Gerard Butler announces he will be in Ralph Fiennes' Coriolanus

In an interview with the Baltimore CBS station, Gerard Butler discussed his very first acting job, which was in the play Coriolanus. He then announced that he was "coming full circle" as he was going to be in Ralph Fiennes movie of Shakespeare's Coriolanus. Coriolanus, a contemporary version of Shakespeare's dangerous political thriller, will be Ralph Fiennes directorial debut, and he will also play the Roman general Coriolanus. Vanessa Redgrave and William Hurt are also rumored to be attached to the project, due to start filming in Siberia in early 2010.

Fiennes will direct from the script by John Logan (”Gladiator,” “The Aviator,” “The Last Samurai,” “Sweeney Todd“).
“People who have read it think it’s a page-turner,” said Fiennes. “I want it to be an edge-of-the-seat film.”
Fiennes, who was Oscar-nominated for his roles in “The English Patient” and “Schindler’s List,” said he wanted to make Shakespeare accessible, citing Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet as an influence.
“I don’t want it to be in that Shakespeare voice that puts you off,” he told trade paper Screen International at the Cannes Films Festival

. “Audiences want to hear Shakespeare and they understand more than they think they are going to. The second film I ever saw was Olivier’s Henry V when I was nine years old and I loved it.”

Well, people have been saying Gerard needed to get better roles, or go on movie star probation. Will Shakespeare satisfy those harsh critics?

Vanessa Redgrave is Russell Crowe's Robin Hood

Whatever they're calling Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe's Nottingham, now Robin Hood - Vanessa Redgrave will class up the place by playing Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Cate Blanchett is Maid Marian.

Remembering Natasha Richardson

I have been following the story of Natasha Richardson's tragic accident since Tuesday night, praying that the reports that she was brain dead weren't true. She and Liam Neeson were totally devoted to each other and were married for almost 15 years. They have two boys, 13 and 12. Natasha Richardson was the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave, but made her own way as an actress. She won a Tony on Broadway play Sally Bowles in Caberet. She and Liam starred in an O'Neill play together and also in the movie Nell.

In reading about her career, I forgot that she starred in The Handmaid's Tale, based on the book by Margaret Atwood:

In Nell, she starred along with Liam and Jodie Foster. She and Liam married shortly after filming.

Trailer - Nell
Uploaded by guy-paul

I loved her as the mother in Parent Trap, back when Lyndsey Lohan was talented.

She starred in the movie Evening, playing the daughter of her real life mother Vanessa Redgrave.

She was due to act in a play with her mother later this year.

What a tragic loss, and one can't help but think about Liam Neeson's role in Love Actually as a man who loses the love of his life and is left with a son to raise. My heart breaks for him and their two sons.