As much as I hate to pigeonhole an artist, especially on the basis of just two works, I can’t say I’d predict that Act of Killing and Look of Silence director Joshua Oppenheimer wishes to create a musical combining the writings of Samuel Beckett and stylings of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. And yet, when speaking to Screen Daily, he revealed an intention to give the playwright’s Happy Days — which concerns “a middle-aged married woman buried up to her neck in sand and recalling happier times in her life” — just such a treatment, having found song-and-dance numbers to be “a form of cinema that is honest about its own sentimentality.” Put in that light, it makes perfect sense: spend enough time chronicling genocide and you’ll probably need a lift, too.
I, for one, will be curious to see how the man fulfills a promise of innovating the musical,...
I, for one, will be curious to see how the man fulfills a promise of innovating the musical,...
- 3/9/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
"The Act Of Killing" and "The Look Of Silence" director Joshua Oppenheimer is reportedly working on a musical loosely based on the famed Samuel Beckett play "Happy Days".
The play deals with a woman who is buried up to her waist and follows her through the day with her husband. Influence will also be taken from the classic "Umbrellas Of Cherbourg" as Oppenheimer says: "there are no good or bad characters and the tragedy emerges from the interactions of people."
Before he gets around to that though, Oppenheimer will do another documentary but will reveal zero details on it at the moment other than production will begin this year.
Source: Screen...
The play deals with a woman who is buried up to her waist and follows her through the day with her husband. Influence will also be taken from the classic "Umbrellas Of Cherbourg" as Oppenheimer says: "there are no good or bad characters and the tragedy emerges from the interactions of people."
Before he gets around to that though, Oppenheimer will do another documentary but will reveal zero details on it at the moment other than production will begin this year.
Source: Screen...
- 3/9/2016
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Exclusive: The Act Of Killing director’s next film will be a documentary, but he is also developing two narrative features including a musical inspired by a Samuel Beckett play.
Following two acclaimed documentaries about the Indonesian genocide, The Act Of Killing and The Look Of Silence, BAFTA-winner Joshua Oppenheimer is developing two narrative features, including a musical inspired by Samuel Beckett’s play Happy Days.
Speaking to Screen at Qumra, where he is one of the Doha Film Institute event’s five Masters, Oppenheimer revealed he plans to write and direct both narrative projects, which will come after his third feature documentary.
The director is a lover of screen musicals and intends to push the boundaries and conventions of the genre as he has done with his documentaries. “It’s a form of cinema that is honest about its own sentimentality,” he said.
Happy Days is about a middle-aged married woman buried up to her waist...
Following two acclaimed documentaries about the Indonesian genocide, The Act Of Killing and The Look Of Silence, BAFTA-winner Joshua Oppenheimer is developing two narrative features, including a musical inspired by Samuel Beckett’s play Happy Days.
Speaking to Screen at Qumra, where he is one of the Doha Film Institute event’s five Masters, Oppenheimer revealed he plans to write and direct both narrative projects, which will come after his third feature documentary.
The director is a lover of screen musicals and intends to push the boundaries and conventions of the genre as he has done with his documentaries. “It’s a form of cinema that is honest about its own sentimentality,” he said.
Happy Days is about a middle-aged married woman buried up to her waist...
- 3/9/2016
- by matt.mueller@screendaily.com (Matt Mueller)
- ScreenDaily
Benedict Cumberbatch just said I Do - but who is his Cumberbride? The Imitation Game actor, 38, and Sophie Hunter tied the knot on Saturday in an intimate ceremony at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul on the Isle of Wight in England. Like her husband, Hunter, 36, has a flair for the dramatics. (They did reportedly meet on the set of 2009's Burlesque Fairytales, after all. ) The newlywed - who studied French and Italian at Oxford - is perhaps best known for her playwriting and directing in avant-garde theater. In 2007, she received the prestigious Samuel Beckett Award for writing...
- 2/14/2015
- by Jeff Nelson, @nelson_jeff
- PEOPLE.com
Benedict Cumberbatch just said I Do - but who is his Cumberbride? The Imitation Game actor, 38, and Sophie Hunter tied the knot on Saturday in an intimate ceremony at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul on the Isle of Wight in England. Like her husband, Hunter, 36, has a flair for the dramatics. (They did reportedly meet on the set of 2009's Burlesque Fairytales, after all. ) The newlywed - who studied French and Italian at Oxford - is perhaps best known for her playwriting and directing in avant-garde theater. In 2007, she received the prestigious Samuel Beckett Award for writing...
- 2/14/2015
- by Jeff Nelson, @nelson_jeff
- PEOPLE.com
Update Tuesday, 7:00 a.m. with more information, below:
Stage, screen and radio actress Billie Whitelaw was perhaps best known to international audiences for her role as Mrs. Baylock in 1976 horror film The Omen, but she had a versatile career at home in the UK where she was a muse to Samuel Beckett and won BAFTAs for her film and television work. Whitelaw died on Sunday at a London nursing home, her son told the BBC. She was 82. Among her many big-screen credits, which stretch back to 1953, are 1967’s Charlie Bubbles with Albert Finney; 1968’s The Twisted Nerve with Hayley Mills; Alfred Hitchcock’s 1972’s Frenzy; The Omen; 1988’s The Dressmaker with Joan Plowright and Pete Postlethwaite; Peter Medak’s classic biopic The Krays in 1990; and more recently, Edgar Wright’s 2007 Hot Fuzz with Simon Pegg.
Whitelaw was born in 1932 and made her radio acting debut at age 11, per the BBC.
Stage, screen and radio actress Billie Whitelaw was perhaps best known to international audiences for her role as Mrs. Baylock in 1976 horror film The Omen, but she had a versatile career at home in the UK where she was a muse to Samuel Beckett and won BAFTAs for her film and television work. Whitelaw died on Sunday at a London nursing home, her son told the BBC. She was 82. Among her many big-screen credits, which stretch back to 1953, are 1967’s Charlie Bubbles with Albert Finney; 1968’s The Twisted Nerve with Hayley Mills; Alfred Hitchcock’s 1972’s Frenzy; The Omen; 1988’s The Dressmaker with Joan Plowright and Pete Postlethwaite; Peter Medak’s classic biopic The Krays in 1990; and more recently, Edgar Wright’s 2007 Hot Fuzz with Simon Pegg.
Whitelaw was born in 1932 and made her radio acting debut at age 11, per the BBC.
- 12/23/2014
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
In perhaps the most singular, iconic image of all mid-century Theater of the Absurd, Winnie in Happy Days awakens buried "up to her titties" in a mound of sandy dirt. By Act II, she has sunk deeper into the earth, up to her chin. Yet Winnie faces each morning with a nearly indomitable optimism that somewhere in her circumscribed existence she will find enough quotidian detail or recollected reverie to will herself to another "happy day." Completed in 1961, the play was the last of the four immortal full-length theatrical works produced by Samuel Beckett before he retreated
read more...
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- 9/18/2014
- by Myron Meisel
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It is one of Beckett's most famous – and most startling – images. But what inspired the half-buried woman in Happy Days? His friend and biographer James Knowlson tracks down the first Winnies
Samuel Beckett was a passionate lover of art and a friend of many painters and sculptors. He loved Dutch and Flemish painting in particular – and art almost certainly inspired some of his most memorable theatrical images. Even his earliest plays, such as Waiting for Godot or Endgame, recall the old masters: the character Lucky in Godot may well remind you of a Brueghel grotesque; Estragon and Vladimir's physical antics echo scenes in Adriaen Brouwer's paintings ("Dear, dear Brouwer", Beckett called him); Hamm in Endgame appears to share genes with some portraits by Rembrandt, staring out at the viewer – Jacob Trip in his armchair, perhaps.
As for Beckett's late miniature works – recently revived by the Royal Court with a tour...
Samuel Beckett was a passionate lover of art and a friend of many painters and sculptors. He loved Dutch and Flemish painting in particular – and art almost certainly inspired some of his most memorable theatrical images. Even his earliest plays, such as Waiting for Godot or Endgame, recall the old masters: the character Lucky in Godot may well remind you of a Brueghel grotesque; Estragon and Vladimir's physical antics echo scenes in Adriaen Brouwer's paintings ("Dear, dear Brouwer", Beckett called him); Hamm in Endgame appears to share genes with some portraits by Rembrandt, staring out at the viewer – Jacob Trip in his armchair, perhaps.
As for Beckett's late miniature works – recently revived by the Royal Court with a tour...
- 1/22/2014
- The Guardian - Film News
Juliet Stevenson, star of films, stage and TV series such as The Politician's Wife, on poetry, Iranian film and Mark Twain
Born in Essex, actress Juliet Stevenson, launched her stage career with the RSC in 1978. Her notable theatre roles have included Rosalind in As You Like It, Hedda Gabler and Paulina in Death and the Maiden, for which she a best actress Olivier award in 1992. Stevenson's first Bafta nomination was for the lead in Anthony Minghella's film Truly, Madly, Deeply, followed by further nominations for TV roles in A Doll's House, The Politician's Wife and, more recently, the BBC series Accused. Stevenson is a much loved voice on the radio and numerous audio books. She stars in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days at the Young Vic from 23 January to 8 March.
Theatre: The Scottsboro Boys
I just saw The Scottsboro Boys at the Young Vic and I was blown away.
Born in Essex, actress Juliet Stevenson, launched her stage career with the RSC in 1978. Her notable theatre roles have included Rosalind in As You Like It, Hedda Gabler and Paulina in Death and the Maiden, for which she a best actress Olivier award in 1992. Stevenson's first Bafta nomination was for the lead in Anthony Minghella's film Truly, Madly, Deeply, followed by further nominations for TV roles in A Doll's House, The Politician's Wife and, more recently, the BBC series Accused. Stevenson is a much loved voice on the radio and numerous audio books. She stars in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days at the Young Vic from 23 January to 8 March.
Theatre: The Scottsboro Boys
I just saw The Scottsboro Boys at the Young Vic and I was blown away.
- 1/19/2014
- by Leah Harper
- The Guardian - Film News
Actor no longer able to attend celebration of Nobel prize-winning author after suffering bereavement
Winona Ryder has been forced to pull out of a planned appearance at a Samuel Beckett festival in Northern Ireland next week.
The actor had been due to read two of Beckett's prose poems at the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett festival in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh but, according to festival director Sean Doran, a bereavement means she can no longer attend.
Doran said: "I heard from Winona last night that she had just lost a dear friend and would not now be able to come ... She was very apologetic and saddened at not being able to come as planned as she had been very much looking forward to taking part... It is of course a great shame that Winona will not be joining us this year."
Securing Ryder's participation had been something of a coup for the festival,...
Winona Ryder has been forced to pull out of a planned appearance at a Samuel Beckett festival in Northern Ireland next week.
The actor had been due to read two of Beckett's prose poems at the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett festival in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh but, according to festival director Sean Doran, a bereavement means she can no longer attend.
Doran said: "I heard from Winona last night that she had just lost a dear friend and would not now be able to come ... She was very apologetic and saddened at not being able to come as planned as she had been very much looking forward to taking part... It is of course a great shame that Winona will not be joining us this year."
Securing Ryder's participation had been something of a coup for the festival,...
- 8/15/2013
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Film-maker known for his dark take on post-Soviet Russia
Aleksei Balabanov, who has died aged 54 after suffering a seizure, saw himself as the "anti-establishment rock'n'roller of Russian film" with an aim to make "scandalous, harsh cinema". Many of Balabanov's films are metaphorical black comedies that gaze unflinchingly at the bleakness and violence of the last days of communism and post-Soviet society, with classic Russian rock music on the soundtrack. His first two features, Happy Days (1991) and The Castle (1994), were based on Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka respectively, and Balabanov's nihilistic oeuvre also takes in Nikolai Gogol, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mikhail Bulgakov, whose Notes of a Young Doctor was the basis of Balabanov's Morphia (2008).
"I don't make movies with ideas. Ideas make for bad cinema," he said. "I don't make my movies for the intelligentsia, but for the people. That's why they like my films." This was demonstrated by the commercial...
Aleksei Balabanov, who has died aged 54 after suffering a seizure, saw himself as the "anti-establishment rock'n'roller of Russian film" with an aim to make "scandalous, harsh cinema". Many of Balabanov's films are metaphorical black comedies that gaze unflinchingly at the bleakness and violence of the last days of communism and post-Soviet society, with classic Russian rock music on the soundtrack. His first two features, Happy Days (1991) and The Castle (1994), were based on Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka respectively, and Balabanov's nihilistic oeuvre also takes in Nikolai Gogol, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mikhail Bulgakov, whose Notes of a Young Doctor was the basis of Balabanov's Morphia (2008).
"I don't make movies with ideas. Ideas make for bad cinema," he said. "I don't make my movies for the intelligentsia, but for the people. That's why they like my films." This was demonstrated by the commercial...
- 5/20/2013
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
New York — Fiona Shaw's small Broadway dressing room had the look of a makeshift bar. There were more than a dozen bottles of wine stashed on a high shelf.
"It looks like a sort of speakeasy, doesn't it?" the actress said, looking up at the gifts left by well-wishers that were now on duty for post-show cheers. "Over many months, we hope. Not in a night."
Visitors might be handed a glass of pinot but the hostess would rather stay as sober as possible as she tackles another astonishing part in a career populated by plenty of them. This new one may even top the rest: the Virgin Mary, whose son turned water into wine.
Shaw, perhaps best known for playing Harry Potter's aunt, is re-imagining the life of the mother of Christ in Irish writer Colm Toibin's New York premiere stage adaptation of his novella "The Testament of Mary,...
"It looks like a sort of speakeasy, doesn't it?" the actress said, looking up at the gifts left by well-wishers that were now on duty for post-show cheers. "Over many months, we hope. Not in a night."
Visitors might be handed a glass of pinot but the hostess would rather stay as sober as possible as she tackles another astonishing part in a career populated by plenty of them. This new one may even top the rest: the Virgin Mary, whose son turned water into wine.
Shaw, perhaps best known for playing Harry Potter's aunt, is re-imagining the life of the mother of Christ in Irish writer Colm Toibin's New York premiere stage adaptation of his novella "The Testament of Mary,...
- 4/12/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Well folks, we’ve reached the end here at Bwe.tv, and to achieve the proper closure, we’ve invited all the past contributors from the Bwe.tv days of yesteryear to bid their farewells and impart their bloggerly knowledge unto you by answering the unanswerable question: “What Is The Internet?” Here, offering their goodbyes, are Michelle Collins, Alex Blagg, Piper Weiss, Adam Winer, Sara Schaefer, Cory Cavin, Josh Lay, Tom Ganjamie, Eliot Glazer, Sarah Walker, Noah Garfinkel, Rohit Sang, Raphael Rodriguez, and Bob Castrone. Enjoy! Michelle Collins (@michcoll) Favorite Posts: These. When I first started blogging, I was working in an office not unlike the basement where Gary Sinise locks up Mel Gibson’s kid in Ransom. The internet was my escape. It’s all our escapes. Going all the way back to those AOL chat rooms I used to a/s/l my way around when I was only 13/f/miami,...
- 6/15/2012
- by Dan Hopper
- BestWeekEver
Everett John Franklin and Dana Ivey in “The Addams Family,” (1991)
A New York theater mainstay, Dana Ivey has lived in the city for over 30 years, starring in everything from Samuel Beckett’s “Happy Days” to Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George.” She’s won Tony’s and Obie’s, and that’s just for her work on Broadway. But before Ivey took her first bow on the Great White Way, she could be found in curtains and drapery section of Davidson’s,...
A New York theater mainstay, Dana Ivey has lived in the city for over 30 years, starring in everything from Samuel Beckett’s “Happy Days” to Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George.” She’s won Tony’s and Obie’s, and that’s just for her work on Broadway. But before Ivey took her first bow on the Great White Way, she could be found in curtains and drapery section of Davidson’s,...
- 12/7/2011
- by Alexandra Cheney
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
When we spotted the headline in today's Variety that Oscar winning actress Jennifer Hudson was set to play 'Winnie' our first thoughts turned towards that charming English (never, ever Disney) bear Winnie-the-Pooh, but that seemed unlikely so we thought again... could she be playing Samuel Beckett's buried Winnie from the Nobel prize winner's 1962 play Happy Days? Again it seemed unlikely.
In fact, the actress is set to play Winnie Mandela in a cinematic answer to Clint Eastwood's upcoming film about her husband Nelson, Invictus.
The film will be directed by Darrell J. Roodt and will be a nuanced biopic of the complex, extraordinary and often villified woman who was disgraced following her separation from a husband she stood by and campaigned for over many decades.
Sl
>> Real the whole article | on Screenrush - Wednesday 18 November 2009...
In fact, the actress is set to play Winnie Mandela in a cinematic answer to Clint Eastwood's upcoming film about her husband Nelson, Invictus.
The film will be directed by Darrell J. Roodt and will be a nuanced biopic of the complex, extraordinary and often villified woman who was disgraced following her separation from a husband she stood by and campaigned for over many decades.
Sl
>> Real the whole article | on Screenrush - Wednesday 18 November 2009...
- 11/18/2009
- Screenrush
American Stage Theatre Company has decided to celebrate the final days in their current building before they move into their new state-of-the-art theatre this June. To commemorate the end of an era, American Stage has two special productions planned to close its old building. First will be Samuel Beckett's beautiful statement on the need for change, Happy Days, on April 25, followed by a staged reading of Anton Chekov's valentine to saying goodbye, The Cherry Orchard, on May 2.
- 4/7/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Veteran Guthrie actors Sally Wingert and Richard Ooms team with director Rob Melrose for Samuel Beckett's masterful two-character drama Happy Days. The production, which serves as the Dowling Studio debut for both actors, begins previews February 14, opens February 18 and plays through March 8, 2009. Single tickets are priced from $18 to $30, with opening night priced at $34. Tickets are now on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.Stage, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at http://www.guthrietheater.org/. This intense and strictly concentrated two-character drama features an eternally optimistic Winnie inexplicably buried waist-deep in a mound of earth, clinging to her life of arbitrary routines and rituals. Her husband, Willie, appears from time to time and replies only occasionally to her cheerful chatter, a source of comfort as she remains ever hopeful that "this is going to be a happy day." With its vivid sense of the bizarre and a blend of humor and compassion,...
- 2/16/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
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