You may want to explore further in cinema and take some breather from your usual Hollywood fanfare. You're definitely in for a big surprise. A lot of current foreign movies are so good, you need to see them, yes, if you have to go find the DVDs via ebay or amazon, you should! In this first series, we feature four of the hottest young talents from Europe that are making a lot of buzz in some of today's most acclaimed foreign films.

- - -

- - -

Charismatic, versatile, talented. Three words to describe these 4 amazing actors. Not only are they quite famous in their home country, they have been nominated (and have won) a number of awards for playing some of the most exciting and powerful performances for actors.

Riding High: Nicolai Cleve Broch

"I'm very proud to be part of this new Norwegian Wave and Buddy was actually the first film to make it big in Norway and to be distributed around the world. Before, filmmakers had difficulty making feature films and had to wait sometimes 10 years to make their next movie. " says Nicolai Cleve Broch.

Broch was talking about Morten Tyldum's film Buddy, a delightful comedy about a young man's struggle to find a place of his own, of growing up and taking responsibility. The film received raves from audiences and critics alike when it premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

The Norwegian actor was recently recognized by the European Film Promotion as one of its shooting stars for 2007. A graduate from the Norwegian National Academy of Performing Arts, Nicolai Cleve Broch had 2 other acclaimed featured films to his credit, among others. In 2004 he played against actor Aksel Hennie in Hennie's directorial debut Uno. Last year, he had the main part in Stefan Faldbakken's Uro presented at Cannes' Un Certain Regard.

Three notable films, from three different directors, and in their first feature films.

Ask how he feels about being chosen for these roles: "..it was exciting because it was their first big film, something very important for them and it was good to share that special energy with them. That said, it's quite common to play in directorial debuts in Norway as we don't make more than a dozen films per year. I am actually lucky to have had main parts in feature films every second year. " commented Broch.

- - -

- - -

Rivetting Performance: His role in Uno prepared him for his next featured film. With Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stefan Faldbakken on the helm, Broch took on the challenge to play the lead role in URO. As Hans Peter, Broch is a young man who has joined a special elite police unit. He works undercover being driven and obsessed by exposing a criminal drug network but soon going too far on his own- violating police rules, being torn between both sides of the law and trying to resolve his unconscious inner conflict.

European-films.net has this to say about the film and Broch's performance:

"Unusual for a film debut, performances are pitch-perfect all around (and an impressive showcase of Norwegian talent to boot), with an arresting Cleve Broch essaying a deeply conflicted man who discovers that right and wrong might mean something different when applied to strangers than when applied to people one cares for."

"I knew from the start that this film would have to have a realistic, almost documentary style. It was important to be true to the circles we wanted to portray, rather than aestheticise them, elevate them above reality. I wanted to make a human and personal drama, with a powerful plot, and while laying the groundwork for the film, we became painfully aware of how mean and dirty reality can be, and this was the impression we wanted to recreate in the film." commented director Faldbakken.

The young actor prepared heavily for the role, says Faldbakken: "Nicolai Cleve Broch came along on trips with the police, in addition to completing the basic training all junior undercover officers must undergo. The first task is to buy heroin in a rough neighbourhood in Oslo - without blowing your cover." Much has been said about how American and British actors prepare for their roles, going to various extremes to get into the 'zone'. Broch is no exception.

Looking forward: Broch is currently playing pivotal parts in the National Theatre in Oslo and is looking forward to his next featured film.

- - -

French Cinema's Most Celebrated: Nicolas Cazale

Monsieur Cazale is one of this year's European shooting stars, and deservely so. He has been acting in a number of critically acclaimed films in the past few years and it's about time he gets some recognition.

Described as 'the next Alain Delon' Cazale is quite a fearless actor. Aside from appearing in Gale Morel's Three Dancing Slaves, where he played a young gay man in search of love in a chaotic neighborhood, he also took the lead role in Julio Medem's Chaotic Ana. More from the European Film promotion news spread:

Born in Pau, France, Nicolas Cazalé was encouraged at the age of 18 by a friend to attend a school play. The experience immediately inspired him to move to Paris to take up acting as a career. His first film role was in Gaël Morel's award-winning film UNDER ANOTHER SKY in 2002. In addition to film roles, Nicolas has worked for television appearing, for example, as Friday opposite Pierre Richard in a small-screen adaptation of "Robinson Crusoe" by Thierry Chabert in 2003. He was cast in the male leads for Julio Medem's CHAOTIC ANA, which was shot in Spain and the USA, Gilles Paquet-Brenner's UV, and Eric Guirado's THE GROCER'S SON (LE FILS DE L'EPICIER). Nicolas received the award for "Romantic Actor of the Year" in June 2005 in the discovery category at the Cabourg festival for his central performance as Reda in Ismaël Ferroukhi's THE GREAT JOURNEY (LE GRAND VOYAGE).

- - -

- - -

In The Great Journey (Le Grand Voyage), Cazale plays Reda, a French teenager who accompanied with father for a pilgrimage in Mecca. The road film explores the relationship between the father and his son, the elder speaks only Arabic while the young one prefers French, but both tried to communicate with each other in their own ways. The generation gap is so clear and so apparent, but they managed to avoid hating each other.

The attractive young actor also models and is the face of Chevignon.

- - -

Model-Actor to the Max! : Andreas Wilson

With an Oscar-nominated film 'Evil' and 5 features where he played the leading role, Andreas Wilson is one of Sweden and Europe's most important actors. Aside from the accolades bestowed by the European Film Promotion as one of the earliest recipient of the Shooting Star award, Wilson also modeled for top clothing company Abercrombie and Fitch. Fashion photographer Bruce Webber is known to scout his models in Scandinavia and Wilson, with his good looks and model-ideal height seems to be the perfect candidate for the sexy photoshoots, Webber is known for.

- - -

- - -

More of the movie, Evil:

Evil (original title Ondskan) is directed by Mikael Håfström and based on the novel of the same name by Swedish writer and journalist Jan Guillou. Originally released in 2003, it marked the big screen debut of emerging star Andreas Wilson and also featured a strong performance by Gustaf Skarsgård. Evil became one of Sweden's biggest box office hits in recent years and won the Best Film at the Swedish Film Awards in 2003. It received major attention and critical praise at several international film festivals and was nominated for an Academy Award® in the category Best Foreign Language Film 2003.

Evil is a boarding school drama that offers a searing look at the social underpinnings and moral implications of physical violence. Set in Sweden in the 1950s, the film tells the story of a boy who, after years of being beaten at home by his stepfather, has become a troublemaker of his own and is expelled from school for fighting. Given one last chance to redeem himself at a prestigious boarding school, he quickly becomes the victim of systematic bullying by his new classmates. He does his utmost to suppress his own violent tendencies and to maintain his dignity without fighting back, until a vulnerable friend gets pulled into the fray...

Evil is a story of cruelty and the way through it — but also about genuine friendship and the beginnings of love.

- - -

That hot Italian guy! Giorgio Pasotti

It seems so unlikely that one of Italy's hottest actors first wanted to becoming a martial arts expert! But it's true in the case of Giorgio Pasotti. Reports IMDb:

"...His father, an expert in martial arts, introduced him to these disciplines when he was 6 years old. He soon reached the highest rank in the Chinese martial art of wushu. In 1987 and 1988, he spent some time in China to refine his techniques. In 1992, he finally moved to China where he attended the physical education lessons at the University of Beijing. In 1993, the Milestone Production Ltd from Honk Kong was looking for a European/American actor who could master martial arts and he was chosen for the role of a young American who becomes a shaolin monk.

- - -

- - -

Excerpts from an interview with the actor:

“I do miss China, I really do. I miss speaking the language and I miss the food! And now that I’m back in Italy, sometimes it feels like a very long time ago.”

His credits to date have spanned several successful TV series and numerous feature films, where he is developing a strong reputation as a comedic and movement-oriented actor (in his latest role in After Midnight, for example, he has been compared to Buster Keaton).

“ But I am pleased that I did it – I don’t miss competing, because it is so tough! – but now it feels like a new page. I feel good about it.” he smiles. “In life, you make plans, and then suddenly you find yourself moving in completely the opposite direction. I never wanted to become an actor and I came from a small town.

More of the actor here!

- - -

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email This

Hits: 536

Comments (1)

...

I think you should add Eduardo Noriega to your list, he's was amazing in Tesis and El espinazo del Diablo. and he's doing american movies (vantage point).

Thanks.

Kariv , May 24, 2008

Write comment

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

Add Comment Preview