Birth nameArthur Christopher Orme Plummer Birth information13 December 1929, Toronto, Ontario, Canada BioChristopher Plummer is arguably the finest actor of the post-World War II period never to be nominated for an Academy Award, following in the footsteps of John Barrymore, for whose portrayal on Broadway he won a Tony Award. Aside from Barrymore, Plummer is the premier Shakespearean actor to come out of North America in the 20th century. He has also given many fine portrayals on film, particularly as he got older and settled down into a comfortable marriage with his third wife. Though he likely always be remembered as "Baron Von Trapp" in the atomic bomb-strength blockbuster The Sound of Music (1965) (a film he continues to despise), his later film work includes such outstanding performances as the best cinema Sherlock Holmes--other than Basil Rathbone -- in Murder by Decree (1979), the chilling villain in The Silent Partner (1978), his iconoclastic Mike Wallace in The Insider (1999) and the empathetic psychiatrist in A Beautiful Mind (2001). Though many times tipped for a Best Supporting Actor nomination in the last ten years, he has never made it to the post. Aside from the traditional anti-New York bias of the Academy, whether this is because of his Canadian heritage is unknown. Many Canadians have won Ocars, including Mary Pickford, Marie Dressler, Norma Shearer and Walter Huston, but there is something different about Plummer; the fact that his demeanor and talent mark him off as more English than American may put off Academy voters (perhaps it is fitting that there is something "foreign" about Plummer: he is the great-grandson of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Abbott).Aside from his failure to ring the gong at the Academy Awards, Plummer remains one of the most respected and honored actors performing in the English language. He's won two Emmy Awards out of six nominations stretching 46 years from 1959 and 2005, and one Genie Award in five nominations from 1980 to 2004. For his stage work, Plummer has racked up two Tony Awards on six nominations, the first in 1974 as Best Actor (Musical) for the title role in "Cyrano" and the second in 1997, as Best Actor (Play), in "Barrymore". Surprisingly, he did not win (though he was nominated) for his masterful 2004 "King Lear", which he originated at the Stratford Festival in Ontario and brought down to Broadway for a sold-out run. His other Tony nominations show the wide range of his talent, from a 1959 nod for the Elia Kazan-directed production of Archibald Macleish's Pulitzer Prize-winning "J.B." to recognition in 1994 for Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land", with a 1982 Best Actor (Play) nomination for his "Iago" in William Shakespeare's "Othello". This man can act, and seeing him perform onstage is one of an acting aficionado's great pleasures.He continues to be a very in-demand character actor in prestigious motion pictures. If he were truly English rather than Canadian-American, he'd have been knighted long ago (in 1968, he was a made a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honor and one which requires the approval of the sovereign). In 1970, Plummer - a self-confessed 43-year-old "bottle baby" - married his third wife, dancer 'Elaine Taylor (I)_, who helped wean him off his dependency on alcohol. They currently live on a 30-acre estate in Weston, Connecticut and, although he spends the majority of his time in the United States, he remains a Canadian citizen.

We’ve been sent some very cool interviews from the cast and crew of 9. We’ve got an interview with Elijah Wood who plays the lead character, #9 in the film of the same name. We also have a video interview with director and writer, Shane Acker and finally an interview with producer and all round movie legend, Tim Burton. We also have a small piece of footage of Christopher Plummer recording lines for his character #1.

9 is scheduled for release in UK cinemas on the 28th October and follows the adventures of a small sapient rag doll called 9 who finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world when he first comes to life.

9 also stars John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover and Martin Landau. You can view the interviews below…

Interview: Elijah Wood (9)


Interview: Producer – Tim Burton


Interview: Director – Shane Acker


Christopher Plummer Records his Lines

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- David Sztypuljak

Read the full article on heyuguys.co.uk

FilmShaft have been sent a selection of brand new interview videos fo Shane Acker’s star -studded animated feature, 9.
Featuring the vocal talents of Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover and Martin Landau, the film is produced by master of the macabre – Tim Burton and hits UK theatres on 28th October 2009.
The videos below feature interviews with the film’s star, Elijah Wood and director Shane Acker as well as a brand new interview from Burton himself. Also included is a B-Roll of footage from Chris Plummer’s recording sessions. Once you’ve seen all that, don’t forget to click on the link here for a chance to put your questions to Elijah Wood in our exclusive feature!
When the small rag doll 9 (The Lord of the Ring’s Elijah Wood) first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, »
- Craig Sharp

Read the full article on filmshaft.com

In the dark days following the death of Heath Ledger, Terry Gilliam was grieving the loss of a close friend and couldn't bring himself even to contemplate what would happen to the film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, that they had both been working on when the young Australian actor sadly passed on.
"It was a terrible time," he says. "And frankly I was just devastated by the loss of such a great guy. The film didn't really come into it at that point."
But gradually, encouraged by his collaborators including his daughter, Amy Gilliam, who is a producer on the film, he began to accept that finishing it would be a fitting tribute to Heath even though, at first, he couldn't see how they could do it. Ledger died in January 2008 with the British end of the production completed but with weeks of shooting still planned on sound stages in Canada. »
- Paul

Read the full article on thehollywoodnews.com