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The Arts on Sunday - Arts News

Art Snippets from Around the World- March 15 2009

Drama: Forget the middle-aged gargoyle with the comb-over. A new, apparently authentic picture of William Shakespeare has just been unearthed, and the boy was a hottie, looking a bit like Chris Martin from Coldplay – all auburn locks and designer stubble. The 400-year-old portrait was unearthed by the descendents of the Bard’s patron - and some say, his lover - the Earl or Southampton, who presumably commissioned it. So possibly not an impartial judge…

Drama: The play Black Watch has picked up four Laurence Olivier awards – including Best Play - by Britain’s theatre critics. No surprise to New Zealanders, who flocked to see the soldier’s-eye view of the Iraq War when it was featured at the International Arts Festival last year.

Music: And still on the arts and the military, East Timor’s new defence force has already formed its own military band, courtesy of New Zealand’s brass bands. The Kiwis had a whip-round and donated a dozen instruments, including tubas, trombones and drums to the inaugural East Timor Defense Band.

Film: Great snakes! While Peter Jackson has been fluffing about getting The Lovely Bones, The Hobbit and The Dambusters together, his buddy Steven Spielberg has already knocked off his part of the Tintin films. He’s sent Secret of the Unicorn to Wellington for the Weta people to add all the special effects, thundering typhoons and blistering barnacles. Come on Pete – pick it up...

TV: Pat Booth, winning new prizes for naivety, has called for the banning of the TV series Underbelly, dealing with the Mr Asia ring. His claim – that it’s not exactly accurate, and makes Terry Clarke seem glamorous. Rather like Al Capone, Jesse James, Genghis Khan, Robin Hood and all the rest of Hollywood’s favourite bad boys, in other words.

Music: At a time when arts organizations are feeling the cold wind of recession blowing away their funding, good news from the Womad music festival this week. It seems numbers are up from last year, with over 7 thousand three-day passes sold for the event.

Film: The new CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission has been announced, and – like the Australian equivalent, they’ve crossed the Tasman to find him. Australian Graeme Mason’s background is in acquisition and distribution, and was involved – we’re told – in such films as The usual suspects, Trainspotting, The Motorcycle diaries and… er, Spice world – the movie.

Film: The new biopic Notorious, about murdered rapper the Notorious B I G, has received its worst notice so far – from Biggie himself. According to the late Biggie’s ex-girlfriend, Lil Kim, Biggie’s ghost has let her know he’s “really disappointed” about the movie. This story casts new light on Rock and Roll Heaven, and how much there really is to do up there.

Film: Mad Max is back, for a belated fourth episode of the Australian road-warrior film series. Good news and bad news, however. Max creator George Miller has announced it will be in 3D, and won’t include Mel Gibson. Actually, we’re not sure which of those is the good news and which the bad news.

Film: In England, it’s been suggested that car-boot sales are the cause of the local film industry’s woes. It seems that many pirated copies of movies are being sold at these suburban outlets – and the cost to the economy – plucking a figure out of the air – could be as much as 614 million pounds a year. Where do they get the 14 from?