Category Archives: Film

The Kashmir Files: Israeli director sparks outrage in India over ‘vulgar movie’ remarks

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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.

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Nicole Kidman surprises Broadway with $100,000 bid for Hugh Jackman’s hat

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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.

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Simu Liu criticises Quentin Tarantino after director laments the ‘Marvelisation of Hollywood’

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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”.

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Film depicting transgender love affair to be screened in Pakistan

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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.

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‘It’s not against Islam’: Pakistani trans actor tells of deep sadness over film ban

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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.”

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Alec Baldwin sues Rust film staff involved in handling loaded gun

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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.

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Serious concerns raised in NZ about environmental impact of major productions including Amazon’s Rings of Power

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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.

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No fun rides but plenty of spirit: Studio Ghibli offers anime fans a new walk in the park

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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.

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Julie Powell, food writer and blogger behind Julie & Julia, dies aged 49

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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.

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Richard Harris archive donated to Cork University

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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.

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Angelina Jolie to play Maria Callas in Spencer director’s next biopic

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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.

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Iran bans director Mani Haghighi from attending London film festival

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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.”

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Cutting his teeth: how Bram Stoker found his inner Dracula in Scotland

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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.

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New Weinstein trial to begin in Los Angeles, five years after bombshell reports

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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.

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Jada Pinkett Smith signs deal for ‘no holds barred’ memoir

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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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Collared: Jared Leto to play Chanel supremo Karl Lagerfeld in biopic

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The fashion-friendly actor will star as the larger-than-life designer, who died in 2019, in a new film project

Jared Leto’s foray into fashion continues. After playing Paolo Gucci in Ridley Scott’s sprawling House of Gucci last year and Gucci designer Alessandro Michele’s “twin” at this year’s Met Gala, he will now star as Karl Lagerfeld in a new biopic of the designer.

Lagerfeld, who died in 2019 at the age of 85, was one of fashion’s larger than life characters, so he undoubtedly has a theatrical dimension that would appeal to an actor. According to an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, when Leto first met Lagerfeld, he said to him: “You know, one day I have to play you in a movie.” Lagerfeld answered appropriately in fashion speak: “Only you, darling, only you.”

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‘For freedom’: French actors cut their hair in support of Iranian women

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Celebrities including Juliette Binoche and Marion Cotillard stage protest after death of Mahsa Amini

More than 50 high-profile French women have filmed themselves cutting their hair in support of Iranian women and girls who have been killed in protests at the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by Iranian morality police.

They include some of the best-known names of French cinema; Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Adjani and Isabelle Huppert, as well as the Belgian singer Angèle. The British-born singer Jane Birkin – who is filmed with her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg – and actor Charlotte Rampling, both of whom live in France, and Julie Gayet, wife of former French president François Hollande, were also shown cutting their hair “for freedom”.

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Sacheen Littlefeather, actor and activist who declined Marlon Brando’s Oscar, dies aged 75

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The Native American activist died on Sunday, less than two months after the Academy apologised over her treatment at the 1973 Academy Awards

Sacheen Littlefeather, Native American activist who famously declined Marlon Brando’s Oscar for The Godfather, has died aged 75, the Academy of Motion Pictures announced on Sunday.

Littlefeather had been suffering from breast cancer.

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Mark Hamill calls for more drones for Ukraine to fight Russian invasion

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Star Wars actor promotes Ukrainian drive for donations and compares Russia to ‘evil empire’

The Star Wars actor Mark Hamill has said Ukraine needs more drones to fight off the Russian invasion and compared Moscow to the dark side of the force in the film series.

Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the films, was made an ambassador to the United24 project – which Ukraine set up to elicit donations, including the donation of drones to the Ukrainian army – by the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

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Bollywood under siege as rightwing social media boycotts start to bite

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Laal Singh Chaddha is the latest film to face targeted attacks from anti-Muslim, Hindu-nationalist trolls who some claim are beginning to impact box office performance

In August this year, a week after the release of Laal Singh Chaddha, Bollywood’s adaptation of Forrest Gump, a Twitter account with about 280,000 followers, tweeted: ​​“#Urduwood is trending. Thanks to all who have accepted this term to accurately define the anti-national, anti-Hindu paedophile cabal that takes your money to destroy you.” The tweet received more than 1,700 retweets and about 5,800 likes.

For those not familiar with the term “Urduwood”, it is a pejorative popular among far-right social media and politicians. Urdu is an Indian language with a Perso-Arabic script, and the national language of Pakistan; hence it is associated with Muslims and its use is a way to claim the film industry is “Hinduphobic”.

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