> Len Deighton published his first spy novel, The Ipcress File, shortly after the blockbuster success of the very first Bond movie, Dr. No. When The Ipcress File became a bestseller, Bond producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli tapped Deighton to pen the script for the sequel, From Russia with Love. Not much of his screenplay made it to the final film, but the producers enjoyed working with Deighton. > >Saltzman decided to adapt The Ipcress File for the screen in the hope of launching a second spy movie franchise that could run alongside the Bond films. He cast Caine to play the lead role of Palmer, with the aim of bringing him back for an endless string of sequels. The Ipcress File was conceived as the polar opposite of the Bond films, with a naturalistic style drawing from the world of kitchen-sink drama. It seemed like a sure-fire path to success, but the Palmer movies never reached the same blockbuster heights as the Bond movies. > > ... > > Palmer’s stories are the opposite of Bond’s in every way. Whereas the Bond movies offered lighthearted escapism, the Palmer movies offered gritty realism. Whereas Bond is characterized as posh and upper-class, Palmer is a working-class hero. Whereas the Bond films carried an optimistic message about good triumphing over evil and maintaining the world order, the Palmer films took a bleaker and more pessimistic approach to their storytelling. The cynical tone and grounded, naturalistic style of the Palmer movies had more in common with John le Carré’s espionage stories than 007’s globetrotting adventures.

> In the hit 1990 film The Krays, the East End gangsters were portrayed as “identical twins who rose from poverty to power”, “from obscurity to fame” and “from the back streets to the attention of the world”. They were “special” boys, the film claimed, who loved their mother. > >But the producer now says he regrets glamorising them and is making another film that will portray the mobsters as they really were. > > Ray Burdis said he wants to put the record straight: “They weren’t folk heroes. They were just a pair of cowardly psychopathic bullies, who terrorised the East End of London in the 1960s.” > >He said that films such as The Godfather, the Marlon Brando classic about the mafia, had made it fashionable to idolise gangsters. > >The Krays, which starred brothers Gary and Martin Kemp in critically acclaimed performances, was a huge box-office success, taking more than £100m globally. > > ... > > The new film, which he is writing and directing, is titled Last Kings of London. It will be much darker, depicting swinging 1960s London, “where corruption plagued the police force and crime families ruled the streets”, he said.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/19488160

> > Fans of Peter Cushing are in for a Halloween treat, with the iconic Frankenstein star the latest to be resurrected by AI. > > > >In Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters, a Sky doc airing in two days’ time, viewers will be treated to a “powerful and poignant reveal of Hammer royalty,” Sky said, with what is being described as a “special homage” to Cushing. > > > >Cushing, who died in 1994, played Doctor Van Helsing in five Dracula films and Baron Frankenstein in six movies from that franchise. He will be the latest celebrity given the AI resurrection treatment. > > > > ... > > > > Narrated by Charles Dance, the doc is celebrating Hammer Films‘ 90th birthday and will track its progression from a back office in London’s Regent Street to its iconic status within the horror film genre. We first revealed news of the doc in August. > > > > ... > > > > This isn’t the first time Cushing has been resurrected. His likeness was revived as Grand Moff Tarkin for 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and a high court legal battle over the use of the image was recently ruled by a judge to go to trial. > > > >Ben Field, who runs Deep Fusion, said the Hammer doc resurrection has secured all necessary permissions. The decision to resurrect Cushing is “tied to his significance to the Hammer legacy,” he added. “As a figure central to Hammer’s success, Cushing’s presence is crucial to telling the story authentically,” he added. “His work, particularly alongside Christopher Lee, was instrumental in shaping the brand and legacy of Hammer Films. Including him allows the project to honor the spirit and impact he had on the studio and its fans, creating a connection between the past and this new exploration.” > > > >The use of deepfake technology has been approached with “great care,” Field added. “The team’s intent is not to manipulate or sensationalize but to use technology as a tool to bring audiences closer to the history of Hammer Films in an engaging and reverent manner.” > > > >Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters will follow other influential figures from the horror genre such as Lee. Tim Burton, John Carpenter, Joe Dante and John Logan will also feature. Through a series of fateful turns, the film will reveal how Hammer’s distinct visual style and storytelling continue to shape modern horror and inspire filmmakers around the world.

> This biopic of The Beatles‘ manager Brian Epstein ends with a famous quote from Paul McCartney: “If anyone was the fifth Beatle, it was Brian.” It’s both the raison d’être for this moderately entertaining but hollow film and, perhaps, the reason for its downfall. Midas Man is so busy hitting the familiar beats of the Fab Four’s incredible rise that it never really burrows beneath Epstein’s skin. > > ... > > As the Beatles’ popularity explodes, Midas Man follows Epstein and the band to America while paying lip service to other Merseybeat acts he managed, most notably Gerry And The Pacemakers. Director Joe Stephenson steers the story with brisk efficiency – no small feat given this film’s bumpy production. Shooting took place in fits and starts across nearly two years following the departure of two previous directors, Jonas Åkerlund and Sara Sugarman. > > ... > > The result is passable retro fodder with a glaring hole: a lack of Beatles songs. Presumably because these were impossible or too expensive to wrangle, we have to make do with snippets of Black’s biggest hits and the Fab Four covering Barrett Strong’s ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’. John, Paul, George and Ringo did indeed record the soulful rocker in 1963, but it’s hardly in their top-tier. Midas Man has some empathy for its subject and a warm performance from Emily Watson as his mother Queenie, but no real curiosity about what made him tick. For this reason, it ultimately does a disservice to both Epstein the manager and Epstein the man.

> A documentary that lifts the lid on a “race science” network of far-right activists in Britain and its links to a rich American funder of eugenics research has been pulled from the London Film Festival (LFF) at the last minute due to safety concerns. > >The organisers have taken the “heartbreaking decision” to cancel the planned screening of the “exceptional” Undercover: Exposing the Far Right this weekend due to fears about the welfare of audiences, staff and security working in the festival venues. > > Havana Marking, the director of the film – which made headlines last week for identifying the backer of research into so-called race science and highlighting the racist views of former London mayoral candidate Nick Scanlon – has criticised the decision to pull the premiere as “a very unfortunate outcome”. > >“I understand the festival need to look after their staff, but I am furious that our film has lost a planned theatrical release so late in the day,” she said. “We were told the LFF felt they could not show it due to security issues. I do feel, though, that the power of the far right is exaggerated, although their influence is clearly dangerous.” > >Speaking to the Observer, Marking said she was worried about the climate of fear created by recent far-right riots in Britain in the wake of the killing of three children in Southport. > > ... > > “At least the film will go out on Channel 4 on Monday. And in fact, both Channel 4 and the British Film Institute, the body behind the film festival, have actually been incredibly supportive of this film.” > > ... > > The fly-on-the-wall documentary follows investigators from the organisation Hope Not Hate as they track down members of violent and bigoted far-right factions who are planning demonstrations and intimidation campaigns. It also unmasks the British far-right activist and former private school teacher Matthew Frost, also known as Matt Archer, and his connections to the Seattle-based multimillionaire Andrew Conru.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/18769256

> > You’ll need a pretty high geek tolerance level for this very detailed and specialised account of Sir Clive Sinclair’s bestselling ZX Spectrum home computer, whose appearance in 1982 with its rubbery keys was thought to be as lovably eccentric as the man himself. But with this he revolutionised the market, educated the British public about the importance of computing, and virtually created the gaming industry from scratch. It was originally to be called the “Rainbow” in homage to its groundbreaking colour graphics; Sinclair instead insisted on “Spectrum” as it was more scientific-sounding. > > > >Interestingly, the film shows that Sinclair’s flair for the home computing market arose from his beginnings in mail order and assembly kits for things such as mini transistor radios targeted at “hobbyists”, that fascinatingly old-fashioned word. His first home computers were available as kits and to the end of his days, he was more interested in hardware than software; perhaps this intensely serious man never quite sympathised with the gaming culture that drove his product around the world. > > > > ... > > > > When Sinclair is on screen, his human drama charges the film with interest, but I have to say that the film’s long central section, simply about all the different games with their blocky 2D graphics, is challenging for non-connoisseurs. But it’s always interesting to see a film dig into this level of detail, and there’s a strong awareness of the kind of art and design work that, without gaming, would never have found an outlet. > > > > ... > > > > The Rubber-Keyed Wonder: The Story of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum is in UK cinemas from 18 October

> Aardman, the iconic UK animation studio behind Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit, has closed around 20 jobs as it grapples with the increased cost of production. > >Deadline understands that Aardman is in the process of making less than 5% of its 425 employees redundant following a savings review undertaken by management. > >A third of the redundancies were voluntary, while two roles remain in consultation. It is hoped that some of the individuals who have lost their jobs can return to Aardman on a freelance basis.

> A new film about a gossipy and scheming group of cardinals who must select the new Pope has received its UK premiere at the London Film Festival. > >Conclave, which stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini, is adapted from the 2016 novel by Robert Harris. > >The film is thought to be a strong contender for the best picture award at next year's Oscars, and several of its stars could also be in contention for individual acting prizes. > >Conclave is directed by Edward Berger, the acclaimed German-Austrian film-maker whose 2022 adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front was nominated for nine Academy Awards.

> A passion project in the works for eight years, Alice Lowe’s follow-up to Prevenge borrows from the likes of Terry Gilliam and Stanley Kubrick to tell a story about the obsessive pursuit of love, with a healthy side of schlocky gore. Lowe has long been something of a savant of the strange and macabre, from her breakout role in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace onwards. But her imagination really runs wild here, leaping between centuries with aplomb, even if the jokes are disappointingly weak. > > ... > > Although there’s fun to be had in the whimsy and inventiveness, the comedy could have used some extra oomph. A sense of repetition inevitably creeps in after Agnes experiences a flash of recognition from a past or future self for the umpteenth time. The character herself is also too thinly drawn: her erotomania often exists more as a device to string together a collection of zany comedy sketches rather than as an intense emotional experience. And yet, for these faults, Timestalker is a genuinely unique expression of colour and imagination, one that could only come from inside its creator’s head.

> Residents reported seeing flashing lights in the sky as production work began at Canal Street, St Helens, at the former Pilkington Watson Street Works. > >Oblik Productions confirmed to the Star in September that filming for a Second World War Netflix film called The Immortal Man. > >An article on whats-on-netflix.com suggests that the project is a 'Peaky Blinders' film. > >It says that a "long-awaited Peaky Blinders movie" entitled The Immortal Man is soon heading into production and will be "set during World War II". > > It says Cillian Murphy will reprise his role as Tommy Shelby from the hit TV series. > >The article adds that Tim Roth is also among the cast members to have been confirmed, and it was reported that Tom Hardy has signed on for the movie.

> If there is anyone who knows what is happening behind the scenes in the saga over who will become the next James Bond, it’s Jennifer Salke, the global head of Amazon MGM Studios – home of box-office crown ­jewels including the 007 and Rocky franchises. > >Salke was part of the Amazon team that sealed an audacious $8.5bn deal in 2021 to buy the 100-year-old MGM and its celebrated library of 4,000 film titles and 17,000 hours of TV programming – ranging from Gone with the Wind and The Hobbit to The Handmaid’s Tale and Legally Blonde. > >Nevertheless, it is the future of the evergreen spy that remains the hottest topic of conversation among movie fans. > > The problem is that control of James Bond – at 62 years old, one of the world’s longest-running film franchises – remains largely with Eon Productions in the UK, which is run by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson. Eon’s strict control even extends to who plays Bond. > >Intense media interest has sparked a flurry of speculation naming almost any male actor who might fit the profile – from Idris Elba to Aaron Taylor-Johnson and, more recently, Barry Keoghan, the star of the Amazon hit Saltburn. > > ... > > Salke is neither shaken nor stirred by the hiatus. “There are a lot of ideas [about potential actors] that have popped up that I thought are interesting,” says Salke. “I think there are a lot of different ways we can go. We have a good and close relationship with Eon and Barbara and Michael. We are not looking to disrupt the way those wonderful films are made. For us, we are taking their lead. > >“The global audience will be patient. We don’t want too much time between films, but we are not concerned at this point.” > > Salke also gives her version of reports alleging that, early on, she got on the wrong side of Broccoli for raising the idea of a Bond TV series. > >“It was never really raised in that way,” says Salke, who is conducting the interview via video at an unearthly hour in the morning from her home in Los Angeles. > > “When you are looking at iconic intellectual property like that, you look at what the entire long-term future might be. Of course you look at every facet.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/16564038

> A karmic journey that sees the hapless heroine Agnes (Alice Lowe) reincarnated every time she makes the same mistake: falling in love with the wrong man. > > https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/706693-timestalker

> Day-Lewis has come out of retirement for Anemone, which his son Ronan Day-Lewis is directing, and is starring alongside Sean Bean and Samantha Morton. > >Filming for the feature took place in Handbridge in Chester this week, but ran into some difficulties after the council declined an application for a road closure, and traffic wardens began issuing tickets for the prop vehicles parked on double yellow lines. > > Pictures taken by a resident showed yellow parking tickets stuck to the windows of a number of vehicles, including a Ford Escort van, with production crew and filming equipment visible in the background. A row of late 20th-century vehicles can be seen parked along the road, where extras were reportedly being filmed for the backdrop of a scene.

> Three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is ending his retirement from acting to star in his son’s directorial debut. > >The 67-year-old British actor quit acting after starring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2017 film Phantom Thread, and has largely stayed out of public life since. > >But he is now set to star in a film titled Anemone, directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis, US independent production company Focus Features confirmed on Tuesday. > >The film will feature actors including Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley and Safia Oakley-Green, and is currently shooting in Manchester. > > Father and son wrote the screenplay, which “explores the intricate relationships between fathers, sons and brothers, and the dynamics of familial bonds”, Focus Features said.

> Industry figures in the UK have reacted with a mixture of defiance, fatalism and dismay to the stark data in the British Screen Forum report Show Me The Money!. Described as “lance-like in its clarity” by one attendee at its mid-September launch, the report highlights the parlous state of UK independent film financing. > >Its author Ben Keen, with access to BFI certification data over a 10-year period from 2014 to 2023, revealed total investment in local film production plummeted to £160m ($214.3m) in 2023 — its lowest ever level — compared to a high of £406m ($544m) in 2016 and less than half of the £327m ($438m) achieved in the post-­pandemic recovery year of 2021. His report also highlights the “collapse” of equity investment in UK indie feature production, which covers a period before the new UK Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC) was announced in the last government’s spring Budget, allowing eligible films to claim an enhanced Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit of 53% (approximately 40% after tax) on qualifying expenditure for budgets up to £15m ($20m). > > MP Caroline Dinenage, recently re-elected as chair of the UK Parliament’s culture, media and sport (CMS) committee, has confirmed it is likely to be looking closely at the report’s claims. “The findings of the report are a stark reminder of the challenges facing the British film and TV industry,” she tells Screen International. “It is precisely why, as chair of the previous CMS committee, I was keen to launch an inquiry into British film and high-end TV. I hope I can persuade the new committee to reignite that work and build on it to help ensure the sector remains one of our global cultural success stories.” > > Others have acknowledged the report lays bare uncomfortable home truths that were already widely known, if not always openly acknowledged. “All the detail in the report echoes the work we did in 2017 right through to us getting the enhanced tax credit in the Budget this year,” says John McVay, CEO of UK independent producers’ association Pact. “The fundamentals are what we’ve been talking about for years — declining pre-sales, less capital coming into the market, budgets going down which impacts on the competitiveness and quality of our product. > >“That means it’s even harder to recoup and go into profit,” he continues. “The statistic in the report about how few producers went on to make another film [after their first feature] is something that all our research picked up.” > > ... > > “It is a challenging time, pre-­selling can be hard, access to equity finance is hard and access to top talent is hard. All the things that traditionally made our business run are no longer straightforward,” agreed Dave Bishop, CEO of sales, finance and production firm Protagonist Pictures. “It takes a huge team to get any independent production across the line.” > >The lack of investor confidence in UK indie film after a series of well-publicised scandals was also picked up on by speakers. “There are too many stories that would ward off investors in this industry. We all remember the film partnerships. They played out on the front pages of the dailies,” noted John Glencross, chief executive of Calculus Capital. > > ... > > In the coming months, UK film is expected to be boosted by the releases of high-profile titles including Paddington In Peru, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy and 28 Years Later. Nonetheless the situation remains dire for smaller indie projects. > >“This is the only industry where the creators of the product say, ‘I know what I want to make,’ without a great deal of reference to what the market might be looking for,” said Glencross of the struggling UK indie film sector. “In this country, there’s too little regard to what the market wants. In a way, it’s almost like swearing in the cathedral to say that.”

Archive

Previously:

• Five actions could revive struggling indie UK film sector, according to British Screen Forum report

> Our TV movie pick for tonight (Friday, 27 September) is LOLA, the 2022 Irish-British found-footage sci-fi flick. > >Co-written and directed by Andrew Legge in his feature debut and boasting a soundtrack by The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, the film revolves around two genius sisters (Emma Appleton and Stefanie Martini) living in ’40s England. > > Together, the pair build a machine they call LOLA that can intercept radio and TV broadcasts from the future. > > ... > > Holding an 98% Rotten Tomatoes score, the Irish sci-fi is airing on Film4 tonight at 11.15pm. It’s also available to rent on Google Play and the Sky Store.

Slightly late but it's on catch–up for the next month.

IMDb

> The Paddington films have always been imbued with a deep love of cinema. Paul King’s Paddington and Paddington 2 revelled in creating handcrafted textures, both beautifully shot and making nods to classic slapstick comedies, prison escape dramas, and soundstage musicals. Next, Paddington is venturing out of London – make way for Paddington In Peru, a threequel that sees Douglas Wilson make his directorial debut, taking the reins from King, and sending our young furry hero (and the Brown family) on an Amazonian adventure. That change of location means an influx of new cinematic touchstones. > >Notably, Wilson mentions an influence from Werner Herzog’s jungle-traversing Aguirre, The Wrath Of God, and Fitzcarraldo. Yes, in a Paddington movie. It comes with the Peruvian territory – literally. “Peru has this incredible variety of landscapes, crazy geology, especially the Andes and the mysterious Incan side,” the director tells Empire. “If you’ve seen [Werner Herzog’s] Aguirre, The Wrath Of God, we go up into similar landscapes. And the people are incredibly friendly.” Part of the mission here is to portray that sense of place and culture. “Obviously there are mopeds and mobile phones and all that, but they do still seem to wear traditional-looking clothes in the rural Andes,” says Wilson. “So I tried to show some Peruvian culture; a Peruvian legend underlies our whole story.” And since Paddington In Peru features singing nuns (including Olivia Colman’s Reverend Mother), expect a bit of The Sound Of Music and Black Narcissus in the mix.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17692216

> > In the wake of the film’s World Premiere at Fantastic Fest this Sunday, September 22, Benjamin Barfoot’s horror movie Daddy’s Head is coming to Shudder on October 11. > > > >Watch the official trailer for Daddy’s Head below. > > > > ... > > > > In the film, “In the wake of his father’s untimely death, a young boy is left in the eerie solitude of a sprawling country estate with his newly widowed stepmother. Struggling to navigate the overwhelming task of parenthood, his stepmother grows distant, leaving their fragile bond at risk of collapse. Amidst the growing tension, the boy begins to hear unsettling sounds echoing through the corridors, and is soon haunted by the presence of a grotesque creature bearing a disturbingly familiar resemblance to his late father. > > Trailer