All posts tagged: Christopher

Disney Almost Made The Odyssey Into A Film Years Before Christopher Nolan

Disney Almost Made The Odyssey Into A Film Years Before Christopher Nolan

Published by Sam Flores

For millions of viewers, Christopher Nolan’s movie will have been their first introduction to the epic Ancient Greek story about Odysseus’ heroic journey home to his beloved wife Penelope at the end of the Trojan war. And while The Odyssey has been adapted for the screen on numerous occasions in the past, what you might realise is that, at one point, Disney looked poised to have a go at it. The story goes that, at the cusp of Disney’s so-called “Renaissance” towards the end of the 20th century – which saw the studio achieving renewed success thanks to films like The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King – execs gathered the creative team for a series of so-called “Gong Show” pitch meetings. In these quick fire meetings, writers and animators had a short amount of time to pitch their ideas for stories, many of which would then be greenlit. One of these meetings saw a Disney-fied version of The Odyssey being put forward as an idea, with the company going …

The Center of All Creation | Christopher Alessandrini

The Center of All Creation | Christopher Alessandrini

Published by Jenni Sidey

I first learned of Ossabaw Island from Musa Mayer’s Night Studio (1988), a memoir of her life as Philip Guston’s daughter. At the time I was writing a short story about Guston and had grown fixated on his wife, Musa McKim, who’d given up painting for poetry. McKim’s time at Ossabaw in 1974 was one of the few occasions when she left his side, for a two-week residency to work on a manuscript. It offered a moment of revelation, or at least reversal. A letter Guston sent to McKim during her “vacation” is obsessive, spiraling, as if the magnetic center of his life had been temporarily removed: “Every minute my thoughts are with you—seeing you picked up at the DeSoto Hotel—by whom? Going to the Island—how?” he writes. “If only I knew—had seen Ossabaw—I would feel a little better—but as it is, I feel so lost, so alone without you.” Ossabaw is a 26,000-acre heart-shaped barrier island off the coast of Georgia—a patchwork landscape of salt marshes and maritime forests, tidal creeks and interdune meadows, …

The Neverfear by Katherine Rundell review: Never mind Harry Potter, here comes Christopher…

The Neverfear by Katherine Rundell review: Never mind Harry Potter, here comes Christopher…

Published by Sam Flores

Katherine Rundell’s enthusiasts are legion and they’re classy. Queen Camilla has authorised her book as a Christmas present to year 6 children; Michael Morpurgo compares her to Tolkien. That last one doesn’t wash, though she is an academic (stamping ground, the 17th century). The comparison that really comes to mind is with JK Rowling, especially now that she’s got a seven-figure deal for the movie rights to her Impossible Creatures series. The latest, The Neverfear, confirms the resemblance. Source link

Christopher McDonald says he was ‘devastated’ when Geena Davis called off their engagement for Jeff Goldblum

Christopher McDonald says he was ‘devastated’ when Geena Davis called off their engagement for Jeff Goldblum

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Christopher McDonald has opened up about the heartbreak he felt when his fiancée Geena Davis left him to be with Jeff Goldblum. During a recent career retrospective for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, McDonald spoke about the end of his engagement to Davis in the mid-1980s. “Geena Davis and I were engaged to be married for about five weeks and she fell in love with Jeff Goldblum doing her first movie over there in Europe,” McDonald shared. Davis and Goldblum were filming Transylvania 6-5000 at the time. “And I don’t blame him,” McDonald continued. “She’s stunningly beautiful and everything like that, but you know, what happens on sets — things sometimes happen. “But I was broken,” he continued. Christopher McDonald (left) has opened up about his …

Christopher Nolan Wouldn't Take No For An Answer When This A-Lister Turned Down A Role

Christopher Nolan Wouldn't Take No For An Answer When This A-Lister Turned Down A Role

Published by Sam Flores

Christopher Nolan at the New York premiere of The Odyssey last month Between Oppenheimer and The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s big-screen epics have become synonymous with their sprawling, A-list casts. In his latest offering alone, Matt Damon takes the lead alongside a supporting cast that includes fellow Oscar winners Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron and Lupita Nyong’o, Nolan-verse regulars Robert Pattinson and Elliot Page and exciting names like Tom Holland, Zendaya and Samantha Morton. The British director’s luck with casting Hollywood stars recently prompted talk show host Jimmy Fallon to question if the filmmaker has “ever gotten a no” – to which he admitted that he had to graft hard to win over a certain icon. Nolan claimed: “The only no I would cop to is David Bowie for The Prestige. He was my great idol and everything, and I thought he’d be perfect to play Nikola Tesla. We sent him the script and everything, and he said no.” The Prestige was one of Nolan’s earlier films, released in 2006 off the back of Batman Begins. It …

How Christopher Nolan Helped Create a Beloved Sub-,000 Watch

How Christopher Nolan Helped Create a Beloved Sub-$1,000 Watch

Published by Jenni Sidey

Early in Christopher Nolan’s 2014 film Interstellar, Matthew McConaughey’s Coop soothes his inquisitive daughter Murphy when she asks about the meaning of her name: “Murphy’s law doesn’t mean that something bad will happen. It means that whatever can happen, will happen.” And boy, does stuff ever happen from there on out. In the film, grown-up Murph goes on to become—spoiler alert!—the savior of the human race. And meanwhile, in the real world, the Hamilton watch that bears her name has become an unexpected stalwart in the world of entry-level watches. The Hamilton Khaki Field Murph—which was originally designed for the film, before eventually getting a public release after years of fan demand in 2019—is a vintage-inspired spin on the watchmaker’s iconic Khaki Field model. In the six years since it became widely available, it’s become a staple of Hamilton’s catalog—and an unlikely patron saint of Reddit watch forums. “New people coming into the hobby, if they’re in that budget range, the Murph is one of the first things out of my mouth to recommend,” says …

AP Reporter Christopher Bodeen, a Tenacious Chronicler of China’s Rise, Dies at 55

AP Reporter Christopher Bodeen, a Tenacious Chronicler of China’s Rise, Dies at 55

Published by Sam Flores

TOKYO (AP) — Christopher Bodeen, a tenacious, old-school wire service reporter who brought a keen analytical eye and a wry sense of humor to decades of work in China, Taiwan and in war zones and natural disasters across the globe for The Associated Press, has died. He was 55. Bodeen died Monday after a struggle with cancer and complications from a stroke, his daughter, Ingrid, said Thursday by telephone from Taiwan. Bodeen, who spoke fluent Mandarin with a proud Taiwan accent, spent much of his career detailing China’s rise to an economic, political and military superpower — and the accompanying friction from what critics have long called Beijing’s heavy-handed efforts to establish dominance in Asia and beyond. “Chris was a reporter who would go anywhere and do anything for the story,” said Charles Hutzler, AP’s former bureau chief in Beijing. After a huge quake flattened a swath of Sichuan province in 2008, Bodeen composed his account from one devastated town sentence by sentence over text messages because of damaged telecommunications networks. “It was one of …

Christopher Schwarzenegger’s muscular physique steals the show in rare new family photos

Christopher Schwarzenegger’s muscular physique steals the show in rare new family photos

Published by Daniella Wilson

Christopher Schwarzenegger is looking stronger than ever after transforming his health over the past several years. The 28-year-old son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver made a rare appearance in a new collection of family photos shared by his older sister Katherine Schwarzenegger, and his muscular physique certainly stood out. In one sun-soaked snap from the family’s beach day, Christopher relaxed on a bench beside the ocean wearing a fitted black T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Trend Proof” and a pair of blue swim shorts covered in a bold orange floral print. © InstagramChristopher showcased his muscular thighs With his noticeably muscular arms and legs on display, Christopher looked happy and relaxed as he smiled broadly for the camera while soaking up the sunshine. Katherine’s Instagram carousel offered further glimpses of the Schwarzenegger family’s summer together, with the mom-of-three sharing candid moments from their time by the water. © GC ImagesPatrick Schwarzenegger (R) and Christopher Schwarzenegger back in 2015 Christopher has largely remained out of the spotlight compared to his famous siblings, but his physical …

Doctor Who adventure with Christopher Eccleston casts Good Omens star

Doctor Who adventure with Christopher Eccleston casts Good Omens star

Published by Daniella Wilson

Doctor Who legends Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper are back in business with another audio adventure – and now they’ve welcomed Good Omens star Doon Mackichan to the fray! The BAFTA-winning actress, who starred as Archangel Michael in Good Omens, is joining the voice cast of Doctor Who – The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Dark Tides as Dr Vivian Rest, the sole survivor aboard a long-lost mapping ship that’s drifted back into normal space. It marks the second time she’s worked with Eccleston, as the pair previously starred together in the 1999 film With or Without You. Of course, Eccleston and Piper reprise their roles as the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler in the audio adventure, which is written by Tim Foley and will see the pair venture into deep space, where they find the long-lost mapping ship the Vesterbold. Its crew are all gone, except for one. Mackichan said: “It was fantastic working with Chris, and I love working in the audio medium. This story’s definitely got a claustrophobic feel, where everyone’s trapped and can’t …

10 Books to Read Before Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

10 Books to Read Before Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

Published by Jenni Sidey

Film adaptations usually send a trickle of readers back to the source. Nolan’s The Odyssey has sent a flood. The numbers are genuinely unusual: Emily Wilson’s translation has passed a million US copies and reached No. 2 on the overall bestseller list, while Publishers Weekly reported Robert Fagles’s rival translation up 93 per cent and Madeline Miller’s Circe up 128 per cent in the same week. Which raises a practical question for anyone holding a ticket. The poem is long, the mythology is dense, and the film assumes a certain amount of knowledge. Here are ten books to read before Nolan’s The Odyssey, ordered by how much work each one actually does for you. The Two Essentials Before Nolan’s The Odyssey 1. The Odyssey by Homer. Obviously. The only real decision is whose English you read it in, and that decision matters more than most people expect. Wilson’s 2017 version is fast, plain and metrically disciplined, which is why it has become the default. Fagles is more theatrical. Lattimore is the most literal. We have …