Danny Boyle

Credit: Getty

Olympic Opening Ceremony Will Include ... Cows and Sheep!

Originally posted 06/14/2012 09:00AM

Zara Phillips plans to take center stage at the Olympics this summer when she rides with the 2012 U.K. equestrian team, but her horse won't be the only animal in the spotlight.

Filmmaker Danny Boyle (of Slumdog Millionaire fame) revealed his plans for the London Olympics's Opening Ceremony, and they include live horses, sheep, chickens and cows. The director plans to recreate the British countryside in the center of the Olympic stadium for the program, called Isles of Wonder.

"It's a real meadow with real grass, real animals," Boyle told reporters at a preview. "That's the green and pleasant land. It is something that still exists, and something that cries out to all of us like a childhood memory."

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Filed Under: Stars and Pets, Summer Olympics 2012, Pet News, Danny Boyle, Olympic Park London

Credit: Gautam Singh/AP

Good Deeds

Slumdog Kids' Truancy Puts Funds at Risk

Originally posted 11/06/2009 01:45PM

Following recent reports that the Jai Ho Trust – established by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle for two of the movie's child actors, Azharuddin Ismail and Rubina Ali – was the subject of controversy when the kids' families reportedly wanted more money, Boyle tells PEOPLE that the real issue centers on the young stars spending more time in school.

"We were in Mumbai last week and we were very clear that the attendance of the kids at school was not good enough," the Oscar-winning director said at the BAFTA/LA Brittania Awards, where he received John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in Directing. "They've had a lot of distractions."

During his visit Boyle says he insisted that "unless school attendance improves, then everything else is jeopardized, because that was the whole starting point of the way the film could benefit the kids."

Boyle said the whole point of the child stars' trust is to "set them up so that they wouldn't feel like prisoners within their economic cycle which wasn't very helpful to them, that they would have a bit of an ability to step out and make some decisions about their own life and to back it with a bit of cash and a nice education and a place to live, things like that."
– Scott Huver