Alley’s children say the actor died ‘after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered’
Kirstie Alley, the TV and film star known for her roles in Cheers, Veronica’s Closet and Look Who’s Talking, has died at the age of 71.
Alley’s death was confirmed on Monday night in a statement from her children, William “True” Stevenson and Lillie Price Stevenson, which was posted to her social media account. Her manager also separately confirmed her death.
Continue reading...Producers believe this is the first time a film has used both English and Kernewek on its posters
The new film from the director Mark Jenkin, who has won plaudits for his gritty takes of life in the far south-west of England, is being promoted with Cornish-language posters.
Producers of the film, a folk horror called Enys Men, believe it is the first time posters in Cornish (Kernewek) as well as English are being used to market a major feature film.
Continue reading...Organisers say accusation Red Sea event is a ‘reputation laundering tool’ for Riyadh smacks of western hypocrisy
A glitzy international film festival in Saudi Arabia has laid out the red carpet for a host of famed actors and directors, promising a “zero-censorship” event that will feature LGBTQ+ themes despite being held in a country where homosexuality is criminalised.
Only five years since the hardline Gulf monarchy lifted a decades-old ban on cinemas, the Red Sea international film festival launched 10 days of screenings on Thursday. Guests include the Lebanese actor and director Nadine Labaki, as well as fellow directors Guy Ritchie and the Oscar winner Spike Lee.
Continue reading...The Oscar-winning director’s 32-year-old son has been training for three years for the role
Ang Lee has cast his son Mason Lee as Bruce Lee in a new biopic.
The Oscar-winning film-maker of Life of Pi and Brokeback Mountain has taken on a project that has already seen four writers deliver different versions of the script. The latest rewrite will come from the Oscar-nominated Capote screenwriter Dan Futterman.
Continue reading...Farha, debut film of Jordanian film-maker, depicts Zionist atrocities against Palestinians during Nakba conflict
A Netflix film depicting Zionist forces murdering a Palestinian family during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation has been condemned by Israeli officials as “creating a false narrative”.
Farha, the debut of the Jordanian film-maker Darin Sallam, has been shown at several film festivals around the world since its release last year, and is Jordan’s Oscars entry for 2023. It is due to begin streaming to a global audience on the online entertainment service on Thursday.
Continue reading...Nadav Lapid, chair of the International film festival India, spoke out against work that critics say is anti-Muslim propaganda
A row has erupted in India after an Israeli director described a controversial film about Kashmir as propaganda and a “vulgar movie”, prompting the Israeli ambassador to issue an apology.
Nadav Lapid, who was chair of this year’s panel of the international film festival of India (IFFI), spoke out against the inclusion of The Kashmir Files at the event.
Continue reading...Actor’s gesture draws gasps and cheers at charity auction, held after a performance of Jackman’s hit musical The Music Man
Nicole Kidman has surprised both Broadway audiences and Hugh Jackman by bidding US$100,000 (A$150,000, £83,000) for a hat signed by Jackman after a performance of her former co-star’s musical The Music Man.
During an auction for the charity Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids after the performance on Saturday, Kidman made her presence known by shouting her bid of $100,000 for the hat, which led to gasps and cheers in the crowd, then a standing ovation.
Continue reading...Shang-Chi actor says Tarantino and fellow Marvel critic Martin Scorsese ‘don’t get to point their nose at me or anyone’ in response to director’s comments
Director Quentin Tarantino has criticised Marvel films, saying the studio does not produce movie stars and Marvel films “are the only things that seem to be made”, leading to backlash from Marvel star Simu Liu.
Speaking on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast, Tarantino said the decline in movie stars was attributable to the “Marvelisation of Hollywood”.
Continue reading...Cannes Jury prize-winning Joyland had previously been banned following objections by Islamist hardliners
A Pakistani film portraying romance between a married man and a transgender woman was cleared for domestic screenings on Wednesday, officials said, reversing a government ban forced by Islamist pressure.
Lauded by critics, awarded the jury prize at Cannes and nominated as Pakistan’s entry for next year’s Academy Awards, Joyland was set to open in cinemas across the country this Friday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Alina Khan, star of award-winning Joyland, speaks out as the movie’s licence for domestic release is revoked, putting its Oscar contention in doubt
The transgender star of an award-winning Pakistan film that depicts a love affair between a man and a trans women has said she is very sad at the government’s decision to ban the movie and hopes it will be reversed.
Alina Khan, who stars in Joyland, the first major Pakistani motion picture to feature a trans actor in a lead role, said: “I’ve been very sad. There’s nothing against Islam and I don’t understand how Islam can get endangered by mere films.”
Continue reading...Actor says he wants to clear his name after 2021 on-set shooting that killed Halyna Hutchins
Saying he wanted to clear his name, the actor Alec Baldwin on Friday sued people involved in handling and supplying the loaded gun that he was using when it fired and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a 2021 filming accident in New Mexico.
Baldwin filed a cross-complaint in Los Angeles’s superior court alleging negligence against some of the people sued by a script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell. Among other things, it seeks a share of any damages that Mitchell may win from the people Baldwin names and asks that they pay for any damages assessed against him.
Continue reading...In response to workers’ claims of high emissions and waste, Amazon says it complied with all laws and ‘either met or exceeded industry standards’
Picture three scenes: in a sheltered clearing, a stand of trees stretches skyward, trunks pale against the dark soil, leaves dappling the ground like golden dollar coins. In another, a maelstrom of white flakes is carried in eddies by the wind. In a third, sheer cliffs are slick with snow, icicles hanging like shards of glass.
Scenes like these have formed the visual signature for onscreen adaptations of the Lord of the Rings, including Amazon’s latest, monster-budget offering, The Rings of Power. That association has helped form the bedrock of a decade of New Zealand tourism campaigns, showcasing the country’s pristine environments to the world.
Continue reading...Ghibli Park, which opened this week, offers an immersive glimpse into the worlds created by the likes of Hayao Miyazaki, but don’t expect any rollercoaster rides
Fans of Studio Ghibli have begun flocking to a new theme park based on films made by the beloved anime hit factory that opened in Japan this week.
Set in a little over seven hectares of green parkland in Aichi prefecture, about 250km west of Tokyo, Ghibli Park has no rollercoasters or other rides. Its aim, instead, is to immerse visitors in the worlds created by the studio’s co-founder and director, Hayao Miyazaki.
Continue reading...Food blogger was played by Amy Adams in the film inspired by her memoir, about attempting to cook more than 500 Julia Child recipes in a year
Julie Powell, the food blogger best known for her cooking memoir, Julie & Julia, which inspired a film starring Meryl Streep, has died at the age of 49.
Her husband, Eric Powell, confirmed to the New York Times that she died of cardiac arrest caused by heart arrhythmia at their home in Olivebridge in upstate New York on 26 October.
Continue reading...Late Irish actor’s poems, photos, plaques and even his wedding list among items handed over by family
Richard Harris blazed through life as an actor, singer, boozer and womaniser but few knew he was also a hoarder.
Poems, photos, letters, script notes, artefacts, documents, rugby plaques, his wedding guest list – he kept it all. After his death in 2002, the trove spanning 50 years of cinema and theatre gathered dust in a lock-up in Oxford, known only to his family.
Continue reading...The Oscar-winner will play the opera singer in a film that explores the ‘tumultuous, beautiful, and tragic’ story of her life
Angelina Jolie is set to play opera singer Maria Callas in a new drama from Chilean film-maker Pablo Larraín.
Maria will tell “the tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris” with a script from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, who last collaborated with Larraín for Princess Diana drama Spencer.
Continue reading...The Subtraction director had his passport confiscated by Iranian authorities and was prevented from boarding his flight to the UK, allegedly with no reason given
Iranian film-maker Mani Haghighi has been banned from leaving the country and had his passport confiscated after attempting to travel to London, where his latest film Subtraction is screening at the London film festival.
In a video statement, Haghighi said: “I was prevented by the Iranian authorities from boarding my flight to London on Friday. They gave me no reasonable explanation for this utterly rude behaviour.”
Continue reading...Author’s method acting approach to writing terrified local people in Aberdeenshire as he perched on the rocks like a bat
In August 1894, at the end of a month-long stay to research his embryonic novel, Bram Stoker wrote in the visitors’ book at the Kilmarnock Arms on the Aberdeenshire coast that he had been “delighted with everything and everybody” and hoped to return soon.
According to new research, though, the feeling was not entirely mutual. Stoker, a genial Irishman usually known for his cheeriness, was experimenting with what would become known as “method acting” to get under the skin of his new character, one Count Dracula. Local historian Mike Shepherd, who has spent seven years researching Stoker, says the author’s links with the London theatre inspired Stoker to try inhabiting his character in a different way.
Continue reading...Disgraced producer, already poised to spend life in prison, faces 11 additional sexual assault charges
Five years after the bombshell reports that ended his career, the disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein will go on trial in Los Angeles on Monday over a series of alleged sexual assaults involving five different women.
It’s the second trial of the former Hollywood titan, who has been incarcerated since February 2020 when he was convicted of sexual assault and rape in proceedings in New York.
Continue reading...Actor will address her ‘unconventional upbringing in Baltimore’ and ‘complicated marriage’ to Will Smith in tell-all due next year
Jada Pinkett Smith is putting her experiences on record in a new tell-all memoir, the publisher Dey Street, an imprint of HarperCollins, announced on Thursday.
The “no holds barred” memoir, due next fall, will chronicle “lessons learned in the course of a difficult but riveting journey – a rollercoaster ride from the depths of suicidal depression to the heights of personal rediscovery and the celebration of authentic feminine power”.
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