Latest news with #GameOfThrones
Buzz Feed
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
'I Was Broke': Gary Oldman Gets Honest About Starring In 1 Of The Most Hated Films Ever
Sir Gary Oldman has opened up about how he came to star in a film that's widely considered one of the worst in history. Back in 2003, the newly-knighted British actor starred alongside Matthew McConaughey, Patricia Arquette and Kate Beckinsale in Tiptoes (two of whom have gone on to win Academy Awards, as has Sir Gary). The film centred around a young man, played by Matthew, who gets his girlfriend pregnant, having concealed from her that every member of his family, including his twin brother, has a form of dwarfism. Sir Gary played Matthew's brother in the movie, for which he donned prosthetics and spent much of the shoot on his knees. During a new interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Sir Gary admitted that he's never actually seen Tiptoes, and revealed that it came along at a difficult time in both his personal and professional life. 'I'll be very honest with you,' Sir Gary began. 'I had gone through a divorce and a nasty thing with a contractor.' He continued 'I ended up in California, in LA, at 42 years old, a single dad, and I was broke. And, ironically, I was living under the Hollywood sign, living in this rental. We had no furniture – thank God for Ikea.' Sir Gary said that when the offer for Tiptoes came along, he'd not worked for just shy of two years, and had been affected by an actors' strike. 'It was a bit of a rough time, and I needed to pay some bills, and I needed some money, and it was an actors' strike ontop of it all, which was a double whammy,' he admitted, noting the situation was a 'terrible time' for everyone in Hollywood. 'And then this film came along, this crazy idea, from this director, that I would play a little person. And I would play Matthew McConaughey's brother. 'There were several [issues]. First of all, I got locked in to doing a voice like that, because I had to sound like Matthew. We were brothers, so somehow, I had to sound like Matthew. So that was that. And then, I'm on my knees… desperate measures, desperate times.' 'I needed to work,' he insisted. 'And it was a crazy idea. But, would I do it now? No.' He said that if one good thing came out of the film, it's that several actors with dwarfism – including a pre- Game Of Thrones Peter Dinklage – were able to get work at a time when many performers were struggling. 'It was a good thing in that regard, because they were all going through the same thing I was going through, with no work,' Sir Gary said, insisting: 'But it's a misfire, to be sure. Not one I talk about, I'm so glad you brought it up.' Elsewhere in the interview, Sir Gary was also asked about another of the films he hasn't held in an especially high regard, The Fifth Element. He explained that his wife of eight years, Gisele Schmidt, has helped to 'convince me that it's a better film than I think it is'. Sir Gary explained: 'I'm contaminated, because I was the one who had that haircut. And I was the one who was wearing rubber. So, others can experience it in a different way. I get a little triggered when I see it, and I go back to that place of Jean-Paul Gaultier and rubber.' He added: 'Bruce [Willis] didn't like [that] either – you know that orange vest that he wears? He hated it.' A year after Tiptoes hit cinemas, Sir Gary made his debut as Sirius Black in the third Harry Potter film – a role with which he's still synonymous to many today. Since then, he also won an Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. Over the weekend, it was announced that Sir Gary had been bestowed with a knighthood by King Charles for his services to drama.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Justin Baldoni Drops Taylor Swift Subpoena in Blake Lively Lawsuit
Taylor Swift no longer has to worry about being dragged into Justin Baldoni's ongoing legal action against his It Ends With Us co-star, Blake Lively. The Wrap reports that on Thursday, he dropped his subpoena against the singer. Baldoni had claimed that Swift was present at Lively's Tribeca penthouse during discussions of rewriting one of the movie's pivotal scenes. Baldoni's suit further claimed that Lively called Reynolds and Swift her 'dragons' à la Game of Thrones in a text message. More from Rolling Stone Neil Young Stands With Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen in Trump's Musician War: 'You Work for Us' Taylor Swift's 'Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor's Version)' Featured on 'The Handmaid's Tale' Blake Lively's Lawyers Move to Penalize Justin Baldoni's Team After Taylor Swift Extortion Claim A rep for Swift refuted this description of events earlier this month when news of the subpoena first broke. 'Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film,' the rep told Rolling Stone. The rep said the subpoena was 'designed to use Taylor Swift's name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.' Swift's law firm, Venable, described the subpoena as an 'abuse of the discovery process.' 'There is no reason for this subpoena other than to distract from the facts of the case and impose undue burden and expense on a non-party,' it said in a statement. Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, then alleged in a legal filing that Lively was attempting to extort a statement of support from Swift. He claimed that Lively's lawyers contacted Swift's legal team asking 'that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively, intimating that, if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature' would come out. Lively's lawyer described these claims as 'categorically false.' Her legal team then moved to penalize Baldoni's team in the form of sanctions and fees over the extortion claim. Three days later, Baldoni's team withdrew the subpoena. Freedman did not immediately return Rolling Stone's request for comment. 'We are pleased that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties have withdrawn their harassing subpoenas to Taylor Swift and her law firm,' a rep for Lively said, according to the Wrap. 'We supported the efforts of Taylor's team to quash these inappropriate subpoenas directed to her counsel and we will continue to stand up for any third party who is unjustly harassed or threatened in the process.' In December, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and spearheading a smear campaign against her; she filed a lawsuit before the year was up. He countersued in January, alleging defamation, extortion, and invasion of privacy. A trial is scheduled for March. Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Best 'Saturday Night Live' Characters of All Time Denzel Washington's Movies Ranked, From Worst to Best 70 Greatest Comedies of the 21st Century
Geek Culture
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
Warner Bros. Games Restructures Team To Focus On 'Mortal Kombat', 'Harry Potter', 'Game of Thrones' & DC Titles
Warner Bros. Games is undergoing a company-wide shake-up, setting a new leadership team and restructuring its divisions based on four of its key franchises: Mortal Kombat , Harry Potter , Game of Thrones , and DC Universe titles. As reported by Variety, three current studio heads have been promoted to senior vice president: Warner Bros Games Montréal head Yves Lachance will now oversee development teams for Harry Potter and Game of Thrones titles, NetherRealm studio head Shaun Himmerick will do the same for Mortal Kombat and DC Universe games, and Warner Bros. Games New York studio chief Steven Flenory will oversee game and publishing technology, customer service, quality assurance and user research. Mortal Kombat 1 (2023) Fortunately, the company's overhaul and leadership changes will not result in any layoffs or the exit of any studio executives. 'Our company is home to some of the biggest franchises in the world, and we are optimizing our team structure to develop long-term franchise roadmaps to delight players and fans of Harry Potter , Game of Thrones , Mortal Kombat and DC games,' said Global Streaming & Games CEO J.B. Perrette in a statement. 'We are very fortunate to have a strong stable of development and technology talent, and Yves, Shaun and Steven are respected leaders with excellent track records in their areas of expertise. I'm looking forward to working closely with them and the team as we work to make the best games possible for our key franchises.' Hogwarts Legacy (2023) This restructuring follows a strategy laid out by Warner Bros. in late 2024, to which the company revealed its plans to double down on the four key titles and IPs after a string of disappointments like Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and the free-to-play brawler MultiVersus , with both titles severely underperforming and leading to million-dollar revenue losses for the company. The changes also fall in line with other smaller-scale shake-ups at Warner Bros., including Warner Bros. Discovery's split onto two media companies, Global Networks and Streaming & Studios, and the changing of naming conventions for its streaming service HBO Max, with reverted back to its original name after two years of rebranding as Max. Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying. Game of Thrones Harry Potter Mortal Kombat Warner Bros. Games WB Games
The Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Magical UK park next to 4-mile long beach gets a '10/10′ from visitors and stars in new How To Train Your Dragon film
THE magical world of How to Train Your Dragon has once again hit our screens, but now as a live action film - meaning actual places that you can visit are used in the film. One of those places is Tollymore Forest Park in Northern Ireland. 8 8 Around an hour from Belfast Airport, the park is home to an amazing landscape that viewers get glimpses of in scenes of the film. In fact, Tollymore was used as the setting for the first meeting of Hiccup and Toothless. As Hiccup lifts his dagger into the air to supposedly kill Toothless, the viewer can see extensive greenery behind with tall towering trees. The park features a combination of impressive trees that tower just like those in the scene - particularly the giant redwoods and Monterey pines. In fact, Tollymore arboretum is the one of the oldest known arboreta in Ireland and planting originally began back in 1752, as a Georgian landscape feature. Also filmed in the park is a scene on a bridge, featuring the main characters. This is actually Foley's Bridge, which is one of 16 bridges in the park. The bridge looks mythical and straight out of a fantasy movie - particularly in the autumn when the colours turn to more earthy tones. The bridge has also even been used in Game of Thrones. The forest park also boasts a nature-inspired wooden play area called the 'Big Deer' play area. Top 10 Enchanted Forests & Nature Reserves in the UK The area is designed specifically for children aged four to 11-years-old and even includes a giant timber Fallow Deer structure, a castle turret, a folly tower and a hollow tree. The park also has its own grassy campsite, with 71 pitches from £27 a night. The park has an impressive 4.8 stars on google reviews, with almost 5,000 people leaving remarks on its 'magical', 'stunning' and 'grand' feel. One person said: "10/10 would highly recommend, perfect scenery, perfect coffee hut, amazing walks and amazing for camping with great facilities, also very dog friendly." Another said: "Such a beautiful place. A lovely walk along a river with enough history to make it interesting, and a hermitage I wanted to live in." Eight minutes from the park is Murlough Beach that features 6,000-year-old sand dunes and a number of paths that navigate through the dunes, woodland and heath. The beach stretches four-miles in total, and features both golden sand and pebbles. Above the beach, the mystical-looking Mourne Mountains tower. For those who fancy a longer walk, there is a the Dundrum Coastal Path which boasts views across Dundrum Bay and to watch the coastal wildlife. 8 8 8 In Newcastle - the town that sits between Tollymore Forest Park and Murlough Beach - there are also more things to explore if you want to extend your stay. The town is home to Coco's Children's Adventure Playground and Pleasurelands - a small theme park - ideal for kids. There are also a wide variety of shops, cafes and restaurants. The town also offers a great place to stay with many different options including Enniskeen Estate - a boutique natural retreat that even Hugh Jackman has stayed at. If you don't mind a short drive, Castlewellan Park is also nearby with a dramatic lake. 8 8 The forest surrounding the lake has a number of bike trails and hiking trails too. The new How to Train Your Dragon film features other parts of Northern Ireland including Dunseverick Castle and Giant's Causeway. In the film, Duneseverick Castle is used to represent the Isle of Berk - which is the fictional home of the characters. The castle's ruins provide a dramatic backdrop, along with the cliffs sloping into the sea. Other notable filming locations include the Faroe Islands and studios in Ireland. You can also visit the top UK filming locations from Harry Potter to James Bond for 25p next month. Plus, five filming locations in the UK you can visit with movie tours, quaint villages and £49 stays.
The Verge
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
As part of a restructuring, it's putting its efforts into four tentpoles:
Warner Bros. Games is now focused on its biggest franchises. Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat, and the DC Universe, as reported by Variety. Let's just hope the next DC Universe game fares better than Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
