18 h. ago ‘Revelatory, magnetic, unknown’: how Frank Dillane became a star at Cannes

With a breakout performance in Urchin, the actor has emerged from cult TV fame to the cusp of major stardom – a new ‘post-alpha male’ lead to join the ranks of Paul Mescal and Josh O’ConnorFew actors make an instant impact on their first major film festival appearance, but Frank Dillane, star of fellow actor Harris Dickinson’s directing debut Urchin, is one of them. Critics are near-unanimous in their praise, with Variety calling his performance “revelatory”, and IndieWire describing it as “magnetic”. Influential film industry publication Deadline said that Dillane “arrived in Cannes a virtual unknown, but Harris Dickinson’s directorial debut has made him a star”.In Urchin, Dillane plays Mike, a man living on the streets who ends up in jail after committing an assault and then struggles to go straight after his release. Despite being given a place in a hostel and helped into employment, Mike is tempted to fall back into his old ways. With a script written by Dickinson, Dillane commi...

Politics

40 h. ago Paul Mescal 'whines' about career and 'alpha male' replacement as Lennon’s sister slams him for overexposure

As the star complains about critiques of his work, Julia Baird points out the privileged actor is already everywhere

Politics

41 h. ago Paul Mescal hits out at ‘lazy and frustrating’ comparisons between new movie and Brokeback Mountain

‘The History of Sound’ stars Mescal opposite Josh O’Connor as two young music students who travel to rural Maine together in the summer of 1919 to record local folk songs

Events

43 h. ago Kaiser Chiefs announce 20th anniversary reissue of seminal debut album Employment

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Politics

45 h. ago Paul Mescal says comparing his film romance with Josh O’Connor to Brokeback Mountain is ‘lazy and frustrating’

In Cannes to promote The History of Sound, the actor said ‘I don’t see the parallels at all, other than we spent a little time in a tent’The actor Paul Mescal has hit out at critics who have drawn comparisons between The History of Sound, a gay romance in which he stars opposite Josh O’Connor, and Ang Lee’s landmark western Brokeback Mountain.Speaking at a press conference in Cannes the day after the film’s premiere, Mescal – who followed a supporting performance in Andrew Haigh’s acclaimed gay ghost story All of Us Strangers with playing the lead in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II – said he believes cinema is “moving away” from alpha male roles. Continue reading...

Politics

46 h. ago John Lennon's sister criticises casting for Beatles biopics as she takes aim at Paul Mescal

‘There are more actors out there waiting for a go, and for a chance,’ Julia Baird said

Politics

50 h. ago Paul Mescal’s gay love story The History of Sound is severely anticlimactic

Despite the buzz surrounding the Irish actor’s romantic team-up with Josh O’Connor, this is a slight, sentimental misfire from ‘Living’ director Oliver Hermanus

Politics

56 h. ago Paul Mescal's 'sexless' gay romance The History Of Sound is branded 'Brokeback Mountain on sedatives' and 'too polite' by critics after nine minute Cannes ovation

The film was very well received at Cannes, receiving an impressive nine-minute standing ovation - but critics haven't been so convinced.

Economics

59 h. ago The History of Sound review – Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor romance is full

Cannes film festival A love story of two folk song aficionados in the early days of recorded music is told with tiresomely mournful awe at its own sadnessOliver Hermanus’s The History of Sound has admirers in Cannes; but I couldn’t help finding it an anaemic, laborious, achingly tasteful film, originally a short story by Ben Shattuck which has become a quasi-Brokeback Mountain film whose tone is one of persistent mournful awe at its own sadness.Hermanus has made great movies in the past including Beauty and Living but this is a film that is almost petrified by its own upmarket values, paralysed under the varnish of classiness. Continue reading...

Politics

60 h. ago Gracie Abrams and Paul Mescal make a statement at Cannes amid engagement rumours

The rumour mill has been in full swing recently with speculation Gracie Abrams and Paul Mescal are set to tie the knot, but the duo made separate entrances at Cannes Film Festival

Politics

62 h. ago Naomi Campbell oozes glamour while Cara Delevingne shows off a dramatic new look as they join Iris Law and Gracie Abrams at The History Of Sound premiere during Cannes Film Festival

The A-list superstars turned heads as they stormed the red carpet to celebrate the release of the historical queer romance film, starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor.

Culture

63 h. ago History of Sound review: Paul Mescal's gay romance doesn't sing

Screening in Cannes, this folk music drama has a compelling affair between Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor but falls into monotony

Politics

7 d. ago How Ried, Lask, Wolfsburg and Frankfurt forged fearless Oliver Glasner

The Crystal Palace manager cut his teeth in the Austrian and German Bundesligas, while a health scare helped form his approach to lifeSiegmund Gruber didn’t take long to decide Oliver Glasner was his man. “We were convinced from the moment we met him,” says the chief executive of the Austrian club Lask. “Oliver started his presentation and it was like that scene in Jerry Maguire: ‘You had me at hello.’”It was the summer of 2015 and the future Crystal Palace manager had been persuaded to leave SV Ried, where he had made more than 500 appearances and been named player of the century before taking over as manager the previous year, for their main rivals. What made things worse was that Lask, after going bankrupt under the previous owners and losing their stadium, had just been promoted from the third division, while Ried had finished mid-table in the Austrian Bundesliga. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Gucci goes alfresco in Florence as it awaits rebirth under buzzy new creative boss

Struggling label produces upbeat parade of greatest hits on home turf while Demna completes stint at BalenciagaIf rebirth is what you want then Florence, home of the Renaissance, is a good place to start.Gucci, which has just switched designers after a period of plunging sales – 24% down in the last quarter of 2024, and 25% down in the first of 2025 – showed its latest collection in a catwalk pageant that began in the 15th-century Palazzo Settimanni, where the actors Paul Mescal, Viola Davis and Jeff Goldblum, a Florentine resident, had front-row seats, and continued outside to where Gucci employees and local fashion fans, seated in bars and cafes, watched an alfresco lap of the show. If you hit the factory-reset button in Florence, and make it glamorous, can you call it a renaissance button? Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Gucci goes alfresco in Florence as it awaits rebirth with buzzy new creative boss

Struggling label produces upbeat parade of greatest hits on home turf while Demna completes stint at BalenciagaIf rebirth is what you want then Florence, home of the Renaissance, is a good place to start.Gucci, which has just switched designers after a period of plunging sales – 24% down in the last quarter of 2024, and 25% down in the first of 2025 – showed its latest collection in a catwalk pageant that began in the 15th-century Palazzo Settimanni, where the actors Paul Mescal, Viola Davis and Jeff Goldblum, a Florentine resident, had front-row seats, and continued outside to where Gucci employees and local fashion fans, seated in bars and cafes, watched an alfresco lap of the show. If you hit the factory-reset button in Florence, and make it glamorous, can you call it a renaissance button? Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Who is Gracie Abrams? Paul Mescal and singer spark engagement rumours

The pair have sparked rumours that their relationship has gone to the next level

Politics

1 week ago Paul Mescal's girlfriend Gracie Abrams sparks engagement speculation as she wears a diamond ring on THAT finger

The American singer-songwriter, 25, and the Normal People actor, 29, have been romantically linked since June 2024 after they were spotted enjoying a cosy dinner date.

Politics

1 week ago ‘We have so many talented black British actors who had to leave in order to work’: Sharon D Clarke on typecasting, industry tensions, and the truthfulness of Mr Loverman

As part of a Bafta TV special, the best actor nominated star talks about institutional racism, the remarks that made Cressida Dick look like a ‘fool’, and how Bernardine Evaristo’s coming out story reflected her ownPure charisma – that’s the best way to describe Sharon D Clarke. As she has her picture taken, she fills the room with easy laughter, dancing along to Bob Marley. At 58 years old, the Londoner is one of Britain’s most commanding performers. During a three-decade career she has lit up the West End (winning three Olivier awards) and become a household name (as the formidable Lola Griffin in Holby City). Last year, she also starred as DCI Ellis in the Channel 5/Acorn TV crime drama Ellis, and brought sparkling levity to the National Theatre’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest, alongside Ncuti Gatwa. Now, Clarke has earned her first Bafta TV nomination for her searing performance in Mr Loverman, the BBC adaptation of Bernardine Evaristo’s novel, in which she plays...

Events

1 week ago Three years after his death, Stephen Sondheim feels more alive than ever

‘Here We Are’, now running at the National Theatre, is the musical theatre titan’s final, posthumous work. But when it comes to Sondheim, this couldn’t be further from the end, writes Louis Chilton

Events

2 w. ago The Beatles biopic is being brought to us by a trio of white men – how boringly predictable

As three male writers are announced as the people behind the new, four-part Beatles biopic – along with director Sam Mendes and stars including Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan – Laura Barton asks why women, despite propelling the band to glory, are rarely considered an authority on them

Events