Moviefone Editorial

Tag: ben-kingsley

  • Ben Kingsley Drawn to ‘Honest’ Humanity in ‘Learning to Drive’

    Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson star as a mismatched pair who are worlds apart in “Learning to Drive.” Kingsley is a working class turban-wearing Sikh driving instructor living in Queens to Clarkson’s Upper West Side literary critic. But the driving lessons they share take a backseat to the lessons in life that they learn through each other.

    “I was very drawn to the genuine heart of the film—true honest reflection of us as human beings and how we bump into each other,” Kingsley tells Made in Hollywood. “It’s all coalition—it’s all accident.”

    Indeed, it’s a series of coincidences and life happening by accident that inspired “Learning to Drive.” The rom-com-drama is based on writer Katha Pollitt’s 2007 book, of which the film shares the same title, that features introspective essays on a range of topics, including her experience taking driving lessons from an instructor—a man from the Philippines.

    Kingsley says that sincerity and the “great writing” of stories is “dependent on real-life accidents.”

    Continuing, he emphasizes that the connection between the characters is serendipitous and raw. “Not manufactured. Not compartmentalized. Not sentimentalized. A quite unpredictable conclusion for the people involved.”

    “I was very drawn to the genuine heart of the film—true honest reflection of us as human beings and how we bump into each other,” he says. “It’s all coalition—it’s all accident.”

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  • Ben Kingsley Tackles Prejudice in ‘Learning to Drive’

    Throughout his 40 years in showbiz, Sir Ben Kingsley has seen how racism plays out in the real world and on the big screen. And in his latest role as a turban-wearing Sikh driving instructor in “Learning to Drive,” he hopes to open a dialogue about the prejudices that exist in post-9/11 anti-Muslim sentiments.

    “I have studied horrendous human prejudice against other people and it shocks,” Kingsley tells Made in Hollywood. The Oscar winner has starred in three Holocaust films, including “Murderers Among Us,” “Schindler’s List” and “Anne Frank: The Whole Story.”

    In “Learning to Drive,” his character teaches a woman, whose life is in chaos after she’s abandoned by her husband, how to drive in New York City.

    Clarkson’s literary agent Wendy asks Kingsley’s Darwan, “Why do you teach driving?”
    His response echoes the prejudices that many people who wear religious garments face: “For a better job I would have to take off my turban and shave off my beard, but this is how I know who I am.”

    In another scene in the film, Darwan faces verbal abuse by a group of young men who call him “raghead” and Osama Bin Laden, confusing the Sikh for a Muslim.

    Kingsley hopes the comedy-drama will be a teachable moment for moviegoers. He continues: “I feel whenever we’re given an opportunity to say, ‘Look at what people can do to each other and then look at what people can do for each other,’ as a story teller, just present it to you and say: ‘What do you think?’”

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  • Critics Say Mind-Swapping ‘Self/less’ Flatlines Early

    Positioned as a sci-fi exploration of morality but executed like a lengthy shoot ’em up actioner, “Self/less” – the movie about swapping consciousness from one body to another – is all brawn and no brain, critics say.

    With a nearly 30 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, many reviewers agree that “Self/less,” starring Ryan Reynolds and Ben Kingsley, flatlines rather early during its 116-minute runtime. Co-starring Michelle Dockery, Matthew Goode and Victor Garber, “Self/less” hits theaters July 10.

    For many critics, the film had a promising premise, but sacrificed quality and writing for mind-mush-like thrills and fights.

    “‘Self/less’ is, by and large, shot like cheapo television. There’s more panache in an episode of ‘The Flash,’ and a better spin on far out sci-fi concepts, too” – Jordan Hoffman, The Guardian

    “The more the narrative straightens out into a series of shootouts, punch-outs and car chases, the more monotonous it becomes” – Scott Foundas, Variety.

    “‘Self/less’ resembles nothing so much as a film that stopped trying, or at least a filmmaker, as the good will left over from the solid first half propels the film over the finish line, but only barely. Ultimately it becomes an exercise not in the bravery to actively try something new, but in the fear of accidentally doing so. For a film theoretically about the questioning of identity, Self/less never tries to be other than it is, embracing its faults rather than surmounting them” – Joshua Starnes, Comingsoon.net.

    Director Tarsem Singh, of “The Cell” and “Mirror Mirror,” whose visually stunning photography techniques were lacking in the drama was particularly disappointing for many critics.

    “The narrative outline of ‘Self/less’ is a philosophical theme park, readymade for daring, complex filmmaking. And Singh and his writers never go on any of the rides. “Self/less” is one of those depressing affairs that gets less and less interesting as it progresses” –Brian, Tallerico, Roberebert.com.

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  • ‘Selfless’ Trailer: Ryan Reynolds Mind-Melds With Ben Kingsley

    SelflessThe quest to live forever has captured our collective imagination for centuries, from ancient texts in the time of Alexander the Great to current sci-fi movies. But as a scientist notes in the trailer for “Selfless,” “Immortality has some side effects.”

    That proves to be quite the understatement. In the movie, Ben Kingsley plays an aging, brilliant billionaire who wants to extend his life. He’s offered that chance by a scientist (Matthew Goode), who’s developed a procedure that would transfer Kingsley’s mind into a much younger body – that of Ryan Reynolds.

    But after the seemingly successful procedure, things start to go awry (natch), as Reynolds’ consciousness battles that of Kingsley’s for ultimate control.

    “Selfless” opens in theaters this summer.

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