James Broadbent (born May 24, 1949) is an Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA-winning English theatre, film and television actor.
Broadbent was born in Lincoln to Roy Broadbent, an artist, sculptor, interior designer, and furniture maker who turned a former church into a theatre named after him, and Dee, a sculptress. Broadbent's parents were both amateur actors who co-founded the Holton Players acting troupe; the two were described by the BBC as "conscientious objectors" who "worked the land" rather than participate in World War II. He had a twin sister who died at birth. Broadbent was educated at Leighton Park School, a Quaker school in Reading, and briefly attended art college before transferring to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Broadbent is married to painter and former theatre designer, Anastasia Lewis.
Broadbent graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972 and went on to work for the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company...
Created by dipity on Jan 24, 2008
Last updated: 02/14/08 at 12:40 PM
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Indiana Jones 4 is the working title of the fourth film in the Indiana Jones series, which is planned to be released worldwide on May 22, 2008. The film was in development hell since the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, with various screenwriters and false production starts. Shooting finally commenced on June 18 2007, and Harrison Ford returned to play the title role. The film will be set in 1957 and feature an older Indiana Jones.During the late 1970s, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg made a deal with Paramount Pictures for five films about Indiana Jones. Following the theatrical release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989, Lucas decided to let the series end as he felt he could not think of a good plot device. Lucas came up with an idea for a fourth film during production of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles television series, and in 1992, he hired Jeb Stuart to write a screenplay. In 1995, Lucas called Last Crusade writer Jeffrey Boam back to pen another...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882
Hot Fuzz is a 2007 British police action comedy film written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. They worked together previously on the 2004 motion picture Shaun of the Dead and the television series Spaced. It was directed by Edgar Wright and produced by Nira Park. Wright revealed that he wanted to write and direct a cop film because "there isn't really any tradition of cop films in the UK... We felt that every other country in the world had its own tradition of great cop action films and we had none."The film debuted on February 14, 2007 in the UK and 20 April in the US. Hot Fuzz received multiple positive reviews, earning a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 81/100 from Metacritic. The total international box office gross reached $78,761,971 before its DVD premiere. Shortly after the film's release, two different soundtracks debuted in both the UK and US.Nicholas Angel, an extremely dedicated and over-achieving police officer in London's ...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425112
Hairspray is a 2007 musical film produced by Zadan/Meron Productions and distributed by New Line Cinema. It was released in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on July 20, 2007.
The film is an adaptation of the Tony Award-winning 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, itself adapted from John Waters' 1988 comedy film. Set in 1962 Baltimore, the film follows a "pleasantly plump" girl named Tracy Turnblad as she simultaneously pursues stardom as a dancer on a local TV show and rallies against racial segregation.
Adapted from both Waters' 1988 script and Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell's book for the stage musical by screenwriter Leslie Dixon, the 2007 version of Hairspray is directed and choreographed by Adam Shankman. Hairspray stars John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, Allison Janney, and introduces newcomer Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad. Hairspray features songs...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427327
Art School Confidential. is a 2006 film directed by Terry Zwigoff, loosely based on the comic of the same name by Daniel Clowes. The film is Zwigoff's second collaboration with Clowes, the first being 2001's Ghost World (which was also released by United Artists). The cast includes Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, and Anjelica Huston.
The movie has since received mixed reviews, with 54 out of 100 possible points on the meta-review site Metacritic.
The story concerns Jerome Platz (Minghella), an impressionable young man and unusual artist, who's just been accepted to the Strathmore Institute, a prestigious art college in New York City. It's when he meets the girl of his dreams (Sophia Myles) that he's desperate to impress her with his talent. But in the cutthroat world of art, Jerome has much more on his plate to worry about including favoritism, hypocritical instructors with fading dreams, backstabbing and desperation. But it only gets worse when a serial...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364955
Valiant is a 2005 computer-animated film, which tells the tale of a group of messenger pigeons during World War II.
Produced by Vanguard Animation, it was distributed Buena Vista Pictures in the United States and a variety of other companies internationally. It is Britain's first computer animated feature film.
Set in 1944, Valiant is a woodland pigeon who wants to become a hero someday. When he hears they are hiring recruits for the Royal Homing Pigeon Service, he immediately sets out for London. On the way, he meets a smelly but friendly pigeon named Bugsy, who joins him, mainly to get away from clients he cheated in a game of find-the pebble, and helps him sign up for the war.
At camp, they meet two wisecracking burly pigeon twins, Toughwood and Tailfeather, and a regal red pigeon named Lofty. They go under serious training by Sergeant Montegue, who gives them a good workout and giving them the name squad F. While there, Valiant falls in love with the nursing dove, Victoria, who...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361089
Robots is a computer-animated film produced by Blue Sky Studios for 20th Century Fox (the same companies behind the film Ice Age), and was released theatrically (both in normal theaters and in IMAX theaters) on March 11th, 2005. The DVD of Robots was released on September 27th, 2005.
The film is set on a world populated only by robots, with most of the action occurring in Rivet Town (based on Watertown, New York) and Robot City, home to Bigweld Industries. The hero is a young genius robot, Rodney (Ewan McGregor), who lives in the small town of Rivet Town but aspires to improve the world. After failing to help his father (Stanley Tucci), Rodney decides to travel to Robot City, the robot metropolis, to meet his childhood idol Bigweld (Mel Brooks). When he arrives, he learns that his hero has been forced out as the head of his own company by the profit-motivated Ratchet (Greg Kinnear). To maximize profits, Ratchet ends production of replacement parts for robots, forcing them to ...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358082
William Makepeace Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair (1847 - 1848) has been the subject of numerous television and film adaptations. Vanity Fair is a 2004 drama/romance film, directed by Mira Nair. This version made substantial changes, including a happy ending (see Thackery article for plot summary). It stars Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon as Becky Sharp.
The film was nominated for "Golden Lion" Award in 2004 Venice Film Festival.
...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241025
Bright Young Things is a 2003 comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Fry; making his directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's satirical 1930 novel Vile Bodies.
Compared with other period films, Bright Young Things is relatively fast-paced, appropriately given its focus on fame and the frenzy of the media.
The central plot is a romance story, but the film provides social commentary on younger people in the 1930s, as well as society in general. The lead character, Adam, is played by Stephen Campbell Moore in his screen debut. It is also the final film of acclaimed British actor Sir John Mills.
A song "Bright young things", by the Pet Shop Boys was commissioned for the film but was unused because the producers changed their minds and decided to stick to period music. The song was later released as the b-sides for the Pet Shop Boys single "Numb", appearing on the second CD, CD Maxi.
...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325123
Gangs of New York is a 2002 film set in the middle 19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan. The film is loosely inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 book The Gangs of New York. It was distributed by Miramax Films.
Gangs of New York is about the conflict between the "native" (mostly Protestant) criminal underworld associated with the Know Nothings and the immigrant, (mostly Catholic) gangs aligned with Tammany Hall. Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio) is a young Irish American who gains the trust of William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting (Day-Lewis), leader of the Nativist gangs. The character of Cutting is based on Bill 'The Butcher' Poole, a real-life leader of the Bowery Boys gang who is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
The film begins in 1846 and quickly jumps to the early 1860s. The two principal issues of the era in New York were Irish immigration to the...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0217505
Iris is a 2001 film that tells the story of Irish novelist Iris Murdoch and her relationship with John Bayley. The film contrasts the start of their relationship, when Murdoch (played by Kate Winslet) was an outgoing, dominant individual as compared to her timid and scholarly partner Bayley (played by Hugh Bonneville), and their later life, when Murdoch (now played by Dame Judi Dench) was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and tended to by a frustrated Bayley (played by Jim Broadbent) in their North Oxford home in Charlbury Road.
The film, which was directed by Richard Eyre, is based on Bayley's memoir Elegy for Iris. The beach scenes were filmed at Southwold in Suffolk a favourite haunt of Ms Murdoch.
Jim Broadbent received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role. Judi Dench and Kate Winslet were both nominated, for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively.
When the young Iris Murdoch meets fellow student John Bayley at the University of Oxford, he is...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280778
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 Academy Award-winning Australian jukebox musical film directed by Baz Luhrmann. It tells the story of a young British poet/writer, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge cabaret actress and courtesan, Satine. It uses the colourful musical setting of the Montmartre Quarter of Paris, France. The film was nominated for eight Oscars, and won two; for art direction and costume design. It was shot at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia.
Due to the film's international success, it has been widely credited with revitalizing the musical genre, setting the stage for films such as Chicago, Rent, Dreamgirls and The Phantom Of The Opera.[citation needed]In 2006 Moulin Rouge! ranked #25 on the American Film Institute's list of best musicals.
The year is 1900 and Christian (Ewan McGregor), a grizzled, unkempt British writer who came to the village of Montmartre, Paris at the height of the Bohemian movement a year before, sits in a garret...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203009
Bridget Jones's Diary is a British 2001 film, based on the novel, also called Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding. The adaptation starred Renée Zellweger as Bridget, Hugh Grant as the caddish Daniel Cleaver and Colin Firth as Bridget's 'true love' Mark Darcy. A sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, was released in 2004.
Before the film came out a considerable amount of controversy surrounded the casting of the American Zellweger as what some saw as a quintessentially British heroine. However, her performance is widely considered to be of a high standard.
Helen Fielding has stated in many interviews that her novel was based upon both Jane Austen's work Pride and Prejudice and the popular 1995 BBC adaptation, Pride and Prejudice. This was also reflected in the decision to cast Colin Firth as Darcy, since he played the 'real' Mr Darcy in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. This is not the film's only connection to that serial – the screenplay was co-written by ...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243155
Topsy-Turvy is a 1999 film that tells the background story of the creation of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado in 1884-1885. It was written and directed by Mike Leigh and stars Allan Corduner as Sir Arthur Sullivan and Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert. The film focuses on the creative conflict and the momentous decision that the author and composer made that led to the creation of several more famous Savoy Operas between them: Should they continue to work together or go their separate ways?The film was not released widely, but it received very favourable reviews, including a number of film festival awards and some Academy Awards. While considered an artistic success, the film did not recover its production costs. Leigh cast actors who did their own singing in the film, and the singing performances were criticized by some critics, while others lauded Leigh's strategy.The film begins on the opening night of Princess Ida. Sullivan (Allan Corduner), who is ill from kidney disease, is...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151568
Richard III is a 1995 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Richard III, starring Sir Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent, Robert Downey Jr., Nigel Hawthorne, Kristin Scott Thomas, Dame Maggie Smith, and John Wood.
The film relocates the play's events to a fictional version of England in what appears to be a fascist-inspired 1930s. Albeit including many historical anachronisms, the film's timing is easily recognizable to viewers.
The film's concept was based on a stage production directed by Richard Eyre for the Royal National Theatre, which also starred McKellen. The production was adapted for the screen by McKellen and directed by Richard Loncraine.
The film is notable for its unconventional use of famous English landmarks, often using special effects to move them to new locations. The transformed landmarks used include the following:
Perhaps the play's most famous line—"A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"—was recontextualised by the new setting; during...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114279
Princess Caraboo is a 1994 film, directed by Michael Austin, based on the real-life 19th-century character Princess Caraboo, who passed herself off in British society as an exotic princess who spoke a strange foreign language. She is played in the film by Phoebe Cates.
The film was written by Michael Austin and John Wells. The original music score was composed by Richard Hartley. The film's tagline is: "She was everything they dreamed of... and nothing they expected."
In 1817, a young woman appears in the English countryside, wearing exotic garb and speaking gibberish. She also bore unusual tattoos, that resembled Polynesian tattoos, on her legs. Delivered to a nearby manor, the mystery woman is sheltered by the Worralls, who are then persuaded by their suspicious butler Frixos to have the drifter tried for vagrancy and begging, capital crimes. At the hearing, however, the woman persuades the magistrates through pantomime that she is a princess of Japanese origin named Caraboo,...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110892
Bullets Over Broadway is a 1994 film written by Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath and directed by Woody Allen.David Shayne (John Cusack) is an idealistic young playwright newly arrived on Broadway. In order to gain financing for his play, God of Our Fathers, he agrees to hire Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly), the actress/girlfriend of a gangster. She is demanding and talentless, but her gangster escort Cheech (Chazz Palminteri) turns out to be a genius, who constantly comes up with excellent ideas for revising the play. As the players prepare for opening night, Shayne is soon in over his head claiming Cheech's rewrites as his own, cheating on his partner Ellen (Mary-Louise Parker) with the show's seductive, alcoholic leading lady (Dianne Wiest), and facing his leading man, a compulsive eater (Jim Broadbent), beginning an affair with Olive.The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Allen and co-writer Douglas McGrath for original screenplay, Allen for director and Tilly and...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109348
Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown is a short comedy film made by The Comic Strip for the BBC, first broadcast in the UK in 1993.The film employs techniques of metafictional parody to make overt critical comparisons between 1990s TV detective shows and their 1970s counterparts. The editorial line taken throughout the film presents a very affectionate portrayal of several of these 1970s shows, despite acknowledging their use of styles and methods that had since become somewhat clichéd.The title parodies the title of the 1988 film, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.Writer-directors Keith Allen and Peter Richardson revive their characters Bonehead and Foyle from the 1984 Comic Strip film The Bullshitters, which was itself a parody of The Professionals.As in the previous film, Bonehead and Foyle attach great importance to guns, witty one-liners and self-conscious efforts at looking un-self-consciously good on-screen. They manoeuvre and park their car – a Ford Capri, as...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0544865
Wide-Eyed and Legless is a 1993 made for TV British comedy film directed by Richard Loncraine. It is known in the US as The Wedding Gift....
Life Is Sweet is a 1990 British film directed by Mike Leigh starring Jane Horrocks.The plot revolves around an English working class family and its issues. It can perhaps be regarded as a forerunner to The Royle Family blueprint of a gritty, fly-on-the-wall observation. The family consists of the typical father (Jim Broadbent), the mother (Alison Steadman), and two daughters - one a tomboy, Natalie (Claire Skinner) and one a somewhat angst-ridden yet fundamentally false Marxist and feminist, Nicola (Jane Horrocks). Nicola's part-time lover (David Thewlis) sees her for what she really is and both their sex scene and their break-up scene once again provide embarrassing yet poignant viewing. We also witness her bulimia in a very graphic scene.Although the roles are wholly stereotypical, Leigh's signature cocktail of psychodrama and looking at life through the 'wrong end of a telescope' present us with a very real account of a family living on the edge of suburbia.Timothy Spall turns in
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100024
Left London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Jim Broadbent was born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom
Enchanted April is a 1992 film based on the 1922 novel The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. There is also a stage play by Matthew Barber, adapted from the same novel and presented on Broadway in 2003.It tells the story of four dissimilar women in post-World War I England who leave damp and rainy London to go on a holiday to a secluded coastal villa in Italy (Portofino). Two housewives, who belong to the same church but have never spoken, become acquainted. Each in her own way is suffering through an empty marriage and faces the prospect of a lonely and almost isolated middle age. After seeing a newspaper ad for a villa for rent on the Italian Riviera, the women set about finding two other ladies to share expenses. Joined by a beautiful young socialite and an elderly dowager, the four find rejuvenation in the tranquil beauty of their surroundings.Running time: 97 minutes....,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101811
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