SHOW BIZ

Jack Osbourne has admitted he feels ‘very nervous’ as he joined other famous faces on I’m A Celebrity, but said his late father Ozzy would have encouraged him to do his best

Fans of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! have all been saying the same thing about Jack Osbourne, who has joined the show in Australia. Ozzy Osbourne’s son has joined the likes of comedian Ruby Wax, Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp, model Kelly Brook and Emmerdale star Lisa Riley on the show, presented by Ant and Dec.

Completing the line-up are rapper Aitch, comedian Eddie Kadi, EastEnders actress Shona McGarty, sports broadcaster Alex Scott and social media star Morgan Burtwistle, who is known as Angry Ginge.

As viewers enjoyed the first episode this evening, many complemented Jack on his looks, with a person writing on X: “Is Jack Osbourne a bit handsome??” Another wrote: “I fancy jack osbourne so much.”

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“Jack Osbourne looks really good,” a third posted. “Ok… why is Jack Osbourne kinda hot?” another viewer tweeted, while another said: “Jack osbourne looks so gorg in im a celeb”.

A viewer was more hesitant, posting: “Hear me out but… jack osbourne is hot?” Another said: “God i love jack osbourne.” Other proclaimed the TV star their winner from the very first episode.

Jack shared he was joining the show with “very mixed emotions” but added that he thought his dad would tell him to “just f***ing do it.” The TV personality has been very open about his grief following his father’s death, talking about it on his podcast with his mother, Sharon, and sister Kelly.

Announcing he would be joining I’m A Celeb, Jack posted on social media on Tuesday: “Hey folks! Well I was told to keep this a secret but the cats out of the bag now. I’m headed into the jungle for a few weeks. Why you might ask?

“I guess I’m just a sucker for punishment hahaha. My team will be managing my social media while I’m away, so don’t worry, they will be keeping you all updated. Wish me luck cause I’m gonna need it. Before I go, does anyone have a good recipe for how to cook a crocodile?”

Earlier this week, Jack told us he only learnt he was heading Down Under a couple of weeks ago, which he described as a “last-ditch effort” after someone else seemingly dropped out of the show. “I only knew I was coming out here like 10 days ago. So it was literally 10 days,” he said.

Before heading to the jungle, he spent a few days loading up on comfort food. He said: “I stocked up on some chocolate digestives and some Pot Noodles… I’m going to live the high life.” The TV star, 39, admitted he expects some personal topics to come up as the cast bond, but said there are limits on what he is prepared to share on national television when it comes to family matters, including his late dad Ozzy, who passed away aged 76 in July.

Asked whether he will open up during the late-night chats the show is known for, Jack said: “I mean, it’s hard not to. I mean, I’ve done my fair share of projects with people in situations like this, like Adrenaline Junkie or things like that. I think it’s just a natural part of bonding with people.

“And I think this show would fall under the trauma bonding kind of category. I think things will naturally come up and I’m not necessarily going to stray away from too many things. But obviously there are certain things that I probably won’t discuss on a nationally televised TV show that’s filmed 24/7.”

Jack, who recently celebrated his 40th birthday, said he is “not a big bug person” and feels “very nervous” for the show. The TV presenter said his mother Sharon and sister Kelly have given him their full support. He added: “Mum and Kelly, yeah they are absolutely going to be watching. They are supportive.”

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AUSSIE actress Isla Fisher has revealed she feels like a new woman and is ready to embrace life following her divorce from Sacha Baron Cohen.

Her comments came as the comic was linked to a woman half his age.

Commenting on her split, Now You See Me star Isla, 49, said: “I’m not going to lie, it’s been a really challenging time.

“I definitely feel like there’s something about the divorce club that anyone in it understands in a way other people don’t. It’s a different grief.

“I feel like creating a new identity after your divorce is so fun, though. You get to reflect on your values and goals, explore new interests, focus on what you want and rebuild your sense of self.”

Isla made her comments in an interview for New Beauty magazine, for which she also posed in a series of outfits.

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The Sun on Sunday revealed yesterday that Ali G star Sacha, 54, had swapped numbers with US influencer Kelsey Calemine, 26, at a Hollywood nightclub.

The Kylie Jenner lookalike was then seen chatting and laughing with the British actor for several minutes outside the venue.

Sacha is said to be “playing the field” following his £120million divorce.

The Sun told in September that he ate out with 27-year-old model Hannah Palmer.

They spent two hours at a Beverly Hills steakhouse and then left in a limo.

Isla and Sacha announced they had split in April last year after 14 years of marriage.

They have three children together.

Annie Leibovitz strides onto the Wiltern stage to the thunderous cheers of 1,500 mostly female fans. She takes her place at the podium, a small, casually dressed figure on a big stage. On the screen behind her are images of the matching covers of her new two-book set, “Annie Leibovitz: Women.” Volume 1 is her 1999 collection. Volume 2 has 100 new photos captured in the 25 years since. Taken together, the slipcased set zooms in on the past quarter century of American womankind, rendered in 250 images of dancers, actors, astronauts, artists, politicians, farmers, writers, CEOs, philanthropists, soldiers, musicians, athletes, socialites and scientists.

“The book was Susan’s idea,” Leibovitz says on Tuesday, referring to writer Susan Sontag, her partner until Sontag’s death in 2004. “I thought doing a photo book about women was a bad idea, like going out and photographing the ocean. But then I heard what Hillary Clinton said at the U.N. Conference on Women in 1995 — ‘Women’s rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights’ — and I reconsidered.” Applause shakes the Wiltern rafters.

An image from Volume 2 appears, featuring a somber-looking Sontag. “This is the last formal portrait of Susan,” Leibovitz says. “You could think she’s projecting a sense of strength, but really, she was mad at me for making her go outside to take the picture.” The crowd roars with laughter.

Think of Leibovitz, and some legendary photographs spring to mind. Whoopi Goldberg submerged in a milk-filled bathtub on the cover of Vanity Fair, July 1984. Also on VF covers: Michael Jackson, fittingly clothed and shot in black-and-white, in 1989. Demi Moore, fully pregnant and fully naked, two years later. But the photo that remains Leibovitz’s most iconic to date is the January 1981 cover of Rolling Stone featuring a nude, fetal John Lennon wrapped around Yoko Ono. “John showed up naked,” Leibovitz tells the audience. “Yoko wanted to wear clothes, so she’s fully dressed.” Leibovitz took the Polaroid on Dec. 8, 1980 — a few steps away from, and a few hours before, Lennon was shot and killed by former fan Mark David Chapman.

Joan Baez in Woodside, Calif., in 2007, from “Annie Leibovitz: Women.”

(Annie Leibovitz)

In Volume 2, we find a barefoot Joan Baez sitting in a tree strumming her guitar; a pregnant Rihanna draped in jewels and fur; Billie Eilish dreaming over a journal with pencil in hand; Shonda Rhimes with her feet up on a desk as massive as her oeuvre; and an uninhibited Michelle Obama as we’ve never seen her before: chin raised, eyes closed, hair tossed back, T-shirt and jeans parted to reveal her midriff. “I was in shock,” Leibovitz says. “But the first lady’s assistant was standing next to me, shouting, ‘That’s my first lady!’”

Familiar faces dominate, but woven between them are portraits of “regular” American women. A botanist precedes Oprah Winfrey, a philanthropist and a rabbi surround the founder of a Skid Row nonprofit, the reproductive rights activists of Moms Demand Action share space with a nude Lady Gaga. “I told her to bring a slip,” Leibovitz comments. “I’d rather people keep their clothes on at this point in my life.”

Volume 2 includes one essay each from activist Gloria Steinem, Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Leibovitz herself. Steinem writes, “This book will help us to discover our adventurous true selves. … We are atoms whirling in place, affected by and affecting those near and far from where we are.”

Adichie agrees. “Taken as a whole,” she writes, “these photographs create a deeply moving experience, they refute the singular lens, they revel in plurality’s power, and because of — or perhaps in spite of — their wide range, they are infused with a spirit that is communal, collective, even unifying — and ultimately hopeful.”

Leibovitz concludes the second book. “For this volume I thought about issues that are important today,” she writes. In 2016, when she was beginning work on Volume 2, the notoriously cloistered Leibovitz told a New York Times reporter about the nationwide “talking circles” she and Steinem had organized, in which women shared their experiences with issues including sexual violence, technology and human rights. “Talking in groups like that, it brings me to tears,” Leibovitz told the reporter, adding that the new work she was making for Volume 2 was more “democratic.” Volume 2 is indeed more diverse, possibly in response to a widely discussed critique of Leibovitz’s photographs of Black women.

No celebrity survives fame without acquiring a layer or two of tarnish. In the decades between Volumes 1 and 2, Leibovitz’s representations of Black women painted Leibovitz with hers. A 2022 Guardian story was headlined, “Annie Leibovitz proves yet again: she can’t photograph Black women.”

“Leibovitz’s photographs are what happens when Blackness is seen through a white gaze incapable of capturing its true beauty,” contributor Tayo Bero wrote, referring to a list of Leibovitz subjects including Simone Biles, Viola Davis, Serena Williams and Rihanna. Bero wrote, “In all cases, she manages to make her subjects look dull, ashy, pained and sad, a far cry from the lively and graceful people that they usually are.”

Bero and others particularly criticized an image Leibovitz made for Vogue, depicting Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at the Lincoln Memorial. In the photo, the snow-white marble statue takes center stage, overlooking Brown Jackson on the lower left. At the Wiltern, when that image appears, Leibovitz speaks of her own experience shooting it, not the controversy surrounding its publication. “I was skeptical about that idea,” Leibovitz says. “But she walked into the rotunda and she started reading Lincoln’s words that are engraved into the wall. It was such a moving moment.”

Two years later, the controversy was reawakened by Leibovitz’s depictions of Zendaya, also in Vogue. An April 2024 piece on the website Screenshot Media reiterated the photos’ failure to accurately reflect “the beauty of melanated skin tones, with poor lighting that often results in lackluster portrayals.”

In her introductory essay to Volume 2, Adichie, on the other hand, praises Leibovitz’s sensitivity. “The first time Annie photographed me, more than ten years ago at my home, she sensed my discomfort right away and knew it was not merely about my general awkwardness with being photographed. It was specifically about my belly, which was newly postpartum, although I would probably still have worried even if it wasn’t. … Annie’s sanguine reaction was a relief. There was no divisiveness, no judgment.”

Rihanna at the Ritz Hotel, Paris, in 2022, from “Annie Leibovitz: Women.”

(Annie Leibovitz)

Leibovitz, her representatives and her publisher, Phaidon Press, declined to comment on the critique. In an email interview with Phaidon Vice President Deborah Aaronson, who worked on four Leibovitz titles, Aaronson said, “‘Women’ reaffirms Annie Leibovitz’s place in the photographic canon. In the ‘Women’ series, she captures a breadth of experience and people who live and work in different spheres that’s unparallelled. I believe the series makes her the most important chronicler of women over the past 50 years.”

Annie Leibovitz entered the San Francisco Art Institute at 22, intending to be a painter. But a night photography class she took on a whim changed her medium, and her life. While still a student, manifesting the confidence that would characterize her career, Leibovitz pitched a Lennon shoot to Rolling Stone. Three years later, rendered immortal as the final photographer of Lennon and Ono, Leibovitz became Rolling Stone’s chief photographer.

In 1983, Leibovitz joined the staff of Vanity Fair, where her field of exploration, and her social sphere, expanded to include actors, athletes and politicians. In 1991, she became the first woman to have a solo show at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. She was designated a Library of Congress Living Legend in 2000.

In 2001, at age 52, Leibovitz gave birth to her first daughter, Sarah Cameron Leibovitz. Sontag was at her bedside. In May 2005, via surrogate, Leibovitz became the mother of twin daughters, Susan (named for her beloved painter sister) and Samuelle. In 2009, Leibovitz was commissioned to make the official portrait of the first family — President Barack Obama; his wife, Michelle; and their daughters, Sasha and Malia — continuing the relationship that began in 2004 when she photographed Obama in his run for the U.S. Senate.

“I want to photograph the White House,” Leibovitz says, “but I don’t think there will be much of it left when I get to it.” The evening ended as it began: with the enthusiastic applause of her audience.

Manchester rapper Aitch, 25, is among the famous faces on I’m A Celebrity this week and while introducing him, presenters Ant and Dec mocked him for his stage name

Ant and Dec mercilessly mocked Aitch as the rapper joined I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! in the Australian jungle. The 25-year-old, whose real name is Harrison James Armstrong, rose to fame in 2018 with the track Straight Rhyme. The rapper’s debut studio album, Close to Home, reached number two on the UK Albums Chart.

Introducing Aitch on the show, Dec said: “We’ve got one of the biggest names in British music – H.” Ant then joked: “H from Steps, that’s a good booking.” But Dec replied: “No, it’s the rapper.” Co-host Ant then said it was a “tragedy” that Ian Watkins – best known by his stage name of H from Steps – wasn’t on I’m A Celeb.

READ MORE: How Aitch became ‘most hated man in Manchester for 40 minutes’

“H from Steps is rapping now. What a tragedy,” Ant said, before Dec continued: “On a diet of rice and beans Aitch is probably worried he’s not going to rap for three whole weeks.” Ant concluded: “That’s rap, with a capital C.”

Among this year’s contestants alongside Aitch are reality TV star Jack Osbourne, comedian Ruby Wax, Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp, model Kelly Brook and Emmerdale star Lisa Riley. Completing the line-up are comedian Eddie Kadi, EastEnders actress Shona McGarty, sports broadcaster Alex Scott and social media star Morgan Burtwistle, who is known as Angryginge.

Aitch joined Eddie, Shona, Kelly and Martin skydiving from a helicopter on to a beach. The five celebrities then had to wade through offal and slime to find a key fob to get access to a getaway car taking them to camp.

As the rapper joined the celebrities on the show, fans have been left wondering if he will cause as much controversy Down Under as he has throughout his career. One of Aitch’s most infamous moments came in 2022, when an advertisement for his debut album Close to Home mistakenly covered a mural of Joy Division icon Ian Curtis in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

The artwork, which was painted by street artist Akse P19, had become a local landmark, and its disappearance sparked outrage among Mancunians. Aitch was blindsided by the backlash, and told BBC Breakfast: “I felt like the most hated person in Manchester for about 40 minutes.”

He recalled discovering the mistake on social media, saying: “I seen it on Twitter, that was the first time I seen it…There was an outrage burst of like, ‘What’s Aitch doing putting his album over Ian’s mural’, and then I was like, ‘Oh god, what’s this?'”

The rapper moved quickly, contacting Amazon and Akse P19 to stop the billboard from being erected and arrange for the mural to be restored. “We just put a stop to mine straight away,” he added.

HE may be growing old very, very gracefully, but George Clooney is worried about ageing too fast – and forgetting his lines.

The Hollywood heartthrob, 64, was taken on a surprise walk down memory lane after shooting his latest film Jay Kelly, in which he plays a fictional famous actor.

Unknown to him, director Noah Baumbach had added snippets of George’s previous movies at the end of the Netflix release.

And watching the years roll by on screen was an eye-opener for the silver fox, not least when he was met with milestones he would rather forget.

His dodgy Eighties haircut in sitcom The Facts Of Life was one, as well as just how young he was when he starred in hospital drama ER in the Nineties.

George, whose hits include Ocean’s Eleven and Gravity, says: “It was really fascinating, because you go through all the things we all go through, which is you watch yourself age, which you have to make peace with.

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“You also look at some f***ing horrible mullets. And you have to kind of get through all that.

“And you do get this thing of, ‘God, that was just yesterday, wasn’t it?’. That I was on ER or something. It really does go by fast. And the older you get, the faster it seems to go.”

It is hard to imagine now, but there was a time when George was a struggling actor.

Having dropped out of university, where he was studying journalism, he sold insurance and shoes while also trying his luck as an extra on TV.

Sequels cancelled George recalls: “I came from Augusta, Kentucky, where I was a tobacco farmer. And you go on all these auditions and you go, ‘Well, I took a shot’. And if it doesn’t work out, it’s easy when you get older to go, ‘Yeah, I gave it a shot. It didn’t work out’, which happens.

“But you can’t do it when you’re old and you didn’t try. That’s regret.”

Back when opportunities were thin on the ground, George did take some roles he now recalls ruefully.

That includes the first movie he was cast in, called Grizzly II: Revenge, which suffered financial problems.

Backers pulled out of the 1983 low-budget horror flick, which also featured Charlie Sheen and Laura Dern, so the cast were stuck in Hungary for weeks while the funding was sorted out.

George reveals: “It was funded by these Hungarians. And then they lost the money.

“And so we got stuck there for, like, two months. And it was Laura, Charlie Sheen and me. It was all our first films.

“And we’re stuck there for two months. And we can’t get home. We don’t know what to do.

In Grizzly II, we get eaten by a bear in the first scene. It never comes out, thank Christ. Then some schmuck finds it. Now it’s ‘starring George Clooney’ and I get worst reviews of my life

George Clooney

“And literally, we get eaten by a bear in the first scene and so it never comes out. Thank Christ.”

Although the movie was not completed at the time, it was finally finished and released in 2020, with George given a top billing, even though he only appeared briefly.

He continues: “Some schmuck finds it and he gets a bunch of old footage of s**. And he puts it together.

“And now it’s like, ‘Starring George Clooney’. And it comes out. And after 40 years, I’m getting the worst reviews of my life.”

George’s screen breakthrough came in 1994 when he began playing paediatric doctor Doug Ross in ER, which was a global success.

It led to major movies including From Dusk Till Dawn two years later, and Batman & Robin in 1997.

The star is able to laugh off his much-panned version of the caped crusader, which was such a flop that the sequels were cancelled.

And he jokes that his eight-year-old twins Alexander and Ella will be left traumatised by the Batman outfit he wore.

The actor says: “We know they’re going to be in therapy no matter what, just from Batman & Robin. ‘My dad had rubber f***ing nipples’. Disaster.”

George, who was married to actress Talia Balsam, 66, for four years until 1993, dated a string of beautiful women, including Renee Zellweger and British TV presenter Lisa Snowdon, before settling down with lawyer Amal Alamuddin.

She is the mother of his children and the couple have been married for 11 years.

They have homes near Reading, Berks and in Kentucky, US.

It is clear that George is very content, unlike his latest character.

He says of the fictional Jay Kelly: “He regrets his relationship with his father. He regrets the relationship with his kids. “He regrets the relationship with the women in his life and not spending enough time with people you love. I don’t have much of that. I mean, I have kids that still like me.”

Even so, fans might have some difficulty separating fiction from reality when they see George in his latest role.

He is, after all, playing a Hollywood star who has experienced plenty of ups and downs.

When Noah Baumbach, who is married to Barbie director Greta Gerwig, wrote the script, he thought George was the natural choice for the lead role.

But the actor hopes he did not see any of Kelly’s nasty streak in him.

People will be like, ‘Oh, you’re just playing yourself in this’. And I go, ‘Well, I hope not, because the guy’s a d***’

George Clooney

He jokes: “People will be like, ‘Oh, you’re just playing yourself in this’. And I go, ‘Well, I hope not, because the guy’s a d***’.

‘I was scared’

“But, you know, maybe they’re telling me something. When he said, ‘I wrote this with you in mind,’ I was like, ‘F*** you’.”

This will only be George’s seventh movie in the past ten years. He has not received many scripts that interested him — and some of the roles he did take failed to “challenge” him.

That includes the 2024 Apple+ action comedy Wolfs that he made with Brad Pitt and the romcom Ticket To Paradise with Julia Roberts in 2022.

George says: “For the last ten years or so, for the most part, I was directing because I was more interested in telling stories and I wanted to continue to be a storyteller. But the parts I was getting offered weren’t all that interesting.

“And so I hadn’t really been in a film. I did a couple of movies. I did a movie with Julia Roberts and I did a movie with Brad, which were fun and they’re fun to work with and people that I know. But it’s not challenging yourself.

“We know what the audience wants delivered for those films.”

Neither of those movies were well received by reviewers and George hasn’t had a critically-acclaimed film since 2016’s Hail, Caesar!

Out of the nine movies he has directed, Good Night, And Good Luck was the biggest success, picking up Best Picture and Best Director Oscar nominations at the 2006 awards.

And while 2014’s The Monuments Men was a box-office hit, other offerings such as Leatherheads in 2008 lost money.

George is sanguine about any setbacks he has faced. “I was friends with Gregory Peck and I was friends with Paul Newman. Even those guys, and they were the biggest movie stars in the world, even their careers don’t just go like that,” he explains pointing upwards.

Making a rollercoaster motion, he continues: “Their careers do this, that’s how they ride. And my career has had many of those, many failures and many things that I wish I’d done better.”

I was friends with Gregory Peck and Paul Newman. Even those guys, and they were the biggest movie stars in the world, even their careers don’t just go upwards. My career has had many failures

George has taken risks by getting up on stage on Broadway, recreating Good Night, And Good Luck as a play earlier this year.

It received five Tony nominations, including best actor for the star himself.

Not bad for a man who struggled to remember the script.

He admits: “I hadn’t done a play in 40 years. And so I was nervous. And every night, you know, I was worried because as you get older, it’s hard to remember your lines.

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“And it’s hard to remember s***. And so I was scared. And it’s good to be 64 years old and not sure you can pull it off.”

• Jay Kelly is in cinemas now and will be on Netflix from December 5.

Theater veteran Elizabeth Franz, who won a Tony Award for her bold reinvention as the wife of the everyman title character in the 1999 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” has died. She was 84.

The actor died Nov. 4 at her home in Woodbury, Conn., after a battle with cancer, her husband, screenwriter Christopher Pelham, told the New York Times. Pelham also said Franz’s cause of death was cancer and a severe reaction to the medication being used to treat her.

The Ohio-born actor’s take on Linda Loman, the wife of Brian Dennehy’s Willy Loman, in the 50th anniversary production of “Death of a Salesman,” was a departure from the character’s usual defeated energy that took even playwright Miller by surprise: “She has discovered in the role the basic underlying powerful protectiveness, which comes out as fury, and that in the past, in every performance I know of, was simply washed out,” Miller said in a 1999 interview with the New York Times. The production, which originated at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre before Broadway, eventually made its way to L.A.’s Ahmanson Theatre.

Alongside Dennehy, Franz later reprised the role of Linda in Showtime’s TV adaptation of the play in 2000, which earned her an Emmy Award nomination.

She previously received a Tony nom in 1983 for her turn as Matthew Broderick’s onstage mother in Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” And later earned another nod in 2002 for “Morning’s at Seven,” in which she played the youngest of four Midwest sisters. Her other stage credits include “The Cherry Orchard,” “The Cemetery Club” and — in her final role on Broadway in 2010 — “The Miracle Worker.”

Franz’s TV credits included “Judging Amy,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Roseanne” and “Homeland.” A generation, though, came to know her as Mia Bass, the owner of the Independence Inn in Stars Hallow, in a Season 2 episode of “Gilmore Girls.” The minor, but essential-to-the-lore character was later recast in Season 7. She also appeared in the films “Sabrina,” “School Ties,” “A Fish in the Bathtub” and “Christmas With the Kranks.”

In addition to Pelham, Franz is survived by a brother, Joe.

Married At First Sight UK’s Bailey and Rebecca were dubbed the ‘strongest couple’ but have now announced their break-up

Bailey and Rebecca have called it quits just days after Married At First Sight UK viewers witnessed their romantic display at the show’s reunion.

Bailey, a dad-of-one, was absolutely besotted with wife Rebecca but has now confirmed their love story has reached its conclusion and they’re no longer together.

The reality star revealed he had brought their relationship to an end in a heartfelt statement. Sharing a new snap on Instagram, he confirmed the break up.

Bailey penned: “Unfortunately it’s time to share that Bec and I are no longer together.”, reports Birmingham Live.

“We tried our best to navigate life after the experiment, and although we spent a lot of great time together on the outside, unfortunately the relationship came to an end.

“I still have a lot of love for Bec and I’m grateful for the amazing relationship we shared.I had fallen for Bec completely and it really was a true love story.”

Bailey continued: “I won’t lie, watching us fall in love all over again on screen has been ridiculously hard to go through and it’s something I’m still struggling with now. But I wouldn’t have changed any of it!”.

“Sadly I also have to address the various different false online allegations constantly being spread about me since the start of MAFS, which have been hard to deal with.

“I want to make it very clear, I never cheated on Bec at any point. I didn’t handle our break up well and for that I’m truly sorry to Bec, but I was completely loyal the whole way through our relationship.

“I’m not perfect, I don’t claim to be and I take responsibility for my part in why the relationship didn’t work.”

He wrapped up his statement by saying: “Making the decision to end things was heartbreaking and not a decision that I took lightly.

“I’m still heartbroken, but I wish Bec all the best and I always will.”

The reality TV star had previously shared countless snaps with Rebecca from both during and after the experiment before revealing the devastating news of their split.

Married at First Sight UK is available to watch on Channel 4 online

BELOVED actor Dick Van Dyke has issued a concerning health update as he shares his secrets to a long and happy life ahead of his 100th birthday.

The award-winning star revealed on Sunday that he feels “diminished” and is becoming increasingly housebound as a result of his frailty.

The father-of-four is set to celebrate his 100th birthday on December 13.

Ahead of the celebrations, he penned an essay for The Times, issuing an update on his health and opening up about the secrets to a long and happy life.

Reflecting on some of his most iconic roles as aged men, the TV icon accepted, “I’m not playing a super-old any more. I am a super-old”.

“I am now a stooper, a shuffler and a teeterer. I have feet problems and I go supine as often as is politely possible,” he wrote.

“I have trouble following group conversations and complain frequently about my hearing aids.

“At mealtime I spill stuff, and when my wife, Arlene, asks me to put on an unstained shirt before we go out, I get impatient.”

The TV icon revealed that he is becoming increasingly housebound as a result of “physical decay”.

“It’s frustrating to feel diminished in the world, physically and socially,” he said.

“I get invites to events or offers for gigs in New York or Chicago, but that kind of travel takes so much out of me that I have to say no.

“Almost all of my visiting with folks has to happen at my house.”

Despite his physical ailments, the Mary Poppins star is relentlessly positive about life, praising his wife for keeping him young as well as seeing the world and his experiences of it like a “giant playground”.

“Boiled down, the things that have kept my life joyful and fulfilling are pretty simple: romance, doing what I love and a whole lot of laughing,” he wrote.

As well as still going to the gym three times a week, being part of a singing group, and always dancing, Dick has a number of rules to staying young at heart while making it to 100.

Trying not to let negativity take over is one of the key tenants of his life.

While he admitted that he can “spiral into anguish over the mayhem and cruelty” of the world, and turn into a stereotypical grumpy old man, “that’s not the essence of me,” he says.

Instead, he recommends embracing all life throws at you – the good, the bad, and the ugly – without giving into it.

Dance, sing, and be able to laugh at yourself, he said, if you can’t do the latter, “you’ve got big problems”.

Two other rules he lives by are to always be playful and to refuse to live in the past.

Even on rare outings, the actor makes sure his playful side is on full display.

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Last year he even joked that he “hopes he makes it to 99th birthday” as he was seen running errands in Malibu.

Now, as he prepares to reach a century, he is showing no signs of slowing down with his new book ‘100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life’ being released on November 18.

Clad in close-fitting black outfits, two performers get into stance for a fight scene. The cameras surrounding the massive stage in Playa Vista start rolling.

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One turns around slowly, pantomimes being shot, and carefully, deliberately, arches himself backward, clawing at the air before a stunt coordinator helps ease him toward a black mattress.

That movement is translated into dots and lines on a nearby computer, transmitted by the round, white sensors embedded in the suits’ colorful almond-shaped patches. Later, those will be fleshed out into characters and scenes in the new “Call of Duty: Black Ops 7” game, which debuts Friday.

It’s all part of the blockbuster production effort that goes into making one of the most popular video game franchises ever. “Call of Duty,” from Santa Monica publisher Activision, has ranked as the top-selling video game series in the U.S. for 16 straight years and has sold more than 500 million copies globally since the first installment was released in 2003.

And as one of the few franchises with an annual release schedule, hitting that deadline takes an army. About 3,000 people worked on “Black Ops 7” over the course of four years.

Activision executives declined to discuss the game’s budget but called it a “significant investment.” Top video game franchises can have production costs of $250 million or more — higher than most big-budget Hollywood films.

“It’s like, every year we have to launch a new ‘Star Wars.’ Every year we have to launch a new ‘Avatar,’ ” said Tyler Bahl, chief marketing officer at Activision. “So we have to think about, how do we do this in an unexpected way?”

“Ultimately, we want to treat our games like an absolute blockbuster,” said Matt Cox, general manager of “Call of Duty” at Activision, who has worked on the franchise for more than 10 years. “The investment is there for them.”

Activision’s Treyarch game production studio is where Call of Duty video game is produced.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The franchise has become a key driver of Activision’s success, analysts said.

The base game consistently sells more than 20 million units annually, not including the live services components that update after a game’s launch and keep players engaged, monthly battle passes that unlock rewards or even the mobile game, all of which add up to an estimated annual sales of about $3.5 billion to $4 billion, said Eric Handler, media and entertainment analyst at Roth Capital.

In fact, the huge popularity of “Call of Duty” helped spur tech giant Microsoft’s interest in acquiring Activision, a $69-billion deal that was completed in 2023.

“It revolutionized the first-person shooter and has done a great job, year in and year out, of being the best of breed, building the largest community and evolving, pivoting to where video game players are all over the world,” Handler said. “There are other [shooter] franchises that are trying to replicate its success … but nobody’s been able to match the consistency of ‘Call of Duty.’”

To maintain its annual cadence, Activision rotates game development among several of its studios, including Playa Vista-based Treyarch, which co-developed “Black Ops 6” and “Black Ops 7” in parallel — the first time that two “Call of Duty: Black Ops” games came out in subsequent years.

The previous game is set in the ‘90s, while the newest installment jumps ahead to 2035, meaning designers and animators had to envision what gear and gadgets might look like in the future (“Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” was eerily accurate in its predictions for the year 2025).

“It was a huge opportunity for us to tell two unique but also connected stories at the same time,” said Yale Miller, senior director of production at Treyarch.

Unlike the linear nature of film production, many things happen in tandem when producing a game like “Call of Duty.” The game has a campaign mode that follows a story, a multiplayer option to play with friends and the ever-popular zombies portion, meaning each designated team is thinking in parallel about things like tone, features and playable moments that they want fans to experience, Miller said.

While an actor is recording lines, another team may be building the weapon they mention and making it interactive, while another group builds the explosion that the lines and weapon will be part of.

“It’s not just, ‘Oh, we got the shot. We’re done for the day,’ ” Miller said. The acting performance is “an anchor for a lot of the things that we build, but then it’s the whole world in parallel, and that’s how we get to such big teams working on stuff, and everything has to get thought about.”

The franchise has become known for its intense, cinematic quality, a reputation enhanced by the live-action film and television backgrounds of many who work on the games, including some stunt performers and Treyarch performance capture director Mikal Vega, who worked on the 2017 NBC drama “The Brave” after a long career in the military.

“It’s theater-in-the-round,” he said during a Zoom call from the stage. “A lot more like theater-in-the-round than film in some cases, and very much like film in other phases of it.”

And there is a bit of a learning curve, particularly because of the motion-capture technology used, which can make movements awkward.

In the new game, “This Is Us” star Milo Ventimiglia plays Lt. Cmdr. David Mason, a character who first appeared in 2012’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” and is now on the hunt for a former arms dealer who caused the death of his father and was previously believed dead.

Acting in “Black Ops 7” was “more technical” than his previous film and TV roles since it required getting used to a boom mic or camera that jutted out in front of him, he said. In one early instance, Ventimiglia went to scratch an itch on his cheek and was told by the crew not to put anything between his face and the camera, and to pantomime scratching outside of the camera, not realizing it wasn’t acting.

Then there were four-hour sessions in the sound booth, saying lines dozens of times in dozens of ways with any number of weapons.

“It’s super, super taxing, hard work, but fun at the same time,” Ventimiglia said. “When are you going to talk about calling out grenades and flash bangs and using different weapons? Very rarely.”

Adding to the cinematic quality are the hyper-realistic portrayals of actors, gear and costumes, which are the result of scans on a light stage that can re-create items in 3-D. Principal and background characters sit on a chair inside the sphere and do poses, surrounded by 16 DSLR cameras and dozens of hexagonal lights that emit a hazy glow. In 1.3 seconds, more than 256 images will be shot. Principal characters like Ventimiglia will typically do up to 120 poses — all to make sure the nuances of someone’s face are captured.

Evan Buttons, Activision director of technical projects, is photographed inside the face scanning studio.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

In a nearby room with a 22-foot ceiling and black, soundproof walls, an even larger sphere with more than 140 cameras and several video cameras are used to capture full body scans, gear and costumes. Everything captured then goes to the character art team, which will tweak it to their specifications and put it in the game.

Even in the days leading up to the game’s release, the team was still busy. In an era when internet speeds are faster, work doesn’t end with a game’s initial release. Content will be released regularly in the months after “Black Ops 7” debuts, all to keep it fresh for players, who can put more than 1,000 hours into the game.

“The No. 1 reason why they play ‘Call of Duty’ is actually because their friends are there,” said Bahl of Activision. “Those bonds and those social connections, I think, is really what makes this game different and stronger, and it’s made it last for so long.”

Alan Carr has shared a huge update on replacing Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman as the presenter of Strictly Come Dancing following his victory on Celebrity Traitors

The job offers haven’t stopped rolling in for Alan Carr since his momentous Celebrity Traitors win, with the comedian even tipped to take over hosting duties on BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing.

While he’s back with a new series of his hit comedy Changing Ends, the 49-year-old admits he’s unsure whether he could handle the challenge of stepping into Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly’s sparkly shoes.

“My name is in the hat,” he says. “What an honour. It’s a bit like when my name got bandied about for Britain’s Got Talent and The Great British Bake Off – I’m always on the periphery.

“I don’t know how serious it is. No one has approached me. People are so passionate about it and you saw me sweating in the castle when I was a Traitor, imagine me doing live telly with how many million people watching!”

Although after a star turn on The Celebrity Traitors, he knows how to convincingly lie – and that could come in handy on Strictly. If someone’s cha-cha-cha is a bit s**t, I’ve got the poker face!” he jokes.

“So many things have come from The Celebrity Traitors – so many job offers coming in – I’d be flattered, but I don’t know if I could do it [Strictly] justice. I just don’t want to ruin it for people.”

Alan is back on more familiar ground with Changing Ends – the semi-autobiographical sitcom about his childhood in 1980s Northampton.

Series three follows teenage Alan (played by Bafta nominee Oliver Savell) as he navigates obstacles such as stressful swimming lessons, and, more importantly, his first big crush – young Alan is smitten with Jake, the Saturday boy at the charity shop.

“I really got into charity shopping,” Alan smiles. “I used to go in there every Saturday and flick through the posters to catch his eye. I must have stunk like an old woman because I would get flares, I wore my dad’s sheepskin and we didn’t have dry cleaning like we do these days.

“I just wanted to be in love really. It still hasn’t happened!” With Alan now single after divorcing ex-husband Paul Drayton back in 2022, is he hoping his teenage crush will reach the real-life inspiration behind Jake?

“The boy knew then because I was just as unsubtle as I am now,” he laughs. “When I went back to Northampton, I saw him queuing up at a cash point. My knees went to jelly and I thought, ‘Oh my God, there he is.’ But I didn’t want to say hi.

“There’s still something there, but I don’t want a Surprise Surprise moment. He had his chance and he missed it! He could be dating a national treasure now.”

Fans will already know that Alan’s father Graham was famous himself – having been a professional footballer in the 1960s who went on to manage Northampton Town among other clubs. However, the new series also sees Alan’s mother Christine embracing life as a local WAG.

“We would drop my brother [Gary] off at Beavers and me and mum would sit in the Tesco café for an hour with a cup of tea and a Chelsea bun,” he says. “I remember this woman coming over in the canteen to ask for an autograph – I mean, it was funny.

“It sounds weird, but in Northampton, my dad was famous – people would stop him. My mum didn’t get the same standard as my dad, but it was funny. She was stopped a few times and people whispered, ‘That’s Graham Carr’s wife.’ Now she gets, ‘That’s Alan Carr’s mum – that’s the Traitor’s mum!’”

Christine isn’t always pleased with how Alan portrays his childhood, with Nancy Sullivan and Shaun Dooley playing his long-suffering parents.

“My mum goes, ‘Oh Alan, it wasn’t that obvious you were gay when you were a child.’ My mum, bless her – she’s still that she-wolf who goes up the school. ‘Don’t you pick on my Alan, he does fancy girls!’ I don’t think she realises how camp I am, she just loves me.”

Both his parents visited the show’s “surreal” set in Enfield, north London, which completely recreates his childhood home. “My poor dad walked up the stairs and nearly fell to his death because he thought the bedroom was upstairs,” he says. “How weird is that? It’s identical to the house. To have it decompartmentalised in a warehouse is so strange.”

As for whether we can expect more episodes of Changing Ends in the future, Alan says that it’s up to the fans.

“I like the stage it’s at – that weird puberty stage,” he says. “If people are watching and they want it to come back, I’ll think about writing some more.

“But when it gets to the call centre years at 18 and when I started packing shampoo and dog food, I think I’m going to run out of stories because that was a really bleak time. It could be like The Office and be called The Warehouse!”

Although, after managing to make it all the way to the very end of The Celebrity Traitors without being found out as a Traitor, Alan is concerned that viewers won’t trust him any more.

“I want it to be really authentic, but I worry now after doing The Celebrity Traitors people aren’t going to believe a word of Changing Ends!” he laughs.

Changing Ends, Sunday 23 November, 10.05pm, ITV1 and ITVX

MILLIE Bobby Brown clapped back at a red carpet photographer after he heckled her, telling the actress to “smile”.

The Hollywood star, 21, was attending the premiere for the fifth and final season of Netflix hit Stranger Things.

Posing for snappers at the Odeon Luxe in London’s Leicester Square, one shutterbug was seemingly left unimpressed.

Flashes fired in her direction, with the pack of media apparently wanting more as one shouted at her to smile.

Video footage shows the moment Millie pulls a face at the photographer in question before saying, “Smile? You smile”

After making her comment, she walks away from the carpet and stops posing altogether.

read more on stranger things

DON’T BE A STRANGER

Millie Bobby Brown stuns at Stranger Things London premiere

STRANGE REUNION

Millie Bobby Brown & David Harbour have OTT reunion amid ‘bullying claims’

The clip has gone viral on both TikTok and on X, formally known as Twitter.

It has divided followers, with some saying she had every right to leave, but others hitting back at the actress.

In Millie’s defence, one penned on X, “Celebrities are not legally obliged to smile when photographers request it.”

A second said, “Millie Bobby Brown serving major clapback energy.”

While a third responded, “Not exactly promoting them acting like d***s, but they seriously have the right to call out paparazzi Since Chappell Roan.

“We need these celebrities to show those unhuman paparazzi their place.”

Another added, “I feel for Millie Bobby Brown in this case.

“People used to say that I didn’t smile enough… My high school track coach used to say, ‘smile’, I even got disciplined at a JOB for NOT SMILING ENOUGH.”

A fifth said, “I feel bad for her. Probably the last kind of person that should be famous. I hope she get peace in her life.”

Others weren’t so sure, with another user writing on X, “Okay so I’m confused by this.

“How is a professional photographer asking you to smile offensive?”

A second said, “You’re on the Red Carpet to provide pictures for media outlets.

“Don’t be surprised when one of the photographers asks you to smile.”

While a third wrote, “Gurlll you’re on a red carpet.. posing for pictures… in front of a photographer. There is zero sexism involved here.”

TRAGIC PLUNGE

Boy, 2, dies in horror 20-storey fall from apartment window

what a WHOPPER 

I gave birth naturally to a ONE STONE baby… he’s set to be shock height

Another called her a “stroppy diva”.

They added, “She has a talent, that Holmes piece she did was very well done, but her attitude I think will not enable her to continue towards further success.”

Remember the brave, talented theater students at Eliot Arts magnet school who lost their school, homes and theater to January’s Eaton fire and went on to perform their spring musical, “Shrek Jr.,” to a sold-out crowd at the Ahmanson Theatre?

Those kids are still displaced from their school, but not from the tenacious community spirit that guided them through the aftermath of that trauma. Their next chapter: a four-day, three-night class trip to New York City to see the sights and attend Broadway shows and workshops.

“After ‘Shrek’ last spring, I sat down with a group of my advanced theater students, and I said, ‘Dream big. What else would you want in your fantasy world?’ Big things have happened for us this semester after the fires,” their drama teacher, Mollie Lief, said in a phone interview. “And they said, ‘We want to go to New York City.’ And I just thought, ‘OK, we’re gonna make this happen.’”

The class has now met its initial $75,000 fundraising goal toward “Broadway Bound: A drama and dance trip to NYC,” which Lief will lead along with dance teacher Billy Rugh, who choreographed “Shrek Jr.” The funds, which will help cover the partial or full cost of taking 61 seventh and eighth graders to the Big Apple from April 7-10, were raised in about 28 days through a school fundraising campaign app called SnapRaise.

Lief credited actor Gillian Jacobs — who Lief calls “our fairy godmother” — with spreading the word to friends in film and TV, which is why the initial goal was met so quickly. Fundraising remains ongoing for the trip, as well as the school’s spring musical, but the class can now rest easy that everyone will be able to go.

“I think everybody was skeptical that we were going to be able to raise that much money and make it happen. But if Eliot’s good at anything, we are good at making big things happen,” said Lief.

Speaking of which: The other really big thing that Lief wants for the kids is a meeting with Broadway superstar and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda sent a personal message of support to the students via video when they performed at the Ahmanson, so he’s aware of them and their extraordinary story.

“They just love him,” Lief said of Miranda. “We had a Lin-Manuel Miranda day for Hispanic Heritage Month, and everybody dressed up as him or a character from one of his shows. They are all obviously obsessed with ‘Hamilton,’ which is a show we’re trying to see when we’re in New York.”

Three Broadway shows are part of the trip’s itinerary, as well as a theater and dance workshop or two. Also on the agenda: plenty of New York pizza, a jaunt through Central Park, a sightseeing cruise and a Big Bus tour.

“They’re super pumped,” Lief said of the kids who are currently rehearsing for their newest show, “The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood.”

On our radar

Grant Gershon will conduct the Los Angeles Master Chorale in David Lang’s “before and after nature” Sunday at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

(Jamie Phan / Los Angeles Master Chorale)

before and after nature
The fall’s third and largest major environment-themed work is David Lang’s “before and after nature,” an evening-length score that was commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and had its premiere in the spring at Stanford University in conjunction with the Doerr School of Sustainability. Here, Lang explores, in his almost Hildegard-like glowing vocal writing, the human relationship with a nature that doesn’t need us, or want us, yet we insist on being the center of everything and making an inevitable mess of it. The instrumental ensemble is Bang on a Can All-Stars (Lang having been a founder of the New York music institution). The performance includes a video component by Tal Rosner, and Grant Gershon conducts.
— Mark Swed
7:30 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. lamasterchorale.org

A 1989 billboard poster about museum representation by the Guerrilla Girls.

(Getty Research Institute)

How to Be a Guerrilla Girl
The Guerrilla Girls famously shield their identity by wearing gorilla masks in public, but this show will unveil “how-to” information on their effective techniques of data research, distribution and culture jamming. Drawing on the witty protest group’s early archives, acquired in 2008 by the Getty Research Institute, their 40th anniversary will be celebrated by an exhibition of materials outlining the collaborative process that goes into their ongoing demands for art world equity for women and artists of color. A selection from their dozens of posters and ads will be displayed.
— Christopher Knight
Tuesday through April 12, 2026. Getty Center, Research Institute Galleries, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles. getty.edu

The Broadway production of the musical “Suffs.”

(Joan Marcus)

Suffs
This musical by Shaina Taub, which won Tony Awards for book and original score, turns the history of the 20th century American women’s suffrage movement into a show that rallies the spirit of democracy. The plot follows Alice Paul and a new generation of radical activists who are testing new tactics in the fight to secure women the right to vote. During the Broadway run, Hillary Clinton, one of the show’s high-profile producers, went on the stump for “Suffs,” endorsing its much-needed lesson that progress is possible, if never guaranteed.
— Charles McNulty
Wednesday through Dec. 7. Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. broadwayinhollywood.com

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY

Olga de Amaral, “Gran Muro, Panel 7B,” 1976. Cotton, wool, horsehair, sisal and/or jute, rayon, nylon, raffia. 130 x 175 in.

(Mark Waldhauser / Photo from Lisson Gallery)

Olga de Amaral
This solo exhibition of work from the Colombian artist’s six-decade career emphasizes her use of weaving, painting and sculpture, with variable scale, form and materials, including linen, wool, horsehair, Japanese paper, acrylic and precious metals.
Opening, 6-8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Lisson Gallery, 1037 N. Sycamore Ave. Los Angeles. lissongallery.com

60 Miles East: Riverside’s Underground Punk Rock, Hardcore & Ska Scene, from the late 1980s to early 2000s
An exhibit of photography devoted to a distinctive music scene that made the most of its outsider existence in exploding exurbia.
Riverside Museum of Art, Art Alliance Gallery, 3425 Mission Inn Ave. riversideartmuseum.org

SATURDAY

Yaphet Kotto, Sigourney Weaver and Ian Holm in the 1979 film “Alien.”

(Robert Penn / 20th Century Fox)

Alien
Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi classic screens in 35 mm to capture all of its oozing, Xenomorphic chest-bursting glory. Sigourney Weaver, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto and Tom Skerritt star.
7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

Creative Continuities: Family, Pride and Community in Native Art
Three contemporary Plains Indian artists, John Pepion (Blackfeet), Brocade Stops Black Eagle (Crow) and Jessa Rae Growing Thunder (Dakota/Nakoda), each curated a section of this exhibition exploring aspects of Native culture through the lens of works created by their ancestors.
Saturday-June 2027. Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park. theautry.org

Jlin
A 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist, the electronic music composer a.k.a. Jerrilynn Patton’s latest album featured collaborations with Philip Glass, Björk and Kronos Quartet.
8 p.m. Saturday. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu

Baratunde Thurston will perform Saturday at Carpenter Center.

(Roy Rochlin / Getty Images for Unfinished Live)

An Evening with Baratunde Thurston
The comedian and futurist ponders interrelationships between people, nature and technologies through stories.
8 p.m. Carpenter Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach. carpenterarts.org

SUNDAY
Radical Histories: Chicano Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Six decades of art featuring 60 works by 40 or so artists and collectives that reflects an era of rebellion and cultural solidarity.
Through March 2, 2026. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. huntington.org

Something’s Gotta Give
The American Cinematheque’s tribute to Diane Keaton continues with director Nancy Meyers’ 2003 romantic comedy co-starring Jack Nicholson, Amanda Peet and Keanu Reeves. Meyers joins film critic Katie Walsh for a Q&A.
7 p.m. Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica. americancinematheque.com

Takács Quartet
The chamber music ensemble performs a program featuring works by Joseph Haydn, Clarice Assad and Claude Debussy.
4 p.m. Broad Stage at Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St. broadstage.org

TUESDAY
Brahms Strings
Members of the L.A. Phil perform contemporary American composer Jessie Montgomery’s “Strum” as well as19th century masterworks by Johannes Brahms.
8 p.m. Tuesday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com

THURSDAY
Lonnie Holley and Moor Mother
The two artists collaborate for an evening of free jazz and spoken word rooted in Afrofuturism.
7:30 p.m. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org

Prieto
The L.A. premiere of poet and performance artist Yosimar Reyes dives into his experience growing up queer in East San Jose.
8 p.m. Thursday; 8 p.m. Nov. 21-22; 2 p.m. Nov. 23. The Rosenthal Theater at Inner-City Arts, 720 Kohler St., Los Angeles. brownpapertickets.com

New Original Works (NOW)
The third weekend of REDCAT’s annual festival of experimental performance features a program of works by Lu Coy, jeremy de’jon guyton and Luna Izpisua Rodriguez.
8 p.m Thursday-Saturday. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown L.A. redcat.org

Shelley Conducts Carmen and Daphnis and Chloe
Artistic and music director designate Alexander Shelley conducts the Pacific Symphony in a program of Bizet and Ravel, as well composer/pianist Gabriel Montero’s “Latin Concerto.”
8 p.m Thursday; 8 p.m. Nov. 21-22. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. pacificsymphony.org

Culture news and the SoCal scene

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has officially set its opening date for Sept. 22, 2026. The Times got an exclusive peek at a few interiors, including the research library and the entrance lobby. We also took some great photos of the building as it currently looks and made a short video. Take a peek.

Times classical music critic Mark Swed weighs in on opera’s “long and curious fetish for the convent” in his review of Sarah Kirkland Snider’s “sincere and compelling ‘Hildegard.’” L.A. Opera’s collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects is based on “a real-life 12th century abbess and present-day cult figure, St. Hildegard von Bingen.” The show, which premiered at the Wallis last week, “operates as much as a passion play as an opera,” Swed writes.

Swed also took in a show featuring Zubin Mehta, the 89-year-old Los Angeles Philharmonic’s conductor emeritus, as he led the orchestra in Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony. Swed calls Mehta “a living L.A. icon.”

Times theater critic Charles McNulty touched down in New York City to review “The Queen of Versailles,” an adaptation of Lauren Greenfield’s 2012 documentary about a family building a supersized American home. McNulty found the musical unwieldy despite Michael Arden’s superb direction, but he reserved special praise for its star, Kristin Chenoweth, “who is bearing the weight of a McMansion musical on her diminutive frame and making it seem like she’s hoisting nothing heavier than a few overstuffed Hermes, Prada and Chanel shopping bags.”

Sculptures by the entrance of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

I enjoyed writing about the $15-million renovation of the Norton Simon Museum, which has been unveiled in tandem with the organization’s 50th anniversary. In addition to new signage, improved curb appeal and a more accessible pedestrian entryway, the museum restored the 115,000 Heath tiles that clad the building’s exterior.

Times art critic Christopher Knight has the scoop on trouble at the Palm Springs Art Museum, which is facing a trustee revolt after hiring its new director, Christine Vendredi — the fourth such leader in just seven years. A week after the hire, “the chair of the search committee tasked with filling that position, trustee Patsy Marino, resigned from the museum’s board citing ‘inappropriate interference and attempts to influence the process’ on the part of the museum’s executive committee, individual trustees and other unidentified museum staff and donors,” Knight writes. To date, 22 trustees have exited, and it has been revealed that no other candidates were interviewed for the role.

Finally, read how the creators behind the new “Paranormal Activity” play are bringing jump scares to the Ahmanson Theatre. Hint: It’s all about what you don’t see.

Eddie Izzard arrives at the London premiere of “Moonage Daydream” in 2022.

(Scott Garfitt / Invision / AP)

British comedian and actor Eddie Izzard is bringing her solo performance of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to L.A.’s Montalbán Theatre for seven nights from Jan. 22-31. While in New York, the show received a New York Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for outstanding solo performance, and a nomination for the New York Drama League’s Distinguished Performance Award.

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announced a major departure: Robert van Leer is stepping down as executive director and chief executive of the Wallis to take on the role of the new performing arts program director of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Van Leer has been at the Wallis since April 2023, and was instrumental in inviting a host of prominent performing arts organizations to make the Wallis their home, including Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, L.A. Dance Project, Los Angeles Ballet, BODYTRAFFIC, and Tonality.

“Specter,” a sculptural installation for Desert X by L.A. artist Sterling Ruby, just outside Palm Springs in 2019.

(Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

Big changes are coming to Desert X as it plans its sixth exhibition in the Coachella Valley, and its 10th worldwide. Over the past decade, the organization has commissioned more than 100 artists to create site-specific work in the desert. For its 10th anniversary exhibition, Desert X has announced new dates and an extended timeline. The next show is scheduled to open on Oct. 30, 2027, and will run through May 7, 2028, to coincide with other important area cultural events including the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Modernism Week, Frieze Los Angeles and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Carol Burnett has endowed a new scholarship at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. The annual award will support undergraduate students in the school’s Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program. The inaugural scholarship has been awarded to first-year theater major Alexa Cruz.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Looking for a decadent holiday gift for an art lover? How about a $295 chocolate bar made by andSons Chocolatiers in collaboration with Ed Ruscha? The 73% Peruvian dark chocolate bar is an edition of 300 and comes in a cloth-bound box, which, according to the Beverly Hills-based chocolate company’s website, features “a reproduction of Ruscha’s 1971 lithograph ‘Made in California’” and “bears the relief of the West Coast’s rugged topography from the Pacific Ocean eastward to the Santa Lucia Mountains.”

Queen guitarist Brian May was a guest on Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh on Sunday afternoon.

Queen’s legendary guitarist, Brian May, opened up about his health scare during a chat on ITV’s Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh.

This follows the star’s recent update to fans about his ‘future plans’ on the programme.

Last year, the 78-year-old rocker experienced a minor stroke that left him unable to use one of his arms, an ordeal he described as ‘scary’.

Acknowledging that this “little health hiccup’ came out of the blue, Brian has since told his fans that he’s now regained movement in his arm.

Alan commented: “We were concerned, you had a bit of a stroke. But, you seem to be fully recovered, that was last year.”

Brian responded: “I’ve had a number of things, Alan, yeah, the stroke was one of them.

“I’ve been lucky, I get these things, but I seem to be able to get out of them. They give you a wake-up call.”

The iconic guitarist told Alan that experiences like these teach you that it’s time to make changes in your life, reports Devon Live.

When asked how he’s made adjustments, Brian revealed he’s ramped up his exercise routine and started paying more attention to his diet.

He added: “I keep moving, I do my biking a lot of times a week. I do a hundred lengths in the pool once a week. To me, that’s what’s keeping me going. That’s what’s keeping me alive.

“I have proof! I have all the bloods that they do and all the evidence that we get and they go, ‘you’re doing the right things Brian’. So, for now, I’m still here.”

Alan remarked: “We’re delighted you’re still here. We’re glad to have you with us here.”

Brian’s wife and actress Anita Dobson has also spoken out about the stroke, revealing to the Sunday Telegraph that he had been ‘diligently following medical advice’

She remarked: “He takes his tablets, does his exercises. He’s a good boy.”

When questioned if she needs to nudge him, the actress added: “Sometimes with the tablets. I’m not often dictatorial but it’s important, because it’s his life.”

Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh is available to watch on ITVX.

LEGENDARY The Simpsons writer Dan McGrath has died at the age of 61, his family announced.

The award-winning comedy writer, who also worked on Saturday Night Live, died following a stroke, his sister said.

Gail Garabadian wrote on Facebook: “We lost my incredible brother Danny yesterday. He was a special man, one of a kind.

“An incredible son, brother, uncle and friend. Our hearts are broken.”

She told Hollywood Reporter that he passed away at NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn.

Dan kicked off his career at SNL, when he often collaborated with Adam Sandler.

He then had two stints as a writer for The Simpsons, followed by eight years on King of the Hill.

He went on to win an Emmy for writing the iconic 1997 Simpsons episode Homer’s Phobia.

The episode sees Homer befriending an antiques dealer, and later discovering he is gay.

It was also honoured by GLAAD – which promotes fairness in media – for its anti-homophobia message.

Dan is survived by his wife Caroline, his mother, Eleanor and siblings as well as nieces and nephews.

The writer cut his teeth on Harvard University’s student comedy publication, The Harvard Lampoon.

He landed a job for Saturday Night Live in 1991, and stayed there for two seasons.

During that time, he shared an Emmy nomination.

He began working on The Simpsons in 1992, and wrote 50 episodes across two years.

Dan later received producing credits on 24 episodes from 1996-98.

His most memorable episodes include The Devil and Homer Simpson, Time and Punishment, Bart of Darkness, instalments of the Treehouse of Horror series, Boy-Scoutz ’n the Hood and Homer’s Phobia.

Dan said that both his runs with the show ended with him being fired.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow…

Richard Linklater’s love letter to Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 debut “Breathless,” shot by cinematographer David Chambille, pulsates with the rhythm, rebellion and romance of the French New Wave, crafting an artistic interpretation of the classic film’s production and the transformation of its director. In its closing chapter, Godard’s signature sunglasses catch a reflection of his own iconic film — an amateur is now the auteur. “There’s a similar shot at the beginning of the movie where he’s looking at ‘The 400 Blows’ at Cannes and Godard is nothing at that moment. Then at the end, you see him in sunglasses looking at what he has achieved,” says Chambille, who shot “Nouvelle Vague” in black and white as an homage to the original. The visually magnetic image — created in-camera without visual effects — was one of the first ideas Linklater had in creating his Godard character, played by Guillaume Marbeck. The sunglasses are not only an accessory, but a barrier to keep the world, and perhaps himself, at a distance. “Richard wanted to say something deeper. That he’s living movies, he’s living cinema and he has moving images instead of eyes,” says the cinematographer. “We often say that we can read the sound of somebody through their eyes. And in this case, you can see the sound of Godard through movies.”

Netflix and K-Pop star Nana is said to have bravely fought off an armed home intruder who knocked her mum out during a physical struggle

A Netflix star is reportedly in hospital after she and her mum fought off an armed man who broke into their home.

Nana – who shot to fame as part of K-pop group After School in the Noughties – bravely confronted the robber who is said to have threatened them with a weapon and demanded money.

The 34-year-old singer’s mother was knocked out during the altercation, and both required medical attention after they sustained ‘serious injuries’ following the physical struggle, local police said.

It happened at their home in Seoul, South Korea, in the early hours of the morning. The pair were able to detain the man until police arrived.

READ MORE: Terrifying moment pop star collapses on stage during festival

A local detective told AFP news agency that the intruder, who is in his 30s, was attempting to steal cash and valuables and has now been detained on charges of aggravated robbery.

Giving an update on the condition of Nana and her mother, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said: “Nana also sustained physical injuries while trying to escape the dangerous situation.”

“The mother has regained consciousness, and both of them are currently in need of treatment and complete rest,” the agency added.

Nana – whose real name is Im Jin-ah – first rose to fame back in 2009 with the popular K-pop girl group After School. This spawned sub groups Orange Caramel and After School Red.

The group is no longer active, but she has gained popularity over the past decade as an actor starring in several TV series, including Kill It and Justice, both crime dramas which first aired in 2019.

Then in 2021 she was cast in the Netflix series Glitch, a South Korean science fiction series about a young woman who teams up with a UFO enthusiast to search for her boyfriend who has mysteriously disappeared.

The K-pop icon is also said to be starring in the upcoming drama Climax and the Netflix series Scandals (tentative title), where she plays the role of Hui-yeon, a widow who vows to remain chaste after losing her husband.

Based on the 2003 Korean film Untold Scandal, it reimagines the story of the French novel Dangerous Liaisons and features a ‘dangerous love game’ between the characters. The drama is set to be released next year.

But music is still a passion as Nana released her first ever solo album in September.

Titled Seventh Heaven 16, it means ‘the highest happiness’ and she paid tribute to her mother as she she unveiled a new tattoo of the year 1968 – a tribute to her mother’s birth year.

READ MORE: ‘Ninja’s Crispi airfryer transformed my everyday meals and now it’s £40 off for Black Friday’

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