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Around tinsel town
>>Cannes 2024 highlights
Francis Ford Coppola premiered his self-financed opus Megapolis at the Cannes Film Festival, unveiling a wildly ambitious passion project the 85-year-old director has been pondering for decades. However, amidst the anticipation surrounding the movie, The Guardian stirred a controversy regarding Coppola’s conduct during production. Indian star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan attended the red carpet of Megapolis.
Director Francis Ford Coppola, Roman Coppola and Cosima Mars attend a press conference for the film ‘Megalopolis’ in competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France | Photo Credit: STEPHANE MAHE
The festival kicked off with the presentation of an honorary Palme d’Or for Merly Streep and the unveiling of Greta Gerwig’s jury. Meanwhile, Hollywood veteran Demi Moore is poised to make waves at this year’s festival with an array of engagements that reflect her enduring star power.
Here are a few other highlights from the event:
> Greta Gerwig addresses #MeToo movement at Cannes press conference
> Festival director laments focus on controversies rather than cinema
> ‘Furiosa’ debuts, Ana Taylor-Joy gets megawatt movie-star movement
> Producer Guneet Monga to head initiative to support Indian women filmmakers at festival
> At CII-Bharat Pavilion, Indian envoy to France invites global filmmakers to shoot in Jammu and Kashmir
> Kiara Advani to represent India at Women in Cinema Gala dinner
Hollywood
Tabu cast as Sister Francesca in ‘Dune: Prophecy’ prequel series
Nic Cage returns as Spider-Man Noir in new live-action series, ‘Noir’
Terminator Zero’ anime unveils August premiere date and first look
‘The Boys’ renewed for Season 5 at Prime Video
Donnie Yen to reprise role in ‘John Wick’ spinoff as blind assassin
‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 reveals first look of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey
Netflix renews ‘3 Body Problem’ for additional episodes, series to end
Prime Video’s ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ to return for second season
Marvel Studios pursue legal action against Instagram over ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ leaker
New Godzilla/Kong movie to be penned by ‘Shang-Chi’ screenwriter Dave Callaham
Sydney Sweeney’s upcoming ‘Barbarella’ ropes in Edgar Wright as director
Bollywood
Hansal Mehta announces next ‘Scam’ series, titled‘Scam 2010 - The Subrata Roy Saga’
Release of Kangana Ranaut starrer ‘Emergency’ postponed amidst Lok Sabha elections
As ‘Sarfarosh’ completes 25 years, Aamir Khan says team seriously developing sequel
Arjun Kapoor completes filming for Rohit Shetty’s ‘Singham Again’
Jackie Shroff moves Delhi HC against unauthorised use of his name
Alia Bhatt stuns at Gucci Cruise show 2025
Rajesh Kumar, KC Shankar and RJ Malishka join Nikkhil Advani’s ‘Freedom at Midnight’ series
Regional
Fahadh Faasil joins hands with ‘Drishyam’ director Jeethu Joseph
Director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan releases ‘Vazhakku’ online after spat with Tovino Thomas
Kerala politicians stand by actor Mammootty facing online harassments, call him State’s pride
Censor board should not have political appointees: Bharathiraja
Have composed a new symphony in the last 35 days, says Ilaiyaraaja
Pa Ranjith to co-produce first cinematic collaboration between Papa New Guinea and India titled ‘Papa Buka’
Santhosh Narayanan to score music for Suriya’s film with Karthik Subbaraj, tentatively called ‘Suriya 44’
Dhanush’s 50th film ‘Raayan’ confirms releasein June
G V Prakash and Saindhavi part ways after 11 years of marriage
Nivin Pauly to play the lead in director Akhil Sathyan’s next
Trailers
Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta return to take you on a rollercoaster ride of laughter in ‘Panchayat’ Season 3 trailer
In ‘Dune Prophecy’ teaser, sisterhood reigns supreme, 10,000 years before Paul Atreides
Westeros prepares for brutal Dance of the Dragon war in ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 trailer
In ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2 trailer, Sauron’s darkness threatens Middle Earth once more
In ‘Turbo’ trailer, Mammootty takes on Raj B Shetty in high-octane action fest
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo defy gravity and bring Broadway to the big screen in ‘Wicked’ trailer
In ‘Thalavan’ trailer, it’s a cop vs cop investigative thriller starring Biju Menon and Asif Ali
In ‘Double iSmart’ teaser, Ram Pothineni’s Ustaad Shankar takes on Sanjay Dutt in the action entertainer
Mable, Charles and Oliver are taking the investigation to Hollywood in ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4 teaser
Vijay Kumar battles it out at the polls in ‘Election’ trailer
Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor fulfil their cricketing dreams in ‘Mr and Mrs. Mahi’ trailer
‘Federer: Twelve Final Days’ trailer shows an emotional farewell of tennis legend Roger Federer
Essential Reading
1) Where are the women in Malayalam cinema?
>> The recent trend of women being invisibilised is seen as a kind of reversal after a decade of several films having strong women characters
2) Shonda Rhimes interview on ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3: There is some steam obviously
>> The award-winning creator talks about the couple in focus of the alternate history Regency romance
3) Deepa Mehta and Sirat Taneja discuss their documentary ‘I Am Sirat’, which chronicles a journey of identity and acceptance
>> After premiering the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Delhi-born trans star Sirat Taneja finally finds her way home
4) Sudhish Kamath on ‘Culture Vulture’ and kissing goodbye to indie
>> The filmmaker’s latest venture is a stoner comedy on distended times and it’s also the last independent film he will ever make
5) ‘Vasanthabalan, Sriya Reddy and Bharath interview: On ‘Thalamai Seyalagam’ and reuniting after ‘Veyil’
>> The team of the upcoming political thriller series talks about collaboration, trusting one another and being conscious about their creative choices
6) Filmmaker Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval on his new film, the art of direction and his style of filmmaking
>> ‘Sureshinteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hridayahariyaya Pranayakatha’ centres on characters who appeared in Ratheesh’s film ‘Nna Thaan Case Kodu’
7) Vijay Kumar on his upcoming ‘Election’: I love playing an angry young man
>> The director-actor talks about his upcoming film, and why there is a dearth of films on grassroots politics
8) Vinayak Sasikumar: I am in a better space now as a lyricist
>> Riding high on his songs from ‘Aavesham’, the Malayalam lyricist opens up on writing hit songs consistently
9) ‘Karinkaliyalle’ track goes viral again, thanks to Fahadh Faasil-starrer ‘Aavesham’
>> The team behind the song talks about the track and its popularity post the release of the Jithu Madhavan directorial
10) Hamisha Daryani Ahuja’s Netflix series ‘Postcards’ fuses the vibrancy of Nollywood and Bollywood
>> The Indian-Nigerian producer has released the series on Netflix, and it reflects a multicultural essence tailored for a global audience
11) Devashish Makhija on ‘Joram’: ‘Politics and arts should be allowed to cross-pollinate’
>> As ‘Joram’ continues to find audiences, the writer-director talks about the growing disenchantment of Hindi cinema with political themes
12) Malayalam actor Niranj on his characters and new film, ‘GU’
>> Niranj acts in ‘GU’, a fantasy-horror film directed by debutant Manu Radhakrishnan
What to watch
1) In ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3, it’s back in the Ton for sex and style
2) ‘The Garfield Movie’ is a painfully predictable reboot that’s far from purr-fect
3) Basil Joseph and Prithviraj’s ‘Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil’ is a bromance that loses steam halfway through
4) In ‘IF’, John Krasinski’s sweet ode to childhood innocence wears thin
5) The writing and the animation needed more punch in ‘Baahubali: Crown of Blood’
6) Santhanam’s comedy of errors ‘Inga Naan Thaan Kingu’ is more error than comedy
7) The narrative and superb acting get interrupted by too many deviations in ‘Sureshanteyum Sumalathayudeyum...’
8) Vasanthabalan’s political drama series ‘Thalaimai Seyalagalam’ gets undone by its predictability and uneven writing
9) ‘X-Men ‘97’ is an old-school adventure from Marvel with lots to enjoy
10) ‘Perumani’ is a fairly engaging wacky film with the aftertaste of a folktale
Published - May 17, 2024 01:23 pm IST
