50 h. ago James McAvoy allegedly assaulted in Toronto bar after promoting directorial debut

Actor was in city for its annual film festival when he was reportedly attacked

Events

51 h. ago James McAvoy assaulted in Toronto bar after promoting directorial debut

Actor was in city for its annual film festival when he was reportedly attacked

Events

54 h. ago James McAvoy 'attacked by stranger' in bar with wife while in Canada for film premiere

James McAvoy was reportedly attacked by a stranger in a bar in Toronto, Canada, while in the city for the premiere of his directorial debut film California Schemin'

Politics

57 h. ago James McAvoy 'attacked by stranger' while in Canadian pub with wife

James McAvoy has reportedly been attacked while visiting Toronto for the premiere of his directorial debut California Schemin'.

Events

64 h. ago James McAvoy 'punched by man in Toronto bar as security intervene to help him'

The actor, 46, was in Canada for the premiere of his directorial debut California Schemin' at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday.

Events

5 d. ago Good Fortune review – Aziz Ansari’s big comeback comedy struggles to find big laughs

Toronto film festival: The multi-hyphenate’s directorial debut has noble intentions in its timely class commentary but his brand of humour makes for an awkward fitThe absence of big-screen comedies, once an almost weekly occurrence, has become such a widely complained-about issue that the rare novelty of one actually being made has turned into a marketing tool. Last month’s remake of The Naked Gun employed a campaign that directly addressed this problem, with an ad that played like a PSA about such a lack and why supporting one was of societal importance (the plea only mildly worked, with the film finishing with decent, but not quite decent enough, box office). At the Toronto premiere of Aziz Ansari’s Good Fortune, festival chief Cameron Bailey made reference to the now unusual sensation of laughing with an audience, and the actor-writer-director himself has been impressing upon people his desire to make a theatrical comedy in the billion-dollar wake of Barbie. He believes in its im...

Politics

5 d. ago California Schemin’ review – James McAvoy’s directorial debut is an unlikely rap tale

Toronto film festival: the actor makes for a hit-and-miss first time film-maker with the undeniably involving true story of Scottish rappers who pretended to be AmericanAt the start of the century, a struggling Scottish rap duo decided to overhaul their image in extreme fashion: they began posing as two Americans from California, and managed to secure themselves a record deal with a label in London. Eventually the hoax was revealed, and one of them released a memoir about the charade. That wild story has now been adapted into a film, California Schemin’, which marks the alternately confident and unsteady directorial debut of actor James McAvoy.McAvoy is a son of Scotland himself, and perhaps feels some kinship with rappers Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd, who found the cultural tastemakers of the south to be indifferent or even hostile to Scottish artists. Though McAvoy has fared just fine as an actor, Bain and Boyd – who would come to be known as Silibil N’ Brains – had a much tougher go...

Politics

9 d. ago Letitia Wright’s Directorial Debut HIGHWAY TO THE MOON Selected for BFI London Film Festival

Letitia Wright’s Directorial Debut HIGHWAY TO THE MOON Selected for BFI London Film Festival  Together Films

Culture

1 week ago Lucy Lawless: ‘I’ve got bag lady hair. I look like I’ve just had sex in a dumpster’

The actor and director on struggling with Dostoevsky, her love of Maggie Smith and flossing in her carBorn in Auckland, New Zealand, Lucy Lawless, 57, studied drama in Canada. In the 1990s she starred on television in Xena: Warrior Princess. She went on to appear in Battlestar Galactica, Spartacus, Parks and Recreation, Agents of SHIELD and Salem. Her films include Spider-Man, EuroTrip, Boogeyman, Bedtime Stories and Minions: The Rise of Gru. In 2024 she made her directorial debut with Never Look Away. She plays Alexa Crowe in the crime series My Life Is Murder; all four series are now available on DVD and digital. She is married for the second time, has three children and lives in New Zealand.What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Laziness. Continue reading...

Society

3 w. ago As You Like It review – Ralph Fiennes’ sombre, stately directorial stage debut

Theatre Royal BathThe actor’s minimal staging of the Shakespeare comedy favours stillness and feeling over comic fizz, with moving performances from Gloria Obianyo and Amber JamesRalph Fiennes has proven himself to be a Shakespearean actor with gravitas over the decades. He brings that weight to his directorial stage debut of a Shakespeare play – and a comedy at that. Not exactly known for his comic chops (there is the odd Wes Anderson film in his oeuvre), Fiennes brings a depth to this pastoral about tyrant brothers and exiles that dares to venture into sombreness. It gives the drama a fuller body without taking away from its mischief.Played in modern dress, the court of Duke Frederick (Patrick Robinson) is less a kingdom than a suited and booted corporation. Although his usurped brother, Duke Senior (also played by Robinson) bears vestiges of the boardroom in his demeanour, he and his band of self-exiled dukes seem to have built an alternative community in the forest of Arden, inc...

Politics

3 w. ago Asian Persuasion review – indie New York romcom of divorcee meddling in his ex’s dating life

A coffee-shop owner tries to get out of paying alimoney with a scheme that lacks finesse at best and is sociopathic at worstIt is unexpected to see vintage romcom values upheld in an indie movie populated almost exclusively by Filipino-Americans. Tony award-winning producer Jhett Tolentino at least has a good high-concept hook for his feature directorial debut: a beleaguered divorcee tries to get out of paying alimony to his ex-wife by making a fake dating profile to bag her a new partner. Sadly, this tonally shaky and borderline-sociopathic outing doesn’t have the class or skill to be part of the much-needed renaissance for the genre.Asian Persuasion takes place on the great New York dating grounds beloved of many a romcom: feckless single dad Mickey (Dante Basco, who played the leader of the Lost Boys in Steven Spielberg’s Hook) is struggling to elevate his Queens coffee shop, Da Fili Beans, to hipster notoriety. Ponying up payments to his fashion designer ex Avery (KC Concepcion)...

Events