Sony Pictures Classics has launched the marvelous trailer for the upcoming “The Leisure Seeker”. Starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland, a runaway couple go on an unforgettable journey in the faithful old RV they call The Leisure Seeker, traveling from Boston to The Ernest Hemingway Home in Key West. They recapture their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end. Directed by Paolo Virzì, the dramatic comedy will be released in US theaters on January 19, 2018. Edit: A couple of new production stills from the film have been added as well.

Lots of additional pictures from the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival’s premiere and press conference for “The Leisure Seeker” have been added to the photo gallery, alongside some fantastic additional pictures from the Variety Studio, with many thanks to Maria for sending them in. Enjoy the new additions.

Photo Gallery – Appearances – 2017 – 42nd Toronto Film Festival – Premiere
Photo Gallery – Appearances – 2017 – 42nd Toronto Film Festival – Press Conference
Photo Gallery – Appearances – 2017 – 42nd Toronto Film Festival – Variety Studio

Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren have left Italy for Canada and are currently on the red carpet at the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival for the premiere of “The Leisure Seeker”. A first batch of pictures have been added to the photo gallery. I’ve also added hundreds of additional pictures from this week’s Venice Film Festival to the photo gallery. Check back later for more and enjoy.

Hundreds of additional pictures from the Venice Film Festival’s photocall, premiere and after-party for “The Leisure Seeker” have been added to the photo gallery. Also, there are three clips from the film that were posted for the festival’s release, which give us a good insightful look. A press junket with Donald Sutherland, Helen Mirren and director Paolo Virzì has been added as well. Enjoy.

Video Archive – Career – The Leisure Seeker – Press Junket Interview (Italy)
Video Archive – Career – The Leisure Seeker – Film Scene 01
Video Archive – Career – The Leisure Seeker – Film Scene 02
Video Archive – Career – The Leisure Seeker – Film Scene 03

The Leisure Seeker is Italian director Paolo Virzi’s first English-language feature — and it clearly struck a chord with the local audience here at the Venice Film Festival today. (That’s despite downbeat reviews from mainstream U.S. critics.) Social and local media have also gone mad for the film’s leads, Dame Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland. The pair was essentially mobbed after the SRO Leisure Seeker press conference this afternoon. When the last question was answered, a giant crowd leaped en masse towards the dais at which point Sutherland, who may not have realized he was on a hot mic, exclaimed “Holy sh*t!” He and Mirren reunite in The Leisure Seeker for the first time since 1990’s Bethune: The Making Of A Hero. They play a married couple still deeply in love after 50 years and on a final road trip down the East Coast of the U.S. Sutherland’s John is a former English professor suffering from increasing dementia and Mirren is Ella, a homemaker who is trying to manage her own illness while determined to get them to the Hemingway House in Key West as a last bucket list item. Mirren said Ella “is a reflection of the way I hope to live my life. I loved the character because she is facing the end of her life full of energy that I hope I can maintain to the end of my days. I certainly have it now.” The Leisure Seeker heads to Toronto next week and will be released domestically by Sony Pictures Classics on January 19 Words courtesy Deadline.. Pictures from the photocall and the premiere have been added to the photo gallery.

Photo Gallery – Appearances – 2017 – 74th Venice Film Festival – Premiere
Photo Gallery – Appearances – 2017 – 74th Venice Film Festival – Photocall

Helen Mirren is the cover star of Allure’s September issue, featuring a stunning new editorial by Scott Rindle. The article, by Allure’s editor-in-chief Michelle Lee, can be read in its entirety on their website. It’s a great read, especially because by tomorrow every media outlet will report on Mirren’s “Trump-bashing”, which isn’t happening, if you still believe in voicing an opinion and bashing a person are two separate things. Here’s a short excerpt from the wonderful interview, pictures can be found below: Not only in her career but also in life, the woman’s got range. She’s the blueprint for every Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone who came after her, proving that you can be outspoken yet respected by so many disparate groups if you stay wholly true to yourself. During our morning together, I learn that Mirren is a fan of condiments (her scrambled eggs get ketchup and Tabasco). She’s a self-professed terrible procrastinator. She loves to sleep late. She’s a generous conversationalist who asks copious questions. Her perfect day consists of a long family barbecue in New York, then England, then Los Angeles, and ideally she’d have a teleportation machine.

On Saturday, Helen Mirren has thrown her weight behind a campaign to halt a deadly bacteria that is affecting hundreds thousands of olive trees in the region of Puglia. At the weekend she laid her hand on one of the region’s most ancient trees, nicknamed by locals La Regina or The Queen, which is believed to be up to 2,000 years old. More than 45ft in circumference at the base of its trunk, it is a symbol of the great age of many of the olive trees that are now under threat in Puglia’s Salento peninsula, in the heel of Italy’s boot. Mirren was accompanied by the president of Coldiretti Lecce, Pantaleo Piccinno and the director, Giuseppe Brillante. In particular, Piccinno has asked Mirren to be a spokesperson for four other Vernole olive groves, each of over 2,000 years old, all hard-pressed by the bacterium. About 500,000 ultra-centuries old olive trees are estimated in the province of Lecce. Pictures from Helen’s appearance have been added to the photo gallery.

Dame Helen Mirren led the centenary memorial to those who were lost at the Battle of Passchendaele, one of the bloodiest campaigns of the First World War. She narrated the special live event that commemorated the centenary anniversary of the Third Battle of Ypres, which included testimonies from soldiers projected onto the Cloth Hall. The service was watched by some 200 descendants of those who fought, as well as military personnel and 19 representatives of nations that fought on the Salient, including India, Canada and Australia. The Battle of Passchendaele – officially known as the Third Battle of Ypres – resulted in 325,000 Allied casualties and three months of fighting between July and November 1917. Soldiers faced brutal weather conditions and mud, due to weeks of persistent heavy rain. Prince Charles, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prime Minister Theresa May, among others, attended a ceremony at Tyne Cot cemetery near Ypres, the largest Commonwealth burial ground in the world, where nearly 12,000 servicemen are buried – of which, just over 8,000 are unnamed. The British Royal Family then joined the King and Queen of Belgium, Phillippe and Mathilde, as well as a crowd totalling in the thousands at the Menin Gate, a memorial dedicated to British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed at the sight of Ypres during the First World War. To commemorate, 54,000 red poppies were dropped from the arch of the gate – one for every name engraved on the gate. Pictures have been added to the photo gallery, a video clips can be found below.

Over 300 additional pictures from public appearances, ranging from 1994 to 2007, have been added to the photo gallery. There are lots of unseen photographs, especially from her public work in the 1990s to raise awareness for Amnesty International, Oxfam and causes for teachers and British police forces. There are also lots of premiere pictures from “Calendar Girls”, “Gosford Park” and “The Queen”. For a complete list of all updated albums, scroll down below the previews. Many thanks to Maria for helping me out with these pictures. Much appreciated.

Great news! The upcoming comedy drama “The Leisure Seeker” will have its world-premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival. No premiere date has been set, but the festival runs from August 30 to September 09. The film, based on Michael Zadoorian’s book, stars Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland as a runaway couple going on an unforgettable journey in the faithful old RV they call The Leisure Seeker, traveling from Boston to The Ernest Hemingway Home in Key West. They recapture their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end. You can find two new production stills in the photo gallery and a very first clip in the video archive.