Category Archives: ukfilm

Tom Hanks’ Character In Big Almost Went To Robert De Niro, Co-Star Elizabeth Perkins Reveals

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Oscar-winning actor and international treasure Tom Hanks had a huge breakthrough moment in the 1980s thanks to the success of films like Splash and Big.

However, it turns out that one of his most prolific performances of that era almost went to a completely different actor.

His former co-star Elizabeth Perkins has revealed that not only was Robert De Niro originally cast in the lead role of Big, the whole film completely changed in tone when Tom signed on.

Speaking to Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live, Elizabeth explained that while De Niro had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict, she actually auditioned with him when she auditioned for her part.

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Robert De Niro at last year’s Ocsars

“[De Niro’s interpretation of the character] was more moody,” she explained. “It was a little more of a horror movie… Robert De Niro wandering around the streets of New York. 

“What Tom Hanks brought to it was so much lighter.”

Big went on to give Tom Hanks his first Golden Globe win and Oscar nomination in 1989.

While he didn’t win the Oscar that year, he eventually scooped two consecutive Academy Awards in 1994 and 1995, for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, respectively.

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Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins in Big

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Benedict Cumberbatch Suspects He Fell Ill With Covid While Filming On Location Early In Pandemic

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Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed he thinks he could have been among the first people to contract coronavirus after falling ill in late 2019.

The Oscar-nominated actor said that while filming his latest film The Mauritanian on location, he became seriously ill after arriving in South Africa.

Speaking to The Independent more than a year later, Benedict explained: “I was incredibly ill, to the point that when all this Covid stuff suddenly broke in the new year, I was thinking, ‘oh my god was I actually patient zero?’.

“I was so ill – it was borderline pneumonia.”

Because of his filming schedule, Benedict was forced to “plough on” despite his illness, but says he even found himself “throwing up between takes” in the early days of shooting.

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Benedict Cumberbatch in October 2019

Benedict isn’t the only actor who believes he may have contracted Covid-19 in the early stages of the pandemic.

Last year, Hugh Grant claimed that he and his wife suffered coronavirus symptoms in February 2020.

“It started as just a very strange syndrome where I kept breaking into a terrible sweat. It was like a poncho of sweat, embarrassing really,” he told US talk show host Stephen Colbert.

“Then my eyeballs felt about three sizes too big and this feeling as though an enormous man was sitting on my chest – Harvey Weinstein or someone. I thought, ‘I don’t know what this is’.”

Gwyneth Paltrow has also said that she was diagnosed with the disease “early on” in the pandemic, and went on to suffer long Covid symptoms.

As well as playing a military prosecutor in The Mauritanian, which centres around Guantanamo Bay, Benedict is also a producer on the film, with Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim and Shailene Woodley among the cast.

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Benedict Cumberbatch in character in The Mauritanian

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Rachel Bilson Says Rami Malek Was Less Than Impressed With Her Throwback Photo Of Them As Teenagers

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Rachel Bilson and Rami Malek have apparently been involved in some drama that’s straight out of a high school yearbook.

The former star of The O.C. sat down with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman on a recent episode of their podcast, Armchair Expert, and shared an odd story about the Oscar winner.

Apparently, back in February 2019, Rachel shared a snapshot of herself and Rami in New York City when they were teenagers, in an effort to poke fun at their younger selves.

The pair were friends back in the day, having both attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, so the image was a nod to where they came from.

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Rachel Bilson

“Rami was a good friend of mine,” explained Rachel.“We were [in] the same crew. We did [the play] The Crucible together [in] senior year, we were the leads in it together— all these things.”

Rachel figured the throwback photo would be a fun way to celebrate Rami amid his various appearances at various awards shows in 2019 for his performance as Freddie Mercury in the Queen film Bohemian Rhapsody.

“Obviously, he gets super famous and he’s always been extremely talented … even in high school,” she continued.

“I had posted a throwback of us from our senior trip to New York… just the dorkiest picture of the both of us. But I throw it up [on Instagram], ’cause it’s funny and I think it’s so important to be able to make fun of yourself.”

However, she then that the image soon prompted a direct message from Rami on Instagram.

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Rami Malek at last year’s Oscars

Rachel said that when her old friend contacted her there was no “hey! how are you?”.

“It was straight to: ‘I would really appreciate if you take that down. I’m a really private person’,” she revealed.

“I was like, ‘Oh, shit! Okay!’ I get really hot and start sweating. I’m all nervous, like, ‘Oh god! What did I do?’. He was a really good friend, it’s a funny picture … you know? I don’t take myself that seriously.”

Rachel later spoke with Rami’s stylist, a friend of hers, who said: “Well it’s not a great picture of him.”

She also said that The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz remarked on the post, telling her: “You did him dirty. He’s about to be [Oscar] nominated.”

“I removed it, and I even wrote to him a really nice message like, ‘I’m so sorry! Go get the Oscar! You’re doing amazing’,” Rachel recalled. “And I never heard anything back, which is fine.

“I was super bummed because he was so nice, and we were good friends. I’m a big fan of not taking yourself seriously, especially at that level of fame and talent. But look, he wants to be super respected. It’s his thing, so I respected it. I took it down. I was just a little bummed at how it was handled.”

Rami probably didn’t stay too upset, though. He walked away with the Oscar for Best Actor just a few weeks later.

Listen to Rachel’s full interview on the Armchair Expert podcast.

A version of this story previously appeared on the US edition of HuffPost.

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Princess Diana Musical Coming To Netflix Ahead Of Broadway Return

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A new musical based on the life of Princess Diana is coming to Netflix later this year, it has been confirmed.

The stage production, titled simply Diana, began preview performances on Broadway in March 2020, but was shut down after just nine shows when theatres closed due to the pandemic.

Producers of Diana have now announced plans for the musical to reopen in December, but before that, the whole world will have the opportunity to watch it on Netflix.

A filmed version of the show, recorded in September, is set to debut on the streaming platform on 1 October, two months before its return to Broadway.

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Broadway performer Jeanna de Waal as Princess Diana

Frank Marshall, one of Diana’s producers, told the New York Times: “I think people will see the movie and will say, that’s a show I want to see in person.”

Beth Williams, another of its leading producers, added: “We feel like it’s an incredible opportunity to put Diana in front of the global Netflix audience, and then give them an opportunity to see it live.”

Diana features Broadway performer Jeanna de Waal in the title role, while Roe Hartrampf and Erin Davie play Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, respectively.

Judy Kaye – who won a Tony Award for her performance in Phantom Of The Opera – also appears as Queen Elizabeth II.

HuffPost UK has contacted Netflix for clarification on whether the Diana musical will also be streaming in the UK.

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Princess Diana pictured in 1995

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Seth Rogen Clarifies Rumours About Emma Watson Walking Off Set Of This Is The End

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Seth Rogen has clarified reports about Emma Watson walking off the set of This Is The End, due to the outrageous content of one of its scenes.

In 2013, Seth co-directed and co-wrote the star-studded disaster comedy, which sees a number of celebrities playing themselves as they deal with the end of the world.

The Harry Potter star was supposed to have been involved in a scene that featured Channing Tatum being led around on a dog leash while sporting a thong, while Danny McBride led a group of cannibals.

Reports after the film was released claimed the sequence proved too much for Emma, who decided she couldn’t be involved and walked off set, although she did appear in other scenes and helped promote the film when it was released.

Danielle Levitt/British GQ

Seth Rogen in his GQ photo-shoot

Asked about the rumours during an interview with GQ magazine, Seth said: “I don’t look back on that and think: ‘How dare she do that?’ You know? I think sometimes when you read something, when it comes to life it doesn’t seem to be what you thought it was.

“But it was not some terrible ending to our relationship. She came back the next day to say goodbye. She helped promote the film.

“No hard feelings, and I couldn’t be happier with how the film turned out in the end.”

“She was probably right,” Seth added. “It was probably funnier the way we ended up doing it.”

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Emma Watson at the premiere of Little Women in 2019

HuffPost UK has contacted Emma Watson’s publicist for comment.

Although he didn’t name anyone directly, actor James Franco previously alluded to the incident in Interview magazine.

He said: “The movie is a comedy, but it’s kind of an outrageous one, and this actress—I won’t say who, but she had a smaller role in the film—walked off the movie in the middle of a scene.”

James continued: “I’ll admit that the scene we were doing was pretty crazy. There’s not any nudity, but it is pretty outrageous. It’s not as if the scene wasn’t in the script, though.

“In any case, I didn’t see any of this go down, but I guess she basically went up to the directors, Seth and Evan [Goldberg], and said, ‘I don’t think I can do this’. She, by the way, didn’t have to do anything crazy in the scene. But what was going on around her was, I guess, too extreme for her.

“So Seth was like, ‘Well, what can we do to fix it?’. And she said, ‘There’s nothing you can do to fix it. It’s just everything’. And he said, ‘Well, let’s just shoot it and I promise you can come to the editing room, and, if you don’t like what we’ve cut together, then we will not put it in the movie’. And she said, ‘No, that’s still not good. I just can’t do this. I can’t be here’. And he said, ‘Do you want to leave?’. And she said, ‘Yeah, I’ve got to leave’.”

Read Seth’s interview in full in the May issue of British GQ available via digital download and on newsstands Thursday 1st April.

Danielle Levitt/British GQ

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Hugh Grant Does Some Serious Oversharing Recalls Debilitating Stomach Bug On Set Of Early Film

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Hugh Grant has shared a graphic memory of being struck down with some pretty alarming stomach issues while filming one of his earliest films.

Back in the late 1980s, Hugh appeared in The Bengali Night, opposite John Hurt Supriya Pathak, which required him to spend three months filming in Calcutta.

In a recent interview on the podcast WTF With Marc Maron, the Bafta-winning star revealed he became ill “on day three” of filming, with a debilitating (and “explosive”) case of food poisoning that never really got any better as the weeks went on.

He recalled: “On that film, I was there for three months and I didn’t leave the lavatory except to shoot my scenes – and then I had to go back to continue with my explosive diarrhoea.”

Arnaud BORREL via Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Hugh Grant on the set of The Bengali Night in 1988

During the same interview, Hugh also discussed a day he found himself stuck in traffic in Calcutta, only to discover his car was “next to a dead body on a stretcher”.

The British star was similarly candid last year, when he revealed he’d contracted Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic.

“It started as just a very strange syndrome where I kept breaking into a terrible sweat. It was like a poncho of sweat, embarrassing really,” Hugh said.

“Then my eyeballs felt about three sizes too big and this feeling as though an enormous man was sitting on my chest – Harvey Weinstein or someone. I thought, ‘I don’t know what this is’.”

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Hugh at a press event for The Undoing in March 2020

Hugh continued: “Then I was walking down the street one day and I thought, ‘I can’t smell a damn thing’. And you start to panic – by then, people were just starting to talk about this as a symptom.

“I started sniffing flowers, nothing. And you get more and more desperate. I started sniffing in garbage cans. You know, you want to sniff strangers’ armpits because you just can’t smell anything.

“I eventually went home and I sprayed my wife’s Chanel No. 5 directly into my face. Couldn’t smell a thing, but I did go blind.”

Listen to Hugh Grant’s full interview on WTF With Marc Maron here.

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Phoebe Waller Bridge And Donald Glover To Star In Mr & Mrs Smith Reboot Series

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Donald Trump Brags About Home Alone 2 Role In Blustering Resignation Letter To Acting Union

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Mean Girls: 30 Things You Didn’t Know, As The Film Makes Netflix Return

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Here’s Our Definitive Ranking Of All 23 Pixar Films

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