I’m at the cozy Kafe K in Santa Monica shaking the ginormous right hand of Australian-born actor Chris Hemsworth when I have the piercing realization that this many adoring eyes haven’t been affixed my way since I was in a baby carriage.

Hemsworth’s hand will soon be seen carrying the most famous hammer in history—Soviet icon notwithstanding—as the titular god of thunder in Thor, the 3D would-be blockbuster hitting theaters this coming May. Hemsworth asks the woman behind the counter for a glass of tap water. She smiles and nods incredulously, eyeing his tight black T-shirt as if he were one big bag of biceps. Grabbing his drink, Hemsworth avoids the chair across from me, facing outside, and sits down at the table next to me so he’s hidden from view. He may not be an A-lister quite yet, but Hemsworth’s already got the paparazzi on his mind.

Southern California suits Hemsworth, but it’s clear his native Australia is never far from his mind. After high school, Hemsworth starred in the Aussie soap opera Home and Away (which, he is quick to point out, is where Heath Ledger and Naomi Watts also got their start) and, since moving to Los Angeles in 2007, has appeared in Star Trek and the Joss Whedon-produced as-yet-unreleased horror/thriller Cabin in the Woods, but Thor will be Hemsworth’s first major foray as a leading man (later this year he stars in Red Dawn, reprising the role originally played by the god of Swayze). At approximately 6’4/220 lbs. everything about Hemsworth is outsized—even his expectations: “My hope is that Thor is an intelligent blockbuster. The ones that work are.”

But will it work?

In recent memory, the superheroes—and specifically the actors playing them—that resonated most deeply with audiences have all been a bit off-kilter. Think of Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man, Christian Bale as Batman, or Toby McGuire as Spiderman—each is sort of weird by leading man standards. Superheroes are notoriously quirky and Downey’s snideness, Bale’s moodiness, and McGuire’s neurotic tics have made it easier for comic book nerds (so critical to establishing a film’s early buzz) to identify with these otherwise larger-than-life heroes. But in casting Hemsworth, it seems that the makers of Thor have departed from this formula. And with good reason: Seth Rogen might be able to pull off the Green Hornet, but he ain’t passing as a Norse god.

And clearly Thor’s creators believe they have found in Hemsworth someone who will come across as a Norse god—just check out the mindboggling number of bare-chested shots of Hemsworth in the film’s trailers.

“We needed a Thor who was capable of primitive, unthinking violence, a thuggish and brutish quality,” Thor director Kenneth Branagh tells me the following week. It’s the nature of Chris’ maleness that makes it work. His easy masculinity was crucial to the film’s overall tone.”

Cynics may scoff, but ever since Thor’s most storied run under writer/artist Walt Simonson, Thor’s alter-ego has been less “alter” than most comic book superheroes. In a joke about the utter implacability of Thor’s manliness (as well as a tweak to DC’s Superman narrative), Simonson has Nick Fury tell Thor to put on a pair of glasses and somehow everyone will start believing that he’s someone else (Thor #341).

But might Hemsworth’s “maleness”—the same quality that is responsible for the pool of saliva collecting beneath the head of every straight woman and every gay man in the café make for one of the most difficult to pull off superhero films in recent memory? Might 21st century audiences find Hemsworth too super to play a superhero?

Hemsworth didn’t grow up reading comics. “As a kid,” he tells me, “I was more into surfing magazines.” He remembers tearing pages out of his beloved surfing glossies and sticking them on the wall of his room. His idea of “geeking out” is an impassioned homily on why the Aussie glossy Tracks is superior to the American counterpart, Surfer—whereas most fanboys are still debating whether Supergirl would be sluttier in bed than Wonder Woman.

When he met his minions last July at Comic-Con, he admitted to feeling pressured. “After all, most of the people there know your character more than you do,” he says—and that is after he read virtually every Thor and Avengers comic book he could lay his hands on (Hemsworth will join Robert Downey, Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and others in the Joss Whedon-directed, highly anticipated The Avengers in 2012), plus several books that Branagh gave him about Norse mythology that he particularly enjoyed.

“One thing I took from it is how much life was influenced by fate and how that motivated Thor’s fearlessness as a warrior. It helps explain why he is so brash and cocky.”

It’s clear that Hemsworth’s training for his role as Thor went well beyond daily protein power shakes and sit-ups. But Hemsworth is in a much less risky proposition than is his character. “It’s a balancing act for Ken [Branagh] and the producers,” Hemsworth tells me. “We’re getting constant guidance from people who knew the stuff inside out. We want to appeal to the fans and the masses.”

But there are legitimate concerns.

For one, Thor is a god. “The trap would be to play him all magisterial and god-like,” Hemsworth tells me as he spins his white iPhone on the table. “Ultimately, he’s got to be relatable.” Branagh tells me that the filmmakers even considered omitting any mention of Thor being a god out of fear that it would create too much distance between the hero and the audience.

If that’s not a formidable enough challenge, Thor is kind of, well, an a-hole. Says Hemsworth: “We had a big discussion prior to shooting. There’s a fine line. You want an arc in the story. Yes, he’s cocky and brash, but you don’t want people to dismiss him as a wanker.” Acknowledges Branagh: “Yes, he’s a pain. A number of the people in the audience probably won’t be sure whether they like Thor in the beginning of the film.”

And finally, there is the camp factor. Even if audiences can relate to a god and buy into his character’s arc, how will audiences respond to a protagonist protecting his friends and family “for the good of the universe,” Hemsworth says without a glint of humor, and not to mention a costume that makes him look more like the missing member of Siegfried and Roy than a superhero?

“The kitschy elements are something we had to navigate,” Branagh tells me. “We needed the audience to feel that strong Viking influence and also that they had advanced technology and take delight in it. We didn’t ask the audience to wink at it as silly. The price would have been to undermine Thor’s redemption and the father and son [Odin and Thor] relationship that is at the heart of the story.”

Clearly, the film’s producers didn’t hire seasoned Shakespearean story-spinner Kenneth Branagh and actors Natalie Portman (who plays love interest, Jane Foster) and Sir Anthony Hopkins to get all winky-winky, but while Thor is sent into battle with his hammer, he might be missing a stronger weapon—irony.

Before our meeting, I had the idea of taking Hemsworth to one of L.A.’s famous 24-hour strip clubs—after all, how many people can say that they’ve had the chance to “make it rain” with the god of thunder. But it was around when Hemsworth listed The Neverending Story, The Princess Bride, and Labyrinth as his favorite flicks that I realized it wasn’t going to happen. Hemsworth doesn’t have a Hollywood bad-boy bone in his body. He is humble, genuine, and wholesome. The first two words that come out of virtually every person I speak with who knows Chris Hemsworth are: “Good guy.”

Thanks to her leading man, Portman even felt comfortable literally flying through the air during shooting: “I think the craziest day was when we flew together and they harnessed us attached to each other and we were up a hundred feet in the air with no safety mat… It was nice to have someone up there with me who was so lovely and calming.”

Branagh recalls: “I received a completely unsolicited call from Joss Whedon during the casting process. We were having a hard time casting the male lead, and he told me that Chris was immensely charming and a very good actor. It was an extremely unusual call for him to make and extremely heartfelt.”

When the woman behind the counter eagerly comes to our table with a pitcher of water to refill his glass that’s already filled nearly to the brim, I figure it’s as apt a moment as any to ask Hemsworth what it feels like to be a Hollywood hunk. Not that there’s any truly down-to-earth way to respond to a question like that, but it’s a testament to the actor that his instinct isn’t to start defensively quoting Stanislavski to establish his thespian street cred: “For sure you cringe when you see some of that stuff. I try to undercut those things by giving the character dimensionality, but at the same time, you’ve got to play to your strengths.”

I tell him that when I type “Chris Hemsworth” into Google, “shirtless” appears as a suggested next word before “actor.” “I don’t read the blogs—it’s very easy to be distracted, easy to get lost in it all.”
After some initial prying, Hemsworth tells me he’s currently reading Hermann Hesse’s Narcissus and Goldmund and Armageddon’s Children by Terry Brooks. He’s also been surfing with his brother Liam (who co-starred with Miley Cyrus in 2010’s The Last Song [the two had an off-and-on relationship] and in a strange coincidence was also up for the role of Thor).

“I live in Santa Monica where there’s more space, and I surf a lot, train a lot, read books, and try to have a life outside the business.”
Hemsworth looks out the window of the café as if the Santa Monica shore were coastal Victoria. It’s not quite as far away as Thor’s godly realm of Asgard, but Hemsworth’s native Australia is a long way away.
“From time to time I miss being there. I was on the phone with my older brother Luke [who runs a floor sanding business in Australia] and I was complaining about it here and he held up the phone and said, ‘You hear that? That’s the sound of a floor being sanded.’  It helped put things in perspective.”

For now, Hemsworth will have to do without the seal colonies and Fairy penguins of his native land and fend for himself in a place where the sharks you’ve got to worry about demand 10-20 percent of gross.

When I say goodbye to Hemsworth that afternoon, a strange thought occurs to me: it isn’t easy being a beefcake these days. I know, cue the violin. A soon-to-be household name, hefty paycheck, not to mention at least eight women at this café alone who would line up just for the opportunity to wax his surf board, but you sort of feel for the guy. Brawn, to be sure, is still as envied as ever, but the Hollywood hunk with the impossibly square jaw, pearly whites, and burly chest has recently become, well, a bit silly.

The inscription on Thor’s hammer—“Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor”—are a test to anyone who picks it up—Hemsworth included.

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At first you might think it’s a stretch for actor Chris O’Donnell and rapper LL Cool J to play special-agent buddies on the hit CBS series NCIS: Los Angeles. Even they don’t seem to be sure why they fit together so well.

Chris O'Donnell & LL Cool J

“I really couldn’t explain it,” LL Cool J says with a big grin. “We had never met before the show. Then we went to the gun range for weapons training, and we just clicked. You have one guy, Chris, who’s from the Midwest and this other guy, me, who’s from the inner city of New York. But we share a common sensibility. I think that me plus him equals a little more than two, you know?”

While they come from very different places, movie star O’Donnell, 39, and rapper LL Cool J, 42, were both successful very early on. LL Cool J, whose real name is James Todd Smith, had his first hit record for Def Jam when he was 16 years old. (His stage name stands for Ladies Love Cool James.) His sexy hip-hop style and the lyrics he wrote won him Grammys and have kept him at the top of the charts for more than two decades, with hit singles such as “Going Back to Cali” and “Mama Said Knock You Out.” His friends call him Todd and describe him as a philosopher with a grand sense of adventure and joy.

O’Donnell started acting in his teens but first got wide attention when he shared the screen with Al Pacino in 1992’s Scent of a Woman. Despite his varied big-screen career, fans will always remember him as Batman’s sidekick Robin. He played the role opposite both Val Kilmer and George Clooney in hit movies in the 1990s.

“I’ve grown up a little bit,” O’Donnell reflects. “I’m almost 40 years old now. But everyone was introduced to me when I was 18 and I looked like I was 15. I’ve been around a long time. I don’t know that NCIS: Los Angeles is a complete reinvention, but I’m playing one of the guys in charge this time. Before I’d be cast as a young impressionable character. I think part of that is just being more mature.”

Despite their backgrounds, the two stars have formed a real connection on the NCIS set. “I found out right away that neither of us has an ego that is too big to get in the way of doing what’s best for the show,” O’Donnell says. “We give each other a hard time, sometimes jokingly and sometimes seriously, but nobody gets offended. He and I are both pretty wide open. We have good communication, which is important in any relationship.” He shrugs. “We’re both kind of down-to-earth, yet we don’t have normal lives. Let’s face it—anyone who got into this business wasn’t seeking a normal life.”

LL Cool J had some good movie parts, such as in 1999’s Any Given Sunday, but NCIS: Los Angeles is his biggest hit as an actor.

“I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a little boy with a towel hanging out of my undershirt jumping off a refrigerator box pretending to be a superhero,” he says of playing an undercover special agent—who gets to use the latest high-tech equipment.

O’Donnell, who plays the more cerebral agent, agrees. “I’ve got a gun, and I’m running around hiding behind things,” he says. “That’s what we did when we were kids down in the basement of my house. You have a couple of buddies sleep over, and, you know, you play cops and robbers. That I’m getting paid to do it now is kind of funny.”

O’Donnell was having a slow spell when NCIS: Los Angeles called. He’d made a few guest appearances on Grey’s Anatomy and starred in a Broadway play, but he admits that he was looking for a chance to heat up—or even change—his image.

“There are obviously peaks and valleys in everyone’s career,” O’Donnell says, his blue eyes flashing with intensity. “This business can be a roller-coaster ride, and it’s really hard to stay on top all the time. Very few people do.

“I definitely had those moments, like any actor, when you get anxious and think, ‘When am I going to work again ?’ But I would feel that way even when I had every offer in the world coming to me. Then I became a father and I felt a little more of the anxiety that came with the responsibility of being a parent. I was looking for something that would allow me to stay in Los Angeles, which was best for my kids.” O’Donnell has been married since 1997 to Caroline Fentress. They have five children: Lily Anne, 10, Christopher, 9, Charles, 6, Finley, 3, and Maeve, 2.

LL Cool J hardly needed work when he joined NCIS: Los Angeles, but the series has boosted his career, too. “My music was big, but this is the biggest thing I’ve ever done,” he says. “Housewives in Montana weren’t listening to my songs, but now they know LL Cool J because of NCIS.

“Reinvention isn’t only for celebrities or actors or musicians or athletes—reinvention is for all humanity,” LL Cool J continues. “All of us should strive for a newer and better self. Just constantly take our lives to the next level. People make a whole bunch of mistakes, and then we call it ‘experience.’ For me, having a music career for all those years kind of prepped me emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually to be able to handle something like this. You have to remember that success is a long, long road, but failure is only a step away.”

LL Cool J has been married to Simone Johnson since 1995. They have four children: Najee, 20, Italia, 19, Samaria, 14, and Nina, 9. Away from work, both he and O’Donnell are very involved parents, and that has created a bond.

“We didn’t have time to have any preconceived notions about each other,” LL Cool J says. “There just wasn’t space to wonder ‘What’s Chris gonna think of my rap background? Is he gonna be square? Is he gonna get me?’” LL Cool J leans back and beams a smile. “Then I discovered he has five kids, and I have four. Here’s the strangest part. I found out that our two fourth-graders, our 9-year-olds, are at opposing schools, and their basketball teams compete.”

As the No. 1 new series of the season, NCIS: Los Angeles is already assured a long life. After only seven weeks on the air, the show got a deal to syndicate episodes on the USA Network. Most TV series don’t get that kind of deal until they have produced close to 100 shows.

“I was aware that the show was doing well, but I didn’t allow myself to get in that mind-set of ‘I have a hit’ kind of thing,” LL Cool J says. “You don’t want to be in denial either and have some sort of pseudo humility. But success can be the greatest enemy of progress. So you have to just keep everything in the right perspective. Focus on growing as an actor.”

“Sarcasm is the key to our bonding,” O’Donnell says with a laugh. “I like to tell LL that I was watching him on Friday Night Videos when I was 15 years old. There he was onscreen with all of these women, and there I was sitting on the couch at home wishing I was out doing what he was doing !

“We’re both married, so we understand that you can’t analyze the secret to being part of a good team,” O’Donnell adds with a wink. LL Cool J raises his eyebrows with a naughty look. “They say that what happiness lacks in length, it makes up for in height,” he replies. He may be one of the few rappers who quotes Robert Frost.

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Even though Clare Maguire has been incredibly busy touring with Plan B and Hurts, she very kindly took the time out to speak to us about remixes, her debut album and Michael Jackson.

You have literally just finished touring with Plan B, and prior to that you were touring with Hurts. They are both amazing acts, but from personal experience they seem to have totally different target demographics. Have you seen a change in the reception that you get from the crowds?

There has certainly been a difference in the reaction from each crowd, but they’ve both been an incredible experience for me both personally and professionally. The majority of them have never heard of me before so I have to put on a show they won’t forget. It’s been an amazing learning experience.

I was lucky enough to see you perform live when you came to Norwich with Plan B, and you were absolutely fantastic. On that occasion you were purely there to sing, but I have seen photos of you at Green Man Festival with a Fender P-Bass in hand.

Please tell me you play bass?!

I can play a variety of instruments to a basic standard which I will incorporate into my live show at some stage. To a basic standard I can play piano, guitar, bass, autoharp, and violin.

You have stated that your debut album will be completely written by yourself. Does that make you feel nervous about the kind of critical reception it may receive?

I could never be nervous about art. It is an expression of the heart. Criticism should be ignored, unless it’s well judged. I’m only interested in the people who find a connection to my music emotionally and believe in it.

Is it true that your song, The Last Dance, was inspired by the death of Michael Jackson?

I wrote it after his death, I thought it very distasteful when people chose to ridicule him even after his passing. My sadness and anger were the tools for the inspiration behind the song which is also about my own personal heartbreaks and losses in my life.

Light After Dark has been penned for release early next year, is it finished already or are you still adding stuff to it? I have heard a lot of artists get some great inspiration from the touring process.

I have finished Light after Dark and I am very proud of it, however, I always write and it is true that touring is an incredible way to gain inspiration for new material, I’ll never stop creating, I couldn’t.

I know you have been working with the incredibly talented Fraser T Smith on the new album, but there were some rumours floating around that you had also been working with one of my favourite producers Richard X. Is there any truth in that?

This album was written and produced by myself and Fraser exclusively. I have written with Richard X, he is an extremely talented producer/writer and a wonderful man. We have written some great songs together which I am sure people will get the hear at some stage.

If the album goes down well (which I’m sure it will), are you more likely to accept songs from other writers or will you continue to press on with your own material?

I am always willing to try other people’s songs if I feel I can connect to them. But I do think for my own albums that I will always write them myself.

There are a few major factors which I have seen as becoming increasingly vital to the growth in popularity of new artists, the first of which is the remix scene. Acts like La Roux and Ellie Goulding have majorly benefited thanks to remixes from the likes of Russ Chimes, Skream, Chiddy Bang and Jakwob.

Breakage’s remix of your new single Ain’t Nobody has gone down fantastically well with fans, did you feel it was important to also embrace that particular side of music too?

Absolutely, James came back with that remix and I was blown away. It is a beautiful thing to write something that someone else interprets in their own unique way and throws it into a new genre, it’s exciting.

What has been your favourite remix this year (not including your own work)?

I love everything Chase and Status have been doing, especially their work with Plan B.

The second factor which seems to set people’s tongues wagging at this time of the year is the impending release of the BBC’s Sound of 2011 list.

By no means does inclusion on the list instantly guarantee success in the industry, but there is now a large amount of alumni who have gone on to do great things. Has your possible inclusion on the longlist played on your mind at all?

Not so much the BBC Poll, but in general if you have people believing in the potential of your work at an early stage, it helps enormously on a number of levels both personally and to those around you.

I have spent 23 years building up to Light After Dark and it means the world to me, I hope people connect with it, but I understand it’s is a very competitive industry and I am up against a huge amount of talented artists to grab people’s attention.

Your debut single Ain’t Nobody went on sale a few weeks ago, have you had any thoughts about what song you will pick as your next single?

You’ll have to wait and see…

Clare’s single Ain’t Nobody was released on 18th October, and her album is scheduled for release in March.

You can follow Clare on Twitter @ClareMaguire and on Facebook.

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The team of Bruckheimer, Newell and Mechner have put together the perfect summer popcorn action-adventure and tribute to SFX master Ray Harryhausen. 

It seems that Hollywood is finally giving its respect to legendary B-Movie director and special effects master Ray Harryhausen. While the remake of his film Clash of the Titans left his fans wanting, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Mike Newell more than make up for it with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

For those who don’t recognize the name, Harryhausen was a protégé of stop motion animation master Willis O’Brien. Their crowning collaboration together was on the great ape himself, King Kong. Harryhausen would soon strike out on his own, with his crowning achievements being The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) and the aforementioned Titans (1981). He’s still around today, basking in the love and glory of film fans around the world.

What set Harryhausen apart from others in the SFX field was not only his highly evocative and rich use of stop motion, but the level of high fantasy adventure he infused in all his feature films. His best works were always set in exotic, ancient locales, and as much detail was paid to the costuming and action choreography as were the visual effects. Yes, the dialogue and some situations could get a tad corny, but they were more products of their time and the market they were targeted at, youngsters.

Some of those youngsters who had to have grown up on Harryhausen’s films had to include Bruckheimer, Newell and game designer Jordan Mechner. As any family with a video console will tell you, Mechner earned his stripes in the gaming world with the creation of the Prince of Persia video game. Not only did the game provide its players with their share of turbo-charged action, but it was set in an exotic backdrop that would have made Harryhausen smile with pleasure.

Now throw in Newell, who directed such films as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and a number of Young Indiana Jones films. Finish this trio off with super producer Bruckheimer, who has proven his flare for financing top box office hits like all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and you have an incredible combination of talent at the top.

Like all the Pirates movies, Bruckheimer stays true to the formula that’s made him billions. It starts with casting.

In this situation, he puts the roguish hero into a minor role and focuses almost exclusively on the classic one. For Prince, he cast the up-and-coming Jake Gyllenhall at Dastan, an orphan boy whose nobility is so apparent he ends up adopted by the Persian royal family. He also finds a perfectly played villain in the form of the king’s uncle, Mizan (Ben Kingsley) whose mantle of nobility hides an incredibly black heart. Naturally, no action-adventure would be complete without a drop dead beautiful female, and Gemma Atterton gives her Princess Tamina enough spunk, wisdom and curves to keep fanboys dreaming about her for some time to come.

From there, Newell and Melcher put together a plot that will certainly satisfy fans of the original video games. Major game props such as the Sands of Time, exotic killers such as the Hassanshins and even ostrich races pop up at exactly the right moments. Newell apparently made many of his key actors take some classes in Parkour racing as well as took some tips from Hong Kong wire fu masters. His characters can run up walls, jump across alleys in ways that will leave viewers jaws firmly dropped from pretty much the beginning of the film.

Which leads to the last key reason the film is such a crowd pleaser. It doesn’t take the film long to take off at mach speed, only slowing down enough to give its audience a chance to properly catch their collective breaths. Then it takes off like a rocket again. At the same time, the creative team makes sure there’s enough dialogue and plot laced throughout the film to hold the whole thing together.

Still, if there’s one thing that truly makes Prince of Persia stand out is its rich updating and employment of devices Harryhausen utilized in his salad days. It’s chock full of luxurious castles, exotic peoples and just the right amount of mind-blowing magic. Further, this is a film that families can take their children to with little guilt. There’s virtually no nudity or extreme violence laced through the entire film. Also, in true Harryhausen form, the film reaches an incredibly action-packed final battle sequence that makes one glad there is 3-D out there. Quite frankly, this is a film that really should be seen with that gimmick.

In conclusion, Prince of Persia is a film that harkens back to Saturday afternoon matinees, hot buttered popcorn and ice cold carbonated drinks. It took all the best elements of a classic special effects master and updated for the 21st Century, without sacrificing why Ray Harryhausen is now such a revered filmmaker even if he never had the multi-million dollar budgets Bruckheimer and company get to play with.

In other words, when it comes to action-adventure, you can’t do better than this.

Watch the trailer :

“Prince of Persia” behind-the-scenes :

PROLOGUE : 1815, DIGNE

After 19 years on the chain gang, Jean Valjean finds that the ticket of leave he must display condemns him to be an outcast. Only the Bishop of Digne treats him kindly and Valjean, embittered by years of hardship, repays him by stealing some silver. Valjean is caught and brought back by the police and is astonished when the Bishop lies to the police to save him. Valjean decides to start his life anew.

1823, MONTREUIL-SUR-MER

Eight years have passed and Valjean, having broken his parole and changed his name to Monsieur Madeleine, has become a factory owner and Mayor. One of his workers, Fantine, has a secret illegitimate child. When the other women discover this, they demand her dismissal. Desperate for money to pay for medicines for her daughter, Fantine sells her locket, her hair, and then joins the whores in selling herself. Utterly degraded, she gets into a fight with a prospective customer and is about to be taken to prison by Javert when the ‘Mayor’ arrives and demands she be taken to hospital instead. The Mayor then rescues a man pinned beneath a cart. Javert is reminded of the abnormal strength of convict 24601 Jean Valjean, who, he says, has just been recaptured. Valjean, unable to see an innocent man go to prison, confesses that he is prisoner 24601. At the hospital, Valjean promises the dying Fantine to find and look after her daughter Cosette. Javert arrives to arrest him, but Valjean escapes.

1823, MONTFERMEIL

Cosette has been lodged with the Thénardiers, who horribly abuse her while indulging their own daughter, Éponine. Valjean pays the Thénardiers to let him take her away to Paris.

1832, PARIS

Nine years later, there is unrest in the city because of the likely demise of the popular leader General Lamarque, the only man left in the government who shows any feeling for the poor. A streetgang led by Thénardier and his wife sets upon Jean Valjean and Cosette. They are rescued by Javert, who does not recognise Valjean until he has gone.

The Thénardiers’ daughter Éponine, who is secretly in love with the student Marius, reluctantly agrees to help him find Cosette, with whom he has fallen in love.

News of General Lamarque’s death circulates in the city and a group of politically-minded students stream out into the streets to whip up support for a revolution.

Cosette is consumed by thoughts of Marius, with whom she has fallen in love. Éponine brings Marius to Cosette and then prevents an attempt by her father’s gang to rob Valjean’s house. Valjean, convinced it was Javert lurking outside his house, tells Cosette they must prepare to flee the country.

ACT II

The students prepare to build the barricade. Marius, noticing that Éponine has joined the insurrection, sends her away with a letter to Cosette, which is intercepted by Valjean. Éponine decides to rejoin her love at the barricade.

The barricade is built and the revolutionaries defy an army warning to give up or die. Javert is exposed as a police spy. In trying to return to the barricade, Éponine is killed.

Valjean arrives at the barricade in search of Marius. He is given the chance to kill Javert but instead lets him go. The students settle down for a night on the barricade and, in the quiet of the night, Valjean prays to God to save Marius. The next day the rebels are all killed.

Valjean escapes into the sewers with the unconscious Marius. After meeting Thénardier, who is robbing the corpses of the rebels, he comes across Javert once more. He pleads for time to deliver the young man to hospital. Javert lets Valjean go and, his unbending principles of justice having been shattered by Valjean’s own mercy, he kills himself.

Unaware of the identity of his rescuer, Marius recovers in Cosette’s care. Valjean confesses the truth of his past to Marius and insists he must go away.

At Marius and Cosette’s wedding, the Thénardiers try to blackmail Marius. Thénardier says Cosette’s ‘father’ is a murderer and as proof produces a ring which he stole from the corpse the night the barricade fell. It is Marius’s own ring and he realises it was Valjean who rescued him that night. He and Cosette go to Valjean where Cosette learns for the first time of her own history before the old man dies.

“I dreamed a dream”

** “Les Mis” plays since 25 years in London. If you’re there, go and watch it ! (Official website + tickets online)

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Ready for more vampires ? Of course you are ! No one ever gets sick of them, do they ? Hope not because Hollywood isn’t giving until they’ve drained every last cinematic drop from them. Daybreakers has tried to break the mold by making vampires the new human race. Sounds interesting enough, but did they pull it off ? It’s debatable, let’s take a look…

Warning: There are some minor spoilers ahead. For those of you who know my reviews, you know that normally I try to avoid all spoilers entirely, but unfortunately I feel like they are both pertinent to the discussion of this film and chances are won’t really effect your viewing experience.

The Players :

• Directors/Writers: Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig
• Starring: Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, Willem Dafoe, Claudia Karvan, Isabel Lucas
• Cinematography: Ben Nott
• Music: Christopher Gordon

The Plot :

The Good :

• The Idea: It seems like we already live in a world full of vampires with Twilight, Let Me In, True Blood, Vampire Diaries (and the list continues) dominating our cinemas, TVs and the sides of many buses, so it’s refreshing to see someone try to take a new perspective on the whole craze and come up with a new world for vampires.
• The Details: To further on the “idea” of the film, they came up with a number of great details that a vampire world would have such as lot of teeth whitening ads, a problem with forest fires (because they burst into flames in the day and can’t put out the fires), and cars that have black-out windows so that they can drive in the day. There was obviously someone who paid attention to details and got creative with it.
• SFX (part of the time): Some of the special effects were kick-ass and others were not. You could tell when and where they spent their money and when they ran out of it. That being said, when they spent it they did a great job with it. If only someone had given them enough to make the whole film look as good as certain moments.
• Social-Political Issues: Instead of just making this a cheesy vampire film, they attempt to take on some larger issues that are pertinent to our modern society such as world hunger and a trigger happy military. Although it was nice that they went there, some of the issues felt a bit shoe-horned and therefore never reached there full potential. Nice effort though!

The Bad :
Aside from not having enough money and some sound problems (including Ethan Hawke saying a line when his lips weren’t moving- GASP! ) the main problems that I had with the film stemmed from breaking the normal vampire rules without justification. Lets take a look…

Breaking the Rules:

• They can eat food and drink things others than blood. They serve coffee with 95% coffee, 5% blood and a dash of cream. The costumers are not happy but they’re able to drink it. How is this possible? They’re dead! Don’t even get me started on the cakes and muffins they have laid out.
• They can’t heal themselves, or at least not quickly. They have bandages on their arms, cuts, scars, and therefore are vulnerable.
• You can have animal vampires, which I’m guessing means that animals can go to heaven and hell, because if not, how could they be vampires? Isn’t the point that your soul is damned? Also, how are animals being turned? Are people turning them? That kind of takes away from the sexy vampire image we normally have in our heads.
• The only thing it takes to turn you into a vampire is one bite. There’s no great ceremony, no death, no burial no nothing. Just one bite and a big suck.
• They’re not especially strong. I get that in a world full of vampires, one is not much stronger than the other, but they’re also not that much stronger than humans.

Bottom Line :
The only thing these vampires have are fangs, contact lenses, and immortality. They have none of the sexuality, blood-lust, or violent inclinations that make vampires so much fun to watch.

Overall :
Although they had some moments where things jump out at you, the film was not nearly as scary as it needed to be. It’s an interesting idea but it’s not very well executed and the story has a number of holes that are hard to look past. That being said, I’d watch it again before I watched Twilight !

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In show business it is not unusual to wish someone good luck before a performance by telling him or her to “break a leg,” metaphorically speaking, of course. Ironically, Kyle Schmid did just that many years ago, and while it meant the end of one potential career, it led to him pursuing a very different line of work.

“I played very high-level soccer in high school and during that time my mom also got me interested in the acting industry,” says Schmid. “However, it was something I did for fun and never really thought it would take off or lead to anything serious. Then when I was 17 years old I broke my leg, which more or less ended my chances of a soccer career, but at the same time they say that everything happens for a reason.”

“When I was working on a movie, [producer] Debra Martin Chase, who has since become a dear friend of mine, took me aside one day and said she would like to take me out to lunch. Debra had this look in her eye and told me, ‘This [acting] is probably something you might way to pursue.’ I laughed and said, ‘This is a hobby. It’s a way for me to make a little money to save for university.’ She said, ‘No, you’re good. You’ve got something.’ Debra had me go to Los Angeles where she introduced me to a great acting coach who taught me just how far you can go with exploring your craft. Since then, this [acting] is something I’ve fallen in love with and been very passionate about.”

Schmid made his debut in the 1996 feature film Spill (a.k.a. Virus), in which the lives of everyone visiting a U.S. National Park are threatened by an out-of-control truck filled with biological weapons. “My character got to fire a double-barreled shotgun, became infected with a virus, was given a tracheotomy, died and was subsequently carried down a hill by [football player-turned-actor] Brian Bosworth,” recalls the actor. “He actually carried me on one shoulder and a 220-pound guy over the other shoulder while going down a 45-degree slope at a full sprint. As a 13-year-old boy I was thinking, ‘Holy crap, this is pretty neat!’”

Fast Food High, The Pacifier and The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants are among the actor’s other movie credits. On the small screen, he has appeared in several made-for-TV movies as well as guest-spots on such TV programs as I Was a Sixth Grade Alien, Odyssey 5, 1-800-Missing and CSI: Miami. In 2007, Schmid was cast in his first series regular role as Henry Fitzroy, a vampire with a conscience in the short-lived Lifetime TV series Blood Ties.

“Creating a character like that was an interesting challenge because you look at all the portrayals of vampires in movies, but don’t want to copy them,” he notes. “You get an idea of what a vampire is, but the last thing you want to do is play, for example, Tom Cruise in Interview with a Vampire. Quite the opposite; you want to create something new, especially for someone like me who, at 22 years old, was portraying a 450-year-old.”

“Working on Blood Ties and having the audience enjoy what we did was one of my coolest experiences so far as an actor. The fan base is very dear to me and I’m extremely appreciative of all the support they’ve given our cast as well as the writers, directors, etc. Without them there wouldn’t have been a show. It was a ton of hard work on everyone’s part, but it was a situation where we all arrived onset with smiles on our faces. We had a real family and the chemistry among the cast and crew made the series something special.”

This month, the actor can be seen in the Sci-Fi/Horror movie The Thaw (released October 6th, 2009 on DVD) playing Federico Fulce, one of four ecology students who accompany Dr. David Krupien (Val Kilmer) to a remote Arctic research station to examine a thawed out Wooly Mammoth. Unknown to them, the animal is host to a deadly parasite and, after being infected, they must figure out a way to destroy it before it is unleashed on the rest of humanity. The real-world issue of global warming is behind the discovery of the Mammoth in the film and is what initially attracted Schmid to the project.

“I found the whole global warming aspect really interesting because it’s a subject that is becoming increasingly prominent on everybody’s mind nowadays, and the fact that it’s examined within a Sci-Fi type of movie was something that I thought was quite clever,” says the actor.

“As for my character, I’m always attracted to those that start in one place and end up in a completely different one,” continues Schmid. “With Federico, he goes through quite a journey during the film, from a levelheaded top student in his class, to dealing with the loss of a loved one and, ultimately, the Sci-Fi elements of our story. Our characters’ situation becomes one of fight or flight, a kind of natural instinct to survive and realistically what a person would do under such extreme circumstances.

“We shot the first half of the movie in a great location [in British Columbia] called Williams Lake. It’s absolutely amazing country and we actually filmed on a native [Indian] reserve, which allowed us to meet some of the most generous and fascinating people. Their history and culture are beautiful and the stories that they told us on the drives to set were just incredible. At one point, some of us got to go into a ’sweat,’ which is a big thatched hut that is in total darkness. It has these hot coals in the middle of it that cause you to sweat, while people around you are playing drums and humming. It’s a very interesting out-of-body experience. They treated us so kindly and were wonderful to us. At the end of it all I think everyone had a very spiritual experience in the sense of them taking us in and allowing us to become part of their culture.”

When asked about his Thaw co-stars, Schmid has nothing but good things to share. “Val Kilmer is a fascinating individual and it’s clear to see where his talent lies,” he says. “He plays a major part at the end of the film with my character and it was cool having the chance to work with him. Martha MacIsaac [Evelyn Krupien] is a terrific actress and someone who has been in the industry for a long time but our paths had never crossed before this. Viv Leacock [Bart] always had such an amazing and positive outlook. He’s a family man and he brought his children – a baby boy and three-year-old daughter -to set.

“Coincidentally, prior to this movie, Aaron Ashmore [Atom Galen] and I finished shooting Deep Cove [a.k.a. Fear Island], so between the two projects we got to hang out together for basically two-and-a-half months. We went from that movie, which was a fun but gruelling project to shoot as well, to this one, and to work with someone who you know is going to be right there with you is like going to war with someone who you’ve already been to war with. You want this person by your side, so it was fantastic.”

The actor is equally complimentary of Thaw director Mark A. Lewis, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Michael. “Mark and I got together during the audition process and were able to chat and toss ideas back and forth to each other,” says the actor. “I think we both realized we were on the same page with a number of things, so when it came to working on the film, he was very open to, if necessary, rewriting a scene. And because he wrote the script with his brother, it was like being directed by someone who’d already envisioned the entire process, which he had. So everything flowed. We’d look at each other during a scene and I would know exactly what Mark was thinking, which was great.”

As the actor mentioned, before starting work on The Thaw, he and Aaron Ashmore (Jimmy Olsen in Smallville) were in front of the cameras filming the upcoming horror thriller Deep Cove. In it, five college students spend spring break marooned on an island where they are stalked by a crazed killer.

“Like Federico in The Thaw, my character of Tyler in Deep Cove is someone who also has a great story arc,” enthuses Schmid. “He’s completely different from Federico in that Tyler is a spoiled little jerk who has had everything handed to him and gets away with everything he does wrong, which is probably every adolescent’s dream. It’s tough to describe his arc without giving away the entire plot of the movie, but basically he goes from realizing that having everything handed to him without being penalized for what he might have done wrong is a very ignorant way to live life. I mean, without any real-life experience of knowing what’s right and wrong, you’re never sure how far the consequences might go.”

No matter what character he is playing, Schmid is all about turning in his best performance and having a good time along the way. “When it comes right down to it, the most rewarding part of acting is walking off a set every day knowing you left your best work on the dance floor, so to speak, and smiling while you’re doing it,” he muses. “For me, it’s about taking it all in as well as appreciating the fact that I get to do a job that any number of people would love to do and that at the same time I’m enjoying myself.”

Tune in to 40 Principales’ rock show “Ingravidez” from midnight on Friday March 5th to hear the broadcast of Muse’s live show from Palacio de Deportes in Madrid last year. More info soon on www.los40.com y www.facebook.com/ingravidez40.

40 PRINCIPALES EMITE EL CONCIERTO DEL PALACIO DE DEPORTES DE MADRID

El programa de rock de 40 Principales “Ingravidez” emitirá en exclusiva el próximo Viernes 5 de Marzo parte del concierto que Muse ofreció el 28 de Noviembre del año pasado en el Palacio de Deportes de Madrid. La emisión comenzará a las 12 de la noche. Mas información en breve en www.los40.com y www.facebook.com/ingravidez40 .

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Despite being on Lifetime for less than a year, supernatural drama Blood Ties has developed an intensely devout following. Still, the last two episodes of the season were aired online only. Has the series been cancelled or will the vampire return for more adventures ? 

Blood Ties is a Canadian series that’s based on the books of fantasy author Tanya Huff. Set in Toronto, the series follows private investigator Vicki Nelson (Christina Cox) who left the police force when she began to lose her eyesight. She ends up partnering with mysterious Henry Fitzroy (Kyle Schmid) who turns out to be a 480-year-old vampire and the illegitimate son of Henry the VIII. The two slowly become attracted to one another, a situation complicated by Vicki’s relationship with her former partner, Mike Celluci (Dylan Neal).

The show premiered on March 11, 2007 on Lifetime Television in the U.S. and began airing several months later in Canada. While the first season of 13 episodes was still airing, Lifetime ordered a second season of nine more (the 22 episodes were actually originally produced as a single season). Lifetime had other programming scheduled for the summer months so the “second season” didn’t begin airing until October 12, 2007.

The show aired as part of Lifetime’s “Psy-Fridays” line-up, alongside Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead and America’s Psychic Challenge. According to TV Guide, because the other two shows ran out of episodes, Lifetime opted to rework the night’s schedule and relegated the two remaining Blood Ties episodes to an online release.

Lifetime hasn’t officially cancelled the show but the “online exclusive” treatment is usually reserved for a series that’s finished. So, if Lifetime cancels the series, is that the end? Maybe, or maybe not.

There is already interest in continuing the series among Canadian broadcasters but a U.S. partner is likely needed to help with the financing. Without that backing, we could have a rerun of what happened to the Falcon Beach teen drama last year. When ABC Family decided against a third season, it wasn’t financially possible for Canada’s Global TV to pay for Beach on its own and the show was cancelled.

If a new U.S. channel is found, Blood Ties executive producer Randy Zalken says the series will certainly be back. He told Eonline, “The sets are still available – they’ve not been destroyed – our talent is very eager to come back, and our show runner, Peter Mohan, is standing by.”

Zalken doesn’t believe the ongoing writers strike would be standing in the way if Blood Ties were to get a season three greenlight. He said, “I don’t think the strike is going to hurt us, because Canadian writers are not hindered by the U.S. guild rules. So, we can be delivering new shows for the fall – I guess that’s more than a lot of [U.S.] producers are saying now.”

Nice as that sounds, Zalken may be underestimating the WGA support of Canadian writers. Blood Ties author Tanya Huff had been writing episode commentary for the Lifetime website but stopped in support of the writers strike. Blood Ties screenwriter Denis McGrath is a solid supporter of the WGA strike as well.

For now, we may have to wait until Lifetime makes a final choice to either cancel or to renew the series. Part of their decision may hinge on how well the Blood Ties reruns perform next month. The entire series will be rerun on weekend nights beginning Saturday, February 9th.

Will the vampire series rise again? Stay tuned!

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Who can think of New Orleans without thinking Mardi Gras and vampires?

Mardi Gras, French for Fat Tuesday, is the carnival celebration before the Catholic observation of Lent. The streets are alive with music and celebration but also with the Annual Mardi Gras Vampire Ball. As most vampire lovers know New Orleans is home to many fictional and historical tales about vampires.

New Orleans and Vampire Stories

The stories about vampires in New Orleans began almost as soon as New Orleans was settled. The city was lacking in population so there was a decree that went out across the ocean..it was an ad for wives. The ad told of a wonderful life in this new country full of wealth and lavish homes and celebration. The families were very quick about sending their young daughters here to become a bride of a wealthy gentleman in New Orleans.

The young girls were sent over with their belongings in a coffin like box. This was to serve two purposes: it saved on space for luggage and it also served as their coffin because many of them never made it across the ocean alive. When the new brides and their coffins arrived they were quarantined in the local convent until a short time subsided. At that time, the convent began to tack 800 blessed nails around their windows to keep them shut and the rumors began that the girls brought vampires over with them. This began the search for vampires in New Orleans.

Another strange tale of vampires in New Orleans is that of Jacques St. Germaine who came to New Orleans at the turn of the 19th century. One night a woman was found dead in his home from a bite mark to the neck. When police investigated more they found bottles of wine with hints of human blood in them. There are stories that you can see him return to his home and at that time women will disappear for three days and nights.

These stories and more were told as part of the the Trusted Tours Vampire Tour in New Orleans. I visited the city earlier this year and chose to take this wonderful tour as part of my visits around the city. It was very informative about the tales of vampires in New Orleans.

Anne Rice and New Orleans

New Orleans is also home to writer Anne Rice. Her Vampire Chronicles were written with a connection to New Orleans, in particularly Interview with the Vampire. New Orleans is the home of sexy vampire Louis.  She also penned The Mayfair Witch series as being set in New Orleans.

Check this old video of Anne Rice talking about Mardi Gras in New Orleans !