Global Showbiz Briefs: Mirren Beats Down Drummers, Champs-Elysées Hosts Cinema

Dressed As Queen, Helen Mirren Dresses Down Drummers
There really is nothin’ like a Dame. Helen Mirren won an Olivier Award last week for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan’s The Audience. But Saturday night’s performance led the Oscar winner to use some not-so-royal language when dressing down a troupe of drummers who were passing by the West End’s Gielgud Theatre. “The drumming just slowly got louder and louder and then settled right outside the stage door,” Mirren told The Telegraph. Unable to hear her co-star and sensing the audience couldn’t either, Mirren “literally walked straight off stage, straight up the stairs and straight out the stage door and banged my way through the crowd who were watching and said, ‘Stop, you’ve got to stop right now’ — only I might have used stronger language than that,” she told The Telegraph. “I’m afraid there were a few ‘thespian’ words used.” The Times quotes her saying, “I think they must have thought I was some completely batty old bird.” The “very sweet” drummers stopped immediately, and Mirren says she’d like to invite them to see the play.

Champs-Elysées Fest Turns 2
The Champs-Elysées Film Festival will celebrate its second year June 12-18 in Paris with Olivier Martinez acting as president. The fest opens with the Chris Colfer-penned Struck By Lightning, which Eurozoom releases in France the following week. The fest closes June 18 with Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini’s Girl Most Likely, with stars Kristen Wiig and Darren Criss in attendance. Nine U.S. independents will screen in competition: Jocelyn Towne’s I Am I, Sean Garrity’s Blood Pressure, Daniel Patrick Carbone’s Hide Your Smiling Faces, How To Make Money Selling Drugs by Matthew Cooke, Any Day Now by Travis Fine, Coldwater from Vincent Grashaw, Steven Bernstein’s Decoding Annie Parker, Brad PittEliza Hitman’s It Felt Like Love and Stuart Bloomberg’s Thanks For Sharing. French and U.S. short films also will screen, including student projects from the AFI, Columbia, NYU and USC. French premieres include Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha; Arthur Newman with Colin Firth and Emily Blunt; Oren Moverman’s Rampart; and Broken City with Russell Crowe, Mark Wahlberg and Catherine Zeta-Jones. There also will be a retrospective of Brad Pitt movies ahead of the July 3 release of his troubled zombie tentpole World War Z.

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Hot Trailer: Kristen Wiig’s ‘Girl Most Likely’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 2, 2013 @ 5:20pm PDT

One the splashiest pickups at Toronto last year was the forgettably titled Imogene. The Kristen Wiig-Annette Bening comedy now known as Girl Most Likely is hitting theaters July 19 via Roadside and Lionsgate. The American Splendor duo of Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini directed the … Read More »

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‘Glee’ Star Darren Criss Eyed To Succeed Daniel Radcliffe In ‘How To Succeed’ On Broadway For 3-Week Stint

Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: The news is brimming with symbolism – the young actor who portrayed Harry Potter in viral online videos to step in for the actor who played the boy wizard on the big screen. I hear that Darren Criss, breakout … Read More »

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Darren Criss’ ‘Glee’ Debut Makes History

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday November 18, 2010 @ 1:30pm PST
Nellie Andreeva

This should seal Darren Criss’ deal to become a regular on Glee. The show’s producers just announced that Glee‘s rendition of Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream debuted at #1 in digital track sales with 214,000 tracks sold, the first … Read More »

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‘Glee’ To Promote Darren Criss To Regular

By MICHAEL AUSIELLO, TV Columnist | Wednesday November 10, 2010 @ 12:14pm PST

EXCLUSIVE: Darren Criss is hitting all the right notes with his new Glee bosses. Hot on the heels of his well-received debut last night as Kurt’s gay role model Blaine, the actor/singer/songwriter is in talks to become a … Read More »

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