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"
Posted by " Dallas " at 8:46 PM 0 comments
Labels: Anna Paquin, True Blood goes to the movies
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 !
Posted by " Dallas " at 5:47 PM 4 comments
Labels: Season 2
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 !
Posted by " Dallas " at 4:15 PM 1 comments
Labels: Bite me, puzzles and quizzes
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
Posted by " Dallas " at 4:09 PM 0 comments
Labels: Sookie Stackhouse
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 Oscar 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)
Posted by " Dallas " at 1:29 PM 0 comments
Labels: Alexander Skarsgard
"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
Posted by " Dallas " at 1:16 PM 2 comments
Labels: Alexander Skarsgard, articles
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 :
Posted by " Dallas " at 11:25 AM 0 comments
Labels: Episode_1.01 " Strange Love", Season 1, Season 1 HBO recaps
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
Posted by " Dallas " at 9:33 AM 0 comments
Labels: books, Charlaine Harris, Gran ( Adele Stackhouse)
True Blood Music Video of the Day
Posted by " Dallas " at 8:45 AM 0 comments
Labels: Music Video of the Day
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!
Posted by " Dallas " at 8:16 AM 0 comments
Labels: New Year's 2009