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BORIS Johnson is backing Britain’s bid to bring football home in the 2030 World Cup. The Prime Minister promises to “put our Government machine at the heart” of the ambitious move to host the tournament. If we are selected it would be the first time since England won the World Cup in 1966. Writing in The Sun today Mr Johnson, pictured left playing in an England legends game,  pledges £550million to overhaul football pitches. The money would go on building 2,000 new astro-turf pitches and fixing  20,000 current grass ones. It is the biggest injection of cash ever made into the sport at grassroots level.The plan aims to help Britain’s bid to host the 2030 World Cup. 'UNITE IN CELEBRATION ' Mr Johnson writes: “It’s time for football to come home and that’s why, if elected, I’ll put our Government machine at the heart of a UK and Ireland 2030 World Cup bid. “Above all, I want it to unite us in celebration like the 2012 … [Read more...] about Prime Minister Boris Johnson is backing Britain’s bid to bring football home in the 2030 World Cup

Their romance was one of the most tempestuous in Hollywood history and ushered in an era of intense media interest in celebrity lifestyles. Now the love affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton looks set to be immortalised on film following reports that Martin Scorsese is tipped to direct a forthcoming biopic. The film will be based on the book Furious Love by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, a biography of Taylor and Burton's on-off relationship. Deadline reports that studio interest was almost non-existent when the authors put the movie rights up for sale last year, but Taylor's death in March has pushed the British-born actor's legacy back into the limelight. As well as Paramount, which has optioned the book for Scorsese to direct, there were enquiries from Black Swan star Natalie Portman and King's Speech screenwriter, David Seidler, both Oscar winners in March. Furious Love's Hollywood appeal is clear: prior to her death, Taylor allowed Kashner and Schoenberger access … [Read more...] about Scorsese planning Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor biopic

Maybe the title will have people humming Madonna in spite of themselves. Actually it is the name of a George Harrison solo album from 1973 – characteristically concerned with Asian spirituality – and now the title of Martin Scorsese's new film: an enormously affectionate, enthusiastic, and wildly indulgent three-and-a-half hour docu-tribute to Harrison. With new interviews with key figures including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Martin, Scorsese's movie sets out to cherish and rediscover that special something in Harrison's music and his gentle, self-deprecating, otherworldly personality. He pays tribute to Harrison as the inventor of the benefit gig with his 1971 Bangladesh concert, and also as a film producer and backer of HandMade Films, and the man without whom Life of Brian and Withnail and I would not exist. Scorsese asks: could it be that the Pythons provided Harrison with the human chemistry and fizz he used to get from the Beatles? It's an attempt to … [Read more...] about George Harrison: Living in the Material World – review

Steven Spielberg Director My favourite and preferred step between imagination and image is a strip of photochemistry that can be held, twisted, folded, looked at with the naked eye, or projected on to a surface for others to see. It has a scent and it is imperfect. If you get too close to the moving image, it's like impressionist art. And if you stand back, it can be utterly photorealistic. You can watch the grain, which I like to think of as the visible, erratic molecules of a new creative language. After all, this "stuff" of dreams is mankind's most original medium, and dates back to 1895. Today, its years are numbered, but I will remain loyal to this analogue artform until the last lab closes. Keanu Reeves Actor The biggest difference I have found when working photochemically versus digitally on motion pictures is the length of time the takes can last. Broadly, a 1,000ft roll of 35mm film lasts around nine-and-a-half minutes before running out, while a digital tape or recording card … [Read more...] about Steven Spielberg & Martin Scorsese: the joy of celluloid

Martin Scorsese is to return to the crime genre with The Snowman, an adaptation of the seventh book in Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø's series of novels about hardboiled Oslo detective Harry Hole. Nesbø confirmed to a Swedish newspaper that Scorsese had signed on the dotted line. It's not known whether the film will be the Oscar-winner's follow-up to Hugo, his forthcoming 3D children's fantasy, or whether it will arrive at a later date. The Snowman sees Nesbø's maverick cop investigating what appears to be Norway's first serial killer, a murderer who always leaves a snowman near the scene of his crime. The author came to prominence in Britain with the publication in 2006 of his Harry Hole novel The Redbreast. The Snowman, published here in 2010, and The Leopard, which followed this year, have cemented his reputation as one of the best of the current wave of Scandinavian writers, alongside Swedish authors such as Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson, and his fellow Norwegian, … [Read more...] about Martin Scorsese set to direct crime thriller The Snowman