January 2009 Archives

Almost 50 years to the day after Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash, Graham Young talks to four people who saw him play Birmingham Town Hall - and details next week's movie biopic. If you saw him play in Birmingham - or anywhere else for that matter - feel free to contribute your memories on the link below.

DES O'CONNOR will never forget Buddy Holly - because he was the compere of his tour across Britain.
That was 31 gigs in 33 days, including Birmingham Town Hall.
For Des, that amount of work was a chance to buy his own car... and to see at first hand just how the boy from Texas was reinventing popular music.
"When the tour reached London, the boys were clowning around in the dressing room beforehand and bass player Joe Mauldin knocked out a couple of caps off Buddy's front teeth," says Des.
"It was like 'we're on in 20 minutes' so I suggested to Buddy that he might get some chewing gum to fix them back in!
"Another favourite memory, from Harrogate, was that I had to go into his bedroom one morning to try to get him up.
"I pulled him by the feet and he said to me: 'Don't do that, I'm tall enough as it is!'."
Des, billed on the tour as 'the comedian with the modern style' says the tour was special because of the way he could see the whole business changing at that point.
"I'd never seen amps before so it was sensational, so exciting to see the beginning of something new.
"A few of the songs that later became world-famous were born on those bus trips.
"At the shows, I would be the comedian doing bits and pieces before they went on.
"I'd also give Buddy a few gags and his southern drawl would make them funny.
"In return, he'd teach me a few things about the guitar.
"He was a very nice man and I feel privileged to have worked with him.
"I think he enjoyed playing in England and we took him to the Austin Healey factory where he saw the two-tone, drop-head sports car and said: 'I'll have two of them'. I don't know if he ever did get them home."
It's become a cliche that people know where they were when Kennedy was assassinated, but how did Des learn about the then 22-year-old Buddy's demise in a plane crash at Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 3, 1959?
"I was working in Manchester when I heard it on the news," says Des, now 77.
"It was barely a year after the tour, and it was a real shock.
"Buddy was such a young kid and so advanced in the way that he was recording, writing and singing songs which had such strong melodies.
"The lyrics didn't mean that much, but they had a different twist."

THEATRE

THE Buddy Holly Story is back at the Birmingham Hippodrome from Monday 16 to Saturday, February 21.
To date, the show has been seen by more than 20 million people in more than 16,000 performances worldwide and features hits like Peggy Sue, That'll Be The Day, Not Fade Away, Oh Boy, Maybe Baby, Rave On and Raining In My Heart.
Tickets are on sale at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 0844 338 5000 or online at www.birminghamhippodrome.com. Group Sales 0844 338 7000. (Calls cost from 5p per min; 6% transaction charge, 3% online). Tickets are priced: £12.50-£30. Performance times: Eves 7.30pm; Wed mat 2pm; Sat mat 2.30pm.

Click on the link below to read all about our readers' memories of seeing Buddy Holly play the Town Hall, how much your old records might be worth. Plus, details of the radio and TV programmes coming up in the days ahead about the life and death of the star.

SLUMDOG Millionaire is the big winner in this year's Richard Attenborough Film Awards (RAFAs), which are voted for by regional film critics like myself.
As well becoming our 'Film of the Year', it has also won the best director award for Danny Boyle and the rising star prize for Dev Patel who recently visited the New Street Odeon.
The full results are:
Film of the year - Slumdog Millionaire
Filmmaker of the year - Danny Boyle, director, Slumdog Millionaire
Rising star of the year - Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire
Actress of the year - Kate Winslet for The Reader
Actor of the year - Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler
Screenwriter of the year - Martin McDonagh for In Bruges

Click here to read some quotes and to find out the results of the public vote.

IT'S NOT out till April, but Fifty Dead Men Walking was as compelling as it was harrowing to watch today.

One of the stars is Sir Ben Kingsley, who plays a British 'peeler' in Belfast at the height of the Troubles.

HIs job is to try to win the confidence of informers who will help to save lives by revealing where arms are being kept or moved to.

The violence is scarecely watchable but the film does try to be even handed.

And, 26 years after Gandhi won him the Best Actor Oscar, Sir Ben proves that he is still a class act.

And it's good to see that he has quickly put The Love Guru behind him!

I was with Sir Ben in Milton Keynes today and, at 65, he seemed to be very relaxed and on top form.

More about him in the Mail when the film is released, but the news below makes me think he'd be a great James Bond villain.

I also saw a remastered version of 007 thriller From Russia With Love today which is being rereleased on April 24.

Sad to say, that although the nature of the plot was a change after some of the recent, convoluted 007 movies, this didn't half feel a bit dated and slow.

And Sean Connery didn't exactly appear to be busting a gut in the acting stakes. Maybe Ian Fleming was right all along when he initially thought they'd picked the wrong guy.

Connery's great advantage, of course, is that he got to play Bond first. When he tried to follow Roger Moore in Never Say Never Again he came unstuck himself.

I still think Pierce Brosnan could have been the best Bond, but he never did quite get the film to match his talents.

Dr No, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die and The Spy Who Loved Me are also going to be screened again nationally in April and May thanks to digital cinema technology giving them all a new lease of life.

WARNING: As per my review of Frost/Nixon in today's Birmingham Mail, if you click on the link below you will read a 'spoiler'. I've tucked it away in case you want to see the film first, but it details how screenwriter completely made up the most key part of the film!

The movies can be a cruel world.

When today's Oscars were announced there was one name missing from the list. Again.

And that is our very own Michael Sheen.

For Frost/Nixon to be nominated for best picture and best director and for Frank Langella to (deservedly) get a best actor nod is to overlook the contribution made by the impressively-versatile Mr Sheen.

He was similarly ignored when it came to handing out prizes for The Queen, in which he was so brilliant as Tony Blair, yet Helen Mirren was the one to get all of the glory!

One assumes that the voters on the other side of the pond didn't realise just how good his interpretation of David Frost is in the film, since neither Sheen nor Langella are doing impersonations a la Mike Yarwood.

If this is true, then he's got no chance of making an impression with his forthcoming take on Brian Clough in The Damned United which is out this spring. But I reckon this could be his best performance yet.

Meanwhile, Kate Winslet has just got the one Oscar tilt, for The Reader, which has been given more heavyweight nods than her other film Revolutionary Road (out Jan 30) which I preferred.

At least she's in the best actress category this time after the nonsense of her being in the best supporting actress category for it at the Golden Globes, but it still doesn't take away the fact that a different actress altogether should have played her older character (just as she didn't play her older self in Titanic!).

Good to see that Mickey Rourke is up for best actor in The Wrestler.

As I said in my review last week, if he doesn't win you should ask for your money back at the bookies!

Keep reading this column for some more thoughts and views on this year's Oscar nominations which I'll be posting over the next few days.

Remember, if you'd followed just my winning tips in last year's Mail, you could have had odds of almost 40-1 with Ladbrokes.

Of course, I can't promise a repeat performance, but it'll be fun discussing the runners and riders over the next few days.

Milk and Frost/Nixon are both out today, Friday, so check out my reviews in today's Birmingham Mail to see why I've given them both four stars and not five.

Another film out today with a leading nomination is Rachel Getting Married - for which Anne Hathaway has deservedly been nominated for best actress.

But there's another reason for seeing this film. There's an actor in it throughout called Mather Zickel (he plays Kieran) who is the absolute double of BBC WM's star breakfast presenter Phil Upton.

The likeness is incredible and, if you know Phil, I defy you not to laugh every time Mather is on screen.

Now, click on the link below to read about Frost / Nixon taking liberty with the truth, but don't look if you want to avoid spoiling the film before you've seen it.

AFTER Clubbed last week, there's another Midlands-made film opening next week!

And you can see Faintheart for free at 150 venues around the country.

Trouble is, it's only playing at 6.30pm on Tuesday 27 before disappearing again, ready to reappear on DVD on February 2.

The cast includes the brilliant Eddie Marsan and Ewan Bremner and the locations include Nostalgia & Comics and Ludlow Castle.

It's a very watchable comedy mixing shades of Mike Leigh, Son of Rambow and Role Models, so check out my review in tomorrow's Birmingham Mail which should include details of how to apply for tickets to see it where it should be seen. So good luck.

TOM Cruise has told Entertainment Tonight that he'd be interested in making a movie based on the heroics of pilot Chelsey B Sullenberger.

Perfectly understandable.

It's a great story and the movie might well make a lot of money if done well.

But who could play Sullenberger?

Surely not Tom, who struggles a bit as a German in the new thriller Valkyrie which will be reviewed in the Mail on Friday when it opens.

Nope, he's far too young.

I reckon the man for the job is.... Sling Blade star Billy Bob Thornton.

He could do with a decent role and another movie about planes would certainly complement his appearances in A Simple Plan and Pushing Tin which are two of his best films to date.

I HAD the pleasure of meeting Leonardo DiCaprio in London today.

It's the third time I've seen him and its extraordinary how much softer he's becoming in real life.

Now firmly established as one of Hollywood's leading men of talent, as well as one of the biggest box office draws, he looked really relaxed and is clearly proud of his new film Revolutionary Road.

Unfortunately Kate Winslet had to withdraw from our meeting.

She was ill and must have caught a dreadful chill in Leciester Square last night having braved the elements in an outfit which did little to keep her top half insulated from the elements.

Revolutionary Road opens a week on Friday when we'll be running our interview with Leonardo and reviewing the film, too.

I must say I preferred it to The Reader, Kate's other film which is still in cinemas.

IT was great to see Coventry screenwriter Geoff Thompson at Cineworld Broad Street last introducing the national premiere of his first feature film, Clubbed.

Imagine the pride he had in doing that!

The film was screened in two cinemas at once and the packed audience really seemed to like it. See my review in this Friday's Mail.

Meanwhile, Geoff's message was that if he can get a film made, anyone can - so he hopes that his influence rubs off.

In the same vein, you might like the chance to attend an audition to possibly become a film star yourself.

So here are the details of the next open opportunity in Brum.

ACTING AUDITIONS
The producers of Freestyle, filming in April and due for release in October 2009, are auditioning in Birmingham this weekend to find a new black actor, black actress and female mixed race.
Entrants will be asked to perform a one min freestyle basketball routine, a one minute streetdance routine and read an extract from the script.
The auditions are in the NIA's community hall from 9.30am-noon and 1pm-4pm on Sunday.
Details: www.bebo.com/freestylemovie

Here are the full details of the characters:

Man-Man (Actor) Male Black
One of Leon¹s best friends, Man-Man is well-built and athletic and an ace
freestyler. Role requirements: Afro-Caribbean male, playing age 18. Must be
over 6ft, athletic build and have strong freestyle skills.

Ondene Marchant - Female Mixed Race
Female Lead: a beautiful and smart mixed-race girl from a wealthy background
who dreams of studying law at Oxford.
Role requirements: Mixed race girl, playing aged 17. Good basketball skills
essential, freestyle and dance skills preferred.

Prunella - Female Black
Ondene¹s rival both on and off the court. She has bags of attitude and
wicked freestyle skills to match.
Role requirements: Afro-Caribbean girl, playing age 18. Good freestyle
skills essential.

To register for your audition spot please email freestyle@revolvergroup.com

The best entrants seen at auditions around the country will go through to the grand finals in London on January 24.

The film is being promoted as 'an urban love story that revolves around a freestyle basketball competition... a uniquely British take on traditional American genre
films such as Step Up and High School Musical, with the added urban grit of
something like Kidulthood'.

IT WAS all meant be done quietly - an in through the back door entrance for a private, invitation only Q&A.

But things have changed overnight.

Slumdog Millionaire stars Dev Patel and Bollywood's own George Clooney legend Anil Kapoor will now be going in through the front door of the New Street Odeon tonight anytime from 5.30pm to 6.30pm.

And that means everyone will have a chance to see them on the red carpet.

Their new film, directed by Danny Boyle, will still have an invitation-only screening at 6.30pm and the two stars will then have an audience Q&A from 8.30pm.

Rated 15, Slumdog Millionaire goes on general release from tomorrow when it will be reviewed in the Mail. Look out for our coverage of the premiere, too!

DIRECTOR Danny Boyle is back in cinemas on Friday with what is easily his most vibrant film since Trainspotting.

Set in Mumbai, Slumdog Millionaire cleverly combines the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with romance and thriller elements in an extraordinary cityscape setting.

But, four years ago this May, I took Danny on a walk round Birmingham to see what sort of film could be made here.

His thoughts might surprise you. Click on this link to read more.