We know what it's like, Friday rolls along and you are ready for the weekend until you remember; "Wait, what happened in the film industry this week?" Luckily, Paul Costello has just rounded up it all for your latest film needs
• Legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki has announced that The Wind Rises, his latest film currently doing the rounds at the Venice Film Festival, shall be his final film and he will retire from filmmaking. This isn’t the first time Miyazaki has retired, as he did so following the release of 1997’s Princess Mononoke, but then returned four years later with Spirited Away, and then again for Howl’s Moving Castle. A full press conference is due to take place in Tokyo next week.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/director-hayao-miyazaki-retire-619061
• Casting news: the Fifty Shades of Grey film adaptation currently in the works (due around August 2014) has announced the two actors to fill the lead roles. The role of Anastasia Steele, the female lead of E.L. James’ novel, has gone to Dakota Johnson. The male lead role of Christian Grey has gone to Charlie Hunnam. Whilst Johnson has still to get her big break (this will effectively be her first major role,) Hunnam has found success in TV series Sons of Anarchy and this year’s big sf actioner Pacific Rim.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/sep/02/50-shades-datoka-johnson-charlie-hunnam-cast
• Naomi Watts caused a stir during an interview with Radio 5Live’s Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo about her upcoming biopic Diana by walking out midway during recording. Mayo tweeted that Watts seemed uncomfortable with questions, though admits he doesn’t really know the reason for the walkout. The interview shall broadcast next week on the 16th.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/naomi-watts-walks-out-interview-2250455
• Ian McKellen has signed on to play an elderly Sherlock Holmes for director Bill Condon in an adaptation of Mitch Cullin’s 2006 novel A Slight Trick of the Mind. The pair last worked together on 1998’s Gods and Monsters.
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/09/05/ian-mckellen-to-play-sherlock-holmes-in-a-slight-trick-of-the-mind/
• Internet film writer Harry Knowles’s Kickstarter to raise money for season 2 of his Ain’t It Cool with Harry Knowles webseries has been a success, surpassing its intended financial target of $100,000 by almost $30,000. The campaign was aided in no small part by videos from Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson asking people to donate money to the project. With the project fully funded, season 2 will be able to begin the production process.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/385528808/future-filmgeekdom-aint-it-cool-with-harry-knowles
• Oscar Season officially began on Thursday with 4 honorary Governors Awards to be given to actors Angelina Jolie, Steve Martin, Angela Lansbury and costume designer Piero Tosi. These Oscar statuettes, awarded for significant contributions in the industry, will be given to the recipients at a ceremony on November 16th, ahead of the main awards next March.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/09/05/uk-oscars-governorsawards-idUKBRE98414D20130905
David Frost - TV personality, talk show host, satirist, producer and “the guy who got Nixon” - died of a heart attack on board a cruise ship at the age of 74. A part of British television since the 1960s, he hosted satirical revue show That Was The Week That Was, before moving to the more straight and confrontational The Frost Programme, where he interviewed numerous notable figures and celebrities of the day.
On top of this, Frost tried his hand at film producing, with 1969’s The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer starring Peter Cook and 1999’s Rogue Trader starring Ewan McGregor, being amongst the notable examples of his efforts.
However, the highlight of his career came in 1977 with his famous interviews with former US President Richard Nixon that remain one of the televisual touchstones of the 20th Century. The interviews themselves served as the basis for the subsequent play and film, Frost/Nixon, both from 2006.
So long, sir.