Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer or Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!
Sunday 30th November
- Mark Forster - Born 1969, turns 45 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Mandy Patinkin - Born 1952, turns 62 - Actor
- Ben Stiller - Born 1965, turns 49 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
- Ridley Scott - Born 1937, turns 77 - Director | Producer | Production Designer
- Terrence Malick - Born 1943, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer
- David Mamet - Born 1947, turns 67 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Gael Garcia Bernal - Born 1978, turns 36 - Actor | Producer | Director
Monday 1st December
- Woody Allen - Born 1935, turns 79 - Director | Producer | Actor | Writer
- Treat Williams - Born 1951, turns 63 - Actor
- Bette Midler - Born 1945, turns 69 - Actress | Producer
Tuesday 2nd December
- Lucy Liu - Born 1968, turns 46 - Actress | Producer | Director
- Britney Spears - Born 1981, turns 33 - Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Actress
Wednesday 3rd December
- Julianne Moore - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actress | Producer
- Daryl Hannah - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actress | Producer
- Amanda Seyfried - Born 1985, turns 29 - Actress | Producer
- Brendan Fraser - Born 1968, turns 46 - Actor | Producer
- Jean-Luc Godard - Born 1930, turns 84 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Editor | Cinematographer
Thursday 4th December
- Jeff Bridges - Born 1949, turns 65 - Actor | Producer | Singer
- Jay Z - Born 1969, turns 45 - Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Actor
- Marisa Tomei - Born 1964, turns 50 - Actress
- Tyra Banks - Born 1973, turns 41 - Actress | Producer | Writer
Friday 5th December
- Frankie Muniz - Born 1985, turns 29 - Actor | Producer
- Nick Stahl - Born 1979, turns 35 - Actor
Saturday 6th December
- Judd Apatow - Born 1967, turns 47 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
- Nick Park - Born 1958, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
Graduating in 1963 he had already made a short film, 'Boy and Bicycle' starring both brother Tony and father Francis, before joining the BBC in set design work. Attending a trainee Directors course while there his first Directing role was on an episode of the iconic BBC Police drama of the time 'Z-Cars'. In 1968 he and Tony founded Ridley Scott Associates - a film and television commercial company who amongst many others brought the iconic 1974 'Hovis' bread commercial to our TV screens.
His film Directorial debut came in 1977 in 'The Duellists' and is set in the Napoleonic Wars period and stars Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine - it won an award at the Cannes Film Festival for Best Film. Next up was 1979's iconic 'Alien' which made for just US$11M brought in US$105M globally and gave him international success both commercially and critically; it spawned three sequels; a spin off series with 'Predator'; the recent prequel (of sorts), 'Prometheus' also Directed by Scott in 2012; and made a cinematic icon of Sigourney Weaver in the role of Ellen Ripley. Sticking with the Sci-Fi theme Scott gave us 'Blade Runner' as his next offering in 1982 with Harrison Ford based on the Philip K. Dick novel; 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'. Costing US$28M to make and grossing just US$33M it was not a commercial success, but time has been very kind to this outstanding film, and it now regarded a classic and the touchstone of the genre.
With all the hoo-haa surrounding 1984 and the Orwellian angst propagated at the time, Scott Directed a US$900K television commercial for the new Apple Macintosh computer which aired during the SuperBowl of that year. That advertisement was seen too as the cornerstone and a masterpiece of modern televised advertising. As the 80's played out Scott Directed 'Legend' in 1985 with Tom Cruise and Tim Curry; 'Someone to Watch Over Me' with Tom Berenger and Mimi Rogers in 1987; and 'Black Rain' with Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia in 1989.
The 90's brought 'Thelma & Louise' in 1991 with Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon and a young Brad Pitt and was a critical and commercial success, unlike the Christopher Columbus Americas discovery telling '1492' in 1992, which cost US$47M to make and grossed just over US$7M. 'White Squall' followed with Jeff Bridges and then 'G.I.Jane' with Demi Moore and Viggo Mortensen.
As the new century clicked over, so came 'Gladiator' with Russell Crowe giving Scott one of his biggest critical and commercial successes with a worldwide gross of US$458M off a US$103M budget, and five Academy Awards including Best Film and Best Actor for Crowe. In the wake of this came 'Hannibal' in 2001 - the follow up to 'Silence of the Lambs', and then 'Black Hawk Down' later that same year with Eric Bana amongst a big name cast.
From here came more modest success with 'Matchstick Men', 'Kingdom of Heaven' and 'A Good Year' before 'American Gangster' with Russell Crowe again and Denzel Washington in 2007 bringing critical and commercial acclaim once more. 'Body of Lies' featured next with Leonardo DiCaprio and acting stablemate Russell Crowe, and then a retelling of the much told 'Robin Hood' with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett making US$322M off a US$155M budget. In 2012 Scott returned to Sci-Fi for the first time in almost 30 years with a 'Alien' origin story with 'Prometheus' starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender which again gave him critical success and a box office haul of $403M from a production cost of US$120M. 2013 saw 'The Counsellor', a relatively low budget offering at just US$25M but with an all start cast taking in Diaz, Bardem, Pitt, Fassbender and Cruz and based on a Cormac McCarthy story, it made a return of US$71M.
Being a very busy man, even at 77 this week, Scott has 97 Producer credits to his name, 34 as Director, and ten as Production Designer. Directorially, he has 'Exodus : Gods & Kings' about to hit our cinemas and starring Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley and Sigourney Weaver; and 'The Martian' is currently filming with Matt Damon, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, Kristin Wiig and Jessica Chastain and is due for release in 2015; and a TV mini-series 'The Hot Zone' has been announced. As Producer, 'Prometheus 2' is in pre-production for 2016, with a 'Blade Runner' sequel, 'Potsdamer Platz', 'Emma's War' and 'David' all announced for future release.
He was married to Felicity Heywood from 1964 to 1975 and to Sandy Watson from 1979 to 1989 with whom he has three children between the two marriages - Jake (born 1965), Luke (born 1968) and Jordan (born 1978) - all of them work in the film & TV business either behind or in front of the camera. His current partner is actress Giamina Facio whom Scott has cast in the majority of his films since 2000. In 1995 he and brother Tony purchased London's Shepparton Studios which subsequently merged with Pinewood Studios and set about upgrading and expanding the facilities and studios into the renowned production centre it is today.
Ridley Scott - still going strong after all these years; diverse film and television portfolio; highly regarded as the Actors Director; maker of several classic movies; and a keen eye for detail and stunning visuals of the past and the future, we continue to eagerly await your next offering! Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
No comments:
Post a Comment
Odeon Online - please let me know your thoughts?