Film, Profile and Miles Fielder

Brighton Rock remake actress Andrea Riseborough - Profile

From Made in Dagenham to starring opposite Guy Pearce

17 Feb 2011

Name Andrea Riseborough Born 27 October 1981, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Background She was Sally Hawkins’ mate in Happy-Go-Lucky, Margaret Thatcher in The Long Walk to Finchley, English Civil War-era crumpet in The Devil’s Whore and busty Brenda…

The Illusionist opens EIFF 2010 - Sylvain Chomet interview

9 Jun 2010

The year after French animator Sylvain Chomet knocked out cinema-goers at the 2003 Edinburgh International Film Festival with his wildly eccentric and utterly charming double-Oscar nominated debut feature, Belleville Rendez-vous (aka The Triplets of…

Brendan Gleeson has roles in both Perrier’s Bounty and Green Zone

31 Mar 2010

Name Brendan Gleeson Born 29 March, 1955, Dublin, Ireland Background The lazy line to take on this scene-stealing character actor is he was a maths teacher for ten years before he decided to become and actor, and got his big break playing…

Profile: John Hurt

20 Jan 2010

Name: John Hurt Born: 22 June 1940, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK Background: The third child of a vicar and an actress (yes, really), Hurt followed a strict Catholic education at a local prep school with an escape to London to study art at St…

Profile: Donnie Yen

The martial arts expert on playing Bruce Lee's mentor

16 Oct 2009

Name Donnie Yen Born 27 July 1963, Canton, China Background Born to a newspaper editor and a martial arts master, Yen began practising tai chi and wushu at the age of four. At 16 he was sent to the Beijing Wushu Academy, where he studied under…

White Lightnin' or just white trash?

The creators of the controversial revenge tale explain all

17 Sep 2009

Watching White Lightnin’ you wonder where its makers came up with the idea for their gloriously demented film. At once a biopic about a hillbilly dancer and a tale of revenge that plays like a seventies American horror movie, it’s the story of Jesco…

Profile: JJ Feild

25 Jun 2009

Born Boulder, Colorado, US in 1978. Background Although he was born in the US, the handsome young actor’s family relocated to the UK when he was a baby. Growing up in London, he got the acting bug young and before he left school Field and his mates…

Profile - Natalie Press

2 Apr 2009

Name Natalie Press Born 15 August, 1980, London Background Just three years after the elfin actress made her professional debut in television soap Holby City she hit the big time with Pawel Pawlikowski’s rapturously received 2004 film My Summer…

Emily Blunt - Yo majesty!

5 Mar 2009

When people got an eyeful of Emily Blunt’s striking good looks and acting ability in My Summer of Love, winner of the Best New British Feature award following its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2004, the general consensus…

Profile - Jonathan Levine

5 Feb 2009

Name Jonathan Levine Born 1978, New York City Background Given he’s been making movies since he was a prepubescent 12-year-old, NYC born and bred Jonathan Levine was always going to become a film director. Graduating from the Arts/Semiotics…

Frank Miller interview

11 Dec 2008

‘At first I found it too daunting, because Will Eisner had been my mentor. But after three minutes of careful thought I decided that nobody else could touch it. So I went from protecting The Spirit to exploring what I perceived as Will’s intent, which…

Profile - Toby Jones

30 Oct 2008

Name Toby Jones Born 7 September 1967, Oxford, England Background In 2001, the diminutive British actor premiered his self-penned monologue – Missing Reels at the Edinburgh Fringe. The show was an entertaining account of how his role as a…

In Which They Serve

17 Jul 2008

The British Film Institute’s re-release of the rarely seen and now beautifully restored David Lean film The Passionate Friends is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the celebration of the centenary of the great British filmmaker’s birth. In…

Profile - Michael Pitt

27 Mar 2008

Name Michael Pitt Born 10 April 1981, West Orange, New Jersey Background Having moved to New York City aged 16, studied drama, appeared on stage, and been talent-spotted for a part in the TV drama Dawson’s Creek, boyishly pretty Pitt wasted no…

Profile - James Schamus

4 Jan 2008

Name James Schamus Born 7 September 1959, Detroit, Michigan, US. Background Almost uniquely in American filmmaking, Schamus is both an Oscar-nominated writer/producer and a movie executive. In 1991 he co-founded the production outfit Good…

Profile - Rigoberto Castaneda

29 Nov 2007

Name Rigoberto Castaneda Born 27 February 1973, Mexico City Background Castaneda was working as a runner in a production house in Mexico City when he was given a book about Alfred Hitchcock and was inspired to take a course in filmmaking. Having…

Profile - Gerard James Butler

Profile

13 Mar 2007

Name Gerard James Butler Born 13 November 1969, Glasgow, Scotland Background Raised by his divorced mother in her hometown of Paisley, and Canada, Butler studied law at Glasgow University but allegedly gave up on that career after losing his job…

Profile - Edward Norton

PROFILE

27 Feb 2007

Name Edward Norton. Born 18 August 1969, Boston, US. Background Interested in acting from the age of five, by eight Norton was asking his drama teacher about his character’s ‘motivation’. He attended drama schools, but didn’t get serious about…