EastEnders star lands major new film role
EX-EASTENDER Maisie Smith has landed her first movie role.
I can exclusively reveal the former Strictly favourite will be one of the stars of gangster film Bermondsey Tales: Fall Of The Roman Empire, alongside a handful of famous faces.
A source said: “Maisie has secured her first big film role and shooting will begin later this year.
“She plays Chloe, a leading player in a mobster family, and will be acting alongside Alan Ford from Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Kidulthood’s Adam Deacon.
“It is an exciting new venture for Maisie and she can’t wait to dip her toe into a big new project.
“Since Strictly and EastEnders she has kept her eyes open for her next on-screen job, and the people behind Bermondsey Tales thought Maisie was the perfect fit.
“Maisie’s schedule has been packed because she’s been on tour with the show Strictly Ballroom: The Musical.
“Once that has ended this summer she will get to work on the film. It’s all very exciting.”
‘Sassy little icon’
Maisie played EastEnders’ Tiffany Butcher for 14 years, starting out in the role when she was six.
She quit the show 18 months ago.
In 2020, while still in the BBC One soap, Maisie joked: “I had more talent when I was six years old than I do now.
“I think it was a confidence thing. Sometimes I have to remind myself of the young Tiffany character, because I forgot what a sassy little icon she was.”
Before getting her break into bigger films, Maisie had a small role on a Hollywood movie when she was four years old.
She played a very young Elizabeth I in 2008’s The Other Boleyn Girl, which starred Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Scarlett Johansson.
Maisie is on a well-deserved holiday with her boyfriend, The Wanted pop star Max George.
While the actress has been busy since the beginning of the year, singer Max has had a fair bit of time on his hands and so far has just Celebrity MasterChef to add to his CV.
Still, things can only get better.
Si TV Oritse
ORITSE WILLIAMS is still in touch with X Factor boss Simon Cowell and has been cooking up an exciting new TV venture with him.
The singer was part of JLS, who came second to Alexandra Burke on the reality show 15 years ago.
In an exclusive chat at the BBC Earth Experience, he explained: “I’ve always thought of different ideas of making my own show.
“I still keep in contact with Simon and I have a good relationship with him.
“We talk every year pretty much and obviously he was an inspiration to our whole music world.
“So to be able to create something that has such an impact and such a movement will be unbelievable.
“We have spoken about many ideas, that’s all I’ll say.”
JLS, who announced their comeback in my column in February, are preparing to go on the road for a huge arena tour later this year.
Oritse, along with his bandmates Aston Merrygold, Marvin Humes and JB Gill, will perform their biggest hits on stage as well as holding DJ battles.
The group kick off the run of shows in Dublin’s 3Arena on October 20 and will play 19 more gigs across the UK before finishing up in Sheffield on November 11.
Tim’s bob a job
TIMOTHEE CHALAMET is following in Austin Butler’s footsteps and will sing in the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic.
Austin was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Elvis in last year’s film, where he performed all the songs.
Timothee will start filming Going Electric in August. Asked about him singing, director James Mangold said: “Of course”.
He added: “The story of Bob, a young 19-year-old Bob Dylan coming to New York with, like, two dollars in his pocket and becoming a worldwide sensation within three years.
“First being embraced into the family of folk music in New York and kind of outrunning them at a certain point as his star rises so beyond belief.”
Beer’s brewing up a tale or two for book
MADISON BEER appears to have forgotten to change out of her nightwear for a shopping trip.
The Dangerous singer wore this black bodysuit with lace trim as she went for a browse at Fred Segal in Los Angeles.
Madison is preparing to release her autobiography, The Half Of It, this month and told fans she would tell all about her journey into the music business.
The American pop star is just 24 but Madison has assured that while she may be young, she has plenty of tales to tell.
She said of the tome: “It feels truly surreal to be announcing this book and I am so excited to share my story with you in a way I never have before.
“From the reality of being signed at twelve, to everything that followed, where I am now, and my journey of reconciling with everything that came before.
“It has taken me a lot of extremely dark times to get here but I feel incredibly ready to tell you these chapters of my story. I hope you love it. I can’t wait to reintroduce myself to you.”
Elvis on board for Euro
SLOVENIA’s Eurovision act have a plan to win over the home audience at next month’s contest, by teaming up with home-grown legend Elvis Costello.
They will compete with their track Carpe Diem but have worked with the Alison singer on an English language version, which will be out on April 21.
The group have even shot a video in Liverpool, where the contest will be held next month, in which Elvis will feature.
He was on tour in the US when it was recorded but shot his scenes on the streets of New York, which will be superimposed to look like they were all together.
If they can pull off tricks like that and win over Elvis, they ought to gain a fair few more fans from the contest.
Beatles ‘to do an ABBA’
MUSIC promoter Harvey Goldsmith has backed The Beatles to be the next big band to follow in ABBA’s footsteps to create a hologram show.
Harvey, who helped organise Live Aid with Sir Bob Geldof, said: “The ABBA thing is brilliant but it costs a million dollars a minute to make the footage and to sync it.
“The process is simple but the synching costs a fortune.
“I think we will see more acts do it, like The Beatles will do it.”
Appearing on the Rockonteurs podcast, Harvey added: “I think we are at a fork in the road as rock ‘n’ roll as we all know it is not really going the way it should be.
“The big dinosaur acts will not be around for much longer and they are not being replaced. “What we have now is instant music age.”
Abbey’s neck
ABBEY CLANCY says hubby Peter Crouch reminds of her a giraffe when he gets his kit off.
In the latest instalment of their joint podcast Abbey told Pete: “A giraffe from the back does look like you naked. Like, the long legs, the tiny a**e and the b**ls just dangling down in the middle.
“It’s like Pete naked.”
Abbey added: “You are like a giraffe, because of the bum-leg ratio. Because you’re supposed to have a bigger bum than your legs, and you’ve got a smaller bum.”
A visit to the giraffe enclosure at my local zoo will never be the same.
Pat’s a Marvel
FALL OUT BOY’s So Much (For) Stardust has just become their fifth Top Ten record but singer Patrick Stump has a bigger career goal to achieve.
He has revealed he is desperate to write the soundtrack to a Marvel superhero film and hopes it could land him a part on screen, too.
Patrick told me: “My ultimate dream is to score a Marvel movie. Whenever you haven’t seen me working with the band I have been doing movie scores. I am obsessed with Marvel. I would love to have a cameo too.”
Patrick has even earmarked a role in the superhero world.
He said: “There is an an Alpha Flight character called Puck and I think I would be perfect for him.
“He is my guy. He is short, he has a moustache. I think he could be my character.”
While landing a role in the biggest blockbuster franchise is no small feat, at least Patrick has his foot in the door.
Last month it was announced he would voice new character The Announcer on an episode of Disney Junior and Disney Channel show Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends.
Not quite The Avengers, but it’s a start.