Actors

Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch blog has an interview with Kristen Johnston, who’s tapped to play Patsy in the American remake of Absolutely Fabulous, coming soon to a television set near you.

Here’s a quote from the article: “I think they captured the exact amount of sweetie-darling,” she says. “I mean, it’s a totally different element, it’s a totally different show. We don’t smoke, we are hungover all the time, we chew Nicorette, we’re trying to be more PC, but I think it really works. It’s one of those scripts that’s like my favorite kind because on paper you’re like, Oh, this is funny, but when you read it out loud with two actresses, it’s, like, the funniest s— ever.”

Turning Pats and Eddy into nonsmoking, Nicorette-chewing politically correct fashionistas sounds like the most unfunniest s— ever, but that’s me. What do you think? Will the American version of this show be a hit, or will it sink faster than a Dukes of Hazzard holiday special on French tv?

The BBC reports today that a very lucky someone purchased the prop portrait of Fitzwilliam Darcy used in the BBC’s production of Pride and Prejudice for a mere £12,000 (roughly $16,500) at auction. The portrait appeared near the end of the film, and could be seen when Elizabeth Bennett’s character toured Mr. Darcy’s Pemberley estate with her aunt and uncle. It’s right before Mr. Darcy jumps in the pond.  You remember that scene, ladies?

The prop portrait sold for double what the auction house expected to receive. Proceeds from the sale are going to charity.

She’s always been the bridesmaid at the awards shows, but on Sunday night British actress Kate Winslet walked away with two Golden Globe statuettes, one for her supporting role in The Reader, the other for her leading role in hubby-directed Revolutionary Road.

Winslet usually escapes the crosshairs of celebrity journalists, but since her overwrought, Angelina-forgetting acceptance speech for her Revolutionary Road win, the British press have been taking aim. Some of the more biting comments:

“There were tears, there was hyperventilation …” The (London) Times

“On Sunday, however, she succumbed dreadfully to awards-itis, responding to her Golden Globe with the kind of tear-stained intensity that some women reserve for the moment they are handed their first-born child.” — The Independent

“After that little stumbling block, Miss Winslet’s triumphant speeches went on. And on. And on.” The Daily Mail

“Yet even when viewed with a sympathetic heart, Kate Winslet’s acceptance speech for her second Golden Globe on Sunday night (snip) raises the occasional wave of nausea, swiftly followed by a rush of hands to eyes in order to block out the spectacle.” The Guardian

I think the British press is mad because Winslet now wears the “Most Embarrassing Acceptance Speech Ever” mantle previously held by American actress Gwyneth Paltrow for her 1999 Oscar speech. I love Winslet as an actress and she comes across as delightfully normal in interviews. But even for this emotional American, I thought her speech on Sunday night was a cringer. Let’s all hope she writes her Oscar acceptance speech on an index card … or better yet, a business card.

(I was digging around for quotes today, and found this one from Gil Cates in this 1995 Washington Post article: “I love it when an English actor wins because their speeches are so classy and precise.” The writer then says, “Attention, four-time nominee Kate Winslet: If you finally get an Oscar this year, the man you hear cheering the loudest could be Gil Cates.” LOL!)

• Few mourn US embassy relocation — “Now all is set to change, as the embassy prepares to shut up shop in central London and move to a brand-new building – in somewhat less salubrious surroundings on the south bank of the river Thames.” (BBC News)
• Do WAGS make good role models? – “Lizzie Cundy, the wife of former Chelsea Player Jason Cundy, and Caroline Jordan, headmistress of St George’s school in Ascot, discuss whether WAGs make good role models for schoolgirls.” (BBC News)
• Britain’s lonely high flier — “A resurgent Rolls-Royce has become the most powerful symbol of British manufacturing. Its success may be hard to replicate, especially in difficult times.” An exceptionally interesting article. (The Economist)
• Old time ads — “Nostalgic commercials and brands are being revived as advertisers seek to tap into recession-ridden Britons’ urge for security, predictability and reassurance.” Interesting slide show of some classic British ad campaigns. (Financial Times)
• She’s married to one of the country’s sexiest actors – so why does Emma Thompson think British men are retarded? — “The Oscar-winning actress compares her husband to a clam because he’s so hopeless at opening up — like all his ‘emotionally autistic’ countrymen.” If I had to pick a celebrity to be my friend, I’d pick Emma. (The Daily Mail)
• Blagojevich, the Iambic Anglophile — “Impeached, indicted and feeling alone, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich has found some unlikely friends: Dead British poets.” May I suggest a little Robert Browning? “I give the fight up: let there be an end, a privacy, an obscure nook for me. I want to be forgotten even by God.” (the New York Times)
• Kate’s no lady in waiting — A video from CBS’s Early Show about Kate Middleton’s 27th birthday and will Will or won’t Will pop the question soon?

Wow, the New York Times gave a grudgingly good review to the romantic comedy Last Chance Harvey, starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson as the unlikely lovers. From watching the trailers, I think this film will be an Anglophile’s dream with its UK setting and script, as evidenced in the clip above.

Last Chance Harvey wasn’t on my radar screen this movie season, but now it looks like there’s something at the theatre I might be able to get my husband to in the next couple weeks. He has yet to forgive me for The English Patient. My penance was agreeing for the rest of our married life to sit through every Star Trek sequel without complaint.

I arrived around 7:30 a.m. at Heathrow with very little sleep, thanks to the woman behind me who coughed the entire flight and when she wasn’t coughing, kicked my seat. But I grit my teeth and bore it, for I knew when the plane landed, I’d be in Anglophile Heaven a/k/a London.

We had a funny, loquacious driver who whisked us to our hotel, the InterContinental Park Lane, in no time flat, even though many of the streets in central London were closed off to traffic. That’s because today was the Queen’s Speech at the opening of Parliament; she traditionally travels by carriage, attended by her horse guards, which we got a quick glimpse of before they headed off to Buckingham Palace (and, by the way, I can see from my hotel room window!) on their way to the houses of Parliament.

So after a casual breakfast where we met our other travel companions, we took a short siesta, then headed off for a light lunch and spa treatment. I got a massage, which I sorely needed — my right shoulder is in knots. I figured after this, I’d fall on face with exhaustion, but it actually revived me, and I headed off for a long walk down Piccadilly, where I did some shopping at Fortnum & Mason and Waterstones, before doing some holiday window gazing in the Burlington Arcade, and more shopping on Regent Street. Now I’m back in my hotel room, getting ready for dinner (Theo Randall! Very excited!!) and then an early bedtime.

Ok, some general comments:

* I’m pretty sure I saw Judy Dench walking outside our hotel this afternoon. (ETA: confirmed by hotel manager that she, along with Nigella Lawson, were here today for some charity event.) And one of our travel companions told us Ralph Fiennes had drinks at the bar downstairs last time she was here. I’m a married woman and all, but boy did that bit of gossip/news set my pulse on fire.

* Twice today I was mistaken for a Brit, once by a British Red Cross volunteer, who looked really surprised when I said, “I’d love to sign your petition but I’m an American” and added, “But I’m flattered you took me for a native.” She laughed and said, “You *do* look like a native.” (I left my fanny pack and baseball cap at home. Shucks.) The other was a Brit asking me how to find some shop around Saville Row. He apologized for bothering me when I told him I was a tourist.

*Oh yes, the apologies. It’s so hard getting used to saying “sorry” for “excuse me.”

*People speak so quietly here — and it’s a blessed relief. The stores are quiet, even when they’re packed. I don’t even mind people who walk while talking on their mobiles because you can’t hear them. The only thing is, I’m constantly saying, “Sorry?” to hotel staff and people; I tend to stand farther away as I expect to have my ears blasted off.

Dinner at Theo Randall was lovely. I can’t go into too much detail — need to save it for work — but afterwards he came out to say hello afterwards. I had smoked eel for a starter, then a pasta with shaved white truffles for my main. My favorite dishes were in dessert (of course) — a pannacotta rich with vanilla, and my most favorite, a refreshing clementine sorbet. I could have eaten a couple bowls of it alone.

Tomorrow I’ll take some pics. We’re supposed to get a bit of snow on Thursday, which should be interesting.

Forgive me — I’m on a bit of a Bond roll this week since my husband and I’ve got plans to see Quantum of Solace on Friday. I rarely get to go to the movies with him because we’ve got such incompatible tastes in film and can never agree on anything. Bond films are our common ground: he likes the gadgets, I like … well, Bond. Especially Daniel Craig as Bond. But shhh, I don’t think hubby suspects a thing.

Here’s another fun Bond-themed article, this one on the spy’s spiritual development through the years, although it looks like in this film, 007 faces a setback by getting, as the Brits say, pissed in first class on whatever the flight attendants will serve him. (For American readers, “pissed” is Brit slang for “drunk,” not “angry.”)

If you watch that video clip at the end of the Time article … I wonder how much Lillet paid for that product placement in Casino Royale?

Hat tip to a tweet from Kathy at Parenttalktoday.com .

On the Guardian’s website, there’s an interview with actor and brilliantly funny writer Stephen Fry on why he loves America. The clip of Fry hunting in New Hampshire is priceless, but the best line comes from one of the droll hunters: “My ex-wife does not respond anymore.”

Fry’s new book, Fry’s America will be out in early 2009 here in the U.S., but you can pre-order now on amazon.com. Or order from amazon.co.uk if you can’t wait till then.