show biz

ADAM Peaty’s estranged family are demanding Netflix remove them from Gordon Ramsay’s upcoming docuseries amid their wedding feud.

The Olympic swimming champion’s mum, Caroline, has written to the streamer to say they did not consent to being filmed at Adam and Holly Ramsay’s engagement do.

His family want a prompt response, a source said, as the series, Being Gordon Ramsay, is due for release early next year.

A source said they expected Netflix to answer within 14 days from when it was sent the letter.

Dad-of-one Adam, 30, and Holly, 25, are due to wed at Bath Abbey in Somerset on December 27 but he has banned his mum and other family members from attending.

His decision last month came after a row over Caroline not being invited to Holly’s hen-do.

PEATY PARTY

Adam Peaty shares first pic of stag do amid feud with his family

FORMULA GLAM

Holly Ramsay looks wedding-ready in bralet at Las Vegas F1 amid family drama

He also called police after his brother, James, 34, allegedly made threats via text while Adam was on his stag do in Budapest.

James was arrested at home in Uttoxeter, Staffs, on suspicion of harassment before being bailed.

A source said: “Caroline has written to Netflix to say the family were not asked for their consent to be filmed for Gordon’s documentary at last year’s engagement do.

“She was very clear that, after everything that’s happened, they do not want to be featured.

“She was filmed giving a speech as were the family during arrivals and while mingling at the party.

“They’re expecting a response from Netflix within 14 days of the letter’s arrival.”

A source close to Gordon Ramsay said filming notices were displayed at the lavish party which took place in London.

They said: “They stated that by attending you were giving your consent to appear in the show.

“Everyone had a brilliant time and the Peaty family members were not interviewed so no additional consent would have been needed. It’s possible they may not even make the final edit.”

Since the falling out, sister Bethany is the only member of Adam’s family still invited to the wedding.

She was very clear that, after everything that’s happened, they do not want to be featured

Source

She was also the only Peaty at Holly’s hen-do at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire although several pals of the Ramsay clan, including Victoria Beckham, turned up.

On Thursday, Adam glossed over the feud when he captioned recent social media snaps “a few good weeks to backend the year”.

The Sun asked Netflix for comment.

TV legend Bryan Fuller, known for his cult classics “Pushing Daisies” and “Hannibal,” just earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for first feature. It’s somehow a surprise that the well-known creator just directed his first movie, after spending almost three decades working in television on series like “Dead Like Me” and “American Gods.” Now he turns to the world of indie film, reuniting with actor Mads Mikkelsen, his Hannibal Lecter, on the dark fairy tale “Dust Bunny.”

Fuller has a thing for idioms, extending them to their most extreme ends (e.g., “pushing daisies”), and so in “Dust Bunny,” he imagines what those bits of fluff could be if our nightmares came to life. He also posits an outlandish notion: What if a kid hired an assassin to kill the monster under her bed?

Aurora (Sophie Sloan) is an imaginative young girl who hears things that roar and scream in the night. The dust bunny under her bed is a ravenous, monstrous thing. When her parents go missing, she’s convinced they’ve been eaten by the monster bunny, and seeks out the services of an “intriguing neighbor” (Mikkelsen, that’s how he’s credited) whom she has seen vanquishing dragons in the alley outside. With a fee that she purloins from a church collection plate, she implores him for help and he agrees, as he learns more about this young girl’s challenging childhood.

At first, “Dust Bunny” feels a little light, the story skittering across its densely designed surface, with very little dialogue in the first half. But it grows and grows, more bits and pieces accumulating as Fuller reveals this strange, heightened world. We meet Intriguing Neighbor’s handler, Laverne (Sigourney Weaver), revealing the larger Wickian world of killers that he inhabits.Weaver chomps through her scenes like the monster bunny chomps through the floorboards — literally, as she consumes charcuterie, dumplings and “suckling pig tea sandwiches” with gusto. Some monsters grin at us from across the table.

The film is essentially “Leon: The Professional” meets “Amélie” (one of Fuller’s favorite films), but with his distinct wit and flair. That style also means that “Dust Bunny” is quite fussy and mannered and if you don’t buy in on the film’s arch humor and stylized world, you’re liable to bounce right off of it. As Fuller opens the world up, revealing a sly FBI agent (Sheila Atim) and more baddies (David Dastmalchian, Rebecca Henderson), the plot becomes more intriguing beyond its unwieldy childhood-trauma metaphor, but there’s also not quite enough embroidered on this tapestry. It feels shallow, not fleshed out.

Fuller demonstrates a strong command over his visual domain but the pat allegory he presents about the monsters with whom we have to learn to live feels a bit muddled. Sloan and Mikkelsen are terrific together, but you feel that there is much more they could have sunk their teeth into here, and perhaps the limits of the tale reveal the limits of the budget, carefully wallpapered over with opulent production design — explosions of patterns and color crafted by Jeremy Reed, captured with shadowy but lush cinematography by Nicole Hirsch Whitaker.

It’s a first feature that feels like one — a bit of a surprise from someone so experienced. But the project has Fuller’s signature style, even if it doesn’t add up to much more than a neat kiddie-centric hard-R genre exercise.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Shirley Ballas has admitted that she has had her fair share of sleepless nights after this year’s season of Strictly took an unexpected turn when Lewis Cope was eliminated

Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas has admitted she was left wide awake all night after Lewis Cope’s emotional exit from the competition.

While on BBC spin-off show It Takes Two, Shirley opened up to host Fleur East about the toll this stage of the competition has taken on her, especially as the remaining couples edge closer to the final.

When Fleur asked how she was feeling with the semi-final less than 24 hours away, Shirley replied sombrely: “Well I didn’t sleep yesterday, I didn’t sleep when Lewis got eliminated and I probably won’t sleep tonight because you never know where the show is going to go at the moment.”

She went on to explain just how unpredictable this year’s contest has become, adding: “It is not set and it could be anyone who goes home and anyone who can win, so it will be very interesting tomorrow.”

Lewis, who is best known to viewers for his role on Emmerdale, was eliminated last week after going head-to-head with Love Island star Amber Davies in the dreaded dance-off.

Many fans were devastated to see him leave just before the semi-finals. But Lewis spoke fondly of his time on Strictly after his exit, saying: “It’s been more than I could have ever wished for. If someone would have said that I’d have done 11 weeks on the show at the beginning, I’d have been over the moon and snap their hand off.”

He went on to thank the show and his professional partner Katya Jones, telling her: “You’ve literally given me absolutely everything I could wish for as a friend, as a teacher, and yeah, I couldn’t imagine it with anybody else.”

An emotional Katya returned the praise, calling Lewis one of the most memorable contestants the show has seen. “You will be remembered as one of, if not, the best male celebrity we’ve ever had on the show,” she said, adding that he would also be remembered for being “an incredible person”.

Away from the ballroom, Lewis’s girlfriend Rachel Lopez also spoke out following his exit, hitting back at viewers’ claims that he had an unfair advantage due to his musical theatre background.

In a heartfelt Instagram post, she wrote: “What most people never saw was the pressure you carried, especially with people assuming you would walk in as a trained dancer (which you absolutely weren’t!).”

Rachel praised Lewis for handling the criticism he received with grace, adding: “The heartbreak isn’t a sign you have failed, it just shows how much courage you had.”

On It Takes Two Shirley went on to offer some quick advice to the remaining couples ahead of the semi-final, encouraging Amber and Nikita to “bend knees and have a lot of fun,” while calling for more “connection and partnering” from some of the other contestants.

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SEX PISTOLS frontman John Lydon has slammed singer Chrissie Hynde in a furious rant after accusing her of ‘doing a very nasty thing’.

The former I’m A Celeb star, 69, had a lot to say about The Pretenders band member, even admitting that she was jealous of his late wife Nora Forester.

John, who’s stage name is Johnny Rotten, first crossed paths with music star Chrissie in the 1970’s becoming close friends, amidst London’s punk scene.

But years later, Lydon has revealed he has a very different view of his longtime pal, launching into a furious rant about the singer. 

Speaking to comedian Paul Whitehouse and his wife Dr Mine Conkbayir, on the latest episode of their podcast I’m ADHD! No You’re Not, John unveiled the shocking revelation.

Paul opened up the line of fire, saying: “Anyone would think you were in the Sex Pistols? 

PUNK SHOCK

John Lydon leaves GMB’s Susanna Reid stunned with VERY cheeky remark

NO B*LLOCKS

Sex Pistols legend John Lydon says he’s being haunted… by Count Dracula

“Talking of which, by the way, Chrissie Hynde sends her love,” he chimed.

John replied: “F*** her. No, no. She did a very, very nasty thing. I met her before Nora died and on all of that. And she never told me what they were doing behind my back. 

“Oh, sorry,” Paul quipped.

John continued: “And she knew, and she was involved with all that, that film and like and these are my friends. Yeah. And you’re not telling me, you know.”

 “It was hurtful,” he added.

Mine went on to further question the music star: “And you never had it out for her?”

To which he replied: “She was always jealous of Nora as you know. Right. I don’t date horse hair blankets. Hello, Chrissie. How you doing?”

The punk icon became the primary carer of his beloved wife Nora following her battle with Alzheimer’s – she sadly passed in 2023.

Chrissie herself opened up about her own experiences with Lydon this week. 

Speaking to The Guardian about a wild night with the star, she said: “The one thing I remember about that Nashville Rooms show was that I had drunk a lot of tequila beforehand and I never drank before a show again because it impaired my abilities.”

“That night, I pierced Johnny Rotten’s ear in the toilet, by pushing an earring through it into a bar of soap.”

The American born singer had even proposed to Johnny Rotten and his Sex Pistols bandmate Sid Vicious in 1976, but not for romantic reasons. 

Chrissie proposed the idea of marriage after needing a visa so she could stay in the UK.

When asked what she thought her life would be like if she had married either star, she said: “That was just so I could stay in the country, but life with either of them would have been chaos.”

‘I’m ADHD! No You’re Not’ is available every Thursday on all podcast platforms.

You often hear that short stories make the best movies, as if the notion is to take something compact and widen it with cinema’s scalability. But the reverse can also be true: Certain movies benefit from feeling pocket-sized and unfettered, as if you’ve curled up with a tight, evocative short story, filled with just enough humor, detail and feeling to evoke a warm glow.

Set over two days during the instant relationship between a desperate young man from New York and a lonely older Los Angeles street musician, the black-and-white micro-indie “Burt” from director and co-screenwriter Joe Burke is one such half-slice of heart and calories, neither too much nor undercooked. You could watch a lot of films made with its equivalent budget (think that of a used 2007 sedan) and sense an ambition straining against constraints or a deliberate attempt at slumming. Not so with “Burt,” the movie equivalent of a cherry sour drop on a day when you need something a little tart, a tad sweet and that won’t outstay its welcome.

“Burt” stars Burt Berger as, well, Burt Berger, a 69-year-old troubadour type whom we first see in a sparsely attended coffeehouse plucking away at his guitar and, as if the ’60s never went away, singing about freedom. (Via Berger’s earnest, aged voice, the concept sounds hard-won.) Watching him intently is Sammy (co-screenwriter Oliver Cooper), who asks for a moment of Burt’s time. Over a picnic table in a field, this kind-eyed, spindly musician, visibly dealing with Parkinson’s, is informed that Sammy is the son he never knew he had. To which you might think: Finally, a movie that doesn’t waste time getting straight to what we’re already thinking.

Burt is tickled by the news and very quickly wants Sammy to stay overnight in the modest North Hollywood house he shares with his live-in landlord Steve (Steven Levy), a suspicious, rules-obsessed crank with mad-prophet facial hair, a nascent vegetable garden and, he’d like this new visitor to know, a gun. The distrust is mutual for Sammy, but he’s trying to stay focused on getting to know Burt for reasons that soon become apparent and which give this quirky, Jarmusch-inflected scenario an extra dab of seriocomic urgency.

But “Burt” isn’t driven by narrative. Director Burke is way more invested in the interpersonal dynamics of oddballs than anything else and, to that end, a fair amount of humorous tension is maintained — from Sammy’s fearful accommodation of Steve’s peculiarities to some contentious phone calls with a haranguing aunt (Caitlin Adams) who lives in a trailer park, is behind on rent and apparently makes a fine soup. Meanwhile, one of the more endearingly amusing aspects of “Burt” is how spiritedly the title character takes to sudden dadhood, especially his immediate adopting of such phrases as “No son of mine is …” and “That’s my boy!”

There’s no way for a general moviegoer to know what the ratio of fiction to nonfiction in is a scruffy DIY object like “Burt,” with characters playing versions of themselves. (If Levy doesn’t have an agent, he should consider it.) And while you don’t expect things to get sentimental, there’s a quiet faith as “Burt” shuffles along — its jazz-tinged music score a little rough and the editing not always smooth — that the movie won’t ignore the feelings its director has efficiently triggered. Most notably, Berger, whose life inspired the film, is a natural, easy to root for and an ideal center for a movie with a warmhearted view of life as best appreciated when you can set aside your hang-ups and adopt the occasional stray.

BBC bosses have reportedly selected their top ten options for replacing Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman as Strictly Come Dancing hosts, and they are set to undergo ‘chemistry tests’

The BBC is ramping up its search for the next faces of Strictly Come Dancing, with insiders revealing that a shortlist of ten high-profile presenters is set to be put through intense on-screen chemistry tests as the corporation prepares for a new era of the hit show.

Now that Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are stepping down from the series after more than two decades at the helm, bosses are said to be leaving nothing to chance.

According to insider sources, a “Golden Ten” have been assembled to take part in a secret studio session next month where presenters will reportedly be paired up in various combinations to see who has the strongest rapport on camera.

A source told The Sun: “Replacing Claudia and Tess is a mammoth task, but the BBC have whittled down the talent to ten people. They will go to a studio and be put into different pairs to see who works together best.”

Some of the frontrunners are Bradley Walsh, The One Show’s Alex Jones and British comedian Alan Carr, who is understood to be the current favourite among senior BBC figures.

Rylan Clark, Rob Rinder, Zoe Ball, Holly Willoughby, Amanda Holden, Alison Hammond and Angela Scanlon are also taking part. The source added: “It could be two women or two men paired, or a mix. They will ultimately choose whoever has the best chemistry in each partnership.”

Some contenders already have tried and tested on-screen dynamics. Rylan and Rob currently front a BBC travel series together, while Alan and Amanda host a home renovation show.

Meanwhile, Zoe Ball is seen as a safe pair of hands after previously presenting the Strictly spin-off It Takes Two. Alan’s growing appeal at the BBC has reportedly pushed him into first place among the talent being considered.

Given he is fresh off winning the Celebrity Traitors and has just recently landed a new quiz show, insiders believe he could bring a whole new audience to the ballroom.

Meanwhile, Strictly fans are bracing themselves for a sad goodbye to Tess and Claudia. The pair announced their decision to leave the show in October, explaining that it felt like “the right time” to step away after years at the helm.

Tess, who has presented Strictly since its launch in 2004, and Claudia, who joined in 2014, insisted they were always determined to leave together, calling their partnership “an absolute dream”.

The duo hosted Strictly for their penultimate episode tonight, and have already filmed their final Christmas special. Those at the recording studio said emotions were running high, with one insider revealing: “Tess was wiping away tears. The last Strictly episode next week is going to be emotional.”

The presenters were recently honoured with a touching message from the widow of the late Sir Bruce Forsyth, Wilnelia Forsyth, who praised both women for the “laughter, the elegance and the heart” they brought to the show.

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MODEL Emily Ratajkowski looks fab-yule-ous as she poses in a red dress for a festive event.

The 34-year-old wore the minidress, tights and heels at the event for hair brand Kérastase in New York on Thursday evening.

Emily was recently seen on a date with singer Dua Lipa’s ex, Romain Gavras.

They were spotted last month kissing during a romantic winter stroll through New York City.

Emily was recently linked to Elvis star Austin Butler after the pair enjoyed an evening of cocktails together.

She has a four-year-old son Sylvester Apollo Bear, who she shares with her ex-husband Sebastian Bear-McClard. 

READ MORE EMILY RATAJKOWSKI

EM A GEM

Emily Ratajkowski shows off cleavage in plunging black coat with crystal necklace

GO GET EM

Emily Ratajkowski rocks sheer hot pink bra, thong and garter belt for new shoot

Emily finalized her divorce with the film producer, who faced a slew of sexual misconduct allegations, in July, after filing for divorce in September 2022.

Emily recently bared her soul about how she suffered from self-doubt. 

She revealed how writing her 2021 memoir My Body had sparked feelings of inadequacy.

The model explained: “I had imposter syndrome.” 

Lord Krishna, Hinduism’s compassionate god of divine love, is often portrayed with a flute in hand. Perhaps that has something to do with the story that when he cut a large drum in half, producing two hand drums for rhythmic accompaniment, which is a mythical origin for the tabla, these small hand drums came to be treated like a back-up rhythm section. Melody was the star. In classical Indian music, sitar masters were stars, and tabla players traveled second class and were poorly paid.

A father and son changed that. Alla Rakha was the loyal tabla partner of Ravi Shankar, who created an international rage for raga in the 1960s, holding sway over the likes violinist Yehudi Menuhin, the Beatles and Philip Glass. His son, Zakir Hussain, an equally great tabla guru, expanded tabla allure into jazz, swaths of pop music, film and television. He became one of the most convincing early proponents of the world music movement, readily fitting in tabla with flamenco as well as with African, Indonesian , Afro-Cuban, you-name-it drumming. Hussain and his tabla’s most warmly human sounds have entered the wide world’s soundtrack.

Monday will be the first anniversary of Hussain’s death, at age 73, from a pulmonary illness. His last work was a collaboration with Third Coast Percussion, which commissioned “Murmurs of Time” in celebration of the Chicago ensemble’s 20th anniversary. It was the only work by one of the world’s greatest percussionists for a percussion ensemble. Hussain lived long enough to record “Murmurs” with the group but not hear the final mix, let alone play it in public.

The recording with Hussain, “Standard Stoppages,” along with other percussion works, came out just in time for 2026 Grammy nominations and shows up in — and should be an obvious shoe-in to win in — the category for chamber music/small ensemble performance. In the meantime, Third Coast has been touring “Murmurs” featuring a Hussain disciple, Salar Nader, as soloist. Last weekend Third Coast brought the engaging CD program to a sold-out Nimoy, as part of the CAP UCLA season.

Nader, who was born in Hamburg to a family of Afghani refugees and grew up in California, began studying with Hussain at age 7. He is one of the most prominent of the next generation of tabla players poised to take the next step for their instrument, begging the question of whence tabla.

In retrospect, the path taken by Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain was a lesson in how to create something new and widespread out of the devotion to a profound, yet arcane, learned, physically demanding and extraordinarily complex tradition.

Rakha may have been a formidable traditionalist, so much so that tabla was his whole education, but he found pleasure (and income) writing songs for Bollywood films in the early 1950s. When he returned full time to classical Hindustani music, working with various soloists, he eventually hooked up with Shankar, with whom he then worked almost exclusively. With their quirky and exciting question-and-answer dialogues, the duo riveted the the Monterey Jazz Festival and San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium (where I heard them regularly as a college student), to say nothing of Woodstock. No one wanted one without the other.

Hussain (his name was given him by a wandering holy man who showed up at his parents’ door one morning shortly after he was born) heard tabla in the womb. His father lovingly tapped delicate rhythms on his baby boy as he held him in his arms. By his early teens, Hussain was already a Mumbai sensation.

However strict a teacher, Rakha believed in individuality, carbon copies being for the waste bin. And Hussain grew up not only on Hindustani music but the records by the Doors, the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane his dad brought back from his West Coast appearances with Shankar. It wasn’t long before Hussain found himself on the West Coast as well, heady with its 1960s pop music scene. He became friends with Dead drummer Mickey Hart. He met George Harrison, who convinced him that there were thousands of rock drummers but no one with Hussain’s tabla talent.

Even so, Hussain became a tabla master of all trades. He acted, engagingly, in the 1983 feature “Heat and Dust,” along with contributing to the soundtrack. He became part of world-music-jazz ensemble Shakti, founded by guitarist John McLaughlin. Hussain was the drumming glue for Hart’s percussion revolution begun with “Planet Drum,” the recording that brought world music into the world of pop.

Before long, Hussain became a fixture in jazz (playing with the likes of Herbie Hancock and Charles Lloyd). He showed up on the soundtracks of “Apocalypse Now” and made Ryuichi Sakamoto’s score for “Little Buddha” work. He played bluegrass with Béla Fleck. He counted Michael Tilson Thomas, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi among his fans.

But while Hussain put tabla center stage, his real accomplishment was as a collaborator. Indian rhythm is incredibly complex and sophisticated. Its own center is religious practice. Tabla players sing the rhythms as well as playing them, the most difficult and astonishing form of chanting there is. The drums can produce melody and, while mellow, come alive with a speed that dramatically raises the pulse rate.

In “Murmurs of Time,” Hussain created a kind of tabla concerto. The ensemble spends much of its time on mallet instruments, setting the stage, keeping a melodic line or pulse going. The opening is an awakening, with group vocalized rhythms, but that is something only a tabla player can really pull off. “Murmurs” is ultimately through with a rousing tabla and drum set dialogue at the end, reminiscent of his father and Shankar’s gripping finales.

Hussain wrote “Murmurs” for himself, working closely with Third Coast over a year. “Wrote” isn’t quite right. He didn’t write down his own part; he needed room for freedom and improvisation. Nader, very impressively, learned the demanding solo from the recording, and he then, as Hussain would have expected, added his own character.

That is something that will need to grow over time. On recording, we have a deeply moving farewell. In concert, “Murmurs” transitions into something new, while, as yet a work in progress, still honoring the guru.

In a discussion on stage after the concert, Nader, who lives in Los Angeles, emphasized his own interest in what’s next for tabla. He too has worked in film, including participating on the soundtrack for Mira Nair’s “Reluctant Fundamentalist.” He’s had fling with Broadway with “The Kite Runner.” He said he’s ready for almost anything. He’s worked in hip-hop, noting tabla is a natural — and it is, “Planet Drum” having been an early influence.

Tabla is here to stay, and Nader bears watching.

Davina McCall broke down in tears when a patient on Channel 4’s Cancer Clinic Live asked how she was

Davina McCall met with patients at a cancer clinic in Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge as part of a special episode for Stand Up to Cancer.

In one emotional moment, Davina, who revealed she had breast cancer earlier this year, spoke to Stuart who was waiting to hear how their treatment was going.

Before they went into their appointment, Stuart asked Davina how she was doing since her diagnosis earlier in the year.

The TV presenter broke down in tears as she thanked Stuart for asking if she was okay: “Can I just say, thank you for asking me that after everything you’ve been through? I’m really good, thank you.”

It came after Davina opened the programme by recalling the moment she discovered a lump in her breast and her sister’s death.

She told viewers: “Earlier this year, I found a lump in my breast. It quickly led to tests and scans and then the word that no one ever wants to hear, cancer.

“It was found early and surgeons were able to remove it. But not everyone gets that chance. I took my sister Caroline to A&E, she fainted and she couldn’t get up.

“They gave her a brain scan but then they scanned her chest and I couldn’t understand why. It turned out it was late stage lung cancer.

“She died seven weeks later. I was holding her hand. And that’s why early diagnosis matters to me.”

In November, Davina revealed on her Instagram account she was “very angry” to discover she had cancer.

The presenter said the lump “came and went” but after seeing a poster urging women to check their breasts she went to the doctors.

“It [the lump] was still there, and then one morning I saw myself in the mirror and thought “I’m going to get that looked at”. I had a biopsy. I found out it was indeed breast cancer,” she shared.

“I think my message is: get checked if you’re worried. Check yourself regularly. If you are due a mammogram, then get it done.”

Earlier in the Stand Up for Cancer coverage, Amy Dowden became emotional as she spoke about how cancer had impacted her dreams of becoming a mother.

She shared: “A cancer diagnosis changes you forever… I’ve been put into menopause… I don’t know if I’ll ever have the honour of becoming a mum which I desperately want to… Five weeks ago I have another mastectomy.

“I’m so grateful for another shot of live, to be able get back on the dance floor… I’m so grateful for my medical team, the doctors and nurses who have kept me alive. A cancer diagnosis changes you forever, I’m no longer the person I was and that’s not by choice.”

Taylor Swift, The End of An Era – Disney+

★★★★★

“I WANTED to exceed fans’ expectations with this tour,” Taylor Swift says during the opening episode of her The End of An Era six-part documentary series.

It’s not even up for debate that she did just that with the global trek, but I’m happy to report she also achieves this with her new Disney+ series.

Disclaimer, I am a huge Swiftie, but before the first two episodes dropped I did have my concerns.

I feared the documentary would just be the same old footage of Taylor picking her outfits that we’ve now all seen a thousand times and fluffy backstories about her life on the road.

Of course, these types of moments are in there, but episode one alone pulls back the curtain on the most talked about tour of all time in ways other behind the scenes specials simply don’t.

The 43-minute long episode focuses on the heinous Southport attack, as well as the foiled terror plot at Taylor’s Vienna gigs, and lifts the lid on what went on behind the scenes.

TAYLOR’S TEARS

Taylor Swift breaks down as she opens up on Southport attack for first time

‘WHO IS THAT?!’

50 Cent and Jason Momoa look totally unrecognizable after drastic makeovers

For the first time we see how much the trauma rocked Taylor, with her breaking down in tears on multiple occasions.

Rather than feeling staged or performative, it shows the true artist behind the phenomenon and proves she is just as human as the rest of us.

During a chat with pal Ed Sheeran she admits she feels almost dehumanised by fame.

In another scene she’s filmed trying to calm herself down with an audio book of 2024 thriller The God of The Woods.

In the weeks that followed the incidents in Southport and Vienna, Taylor found herself wrecked with anxiety to the point she was physically shaking.

Not that Taylor is moaning about her life – in fact at one point she openly accepts her reality isn’t normal.

Though as she sings on The Life of A Showgirl track Elizabeth Taylor, “Oftentimes it doesn’t feel so glamorous to be me”.

People were quick to join an online pile-on against Taylor over summer ’24 after she kept silent following the incident in Southport.

But those behind the wrath of masked crusaders may be feeling more than a little silly after the doc.

Episode 1 reveals rather than turning a blind eye behind and pulling up her drawbridge, away from the spotlight Taylor was determined to make a difference.

Before each of the five remaining Wembley shows Taylor met with the families of those affected by the horrific incident.

And while I’ve obviously not spoken to any of those families in question, I would be willing to bet my flat that her decision to personally meet them has made a positive difference, far beyond that she gives herself credit for.

And it would be worth far more than a short Instagram story statement ever could.

In private Taylor was clearly struggling with the run of incidents, but on stage she never faltered.

While never brushing them under the carpet ignoring them, she was determined not to let events overshadow or dampen the magic she had created for the 10 million ticket holders on the 149 date trek.

I was lucky enough to attend three of the gigs in the capital – two of which took place after Vienna and Southport.

Both with those shows – and indeed with the new docuseries – the magic and escapism of Taylor’s world is very much alive and well.

A feat I doubt, even in decades to come, will ever change.

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

Even in a year like this one, during which there are numerous truly remarkable movies in the awards-season conversation worthy of ongoing consideration, it is easy to grow tired of talking about a tightening circle of titles.

Which is part of the reason why the announcement of the program for the 2026 Sundance Film Festival came right on time this week. New movies! This will be Sundance’s last edition in its longtime home in Park City, Utah, before moving on to Boulder, Colo., starting in 2027. Adding to the import and emotion of the event is that it will be the first festival since the recent death of Sundance figurehead Robert Redford.

A number of films from the 2025 festival are still part of the ongoing awards conversation. Just this week, both “Train Dreams” and “Sorry, Baby” received Golden Globe nominations — which I am relatively certain was not on the minds of those filmmakers when they had their world premieres at Sundance this past January.

Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega in “The Gallerist” by Cathy Yan, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

(Sundance Institute / MRC II Distribution Company L.P.)

Among the titles to look forward to for Sundance 2026 are Gregg Araki’s provocative “I Want Your Sex,” Cathy Yan’s satirical “The Gallerist,” Jay Duplass’ family story “See You When I See You,” Tamra Davis’ ’90s music doc “The Best Summer” and a profile on Courtney Love called “Antiheroine.”

Of course, there will also be many titles from relatively unknown filmmakers, and it is that promise of discovery that keeps us coming back to Sundance year after year.

As festival director Eugene Hernandez put it, “As much as we can talk about the legacy and history and the old timers — which I think will add an incredible aspect to the festival this year — we’re creating a festival that is also focused on the celebration of new voices. … For so many people, it will be brand new, no matter what.”

‘Home Alone’ 35th anniversary

Macaulay Culkin and Joe Pesci in the movie “Home Alone.”

(20th Century Fox)

On Saturday, the Academy Museum will have a 35th anniversary screening of “Home Alone” with star Macaulay Culkin and director Chris Columbus in-person. Written by John Hughes, the film is about a young boy (Culkin) accidentally left behind by his family at the holidays and how he comes to defend himself against two bumbling thieves (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern).

The movie has become a beloved all-ages holiday classic and seeing it with an enthusiastic audience should be a treat. The event is already sold out, but standby tickets are available.

In his original review of the movie, Peter Rainer noted, “Macaulay Culkin has the kind of crack comic timing that’s missing in many an adult star and even when the script gets soppy, he doesn’t turn himself into a cutesy ball of gloppy goo. He is refreshingly abrasive throughout.”

‘Mustang’ 10th anniversary

An image from Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Oscar-nominated 2015 film “Mustang.”

(Cohen Media Group)

On Sunday, the American Cinematheque at the Los Feliz 3 will host a 10th anniversary screening of French-Turkish filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s feature debut “Mustang,” which was nominated for the Academy Award for international feature. Ergüven is scheduled to be there in person.

The film is the story of five teenage sisters living in an isolated village and yearning for a life of freedom. In her review, Katie Walsh wrote, “‘Mustang’ beautifully expresses the girls’ unbridled energy, a force that refuses to be locked up, controlled or repressed. It’s a moving portrait of sisterhood, a celebration of a fierce femininity and a damning indictment of patriarchal systems that seek to destroy and control this spirit.”

In an interview with me at the time of the film’s release, Ergüven described the performances by the five actresses — Elit Iscan, Günes Sensoy, Ilayda Akdogan, Doga Zeynep Doguslu and Tugba Sunguroglu — as “one character with five heads.”

Ergüven added, “From very early on I always said it’s a monster of femininity, with 10 arms and 10 legs. They are intertwined, they are extremely familiar with one another. Sometimes, I said, they react to one another’s bodies as if they are extensions of their own body.”

Points of interest

‘Danger: Diabolik’ and ‘Barbarella’ in 35mm

Jane Fonda and John Phillip Law in the 1968 movie “Barbarella,” directed by Roger Vadim.

(Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images)

The Secret Movie Club is going to have a groovy Euro holiday party on Saturday with 35mm screenings of both Roger Vadim’s 1968 “Barbarella” and Mario Bava’s 1968 “Danger: Diabolik” at the Million Dollar Theater. Attendees are encouraged to dress in their best psychedelic finery.

“Barbarella” is one of those movies that’s difficult to describe and best to just experience for yourself: a sci-fi sex satire starring Jane Fonda directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim and co-written by counterculture maverick Terry Southern. Based on a French comic, the film was shot in Italy and produced by Dino De Laurentiis.

In a 1967 profile of Fonda and Vadim in Rome, which includes Fonda driving a Ferrari through the streets of the city to get from the historic villa where they are staying to Cinecittà studio, Fonda said, “The main thing about this role is to keep her innocent. You see, Barbarella is not a vamp and her sexuality is not measured by the rules of our society. She is not being promiscuous but she follows the natural reaction of another type of upbringing. She isn’t a so-called ‘sexually liberated woman’ either. That would mean rebellion against something. She is different. She was born free.”

“Danger: Diabolik” stars John Philip Law (also in “Barbarella”) as a master thief. With a score by Ennio Morricone and directed with high style by Bava, best known for more lurid genre excursions, the film is the ’60s Euro-heist jaunt of your wildest imagination.

Elaine May’s ‘A New Leaf’

Elaine May and Walter Matthau in the movie “A New Leaf.”

(United Archives via Getty Images)

On Wednesday, the Academy Museum will show Elaine May’s 1971 debut feature as writer-director, “A New Leaf,” in the big David Geffen Theater. Selected by the writer’s branch of the Academy, the screening will feature screenwriter Karen McCullah, writer-producer Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith and writer-producer Katie Silberman in person to talk about the film and May’s ongoing influence.

Even though the film as we know it was taken away from May and isn’t her complete vision, “A New Leaf” is nevertheless a film of bold, confident energy. Walter Matthau plays a trust fund playboy who is fast running out of money. He hatches a scheme to find, marry and then murder a woman of means to continue to fund his lifestyle. Enter May as a botanist who is equal parts awkward and rich. Dark, funny and insightful, the film is a true gem.

Here’s hoping the recently renewed interest in May’s slim body of directorial work — she has so far made only four films — spurs a long-gestating new project rumored to be shooting soon into a reality.

Eric Rohmer’s ‘My Night at Maud’s’ and ‘A Tale of Winter’

Françoise Fabian and Jean-Louis Trintignant in Eric Rohmer’s “My Night at Maud’s.”

(Janus Films)

On Wednesday at the Aero, the American Cinematheque will have a double-bill from French filmmaker Eric Rohmer: 1969’s “My Night at Maud’s” and 1992’s “A Tale of Winter.”

“My Night at Maud’s,” a breakout international hit for Rohmer, was nominated for two Oscars, for foreign language film and original screenplay. A series of conversations among an interlocking cast of characters, the film helped set the template for dialogue-driven adult dramas that still hold sway.

In his April 1970 review, Charles Champlin wrote, “‘My Night at Maud’s’ argues that thee attractive and intelligent people sitting around arguing about the philosophy of Pascal constitutes a movie. I agree. Standing on my chair and waving noisemakers in the air I agree. … But whether or not one cares about the substance of the arguments, ‘My Night at Maud’s’ is a hugely pleasurable evening out because of the excellence of its performances and the convincing and captivatingly credibility of its three principals. It is an adult film which makes clear once and for all what randy juvenilia all other ‘adult’ films are. This one is, of course, in impeccable taste.”

“A Tale of Winter” is the second of what became Rohmer’s “Tales of the Four Seasons.” In reviewing the film, Kevin Thomas wrote, “The French respect the quirky workings of the human heart more than any other people and among the French filmmakers, the keenest observer may be Eric Rohmer, whose ‘A Tale of Winter’ finds him at his scintillating best, never wiser or funnier.”

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ran from 2023 to 2024 and became a record breaking sensation

Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated new documentary, The End of an Era has finally landed on Disney Plus.

The six episode series, which will see two episodes released every week, gives an intimate look on the huge phenomenon that is the Eras Tour as it made headlines and excited fans around the world.

Disney teases: “In addition, the series features Gracie Abrams, Sabrina Carpenter, Travis Kelce, Ed Sheeran, and Florence Welch, along with her band, dancers, crew, and family members – offering never-before-seen insight into what it took to create a phenomenon.”

As well as the documentary, The Final Show also debuts today (December 12) which is the full concert film from the final show in Vancouver, featuring for the first ever time the entire set of The Tortured Poets Department.

As fans delve into the latest instalments of the brand new documentary, we have taken a look at some of the things that made the Eras Tour so huge.

Over 100 shows and 400 hours performed

The Eras tour ran from 2023 to 2024 meaning that Taylor and her crew performed a record breaking 149 shows.

Originally, the Eras Tour was announced back in 2022 with significantly less dates, but with such high demand, she added more to the diary and it quickly became a huge phenomenon.

The tour first kicked off in Arizona in March 2023 and came to an end in December 2024. In total, it is said the star spent over 480 hours on stage, which is the equivalent to just under three weeks.

As each show varied in length and was dependant on an array of things like the weather, each night was around three hours, making it a huge ambition that was successfully carried out.

According to reports, with 44 songs on her setlist, eventually increasing to 46 after her new album was released in 2024, Taylor also performed songs not on her setlist as part of a special acoustic performance.

The Eras Tour 100th show

Taylor’s 100th show was actually performed here in the UK, in Liverpool. Taking to Instagram, the star said: “So many dreamy memories from Liverpool!! We played our 100th show on The Eras Tour (which feels truly deranged to say because this show feels new to me every time we play it).”

She continued to thank everyone involved, adding the crowds were “expressive, generous and endlessly fun.”

What made the Eras Tour so popular?

The Eras Tour was a huge moment in Taylor’s career, celebrating all of the music through the decades, every era. Taylor took her music everywhere across the world, visiting over 20 countries.

It was a record breaking tour, bringing in over $2billion in sales making it the highest earning concert run. Taylor Swift Touring also confirmed over 10 billion people attended during the course of the tour.

And when it came to breaking records, reports suggest another record was broken when Ticketmaster sold the most tickets sold by an artist in a single day – many Swifties can remember the painstaking wait they endured for tickets.

There are many reasons the tour became a huge phenomenon, being timed post pandemic, but the main reason being it brought together fans of all ages, celebrating her entire career, being described as a huge cultural event.

Earthquake?

You may have seen reports at the time that Taylor Swift concerts generated seismic activity. In 2023 in Seattle, a seismologist said activity was recorded equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake.

Also in Edinburgh in 2024, reports suggest earthquake readings were again detected.

Friendship bracelets

Taylor Swift friendship bracelets are colourful, beaded bracelets that were made by fans for the Eras Tour, often traded in. Inspired by the song You’re On Your Own Kid, some fans ended up wearing dozens on their wrists, even hoping to give them to Taylor and her mum.

Food bank donations

While on tour, Taylor Swift donated to local food banks and charities when she visited a place.

According to ITV, the singer made a “generous donation” to around 1,400 food banks and community organisations in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff, and London.

Taylor Swift’s the End of an Era documentary is now available to stream on Disney Plus.

ICONIC rapper 50 Cent and actor Jason Momoa look totally different after undergoing major makeovers as part of their impending movie roles.

They have both undergone transformations for the movie Street Fighter which is due to be released in theatres next October.

The two will be among an ensemble cast helping to reboot the popular film franchise.

In his poster promo image, Jason has transformed into Blanka the beast and looks a million miles away from himself.

He can be seen with ginger hair and a scruffy beard as he takes on the character.

Meanwhile, 50 Cent adopts his birth name of Curtis Jackson for his movie credit.

Donning boxing gloves and a unique haircut, he will play Balrog, a boxer, in the flick.

Other members of the cast include actor Noah Centenio, Andrew Koji, Orville Peck and Cory Rhodes.

Paramount Pictures have already released a synopsis for the movie, teasing: “Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury.

“But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past.”

Street Fighter first launched as a popular video game that was first launched in 1987.

50 Cent previously revealed he had undergone an intense fitness regime in order to get himself ready for the movie role.

He wrote on TikTok three month ago alongside a video clip of him working out: “I don’t expect you to understand my level of discipline but watch it, it’s entertaining.”

50 Cent originally made his acting debut in the 2005 movie Get Rich or Die Tryin’.

He has since appeared in a plethora of hit movies and TV shows including Streets of Blood, Dead Man Running, Den Of Thieves and Power.

Kathy Kanjo, the director and CEO of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, has been named the new director of the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art. The news comes a little more than two months after UC Irvine announced it had acquired Orange County Museum of Art in a merger that created the new institution.

At that time, a rep for UCI said the hope was to announce a new director in the new year, so Kanjo’s appointment comes ahead of schedule. Kanjo has been at MCASD since 2016. Prior to that, she served as director of the University Art Museum at UC Santa Barbara.

When I first wrote about the merger, UC Irvine confirmed that it was taking over OCMA’s assets, employees and debt. A rep for UC Irvine declined to comment on a number, writing in an email that the budget for the new museum will come from university operating funds.

Kanjo inherits responsibility for a substantial collection of more than 9,000 artworks, including UC Irvine’s Gerald Buck Collection of more than 3,200 paintings, sculptures and works on paper by some of the state’s most important artists, including David Hockney and Ed Ruscha.

“The newly merged collection is both anticipated and underknown,” wrote Kanjo in an email. “I am eager to unveil and contextualize the artistic legacies of the Irvine, Buck, and OCMA collections from a particularly California point of view. Collected over time and together at last, these objects are an asset to be shared generously and supported by scholarly research. The constellation that is the UC Irvine Langson Museum offers a portrait of our state’s innovative artistic impulses.”

Kanjo also said the new museum would get a significant boost from UC Irvine’s research strength and commitment to public service.

“We will create rigorous and welcoming exhibitions that resonate with our region’s diverse audiences, young and old,” she wrote.

Despite the great fanfare of its opening in 2022, OCMA — with its 53,000-square-foot, $98-million Morphosis-designed building on the eastern edge of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts campus — never seemed fully realized. Problems were hinted at — but never explained — in April when CEO Heidi Zuckerman announced her intention to step down.

Meanwhile UC Irvine had been planning to construct a museum for its collection for quite some time. That, too, never really got off the ground. If there were ever a time to build consensus around a new mandate for the merged organizations, that time is now. Kanjo has a vision for the future that appears to center scholarship.

“I want to clarify the core identity of the collection and find connections back to campus and into the community,” she wrote. “The post is appealing because of its connection to UC Irvine, a leading research university, and the opportunity to work with the students within the Claire Trevor School of the Arts and all of the campus resources. The potential to foster innovation by working in a cross-disciplinary/cross-campus way is strong.”

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, planning a drive to Orange County in the new year. Here’s your arts and culture news for the week.

On our radar

Broadway star Ben Platt will perform 10 shows at the Ahmanson starting Friday.

(Rob Kim / Getty Images)

Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson
The award-winning star of stage and screen hits town for 10 shows where he’ll sing his greatest hits and Broadway favorites. And where Platt goes, his big-time friends follow, so expect some great surprise guests each night.
8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Dec. 19-20; 3 and 8 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 21; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday. Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. centertheatregroup.org

“Holiday Legends” is this year’s seasonal performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles.

(Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles)

Holiday Legends
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles’ annual celebration pays homage to the greats, including Mariah Carey, Irving Berlin and Johnny Mathis, plus traditional choral classics, pop Christmas anthems and Hanukkah favorites.
8 p.m. Saturday. 3 p.m. Sunday. Saban Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills gmcla.org

The Huntington in San Marino.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Stories from the Library: From Brontë to Butler
This series highlights the literary side of the Huntington and its world-class library. In the newest exhibition, journals, letters, photographs and personal items provide a behind-the-scenes look at two centuries of women writers bookended by Charlotte Brontë and Octavia E. Butler.
Through June 15. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. huntington.org

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY
Holiday Soirée & Cabaret
Fountain Theatre celebrates the season with a live announcement of its 2026 season, a cabaret performance from Imani Branch & Friends, plus, a raffle and reception. There will also be two separate performances of the cabaret.
Soirée and cabaret: 7 p.m. Friday. Cabaret: 7 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave. FountainTheatre.com

Violinist Renaud Capuçon.

(Los Angeles Philharmonic)

Mozart & Sibelius
Violinist Renaud Capuçon joins conductor Gustavo Gimeno and the L.A. Phil for a program that combines “Mozartian elegance with brooding Nordic drama.”
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com

Santasia
The long-running holiday spectacle featuring broad comedy, musical parodies and old school claymation returns to L.A. for a 26th year.
Through Dec. 27. Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. santasia.com

SATURDAY

Laurel Halo performs Saturday at the Nimoy.

(Norrel Blair)

Laurel Halo
Currently based in L.A., the musician combines ambient, drone, jazz and modern sensibilities in new works for piano and electronics in a preview of her forthcoming album.
8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu

Sound + Source
Art meets music as DJs Novena Carmel, Francesca Harding and KCRW music director Ale Cohen provide a site-specific soundtrack to the exhibition “Corita Kent: The Sorcery of Images.”
11 a.m.-6 p.m. Marciano Art Foundation, 4357 Wilshire Blvd. marcianoartfoundation.org

Pacific Jazz Orchestra
The 40-piece hybrid big band and string ensemble, led by Chris Walden, presents its “Holiday Jazz Spectacular,” featuring vocalists Aloe Blacc, Sy Smith and Brenna Whitacre.
8 p.m. Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. pacificjazz.org

Holiday Family Faire
Theatricum Botanicum’s annual daylong winter wonderland featuring performances, food and drink and a marketplace; followed by “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play,” by Joe Landry, and starring Beau Bridges, Wendie Malick, Joe Mantegna and Rory O’Malley.
11 a.m. Family Faire; 5 p.m. “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Topanga. theatricum.com

SUNDAY

The band Emily’s Sassy Lime in Olympia, Wash., circa 1995.

(Emily’s Sassy Lime)

Artist Talk
Emily Ryan, Amy Yao and Wendy Yao of the ‘90s Orange County riot grrrl band Emily’s Sassy Lime join artist-activist-musician Kathleen Hanna of the band Bikini Kill for a discussion of adolescence, creativity and community. The talk is part of the museum’s “2025 California Biennial: Desperate, Scared, But Social,” which closes Jan. 4.
2 p.m. UC Irvine Langson Museum/Orange County Museum of Art, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. ocma.art

English Cathedral Christmas
The Los Angeles Master Chorale brings the magic of Canterbury Cathedral downtown, reveling in the grand tradition of British choral works from the 16th century to the present..
7 p.m Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. lamasterchorale.org

TUESDAY
Aron Kallay
In “Midcentury/Modern,” the pianist performs works from world premieres by Michael Frazier, Zanaida Stewart Robles and Brandon Rolle, along with 20th century works by Grażyna Bacewicz and Sergei Prokofiev in a program presented by Piano Spheres.
8 p.m. Thayer Hall at the Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. pianospheres.org

WEDNESDAY
BOTH: A Hard Day’s Silent Night
Open Fist Theatre Company’s annual holiday charity concert benefiting Heart of Los Angeles, an organization that helps kids in underserved communities, infuses the music of the Beatles with Gospel flair to tell the Christmas story.
8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3:30 and 9 p.m. Saturday; 3:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. openfist.org

Elaine May and Walter Matthau star in “A New Leaf,” which screens at the Academy Museum on Wednesday.

(Film Publicity Archive/United Archives via Getty Images)

A New Leaf
Elaine May made Hollywood history with this 1971 screwball noir as the first woman to write, direct and star in her own feature film. Walter Matthau co-stars as a playboy who has burned through his own fortune so plans to marry and murder May’s kooky heiress to get hers.
7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Architect Frank Gehry in his Playa Vista office in 2015.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

The world is mourning the death of legendary architect Frank Gehry, who died last Friday at age 96. Times classical music critic Mark Swed wrote a beautiful appreciation about how Gehry used his buildings — Walt Disney Concert Hall in particular — to transform music. I made a video appreciation that tried to encapsulate Gehry’s best work, and his deep connection to his adopted hometown, and L.A. Times contributor Sam Lubell compiled a list, with photographs, of Gehry’s finest buildings in L.A., and around the world. Deputy managing editor Shelby Grad wrote about the importance of the Gehry-designed Danzinger studio.

This week also marked the release of The Times best-of-2025 lists. These include Swed’s selection of the best of L.A.’s classical music performances; Times theater critic Charles McNulty’s pick of the best theatrical works;
and former (sob!) Times art critic Christopher Knight’s 10 best art shows at SoCal museums.

Swed also wrote a story that came out of a recent trip to Tokyo about Carl Stone, an L.A. based composer from the Japanese capital, who uses his laptop to record environmental sounds and transform them into sonic sculptures. “Stone’s iPad, with its open sonic complexity, created a sense of space, a roomy aural soundscape in which jazz and butoh became elements not egos, not larger than life, just more life, the merrier,” writes Swed.

McNulty wrote an interesting essay about characters breaking the fourth wall and how it can galvanize an audience. “Breaking the fourth wall is a tried-and-true method of calling an audience to attention. But a new breed of dramatist, writing in an age of overlapping calamities — environmental, political, economic, technological and moral — is retooling an old playwriting device to do more than inject urgency and immediacy in the theatrical experience,” McNulty writes.

I spent time in Palm Springs over the Thanksgiving break to cover the grand reopening of the Palm Springs Plaza Theatre, which recently underwent a $34-million restoration. To celebrate, it hosted an intimate show featuring actor, singer, songwriter Cynthia Erivo.

I also had the pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Broadway actor Ben Platt in advance of his 10-day residency at the Ahmanson Theatre. We bonded over being anxious people, and he shared that he keeps his anxiety in check through live performance.

Cameron Watson is the new artistic director of Skylight Theatre Company.

(David Zaugh)

Cameron Watson has been named Skylight Theatre Company’s new artistic director, beginning Jan. 1. He will replace Gary Grossman, who is stepping down after four decades at the helm of the Los Feliz-based theater, during which time he turned the company into one of the most respected small theaters in the city. “Cameron’s passion, his theatrical vision and his ability to lead, listen, nurture and mentor make him the perfect fit for Skylight,” Grossman said in a statement.

Earlier this week, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave $20 million to the Japanese American National Museum — the largest single gift in the organization’s history. Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, also gave the museum $10 million in 2021.

Hamza Walker, the Brick executive director who is behind the critically acclaimed “Monuments” exhibit at the Brick and MOCA, has been honored with the 2026 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence, given by the Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies. “Hamza’s three decades of curatorial practice have brought forward voices and perspectives that challenge dominant narratives, create dialogue, and have left a lasting imprint on the field,” said Tom Eccles, executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies, in a statement.

Sherman Oaks resident Kate Stermer won the National Portrait Gallery’s 2025 Teen Portrait Competition, alongside Matilda Myers of Towson, Md. The annual competition is open to teens ages 13 to 17, and the museum says it received more than 1,100 entries from 48 states, Guam, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. We here at Essential Arts are proud of you, Kate!

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

The Times this week released its annual list of the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles. I plan to go to every one. Well, maybe, like 20. It could get expensive.

The star died in hospital at the age of 77, his colleagues confirmed on TV.

Sunrise star Dr Keith Suter has died in hospital at the age of 77 this year, it has been confirmed.

The broadcaster’s death was announced by hosts Samantha Armytage, Natalie Barr, and Matt ‘Shirvo’ Shirvington as they delivered an emotional tribute to him live on air.

They revealed that the former Foreign Affairs Editor, who held three doctorates and chaired numerous international bodies, “passed away peacefully in hospital”.

The sad news was delivered by Nat, 57, and Shirvo, 47, on Sunrise early Friday morning (December 12). They opened the programme saying: “Before we heard the news, we just wanted to pay a quick tribute to a close friend and member of this Sunrise, Dr Keith Suter, who passed away peacefully in hospital this week.

“Keith has been part of the Sunrise and Seven family for so many years, the most brilliant mind, a calm and trusted voice on some of the most complex stories, and a joy to work with behind the scenes as well.

“He helped explain wars, elections, and global crisis upon crisis, but he always did it with measure so people felt safe, and this morning our thoughts are with his beautiful family.”

Samantha, 49, who previously co-hosted Sunrise from 2013 to 2021 with fellow presenter David ‘Kochie’ Koch, also posted a moving tribute to the late broadcaster on Instagram, reports the Express.

Posting a picture of the Australian expert in his element whilst presenting on the breakfast programme, she wrote: “Very sad to hear of the passing of Dr Keith Suter overnight. He was a wonderful man.

“He guided us through many of the biggest world issues of our time – with grace and humour. You could talk to him all day, and often during breaking news, we did. RIP Dr Keith.”

Meanwhile, Nat and Shirvo shared on air that viewers had already begun sending their condolences to Suter’s family, with one observer noting that the presenter “made complicated world politics comprehensible and will be sorely missed.”

Nat reflected: “World affairs is complicated, and I think a lot of people, you kind of almost feel like you pretend you know what it is about, but we got to ask him really basic questions and boy, did he explain it all to us.”

Shirvo added: “He spoke to the people, didn’t he? And he was a beautiful man with such a lovely manner. And I tell you what, he always dressed so, so well as well.”

Nat responded with a chuckle: “I know. We are really going to miss him… Our sincere condolences to his family, he will be sorely missed.”

Suter was renowned for his extensive career with Seven, where he educated Australian audiences about international affairs and simplified intricate geopolitical matters. He also served as a futurist and strategic planning adviser, boasting three doctorates from Sydney.

The broadcaster specialised in international law of guerrilla warfare, the social and economic impacts of the arms race, and strategic planning scenarios. His groundbreaking work in this arena caught significant attention.

The Australian Government presented him with its Peace Medal in 1986, and he later received recognition as Rostrum’s Communicator of the Year in 1995.

During the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for “significant service to international relations, and to the Uniting Church of Australia.”

He chaired multiple organisations, including the International Humanitarian Law Committee of the Australian Red Cross and the International Commission of Jurists (NSW). Additionally, he held positions as director of studies at the International Law Association (Australia Branch) and managing director of the Global Directions think tank.

The telly veteran featured across numerous programmes on both wireless and television discussing politics and international matters, holding the position of Foreign Affairs Editor for Channel Seven for an extended period.

WICKED: For Good, the blockbuster musical sequel, recorded the second-biggest box office opening weekend of 2025, amassing £170million worldwide.

Google Trends data shows interest in the film surged ahead of its
release on November 21 before dropping sharply in the weeks that followed.

Searches for the film climbed steadily through October, peaking in November as hype around Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo reached its highest point.

The days just before the film’s release recorded the strongest search activity, with Google Trends showing a clear spike as fans hunted for new clips, early reviews and last-minute tickets.

But the data also reveals what happened once the spoiler-free rush was over. By the beginning of December, searches for “Wicked: For Good” had begun to fall fast.

The decline suggests the film’s online buzz was already settling, even though it launched during peak cinema-going season and arrived with one of the biggest fanbases in modern musical history.

Within the data, Google Trends shows that interest wasn’t just limited to the leads.

Bethany Weaver, a standout supporting cast member, saw a spike in searches immediately after release, indicating that audiences were curious about her role and keen to learn more about the rising star.

Fans flocked online to read interviews, explore her career and performance, giving Weaver her own moment in the spotlight.

The film’s soundtrack proved equally magnetic.

Searches for “Wicked songs” surged following the premiere, as viewers streamed iconic numbers, from soaring duets to emotional solos.

According to Google Trends, the soundtrack maintained high interest for several days after the release, showing that the music continued to engage fans even as searches for the film itself tapered off.

When the first Wicked movie hit UK cinemas in November 2024, its Google Trends curve showed a longer-lasting surge, with searches remaining elevated for weeks after release.

That film not only dominated box office charts in 2024, but also sparked a renewed and sustained interest in the stage musical and soundtrack.

Wicked: For Good, however, has dropped off much quicker.

While interest shot up immediately before and at the time of release, search volumes for the film itself had plunged by early December, indicating fans were moving on.

Only specific elements of the sequel, such as its soundtrack and cast members, continue to draw attention.

Where the original Wicked enjoyed a sustained afterlife, Wicked: For Good’s buzz seems to have been more short-lived.

Strong at first, the trend is declining, even as fragments of interest survive around music and memory‑making moments.

What does that say about the movie’s success? And how would a third film fare…?

“H Is for Hawk” is for the birds. And such majestic creatures they are, holding their own opposite the magnificent Claire Foy (“All of Us Strangers”).

The film, directed by Philippa Lowthorpe and based on Helen Macdonald’s memoir, centers on Foy’s character Helen, devastated by the sudden loss of her father (played by Brendan Gleeson). In her grief, she turns to a childhood interest, falconry, and buys a goshawk. The wilder the bird, the tamer the name; Helen calls her Mabel.

Producer Dede Gardner and Lowthorpe had worked with Foy before (in “Women Talking” and “The Crown,” respectively) and agreed she’d be perfect as Helen. But Mabel was another story entirely.

Lowthorpe tapped Lloyd and Rose Buck, married bird specialists who had worked for decades on natural history documentaries with the likes of David Attenborough. Since they were conveniently located not far from her home in Bristol, England, the three got together to figure out how to make the film work.

Five birds were needed to play the character of Mabel at different points; the main two would have to be raised and trained by the couple long before filming began. Sisters Mabel 1 and Mabel 2 had the bulk of the work. “They’re from the same clutch, but they’re like chalk and cheese in character,” says Lloyd. “Mabel 2 is much shier and has more wildness in her,” so she was used in the nervous bird scenes early on. Mabel 1 was used to fly to and from Foy’s glove, and for much of the action depicting Helen cohabiting with Mabel in her house.

Jess, on loan from a friend in Scotland with a falconry center, was accustomed to people, so she was featured in Mabel’s calmest moments. Juha, the only male and much smaller than the females, was seen only in high aerial shots. And Lottie starred in the hunting scenes, traveling up to 45 miles an hour through the woods to capture her prey.

Before filming was set to begin, Foy visited the Bucks for two weeks of intensive falconry training. “That was a crucial moment for the whole project, because unless they’ve taken to Claire and she’s taken to them, I don’t think it could ever have worked,” Lloyd says. “But because she was so amazing, it works. She’s interested, clever, intelligent, but above all she’s just a lovely person, and that’s what they see. You can’t fool them, they’re not silly; they can see if someone’s pretending to like them but they don’t really.”

Foy was delighted to work with the birds and with the Bucks. “They’re incredibly kind people,” she says. “They’re so tender and so beautiful with their birds, and therefore they are with other human beings as well. But also they just threw me in. At the end of the first day I was with Lottie hunting, letting her release off my arm. Learning with the birds was the last piece of the puzzle of Helen and the experience I was going to have, so it became a really profound experience.”

“Claire put her heart and soul into that training,” Lowthorpe says. “She has great physical instincts as well as emotional instincts.”

Everything on set revolved around the hawks’ well-being. Filming took place between October and January, to avoid molting season. Everyone in the crew wore drab, dark colors, because that’s what the birds were used to. Microphones were hidden because the birds didn’t like booms, and most of the crew hid upstairs; even Lowthorpe hid behind a piece of furniture with her monitor. Lloyd or Rose would either hood or remove the scene’s Mabel, and give the all-clear, before the crew could reappear to work between takes.

“I told Charlotte Bruus Christensen, our fantastic DP, we should just film everything,” Lowthorpe recalls. “If you pin it you might kill the flavor of danger or surprise. Claire was so in tune in those scenes, she was able to react in an improvisational way, and she would be in her character at all times during those long, long takes. Like I was capturing the hawks, I was capturing Claire, allowing her to move wherever she wanted.”

“It wasn’t like having another actor who had another agenda or actions or a perspective that they wanted to get across in the scene,” Foy says. “I was along for the ride with these animals.”

When Helen takes Mabel for her first walk around the house, she talks gently to her. “This is my kitchen,” she says. Mabel flaps her wings wildly. “It’s not that bad.” The bird poops. “Oh, thanks very much.”

Mabel becomes both salvation and addiction to Helen. “To feel that alive, chasing a goshawk as it’s hunting, you’re part of this extraordinary experience, which feels spiritual and meaningful,” Foy explains. “I do think that we try to avoid the ugliness of grief at all costs, like that’s something you’re supposed to do alone in a cupboard that isn’t witnessed. We just are so afraid of that expression of it. The journey with Mabel is the most vivid expression of that experience.”

Back home in London, Foy says she intends to visit the Mabels. “Whenever you drive on the motorway in the U.K., you’ve birds of prey everywhere, and now I can identify them,” she says. “I see them everywhere I go. There’s an owl out the back of my house. I feel like I’m constantly looking upwards now.”

Series two of the Death in Paradise spin-off, Return to Paradise, concludes tonight

Return to Paradise concludes tonight, leaving fans wondering if Glenn and Daisy will tie the knot. The Death in Paradise spin-off, set in Australia, has been a massive hit with viewers, particularly after Anna Samson, portraying DI Mackenzie Clarke, stepped into the role of the show’s first female lead.

The synopsis for tonight’s climactic finale hints, “Mack is forced to interrupt Glenn and Daisy’s wedding when a guest collapses and dies, apparently poisoned by a fast-acting toxin present on the surface of a programme for the event.

“The happy couple are distinctly unhappy when the proceedings are halted, and it may be that Mack has finally pushed Glenn too far.”

However, after six thrilling episodes of the BBC drama, series two of Return to Paradise will draw to a close. The show, which typically airs every Friday at 8pm, will make way for the Celebrity Masterchef Final next week.

The synopsis for the upcoming show, scheduled to air between 8pm and 9pm on Friday, December 19, states, “Fifteen famous faces started the battle to become Celebrity MasterChef Champion 2025 and now only three remain,” reports the Express.

“The finalists must now cook and present a three-course meal for Grace Dent and John Torode, who will be expecting only the very best. The title is within reach – but any flaws in their cooking could see the contestants losing their grip on the trophy.”

Although the second series of Return to Paradise has wrapped up, devoted viewers needn’t fret, as both Death in Paradise and Beyond Paradise are set to deliver festive treats with a special Christmas episode arriving on screens this month.

Kris Marshall is returning as DI Humphrey Goodman in Beyond Paradise, joined once again by Sally Bretton as his beloved Martha Lloyd.

The Christmas special’s synopsis reveals: “When Esther discovers a man on the steps of the Shipton Abbott police station with no memory, holding a photo of Humphrey, the team gets to work to uncover who the mysterious man is while balancing a flurry of festive cases.”

It continues: “At the same time, with the help of Anne, Zoe and a special guest, Martha races to pull off her secret plan while Kelby tries to help a mystery man trapped inside his snowman costume. But with an influx of unexpected visitors, a slew of holiday crimes to crack, and a heartwarming reunion on the line, can the team juggle it all and still be ready for a life-changing reveal?”

Meanwhile, Don Gilet returns as DI Mervin Wilson in Death in Paradise, alongside Shantol Jackson reprising her role as his partner, Naomi Thomas.

The festive episode of Death in Paradise promises intrigue, as the synopsis reveals: “The office Christmas party of a lifetime takes a dark turn when four co-workers wake up to find a stranger dead in the pool of their Caribbean villa. DI Mervin Wilson and the team identify the murder weapon, but they’re left baffled when they find that it was locked in a drawer when the murder took place… thousands of miles away from the crime scene, in Swindon!

“Stuck in Saint Marie, the team calls on the help of a familiar face to crack the case. Meanwhile, Mervin’s anxiously waiting to hear back from his newly discovered brother, which prevents him from embracing Saint Marie’s Christmas celebrations. Can Mervin resolve his family situation and get into the festive spirit – for the sake of his team and the island?”

Viewers can catch Return to Paradise on BBC iPlayer.

HOLLYWOOD star Timothee Chalamet has finally broken his silence on rumours he is living a secret double life as Scouse rapper EsDeeKid.

The Call Me By Your Name actor, 29, has faced increasing speculation over the past few weeks that he is the man behind EsDeeKid – one of this year’s biggest rap breakthroughs in the UK.

EsDeeKid has never revealed his identity or anything connected to his personal life and keeps his face covered by masks at all time.

However, social media became awash with theories that the rap star was actually New Yorker Timothee thanks to a series of coincidences.

Now, the Wonka star has addressed the rumours for the first time in an interview on BBC Radio One with Greg James ahead of the release of his next movie, Marty Supreme.

Greg simply started by saying the name EsDeeKid to Timothee to which he quickly said: “No comment.”

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Kylie Jenner & Timothee Chalamet hit back at split rumors & match outfits

SECRET STAR

Wild theory Timothee Chalamet is secretly performing as Brit rapper EsDeeKid

The actor then coyly added with a smirk upon his face: “All will be revealed in due time.”

Greg then went on to explain the theory and showed Timothee images of EsDeeKid in which his piercing blue eyes, which bear a striking resemblance to the Dune actor’s, could be seen through gaps in his masks.

The radio host asked Timothee if he agreed that they were “beautiful eyes”, with the actor simply replying: “Yes.”

Greg then asked once again if the star was him leaving Timothee to repeat: “All… will be revealed in due time.”

Little is known about EsDeeKid but he began to emerge in 2023 and achieved recognition for his 2024 song Bally.

He previously revealed he still lived in the council house he grew up in.

His debut album, Rebel, released this June has become one of the most popular hip-hop albums of the year after reaching the top ten in the UK as well as charting in America and Australia.

Speculation that Timothee is behind the mask gained traction online last month.

“Their eyes are extremely similar, I haven’t seen anything like it,” wrote one user on Reddit earlier this month.

While another user was convinced they have the same hands: “Guys i did a huge analysis looking at pics of Timothy’s hands VS Esdee kids hands. Same exact hands. Same vein placement and everything. I should make a video about it because it’s literally proof.”

Their similar fashion sense has also been used as a way of comparison between the two.

Timothee is currently in the UK ahead of the release of his new movie, Marty Supreme.

He was seen getting cosy with girlfriend Kylie Jenner at the launch of the film earlier this week where they coordinated in matching orange Chrome Hearts outfits.

The couple have been dating for almost three years having first been linked in April 2023 but have often kept their romance private and under wraps.

In the latest episode of The Envelope video podcast, Tonatiuh discusses the grassroots efforts he spearheaded to get “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in front of communities Hollywood may not always reach, and “Song Sung Blue’s” Kate Hudson explains what makes a good music movie.

Kelvin Washington: Hello, everyone, welcome to another episode of The Envelope. Kelvin Washington here. You know who I’m with: Yvonne Villarreal, Mark Olsen, glad to be here with you. Thanks for watching and listening.

All right, let’s get it started. Mark, you had a chance to talk to Tonatiuh. And of course, this is a big moment for him. This is something he worked hard for and now getting a lot of recognition for — “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” Tell me a little bit more about your chat.

Mark Olsen: That’s right. So earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, there just was this great moment at the premiere of Bill Condon’s adaptation of the musical version of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” where just to see a showcase like this for someone is so exciting. Tonatiuh, he’s acting, he’s singing, he’s dancing. There’s like so much in this performance. It’s wonderful to to see. He has a lot of poise and charisma just simply in conversation. So it made for a really exciting talk.

Washington: And also the difficulty playing multiple roles, right? I mean, I would imagine that would have been challenging.

Olsen: That’s right, in the structure of the film, he plays a political prisoner in a South American jail and he’s explaining a favorite movie of his to his cellmate, played by Diego Luna, and then he also becomes the dashing leading man of that movie [within] the movie.

Washington: Right. Diego, also Jennifer Lopez, so obviously around some big stars. I swing over to you — speaking of big stars, Kate Hudson has been one for for a long time.

Villarreal: I thought you were talking about me!

Washington: You thought I was talking about Kate? You and then Kate, of course.

Villarreal: Obviously.

Washington: Kate Hudson, a big star for for some years now, half of a tribute band for Neil Diamond, “Song Sung Blue.” Tell me a little bit about this.

Villarreal: I feel like it’s the perfect pairing to have both these guests in this episode. This one also showcases, you know, her singing abilities and her performing abilities as an actor — two of her passions. She recently released an album, and with this movie, we really get to see Kate onstage and embodying what that’s like. We see this couple who find success as this Neil Diamond tribute band, but in the middle of the height of that, her character Claire suffers a big tragedy and it really derails everything, and she has to find her way back to that. And it was a really touching conversation to hear Kate sort of embody that and her own thoughts on, you know, when you come from a world like this, it’s not a guarantee, and you have to really have passion for that. Hearing her talking about spending time with Neil Diamond at his cabin. And she sang for us a little bit. When you leave that film, I feel like there’s an instinct to go home and just listen to Neil Diamond. I know I did. Hopefully we can go karaoke at some point.

Washington: “Sweet Caroline…”

Villarreal: Do you have a Neil Diamond go-to, Mark?

Olsen: Well, I love the “Hot August Night” album recorded live at the Greek Theatre here in Los Angeles, so I’ll go with any of the tunes from that one.

Washington: I’m still upset with the both of you that I there was no “Bah, bah bah…” [to continue his “Sweet Caroline”].

Villarreal: Hugh Jackman’s character would not go for that. I’m just saying.

Washington: Would have joined me? Or not going for it, like you two leaving me hanging?

Villareal: He doesn’t want us to start with “Sweet Caroline.” You gotta go further than that. But I’ll allow it now.

Washington: Deep cuts?

Villarreal: Deep cuts.

Washington: All right, we’ll talk some more about it while you enjoy Mark and Tonatiuh.

Tonatiuh in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

(Roadside Attractions)

Mark Olsen: It seems like you’ve been approaching your career with such a sense of intentionality and purpose. And I would imagine, especially as a young actor starting out, you’re not necessarily in control of the roles that you get, what you could do. What have you done or how do you feel like you are trying to take that control and have that sort of intentionality in the roles that you take and what you’re doing with your career in this industry?

Tonatiuh: Well, I think I’ll pivot a little bit and say I’ve been working for 12 years as a working-class actor. I’ve been on an ABC show [“Promised Land”] as a series regular. I was in “Carry-On,” which at the time it was the No. 2 most-watched movie on Netflix, but I think we’re now at No. 5. “KPop Demon Hunters” slayed. But the only control that I really have is saying yes or no to auditions. I’m not necessarily getting offered roles. I’ve had an entire career where if I sit around and wait for someone to come knocking on my door, I will starve. And I didn’t get into this for the celebrity. I got into this because of the social impact that it had on my own life. Art to me is a mirror as to who we are as a country and who we are as people. And so it gives us an opportunity to really reflect on that, but it also gives us a destination to where we want to be. A lot of my sense of humor came from the TV shows and films that I watched growing up. And I was introduced to cultures that were different than mine. …

I think with this specific project, with “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” it was a role of a lifetime. Bill Condon wrote a fantastic script where we not only got to tell one movie but we get to tell two. We time travel and go back into a 1950s-style musical, and I get to live my Gene Kelly, Errol Flynn, Montgomery Clift fantasy with the character of Kendall Nesbitt. But then with the character of Molina, I get to be this almost genderless expression. In the totality of the film I get to play the gender spectrum. Hypermasculinity, classic masculinity, very Hollywood masculinity with Kendall, a genderless expression with Molina. And then at the very end you get a little surprise of a full female fantasy.

Olsen: Whether intended or not, this film is being released to a specific cultural and political moment. In particular, as someone who identifies as nonbinary and is the American-born child of an immigrant family, how are you processing the moment the movie is coming out to?

Tonatiuh: It comes in waves. It’s different waves. At first it was “Wow, how crazy relevant our film is,” and that’s powerful. And when I accepted the role, we’re giving the Hollywood treatment to a bunch of marginalized communities and we’re telling truly with our film, “Latinos are Hollywood.” In that era, in the 1950s, there weren’t very many, if at all, Latin stars, especially those who were allowed to be the leads in those films. And so with this we’re almost kind of rewriting history and subversively saying, “No, no, we’ve always been here” and reminding people of the dignity and the beauty of that. But, comma, we also are doing that for the queer experience. So Molina, in my view, is what we would consider in 2025 genderqueer. And we’re putting Molina right at the center, at the heart of the film. And my mission statement, and the whole reason I lost 45 pounds in 50 days, was to ensure that we can focus on their heart and their eyes and not even consider thinking about what their gender possibly could be. You’re just falling in love with a form, a person.

Olsen: This role, of course, in the original film was played by William Hurt. Do you feel it was important to have a queer performer in the part of Molina? What does that do for the story?

Tonatiuh: There’s a lot of lived experience that can go into the DNA of a character, right? But there’s also a sense of responsibility. I have met so many incredible, beautiful, gender-diverse individuals in my life. And so being able to center someone like that and to tell it with as much love, it’s just a little bit more icing on the cake. And there’s creative conversations as things are being built where you have to add and pitch perspectives that maybe someone missed because they don’t necessarily have that exact experience. I don’t necessarily subscribe to, “You always have to cast the person for the thing.” Although I relate and understand Molina, I’m an artist and my job is to bring that humanity to them. I don’t have to be identical to that person. That’s where my artistry comes from. But I think that the reverence and the respect and that sense of responsibility is what makes this unique.

Olsen: Your final number in the movie you begin in a tuxedo and you end in a dress.

Tonatiuh: With a 26-inch waist, mind you. Clock the waist.

Olsen: And there’s just something extremely powerful about that.

Tonatiuh: I mean, there’s something really cool about it. People weren’t expecting the flip with Kendall. So all of a sudden it’s like, “Wait, that’s the same guy. Now he’s looking dapper with a mid-Atlantic accent.” And then at the very end it’s a quite shocking revelation when we look down the barrel of the camera and she’s gorgeous. But that was the beauty of it. Molina dreams of being a Hollywood starlet. And I think, for me as an artist, this will probably be the only time in my life where I get to play a leading lady and a leading man at the same time. It was really special.

Olsen: Molina doesn’t really see themselves as a political person in the beginning of the film —

Tonatiuh: No, not at all.

Olsen: And part of the the journey of the film is Molina coming to realize that they are part of this fight whether they want to be or not.

Tonatiuh: Well, I think Molina falls in love. I think Molina felt like a loser in their own life who wasn’t capable of even defending themselves, right? They were just trying to survive. And there’s this twisted internalized messaging that children of marginalized groups or people who have been bullied, they start doing it to themselves as a way of protecting themselves from the world. Like, “I’ll punch myself first before you can, and I’ll make it funnier. Actually, it’ll be my whole personality.” And I think that there’s something healing in that. Valentin’s character says, “I’m disgusted when you’d make fun of yourself like that. Where’s your self-respect?” And I don’t think that they understood self-respect because I don’t think they experienced it before. And so it took living in a prison cell to find dignity again. And these two men who are diametrically opposed were able to drop all facades. They were stripped of their comforts, they were stripped of the very masks that they used to protect themselves and were forced to see each other in order to connect. And I think that’s a larger theme that’s happening in the world. I think we’re constantly being told that we’re divided and we’re not similar. But I think at the end of the day, we all want similar things. We want to feed our children. If something, God forbid, happens to us, we don’t want to go into medical debt over it. We want joy, we want community, we want connection, and I think that vulnerability is the price we pay for that connection.

Olsen: I was at the premiere of the movie at the Sundance Film Festival —

Tonatiuh: Were you really? Oh man, I wasn’t. I was fully disassociated that day.

Olsen: And something happened in that room. I think the entire audience felt they had seen someone arrive. What have the past few months been like since then?

Tonatiuh: I don’t know if I’ve arrived with this role. I’ve been preparing for this moment my entire life. I am an artist and I love what I do. And one of the biggest gifts that I got was I got to meet people, yes, at the top of their game like Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna. But every dancer in our film was a person of color, a Latin dancer, people from the Black community, and they are also at the top of their game on Broadway. And that’s the beautiful part. I’ve met so many artists who were just dying for the opportunity. I feel like all of us are in waiting. And so it’s not for lack of talent, it’s for lack of opportunity. And with this, I am very proud of the work that I’ve done. I don’t know if I’ve arrived. People still have to see the movie, you know? And I have to get the next job. So we’ll see when that comes. But as an artist, I am feeling more emboldened to continue telling the stories that I want to tell and to continue sharing this 15 seconds of limelight with the things that I value. I think that’s what my mission statement is as an artist.

Olsen: What was it about this role that made you realize from the start that you were going to really grab it with both hands?

Tonatiuh: Well, I have no choice. No, no, no. After the strikes, after COVID. And I don’t wanna make this sound like a pity party, but the roles tend to go to the same 15 people. And I don’t come from nepotism. My mom was an immigrant in this country. She worked at a Jack in the Box drive-thru when she first got here. But I had a dream, and she and I and a bunch of my friends and community along the way just kept pushing and trying to make it happen. And so when you get three-dimensional characters, two, when you get three-dimensional characters and a really dynamic script. You gotta take it and fight. And I wanted to give it all. And it also was so important. We’re centering people who are currently being called terrorists for simply existing in this world. How can I not give them honor? This is our love letter to them. This is our way of saying we love you, we see you, and you’re not alone.

Olsen: Tell me about some of the outreach you’ve been doing to get the film in front of people and communities Hollywood may not always reach.

Tonatiuh: So I partnered with a couple of great individuals. It started off with my friend Ruben Garcia, who owns this incredible company called Mosaico. And we wanted to activate the Latin community and get people excited to come and see it. But then I kept thinking, “Man, our community has been going through a lot recently. And the country as a whole is experiencing some financial difficulties.” So I kept asking myself, “How do we give a little love and entertainment to folks?” So I reached out. I started calling friends. I started calling nonprofits. I started calling corporations and just saying, “Here’s what the mission is. We’d love to just gift things to people.” And so we created a small impact fund where we received some donations and we handed out QR codes. We just wanted to treat people for opening weekend, and we gifted tickets to the L.A. LGBT center because they have a youth services program. Los Angeles [has] one of the country’s biggest populations of unhoused queer youth. And it was important for me that they see themselves onscreen, that this is possible for them, that they get the Hollywood treatment. We gifted it to organizations that are helping with immigrant defense funds. We gifted it to their staff because they also need a little joy in their life.

And then another personal favorite was the very high school where I started acting, West Covina High School, is a public school. Their Teacher, Kim Battersby, was always going above and beyond, spending countless hours after school, over the weekend, and then she even had kids along the process. It is the performing arts programs that helped me see more of who I was. I felt like a weird little queer kid, I call it queer-do, in high school. And it was the on the stage where I felt I could practice being other people and seeing what worked and what didn’t and to learn more of who I was. I brought them out to the Grove and we filled it up with them and they dressed to the nines. They all got dressed up as if they were going to a premiere of their own. It was so sweet. And after the film, I thanked them and we took pictures and they were crying. Because they saw themselves. I taught some of them. And it was so sweet. And some of them shared their hearts with me and said that they’ve been scared of leaving the house because of what’s happening. That they’re walking around with their passports. That some of them feel like they’re invisible and that with this movie they felt seen. It was really touching.

Olsen: What does that mean to you? What do you hope those audiences receive from the film?

Tonatiuh: I mean, I think watch it. And be pleasantly surprised as to what the movie’s about. I don’t want to give too much away, naturally, because of course it’s fun to be surprised at a film. But I think our film does two wonderful things. It does hold up a mirror and it also reminds us of what we’re really about. And it creates so much joy. I mean, Jennifer, Diego, Bill, Colleen [Atwood], the incredible costumes; you get to see something that feels out of this time. And I think we could use a little Hollywood glamour right now.

Olsen: Can you talk about the challenge of this being essentially two performances — Molina in prison and then Kendall in the fantasy sequences?

Tonatiuh: Completely different performances. There are two different films with two different acting styles. And two different worlds to build. So let’s look at the movie. The first one, we were transported back into the 1950s, classic Hollywood. And so the first thing that I did as soon as I got the script is I called Bill and I said, “All right, give me every movie you want to reference, and I’ll watch as many of them as I could while preparing for it.” And I thought to myself, “Who is a wonderful tortured soul” — because Kendall’s really tortured — “that I could emulate?” And I instantly thought of Montgomery Clift, in “The Heiress” specifically. And I was just like, “Man, I want his energy, but I want to dance like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. And so preparing before set, I would just watch as many of these films as I was getting ready in the hair and makeup trailer. But there, you know, it’s down to the mannerisms, the small microexpressions, really trying to nail that acting style because it’s proscenium. But the crazy part is we’re a shoestring budget movie. I mean, it’s a musical, so it’s a little bit bigger than other independent films, but we only had about 20 days to shoot 12 musical numbers. And Bill wanted to shoot it in that style, which means if he could get away with a single take, he was gonna try to get away with a single take. And it took a powerhouse like Jennifer Lopez, but also Diego and myself, to really focus and nail those moments. And there’s one moment in particular, “Give Me Love,” [with] Jennifer in the Cyd Charisse green dress, making a nod to “Les Girls” and also “Singin’ in the Rain,” where I wasn’t even called to set and I was just there watching nonstop because I was like, “My God, this feels like I’m watching Marilyn or Rita or Cyd herself doing it.”

But then the second part was a naturalistic drama — well, a little bit of a fantasy, but inside of an Argentinian prison. And like I said, my mission statement was to make Molina as genderless as possible. I had just come off of “Carry-On,” so I had to lose 45 pounds in about 50 days. And this is not a commercial for Ozempic. I wish GLP-1 was sponsoring this because that would have been helpful. But no, I did it the old-fashioned way. I starved. But it was worth it. I really wanted to get that look and find his voice and the accent and transport us back into Argentina in the 1980s.

Olsen: But at the same time, is there some point of connection? Are the things that you’re doing in the two halves of the movie meant to bring them together?

Tonatiuh: Well, the two films are intrinsically connected. It’s Molina’s favorite film, but it’s also their diary. It’s their confession. Oftentimes it’s easier for us to say I love you through someone else’s song, or to say I’m scared. We look to films and music to transport us, to heal us. And so it starts off with Molina just sharing a little bit about who they are through their favorite film, but then it ends up becoming their confessions and their soul.

Olsen: Can you talk about the audition process and what it took to get this role?

Tonatiuh: I never feel really qualified to talk about the audition process because for me, this is how it went. They had been looking for months. I didn’t know about the project. I didn’t hear about it until Dec. 18 or 19, something like that. At that point, Hollywood’s completely shut down. I’m confident I was like the last person to hear about this audition. And then I locked myself up in a room after reading the material and just working it over and over and over again, until I found that throughline. ‘Cause there’s so many ways of telling a musical. Dec. 22, literally days before Christmas, I got a call saying, “You’re gonna come to New York. Jan. 2nd, 9 a.m.” Next thing you know, I’m doing a tango and a Bob Fosse number and singing in front of Bill Condon and [producer] Bernie Telsey. And then a little table read with Diego Luna and I get a text message from Bill saying, “Call me.” And I was like, “Oh man, it’s either ‘Call me, I’m sorry’ or ‘Call me, you got it’ and it was ‘You got it.’

Olsen: And then what was your audition number? What song did you do?

Tonatiuh: “She’s a Woman.” And with that number, it was so interesting because there were so many ways of telling that as well. My audition actually was from more so the point of view of Molina singing it, but within the context of the film, Kendall sings it. And so there becomes this almost “Victor/Victoria” moment where it’s Molina’s “I Want” song through Kendall Nesbitt. but played by Molina because he hated the original actor who was Kendall Nesbitt. And so it was really a thought process to think, “OK, well, how would the original Kendall do it and pay nods to him? But if Molina was able to take over his body and tell it, how would then he say it?”

Olsen: Jennifer Lopez’s performances in the musical numbers is a great reminder of why she is who she is. What was it like to see that up close?

Tonatiuh: What’s the quote? I feel it was like watching lightning strike. It was powerful and awe-inspiring. I mean, it was just incredible. But it was one of those moments, as soon as they say, “You’re gonna be singing and dancing with Jennifer Lopez,” it was like, “Oh, OK. Time to level up.” It felt like I was getting an invitation to the Olympics. I mean, these are some of the greats. Jennifer’s fantastic. Diego Luna is a phenomenal actor. Bill Condon is a master at this craft, specifically with musicals. And then even Colleen Atwood, who did all of our costumes, and Christine Cantella. They transported us with those fabrics, you know. And so it was really one of those moments like, “Oh wow, I’m I’m finally getting the invitation to go into the ring,” and it was either level up or die.

Olsen: And I know that in some ways they were almost two production units.

Tonatiuh: There were completely two different different productions.

Olsen: What was it like having to shift gears between the musical fantasia of the story within the story and the prison scenes that are, as you said, these very naturalistic, very dramatic scenes with Diego. How did you manage that?

Tonatiuh: I always joke around because people are like, “How did you start acting?” And I’m usually like, “My acting was a trauma response,” you know, just to survive and code-switch in the world. But jokes aside, I think that being able to shift quickly allows me to go from culture to culture, set to set, and just adapt quickly to that. We had a wonderful crew in Uruguay, which was amazing. But Bill Condon is an actor’s director. Once we went to Uruguay, he sat us down and we did traditional theater table reads. We sat at the table for a week and a half and we just talked about the script, beat by beat, moment by moment, really carving out what our thoughts were and his thoughts were. Sometimes we disagreed. Things in the script changed. He was so open to our perspectives — like we [were] the heads of the department for our individualized perspective, essentially. And the beauty of what we did was we shot this in order. It’s a two-man play. And so the first time that you see Molina entering the cell, meeting Valentin, was the first time that Diego and I ever saw each other in full character. These two people are discovering who they are with every passing scene and dropping the facades. But we as actors were learning to depend on one another. I always joke around that this is like the Stanford prison experiment, because we were in the cell before the sun went up, and we were out of the cell after the sun went down, straight to the hotel and back. And we were shooting in the dead of winter in Uruguay, so there was very little sunlight to begin with. So it was one of those moments where it was like we needed each other, and we created amongst ourselves a deep and and very personal bond.

Olsen: And tell me more about working with Bill, especially on the musical numbers. There are some extremely long and extended pieces of onscreen dancing.

Tonatiuh: He’s incredibly meticulous. In a good way. He has already thought about exactly what vision he wants. Down to the very film that plays in the theater at the end was a deliberate choice. And so it was really exciting because he invites you to his world and because he prioritizes the table reads, we’re able to fully understand what he’s trying to sell. So then we already know, we’re finely tuned to it. But everybody on the set, and those sets alone were just glorious. I felt like I was walking into the Titanic. It was incredible. And our choreographers, Chris Scott, Sergio Trujillo, Brandon Bieber, they also worked with Bill to basically do a dance between the camera and the dancers themselves. Because if you look back at old movies with Fred Astaire or with Gene Kelly, specifically Fred Astaire, they would zoom out just to show you from head to toe, we are dancing. This isn’t edited. It’s not done in the cut. Which was really, really cool.

Olsen: With everything that you’ve put into this project, how do you move forward from here? What is it that you see for yourself moving forward?

Tonatiuh: Well, with this project specifically, I think what I want is to get it into the hands of the people who I know will absolutely love it because I think that there’s a healing process in watching this, especially watching it in cinemas. It’s communal. The energy shifts and the technicolor washes over you in a way that a cellphone could never. But moving after that, I’m excited. My favorite thing is to transform. I’ve literally sat in theaters this weekend where people had no idea I was sitting next to them and that was me onscreen, and then I wait in the lobby to take pictures. Some people come up and they’re shocked that I’m there, A, but B that I look so different. And I didn’t get fat. I’m back to my normal weight, OK? I lost weight for Molina. But I love to transform. And up until this point in my career, I’ve only I’ve had a limited amount of ability to transform. I hope to be completely unrecognizable in my next role. And I don’t know what that’s gonna be. If I want to be a hero, if I want to play a villain, do something in the sci-fi world, an action world. I don’t know exactly what that is. And of course, I’d love to also go to Broadway. There’s one play in particular that I’ve been circling now for the last eight months, and I’m inches from putting it up. I’m inches from getting the rights. But I’m saying it on here because I am going to do that one way or another.

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in “Song Sung Blue.”

(Focus Features)

Villarreal: Do you like doing podcasts as a fellow podcast host?

Hudson: I like talking to people. I like connecting, so I’m always down for for this. [With] podcasts you get to have more time to really unpack.

Villarreal: Has it made you appreciate the art of the interview?

Hudson: I’ve learned a lot. I was so used to being on the other side, being the person that’s being asked all the questions and having to navigate the right way to answer something and not get yourself into trouble. So when it flipped and we [she co-hosts “Sibling Reverie” with her brother, actor Oliver Hudson] started to interview, when I would listen to our podcast, I’d cut everything out. I’d be like, “Jesus, shut up, Kate.” I’d cut out so much. I’ve also learned that sometimes, you gotta get to the point. You gotta keep everybody on track. Oliver, my brother, is a great podcast host. He’s so funny. I feel so lucky to have him to be my partner.

Villarreal: Well, we’re very glad to have you here to talk about “Song Sung Blue.” This is a film that’s about love of self, love of others, love of music and finding your way back to all that after tragedy. Tell me about why this was the right movie for you at this point in your life and career.

Hudson: It’s a great question. These things aren’t calculated. You have these opportunities, you read something, you hope you get to play the part because you believe in the story and you believe in the filmmaker and you believe in your co-star. And then you just hope that it comes together. And with this, the story was there. [Writer-director] Craig [Brewer] wrote a great script. For me, as an actor, it gave me all the colors, all of the things that I love and have been doing for so long [and allowed me] to be able to do in one movie. And the thing that was weighing on me was that if the love story doesn’t work, if we don’t believe these two people are madly in love with each other and needing each other — they’re quite codependent — the movie’s not going to work. It didn’t matter how great the script was. And I said [to co-star Hugh Jackman], “Look, how comfortable are you with getting to know me? Because I really feel like this movie’s not gonna work if we don’t work. And we kind of have to, like, be really intimate with each other and get to know each other really well … and let me know if I ever make you uncomfortable.” I’m incredibly tactile. He felt the same way. And that actually became the easiest part, was our connection and how much we trusted each other and how connected we felt. Something happened on the set. We kind of knew that it was a special, what was starting to unfold was something really special. Then you just cross your fingers and hope that the movie, that it became what we felt like we were making. I remember seeing the movie and just going, “Oh, my God, this movie makes me miss movies.” I just feel so happy and humbled to be a part of it because you never know.

Villarreal: Tell me more about building that foundation with Hugh, because the film is based on a true story of these two Milwaukeeans who fall in love, start this tribute band of Neil Diamond music. How did the bond with Hugh take form? Were you sharing playlists?

Hudson: We do share a love of of music. The first thing we did was record music. In the last two years, I’ve been very immersed in music and writing and just saying, “I have to make music” because if I don’t, I’m not fulfilling my creative output, input — all of it. I have to be making music. So I’ve been spending a lot of time in the recording studio. So I was very excited that that was where we were starting. Hugh has a different side of the story, which is it appears to him [that] it came much easier to me than it did to him. I disagree with that, but I’m sure that’s what he would say. But it was great because we got to sing together. When you can sing with someone and you sound good together and you start to connect through music, it’s a very different kind of language. And that was the beginning of us being like, “Oh, this is gonna feel really good.” Energetically, we’re both very spirited people and we had a blast in the studio. It was a great initial connection. But the movie itself is about people who love music, and who don’t necessarily get the opportunities to make that this huge success that maybe once when they were younger they dreamed of. One of the things I love about Craig and what he understands, and what I understand about music as someone who’s lived it my whole life, whether it be through partnership or myself, is that you along the way meet all these incredible, incredible musicians — way more talented than you are or I am — that don’t have the opportunities that maybe have been put in front of others or myself. And when you see that and you live it and you know it and you love it — I have a profound respect for that musician, the one that is the session player or the one that is the tip-drawer musician, the one who ends up being an interpreter because they didn’t make it as their own artist. And I think that’s what Claire and Mike Sardina really are in their hearts. They’re musicians. And Hugh has that in him. He loves being onstage. He loves performing. He loves giving his art out. And I think musicians, some musicians, love that. So we connected there and we connected to the characters very much so, with that essence of believing and loving something so much that you just have to do it, no matter what.

Villarreal: Do you remember the first song you guys did together in those recording sessions?

Hudson: I think it might have been “Forever in Blue Jeans” or maybe it was “Cherry Cherry.” We did so many songs, but I think it was one of those.

Villarreal: Are you ready to ask him to be on your next album?

Hudson: We’re already like, “We’re taking this on the road. We’re going to go sing all kinds of songs.” You don’t have to twist our arms to get in front of a mic and start singing. And a good music movie is really hard to do.

Villarreal: Why?

Hudson: You have to understand the language. Craig is, in his heart, a musician, even though he’s not a musician. He lives and breathes music. He’s a Memphis, Tenn., boy. Most of his world is around music. That’s how I fell in love and met Craig. I was young when I met him. We’ve been trying to work together for 20 years. I was married to Chris [Robinson, of the Black Crowes] at the time. We’re music people in our blood. Some people don’t have any real connection to music. Music isn’t something that they can relate to. But there’s two types of music lovers: There’s the fan, you feel music in your bones that you can’t explain and it moves you to places that you couldn’t live without it; then there’s people who have music in them and it has to come out of them. That is another language that you can’t explain to someone unless they were born with that or have that in them. Craig has it in him. And so it translates onto the screen. It’s like Cameron Crowe. It’s like PTA [Paul Thomas Anderson]. He has music in him. You can tell by the way he directs and his use of music. There’s certain directors that really understand musicality. Craig has that, so he was able to access that for this movie.

Villarreal: What was that like connecting on that front with Claire when you met with her? At what point in the process did that come?

Hudson: I really did not want to get too close with Claire because I don’t want things to feel like [I’m] mimicking. It’s not a Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan or that kind of biopic. And it was important to Craig too, to make Mike and Claire their own characters. I got to know her while we were shooting, and then she’d come to set, and I’ve got this footage of us sitting and laughing with each other. And it’s so funny because there’s an energy there where you’re like, “Oh, my God, I am playing her.” You can see it sitting in the director’s chairs. It was good to get her essence, but then to create another version of Claire, the movie version.

Villarreal: Did you ever get to sing with her?

Hudson: No. I had to miss the wrap party, which really was upsetting. And apparently there was a lot of karaoke singing at the wrap party. We’ll do a redo. But Claire’s had a really interesting life. Her life has been hard. Their life is and was hard. And they somehow found a way to believe in each other and have this beautiful love and life together. Claire, when she comes and she talks about Mike, he still really lives in her every day. It’s like he’s almost still here. It’s an amazing thing to see.

Villarreal: What was your relationship to Neil Diamond‘s music coming into this?

Hudson: Like most people that aren’t hardcore Neil Diamond fans, I obviously knew his biggest songs. When I read the script, I did like a big deep dive into [him] and I was like, “Whoa, what a catalog.” So many great songs and what a great songwriter. And when you hear some of — like the last song of the movie [“I’ve Been This Way Before”], I’d never heard that song before. Neil loves that we use that song because it’s very rare. People don’t usually talk about that song. And even “Forever in Blue Jeans,” I forgot about that song. I forgot about, “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon.” There’s so many songs.

Villarreal: I wanted to ask if “Soolaimon” is still playing in your head? Because it’s like an earworm for me now.

Hudson: Oh, my God. [Singing] Soooooo. Soolaimon. Oh, yeah. That song is fantastic. It’s such a great live song. And I didn’t know that song until we started the movie. Getting to know Neil’s catalog was really honestly an honor. And for him to give us the opportunity to sing all of it and to use it, so wonderful.

Villarreal: You also spent time with him … on your porch? His porch? I saw the Instagram post.

Hudson: I grew up in Colorado and he is my neighbor. But I’ve never met him. My whole life. And then I was talking with his son the other day who was at the premiere, and I was like, “It’s so weird we’ve never met.” He lives like 15 minutes from where I grew up. So we just sat on his porch and had lemonade, and we held hands and talked for hours.

Villarreal: What do you talk about with Neil Diamond?

Hudson: He was very open, and he’s in a place in his life where he did a lot of listening, and then he told me great stories about his childhood that I feel very honored that he shared with me, about where he grew up and how he grew up. And the one thing he did say, which I love — I asked him what his favorite song was to perform, then I asked if he missed performing. He said that he’s done so much and he feels good about what he’s done, but the song that he loves is “I Am … I Said.” He said that it’s like God wrote that song. It just came through him, and he was having a very hard time when he wrote that song and he was conflicted, he was having a hard time writing it, then all of a sudden it just poured through him. I loved the privilege of hearing that story from him. He said that his life has gifted him with these different eras where his music got new life. And he was just incredibly grateful to us, say[ing], like, “I know that this is gonna give my music another chapter.” Then Hugh went. I said to Hugh, “You have to go see Neil.” And so he went and flew to Colorado and sat with him. I feel so happy that he got to see the movie and he loves it and that we did good by him.

Villarreal: You asked him what his favorite song was to perform. What was yours? There’s the moment where Mike and Claire are playing alongside Eddie Vedder that really stands out in the film. And what do you feel when you perform?

Hudson: It’s been really great to exercise a new muscle, performing muscle. For the last two years, from the first time I had my first show to now, it feels very different. I get really excited. When something goes horribly wrong is actually kind of fun because that’s what live shows are, you get to not be perfect even though you’re striving for something great and to give something out that’s great. It’s not always going to be what you hope it’s going to be. Something’s gonna go wrong, it’s gonna sound weird, you’re not gonna hear this, the guitar’s not gonna [do that], and there’s something about that live experience when you’re performing that just feels so alive. One of the greatest feelings for me is when you see people singing your words back to you. I couldn’t believe the first time I saw people that I’d never seen know my music. I don’t care how many people that is. Even one person that you can see that actually is feeling something that you put out into the world is such a wonderful feeling. Performing is a blast. Singing with Hugh at Radio City, and you get to play all these cool venues and places that, as a music lover, you look around and what a bucket-list moment to sing in this historic venue. I’m so happy that I, like, had the courage to do it because I wouldn’t have had all of these experiences that I’ve had. I don’t think I would have been cast in this movie if I didn’t make music, if I didn’t go out on a limb and make an album.

Villarreal: We see in the film that, at the height of their stardom, Claire suffers a tragic accident and it upends their world. She’s in a state of depression and she’s being confronted with, “Who am I? And does this change everything about who I am because I’m not up there? And how do I get back there?” What was that like for you to delve into that headspace as a performer? For you, either as an actor or a singer, can you relate to that feeling of it being intrinsically a part of who you are and the fear of never doing it again?

Hudson: Like any role, there’s a lot of things that you can relate to or substitute. I sometimes substitute, you know, something that I can’t relate to with other things, as my own process. Meryl Streep always says you have to honor the character as much as you would honor your own life. That’s how you create a character. But then when you’re telling someone else’s life story, it’s almost like a double whammy because of the pressure that you’re sort of holding someone’s life. They’re giving you an opportunity to portray something that you don’t want to know let them down, especially with something as intimate and as vulnerable as what Claire went through.

I felt a responsibility to her struggles and how we looked at them — to have a family, to constantly be struggling to keep food on the table, to have the ups and downs of mental health. What I love about this movie is Craig doesn’t really hit you crazy over the head with Claire’s mental health struggles, but it is implied that she is up and down and is on medication and has been, and so when Claire’s up, she’s up; and when she falls it’s pretty dark. Everybody experiences trauma differently. Some people are better at pushing through or being optimistic in the face of tragedy. Claire is faced with that [idea that] nothing will ever be the same … Claire always said — we don’t say this in the movie — “Mike was a leg guy.” He would talk about them. And when that accident happened, she felt so unattractive to him. It’s like something was lost that she knew that he loved of her. Then it just hit everything from her inability to move, to be the partner she wanted to be for him, to the kids, to the drugs, to the the pain. It just was an awful spiral. I just wanted to do that as much justice [while] holding on to Claire’s inevitable optimism. She’s a very optimistic person.

Villarreal: Have you ever felt that fear of it being taken away from you? It’s one thing to decide to leave something that you love.

Hudson: I’m very stoic. I have a amazing family. I have a big support system and entered this industry knowing that if I don’t really love what I’m doing, if I’m not happy singing in that Thai restaurant, then this is not the right industry for me. If I’m not happy doing community theater or doing sketches with my friends at the local theater, I’m not in the right business. If you love it like that, then you are in the right business, because you know that it’s always gonna let you down. There’s the other side, the spiritual side, which is that I really live my life like we are all gonna die. It is inevitable. If there’s anything that’s inevitable, it is tragedy. We will meet it at some point, whether it be parents dying, whatever that is, we all will experience it at some point. So the harder thing is where the joy sits. How do we live now with joy and happiness and intention and positive intention? It’s something that I really live, authentically. So no, I don’t think about it because the reality is, if I did, then I’d be living in fear and anxiety and I choose to not do that.

Villarreal: Give me tips, Kate. I’m a worrywart.

Hudson: I worry about my kids. But life is too short. Time is so short. Lightning can strike twice. It’s the Claire line. You can’t live in that.

Villarreal: It really does feel like you are living in that sort of joy. Between this film, the album, you recently recorded a Christmas song, you’ve got the new season of “Running Point,” the podcast with your brother. I’m still waiting for “Something Blue” [the follow-up to “Something Borrowed.”]

Hudson: Oh, my God, me too. You know what? Ginny [Goodwin, her co-star in the film] and I — she was just on the podcast and we were talking about it and we were like, “We need Emily to write us in our 40s now.”

Villarreal: Who’s the villain? In “Something Borrowed.”

Hudson: Great question. Aren’t we all the hero and villain of our own story? Isn’t that how this works?

Villarreal: But you seem really happy.

Hudson: I am very happy. Age does that. You start to grow up and you realize you can go one of two ways: You can enjoy your life and your life experience. I’m on the back half — almost the back half. But you get to a certain point in your life where you have choices to make of either, you lean into enjoying everything, every blessing, or you’re miserable and you get more miserable. I want to enjoy my life and my kids. I love watching my kids grow up. And honestly, I love the decision that I made for me to make art differently than I was in my early 20s and 30s. Life presents itself the way it’s supposed to present itself. Opportunities as an actor come as they do. It’s a hard thing as an actor to wait for things to come to you because, as any actor knows, you’re at the mercy.

Villarreal: You could be waiting forever.

Hudson: Creatively, you have to, at some point, make the moves and take the risks to do things your way. Whether they’re liked or not liked, you have to do it. I think something happened in my 40s where I’m like, “I’m just gonna take the risks and make art and do things the way, tell stories the way, I’d like to do them.” And really enjoy what it is. It’s magic. Making movies is magic. And you can tell when people love doing them. You can tell when someone’s in it for something other than the art form of it. And sometimes we get them really right, sometimes we get them horribly wrong. But we gotta keep telling stories.

Coleen Nolan has opened up about a hidden family struggle on Friday’s Good Morning Britain

Coleen Nolan has revealed she spent ‘years crying’ and feeling like a ‘terrible mother’ over a hidden family struggle.

Over the summer, Coleen, 60, disclosed that her son, Shane, 37, had been fighting a secret battle with drugs which saw him ‘hit rock bottom’ and wreck his marriage to his beauty queen ex-wife, Maddie Wahdan.

Coleen’s son, Shane, whom she shares with ex-husband Shane Richie, separated from his beauty queen wife in December 2023 amid claims he had been unfaithful – just a year after they had tied the knot.

Over the summer, Shane, alongside his mother Coleen, spoke candidly about his struggle with drug addiction, which resulted in him being admitted to rehab as his family feared for his life.

Shane is now in a new relationship with girlfriend Kimberly Sallis, whom he has credited for helping him through the drug addiction, and in November they welcomed their first child together, a baby boy called Cruz-Carter, reports Wales Online.

Speaking about her son’s past struggle on Friday’s Good Morning Britain, Coleen confessed: “I felt like a terrible mother. I thought it was my fault.”

Coleen said of her son speaking out: “It was totally Shane’s decision. It would never have been me forcing him in to talk about it. He thought it was important to talk about and especially when it was during Men’s Mental Health month and all of that.

“When he did it, we were both nervous. I was quite emotional because it’s really hard as a parent or a relative to watch an addict. I mean, it was years of me crying because I couldn’t do anything. I’m his mum and I couldn’t do anything.”

Coleen went on: “People were like, ‘Well, you know, you’re going to have to kick him out. You’re going to have to do that.’ and I went ‘He’s my child!’

“I kept making excuses for him, ‘well, I think he did this… no, no, it’s just because he’s tired, you know.’ And then something major happened where he ended up with stitches in his head and all of that. I think that was a massive wake up call.

“Talking about it afterwards, he said to me, ‘Mum, I feel like a whole weight has been lifted off my shoulders.'” Coleen revealed it was equally beneficial for Shane to understand the impact his struggle had on her.

The Loose Women panellist emotionally shared: “I felt like a terrible mother. I thought it was my fault. I’d done things wrong. I couldn’t help him and it was nothing to do with me. As an addict, the only person that could have helped him was himself, which he did.”

Good Morning Britain continues on weekdays at 6am on ITV and ITV X.

OLIVIA Attwood has revealed she was cruelly shamed for the cosmetic procedures she has undergone by a presenter.

The former Love Island star, 34, described it as “one of the worst experiences” she has ever had.

Olivia has been open about her aesthetic preferences; often talking to her fans about which surgical enhancements she has undergone and even making a documentary about cosmetic surgery.

But the star says that she was put in an uncomfortable position during an interview, where the presenter told her she looked older due to having procedures.

Talking on her new podcast, Olivia’s House, the star said: “I had an experience with a female host and one of the worst experiences that I’ve probably had in an interview because I felt like she didn’t want me there…

“I was meant to be promoting the documentary and everything I’d learned about the industry and she very much wanted to make it about me and what I looked like.”

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Olivia continued: “She said in her second question, she said, ‘So you, what have you had done?’ And I was a bit like, whoa… I’m talking about the cosmetic industry as a whole.”

“She goes, ‘I don’t know what you were trying to achieve, but you look a lot older ‘cause of what you’ve done to yourself’.”

“It was really one of the worst experiences that I’ve probably had in an interview because I felt like… I felt like she didn’t want me there.”

“When I left that studio… I remember for 20 minutes I just sat in silence and I was like, ‘What? What just actually happened?’.”

While Olivia hasn’t named the presenter, she added that the situation felt “wrong”.

“It just felt just very like tonally wrong for a show that is meant to be about a safe space for women and uplifting women… it was just a really horrible experience and it stayed with me for a little while,” the star concluded.

Speaking on the first episode of the new podcast, Olivia candidly opened up about several topics, including her marriage to Bradley Dack.

She and the footballer have been married since 2023, but struggled this summer when their relationship hit a rocky patch.

At the time, Olivia didn’t acknowledge what was going on between them, but was pictured letting loose during a trip to Ibiza, where she cosied up to pal Pete Wicks.

Addressing the situation on her new show, the star admitted that she and Bradley have had a tough year – with issues from both sides.

And teasing that there is more to come, she told fans that Bradley would tell his side of the story “in his own words” when he comes onto the podcast.