Danny Boyle unveils 'epic and intimate' 2012 Olympic opening ceremony

Danny Boyle, the Oscar-winning film director overseeing the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, has set out his vision for an "epic and intimate" launch event.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Boyle, whose films include Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting, said that the ceremony would be “full of spectacle and marvel”, and would feature pop and rock music from Britain’s greatest musical acts.
Boyle was announced as the artistic director of the opening ceremony last week, and will head up a creative team which includes the film-maker Stephen Daldry, who directed Billy Elliot and The Reader.

“Music has to play a big part in the ceremony,” he said. “For such a small country, we have the most extraordinary tradition of music, and people look to Britain as a beacon of music. It’s a big thing for young people, and the promise of the games was to bring sport and a sense of inspiration to young people. I hope one of the ways we’ll be able to do that is through music.
“Just think about who we’ve produced - the likes of David Bowie, Jimmy Page - and all the bands from Manchester where I’m from, like The Smiths, The Stone Roses and New Order. I love that world of music, it’s a big part of my life and many people’s lives, and you would imagine it would be a big part of the ceremony because pop music is freeing and inspirational.”
British films, he said, would also play a part in the opening ceremony, which will take place at the 80,000-capacity Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London, on July 27, 2012.
He said: “You think maybe there should be some bits of British films in the ceremony, and there are some wonderful iconic British films that you could use - Chariots of Fire would be the most obvious one for obvious reasons. But just because Stephen and I are involved in film, I don’t think it should be a movie-themed thing.”
Boyle also hinted that winning acts from the television show Britain’s Got Talent, including Diversity and Spellbound, the dance and gymnastic groups, could also feature in the ceremony.
He said: “What’s extraordinary about those talent shows is the group work. Diversity are at such a level of professionalism, and I’ve been hugely impressed by that and you would hope to harness some of that talent. People love to see that kind of group work and I think there should certainly be some of that in the ceremony.”
Boyle, 53, who lives near the Olympic Stadium in east London, said that he would not attempt to “compete” with the extravagance of Beijing’s four-hour opening ceremony in 2008 which is thought to have cost more than £70 million and featured 22,000 performers, 43,000 fireworks and a 16-ton globe rising from the ground. Instead, he will stage the event to highlight Britain’s “idiosyncracies” and to showcase London as “a welcoming city without prejudice”.
He said: “Beijing is clearly the zenith of that type of ceremonial opening - you cannot get bigger than that and I don’t think you could probably get better than that, so it’s wrong to try and compete with Beijing.
“What’s wonderful about London is we have an opportunity to show that there is something idiosyncratic about our country, and we do things our own way, and re-think some of the traditions.
“It will have scale, because 80,000 people in the stadium deserve some kind of scale. It should be full of spectacle and marvel, full of promise and looking forward.
“I’d love to be able to sit here in two years time and say that the opening ceremony felt both epic and intimate.”
Boyle, who is renowned for making low-budget films that go on to make millions at the box-office, said that there were “strict budget limitations” for the ceremony and that it would be “inappropriate” to produce an overly “extravagant” event.
He said: “Again, it’s a contrast with Beijing, it’s a different time and a different place. China’s economy was in huge expansion, but it would be greatly inappropriate to attempt to do something on that extravagant scale and spend that amount of resources.
“It’s still a huge amount we’re spending in a difficult time for the country, so it should be spent well.”
Boyle described his new role as artistic director of the opening ceremony as “a massive responsibility and honour” that was “exciting and daunting”.
“I’m a huge fan of the Olympics, and this is a way that the cultural community of Britain says “welcome” to the games and to this city. I missed the Commonwealth Games in Manchester because I was away filming, and ever since then I’ve wanted to make amends, so when they said about doing this, I was thrilled and jumped at it.
“I have spent some time in the Stadium, and found it very inspiring. We will be able to produce something wonderful.”

Danny Boyle: from Slumdog to the Olympics

The job of directing the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics comes with a lingering whiff of the Leni Riefenstahls. In Beijing, the gig fell to Zhang Yimou, a one-time dissident film-maker who has since been repurposed as a kind of in-house director for the state authorities. Zhang was judged to have executed his task with aplomb. His reward was a commission to direct a state-sanctioned blockbuster to mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, and to manage a firework display in Tiananmen Square.


So who is to pick up the baton in London? Reports suggest the committee's first choice is Danny Boyle, a man once accused of peddling "moral depravity" via his 1996 film Trainspotting. Today our own former dissident is reformed, largely thanks to the runaway success of Slumdog Millionaire and his endearing, Tigger-like celebrations at the 2009 Oscar ceremony. All of which has made him a favourite of Seb Coe, and the ideal person to oversee the 2012 curtain raiser in Stratford. Boyle, for his part, is playing coy but sounding positive. "I can't say any more," he cautions. "[But] it would be lovely, wouldn't it?"

London Olympics 2012: Meet Wenlock and Mandeville, drips off the old block

In the end they were neither animal, vegetable nor mineral. Nor, as some cynics had predicted, did they resemble white elephants.
Instead, Wenlock and Mandeville, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic mascots, elicited mostly baffled reactions as to just what they were at their unveiling today.
With a metallic finish, a single large eye made out of a camera lens, a London taxi light on their heads and the Olympic rings represented as friendship bracelets on their wrists, they resemble characters dreamed up for a Pixar animation.
But London 2012 organisers, for whom the launch of the mascots marks the start of a crucial period in which the games will become public property, pointed to the delighted reaction of a hall full of primary school children at today's launch as evidence that they would connect with their target audience.
"They remind you of aliens, which is really weird and cool," said 10-year-old Ali. "It reminds you of the Olympics, which is worldwide so it's something you'll want to remember forever," added 11-year-old Zanyab as they cavorted with life-size mascots for the cameras.
The pair are based on a short story by children's author Michael Morpurgo that tells how they were fashioned from droplets of the steel used to build the Olympic stadium. They will be crucial in raising funds and spreading messages about the games.
Wenlock, named after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock that helped inspire Pierre de Coubertin to launch the modern Olympics, and Mandeville, inspired by the Buckinghamshire town of Stoke Mandeville, where the Paralympics were founded, will become very familiar in the next two years. The chairman of the London organising committee of the Olympic games (Locog), Lord Coe, said the mascots were aimed squarely at children and designed with the digital age in mind. He said they had the most positive reaction in workshops to road test them.
Among the designs rejected at the start of an open pitch process were anthropomorphic pigeons, an animated tea pot and a Big Ben with arms and legs.
Children will be encouraged to interact with the characters, inviting them via Facebook, Twitter and the web to visit their school and, said Coe, inspiring them to take up different sports.
"The story itself is very rooted in the nations and regions. Young people will be able to decide where they go, what sports they pick up. There is a real interactivity there, it is a language and a flexibility that is driven by young people," he said.
The pair were introduced in an animated film that followed their story from the Bolton steelworks where the frame of the Olympic stadium was made. They will become a range of up to 30 cuddly toys, including versions based on celebrities and sports stars, as well as adorning badges, T-shirts, mugs and more.
Organisers hope Wenlock and Mandeville will rank alongside the more fondly remembered mascots, such as Waldi the dachshund from the 1972 Munich games and Misha the bear from the 1980 Moscow Olympics – rather than the much maligned Izzy of Atlanta 1996. "The games have got a few stupendous assets – the mascot, tickets, the volunteers, the torch relay – and you have got to really use those to bring home your key messages," said Locog's chief executive, Paul Deighton.
"If you link them together you begin to have a really powerful story that people will respond to."
The unveiling of the bold London Olympics logo in 2007 was controversial, with many criticising its graffiti-like design. Organisers, who hired Wolff Olins at a cost of £400,000 to design it, stood firm, arguing that it was supremely adaptable and perfect for the digital age. But they were forced to withdraw a launch film after it emerged that it had the potential to trigger epileptic seizures.
The mascots, conceived by London design agency Iris and costing, said Deighton, just "a few thousand pounds", are an important staging post from a financial and marketing point of view. They will pour up to £15m into the coffers of the organising committee via dozens of licensing deals, part of an overall licensing target of £70m to £80m towards Locog's £2bn privately raised budget.
In 1984, the Los Angeles games ushered in the money-spinning Olympic era. The event was the first to use its Disney-designed mascot to raise funds, since when they have become a cash cow for organisers.
But the story behind the mascots is also designed to help make the Olympics relevant to the whole nation. That will be crucial if organisers are to maintain support for a project that is also costing the public £9.3bn, particularly as cuts in public services begin to bite.
After a spell of behind-the-scenes work devoted to raising £700m in sponsorship revenues, Locog is entering a more public phase when everything it does, from the unveiling of the mascot to its ticket pricing policy, will come under scrutiny.

GB put to pick strong team for London 2012 Olympics

GB put to pick strong team for London 2012 Olympics

Great Britain is set to be symbolized by at least 500 athletes at the London 2012 Olympics, an add to on the 311 sent to the Beijing games in 2008.

The development, which is subject to funding, was agreed at a meeting of the National Olympic Committee which also sets the qualifying criteria.

The BOA will set the selection criteria for Team GB after the International Olympic Committee and the individual sports' international federations release international qualification standards in the summer.

Olympic Stadium will use for Twenty20 cricket after the 2012 Games

Essex announced on Thursday that they were bearing in mind a joint offer with West Ham and Newham Council to turn the stadium in Stratford into a multi-sport venue capable of staging football, cricket and athletics.

The club would continue to play County Championship matches at their Chelmsford headquarters but would use the stadium as a 'festival ground' for Twenty20 matches.

UK's pre-Olympics increase shift to Loughborough

The BOA declared on Wednesday it would now stand its pre-Games training headquarters and its uniform distribution centre at Loughborough University, rather than Aldershot.

The army could not illuminate the crash the decision would have on Aldershot's multimillion pound sporting renewals. When the initial BOA deal was released, Aldershot was allegedly earmarked for a £400 million upgrade, including two new indoor arenas, a running track and hockey centre.

Olympics enhances London housing market prices

The residential property developer yesterday said full-year results will be "materially ahead of market expectations" after a sharp boost in sales during the first three months of 2010.

"The housing market in East London has shown positive signs of recovery, with regeneration surrounding the build up to the 2012 Olympics continuing to stimulate demand," said Andrew Wiseman, chief executive.


About £1.7bn has been set aside in the Olympic budget for investment in renewal, with Telford benefiting from the boost to infrastructure and stature that the project has brought.

In the year to March 31, the company got 389 completions, compared to 350 in the previous financial year, according to its trading statement.

A total of 70 pre-sales were made on developments with overseas investors, a reflection of the improved market in East London.