The next great country star could come from anywhere.
19.02.2023 - 12:03 / variety.com
Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International George MacKay is virtually unrecognizable in the erotic revenge thriller “Femme,” directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping. With slicked-back hair and a heavy-handed neck tattoo, the dashing, soft-spoken British actor, well known for his period roles, is transformed into the kind of East London gangster you’d go out of your way to avoid. Part of what makes MacKay’s character, Preston, so menacing is the fact that he’s deeply closeted. When one night he’s teased in front of his friends by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett’s drag artist Jules — dressed up as Aphrodite Banks — he responds with violence so severe that it shatters Jules’ confidence to ever perform in drag again. The attack emboldens Jules to ensnare an unwitting Preston in an intense sexual relationship with the intention of outing him on the Internet.
It’s not only Jules’ character who trades in drag, explains MacKay. “You’ve got Jules’ drag, but you’ve also got Preston’s drag,” he says. “That’s why I love acting — it’s this whole question of nature versus nurture, and what you have inside and the clothes you put on top of it.” MacKay delivered a memorable performance in the Viggo Mortensen-led “Captain Fantastic” in 2016, but his break-out role came three years later in Sam Mendes’ wartime epic “1917.” The London-born actor won plaudits for his performance in the Oscar-winning film as a young soldier tasked with delivering a critical message across a battlefield in broad daylight in order to save 1,600 of his fellow soldiers. Since then, the 30-year-old has quietly amassed an impressive array of credits. He recently played a graffiti artist held captive by a crooked judge in Netflix thriller “I Came By,”
The next great country star could come from anywhere.
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh was a public relations worker who fell in love with a prince - and ended up becoming very close to the Queen. The 58-year-old has become a much-loved royal and her position in The Firm has become increasingly important since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to step back from senior royal duties in 2020.
Reese Witherspoon and Kacey Musgraves comes a new music reality competition called, which they promise is a «fresh take on» the TV genre as it «breaks down barriers in country music by providing an extraordinary opportunity to diverse artists from around the world.» Ahead of the eight-part competition's debut on Apple TV+, the streaming platform released a trailer, offering the first look at what's to come from this one-of-a-kind experience. On the show, three groundbreaking country artists and scouts -- Jimmie Allen, Mickey Guyton and Orville Peck -- have each handpicked a roster of what they consider to be «exceptional up-and-coming talent» and invited them to live together in a house in Nashville, Tennessee, where they'll showcase their unique sound and style for the judges.While there, the twelve contestants will vye for the chance to win «a life-changing experience from Apple, including global exposure across the Apple TV+ and Apple Music platforms.»In addition to watching the extended preview for the reality series, check out the three scout's full roster of competing artists below: Chihuahua, Mexico Ale infuses herself into her music and bilingual lyrics with the mariachi, norteño, banda and other sounds she heard growing up in Mexico. At the age of 16 she taught herself how to play the guitar, and is now on the way to establishing herself as an independent singer-songwriter with a loyal following she’s gained from her popular YouTube channel. New Delhi, India Dhruv, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer-songwriter and producer, started his musical journey at the age of seven.
The Royal Family has made Archie and Lilibet’s new titles official with an update to its website. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle publicly referred to their daughter as Princess Lilibet Diana for the first time this week as they announced their 21 month old daughter had been christened at their home in Montecito, California.
Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic As a critic, I’m always looking for a fresh challenge, which is one reason I took up writing about theater: It still has the capacity to scare me. I’ve reviewed nearly 1,700 movies in my time at Variety, but how to weigh in with authority on stage productions of William Shakespeare or Samuel Beckett when I haven’t seen most of their work performed, but know it only by reputation? Last year, I was nervous going in to a fresh revival of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” at Los Angeles’ Geffen Playhouse, as I had only the Mike Nichols movie as a reference point. How to judge Calista Flockhart’s performance, and what might I compare it to, not having seen Uta Hagen play Martha on Broadway? (I did manage to track down a vinyl recording of that show, but still…
Kate Garraway has been extremely open about her husband Derek Draper's health battle since he contracted coronavirus back in 2020.In a new interview with The Sun, the Good Morning Britain presenter touched upon the financial impact caring for her partner has had on the family.WATCH: Kate Garraway grills Matt Hancock about his time as Health Secretary "Every day is a roller coaster. Derek's spirit fluctuates," she told the publication.
Kate Garraway, 55, has described how her husband Derek Draper, 55, has become "trapped" in his own body. The former lobbyist, who suffers from a severe form of long Covid, spent over a year in hospital after first being rushed in back in 2020 - and has been struggling with his health ever since. Good Morning Britain presenter Kate opened up about the long-term impacts Covid has had on Derek's body in a heart-wrenching new interview.
A series of rituals play out across Helmut Dosantos’ nearly wordless documentary “Gods of Mexico.” Honing in on Indigenous communities and their labor in Mexico despite the shadow of the country’s creeping modernization, Dosantos’s breathtaking film recalls the work of Ron Fricke and Godfrey Reggio in its emphasis on the juxtaposition between static imagery and the syncopated rhythms of manual labor.
I am thrilled to interview George Santos, the first openly gay Republican elected to the U.S. Congress. Rep. Santos and I met during a recent visit to Atlanta where he is helping organize the Project to Make Dixie Great Again.
musical movie continues to add A-list actors to its cast! Based on the Tony-nominated Broadway musical, Paramount Pictures' new film will see the return of some familiar faces and a host of new ones too. With Busy Philipps confirmed in the role of Regina George's mom, and Jenna Fischer set to star as Cady Heron's mom, ET is taking a look at the cast — from newcomers like Reneé Rapp to the OG of the squad, Tina Fey.Philipps will step into Amy Poehler's shoes, playing Mrs. George, Regina George's mother, the role the alum originated in the 2004 flick.
Elon Musk continues to be the richest person in the world, despite briefly losing the No. 1 spot for over two months.
Further details of the King’s Coronation ceremony have been revealed, with King Charles’s nine-year-old grandson Prince George set for a bigger role than had been anticipated – in a break with royal precedent.
In 1991, “Street Fighter” made history by introducing the world’s first playable female character in a fighting game, Chun Li. An expert martial artist and Interpol officer, Chun Li has a notorious sense of justice, with much of her arc dedicated to a tireless search for revenge for the wrongful killing of her father.
In the Hulu docuseries Planet Sex, cameras follow model/LGBTQ icon Cara Delevingne as she goes on a enlightening and sometimes humorous journey exploring human sexuality around the world. And occasionally, she learns a thing or two about her own.
Guy Lodge Film Critic On stage, drag artist Aphrodite Banks is a femme fatale: Caked in war paint, with a waterfall of braids whipping around her waist, she’s possessed of the white-hot glare and forthright confidence to match her Amazonian height and bearing. Off stage, as Jules, he’s simply femme: that term for gay men who present or express themselves in a more feminine way, too often used as a slur or a dismissal even by their community brethren. (Open up a cruising app like Grindr and see how frequently “no fems” comes up as a requirement.) The former identity connotes swaggering strength; the latter, to many, delicate weakness. How those associations and stigmas battle each other in one man’s body is the driving conflict in “Femme,” a tense, sometimes startling revenge drama from British freshmen Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping.
he said he thought he would have gotten away with. “‘I was an Australian super star. I was this, my family was this,’ and it was all untrue,” Morgan said. “I don’t categorize these as mistakes.
Femme, a queer thriller written and directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choo Ping, had its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival and stars George Mackay and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. The film explores the price of vengeance, the toll it can take on the psyche, and how that pressure can lead to some questionable decisions that may leave the viewer looking for explanations for these character’s actions.
The winners have been revealed for the 2023 BAFTAs!
*WINNER.BEST FILM“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Malte Grunert“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh“Elvis,” Gail Berman, Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Patrick McCormick, Schuyler Weiss“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang“Tár,” Todd Field, Scott Lambert, Alexandra MilchanOUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM“Aftersun,” Charlotte Wells, Producer(s) TBC“The Banshees of Inisherin” Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin“Brian and Charles,” Jim Archer, Rupert Majendie, David Earl, Chris Hayward“Empire of Light,” Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” Sophie Hyde, Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski, Katy Brand“Living,” Oliver Hermanus, Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley, Kazuo Ishiguro“Roald Dalh’s Matilda the Musical,” Matthew Warchus, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Jon Finn, Luke Kelly, Dennis Kelly“See How They Run,” Tom George, Gina Carter, Damian Jones, Mark Chappell“The Swimmers,” Sally El Hosaini, Producer(s) TBC, Jack Thorne“The Wonder,” Sebastián Lelio, Ed Guiney, Juliette Howell, Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross, Alice Birch, Emma DonoghueOUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER“Aftersun,” Charlotte Wells (Writer/Director)“Blue Jean,” Georgia Oakley (Writer/Director), Hélène Sifre (Producer)“Electric Malady,” Marie Lidén (Director)“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” Katy Brand (Writer)“Rebellion,” Maia Kenworthy (Director)FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE“All Quiet on the Western Front” Edward Berger, Malte Grunert *WINNER“Argentina, 1985,” Santiago Mitre, Producer(s) TBC“Corsage,” Marie Kreutzer“Decision to Leave,” Park Chan-wook, Ko Dae-seok“The Quiet Girl,” Colm Bairéad, Cleona Ní ChrualaoíDOCUMENTARY“All That Breathes,”
Naman Ramachandran Nathan Stewart-Jarrett is ready for his close-up. After making a mark with TV’s “Misfits” and “Utopia” and in the film “Candyman,” the British actor is set to explode upon the world stage with “Femme,” world premiering at the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama strand. Stewart-Jarrett plays Jules, whose alter-ego is Aphrodite, a celebrated drag queen in a gay club in London whose life is destroyed by a homophobic attack. After he spots one of the perpetrators (George MacKay) in a gay sauna, Jules plots revenge. “Femme” is based on the BAFTA-nominated short of the same name by directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping. Stewart-Jarrett had played a former drag queen in the Tony- and Olivier Award-winning theater production of “Angels in America” and built on that during the “Femme” preparation.