Category: Hollywood

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Bollywood Hollywood Lite Blogs

Park Chan-wook : Each work has its own platform

It is one of Park’s films that have main female characters, along with ‘Lady Vengeance’ (2005) and ‘The Handmaiden’ (2016). He said the mood of the movie changes in the second half and the heroine becomes the main speaker of the film to lead the story to the climax…reports Asian Lite News

South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook said during a press conference at the 75th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday (French time) that the future of cinema is tightly connected with that of movie theatres, which alone can offer an incomparable cinematic experience.

“Our experience to entirely focus on a film and enjoy it along with many people at a movie theatre is out of comparison,” he said at a press conference after the closing ceremony of the festival, reports Yonhap News Agency. Park won Best Director for his latest feature ‘Decision to Leave’ at the ceremony.

“Each work has its own platform,” said Park, who has made a number of attempts other than films with other media, like the spy thriller TV series ‘The Little Drummer Girl’ (2018) and the short martial arts film “Life is But a Dream” (2022) shot entirely on an iPhone. “A film made for the big screen should be watched at theatres.”

The comments came after he expressed his respect for the global film industry that overcame the Covid-19 pandemic in his acceptance speech after winning the Best Director prize.

“Fans didn’t visit movie theatres, but it was the time that we were aware of the value of cinema,” he said. “As we have hope and power to overcome this pandemic, I believe that the cineaste will keep theatres and cinemas for good.”

Park said his film ‘Decision to Leave’ was inspired by crime novels about Swedish fictional detective Martin Beck written by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, and the Korean song ‘Mist’, which is the main song of the movie.

“I had the thought of making a crime film led by a considerate and polite detective (like Martin Beck) and a romance film with the old Korean song ‘Mist’,” he said. “This movie is made from these two wishes of mine.”

Starring Chinese actress Tang Wei of ‘Lust, Caution’ (2007) and Korean actor Park Hae-il of ‘Memories of Murder’ (2003), Park’s ‘Decision to Leave’ is about a detective who suspects a mysterious widow in a murder case and later falls in love with her after days of staking her out.

It is one of Park’s films that have main female characters, along with ‘Lady Vengeance’ (2005) and ‘The Handmaiden’ (2016). He said the mood of the movie changes in the second half and the heroine becomes the main speaker of the film to lead the story to the climax.

“The mysterious and seductive woman, who is subject to the man’s observation in the first half of the movie, leads the plot and moves to the centre of the story,” Park ]said. “That is the most important point that I want to tell in this movie.”

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Fashion Hollywood Lite Blogs

Gaurav Gupta’s global fashion magic at Cannes

American Actress, YouTube Comedian and Television Host Liza Koshy with over 13.2 million subscribers and over 1.4 billion views choose this white Gupta creation at the Cannes Film Festival 2022…reports Asian Lite News

At the 75th Cannes Film Festival 2022, Indian designer Gaurav Gupta’s custom creations were worn by both international and Indian celebrities.

Global icon Aishwarya Rai, Italian actor Catrinel Marlon, Television Host Liza Koshy, lead actor of the upcoming film ‘Boy From Heaven’ Mehdi Dehbi and veteran Indian actor Kamal Hassan all made an appearance in Gaurav Gupta Couture.

Gupta has recently been on the ‘best dressed’ lists across the globe for his recent placement at the Oscars on Megan Thee Stallion. He has also dressed new-age rapper Cardi-B, Emmy award winner Jennifer Hudson, Netflix star Chrishell Stause and more. Currently the brand is on the verge of global expansion in full strength.

Catrinel Marlon

Italian Actor and Model Catrinel Marlon wore a custom Gaurav Gupta Couture Gown at the Cannes Film Festival 2022

From a conversation with Marlon’s stylist Mike Adler to developing the bespoke couture gown-Gaurav’s PR firm in L.A Maison Bose owned by Hemasree Bose, an Indian origin entrepreneur, synthesised the creative collaboration.

The gown was almost architected on Catrinel; pure-artistic couture. The colour captures the iridescence of the Abalone. And the shell is engineered with Gaurav’s indigenous sculpting technique; a fluid sculpture constructed to move with an anatomical form rhythmically. The gown features a dramatic leg-baring slit overlaid with a multilayered bustle. It is generously adorned with precious glass beads that are intricately hand-embroidered all over. The gown took over 1100 man-hours to make.

Liza Koshy

American Actress, YouTube Comedian and Television Host Liza Koshy with over 13.2 million subscribers and over 1.4 billion views choose this white Gupta creation at the Cannes Film Festival 2022.

She wears an iconic sculpture dress from the designer’s couture Archives. A three-dimensional wearable art piece in our indigenous craft.

Mehdi Dehbi

The Lead actor of the upcoming film ‘Boy from Heaven’, Mehdi Dehbi, known for the title role in Netflix series; Messiah, at the Cannes Film Festival 2022 wore this Gupta futuristic classic velvet Tuxedo dripping in dark iridescent glass beads with angular cut pocket flaps and a velvet shawl for his film premier.

The Belgian actor wore an exclusive look from the Gaurav Gupta Man collection. The stylists, Zadrian and Sarah, paired the Stellar Tuxedo with a white waist corset and shirt.

Kamal Hassan wearing Gaurav Gupta

The Veteran Indian actor, director, and producer; Kamal Hassan wore an exclusive Gaurav Gupta Man look for the NFT launch of his film ‘Vikram’ among the global film fraternity. He exuded understated glamour; in the classic tuxedo engineered in black velvet with a metallic three-dimensional drape sculpted on the lapel.

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Films Hollywood Lite Blogs

David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future’ gets classy response at Cannes

The film includes a gory child autopsy scene, shots of bloody intestines and characters who orgasm by licking each other’s open wounds. There’s also a chair shaped like an oblong human spine that rotates at grotesque angles…reports Asian Lite News

In David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future’, characters can feel no pain. Unfortunately, the same wasn’t true for the dozens of attendees at the Cannes premiere of the horror-drama that walked out midway through the film, unable to stomach just exactly what was happening on screen.

The movie also earned a seven-minute standing ovation, suggesting that it could be the most polarising title to debut at this year’s Cannes, reports ‘Variety’.

The film reunites Cronenberg with Viggo Mortensen alongisde Kristen Stewart and Lea Seydoux. It also finds Cronenberg back in his science-fiction/horror mode for the first time since 1999’s ‘Existenz’.

‘Crimes of the Future’ may not win the Palme d’Or, but it would land a prize for the weirdest movie of the festival. Mortensen plays a performance artist who has his organs operated on in some pseudo-sexual ritual in this dystopian universe.

Stewart plays an employee at the transplant center, who in one scene says to him: “Surgery is the new sex.”

The film includes a gory child autopsy scene, shots of bloody intestines and characters who orgasm by licking each other’s open wounds. There’s also a chair shaped like an oblong human spine that rotates at grotesque angles.

“I’m very touched by your response,” Cronenberg said after the ovation.

“I hope you’re not kidding; I hope you mean it.”

In a separate press screening for the film, critics largely stayed put for the duration of the film, with only five people leaving the theatre. Though ‘Crimes of the Future’ released a smattering of applause upon its ending, it wasn’t exactly enthusiastic.

Cronenberg has a rollercoaster history with the Cannes Film Festival.

He dropped a bomb on the festival in 1996 with the premiere of ‘Crash’, starring James Spader as a film producer who becomes involved with a group of people who turn to car crashes in order to get sexually aroused.

Cannes viewers booed the film and stormed out of the theater, and even jury president Francis Ford Coppola said that some jurors “abstained very passionately” to the decision to award ‘Crash’ a special jury prize. The jury was far more favourable to Cronenberg in 2014 with the premiere of ‘Maps to the Stars’, which won Julianne Moore the best actress prize.

The official ‘Crimes of the Future’ synopsis from Neon reads: “As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. With his partner Caprice (Lea Seydoux), Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), celebrity performance artist, publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances.

“Timlin (Kristen Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed Their mission – to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.”

Cronenberg made headlines prior to Cannes for predicting festival attendees would walk out of the movie, but he clarified in a Variety interview, “I wasn’t saying that everybody will walk out. The audience in Cannes is a very strange audience. It’s not a normal audience.

“A lot of people are there just for the prestige or for the red carpet. And they’re not cinephiles. They don’t know my films. So, they might be walkouts, whereas a normal audience would have no problem with the movie. So, who knows? But certainly a lot of people walked out when we showed ‘Crash.'”

According to Neon, ‘Crimes of the Future’ is rated R for “strong disturbing violent content and grisly images, graphic nudity, and some language.”

‘Crimes of the Future’ will be released in US theatres on June 3.

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Films Hollywood Lite Blogs

Mission Impossible: Another Tom Cruise action franchise is back

Several action set pieces are teased in the trailer, including a sniper battle during a desert storm, a fistfight in a nightclub and a chase atop a moving train…reports Asian Lite News

Close on the heels of the rapturous reception to ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ at the Cannes Film Festival, another Tom Cruise action franchise is back, with the first trailer of ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One’ being dropped on Monday evening by Paramount Pictures.

‘Dead Reckoning’, reports ‘Variety’, is the seventh entry in the spy thriller series, which stars Cruise as Ethan Hunt, a special agent of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF).

The trailer shows the return of several ‘Mission: Impossible’ series cast members, including franchise stalwart Ving Rhames, more recent additions Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson, and ‘Fallout’ star Vanessa Kirby. In addition, the trailer shows the return of Henry Czerny, who appeared in the original 1996 ‘Mission: Impossible’ as IMF director Eugene Kittridge. He’s shown having a tense meeting with Cruise’s Hunt.

“Your days of fighting for the so-called ‘Greater Good’ are over,” Czerny says to Cruise in the trailer, according to ‘Variety’. “This is our chance to control the truth. The concepts of right and wrong, for everyone for centuries to come. You’re fighting to save an ideal that doesn’t exist. It never did. You need to pick a side.”

Several action set pieces are teased in the trailer, including a sniper battle during a desert storm, a fistfight in a nightclub and a chase atop a moving train. The trailer closes with a dramatic shot of Cruise, famous for doing his own stunts in the franchise, driving a motorcycle off a cliff and skydiving into the air below.

‘Dead Reckoning’ is written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who previously helmed ‘Rogue Nation’ in 2015 and ‘Fallout’ in 2018. ‘Part One’, co-produced by Cruise, and scheduled for a July 14, 2023, release, will be followed by ‘Dead Reckoning: Part Two’ in 2024, which is expected to be the final appearance of Cruise as Ethan Hunt.

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Films Hollywood Lite Blogs

‘Three thousand years of longing’ gets six-minute standing ovation


Elba and Swinton shared a warm hug during the post-screening standing ovation, which had the Grand Palais audience swooning and whistling…reports Asian Lite News

Elba and Swinton shared a warm hug during the post-screening standing ovation, which had the Grand Palais audience swooning and whistling.

Filmmaker George Miller took over the Cannes Film Festival with ‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’, his first directorial effort since ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’.

The film starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, earned a six-minute standing ovation after its world premiere at Cannes’ Palais theater, reports ‘Variety’.

A love letter to storytelling and its tropes and parables passed down through history, ‘Three Thousand Years’ follows a solitary academic (Swinton) and a burdened genie (Elba) she finds in a bottle in the markets of Istanbul.

His history unfolds in the stories of those who had found him before.

While his memories were relayed in dazzling ancient locations with heavy special effects, half of the film is spent in a hotel room (the same that Agatha Christie lived in when she wrote ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, a bellhop tells Swinton).

The Cannes crowd enjoyed Swinton and Elba hanging out in bathrobes, casually bickering over the ethics of wish making, until the movie eventually gives way to a bittersweet love story.

Elba and Swinton shared a warm hug during the post-screening standing ovation, which had the Grand Palais audience swooning and whistling.

Miller, in his trademark coke bottle glasses, looked on with pride.

“This is the first time I’ve seen the film with an audience, and it’s very moving,” Miller told the crowd.

“I’m very, very grateful.”

The film is predominantly a two-hander between Swinton and Ilba, although supporting roles are played by the likes of Aamito Lagum, Burcu Galgedar and Matteo Bocelli.

Miller co-wrote the movie with Augusta Gore, based on ‘The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye’, a collection of short stories published by author A.S. Byatt.

Miller reunited several members of his ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ crafts team for the new movie, including editor Margaret Sixel, cinematographer John Seale and composer Tom Holkenborg.

MGM’s distribution arm United Artists Releasing is set to release ‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’ in theatres on August 31.

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Crime Hollywood

Amber Heard breaks down in tears during testimony

Heard is defending herself in a $50 million defamation trial. Depp has accused her of fabricating her domestic violence allegations to advance her career….reports Asian Lite News

Hollywood actress Amber Heard broke down as she told a jury that her former husband and actor Johnny Depp had sexually assaulted her with a bottle during a fight in Australia.

According to ‘Variety’, Heard took the stand for the second day on Thursday, as she continued to recount a series of violent incidents that marked their relationship.

She said the fight in Australia during filming of the fifth ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film in March 2015 was prompted by Depp’s jealousy and her concern about his drug use.

She said Depp had repeatedly hit her, threw bottles at her and choked her against a refrigerator, before finally getting her on top of a countertop and penetrating her with a bottle.

“I remember just not wanting to move,” ‘Variety’ quoted the actress as saying.

She said she remembered thinking: “Please, God, I hope it’s not broken.”

She said Depp repeatedly said: “I’ll f***ing kill you.”

Heard is defending herself in a $50 million defamation trial. Depp has accused her of fabricating her domestic violence allegations to advance her career.

His lawsuit alleges that he lost out on the sixth ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film and other movie roles after Heard referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse” in a December 2018 op-ed.

Heard began her testimony on Wednesday afternoon, recounting how she first met Depp and fell in love with him.

But she said she also discovered that Depp could become extremely jealous, especially when drunk or high, and fly into rages.

On Thursday, she told the jury about a flight on a private jet in May 2014, when she claimed that Depp slapped her and then kicked her to the floor.

She also told the jury of other violent episodes, in Tokyo, and on Depp’s private island in the Bahamas. She said Depp could be verbally cruel, calling her a “wh***”, a “s**t” and a “fat a**”.

Depp has denied ever assaulting Heard. He already told the jury his own version of events surrounding the Australia fight, alleging that she severed his fingertip when she threw a bottle at him.

Heard has previously testified about these incidents during a trial in the UK, but the details of the alleged sexual assault were kept confidential in that proceeding.

In her testimony on Thursday, Heard also said she ended up with cuts on her arms and feet from the broken glass.

She said, at one point, Depp had held a broken bottle to her jaw, and threatened to “carve up my face”.

She said the next morning she found a series of messages that Depp had written on the walls in his own blood and in paint.

Heard also told the jury about a fight in December 2015, when she said that Depp dragged her by the hair up the stairs. He said the two got into a shoving match, and that Depp head-butted her squarely in the nose.

She said she instantly felt searing pain in her nose.

Depp previously testified that he was trying to restrain Heard from hitting him by putting her in a bear hug, and the contact was incidental.

Later that night, Heard said that she told Depp that she was going to leave him.

She said that Depp dragged her into another room, threw her on a bed, and kneeled on her back.

She said he repeatedly punched her, and screamed in her ear: “I fucking hate you!a She said she could not breathe.

“I thought, ‘This is how I die’,” she said.

“He’s going to kill me now. He’s going to kill me, and he won’t even have realised it.”

The trial will take a one-week break before testimony resumes on May 16, when Heard will return to the stand. She is yet to complete her direct testimony, and Depp’s lawyers will then have the opportunity to cross-examine her.

Judge Penney Azcarate told the jury that closing arguments are set for May 27.

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Arab News Films Hollywood

‘Multiverse of Madness’ banned in Arab countries

Multiverse of Madness banned in Arab countries

Benedict Cumberbatch’s upcoming superhero film ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ will not see the light of day in Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries due to the inclusion of a gay character, reports ‘Variety’…reports Asian Lite News

A source told ‘Variety’ that Saudi Arabian censors held back their permit to release the film in the kingdom as the changes they requested were not approved by Disney.

The new Sam Raimi-directed sequel stars Cumberbatch as the titular character, and it also features the new hero America Chavez, played by ‘The Baby-Sitters Club’ star Xochitl Gomez.

As per reports cited by ‘Variety’, Gomez’s character in the movie is reportedly gay, true to how she is portrayed in the Marvel comics.

The ‘Doctor Strange’ sequel, which is scheduled to release in the US on May 6, was initially slated for release in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries on May 5.

But in the region, which maintain a conservative outlook on movies concerning or containing sex, homosexuality, and religious issues are routinely cut to comply with censorship rules.

In this case, Disney was either unwilling or unable to make edits requested by censors.

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‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ is set after the events of ‘WandaVision’, ‘Loki’ and ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, follows the Sorcerer Supreme’s attempts to contain the aftermath of the multiverse-fracturing spell he cast in the recent Tom Holland and Zendaya-starrer ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, which caused villains from across the multiverse to spill over into the central Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.

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Films Hollywood Lite Blogs

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ to hit screens on May 27

The new trailer of the film, which was released on YouTube, garnered a whopping 6.3 million views in a matter of hours of being released…reports Asian Lite News

One of the most awaited films of the year, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ will hit screens on May 27.

Tom Cruise, who wowed audiences around the world as Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in ‘Top Gun’, returns as a trainer in this edition of the ‘Top Gun’ franchise.

The immensely popular Hollywood star shared a new trailer of Top Gun: Maverick on his Twitter timeline and said, “The new trailer for #TopGun is here. See you at the theater.”

Production house Paramount Pictures, in its description of the new film’s trailer, said, “After more than 30 years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.

“When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”

“Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.”

The new trailer of the film, which was released on YouTube, garnered a whopping 6.3 million views in a matter of hours of being released.

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Events Hollywood News

Oscars 2022 celebrates 50th anniversary of ‘The Godfather’

Oscars 2022 celebrates 50th anniversary of ‘The Godfather’

Director Francis Ford Coppola and stars De Niro and Al Pacino celebrated the 50th anniversary of the iconic film ‘The Godfather’ at the 94th Academy Awards under the theme ‘Movie lovers unite’ at the Dolby Theatre…reports Asian Lite News

On Sunday night, Coppola, Pacino, and De Niro took the stage as their film got honoured at completing 50 years. The three walked up to the stage to the theme song of ‘The Godfather’.

The director was seen making a speech about ‘The Godfather’, while De Niro and Pacino were standing silently beside him.

‘The Godfather’ tribute was introduced by rapper Puff Daddy.

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‘The Godfather’ is a 1972 American crime film based on Mario Puzo’s best-selling 1969 novel of the same name.

The film also stars Marlon Brando among many others.

It is the first installment in ‘The Godfather’ trilogy. The story, spanning from 1945 to 1955, chronicles the Corleone family under patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando), focusing on the transformation of his youngest son, Michael Corleone (Pacino), from a reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss.

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Celebrity Events Hollywood

Ariana DeBose wins Best Actress in a Supporting role

American actress-singer Ariana DeBose won the Oscars for the Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work in the remake of the musical “West Side Story” directed by Steven Spielberg…reports Asian Lite News

She played the role of Anita, the girlfriend of Sharks gang leader Bernardo, and sings the famous number “America”.

In the original film Anita was played by Rita Moreno, who also won an Oscar for the Best Supporting Actress for the role in 1962. With this Ariana became the only openly queer woman to win an Oscar and the second Latina actor to bag the coveted statuette.

DeBose joined Jennifer Lawrence as the only actors born in the 90s to have won an Oscar to their credit.

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