Toronto So Far: Forget the Awards Race! The Crowds Are Loving the Fest, From Spielberg to Weird Al Yankovic

Far-right politician Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party appears to be on the cusp of victory in Italy’s general election on Sunday, according to exits polls released shortly after the urns closed at 11 pm local time.

Born and raised as George Ward in the Traveller community in Darlington, drag performer Cherry Valentine thought their life was mapped out for them. "I was going to get a job as a mechanic, get married, have kids and that would be it," the Drag Race UK star, who has died aged 28, said in an interview with the Manchester Evening News earlier this year.

Ross Kelly was a familiar face from ITV's This Morning for those who used to watch in the 1990s. He joined as a cover presenter and co-hosted on Fridays during the period when the popular daytime show was presented by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan. Ross, now 61, left This Morning after 3 years and joined GMTV presenting alongside Fiona Phillips and Lorraine Kelly.

Crowded House have shared details for the rescheduled North American leg of their ‘Dreamers Are Waiting’ tour, now set to commence in 2023.Kicking off in Canada at Vancouver’s Orpheum, Crowded House will then undertake a further 17 shows throughout the month, including two back-to-back performances at Los Angeles’ Wiltern. Find all dates below.The North American leg was originally due to commence in Philadelphia last month, but was postponed after drummer Elroy Finn sustained a “painful” injury to his lower back.At the time, frontman Neil Finn said: “We are advised that there may be some risk in the recovery process for him to play shows at this time. The good health and future well-being of the band members has to be our priority.”Tickets for original show dates remain valid for the new run.

All eyes are usually on the eccentric characters but the latest episode of The Masked Dancer saw Jonathan Ross in the spotlight. The ITV chat show host was back on the expert panel for more guessing alongside presenter Davina McCall, ex-Strictly dancer Oti Mabuse and former footballer Peter Crouch.

The Oscar race came into sharper focus at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, with actors like Brendan Fraser and Michelle Yeoh cementing their lead contender status, and big-budget studio efforts like The Fablemans and Glass Onion premiering to raves.

Sam Mendes was writing the screenplay for what would become Empire of Light and he’d hit a wall.

Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne passed through the Toronto Film Festival Monday morning where they discussed their true-crime thriller The Good Nurse.

Academy defender Marc Jurado and midfielder Omari Forson trained with the Manchester United first-team on Monday.

EXCLUSIVE: Marcus Dunstan, the writer of Saw 3D and Saw VI, is set to direct the horror flick All My Friends Are Dead. Film Mode Entertainment and Roundtable Entertainment will launch sales on the project at the Toronto Film Festival.

Manal Issa and Nathalie Issa, real life sisters who play a pair of Olympic swimming hopefuls, also sisters, said they weren’t at all aquatic when cast in the Sally El Hosaini film ‘The Swimmers’ that opened TIFF last night.

Netflix has a number of high-profile movies coming to the Toronto  Film Festival, just as it did at Venice and Telluride, but a less heralded title with no instantly recognizable star names was chosen to open the fest tonight, and The Swimmers may turn out to be a surprise winner for the streamer when it debuts this fall. It certainly reverses the curse of some of TIFF’s less successful opening-nighters.

Roger Waters has penned an open letter to Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, suggesting she persuade her husband to work toward a ceasefire with Russia and “stop the slaughter”.The letter from the former Pink Floyd member comes by way of response to Zelenska’s interview on the BBC program Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, which aired on Sunday (September 4.)In it, Zelenska was asked what message she had for British people regarding the rise in energy bills that has come in part due to the current war between Ukraine and Russia.Zelenska said: “People must understand [rising energy costs] are not coming through the West’s support to Ukraine. The prices are going up in Ukraine as well.

Thania Garcia Universal Music Group has been awarded the Ukraine Peace Prize, a recognition bestowed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for the music company’s wartime support and humanitarian relief efforts in the region. At a ceremony at UMG’s Belgium headquarters in Brussels, Olha Stefanishyna (pictured at left), Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, presented the award to Frank Briegmann, UMG’s chairman and CEO of Central Europe (pictured at right). “[UMG] was one of the first to support Ukraine and join the sanctions against Russia,” said Stefanishyna. “UMG is the first music company in the world to receive such an award. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Universal Music has proven that they are true friends of Ukraine and entertainment/culture sphere shouldn’t stand aside the war.”

Ben Stiller and Sean Penn are among 25 Americans who are permanently banned from entering Russia.

blacklist of 25 people, Senators Rick Scott, Mark Kelley, Pat Toomey, Kevin Kramer and Krysten Sinema were also barred from the countryThis isn’t the only thing the actors have in common, however, as both Penn and Stiller made trips to Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this year.Penn traveled to Ukraine to capture the crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for a Vice documentary and had a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Chris Cuomo also joined the actor in Ukraine in June as Penn worked on a “film showing the reality and helping the hurting with relief org CORE,” according to Cuomo’s Instagram.

Sean Penn and Ben Stiller today were among 25 “high-ranking officials, representatives of the business and expert communities, as well as cultural figures” banned from Russia today by that country’s foreign ministry.