Showing posts with label 28 Weeks Later. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 28 Weeks Later. Show all posts

Saturday, 31 December 2016

Birthday's to share this week : 1st - 7th January 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Jeremy Renner does on 7th January - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 46, at the end of this feature.

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, 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 1st January
  • Frank Langella - Born 1938, turns 79 - Actor
  • Verne Troyer - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor  
Monday 2nd January
  • Todd Haynes - Born 1961, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
  • Cuba Gooding Jnr. - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
  • Tia Carrere - Born 1967, turns 50 - Actress | Producer 
  • Paz Vega - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actress  
  • Kate Bosworth - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actress 
Tuesday 3rd January
  • Victoria Principal - Born 1950, turns 67 - Actress | Producer
  • Mel Gibson - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer  
Wednesday 4th January
  • Julian Sands - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actor 
  • Dyan Cannon - Born 1937, turns 80 - Actress | Writer | Director
  • Julia Ormond - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actress    
Thursday 5th January
  • Diane Keaton - Born 1946, turns 71 - Actress | Producer | Director
  • Robert Duvall - Born 1931, turns 85 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
  • Hayao Miyazaki - Born 1941, turns 75 - Animator | Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
  • Roger Spottiswoode - Born 1945, turns 72 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
  • Clancy Brown - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
  • Vinnie Jones - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor
  • Bradley Cooper - Born  1975, turns 42 - Actor | Producer | Director
Friday 6th January
  • Rowan Atkinson - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actor | Writer 
  • Norman Reedus - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Writer | Director
  • Eddie Redmayne - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actor  
  • Sylvia Syms - Born 1934, turns 82 - Actress
  • Kate McKinnon - Born 1984, turns 33 - Actress | Writer
Saturday 7th January
  • Linda Kozlowski - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actress  
  • David Caruso - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor | Producer
  • Nicolas Cage - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actor | Producer
  • Irrfan Khan - Born 1967, turns 50 - Actor | Producer | Director
  • Jeremy Renner - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter
Jeremy Lee Renner was born in Modesto, California, USA to mother Valerie Tague and father Lee Renner who managed the the local bowling alley in Modesto during the 1980's. His parents were married as teenagers and divorced when the young Jeremy was just ten years of age. He attended the Fred C. Beyer High School in Modesto and then Modesto Junior College where he studies criminology, computer science and psychology before being drawn to acting through an elective. Bitten by the acting bug, he decided to relocate himself to San Francisco to study at the American Conservatory Theatre, then moving to Hawaii and then onto Los Angeles in 1993. 

Upon his arrival in L.A. Renner dedicated much of his time to theatre productions with the highlight coming in 'Search and Destroy' which he starred in and Co-Directed to critical acclaim. In 1995 he secured his first big screen break in 'National Lampoon's Senior Trip'. From here he secured single episode appearances on televisions series 'Deadly Games', 'Strange Luck', 'To Have & to Hold', 'The Net', 'Time of Your Life' and 'Angel'. In the meantime there were a number of made for television films and features that included 'Paper Dragons' and 'A Friend's Betrayal' all seeing out the '90's.

In 2002 he secured his first starring role in 'Dahmer' playing serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer - a complex role for which he was highly acclaimed. This in turn led to 'S.W.A.T.' with Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson - his first commercially successful action film. This led to 'The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things', then 'A Little Trip to Heaven' with Forest Whitaker, 'North Country' with Charlize Theron, '12 and Holding', 'Neo Ned', an uncredited turn in 'Lords of Dogtown' and 'Love Comes to the Executioner'.

2007 saw 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' with Brad Pitt, then the British zombie horror sequel offering'28 Weeks Later' with Robert Carlyle, then 'Take' with Minnie Driver before Kathryn Bigelow's highly acclaimed and six times Academy Award winning 'The Hurt Locker' in which Renner was nominated for Best Actor in a Lead Role for his performance as maverick bomb disposal expert Staff Sergeant William James. The film picked up 120 award wins and another 121 nominations around the circuit including the Oscar for Best Film and Best Director. 

'Ingenious' came next with another critically acclaimed turn in the Ben Affleck Directed, Co-Written and starring crime drama 'The Town'. Renner was again nominated for an Academy Award for his role as James Coughlin in the Best Supporting Actor category. The film picked up nine award wins and a further 45 nominations in all.

The following years saw Renner embark on a series of hugely successful franchise offerings that started off with his uncredited role and first appearance as Clint Barton/Hawkeye in 2011's Avengers offering of 'Thor'. He would reprise his role in 2012's 'The Avengers', 2015's 'Avengers : Age of Ultron', 2016's 'Captain America : Civil War', the currently filming and due in 2018 'Avengers : Infinity War' and the recently announced 'Ant Man and the Wasp' also due in 2018.

The next franchise saw Renner star as intelligence analyst William Brandt opposite Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in the fourth instalment in the ever popular and successful 'Mission : Impossible' series of films with 2011's 'Ghost Protocol'. Again, he reprised his role in 2015's 'Rogue Nation' and is set to do so in 'M:I 6 - Mission Impossible' currently in pre-production for a 2018 release. Finally, Renner starred in a spin off of the acclaimed fast paced action Jason Bourne franchise but without Matt Damon. Renner played Alex Cross in 'The Bourne Legacy' for Director and Writer Tony Gilroy - a role he is set to reprise again in a recently announced Bourne sequel that may or may not see him playing alongside Matt Damon.

In between 'The Avengers', 'Mission:Impossible' and 'Bourne' franchise films he starred in a modern take on the German folklore fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel, in the fantasy action comedy outing of 'Hansel & Gretel : Witch Hunters' in which Renner starred as Hansel alongside Gemma Arterton's Gretel - siblings who now grown up work as a pair of witch exterminators for hire. The film made US$226M off its US$50M budget outlay. This was followed up by the James Gray Directed period piece 'The Immigrant' with Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix which was nominated for the Palme D'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Next up was the David O. Russell Directed criminal comedy drama film 'American Hustle' in 2013 which was nominated for ten Academy Awards, won  a total of 66 awards and was nominated a further 202 times. With an ensemble cast including Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams and Michael Pena the film was a commercial success too bringing home US$252M at the Global Box Office from its US$40M budget.




2014 brought the true story of investigative journalist Gary Webb in 'Kill the Messenger' which saw Renner starring as Gary Webb and also taking his first Producer credit. With an all star cast that included Ray Liota, Oliver Platt, Michael Sheen, Andy Garcia, Barry Pepper, Robert Patrick, Rosemarie DeWitt and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the film was well received critically, albeit it failed to make back its budget outlay.

'Avengers : Age of Ultron', 'Mission:Impossible - Rogue Nation' and 'Captain America : Civil War' as mentioned previously bring us up to his most recent release at the end of 2016, 'Arrival' for Director Denis Villeneuve and starring Amy Adams, and Forest Whitaker. The film has so far made US$145M off its US$47M budget cost and has already picked up eighteen award wins and 111 nominations.





Next up for Renner is 'Avengers : Infinity War' due in 2018 and currently filming, the animated 'Arctic Justice : Thunder Squad' also due in 2018 to which Renner is lending his voice talents together with James Franco, Alec Baldwin, John Cleese, Michael Madsen, Omar Sy, Anjelica Huston and Heidi Klum. 'M:I 6 - Mission Impossible' is in pre-production for later in 2018, recently announced are a Bourne sequel and Marvel's 'Ant Man and the Wasp', with 'Wind River' in post-production for an early 2017 release and starring also Martin Sensmeier, Jon Bernthal, and Elizabeth Olson.

All up Renner has 54 Acting credits to his name so far, and four as Producer. He has two Academy Award nominations for his performances in 'The Town' and 'The Hurt Locker', one Golden Globe nomination for 'The Town' and one BAFTA nomination for 'The Hurt Locker'. So far he has garnered thirty award wins and a further 51 nominations along the way. As well as an active career as an Actor in demand, he is a singer/songwriter, guitarist, drummer and keyboard player, and has written and preformed songs for a number of films he has appeared in. Renner married Canadian model Sonni Pacheco in January 2014 and within a year she had filed for divorce. They have a daughter together, Ava Berlin, born in 2013.

Jeremy Renner - runs a house renovating business in his spare time restoring rundown iconic Hollywood homes; is a UN Goodwill Peace Ambassador helping raise awareness of mine-clearing efforts in Afghanistan; has studied both Filipino and Thai martial arts; often plays intense, emotional character driven roles, frequently tinged with violence or unstable traits; is a bona fide action star having played such recurring roles in three major film franchises to date; put also plays flawed, often complicated grounded roles that bring him acclaim critically to match his commercial success from the blockbusters he is perhaps better known for. Very watchable and keeping it real in front of the camera and away from it - Happy Birthday to you Jeremy, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Saturday, 23 July 2016

Birthday's to share this week : 24th - 30th July 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Rose Byrne does on 24th July - check out my tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 37, at the end of this feature.

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, 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 24th July
  • Jennifer Lopez - Born 1969, turns 47 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress | Producer
  • Rose Byrne - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actress
  • Anna Paquin - Born 1982, turns 34 - Actress | Producer
  • Lynda Carter - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actress | Singer
  • Gus Van Sant - Born 1952, turns 64 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
  • Doug Liman - Born 1965, turns 51 - Director | Producer | Writer | Cinematographer  
Monday 25th July
  • Matt LeBlanc - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actor | Producer | Singer
  • D.B.Woodside - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor  
Tuesday 26th July
  • Kevin Spacey - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer
  • Jeremy Piven - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actor | Producer
  • Jason Statham - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
  • Helen Mirren - Born 1945, turns 71 - Actress | Director
  • Sandra Bullock - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actress | Producer | Singer
  • Olivia Williams - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actress
  • Kate Beckinsale - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actress  
Wednesday 27th July
  • Julian McMahon - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor | Producer
  • Jonathan Rhys Meyers - Born 1977, turns 39 - Actor | Producer  
Thursday 28th July
  • Randall Wallace - Born 1949, turns 67 - Writer | Director | Producer  
Friday 29th July
  • Stephen Dorff - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actor | Producer
  • David Warner - Born 1941, turns 75 - Actor  
Saturday 30th July
  • Peter Bogdanovich - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger - Born 1947, turns 69 - Actor | Producer
  • Jean Reno - Born 1948, turns 68 - Actor
  • Frank Stallone - Born 1950, turns 66 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter
  • Richard Linklater - Born 1960, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
  • Laurence Fishburn - Born 1961, turns 55 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
  • Terry Crews - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor
  • Simon Baker - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
  • Christopher Nolan - Born 1970, turns 46 - Director | Producer | Writer | Cinematographer
  • Lisa Kudrow - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer
  • Vivica A. Fox - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actress | Producer
  •  Hilary Swank - Born 1974, turns 42 - Actress | Producer | Singer
Mary Rose Byrne was born in the Sydney suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, Australia to mother Jane - a primary school administrator and father Robin, a semi-retired market researcher and statistician. She is the youngest of four - with an older brother George (born in 1976), and two sisters, Alice (born in 1973) and Lucy (born in 1972). She attended Balmain Public School, and then Hunters Hill High School - a public co-educational secondary day school. From the age of eight she took a keen interest in acting and joined the Sydney based Australian Theatre for Young People (whose noted alumni include Nicole Kidman, Toni Collette, Rebel Wilson and Baz Luhrmann), and from there the University of Sydney. In 1999, she studied acting at the Atlantic Theatre Company in Manhattan founded in 1985 by David Mamet and William H. Macy.

Her first film role came at just thirteen years of age, cast in the Australian film 'Dallas Doll' with Sandra Bernhard and released in 1994. Over the next few years she appeared in single episodes of several Australian television drama series including 'Echo Point', 'Fallen Angels', 'Wildside', 'Big Sky' and 'Heartbreak High'. Her next big screen role came with Gregor Jordan's 'Two Hands' in 1999 with a young Heath Ledger and Bryan Brown and Susie Porter.

From here the new decade launched with the award winning comedy drama 'My Mother Frank' with Sam Neill, and 'The Goddess of 1967' which won Byrne a Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival for her role as BG - a blind girl on an outback Aussie road trip with a Japanese IT worker and occasional computer hacker. Next up was here role as Dorme - a handmaiden to senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) in 'Star Wars : Episode II - Attack of the Clones' in 2002. After this came 'City of Ghosts' with Matt Dillon who also wrote and Directed, 'I Capture the Castle' with Bill Nighy, 'The Night We Called it a Day' with Dennis Hopper, 'The Rage in Placid Lake' with Ben Lee, 'Take Away' with Vince Colosimo, and the Wolfgang Petersen Trojan War epic 'Troy' with Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom.

In 2006 Byrne was cast by Sofia Coppola in the historical drama 'Marie Antoinette' with Kirsten Dunst and then 'Sunshine' for Danny Boyle, and post apocalyptic zombie horror '28 Weeks Later' with Jeremy Renner, Idris Elba and Robert Carlyle. 'Just Buried' with Jay Baruchel, 'The Tender Hook' with Hugo Weaving', 'Knowing' with Nicolas Cage, and 'Adam' with Hugh Dancy saw out the decade. In the meantime there were further television series appearances on 'Murder Call', 'Casanova', and the full five seasons over 59 episodes on US legal thriller series 'Damages' with Glenn Close which ran from 2007 until 2012.

2010 saw 'Get Him to The Greek' with Russell Brand, followed by the James Wan supernatural horror 'Insidious', as Renai Lembert - a role she would reprise in 2013 in 'Insidious : Chapter 2'. The first film returned US$97M from its US$1.5M budget outlay, and the second US$162M from US$5M. Byrne did not return for the prequel released in 2015. Turning from horror to comedy , next up was Paul Feig's 'Bridesmaids' in 2011 with Kristen Wiig, Rebel Wilson, and Melissa McCarthy before her first outing as geneticist Moira MacTaggert in 'X-Men : First Class', and again in this years 'X-Men : Apocalypse'.

'The Place Beyond the Pines' with Ryan Gosling came next in 2012 and the British comedy 'I Give It a Year' with Rafe Spall, and then 'The Internship' with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. 2014 kicked off with 'Bad Neighbours' starring alongside Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, and her role as Kelly Radner she would reprise in 'Bad Neighbours 2 : Sorority Rising' earlier this year. Also that year was 'Adult Beginners', 'This Is Where I Leave You', the third cinematic offering of 'Annie' and documentary 'Unity' in which Byrne is one of one hundred Actors providing the narrative exploring humanity's transformation shown across five segments - 'Cosmic', 'Mind', 'Body, 'Heart' and 'Soul'.

'Spy' came next with Melissa McCarthy again, and then 'The Meddler' opposite Susan Sarandon earlier this year. Next up is the made for television movie 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' and 'Home Again' both in pre-production, and 'Larrikins' due in 2018 and currently filming, to which Byrne brings her voice talents together with this of Margot Robbie, Naomi Watts, Jacki Weaver, Hugh Jackman and Ben Mendelsohn in this Australian animated feature Co-Directed by Tim Minchin.

All up Byrne has 56 acting credits, and she has so far accumulated twelve award wins and another 24 nominations. She was the face of Max Factor from 2004 until 2009, became the face of Australia's Oroton in 2014, has made numerous 'Most Beautiful People' lists over the years, is a supporter of UNICEF Australia and is an ambassador of Sydney's NIDA Young Actors Studio. She was in a six year relationship with Brendan Cowell that ended in early 2010, and in 2012 she began dating Bobby Cannavale with whom she has a child Rocco Robin born in February this year.

Rose Byrne - highly valued, much in demand and widely sought after; able to turn it on for drama, comedy, horror, Sci-Fi, period piece and thrillers and definitely not one to be pigeon holed or type cast; regards Australia as her emotional home, New York her second home but also owns a place in London with her sister; and despite failing at an 1988 audition for 'Home and Away' has done pretty well for herself. Good on ya Rose, and Happy Birthday to you - from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online- 

Saturday, 21 May 2016

Birthday's to share this week : 22nd-28th May 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Alex Garland does on 26th May - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 46, at the end of this feature.

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, 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 22nd May
  •  Maggie Q - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actress | Producer 
  •  Ann Cusack - Born 1961, turns 55 - Actress 
Monday 23rd May 
  • Melissa McBride - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actress   
  • Joan Collins - Born 1933, turns 83 - Actress | Producer
  • Drew Carey - Born 1958, turns 58 - Television Personality | Actor | Writer | Producer  
  • John Ortiz - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor | Producer
  • Ryan Coogler - Born 1986, turns 30 - Writer | Director
  • Tom Tykwer - Born 1965, turns 51 - Writer | Producer | Director | Composer | Singer | Songwriter
Tuesday 24th May
  • John C. Reilly - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer | Songwriter  
  • Jim Broadbent - Born 1949, turns 67 - Actor | Writer
  • Alfred Molina - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Producer
  • Gary Burghoff - Born 1943, turns 73 - Actor | Director
  • Roger Deakins - Born 1949, turns 67 - Cinematographer | Cameraman
  • Kristen Scott Thomas - Born 1960, turns 56 - Actress  
Wednesday 25th May
  • Octavia Spencer - Born 1970, turns 46 - Actress | Producer  
  • Jacki Weaver - Born 1947, turns 69 - Actress
  • Frank Oz - Born 1944, turns 72 - Actor | Producer | Director | Singer
  • Mike Myers - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter
  • Ian McKellen - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor | Producer | Writer
  • Cillian Murphy - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actor  
Thursday 26th May
  • Alex Garland - Born 1970, turns 46 - Writer | Producer | Director 
  • Pam Grier - Born 1949, turns 67 - Actress
  • Helena Bonham Carter - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actress | Singer  
Friday 27th May
  • Paul Bettany - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
  • Joseph Fiennes - Born 1970, turns 46 - Actor
  • Louis Gossett Jnr. - Born 1936, turns 80 - Actor | Producer | Director  
Saturday 28th May
  • Irwin Winkler - Born 1931, turns 85 - Producer | Director | Writer  
  • Kylie Minogue - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer
  • Sondra Locke - Born 1944, turns 72 - Actress | Director
  • Carey Mulligan - Born 1985, turns 31 - Actress 
Alexander Medawar Garland was born in London, England to mother Caroline Medawar, a psychoanalyst and father Nicholas Garland - a political cartoonist who drew for the likes of The Daily Telegraph and The Independent newspapers. Early on he had designs on becoming a journalist having grown up around the industry given his fathers career interests. He attended the University of Manchester and graduated in 1992 with a BA degree in History of Art.

In the early 90's whilst working dead-end jobs and claiming unemployment benefit the young Garland penned his first novel - 'The Beach' - published in 1996. It went on to become a best seller - based on a young backpackers journey through Thailand in search of an idyllic, unspoilt and legendary beach occupied only by a small community of loving, sharing, caring international backpackers. In 2000 the successful book was made into a successful film Directed by Danny Boyle and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton and Robert Carlyle. The film made US$144M off its US$50M budget.



In 1999, his follow up novel 'The Tesseract' told the story of interwoven lives of gangsters, mothers and street kids set in Manilla. Not as successful as his former novel, it was nonetheless made into a film in 2003 with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Saskia Reeves.









In 2002 he wrote the screenplay for '28 Days Later' - a post apocalyptic horror thriller that is largely credited for reinvigorating the zombie genre. Directed by Danny Boyle for just US$8M it returned US$83M and was hailed a critical and commercial success. The film starred Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Christopher Ecclestone and Naomi Harris. Garland served as Executive Producer on the 2007 follow-up '28 Weeks Later' with Robert Carlyle, Jeremy Renner, Idris Elba, Imogen Poots and Rose Byrne.

Next up, Garland wrote the screenplay for 'Sunshine' - his third collaboration with Director Danny Boyle in this Sci-Fi thriller starring Cillian Murphy again, and Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Mark Strong and Michelle Yeoh. The film receive mixed reviews and failed to make back its US$40M budget costs.










He followed this up with his next screenplay for 'Never Let Me Go' based on the Kazuo Ishiguro novel as Directed by Mark Romanek with Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Charlotte Rampling and Andrew Garfield.  This dystopian alternate time romantic drama was critically well received but less so commercially, also failing to recover its US$15M outlay. Garland acted as Executive Producer on this film too.

'Dredd' was next in 2012 which Garland wrote the Screenplay for and Produced based on the popular Sci-Fi Action comic strip 'Judge Dredd'. Directed by Pete Travis it starred Karl Urban in the title role and just about recovered its budget costs. Garland also Executive Produced 'Big Game' in 2014 with Samuel L. Jackson, Victor Garber and Jim Broadbent in this action throwback to the films of the same ilk from the 80's and 90's. It made just US$7.5M but received generally positive reviews off its limited cinema release.



In 2015 Garland made his Directing debut with 'Ex Machina' which he also wrote. This artificial intelligence thriller starred Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac, won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and gained Garland an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and all up another 59 award wins and 131 nominations. This film made a modest US$37M off its US$15M budget.

Next up Garland is Directing 'Annihilation' for which he has also written the Screenplay based on the award winning book of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer. Filming was due to start this month on this Science Fiction story which is the first in the 'Southern Reach' trilogy, for a 2017 release and stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar Isaac and David Gyasi. 'Halo' has also been announced based on the hugely popular Military Science Fiction video game for which he wrote a screenplay back in 2005 and was paid US$1M to do so, but was subsequently shelved, but seems to be firmly back on the Production table.

Garland has eleven writing credits to his name, four Producer credits and two Director credits. He has seventeen awards wins under his belt and another 47 nominations. He is married to British Actress Paloma Baeza with whom he has two children - Eva and Milo.

Alex Garland - heavily influenced by science and science-fiction; a writer of compelling stories and now a Director of them too; has proven so much with relatively little; and gives us great reasons to go to the movies - Happy Birthday to you Alex, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-