5 h. ago Gene Hackman estate goes to court to prevent release of autopsy pictures

Fearing release of distressing material, lawyers have petitioned a Santa Fe court to seal records to protect the family’s right to privacyA representative for the estate of actor Gene Hackman is seeking to block the public release of autopsy and investigative reports, especially photographs and police body-camera video, related to the recent deaths of Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, after their partially mummified bodies were discovered at their New Mexico home in February.Authorities last week announced Hackman died at age 95 of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease as much as a week after Arakawa, 65, died from a rare rodent-borne disease, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Hackman’s pacemaker last showed signs of activity on 18 February, indicating an abnormal heart rhythm on the day he probably died. The couple’s bodies weren’t discovered until 26 February. Continue reading...

Events

5 h. ago ‘Cancer gave me clarity’: Industry star Marisa Abela on surviving serious illness, playing posh and on

She’s the breakout star of the cult banking drama who went on to play Amy Winehouse and has now been handpicked by Steven Soderbergh for his latest thriller. But at 23, a shock diagnosis changed her worldMarisa Abela finds it very difficult to go to the gym. Not for the usual reasons – lack of time or motivation – but because she says the reception she gets there is “insane”. The actor lives near the City of London, and her local gym is nestled between the gigantic, glinting glass offices of the capital’s financial district – which also happens to be the natural habitat of Yasmin Kara-Hanani, the hyper-privileged and extravagantly troubled junior banker Abela plays in the hit BBC drama Industry. And it’s not just while she’s exercising – that swarm of real‑life bankers desperate to tell Abela how much they love the show means meals out can be an issue, too. “If I tried to go to a salad bar at lunchtime in the City ” she trails off, looking slightly dazed.Abela isn’t just h...

Events

5 h. ago ‘I’ve had murderers try to find me. I’ve had armed people say they’ll shoot’ – Dan Reed on the fallout from his Michael Jackson films

The documentary maker has received constant death threats from Jackson fans ever since his devastating Leaving Neverland aired. He reveals why he had to make a follow-up‘I’ve kept company with very violent people for a very long time,” says documentary-maker Dan Reed, in his office whose location has to be kept secret – I was led here, from a decoy address, by the Channel 4 publicist. “I’ve had murderers try to find me. I’ve had people threaten to shoot me who are armed. I’ve been threatened many, many times. I don’t want to say I’m a tough guy, but the needle doesn’t go into the red until I’ve got something quite specific. The threats delivered face to face I took seriously. People trying to find my home address to post me a parcel I took seriously. People in China sending me emails? I don’t take so seriously. They’re going to have to get on a plane.”OK, well he does sound like a tough guy, or at least a foreign correspondent of the old school, and that’s fair enough. From the...

Events

13 h. ago ‘Musicals can be quite sinister’: Tilda Swinton and Joshua Oppenheimer on bonkers bunker singalong The End

Inspired by a Russian tycoon’s survival bunker, the pair’s post-apocalyptic tale takes in environmental collapse, our facades and delusions – and big ol’ show tunesTime is short for the family at the heart of Joshua Oppenheimer’s new film. Mother, Father and their adult son eke out their days in an underground bunker with the walls decorated with priceless old masters, fine wine on the table and half a mile of bedrock above their heads. They gather each evening for formal dinners. They sing upbeat songs to keep the darkness at bay. “We thrive in our happily-ever-after,” they burble. “Together our future is bright.”Time is similarly tight for the writer-director and his star when they beam in via video link from Berlin. It’s the last day of the film festival, a late scramble towards the finish line, and Oppenheimer and Tilda Swinton are each working to a separate stopwatch. Oppenheimer is scheduled to take part in a panel discussion; Swinton is booked on a plane out of town...

Politics

15 h. ago No Other Land director calls Florida mayor’s campaign against his film ‘very dangerous’

Israeli Oscar-winner Yuval Abraham speaks out after Miami Beach mayor proposed evicting a local cinema for screening the Palestinian-focused documentaryThe Israeli director of No Other Land has criticised a Florida mayor’s efforts to evict a local cinema after it screened his Oscar-winning documentary about Palestinian displacement in the West Bank, saying: “Banning a film only makes people more determined to see it.”Steven Meiner, the mayor of Miami Beach, has issued a draft resolution calling for the termination of the city’s lease agreement with O Cinema, and withdrawing $40,000 in promised grant funding for the nonprofit that runs the independent cinema. Continue reading...

Politics

25 h. ago 'Best horror surprise' of 2025 just landed but viewers will be left scratching their heads

Early reactions claim viewers may feel uncomfortably itchy

Events

26 h. ago When is Red Nose Day 2025? Comic Relief date, television schedule, presenters, events, get involved

It’s the funniest day of the year - for a seriously good cause.

Politics

27 h. ago Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight to produce Oasis reunion tour film

Film will be directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, the pair behind NYC music doc Meet Me in the Bathroom and LCD Soundsystem concert filmSteven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders, will oversee a film documenting Oasis’s 2025 reunion tour.Knight is described as the creator of the film and will produce it, though it is being directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace. Continue reading...

Politics

27 h. ago ‘I told Charlotte Rampling’s agent: I want to see her doing the vacuuming’: François Ozon

The French director on how Catherine Deneuve didn’t get what he was doing on 8 Women, his love of Kubrick – and why he won’t work in HollywoodYou’ve had such an eclectic career. Is there any particular genre that you haven’t tackled already but would like to? LickyKickyI don’t care about genre. What interests me is first the story. When I have the story, I try to find the best genre with which to communicate it. So the genre arrives second, and very often I mix them. 8 Women was not a musical to begin with. That was based on a play. A bad play. Old-fashioned. But I loved the plot: eight women and one of them is a murderer. It was my idea to make it a musical because it was a way to be democratic. To give each character the chance to express herself with a song, with a dance. With all those actresses together, there might be one scene where, say, Isabelle Huppert is merely an extra in the background. And you say: “Isabelle, don’t move! Now Catherine, say your lines.” Isabelle loved i...

Politics

29 h. ago Daniel Craig in line for role in Greta Gerwig’s Narnia film for Netflix

Gerwig is expected to begin filming The Magician’s Nephew, the origin story of CS Lewis’s classic fantasy novels, with the actor reported to have a major roleDaniel Craig is being lined up for a role in Greta Gerwig’s new Narnia film, her first directorial project since her huge success with Barbie and the first product of a deal she signed with Netflix to make at least two adaptations of CS Lewis’s fantasy novel series.According to Deadline, Craig has been offered a role in the film, which is currently in production for a projected release in autumn 2026. While Netflix has not confirmed which novel is being adapted, it is thought to be The Magician’s Nephew, which is listed on the Internet Movie Database as Gerwig’s next project. Continue reading...

Politics

45 h. ago ‘80 years of lies and deception’: is this film proof of alien life on Earth?

The Age of Disclosure, a provocative new documentary that argues for the existence of extraterrestrials, has drawn gasps and criticism at the SXSW film festivalA splashy new documentary that asserts the presence of extraterrestrial life on Earth and alleges a US government effort to hide information on possible alien activity is making waves at SXSW.The Age of Disclosure expounds upon years of congressional activity and testimony surrounding the presence of Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena (or UAP, a rebranding of the stigmatized UFO), in the United States, drawing both buzz and skepticism at the Austin, Texas-based cultural festival. Continue reading...

Politics

49 h. ago Ayo Edebiri ‘got insane death threats’ after Elon Musk shared fake report about Pirates of the Caribbean casting

The Bear actor called Musk a fascist and an idiot after his reaction to a post from a rightwing account that claimed she was replacing Johnny Depp Ayo Edebiri, the actor best known for her Emmy-award winning work on The Bear, has said she received “insane death threats” after Elon Musk shared a fake news report about her being cast in a film.On her Instagram, Edebiri recalled the furore that met Musk’s reposting of a story by “Unlimited L’s”, a rightwing account with no apparent Hollywood connection or insight, that she was to replace Johnny Depp in a reboot of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Continue reading...

Events

50 h. ago ‘It’s supposed to be intense’: inside the experimental film that ‘truly captures’ autism

It stars a roaming shapeshifter – and a cat-faced soldier fighting a zombie in a swamp. We go behind the scenes of The Stimming Pool, the first ever feature film to be made by autistic directors Do you know how many autistic people there are in the UK? The answer is an estimated 700,000. Yet until now, there has never been a single feature-length film directed by autistic people. Or at least not one that has secured a theatrical release in the UK and slots at festivals worldwide.The film is The Stimming Pool, an experimental feature shot over just 12 days that puts on screen the interests, passions and perspectives of its five young autistic creators. They worked alongside Steven Eastwood, professor of film practice at London’s Queen Mary University, funded initially by the Wellcome Trust. “We asked why autistic people are always required to explain or illustrate their experience,” says Eastwood. “What about just having neurodivergent authors behind the cameras, doing the creativity...

Politics

52 h. ago Friendship review – Tim Robinson spirals in a darkly hilarious comedy

SXSW film festival: The star of I Think You Should Leave brings a similar brand of comedy to this strange and genuinely funny film about a friendship breakupFew adult experiences sting as much as a friendship breakup, a rejection in some ways more personal, hurtful and confusing than that of a romantic partner. And few actors are better equipped to mine the weird vulnerabilities, fixations and feelings of a platonic split like the cult comedy king Tim Robinson, co-creator and star of the Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave (ITYSL). Over three seasons, Robinson has built up a devoted in-the-know following for his situational comedy, generationally playing unrepentant characters with no impulse control or allegiance to social scripts, people whose untidy feelings derail otherwise normal situations into absurd tangles.In other words, not the type of people to take rejection well. With Robinson as the unfortunate half of a buddy dump, Friendship, writer-director Andrew DeYoung’...

Politics

53 h. ago ‘Carers need care, too’: Bruce Willis’s wife speaks out after deaths of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa

Emma Heming Willis, who is primary carer for the actor since his dementia diagnosis in 2023, says there is ‘a broader story’ to tell about their plightEmma Heming Willis, the primary carer for her husband, the actor Bruce Willis, who is suffering from a rare form of dementia, has issued a statement in the wake of the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa.An investigation by local authorities concluded last week that Arakawa, 65, died of a rare respiratory disease around seven days before her husband, meaning that it was likely he spent a week by himself, disorientated and increasingly malnourished. Continue reading...

Events

53 h. ago ‘I’m all for strange’: Sister Midnight’s Karan Kandhari on his punk rock debut, two decades in the making

The director talks about his genre-trampling film Sister Midnight, the hilarious and gory story of a female force of nature stifled in an arranged marriageOne of the most powerful scenes in Sister Midnight is also a quiet and unexpected one. The protagonist, Uma, sits idly with her neighbour Sheetal outside their adjoining homes in Mumbai. To pass the time, the bored housewives pretend to be divorcing one another. Amid the role play, Uma turns to her confidant and says: “I’m tainted goods, I’m a divorcee. But it’s OK. I’ll wear this like a badge and go forth to the hills, form a manless nation and build a monolithic altar to the pussy.”The statement captures what is so provocative about the film – it turns societal norms on their head and dares to ask: what if we did things differently? At its core, the film feels quite feminist. “That word comes up a lot,” says director Karan Kandhari. “I’m happy people can see the film like that, but I didn’t set out to make something with an agen...

Politics

56 h. ago ‘I never thought about Oscars’: Brutalist composer Daniel Blumberg on the happiness and horror of his big win

The defiantly anti-commercial musician had walked away from mainstream success twice by his early 20s. Will his Academy Award convince him to embrace Hollywood, celebrity, the big bucks?Daniel Blumberg hands me his Oscar, as surprised as he is chuffed. Bloody hell, it’s heavy. Is it real gold? “I wish it was,” says the latest winner of best original score, for The Brutalist. (Apparently, it’s gold-plated bronze.) He puts it back on a shabby wooden shelf alongside his Bafta, also for The Brutalist, and his Ivor Novello award, which he won in 2022 for The World to Come, directed by Mona Fastvold (the partner of Brutalist director Brady Corbet). “Before the Ivor Novello, the only thing I’d ever won was ‘most improved footballer’ when I was six,” he says. “Honestly, I’d never thought about Oscars in my entire life. I’d never even watched the ceremony.”Blumberg, 35, is the least likely Oscar winner you could imagine. Not because he lacks the talent, but because he has spent his career wa...

Events

56 h. ago BFI Flare 2025: The best films to see at London's longstanding LGBTQIA+ film festival

Queer horror shorts, poignant romances, must-see documentaries and uplifting tales of body positivity and community: the 39th edition of BFI Flare has it all

Culture

57 h. ago The Rule of Jenny Pen review – John Lithgow pulls the strings in care home horror

Geoffrey Rush’s retired judge is terrorised by Lithgow’s therapy puppet-wielding fellow resident in this claustrophobic tale of elder-on-elder abuseFilm-maker James Ashcroft has created a scary and intimately upsetting psychological horror based on a story by New Zealand author Owen Marshall set in a care home, a film whose coolly maintained claustrophobic mood and bravura performances make up for the slight narrative blurring towards the end. It’s a movie about bullying and elder abuse – more specifically, elder-on-elder abuse – and it is always most chilling when it sticks to the realist constraints of what could actually happen.The locale is an un-luxurious residential care facility where a retired judge is now astonished to find himself; this is Stefan Mortensen, played by Geoffrey Rush, who succumbed to a catastrophic stroke while passing judgment from the bench. He is a cantankerous and high-handed man, furious to be in this demeaning place and who, like many there, assures hi...

Events

3 d. ago The Rivals of Amziah King review – Matthew McConaughey returns with unwieldy misstep

SXSW film festival: The Oscar winner’s first film role for six years shows his undeniable magnetism but squanders it on a baggy mix of tones and genresIn the past six years, the Academy award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, the reigning prince of Austin, Texas, has kept busy. He raised his three kids in the city, written and released a bestselling memoir on “easy-livin’” (“because life is a verb”), taught in the film department at the University of Texas at Austin, pleaded for gun control at the White House after the horrific school shooting in his home town of Uvalde and “seriously considered” running for governor of Texas. But he has not acted on screen – relegating his last two film roles, underwhelming romps in Harmony Korine’s The Beach Bum and Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, to the distant memory of a pre-pandemic 2019. With the end of the 2010s, the energy of the McConnaissance went elsewhere.That is, until Monday, when McConaughey returned to red carpet promotional duties fo...

Politics