The Greatness of British Actors/Actresses.

[skatedreamer]

Just once? You're lucky. I lost count a long time ago. Now I have a pigeon's nest behind my aircon compressor. I'm too scare of the bird attack to remove them. Today the female moved down to my balcony to have babies. I think she is too big to flew up to their nest.

You could start writing a sequel to "The Birds" right now!

 

[BusyMom]

You could start writing a sequel to "The Birds" right now!

nah I leave it to Pamina she's very good.

 

[Olympia]

Anthony Hopkins portrays John Quincy Adams in the movie Amistad. He gives one incredible speech before the Supreme Court. (After his presidency, Quincy Adams became a Congressman and served in the House of Representatives for many years. He was a stalwart abolitionist.) Hopkins is so powerful as John Quincy Adams, especially in this scene. He's one of my favorite actors, though I've never been brave enough to watch Silence of the Lambs.

 

[Alba]

I love Daphne duMaurier! She's a wonderful writer and storyteller, underrated I think because her subjects are generally romantic. Have you read "Rebecca?" If you haven't, please do. The film version, with Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier, is superb (Oscars in 1940, IIRC). It also features Dame Judith Anderson in one of the scariest performances you'll ever see. Not in-your-face scary, but subtle scary -- which IMO is way worse (as I think Alba will agree ).

There's also a more recent, excellent BBC or ITV adaptation of "Rebecca" with Charles Dance, who has been one of my crushes since I saw him in "The Jewel in the Crown."

Rebecca is one of my top fav. movies. Absolutely brilliant.
Speaking of Birds, 4 years ago when I was living in Rome I had an incident in my apartment with bats.
Now I hate bats because for me they are like flying rats and I hate rats with all my heart.
I have long curly hair and I was terrified that they will stick in my hair/head. It was a nightmare and for 3 nights I couldn't sleep and went to a friend's appartment.
I called the animal protection, or what is called, for the 100 time and told them: either you come here and clean my appartment or I'll kill them all. They're protected species. It worked.

 

[skatedreamer]

Anthony Hopkins portrays John Quincy Adams in the movie Amistad. He gives one incredible speech before the Supreme Court. (After his presidency, Quincy Adams became a Congressman and served in the House of Representatives for many years. He was a stalwart abolitionist.) Hopkins is so powerful as John Quincy Adams, especially in this scene. He's one of my favorite actors, though I've never been brave enough to watch Silence of the Lambs.

So glad you mentioned Hopkins, Olympia. I've never seen Amistad but will now put it on my list. Also loved AH w/ Emma Thompson in Remains of the Day and Howard's End.

Re: watching Silence, right there with you -- no can do!

 

[Alba]

That speech that Hopkins gives in Amistad is the best part of the movie.
It's an inspirational speech and makes me always think of what the american idea was really about.

Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lt23N9Fzd0

I love the voice in italian too:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LccwgP3s2vI

 

[Alba]

Talking of speeches this one is one of the best. Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq8CtJSQFL4

 

[Olympia]

That speech that Hopkins gives in Amistad is the best part of the movie.
It's an inspirational speech and makes me always think of what the american idea was really about.

Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lt23N9Fzd0

I love the voice in italian too:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LccwgP3s2vI

Thanks for the video link! The film makes a gorgeous connection between an earlier speech by Cinque, the Mende prisoner, about calling on his ancestors; and Adams thinking about his ancestors, including the illustrious Founding Father John Adams, his own father. It's beautifully done, isn't it?

John Quincy Adams is one of my heroes, a brilliant man (multilingual, which was unusual for Americans even then) with many contradictions. His presidency could be considered unsuccessful, but the fact that he humbly went back and became a U.S. Congressman afterward shows something of his character. He wanted to serve his country and wasn't too proud to descend the ladder of status in order to do it. (Supposedly he was one of the few people who knew both Washington and Lincoln because of his long political career, which began when he was a teenager helping his father and ended around the time Lincoln briefly served in the House of Representatives himself.)

In this movie Hopkins captures Adams' crotchety personality, his quick mind, and his ability to take the long view both into the past and into the future, and he conveys the speech patterns and the look of an American of that era. He doesn't sound like Anthony Hopkins in costume and makeup.

Hopkins' other roles include another American president,, Nixon, as well as the pair of movies mentioned here (Remains of the Day and Howard's End), and the lovely 84 Charing Cross Road, which I think we brought up earlier. He also played C.S. Lewis in the film version of Shadowlands. Then there was a fabulous version of the Mutiny on the Bounty story called The Bounty, which was more sympathetic to Captain Bligh than other film versions (which tended to side with Fletcher Christian).

Beyond that, Hopkins is a seriously trained musician who has composed music, including some for Virtue and Moir at one point. And didn't he also play Picasso in a movie? There's nothing this guy can't do.

 

[Alba]

You're so right, and Hopkins in Nixon was simply fantastic.

 

[BusyMom]

Beyond that, Hopkins is a seriously trained musician who has composed music, including some for Virtue and Moir at one point. And didn't he also play Picasso in a movie? There's nothing this guy can't do.

I'm not really fond of Andre Rieu but surprisingly love Hopkins' pieces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSrPDH7Mq58

He is a great actor indeed, even that The Silences of the Lambs is a bit too much for me too. The Remains of the Day is top of my list for his works. The way he chose to portray Mr. Stevens a bit far too hard-hearted than the book made his character stand out more prominently. He is such a genius.

Also The Remains of the Day used pigeon as a symbolic for a flight for freedom.
I tend to keep it as a theme for the next few days until the female pigeon deicide to give back the use of my balcony.

 

[skatedreamer]

Also The Remains of the Day used pigeon as a symbolic for a flight for freedom.
I tend to keep it as a theme for the next few days until the female pigeon deicide to give back the use of my balcony.

Hmmm...maybe you could name the pigeon "Anthony" or "Antonia"?

(Sincerest apologies to Mr. Hopkins. Couldn't resist -- my sense of humor has a way of deteriorating into adolescent silliness at times. Some would say all the time...! )

 

[BusyMom]

Hmmm...maybe you could name the pigeon "Anthony" or "Antonia"?

(Sincerest apologies to Mr. Hopkins. Couldn't resist -- my sense of humor has a way of deteriorating into adolescent silliness at times. Some would say all the time...! )

What about Hannibal for the male pigeon and Clarice for the female. This male pigeon looks crazy enough for the name.

 

[skatedreamer]

What about Hannibal for the male pigeon and Clarice for the female. This male pigeon looks crazy enough for the name.

I think you've got something there. That sequel to The Birds could shape up nicely!

 

[BusyMom]

^ I'm not really a fan of animal attacks. Maybe I should try to cross over with Stephen King's The stand. The government using pigeons to carry the deadly virus that let to the Apocalypse. Or that sound a bit like a sequel to The Walking Dead?:scratch:

 

[LRK]

Hey, the more things it is the sequel to, the better! Bring in as many fans as possible.

 

[BusyMom]

Hey, the more things it is the sequel to, the better! Bring in as many fans as possible.

Or they send us a death threat for touching their beloved series. TWD has a serious die-hard fans.

 

[Olympia]

Have we brought up Ben Kingsley? He's a wonderful actor with a wide range. Gandhi is of course a magnificent work, both as a film and in terms of Kingsley's performance. But he's done so much more. He was a crucial character in Schindler's List, and he was also in a charming film by Scorsese, Hugo, in which he played early filmmaker Georges Melies. (I highly recommend Hugo, by the way.) He made a brief but significant appearance in Dave, a movie in which Kevin Kline played a double of an American president who's asked to impersonate the president for awhile. Kingsley can be equally convincing as a good guy and a very bad bad guy. Yet if you saw him on the street, you wouldn't pick him out as a movie star. He's undersized and not especially yummy-looking, and he doesn't look as if he has a personal trainer or a stylist. This makes me like him immediately.

 

[BusyMom]

John Quincy Adams is one of my heroes, a brilliant man (multilingual, which was unusual for Americans even then) with many contradictions. His presidency could be considered unsuccessful, but the fact that he humbly went back and became a U.S. Congressman afterward shows something of his character. He wanted to serve his country and wasn't too proud to descend the ladder of status in order to do it. (Supposedly he was one of the few people who knew both Washington and Lincoln because of his long political career, which began when he was a teenager helping his father and ended around the time Lincoln briefly served in the House of Representatives himself.)

A long time ago I watched HBO miniseries John Adams. It was produced by Tom Hanks if I recalled correctly.

 

[LRK]

Or they send us a death threat for touching their beloved series. TWD has a serious die-hard fans.

Yaicks! Too true, best be careful...

 

[BusyMom]

Yaicks! Too true, best be careful...

Better be. We could try divert to comedy. Something like Shawn of the Dead. Stuck in the mall surrounded by deadly virus-carrier pigeons. But funny is not my thing.

*sorry* it's Shaun of the Death.