Peter O’Toole Dies at 81

Lawrence of Arabia star Peter O’Toole passed away yesterday at the age of 81 in a London hospital, following a long battle with illness.

O’Toole will perhaps be best remembered for his iconic performance in David Lean’s epic biopic of British adventurer T.E. Lawrence, the soldier who led the Arab rebellion against the Turks during the First World War. The role secured the actor the first of his eight Oscar nominations.

O’Toole also received acting nods for Becket, The Lion In Winter, Goodbye Mr Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year and Venus. He finally received an honorary Oscar in 2003. 

Having officially retired last July at the age of 79, O’Toole left behind am legacy of one of the most accomplished stars of stage and screen of his generation, with an award winning career spanning 50 years.

The League Of Gentlemen Reunion Possibilities

The League of Gentlemen finished its third and final TV series in 2002, but the infamously dark comedy series continues to have a devoted cult following. Speaking backstage at this year’s British Comedy Awards ceremony writer and stars Steve Pemberton & Reece Shearsmith told us about their new show Inside No. 9, sit to hit screens next year and featuring their trademark fusion of comedy and horror.

They also admitted that having recently performed League of Gentlemen sketches on stage at charity event for the first time in 8 years it has given them some enthusiasm for reuniting the team for a new show or even one day perhaps a League Of Gentlemen reunion tour. The guys tease that it could be a final resort following a financially ruinous divorce, assuming fans are still willing to pay to see it.

Full Video Interview below:

Plebs Comedy Gets Second Season

At the British Comedy Awards 2013 Plebs took home the prize for Best New Comedy. Red Carpet News spoke to stars Tom Rosenthal and Ryan Sampson backstage after their exciting win. The young comedy stars who play awkward master Marcus and slobby slave Grumio respectively on the hit BBC comedy series confirmed that a second series will officially start filming in March 2014, with an extended run of eight episodes planned this time round.

Both boys shared their hopes for the next series and unsurprisingly they both would like to see their characters have a little more success with the ancient Roman ladies. Tom Rosenthal wants to see Marcus get a little more female attention in his short togas and Ryan Sampson would like to see likeably moronic Grumio find an equally vacant new girlfriend.

Check out the video Interviews below:

Ed Helms Joins Naked Gun Remake

The Hangover & We Are The Millers star Ed Helms has reportedly signed on to be part of Paramount’s unlikely and unwelcome remake of The Naked Gun. Presumably Helms will be playing the lead role of bungling Detective Frank Drebin, memorably played by Leslie Neilsen in the original series.

The reboot of the spoof franchise won’t feature any involvement from the original team of Zucker and Abrahams, with writing duties instead hastily handed to Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant. The duos previous efforts worryingly include the Night at the Museum series, Herbie Fully Loaded and The Pacifier.

Many critics are already pointing to this news as a worrying sign that studios greedy over-reliance on remakes and reboots is only worsening. Now even the parody genre, so often already guilty of merely regurgitating familiar material for lazy laughs and quick cash, is getting its own unnecessary remakes.

Sony Plans Venom & Spider-Man Spin-Offs

Sony is openly seeking to emulate the success of Marvel’s Avengers series by turning their Spider-Man franchise into an expanded universe of new characters and films.

The studio has already assembled the collected writing talents of Alex, Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, Ed Solomon and Drew Goddard to mastermind The Amazing Spider-Man 3 script. The hope being director Marc Webb will be able to deliver a finished film for a summer 2016 release date.

Assuming all goes well Kurtzman & Orci will then partner with Now You See Me writer Ed Solomon to finally give Spider-Man’s anti-hero nemesis Venom his own film. This news implicitly confirming that Venom will be at least one of the popular villains re-introduced in the third film.

Hastily introduced and disappointingly played by Topher Grace in the last of Sam Rami’s Spider-Man series, Venom remains a firm favourite among comicbook fans. The character is the result of a fusion between musclebound vigilante Eddie Brock and an alien symbiote, united by a shared hatred of Peter Parker. Whilst frequently doing battle against Spider-Man, Venom often served as a morally ambiguous hero in his own right and even reluctantly teamed up with Spidey to face more deadly foes on occasion.

The piece in Sony’s master plan for expanding the franchise is a Sinister Six film to be written and directed by Drew Goddard.  The film will feature six of Spider-Man’s most deadly and recognizable villains, without necessarily being just another Spider-Man film.