Ian

No actor in a movie this month is enjoying themselves more than Ian McKellen as an egomaniac painter in Steven Soderbergh’s slender pleasure “The Christophers.” Once, his Julian Sklar was the bisexual provocateur of the London art scene commanding millions for a single piece. Now he’s better known as the villain of “Art Fight,” a reality competition show where he took cruel pleasure destroying amateurs’ hopes.

Equally dismissive of his own output, Julian hasn’t wielded a paintbrush in decades. And so his adult children Barnaby and Sallie (James Corden and Jessica Gunning of “Baby Reindeer”) — two money-grubbing, untalented brats — hire a broke art restorer, Lori (Michaela Coel), to finish a stack of half-sketched portraits Julian made of his male ex-lover that were left abandoned in the attic. Don’t think of it as forgery, Barnaby assures Lori, “more like forging through them until they are completed.”

That’s a great line, and “The Christophers” has a dozen more almost as good. Nearly all get delivered by McKellen’s Julian, waving a champagne coupe while monologuing about humidifiers, cancel culture and a doctor who smells like radishes. He seems to imagine acolytes — or at least, television audiences — eagerly soaking up his bon mots. Meanwhile, Lori, a young Black woman hired under false pretenses as an assistant, stares mutely. If their first meeting as boss and employee were freeze-framed into a painting, it would be called “A Study in Contrasts.”

The script is by Ed Solomon, who also collaborated with Soderbergh on the more action-packed 2021 gangster movie “No Sudden Move.” This plot doodles along, rarely going where we expect. Mostly, Julian and Lori take turns thwarting his obnoxious kids and threatening to quit. I chuckled every time Corden and Gunning showed up for more abuse, including from Soderbergh, who shoots them like a wall of stupidity, blocking doorways as they stand side-by-side like Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

The inequalities of the art world are gestured to as fact. Lori, who might be every bit as technically gifted as Julian, ekes out a living serving egg rolls in a food truck while sharing a walk-up loft with three other struggling painters. Julian lords over not one but two swanky adjoining townhouses stuffed with antiques. Once, to flip off the establishment, he sold a work worth 2 million British pounds for the price of a used car. His version of disdain is her idea of a fortune.

One stick figure by Julian would be worth more than anything Lori’s ever done, which makes it extra maddening that he chooses instead to earn a little extra pocket money recording video messages for fans who only care about him as that mean guy on TV. In the glow of a ring light, he tosses off glib advice that might itself be worthless. Quit art school, he tells one, and “happy birthday, blah, blah, blah.” (Even imagining a popular TV show about art is, in itself, culturally aspirational for those of us who enjoy reruns of Bob Ross.)

Why is there such disparity between the value of Julian and Lori’s work? The reasons are so obvious that, to the film, they’re barely worth mentioning: age, gender, era, fame and skill. Julian would dismiss the first two, claiming that wokeness gives an old, white male like him the handicap. But it’s frustrating that the film doesn’t dig very deep into the rest, either. I especially wanted a scene where Julian must reckon with a no-name interloper’s ability to copy his genius, but comparing whether Lori is Julian’s equal would call the film’s bluff and force it to actually show us their art. The handheld camera prefers to lurk on the wooden side of the easel.

Really, I’m not sure Soderbergh even has an opinion on their clash. He just wants to be an eavesdropper in the room, standing back against the dusty brick-a-brack. Of course, if you squint, you can see what interests Soderbergh in this set-up. Like Julian, he’s been threatening to retire for years. He knows how irritated people are when an artist claims they don’t want to bother anymore. And like the neglected paintings in the attic — the Christophers of the title — every filmmaker has their own unfinished projects taking up mental space overhead, treasured ideas that will never emerge to their satisfaction.

Still, I suspect that even if Soderbergh personally identifies with the premise (even though he continues to release more movies in one year than his peers do in five), he still finds Julian’s paralysis a bit pathetic. Julian just needs paint, a brush and the will to create. Filmmakers, now those poor bastards need rich patrons.

Even so, Soderbergh likes to make movies as resourcefully as he can, doing his own editing and cinematography and, above all, prioritizing the act of invention. He can’t be copied because his own work is so eclectic. Have you ever heard of any director being called the next Soderbergh? You sense that, to him, forgery is as creatively dull as a factory-issued franchise sequel. (Except, of course, his “Magic Mike” and “Ocean’s” series, which are, at their best, closer to wacky Warhols.)

Tasked to play the foil to McKellen’s clown, Coel comes off stiff. She has the spine to hold her own against him, but it’s hard to play withholding, particularly when the film needs her character to be both the voice of reason and a politically correct scold. Only her carved cheekbones give off an impression of Lori’s hungry ambition. Still, when she does deign to speak, there’s a dynamite scene where she dresses down Julian critically and psychologically. Whether or not she’s the second coming of him as an artist, she’s more insightful than he ever was insulting watercolors of kittens on TV.

Really, we’re just watching McKellen give a bravura, scene-gobbling performance that doesn’t hold back one iota. My favorite detail he pulls off comes when he greets Lori at the front door undressed and, when she insists he wear clothes, ties on a trench coat that somehow makes him look even more pervy and naked in how McKellen wears it, leaving one bare shoulder roguishly exposed.

The film has plenty of funny little asides like that which make it worth your while. Angelenos will chuckle at a scene in which two characters verbally commit to a meet-up both know won’t happen — or, as we say here, let’s do lunch. Out of magnanimity, I’ll liken this trifle to a Rothko. The more I think about “The Christophers,” the more I imagine it has interesting layers. But I won’t fault anyone who just sees a simple square.

The actor will this time take the character to Miami for the chaos of the World Cup, involving 48 teams and 16 venues

Hugh Bonneville is back as Ian Fletcher, and this time around the BBC’s former Head of Values is in America, dealing with the World Cup.

The Downton star, who first introduced Fletcher in the Olympics-spoofing series Twenty Twelve and then brought him back for W1A, said that playing Ian again was so painful it was akin to a nasty visit to the dentist. “It’s a bit like root canal in that you know there’s a massive well of poison in your mouth and it’s got to be dealt with. And after it’s finished, it’s rather nice,” he laughed. “But the process itself is agony.”

Hugh, 62, says that Ian Fletcher has “evolved” since the last time we saw him. “Although, ‘evolution’ is, of course, an interesting word, conjuring images of change. “If Ian was a lapel pin it would be enamelled with the words, Stay Calm. The seas may be tossed and blown but Ian will be neither tossed and certainly not blown.”

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But he questions how much Ian has actually learned from the chaos of his past experiences. “The tragicomedy of life is that we may think we develop and change but actually most of us reset at the end of each day to catastrophically normal and – if we can afford one – a take-away.”

One new element in this series is a potential romance between Ian the terribly keen VP Sustainability Sarah Campbell (Chelsey Crisp).Writer John Morton says he “can’t remember” if the actually happens, while Hugh says cryptically: “During this series Ian’s eyes are opened a teeny bit to emotional opportunity. Then again, he’s also recovering from a detached retina.”

The actor admits his own football experience as the Under 11 B Team goalie at his junior school was an unhappy one. “I was fat and I was rubbish at running up and down. So I was put in goal. It was the days where you wore a padded top as a goalie, which was quite a warm garment, actually. So that was nice. I was quite cosy, toddling up and down in my little goal, pretending to stretch, in my green, figure-hugging little duvet. I don’t think I ever saved a ball.”

Morton said that none of the shows are actually about what they appear to be, and that they all work as standalone programmes. “Although W1A was about the BBC, this appears to be about football and 2012 was about the Olympics, none of them are really about those things,” he explained. “That’s what they’re tussling with on the surface, but underneath is where the real stuff is happening. Anybody that’s trying to organise anything with a group of people will, I hope, recognise this. Those dynamics I think are pretty much universal.”

He said that the BBC was the show’s natural home. “There’s a sort of BBCness about Ian Fletcher, a guy who’s kind of hamstrung by trying to do the right thing all the time. And I have, just personally, a huge amount of respect and affection for the BBC. I think they’re one of the best things we do. I think they’re very, very precious. And W1A was never intended to be a takedown, just as this isn’t, of anybody or anything.”

– Twenty Twenty Six, BBC Two, 10pm, Wednesday 8 April

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I wanted to give an official welcome and formally introduce Ian Ellis-Jones (@ianellisjones) to our audience!

Ian is coming on as our head of audience development, a critical position for the present and the future of TWZ. This will include executing a full-spectrum social media strategy, being master of ceremonies for our incredible comments section, and bringing his fantastic interpretive graphics skills to our editorial team. The latter will include establishing a new section on TWZ’s homepage under a segment called Actionable Intel.

Actionable Intel will feature short-form content that will be graphic-driven. This will include charts of deployed forces, such as our new capital ship tracker, as well as satellite imagery analysis and more. In other words, Ian will be bringing a whole new kind of storytelling to TWZ that is quicker to consume and visually focused.

To give you an idea of how talented Ian is at graphical representations of complex things, check out his Epic Fury battle map:

A little bit about Ian:

Ian is a social media strategist and OSINT analyst and researcher. Before joining TWZ, he was the creator of IEJ Media, a national security-focused media brand, where his work appeared in various publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Fox News, Newsweek, Task and Purpose, and more. Prior to entering the defense media space, he was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs where he worked with Technology, Media, and Telecom clients.

Ian is replacing Kyle Gunn for the social media and commenting section moderation side of things. Kyle is now the host of Task and Purpose‘s YouTube channel. He is an incredible guy, and we will miss him.

Also, just as a programming note, we are continuing to expand our YouTube operation with a mix of new content, the flagship of which is our Special Access series of on-location, hands-on reporting, hosted by our Jamie Hunter. We hope to transition this out of the pilot stage and into serialized production soon. Please be sure to follow us on YouTube. There is a lot of great content over there and much more impressive additions coming, including entirely new segments that could feature some of the names you see around here daily.

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In addition to X and Facebook, where TWZ has always been, be sure to also check out our Instagram, LinkedIn, and Bluesky accounts, where Ian will be sharing more of our stories.

We are also in the process of making some other key hires as TWZ continues to expand and evolve. A subscription option is also finally on the horizon. More to come on all this and more soon.

Finally, I am so busy that I am not able to interact as much as I would like. This is one drawback of the growth we have seen while still maintaining a small and agile team that has been absolutely crushed by the wave after wave of major news events. But it is important for me to tell you how thankful I am to all of you for reading, sharing, commenting, and reaching out to us directly. On my worst, most tired day doing this crazy job in this place we all built together, I pinch myself. That I am able to do this, with this team, with this level of editorial independence, and in our unique voice, is truly unprecedented in the modern media landscape.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com

FEARNE Cotton has revealed she felt “shamed, stared at and ignored” by colleagues after the arrest of her former boyfriend Ian Watkins.

While she does not mention him by name, the former Radio 1 star discusses a “life-altering” news story connected to her in her new book.

In Likeable, released this week, the former BBC Radio 1 host hints at the difficult period she endured after the Lostprophets frontman admitted to 13 child sex offences.

The now 44-year-old recalls being live on air when “a horrible news story that doesn’t involve me yet has a tenuous and life-altering link to me will be broadcast on my own radio show again that day”.

Fearne briefly dated Lostprophets frontman Watkins in the mid-2000s after the pair met at the Kerrang! Awards.

The relationship is believed to have lasted around a year, and the presenter largely kept it out of the spotlight at the time.

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His offending only came to light years after the pair had split.

Watkins was arrested in 2012 over child sex offences and convicted the following year, during which time Fearne was hosting BBC Radio 1’s weekday mid-morning show.

The radio star wrote: “I feel simultaneously glared at, stared at, yet utterly ignored by those in the office.

“Are they all talking about me behind my back? Or am I a narcissist for thinking that?”

Ian Watkins later pleaded guilty to offences including the attempted rape of a child and was jailed for 29 years in 2013.

In quotes obtained by The Mirror, Fearne writes that she struggled with intense shame and nausea as she tried to keep broadcasting.

Trying to push through, she explained that she “shoved down the anger, the rage, the sorrow and tears” in order to keep going, describing the period as one of “depression and a heaviness”.

However, she said she has since worked through those feelings in therapy and realised the shame was never hers to carry.

Instead, she wrote that it “belongs to others” and mostly the men from her past.

The mother-of-two added: “Men who have shamed me, treated me badly and left me lumbered with it.”

Watkins died from blood loss at HMP Wakefield in October after being stabbed in the neck.

West Yorkshire Police later charged two men, aged 25 and 43, with murder. Their trial is set to begin in May.

Shortly after the news of his death, Fearne shared a reflective post on Instagram in which she spoke about struggling with shame and sleep.

“Here are four things that I learned this week,” she said in the video.

“The first one was from the Happy Place podcast where I spoke to Charlie Mackesy who talked a lot about shame which I greatly appreciated.

“And the one reminder that I had from that episode was that so many of us feel shame but we assume it’s just us because that is what shame does.

“It wants you to believe that it’s just you but it’s not…”

She added in the caption: “Four life lessons from this week. I’m not sleeping well.

My brain is a bit wobbly at the moment but I’m grasping the lessons life is chucking my way.”

Insiders previously told the Mail the presenter is “haunted” and “very, very humiliated” each time his name is mentioned.