Brief overview of the major productions that were enjoyed in 2015, one of Sean's busiest screen years ever! The following are listed in order of viewing, with a brief description. If you missed seeing any of these, I highly recommend watching them! And THE FRANKENSTEIN CHRONICLES is still coming to TV in much of the world, hang on, it's well worth your patience! UPDATE: at TCA16 A&E announced it as spring/summer 2016. Well, at least that narrows the field!
JUPITER ASCENDING
Sean starred as an ex-military, half bee-man & mentor Stinger Apini alongside Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, and old friend Eddie Redmayne in this visually gorgeous, ambitious, lavishly expensive science fiction fantasy fairy tale by The Wachowskis, released worldwide in February 2015. It was panned by critics & general audiences, but I really liked it a lot.
ANY DAY (alternate title FIGHTING DEMONS)
Sean starred as Vian McLean, a boxer who had made a mistake early in life & served prison time for it. Older now, he looked to remake himself when he was released, and connected deeply with his young nephew, Jimmy, while juggling his new life's challenges. Made by
Rustam Branaman, released to limited screens and DVD in March-June 2015. I liked it ok because of casting which included Eva Longoria, Paul Ben-Victor, and Tom Arnold, but not so much the story or ending.
SEAN BEAN ON WATERLOO
Sean hosted this 2-part documentary made by History UK channel for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 2015. I'm quite certain that Sean asked to to this, primarily because of how much he loved playing Richard Sharpe in Bernard Cornwell's TV movie adaptions for many years, as well as genuine interest in the history subject of it. I immensely enjoyed this, and I hope it gets a wider release.
PIXELS
A comedy by Adam Sandler, Sean was briefly seen as SAS Corporal Hill fighting big bad aliens who try to conquer Earth as 80's arcade video game incarnations such as Pacman, Centipede, Frogger, and Donkey Kong. Yes, it was as silly as it sounds, but quite amusing in spots and my opinion was helped by other actor faves in it such as Brian Cox and Peter Dinklage, who all looked like they had a blast. Released worldwide in July 2015.
THE MARTIAN
Sean starred in a supporting role as Flight Director Mitch Henderson in this thrilling and unexpectedly funny science fiction movie by Ridley Scott, about a man unknowingly left behind on an aborted Mars mission. Matt Damon is also excellent in the lead role, I enjoyed it very much. Since it's worldwide release in October 2015, it's received many award nominations as one of the best movies of the year.
THE FRANKENSTEIN CHRONICLES
This was my fave of the year. Sean starred in the lead as John Marlott, an ex-95th Rifle and newly made London police investigator who finds an odd corpse that suggests the fictional Frankenstein and which leads him on a chase for a missing girl and a murderer who has committed multiple atrocities in the eyes of many people. I really loved how it intertwined William Blake, galvanism, and the history of UK law's Anatomy Act with Mary Shelley's famous book that was contemporary to this period.
LEGENDS
The second, and apparently (as of this writing) final, series of Sean's Martin Odum, a super spy whose undercover aliases have become blurred in his mind from a severe accident during one of his assignments. After being accused of murder in the US (in Series 1), he fled to Europe to pursue more answers, and he did get them. Superb acting and supporting cast in a very gripping, tense, and realistic spy story, it was faithful to the spirit of the
Legends book by Robert Littell that it was based upon.
Once again, thank you so much for your support in reading this blog & subscribing to our Facebook page for more frequent updates at https://www.facebook.com/nedstarkatrueking. We'll see what 2016 has for us fans in the next update here!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!
Written by Donna DeBoer (
@DRLDeBoer on Twitter)
