across the UK, making it the third largest cinema company in the UK behind Odeon and Cineworld. By 2013, it was reported that Vue had 143 cinemas, in May 2013, Vue Entertainment acquired Multikino, the Polish cinema operator owning 30 cinemas with almost 250 screens in Poland and Baltic countries. In June 2013, Doughty Hanson & Co announced it had sold Vue to the Canadian pension fund OMERS, in November 2014, Vue International acquired The Space Cinema. In 2015, Vue International acquired JT Bioscopen the second largest cinema chain in the Netherlands, Vues multiplexes vary from 4 to 30 screens. Each cinema is run by a team consisting of one general manager assisted by two and five other members of the management team. The general manager has general control of the running of the cinema at site level, team Leaders act as duty managers and are responsible for the operational running of a cinema on a shift basis. Customer Assistants serve guests throughout the cinema and report to the management team, all cinemas have a dedicated projection team, responsible for the running of the box and the maintenance of the projection and sound equipment. The Technical Manager has overall responsibility, supported by a Senior Projectionist and they are accompanied by a team of two to four full or part-time projection staff, some of which can also share duties with the standard operation of the cinema. However, all Vue sites are now fully digital, and therefore ran by the management team, Vue completed the rollout of the Vista Entertainment Solutions integrated Point of Sale software to every site in 2006
9.
Everyman Cinemas
–
Everyman Group is a cinema company in the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 2000, when entrepreneur Daniel Broch bought the original Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, Broch led the growth of the company with the acquisition in 2008 of Screen Cinemas to add more locations. This coincided with Broch selling a majority stake in the enlarged company, following the acquisition, the group has refurbished or plans to refurbish a number of cinemas. Those already refurbished include Walton, Belsize Park, Baker Street, everymans cinemas have one to five screens, a small number of which offer 3D. Everyman Cinemas offer a programme of films and special events, including the Metropolitan Opera from New York, the venues each feature a licensed bar, food, digital projection and surround sound technology. The group are extending their operating area and have opened cinemas in northern England, the first of these opened in Leeds in April 2013 as part of the Trinity Leeds development in the city centre and a second opened within The Mailbox in Birmingham on 27 February 2015. A further cinema is due to open in Harrogate in September 2016, in April 2015, the company reached an agreement to buy four cinemas from its larger rival Odeon for £7.1 million. An Everyman staff member told the Guardian, Our zero-hour contracts and we work almost full-time, yet have no security, sick pay or benefits. Our customers are paying more and more for cinema tickets, and its not interested in the hardship this causes. The Everyman Media Group made its début on the Alternative Investment Market on 7 November 2013
10.
Ewan McGregor
–
Ewan Gordon McGregor OBE is a Scottish actor. His first professional role was in 1993, when he won a role in the Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar. Camerlengo Father Patrick McKenna in Angels and Demons, Dr. Alfred Jones in the romantic comedy-drama Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, and Lumière in an adaptation of Beauty. He received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy for both Moulin Rouge, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. McGregor has also starred in productions of Guys and Dolls. He was ranked number 36 on Empire magazines The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list in 1997, in a 2004 poll for the BBC, McGregor was named the fourth most influential person in British culture. He has been involved in charity work and has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK since 2004, in 2016, he received the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. McGregor was born in Perth, Scotland and brought up in Crieff and his mother, Carol Diane, is a retired teacher of Crieff High School and latterly deputy head teacher of Kingspark School in Dundee. His father, James Charles Stewart Jim McGregor, is a physical education teacher and careers master of Morrisons Academy. He has a brother, Colin, who is a former Tornado GR4 pilot in the Royal Air Force. He is the nephew of actor Denis Lawson and actress Sheila Gish, McGregor attended the independent Morrisons Academy in Crieff. In 1993, six months prior to his graduation from Guildhall, the same year, he starred in the BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black with a young Rachel Weisz, and made his film debut in Bill Forsyths Being Human. In 1994, McGregor performed in the thriller Shallow Grave, for which he won an Empire Award, and his international breakthrough followed in 1996 with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyles Trainspotting, an adaptation of Irvine Welshs novel of the same name. McGregor played the romantic lead role in the 1998 British film Little Voice. While the prequels received criticism from Star Wars fans, McGregors performance was widely acclaimed and his uncle, Denis Lawson, had played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy. In 2001, he starred in Moulin Rouge, as the young poet Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill courtesan Satine, played by Nicole Kidman. McGregor reprised his role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for the subsequent prequel Star Wars, in 2003, he starred alongside Renée Zellweger in Down With Love. He also portrayed the younger Edward Bloom in the acclaimed film Big Fish alongside Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman
11.
Ray Winstone
–
Raymond Andrew Ray Winstone is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his hard man roles beginning with his role as Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and he has also become well known as a voice over actor, and has recently branched out into film production. Winstone was born in Homerton, Hackney, London, Winstone moved to Enfield when he was seven, and grew up on a council estate just off the A10 road. His father, Raymond J. Winstone, ran a fruit and vegetable business, while his mother, Winstone recalls playing with his friends on bomb sites, until Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were arrested for killing three children. Ray joined Brimsdown Primary School and then he was educated at Edmonton County School and he also attended Corona Theatre School. He did not take to school, eventually leaving with a single CSE in Drama, Winstone had an early affinity for acting, his father would take him to the cinema every Wednesday afternoon. Later, he viewed Albert Finney in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, other major influences included John Wayne, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson. After borrowing extra tuition money from a mother, a drama teacher, Winstone took to the stage, appearing as a Cockney newspaper seller in a production of Emil. Winstone was also a fan of boxing, known to his friends as Winnie, he was called Little Sugs at home. At the age of 12, Winstone joined the famous Repton Amateur Boxing Club, over the next 10 years, won 80 out of 88 bouts. At welterweight, he was London schoolboy champion on three occasions, fighting twice for England. The experience gave him a perspective on his career, If you can get in a ring with 2,000 people watching and be smacked around by another guy. Deciding to pursue drama, Winstone enrolled at the Corona Stage Academy in Hammersmith, at £900 a term, it was expensive, considering the average wage was then about £36 a week. He landed his first major role in What a Crazy World at the Theatre Royal, Stratford, London, Winstone was not popular with the establishment at his secondary school, who considered him a bad influence. After some 12 months, he found that he was the only pupil not invited to the Christmas party, hammering some pins through a piece of wood, he placed it under the wheel of his headmistresss car and blew out the tyre. As a joke, he went up to the BBC, where his schoolmates were involved in an audition, the play, written by Roy Minton and directed by Clarke, was a brutal depiction of a young offenders institution. Winstone was cast in the role of Carlin, a young offender who struggles against both his captors and his fellow cons to become the Daddy of the institution. Hard hitting and often violent the play was judged unsuitable for broadcast by the BBC, the banned television play was entirely re-filmed in 1979 for cinematic release with many of the original actors playing the same roles
12.
Mike Figgis
–
Michael Mike Figgis is an English film director, screenwriter, and composer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for his work in Leaving Las Vegas, Figgis was born in Carlisle, Cumberland, and grew up in Nairobi, Kenya until he was eight. The rest of his childhood was spent in Newcastle upon Tyne, figgiss early interest was in music and he played keyboards for Bryan Ferrys first band. In 1983 he directed a play, produced in Theatre Gerard-Philipe. This play performed with success at Festival de Grenada and in Theater der Welt. After working in theatre he made his film debut with the low budget Stormy Monday in 1988. The film earned him attention as a director who could get interesting performances from established Hollywood actors and he initially made a splash in America in the 1990s with the gritty thriller Internal Affairs that helped to revive the career of Richard Gere. His next Hollywood feature, Mr. Jones, was misunderstood by the studio and he followed this up with the romantic drama One Night Stand, starring Wesley Snipes and Nastassja Kinski, but the movie received a poor response from critics and was a commercial failure. His most ambitious film to date is the low-budget film The Loss of Sexual Innocence, since then, his work output has almost exclusively been on the cutting edge of creative digital filmmaking, with the exception of star-laden Cold Creek Manor. He returned to the Timecode quad-screen approach for his section of Ten Minutes Older, but has worked on documentary pieces including a segment of The Blues. His curiosity with the use of time has led him to cite Robert Enricos 1962 film version of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge as an influential film for him. He was the patron of the independent filmmakers online community Shooting People. At one of their events in 2005 he said that filmmaking with a digital camera made the experience more like painting or novel writing than the movie industry. In 2007, Figgis shot his newest feature Love Live Long set between Istanbul and Bratislava on the infamous Gumball 3000 Rally, starring Sophie Winkleman and Daniel Lapaine. Figgis, since 2008, has been professor of film studies at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, the ad comprised the screen split into four sections, each section showing one of four scenarios all on the same double-decker bus. At the end of the ad, the scenarios were resolved. For several years, he had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows and he is the cousin of Irish filmmakers Jonathan Figgis and Jason Figgis, who run the award-winning film production company October Eleven Pictures. His sons, Arlen and Louis Figgis, have followed their father into the industry, Arlen as an editor
13.
Tilda Swinton
–
Katherine Matilda Tilda Swinton is a British actress, performance artist, model, and fashion muse, known for her roles in independent and Hollywood films. She is the recipient of two BAFTA Awards, one BIFA Award, an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and has received three nominations for a Golden Globe Award. She began her career in films directed by Derek Jarman, starting with Caravaggio, followed by The Last of England, War Requiem, Swinton won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her performance as Isabella of France in Edward II. She next starred in Sally Potters Orlando, and was nominated for the European Film Award for Best Actress, Swinton was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in The Deep End. She followed this with appearances in Vanilla Sky, Adaptation, Young Adam and she then starred in the crime drama Julia, I Am Love, and the psychological thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin. Swinton later starred in the romantic fantasy drama, Only Lovers Left Alive. She is also known for her performances as the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia series, Swinton won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as lawyer Karen Crowder in Michael Clayton. In 2005, Swinton was given the Richard Harris Award by the British Independent Film Awards in recognition of her contributions to the British film industry, in 2013 she was given a special tribute by the Museum of Modern Art. Swinton was born in London, the daughter of Judith Balfour and her father is a retired major general in the British Army, and was Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire from 1989 to 2000. Her paternal great-grandfather was a Scottish politician and herald, George Swinton, the Swinton family is an ancient Anglo-Scots family that can trace its lineage to the Middle Ages. The family is one of three families that can trace their unbroken land ownership and lineage to before the Norman Conquest. Swinton attended three independent schools, Queens Gate School in London, the West Heath Girls School and also Fettes College for a brief period, West Heath was an expensive boarding school where she was a classmate and friend of Princess Diana. Children need their parents and the parents can provide. Swinton went to volunteer in Kenya during a break from college with a charity called Project Trust. In 1983, Swinton graduated from New Hall at the University of Cambridge with a degree in Social and Political Sciences, while at Cambridge, she joined the Communist Party, she later joined the Scottish Socialist Party. It was in college that Swinton began performing on stage, Swinton joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1984, appearing in Measure for Measure. She also worked with the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, starring in Mann ist Mann by Manfred Karge in 1987, on television, she appeared as Julia in the 1986 mini-series Zastrozzi, A Romance based on the Gothic novel by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her first film was Caravaggio in 1986, directed by Derek Jarman, Swinton also played the title role in Orlando, Sally Potters film version of the novel by Virginia Woolf
14.
Michael Sheen
–
Michael Christopher Sheen, OBE is a Welsh political activist, actor and director. His performances in Amadeus at the Old Vic and Look Back in Anger at the National Theatre were nominated for Olivier Awards in 1998 and 1999, in 2003, he was nominated for a third Olivier Award for his performance in Caligula at the Donmar Warehouse. Sheen has become known as a screen actor since the 2000s. With writer Peter Morgan, he has starred in a trilogy of films as British politician Tony Blair, for playing Blair, he was nominated for both a BAFTA Award and an Emmy. He also starred as the football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United. Since 2009 and into the 2010s, Sheen has become known for a variety of roles. In 2009, Sheen appeared in two films, Underworld, Rise of the Lycans and The Twilight Saga, New Moon, while in 2010. He appeared in the science-fiction film Tron, Legacy and Woody Allens romantic comedy Midnight in Paris, at Easter 2011, Sheen directed and starred in National Theatre Waless The Passion. From late 2011 until early 2012, Sheen played the role in Hamlet at the Young Vic. In 2013, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Showtimes television drama Masters of Sex, Sheen was born in Newport, Wales, the son of Irene, a secretary, and Meyrick, a British Steel Corporation personnel manager. He has one sister, Joanne. When he was five, the moved to Wallasey. Director Sam Mendes has described Sheen as a creature and attributed that to the actors Welsh roots. Hes Welsh in the tradition of Anthony Hopkins and Richard Burton, fiery, mercurial, a keen footballer, Sheen was scouted and offered a place on Arsenals youth team at the age of 12, but his family was unwilling to relocate to London. He later said he was grateful for his parents decision, as the chances of forging a professional career were so slim. He lost interest in playing football in his early teens, in his teenage years, Sheen was involved with the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre and, later, the National Youth Theatre of Wales. It was a brilliant youth theatre, Sheen has said, and it taught me not only a lot about acting and he was influenced by the performances of Laurence Olivier and the writings of theatre critic Kenneth Tynan—the combination of those two things kind of blew my head off. Sheen was educated at Blaenbaglan Primary School, Glan Afan Comprehensive School and, finally, Neath Port Talbot College where he sat A-levels in English, Drama and he considered studying English at university but instead decided to attend drama school
15.
James Nesbitt
–
William James Nesbitt, OBE is an actor and presenter from Northern Ireland. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster and he dropped out after a year when he decided to become an actor, and transferred to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. After graduating in 1987, he spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical Up on the Roof to the political drama Paddywack and he made his feature film debut playing talent agent Fintan ODonnell in Hear My Song. His first significant film role came when he appeared as pig farmer Pig Finn in Waking Ned, with the rest of the starring cast, Nesbitt was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. In Lucky Break, he made his debut as a film lead, the next year, he played Ivan Cooper in the television film Bloody Sunday, about the 1972 shootings in Derry. A departure from his previous cheeky chappie roles, the film was a point in his career. He won a British Independent Film Award and was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor, Nesbitt has also starred in Murphys Law as undercover detective Tommy Murphy, in a role that was created for him by writer Colin Bateman. The role twice gained Nesbitt Best Actor nominations at the Irish Film & Television Awards, in 2007, he starred in the dual role of Tom Jackman and Mr Hyde in Steven Moffats Jekyll, which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination in 2008. Nesbitt has since appeared in more dramatic roles, he starred alongside Liam Neeson in Five Minutes of Heaven. He also starred in the movies Outcast and The Way and he portrayed Bofur in Peter Jacksons three-part film adaptation of The Hobbit. In 2014, Nesbitt starred in the role as the father character Tony Hughes in the acclaim BBC One drama series The Missing. Nesbitt was married to former actress Sonia Forbes-Adam, with whom he has two daughters and he is an advocate of numerous charities, and in 2010 he accepted the ceremonial position of Chancellor of the University of Ulster. James Nesbitt was born on 15 January 1965 in Ballymena, County Antrim and his father, James Jim Nesbitt, was the headmaster of the primary school in Lisnamurrican, a hamlet near Broughshane, while his mother, May Nesbitt, was a civil servant. Jim and May already had three daughters—Margaret, Kathryn and Andrea, the family lived in the house adjoining the one-room school where Nesbitt was one of 32 pupils taught by Jim, the other pupils were all farmers children. Nesbitt grew up completely around women, and spent a lot of time alone and he had ambitions to play football for Manchester United, or to become a teacher like his father. The family was Protestant, and Lisnamurrican was in Paisley country, the Nesbitts spent Sunday evenings singing hymns around the piano. Jim marched in the Ballymena Young Conquerors flute band and Nesbitt joined him playing the flute, after the Drumcree conflicts, they stopped marching with the band
16.
Tom Hollander
–
Thomas Anthony Hollander is an English actor. He began his career in theatre, winning the Ian Charleson Award in 1992 for his performance as Witwoud in The Way of the World at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. He is known for his roles in films such as Pirates of the Caribbean and In the Loop and drama films such as Enigma, Pride & Prejudice, Gosford Park. He played the role in the sitcom Rev. which won the British Academy Television Award for best sitcom in 2011. He also starred in the BBC series The Night Manager and ITVs Doctor Thorne and he is currently appearing as Henry Carr in a revival of Tom Stoppards play Travesties at the Apollo Theatre in London, directed by Patrick Marber. The play transferred to the West End, with the same cast, after its run at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Hollander has been nominated for an Olivier Award for Best actor for his role in Travesties and he will play Dr. Sorgh in the film Tulip Fever which is due for U. S. release in 2017. The screenplay, also by Stoppard, is an adaptation of Deborah Moggachs historical novel and he will also appear as Garin in Terry Georges historical drama The Promise, his third collaboration with George who also directed him in Some Mothers Son and Whole Lotta Sole. In January 2016, he became an Honorary Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Hollander was born in Bristol, the son of teachers, and was raised in Oxford. His father is descended from Czech Jews who converted to Catholicism and he attended the Dragon School and then Abingdon School, where he was chief chorister. As a youngster, he was a member of the National Youth Theatre, in 1981, at the age of 14, he won the lead role in a BBC dramatisation of Leon Garfields John Diamond. Hollander read English at Selwyn College, Cambridge and he was actively involved in stage productions as a member of the Footlights and was president of the Marlowe Society. Sam Mendes, a friend and fellow student, directed him in plays while they were at Cambridge. He has worked repeatedly with Michael Gambon and Bill Nighy and is a friend of James Purefoy. Although highly respected as an actor and the recipient of several awards. Hollander portrayed Lord Cutler Beckett, the heavy in Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Mans Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean and he also appeared in the TNT miniseries The Company as Kim Philby, having previously played Guy Burgess in the BBCs Cambridge Spies. He returned to the stage in 2007 with the premiere of Joe Penhalls play Landscape with Weapon at the Royal National Theatre. In 2008 he made a cameo appearance as King George III in the HBO mini-series John Adams
17.
Samantha Morton
–
Samantha Jane Morton is an English actress, screenwriter and director. She has been described as one of the greatest actresses of her generation, brought up in Nottingham, Morton joined the Central Junior Television Workshop, and soon began her career in British televisions in 1991. She guest-starred in Soldier Soldier and Cracker and appeared from 1995 to 1996 in the ITV series Band of Gold and she made the transition to film with lead roles in the dramas Emma, Jane Eyre and the well-received Under the Skin. The latter made director Woody Allen cast Morton in Sweet and Lowdown, which earned her nominations for the Academy Award, in the 2000s, Morton continued to draw critical praise for her performances in numerous arthouse and independent films. Her role in Morvern Callar garnered her the BIFA Award for Best Actress, and she received her second Academy Award nomination and she also found mainstream success with the science fiction thriller Minority Report. For her role in 2006s television biopic Longford, she received an Emmy Award nomination, Morton was born in Clifton, Nottingham, the third child of Pamela Freebury, a factory worker, and Peter Morton. She has six half-siblings from her parents relationships, subsequent to their 1979 divorce and she lived with her father until she was eight when she was made a ward of court, because neither of her parents could care for her and her siblings. Her father was an alcoholic and her mother was involved in a violent relationship with her second husband. The next nine years were spent in and out of foster care, under the effects of drugs, she threatened an older girl who had been bullying her. She was convicted of making threats to kill, and served 18 weeks in an attendance centre, Morton said in an interview, as a child I had a serious anger problem, but from the age of 16 Ive been trying to turn bad things into positives. Moving to London at sixteen, Morton applied to drama schools, including RADA. In 1991 she attended Clarendon College of Performing Arts to gain a BTEC award and she made her stage début at the Royal Court Theatre, and continued her television career with appearances in Peak Practice and in an episode of Cracker. At the time, she had a role in the first two series of Kay Mellors successful Band of Gold. Further television roles followed, including parts in period dramas such as Emma, Emma was a film adaptation of the novel of the same name published in 1815 about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. The movie received positive reviews from critics and was broadcast in late 1996 on ITV. In Jane Eyre, Morton starred as a Yorkshire orphan who becomes a governess to a young French girl, like her previous small-screen projects, the 1997 film originally aired on ITV. She took on the role in the independent drama Under the Skin, directed by Carine Adler, where she played Iris. The movie garnered favorable reviews from writers, with The Guardian placing it at number 15 on its list of the Best British Films 1984—2009
18.
Ken Loach
–
Kenneth Charles Ken Loach is an English director of television and independent film. He is known for his socially critical directing style and for his socialist ideals, Loachs film Kes was voted the seventh greatest British film of the 20th century in a poll by the British Film Institute. Two of his films, The Wind That Shakes the Barley and I, Daniel Blake received the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival, Loach was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, the son of Vivien and John Loach. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and went on to law at St Peters College. Loachs ten contributions to the BBCs Wednesday Play anthology series include the docudramas Up the Junction, Cathy Come Home and they portray working-class people in conflict with the authorities above them. Three of his plays are believed to be lost films. His 1965 play Three Clear Sundays dealt with capital punishment, and was broadcast at a time when the debate was at a height in the United Kingdom, in Two Minds, written by David Mercer, concerns a young schizophrenic womans experiences of the mental health system. Tony Garnett began to work as his producer in this period, during this period, he also directed the absurdist comedy The End of Arthurs Marriage, about which he later said that he was the wrong man for the job. Coinciding with his work for The Wednesday Play, Loach began to feature films for the cinema, with Poor Cow. The latter recounts the story of a boy and his kestrel. The British Film Institute named it No 7 in its list of best British films of the twentieth century, during the 1970s and 1980s, Loachs films were less successful, often suffering from poor distribution, lack of interest and political censorship. His documentary The Save the Children Fund Film was commissioned by the charity and it was only screened publicly for the first time on 1 September 2011, at the BFI Southbank. At the end of the 1980s, he directed some television advertisements for Tennents Lager to earn money, frank Chapple, leader of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union, walked out of the interview and made a complaint to the Independent Broadcasting Authority. A separate complaint was made by Terry Duffy of the Amalgamated Engineering, the series was due to be broadcast during the Trade Union Congress conference in 1983, but Channel 4 decided against broadcasting the series following the complaints. The film was transmitted on Channel 4, but only after it won a prize at an Italian film festival. Three weeks after the end of the strike, the film End of the Battle, was broadcast by Channel 4 in its Diverse Strands series. This film argued that the Conservative Party had planned the destruction of the National Union of Mineworkers political power from the late 1970s. The play was due to run at the Royal Court Theatre in 1987 and he directed the Courtroom Drama reconstructions in the docu-film McLibel, concerning the longest libel trial in English history
19.
Michael Winterbottom
–
Not to be confused with the classical scholar Michael Winterbottom. Michael Winterbottom is an English filmmaker and he began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—Welcome to Sarajevo, Wonderland and 24 Hour Party People—have competed for the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival, Winterbottom was born in Blackburn, Lancashire. Winterbottoms television directing career began with a documentary about Ingmar Bergman, in 1991 he directed episodes of various British TV shows, including the 4-part childrens series Time Riders and an episode of Boon. In 1992 he directed the television film Under the Sun about a young British woman traveling in Greece and he next directed the 1994 mini-series Family, written by Roddy Doyle. Each of four episodes focused on one member of a working-class Dublin family and it was this series that first brought Winterbottom to the attention of filmgoers, when it was edited down into a feature and shown at festivals. His final early television project was a 1995 episode of the documentary series Cinema Europe, The Other Hollywood, butterfly Kiss Winterbottoms 1995 cinematic debut firmly established his intense visual sense, naturalistic style and compelling use of pop songs to reinforce narrative. The story of a mentally unbalanced lesbian serial killer and her submissive lover/accomplice falling in love as they slaughter their way across the motorways of Northern England and it found only a limited release. Go Now That same year, he reunited with Jimmy McGovern for the BBC television film Go Now, focusing on the turmoil this causes the couple, the film was given a theatrical release in many countries, including the United States. It was not Winterbottoms first time approaching the work, having filmed the pig slaughter sequence at film school. Starring Christopher Eccleston and Kate Winslet, Jude brought Winterbottom wider recognition, his first screening at Cannes and numerous Hollywood offers, all of which he eventually turned down. The film is based on the story of a British reporter, Michael Nicholson. I Want You Winterbottoms next two films both had difficulties and were not widely seen. I Want You is a neo-noir sex thriller set in a decaying British seaside resort town, starring Rachel Weisz and Alessandro Nivola, it was shot in bold primary colors by the Polish cinematographer Slawomir Idziak and was inspired by the Elvis Costello song of the same name. Idziak won an Honourable Mention award at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival for his work on the film, Wonderland 1999s Wonderland marked a decided shift in style for Winterbottom, with its loose, handheld photography and naturalistic, often improvised dialogue which drew comparisons to Robert Altman. Featuring Gina McKee, Shirley Henderson, John Simm, Ian Hart and Stuart Townsend, the disparate elements are tied together by an orchestral score by minimalist composer Michael Nyman, who would become a frequent collaborator with Winterbottom. The Claim Winterbottom followed that project up with his biggest budgeted film, The Claim, shot with a budget of $20 million in the wilds of Canada, it was not a financial success and proved an ordeal to make, with Winterbottom himself getting frostbite. The production had previously been ready to shoot in Spain, with sets already built, as much an ode to the city of Manchester as the story of the contemporary musical world, the film stars Steve Coogan as broadcaster/music-mogul Tony Wilson
20.
Trudie Styler
–
Trudie Styler is an English actress, film producer and director. She is the wife of the musician Sting, trudie Styler was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England. When Styler was two old, she was hit by a van. She received severe injuries that left her badly scarred and required several plastic surgery operations up until the age of 18. Her classmates nicknamed her scarface, which caused her to feel for many years that she was not an attractive person. Styler trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and went on to star in various period BBC productions and she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she would meet rock musician Sting through Frances Tomelty, his then-wife and fellow cast member in a production of Shakespeares MacBeth. Sting began to date Styler, divorcing Tomelty soon after, in 1989, the couple founded the Rainforest Foundation, which supports indigenous rainforest peoples and help them protect their ancestral lands. Styler is also an ambassador for UNICEF, Styler and her husband Sting received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award. Styler married Sting on 20 August 1992 and they have four children, Bridget Michael, Jake, Eliot Paulina and Giacomo Luke. Eliot is the singer for the band I Blame Coco. In the mid-nineties Styler established Xingu Films, a company dedicated to supporting new talent, such as Guy Ritchie, Dito Montiel. In late July 2008 it was announced that Xingu had optioned American Reaper, a graphic novel written by Pat Mills. In 2008 it was reported that Styler donated £10,000 into the charitable Ama Sumani cancer fund, Sumani was terminally ill with cancer and unable to afford treatment in her native Ghana, but had been deported from a Cardiff hospital after the expiry of her visa. Sumani died on 19 March 2008 and she is a patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. According to evidence presented in court, Stylers chef had made to work 14-hour days while heavily pregnant. Freak Show Moon A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Alpha Male Cheeky The Sweatbox, jailbuds Snatch Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels a. k. a. Two Smoking Barrels The Grotesque a. k. a
21.
Helen Mirren
–
Dame Helen Lydia Mirren DBE is an English actor. The Audience was written by Peter Morgan, who also wrote The Queen, Tingle, Gosford Park, Calendar Girls, The Last Station, Hitchcock, and The Hundred-Foot Journey. She played Victoria Winslow in the action-comedy films Red and Red 2, in 2003, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for Services to the Performing Arts. In 2013, Mirren was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and she was born Helen Lydia Mironoff at Queen Charlottes and Chelsea Hospital in Hammersmith, west London, the daughter of Kathleen Kitty Alexandrina Eva Matilda and Vasily Petrovich Mironoff. Her mother was English and her father was Russian, originally from Kuryanovo, Mirrens paternal grandfather, Colonel Pyotr Vasilievich Mironov, was in the Imperial Russian Army and fought in the 1904 Russo-Japanese War. He later became a diplomat, and was negotiating a deal in Britain when he. The former diplomat became a London cab driver to support his family and his son, Helen Mirrens father, anglicised the family name to Mirren in the 1950s and changed his name to Basil Mirren. He played the viola with the London Philharmonic before World War II, Mirrens mother was a working-class Londoner from West Ham, East London, and was the 13th of 14 children born to a butcher whose own father had been the butcher to Queen Victoria. Mirren considers her upbringing to have been very anti-monarchist, Mirren was the second of three children, she was born three years after her older sister, Katherine, and also had a younger brother, Peter Basil. Mirren was brought up in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, aged eighteen, she auditioned for the National Youth Theatre and was accepted. By the time she was 20, she was playing Cleopatra in the NYT production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Old Vic, as a result of her work for the National Youth Theatre, Mirren was invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. She also appeared in four productions, directed by Braham Murray for Century Theatre at the University Theatre in Manchester, in 1970, the director/producer John Goldschmidt made a documentary film, Doing Her Own Thing, about Mirren during her time with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The film was made for ATV and shown on the ITV Network in the UK and she then rejoined the RSC, playing Lady Macbeth at Stratford in 1974 and at the Aldwych Theatre in 1975. According to Beauman, there were no repercussions for this rebuke of the RSC. Her performance earned her the London critics Plays & Players Best Actress award, beginning in November 1975, Mirren played in West End repertory with the Lyric Theatre Company as Nina in The Seagull and Ella in Ben Travers new farce The Bed Before Yesterday. In 1981, she returned to the Royal Court for the London premiere of Brian Friels Faith Healer, – Michael Coveney, Financial Times, April 1983. On 15 February 2013, at the West Ends Gielgud Theatre she began a turn as Elizabeth II in the World Premiere of Peter Morgans The Audience, the show was directed by Stephen Daldry. In April she was named best actress at the Olivier Awards for her role, a further stage breakthrough came in 1994, in an Yvonne Arnaud Theatre production bound for the West End, when Bill Bryden cast her as Natalya Petrovna in Ivan Turgenevs A Month in the Country
22.
David Thewlis
–
David Thewlis is an English actor. His most commercially successful role to date has been that of Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter film series and he has also done voice work in the films James and the Giant Peach, The Miracle Maker and Anomalisa. He is also known for the role of Cyrus Crabb in the TV mini series Dinotopia, Thewlis, the second of three children, was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, the son of Maureen and Alec Raymond Wheeler. Both parents worked at his fathers shop, as a teenager, he played in a rock band called QED, and played lead guitar with a punk rock band called Door 66. He was educated at Highfield High School, a secondary school in South Shore. Later, he enrolled in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Thewlis had a minor role in an episode of the 1980s sitcom Up the Elephant and Round the Castle. He also appeared in an episode of popular sitcom Only Fools and his first professional role was in the play Buddy Holly at the Regal in Greenwich. That same year, he appeared on television as a sexual predator named James Jackson in Prime Suspect 3, opposite Helen Mirren, before that, his first television appearance was alongside Ken Jones in Valentine Park. He was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Divorcing Jack, notable appearances also include Bernardo Bertoluccis Besieged and Paul McGuigans Gangster No. 1, opposite Paul Bettany and Malcolm McDowell and he auditioned for the role of Quirrell in the film Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, but the part went to Ian Hart. Despite missing out on the first film, he was cast in 2004 as Professor Lupin in Harry Potter and he did not have to audition as he was director Alfonso Cuaróns first choice for the role. Thewlis reprised the role in four films in the series. He appeared as an SS Commandant of a Nazi death camp and father of the character in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Other credits include Ridley Scotts Kingdom of Heaven, Terrence Malicks The New World and The Omen. Thewlis played the late Dr. Michael Aris, husband of Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, with Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh as Suu Kyi, in the biopic The Lady directed by Luc Besson. He also starred in Regression, a released in autumn 2015, in which he was reunited with Harry Potter co-star Emma Watson. In September 2015, Thewlis starred as Inspector Goole in Helen Edmundsons BBC TV adaptation of J. B, priestleys An Inspector Calls, alongside Ken Stott and Miranda Richardson. In October 2015, he played King Duncan in the film Macbeth, with Michael Fassbender starring as Macbeth, Thewlis will reportedly be portraying Ares in Wonder Woman, the upcoming DC Comics film adaptation based on the character of the same name, set for release in 2017
