https://www.theguardian.com/film/bob-hoskins Bob Hoskins! en-gb Guardian News &amp; Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2026 Thu, 23 Apr 2026 05:29:33 GMT 2026-04-23T05:29:33Z en-gb Guardian News &amp; Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2026 https://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.png https://www.theguardian.com https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/29/my-friend-david-leland-films-always-cheered-for-the-underdog <p>From Wish You Were Here to Mona Lisa and The Big Man, he was determined to shine a light on those marginalised in society albeit using his quirky sense of humour</p><p>David Leland was a master of understatement with a social conscience and wildly wicked sense of humour, arising like his friends the Pythons from our everyday humdrum British universe in the 60s and 70s.</p><p>More than 40 years ago I saw the astonishing Made in Britain. The film that made <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/06/tim-roth-as-messy-as-your-life-can-be-there-has-to-be-a-window-you-can-escape-through-">Tim Roth</a> – who played a violent skinhead – a star, was written by Leland for the producer and director Alan Clarke. It was a a biting attack on rightwing Thatcherite policies and it is just as relevant to today’s brutal system.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/29/my-friend-david-leland-films-always-cheered-for-the-underdog">Continue reading...</a> Film Culture Bob Hoskins UK news Film industry Fri, 29 Dec 2023 15:28:23 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/29/my-friend-david-leland-films-always-cheered-for-the-underdog Photograph: Keith Hamshere/Getty Images Photograph: Keith Hamshere/Getty Images Photograph: Keith Hamshere/Getty Images Stephen Woolley 2023-12-29T15:28:23Z https://www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2021/sep/15/made-in-manchester-the-royal-exchange-theatre-at-45-in-pictures <p>The Royal Exchange in Manchester opened its doors on on 15 September 1976. Here’s a look back at some of the mighty productions staged in its atmospheric in-the-round space</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2021/sep/15/made-in-manchester-the-royal-exchange-theatre-at-45-in-pictures">Continue reading...</a> Stage Culture Royal Exchange Theatre Maxine Peake Bob Hoskins Helen Mirren Pete Postlethwaite Maureen Lipman Don Warrington Tom Courtenay Vanessa Redgrave David Tennant Michael Sheen Andrew Garfield Paterson Joseph Andy Serkis Wed, 15 Sep 2021 05:00:38 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2021/sep/15/made-in-manchester-the-royal-exchange-theatre-at-45-in-pictures Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian 2021-09-15T05:00:38Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/apr/01/beheading-scene-helen-mirren-co-stars-long-good-friday-british-classic <p>Prophetic, frenetic and shockingly brutal, the film became a British classic. For its 40th anniversary, Mirren and other cast members relive their roles in the menacing gangland masterpiece</p><p>It has been 40 years since the release of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/15/long-good-friday-bob-hoskins">The Long Good Friday</a>, a gangster film still revered as one of the best British movies of all time. Shot in London in the late 1970s and starring the late Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, it told the story of an underworld boss trying desperately to stop the IRA from dismantling his empire.</p><p>The backdrop for the film was the London Docklands, then mostly undeveloped. With corrupt city planners in his pocket, Hoskins’ character – the pugnacious, barrel-chested Harold Shand – attempts to woo the New York mafia into a partnership to transform the area, selling the idea to them with a speech during a trip up the Thames on his yacht. “Our country is not an island any more,” he snarls. “We’re a leading European state. And I believe this is the decade in which London <em>will</em> become Europe’s capital … no other city in the world has got, right at its centre, such an opportunity for profitable progress.”</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/apr/01/beheading-scene-helen-mirren-co-stars-long-good-friday-british-classic">Continue reading...</a> The Long Good Friday Helen Mirren Bob Hoskins Culture Film Crime films Drama films Thu, 01 Apr 2021 05:00:05 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/apr/01/beheading-scene-helen-mirren-co-stars-long-good-friday-british-classic Photograph: Allstar/HANDMADE FILMS LTD Photograph: Allstar/HANDMADE FILMS LTD Photograph: Allstar/HANDMADE FILMS LTD Nick Hopkins 2021-04-01T05:00:05Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/19/hear-me-out-why-maid-in-manhattan-isnt-a-bad-movie <p>Continuing our series of writers defending unpopular films is a reappraisal of the absurd yet compelling Jennifer Lopez/Ralph Fiennes romantic comedy</p><p>2002 was a bumper year for romcoms. Banking on the commercial safety of a saccharine love story, studios splashed out on everything from the Nick Hornby adaptation About A Boy to Gurinder Chadha’s Hounslow tale Bend It Like Beckham, Sandra Bullock facing off against corporate shill Hugh Grant in Two Weeks Notice, matrimonial romp My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and Reese Witherspoon’s nostalgic Sweet Home Alabama, to name just a few titles.</p><p>This was a golden age for will-they-won’t-they tales set to the backdrop of the new millennium, burgeoning digital literacy and predictable scripts that ensured that they, in fact, always did. Nestled amongst these releases was a critically derided, commercially dominating cultural relic: Maid In Manhattan.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/19/hear-me-out-why-maid-in-manhattan-isnt-a-bad-movie">Continue reading...</a> Jennifer Lopez Romance films Comedy films Comedy Culture Film Ralph Fiennes Bob Hoskins Stanley Tucci Natasha Richardson Tue, 19 Jan 2021 07:33:50 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/19/hear-me-out-why-maid-in-manhattan-isnt-a-bad-movie Photograph: Barry Wetcher/AP Photograph: Barry Wetcher/AP Photograph: Barry Wetcher/AP Ammar Kalia 2021-01-19T07:33:50Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jun/22/who-framed-roger-rabbit-at-30-the-game-changer-hollywood-couldnt-top <p>In 1988, the ambitious multimedia caper brought darkness and a satirical edge to the summer and the industry has struggled to match its inventiveness ever since</p><p>At a time when the predominant male gaze in the world of film criticism is being questioned by Oscar-winning female actors and lowly denizens of Twitter alike, the erudite New Yorker critic Anthony Lane took more flak than he might have expected for an <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/incredibles-2-reviewed-a-sequel-in-the-shadow-of-a-masterwork">irreverent review</a> of Pixar’s innocent animated romp The Incredibles 2.</p><p>Or not so innocent, depending on who you believe: Lane poked fun at what he claimed was Pixar’s overt sexualisation of cartoon superhero mom Elastigirl, likening her to Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades franchise before joking that she’d prompt many an accompanying dad to “[rest] his cooling soda firmly in his lap” at the cinema. Some found Lane’s exaggerated leering over a family comedy lewdly funny, others simply gross. What inspired less debate, however, was the question of whether Elastigirl – sleek in spike-heeled thigh boots and a rubber bodysuit, and seemingly made curvier than in the 2004 original – was hot. Animated form notwithstanding, she kind of is, and Lane is far from the first person to note that: brace yourself before typing the words “Elastigirl porn” into Google, is what I’m saying.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jun/22/who-framed-roger-rabbit-at-30-the-game-changer-hollywood-couldnt-top">Continue reading...</a> Animation in film Bob Hoskins Film Culture Walt Disney Company Comedy films Fri, 22 Jun 2018 09:00:24 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jun/22/who-framed-roger-rabbit-at-30-the-game-changer-hollywood-couldnt-top Photograph: Everett Collection / Rex Feature Photograph: Everett Collection / Rex Feature Photograph: Everett Collection / Rex Feature Guy Lodge 2018-06-22T09:00:24Z https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/mar/22/super-mario-bros-movie-killing-fields-chariots-fire-video-game <p>In 1993, the makers of The Killing Fields and Chariots of Fire bought the film rights to the world’s biggest video game. The result was a commercial disaster. But that’s only part of the story</p><p>Dennis Hopper was not happy.</p><p>It was the summer of 1992, a few weeks into shooting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/10/super-mario-bros-movie-nintendo">Super Mario Bros: The Motion Picture</a> and the atmosphere on set was febrile. Endless rewrites and script splices had scrambled the story and dialogue. Producers, writers and investors were all working at cross purposes with the directors, the British couple Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton. On set, there were 300 extras waiting to film the next scene. The lines Hopper was about to deliver had been changed at the last moment, and not for the first time. He was dressed as a humanoid dinosaur, heavily made up in the sweltering North Carolina heat, his hair gelled into a weird row of reptilian spikes.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/mar/22/super-mario-bros-movie-killing-fields-chariots-fire-video-game">Continue reading...</a> Games Film Super Mario Culture Science fiction and fantasy films Dennis Hopper Bob Hoskins Nintendo Visual effects (VFX) Thu, 22 Mar 2018 00:00:10 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/mar/22/super-mario-bros-movie-killing-fields-chariots-fire-video-game Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/Allied Filmmakers Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/Allied Filmmakers Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/Allied Filmmakers Keith Stuart 2018-03-22T00:00:10Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/nov/15/super-mario-bros-movie-nintendo-animation <p>He may be a terrific mascot for Nintendo, but the plumber’s lack of personality makes him a rubbish protagonist for a film – as Bob Hoskins discovered</p><p>Illumination is going to make a new Super Mario Bros movie, and what that means to you probably depends on your age. If you’re young enough to be the target audience of Illumination’s other movies – the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/14/despicable-me-review">Despicable Me</a> franchise, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/28/minions-observer-review">Minions</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/23/secret-life-pets-film-review-family-animation-new-york">The Secret Life of Pets</a> et al – chances are you don’t know who <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/super-mario">Super Mario</a> is. If you’re in your teens, you might be wondering why anyone would take a beloved video game character and insert him into a medium as passive as film. But if you’re like me – if you’re just easing the corner into middle age – then this is quite easily the worst news of all time.</p><p>Because if you’re my age, you remember <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtMZKYnLg5c">the last Super Mario Bros movie</a>. Worse, you remember the Super Mario Bros movie coming out right at the peak of your infatuation with Super Mario, and the feeling of vertiginous disappointment at being tricked into watching such a muddled, muddied rip-off of a film. The script was rewritten after the sets had already been built. It was, by his own admission, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/18/bob-hoskins-interview-neverland">Bob Hoskins’ biggest disappointment</a>. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/10/super-mario-bros-movie-nintendo">1993 Super Mario Bros movie</a> should have been a line in the sand – a warning to the rest of the world that no good can come of making films about video game characters.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/nov/15/super-mario-bros-movie-nintendo-animation">Continue reading...</a> Super Mario Film Game culture Bob Hoskins Technology Nintendo Family films Animation in film Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:51:57 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/nov/15/super-mario-bros-movie-nintendo-animation Photograph: pr Photograph: pr Photograph: pr Stuart Heritage 2017-11-15T14:51:57Z https://www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2016/oct/15/theatre-roundhouse-london-berkoff-warhol-and-an-age-of-experimentation-in-pictures <p>London’s Roundhouse is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Since reopening 10 years ago it’s staged a fine lineup of music and performing arts. Here, revisit some of the shows that were staged in its first wave of activity, from the late 1960s to the early 80s, when productions by The Living Theatre, Ken Tynan and Prospect were put on in between gigs by some of rock’s biggest stars</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2016/oct/15/theatre-roundhouse-london-berkoff-warhol-and-an-age-of-experimentation-in-pictures">Continue reading...</a> Theatre Culture Stage Dance Cabaret Steven Berkoff Andy Warhol Art and design Photography Kenneth Tynan William Shakespeare Ken Campbell Pete Postlethwaite Helen Mirren Bob Hoskins Twyla Tharp Sat, 15 Oct 2016 06:00:07 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2016/oct/15/theatre-roundhouse-london-berkoff-warhol-and-an-age-of-experimentation-in-pictures Photograph: Bryn Campbell/The Observer Photograph: Bryn Campbell/The Observer Photograph: Bryn Campbell/The Observer Images courtesy of the Roundhouse 2016-10-15T06:00:07Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/26/long-good-friday-mona-lisa-dvd-review-philip-french <p>(John Mackenzie, 1980/Neil Jordan, 1986; Arrow DVD/Blu-ray, 18)</p><p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/apr/30/bob-hoskins">Bob Hoskins</a> became an actor by accident when he accompanied a friend to an audition at London’s leftwing Unity theatre in 1969, and achieved <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2014/may/01/bob-hoskins-tv-work-adult-literacy-on-the-move">TV stardom</a> as the doomed travelling salesman in Dennis Potter’s <em>Pennies From Heaven</em>. In 1980, he became an international star in Scottish director John Mackenzie’s <em>The Long Good Friday</em>, his first major screen role, as the East End gangster Harold Shand who dreams of transforming his minor criminal empire into a legitimate enterprise by rejuvenating London’s decaying docklands and playing host to the 1988 Olympics. Hoskins’s Shand was compared favourably with Edward G Robinson’s seminal <em>Little Caesar</em> of 1931.</p><p>By 1986, Hoskins was established on the world scene when he won the top acting prize at Cannes for the complementary role of petty crook George, in Neil Jordan’s romantic film noir <em>Mona Lisa</em>, who emerges from a long jail stretch to be employed by Soho vice-boss Michael Caine as the minder of an alluring call girl played by <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/18/cathy-tyson-interview-radiance-marie-curie-tabard">Cathy Tyson</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/26/long-good-friday-mona-lisa-dvd-review-philip-french">Continue reading...</a> Bob Hoskins DVD and video reviews Film Culture The Long Good Friday Crime films Michael Caine Helen Mirren Neil Jordan Sun, 26 Jul 2015 07:00:03 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/26/long-good-friday-mona-lisa-dvd-review-philip-french Photograph: Allstar/Handmade Films/PR Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren in The Long Good Friday. Photograph: Allstar/Handmade Films Photograph: Allstar/Handmade Films/PR Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren in The Long Good Friday. Photograph: Allstar/Handmade Films Photograph: Allstar/Handmade Films/PR Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren in The Long Good Friday. Photograph: Allstar/Handmade Films Philip French 2015-07-26T07:00:03Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/21/the-long-good-friday-review-john-mackenzie-bob-hoskins-helen-mirren-barrie-keeffe A superb script and great turns from Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren are the making of John Mackenzie’s classic London gangland thriller<p>“What I’m looking for is someone who&nbsp;can contribute to what England has given to the world: culture, sophistication, genius – a little bit more than an ’ot dog, know what I mean?” John Mackenzie’s classic British thriller, from a rip-roaring script by Barrie Keeffe, nearly went straight to TV and only ended up in cinemas thanks to the intervention of George Harrison’s <a href="http://www.handmadefilms.com/" title="">HandMade Films</a>. Today it&nbsp;stands as a prophetic classic, as groundbreaking as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgU1L1z-Zx4" title=""><em>Get Carter</em></a>, as quotable as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT5qhPoRS9g" title=""><em>Withnail &amp; I</em></a> (“Shut up you long streak of paralysed piss”).</p><p>Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren are magnificent as the lord and lady of their underworld manor, attempting to&nbsp;develop London Docklands in a pre-Canary Wharf world, caught between American investors and IRA&nbsp;bombs. Phil Meheux’s camera captures the city on the brink of international change, while Keeffe’s script scratches away at Europe, the free&nbsp;market and the property boom with&nbsp;uncanny prescience. To cap it all,&nbsp;Francis Monkman’s synthy, saxy theme remains nail-bitingly catchy. Sheer brilliance.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/21/the-long-good-friday-review-john-mackenzie-bob-hoskins-helen-mirren-barrie-keeffe">Continue reading...</a> Crime films Film Bob Hoskins Helen Mirren Thrillers Drama films Culture Sun, 21 Jun 2015 07:00:02 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/21/the-long-good-friday-review-john-mackenzie-bob-hoskins-helen-mirren-barrie-keeffe Photograph: /PR 'Magnificent': Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren in The Long Good Friday. Photograph: /PR 'Magnificent': Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren in The Long Good Friday. Photograph: /PR 'Magnificent': Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren in The Long Good Friday. Mark Kermode, Observer film critic 2015-06-21T07:00:02Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2015/jun/19/the-long-good-friday-bob-hoskins-video-review The Long Good Friday, the British gangster classic starring Bob Hoskins as London kingpin Harold Shand, is getting re-released in UK cinemas this week. Peter Bradshaw explains why John Mackenzie's film, which also featured a young Helen Mirren as Harold's girlfriend, is worth a butchers this week <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2015/jun/19/the-long-good-friday-bob-hoskins-video-review">Continue reading...</a> The Long Good Friday Film Culture Thrillers Bob Hoskins Helen Mirren Fri, 19 Jun 2015 06:30:00 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2015/jun/19/the-long-good-friday-bob-hoskins-video-review Photograph: guardian.co.uk 140x84 trailpic for What to Watch Long Good Friday Photograph: guardian.co.uk 140x84 trailpic for What to Watch Long Good Friday Photograph: guardian.co.uk 140x84 trailpic for What to Watch Long Good Friday Peter Bradshaw and Henry Barnes 2015-06-19T06:30:00Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/18/the-long-good-friday-review-classic-brit-gangster-melodrama <p>Bob Hoskins’ ruthless East End geezer has big plans for London’s docklands in John Mackenzie’s prescient 80s tale of hubris and revenge</p><p>“This country’s a worse risk than Cuba! It’s a banana republic!” That is how Britain is brusquely described in the classic Brit gangster melodrama from 1980, now on rerelease, written by Barrie Keeffe and directed by John Mackenzie. It features a criminal property developer in trouble with rich Americans and the IRA. (A modern-day remake would turn them into Russians and Islamic State.) The film has dated a bit, but it’s surprising how very cleverly it intuits the property boom of London in 2015, and its yearning to be at the centre of a globalised economy, while at the same time absorbing both 70s drear and 80s aspiration. Bob Hoskins <em>(below)</em> is East End geezer Harold Shand – pop-eyed, nervy and insecure about his imminent big break – with plans for a legitimate real estate empire in the London docklands, inspired by reports that the 1988 Olympics will be sited there. First he has to impress a possible American investor, who arrives at the very moment a gang war erupts. Helen Mirren is Harold’s testy, tasty posh girlfriend. The film is notably worldly and tolerant on the subject of gay sex. On the issue of race it’s dodgier, though Shand is supposed to be racist. Hoskins’ bullish, black-comic Napoleonism makes this movie: pugnacious, sentimental, a cockney Cagney.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/18/the-long-good-friday-review-classic-brit-gangster-melodrama">Continue reading...</a> Drama films Film Culture Bob Hoskins Helen Mirren Thu, 18 Jun 2015 20:30:05 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/18/the-long-good-friday-review-classic-brit-gangster-melodrama Photograph: PR Photograph: PR Photograph: PR Peter Bradshaw 2015-06-18T20:30:05Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/18/gangsters-then-bankers-the-long-good-friday-foretold-the-future-thatcherism-londons-docklands The classic thriller predicted the rise of Thatcherism and the transformation of London’s Docklands into an area of unbridled commerce. For the re-release of the film, I revisited the streets where mobsters once ran wild<p>At the start of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/36322/long.good.friday">The Long Good Friday</a>, Harold Shand <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otCFwYbzZII">flew in on Concorde</a>. Shand was old-school: a London ganglord played by Bob Hoskins, back home after a New York business trip to find his empire being gutted.</p><p>Now, to revisit Harold’s world, I’m listening to the driverless hum of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), gently jolting through east London above the endless juliet balconies of new-build flats. Neither the DLR nor the flats were here in June 1979, when Hoskins and director John Mackenzie started work on a modestly scaled British crime thriller that would become one of the most darkly momentous films that Britain ever made. So, on another sunlit early summer day, I wanted to see how the London of the film had changed; to splice then with now.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/18/gangsters-then-bankers-the-long-good-friday-foretold-the-future-thatcherism-londons-docklands">Continue reading...</a> Film Culture Bob Hoskins Thu, 18 Jun 2015 17:35:50 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/18/gangsters-then-bankers-the-long-good-friday-foretold-the-future-thatcherism-londons-docklands Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive Danny Leigh 2015-06-18T17:35:50Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/15/long-good-friday-bob-hoskins <p>The classic gangster thriller is a fitting vision of Thatcher’s Britain, with Bob Hoskins as Harold Shand, the quotable cockney mobster who loses it all</p><p>“For 10 years we’ve had peace, and now there’s been an ERUPTION!”</p><p>Oh, Harold Shand and his best-laid plans. The East End gangster kingpin is a true spirit-of-the-blitz Little Englander, “a businessman with a sense of history, and also a Londoner”, seeking to shift his thriving criminal empire into legit – or semi-legit – business concerns. He’s dependent upon the New York mafia to help him corner the redevelopment of his own youthful stamping grounds, east London’s Docklands, with a view toward cashing in on a mooted 1988 London Olympics.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/15/long-good-friday-bob-hoskins">Continue reading...</a> Film Culture Bob Hoskins Mon, 15 Jun 2015 07:59:00 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/15/long-good-friday-bob-hoskins Photograph: Rex Photograph: Rex Photograph: Rex John Patterson 2015-06-15T07:59:00Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/23/joan-rivers-snubbed-by-oscars-in-memoriam-tribute <p>Annual rollcall of Hollywood’s most notable departed fails to find room for comic, actor and fashion analyst </p><ul><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/live/2015/feb/22/oscars-2015-live-red-carpet-and-arrivals-ceremony-and-winners">Oscars 2015 - live!</a></li></ul><p>The comedian Joan Rivers, whose cutting remarks about the fashion fails of Oscar nominees were a staple of red-carpet coverage, was unexpectedly absent from the 2015 ceremony’s commemoration of notable deaths.</p><p>Though the academy found room to mention the likes of Gabriel Marcia Márquez and Maya Angelou, alongside more expected industry figures such as Mickey Rooney, Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall, Rivers – who died on 4 September last year, was left out.<br></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/23/joan-rivers-snubbed-by-oscars-in-memoriam-tribute">Continue reading...</a> Oscars 2015 Oscars Joan Rivers Bob Hoskins Awards and prizes US news World news Stage Culture Film Mon, 23 Feb 2015 03:52:50 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/23/joan-rivers-snubbed-by-oscars-in-memoriam-tribute Photograph: Steve Granitz/WireImage Photograph: Steve Granitz/WireImage Photograph: Steve Granitz/WireImage Guardian film 2015-02-23T03:52:50Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/23/tribute-bob-hoskins-2015-oscars <p>The British actor, left out of Bafta’s own tributes this year, was one of the departed stars acknowledged at this year’s Academy awards</p><ul><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/live/2015/feb/22/oscars-2015-live-red-carpet-and-arrivals-ceremony-and-winners">Oscars 2015 - live!</a></li></ul><p>Bob Hoskins, the salt of the earth British actor who made a successful jump to Hollywood, was remembered during the 2015 Academy awards – in contrast to this year’s Baftas, where he was left out of the list of tributes.</p><p>Bafta responded to the snub by saying they’d included him in their tributes at their television awards – but while he first appeared in Dennis Potter’s TV series Pennies From Heaven, film was where Hoskins really made his name, with significant roles in the US as well as the UK.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/23/tribute-bob-hoskins-2015-oscars">Continue reading...</a> Oscars 2015 Oscars Bob Hoskins Film Culture Awards and prizes Mon, 23 Feb 2015 03:36:17 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/23/tribute-bob-hoskins-2015-oscars Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian Ben Beaumont-Thomas 2015-02-23T03:36:17Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/10/bafta-defends-bob-hoskins-in-memoriam-omission <p>British Academy explains that Hoskins already featured in TV Baftas ceremony as Hoskins’ daughter adds to Twitter backlash</p><p>Bafta organisers have <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bafta-claims-bob-hoskins-memoriam-771709">defended</a> their decision to exclude Bob Hoskins from the annual in memoriam segment of Sunday’s broadcast following widespread criticism.<br><br> Hoskins was omitted in favour of Hollywood stars such as Lauren Bacall, Harold Ramis, Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams, all of whom also died in the past 12 months. The move <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/09/baftas-bob-hoskins-rik-mayall-forget-death">sparked anger on Twitter</a>, with comic David Baddiel suggesting it was “symbolic of the erasure in modern times of the working-class actor”. But the British Academy said in a statement that the omission was pre-planned because Hoskins’ life was celebrated during an obituaries package at its television awards in May.<br><br> “Bafta features individuals in televised obituaries only once, sadly due to the number of people we’d like to recognise at any one time, and that means difficult decisions have to be made as to which ceremony they should be included in,” said the organisation in a statement.</p><p>“As Bob died in April last year, just before the television awards, we felt it was right to remember his wonderful career then, rather than wait until last night’s film awards.”</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/10/bafta-defends-bob-hoskins-in-memoriam-omission">Continue reading...</a> Baftas 2015 Bob Hoskins Film Culture Baftas Awards and prizes Tue, 10 Feb 2015 08:55:29 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/10/bafta-defends-bob-hoskins-in-memoriam-omission Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian Ben Child 2015-02-10T08:55:29Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/09/baftas-bob-hoskins-rik-mayall-forget-death <p>The omission of Bob Hoskins from the In Memoriam section of last night’s Baftas has led to outrage and accusations of snobbery on Twitter, while others highlight absence of Rik Mayall</p><p>Bafta organisers have come under fire for failing to include the late Bob Hoskins, who died in April, in the awards ceremony’s annual In Memoriam segment.</p><p>Hoskins, who won the best actor Bafta in 1986 for Neil Jordan neo-noir Mona Lisa, was omitted in favour of Hollywood stars such as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/08/baftas-pay-tribute-to-robin-williams-lauren-bacall-and-more">Lauren Bacall, Harold Ramis, Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams</a>, all of whom also died in the past 12 months.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/09/baftas-bob-hoskins-rik-mayall-forget-death">Continue reading...</a> Baftas 2015 Baftas Film Bob Hoskins Film industry Rik Mayall Awards and prizes Culture Mon, 09 Feb 2015 08:59:57 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/09/baftas-bob-hoskins-rik-mayall-forget-death Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian Ben Child 2015-02-09T08:59:57Z https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/08/baftas-pay-tribute-to-robin-williams-lauren-bacall-and-more <p>The legacy of the stars and film-makers who died in 2014, who also include Richard Attenborough and Mike Nichols, has been recognised in a video tribute at this year’s British Academy film awards</p><p>Some of Hollywood and the UK’s most beloved actors have had tributes paid to them at this year’s Bafta ceremony, after their deaths in the previous year.</p><p>Despite a lack of truly great roles later in his life, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/12/robin-williams-genius-weird-wonderful-comedy-standup">Robin Williams’s comic gifts</a> were unparalleled. In films like Mrs Doubtfire and Good Morning Vietnam he perfected a hilariously antic, malleable style, but also showed he could play it eerily straight in Insomnia and Good Will Hunting.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/08/baftas-pay-tribute-to-robin-williams-lauren-bacall-and-more">Continue reading...</a> Baftas 2015 Baftas Awards and prizes Robin Williams Bob Hoskins US news UK news World news Lauren Bacall Richard Attenborough Mike Nichols Sun, 08 Feb 2015 22:22:12 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/08/baftas-pay-tribute-to-robin-williams-lauren-bacall-and-more Photograph: Matt Sayles/Associated Press Photo Photograph: Matt Sayles/Associated Press Photo Photograph: Matt Sayles/Associated Press Photo Guardian film 2015-02-08T22:22:12Z https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/18/cathy-tyson-interview-radiance-marie-curie-tabard <p>The Mona Lisa star on playing Marie Curie, founding a theatre company and working with her musician son</p><p><strong>In February, you’ll be playing Marie Curie in Alan Alda’s play <em>Radiance</em>, which is as much about the scandal her relationship with a colleague caused in belle epoque Paris as her achievements as a scientist...</strong><br> She was a very strong woman but the love affair has been very painful to read about. She was hounded and judged and it made her ill. I don’t know how she survived. I also read about her upbringing in Warsaw, how the Poles were treated by the Russians. The determination of that woman and the family that she came from… obviously she was a genius as well. I find theatre amazing – where it takes me. Over Christmas, I bought myself a telescope and a microscope. I thought: “I’m nearly 50. This is great.”</p><p><strong>Your big break came aged 21, when you were cast in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/neil-jordan">Neil Jordan</a> film <em>Mona Lisa</em>, along with Bob Hoskins. How do you feel about it now?</strong><br> The characters were quite incongruous [she played a prostitute]. I loved it though. Our country is not filmed enough and I feel immense pride [about it]. When Bob died, I hadn’t seen him for a long time. He invited me to a party and I wasn’t able to go and I was sad that I missed that opportunity to be with him. I owe a lot to Bob in the sense that he helped me to be unafraid to reach feelings as an actress.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/18/cathy-tyson-interview-radiance-marie-curie-tabard">Continue reading...</a> Stage Theatre Bob Hoskins Film Culture Sun, 18 Jan 2015 08:45:09 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/18/cathy-tyson-interview-radiance-marie-curie-tabard Photograph: Karen Robinson 'Going to uni aged 44 kick-started my life again' … Cathy Tyson photographed in the Kings Head pub in Crouch End, London. Photograph: Karen Robinson Photograph: Karen Robinson 'Going to uni aged 44 kick-started my life again' … Cathy Tyson photographed in the Kings Head pub in Crouch End, London. Photograph: Karen Robinson Photograph: Karen Robinson 'Going to uni aged 44 kick-started my life again' … Cathy Tyson photographed in the Kings Head pub in Crouch End, London. Photograph: Karen Robinson Interview by Ursula Kenny 2015-01-18T08:45:09Z