Simon Callow

When Simon Callow met the Yugoslav film director Dusan Makavejev to discuss his new film Manifesto, they both greatly looked forward to working together. Only months later the two were barely speaking. A companion volume to Being An Actor, Shooting the Actor is a funny and disastrous account of a film made in the former Yugoslavia, together with new essays on film and film acting including Callow's work in Amadeus and Four Weddings and a Funeral. Shooting...

"For two thousand years, the epic tale of Aeneas' dramatic flight from Troy, his doomed love affair with Dido, his descent into the underworld, and the bloody story behind the establishment of Rome has electrified audiences around the world. In Vergil's telling, Aeneas' heroic journey not only gave Romans and Italians a thrilling origin story, it established many of the fundamental themes of Western life and literature--the role of duty and self-sacrifice,...

A documentary examining the remarkable genius of Orson Welles on the eve of his centenary - the enigma of his career as a Hollywood star, a Hollywood director (for some a Hollywood failure), and a crucially important independent filmmaker. Featuring interviews with other legendary directors such as Steven Spielberg, Peter Bogdanovich, William Friedkin, Martin Scorsese and Richard Linklater. Nominated for an Audience Choice Award at the **Chicago...

Set against the stifling conformity of pre-World War I English society, MAURICE is a story of coming to terms with one's sexuality and identity in the face of disapproval and misunderstanding. Maurice Hall (James Wilby) and Clive Durham (Hugh Grant) find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. At a time when homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment, the two must keep their feelings for one another a secret. After a friend is arrested and disgraced...

Scrooge is a cynical old man whose greatest concern is money. On Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley, his former business partner, who arranges for Scrooge to be visited by three spirits. Begins with a sequence set in 1857, the site of a live reading by the renowned Dickens. As he begins his story a woman screams because she has seen a mouse and Dickens points out that his story begins with a mouse. Dickens explains that the...

The extraordinary true story of an unexpected friendship in the later years of Queen Victoria's remarkable rule. When Abdul Karim, a young clerk, travels from India to participate in the Queen's Golden Jubilee, he is surprised to find favor with the Queen herself. As the Queen questions the constrictions of her long-held position, the two forge an unlikely and devoted alliance with a loyalty to one another that her household and inner circle all attempt...

Classic Books Library presents this new beautiful edition of "Shakespeare's Sonnets" (1609). Featuring a specially commissioned new biography of William Shakespeare, it is a must for classical poetry enthusiasts and newcomers alike. Shakespeare's collection of 154 sonnets beautifully explore the age-old human themes of love and beauty, time and mortality, and contain some of the most revered lines in poetry such as, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's...

The lives of two young lovers are, torn apart under Franco's brutal dictatorship in 1960s Barcelona. Half a century later, Daniel must face the truth about the terrifying ending of this passionate love affair and whether everything in his life, until that moment may have been a lie. Following the death of his wife and the wreckage of Hurricane Sandy, retired professor Daniel Sale, the last of a wealthy Connecticut family, wonders whether it is too...

An adapation of David Gerrick's 1747 play, this rate theatrical afterpiece features an all-star cast.

Leo and Darren are two gay roommates living in London, each single and pursuing romantic happiness. While Darren strikes up a relationship with real estate agent and sex-fiend Jeremy, Leo joins a New Age men's therapy group and promptly develops a crush on fellow member Brendan - who is recently separated from his longtime girlfriend Sally!