Alcatraz: Cast Interviews

Jorge Garcia (Dr. Diego Soto) in Alcatraz

What made you want to get back into a big concept TV series again? Was it the people attached, like J.J. Abrams and Liz Sarnoff whom you know of course from Lost? Read more

Alfie Boe Interview! A Girlie Gossip Exclusive!

Girlie Gossip bring you an exclusive interview with some quickfire questions from Alfie Boe as he talks about his new album ‘Bring Him Home’ and other upcoming projects!

1) Hi Alfie, thanks for taking the time to answer some of our questions. A lot of our readers will probably now have seen you in the latest Les Mis 25th Anniversary DVD playing the lead role of Jean Valjean, but how and when did your operatic career actually come about, and was singing a career path you’d always wanted to persue?

ALFIE: Glad you all enjoyed the Les Miserables DVD it was a great concert and a wonderful evening to be a part of.

My career as a singer started back when I was Nineteen years old when I auditioned for a company called the D’oyly Carte after taking advice from friends and a customer who’s car I was working on when I worked as a mechanic. He overheard me sing and said i had a good voice and that I should try and make it in the music world. You never know who’s going to be listening.

2) Did you do anything specifically to prepare to the role of Valjean?

ALFIE: Read the Victor Hugo novel and grew a beard.

3) You have just released an album ‘Alfie Boe – Bring Him Home’ what are your personal favourite tracks and why?

ALFIE: Pretty much all of the songs on my new album are my favourites but if I had to choose one, I think it would be Bring Him Home as this song means so much to me and has made such an impact to my career.

4) You and Matt Lucas seem to have struck up a firm friendship, with him even appearing on your album. Can we expect any further collaborations from the two of you?

ALFIE: I know Matt and I  are going to be friends for life and who knows what ideas and trouble we can get up to.

5) When you’re not busy singing and playing the lead in hit musicals, what do you like to do in your free time?

ALFIE: I’m a bit of a family man and spend most of my time being tormented by my daughter Gracie, she’s two years old now and has me wrapped around her little finger but she’s my little belle!

6) Is there anyone you would like to duet with or work alongside that you haven’t yet been able to?

ALFIE: There are many people in this business that I would love to collaborate with on an album, eventually I would like to try my hand at writing some of my own stuff and to work alongside someone else who’s known for their writing would be a wonderful opportunity. I’m a huge fan of Classical Rock Music so to duet or to collaborate with someone like Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame would be fantastic.

7) Can you share any other exciting projects, plans or updates that we can expect to see from you this year?

ALFIE: Well we are at present trying to fit in the diary some surprise performances to showcase my album live. We are trying to make it work for April or May this will fit nicely in the diary just before I start back in Les Miserables in June. There are other things on cards at the moment but can’t say too much just yet.

8) Lastly, we are very pleased to hear that you will be reprising the role of Jean Valjean in the West End during 2011! Can you give us any more information on this? Good luck and we’ll be sure to come along and watch one of your performances and report back to readers later this year!

ALFIE: Yes I will be going back into Les Miserables in June for a six month run so book your tickets now. I just want to thank all my beautiful fans for all your support over the years and to all those that have just started to follow me, welcome and I hope you enjoy my music and performances because it’s for you my fans that I do this. Alfie xx

Thanks so much to Alfie Boe for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat to us. We hope that you all enjoyed his answers! Please note, this interview is © Girlie Gossip.Com -  Retransmission, modification and usage of any kind should be approved by Girlie Gossip editors and the appropriate credit given. Thankyou for reading!

Alfie Boe ‘Bring Him Home’ is out now!

Geraldine Shaker, Celebrity Makeup Artist Interview.

Girlie Gossip recently had the pleasure of speaking to Geraldine Shaker, Celebrity Makeup Artist & Founder of Kitten Vixen Cosmetics. She tells us about her celeb clients, current hollywood beauty trends and much more!

Hi Geraldine, can you tell us a bit about any current winter beauty trends you’ve spotted and what we should be wearing this season?
Autumn Winter 2010 trends are graphic – eyeliner has a rock n roll vibe, ranging from the classic cat eye to smeared almost sweaty liner that looks like you’ve been up all night. Lips are bold too, in wintery shades of dark purple, blackened plum and cherry red.

With those all-important Christmas parties coming up, can you give us some top tips for a makeup look that would be perfect for festive events this month?
First decide whether you want to follows the trends or if you want a classic beauty look. If you’re a:

Trends girl: Go for the classic cats eye (opt for gel liner as it has the longest staying power) I like Make-up Forever gel liner. If your lips are full opt for a bold lip in cherry red, blackened plum or dark purple. Ladies with less in the lip department should opt for a sheer gloss in the same color spectrum.

Classic beauty: Opt for a smoky eye in the jewel tones – burgundy, navy blue or dark green. Add sparkle with a sheer wash of either silver or gold to make it more festive. Keep lips simple with a nude or barely there tone.

You have worked with some fabulous celebrity clients, can you tell us a bit about them and their beauty products/looks please?
When you work with big name actresses the look they always want is beauty. They want to sparkle in front of the camera, that means fresh dewy skin, barely pinched cheeks, and drama on the eyes or lips depending on the face. I always apply airbrush foundation to anyone who is going in front of a camera – it really lasts all day with a flawless finish. Beauty make-up is about enhancing the features to maximize the natural beauty of the face that you are working on as opposed to fashion, which is really about changing the face and giving it a certain look/trend regardless of the features you are dealing with.

You’re based in Hollywood, so what looks are trending over there at the moment that are yet to emerge over here in the UK?
I would say the biggest beauty trend right now is the pointed manicure. Its been seen on the fingers of Rhianna, Fergie from the black Eyed Peas, Beyonce and Dita Von Teese. The pointed manicure is all about the shape of the nail, instead of being square or rounded its shaped into a point, which is reminiscent of the 70’s and 80’s. It’s fresh and modern with a retro vibe.

As a little Christmas gift to us all, can you share any of your top beauty secrets with Girlie Gossip readers?
Look after your skin. It doesn’t matter how great the make-up is or how well it is applied – if you neglect your skin the end results will never be great. You need to slough off the dead skin regularly and apply a good moisturizer every day, and as far as make-up is concerned – always sleep naked!

What beauty products can’t you get enough of right now?!
I’m a Chanel nail polish junkie – every season I search other brands in vain to see if I can color match the newest Chanel colors, and although some brands come close no one ever matches them or manages to go one better!

Many thanks to Geraldine for this fab interview! If you want to win yourself some Kitten Vixen’s fabulous ‘Eye Put A Spell on You’ Eye Kits then click HERE for our mega reader competition!

New – Giles Alderson Interview

Giles has been busy since we last talked, not content with being a successful actor, he has now started up his own film company…. some people have all the luck!

Hi Giles, how are you and what have you been up to since our last interview?
Hi guys, I’m well thank you. I’ve been pretty busy, which is great. I’ve been traveling a bit, doing a WW2 Film called ‘The Glasshouse’ in Romania with Jonas Armstrong, playing a nasty ass Nazi, getting scared witless in horror feature ‘Inside’ in London and been drinking more blood as a Vampire again, this time in Ollie Millburn’s ‘The Harsh Light of Day’ in Devon.

We hear you have recently set up your own production company Gold Films which sounds very exciting; can you tell us a bit about what prompted this?
I was always writing and getting involved in the other side the camera as I had directed a few plays I had written so it was the next logical step. I didn’t want to sit by the phone waiting for it to ring so me, Martin Owen and Charlie Wilkins set up Gold Films to make some shorts/ pilots as a calling call for our feature films which we’ve written to show investors what we could do on a small budget.

You have just finished directing something called Sports Day 3D, what can we expect to see from this?
This was very exciting for us as we are the first company to film a live action 3D drama in the country. Believe me it was very tough to organize with 20 odd crew and loads of school kids, but we managed it and the film’s turned out brilliantly well.

The story takes place at a school sportsday where our young hero Brain becomes involved in a bitter battle with his rival, Shaun Smith, to see who is the greatest sportsday athlete in the events of the Sack Race and the Egg and Spoon Dash.

After a food fight of epic proportions in the school hall between the the two competetors (and the rest of the school) we fast forward twenty years where an older Brain (Mark Benton) has to relive his knightmare with a Dad’s race against his old foe, Shaun (Danny Midwinter). The question is: Will Brian loose his bottle or will he finally overcome the obstacle that’s haunted him all these years… beating Shaun Smith?

We shot on two RED camera’s, using a mirror rig to balance the two images. In post, we’ve added a few special effects, courtesy of our 3D stereo expect Ralston Humble at Pablo Post, where cake’s, eggs and paper plates fly at us in wonderful 3D.

It’s a real joy to see and now we have a really top calling card, hopefully our investors will love it as much as we do and we can go into production on our 3D feature ‘The Parallax Estate 3D’ as pre-production is already underway.

What made you decide to film in 3D?
We realized how great the medium is and wanted to be the leaders in the market in the UK. I know others are already jumping on the bandwagon and with James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ hitting cinema’s soon, it’s going to be all the rage. Soon you won’t need the glasses and soon you’ll be able to watch 3D in your living room, it’s evolving that quickly this time round.

We hear you’ve also managed to squeeze in directing a sitcom pilot; it must have been a busy year for you! Tell us more about the sitcom and how you found yourself involved with this…
Well the sitcom ‘Barry Brown’ (The Life of a Stripper), is actually Gold Film’s first production. We wanted to make a sitcom that really pushes the boundaries of comedy, like Extra’s or Phoenix Nights before it, something that you can’t help but love and laugh with.

We’ve had screenings for the episode, which have gone down really well and now some companies are talking to us about a full series. The episodes are all mapped out and it’s ready to go.

It [The sitcom] follows the life of our hero Barry Brown, a guy who still thinks it is cool to be a stripper. He still ‘lives in the 90’s’ where stripping was accepted as a good form of entertainment. Dressing up as a Sailor or James Bond just to take his clothes off to screaming girls can be good for the ego but after a while the initial joy soon turns to boredom as Barry has to figure out what to do with his life.  We follow his dreams and disappointments as all the colourful characters we meet along the way become embroiled in Barry’s life in more ways than he could ever have expected. Directing this was a real joy. A lot of good friends were involved and at first I thought it might be daunting to ‘direct’ them but they were superb and we got some amazing and very funny footage.

So, does this mean we’ll see less of you on the screen in the future and more behind the camera, directing?
Not at all, I do love directing and producing and I’m working very hard with Gold Films to make us a success, but I’m still focused on acting.

Do you have a preference between the two?
I would say I love acting for the chance to live out someone else’s life and I love directing for the passion and the ability to create something that lasts forever. So no real preference.

What future projects do you have planned and what direction do you see your career headed?
Well, apart from working on ‘The Parallax Estate 3D’ we produced a few other shorts, one for Matt Crockford called Thrift Store: Voices, which made the Cannes short film corner and was screened there over the festival and the other is ‘If You See Her, Say Hello’ which was directed by Paul Purnell which we shot at Pinewood. It’s an excellent romantic short about two people meeting outside a coffee shop and hoping they don’t say the wrong thing to push the other away. It’s beautifully written and looks amazing. He’s got a bright future so we were happy to work with Paul. We’re pushing the festival circuit with this now.

Acting wise there are a few things lined up including working with director Toor Mian in ‘The Sky in Bloom’ which is a blistering noir thriller. Plus the 80’s comedy ‘Big Cats’ and Robin Jacob’s epic historical film ‘1066’ which should be filming next summer in Wales.

Career wise? I’m just glad to keep working. I can’t sit on my bum twiddling my thumbs, I like to keep moving and creating and enjoying the chance I have to do so.

Check out Giles’ site for more info – http://www.gilesalderson.com/

Wild Child Emma Roberts Interview

WILD CHILD – Emma Roberts Interview – By Holly Rosenblatt on behalf of Girlie Gossip. Keep reading after the Jump for our full interview and plenty of gossip from the star of Wild Child herself Emma Roberts … Read more

Exclusive Interview With Actress and Writer Felicia Day

After the recent success of Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog we were lucky enough to manage to get an exclusive chat with one of the main star’s herself Felica Day (Penny) We talk to her about her time on Dr Horrible and other fab shows such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and The Guild. Read on after the jump for the full, fantastic interview … Read more

Hilary Swank, Richard LaGravenese Q&A

Out on DVD courtesy of Momentum Pictures on 12 May 2008

Hilary Swank, Richard LaGravenese Q&A

Double Oscar winner Hilary Swank plays Holly Kennedy in P.S. I Love You, adapted and directed by Richard LaGravenese. It tells of the loss of Holly’s beloved husband Gerry (Gerard Butler) and her slow recovery through a succession of letters he penned before he died.

Swank’s previous credits include Boys Don’t Cry, Insomnia, The Core, Million Dollar Baby and Freedom Writers. It was this last film, released in 2007, that saw her work with director Richard LaGravenese for the first time. Read more

Nim’s Island Interviews Jodie Foster Gerard Butler and Abigail Breslin

Universal Pictures proudly presents the new fantasy-adventure NIMS ISLAND, in cinemas this FRIDAY, MAY 2. Starring Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster and Gerard Butler. Keep reading for full interviews with the Nim’s Island cast including Gerard Butler Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin Read more

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