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23 May 2013
Last updated at 11:46 GMT

Franklin cancelled shows in May over health issues

Aretha Franklin has postponed three concerts in June, a week after health issues forced her to cancel two shows in May.

David Brokaw, spokesman for the ‘Queen of Soul’, did not state why the shows in Canada and Michigan had been postponed.

He said: “She’s going to resume her schedule in July.”

Franklin, 71, cancelled performances in Chicago and Connecticut this week to undergo undisclosed medical treatment.

She was due to perform at Ottawa Jazz Festival, in Canada on 26 June.

Catherine O’Grady, the director of the festival told the Ottawa Citizen newspaper that Franklin was too ill to appear.

“It’s doctor’s orders. She’s really not well,” she said.

Franklin appeared on the season finale of American Idol last week via satellite, singing a medley of her hits with the show’s female finalists.

Considered to be one of the giants of American pop music during the 1960s and 1970s, Franklin cancelled a concert tour in 2010 to undergo surgery for a health issue.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22637926#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

23 May 2013
Last updated at 14:43 GMT

All Is Lost Redford is the only actor in the Chandor’s new film

Robert Redford has received a standing ovation for his performance in All Is Lost at the film’s Cannes premiere.

The Oscar-winning actor and director, who portrays a sailor lost at sea, is the only actor in the largely speech-free production.

It is the second movie from director JC Chandor, whose first feature Margin Call (2011) was nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay.

The Independent described All Is Lost as “utterly compelling”.

The Guardian called Redford a “tour de force”.

“I believe in the value of silence in film,” Redford told reporters about the movie, which features only a few lines of voiceover.

The film, showing out of competition at this year’s film festival, has received rave reviews from a number of critics.

Variety called Redford “superb” in his “emotionally resonant one-man showcase”.

Robbie Collin wrote in The Daily Telegraph that the “very nimbly executed” film was “very good indeed”.

Chandor and Redford worked together for nearly three months in Mexico shooting the film about a man battling the elements.

“He was relentless in his vision, but also very respectful, and it encouraged me to give it more and more,” the 76-year-old actor told a press conference.

Redford, who is known for his roles in All the President’s Men and The Way We Were, is president of the Sundance Institute which supports independent film makers.

His forthcoming political thriller The Company You Keep, which he stars in alongside Transformers actor Shia LaBeouf, is released in the UK in June.

The release date for All Is Lost in the UK has not been confirmed.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22641284#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

23 May 2013
Last updated at 10:07 GMT

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Carole King: “I had parents who encouraged me every step of the way”

US singer-songwriter Carole King has become the first woman to be awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

US President Barack Obama presented King with the honour, which celebrates a lifetime achievement in popular music, at the White House in Washington.

King, 71, who is best known for penning hit songs such as Aretha Franklin’s (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, was called a “living legend” by Mr Obama.

Several stars performed in her honour, including British singer Emeli Sande.

Grammy-award winner Gloria Estefan, American singer Billy Joel, and James Taylor, who had his first number one single with a recording of King’s You’ve Got a Friend, also attended the event.

“I can’t say it enough. I am so excited,” King said.

The four-time Grammy winner co-wrote her first number one hit in 1960 aged 17 with Will You Love Me Tomorrow, recorded by The Shirelles.

Written with her then-husband, Gerry Goffin, the pair went on to pen hits including Take Good Care of My Baby, The Loco-Motion and Pleasant Valley Sunday.

As a solo artist, King became the first female solo artist to sell more than 10 million copies of a single album with her 1971 release, Tapestry.

It topped the chart for 15 weeks and spawned hits I Feel The Earth Move, It’s Too Late and So Far Away.

Past recipients of the award include Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and Sir Paul McCartney.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22637149#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

23 May 2013
Last updated at 11:27 GMT

Cooper (L) will be played by Shameless actor Threlfall (R) in the two-hour film for ITV

Shameless star David Threlfall has been chosen to play comedian Tommy Cooper in a new drama, ITV has announced.

The one-off film has been written by Men Behaving Badly creator Simon Nye.

Threlfall, who is best known for his role of layabout Frank Gallagher in the Channel 4 series, will star alongside actress Amanda Redman as his wife Gwen.

Nye’s script will focus on the dilemma faced by Cooper when he fell in love with assistant Mary Kay, embarking on a relationship which lasted 17 years.

The comic magician, one of the best-known TV stars in the 70s, died after suffering a heart attack on stage, live on television, in 1984.

ITV’s director of drama commissioning, Steve November, said it felt “fitting” to tell Cooper’s story on ITV.

The film, produced by Left Bank Pictures, will explore how Cooper became torn between two equally devoted women, Kay and his wife, whom he nicknamed Dove.

Andy Harries, chief executive of Left Bank Pictures, said: “Few comics have had such a lasting influence on UK culture as Tommy Cooper”.

Former London Weekend Television producer and award-winning magician John Fisher, who was a friend of Cooper and the author of his biography, will work as a consultant on the film.

The casting of Mary is yet to be confirmed.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22637154#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

23 May 2013
Last updated at 08:38 GMT

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831) is one of a series of monumental “six-footer” canvases painted by the artist

John Constable’s 1831 masterpiece Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows has been bought by the Tate for £23.1m.

The painting, which had been on loan at The National Gallery for 30 years, was at risk of being sold abroad.

“It’s one of the quintessential images of 19th century British art and it’s worth every penny,” Tate Britain’s Director Nicholas Serota told the BBC.

The work will be shown at Tate Britain until the end of the year before travelling around the UK.

“This is the one of Constable’s most important paintings,” Sir Nicholas told the BBC’s Will Gompertz. “He regarded it as one of his masterpieces and always wanted it to be in the national collection.”

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows was acquired for £23.1m, but could have sold for as much as £40m at auction.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis
Will Gompertz Arts editor

£23.1m might be a record for a Constable but it’s worth every penny: a bargain compared to what’s being paid for some second rate modern art.

It is arguably the most accomplished work by one of the finest, most exciting painters of the Romantic period.

• Read more from Will

Painted shortly after his wife’s death, the “iconic” image was secured through major grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund, The Manton Foundation and Tate Members.

Sold by the children of the late Lord Ashton of Hyde, the work was at risk of going abroad had the Tate not been able to put the money together.

“I know there was a major American museum that asked for first refusal,” said Sir Nicholas.

The acquisition was part of a partnership between five national and regional galleries: Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales; the National Galleries of Scotland; Colchester and Ipswich Museums; Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum; and Tate Britain.

The partnership will enable the work to go on “almost constant” view across the UK.

Jenny Abramsky, from the Heritage Lottery Fund, said they were “proud” to be a major funder of the masterpiece with a £15m investment.

“It is unimaginable that this particular painting might have ended up anywhere other than in a UK public collection,” she said.

Constable’s The Lock became one of the most expensive British paintings ever sold when it fetched £22.4m at auction in July 2012.

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows is one of a series of monumental six-foot canvases painted by the artist, a scale he reserved for his finest compositions.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22626589#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

22 May 2013
Last updated at 16:36 GMT

Hill said it was “great” that Cowell (right) was backing the musical “4500%”

The forthcoming X Factor musical written by comedian Harry Hill has been titled I Can’t Sing! and will open at the London Palladium in March 2014.

Hill described it as an “all singing, all dancing, all mickey-taking spectacular”.

The musical features 19 original songs by Steve Brown, whose TV work includes Spitting Image and Hill’s TV Burp.

It is a joint venture between Stage Entertainment and Simon Cowell’s company Syco Entertainment.

“We’d been umm-ing and ahh-ing about the title for a while… then it hit us… I Can’t Sing!” said Hill and Brown in a statement.

“It also happens to be the title of one of the funniest songs in the show and we hope hints at the direction we’re taking this production.

“We’re pretty certain that you won’t have seen anything like it before and it’s great that Simon is backing it 4500%.”

Casting has yet to be announced.

According to its producers, the musical will go “behind the microphone and under the judges’ desk to reveal the (not necessarily accurate) story of heartache and laughter that keeps millions tuning in every week”.

It will be directed by Sean Foley, whose West End credits include the recent productions of The Ladykillers and What the Butler Saw.

I Can’t Sing! will open at the London Palladium will begin previews on 27 February with an opening night scheduled for 26 March.

The X Factor was created by Cowell and launched on ITV in 2004. Acts that have emerged from the show include One Direction and Leona Lewis.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22626588#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

22 May 2013
Last updated at 10:20 GMT

Fast Furious 6 (left) took more than twice as much as The Great Gatsby

Action sequel Fast Furious 6 races ahead of The Great Gatsby in this week’s UK and Ireland box office chart.

The latest instalment in the car-based franchise took more than £8.7m in its opening weekend, more than double the amount that Baz Luhrmann’s film made between Thursday and Sunday.

Gatsby’s £4.1m tally puts it just ahead of Star Trek Into Darkness, the weekend’s third most profitable title.

The sci-fi sequel has now taken £15.6m since opening on 9 May.

Fast and Furious 6, which sees Vin Diesel return as fugitive race car driver Dominic Toretto, opened in 462 locations across the UK and Ireland, 60 fewer than The Great Gatsby.

On a screen by screen basis, however, the film proved much more successful, earning an average of £18,869 per screen compared to Gatsby’s £7,845.

British actress Carey Mulligan, who stars alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Luhrmann’s film, attended its star-studded premiere in Cannes last week.

But the cast’s promotional efforts did not help the F Scott Fitzgerald adaptation earn widespread critical acclaim, with the Daily Telegraph’s Charles Moore calling it “terribly, terribly bad“.

The latest instalment in Marvel’s Iron Man series added £1.4m to its earnings in its fourth weekend in cinemas, taking its overall total to £33.8m.

Children’s dance movie All Stars completes this week’s top five, earning £196,579 in its third weekend on release.

US drama Mud, starring Matthew McConaughey as a drifter who befriends two young boys, climbs one place to six, while DreamWorks’ animated comedy The Croods falls two places to seven.

Comedy 21 and Over, action thriller Olympus Has Fallen and Pedro Almodovar’s I’m So Excited are ranked eighth, ninth and tenth.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22622158#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

22 May 2013
Last updated at 09:47 GMT

Rowling’s personal annotations cover 43 pages

A rare first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, with annotations and drawings by author JK Rowling, has sold for a record price.

After a bidding war between two buyers the book sold for £150,000, a new record for a printed book by Rowling.

It was part of a sale of annotated first edition books by 50 UK and Commonwealth writers.

The sale raised a total of £439,200 for English PEN, which campaigns for freedom of expression.

“The sale room fell silent as two determined bidders vied for the prized edition,” said a spokesperson for Sotheby’s in London.

“Bidding leapt in increments of up to £25,000 and the hammer finally fell, to a round of applause, on a £150,000 telephone bid.”

A sleeping baby Harry on the Dursleys’ doorstep is one of 22 original illustrations by JK Rowling

The second-highest price of the auction was achieved by a copy of Matilda by Roald Dahl, with new illustrations by Quentin Blake, which sold for £30,000.

The sale was attended by a number of authors whose works were featured in the sale, including Helen Fielding, Colm Toibin, Jeanette Winterson, Frederick Forsyth, Ben Okri, Margaret Drabble, Andrea Levy and Wendy Cope.

Dr Philip W Errington of Sotheby’s called the books “the ultimate first editions” due to the “remarkable personal insights that the authors have granted us, through their annotations”.

Genesis of Quidditch

Rowling’s personal annotations cover 43 pages and include references to the Harry Potter series as a whole and also the film adaptations.

Her notes include a reflection on an anomaly in chapter four about snapped wands and a section of text she refused to cut.

Rowling also talks about the genesis of the game of Quidditch.

Continue reading the main story

First Editions, Second Thoughts sale

Other titles sold on Tuesday include:

• Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day – £18,000
• Seamus Heaney’s Death of a Naturalist – £17,000
• Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall – £16,000
• Colm Toibin’s The Heather Blazing – £15,500
• Fear Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, illustrated by Ralph Steadman – £14,500
• Edmund de Waal’s The Hare with Amber Eyes – £14,500
• Julian Barnes’ Metroland – £14,000
• Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader – £11,000

Quidditch, she writes “was invented in a small hotel in Manchester after a row with my then boyfriend.

“I had been pondering the things that hold a society together, cause it to congregate and signify its particular character and knew I needed a sport.”

The broomstick-based pursuit, she continues, “infuriates men… which is quite satisfying given my state of mind when I invented it.”

Rowling’s 22 original illustrations include drawings of an Albus Dumbledore chocolate frog card, a brooding Snape, Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback dragon and a man with two faces.

The largest amount paid for a JK Rowling book was the £2 million fetched in 2007 by a handwritten copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Rowling wrote and illustrated seven copies of the collection of fairy tales, but only auctioned one to raise funds for her Children’s Voice charity.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22622194#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

22 May 2013
Last updated at 21:13 GMT

Davis’s only novel to date, The End of the Story, was published in 1995

American writer Lydia Davis has been awarded the Man Booker International prize for her “achievement in fiction on the world stage”.

She beat nine other nominees to take home the £60,000 biennial award.

Judge Prof Sir Christopher Ricks said Davis’s stories “fling their lithe arms wide to embrace many a kind.”

The award recognises an author’s continued creativity, development and overall contribution to literature, rather than a single work.

“There is vigilance to her stories, and great imaginative attention,” Sir Christopher added.

The British literary critic and scholar was joined on the judging panel by authors Elif Batuman, Aminatta Forna, Yiyun Li and Tim Parks.

Davis, the fifth recipient of the prize, is currently professor of creative writing at the University at Albany in New York state.

Her work includes one novel, The End of the Story (1995), and seven story collections, including Break It Down (1986), Almost No Memory (1997), Samuel Johnson is Indignant (2002) and Varieties of Disturbance (2007).

She has translated a number of French philosophy and literature works, most notably Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary.

A new collection, Can’t and Won’t, is due to be published next summer in the UK.

The last recipient of the honour, 2011 winner Philip Roth, was also American.

The other winners are Albanian writer Ismail Kadare (2005), Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe (2007) and Canadian short story writer Alice Munro (2009).

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22625777#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

22 May 2013
Last updated at 17:18 GMT

Kristen Scott Thomas said she took the role in Only God Forgives so she could work with Refn (left)

Ryan Gosling’s new film Only God Forgives has divided critics at the Cannes Film Festival with its extreme violence.

There were walk-outs and boos at its screening earlier but it has still earned some glowing reviews.

Gosling plays a drug smuggler in Bangkok who is compelled by his mother to avenge his brother’s death.

Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian gave the film five stars but said it might “have people running for the exits.”

The film reunites Gosling with director Nicolas Winding Refn, who won the best director prize at Cannes for their 2011 collaboration Drive.

Bradshaw praised Refn’s “bizarre infernal creation”.

“An entire created world of fear, really is gripping. Every scene, every frame, is executed with pure formal brilliance,” he wrote.

Speaking to reporters at Cannes, Refn said he felt powerless to resist a compulsion to depict violence on screen.

“Art is an act of violence,” he said on Wednesday. “Art is about speaking to our subconscious and our needs at different levels.”

Gosling did not attend Cannes this year, being currently in Detroit directing his first movie How to Catch a Monster.

Cannes director Thierry Fremaux read a letter from the Canadian actor at the film’s press conference apologising for his absence.

Ryan Gosling in Only God Forgives

“Can’t believe I’m not In Cannes,” Gosling wrote. “I was hoping to come but I’m on week three shooting my film in Detroit. Miss you all.

“Nicolas, my friend, we really are the same persons in different dimensions. I’m sending you good vibrations.”

Kristin Scott Thomas is cast against type in the film as Gosling’s garishly dressed American mother.

“Watching her in Only God Forgives is like waking up to discover your much-loved pet cat has morphed overnight into a saltwater crocodile,” wrote the Daily Telegraph’s Robbie Collin.

“Kristin Scott Thomas easily upstages Ryan Gosling’s near-catatonic turn,” wrote Variety‘s reviewer.

Scott Thomas admitted to reporters that the film was “really not my thing,” admitting she did not enjoy watching films “where this kind of violence happens”.

But she said she took the role to be able to work with Winding Refn and play a “wild, savage person”.

The film, out in the UK on 2 August, is one of 20 in the race for the festival’s Palme d’Or prize.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22630029#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa