London, Friday 1 July 2011: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is delighted to announce the names of the 42 Brits to Watch who will be the focus of the inaugural BAFTA Brits to Watch. The event will take place on Saturday 9 July at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles. BAFTA’s President, Hrh The Duke of Cambridge, and Hrh The Duchess of Cambridge will attend the event as part of their visit to California, helping highlight the incredible depth and range of great British talent currently emerging in film, television and video games. The 42 Brits have been selected by a BAFTA panel based on a number of criteria. They will generally not be complete beginners in their industry, and will have already begun to show real promise. They are: Rory Aitken, Producer James Bobin, Writer/Director Jessica Brown Findlay, Actress David Buckley, Composer Jamie Bull, Editor Sam Care,...
- 7/1/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
When Prince William and Duchess Catherine touch down in the States next week, they'll be getting the Hollywood treatment - along with 42 other up-and-coming British stars. On their California itinerary for July 9, the royal couple are set to attend the British Academy of Film and Television Arts "Brits to Watch" event, which Nigel Lythgoe is helping to organize. The event will "highlight the incredible depth and range of great British talent currently emerging in film, television and video games," according to a BAFTA release on Friday, providing the guest list. Photos: Prince William & Kate Middleton Take Canada!So who made the cut?...
- 7/1/2011
- by Alison Schwartz
- PEOPLE.com
Opens
Friday, April 30
"Mean Girls" wants to have it both ways and, surprisingly, just about manages that trick. The first way, of course, is what Paramount is currently marketing: a teen comedy about high school girls battling for guys and social prestige. The other way is much trickier. Debuting screenwriter Tina Fey, a head writer on "Saturday Night Live" and co-anchor of the show's popular "Weekend Update" segment, lays a serious theme behind the high school high jinks.
Her script is based on Rosalind Wiseman's best seller "Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Other Realities of Adolescence," a book that explores the power of school cliques and the role of girls within them. This duality results in an edgy comedy, where laughs stem at times from uncomfortable situations. In other words, "Mean Girls" lives up to its title.
All that attitude plus a subtle turn by young star Lindsay Lohan, who successfully reteams here with her "Freaky Friday" director Mark Waters, should help "Mean Girls" draw well from its target audience of teenage females.
Fey fashions her story around the role-playing in high school identified by Wiseman's book: the Queen Bee, her Sidekicks, the Torn Bystander, Messenger and Target, among others. Refreshingly, none of these types turn into stereotypes. The geeks among the Mathletes are allowed a surprisingly cool, unself-conscious hipness. And, sure, the Plastics -- the three girls at the center of all the social climbing and psychological warfare -- are plastic as hell. Yet Fey's screenplay insists on viewing them not as caricatures but as young girls confronting very real issues of image, self-worth and fear of failure.
Lohan plays Cady Heron, a young girl who is a social blank: She joins a Chicago-area high school directly from Africa, where her zoologist parents home-schooled their daughter. This allows Cady -- and the film -- to compare behavior in the animal kingdom and on campus, each a jungle in its own way. In occasional fantasy sequences, the kids' behavior apes -- pun intended -- animal comportment in the bush.
As a lonely newcomer, Cady is initially adopted by the social outcasts Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian Daniel Franzese). These two are into art and treat all cliques with undisguised disdain. However, Cady's smashing looks and unusual innocence soon attract the attention of Queen Bee Regina (Rachel McAdams) and her sycophantic Sidekicks Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) and Karen (Amanda Seyfried).
The outcasts seize Regina's ambivalent flirtation with Cady as an opportunity to dethrone the Queen Bee: They persuade Cady to pretend to like the Plastics and hang out with them until she gathers enough information to use when it is most beneficial. Gradually, Cady gets a little too good at this espionage and, without realizing it, becomes a queen of mean herself.
One of the movie's achievements is persuading the audience to stay firmly in Cady's camp during her odyssey of self-discovery. As she gets savvy about game-playing and much, much meaner, you must still believe that the goodness of her heart has only temporarily been eclipsed. Lohan manages this transition as things unravel comically and the whole school comes apart at the seams over a prank.
The climax is somewhat forced and a little disjointed. All the girls are forced to assemble in the gym for a lecture and group therapy session from teacher Ms. Norbury (Fey). The movie may drive home its message without much subtlety, but the comedy remains sharp, and believability is never sacrificed.
For the second film in a row, Waters achieves striking comic results from a mix of young actors and veterans. The film's polish extends into tech areas from cinematographer Daryn Okada's energetic lensing to the revealing decor in Cary White's bedroom sets. Mary Jane Fort's costumes overemphasize her star's bust line, but that too is not uncommon among social-climbing high school girls.
MEAN GIRLS
Paramount Pictures
A Lorne Michaels production
Credits:
Director: Mark Waters
Screenwriter: Tina Fey
Based on the book by: Rosalind Wiseman
Producer: Lorne Michaels
Executive producer: Jill Messick
Director of photography: Daryn Okada
Production designer: Cary White
Music: Rolfe Kent
Co-producer: Louise Rosner
Costume designer: Mary Jane Fort
Editor: Wendy Greene Bricmont
Cast:
Cady: Lindsay Lohan
Regina: Rachel McAdams
Ms. Norbury: Tina Fey
Mr. Duvall: Tim Meadows
Mrs. George: Amy Poehler
Betsy: Ana Gasteyer
Gretchen: Lacey Chabert
Janis Ian: Lizzy Caplan
Damian: Daniel Franzese
Chip: Neil Flynn
Aaron: Jonathan Bennett
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Friday, April 30
"Mean Girls" wants to have it both ways and, surprisingly, just about manages that trick. The first way, of course, is what Paramount is currently marketing: a teen comedy about high school girls battling for guys and social prestige. The other way is much trickier. Debuting screenwriter Tina Fey, a head writer on "Saturday Night Live" and co-anchor of the show's popular "Weekend Update" segment, lays a serious theme behind the high school high jinks.
Her script is based on Rosalind Wiseman's best seller "Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Other Realities of Adolescence," a book that explores the power of school cliques and the role of girls within them. This duality results in an edgy comedy, where laughs stem at times from uncomfortable situations. In other words, "Mean Girls" lives up to its title.
All that attitude plus a subtle turn by young star Lindsay Lohan, who successfully reteams here with her "Freaky Friday" director Mark Waters, should help "Mean Girls" draw well from its target audience of teenage females.
Fey fashions her story around the role-playing in high school identified by Wiseman's book: the Queen Bee, her Sidekicks, the Torn Bystander, Messenger and Target, among others. Refreshingly, none of these types turn into stereotypes. The geeks among the Mathletes are allowed a surprisingly cool, unself-conscious hipness. And, sure, the Plastics -- the three girls at the center of all the social climbing and psychological warfare -- are plastic as hell. Yet Fey's screenplay insists on viewing them not as caricatures but as young girls confronting very real issues of image, self-worth and fear of failure.
Lohan plays Cady Heron, a young girl who is a social blank: She joins a Chicago-area high school directly from Africa, where her zoologist parents home-schooled their daughter. This allows Cady -- and the film -- to compare behavior in the animal kingdom and on campus, each a jungle in its own way. In occasional fantasy sequences, the kids' behavior apes -- pun intended -- animal comportment in the bush.
As a lonely newcomer, Cady is initially adopted by the social outcasts Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian Daniel Franzese). These two are into art and treat all cliques with undisguised disdain. However, Cady's smashing looks and unusual innocence soon attract the attention of Queen Bee Regina (Rachel McAdams) and her sycophantic Sidekicks Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) and Karen (Amanda Seyfried).
The outcasts seize Regina's ambivalent flirtation with Cady as an opportunity to dethrone the Queen Bee: They persuade Cady to pretend to like the Plastics and hang out with them until she gathers enough information to use when it is most beneficial. Gradually, Cady gets a little too good at this espionage and, without realizing it, becomes a queen of mean herself.
One of the movie's achievements is persuading the audience to stay firmly in Cady's camp during her odyssey of self-discovery. As she gets savvy about game-playing and much, much meaner, you must still believe that the goodness of her heart has only temporarily been eclipsed. Lohan manages this transition as things unravel comically and the whole school comes apart at the seams over a prank.
The climax is somewhat forced and a little disjointed. All the girls are forced to assemble in the gym for a lecture and group therapy session from teacher Ms. Norbury (Fey). The movie may drive home its message without much subtlety, but the comedy remains sharp, and believability is never sacrificed.
For the second film in a row, Waters achieves striking comic results from a mix of young actors and veterans. The film's polish extends into tech areas from cinematographer Daryn Okada's energetic lensing to the revealing decor in Cary White's bedroom sets. Mary Jane Fort's costumes overemphasize her star's bust line, but that too is not uncommon among social-climbing high school girls.
MEAN GIRLS
Paramount Pictures
A Lorne Michaels production
Credits:
Director: Mark Waters
Screenwriter: Tina Fey
Based on the book by: Rosalind Wiseman
Producer: Lorne Michaels
Executive producer: Jill Messick
Director of photography: Daryn Okada
Production designer: Cary White
Music: Rolfe Kent
Co-producer: Louise Rosner
Costume designer: Mary Jane Fort
Editor: Wendy Greene Bricmont
Cast:
Cady: Lindsay Lohan
Regina: Rachel McAdams
Ms. Norbury: Tina Fey
Mr. Duvall: Tim Meadows
Mrs. George: Amy Poehler
Betsy: Ana Gasteyer
Gretchen: Lacey Chabert
Janis Ian: Lizzy Caplan
Damian: Daniel Franzese
Chip: Neil Flynn
Aaron: Jonathan Bennett
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Opens
Friday, April 30
"Mean Girls" wants to have it both ways and, surprisingly, just about manages that trick. The first way, of course, is what Paramount is currently marketing: a teen comedy about high school girls battling for guys and social prestige. The other way is much trickier. Debuting screenwriter Tina Fey, a head writer on "Saturday Night Live" and co-anchor of the show's popular "Weekend Update" segment, lays a serious theme behind the high school high jinks.
Her script is based on Rosalind Wiseman's best seller "Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Other Realities of Adolescence," a book that explores the power of school cliques and the role of girls within them. This duality results in an edgy comedy, where laughs stem at times from uncomfortable situations. In other words, "Mean Girls" lives up to its title.
All that attitude plus a subtle turn by young star Lindsay Lohan, who successfully reteams here with her "Freaky Friday" director Mark Waters, should help "Mean Girls" draw well from its target audience of teenage females.
Fey fashions her story around the role-playing in high school identified by Wiseman's book: the Queen Bee, her Sidekicks, the Torn Bystander, Messenger and Target, among others. Refreshingly, none of these types turn into stereotypes. The geeks among the Mathletes are allowed a surprisingly cool, unself-conscious hipness. And, sure, the Plastics -- the three girls at the center of all the social climbing and psychological warfare -- are plastic as hell. Yet Fey's screenplay insists on viewing them not as caricatures but as young girls confronting very real issues of image, self-worth and fear of failure.
Lohan plays Cady Heron, a young girl who is a social blank: She joins a Chicago-area high school directly from Africa, where her zoologist parents home-schooled their daughter. This allows Cady -- and the film -- to compare behavior in the animal kingdom and on campus, each a jungle in its own way. In occasional fantasy sequences, the kids' behavior apes -- pun intended -- animal comportment in the bush.
As a lonely newcomer, Cady is initially adopted by the social outcasts Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian Daniel Franzese). These two are into art and treat all cliques with undisguised disdain. However, Cady's smashing looks and unusual innocence soon attract the attention of Queen Bee Regina (Rachel McAdams) and her sycophantic Sidekicks Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) and Karen (Amanda Seyfried).
The outcasts seize Regina's ambivalent flirtation with Cady as an opportunity to dethrone the Queen Bee: They persuade Cady to pretend to like the Plastics and hang out with them until she gathers enough information to use when it is most beneficial. Gradually, Cady gets a little too good at this espionage and, without realizing it, becomes a queen of mean herself.
One of the movie's achievements is persuading the audience to stay firmly in Cady's camp during her odyssey of self-discovery. As she gets savvy about game-playing and much, much meaner, you must still believe that the goodness of her heart has only temporarily been eclipsed. Lohan manages this transition as things unravel comically and the whole school comes apart at the seams over a prank.
The climax is somewhat forced and a little disjointed. All the girls are forced to assemble in the gym for a lecture and group therapy session from teacher Ms. Norbury (Fey). The movie may drive home its message without much subtlety, but the comedy remains sharp, and believability is never sacrificed.
For the second film in a row, Waters achieves striking comic results from a mix of young actors and veterans. The film's polish extends into tech areas from cinematographer Daryn Okada's energetic lensing to the revealing decor in Cary White's bedroom sets. Mary Jane Fort's costumes overemphasize her star's bust line, but that too is not uncommon among social-climbing high school girls.
MEAN GIRLS
Paramount Pictures
A Lorne Michaels production
Credits:
Director: Mark Waters
Screenwriter: Tina Fey
Based on the book by: Rosalind Wiseman
Producer: Lorne Michaels
Executive producer: Jill Messick
Director of photography: Daryn Okada
Production designer: Cary White
Music: Rolfe Kent
Co-producer: Louise Rosner
Costume designer: Mary Jane Fort
Editor: Wendy Greene Bricmont
Cast:
Cady: Lindsay Lohan
Regina: Rachel McAdams
Ms. Norbury: Tina Fey
Mr. Duvall: Tim Meadows
Mrs. George: Amy Poehler
Betsy: Ana Gasteyer
Gretchen: Lacey Chabert
Janis Ian: Lizzy Caplan
Damian: Daniel Franzese
Chip: Neil Flynn
Aaron: Jonathan Bennett
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Friday, April 30
"Mean Girls" wants to have it both ways and, surprisingly, just about manages that trick. The first way, of course, is what Paramount is currently marketing: a teen comedy about high school girls battling for guys and social prestige. The other way is much trickier. Debuting screenwriter Tina Fey, a head writer on "Saturday Night Live" and co-anchor of the show's popular "Weekend Update" segment, lays a serious theme behind the high school high jinks.
Her script is based on Rosalind Wiseman's best seller "Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Other Realities of Adolescence," a book that explores the power of school cliques and the role of girls within them. This duality results in an edgy comedy, where laughs stem at times from uncomfortable situations. In other words, "Mean Girls" lives up to its title.
All that attitude plus a subtle turn by young star Lindsay Lohan, who successfully reteams here with her "Freaky Friday" director Mark Waters, should help "Mean Girls" draw well from its target audience of teenage females.
Fey fashions her story around the role-playing in high school identified by Wiseman's book: the Queen Bee, her Sidekicks, the Torn Bystander, Messenger and Target, among others. Refreshingly, none of these types turn into stereotypes. The geeks among the Mathletes are allowed a surprisingly cool, unself-conscious hipness. And, sure, the Plastics -- the three girls at the center of all the social climbing and psychological warfare -- are plastic as hell. Yet Fey's screenplay insists on viewing them not as caricatures but as young girls confronting very real issues of image, self-worth and fear of failure.
Lohan plays Cady Heron, a young girl who is a social blank: She joins a Chicago-area high school directly from Africa, where her zoologist parents home-schooled their daughter. This allows Cady -- and the film -- to compare behavior in the animal kingdom and on campus, each a jungle in its own way. In occasional fantasy sequences, the kids' behavior apes -- pun intended -- animal comportment in the bush.
As a lonely newcomer, Cady is initially adopted by the social outcasts Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian Daniel Franzese). These two are into art and treat all cliques with undisguised disdain. However, Cady's smashing looks and unusual innocence soon attract the attention of Queen Bee Regina (Rachel McAdams) and her sycophantic Sidekicks Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) and Karen (Amanda Seyfried).
The outcasts seize Regina's ambivalent flirtation with Cady as an opportunity to dethrone the Queen Bee: They persuade Cady to pretend to like the Plastics and hang out with them until she gathers enough information to use when it is most beneficial. Gradually, Cady gets a little too good at this espionage and, without realizing it, becomes a queen of mean herself.
One of the movie's achievements is persuading the audience to stay firmly in Cady's camp during her odyssey of self-discovery. As she gets savvy about game-playing and much, much meaner, you must still believe that the goodness of her heart has only temporarily been eclipsed. Lohan manages this transition as things unravel comically and the whole school comes apart at the seams over a prank.
The climax is somewhat forced and a little disjointed. All the girls are forced to assemble in the gym for a lecture and group therapy session from teacher Ms. Norbury (Fey). The movie may drive home its message without much subtlety, but the comedy remains sharp, and believability is never sacrificed.
For the second film in a row, Waters achieves striking comic results from a mix of young actors and veterans. The film's polish extends into tech areas from cinematographer Daryn Okada's energetic lensing to the revealing decor in Cary White's bedroom sets. Mary Jane Fort's costumes overemphasize her star's bust line, but that too is not uncommon among social-climbing high school girls.
MEAN GIRLS
Paramount Pictures
A Lorne Michaels production
Credits:
Director: Mark Waters
Screenwriter: Tina Fey
Based on the book by: Rosalind Wiseman
Producer: Lorne Michaels
Executive producer: Jill Messick
Director of photography: Daryn Okada
Production designer: Cary White
Music: Rolfe Kent
Co-producer: Louise Rosner
Costume designer: Mary Jane Fort
Editor: Wendy Greene Bricmont
Cast:
Cady: Lindsay Lohan
Regina: Rachel McAdams
Ms. Norbury: Tina Fey
Mr. Duvall: Tim Meadows
Mrs. George: Amy Poehler
Betsy: Ana Gasteyer
Gretchen: Lacey Chabert
Janis Ian: Lizzy Caplan
Damian: Daniel Franzese
Chip: Neil Flynn
Aaron: Jonathan Bennett
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 4/26/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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