Exclusive: Faith Omole, one of the stars of Nida Manzoor’s Peacock/C4/Working Title punk comedy series We Are Lady Parts, will have her debut play produced on the London stage next month starring BAFTA Award winner Rakie Ayola.
My Father’s Fable will run at West London’s Bush Theatre from June 15-July 27.
Omole, a British-Nigerian born in London, said in an exclusive interview with Deadline that the play’s main character, Peace, has learnt a year after her father’s death that he had another son in Nigeria who’s now coming to visit in London. “She has a boyfriend who is pushing her to meet him and a mother [played by Ayola] that doesn’t want her to meet this strange boy from Nigeria.”
The thespian, nominated for an Olivier Award for her performance in the glorious Sheffield Theatre, National Theatre and Various Productions musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge,...
My Father’s Fable will run at West London’s Bush Theatre from June 15-July 27.
Omole, a British-Nigerian born in London, said in an exclusive interview with Deadline that the play’s main character, Peace, has learnt a year after her father’s death that he had another son in Nigeria who’s now coming to visit in London. “She has a boyfriend who is pushing her to meet him and a mother [played by Ayola] that doesn’t want her to meet this strange boy from Nigeria.”
The thespian, nominated for an Olivier Award for her performance in the glorious Sheffield Theatre, National Theatre and Various Productions musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge,...
- 5/1/2024
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
He pitched slave-ship dramas to Ingmar Bergman, cast Marlon Brando as a bisexual man and wrote a Malcolm X screenplay that horrified the FBI. Why was this cinephile spurned by Hollywood?
It’s fair to say James Baldwin wasn’t a fan of The Exorcist. “It has absolutely nothing going for it,” he wrote in his 1976 memoir-meets-criticism collection The Devil Finds Work. “Except Satan, who is certainly the star.” William Friedkin’s 1973 horror hit about a possessed schoolgirl might have caused havoc in theatres, but for the African American literary giant it was a garish dud that missed the real target. “For, I have seen the devil, by day and by night, and have seen him in you and in me,” he went on. “He does not levitate beds, or fool around with little girls: we do.”
Baldwin wasn’t an opportunist critic bashing a big commercial hit – he was...
It’s fair to say James Baldwin wasn’t a fan of The Exorcist. “It has absolutely nothing going for it,” he wrote in his 1976 memoir-meets-criticism collection The Devil Finds Work. “Except Satan, who is certainly the star.” William Friedkin’s 1973 horror hit about a possessed schoolgirl might have caused havoc in theatres, but for the African American literary giant it was a garish dud that missed the real target. “For, I have seen the devil, by day and by night, and have seen him in you and in me,” he went on. “He does not levitate beds, or fool around with little girls: we do.”
Baldwin wasn’t an opportunist critic bashing a big commercial hit – he was...
- 4/30/2024
- by Lanre Bakare
- The Guardian - Film News
Hanif Kureishi's muse has long been transgression: dazzling early success was followed by a sex-and-drugs phase, family falling-out and a lacerating novel about marital breakdown. Now, with The Last Word, has he finally pinned down who he really is?
The first time I met Hanif Kureishi it was the mid-80s, and we talked about writing fiction for Faber and Faber whose list I was directing. Kureishi came into my office like a rock star and I remember thinking that he did not seem in need of a career move. He was already riding high on the international success of his screenplay, My Beautiful Laundrette.
In fact, Kureishi was cannily pondering his next step. He was on the lookout for a means of self-expression that might sustain a way of life and over which he could have some control. Movies, he said, were chancy, a gold-rush business. There was...
The first time I met Hanif Kureishi it was the mid-80s, and we talked about writing fiction for Faber and Faber whose list I was directing. Kureishi came into my office like a rock star and I remember thinking that he did not seem in need of a career move. He was already riding high on the international success of his screenplay, My Beautiful Laundrette.
In fact, Kureishi was cannily pondering his next step. He was on the lookout for a means of self-expression that might sustain a way of life and over which he could have some control. Movies, he said, were chancy, a gold-rush business. There was...
- 1/19/2014
- by Robert McCrum
- The Guardian - Film News
The Mystic Masseur
Ismail Merchant's "The Mystic Masseur" is from out of the past in more ways than one. It is, firstly, a tale about the Indian community in British Trinidad of the 1940s, an era when colonialism is being tested by a discontent and rambunctious native population. But the movie also harkens back to the kind of solid, humanistic storytelling that Hollywood has largely drifted away from in favor of effects gimmickry and nihilistic comedies and melodramas.
While American viewers might not catch all the nuances of Indian culture, Trinidad politics or even island accents, thanks to the vividness of the character portraits in this episodic tale, Merchant achieves a universality that transcends the cultural specifics. An adventurous distributor should be able to find an appreciative adult audience for this Merchant Ivory production, which opened the 24th Mill Valley Film Festival.
"Mystic Masseur" represents the first film to emerge from a novel by V.S. Naipaul. Francis Ford Coppola once optioned "Guerrillas" but never made the film.) The story is narrated by Partap (Jimi Mistry), a youthful admirer of the hero, Ganesh (Aasif Mandvi), whom he has known on and off most of his life.
As a young man, Ganesh is determined to embark on a literary career. But when he acquires a headstrong wife (Ayesha Dharker) and wily father-in-law (Om Puri), to make money he sets up shop as a masseur, a talent everyone assumes he has inherited from his late father.
He eventually becomes an expert in Hinduism and healings. Proclaimed "the mystic masseur," he finds that his new fame propels his book sales. But when he enters island politics, he eventually realizes British colonialists are using him for their own purposes.
This serio-comic tale, which stretches roughly from 1943-54, bites off almost too much for one movie. The story surveys the conflicts and social and political development within the Indian community in Trinidad during that period. The movie also witnesses the growth of its main characters from almost comic figures into people with dimension and accrued wisdom.
Merchant and writer Caryl Phillips let the film ramble now and then as they try to wrestle Naipaul's novel into cinematic form. Yet what makes the movie so compelling are the hilarious, savvy performances by a veteran cast. There's wise old Auntie (Zohra Segal), who lets nothing escape her notice; Ganesh's sidekick Beharry (Sanjeev Bhaskar), who always encourages the "genius" of his dear friend; and James Fox's crazed though prophetic Brit, who imagines himself to be a Hindu from Kashmir yet has never even visited India.
Merchant encourages all his actors to tread the line between the comic and melodramatic where characters are only dimly aware of their own foolishness.
Mandvi, a New York-based Indian actor, marvelously transforms himself into mystic masseur and pandit. His skill at mimicking the singsong island accent and creating striking behavioral tics is more than equaled by his ability to dig deep into his character's psyche to find the things that motivate that character and drive him through the entire movie.
Puri and the radiant Dharker shrewdly play members of Ganesh's acquired family, who come to realize that his ambitions often pull him away from his values.
Cinematographer Ernie Vincze captures this colorful period milieu with the sensual earth tones of aging postcards of exotic island settings. Longtime Merchant Ivory composer Richard Robbins is aided by world-renowned composer-musician Zakir Hussain in producing a soundtrack that splendidly evokes the excitement of a small community in turmoil.
THE MYSTIC MASSEUR
Merchant Ivory Prods. presents
in association with Pritish Nandy Communications
and Video Associated Ltd.
Producers: Nayeem Hafizka, Richard Hawley
Director: Ismail Merchant
Screenwriter: Caryl Phillips
Based on the novel by: V.S. Naipaul
Executive producers: Paul Bradley, Lawrence Duprey
Director of photography: Ernie Vincze
Production designer: Lucy Richardson
Music: Richard Robbins, Zakir Hussain
Costume designer: Michael O'Connor
Editor: Robert Silvi
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ganesh: Aasif Mandvi
Ramlogan: Om Puri
Auntie: Zohra Segal
Leela: Ayesha Dharker
Mr. Stewart: James Fox
Beharry: Sanjeev Bhaskar
Partap: Jimi Mistry
Suruj Mooma: Sakina Jaffrey
Running time -- 117 minutes
No MPAA rating...
While American viewers might not catch all the nuances of Indian culture, Trinidad politics or even island accents, thanks to the vividness of the character portraits in this episodic tale, Merchant achieves a universality that transcends the cultural specifics. An adventurous distributor should be able to find an appreciative adult audience for this Merchant Ivory production, which opened the 24th Mill Valley Film Festival.
"Mystic Masseur" represents the first film to emerge from a novel by V.S. Naipaul. Francis Ford Coppola once optioned "Guerrillas" but never made the film.) The story is narrated by Partap (Jimi Mistry), a youthful admirer of the hero, Ganesh (Aasif Mandvi), whom he has known on and off most of his life.
As a young man, Ganesh is determined to embark on a literary career. But when he acquires a headstrong wife (Ayesha Dharker) and wily father-in-law (Om Puri), to make money he sets up shop as a masseur, a talent everyone assumes he has inherited from his late father.
He eventually becomes an expert in Hinduism and healings. Proclaimed "the mystic masseur," he finds that his new fame propels his book sales. But when he enters island politics, he eventually realizes British colonialists are using him for their own purposes.
This serio-comic tale, which stretches roughly from 1943-54, bites off almost too much for one movie. The story surveys the conflicts and social and political development within the Indian community in Trinidad during that period. The movie also witnesses the growth of its main characters from almost comic figures into people with dimension and accrued wisdom.
Merchant and writer Caryl Phillips let the film ramble now and then as they try to wrestle Naipaul's novel into cinematic form. Yet what makes the movie so compelling are the hilarious, savvy performances by a veteran cast. There's wise old Auntie (Zohra Segal), who lets nothing escape her notice; Ganesh's sidekick Beharry (Sanjeev Bhaskar), who always encourages the "genius" of his dear friend; and James Fox's crazed though prophetic Brit, who imagines himself to be a Hindu from Kashmir yet has never even visited India.
Merchant encourages all his actors to tread the line between the comic and melodramatic where characters are only dimly aware of their own foolishness.
Mandvi, a New York-based Indian actor, marvelously transforms himself into mystic masseur and pandit. His skill at mimicking the singsong island accent and creating striking behavioral tics is more than equaled by his ability to dig deep into his character's psyche to find the things that motivate that character and drive him through the entire movie.
Puri and the radiant Dharker shrewdly play members of Ganesh's acquired family, who come to realize that his ambitions often pull him away from his values.
Cinematographer Ernie Vincze captures this colorful period milieu with the sensual earth tones of aging postcards of exotic island settings. Longtime Merchant Ivory composer Richard Robbins is aided by world-renowned composer-musician Zakir Hussain in producing a soundtrack that splendidly evokes the excitement of a small community in turmoil.
THE MYSTIC MASSEUR
Merchant Ivory Prods. presents
in association with Pritish Nandy Communications
and Video Associated Ltd.
Producers: Nayeem Hafizka, Richard Hawley
Director: Ismail Merchant
Screenwriter: Caryl Phillips
Based on the novel by: V.S. Naipaul
Executive producers: Paul Bradley, Lawrence Duprey
Director of photography: Ernie Vincze
Production designer: Lucy Richardson
Music: Richard Robbins, Zakir Hussain
Costume designer: Michael O'Connor
Editor: Robert Silvi
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ganesh: Aasif Mandvi
Ramlogan: Om Puri
Auntie: Zohra Segal
Leela: Ayesha Dharker
Mr. Stewart: James Fox
Beharry: Sanjeev Bhaskar
Partap: Jimi Mistry
Suruj Mooma: Sakina Jaffrey
Running time -- 117 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/8/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.