"Howards End" Premieres, "Ladies In Black" Begins Filming

"Howards End" premiered today in the UK. The Starz/BBC 4-part mini-series will air in the U.S. early next year. The trailer for the mini-series dropped a few days ago and contains a brief line of dialogue from Julia Ormond, playing a scene with series star Hayley Atwell.

The BBC website contains more footage from the adaptation of E.M. Forster's classic novel.

II. Julia will be appear in a new Australian film called "Ladies in Black." It is based on a bestselling novel by Madeleine St John. IMDB describes the film as follows:

"Ladies in Black is set in Sydney in the summer of 1959, against the backdrop of Australia's cultural awakening, breakdown of class structures, and liberation of women. It tells the coming-of-age story of suburban schoolgirl Lisa, who while waiting for her final high school exam results with dreams of going to the University of Sydney, takes a summer job at a large department store. Here she works side-by-side with a group of saleswomen who open her eyes to a world beyond her sheltered existence, and foster her metamorphosis."

According to Variety:

"Ormond will play a Slovenian emigre who’s the manager of the high-fashion floor. Other cast members include Rachael Taylor as Fay Baines, Alison McGirr, Vincent Perez, Ryan Corr, Susie Porter, and Shane Jacobson."

III. True Sioux Hope Foundation, an organization dedicated to "assisting the Oglala Lakota Sioux Native Americans from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota," recently held its second annual True Sioux Hope Gala. The non-profit "reached out to donors including Donna and Dick Pickup, Tim and Stephanie Busch, Linda and Burton Young, Leroy and Kelly Breinholt, Cheryl and John Joliffe, Marilyn Robinson and Julia Ormond to build local interest and bring in financial backing."

Learn more from the LA Times article below:

http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/opinion/tn-dpt-et-the-crowd-20171012-story.html

IV. Are you still disappointed that Lifetime cancelled "The Witches of East End" on a cliffhanger? This may be the consolations you're looking for:

"On Tuesday, Summer on East End: Triple Moon, the young adult spinoff novel series by Witches of East End author Melissa de la Cruz, arrives in bookstores, and with it comes “Mirror Souls,” a short story conclusion to the TV series."

This story is an old one at this point but I missed it the first time around. If you missed it, too, and are a fan of the tv series, pick up the book!

V. "Remember," the sci-fi thriller starring Peter Dinklage, Martin Donovan, Anton Yelchin and Julia Ormond will become available on blu-ray on November 28th. Julia is all over the trailer (yay!!!). This one looks like it could be really good.

"Incorporated" Premieres; "Rememory" To Debut At Sundance

Julia Ormond is celebrating a birthday! I'm sure all of her fans wish her a very happy birthday today. Incorporated is half-way through its first season and the reviews have been generally positive. It's certainly been my favorite project Ms. Ormond has been involved with in recent years. The SyFy Channel series is very much worth checking out if you haven't already.

I. Variety review: “Incorporated is an energetic and watchable science-fiction thriller that posits that a climate apocalypse will be followed by a swift division of survivors into haves and have-nots — all by the year 2074. Right now, that date feels like a somewhat optimistic estimate."

As you can imagine, Julia has been doing a lot of interviews and press for the show over the past few months. A very small sample can be found below:

II. Rememory will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25th. The festival synopsis describes the film as follows:

"Famed scientific pioneer Gordon Dunn (Martin Donovan) is mysteriously found dead shortly after the unveiling of his latest and most groundbreaking achievement—a device that can extract, record, and play a person’s unfiltered memories. After his death, Gordon’s reclusive wife, Carolyn (Julia Ormond), recedes into her own private world until a mysterious man (Peter Dinklage) knocks at her door, claiming to be a past acquaintance. With questionable motives, he steals the machine in an attempt to unravel his own personal demons, launching an exploration into a troublesome past filled with guilt, grief, and betrayal.

Through the glass of the mind’s eye, director/co-writer Mark Palansky steadily introduces pieces of an intricate puzzle that don’t always fit, leading us down a winding path where our human consciousness often defines reality. Rememory is a striking and uniquely stylized portrait of loss and recovery, reminding us that we are nothing more than the memories we keep."

III. Julia Ormond, in her role as the founder & president of ASSET (Advancing Systemic Solutions to End Enslavement and Trafficking), was involved in a lengthy discussion, which took place on November 15, 2016, entitled LET'S END HUMAN TRAFFICKING: MODERN-DAY SLAVERY IN AMERICA:

"Incorporated" Trailer is here! Peter Dinklage Wants Your Memories & Julia Speaks for the Coalition To Abolish Slavery and Trafficking!

The first trailer for the upcoming SyFy Channel series Incorporated (starring Sean Teale, Julia Ormond, Dennis Haysbert, and David Hewlett) is here. It looks extremely promising to me!

 

 II. Peter Dinklage and director Mark Palansky are asking for your memories. The film Rememory, as described by IndieWire "centers on Dinklage’s character, Sam Boom, who tries to solve the murder of an inventor who created a machine that extracts and records memories in their so-called purest state. Julia Ormond, Anton Yelchin, Henry Ian Cusick and Martin Donovan will also star in the mystery thriller." Julia will play the deceased inventor's widow. On the official website, Dinklage and Palansky ask that you share videos that can be selected to be included in the actual film.

http://therememoryproject.com/

III. Julia Ormond appears in three harrowing advertisements for the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST). More information can be found on the organization's web site, which is:

 http://www.castla.org/homepage

Julia On The TV

The final episode of "Mad Men" (S7.E14 - "Person to Person") not only brought fans of the popular long-running series a satisfying conclusion to the show, but if you tuned in, you would also have seen Julia Ormond in her Emmy-nominated role of Marie Calvet for one last time. It was great to see. For those not yet ready to say goodbye to Julia on the TV - not to worry. "Witches of East End," Season 2, is finally being released on DVD on 7/7 as a 3 disc set. It will also become available on NetFlix on the same day. In additional news -

Julia was part of a lengthy panel discussion entitled "Transforming Global Supply Chains to Be Humane and Ethical" organized by the Milken Institute.



Julia Ormond was also a speaker at an event held in celebration of the 80th birthday of the Dalai Lama - the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize recipient - this past weekend at the Anaheim Honda Center in California.

Julia Is Back On "Mad Men"!

Those of us who had been hoping to see Julia back as Marie Calvet for the final half-season of "Mad Men" had a lot to be happy about this past week. With five more episodes of the series to go here's hoping this won't be the last we see of her on the show. Her Emmy-nominated performance has become one of the highlights of the show for us. Vulture.com has an interesting article on the French spoken between Julia Ormond and the Canadian actress playing her daughter, Jessica Pare:

http://www.vulture.com/2015/04/mad-men-french-megan-calvet.html

II. Julia appears energized and informed during an interview at the Los Angeles premiere of the documentary "Food Chains." The documentary is currently streaming on NetFlix.

"The Dreaming Child" - Unproduced Julia Ormond/Harold Pinter Project Now a BBC Radio Drama

Last year Julia was on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson where she briefly discussed an unproduced film project she had worked on with the late Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter. That 1997 screenplay, based on Karen Blixen's (also known by her pseudonym Isak Dinesen) short story The Dreaming Child is now a BBC radio drama starring Game of Throne's Leslie Rose (where she played Ygritte, the red-haired wilding). Julia does not appear to have any connection with this current adaptation. It will premiere on Saturday, March 7th on BBC Radio 4 (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b054gxpb )

I. According to the Daily Mail (link:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2963444/Now-aPinter-pause-New-plays-broadcast-seven-years-died.html ):

"Pinter’s adaptation of The Dreaming Child is set in Bristol in 1868 and tells the story of childless couple Emily and Tom Carter and their decision to adopt a boy from the slums. But happiness eludes the couple because Emily continues to be haunted by her passionate fling with a young soldier who was killed at sea.

It will be narrated by Anne Reid, who plays Celia in the Bafta-winning Last Tango In Halifax, and stars Rose Leslie.

Pinter was originally commissioned to write the screenplay by Hollywood star Julia Ormond, who at the time had signed a production deal with 20th Century Fox. She was delighted with Pinter’s work but the project collapsed when she insisted on directing the film as well as producing it. Pinter later commented: ‘It was this that brought the project to its knees. The money-men simply wouldn’t give her the chance.’

In his official biography of the playwright, critic Michael Billington said the screenplay for The Dreaming Child compared favourably with Pinter’s very best work."

Harold Pinter's original screenplay was published in the third volume of his "Collected Screenplays" (Farber & Farber, 2000). HaroldPinter.org has a quote from Julia in the Evening Standard from October 1997, "Working with him is the highlight of my career. I think he has done a brilliant script and I hope we will get the green light soon." (Link: http://www.haroldpinter.org/films/films_dreamingchild.shtml )

II. On January 16th Julia posted a link on her verified twitter account to Instagram page. Here's hoping we'll see more posts from her soon. (Link: https://instagram.com/julia.ormond/ )

'Witches' Comes to An End; A New Year Begins...

A very happy birthday to Julia Ormond who celebrated a very special birthday on January 4th. And a Happy New Year to all the readers of the Undefinitive Blog and best wishes for 2015!

I. Julia Ormond has an official Twitter account with - at the moment - over 15k followers @  https://twitter.com/JuliaOrmond.

II. Witches of East End was unfortunately cancelled at the end of its second season. On a major cliff-hanger no less. Apparently the ratings simply plummeted after the first season despite its very loyal fan-base. More information on the cancellation can be found below:

http://tvline.com/2014/11/04/witches-of-east-end-cancelled-lifetime/

There has also been a petition organized to renew the series or take it to another network as described here:

http://www.ibtimes.com/witches-east-end-canceled-fans-campaign-save-lifetime-series-find-out-how-get-1727000

The Petition:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/renew-witches-of-east-end

III. VARIETY magazine recently published an interview with Julia discussing her work over 20 years ago along with Robert Duvall on the 1992 HBO television film Stalin.

http://variety.com/2014/film/features/julia-ormond-first-variety-mention-1201325006/

IV. The final half-season of AMC's hit show Mad Men now has a premiere date of Sunday, April 5th. As far as I know there has been no confirmation as to whether Julia will appear in the final seven episodes in the role that won her her second Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress (she had won previously for Temple Grandin).

The Ormondaissance

The Undefinitive Julia Ormond Page blog is back after a temporary hiatus of nearly a year. If only time grew on trees! In the meantime there has been a big jump in Julia's presence in the cultural mainstream - perhaps her largest since 2008 - much of it having to do with the success of the Lifetime TV series "The Witches of East End" (now in its second season) and, of course, her Emmy-nominated supporting role in the popular "Mad Men." 

Here are some new Julia Ormond related finds, all very much worth-watching: 

I. Craig Ferguson's third interview with Julia. Interview begins at 21 mins in. She makes a number of jocular references to jokes from the opening monologue in case you're wondering what the deal is with "easing out organically." Unfortunately, Ferguson will be ending his late night talk show (in its current incarnation, at least) by the end of the year. I'm a big fan of his show and truly bizarre style of comedy.

II. A pretty lengthy interview with J.O. concerning both "Witches" and "Mad Men"... and "popping a few buttons."

III. Brand new lengthy interview with Julia on her more serious activist work (probably one of the more interesting interviews I've seen with her on the topic of human trafficking). A week ago or so I also caught a glimpse of her as part of a panel discussion on CNN where she was discussing the trafficking issue with former President Bill Clinton. Yes, it felt a bit like a 90's time warp. 

Julia also had a big presence (relatively speaking) at the San Diego ComicCon this year (!!!) where she and the rest of the cast were promoting the second season of "Witches of "East End."

(Jack will continue to run, post and oversee this blog but on occasion I will help with additional posts. - Rudy L. [contributor])

The East trailer

Julia set in pilot for Witches Of East End

Thanks to Rudy for this find.

EXCLUSIVE: In her first series regular role, Emmy winner Julia Ormond is set to star in the hourlong Lifetime pilot Witches Of East End. Based on Melissa de la Cruz’s best-selling novel, Witches Of East End centers on the adventures of Joanna Beauchamp (Ormond) and her two adult daughters. Joanna is a sexy, warm, artistic, tough, ethereal beauty who has been concealing a shocking secret from her daughters — namely, that they are witches born and bred. Having put her magical past and powers on hold, Joanna is now living a quiet life as a small town art teacher, but in the face of a grave and immediate danger, it seems the only way out is for the trio to rediscover their skills. Maggie Friedman, who shepherded ABC’s witch-themed Eastwick, wrote and will executive produce Witches Of East End with Erwin Stoff for Fox 21 and 3 Arts.

On TV, Ormond has done arcs on such series as Mad Men, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Nurse Jackie as well as TV movies, including HBO’s Temple Grandin, which earned her an Emmy Award. She is again nominated this year for her guest stint on AMC’s Mad Men. Witches Of East End reunites Ormond, repped by Gersh and Creative Partners, with Lifetime where she toplined the 2010 LMN original movie The Wronged Man, produced by Gale Anne Hurd.

Source: http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/julia-ormond-to-star-in-lifetime-pilot-witches-of-east-end/

In other developments apparently Julia is only in the movie Chained for 10 minutes.

Julia nominated for Emmy

BEST DRAMA GUEST ACTRESS
Joan Cusack, "Shameless"
Loretta Devine, "Grey's Anatomy"
Julia Ormond, "Mad Men"
Martha Plimpton, "The Good Wife"
Jean Smart, "Harry's Law"
Uma Thurman, "Smash"

Full list of nominations and more at -- www.goldderby.com/television/news/3134/emmys-emmy-awards-nominations-complete-list-tv-news-2468097.html

Thanks to Mari for the alert.

Chained premiere news and other stuff

I. CHAINED premieres later this month in Canada:

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/56515/fantasia-2012-first-wave-films-announced

It will also be playing at a UK film festival late August:

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2012/06/29/frightfest-the-13th-the-line-up-announcement/

II. For the next three weeks "Resistance" will be playing for free on IMDB.com:

http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1828587033/

III. Rudy found a site listing roles Julia either auditioned for or didn't get or was offered and turned down.

http://www.notstarring.com/actors/ormond-julia

Julia returns to Mad Men

Julia was on the season finale of "Mad Men." Here is a recent interview with her about the show:

http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2012/06/julia-ormond-interview.php

And some clips!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad5c-PzLuQM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YJ8OSbNaRA&feature=related

Thanks Rudy.

Julia in Mad Men!

I just got word from Rudy and Mari that Julia was in the most recent episode of Mad Men. Here's some links...

First a photo link titled Julia Ormond and Jessica Pare in "Mad Men" from "At the Codfish Ball"

http://www.tv.com/shows/mad-men/photos/image-845/

Next a recap of the episode, but I'm not reading it. "Spoilers!" as River Song would say...

Marie Calvert, Megan’s mother just might turn out to be a female version of Don. With risk to the wind, she and the now single Roger Sterling commence a dangerous liaison, that will surely have dire consequences. In the meantime, while Don is trying to protect his daughter’s innocence it comes to a pretty abrupt end when Sally unwittingly sees something she shouldn’t. Read on to see what happened in this episode 7 of Mad Men.

http://www.realstylenetwork.com/blogs/celebrities/tag/julia-ormond-on-mad-men/

And another recap. "Spoilers!"

Mad Men is a notoriously secretive show. We’ve always known this from its locked-down plot details and cryptic “Next week on Mad Men” previews at the end of each episode, but they certainly topped themselves this week with the revelation of guest star Julia Ormond as Teeth’s French Canadian mother, Marie. Ormond is an Emmy-winning actress who is widely known and yet the people behind the scenes at AMC didn’t make a peep about it! She was just there smoking a ciggie on Don Draper’s couch as if she were any old day player.

http://poptimal.com/2012/04/mad-men-recap-oral-pleasures-from-ormond/#.T5_0ML-d4zU


Julia Ormond owns her age on 'Mad Men'

The appearance of Julia Ormond on AMC's "Mad Men" threw some viewers for a loop on Sunday night. The actress turned up as the mother of Jessica Pare's 26-year-old character Megan Draper. And Ormond's Marie Calvet, with her mid-1960s' hairstyle and clothes, made her seem aged beyond her years.
Twitter was abuzz with questions. Who was that actress? Geneviève Bujold? Juliette Binoche?

One viewer even thought she was remiscent of 1950s/'60s-era Leslie Caron.

Actually, Ormond's casting makes perfect sense. Ormond is 47, so she is old enough to play Megan's mother. Also, Ormond appears to be aging naturally.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ormond-351711-julia-mad.html

Screen shots:
http://andnowyoutellme.tumblr.com/

And finally another recap. Say it with me: "Spoilers!"
http://entertainment.time.com/2012/04/30/mad-men-watch-daughters-disappointments/

The East, Chained, Oprah's magazine, trafficking

Thanks to Rudy as always!

New, unconfirmed info on Julia's role in The East. Turns out it's a small, supporting role. According to the discussion board on IMDB Julia is "playing some executive of a company that The East group goes after. It's a small part, just a few scenes, but pretty important."Julia discusses some of her favorite books in Oprah's magazine.
http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Books-That-Made-a-Difference-to-Julia-Ormond/1
Trailer for Jennifer Lynch's Chained. Julia's in the trailer for the first five seconds. Wonder if that reflects her screen time. But she gets next to top billing so who knows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42efmVQhuaI&feature=youtu.be


8 minute radio interview on trafficking
http://pba.org/post/actress-julia-ormond-talks-rose-scott-about-fighting-trafficking-slavery

Julia YouTube finds

A few new finds.

This first one is interesting. Six minutes of Julia talking about trafficking.

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrKkPyw06Lk&feature=related

Two vids of Julia signing autograph. She's a little chattier than usual.

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxHnxCtWr04&feature=context&context=G2631cb6FUAAAAAAAAAA

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbOKY1DFwik&list=FLvFxTm4hh9-OqS5EUOqY6Qg&index=3&feature=plpp_video

Apparently she was attending the 40th anniversary of Charlie Chaplin’s honorary Academy Award.

4. http://iperfectzone.com/movies/2012/02/julia-ormond-40th-anniv-of-charlie-chaplins-honorary-academy-award-feb-21/

"The El Escorial Conspiracy," un-dubbed English language edition, is up on YouTube.

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jEtj01m0TU&list=FLvFxTm4hh9-OqS5EUOqY6Qg&index=18&feature=plpp_video

Thanks to R.

The East - new Julia movie

Julia's in a new film called, unhelpfully, "The East." It's about a female office who infiltrates an eco-terrorist group only to fall in love with its leader. This apparently leads to a jealous love triangle with a female members of the terrorist group.

A story centered on contract worker who is tasked with infiltrating an anarchist group, only to find herself falling for its leader.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1869716/

Spanish language link: http://peliculas.labutaca.net/the-east

According to the link the character Izzy (Ellen Page) is the jealous cell member. No indication of who Julia is playing. It's in post-production, according to IMDB.

Thanks to R for the info.

Various Julia finds

Some photos of Julia at a 2012 Golden Globe Awards after-party.

http://www.apimages.com/Search.aspx?st=k&remem=x&kw=julia+ormond&intv=3d

Some photos and the opening paragraphs of the Corduroy article from a while back:

http://www.corduroymag.com/photography/corduroy-issue-8-julia-ormond/

Julia talks "Marilyn" (in 2 parts):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3yrra8Fg04

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWZy6MNWcEk&feature=related

My Week with Marilyn review

Here's Lettie's review of My Week with Marilyn...

I went to see My Week with Marilyn on 27th November 2011 - a nice Sunday evening film.  I went to see it, of course, because I am a huge Julia Ormond fan and, no surprises, she stole every scene she was in.  She performed the role of Vivienne Leigh to perfection and she looked as lovely as Vivienne Leigh bringing the same lady like charm to the role as the real Vivienne Leigh had in life and on screen.  Michelle Williams also portrayed Marilyn Monroe to perfection - unfortunately a very troubled and shallow character in real life - and I would not be surprised if Michelle Williams is nominated for an award for her portrayal of the actress.  It is not Julia's best film but it is certainly worth a see for the fans.  She has quite alot of screen time and her acting is always superb.

More My Week With Marilyn videos

More Julia interviews.
On the Marilyn film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urY2mFVCaIM

Visiting New Jersey to discuss trafficking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy6dz1_uMzs

Vivien meets Marilyn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGHkcIiy5do