Archive for the ‘Press’ Category

Happy Birthday to Michael Sheen

The 2012 Oscar nominations were announced today, and although there wasn’t any for Michael (obviously the panel didn’t see Beautiful Boy?), there were several for Midnight In Paris.

Best Director

Best Picture

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Congratulations to all involved!

The 84th Academy Awards take place on Sunday 26 February at the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood. They will be presented by actor and comedian Billy Crystal. At least we might get some nice pics if Michael attends the ceremony.

I know I only posted yesterday that illusionist and artist Derren Brown planned that the next portrait he was to paint would be that of Michael Sheen.

Well, it seems Derren is not only gifted, but quick too. He started posting some Work In Progress images almost immediately, with a few more today. I have added them to a folder in the Gallery.

You can view them by following the Gallery link below, or alternatively click on the thumbnail previews.

Miscellaneous >> Derren Brown portrait

Another year almost over dear friends, so I thought I would take this opportunity to look back at some of the highlights of 2011 before it is over.

January
	At the start of the year, Michael was seen on TV, first in Shooting The Hollywood Stars with British photographer, Rankin, where he portrayed the iconic film star, Charlie Chaplin; then later we saw Michael being honoured with a Best Actor award at the LA BAFTA Britannia Awards that had taken place back in November.
	The dates for Hamlet were announced, and false rumours were abound that Michael had been cast as Blofeld in the next 007 film.
	News broke that the forthcoming ‘Passion’ play would be made into a feature length film, as Michael arrived in his home town of Port Talbot to begin preparations with the community for the Passion.

February
Tickets went on sale this month for both Hamlet at the Young Vic, and also for National Theatre Wales’ Passion
.Michael Sheen received the James Joyce award from the  Literary and Historical Society of University College, Dublin, followed by a Q&A. He also made an appearance at Treat Trust’s gala dinner to raise much needed cash to fund a world-class health and rehabilitation centre in Wales.
National Theatre Wales launched a web community for NTW13 (the Passion Play) as a means to keep the public informed of the progress of the play and to encourage the community to get involved in the project.

March
	Beautiful Boy premiered at Dallas Film Festival to great critical acclaim. Michael continues to visit sections of the Port Talbot community, including the RNLI.
	The viral campaign for the Passion commenced with the launch of Port-Talbot.com, and news that a local Port Talbot man had gone missing. He was later seen in a video for Comic Relief along with other Welsh celebrities miming to a parady song called ‘Newport State of Mind’.
	The rumour that this site broke, of Michael Sheen gaining a voice over guest spot on the forthcoming series of Doctor Who was confirmed by the episode’s writer, Neil Gaiman.

April
Tron Legacy, the sequel to the classic Disney sci-fi film of a cyber world ran by a master program, was released on DVD and BluRay.Jesus Henry Christ premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and the official website launched.
The press surrounding the Passion reached fever pitch. Michael spent a few very busy days appearing on multiple TV and radio shows, including Fern, BBC Breakfast, This Morning, Radio 2 with Simon Mayo and a Q&A at The Laugharne Weekend.
Finally, during an uncommonly warm and sunny Easter weekend, the whole of Port Talbot became the backdrop for the Passion.Michael stayed in the character of ‘the teacher’ for the whole 72 hours of the performance, which featured 1000′s of local people, as well as Welsh rockers, the Manic Street Preachers.

May
	Midnight In Paris opened this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Michael and his co-stars do a lot of publicity through out the month as the film gets a limited release in the US.
	A portrait of Michael appeared at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual exhibition.Michael appears as the voice of the House in a Neil Gaiman penned episode of Doctor Who.
	Midnight In Paris continues to do well at the Box Office, to go on to be Woody Allen’s highest grossing movie.
	Michael Sheen delights Twilight fans when he reads out some fan fiction during an interview on VH1 Buzz.

June
Beautiful Boy gets limited US release and generated potential Oscar buzz throughout the media.
A BBC making of documentary called Passion of Port Talbot airs on BBC One. It followed Michael as he worked with the locals of his home town in the production of the Passion play.
A teaser trailer of Breaking Dawn was released, showing Michael as the character of Aro and a release date for Resistance was announced.

July
	Doctor Who series 6, which features the episode Michael appeared in as House, is released on BluRay and DVD.
	Michael Sheen takes a turn at DJing on BBC 6 Music, and got to spend an hour talking about, and playing, his favourite songs.
	Michael is snapped at the premiere of Deathly Hollows along with his daughter, and her mother, Kate Beckinsale.
	Behind the scenes images from a photoshoot by photographer Steve Carty. The photos were to be used as promotional images for Michael’s upcoming Hamlet production.

August
Beautiful Boy is released on DVD in Sweden before anywhere else.
Rose Theatre in Kingston On Thames announced that as part of their Time To Talk series, there would be holding a Q&A with Michael in the following January.
During a press interview promoting Midnight In Paris, Michael Sheen revealed that he would also be appearing in the untitled Terrence Malick project.
In a series of 4 episodes, Michael reads letters from renowned Kenneth Tynan, as part of a BBC Radio 4 program.

September
	The cast list for Hamlet at The Young Vic is released.
	Michael appeared on BBC Radio 2′s Breakfast show with DJ Chris Evans to start off his publicity for Hamlet.
	Due to an early high demand, more tickets for Hamlet went on sale.

October
Beautiful Boy is released on DVD in US. Midnight In Paris gets a UK and European release, as well as being able to pre-order on DVD in US.
A new poster is released for Resistance. An in depth interview with Michael appears in The Times and in The Guardian as part of his Hamlet promotion.
He also appeared on Jonathan Ross’s ITV show.
Michael Sheen and Bill Mitchell win Theatre Awards UK’s Best Director for the Passion.Previews of Hamlet open at The Young Vic

November
	After official press opening night, and Hamlet’s direction receives mixed reviews, but the feeling that Michael Sheen’s performance was nothing short of tortured brilliance was unanimous. The performances continue to rave reviews and sell out audiences.
	It is announced that Prince Charles will attend the premiere of Resistance, which receives a sadly limited release within the UK.
	Michael unveils a blue plaque from English Heritage on the late Richard Burton’s London Home.
	A new promo image of Michael Sheen as Aro for Breaking Dawn is released.

December
WhatsOnStage awards have Michael shortlisted twice for their 2012 awards. Once for Hamlet, and again for the Passion.
Michael makes an appearance on BBC Radio 4′s Great Livesseries to talk about author Philip K Dick.Hamlet continues to wow Hamlet audiences at The Young Vic, and continues to sell out.
Michael appeared alongside Joanna Lumley and Samuel West at an Index On Censorship held an event at the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park to highlight the plight of political prisoners in Belarus.

There are a few people who require a special thanks. One such group call themselves the Sheenian Sisters – @mariamuser @teamaro1 @nouarraa @Evangelinered @fulvia_malacart @gginsp @LucianaLycanus @Margarita_Q @NadyJdB @Redfoxi – thank you ladies for all your support in the twitterverse.

More twitter love to @Merlange @Lilyfreeman @magooglersriot, and @YVTeaBitch.

A really big thank you to my husband who supports me and who graciously, and without envy, accepts that he is not the only man in my life.

Finally, a massive thank you to my sista-from-another-mista @Caryn69. The most bodacious of babes, and a true and loyal friend.

Original Article – WalesOnline 18/11/11

As a writer, it must be nerve-racking to see your work turned into a film. But Owen Sheers tells Karen Price that adapting the script of his debut novel Resistance was the happiest time of his writing career

WHEN Owen Sheers met up with a friend of a friend in New York he could never have guessed it would lead to the royal premiere of his first film.

Director Amit Gupta was in the Big Apple for a film festival and contacted Sheers, who was living there at the time, after a mutual friend put them in touch.

Before Gupta left, Sheers handed him a copy of his debut novel, Resistance.

“I asked him if he thought it had potential as a film,” says the award-winning poet and writer. “He read it on the plane on the way home and said he wanted it to be his first feature.”

Gupta later contacted film producer Richard Holmes and gave him the book to read.

“Richard took it away with him on holiday to France,” Sheers continues. “And then one morning the owner of the gite gave him another copy of Resistance and said it should be turned into a film.”

It seems that fate was playing a part too and Sheers and Gupta were soon working on the film.

“We talked about the kind of film we wanted it to be – almost a European film, which it’s ended up being,” says Fiji-born Sheers, who grew up in Abergavenny, the destination for Monday’s royal premiere, more on which later.

Resistance is set in the isolated Olchon Valley in 1944. Sarah wakes one morning to find that her husband and all the other men in the village have mysteriously vanished and Nazis have occupied the area. As time goes by, she finds herself forging a close bond with one of the soldiers.

The film stars Andrea Riseborough as Sarah, Olivier Award-winner Iwan Rheon and Michael Sheen, who Sheers worked with on National Theatre Wales’ epic The Passion.

Sheers believes novelists have two choices when their work is being adapted for the big screen.

“You either hope it goes well and see it at the premiere or you get involved – and I wanted to get involved.

“From very early on I was able to forget about the novel really. This was much more about translating the story into a completely different engine. Screen writing has much more in common with poetry as both are condensed forms. You have to communicate an awful lot in an economic way. It’s primarily visual.

“I found it really liberating. I’ve always been a fan of bold adaptations that are still faithful to the book. That’s what you need to pull off really.”

Sheers and Gupta worked on the script together.

“It was one of the happiest times of my writing life,” admits Sheers, who was living in New York while adapting the script.

“I was in Soho and Amit was in Greenwich Village and we would meet up halfway every morning to talk about scenes we had written the day before and scenes we were about to write. We would then swap the scenes and edit them straight away. You end up with a shared voice and it’s a very quick way of working.”

He says there are notable differences between the book and film.

“Some threads of the narrative had to go while some have had the volume turned up on them. The film focuses more upon the central relationship. I really enjoyed writing entirely new scenes. There’s a speech which I think is at the core of what the film’s about and we’re incredibly lucky that it’s spoken by Michael Sheen who does a fantastic job. It’s not in the novel at all but absolutely central to the film.”

Resistance was shot around the Abergavenny area and Sheers is thrilled with the outcome.

“When I saw the finished film I couldn’t have asked for more.”

He’s now looking forward to two premieres this weekend – the UK premiere takes place in London on Sunday while the Welsh royal premiere, which will be attended by the Prince of Wales, will be in Abergavenny on Monday.

“I’m thrilled that the royal premiere is happening in Abergavenny,” says Sheers. “The town’s cinema closed when I was about 11 or 12 so when the new one opened it was fantastic for the town. When we started filming Resistance I really hoped there would be a royal premiere in Abergavenny – it’s a way to bring something back to the town.”

The Welsh royal premiere of Resistance takes place at the Baker Street Cinema, Abergavenny on Monday. For tickets call 01873 857839. The film is released on November 25

That is according to WhatCulture.com anyway.

Michael Sheen is a self-confessed Doctor Who fan. He even managed to get a part in an episode last season, as the voice of the House in a episode entitled ‘The Doctor’s Wife’, penned by Neil Gaiman.

David Yates, the director of the last four Harry Potter movies and the BBC have recently announced plans to bring the Doctor to the big screen. The movie will be a reboot of Britain’s most famous sci-fi franchise and will have no connection to the current TV incarnation. Now it seems that he is a popular choice in the fan community for the titular role.

Other choices in the article include Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock / Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy) and Richard Armitage (Spooks / Robin Hood).

What the article says about Michael:

Welsh stage and screen actor Michael Sheen has a huge repertoire of feature credits and would be a good choice for the American market given his popularity internationally. He’s got that kind of scruffy, “I’m thinking of how to solve the problems of the universe’ mad scientist look, which is perfect for the 1100-year-old Time Lord. After a millennia on the move, he’s bound to have a few bags under his eyes.

Sheen was largely a stage actor in the nineties, but began moving onto the screen in the early 2000’s. He landed a mixture of American and British film roles, including Lucian in the successful franchise Underworld and a role as Tony Blair in The Queen. His breakthrough-leading role came as journalist David Frost in the 2008 masterpiece Frost/Nixon, followed a year later by his turn as Leeds manager Brian Clough in The Damned United. He’s also appeared in an episode of Doctor Who already, providing the voice of House in The Doctor’s Wife, written by friend Neil Gaiman.

Of everyone on this list, Sheen has the experience and calibre in Hollywood to play a leading man and would be a safe bet for the studios. He’s no stranger to the big dollar productions either, appearing Twilight: New Moon and reprising his role in the upcoming Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and 2 and also appearing in the Underworld saga. Whilst all popular movies they also aren’t leading or iconic roles that would leave any baggage for him playing Who. Unfortunately, they aren’t likely to cast anyone over 40 for the time-travelling hero but Sheen is our number 1 pick.

You can read the full article HERE.

If Michael Sheen is overlooked for the film version, maybe Steve Moffat would consider him for the TV version, since current Doctor Who star Matt Smith confirmed he won’t be sticking with the role past the upcoming 2012/2013 season.