Puppeteer recalls day his name was misspelled on Star Wars film credits

7:30am Saturday 14th June 2014 in News

By Alex Wynick, Reporter covering Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys. Call me on 01865 425403

Hugh Spight holds a photo of the character he played in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

STAR Wars made Harrison Ford one of Hollywood’s most famous actors but it left one Oxford puppeteer behind.

In 1982 Hugh Spight spent six weeks at Elstree Studios filming with the star in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

But he believes his chance at fame was shot down when his name was misspelled during the credits, renaming him Hugh Spirit. He said: “I don’t know how it happened, its a bit of a mystery. I was a bit gutted really.

We were in the cinema with everybody that I knew, and I saw it come up and just thought ‘Oh no!’.”

Mr Spight, 67, played several small background roles in the film – a pig-like Gamorian guard, a Mon Calamari fish creature and an Elom monster.

Originally trained in ballet dancing, Mr Spight made it on to the Star Wars set after he was spotted next door on the set of Muppet-creator Jim Henson’s movie The Dark Crystal.

Mr Spight, who has lived in Oxford for the last seven years, said: “I had already been in the Star Wars studios for months and months with Dark Crystal.

“We’d looked at each other’s sets and works.

“At the end of Dark Crystal filming they asked a couple of us if we would look at coming on their set, so a few of us did. I was just in the right place at the right time and with the right skills.”

Mr Spight’s biggest role is as the Gamorian guard who escorts Mr Ford’s character Han Solo into captivity.

He said: “We were on Jabba the Hutt’s barge and in those scenes I was the one who had my hand on the shoulder of Harrison Ford.

“We had to take him down to the dungeon.

“Harrison Ford didn’t communicate a lot about anything other than what he wanted us to do in response to his actions. He directed his scenes and you just had to do it.”

He said: “For that character I had an image of John Wayne in my mind because it was such a big costume and you’ve got to move accordingly.

“It was the same type of swagger, a very full-bodied movement.

“It wasn’t hard work really, but in the costumes it’s very tricky to move because they’re so big. I nearly fell down the stairs.”

Now, more than 30 years after the film was released, Star Wars fans have tracked Mr Spight down. He said: “A couple of weeks ago somebody who organised signings contacted me and said they’d worked it out online. Apparently hundreds of people would want to get my signature.”

Mr Spight is tentatively taking his first steps into fame, adding: “I don’t want to be ripped off, but I’ll do a limited number of signatures. It might be nice.”

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Help create giant LEGO-henge in Corsham by donating blocks

10:57am Wednesday 18th June 2014 in Latest News

By Staff reporter

Have you got LEGO blocks, bases or figures which can be used to build a giant LEGO-henge at the Pound arts centre?

A LEGO ‘amnesty’ has been launched by the Pound arts centre to build the biggest LEGO-henge ever seen in Wiltshire.

A spokesman for the centre said: “Do you have spare LEGO knocking around, not being used at home?

“Have you forgotten all about that old set you got for your birthday in 1994?

“If you have LEGO that’s just collecting dust then why not give it a new lease of life and donate to the Pound arts LEGO-henge project?

“We’re recruiting as many LEGO bricks as possible for a big community build of Stonehenge in partnership with LEGO.

“We need bricks; yellow figures and LEGO bases, no donation of LEGO is too big or too small!”

LEGO-henge will be built using the talents of artists and the public during the weekend of July 25 and 26 in the Pound arts centre at Pound Pill. 

Anyone can call in to help, or to see donated LEGO being put to use over these two days.

LEGO-Henge will then stand on display in the arts centre over the summer.

Sophie Leighton-Kelly, deputy director (programming) of Pound Arts, said ‘We’re all really excited at the Pound about this project.

“It’ll be so much fun – a great communal activity for people of all ages.

“But we can’t do it without your help, please donate your unused LEGO and join us for the big build on Friday and Saturday, July 25 and 26.

“Children, parents, carers, grandparents and all ages are welcome to contribute Another Brick in the Wall!”

Pound Arts will also be screening The LEGO Movie on July 25 at 4pm and on July 26 at 11am and 4pm.

Taking part in building the LEGO-henge for free and no tickets are required.

Tickets for the film are £6 (£5 concessions) £3.50 under 16s and students.

Drop off your LEGO donations at The Pound box office by Sunday, July 20, where you can also book your tickets for the film.

For more information, call the box office on 01249 701628 or visit www.poundarts.org.uk

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Twitter has restored access to content that was last month blocked in Pakistan at the request of the government, in a review of its controversial decision.

The content, including tweets and accounts, had been blocked last month using a Country Withheld Content tool that Twitter announced in 2012. The tool gives it the ability to withhold content from users in a specific country, while keeping it available in the rest of the world.

“We have reexamined the requests and, in the absence of additional clarifying information from Pakistani authorities, have determined that restoration of the previously withheld content is warranted. The content is now available again in Pakistan,” Twitter said in an emailed statement.

Twitter was ordered by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to withhold the content as it was considered blasphemous or unethical, according to Chilling Effects, which maintains a record of takedown notices and how companies handle them. Some of the content PTA had objected to referred to Prophet Muhammad.

The social networking company made an “initial decision” on May 18 to withhold the content, drawing criticism from civil rights groups both in Pakistan and abroad.

Twitter’s Country Withheld Content tool “is worrisome for citizens in countries where no transparent and legal processes exist for access and content on the Internet,” wrote Bolo Bhi, a civil rights group in Pakistan.

Bolo Bhi asked that the process by which requests from governments are entertained by Twitter should be made public, including what is considered a valid complaint, and through what process and policy.

Twitter’s initial decision to give in to government demands sets a trend that could start with requests for blocking blasphemous content and then go on to other content that the government does not like, Shahzad Ahmad, country director of Bytes for All, Pakistan, a human rights organization focused on Internet freedom, said Wednesday. “We believe that all Internet platforms with a global presence should develop their policies and principals to have human rights at the core,” he added.

Demands for removal or blocking of content considered religiously objectionable is quite common in countries in the region. YouTube, for example, is blocked in Pakistan as the government claims it cannot selectively block on the video-sharing site a controversial movie trailer called ‘Innocence of Muslims,’ which triggered off unrest in many countries in 2012. In some countries like India, where it had operations, Google blocked the video following the protests, citing its compliance with local laws. Facebook was also under fire recently for temporarily blocking access to the pages of a local rock band, at the request of the government.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John’s e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

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Dystopium movie gives Banbury student a chance for award

6:00pm Saturday 15th March 2014 in News

A poster for the film Dystopium

A FILM-MAKER from Banbury has been nominated in the Best Sci-Fi Fantasy and Best Production Design category at the student film festival Screentest.

Luke Robson made Dystopium which tells of our addiction to social media and technology, while studying for a foundation diploma in Art and Design at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College.

Now a student at Newcastle University, the 20-year-old said: “I made the film because I was fascinated by social media. I have always been interested in dystopian stories such as A Brave New World, Nineteen-Eighty-Four and Black Mirror.”

It took two months to prepare, two days to film and one month to edit. It was filmed at OCVC and was self-funded, costing about £120. The film was directed by the student, who worked alongside screenwriters Luke and Stella Alexandrova and cinematographer Oli Wheeldon.

Mr Robson’s film will be shown at the 10th anniversary Screentest takes place at London South Bank University from March 21-23. Awards will take place after the festival.

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Young Newport filmmakers scoop awards

5:50am Friday 28th March 2014 in Gwent news

Young Newport filmmakers scoop awards

THREE Newport film-makers picked up awards at a national competition last week.

Marielle Wilkinson, 18, who lives in Lliswerry won best film made by a 14 to 18-year-old at the Zoom Young Film-makers Awards at Bridgend College last week.

The teenager, who is in the middle of studying for her A-levels, won with her four-minute film Mania, which she produced for her media studies coursework and only submitted to the festival after being encouraged by her teacher Anna Bartlett.

“I have done lots of small projects but I have never done a film,” said the St Joseph’s RC High School pupil, whose school friends Gabriel Tapfuma, Zoey Groves and Nicole Muza star in the piece. “It worked out pretty well.”

In the film a boy is intrigued by a girl who appears outside his classroom and chases after her, but doesn’t realise he is the only person who can see her.

Ms Wilkinson hopes to study media, journalism and culture at Cardiff University once she has finished her A-levels this summer.

Meanwhile William and Alexander Langley, from Langstone, took home the top prize in the eight to 13 age category for their piece, The Cat in the Bar.

Filmed using a GoPro action sports camera and starring Alexander, 12, and William, 15, who also edited the film, the three-minute black-and-white heist movie involves con artists selling a cat for £100.

It is the second accolade for The Cat in the Bar which also won them best overall film at the Media 4 Schools competition.

The boys also won best trailer at last year’s Zoom awards with a clip of their action film Suspense and best edited film with their piece Gingie’s Tale at last year’s competition.

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Google faces immense competition in the streaming space, but even so, the company’s Chromecast dongle has two things going for it. The first is price. At just $35 — and sometimes cheaper if there’s a promotion or sale taking place — Chromecast is one of the most affordable ways to upgrade your home or dorm room entertainment scheme with streaming content. And secondly, Chromecast continues to get better as more developers jump on board.

One of the newest members to the Chromecast family is VUDU, the on-demand video service owned by Walmart. Using the VUDU app on Chromecast, movie buffs can control video playback, volume, and closed captions just like a remote control. You can even mutli-task and use your device without interrupting what’s playing on VUDU.

Another new addition to Chromecast is Crackle, which just refreshed its Android and iOS apps to support Google’s streaming device. This comes as great news to Jerry Seinfeld fans who can catch Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” original series, as well as his original self-titled sitcom from the 1990s. And if you missed out on The Shield, you can binge-watch the entire series on Crackle, as well.

Completing a perfect storm of streaming additions, Rdio is also new to Chromecast.

“Rdio on Google Chromecast marks another milestone in Rdio’s commitment to delivering the best music experience everywhere,” said Anthony Bay, chief executive officer of Rdio. “Music fans can access Rdio’s massive catalog of over 20 million songs or start a station easily, all from Chromecast on their TV.”

You can listen to millions of songs for free with Rdio, or sign up for a $9.99/month plan for ad-free streaming.

-By Harry Haun

Although
Bad Words advertises itself with a close-up of Jason
Bateman’s mouth forming (possibly foaming) the F-word, it turns out
that Focus Features’ irreverent R-rated antic is more about
spelling than swearing. In fact, it passes plausibly for the Bad
Speller cousin of
Bad Santa—another ornery adult battling youngsters a
third his age—and Bateman has himself quite a W.C. Fields-day here,
putting down the precocious set.

He looks, and looms, a little like Jack Black’s Gulliver when he
shows up among a sea of teens and preteens to compete in a national
Golden Quill spelling bee, crawling into competition through a
loophole that says anyone can enter if he never finished the eighth
grade. Through a quirky twist of fate, Bateman’s character
qualifies.

A 40-year-old proofreader and misanthrope, he bulldozes and
fast-talks his way past the organization’s officials (Allison
Janney and Philip Baker Hall). There is, of course, A Big Reveal
behind his disruptive agenda, and a reporter (Kathryn Hahn) is on
the case, but he keeps making her forget the question with a little
sexual activity.


Bad Words speaks directly to Bateman, who never finished high
school either—and it speaks loud enough for him to make his
movie-directing debut with it. Of course, he missed his graduation
because he was a constantly working child actor deep in TV sitcom
land (“Silver Spoons,” “Valerie,” “It’s Your Move,” etc.).

“I was really too busy to be concerned about not graduating from
high school,” he admits. “I had completed the courses. I just
didn’t take the last two tests, so it was a bit of a technicality.
It really doesn’t bother me. I have a deep curiosity about a number
of things, so I self-educate myself about questions I need answers
to.”

For instance: how to direct a film. He started early with that one
on the small screen. At 18, while his contemporaries were getting
sheepskins, Bateman directed three episodes of his “Valerie” series
and became the DGA’s youngest-ever director.

“That was the first time I did any directing, and I directed on and
off a tiny bit since then, but I never directed a feature film
before, and only one other time did I direct anything
single-camera. But I’ve been asking questions and keeping my eyes
open.”

Bateman’s first directed feature comes from Andrew Dodge’s first
produced script, which was on the 2011 Black List of hot unproduced
screenplays, somewhere between
Saving Mr. Banks and Grace of Monaco. An agent
got them together.

“I told my agent, ‘Don’t wait for me to have free time in my acting
schedule to direct something. Pursue opportunities for me as a
director all the time.’ He said, ‘I’ll send you a few scripts
immediately,’ and he sent three. Bad Words was one of
those.

“It had the comedic sensibility that I liked—I skew a little dark
and subversive—and it had the kind of size and scope I felt was
responsibly moderate for a first film.”

What he probably saw in the script was a perfect role for him—a
kid-hating crank with enough charm and wit to get away with it—but
he resisted the obvious as long as he could. “I wanted to
not play the lead part and just enjoy the directing part of
it,” he insists, “but after I took a couple of swings at bigger
actors and couldn’t get them, I decided to play the part myself—for
two reasons: one, it’s a tricky target to hit, play this character
where you gotta be pretty spiteful but likeable, and, two, it would
cut down on some of my workload if I didn’t have to direct another
actor.”

When it comes to directing yourself in a scene, Bateman subscribes
to the
Ralph Fiennes women-and-children-first technique: “My part was
the last of my concerns. I was much more of the ‘We’ll get to my
stuff after everything else, if need be.’”

Was directing as hard as he thought it would be, or was it fun?
“Much more on both sides, and that’s why I loved it even more than
I thought I would. I was expecting to go absolutely crazy for it,
and I couldn’t believe I loved the experience even more.

“The short and the long of it is you basically are creating a world
for the audience in all its complications and complexities. You’re
responsible for what the audience sees and hears and feels, and a
lot of different components are required to execute that.”

Considering where he’s coming from, it’s not surprising that
Bateman finessed an excellent showing from ten-year-old Rohan
Chand, who plays his primary opponent in the big spell-off, a
winsome Indian lad Bateman dismissively tags “Slumdog.”

“If you find someone who is good at what they do—but it’s not
necessarily what you had in mind—it’s not a bad thing to help them
manage to do what they’re able to do,” Bateman says. “In this case,
Rohan played the part in a way that was even more charming and more
likeable than it was in the script. The problem with that is, if
he’s so likeable and sunny, you’ll hate my character even more for
being so nasty to him, so it necessitated my making a little switch
in the way I delivered lines to him.

“This happens on every film. You find your character needs to
change to fit the way the other actors play their characters. It
all has to work together. You can’t decide how you’ll do something
till you see how everyone else is going to do their stuff.”

Bateman’s own performance of the mean-spirited Guy Trilby is
something of a tightrope walk. “We wanted to make him likeable but
not take any of the teeth out of the film,” he explains. “It was
tough for me to be nasty to kids. That’s really not me up there.
It’s Guy Trilby. He’s got less of a problem with the kids because
he’s going through something completely different than I am.” In
real life, Bateman and his wife, Amanda Anka (Paul’s daughter),
have two daughters, ages seven and two. “I became such a softie
when I had my first kid. Now, I cry watching toilet paper
commercials.”

His directing debut has left Bateman wanting to do it again. And
again. “I’d love to direct full time,” he confesses. “I’m starting
another, actually. It’s taken from a book called The Family
Fang, about a brother and sister who return home to search for
their missing parents. The parents are performance artists, and we
don’t know if they are just doing another performance-art piece or
if they have been murdered. So the film has a tricky tone that
falls somewhere between a comedy and a drama.“

Nicole Kidman plays the sister. His own sister, Justine Bateman,
wasn’t an option. “She’s taking classes in computer science at
UCLA. It’s a new life, a new career.”

Another family comedy-drama, This Is Where I Leave You, is
poised for release. “That’s about a family that comes together to
sit shiva for a father who has just passed. It’s not even a Jewish
family, but the father found Judaism right before he died, and his
dying wish is that we all get together and sit shiva for him for a
week. We don’t know what the heck to do—we’re not Jewish, how would
we? What it does is bring the family together. All the baggage and
garbage and scares resurface when stuck under one roof for a week.
It’s obviously very funny and also very dramatic.”

Horrible Bosses 2 just wrapped and will be out for
Thanksgiving. “Christoph Waltz is our main nemesis, Chris Pine is
his son, and our old nemeses come back as well. It’s a great group,
and I think we got something even better than the first one,
actually.”

Big things are coming to Windows Phone users. Microsoft today announced a bunch of new features as part of its upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update, not the least of which is a personal digital assistant of its own called Cortana. It’s similar to Siri and Google Now in function, but named after the Halo character and powered by Bing.

Microsoft says Cortana will get to know users over time by asking questions based on their behavior and checking in with users before assuming they’re interested in something. There’s little chance Cortana will form a romantic relationship like in the movie Her, though Microsoft does envision it developing a personal relationship of some sort, one in which Cortana will eventually learn about the things users care about so that it can filter out the noise and focus only on the things that matter.

“Once she’s learned a bit about you, Cortana’s home populates with information that is curated just for you. You’ll see things like flight information she’s found from your email confirmations, weather, the latest news, and even traffic information once she learns your commute routine, such as from work and home,” Microsoft explains.

Cortana is also able to interact with third party apps, such as Skype and Hulu Plus. You can have Cortana look up a news feed on Facebook, send out a tweet via Twitter, and more.

Your Windows Phone will look a little different with Windows Phone 8.1. To make it more customizable, Microsoft is adding a third column on devices with 5-inch or larger displays, like the Lumia 1520. You’ll be able to customize your Start background with a favorite picture or one of the options Microsoft provides, and choose from a new set of themes for the Lock screen.

Microsoft is also adding an Action Center so that you can see notifications from any app, whether it’s pinned or not. This will also give you quick access to popular settings such as Wi-Fi, toggling Flight Mode, Bluetooth, and Rotation Lock.

There’s quite a bit to digest, more of which you can read about in Microsoft blog or via the nearly 17-minute long video above. Or you can wait and experience the changes for yourself. Microsoft said it will begin rolling out the Windows Phone 8.1 update to existing Windows Phone 8 users over the coming months. It will also come pre-installed on future Windows Phone devices, some of which figure to be more affordable. As was previously rumored, Microsoft said it’s dropping its Window Phone license fee for OEM and ODM partners who build devices with screens under 9 inches.