The Playlist

The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.

Interviews

'Captain America' Star Hayley Atwell Joins Ray Winstone & Plan B In TV Cop Remake 'The Sweeney'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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October 28, 2011 1:37 AM
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5 Comments

'Homeland' Lead Damian Lewis & Steven Mackintosh Also In Cast"Captain America: The First Avenger" was a funny one, wasn't it? The first half was the best superhero of the year, the second, a plotless, uneven mess. But it had many pleasures, and first among them was Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter. Given an unusually well-drawn female character for a comic book movie to get her teeth into, the British actress, a relative unknown in the U.S. who took the role after it was turned down by the likes of Keira Knightley and Emily Blunt, knocked it out of the park, proving feisty, kick-ass, and vulnerable, often within the same scene, showing wider audiences what many have known since her debut in BBC drama "The Line of Beauty" -- she's going to be a massive star.

By Oliver Lyttelton
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April 5, 2011 1:24 AM
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2 Comments

'Trainspotting' Writer John Hodge To Pen ScriptAs a seminal British TV cop show, "The Sweeney," which followed Flying Squad members Carter (Dennis Waterman) and Regan (John Thaw) as they bust heads across London, has long proved influential in the genre -- it's more or less the total inspiration for popular sci-fi series "Life on Mars" -- and it's no surprise that a big-screen reboot has been in the works for years. The film came within weeks of filming in 2008, with Ray Winstone as Regan and Michael Fassbender as Carter, but Fox Searchlight balked at a relatively high (for the U.K.) $16 million budget, and the plug was pulled.