8 d. ago Conclave author reveals Ralph Fiennes was third choice for lead role in Oscar nominated film

Negotiations with both actors' representative broke down, opening the way for 62-year-old Fiennes.

Culture

8 d. ago Stephanie Beacham: ‘The worst thing anyone’s said to me? Loved you in Dallas’

The actor on the terror of working in Boots aged 15, her Liam Neeson obsession and Zooming in her knickersBorn in London, Stephanie Beacham, 78, studied mime in Paris and went to Rada. In 1971, she appeared opposite Marlon Brando in The Nightcomers and then made Hammer horror films. During the 80s she starred as Sable Colby in Dynasty and The Colbys. She has appeared on stage at the National Theatre and for the RSC; her other TV work includes Tenko, Sister Kate – for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination – and Coronation Street. She plays the lead in the film Grey Matter, which is streaming now. She has two daughters and lives with her partner in Cornwall and London.What is your greatest fear? Becoming deaf and blind, which is what happened to my father. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Marcel Ophuls: the unflinching chronicler of France’s suppressed wartime shame

The Sorrow and the Pity punched a hole through France’s self-excusing myths and saw something nastier, shabbier, more political and more human• Marcel Ophuls dies aged 97The last great voice of wartime European cinema has gone with the death of documentary film-maker Marcel Ophuls, son of director Max Ophuls; he was born in Germany, fled to France with the rise of Hitler, fled again to the US with the Nazi invasion and then returned to France after the war. He therefore had an almost ideal background for a nuanced, detached perspective on the impossibly (and enduringly) painful subject of French collaboration with the Nazis during the second world war.This was the basis of his four-and-a-half hour masterpiece The Sorrow and the Pity from 1969, commissioned by French TV (which refused to screen it); however, it gained an Oscar nomination and its international reputation grew from there. The film was in two parts, The Collapse, about the invasion, and The Choice, about the factional s...

Events

1 week ago Marcel Ophuls was the unflinching chronicler of France’s suppressed wartime shame

The Sorrow and the Pity punched a hole through France’s self-excusing myths and saw something nastier, shabbier, more political and more human• Marcel Ophuls dies aged 97The last great voice of wartime European cinema has gone with the death of documentary film-maker Marcel Ophuls, son of director Max Ophuls; he was born in Germany, fled to France with the rise of Hitler, fled again to the US with the Nazi invasion and then returned to France after the war. He therefore had an almost ideal background for a nuanced, detached perspective on the impossibly (and enduringly) painful subject of French collaboration with the Nazis during the second world war.This was the basis of his four-and-a-half hour masterpiece The Sorrow and the Pity from 1969, commissioned by French TV (which refused to screen it); however, it gained an Oscar nomination and its international reputation grew from there. The film was in two parts, The Collapse, about the invasion, and The Choice, about the factional s...

Events

2 w. ago Tom Cruise's Oscar nominated Mission Impossible film airs tonight on TV

Tom Cruise has starred as the lead in the Mission Impossible series for eight films and with the final instalment now in cinemas, fans can refresh their memories on TV tonight

Events

2 w. ago Film festival to premiere clergy sex abuse documentary partly based on Guardian reporting

God As My Witness details priest’s relationship with teen who later killed himself and other abuse allegationsA new documentary examining the Catholic clergy molestation scandal in New Orleans – based in part on journalism by the Guardian and its local reporting partner WWL Louisiana – is making its world premiere at London’s Raindance film festival in June.God As My Witness is also nominated for best feature-length documentary at the major film festival’s 33rd edition, according to the movie’s director, Lindsay Quinn Pitre. Continue reading...

Culture

3 w. ago Jennifer Lawrence stirs Oscar talk in Cannes for 'Die, My Love'

Last year, the Cannes Film Festival produced three best actress nominees at the Oscars

Events

3 w. ago Scarlett Johansson upset this Marvel movie didn’t get Oscar nomination: ‘One of the most successful films’

Actor says superhero film should have been nominated for best picture

Culture