Wednesday, May 1 2013, 10:29 AM Monday, April 8 2013, 04:07 PM Friday, April 5 2013, 05:15 PM Friday, February 22 2013, 09:41 AM Sunday, February 17 2013, 04:41 PM Friday, February 15 2013, 09:17 PM Friday, February 8 2013, 11:06 AM Thursday, February 7 2013, 12:22 AM Sunday, January 27 2013, 06:38 PM Wednesday, January 23 2013, 09:44 PM
Blog Archive
Grim indeed, yet eloquent and utterly compelling."
The End: NECESSARY EVIL Is Out! - 5/1/2013, 10:29 AM Because I Haven't Posted About tDCS In A While - 4/8/2013, 04:07 PM Announcing the NECESSARY EVIL Signing Tour - 4/5/2013, 05:15 PM Nuclear Deterrence in a Blood Magic World - 2/22/2013, 09:41 AM Guest Post #2 at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/17/2013, 04:41 PM Guest Post at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/15/2013, 09:17 PM A Conversation with Charlie Stross - 2/8/2013, 11:06 AM NOW OUT in the UK: THE COLDEST WAR - 2/7/2013, 12:22 AM Clarion Is Accepting Applications for the Class of 2013 - 1/27/2013, 06:38 PM Holy Smokes! Cover Art for Something More Than Night - 1/23/2013, 09:44 PM
Show all blog entries
Because Bill Nighy could probably make anything entertaining. He's just that good.
I gulped down 3 hours in one go, and then made the mistake of trying to go to bed while my mind was spinning like a top. I had strange dreams that night. Half the cast of State of Play was in one sequence; we had to get a piece of information to Bill Nighy, who had been painted blue for reasons that seemed perfectly logical at the time, but our progress was hampered because China had put my neighborhood under martial law.
When I grow up, I want to be an investigative journalist at a major British newspaper just so that Bill Nighy can be my boss. How cool would that be?
If you haven't seen it, and if you enjoy a tense, riveting drama, I recommend State of Play. Nighy stands out, but the rest of the cast is excellent-- every performance is terrific. John Simm, Kelly Macdonald, James McAvoy, and David Morrissey all shine.
Simm starred in the original Life on Mars, which is currently on my Netflix queue. I'm eager to see it. (He also played The Master in the BBC's new Doctor Who series, which is just another level of awesome.) I hear the original version of this show was brilliant; I don't have high hopes that the American retread will be as good. (But I liked the pilot episode quite a lot-- more than I thought I would.)
And speaking of American retreads of excellent British series, I hear they're planning to make a 2-hour version of State of Play starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck. Hmmm... I'm not sure about this. I can't imagine that it will have anything more than a vague resemblance to the original series. How do you compress 6 riveting hours down to 2? By chopping out, well, just about everything. Then again, Jason Bateman will also have a role, so maybe there's hope for it.
He was also the vampire elder from the movie 'Underworld', a personal favorite of mine. Mostly because of Kate Beckinsale, but also Bill. He just doesn't fill out leather and latex the way she does.
Forgot? No, my good sir, I deliberately omitted that one. I've seen both Underworld and Underworld 2, thanks to Netflix. The second one I found nearly incomprehensible; the first Underworld is only slightly better, imho. Having said that, though, I really love the fact that Bill Nighy isn't the least bit snobby about the roles he takes on. (He's going to be in Underworld 3, as well.) And he played Slartibartfast in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is kind of neat if you watch some of the outtakes.
That's one of the things I love about REALLY GOOD British actors - their willingness to star in absolute crap, and be awesome doing it. (I think a lot of them fund their theatre habits with their film careers.)
State of Play duly Netflixed, though I won't be watching it until next month.
I hope you enjoy it! I'll feel badly if I steered you wrong.
You're right about British actors-- so many of the good ones are willing to take roles that American actors wouldn't bother to sneer at. I wonder if it's a different acting culture overseas. Here, I know, it's considered a huge step down to go from films to television (though that is changing, maybe). But Brit actors seem to go back and forth more easily.
Wasn't Dame Judi Dench on a sitcom for a long time?
Unwalkers interview [English | French ]
Interview with Speculate! Podcast Interview with Adventures in SciFi Publishing
Ian Tregillis on the Sword and Laser Podcast
Ian Tregillis on John Scalzi's The Big Idea
Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with SFRevu
Interview with Mad Hatter Book Review
Interview with Apex Books
Interview at Literary Musings Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
An interview with the authors of Busted Flush at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with Travis Heermann at The Write Line
9-way interview with the contributors to the Wild Cards novel Inside Straight at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview in the February, 2008 newsletter of the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
An extended interview with Ian Tregillis by Ty Franck, on www.wildcardsbooks.com.