DIRECTOR IRVIN KERSHNER PASSES AWAY AT 87

IRVIN KERSHNER, a film director who made big movies with well known stars, died on Saturday.

He was 87.

Mr. Kershner passed away at his Los Angeles home following a 3½ year battle with lung cancer said long time friend and Hollywood publicist DICK GUTTMAN.

IRVIN KERSHNER was a tall man with long angular features whose authority on the set was leavened with wit and good humour. THE NEW YORK TIMES once described him as “court jester, cheerleader and undisputed boss all at once” and as “Ichabod Crane with humanity.”

His resume was more than respectable, with films in a variety of genres that earned critical plaudits if not always popular acclaim and that often found him working with major stars.

His early movies included UP THE SANDBOX, in which BARBRA STREISAND played an oppressed Manhattan resident engaged in a series of outlandish fantasies.

Mr. Kershner later worked on a number of big budget films, including the supernatural thriller THE EYES OF LAURA MARS (1978), which starred FAYE DUNAWAY as a haughty and evidently clairvoyant fashion photographer who has visions of murder and a JAMES BOND flick with SEAN CONNERY and KIM BASINGER: NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (1983).

He was the only person to ever direct films from two legendary franchises (BOND and STAR WARS). Even he thought he was an unlikely choice to make THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, the now highly regarded follow up to STAR WARS (1977), GEORGE LUCAS’ colossally successful science fiction extravaganza.

Mr. Lucas had been Mr. Kershner’s student at the University Of Southern California film school and the two had remained friends. Even so, Mr. Kershner turned down Mr. Lucas’ offer at first, until, as he recalled in a public interview at the Colorado Film School, Mr. Lucas told him the future of the series was at stake.

“‘Well, I want you to think about it,’ he says,” Mr. Kershner related, “because if the second one works, then I’ll make more. If it doesn’t work, that’s the end of Star Wars.”’

After extracting a promise that Mr. Lucas would give him freedom to make his own movie, Mr. Kershner accepted.

The result was a motion picture that introduced the gnomish character Yoda, who supervises the Jedi training of LUKE SKYWALKER (MARK HAMILL) while DARTH VADER (JAMES EARL JONES) and the villainous galactic empire pursue the determined band of heroes including PRINCESS LEIA (CARRIE FISHER) and HAN SOLO (HARRISON FORD), as well as a new character, LANDO CALRISSIAN, played by BILLY DEE WILLIAMS.

The 1980 production was a darker story than the original. In it, Luke Skywalker learns that Darth Vader is his father. EMPIRE initially got mixed reviews but has gone on to become one of the most critically praised movies ever made.

Mr. Kershner told VANITY FAIR in October that he tried to give the sequel more depth than the original.

“It took a few years for the critics to catch up with the film and to see it as a fairy tale rather than a comic book,” he said.

Mr. Kershner said he had only one sharp disagreement with Mr. Lucas. The script originally called for Princess Leia to tell Han Solo “I love you” and for him to say “I love you too.”

“I shot the line and it just didn’t seem right for the character of Han Solo,” Mr. Kershner commented.

Instead, HARRISON FORD improvised the reply: “I know.”

Mr. Lucas wanted the original dialogue. However, after test previews sparked an enthusiastic response, he agreed to leave HARRISON’S wisecrack in. It has gone on to be one of the best known lines in the series.

According to the web site BOX OFFICE MOJO, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK took in more than $538 million in worldwide box office receipts, ranking it 69th on the list of highest earning films in history.

ISADORE KERSHNER was born in Philadelphia on APRIL 29, 1923.

His parents were Jewish immigrants from the Ukraine, where Isadore’s two older sisters were born. His father MORRIS supported the family selling fruits and vegetables from a street cart. Young Isadore studied music and art; he played the viola and the violin and attended the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. He also studied photography at the Art Center College Of Design in Southern California.

He changed his name to IRVIN after serving in the Army Air Forces as an airplane mechanic and flight engineer during World War II. His first moviemaking job was as a documentarian for the United States Information Service in Iran, Greece and Turkey.

Mr. Kershner was also an occasional actor. He played the priest Zebedee in MARTIN SCORSESE’S THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.

“He had the most incredible spirit, an exuberance for life. Always working, always thinking, always writing, amazingly gifted and forever curious,” said BARBRA STREISAND.

“We all enjoyed knowing Kersh, learning from him and admired his creative spirit and indomitable will,” FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA remarked of his friend.

“It was always exciting to talk with him about all aspects of cinema and life. He will most certainly be missed.”

“The world has lost a great director and one of the most genuine people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. I considered him a mentor,” GEORGE LUCAS said in a statement.

“Following Star Wars, I knew one thing for sure: I didn’t want to direct the second movie myself. I needed someone I could trust, someone I really admired and whose work had maturity and humour. That was Kersh all over.”

“I didn’t want Empire to turn into just another sequel, another episode in a series of space adventures. I was trying to build something and I knew Kersh was the guy to help me do it. He brought so much to the table.”

“I am truly grateful to him.”

Mr. Kershner was married and divorced twice. He is survived by two sons: DAVID of Los Angeles and DANA of Lummi Island, Washington.

In recent years, Mr. Kershner taught screenwriting at the University
Of Southern California while continuing to produce, write and create still photographs.

“My father never really retired. He had a powerful drive to create — whether it be through film, photography or writing,” DAVID KERSHNER said.

At the time of his death, he was working on a documentary about his friend, writer Ray Bradbury and a musical called DJINN, about the relationship between a Jewish immigrant and an Arab sheik in Palestine before it became Israel.

DAVID KERSHNER said his father told him in September: “You have to throw yourself into things. There is no second way.”

“Passion gives you energy.”

LESLIE NIELSEN DIES AT 84

FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

LESLIE NIELSEN, the actor who went from drama to inspired bumbling as a hapless doctor in AIRPLANE! and the accident prone detective Frank Drebin in the THE NAKED GUN comedies, died on Sunday in Florida.

He was 84.

His agent JOHN S. KELLY said Mr. Nielsen passed away at a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale where he was being treated for pneumonia.

Mr. Nielsen’s nephew DOUG NIELSEN, who lives in Richmond, British Columbia, said his uncle had been hospitalized for the past 12 days and died in his sleep with wife BARBAREE EARL by his side.

LESLIE NIELSEN’S Canadian roots ran deep.

Though he eventually became a naturalized U.S. citizen, his father was a Mountie and his brother ERIK NIELSEN served as an MP in the Yukon and as deputy prime minister in Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government.

LESLIE NIELSEN was born FEBRUARY 11, 1926 in Regina, Saskatchewan.

At age 17, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and trained as an aerial gunner.

After the war, he worked as a disc jockey at a Calgary radio station, then studied at a Toronto radio school operated by LORNE GREENE, who would go on to star on the hit TV series BONANZA. A scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse brought him to New York, where he immersed himself in live television.

Over the years, he made his mark in such classic programs as THE UNTOUCHABLES, THE FUGITIVE, PEYTON PLACE and COLUMBO. More recently, he appeared on the Canadian series ROBSON ARMS.

Mr. Nielsen also appeared in more than 100 films, including 1956′s THE OPPOSITE SEX (with JUNE ALLYSON and JOAN COLLINS), 1965′s HARLOW (with CARROLL BAKER), 1972′s THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (with GENE HACKMAN), 1987′s NUTS (alongside BARBRA STREISAND and RICHARD DREYFUSS) and 2002′s MEN WITH BROOMS costarring PAUL GROSS.

DOUG NIELSEN said he and his own wife had enjoyed watching TAMMY & THE BACHELOR only two weeks ago. His uncle starred in that film in 1957.

“He was always a funny guy. When he started out he was a serious actor and then after Airplane the whole world changed for him.”

As a teen, the elder Nielsen had invited DOUG to visit him on film and TV sets in California, even encouraging him to become an actor. The nephew instead became a dentist — and his uncle would fly to Canada so DOUG could take care of his teeth.

“We loved him dearly and we’ll miss him and he was a good friend of mine – not just my uncle. I think that’s a tribute to him and his interests and just his warmth.”

DON McKELLAR, an acclaimed Canadian writer, filmmaker and star of the cartoon TV series ODD JOB JACK – which featured LESLIE NIELSEN in an episode – said Sunday that he only met the actor a couple of times but enjoyed working with him.

“He reinvented that funny straight man for his generation. You see some of that oblivious straight guy in Steve Carell and Will Ferrell.”

ROBSON ARMS producer BRIAN HAMILTON told The Canadian Press that LESLIE NIELSEN was a pleasure to work with — always keeping the atmosphere light with his mischievous sense of humour.

“He didn’t take himself, or anyone else, too seriously and he was someone who lightened the tone on sets constantly – even when we were under stress or a tight time frame. He was always the one to crack a smile and keep everyone in a light mood and frame of mind.”

On ROBSON’S second season, Mr. Nielsen played a crusty old ex hockey player who runs a pizza business while being stuck in a motorized wheelchair. Although he was the elder statesperson of the cast with an impressive history in the business, BRIAN HAMILTON said the actor – in his own unique way – soon put his coworkers at ease.

“Very quickly he gave us a sense of the kind of fun loving guy he was because he would walk up to a group and all of a sudden there would be this whoopee cushion going off and people would be cracking up.”

Mr. Hamilton stated that Mr. Nielsen inspired a generation of comic actors and writers and will be greatly missed.

LESLIE NIELSEN came to Hollywood in the mid 50s after performing in 150 live television dramas in New York. Tall, blond and arrestingly handsome, he seemed ideal for a movie leading man.

He first performed as the king of France in the PARAMOUNT operetta THE VAGABOND KING with KATHRYN GRAYSON. The film — he called it THE VAGABOND TURKEY — flopped, but MGM signed him to a seven year contract.

His first film for that studio was auspicious: as the space ship commander in the science fiction classic FORBIDDEN PLANET.

Unhappy with his roles at MGM, he asked to be released from his contract. As a freelancer, he appeared in a series of undistinguished movies.

“I played a lot of leaders, autocratic sorts; perhaps it was my Canadian accent,” he reasoned.

Meanwhile, he remained active in television in guest roles. Then AIRPLANE! captivated audiences and changed everything.

Until that point he had been known as a serious actor, although behind the camera he was a prankster. That was an aspect of his personality never exploited, however, until AIRPLANE! was released in 1980 and became a huge hit.

As the doctor aboard a plane in which the pilots and some of the passengers become violently ill, LESLIE says they must get to a hospital right away.

“A hospital? What is it?” a flight attendant asks, inquiring about the illness. “It’s a big building with patients. But that’s not important right now,” he deadpans.

When he asks a passenger if he can fly the plane, the man replies, “Surely you can’t be serious.” LESLIE responds: “I am serious…and don’t call me Shirley.”

Critics argued he was being cast against type, but the actor disagreed.

“I’ve always been cast against type before,” he said, adding comedy was what he’d really always wanted to do.

It was what he would do – the majority of the time – for the rest of his career.

Producers/directors/writers JIM ABRAHAMS and DAVID and JERRY ZUCKER had hired LLOYD BRIDGES, PETER GRAVES, ROBERT STACK and LESLIE NIELSEN to spoof their heroic TV images in a satire of flight in jeopardy movies.

After AIRPLANE’S success, the filmmaking trio cast their newfound comic star as Detective Drebin in the TV series POLICE SQUAD, which trashed the cliches of DRAGNET and other cop shows. Despite good reviews, ABC cancelled it after only six episodes.

JIM ABRAHAMS and the ZUCKERS converted the series into a feature film THE NAKED GUN, with GEORGE KENNEDY as LESLIE’S costar. Its huge success led to the sequels THE NAKED GUN 2 1/2 and THE NAKED GUN 33 1/3.

Between films he often turned serious, touring with his one man show on the life of the great defence lawyer CLARENCE DARROW.

LESLIE NIELSEN has stars on both Hollywood’s and Canada’s Walk Of Fame. He was named an Officer Of The Order Of Canada in 2002.

He was also married to MONICA BOYER (1950 – 1956), SANDY ULLMAN (1958 – 1974) and BROOKS OLIVER (1981 – 1984).

Mr. Nielsen and Ms. Ullman have two daughters: THEA and MAURA.

DECEMBER’S COMING…

There’s been a lot of talk about great classic British rock & roll the last few days at the site.

So it’s particularly fitting that our Friday musical highlight is one of my all time favourites from THE WHITE ALBUM: HONEY PIE by THE BEATLES.

I’ll have more when I’m ready.

But now it’s time for me to exit. Stage left…

GIVING THANKS FOR PAUL, RINGO & THE LONG & WINDING ROAD

This article is written by DAVID WILD at THE HUFFINGTON POST

This Thanksgiving I want to give thanks and send all my loving to two people – no, not my kids, or even my wife, though they’re pretty fab too – but rather two men who I think we should all be thankful to still have in our lives: RINGO STARR and PAUL McCARTNEY.

The other day it struck me that I feel deeply thankful to have been alive in the time of THE BEATLES and that two of the members of this ultimate band of brothers are still very much with us and continue bringing fab music to our lives.

It doesn’t take an aging rock critic like me to tell you that THE BEATLES continue to stand as a singularly shining example of what a powerful force popular culture can be in our world – even before you could purchase their legacy on iTunes.

Though I may possibly be the only living rock critic who hasn’t written a BEATLES book – YET – JOHN LENNON, PAUL McCARTNEY, GEORGE HARRISON and RINGO STARR have separately and collectively had a tremendous impact in my life. That’s even more remarkable considering that like some of you, I was too young to really appreciate THE BEATLES in the 60s.

Yet growing up as a kid in the 70s and buying brilliant albums like JOHN’S PLASTIC ONO BAND, PAUL’S BAND ON THE RUN, RINGO’S RINGO and GEORGE’S ALL THINGS MUST PASS, I felt something fabulous take hold in my heart and mind. Gradually that tremendous tug led me to my very own personal lifetime of Beatlemania – just as it has done for every generation since and as it will for many generations to come.

As a Rock Critic Of A Certain Age, I have had the further extraordinary good fortune of actually getting to know both RINGO and PAUL over the years.

At the risk of overstating things, RINGO STARR has become a friend over the past two decades. We first met back in 1989 not long after RINGO had cleaned up his act and was rediscovering his own muse as a musician and recording artist in a wonderful life affirming way. Because of my dual life as a journalist of sorts and as a writer of television shows, I have had the honour of meeting virtually all of my youthful heroes over the years – rock stars, movie stars, authors and even the occasional president.

But I’ve never met a funnier, sweeter, smarter, more charming icon than The Artist Formerly Known As Richard Starkey. And as far as I’m concerned, to know RINGO is to love him – and the same goes for his wife BARBARA BACH, a woman who’s always been lovely in every way too.

I think back to a time around the turn of the century when RINGO invited me to bring my own wife and two sons to one of his All Starr tours. I was pleasantly surprised when we were all ushered backstage for a quick HELLO GOODBYE before the show. Back then, my younger son – now a guitar god in training – was too young to really grasp too much about THE BEATLES. Curiously, though, my boys had recently watched my treasured copy of that brilliant BEATLES parody ALL YOU NEED IS CASH about the semi legendary RUTLES.

So when RINGO asked my younger boy, “How are you doing? Do you even know who I am?” my kid ingenuously answered, “Sure. You’re a Rutle, right?”

RINGO just smiled at him and said, “Sadly, I wasn’t that lucky, son.”

This year, RINGO invited me to be there when he was presented with his star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. I brought my younger son as my date that night and RINGO rushed us right over to former RUTLE ERIC IDLE to introduce him to this boy who had once mistaken RINGO for a RUTLE.

Some day perhaps my son will understand just how culturally privileged he is to have a BEATLE telling a RUTLE a story about him, or how thankful we all should be to have the work of musical and comedic giants like THE BEATLES and MONTY PYTHON to treasure year after year, decade after decade.

As far as I’m concerned, even if he had never left RORY STORM & THE HUIRRICANES, RINGO STARR would still be a great man and a great rock & roll drummer too. If you somehow don’t yet know how fantastic and thrilling a drummer RINGO STARR is, check out the footage of THE BEATLES at Washington Coliseum in 1964 that’s up on iTunes and put it all together now.

I don’t know PAUL McCARTNEY quite as well as I do RINGO. But I will always love him too for everything he does – yesterday and today.

PAUL was the first BEATLE I ever met…and you never forget your first time.

I still remember being nervous as I was brought over to meet PAUL and his lovely wife LINDA EASTMAN McCARTNEY at a release party for his album PRESS TO PLAY back in 1986, weeks after I had started working for ROLLING STONE. Instantly, they put me at ease, just as I would see them do many times with countless others in the years to come.

The highlight for me was spending a few weeks with PAUL and LINDA in the U.S. and South America as they were travelling on their NEW WORLD TOUR in 1993. They could not have been any nicer to me, especially LINDA who it must be said had an extraordinarily generous heart and a way of trying to mother just about everyone she ever met.

One day, I mentioned that a woman I had just started dating was in the same city we were. LINDA immediately insisted that I invite her along to soundcheck and a vegetarian lunch the next day. Though LINDA didn’t even know me all that well, she somehow went out of her way to spend some time with this young lady. As we left the table that day backstage, LINDA whispered very seriously to me, “Marry that girl.”

So I did.

Little did I know then that my future wife FRAN and I would some day have a beautiful boy together who somehow thought that RINGO was a RUTLE.

Thanks, LINDA.

It was during one of those fantastic PAUL McCARTNEY soundchecks that I first realized something about the man who LINDA loved so dearly. It hit me that apart from everything else, PAUL McCARTNEY is the single greatest musician in rock history. Along with STEVIE WONDER, he is the most purely musical individual who I’ve been around. Even if PAUL never wrote or sang a song – and thank God, he has and does – he’d still be one of music’s powerhouse talents. This man could play or sing anything.

And if you’ve seen him with his great band today, you know he’s still a force of nature. I was thrilled to be invited to see him when he played an intimate gig at the AMOEBA store in Los Angeles and to watch as a small crowd, including RINGO, danced along in the aisles.

Music pours out of this man like no one else and I am thankful for every note of it, then and now.

As a kid, I was first struck by arguably rock’s greatest wit and sharpest rebel JOHN LENNON – the only BEATLE who I never had the honour of meeting, though I did get to show my respects as a writer on a big tribute that YOKO ONO helped put together immediately after 9/11 at RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL.

Still, I loved JOHN LENNON so much from afar that when he was brutally struck down during my first year at college, my late great father immediately called me up and asked if I wanted to fly home to New York City, as if there had been a death in the family – which, of course, is exactly what it felt like.

Though I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know OLIVIA HARRISON – like all the women in the BEATLES world, an exceptionally strong and beautiful lady — and meeting their son DHANI, I only had one conversation with the great GEORGE HARRISON, and as a life long fan, I will never forget it either.

This was during a Christmas party at TOM PETTY’S home in the early 90s and I had no idea that they would be any other Wilburies in the house. There was some kind of gift exchange during the party, and knowing what a BEATLES fan he is, I had wrapped up an old issue of LIFE magazine with THE BEATLES on the cover for TOM.

As it turned out, GEORGE sat down next to me on the couch just as TOM opened up my gift. At that moment, GEORGE turned to me with the comic timing of a lost scene from A HARD DAY’S NIGHT and said, “Oh yeah, The Fabs – I remember them.”

I remember The Fabs too. We all should. For millions of us, THE BEATLES will always be the ultimate class act.

And so on behalf of all of us who love THE BEATLES here, there and everywhere – thank you for all the love you’ve shared with us on the long and winding road.

LIZ PHAIR: WILDLY INSPIRED BY KEITH RICHARDS

FROM SPINNER

As LIZ PHAIR gets ready to embark on a Northeast tour starting DECEMBER 13 at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom, she can thank
KEITH RICHARDS’ book for giving her the boost to perform.

“The Keith book, I was like, ‘Fuck it! This is awesome. I’m actually a part of this,’” she told SPINNER about THE ROLLING STONES’ guitarist’s recently released memoir LIFE.

“I get to be a part of it because I’m a rock & roller too. It made me really invigorated for performing. I’m all into it right now. I wanna rock. I don’t think I’ve ever said that my entire career.”

LIZ recently reviewed LIFE for THE NEW YORK TIMES’ SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW section. It seemed stunningly appropriate for her to write about the memoir given that her 1993 debut album EXILE IN GUYVILLE was influenced by THE STONES’ classic double LP EXILE ON MAIN STREET.

“It’s kind of mindblowing,” she said of the book.

“I put it in the review, but I could not stop carving ‘LOL’ in the margins. Every page is like, ‘I can’t fucking believe he just said that.’“

Given her recent experience writing about another person’s memoir, would LIZ consider penning an autobiography?

“Yeah, I would. But I think I have to be a lot older. I’ll know it when it’s time. I think I’d be a good writer of a memoir. It’d be interesting and fun and I’d pick the best moments. There is some part of me that looks at what [Keith] did and he is just fucking honest. There are no punches pulled. I don’t think I’m at a place in my life where I could do that. You know what I mean? That was a damn good autobiography.”

Ms. Phair released her latest album FUNSTYLE in October and recently performed shows on the west coast. She admitted that she was initially terrified at the thought of being on stage and lost a month and a half’s sleep over it – until she played at the Matador 21 event in Las Vegas last month.

“It was an amazing weekend,” she said of that experience.

“I’m so glad I kicked it off with that because it reminded me of the best of what I can aspire to. As pop as I’ve gone, there’s still fully that indie side of me that will never leave and it kind of gave me that sense of who I am again.”

SALLY HAWKINS & MIRANDA RICHARDSON DISCUSS MADE IN DAGENHAM

FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

SALLY HAWKINS hopes that the plain spoken hero she plays in MADE IN DAGENHAM can make political issues more relatable.

The movie, which opens this Friday in limited release, depicts a group of real
life women who went on strike in 1968 at the Ford plant in Dagenham, England, demanding the same pay as their male counterparts.

“It’s an incredible story and you hope that people are inspired by it because…you can only relate to a political cause when it engages with you emotionally,” SALLY commented when the movie screened in September at THE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.

“A lot of politicians use very alienating language, talk in a very dry way and don’t engage emotionally and that’s what’s so refreshing about these women.”

DAGENHAM begins in the summer of 1968.

RITA O’GRADY (SALLY HAWKINS) and her coworkers toil inside a cavernous factory sewing seat covers. When their union rep (BOB HOSKINS) brings word to the shop floor that their push to be reclassified as skilled labourers (and receive a raise) has been turned down, they decide to strike. The move ultimately grinds the factory to a halt — and causes repercussions around the world.

RITA O’GRADY becomes the leader in the women’s fight, which takes them all the way to a meeting in London with MP BARBARA CASTLE (MIRANDA RICHARDSON), one of the most powerful female politicians in the history of Britain’s Labour party.

DAGENHAM moves at a rollicking clip and does not at all come off as a boring history lesson. That said, MIRANDA RICHARDSON also hopes it shines a light on an important moment for women.

“That’s one of the things that I would like, that people bring their daughters and sons to see it because we should be grateful for the freedoms and the choices that we have,” Ms. Richardson remarked.

Added SALLY: “Actually a few people have said to me that they’re desperate for their daughters to see it because they’re having a difficult time at the moment engaging them politically and making sure they’re aware of what was done before them, for them to have the opportunity they have now.”

Directed by NIGEL COLE, DAGENHAM is another tour de force for SALLY, who first made moviegoers sit up and take notice while playing the effervescent Poppy in MIKE LEIGH’S 2008 comedy HAPPY GO LUCKY.
The actor, who has also appeared in VERA DRAKE, WOODY ALLEN’S CASSANDRA’S DREAM and AN EDUCATION, calls DAGENHAM a “gift of a part” and a “gift of a film.”

She was also completely thrilled to meet some of the real life players in the film. And where did she go to find them, some 40 years after the story transpired?

“They all still live in Dagenham…They’re all still friends, of course. Why wouldn’t they be? I spoke to three of them…I wanted to, it was something I just did for me. They were sweet and generous with their time to have a cup of tea with me…They’re not political animals in any way and they’re not interested in being. They just knew what was right and…they knew what they deserved and they weren’t going anywhere until they were heard.”

The meeting with BARBARA CASTLE comes at a key point in the film. The politician, who later spearheaded legislation that banned sexual discrimination, took a political gamble by meeting with the women.

MIRANDA RICHARDSON was intrigued by the meaty role.

“She’s focal to the story. It’s kind of all building to the meeting with her. She met (them) woman to woman which I thought was highly imaginative, compassionate and actually courageous under the circumstances because it could have all gone very wrong.”

“She had to get the country back on its feet…She had to push through and get something happening. And it was a cause that was dear to her heart.”

MIRANDA also enjoyed revisiting the period of the film, which is vividly portrayed on screen through the fashion and hairstyles of the day.

“It was not all glossy and I sometimes find that even though the clothes were becoming really free and exciting that it was hard and grimy as well. If you look at photographs from the time it doesn’t look that glossy, just, I don’t know, grimy.”

Asked if she think most women take the women of Dagenham’s fight for granted, MIRANDA said: “For the most part, yes.”

“Nobody wants to preach. I think there was a time when feminist was a dirty word and I think it can mean a lot of things now…I don’t necessarily think this should be called a feminist movie. It’s about fairness, as they say.”

For SALLY HAWKINS, the draw of DAGENHAM was simply the tale of what these real life women accomplished.

“It’s a great story and it’s about real women and their real fight and you couldn’t not want to do this film. Ultimately, first and foremost, it’s a great story about a great collection of women and what they did…and thank God they did what they did.“

CEE LO GREEN: A LITTLE BIT OF FUCK YOU DOESN’T FAZE HIM AT ALL

FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

From juveniles to geriatrics, it seems virtually everyone has now heard CEE LO GREEN’S proudly profane smash single.

The catchy kiss off — it goes by the sanitized title FORGET YOU but in its original form begins with an entirely different F word — has been viewed over 25 million times on YouTube and was even performed by GWYNETH PALTROW in a recent episode of GLEE.

So of course, CEE LO’S youngest child — his 10 year old son KINGSTON — has heard the song too. The Atlanta crooner is absolutely fine with that.

“Everyone’s kind of in on the joke,” CEE LO said in an interview in Toronto this week.

“He knows that it’s tongue in cheek. I don’t think that’s the version that he listens to more often than the alternative, but I did let them hear the original song initially. And we all laughed about it.”

“I’ve got a very bright young man for a son. He’s going to be just fine. But I would like to be the one that’s honest with him before this harsh reality is going to become so unapologetic. So I want to be the one he learns the ropes from.”

On this day, CEE LO began a spate of interviews at 9 a.m., pretty much an ungodly hour by rock star standards.

Still, after he gobbled down a plate of turkey sausages and pancakes (“the most blueberriest pancakes I ever had,” he raved), CEE LO didn’t betray a hint of lethargy as he peered through a pair of sunglasses during an interview conducted on a glassed in rooftop patio at a posh Toronto hotel.

“Well, I’m a professional rock star,” noted CEE LO, conservatively clad in a sweater and jeans instead of the technicolour trappings he usually favours.

In fact, professional was, in some ways, the word of the day for him.

It’s also how he described his new album THE LADY KILLER, a genre
mashing melange of smooth soul, electric pomp, MOTOWN swagger, disco grooves and 50s rock & roll.

“For once in my life, I didn’t want people to take it so personal. I just kind of wanted to present a shiny, brand new piece of product – for once in my career. So it’s not like: ‘Yo, why are you pouring your guts out again? Oh my God.’”

Instead, CEE LO created a character: THE LADY KILLER is a suave slickster whose casual cool is borne from one too many heartbreaks.

Aside from the album’s headline grabbing lead single — which came out a few months back — the sparkling BRIGHT LIGHTS BIGGER CITY is a night
on the town showstopper while wrenching soul ballad OLD FASHIONED appropriately conjures sepia toned images of a bygone era.

“The (album’s) title kind of suggests what I wanted it to sound like sonically – and that’s a little elegance and edge all at the same time. It sounded like a Bond movie to me. I wanted to do this grand string orchestral approach, but still (with) these urban undertones. And make sure that it’s grooving.”

The singer first gained notoriety as one quarter of the influential dirty South hip hop group GOODIE MOB, his raspy singing and irregular flow arguably standing as the group’s signature.

The common wisdom then was that CEE LO probably wouldn’t ever achieve widespread popularity. He went solo with 2002′s CEE LO GREEN & HIS PERFECT IMPERFECTIONS. The record was as enthusiastically eccentric as one might have expected.

While the follow up, CEE LO GREEN…IS THE SOUL MACHINE, dialled down the willful iconoclasm by a couple notches, it still didn’t resonate with a wide audience.

So that made what happened next even stranger. Teaming up with producer Danger Mouse as GNARLS BARKLEY, CEE LO wrapped his elastic rasp around the infectious CRAZY, an instant neosoul classic — part crossover singalong, part minor key vamp — that quickly climbed the charts around the world.

The group went on to win a pair of GRAMMY AWARDS, doing so both in urban and alternative categories.

Suddenly, CEE LO didn’t seem so out of step with the mainstream.

“I’ve been considered ahead of my time on many occasions,” remarked the singer, who kept a grab bag of mini chocolate bars and other sugary treats nearby, occasionally offering the candy to the assembled music press.

“These last couple times, I’ve been able to be right on time. I think we’re all changing for the better,” he continued, referring to the pop music landscape.

“I don’t know if we have a choice any more.”

And he relishes the diversity of his core audience.

As a British born photographer snaps his photo, CEE LO tells him how he was influenced by the NEW ROMANTIC movement, adding that the first record he ever owned — bought for him by his sister — was the seven inch THE LOOK OF LOVE by the English new wave band ABC.

“I read a review of a show that we did as Gnarls Barkley and the journalist began by saying that the line at a Gnarls Barkley show resembles the line at the DMV,” he stated, clearly amused.

“It made a lot of sense because there were old people, young people, whole families — even with the dog sitting out there on the lawn. It’s weird. And I’m really thinking that, ‘OK, they’ve come to hear me sing some pretty psychedelic stuff.’ I had no idea that Gnarls Barkley would be as commercially celebrated as it was either.”

He points out that his latest smash single was even less likely to be a success, given its gleeful profanity.

“I thought it could get banned possibly or something. But no, it’s like: ‘Come one, come all!’ I love it because I love people. Like I was saying earlier, most of my music is, in my opinion, music for the people, by the people. There’s a very humane quality that I write about: the underdog, the working class hero.”

“I did not get into this business to show how different I was. I had felt different most of my adolescent life, so I got into it to show what we had in common.”

As a result, he feels his music is important — though he’s quick to deflate a moment of self seriousness with a deep belly laugh.

“There’s a part of me that feels like this is missionary work and that it must be done. And it feels more like duty than entertainment. And that’s probably the rock & roll that people hear from me.”

“I have to do it. I have kids.”

THE LANVIN H&M LINE HITS THE RUNWAY

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Here are some photos from the runway, as well as some shots of the attendees:

SOFIA COPPOLA
ANDIE MacDOWELL & daughter RAINEY QUALLEY
EMMA ROBERTS

ALBER ELBAZ’S long awaited LANVIN HEARTS H&M line transformed a flower bedecked runway at the posh PIERRE HOTEL into a major fashion affair last week, as the designer sent out 20 amazing looks to wow his guests.

The lavishly styled models even sported pieces from the accompanying menswear collection, designed by LUCAS OSSENDRIJVER.

ROSARIO DAWSON: FUTURE FASHION COLLABORATOR

Spring is in the air — fashionwise that is.

TOD’S celebrated their spring/summer collection with a luxurious lunch last Friday that benefitted THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART. Hosted by creative director DEREK LAM, the ultraglam event drew some of Tinseltown’s finest fashionistas including stars like ROSARIO DAWSON, GINNIFER GOODWIN and KELLY LYNCH, who epitomized the brand’s classically
chic style as they made their way around TOD’S Beverly Hills location.

“I love getting the insider [look] because I get a little shopping done in advance,” said ROSARIO, who was clad in DOLCE & GABBANA and TOD’S.

“That’s the key and it’s time for Christmas shopping.”

The preview also got the actor thinking about dabbling in her own fashion career, telling PEOPLE, “Oh yeah, I would totally collaborate on something. I think that would be so fun, especially something short term.”

As for DEREK, who just signed on for another two years with the Italian fashion house, inspiration for the new collection fit within the spring aesthetic.

“The colours were inspired by flowers. Gardening shoes I love, like the croc mixed with the garden soles. I think Tod’s is about the Mediterranean style everybody aspires to don in the most modern classic [way].”

THE LEONINE PRINCESS RULES

On television several evenings ago, one of my favourite people in the entire world (who’s also an authentic cinematic goddess…) sang an incredible song.

Fabulously.

It happened to be one of the preeminent tunes from the CHICAGO soundtrack. That particular sequence is missing from the final cut of that classic musical. It’s available on the DVD.

In the film, it is performed by two extraordinary women: CATHERINE ZETA JONES and QUEEN LATIFAH. Along with the previously mentioned SCARLETT JOHANSSON, that’s an amazingly powerful trifecta of talent and beauty.

So that is our musical highlight for this Friday: CLASS. As well as the brilliant social commentary and take no prisoners truth, there are a multiplicity of ironies inherent in this particular clip.

One of the major ones is how little the world has changed in approximately one hundred years. It’s a wicked shame. But there does continue to be a minority of morally deficient mentally unbalanced scumbags lurking about.

Everybody knows who they are. They can run. But they can’t hide. Having an absence of principle or decency is one thing. But when they’re completely nuts on top of it…

It may be too late in some instances (unfortunately…), but let’s hope they don’t breed.

We certainly don’t need more of them in this world.

Have a wonderful weekend, my treasured readers. Enjoy yourselves as much as you desire.

Not for me. No painting the town purple until my sweetheart arrives. He’s definitely worth waiting for. I’m entirely involved in that rapturous ardent anticipation.

Once he’s here, the celebration commences.

Now it’s time for me to exit. Stage left…