By guest columnist SANDRO MONETTI
All hail The Crown!
In this new golden age of television, few shows are more special or sumptuous than Netflix’s right royal British treat.
The Crown beautifully dramatises history, humanises the Windsors and its 13 Emmy nominations are richly deserved.
I’ve been covering the royal family for CNN Headline News this year and can tell you the show even has fans in the palace, especially Harry and Meghan who have binge watched the first two series.
The third series is currently filming and for that one, due to the jump forward in time and ageing of the characters, Olivia Coleman and Tobias Menzies have taken over the roles of the Queen and Prince Philip so brilliantly played up to this point by Claire Foy and Matt Smith.
The Crown – or, as the Queen pronounces it in her clipped accent, “The Crine” – was celebrated at last week’s wonderful BAFTA LA Garden Party at the British Consul General’s Hancock Park residence where I was among the guests who lined up to get their picture taken, with crown and sceptre, at Netflix’s special photo booth. Hopefully you think I cut a very regal figure in the picture that accompanies this column.
Aside from the monarchy, another uniquely British institution is the James Bond franchise and I’ve been busy putting together an event all fellow 007 fans will love. On September 15 at Arena Cinelounge in Hollywood, I’ll host “Who’s The Best James Bond?” a debate to decide which actor has been the best 007. If you want to add your voice to the argument and vote for the winner, do come along by booking at http://www.arenascreen.com/event/whos-best-bond-sandro-monetti while tickets remain.
The panel of insiders debating me that night and sharing their stories will include three Brits in LA members, actor Harry van Gorkum who once auditioned to play James Bond, composer John Altman who scored that incredible tank chase sequence in Goldeneye and actor Daz Crawford who appeared in The World Is Not Enough.
Talking of exciting films, social platform MovieRanker is presenting a series of great ones on the rooftop of Hollywood’s Montalban Theatre and I’ll be introducing them each Friday night starting with Fight Club on August 31. If you’d like to attend that one book here at eventbrite.com and put ‘Fight Club‘ in the search box
Oops, by even mentioning that I realise I’ve just broken the first rule of Fight Club (fans of the movie will understand that reference).
You can also find me hosting Brits in LA trivia each Tuesday night at The Cat and Fiddle. It’s such a great laugh so please join the fun sometime (details at www.britsin.la). There’s cash and prizes to be won but the greatest thing that comes out of it are the firm friendships forged among the intense heat of competition.
Talking of dear friends, thanks to Craig and Eileen for letting me sit in for them this week by guest writing the column.
Have a great week and God Save the Queen,
Sandro x
