Movies

Stephen Fry is thrilled the "magnificent' 'Grand Budapest Hotel' has the most nominations at the EE British Academy Film Awards.
The 57-year-old actor will once again host the ceremony this year and is very pleased the Wes Anderson comedy movie is leading the pack with 11 nods because it is one of his favourite films of the past 12 months.
In an interview on 'Wake Up London' - which is broadcast on satellite channel London Live (Freeview 8, YouView 8, Sky 117 and Virgin 159) - he said: "The big surprise for me I suppose, and it was a delightful one, was 'Budapest Hotel'. It is a magnificent film, beautifully shot, magnificently performed, wonderfully directed. The reason why I was surprised is that it was released so long ago. A lot of people think, 'Oh you have to in the awards season and the BAFTA voters have no memory, and will never vote for a film that earlier in the year.' Well this film was earlier in the year and it's swept the board, which is fantastic news for filmmakers everywhere."
Stephen is very excited that so many British actors have been recognised for their work and although he feels uncomfortable as the host revealing his choices to win he has singled out several stars for special mentions.
He said: "I don't think it's right for me to big up a particular film or person ... but I'm delighted that so many British actors and actresses have been really well represented. Imelda Staulton for 'Pride', and Rosamond Pike for her amazing performance in 'Gone Girl' (are two). Obviously Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne - who weren't that much of a surprise perhaps - but that shouldn't take away how wonderful their performances were.
"I thought 'Foxcatcher' and 'Birdman' were marvellous films, as was 'Nightcrawler' - Jake Gyllenhaal's performance was fantastic. And in 'Birdman' not just the wonderful Michael Keaton but also Emma Stone was superb in it."
The EE British Academy Film Awards take place on February 8 at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden and will be broadcast exclusively on BBC One and BBC One HD.

There are no plans for a Bourne film featuring Matt Damon and Jeremy Renner.
Executive producer Frank Marshall has revealed that while Renner is to remain involved with the franchise, he is not set to appear on screen alongside Damon, who agreed to return to the role of the action hero last year.
He revealed: "We don't have plans for that. You never know. I never say never. But that's not the plan. They're on separate tracks."
Marshall also explained why it took so long to convince Damon to return to the role.
He said: "It was really the challenge of finding the story. If you look back five or six years ago, when we were maybe going on, we just didn't have a story. It's taken this long for us to come up with a story that everybody responded to. Now, we're moving forward."
Also returning for the new Bourne film is director Paul Greengrass, and Marshall said he needed all parties on board in order to progress with the project.
Asked if Greengrass was key to the film being made, he told Collider: "No, it was about both of them responding to a story idea. Now, we're off and we're going to go write the script and make it."

Hugh Jackman is to star in a film about Olympian Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards.
The 46-year-old Australian will play Chuck Berghorn, a ski expert from Lake Placid who helped Eddie to prepare for the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, where he became an unlikely hero after coming last in his two ski-jumping events.
Meanwhile, Taron Egerton has been cast in the role of Eddie, having overcome competition from the likes of George MacKay, Jamie Bell and Daniel Kaluuya, all of whom were considered for the part.
However, Egerton secured the role after performing a "magical" screen-test opposite Jackman, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.
The screen-test was shot in New York, where Jackman has been starring in the Broadway production of 'The River'.
Director Dexter Fletcher and producer Matthew Vaughn - who hope to begin filming in the spring - would like 'Mr Turner' star Timothy Spall to portray Eddie's father in the movie.
What's more, it's been speculated that some scenes from the film will be shot in Cheltenham, England, where Eddie was raised, while Take That's Gary Barlow has been lined up to write songs for the movie.

Liam Neeson admits 'Taken 4' could be made.
The 62-year-old actor stars as a former CIA operative Bryan Mills in the successful film franchise and having just released the third film, he admits there's a chance he'll appear in another.
He said: "I don't think [the 'Taken' franchise] can develop any more to satisfy audiences, but you never know.
"We'll see. We'll see how successful 'Taken 3' becomes."
The latest 'Taken' film leaves room for Neeson's on-screen character to return for a fourth film.
However, he admits that in order for this to happen, the film's writers would have to scrap the "family under threat" formula.
He told Yahoo Movies: "I can't see there being a 'Taken 4' happening unless they take Bryan Mills and put him into something completely different, [a new] scenario with his buddies, you know his little covert group of military buddies."
Meanwhile, Neeson's 'Taken 3' co-star Maggie Grace has admitted he is "incredibly protective" of her.
She said Neeson once called one of her ex-boyfriends to confront him about hurting her feelings.
Maggie explained: "There was this boy who had really hurt my feelings and was kind of being a hot mess, and Liam was just like, 'Let's set this kid straight.'
"It was great."

Rob Marshall has praised James Corden's "unbelievable" talents.
The 'Into the Woods' director has expressed his delight at working with the 36-year-old star - who took on the role of The Baker - and his on-screen wife Emily Blunt, revealing he couldn't consider anybody else for the roles following their auditions.
He said: "James is extraordinary. I mean the range of this man is unbelievable. He has this incredible comedic sensibility and physical comedy which is so deep and so vulnerable and so amazing as The Baker and Emily walked in and said, 'This role is mine'. I've never seen anything like it."
And although the 31-year-old actress insists those weren't her exact words, Marshall claims he can't imagine having casted anyone else as The Baker's wife.
He continued: "She came in and sang ... And claimed the role and the warmth, the joy, the depth that she brings to the role ... The humour - it's extraordinary. I don't know anybody else who could do that."
The 54-year-old filmmaker also commented on the mix of British and American actors in the Disney musical and admitted that while it was unintentional, he enjoyed the Transatlantic atmosphere.
Marshall added: "It didn't start out like that at all. I honestly cast the greatest people for the roles - that was number on for me.
"We also had to do no work in terms of casting because people came in and claimed the roles. I asked Meryl (Streep) to do this and I asked Johnny Depp to do it but everyone else auditioned and everyone else came in and read through or sang through.
"It's really lined up in this beautiful way where we had this sort of multicultural cast and I loved it.
"I ended up with the most extraordinary cast and I have to say everybody sitting at this table is a dream for me to work with."

Reese Witherspoon has reportedly signed up to star in 'Downsizing'.
The Oscar-winning actress is to reunite with 'Election' director Alexander Payne for his next project, which he has described as a "sci-fi social satire".
Payne started work on the project during his seven-year hiatus between 'Sideways' and making 'The Descendants' and the plot focuses on a man with money troubles who decides the answer to his problems is to shrink himself down to a tiny size.
Matt Damon is in line to play the miniature lead opposite Reese and
Sacha Baron Cohen was at one point in line to portray his Spanish business partner.
Shooting on the movie was due to start years ago but was delayed by Payne's work on 'Nebraska'. There is currently no date set for production to start on 'Downsizing'.
Reese is currently being tipped for another Academy Award win for her performance in drama 'Wild'.
The 38-year-old actress portrays Cheryl Strayed in the movie adaptation of her memoir, 'Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail', which is about Cheryl's 1,100-mile hike of self-discovery along the Pacific Crest Trail following the death of her mother, divorce and estrangement from her stepfather.
Reese has admitted the role is the toughest she has taken on in her career.
She said: "Cheryl was brave enough to tell all the parts of her story in her book - including the parts that probably made her feel incredibly uncomfortable .. One day on set I was getting divorced, and the next day my mother died. And the next day I was having sex with a stranger and shooting heroin.''

Viola Davis is "fascinated" by her role in 'Suicide Squad'.
The 49-year-old actress is to play government agent Amanda Waller in the Warner Bros. film centred around the super-villain mercenary team from the DC Comics Universe.
Waller is a hard-nosed and pragmatic agent who is prepared to do anything to protect the US, the country that uses the criminals for black ops missions, and Viola cannot wait to start work on the film and "pick up a gun".
Speaking to website Nerd Report, she said: "I'm fascinated by her. I'm fascinated by her in this world of superhero-ness because she is not a woman that you would expect. I think that she is a massive contradiction. "She's this big powerful black woman, hard, ready to pick up a gun and shoot anyone at will. I'm fascinated in exploring her psychology, just put it that way. And I'm excited to pick up a gun."
'Suicide Squad' has an all-star cast with Jared Leto playing The Joker, Margot Robbie as his sidekick Harley Quinn, Tom Hardy as Rick Flag, Will Smith as Deadshot, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang and Cara Delevingne as Enchantress.
Jesse Eisenberg is also said to be in talks to play Lex Luthor in the upcoming project, a role he will first take on in 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'.
'Suicide Squad' - which is being directed by David Ayer - is scheduled to open in cinemas on August 5, 2016 and shooting is set to begin in Toronto, Canada, in April.

Emily Blunt found it easy playing James Corden's on-screen wife.
The 31-year-old actress stars alongside James in new Disney film 'Into The Woods' and explained that her friendship with the Tony Award-winning star made her job easier.
Speaking at the London première of the film last night (08.01.15), Emily told BANG Showbiz: "[James and I] have known each other a while, so we found our feet quite easily as this cantankerous married couple. It was nice, I love working with James."
Emily said she was attracted to 'Into The Woods' - which has been adapted to the screen by James Lapine from his and Stephen Sondheim's Broadway hit - because it doesn't follow a clichéd path.
She explained: "I hope that children see this, because I think it doesn't coddle them. It doesn't patronise them, I think it challenges them. And I think that kids who have seen it in America have just loved it. I think they've got it and understood it, and have been OK that it's not happily ever after.
"The story is entertaining but yet it's got these undercurrents of real life. The [characters] go through hardships and they have to recover and then move on."

Steve Carell regards 'Foxcatcher' as the "darkest" movie he's been involved with.
The 52-year-old actor - who is best known for his appearances in comedy films like 'Anchorman' and 'The 40 Year-Old Virgin' - plays philanthropist and wrestling enthusiast John du Pont in the biographical drama film and Carell admits he was "intrigued" by the role.
He explained: "I tend not to choose things based on how I think people will respond to them because that's short-sighted and counter-intuitive and your mind isn't focused on just doing good work; there's an ulterior motive.
"The Foxcatcher role wasn't strategic and I don't really have a career strategy because I think that works against just doing what's interesting. For the last couple of years I've sort of dabbled in things that aren't necessarily funny or light, and this is by far the darkest of all. But it was intriguing to me."
Carell also said he's not motivated exclusively by money and appreciates all of the success he's enjoyed though his career.
He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "Money is great and money can be very helpful. I would rather have money than not have money but I don't think it defines me.
"It's a cliché but I don't think I'm necessarily happier having money than not having money. Some of my happiest times were when I was unemployed or working as a waiter and just getting by. But I don't think I'm a greedy person and I like to help other people. I've been very fortunate and I don't take it for granted."