LONDON INSIDER - UK Office
Good afternoon, good evening and goodnight.
The dark, cold mornings and the equally dark, cold early evenings are practically gone and Spring is upon us, here in London. Hopefully, this new light will reflect the movie news I’m gathering together.
Lean Bean: ”Clean Skin”, an independently financed British movie starring Sean Bean, has been bought by Warner Bros and is due in UK cinemas on 9th March. The film began with a budget of around £700K and was said that after investors saw what amazing stunts were being carried out on set (restaurants and cars blowing up and decent Bourne-style fights) the investment increased to just under £2million GBP. The picture, directed by Hadi Hajaig, sees Sean Bean as a secret service agent pursuing a terrorist. It also features Charlotte Rampling and Michelle Ryan (”Bionic Woman”). Early word suggests this could be a sleeper hit and that director Hadi’s next film is eying up one Nicolas Cage.
X-treme make-over: X-Factor USA reject Cheryl Cole seems to be clawing back, but word being mooted around is that she’s seeking the movie world. What with Cole being introduced to Harvey Weinstein in Cannes last year and her visiting troops in Afghanistan and testing out guns, it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw her going the action route and not typical comedy nonsense that tends to happen in these instances.
Dependables: Late 80’s and 90’s action babe, Cynthia Rothrock, is also on the up and up. It’s been a while since the martial-arts actress has graced any screen and she currently has a few projects in the pipeline. She’s just wrapped ‘White Tiger’ in Burma, has a cameo in the new martial-arts flick “Knockout”, and has also discussed a possible ‘female Expendables’. A female Expendables would be awesome! What a line up that would be! Can you imagine Rothrock joining the likes of Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton, Carrier Fisher, Angelina Jolie, Pam Grier, Milla Jovovich, Lucy Lawless and Michelle Yeoh. Any more suggestions, I’m sure the site will Tweet them off.
New Year’s Eve: Trevor Eve, respected UK actor and father to the under-used Alice Eve, is back on UK screens again with his drama ”Kidnap and Ransom”. The ITV1 hostage negotiator series is also produced by Eve, who has his sights on a feature film version and possibly within the year. All we need now is for his daughter, Alice, to be offered something exceptional. A vehicle of her own.
Wumour of the Reek: I love a good conspiracy, but when you hear them from highly respected sources, in even more respectable places, you start to question pretty much everything. What if music legend, Michael Jackson, had faked his own death, put a team of professionals together, consisting of experts in every field, news media, CGI, Hollywood and covert operations and was secretly hoaxing the global power elite at their own dastardly deeds, in the event to form a happier and safer world? I don’t get it, I hear you say. I’ll lay it down simpler in a more logine friendly term as it would sound like one hoot of a cool movie: Pop superstar Michael Jackson teams up with a billionaire Saudi Prince to take on the powerful elite known as the Illuminati. Brilliant!
TV to Screen: With the classic UK TV show ”The Sweeney” set for release later this year, starring Ray Winstone and Plan B aka Ben Drew, another show heading for feature territory is 70’s hit ‘The Professionals’. Producers Callum McDougal (”Skyfall”) and Richard Whelan (”Captain America”) are behind the project. Early word says there’s no script as yet, but ideas are being banded around.
“I ask only for the strength to defend my people!”
