Tom Hooper

  • 07 January 2013

Occupation

Filmmaker

Tom Hooper on the red carpet at the 2016 IWC Gala in honour of The British Film Institute London, United Kingdom - Tuesday 4th October 2016

Carey Mulligan Wins Best Actress At Hollywood Film Awards 2015 In Good Showing For British Stars

By Ed Biggs in Movies / TV / Theatre on 02 November 2015

Carey Mulligan Will Smith Robert De Niro Tom Hooper Alicia Vikander Eddie Redmayne Saoirse Ronan Joel Edgerton

The Hollywood Film Awards fire the starting pistol on awards season in the movie industry.

British star Carey Mulligan was among the winners at the 19th annual Hollywood Film Awards for her central role as Maud in the new movie Suffragette, a laundry worker who joins the fight for the right for women to vote.

The 30 year old star, who gave birth to her first child with husband Marcus Mumford just a few months ago, won Best Actress at the 2015 edition of the gongs, which are the first major ceremony in a long run of black-tie events leading up to the Academy Awards on February 28th.

The Hollywood Film Awards winners are announced in advance and are not televised, but prominently features movies not on general release and are a reasonable indicator of what will be on offer during awards season.

Continue reading: Carey Mulligan Wins Best Actress At Hollywood Film Awards 2015 In Good Showing For British Stars

The Danish Girl Trailer

Einar Wegener is a Danish artist, apparently happily married to wife of the same occupation Gerda. One day, Gerda persuades her husband to assist her as a female model while she paints, dressing up in a dress and stockings. An unexpected wave of clarity washes over Einar, who readily agrees to continue posing for Gerda. Dubbing the female persona Lili, Gerda takes her out for fun - but when it seems Lili is falling for her childhood friend Hans Axgil, she is heartbroken. She eventually understands that her husband is actually a woman in the wrong body, and stands by her woman as she undertakes groundbreaking gender reassignment surgery; a series of operations that could threaten her very life, let alone her marriage.

Continue: The Danish Girl Trailer

'The Danish Girl' Director Reveals When Eddie Redmayne Was Cast As Transgender Artist Lili Elbe

By Stephanie Chase in Movies / TV / Theatre on 01 September 2015

Eddie Redmayne Tom Hooper

The director faced some backlash when Redmayne was announced as playing the transgender pioneer.

The Danish Girl director Tom Hooper has defended Eddie Redmayne’s casting as transgender artist Lili Elbe in the upcoming biopic, saying the actor landed the role thanks to his "certain gender fluidity”. Some trans activists had criticised Redmayne’s casting in the film, arguing that trans roles should be reserved for trans actors.

Image caption Eddie Redmayne dons a wig and lipstick for his most 'sensitive' role

If his career-defining role as physics genius Stephen Hawking in 'The Theory Of Everything' wasn't enough, the recent Oscar winner is setting the bar even higher with what could arguably his most challenging role yet. He will be teaming up with movement coach Alexandra Reynolds once again to get in touch with his feminine side, and he even told the Daily Mail, 'I think it's the most sensitive role I have played.'

Continue reading: First Look At Eddie Redmayne In Lipstick For Transgender Biopic 'The Danish Girl' [Picture]

Sacha Baron Cohen Leaves Freddie Mercury Movie As Attention Turns To Depp

By Michael West in Movies / TV / Theatre on 23 July 2013

Sacha Baron Cohen Johnny Depp Brian May Queen Robert De Niro David Fincher Tom Hooper

Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to make a gritty film about Freddie Mercury's life with Oscar winning director Tom Hooper. Brian May did not.

Sacha Baron Cohen has left the movie biopic of iconic Queen frontman Freddie Mercury after a disagreement over the direction of the project. Cohen - who bears a dramatic resemblance to the singer - had wanted to make a gritty R-rated drama about the star's life, enlisting David Fincher and Tom Hooper to develop the project.

However - as is always the case with approval of Queen projects - the remaining members of the band were concerned about the movie's potential effect on Mercury's legacy and seemingly wanted to make a sugar-coated PG movie.

According to Deadline.com, the living members of Queen, including Brian May, rejected British writer Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) as the writer, as well as both Fincher (The Social Network) and Hooper (The King's Speech) as directors.

Continue reading: Sacha Baron Cohen Leaves Freddie Mercury Movie As Attention Turns To Depp

Oscars 2013 – Les Miserables Cast Sang For Their Roles In The Film

By Jack de Aguilar in Movies / TV / Theatre on 23 February 2013

Anne Hathaway Hugh Jackman Russell Crowe Tom Hooper Les Miserables Academy Of Motion Pictures And Sciences

Ahead of The Oscars 2013, we look at the casting process of Les Miserables

Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe are all well-respected actors, who’ve carved out hugely successful careers. But that didn’t mean they got a free pass into Les Miserables – no – they had to audition, and by that we mean sing, like everybody else.


Image caption Two of last year's main men in

Daniel Craig [Left] and Ben Affleck [Right],both of whom could be on for big things this awards seasonThe National Board Of Review Awards took place last night (January 8, 2013), with many evidently viewing the bash as a warm-up before the Oscar nominations get announced tomorrow (January 10, 2013). As such, some of the names who may well be featuring in less than 24 hours time were on the red carpet, including Skyfall's Daniel Craig, Argo director and actor Ben Affleck, stars from Les Miserables including Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried, and many more.

Continue reading: Daniel Craig, Ben Affleck And The Les Miserables Cast Warm Up For The Oscars At The National Board Of Review Awards (Pictures)

Tom Hooper's Les Miserables: Making Something New Out Of The Old

By Lorna Greville in Movies / TV / Theatre on 21 December 2012

Hugh Jackman Anne Hathaway Russell Crowe Tom Hooper

There is always some enormous risk in remaking well loved stories, be they originally films, plays, television series or literature. There will always be hype and there will always be people who prefer the original, think the film ruined the book, consider the remake redundant or those who simply don't like it. Along with all of these risks, movie makers also come across the problem of how to remake something while at once being true to the original and yet also being able to make their own mark on it. Tom Hooper has managed to tread these very lines well with his latest movie, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

Les Mis was loved even before it was published. Hugo was already a much adored poet and when the first of the five volumes were published in 1862 it had sold out in Paris within two days. With it's award winning and long running musical that has delighted theatre audiences for decades, the popularity Les Miserables has managed not to fade. Speaking to Time, Hooper explained his decision to include the brand new song, 'Suddenly', for Jean Valjean and performed by Hugh Jackman. "There's an inspiring line in the book" he says, "that goes something like... 'The bishop had taught him virtue. Cosette taught him the meaning of love'... these two epiphanies [are] the central transformative moments. The musical nails the first one but the second one is kind of underwritten." Adding, "So I took this wonderful paragraph and asked Claude Michel and Alain Boublil [the writer and lyricist], 'Can you write me a song about what it is like to fall in love with a child, to experience parental love out of nowhere?'" And they did.

So far responses to the song have been fairly positive, despite the mixed reviews it's been receiving, with Time's own review naming Hooper's direction 'bad', while Variety has said it would "have made Victor Hugo proud". Starring Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfriend, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baren Cohen and introducing the adorable and talented Isabelle Allen as the young Cosette, Les Miserables will be in cinemas nationwide on January 11th.

Continue reading: Tom Hooper's Les Miserables: Making Something New Out Of The Old

Jokers! Hugh Jackman And Russell Crowe Fool Around At Les Miserables Premiere Down Under

By Michael West in Movies / TV / Theatre on 21 December 2012

Hugh Jackman Russell Crowe Tom Hooper Amanda Seyfried Anne Hathaway Rupert Murdoch

Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe entertained the crowds at the Les Miserables premiere in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday (December 20, 2012), laughing and joking while also pretending to race each other down the red-carpet! Tom Hooper's big screen adaptation of the musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel has received cautious praise from critics, though Jackman's performance in particular came in for specific fanfare.

Image caption Brothers in Arms: Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe Light Up The Red Carpet In Sydney, Australia

Speaking to The Australian, Jackman admitted that musicals aren't for everyone, "When it doesn't work, it stinks to high heaven, musical theatre. It can be very phoney. If it's not done well, it doesn't affect you in any way. I think musicals are the Mount Everest of moviemaking - I don't think there's anything more difficult to pull off."

Continue reading: Jokers! Hugh Jackman And Russell Crowe Fool Around At Les Miserables Premiere Down Under