Mycroft on Screen

Whenever you put Sherlock Holmes on screen it will always, inevitably, be wrong (too many changes, not enough changes, wears a deerstalker, is too gay, not gay enough… etc) but on the whole, people are quite forgiving of Sherlock. We’ll accept a short, blond Holmes as long as you get Watson right. People are less forgiving of a bad-Watson.

But what about Mycroft?

I did a quick search for Mycroft on the IMDb character search and you’d be surprised looking at the list of some of the actors who have portrayed him:

Richard E Grant

Charles Gray

Christopher Lee

Stephen Fry

Mark Gatiss

Boris Klyvuev

Only Fry & Gray (with apologies, neither can be described as ‘corpulent’) come even close to the description of our first encounter with the elder Holmes: “Heavily built and massive, there was a suggestion of uncouth physical inertia in the figure.” (GREE). Holmesians get upset when writers ‘mess around’ with Sherlock and Watson but Mycroft is fair game.

In the truly awful ‘Case of Evil’, Richard E Grant plays a crippled former drug-addicted version of Mycroft. It’s one of those reveals that makes a terrible film just that little bit worse. Christopher Lee plays closer to canon, you can believe “he is, on occasion, the British government.” even if he physically doesn’t resemble the character. Stephen Fry is a buffoonishly bizarre Mycroft but it’s a clever piece of casting and Boris Klyvuev’s Mycroft has perhaps the greatest developed home life of any (so far) – he’s very fond of his dog (a red setter), has a son and works for the Foreign Office. There’s no reason why Mycroft can’t have a son, unless you take Sherlock’s comments about “no ambition and no energy” very literally.

Out of all the Mycroft’s, I would argue that Mark Gatiss is the truest version will ever seen on screen. A dangerously clever man who runs the British government and has an ongoing weight problem.

In defence of Moffat: Thoughts on Irene Adler, Sherlock’s Sexuality and Mycroft

Steven Moffat is being taken to task by some Holmesians (and journalists) concerning his interpretation of Irene Adler, to the point of accusing him of being sexist. Jane Clare Jones in particular, accuses him of making a ‘regressive step’ by Irene being saved by Sherlock at the end.

I completely disagree and I’m going to out myself as not being a canonical Irene Adler fan. I agree with Moffat that her original ‘victory’ is “not a feminist victory”.

In the original story she’s not a strong character, she’s been made into a strong character by later writers and Holmesians but she’s not. She doesn’t really outwit Sherlock either – she runs off to America with her husband. I always take his failure to recognise her disguise as nothing particularly significant – it’s dark, he’s not in ‘Sherlock mode’ (getting your keys out to the open the front door… is anyone really entirely ‘on’?) and let’s be honest, his encounter with her probably lasted a total of fifteen minutes during which he was in disguise and desperately trying to find a way to trick her.

I don’t see their Irene as any sort of character-betrayal, we’re supposed to believe that she’s this clever blackmailer, but at the end of the day, her solution is to leave the country with her husband which doesn’t seem the safest of options when people are after you! Moffat/Gatiss’s Irene plays Mycroft and Sherlock, almost winning. I’ve watched the episode a couple of times and I’m still trying to work out what was part of her game and what might have been true about her.

In ‘Sherlock’ Irene is part of Moriarty’s scheme – he sends her photographs of Sherlock and she reads John’s blog.  She’s also not a criminal, her camera phone is for protection, she keeps ‘secrets’ in order to stop anyone going after her. The compromising photographs bluff that she uses to get at Sherlock essentially turns him into her client, she’s pulling the strings to get him to dance and knows exactly how to do it. At the end of the episode, we don’t know if the demands are hers, after all – she’s working for Moriarty.

Even though it’s pretty clear from the DVD commentary on ‘Scandal in Belgravia’ that they’re intention is  Irene being saved, I interpret the ending of is a possibly a fantasy. I think she’s dead. Mycroft would know that Sherlock had gone to Karachi and infiltrated a terrorist cell, and unless he’s the one that arranged it I can’t see her being alive (plus, Sherlock did that very quickly…!) It sort of links back to ‘Study in Pink’, what would you say in your last dying moment…? And if he did save her, I don’t believe it’s a betrayal or a sexist thing – she’s a dominatrix, she’s got under Sherlock’s skin and knows exactly what buttons to press to get a reaction.

Moffat’s also come under criticism from parts of the Holmesian community for the relationship between John & Sherlock. I’ve always seen the relationship between the two of them (canon) as borderline at the most. Holmes has unrequited feelings for Watson that he is not only scared to express but doesn’t really know how to, Watson very likely has some idea but never really thought it through and the sad tragedy of their friendship is that everything remained unsaid.

Moffat and Gatiss are huge fans of ‘The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes’ (they presented a screening of it last year) and I think a lot of the stuff between Sherlock & John is very reminiscent of what Billy Wilder did with their relationship in film (favourite scene where Watson runs home to confront Holmes
about what he’s said). In the DVD commentary for ‘Study in Pink’, Moffat and Gatiss have a long conversation about ‘the sexuality issue’, coming down on the side of he’s celibate and not asexual. Sherlock is capable of having sexual feelings/desire but he chooses to focus on his work (“I consider myself married to my work”) and when it comes up again in ‘Scandal in Belgravia’ it’s hinted that it frightens/intimidates him (although, it’s kind of hard to know if it’s just Mycroft being a bit of a dick or he is getting at Sherlock’s fear). I interpreted Sherlock’s reaction (“not my area”) to mean relationships in general. With all the various camps you are never going to satisfy any of them and if that’s how they interpret the character (they at least acknowledge the sexual ambiguity openly).

Regarding gay subtext, they seem to imply that Mycroft is gay (not just because he’s played by Mark Gatiss) – my favourite bit in ‘Scandal in Belgravia’ is Sherlock referring to Mycroft as “a queen” (which could have nothing to do with his sexuality, I know straight men who I would describe as
‘queens’if I was being rude) again on the DVD commentary for ‘A Study in Pink’, Gatiss talks about playing Mycroft like he would play Peter Mandelson, who is of course a very powerful gay man and please tell me I’m not the only person who thought Mycroft was about to reveal to John that he and Moriarty had been lovers at some point in their history.

‘Sherlock’ thoughts and speculation

“Of their terrible chief few details came out during the proceedings, and if I have now been compelled to make a clear statement of his career, it is due to those injudicious champions who have endeavoured to clear his memory by attacks upon him who I shall ever regard as the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known.” – THE FINAL PROBLEM

Since the spectacular ending of ‘Sherlock’, I’ve been thinking about Mycroft.

Having Moriarty’s use Mycroft to bring his brother crashing down was a genius turn from Gatiss and Moffat. It’s also going to make for an incredibly interesting version of EMPT.

I’d like to think Mycroft is in helping Sherlock fake his death, I’d like to think he was the guy on the bike who knocked into Watson (all the comments about his diet, it would be Sherlock’s joke). I’d also like to think that Sherlock understands that Mycroft really didn’t intend this to happen, Sherlock being the highly logical being he is would understand that Mycroft would do anything to get Moriarty to talk. Whatever is going to happen I doubt that Sherlock will ever trust his brother again, if he ever did.

I also think someone is going to get punched during EMPT and my money is on Mycroft, by John or Lestrade. Or both. In fact, I can see Mrs Hudson giving him a slap.

My friend Alistair posted about the stories he’d like to see during the next series. These are the ones I’d love to see tackled:

1) Charles Augustus Milverton – with the victim being Mycroft. It fits. Take Mycroft down and you take down the British government.

2) The Musgrave Ritual – this is one of my favourite stories and all I can think about is how much fun you could have with technology.

3) The Illustrious Client – they’ve done something already with a very distinguished client but you know royalty, there’s always something

4) The Copper Beaches –  I can see this getting quite dark.

BAFTA 2012 – my picks

BAFTA announced their short list this morning. Here are my picks.

BEST FILM
THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
DRIVE
THE HELP
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

Not sure about ‘The Help’ being nominated, it was a nice film but I didn’t think it was an awards worthy film. Disappointed ‘We Need to Talk about Kevin’ got missed off. ‘The Artist’ will walk away with it (and deservedly so).

BRITISH FILM
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
SENNA
SHAME
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

This one is a bit trickier, I think ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ has the edge but ‘Shame’ and ‘We Need to Talk about Kevin’ are both worthy of the awards. I would hate to have to decide this category.

DIRECTOR
THE ARTIST – Michel Hazanavicius
DRIVE – Nicolas Winding Refn
HUGO – Martin Scorsese
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Tomas Alfredson
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN – Lynne Ramsay

Again, tricky. ‘Drive’ is one of those films that people have touted highly in their best of’s but I don’t think it will pick up a gong, Martin Scorsese is another strong candidate but he seems to get the awards because he hasn’t had the awards (his win for ‘The Departed’). I think Michel Hazanavicius or Lynne Ramsay will walk away with the statue.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE ARTIST – Michel Hazanavicius
BRIDESMAIDS – Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
THE GUARD – John Michael McDonagh
THE IRON LADY – Abi Morgan
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS – Woody Allen

I don’t understand how ‘Bridesmaids’ is in any way original. Surprised that ‘Shame’ hasn’t been nominated in this category, particularly as I don’t think ‘The Iron Lady’ had a very strong script. I would love ‘The Guard’ to win for this as that was a fantastic script but I think ‘The Artist’ might just get it, which would be awesome just for “silent movie wins original screenplay” headlines.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE DESCENDANTS – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
THE HELP – Tate Taylor
THE IDES OF MARCH – George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
MONEYBALL – Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

I can’t see them not giving a George Clooney film an award but I think the clear winner in this category is ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’.

ACTOR
BRAD PITT – Moneyball
GARY OLDMAN – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
GEORGE CLOONEY – The Descendants
JEAN DUJARDIN – The Artist
MICHAEL FASSBENDER – Shame

Another tricky one but I think Jean Dujardin was brilliant and the role required more acting as it was silent. He couldn’t just rely on very good dialogue.

ACTRESS
BÉRÉNICE BEJO – The Artist
MERYL STREEP – The Iron Lady
MICHELLE WILLIAMS – My Week with Marilyn
TILDA SWINTON – We Need to Talk About Kevin
VIOLA DAVIS – The Help

Meryl Streep was very good and if the film had been better I would be touting her to pick up the awards but I think Tilda Swinton gave a career defining performance. She was outstanding.

SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER – Beginners
JIM BROADBENT – The Iron Lady
JONAH HILL – Moneyball
KENNETH BRANAGH – My Week with Marilyn
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – The Ides of March

I want Kenneth Brannagh to win just because he is Kenneth Brannagh and who else could play Olivier? Jim Broadbent was very good in ‘The Iron Lady’ but it’s the film that lets me down. Bit disappointed that Alan Rickman didn’t get short-listed again this year.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
CAREY MULLIGAN – Drive
JESSICA CHASTAIN – The Help
JUDI DENCH – My Week with Marilyn
MELISSA MCCARTHY – Bridesmaids
OCTAVIA SPENCER – The Help

As much as I absolutely hated ‘Bridesmaids’, I thought Melissa McCarthy was excellent as Megan who was without a doubt the best and most surprising character. Carey Mulligan is brilliant in whatever she does and is probably the strongest contender in this category.

Do the politics matter? – thoughts on ‘The Iron Lady’

Phyillda Lloyd’s recent ‘biopic’ of Margaret Thatcher staring Meryl Streep has come under scrutiny for taking the politics out of Thatcher’s conservative government choosing to focus on her rise to power. As a film ‘The Iron Lady’ is a structural and narrative mess, but regardless of your politics the film is worth watching for Streep’s extraordinary performance.

I’m one of ‘Blair’s children’, my political knowledge is largely confined to episodes of ‘Yes Minister’ and ‘The Thick of It’; my understanding of Thatcher and her polarisation comes from what is essentially popular left-wing satire. I would have liked to have seen more politics, both the good and the bad, I would have liked to have seen what made her so popular with the voting public despite the strikes and union opposition. The moment that was seen as her betrayal by those key cabinet members was too brief, why were her closest advisers determined to bring her down? Prominent Tories have gone on record saying that it’s too soon to make a film about Thatcher and I would agree, if the film had been about Thatcher.

Last year channel 4 showed a drama about Mo Molem, played movingly and brilliantly by Julie Walters, that is the type of film I want to see about Thatcher. The politics do matter as it’s clear that Thatcher’s politics were what defined and polarised her for a generation.

A Holmesian Response

This is how you bring Sherlock Holmes to a modern audience, Mr Ritchie.

Film Review: ‘Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows’

Guy Ritche’s last Holmesian offering won the sceptics over and found a place with modern blockbuster loving audiences. Moving Holmes away from the cerebral and placing him as an eccentric pugilist Victorian James Bond allowed Ritcihe to satisfy his core fan base whilst avoiding many of the criticisms that have befallen previous attempts to bring Holmes to the big screen. His Holmes and Watson inhabited that special cinematic ‘bromantic’ world where they could exchange barbs, clothes and other things that would have previously been labelled homoerotic. Robert Downey Jr makes for a delightfully eccentric and built Holmes, it’s entirely believable that his Holmes is equally at home fighting his way through crowds of thugs and a good game of chess. Jude Law played long-suffering ex-Army doctor remarkably well (periodically disappearing limp aside).

This time round Ritche (and screenwriters Michele & Kieran Mulroney) have tried to give us a more conventional Holmesian mystery, which unfortunately doesn’t work in this established formula. To complain that a Sherlock Holmes film has too much Holmes might be contradictory for a long-time Holmesian but in this instance that extra added Holmes feels more like an afterthought. The set pieces are as brilliantly zany as the last and the stunts just as impressive but the core mystery is to throw away with the solution coming in a bink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment that is far too key to treat so flippantly.

Stephen Fry gives us bizarrely buffoonish Mycroft who acts more as comic relief than the man who “is the British government [...] the most indispensable man in the country.” (BRU) Presumably his reinvention as a nudist in an era that has become the byline for prudish British stuffiness is a device to show just how out of the ordinary the Holmes brothers are and that Mycroft is just as, if not, weirder than Sherlock. Noomi Rapace’s character finds herself sidelined and very quickly reduced to setting up one of the major gags and it feels very much a waste of her and her character, perhaps they’re planning to develop her further in a later film. Where Rapace’s character suffers, Mary (Kelly Reilly) is elevated to codebreaker and plays an integral part in the final solution. Jared Harris makes for a refreshingly young Moriarty and his confrontation with Downey Jr is clever but overplayed.

None of these criticisms stop it from being an enjoyable film, it might be narrative mess and rely too much on overplayed gags but the pacing is fast, the editing flash and the score is as brilliant as the last. The film is a fun romp and hopefully they’ll return the original format for the inevitable third instalment.

Saying goodbye to 2011

It’s that time of year when everyone starts putting together their top ten lists. I managed to do a top 5 list last year but this year I was a bit lax on my cinema/theatre going, not because it was a bad year for cinema or anything but because I got given notice of redundancy in February and with my uncertain future I had to cut back on luxuries for a bit and sadly got out of the habit.

Looking back, I think the best thing that happened to me this year was being under threat of redundancy. It gave me the kicking I needed to get my CV out there. I’m grateful for everything Dirty Dancing (and the Aldwych) gave me in the five years I worked there but towards the end it was starting to do me more harm than good, moving to Lend Me a Tenor was the best decision I’d made in a long time.

Lend Me a Tenor was a fun show. It was silly, farcical and a good old-fashioned musical with a great company who were all vastly talented, in contrast Dirty Dancing felt like a cynical attempt to cash in on the popularity of a mildly successful film. Don’t get me wrong, I liked working at the Aldwych (most of the time, there were days when I seriously thought about doing something else) and I made some fantastic friends but I learned a big lesson there – you need to move on. If Blood Brothers (Phoenix Theatre) was my crash course introduction into the darkly cynical world of British Theatre, Dirty Dancing was my adolescence and breathing space before Lend Me a Tenor led me blinking into the light of adulthood and the reality of theatre. I feel more settled into the reality of my work and I’m much more comfortable, I’m also making steps towards my current goal. Last month I had an interview where I was told I’m on the right path and that out of seventy-five applicants, he was only interviewing five people.

On a more personal level, I decided to get help for my social anxiety issues and I think this has contributed greatly to my general feeling of comfort in myself. Sure, I’ve got a long way to go and I need become more active socially but change doesn’t happen over night. I’ve also successfully passed my first two Open University modules and am part way through my third module, if all goes well I should complete my degree in 2014.

I managed not to pick up any new obsessions this year (thankfully!), poked around in the Steampunk community and hopefully will start joining in a few events in the new year as well as getting out  more with my camera. I have rekindled my joy with The Thick of It, partly because watching Peter Capaldi in Getting On and The Ladykillers reminded me how brilliant he is and partly because I genuinely cannot wait to see how they deal with the coalition. We’ve already seen what happens to Malcolm when you take his job away (which I didn’t find funny, just fucking terrifying!) so whether he’ll thrive with the challenge of being in opposition or if he’ll get shafted by the Dan Miller cabal, who knows? Apparently they start work in March 2012 so fingers crossed for a series at Easter (my dream would be a two part election special covering the election [obviously] and the coalition negotiation, followed by the leadership election… then a series).

I’ve been watching Glee (mostly on fast forward, some of those songs are so badly auto-tuned it’s painful) and can’t quite decide if I like it or not. I go through phases where I think it’s doing a really good job of bringing out issues that do need to be talked about ( Kurt’s storyline with the closeted bully, first time sex and when Sue’s sister died) but other times they make me want to strangle the writers. I’m a particular fan of Santana and a huge supporter of her coming out storyline but I thought it was really badly handled. Finn had absolutely no right to publicly out her (I don’t care what you say, yes she is a bully but what Finn did actively endangered her life and threatened her home life, did he not learn anything from what Kurt went through?!) and nor did he have the right to ride in on his horse of white male privilege to make it all okay. That was all awful, but what was worse was Finn insinuating that Brittney doesn’t love Santana back, way to attack someone’s self-esteem when they’re already struggling to accept their same-sex feelings. Also, on the subject of Brittney – last season we saw how she’s not actually that stupid but she seems to have gone completely backwards this season, and did no one else think Rory was incredibly creepy and borderline rape-y pretending to be a leprechaun to get into her pants thing? A lot of this has been echoed by the larger Gleek community and I have hopes that they’ve listened and we’ll see some better things in the next half of the season, oh and would it be too much to ask for Santana to actually kiss her girlfriend?

From the same writers of Glee I gave American Horror Story a go and it’s actually pretty good. I’m liking the vibe and really enjoying the overall creepiness. I don’t think it’s the type of show that could lend itself to more than one series but you never know, I’ve got the end to watch later today so fingers crossed. Parks and Recreation is another of my recent favourites, I tried to like Community and I did get into it but something about the characters bothers me a bit.

So, top lists.

Top Five TV Shows:
1) Getting On
2) Downton Abbey
3) Frozen Planet
4) Game of Thrones
5) Parks and Recreation

(Honorary mention to The Thick of It because I re-watched it recently and it’s awesome)

Top Five Films:
1) We Need to Talk about Kevin
2) Snowtown
3) Monsters
4) Hugo
5) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Top Five Books (that I read this year, not necessarily new):
1) Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
2)  The Lost City of Z by David Grann
3) The Help by Kathryn Stockett
4) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
5)  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Top Five Audiobooks:
1)  Night Watch (unabridged) by Terry Pratchett (read by Stephen Briggs)
2) the Jack Daniels series by JA Konrath (read by Susie Black and Dick Hill, and Angela Dawe)
3)  The Dark Tourist (unabridged) by Dom Joly (read by Dom Joly)
4) Freedom (unabridged)  by Jonathan Franzen (read by David LeDoux)
5) Rivers of London (unabridged) by Ben Aaronovitch (read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith)

Only saw nine theatre shows this year so I can’t really do a top 5 (particularly as I didn’t like most of them!) but I definitely think that Seasons Greetings, Frankenstein and The Ladykillers are my highlights of the year. I could always put Lend Me a Tenor down as my favourite show of the year but I don’t count stuff I’ve worked on.

Roll on 2012.

Review: ‘The Ladykillers’, Gielgud Theatre (14th December, 2011 [matinee])

I used to work at the Gielgud theatre where ‘The Ladykillers’ is currently on, so after the matinee on Wednesday I popped backstage to catch up with my friends and have a good nosy around the set. I didn’t see any of the cast but was told how absolutely lovely everyone is.

The best things about ‘The Ladykillers’ are the truly impressive old fashioned tricks they use, such as the chairs moving about randomly as the train passes, a knife getting thrown from one side of the stage and sticking in someone’s head on the other side… that sort of thing… oh and the world’s cutest car chase. The rest of the show is a fine, it’s not the best thing I’ve seen on stage nor is it the worst, it’s very enjoyable and the comic performances are spot on. Some of the sight gags are too set up (the scarf especially), particularly if you’re in the upper-circle but it’s early days and I imagine as the run progresses the timing will become better and they’ll look more spontaneous. I’ve never seen the film so can’t comment on the closeness of the adaptation but I will say it does get very muddled towards the end and I don’t think running the last ten minutes or so in darkness works. It also wasn’t as funny as I was hoping but in chatting to my former co-workers they said it does really depend on the audience, sometimes it clicks and other times it doesn’t.

Peter Capaldi and James Fleet were the stand out performers for me, both very funny and spot on with their timing although I haven’t the slightest idea what accent Peter Capaldi was going for (at first it sounded like a bad Welsh accent but it wasn’t distracting once I got used to whatever wispy accent he was going for) but that’s not a criticism of his performance. Clive Rowe was also brilliant… and so was everyone else but Capaldi and Fleet stood out.

It wasn’t even close to sold-out so I think getting tickets shouldn’t be a problem, especially if you go for a matinee, but I really wouldn’t pay more than £30. If you’re booking for the upper-circle, be warned if your towards the back you will miss things and the sight lines aren’t great if you’re not in the centre.

For me, 4/5 for the production, 3.5/5 for the show.

Entering the 21st Century

This morning I joined the modern era. I got fibre optic broadband.

I used to have bog-standard “up to 5MB” broadband that barely made it past dial-up speeds on a good day. Now I can bask in the glory that is the iPlayer, I might play an online game… or I might even watch a film curtsey of LoveFilm. The possibilities are endless. What is going to happen is I’m going to end up bleary eyed in the wee-small hours of the morning because there’s a cute guinea pig video that I haven’t watched yet. Oh and  have a minor panic about my second Children’s Lit assignment which is due on the 1st December and I still can’t decide on which question to answer.

Old Speed:

New Speed: