DVDs in the Works

Today the British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced its nominations for the best in 2009 films, and as always “we knew them when.” Nominated for both Best Leading Actress (An Education) and the Rising Star Award is Carey Mulligan, who features in recent costume dramas Bleak House, Northanger Abbey and My Boy Jack. A more surprising discovery is that Mulligan also guest-starred in one of the most popular episodes of the new Doctor Who series Season Three’s “Blink” (for which she won a Doctor Who fan poll so who needs a BAFTA!) In the Best Leading Actor category are Colin Firth (Pride and Prejudice, Another Country) for A Single Man and Andy Serkis for Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. Serkis first came to the world’s attention as the actor behind Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. When he followed those three blockbusters with another CGI-laden performance as King Kong, he may have broken the record for the greatest career exposure with the least chance of being recognized. (Apologies to Lon Chaney, Sr.) This year he was nominated for an Emmy for his performance as Rigaud in Little Dorrit. He was also unforgettable as Van Gogh in Simon Schama’s drama doc The Power of Art back in 2006. In the running for Best Supporting Actress is Anne-Marie Duff, who plays John Lennon’s wayward mother in Nowhere Boy, which will make its US debut at the Sundance Film Festival. Duff is no stranger to fans of costume drama, having starred in Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen, and appeared in The Way We Live Now, The History of Mr. Polly, Aristocrats and The Last King. Last but not least, Nicholas Hoult (star of Skins) just seems to get better with every role (and wear ever less), and his contribution to A Single Man has earned him a nod in the Rising Star category. BBC America will run the BAFTA Awards program on February 21st, so be sure to tune in or set your DVR.

We’ve been enjoying David Suchet’s Hercule Poirot for twenty years now, so it’s sometimes hard to imagine those “little gray cells” in service to any other character. But back in 1984 when he was relatively unknown to television, the BBC gave Suchet his first leading role in Freud, a six-part miniseries that aired on A&E in 1985. So far, we’ve only had the chance to see the series opener that features Michael Kitchen and concerns Freud’s tragic enthusiasm for the medical use of cocaine. The New York Times noted that the series was a “warts and all” portrait shot on location in Austria, Italy and Freud’s Maresfield Gardens home in London. This breakthrough performance earned Suchet the Royal Television Society’s Best Actor award, so we fully expect the rest of the series live up to its promise when we see it on DVD in 2010.