Cloud Atlas Premiere – the long-awaited first showing of the Wachowski’s movie retelling of David Mitchell’s novel has taken place at the Toronto Film Festival.
Appearing at the film’s premiere were Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Ben Whishaw, Doona Bae, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, James D’Arcy and both of the directors.
Halle Berry looked good, as always, showing her black bra under a see-through top which she wore under a blue alligator skin style trouser suit.
For this premiere, which took place at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, it was not just the appearance of the acting stars that was heavily anticipated. It was the first public appearance of Lana Wachowski since undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2008, prior to which the director was known as Larry Wachowski.
As anyone who has read the original novel will attest it is a complicated affair with 6 interlinked stories which move through time and space starting in the Chatham Islands in the Pacific in the middle of the 19th Century before reaching Hawaii in a time far, far away.
The novel was well received critically by most but some found it to be a bit too much. One of the more amusing reviews described the novel as not being sure if it wanted to be The Simpsons or The Bible! The novel was shortlisted for the 2004 Booker Prize and won the Literary Fiction award at the British Book Awards in the same year.
The movie seems to have gone the same way as the novel with mostly very good reviews but the odd person feeling that there was just too much going on.
There was a feeling that, much like James Joyce’s Ulysses, David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas was too complex to turn into a movie. Many producers appeared put off by the shifting times and places but the Wachowskis were able to secure the necessary finance after putting together such a stellar and box-office friendly cast.
Cloud Atlas will open in the US on 26 October but does not get its UK general release until 22 February 2013. Our advice would be to make the most of the time between now and next February to get hold of Mitchell’s novel and give it a try. Like James Joyce, who Mitchell is often compared to, his work can be hard to get into but almost always pays back the effort many times over.
Lana Del Rey’s Nude Photo Shoot for GQ – the 26-year old singer has sprung plenty of surprises in the last couple of weeks.
Firstly she announced that she is moving into writing screenplays for the movies. Speaking to Vogue Australia Lana said:
“When I was starting, I had a vision of being a writer for film and that’s what I am doing now. I’m so happy.
“Hopefully I will branch into film work and stay there. That will be my happy place. I’d like to stay in one place for a long time.”
If you are wondering what sort of movies we can expect to come from her screenplays, Lana’s favourite films are The Godfather and American Beauty.
She has just won herself the title of GQ Magazine’s Woman of the Year at last week’s award ceremony. As well as being the woman behind the hit single Video Games and Number 1 album Born To Die, Lana has also written songs for other artists including the song Ghetto Baby for Cheryl Cole.
Now to round off an interesting few weeks Lana has appeared naked on the front of this month’s GQ Magazine. She is also seen inside in a variety of other nude or nearly nude poses including this shot of the singer with a man squeezing her right breast. Lana revealed at last week’s GQ Awards that the man with the very good job was in fact GQ’s creative director Paul Solomons. We guess that he may have had a hand in her being given the Woman of the Year Award!
Ultimate Yummy Mummy, Rachel Stevens Named FHM Sexiest Woman Of All-Time – the 36-year old mother of two has not only been named FHM’s Sexiest Woman of All-Time but surely wins the title of the Ultimate Yummy Mummy.
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