Run for your live

It's not just film musicals like Ghost, Dirty Dancing and Singin' in the Rain getting the stage treatment. Following theatrical adaptations of the movie hits ancient and modern such as When Harry Met Sally and The 39 Steps, now there are two new and truly unlikely candidates for the boards, both sharing an enviable Oscar pedigree.

Currently doing the UK rounds is, wait for it, Ben-Hur, winner of no fewer than 11 Academy Awards, complete with chariot race albeit no cast of thousands. And awaiting its West End debut after a North London try-out is Chariots of Fire, adapted from the 1981 blockbuster about the 1924 Paris Olympics.

The auditorium was converted into a race track for some of the key moments involving actors playing legendary athletes Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell.

The stage version (pictured above) even recreated Lord Burghley's steeplechase practice involving leaping cleanly hurdles on which full champagne glasses are balanced.

Fans of the film will also be delighted to know that Vangelis's award-winning score is also used in the play.

Perhaps these 'live-action' versions of movie extravaganzas are theatre's very own retort to the novelty of big-screen 3-D!

Chariots of Fire ... live!

The stage version of Chariots of Fire sees its actors sprinting through an auditorium that has been converted into a race track.

"You can feel the wind as they rush past," said writer Mike Bartlett, who based his stage show on Colin Welland's Oscar-winning screenplay.

The play also features the original music theme by Vangelis.

Bartlett's play retells the story of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams' quest to become the fastest men on earth at the 1924 Paris Olympics despite religious obstacles. Directed by Edward Hall, the cast of 21 includes James McArdle as Abrahams and Jack Lowden as Liddell.

James McArdle (left) and Jack 

Lowden play Abrahams and Liddell

Early reviews were positive. "Even if the piece sometimes plays too easily on our emotional responses, it is an ensemble triumph that will clearly enjoy the longest of runs," said The Guardian's Michael Billington.

"You can't help thinking of Starlight Express in the race track that travels around the theatre," tweeted The Stage's Mark Shenton after Tuesday's opening night. "On its own terms Chariots of Fire definitely delivers (especially if you've not seen the film) and I reckon will be a huge popular success."

The 1981 film starred Ian Charleson and Ben Cross and won four Oscars, including best picture and best music. Its director Hugh Hudson, who was at Tuesday's opening night, said it was important to retain Vangelis's acclaimed score. "Vangelis's music is part of the drive and emotion - it is essential," he said. "People expect it."

Bartlett, whose plays include Earthquakes in London and Love, Love, Love, currently at the Royal Court, said he was aware the film still meant a lot to people. "The question was always, 'Why bother making the film into a play?'" he told the BBC. "The answer was always in the running - come and see them run! You can feel their sweat as they rush past you. There's a real link between the drama of a sporting event and the athleticism of a drama."

Hampstead Theatre artistic director Edward Hall said he knew from the outset he wanted the play to feature real athletics. "We trained very intensively when we were rehearsing," he said. "And since we started here they warm up for about 45 minutes before they begin and warm down after."

The actors had to go through auditions for acting, singing and physical fitness and have a physiotherapist and a fitness coach to keep them in shape.

That Chariots of Fire is being staged in the year of the London  2012 Olympics is important, Hall added.

 "It's about two great British heroes. Both of them are outsiders and to me it encapsulates everything that is great and inclusive about Britain. You've got the son of an immigrant Lithuanian Jew and a Scottish Christian fundamentalist and both of them become heroes of the British establishment."

Bartlett admits it is unusual for him to come up with a "feel-good" play. "We're used to theatre that's very provocative and I've written a lot of that theatre," he said. "It's quite unusual for me to write something that's uplifting and celebratory. But what better time to be doing that? A lot of people can't get a ticket to the Olympics. If you can't get a ticket to the Olympics, get a ticket to this!"

Chariots of Fire is at the Hampstead Theatre until June 16 and will then transfer to the Gielgud Theatre in central London.

GI Joe: Retaliation pushed back to March

Paramount is moving the US release of G.I Joe: Retaliation from June 29 to March 29 next year and converting it to 3D. Sources at the studio told the Hollywood Reporter that for Paramount to recoup its investment  in the $125 million film – it financed 50 per cent of the sequel, while MGM and Skydance Productions put up 25 each – a 3D conversion needs to happen, and it wants to make sure the conversion is done right. They point to the recent 3D version of James Cameron’s Titanic as a success story.

However the movie is based on a Hasbro toy line, and some might blame the shift on the disappointing US box office of Universal's Battleship, the adaptation of the Hasbro board game that opened to just $25.5 million last weekend. “Battleship reminds you that if you don’t do it right, you’re screwed,” says one insider.

Paramount's first instalment of the franchise, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, grossed $300 million worldwide in 2009.  

It's unusual for studios to change release dates less than five weeks before the film is due in cinemas, but this isn’t the first time Paramount has made such a high-profile switch. It moved the Martin Scorsese-Leonard DiCaprio thriller Shutter Island into a winter slot and it went on to become into Scorsese’s biggest box-office hit.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation’s cast includes Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Adrianne Palicki and Jonathan Price. It is directed by John Chu.

Iron Sky fans win battle with distributor

The UK distributor of the Nazis-on-the-moon film Iron Sky have bowed to pressure from  thousands of fans and decided to extend its run at some cinemas after initially saying that it would only be on general release for one day (today) before going straight to DVD (see earlier blog below).

After the climbdown by Revolver, the producer and director of the Finnish movie, Tero Kaukomaa and Timo Vuorensola, said today: "Our thanks goes to all of you out there! You've made your voices heard, and your demands have been met. It's great news for us, for Iron Sky, and especially for everyone who has been out there waiting for years for this film to reach the big screens.

"More than that, this is a wonderful show of force of the people, and a great proof that having a big community backing you up makes you stronger when somebody is trying to walk over you."

More than 850,000 people have seen the film in the six weeks it has been on release throughout Europe and it garnered critical praise when it was screened at the Berlin Film Festival.

After its general one-day screening today at selected Picturehouses and Showcases, as well as many independent cinemas, Iron Sky will continue to be shown at

The Prince Charles Cinema, London; the Picturehouses at Stratford East; Belmont Aberdeen; Exeter; the Duke of York's, Brighton; and the Showcases at: Coventry; Derby; Leicester; Glasgow East; and Cardiff Nantgarw. 

First Skyfall trailer unveiled at Cannes

Sony Pictures have just unveiled the first trailer for the new James Bond movie Skyfall at the Cannes Film Festival ... and here it is.

Daniel Craig is back as  007 in the 23rd adventure in the longest-running film franchise of all time.  But his loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
 
The film opens in the UK on October 26.

Iron Sky producers slam their distributor

The producers of the Nazis-on the-moon movie Iron Sky have attacked its UK distributor Revolver for "stabbing them in the back" by releasing the film for showing in cinemas for just one day, next Wednesday May 23, before rushing it out on DVD.

In a strongly-worded statement on their website, www.ironsky.net, producer Tero Kaukomaa, director Timo Vuorensola and VFX producer Samuli Torssonen, say: "The film has been opening all across Europe during the last six weeks, with excellent results (nearly 850 000 cinema admissions so far!), but Revolver refuses to give it a proper run in UK theatres. What they are doing is basically stabbing us in the back.

"Revolver misled us by assuring us a proper cinema release during the production, but came out suddenly and last minute with their new plan, the one-day-only release, and refused to listen to our arguments against it. We even asked our fans to contact Revolver and let them know what they think of the plan, they received thousands of comments in just few days from people who want to see Iron Sky but even that wasn’t enough for them to change their plans.

"The fact that they are releasing Iron Sky for just one day (in the middle of the week) shows a great disrespect for us, the filmmakers, who have been slaving to make this film as cinematic – with big special effects, sounds and great action – as possible. It’s also a major middle finger to the fans, followers and investors who have been following the production for years and now suddenly have only few hours to run to the theatre, and then enjoy their quickly rushed DVD and Blu-Ray release. A release that will be missing all the material we’ve planned for it – documentaries, commentaries, artwork and whatever we’ve gathered during our six long years of production."

Now it's Rebekah Brooks The Movie

The story of Rebekah Brooks, the former boss of News International, the  newspaper publisher at the centre of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, is in development as a feature film.

BiteSize Entertainment, a multiplatform entertainment studio unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival by Ron Bloom, CEO of the online video site Mevio, and producer Gene Kirkwood (Rocky, New York, New York) which has optioned the rights to the Vanity Fair article Untangling Rebekah Brooks by Suzanna Andrews.

Kirkwood told The Hollywood Reporter that the project is still in its early stages. “We will make a film and also use it as a porthole into Rupert Murdoch's world,” he said. “I see it as a Citizen Kane approach.”

Bloom said that like former US President Richard Nixon, Brooks rose from nothing to real power, which can lead to a person’s downfall and her story is one “everyone is afraid to tell.” He added: “She's a great story. Her rise … is almost like Great Expectations – with a moral.”  

So who does he want to play Brooks? “Right now, I would do it with all unknowns, all English actors,” he said.

Jackie Chan hangs up his fighting boots

Martial arts legend Jackie Chan is ready to bow out of action movies so he can show off his acting skills.

The 58-year-old made his name in a series of hard-hitting fight movies, in which he shows off his impressive combat skills. But he told the BBC that he is eager to play more dramatic parts, admitting he's getting too old for rigorous action shoots.

"I want the audience to know I'm not just about fighting, also I can act. And so day by day, year by year, I said, 'Right, I'm going to show you the real Jackie Chan',” he said.

"I don't just want to be an action star, I want to be a true actor so for the last 10 years I've done other films like The Karate Kid where I'd rather play an old man. I will ask my body how long I can go. I'm not young any more."

Tajikistan bans The Dictator

Sacha Baron Cohen has done it again. After upsetting Kazakhstan with his movie Borat, the neighbouring country of Tajikistan has decided not to screen his latest spoof blockbuster The Dictator, after authorities concluded the movie was incompatible with the nation's "mentality".

The film, which features Baron Cohen as General Aladeen, the tyrannical ruler of the oil-rich north African rogue state of Wadiya, has been refused a distribution licence. Instead, audiences at the two cinemas in the Tajikistan capital Dushanbe are being offered Men in Black 3.

According to leaked US diplomatic cables, Tajikistan's president, Emomali Rahmon, runs the impoverished country for his own personal profit, with his government "characterised by cronyism and corruption".

 

"It's wrong to compare us with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and with other countries," Daler Davlatov of the Tatan distribution company, the sole distributor of foreign movies in Tajikistan, told the Kyrgyz news website kloop.kg. "It's incorrect because we have a different mentality. We're not going to give The Dictator a premiere because of these considerations.”

Repressive Turkmenistan is also unlikely to show the comedy, though it is being released in other former Soviet republics.

However it remains to be seen whether the ban on The Dictator will prove effective. In 2006 Kazakhstan reacted badly to Borat, whose eponymous Kazakh hero travels to the US to marry Pamela Anderson. It depicts Kazakhstan as antisemitic and backward and Kazakh authorities banned the film, killed the domain borat.kz, and even blacked out MTV when it showed the comedy.

However, the Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, later claimed he had found the film rather funny. And the country's foreign ministry also grudgingly admitted that after the release of Borat the number of tourists visiting the country, not the easiest place to get to, had rocketed.