Lucy Walker Directing Ibogaine Feature Doc ‘Of Night & Light’, Lands Secret Tribeca Slot

By Sam TobinLONDON (Reuters) - British actor Hugh Grant's claims that journalists at the Sun used private investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house can proceed to trial, but his allegations about voicemail interception were made too late, London’s High Court ruled on Friday. Grant, alongside King Charles' son Prince Harry, is suing Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers (NGN) for widespread alleged unlawful information gathering that he says was committed on behalf of its tabloid, the Sun.

After making a name for herself on season 5 of the hit ITV show Love Island , model and surfer Lucie Donlan became known for her long blonde waves and beachy aesthetic. Now it seems she’s paid tribute to another beach icon, as her latest Instagram post is giving some serious Pamela Anderson vibes.

EXCLUSIVE: Trom creator Torfinnur Jákupsson is turbocharging his quest to place the Faroe Islands on the global film and TV map.

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up rights to the animated feature They Shot the Piano Player for the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Scandinavia, India, the Middle East, Turkey, Southeast Asia (excluding Taiwan and South Korea) and airlines within the aforementioned territories. The film from Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, two of the directors behind the Oscar-nominated animated feature Chico and Rita, is set up for a fall awards push from SPC.

The CW has put together a fall schedule full of international series and unscripted formats alongside scripted returner All American, while Walker is moving to midseason.

K.J. Yossman Culture secretary Lucy Frazer set out her vision for the U.K.’s creative industries on Thursday morning, which included a plan to boost the creative sector’s gross added vale by £50 billion and create a million more jobs by 2030. “Our creative industries are world class,” Frazer said. “We are in the golden age of the silver screen. We rival any country in the world at sound and visual effects, and are on track to double U.K. film stage space by 2025.” Frazer, who was speaking at the Deloitte and Enders Media and Telecoms conference in London, added: “The world over, there is demand for high-end British productions not just because of our fantastic actors and our great locations, but because of our tech know-how and production skills. The imagination of our designers, our producers, our content creators, our writers and artists is spearheading growth right across our economy.”

The UK is on track to double its film stage space within two years, new Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer will say tomorrow, while unveiling a target to grow the creative sector by £50B ($62B) and create 1 million jobs.

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Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Steve McQueen looks stressed out. He’s a few weeks into post-production on “Blitz,” his World War II drama for Apple TV+, while starting promotion on his other, long-gestating wartime project, the documentary “Occupied City.” “It’s definitely pleasurable, but this is work,” declares McQueen with the wariness of a filmmaker who’s just been plucked out of the edit suite. “Hard work is always hard work. You can’t avoid it.” The British director, who was Oscar-nominated for “12 Years a Slave,” didn’t set out to make back-to-back movies about the war, but “you plant seeds, and some come to fruition and others don’t,” he explains. “These two happened to blossom fairly close to each other.”

McKinley Franklin editor The life, legacy and journey of tennis superstar Serena Williams will be put on full display in the upcoming ESPN docuseries “In the Arena: Serena Williams.” The new series was announced at the Walt Disney Company upfront presentation held in New York on Tuesday. With a longstanding career in the world of tennis spanning over the past two decades, Williams has accumulated 23 Grand Slam titles, making her one of the most decorated tennis players of all time. Her dominance in the sport has undoubtedly shifted both the athletic and cultural American landscape.  Williams’ presence not only as an athlete but a cultural cornerstone will be put on display in ESPN’s “In the Arena: Serena Williams.” The docuseries will highlight some of Williams’ most defining career and personal moments with accounts from Williams and other figures in her life.

Kyle Walker says he went back to basics to win his place back into the Manchester City team.

Naman Ramachandran British singer-songwriter Craig David (“22”) and singer and stage actor Beverley Knight (“Sister Act”) will headline the Windrush 75 celebration at London’s Royal Albert Hall on June 9. The event is being curated and hosted by DJ and radio presenter Trevor Nelson. The Windrush generation came to the U.K. from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1971. The ship MV Empire Windrush had arrived in Tilbury on June 22, 1948, bringing workers from the Caribbean to help address a post-war labor shortage in the U.K. The concert will aim to capture the breadth of musical influence which the Windrush generation has had on British culture over the last 75 years, with performances including R&B group Loose Ends’ “Hangin’ on a String,” G-folk’ pioneer Hak Baker’s “Windrush Baby” and David’s “Fill Me In,” as well as renditions of classic tracks like Lord Kitchener’s “London is the Place for Me,” Bob Marley’s “Is this Love,” and Goldie’s “Inner City Life.”

EXCLUSIVE: Lucy J. Mukerjee has joined Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith’s media company Firelight Media, geared toward nonfiction cinema by and about communities of color, as the new director of its flagship Documentary Lab.

Naman Ramachandran Signature Entertainment has acquired U.K. and Ireland rights to sci-fi thriller “The Astronaut,” starring Emma Roberts (“We’re the Millers”) and Laurence Fishburne (“The Matrix”), from Highland Film Group. Written and directed by Jess Varley (“Phobias”) in her solo directorial and writing debut, the film follows astronaut Sam Walker (Roberts) who, upon returning from her first space mission, is found miraculously alive in a punctured capsule floating deep off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. General William Harris (Fishburne) arranges for her to be placed under intense NASA surveillance in a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, Walker fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.

Beyonce has officially launched her Renaissance World Tour and we have all the photos that have been released so far!

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Walker: Independence” has been canceled at The CW after just one season, Variety has learned. The series served as a prequel to fellow CW show “Walker,” which was just renewed for Season 4 at the network. The show was set in the late 1800s. Per the official description, it followed “Abby Walker (Katherine McNamara), an affluent and tough-minded Bostonian whose husband is murdered before her eyes while on their journey out West. After crossing paths with Calian (Justin Johnson Cortez), a curious Apache tracker, Abby arrives in the town of Independence, Texas, where she encounters diverse and eclectic residents running from their pasts, chasing their dreams, and keeping their own secrets.”

No one was expecting an apology and in fact Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch applauded “the highest journalistic standards” displayed at Fox News, saying the near $800 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems was a business decision made to resolve the dispute and “avoid the acrimony of multi-year litigation.”

recent , British Vogue’s Sarah Harris one welcome change in particular: “She has embraced bolder colors: cue the Alexander McQueen red power suit she wore to unveil her ‘Shaping Us’ campaign, the cobalt-blue Catherine Walker coat dress for Easter this year, and the vivid blue she wore to Coach Core’s 10th-anniversary celebrations.”It’s fitting, then, that the Princess of Wales chose to re-wear said to the Coronation Concert on 7 May, accessorizing it with a necklace and earrings from Van Cleef & Arpels’ Alhambra Collection. The jewelry set has become something of a favorite for the Princess, who has been spotted in it everywhere from the BAFTAs to the Bahamas. As for the rest of the Wales family? and wore coordinating blue suits and ties—about as close as the heirs to the throne will ever get to festival dressing—while sported a dress by Self-Portrait, one of her mother’s favourite designers.

On the eve of King Charles III’s Coronation, a row has erupted over access to UK television footage of the historic event.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor You’ll have to wait a while for the next original “Live, from New York!” “Saturday Night Live” will not produce any new episodes for the next while, owing to the writers’ strike called for by the WGA. The show’s next scheduled episode, slated for Saturday night and hosted by former cast member Pete Davidson with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert, will not take place, according to NBC. With a work stoppage in place, it’s quite possible that fans will not have any more new episodes of “SNL” in its 48th season. The show usually goes on its summer hiatus after May. “‘SNL’ will air repeats until further notice starting Saturday, May 6,” NBC said.