Hollywood

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans

The one that got away

Michael Palin is the meekest, mildest and nicest of the Pythons. The latest chunk of his diaries traces his attempt during the 1980s to break away from his wacky colleagues and forge a film-making career in his own right. The title, Halfway to Hollywood, reflects his modest, circumspect nature. We first meet the millionaire filmstar living a monkish existence in Camden in 1980. He occupies an ordinary townhouse. His three children attend state schools. And he drives a Mini, albeit with a sun-roof. To concentrate on screen-writing he turns down $180,000 to appear in a Hollywood movie (you should multiply by about six to get today’s values) and a week

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Roman Polanski’s Friends Should Probably Shut Up

Director Roman Polanski attends Che Tempo Che Fa TV Show held at RAI Studios on November 23, 2008 in MIlan. Photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images. So, what about Roman Polanski, eh? Let me suggest that you can a) acknowledge that his arrest is scarcely an urgent priority, that b) there are questions to be asked about the original handling of the case, c) that the victim’s desire to see the matter dropped is noteworthy, though not of great legal import and that d) Polanski is probably not a threat to the public. Nonetheless, the rush to defend the film-maker has been nauseating. Consider Robert Harris’s piece in the New York

Wednesday

Martin Bright

Hollywood Beckons

You will all be delighted to hear that today I finally signed away the rights to my life story. Stop laughing at the back! Longstanding followers of The Bright Stuff will remember that I (perhaps rather grandly) said I was leaving the New Statesman to work on a film project. The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War is the story of Katharine Gun, the GCHQ whistleblower who disclosed details of a joint US/UK operation to fix the vote at the United Nations for a second resolution to authorise war in Iraq. As the recipient of the original leaked document from the US National Security Agency asking for GCHQ’s help I