What are my LOTR people up to?
I've recovered from my deluge of Hobbit watching - which I haven't posted about, but will, once I stir myself. Short review: liked it a lot, although "WTF is with the walnuts?" :-)
Ms. Blanchett, see aforementioned GG win. Kudos, lovely lady!
Karl Urban is one of the three LOTR alums who have scored a second major franchise. In addition to ongoing Star Trek duties, he also has a new TV show. Which is almost as notable for returning the excellent Lily Taylor to my radar. :-)
As for his onscreen sister, Miranda Otto has a role in the upcoming Greg Kinnear series (so far a single appearance) and the "I, Frankenstein" movie whose trailer moved me to groans of suppressed laughter when I saw it in the theaters. Sigh.
Liv Tyler seems to work when she wants to, averaging about a film a year. She as a role in one, "Adam Marks is Dead," that just premiered at Sundance, is working on one with Matt Bomer (can the screen handle that much pretty at once?) and has a role in Damon Lindelof's new series, "The Leftovers," that will be debuting on HBO this year and which sounds intriguing.
As for the Fellowship itself:
I lied when I said Cate Blanchett inspired this post - she only half-inspired this. She inspired me to think about what the other LOTR cast members were up to, and when I got to Dominic Monaghan, I thought, "Man, he hasn't done anything lately…" and stopped myself. No, it's not that he/she hasn't done anything, it's just that you're not aware of the things that he/she has done! And it takes so little to find out these days! So. Dom has two new movies in post-production stages, one with Emily Watson and another with Tom Sizemore, so he's working, and with good/prestigious people. Once I looked up Dom, I had to look up the others…
ETA: siliconivy reminded me of Dom's BBC TV show, "Wild Things," and I felt foolish, as I've watched a few episodes and loved them. Dom is the member of the Fellowship I'd most like to travel with!
Sir Ian McKellan continues to be the highest-profile of the cast members, currently appearing on Broadway in two shows I wish I could see (the reviews are simply extraordinary), and with some other movie coming out this summer… something with an X in the title? And the soon-to-return-for-a-second-series of his British TV sitcom.
If Sir Ian is the highest profile of the Fellowship, John Rhys-Davies is the busiest. Too much going on to list here, even in shorthand. I remember Michael Caine explaining his rather eclectic (ahem) career by saying that a working actor, no matter how successful, lived in terror of there never being a "next job," so they ended up taking everything that came to them. John Rhys-Davies' career runs the gamut from the sublime to the made-for-ScyFy ridiculous, and he remains the Fellowship member who'd I'd most enjoy dining out with!
Following in Rhys-Davies' footsteps as a working actor is Sean Astin. Seriously, check out his imdb listing. It seems as though the man never stops working.
Also under the category of "Working actor" is Sean Bean (dreamy sigh). In addition to four (!) films currently in process, he's got a TV series coming up as well - "Legends," on TNT, made by the team behind "Homeland," which bodes well. Looks something like a Bourne rip off homage, but I can think of worse things than Bean playing Bourne on my TV screen on a weekly basis.
His own TV series, "Wilfrid," behind him, Elijah Wood has gravitated toward small, creepy-ass movies, and has completed a string of movies that sound intriguing, tense, intelligent and which I have absolutely no desire to see.
Our captain, our king, Viggo Mortensen continues to be suitably picky and eccentric in his script picks, with the result being that most of the (relatively few) movies he makes are never shown anywhere where I can see them. One of the movies I'm looking forward to most in 2014 is "The Two Faces of January," which currently has a UK release date (May 2), and will presumably get a US release date as well, if only on the art-house circuit. Adapted from the Patricia Highsmith novel, it also features Oscar Isaac (on an upswing after "Llewelyn Davis"), and Kirsten Dunst. (I'd like to make special note that despite vacationing near Sandpoint, Idaho, this summer, I did not stalk Viggo. Special congratulations due, hmm?)
Kirstin Dunst leads me to Orlando Bloom - the two of them had been paired in the upcoming "Cities," which appears to have been sent back into limbo, continuing his string of bad luck regarding the funding/scheduling/release of his upcoming movies. He's back in the public eye with "The Hobbit," of course. After getting mixed reviews at Cannes, "Zulu" is getting great reviews in its European release, but there's no sign of a US release, despite the Weinstein brothers snapping it up. His Broadway run on "Romeo & Juliet" (which was first extended, then shortened) was filmed and will receive a theatrical release in February and a DVD release later in the year. I'm curious to see it - it's apparently one of those strange productions in which no one can agree on what was good or bad about it (which sounds like a direction/concept problem, to me). One reviewer would say Romeo was great, too bad Juliet wasn't, the next would say it was the other way around, one would say Mercutio was the high point, the next would say he was overdone… the NY Times reviewer fell over himself with praise for Orlando's performance, while the Wall Street Journal was unimpressed. But I actually have my ticket to see this, so I guess I'll see for myself, which I never thought I would (not being willing to travel to New York and pay Broadway prices).
Billy Boyd is the hardest to keep track of. Mostly because he seems to be quite happy living in Scotland, fronting his (quite excellent) band, and working regularly if not particularly intensely or in high-profile projects. He can say, however, that he's made a movie with Lauren Bacall, and I'm not sure any of the other Fellowship can say that! If John Rhys-Davies is the Fellowship member that I'd most like to dine out with, Billy Boyd is (and probably always will be) the one I'd want to share a pint with.
Ms. Blanchett, see aforementioned GG win. Kudos, lovely lady!
Karl Urban is one of the three LOTR alums who have scored a second major franchise. In addition to ongoing Star Trek duties, he also has a new TV show. Which is almost as notable for returning the excellent Lily Taylor to my radar. :-)
As for his onscreen sister, Miranda Otto has a role in the upcoming Greg Kinnear series (so far a single appearance) and the "I, Frankenstein" movie whose trailer moved me to groans of suppressed laughter when I saw it in the theaters. Sigh.
Liv Tyler seems to work when she wants to, averaging about a film a year. She as a role in one, "Adam Marks is Dead," that just premiered at Sundance, is working on one with Matt Bomer (can the screen handle that much pretty at once?) and has a role in Damon Lindelof's new series, "The Leftovers," that will be debuting on HBO this year and which sounds intriguing.
As for the Fellowship itself:
I lied when I said Cate Blanchett inspired this post - she only half-inspired this. She inspired me to think about what the other LOTR cast members were up to, and when I got to Dominic Monaghan, I thought, "Man, he hasn't done anything lately…" and stopped myself. No, it's not that he/she hasn't done anything, it's just that you're not aware of the things that he/she has done! And it takes so little to find out these days! So. Dom has two new movies in post-production stages, one with Emily Watson and another with Tom Sizemore, so he's working, and with good/prestigious people. Once I looked up Dom, I had to look up the others…
ETA: siliconivy reminded me of Dom's BBC TV show, "Wild Things," and I felt foolish, as I've watched a few episodes and loved them. Dom is the member of the Fellowship I'd most like to travel with!
Sir Ian McKellan continues to be the highest-profile of the cast members, currently appearing on Broadway in two shows I wish I could see (the reviews are simply extraordinary), and with some other movie coming out this summer… something with an X in the title? And the soon-to-return-for-a-second-series of his British TV sitcom.
If Sir Ian is the highest profile of the Fellowship, John Rhys-Davies is the busiest. Too much going on to list here, even in shorthand. I remember Michael Caine explaining his rather eclectic (ahem) career by saying that a working actor, no matter how successful, lived in terror of there never being a "next job," so they ended up taking everything that came to them. John Rhys-Davies' career runs the gamut from the sublime to the made-for-ScyFy ridiculous, and he remains the Fellowship member who'd I'd most enjoy dining out with!
Following in Rhys-Davies' footsteps as a working actor is Sean Astin. Seriously, check out his imdb listing. It seems as though the man never stops working.
Also under the category of "Working actor" is Sean Bean (dreamy sigh). In addition to four (!) films currently in process, he's got a TV series coming up as well - "Legends," on TNT, made by the team behind "Homeland," which bodes well. Looks something like a Bourne rip off homage, but I can think of worse things than Bean playing Bourne on my TV screen on a weekly basis.
His own TV series, "Wilfrid," behind him, Elijah Wood has gravitated toward small, creepy-ass movies, and has completed a string of movies that sound intriguing, tense, intelligent and which I have absolutely no desire to see.
Our captain, our king, Viggo Mortensen continues to be suitably picky and eccentric in his script picks, with the result being that most of the (relatively few) movies he makes are never shown anywhere where I can see them. One of the movies I'm looking forward to most in 2014 is "The Two Faces of January," which currently has a UK release date (May 2), and will presumably get a US release date as well, if only on the art-house circuit. Adapted from the Patricia Highsmith novel, it also features Oscar Isaac (on an upswing after "Llewelyn Davis"), and Kirsten Dunst. (I'd like to make special note that despite vacationing near Sandpoint, Idaho, this summer, I did not stalk Viggo. Special congratulations due, hmm?)
Kirstin Dunst leads me to Orlando Bloom - the two of them had been paired in the upcoming "Cities," which appears to have been sent back into limbo, continuing his string of bad luck regarding the funding/scheduling/release of his upcoming movies. He's back in the public eye with "The Hobbit," of course. After getting mixed reviews at Cannes, "Zulu" is getting great reviews in its European release, but there's no sign of a US release, despite the Weinstein brothers snapping it up. His Broadway run on "Romeo & Juliet" (which was first extended, then shortened) was filmed and will receive a theatrical release in February and a DVD release later in the year. I'm curious to see it - it's apparently one of those strange productions in which no one can agree on what was good or bad about it (which sounds like a direction/concept problem, to me). One reviewer would say Romeo was great, too bad Juliet wasn't, the next would say it was the other way around, one would say Mercutio was the high point, the next would say he was overdone… the NY Times reviewer fell over himself with praise for Orlando's performance, while the Wall Street Journal was unimpressed. But I actually have my ticket to see this, so I guess I'll see for myself, which I never thought I would (not being willing to travel to New York and pay Broadway prices).
Billy Boyd is the hardest to keep track of. Mostly because he seems to be quite happy living in Scotland, fronting his (quite excellent) band, and working regularly if not particularly intensely or in high-profile projects. He can say, however, that he's made a movie with Lauren Bacall, and I'm not sure any of the other Fellowship can say that! If John Rhys-Davies is the Fellowship member that I'd most like to dine out with, Billy Boyd is (and probably always will be) the one I'd want to share a pint with.