name	Titus
director	Julie Taymor
producer	Julie TaymorConchita Airoldi
screenplay	Julie Taymor
based on
starring	Anthony HopkinsJessica LangeAlan CummingHarry Lennix
music	Elliot Goldenthal
cinematography	Luciano Tovoli
editing	Françoise Bonnot
distributor	Fox Searchlight Pictures
released
runtime	162 minutes
country
language	English
budget	$20 million
gross	$2,007,290 }}

''Titus'' is a 1999 film adaptation of Shakespeare's revenge tragedy ''Titus Andronicus'', about the downfall of a Roman general. It was the first film of the play (aside from TV productions). The film was made by Overseas Filmgroup and Clear Blue Sky Productions and released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. It was the film directorial debut of Julie Taymor who co-produced and wrote the screenplay. It was produced by Jody Patton, Conchita Airoldi and executive produced by Paul G. Allen.

Plot

A boy eating at a table surrounded by his toys plays war; a bomb blast frightens him but he is rescued and taken to an Amphitheatre, where an invisible audience cheers. An army resembling the Terracotta Army enter; Romans under the command of Titus Andronicus (Anthony Hopkins), the general at the center of the play, return victorious from war. They bring back as spoils Tamora, Queen of the Goths (Jessica Lange), her sons (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Matthew Rhys, and Raz Degan), and Aaron the Moor (Harry Lennix). Titus sacrifices Tamora’s eldest son, Alarbus, so that the spirits of his 21 dead sons might be appeased. Tamora begs for the life of Alarbus, but Titus refuses.

The Emperor of Rome has died and his sons Saturninus and Bassianus are squabbling over who will succeed him. The Tribune of the People, Marcus Andronicus, announces that the people's choice for new emperor is his brother, Titus, but he refuses the throne in favour of the late emperor's eldest son Saturninus, much to the latter's delight. The new emperor takes Lavinia, Titus' daughter, as his bride much to Titus's, his family's and Bassianus's chagrin, since Bassianus was previously betrothed to the girl. Titus's surviving sons help them escape and run for the Pantheon, where they are to marry. In the fighting, Titus kills his son Mutius. Titus is angry with his sons because in his eyes they are disloyal to Rome. The new emperor, Saturninus, dishonours Titus and marries Tamora instead. Tamora persuades the Emperor to feign forgiveness to Bassianus, Titus and his family and postpone punishment to a later day, thereby revealing her intention to avenge herself on all the Andronici.

During a hunting party the next day, Tamora's lover, Aaron the Moor, meets Tamora's sons Chiron and Demetrius. The two are arguing over which should take sexual advantage of the newly-wed Lavinia. They are easily persuaded by Aaron to ambush Bassianus and kill him in the presence of Tamora and Lavinia, in order to have their way with her. Lavinia begs Tamora to stop her sons, but Tamora refuses. Chiron and Demetrius throw Bassianus's body in a pit, as Aaron had directed them, then take Lavinia away and rape her. To keep her from revealing what she has seen and endured, they cut out her tongue as well as her hands, replacing them with tree branches. One of the film's most effective -- and most terrifying -- scenes features Lavinia, post-rape and in pain, balancing helplessly on a tree stump in the middle of a field of them, wearing only her petticoat. When Marcus discovers her, he begs her to reveal the identity of her assailants; Lavinia leans towards the camera and opens her bloodied mouth.

Aaron then brings Titus' sons Martius (Colin Wells) and Quintus (Kenny Doughty) and frames them for the murder of Bassianus with a forged letter outlining their plan to kill him. Angry, the Emperor arrests them.

Later on, Marcus takes Lavinia to her father, who is overcome with grief. He and his remaining son Lucius have begged for the lives of Martius and Quintus, but the two are found guilty and are marched off to execution. Aaron enters, and tells Titus, Lucius, and Marcus that the emperor will spare the prisoners if one of the three sacrifices a hand. Each demands the right to do so, but it is Titus who has Aaron cut off his (Titus's) left hand and take it to the emperor. However, Aaron's story is revealed to have been false, as a messenger brings Titus the heads of his sons and his own severed hand. In Renaissance semiotics, the hand is a representation of political and personal agency. With his hand chopped off, Titus has truly lost power. Desperate for revenge, Titus orders Lucius to flee Rome and raise an army among their former enemy, the Goths.

Later, Titus's grandson (Lucius's son), who has been helping Titus read to Lavinia, complains that she will not leave his books alone. In the book, she indicates to Titus and Marcus the story of Philomela, in which a similarly mute victim "wrote" the name of her wrongdoer. Marcus gives her a stick to hold with her mouth and stumps and she writes the names of her attackers on the ground. Titus vows revenge. Feigning madness, he ties written prayers for justice to arrows and commands his kinsmen to aim them at the sky so they may reach the gods, understanding the method in Titus's "madness", Marcus directs the arrows to land inside the palace of Saturninus, who is enraged by this added to the fact that Lucius is at the gates of Rome with an army of Goths.

Tamora delivers a mixed-race child, fathered by Aaron. To hide his affair from the Emperor, Aaron kills the nurse and flees with the baby. Later, Lucius, marching on Rome with an army, captures Aaron and threatens to hang the infant. To save the baby, Aaron reveals the entire plot to Lucius, relishing in every murder, rape and dismemberment. Aaron's obvious love for his child complicates his role as villain. One of Aaron's speeches also provides compelling fodder for a discussion of Shakespeare and race. Knowing of the threat to his son's life, Aaron says to Chiron and Demetrius, "Stay, murderous villains, will you kill your brother? ... What, what, ye sanguine, shallow-hearted boys/Ye whitelimed walls, ye alehouse painted signs/Coal-black is better than another hue/In that it scorns to bear another hue" ("Titus Andronicus," IV-ii, lines 87-99).

Tamora, convinced of Titus's madness, approaches him along with her two sons, dressed as the spirits of Revenge, Murder, and Rape. She tells Titus that she (as a supernatural spirit) will grant him revenge if he will convince Lucius to stop attacking Rome. Titus agrees, sending Marcus to invite Lucius to a feast. "Revenge" offers to invite the Emperor and Tamora and is about to leave, but Titus insists that "Rape" and "Murder" stay with him. She agrees. When she is gone Titus's servants bind Chiron and Demetrius, and Titus cuts their throats, while Lavinia holds a basin in her stumps to catch their blood. He plans to cook them into a pie for their mother.

The next day, during the feast at his house, Lavinia enters the dining room, and Titus asks Saturninus whether a father should kill his daughter if she has been raped. When the Emperor agrees, Titus breaks Lavinia's neck, and tells Saturninus what Tamora's sons had done. When the Emperor asks for Chiron and Demetrius, Titus reveals that they were in the pie Tamora has just been enjoying, and then kills Tamora. Saturninus then kills Titus after which Lucius kills Saturninus to avenge his father's death.

The scene dissolves back to the Roman Arena where Lucius tells his family's story to the people and is proclaimed Emperor. He orders that Saturninus be given a proper burial, that Tamora's body be thrown to the wild beasts, and that Aaron be buried chest-deep and left to die of thirst and starvation. Aaron, however, is unrepentant to the end. Young Lucius picks up Aaron's child and carries him away into the sunrise.

Cast

Anthony Hopkins as Titus Andronicus, victorious Roman General who declines a nomination for Emperor upon his return to Rome. Following a post-war ritual of executing the proudest warrior of his enemy, the vanquished Goths, Titus draws the ire of Tamora, unaware of her inevitable appointment as the Queen of Rome.

Jessica Lange as Tamora, defeated Queen of the Goths, who swears revenge against Titus and the Andronicus family for the atrocities visited upon her eldest son, an executed prisoner of war, using her newly-claimed powers as Queen of Rome

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Chiron, one of Tamora's sons.

Matthew Rhys as Demetrius, one of Tamora's sons.

James Frain as Bassianus, one of the deceased emperors sons and brother to Saturninus.

Laura Fraser as Lavinia, daughter of Titus and fiancee of Bassianus

Harry Lennix as Aaron, servant and illicit lover to Tamora, and the chief architect of her vengeful plans against the Andronicus family

Alan Cumming as Saturninus, brother to Bassianus and newly-crowned Emperor of Rome. Spurned by his attempts at claiming Lavinia as his new bride, he forsakes the Andronicus family and turns instead to Tamora as his new bride.

Colm Feore as Marcus Andronicus, Roman Senator and staunch ally of his brother, the ailing Titus.

Osheen Jones as Young Lucius, Titus's grandson and a key-character in the sense that he observes most of the key events.

Angus Macfadyen as Lucius, Titus's eldest son and loyal soldier. Following his failed attempts at freeing his condemned brothers, Lucius is banished from Rome and defects to the Goths, where he rallies a sizeable army to challenge Saturninus.

Kenny Doughty as Quintus, one of Titus's sons.

Blake Ritson as Mutius, one of Titus's sons.

Colin Wells as Martius, another of Titus's sons.

Raz Degan as Alarbus, Tamora's eldest son who is sacrificed, setting the events of the play into motion.

Background and production

Director Julie Taymor took Shakespeare's script, added various linking scenes without dialogue (while cutting some of the text) and set the play in an anachronistic fantasy world that uses locations, costumes and imagery from many periods of history, including Ancient Rome and Mussolini's Italy; to give the impression of a Roman Empire that survived into the modern era. The opening scenes commence with a heavily choreographed triumphal march of the Roman troops, complete with motorcycle outriders. The selection of music is similarly diverse.

Apart from the deliberate anachronisms, the film follows the play quite closely. One of the experimental concepts in the film was that the character of Young Lucius (Titus' grandson) is initially introduced as a boy from the present who finds himself transported to the fantastical reality of the film. At the beginning of the film his toy soldiers turn into Titus' Roman army. At the end, when Titus' son Lucius avenges his father by condemning the villainous Aaron to a painful death, the boy takes pity on Aaron's infant son, carrying him away from the violence as he walks slowly into the sunrise. This ending is perhaps more positive than the ending of other productions of the play, including Taymor's stage production, in which Young Lucius is fixated upon the "tiny black coffin" holding the dead infant.

The film was shot at the Cinecittà studios in Rome and on location at various historic monuments. The arena that appears at the beginning and ending of the film is the Arena in Pula, Croatia. The Emperor's palace is represented by the 1930s Esposizione Universale Roma building in Rome. Some shots of underground tunnels and ruins were filmed at Hadrian's Villa in Rome. The forest scenes were shot at Manziana, near Rome. Titus's house is represented by an old house near an aqueduct in Rome, and the streets where he rounds up his conspirators are the Roman Ghetto.

Although the film did not do well at the box office, it was praised for its visual effects, design and attention to symbolism.

Style

The film, in the spirit of the play, is garishly violent. The brutality builds up throughout the film to the climactic ending, when Hopkins, dressed as a chef, serves Tamora's two sons to her in a pie. This leads to a domino-like path of carnage, in which nearly every important character dies. Taymor engages with a "freakshow" style for her film, creating lurid cutscenes and incorporating elements of vaudeville, such as when Titus is shown the heads of his two sons and his own chopped-off hand.

Soundtrack

The score to the film was created by Taymor's long-time friend and partner Elliot Goldenthal and is a typical Goldenthal soundtrack with an epic, inventive and dissonant feel.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews and, as of August 2011, has a 68 percent fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. Nevertheless it received a "Critics Pick" from the ''New York Times''.

References

External links

''Boston Review'' article about the film

BBC - Films - review - Titus Empire: Film Reviews, Movie News and Interviews

Category:1999 films Category:American films Category:British films Category:Italian films Category:English-language films Category:Directorial debut films Category:Films directed by Julie Taymor Category:Films set in ancient Rome Category:20th Century Fox films Category:Films distributed by Buena Vista International

Category:Films based on Titus Andronicus

de:Titus (Film) es:Titus fr:Titus (film) it:Titus lt:Titas (1999 filmas) ja:タイタス pl:Tytus Andronikus (film) pt:Titus (filme) ru:Титус (фильм)

name	Jessica Lange
birth name	Jessica Phyllis Lange
birth date	April 20, 1949
birth place	Cloquet, Minnesota, United States
disappeared date
death date
resting place coordinates
nationality	American
ethnicity
education	Cloquet High School (1967) University of Minnesota (1967)
occupation	model, actor, producer, photographer
years active	1976–present
agent	Creative Artists Agency
religion
denomination
criminal charge
spouse	Francisco Paco Grande (1970–81)
partner	Mikhail Baryshnikov (1976–82) Samuel Shepard (1982–present)
children	Alexandra Baryshnikov (1981) Hannah Jane Shepard (1985) Samuel Walker Shepard (1987)
parents	Albert John Lange (1911–88) Dorothy Florence Sahlman (1913–68)
relatives	Ann and Jane Lange (sisters) George Lange (brother)
awards	Academy Awards (1983, 95) Golden Globes (1977, 83, 95, 96) Emmy Award (2009)
website
footnotes	}}

Jessica Phyllis Lange (, born April 20, 1949) is an American screen and stage actress. Most recently, she debuted also as a photographer.

The actress may be most notable for her performance of Frances Farmer (ranked #85 on ''Premiere'' magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time in 2006) in ''Frances'', and ''Tootsie''. Both from 1982, for which she was nominated on Oscars in two categories at the same time, becoming the first such female since Teresa Wright in 1942. Her other significant roles featured Patsy Cline in ''Sweet Dreams'' (1985), Carly Marshall in ''Blue Sky'' (1994), Blanche DuBois in ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (1995), Irma Applewood in ''Normal'' (2003), and Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale in ''Grey Gardens'' (2009). Amongs other, she has won two Academy Awards (for ''Tootsie'' and ''Blue Sky''), four Golden Globes, and lately an Emmy Award.

Lange published in 2008 her own collection of black-and-white pictures, simply entitled ''50 Photographs'' (powerHouse Books). Since 1982, Lange has lived with the Pulitzer Prize-winner, Sam Shepard.

Early life

Lange, the third of four children, was born in Cloquet, Minnesota, the daughter of Dorothy Florence (''née'' Sahlman) and Albert John Lange, a teacher and salesman. Her maternal grandparents were of Finnish descent, while her paternal grandparents were German and Dutch. She studied art briefly at the University of Minnesota before going to Paris, France, where she studied mime with Étienne Decroux. She returned to New York in 1973 and took acting lessons while working as a waitress and a fashion model for the Wilhelmina Models agency. She was discovered by the fashion illustrator Antonio in 1974.

Career

In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis cast her in his film motion picture remake of ''King Kong'', which both started and almost ended her career. Although the film was a box office hit, critics were not kind to Lange and the film and Lange did not appear in another film for three years, when Bob Fosse cast her as the glamorous figure of death in ''All That Jazz'' (1979). The unfavorable reviews were devastating but critics took notice with her impressive turn in Bob Rafelson's remake of ''The Postman Always Rings Twice'' (1981).

Her performance in her next film, ''Frances'' (1982), in which she portrayed actress Frances Farmer, was highly lauded and earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She received two Academy Award nominations that year, the other for Best Supporting Actress in the comedy ''Tootsie'' (1982), for which she won. She continued giving impressive performances through the 1980s and 1990s in films such as ''Sweet Dreams'' (1985) (playing country/western singer Patsy Cline), ''Crimes of the Heart'' co-starring with Diane Keaton and Sissy Spacek, along with Sam Sheppard (1986), ''Music Box'' (1989), ''Men Don't Leave'' (1990), and ''Blue Sky'' (1994), directed by Tony Richardson, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She portrayed the wife of the titular legendary Scottish hero in ''Rob Roy'' with Liam Neeson (1995).

Since 2000, Lange has mostly appeared in supporting roles on screen. In 2006, she appeared as part of the ensemble cast of Kathy Bates and Joan Allen in ''Bonneville''. In her most recent film, she played Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale in ''Grey Gardens'' (2009), a film based in part on biographical information, and in part on the 1970s cult documentary. Her performance earned her an Emmy Award.

Humanitarian work and political views

She is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). She has also been a public critic of former U.S. President George W. Bush, once calling his administration, "a self-serving regime of deceit, hypocrisy and belligerence."

Personal life

Lange was married to photographer Paco Grande from 1970–1981. Since 1982, she has lived with playwright/actor Sam Shepard. She has three children, Alexandra (born 1981) from her relationship with dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Hannah Jane (born 1985) and Samuel Walker (born 1987) with Shepard.

Photography

After three decades in front of the camera, Lange has realized her dream of being on the other side of the lens, and published in 2008 her own collection of black-and-white pictures, simply entitled ''50 Photographs'' (powerHouse Books). Their exhibition, along with series of her films, was presented at the oldest international museum of photography and film George Eastman House, to be awarded by the first GEH Honors Award in 2009.

Filmography

Cinema

Cinema
Year	Title	Role	Director
1976		Dwan	John Guillermin
1979	''All That Jazz''	Angelique	Bob Fosse
1980	''How to Beat the High Co$t of Living''	Louise Travis	Robert Scheerer
1981	''''	Cora Smith	Bob Rafelson
	''Tootsie''	Julie Nichols	Sydney Pollack
''Frances''	Frances Farmer	Graeme Clifford
1984		Jewell Ivy
1985		Patsy Cline	Karel Reisz
1986		Margaret Magrath	Bruce Beresford
		Kate	Sam Shepard
	Babs Rogers Grey	Taylor Hackford
1989		Ann Talbot	Costa-Gavras
1990	''Men Don't Leave''	Beth Macauley	Paul Brickman
1991		Leigh Bowden	Martin Scorsese
1992		Helen Nasseros	Irwin Winkler
1994		Carly Marshall	Tony Richardson
	''Losing Isaiah''	Margaret Lewin	Stephen Gyllenhaal
	Mary MacGregor	Michael Caton-Jones
1997	''''	Ginny Cook Smith	Jocelyn Moorhouse
		Martha Baring	Jonathan Darby
	Cousin Bette	Des McAnuff
1999		Tamora	Julie Taymor
2001		Mrs Wurtzel	Erik Skjoldbjærg
	''Masked and Anonymous''	Nina Veronica	Larry Charles
''Big Fish''	Sandra K. Bloom	Tim Burton
	''Broken Flowers''	Dr Carmen Markowski	Jim Jarmusch
''Don't Come Knocking''	Doreen	Wim Wenders
''Neverwas''	Katherine Pierson	Joshua Michael Stern
2006		Arvilla Holden	Christopher N. Rowley
2011	''The Big Valley'' (in post-production)	Victoria Barkley
2012			Michael Sucsy

Television

Television
Year	Title	Role	Director
1981	''''		Sam O'Steen
1985		Maggie	Jack Hofsiss
1992		Alexandra Bergson	Glenn Jordan
1995	''''	Blanche DuBois	Glenn Jordan
2003		Irma Applewood	Jane Anderson
2004	''Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines''	Narrator	Lisa Hepner
2007		Dr Cornelia Wilbur	Joseph Sargent
2009			Michael Sucsy
2011	''American Horror Story''	Constance
Documentaries
1981	''Notre Dame of the Cross''		Daniel Schmid
1994	''''	Caroline Thomas
1997	''Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's''	Shari Springer Berman Robert Pulcini
2003	''XXI Century''	Gabriele Zamparini
2005	''''	Dani Minnick

Stageography

In 1992, Lange made her Broadway-theatre début in New York City opposite Alec Baldwin in Tennessee Williams's ''A Streetcar Named Desire''. She appeared in the West End in London, United Kingdom, in 2000, as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's ''Long Day's Journey Into Night''. In 2005, she returned to Broadway in another Tennessee Williams play, ''The Glass Menagerie'' with Christian Slater.

Theater
Year	Title	Role	Director
1992		Blanche DuBois	Gregory Mosher
2000	''Long Day's Journey into Night''	Mary Cavan Tyrone	Robin Phillips
2005	''The Glass Menagerie''	Amanda Wingfield	Rupert Goold

Awards

References

Further reading

External links

Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:People from Cloquet, Minnesota Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Finnish descent Category:American female models Category:American film actors Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actress Golden Globe winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Actors from Minnesota Category:New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners

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birthname	Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keeffe
birth date	July 27, 1977
birth place	Dublin, Ireland
occupation	Actor, model, vocalist
yearsactive	1994–present

Jonathan Rhys Meyers (born 27 July 1977) is an Irish actor and model.

He is best known for his roles in the films ''Velvet Goldmine'',''Mission Impossible III'',''Bend It Like Beckham'', ''Match Point'' and his television roles as Elvis Presley in the biographical miniseries ''Elvis'', which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor, and as King Henry VIII in the historical drama ''The Tudors''. He has been the face of several advertising campaigns for Hugo Boss fragrances.

Early life

Jonathan Rhys Meyers was born Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keeffe in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Mary Geraldine Meyers and musician John O'Keeffe. His stage name is derived from his mother's maiden name, Meyers. He was raised Roman Catholic by his family. Born in Dublin, he moved to Cork at one year old and was raised there with his three younger brothers named Jamie, Alan and Paul, who are all professional musicians. When he was three, his parents separated. His mother raised Rhys Meyers and his brother Alan while his other two brothers went to live at their grandmother's house with their father. Rhys Meyers attended North Monastery School.

Career

Rhys Meyers was expelled from the North Monastery Secondary School at age 16 for truancy and spent much of his time hanging out in pool halls. Casting agents looking for Irish boys to appear in ''War of the Buttons'' spotted Rhys Meyers at a Cork pool hall, the Victoria Sporting Club, and invited him to audition. Although he was passed over for ''War of the Buttons'', the casting agents encouraged him to pursue a career in acting. His first film role came soon afterward, in '' A Man of No Importance'' (1994). In 1996, he appeared in ''Michael Collins'', as the title character's assassin. In 1999, he appeared in ''Ride with the Devil'' as psychopathic guerrilla fighter Pitt Mackeson.

Rhys Meyers has starred in television series including ''Gormenghast'' (2000) and in the CBS 4-hour mini-series ''Elvis'' (2005) as Elvis Presley alongside Randy Quaid as Colonel Tom Parker and Rose McGowan as Ann-Margret. Meyers did not sing for his role in the miniseries. The latter earned him an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe win. He has starred in the CBC/Showtime co-production ''The Tudors'' (2007) as Henry VIII. He was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Drama in 2007 for the role.

His film roles range from a David Bowie-inspired glam rock star in ''Velvet Goldmine'' (1998) to a dedicated girls' football coach in ''Bend It Like Beckham'' (2002). He appeared in ''Vanity Fair'' (2004) opposite Reese Witherspoon. He co-starred opposite Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie in Oliver Stone's epic ''Alexander'' (2004). In 2005, Rhys Meyers starred in Woody Allen's film ''Match Point'', for which he received a Chopard Trophy at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2006, he appeared in ''Mission: Impossible III''. Subsequent projects included ''August Rush'' (2007) and ''The Children of Huang Shi'' (2008), ''Shelter'', co-starring Julianne Moore, and ''From Paris with Love'' (2010), co-starring John Travolta.

Rhys Meyers, a self-taught singer and guitarist, has appeared in a number of musical roles. His first such role was that of rock star Brian Slade in ''Velvet Goldmine''; two of the songs he sang ("Baby's On Fire" and "Tumbling Down") are on the film's soundtrack. He sang briefly in the TV miniseries version of ''The Magnificent Ambersons'', performed in studio scenes of the miniseries ''Elvis'' and played the flute in ''Gormenghast''. In the 2007 music drama ''August Rush'', Rhys Meyers performed on-screen as singer-songwriter Louis Connelly and is credited for four songs on the soundtrack – "Break", "Moondance", "Something Inside" and "This Time". Of the four, "This Time" and "Break" were considered in the Best Original Song category of the 80th Academy Awards. "This Time" was not released as a single but peaked at #84 of the Canadian Hot 100.

Rhys Meyers was chosen as the face for the Versace men's collection of Autumn/Winter 2006 and Spring 2007, and he has also been the face of the Hugo Boss men's fragrance range since 2005. He is signed to Independent Models in London.

In February 2008, he became a celebrity ambassador for the Cork-based charitable organization The Hope Foundation.

On 5 October 2008, Rhys Meyers received an Honourary Patronage from the Trinity College Philosophical Society in Dublin, Ireland.

Personal life

In May 2005, Rhys Meyers checked into rehab facility Promises in California seeking treatment for alcohol abuse. On 24 April 2007, the Associated Press reported that Rhys Meyers returned to treatment. The actor's representative Meredith O'Sullivan confirmed the news to People magazine citing his need to take a break from his busy schedule in order to maintain sobriety.

On 27 February 2009, the actor checked into rehab a third time, seeking help for alcohol addiction. He checked out on 15 March 2009.

In May 2010, it was reported that Rhys Meyers was banned for life from flying on United Airlines due to "belligerent" and "disruptive" behaviour in an incident involving alcohol at John F. Kennedy airport.

Filmography

+ Feature films
! Year	! Film	! Role	Notes
1994	''A Man of No Importance	First Young Man
1996	''The Killer Tongue''	Rudolph
1996	''''	Finbar Flynn
1996		Collins' assassin
1996		Young Samson	Turner Network Television
1997	''''	Josh Minnell
1997		Kevin Boyle
1998	''[[Velvet Goldmine''	Brian Slade
1998	''The Governess''	Henry Cavendish
1998	''B. Monkey''	Bruno
1998	''''	Adam
1999	''''	Nic
1999		Pitt Mackeson
1999		Chiron
2001		Noah
2001	''Tangled''	Alan Hammond	Straight to DVD
2001	''Happy Now''	Mark Wraith
2002	''Bend It Like Beckham''	Joe
2003	''''	Sean	Straight to DVD
2003		The Father	Straight to DVD
2003		Davey Graham
2003	''The Emperor's Wife''	Chamberlain
2003		King Philip II	Showtime (TV network)
2004		Captain George Osborne
2004		[[Cassander
2005	''Match Point''	Chris Wilton
2005		Elvis Presley	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television FilmSatellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2006	''Mission: Impossible III''	Declan Gormley
2007	''August Rush''	Louis Connelly
2008	''''	George Hogg
2008	''A Film with Me in It''	Pierce 2	Cameo
2010		Adam
2010		James Reese
2011	''Albert Nobbs''		Filming
2012	''Belle du Seigneur''	Solal

+ Television
! Year	! title	! Role	Notes
2000		Steerpike	BBC miniseries
2002	''''	George Amberson Minafer
2007-10			2007–2010 (38 episodes)[[Irish Film and Television Awards

; Awards

Nominated: London Film Critics Circle Awards, British Newcomer of the Year (1998), ''Velvet Goldmine'', ''The Disappearance of Finbar'', ''The Governess''

Won: Venice International Television Festival, Canal Grande Award for the Best Young Promising Actor (2002), ''The Magnificent Ambersons''

Won: Chopard Trophy, Outstanding Newcomer (2005), ''Match Point''

Won: ''GQ UK'' Men of the Year Awards, Lab Series Man of the Year (2006)

Won: ''Monte Carlo Television Festival'' Golden Nymph Awards, Best Performance by an Actor — Drama (2008), ''The Tudors''

References

External links

Category:1977 births Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actor Golden Globe winners Category:Irish film actors Category:Irish television actors Category:Living people Category:People from County Cork Category:People from County Dublin

bg:Джонатан Рис Майърс ca:Jonathan Rhys-Meyers cs:Jonathan Rhys Meyers da:Jonathan Rhys Meyers de:Jonathan Rhys Meyers et:Jonathan Rhys Meyers es:Jonathan Rhys-Meyers eo:Jonathan Rhys Meyers fr:Jonathan Rhys-Meyers ga:Jonathan Rhys Meyers ko:조너선 리스 마이어스 id:Jonathan Rhys Meyers it:Jonathan Rhys-Meyers he:ג'ונתן ריס מאיירס la:Ionathan Rhys Meyers hu:Jonathan Rhys Meyers mk:Џонатан Рис Маерс nl:Jonathan Rhys Meyers ja:ジョナサン・リース＝マイヤーズ no:Jonathan Rhys-Meyers pl:Jonathan Rhys-Meyers pt:Jonathan Rhys Meyers ro:Jonathan Rhys Meyers ru:Рис-Майерс, Джонатан sk:Jonathan Rhys Meyers fi:Jonathan Rhys Meyers sv:Jonathan Rhys Meyers tr:Jonathan Rhys Meyers zh:乔纳森·雷·麦耶斯

birth date	December 15, 1952
birth place	Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.
years active	1986–present
occupation	Director
spouse	Elliot Goldenthal }}

Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1952) is an American director of theater, opera and film. Taymor's work has received many accolades from critics, and she has earned two Tony Awards out of four nominations, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design, an Emmy Award and an Academy Award nomination for Original Song. She is widely known for directing the stage musical, ''The Lion King'', for which she became the first woman to win the Tony Award for directing a musical, in addition to a Tony Award for Original Costume Design. She was the director of the Broadway musical ''Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'' but left in March 2011, following artistic differences with the producers.

Early life and education

Taymor was born in Newton, Massachusetts, the daughter of Elizabeth (née Bernstein), a political science teacher, and Melvin Lester Taymor, a gynecologist, both of Jewish descent. Taymor's interest in theatre took root early in her life. At the age of seven, she was already drawing her sister into stagings of children's stories for her parents. By age nine, she was entranced by the Boston Children's Theatre and became involved with them. In high school, she became interested in international travel, and made trips to both Sri Lanka and India with the Experiment in International Living. Being the youngest member of theatre groups became common, as she joined Julie Portman's Theatre Workshop of Boston at the age of 15. Yearning for a more in-depth approach, Taymor went to Paris to study with L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. During her studies there, she became exposed to mime which helped in the development of her physical sensibilities.

Although in 1970 Taymor was enrolled in Oberlin College in Ohio, she sought experience with Joseph Chaikin's Open Theatre and other companies and studied through correspondence. Hearing that director Herbert Blau would be moving to Oberlin, she returned there and auditioned successfully, becoming, once again, the youngest member of a troupe. In 1973, Taymor attended a summer program of the American Society for Eastern Arts in Seattle. The instructors were performers of Indonesian topeng masked dance-drama and wayang kulit shadow puppetry. This would prove to have a great effect on Taymor in later years. Taymor graduated from Oberlin College with a major in mythology and folklore and Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1974.

Career

After college, Taymor used a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study pre-Bunraku puppetry on Awaji Island, Japan, to learn more about experimental theatre, puppetry and visually oriented theatre. Taymor's greatest acclaim as a director for the stage has come from the popular musical ''The Lion King'' (1997), an adaptation of the animated film. Taymor received two Tony Awards for her work on ''The Lion King'', one for Direction and one for Costume Design, making her the first woman to receive a Tony Award for directing a musical.

In 1991, Taymor won the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship ("genius" award) for her innovative work in theatre.

Taymor has also worked in film in recent years, directing ''Titus'' (1999) and ''Frida'' (2002). Both movies received positive reviews for their stylish filming; ''Frida'' was the more acclaimed of the two, garnering Oscar nominations in six categories and winning in two (Best Makeup and Best Original Score). Taymor and her husband Goldenthal were co-nominees in the Best Original Song category.

For the Metropolitan Opera 2005-06 season, Taymor directed a successful production of ''The Magic Flute''. It was revised for the 2006-07 season and, in addition to full-length performances, was adapted for a 100-minute version over the Holiday season to appeal to children. That version of the opera was the first of a series of NCM Fathom ''Live on the Big Screen'' presentations of MET operas downloaded via satellite to movie theaters across North America and parts of Europe for the 2006-07 season.

In June 2006, Taymor directed the opera ''Grendel'' for the Los Angeles Opera, starring Eric Owens, which was also presented as part of the Summer 2006 Lincoln Center Festival in New York City. Taymor's more recent work has been as director of the film ''Across the Universe'', a 1960s love story set to the music of The Beatles and starring Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood. The film opened in September 2007 and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Comedy/Musical in 2008.

In November 2008, Taymor directed a film version of Shakespeare's ''The Tempest'', released in December 2010.

In April 2007, it was announced that Marvel Studios was preparing to make a musical adaptation of ''Spider-Man'' for Broadway. Taymor was selected to direct the show and write the book with Glen Berger. The production features music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge. The musical, ''Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark'', was scheduled to begin previews on November 28, 2010, at the Foxwoods Theatre, with the repeatedly-delayed official opening night finally held on June 14, 2011. On March 9, 2011, it was reported by ''The New York Times'' that Taymor would be leaving her role as director of "Spider-Man" after disputes with the show's producers, who wanted to drastically alter the existing storyline and general artistic direction.

In a March 14, 2011 piece by Roger Friedman, it was reported that Taymor will receive her original ''Spider-Man'' credits, with sources saying that ''Spider-Man'' producer Michael Cohl and Bono did bring in a script doctor, music supervisor and other new members for the creative team.. As of June 2, 2011, Laura Penn, the executive director of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, confirmed rumors of the ongoing dispute between Taymor and the show's producers about director’s fees that Taymor has not received from the production .

Taymor was the 2010 Commencement speaker for her alma mater, Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio.

Work

Stage

''The Tempest'' (1986, by Shakespeare, abridged) - Director, puppetry. at Classic Stage Company (NY).

'' Oedipus Rex'' (1992, by Igor Stravinsky) - Director, puppetry. at Sito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto (also taped for TV, released 1993 / released DVD)

''Juan Darién: A Carnival Mass'' (1996) – Director, co-bookwriter, co-scenic designer, co-costume designer, mask designer, puppet designer– Tony Award co-nomination for Best Scenic Design, Tony Award nomination for Best Direction of a Musical ''The Lion King'' (1997, new musical by Elton John) – Director, lyricist for the song ''Endless Night'', costume designer, co-mask designer, co-puppet designer– Tony Award winner for Best Direction of a Musical, Tony Award co-nomination for Best Original Score, Tony Award winner for Best Costume Design

''The Green Bird'' (2000, new musical by Goldenthal) – Director, mask designer, puppet designer

''The Magic Flute'' (2005, opera by Mozart) - Director. at Metropolitan Opera (NY), live broadcast for theatrical (HD). DVD selling at Operahouse only.

''Grendel'' (2007, new opera by Goldenthal) - Librettist, Director

''This Is It'' (2009, live concert show by Michael Jackson) - production consultant, designer

''Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'' (2010, new musical adaptation of Spider-Man) – Director, co-author, mask designer

Filmography

''Fool's Fire'' (1992) (TV)

''Oedipus Rex'' (1993) (opera)

''Titus'' (1999)

''Frida'' (2002)

''Across the Universe'' (2007)

''The Tempest'' (2010)

References

External links

Interview with Julie Taymor - Subtitles to Cinema

Julie Taymor profile at PBS website

Video from "60 Minutes" segment on "Spiderman:Turn Off the Dark," Nov 28, 2010, including interviews with Taymor

''60 Minutes'' segment, Nov 28, 2010, text version

Category:1952 births Category:American Jews Category:American film directors Category:American theatre directors Category:Costume designers Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Female film directors Category:Living people Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:Olivier Award winners Category:Opera directors Category:Oberlin College alumni Category:People from Boston, Massachusetts Category:Tony Award winners Category:Watson Fellows

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