Victor Victoria

Victor Victoria is a 1982 musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that involves transvestism and sexual identity as central themes. It stars Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren, Alex Karras and John Rhys-Davies. The film was produced by Tony Adams, directed by Blake Edwards, and scored by Henry Mancini, with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. It was later adapted in 1995 as a Broadway musical. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won the Academy Award for Original Music Score. It is a remake of Viktor und Viktoria, a German film of 1933.

Production

The screenplay of Victor Victoria was adapted by Blake Edwards (Andrews' husband) and Hans Hoemburg from the 1933 German film Viktor und Viktoria by Reinhold Schünzel. According to Blake Edwards, the screenplay took only one month to write. There was also a 1935 remake named First a Girl, made in the United Kingdom and directed by Victor Saville, about a woman who stands in for a female impersonator and becomes a hit. Julie Andrews watched the 1933 version to prepare for her role.


Plot summary

In 1930s Paris. Victoria Grant (Julie Andrews), a struggling soprano, is unable to find work. She bombs an audition at Chez Lui, a tawdry night club where Carroll "Toddy" Todd (played by Robert Preston) also works. In the evening of that day Toddy starts a fight at Chez Lui after finding out that his boyfriend was dating a woman and is subsequently fired. Later that night Victoria runs into Toddy at a Paris restaurant where she is scheming to plant a cockroach in her food in order to get her meal for free, trying to foil the waiter (Graham Stark). The plan goes awry after the cockroach goes missing and ends up on a woman's leg, starting a riot in the restaurant, which Victoria and Toddy use to escape. They spend the night at his apartment. The next day Toddy's boyfriend shows up to pick up his things and when he insults Toddy Victoria breaks his nose and takes his spare clothes, as hers were ruined by the previous night's rain. At the sight of Victoria dressed as a man Toddy hits upon a plan to help both her and himself: Victoria will pretend to be a man pretending to be a woman, and get a job as a female impersonator in a nightclub. In order to enhance the ruse, Toddy will pretend to be her gay lover.
Soon Victoria's new persona, "Count Victor Grazinski", becomes the toast of Paris. As money and fame start to turn her (and Toddy's) lives around, an additional complication arises. King Marchand (James Garner), a gangster and nightclub-owner from Chicago, finds himself at first attracted to Victoria and repelled by "Victor". This encourages his burly bodyguard, "Squash" Bernstein (Alex Karras), to come out of the closet, but it enrages Marchand's whiny-voiced, peroxide-blonde spitfire girlfriend Norma (Lesley Ann Warren).
Marchand starts to investigate Victor, sure that a man like himself could never fall for another man but in the end declares that he does not care if Victoria is a man. Norma becomes more annoying and tawdry, in contrast to the classy Victoria, and King finally has Squash send her home to Chicago so that he is free to pursue Victoria, and has to live up to the image that he is living with a man. Victoria must come to terms with what she really wants out of life: to be true to herself by giving up her career and fame in Paris to be with the man who loves her and whom she loves, or to continue with her duplicitous profession and risk losing Marchand.
In a subplot of the film, the owner of the Chez Lui club also is trying to investigate Victor, since he suspects that "he" is the soprano whom he rejected from his club.
The vocal numbers in the film are presented as nightclub acts. However, the lyrics or situations of some of the songs are calculated to relate to the unfolding drama. Thus, the two staged numbers Le Jazz Hot and The Shady Dame from Seville help to present Victoria as a female impersonator. The latter number is later reinterpreted by Toddy for diversionary purposes in the plot. And the cozy relationship of Toddy and Victoria is promoted by the song You and Me, which is sung before the audience at the nightclub.


Awards

The movie won the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score. It was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Robert Preston), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Julie Andrews), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Lesley Ann Warren), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Rodger Maus, Tim Hutchinson, William Craig Smith, Harry Cordwell), Best Costume Design and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
American Film Institute recognition
2000: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs #76


Cast

Julie Andrews as Victoria Grant
James Garner as King Marchand
Robert Preston as Carroll 'Toddy' Todd
Lesley Ann Warren as Norma Cassidy
Alex Karras as 'Squash' Bernstein
John Rhys-Davies as Andre Cassell
Graham Stark as Waiter
Peter Arne as Labisse
Herb Tanney as Charles Bovin
Michael Robbins as Manager of Victoria's hotel
Norman Chancer as Sal Andratti
David Gant as Restaurant Manager
Maria Charles as Madame President
Malcolm Jamieson as Richard DiNardo
John Cassady as Juke
Glen Murphy as boxer
Source:wikipedia

Skank (band)

Skank is a Brazilian britpop/reggae band, begun in 1991, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. As of 2004, they had sold approximately 5,200,000 copies of their albums. Initially intending to mix dancehall with traditional Brazilian styles, later the band changed its sonority to music closer to Britpop and local movement Clube da Esquina.

Biography

In 1983, Samuel Rosa (guitars, vocals) and Henrique Portugal (keyboards) started to play in a reggae band called "Pouso Alto", along with Dinho Mourão (drums) and his brother Alexandre (bass). In 1991, Pouso Alto arranged for a performance in São Paulo, but due to the Mourão brothers not being in Belo Horizonte, bassist Lelo Zaneti and drummer Haroldo Ferretti were called for the gig.  The band premiered on June 5, 1991, and due to the performance competing with the Campeonato Paulista final match, the audience was 37 people. After the show, the group changed its name to Skank, inspired by Bob Marley's song "Easy skanking", and began to perform regularly at "Mister Beef" churrascaria in Belo Horizonte.


Skank (1992/1993)
“ Imagine a bunch of white boys from BH playing reggae. Who would have bet on that? ”
—Samuel Rosa on their beginnings, Revista da Web, October 1999
After playing for some time in churrascarias, bars and clubhouses, the band spent US$10,000 in their first album, Skank, released as an independent CD in late 1992 with 3,000 copies, fully paid by the band members themselves. In 45 days, 1,200 were sold[5], and Sony Music signed the band as the first Brazilian act in its Chaos label. Skank was re-released in April 1993. The singles "O Homem Que Sabia Demais", "Tanto" (version of Bob Dylan's "I Want You") e "In(Dig)Nação" took the group on a 120 concerts tour around Brazil, and the album sold 250 thousand copies.
[edit]Calango (1994)
Calango (1994) was the first record produced by Dudu Marote. "É Proibido Fumar", "Te Ver", "Pacato Cidadão", "Esmola" and "Jackie Tequila" were hits, and Calango sold around 1,200,000 copies.


O Samba Poconé (1996)
O Samba Poconé was released in 1996. The album had three big hits, "Tão Seu", "É Uma Partida de Futebol", included by FIFA in the official soundtrack for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and "Garota Nacional" which topped the Spanish charts for three months[8][9] (under the Spanish title "Chica Nacional"), was the only Portuguese language song in the Sony Music compilation Soundtrack For a Century, released in 1997 to celebrate the company's centennial, and took the group on tour in Argentina, Chile, United States, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Portugal[10]. Although "Garota Nacional" literally translates to "national girl", the song is not about the women of Brazil: it celebrates the "girls of Bar Nacional", a bar and nightclub in Belo Horizonte famous in the early 1990s for the beauty of its female patrons. Manu Chao featured in "Sem Terra", "Los Pretos" e "Zé Trindade". "O Samba Poconé" sold 1,800,000 cópias - 800,000 of those in two months.


Siderado (1998)
Siderado, produced by John Shaw (UB 40) and Paul Ralphes, begins the band's movement towards a more rock and roll sound. The Clube da Esquina-influenced "Resposta" (re-recorded in 1999 by Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges, the latter the song's co-author with Samuel Rosa and Nando Reis), "Mandrake e Os Cubanos" and "Saideira" were hits. Released in 1998, Siderado sold 750 thousand copies. Daúde and Uakti participated as guest artists.
In 1999 Skank recorded an Spanish language version for "Wrapped Around Your Finger" in a tribute album for The Police entitled Outlandos d'America.
[edit]Maquinarama (2000)
With Maquinarama, the band begins in earnest its move away from the ska and reggae sound towards a more rock oriented one influence by The Beatles, Clube da Esquina, Britpop and contemporary alternative rock. Maquinarama, produced by Chico Neves and Tom Capone and released in July 2000, sold 275 thousand copies. Some of the hit singles were "Três Lados", "Balada do Amor Inabalável" and "Canção Noturna". The original cover shows a Cadillac with graffiti by Californian artist Kenny Scharf. The international version has a different cover.
[edit]MTV ao vivo (2001)
In 2001, Skank recorded the first live album in Ouro Preto as part of the MTV Brasil's series "MTV Ao Vivo". MTV Ao Vivo sold 600 thousand copies[12]. Besides a list of hits chosen by fans through Skank's website, the album had the new song "Acima do Sol", a national hit. In 2002 Samuel Rosa played acoustic guitar in "É Proibido Fumar", from the Acústico MTV (MTV Unplugged) by Roberto Carlos.
“ We would rather lose audience for sounding strange than for sounding stale ”
—Samuel Rosa on the different sound of the band from Maquinarama onwards, Revista Bizz, August 2006
[edit]Cosmotron (2003)
Cosmotron, produced by Skank and Tom Capone, was released in July 2003 and sold 250 thousand copies - a disappointment next to their vigorous previous sales figures. Nevertheless the album had many radio and ringtone hits. "Supernova", "Dois Rios", "Vou Deixar" and "Amores Imperfeitos" were the main tracks. Cosmotron won the Latin Grammy - best Brazilian rock album award in 2004.
[edit]Radiola (2004)
Released in October 2004, Radiola was the first compilation album by Skank. It included four new songs, including the Gilberto Gil cover "Vamos Fugir". The cover reproduces a painting by the hyped Los Angeles artists the Clayton Brothers. Radiola sold 200 thousand copies.
[edit]Carrossel (2006)
In March 2006 Skank began recording the new album Carrossel in their studio in Belo Horizonte, with producers Chico Neves, who also worked in Maquinarama, and Carlos Eduardo Miranda, producer the Acústico MTV album by O Rappa. Released in August, the album (a commercial disaster) had the semi-hits "Uma Canção É Pra Isso" and "Mil Acasos". Arnaldo Antunes ("Trancoso"), César Mauricio ("Lugar") and Humberto Effe ("Cara Nua" and "Notícia") were the songwriting partners.


International career

“ Brazil is big enough for us. Doing shows abroad and exposing a diverse audience to our music demands a lot of time and energy. ”
—Haroldo Ferretti
Skank had some success with "Garota Nacional", that lead the Spanish charts, and "É Uma Partida de Futebol" was shown before some games of the 1998 World Cup due to being in the championship's soundtrack. By the time of O Samba Poconé, the group toured through Latin America and Europe, and appeared in big festivals such as Super Bock/Super Rock 1997 in Portugal , Páleo Festival 97 in Suíça, St. Gallen 98 in Switzerland, Montreux Jazz Festival 2001, and SummerStage 2002 in New York City. The group was also called for Rock in Rio III in 2001, but went out along with other Brazilian bands in protest against O Rappa's exclusion.
However, the band never invested much in its international career. Some songs received versions in Spanish, such as "Chica Nacional" ("Garota Nacional"), and "Respuesta" ("Resposta"), but foreign shows are usually in places with many Brazilians, such as Miami and New York City.


Members

Samuel Rosa - vocals and guitar
Lelo Zaneti - bass
Henrique Portugal - keyboard, backing vocals
Haroldo Ferretti - drums


Discography

Skank (1993, 250,000 copies sold)
Calango (1994, 1,250,000 copies sold
O Samba Poconé (1996, 1,800,000 copies sold
Siderado (1998, 750,000 copies sold)
Maquinarama (2000, 275,000 copies sold)
Skank MTV ao vivo (2001, 600,000 copies sold)
Cosmotron (2003, 400,000 copies sold)
Radiola (2004, 240,000 copies sold)
Carrossel (2006, 200,000 copies sold)
Estandarte (2008, 70,000 copies sold)
[edit]Awards

Cosmotron won the Latin Grammy Award - Best Brazilian rock album in 2004.
Skank received the Premio Ondas in Spain as New Latin Group in 1997.
MTV Video Music Brasil: Viewer's Choice in 1996 ("Garota Nacional") and 1997 ("É Uma Partida de Futebol"); Video of the Year in 1999 ("Mandrake e os Cubanos"); Pop Video in 1996("Garota Nacional"), 1997("É Uma Partida de Futebol"), 1999("Mandrake e os Cubanos"), 2000 ("Três Lados"), 2003 ("Dois Rios") and 2004 ("Vou Deixar").
Source:wikipedia

Noemie Lenoir

Lenoir was first spotted by Ford Models when she was 16 years old. In 2001, Lenoir signed with L'Oréal, and has since appeared in their advertisements alongside Laetitia Casta and long-term model and actress Andie MacDowell. She has also worked for Victoria's Secret, Gap, Next, and many others. Lenoir was until recently the face of UK high-street retailer Marks & Spencer , and was seen in various British magazines and billboards alongside fellow models Twiggy and Laura Bailey. Lenoir is featured in the music video for Usher's single Hey Daddy.


Personal life

Lenoir was born in Les Ulis, Essonne, France. Her mother comes from the French Island of La Réunion and has Malagasy ancestry and her father is a retired white French electrician who later divorced her mother.[2] Her family moved first to Gif-sur-Yvette and then to Versailles where she was discovered and started her career in modeling. After a relationship with rapper Stomy Bugsy, she lived with international football player Claude Makélélé of Paris Saint-Germain. They have a son named Kelyan Makélélé (born 2 February 2005). The couple split in early 2009. Despite widespread reports Lenoir was married to Makélélé, she wrote a blog in 2009 clarifying their former relationship, saying: 'I’m not and have never been married. I do have a son. I have a wonderful baby’s father and have a great relationship with him, however I’ve been single for some time now.'
On 09 May 2010, Lenoir was found unconcious after a suspected suicide attempt in a park near her Paris home by a man walking his dog. She was rushed to hospital where large quantities of drugs and alcohol were found in her system.


Filmography

Actress
Rush Hour 3 (2007) – Geneviève
Gomez contre Tavarès (2007)
La Doublure (2006) – Karine
Jeff et Léo, flics et jumeaux – Anna (1 episode, 2004)
After the Sunset (2004) – Mooré's Girl
Gomez & Tavarès (2003) – Gina
Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre (2002) – Chamandra
[edit]Self
On n'est pas couché – Herself (1 episode, 11 June 2007)
French Beauty – Herself (2005)
Le Grand journal de Canal+ – Herself (1 episode, 2005)
20h10 pétantes – Herself (1 episode, 2004)
Tout le monde en parle – Herself (3 episode, 2000-2003)
She hosted a show on Trace TV for 2 years. She appears in all three Marks and Spencer Christmas TV adverts for 2009. Broadcast in the United Kingdom and Republic Of Ireland one of which viewers have complained about.
Source:wikipedia