Tag: actress

  • Mélanie Laurent by Justin Cooper for Voyons Voir

    Ooh la la!

    Mademoiselle Laurent featuring Bokeh xD
    in black and white. I love.

    Thank you other-Amy for the link =D

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  • To Watch Until They’re 35 – Emily Blunt

    *tada!*

    Finally! You are probably saying that this is about time that I get to finish with this list of the 20 to Watch~ And accompanying Ryan Gosling who was #1 on the list of actors, there’s Emily Blunt on top of the list of actresses whom you should be keeping an eye out for~

    Born in London, England on February 23rd 1983, this 27-year-old actress is best known for playing Emily Chalton opposite Meryl Streep and the 20 to Watch fellow Anne Hathaway on The Devil Wears Prada, for which she earned nominations for Best Supporting Actress at the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes.

    Blunt’s first breakthrough as an actress was playing Tamsin on Pawel Pawlikowski’s My Summer of Love, opposite Natalie Press. The film received positive reviews, and earned nominations for Best British Film at the BAFTAs, as well as nods for Most Promising Newcomer for Blunt at the British Independent Film Awards, and British Newcomer of the Year by the London Film Critics.

    A year later, Blunt played Natasha on Stephen Poliakoff’s BBC Made-for-TV movie Gideon’s Daughter starring Bill Nighy and Miranda Richardson, which earned Blunt her first Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. In 2006, she finally burst into pop culture knowledge as Hathaway’s Andy’s best-not-a-friend Emily, the desperate assistant to Streep’s Miranda Priestly. Despite only getting a supporting role in a film clearly led by La Streep, Blunt managed to garner enough attention not only from the public, and critics… but also casting agents.

    Following Prada, Blunt participated in The Jane Austen Book Club (Maria Bello, Kathy Baker), Dan in Real Life starring Steve Carrel, Juliette Binoche, Dianne Wiest, and Amy Ryan, while closing 2007 with Charlie Wilson’s War directed by Mike Nichols, starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. It is perhaps then that she makes the decision to work with Adams on the film Sunshine Cleaning, where they play sisters.

    Blunt also participated on The Great Buck Howard, a comedy with John Malkovich, and Tom Hanks — playing the father of his real-life son Colin. It seemed like Blunt’s roles were destined to be supporting forever… until The YoungVictoria. The film received considerable positive response, while earning Blunt nominations for Best Actress around critic circles, as well as Best Actress nod at the British Independent Film Awards, and at the Golden Globes.

    This year, she returned to screens on The Wolfman starring Benicio del Toro and Sir Anthony Hopkins. While the film didn’t earn much critical or commercial response, you can’t deny that the film adds a certain variety to her CV. xD

    All in all, Blunt tops the list because of a combination of factors, such as period of time until she’s 35, past projects, future projects… and perhaps, Hollywood-ness? It is perhaps the way she’s passed on roles on Iron Man 2 (that ended up on Johansson’s CV), or the upcoming Captain America with words such as:

    I think that ‘Captain America’ is going to be really fun and I gather that the story is really interesting… It just wasn’t what I wanted to do next, to be honest.

    …

    There’s definitely a high commitment level and I’m not someone who likes to plan too much ahead… That would also be an issue for me as well.

    via ScreenRant.

    While everyone wants to jump on the Marvel franchise train, it is admirable to be a working actor and pass on roles to keep your acting schedule open. So we get to have 8 upcoming years of uncertainty~~~

    What’s next up for Blunt? Well, there should be a wider release (or at least a DVD one) for Wild Target starring Bill Nighy, Rupert Everett… and fellow who didn’t make it Harry Potter alumni Rupert Grint. Then there’s The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon, written and directed by George Nolfi (who wrote The Bourne Ultimatum). Then there’s Gulliver’s Travels with Jack Black, Amanda Peet and Billy Connolly, as well as the animated film Gnomeo and Juliet with fellow the 20 to Watch James McAvoy, and finally Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Lasse Hallström, with Ewan McGregor and Kristin Scott Thomas.

    Yes, there’s a lot to watch from Blunt~

  • The Ten 20 to Watch Between 25-30 that Didn’t Make it

    We are only one spot away from completing our lists of the 20 to Watch Between 25-30, so I thought it was time to show you some of the names that didn’t make it. Just like in my first list of people that didn’t make it, I seem to have an overload of actresses, and never enough guys.

    In no particular order~~~
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  • Yu Aoi to Guest Star on TBS Unubore Deka

    I thought I would never EVER say this, but this is too much Yu Aoi.

    The TBS website for the upcoming drama Unubore Deka (Conceited Detective) just announced guest-stars, and Yu Aoi will be appearing on the 2nd episode. Also guest-starring, actress Kanako Higuchi (ep03), and Kyoko Koizumi.

    Mika Nakashima stars on the show alongside Tomoya Nagase, who plays the deluded detective.

    A 30-year-old single detective (Nagase Tomoya), who is under the illusion that he is popular with females is called ‘Unubore’ by friends. He is an ultra romantic and susceptible to conceitedness. He has such a strong desire to marry to the extent that he has bought an apartment for his newlywed life. He falls in love with female criminals at first sight each time. While the sheer desire to meet wraps around him, he will get proof that the female is the culprit. And so, he will thrust both the arrest warrant and marriage papers at her, proposing with the words, “If you marry me, I won’t arrest you.” If that still does not work, he will hold out an engagement ring and his handcuffs. In the end, the criminal will choose to be arrested and his heart will be broken. He will cry as he puts the handcuffs on her…

    via DramaWiki.

    To be honest, the premise sounds BLAH.

    But Nagase is funny… at least he was on Tiger & Dragon, but that was a different monster. However, I will probably give it a go… after all, if I don’t like it, it’s only going to be two episodes. [added to the calendar]

    Let’s play 6 Degrees… Mika Nakashima starred on Worst by Chance — and Yu Aoi made a short appearance there. Tomoya Nagase was on Tiger & Dragon with Yu. Kanako Higuchi played Aoi Miyazaki’s mother on Atsuhime… Miyazaki is besties with Yu. And Kyoko Koizumi starred on the stage piece Gakuya with Yu.

  • High School Teacher 2003 – Koukou Kyoushi

    As the name suggests, this 2003 drama is about a high school teacher who is dying of an inoperable brain tumor, then one night he meets Hina, a 16-year-old girl who is pretending to be a 20-year-old beautician. They end up in his apartment for the night, even though nothing happens. The next day, she discovers he is her new high school teacher.

    Of course, she keeps trying to get with him, and he tries to keep his distance… after all, he is dying. Then, with those crazy Japanese-language misunderstandings, Hina believes she’s about to die. Suddenly, the teacher finds solace in her… and that’s when it just gets creepy and frustrating.

    I understand hot-for-teacher.

    But I spent 98% of the time watching this [I just finished episode 8] saying how inappropriate.

    First, the male lead was just so… ugh, infuriating. I guess it’s not really him, it’s the character that annoys me. I could get it, the way he is for the first 2 episodes. He’s dying, he’s afraid of being forgotten, whatever. However, by episode 7, it just gets tiresome. Man up already! But instead of manning up, and telling Mina that she’s not dying, so she doesn’t need to find physical pleasure to feel alive… because, well… she’s got time.

    He goes and diddles the student.

    Is that supposed to be romantic?

    And then people go on and tell him he looks different, more relaxed. Of course! He’s diddling the student! whom he lied to by saying she’s got an inoperable brain tumor. And the doctor plays along? Lying to her?

    Mina should totally sue their asses.

    Gosh!

    Okay, having said that. Reason why I watched this? Of course, Yu Aoi. I wasn’t gonna watch it because the title is so bland, and I don’t normally do jdramas. However, while looking for the latest Anan photoshoot, I ran into a post that talked about a “rape scene” [on ep08] in the series, so I went all “OMG, I need to check this out.” So I did.

    Besides the dragging storyline of the dying teacher who diddles the student who thinks is dying, the series talks about suicide, depression, prostitution, and bullying. The big bad of the series is Yuki, played by Hiroki Narimiya — whom I had already eyed on Tiger & Dragon, and Nana LOL — but his crazy antics get tiring by episode 7 too. I mean, he’s just bad because he’s bad, unlike Koike on Love Exposure who is bad for being bad with a background.
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  • To Watch Until They’re 35 – Doona Bae

    Holler if you just said “What?”!

    You might be asking me why I would put Natalie Portman as #3, who is virtually known by everyone, and is the role model of  virtually 95% of late teens/early 20s young actresses around. We admitedly find Kristen Stewart’s fangirl-y-ness kind of cute and amusing [1][2]. However, if we decided to put Natalie Portman as our #1, then that would be a little bit boring, right?

    Plus, this time we are choosing quality over quantity. ;P

    So~~~ on our list of 20 Actors to Watch, here it is: Doona Bae on #2.

    Born in Seoul, South Korea on October 11th 1979, this 30-year-old actress is best known as archer Park Nam-Joo in the monster film The Host (Gwoemul) by Bong Joon-ho, as well as playing activist Cha Yeong-mi in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance by Park Chan-wook.

    Born to famous stage Korean actress, Kim Hwa-young, it seemed that Bae was born with acting in her veins. However, she always felt that acting was only for people of extraordinary talent, so she kept away. One day in 1998, after graduating from university, Bae was scouted by a model agency, and one year later she was already debuting on the KBS TV drama School — which earned her the KBS Drama Award for Best New Actress, while making her big screen appearance with a brief role on The Ring Virus, the Korean remake of the Japanese horror RINGU.

    In year 2000, she was cast as Hyeon-nam in Barking Dogs Never Bite, directed by Bong Joon-ho due to her willingness to appear without makeup, which many other South Korean actresses refused to do. This earned her another award as Best New Actress, at the Blue Dragon Awards. She followed it with two films that were received positively by critics, first in 2001 with Take Care of my Cat by Jeong Jae-eun, for which she earned Best Actress by the Korean Critics Association, the Korean Film Directors’ Society (Chunsa Film Art Award), and the whole South Korean entertainment industry with a PaekSang Arts Award. And in 2002 with Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, for which she earned a Best Actress at the Director’s Cut Awards, chosen by Korean Film Directors, and would lead to a future collaboration.

    After two weak films in 2003, Bae decided to take some time off from acting, in which she took up photography, and participated in the stage production of Sunday Seoul, co-written by Park Chan-wook.

    In 2005, she went across the sea, and starred in the Japanese cult hit Linda Linda Linda, playing a South Korean exchange student in a Japanese girl rock band trying to play at the school’s festival — for which she recorded an EP titled We Are Paranmaum under the name Paranmaum — by Nobuhiro Yamashita, which also became a favorite of the film festival circuit. The year after it, she had a supporting role in Bong Joon-ho’s South Korean biggest box office success The Host.

    Bae also appears on a few music videos, and has released Photo essays for London, Tokyo and Seoul. Finally, in 2009 she played an air sex-doll in the Japanese drama Air Doll by acclaimed director Hirokazu Koreeda. For the role, she earned Best Actress wins in festival circuits, as well as nominations at the Asian Film Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards.

    What’s next for Doona Bae? We have no idea. But if she’s making us wait another 3 years for a new movie on the big screen, and it’s as GOOD as Air Doll was when we waited those 3 years after The Host. Well, it’s all worth it.

  • To Watch Until They’re 35 – Natalie Portman

    Surprise! Natalie Portman is not my #1 *shock* And I love Natalie Portman, I’m pretty sure I’ve been a fan for 10 years or so, that would mean I have been visiting NataliePortman.com for that many years.

    I should get a medal or something…

    Anyway, Natalie Portman is on #3 of my list of Actors to Watch Until They’re 35. Right next to Brother’s co-star Jake Gyllenhaal! Coincidence or conspiracy? xD

    Born in Jerusalem, Israel on June 9th 1981, this 28-year-old actress is best known for playing Queen/Senator Padme Amidala on the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy — to the dismay of us fans — even though other people should know her better for playing Evey Hammond on the live-action adaptation of Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta, or the little assassin-in-training Mathilda on Luc Besson’s Leon (The Professional), or Alice on Mike Nichols adaptation of the stage play Closer, for which Portman earned nominations for Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards, the BAFTA, and other critic circles, as well as winning a Golden Globe.

    Portman has had an unusual career, not only by being discovered at a pizza parlor to be a model, and instead getting a part on Besson’s Leon, which would turn into a breakthrough role for her — besides turning into a cult hit, and becoming one of Portman’s most memorable performances — grow up in the limelight and surprisingly have quite normal formative years attending high school and then university. I mean, not many could say that they’ve worked with Michael Mann (Heat) alongside  Al Pacino and Robert de Niro, Ted Demme (Beautiful Girls), Woody Allen (Everyone Says I Love You), and Tim Burton (Mars Attacks!) before they graduated high school.

    She then signed on to the Star Wars prequels, in which she would play the would-be mother of iconic characters Luke and Leia. The project spanned through her early twenties, starting in 1999 with the release of The Phantom Menace, until 2005 with the release of Revenge of the Sith. Between those projects, she came up with a broad variety of films, starting with the slighly-more-grown up Anywhere But Here by Wayne Wang starring with Susan Sarandon in 1999, following that up with Where the Heart Is, a tad more mature light drama with Ashley Judd and Stockard Channing in 2000.

    The roles and projects began escalating in intensity in 2003 when she played a small part on the epic film by Anthony Minghella, Cold Mountain, with Jude Law and Nicole Kidman. Finally in 2004, two of her most critically acclaimed projects were released. First up, Garden State written and directed by Zach Braff, and Mike Nichols’ adaptation of Closer with Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen. Suddenly, Portman was everywhere during award season with nominations here and there, and some wins.

    After the final Star Wars film in 2005 and studies abraod, Portman was back with smaller films of more serious flare like Free Zone with Hiam Abbass, as well as more popular commercial work with V for Vendetta adapted by the Wachowski brothers and starring alongside Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry and John Hurt.

    In 2006, Paris Je t’Aime was finally released in Cannes and festival circuits, the collection of short films included one by Tom Tykwer titled True. There were also other interesting collaborations with Goya’s Ghosts by Milos Forman (Amadeus) alongside Javier Bardem and Stellan Skarsgård, as well as a role on Wong Kar-Wai’s (In the Mood for Love) English debut My Blueberry Nights, and her much-talked-about collaboration with Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums) on the short film Hotel Chevalier, which was the prologue to the film The Darjeeling Limited in 2007, as well as Mr. Mangorium’s Wonder Emporium by Zach Helm (Stranger than Fiction) with Dustin Hoffman.

    In 2008, Portman tried her chances with the period piece with telenovela drama The Other Boleyn Girl, based on the book by the same name, playing Anne Boleyn opposite Scarlett Johansson (as her sister Mary) and Eric Bana (as the King). However, the most exciting news were when it was announced that Portman would sit on the director’s chair, first on the short film Eve starring Lauren Bacall, Ben Gazzara and fellow the 20 to Watch Olivia Thirlby, and then on a New York I Love You segment.

    Of course, besides writing and directing shorts, Portman has also put on the producer hat with films likes Love and Other Impossible Pursuits based on the novel by Ayelet Waldman, alongside Lisa Kudrow, as well as Hesher written and directed by Spencer Susser, and playing opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt… which are set to be released sometime this year. In the meantime, Portman released Brothers late last year, based from the Danish film of the same name, and directed by Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father, In America) opposite fellow the 20 to Watch Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire.

    What’s in store for the rest of 2010? Well, besides from the small releases for Impossible Pursuits, and Hesher, there’s the Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler) film Black Swan. Starring Portman with Mila Kunis, Winona Ryder and Vincen Cassel – the film is promising enough to get very early Oscar buzz.

    In 2011, however, there’s two HUGE projects. First up in April 2011 — if it doesn’t get pushed back — there’s the big stonner comedy Your Highness by David Gordon Green (Snow Angels, Pineapple Express) alongside Zooey Deschanel and James Franco. Then, just one month later, Kenneth Branagh’s live action adaptation of Marvel’s Thor with Anthony Hopkins (playing Odin), Stellan Skarsgård, Rene Russo, Adriana Barraza, and Tadanobu Asano.

    And if that wasn’t enough, there’s the sketchy romantic comedy Ivan Reitman Untitled Project (which was previously known as F*ck Buddies or Friends with Benefits) with Ashton Kutcher – okay… ? – and Kevin Kline. And there are also plans on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by David O. Russell (I Heart Huckabees), which is also being produced by Portman. You can’t really say she doesn’t have variety on her CV now.

    Yeah, okay… we’re excited about Black Swan the most, but who knows what a few months would do to our desire of wanting to see more of Portman.

    PS: Happy Bday in about a week! I know, way ahead~~~ Wow, you’re 29!!!

  • Remembering Jinseitte Uso Mitai – Life is like a Lie~

    From WOWOW’s experimental 2008 drama, Camouflage.

    Ryo Kase and Yu Aoi = LOVE.

    I think this one was the BEST chapter of the series. [here for the recap]

    have a good not-suffering end of the weekend, but an overall relaxing Sunday.
    or you know, have a good new week if you’re on the other side of the world~~~

  • Joe Odagiri and Chiaki Kuriyama for New Satoshi Miki Drama

    Two of my favorite people are teaming up with one of my fave Japanese directors for a new drama for Asahi TV. Joe Odagiri was set to star on Atami no Sousakan (熱海の捜査官, Atami Investigators?), a series directed by Satoshi Miki (Turtles Swim Faster than Expected, Instant Swamp) that will start airing on Asahi TV on July 2nd (Friday) at 11.15pm. And now, Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill) has joined the cast.

    Now… wonder, is anyone subbing this, or am I watching this and figuring out the plot as I go. LOL

    via Tokyograph.

    —

    *EDIT*

    I dunno why I posted July 2nd
    it starts July 30th

  • To Watch Until They’re 35 – Rinko Kikuchi

    Forgive the lack of 20 to Watch posts, in case you were expecting them sooner. Continuing with the list of the 20 to Watch Until They’re 35 is none other than Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi.

    Born in Hanado, Japan, on January 6th 1981, this now-29-year-old actress burst into the worldwide film scene when she played deaf-mute Chieko Wataya on Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel, for which she earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscar., among other nominations like a Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role at the Golden Globes, a Best Supporting Actress and a Breakthrough Performance at the Online Critics Awards, another one at the Satellite Awards, as well as a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Female Actor in a Supporting Role, and several other wins and nominations in critic choices.

    Kikuchi began her career by appearing on Ikitai (Will to Live) directed by renowned Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba, Hachiko Monogatari which he has remade recently as Hachiko: A Dog’s Story) in 1999, and followed that up with By Player (Sanmon Yakusha), another one of Shindo’s films.

    She continued her collaborations in her native Japan with Hole in the Sky (Sora no Ana) directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, and on the short film Tori by Tadanobu Asano, who co-star next to her on screen. During 2004, she participated in films that were generally received positively by critics, with roles in Cha no Aji (The Taste of Tea) directed by Katsuhito Ishii — a possible favorite among many festival movie goers — , 69 sixty nine by Sang-il Lee (Scrap Heaven, Hula Girls) about a bunch of pseudo-counter-culture revolutionaries from high school in an obscure city in Japan in 1969, based on the novel by RYu Murakami. And finalizing with Survive Style 5+, a wacky intertwine storyline following a whole bunch of people, directed by Gen Sekiguchi. The film starred big names from Japan, including Tadanobu Asano (who is in the same Agency as Kikuchi), Kyoko Koizumi, Hiroshi Abe, and even martial artist Sonny Chiba (who was last seen on worldwide screens in Tarantino’s Kill Bill).

    After slowing down for a while, and continuing her work in 2006 with Inarritu’s Babel and earning worldwide attention, in 2007 she collaborated in The Insects Unlisted in the Encyclopedia (Zukan ni Nottenai Mushi) written and directed by Satoshi Miki (Turtles Swim Faster Than Expected, Instant Swamp) alongside Yusuke Iseya (Blindness). In 2008, she returned to international screens with The Brothers Bloom written and directed by Rian Johnson (Brick), alongside big names like Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, and Mark Ruffalo. Moreover, she voiced Suito Kusanagi on Mamoru Oshii’s animated film Sky Crawlers with Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill) and Ryo Kase (Letters from Iwo Jima).

    Last year, Kikuchi starred as Ryo on Map of the Sounds of Tokyo written and directed by Isabel Coixet (My Life Without Me, Elegy) with Spanish actor Sergi Lopez (Pan’s Labyrinth). In Japan, she made the film Assault Girls by written and directed by Mamoru Oshii, a sci-fi/fantasy live action film mix with CG about a group of people (including 3 women and a man) that war against mutants in a digital world to achieve points. Moreover, she also participated on the Japanese remake of the critically acclaimed American film Sideways. You can’t really say she doesn’t have variety in her CV.

    What’s more exciting for this 2010? Let’s start with Shanghai directed by Mikael Håfström, which will probably open in several cities around the world, as it stars John Cusack, Ken Watanabe, Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, and Franka Potente. Followed that up in December with the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s novel Norwegian Wood by Vietnamese director Anh Hung Tran (The Scent of Green Papaya) alongside the 20 to Watch fellow Kenichi Matsuyama.

    Yes, we CAN’T WAIT for that one.