‘The New Boy’ Review: Cate Blanchett Is A Renegade Nun In Warwick Thornton’s Exploration Of Faith [Cannes]

Ariana Madix is having so much fun right now!

Warwick Thornton, the First Nations Australian director, after the screening of his film “The New Boy,” a story of spirituality and survival set in 1940s, that was the opening night title of the Sydney Film Festival. “The energy you give back to these children…,” he said before tailing off. It was a churning, heartfelt moment that contrasted with Thornton’s bouncy earlier appearance on stage, when he joshed about having told the eight untrained school-age kids in his cast never to look directly at the camera while on set. And how he had to reverse that advice for when they, along with producer Kath Shelper, dominated the red carpet at Sydney’s grand State Theatre. Smile and wave for the paparazzi.

Matty Healy? It’s something Taylor Swift’s loyal legion of fans has been pondering for months. The swaggering, chaotic 1975 frontman (and son of sometimes Loose Woman, Denise Welch) has had Taylor’s ‘Swifties’ all riled up. After her shock split with unassuming, calm, handsome actor Joe Alwyn, Swift leapt head first into the arms of pretentious showman Matt Healy.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN chief Chris Licht told staffers Monday he wants to help them make the news rather than being a central figure in it. In the wake of a devastating profile of the CNN CEO published Friday by The Atlantic, Licht set about soothing frayed nerves Monday by telling employees on the news outlet’s regular morning call that “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you. Your work is what should be written about,” according to two people familiar with the matter, The words are the first from Licht to be made public since the piece was unveiled. Thanks to a rich vein of unfettered access provided over months, the piece detailed the executive’s struggles — and some of his insecurities — during his first year on the job at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed news outlet. David Zaslav, the CEO of the parent company, has articulated a strategy of eliminating some of the activist bent that resounded at CNN under its previous chief, Jeff Zucker. But Licht’s efforts to do so have been plagued by near-constant leaks and a restive staff, many of whom remain loyal to Licht’s predecessor, ousted after he admitted to a longstanding relationship with Allison Gollust, CNN’s former chief marketing officer.

It’s official! Delilah Belle Hamlin and Henry Eikenberry made their red carpet debut at the Thursday, June 1, premiere of The Crowded Room.

Chris Pratt suits up in a blue ensemble for the grand opening of Panerai‘s new boutique in New York City on Thursday (June 1).

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Max will be celebrating Pride Month in June through a series of events, programming and partnerships highlighting LGBTQ+ voices. Among the initiatives will be partnerships with Them and Newfest to help amplify queer voices, stories and content. The streamer has planned an in-app Pride takeover of the LGBTQ+ Voices page which will highlight queer content premiering in June. Among the programs will be the premiere of the HBO documentary “The Stroll,” which tells the powerful and poignant history of transgender sex workers in New York’s pre-gentrified meatpacking district in the 1990s. The Max original documentary reality series “Naked. Loud. Proud.” will stream. HBO documentaries “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” and TaylorMac’s “24-Decade History of Popular Music” are set to air.

“The Little Mermaid,” but not for any reason you’re likely imagining. Twitter users criticized the publication and critic Wesley Morris for saying that the children’s movie lacked “kink.”“Disney’s live-action remake of ‘The Little Mermaid,’ with Halle Bailey starring as Ariel and a diverse cast, ‘reeks of obligation and noble intentions,’ Wesley Morris writes,” the viral tweet read.

Niall Horan had a heck of a first season on — and he went out with a truly stunning performance!The first-time coach — who has already signed on for season 24 — took the stage with his last-standing Team Niall finalist, 19-year-old Gina Miles, during Tuesday's live results show, and the pair blew the crowd away with their performance of Billy Joel's «New York State of Mind.»«Every time I get drunk, I sing it at karaoke,» Niall joked of the track, as the pair promised to «slay» their performance. And slay they did, in coordinated black ensembles in front of a cityscape backdrop, earning a standing ovation from the crowd and their fellow coaches.ET spoke with Niall ahead of Monday's finale performance show, where he opened up about becoming fast friends with longtime Blake Shelton this season — and bidding him farewell as he departs the show after 23 seasons.«We're gonna have a few drinks, no doubt,» Niall said with a smile. «I'm gonna miss him.

Aussie filmmaker Warwick Thornton joked that Cate Blanchett “elbowed” her way into his crafty sixth feature, The New Boy, as he introduced the pic at Deadline’s Cannes Studio shortly before its festival premiere.

Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior Correspondent Cate Blanchett debuted her latest acting role in “The New Boy” at the Cannes Film Festival this week, but the Oscar-winner wouldn’t mind staying behind the camera a bit more. “I’m always trying to get out of acting,” Blanchett said. “I’ve been trying to stop acting my entire professional life.” Speaking at her Kering Women in Motion talk at Cannes, in conversation with her producing partner, Coco Francini, Blanchett said that her recent producing work behind the camera “feels an extension, for me, of my work as an actor.” “I remember an Australian film director saying to me really early on in my career that I had to stop taking small roles,” Blanchett recalled. “And I said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘That was the most interesting role.’ I didn’t want to play the lead. I want that one.”

For about half an hour or so, Warwick Thornton’s “The New Boy” could almost fool you into thinking that it’ll be a gentle, evocative and beautifully atmospheric movie about a small group of people who mean well. But then things change, and an understated film that might have quietly dealt with Australia’s original sin – the decades-long removal of indigenous children from their parents – turns complex, spiritual and surpassingly unsettling, a mixture of religion and magic that doesn’t really trust in either.It’s still beautifully composed, but it cuts that beauty with some thorny ideas and puzzling turns; it starts out beguiling, but it may end up getting under your skin.Best known for “Samson and Delilah,” which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009, Warwick has largely been working in television since then, with the notable exception of 2017’s “Sweet Country,” which looked at the conflict between white settlers and Aboriginal people.

on May 19. The actor walked the red carpet for the premiere of The Zone of Interest in a black and white Louis Vuitton dress with a cape detail and sequined silver pockets—yes, the dress has pockets! And we all know how the .The column gown traded color for chrome with a silver structured belt tied around Blanchett's waist.

Cate Blanchett is keeping busy while attending the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

Warwick Thornton is a master maker of images. The first frames of The New Boy – a sweep of dusty ground; a flash of a small boy on a policeman’s back, strangling him; a pre-war telegraph pole, all drenched in the searing white midday light of the desert – create a collage of inland Australia, a world of open spaces. The boy is duly pulled off of the policeman, put in a sack and delivered in the dark to a mission; a nun opens the door to receive the delivery. At that point, the gallery of Thornton’s frame becomes a series of golden brown interiors that could have come from Rembrandt, except that they are peopled with Indigenous boys – Lost Boys, as Sister Eileen (Cate Blanchett) describes them to God – and the trio of adults who look after them. 

Guy Lodge Film Critic The new boy doesn’t get a name, and he doesn’t give one. Arriving at an isolated orphanage in rural South Australia in the early 1940s, he’s taken in with brisk kindness by the two nuns who oversee the place, but privileges like names are for children a little further along in their understanding and acceptance of this establishment’s firm Christian principles: Until he’s ready for baptism, the shirtless, mostly wordless Aboriginal newcomer will be acknowledged but not identified. It’s a limbo state that evocatively represents the tension between Australia’s Indigenous population and even the most notionally inclusive of their colonizers; in Warwick Thornton’s thoughtful magical-realist fable “The New Boy,” spiritual differences aren’t treated with violence, but echo bloody territorial conflict just the same.

Martha Stewart, Kim Petras and Brooks Nader are three of the newest Sports Illustrated cover stars, and they celebrated the feat at a launch party for the publication’s Swimsuit Issue on Thursday night (May 18) in New York City.

There must be 50 ways to escape a Nazi. Over the 2 hours and 22 minutes of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, we see Indy and his ragtag entourage drive planes, trains and automobiles through the streets of New York, Tangiers and somewhere picturesque in Sicily, hijack two getaway tuk-tuks, ride a horse at full pelt through the New York subway tunnels, and fly a vintage plane through a “time fissure” to land right in the middle of – well, we can’t say too much, but the kind of place and time that would be Indy’s idea of Shangri-la. “Too many Nazis!” growls Indy, just before he leaps from a speeding train hundreds of yards down into a churning river. Sometimes, the essence of being an adventuring hero is to know when to put the bullwhip down and get out of Dodge.

Alissa Simon Film Critic Australian helmer-screenwriter-cinematographer Warwick Thornton won Cannes’ Camera d’Or with “Samson and Delilah” in 2009. Now he’s back with his third feature, “The New Boy,” competing in Un Certain Regard. The film turns on the story of an Aboriginal child, who arrives at a remote monastery run by a renegade nun. The new boy’s presence disturbs a delicately balanced world in this story of spiritual struggle and the cost of survival. The film stars Cate Blanchett, Deborah Mailman and Wayne Blair, and is produced by Kath Shelper, Andrew Upton, Blanchett and Lorenzo de Maio. Veterans is selling in Cannes.  How did the Cannes Golden Camera influence your career?

William Earl Variety has announced the initial lineup for the Kering Women in Motion talks at the Cannes Film Festival. Moderated by Variety’s Senior Correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister, this year’s talks include some of the most important women working in cinema and offers a mix between up-and-coming talent and iconic figures such as Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh. On Thursday, May 18, playwright, actor and philanthropist Jeremy O. Harris, who stars in Directors’ Fortnight premiere “The Sweet East,” will kick off the Women in Motion series to discuss female representation in his work. Following Harris’ talk, actress and director Katie Holmes will speak about her work as a director and how the industry has changed in its approach to female directors since she first began working in television.