Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 American drama film written and directed by Mike Figgis and based on the semi-autobiographical 1990 novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic in Los Angeles who, having lost his family and been recently fired, has decided to move to Las Vegas and drink himself to death. He loads a supply of liquor and beer into his BMW and gets drunk as he drives from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Once there, he develops a romantic relationship with a sex worker played by Elisabeth Shue and the film shifts to include her narrative perspective. O'Brien died from suicide after signing away the film rights to the novel.
Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the River Tyne's northern bank, opposite Gateshead to the south. It is the most populous settlement in the Tyneside conurbation and North East England.
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, known as Sting, is an English musician and actor. He was the frontman, songwriter and bassist for new wave band The Police from 1977 until their breakup in 1986. He launched a solo career in 1985 and has included elements of rock, jazz, reggae, classical, new-age, and worldbeat in his music.
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 67 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies 4 miles east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was a British comedy-drama television programme about seven British construction workers who leave the United Kingdom to search for employment overseas. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site in Düsseldorf. The series was created by Franc Roddam after an idea from Mick Connell, a bricklayer from Stockton-on-Tees, and mostly written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, who also wrote The Likely Lads, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? and Porridge. It starred Tim Healy, Kevin Whately, Jimmy Nail, Timothy Spall, Christopher Fairbank, Pat Roach and Gary Holton, with Noel Clarke replacing Holton for series three and four and the two-part finale. The series were broadcast on ITV in 1983–1984 and 1986. After a sixteen-year gap, two series and a Christmas special were shown on BBC One in 2002 and 2004.
Sweet Home Alabama is a 2002 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant. Written by C. Jay Cox, it stars Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey. The supporting cast includes Fred Ward, Mary Kay Place, Jean Smart, Candice Bergen, Ethan Embry, and Melanie Lynskey. It was released in the United States on September 27, 2002, by Buena Vista Pictures. The film takes its title from the 1974 Lynyrd Skynyrd song of the same name. It received a mixed critical reception, but was a success at the box office.
Melanie Richards Griffith is an American actress. She began her career in the 1970s, appearing in several independent thriller films before achieving mainstream success in the mid-1980s.
Kate & Leopold is a 2001 American romantic-comedy fantasy film that tells a story of a physicist by the name of Stuart, who accidentally pulls his great‑great‑grandfather, Leopold, through a time portal from 19th‑century New York to the present, where Leopold and Stuart's ex‑girlfriend, Kate, fall in love with each other.
Dame Catherine Ann Cookson, DBE was a British writer. She is in the top 20 of the most widely read British novelists, with sales topping 100 million, while she retained a relatively low profile in the world of celebrity writers. Her books were inspired by her deprived youth in South Shields, North East England, the setting for her novels. With 104 titles written in her own name or two other pen names, she is one of the most prolific British novelists.
Michael Figgis is an English film director, screenwriter, and composer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for his work in Leaving Las Vegas (1995). Figgis was the founding patron of the independent filmmakers' online community Shooting People.
Christine Tobin is an Irish vocalist and composer from Dublin who has been part of the London jazz and improvising scene since the second half of the 1980s. She has been influenced by a diverse range of singers and writers including Betty Carter, Bessie Smith, Leonard Cohen, Olivier Messiaen, Miles Davis and poets William Butler Yeats, Paul Muldoon and Eva Salzman.
Last Exit were an English jazz fusion band formed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 1974. It is best remembered as the group Sting was in before finding stardom with The Police.
"Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)" (commonly referred to as "Stormy Monday") is a song written and recorded by American blues electric guitar pioneer T-Bone Walker. It is a slow twelve-bar blues performed in the West Coast blues-style that features Walker's smooth, plaintive vocal and distinctive guitar work. As well as becoming a record chart hit in 1948, it inspired B.B. King and others to take up the electric guitar. "Stormy Monday" became Walker's best-known and most-recorded song.
The Night We Called It a Day, also known as All the Way, is a 2003 Australian-American comedy drama film directed by Paul Goldman, starring Dennis Hopper as Frank Sinatra and Melanie Griffith as Barbara Marx. It also features Portia de Rossi, Joel Edgerton, Rose Byrne and David Hemmings. The movie is based on the true events surrounding Sinatra's 1974 tour in Australia. When the singer calls a local reporter a "two-bit hooker", every union in the country black-bans the star until he issues an apology.
Clive James Gregson is an English singer/songwriter, musician and record producer. He has toured in bands, provided backup for well-known musicians, and written songs that have been covered by Kim Carnes, Norma Waterson and Nanci Griffith. He is featured in Hugh Gregory's 2002 book 1,000 Great Guitarists.
Jesmond is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, situated north of the city centre and to the east of the Town Moor. Jesmond is considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, with higher average house prices than most other areas of the city.
Finney is a six-part British television crime drama series, written and created by David Kane and directed by David Hayman, that first broadcast on ITV on 17 November 1994. A television spin-off from the 1988 film Stormy Monday, Finney stars David Morrissey in the title role, taking over from Sting. The series was produced by Zenith Entertainment in association with Tyne Tees Television. The series was produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark, who also acted as producer on Stormy Monday.
Jimmy Forsyth was a British amateur photographer, who in his later life became celebrated for his portrayal of the working class communities of Tyneside and received wide recognition for this achievement prior to his death aged 95. He was equally accomplished in showcasing both the people and the environment of his chosen locality.
No Sudden Move is a 2021 American crime thriller film directed by Steven Soderbergh, produced by Casey Silver, and written by Ed Solomon. The film features an ensemble cast including Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, David Harbour, Jon Hamm, Amy Seimetz, Brendan Fraser, Kieran Culkin, Noah Jupe, Craig muMs Grant, Julia Fox, Frankie Shaw, Ray Liotta, and Bill Duke.
