Category Archives: Film

Tom Sizemore, star of Saving Private Ryan, dies aged 61 after brain aneurysm

Posted on by

The actor, best known for his tough-guy roles in war and action movies including Black Hawk Down, also had a turbulent private life

Tom Sizemore, the actor best known for appearances in Saving Private Ryan and The Relic, has died aged 61, his manager confirmed in a statement.

“It is with great sadness and sorrow I have to announce that actor Thomas Edward Sizemore … passed away peacefully in his sleep today at St Joseph’s Hospital Burbank. His Brother Paul and twin boys Jayden and Jagger (17) were at his side,” Sizemore’s representative, Charles Lago said.

Continue reading...

FBI grilled Leonardo DiCaprio over ties to Malaysian fugitive financier – report

Posted on by

Files show actor had relationship with Jho Low, on the run over links to 1MDB scandal, and Kim Kardashian was also interviewed

New details have emerged of the actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s ties to Jho Low, the Malaysian financier turned fugitive currently wanted by international authorities over his links to one of the world’s largest corruption scandals.

On Thursday, Bloomberg revealed previously undisclosed details from FBI documents in which authorities interviewed DiCaprio in 2018 about his relationship with Low, who is accused of involvement in a money-laundering scheme of over $4.5bn being siphoned from the Malaysian state investment fund, also known as 1MDB.

Continue reading...

Steven Spielberg says antisemitism today is ‘standing proud with hands on hips like Hitler’

Posted on by

The director, whose Oscar-nominated film The Fabelmans depicts the racial abuse he faced in the 60s, said he was very surprised by its current resurgence

Steven Spielberg has spoken out about his impression of the current levels of antisemitism in the US.

Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Spielberg was asked whether the abuse faced in 1960s California by the young Jewish hero of his new film, autobiographical drama The Fabelmans, was something he recognised today.

Continue reading...

Screen Actors Guild awards 2023: Everything Everywhere All at Once breaks record for wins

Posted on by

The multiverse adventure picked up four major categories, while The White Lotus and Abbott Elementary won big for television

Everything Everywhere All at Once reigned supreme at this year’s Screen Actors Guild awards, winning four major awards and breaking the record for most wins for a single film.

The multiverse fantasy film picked up the night’s biggest award for ensemble in a motion picture, female actor for Michelle Yeoh and both supporting actor awards, for Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan.

Continue reading...

Thousands pay tribute to Olivia Newton-John at Australian memorial service

Posted on by

Elton John, Hugh Jackman, Dolly Parton, Pink, Sir Barry Gibb and Mariah Carey sent video condolences, which were played to the crowd in Melbourne

A host of international stars and dignitaries paid tribute to the late Australian star Olivia Newton-John in at a state memorial service in Melbourne on Sunday.

Thousands gathered at Hamer Hall and video tributes came from Elton John, Hugh Jackman, Dolly Parton, Pink, Barry Gibb and Mariah Carey.

Continue reading...

Paul Mescal tells of clash with female fan who groped him during selfie

Posted on by

Oscar nominated actor says a woman ‘put her hand on my ass’ after asking for photograph outside theatre where he is performing

The Oscar nominated actor Paul Mescal said he confronted a female fan who groped him outside the theatre where he was performing.

He told ES Magazine that the woman “put her hand on my ass” as he posed for a photograph with her outside the Almeida theatre in north London.

Continue reading...

‘Incredible privilege’: Richard E Grant chosen to host Baftas

Posted on by

Actor said he is ‘celebratory person rather than somebody there to roast other actors’

It might be one of the hardest jobs in showbusiness, but there are certain tricks to being a good awards show host: insider-outsider status; personal jokes that punch up, never down; a zinger delivery; and keeping Will Smith’s wife’s name out your mouth.

This year, the Baftas chose Richard E Grant to host the 76th annual film awards ceremony, which takes place at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday. The celebrated actor, 65, is tasked with making a three-hour statue ceremony entertaining for celebrities in the theatre and the millions of punters watching at home.

Continue reading...

Bruce Willis diagnosed with dementia, family says

Posted on by

Family of Die Hard and Pulp Fiction actor, 67, releases statement to share diagnosis following acting retirement owing to aphasia

Bruce Willis, who retired from acting last May as a result of aphasia, has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, his family announced on Thursday.

In a statement posted to the website for the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, the Die Hard actor’s family – wife Emma Heming, ex-wife Demi Moore and daughters Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel and Evelyn – revealed Willis’s aphasia had progressed into a diagnosis of dementia. Problems with language and memory, which instigated rumors about his cognitive state and prompted his retirement in May 2022, are “just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces”, they wrote.

Continue reading...

Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof released from prison

Posted on by

The award-winning film-maker, who was arrested last July, has apparently been formally released from prison, though there is no official comment

Iran has released award-winning film-maker Mohammad Rasoulof more than six months after arresting him for criticising the government, a pro-reform newspaper reported on Monday.

Rasoulof, whose 2020 film There Is No Evil won the top prize at the Berlin international film festival, is one of several prominent artists, athletes and other celebrities detained in recent months.

Continue reading...

Anne Boleyn’s reputation as ‘temptress’ to be recast in new exhibition

Posted on by

Henry VIII’s second wife was a deeply religious woman who resisted his advances for years, according to fresh research

Anne Boleyn was found guilty of adultery, incest and conspiracy – all, almost certainly, false charges trumped up by Henry VIII – and then executed. For centuries, her reputation was that of a scheming seducer.

Now Anne is being recast as a deeply religious woman who, far from plotting to become Henry’s second wife, bade her time for six years as a lady-in-waiting to the king’s consort, Catherine of Aragon. She deliberately never consummated her relationship with Henry until their “unofficial” marriage in November 1532 – just two months before their formal wedding.

Continue reading...

Outcome of Julian Sands search ‘may not be what we would like’, police say

Posted on by

California authorities ‘remain hopeful’ of finding British actor who was reported missing on Mount Baldy last month

Authorities in southern California have said they are still “hopeful” of finding Julian Sands, but that the outcome of searches for the British actor “may not be what we would like”.

San Bernardino county sheriff’s department said conditions in the area remained dangerous, but that ground searches were planned for the future.

Continue reading...

Hugh Hudson, director of Chariots of Fire, dies aged 86

Posted on by

Oscar-nominated film-maker died on Friday at a London hospital after a short illness, his family said

Film director Hugh Hudson, who directed best picture Oscar winner Chariots of Fire, has died aged 86 following a short illness.

A statement released on behalf of his family said: “Hugh Hudson, 86, beloved husband and father, died at Charing Cross hospital on 10 February after a short illness.”

Continue reading...

Spanish film-maker Carlos Saura, director of ¡Ay Carmela!, dies aged 91

Posted on by

One of Spain’s most prolific auteurs continued to work until the end – his last film, Walls Can Talk, was released last week

Veteran Spanish film-maker Carlos Saura, director of award-winning films such as Peppermint Frappé, ¡Ay Carmela! and Tango, has died aged 91, the day before he was due to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Goyas, Spain’s version of the Oscars.

Spain’s Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, the body that hands out the Goya awards, confirmed his death on social media, saying: “Saura, one of the essential film-makers in the history of Spanish cinema, has died at home today at the age of 91, surrounded by his loved ones. His final film, Walls Can Talk, came out last week and demonstrated his tireless activity and his love for his work until the very last moment.”

Continue reading...

Alec Baldwin sued by Halyna Hutchins’ family over fatal Rust set shooting

Posted on by

Lawsuit, filed by parents and sister of cinematographer, accuses actor and others of battery and negligence

The family of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer killed on the set of Rust, have filed a lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and others involved with the film.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of Hutchins’ parents, Anatolii Androsovych and Olga Solovey, and sister, Svetlana Zemko, accuses Baldwin and others, including the film’s armorer, of battery, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and loss of consortium.

Continue reading...

Disney announces 7,000 layoffs while teasing Toy Story and Frozen sequels

Posted on by

Cuts represent an estimated 3.6% of Disney’s global workforce in effort to save $5.5bn in costs and follow major job losses at other top US companies

Disney has announced a sweeping corporate restructuring that will result in 7,000 people losing their jobs as part of an effort to achieve US$5.5bn (£4.5bn, A$7.9bn) in cost savings, at the same time as revealing plans for sequels to Toy Story and Frozen.

The layoffs represent an estimated 3.6% of Disney’s global workforce and come after major job cuts at other US giants including Alphabet, Amazon, Ford and Meta.

Continue reading...

‘Once in a lifetime’: Ruth Wilson to star in 24-hour show The Second Woman at Young Vic

Posted on by

Wilson to enact single, seven-minute scene on loop with 100 men to explore gender roles

Ruth Wilson has called a new stage role in which she will perform the same scene repeatedly for 24 hours straight an “extraordinary, once in a lifetime experience”.

The Golden Globe and Olivier award winner will star in the UK premiere of the internationally acclaimed epic The Second Woman at the Young Vic this spring. Playing Virginia, Wilson will enact a single, seven-minute scene on loop, with 100 different men performing opposite her as her lover Marty, one after the other. Most of the men are non-actors who have volunteered for the role.

The Second Woman, a Young Vic & Lift co-production, produced in association with Ruth Wilson, is at the Young Vic, London, 19-20 May.

Continue reading...

Wallace and Gromit maker warns UK animators may have to move abroad

Posted on by

Exclusive: head of Aardman studio blames Brexit as UK falls behind on skills and tax relief

The head of Aardman, the Oscar-winning British studio behind Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, has warned that the nation’s animation productions for children’s television will have to be made overseas because acute challenges are taking their toll on the UK sector.

Sean Clarke, Aardman’s managing director, said the company is struggling with everything from serious competition from other countries on tax relief to a dire skills shortage.

Continue reading...

Pathaan and the king of cinema blast Bollywood out of the doldrums

Posted on by

Millions flock to see return of actor Shah Rukh Khan, despite rightwing calls for a boycott

For Ganesh Lokhande, an usher at the Regal Cinema in Mumbai’s southern tip of Colaba, it’s been a quiet few years in the job. That was, until last week.

Pathaan, a new Bollywood action thriller starring Shah Rukh Khan – an actor whose superstardom has elevated him to be known in India as “the king” – has been released in cinemas, triggering excitement across the country. Long queues formed outside theatres as millions flocked to catch a glimpse of Khan’s return to the screen after four years away, now aged 57 but still playing the ravishing muscular hero.

Continue reading...

Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi released on bail after hunger strike

Posted on by

Award-winning director, who was arrested in July, is released from Evin prison in Tehran

The acclaimed Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has been released on bail after starting a hunger strike to protest against his almost seven-month detention, a rights group and supporters said on Friday.

Panahi has been released from Evin prison in Tehran “two days after starting his hunger strike for freedom”, the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on Twitter. Iran’s Shargh newspaper posted an image of Panahi jubilantly embracing a supporter.

Continue reading...

Film-maker Jafar Panahi begins hunger strike in Iranian prison

Posted on by

Panahi says he will not eat until he is released, after lawyer successfully challenged his detention

One of Iran’s most illustrious film-makers, Jafar Panahi, is on hunger strike in protest at his continued detention in Tehran’s Evin prison, his wife has said.

The Cannes film festival award-winner and director of The White Balloon, The Circle and No Bears took the step after plans for his release were dashed, even though his lawyer had successfully challenged his detention.

Continue reading...