Busy away with Marion Cotillard, Eddie Redmayne and Robert Pattinson

The last month has been busy but off this blog. Like Tootsie with two personalities. One here. And One at The Film Experience.

I talked about Cate, Nicole & Keira doing stage all over the globe.

Welcomed Emily Watson away from the frumpy mothers she's played recently.

Worried about the release plans of Macbeth. Wondered what auteurs see in Robert Paatinson.

Waxed poetic about Elizabeth Debicki's costumes in U.N.C.L.E. And Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's in La La Land.


Analyzed the posters and release plans of Beasts of No Nation. The first picture from A Bigger Splash and Eddie Redmayne's big fall Oscar campaign.

I've been busy. Read all of it here.

Most Anticipated : Macbeth

Will cinema screens combust from the heat off the lethal combination of Fassy and Marion coming at each other? That is the question, my friends.

Pedigree

Shakespeare needs no introduction and I can't remember if there was ever a major film adaptation of his Scottish play. Michael Fassbender, coming off his first Oscar nomination for 12 Years A Slave,  and Marion Cotillard, coming off two transcendent performances in Rust and Bone and The Immigrant, are the leads with Snowtown's Justin Kurzel directing. The supporting cast includes David Thewlis, Paddy Considine and The Great Gatsby standout Elizabeth Debicki.

What's It About
You know it. Ambition gone astray. Bravado run amok. And out out damn spot. It's a straight adaptation of the play set in 11th century Scotland with original Shakespearean language. 

Why I'm Excited
Snowtown was such a visceral punch to the gut. A excellent film debut for Kurzel that makes him the perfect choice to bring this to the screen. Fassbender is arguably the most exciting actor working today. Cotillard is at the top of her game with her recent performances - we can all try to forget the Talia al Ghul/Miranda Tate debacle. Plus I'm so excited to see where Debicki's career will go, based on evidence provided so far she has the talent and screen presence to become the next ACTRESS from down under to rule our screens.

Fassbender on set (JustJared)

Really?

Apparently Cotillard is keeping her French accent which is a strange choice for "the Scottish play". However if it means that this frees her to create a believable, emotional performance it might be a stroke of genius. 

There has never been an entirely successful straight adaptation of the Bard so I'm trying to temper my expectations. The only recent one that I liked was Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet and that was a whole new interpretation. 

She demands our attention! Elizabeth Debicki in The Great Gatsby

Debicki in The Great Gatsby

So far in 2013 there have been a few performances that I liked. But there has only been one that made me sit up straight in my seat almost shouting "Who's that?” That is Elizabeth Debicki in The Great Gatsby. It is a combination of having not seen her in anything before plus a certain screen magnetism that heralded in my mind that a star was born. 

She gallops across the screen as Jordan Baker and authoritatively demands our attention. She whole heartedly got mine. In fact I missed her a lot when Jordan was off screen. She reminded me of Cate Blanchett in The Talented Mr. Ripley – that same haughty confidence. And if you know the high regard I have for the great Cate, you know that is no faint praise. Coincidently she is now on stage in Sydney co-starring with Blanchett in The Maids.

I expect great things soon.

Debicki as herself at Gatsby premiere in Cannes