Look up Giant or giant in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Giant or Giants may refer to:

• Giant (mythology)
  • Giants (Norse mythology)
  • Giants (Welsh folklore)
  • Giants (esotericism)

Arts and entertainment[link]

• Giant (novel), a 1952 novel by Edna Ferber
  • Giant (1956 film), a film adaptation of Ferber's novel
  • Giant (musical), a 2009 musical adaptation of Ferber's novel
• Giant (2009 film), an Uruguayan film
• Les géants (film) (The Giants), a 2011 Belgium film
• The Giants, an unproduced 1960s Doctor Who television serial
• Giants: Citizen Kabuto, a third-person shooter video game (2000)
• Giant (magazine)
• The Giant (Twin Peaks), an inhabitant of The Black Lodge in the 1990s television series
• Judge Giant, two fictional characters in the Judge Dredd comic strip
• Giant (Dungeons & Dragons), a type of fictional character in games
• Giant (TV series), a 2010 historical drama series from SBS
• Giants (Marvel Comics), a fictional race of people based on the giants of actual Norse legends
• The Giants (1978 TV series), a 1978 TVB television series

In music[link]

• Giant (band), an American melodic hard rock band
• Giants (band), an American post-rock band
• The Giant (opera), an opera (1900) by the child Sergei Prokofiev
• The Giant (Dizzy Gillespie album), a 1973 live album by Dizzy Gillespie
• Giant (Herman Düne album), a 2006 album by Herman Düne
• Giant (The Woodentops album), a 1986 alnum by The Woodentops
• Giants (album), a 2010 album by Chicane
• Giants (The Stranglers album), a 2012 album by The Stranglers
• The Giants (album), a 1974 album featuring Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, and Ray Brown
• "The Giant", a song by Stan Rogers
• "Giant", a song on Matthew Good Band's album Beautiful Midnight (1999)
• "Giant", a song on The The's album Soul Mining (1983)
• "Giant", a bonus track on Vampire Weekend's album Contra

Businesses[link]

• Giant Bicycles, bicycle maker
• Giant Food (disambiguation)
• GIANT Company Software, internet security developer
• Giant Hypermarket, chain in southern and eastern Asia
• Giant Records (disambiguation)

Sport teams[link]

North America[link]

• San Francisco Giants, baseball team
• New York Giants, American football team
• New York Giants (disambiguation), in various sports and eras
• San Jose Giants, a minor league baseball team
• Arizona League Giants, a minor league baseball team
• Vancouver Giants, a Western Hockey League team
• Jacksonville Giants, basketball team

Negro league baseball teams

• Bacharach Giants
• Baltimore Elite Giants, also played in Nashville and Washington DC
• Boston Royal Giants
• Brooklyn Royal Giants
• Chicago Giants
• Chicago American Giants
• Chicago Columbia Giants
• Cleveland Giants
• Cuban Giants
• Cuban X-Giants
• Gilkerson's Union Giants
• Harrisburg Giants
• Illinois Giants
• Leland Giants
• Lincoln Giants
• Page Fence Giants
• Philadelphia Giants
• St. Louis Giants
• Zulu Cannibal Giants

Australia[link]

• Gold Coast-Tweed Giants, Australian rugby league team
• Goldfields Giants, Australian basketball team
• Greater Western Sydney Football Club, an Australian football club

Other continents[link]

• Belfast Giants, an Irish EIHL ice hockey team
• Huddersfield Giants, an English rugby league team competing in Super League
• Lotte Giants, a South Korean professional baseball team
• Delhi Giants, a cricket team in the unofficial Indian Cricket League
• Yomiuri Giants, a Japanese professional baseball team

In geography[link]

• Giant, Richmond, California, former unincorporated community
• Giant Mountain, New York
• Giant Forest, in Sequoia National Park, California
• Giant Geyser, in Yellowstone National Park
• Giant Springs, near Great Falls, Montana

Other[link]

• Giant (gymnastics), an artistic gymnastics skill
• The Giant, one nickname of American wrestler Paul "The Big Show" Wight
• Giant Mine, a gold mine in the Northwest Territories, Canada
• Giant Center, an arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania
• Giant star in astronomy
• Gas giant, a type of planet
• GIANT AntiSpyware, a software application

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Giant"
• All pages with titles containing "Giant"
• Gigantism, a medical condition
• Geant (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (July 2009)

Bryan Singer
Singer at WonderCon 2006
Born	Bryan Jay Singer (1965-09-17) September 17, 1965 (age 46) New York, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Film director and producer

Bryan Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American film director, writer and producer. Singer won critical acclaim for his work on The Usual Suspects, and is especially well-known among fans of the science fiction and superhero genres for his work on the X-Men films and Superman Returns.

Early life[link]

Singer was born in New York City, and was adopted by Grace Singer (née Sinden), an environmental activist, and Norbert Dave Singer, a corporate executive.^[1] He grew up in a Jewish household in West Windsor Township, New Jersey. He attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South (formerly just West Windsor-Plainsboro High School), graduating in 1984.^[2] For college, Singer studied filmmaking for two years at New York's School of Visual Arts and later transferred to the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles.^[3] Actors Lori and Marc Singer are his cousins. He is openly gay and has said that his life experiences of growing up as a minority influenced his movies.^[4] He was diagnosed with dyslexia.^[5]

Professional career[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010)

After graduating, Singer directed a short film called Lion's Den involving a number of friends, including actor Ethan Hawke whom he knew from his childhood in New Jersey^[6] and editor John Ottman who he had met while working on a friend's short film.^[7]

After a screening of Lion's Den, Singer was approached by someone who knew of a Japanese company that funded low-budget films. Singer wrote the concept for Public Access with high school friend Christopher McQuarrie, and fellow USC student Michael Feit Dougan wrote the first draft in ten days about a supposedly idyllic small town. Ottman again served as editor but this time also composed the score for the film. At the 1993 Sundance Film Festival the film was named as co-winner of the Grand Jury Prize.^[8][9]

While attending the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, Singer and McQuarrie began discussing an idea that McQuarrie had for a story where "five criminals meet in a police line-up". The film, The Usual Suspects, won a number of awards including the 1995 BAFTA Award for Best Film and Saturn Award for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film. Writer McQuarrie won the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay and the BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay, composer/editor Ottman won the BAFTA Award for Best Editing and the Saturn Award for Best Music and actor Kevin Spacey won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1998, Singer directed Apt Pupil from a screenplay written by Brandon Boyce, another of his friends. The story, adapted from a Stephen King novella of the same name (collected in the book Different Seasons), tells of a young boy who develops a morbid fascination with a Nazi war criminal.

Singer was initially approached by 20th Century Fox to direct X-Men after directing The Usual Suspects, but not being a fan of comics and being unaware of the characters, Singer turned them down. However his friend, Tom DeSanto, a big fan of the comics and partner in his production company Bad Hat Harry Productions, eventually persuaded Singer to reconsider and, after reading the comics and becoming familiar with the characters, Singer signed on to direct. Rejecting all the scripts and storylines that were developed over a decade of failed production attempts, Singer developed the story for the film with DeSanto in a week and then worked on the script with writers Ed Solomon, Christopher McQuarrie, Joss Whedon, and finally David Hayter (who had started out as Singer's driver). Only Hayter received onscreen credit for writing the film. Singer won the 2000 Saturn Award for Best Direction for X-Men.

In early 2001, Singer was planning to direct Confessions of a Dangerous Mind with Johnny Depp in the lead role, from Charlie Kaufman's script based on the Chuck Barris book of the same name. Financial troubles delayed production and Singer moved on. The film was later directed by George Clooney for Miramax Films with Sam Rockwell in the lead role. Singer has said that he was "very impressed" by Clooney's debut as a director, and the film itself.

In late 2001, Singer was planning to help DeSanto produce a new Battlestar Galactica television series for Studios USA (now NBC Universal Television Studio) and the FOX network. Singer was scheduled to direct the mini-series which would have served as a backdoor pilot for a potential series. Speaking to Variety in February 2001, Singer said he was "confident that the Galactica brand is a sleeping giant. It was a show I watched during its initial run, from the pilot to the final episode. The essence and the brand name is quite potent in a climate where there's a great deficit of sci-fi programming."^[10] Despite his enthusiasm, production delays caused by the September 11, 2001 attacks meant Singer had to drop out due to his commitment to direct X-Men 2. FOX then lost interest in Galactica and Studios USA took the project to the Sci Fi Channel and a different production team. This resulted in the new Battlestar Galactica 2003 mini-series and 2004 television series.

In June 2002 filming began on X2 in Canada with Singer again directing, this time from a screenplay written by David Hayter, Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty. In 2004, X2 was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, but lost to Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

In 2002, having learned that Singer was a lifelong Star Trek fan, Patrick Stewart arranged for Singer to visit the set of Star Trek Nemesis and appear in the finished film as a Starfleet officer on the bridge of the Enterprise.

On November 16, 2004, a new medical drama debuted on FOX called House, with Singer attached as an executive producer. He also directed the pilot and the third episode, then appeared in a brief cameo as himself in the twelfth episode.

In mid-2004, Singer was in negotiations to direct X-Men: The Last Stand for Fox. Fox and Singer could not meet an agreement and, after an extended détente, Singer was offered the chance to direct the new Superman film, which was ready to go. On July 19, 2004, Variety reported that Singer had signed on to direct Superman Returns for Warner Bros. In retaliation, Fox terminated their production deal with Bad Hat Harry Productions, Singer's production company.^[11] Superman Returns was filmed in Australia in 2005, and was released on June 28, 2006. Singer claims that though he had not read the comics, he had always admired and identified with the character, citing the fact that he and Superman are both orphans. He instead based Returns on his love of the 1978 film made by Richard Donner.^[12]

Before embarking on the Superman sequel, Singer openly discussed helming a smaller project going back to the days of thrillers The Usual Suspects and Apt Pupil. In late 2006, screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie presented to Singer a story that took place in World War II, Valkyrie. In the following months, the two collaborated on the project, an original thriller that would be a multi-character ensemble piece. In March 2007, the duo brought the project directly to United Artists partners Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise, who immediately agreed to finance the film. The script is based on the actual events of German generals plotting to assassinate Adolf Hitler during World War II. Singer invited Tom Cruise to take the lead role, which Cruise accepted. Filming began on July 19, 2007 in Berlin, and the movie was released on December 25, 2008.

Upon finishing Valkyrie at the end of 2007, Singer was scheduled to jump directly into the upcoming Superman sequel, which was to begin filming around March 2008. Attending the 2007 Saturn Awards along with Superman Returns writers Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris and producer Gil Adler, Singer stated that the story had been locked down, and the first draft would be completed near the end of 2007. Plans for the sequel included more action sequences, an alien villain, and Singer's promise to "go all Wrath of Khan on it". Production has not begun and plans for the movie are unclear.^[13] In February 2009, Production Weekly listed it as "in development".^[14]

In August 2009, Universal Pictures announced that Singer would direct and produce a big screen reimagining of the Battlestar Galactica television series of the late-1970s, which would not draw any material from the Syfy Channel reimagined series.^[15]

On September 10, 2009, it was announced NBC has partnered with Bryan Singer and Bryan Fuller to adapt Augusten Burroughs's Sellevision into a series. The one-hour dramatic comedy, to be written by Fuller and directed by Singer, will focus on the inner workings of a fictional home shopping network, according to The Hollywood Reporter.^[16]

At the premiere of James Cameron's Avatar on December 16, 2009, Singer confirmed that he will be directing a film called Jack the Giant Killer for Warner Bros., and that he signed on to do X-Men: First Class,^[17][18] but conflicts between the two projects led to Singer being only a producer and co-screenwriter on First Class,^[19] with Matthew Vaughn taking over directorial duties.^[20]

Bryan produced the commercials for the ice cream Magnum Gold, which star Benicio del Toro.^[21]

Filmography[link]

Actor

• Star Trek Nemesis (2002)
• X2 (2003)
• House (2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bryan Singer at the Internet Movie Database
• Bad Hat Harry Productions at the Internet Movie Database
• Short The Movie Reporter video interview with Singer (2005)
• Tribute.ca Director Bio: Bryan Singer
• Bryan Singer at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

Ewan McGregor
McGregor at the Venice Film Festival in 2009
Born	Ewan Gordon McGregor (1971-03-31) 31 March 1971 (age 41) Perth, Scotland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1993–present
Spouse	Eve Mavrakis (1995–present)
Children	4

Ewan Gordon McGregor (born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor who has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. He is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting (1996), Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), poet Christian in the musical film Moulin Rouge! (2001), and storyteller Edward Bloom in Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003). He has also received critical acclaim for his starring roles in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls (2005–07) and Othello (2007–08). McGregor was ranked No. 36 on Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list in 1997.^[1]

Early life[link]

Born in the Royal Infirmary in Perth, Scotland, McGregor was brought up in the nearby small town of Crieff, where he attended the independent Morrison's Academy. His mother, Carole Diane (née Lawson), is a teacher and school administrator, and his father, James Charles Stewart "Jim" McGregor, is a physical education teacher.^[2][3] He has an older brother, Colin, who is a former Tornado GR4 pilot in the Royal Air Force.^[4][5] He is the nephew of actor Denis Lawson and the late actress Sheila Gish, and the step-cousin of the late actress Lou Gish.^[6] McGregor studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.^[6]

Career[link]

Film and television[link]

In 1993, six months prior to his graduation from Guildhall, McGregor won a leading role in Dennis Potter's six-part Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar.^[6] That same year, he starred in the BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black with a young Rachel Weisz, and made his film debut in Bill Forsyth's Being Human.^[7] In 1994, McGregor earned critical praise for his performance in the thriller Shallow Grave, for which he won an Empire Award,^[8] and which marked his first collaboration with director Danny Boyle.^[6] His international breakthrough followed in 1996 with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyle's Trainspotting, an adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel of the same name.^[6][7] The film was the first of several times that McGregor would appear nude on screen; he told The Scotsman in 2003 that audiences in the United States are "a bit worried about seeing my old chap", referring to his foreskin and the cultural influence of infant circumcision in the U.S.

McGregor at the premiere of The Men Who Stare at Goats at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2009

McGregor played the male romantic lead in the 1998 British film Little Voice. In 1999, McGregor starred in the blockbuster Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, a role originally made famous by Sir Alec Guinness in the original Star Wars trilogy.^[6] By appearing in Star Wars, he continued a family tradition of sorts: his uncle, Denis Lawson, had played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy.^[9] In 2001, he starred in Moulin Rouge! as the young poet Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill courtesan Satine, played by Nicole Kidman. McGregor reprised his role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for the subsequent prequel Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones in 2002. In 2003, he starred alongside Renée Zellweger in Down With Love,^[6][10]. He also portrayed the younger Edward Bloom in the critically acclaimed film Big Fish alongside Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman and Billy Crudup. During that year, he also received critical acclaim for his portrayal of an amoral drifter mixed up with murder in the drama Young Adam, which co-starred Tilda Swinton.^[11][12]

In 2005, McGregor appeared for the final time as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. He took very special care—especially in Revenge of the Sith—to ensure that his portrayal of Obi-Wan's mannerisms, speech timings, and accents closely resembled Alec Guinness' version.^[13] That same year, McGregor lent his voice to two successful animated features; he played the robot Rodney Copperbottom in Robots, which also featured the voices of Halle Berry and Robin Williams,^[14] and he voiced the lead character in Gary Chapman's Valiant, alongside Jim Broadbent, John Cleese and Ricky Gervais.^[15] Also in 2005, McGregor played two roles—one a clone of the other—opposite Scarlett Johansson in Michael Bay's The Island, and he appeared in Marc Forster's Stay, a psychological thriller co-starring Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling.^[16][17]

McGregor was offered the role of James Bond in the 2006 reboot Casino Royale, but he turned it down because he feared becoming typecast.^[18] In 2006, he narrated the Fulldome production Astronaut, created for the National Space Centre.^{[citation needed]} That same year, he also narrated the STV show JetSet, a six-part series following the lives of student pilots and navigators at RAF Lossiemouth as they undergo a gruelling six-month course learning to fly the Tornado GR4, the RAF's primary attack aircraft.^[19] In 2007, McGregor starred opposite Colin Farrell in the Woody Allen film Cassandra's Dream.^[7][20] In 2009, he co-starred with Jim Carrey in I Love You Phillip Morris and appeared in Amelia alongside Hilary Swank. Also in 2009, he portrayed Camerlengo Patrick McKenna in Angels & Demons, the film adaptation of Dan Brown's novel of the same name. McGregor is scheduled to co-star with Daniel Craig in Dan Harris' upcoming film adaptation of Glen Duncan's novel I, Lucifer.^[21]

In 2012, he was named as a member of the Jury for the Main Competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.^[22]

Theatre[link]

From November 1998 to March 1999, McGregor starred as Malcolm Scrawdyke in a production of David Halliwell's Little Malcolm and His Struggles Against the Eunuchs, directed by his uncle, Denis Lawson. The play was first staged at the Hampstead Theatre before transferring to the Comedy Theatre in London's West End.^[23] In November 2001, McGregor made a cameo appearance in The Play What I Wrote.^[24]

From June 2005 to April 2007, McGregor starred alongside Jane Krakowski, Douglas Hodge, and Jenna Russell in the original Donmar Warehouse production of Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre in London.^[25] He played the leading role of Sky Masterson, made famous by Marlon Brando in the film of the same name. McGregor received the LastMinute.com award for Best Actor for his performance in 2005,^[26] and he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2007.^[27]

From December 2007 to February 2008, McGregor starred as Iago in Othello at the Donmar Warehouse alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor as Othello and Kelly Reilly as Desdemona.^[28][29] He reprised the role on BBC Radio 3 in May 2008.^[28]

Motorcycle journeys[link]

A keen motorcyclist since his youth, McGregor undertook a marathon international motorcycle trip with his best friend Charley Boorman and cameraman Claudio von Planta in 2004. From mid-April to the end of July, they travelled from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberian Russia, and Canada on BMW R1150GS Adventure motorcycles, for a cumulative distance of 22,345 miles (35,960 km).^[30] The trip formed the basis of a television series and a best-selling book, both called Long Way Round.^[31]

The Long Way Round team reunited in 2007 for another motorcycle trip from John o' Groats in Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa.^[31] The journey, entitled Long Way Down, lasted from 12 May until 5 August 2007.^[31] McGregor's brother Colin joined the motorcycle team during the early stages of the Long Way Down journey,^[4][31] and his father Jim also rode on sections of both Long Way Round and Long Way Down.^[32][33]

In September 2010, Charley Boorman stated that a third installment of the Long Way series was planned for 2011, riding from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska; this has not taken place, however.

McGregor appeared in a two-part BBC documentary in April 2012 entitled Ewan McGregor: Cold Chain Mission in which he travels by motorbike, boat, plane and foot to deliver vaccines to children in remote parts of India, Nepal and the Republic of Congo. The trip was part of his work as a UNICEF Ambassador.

Personal life[link]

McGregor is married to Eve Mavrakis, a French production designer.^[6] They have four daughters, Clara Mathilde McGregor (born February 1996), Esther Rose McGregor (born 7 November 2001), Jamiyan McGregor (born June 2001 in Mongolia; adopted April 2006),^[34] and Anouk McGregor (born January 2011).^[35][36][37] McGregor has a heart and dagger tattoo of the names of his wife and daughters on his right arm.^[10][38] The family currently resides in Los Angeles, California, after moving from London.^[39]

McGregor is involved in charity work, including with UNICEF and GO Campaign. During the Long Way Round journey in 2004, McGregor and his travelling companions took time out to see some of UNICEF's work in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia,^[31] and during the Long Way Down trip in 2007, he and Charley Boorman did work for UNICEF in Africa. McGregor hosted the annual Hollywood gala for GO Campaign in 2009 and 2010. He has also worked with the Children's Hospice Association Scotland, as featured in Long Way Down. In 2012 McGregor travelled with UNICEF immunisation workers to remote parts of India, Nepal and the Republic of Congo for a BBC2 documentary entitled Ewan McGregor: Cold Chain Mission.

In 2007, on an episode of Parkinson, McGregor stated that he had given up alcohol after a period where he was arguably a functioning alcoholic, and that he had not had a drink in seven years.^[40] In 2008, he had a cancerous mole removed from underneath his right eye.^[41]

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

• "Choose Life" with PF Project, Trainspotting#2: Music from the Motion Picture, Vol. #2, 1997.
• "TV Eye" with Wylde Ratttz, Velvet Goldmine: Music from the Original Motion Picture, 1999.
• "Come What May" with Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge! Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film, 2001.
• "Elephant Love Medley" with Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge! Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film, 2001.
• "Your Song" with Alessandro Safina, Moulin Rouge! Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film, 2001.
• "Here's To Love" with Renée Zellweger, Down With Love: Music from and Included in the Motion Picture, 2003.
• "The Sweetest Gift", Unexpected Dreams – Songs From the Stars, 2006.
• "El Tango de Roxanne" with Jose Feliciano, Moulin Rouge! Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film, 2001.

References[link]