Movies

Lupita Nyong'o thinks starring in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' is like being "at the best party".
The 32-year-old actress - who plays the space pirate Maz Kanata in the eagerly-awaited sci-fi movie - has revealed her excitement about appearing in the franchise, describing herself as a 'Star Wars' "dork".
She said: "The film hasn't been released yet so I've only had a light orientation.
"But I was at [Disney's D23 Expo] recently where I was onstage with Harrison Ford and the excitement was just so high.
"And for me, it was just so cool. I can be geekish. I can be a dork. It feels like I've been at the best party."
Lupita - who enjoyed a starring role in the 2013 hit '12 Years a Slave' - said she relished the chance to play such an unusual role.
She told Elle magazine: "The opportunity to play a CGI character for me was the opportunity to not be limited by my physical circumstances.
"I could experience being bigger or smaller, something totally different to who I am. And of course it's in a galaxy far, far away."

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Dave Franco are among more than 2,500 actors who have auditioned for the role of a young Han Solo.
Several big names including The Fault in Our Stars' Ansel Elgort, 'Harry Potter' actor Tom Felton and Whiplash star Miles Teller are all said to have tried out for the part in a 'Star Wars' spin-off movie about Harrison Ford's legendary character.
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter, over 2,500 stars have either met about the Disney and Lucasfilm movie or sent in taped auditions to try to impress casting director Jeanne McCarthy who is whittling down the numbers for directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
One agent, whose client has auditioned, told the publication: "This has been the easiest movie to audition for. They are seeing everyone."
The casting team are said to be on the hunt for someone who looks a bit like a young Ford and can handle the action-packed scenes but is charming as well.
Sources added that the "sweet spot" age film bosses are looking for is around the mid-20s, but this hasn't stopped both older and younger actors trying out for the role.
Mr Robot's Rami Malek, 34, is said to have auditioned, and 16-year-old 'Walking Dead' actor Chandler Riggs is also thought to be keen on the role.

Jane Fonda thinks it's important women are more strongly represented in cinema.
The 77-year-old actress says the movie industry performs an important cultural role and claims the business is currently missing "the narrative of half of the world's population".
She told Vulture: "It's important because women view things differently, whether it's a relationship or the entire global situation.
"If the narratives only come from men, we're missing the narrative of half of the world's population!"
Jane said the lack of a female voice in the movie business has broader implications.
The 'Barbarella' actress said: "Movies are what create our consciousness, so we're being harmed - not just women, but men, too.
"If you don't get the narrative of the other half, you're going to be diminished because of it."
Earlier this year, Jane - who is a long-time advocate of gender equality - gave her own definition of feminism.
She said: "Feminism doesn't mean that you're against men or that you're some angry bra-burner.
"Feminism is nothing less than saying I want to be a whole human being with equal rights and equal opportunities."

Diane Keaton thinks working with Woody Allen is a "privilege".
The 69-year-old actress stars alongside the legendary filmmaker in the award-winning movie 'Annie Hall', among others, and has admitted it was a pleasure to work with Woody.
She said: "He gave me everything.
"It was a privilege to be in those films with him. I've never seen anybody more disciplined."
Diane also revealed what she learned from working with the New York-born movie star.
She told AARP The Magazine: "For him, work is an art form. Work really is the answer to so many problems, and it's a form of play, too, that you take very seriously and keep trying to expand.
"That's something I learned from Woody."
Last month, Cate Blanchett - who starred in the Allen-directed 'Blue Jasmine' - revealed he said she was "awful" while making the film.
She recalled: "The first day was brutal. He came up to me said, 'This is awful and you're awful'. As if he were talking about someone else, some other actress and that maybe I could go and have a word with her.
"And then three weeks later it turned out that he didn't like the costumes, he didn't like the locations, he didn't like the scene. He said, 'You've got to help me rescue this movie.'"

'The Danish Girl' director Tom Hooper thinks there's something about Eddie Redmayne that's "drawn to the feminine".
The Oscar-winning actor plays the part of Lili Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sex reassignment surgery, and the film's director has defended the decision to cast him in the role.
He shared: "The thing which was interesting was that the reaction was probably two or three years after I cast him, so there was a slight feeling of, 'I'm not sure what I can do about that'.
"I'd thought about casting Eddie very early on back in 2008."
And Tom said the 33-year-old lends himself to appearing in the role of a woman.
Tom told Collider: "There's something about Eddie that's drawn to the feminine. He had played girls' parts at school - he had played Viola in the Twelfth Night by Mark Rylance - so that interested me. I had a film where the transition happens late. It happens late in the story so for the majority Lili is living as Einar.
"But then Eddie also has this gift of emotional transparency - he takes you with him on a journey. I didn't want Lili to be othered by the movie or made to feel strange. I wanted an actor who would open up people's hearts to this character's journey and I think he has that gift."

J.J. Abrams wanted to direct 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' because he wanted to know what happened to the trilogy's main characters like every other fan.
The filmmaker was approached by Disney - who bought the rights to the sci-fi franchise from George Lucas' Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in 2012 - to helm the new movie and as a life-long 'Star Wars' fanatic he couldn't resist the opportunity to set out what happened to the likes of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca.
Abrams decided he would use Daisy Ridley's mysterious character Rey to explore the story of the Rebel Alliance versus the Empire.
In an interview on 'Sirius XM' radio's 'The Howard Stern Show', he revealed: "When Kathy Kennedy (Lucasfilm President) and I started talking about these characters, the idea that Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, this is 40 years ago. For someone that is like 19 years old, this is their myths. Who knows what they know about them! People wouldn't know who some of these characters are. The thing that got me, that grabbed me was that feeling of a new young character, in the case of this conversation was a female character. Didn't know anything about her. But in the conversation the question of this young woman asking 'Who is Luke Skywalker?' I don't know why ... but it made me feel, like, 'F**k that's so cool!' "
Abrams also revealed 'The Force Awakens' has a retro feel in keeping with the original three films in the series.
He added: "We started talking about what this thing could be. As we were talking about it, I found myself suddenly on fire about it. We were talking about the idea of these characters. When George Lucas did 'Star Wars', he wanted to do 'Flash Gordon'. He couldn't get the rights to Flash Gordon. So he created 'Star Wars'. But what's amazing is that the movie we just did is about 40 years after 'Star Wars: A New Hope' ... There's this feeling of wanting to continue this retro feeling which I love. I love the feeling when I watched the original film."
Meanwhile, Lucas has admitted the end of his work with 'Star Wars' - the global phenomenon he created - feels "like a divorce", but he accepts his presence on set would have been difficult for Abrams.
He said: "There is no such thing as working over someone's shoulder. You're either the dictator or you're not. And to do that would never work, so I said 'I'm going to get divorced.' I knew that I couldn't be involved. All I'd do is make them miserable. I'd make myself miserable. It would probably ruin a vision - J.J. has a vision, and it's his vision."

Seth Rogen will continue to make "raunchy" comedies - despite recent controversies.
The 33-year-old funnyman starred in the 2014 satire 'The Interview' - which became the source of a political controversy, when the North Korean government threatened action against the US if it were released - but Seth has insisted he has no plans to dilute his sense of humour.
He said: "People have asked me when I know if raunchy humour has gone too far or is too much, and I say, when your goal is to create something, when is there too much of that product?
"If you ask the guy who makes Nikes, when do you know you've made too many Nikes, he'd probably reply, 'I've never made too many Nikes, as long as people keep buying them, I'm making them.' So I guess the only answer I have is that it's too much when it sucks and I'm sure we will know if it sucks."
Seth stars in new comedy 'The Night Before', and has revealed he isn't worried about offending a religion or a country this time around.
He told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper: "Christians have their own s**t to deal with, they're not worried about us. So on the scale of controversial waters one could possibly navigate, this movie was very low on that list, I would say. If anything, we may offend Jews because we made a Christmas movie."

Steven Spielberg thinks Harrison Ford is irreplaceable as Indiana Jones.
The legendary filmmaker - who directed the iconic movie series - has admitted he couldn't imagine another actor playing the role of the fictional archaeologist, despite the likes of Chris Pratt having been linked to the coveted part.
He said: "I don't think anyone could replace Harrison as Indy, I don't think that's ever going to happen."
The 68-year-old director explained that unlike some other iconic film roles, he doesn't think it'd be appropriate if another actor plays Indiana.
Spielberg told Screen Daily: "It's certainly not my intention to ever have another actor step into his shoes in the way there have been many actors that have played Spider-Man or Batman.
"There is only going to be one actor playing Indiana Jones and that's Harrison Ford."
This comes shortly after Harrison admitted he wants to make a fifth 'Indiana Jones' movie.
He said: "Yeah, I'd love to do another Indiana Jones. A character that has a history and a potential, kind of a rollicking good movie ride for the audience, Steven Spielberg as a director - what's not to like?"

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