High Bourne: Matt Damon has taken his acting career to stellar heights

Imagine missing out on earning a cool US$250 million. That’s the nightmare that actor Matt Damon recently revealed to be his biggest career regret. The sizeable amount would have been his payout had he accepted the starring role in director James Cameron’s smash sci-fi hit, Avatar (2009), which held the record for being the highest-grossing film of all time for nearly a decade until it was dethroned by Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame earlier this year.

Speaking on this missed opportunity, Damon said: “Jim Cameron offered me Avatar. And when he offered it to me, he goes, ‘Now, listen. I don’t need anybody. I don’t need a name for this, a named actor. If you don’t take this, I’m going to find an unknown actor and give it to him, because the movie doesn’t really need you. But if you take the part, I’ll give you 10 percent…’”

Given that Avatar would go on to rake in a staggering US$2.7 billion, that 10 percent would have equated to a quarter of a billion dollars in the actor’s pocket. As fate would have it, though, he ultimately turned down this golden goose opportunity due to scheduling conflicts. However, massive payday aside, he had a bigger regret: “In having to say no, I was probably passing on the chance to ever work with him. So that sucked and that’s still brutal.”

While he may have missed out on this hugely-lucrative role, that’s not to say that Matt Damon is destitute by a long shot. In fact, as of 2019, his current wealth is valued at a respectable US$160 million, according to Forbes, which ranks him as one of Tinseltown’s highest-earning leading men. What’s more, the experienced 49-year-old thespian has enjoyed what few other of his ilk have managed – the perfect balancing act between Hollywood longevity and personal happiness.

But it seems big screen success was always in the cards for him. Matthew Paige Damon – as his birth certificate reads – was born on 8 October 1970 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as the second son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor of early childhood education. With his parents divorcing when he was just two and his subsequent inability to embrace his mother’s “by the book” child-rearing approach, the lonely youth saw acting as his sole reprieve. It was through his high school theatre productions that Damon finally found his true calling, while also meeting fellow thespian and life-long friend Ben Affleck in the process.

Soon thereafter, his scholastic aptitude saw him enroll at the prestigious Harvard University where, during his freshman year, the aspiring actor made his big screen debut with a bit part in the 1988 rom-com Mystic Pizza. When he was subsequently cast as Lieutenant Britton Davis in the 1993 Western Geronimo: An American Legend, Damon chose to drop out of university to pursue the role, deeming it a career-maker. Sadly, the film flopped at the box office, and it wasn’t until 1997 that he finally caught the attention of the world’s cinemagoers.

That was the year that Good Will Hunting – penned by Matt Damon and his childhood pal Affleck – hit the silver screen. The tale, which follows the journey of an MIT janitor-cum-mathematics savant (Damon) as he finds his place in the world, was to be his first taste of cinematic success, with the then-27-year-old receiving his first nominations for Best Actor, while also winning the accolades for Best Original Screenplay at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes that year.

After that, his star was unquestionably on the rise, as he set about solidifying his reputation as a true Hollywood A-lister through a series of critically-acclaimed performances such as the eponymous protagonist in Saving Private Ryan (1998), a fallen angel in Dogma (1999) and the antihero in The Talented Mr Ripley (1999).

It was during the following decade, though, that he truly entered the big league, thanks largely to his participation in several big budget franchises. His first franchise role was in the heist movie, Ocean’s Eleven (2001), where he starred alongside such Hollywood luminaries as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia. The movie’s blend of fast-paced action and charismatic dialogue was such a success that it spawned three more sequels.

But it was another franchise-starter that transformed the actor into a bona fide action star – The Bourne Identity (2001), the spy action film that saw Damon take on the mantle of Jason Bourne, a superspy suffering from amnesia who has to avoid assassins on his journey to regaining his identity. Another box-office hit, it spawned four sequels that collectively grossed US$1.6 billion worldwide.

Soon thereafter, following a series of high-profile romances with actresses like Minnie Driver, Winona Ryder and Rhona Mitra, Matt Damon finally found true love away from the limelight with Luciana Barroso, a bartender he had met while filming Stuck on You in Miami in 2003. The couple wed in 2005, and are now the proud parents of four daughters, including Barroso’s child from a previous relationship.

With the new insight gained from becoming a father, the actor discovered a passion for humanitarian work, particularly in the field of clean water initiatives. To combat this crisis, Damon co-founded H20 Africa Foundation, an NGO dedicated to providing clean water to the needy in Africa. The organisation eventually merged with another charitable body, WaterPartners, to form what is now known as Water.org in 2009, whose mission statement is to “pioneer market-driven financial solutions to end the global water crisis”. The big-hearted actor is also a keen supporter of other causes, including combating AIDS, poverty and war atrocities through a number of other organisations.

But that’s not to say that he’s allowed his onscreen career to languish. In the last decade alone, he’s garnered praise for such diverse roles as that of South African rugby team captain Francois Pienaar in 2009’s Invictus (which saw him nominated for Best Supporting Actor at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars), a Texas Ranger in the Coen Brothers’ 2010 Western True Grit, and a castaway astronaut in not one, but two sci-fi hits – Interstellar (2014) and The Martian (2015).

Next up, though, Damon will have his feet back on terra firma, appearing in the historic biopic Ford v Ferrari in the role of Carroll Shelby, the famed US car designer who, together with Henry Ford II of Ford Motors, aims for an underdog victory against Italian motoring marque Scuderia Ferrari at the prestigious Le Mans race.

After that, the A-lister looks set to reunite with his old pal Affleck to co-write a script 22 years after their previous effort, the afore-mentioned Good Will Hunting, catapulted both actors to superstardom. Their upcoming collaboration with producer-director Ridley Scott and Oscar-nominated writer-director Nicole Holofcener, tentatively titled The Last Duel, will see Damon travel not to the stars, but to the distant past this time – the 14th century to be exact – in a story of a ‘duel to end all duels’ between a knight and a courtier.

While there’s little concrete information on that particular project, the all-star power behind it suggests that something truly special could be in the making – one that will allow audiences worldwide to remember just what makes Matt Damon such a Bourne star.

Text: Tenzing Thondup
Photos: AFP

Marvel Movies: How will the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four unfold?

When Robert Downey Jr donned his now-iconic red-and-yellow armour in 2008’s Iron Man, few could have imagined that his successful portrayal of “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” Tony Stark would spawn a cinematic franchise the likes of which the world had never seen before. Indeed, since this opening instalment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) – the massive movie franchise run by Marvel Studios, based off of characters from Marvel Comics – cinemagoers across the globe have fallen in love with Iron Man and his merry band of superhero friends, The Avengers.

Much of this ‘Marvel-lous’ world’s success lies in its deft ability to blend jaw-dropping action scenes, poignant storylines and irreverent humour, which have pretty much become the calling card of the Marvel movie-going experience, infecting even the most cynical critics with Marvel Fever and causing them to root for such out-of-this-world protagonists as a gamma ray-infused rage monster (The Hulk), an interchangeably-sized ex-con (Ant-Man), a talking tree (Groot of Guardians of the Galaxy), and everything in between.

It is precisely this magic formula that has allowed Marvel to far outstrip any studio competitor, leading it to spin one collective story across 22 movies and three separate phases in what is colloquially known as The Infinity Saga. This superlative success has also translated into lucrative financial gains, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe having grossed over US$22 billion worldwide to date.

However, now, with Iron Man dead, Captain America seeking post-retirement bliss and Spider-Man caught in a web of disputes that may see him exiting the MCU forever, it’s safe to assume that the recently-announced Phase Four line-up will be a very different beast from the 22-instalment saga that preceded it. While the films are almost all still in preproduction, Marvel fans the world over are already abuzz about what to expect. Kevin Feige, the franchise’s executive producer, has also added to the anticipation by dropping a few spoilers as well. So what, exactly, can we expect?

First, as confirmed by Marvel, we can expect nine different instalments – a mix of feature films and TV series – which will run from 2020 to 2022. The studio has already promised to bring back some familiar faces, including Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, in addition to introducing several brand new characters. There have also been less-than-subtle hints that this will be the most inclusive line-up in MCU history, with its first Asian superhero, first openly-queer character and first deaf superhero, all soon to finally get their fair share of the spotlight.

The most well-known of the next slate may well be Black Widow, set for release on 1 May 2020 as the debut Phase Four outing. Given that Natasha Romanov (aka the Black Widow) forfeited her life in the fight against supervillain Thanos, the upcoming prequel will undoubtedly indulge in Marvel’s penchant for time-travelling shenanigans, transporting audiences back to a time when she was hale and healthy. If rumours are to be believed, the movie will take place between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. A glimpse of the confirmed cast / character list, meanwhile, reveals that we will get a more in-depth look at the Red Room, the Russian superspy programme that spawned Romanov. Scarlett Johansson, reprising her role as the assassiness-turned-hero, will be joined by David Harbour (Stranger Things), and Academy Award, BAFTA and Laurence Olivier Award winner Rachel Weisz.

The God of Thunder also looks set to break with his traditional trope in Thor: Love and Thunder, the fourth instalment of the Thor series, which is slated for release on 5 November 2021. While the return of its star, Chris Hemsworth, and Ragnarok director Take Waititi were all but expected, the news that Natalie Portman (who acted as Jane Foster, Thor’s love interest, six years ago) would not only be reprising her role, but would take over the mantle of Thor from Hemsworth caused much uproar. Add to this the fact that Valkyrie, last seen becoming the new King of Asgard, will be looking for her Queen, and this is one movie that surely has everyone at the edge of their seats.

Meanwhile, the Sorcerer Supreme – ably portrayed by an American-accented Benedict Cumberbatch – is also set to return to theatres in Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness (7 May 2021). While its plot is yet to be revealed, the movie presents an exciting opportunity to introduce the MCU to the multiverse – where many universes coexist simultaneously. However, in a marked shift from the norm, Marvel has already announced that this will be the franchise’s first-ever horror film, so expect a higher-than-normal dose of spine-tingling thrills, all courtesy of the main villain, the chillingly-named Nightmare.

From here, the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Four line-up gets more murky, with little real information available as yet. What we do know, however, is that – come 12 February 2021 – Marvel’s first Asian superhero will be getting his very own feature film in the form of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, starring Simu Liu of Kim’s Convenience fame as the titular character. The superhero, also known as The Master of Kung Fu, is pegged to come up against the real Mandarin (portrayed by Hong Kong’s very own Tony Leung), the villain falsely embodied in Iron Man 3 by Ben Kingsley and Guy Pierce.

Another somewhat-new introduction is The Eternals, starring A-listers like Angelina Jolie, Selma Hayek and Kit Harrington. It also features the first deaf superhero, Makkari, to be portrayed by The Walking Dead’s Lauren Ridloff. While these mythical characters have been hinted at in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they haven’t been explicitly name-checked until now. According to the comic books, though, the Eternals are a race of superpowered beings created by a group of space gods called the Celestials. Thanos, the supervillain at the heart of the franchise to date, was an Eternal, and the upcoming movie will introduce others still.

Interestingly, nearly half of Marvel’s Phase Four line-up consists of small-screen series. While the studio has had TV outings before, they’ve never been a part of its cinematic universe so far. Now, though, thanks to a partnership with the newly-announced Disney+ video on-demand service launched by Marvel’s parent company, Disney, fans can expect several of their MCU favourites to hit the small screen post-Endgame. The first of these series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, is set to release in the autumn of 2020, and follows the adventures of the new Captain America, Sam Wilson, and Bucky Barnes. Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor’s brother and the God of Mischief, will also get his own spin-off show, which follows his adventures upon escaping with the Tesseract to an alternate dimension. Two other TV shows, one featuring Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye and the other with Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany’s The Vision, round out the list.

In all, while Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will likely retain many of the facets that have made its movies such box-office hits, it is refreshing to see it move away from the tried-and-tested style of its predecessors. Be it through a wider array of characters or the use of mixed-media channels, it could be that this experimental style could yield even bigger profits for the studio. While it will be seven months before we can begin to see the results of this gambol, we can, in the meanwhile, contemplate the many Marvel-lous possibilities…

Text: Tenzing Thondup
Photos: AFP

Mann of Action: Wu Assassins star Byron Mann on his Hollywood journey

Byron Mann, Hong Kong’s most promising export to Hollywood, talks to us about what it is like to be an Asian actor in Western films and his latest success story, Wu Assassins.

You studied law before turning to acting. When did you realise that films were your true calling?

Well, I figured out law wasn’t right for me during my first year of law school itself. I was interning at a law firm in Hong Kong over summer break, when my manager there suggested I pursue something else. He asked me what I would like to do instead and I told him that I used to like acting in high school. He was the one who suggested that I should try my hand at it, because the University of Southern California – where I was enrolled at that time – is in Los Angeles, just minutes away from Hollywood. And that is exactly what I did over the next few years of college. By my third year, I had already signed up for a movie. So even before I had graduated, I knew that I wanted to act for a living.

Did you go through the struggling actor period?

Not in the traditional sense. Having started young, I was quite excited about the prospect of acting. I couldn’t believe they were paying me to do it, I would have done it for fun. Fortunately, as I was already based in Hollywood, I didn’t have to struggle too much, I was landing roles pretty much from the start. I think, if there’s any struggle, it’s in keeping yourself fresh for any new challenge after you’ve been acting for 10 or 15 years.

Do you think that being an Asian worked in your favour?

I really believe that there are roles for everyone in Hollywood. And I’m talking about the mid-’90s, way before Crazy Rich Asians happened. Of course, the roles available to a Caucasian actor were more in number than those available to an Asian, but there were fewer Asians competing for those parts than Caucasians at that time.

What do you consider as a turning point in your career?

There have been several such moments actually, but none of them made an impact overnight. I did this film called The Big Short in 2015. During the production phase, it was a low-budget film and nobody knew anything about it. But after it came out, it got more and more popular. I started feeling its impact over a year later, when producers and directors approached me for roles because they had all seen the movie. They all said they loved how evil I was in that cameo role.

Is there any particular decision you made that you would like to go back and change?

If there’s anything that springs to mind, it’s that for the first 10 years of my career, I only wanted to do feature films. I had grown up watching such great movies as The Last Emperor, Schindler’s List and so on. As a result, I was quite focussed on only signing full-length films and not TV shows. If I had to do it all over again, I would surely consider acting in both mediums.

Do you think that Hollywood has become more sensitive to Asian cultures over time?

I definitely think that there’s more awareness in Hollywood now than there was 20 years ago. There are several reasons for that. First and foremost is, of course, easy access to the Internet. Researching a character’s background and culture has become much easier. Secondly, there’s the emergence of China and India on the global stage. These are huge markets and Hollywood studios definitely don’t want to rub them the wrong way.

How different is the experience of shooting a full-length feature film from doing a TV series?

I would compare a feature film to a sprint, whereas a TV series is like a marathon. In feature films, you have to tell the whole story in two or three hours, so the intensity is at a different level. Having said that though, I think the two experiences are becoming more and more similar now, thanks to streaming services like Netflix or Amazon Prime. For example, I acted in Altered Carbon and more recently in Wu Assassins on Netflix. Let’s say there are 10 episodes in each series, with a budget of over US$15 million for each episode. Given the money involved, the production quality is very high – it’s like shooting 10 feature films of shorter lengths.

Do you think that streaming services will soon eclipse the theatre-going experience?

That’s already happening to an extent, but I don’t think streaming will completely overshadow the cinematic experience. There’s something unique about collective theatre-viewing. You can’t completely recreate that at home. But, thanks to streaming services, you can watch very high-quality productions at leisure in your own home, at own your pace, and there is definitely a place for that as well.

What are your thoughts on Wu Assassins’ popularity?

Wu Assassins’ popularity has really exceeded my expectations. As of 23 August, it was ranked the third most-watched show in the world. What has surprised me the most is how audiences worldwide have responded to some of the racism issues addressed in the show. There’s a scene in episode 7 where my character responds to a racist waitress by educating her about the history of Chinese people in America. That scene has gone viral worldwide and has been one of the main talking points for the show. That’s very gratifying for me.

What was it like playing Uncle Six, who had a huge character arc in Wu Assassins, so much so that the audience ends up rooting for the villain?

The character of Uncle Six that I played in Wu Assassins has been a highlight in my career – a rather unexpected highlight, I might add. I signed up for this show because I had worked with the creator / producer John Wirth previously on AMC’s Hell On Wheels. I had such camaraderie with John that when he asked me to do this show, I said yes without even knowing much about the character or the series.

But I am glad that I said yes. I had a good time getting into the skin of this character and creating a contrast between how he looks at present and how he looked like 15 years ago, and following him on his journey when he lost his fire power and became a mere human, particularly what he looked like and how he felt when he took a road trip with his adopted son in episode 7. It was important for me to play a real human being instead of a stereotypical Triad boss. That was the challenge for me.

Finally, who’s your favourite actor?

Ah, there are so many… Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Meryl Streep… I would like to compare acting to really good food. After you’ve tasted something delicious, you think about it even after the meal is finished. It’s the same with movies. After you watch a good movie, you walk out of the cinema hall and still think about it. That’s good acting there if it moves you and gives you pause for thought. All the actors I just named are the ones who have moved me deeply with their acting prowess.

Thank you.

Interview by: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay
Photos: Jack Law
Art Direction & Styling: San Wong
Grooming: Chris Yu @ Morphologique
Venue: The Fleming Hong Kong
Wardrobe & Accessories: Etro, BOSS, Jimmy Choo, Giorgio Armani, Chopard, Cerruti 1881

Web-Master: The best-loved Spider-Man ever, Tom Holland

While many kids may idly hope to one day encounter their favourite superhero, only a very special child would dream of actually donning their mantle. Tom Holland, the young Englishman who out-acted thousands of wannabe webslingers to be anointed the new Spider-Man, must have been a very special child indeed.

Following the recent release of Spider-Man: Far From Home – the highly anticipated sequel to his debut outing in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming – Holland is now, arguably, established as the world’s favourite rendition of this particular friendly neighbourhood superperson. It is a ranking no doubt boosted by his appearance (again as spiderbloke) in two of the biggest box office successes of all time – Avengers: Infinity War and the tear-jerking conclusion to the biggest superhero team-up of all time, Avengers: Endgame.

Tom Holland — Photo Credit: Walt Disney Televison

It is an acclaim that somehow managed to elude his two most immediate predecessors – Toby Maguire (three cinematic outings between 2002 and 2007) and Andrew Garfield (two between 2012 and 2014). Why, then, is Holland still doing whatever a spider can, when his fellow thesps took such a tumble?Well, for one thing, his take on the geeky youth infused with arachnid radiation is by far the most relatable. With living a double life as a troubled teen by day and a superpowered smiter of evil by night being no minor challenge, for many, Holland has been seen as ably embodying both the angst and the adrenaline experienced by his two alter-egos.

In just the first 20 minutes of his maiden outing, for instance, Holland accidentally outs himself as Spidey to a school chum, all but destroys the Staten Island Ferry and then forgets to turn his phone ringer off while silently stalking a superpowered evildoer. To put it bluntly, we’re not in Iron Man territory here. It is this very everyday vulnerability, though, that is at the very core of the Holland-era Spider-Man. He just does the best he can in very extraordinary circumstances, a characteristic that all but ensures the audience is always rooting for him.

Furthermore, it doesn’t take much investigation to establish that this is a role Holland was pretty much born to play. Just 19 when he first took on the part, he is by far the youngest big-screen Spidey to date (Maguire, by comparison, was positively pensioner-like at 27 when he first sported the red-and-blue cowl), an asset that only adds to the seeming authenticity of the geeky Queens borough teen that is the off-duty Spider-Man.

Brought up just outside London as the oldest of four boys, Tom’s own interests, veered towards gymnastics, free-running and ballet. It was the latter interest that saw him enrolled at the local Nifty Feet Dance School, a move largely made at the behest of his mother. Recalling this formative terpsichorean training, he says: “I didn’t really know what I wanted to be. My mum thought I could dance, however, largely because I used to jig along to a Janet Jackson song she used to play.”

With the backing of both parents, he continued to immerse himself in the world of dance, with his commitment eventually bringing him to the attention of Lynn Page, a local choreographer who went on to become a Broadway regular. While she put him forward for a number of musicals and stage plays, it would be another two and a half years before he got his big break. This saw him take on the role of Michael, the best friend of Billy Elliott in the West End musical of the same name, for the next two years.

His newfound big-screen success led to meatier roles – notably, top billing in How I Live and Edge of Winter, two highprofile Canadian cinematic offerings. It was not long after this that he was confirmed as the new, more teen-friendly take on Peter Parker / Spider-Man.

In a retrospective tweet, he later reflected: “Life was flipped upside down”. Making his first appearance as Spidey in Captain America: Civil War rather than in a solo movie, it was nevertheless enough to secure him a Guinness World Record as the Youngest Actor Ever to Play a Title Role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While it’s not exactly World’s Cleverest Man, it’s still something to stick in your CV.

Riding on the success of Civil War and still dealing with the only-recently-inverted nature of his world, Holland’s first solo Spidey outing was released two years later. Keen to improve his American accent and learn what it was really like to be an American teenager – something of a mystery to him as, up until then, he had spent his entire life in the UK – he managed to convince the Men from Marvel that it really would be best all around if he went undercover at an American high school. Soon after, he found himself clandestinely enrolled at The Bronx High School of Science, the actual establishment that any real-life Peter Parker would almost certainly have attended.

Aside from that, with Iron Man and the Black Widow dead, Captain America lost into time, the Hulk caught up in rights issues and the Mighty Thor requiring the services of a life coach, if all goes well between the studio honchos, it may be pretty much left to Spidey to head Marvel’s epoch defining, post-Avengers Phase IV. Given the multibillion-dollar shared universe he could be charged with sustaining, the comic book phrase that has defined Spidey since his inception way back in August 1962 – “With great power comes great responsibility” – may never have seemed more apt.

Text: Bailey Atkinson

For the full article, please find the latest issue of Gafencu’s print magazine or the PDF version on the Gafencu app. Download the app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.

Maid in Hollywood: TV darling Elisabeth Moss head to the big screen

It’s the TV series that, whether by luck or by design, has seemed most zeitgeisty in the #MeToo world, a post-apocalyptic, satirical, shot-from-thehip, righteous screech of anger at never-shouldhave- been male domination. Or, as the TV guides preferred to bill it, The Handmaid’s Tale. Based on the 1985 dystopian novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood, the multi-award winning Canadian writer, the programme – already in its third season – caught the imagination of a generation, embodying and taking to the extreme the eternal battle of the sexes, leaving women angry and emboldened, and any male with a tad of self-awareness shamefaced and contrite.

Although the timeliness of its debut – its first episode was broadcast shortly before the downfall of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein sent the #MeToo movement global – undoubtedly played a huge role in its success, its enduring popularity is also down to the stunning performance of Elisabeth Moss, the Los Angeles-born actress who brought to life the pivotal role of Offred, the eponymous handmaid whose tale is told.

Born in July 1982 to two musicians, it’s safe to say a love of performing has always flowed through her veins. Although, at the age o f just eight, she moved New York City to train as a ballerina, her acting abilities soon eclipsed her fancy footwork and saw the young actress cast in Lucky Chances, a 1990 NBC miniseries. Her big break, though, didn’t come for another nine years when she was ultimately cast as Zoey Bartlet, the fictional daughter of Martin Sheen’s equally-fictional US president in the critically-acclaimed The West Wing. It was a character she was to play for the next seven years, while also finding time for guest appearances in a number of other high-profile TV shows of the time, most notably Grey’s Anatomy and Medium.

Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson in AMC series Mad Men

Then, in 2007, she was cast in a role that would ensure she would be far more than a one-hit wonder. This was the role of Peggy Olson, a frumpy and overly eager secretary in Mad Men – a sustained riff on the glories and grotesqueries of the US advertising industry in the ’60s – which arguably allowed her a wider pallet than her West Wing days. As her role evolved, Moss went on to be recognised with both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

Despite this acclaim and Mad Men’s demanding schedule, she still found time for a number of other high-profile roles, most notably as Robin Griffin in Top of the Lake, a gritty Sundance / BBC drama – a role that took her some 12,000km away from Tinseltown to the far-distant city of Queenstown in New Zealand. Playing a detective specialising in sexual assault cases assigned to investigate the disappearance of a pregnant 12-year old girl, it was the performance that saw Moss win her first Golden Globe for ‘Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television’.

While she couldn’t put a foot wrong on stage or screen, away from the greasepaint and critical adoration, things were a little less steady. Her marriage to actor and former star of Saturday Night Live, Fred Armisen, lasted just eight months. It was a disaster somewhat mitigated by Armisen publicly confessing the couple’s subsequent divorce had been largely down to him. Not one to duck to such a PR gift, Moss then went on record saying: “One of the greatest things I heard someone say about Fred is: ‘He’s so great at doing impersonations’. The greatest impersonation he does, though, is that of being a normal person”.

Moss herself, however, has not been immune to accusations of not being normal, with many such jibes centring around her lifelong commitment to Scientology, a cult-like religion that has had frequent run-ins with various US authorities over many, many years. Indeed, perhaps because her career has been quite so scandal-free, it’s the Scientology issue that the more dogged / less imaginative journos have returned to time and again, with many suggesting that her allegedly misanthropic religion is wholly at odds with her feminist credentials.

Eventually driven to try and end these seemingly interminable intimations, Moss ultimately took to her Instagram account to state: “Religious freedom and tolerance and understanding the truth and equal rights for every race, religion and creed are extremely important to me” – a declaration that, almost certainly, did absolutely nothing to stem such accusations.

A more robust defence of her feminist allegiances, of course, has come courtesy of her role in The Handmaid’s Tale, arguably her most high-profile and heartfelt performance to date. For three seasons now, she has wowed viewers as the series’ heroine, a woman constrained by the dictates of a society more male dominated than even ’60s Madison Avenue. With reviews of the series having remained more or less positive throughout, Moss proved a popular winner of the 2017 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. The series also saw her win her second Golden Globe, this time as Best Actress in a Television Series Drama.

The Kitchen will see Elisabeth Moss share top billing with two other actresses who have graduated from the small to the big screen – Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Hadish. Whether her own role – as an Irish mobster’s wife who, herself, ultimately embraces the dark side – marks her formal ascension to movie stardom or proves just another intriguing digression in her TV-centric career will rather depend on just how much kerching she brings to the box office.

Text: Bailey Atkinson
Photo: AFP

Reel Deal: August movies to watch in the theatres in Hong Kong

With the summer holidays winding down and typhoon season winding up, it might be best to spend the weekends inside – the theatre. Typically the season of car chases, experimental films and flicks to keep the kiddos entertained we’ve narrowed down the best August movies that prove not to be part of the summertime blues.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

The spin-off to the wildly popular The Fast and the Furious franchise, Hobbs and Shaw is centred around the titular Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, characters introduced in the main series. With action-hero favourites such as Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and Idris Elba it’s destined to be a fun ride and a fresh take to the nearly 20-year-old series.

Releasing on 1 August 2019

Dora and the Lost City of Gold

The children’s show that is most likely the reason you know a dozen words in Spanish, is coming to the big screen in as a live-action drama that will see Dora enter high school in the big city – before being pulled back into the jungle for an epic adventure.

Releasing on 1 August

47 Meters Down: Uncaged

Would any August movies list be complete without a shark film? Rated PG-13 47 Meters Down: Uncaged will sure to be a hit with the teens as the film follows four teenage girls whose diving trip finds thems submerged into the territory of the supposedly deadliest shark species in the world.

Releasing on 15 August 2019

Angel Has Fallen

Everyone’s favourite Scot – Gerald Butler – and the world’s favourite voice Morgan Freeman – are back in the third installation of the Olympus Has Fallen action thriller series. This time around Butler must clear his name after he’s been framed for the assassination of the President of the United State… will he be able to clear his name?

Releasing on 22 August

Crawl

While horror has been known to be an arguably less-sophisticated and critically acclaimed genre – Crawl has managed to be received with rave reviews. Taking place in the United States notorious state of Florida the film includes gators, hurricanes and the ever-talented Kaya Scodelario in a role sure to be categorised into the ‘strong female’ binder.

Releasing on 29 August

Matrimoney: Revisiting the most expensive weddings in recent memory

Weddings are simple affairs, humble ceremonies to mark the union of a man and a woman (or a woman and a woman, a man and a man or even a human and a favoured electrical appliance, depending on which postcode district you reside in). They are about soul reaching out to soul and two becoming one, with no need for ostentation or overly-indulgent fripperies, right? Wrong.

It’s all about putting on the most extravagant, self-consciously expensive cavalcade of vaguely nuptial-related narcissism it’s possible to imagine. Sceptical? A quick canter through the Special Days of a couple of past masters and mistresses of the art of wanton wedding-day mega-displays will provide apt testimony…

Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra

The disparate worlds of Bollywood and Hollywood collided in spectacular fashion when Nick Jonas, the much-loved US singer, married Priyanka Chopra, one of India’s most popular actresses, at the tail end of last year. As befitting such a union of countries and cultures, the three-day celebrations proved just the perfect blend of East-meets-West.

Charitably, the couple flew out hundreds of their nearest and dearest to the five-star Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur in northwestern India for the festivities, which included a mass mehendi (a traditional ceremony where female relatives and friends on both sides gather as the bride has her hands and feet hennaed), a sangeet (an all-singing and all-dancing musical extravaganza), a traditional Indian marriage ceremony and a more conventional Western wedding ceremony.

While the Quantico actress donned several gowns throughout the course of the weekend, the most stunning was undoubtedly the custom Ralph Lauren creation she wore for the Western ceremony. This gorgeous hand-beaded and hand-embroidered ensemble took a staggering 1,826 hours to complete, with the column dress beneath the embroidered layer boasting some 2.38 million mother-of-pearl sequins. Custom Jimmy Choo shoes and a 75ft veil – which required the support of six aides as she strode down the aisle – completed this most memorable of looks.

Angelababy and Huang Xiaoming

When the outrageously famous Chinese actress-singer Angela Yeung – known to her fans as Angelababy – wed fellow thesp Huang Xiaoming a few years back, the elaborate affair snared headlines the world over, not least because of its phenomenal price tag – a cool US$31 million.

Reinforcing the notion that bigger is always better, Angelababy’s ring – the Joséphine Aigrette Impériale by Chaumet, featuring a massive five-carat pear-shaped diamond – cost US$1.5 million on its own. Her bespoke Dior wedding gown, meanwhile, was crafted from 165ft of tulle and 115ft of ivory satin organza and required five months of painstaking craftsmanship to complete.

The ceremony itself – which was streamed live online – was no less extravagant, with tens of thousands of roses adorning the extensive venue. In all, more than 2,000 guests, including many of the country’s mega-celebs, descended upon the Shanghai Exhibition Centre for the occasion, with the event further enhanced by a holographically-projected castle, climaxing with the ceremonial slicing of a 10ft multi-tiered carousel-esque wedding cake.

Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal

When your father is Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man – with a fortune conservatively estimated to be well over the US$56 billion mark – it’s pretty much taken as read that your wedding day is going to the stuff of legend. So, when Isha Ambani, Mukesh’s only daughter, wed Anand Piramal – the son of a rival Indian billionaire – back in December 2018, it was no surprise that it aspired to be the wedding of not just the decade, but pretty much every decade. From the off, the much-coveted invitations set the tone. Rumoured to be valued at US$4,000 each, this particular save-the-day came in a two-tier floral box stuffed to the gunwales with jewellery and precious stones.

The week-long festivities then commenced with guests being flown via one of a fleet of 40 chartered jets to the 18th-century Udaipur City Palace for a pre-wedding ceremony, which included special performance from the ultimate R&B diva, Beyoncé, as well as special dance numbers from some of Bollywood’s biggest names. Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of State, John Kerry and former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee were among those who got to see such moves up close and personal.

The actual wedding ceremony – held on 12 December – proved a more intimate affair. Hosted at the family’s sumptuous 27-storey Mumbai home, the guest list was pruned to just 600 attendees. The final estimated cost of the entire elaborate affair? An international poverty-alleviating US$100 million, a sum that ensures that it still rejoices in the title of The Craziest Rich Asian Wedding.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

When Prince Harry, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, announced his impending nuptials to Meghan Markle, an American actress, it predictably sent the monarchy-mad around the world into royal wedding fever overdrive. Ultimately the Duke and Duchess of Sussex-to-be did their ‘I do’s at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle in front of some 600 specially-invited guests, including the obligatory members of the British Royal Family, and sundry international A-listers like Oprah Winfrey, George and Amal Clooney and Priyanka Chopra.

In keeping with tradition, the focus was very much on the bride, who opted for a stunning US$508,000 Claire Waight Keller for Givenchy gown as a more-than-suitable attire for ascension to the aristocracy. Her 16 ft veil , meanwhile, came embroidered with flowers from each of the 53 Commonwealth countries, all held in place courtesy of a diamond bandeau tiara once owned by Queen Mary, Prince Harry’s great-grandmother.

In all, the final bill was said to be in the region of £32 million (US$41.85 million) – a whopping £8 million more than even the wedding of Prince William, Harry’s elder brother and Kate Middleton back in 2011 – making this fairy tale-esque affair truly the Royal Wedding of the Decade.

Text: Tenzing Thondup
Photos: AFP, ImagineChina

Scarlett Johansson: What’s next for the Black Widow post-Avengers: Endgame?

Even well before Avengers: Endgame burst into cinemas across the world at the tail end of April, there was no doubt that this was going to be something of a game changer. After all, this was to be Marvel’s magnum opus, the epic conclusion to the staggering 22-movie-long narrative that had been the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) Infinity Saga. And, indeed, over just its opening weekend, the three-hour film’s total takings were said to be an eye-popping US$1.2 billion, the highest first-two-days figure for any movie ever.

While Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man and Chris Evans’ Captain America may have been central to this success, an equally important element of its appeal is none other than Black Widow, portrayed to perfection by Scarlett Johansson ever since the character first high-kicked her way into the MCU in 2010’s Iron Man 2. Across the near-decade since then, Johansson’s stock has risen, if anything, faster and further than The Avengers, which is now very much the Marvel mothership. Indeed, last year, Johansson’s take-home pay was a very tidy US$40.5 million, making her the world’s highest-paid actress and bringing with it the acknowledgement that she now truly is among the pantheon of all-time greats.

Her current mega-success, though, is a far cry from her eminently humble beginnings. The Black Widow-to-be was born in a low-income household in New York on 22 November 1984, the daughter – and child three of four – of Karsten Olaf Johansson, a Dutch architect, and his wife, Melanie Sloan, a producer. Showing a precocious interest in acting, Johansson made her professional debut in a 1993 Late Night with Conan O’Brien comedy sketch when she was just eight years old. Her first stage appearance – in Sophistry, an off- Broadway play, which saw her star opposite Ethan “Training Day” Hawke – followed soon after. She was then cast in one of the title roles of Mannie & Lo, a 1996 dramedy telling the tale of two down-on-their-luck sisters.

It was in 2003, though, that Johansson finally landed the two roles that transformed her fortunes – Griet in The Girl with a Pearl Earring, and Charlotte in Lost in Translation, a critically-acclaimed 2003 romantic dramedy. The latter, it seems, was a role she was born to play, with this bittersweet May-December romance opening to near-universal acclaim, while also securing ScarJo – as she has been unwillingly christened by fans – a much-coveted Golden Globe nomination, as well as the Best Actress accolade at that year’s BAFTAs.

This acclaim set her on course for a slew of big-budget starring roles, including Michael Bay’s sci-fi thriller The Island (2005) and Woody Allen’s psychological drama Match Point (2005), as well as such rom-coms as 2007’s The Nanny Diaries, co-starring Chris Evans, the future Captain America.

It was in 2010, though, that she truly entered the big league. Not only did she receive a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Feature Actress in a Play for A View from the Bridge, her Broadway debut, she also won the role that saw her permanently seared into pop culture consciousness – Black Widow, Marvel’s enigmatic assassiness.

Her take on the former Russian spy-turned-superheroine saw her career go – largely – from strength to strength. There were, however, one or two missteps along the way, most notably her appearance in Ghost in the Shell, a 2017 adaptation of a Japanese manga series. The entire production proved highly controversial, largely on account of its almost all-Caucasian cast, with many of them playing roles that were originally written as Asian characters. This, said many, was Hollywood “whitewashing” at its very worst.

Her personal life, meanwhile, has also been subject to several ups and downs. Most notably, after a series of high-profile romances, in 2008, she married Ryan “Deadpool” Reynolds, a union that ended in divorce just two years later. She married again in 2014, this time to Romain Dauriac, a French journalist, with whom she has a daughter, Rose Dorothy Dauriac. Three years later, she was once again single.

Reflecting on these painful experiences, she mused: “While I think the idea of marriage is very romantic – it’s a beautiful idea and it can be a beautiful thing – I don’t think it’s natural to be monogamous.” Judging by her recent engagement to actor Colin Jost, though, she’s clearly had a change of heart.

Romantic entanglements aside, there is one particular role that she has already confirmed and which has the world even more intrigued – the return of the Black Widow. Those few of you yet to see Endgame should look away now as a key plot point is about to be discussed.

Given that Natasha Romanov – what the Black Widow calls herself while her lycra is at the dry cleaners – sacrifices herself in the battle to de-Thanos the known universe, how come her debut solo movie has been confirmed as part of Marvel’s Phase IV slate? Sequel, prequel or timey-wimey trickery? Whatever the score, we’ll be there, alongside countless other millions. Don’t forget the popcorn.

Text: Tenzing Thondup
Images: AFP

Brit-born actress Olivia Colman is suddenly Hollywood’s hottest property

Envisage the archetypal Hollywood leading lady. What springs to mind? Young? Beautiful? Willowy? The kind of sex appeal that would arouse an addled octogenarian from miles away? Yes. All of the above. What probably doesn’t spring to mind, however, is Olivia Colman.

Yet, this 45-year-old Brit actress is the toast of Tinseltown as the winner of this year’s Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Anne, the 18th century British monarch in The Favourite. For many, this was Hollywood belatedly recognising that, almost imperceptibly, the last 20 years had seen 45-year-old Colman emerge as one of the acting profession’s all-time greats.

Her relatively low profile can, in part at least, be attributed to the fact that she refined her skills not in US films but, rather, in the more rarified surroundings of UK TV. She first came to the attention of the British public playing Sophie, a neurotic ex-girlfriend-to-be in Peep Show, a cult comedy that eventually ran for nine series. Then, she conquered a series of major roles – a small-town policewoman in the smash-hit crime series Broadchurch, the evil godmother in the cult comedy Fleabag and an alien-possessed parent in Doctor Who, to name but three.

From 2010 onwards, however, her career went through something of a sea change. Out were the goofy comedy roles and in came the meaty dramatic parts – an abused wife in 2011’s harrowing Tyrannosaur (2011) and Margaret Thatcher’s daughter Carol in The Iron Lady (2012), with Meryl Streep playing the title role. It was, however, just two years ago that Colman truly joined the big league and become internationally unmissable. That was the year she signed up for the role of the older Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s internationally-adored real-life royal soap The Crown.

Reflecting on her feelings when she knew she would be replacing Claire Foy, the 34-year-old English actress who had played the young Elizabeth to huge acclaim, Olivia Colman said: “I was such an enormous, binge-watching fan of The Crown. So, when the call came to join the cast, I was very uncool – ‘Yes, please, straight away, immediately’ – and didn’t really consider the inevitable pressure I was letting myself in for by signing up for something that was already so successful.”

Part of that pressure proved to be playing a woman famed for her absolute composure and reluctance to show emotions – traits that Colman sees as almost the complete opposite to her own character. Speaking after filming got underway, she said: “I emote. The Queen is not meant to. She’s got to be a rock for everyone and has been trained not to show her feelings. For me, though, when in character, if I received some bad news, I wanted to cry. In the end, I had to wear an earpiece and try and screen out my natural emotional response by listening to the Shipping Forecast whenever things got too intense.”

While playing the current Queen of England obliged her to remain uncharacteristically buttoned up, playing Queen Anne – her two-and-half-centuries-previous predecessor – in the film that took her to Academy Award glory, allowed her to give far freer rein to her emotions. In her bid to bring to life an eccentric, half-forgotten, grief-prone 18th-century monarch – one who sacrifices her regal role to win the love of certain of her most favoured subjects – Olivia Colman was obliged to shed any inhibitions and any notions of matriarchal insouciance. This freed her to deliver a true tour de force performance, one that is unlikely to be forgotten any time soon – not least because, as well as the Oscar, it also won Colman Best Actress at both the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes.

Unlike the majority of her fans – many of whom have long been convinced of her uninimitable greatness – Colman, herself, seemed somewhat taken aback by the very sweep of her success. Indeed, her Academy Awards acceptance speech was pretty much a masterclass in taking onboard unexpected adoration: “It’s genuinely quite stressful. This is hilarious. I got an Oscar…”

Her stock-in-trade self-deprecating humour aside, Olivia Colman still found space in her acceptance speech to try and inspire any watching actresses-in-waiting, saying: “Thank you. And to any little girl who’s practicing her own future acceptance speech back home, well you never know.”

Text: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay
Images: AFP