Ronan has been cast alongside Vinnie Jones and Anna Friel as a trigger-happy robber in the upcoming film “Guns, Money and Home Cooking.” The plot, which follows four friends who turn to a life of crime after graduating college, sounds kind of like “The Big Chill” meets “Bugsy Malone.” But sure, you have to start somewhere.
Ronan is understandably thrilled by the new adventure.
“This is a new avenue for me and I’m really excited,” he told The Sun. “The first day will be very nerve-racking.”
But Ronan didn’t spend nearly a decade studying at the feet of pop impresario Louis Walsh to forget the No. 1 rule of demi-celebrity: always hedge your bets. Ro insists that he’s not closing the door on his pop career.
“I hope it [the movie] works out,” he said earnestly. “But music is still my No. 1 priority.” (Hmmm . . . didn’t he say something like that when Boyzone went on “hiatus”?)
Robbie: Camping out?
Add Sheryl Crow to the long list of people who have an opinion on why, why, WHY Robbie Williams is having so much trouble breaking into the American music scene. The American rock star, whose hits include “All I Wanna Do” and “If It Makes You Happy,” says that in her opinion, the Ego hasn’t landed because is a bit too camp for us rough and tumble Yanks.
Robbie’s problem is that he’s “overly camp,” said Sheryl. Or at least, we think that’s what she said. We were kind of distracted watching reruns of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”
“American men don’t want to see anything that’s burlesque or vaudevillian,” she told the Daily Mirror last week. “They want to feel that their artist is brooding and macho.”
Oh, pish posh, as Jack would say on the very popular “Will and Grace.” But Sheryl stuck to her guns.
“Most of our male artists are so aggro they don’t even look like rock stars,” she opined. “They look like they’re all roadies.”
Point taken. But Robbie’s not really what you’d call a sharp dresser. Well, except for that “Millennium” video tux thing. In fact, if you’re looking for grunge, the boy literally stripped down to the bone in the video for “Rock DJ.”
But even if Robbie adopts a style that’s sloppy enough for U.S. audiences, he’s still laboring under a disadvantage: he’s too, well, good.
“Robbie’s songs are very melodic,” she said. “Which does not seem to be what kids in America are into right now.”
More’EastEnders’news
So we got a call last week from the public relations department of BBC America. They wanted to set the record straight on the whole “EastEnders” cancellation controversy, which they consider “unfortunate.”
The message boards and chat forums on the BBCA web site (www.bbcamerica.com) have been inundated with notes from devoted fans who are angry that the popular soap has been axed from the channel’s schedule. The online petition http://www.PetitionOnline. com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?EEfans asking the station to reinstate the show has so far gathered 12,999 signatures. But according to a BBCA spokesperson, the channel has no plans to take us back to Albert Square.
“The show has consistently underperformed in its time slot,” said the spokesperson. “We cannot justify keeping it in the schedule.”
We pointed out that Saturday afternoon is probably not the best time for a 2-1/2 hour block of drama. He respectfully disagreed.
“That is a prime viewing slot,” he insisted. “But no matter where we put the show, it did poorly. The numbers showed a 70 percent dropoff as soon as the show came on.”
He added that as soon as the “EE” block ended, the numbers would shoot right back up.
Could that many people be watching “Ground Force” and “Home Invaders”?
“Yes,” he insisted. “Unfortunately, we cannot foresee a time when ‘EastEnders’ will be back in the lineup.”
So, were they worried that fans might make good on their threats to drop the station from their cable packages and/or boycott its advertisers?
This seemed to unsettle the nice BBCA man something awful. He started to splutter before regaining his composure.
“We certainly hope that fans continue to enjoy the fine lineup of shows we offer on BBC America,” he said. “We are committed to providing the highest quality programming available.”
“But no ‘EastEnders’?” we prodded.
“Unfortunately, it has continued to underperform . . .” he repeated patiently.
“Not even in the middle of the night?” we pleaded.
“I can see you’re a fan,” he said sadly. “Unfortunately . . .”
“Come on, it’s on BBC Canada,” we whined shamelessly.
“It has underperformed in its time slot,” he reiterated. “We can’t justify . . .”
We let him continue uninterrupted this time, as we wondered if Comcast would ever offer BBC Canada.