Category: 5. Entertainment

  • Maria Cornejo Shifts Her Business Strategy

    Maria Cornejo Shifts Her Business Strategy

    Maria Cornejo, winner of the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award, poses with Laura Linney at the 2023 CFDA Fashion Awards.Photo: Getty Images

    On Saturday, Zero Maria Cornejo made an announcement on Instagram: “Starting with fall 2025, our focus will shift to the best-selling styles that have become beloved parts of our wardrobes, with an emphasis on producing mindfully with upcycled fabrics in our archives.”

    Mindful design—meaning sourcing responsibly made fabrics or using her own leftover inventory—has been at the heart of Cornejo’s practice for years, but this is different. Cornejo and her business partner Marysia Woroniecka are adjusting the way they operate. Relying on existing patterns won’t just eliminate the costs of product development, it will also free up Cornejo for other projects: She’s been organizing her storage facility with an eye to donating pieces to museums in the US and Europe.

    Cornejo opened her first store in NoLIta in 1998 and her vision was clear from the beginning. A preference for geometric cuts that never fail to flatter the body helped her build an arty, avant garde clientele: artist Cindy Sherman, model Stella Tennant, actress Chloe Sevigny, jewelry designer Jill Platner. Ten years later, she moved into the boutique she occupies today on Bleecker Street, leading a revitalization of her block. In 2023 she won the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the CFDA.

    Independent designers have been hard hit by the economic downturn that began last year, and the situation has only been exacerbated by the US administration’s tariff changes. But the Zero Maria Cornejo brand has a couple of factors going for it: Cornejo has always favored timelessness over trends, and the consistency of her vision has produced a loyal client base. Plus: she’s been designing for 27 years, she has a lot of patterns at her fingertips.

    “My goal was always to make clothes that were good heirlooms or good vintage, and not to be disposable,” she said over Zoom. “Of course, I love fashion, but I do like the idea of things being sort of ageless and having longer than a season’s worth of life. And I think the clients like that.” Indeed they seem to. In the comments section of her Instagram post, one customer wrote: “I’ve worn your long Issa dress in a few different fabrics for as long as you’ve made it. Another cheered the decision. “Here’s to the classics! Here’s to evolution!”

    Cornejo is all positivity on that Zoom call. “I think it’s a good model, because I think people are really overwhelmed. People are visually oversaturated.” There does seem to be a movement toward simplicity afoot. “We’re giving clients what they want,” said Cornejo. “And we won’t have to work as hard. It’s also like a life decision, you know. We think it will liberate us to get organized and sort of see what, what other things we could do, what other opportunities there are.”

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  • Jurors in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s sex-trafficking trial begin deliberations | Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs

    Jurors in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s sex-trafficking trial begin deliberations | Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs

    After seven weeks of testimony from more than 30 witnesses, jurors in the high-profile federal sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs have begun deliberations.

    The 12-member jury – made up of eight men and four women – began deliberating on Monday, following closing arguments from both sides that concluded on Friday and lengthy instructions from the judge.

    Earlier on Monday, Judge Arun Subramanian told jurors that they were the “sole and exclusive judges of the facts” who are to determine a verdict without bias or prejudice to either of the parties involved.

    He emphasized that prosecutors had the burden of proving Combs is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, not proof beyond any possible doubt.

    Combs, 55, was arrested in September and faces felony charges: one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

    He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and denied the accusations against him.

    If convicted, Combs could spend the rest of his life in prison. He has been held without bail at a federal detention center in Brooklyn since his arrest.

    Prosecutors allege that for over two decades, Combs led a criminal enterprise, aided by employees and associates, that engaged in, attempted to engage in and worked to cover up crimes including sex trafficking, kidnapping, forced labor, drug distribution, arson and bribery, enticement to engage in prostitution and obstruction of justice.

    The government has sought to prove that Combs used violence, threats, money, drugs, intimidation and power to abuse and coerce two of his former girlfriends into participating in “freak-offs”, which were described as drug-fueled sex marathons with hired male escorts.

    The defense has insisted throughout the trial that all sexual encounters were consensual and part of a “swingers lifestyle”. They have argued that no criminal conspiracy exists and that Combs is being wrongly prosecuted for his “private” and “personal sex life”.

    Throughout the trial, Combs’s lawyers acknowledged past instances of domestic violence, but denied that Combs committed sex trafficking and that any coercion took place.

    Since the trial began on 12 May, the jury has reviewed dozens of text messages, videos and receipts. The government called 34 witnesses to the stand, including two of Combs’s former girlfriends, multiple former employees and assistants, several male escorts, stylists, hotel workers, law enforcement agents and well-known figures such as the rapper Kid Cudi and singer Dawn Richard, among others.

    Key testimony came from two of Combs’s former girlfriends and alleged victims, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a woman identified as “Jane”, both of whom described the alleged “freak-offs” in graphic detail and alleged that they were coerced into participating.

    They both testified that Combs directed, watched, masturbated to and sometimes filmed the sexual encounters.

    The women described times where they said Combs was violent with them and they alleged that Combs would threaten to release explicit videos of them or cut off financial support if they didn’t meet his demands.

    During cross-examination, Combs’s lawyers sought to cast Ventura and Jane as willing and consenting participants in the “freak-offs”. Combs’s team presented loving and at times explicit text messages exchanged with Combs – some of which showed the women expressing enthusiasm for the encounters. His lawyers also frequently brought up the role that jealousy and drug use played in their relationships.

    Another woman, a former personal assistant who testified under the pseudonym “Mia”, alleged that Combs physically and sexually assaulted her during her employment.

    Defense attorneys suggested that she fabricated the allegations, and highlighted social media posts and messages from after the alleged assaults in which Mia praised Combs, calling him a “mentor” and an “inspiration”.

    The government rested its case last week. Shortly after, Combs confirmed that he would not be testifying. His legal team also rested its case, but opted not to call any witnesses of its own. Instead, his team submitted evidence to the court and relied on its extensive cross-examinations throughout the trial.

    During closing arguments, the prosecution spent nearly five hours outlining the government’s case against Combs, revisiting testimony from several witnesses, and broke down each allegation against Combs.

    The prosecution described him as “the leader of a criminal enterprise” who refused to “take no for an answer” and alleged that he was someone who wielded “power, violence and fear to get what he wanted”.

    “The defendant was a very powerful man,” she said. “But he became more powerful and more dangerous because of the support of his inner circle and his businesses – the enterprise.”

    The defense offered its closing argument on Friday, and told the jurors that the government’s case against Combs was “false” and “exaggerated”.

    Combs’s lawyer urged the jury to reject the prosecution’s case against Combs and pushed back against the government’s accusations, disputed various pieces of witness testimony, and challenged the prosecution’s portrayal of Ventura and Jane as sex-trafficking victims.

    Combs’s lawyer cast Ventura, the government’s star witness, as a woman with agency, rather than a victim, who willingly participated in the sexual encounters.

    The lawyer also pointed to the $20m settlement she received from Combs in 2023 after filing a civil lawsuit accusing him of abuse, which triggered the federal investigation, as well as the the $10m Ventura is expected to receive from the owner of a hotel in Los Angeles where she was assaulted by Combs in 2016.

    “If you had to pick a winner in this whole thing, it’s hard not to pick Cassie,” Agnifilo said. “This isn’t about a crime, this is about money.”

    Though he did not take the stand, throughout the entire trial, Combs has been engaged and active in his defense, often seen whispering to his lawyers and reacting visibly to testimony.

    Earlier this month, the judge warned that Combs could be removed from the courtroom for looking at and “nodding vigorously” at the jury during a cross-examination.

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  • M3GAN 2.0 Stars Say What’s Next for the Horror Franchise

    M3GAN 2.0 Stars Say What’s Next for the Horror Franchise

    “I think if we had been making her with the expectation that she would be a queer icon, she would have been dismissed by the queer community,” Williams says.

    “It was like, if you just commit to the truth of it, making her feel like an authentic, real person, making all the characters real, making the world feel real, making the tone feel consistent, then you stand a better chance of creating a character that can be embraced by a community that loves a bold woman living in the truest expression of herself,” she adds.

    M3GAN AS A SEQUEL

    “M3GAN 2.0” defies expectations once again by totally reinventing the character that made the franchise a hit. The sequel goes almost full action movie while highlighting the need for AI regulation.

    Two years after Gemma and her niece Cady neutralize M3GAN, they’ve resettled in San Francisco. Then, they learn a new robot is on the scene. A military contractor got hold of the leaked code that powered M3GAN and built a new robot: AMELIA, short for Autonomous Military Engagement Logistics and Infiltration Android.

    The feds put Gemma and her crew in charge of AMELIA when she, just like M3GAN, begins to go rogue. The only way to end AMELIA? Bring back M3GAN.

    Ivanna Sakhno, who portrays AMELIA, tells TODAY.com about joining the franchise as a new enemy.

    “There’s definitely a sense of responsibility, because you know how beloved it is by people, so you want to just do it justice,” Sakhno says. “I do have full trust in (director) Gerard (Johnstone) and his vision, and I have to applaud him for being so open to go so far with it and being unpretentious in its craziness. He wasn’t afraid to do something quite different from the first one and take a risk.”

    Davis also hopes audiences love the fighting scenes between M3GAN and AMELIA, as they start to see M3GAN as something other than just a villain.

    “I think the funny thing about M3GAN is, yes, she’s a villain, but she can also be seen as a hero. But she’s also hilarious, and she’s sassy, and she doesn’t care what you’re saying, she just says it. I think it’s really fun for audiences, because they don’t know what’s going to happen next for her, and they can’t predict it.”

    “I also think there’s some kinship between AMELIA and M3GAN — although there’s rivalry and fear that is also felt, they see each other. They’re made of the same seed. But M3GAN is that b—-,” Sakhno says with a smile, before adding, “Respectfully.”

    M3GAN AS A TRILOGY — AND BEYOND

    While a third installment of “M3GAN” hasn’t yet been greenlit, Williams, while appearing on TODAY on June 24, highlighted the fact there is a number “3” in the title of the films.

    “We put a three in the first title, which was a conundrum, and it sort of means we have to be allowed to,” Williams said. “It’s already been there, it’s predestined.”

    Davis calls the opportunities within the M3GAN Cinematic Universe “endless.”Leanna Šiupinys for TODAY

    “That said,” she added, “We are dreaming of a third. We have talked about it and wondered what it would look like, and we’ve had some of those conversations, but we’ll need to see what happens this weekend.”

    “M3GAN 2.0” is projecting $10 million in its opening weekend, according to Box Office Mojo, but regardless of whether the franchise becomes a trilogy, the M3GAN Cinematic Universe has already begun, Williams tells TODAY.com.

    “You can take a real, deep, important theme that’s hard to talk about and put it into this mixy genre, and then suddenly people are able to talk about it in a bigger way,” Williams says. “And then doing it with ‘M3GAN,’ I realized, you can keep doing this.”

    Williams is an executive producer on “SOULM8TE,” a “M3GAN” spinoff set in the same universe, premiering in 2026. The details on the film are minimal, though viewers do know that it follows a man who buys an android to help cope with the loss of his wife.

    “From the moment the M3GAN doll was an idea, we were kind of like, because people are people, we just know it’s a matter of time before someone is like, ‘What about this, but for sex?’” Williams says with a smile.

    “It’s not just that, obviously, it’s more complicated, and I don’t want to spoil anything or give too many details, but it’s sort of like an R-rated adventure into this world where we get to see M3GAN technology extrapolated into a use case that we do not explore in our franchise,” she continues.

    Davis also calls the opportunities within the MCU “endless.”

    “Especially because of how prevalent AI is in our society, and because of how uncanny it is,” she says. “Even with the first film, they predicted AI portraits, and then they came out — what are they predicting in this film that’s going to come true?”

    Williams hopes that this franchise, which started as a question mark and then became a phenomenon, can spark relevant conversations about the world we’re living in, or about to be.

    She points to the themes of the sequel — AI regulation (“not the sexiest”) and parenthood — as an example.

    “We feel very strongly about the fact that people need to think about these things and to talk about them more openly. And we’re just hopeful that, as a result of this movie and all the other movies in the cinematic universe, people will have those conversations on the way to the car,” Williams says.

    “You can talk about the things that are funny, yeah, whatever. But like later at dinner, when the giggling dies down, it’s like, ‘But really, what are we doing? What is our plan here? What are we going to do about these really intelligent lines of code that we’ve written?’”

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  • Emily Ratajkowski Puts a Sexy Spin on Adam Sandler-Core

    Emily Ratajkowski Puts a Sexy Spin on Adam Sandler-Core

    For Adam Sandler, there is no event formal enough to keep him from wearing basketball shorts: the 2025 Academy Awards, film premieres, and, naturally, the court. While, contrary to popular belief, they aren’t the only bottoms he owns (he also wears track pants), Sandler has become inextricably linked to baggy athletic gear.

    Yesterday, Emily Ratajkowski offered her interpretation of Sandler’s uniform while taking her dog Colombo for a stroll in New York City, donning a pair of burgundy Nike basketball shorts with white stripes, worn low-slung across her hips.

    Christopher Peterson / SplashNews.com

    EmRata gave the look a sexy spin, styling her oversized, knee-length shorts with a cropped black tube top that showed off her midriff, and a pair of woven ballet flats from Mango. And while Sandler is more partial to aviators and wraparounds, the model accessorized with a pair of green-framed rectangular sunglasses. She finished off her look with a vintage Prada bowling bag.

    While we know Emily Ratajkowski would look good in anything, nailing Adam Sandler’s signature look is a feat.

    Image may contain Adam Sandler Madge Gill Slash People Person Clothing Footwear Shoe Crowd Adult and Child

    Adam Sandler at the 2025 Academy Awards.

    PATRICK T. FALLON/Getty Images

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  • Top 25 Songs of the 21st Century

    Top 25 Songs of the 21st Century

    For BlocBoy JB, who worked for years to land a smash on the charts, being a one-hit wonder was a blessing: “Look Alive,” his 2018 smash with Drake, turned him into a sought-after rapper and producer, and he collaborated afterward with Childish Gambino on “This Is America.” For Taylor Gayle Rutherfurd, or GAYLE, who wrote 2022’s kiss-off “abcdefu” in the tradition of CeeLo Green and Harry Nilsson, it was not all roses — TikTokers bullied her for her success, saying, “You don’t deserve to be here.”

    Here at Billboard, we view being a one-hit wonder as an achievement, and not just for the streaming, sales and airplay: So many songs that fall into this category are classics in their own right, and it’s only a coincidence of timing, culture and business that their performers did not manage more hits. Anyway, unless you’re a baseball pitcher, being a one-hit wonder is better than being a no-hit wonder.

    Below are the 25 most-consumed one-hit wonders of the 21st century, from mass viral crazes like Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” (which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100) and Silento’s “Watch Me” (No. 3 Hot 100 peak) to unexpected lightning bolts like Passenger’s busking signature “Let Her Go” (No. 5) to more broadly successful artists who just happened to moonlight on the Hot 100 like Steve Lacy (“Bad Habit,” No. 1), Jimmy Eat World (“The Middle,” No. 5) and Glass Animals (“Heat Waves,” which hit No. 1 and set an all-time record, too).

    Wear a helmet, do the stanky legg and scream “abcdefu” at somebody while reading this.

    This list includes acts that have logged exactly one Hot 100 hit, in a lead role, between charts dated Jan. 1, 2000, and Dec. 28, 2024. Songs are ranked based on performance on the chart in that span via an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted to account for different chart turnover rates over various periods.

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  • New Mierle Laderman Ukeles Documentary Looks at Art of Unseen Labor

    New Mierle Laderman Ukeles Documentary Looks at Art of Unseen Labor

    A new documentary about an artist’s decades-long dialogue with New York City government agencies premiered, at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this month, at the perfect time. For the past several months, supposed cost-saving measures, courtesy of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, shrunk federal agencies under the guise that workers who process new vaccines, coordinate air traffic, or protect consumers from business fraud waste money. Debates about the childcare costs, building affordable housing, and free buses dominate New York’s current mayoral race. The moment is ripe to reflect on the practice of an artist like Mierle Laderman Ukeles who encouraged city residents to “hear what New York City is like for the people who keep it alive every single day.”

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    Maintenance Artist, written and directed by Toby Perl Freilich, follows Ukeles as she develops “Maintenance Art,” a term she coined in a 1969 manifesto to describe her new approach to art, or as she put it, “doing everyday things, flushing them up to consciousness, and exhibiting them as art.” As she was raising two children, Ukeles seemed frustrated with daily house tasks (child-rearing, cleaning, cooking) that got in the way of her art-making. Likewise, she wanted to make her presence known in an art world that rendered mothers invisible. The manifesto brought those worlds together. In a contemporary art landscape focused on innovation, genius, and individualism, she asked, “After the revolution, who’s going to pick up the garbage on Monday morning?”

    A film poster showing a woman pouring water over steps outside a brownstone.

    Art: ©Mierle Laderman Ukeles. Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York

    Telling her story chronologically, Maintenance Artist weaves in key points from Ukeles’s career—dropping out of Pratt, the manifesto, working with conservators and museum staff, interviewing janitorial staff—into moments for succinct analyses of the context that shaped them (second-wave feminist art, the city’s economic crisis, and the rise of conceptual art). The film deftly unpacks themes without letting their weight distract from the film’s main thrust, as it does when it shows her discussing plans for Landing: Cantilevered Overlook (2008), an ongoing installation at the landfill–turned–city park Freshkills in Staten Island. Difficulties securing institutional funding for the Percent for Art commission coupled with red tape from city bureaucracy have kept the work from being realized. As the artist sorts through documentation for Landing to determine what to send to the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, which holds her papers, the exhaustion and frustration show clearly on her face. But central to it all is Ukeles at work, from cleaning the sidewalk, to talking to or shaking hands with maintenance workers, to worrying about funding.

    Freilich keeps the editorializing to a minimum while still managing to expose the unconscious bias that operates within the systems that Ukeles works. The film zooms in, for example, on Ukeles’s time as an artist in residence with the NYC Department of Sanitation workers in the late ’70s and early ’80s. For her seminal Touch Sanitation Performance (1979–80), the artist documented her interactions with some 8,500 DSNY employees, or “sanmen,” across the five boroughs, as she shook their hands, interviewed them, and simply observed them. The groundbreaking partnership between an artist and a city agency helped to raise public sentiment and budgets for DSNY. But Ukeles’s footage from that era reveals the crux of her feminist concerns with the project. A veteran, explaining why DSNY staff feel undervalued, says that city residents don’t respect their work because “they think that we’re here to clean up their messes.” Debriefing that moment for the documentary, Ukeles points out the tension. She says, “If they were women would it be okay to hate them?”

    A mirror garbage truck installed outside the Queens Museum.

    Mierle Laderman Ukeles, The Social Mirror, 1983, installed at the Queens Museum in 2016.

    Photo Hai Zhang/Courtesy Maintenance Artist

    But Maintenance Artist features mostly footage from Ukeles’s own archive and the artist’s narration. Freilich wanted to highlight the overlooked artist making ecofeminist, public art decades before it was popular after seeing Ukeles’s Queens Museum career retrospective in 2016. Staying so close to the artist’s point of voice means there are only a few moments that describe the impact of her work. Her collaborators at DSNY, the gallery representing her, and her family share their experiences with the artist at the time, but few interviews interrogate the work beyond its immediate impact.

    The omission becomes evident at the end, where you would expect to see comments from contemporary artists or art administrators whom Ukeles inspired, either directly or indirectly. There would be no shortage of artists or administrators to pull. Ukeles’s unpaid work has grown into funded city programs such as NYC’s Public Artist in Residence program, established in 2015 during interviewee Tom Finkelpearl’s time as commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, or Los Angeles’s Creative Catalyst programs, which now intentionally pair artists with city agencies. The documentary also seems to ignore the abundance of social practice artists whose works Ukeles would have been in conversation with.

    Similarly, other than a short description of Ukeles attending Vito Acconci’s Seedbed (1972) with her children, there is little information about her relationship with her children as her practice developed. After that experience, Ukeles left her children at home, working 16-hour sanitation shifts. Her children seem understanding of that decision but they don’t elaborate. The film never resolves if Ukeles’s Maintenance Art was the best solution for the two people who inspired her career. Instead, the, at times, myopic documentary seems so overwhelmed by the mere fact that the 86-year-old artist is still alive that it forgets to step back and look around. “We are all a maintenance worker,” Ukeles reminds us.

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  • Review | Lorde’s ‘Virgin’ charts a journey of self-discovery – The Washington Post

    1. Review | Lorde’s ‘Virgin’ charts a journey of self-discovery  The Washington Post
    2. Lorde Is Brilliantly Reborn on ‘Virgin’  Rolling Stone
    3. Review: ‘Virgin’  dailyuw.com
    4. “Virgin”: An X-Ray of Lorde’s Sonic Arrival  The Knockturnal
    5. ‘Broken Glass’ Picks Up Where Lorde (and Charli XCX) Left Off  MSN

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  • Miu Miu 2025 Summer Reads Hit Milan, Paris, Beijing, Hong Kong, Osaka

    Miu Miu 2025 Summer Reads Hit Milan, Paris, Beijing, Hong Kong, Osaka

    PERUSE IT: Fostering its cultural approach to fashion and lifestyle, Miu Miu hosted the sophomore edition of its “Summer Reads” event this past weekend.

    Held in in key cities around the world, such as Milan, Paris, Beijing, Hong Kong and Osaka, the literary initiatives took over green spaces in each location, including the Giardino delle Arti in Milan and the Chaoyang Park in Beijing.

    Visitors were gifted copies of two literary classics selected by Miu Miu: the 1954 novel “The Inseparables” by the French existentialist Simone de Beauvoir and the 1957 novel “The Waiting Years” by Fumiko Enchi, the pen name for Fumi Ueda, one of the most prominent female authors of the Shöwa era in Japan.

    The selected titles were wrapped in special Miu Miu packaging, customized with different colors and a dedicated bookplate, bookmark, reading clip and stamp for each location.

    The Miu Miu 2025 Summer Reads cultural event in Milan.

    Courtesy of Miu Miu

    Both writers and titles are not new to Miu Miu. They were already selected last April for the second edition of the Miu Miu Literary Club initiative held during Milan Design Week. The goal was to promote literature and the arts with a schedule of talks, readings and live music performances to evoke the spirit of literary salons and artist collectives of yore.

    Miu Miu’s Summer Reads is in sync with Miuccia Prada‘s wish to create a space for ideas and conversation around emancipation and women’s empowerment with the Miu Miu brand — in addition to directional and innovative collections.

    The Miu Miu 2025 Summer Reads cultural event in Hong Kong.

    The Miu Miu 2025 Summer Reads cultural event in Hong Kong.

    Courtesy of Miu Miu

    In the same vein, for example, the Miu Miu Women’s Tales, the series of short films introduced in 2011, have been allowing women directors to speak up and offer their points of view, remaining one of the only consistent commissioning platforms exclusively for female filmmakers.

    Similarly, the “Tales & Tellers” event, launched in Paris during Art Basel in October 2024 and replicated with a second installment last May in New York during Frieze Week, is billed as an intersection between “fashion, cinema and art,” which includes film commissions from Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales.

    The Miu Miu 2025 Summer Reads cultural event in Osaka, Japan.

    The Miu Miu 2025 Summer Reads cultural event in Osaka, Japan.

    Courtesy of Miu Miu

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  • Romola Garai, Shaun Evans Commence ITV Spy Thriller ‘Betrayal’

    Romola Garai, Shaun Evans Commence ITV Spy Thriller ‘Betrayal’

    SPY SAGA

    The U.K.’s ITV and Mammoth Screen have commenced production on “Betrayal,” a four-part espionage thriller exploring the psychological toll of modern intelligence work. BAFTA and Emmy-nominated director Julian Jarrold (“A Very Royal Scandal,” “This England”) helms the project, currently filming in Manchester and Liverpool.

    Shaun Evans (“Endeavour,” “Vigil”) stars as John Hughes, an MI5 operative struggling with contemporary intelligence demands while his personal life crumbles. Olivier Award winner Romola Garai plays his partner Claire, a GP whose trust erodes under the strain of his secretive profession.

    The ensemble includes Zahra Ahmadi, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Gamba Cole, and Omid Djalili, alongside television newcomers. Award-winning playwright David Eldridge penned the series. Eldridge has upcoming adaptations including John le Carré’s “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” at Soho Place.

    Produced by Irma Inniss (“Mr Loverman”), the drama follows Hughes’ investigation of a British-Iranian informant that turns deadly, triggering scrutiny from superiors. Executive producers include Mammoth’s Damien Timmer and Shaun Evans himself. “Betrayal” premieres on ITV1 and ITVX in 2026, with ITV Studios handling international distribution.

    ***

    Meanwhile, ITV Studios and Sri Lanka’s Sirasa TV have strengthened their partnership with renewed “Voice” franchise deals and the first-ever Asian commission of physical game show “Catchpoint.” Sirasa TV will produce third and fourth seasons of “The Voice Sri Lanka” and “The Voice Teens” respectively, airing this year. The format has become a cultural phenomenon since 2019, consistently delivering strong ratings.

    “Sirasa Catchpoint” launches mid-July 2025, marking the show’s Asian debut. The U.K. version attracted 3 million viewers and 20.2% share on BBC One. The format combines quiz questions with physical action as contestants position themselves to catch falling balls for cash prizes. “The expansion of our partnership with Sirasa TV is a testament to the strength and versatility of our formats,” said Augustus Dulgaro, executive VP Asia Pacific at ITV Studios.

    REALITY REVIVAL

    Disney+ has commissioned a trio of U.K. unscripted series including a contemporary reimagining of dating format “Blind Date.” The 10×45′ series, executive produced by Matthew Worthy and Kieran Doherty for Stellify Media and Graham Stuart for SO TV, features contestants choosing from hidden suitors behind the legendary wall with new format twists.

    The slate includes “The Rooneys” (10×40′), following Coleen and Wayne Rooney‘s family life as she pursues entrepreneurial ventures while he handles school runs. Lorton Entertainment and Blast Films produce the observational series.

    “Jamie and Sophie: Raising Chelsea” tracks “Made in Chelsea” alumni Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo navigating impending parenthood. Dorothy St Pictures produces in association with Jampot Productions. Sean Doyle, Executive Director Unscripted, commissioned all three series focusing on “female-skewed factual” programming.

    STAGE SWEETHEARTS

    The new London West End stage musical “50 First Dates” has announced its full cast for The Other Palace run from Sept. 14-Nov. 16. Georgina Castle (“Mean Girls”) stars as Lucy Whitmore, an artist with short-term memory loss, opposite Josh St. Clair (“Ghost”) as commitment-phobe Henry Roth in roles originated by Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler in the 2004 film.

    The ensemble includes Georgia Arron (“Mean Girls”) as Sharon, John Marquez (“The Birthday Party”) as Marlin Whitmore, and Ricky Rojas (“Moulin Rouge!”) as Marco, among others. Multi-Tony winner Casey Nicholaw (“Mean Girls,” “The Book of Mormon”) directs the adaptation by David Rossmer and Steve Rosen (“The Other Josh Cohen”), featuring original songs exploring love and second chances. ATG Productions, Bad Robot Live, and Gavin Kalin Productions produce the romantic comedy about a man falling for a woman who forgets him nightly.

    CHAT CHAMPIONS

    Screen Players Film Club launches today on major podcast platforms, bringing film industry creatives into intimate conversation about beloved movies. Created by The Script Factory in partnership with Soho Square Studios and Olympic Studios, the PODSSS production features host Charlotte Bogard Macleod interviewing acclaimed talents like Sam Taylor-Johnson and Simon Beaufoy.

    Most episodes record live at The Cinema in Selfridges before movie-loving audiences. Season One’s five episodes explore behind-the-scenes stories from “Nowhere Boy,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Conclave,” “Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love,” and “Drive.” Bastille’s Dan Smith composed the jingle and appears in episode four discussing his documentary-inspired tribute single “Leonard and Marianne.” The weekly series aims to offer insights into filmmaking processes from initial concept to screen realization.

     

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  • ‘Someone compared it to Bohemian Rhapsody’: Wookie on making UK garage classic Battle | Dance music

    ‘Someone compared it to Bohemian Rhapsody’: Wookie on making UK garage classic Battle | Dance music

    Wookie, producer

    People say Battle reminds them of some really good years for Britain as a country. We were entering a new millennium, everyone was running their own business, making money and the underground record industry was thriving. I wanted to do a UK garage version of Southern Freeez, by the 80s UK funk band Freeez. Initially, Battle was going to be another instrumental, and then Lain, the singer, came in the room and goes: “Let me put something on this.” I was like: “I’m not sure it’s really a vocal song.” But Lain stacked the vocals, and someone compared it to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, with all the harmonies.

    At the time, some people believed that I had copied a dubplate by [UK garage figure] DJ EZ. It is similar – his bassline does something like that. But I know I didn’t copy him, because I didn’t go out that much! So I’d never really heard EZ at that stage.

    I didn’t know Battle was going to be as big as it was or have the impact it did – it was just another tune. Then it started to float around: a few DJs had it, the A&R people. Ears started to prick up. I think we added a level of sophistication to garage, even though people like MJ Cole and TJ Cases were already doing that. When we were trying to get Battle on the radio, one station said it was too intelligent for their listeners and they wouldn’t play it.

    Battle eventually reached No 10 in August 2000. Louise Redknapp got the No 9 spot by 2,000 copies. It allowed me to appear on a TV show that I had watched my whole life as I was growing up: Top of the Pops.

    A lot of people say: “Oh, garage is on the comeback.” But for me, it has been for the last 13 years. I started DJing in 2012 and every year I’m working. It’s been well received by a wider audience ever since, younger and younger.

    Lain, singer

    Jason Chue, AKA Wookie, was knocking about in jungle, drum’n’bass, trying to siphon off that whole energy and then putting songs to it. I remember him saying about Battle: “I’ve done something strange with the intro.” I was like: “No, just play it.” He was almost apologising for it – but it was like a godsend. That intro had such an urgency. It felt like it was piercing your soul. I said: “Give me a minute.” Then I walked out and I don’t even know if it was half an hour, but I came back and I had written all of the vocal. That’s divine. For the song title we wanted one word. There are a lot of three-word titles, but one word is strong. Whether it’s bringing up three kids on your own, or addiction, everyone’s battling through something, every day.

    People call Battle a gospel song. Back then I was doing a lot of regular R&B but I really wanted to do something that involved my faith. When Jazzie B [founder of Soul II Soul and mentor to Wookie] called me about working with Jason, I thought he was going to say: “No, we don’t want that.” But he said: “Just go for it.” We had all these record label bosses trying to sign Battle – one guy had a Maserati and he blew out his speakers playing it. Months later he said: “I didn’t realise I was blowing out my speakers to a gospel tune.”

    I first realised Battle was going to be big at [seminal UK garage night] Twice As Nice. Jason said: “You should come down to Twice As Nice because I think this tune’s going.” I was a bit worried because I don’t really go out. So they played the tune and everyone started going: “Booooo!” OK, that’s not a good sign. But Jason was like, “No, no, no – that means they really like it!”

    Battle has endured because of what it means to the person who hears it. Back then, we would do PAs and people would say: “That song – my mum was going through cancer and that helped me.” And, 25 years later, someone said: “While I was in prison, that song got me through.” That’s everyone. That’s anyone. I remember Jason sending me a picture of someone who tattooed the middle eight of Battle on her forearm: “I can always rely / On my faith to get by.”

    Wookie’s new single Back 2 Us (ft Kyno) is out now

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