turning

President Trump has long acknowledged that he doesn’t read books, so perhaps he’s never cracked the spine of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” But hasn’t he seen one of the several movies? Does he really not know that Gatsby is a tragedy about class, excess and hubris?

It seems not. On Halloween, there was Trump, dressed as himself, hosting a Gatsby-themed party at his Gatsby-era Mar-a-Lago estate. The president was fresh from a diplomatic tour of Asia during which he’d swept up an array of golden gifts (a crown!) from heads of state paying tribute in hopes of not paying tariffs.

Trump’s arriving guests, costumed as Roaring ’20s flappers, bootleggers and pre-crash tycoons, passed a scantily clad woman seductively writhing in a giant Champagne glass, then entered his gilded ballroom beneath a sign in Art Deco script pronouncing the night’s theme: “A little party never killed nobody.”

That’s the title of a song from the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film take on Gatsby, the most recent. Perhaps Trump is unaware that in the wake of the fictional Gatsby’s own debauched party, three people died, including Gatsby.

The tone-deaf Trump faced a comeuppance far short of tragedy after his party, but painful nonetheless: a blue wave in Tuesday’s elections. Revulsion at his imperial presidency swamped Republican candidates and causes.

The apparent ignorance of Mr. Make America Great Again about one of the great American novels, now in its centennial year, wasn’t the worst of Trump’s weekend show of excess. This was: The president of the United States held court at Mar-a-Lago, amid free-flowing liquor and tables laden with food, hours before federal food aid would end for 42 million Americans. Meanwhile, more than 1 million federal employees were furloughed or worked without pay amid a five-week-old government shutdown, some of them joining previously fired public servants at food banks. The online People magazine juxtaposed a photo of Trump surveying his Palm Beach party with a shot of nearby Miamians in a food line.

The president, who for nearly 10 months has seized powers he doesn’t have under federal law and the Constitution, professed to be all but powerless to avert the nutrition assistance cutoff, despite two federal judges’ rulings that he do so. And, characteristically, he claimed to be blameless about the shutdown that provoked the nutrition crisis.

“It’s their fault,” Trump said of congressional Democrats as he flew to Mar-a-Lago for the fete. “Everything is their fault. It’s so easily solved.”

How? Why, Democrats have to bend the knee, of course. They must abandon their quest to get Trump and Republicans to reverse their Medicaid cuts and to extend Obamacare subsidies for the working poor. Even as Mr. Art of the Deal claims (falsely) to have settled eight wars, bargaining even with Hamas, he’s refused to negotiate with Democrats. The shutdown is now the longest ever, on Tuesday surpassing the 35-day record Trump set in his first term.

There’s more.

En route to Florida aboard Air Force One, the presidential plane that Trump is replacing with a truly royal jet, a gift from Qatar, and having left behind the ruins of the East Wing where his $300-million ballroom will rise, Trump took to social media to boast of his latest project in the Mar-a-Lago-fication of the White House: an all-marble and gold do-over of the bathroom adjoining the Lincoln Bedroom. “Highly polished, Statuary marble!” he crowed, sending two dozen photos in a series of posts. Trump wrote that the previous 1940s-era bathroom “was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era,” but his changes fixed that.

“Art Deco doesn’t go with, you know, 1850 and civil wars and all of the problems,” he’d told wealthy donors last month. “But what does is statuary marble. So I ripped it apart and we built the bathroom. It’s absolutely gorgeous and totally in keeping with that time.”

And with that, Trump again showed his ignorance of America’s history as well as its literature. That said, the new bathroom is more attractive than the one at Mar-a-Lago in which Trump stashed boxes of government documents, including top-secret papers, after his first term.

Trump’s lust for power and its trappings seems to have made him blind to bad optics and deaf to the dissonance of his utterances. The politician who’s gotten so much credit — and won two of three presidential elections — for speaking to working-class Americans’ grievances now seems completely out of touch. There’s also his family’s open accrual of wealth, especially in crypto, and Trump’s recent demand for $230 million from the ever-accommodating Justice Department, to compensate him for the past legal cases against him for keeping government documents and attempting to reverse his 2020 defeat.

All of this while Americans’ costs of living remain high, people are out of jobs thanks to his policies and longtime residents, including some citizens, are swept up in his immigrant detentions and deportations, sundering families.

This week’s election results aren’t the only thing that suggests Trump is finally paying a price. So did the release of several polls timed for the first anniversary of his reelection. Despite Trump’s claims to the contrary, his job approval ratings are the lowest since the ignominious end of his first term. Majorities oppose his handling of most issues, including the ones — the economy and immigration — that helped elect him.

The narrator in “The Great Gatsby” famously says of two central characters, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

I’m looking forward to the day when the careless Trump is gone and his mess can be cleaned up — including all that gold defiling the People’s House.

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EASYJET is turning thousands of old crew outfits into school uniforms to support families struggling with rising costs.

The airline partnered with Luton-based charity Level Trust, which works across 75 local schools, providing uniforms to support the estimated 45 per cent of children living in poverty in the town.

Their initiative is aiming for pilots and cabin crew to donate 100 per cent of their retired outfits – which will be recycled into shirts, skirts, blazers, jackets and trousers.

The garments will then be available for older year students through the charity’s Uniform Exchange.

It comes as 58 per cent of 2,000 parents polled said they feel the pressure of the rising costs of school uniforms.

An average of £256 a year is forked out on school uniform items for just one child, totalling over £3,072 across 12 years in education.

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With over a third of parents (34 per cent) sacrificing household essentials to keep up with the costs of school uniforms.

Nearly one in five (19 per cent) have used overdrafts and credit cards to afford school uniforms, as 53 per cent reported having to purchase new items before even the end of the first term alone.

Michael Brown, director of cabin services for easyJet, which is launching a crew uniform refresh on 10th November, said: “We’re proud to launch the uniform recycling programme – our aim for this first phase is both to support parents who are facing financial hardships as well as reduce our textile waste.

“Our crew uniforms have always represented care, professionalism and unity, and we’re honoured they’ll carry those same values into classrooms to empower the next generation.”

It emerged 76 per cent would like to see more government-backed community initiatives, like the uniform exchange, to help families.

Two-thirds of parents (66 per cent) say they would consider second-hand or upcycled uniforms in order to save money.

And a further 93 per cent of parents would also favour increased flexibility when it comes to school uniforms.

With 80 per cent of parents agreeing they would like to see more businesses repurposing retired materials such as uniforms into items to support local communities.

And 85 per cent would be likely to use cheaper or free school uniforms made from upcycled materials.

The research also found that 76 per cent of British parents would like to see more government backed community initiatives like the Level Trust’s uniform exchange rolled out on a national scale.

Jennie White from the charity the Level Trust, added: “We have seen a significant rise in requests for school uniforms, highlighting the challenges many families are facing.

“easyJet’s donation of surplus uniforms is a crucial step in addressing these needs as this initiative not only helps alleviate the financial strain on parents but also ensures that children have the necessary attire to feel confident and focused at school.”

COMIC Michael McIntyre has admitted turning to fat jabs after his doctor told him he was obese.

The 5ft 5ins star said wife Kitty ordered him to start after the medic ticked him off for being 100kg (15st 10lbs).

McIntyre, 49, said he first used Ozempic before switching to ­Mounjaro and the weight dropped off in only three weeks of injections.

The dad of two, who has long struggled with his weight, made the admission to an audience in London.

He joked: “Have you noticed how tiny I am? I have lost weight.

“Don’t applaud it because there is a little bit of cheating that has gone on.”

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McIntyre who once lost 7kg (14lbs) at a £2,000-a-week clinic, confessed that he did not want to use appetite suppressants but Kitty insisted.

He also blamed his problem on eating his kids’ leftovers.

On his trip to the GP, he told fans: “The ­doctor told me I weighed 100kg.

“He told me I was ‘obese’. How rude. He said, ‘It’s a medical term’.”

McIntyre, whose new series of The Wheel started last night on BBC One, also declared that his weight-loss success will “fall apart” if he ever eats something sweet again.

Other stars who have admitted taking fat jabs include Jeremy Clarkson, 65, James Corden, 47, and US model Chrissy Teigen, 39.

THERE’S nothing like a lovely relaxing autumnal dog walk, but there are plenty of hidden dangers pet owners need to look out for, it turns out.

This comes as new research from dog walking insurance providers, Protectivity, reveals that the majority of pet insurance claims are linked to dog walking.

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Since these hazards can end up not only being dangerous for your pet, but costly when the vet bill arrives, it’s good to know what to avoid.

Luckily, Protectivity has partnered with three certified canine experts to share practical tips and advice to safeguard dogs on their autumn walk.

Ingesting slugs or snails 

The damp weather that autumn brings can lead to an increase in slugs and snails that can carry lungworm larvae, a potentially fatal issue if left untreated.

Sadie Geoghegan-Dann, Canine Welfare Expert & Dog Trainer at Nervous Rex warned: “Having personally lost one of my own dogs to lungworm, I can’t emphasise enough how dangerous it is to let your dog play around with slugs and risk eating one.”

The expert added that lungworm can take hold very fast and can be fatal in no time if not spotted.

Terry Cuyler, Certified Dog Trainer and owner of Pawsitive Results Dog Training added: “My default solution to this problem is to train a good “drop it” command.

“Occasionally, despite our best intentions, a dog will grab something while we’re not able to intercept them. An effective ‘drop it’ guarantees that they’ll drop the object at once, and this can be a life-saver.”

Fallen fruits from apples, pears and plum trees

As autumn rolls around, fruit trees start to shed their sweet-smelling fruit and while it may seem enticing to dogs, fallen fruit can cause severe stomach upsets and present a choking hazard. 

Dog owner, Shakira Sacks, from Leeds, explained how her four year old cocker spaniel, Autumn, had to receive medical treatment after ingesting a fallen plum on a walk.

Shakira said: “Being a cocker spaniel, Autumn is forever eating things she shouldn’t. Over the years, we’ve implemented lots of training commands but on a recent walk in our local park, she ate a fallen plum, including the stone. 

“After speaking to our vet, they asked us to bring her in immediately and two hours of induced vomiting and a £350 bill later, Autumn was her happy self again.

“It was, however, a very scary experience and has made me even more hyper-vigilant of hazards that I wasn’t aware of previously. I had no idea that although plums are usually safe for dogs to eat, the stones can be toxic, as can the flesh when it’s mouldy.” 

Acorns on the ground 

The phrase ‘are acorns poisonous to dogs’ has been searched 7,000 times on Google in the UK in the last month alone, revealing the very real concern owners have. 

Terry warned: “In my experience, one of autumn’s most underappreciated perils is the abundance of acorns. I have worked with dogs who have come to significant injury from eating them.”

Acorns contain tannins, the dog pro explained, which can cause stomach issues and even kidney damage in dogs. For smaller breeds they also pose as a chocking risk.

Fallen conkers

Conkers are another highly toxic risk for dogs on autumnal walks, with severe cases costing up to £2,000 in veterinary treatment. 

Terry said: “I see this process repeat itself time and time again during autumnal walks. Dogs have an instinct to be attracted to conkers, acorns, and fallen fruits, as these trigger their hidden foraging instinct and carry scents of wild animals to them.”

He recommended looking out for key warning signs, like over-sniffing at ground level, sudden stops during walks, and that familiar head-down posture showing keen interest in something to eat.

But mostly, pet owners should be aware of the “freeze and stare” posture just before their strike and correct immediately with a high-reward treat and a ‘leave it’ command.”

Oct. 9 (UPI) — The Charlie Kirk-co-founded Turning Point USA is planning to host an alternative musical performance called “The All-American Halftime Show” for Super Bowl LX.

Officials for the conservative non-profit announced the planned alternative halftime show on social media but did not say which musical acts and others would perform.

“It’s true, Turning Point USA is thrilled to announce The All-American Halftime Show,” it said in a post on X on Thursday, as reported by Fox News.

The post says the event will celebrate faith, family and freedom.

Turning Point USA has created a website to present the halftime show and asked online visitors to choose which musical genres they would like to see perform.

Survey results so far show support for country, rock, hip hop and “anything in English,” The Hill reported.

The event would air while rapper Benito Antonio Martiniz Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, performs during the Super Bowl’s halftime show headliner.

The musical artist from Puerto Rico has won three Grammy Awards since his career took off in 2016.

He also is slated to be named Billboard’s Latin Artist of the 21st Century during the 2025 Billboard Latin Music Awards on Oct.23.

Bad Bunny is undertaking a world tour but has refused to perform in the United States, other than during the Super Bowl.

He has cited concerns that Immigration and Customs Enforcement might target his U.S. shows and detain audience members, according to Axios.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently dismissed such concerns and said there are no plans in place to raid Bad Bunny concerts.

Despite Leavitt’s denial, DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski recently suggested ICE agents would attend Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance.

Lewandowski made the claim while appearing on “The Benny Show” podcast on Oct. 1.

“There is nowhere that you can provide a safe haven to the people in this country illegally,” he told podcast host Benny Johnson.

The Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Oct. 9 (UPI) — The Charlie Kirk-co-founded Turning Point USA is planning to host an alternative musical performance called “The All-American Halftime Show” for Super Bowl LX.

Officials for the conservative non-profit announced the planned alternative halftime show on social media but did not say which musical acts and others would perform.

“It’s true, Turning Point USA is thrilled to announce The All-American Halftime Show,” it said in a post on X on Thursday, as reported by Fox News.

The post says the event will celebrate faith, family and freedom.

Turning Point USA has created a website to present the halftime show and asked online visitors to choose which musical genres they would like to see perform.

Survey results so far show support for country, rock, hip hop and “anything in English,” The Hill reported.

The event would air while rapper Benito Antonio Martiniz Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, performs during the Super Bowl’s halftime show headliner.

The musical artist from Puerto Rico has won three Grammy Awards since his career took off in 2016.

He also is slated to be named Billboard’s Latin Artist of the 21st Century during the 2025 Billboard Latin Music Awards on Oct.23.

Bad Bunny is undertaking a world tour but has refused to perform in the United States, other than during the Super Bowl.

He has cited concerns that Immigration and Customs Enforcement might target his U.S. shows and detain audience members, according to Axios.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently dismissed such concerns and said there are no plans in place to raid Bad Bunny concerts.

Despite Leavitt’s denial, DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski recently suggested ICE agents would attend Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance.

Lewandowski made the claim while appearing on “The Benny Show” podcast on Oct. 1.

“There is nowhere that you can provide a safe haven to the people in this country illegally,” he told podcast host Benny Johnson.

The Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a new Trump administration policy to keep migrant children in detention after they turn 18, moving quickly to stop transfers to adult facilities that advocates said were scheduled for this weekend.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras on Saturday issued a temporary restraining order to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to detain any child who came to the country alone and without permission in ICE adult detention facilities after they become an adult.

The Washington, D.C., judge found that such automatic detention violates a court order he issued in 2021 barring such practices.

ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond Saturday to emails seeking comment.

The push to detain new adults is yet another battle over one of the most sensitive issues in President Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda — how to treat children who cross the border unaccompanied by adults.

The Associated Press reported Friday that officials are offering migrant children age 14 and older $2,500 to voluntarily return to their home countries. Last month a separate federal judge blocked attempts to immediately deport Guatemalan migrant children who came to the U.S. alone back to their home country. Some children had been put on board planes in that late-night operation before a judge blocked it.

“All of these are pieces of the same general policy to coerce immigrant youth into giving up their right to seek protection in the United States,” said Michelle Lapointe, a lawyer for the American Immigration Council, one of the groups that asked Contreras to intervene in a filing made early Saturday, just after midnight.

Unaccompanied children are held in shelters run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which isn’t part of ICE. Contreras’ 2021 order instructed federal officials to release minors who turn 18 from those shelters to “the least restrictive setting available.” He ruled that that is what’s required by federal law as long as the minor isn’t a danger to themselves or others and isn’t a flight risk. Minors are often released to the custody of a relative, or maybe into foster care.

But lawyers who represent unaccompanied minors said they began getting word in the last few days that ICE was telling shelters that children who were about to turn 18 — even those who had already-approved release plans — could no longer be released and would instead be taken to detention facilities, possibly as early as Saturday. One email from ICE asserted that the new adults could only be released by ICE under its case-by-case parole authority for “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefit.” From March through September, ICE has paroled fewer than 500 people overall.

The plaintiffs argued that “release on parole is all but a dead letter” and that children aging out of shelters would experience lasting harm from unnecessary and inappropriate adult detention” in jails that might be overcrowded or in remote locations. The plaintiffs said that was especially true because some of the clients they cited had been victims of trafficking or had been abused, neglected or abandoned by their parents.

U.S. border authorities have arrested children crossing the border without parents more than 400,000 times since October 2021. A 2008 law requires them to appear before an immigration judge before being returned to their countries.

Children have been spending more time in government-run shelters since the Trump administration put them under closer scrutiny before releasing them to family in the United States to pursue their immigration cases.

The additional scrutiny includes fingerprinting, DNA testing and home visits by immigration officers. Over the summer, immigration officers started showing up and arresting parents.

The average length of stay at government-run shelters for those released in the U.S. was 171 days in July, down from a peak of 217 days in April but well above 37 days in January, when Trump took office.

Amy writes for the Associated Press.

FAMILIES can now receive a cut of £56million in energy bill support from a ‘Big Six’ supplier.

From today, OVO Energy is handing out free electric blankets as one of its ways to help customers with rising energy bills.

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The supplier runs the extra support service for users all year round, but is now increasing the amount of aid it’s giving out ahead of the winter months.

Since 2022, OVO has given £190million in aid, including heated blankets, smart sockets, and efficiency kits, helping 42,000 customers last year.

The latest £56million package includes free energy-saving products and direct financial support.

And it’s not just electric blankets that you could bag for free.

OVO is also giving away mattress toppers and home efficiency kits to struggling households as part of the scheme.

Customers could also receive a wide range of energy-saving measures installed through ECO4 – from loft insulation to a new boiler, or even high-end tech like heat pumps.

Eligible customers could get a whole package installed, all for free.

Financial support including Direct Debit reductions, emergency credit top-ups, and extended repayment plans are also being offered.

To check your entitlement, visit ovoenergy.com/extra-support.

Ovo is separately campaigning for the introduction of a social tariff to protect vulnerable customers from high energy prices and combat fuel poverty across the UK.

David Buttress, chief executive of OVO, said: “We’re providing support to those who need it most by working together with our charity partners and committing our largest ever customer support package.”

“But this isn’t a long term solution.

“We need to make the energy system work better for everyone.

“That starts with targeted support in the form of a social tariff – no one can be, or no one needs to be left behind.”

What other grants are available?

There are several other ways households can boost their home’s energy efficiency and save money through a variety of grants.

From insulation and boiler upgrades to modifications for disabled residents, financial assistance can cover a substantial portion of your home improvement costs.

Some grants may even cover up to £50,000 worth of home improvements.

Great British insulation scheme – £1,000s

You can get help insulating your home through the Government’s Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) if you’re not eligible under the ECO scheme.

GBIS is open to an extra 400,000 households in council tax bands A to E across England, Wales and Scotland who might not be claiming benefits.

To qualify, you must have an energy performance certificate rating of D or lower.

You could be in line for essential upgrades to your home, including roof, loft or cavity wall insulation – which could cut your annual energy bill by £100s.

Check whether you meet the eligibility criteria by visiting gov.uk/apply-great-british-insulation-scheme.

Boiler upgrade scheme – £7,500

Through the boiler upgrade scheme, you could get a grant to cover part of the cost of replacing fossil fuel heating systems with a heat pump or biomass boiler.

You can get one grant per property, towards help with the following:

• £7,500 towards an air source heat pump
• £7,500 towards a ground source heat pump (including water source heat pumps and those on shared ground loops)
• £5,000 towards a biomass boiler

To qualify for this scheme you must own the property you are looking to upgrade.

You must find an MCS-certified installer to claim the grant on your behalf.

MCS is the certification scheme for energy-efficiency product installers.

You can find the nearest ones to you by visiting www.mcscertified.com/find-an-installer, but it is worth shopping for a few quotes.

Home upgrade grant – £1,000s

The home upgrade grant provides funding for various energy efficiency measures for homes that are not connected to the gas grid, often in rural or semi-rural areas.

To be eligible, you must own and live in the property you’re applying for and not use a mains gas boiler as your home’s main heating system.

You’ll also need an performance certificate (EPC) rating of D, E, F or G – if you do not know your home’s EPC you can find it out when you apply.

You’ll usually need to have a household income of £36,000 a year or less.

If you’re eligible, your local council will arrange a home survey to see how your home could be made more energy efficient.

They might suggest improvements like installing wall, loft and underfloor insulation, air source heat pumps, electric radiators

Find out more by visiting gov.uk/apply-home-upgrade-grant.

What energy bill help is available?

There’s a number of different ways to get help paying your energy bills if you’re struggling to get by.

If you fall into debt, you can always approach your supplier to see if they can put you on a repayment plan before putting you on a prepayment meter.

This involves paying off what you owe in instalments over a set period.

If your supplier offers you a repayment plan you don’t think you can afford, speak to them again to see if you can negotiate a better deal.

Several energy firms have schemes available to customers struggling to cover their bills.

But eligibility criteria vary depending on the supplier and the amount you can get depends on your financial circumstances.

For example, British Gas or Scottish Gas customers struggling to pay their energy bills can get grants worth up to £2,000.

British Gas also offers help via its British Gas Energy Trust and Individuals Family Fund.

You don’t need to be a British Gas customer to apply for the second fund.

EDF, E.ON, Octopus Energy and Scottish Power all offer grants to struggling customers too.

Thousands of vulnerable households are missing out on extra help and protections by not signing up to the Priority Services Register (PSR).

The service helps support vulnerable households, such as those who are elderly or ill.

Some of the perks include being given advance warning of blackouts, free gas safety checks and extra support if you’re struggling.

Get in touch with your energy firm to see if you can apply.

The old stage at West Hollywood’s Roxy Theatre looks as small as ever to Tim Curry. Back in 1974, the actor spent nearly a year strutting across its boards in fishnets and a snug corset as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the flamboyant, sexually ravenous mad scientist of the musical comedy “The Rocky Horror Show.”

Witnesses to that run of performances still marvel at the spectacle of Curry’s nightly entrance, as he marched from the lobby on a long catwalk, his high heels at eye level with the audience. He would then cast aside his Dracula cape to sing a personal theme song, “Sweet Transvestite.”

“It’s actually really nice to be here because it was another home for me,” says Curry, 79, looking up at the empty stage inside the Sunset Strip nightclub. “It became my stomping ground. I had to appear as though I owned it — and I kind of did.”

At the end of that same year, Curry was back home in England to shoot the feature film version, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” a rock ’n’ roll send-up of old sci-fi and horror B-movies that became both a cult classic and a vibrant symbol for sexual freedom. It is the original midnight movie and is now being feted around the world for its 50th anniversary with a second life as the longest continuous theatrical release in cinema history.

Tim Curry, center, as Frank-N-Furter in 1975’s “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

(John Jay Photo / Disney)

The role changed Curry’s career forever, and he will be part of some of those celebrations, beginning with a screening of a newly restored 4K version of the film, along with a panel Q&A, at the Academy Museum on Friday.

At the time of the film’s original release in 1975, it tapped into a cultural zeitgeist that mixed glamour and androgyny, akin to the era’s glam-rock movement led by David Bowie. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” ultimately found a cult of fans who gathered for weekly midnight screenings in costume as the movie’s outlandish characters, performing as a “shadow cast” in harmony with the film onscreen.

“It was part of the sexual revolution, really,” says Curry. “Experiment was in the air and it was palpable. I gave them permission to be who they discovered they wanted to be. I’m proud of that.”

Since a stroke in 2012, the actor has been in a wheelchair and most of his work has been in voiceover. He did appear on camera in a 2016 remake of “Rocky Horror” for television, this time as the criminologist. But it was as the lascivious, self-confident Frank-N-Furter that Curry made history.

On this afternoon, he is dressed in black, auburn hair slicked back. In the Roxy’s lobby is a portrait of Curry in character as the mad doctor in pearls. It was a role he originated in London, on the tiny stage upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, where it first became an underground sensation.

“Even for the time, there was a lot of courage that went into that performance,” remembers Jim Sharman, who directed Curry in the original stage productions in London and Los Angeles and then onscreen. “Tim himself was actually a kind of quiet intellectual offstage, but onstage he really knew how to let it rip.”

Curry, center, in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

(Disney)

With a story and songs written by actor Richard O’Brien, who also played the skeletal, sarcastic Riff-Raff, “Rocky Horror” begins with a young couple caught in a rainstorm who approach a mysterious castle in search of shelter and a phone.

Played by then-unknowns Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick, the couple find Frank-N-Furter is hosting a convention of partying aliens in formalwear from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy Transylvania.

The mad doctor is also anxious to show off his latest experiment, the creation of a perfectly formed male, a personal plaything of chiseled muscles and blond hair, as he sings “I Can Make You A Man.” The scene leaves an impression.

“He takes no prisoners — it’s his world and you just happen to live in it,” Curry says with a smile of his Frank-N-Furter. “He doesn’t leave much air in the room. And I enjoyed that because it was so not like me, really.”

Notably, the film shares a 50-year anniversary with “Jaws,” and Curry remembers someone at 20th Century Fox placing newspaper ads that year for “Rocky Horror” with the film’s glossy red lips image and words promising, “A different set of jaws.”

“Jaws,” of course, was a record-breaking summer blockbuster, but as the longest-running theatrical release of all time, “Rocky Horror” really has no competition in terms of impact. It helped establish a culture for midnight movies in open-ended rotation, from David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” to Paul Verhoeven’s “Showgirls.”

At the customary hour of midnight, the restored 4K film will be premiering across the country this weekend, with special screenings and Q&As on Oct. 4 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and Oct. 15 at the Grammy Museum. The film will then be rereleased on Blu-ray on Oct. 7, with a reissue of the official soundtrack album on Oct. 10.

Also landing in time for the celebration is a new documentary, “Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror,” directed by Linus O’Brien, son of “Rocky Horror” author and composer Richard O’Brien. The 90-minute film explores the making of the movie, the original stage musical and the decades of fan culture that followed.

“When a work of art survives this long, it’s working on many different levels,” says the younger O’Brien, who was a toddler on the set. “You want to live in that house and have those naughty experiences. [People] will be talking about it long after we’re all dead.”

The “Rocky Horror” journey from underground theater to feature film began after Los Angeles music impresario Lou Adler saw the show during a trip to London. Known as a manager and record producer (Carole King’s “Tapestry”), Adler was shaken from his jet lag, instantly recognizing “Rocky Horror” as a potential attraction for his recently opened L.A. club, the Roxy. Within two days, Adler signed a deal to host its U.S. premiere.

At the Roxy, the show was an immediate sensation, fueled by Curry’s wildly charismatic performance. Opening night brought out a crowd that included Jack Nicholson, John Lennon and Mick Jagger. L.A. Times theater critic Dan Sullivan compared Curry to various Hollywood grande dames (Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, among them).

“It was one of the great parties of all time,” Adler recalls during a video call from his home in Malibu. “The acceptance was unbelievable.”

Talk of turning the stage musical into a movie soon followed and a deal was made with 20th Century Fox, with producers Adler and Michael White guaranteeing delivery on a modest budget of about $1 million.

“I don’t know if 20th Century Fox ever understood the film,” Sharman says with a laugh, in a video call from Australia. “They might’ve been relieved that it was going on a low budget and being made on somebody’s lunch money.”

It was the first feature film for many of them. But Adler and White insisted on keeping the stage musical’s creative team together, including Sharman, costume designer Sue Blane and production designer Brian Thomson. With Curry firmly in the lead role, most of the cast members were drawn from the London production. Joining them were American actors Sarandon, Bostwick and singer Meat Loaf.

“I adored her,” Curry says of Sarandon. “She was a witty girl and so beautiful, and a real actress, I thought. You could tell that she had something.”

He also became friends with Meat Loaf, who appeared in the small but impactful role of Eddie, bursting out of a freezer on a motorcycle long enough to sing the manic “Hot Patootie, Bless My Soul.” In 1981, Curry hosted “Saturday Night Live” and appeared with Meat Loaf in a skit that had the actors selling “Rocky Horror” memorabilia. (Curry is still irritated by that one: “Dreadful.”)

Lou Adler, photographed at the Roxy in West Hollywood in 2023.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“When the movie was a definite thing, there were several big stars who wanted to play the part,” Curry remembers. “Mick Jagger wanted to play it and he would’ve done a great job if you saw ‘Performance.’ But [director Sharman] said he wanted me to do it. I don’t think the studio was happy that he turned down Mick.”

Though Sharman was a very experienced stage director, he had made only one previous film, a 16mm feature called “Shirley Thompson vs. the Aliens.” For “Rocky Horror,” he says he was aiming for “a dark version of ‘The Wizard of Oz.’” He was also inspired by old B-movies and German Expressionism along with lessons learned from the stage. Interior scenes were shot at the old Hammer horror films’ Bray Studios just outside London.

“The reason we don’t have great anecdotes from the shoot is we didn’t have time for anecdotes,” adds Sharman. “It was shot in five weeks.”

Bostwick, appearing in one of his first film roles, remembers, “It felt like a very low-budget but colorful, bright and inspiring musical. You knew from the moment you were around the sets and costumes and lighting and makeup and camera people that they were at the top of their game.”

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” evolved in some subtle but meaningful ways in its transition from the stage. For the live performances, Curry did his own makeup. “In the theater, I made it look a lot more amateur, deliberately, like he wasn’t good at it but was making a brave attempt and didn’t care much,” Curry says with a laugh. “In the play, it was just a lot trashier.”

For the film, French makeup artist Pierre La Roche was recruited to refine Frank-N-Furter’s exterior. La Roche had previously worked with Bowie during the Ziggy Stardust era.

“He was indeed very French,” says Curry, campily. “He was brilliant.”

An early sign of the challenges the movie would face arrived at an early screening of the completed film for Fox executives. Curry was there with Adler. “You could touch the silence at the end,” recalls Curry. “It wasn’t a very alive audience. There was really no reaction at all.”

Fox also hosted a test screening in Santa Barbara. The audience was a local mix of retirees and university students, and many of the older filmgoers began heading for the exit, until the theater was nearly empty.

But as Adler and a young Fox executive named Tim Deegan sat on the curb outside, they also met young people who were excited about the film. Adler credits Deegan for finding the “Rocky Horror” audience in an unexpected place: indie theaters at midnight.

Its second life began at the Waverly Theater in New York, where it began evolving into a happening that was both a movie and a theatrical experience. At the time, Curry happened to live within walking distance of the Waverly.

“It was a sort of guaranteed party,” he says of any potential moviegoer. “And if he didn’t bring a date, he could perhaps find one.”

On a recent weekend at the Nuart Theater in West L.A., barely five miles away from the Roxy, it’s approaching midnight and the lobby is filled with fans and volunteer shadow performers in “Rocky Horror” drag. Appearing as Frank-N-Furter is Kohlton Rippee, 32, already in his heels and makeup.

Like many here, he sees the film as both an outlet and a connection to a found family — a way “to see aspects of themselves represented in ways that they don’t see from traditional media. It’s like, ‘Oh, I can see myself in this and find this weird community to be around.’”

Bostwick first heard of the film’s second life from others and word trickled in that his every appearance onscreen was met with an affectionate callback from the crowd: “Ass—!” He didn’t see the phenomenon himself until later at the Tiffany Theater on Sunset.

“What do they say, that Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth? I’ve always thought that a Friday and Saturday night at a theater at midnight was the happiest place on Earth,” the actor says of the many raucous screenings he’s witnessed. “Everybody was just having a ball.”

After Walt Disney Co.‘s 2019 acquisition of 20th Century Fox, it turned the House of Mouse into the unlikely steward of “Rocky Horror.” Back in 1975, nothing could have been further from the Disney brand than a rock ’n’ roll musical about a cross-dressing scientist. That year, Disney released “The Apple Dumpling Gang.”

“I guess Walt is kind of revolving in his grave,” Curry jokes.

Even so, Adler says Disney has been a good partner on “Rocky Horror” and is supporting the multiple official anniversary events. “Walt was a breakthrough guy,” the producer notes. “He broke through and made a mouse a hero. So, in a way, he had his own Frank-N-Furter.”

Sept. 23 (UPI) — Oklahoma’s public schools chief Ryan Walters said Tuesday that every high school in the state will have a chapter of Turning Point USA, the organization co-founded by slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Walters, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, announced the partnership with the national conservative student group in a video posted to X, saying it would counter what he called the classroom dominance of “radical leftists” and teachers unions who “push woke indoctrination on our kids.'”

After the shooting of Kirk on a Utah college campus earlier this month, conservative politicians and media figures celebrated his influence with the nation’s youth and pledged to uphold his legacy. Walters’ announcement indicates a willingness to use the state’s public education system to advance Turning Point USA, but offered little detail on what that would mean.

“What we’re going to continue to do is make sure that our kids understand American greatness, engage in civic dialog and have that open discussion,” he said.

Starting a chapter of Turning Point USA at a private or public high school, as well as a home school, requires three students to serve as leaders and to sign a charter agreement, according to the national group’s website. The local chapter has to organize one activism initiative each semester and remain in good standing with a Turning Point USA field representative.

A press release from the state Department of Education states that chapters will receive support from the national organization, including “activism kits” with pins, pocket Constitutions, handbooks and other materials. The press release does not explain what the state will do to make sure students on every high school campus follows through.

John Croisant, a board member for Tulsa Public Schools and Democratic candidate for Congress, told KGOU that while students are able to form clubs, his district would not be “pushing political organizations within our schools.”

The department is investigating a dozen school districts that did not observe a moment of silence to honor Kirk, reported KOCO 5 News. Those districts told the station they were not aware of investigations.

Walters enacted a policy earlier this year requiring teachers from New York and California to pass tests showing they are not “woke indoctrinators.” He also supported a requirement that public schools teach the Bible.

ITALY has been battered by brutal floods after a wave of torrential rainfall swamped vast parts of the north.

Streets and railways erupted into rivers, trapping people in cars and houses, and hundreds of school children had to be rescued from flood waters.

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North-western Italy swallowed the worst of the weather, with orange alerts issued for parts of Lombardy and Liguria on Sunday, but the capital Milan has also suffered with severe rainfall on Monday night.

In Meda, Lombardy, cars were picked up by the surging water and taken away down the streets.

One clip shows the powerful river depositing a car on top of another – while a railway track can be seen full to the brim with gushing brown water.

The Seveso river which runs through Milan burst its banks and completely submerged several neighbourhoods, and the Lambro is also threatening to overflow in the city.

Specialised flood vehicles had to rescue around 300 children stranded in schools in the Niguarda district of Milan.

In Cabiate, Como province, fire crews plucked residents from swamped neighbourhoods by winching them up to helicopters after the Tarò River overflowed.

They also combed the streets checking submerged vehicles for anyone trapped inside.

Landslides and flooding have brought chaos to the Bormida Valley in Lugaria, and most of the region’s schools have been forced to shut.

Water spurted up through manhole covers along the busy Via Vittorini road – where flood defences have been erected to protect homes.

Milan’s Palace of Justice has been forced to shut down after water pooled inside and the power had to be turned off.

Milan’s Civil Protection Councilor, Marco Granelli, urged all residents to exercise “maximum caution”.

More than 70 emergency calls have been put into the fire service amid the watery mayhem.

The flooding was caused by heavy storms which swept across the north of the country.

A German tourist is currently reported to be missing in Piedmont after flash flooding, with a search operation underway.

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Officials said more than 650 emergency interventions were carried out across Lombardy, with over 200 firefighters mobilized.

A mother and her 10-month-old baby were rescued from the roof of their car in Monza and Brianza province after being trapped by floodwaters.

In Florence, a pine tree collapsed onto a parked van, though no injuries were reported.

Weather forecasters said unstable conditions would continue in the coming days, with thunderstorms forecast for central and northern Italy and temperatures expected to fall.

Heavy rainfall could also extend to southern regions over the weekend.

Italy‘s flood trouble follows similar scenes in Spain.

One child died as torrential floods continue to wreak havoc across a Spanish holiday hotspot.

Horror weather sparked travel chaos with flights cancelled and trains abandoned due to fallen trees on the tracks – as officials warn of more rain to come.

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It is a significant turnaround for a club which have twice been subject to points deductions for breaching profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) and only escaped relegation on the final day of the season two years ago.

“If you’d told me that this summer we’d do a net spend of that, I’d have been excited and delighted,” says former Everton midfielder Leon Osman.

“Yes, we wouldn’t mind another defender, due to injuries, and a 30-goal striker, but for one window it’s outstanding.

“It’s exciting times for everyone.”

Should Merlin Rohl’s loan move from Freiburg be made permanent for an agreed £17m – the reported stipulation is that Everton need to avoid relegation for the clause to be triggered – their net spend will climb to £114m.

In the summer of 2020, with Carlo Ancelotti at the helm, Everton recruited six players, including Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez, for a net spend of £77m.

In 2017 three number 10s, including record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson, were brought in as part of a £140m summer outlay, but Romelu Lukaku’s £75m move to Manchester United helped reduce Everton’s net outgoings to £48m.

Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, a shocking act of political violence that brought widespread condemnation.

Hours after the shooting, the suspected gunman was taken into custody, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X.

“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” President Trump said on Truth Social. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.”

Videos shared on social media show Kirk sitting under a white canopy, speaking to hundreds of people through a microphone, when a loud pop is heard; he suddenly falls back, blood gushing from his neck.

Before he was shot in the neck, he was asked about mass shootings.

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“Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” an audience member asks.

“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk responds.

Almost immediately, Kirk is shot in the neck. One video shows blood pouring from the wound. As the crowd realizes what has taken place, people are heard screaming and running away.

A source familiar with the investigation told The Times that a bullet struck Kirk’s carotid artery.

Charlie Kirk speaks before his fatal shooting Wednesday at Utah Valley University.

(Tess Crowley / Deseret News / AP)

Utah Valley University police said in an alert that “a single shot was fired on campus toward a visiting speaker” and that it was investigating the shooting.

Law enforcement sources said Kirk was fatally wounded from a considerable distance, perhaps 200 yards away, by a sniper-style shot.

Videos shared on X, show an older man in handcuffs on the ground whom witnesses claimed was the gunman. The man is heard saying, “I have the right to remain silent.” In another video, police escort the man while the crowd jeers him. One woman is heard screaming, “How dare you!”

Earlier Wednesday afternoon, Trump posted a message about the incident on Truth Social.

“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” he said.

Mike Lee, a Utah senator, posted on X shortly after videos circulated online that he was “tracking the situation at Utah Valley University closely.”

“Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk and the students gathered there,” he said.

The shooting drew immediate words of support and calls for prayers for Kirk from leading conservative politicians.

“Say a prayer for Charlie Kirk, a genuinely good guy and a young father,” Vice President JD Vance posted on X.

Crowd members react after Charlie Kirk’s shooting at Utah Valley University.

(Tess Crowley / Deseret News / AP)

Leading Democrats also moved swiftly to condemn the attack.

“The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on X. “In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form.”

Gabrielle Giffords, a former Arizona congresswoman who survived a political assassination attempt in 2011 and is a gun violence prevention advocate, said on X that she was horrified to hear that Kirk was shot.

“Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence,” she wrote.

Kirk, a conservative political activist, was in Utah for his American Comeback Tour, which held its first stop at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

The tour, as with many of his events, had drawn both supporters and protesters. Kirk’s wife and children were at the university when he was shot, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin posted on X.

Kirk, 31, was one of the Republican Party’s most influential power brokers.

The founder of the influential conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, Kirk had a vast online reach: 1.6 million followers on Rumble, 3.8 million subscribers on YouTube, 5.2 million followers on X and 7.3 million followers on TikTok.

During the 2024 election, he rallied his online followers to support Trump, prompting conservative podcast host Megyn Kelly to say: “It’s not an understatement to say that this man is responsible for helping the Republicans win back the White House and the U.S. Senate.”

Just after Trump was elected for a second time to the presidency last November, Kirk frequently posted to social media from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he had first-hand influence over which MAGA loyalists Trump named to his Cabinet.

Kirk was known for melding his conservative politics, nationalism and evangelical faith, casting the current political climate as a state of spiritual warfare between a righteous right wing and so-called “godless” liberals.

He declared that God was on the side of American conservatives and that there was “no separation of church and state.” And in a speech to Trump supporters in Georgia last year, he said that “the Democrat Party supports everything that God hates” and that “there is a spiritual battle happening all around us.”

Kirk was also known for his memes and college campus speaking tours meant to “own the libs.” Videos of his debates with liberal college students have racked up tens of millions of views.

Matthew Boedy, a professor of rhetoric and composition at the University of North Georgia, has written a forthcoming book about Christian nationalism that prominently features Kirk and his influence. The book, “The Seven Mountains Mandate,” comes out Sept. 30.

“Today is a tragedy,” Boedy said in an interview with The Times on Wednesday. “It is a red flag for our nation.”

Boedy said the shooting — following the two assassination attempts against Trump on the campaign trail last year — was a tragic reminder of “just how divisive we have become.”

In June, a shooter posing as a police officer fatally shot Minnesota state House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home in an incident that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called “a politically motivated assassination.”

Another Democratic lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, were also injured at their residence less than 10 miles away.

In April, a shooter set fire to the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, forcing Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family to flee during the Jewish holiday of Passover.

In July 2024, Trump himself survived a hail of bullets, one of which grazed his ear, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. Two months later, a man with a rifle was arrested by Secret Service agents after he was spotted amid shrubs near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf resort.

Kirk’s presence at the Utah campus was preceded by petitions and protests. But, Boedy noted, that was typical with his appearances.

“Charlie Kirk is, I would say, the most influential person who doesn’t work in the White House,” he said.

Boedy said Kirk reached a vast array of demographics through his radio show and social media accounts and was “in conversation with President Trump a lot.”

Kirk had said his melding in recent years of faith and politics was influenced by Rob McCoy, the pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Newbury Park in Ventura County. Kirk called McCoy, who often spoke at his events, his personal pastor.

Boedy said McCoy turned Kirk toward Christian nationalism, specifically the Seven Mountains Mandate — the idea that Christians should try to influence the seven pillars of cultural influence: arts and religion, business, education, family, government, media and religion.

Boedy said Kirk “turned Turning Point USA into an arm of Christian nationalism. There’s a strategy called the Seven Mountains Mandate, and he has put his TPUSA money into each of those.”

Boedy said Kirk was a vocal 2nd Amendment supporter and that the shooting likely would further the desire among his conservative followers who tout the idea of having good guys with guns “to have more guns everywhere, which is sad.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency was closely monitoring reports of the shooting.

“Our thoughts are with Charlie, his loved ones, and everyone affected,” he said on X. “Agents will be on the scene quickly and the FBI stands in full support of the ongoing response and investigation.”

Meanwhile, 345 miles to the east, at least three students were in critical condition following a shooting at a high school in Colorado.

The shooting happened earlier in the afternoon at Evergreen High School in Jefferson County. A fourth person may have been hurt as well. Among those injured was the shooter, who was described by authorities only as a juvenile. No other details were provided on the shooting.

Times staff writer Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.

TELLURIDE, Colo. — It’s customary at Telluride for a director premiering a movie to step onstage, say a few words and slip away before the lights go down. On Friday night, before unveiling her new film “Hamnet,” Chloé Zhao admitted she couldn’t find the right words. For a film centered on William Shakespeare, the most famous wordsmith in history, that felt oddly fitting.

Instead, the 43-year-old Zhao led the packed Palm Theater in a meditative “ritual” she and her cast had practiced throughout the shoot, from before the script was even written until the final day on set. She asked the audience to close their eyes, place a hand over their hearts and feel the weight of their bodies in the seats and the surrounding Rocky Mountains holding them safe. Together, the crowd exhaled three long, loud sighs, then tapped their chests in unison, repeating softly: “This is my heart. This is my heart. This is my heart.”

By the time the film ended, those same hearts were left aching. Adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, “Hamnet” tells the story of Shakespeare’s marriage to Agnes (played by Jessie Buckley) and the devastating death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. Paul Mescal plays Shakespeare — not the untouchable bard of legend but a husband and father reckoning with grief. At once grounded and dreamlike, the film drew perhaps the most rapturous and unanimous response of any debut in this year’s lineup.

Eight years ago, Zhao came to Telluride with “The Rider,” fresh from Cannes and still largely unknown. In 2020 she returned with “Nomadland,” which received a Telluride-sponsored drive-in screening at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl due to the pandemic and went on to win best picture and make Oscar history, with Zhao becoming only the second woman — and the first and only woman of color — to win the directing prize. Then came Marvel’s “Eternals,” a massive undertaking that thrust Zhao into the franchise machine and brought with it a bruising critical reception. With “Hamnet,” she’s back to a smaller canvas, trading cosmic spectacle for intimate human drama.

On Sunday morning in Telluride, still processing the reaction to her latest film, Zhao sat down to talk — speaking so softly that even in a hushed room her words can be hard to catch — about why she took on O’Farrell’s story, how she approached Shakespeare’s world and the delicate task of turning heartbreak into art.

Jessie Buckley, center, in the movie “Hamnet.”

(Agata Grzybowska / Focus Features)

When I interviewed you for “The Rider” in 2018 you said you’re a very pessimistic person and when you get a good review, you’re just waiting for the bad one to drop. What are you feeling right now? Did you expect anything like the reaction “Hamnet” has received?
I was nervous. I’ve walked through fires. I’ve been through the fire — a very painful fire — and I think there is probably a bit of fear around that.

What was the fire? You mean the reaction to “Eternals”?
I’m not going to say out it loud, because when I do, things always get … [trails off]. Let’s just say we were very scared.

I think the fear mainly came from the fact that we felt so sure of what we experienced. It changed all of our lives and mine so profoundly that it’s still reverberating. You think: Were we crazy? And no one else will get it but us?

You go through this long, treacherous journey to deliver these things to safety and now it’s very tender because you look back at all the loss and the sacrifices along the way and you haven’t really had time to process it.

I’m curious what your history was with Shakespeare growing up in China and then moving to England and later Los Angeles as a teenager. What kind of early impression did he make on you?
Shakespeare is very revered in China. In Chinese theater, they do Chinese versions of his plays. When I studied in the U.K., I didn’t speak English at the time and I did have to learn Shakespeare, which was very difficult. I don’t think I’m anywhere near where Paul and Jesse are with their understanding of Shakespeare. The language was always a barrier but the archetypal element of his stories was big for me — particularly “Macbeth.” In high school in Los Angeles, I performed Lady Macbeth’s speech on the stage because everybody had to do some kind of monologue for a project. And I barely spoke English.

You’ve said you initially weren’t sure that you were the right person to direct this movie. What was your hesitation?
There were three elements to that. One is that I’m not a mother. I never felt particularly maternal. People in my life say, “That’s not true, Chloé,” but I don’t see myself stepping into that archetype at all. The second was the idea of a period film — how can I be authentic and fluid in a period film, where you can’t just make things up in the moment, you can’t be spontaneous? The third was Shakespeare. I wondered if I needed to be scholarly.

So how did you come around?
I was driving near Four Corners, New Mexico, when Amblin called. I said, “No, thank you.” Steven [Spielberg] really wanted me to consider it. Then my agent said Paul Mescal wanted to meet me. I didn’t know his work. “Aftersun” was the secret screening here [in Telluride 2022], and we went for a walk by the creek. I watched him talking and thought, “Could he play young Shakespeare?” He already read the book. Then I read it and thought, if Maggie [O’Farrell] can write this with me, she can show me that world. As soon as I read the book, I said, “Can you set a meeting with Jessie Buckley?” I couldn’t see anyone else but her as Agnes.

Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare in the movie “Hamnet.”

(Agata Grzybowska / Focus Features)

You’d just come off “Eternals” after making small films like “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” and “Nomadland.” Now you’re back with something more intimate again. Did it feel like a reset?
Every child has its own beauty and troubles. This budget was maybe six or seven times “Nomadland,” but much less than “Eternals.” But it’s also a period film, which has its own challenges. I come from a tradition of: Tell me how much money you have and I’ll make something with it.

But I changed a lot after “Nomadland” and “Eternals.” In my 30s, I wanted to chase the horizon. I didn’t want it to ever end. I’d just keep running. Then, at the end of “Eternals,” I felt I couldn’t film another sunset that would satisfy me the way in the way it had with “The Rider” and “Nomadland.” I went through a lot of difficult personal times and pushing midlife, I realized I’d been running like a cowboy, like a nomad.

When you stop running and stop chasing horizons and you stay still, the only place you can go is above or below. I descended pretty heavily these last four years. By the time I got to “Hamnet,” I was ready. The difference now is a different kind of humanity: older, more vertical.

We know so little about Shakespeare or his son. Some parts of your film are grounded, others dreamlike. How did you balance that?
First of all, what’s real? Ancient mystics tried to understand what is being. “To be or not to be” goes beyond suicidal thought — it’s about existence itself. Every film has its own truth. For me, the truest thing is what’s present in the moment. I hired department heads and actors with knowledge of the history, but also the capacity to stay present and shift as we go. If someone came in too factual and literal, I said no. I wanted people who could do the research but also stay alive to the present.

Shakespeare’s name isn’t even spoken until late in the movie. This isn’t the icon — he’s a husband and father. Was it appealing to free him from the iconography?
Maggie’s book laid the foundation, really focusing on Agnes. For the film, I wanted it to be about two people who see and are seen by each other. They’re archetypal characters. I’ve studied Jungian psychology and Hindu Tantra — the energies of masculine and feminine, being and doing, birth and death. If we don’t have a healthy connection to our roots, those forces battle within us. By creating two characters who embody that, the story can work at a collective level and an internal one. The alchemy of creativity lets those forces coexist. Hopefully it becomes something more than a story about marriage or the death of a child.

Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal in the movie “Hamnet.”

(Agata Grzybowska / Focus Features )

The loss of a child is hard to film and for audiences to watch. We’ve seen it tackled in different ways on screen, from “Ordinary People” to “Manchester by the Sea.” How did you approach portraying that kind of grief honestly without it being too much for the audience to bear?
It might be for some people, which is understandable. I love both those films you mentioned very much and watched them multiple times. I’ve been making films about grief for a while. I don’t think about what’s too much or too little. Agnes’ wailing — I could do that right now in front of you. We should be allowed to. The silence for thousands of years has done great damage.

How do you mean?
Think about ancient warriors coming back from battle — they danced, screamed, healed together. In Tantra, sexuality was part of healing. Now it’s: Talk to a therapist, take medication, go back to your family. The body is restricted. Telling a woman to be quiet when she gave birth and pinning her down. We know why this control happens. But I think people are responding to films where actors are embodied, because we miss that.

How do you see grief as a through-line in all your films?
All my films start with characters who’ve lost what defined them: dreams, home, purpose, faith. They grieve who they thought they were in order to become who they truly are. That’s grief on an individual and collective level. I wasn’t raised to understand grief. So I made films to give characters catharsis and through that, myself.

My friend [“Sinners” director] Ryan Coogler, who knows me so well, sat me down after seeing “Hamnet” and he said, “The other films were beautiful but you hid behind things. This is the first time I saw you in there. You’re finally being seen.” It took four films, working with that kind of grief and fear to get to that point.

The Oscar chatter has already started. You’ve obviously been through this before. How do you tune that out and just focus on what’s in front of you?
The same way that me, Paul and Jessie were doing on set. We made the film by being present. It’s difficult, so I’m trying to take that practice daily — just saying, “OK, today is all we have.” It’s flattering and nice but after what I’ve experienced in my career, you cannot possibly predict how things are going to go. I never expected “Nomadland” to go on that journey. So I surrender to the river.

Do you know what you’re doing next?
I just wrapped the pilot on the new “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series, which is set 25 years later. My company is part of developing it. The fandom is so special to me and I’m excited about how that’s going to go into the world. Then I think I want to do a play. I was working on “Our Town” and I had to let that go in order to do “Hamnet.” But I figured maybe I’ll learn something from this film and come back to the stage.

The industry feels pretty shaky right now: fewer jobs, studio consolidation, anxiety around AI. As a filmmaker, how do you see the state of the business and the art form?
I sense we’re at a threshold — not just the film business, everything. It’s uncomfortable. We’re like Will standing at the edge of the river when, at least in our film, the “to be or not to be” monologue was born. We can’t go back and we don’t know how to go forward. In physics, when two opposing forces pull so strongly, a new equilibrium bursts out. That’s how the universe expands. I think we’re there. We can kick and scream or we can surrender, hug our loved ones and focus on what we can do today.

Hopefully I’m not so pessimistic now. Or at least a little bit less.

A GUNMAN killed his former wife’s new partner and her mum outside a hotel before turning the gun on himself in a horrifying shooting.

The shooter also left his ex-wife seriously injured in the terrifying attack in Naples, Italy.

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Two victims were found on the road outside a hotel, while the third victim died from their injuries in hospital.

The 69-year-old gunman reportedly shot and killed his ex-wife’s partner, 48, and her 63-year-old mum, who was a Ukrainian national.

He then reportedly chased and shot his ex-wife, 42, who was also of Ukrainian origin.

She is currently at the Rizzolo hospital in Lacco Ameno.

The attacker was also rushed to hospital after he turned the gun on himself, and died later.

The shocking attack took place on Saturday at around 6:30pm on the island of Ischia in the Cuotto area in Forio.

Local cops said the area is still cordoned off while they continue to investigate the circumstances of the attack.

State police and volunteers are helping with the investigation.

The shocking attack comes after a shooting left a mobster’s niece dead in a nightclub as part of a suspected mafia war last year.

Antonia Lopez, 19, was reportedly killed as scores were being settled between gangs involved in drug trafficking and extortion.

The young woman was gunned down at Bahia nightclub in Puglia, Italy, as Michele Lavopa, 21, allegedly sought to kill a different man – Eugenio Palermiti, 21.

Lavopa handed himself into police after his mother convinced him to and confessed, La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno reported.

He has now been charged with voluntary homicide, quadruple attempted homicide, and possession and carrying of a firearm.

The three involved were all scions of different criminal gangs, with Lopez pals with target Palermiti.

And in 2021, two young brothers were killed by a crazed shooter, with the boys holding their father’s hand as they died.

David and Daniel Fusinato, aged five and 10, were shot while playing in the street in the Italian town Ardea, near Rome.

Their grandmother, Sonia di Gennaro, said the boys’ dad – Domenico – was with them until the very end.

She told Italian newspaper La Stampa: “They died holding their father’s hand.

“The ambulance arrived too late, it took half an hour.”

Commissioner’s recommendations for tech companies include measures that have been criticised on privacy grounds.

Australia’s internet watchdog has accused tech giants including Google and Apple of failing to take action against child sex abuse on their platforms.

In a report released on Wednesday, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said tech platforms were failing to implement various measures to protect children, including scanning cloud services for known abuse material and using language analysis tools to detect attempted sexual extortion in messaging services.

Grant said that Apple and YouTube, which is owned by Google, also failed to track reports of child sex abuse and could not say how long it took them to respond to the reports they received.

“It shows that when left to their own devices, these companies aren’t prioritising the protection of children and are seemingly turning a blind eye to crimes occurring on their services,” Grant said in a statement.

“We need to keep the pressure on the tech industry as a whole to live up to their responsibility to protect society’s most vulnerable members from the most egregious forms of harm and that’s what these periodic notices are designed to encourage.”

Grant added that the companies had taken few steps to improve their efforts since being asked three years ago, “despite the promise of AI to tackle these harms and overwhelming evidence that online child sexual exploitation is on the rise”.

“No other consumer-facing industry would be given the licence to operate by enabling such heinous crimes against children on their premises, or services,” she said.

Google disputed the report’s findings, saying they were rooted in “reporting metrics, not online safety performance” and that more than 99 percent of abuse material on YouTube is automatically removed before being flagged.

“Child safety is critical to us,” a Google spokesperson said.

“We’ve led the industry fight against child sexual abuse material since day one, investing heavily in advanced technology to proactively find and remove this harmful content.”

Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Snap, and Discord, which were also included in the report, did not respond to requests for comment.

Tom Sulston, head of policy at Digital Rights Watch, said that while it was important for authorities to take action against online child abuse, some of the tools supported by the internet watchdog would raise serious civil liberties and privacy concerns.

Sulston said that scanning live calls and private messages would require platforms to abandon end-to-end encryption, which prevents communications from being viewed by anyone apart from the sender and receiver.

“That’s a gross invasion of privacy for all of the people making perfectly innocent and reasonable use of the service,” Sulston told Al Jazeera.

“It also has dangerous knock-on effects where the users of that service would be subject to surveillance from hostile actors – foreign governments, criminals, hackers. That’s a huge risk for civic society, activists, journalists and anyone who communicates on the internet.

Breaking encryption would be “disproportionate and dangerous,” Sulston added.

“We don’t expect the post office to open all letters and read them for illegal content – in fact, most countries have laws specifically against this,” he said.

Between now and October, the Dodgers will be evaluating their increasingly healthy pitching staff, trying to identify the best 13 arms for their World Series push.

And for now, they remain hopeful that rookie right-hander Roki Sasaki could be part of that mix; writing an unexpected end to what once seemed like a lost 2025 campaign.

After being one of the biggest stories of the Dodgers’ offseason this winter, Sasaki has become more of an afterthought in the eight months since.

Back in January, the Dodgers’ acquisition of the Japanese phenom felt like a coup. The 23-year-old right-hander was billed as a future star in the making. He came advertised with a 100-mph fastball, devastating splitter and seemingly limitless potential as an ace-caliber pitcher. Most of all, he was a bargain addition financially, requiring only a $6.5-million signing bonus (for six years of team control) after making a rare early career jump from Japan.

The reality, to this point, has been nowhere near the expectation.

At the start of the season, Sasaki made eight underwhelming starts — with wild command and declining fastball velocity contributing to a 4.72 ERA — before being sidelined by a shoulder impingement.

Since then, he has sat on the injured list and largely faded into the background. An important piece of the Dodgers’ long-term plans, sure. But a wild card, at best, to contribute to their World Series defense this fall.

Lately, however, the narrative has started to shift again.

Over the last month, Sasaki has finally started progressing in a throwing program, twice facing hitters in recent live batting practice sessions. He has another three-inning simulated game scheduled for Friday, after which he could go out on a minor-league rehab assignment.

And after his early-season struggles to locate pitches or reach triple-digit velocities, the Dodgers have been encouraged with the changes he has made to his delivery and pitch mix. In a bullpen session Tuesday, Sasaki hit 96 mph with his four-seam fastball while also showcasing a two-seamer he has added during his time injured.

“I’m expecting to see pounding of the strike zone, conviction behind the throws, and just a better performer,” manager Dave Roberts said of Sasaki, who could rejoin the active roster near the end of August.

“At the end of the day, I just think that Roki has got to believe that his stuff plays here, which we all believe it does.”

The team’s title chances, of course, don’t exactly hinge on Sasaki. If their current rotation stays healthy, they should have more than enough starting pitching depth to navigate another deep October run.

But getting Sasaki back would provide some welcome pitching insurance.

He could also be a candidate to eventually shift to the bullpen, with Roberts leaving open the possibility of using him as a hard-throwing reliever come the end of the season (even though they intend to stretch him out to six innings as starter for now).

“We’re gonna take the 13 best pitchers [into the playoffs],” Roberts said. “If Roki is a part of that in some capacity, then that would be great. And if he’s not, then he won’t be.”

For much of the summer, it seemed like a long shot the Dodgers would be having such conversations about Sasaki at this point.

For all the hype that accompanied his arrival, the results made him look like more a long-term project.

In his eight early-season starts, his fastball averaged only 96 mph, and was punished by opposing hitters for its flat, relatively easy-to-hit shape. His slider was a work-in-progress, leaving him without a reliable third pitch.

His go-to splitter did induce the occasional awkward swing from opponents, and garnered much praise from teammates. But Sasaki failed to consistently use it to generate chase out of the strike zone.

As a result, he pitched from behind in the count too often (evidenced by his 24-to-22 strikeout-to-walk ratio). He seemingly lacked confidence to attack opposing hitters over the plate (and gave up six home runs in just 34 ⅓ innings when he did). And once he went down with his shoulder injury (which was similar to one that had bothered him during his Japanese career), the early stages of his rehab did not go smoothly, with Sasaki requiring a pain-relieving injection in June almost two months after initially going on the IL.

Since then, though, Sasaki has finally turned a corner.

He told reporters Tuesday that he now has “no pain” and is feeling “better about being able to throw harder” upon his return.

He has used his recent ramp-up as an opportunity to reset his mechanics, and clean up an arm path that Dodgers personnel believed was affected by his shoulder problems at the start of the season.

“What we saw early on is probably not indicative of what everybody expects and has seen from him in the past when he’s been 100%,” pitching coach Mark Prior said.

While out injured, Sasaki has also had an opportunity to sit back and watch big-league games up close, something Roberts and Prior insisted would be beneficial for a young pitcher who came to the majors with only 394 career innings over four seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league.

“He’s down there in that [dugout] stairwell when we’re at home pretty much all nine innings,” Prior said. “You can’t not learn by just watching and at least having some experience … I think he understands now the importance of, ‘I’ve got to be ahead. I’ve got to attack the strike zone.’ He doesn’t necessarily need it to be executed precisely, but it’s got to be in the strike zone. You can’t be living behind in counts.”

There may be no bigger sign of growth than Sasaki’s embrace of the two-seam fastball.

Before he got hurt, it was a pitch that people within the organization thought could help keep hitters off his diminished four-seam heater. Prior said that, before Sasaki was shut down, the coaching staff had initiated a conversation about adding it to his repotoire.

“Clearly, everybody would love a fast, high-riding four-seam,” Prior said. “But even that being said, these [hitters] have gotten a lot better and know how to attack those things. So just giving them different looks and stuff to lean into and keeping the righties honest, just gives him some flexibilities and some options.”

The hope is that it will help Sasaki be more competitive when he returns, and complement the rest of his highly-touted arsenal.

That, when coupled with improved health and refined mechanics, will trigger a late-season resurgence capable of making him an option for the postseason roster.

“My every intention is to get back on the major league mound and pitch again,” Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton. “With that being said, I do need to fight for the opportunity too. I don’t think that I’ll just be given the opportunity right away.”

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 24 (UPI) — The United Nations has warned that war-torn Lebanon is at “a turning point” and must undertake urgent and immediate recovery efforts to avoid prolonging its six-year multifaceted crisis that has been exacerbated by the recent Israel-Hezbollah war, according to a U.N. report released Thursday.

The report, prepared by the United Nations Development Program and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, in collaboration with other U.N. agencies, highlighted the devastating impact of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict — that began Oct. 8, 2023, and escalated in September 2024 — by examining its effects on Lebanon’s economy, infrastructure and society.

More than 4,285 people, including 292 children and 861 women, have been killed and some 17,200 wounded as of Jan. 9. Since the Nov. 27 cease-fire agreement took effect on Feb. 18, an additional 200 people, including civilians and Hezbollah operatives, also have been killed.

The war, moreover, displaced over 1.2 million people, damaged or destroyed nearly 64,000 buildings and disrupted education for hundreds of thousands of students, according to the U.N. report.

It indicated that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which make up 90% of Lebanon’s economy, were hit especially hard: 15% shut down permanently, 75% suspended operations during the war and nearly 30% lost their entire workforce.

In the most heavily bombed areas, up to 70% of businesses were forced to close permanently.

Moreover, about 500,000 students experienced severe educational disruptions during the war, with 69% of children out of school until the cease-fire. Child nutrition also reached critical levels, particularly in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel and Bekaa governorates, where more than 51% and 45% of children under the age of 2, respectively, suffered from severe food shortages.

Some 1.6 million people are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity, including 928,000 Lebanese citizens, the report warned.

The proportion of Lebanese citizens living below the poverty line more than tripled between 2012 and 2022 — rising to 33% from 11% — and that the 2024 war, particularly in eastern and southern Lebanon, further exacerbated poverty.

Moreover, the war significantly deepened Lebanon’s labor market crisis. During the conflict, employment among private sector workers declined by 25%. In the areas most heavily affected by bombardments, 36% of workers lost their jobs, compared to 17% in regions less impacted. Even after the cease-fire, 14% of workers remained unemployed.

The report explained that the economic impact has been profound, with Lebanon’s economy contracting by 38% between 2019 and 2024, while the country’s Human Development Index fell back to 2010 levels; marking a 14-year setback caused by the compounded effects of the crisis and war.

Key sectors of the economy have been severely affected, including tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, trade and finance. The tourism sector has taken a significant hit, with its contribution to the economy in 2024 expected to have declined to just 5.5%.

“Lebanon is at a turning point,” said Blerta Aliko, the resident representative of the U.N. Development Program in Lebanon, emphasizing the need for Lebanon to shape “a nationally led recovery plan.”

Aliko said it was imperative that “state institutions are strong and well-equipped” to drive a sustainable and inclusive recovery process.

The report indicated that a reform-driven recovery could help reverse the economic decline, with projections estimating GDP growth of 8.2% in 2026 and 7.1% in 2027. However, even with these necessary reforms, GDP would remain 8.4% below its pre-crisis 2017 peak of $51.2 billion. To sustain recovery, key sectors such as agriculture, construction, tourism and manufacturing must be prioritized, it said.

It recommends the Lebanese government to focus on four key areas for its recovery: rebuilding and strengthening state institutions; revitalizing the economy and generating employment; restoring basic services and expanding social protection; and rehabilitating damaged environmental ecosystems.

Tarik Alami, the economic and social commission cluster leader on governance and prevention, said Lebanon continues to face a “polycrisis” that was made worse by the recent devastating war.

“This critical juncture calls for the urgent and accelerated implementation of essential reforms; particularly within public administration, as well as across socio-economic and financial sectors,” Alami said.

He emphasized that “the root causes of recurring hostilities along Lebanon’s southern border must be addressed decisively and sustainably,” in full accordance with international law and relevant U.N. resolutions.

The U.N. report noted that Lebanon’s path to recovery requires urgent, coordinated action between the government, donors, U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations, while substantial financing will be required from domestic resources, private sector investments, international development assistance and foreign direct investment.

“Without immediate intervention, economic rebound will take longer, poverty will deepen, state institutions will further weaken and Lebanon’s social stability will be at risk,” it warned.

Last March, the World Bank estimated that Lebanon would need $11 billion for its reconstruction and recovery needs after the Israel-Hezbollah war.

However, any international or Arab financial support remains unlikely unless Lebanon implements the necessary reforms and fully disarms Hezbollah — a condition Israel has set as a prerequisite for halting its ongoing attacks on the country.

A study of 2,000 adults found that on average they are utilising three hacks on a typical holiday – with two thirds getting tips from friends and family

Nearly half of Brits fancy themselves as ‘travel hackers’, employing savvy strategies to get the most out of their holidays, according to a study commissioned by Virgin Red. The company joined forces with Race Across The World champion, Alfie Watts, to dish out some expert travel advice.

The survey revealed that among the top tactics used by holidaymakers are booking flights on weekdays, bundling hotel and transport costs, and using loyalty points for upgrades. Other popular hacks include leveraging credit card loyalty programmes to accumulate points, timing purchases for optimal deals, and browsing for flights in incognito mode to keep prices low.

Once the getaway is secured, travellers have more tricks up their sleeves, such as rolling clothes to maximise suitcase space, packing snacks to sidestep airport price hikes, and always having a portable charger at hand.

Alfie Watts himself embarked on an epic journey across three continents in just 72 hours, all thanks to Virgin Red reward points. He said: “Travel doesn’t have to break the bank, especially if you are using travel hacks and this trip proves it.”

Covering a staggering 9,000 miles, he secured accommodation using points that can be racked up through daily activities like shopping and commuting. These points can also be snagged when booking holidays, a trick nearly half of those surveyed regret not using on past trips.

“It’s not just about the flights – it’s the little hacks that make a big difference,” Alfie added. “I normally pack light to avoid pricey hold luggage fees and I also use an eSIM to stay connected without needing to switch out my physical SIM.

“I learned from previous experience that sometimes a long-haul flight pays off when the cost of living at your destination is super low, which helps to balance out costs.”

He also mentioned that renting a car and seeking advice from locals provides him with the flexibility to venture beyond typical tourist hotspots.

According to the study holidaymakers use an average of three money-saving tricks per trip, with two thirds receiving suggestions from relatives and mates.

A quarter of those surveyed admitted that certain tricks had swayed their choice of destination. These included uncovering cheaper alternatives, spotting hidden gems and selecting places with simpler visa processes.

Vicki Simpson from Virgin Red commented: “The research has shown that travellers are always keen to utilise hacks where possible.

“Alfie’s trip shows how far loyalty points can get you. Reward points give travellers the chance to fast track their travels while slowing their spending.

“Whether it’s a short weekend away or a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, these smarter ways to travel can undoubtedly make a difference.”