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Oscar winner Anna Paquin will play a Holocaust heroine in "The Irena Sendler Story," a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation for CBS.
Sendler, a Polish woman credited with saving the lives of thousands of Jewish children during World War II, died in May at age 98.
The film has been in production in Latvia, for an April premiere.
It is based on the book "Mother of the Children of the Holocaust: The Irena Sendler Story," by Anna Mieszkowska.
Riga Old Town with its cobblestone streets and courtyards was chosen in the competition of eight cities as the most appropriate one for shooting the film about the events, which took place during World War II.
It is the first time that a U.S. film studio shoots a film in Latvia.
Academy Award winner Anna Paquin will play the lead role – Irena Sendler – the young Polish woman, who rescued the lives of thousands of Jewish children during WWII.
In 2007 Irena Sendler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She died in May of this year, at the age of 98.
'Female Schindler' Irene Sendler, who saved thousands of Jewish children, dies '
A Polish woman who helped save 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis has died aged 98.
Read BBC article here
Irena's list: Holocaust heroine's untold story
This week, a 97-year-old Polish woman was finally honoured for saving thousands of Jewish children from extermination in Nazi death camps. Claire Soares tells her extraordinary tale Bottom of Form Behind the doors of a Polish nursing home sits a woman who might be described as the female Oskar Schindler.
Read Independent UK article here
Friday, December 26, 2008
Anna Paquin stars in Hallmark Hall of Fame "The Irene Sendler Story"
Season two - what would you like to see ?
I wrote this as a post on the wiki today, we were generally talking about what we thought needed to happen in season 2
These were some of my thoughts - what are yours ?
The books are all written from the Sookie fist person POV -the TV series is not, which does allow for Alan Ball to fill in the Sookieverse outside of what Sookie sees, hears and knows, that will mean multiple storylines (like Lorena and Jessica which we either don't have or don't know as much about in the books) and Amy and Tara's mom (which again we don't either have as the same character in the books or they aren't in them at all ) - and that's all OK we want him to expand the universe.
I do want to see Ball and his creative team fully develops the Sookieverse and Anna might have to work a little overtime because we do need to see her a lot , after all he is what the series (book and TV) is all about.
1. They need to spend more time writing for the main characters and give them more screen time.
2. They need to spend more time developing the ' Supe' story lines, Jessica is a good 'Supe' story line and we are all scratching our heads as to how it will effect the main Sookie/Bill relationship. (and I think that's the desired effect)
3. They need a very strong story editor to oversee the entire series, so there are NO MORE writing mistakes from episode to episode like the one we saw from Episode 9-11 with why Bill was gone and where and why Sam was "taking care ' of Sookie. I believe Alan Ball wrote and directed 1, 2 and 12 and then every Episode in-between was written and directed by a different person and they seemed to stray off the over all story arc.
4. They need to utilize the excellent actor they have in Alexander Skarsgard. His character, Eric was not utilized much in season one (nor was Eric really that important in Book one) but Eric plays an increasingly important role as the series progresses and everyone is excited to have Alex as Eric.
5. Memo to all writers: Sookie is not helpless, weak, petty, nitpicky, bitchy or screechy -she is smart, fair, loving, brave, loyal, open minded, independent, trustworthy and very socially adept in very unusual social situations. She has led a sheltered life and has not had much experience with men, but the events in her young life after meeting Bill make her grow ( and grow- up) quickly.
So don't write for her like she is anything less than all of the above!
6. Continue to bring True Blood stories, characters and issues to the forefront of our real political and social life - that is what Charlaine has always done it with the books -I believe she said once she was "on a mission with Sookie"
I think she has accomplished that in the books and Ball needs to in the show. He can continue to create a world where we can talk about social injustice, prejudice, inequality, race, sexual orientation, "otherness", politics, justice, freedom, bigotry, civil rights, love and friendship in the context of fiction and allow the fiction to lead us toward discussing these vital social issues and human complexities in the real (mainstreaming) world outside of Bon Temp and therefore hopefully work to make things better.
Great art and literature has always led progressive thinking in societies.
Yes, I am saying True Blood and the Sookie books can truly be great when they make us THINK !
If you don't like it - you can just bite me ! (4)
This is the bite marks from one of the character in True Blood.
Do you know who this is ?
Do you know who the vampire was that did the biting ?
Yes this is Maudette Pickens and the vamp would have been Liam !
You can see the other "bite me " posts and answers here !
Sookie's bedroom ..
My good friend Keyse on her Crocodile Tears blog has a great post about Sookie's bedroom
Sookie Stackhouse's bedroom in True Blood looks very much like what I pictured while reading the books by Charlaine Harris. While re-watching the show last night I noticed Sookie has a doll house in her bedroom (it's the room she grew up in after to moved to her grans house).
Read on here http://crocodiletears-keyse.blogspot.com/2008/12/sookie-sookie.html
So you want to be as cool as Alexander Skargard ?
Ok, this is what Alex said were a few of his favorites things from 2008 in his latest interview !
So you better know about all this stuff if you want to be as cool as he is ....
Favorite CD - Glasvegas a great Scottish band from Glasgow.
Best Movie - 'Let the right One In' ( Swedish vampire movie -this is still playing in US movie theaters- I LOVED it) more info HERE and HERE
Best to Read "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WAO" by Junot Diaz- The titular Osc
ar is a 300-pound-plus "lovesick ghetto nerd" with zero game (except for Dungeons & Dragons) who cranks out pages of fantasy fiction with the hopes of becoming a Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is also the story of a multi-generational family curse that courses through the book, leaving troubles and tragedy in its wake. This was the most dynamic, entertaining, and achingly heartfelt novel I've read in a long time.
Favorite to Watch on TV - Mad Men ( I guess you can't say your own award nominated TV shows: ie True Blood and Operation Kill)
Best Concert: Vampire Weekend, are an American indie pop band from New York, formed in 2006.
Daddy's Gone from Glasvegas ( Geraldine is also great !)
Oxford Comma from Vampire Weekend (my favorite)
"When I got the role, I was a little scared" Alexander Skarsgard talking about his role in Generation Kill
NEW YORK. If someone able to nod assent to Marit Bergman feel good-hit "This is the year" in 2008, it is Alexander Skarsgård.
After "Generation Kill" and "True Blood", he now stars in the movie "13"
with, among others, Ray Liotta and 50 Cent.
-" It is of course really good to release it. But I have always believed in my talent, "he says in Entertainment Bladet meet him in New York.
Actually started well Alexander Skarsgård lives go in harmony with "This is the year" in 2007.
That was when he towed the role of Officer Brad "The Iceman" Colbert in the HBO series "Generation Kill" and also went to Africa for a nearly year-long filming.
But it was this year a realistic, intrusive drama about a Marine platoon in the mission in Iraq was sent - and was a success.
"Incredibly proud, I had very high expectations and they met. I am incredibly proud of "Generation Kill," he says over a late breakfast in a mess got in Soho in southern Manhattan.
The filming was not easy for 32-year-old Stockholm native .
"First, I would be a tough Marine soldier and an American. And I had the supporting role. I had never done anything like that before, "he says - I was nervous. While they were setting up the roles, I thought not so much on it, and then I had to have confidence. But once I landed the job, I was a little scared. Suddenly, I had a budget of 500 Millar on my shoulders, "
"But I was excited too. That is why I have been here for four years, to get that kind of opportunity that I received."
To play vampire in 'True blood' which is also an HBO project - seems to be less complicated.
- "Generation Kill" is the closest to the heart of everything I do, I love the project, but that after a yesterday passed around in camouflage clothes and been this laconic, Torre Marine soldier, it was incredibly liberating to put on the Eric wig (?)And just play” smiles Skarsgård.
- "Generation Kill" documentary and was extremely dry and genuine, while "True blood" is ... much sexier, with soundtracks and songs and Cliffhangers and i love it . I can take turns out a lot more. It is of course a benefit to work with the contrasts.
And now Skarsgårds is working "13" - a re-make of a French film about a collection of cynical billionaires who invests money in Russian roulette.
"I have a small role, but I liked the script and because it was possible to squeeze in before we start recording second season of "True blood" "I am grateful and I felt this was a movie I wanted to be in."
He has choices now
It is the reward for four years of working in Hollywood and all other than the hottest stars in principle which consist of long series of meetings and auditions and disappointments. "It is of course really good to forget the problems, I was actually never particularly busy, he says.
"As a pyramid"
- I have always believed in my talent and knowledge that it will sooner or later a project would come along that was right for me.
The project came ... yes, it can happens !
"My life has changed some. This world is built like a pyramid and I have taken a step up. I do not have to prove what I can anymore. Now the target is to reach a level where I may direct offers and can live where I want, for example, with the family at home in Stockholm. Or anywhere."
It sounds like a certain Marit Bergman-hit may be the soundtrack to many years in Alexander Skarsgård life
-----
This year ...
... CD: I think Glasvegas CD is really good.
... FILM: "Let the right to enter". ( let the right on in )
... reading: "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WAO" by Junot Diaz.
... TV: I have not seen so much TV, but I watch "Mad Men " sometimes. It is good.
... concert: I saw Vampire Weekend last week, it was really good.
... moment: It was probably the beginning of the year, in a taxi on the way home from the airport to the south after I had been in Africa on the recording in one year. It was a real pissdag. You know, one plus degree and sleeting. The Taxi cab driver sat and complained that he had not seen the sun in three months. And in the back, I was so happy. I thought every little thing was great. Just to see Ica Maxi was wonderful. Registration plates on an old Saab made me cry. Unbelievably strong ... I am so fucking hemmakär (
homesick???) when I come home ...
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/article4030612.ab
True Blood Episode one: Strange Love recap from HBO site
I'm going to start posting the episode recaps from the HBO site. I think we should have them in our archive; they are really long so I will also post them in their entirety as a word document to our scribd site. I think they are worth carefully re-examining for clues!
At night on a rural Louisiana highway, a frat boy driving his girlfriend's SUV - while her hand works busily in his lap - notices a neon convenience store sign for Tru Blood and pulls into the lot. Inside, an evil-looking clerk watches Bill Maher interview American Vampire League spokeswoman Nan Flanagan, who deftly parries his questions about vampires' historical violence. "We never owned slaves," she says, "or detonated nuclear weapons.
Since the Japanese perfected synthetic blood, which satisfies all our nutritional needs, there is no reason for anyone to fear us."
The frat boy steps up to the counter and smarts off about the vampires of New Orleans drowning during Hurricane Katrina, and the pale, angular clerk replies that vampires can't drown "because we don't breathe." Frozen in terror, the frat boy mumbles an apology, but a moment later the clerk breaks into a goofy cackle, dropping the act and saying how he "totally had them."
A camo-clad good ole boy in the back of the store isn't amused, however, and when the frat boy asks the clerk about scoring some drug-like vampire blood, the real vampire in their midst reveals himself - and his fangs. As the frat boy flees with his girlfriend, the good ole boy steps up to the counter, slams down a four-pack of Tru Blood and tells the clerk, "You ever pretend to be one of us again, and I'll kill you. Got it?"
Read on here :
What book is Gran reading in Episode one ?
In TB episode one, what book is Gran reading at the kitchen table while she waits (with Tina ) for Sookie to come home from work ?
She is reading Last Scene Alive ( bk 7) in the Aurora Teagarden mysteries by Charlaine Harris
You can buy it here from Amazon
True Blood New Year's Resolutions
I will not try to get Sam's attention at Merlotte's by blowing a dog whistle and then calling "here boy".
I will not tease Bill by telling him my wii score at golf was 12 under par.
I will not drop my "big bag full of crazy" on Jason's porch.
I will not attempt to take Tara dress shopping.
I will not speak to anyone in Bon Temps with a Cajun accent.
Please send me your True Blood New Year's Resolution:
truebloodindallas@gmail.com
Thanks to everyone for their creativity!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Sookie and Bill ?
Do we have a little Anna and Stephen shopping time here ?
They are awfully cute together ...
Graham Shiels Gets "True" With SOS
Graham ( Liam ) Shiels talks a little about being Liam, on of the Monroe rouge vampires in Season One of True Blood with SoapOpera source.
True Blood has garnered a lot of attention since its first season began. Why do you think it was a huge hit for HBO? What makes this vampire series stand out above the other original programming on HBO?
As for the success of TB I think it's just plain different. Alan Ball has impeccable taste and the show mixes in a lot of humor into the world of a blood-thirsty, human-killing vampire. So it's like no other vampire story ever told. I also think that's where he differs from the books, by Charlaine Harris, because though there is humor in the books, there's a LOT more in the TV show. Trying to tell the story by portraying these vampires as having real social conflict and feelings about fitting in is different--not just a horror/gore movie about vampires sucking people's necks and speaking in bad generic eastern European accents.
True Blood pushed the envelope with the nudity and the language. Every episode there was somebody having sex. Liam’s sex scenes showed full backside nakedness. Was that something that was difficult for you to do? I mean some actors are not open to showing a lot of skin and True Blood is a series that shows a lot of skin every episode.
I was very nervous when we shot that. As, I'm sure, my co-star was, too. Had it not been Alan Ball, Oscar award-winning writer, and HBO, I never would have done it. And it was just my butt. It wasn't full frontal. I'd never (never say never, Graham) do full frontal. I've done it onstage, though, in a Shakespeare play. But I knew in this case it served the story and that it would be handled with great taste seeing as it's Alan Ball. Blood taste.
There was even an episode that you were in bed with Sookie’s brother, Jason (Ryan Kwanten) during one his love scenes with a girl who had had sex with Liam. Was it uncomfortable for the two of you doing that scene together?
Working with Ryan was not uncomfortable at all b/c we both knew this was a fun "bit," so to speak. It was very fun to shoot. Ryan had this great idea he should be holding my foot and that's how he notices it's me and not the girl--and in retrospect, I think we should have gone the whole way and he could have been sucking my toes, too!
Was there a memorable event, moment, scene, episode from True Blood that maybe was intense or funny that didn’t make it on screen?
There was a funny moment in ep #7 when we're coming into Merlott's to get Bill. Ana/Sookie is chewing out Andrew/Malcolm. When we were rehearsing I laughed like I was enjoying that she was taking Malcolm down a peg and then Andrew gave me an evil glare, like, "shut-up." That whole exchange cracked everyone up. But it couldn't make it into the cut b/c it really wasn't what was written in terms of the intensity of the conflict. But it was very real--and so, funny.
read the whole interview** good excuse to use another of Michelle Dawson's excellent TB fan art
Have a pink spandex kind of Christmas ...
Court at True Blood Art Blog shared her little pink spandex Christmas drawing of Eric with us for Christmas
Thanks , Court !
http://tbsvart.blogspot.com/
True Blood Crossword Puzzle
True Blood Crossword Puzzle..here's a little something to do today with your feet up.
Click on image to left and and it will open in another screen and you should be able to print from there.
If not shoot me and email and I'll send it to you as an attachment !
Enjoy !
Merry Christmas,
truebloodindallas@gmail.com
`True' bite; Paquin prays her new HBO supernatural series will be noticed
By AMY AMATANGELO The Boston Herald September 14, 2008 Sunday
Anna Paquin knows that some viewers won't enjoy her new series ``True Blood'' (tonight at 9 on HBO). That's OK.
``We definitely don't pull any punches as far as what shows up onscreen.
It's pretty out there,'' Paquin said.
``It's my favorite kind of work to do, where either someone is going to love it or they'll hate it. I don't really mind which people go for. The worst thing is apathy. We all really believe in what we're doing. It's a very larger-than-life world. We are doing a pretty odd show and, to me, that's really exciting. Because what's the point of doing something unless its going to affect people strongly in some way?''
In the series based on the novels by Charlaine Harris, Paquin stars as Sookie Stackhouse, a Louisiana waitress who falls for 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).
It's a part the actress, best known for playing the mutant Rogue in the ``X-Men'' films, never thought she would get.
``I looked at the script and I was like, `Oh, it's the perky blond waitress cheerleader type gal. They're never going to cast me in a million years.'
For no other reason than there were like 15 blond girls and I was the only brunette at the audition. People often, in my experience, do not have the imagination and the trust that something like coloring won't be a big deal.''
She credits executive producer Alan Ball (``Six Feet Under'') for the opportunity.
``He took a leap of faith, and I love and respect him for taking that chance. It's been a really amazing thing for me. (Sookie is) so lovely to play because she is just so complex.''
To become Sookie, Paquin worked with a vocal coach to hone her accent and visits a hair colorist every 10 days.
``It's really (just) add some hair dye, fake tan and some tiny outfits, and it kind of was done for me. I almost felt like it was too easy. Sookie couldn't be more different than everything about me, but that's kind of what you always hope for. The opportunity to really, really, really do something different.''
When she was only 11, Paquin won an Academy Award for her performance in the movie ``The Piano'' and continued acting through her adolescence. Then the daughter of two educators took a year off from the business to attend Columbia University.
``I was completely open to do something else with my life,'' she said. ``It was really refreshing to be completely out of the loop on the business front for a year and see if something else caught my interest - and nothing did particularly. But to not know whether there was something else out there, that's not how I wanted to start my adult life. I wanted to make sure it wasn't just because acting was all I knew.''
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