A masseuse accused comedian Russell Brand of physical assault in 2014, and a judge sided with the actor-comedian, calling her claims “inconsistent” and accusing the woman of harassing Brand and his then-partner.
The bombastic author and comedian-turned-wellness guru and podcast host is in the news due to a Times investigation published Saturday, which centered on four women who have accused him of rape and sexual assault between 2008 and 2013. While there is no evidence to suggest this 2014 allegation is overtly similar in nature to those discussed in the Times report, the story...
The bombastic author and comedian-turned-wellness guru and podcast host is in the news due to a Times investigation published Saturday, which centered on four women who have accused him of rape and sexual assault between 2008 and 2013. While there is no evidence to suggest this 2014 allegation is overtly similar in nature to those discussed in the Times report, the story...
- 9/18/2023
- by Ej Dickson
- Rollingstone.com
Renowned filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (“Bandit Queen,” “Elizabeth”) has revealed the theme for the sequel to his 1983 directorial debut “Masoom.”
Written by Gulzar (Oscar-winner for “Slumdog Millionaire” song “Jai Ho”), “Masoom” was an adaptation of Erich Segal’s 1980 novel “Man, Woman and Child.” It followed a happily married couple and their two daughters whose lives are disrupted with the arrival of a boy who is the man’s son from an earlier affair. The cast included Naseeruddin Shah (“Taj: Divided by Blood”), Shabana Azmi (“Halo”), Jugal Hansraj (“Nri Wives”), Supriya Pathak (“Tabbar”), Saeed Jaffrey (“The Man Who Would Be King”) and Urmila Matondkar (“Rangeela”).
The sequel, titled “Masoom… The New Generation,” is about the “idea of home,” Kapur told Variety. Kapur was in London for the National Film Awards where his last film, Working Title/Studiocanal production “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” scored nine nominations and won four awards including best director,...
Written by Gulzar (Oscar-winner for “Slumdog Millionaire” song “Jai Ho”), “Masoom” was an adaptation of Erich Segal’s 1980 novel “Man, Woman and Child.” It followed a happily married couple and their two daughters whose lives are disrupted with the arrival of a boy who is the man’s son from an earlier affair. The cast included Naseeruddin Shah (“Taj: Divided by Blood”), Shabana Azmi (“Halo”), Jugal Hansraj (“Nri Wives”), Supriya Pathak (“Tabbar”), Saeed Jaffrey (“The Man Who Would Be King”) and Urmila Matondkar (“Rangeela”).
The sequel, titled “Masoom… The New Generation,” is about the “idea of home,” Kapur told Variety. Kapur was in London for the National Film Awards where his last film, Working Title/Studiocanal production “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” scored nine nominations and won four awards including best director,...
- 7/4/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
To mark the release of What’s Love Got To Do With It? available on digital download from 12th May, and Blu-ray and DVD from 15th May we have Blu-Rays to give away to Two Lucky winners!
How do you find lasting love in today’s world? For documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath’s (Emma Thompson) dismay. For Zoe’s childhood friend and neighbour Kaz (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents’ example and opt for an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage to a bright and beautiful bride from Pakistan. As Zoe films his hopeful journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder if she might have something to learn from a profoundly different approach to finding love.
Directed by Shekhar Kapur...
How do you find lasting love in today’s world? For documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath’s (Emma Thompson) dismay. For Zoe’s childhood friend and neighbour Kaz (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents’ example and opt for an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage to a bright and beautiful bride from Pakistan. As Zoe films his hopeful journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder if she might have something to learn from a profoundly different approach to finding love.
Directed by Shekhar Kapur...
- 5/7/2023
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on Wbgr-fm on May 4th, reviewing “What’s Love Got to Do With It?,” featuring Lily James and Emma Thompson about neighbors in England. In theaters on May 5th.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
A British Pakistani family is looking to marry off their doctor son Kaz (Shazad Latif) and arranges a marriage with Maymouma (Sajal Aly). The twist is he’s a childhood friend of his native Brit neighbor Zoe (Lily James), a documentary filmmaker who wants to follow Kaz through the process of his arranged marriage. Because she is a friend of the family, along with her mother Cath (Emma Thompson), she gets an insider’s look at Pakistani tradition.
”What’s Love Got to Do With It?” is in theaters on May 5th. Featuring Lily James, Emma Thompson, Shazad Latif, Sajal Ali and Asim Chadhry. Written by Jemima Khan.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
A British Pakistani family is looking to marry off their doctor son Kaz (Shazad Latif) and arranges a marriage with Maymouma (Sajal Aly). The twist is he’s a childhood friend of his native Brit neighbor Zoe (Lily James), a documentary filmmaker who wants to follow Kaz through the process of his arranged marriage. Because she is a friend of the family, along with her mother Cath (Emma Thompson), she gets an insider’s look at Pakistani tradition.
”What’s Love Got to Do With It?” is in theaters on May 5th. Featuring Lily James, Emma Thompson, Shazad Latif, Sajal Ali and Asim Chadhry. Written by Jemima Khan.
- 5/6/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
A sleek theater from Look Dine-In Cinemas opened this weekend in NYC (or reopened at the former Landmark) on West 57th Street. With wood, windows and well-stocked bar, it’s the face of exhibition that wants to grab moviegoers and keep them.
The look is midcentury modern. Each Look location — there are 12 — “is customized. But this is our design aesthetic. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but lot of it … looks like my home,” CEO Brian Schultz told Deadline. “I’m trying to really get a comfortable feeling. You have to sweat these details.”
The theater on the Hudson River in the Durst Organization’s Bjarke Ingels-designed Via 57 West building opens with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; Super Mario Bros.; Evil Dead Rise; Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret; Love Again; and Polite Society on the marquee. Schultz, founder and former CEO of Studio Movie Grill, aims...
The look is midcentury modern. Each Look location — there are 12 — “is customized. But this is our design aesthetic. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but lot of it … looks like my home,” CEO Brian Schultz told Deadline. “I’m trying to really get a comfortable feeling. You have to sweat these details.”
The theater on the Hudson River in the Durst Organization’s Bjarke Ingels-designed Via 57 West building opens with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; Super Mario Bros.; Evil Dead Rise; Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret; Love Again; and Polite Society on the marquee. Schultz, founder and former CEO of Studio Movie Grill, aims...
- 5/5/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
After exploring a multitude of genres, renowned filmmaker Shekhar Kapur has turned his hand to a romantic comedy with Working Title/Studiocanal production “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”
The film follows documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), for whom swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath’s (Emma Thompson) dismay. For Zoe’s childhood friend and neighbor Kaz (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents’ example and opt for an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage to a bride from Pakistan (Sajal Aly). As Zoe films Kaz’s journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder if she might have something to learn from a profoundly different approach to finding love.
Kapur says that it is the character of Zoe that drew him to the project and the...
The film follows documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), for whom swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath’s (Emma Thompson) dismay. For Zoe’s childhood friend and neighbor Kaz (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents’ example and opt for an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage to a bride from Pakistan (Sajal Aly). As Zoe films Kaz’s journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder if she might have something to learn from a profoundly different approach to finding love.
Kapur says that it is the character of Zoe that drew him to the project and the...
- 5/5/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Releasing on May 5th is the many-layered romantic dramedy What’s Love Got To Do With It?, featuring an incredible cast that includes Lily James, Shazad Latif, Jeff Mirza, Emma Thompson, and Shabana Azmi. Directed by the brilliant Shekhar Kapur, with a script by Jemima Khan, the film focuses on a tale of tradition, friendship, family, and, most of all, the many ways of finding love.
Set in London, this movie tells the story of Zoe (Lily James), a complex woman who always seems to choose Mr. Wrong. She is a documentary filmmaker in search of her next project. She finds it when her childhood friend and neighbor Kaz (Shazad Latif) agrees to let her film as his parents choose a suitable marriage match for him. As Zoe films his hopeful journey from London to Lahore to marry the stranger his parents have chosen, she wonders if she might have something...
Set in London, this movie tells the story of Zoe (Lily James), a complex woman who always seems to choose Mr. Wrong. She is a documentary filmmaker in search of her next project. She finds it when her childhood friend and neighbor Kaz (Shazad Latif) agrees to let her film as his parents choose a suitable marriage match for him. As Zoe films his hopeful journey from London to Lahore to marry the stranger his parents have chosen, she wonders if she might have something...
- 5/5/2023
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
Shortly before Lily James spent four hours a day transforming into Pamela Anderson for Pam & Tommy, she got back into the swing of things, post-Covid shutdown, by way of What’s Love Got to Do with It?, a London and Lahore-set romantic comedy. Filming mostly took place in James’ own backyard of London, and her co-lead, Shazad Latif, happened to be a longtime friend and former flatmate. So, in hindsight, What’s Love was likely the perfect amount of normal before the whirlwind of Pam & Tommy.
Written by Jemima Khan and directed by Shekhar Kapur, the film centers on Zoe (James), a documentarian who decides to chronicle her childhood friend Kaz’s (Latif) arranged marriage, from the first Skype call with his bride-to-be, to their first time meeting in Lahore, Pakistan. And through the documenting of Kaz’s “assisted” marriage, Zoe begins to take stock of her own dating pitfalls...
Written by Jemima Khan and directed by Shekhar Kapur, the film centers on Zoe (James), a documentarian who decides to chronicle her childhood friend Kaz’s (Latif) arranged marriage, from the first Skype call with his bride-to-be, to their first time meeting in Lahore, Pakistan. And through the documenting of Kaz’s “assisted” marriage, Zoe begins to take stock of her own dating pitfalls...
- 5/4/2023
- by Brian Davids
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
What’s Love Got to Do With It?Photo: StudioCanal
From My Big Fat Greek Wedding to Bride & Prejudice to the recent Netflix comedy You People, culture clashes are a romcom staple, the perfect recipe for built-in tension and contrasting aesthetics, and the jumping off point for misunderstandings and hijinks. The...
From My Big Fat Greek Wedding to Bride & Prejudice to the recent Netflix comedy You People, culture clashes are a romcom staple, the perfect recipe for built-in tension and contrasting aesthetics, and the jumping off point for misunderstandings and hijinks. The...
- 5/4/2023
- by Lauren Coates
- avclub.com
There are very few movie genres in which Emma Thompson hasn’t left her mark, but she’s established a special pedigree in romantic comedies: from “The Tall Guy” to “Sense and Sensibility” to “Love Actually” to “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” she’s explored love in more ways on screen than most people get to experience in real life.
In the romantic entanglements of writer-producer Jemima Khan’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It?,” Thompson’s more of a well-meaning instigator than an active participant, playing a divorcee named Cath who clumsily tries to make a match for her serially-single filmmaker daughter Zoe, played by Lily James. Zoe, meanwhile, is more interested in documenting the arranged marriage agreed to by her childhood friend Kazim (Shazad Latif), not realizing the complicated feelings that his impending nuptials are igniting in her about relationships past, present and future.
Thompson recently...
In the romantic entanglements of writer-producer Jemima Khan’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It?,” Thompson’s more of a well-meaning instigator than an active participant, playing a divorcee named Cath who clumsily tries to make a match for her serially-single filmmaker daughter Zoe, played by Lily James. Zoe, meanwhile, is more interested in documenting the arranged marriage agreed to by her childhood friend Kazim (Shazad Latif), not realizing the complicated feelings that his impending nuptials are igniting in her about relationships past, present and future.
Thompson recently...
- 5/3/2023
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Variety Film + TV
Lily James has undoubtedly made her mark in the world of film with her varied choice of characters in a myriad of films. She first burst onto the scene with her acting brilliance playing the title role in Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella. The young actress has gone on to give outstanding performances in films like Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, Darkest Hour, Rebecca, and her featured role as Lady Rose in the Golden Globe and BAFTA award-winning series Downtown Abbey to name a few.
Her newest film, What’s Love Got To Do With It?, is set to hit the big screen on May 5th in the US. Directed by noted filmmaker Shekhar Kapur with a script by Jemima Khan, this layered romantic comedy also stars Shazad Latif, Emma Thompson, and Shabana Azmi.
Let’s set the scene with the trailer:
In this special interview, the lovely Lily James, passionately and with smiles and laughter,...
Her newest film, What’s Love Got To Do With It?, is set to hit the big screen on May 5th in the US. Directed by noted filmmaker Shekhar Kapur with a script by Jemima Khan, this layered romantic comedy also stars Shazad Latif, Emma Thompson, and Shabana Azmi.
Let’s set the scene with the trailer:
In this special interview, the lovely Lily James, passionately and with smiles and laughter,...
- 5/3/2023
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
Despite erratic nationwide weather pattern, May Day 2023 has nevertheless brought with it a palpable sense of Spring reverie and renewal—not least of all in movie theaters and on streaming platforms. The freshly-launched Writers Strike (necessary and overdue) will no doubt result in some crinkling of the garden hose of fresh content, but that’s for future content consumers to worry about. In the meantime, enjoy this month’s Don’t-Miss Indies!
A Small Light
When You Can Watch: Now
Where You Can Watch: Disney+, Hulu, NatGeo, ABC
Creators: Joan Rater, Tony Phelan
Cast: Bel Powley, Liev Schreiber, Joe Cole, Amira Casar, Billie Boullet, Ashley Brooke
Why We’re Excited: Shot in Prague and Amsterdam in the summer of 2022, this eight-part National Geographic limited series brings us the true story that transpired during the Nazi occupation of both nations in WWII. Austrian-born Dutch woman Miep Gies works for Otto Frank at a spice company.
A Small Light
When You Can Watch: Now
Where You Can Watch: Disney+, Hulu, NatGeo, ABC
Creators: Joan Rater, Tony Phelan
Cast: Bel Powley, Liev Schreiber, Joe Cole, Amira Casar, Billie Boullet, Ashley Brooke
Why We’re Excited: Shot in Prague and Amsterdam in the summer of 2022, this eight-part National Geographic limited series brings us the true story that transpired during the Nazi occupation of both nations in WWII. Austrian-born Dutch woman Miep Gies works for Otto Frank at a spice company.
- 5/2/2023
- by Su Fang Tham
- Film Independent News & More
Hugh Grant is worried about the state of making movies. His complaints aren’t so much about the final products themselves, but the culture around them. His latest movie is a hit, but he’s looking for more than good business results out of his moviemaking experience.
The Love Actually actor thinks there’s been a cultural shift on movie sets. Actors don’t develop the same camaraderie they once did, nor the same romances According to Grant, there is a very simple habit to blame for this change.
Hugh Grant is a seasoned leading man Hugh Grant attends the Mexico City premiere of Paramount Pictures’ and eOne’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” I Antonio Torres/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures
Grant would know if there has been a cultural shift on movie sets. The 62-year-old actor has been working in film since the 1982 whodunit Privileged. That Oxford University...
The Love Actually actor thinks there’s been a cultural shift on movie sets. Actors don’t develop the same camaraderie they once did, nor the same romances According to Grant, there is a very simple habit to blame for this change.
Hugh Grant is a seasoned leading man Hugh Grant attends the Mexico City premiere of Paramount Pictures’ and eOne’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” I Antonio Torres/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures
Grant would know if there has been a cultural shift on movie sets. The 62-year-old actor has been working in film since the 1982 whodunit Privileged. That Oxford University...
- 4/15/2023
- by Agustin Mojica
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Director: Shekhar Kapur.
Cast: Lily James, Shazad Latif, Emma Thompson, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly and Jeff Mirza
Cinematography: Remi Adefarasin. Music: Nitin Sawhney.
Ians Rating: ***
Many Asians continue to embrace arranged marriages in the sub-continent. Even in the UK, modern arranged marriages involve a variety of matchmaking practices where each family tailors its own version to suit modern identities and ambitions.
For the sizeable migrant population comprising Indians and Pakistanis, it may not be a homogeneous tradition, though by and large it remains the preferred choice.
At the heart of the story is an enterprising London-based filmmaker Zoe (Lily James), who proposes to make a documentary about Muslims and their obsession with arranged marriages. "Or assisted marriages," as her neighbour and friend Kazim (Shahzad Latif) explains.
The Khans (Azmi and Jeff Mirza) are not just next-door neighbours; they are best friends too. Zoe barges into Kazim’s place unannounced and...
Cast: Lily James, Shazad Latif, Emma Thompson, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly and Jeff Mirza
Cinematography: Remi Adefarasin. Music: Nitin Sawhney.
Ians Rating: ***
Many Asians continue to embrace arranged marriages in the sub-continent. Even in the UK, modern arranged marriages involve a variety of matchmaking practices where each family tailors its own version to suit modern identities and ambitions.
For the sizeable migrant population comprising Indians and Pakistanis, it may not be a homogeneous tradition, though by and large it remains the preferred choice.
At the heart of the story is an enterprising London-based filmmaker Zoe (Lily James), who proposes to make a documentary about Muslims and their obsession with arranged marriages. "Or assisted marriages," as her neighbour and friend Kazim (Shahzad Latif) explains.
The Khans (Azmi and Jeff Mirza) are not just next-door neighbours; they are best friends too. Zoe barges into Kazim’s place unannounced and...
- 3/17/2023
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
The romcom has lapsed into such an anaemic state that Rye Lane feels like a miracle. Here’s an entry into the genre that doesn’t surrender to thinkpiece-ready neuroticism. And doesn’t demand two A-listers shoulder the entire job of summoning chemistry from a dead-eyed script. And, most refreshingly, doesn’t subsist purely on nostalgia for romcoms of old.
Raine Allen-Miller’s breezy, south London-set debut is exactly what we deserve from this genre. With one foot in the present and the other in the past, it follows a day-long flirtation – à la Before Sunrise – between two of life’s loveable losers, Yas (Vivian Oparah) and Dom (David Jonsson). Both are shipwrecked by post-breakup shame. But when Yas catches Dom in the act of a not-so-private sob session in an art gallery bathroom, the pair become unlikely allies in the search for emotional closure. Yas subs in as Dom...
Raine Allen-Miller’s breezy, south London-set debut is exactly what we deserve from this genre. With one foot in the present and the other in the past, it follows a day-long flirtation – à la Before Sunrise – between two of life’s loveable losers, Yas (Vivian Oparah) and Dom (David Jonsson). Both are shipwrecked by post-breakup shame. But when Yas catches Dom in the act of a not-so-private sob session in an art gallery bathroom, the pair become unlikely allies in the search for emotional closure. Yas subs in as Dom...
- 3/16/2023
- by Clarisse Loughrey
- The Independent - Film
Director Shekhar Kapur’s excellent dive into love, What’s Love Got To Do With It?, made its mark at the Toronto International Film Festival. Upon its release in the UK and in India, the film garnered excellent reviews. The rom-com with a deeper story to explore is getting ready to release on May 5th in the US.
A heartwarming cross-cultural comedy, the film stars Lily James (Pam & Tommy), Shazad Latif (Star Trek: Discovery), Shabana Azmi (Halo), Academy Award® and BAFTA winner Emma Thompson (Matilda), Sajal Aly (Yakeen Ka Safar), Asim Chaudhry (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch), Jeff Mirza (Eternals). Plus, Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan appears in a special appearance, of course, and is also on the soundtrack.
We have a brand-new trailer!
How do you find lasting love in today’s world? For documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr. Wrongs,...
A heartwarming cross-cultural comedy, the film stars Lily James (Pam & Tommy), Shazad Latif (Star Trek: Discovery), Shabana Azmi (Halo), Academy Award® and BAFTA winner Emma Thompson (Matilda), Sajal Aly (Yakeen Ka Safar), Asim Chaudhry (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch), Jeff Mirza (Eternals). Plus, Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan appears in a special appearance, of course, and is also on the soundtrack.
We have a brand-new trailer!
How do you find lasting love in today’s world? For documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr. Wrongs,...
- 3/16/2023
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
Love contractually? That’s the setup at the heart of “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” — a new cross-cultural rom-com starring Lily James and Shazad Latif that Shout! Factory released the trailer for Wednesday.
It’s also the name documentary filmmaker Zoe (James) chooses for her project following childhood friend and neighbor Kaz (Latif) on his journey to an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage. Zoe is a cynic who’s had no luck with dating apps; Kaz is optimistic that his marriage to Maymouna (Sajal Aly) will follow in his parents’ good example.
The trailer opens with a look at the neighborly rapport Zoe and her mother Cath (Emma Thompson) enjoy with their next-door neighbors. While she keeps coming up short swiping for Mr. Right, Shazad drops the news of his prospective marriage, introducing two different perspectives on the issue: “What about love?” versus “You grow to love the person you’re with.
It’s also the name documentary filmmaker Zoe (James) chooses for her project following childhood friend and neighbor Kaz (Latif) on his journey to an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage. Zoe is a cynic who’s had no luck with dating apps; Kaz is optimistic that his marriage to Maymouna (Sajal Aly) will follow in his parents’ good example.
The trailer opens with a look at the neighborly rapport Zoe and her mother Cath (Emma Thompson) enjoy with their next-door neighbors. While she keeps coming up short swiping for Mr. Right, Shazad drops the news of his prospective marriage, introducing two different perspectives on the issue: “What about love?” versus “You grow to love the person you’re with.
- 3/15/2023
- by Harper Lambert
- The Wrap
Early on in “What’s Love Got to Do With It?,” enterprising London-based filmmaker Zoe (Lily James) pitches a proposed documentary about Muslim arranged marriages to a pair of white male commissioners. They’re bored and disengaged until they realize how the topic can be dressed up in the tropes and lingo of Western romantic comedy to appeal to a general British audience: One suggests interview inserts in the style of “When Harry Met Sally,” the other name-drops “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” as a reference point. When Zoe suggests titling the doc “Love Contractually,” the deal is done.
Sharper than anything else in Shekhar Kapur’s pleasant, easygoing comedy, the scene neatly satirizes how nuanced cross-cultural material can be blandly packaged and whitewashed for the mainstream — a point that would land harder if “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” didn’t proceed to do much the same thing. At a push,...
Sharper than anything else in Shekhar Kapur’s pleasant, easygoing comedy, the scene neatly satirizes how nuanced cross-cultural material can be blandly packaged and whitewashed for the mainstream — a point that would land harder if “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” didn’t proceed to do much the same thing. At a push,...
- 3/10/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The cinema release schedule in March is, in two words, quite random.
Not only is there Scream 6, a horror sequel fast-tracked following the success of a fifth outing released just 13 months ago, but there’s 65, a post-apocalyptic dinosaur thriller fronted by Adam Driver, who’d be the first to admit he’s an unexpected choice for lead.
Elsewhere, there’s a sports comedy following four Tom Brady-obsessed NFL fans, played by screen titans Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field, a Dungeons & Dragons adaptation starring Hugh Grant, and a sequel to (checks notes) the DC film Shazam! – as we said: random.
Ti West’s X sequel, Pearl, will also finally be released in the UK, an inexplicable six months after it came out in America.
Then there is the below five films, which we believe sit top of the peak. Here are the five films...
Not only is there Scream 6, a horror sequel fast-tracked following the success of a fifth outing released just 13 months ago, but there’s 65, a post-apocalyptic dinosaur thriller fronted by Adam Driver, who’d be the first to admit he’s an unexpected choice for lead.
Elsewhere, there’s a sports comedy following four Tom Brady-obsessed NFL fans, played by screen titans Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field, a Dungeons & Dragons adaptation starring Hugh Grant, and a sequel to (checks notes) the DC film Shazam! – as we said: random.
Ti West’s X sequel, Pearl, will also finally be released in the UK, an inexplicable six months after it came out in America.
Then there is the below five films, which we believe sit top of the peak. Here are the five films...
- 3/1/2023
- by Jacob Stolworthy
- The Independent - Film
Jamie Demetriou is so hot right now. From Stath Lets Flats to his scene-stealing cameo in Fleabag, the British-Cypriot comic’s fantastically strange style of comedy has not only won him Baftas, but also caught Hollywood’s eye: he starred in Apple TV Plus’s The Afterparty and is appearing Greta Gerwig’s forthcoming Barbie movie. Before Barbie, though: Demetriou’s biggest project yet, his Netflix musical comedy special A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou. The comic material is decidedly British, with a Netflix sheen: silly, but lacking the sharpness of Stath or his live sketch characters. It’s that attempt to straddle both worlds that leaves Demetriou’s comedy feeling surprisingly watered down.
In the opening scene, an adult Demetriou lies curled up in a ball, in utero. His life flashes before him in sketch form, the comic playing a lolloping child in a tight primary school uniform, an...
In the opening scene, an adult Demetriou lies curled up in a ball, in utero. His life flashes before him in sketch form, the comic playing a lolloping child in a tight primary school uniform, an...
- 2/28/2023
- by Isobel Lewis
- The Independent - TV
British television is brutal. The job security of actors, even in leading roles, is perilous. From the urtext, Spooks, where everyone from Keeley Hawes to Matthew Macfadyen cut their teeth, through to ITV’s returning Monday night drama, Unforgotten, writers have always been willing to throw their characters under the bus (sometimes literally). The challenge, then, is reacclimating audiences, once the dust settles, to a very different version of the same old show.
Back for its fifth season, Unforgotten is still reeling from the death of Nicola Walker’s Cassie Stuart. Di Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) is grieving, while incoming Dci Jessie James (Sinéad Keenan) is met by a rather cold shoulder. She doesn’t help herself: at home, her family life is falling apart, and the new gig couldn’t come at a worse time. Both she and Sunny are thinking of chucking it all in: Sunny is interrupted...
Back for its fifth season, Unforgotten is still reeling from the death of Nicola Walker’s Cassie Stuart. Di Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) is grieving, while incoming Dci Jessie James (Sinéad Keenan) is met by a rather cold shoulder. She doesn’t help herself: at home, her family life is falling apart, and the new gig couldn’t come at a worse time. Both she and Sunny are thinking of chucking it all in: Sunny is interrupted...
- 2/27/2023
- by Nick Hilton
- The Independent - TV
British television is brutal. The job security of actors, even in leading roles, is perilous. From the urtext, Spooks, where everyone from Keeley Hawes to Matthew Macfadyen cut their teeth, through to ITV’s returning Monday night drama, Unforgotten, writers have always been willing to throw their characters under the bus (sometimes literally). The challenge, then, is reacclimating audiences, once the dust settles, to a very different version of the same old show.
Back for its fifth season, Unforgotten is still reeling from the death of Nicola Walker’s Cassie Stuart. Di Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) is grieving, while incoming Dci Jessie James (Sinéad Keenan) is met by a rather cold shoulder. She doesn’t help herself: at home, her family life is falling apart, and the new gig couldn’t come at a worse time. Both she and Sunny are thinking of chucking it all in: Sunny is interrupted...
Back for its fifth season, Unforgotten is still reeling from the death of Nicola Walker’s Cassie Stuart. Di Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) is grieving, while incoming Dci Jessie James (Sinéad Keenan) is met by a rather cold shoulder. She doesn’t help herself: at home, her family life is falling apart, and the new gig couldn’t come at a worse time. Both she and Sunny are thinking of chucking it all in: Sunny is interrupted...
- 2/27/2023
- by Nick Hilton
- The Independent - TV
Actress Shabana Azmi is one of the most respected actresses in the world of cinema. In the Hindi Film Industry, Shabana Azmi is known for her incredible performances. The actress has also delivered notable roles in films in England and the United States. Her newest film is the Shekhar Kapur directed movie What’s Love Got to Do with It?. A romantic comedy with a deeper story to tell, the film also features Lily James, Shazad Latif, Jeff Mirza, and Emma Thompson.
Written by Jemima Khan, the film seeks to answer the question of how you find lasting love in today’s world. It is the story of documentary maker and dating app addict Zoe. For her, swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr. Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath’s dismay. For Zoe’s childhood friend and neighbour Kaz, the answer is to follow his parents’ example...
Written by Jemima Khan, the film seeks to answer the question of how you find lasting love in today’s world. It is the story of documentary maker and dating app addict Zoe. For her, swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr. Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath’s dismay. For Zoe’s childhood friend and neighbour Kaz, the answer is to follow his parents’ example...
- 2/26/2023
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
Javed Akhtar has been hailed for his stand because he did it in Pakistan and in front of a Pakistani audience. Of course, the audience present appreciated what he had to say with applause.
Javed Akhtar was in Pakistan to attend a literary event, but he did not shy away from telling his audience why the Indians were angry. He raised the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks which he, being from Mumbai, had seen very closely. He stated that he was well aware that the terrorists were not from Norway or Egypt, but from Pakistan and the masterminds of the attack were still roaming free in Pakistan!
Javed Akhtar showed the mirror to the Pakistanis on their own soil. And Shabana Azmi is acting in a British film, ‘What Has Love Got To Do’, which is directed by Shekhar Kapur and written by Jemima Goldsmith (Imran Khan’s ex-wife). The film also...
Javed Akhtar was in Pakistan to attend a literary event, but he did not shy away from telling his audience why the Indians were angry. He raised the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks which he, being from Mumbai, had seen very closely. He stated that he was well aware that the terrorists were not from Norway or Egypt, but from Pakistan and the masterminds of the attack were still roaming free in Pakistan!
Javed Akhtar showed the mirror to the Pakistanis on their own soil. And Shabana Azmi is acting in a British film, ‘What Has Love Got To Do’, which is directed by Shekhar Kapur and written by Jemima Goldsmith (Imran Khan’s ex-wife). The film also...
- 2/26/2023
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
Jemima Khan has been asked some rather personal questions in her time. While on the promotional trail for her first feature film, the charming romcom What’s Love Got to Do with It?, which she wrote and produced, a few Australian radio DJs threw her some zingers. “Literally, one of them asked me about the difference in pillow talk between [her ex-boyfriend] Russell Brand and [her ex-husband] Imran Khan,” she says, eyebrows raised. A quote from her father, the late financier Sir James Goldsmith, springs to mind: “I live for the day when people like you choke on your own vomit.” And yet Khan remained unruffled. “Don’t ask me what I answered, but I think I did what I always do – sort of laughed it off, and then made a joke of it, which is our tendency as women, isn’t it?”
By her own admission, she has faced far worse. “Nothing really compares...
By her own admission, she has faced far worse. “Nothing really compares...
- 2/25/2023
- by Jessie Thompson
- The Independent - Film
With the traditional white and trite rom-com formula looking increasingly tired, there is an exciting opportunity for contemporary cinema to shake things up. The search for a partner in today’s more diverse society – navigating love and marriage traditions across cultures – is ground ripe for exploration.
Unfortunately, What’s Love Got To Do With It? stumbles on that ground pretty early on and never regains its feet.
Zoe (Lily James), our mildly unlikeable protagonist, is a documentarian with terrible taste in men and a mother who is overly invested in her finding The One. Cath (Emma Thompson), Zoe’s mum, might be bitter about the brutal end of her marriage but she still believes that her little girl should be working harder to find her own happily ever after.
Until Zoe finally walks down the aisle, Cath can content herself with living vicariously through her close friends and neighbours the Khans...
Unfortunately, What’s Love Got To Do With It? stumbles on that ground pretty early on and never regains its feet.
Zoe (Lily James), our mildly unlikeable protagonist, is a documentarian with terrible taste in men and a mother who is overly invested in her finding The One. Cath (Emma Thompson), Zoe’s mum, might be bitter about the brutal end of her marriage but she still believes that her little girl should be working harder to find her own happily ever after.
Until Zoe finally walks down the aisle, Cath can content herself with living vicariously through her close friends and neighbours the Khans...
- 2/24/2023
- by Emily Breen
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
For a solid decade, the U.K. contributed some of the most iconic floppy-haired lotharios, airport dashes and front-door confessions in romcom history. Films such as “Four Weddings and a Funeral” (1994), “Notting Hill” (1999) and “Love Actually” (2003) basically invented such hallmarks of the genre.
But in the last decade, the global-facing British romcom has all but disappeared from cinemas. Richard Curtis, the brains behind the aforementioned hits as well as the “Bridget Jones” adaptations, says the heavy lifting keeping romcoms alive has largely been carried out in the television ranks. The writer cites examples such as the BBC’s “Gavin & Stacey” and “Fleabag” and Channel 4’s “Catastrophe” as “blazing examples.”
“Unexpectedly to me, I would say that trying to write vaguely autobiographical films with jokes in them about how complicated love is, has probably happened more on telly than in cinema,” Curtis tells Variety.
Curtis penned the last bonafide British romcom hit,...
But in the last decade, the global-facing British romcom has all but disappeared from cinemas. Richard Curtis, the brains behind the aforementioned hits as well as the “Bridget Jones” adaptations, says the heavy lifting keeping romcoms alive has largely been carried out in the television ranks. The writer cites examples such as the BBC’s “Gavin & Stacey” and “Fleabag” and Channel 4’s “Catastrophe” as “blazing examples.”
“Unexpectedly to me, I would say that trying to write vaguely autobiographical films with jokes in them about how complicated love is, has probably happened more on telly than in cinema,” Curtis tells Variety.
Curtis penned the last bonafide British romcom hit,...
- 2/24/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Think about it: when did you last see a great British romcom? Can you even remember the last time anyone achieved that perfect alchemy between wistful longing, self-deprecating humour and characters who live in incredibly nice houses? There’s been endless fretting about whether the genre can adapt to a more inclusive, feminist age – but with the big-hearted What’s Love Got to Do With It?, we can call off the search party. The first feature film written by Jemima Khan is a charming cross-cultural comedy that can be ranked alongside British classics like Bend It Like Beckham, and has the confidence of a Richard Curtis classic.
Boy, here, does not meet girl – he’s known her since they were kids, their families living next door to one another. Zoe (Lily James) now makes documentaries and Kaz (Shazad Latif) is a doctor; they are best friends, having long been part...
Boy, here, does not meet girl – he’s known her since they were kids, their families living next door to one another. Zoe (Lily James) now makes documentaries and Kaz (Shazad Latif) is a doctor; they are best friends, having long been part...
- 2/23/2023
- by Jessie Thompson
- The Independent - Film
Sometimes, there’s little better than settling down to watch a good old-fashioned romantic comedy. A will they, won’t they, where you know they will, but believe that maybe they won’t. Step forward What’s Love Got to do With It?, penned by Jemima Khan, with romantic leads Lily James & Shazad Latif bringing the story and characters to life, in this cross-cultural tale.
We had the pleasure of taking part in a mega-junket for the film as we spoke to James and Latif about their in-build bond they have from years of friendship, and how that benefits the finished product, while we also discuss the creation of this story with screenwriter Khan, as well as the venerable director Shekhar Kapur. We also have a funny chat with Asim Chaudhry and Jeff Mirza as they talk us through their inspirations, and, well, dogging, while finally we speak to the...
We had the pleasure of taking part in a mega-junket for the film as we spoke to James and Latif about their in-build bond they have from years of friendship, and how that benefits the finished product, while we also discuss the creation of this story with screenwriter Khan, as well as the venerable director Shekhar Kapur. We also have a funny chat with Asim Chaudhry and Jeff Mirza as they talk us through their inspirations, and, well, dogging, while finally we speak to the...
- 2/21/2023
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Shout! Studios has acquired U.S. and Canada rights to Studiocanal and Working Title’s cross-cultural British romantic comedy “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” with a view to releasing it in late spring, it was revealed at Berlin’s European Film Market on Tuesday.
Directed by veteran Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (“Elizabeth”), “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” follows documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), for whom swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath’s (Emma Thompson) dismay. For Zoe’s childhood friend and neighbor Kaz (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents’ example and opt for an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage to a bright and beautiful bride from Pakistan (Sajal Aly). As Zoe films Kaz’s journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder...
Directed by veteran Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (“Elizabeth”), “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” follows documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), for whom swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath’s (Emma Thompson) dismay. For Zoe’s childhood friend and neighbor Kaz (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents’ example and opt for an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage to a bright and beautiful bride from Pakistan (Sajal Aly). As Zoe films Kaz’s journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder...
- 2/21/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Left Handed Films, the production company of Academy Award-winning producer and actor Riz Ahmed, has joined the Pakistani film “Joyland” as an executive producer.
Written and directed by Saim Sadiq, “Joyland” made its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Un Certain Regard jury prize and the Queer Palm. The film has been nominated for best international film at the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards and was recently shortlisted for best international feature film at the 95th Academy Awards, as Pakistan’s official entry.
The film tells the story of Haider (Ali Junejo), who lives with his wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), his father and his elder brother’s family in Lahore, Pakistan. After a long spell of unemployment, Haider lands a job working as a background dancer at a Bollywood-style burlesque — though he tells his family he’s the theater’s manager — and falls in love with...
Written and directed by Saim Sadiq, “Joyland” made its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Un Certain Regard jury prize and the Queer Palm. The film has been nominated for best international film at the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards and was recently shortlisted for best international feature film at the 95th Academy Awards, as Pakistan’s official entry.
The film tells the story of Haider (Ali Junejo), who lives with his wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), his father and his elder brother’s family in Lahore, Pakistan. After a long spell of unemployment, Haider lands a job working as a background dancer at a Bollywood-style burlesque — though he tells his family he’s the theater’s manager — and falls in love with...
- 1/12/2023
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Trailblazing Pakistani movie Joyland has been picked up for U.S. distribution by Oscilloscope.
After becoming the first Pakistani movie to debut at Cannes, where it was awarded the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category, and the Queer Palm, the film made more history by becoming Pakistan’s first film to make the Academy longlist for Best International Feature.
Written and directed by Saim Sadiq, and executive-produced by Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Ramin Bahrani and Jemima Khan, the film charts the story of the youngest son in a traditional Pakistani family who takes a job as a backup dancer in a Bollywood-style burlesque. He quickly becomes infatuated with the strong-willed trans woman who runs the show. Starring are Ali Junejo, Rasti Farooq and Alina Khan.
Oscilloscope is planning a traditional theatrical release for the film later this year. WME Independent handled domestic rights and brokered the...
After becoming the first Pakistani movie to debut at Cannes, where it was awarded the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category, and the Queer Palm, the film made more history by becoming Pakistan’s first film to make the Academy longlist for Best International Feature.
Written and directed by Saim Sadiq, and executive-produced by Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Ramin Bahrani and Jemima Khan, the film charts the story of the youngest son in a traditional Pakistani family who takes a job as a backup dancer in a Bollywood-style burlesque. He quickly becomes infatuated with the strong-willed trans woman who runs the show. Starring are Ali Junejo, Rasti Farooq and Alina Khan.
Oscilloscope is planning a traditional theatrical release for the film later this year. WME Independent handled domestic rights and brokered the...
- 1/6/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Iraqi filmmaker Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji picked up the Golden Yusr for Best Feature Film and the Yusr Award for Best Cinematic Achievement at the Red International Sea Film Festival with his debut feature Hanging Gardens on Thursday evening.
Co-written by Al Daradji with Margaret Glover, the film follows As’ad, a 12-year-old rubbish picker, who adopts an American sex doll from the Baghdad dumps, and crosses into a perilous red zone, finding himself caught in the crossfire.
The film won Venice’s 2021 edition of Final Cut for the best film in post-production and debuted in the festival’s Horizons Extra sidebar this year.
The award was handed out at a ceremony on Thursday evening by Red Sea Festival Execs Mohammed Al Turki, Jomana Al-Rashid, and Egyptian actress Yousra.
In other top prizes, American filmmaker Lotfy Nathan won the Yusr Award for Best Director for his Tunisia-set debut feature Harka,...
Co-written by Al Daradji with Margaret Glover, the film follows As’ad, a 12-year-old rubbish picker, who adopts an American sex doll from the Baghdad dumps, and crosses into a perilous red zone, finding himself caught in the crossfire.
The film won Venice’s 2021 edition of Final Cut for the best film in post-production and debuted in the festival’s Horizons Extra sidebar this year.
The award was handed out at a ceremony on Thursday evening by Red Sea Festival Execs Mohammed Al Turki, Jomana Al-Rashid, and Egyptian actress Yousra.
In other top prizes, American filmmaker Lotfy Nathan won the Yusr Award for Best Director for his Tunisia-set debut feature Harka,...
- 12/8/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
In a roundtable with four other journalists from India and Pakistan, we talked with director Shekhar Kapur and script-writer Jemima Khan, actress Sajal Ali, actor Jeff Mirza and actress Shabana Azmi (three different groups in this order) about “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”, on the occasion of the film opening the Red Sea International Film Festival.
What’s Love Got to Do With It? screened at Red Sea International Film Festival
Can you tell us about this project and why you chose to direct it?
Shekhar Kapur: Because the script was wonderful. I read the script and I remember calling my lawyer and telling him that he has to make this deal. It is becoming really hard to make films these days, you either make a Marvel film or something commercial. If you want to make something real, it is difficult to do so. When I read the script,...
What’s Love Got to Do With It? screened at Red Sea International Film Festival
Can you tell us about this project and why you chose to direct it?
Shekhar Kapur: Because the script was wonderful. I read the script and I remember calling my lawyer and telling him that he has to make this deal. It is becoming really hard to make films these days, you either make a Marvel film or something commercial. If you want to make something real, it is difficult to do so. When I read the script,...
- 12/6/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“When I was invited to the Red Sea Film Festival, I saw it as a big opportunity,” says Oscar-nominated director Shekhar Kapur of his romantic comedy “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” opening the sophomore edition of the Red Sea Film Festival.
“For all the politics, and let’s leave that aside, I think this region is becoming more and more important. I think the resources this region can put into a festival can make it a really important event, and we need an important festival that comes from this region, something that can go out and compete with the big Western film festivals. We need other narratives, so I love the idea of being here.”
Jemima Khan, who wrote the script about a documentarian (played by Lily James) following her friend’s arranged marriage process, adds: “Art and culture have the capacity of bringing people together. I know we’re saying politics aside,...
“For all the politics, and let’s leave that aside, I think this region is becoming more and more important. I think the resources this region can put into a festival can make it a really important event, and we need an important festival that comes from this region, something that can go out and compete with the big Western film festivals. We need other narratives, so I love the idea of being here.”
Jemima Khan, who wrote the script about a documentarian (played by Lily James) following her friend’s arranged marriage process, adds: “Art and culture have the capacity of bringing people together. I know we’re saying politics aside,...
- 12/3/2022
- by Rafa Sales Ross
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
After a year of heavy promotion across all the major festivals, for only its second edition Saudi Arabia’s own Red Sea Film Festival managed to amass the sort of star-studded opening night red carpet that would have made even Cannes proud.
On Thursday at the vast, palatial and exceedingly glitzy Ritz-Carlton hotel in the coastal city of Jeddah, the impressively eclectic assortment of attendees for the curtain raiser What’s Love Got to Do With It? included the likes of Sharon Stone, Guy Ritchie, Shah Rukh Khan, Luca Guadagnino, Priyanka Chopra, Nadine Labaki, Andy Garcia, Oliver Stone, Henry Golding, Michelle Rodriguez, Frieda Pinto, Yousra, Gaspar Noé, Gurinder Chadha, Rossy de Palma, Melanie Laurent, Andrew Dominik, Lucy Hale and Scott Eastwood, plus the film’s director Shekhar Kapur and writer-producer Jemima Khan.
If there had been any difficulty luring stars and industry figures to...
After a year of heavy promotion across all the major festivals, for only its second edition Saudi Arabia’s own Red Sea Film Festival managed to amass the sort of star-studded opening night red carpet that would have made even Cannes proud.
On Thursday at the vast, palatial and exceedingly glitzy Ritz-Carlton hotel in the coastal city of Jeddah, the impressively eclectic assortment of attendees for the curtain raiser What’s Love Got to Do With It? included the likes of Sharon Stone, Guy Ritchie, Shah Rukh Khan, Luca Guadagnino, Priyanka Chopra, Nadine Labaki, Andy Garcia, Oliver Stone, Henry Golding, Michelle Rodriguez, Frieda Pinto, Yousra, Gaspar Noé, Gurinder Chadha, Rossy de Palma, Melanie Laurent, Andrew Dominik, Lucy Hale and Scott Eastwood, plus the film’s director Shekhar Kapur and writer-producer Jemima Khan.
If there had been any difficulty luring stars and industry figures to...
- 12/2/2022
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Shekar Kapur says “winds need to change” in international film industry cultural dynamics.
US director Oliver Stone spoke out in support of Saudi Arabia at the opening ceremony of the second Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah on Thursday night (December 1).
Attending the festival as the president of the international jury, Stone said the country is “much misunderstood in the present world – people who have judged too harshly should come and visit to see for themselves”, to applause from the room. He also noted “changes” and “reforms” that he feels are making the nation a more hospitable place to visit.
US director Oliver Stone spoke out in support of Saudi Arabia at the opening ceremony of the second Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah on Thursday night (December 1).
Attending the festival as the president of the international jury, Stone said the country is “much misunderstood in the present world – people who have judged too harshly should come and visit to see for themselves”, to applause from the room. He also noted “changes” and “reforms” that he feels are making the nation a more hospitable place to visit.
- 12/1/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival kicked off its second edition on Friday with a splashy gala that alongside Egyptian icon Yousra and a plethora of Arab talent also saw Guy Ritchie, Sharon Stone and Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan on the red carpet.
Held in the auditorium of the Ritz Carlton hotel in Jeddah, on the Red Sea’s eastern shore, the ceremony served as a strong affirmation of the event’s theme “Film is Everything,” and of the special meaning of cinema in a country where, until December 2017, moviegoing was banned for religion-related reasons.
Saudi producer and philanthropist Mohammed Al Turki, who is the event’s CEO, in his speech called the fest and market “a clear indicator of change that plays a crucial role in transforming and reshaping the future for our next generation of creatives.”
The opening of the Red Sea fest’s second edition...
Held in the auditorium of the Ritz Carlton hotel in Jeddah, on the Red Sea’s eastern shore, the ceremony served as a strong affirmation of the event’s theme “Film is Everything,” and of the special meaning of cinema in a country where, until December 2017, moviegoing was banned for religion-related reasons.
Saudi producer and philanthropist Mohammed Al Turki, who is the event’s CEO, in his speech called the fest and market “a clear indicator of change that plays a crucial role in transforming and reshaping the future for our next generation of creatives.”
The opening of the Red Sea fest’s second edition...
- 12/1/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Olive Stone voiced support for Saudi Arabia at the opening Thursday of the second edition of country’s Red Sea International Film Festival, which he is attending as president of the international jury.
Related Story Shah Rukh Khan Lands At Red Sea Film Festival To Talk First Ksa Shoot With ‘Dunki’ And Moving Into Action Movies With ‘Pathaan’ Related Story Jackie Chan, Spike Lee, Nadine Labaki Head To Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Fest For High-Profile In-Conversation Line-up Related Story Saudi Arabia's Mbc Group Expands Anime Partnerships With Toei, Aniplex; Acquires TV Tokyo's Hit Reboot 'Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War'
The Oscar-winning director said Saudi Arabia was a country that is “misunderstood in the present world.”
“You see the changes that are coming here, the reforms. I think people who judge too harshly should come and visit this place and see for themselves,” he told the opening ceremony to cheers and applause.
Related Story Shah Rukh Khan Lands At Red Sea Film Festival To Talk First Ksa Shoot With ‘Dunki’ And Moving Into Action Movies With ‘Pathaan’ Related Story Jackie Chan, Spike Lee, Nadine Labaki Head To Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Fest For High-Profile In-Conversation Line-up Related Story Saudi Arabia's Mbc Group Expands Anime Partnerships With Toei, Aniplex; Acquires TV Tokyo's Hit Reboot 'Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War'
The Oscar-winning director said Saudi Arabia was a country that is “misunderstood in the present world.”
“You see the changes that are coming here, the reforms. I think people who judge too harshly should come and visit this place and see for themselves,” he told the opening ceremony to cheers and applause.
- 12/1/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival has unveiled a star-studded In-Conversations program as the second edition gets underway in the port city of Jeddah today.
Confirmed guest speakers include Oscar winners Spike Lee and Jackie Chan, Oscar-nominees Andy Garcia and Luca Guadagnino as well as actors Akshay Kumar, Nelly Karim, Ranbir Kapoor, and Hrithik Roshan and actress-director Nadine Labaki.
A raft of top directors will also be talking about their careers including Guy Ritchie, Gurinder Chadha, Andrew Dominik, Fatih Akin, Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, Kaouther Ben Hania, Michel Ocelot, and Gaspar Noé.i
“Our schedule of In-Conversations taking place at this year’s Festival brings together some of the leading voices in international, Bollywood and Arab cinema, sharing their journeys to the big screen and the wisdom that they have learned along the way,” said Red Sea Film Festival CEO Mohammed Al Turki.
“We are thrilled to...
Confirmed guest speakers include Oscar winners Spike Lee and Jackie Chan, Oscar-nominees Andy Garcia and Luca Guadagnino as well as actors Akshay Kumar, Nelly Karim, Ranbir Kapoor, and Hrithik Roshan and actress-director Nadine Labaki.
A raft of top directors will also be talking about their careers including Guy Ritchie, Gurinder Chadha, Andrew Dominik, Fatih Akin, Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, Kaouther Ben Hania, Michel Ocelot, and Gaspar Noé.i
“Our schedule of In-Conversations taking place at this year’s Festival brings together some of the leading voices in international, Bollywood and Arab cinema, sharing their journeys to the big screen and the wisdom that they have learned along the way,” said Red Sea Film Festival CEO Mohammed Al Turki.
“We are thrilled to...
- 12/1/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea Iff), in partnership with Vox Cinemas and the Mbc Group, has unveiled the program for its second edition, which will run from 1-10 December in Jeddah, nestled on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. The Festival will welcome filmmakers, talent, media, industry professionals, and film fans for a 10-day celebration of global cinema.
The Red Sea Iff is thrilled to announce the opening night gala, What’s Love Got to Do with It? directed by Shekhar Kapur, written by Jemima Khan and produced by Studiocanal and Working Title. The film stars Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly, Asim Chaudhry and Academy Award winner Emma Thompson. Sliding between London and Lahore, love and friendship, tradition and iconoclasm, What’s Love Got to Do with It? is a cross-cultural British romantic comedy that follows a filmmaker who decides to...
The Red Sea Iff is thrilled to announce the opening night gala, What’s Love Got to Do with It? directed by Shekhar Kapur, written by Jemima Khan and produced by Studiocanal and Working Title. The film stars Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly, Asim Chaudhry and Academy Award winner Emma Thompson. Sliding between London and Lahore, love and friendship, tradition and iconoclasm, What’s Love Got to Do with It? is a cross-cultural British romantic comedy that follows a filmmaker who decides to...
- 11/5/2022
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Click here to read the full article.
The Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia has named Oliver Stone its jury president and unveiled the program for its second edition, which will run Dec. 1-10 in Jeddah.
“Legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone has been chosen to lead the jury of the Red Sea: Features Competition jury,” organizers said. “The three-time Academy Award winner is behind some of the all-time masterpieces of cinema, including Scarface, The Doors, Wall Street, JFK, Midnight Express, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Nixon and Natural Born Killers.”
The festival also unveiled its opening film: What’s Love Got to Do With It?, directed by Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, Bandit Queen), written by Jemima Khan and produced by StudioCanal and Working Title. The film stars Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly, Asim Chaudhry and Emma Thompson. “Sliding between London and Lahore, love and friendship,...
The Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia has named Oliver Stone its jury president and unveiled the program for its second edition, which will run Dec. 1-10 in Jeddah.
“Legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone has been chosen to lead the jury of the Red Sea: Features Competition jury,” organizers said. “The three-time Academy Award winner is behind some of the all-time masterpieces of cinema, including Scarface, The Doors, Wall Street, JFK, Midnight Express, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Nixon and Natural Born Killers.”
The festival also unveiled its opening film: What’s Love Got to Do With It?, directed by Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, Bandit Queen), written by Jemima Khan and produced by StudioCanal and Working Title. The film stars Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly, Asim Chaudhry and Emma Thompson. “Sliding between London and Lahore, love and friendship,...
- 10/31/2022
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oliver Stone to head features competition jury.
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) has unveiled the programme for its second edition (December 1-10), with Studiocanal and Working Title’s romantic comedy What’s Love Got To Do With It? playing as the opening night gala.
Directed by Shekhar Kapur and written by Jemima Khan, What’s Love Got To Do With It? stars Lily James and Shazad Latif in the story of two people from different cultures who fall in love. It launched at the Toronto International FIlm Festival in September.
Rsiff will close with the world...
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) has unveiled the programme for its second edition (December 1-10), with Studiocanal and Working Title’s romantic comedy What’s Love Got To Do With It? playing as the opening night gala.
Directed by Shekhar Kapur and written by Jemima Khan, What’s Love Got To Do With It? stars Lily James and Shazad Latif in the story of two people from different cultures who fall in love. It launched at the Toronto International FIlm Festival in September.
Rsiff will close with the world...
- 10/31/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Netflix faces a number of courtly challenges in the next couple of months, as it prepares to debut both the fifth season of The Crown, and a documentary starring the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Season 5 of The Crown is set to launch on November 5, and already there are rumblings by commentators in the UK that it doesn’t feel appropriate to bring the royals’ real-life 1990s troubles to the screen, so soon after Queen Elizabeth’s death in 2022.
Asked about the forthcoming series, Jonathan Dimbleby – one of the UK’s most celebrated broadcasters and a friend of the new King – told the Times: “I don’t have patience with that kind of garbage.”
A biographer of Charles, Sally Bedell Smith, made the point that inaccuracies are more significant now for Charles in his position of monarch. She said: “The show has become a runaway train. But I think it...
Season 5 of The Crown is set to launch on November 5, and already there are rumblings by commentators in the UK that it doesn’t feel appropriate to bring the royals’ real-life 1990s troubles to the screen, so soon after Queen Elizabeth’s death in 2022.
Asked about the forthcoming series, Jonathan Dimbleby – one of the UK’s most celebrated broadcasters and a friend of the new King – told the Times: “I don’t have patience with that kind of garbage.”
A biographer of Charles, Sally Bedell Smith, made the point that inaccuracies are more significant now for Charles in his position of monarch. She said: “The show has become a runaway train. But I think it...
- 10/15/2022
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
Jemima Khan (“What’s Love Got to Do With It?”) and Jaime Ray Newman (“Dopesick”) have boarded Seemab Gul’s Oscar-qualifying short film “Sandstorm” as executive producers.
A coming of age story, centering around a Pakistani schoolgirl called Zara, “Sandstorm” navigates the “tricky terrain of internet dating in a conservative Muslim society,” according to the logline as well as questions “the objectification of the female body and its relationship to honor in Pakistani culture.”
In the short, Zara sends her virtual boyfriend a “sensual dance video” which he then uses to blackmail her. “Caught between his manipulative behaviour and the desire to experience love on her own terms, Zara searches for the strength to reject the confines of a patriarchal society,” reads the synopsis.
The short snagged top awards at Rhode Island and HollyShorts Film Festivals.
The film is written, directed and co-produced by Gul, a Pakistani artist and filmmaker based...
A coming of age story, centering around a Pakistani schoolgirl called Zara, “Sandstorm” navigates the “tricky terrain of internet dating in a conservative Muslim society,” according to the logline as well as questions “the objectification of the female body and its relationship to honor in Pakistani culture.”
In the short, Zara sends her virtual boyfriend a “sensual dance video” which he then uses to blackmail her. “Caught between his manipulative behaviour and the desire to experience love on her own terms, Zara searches for the strength to reject the confines of a patriarchal society,” reads the synopsis.
The short snagged top awards at Rhode Island and HollyShorts Film Festivals.
The film is written, directed and co-produced by Gul, a Pakistani artist and filmmaker based...
- 10/7/2022
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
With a week to go before kicking off the London Film Festival, the British Film Institute gathered the U.K.’s titans of cinema to toast the return of moviegoing and celebrate the next generation of filmmakers.
The BFI’s Luminous gala took place at the swanky Londoner hotel in Leicester Square on Thursday evening (Sept. 29), where Variety had exclusive access. The event, which also featured the BFI and Chanel’s inaugural Filmmaker Awards, used to be a biannual bash, but was the first of its kind since the pandemic.
The starry dinner convened around 400 guests, including actors Daisy Ridley, Ncuti Gatwa, Morfydd Clark, Rebel Wilson, Lily James, Malachi Kirby, Dame Joan Collins and Eddie Redmayne; directors Edgar Wright, Gurinder Chadha, Steve McQueen and Terry Gilliam; and producers including Working Title co-founder Eric Fellner, screenwriter Jemima Khan, and former BBC drama commissioner-turned-A24 international boss Piers Wenger.
Tim Richards, chairman...
The BFI’s Luminous gala took place at the swanky Londoner hotel in Leicester Square on Thursday evening (Sept. 29), where Variety had exclusive access. The event, which also featured the BFI and Chanel’s inaugural Filmmaker Awards, used to be a biannual bash, but was the first of its kind since the pandemic.
The starry dinner convened around 400 guests, including actors Daisy Ridley, Ncuti Gatwa, Morfydd Clark, Rebel Wilson, Lily James, Malachi Kirby, Dame Joan Collins and Eddie Redmayne; directors Edgar Wright, Gurinder Chadha, Steve McQueen and Terry Gilliam; and producers including Working Title co-founder Eric Fellner, screenwriter Jemima Khan, and former BBC drama commissioner-turned-A24 international boss Piers Wenger.
Tim Richards, chairman...
- 9/30/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
HBO Documentary Films is in production on a follow-up episode to the critically acclaimed, four-part docuseries The Case Against Adnan Syed. Directed by Amy Berg, the episode will feature exclusive access to Syed leading up to and following his release from prison earlier this week, after 23 years behind bars. The new episode will debut in 2023.
Syed’s prosecution in the 1999 killing of his high school girlfriend Hae Min Lee was examined in minute detail in the massively popular 2014 season of the hit podcast Serial. The docuseries premiered in March 2019 and is currently available on HBO Max.
Berg has been filming the follow-up episode in Maryland since early 2021. Most recently, Berg was in the courthouse Tuesday when Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn approved the motion to vacate Syed’s murder conviction. The investigation from the original series was referenced as evidence in the hearing.
New Adnan Syed Prosecution Is “Remote...
Syed’s prosecution in the 1999 killing of his high school girlfriend Hae Min Lee was examined in minute detail in the massively popular 2014 season of the hit podcast Serial. The docuseries premiered in March 2019 and is currently available on HBO Max.
Berg has been filming the follow-up episode in Maryland since early 2021. Most recently, Berg was in the courthouse Tuesday when Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn approved the motion to vacate Syed’s murder conviction. The investigation from the original series was referenced as evidence in the hearing.
New Adnan Syed Prosecution Is “Remote...
- 9/21/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
The Case Against Adnan Syed (Photo Courtesy of HBO)
HBO’s four-part documentary series The Case Against Adnan Syed will expand to five parts following the release of Syed from prison. HBO confirmed production is now underway on a follow-up episode which will include exclusive footage with Adnan Syed leading up to and following his release.
The original docuseries director Amy Berg (an Oscar nominee for Deliver Us from Evil) returns to helm the new episode which is targeting a 2023 premiere.
Berg, who’s been working on the fifth episode since early 2021, was in Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn’s courtroom when the motion to vacate Syed’s murder conviction was announced. Details revealed in the four-part docuseries were used as evidence in support of the ruling.
“We knew the end of The Case Against Adnan Syed was not the end of this story, and we’ve been closely...
HBO’s four-part documentary series The Case Against Adnan Syed will expand to five parts following the release of Syed from prison. HBO confirmed production is now underway on a follow-up episode which will include exclusive footage with Adnan Syed leading up to and following his release.
The original docuseries director Amy Berg (an Oscar nominee for Deliver Us from Evil) returns to helm the new episode which is targeting a 2023 premiere.
Berg, who’s been working on the fifth episode since early 2021, was in Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn’s courtroom when the motion to vacate Syed’s murder conviction was announced. Details revealed in the four-part docuseries were used as evidence in support of the ruling.
“We knew the end of The Case Against Adnan Syed was not the end of this story, and we’ve been closely...
- 9/21/2022
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
After Adnan Syed was released from prison on Sept. 19 after serving 23 years for the murder of Hae Min Lee, HBO Documentary Films announced it is in production on a follow-up episode to its 2019 docuseries “The Case Against Adnan Syed,” set for release in 2023.
Directed by Amy Berg, the four-part series followed the killing of 18-year-old Lee and the trial and conviction of Syed, her ex-boyfriend. Berg has been filming the follow-up episode in Maryland since early 2021 and was in the courthouse Monday when a Baltimore judge approved the motion to vacate Syed’s murder conviction. The investigation from “The Case Against Adnan Syed” was referenced as evidence in this week’s hearing.
“We knew the end of ‘The Case Against Adnan Syed’ was not the end of this story, and we’ve been closely following every twist and turn in the case since the series premiered in March 2019,” Berg said.
Directed by Amy Berg, the four-part series followed the killing of 18-year-old Lee and the trial and conviction of Syed, her ex-boyfriend. Berg has been filming the follow-up episode in Maryland since early 2021 and was in the courthouse Monday when a Baltimore judge approved the motion to vacate Syed’s murder conviction. The investigation from “The Case Against Adnan Syed” was referenced as evidence in this week’s hearing.
“We knew the end of ‘The Case Against Adnan Syed’ was not the end of this story, and we’ve been closely following every twist and turn in the case since the series premiered in March 2019,” Berg said.
- 9/21/2022
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
If romance novels, reality dating shows, and romcoms have taught us anything, it’s that people love love. What’s more, people love watching others attempt to find their one true love, no matter what path they take to get there.
In Shekhar Kapur’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” that path looks a little different than what some audiences are used to, as two childhood friends, portrayed by Lily James and Shazad Latif, go on an adventure to find love via arranged marriage.
“What’s Love Got to Do with It?” premiered on September 10, 2022 at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Kapur and several cast and crew members stopped by TheWrap and Shutterstock’s Interview and Portrait Studio to discuss the film with TheWrap’s editor in chief Sharon Waxman.
Also Read:
‘What’s Love Got to Do With It?’ Review: Lily James Finds Love in the World of...
In Shekhar Kapur’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” that path looks a little different than what some audiences are used to, as two childhood friends, portrayed by Lily James and Shazad Latif, go on an adventure to find love via arranged marriage.
“What’s Love Got to Do with It?” premiered on September 10, 2022 at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Kapur and several cast and crew members stopped by TheWrap and Shutterstock’s Interview and Portrait Studio to discuss the film with TheWrap’s editor in chief Sharon Waxman.
Also Read:
‘What’s Love Got to Do With It?’ Review: Lily James Finds Love in the World of...
- 9/21/2022
- by Libby Hill
- The Wrap
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