Ralph Fiennes, Sophie Okonedo Spar In ‘Antony And Cleopatra’

In this undated photo released by The National Theatre, a scene from the London National Theatre production of Antony & Cleopatra starring Ralph Finnes, top, and Sophie Okonedo, starring as the lovers rocked by war and empire. The tale of a tragic romance by William Shakespeare, directed by Simon Godwin, has two top-flight actors and a live snake, no wonder it's a hit show. (Johan Persson/National Theatre via AP

LONDON (AP) — “Antony and Cleopatra,” currently running at London’s National Theatre, has tragic romance, two top-flight actors and a live snake. No wonder it’s a hit.

Sophie Okonedo and Ralph Fiennes play the lovers sundered by war and empire in William Shakespeare’s tragedy, which is being broadcast live to movie theaters in Britain and internationally on Thursday as part of the NT Live series.

Okonedo and Fiennes won acting trophies at last month’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards for the roles, immortalized onscreen by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and memorably played onstage in the 1980s by Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench.

Fiennes says one reason the play endures is that the characters of the Roman military hero and the Egyptian queen are — strange as it seems — so relatable.

“We can relate to the messiness of the relationship,” Fiennes told The Associated Press. “They’re not young lovers. They’re mature. They’ve both got baggage.”

Fiennes is an old hand at Shakespeare who won a Tony Award for playing “Hamlet” and directed a film version of “Coriolanus.” He says the play’s power comes from the combination of Shakespeare’s “poetic, epic” language and “two very fallible people.”

“He’s not an idealized warrior and she’s not an idealized princess,” the actor said. “They’re full of temperament and tantrums and mood swings, and I think that combination is very moving to people.”

The production reunites Fiennes with director Simon Godwin, who directed him in George Bernard Shaw’s “Man and Superman” at the National Theatre in 2015.

It’s his first time working with “Hotel Rwanda” star Okonedo, and he praises her “rawness” and emotional range as the besotted queen

Cleopatra is the play’s glamour part, Antony a more muted starring role. Reviewers have called Okonedo fiery, funny, regal and playful, while Fiennes has been praised for playing Antony as a “creaky” figure in “tragic decline.”

His Antony is a hedonistic hero — repeatedly drawn back from duty in Rome to Cleopatra’s lush Alexandrian retreat — who is reluctant to admit that his best days are behind him.

“He’s a man who’s trying not to be past his peak,” Fiennes said. “You feel he’s someone who is letting himself go in Egypt. Enjoying himself, but he’s let his responsibilities go.”The play’s climax — Cleopatra’s suicide by asp — is staged with a real snake. Fiennes says cast and crew ensure that the reptiles — there are four who alternate in the role — are “very well looked after.”

At 55, Fiennes is experiencing one of the richest phases of his career. For years he was a go-to bad guy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for playing a Nazi concentration camp commander in “Schindler’s List” and terrorizing young wizards as Lord Voldemort in the “Harry Potter” film series. More recently he’s explored a flair for comedy in films including “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Hail, Caesar.”

Next year he’ll return to the cloak-and-dagger world of James Bond for a third outing as spymaster M.

Fiennes is not about to let any 007 secrets slip. He says Bond filming — delayed by the departure of director Danny Boyle and his replacement by Cary Fukunaga — is supposed to start in spring. He insists he has yet to see a script.

He laughs when asked what genre he wants to explore next.

“You really hope that a script comes through the door which is something that you’d never dreamed of being asked to play,” he said. “That was the case with ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel.’ I was delighted and surprised that I was being asked to play this character. So I’m just waiting to see what might come my way.”

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Hoha! (Pointblank): Show People

"It feels really good to get the OBE but I dropped it on the floor. So that was a bit embarrassing. I'm just glad I didn't trip over."..."I feel really, really privileged to be here, especially as there are so many people who have done amazing things here. My Winnie Mandela part was my favourite ever I think. A character like her is such an iconic character and she has all the ingredients; you get the chance to play the whole gamut of emotions."

-------Actress and Academy Award nominee, Sophie Okonedo on dropping the OBE Medal on the feet of Prince Charles of Wales during the award ceremony.


"The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated that joint venture extensively and found no suggestion of any impropriety by Dick Cheney in his role of CEO of Halliburton."... "U.S. regulators collected $1.28 billion in penalties and criminal fines in the Bonny Island case after settling charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law that bans the bribery of foreign officials to obtain business."

-------The Wall Street Journal reports on "Nigeria drops bribery charges against Cheney, Haliburton.
Cheney's cartoon by Cox & Forkum


“I have travelled far and wide, but I'm proud to tell you that no country can match our rich culture in Nigeria. The natural resources like good locations are already there for us, so it is left to maximise the privilege,”...“I can't shoot a low budget film because it will underrate my status. I learnt that some people shoot for as low as N300,000 or there about in Nigeria, but I can tell you that such film cannot go anywhere internationally. The international market is my target, so I have to put things in the right perspectives to achieve that conveniently. All I want now is good indigenous script.”...

-------Nollywood filmmaker Ademola Olanibi on why he 'can't shoot a low budget film.'

PAFF Final Beat

It had taken exactly eleven days from the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Mall on the Crenshaw thoroughfare of the “Black Township” to the nine hundred block of Washington Boulevard in Culver City which stretches to the Washington Corridor in Los Angeles in an event that has gone through mixed reviews on the side of the vendors who seems to be the ones complaining and talking about the 17th Annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF), which ended in Los Angeles, last night, and how the show came out bad vendors are now threatening lawsuits for being ripped off by the organizers of the festival.

I’m not sure if the recession should be blamed for the buy-sell apathy in which an estimated 10,000 people are losing their jobs daily; a record breaking account since the Great Depression. Nobody, however, is sure of the outcome since experts are predicting until the end of 2010 before things could probably be shaping up economically in what should be expected to be another cycle of economic prosperity, that is, if Wall Street is put in place.

But despite all that, a whole lot is still happening in the City of Angels, and people are still hanging out even though what use to be a livelier event on a sad note of bad economy, the 17th Annual PAFF was very obvious of economic collapse. “This is terrible,” one of the vendors who displayed his African accessories, a variety of beads, necklaces, earrings, shea butter cream and some artifacts complained of a slow, hopeless market. “How am I going to survive this environment with a $40 a day sale and all the bills that are climbing at an alarming rate.”

If recession is one thing to blame, one should be asking about all the line up of events tailored to run through May in Los Angeles alone. While PAFF and a series of its activities were going on in a two location event, some cultural stuff was also taking place all over town. The Vintage Hollywood Private Club on the Washington Corridor has taken its activities to another level. Throughout the month of February, classic black films – “Stormy Weather,” “Carmen Jones,” and “Cabin in the Sky” will be screened and admission is free. So there’s a lot of vibes going on in ones Hollywood. A full bar and lots of Los Angeles goodies at this newly rejuvenated joint is a hangout you don’t want to miss.

I think it’s quite fun when one walks around the marketplace, the 17th Annual PAFF, in a different mood this year because both patrons and merchants in what use to be a merry-crowd in the eleven days festival vanished this time around and it’s not funny. A security guard at the front entrance of the mall: “Ain’t nothing wrong with the fuckin’ economy. It’s all a set up; you know what I’m saying? And you blame George Bush. I don’t have anything with what’s going on with the fuckin’ economy and if they feel like cutting my hours I sho’ fuckin’ will quit and take unemployment…And I sho fuckin’ will sue their ass, that’s right”

The guard is not happy for being sentry, standing post on a little-bit above minimum wage and mad as hell because his relief is behind schedule and he wants to “get the fuck outta here,” cuz, it’s “ass-kicking time.”

On the other side of the mall behind Wall Mart, there is a makeshift massage parlor run by some Asians and as it happened their business boomed and patrons were trooping to relieve a nerve-wracking recession-proof tension.

It wasn’t only the cultural thing that got attention during the festival. People, not related to the festival came from all over. I ran into Carolyn J. Garner who happens to be doing some worthy stuff and we did hang out talking about a bunch of things that could lift the spirit of the African “if all hands are on deck.” She did the math – uncountable trips to Ethiopia providing medical services to the underprivileged and proud of it on many grounds – being blessed and having the opportunity to lend a helping hand in an area of the world where the government has turned the other way. Carolyn had held me for more than an hour talking about the unfortunate events of slavery and the mess it created for centuries to come.

Interestingly, though after all the tough talks about sharecroppers, slavery and all that, we shifted to the screenings at the film festival and began discussing the ones that made the headlines. Before we began, I had mentioned Sophie Okonedo and her role in “Skin:”

And her parents were white South Africans. And born of white parents in apartheid South Africa, she looked black. And she was tormented and unaccepted in a white society. And she was black. And she falls in love with a black man. And she alienates her parents. And she relocates elsewhere to a township. All of this happened because she was born black because of her genetic abnormality. And her name is Sandra Haing. And she paid a surprise visit at the screening of “Skin” on February 11 at the Culver Plaza Theaters. And there was a photo session. And PAFF founder Ayuko Babu was all smiles in that photo-op.

Another film of interest was, as part of the routine Brazilian Carnival and the PAFF, the presentation of the 50th anniversary of “Black Orpheus” which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1960.”Black Orpheus” had been widely advertised and sponsored by the Ngolo Arts Preservation Society and Amoeba Music.

A lot of fascinating films were shown during the course of the festival. There was “Scared Justice,” a film about the Orangeburg massacre where black students protested the Orangeburg bowling alley’s refusal to admit African Americans when South Carolina State Troopers and other law enforcement agents fired on them. Three were killed and twenty-seven injured.

And there’s Charles Burnett’s “Relative Strangers” starring Eriq LaSalle, Cicely Tyson, and Michael Beach about a “successful man who, fearing failure, separates himself from his family until he receives word of his father’s death.”

And there’s “Making the Rhino,” about environment, tourism and conservatism from the Maasai people of Kenya and Namibia’s Himba people point of view.

And, finally, not to forget the South African drama "Jerusalema" directed by Ralph Zinman, typical of Nollywood films about Lucky Kunene (Rapulana Seiphemo) who transformed himself to being a real estate crime boss after years of street carjacking to make a living. The film opened the festival on a red carpet at the Director's Guild of America on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

PAFF Beats @ the Mall

(Culver Plaza) Courtesy of Aharvey
The 17th Annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF) which kicked off on February 5, seems to be having some hiccups due to the organizers' decision to move the film venue to Culver Plaza Theater from its original schedule at the Magic Johnson Theaters in Baldwin Hill-Crenshaw Plaza Mall on the Crenshaw thoroughfare of "Black Township" in Los Angeles. Of course, we learned Magic Johnson Theaters was sold but patrons and vendors are complaining for a variety of reasons.

I did take a tour of the cultural faire, the marketplace, yesterday afternoon which had its normal schedule at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Mall. I had gone there before the showing of "Skin" starring Sophie Okonedo, premiering at the Culver Plaza Theater with much expectations of the mysterious South African girl who was born black by white parents. There's a whole lot to talk about the set, Sophie, the cast and the movie itself.

Anyways, while at the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza Mall, and walking through the booths of the vendors who had expected to kick off the year on a good start, the conclusion of most vendors did not augur well with the scheme of things notably going back to the festivals rosy years. "The move to Culver City where the films are being shown killed the festival," a vendor who sold African attires and accesories told me on the condition of anonymity. However, it was very obvious this year's marketplace at the Mall was very slow and moving the film venue added to the festival's slow turnout. Maybe, if both marketplace and the films had been at the same location, the turnout would have been different, perhaps, better according to one of the vendors I spoke with, even though Magic sold his theater to AMC Cinemas which 'jacked up" the rent.

Nonetheless, we'll see how it plays out before the closing ceremony on the 16th, and hopefully this year's event would probably be the deciding factor on how to organize future events.

Why The 17th Annual Pan African Film & Arts Festival will face some Problems with Vendors and Festival Goers

About a month or so ago, while checking out who was jamming at the World Stage Performance Art Gallery at Leimert Park, my partner in crime, a criminologist turned art collector and trader – call him Obi, because that’s his real name -- told me that the Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF) may be encountering some problems at this year’s annual event for many reasons. (We hang out sometimes and talk local politics and some cultural stuff, but this time around, everything has gone down the drain with an economy gone bad no one knows what’s ‘gonna’ happen tomorrow). According to Obi, as one who is allergic to West Los Angeles, especially Culver City, known for its camera on every nook in this “little bit well to do community and curious-minded cops,” the decision to move the film part of the 17th Annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival to Culver Plaza Theater on the nine hundred block of Washington Blvd. in Culver City is “just a bad rap.”

The organizers’ of this year’s festival’s decision to move ahead with a change of venue – from the Magic Johnson Theaters on the hub of the “Black Township” within the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza to a not familiar suburb of Culver City -- may have made a bad decision, thus dissuading festival goers due to its new location which is not too familiar with the vendors, tourists and black filmmakers who have been used to the Magic Johnson Theaters on the Crenshaw thoroughfare for many years now.

Many vendors and festival goers I spoke to said the new venue has killed their desire to rent booths and watch the films at a distance for the fact movie goers who normally watch feature films and documentaries at the festival, and then stop by the booths to buy items and artifacts related to the films they watched by walking through the mall where the arts are on display may find it difficult shuttling about six miles from the Culver Plaza Theaters in Culver City to the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza where African cultural products are on display.

Meanwhile, the new schedule at this year’s festival has begun to blow some unpleasant air in many years of the festival’s seventeen year history. “The idea that we walk back and forth in the same complex is what connects us to the festival,” said electrician John Hall who lives not too far from the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. “And it is, believe it or not, what makes this festival very unique. I’m not going to bother driving to Culver City. It is way out of the hood.”

And with a bad economy we are now aware of, coupled with the austerity measure that comes along with it, especially in a “New Dawn” we had expected better things ahead on a historic presidency of Barack Obama, never minding the economic meltdown as never seen before since the Great Depression, (so the experts say even though scholars in economics knew in detail the articulated theory of British economist John Maynard Keynes who advocated government intervention in a free market economy is required at a time of economic crisis to better control the economy, and especially unemployment), the new site may attract a wide range of varied ethnicities perhaps to test a new market and see how it plays out. Would that be impulse buying in this case? Who knows?

With the state of California being hit hard, on a budget crisis that has dragged on for three months, out of cash and desperate for a way out of the mess created by a Republican governor and a Democratic majority in the state Assembly, following a tight time, this year’s festival and the move to Culver City is expected to witness the lowest turnout, even though some black “big rollers” will be showing up and playing important roles during the two weeks cultural event. As already planned by the organizers, this year’s festival will be honoring Cicely Tyson, actor Omar Benson Miller will be receiving the Canada Lee Award, California State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass will be honored with the Community Service Award and Marla Gibbs will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

However, a close look at some of this year’s line up of feature films and documentary is quite interesting and reveals that the South African drama “Jerusalema” and the presentation of “Skin” starring London-born Nigerian-Jewish Sophie Okonedo could persuade festival film goers to change their minds and give it a shot for that six miles difference as a result of venue change. "Jerusalema" directed by Ralph Zinman opens tomorrow, February 5, at the Directors Guild of America complex on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. The opening ceremony will be hosted by Blair Underwood.

On "Skin" Okonedo plays Sandra, born in South Africa by white parents but Sandra mysteriously looked black, alienating her parents and falls in love with a black dude. Opens at the Culver Plaza Theaters on February 11, at 7 p.m. The festival runs from Feb. 5 through Feb. 16. Over 175 films from all around the world will be presented at the festival, and all films are culturally related to descendants of Africa.

Go Africa Go!

The All Star Cast Of "The Secret Life Of Bees"

Much has been said and reviewed about this all star cast "Bees" based on Sue Monk Kidd's novel (I did not read the novel)in a story that is centered on Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning) who had been troubled and not getting along with her father played by Paul Bettany. Lily Owens runs away with her caregiver and only friend Rasaleen Daise (Jennifer Hudson) to a South Carolina town that has the secret of her mother's past.

The film is set in 1964 South Carolina and Owen curious about her mother's mystery while in the company of her nanny Daise, the duo ended up in a little town on a move to discover the mystery which never occured, rather they found a giant pink house, a honey company and three sisters. The three sisters were May Boatwright (Sophie Okonedo), June Boatwright (Alicia Keys) and August Boatwright (Queen Latifah).

The movie opens tomorrow at all theaters and was produced byLauren Shuler Doner, James Lassiter, Joe Pichirallo and Will Smith. A Fox Seachlight release and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood.