Game of Thrones triumphs in Emmy win

In a year of change for the Emmys, Breaking Bad is out of competition while Modern Family has lost its Comedy Series crown. There’s been a long overdue win for Mad Men’s Jon Hamm but the clear winners are fantasy epic Game of Thrones and political comedy Veep.

Drama

Better Call Saul
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland
Mad Men
Orange is the New Black

Actor in a Drama

Bob Odenkirk – Better Call Saul
Kyle Chandler – Bloodline
Kevin Spacey – House of Cards
Jon Hamm – Mad Men
Jeff Daniels – The Newsroom
Liev Schreiber – Ray Donovan

Supporting Actor in a Drama

Jonathan Banks – Better Call Saul
Ben Mendelsohn – Bloodline
Jim Carter – Downton Abbey
Peter Dinklage – Game of Thrones
Michael Kelly – House of Cards
Alan Cumming – The Good Wife

Lead Actress in a Drama

Taraji P Henson – Empire
Claire Danes – Homeland
Robin Wright – House of Cards
Viola Davis – How to Get Away With Murder
Elisabeth Moss – Mad Men
Tatiana Maslany – Orphan Black

Supporting Actress in a Drama

Joanna Froggatt – Downton Abbey
Lena Headey – Game of Thrones
Emilia Clarke – Game of Thrones
Christine Baranski – The Good Wife
Christina Hendricks – Mad Men
Uzo Aduba – Orange is the New Black

Writing For a Drama Series

The Americans – Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep – Joshua Brand
Better Call Saul – Five-O – Gordon Smith
Game of Thrones – Mother’s Mercy – David Bennioff, DB Weiss
Mad Men – Lost Horizon – Sam Chellas, Matthew Weiner
Mad Men – Person to Person – Matthew Weiner

Directing For a Drama Series

Boardwalk Empire – Eldorado – Tim Van Patten
Game of Thrones – Mother’s Mercy – David Nutter
Game of Thrones – Unbowed, Unbroken, Unbent – Jeremy Podeswa
Homeland – From A to B and Back Again – Lesli Linka Glatter
The Knick – Method and Madness – Steven Soderbergh

Comedy Series

Louie
Modern Family
Parks and Recreation
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Veep

Lead Actor in a Comedy

Anthony Anderson – Black-ish
Matt LeBlanc – Episodes
Don Cheadle – House of Lies
Will Forte – The Last Man on Earth
Louis CK – Louie
William H Macy – Shameless
Jeffrey Tambor – Transparent

Lead Actress in a Comedy

Lisa Kudrow – The Comeback
Lily Tomlin – Grace and Frankie
Amy Schumer – Inside Amy Schumer
Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie
Amy Poehler – Parks and Recreation
Julia Louis Dreyfus – Veep

Supporting Actor in a Comedy

Andre Braugher – Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Adam Driver – Girls
Keegan Michael Key – Key & Peele
Ty Burrell – Modern Family
Titus Burgess – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Tony Hale – Veep

Supporting Actress in a Comedy

Mayim Bialik – The Big Bang Theory
Niecy Nash – Getting On
Julie Bowen – Modern Family
Allison Janney – Mom
Kate McKinnon – Saturday Night Live
Gaby Hoffman – Transparent
Anna Chlumsky – Veep

Writing For a Comedy Series

Episodes – Episode 409 – David Crane, Jeffrey Klarik
The Last Man on Earth – Alice in Tuscon – Will Forte
Louie – Bobby’s House – Louis CK
Silicon Valley – Two Days of the Condor – Alec Berg
Transparent – Pilot – Jill Soloway
Veep – Election Night – Armando Ianucci, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche

Directing For a Comedy Series

The Last Man on Earth – Pilot – Phil Lord, Chris Miller
Louie – Sleepover – Louis CK
Silicon Valley – Sand Hill Shuffle – Mike Judge
Transparent – Best New Girl – Jill Soloway
Veep – Testimony – Armando Ianucci

TV Movie

Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Poirot’s Last Case
Bessie
Grace of Monaco
Hello Ladies: The Movie
Killing Jesus
Nightingale

Miniseries

American Crime
American Horror Story: Freak Show
The Honourable Woman
Olive Kitteridge
Wolf Hall

Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie

Timothy Hutton – American Crime
Ricky Gervais – Derek
Adrien Brody – Houdini
David Oyelowo – Nightingale
Richard Jenkins – Olive Kitteridge
Mark Rylance – Wolf Hall

Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

Felicity Huffman – American Crime
Jessica Lange – American Horror Story: Freak Show
Queen Latifah – Bessie
Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Honourable Woman
Frances McDormand – Olive Kitteridge
Emma Thompson – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie

Richard Cabral – American Crime
Denis O’Hare – American Horror Story: Freak Show
Finn Wittrock – American Horror Story: Freak Show
Michael Kenneth Williams – Bessie
Bill Murray – Olive Kitteridge
Damian Lewis – Wolf Hall

Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

Regina King – American Crime
Kathy Bates – American Horror Story: Coven
Angela Bassett – American Horror Story: Freak Show
Sarah Paulson – American Horror Story: Freak Show
Mo’Nique – Bessie
Zoe Kazan – Olive Kitteridge

Writing for a Miniseries or Movie

American Crime – Episode One – John Ridley
Bessie – Bessie – Horton Foote, Dee Rees, Christopher Cleveland, Bettina Gilois
Hello Ladies – Stephen Merchant, Gene Stupmitsky, Lee Eisenberg
The Honourable Woman – Hugo Blick
Oliver Kitteridge – Jane Anderson
Wolf Hall – Peter Straughan

Directing for a Miniseries or Movie

American Horror Story: Freak Show – Ryan Murphy
Bessie – Dee Rees
The Honourable Woman – Hugo Blick
Houdini – Uli Edel
The Missing – Tom Shankland
Oliver Kitteridge – Lisa Cholodenko
Wolf Hall – Peter Kosminsky

12 Years triumphs at People’s Choice Awards and new Amazing Spider-Man 2 posters

After director Steve McQueen and star Michael Fassbender were snubbed for both Hunger and Shame, they’re finally getting award recognition for 12 Years a Slave, which won Best Film at the Golden Globes and People’s Choice and shone out at the Academy Award nominations. Here’s the full list

Best Picture

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

Saving Mr Banks

Best Actor

Matthew MacConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Christian Bale – American Hustle

Bruce Dern – Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips

Robert Redford – All is Lost

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Judi Dench – Philomena

Brie Larson – Short Term 12

Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr Banks

Best Supporting Actor

Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Philllips

Daniel Bruhl – Rush

Bradley Cooper – American Hustle

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave

James Gandolfini – Enough Said

Best Supporting Actress

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Scarlett Johansson – Her

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Julia Roberts – August: Osage County

June Squibb – Blue Jasmine

Oprah Winfrey – The Butler

Best Young Actor/Actress

Adele Exarchopoulos – Blue is the Warmest Colour

Asa Butterfield – Ender’s Game

Liam James – The Way Way Back

Sophie Nelisse – The Book Thief

Tye Sheridan – Mud

Best Acting Ensemble

American Hustle

August: Osage County

The Butler

Nebraska

12 Years a Slave

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Spike Jonze – Her

Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave

David O’Russell – American Hustle

Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Original Screenplay

Spike Jonze – Her

Eric Warren Singer, David O’Russell – American Hustle

Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine

Joel and Ethan Coen – Inside Llewyn Davis

Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Best Adapted Screenplay

John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave

Tracy Letts – August: Osage County

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke – Before Midnight

Billy Ray – Captain Phillips

Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope – Philomena

Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Cinematography

Emmannuel Lubezki – Gravity

Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis

Phedon Papamichael – Nebraska

Roger Deakins – Prisoners

Sean Bobbit – 12 Years a Slave

Best Art Direction

The Great Gatsby

Gravity

Her

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

12 Years a Slave

Best Editing

Gravity

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Rush

12 Years a Slave

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Costume Design

The Great Gatsby

American Hustle

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Saving Mr Banks

12 Years a Slave

Best Hair and Make-up

American Hustle

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Butler

Rush

12 Years a Slave

Best Visual Effects

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Iron Man 3

Pacific Rim

Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Animated Feature

Frozen

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Monsters University

The Wind Rises

Best Action Movie

Lone Survivor

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Iron Man 3

Rush

Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Actor in an Action Movie

Mark Wahlberg – Lone Survivor

Henry Cavill – Man of Steel

Robert Downey Jr – Iron Man 3

Brad Pitt – World War Z

Best Comedy

American Hustle

Enough Said

The Heat

This is the End

The Way Way Back

The World’s End

Best Actor in a Comedy

Leonardo Di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Christian Bale – American Hustle

James Gandolfini – Enough Said

Simon Pegg – The World’s End

Sam Rockwell – The Way Way Back

Best Actress in a Comedy

Amy Adams – American Hustle

Sandra Bullock – The Heat

Greta Gerwig – Frances Ha

Julia Louis Dreyfus – Enough Said

Melissa McCarthy – The Heat

Best Sci-fi Horror Movie

Gravity

The Conjuring

Star Trek Into Darkness

Iron Man 3

Best Foreign Language Film

Blue is the Warmest Colour

The Great Beauty

The Hunt

The Past

Best Documentary Feature

20 Feet From Stardom

The Act of Killing

Blackfish

Stories We Tell

Tim’s Vermeer

Best Song

Let it Go – Frozen

Atlas – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Happy – Despicable Me 2

Ordinary Love – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Please Mr Kennedy – Inside Llewyn Davis

Young and Beautiful – The Great Gatsby

Best Score

Stephen Price – Gravity

William Butler, Owen Pallett – Her

Thomas Newman – Saving Mr Banks

Hans Zimmer – 12 Years a Slave

Gravity has won the most awards with an impressive six wins but it’s 12 Years a Slave’s day as it picked up Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. American Hustle gained four wins while Frozen, The Great Gatsby, Blue is the Warmest Colour and Lone Survivor got two. I’m not going to do in depth analysis but I’m stilled surprised Her is being praised as an “original” and “fresh” premise as it has exactly the same plot as a Big Bang Theory episode where a lonely Raj (Kunal Nayyar) falls in love with his I-Phone’s Siri. I’m probably not the first to say it but I haven’t heard anyone else pick up on it.

The only other major piece of news is the stunning new poster for Marvel and Sony’s superhero sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Marc Webb directs and Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Dane DeHaan and Chris Cooper star but today’s focus is the hopefully terrifying new villain Electro, played by Ray, Collateral and Django Unchained’s Jamie Foxx.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – April 18th

Golden Globes winners plus Fassbender, Weaving and more for Star Wars 7

It’s over a month it’ll we reach what I consider to be the main events of the award season, the Oscars, Academy Awards, and BAFTA, British Academy of Film and Television Awards, but the Golden Globes possibly give the most accurate early insight into who’s leading the way to bringing home Best Picture. The show, hosted by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, was held on Sunday and heralded these results.

Best Motion Picture – Drama:

12 Years a Slave

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Rush

Best Actress – Drama

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Judi Dench – Philomena

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr Banks

Kate Winslet – Labor Day

Best Actor – Drama

Matthew MacConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

Idris Elba – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips

Robert Redford – All is Lost

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical

American Hustle

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical

Leonardo Di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Christian Bale – American Hustle

Bruce Dern – Nebraska

Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis

Joaquin Phoenix – Her

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical

Amy Adams – American Hustle

Julie Delpy – Before Midnight

Greta Gerwig – Frances Ha

Julia Louis Dreyfus – Enough Said

Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor

Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Daniel Bruhl – Rush

Bradley Cooper – American Hustle

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts – August: Osage County

June Squibb – Nebraska

Best Screenplay

Spike Jonze – Her

Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Jeff Pope, Steve Coogan – Philomena

John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave

Eric Warren Singer, David O’Russell – American Hustle

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave

Alexander Payne – Nebraska

David O’Russell – American Hustle

Best Animated Feature

Frozen

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Best Foreign Language Film

The Great Beauty

Blue is the Warmest Colour

The Hunt

The Wind Rises

Best Original Score

All is Lost

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Gravity

The Book Thief

12 Years a Slave

Best Original Song

“Ordinary Love” – Mandela Long Walk to Freedom

“Atlas” – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

“Let it Go” – Frozen

“Please Mr Kennedy” – Inside Llewyn Davis

“Sweeter Than Fiction” – One Chance

American Hustle leads the way with three wins but it’s Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity and 12 Years a Slave that’ll be remembered for last night’s success. The victories Alfonso Cuaron, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Leonardo Di Caprio and Matthew MacConaughey were expected but there’s some real surprises with Spike Jonze, Amy Adams and Jared Leto picking up Globes.

I’ll give a quick review on the TV results. As expected, the final season of Breaking Bad won Best Drama and Best Actor, for Bryan Cranston, while Robin Wright won the Globe for Best Actress with Netflix’s House of Cards. In comedy, brand new cop show Brooklyn Nine-Nine caused an upset for the bookies as it starred taking Best Comedy and Best Actor (Adam Sandberg) in a Comedy from favourites such as The Big Bang Theory, Arrested Development, Girls and Modern Family. Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra won both Best Mini-Series or TV Movie and Best Actor in a Mini-Series for Michael Douglas while Elizabeth Moss (Top of the Lake) won the corresponding Best Actress award. Jacqueline Bisset (Dancing on the Edge) and Jon Voight (Ray Donovan) respectively won Best Supporting Actress and Actor.

Star Wars: Episode VII, as you know, is an upcoming sci-fi reboot of George Lucas’ classic ’77 – ’83 trilogy that gained an poor name thanks to Lucas’ failed prequel ’99 – ’05 trilogy. JJ Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8, Lost, Felicity) will direct the new instalment that’s seen a number of intriguing cast rumours.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Day Lewis, and Chiwetel Ejiofor have gone round the rumour mill while Soarise Ronan, Jack O’Connell, Michael B Jordan and Sullivan Stapleton are confirmed to have had auditions. The Episode VII producers took a tour of Britain with open auditions across about five or six cities to find fresh face and old Star Wars favourites Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, Warwick Davis, Samuel L Jackson and Anthony Daniels are rumoured to reprise their roles.

Now, four fresh entrants to the series are in contention but, before you accuse this as a wild guess, consider that the closer we get to the film’s release, the more accurate the rumours’ll be. The latest batch of potential Star Warriors are Michael Fassbender, Hugo Weaving, Jesse Plemons and Adam Driver.

The Irish/Germanic Fassbender is probably the most known of the four. He’s equally spread between mainstream and award worthy performances after leading box-office success with Prometheus, Inglorious, X-Men: First Class and 300 and winning the critics in the more art-house Shame, Hunger and 12 Years a Slave, for which he’s tipped for Oscar success. I’m not sure if Fassbender will sign on as he’s already doing X-Men: Days of Future Past, Frank, Untitled Terrence Malick project, Assassin’s Creed, MacBeth and Prometheus 2 already lined up.

The other three are much more likely candidates. Hugo Weaving (The Matrix’s Mr Smith, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit’s Elrond, Captain America’s Red Skull, V for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas’ Mrs Noakes), Adam Driver (Frances Ha, Lincoln, Inside Llewyn Davis and Girls’ Adam Sackler) and Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad’s Todd, Friday Night Lights, Battleship, Paul) are the other three stars rumoured for Star Wars. Casting venerable stars such as Weaving is fine as long as they don’t waste them on pointless politician roles, see Terence Stamp as Chancellor Valorum. There was a rumour that a casting call went out for the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s daughter or granddaughter but that may just be fiction.

Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

Warcraft casting and Troll Hunter remake rumours plus 2013 Emmys

The 2013 Emmys brought some expected and some surprising wins as they celebrated the last year of US TV and Downton Abbey. Vince Gilligan’s hit show Breaking Bad was the big winner of the night as iticked up the Emmy’s Oscar Best Picture equivalent: Outstanding Drama Series. Claire Danes beat actresses like Robin Wright (House of Cards), Kerry Washington (Scandal) and Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel) for her award win with Homeland while Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom) defeated the likes of Brian Cranston (Breaking Bad), Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Damien Lewis (Homeland) and Kevin Spacey (House of Cards) to win Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Bobby Cannavale (Broadwalk Empire) and Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad) got the Supporting Actor/Actress awards while Henry Bromell (Homeland) and David Fincher (House of Cards) won the writing and directing awards respectively.

Onto comedy now. The brilliant Jim Parsons won Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series for the third time (and fifth total nomination – pretty impressive for a show that’s had six seasons) for the even better The Big Bang Theory against film stars like Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Matt LeBlanc (Episodes), Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Don Cheadle (House of Lies) and Louis CK (Louie). Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale also picked up acting awards for Veep, as did Merritt Weaver (Nurse Jackie). Modern Family won both Outstanding Comedy Series and Best Directing for a comedy series while 30 Rock picked up Best Writing. Behind the Candelabra won big with Leading Actor in a Mini-Series or Movie for Michael Douglas as well as Best Director (the now retired Steven Soderbergh) and Best Mini-Series or Movie.

Moving on, Duncan Jones (director of sci-fi hits like Moon with Sam Rockwell and Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal and son of David Bowie) will be directing the adaptation of the massively successful MMORPG World of Warcraft. He’s know hinted at possible castings. Paula Patton was part of Tom Cruise’s team of rogue agents in box-office hit Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Golden Globe winner Colin Farrell was the star of thrillers like Phone Booth and Total Recall as well as the comedy In Bruges. They’re now both linked to star in Warcraft. It’s early days but Jones confirmed via Twitter that Patton is in negotiations to star while Farrell has been offered the role. The film will start shooting next January.

The brilliant Norwegian slightly comedic found-footage horror Troll Hunter was bound to spawn a Hollywood remake since it’s successful opening in 2011. The plot sees a group of students investigating a series of mysterious animal killing in the Norwegian mountains and forests for a university project. They join a grizzled man who claims to have the answer to their questions: Trolls. It’s a greatly original film that I do recommend. The real life Norwegian Prime Minister turns up at one point so it’s definitely worth a watch.

Neil Marshall is the man directing the new remake. The Newcastle born writer/editor/director has plenty of experience with films like chilling horror The Descent and Roman set Michael Fassbender action Centurion as well as two episodes of HBO’s epic fantasy Game of Thrones and the upcoming TV adventure drama Black Sails. He’ll have an fairly inflated $25 million budget for on-set production they will begin early next year.

Warcraft is out 2015

Troll Hunter is out early 2015