Madonna’s second foray into film directing naturally raises more scrutiny than is focused on her new film itself, which is a pity because W.E. produces some memorable moments among its flawed narrative.

In fact, had you not known it was the star in the writer-director’s seat, this love story still makes for a haunting picture of obsession that is pleasantly surprising to watch, and offers some strong female performances.

W.E. tells the story of two fragile but determined women separated by six decades – Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough), the American divorcée King Edward VIII (James D’Arcy) abdicated the British throne for back in 1936, and New Yorker Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) living in 1998 who is obsessed with Simpson and what she perceives was the ultimate love story. Winthrop’s research that includes visiting the Sotheby’s auction of the Windsor Estate reveals that the couple’s life together – as with Wally’s own troubled marriage – was not as perfect as she first imagined.

The most significant thing you take away from W.E. is Andrea Riseborough’s huge talent – star of Brighton Rock and Made In Dagenham, and the exciting knowledge at how her career should go stratospheric after her Wallis portrayal, regardless of any criticism of the director or film itself. She is a creature of pained and compelling feminine beauty in this, an apt chameleon of emotions and thoughts stuck in a daydreamy, if rather bizarre and often uneven time-travelling narrative.

As Wallis in the story’s flashbacks, Riseborough is perfectly cast to fully flesh out the image and the workings of the woman behind one of the biggest 20^th Century royal scandals – even if Madonna only touches on Simpson’s Nazi Germany sympathies with the odd comment in the script. With D’Arcy commendably playing the confused but besotted ‘puppy dog’ Edward or ‘David’, Riseborough is able to relay both Wallis’s intentional and unintentional manoeuvres that ultimately conclude with her living like a trapped bird in a gilded cage. As this is a favourable Simpson portrayal, you cannot help but feel a slight dig at ingrained British conceit; the cynics among us might draw parallels with the American superstar’s own failed relationship with a Brit on these shores.

The scenes from the past are beautifully imagined and elegantly shot with the same attention to detail and chimerical quality as Tom Ford’s own tragic love story, A Single Man. However, the present ones with stunning Cornish playing the unhappy wife of a philandering British doctor feel confused and often claustrophobic, without the breathing space to adequately set the mood at times. Even with Cornish’s bereft allure as a woman trying to find happiness within her Simpson obsession, Madonna’s colourful mixture of composition and odd framing distracts from the equally fascinating story of an affluent female trapped in a miserable existence. Madonna has honed some engaging female performances, and Cornish is mesmerising as Wally as Riseborough is as Wallis.

There are some bizarre tangents to the film that grate and rudely awaken you from the dream, such as abused Wally’s escape to her lover’s loft apartment and her subsequent aimless wandering through downtown NYC that feels unnecessary, especially as she then finds the inner strength to carry on in her international quest to expose the truth behind the Windsor affair. It is at this point in the film that the contemporary tale gains any compassionate ground with the past, only for Madonna to opt for a lazy New York fairy-tale ending in Central Park, like something brash out of a rom-com.

Madonna’s directing inexperience aside, her vision for W.E. is an admirable one about two strong women; she gets to paint one of her apparent American heroines in a different light, however manipulative that may sound, in order to suggest how such a love affair remained so strong among public condemnation. Perhaps it’s the romantic in us all, but W.E. is a passionate love story you can easily venture into, without trying to rewrite history – its main weakness being the contemporary tale it uses to draw muddled parallels with, even though both its female leads do splendidly with the material.

***~~ (3/5)

Nicholas Hoult (A Single Man), who has seen his screen profile rise immeasurably since his appearance on TV series Skins, has landed the lead role in Warm Bodies.

Warm Bodies, an adaptation of Isaac Marion’s book, is a zombie film set up at Summit Entertainment that has Jonathan Levine attached to direct.

Hoult will play the titular character “R”, an existentially tormented zombie.

A zombie named “R” sparks a friendship with the girlfriend of one of his victims, triggering a chain reaction that could transform the world.

Production is expected to commence in the Summer, once Hoult has completed work on Bryan Singer’s Jack the Giant Killer.

Source: Deadline

Tom Hooper’s film The King’s Speech is out in UK cinemas on the 7th of January and is the perfect way to start your cinematic year.

Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush take the lead in the story of King George VI’s reluctant ascension to the throne and the crucial relationship he strikes up with speech therapist Lionel Logue to tame the stammer which threatens to undermine his presence as King as he is thrust before his subjects under intense public scrutiny at a point in history when the people need a monarch to lead.

I had the chance to sit down with Hooper who was very keen to play up the collaborative nature of the film’s development, including his work with Firth and Rush on the all important central relationship and how this creative partnership extended beyond the filming. Hooper’s humility and considered opinion of his success was a pleasure to see and I’m hopeful for much more from Hooper in the future.

The interview took place a few days after The King’s Speech won five awards at the British Independent Film Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Colin Firth, with Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter taking home the  Supporting Actor and Actresses awards, and Hooper was in a genial and generous mood, eager to discuss his film and his next steps.

HeyUGuys

The film did very well at the BIFAs, have you been pleased with the reaction to The King’s Speech as a whole?

Tom Hooper

Absolutely, but I was almost worried because the film probably looks bigger than it was, and has taken on this momentum, so people might not acknowledge it as a British, small budget, independent film. But that’s what it is. Without the Film Council it would not have got made, without Momentum, the distributors, it wouldn’t have got made. And the studios all had it, but there were never going to make it in today’s climate.

HeyUGuys

Why do you think that is?

Tom Hooper

Well, it may change, and these things are cyclical, but at the moment the studios are focused on films that make £400 million or so, or franchises that can make over a billion and they’re not so interested in this kind of filmmaking. I think it might change but certainly when I was setting The King’s Speech up that was the world we were in. So, I was sitting at the BIFAs thinking that this is only possible thanks to independent filmmaking, and it really is a classic British independent movie.

HeyUGuys

It didn’t look like it was a small movie.

Tom Hooper

Yeah, sure and I was hoping it wouldn’t become a victim of that.

HeyUGuys

With the success of the film and the involvement of the Film Council, and given the turbulent times the industry is in where do you see yourself?

Tom Hooper

Well, I’ve always been in filmmaking, I started when I was 13 on a clockwork Bolex 16mm camera and it wasn’t to do with school, nor something to do with my parents, it was something I just did by myself so I suppose the idea that cinema is independent has always been behind the way I’ve done it. As for where I see myself now, I was very inspired by what Danny Boyle did, he had the success of Slumdog and he didn’t go and take a huge payday, he went and did a passion project on a similar kind of budget to Slumdog and people have given him credit for the fact that he followed his heart. That’s what I want to do; I want to follow my heart. I’m sure at some point there will be one of those huge movies I’ll be attracted to, the right one will come along. There’s a part of me that’s always been attracted to the Bond films because as a kid growing up they were always so associated with cinema. So, one day, in the right circumstances I can see that happening, but it would have to be right, I don’t feel as if I have to do a big film next. I think I’ll do another film like The King’s Speech. And also, people always say “Oh, I suppose you’ll be doing an American film next?” and surely the joy of The King’s Speech is it proves you can make an English low-budget film that is successful in America.

HeyUGuys

That’s good to hear, and after seeing Transformers on the TV last week I suddenly thought of you as the Anti-Michael Bay, particularly as The King’s Speech there’s an excellent use of silence and the feeling I got that you allowed yourself to step back and let the characters play the story out.

Tom Hooper

Yeah, and also what’s good to remember is that this film has an unusually small amount of score and if you look at the classic Hollywood movie, the tendency is that everything is mediated through music, and you have films where 80-90% is scored in some way and it’s almost as if they’ve lost confidence that performance and naturalism holds and it’s so great collaborating with Alexandre Desplat because as a composer he’s not an egotist, and it’s not about putting himself into every frame. He’s as likely as I am to consider a scene is better without music, or think that silence is important here. He’s a real team player. I felt it was only in the silence that you could hear this tiny detail of the clicks and stammers, and the little tiny noises that Colin’s throat was making, and even if you put any kind of background traffic on you could lose it. It was in doing the sound that I realised that it needed to be an incredibly intimate soundtrack where you gave particular emphasis to the sync soundtrack we recorded at the time that had all these extraordinary noises Colin made

HeyUGuys

Looking back at your work, in particular Longford with the title character and Myra Hindely and in The Damned United with Peter Taylor and Brain Clough, you have these dynamics in the central performances where one is very public facing and one is a bit more of an adviser…

Tom Hooper

…yes, and even John Adams with Abigail, the wife and John as the public face…

HeyUGuys

Sure, I wondered if that’s what attracted to you the project, with the man who would not be King but who had a huge public duty and yet in the more intimate moments where he breaks down, or reads the bedtime story, you were able to focus on the man himself.

Tom Hooper

Yeah, it’s funny how you only get to see themes in your work when you’ve done enough of it, and I clearly have an interest in being subversive, and this, to me, was an extremely subversive way to get through the story of the abdication, and Geoffrey Rush likes to say we were effectively telling the story of two nobodies. We had the younger brother who was never going to be King, and this Australian speech therapist who had no expectation that they were going to be in the limelight, so there was a kind of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead quality to the story – that the star of the film is Guy Pearce, who is the centre of attention and is charismatic and then suddenly these two characters get thrust into the lead. And also to tell the story of Myra Hindley through the prism of Lord Longford is subversive and to tell the story of John Adams, the non-famous President, the non-iconic revolutionary founding father, that’s quite subversive too. He’s not the natural hero of a nine-hour, $100 million series. I also share this with Peter Morgan, I have this interest in iconic personalities and what they reflect back to us about our national culture, so with John Adams it was whether you can explain the schism in modern political America through the personalities of the founding fathers, can you trace back the way America is divided against itself through the personalities of the originators. In The Damned United it’s looking at Britain through the prism of sport and Cloughie and that culture and the moment when sport exploded and in The King’s Speech it allows one to meditate on the reason why the monarchy has survived, why it’s even in a healthy position. No one is tearing down the ramparts and I think that’s because the charge against the monarchy, which is that it enshrines class privilege in a way that’s unacceptable is complicated by this story that this guy wasn’t privileged. In his childhood he was abused by his Nanny, neglected by his parents, becoming King was his idea of a nightmare and suddenly the notion of privilege falls apart with King George VI, which is interesting. On a human level, lots of stories about self development, particularly in the modern age, it’s all about me me me, it’s about turning in, and I do think I tell these stories where it’s about turning outwards, where you only become great when you turn yourself out to collaboration. In the case of Bertie it’s because he listens to his wife, and because he is willing to bring this speech therapist into his life, that he becomes great. With Brian Clough it’s about discovering that only with Peter Taylor can he be great. Maybe there’s an analogy as being a director – you’re not great alone as a director because you’re standing on the shoulders of many brilliant people. Your director is a number of people, your actors, your writers, it’s (cinematographer) Danny Cohen, it’s (production designer) Eve Stewart, it’s my regular collaborators like Nina Gold who’s cast everything I’ve done for years. So, you’re really reliant on collaboration and I wonder at some level if it’s an expression about how I feel about directing?

HeyUGuys

At the heart of the story is the collaboration between Lionel Logue and George VI, how did you work with the actors on those scenes?

Tom Hooper

We did a three week rehearsal which is really rare on a movie, usually you get a week if you’re lucky, I think on A Single Man Colin flew on a Friday and started shooting on a Monday. Geoffrey said it was the only film he’d done where the rehearsal period was as thorough as a play and what that meant is we took that script and there was not a line that we didn’t analyse and discuss, improve if we could and David (Seidler – screenwriter) was in the room, so it was a team thing. And I discovered that Colin and Geoffrey were both brilliant on text, they are fiercely bright on structure and story and they became true partners with me on how to tell the story. At the end I could ask them about not just their character but about any character, and for the first time I sent them my cuts of the film and their gave me brilliant notes, so the collaboration carried on into post production which it never had before. And we became great friends through the film, and that is evident in the film, Geoffrey had this way of describing it as a ‘triangle of man-love’, but that aside part of the film’s DNA is my fondness for those two guys and you can’t fake that, and that’s where a lot of the heart of the movie is.

HeyUGuys

It’s true there is a love for the characters, and the story in the film.

Tom Hooper

It’s true, and I think as a director I have a kind eye, and I have a love for the people in the films, and my forte tends to be stories where I can be compassionate about people rather than hating them, or keeping them at a distance. Like a movie about a serial killer where you hate him or keep pushing him away, and I feel I want to shoot people in a compassionate way, engage with them in a compassionate way.

HeyUGuys

Something that occurred to me when you reunited Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle on screen, and having great fondness for the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice I enjoyed that moment, and I think the line when they are introduced was ‘You two know each other?’…

Tom Hooper

Yeah, or something like ‘You know the King?’, well I do have a mischievous side, I mean it’s bit mischievous of me to cast Derek Jacobi who is television’s most famous stammerer from I, Claudius in this film about George VI, and there was definitely something mischievous about reuniting Colin and Jennifer which people who care about both of them would enjoy.

HeyUGuys

So, what’s next? Is Long Walk to Freedom still in your future?

Tom Hooper

Yeah, that’s still bubbling. That won’t happen next because the cast we’re thinking of means it might be 2012, next I’m not sure, but you know me, I like to shoot once a year, so I’ll probably be doing something in the spring.

HeyUGuys wishes to thank Tom Hooper for his time and we heartily recommend you see The King’s Speech as soon as you can.

Last week HeyUGuys were invited to attend the Alfred Dunhill BAFTA A Life in Pictures event and in an extended interview on stage at BAFTA Headquarters along with critic, writer and broadcaster Francine Stock, was BAFTA Award Winner and Academy Award Nominee Colin Firth. Greeted with rapturous applause, Firth’s appearance had the audience on tenterhooks as we were privy to a thoroughly engaging evening dedicated to one of Britain’s most respected, versatile and beloved actors.

Having appeared in a variety of critically-acclaimed television, film and theatre productions, Firth’s career shows no signs of slowing down at the age of 50. Much like a fine wine, his body of work just keeps on getting better and better. From his humble family roots in Grayshott, Hampshire, Firth’s journey into acting began as a sprightly 5 year old, whose determination to act was made touchingly clear by his penchant for playing dress-up and performing in school pantomimes. Fascinated by storytelling as a child, Firth’s ambition to become an actor was fully realised at 14 years old.

Encouraged by a certain teacher with whom he disclosed as having a crush on, the newly liberated and inspired teenage public school boy set his sights on an acting career. Born into a family of academics, Firth’s early years were spent living in Nigeria and mid-west America. He soon returned to Britain aged 11 and spent the best part of his secondary school years focusing on his theatre and drama studies, a departure from his missionary/teaching parents. After enrolling into the London Drama Centre, Firth admitted he felt more cut out for the avant garde than he did about getting into film work, thus focusing on more cutting edge experimental theatre instead.

Some of his earlier notable TV and film appearances ranging from ‘Lost Empires’ and ‘Tumbledown’, to ‘Valmont’ and ‘Circle of Friends’ were well received, but it wasn’t until he went onto star in the BBC’s hugely successful Jane Austen adaptation of ‘Pride And Prejudice’ that Firth was really thrust into the mainstream. Unenthused by the predictability of the character of Mr Darcy or the prospect of a costume drama being a hit, Firth turned down the role that made him a household name… several times. Taking a further two months to reconsider, Firth admitted that he only agreed to accept the part of Mr Darcy because he didn’t want it to go to anyone else and welcomed the prospect of it propelling him into mainstream acclaim. And what a sound decision that was!

Not only did ‘Pride and Prejudice’ go onto become an award-winning period piece for the BBC, it catapulted Firth into international heart-throb status. Darcy’s legacy has continued to follow him around ever since.  When asked about the longevity of Mr Darcy’s popularity among fans (self-dubbed “a national phenomenon”), he admitted his continued surprise and astonishment of it all. Known for playing extremely intense, repressed characters, the fear of being typecast did not dissuade him from pursuing his other infamous Mr Darcy character, in Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary. Accepting this role, which was coincidentally created and inspired by his Pride and Prejudice’s Darcy counterpart, is further proof of his highly commendable good humour. Never more clear than in this delightful interview conducted by Bridget Jones herself!! You really should check it out – it’s a fabulous treat for Firth and Bridget fans alike.

Continuing with the light-hearted theme, Firth reminisced about his experiences of working on the worldwide smash hit movie ‘Mamma Mia!’. Openly unapologetic about his pleasure in seeing critics and sceptics won over by this undeniably fun flick, Firth emphasised his disdain for karaoke, but admitted that he loved the feel-good fun factor of this project.

We were then treated to a snippet from the 2005 film, ‘Where the Truth Lies’, which co-stars Kevin Bacon. Based on the acclaimed novel by Rupert Holmes, Firth described it as, “a film about extraordinary guilt and bizarre tension between life off and on stage”. When asked by Stock about his particular interest in performing desperate roles onscreen, Firth went onto say that he’s “fascinated by the way people hide their true nature, their desperate and anxious sides”. And that as an actor, he’s especially drawn to those qualities, as seen in his stunning portrayal of Professor George Falconer in ‘A Single Man’.

‘A Single Man’ earned Firth his first ever BAFTA win as best actor and could not have been more well deserved. His strikingly moving performance is truly unforgettable, as was the experience of filming it, apparently. Taking 21 days to shoot, Firth described how lonely it made him feel filming so much of it on his own. Although it gave him an enormous sense of freedom, he emphasised how much he loved the experience of working with director Tom Ford and co-star Julianne Moore, even though they only filmed together for a short three days. It would be impossible to summarise this heart-breakingly beautiful and stylish film into just a few short sentences, so you can read Jon’s review of A Single Man here instead. It’s a quality piece of work, and will stick with you long after you’ve seen it.

 Firth’s filmography continues to please critics and audiences alike, and more so than ever in the upcoming release of highly anticipated ‘The King’s Speech’. With an exquisite acting ensemble, The King’s Speech is an epic true story based on the relationship between King George VI and Lionel Logue (his speech therapist). In the years leading up to his rise as King, George VI is forced to painfully confront his speech impediment in order to fulfill his public speaking duties.

A huge hit at the Toronto and London Film Festivals this year, The King’s Speech continues to reign triumphant winning the Best British Independent Film, Best Actor for Colin Firth, Best Supporting Actor and Actress for Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter, and David Seidler for his screenplay at last week’s British Independent Film Awards. Speaking candidly with Stock, Firth’s interest in this role was piqued by the psychology of stammering. Initially mortified by director Tom Hooper’s suggestion that almost every line be delivered with a stammer, he was worried that the audience would be unable to deal with the fatigue of it all.

Ultimately, it appears that this was an unnecessary concern as all eyes are firmly set on the upcoming Oscars as The King’s Speech continues to generate huge early Oscar buzz. It’s hotly tipped to scoop the Best Picture and Best Actor awards, after having already achieved a “must-see” status. Heralded as a masterpiece and film of the year by many movie critics, the countdown to the Oscars is on.

Our special thanks to BAFTA  for a truly unforgettable evening with one of Britain’s finest actors. Firth is an extremely charming and charismatic man and embodies the idea of a true English gentleman. His body of work is incredibly interesting and diverse and his international success is a credit to the UK Film industry. We wish him all the very best at the Oscars next year. The King’s Speech is released in the UK on Friday 7th January, 2011.

Academy Award nominated movie, A Single Man is released in the UK tomorrow and I can’t wait to see it. Jon saw it a while ago and you can read his review here. We’ve got a special treat as our friend James Kleinmann managed to get interviews with some of the main cast and Director, Tom Ford, all of which you can listen to below.

The cast includes Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Ginnifer Goodwin, Nicholas Hoult, Ryan Simpkins and Paulette Lamori.

Synopsis: Set in Los Angeles in 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, ‘A SINGLE MAN’ is the story of George Falconer, a 52-year-old British college professor (COLIN FIRTH) who is struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his long time partner, Jim (MATTHEW GOODE). George dwells on the past and cannot see his future as we follow him through a single day, where a series of events and encounters, ultimately leads him to decide if there is a meaning to life after Jim. George is consoled by his closest friend Charley (JULIANNE MOORE), a 48-year-old beauty who is wrestling with her own questions about the future. A young student of George’s, Kenny (NICHOLAS HOULT), who is coming to terms with his true nature, stalks George as he feels in him a kindred spirit.

[gplayer href="http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/audio/a_single_man/firth_mono.mp3"] Interview with Colin Firth: [/gplayer]

[gplayer href="http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/audio/a_single_man/goodeandhoult_mono.mp3"] Interview with Matthew Goode & Nicholas Hoult: [/gplayer]

[gplayer href="http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/audio/a_single_man/ford_mono.mp3"] Interview with Direcor, Tom Ford: [/gplayer]

Tom Ford’s feature debut is a triumph of style and substance, of ecstatic emotions and deadening grief which among its merits is the chance it gives for its lead, Colin Firth, to realise his potential as an actor with a performance worthy of the awards nominations it is receiving. He has done some fine work in recent years and, while making a living out of the legacy of Mr. Darcy in comedies rarely worthy of the name, in A Single Man his quality shines.

Firth’s typecasting is not a surprise. It happened when he emerged drenched from a swim in the BBC’s iconic 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejduice, further stapled to the subconscious with his roles as Mark Darcy (see what they did there?) in Bridget Jones’ Diary. He was eternally the emotionally repressed, upper class snob, morally and socially ambiguous, but in Tom Ford’s film Firth is afforded the opportunity to shed the light, literary mask and bring an emotionally complexity to his role as English Professor George Falconer, an Englishman abroad in 1962 America, a gay man whose life is perfectly settled and untroubled, until a sudden tragic event happen. His emotions are repressed but not concealed, his public identity constructed not because of pride or embarrassment, but for survival. Firth is magnetic in the role, and leads us through every moment of this film with grace and considerable character.

Witness the moment in the film when he learns, via a phone call from a perturbed and uncomfortable family member, that his lover has died in a car crash. The agony, the horrific realisation as the force of the sudden, unlooked for despair hits him, is choking. Ford’s camera interrogates Firth’s face as it falls, as his world shrinks, and the strongest bond he has is cut, and his future nothing but a collection of loose ends. All the while he is unable to find release, he cannot mourn because he shouldn’t exist. To be denied the ability to mourn is one step beyond pain, yet Firth remains composed, his words carefully chosen and the mask does not crack. It is a powerful scene, and Firth plays it perfectly.

Ford’s decision to begin the film with the death of Jim and tell the love story in reverse, through fragmented moments, is a bold move, and as it crosses the slow forward motion through George’s self-proclaimed last day the weight of the film is given time to build, and it carries us through to the bitter end. The disquieting sense of grief is played against the normality of a day’s work, it is a heavy burden for Firth and for us, he is angry against his better judgement, the futility of his day and of his endless guilt and regret.

Tom Ford brings his experience in design and fashion as well as architectural appreciation, to bear on each shot in the film. The production design evokes the early 1960s with a flair and depth, rendering a perfect background for the tragic play to unfold. There is a make or break moment when, as George stumbles into flirtatious conversation with a student (Nicholas Hoult, in a superb turn) and the grainy, diluted tones the film has displayed thus far begins to flush with colour. This happens again and again, as the blood returns to George’s heart at the sight of topless male tennis players, or the aforementioned flirtation, and in particular in the random encounter with Jon Kortajarena, playing an impossibly perfect young man, acted out under the watchful gaze of a poster of Janet Leigh’s terrified eyes in a Psycho poster.

The artifice of the colour blooms and the back to front dovetailing narratives may put some people off, to me it worked and drew me in. Ford’s camera is intimate and detached in equal measure. It is a bold move and succeeds on every level.

Ford offers up close ups of facial features, jump cuts during a conversation of Firth’s gaze moving, focusing on eyes shadowed in blues and greens, pink lips talking, the male and female bodies fragmented. He sees a family in the garden of a house opposite his, there is no sound, no connection to his life. As he drives past them on his way to work the camera slows and his eyes meets each family members, a social facade is erected with smiles and nods, then the road opens up before him and his last day continues. On leaving his house he placed a gun in his briefcase, and set out his life in insurance papers and signed documents, there is no sigh of regret; this is one long goodbye.

There are moments of the darkest comedy as Firth fluffs the pillows he uses to prop his head up as the gun is placed in his mouth, then is uncomfortable so he rearranges them, again and again. Julianne Moore has a ostensibly flighty part to play as Charley, Firth’s English friend, immune to his sexuality and hoping to hook up, a desire that is woefully misguided and their scenes together are full of spiteful banter and nostalgic wallowing. One moment, when they are past the giggly drunk stage and moving headlong towards an inescapable self-pity, they are caught under the spell of Billie Holiday’s Stormy Weather. There is an awkward dancing, a swirling miasma of regret is evoked and all that is left is for George to deny Charley’s inevitable advances, and leave, ready to die at his own hand.

Matthew Goode plays Jim, George’s lover, in flashback and their loving, teasing chatter is filled with knowing allusions and double-speak, and it is seductive. Goode’s performance is pitch perfect, essentially a tragic figure unencumbered with knowledge of his fate, his ghost permeates every frame and we are swept up in his wake. There is such sterling support from the rest of the cast but this is Firth’s film. His studied reserve, and complete rapture under the spell of forbidden love, is at turn flirtatious and profound. That Ford, in his feature debut, was able to elicit this performance from an actor playing so close to his typecasting is astounding.

I cannot recommend this movie enough, worth it to enjoy Colin Firth and Ford’s direction, the subtle and sad detailing of grief and the beautiful moment of release at the end. Sublime.

Yesterday the Oscar nominations were announced with a nod going Colin Firth in his role in the Tom Ford directed movie, A Single Man. We here at HeyUGuys have a sneaky suspicion that he may in fact win it! But to tide us over for the next 5 weeks, we have these awesome new images from the movie. I think they might possibly be the best still I’ve seen taken from any film. Do you agree?

Much like the images that we put up yesterday for Cemetery Junction, this awesome gallery look uber retro, just like they’re supposed to. If you missed it, we also have some footage from the UK Premiere of A Single Man which is released in cinemas 12th February. Our review will follow in the next few days.

It’s Oscar Nomination day today and at 13.30 GMT, Anne Hathaway will be announcing the nominations at some unearthly hour in a hotel in Los Angeles. We here at HeyUGuys are big supporters of Moon and all things Duncan Jones and Sam Rockwell but we’ve got a sneaky suspicion that Colin Firth could not only get nominated but may win the Oscar for Best Actor.  I guess we’ll find out later on today if our suspicions of them even being nominated will come to fruition but in the meantime, here’s some footage from the UK Premiere of A Single Man that took place last night.

The  footage includes in interviews with director, Tom Ford and cast members, Colin Firth, Matthew Goode and BAFTA Rising Star Nominee Nicholas Hoult for you to feature on your site. Enjoy it and come back later to find out if we were right about Firth or join us when we’ll be live tweeting as events unfold.

The star of About a Boy and Channel 4′s Skins Nicholas Hoult has been cast in George Miller’s Mad Max 4: Fury Road. Currently impressing with Colin Firth in A Single Man, Hoult will star alongside Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy as a character known as Nux, and that’s as much as Heat Vision, who reported the story, can tell us.

By sheer coincidence I saw A Single Man last night and was very impressed with Hoult though he was very boyish, and rightly so. How this will play once the world has gone to Hell in a Thunderdome is unclear, but Hoult is making his name with brio.

Here’s a brand new poster for Colin Firth’s new movie, ‘A Single Man ‘which won him the best actor prize at the Venice Film Festival. A Single Man is directed by Tom Ford and also stars Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode.

Here’s the synopsis and you can click the poster to enlarge. A Single Man is released 12th February 2010.

George Falconer (Colin Firth) is a 52-year-old British college professor struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his long time partner, Jim (Matthew Goode). George dwells on the past and cannot see his future as we follow him through a single day, where a series of events and encounters, ultimately leads him to decide if there is a meaning to life after Jim.

Here’s the new trailer for Tom Ford’s ‘A Single Man’. The movie stars Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, and Ginnifer Goodwin and it’s set for release 12th February. Currently, at the time of writing, it has 8.5 out of 181 votes on IMDb as well as winning awards at the Venice Film Festival. Expecting good things from this one.

Synopsis: ‘A Single Man’ is based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood. Set in Los Angeles in 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, it is the story of a British college professor (Colin Firth) who is struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his long time partner. The story is a romantic tale of love interrupted, the isolation that is an inherent part of the human condition, and ultimately the importance of the seemingly smaller moments in life.

A Single Man in HD

Trailer Park | MySpace Video