Tag: Clive Owen

  • Anil Kapoor’s Next Hollywood Project Will Wait For His Time

    Anil Kapoor’s Next Hollywood Project Will Wait For His Time

    MUMBAI: The choice is really very simple and clear. Anil Kapoor who is committed to his serial ’24’ for the next 12 months would have to give up his next Hollywood project, Roger Donaldson’s ‘Cities’ starring Clive Owen if the schedules for the two projects clash.

    A posh loss, considering Donaldson has to his credit such box office smashers as ‘Cocktail’ (one of Tom Cruise’s earliest hits), ‘Cadillac Man’, ‘The Recruit’ and ‘No Way out’.

    Luckily for Anil, his reputation in Hollywood post ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ precedes him. We have it from reliable sources that Roger Donaldson is ready to adjust the schedules for ‘Cities’ according to Anil’s schedules for ’24’.

    And that’s no small victory for an Asian actor, considering ‘Cities’ will star Hollywood A-listers Clive Owen, Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom.

    Sighs the tense actor, “It’s a problem, yes.I had committed my dates to them much earlier. In fact I gave them dates twice which they cancelled. The film got delayed. Now ‘Cities’ is finally happening, and I am committed to ’24’. There’s no way I can tamper with the ’24’ schedule for any other project. There are some filmmakers who have been kind enough to wait before starting their film. I hope the makers of ‘Cities’ would wait for me. I’ve definitely said yes to them. I’ve asked them to give me heads-up. Let’s see if they adjust their schedules for me. If the dates don’t clash with ’24’ I’d do their film. I am keeping my fingers crossed.”

    Adds Anil, “I’ve set aside all my other work for ’24’. But it’s not a big sacrifice. I am giving it a year. That’s the time an average feature film takes. I’ve already planned my films after the first season of ’24’. But for now I’m fully into ’24’.I had to be all there with the team more for myself than for the team. Television is a new ball-game for me. The first season needs more careful nurturing. After the first season the series would be on auto-pilot. We don’t know how many seasons we’lll do. Right now we’re focusing only on the first season.”

    Anil wants to bring in the same level of  efficiency into the Indian version of ’24’ as the original.

    “But is that possible? I wonder!” says Anil. “I had the privilege of observing the original team at work for 8 months in LA. So I know what level of professionalism I need to exercise on ’24’. Working on the original ’24’ was great learning curve  for me. I absorbed as much as I could. Now I want to replicate whatever I saw them trying to achieve. The television industry in our country is still in its infancy. In America there are top actors who do television. Look at Keifer Sutherland or Ashton Kutcher. In India television stars don’t get the same recognition and money as movie stars. Hopefully after my show the gap between Indian television and Bollywood would be bridged.”

  • Irrfan Khan Says No To Main Role In Hollywood Flick For YRF

    Irrfan Khan Says No To Main Role In Hollywood Flick For YRF

    MUMBAI: While other actors run after meagre parts in Hollywood Irrfan Khan, who has to his credit pivotal roles in global films like Asif Kapadia’s ‘Warrior’ and Mira Nair’s ‘The Namesake’, has just turned down the main villain’s role in ‘The Last Knights’,  a period action-drama featuring the stalwarts Morgan Freeman and Clive Owen.

    Reluctant to revel in the raga of rejection, Irrfan says, “I take my time to say yes. Yes, I said no to ‘The Last Knights’. I am not a Hollywood actor. My survival as an actor doesn’t depend on what I do there. Today I am in a situation where I can seek satisfaction from myself as an actor. I want to do characters I believe in.”

    Irrfan was to share the main lead with Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman. But the role left him unhappy. “I felt my character was not getting enough to do in the climax, so I said no.”

    Instead Irrfan has said yes to his first Yashraj film. “I am doing Ali Abbas Zafar’s ‘Gunday’ which has Arjun Kapoor  and Ranveer Singh. I’ve a substantial role. I play an intelligence officer. I have good space in the film. It’s a larger-than-life  character.”

    About opting for Bollywood over Hollywood, Irrfan comments, “I am often asked if my success abroad translates into something comparable in Bollywood. The answer is no. It definitely provides a certain perception back home when I do films abroad that are received well. But it doesn’t affect my market here either way. The only I reason I do films in the West is because I get a chance to work with directors like Ang Lee, Danny Boyle, Mira Nair. They enrich me as an actor.”

    Irrfan is indebted to Mira Nair. “ I owe my Hollywood career to Mira. She introduced me to the West. She never screen-tested me for any of the roles that she has given me.”