Golden Globe-winning actor Hugh Laurie (“House”) and “Game of Thrones” actor Emilia Clarke will be part of the voice cast for animated feature “The Amazing Maurice.”

The voice cast also includes David Thewlis (“Wonder Woman”), Himesh Patel (“Yesterday”), Gemma Arterton (“Vita & Virginia”) and Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”). Toby Genkel (“Two by Two: Overboard!”) and Florian Westermann (“Little Dodo”) will co-direct.

The film will be an adaptation of bestselling author, the late Terry Pratchett’s 2001 book “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents,” which is part of his iconic Discworld series. The book is a take on the popular folk tale about the Pied Piper of Hamelin. It won the Carnegie medal that recognizes the best children’s book in the U.K.

The story follows a streetwise ginger cat who has the perfect money-making scam. He finds a kid who plays a pipe, and also befriends his very own horde of talking rats. When they reach the stricken town of Bad Blintz, their con game goes awry. Continue reading  »

Emilia Clarke refused to let anyone take the humanity out of her “Thrones” character.

Emilia Clarke reveals in the new “Game of Thrones” book “Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon” that she pushed back against the series’ creative team on several occasions when they gave her notes on how to play her character Daenerys that she did not want to follow (via Insider). Clarke said it was important for her to inject Daenerys with a level of humanity that viewers would relate to, and she refused to allow anyone involved with the show to make her character too “cold and expressionless.”

“There was a number of times I was like, ‘Why are you giving me that note?’” Clarke told “Fire” author James Hibberd. “While I am quite consistently a ‘How can I help?’ kind of person, there were a few moments where I was like, ‘Don’t tell me what to do with my girl. I know what to do!’”

Clarke continued, “It’s like Daenerys’ calling card became cold expressionlessness. I always wanted to infuse that with some humanity because no one’s consistently like that. I would sometimes fight back a little: ‘I get that she has to be steely and unforgiving and a powerful force. But in this moment she’s also a goddam human being. So I’m going to give you that and I really pray that you take that in the edit.’” Continue reading  »

Since 2015, Chanel and Tribeca Enterprises (founded by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal) have selected young, female and/or nonbinary filmmakers to participate in their joint mentorship fund competition Through Her Lens. The candidates, a group of about 10, get paired up with mentors—experts in script-to-screen development, casting, music composition, costume design, producing, and directing—and because Chanel is involved, the group is always top-notch, made up of the discerning sorts of figures you might expect to see sitting front row. They include Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Diane Kruger, Julianne Moore, Katie Holmes, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathryn Bigelow; while the likes of A.V. Rockwell, Nikyatu Jusu, and Hannah Peterson have competed, going on to screen their work at Sundance, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the BlackStar Film Festival.

In years past, Through Her Lens has kicked off with a luncheon, usually at De Niro’s Locanda Verde in New York, that unfolds like a parade of Chanel-clad film-industry talents. In the three days that follow, participants get one-on-one mentoring sessions and master classes dedicated to the development of short film projects. The program culminates with a lucky three being awarded grant money to help realize their films. This year, there will be no tweedy lunch or face-to-face mentorship sessions, but Chanel and Tribeca Enterprises are committed to continuing the program 2020 style: virtually.

Ahead of this year’s lineup, we caught up with Emilia Clarke, who will serve as mentor alongside Glenn Close, Niki Caro, Lucy Boynton, and Uzo Aduba. Calling her involvement “an absolute no-brainer,” the former Game of Thrones star rang from London, and her firecracker enthusiasm could be felt through the transatlantic call. She’s been at home for much of 2020, which has allowed her the time to develop projects for her own production company and to work with her charity, Same You, dedicated to brain injury recovery. Through Her Lens is just another chance for Clarke to give back. Below, she stresses the value of mentorship, the need to know your references, and the glorious benefits of binge-watching cinema. Continue reading  »

Emilia Clarke—known for displaying strength as Daenerys Targaryen and exuding warmth in movies like Last Christmas and Me Before You—is no stranger to hospitals and healthcare workers. After suffering two brain aneurysms starting in 2011, her road to recovery brought her to a deep appreciation for the care she received during her journey back to health—and to want to enable others with brain injuries to find similar resources, the actor shared in a TIME100 Talks that aired on Sept. 24.

Clarke’s own experiences have provided her with what she called an “armor of sorts” to face the pandemic. “When you personally come very close to dying—which I did twice—it brings into light a conversation which you have with yourself which goes to the tune of: appreciation for the things you have in your life, thanks for the people who are here,” she said.

SameYou, Clarke’s brain injury recovery charity, attempts to help serve that purpose. But like many other organizations this year, SameYou has felt the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading  »

Lockdown Theatre, in association with The Royal Theatrical Fund, will present a virtual reading of Noël Coward’s Private Lives September 13 at 7 PM GMT (3 PM ET).

Jonathan Church will direct a cast that includes Oscar winner Emma Thompson (Howards End, Sense and Sensibility) as Amanda, Tony and Olivier winner Robert Lindsay (Me and My Girl) as Elyot, Sanjeev Bhaskar (Art, Spamalot) as Victor, and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, The Seagull) as Sybil.

The Zoom reading will be followed by a live Q&A with the cast and director, moderated by Paul Jackson.

Tickets are £35, and all the funds raised will be used as a crisis grant to support those struggling financially in the theatre industry due to the ongoing pandemic. For tickets and additional information, visit RTFLockdown.com. [Source]