The Orange County Film Society kicks off its summer programming Wednesday evening with Unfinished Song, which veteran actor Terence Stamp has called “probably the best experience of my career.” Other summer society offerings include Still Mine, which features a Q&A with star Genevieve Bujold on June 26, and Stuck in Love, a 2013 Newport Beach Film Festival Spotlight Film, on July 9.
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Stamp plays a curmudgeon named Arthur who is plucked out of his comfort zone when his beloved wife Guinevere (Vanessa Redgrave) introduces him to a local seniors singing group. But the group's youthful and charming leader Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton) reignites Arthur's passion for new adventures.
In interviews, Stamp has said being required to sing took him out of his comfort zone. But he also told USA Today that turning down the role of Arthur in the 1967 film musical Camelot, which co-starred Redgrave as Guinevere, was one of the great regrets of his long career.
“Then, as I was reading this script (for Unfinished Song), I thought, 'Wow, they've cast Vanessa in the Guinevere part. And my character is called Arthur. And I have to sing.' I thought maybe this was the universe giving me another pass–playing Arthur and getting to sing. So, from that point, I felt completely at ease.”
Unfinished Song screens at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Regency South Coast Village theater in Santa Ana. It opens in select theaters on June 21.
Still Mine, which also stars James Cromwell and features the post-screening Q&A with Bujold, rolls at 7:30 p.m. June 26 at the Regency Lido Theatre in Newport Beach. The film hits select theaters on July 12.
Stuck in Love, which stars Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly, Logan Lerman and Kristen Bell, is also at the Lido at 7:30 p.m. July 9.
The Orange County Film Society extends the Newport Beach Film Festival experience year round with special preview screenings. For membership information, visit OrangeCountyFilmSociety.com.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.