James Gandolfini Online

'God of Carnage' cast exits to stellar sales
By GORDON COX
Nov. 17, 2009

The starry original cast of hit play "God of Carnage" ($1,107,302) -- James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels -- went out with a bang. Thesps' final frame pushed sales past $1 million. It fell just short of the house record set during the 2006 run of Julia Roberts starrer "Three Days of Rain."

Chewing the fat at party
New York Post
Oct. 21, 2009

James Gandolfini joked at the 60th anniversary of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting at the home of L.A. Reid: "Elaine [Stritch] has a huge crush on Alec Baldwin. She also seems to like me a lot. It seems she has a thing for fat guys . . . You can tell Alec I said that!" Gov. Paterson, Kate Mulgrew, Whoopi Goldberg and Ruby Dee were still laughing when Stritch replied, "As a student, I would walk from the Convent of Sacred Heart on 91st and Fifth down to the New School for acting classes because I believed that actresses could not be fat." Stritch paused, looked at Gandolfini and said, "It seems the same isn't true for male actors."

'Where The Wild Things Are' Overperforming For $12+M Friday & Probable $38+M Weekend
By Nikki Finke
Friday October 16, 2009

Warner Bros didn't know what to expect on such a unique project as Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are since it couldn't find a single comp. Finally, the studio settled on Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas since it had a famous director with an infamous imagination making a PG movie for adults. Then, the studio decided not to position Wild Things as a kids film. The marketing department brought it to Comicon, and then spent 70% of the media for it on broad based and adult driven buys. The P&A stressed Spike's pedigree, but not the fact that Jonze took forever in post-production on his CGI + puppetry adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved little book. "He's a perfectionist and just kept working on it," a WB exec told me today. "But now we know that at the end of the day he nailed it. The numbers are shocking the hell out of me." That's because Wild Things is turning into a phenomenon. Midnight shows went way over the expected $150K grosses and came close to $660K. By Friday noon in Manhattan, the expected $12K take turned into $100K. Grosses looked to come in past $12M from 3,735 locations, including 145 Imax theaters. And now what even rival studios thought was at best a $30M weekend is "off and running" to go past $38M. That's still a conservative estimate because Warner Bros thinks Friday's revenues are unusually boosted by the "Spikers" as well as by adults attracted by the older focused marketing campaign. Execs think that will translate into Saturday grosses only 20% higher, not the usual 60% higher of most matinee driven kiddie films.

Whoopi Goldberg, Elaine Stritch, James Gandolfini, et. al. Set for Stella By Starlight Benefit
By: Andy Propst · Oct 16, 2009 · New York

Whoopi Goldberg and Elaine Stritch will be among the honorees at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting's Stella by Starlight fundraising gala to be held at the home of Antonio "LA" Reid on October 19. The event will raise money for the Studio's work and the capital campaign that will underwrite the transformation of its current facility into an arts complex, the Adler Center for the Arts.

James Gandolfini will be on hand to present Stritch with the Stella Adler Award. Ruby Dee will be presenting the Marlon Brando Award to Goldberg.

Debra Wasser and Bennett Zier will also be honored at the benefit. Additionally, Muriel Siebert will present Suzanne Shank with The Harold Clurman Corporate Award, which recognizes outstanding commitment and contributions to the theatrical community.

For tickets and further information, visit http://www.stellaadler.com/.

Excerpt from an interview with Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers:

The wonder of James Gandolfini
October 1, 2009

Everybody was full of praise for Gandolfini, who plays what Jonze calls the "most essential" of the monsters, the huge tusked Carol. This character needed "his kind of presence and his kind of vulnerability, and his emotions are right under the surface," adds Jonze.

Eggers described Gandolfini coming in for the first day of voice recording, wearing an enormous wide-striped shirt and looking way more imposing and intimidating than he does on The Sopranos. "He was Carol from the first time walked in, and all the other creatures — the other actors — assumed a subservient role... He's such a powerful actor."

For full article go HERE.

Sept. 18, 2009 

Five Films We Can't Wait For
By C. Robert Cargill
Sept. 16, 2009

Excerpt:

5. Where the Wild Things Are

Based upon the classic children's book that most (if not all) of you have read, this has become a behind-the-scenes nightmare. Warner Bros. clearly was hoping for something along the lines of a holiday Seuss movie and instead hired Spike Jonze, who made a Spike Jonze movie. All accounts paint this as a dark, somber tale about a boy from a dysfunctional family who creates a fantasy world to escape the problems he has with his mother. Done correctly, this could alienate mainstream audiences and go on to become hailed as a brazen classic of the modern era. If not, it could be a tragic misfire in which the studio was right to be hesitant. But I hear good things and am very, very hopeful. Oh yeah, and my wife giggles and gets giddy every time she sees the trailer. What's not to like about that?

God of Carnage to Host Purple Rose Theatre Benefit in November
By Adam Hetrick
25 Aug 2009

The Tony-winning Broadway production of Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage will host a benefit event for Michigan's Purple Rose Theatre on Nov. 7.

Founded by Tony nominated God of Carnage cast member Jeff Daniels, the Purple Rose Theatre is an award-winning non-profit theatre in Chelsea, MI. The special event will include preferred seating to a performance of Reza's play and an after party with the cast.

Cast members including Tony winner Marcia Gay Harden, Tony nominees James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis will be present for the private after-party at Sardi's, which is open to 50 guests.

The starry cast of God of Carnage, now on hiatus, will resume performances Sept. 8 and will conclude their run in the production Nov. 14. The play is scheduled to continue with a new cast through Feb. 28, 2010, at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre.

Benefit tickets, priced $1,000 per person, are available by phoning the Purple Rose Theatre at (734) 433-7782, or by e-mailing http://purplerosetheatre.org/specialevents.shtml.

James Gandolfini hits A.C.
by Vicki Hyman/The Star-Ledger
Tuesday August 18, 2009, 11:08 AM

James Gandolfini is a fan of the mixed martial arts. who knew ... other than anyone who's caught an episode of "The Sopranos"? Gandolfini cheered the New Breed Fighters at a mixed martial arts event at Resorts Casino on Saturday.

James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels stage drama kills; earns $1M+ on Broadway
by Kevin Byrne
Jul 28 2009 03:21 AM ET

Who says the theater is a dying art form? According to Variety, the acclaimed theatrical comedy-drama God of Carnage is continuing to enjoy a very robust run on the Great White Way, having pulled in over $1 million at the box office so far. The impressive earning streak is quite noteworthy for the Tony Award-winning hit considering how (a) it is not a musical and (b) the production just went ”dark” until early September. The show’s success is also a testament to the drawing power of its incredible cast – James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, and Marcia Gay Harden — all of whom are veterans of both the big and small screen. Despite the hiatus, Broadway devotees need not fret: the show will go on (again) as of Sept. 8. 

By Adam Hetrick
26 Jul 2009

Yasmina Reza's Tony-winning comedy God of Carnage, starring Tony winner Marcia Gay Harden, James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis, plays its last performance of the summer July 26.

Since beginning previews Feb. 28, God of Carnage has played to packed houses at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre following its March 22 opening, which was greeted with critical.

Originally scheduled as a limited engagement through July 19, producers of the hit comedy announced that the production and its complete original Broadway cast would extend through Nov. 15 following a summer hiatus that runs through the beginning of September. Performances will resume Sept. 8.

Garbage Movement
Downtown Express
May 14, 2009

Add a few more Oscars to the Emmys and Grammys fighting the Hudson Square garbage garage tower. We’re told Meryl Streep has joined other award-winning celebs — Jennifer Connelly, James Gandolfini, Lou Reed and Michael Stipe — in their fight with the city.

“This celebrity thing is really exploding,” said Phil Mouquinho, one of the opponents. “Meryl Streep hit the roof — she didn’t even know about this.”

Gandolfini, Mouquinho and Richard Barrett met Tuesday with Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler’s chief of staff, Caswell Holloway, Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty, Dan Klein, Sanitation’s real estate director, and A.J. Pietrantone, director of Friends of Hudson River Park, which has an agreement to move the garbage trucks in question off the Ganesvoort Peninsula.

Mouquinho said for the first time in years, he felt the city was finally considering alternatives. After Tuesday’s meeting at City Hall, everyone was smiling and in good spirits, Mouquinho said, except Klein, who looked “depressed.”





No Contract on Tonys: Mob Man Whacks Invitation To Be Host
by Michael Riedel
New York Post
May 13, 2009

THOSE apparatchiks running the Tony Awards -- Charlotte St. Martin of the Broadway League and Howard Sherman of the American Theater Wing -- haven't heeded some good advice about getting Will Ferrell to host this year's Tony Awards.

Instead, they put their little heads together and came up with . . . James Gandolfini.

Broadway wiretaps reveal that, in the past week, the League and the Wing have twice approached Gandolfini, a Tony nominee for "God of Carnage," about hosting this year's telecast.

A plainclothes Shubert Alley source reports Gandolfini's reaction: "After he picked himself up off the floor, he said he was flattered to be asked but he isn't a song-and-dance man."

(I can imagine him saying: "Who the f - - - do they think I am? Hugh Jackman?")

Gandolfini will appear on the telecast but only as a presenter.

Still, it's fun to imagine Tony Soprano in top hat and tails, high-kicking his way across the stage of Radio City Music Hall to a medley of songs by Jerry Herman, who's receiving a Lifetime Achievement Tony:

"I am what I am, I am my own special creation. End of story."

Or he could do what Whoopi Goldberg did last year and appear as a character in all four Tony-nominated musicals.

Put him in a pink tutu, and you've got "Billy Elliot" Gandolfini.

Paint him green, put some plugs on his head and, voila, "Shrek" Gandolfini.

Squeeze him into some skintight pants, sprinkle him with a lot of glitter, lend him Constantine Maroulis' hair and -- hello, "Rock of Ages" Gandolfini!

As for "Next to Normal" Gandolfini -- well, that's easy. All he has to do is what he did for years on "The Sopranos": sit on the couch and take his meds.

If St. Martin and Sherman noticed the way Gandolfini comports himself around Broadway, they'd know that asking him to play host is Pie-O-My pie-in-the-sky.

Gandolfini doesn't seek the spotlight. He's not pulling a Jane Fonda, running around Shubert Alley campaigning for Tony votes. Although he's won three Emmys, he famously refused to campaign for any of them.

On the rare occasions he does do an interview for "God of Carnage," he generally insists on appearing with his fellow cast members -- Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels, all of whom have been nominated for Tonys, as well.

The theater press corps is in awe of him -- and intimidated by him. The other day, an Associated Press reporter found herself in an elevator with him. When she started asking questions, he gave her a Tony Soprano glare that, I'm told, left her stammering, the color drained from her face.

I met him at "Theater Talk," the show I co-host on WNET/Ch. 13. He was fun, self-effacing and charming.

But when our executive producer asked him to smile and nod for cutaway shots, Gandolfini said: "You can't be serious."

He stood up, tore off his microphone and headed for the door. Then he stopped, turned around and marched over to the producer.

The studio fell silent. We all thought: "He's going to whack him!"

Instead, he put his arm around the guy and said, "I'm sorry, man, I just can't do those reaction shots." Then he offered him an orange.

"The truth is, he's a modest guy," says a "Carnage" source. "He's having a good time on Broadway, but he's not going to get caught up in all the Tony nonsense."

And his performance in "God of Carnage" speaks for itself.

No need for him to woo Tony voters by doing a Hugh Jackman.

When it comes to the race for Best Actor in a Play, he's already in the hunt.





Rourke for a Bill Paxton Western?
by Clint Morris
May 12, 2009

According to Production Weekly, Mickey Rourke and James Gandolfini are circling "Seven Holes for Air", a dark western being directed by actor Bill Paxton.

 NEW YORK, May 5 (UPI) -- James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Jane Fonda, Marcia Gay Harden and Janet McTeer were among Broadway stars nominated for Tony Awards in New York Tuesday.

Nominated in the Best Play category are "Dividing the Estate," "God of Carnage," "Reasons to Be Pretty" and "33 Variations."

Shortlisted for the Tony for Best Revival of a Play are "Joe Turner's Come and Gone, "Mary Stuart," "The Norman Conquests" and "Waiting for Godot."

"God of Carnage" co-stars Daniels and Gandolfini will compete with Raul Esparza from "Speed-the-Plow," Geoffrey Rush from "Exit the King" and Thomas Sadoski from "Reasons to Be Pretty" for the Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.

The actresses nominated in the equivalent category are "Carnage" leading ladies Harden and Hope Davis, Fonda from "33 Variations" and McTeer and Harriet Walter from "Mary Stuart."

Up for the award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play are John Glover for "Waiting for Godot," Zach Grenier for "33 Variations," Stephen Mangan and Paul Ritter for "The Norman Conquests" and Roger Robinson for "Joe Turner's Come and Gone."

The nominees for the Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play are Hallie Foote for "Dividing the Estate," Jessica Hynes and Amanda Root for "The Norman Conquests," Marin Ireland for "Reasons to Be Pretty" and Angela Lansbury for "Blithe Spirit."





James Gandolfini Wants Video Testimony Banned
April 13, 2009

Actor James Gandolfini has asked a judge to ban cameras from a New York courthouse when he testifies against a man he's accused of choking and punching in an airport brawl last year (08).

Jason Ertischek of Brooklyn, New York filed suit against The Sopranos star - who played mob boss Tony Soprano in the hit series - claiming he slapped, punched and cursed at him at New York's Jfk Airport on 29 January (08).

At the time of the incident, Ertischek told the New York Post: "I spoke to him in a kind of Tony Soprano accent, like, 'Yo, Tony.' All of a sudden, he turned around and choked me... and punched me."

According to papers filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court, Gandolfini claims the taping "is intended solely to harass, annoy and prejudice (the) defendant and violate his due-process rights". (c) WENN





Where the Wild Things Are Trailer

"The Sopranos": James Gandolfini has a new hit with a new gang
by Hal Boedeker
March 23, 2009


Don't worry about James Gandolifini's career after "The Sopranos.                                                                    "

The man who was Tony Soprano opened Sunday night on Broadway in "God of Carnage." The steady, loud laughter at Saturday night's performance suggests this fast-moving comedy will be a major hit that runs for years.

The play from Yasmina Reza ("Art") lasts only 90 minutes, a major plus these days.

It features four major actors in excellent form: Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden of "Damages." Putting four big names together is savvy marketing in these uncertain economic times.

The play starts as a meeting between two sets of parents over a fight between their sons. The action escalates into a ferocious argument -- with slapstick -- about culture, marriage and personal image.

Gandolfini reveals sides he never could as Tony Soprano. It's something to see and a pleasure to experience. There's a lot more to Gandolfini than that unforgettable mobster.

The reviews this morning were raves. "Scabrously funny," USA Today said. The New York Times explained the fun succinctly: "Never underestimate the pleasure of watching really good actors behaving terribly.





"Sopranos Star a Hit on Broadway
March 23, 2009

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini won rave reviews on Monday in "God of Carnage," a Broadway play about two couples whose attempt to deal amicably with their sons' playground fight descends into mayhem.

The play by French writer Yasmina Reza also stars Marcia Gay Harden as Gandolfini's wife, as well as Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis, in what Elysa Gardner of USA Today called "a showcase for first-rate ensemble acting."

"It's been a while since Broadway's seen such gleefully nasty fun," New York Post critic Elisabeth Vincentelli wrote.

New York Times critic Ben Brantley said the play "delivers the cathartic release of watching other people's marriages go boom."

"A study in the tension between civilized surface and savage instinct, this play ... is itself a satisfyingly primitive entertainment with an intellectual veneer," Brantley wrote.

It was Gandolfini's first time on Broadway since he won worldwide fame as crime boss Tony Soprano in the hit TV series "The Sopranos." He was last on Broadway in 1995's "On The Waterfront."

Gandolfini played Soprano for six seasons over 8-1/2 years. The award-winning HBO series which ended in 2007 broke new ground for television by portraying a conflicted man who tries to balance family life with his Mafia career.

"Gandolfini overcomes his 'Sopranos' baggage and more than holds his own as the earthy Michael," Vincentelli wrote.

(Reporting by Claudia Parsons; editing by Michelle Nichols and Bill Trott)





James Gandolfini - Gandolfini impresses critics with return to Broadway

March 23, 2009

JAMES GANDOLFINI has won rave reviews for his return to Broadway in YASMINA REZA's play GOD OF CARNAGE.
The multiple Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actor stars alongside Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden in the production, about two warring couples.

The star-studded cast is "a marvellously giving, balanced ensemble", according to a critic at The New York Times - in one of several reviews hailing the show's official opening on Sunday (22Mar09) at Manhattan's Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.

Gandolfini's run in God Of Carnage marks his first return to the Broadway stage since a six-month stint in the 1992 production of On the Waterfront.

It is also his first major role since finding fame as fictional mob boss Tony Soprano in hit TV drama The Sopranos, which ended in 2007.

A critic from the New York Daily News adds: "(Gandolfini) is one of four first-class actors at the top of their game in the combustible comedy God of Carnage... When you first see his character, he's all mild-mannered and sheepish smiles, not remotely thuggish."

The New York show appears to be on the same successful path as the London production, which won critical acclaim for its star, Ralph Fiennes, and a Laurence Olivier award for best new comedy.

A theatre critic for the Associated Press adds, "It's one of those swell, showy comic portraits that has Tony nomination (and probably the prize, too) written all over it." 





Play Really Hits 'Sopranos' Star James Gandolfini
By Eloise Parker
February 21, 2009


(L-R) Marcia Gay Harden, James Gandolfini, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels attend the "God Of Carnage" Broadway photo call at the Hilton Theatre rehearsal hall.
Look who's pleading.

James Gandolfini had people praying for their lives on a regular basis as mobster Tony Soprano.

But to land a role in Broadway's "God of Carnage," which begins previews Saturday, the three-time Emmy winner was the one doing the begging after seeing the play last year in London.

It was an entreaty the producers couldn't refuse.

"I inquired as to whether they were moving it [to New York]," he said. "They said they were, and I begged to be in it, and they said, 'OK, you can do it.'"

The ensemble comedy by Yasmina Reza, author of the prize-winning play "Art," also stars Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden.

It concerns two couples who meet after their sons get in a fight. The parental powwow goes from polite to @#$$%!

The play's running time - a fleet 80 minutes - and dark humor appealed to Gandolfini, who acted in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "On the Waterfront" on Broadway before breaking through in "The Sopranos."

"Sometimes you see a play and there'll be people coming out like, 'Phew, I'm glad [that's over]; that was a long time,'" said Gandolfini. "But with this play, they were really energized."

 

 

 

 

Finding Gandolfini's Rhythm
January 28, 2009


INTERVIEW. It was a quiet year for James Gandolfini. The New Jersey actor took his final bow as Tony Soprano in 2007, then went unseen on screens big and small in 2008. But 2009 promises to be a big one for the big man, with several feature films to be released — among them "In The Loop," a partly improvised British political farce that premiered last week at Sundance.

How much improvisation did you get to do?
Just to be clear, the script is a great script. Sometimes, with improvisation in the movies, you’re trying to fix the script — and that’s where a lot of actors, in my opinion, end up going south. But [director] Armando [Iannucci] encouraged a lot of improv. Getting into a character and improvising the hell out of it is a little difficult. In the beginning, you feel like a bit of an ass, but you have to trust that the director is going to cut out the parts where you look like an ass — or if it’s funny enough, I’m fine with looking like an ass.

You said the first draft of the script you received was 269 pages. What do you think when you see a 269-page script?
If it’s good and you read it and you’re engaged, then obviously it works. You can get a 130-page script, get 10 pages into it and put it straight into the garbage can.

What was it like being in the American minority on the set?
I think the British actors were quicker on their feet than I was. Some of their rhythms are faster. It’s the difference between the South and the North in the U.S. It’s not that people in the South are intellectually different. It’s just that they have a different rhythm. I had to say to myself, "This is my rhythm. Don’t start getting into their rhythm."

So, are you glad to be coming to Sundance at the tail end, after the craziness?
This is my first one.

Oh, well you missed Paris Hilton.
Awww, sh-t.





Armando Iannucci Sells Film 'In the Loop' At The Sundance Film Festival

By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles
Last Updated: 12:18AM GMT 24 Jan 2009

In the Loop, a black comedy loosely based on the BBC political satire The Thick of It, was snapped up by American film distributor IFC Films hours before its premiere at Robert Redford's famous showcase for independent cinema.

The film, set in London and Washington DC, follows the machinations and bumblings of British politicians and American government officials during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

Tom Hollander plays a British government minister who inadvertently backs the military action in a BBC interview and finds himself in Washington trying to stop the Prime Minister's aggressive strategist (In the Thick of It's Peter Capaldi) from rigging a UN vote.

The film also features Sopranos star James Gandolfini as a US General opposed to the war, Steve Coogan, Gina McKee, Anna Chlumsky and Chris Addison.

Critics have lavished praise on the release, with The Times describing it as "a classic British comedy reminiscent of the very best of old Ealing" and New York Times critic Manohla Dargis dubbing it "scathingly funny - I haven't heard dialogue this fast since Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant traded zingers in His Girl Friday."

IFC, which plans to release the film in the US later this year, said it was excited by the acquisition. "It's not often that you get to introduce such a major talent as Armando Iannucci to American audiences," said Jonathan Sehring, IFC president.

The deal was one of several struck this week despite predictions of widespread hesitancy on the part of distributors given the current economic climate and how poorly some of last year's Sundance buys, including the Steve Coogan starring Hamlet 2, fared.

There was also good news for the Nick Hornby written dramatic comedy An Education, which sold to Sony Pictures Classics for between $3 million and 4 million, according to the Hollywood reporter.

The 1960s-set romance, directed by Lone Scherfig, stars British newcomer Carey Mulligan, 23, as a teenager who gets involved with an older man (Peter Sarsgaard). The film, which also starred Rosamund Pike and Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson, was the subject of extensive interest from other distributors before the deal with Sony was finalised.





Iannucci Scores a Hit With 'In the Loop'
Jan. 22, 2009

Armando Iannucci (pictured), the British comic and screenwriter, is causing a commotion at the Sundance film festival with his first major film offering.  Called 'In the Loop', it is the big-screen companion piece to the acclaimed BBC TV series 'The Thick of It', and explores how the invasion of Iraq was sold to the public on both sides of the Atlantic.  

Described as an "acid satire", it stars James Gandolfini, the star of the smash hit US mafia drama The Sopranos, and the British actor Peter Capaldi, who reprises his The Thick of It role as role as Malcolm Tucker, the splenetic, combative director of communications, loosely based on the Downing Street spindoctor Alastair Campbell.

In a rare five star write-up, the Times said "this stark, foul-mouthed black comedy is an artfully written skit that combines pin-sharp characterisation with brutally effective one-liners", and described it as "a classic
British comedy reminiscent of the very best of old Ealing". The Hollywood journal Variety was no less complimentary, saying that "intelligent political satire, this expertly acted, is nothing to sneeze at".

Sceen International, however, sounded a note of caution. While admitting it was likely to play well in the UK, it suggested it might be less appealing to American audiences. "US fans of The Office could rally for this one," it said, "although its exuberant, boundless cynicism will test the demand for political satire in an Obama-infatuated America."

This could be a breakthrough moment for 44-year-old Iannucci. He was one of the guiding lights of the BBC programmes, On the Hour and The Day Today, but while these shows catapulted Steve Coogan and Chris Morris to greater things, he has, until now, not achieved wider acknowledgement of his gifts.




'In the Loop' To Open Glasgow Festival
Jan. 22, 2009

This year’s Glasgow Film Festival has announced that In the Loop, by Glasgow born writer/director Armando Iannucci will be its opening gala.

"I am thrilled that we are able to open the fifth Glasgow Film Festival with In The Loop, " said GFF Co-Director Allison Gardner." The film couldn't be more timely and arrives fresh from its world premiere at Sundance."

Armando Iannucci and members of the cast will travel to Glasgow to attend the UK premiere of this big screen companion to Armando’s savagely funny satire The Thick Of It.

The film boasts an amazing cast that includes James Gandolfini, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee and Glasgow-born Oscar-winner Peter Capaldi reprising his iconic role as foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker.

Great Scottish talent is something the festival is putting an emphasis on this year by also featuring some of the best Scottish productions to date.

To name but a few, it will include screenings of Richard Jobson's new thriller New Town Killers, Mark Stirton's new wild comedy One Day Removals and Frank Lloyd’s classic The Divine Lady (1929), which he won a Best Director Oscar for.

It will also salute Mary Gordon, the Glasgow-born character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs Hudson in the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films and Glasgow-born actor Bill Paterson will attend the festival to help celebrate the silver anniversary  of Bill Forsyth's Comfort and Joy (1984).





New Look At Where the Wild Things Are
Jan. 19, 2009

Peter over at Slash Film has posted the first look at the creatures you’ll find in Spike Jonez’s Where the Wild Things Are. The images are featured on a limited edition skateboard series that Jonze’s company, Girl Skateboards Company, will be releasing.

Gandolfini Returns to Broadway
Jan. 12, 2009

THE SOPRANOS star JAMES GANDOLFINI is returning to Broadway in the hit show which won RALPH FIENNES critical acclaim on the London stage. The actor will take the stage in Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage, a four-character play about two clashing middle-class couples.  The London production starred Fiennes and Janet MCTeer. The performance follows Gandolfini's six-month stint in the 1992 Broadway production of On the Waterfront.  The New York show, which will also feature Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden, is scheduled to open on 22 March (09), with preview performances beginning on 28 February (09).





Memorial Service Held for Jett Travolta
Jan. 8, 2009

John Travolta and Kelly Preston's son, Jett, was memorialized Thursday at the family's Ocala, Fla., estate. About 100 relatives and close friends attended a private memorial service for the 16-year-old boy, who died suddenly last week after suffering a seizure. The Ocala Star-Banner reports that James Gandolfini, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, Forest Whitaker, Lisa Marie Presley and Kirstie Alley were in attendance.