Entertainment

Canadian Academy Award Winning Actor Christopher Plummer Dies

Published

4 years ago

February 6, 2021

Bchcomber

CBC, Canadian Academy Award Winning Actor Christopher Plummer Dies

Christopher Plummer, who was among the greatest Canadian actors ever to grace stage and screen, has died at age 91. Plummer died Friday morning at his home in Connecticut with his wife, Elaine Taylor, by his side, said Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager.

“Chris was an extraordinary man who deeply loved and respected his profession with great old fashion manners, self-deprecating humour and the music of words,” Pitt said in a statement to CBC News. “He was a national treasure who deeply relished his Canadian roots.

“Through his art and humanity, he touched all of our hearts and his legendary life will endure for all generations to come. He will forever be with us.”

In a career that spanned over six decades, Christopher Plummer was nominated for best supporting actor at the Academy Awards three times and won once at 82 for Beginners, a film about a widower who begins to live life as a gay man while dying of cancer.

He also captured two Tony Awards among seven nominations, and took home two Emmys. Plummer earned a reputation as one of the great classical actors of modern times — without attending a prestigious theatre school.

The Sound of Music

He performed on Broadway, London’s West End and at Canada’s Stratford and Shaw festivals. There were few marquee Shakespearean roles he didn’t take on, a list that included Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Iago, Henry V, Antony, Mercutio and Prospero.

“The man is extraordinary, he’s got so many sides to him, he’s quite remarkable. When you share a stage with him it’s magic, it really is,” fellow actor Gordon Pinsent told CBC in 2011 when Plummer received Stratford’s lifetime achievement award.

On screen, Plummer appeared in 1965 as Captain von Trapp, alongside British stage and screen star Julie Andrews, in what was, for several years, the highest grossing film of all time, The Sound of Music, a role he was famously ambivalent about.

“What have I done playing with all these children? Children and dogs steal scenes,” Plummer recounted to CBC in a documentary two years after the release of the movie he often jokingly called The Sound of Mucus, or S and M.

Plummer, however, also said that he had “terrific memories” of making the movie, and forged a lifelong friendship with Andrews; he once said that working with her was like “getting hit over the head with a valentine.”

Born Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer

“The world has lost a consummate actor today and I have lost a cherished friend,” Andrews said Friday in a statement obtained by the CBC. “I treasure the memories of our work together and all the humour and fun we shared through the years.”

The movie brought him almost more work than he could handle on the stages of London’s West End and Broadway, as well as in TV movies and miniseries during the 1970s and ’80s.

But he then went on to enjoy a late-life renaissance in film, with lauded performances in The Insider, A Beautiful Mind, Beginners and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. In 2019 he starred as a murdered mystery novelist in Rian Johnson’s who dunnit Knives Out — one of his final film roles.

Born Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer on Dec. 13, 1929 in Toronto, he was a descendant of John Abbott, Canada’s third prime minister.

Christopher Plummer’s parents split up not long after his birth, and he was raised in relative privilege in Montreal by his mother and her extended family. He saw his father on only one other occasion years later.

A love for acting onstage was cemented by playing Mr. Darcy in a Montreal High School production of Pride and Prejudice. He would further develop his stagecraft at the Ottawa Repertory Theatre, and learned how to harness his baritone voice in CBC Radio plays.

Broadway beginnings

Plummer landed in New York in 1953, appearing on Broadway supporting stars like Tyrone Power and Julie Harris, and taking direction from Elia Kazan.

His reputation grew such that he was called back to Canada to portray Henry V in the Stratford Festival’s final year under the big tent in 1956, returning the next year to usher in their new indoor theatre as Hamlet.

Plummer garnered his first Tony nomination for his turn in J.B., a 1958 play written in free verse by American poet/playwright Archibald MacLeish.

He then went on to London, where he would appear alongside the likes of Vanessa Redgrave, Ian Holm and a young Judi Dench in Royal Shakespeare Company productions well into the 1960s.

When the curtain fell at show’s end, Plummer often kept company with heavyweight revellers like Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole.

“You’ve given an awful lot of your own personality with just the reward of applause at the end, but it isn’t quite enough to fill the rest of the night,” he told CBC of this need to “anesthetize.”

Two Marriages

Christopher Plummer’s profile would be raised by The Sound of Music and an internationally televised production of Hamlet, the only modern staging of the play at Elsinore castle in Denmark.

But by the late 1960s his personal life was not in great shape. He’d been through two marriages, and for several years made no effort to contact his only child, Amanda, from his first marriage.

“I was a lousy husband and an even worse father,” he admitted in his 2008 autobiography, In Spite of Myself.

Plummer beamed with pride years later when his daughter earned plaudits for her own acting, but was quick to disavow any credit for her talent.

Plummer cut down on his drinking and a 1970 marriage with Elaine Taylor would take; the couple put down roots in Connecticut for several decades.

Order of Canada

William Shatner, a friend and former colleague of Christopher Plummer, joined Power & Politics Friday to remember the Canadian Oscar-winning actor and to offer some advice on friendship. 7:40

He never lived in Canada — the taxes were outrageous, he said — but Plummer, a companion of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award, kept coming back for a variety of roles when the country’s film and television industry began to flourish.

There would be movies for big and small screen Canadian productions, including Murder by Decree, Silent Partner, Riel and Ararat, as well as the TV series Counterstrike, and children’s fare like his Emmy-winning voice work in Madeline.

Plummer thrived on switching from screen work to the theatre, and he scored his first Tony in a musical version of Cyrano in 1974.

“You have to be absolutely ruthless in your confidence about how to deal with the great roles, otherwise they’ll deal with you,” he said of his approach, in an interview with the National Theatre Museum decades later.

The money changers

The veteran actor and Oscar winner was presented the honour for his body of work at the Canadian Screen Awards. 3:10

After an Emmy win for the 1976 TV series The Money Changers, Plummer found himself in demand more for TV movies and miniseries such as The Thorn Birds than for meaty motion picture roles.

He rejected reports of clashes with Oscar winner Glenda Jackson during their 1988 Macbeth stage run as a ploy to sell tickets, but it was true that he possessed a healthy ego, occasionally earning a reputation for being difficult.
‘We shouldn’t retire’

After some early hiccups in its early run, his two-person play Barrymore hit its stride on Broadway in early 1997. Plummer won Tony and Drama Desk awards as actor John Barrymore, reflecting at life’s end.

Plummer started to become more in demand for film roles at the same time. Appearances in Dolores Claiborne and 12 Monkeys were followed by a portrayal of journalist Mike Wallace in the 1999 film The Insider, which won him a National Society of Film Critics Award.

Plummer was nominated for a best supporting actor Academy Award for playing Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station in 2010, and would win two years later in the role of Hal Fields, who, after the death of his wife, comes out as a gay man in Beginners.

He stared at the golden statue onstage in Los Angeles and quipped, “You’re only two years older than me, darling, where you have been all my life?”

Best supporting actor

Plummer was nominated as best supporting actor by the Academy for the third and final time in 2018, for playing billionaire J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World, based on the true story of the kidnapping and ransom of Getty’s grandson.

He was cast after actor Kevin Spacey was ousted from the role following a series of sexual misconduct allegations. The movie was mostly finished and had already been garnering Oscar buzz when Plummer, then 87, stepped in. He famously shot all his scenes in nine days.

Plummer told the CBC in 2014 he found it sad when people waited all their lives to retire and then couldn’t find a purpose once their working life was over.

“We shouldn’t retire. Not in our profession. There’s no such thing,” he said. “We want to drop dead onstage. That would be a nice theatrical way to go.”

Source: CBC

Entertainment

Reports of a Split Contract Point to Taylor Swift and Her Fiancé Travis Kelce’s Matching.

Published

2 months ago

October 8, 2024

Salman

(VOR News) – One of the ways that Taylor Swift showed her support for her boyfriend was by going to a football game that Travis Kelce was playing in while wearing a magnificent plaid suit that matched the outfit that he was wearing.

When this was done, it was done with the aim of making it happen, despite the fact that there were rumors going around about a split contract between the two of them.

The guy, who was 34 years old at the time, made a stunning entrance at Arrowhead Stadium while wearing a magnificent gray and black Taylor Swift checkered suit that was designed by Vivienne Westwood, who was also the designer of the costume.

She donned Taylor Swift clothing to show her support for Travis and the Chiefs.

Furthermore, they had arrived at the stadium earlier that day wearing Taylor Swift’s plaid shirt and jeans that were extremely similar to Kelce’s, which served as the basis for their synchronized costumes. This foundation was the foundation for their coordinated costumes. When Kelce arrived at the stadium, he was still wearing the same shirt and jeans that he had worn earlier.

Furthermore, Taylor greeted the occasion with a good attitude by matching her dress with a magnificent purse in the shape of a heart that she held on her wrist. This was yet another way that she showed her appreciation for the event. This item was a component of her ensemble.

It was stated by the Daily Mail that she made her return with this appearance, despite the fact that she had been absent from the two Chiefs games that came before it owing to her obligations to the Eras Tour. The fact that she had not been present for either of those games did not prevent her from accomplishing this.

“Now you all can shut the heck up about that bulls**t ‘breakup contract,'” a fan wrote on X in connection to this matter to express their opinion on the matter. “Now you can stop talking about anything.” “Now y’all can stop the hell up about that…”

It was a different fan who was the one who broke the news at this time period.

The statement reads, “BREAKING: Travis Kelce has reached a long-term extension with Taylor Swift.”

Following an extensive amount of deliberation and debate, the two parties have reached consensus on a deal that will be in place for the subsequent three years.

Providing that Travis continues to be advantageous for Taylor Swift’s company, the rules of the agreement indicate that Taylor Swift has the authority to renew the deal in the event that Travis continues to be useful. In the event that Travis is the one who is accountable for doing the dishes, there is a possibility that he may be awarded a bonus of some kind.

Swift and Kelce’s followers were able to let out a sigh of relief when it was discovered that a “contract” that had been reported to have been leaked and disclosed the exact date of Swift and Kelce’s separation was found to be nothing more than a fabrication.

This information was obtained from the source. It had been anticipated that the “contract” would have been made available.

In addition, it is worth noting that when the publication that stated that the couple had made the decision to end their relationship a month ago began to circulate on the internet, representatives for Travis were obligated to reject the charges.

SOURCE: GN

Entertainment

‘Joker 2’ Tops the International Box Office with $81.1 Million.

Published

2 months ago

October 6, 2024

Salman

(VOR News) – It is projected that “Joker: Folie à Deux” made its debut this weekend with an estimated total of $81.1 million.

This would make it the most successful film at the box office around the world and the most profitable film overall from a financial standpoint. The picture, which is a sequel to the 2019 blockbuster smash “Joker,” only made $40 million in the United States of America, which is a pitiful amount of money.

The film is a sequel to the 2019 mega hit. In the year 2019, the trailer for the movie was made available. The cinematic adaptation of the peculiar comic book has generated an astonishing sum of $121.1 million in revenue all over the world. This is a result of the film’s success.

Considering that the production of “Joker: Folie à Deux” took place at an incredible cost of two hundred million dollars, Warner Bros., the corporation that provided the finance for the picture, is currently confronted with a dilemma as a result of this fact.

The second “Joker” cost $65 million, compared to $75 million for the original.

This is a substantial difference in terms of the budget. The movie has been given a terrible “D” CinemaScore since the majority of the reviews that have been published about the film have been unfavorable, and audiences appear to agree with the reviewers. As a result of this, the movie has been given a terrible “D” CinemaScore.

Lady Gaga, who is responsible for putting her own distinctive twist on Harley Quinn, a favorite character from the comics, is responsible for a significant portion of the additional expense.

Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix, who reprises his role as the unstable comedian Arthur Fleck, and Lady Gaga are all responsible for a significant portion of the increased budget. There is a large portion of the additional costs that are linked with the production of the picture that may be attributed to these payments.

There were a total of 25,788 theaters and 76 markets outside of the United States that showed the movie. In order to act as screening locations, these locations were selected.

The fact that “Joker: Folie à Deux” made $8 million in the United Kingdom, $6.9 million in Germany, $5.6 million in Italy, $5.5 million in Mexico, and $5 million in France is a fascinating piece of information to take into consideration. Furthermore, the film made $5 million in France.

Only a few examples of what has been accomplished are presented here, but they are representative of the many different results that have been obtained. One week after the film will be released in Japan on the same day, it will make its debut in China on October 16th. This will be one week after the film is released in Japan.

Japan will also release the Joker movie to the public on that same day.

After grossing $335 million in the United States, the first “Joker” film grossed $743 million in other nations across the world. This is despite the fact that the film was only released in the United States.

In addition to generating a large amount of revenue, the movie was a smash hit that was incredibly well received by audiences. The film “Deadpool & Wolverine” broke the record for the highest-grossing R-rated film when it grossed $1.32 billion worldwide.

This achievement was accomplished by the film. The film was successful in accomplishing this specific goal. During a particular period of time, the film was the one that achieved the distinction of being the highest-grossing R-rated film movie.

Before “Joker 2” caused a breach between audiences and critics, Phillips announced that he had ended his career as a director of films based on comic books. At the end of the day, “Joker 2” was not successful. By the time this took place, the film had not yet been responsible for causing the rift.

“It was fun to play in this sort of sandbox for two movies, but I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world,” he said in an interview with Variety in the month of August. “It was a lot of fun.” “It was a lot of fun.” “It was a lot of fun.”

SOURCE: VN

Entertainment

Reviews of Silent Hill 2 Provide a Higher-Than-Expected Metacritical Score.

Published

2 months ago

October 4, 2024

Salman

(VOR News) – The Bloober Team and Konami-produced remake of the horror game Silent Hill 2 is scheduled to launch the following week, but reviews have already started to surface, giving players a sneak peek at the updated version of the game before it is made available to the public.

It would be an understatement to say that Bloober Team was under a great deal of pressure to get the game right, especially considering that the survival-horror genre’s enthusiasts regard Silent Hill almost as highly as Resident Evil.

Considering the Metacritic score that the game has received thus far, Silent Hill 2 players shouldn’t have any worries when the game launches on November 8

. This is due to the score, which shows that the game has only ever earned favorable reviews up to this point. Fans of the Bloober Team and Silent Hill will be happy to hear this news.

Silent Hill 2 currently has an 87 Metacritic rating.

In 50 reviews, the PlayStation 5 version received a score of 87, meaning that it also received an 87 on that platform. This is based on the fact that the score was given to the PlayStation 5 version. The Silent Hill 2 personal computer version received an overall rating of 88 out of 5, placing it somewhat higher than the PlayStation 5 version.

There isn’t an Xbox version of Silent Hill 2 that can be regarded as existing because it wasn’t part of the Xbox Series X|S. There isn’t any information available at this time on whether or not it will ever be made accessible on that specific platform.

A considerable portion of Silent Hill fans had not in the slightest expected that Silent Hill 2 would achieve five flawless scores of one hundred before these reviews were published. It is extremely unlikely that they expected anything at all. Actually, the great majority of reviews are favorable.

They also call it a welcome return to form for the Silent Hill brand, complimenting the Bloober Team for their appreciation for the first Silent Hill 2. Furthermore, they believe it to be the ideal starting point for beginners who have never really experienced Silent Hill before.

Due of this, Silent Hill 2 has few Metacritic reviews, both positive and negative.

No bad reviews have been posted. Some people think that the remake may have retained some of the most annoying and constrictive elements of the original Silent Hill 2 by staying too close to the original. These individuals believe that there might have been some issues brought on by the remake.

Thankfully for those of us who are now playing Silent Hill 2, those reviews are the exception rather than the rule, with the vast majority of positive reviews making up the small amount of negative reviews.

It is true that some people became skeptical about the remake because the Bloober Team was in charge of it. Furthermore, in the perspective of both its own series and the genre at large, Silent Hill 2 has been held in the highest regard ever since it was first made accessible to the general public.

Games like Layers of Fear, The Medium, and the Blair Witch game were all made by the Bloober Team; nevertheless, no matter which game was reviewed, none of these titles received particularly high review scores. With the release of Silent Hill 2, it’s possible that the public’s perception of the Bloober Team may undergo a significant shift.

Additionally, we are now writing our own review of Silent Hill 2.

Although it has taken longer than expected because we acquired our review copy after the game was already in progress.

However, even though more reviews are being received, it is highly doubtful that these would significantly lower Silent Hill 2’s Metacritic score. despite the fact that more reviews are coming in. Players of Silent Hill 2 should have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming week as a result of this.

SOURCE: CB