British television productions garnered a leading nine International Emmy nominations Monday, including acting nods for Bob Hoskins and Helena Bonham Carter.
Hoskins was nominated for best actor for his role in “The Street,” on BBC1, as a reformed alcoholic who runs a pub and stands up to the neighborhood mobster. “The Street,” which focuses on the lives of different residents on a road in northwest England, was among the nominees for best drama series.
Bonham Carter is in contention for best actress for the biopic “Enid,” on BCC4, in which she portrayed the popular British children’s writer Enid Blyton, whose troubled personal life stood in sharp contrast with her jolly escapist works.
The Argentine crime mini-series “Epitafios,” produced by HBO Latin America, also received two nominations — for best drama series and best actor, with Leonardo Sbaraglia cited for his role as an assassin who copies famous gruesome murders.
A total of 39 nominees from 15 countries will compete for International Emmys, which honor excellence in TV programming outside the U.S., in 10 categories.
The winners will be announced Nov. 22 at the 38th International Emmy Awards ceremony in New York, hosted by former “Beverly Hills, 90210” star Jason Priestley. Two honorary awards will also be presented.
Brazil received five nominations, all for TV Globo productions, including a best actress nod to Lilia Cabral for her role as a former model coping with a painful divorce in “Seize the Day.”
Japan and Argentina each had four nominations, followed by Germany and the Netherlands with three apiece and the Philippines and South Africa with two each. Denmark, Israel, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, South Korea and Thailand each had one nominee.
Other contenders for best drama series include “Clouds Over the Hill” (Japan) and “The Killing II” (Denmark). The comedy nominees are “Los Simuladores” (Mexico), “Peep Show” (Britain), “Talok Hok Chak” (Thailand) and “Traffic Light” (Israel).
Hoskins and Sbaraglia will be competing in the best actor category with Germany’s Sebastian Koch for “Sea Wolf” and the Philippines’ Sid Lucero for “Dahil May Isang Ikaw” (“Because There Is Only You”), which was also nominated for best telenovela. The other actress nominees included Germany’s Iris Berben for “The Krupps — A Family Between War and Peace” and South Africa’s Lerato Moloisane for “Home Affairs.”
The other British nominees are “Imagine … David Hockney: A Bigger Picture” (arts programming), “Shaun the Sheep” (children & young people), “9/11: Phone Calls from the Towers” (documentary), “Heston’s Feasts” (non-scripted entertainment) and “Small Island” (TV movie/mini-series).
Simon Cowell, the British recording executive and TV personality, will receive the honorary International Emmy Founders Award recognizing his role in building an international empire and changing the face of television around the world through his work on the “Idol,” ”Got Talent” and “X Factor” reality show franchises.
“Saturday Night Live” creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels will be recognized with the honorary International Emmy Directorate Award for creating a new brand of comedy on TV and launching the careers of film and TV stars.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More