‘No surprise’: Robert Aramayo’s teachers knew Bafta winner was destined for great things

Awarded best actor and rising star for role as man with Tourette syndrome in I Swear the 33-year-old was ‘mesmerising’ even when learning his craft in Hull What is Tourette syndrome, what are tics and what happened at the Baftas? Standing on stage, barely holding back tears and struggling to express his startled elation at being named best actor at last night’s Bafta awards in London, the first words to leave Robert Aramayo’s mouth were “wow”. His next few words, chosen after a brief and only half successful attempt to compose himself, were “I absolutely can’t believe this.” And how could he. Aramayo, 33, had not only unexpectedly beaten the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet to capture his grand prize , but had also collected the rising star award earlier in the evening, becoming the first actor or actress in history to win both awards on the same night. It was, in his own words, unbelievable. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/9NGc2rd ...

Hugh Hudson: smash-hit pop classic Chariots of Fire director was a hero of British film

Hudson brought an ad-man’s eye to the brilliant 1981 drama about athletics and bigotry, as well as directing the hilarious Cinzano commercials

As the 1980s dawned, British ad director Hugh Hudson took on his first feature film and made it a legendary hit: an inspirational story which supplied a sugar-rush of patriotism and a swoon of nostalgia which hit the spot both sides of the Atlantic. It somehow brought off the trick of being about the underdog and the victim of bigotry and religious discrimination – and yet also being a resounding endorsement of the status quo which could, on grounds of decency and meritocracy, always accommodate the outsider. This was the era of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, and the ethos of success for the hardworking and the deserving.

The film of course was Chariots of Fire, the true story of the 1924 Olympic runners Harold Abrahams (played by Ben Cross), a Jew who ran to defy prejudice, and Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a devout Christian who found a creationist glory in his speed. It was the destiny of so many involved to be forever associated chiefly, or solely, with this smash-hit pop classic: certainly Cross and Charleson never again found roles to match Abrahams and Liddell. And maybe Hudson himself never again had a triumph like it: though he was no one-hit wonder, later directing the Oscar-winning Tarzan drama Greystoke, and later Revolution, an epic about the American revolution starring Al Pacino which was derided but then grew in acclaim, giving his Hudson his own misunderstood masterpiece moment.

Continue reading...

from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/Qlfk2rK
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Miracle Club review – Maggie Smith can’t save this rocky road trip to Lourdes

BREAKING: Interstellar back in cinemas due to public demand; Dune: Part Two to also re-release on March 14 in IMAX

‘I lost a friend of almost 40 years’: Nancy Meyers pays tribute to Diane Keaton