New Comedy Images And News

September 01st Tuesday

Nigel Havers' new comedy series

Nigel Havers and Sian Reeves are to star in a new comedy series about office life.
They will join a cast of new, young talent in BBC Three's Lunch Monkeys, which is set in the administration department of a law firm that has become a gathering place for school-leavers, no-hopers and general misfits.



Brothers And Sisters star Havers plays solicitor Mike Cranford, while Reeves - known for shows such as Hope Springs and Cutting It - stars as office supervisor Gloria Stevens.
As Gloria strives to be rewarded for her role in the company she is continually let down by her team - and by herself.
This Life's Steve John Shepherd plays a hotshot solicitor in the six-part series.



Mila Kunis Talks About 'Extract'


Mila Kunis stars as Cindy, a temp worker at a factory that produces artificial food flavoring, in the Mike Judge comedy, Extract. Jason Bateman plays Joel, the owner of the company who lusts after Cindy, has a wife who won't have sex after 8pm, and is dealing with the aftermath of a workplace accident that resulted in Step (Clifton Collins Jr) losing a testicle.

But there's more to Cindy than just a temp worker who happens into a job at the factory. She's really a con artist out to get Step to sue Joel for megabucks. Cindy isn't exactly the nicest girl around, but Kunis says she had no problem understanding the


character. "It’s one of those things where you have to play her very realistic and not judge her by her actions, but just kind of accept them for what they are. And you hope that that kind of translates on screen, because if you start judging her for what she’s doing and being like, 'Oh, I can’t believe she’s stealing a guitar,' it’s going to come across as a little negative. But if you just kind of go, 'Well, girl’s gotta do what she’s gotta do,' it kind of comes across a little naïve in a sense, so it’s a little more accepting," offered Kunis.

And the fact Cindy's the opposite of Kunis was very appealing. "She’s not very normal, to say the least, so she’s just very fun to play. She’s crazy."

In Extract, Cindy's able to get away with things that others might not have. Part of the reasoning behind that is that, supposedly, pretty girls live by different rules. In real life, Kunis doesn't find that to be true. "Personally, no. I don’t. I really don’t. I do think that there are women out there... You look at L.A. No one’s really from L.A. All the pretty people from the world all come to L.A., so L.A.’s just filled with beautiful women. But I feel like there’s two groups of them. You have one that solely relies on their looks. And that’s fine if that’s what they have to get through life, so be it. And then you have the beautiful women that actually have something else to offer the world and are constantly fighting against the stereotype. I do not look like this every day. I, in fact, very rarely look


like this, so no, I can’t even get out of a parking ticket. I don’t exude... I think there are certain actresses, absolutely, that exude a certain amount of sexuality or whatever it may be that men just completely fumble over. I do not feel that I’m that person, personally," said Kunis.

Kunis had a good time on the set and calls Judge a "great" director. "He’s a very comforting director," explained Kunis at the LA press day for the Miramax film. "He hires people that he trusts and he kind of gives you this material that he’s created and is not married to it and you can explore and have fun with it and feel very safe. So he’s great."

Looking Ahead - Mila Kunis' Other Projects

Up next for Kunis is a starring role in Darren Aronofsky's thriller, Black Swan, opposite Natalie Portman. Filming isn't expected to begin until November, but already the internet's abuzz with rumors of a sex scene between Kunis and Portman. Asked about the rumor, Kunis replied, "I will not be adding any fuel to this fire, let me tell you that much. [Publicist] Nancy Ryder is in here..."

"She can’t. It’s just she can’t," interjected Ryder.

"Here’s the truth. This is the honest truth. The script is so under lock and key, completely under lock and key, I in fact have no idea how anybody could’ve read it at all. It’s not possible. There’s maybe about four copies," revealed Kunis. "So I’m not going to say it’s not true. I’m not going to say it is true, because I just can’t talk about. But it’s very bizarre how anything would even get out because it’s such a private script."

What is known about Black Swan is that Kunis and Portman will be playing rival ballet dancers. "I am training right now, seven days a week, four hours a day, every single day and it’s been now four weeks," said Kunis of her ballet training. "So I have two more months of training before choreography begins."

"Ballet is intense," added Kunis. "It’s not at all like one part of your body’s used more than the other. It’s your entire body is constantly being contorted into a very unnatural state. Your hips are being, like everyone’s hips are out like this. My hips are now turning out. And I slouch normally, this is how I sit, and in ballet, everything’s tucked back and under. It’s all very unnatural. Everything about it is very unnatural."


Kunis also recently completed work on another dramatic film, The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington and directed by the Hughes brothers. "Book of Eli, my character in that is pretty awesome I have to say. She starts off very young, very naïve, very sheltered but also very hungry to learn about life. What can I say? [She] gets inspired by Denzel Washington’s character and goes on this journey with him and throughout the film, it takes place in maybe four or five days, and she grows up so fast and so quickly and almost becomes a woman and takes over. She was a beautiful, beautiful woman to play," said Kunis.

Not only does Kunis' character mature throughout the film, she also gets to kick a little butt and do some intense action scenes. "I get to flip a car. I get to throw a grenade into a convoy of cars and explode them. And then I get to do other fun things that I can’t talk about..."


The Book of Eli isn't the first film in which Kunis has played a character capable of handling herself in action; she played a hitwoman opposite Mark Wahlberg in Max Payne. But Kunis says Eli is different. "Like I think in Max Payne, she was very much just that. She was an assassin, what you see is what you get. In Book of Eli, it’s a very real character that has to fight to survive in this specific type of world and learns how to survive, versus just being placed in front of you as this one person," explained Kunis. "You get to see her grow. It was a great, great, great, great part."