11.23.12
THOR: THE
DARK WORLD is set to release in just under a year on November 8,
2013. The film is being directed by Alan Taylor with return stars Chris
Helmsworth, Natalie Portman,Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Kaat
Dennis, Rene Russo, Idris Elba and Stellan. Actors Christopher
Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Zachary Levi, have also joined the cast. Levi replaces Joshua Dallas as Frandral, one of
the Warriors Three.
The film's premise centers on Thor battling to protect the Nine Realms
from the Dark Elves, who are led by Malekith the Accursed. The super
villain is the ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim. The film has
been filming in the UK. Here are a couple shots of Stellan with Natalie
Portman.
11.03.12
Stellan
has joined the cast of HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS,
adapted from the novel by François Lelord published in 2002. The film
revolves around Hector, an eccentric yet irresistible
London psychiatrist in crisis: he’s going nowhere and his patients are
just not getting any happier. Until one day, armed with buckets of
courage and child-like curiosity, Hector breaks out of his sheltered
vacuum of a life into a global quest to find out if happiness exists.
More importantly, if it exists for Hector. And so begins an exotic,
dangerous and hysterical journey. The film, directed by Peter Chelsom,
is a German/Canadian production with principal photography due to begin
in January 2013. Hector will be played by Simon Pegg. Stellan will take
on the role of Edward, a rich and jaded banker. Co-stars include Rosaund
Pike and Christopher Plummer.
10.19.12
From
the 10/17/12 edition of The Telegraph, Stellan discusses those people
who have inspired him:
Jan Skarsgård
-
My father was an extremely knowledgeable but also a very unconventional
man, which made him fantastic to grow up around. He did not accept the
bourgeois rules of society. The respect he showed us kids was uncommon.
It still is really. You’ve got to respect kids’ opinions, their
uniqueness.
Patti Smith
-
She’s a great all-rounder; a really talented writer and visual artist.
Her songs are both poetic and thought-provoking and her memoir "Just Kids"
was a brilliant evocation of the heyday of the American music scene and
a touching love letter to Robert Mapplethorpe.
Thomas Jefferson -
In a world where there was no freedom, no democracy, no tolerance,
Jefferson and the other founding fathers of America created the first
state where every individual was protected, in theory at least. What we
take for granted today is actually relatively new.
Tony Judt -
He was a historian and New York University professor whose work I just
love. I admired his intellectual capacity, but also his refusal to adopt
convenient ideas.
Raoul Wallenberg -
He was a diplomat from one of the wealthiest families in Sweden and went
to Hungary towards the end of the Second World War to help the Jews. He
probably saved about 20,000, by giving them Swedish passports and
negotiating with Adolf Eichmann.
10.13.12:
The
Scottish war veteran whose experiences as a Burma Railway prisoner
inspired the film, THE RAILWAY MAN, passed away last week. Eric
Lomax, who wrote his memoir about his ordeal and reconciliation with his
Japanese tormentor, was delighted to assist with the movie and had hoped
to see the finished version. His death at the age of 93 came as the
film, starring Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman and Stellan, was approaching
completion. Firth made several trips to see Mr. Lomax to hear first-hand
about the brutality that he endured at the hands of the Japanese. In an
interview Firth had commented, "He's incredibly approachable. He is 93
and not really demonstrating that at all. He is mentally far more agile
than I am... I found him nothing but a delight, and you do feel
overwhelmed by the enormity of the story you're trying to tell." Nicole
Kidman also met Mr. Lomax and his wife as part of her preparation for
the film.
According
to Moviehole, Stellan has signed up for a lead role in the feature film
adaptation of the 2000 A.D. comic, STRONGHOLD. Three years after
it was initially announced, production will begin principal photography
in the next few months for an unspecified 2013 release. The
fantasy film is based on Paul Finch's medieval comic about a group
of British knights who must stand against a horde of Welsh zombies. The
storyline reads - A team of heroic knights has just conquered the land
of Wales. On their way back to the castle, they call home, they happen
upon an unforeseen enemy - one they never fixed on battling, the undead!
It seems that the Welsh have been conquered and killed, but the enemy
has rin again as zombies! Video-game veteran Jason Kingsley is directing
and Douglas Booth has signed on for another lead role.
NYMPHOMANIAC,
now filming in Germany, has added another famous name to its cast. THR
reports that Kill Bill star Uma Thurman has signed on though no
details have been given concerning her role. It had been previously
rumored that Nicole Kidman was to join the cast but that info was never
confirmed. Perhaps that role has gone to Uma.
Marvel
has released the first synopsis for the sequel, THOR: THE DARK WORLD,
which reunites much of the original cast, including Stellan. The film is
scheduled to arrive in theaters on November 8, 2013. The sequel
continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he
battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that
predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel's "Thor" and
Marvel's "The Avengers", Thor fights to restore order across the
cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to
plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even
Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous
and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and
force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.
Son
Alexander may be the new face of Calvin Klein’s new fragrance
Encounter, but when recently asked about his favorite scent, he
responded with sausages! And I totally understand why. He says, "I grew
up in south Stockholm, and it used to be a working class neighborhood.
It’s become trendy but not when I was growing up. There was this sausage
factory a block away from my childhood apartment. It didn’t smell nice,
like chorizo or something, it was pretty foul. Just nasty. But that
smell reminds me so much of my childhood, because every morning when I
was going to school I would smell that. So if I ever find myself near a
sausage factory, I like it. It reminds me of my childhood." [The above
photo is from UK's September edition of GQ]