Vanity Fair: Tintin Type

December 7th, 2011 • By Tran :: E-Articles

Vanity Fair recently published a great article on Jamie Bell. See below:

A foundation in dance is not a bad thing for an actor. Back in the day, at New York City’s Neighborhood Playhouse, the likes of Gregory Peck, Eli Wallach, Joanne Woodward, and Marian Seldes took classes from America’s high priestess of modern dance, Martha Graham. “The body says what words cannot,” Graham decreed, and she was right. Case in point: Jamie Bell. As a dance-trained youngster, he leapt to stardom with his role in the 2000 film Billy Elliot, poignant as the shy boy with jug ears who loves to dance. He won that year’s BAFTA Award for best actor—at 14!

Shortly thereafter, young Bell met with Steven Spielberg, who was planning to make a live-action movie based on the beloved Belgian comic-book series “The Adventures of Tintin.” Although the project didn’t move forward, Bell did, working on other movies with major filmmakers—Peter Jackson, Clint Eastwood, and Spielberg among them. And then The Adventures of Tintin caught up with Bell. Spielberg and Jackson came together and decided the film should be animated, using performance-capture technology as part of the process. Bell was called to New Zealand to have a go at the new technology, and was again offered the role. “The character’s a very physical one,” he says. “So because of my dance background there was something about that kind of expression in me that I think they were looking for.”

Meanwhile, in the live-action thriller Man on a Ledge, to be released a month after Tintin, look for the dance moves Bell throws into the mix. He has not outgrown Billy—or those charming ears.

Source: Vanity Fair

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GQ&A: Jamie Bell

October 17th, 2011 • By Celyn :: E-Articles, Jamie

We begin with a slight Californian drawl and end with a broad Yorkshire brogue. Over the course of our time with the star of Steven Spielberg’s new version of Tintin, Jamie Bell’s accent slowly crosses the Atlantic. Forever linked with his role as an unlikely ballerina in Billy Elliot, Bell has since played a huge variety of roles from a teleporter in Jumper to a clergyman in Jane Eyre. Here he talks to GQ.com about his love of milkshakes, how to please a woman and his fondness for Greggs…

GQ.com: What’s small talk with Steven Spielberg like?
Jamie Bell: I was so nervous to reveal how much of a fanboy I am in case he started thinking, “Oh my God, we’ve cast a maniac.” So it’s only been recently, hanging out with Steven and doing all the press that I’ve been able to go, “Dude, that decision in Hook when he does this thing…” But I held my tongue for the longest time.

You’ve described Tintin as “Hitchcockian”. Which of his films does it resemble most?
Strangers On A Train or The 39 Steps. Lots of people looking over their shoulders in very low lighting, revealing bits of information and ending up dead.

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Jamie Bell: The Eternal Orphan

October 16th, 2011 • By Celyn :: E-Articles, Jamie

Jamie Bell had to get a grip. There he was, the star of Billy Elliot, an unknown 15 year-old from a ­single-parent family in Billingham, Teesside, who beat hundreds of other wannabes to play the working class boy who loved ballet in the 2000 film. He won a Bafta; Russell Crowe was his new best friend. What was not to like? Himself, it seems.

“I lost my mind at 15,” says Bell of his hype-induced meltdown. He went back to school and managed to finish his GCSEs. But, “I’d been shown a world where there were no boundaries, where everyone gave me all the power. And I was like, ‘This is great!’ Then that was gone. But I was like, ‘Yeah, but I still want that.’ I’d lost my humble, very quiet, introverted sensibilities which I think I definitely had as a kid. And I…” Became a brat?

“Yeah, I became a little a——-,” he smiles. “And, you know, you’re a 15-year-old kid so it’s your world. And I was a b—— at 16! But still, looking back on it now, it was worry­ing because it is very persuasive, and you have all these grown-ups who it seems are encouraging it. And that’s unhealthy.” But unlike so many child stars before him, Bell’s spin-out was short-lived.

His mother, his manager and Stephen Daldry, the Billy Elliot director who became the mentor and father figure that Bell had never had, helped steer him right. (Bell has never had contact with his father, who left before he was born.) He chose parts in a few indie films, and turned down parts in American teen movies, “which focused on me as a kid. I wanted to still be a kid, but I came from the north east of England. I didn’t really sympathise or empathise with those kinds of characters.” And so he quietly got on with building a decent career as an actor. The rampaging ego retreated.

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Empire’s 100 Best British Films Ever

October 7th, 2011 • By Celyn :: Billy Elliot, E-Articles

Empire Magazine have unveiled their 100 Best British Films Ever poll, and Jamie’s debut film Billy Elliot has been ranked 17th on the list! Check out below what they had to say about the film:

Billy Elliot (2000)
What made this coming-of-age drama feel so fresh was not just the refreshingly unobvious mix of topics, but the deftness with which they were brought together. The devastating Miners’ Strike of 1984 is the backdrop, but in the foreground is an 11 year-old boy who wants to learn ballet. The problems he faces are immense: money, class (even if that’s just a little overegged in the audition scene) and his town’s complete lack of experience with boys who like ballet. Teacher Mrs Wilkinson (Julie Walters) finds herself almost having to translate between the ballet and miners’ worlds. In the end, though, the mutual bafflement between Billy and his gruff father, and the real love that is revealed underneath, are the key to making this soar even higher than those final jetes.

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Jamie Covers Vogue Hommes International Fall / Winter

September 10th, 2011 • By Celyn :: Gallery, Press

Jamie Bell looks set to be the cover star of Vogue Hommes International‘s Fall/Winter edition! So far I have just found the cover, but as soon as the magazine is released Thanks to Tran I have added MQ scans to the gallery, but am still on the lookout for HQ pictures!


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