Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE (born 1 August 1965) is an English film and stage director, producer and screenwriter. In theatre, he is known for his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret (1994), Oliver! (1994), Company (1995), and Gypsy (2003). He directed an original West End stage musical for the first time with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013).
For directing the play The Ferryman, Mendes was awarded the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2019.
Olivia Colman on Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and Why She Didn’t Give Imelda Staunton Advice for ‘The Crown’ Season 5
variety.comRebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Olivia Colman, who portrayed Queen Elizabeth II for two seasons of Netflix’s royal sensation “The Crown,” is still processing the loss and legacy of the British monarch.
The queen’s death was announced on Thursday, the same day as the start of the Toronto International Film Festival. “I wouldn’t know where to begin with that,” she told Variety at the Variety Studio presented by King’s Hawaiian at the Toronto International Film Festival. “She made a promise as a young woman and she absolutely kept it with such dignity.
We’re all incredibly impressed by what she did.” Colman, who touched down in Canada to promote “Empire of Light,” a romantic drama from director Sam Mendes, also praised King Charles III’s first address to the nation.
In his speech, he paid tribute to his mother and vowed to serve with “loyalty, respect and love.” “From a British point of view, he did it so beautifully,” Colman said, in reference to the King’s televised address to the nation. “He did it about love, tolerance and gentleness, and that is what she always wanted and she’s done.” She continued, “From the outside world looking at Great Britain, at the moment, we’ve got some comedy going on at one side — politics — and something so dignified.
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