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Alan Rickman, the British film and theater veteran, died on Thursday. He was 69.

Rickman’s family confirmed the news in a statement. It read, “The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69. He was surrounded by family and friends,” per the BBC.

Born in 1946, Rickman went to college to study graphic design, but decided after several years in that profession to pursue acting. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and after graduation found work in various theater companies throughout the UK.

His biggest stage role came in 1985 when he landed the male lead in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.” When the production moved to Broadway in 1987, Rickman was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance.

However, when the play was adapted into the 1988 film “Dangerous Liaisons,” Rickman was not asked to reprise his role, losing out to John Malkovich.

We pay tribute to the film stars and directors from around the world who sadly passed away in 2016.Hector BabencoArgentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco died on July 13 at 70-years-old.He found international success with Brazilian slum drama Pixote (1981), going on to make Kiss Of

We pay tribute to the film stars and directors from around the world who sadly passed away in 2016.

Hector Babenco

Argentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco died on July 13 at 70-years-old.

He found international success with Brazilian slum drama Pixote (1981), going on to make Kiss Of The Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned a best director Oscar nominee and William Hurt earned an Oscar win for best actor.

Babenco went on to direct Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in Ironweed (1987) and Tom Berenger and John Lithgow in At Play In The Fields Of The Lord (1991).

After undergoing cancer treatment in the 1990s, he returned to the director’s chair for films including Brazilian prison...

In 1995 I left at the reception desk of the West Yorkshire Playhouse a copy of our son Nat’s poems, The Mountain Man, collected by my husband on Nat’s death at 20 in 1992, in the hope that Alan Rickman (Obituary, 15 January) would make time to read the accompanying letter. In it I shared with him how much we had both been moved on attending a preview of his stage production of The Winter Guest the evening before. As I was due to take a party of pupils to a parallel production at the Playhouse the next afternoon, I had the opportunity to leave the package.

We had just attended the funeral of an elderly but much-loved relative and were still grieving for our son’s suicide: the themes of love, loss and alienation in the play spoke to us very directly, while the humorous undertow gave us a fillip that helped us rally.

British actor Alan Rickman has died, aged 69.

The Harry Potter star's death was confirmed by his family on Thursday (January 14). He had been suffering from cancer.

A statement from his relatives reads, "The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69. He was surrounded by family and friends."

Rickman was born in Acton, west London and attended the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before launching his career on the stage, working with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He landed a role on TV in 1982 BBC show The Barchester Chronicles, but he first gained international acclaim with his part in a stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985, which transferred from London to Broadway in 1987 and landed Rickman a Tony Award nomination.

A year later (88), the actor made his Hollywood breakthrough by landing the role of villainous Hans Gruber in 1988 blockbuster Die Hard opposite Bruce Willis.

As the world mourns the death of British stage and screen star Alan Rickman, one of his closest friends and frequent collaborators is grappling with the loss. Emma Thompson, who appeared with Rickman in several films, including Love Actually, three Harry Potter films, Sense and Sensibility and 1998 crime thriller Judas Kiss said in a statement that saying goodbye to the 69-year-old Rickman was "painful." "Alan was my friend and so this is hard to write because I have just kissed him goodbye," Thompson, 56, wrote. "What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humour, intelligence, wisdom and kindness.

(Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

The world has lost British great, Alan Rickman. The actor sadly died at the age of 69.

From the AP:

Rickman’s family said Thursday that the actor had died after a battle with cancer.

Born to a working-class London family in 1946 and trained at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Rickman was often cast as the bad guy; with his rich, languid voice he could invest evil with wicked, irresistible relish.

His breakout role was as scheming French aristocrat the Vicomte de Valmont in an acclaimed 1985 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Christopher Hampton’s “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.”

Film roles included the psychopathic villain Hans Gruber who tormented Bruce Willis in “Die Hard” in 1988; a deceased lover who consoles his bereaved partner in 1990’s “Truly Madly Deeply”; the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” in 1991; and a wayward husband in 2003 romantic comedy “Love Actually.

British actor Alan Rickman has died. His death has been confirmed this afternoon in a statement from his family which read: "The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69. He was surrounded by family and friends." A veteran of stage and screen, he was much beloved by audiences around the world, bringing his towering presence and hypnotic, silken voice to so many great roles. He will perhaps be best remembered for his performances as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Eamon De Valera in Michael Collins, the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and of course as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films. Born in Acton, West London in 1946, he came to acting at the relatively late age of 26, when he received a scholarship to Rada, kick starting a career in stage and screen that would span nearly four decades.

Alan Rickman, star of countless movies and stage productions, has died. He was 69. The Guardian reports that Rickman had cancer. "The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69," Rickman's family said in a statement to the BBC. "He was surrounded by family and friends." Rickman's most famous role at this point is probably Severus Snape in the eight "Harry Potter" films, but he also had memorable turns in "Die Hard," "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," "Galaxy Quest," and "Love, Actually." He also wrote and directed "The Winter Guest" and "A Little Chaos." He is survived by his wife, Rima Horton.

The British actor and director had been suffering from cancer.

Alan Rickman, the British actor best known for his roles in Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the Harry Potter films, has died in London aged 69.

His death was confirmed on Thursday by his family, according to The Guardian, which reported that Rickman had been suffering from cancer.

Rickman began his acting career in theatre, where his credits include a Tony nomination for his performance in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

His feature film debut came in 1988 alongside Bruce Willis in Die Hard, playing scene-stealing villain Hans Gruber. Rickman went on to appear in more than 40 films, including the entire Harry Potter series, Sweeney Todd and Love Actually.

Rickman was awarded a BAFTA in 1992 for his role as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In the same year, he was also BAFTA-nominated for his lead role in...

It’s been nearly 18 years since Alan Rickman’s feature directorial debut, The Winter Guest, hit theaters, but now it’s finally time to catch his second go behind the lens, A Little Chaos. In 1682 King Louis Xiv (Rickman) commences a search for a landscape designer to build one of the main gardens at the Palace of Versailles. Even though Sabine De Barra’s (Kate Winslet) social status and forward-thinking techniques aren’t in line with the candidates one might expect André Le Notre (Matthias Schoenaerts) to chose, he decides to embrace the “chaos” of her process and awards her the job. With A Little Chaos due for a limited release on June 26th, I got the chance to talk to Rickman about making the film. He stressed the importance of pre-production and having rehearsal time, he talked about what it’s like directing a scene that he’s acting in,...

The last time Alan Rickman took on director duties was in 1997 for The Winter Guest starring Phyllida Law, Emma Thompson, which Fine Line released on Christmas day of that year, eventually grossing over $870K. The Golden Globe winner waited almost a decade-and-a-half to do it a second time with A Little Chaos, which Focus World will open day and date beginning this weekend. A Little Chaos will be joined by a sizable number of newcomers this weekend, though many — not all…...

Title: A Little Chaos Director: Alan Rickman Starring: Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci, Helen McCrory, Steven Waddington, Jennifer Ehle. ‘A Little Chaos marks Rickman’s second film after his 1997 directorial debut ‘The Winter Guest.’ The 2014 British period drama is the second collaboration of Rickman and Winslet after their 1995 film ‘Sense and Sensibility.’ Love blooms amid the Sun King’s gardens in 17th-century Versailles: A Gallehault indeed, the project that engages two talented landscape artists at Louis Xiv’s palace of Versailles. Sabine de Barra (Kate Winslet) is a fictional proto-feminist figure of lower-class gardener, who shakes up the ordered world of the king’s landscaper in chief, Maître [ Read More ]

The post A Little Chaos Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Romantic and funny and smart and wise and just plain different. This is a historical costume dramedy romp about gardening. How cool is that? I’m “biast” (pro): love the cast

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Historical fantasy! Nope, there are no dragons or wizards or magic. But it’s fantasy nevertheless. And of a very welcome sort. Of a very necessary sort.

In Paris in 1682, King Louis Xiv is preparing to move his court from the Louvre in the city to the countryside palace at Versailles, and he wants gardens that he likens, not in any metaphorical way, to the divine: “Heaven shall be here,” he commands. No small task, then, for royal gardener and landscape architect André Le Notre. And Le Notre takes a real chance when he dares to hire, for one section of the gardens,...

The British actor-director revealed stories from Die Hard, Harry Potter, Robin Hood and his latest film, A Little Chaos.

Alan Rickman entertained a select audience in London last night with stories from nearly 30 years in movies.

Speaking on stage at the latest BAFTA: A Life In Pictures event, the actor-director revealed how his first exposure to film was at school with titles like Ealing comedy The Titfield Thunderbolt, before going to art school and encountering his first major influences: Antonioni and Fellini.

“But I don’t know that I thought this would be part of my life,” he recalled. “To be perfectly honest, having a film career at all is a bit of a surprise.”

After going to Rada at 25, Rickman established himself on stage and TV, and didn’t star in his first film until his early 40s. That film just happened to be the blockbuster action hit Die Hard.

He won the...

Director: Alan Rickman; Screenwriter: Alan Rickman, Jeremy Brock, Alison Deegan; Starring: Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Ehle, Matthias Schoenaerts, Helen McCrory; Running time: 117 mins; Certificate: 12A

The famous gardens at Versailles provide the backdrop for this dewy-eyed period romance with Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts, although they have to wade through a lot of mud before the flowers come into bloom. Alan Rickman directs in a laissez-faire style as well as playing a supporting role as the French 'Sun King' Louis Xiv who presides over their efforts to create horticultural perfection. It's the stuff of Sunday night TV drama, for winding down with tea and cake. Very civilised.

The problem is that Rickman had obviously hoped to get pulses racing with 17th-century mores creating a pressure cooker environment for landscape architect Sabine De Barra (Winslet) and the King's master landscaper Andre Le Notre (Schoenaerts) as they get to...

Alan Rickman chats to us about directing, Anthony Minghella, movie villains and A Little Chaos...

"Where does Den Of Geek come from as a title?", asked Alan Rickman as I settled into my seat to interview him for his second film as director, A Little Chaos. I don't usually write one of those setting the scene preambles for interviews, but there was something really quite special about hearing Alan Rickman's voice in person for the first time.

In truth, as I walked through the door, I had no idea what to expect. Would Rickman be curt? Frosty? Would he want to cut out my heart with a spoon?

None of the above. He was as you'd hope: both brilliant, and Alan Rickman. And here's how the interview went...

I've travelled down from the Midlands for this interview, and been walking through London this morning. And I've walked past lots...

★★★☆☆ For his second feature as director - following on from the Emma Thompson-starring The Winter Guest (1997) - Alan Rickman brings audiences the period folly A Little Chaos (2014), a film as mildly diverting and inoffensive as its title suggests. Based on a true story and adapted from ex-Casualty star Alison Deegan's debut screenplay, the film tells of a most ostensibly mundane period of King Louis Xiv's tenure at Versailles, doing so in an entirely lightweight and likable manner that, though befitting a casual ITV costume drama, is saved by a wealth of assured hands both on and off screen. Set in 1682, Academy Award winner Kate Winslet plays widowed, green-fingered landscape designer Sabine De Barra.

Focus World, the alternative distribution arm of Focus Features, has released the official trailer and poster for Alan Rickman's romantic drama A Little Chaos, both of which you can check out below. The film, which debuted at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, marks Rickman's first time behind the camera since his 1997 debut The Winter Guest. There is hardly a consensus to be found among the reviews online for Rickman's latest, but many have at least praised Kate Winslet's turn as Sabine, a pioneering landscape designer who is building a garden at Versailles for King Louis Xiv. I'd also add that, based on the trailer, it's probably safe to assume Stanley Tucci's hat and wig play prominent supporting roles. From the synopsis, "Sabine struggles with class barriers as she becomes romantically entangled with the court's renowned landscape artist." In addition to Winslet and Tucci, Helen McCrory, Alan Rickman,...

Veteran British actor, who recently directed his second feature A Little Chaos, to give on stage interview in London.

Actor Alan Rickman is to discuss his craft and career at a ‘BAFTA A Life in Pictures’ event in London on April 15.

The event, to be held at BAFTA’s HQ in London’s Piccadilly, is the latest in a series of onstage interviews in which some of the film world’s leading talent share insights into the experiences that helped them hone and develop their craft.

The series has hosted such figures as Kenneth Branagh, Cate Blanchett, Jim Broadbent, David Fincher, Tom Hanks, Ethan Hawke, Dustin Hoffman, Helen Mirren, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Quentin Tarantino, Emma Thompson and Ray Winstone.

Rickman began his acting career in theatre, where his credits include a Tony nomination for his performance in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

His feature film debut came in 1988 alongside Bruce Willis in [link...

Talcy of wig and heaving of bosom, A Little Chaos promises to dust our Aprils with a liberal helping of period splendour. Alan Rickman’s second directorial effort – the first was The Winter Guest back in 1997 – is set in and around the uncompleted Palace of Versailles during the reign of Louis Xiv. You can immerse yourself in all its detailing and courtly ways with this new trailer for the film. Lending her heavyweight thespian gifts is Kate Winslet as Madame Sabine De Barra. She’s in contention to become landscape architect of the new palace but finds herself butting heads with her employer, preeminent architect Le Nôtre (Matthias Schoenaerts), whose favour she risks shedding as she takes against his love of convention. Privet hedges are out, mate. It’s all about the manicured rose bush. “The film is about what it is to be a woman who cannot have a...

When Alan Rickman isn’t busy threatening John McClane or glowering at Harry Potter, he finds time to direct a film now and again. His first directorial effort, The Winter Guest, was released in 1997. Now, 17 years later, he’s come out with the trailer for his second, the 17th century romance A Little Chaos. Rickman’s Sense and […]

The post ‘A Little Chaos’ Trailer: Alan Rickman Directs Kate Winslet appeared first on /Film.

Maybe best known as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies, actor Alan Rickman has once again turned his attentions toward directing, and will release his latest feature film A Little Chaos this spring. The movie marks his second time behind the camera following 1997's The Winter Guest. He also wrote A Little Chaos, working alongside Alison Deegan and Jeremy Brock. The first trailer debuted earlier today.

Starring Academy Award winner Kate Winslet, Stanley Tucci and Alan Rickman himself, A Little Chaos follows Sabine, a strong-willed landscape designer who challenges sexual and class barriers when she is chosen to build one of the main gardens at King Louis XIVs new palace at Versailles. This causes her to become professionally and romantically entangled with the courts renowned landscape architect Andr&#233 Le Notre (Schoenaerts).

A Little Chaos was picked up by Focus Features during its world premiere at Tiff. The film is...

British star will attend cinematography festival with his second film as a director, A Little Chaos.

Alan Rickman, best known for his roles in the Harry Potter series and Die Hard, is to receive the Krzysztof Kieslowski Award during the 22nd Camerimage (Nov 15-22) in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Interview: Alan Rickman

The cinematography festival has previously awarded the honour to Gary Oldman, Charlize Theron, the late Gustaw Holoubek, Ralph Fiennes, Willem Dafoe, Jan Machulski, Irene Jacob, Viggo Mortensen, Jerzy Stuhr, Julia Ormond, John Malkovich, Liam Neeson among others.

Attending the festival, Rickman will present A Little Chaos, the period drama in which he co-stars with Kate Winslet. It marks his second film as a director after The Winter Guest in 1997 and debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

After the special screening, Rickman will meet the audience for Q&A session.

A Little Chaos will be distributed in Poland by Monolith Films.

Focus Features has taken North American rights to Tiff closing night romantic drama A Little Chaos, starring Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts. Alan Rickman directed the story of a strong-willed landscape designer chosen to build one of the main gardens at King Louis Xiv’s palace at Versailles. Rickman also co-wrote the Lionsgate UK and BBC Films production with Alison Deegan and Jeremy Brock and stars along with Stanley Tucci and Danny Webb. Focus has set a March 27, 2015 stateside release while Lionsgate UK handles its UK debut early next year. Rickman’s first film as director since 1997’s The Winter Guest is produced by Gail Egan and Andrea Calderwood for Potboiler Productions and Bertrand Faivre for The Bureau. Zygi Kamasa, Guy Avshalom, Nick Manzi, Christine Langan, Ray Cooper, Norman Merry, and Richard Wolfe are executive producers. Focus also took Scandinavian rights as the deals closed during Tiff. Focus Features’ Lia Buman,...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

For some actors, it is a natural progression to move from using their talents in front of the camera to testing their skills behind it. Though actors have been making the transition for years, 2013 was a particular popular year for actors-turned-directors. Among some of the releases throughout the year were Ben Stiller‘s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Lake Bell’s In A World…, her directorial debut. The 2013 Toronto International Film Festival was the directorial launching pad of Jason Bateman’s Bad Words and Mike Myers’ Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, and the festival also screened Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut Don Jon and Ralph Fiennes‘ The Invisible Woman.

Though many of these actors’ projects may not garner any awards, there are some that make their way to the Oscars, such as Ben Affleck’s Argo (2012), which won the best picture Oscar...

The Toronto International Film Festival might be starting to wind down, but there's still a few days left and a few big movies to come. Among them: closing film "A Little Chaos," which marks the second directing effort from everyone's favorite Germanic thief/sneering potions professor Alan Rickman. Coming a whopping seventeen years after its predecessor, 1997's "The Winter Guest," the film, written by first-timer Alison Deegan, also stars Rickman as King Louis Xiv of France. The Sun King is looking to make over his garden, and he finds himself with two major candidates for the job: barrier-breaking landscape gardener Sabine De Barra (Kate Winslet), and her rival/potential love interest Andre Le Nottre (Matthias Schoenaerts). Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Ehle, Helen McCrory and Phyllida Law are among the supporting cast as well, so Rickman's certainly been able to attact some talent to the project. The film press screens today before closing the festival on.

The Toronto Film Festival is only half over, and though several promising festival films have already emerged as Oscar contenders—like Foxcatcher, The Theory of Everything, and Wild—there are still several curious and intriguing movies yet to debut. One of them is A Little Chaos, Alan Rickman’s period romantic-drama that will be Tiff’s closing-night film on Sept. 14. Kate Winslet stars as Sabine De Barra, a strong-willed 17th-century French gardener who challenges sexual and class barriers when she vies to design and build one of the main showcase attractions at King Louis’s Xiv’s new palace at Versailles.

Jon Stewart, Chris Evans and Alan Rickman are just a few big names bringing their directorial efforts to the Toronto International Film Festival.

Jon Stewart's Rosewater

Stewart, known as a comedian and host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, is bringing his first film, Rosewater, to Tiff. The drama, starring Gael Garcia Bernal, is Stewart’s first as director, and recounts the story of a journalist arrested in Iran and brutally interrogated, suspected of being a spy, in 2009. While the film first premiered at Telluride Film Festival, Tiff will host Rosewater’s International Premiere on Monday, Sept. 8. Stewart will also participate in Tiff’s Mavericks Conversation series, along with the journalist Maziar Bahari, the journalist upon whom the film is based.

<iframe width="400" height="225" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GGOYHIqmmiM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Chris Evans Directs Before We Go

Captain America star Chris Evans is also making his directorial debut at Tiff with his film, Before We Go.

In "Cbgb," Alan Rickman plays Hilly Kristal, the man who founded the legendary New York City punk bar whose stage helped launch The Ramones, Blondie, and the Talking Heads. The film happens to co-star Rupert Grint (as a member of one of the lesser-known punk bands, The Dead Boys), proof that the "Harry Potter" universe is indeed all-encompassing.

We talked to Rickman about his own relationship to punk (distant), how close he stays to his former Hogswarts charges (fairly close), and just what kind of device he'd need for a "Galaxy Quest" sequel.

What made you want to take on this part?

I thought he was completely fascinating in the sense that he started a club that was supposed to honor country music ["Cbgb" stands for "Country, Bluegrass and Blues"], and he never got to play any country music there. Along came punk and he was smart enough and open enough and generous enough to listen to...

Hey guys, are you ready for A Little Chaos? Looks like Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts are more than ready for an upcoming costume comedy which comes from director Alan Rickman who will also star in it. Yes, you read this correctly, Rickman is set to both direct and co-star in the whole thing. But that’s not exactly a surprise, we all know he previously directed 1997′s The Winter Guest, right? But, back to A Little Chaos, please! At this moment we know that the movie will tell us the love story about rival landscape gardeners who are competing to design a fountain at Versailles...

Kate Winslet has joined the cast of the Alan Rickman-directed A Little Chaos.

The Titanic star will appear alongside Matthias Schoenaerts in the historical drama, which is currently in the works at Lionsgate.

Winslet and Schoenaerts will play rival garden designers competing for the right to design a fountain at Versailles for Louis Xiv. Rickman will also star in the movie, reportedly as the 17th- and 18th-century monarch.

"We are delighted to be working with the best of British actors and directors like Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman as we move forward in doubling our investment in British films in 2014," said Lionsgate's Zygi Kamasa.

Rickman made his directorial debut in 1997 with The Winter Guest, an adaptation of Sharman Macdonald's play, starring Phyllida Law and Emma Thompson.

A Little Chaos will be released in cinemas next year.

Watch a trailer for The Winter Guest below:...

It's been 15 years since Alan Rickman last picked up the bullhorn and clapperboard, but his second directorial project is taking shape nicely. Kate Winslet has joined Matthias 'Belgian Tom Hardy' Schoenaerts on the roster of A Little Chaos, a long-germinating historical drama now underway at Lionsgate.Like 1997's The Winter Guest, it's a character piece that reunites Rickman with a past collaborator. Winslet, his co-star on Sense And Sensibility, will play a garden designer locked in a bitter rivalry with Schoenaerts' fellow horticulturalist as both vie for the patronage of Louis Xiv in the late 17th century. The Sun King wants a new fountain built at Versailles and both are desperate for the prestigious job. Rickman will also co-star, possibly as his Maj, although no word on that yet."We are delighted to be working with the best of British actors and directors like Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman," explained Lionsgate UK CEO Zygi Kamasa,...

1.) Universal has picked up an untitled sci-fi project with The Adjustment Bureau helmer George Nolfi attached to direct, produce and co-write with The Last Stand writer Andrew Knauer. The Adjustment Bureau is one of my favorite movies of recent years so I've been anxiously waiting to see what Nolfi would do next and while I wish we had more information, the rest of the details are being kept under wraps. Nolfi and Knauer met while Nolfi was supervising the script for The Last Stand and was apparently so impressed with Knauer's script that he made a pitch to collaborate on this new untitled project. Before making his directorial debut with The Adjustment Bureau, Nolfi worked on the scripts for several movies including Ocean's Twelve and The Bourne Ultimatum. THR 2.) James Franco has been incredibly busy of late and will try to stay that way as he looks to direct and star in Beautiful People.

Persistence pays off it would seem. To date, celebrated actor Alan Rickman only has one feature film directing credit to his name, 1997's "The Winter Guest," and while we've yet to see a sophomore effort, it hasn't been for lack of trying. Rickman has had a couple of projects percolating over the years, but the one that he's stuck with has been "A Little Chaos." It looks like his determination has finally yielded some results, with two great actors on board and a start date in sight. Baz Bamigboye reveals that Kate Winslet and "Rust & Bone" star Matthias Schoenaerts will topline the Rickman directed "A Little Chaos." Penned by Allison Deegan, the film will tell the unique story of rival landscapes gardeners who are both commissioned to create a fountain at Versailles by Louis Xiv. Winslet and Schoenaerts will spar in the main roles, and Rickman has been busy scouting...

I love that a heated discussion over Titanic’s infamous Oscar sweep of 1998 has already begun over at Laurent’s excellent retrospective. I guess it’s just the nature of this particular film. There is something about Titanic that hits a raw nerve in people and they feel a need to defend/criticize it so passionately.

As it happens, I fall in the ‘unconditional love’ category and I’m not afraid to admit it. To this day I have a passion for Titanic, a film that so perfectly matches what a glorious, spellbinding, big spectacle romance against an historic backdrop should be, and those films are so rare, especially when they are made with such precise and meticulous detail from James Cameron.

We shouldn’t be embarrassed over how much we loved Titanic in the 90′s. We should embrace it. So as our third ‘Choose The Winners’ article, we are...

Okay, so she's not a Dame yet. Shut up. It's only a matter of time!

Nanny McPhee costar Maggie Gyllenhaal at Emma's star ceremony

for Hollywood's Walk of Fame earlier this month.

Nanny McPhee Returns is on 2000+ of the nation's screens but I probably won't be seeing it. Remember two days back when we discussed what we were always looking for in a movie? One of my answers should have been beauty. I am not a beauty fascist in real life but I suppose I am at the movie theaters. Hollywood's great actresses should be immortalized with key lights, flawless makeup and evening gowns. Movie stars are supposed to be fantasies... our idealized selves. That's why Old Hollywood still has so much appeal. The studio system understood this. I like beauty on my silver screens so I really don't want to see Emma Thompson -- who can be just ravishing (see Much Ado About Nothing.

By Hanako M. Ricks

HollywoodNews.com: Harry Potter alums Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) and Emma Thompson (Sybill Trelawney) will reunite once again in a new one-off drama to air on BBC2.

The drama will be based on the 2009 poem “The Song of Lunch”, written by Christopher Reid and will air on October 7 in honor of National Poetry Day.

The drama tells the story of ex-lovers who reunite for lunch some 15 years after the end of their relationship. Thompson’s character is married to a famous writer and living a glamorous life in Paris, while Rickman’s character has not been as successful, and also regrets the end of their relationship.

This is not the first time the two actors have worked together; prior to starring together in the Harry Potter films, they appeared in the films Sense and Sensibility (1995), Judas Kiss (1998), and Love Actually (2003). Rickman also directed Thompson in 1997’s The Winter Guest.

  The trailer is in for Capitol Films' "The Edge of Love," starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy, Matthew Rhys, Camilla Rutherford, Alastair Mackenzie, Simon Kassianides and Lisa Stansfield. John Maybury ("The Jacket," "Man to Man") helms from the writing by Sharman Macdonaold ("The Winter Guest").   The film opens on March 13, 2009 in Los Angeles and a week later on March 20 in New York.   Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by a brilliant, charismatic poet who loves them both.   The passion and pathos of legendary poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys) is told through the lives of two extraordinary women. Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley) and Dylan were each other's first loves who feel the thunderbolt once more when they unexpectedly meet in London ten years later. Caitlin (Sienna Miller) is his adventurous wife, wily at using her beauty and always up for a bit of fun.   Despite their love-rival status, the women...

The trailer is in for Capitol Films' "The Edge of Love," starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy, Matthew Rhys, Camilla Rutherford, Alastair Mackenzie, Simon Kassianides and Lisa Stansfield. John Maybury ("The Jacket," "Man to Man") helms from the writing by Sharman Macdonaold ("The Winter Guest"). The film opens on March 13, 2009 in Los Angeles and a week later on March 20 in New York. Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by a brilliant, charismatic poet who loves them both. The passion and pathos of legendary poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys) is told through the lives of two extraordinary women. Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley)...

The trailer is in for Capitol Films' "The Edge of Love," starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy, Matthew Rhys, Camilla Rutherford, Alastair Mackenzie, Simon Kassianides and Lisa Stansfield. John Maybury ("The Jacket," "Man to Man") helms from the writing by Sharman Macdonaold ("The Winter Guest"). The film opens on March 13, 2009 in Los Angeles and a week later on March 20 in New York. Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by a brilliant, charismatic poet who loves them both. The passion and pathos of legendary poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys) is told through the lives of two extraordinary women. Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley)...

By Aaron Hillis

Why hasn't an esteemed actor like Alan Rickman ever been nominated for an Academy Award? (He's got an indirect theory on that -- more on that later.) Whether your earliest memory of his screen work was his yippie-ki-yay mother of falls from a skyscraper in 1988's "Die Hard," as the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991's "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," or even as Professor Severus Snape in the "Harry Potter" adaptations, Rickman always brings the same British grace, charm and theatrically trained precision as if he were still in "Sense and Sensibility."

His latest is "Nobel Son," the second film this year he's co-starred in with Bill Pullman and Eliza Dushku for director Randall Miller and co-writer/co-producer Jody Savin; the first being "Bottle Shock." Rickman plays Eli Michaelson, a womanizing professor whose egomania reaches planetary proportions after he scores the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which sets...