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5 items from 2011

22 August 2011 1:05 AM, PDT | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

The author's stylish language will be heard once more in the movie, fifty years after he was branded as old-fashioned amid the coming of drama's angry young men

The spare, stylish dialogue of Terence Rattigan, at one time the highest-paid screenwriter in the world, will soon be heard in Britain's cinemas once more. In the final phase of a centenary year that has seen the late playwright's work revived on stages across the country, next month will bring not just a celebration of his theatrical legacy at Chichester Festival Theatre, but the release of a new film version of The Deep Blue Sea – the play regarded by many as Rattigan's masterpiece.

Director Terence Davies is due to show his film, which stars Rachel Weisz as the troubled Hester Collyer, at the Toronto Film Festival before its British premiere in November.

Davies, the acclaimed experimental screenwriter and filmmaker from Liverpool behind Distant Voices, »

- Vanessa Thorpe

23 April 2011 4:05 PM, PDT | The Guardian - TV News | See recent The Guardian - TV News news »

With her performance in Cause Célèbre a sensation, and past roles as Joan of Arc, Margot Fonteyn and the spirited Fiona in Shameless, Britain's brightest theatre star won't sleep until she's conquered the world

When Anne-Marie Duff turns up at her local café in Crouch End, north London, she apologises for being a little sleepy, having not long woken up. That may seem like slacker indulgence at 11 in the morning, but not when you consider that she has a nine-month-old baby boy (Brendan) to look after and a lead role every night in Terence Rattigan's Cause Célèbre at the Old Vic to attend to.

Viewed with that knowledge in mind it's a wonder she seems so fresh-faced and youthful. The alarming fact is that Duff, who over the past decade has established herself as one of our leading young actresses, turned 40 last year. I tell her that I thought »

- Andrew Anthony

11 April 2011 9:46 AM, PDT | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

A theatre critic has caused controversy by snoring through Terence Rattigan's Cause Célèbre. But surely there are worse things than a mid-show snooze. Aren't there?

Poor Paul Taylor. There the Independent's theatre critic was, settling into his nice comfortable seat at London's Old Vic for the opening night of Terence Rattigan's Cause Célèbre, getting out his notebook and pen; feeling the lights dim, hearing the soft hush of anticipation, and then ….

Zzzzzz. He's out for the count. And afterwards, to make matters worse, he suffers the indignity of a confrontation in the foyer with James McAvoy – who has, by a nasty quirk of fate, been sitting in the same row and taken exception to Taylor's, er, lack of focus on the performance of his wife, Anne-Marie Duff.

Or so, at least, we understand from a diary item in the Daily Telegraph today, in which an unnamed theatregoer also »

- Laura Barnett

9 April 2011 4:06 PM, PDT | The Guardian - TV News | See recent The Guardian - TV News news »

Maxine Peake and Anne-Marie Duff are among many stars whose careers began on the show. And a pair of casting directors were vital to its success, writes Vanessa Thorpe

There has been no shortage of good stories on the Chatsworth estate. The fictional council house development in Greater Manchester that forms the backdrop to Shameless, one of Britain's longest-running drama series, is packed with dodgy incident. Such as the end of series one when charming Steve, played by James McAvoy, hands Fiona, played by Anne-Marie Duff, the keys to her own house – but only after blowing it up.

Or the sombre scenes in the second series when Steve has to slip off to Amsterdam to avoid the law. Or perhaps the moment in the third series when lovable layabout Frank, played by David Threlfall, and Veronica, played by Maxine Peake, dig up a stash of fake gold. Oh, and a dead body. »

- Vanessa Thorpe

1 January 2011 4:02 PM, PST | The Guardian - TV News | See recent The Guardian - TV News news »

The return of Friends' Matt LeBlanc to the screen after five years, with two British comedy favourites, kicks off our guide to the coming season. Plus, a definitive pick of the must-catch books, music, style, and restaurants

Episodes

Ever since Curb Your Enthusiasm, comic actors from Ricky Gervais to Simon Amstell have been lining up to play themselves on TV. But Episodes, the new BBC comedy drama beginning this week, promises to break the mould. First, the man playing himself is Matt LeBlanc, making his first return to the screen in five years. And secondly, the series is written by Friends creator David Crane – the man who made LeBlanc a household name.

Unlike Joey, LeBlanc's last project, this is no spin-off star vehicle; it's a scathing satire on Hollywood, following British husband-and-wife comedy writers (Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig) as their hit TV show is remade – and ruined – in America, »

5 items from 2011