tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

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Starting off as a wickedly seductive comedy about a naive youth and his unusually attentive tutor, only to take on increasingly insidious dimensions, "Private Lessons" more than confirms the rising talent of 33-year-old Belgian writer-director Joachim Lafosse. Lighter in tone and subject matter than his 2006 dysfunctional-family drama "Private Property," but no less incisive in its examination of toxic relational dynamics and the damage that can occur in the absence of boundaries, this is a sly, superbly knowing entertainment that looks set to earn high critical marks and admission to offshore arthouses.

After the critically-acclaimed Into the Wild, where he was regarded by critics and moviegoers as one of 2007's best performers, Emile Hirsch took a short, relaxing break in Hawaii to be on the cover of Flaunt mag.

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Photgraphed by top fashion lensman David LaChapelle, Hirsch has regained his lost pounds, one of the many sacrifices he did for Sean Penn's movie. One of the mag's highlights mentions Hirsch who spoke out about Milk for the first time.

Definitely one of the most exciting and talented actors we have today is British-born Jim Sturgess. The 26-year old actor has been hogging the news with such movies as The Other Boleyn Girl and the upcoming 21.

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Of course, you'll remember Jim very well if you've watched last year's Across the Universe. If not, this film may be a good introduction to this amazing actor.

There's an awesome Jim Sturgess article by Melanie Pimentel that has just recently been launched at ABC News Now.

"In the December 2005 edition of Empire Magazine, he was dubbed "...the most unlucky man in Hollywood"

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That's quite depressing, especially if you're Henry Cavill. Apparently Empire refers to the run of 'bad luck' that the young British actor had during his auditions for three high-profile roles.

Cavill auditioned for the lead role in Batman Begins but lost out to Christian Bale. In 2005, he became a young contender for the role of James Bond, and performed in a final screen test. The producers and director were torn between Cavill, Daniel Craig, and Sam Worthington. Apparently the director favoured Henry Cavill as a younger version of James Bond, roving about the parlors in Casino Royale. However, the producers believed Cavill was too young for the role, which then went to Daniel Craig.He also auditioned for the role of Superman in Superman Returns, and was reportedly under heavy consideration before the October 2004 casting of Brandon Routh.

It seems it's not enough to described Henry Cavill as 'an unknown actor from England' then.

UPDATES: I have been receiving emails about Kevin Zegers. The young and talented Mr. Zegers recently took second position in "tMF Poll: Young actor tMF should do profile or interview soon" He was actually leading the pack, thanks to Veronique@ KZ man of the hour - it's clear Kevin has a big following!

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I recently watched The Jane Austen Book Club and Maria Bello rocks! It also stars Mr. Zegers in a rather mischievous and sexy role - he gets to romance the awesome Emily Blunt!

You may want to explore further in cinema and take some breather from your usual Hollywood fanfare. You're definitely in for a big surprise. A lot of current foreign movies are so good, you need to see them, yes, if you have to go find the DVDs via ebay or amazon, you should! In this first series, we feature four of the hottest young talents from Europe that are making a lot of buzz in some of today's most acclaimed foreign films.

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Charismatic, versatile, talented. Three words to describe these 4 amazing actors. Not only are they quite famous in their home country, they have been nominated (and have won) a number of awards for playing some of the most exciting and powerful performances for actors.

Riding High: Nicolai Cleve Broch

"I'm very proud to be part of this new Norwegian Wave and Buddy was actually the first film to make it big in Norway and to be distributed around the world. Before, filmmakers had difficulty making feature films and had to wait sometimes 10 years to make their next movie. " says Nicolai Cleve Broch.

Broch was talking about Morten Tyldum's film Buddy, a delightful comedy about a young man's struggle to find a place of his own, of growing up and taking responsibility. The film received raves from audiences and critics alike when it premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

I hope to stay fairly under the radar. I just want to do work that I can be proud of and make people feel something profound," says Ryan Donowho.

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You maybe familiar with the young actor having seen him in a number of The O.C. episodes. Other actors may have had second thoughts about playing such a doomed character but not Ryan. With such good looks, it's fairly easy for the guy to star in the familiar boy-next-door type of roles. But it seems he likes something different.