Latest news with #TimRoth
New York Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Tornado' Review: She Wants Revenge
This crackling movie begins with what some might take for a bit of misdirection: a quotation from a poem by Arseny Tarkovsky, the father of the great filmmaker Andrei. 'I would readily pay with my life / For a safe place with constant warmth / Were it not that life's flying needle / Leads me on through the world like a thread.' Given that the movie concerns Tornado, a young swordswoman who has to make her way through a hostile British countryside after wastrels kill her father, one might wonder what Tarkovsky has to do with it. But first consider the statement rather than its origin. Tornado (Koki) has been touring with her samurai father (Takehiro Hira) through rural England, performing a charming puppet show. An initially prankish bit of business involving two sacks of stolen gold gets the duo in big trouble with a pack of thieves led by Sugarman (Tim Roth). The writer-director John Maclean, who deftly played with genre in his 2015 feature debut 'Slow West,' is similarly sure-handed here. The movie quickly establishes itself as a revenge narrative, and each bad guy goes down in a way designed to suit the viewer's justified bloodlust. In the title role, the singer-songwriter Koki is both charming and indomitable; when she announces 'I am Tornado,' you feel your internal applause sign light up. And Nathan Malone, who plays the little boy following Tornado as she eludes the bad guys, is reminiscent of the nervy star of Andrei Tarkovsky's 'Ivan's Childhood.'
Geek Tyrant
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Awesome Trailer for the Martial Arts Action Film TORNADO — GeekTyrant
There's an awesome-looking martial arts action movie coming out this weekend titled Tornado , and I don't know how I missed this! This movie looks like an insanely badass revenge story. The the film, Tornado vows to seek vengeance and forge her own destiny by stealing the gang's ill-gotten gold after her father's puppet Samurai show is ambushed by a notorious gang. The story is set in the rugged landscape of 1790s Britain, 'Tornado is a young and determined Japanese woman who finds herself caught in a perilous situation when she and her father's travelling puppet Samurai show crosses paths with a gang of ruthless criminals led by Sugarman, and his ambitious son Little Sugar. 'In an attempt to create a new life for herself, Tornado seizes the opportunity to take matters into her own hands and steal the gold from their most recent heist. With her father murdered by the gang and her life in grave danger, Tornado races against time to escape a violent demise and avenge her father's death.' The movie was written and directed by John Maclean and it stars Tim Roth, Jack Lowden, Takehiro Hira and Kōki. The movie is set to hit theaters on May 30, 2025.
Daily Mail
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Actors who passed up iconic movie roles revealed - from Forrest Gump to Han Solo
Some of the most unforgettable roles in Hollywood history almost went to very different stars. From John Travolta turning down Forrest Gump to Al Pacino walking away from Star Wars, many actors have passed up iconic movie roles. A new wave of resurfaced casting secrets have been revealed - shocking loyal fans and making them wonder what might have been. This week, a handwritten casting wish list from Quentin Tarantino 's Pulp Fiction emerged online, revealing just how wildly different the iconic 1994 film could have looked. The list, which was posted to X by the film account All The Right Movies, shows the now-legendary director's original lineup of 'first choices', 'second choices', and 'strong possibilities' for his all-star cast. The cult classic, which made $213.9million at the global box office off an $8million budget, is now considered one of the most influential films of all time. But it turns out Pulp Fiction nearly featured an entirely different roster of Hollywood heavyweights. Tim Roth famously played Pumpkin, one half of the armed couple in the movie's explosive opening scene. But he wasn't the only contender. Tarantino had Johnny Depp as his second choice, with Christian Slater, Gary Oldman and Nicolas Cage also in the mix. Tim Roth famously played Pumpkin, one half of the armed couple in the movie's explosive opening scene. But Tarantino had Johnny Depp as his second choice Amanda Plummer's character, Honey Bunny, was reportedly written for her specifically, but in case she couldn't do it, Patricia Arquette and Lili Taylor were lined up as backups. John Travolta may have stolen the show as Vincent Vega, but the role was originally intended for Michael Madsen. Travolta, according to the document, was listed as a 'strong, strong, strong second choice'. Alec Baldwin, Michael Keaton and Gary Oldman were also considered. More shockingly, Travolta had previously turned down the role of Forrest Gump to take the part in Pulp Fiction. That role, of course, went to Tom Hanks - who won an Oscar and cemented his place in movie history. Al Pacino said no to playing Han Solo in Star Wars, telling interviewers he didn't understand the script Will Smith was originally approached to play Neo in The Matrix, but passed, saying the pitch didn't make sense to him at the time And he's far from the only one to make a now potentially regrettable decision. Al Pacino said no to playing Han Solo in Star Wars, telling interviewers he didn't understand the script. 'It was at that time in my career where I was offered everything,' Pacino told MTV in 2014 as reported by Men's Health. 'I was in 'The Godfather'. They didn't care if I was right or wrong for the role, if I could act or not act.' Harrison Ford got the role instead and the rest is history. Will Smith was originally approached to play Neo in The Matrix, but passed, saying the pitch didn't make sense to him at the time. Burt Reynolds rejected the role of James Bond in 1973's Live and Let Die, saying he didn't think the public would accept an American 007 Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon all reportedly passed on Brokeback Mountain, which eventually starred Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in career-defining roles John Lithgow turned down the chance to play The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman, even talking the director out of casting him He made Wild Wild West instead - and has openly admitted he regrets the choice. Robin Williams was almost cast as Jack Torrance in The Shining before Jack Nicholson took over the terrifying role. Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon all reportedly passed on Brokeback Mountain, which eventually starred Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in career-defining roles. John Lithgow turned down the chance to play The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman, even talking the director out of casting him. Burt Reynolds rejected the role of James Bond in 1973's Live and Let Die, saying he didn't think the public would accept an American 007. Christina Applegate passed on playing Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, later admitting she didn't want to be typecast. Reese Witherspoon took on the role instead and became a global star. Christina Applegate passed on playing Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, later admitting she didn't want to be typecast. Reese Witherspoon took the role and became a global star And in what may be one of the most expensive rejections of all time, Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy because he 'didn't understand the script'. He was reportedly offered $10million per film - plus 15 percent of the box office. The role would have earned him nearly $450million.
Daily Mail
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Actors who passed up iconic movie roles revealed - from John Travolta as Forrest Gump to Al Pacino as Han Solo
Some of the most unforgettable roles in Hollywood history almost went to very different stars. From John Travolta turning down Forrest Gump to Al Pacino walking away from Star Wars, many actors have passed up iconic movie roles. A new wave of resurfaced casting secrets have been revealed - shocking loyal fans and making them wonder what might have been. This week, a handwritten casting wish list from Quentin Tarantino 's Pulp Fiction emerged online, revealing just how wildly different the iconic 1994 film could have looked. The list, which was posted to X by the film account All The Right Movies, shows the now-legendary director's original lineup of 'first choices', 'second choices', and 'strong possibilities' for his all-star cast. The cult classic, which made $213.9million at the global box office off an $8million budget, is now considered one of the most influential films of all time. But it turns out Pulp Fiction nearly featured an entirely different roster of Hollywood heavyweights. Tim Roth famously played Pumpkin, one half of the armed couple in the movie's explosive opening scene. But he wasn't the only contender. Tarantino had Johnny Depp as his second choice, with Christian Slater, Gary Oldman and Nicolas Cage also in the mix. Tim Roth famously played Pumpkin, one half of the armed couple in the movie's explosive opening scene. But Tarantino had Johnny Depp as his second choice Amanda Plummer's character, Honey Bunny, was reportedly written for her specifically, but in case she couldn't do it, Patricia Arquette and Lili Taylor were lined up as backups. John Travolta may have stolen the show as Vincent Vega, but the role was originally intended for Michael Madsen. Travolta, according to the document, was listed as a 'strong, strong, strong second choice'. Alec Baldwin, Michael Keaton and Gary Oldman were also considered. More shockingly, Travolta had previously turned down the role of Forrest Gump to take the part in Pulp Fiction. That role, of course, went to Tom Hanks - who won an Oscar and cemented his place in movie history. Al Pacino said no to playing Han Solo in Star Wars, telling interviewers he didn't understand the script Will Smith was originally approached to play Neo in The Matrix, but passed, saying the pitch didn't make sense to him at the time And he's far from the only one to make a now potentially regrettable decision. Al Pacino said no to playing Han Solo in Star Wars, telling interviewers he didn't understand the script. 'It was at that time in my career where I was offered everything,' Pacino told MTV in 2014 as reported by Men's Health. 'I was in 'The Godfather'. They didn't care if I was right or wrong for the role, if I could act or not act.' Harrison Ford got the role instead and the rest is history. Will Smith was originally approached to play Neo in The Matrix, but passed, saying the pitch didn't make sense to him at the time. Burt Reynolds rejected the role of James Bond in 1973's Live and Let Die, saying he didn't think the public would accept an American 007 Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon all reportedly passed on Brokeback Mountain, which eventually starred Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in career-defining roles John Lithgow turned down the chance to play The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman, even talking the director out of casting him He made Wild Wild West instead - and has openly admitted he regrets the choice. Robin Williams was almost cast as Jack Torrance in The Shining before Jack Nicholson took over the terrifying role. Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon all reportedly passed on Brokeback Mountain, which eventually starred Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in career-defining roles. John Lithgow turned down the chance to play The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman, even talking the director out of casting him. Burt Reynolds rejected the role of James Bond in 1973's Live and Let Die, saying he didn't think the public would accept an American 007. Christina Applegate passed on playing Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, later admitting she didn't want to be typecast. Reese Witherspoon took on the role instead and became a global star. Christina Applegate passed on playing Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, later admitting she didn't want to be typecast. Reese Witherspoon took the role and became a global star And in what may be one of the most expensive rejections of all time, Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy because he 'didn't understand the script'. He was reportedly offered $10million per film - plus 15 percent of the box office. The role would have earned him nearly $450million.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘There is no cure for grief': Tim Roth on losing his son after making a film about bereavement
Tim Roth reclines in his chair and exudes an unexpected lightness, as if the Atlantic Ocean is casting a summer spray over this corner of Galway. He is upbeat about life, film and even acting, which he once called a nightmare profession he would not recommend to anyone. 'Oh, did I say that?' he asks, surprised. 'I don't feel that way at all, actually. I must have been having a bad one, but that's OK.' He shrugs and smiles. 'I actually love it more and more at the moment.' It's a cheering sentiment, and incongruous. As an actor and director Roth is known for plumbing human darkness, a 'swallowed pain'. And we are here on a damp morning at a film festival on Ireland's west coast to talk about grief, a fictional grief depicted in his latest film Poison and an all too real, brutal grief that ambushed his family soon after the cameras stopped rolling. 'The film was actually dealing with something which now is very, very poignant as far as our family is concerned,' he says quietly, the accent pure London, even after decades in Hollywood. 'There is no one way of grieving. People react differently – everyone does – otherwise there would be a cure for it.' Poison, a directorial debut by Désirée Nosbusch, casts Roth and Trine Dyrholm as an estranged couple who reunite a decade after the death of their son, who must be exhumed because toxins are leaking into the cemetery. Based on a play by the Dutch writer Lot Vekemans, it is a raw emotional duel shot almost entirely at a real Luxembourg cemetery. In October 2022, a few months after filming wrapped, Roth's son Cormac died at the age of 25. The guitarist and composer had been diagnosed with stage 3 germ cell cancer a year earlier. Roth had considered dropping out of the pending shoot, which was a long flight from the family home in Los Angeles, but Cormac urged him to do it. 'He was unfazed by me doing the film. He thought it was a good thing. He was probably wanting to get me out of the house as well,' says Roth, with a wry smile. 'It had his seal of approval, otherwise I wouldn't have done it. If he needed me to stay close, I would have been staying close.' Shooting required Roth and Dyrholm to spend extended periods in the cemetery – filming paused during funerals – but the actor remained hopeful about Cormac. 'At that point we were trying to remain positive because he was still with us,' Roth recalls. The tone is matter-of-fact, the pain shielded. Poison depicts a couple torn apart by bereavement, a forensic dissection of an inability to share loss. 'The film has such a truth to it because it shows that how you grieve is as individual as a fingerprint,' says Roth. 'Now with my friends and family I see that everyone is doing and handling that differently and need to be respected for it.' Before filming Roth told Nosbusch his son was ill. The director had had a scare with her own son years earlier when he was diagnosed with diabetes – an experience that drew her to Vekemans' play. She says she gave the actor time and space: 'I did not go up to him every day to ask, 'How is it?' It was all with looks. Sometimes he needed a break and I go, 'Sure.'' Nosbusch was devastated when she learned Cormac had died. 'I was heartbroken because I honestly for a moment felt like, 'Was my movie bad luck? Did my movie become a reality?'' Roth told her he had no regrets about making the film and that in a way it helped him to face what was to come. In a statement after Cormac's death Roth, his wife Nikki Butler and their other son Hunter said the grief 'came in waves' and that they had lost a 'wild and electric ball of energy'. They quoted one of Cormac's mottoes: 'Make sure you do the things you love.' Perhaps it is a comfort to Roth senior that in pursuing acting, which he fell in love with as a teenager, he has heeded the injunction. The result is a long, varied career ranging from obscure art house to blockbuster, with Roth's passion for his craft always evident on screen. The genesis was a school musical of Dracula. 'I did a bad knockoff of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. But I was hooked.' He briefly did other jobs, packing shelves at Tesco, sorting Christmas mail, phone hustles. 'I was one of those guys that would ring you up and try and sell you advertising. I was awful at it.' His first break was the 1982 television play Made in Britain, which cast Roth as a racist skinhead and brought leading roles in Tom Stoppard's 1990 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Robert Altman's 1990 biopic Vincent & Theo and as Mr Orange in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. The New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael described Roth's acting as 'a form of kinetic discharge'. An eclectic, non-stop career followed. 'I made a conscious decision very early on … that I wanted to be an actor and not a movie person,' says the 64-year-old. Asked if he would consider a Liam Neeson-style swerve to action flicks, he almost laughs. 'I don't look right. It's never really cropped up. I just don't fit.' Actually he might: he is lean, with a trimmed beard, jeans and boots. Roth divides jobs into two categories. 'There are the ones to pay the rent. Your agent will call and go, 'Money job if you need one.' And there are the ones you do for yourself.' The former has bequeathed some cringes, he concedes. 'I've done some atrocious work.' Roth declines to supply a list of shame – 'No! You all know it' – but No 1, surely, was playing Sepp Blatter in United Passions, Fifa's 2015 derided love-letter to itself. Sign up to Film Weekly Take a front seat at the cinema with our weekly email filled with all the latest news and all the movie action that matters after newsletter promotion Still, debacles teach you things, says Roth. 'Sometimes they're the most valuable experiences. You have to do your best even if your heart is not in it. Sometimes, when you're doing a bad film, those are the best experiences.' Some big budget fare he recalls with affection. He says he played Abomination in The Incredible Hulk – a villain he reprised in Disney's TV series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law – to embarrass his children, who were then at school. Other lavish productions included Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes and Sky Atlantic's crime drama Tin Star. To not taint the memory of a shoot Roth does not watch his own films or read reviews. 'You keep them in your head and the battering they take down the line is a separate issue. Maybe it's just protection.' That applies even to films that are well received, though he made exceptions to watch Tarantino's The Hateful Eight and Michel Franco's drama Chronic about an end-of-life care nurse. Having directed The War Zone – a harrowing drama of incest and sexual violence that drew on his own abuse as a boy – Roth is sympathetic to first-time directors. 'I love watching them figure it out on set as they're going along. It takes a long time to get to that position, quite often, and hard graft. Then they get their day.' Poison fits that profile. Nosbusch, an actor and former Eurovision presenter, spent a decade wrangling funding and talent. 'It's two people talking in a cemetery. It took a lot of convincing,' she says. The next time I speak to Roth is over Zoom from New York, where he is making a 'comedyish' film set on Staten Island in the run-up to the January 6 Capitol attack. I wonder what he thinks of thegrowing anxiety over far-right populism. 'Trump? I think he's doing incredibly well,' says Roth. There is a pause, then he cracks a wry smile. 'It's thoroughly depressing and heartbreaking. It feels like he is the guy that opens the door for the real dangers … so even when he's gone, I worry about what will be left behind. It is quite scary.' Roth has had no problem entering or leaving the US, where he lives, but he worries about friends. 'I'm in pretty good shape, I'm a white Londoner. That's just the fact of it.' But he has friends 'who are in danger', he says, without elaborating. He is puzzled by Trump's announcement of tariffs on foreign films, ostensibly to boost production in Hollywood. 'None of us quite understand it. I don't think he does. Until something actually happens we don't know how to react.' Roth is delighted the Tories no longer rule his homeland – 'a very good thing for humanity' – but sounds underwhelmed at the Labour government's record so far. He worries that Nigel Farage will gain momentum. 'I like calling him Farridge,' says Roth, rhyming the name with cabbage. 'I don't like calling him anything, actually.' Roth's home in Pasadena, north-east of LA, narrowly escaped the wildfires. 'They were up in the mountain just above us. Trees were flying; we were very lucky that they didn't fly into the house.' Despite the perils of politics and nature, and the occasional fantasy of moving to Europe, Roth has no plans to leave. 'We went there because the schools were good. That was it. That's the only reason we moved out there and I love it. It's where my kids grew up. It has incredible history for me.' Left unsaid, in the silence that follows, is the grief etched in that history. Poison is on Sky Cinema on 18 May
