Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Elizabeth (1998) - Kapur and Blanchett succeed with grand biopic

3/12/2017

Elizabeth (1998) - Kapur and Blanchett succeed with grand biopic

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Biopic of the Year + Best English Movie of the Year + Best Historical Drama of the Year + Breakthrough Actress of the Year: Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett appears as a woman to be reckoned with on this poster for Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth

1558, England: When Catholic Queen Mary of England during her fatal illness decides against convicting her Protestant sister Elizabeth to death, the country soon have a new queen, who finds herself under pressure to establish herself by marrying.

Cate Blanchett (Hanna (2011)) plays with captivating vigor, impulsiveness and humanity in the title lead and enjoys first-rate backup from John Gielgud (Prospero's Books (1990)), Richard Attenborough (All Night Long (1962)), Joseph Fiennes (Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon (2016, TV movie)), Vincent Cassel (The Crimson Rivers/Les Rivières Pourpres (2000)) and more in the impressive ensemble.
Elizabeth is a very exciting and handsomely produced biopic with some extravagantly long music sequences (David Hirschfelder (The Dressmaker (2015)) has composed the fine score). It is a confident and great piece of very vividly rendered historical filmmaking. It is written by Michael Hirst (Vikings (2013-17)) and directed by great Britisth-Indian director Shekhar Kapur (Bandit Queen (1994)).

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 82.1 mil. $
= Box office success
[Elizabeth premiered 8 September (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 124 minutes. Shooting took place in England, New Zealand and Australia. Blanchett was a widely unknown Australian actress at the time. Marlon Brando was in consideration to play the pope, which eventually was played by Gielgud. Kapur has related how he suggested, in vain, that the legendary Thespian acquire an Italian accent, which horrified every English actor within earshot. The film opened #17 in 9 theaters to a solid 275k $ in North America, where it peaked at #8 and in 624 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 30 mil. $ (36.5 % of the total gross) in its 26 week-long release there. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 15.8 mil. $ (19.2 %) and the UK with 9 mil. $ (11 %). The film won the Oscar for Best Makeup and was nominated for an additional 6: It lost Best Picture to Shakespeare in Love, Actress to Gwyneth Palthrow in Shakespeare in Love, Cinematography to Janusz Kaminski for Saving Private Ryan, Art-Set Direction and Costumes to Shakespeare in Love, and Score to Nicola Piovani for Life Is Beautiful/La Vita è Bella. It was also nominated for a two Golden Globes, winning one for Blanchett, 12 BAFTAS, winning 6, won 2 National Board of Review awards, an award in Venice and more. The film was accused of being anti-Catholic, and it is also fraught with countless historical inaccuracies. It was followed up by Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) about the second part of Elizabeth's reign, again by Kapur and with Blanchett, - but not a hit. Elizabeth is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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3/12/2017

Elizabeth (1998) - Kapur and Blanchett succeed with grand biopic

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