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New & Noteworthy: Call him Ziggy Starstruck

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

According to reports, Robbie is finding it a bit tough to be Robbie at the moment. So to escape the pressures of his own utter fabulousness, he has dreamed up another persona: someone with a darker personality, a harder, more dangerous edge. Although there’s only so menacing one can be with a name like Pure Francis.
PF’s back story is suitably avant garde: Robbie describes him as an alcoholic American who sounds a bit like Neil Diamond — that is, if Neil Diamond had been a member of Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk in the ’80s.
“He’s not had a lot of luck . . . [and] he’s not afraid to do a big chorus,” noted Robbie. It goes without saying that, given his Diamond roots, he’s also not afraid of sporting bushy eyebrows.

The writing’s on the wall
Attention, those of you who’ve been pining for more Brian McFadden news: the reason for his Brian-to-Bryan-to-Brian name change has finally been revealed. Turns out, it came down to penmanship — and corporate greed.
Lemme ‘splain.
When fresh-faced schoolboy Brian McFadden joined Westlife many moons ago, Svengali-like manager Walsh determined that the kid could sign more autographs if he spelled his name “Bryan” instead of “Brian.” He decreed that the cutesy spelling be used: time savings per signature: approx. 5 milliseconds, since he now didn’t have to put the smiley face over the “i”. But the newly solo singer wants to regain his street cred, and knows that few Dublin tough guys use goofy spellings.
But perhaps the most compelling reason for the change back to his birth handle is that he can now register www.brianmcfadden.com with no interference from his former record label, which owns the rights to domains using his other name. Which are now, like, worthless. Which just goes to show that you couldn’t spend all those years with Louis Walsh and without learning something.
In more McFadden news, the singer has declared the boy band era to be officially over. Well, now that’s out of it, that is.
“A band like [Westlife clone] V just run around the stage in luminous tops and spiky hair,” he sniffed. “It’s already been done.”
And done so well, too, if you’ll pardon the sarcasm. But back to Brian . . .
“Boy bands dancing around isn’t going to work ever again,” he declared. Hmmm . . . wonder who’s going to break the news to pals Nicky, Shane, Kian, and Mark.

Brendan’s voyage
When it comes to measuring the success of Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, it’s safe to say that the career of the craggy-faced character actor from Belfast is off the charts. Soon, it’ll be easier to list the movies he’s not in (very few) rather than the movies he’s in (seemingly everything).
Gleeson’s next big challenge will be playing Mad-Eye Moody in the upcoming film “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” He can currently be seen in M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller, “The Village,” and in the Brad Pitt skirt-fest, “Troy.” He’ll also be in “Kingdom of Heaven” alongside Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons, which hits theaters next spring. Not bad for a former schoolteacher who didn’t start acting until the ripe old age of 34.

Would he work with Woody? (Would he!)
Irish actor James Nesbitt is poised to join the long and prestigious list of actors who have a Woody Allen film on their resumes.
Allen, the former boyfriend (and current son-in-law) of actress Mia Farrow, will film his next project in London. In addition to the “Bloody Sunday” star, the other players will include Cork-born Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and “Lost in Translation” star Scarlett Johansson.
An insider told the Sunday World that this could lead to a Hollywood career for the actor.
“If he plays it right, this could lead to other offers,” said the friend. “Some of the U.S. critics were very impressed with him in ‘Bloody Sunday,’ but being in a Woody Allen film will open him up to a new market.”

Blood is thicker than water . . .
The brothers Gallagher have been spending so much time smacking one another around the recording studio that they obviously haven’t had time to answer the phone. (Or maybe they’ve just pulled it out of the wall.) So, Noel, Liam, if you’re reading this: call your cousin Fintan. He’s making a
movie. And he wants you guys to write the score.
Now, we’re not talking about some little indie flick here. Fintan Cullen Gallagher is producing a $25 million movie based on the popular ballad “The Green Fields of France.” The script has been written, the production crew is in place, casting has begun — all they need now is someone to do the music. And Fintan kinda wants to keep it all in the family. Unfortunately, the Oasis kids are not part of a big, close family, and they’re not particularly close to Fintan’s branch of the family tree.
“We have been finding it difficult to get in touch with Liam and Noel,” Fin told Ireland Online’s entertainment Web site. “I only met the pair once and we chatted, but they hardly know me.”
Fintan thinks that, in addition to providing great music for the film, the Gallaghers’ involvement would pay other dividends.
“We would like to discuss the possibility of Noel . . . making a cameo appearance as it would give it the height of international flavor of Noel gets involved,” he said.
Fin thinks that the battling brothers might be drawn to the project “as it includes the UK and Ireland and they are of Irish descent.”
On a side note, it’s worth mentioning that the filmmakers haven’t approached “Green Fields” songwriter Eric Bogle about contributing tracks to the movie. The prolific singer, whose catalog includes such classics as “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” and “Now I’m Easy” also takes credit for an earlier effort, the appalling ditty “I Hate Wogs.” This seems to have been a heavy-handed attempt at satire, but with lyrics like, “I hate Wogs, they live like dogs/Some eat bananas and some eat frogs,” maybe the filmmakers are right to leave well enough alone.

New York state of mind
It’s easy to understand why American tourists in Dublin might be experiencing a sense of d

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