Front Row - 04/06/2009

Arts news and reviews. Jude Law is the latest actor to take on the role of the Danish prince in Hamlet, in a new production directed by Michael Grandage of the Donmar Warehouse. David Tennant got rave reviews for his interpretation, but is Jude Law a worthy successor? Critic Peter Kemp gives his verdict. The controversial former footballer Eric Cantona recently appeared in French Film and he returns to the big screen in Ken Loach's latest film, Looking for Eric, in which the footballer plays himself. The hero of Manchester United in the 1990s appears at a crisis point in the life of Steve, a depressed football fanatic postman, to offer some of his trademark philosophical life coaching. Eric Cantona and the film's writer Paul Laverty talk to Mark Lawson about making the transfer from pitch to screen. Novelist and screenwriter David Nicholls has written widely for television, with credits including Cold Feet and Tess of the D'Urbervilles with Billie Piper. Following the success of his 2004 novel Starter For Ten, he discusses the TV-influenced structure he created for his third novel, One Day. Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson play two strangers whose chance meeting in an airport bar leads to an unexpected day of romance in Last Chance Harvey. Writer Gaylene Gould reviews.