Bob Hoskins R.I.P.
Oscar-nominated, and BAFTA- and Golden Globe-winning English actor Bob Hoskins has died. The star of such films as The Long Good Friday, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Mona Lisa passed away Tuesday night following a bout of pneumonia. He was 71. Hoskins was last seen in 2012′s Snow White And The Huntsman and that same year announced his retirement from acting after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
The versatile Hoskins hailed from West Suffolk but was brought up in London. He began acting on the stage in the late 1960s, and throughout the 1970’s, he appeared in several UK television series including the 1978 BBC mini Pennies From Heaven. Early in his feature career, he had roles in such films as Zulu Dawn, Pink Floyd The Wall, The Cotton Club and Brazil. But it was 1980 crime drama The Long Good Friday that gave him his breakout starring part. The now-classic gangster movie, which co-starred Helen Mirren, earned Hoskins his first BAFTA Film Award nomination for Lead Actor. In 1986, he starred in Neil Jordan’s noir mystery Mona Lisa opposite Michael Caine, Cathy Tyson and Robbie Coltrane. Hoskins was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for the movie, and won the BAFTA and Golden Globe for his role.
It was 1988′s Who Framed Roger Rabbit that brought him great international fame as Eddie Valiant, the live-action detective investigating a Toontown murder. The part in the groundbreaking Robert Zemeckis film earned Hoskins his second Golden Globe nom. The prolific actor’s other movies include Richard Benjamin’s Mermaids, Steven Spielberg’s Hook, Oliver Stone’s Nixon, Nora Ephron’s Michael, Kevin Spacey’s Beyond The Sea, Stephen Frears’ Mrs Henderson Presents and Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol.
Hoskins’ wife Linda and children Alex, Sarah, Rosa and Jack said in a statement today: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Bob. Bob died peacefully at hospital last night surrounded by family, following a bout of pneumonia. We ask that you respect our privacy during this time and thank you for your messages of love and support.”
Sir Michael Caine, who also appeared with Hoskins in the films Sweet Liberty and Last Orders, remembered him as “one of the nicest and best actors I have ever worked with”.
Dame Helen Mirren, who played the wife of the gangster he portrayed in The Long Good Friday, also paid tribute, describing him as “a great actor and an even greater man” whose “inimitable energy… seemed like a spectacular firework rocket just as it takes off”.
“When I worked with him on his iconic film The Long Good Friday, he was supportive and unegotistic,” she went on. “I had the honour of watching the creation of one of the most memorable characters of British film.”
Rest in Peace Guvnor.
Hitchcock – Trailer
Check out this trailer for Hitchcock, from Fox Searchlight. The biopic that stars Anthony Hopkins as the famed director Alfred Hitchcock. It centres on the making of his iconic film Psycho and is being billed as a love story of Hitch and his wife Alma Reville, played by Helen Mirren. The killer cast of the Sacha Gervasi-directed pic also includes Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh and James D’Arcy as Anthony Perkins. Gervasi made a big splash with the release of his loving portrait to the Heavy Metal group Anvil a few years back with the documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil, it looks like he’s taken a massive step-up with this biopic.
The film opens the AFI Fest on November 1 before its platform release November 23, which puts it squarely in the heart of awards-season. A second best actor Oscar for Hopkins..?
Caligula
Caligula (Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; 31 August AD 12 – 24 January AD 41), also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 to 41. The young Gaius earned the nickname Caligula (meaning “little soldier’s boot”) from his father’s soldiers while accompanying him during his campaigns in Germania.
Surviving sources present a number of stories about Caligula that illustrate cruelty and insanity; self-absorbed, angry, killed on a whim, and who indulged in too much spending and sex. He is accused of sleeping with other men’s wives and bragging about it, killing for mere amusement, causing starvation, and wanting a statue of himself erected in the Temple of Jerusalem for his worship. Once at some games at which he was presiding, he ordered his guards to throw an entire section of the crowd into the arena during intermission to be eaten by animals because there were no criminals to be prosecuted and he was bored. Caligula has also been accused of incest with his sisters, Agrippina the Younger, Drusilla and Livilla, and prostituted them to other men. He sent troops on illogical military exercises, turned the palace into a brothel, and most famously, planned or promised to make his horse, Incitatus, a consul, and actually appointed him a priest.
The validity of these accounts is debatable. In Roman political culture, insanity and sexual perversity 
were often presented hand-in-hand with poor government.
Caligula has been played by Ralph Bates in the 1968 ITV television series ‘The Caesars; John Hurt in the 1976 BBC television series ‘I, Claudius’; John McEnery in the 1985 miniseries ‘A.D.’; Szabolcs Hajdu in the 1996 film ‘Caligula’; and John Simm in the 2004 miniseries ‘Imperium Nerone’. A feature-length historical film ‘Caligula’ was completed in 1979, in which Malcolm MacDowall played the lead role. The film alienated audiences with extremely explicit sex and violence and received extremely negative reviews.
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