Rising Star Bo Roberts- A Spartan with a Message

 

With the success of 300: Rise of an Empire since it's release early March, the Spartan warriors made famous in the first film came back into the spotlight in a big way. 300 and it's recent sequel were extremely popular due to the incredible CGI employed to create a realistic impression of the ancient world and the historic battle scenes. The Spartans in the films have almost became a cult figure not only because of their physique, but because they symbolise true warriors who were willing to put everything on the line for their home and what they believed in. 
 

There is one particular Spartan who's life has changed since his appearance in 300: Rise of an Empire and understands that being in the public eye comes with great responsibility, and he is embracing this. 300: Rise of an Empire may be the first studio feature film appearance for Bo Roberts, but definitely not his last as this model turned actor's star is rapidly on the rise. Roberts is set to work in Anthony Petito's film, Strain and wants to actively be a strong role model to his fans and those who support him.

Born and raised in Indiana in a family of truck drivers, Roberts is a self confessed country boy. Upon finishing school, he studied psychology and decided to look towards a career in law enforcement. At 18 and 19 he also worked as a sports coach, in particular training young people in baseball and wrestling. While in this role, he acted as a mentor to the boys he was training. As well as giving them athletic training and advice, he would also try and give them good life advice such as what to steer clear of or how to get dates. However, after moving to Florida, a photographer suggested to Roberts that he should start modelling, a career move which proved to be a wise one. His modelling has taken him to New York and also Europe before settling in Los Angeles.

Before arriving in Los Angeles, Roberts was taking acting classes and had long been interested in making the move into acting. What interests Roberts most about acting is the psychological side of it. With his background in psychology, he enjoys reading and breaking down a script, and then digging deep within his psyche and using that psyche education on himself. He says that he had always dreamt of seeing himself in movies, but had conflicting thoughts of how he was just a typical boy from the mid west and that couldn't happen. His appearance as a Spartan in 300: Rise of an Empire has now solidly changed that. Since the premiere of the film and the following days have seen him on the red carpet on more than one occasion. When asked if people have treated him differently now that he is in the public eye, he replied "My friends think it is great that Bo is in 300, but just want to know if we are still playing pool on Friday."

There has been some controversy surrounding the latest 300, as some people believe that the male body image promoted by the Spartan men in the film is unrealistic and unhealthy. When asked what Roberts thinks about these allegations, he claims that they don't bother him, but it is something he disagrees with. Roberts lives an extremely healthy lifestyle and knows how much work he put in to get himself to the point which he is at. While in high school he admits to not being in the shape he is now and it took years of training and nutrition to change this. Roberts' health regime consists of eating foods with plenty of carbohydrates first thing in the morning, and then pealing off these carbohydrates by night, when he has more protein such as tuna and salad. The message which he would rather 300 convey in regards to male body image is that if you want to make it happen, you can. 

"People may think that it is too hard, but if you do things the right way and stay focused, things happen" says Roberts. "It is obtainable. You are looking at 50 guys on screen who have that body. It takes a lot of work. Would you rather have a Big Mac or a good chicken salad?"

He also hopes that with being in the public eye he can also continue with what he accomplished in his days of coaching by being a good example to those who look up to him. He believes that coming into his own as someone who people pay attention to, will help him to guide those who look up to him in the right direction. 

Although Roberts was very excited about seeing himself on the big screen for the first time in 300, he does admit that he did feel a little disappointed as he would have loved to have done more in the film. He had been cast as Nash/The Rider in Anthony Petito's sci-fi/action film, Strain, which is based on the short film of the same name. After working in both an action and a sci-fi film, he says that he wants to work in every type of film possible, but would love to play a menacing, bad guy with great depth. 

We thank Bo Roberts for his time in speaking to us and please see below for the full interview as recorded  via Skype.



(Please note that at the time of the interview, Roberts was to work on L. Gustavo Cooper's film, June, but had to change due to scheduling conflicts)

Rising Star: Zoey Deutch

It's official! Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters is currently in production!

For those who are not familiar with the book series written by Richelle mead, Vampire Academy is not your typical vampire story. We're not talking a typical Twilight style, young adult romance here. Think more along the lines of Harry Potter meets Underworld. Yes, there is a splash of romance here, but teenage angst is far removed from the picture. The lead character, Rose Hathaway is one tough cookie and as a Dhampir, she is a bodyguard to her best friend, Lissa who is a vampire princess. Rose, as opposed to many other female leads in YA romance these days, is the one young girls should be looking up to. She is the one who puts herself between her best friend and danger and never backs down from what she believes in.

Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters currently has a 14th February 2014 release date in place (subject to change). Mark Waters, of Mean Girls, Mr Popper's Penguins and Freaky Friday fame, is directing the film and an impressive cast has been assembled including Gabriel Byrne, Olga Kurylenko, Joely Richardson and Sarah Myland. The lucky girls who have landed the roles themselves the lead roles are Lucy Fry, who is to play Lissa, and Zoey Deutch, who is Rose Hathaway.

So in preparation for Vampire Academy, Zoey Deutch is our Rising Star for July 2013.



Deutch is no stranger to show business and acting runs in her blood, as she is the daughter of actress, Lea Thompson and director, Howard Deutch. Born in Los Angeles, California on the 10th of November 1994, she studied dancing from a young age and attended Los Angeles County High School for the Arts with a double major in Theater and Visual Arts.

Her break came when she appeared in "The Suite Life On Deck" in 2010 and became an instant Disney channel favourite as Maya Bennett. She made her film debut at age 16 when she played her real life mother's daughter in Mayor Cupcake. She also has had small roles in "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigation Service", "Criminal Minds" and had an ongoing role as Juliet Martin in "Ringer" alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar).


Most recently, many people will remember Deutch from the 2013 film, Beautiful Creatures where she played Emily Asher, the most popular girl in school at Gaitlin. Deutch was a joy to watch in Beautiful Creatures, and over-shadowed many of her co-stars when on screen with her Christian morals conflicting her jealousy of the new girl, making her a very interesting character to watch.

Deutch is currently in the United Kingdom filming Vampire Academy, but when she is at home in the states, she is an active supporter of many charities including the Corazon De Vida Orphanage in Tijuana and The Alzheimer's Association. Her greatest love is her cat named Stinky Pete, who is outnumbered by having six dogs, as well as an African Grey parrot, several horse and a pond of fish to share his space with!


 Check out this interview with Zoey Deutch and her Beautiful Creatures co-star, Thomas Mann.

We wish Zoey the best of luck and we can't wait to see her in Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters!


References
The Internet Movie Database
Zoey Deutch Online
The Official Website Of Vampire Academy
Zoey's Official Facebook Page

Rising Star Natalie Dormer

This gorgeous actress who I have chosen to be Movie Critical's next rising star has made her biggest impact on the small screen. She is very quickly becoming a household name to those who weren't already bewitched by her role as the ill-fated Anne Boleyn in "The Tudors", as she has now become a regular cast member of HBO's hit show "Game Of Thrones".

Our rising star is beautiful British actress, Natalie Dormer.



Dormer, who was born on the 11th of February 1982 in Reading, UK, joined the "Game Of Thrones" ensemble during the second season as Margaery Tyrell and has become a regular for season three. As is the case with most of the female "Game Of Thrones" cast, her most recent role has shot her into the spotlight. However, for lovers of everything Tudor (including myself), this lovely lady has been a star since we first saw her appear in the Showtime series, "The Tudors" back in 2008.

Dormer has been acknowledged by many as the best portrayal of Anne Boleyn ever on the screen, big or small. She has been tagged the most historically accurate ill-fated queen, both in appearance and performance.

In approaching her role as Anne Boleyn, Dormer took her role extremely seriously as she is a great lover of British history. Susan Bordo's recent book, The Creation Of Anne Boleyn features Dormer speaking about her research into her role and also her experiences playing the ill-fated queen. She talks about how she wanted to keep her portrayal as close to history as possible and not do her any wrong.

It is a wonder to many (myself included) how Dormer didn't recieve more recognition in the form of an Emmy or Golden Globe nomination at least. Anne Boleyn is one historical figure who has been portrayed so many times in popular culture. Dormer's Anne is one who has so much sexual intensity, but still demands the audience's sympathy and remains a character the viewers barrack for. Everyone knows what happened to Anne Boleyn, but her Anne is one you pray doesn't fall victim to same fate.

An interesting piece of information about Dormer according to the website, Captivating Natalie Dormer is that she is a decendent of Jane Dormer, who was Queen Mary Tudor's lady-in-waiting. So Dormer is related to the character she portrayed's step-daughter!

Prior to "The Tudors", Dormer's first role of note was as Victoria in the 2005 film, Casanova. The role was initially a very small one, but director Lasse Hallstrom was so impressed with her that he made the role bigger just for her.

Since "The Tudors", Dormer has had such big screen roles as Olga in City Of Life, Pvt. Lorraine in Captain America: The First Avenger and she returned to playing royalty in W.E. as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.

It has recently be announced that Dormer will be gracing the small screen as another popular female character, Irene Adler in Elementary. She will also appear in the film to be released this November, The Counselor, which also stars Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz.

Natalie Dormer is a favourite of many, but her star is only on the rise and it isn't long before everyone will know exactly who she is.




References
Captivating Natalie Dormer
The Internet Data Base
The Creation Of Anne Boleyn If you are interested in reading this book, it is available from Amazon here
Entertainment Weekly

Rising Star- Chloe Grace Moretz

Rising Star

Chloe Grace Moretz

If you can look at this picture of 15 year old Chloe Grace Moretz and not recognize her at all, you must have been living under a rock for the past few years….or you just haven’t been to the cinema for years.

To say that Moretz is a Rising Star may not be the most accurate term, as since making her debut in the hit television show The Guardian in 2004, she has appeared in over 25 films and several television series. At such a young age, she has secured herself a large following based on her versatility and brave choice of roles. Moretz has made the transition from child actor to the realm of movie adolescence and there is no doubt that this amazing girl has a very bright future ahead of her.

Chloe Grace Moretz was born on the 10^th of February 1997 in Atlanta, Georgia. Her older brother, Trevor, was accepted into the Professional  Performing Arts High School in New York City when she was only four years old and this is what sparked her passion.

Upon moving to Los Angeles in 2003, Moretz landed her first notable film role in 2005’s remake of The Amityville Horror as Chelsea Lutz. She impressed everyone with her chilling, yet completely innocent portrayal of the youngest child in the terrorized Lutz family.

From then on in Moretz has been constantly working in Hollywood. She appeared in TV shows such as My Name Is Earl, Desperate Housewives and Dirty Sexy Money and was the voice of Darby in Disney’s My Friends Tigger and Pooh. Some of her earlier movie roles also included Big Momma’s House 2, Room 6, The Eye, (500) Days Of Summer and was the voice of Young Penny in Bolt.

However, Moretz made her presence known and made a huge impact with her roles as Hit- Girl in Kick Ass. She shocked audiences with the things that came out of her mouth while in character and Hit-Girl’s choice of combat and defence. Moretz assured the public after this role that she was nothing like her character and never uses the type of colourful language she used in the film in everyday life.

Her next big role was as child vampire, Abby in 2010’s Let Me In and she took on a slightly less horror-related role in The Diary Of A Wimpy Kid in the same year.

Showing her versatility as an actress, she appeared in the Oscar nominated film, Hugo and received wide critical acclaim for her sweet and heartfelt performance.

Moretz has a number of films in production at this very moment, which shows just how in demand the young actress is right now. Perhaps her most highly anticipated role is that of the title role in the remake of Carrie. There is already talk of seeing her in the very popular prom scene which is often talked about when referring to the original. Carrie is due to be released in March 2013.

She is also rumoured to be reprising her role as Hit- Girl in Kick Ass 2.

Although Moretz is now gracing the pages of fashion magazines such as Vogue and W and becoming known for her fashion at movie premieres, she assures people that she is still just a typical teenage girl who loves being with her family and friends.

Moretz herself may believe that she is just a typical teenage girl, but we believe that this girl will be around for a long time yet and will make the move from child to adult movie star with complete and utter ease and grace. We look forward to reviewing more of her films in years to come!

References

The Internet Movie Database

ChloeMoretz.com

Access Hollywood

KidzWorld

Top News

Rising Star: Carey Mulligan

I was going back and forth in my mind as to whether Carey Mulligan would qualify as being a Rising Star. Miss Mulligan is already a star in her own right with an Oscar nomination under her belt and a huge fan following, but one cannot deny the way her star status is on a continuous rise. She is definitely deserving of her own Rising Post, because there is much more to this talented British actress than her role of Jenny in “An Education” and being Shia LaBeouf’s current squeeze.

Carey Hannah Mulligan was born on the 25th of May 1985 in Greater London. She spent the first eight years of her life living in Germany before she returned with her parents to her home land. Carey first developed her love of acting at school at six years old when she appeared in “The King And I” in the chorus. It wasn’t until she was 20 that her dreams really started to take flight, when she got the role of Kitty Bennett the 2005 film, “Pride And Prejudice” alongside Keira Knightly and Judi Dench. This breakthrough role was the start of her film and television career.

She appeared in various British television shows and specials such as “Bleak House”, “Doctor Who” and “Northanger Abbey”. However during these times, she always kept her love of the stage and performed in productions such as “The Seagull”, in which she received a great deal of critical acclaim. From here, her film career took off and she appeared in “When Did You Last See Your Father?” with Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth and “The Greatest” with Pierce Brosnan, Susan Surandon and Aaron Johnson. However, it is by “An Education” that skyrocketed Mulligan into the stardom. For playing the role of eager sixteen year old schoolgirl Jenny, she received a BAFTA win and Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. The way in which she portrayed Jenny was done with complete believability and grace and she won many hearts in her performance.


Carey Mulligan entered Hollywood in 2009 with her roles in “Public Enemies” and “Brothers” and is continuing this new relationship in her current role as Winnie in “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”. Her next role is in “Never Let Me Go”, in which she once again co-stars with Keira Knightly. Mulligan is also rumoured to be involved in the remake of “My Fair Lady” and the American remake of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”.

Carey Mulligan already has an amazing career and no doubt that are greater things to come for her. Her purity and grace make it almost impossible to dislike her and we wish her all the best of luck in the future.

Rising Star: Aaron Johnson

It’s been awhile since Movie Critical has done a Rising Star post, so here it is now! This time around we have chosen Aaron Johnson as our Rising Star. Despite his young age, this UK actor is no stranger to show business. He has been in several productions over the years, but with his starring role in the critically acclaimed “Nowhere Boy” and the release of the highly anticipated “Kick-Ass”, his star is definitely on the rise.

Aaron Johnson was born on the 13th of June 1990 in High Wycombe in England. He started acting at the age of 6, when he started attending the Jackie Palmer Stage School in the same town as his birth. In his time here, he studied acting, dance and acrobatics. Johnson appeared in several productions both on stage and on film.
Johnson’s big break was playing the heart throb, Robbie in “Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging”. From here, he gathered quite a fan club. However, it was in the biopic, “Nowhere Boy” that the world became familiar with Aaron Johnson and his superb acting abilities. Sam Taylor Wood chose to cast Johnson in the lead role of the film as the young John Lennon. Such a role came with high expectations, and Johnson fulfilled this expectation by creating the perfect interpretation of one of the greatest musicians of our time. This film also marked a significant event in Johnson’s and Sam Taylor Wood’s life. The two became a couple and were engaged not long before the release of the film. The couple are also expecting their first child in the latter half of 2010. This relationship has been highly featured in gossip columns because of the 22 year age difference between the two. However, the age difference is not as startling in 2010 as it would have been in the past, and the couple are said to be very happy and do not let the age come between them.


“Kick-Ass” is set to be released in Australia on the 8th of April and 16th of April in the United States. Johnson plays the lead role of Dave Lizewski, whose secret persona is super-hero Kick-Ass. The film has already attracted loads of media attention and has already collected favourable reviews in its advanced previews. Johnson’s next project is in the Hideo Nakata directed film, “Chatroom”.

Aaron Johnson is fast impressing everyone in the film world with his versatile and intriguing roles. There is no doubt that this younger performer has a great deal ahead of him and we look forward to seeing a great deal more of him in the future!

Rising Stars

Sam Worthington

For Movie Critical’s first Rising Star, we have chosen Sam Worthington. Worthington shot to international stardom with his role as Marcus Wright in “Terminator Salvation” and plays the lead of Jake Sully in the highly anticipated “Avatar”. He is quickly becoming one of the most recognised action stars in film today, but his roots don't lie in this film genre, as many Australian film fans will know.

Worthington was born in Perth, Australia on the 2nd of August 1976. He did not always aspire to be an actor, but his life changed when he accompanied a friend to his audition at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). NIDA is known for being extremely hard to win a place in, so they must've seen something very special in Worthington as he was accepted, while his friend wasn't. After starting his career on stage, he was soon being cast in roles in such Australian TV shows as "Water Rats" and "Blue Heelers".

His first film role was in "Bootmen", a film in which he has admitted to not learning much about tap dancing during, even though that is what the film is about. This was followed by roles in "Dirty Deeds", "Gettin' Square" and "Thunderstruck". However, in 2004,it was his role in the multi AFI award winning film "Somersault" that won him critical acclaim and secured his place in amongst Australia's acting elite. He won the Australian Film Institute's award for Best Actor in A Leading Role and from here the sky was the limit.Before entering the USA market, he also played the lead in the 2006 film version of "Macbeth" and also appeared in the giant crocodile film,"Rogue".













Since then, Worthington stole the show in "Terminator Salvation" and hasn't looked back. Besides "Avatar", he is also starring in the upcoming "Clash Of The Titans" which is to be released in early 2010. Worthington, for the time being, has seemed to find his niche in action film, but from he previous roles it is clear to see that he will not have a problem fitting into other film genres in the future.