Those fans of Ewan McGregor‘s delightful singing voice will be pleased to hear that he will be contributing a song to a charity album benefitting the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Movie News: Costumes, naked starlets
Costumes from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Also, if you happen to be in or near Los Angeles in the next few months, the Fashion Insitute of Design & Merchandising is displaying costumes from several 2005 releases, including ROTS, Serenity, King Kong, The Corpse Bride, and others. (via The Daily Digest)
Vanity Fair has Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley naked on the latest cover. This is the infamous cover shoot that Rachel McAdams walked out of and really… Can you blame her? The creepy (clothed) guy that replaced her is Tom Ford, the issue’s guest editor.
Paradox now controls Robert E. Howard film rights. Come on, is the world really clamoring for more Conan?
Ewan McGregor to star as one of Hitchcock’s leading men in biopic of the director.
Ewan nominated for theatre award
Ewan McGregor is up for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his work in Guys and Dolls.
“Guys and Dolls” rolls on
“Guys and Dolls” seems to be in good hands with newcomers Sarah Lancashire and Nigel Harman receiving generally good reviews.
Harman admits that taking over for McGregor left him with “big shoes to fill”:
“He (McGregor) wrote me a note on my mirror which I kept on there which said ‘brother Harman, you’re dice’, which is kind of a variation of a line from the show which is brilliant,” he said.
The play is currently taking bookings through September 2006.
McGregor visits Malawi
Ewan McGregor has spent five days in Malawi in his capacity as Unicef ambassador visiting children whose lives had been affected by HIV/AIDS.
The motorcycle trip from John O’Groats to Cape Town is still on and further visits to support Unicef are in the plans.
Exit stage right…
Ewan McGregor’s run as Sky Masterson is over. Wah! To help lessen the pain, Rose at ewan_playground has posted some fantastic pictures.
Saving (right, click, save) them is fine, but please don’t hotlink directly to the pictures.
No “Guys and Dolls” cast recording???
That’s the official word. But the people over at Ewan News are launching a campaign to get TPTB to change their minds.
It has been confirmed to Ewan News that there will be no cast recording from Guys and Dolls; the recording label has pulled its financial backing. One Ewan fan who attended the play on Monday spoke with the Guys and Dolls orchestra conductor who told her about it.
Numerous Ewan fans travelled from all over the world to see this play — some more than once! It would be so wonderful to have a lasting memory of the brilliant cast and the songs they sang. Many more were unable to make the journey and a cast recording would be their only way to share the remarkable Guys and Dolls experience.
We are going to try to sway the powers that be in our favor. We would like every Ewan fan — and that includes you! — to write to the theater between October 23 and 29 to let them know how much you want to be able to buy a cast recording. And while we’re at it, let’s really grab their attention: include a pair of dice with your letter. The play revolves around the love lives of craps players, and the game of craps is played with a pair of dice.
Here is the address to the Piccadilly Theater:
Piccadilly Theatre
16 Denman Street
London
W1D 7DYThank you! :-)
If you can’t send dice, send postcards! Me? I’m sending Luci!
The Bond Rejects
So no doubt you’ve learned now that Daniel Craig is going to play James Bond, right? You can’t go anywhere without seeing the horrible headlines. (Seriously, folks: Bond, James Bond? NO SHIT.)
Anyway, the rumor mill has gotten hold of a leaked “in-house memo” that gives reasons for not casting actors most people have actually heard of. Witness:
Hugh Jackman, it read, was “too fey”, Colin Farrell “too sleazy”, Eric Bana “not handsome enough” – and Ewan McGregor “too short” at 5ft10.
That’s just cold. Okay, we’ll give them Colin Farrell, ’cause the man personifies sleaze, and yeah, the Ewan excuse is lame, but is there any woman here who thinks of Hugh Jackman as “fey?” If Jackman is what Hollywood considers a sissy, we’re all doomed.
Get those toes a-tapping
Plans are underway for composer Adam Guettel and screenwriter William Goldman to bring “The Princess Bride” to the stage as a musical.
Speaking of musicals (nice segue!), the London revival of “Guys and Dolls” has recouped its capitalization in just 17 weeks.
While we’re still on the topic, don’t miss your chance to see “Star Wars: The Musical Edition” playing in Boston in November.
EastEnder to fill McGregor’s shoes
EastEnders’ star Nigel Harman will replace Ewan McGregor in the West End production of “Guys and Dolls.”
EastEnders heartthrob Nigel Harman will swap the East End for the West End this winter and replace Ewan McGregor as gambler Sky Masterson in the hit musical Guys and Dolls.
Harman, 32, is set to film his final scenes in Albert Square in November and will make his debut at the Piccadilly Theatre on December 5.
The actor who catapulted to stardom as Dirty Den’s son Dennis Rickman is no stranger to treading the boards. He has previously appeared in the West End musicals Mamma Mia!, Damn Yankees and Tommy.
He will join former Coronation Street star Sarah Lancashire, who will play the nightclub ‘hostess’ Miss Adelaide.
Star Wars actor McGregor will be a hard act to follow. He has had warm reviews for his all-singing, all-dancing role, famously played by Marlon Brando in the 1955 film.
McGregor will be a hard act to follow, but I suspect that Harman is up to the task. Now I want to see “Guys and Dolls” again!