Paul

“LINDA looks so beautiful, so cool,” says Paul McCartney.

He’s just been watching a film about the decade of his life after The Beatles broke up — and it is filled with images of his much-missed first wife.

“The Linda stuff was very emotional,” he admits at the Man On The Run launch event in London.

“Linda, the kids, me and John [Lennon] — all these memories. It’s like my life flashing in front of me.”

Macca is talking to an intimate gathering that includes his daughter Stella, son James, superfan Noel Gallagher and the actor who will play him in a forthcoming biopic, Paul Mescal. Oh, and me.

He continues: “Seeing me and Linda interacting is special because, you know, she’s not here.

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“So is seeing the kids when they were little, because they’re not little any more. They’ve got kids of their own now.”

The film stirs memories of forming his own band, Wings, with Linda in 1971, prompting this from McCartney: “We tried to follow The Beatles — it’s mad!”

It also brings into sharp focus his relationship with Lennon, which broke down in the wake of The Beatles split but, as we see, they reconciled shortly before John’s death.

Directed by Oscar-winning Morgan Neville, Man On The Run is a masterpiece of ­documentary storytelling.

Rich in source material, partly because Linda was a professional photographer who also shot home movies, it is raw, heartfelt, funny, poignant and, crucially, not remotely sugar-coated.

Before the screening starts, Sir Paul, looking fit and well for his 83 years, strolls on to the stage and quips: “I just want to say thank you to Morgan for keeping in all the embarrassing moments that I asked him to take out.”

But let’s get back to the big ­question: How DO you follow The Beatles?

It was a conundrum that weighed heavily on McCartney as the ­Swinging Sixties drew to a close.

As he puts it himself in the movie, the first thing he did was “escape” and then he had to learn how “to grow up”.

He had married American Linda Eastman in March, 1969, at Marylebone Town Hall, London, and soon afterwards adopted her daughter Heather from a previous marriage.

McCartney was still only 27 when, on April 10, 1970, he told the world that he, John Lennon, George ­Harrison and Ringo Starr were going their separate ways.

The announcement came amid acrimony over the band’s crooked business manager Allen Klein, favoured at the time by John and the others but later described by Paul as “a sort of demon”.

It was all over for the band of four likely lads from Liverpool who changed popular culture for ever.

In private, McCartney had known for months that his songwriting partner Lennon was leaving.

“John broke up The Beatles,” Macca affirms in Man On The Run. “But I got the rap. And that’s a bit of a weight to bear.”

Around the same time as ­Lennon’s bombshell, in late 1969, there were rumours across the US and around the world that “Beatle Paul may be dead”.

There’s a hilarious moment in the film when his younger brother Mike is asked whether it’s true.

“It’s a hoax, it’s a con,” he exclaims, before being asked when was the last time he saw his brother.

Mike replies: “The last time? It was his funeral, I think!”

It turned out that McCartney had the perfect bolthole, in an archetypal middle of nowhere, to hide away and reset his life.

In 1966, he had bought High Park Farm, a 183-acre sheep farm on the Mull of Kintyre (yes, that explains the song) in Argyllshire, only reached via a “long and winding” track.

With its corrugated iron roof and general state of dilapidation, it was, as someone in the film points out, the sort of place a poor farm labourer might baulk at accepting.

But, as the Sixties ebbed to a close, Paul, Linda, their daughters, Heather and baby Mary, plus their Old English Sheepdog ­Martha decamped to the Scottish wilds.

In the movie, McCartney suggests, “We got up there to escape”, and ponders whether he would write “another note of music” before confessing to drowning himself in one wee dram of Scotch after another.

But, with the responsibility of supporting a young family on his shoulders, he realised that “it was a question of HAVING to grow up”.

At the Man On The Run launch, McCartney reflects: “With The Beatles, we were just lads. Everyone, all our management, used to call us ‘the boys’.

“Then I got married and then there was a baby [Mary] on the way.

“I had to grow up. I thought, ‘We can’t just be these ‘boys’ any more’. It was time to think about stuff.

“Even though the film is kind of madcap and you see all our insane decisions, in the background there were some sensible decisions, too.”

He remembers how Linda was his guiding light through those years.

“If there was an idea that was a little bit crazy, I’d say, ‘Should I do that? Could I do that?’ She’d say, ‘It’s allowed’. It was a brilliant philosophy in life.”

Director Neville picks up on this theme: “I looked into the questions Paul was trying to ask of himself, questions that I felt were universal.

“How do you deal with your own legacy and the expectations people have of you? How do you balance your career with your family?

“In Paul’s case, he made them one and the same. And that, I thought, was completely inspirational.”

Though Kintyre provided a necessary respite from the dazzling glare of publicity, Macca has never been far away from making music. It’s in his blood.

In 1970, he released his debut solo album, simply titled McCartney, with its intimate DIY aesthetic and featuring at least two songs with his beloved partner in mind — The Lovely Linda and Maybe I’m Amazed.

In 1971, he formed Wings with ex-Moody Blues musician Denny Laine and, controversially, Linda, who until that point had little or no experience, as core members.

Rehearsals for their debut album Wild Life took place at Macca’s converted barn in Scotland, dubbed Rude Studio.

It felt to him as if he was starting over, at the bottom of the pile.

“It was so impossible to do something like that,” he says today.

“Just go back to square one, show up at a university, don’t book hotels, take the dogs in a van. For some reason, we thought it was a great idea!”

If Wings took time to take flight, everything changed in 1973 when they released third album Band On The Run, loaded with classic tunes such as the title track, Jet and Let Me Roll It.

Recorded in extraordinary ­circumstances at EMI’s studio in Lagos, Nigeria, not far from where Paul and Linda were mugged at knifepoint, it paved the way for ­stadium-sized shows in America.

Without the McCartneys’ sojourn to Scotland, there would have been no Mull Of Kintyre, which, at the time of its release in 1977, became the biggest selling single of all time.

A “love song” to that remote idyll, it featured Great Highland bagpipes played so passionately by the local Campbeltown Pipe Band.

Yet, interwoven with stories of Wings’ upward trajectory, there are musings on McCartney’s strained relationship with Lennon during the Seventies.

We’re reminded of John’s caustic song How Do You Sleep?, directed at Paul with its line, “The only thing you done was yesterday”.

And there’s his old buddy left thinking, “Aside from Yesterday, what about Eleanor Rigby, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude, Let It Be and the rest?”

Macca says: “As it shows in the film, I knew John from a very early age — we were just a couple of rock and roll fans.

“We enjoyed hanging out together and we started writing little songs round at my place.

“My dad had a pipe in his drawer. So we thought we’d smoke it. We couldn’t find any tobacco so we smoked tea! We had all those ­memories in common.

“Then we went through the whole trajectory of The Beatles. But John was always just that guy to me, even when he was being really mean and I was having to take it.

“At the same time, it was like, ‘Yeah, it’s just John, he does that’. He’d always done that — so that made it a little bit easier.

“But I loved him, you know. I loved all the guys in The Beatles.

“I try and think of how else it could have been, but with just me, John, George and Ringo, it was a magic grouping. And we did OK!”

Near the end of Man On The Run, you see McCartney being confronted by camera crews about the shocking death of Lennon, who had been shot the day before outside the Dakota Building apartment he shared with partner Yoko Ono in New York.

Macca was criticised at the time for a rather cool, unemotional response — but one look in his eyes reveals his utter devastation.

As for the aforementioned “embarrassing moments” on display in the film, they are what make it so refreshing and endearing.

Hence you see McCartney singing Mary Had A Little Lamb wearing a red clown’s nose with Wings guitarist Henry McCullough looking as if he wants the earth to swallow him.

There’s a moustachioed Paul in a baggy pink suit performing the cabaret-style Gotta Sing Gotta Dance, complete with dancing girls, for his 1973 variety show.

And what about him getting ­busted by Japanese cops in 1980 for having 219g of cannabis in his luggage, spending nine days in custody before being booted out of the country?

McCartney was supposed to be embarking on a Wings tour of Japan but, as it turned out, they never played together again.

He says: “So many bits are embarrassing. The look on Henry McCullough’s face! He’s not happy.

“I was thinking, ‘Maybe we could cut those bits, the dance routine, cool out my image’.

“But Morgan said, ‘No, let me keep them in. You’ll see all that stuff but because you overcame it all and found yourself, you won in the end’.”

Finally, McCartney takes a long hard look at himself — at the ­person “growing up” in Man On The Run and the man he is today.

He says: “You start to see yourself, not just in the mirror, but to realise what your character is like.

“It’s natural for me to be enthusiastic so I don’t always see pitfalls, With me, it’s, “Nah, nah, just do it’.”

Sir Paul McCartney has been opening up about his career and personal life as a new documentary about him nears release, and a biopic about The Beatles begins filming

Musician Sir Paul McCartney has made a heartbreaking admission about his time in the spotlight. For around six decades, Paul McCartney has been beloved worldwide thanks to his work as part of The Beatles, as a solo artist, and with his former band, Wings.

Reflecting on his career in an interview with director Morgan Neville Paul, 83, spoke about how he feels when criticised by people.

Making the comments in a new documentary about the musician called Man On The Run, Sir Paul talked about how he bought into some of the criticism.

He remarked: “Whenever I hear someone damning Paul McCartney, I tend to agree with them. So when everyone was saying I broke up the Beatles and I was just overbearing and all of that, I kind of bought into it.”

This isn’t the only time Sir Paul has become emotional when talking about the documentary, as he admitted he felt “emotional” upon seeing his late wife Linda McCartney in the programme.

Linda, who died in 1998, shared four children with Sir Paul including Heather, 63, who was adopted, Mary, 56, Stella, 53, and James, 48.

At a screening of the documentary at London’s Ham Yard Hotel, Sir Paul said the film triggered some powerful memories of Linda, who Sir Paul said helped him deal with the tumultuous time he faced following the break up of The Beatles.

He said: “Seeing me and Linda interacting is very special because, you know, she is not here anymore. Me and Linda, the kids. The music. Me and John [Lennon].

“These memories, it is like a life flashing in front of you. There are so many cool things. Even though there are some embarrassing moments, I come out of it thinking, ‘Yeah, I’m OK’.

“All the stuff with the kids and Linda is lovely to see. Obviously it’s emotional because she looks so beautiful. She’s so cool.”

Sir Paul also has another daughter, 23-year-old Beatrice, with his second wife Heather Mills, who he was married to between 2002 and 2008 when their divorce was finalised.

Sir Paul is currently married to Nancy Shevell, with the pair tying the knot in 2011.

The documentary is set to be released on February 27 as filming continues on four individual biopics about each member of the Beatles, in which Paul Mescal, 30, will play Sir Paul. The films will be directed by Sir Sam Mendes.

★★★★★ Man on the Run, a documentary directed by Academy Award winner Morgan Neville, chronicles Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles solo career with previously unseen footage

Sir Paul McCartney gave director Morgan Neville a blank piece of paper and told him ‘no notes’ after watching documentary Man on the Run for the first time.

Ahead of it being unleashed to fans next week, The Beatles legend has found a few more words to describe the two-hour film calling it ‘madcap’, ’embarrassing’ at times and often ‘overwhelming’ to watch, “But I come out of it thinking, ‘Yeah I’m OK,” says Paul at a very special screening.

The room of family, friends and rock royalty certainly agree. Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher and Sharon Osbourne are among those turning out to the film’s UK debut on a rainy night in Soho. Actor Paul Mescal, who is playing the mop-topped musician at the peak of Beatles-mania in a brand new four part film release, is also in attendance at the Ham Yard hotel.

While Mescal could be seen to be doing his homework, this brand new documentary from Academy Award winner Neville focuses on Paul’s life as he navigates the demise of the Fab Four and the ascension of Wings in its wake.

So what do you do when you quit the biggest band the world has ever seen? If you’re Paul McCartney you start another one.

Paul admits his boundless enthusiasm has led him into trouble at times, but turning a group of musicians practising at a remote farmhouse into a credible 70s rock band makes a gripping plotline for this joyous documentary showcasing a fascinating upheaval in his life, alongside a great love of his life.

Much of the never before seen clips that tell Paul’s story in intimate and raw detail are are thanks to his late wife Linda.

‘Next to a presidential library, Paul McCartney has the best personal archives,’ Neville was told of his subject before they set to work. “It also helped that Paul married a photographer because Linda takes pictures of everything and there are so many home movies too,” the grateful filmmaker says at a Q+A following the screening. “I thought I lost it all,” Paul says. “You know this was the 60s and 70s, you’d have a lot of break ins, you didn’t really bother locking your door too much. Fans would come in and nick a load of stuff. It was how it was. I kind of automatically just thought it’s all gone, but the kids at my office were fantastic. They looked in every little storage unit and every little drawer and they found it all and logged it. There’s amazing stuff there.”

For Paul, the most special memories he sees on screen are the moments of him and late wife Linda together.

“Seeing me and Linda interacting is very special because you know she’s not here anymore. It’s me and Linda, the kids. The music. Me and John. These memories it’s like a life flashing in front of you. There are so many cool things. All the stuff with the kids and Linda is lovely to see. Obviously it’s emotional because she looks so beautiful. She’s so cool.”

Daughter Stella who is in the theatre gives an approving cheer from her seat. “So that comes over,” notes Paul. “You know and the kids aren’t little anymore and they have kids of their own now.”

Paul married New York photographer Linda in March 1969, in a quiet civil ceremony at Marylebone Register Office in London with Ringo Starr among a select group of guests. Less than a year later, after a decade together the four Beatles went their separate ways – which for Paul was straight to a remote 183 acre farm on the Kintyre Peninsula in Scotland.

Talking on camera, a now 83-year-old Paul says all he wanted to do after the Beatles finished was ‘grow up’. Months into setting up his young family into chaotic country living, the call to create music couldn’t be ignored even from his rural retreat.

First came debut album McCartney, followed up months later by 1971’s Ram as he formed a double act with Linda.

“What am I doing singing with Paul McCartney?” Linda asks in the early home footage, admitting she can’t sing and could play only one note on the keyboard. “It’s a start,” Paul replies.

Ram was released just as Paul launched legal action to dissolve the Beatles’ partnership. It was poorly received. Undeterred, Paul set about forming a larger group this time recruiting Denny Laine, a friend from his time in 60s rock group the Moody Blues to join him and Linda. The trio took on more members, naming themselves Wings as they recorded experimental new material and set off to play in the type of tiny venues that had become a distant memory for superstar Paul.

“We’d show up at universities, not bother to book hotels, just take the kids and dogs in a van and for some reason we thought that was a great idea,” says Paul.

But at the start the enthusiasm was not reciprocated. The band were initially received as a ‘dud’ from fans and critics, with even Paul’s collaborator Lennon mocking his music.

After an early mauling from the industry who had once revered him, it was a slow road to success before Wings’ live shows developed into must-see tours and they produced some of the biggest selling singles and albums of the decade, including number one hit Mull Of Kintyre, Jet, Silly Love Songs and Live And Let Die, the theme to the 1973 James Bond film of the same title.

Paul said Linda’s responses to his boundless energy continues to inspire him today. “Anything crazy I would say, ‘Should I do that? Could I do that?’ And she’d say ‘Yeah, it’s allowed!’ It’s a great philosophy to have.”

The film is not just a family portrait, but also an insight into Paul’s complicated relationship with Lennon. Paul admits he felt he was punished most for the demise of the band and even bought into the blame himself.

“I thought that’s the kind of bastard I am, it leaves you in this kind of no man’s land, but the truth, John had come in one day and said he was leaving The Beatles, he said, ‘it’s kind of exciting, it’s like telling someone you want a divorce’.”

The film also sees Paul reflect on John’s ‘diss track’ about him following their break-up, How Do You Sleep?, which featured on 1971’s Imagine album with the Plastic Ono Band.

“The only thing you did was Yesterday (one of the song’s lyrics), was apparently (former Beatles manager) Allen Klein’s suggestion, but (at) the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘but all I ever did was Yesterday, Let It Be, The Long And Winding Road, Eleanor Rigby, Lady Madonna, f*** you, John,” says Paul. “How do I sleep at night? Well, actually, quite well, but you’ve got to remember, I’d known John since he was a teenager, and that’s kind of what I loved about John. He’s a crazy son of a bitch, he’s a lovely, lovely, crazy guy.”

Paul says one of his ‘greatest blessings’ is that he got to reconcile with John before his death in December 1980. Their children recall the last meeting of the two families in John’s New York City apartment, as ‘one big reunion’.

Stella and sister Mary also recall hearing the fateful moment Paul got the call that his best friend was gone. Stella says she heard a wave of commotion before seeing her dad rush out of their home and out onto the farm alone. The famous ‘Drag, isn’t it?’ clip of Paul reacting publicly to John’s death is shown in the film with Sean Ono Lennon defending the response as coming from a place of pure shock and grief, far from the Paul he recognised.

Reflecting on the period of life captured in the archive film, photo and audio recordings, Paul says: “It’s a heck of a story. It would be nice if people took away the fact that in my craziness and my enthusiasm, we stuck with it and we made it work. There’s something brave about that. It didn’t have to work out, you know, but it did.”

Giving their verdict immediately after the London premiere are two men who know exactly what it’s like to launch a solo career in the shadow of an iconic British band. Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller spoke to the Mirror following the screening. Weller hailed the movie as ‘fantastic.’ “It’s great to see that period of time ,the early 70s again, on screen like that.” Lifelong Beatles fan Gallagher called the project ‘amazing’ as the theatre lights came up.

Sharon Osbourne, who also posed for photos with Paul ahead of the screening, said she could see a movie of late husband Ozzy’s life being depicted on screen one day and was moved to tears by the film at several points. “It was incredible… very emotional. Especially the family moments with Linda. It was beautiful.”

*Paul McCartney Man On The Run airs on Prime Video on February 27*

Pikachu? More like Pi-ka-ching.

A rare Pokémon card owned by wrestler and social media personality Logan Paul sold for $16.5 million on Monday, setting a new record for the auction price of a trading card. Paul had acquired the Pikachu Illustrator card in a trade worth $5.275 million in 2021 — the most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at a private sale at the time.

The retail price for a standard pack of Pokémon cards is usually around $5 for 10 cards — though, much like hunting for shiny Pokémon, successfully purchasing a new pack may require some luck, strategy and patience as the cards have exploded in value in recent years. Paul, who began unboxing Pokémon cards on video during the COVID-19 pandemic, is often credited with helping propel the boom.

Described as an “unimaginable Holy Grail piece,” the card Paul sold features beloved Pokémon mascot Pikachu holding a pen and feather sweeper. The art on the card is by Atsuko Nishida — the graphic artist who designed a number of popular Pokémon, including Pikachu. It is believed only around 40 were ever printed, and they were given out as prizes for an illustration contest in the late 1990s.

The Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon trading card once owned by Logan Paul.

(Goldin)

Paul’s card was graded 10 by Professional Sports Authenticators, or PSA, a third-party service that authenticates and grades trading cards and other collectibles. According to Goldin, the auction house that organized the trading card auction, Paul’s is the only Pikachu Illustrator card to achieve that “virtually perfect” PSA grading.

On top of its rarity and quality, this Pikachu Illustrator card had been placed in a bejeweled case on a diamond necklace and was worn by Paul at WWE WrestleMania 38 in 2022. The card was also featured in Season 3 of Netflix’s “King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch.”

The winning bid for the rare card was placed by venture capitalist AJ Scaramucci, the son of former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

According to People, AJ Scaramucci is on a quest of “collecting the uncollectable.” He reportedly also hopes to eventually buy “a T-Rex dinosaur fossil” and the Declaration of Independence on his “planetary treasure hunt.”

Wales have appointed Paul James to replace scrum coach Duncan Jones who suffered a ‘freak injury’ in training.

Jones, 47, has had surgery after injuring both knees following an accidental collision during a live training session last week.

His fellow Ospreys coach James, 43, will step into the role for the rest of the Six Nations, following the opening 48-7 defeat against England.

James, who won 66 caps, has been coaching with the Ospreys since December 2018 and was scrum and set-piece coach for Wales Under-20 in 2021.

“It’s great to add Paul to the coaching team and my thanks to the Ospreys for enabling this opportunity at short notice,” said Wales head coach Steve Tandy.

“We’re all disappointed for Duncan with his injury. He’s been a huge part of the environment will be missed around the group and we wish him all the best with his recovery.”

Co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley have become increasingly involved with the decision-making on the women’s side, and have already taken steps to shape the future of the club.

Last week, Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor signed a new contract keeping her at the club until 2030.

That came days after she voiced her frustration at their recruitment in the summer transfer window, highlighting injuries and a lack of squad depth as one of the reasons Chelsea have fallen nine points adrift of WSL leaders Manchester City.

Some fans had expressed concern over Bompastor’s tactics, despite the Frenchwoman leading Chelsea to an unbeaten domestic treble in her debut season in charge, but the timing of her contract extension was a strong statement from the club.

However, Green’s departure comes as a shock given he has been a stalwart of the club’s structure for more than a decade, and hugely successful in his position.

It will lead to further questions about Chelsea’s direction and whether there is disharmony within the club.

In a widely anticipated outcome that felt like a long-overdue coronation, Paul Thomas Anderson won the top honor at Saturday’s Directors Guild of America Awards for his Thomas Pynchon-inspired political thriller “One Battle After Another.” The ceremony was held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

It was the director’s first DGA win after two prior nominations, in 2008 for “There Will Be Blood” and in 2022 for his San Fernando Valley reminiscence “Licorice Pizza.”

Speaking at the podium after receiving the award from last year’s winner, “Anora” director Sean Baker, a humbled Anderson thanked the guild, mentioning recent EGOT winner Steven Spielberg, sitting in the audience right in front of him. “It reminds me, being in this room, of ‘Close Encounters,’ ” Anderson said. “We’re all brought here for a reason — some cosmic thing brought us to this room. It was that call to the mountain. It’s that feeling that we all love making s— and we need to do it.”

Anderson also devoted much of his speech to remembering his first-assistant director Adam Somner, who died from thyroid cancer in November 2024. “May you be blessed with the relationship I had with him,” the director said, “and if you have one already, hold them close and remind them that you love them.”

True to tradition, the evening was both a celebration of achievements in directing and an occasion for much pro-guild testifying — from nominees, winners and Christopher Nolan, presiding over his first ceremony as DGA president. “We are the best at what we do,” Nolan said, touching on last year’s 40% dip in DGA member employment with a note of solidarity and urgency. “We are the storytellers. We are the people who have to innovate.”

All five nominees for theatrical feature film are invited to give a speech during these annual awards, with the eventual winner speaking twice. Guillermo del Toro, up for his personal take on “Frankenstein,” saluted Nolan: “I love saying ‘President Nolan’ because it’s so good to say ‘President’ with a good word after it,” he cracked to hearty applause. (The joke was echoed by several podium speakers.)

Ryan Coogler, a DGA nominee for “Sinners,” thanked the guild for his health insurance and mentioned his longtime dream — not of filmmaking but of joining a union, like some of the adults in his life growing up.

“Lately I’ve been learning about alchemy, “ said Chloé Zhao, representing “Hamnet,” her domestic drama about the grief-stricken family life of William Shakespeare. “You need fire and you need a chalice. To me, that fire is my creativity. It’s my birthright to create. And that chalice is the community that holds me.”

Indicating the respect the DGA commands among actors, several A-listers attended the ceremony to introduce their directors: Leonardo DiCaprio for Anderson, Jacob Elordi for Del Toro and Timothée Chalamet, the latter celebrating his “Marty Supreme” director Josh Safdie with sincerity and gentle deprecation. “I don’t think Josh will ever be ‘institutional,’ ” Chalamet said. “I think Josh will forever be an insurgent filmmaker and I don’t think the world would be right otherwise.”

An Oscar victory path is now clear for Anderson, previously nominated for the academy’s directing honor three times, for “There Will Be Blood,” “Phantom Thread” and “Licorice Pizza,” but never a winner. Twenty of the last 23 recipients of the DGA’s top prize have gone on to take the Oscar for directing.

Here is a complete list of the night’s nominees, with winners in bold:

Outstanding directorial achievement in theatrical feature film

Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Ryan Coogler, “Sinners” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Guillermo del Toro, “Frankenstein” (Netflix)
Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme” (A24)
Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet” (Focus Features)

Michael Apted Award for outstanding directorial achievement in first-time theatrical feature film

Charlie Polinger, “The Plague” (Independent Film Co.)
Hasan Hadi, “The President’s Cake” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Harry Lighton, “Pillion” (A24)
Alex Russell, “Lurker” (Mubi)
Eva Victor, “Sorry, Baby” (A24)

Outstanding directorial achievement in documentary

Mstyslav Chernov, “2000 Meters to Andriivka” (PBS)
Geeta Gandbhir, “The Perfect Neighbor” (Netflix)
Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni, “Cutting Through Rocks” (Assembly Releasing)
Elizabeth Lo, “Mistress Dispeller” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, “Cover-Up” (Netflix)

Outstanding directorial achievement in dramatic series

Amanda Marsalis, “The Pitt,” “6:00 P.M.” (HBO Max)
Liza Johnson, “The Diplomat,” “Amagansett” (Netflix)
Janus Metz, “Andor,” “Who Are You?” (Disney+)
Ben Stiller, “Severance,” “Cold Harbor” (Apple TV+)
John Wells, “The Pitt,” “7:00 A.M.” (HBO Max)

Outstanding directorial achievement in comedy series

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, “The Studio,” “The Oner” (Apple TV+)
Lucia Aniello, “Hacks,” “A Slippery Slope” (HBO Max)
Janicza Bravo, “The Bear,” “Worms” (FX on Hulu)
Christopher Storer, “The Bear,” “Bears” (FX on Hulu)
Mike White, “The White Lotus,” “Denials” (HBO Max)

Outstanding directorial achievement in limited and anthology series

Shannon Murphy, “Dying for Sex,” “It’s Not That Serious” (FX on Hulu)
Jason Bateman, “Black Rabbit,” “The Black Rabbits” (Netflix)
Antonio Campos, “The Beast in Me,” “Sick Puppy” (Netflix)
Lesli Linka Glatter, “Zero Day,” “Episode 6” (Netflix)
Ally Pankiw, “Black Mirror,” “Common People” (Netflix)

Outstanding directorial achievement in movies for television

Stephen Chbosky, “Nonnas” (Netflix)
Jesse Armstrong, “Mountainhead” (HBO Max)
Scott Derrickson, “The Gorge” (Apple TV+)
Michael Morris, “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” (Peacock)
Kyle Newacheck, “Happy Gilmore 2” (Netflix)

Outstanding directorial achievement in variety

Liz Patrick, “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” (NBC)
Yvonne De Mare, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” “Julia Roberts; Sam Smith” (CBS)
Andy Fisher, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “Stephen Colbert; Kumail Nanjiani; Reneé Rapp” (ABC)
Beth McCarthy-Miller, “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert” (Peacock)
Paul Pennolino, “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” “Public Media” (HBO Max)

Outstanding directorial achievement in sports

Matthew Gangl, 2025 World Series – Game 7 – Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays (Fox Sports)
Steve Milton, 2025 Masters Tournament – Augusta National Golf Club (CBS Sports)
Rich Russo, Super Bowl LIX – Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs (Fox Sports)

Outstanding directorial achievement in reality / quiz & game

Mike Sweeney, “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” “Austria” (HBO Max)
Lucinda M. Margolis, “Jeopardy!,” “Ep. 9341” (Syndicated)
Adam Sandler, “The Price Is Right,” “10,000th Episode” (CBS)

Outstanding directorial achievement in documentary series / news

Rebecca Miller, “Mr. Scorsese,” “All This Filming Isn’t Healthy” (Apple TV+)
Marshall Curry, “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” “Written By: A Week Inside the SNL Writers Room” (Peacock)
Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” “Part Two” (HBO Max)
Alexandra Stapleton, “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” “Official Girl” (Netflix)
Matt Wolf, “Pee-Wee as Himself,” “Part 1” (HBO Max)

Outstanding directorial achievement in commercials

Kim Gehrig (Somesuch), “You Can’t Win. So Win.” – Nike | Wieden+Kennedy
Miles Jay (Smuggler)
Spike Jonze (MJZ)
Andreas Nilsson (Biscuit Filmworks)
Steve Rogers (Biscuit Filmworks)

MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi on Monday announced two more arrests following a protest at a Minnesota church against the immigration crackdown, bringing the number of people arrested to nine.

The nine were named in a grand jury indictment unsealed Friday. Independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were among four people arrested Friday. Three others were arrested earlier in the week, including prominent local activist Nekima Levy Armstrong.

A grand jury in Minnesota indicted all nine on federal civil rights charges of conspiracy and interfering with the 1st Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul. A pastor at the church is also a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. The protest generated strong objections from the Trump administration.

In a social media post Monday, Bondi named the latest two arrestees as Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Deangelo Richardson. She gave no details of their arrests.

Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he had no affiliation to the group that disrupted Sunday service by entering the church. He has described himself as an independent journalist chronicling protesters.

The indictment alleges that Richardson traveled to the church with Lemon while he was streaming and that Richardson told Lemon they needed to catch up to the others. It also alleges that Austin stood in the aisles of the church and loudly berated a pastor with questions about Christian nationalism.

Online jail records show Austin was arrested Friday. It wasn’t immediately clear when Richardson was taken into custody.

Austin’s attorney, Sarah Gad, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Court records don’t list an attorney for Richardson who could comment on his behalf.

The Justice Department began its investigation after the group interrupted services by chanting, “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.

Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads ICE’s St. Paul field office.

Karnowski writes for the Associated Press.

After Paul Dano came under unexpected fire from filmmaker Quentin Tarantino in December, the “There Will Be Blood” star received support from fellow artists including Daniel Day-Lewis and Ben Stiller. A month after the drama, he is now returning the love.

Dano finally publicly addressed Tarantino’s controversial comments at the Sundance Film Festival during a 20th anniversary screening of “Little Miss Sunshine.” Speaking to Variety, he said the groundswell of support “was really nice.”

Tarantino appeared on Bret Easton Ellis’ podcast in December to rank his top 10 films of the century. The “Django Unchained” and “Pulp Fiction” filmmaker placed Paul Thomas Anderson’s oil drama “There Will Be Blood” at No. 5 on his list, and said specifically Dano — not his performance — was the “big, giant flaw” in the Oscar-winning film. “There Will Be Blood” stars Dano as fiery preacher Eli Sunday and Day-Lewis as oil tycoon Daniel Plainview.

When the movie was released in 2007, former Times film critic Kenneth Turan praised Dano as “smoothly effective” and gifted. Clearly, Tarantino thought otherwise.

“He is weak sauce, man. He’s a weak sister,” Tarantino said, adding that he thought “Elvis” star Austin Butler (who was a teenager launching his career on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon when the movie came out) would have been a better actor for the part. “He’s just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy,” he said.

Tarantino added: “You put [Day-Lewis] with the the weakest f— actor in SAG?”

A handful of Dano’s collaborators immediately defended him. “Escape at Dannemora” executive producer Stiller praised him as “brilliant” and Reese Witherspoon called her “Inherent Vice” co-star an “incredibly gifted, versatile actor” and a gentleman. Matt Reeves, Josh Gad, Alec Baldwin and Simu Liu also voiced their support for Dano, whose credits include Steven Speilberg’s Oscar-nominated “The Fabelmans,” Bong Joon Ho‘s “Okja” and Oscar-winning director duo Daniels’ (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) “Swiss Army Man.”

“I was also incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me so I didn’t have to,” Dano said at the Sundance screening.

Before Dano responded, though, Toni Collette (who played his mom in “Little Miss Sunshine”) chimed in, dismissing “that guy” Tarantino and speculating that “he must’ve been high.”

“It was just confusing. Who does that?,” she said, according to Variety. “Little Miss Sunshine” directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris also criticized Tarantino and praised their star.

During his podcast appearance in December, Tarantino also slammed Owen Wilson and scream king Matthew Lillard. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published Wednesday, Lillard brushed off the shade and recalled the ensuing social media praise for his talents. “It was like living through your own wake,” Lillard told EW.

“All those R.I.P. emails or tweets and Instagram posts and TikToks, all of the things we see after somebody passes are so sweet,” he added. “And the reality is I just got to live through all of it firsthand — alive and kicking! I can’t imagine a more lovely reaction to what happened.”

Nigella Lawson has admitted that she’s “frightened” but “excited” ahead of joining The Great British Bake Off as a new judge, but warned that she’s very different to Paul Hollywood

The Great British Bake Off‘s new judge Nigella Lawson has admitted that she’s “a teeny bit frightened” to take on the show – and will have a different approach to co-star Paul Hollywood. The 66-year-old was confirmed earlier this week as the new star who’ll be replacing Prue Leith.

Appearing on This Morning today, Nigella said that she plans to take the show “very seriously” – and warns that she’ll be applying a different judging “philosophy” to co-judge Paul. She told hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley: “I’m a teeny bit frightened. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that. I am excited but I take it very seriously.

“The thing about Bake Off is it’s about the programme. – an institution of national treasure status and it’s about the bakers. I want to be there and be part of it,” she added. “One of the reasons it’s been enduringly popular is that feels like it’s about community and I guess we just all need that.”

As for how she’ll fare in the iconic Bake Off tent, Nigella admitted that she’s “the clumsiest person in the world“, which could lead to disaster. “As long as I don’t knock any of their cakes off the table or the stand,” she said.

“I feel like I’m not someone who looks for fault, I look for pleasure. My basic attitude in life. I feel Paul Hollywood is Mr. Technical, I’m all about the eating.”

Nigella added: “If I see my job as eating, it’s not too daunting. I can eat.”

Nigella will be the third judge to take on that Bake Off slot alongside Paul Hollywood, with Prue Leith and Dame Mary Berry coming before her.

Mary was one of the show’s original judges when it started on the BBC in 2010, however she left the show alongside hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins when it moved to Channel 4 in 2016. Prue took over the following year for Channel 4’s first series and has been with the show ever since.

Earlier this month, Prue announced that she was leaving Bake Off for good, saying in a statement: “Bake Off has been a fabulous part of my life for the last nine years, I have genuinely loved it and I’m sure I’ll miss working with my fellow judge Paul, Alison and Noel and the teams at Love Productions and Channel 4.

“But now feels like the right time to step back (I’m 86 for goodness sake!), there’s so much I’d like to do, not least spend summers enjoying my garden.”

“Whoever joins the team, I’m sure they’ll love it as much as I have. I feel very lucky to have been part of it.”

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX. The Great British Bake Off returns to Channel 4 later this year.

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