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Cigarettes in Films Smoked Out
THE ECONOMIST: Can a film of a smoker trigger the act?

FOR beleaguered smokers, the world is an increasingly hostile place. Hounded out of bars and other public spaces, tutted at in doorways and shelters, smokers are now to be found cowering down cold and smelly alleyways. To add to their misery, each day seems to bring a new study showing how vile and dangerous even a whiff of cigarette smoke can be. Could things get any worse?

Possibly, if smokers were also knocked off their comfortable perch within popular culture. For smokers in rich countries have at least been able to rely on films (especially, but not only, classic ones) to portray their habit as somewhat more normal and prevalent than it actually is in the real world. Indeed, Hollywood has long been accused of glamorising smoking, and thereby encouraging people to emulate their on-screen idols.

Research has identified links between smoking in films and the consumption of cigarettes by those leaving a cinema. What prompts such a response is unclear. But it is clearly relevant to those involved in public-health policy. Dylan Wagner and his colleagues at Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, therefore decided to investigate the question. Read on and comment >>> | Thursday, January 20, 2011

When is this crusade against poor smokers going to stop? Incidentally, I write as a non-smoker. In fact, I am an ex-smoker. Further, I don’t consider myself to be biassed in favour of smoking in any way. But I must say that I find this hounding of smokers very tedious. The record, as they used to say in a less hi-tech age, is sticking!

We all know the disadvantages and health risks attached to smoking. They have been thrown at us for years now. In fact, scarcely a week goes by without another ‘scientific university study’ finding yet another evil attached to the smoking of tobacco. What is never written is that there actually are some benefits to moderate smoking. One of them being that smoking helps keep people slim, by increasing one’s metabolism. And what doctors don’t tell you when they are twisting your arm to quit is that you should expect to gain considerable weight! Orthodox thinking states that one gains weight because one nibbles instead of smoking. Not so! In most cases it is because by giving up smoking one is also starting a slow-down in one’s metabolism. When our metabolism slows down, we gain weight. Now we all know the dangers of weight gain. Society is full of fatties, and nobody knows what to do about the epidemic.

Despite what the nannies say, smoking appears in films because it happens to be a sexy, provocative act. And that is a fact, however unhealthy the habit may be.

As an ex-smoker – a successful ex-smoker, I might add – I really do hope that the powers that be do not take it into their heads to ban smoking in films. I like my films to be realistic. It also gives people who used to smoke vicarious pleasure to see an actor on the big screen smoking the odd fag. Besides, I am a grown man, and I don’t take too kindly to censorship in any of its forms. There are many habits far, far worse than smoking in this evil world. If the worst that a person does twixt the womb and the grave is enjoy the odd drink and or smoke, then he hasn’t done too badly! I think a modicum of tolerance is called for. – © Mark

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THE ECONOMIST: Smoking out the truth: Why some people smoke more than others do >>> | Thursday, January 26, 2006

Angelina Jolie's Cleopatra Will Show Egypt's Queen as More Than a Sex Kitten
THE OBSERVER: British director Paul Greengrass will portray the serpent of the Nile as political strategist and warrior in a new blockbuster film

Actress Elizabeth Taylor in golden headdress and robes in a seductive interpretation of the Egyptian ruler Cleopatra. Photograph: The Observer
Dio Cassius, the Greek historian, said Cleopatra "was a woman of surpassing beauty… and a knowledge of how to make herself agreeable to everyone". So it stands to reason that the greatest Hollywood beauties of succeeding eras have been cast as the Egyptian queen: from Claudette Colbert and Vivien Leigh, to Elizabeth Taylor and, now, Angelina Jolie. But, judging by the creative team being lined up by Sony Pictures, Jolie's 3D outing in the royal barge of beaten gold is set to rip up all our other assumptions about the fabled temptress.

The screenplay of the forthcoming blockbuster is risking a budget that rivals the studio-busting Taylor epic of 1963 on a fresh, revisionist interpretation of Cleopatra and, it seems, the vision of a maverick British director: Paul Greengrass. >>> Vanessa Thorpe, Arts and media correspondent | Sunday, January 09, 2011

Meryl Streep dans la peau de Margaret Thatcher : L’actrice pourrait incarner la dame de fer
GALA.fr: Meryl Streep, une dame de fer? L’actrice aux seize nominations aux Oscars devrait camper Margaret Thatcher sur grand écran, Premier ministre britannique de 1979 à 1990, personnage public à la fois admiré et détesté

À voir le succès que connaissent les biopics sur les politiciens depuis quelques années, on n’imaginait pas que personne n’incarne un jour sur grand écran Margaret Thatcher, femme politique britannique qui a marqué l’Histoire. >>> F.F. | Vendredi 02 Juillet 2010

Related article here

Meryl Streep to Play Baroness Thatcher in Hollywood Movie
THE TELEGRAPH: Baroness Thatcher may be played by the Hollywood star Meryl Streep in a movie of the former British prime minister's life.

The biopic titled "Thatcher" will focus on the period immediately prior to the Falklands war, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Producers are said to be in talks with Streep, one of the most successful actresses in Hollywood, who is seen as one of the few women capable of convincingly playing Lady Thatcher.

However, they may face concerns over how an American will be received playing the part, and suggestions that it should go to a British actress.

The film's producers are said to be lining up British actor Jim Broadbent to play Lady Thatcher's husband Denis. >>> Nick Allen in Los Angeles | Thursday, July 01, 2010

Iranian Filmmaker Makes Cannes Headlines

UK Films Test Religious Boundaries

Watch an Exclusive Trailer for David Baddiel's The Infidel
THE GUARDIAN: In David Baddiel's new comedy, a devout Muslim Londoner (Omid Djalili) discovers that he's adopted, and Jewish. The Infidel is released around the UK on 9 April

Watch the trailer here | Friday, February 05, 2010

Prophet Mohammed Film The Message Set for Remake
THE TELEGRAPH: A remake of The Message, a movie about the life of the Prophet Mohammed, is to be filmed, its producers have said.

"The Messenger of Peace", to be shot around the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, was originally a 1977 Hollywood film made by Moustapha Akkad and starring Anthony Quinn.

It is often applauded by Muslims as an example of how commercial Western cinema can respect Islam.

Producer Oscar Zoghbi, who worked on the original, said: "We have only the utmost respect for Akkad's work but technology in cinema has advanced since the 1970s and this latest project will employ modern film techniques in its renewal of the first film's core messages."

Executive producer of the new movie, Hajja Subhia Abu Elheja, said: "Since 9/11, Islam's image has suffered tremendously.

"Now more than ever it has become important to bridge the gap of understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims."

"It is telling that only one great historical film has ever been made about Islam, a religion with 1.5 billion followers, whereas Christianity has been the subject of over 30."

The film's scriptwriter Ramsey Thomas, said: "In the 21st century there is a real need for a film that emotionally engages audiences on the journey that led to the birth of Islam." >>> By Chris Irvine | October 28, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Hollywood Movies to Be Used to Foster ‘Inter-Cultural Understanding’
ARAB NEWS: IN the wake of the 2004 Madrid train bombings, Spain and Turkey founded The Alliance of Civilizations, an organization designed to foster dialogue between cultures and religions and, quite clearly, to head off any anti-Islamic furor triggered by the bombings. In the event the Spanish were commendably measured in their response to the carnage that had been visited on their capital. The Alliance, however, came to be criticized as being merely a talking shop.

This week this changed when, at a two-day meeting in Madrid, 350 delegates from 63 countries, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, agreed to set up a UN-backed $100-million fund to finance films which, while being entertaining, are also designed to foster understanding and peace between cultures. Unveiling the initiative, Queen Noor of Jordan said that an initial $10 million of financing was in place. It was also revealed that partnerships had already been established with Hollywood production and distribution companies. At the same meeting another project — the Rapid Response Media Mechanism — was launched which is meant to reduce tension in times of cross-cultural crises by, according to Ban, furnishing “voices of reason to reporters and producers around the world.” Editorial: Alliance not clash >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)