7 thoughts on “MCM: Ben Kingsley

  1. BloodRayne had a budget of 25 million, which was not tiny in 2005 but it was also directed by Uwe Boll who famously (or infamously) does not have the strictest standards of quality (if I’m being polite) when it comes to his films.

    Per the film’s own Wikipedia page: “Screenwriter Guinevere Turner turned in the first draft two weeks late. Rather than ask for redrafts, Boll accepted it and then made many of his own changes; and he then asked the actors to “take a crack at it”. Turner estimated only 20% of her script was actually filmed.”

  2. Also the history behind the production of The Ottoman Lieutenant is more interesting than the film itself. It was released a month before (and entered into production before) the wide release (though after the film festival screenings) of The Promise, leading to some people either speculating or accusing The Ottoman Lieutenant of being made to counter claims of the Armenian genocide that form the backbone of The Promise’s plot.

    Specifically a Turkish character (the titular Ottoman Lieutenant) is the primary love interest and the film depicts killings of Armenians as being unorganized acts of violence, rather than a systemic genocide (as depicted in The Promise). Additionally the New York Times reported on allegations that the Ottoman Lieutenant’s Turkish producers had arranged for the final cut, and – that due to the post-production removal of dialogue related to the Armenian genocide – “several people who worked on the project felt the final version butchered the film artistically, and smacked of denialism”

  3. I’m deeply amused that Sir Ben went from playing Moses to playing a Pharaoh who becomes the subject of a “The Jews were absolutely not Ok with being involuntary Egyptians” joke – now that’s range!

    Interestingly his son F-E-R-D-I-N-A-N-D* also seems to be developing a certain amount of Frock Flick Chic (Courtesy of VICTORIA and THE SANDMAN).

    *Yes, this is a joke based on the fact that I keep accidentally thinking of Mr Ferdinand Kingsley as ‘Fernando’ for which I blame ABBA and his being tall, dark & handsome.

  4. I absolutely second the call for a sequel to this one featuring the younger Mr Kingsley (avoiding the ABBA earworm by referring to him as “Ferdie” helps, I find), who not only has spent about as much time in historical garb than not throughout his career but also has been known to joke about being the inevitable result for Google searches for “Ben Kingsley with hair”. To the point of actually subbing in for his father in The Last Legion as the younger version of the same character.

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