As an LQBTQ+ ally, I'm all about gay rights, and “trans lives matter.” I love when we get to see representation of gay characters in film, especially when they're played by people who are actually in the LGBTQ+ community, because I think all forms of diversity are wonderful.

With that said, one part of the rainbow that I don't think I've seen nearly enough of in my own personal movie viewing is bisexuality, which is why one of my favorite movies is the 1998 musical drama, Velvet Goldmine. The film also scratches another one of my itches as it's also a music movie, which is one of my favorite genres. So, if you can find it, here's why you should check out Velvet Goldmine.

Velvet Goldmine Is Essentially A Story About A Famous Rock Star...Without That Rock Star's Blessings

If you're a fan of music from the ‘70s, then you can probably tell from the title of this film who it’s, well, let's just say an homage to, since it's the title of one of David Bowie’s most memorable songs. You see, according to an article from GQ, the director, Todd Haynes, wanted to make a David Bowie biopic, but Bowie refused, and even floated the idea of suing.

So, Haynes changed all of the characters’ names and made some of them composites. For example, instead of Bowie, we get a character named Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who is very Bowie-esque. Rather than Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, we get an amalgamation of both stars in Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor).

The film itself is kind of like Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters if you’ve ever seen that movie (and if you haven’t, you should) as the film is broken up into vignettes that make up an overall whole that is Brian Slade’s life. It’s a fascinating approach, and great stuff if you’re a fan of Glam Rock, and Bowie in general.

The Narrative Follows A Bisexual Protagonist, And How That Impacted His Life

Okay, so this is a pretty great movie when it comes to LGBTQ+ themes, since there are homosexual and bisexual themes throughout the film. We’re actually introduced to the story through a journalist named Arthur Stuart played by Christian Bale. Stuart is writing an article about Slade’s mysterious death, and interviewing people who knew him along the way.

However, through Slade’s androgyny and overt sexuality, we learn that Stuart himself drummed up the courage to come out when he was younger, so he has a personal connection to Slade’s work. This is important, since we learn as much about Slade’s character weaving in-between relationships, and also get a sense of Stuart’s own sexuality.

Slade, you see, starts off married to a woman named Mandy (Toni Collette), but easily falls in love with Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor). And, the great thing is, the film shows that bisexuality is a great thing, since you get the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, Slade gets a bit TOO much of what he wants, which ultimately leads to his downfall. But, I do love seeing bisexuality celebrated, because I consider them the lucky ones, as I’m just a humdrum, heterosexual male. Oh, well.

It's A Great Film, Especially For How It Deftly Portrays A Fluid Sexuality

My favorite decade is the ‘70s, both in movies and in music, so this film really resonates with me since that’s the period that it’s mostly focused on. I especially love Glam Rock, and I think it would have been really cool if Bowie was actually in this film (hell, he’s been in other movies).

However, my favorite thing about the film is just how well it explores sexual fluidity, just like Glam Rock itself. Velvet Goldmine is a film that is as much about the music as it is about the culture, which is really cool, since it’s celebratory in more ways than one.

So, if you can find it, check out Velvet Goldmine. While finding it on physical media may be tricky, you can rent or buy it on digital on Amazon. Come for the music, stay for the androgyny.

Stories about Kings, Queens, Princes, and Princesses have long been a Hollywood favorite. Sure, there are amazing fictional kings and queens like T’Challa in Black Panther and Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but this list is about the real ones. Historical depictions of some of the greatest, and worst, monarchs in world history. Kings like Henry VIII and Louis XIV. Queens like Elizabeth II and Victoria. Sure, the movies they appear in are not always the most historically accurate, but that doesn’t diminish the portrayals of royalty by these fine actors. 

Patrick McGoohan As King Edward I - Braveheart

Braveheart is far from the most historically accurate movie of all time, but one character that Mel Gibson and company at least got close to correct is Edward I, or Edward Longshanks, as he was known in the movie and at the time. He was a brutal, remorseless leader, and fought with the Scots for most of his reign. Patrick McGoohan’s performance of Edward is great, one of the real highlights of the movie. 

Judi Dench As Queen Elizabeth I - Shakespeare In Love

To be sure, Shakespeare In Love isn’t as loved today as it was when it was released in 1998. Its upset win for Best Picture at the 1999 Oscars over Saving Private Ryan is still questioned and the movie is often maligned unfairly. One reason it's unfair is Judi Dench’s fantastic performance as Queen Elizabeth I. 

Emily Blunt As Queen Victoria - The Young Victoria

Most of the images we see of Queen Victoria come from later her in her long reign, after Prince Albert died and the older queen was seen wearing black and looking dour. The Young Victoria is a fresh take, showing the queen, played by Emily Blunt, as young and vibrant. It wasn’t a huge hit in the United States, but it’s a really good movie, with a great performance by Blunt. 

Kenneth Branagh As King Henry V - Henry V

Kenneth Branagh has done more for Shakespeare in the modern age than anyone in Hollywood and the prime example is his portrayal of the titular king in Henry V. His delivery of the famous St. Crispin's Day speech is worth the price of admission alone. 

Colin Firth As King George VI - The King's Speech

Colin Firth’s performance and King George VI in The King’s Speech is as close to perfect as possible and well deserving of the Oscar he was awarded for it. Firth brilliantly plays both the reluctant king’s vulnerability and his strength. It’s a fine line to walk, as both are completely necessary to understand King George VI in full. 

Kirsten Dunst As Marie Antoinette - Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette is one of the most infamous royals of all time. The French queen is notorious in history for her aloof attitude towards the revolting French peasants during the French Revolution. The film Marie Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst as the titular queen, did wow audiences at first, but has since become one of Sofia Coppola’s most respected films, and with good reason. It’s a very modern movie telling an old story and Dunst’s performance enhances that perfectly. 

Elizabeth Taylor As Cleopatra - Cleopatra

Elizabeth Taylor’s performance in Cleopatra is one of the most iconic in Hollywood history. Though it deserves some criticism from more enlightened modern audiences, it doesn’t diminish the performance. Taylor is amazing and only a star like her could carry a movie on the scale and scope of Cleopatra. It’s a true Hollywood epic from the Golden Age of Hollywood and Taylor is as glamorous as any actor could be. 

Timothée Chalamet As King Henry V - The King

It’s not easy for any actor to step into one of Shakespeare’s best characters like Henry V in Henry V. This is a character that Laurence Olivier played on the silver screen for goodness sake!  Timothée Chalamet took the risk and it paid off for the actor and audiences in The King. The movie is a new take on Shakespeare’s plays,  taken from his four plays about historical English kings, so the pressure was on. Chalamet kills it in the movie, playing the role quite differently as others have, but it works for the updated version. 

Cate Blanchett As Queen Elizabeth I - Elizabeth

Elizabeth is a wonderful movie, anchored by a wonderful performance by Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I. Blanchett returned for a sequel, Elizabeth: A Golden Age which was a less-than-wonderful movie, but Blanchett was once again great. The performances in both set a new standard for the historical figure who has been portrayed often on film. 

Janet Suzman As Tsarina Alexandra - Nicholas And Alexandra

One of the most pivotal moments of the 20th Century was the overthrow and execution of Tsar Nicolas of Russia and his family by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution. It’s a story that has rarely been told on film in the West, but Nicholas And Alexandra is the rare exception. It’s a good movie, with a great Oscar-nominated performance by Janet Suzman.

Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi As King Cetshwayo - Zulu

Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi is not a professional actor, and the great 1964 film Zulu is his only appearance. His role as King Cetshwayo is also not a large one, but he makes this list because one, he was an actual Zulu chief in South Africa, and two, he was the son of the man he plays. King Cetshwayo who led the Zulu Kingdom at the time of the war depicted in the movie, so while the part was not big, it’s important to have it on this list. 

Jonathan Rhys Meyers As King Henry VIII - The Tudors

One of the most popular depictions of royalty on screen in the last couple of decades has to be Jonathan Rhys Meyers As King Henry VIII in The Tudors. Meyers plays a young, dashing version of the king that most people know from his later portraits, looking less healthy than the king was as a young man. Henry VIII is one of the most notorious kings in English history and Meyers shows why, but also plays him as anti-hero we all kind of love. 

Helen Mirren As Queen Elizabeth II - The Queen

Helen Mirren's performance as Queen Elizabeth in the Queen is everything you would expect, as the The Dame plays the role with respect, but with with a toughness that the queen was known for behind closed doors. 

Sean Connery As King Richard - Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves

We couldn’t make this list without one of the most famous cameos of all time. It’s one of the shorter roles on the list, but Sean Connery’s surprise appearance as King Richard at the end of Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves shocked and delighted audiences. In real life, King Richard spent almost none of his time on the island of Great Britain, preferring to remain in Aquitaine in France, so it’s a bit of a stretch that he would be at a wedding in England, but no matter, he makes everyone smile. 

Trine Dyrholm As Queen Margrete - Margrete: Queen Of The North

Margaret I of Denmark is one of the most important monarchs in European history, to say nothing of her being a woman in power in the Middle Ages, which was very rare. Her story is well known in Scandinavia, but less known in the United States. That’s even more reason to watch the Danish movie Margrete: Queen Of The North, along with Trine Dyrholm’s performance of the queen. 

Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, and Imelda Staunton As Queen Elizabeth II - The Crown

How do you put only one of the three women who played Queen Elizabeth II on The Crown with such aplomb on this list? You can’t, so all three, Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, and Imelda Staunton all make it. Each one brought their own panache to the role of the now-legendary queen who we lost in 2022. Foy and Coleman both won Emmys for the role and Staunton was nominated in 2023. It’s three fantastic performances by three wonderful actresses. They even got to act together at the end. 

Nigel Hawthorne As King George III - The Madness Of King George

King George III is most famous in the United States for being the king we fought a revolution against. While he is considered one of the greatest kings in English history, he also had a severe undiagnosed mental illness that affected him later in life. It’s that part of his life that The Madness Of King George is about. It’s a hard role to play, but Nigel Hawthorne nails the role. 

Leonardo DiCaprio As King Louis XIV - The Man In The Iron Mask

There are surprisingly few portrayals of King Louis XIV of France in English-language cinema, despite the Sun King being one of the most consequential monarchs in European history. The most notable one is a fictionalized version of King Louis by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Man In The Iron Mask.

Vanessa Kirby, Helena Bonham Carter, and Lesley Manville As Princess Margaret - The Crown

One of the best achievements of The Crown (among many) was the show’s casting. The three actors who played Princess Margaret, Vanessa Kirby, Helena Bonham Carter, and Lesley Manville, all did an amazing job. You can’t pick one of the next because they all simply nailed the tragedy and triumph of the princess in the shadow of her older sister, Queen Elizabeth II. 

Olivia Coleman As Queen Anne - The Favourite

Olivia Coleman is great at playing royalty on screen, even when it’s a wildly fictionalized and weird version of Queen Anne like she does in The Favourite. The movie is very loosely based on history but is very much representative of director Yorgos Lanthimos’ style. So while Coleman may not be playing Queen Anne exactly as she was, it’s still a downright amazing performance. 

Natalie Dormer As Anne Boleyn - The Tudors

Natalie Dormer is perfectly cast as Anne Boleyn in The Tudors. She’s beautiful, yet vulnerable, coy, yet determined, and sweet, yet conniving. Boleyn is one of the most tragic queens in English history and it’s hard to picture anyone but Dormer playing her after she starred in this show. 

Richard Harris As King Arthur - Camelot

We could argue all day about how “real” King Arthur was. More myth than man in English folklore, there isn’t even consensus on whether he existed at all. But no matter, Richard Harris’ portrayal of the legend in Camelot is still worthy of mention on this list because it’s so darn good and so darn iconic. 

Oliver Dimsdale As King Edward VIII - Downton Abbey

In the finale of Season 4 of Downton Abbey, audiences meet Edward VIII when he is still Prince of Wales, before becoming king and before his abdication shocked the world. Though it’s not the biggest role, Oliver Dimsdale instantly gives you a sense of exactly who the future Duke of Windsor was, a conniving womanizer who really wasn't fit to be king. 

Katharine Hepburn As Eleanor Of Aquitaine - The Lion In Winter

It’s hard to understand why The Lion In Winter isn’t as remembered as other movies from the late ‘60s, because Katharine Hepburn's performance as Eleanor Of Aquitaine, the queen of England in the 12th Century, is amazing. She even took home an Oscar for it. 

Sean Bean as Odysseus - Troy

In the original theatrical version of Troy, Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, played by Sean Bean, doesn’t have all that big of a role. He’s a scene-stealer though. In the director’s cut, which makes for a much better movie, the role is expanded. Plus, it's a rare movie that Sean Bean doesn’t die in. 

Sigourney Weaver as Queen Isabella I - 1492: Conquest Of Paradise

There’s no way around this: 1492: Conquest Of Paradise is not a good movie. It’s historically inaccurate and celebrates Christopher Columbus a little too much while ignoring a lot of his atrocities. Still, Sigourney Weaver, while slightly miscast, does a phenomenal job with what she’s given to do as Queen Isabella I of Spain, Columbus’ benefactor. 

Tadanobu Asano As Genghis Khan - Mongol

If this was a list of the worst performances of royalty, John Wayne’s offensive and terrible version of Genghis Khan in The Conqueror would be at the top of the list. On the flip side, we have the Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano as the Mongolian king in Mongol. It’s not the most widely-known movie, as it’s a Russian production in Mandarin and Mongolian. It’s worth your time and effort to seek it out though, it’s fantastic. 

Judi Dench As Queen Victoria - Mrs. Brown

Is there a role out there that Dame Judi Dench doesn’t nail? That’s a rhetorical question, of course, and her performance as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown is certainly no exception. Though the actual history in the movie is dubious at best, putting that aside and enjoying the movie is easy with Dench as the recently widowed queen. 

Gerard Butler As Leonidas - 300

Of all the movies in this movie that stretch the true stories to their max, 300 wins in that category. Still, Gerard Butler’s portrayal of Leonidas is a fan-favorite for good reason. Sure, it’s mostly because he looks so darn good, but the movie is fun, exciting, and completely unique, so we’ll allow for a little historical nonsense. 

Richard Harris As Marcus Aurelius - Gladiator

Another movie on this list that takes a lot of liberties with its historical accuracy, Gladiator basically changes everything about Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) and Commodus’ (Joaquin Phoenix) real-life father/son relationship. But both Phoenix and Harris are fantastic in their roles, so again, we’ll allow it. 

Peter O'Toole As Henry II - The Lion In Winter

The Lion in Winter has a few excellent portrayals of royalty. Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Timothy Dalton as King Philip of France, and Anthony Hopkins as a young Richard The Lionhearted. Of course, the lead in the film, Peter O’Toole as Henry II is the lead for a reason. In a career filled with amazing performances, this is one of O’Toole’s best and resulted in one of his eight Best Actor nominations. 

Chris Pine As Robert The Bruce - Outlaw King

Robert The Bruce has been portrayed in a few films, probably most famously by Angus Macfadyen in Braveheart. While that performance is great, Outlaw King, with Chris Pine in the lead role, is a more historically accurate version of the story of Robert fighting the English and rising to King of the Scots. 

Audiences have always been fascinated by the lives of monarchs worldwide, and that is not likely to change anytime soon. We’ll continue to see great portrayals of royalty in entertainment for a long time to come. 

Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers has now found himself in some legal hot water. The former star of Showtime's The Tudors was arrested recently for driving under the influence, and this comes after a long line of issues with substance abuse for Rhys Meyers.

According to Yahoo Entertainment, Jonathan Rhys Meyers was in a minor single car crash in Malibu, California on Sunday, which occurred at about 5 p.m. PST. When police officers got to the scene of the crash, they gave Rhys Meyers a field sobriety test, but, unfortunately the 43-year-old actor failed that test and was arrested for a misdemeanor DUI. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said that he's since been released from custody.

Aside from his starring role as England's King Henry VIII on The Tudors, which lasted for four seasons from 2007 through 2010, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is also known for his work in movies such as Bend It Like Beckham, Match Point, Mission: Impossible III, and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, as well as more recent appearances on TV in the 2016 Roots mini-series and the hit History Channel drama, Vikings.

As mentioned earlier, Rhys Meyers has had a long history with alcohol abuse, and has spoken openly about his time in rehab, where he began seeking treatment for his substance abuse issues over 13 years ago, with him once needing treatment at three separate such facilities in just one year. Unfortunately, he's also had other arrests and public troubles come about because of his problems.

In 2009, Rhys Meyers had became drunk enough while at a bar in Charles de Gaulle airport in France that bar staff refused to serve him any more. When he was told that he was being cut off, apparently, he got into an argument with the staff, which led to a physical altercation and him issuing death threats. He was arrested, and detained for several hours. Eventually, according to WNBC in New York, he was given a one-month suspended sentence and a fine of approximately $1,350 in a French court.

Just the next year, Jonathan Rhys Meyers was at John F. Kennedy airport in New York City, when he became "belligerent" and "disruptive" after getting drunk. That incident led to him being banned from United Airlines for life. The summer of 2018 saw him detained at Los Angeles International Airport after getting into a “verbal altercation” with his wife during a flight, when they had been headed home after getting holistic treatment for anger management issues.

We don't know yet what kind of sentence Jonathan Rhys Meyers might receive because of his DUI, but it's clear that he has a lot to continue to work through, and we wish him all the best. He has several projects in the works, so here's hoping that he can come through this before too much longer. If you want to revisit The Tudors, you can stream it on Netflix or Hulu.

On Friday, the shocking news dropped that Johnny Depp, who had been set to reprise his role of Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts 3, was out of the movie. Following a ruling against Depp in a U.K. libel lawsuit, in which a judge found allegations of abuse by Depp's ex-wife Amber Heard to be credible, Warner Bros. apparently asked the actor to leave the production, and he agreed to do so. This decision has also pushed back the release, and therefore the production, of the new film, giving the studio some time to find a new lead villain for the Harry Potter spinoff franchise.

So who should it be? Where should the production of Fantastic Beasts 3 look for a new Grindelwald? Considering that the vast majority of actors in the franchise are English, and the Harry Potter movies already used basically all of them at one time or another, the pickings feel slim, but there are still some names worth considering. What does seem certain is that the film will want to replace a name like Johnny Depp with another big name. Here a few people to think about that could do the job well.

Ewan McGregor

It's almost hard to believe that Ewan McGregor made his way through the entire Harry Potter franchise without finding a role, but he did, and so perhaps its his time to join the larger Wizarding World by becoming the new Grindelwald. McGregor is several years younger than Johnny Depp, but he's only a couple years older than Jude Law, and considering that Dumbledore and Grindelwald are supposed to be contemporaries, this actually works out better. The biggest hurdle to this choice might be that Ewan McGregor has his own high profile project, the Obi-Wan Disney+ series, and with so much about both projects currently up in the air, scheduling might not allow this to happen. But if it did, it could be amazing.

Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch hasn't been part of the Harry Potter franchise as of yet. However, he has played a sorcerer capable of great magical ability. Isn't Grindelwald really just an evil Doctor Strange? Well, maybe not exactly. And maybe, because Cumberbatch is already playing a wielder of magical abilities in another franchise, he won't be interested in this one, but he could probably do it. And Cumberbatch is almost always the good guy. He hasn't played a lot of really evil characters, and seeing him play the bad guy could be a lot of fun. Similar to Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch is much younger than Johnny Depp, but he's not so young that it should be a deal breaker.

Joseph Fiennes

In the original Harry Potter movies, the big bad, Lord Voldemort, was played by Ralph Fiennes, and that worked out pretty well, so maybe the solution to recasting Grindelwald is to keep things in the same family. Ralph was a great Voldemort, so let's bring in brother Joseph Fiennes to play the villain of the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Age wise, he's actually slightly older than Johnny Depp, but that shouldn't be a deal breaker, he doesn't look all that old. Fiennes has been making a solid career for himself on television in recent years, but it's been far too long since he had a solid film role, and this could be it.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers

This one might be one of the longer shots as the youngest name on the list. At 43 Jonathan Rhys Meyers is more than a decade younger than Johnny Depp, and about four years younger than Jude Law. That wouldn't be a deal breaker, but the bigger strike against Jonathan Rhys Meyers, which is usually a good thing for him, is that he looks even younger than he is. Here, the Tudors star would look like a kid compared to the older Jude Law when they're supposed to be around the same age. Still, it's not like this couldn't be worked around. Make-up is a thing, as is magic, which is sort of a big part of these movies. Maybe Grindelwald just wanted to look younger. Normal people get face lifts, wizards just drink a potion and get younger.

Colin Firth

Colin Firth is another great English actor that we still can't believe wasn't in the Harry Potter franchise and yet, he wasn't (I double checked). He's got the opposite problem of Jonathan Rhys Meyers in that he's the oldest person on this list. Can you put Colin Firth and Jude Law on screen together and make people believe they might have been in school together? I'm not sure, but if anybody could make you buy it with acting skill alone, it's Colin Firth. He's great at what he does and he would be great as Grindelwald. And he's another actor who doesn't get to play the bad guy nearly often enough.

Colin Farrell

And then finally we have what is either the longest shot of them all or possibly the choice so obvious that all others should be pushed to the side. I'm honestly not sure which. Colin Farrell played the role of Percival Graves in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He's the Auror on the hunt for the Obscurial that turns out to be Ezra Miller's Credence. However, in the end we learn that Graves has actually been Gellert Grindelwald in disguise the entire time. So if Grindelwald transformed out of being Colin Farrell once before, let's change him back. Why would this happen in the story? I have no idea, but there's a poetry to it that makes it feel right. And honestly, Colin Farrell was a better antagonist in the first movie than Grindelwald was in the sequel anyway.

With Fantastic Beasts 3 now looking at a summer 2022 release date, the movie will likely start filming in the late spring or early summer of 2021. That gives the filmmakers some time to find a replacement for Johnny Depp. Having said that, I would expect that we could still get an announcement very soon. Warner Bros. would probably prefer people stop talking about the guy who is no longer part of the movie and instead focus on the new person who is, and the faster that new person is found, the better.

Who do you think should play Grindelwald in the next Fantastic Beasts, one of these names, or somebody else? Let us know in the poll below.

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It’s a damn good time to be a Viking. The hit History series Vikings has officially been picked up for a 20-episode fifth season, and it goes without saying that fans couldn’t be happier. Between visceral bear attacks and enthralling historical drama, the show has become one of the most reliable sources of weekly entertainment on television. Things are about to get even better for the series, as the fifth season of Vikings will see none other than The Tudors alum Jonathan Rhys Meyers join the already stellar cast.

We’ve just learned that the fifth season of History's Vikings has enlisted the talents of actor, and all around handsomeness expert, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Fans of Meyers will recognize him from his portrayal of Henry VIII on the critically acclaimed drama The Tudors (and maybe as Dracula from the short-lived primetime series). Although we do not know the exact nature of the character Jonathan Rhys Meyers will portray on the upcoming season of Vikings, we do know that he will begin production as soon as he has concluded his work on the upcoming Roots reboot.

For Vikings to enlist the relatively prestigious talents of an actor like Jonathan Rhys Meyers doesn’t surprise us in the least. The series has experienced pretty phenomenal ratings over its last four seasons, garnering an incredibly strong following for History. Between its strong storytelling and its visceral action, the show has cast a wide net of appeal that an incredibly deep audience pool has picked up on. We feel safe in our assumption that the actor’s fan base from his time on The Tudors and other projects will likely serve to bolster that popularity.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers has developed a fairly prolific career outside of his work on The Tudors. He has appeared in numerous big budget motion pictures over the years, ranging from J.J. Abrams’ Mission Impossible: III to Bend It Like Beckham to Roland Emmerich’s Stonewall, which hit theaters just last year. In addition to acting, he has also fostered a strong modeling career – but you probably could’ve guessed that.

We will bring you any and all relevant details related to the upcoming fifth season of Vikings as they become available to us. Jonathan Rhys Meyers – along with the rest of the show’s cast and crew – will begin production on Season 5 this summer. For now, be sure to stay caught up on Vikings every Thursday night at 10 p.m. EST on History.

Now that Star Trek Into Darkness is out in the world and racking up cash, it's safe to turn our attention to where director J.J. Abrams will boldly go next, which is of course Star Wars: Episode VII. The amount of actual confirmed information is vastly outweighed by endless rumors, and now we've got another unconfirmed report to add to the pile. The scoopsters at Latino Review, who have been busy digging up info on the new Star Wars production, say that an offer is out to Jonathan Rhys Meyers to take a starring role in the film?

Who will he play? No telling. Will Abrams or anybody confirm it? Don't count on it. But Meyers makes as much sense for a role in the film as anybody else, having played a role in Abrams's own Mission: Impossible III, and making his name as the star of The Tudors and in movies like Match Point, From Paris With Love and Bend It Like Beckham. On the other hand he's the lead character in Dracula, the new drama just picked up by NBC for its fall schedule. TV stars take time off for their movie careers all the time, but a role in the new Star Wars movie isn't exactly the kind of thing you can knock out in a monthlong hiatus. Rhys Meyers is a talented and fascinating actor, but is a production as big as Star Wars: Episode VII willing to work around Dracula?

TV conflicts aside, the Meyers news has to be treated as rumor for now, since Abrams is unlikely to confirm much of anything until he absolutely has to, and with Episode VII not slated to start production until early next year, we've got a long way to go before anything is set in stone. But if you're a fan of Meyers' glowering on The Tudors or weirdly sexy soccer coaching in Bend It Like Beckham, let us know how you want to see him fit into Star Wars

Normally, I'm not sure we could celebrate a new series being scheduled for Fridays, but I think we can make an exception for Dracula, which is being paired nicely with Grimm when the supernatural drama moves back to Fridays this fall. The above trailer introduces us to Jonathan Rhys Meyers' Dracula, a vampire posing as an American entrepreneur looking to bring modern science to Victorian society in 19th century London.

A technologically-minded vampire is a forward-thinking vampire, and that's a vampire that's built to last, especially for Dracula in this story. But an appreciation for artificial forms of light is just a cover for this vampire. He has a score to settle with the society that sentenced him to a life of immortality.

The trailer for Dracula, which comes from Daniel Knauf, Tony Krantz, Colin Callender and Gareth Neame, teases a series that will be dramatic, glamorous, dangerous and at least a little bit bloody as Dracula witnesses and takes a liking to a woman who looks exactly like his dead wife. In addition to starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who's likely best known for his starring role in The Tudors, and thus, knows a thing or two about period pieces, Dracula stars Victoria Smurfit, Thomas Kretschmann, Jessica De Gouw, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Nonso Anozie and Katie McGrath. Kretschmann will play Van Helsing in the series.

Tonally, the series looks very different from Grimm, which is modern-day and has a bit more humor than what we can probably expect from Dracula, but the common thread of predatory, supernatural beings is present enough that these shows may very well share an audience. That's likely what NBC was hoping for when they set this new drama to air after Grimm on Friday nights this fall.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers is going from a King who spilled a lot of blood to a famous Count who drank a lot of blood. NBC has picked up the series Dracula with the Tudors star in the title role; the world’s most famous vampire is headed for the small screen.

The series won’t be another modernization of a classic tale. Instead, NBC’s Dracula will take place in the 1890s in London and offer a new version of the old story says THR. But Dracula himself won’t actually be British, nor will he apparently be Transylvanian. So much for hopes for a cool vampire accent. No, this time Dracula will be (or will at least appear to be) an American who has come to London ostensibly to bring modern science to the Victorian world, but with a hidden agenda of vengeance which is made difficult when he falls in love. The storyline itself is different from the Bram Stoker version but doesn’t quite go into the modern age like True Blood. At least Dracula will have some cool Victorian clothes to wear, which should please all those Goth-leaning viewers out there.

Supernatural dramas have been all the rage for a while, and this new series will be fighting for the attention of vampire lovers with established shows like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries. Does the allure of Count Dracula still have power in the age of Eric Northman? The classic character has been portrayed many times in film and television and in many different ways. How Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays him will certainly be a big part of the show’s success – or failure. My guess is that we can expect to see a Dracula who is sexier than any we’ve encountered before, who may not be in the modern world but will still be designed to appeal to the modern idea of vampires.

When John Travolta enters a room, time stops. Okay, not literally, but the guy’s got an unprecedented presence to match his extraordinary film career. Luckily he came in with a full head of hair rather than sporting a shiny bald melon like his character in From Paris With Love, Charlie Wax. Could you imagine how overwhelming that would have been? Still, between Travolta and co-stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Kasia Smutniak as well as director Pierre Morel and writer Luc Besson, the room was filled with a tremendous amount of talent.

From Paris with Love is a thriller about an eccentric and trigger-happy spy (Travolta) who whisks away his more docile young apprentice on an assignment to stop a terrorist attack. It’s as intense as it sounds. There’s bullets flying, bad guys dying and even a cocaine shower. Check out what the group said about designing John’s unconventional character, working in Paris, a Travolta family cameo and more.

John, what’d you do to prepare for this role?

Travolta: It was beautifully written, so he was easy to fill because the verbiage was so ideal for me to attack. The look was very important in this movie. We saw Soldier of Fortune covers where these guys are suddenly, I don’t know why, but very glamorous looking with scarves, shaved heads and goatees. It was brave to take it all off, but I think we decided that was the only way it would work is to be bold with it and go all the way.

We’re so defined by our hair. What was it like when you first looked in the mirror after shaving your hair off?

Travolta: Pierre and I did a superimposed-type – what do you call it when you?

Morel: We did a Photoshop thing. We tried to erase John’s hair, we did different types of goatees. We did a little chemistry before.

Travolta: Then we had to get approval from Luc, of course!

Morel: Did we? [Laughs]

Travolta: And Luc loved it right away, but, you see, you’re right. Film is a visual medium and I remember with Pulp Fiction it was my idea to do that kind of Dutch boy thing because [Vincent Vega] had spent time in Holland and I thought this would be this Euro-trash look. I remember Quentin [Tarantino] and the producer just thinking it was not a good idea and I said, ‘Well, can we just test it?’ And then the next day when they did a screen test on it I made sure it worked and then they loved it. But it was iconic, meaning it was a signature of the character. So when you design these things for the screening, they’re very important and not to be looked at as superficial at all.

Luckily you have a nice head!

Travolta: Oh yeah! Well, no bumps, no bumps. [Laughs]

What’s the difference between Charlie Wax bad and villain bad?

Travolta: I would define it in three different ways. The villain in Pulp Fiction is misguided. The villain in, let’s say [The Taking of] Pelham 1 2 3, is just out and out criminal. And then the villain in this is not really a villain. He’s a good guy who has unorthodox methods. He is a rogue and so, even though he does things that we don’t agree with, he solves the problem. And he’s so good at what he does that he gets away with being a little naughty. You can take that liberty when you’re that good.

Jonathan, your character has a wonderful relationship with this woman, but doesn’t know anything about her life? How is that possible?

Meyers: Well, you know, love is blind. Really, how much do you know about your partner? He knows that she makes dresses, he knows that she’s into fabric, but he’s a naive guy anyway. It’s not like he’s being specifically naive because she’s so fantastically beautiful, yet it’s jarring and that’s why she’s there. These guys know what they’re doing so for us to have a challenge in the movie, these other guys have to be smart and they’re smart enough to know that this guy will go for this girl and he’ll go for her blindly because the beauty, the charm, the elegance, he’s living in Paris. This is the dream. This will all sort of divert him from what’s actually happening and I think it’s a great rouse. If you want to hide something, hide it in plain sight and they do.

Do you think you’d fall for it in real life?

Meyers: Absolutely! 100%! Hook, line and sinker!

Travolta: We all fell for her! [Laughs]

Smutniak: It shows how the guys are. They can play cool but in the end they’re like this. They get lost in their love!

Did any other filmmakers influence the style of this film?

Besson: No, the influence, honestly, I’m listening to rap music and eating sushi. I’m probably one of few generations where we eat every type of culture of food and saw American films and music from the world. It’s part of my culture now. I love and I cry in front of many American films, French films too, Japanese films too. I totally assume the fact that this multicultural thing, the more the people are mixed, the less we’ll have war.

What do you think are the necessary elements to turn an action thriller into a classic?

Besson: Oh my god, if we knew that we’d be like [sigh].

Morel: Is there a recipe for that?

Meyers: Can I jump in for a sec? I think it’s chemistry. I think that separates an action movie from a classic movie is the chemistry between the actors doing it. Why does Lethal Weapon work? Because Danny Glover and Mel Gibson work with each other and you can see the energy. They play off each other very well. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, if that had been Robert Redford and Warren Beatty, would it have been the same movie? Who knows, but it’s their energy that carries it. If you can get that one little moment where two people understand and they share a joke on screen or share a nice emotional moment that makes the movie. That makes a classic action movie to me. However, I may be wrong.

Travolta: I’m not going to disagree with him. [Laughs]

Besson: It’s also the amount of risk that you can take in the story. Sometimes, you know, if you say, ‘Okay, you know what, let’s shoot the girl at the table.’ And most of the people will say, ‘No, no, no. You can’t do that.’ ‘Fuck yeah I can, I just did.’ You also have to take some risk in the directing, in the script when you talk about he movement. You say, ‘checkmate motherfucker,’ you take the risk. You need to have to take risks otherwise you stay at the good level, you make a nice film, but you don’t have a chance to stay.

What’d you guys enjoy about shooting in Paris?

Travolta: [Jonathan] being a single man his joys may have been different than my joys. [Laughs] I think Luc and I enjoyed the food of France, Jonathan may have enjoyed something different.

Meyers: We watched a lot of movies, myself and Kasia. Look, Paris is the most beautiful city in the world and I was staying at a beautiful hotel, the [Hotel De] Crillon which is where Marie Antoinette learned how to play the piano.

Travolta: And I got married to my wife.

Meyers: And John got married to his wife. So you’re in an extraordinary elegant living museum because I’m right at the end of Place [de la] Concord so I walk out and I see the Paris that everybody dreams of. I also saw the Paris that is the living nightmare of an economic first world western country, which is there’s tons of people in Paris from different cultures all over the world trying to make a living, trying to make a life. I wasn’t the tourist coming in, going to Champs-Élysées, going to La Dorée and having macaroons. I was going out to these areas where people actually live and that type of Paris is not seen. Luc can show it to you, Pierre can show it to you, but I could never find it myself. So it’s great, it made it a real city to me and not just this Disneyland fantasy.

Smutniak: Hey! I was going to La Dorée.

Meyers: But you’re elegant and beautiful and, you know, you live in Rome!

Smutniak: I knew Paris before so I have some friends there. It’s a beautiful city.

Travolta: I came home from work around midnight one night and I said to my daughter and my son, who had a couple of friends with them, ‘How would you like to go downtown Paris where Pino Pizza on the Champs-Élysées is open? And we will have pizza and then we’ll go to the Plaza Athénée and have hot cocoa.’ They said, ‘ At this time of night?’ I said, ‘Yes, believe it or not.’ So we went downtown and we had pizza and then at 2am we’re sitting at the Plaza Athénée and having hot cocoa and they thought they had just, you know, this is a whole universe of lifestyle.

This movie is the epitome of pure entertainment, but it also has some deeper messages and meanings. What do you want audiences to walk away from this film with?

Travolta: Well, oddly enough I said this to Luc when the movie was over, ‘Strangely enough, this is the most authentic movie about terrorism that’s ever been made.’ Because in a very light way we’re not making a statement or giving a message, but there’s a truth that availed a thing that says wow, this is really the crux of it. It’s about misguided religion and misguided concepts and how things work in that terrorist world and yet we’re having fun disguising it almost. But I don’t think we intended for any particular message.

John, was that your family we saw in the background of the scene at the Eiffel Tower?

Travolta: You win the award for observation! That’s absolutely true. That was my wife and my daughter. We were shooting at the Eiffel Tower. My daughter hadn’t yet seen the Eiffel Tower and we were shooting in the middle of the day and I said, ‘Hey, you should come up and visit while we’re shooting there’ and then I asked Pierre if they could be the extras in that scene and Pierre graciously agreed and there you have it.

Morel: By the way, shooting the Eiffel Tower was the most challenging thing for us because the Eiffel Tower is a nightmare to shoot in actually. It’s a beautiful place. I love it, but it’s the most visited monument anywhere in the world. There’s millions of people coming every year to visit and there is no way to shut it down. Nobody’s privatized that, so you have to deal with like thousands of people peeping and trying to look at what you’re doing.

Meyers: Actually, I think it’s become one of the most difficult monuments to shoot in the world because now they charge you for shooting it because there’s blue lights on it and it’s privatized. So, if you want the blue lights on the Eiffel Tower in the background of your shot, it’s like 20 grand or something. It’s expensive! You know? It’s really expensive so you kind of got to do this and make sure that you pan off before you reach the Eiffel Tower.

Can you guys tell us about the physicality of your roles? Was there a scene that was particularly challenging?

Travolta: Well, for me the whole thing was challenging because I said to Pierre, ‘You really want me to do all of these stunts?’ I mean, I’m going upside down on a pole and shooting with two guns and rolling down buildings and jumping off and I said, ‘I’m an old man!’

Morel: I said, ‘So what?’

Travolta: And the odd thing was there was such a confidence in that I could do it that I decided that, well hell, I’m going to live up to their expectation and I went and did it and I really was proud that I attacked it in that full-bodied way. Even though I’ve been in two John Woo movies, this was the most running and jumping and fighting and flipping and the body’s still able to do it! Now [Jonathan’s] a young whippersnapper so his body is made to do this kind of thing.

Meyers: Physically okay. Yeah, it was okay. Except I don’t like heights and I have to go up these steel stairs and I’m not a good height guy and I drop the vase of cocaine, going up the stairs. And I could hear Pierre laughing from like three floors below and John’s still running. He’s like three floors ahead of me. And then we’re like ‘cut’ and it’s like I got to go all the way back down and I’m scraping the coke in and it was just awful. And this vase, of course, the physicality with me is I’ve got to hold this vase, which became a teddy bear. It’s like his blankie at one point. And I kind of felt sad when I had to drop it. It was kind of like this is what protects me from the whole world is this vase of washing up powder.

How’d you deal with balancing the comedy and the drama?

Travolta: I think that’s in the writing.

Morel: I think that was the whole point. It had to be. That’s what I was looking for when I read the script the first time, when Luc gave me the script. I had fun because the characters were written like that.

Travolta: In all fairness, I think Pierre was the balancing act. He knew when something was too funny or too serious and I think Pierre could modulate this beautifully for us because sometimes, you know, my instinct, I’m a comedian too, so my instinct is to go really funny and he’d sometimes pull me back and then sometimes he’d say you’re free now, you can make it funny and I’d go all the way so I think Pierre orchestrated that as well as a beautiful script.

Morel: Every single scene we did, we call it Chinese menu.

Travolta: We call it Chinese menu. I actually got that from Meryl Streep and she gives tons of choices and I decided that I had always done that but now there’s a name to it. Chinese menu is you give the director as many choices as he can handle and then in the editing room they pick the choice they like. If you trust the editor and the director. So I said to Pierre, ‘We’re going to do Chinese menu. I’m going to give you funny, straight, dramatic and as many styles as you want.’ And it works!

John, how are you doing on a personal level?

Travolta: It’s been a rough year. I’m not going to say it’s not been, but we’ve been working very hard everyday at healing and we still are, but it’s working. We’ve worked with our church and we’ve worked with each other and our friends and our family and it’s been a tough one and it’s going to be, but at least we have help and it’s working. Thanks for asking.

The recent trend in Hollywood has been to take over-50 stars, slap them in the lead role of an action film, and see how it goes. That’s worked out pretty well for everyone involved so far. A year ago, Liam Neeson beat an ungodly amount of ass in Taken. Last week Edge of Darkness put a Boston accent and a bad attitude into Mel Gibson, bringing out the badass for the first time since We Were Soldiers. And now, John Travolta, sporting his standard “bad muthafucka” look, leads the way in Pierre Morel’s From Paris With Love.

We here at Cinema Blend got our hands on a few clips from Travolta’s latest, and mostly they're not so bad. What is most striking about these clips isn’t the action--in fact you barely see any at all. The real reason to check these out is just to see how much fun John Travolta is having. Sure he may seem a little over the top, and it is John Travolta so it’s maybe a little weird, but no one can deny that he’s having a good time and it really brings a cool edge to his character, Charlie Wax.

From Paris With Love comes out next Friday, Feb 5, 2010.

The new trailer for John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers new team up action movie, From Paris, With Love contains at least a couple of things I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. That’s good, since I’ve seen a lot of action movies. It’s also suddenly very important since the movie’s director, Pierre Morel, was just announced as the guy in charge of Dune. His previous movie was Taken, and that was every bit as kickass as From Paris, With Love appears. Bonus points since the trailer seems to be pulling it off even with John Travolta who is, generally, not the least bit kickass at all (at least not since Broken Arrow).

Check out the all new trailer for From Paris, With Love in glorious HD on Apple or watch it below.

Despite what might be suggested by the title, From Paris With Love is definitely not a romantic comedy. Instead it appears to be a balls to the wall, over the top action movie in which John Travolta shaves his head, partners up with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and drags him around Paris while he shoots pretty much everything. This could be fun.

Watch John Travolta fire rocket propelled ammunition at the Chinese in the first trailer for From Paris With Love in HD on Yahoo or save yourself some clicking and simply watch it embedded below:

So what the hell was that? Here’s the official From Paris With Love plot synopsis:

You may call this obvious, but I think the new teaser poster for the Jonathan Rhys Myers-John Travolta action thriller From Paris With Love is kinda stylish. The movie isn't coming out until next year, but IGN got their hands on the poster, which features a sleek silhouette of a hand holding a gun that-- you guessed it-- turns into the Eiffel Tower.

IGN has the larger version of what you see above. I still don't know what to make of an action movie starring these two, but I at least like the direction it's headed from here.