Showing posts with label This Is The End. Show all posts
Showing posts with label This Is The End. Show all posts

Saturday, 17 December 2016

Birthday's to share this week : 18th-24th December 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Jonah Hill does on 20th December - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 33, 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 18th December
  • Katie Holmes - Born 1978, turns 38 - Actress | Producer | Singer | Director
  • Rachel Griffiths - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actress | Writer | Director | Producer
  • Keith Richards - Born 1943, turns 73 - Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Actor
  • Steven Spielberg - Born 1946, turns 70 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
  • Ray Liotta - Born 1954, turns 62 - Actor | Producer
  • Brad Pitt - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actor | Producer
  • Steve Austin - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actor | Producer
  • Robson Green - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Television Personality
  • Casper Van Dien - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
Monday 19th December
  • Jake Gyllenhaal - Born 1980, turns 36 - Actor | Producer
  • Jennifer Beals - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actress | Producer 
Tuesday 20th December
  • Jenny Agutter - Born 1952, turns 64 - Actress
  • Jonah Hill - Born 1983, turns 33 - Actor | Producer | Writer
  • Todd Phillips - Born 1970, turns 46 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
  • Eduardo Sanchez - Born 1968, turns 48 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor  
Wednesday 21st December
  • Samuel L. Jackson - Born 1948, turns 68 - Actor | Producer
  • Jeffrey Katzenberg - Born 1950, turns 66 - Producer | Writer
  • Ray Romano - Born 1957, turns 59 - Actor | Producer | Writer
  • Keifer Sutherland - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor | Producer | Director
  • Steven Yuen - Born 1983, turns 33 - Actor  
  • Jane Fonda - Born 1937, turns 79 - Actress | Producer
  • Julie Delpy - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actress | Writer | Director | Producer | Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Editor 
Thursday 22nd December
  • Vanessa Paradis - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actress | Singer
  • Ralph Fiennes - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actor | Director | Producer 
  • Hector Elizondo - Born 1936, turns 80 - Actor | Producer
Friday 23rd December
  • Nick Moran - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
  • Estella Warren - Born 1978, turns 38 - Actress
Saturday 24th December 
  • Ryan Seacrest - Born 1974, turns 42 - Producer | Writer | Actor | Television Personality
Jonah Hill Feldstein was born in Los Angeles, California, to mother Sharon Lyn Chalkin, a costume designer and fashion stylist, and father Richard Feldstein a tour accountant for rock band, Guns N' Roses. He grew up in the affluent neighbourhood of Cheviot Hills and attended The Centre for Early Education, then the Brentwood School and thereafter the Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica. Following high school he attended Bard College - a private liberal arts college in New York, then The New School in New York City and then the University of Colorado Boulder. He has a sister Beanie Feldstein, an actress, and a brother Jordan Feldstein who manages singer/songwriter Robin Thicke and pop/rock band Maroon 5.

Whilst at College, Hill started writing his own plays and performing in them too, gaining quite a following in his New York East Village neighbourhood. He was in turn befriended by Rebecca and Jake Hoffman (the children of Dustin Hoffman) who introduced the young Hill to their Dad. Dustin Hoffman persuaded Hill to audition for a part in 'I Heart Huckabees' in which Hoffman was starring, and he secured a small role in what was to be his screen debut. That was in 2004. After this he gained brief roles in Judd Apatow's Directing debut, 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin' and 'Grandma's Boy', before a more substantial role in Apatow's 'Knocked Up' with Seth Rogen. By now it was 2007 and in between time there had also been appearances in 'Click' with Adam Sandler, 'Accepted' with Justin Long, 'Evan Almighty' with Steve Carell, and '10 Items or Less' with Morgan Freeman and seven episodes on comedy television series 'Campus Ladies'. These all lead to his first lead role in the Judd Apatow Produced 'Superbad' alongside Michael Cera, Seth Rogen and Bill Hader. The film returned US$170M from its US$20M outlay and was critically praised too.

'Walk Hard : The Dewey Cox Story' followed with an uncredited role, then 'Strange Wilderness', 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', 'Just Add Water', an uncredited appearance in 'Night at the Museum : Battle of the Smithsonian' before another outing for Judd Apatow with Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler in 'Funny People', with 'The Invention of Lying' Written, Directed and Starring Ricky Gervais. In the meantime there had been television appearances on 'Wainy Days', 'Reno 911!', and 'The Simpsons' before the decade closed out.



2010 saw 'Cyrus' for Jay and Mark Duplass, 'Get Him to the Greek' with Russell Brand, and 'Moneyball' with Brad Pitt and Philip Seymour Hoffman which garnered Hill Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations for his Supporting Role as Peter Brand in this tale of the Oakland A's baseball team. This was followed up with 'The Sitter'.


Next up was a big screen rendition of the successful 1987 television series '21 Jump Street', released in 2012. Co-Written by Hill and also starring him as one of the two lead roles opposite Channing Tatum, the film made US$222M off its US$42M budget outlay, making a sequel inevitable. That sequel came in the form of '22 Jump Street' again Co-Written and Starring Hill as Morton Schmidt once again opposite Channing Tatum's Greg Jenko. The second film in the series made US$332M off its US$50M budget. A third cross-over film is in the works mashing up 'Jump Street' with 'Men In Black' in what is so far known as 'MIB 23' in which Hill will seemingly reprise his role once more as Schmidt.

In between time there was 'The Watch' with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn, a small role in QT's 'Django Unchained', 'This is the End' with Seth Rogen and James Franco and then his Academy Award nominated turn in the highly acclaimed and commercially successful Jordan Belfort Bio-Pioc 'The Wolf of Wall Street' opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, and for Director Martin Scorsese. 'True Story' followed in 2015 with James Franco again.

This brings us up to this year which has seen 'Hail, Caesar' for Joel and Ethan Coen with an all star cast including George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Ralph Fiennes, Channing Tatum, Tilda Swinton and Scarlett Johansson, and then the Todd Phillips Co-Written and Directed 'War Dogs' with Miles Teller and Bradley Cooper, with Hill starring as real life US Army contract arms dealer Efraim Diveroli.

Over the years too Hill has lent his voice talents to several film characters including on 'Horton Hears a Who!' in 2008, 'How to Train Your Dragon' as Snotlout in 2010 and again in 'HTTYD 2' in 2014, 'Megamind' as Tighten, in 2010, 'The Lego Movie' as Green Lantern in 2014 and in this years 'Sausage Party' as Carl. He will reprise his Snotlout voice work in 'How to Train Your Dragon 3' due in 2019 and currently in pre-production.

All up Hill has 52 Acting credits to his name, eight as Producer, and six as Writer. He has garnered two Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and one BAFTA nomination together with 53 other award nods and five wins so far. He made a concerted effort to lose weight to secure better roles and subsequently did, in more serious roles gaining acclaim along the way. He took the role in 'The Wolf of Wall Street' for nothing, just to have the opportunity to work with Martin Scorsese - his 'favourite filmmaker of all time', and he would do it again in a second!

Jonah Hill - Screenwriter, Comedian, Actor, Producer; as equally committed to piling on the weight as to getting it off for his roles; plays is funny, plays it serious; and has become more watchable as his talent has matured and his star has risen - Happy Birthday to you Jonah, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online- 

Saturday, 9 April 2016

Birthday's to share this week : 10th-16th April 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Emma Watson does on 15th April - check out my tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 26, 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 10th April
  • Daisy Ridley - Born 1992, turns 24 - Actress | Producer
  • Haley Joel Osment - Born 1988, turns 28 - Actor | Producer
  • Barkhad Abdi - Born 1985, turns 31 - Actor
  • Charlie Hunnam  - Born 1980, turns 36 - Actor
  • Steven Seagal - Born 1952, turns 64 - Actor | Producer | Writer
  • Max von Sydow - Born 1929, turns 87 - Actor | Director  
Monday 11th April
  • John Milius - Born 1944, turns 72 - Writer | Producer | Director
Tuesday 12th April
  • Hardy Kruger - Born 1928, turns 88 - Actor
  • Andy Garcia - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
  • Claire Danes - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actress | Producer
  • Saoirse Ronan - Born 1994, turns 22 - Actress
Wednesday 13th April
  • Ron Perlman - Born 1950, turns 66 - Actor | Producer
  • William Sadler - Born 1950, turns 66 - Actor
  • Peter Davison - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actor
  • Paul Sorvino - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor | Producer | Director
  • Edward Fox - Born 1937, turns 79 - Actor
Thursday 14th April
  • Peter Capaldi - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actor | Writer | Director
  • Robert Carlyle - Born 1961, turns 55 - Actor | Director
  • Adrien Brody - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actor | Producer | Director
  • Julie Christie - Born 1941, turns 75 - Actress
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar - Born 1977, turns 39 - Actress | Producer
  • Abigail Breslin - Born 1996, turns 20 - Actress
Friday 15th April
  • Emma Watson - Born 1990, turns 26 - Actress
  • Emma Thompson - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actress | Writer | Producer
  • Claudia Cardinale - Born 1938, turns 78 - Actress
  • Luke Evans - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actor
  • Seth Rogen - Born 1982, turns 34 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
Saturday 16th April
  • Martin Lawrence - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
  • Ellen Barkin - Born 1954, turns 62 - Actress | Producer
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born in Paris, France to mother Jacqueline Luesby and father Chris Watson - both lawyers. Until the age of five, the young Watson lived in Paris when her mother and father separated, at which point she moved to Oxfordshire, England to live with her mother, whilst spending weekends with her father in London. She attended the Dragon School in Oxford remaining there until 2003. From a very young age she had aspirations to become an Actress, and trained as a consequence at the Stagecoach Theatre in Oxford where she also took in singing and dancing. After leaving the Dragon School, she attended the girls independent Headington School, also in Oxford.

Following an exhaustive casting and audition process that involved eight separate auditions beginning in 1999, Watson was cast alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint in her debut screen role as Hermione Grainger in the first instalment of the hugely popular J.K.Rowling 'Harry Potter' series of books - 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. Released in 2001 to Box Office records and critical acclaim for the three young fresh faced stars, Watson was paid US$125K for her screen debut role and picked up four award nominations and a win in the Young Artist Awards for Best Performance by a Leading Young Actress.

A year later 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' was released to further critical acclaim with another award win and a nominations for the young Actress. Two years later in 2004 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' was released which proved to be the least successful commercially of the franchise, but Watson was still praised for her performance, and further awards and nominations followed.

2005's 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' broke new Box Office records as the three principle Actors by now had settled into their roles, were maturing and the on-screen chemistry between the three was clearly evident. More award wins and nominations came with Watson's performance.

'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' came in 2007, making US$940M and breaking Box Office records for its opening weekend. That year, at age just seventeen, Watson's work on the first five films to date had made her an estimated £10M and she exclaimed that she would never have to work for money again. By March 2009 she was in the Top 6 of the Forbes listed 'Most Valuable Young Stars' and in 2010 she was the highest paid female in Hollywood having earned a cool £19M in 2009.

Taking a break from Potter and Grainger, Watson starred in the BBC Television Film production of 'The Ballet Shoes' which aired on Boxing Day 2007 to a significant audience, but mixed reviews. She also lent her voice talents to the animated feature 'The Tale of Despereaux' in the role of Princess Pea.

Next for release was 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' in 2009, grossing US$935M, with the three leading cast members now all in their late teens and receiving much critical praise for their mature and energised performances. Three award nominations followed for Watson. Filming of the final book in the series was split into two films for storyline and financial reasons and was shot back to back over sixteen months from early 2009 until mid-2010. 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1' raked in US$960M and 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2' brought home US$1.34B bringing the eight film franchise to a conclusion for all in mid-2011. For the two films combined Watson received thirteen award nominations and five wins together with a US$30M pay cheque for her role in the two concluding films.

With Harry, Ron and Hermione now behind her, Watson starred in 'My Week With Marilyn' alongside Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench and Eddie Redmayne. From there came 'The Perks of Being a Wall Flower' in 2012 which brought much further critical recognition with six award nominations and five award wins. 'The Bling Ring' came next as Directed by Sofia Coppola, and then the chance to work with an ensemble comedy cast in Seth Rogen's 'This Is The End' in 2013, with 'Noah' for Darren Aronofsky and starring Russell Crowe in the Biblical title role with Anthony Hopkins and Ray Winstone thereafter. 'Regression' cane next in 2015 with Ethan Hawke but failed to make any kind of impression.

'Colonia' is up next for release in 2016 with Daniel Bruhl and Michael Nyqvist, with 'The Circle' currently filming with Tom Hanks. Then for 2017 there is a live action all star version of Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast' in production currently with Watson playing the lead female role of Belle.









All up Watson has 21 acting credits to her name, fifteen award wins and another 45 nominations. The gross Box Office take from the eight Harry Potter films she starred in stands at US$7.7B. In May 2014 Watson graduated from Brown's University on Rhode Island with a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature, and she is certified to teach Yoga and Meditation. She was the youngest star to grace the front cover of 'Teen Vogue' in 2005; she was the face of 'Burberry' in 2009, and appeared promoting their 2010 collection; she was awarded a Style Icon by 'Elle'; in 2011 she became the face of 'Lancome'; and in 2014 she was awarded Best British Style at the British Fashion Awards. She is a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and is every active in promoting women's rights and feminism, and has done so at the highest political level, having addressed the UN in New York.

Emma Watson - forever ingrained in our minds as Hermione Grainger but nonetheless carving out a career beyond Harry Potter with critical acclaim more often than not; has achieved so much for all of her 26 years; is an outspoken activist for what she believes in; has already appeared in many 'Top Lists' often gaining a high ranking; and clearly has much to offer, is in demand, and is still only starting out. Happy Birthday to you Emma, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-