Hugh Grant- Actor of the Week

Hugh Grant

In honour of his new animated film The Pirates! Band of Misfits or The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists depending on your side of the pond, my actor of the week is Hugh Grant. I will admit to a bit of a weakness for Hugh's films. If you take a look at his IMDb page, you will see why I had trouble narrowing down my choices for this post. So if I just limit myself to period films first,we have...

Hugh Grant in Sense and Sensibility

Although a little stiff-necked, Hugh Grant is wonderful as Edward Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility. One of his best roles!

Hugh Grant and Tara Fitzgerald in The Englishman who...yada yada yada

In The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain, he plays an English cartographer who has to tell a Welsh village that their mountain is only a hill. I'm going to have to see this one again, as I have been to Wales since I first saw the film (it is breathtaking) and as I recall, the film was pretty darn good.

Hugh Grant as Reginald Cardinal in The Remains of the Day

In The Remains of the Day, he has a small but wonderful part in this riveting film which is now almost 20 years old!

Hugh Grant and Judy Davis in Impromptu

In Impromptu as Chopin and opposite the luminous Judy Davis as George Sand, he is sweet and funny. Not a serious take on Chopin, this one is right up my alley. I love a spot of comedy! Emma Thompson has a riot as the loopy Duchess in this one as well. Love her!

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Ok...now for the non-period films of Hugh Grant's which I absolutely adore. No, they are not high art but they always entertain.

Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget: Apparently, I used to run round naked in his paddling pool.
Daniel Cleaver: I bet you did, you dirty bitch.

Love Actually

Prime Minister: Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around.

Music and Lyrics

Alex Fletcher: The best time I've had in the last fifteen years was sitting at that piano with you.
Sophie Fisher: That's wonderfully sensitive... especially from a man who wears such tight pants.
Alex Fletcher: It forces all the blood to my heart.

Four Weddings and a Funeral

Fiona: There's a sort of greatness to your lateness.
Charles: Thanks, it's not achieved without real suffering.

About a Boy

Will: I couldn't possibly think of a worse godfather for Imogene. You know me. I'll drop her at her christening. I'll forget her birthdays until her 18th, when I'll take her out and get her drunk and possibly, let's face it, you know, try and shag her. I mean, seriously, it's a very, very bad choice.
Christine: We know, I just thought you had hidden depths.
Will: No. No. You've always had that wrong. I really am this shallow.

Two Weeks Notice

George Wade: I own the hotel, and I live there. My life is very much like Monopoly.

Notting Hill

Keziah: No thanks, I'm a fruitarian.
Max: I didn't realize that.
William: And, ahm: what exactly is a fruitarian?
Keziah: We believe that fruits and vegetables have feeling so we think cooking is cruel. We only eat things that have actually fallen off a tree or bush - that are, in fact, dead already.
William: Right. Right. Interesting stuff. So, these carrots...
Keziah: Have been murdered, yes.
William: Murdered? Poor carrots. How beastly!

Nine Months

Rebecca Taylor: Sam! My water broke!
Samuel Faulkner: Well, we'll get you another one! 

OK, that last one seems very appropriate since Hugh Grant has finally become a father to a little girl Tabitha with Chinese actress Tinglan Hong. Who knew he had hidden depths?

Did I miss any of Hugh Grant's films that you really love? I left out the film Restoration with Robert Downey Jr. and Sam Niell, because I had never heard of it but which looks awesome. Can anyone recommend it?

Celia Imrie- Actor of the Week

Celia Imrie

What a joy to have Celia Imrie as my Actor of the Week. She has been in so many of my favourite films that I had a hard time deciding which ones to feature.

Celia Imrie Fighter Pilot Bravo 5 Star Wars Phantom Menace

If you didn't know that Celia played the first female fighter pilot in Star Wars Episode 1: Phantom Menace, don't feel bad. I had no idea either! Apparently George Lucas made her remove her lipstick. No lippy for fighter pilots?

Celia Imrie as Una Alconbury in Bridget Jones's Diary

Of course I will always think of Celia as Una Alconbury in Bridget Jones's Diary. She was perfect as Auntie Una, the meddling best friend of Bridget's mum.

Una Alconbury: You career girls. Can't put it off forever. Tick-tock, tick-tock

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Una Alconbury:  Come and look at your gravy, Pam. I think it's going to need sieving.
Pam Jones:  Of course it doesn't need sieving. Just stir it, Una.

Celia Imrie in Calendar Girls- bigger buns!

In Calendar Girls, we will always remember Celia as "Bigger Buns" which is apparently what some fans shout out when they meet her in the street. Actually, as I was starting this post I told my husband I was featuring Celia Imrie he said he'd never heard of her. All I had to say was "Bigger Buns", and he replied "Oh, her!"

Celia Imrie as Mrs. Meyrick in Daniel Deronda

As the lovely Mrs. Meyrick in Daniel Deronda, we get to see Celia as a Victorian matron. Small part but very well done I think. I am reading Daniel Deronda now and I have her voice in my head as I am reading.

Celia Imrie as Mrs. Quickly in Nanny McPhee

Celia must have had a lot of fun playing the way over the top character of Mrs. Quickly in Nanny McPhee, chasing Colin Firth all over the highly coloured set. The food fight looked like a good time too!

Celia Imrie as Lady Glenmire in Cranford

In Cranford, Celia plays Lady Glenmire, not quite the grand lady that the Cranford crowd was expecting and she gives them quite a lot to talk about when she marries one of the few men in that village! Naughty, naughty!

Celia Imrie at the premiere of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

I just can't wait to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. This has been out in the UK for months, but we don't get it in North America until May 4th. I know I am going to end up buying this DVD! It looks like such fun from the trailers.

Celia Imrie as Grace Rushton in Titanic

I will be watching Titanic the TV miniseries again this weekend as I quite enjoyed it (despite what some critics and viewers are saying). Celia's character of Grace Rushton is a "new money" first class passenger who is snubbed by the aristocrats she is trying to impress. She is very concerned about her Pekinese Suki especially when the ship starts sinking.

So did I manage to cover all of your fave Celia Imrie films? Or would you like to add one or two to the list? I would have added the character of Mrs. Miller in The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling but I couldn't find a photo of her. She starred in Tom Jones with the father of her teenaged son Angus (Benjamin Whitrow aka Mr. Bennet from P&P 1995). And it is a gem if you have never seen it! Any others I missed?

Bridget Jones's Diary 2001

Bridget Jones's Diary Poster

Why oh why do I love this film so much? I know it is not a masterpiece of celluloid. And yet I can watch it over and over. I also love the book by the way, and unlike the films, the second book might be even better than the first. But this is the Bridget movie that I love. I mean it has Mr. Darcy and Edward Ferrars in it for starters.

Mr. Darcy, Mark Darcy...brilliant!

Yup, a casting coup to get Mr. Darcy himself, Colin Firth to play Mark Darcy, the modern personification of his iconic character. But why do we not get to see him with his shirt off? Or a wet shirt? OK, we did enjoy the male version of the cat-fight set to the tune of "It's Raining Men".

Mark Darcy: All right Cleaver, outside.

Daniel Cleaver: [half laughing] I'm sorry? Outside? Should I bring my dueling pistols or my sword?

The sight of two good looking English gents kicking and pushing each other like girls just makes me giddy. Especially when set to a catchy song! Man these people know what I like (Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis, Helen Fielding...yup!)

Bridget: Resolution #1: Uggg - will obviously lose 20 lbs. #2: Always put last night's panties in the laundry basket. Equally important: will find nice sensible boyfriend and stop forming romantic attachments to any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, sexaholics, commitment-phobics, peeping toms, megalomaniacs, emotional "dimwits", or perverts. Will especially stop fantasizing about a particular person who embodies all these things. 

Admiral Darcy: I like a woman with an arse you can park a bike in and balance a pint of beer on. 

Rock on awesome father of Mark Darcy! You are the ideal father-in-law! 

Shazzer: Look, are you coming to "bloody" Paris or not?

Bridget: Um, not.
Shazzer: No "bloody" room, anyway.

Mark Darcy: I don't think you're an idiot at all. I mean, there are elements of the ridiculous about you. Your mother's pretty interesting. And you really are an appallingly bad public speaker. And, um, you tend to let whatever's in your head come out of your mouth without much consideration of the consequences... But the thing is, um, what I'm trying to say, very inarticulately, is that, um, in fact, perhaps despite appearances, I like you, very much. Just as you are. 

Bridget: You once said you liked me just as I am and I just wanted to say likewise. I mean you wear stupid things your mum buys you, tonight's another... classic. You're haughty, and you always say the wrong thing in every situation and I seriously believe that you should rethink the length of your sideburns. But, you're a nice man and I like you. If you wanted to pop by some time that might be nice... more than nice.

Mark Darcy: Right, crikey.

Bridget: Wait a minute... nice boys don't kiss like that.

Mark Darcy: Oh, yes, they "bloody well" do.

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Yup, still one of my fave movies ever. A guilty pleasure. Now I think I may have to pull the book out again for some bedtime reading.  

My question is this: Will this film be redone in the next decade or so? Will each generation have to have it's own Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy just like we have to reinvent Lizzie and Mr. Darcy?

Aaaaand...will Bridget Jones 3 (avec des bébés) ever get off the ground? And will Bridget be skinny this time? I could use another Bridget Jones, but only if it's as good as the first one please.

N.B. Just Googled Bridget Jones 3 and came up with the info that Bridget Jones's  Baby is a go, with Peter Cattaneo (from The Full Monty) directing and filming to start in January with a 2013 release date. Colin Firth has already spilled the beans about the plot. **Spoiler Alert**:

According to Marie Clarie UK, Colin Firth opened up earlier in the fall.

‘I can tell you that Bridget and Mark can’t have children, I think that’s the way it goes on,’ the Oscar-winner told Dave Karger, reporting for Access Hollywood.
‘So then she makes the huge mistake of going back to Daniel Cleaver [Hugh Grant's character] for long enough to get pregnant.‘And I think he dumps her, and she’s left stranded, and guess who comes back to rescue her?’
While we still have no idea if the actor's version of the plot is correct, author Helen Fielding also confirmed the plans.
‘I will be working on both the book and the film but I don’t know if they are the same thing yet,' she said. 'It’s not been decided.’

Squeeeeeeee!!!! Can't wait! A book and a film!

My fave British (non period) comedies

Four Weddings and a Funeral 1994

Young Bridesmaid: What's bonking?
Scarlett: Well, it's kinda like table tennis, only with slightly smaller balls.

Love Actually 2004

Sam: Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love.

The Full Monty

Dave: Anti-wrinkle cream there may be, but anti-fat-bastard cream there is not. 

A Fish Called Wanda 1988

Ken: Rev-enge!
Otto: [laughing] It's K-K-K-Ken! C-c-c-coming to k-k-k-kill me! How you gonna c-c-c-catch me, K-K-K-Ken?

Calendar Girls 2003

Chris: Lawrence, we're going to need considerably bigger buns.

Educating Rita 1983

Rita: Christ! My customer! She only come in for a demi-wave, she'll come out looking like a flippin' muppet!

Notting Hill 1999

Keziah: No thanks, I'm a fruitarian.
Max: I didn't realize that.
William: And, ahm: what exactly is a fruitarian?
Keziah: We believe that fruits and vegetables have feeling so we think cooking is cruel. We only eat things that have actually fallen off a tree or bush - that are, in fact, dead already.
William: Right. Right. Interesting stuff. So, these carrots...
Keziah: Have been murdered, yes.
William: Murdered? Poor carrots. How beastly!

Bridget Jones's Diary 2001

Mr. Darcy: I like a woman with an arse you can park a bike in and balance a pint of beer on.

Death at a Funeral 2007 (not 2010!)

Jane: Would you like a cup of tea, Sandra?
Sandra: Tea can do many things, Jane, but it can't bring back the dead.

Kinky Boots 2005

Lauren: Lola, you're gonna have to excuse Charlie. We don't have many transvestites in Northampton.
Lola: I'm not merely a transvestite, sweetheart. I'm also a drag queen. It's a simple equation. A drag queen puts on a frock, looks like Kylie. A transvestite puts on a frock, looks like... Boris Yeltsin in lipstick. There, I said it.

About a Boy 2002

Marcus: Suddenly I realized - two people isn't enough. You need backup. If you're only two people, and someone drops off the edge, then you're on your own. Two isn't a large enough number. You need three at least.

Pirate Radio (The Boat That Rocked) 2009

Dave: So tell us Mark, now at the very end - what was your secret? How did you get all them girls?
Mark: Simple. Don't say anything at all.
'Young' Carl: Nothing?
Mark: Nothing. Then, when the tension becomes too much to bear, you finally, finally, you just say: "How about it, then?"

Bend It Like Beckham 2002

Wedding Guest: Lesbian? Her birthday's in March. I thought she was a Pisces.

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So, there you have a list of some of my favourite British Comedy Films (not period pieces). I have obviously left a few off of my list which should be there so please help me out and leave a comment with your faves, whether they are on my list or not!

Cheers!