Sunday, April 16, 2006

Raindance 2004




New images i do not know why suddenly they have appeared now

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Patric Shaw photographs



I am not sure if this is the earlier Tatler pictures, any one help me out here?

Monday, April 10, 2006

Greenpeace and thandie's letter




"Crash" star trades in 4x4 for hybrid, writes to celebs suggesting they do the same
03-04-2006
BAFTA winning actress Thandie Newton has sold her BMW 4x4 and replaced it with a hybrid car. The star of "Crash" has also written to dozens of other celebrities suggesting they think about doing the same. The star of this year's Best Picture at the Oscars found a Greenpeace leaflet stuck to the windscreen of her family's SUV last year. Soon afterwards she traded in the gas guzzler for a fuel efficient Toyota Prius - a hybrid with an engine that switches from petrol to electric power to get better mileage. (Pictures available of Thandie in Prius). For several months Greenpeace volunteers have been clamping 4x4s with cardboard clamps, putting leaflets under window wipers and fixing fake tax discs to windscreens that call for extra road tax for high emitting vehicles. Now Thandie has written to celebrity 4x4 owners on both sides of the Atlantic. In the letter she says: "I'm very excited to write you this letter. I've been fretting over how to phrase it without provoking guilt or insult, when in fact I'm contacting you because of my respect for your success and influence& I sold my family's SUV - a BMW X5 - and replaced it with a Toyota Prius... As you know, extreme weather events are on the increase... This climate change, which is largely brought on by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, seriously threatens generations to come... The hazards I thought I was preventing by driving an SUV are nothing compared to the hazards our children and grandchildren will face if more is not done now... I saw in the press that you own an SUV. If you don't, or you've already sold it, sorry for writing to you... I didn't know everything, and once I did, I had to make a change, and was delighted to do so. I hope you'll think about doing the same." (Full copy of letter in notes) Thandie has sent the letter to celebrities including Jamie Oliver, Chris Martin, Michael Jackson, Mel Gibson, Charlize Theron, Madonna, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and her Mission Impossible II co-star Tom Cruise. She has also sent them a copy of a new report published by Greenpeace. The report, entitled "OFF ROAD CAR - ON ROAD MENACE" was written by Dr Peter Wells of Cardiff University's world renowned automotive research centre. It reveals that 4x4s:
consume around 300% more fuel than an efficient family car
pump out 300% more climate changing gasses and other pollutants
are three times more likely to kill a pedestrian than an ordinary passenger car An in-depth study of the Range Rover and Land Rover Discovery models shows how the basic design of these so-called Sports Utility Vehicles results in "weight-gain spiral" that leads to excessive pollution and makes them much more dangerous for pedestrians and drivers of other vehicles. The report cites US studies which found that death rates are up to nine times higher for car occupants hit by an SUV compared with occupants of the SUV itself. The report finds that the excessive pollution from SUVs is the result of trying to match off road performance with levels of comfort and convenience expected by those that are going to drive the vehicles in urban areas. It shows how SUV manufacturers spend millions on advertising off road features that are functionally useless in normal urban driving but make the vehicles much more dangerous and polluting that an ordinary car. The Toyota Prius does 55 miles to the gallon in the city - nearly three times more than a BMW X5. Over a distance of 12,000 miles (the average a car is driven in a year) the BMW 4x4 will emit as much as six metric tonnes of CO2. Thandie Newton said: "My concerns for the environment had been growing for a long time but I had not connected them with the car I drove. When I saw the sticker it just connected all the dots up." Cat Dorey, the Greenpeace activist who stickered Thandie's car, said: "We didn't know it was Thandie Newton's car when we did it. To us it would have been just another massive 4x4. There are loads of these polluting vehicles round there - it's one of the best areas for our teams to go leafleting and clamping their monster wheels with our cardboard clamps. We've talked to a lot of 4x4 owners through our campaign, and most do understand our view - they have just never thought about how much CO2 their cars are pumping out. The saddest thing I hear is that people buy these huge cars to keep their kids safe, as if climate change is going to be good news for anyone's kids!" "I think it's fantastic that Thandie sold her 4x4 to buy a Prius. Some of these 4x4s pump out two or three times their own body weight in CO2 every year, but hybrids have a much better fuel efficiency. Hopefully some of the other famous people she's written to will do the same. Celebrities have such a big influence on public fashions and they have to realise that when they are pictured in Hello magazine clambering out of these climate wreckers it sends out a really bad message. I hope more celebrities can be as responsible as Thandie." ENDS For more information and pictures call Greenpeace on 0207 865 8255 / 07801 212967 Download the new 4x4 report.
The letter Thandie wrote went as follows:
Dear ()
I'm very excited to write you this letter. I've been fretting over how to phrase it without provoking guilt or insult, when in fact I'm contacting you because of my respect for your success and influence. But this year I made what I believe is a life-changing choice; for myself and my family, and also, in a small way, for the planet, and I wanted to share that with you, and tell you why. Six months ago I sold my family's SUV - a BMW X5 - and replaced it with a Toyota Prius. I loved my X5, loved driving it, and what's more believed it was safer for my kids, until I discovered the truth about its impact on the environment. As you know, extreme weather events are on the increase. The Greenland ice sheet is melting, and sea levels are rising. This climate change, which is largely brought on by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, seriously threatens generations to come. The hazards I thought I was preventing by driving an SUV are nothing compared to the hazards our children and grandchildren will face if more is not done now. Vehicles designed for off-road terrain (and let's face it, how many times has your SUV been off the road?) can consume three times the amount of fuel, emit three times the amount of pollution than an ordinary passenger car. And incidentally, are three times more likely to kill a pedestrian. If you take a look at the report I've enclosed, you'll see the impact they are having. That's why I dumped our SUV and bought a hybrid. The Prius has a motor that switches from petrol to electric to get great fuel efficiency. Initially I thought I'd be compromising on space, comfort and speed, but you know what? I love my Prius. It's a cool car. And of course there are plenty of other hybrid models available in varying sizes and more to come so there is no need to compromise. I saw in the press that you own an SUV. If you don't, or you've already sold it, sorry for writing to you. You may know all these facts anyway, in which case thanks for taking the time to read this. But I didn't know everything, and once I did, I had to make a change, and was delighted to do so. I hope you'll think about doing the same. With respect and thanks, Thandie
She wrote to: Jamie Oliver, Chris Martin, Kevin Costner, Sly Stallone, Ben Affleck, Adam Sandler, Michael Jackson, Bill Murray, Robin Williams, Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan, Don Johnson, Mel Gibson, Jack Nicholson, Barry Manilow, Anna Kournikova, Charlize Theron, Guy Richie and Madonna, Sean Connery, Ozzy Osbourne, Justin Timberlake, David Beckham, Jermaine Defoe, Jamie Carragher, Sol Campbell, John Terry, Michael Owen, Kieron Dyer and Wayne Rooney.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Black Film Magazine interview


It's always nice to be offered a part without auditioning. Paul Haggis wrote the role especially for me, which was very unusual as I usually findmyself playing more sympathetic, softer roles. I guess this role requiredraw emotion that you have to get to very, very quickly and I can do that.I spent a maximum of about a week filming my role. My scenes with MattDillon were both physically and emotionally enduring. I was really upsetabout the touch-up scene. When I read the script, I didn't realise that itwould be as intense as it ended up being on screen, I just thought maybe hed put his hand up my skirt, and that would be enough for people to figureout what was going on. I was upset with Paul for a while until I reread thescript and realised that it had been there all the time, I just didn't wantto accept it. It's so painful to accept the reality.The film has totally blown the whole idea of political correctness inAmerica. It starts to put on stereotypes and then blows them apart, forexample, with the Hispanic guy and Ludacris character. Oprah Winfrey evendevoted a whole show to it.Is Crash an honest portrayal of racism? Well, you're limited as to how manystories you can get across in one hour and forty minutes. I felt horrifiedabout what was being portrayed in the film, but they were portrayed in anentertaining way.Everyday someone would talk to me about Crash on the street. It's a thrill;you feel such a kinship with everybody on a positive level. We all have itin us to be prejudiced; it's not something to be ashamed of, just own up.Fear grows behind closed doors.The first time I met everybody else was at the premier. I was in awe to besharing a screen with all these great people. Ludacris was so refreshing; he's very mild and thoughtful. I've also worked with the late Tupac and thereare many similarities between them. There's real soul in what they do.America has been where all my roles have come from. In my sixteen or soyears of acting, I've made one film in England. The British film industry issmaller; there's not that many films being made in England so there's lessroles to go round. And if England wants to continue to make historicalfilms, then so be it; it's great if you're Kenneth Branagh! I actually wantto work in America, there's more available here. It surprises me that peopledon’t know that I'm an accessible English actor.I’ve just finished shooting a Pursuit of Happyness, and I'm just as excitedabout that as I am about Crash!Interview by Mildred Amadiegwu

Monday, April 03, 2006

Pictures from Parkinson





Parkinson Transcript

Thandie Newton Transcript
Michael: My next guest started acting in movies when she was just sixteen, she starred opposite Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 2, turned down Charlie's Angels and then made a film called Crash. It won the Oscar this year for best film, she won a Bafta for best supporting actress. Welcome please Thandie Newton. (Applause)
Michael: Thandie.
Thandie: Thandowe, it's a nice name isn't it? (spelling is wrong)
Michael: Zimbabwean, was your mother a Zimbabwean princess?
Thandie: That is true. It's very different to the way we understand kings and queens in this country but there are lineages in Zimbabwe, or there used to be before colonialism. And with every tribe there is a king and a queen but there are many tribes. So in my mother's tribe, the Jambe tribe she was actually destined to be the queen.
Michael: And your father was English and you were born in England and grew up in Penzance. You were a bit of an exotic flower for Penzance weren't you?
Thandie: Yes I was.
Michael: Did you feel different?
Thandie: Yes I did, I did always feel different but I also it was always a balance because I felt different but I also felt very special. And I felt on the outside of things but I felt very embraced and very close to my family. But I think all through my life in retrospect, this strange tricky balance has been. I've always been juggling at.
Michael: You started in the film business when you were sixteen. Made your first movie Flirting with Nicole Kidman. Did you always want to be a film star, was that your ambition?
Thandie: No, I wanted to dance. That was my dream to dance and I did actually pursue dancing quite seriously, I went to a boarding school and arts school when I was eleven, I got a scholarship to go to the school. I just ever since I was tiny I've needed to entertain, I really had a burning need to entertain anybody. So that came true for me when the Cornwall County Council had a grant to give one pupil every year and I got the grant to go to this incredible school. And I left home when I was eleven in a way because it's a long way from home and we didn't have that much money so my parents couldn't come and see me and I couldn't go home that often. Michael: So you were on your own, very vulnerable.
Thandie: I was, yes I think I was.
Michael: And Crash has really changed everything for you hasn't it?
Thandie: This tiny film. Honestly, the most not insignificant at all because it was something we all believed in, all of us.
Michael: But no money.
Thandie: No money, I had to fly myself out to shoot it at one point. But it was worth it because it's so rare as an actor to read a script that gives you that burning desire to perform. You know it's a job like any other so you do things to pay the rent and I try and find enjoyment and I do manage to in everything I do. But Crash was something special, it was.
Michael: And also your part in it, it's a very strong part isn't it for an actress? The film really pivots on the sexual assault that's carried out on you by a cop, by a racist cop. But let's now see a sequence, this is after the assault, this is you and your husband talking about what happened. (Excerpt from Crash - Applause)
Michael: When you came to do that scene when you are assaulted did you know what was going to happen?
Thandie: I didn't, I didn't know the extent of it and I should have done because I refer to it in that scene. And I really graphically refer to it. But in my English way I thought it was ironic or sarcastic so when we actually came to shoot the assault it was the very last thing that we filmed, I'd already shot everything else and the director, Paul Haggis a very sensitive man very much someone who you trusted, took Matt Dillon and I aside before we started shooting and said to us, 'Look, I'm here for you and it's going to be a very difficult scene and Thandie, do you have protective underwear?' And I thought it was a very odd thing. And no. And he was referring to the fact that Matt Dillon was going to have to be sort of, because my dress was very tight and in order for it to look realistic he would have to be really feeling around my body and my private area and that's what he was referring to. And I was horrified, because in the script it hadn't been written so graphically, I mean they wouldn't have been able to get financing for the film if they'd sent out a script that had the graphic stuff that you see.
Michael: Would you have played it?
Thandie: That's a good question. I probably, I would have found it difficult. As I did, because I went into the make up trailer after I had that conversation with Paul and Matt and I cried and cried and cried. Partly because I wasn't prepared and also just the shock of having to be in that place, having to let that happen. Even though we're just simulating something it was still, I felt that it was a personal violation, absolutely it was a very very hard scene to film.
Michael: So where do you draw the line in that sort of situation as an actress? Because it was a personal violation.
Thandie: I nearly did that night actually because I really didn't feel it was clear in the script although it was and I think that if I'd read it without my denial I would have known that's what I was going to have to do.
Michael: But you've said before that as a film star you've been exploited at work and in 'my personal life'. What do you mean by that?
Thandie: I've been in situations, well one in particular when I was a teenager and I started very very young.
Michael: You were sixteen.
Thandie: I was and I went from a school environment, literally to into film and the same dynamics were in place and at the school there's the headmistress and the teachers you do what they say and you're a good girl if you do that and you're just following the rules. And in film, I had no experience in film so I would do as I was told.
Michael: By the director.
Thandie: Yeah and that unfortunately continued into a personal situation and I was sixteen and I was completely innocent, I had no perception of being in a film situation and that whole world and as an adult now I do judge it, I judge it for what I believe it is which is an exploitative situation and I've very very sad about that because it stole a lot of years from me.
Michael: What damage did it do? What lasting damage did it do?
Thandie: I felt I was so confused really because I wasn't really sure what was going on. I was sixteen so I was a child but was I an adult but in retrospective I absolutely believe that I was not old enough to make decisions for myself, I was still a school girl.
Michael: And you were exploited by this man.
Thandie: I was and I've demonised this person for a long time because I did lose a lot of years and they continued after I'd separated from him because it became a relationship but that feeling of being a victim continued for a long time and so I continued the damage to myself. And so I demonised him for a long time because I was trapped in that victim mentality and I needed someone to blame. I mean it's such a classic situation, you go through trauma upset and once you get perspective, get consciousness you blame straight away and I have done that a lot in the media and so on and now as an adult I've found that what's important is to find ways to value myself so that I don't let myself become a victim in any other situation anymore.
Michael: You've had an extraordinary life actually because you when all this was going on actually, you went to university, you went to Cambridge, you read Anthropology and you got a 2:1 degree.
Thandie: Just something else yes! I did.
Michael: Does a degree in Anthropology, does it suit you in Hollywood, is it a useful thing to have?
Thandie: Yes the different tribes, yes. It was very useful, just giving me an overview and interestingly Crash seems to be a film, it just says everything that I learnt and valued from my degree in Anthropology.
Michael: You turned down Charlie's Angels. Was that a good idea and why did you turn down Charlie's Angels? Thandie: Well at the time it was a practical thing really. I'd been away from home for nine months doing Mission Impossible 2 and my poor husband has flown out to Sydney five times where I was shooting to be with me. He had a life you know and he missed me and he wanted us to be at home together and I had every, I planned to finish Mission Impossible 2 and go home and we were thinking about starting a family and suddenly I get called to do another gigantic film which was going to take another nine months in Los Angeles and to be honest is wasn't a film that particularly, I didn't feel that it was going to be that challenging necessarily. I was very aware that it was going to make me a movie star, I knew that and I was faced with a choice. Become a movie star which could be short lived, I'd been around doing this for a long time and I've seen you can burn out fast. Or do I want to go home and really just give my energy to the thing that I really cherish which is my personal life. Because the other thing that I've seen, being on the outside of the film industry because I've been doing it for so long. Is that your personal life just gets worn down and I wasn't ready and I've never regretted it and look now. I'd much rather it came for Crash.
Michael: Absolutely, it's a seriously good movie. And with Mission Impossible 2, I must ask you, you were famously asked about snogging Tom Cruise and you said it was 'icky'.
Thandie: That's because it had been a long long time of publicity and I'd answered the question many many times and I feel terrible about that because Tom's response when he was told that I said that about him, about kissing him was that it was like kissing Hitler, so I was very sad about that.
Michael: Somebody's telling lies.
Thandie: I mean Tom is hilarious, he actually gave me a crash course in screen kissing in Mission Impossible 2 because at the end of the film we come together in this glorious moment, I've nearly died and he's nearly died and we have to have this enormous kiss and I've got quite a small nose so when I dived in for this kiss apparently I squashed his nose and his cheeks were everywhere and he took me aside and took me to the monitor and raced me to the monitor and said, 'Thandie come on, you just gotta see what you're doing.' And it's true I looked like some kind of ferret it was terrible but I felt the passion and I was really getting involved and so then we went back onto the set and we did it again and then we went back to the monitor and then we did it again and we must have done it ten times going backwards and forwards to the monitor until we perfected the screen kiss so now I'm just perfect. I could demonstrate now but neither of you are actors so.
Noel: I could, I'm ready. (Laughter)
Michael: I had a BAFTA nomination for a play I once did. It's been great talking to you. You're off to LA now, taking the family.
Thandie: I'm taking them all with me again, going to LA to do a comedy, finally I get to have a nice time.
Michael: Oh good. With who?
Thandie: Eddie Murphy, I can't wait.
Michael: Thandie as I said, it's great talking to you, I enjoyed Crash immensely, it's on general release now and the videos out as well and thank you.
Thandie: Thank you. (Applause)

Saturday, April 01, 2006

The Sunday Times - Britain Thandie changes her car


The Sunday Times
April 02, 2006
Thandie quits her 4x4 to be a green goddessJonathan Leake, Environment Editor
THANDIE NEWTON, the British star of Crash, the Hollywood hit film, has become a crusader against gas-guzzling cars after a Greenpeace activist slapped stickers on her 4x4 accusing her of adding to global warming.This week, Newton, 33, will make her support for the anti-emissions campaign public by writing to fellow Hollywood stars and other celebrities who drive such vehicles, asking them to join her in switching to greener forms of transport.In the Oscar-winning movie Newton played the wife of a black film director whose life changes for ever after their car is stopped by a racist and violent police officer played by Matt Dillon. One of the film’s themes is the way people’s lives can be suddenly altered by such random encounters.For Newton, the proof that life can imitate art came just a few weeks after the film’s British release last autumn, when her car was targeted in northwest London by Cat Dorey, a Greenpeace activist.Dorey’s simple act of planting a sticker on Newton’s BMW X5, warning “This gas-guzzling 4x4 is causing climate change”, and describing the damage done by such vehicles, has prompted the star to change her life.“My concerns for the environment had been growing for a long time but I had not connected them with the car I drove. When I saw the sticker it just connected all the dots up,” said Newton.The actress was so shocked to find that her car could emit twice its own 2.5-ton weight in carbon dioxide for each 12,000 miles driven that she decided to get rid of it. However, Newton went further. First she replaced the X5 with a Toyota Prius, a low-carbon car partly powered by batteries.Now she is to begin her letter campaign by writing to stars such as Tom Cruise, with whom she appeared in Interview with the Vampire and Mission: Impossible 2; and Will Smith, with whom she is working on a new film, The Pursuit of Happyness.In the letter Newton describes how she has replaced her X5. “I loved my X5, loved driving it, and what’s more believed it was safer for my kids, until I discovered the truth about its impact on the environment,” it says.“As you know, extreme weather events are on the increase. The Greenland ice sheet is melting, and sea levels are rising. This climate change, which is largely brought on by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, seriously threatens generations to come.“The hazards I thought I was preventing by driving an SUV are nothing compared to the hazards our children and grandchildren will face if more is not done now.”Other stars targeted by Newton include Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie; Jamie Oliver, the chef; Chris Martin, the Coldplay musician; the singer Barry Manilow; Wayne Rooney, the Manchester United and England footballer; and the Hollywood stars Kevin Costner, Bill Murray, Meg Ryan, Jack Nicholson and Ben Affleck.Newton’s green conversion — she is also committed to buying organic food and clothes — is a coup for Greenpeace. It had already commissioned Peter Wells of Cardiff University’s automotive research centre to carry out a study into the damage done by large 4x4s.The study, Offroad Car, Onroad Menace, will be published this week in time for Newton to enclose it with her letter. In the report Wells says large 4x4s use around 300% more fuel than an efficient family car and produce three times more greenhouse gases.He also finds that they are three times more likely to kill a pedestrian than an ordinary passenger car and cites American studies showing death rates are up to nine times higher for the occupants of cars hit by such vehicles.Dorey herself is amazed to have converted a Hollywood star to the green cause. She had been out with two friends putting warning stickers on “gas guzzlers” when they spotted Newton’s car.“We picked on the really big, bad-looking vehicles and slapped them with stickers. The BMW X5 was like a red rag to a bull. It is one of the most environmentally damaging vehicles on our roads,” she said.“Celebrities have such a big influence on public fashions and they have to realise that when they are seen clambering out of these climate wreckers it sends out a really bad message.”However, some disagree. Richard Williamson, the deputy editor of 4x4 magazine, said it was wrong to assume that all such vehicles were gas guzzlers.“Some four-wheel drives are very economical,” he said, “and there are even some low-carbon hybrid-engined versions now reaching the market.”

Thandie on Parkinson

Thandie ignored Noel Emonds and was touchy touchy as ever with Parky, she told a story about Tom Cruise which was funny, and talked about Crash, just out here on dvd, did mention right at the end she is off to LA to appear in a comdey with Eddie Murphy, Neil Diamond has just finished. They keep talking about snogging (kissing) Tom Cruise.

Looks like the parky website will have a transcript and a few photos.

Actually recorded on Thursday 30th March starting 17:45 at ITV studios on South Bank in London a helpful Neil Diamond site supplied the information

Thandie on uk tv tonight 01/04/2006

Thandie gets interviewed on Parkinson on uk tv tonight 22:20-23:20 uk time.
PARKINSON
Showing: ITV1 Network Saturday 1 April 10:20 PM to 11:20 PMDealing a diamond line up this week Parkinson is joined by Noel Edmonds, Thandie Newton, Timothy Spall and music from Neil Diamond.Noel’s new daytime programme Deal or No Deal has become a cult hit as well as the quickest selling format internationally. Joining Michael in the London Studios, Noel talks house parties and renewed fame.Multi-award winners Thandie Newton and Timothy Spall share their behind the scenes tales, latest projects and once in life time roles, with Michael.Musical great Neil Diamond will perform his latest song from his critically acclaimed new album 12 Songs.