So Danny Boyle, who directed the Olympics Opening Ceremony with such wisdom, wit and ingenuity, has turned down a knighthood. And good for him. Not because a knighthood per se is a bad thing, though we have misgivings about the whole honours system, but because acceptance would have been a betrayal of everything he has said and done in his artistic career. Above all, it would have negated the spirit of cocking a snook at the Establishment, the ingredient that distinguished London's Olympics opening from so many others.
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Feminists denounced, then embraced, Bond girls
Friday 05 October 2012
The James Bond films were the vanguard of the sexual revolution. Sean Connery, the suave star of six of the first seven movies, played Bond as a devilish version of elegant Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock's spectacular travelogues To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest.
Sshhhhhh! Don't tell anyone. It's a secret
Wednesday 25 July 2012
Has there has ever been a tougher time to keep schtum, asks Simon Usborne
Sshhhhh! Don't tell anyone about the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony
Wednesday 25 July 2012
As Danny Boyle asks people not to blab about his opening ceremony, Simon Usborne wonders if there's ever been a tougher time to keep schtum
Slumdog star Pinto in anti-poverty role
Friday 13 July 2012
Freida Pinto, the actress best known for her role in Slumdog Millionaire, was so touched by a trip to Africa where she met some of the world's poorest girls that she has signed up as a charity ambassador.
Slumdog the musical calls in Julian Fellowes
Sunday 20 May 2012
Danny Boyle has broken off talks on staging his hit movie after an argument over artistic control
Slumdog to stardom: How Freida Pinto has adapted to the demands of fame
Sunday 31 July 2011
In just three years, Freida Pinto has turned from 'Slumdog' neopphyte into one of Hollywood's hottest properties, witha starring role in the new 'Planet of the Apes' reboot. But, she reveals to Sam Peters, she was more than happy to shoot her latest film back in India
DVD: You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (12)
Friday 15 July 2011
"I need direction," whines Gemma Jones's jilted wife to a swami (Pauline Collins).
You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (12A)
Friday 18 March 2011
Starring: Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins
Serious Men, By Manu Joseph
Friday 04 March 2011
One of the strongest debuts of 2010, this bittersweet Mumbai tale of high minds and low plots never quite won the plaudits it deserves. Now – with a more populist, even Slumdog Millionaire-ish cover - it has a second chance.
The stars are aghast – Hollywood's juiciest new roles are going to unknown actresses
Thursday 24 February 2011
For Phyllida Lloyd, the decision must have been straightforward. Not only has she worked with Meryl Streep before, but she knows that – in casting the Oscar-winner as Margaret Thatcher in the forthcoming biopic Iron Lady – she is almost guaranteed a hit. Streep, after all, is both extremely famous and extremely bankable. Last year Forbes named her the seventh best value-for-money star in Hollywood. The third woman on the list, she was trumped only by Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Aniston. She is, at least on the face of things, a pretty sound bit of casting.
Freida Pinto: All she is saying is give peace a chance
Friday 19 November 2010
The star tells Gill Pringle why critics are wrong to sneer at an Indian actress being cast in the role of an Arab girl in Miral
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Is the Muslim call to prayer really such a menace?
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Channel 4 to 'provoke' viewers who associate Islam with terrorism with live call to prayer during Ramadan
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US army doctor returns arm to Vietnamese soldier fifty years after he took it as a souvenir
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Police seize possessions of rough sleepers in crackdown on homelessness
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Demand for food banks has nothing to do with benefits squeeze, says Work minister Lord Freud
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