Paul Mario Day, the original vocalist for Iron Maiden, has died aged 69 after living with cancer. His bandmates in his subsequent band, More, shared the news, acknowledging Day as “a huge part of the new wave of British heavy metal” and “a well-loved figure in British rock music”.
Maiden bassist Steve Harris recruited Day in late 1975; the band gave their first live performance in Poplar, London on 1 May 1976 and then held a residency at a pub in nearby Stratford.
Day remained with the group for 10 months, but left after being accused of lacking energy and charisma. His replacement, Dennis Wilcock, was similarly short-lived, ultimately replaced by Paul Di’Anno, who was fired for drug and alcohol abuse and replaced by long-term vocalist Bruce Dickinson.
In 2019, Day said of his firing: “Steve was saying, ‘You’ve got to get better. You’ve got to be more in the audience’s face. You’ve got to be commanding. You’ve got to be a hero.’ And I agreed with him, but I didn’t actually know how to make that happen.
“I got a warning for maybe three months: ‘Get it together. Get it together.’ And I wanted to, I just didn’t know how to do it. So the funny thing is, the worst experience was the best lesson because when I got that notice and I felt so gutted, it changed me.
“Iron Maiden at that time were nothing, honestly … What Steve was doing was trying to make the band big. He knew what he wanted. What he wanted is what he got. He got one of the biggest bands on the planet. As much as it hurt, as much as it upset me, I learnt a big lesson that day. I really did. I used that emotion, I guess, in my singing.”
In 1980, Day formed the heavy metal group More and remained with the band until 1982, playing at the famous Donington Monsters of Rock festival in 1981. During his time with the group, they also supported Maiden on the 1981 Killers tour. He later joined the band Wildfire and then fronted the reformed glam rockers Sweet, whose guitarist Andy Scott paid tribute: “We needed a singer and when Paul arrived for the audition we looked no further.”
After moving to Australia, Day remained active as a musician. He spent some of his later years being cared for in a hospice. He is survived by his wife Cecily.
The race to be Denis Villeneuve‘s 007 is hotting up, but Taron Egerton has bowed out.
The actor, known for his roles in the Kingsman movies and as Elton John in Rocketman, may have been considered a frontrunner for James Bond after step-siblings Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson formally handed over the rights to Amazon earlier this year. He’s young, fit and British, has proven he can play a great spy — why not?
“I think I’m too messy for that,” Egerton told Collider on Tuesday. “I think I’m not [the right fit]— I really love James Bond and particularly Daniel Craig’s tenure.”
“But I think I wouldn’t be good at it,” he continued, “and I think there’s so many cool, younger actors who would be great for it. I think it would be wasted on me, probably.”
Egerton added that the role would be “quite an undertaking” at this stage in his career. “As far as I’m aware, nobody’s asking me to do it. But also, it’s possibly not quite the thing that would make me happiest,” he said, referring to the restrictive nature of playing Bond. “It kind of consumes your life, a role like that.”
In a 2023 interview, Egerton said it was his weight that put him off the task of Bond. “I’ve always struggled with my weight,” he said in an interview with The Telegraph. “[Bond] is a bit like being a brand ambassador as well as being an actor. And that could be really fun in microcosm, but I’m sure I read that Barbara Broccoli said that it’s a 15-year commitment.”
Rumors are still swirling about who’ll be tapped to take over from Daniel Craig after Dune director Villeneuve was confirmed to helm the next era of the James Bond franchise.
“I grew up watching James Bond films with my father,” the Canadian gushed in a statement after the news broke. “I’m a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he’s sacred territory. I intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come.”
The Hollywood Reporter recently took an in-depth look at the director’s portfolio to decide whether he’s the right man for the job.
Some describe Paltrow as a “nepo baby”. Her father, Bruce Paltrow, was an established producer (Hill Street Blues) and her mother Blythe Danner was, and is, a noted actress (in 2000’s Meet the Parents, among many other films). She was attending theatres with her mother from infancy, but she worked for her gigs: auditioning, rehearsing and spending hours on set, determined to get the take. When she won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love in 1999 at the age of 26, her teary acceptance speech made her the butt of relentless jokes. In the same year, The Guardian labelled her “Worst Actress” in its list of “Worst Winner’s Speech Awards”. In 2023, Paltrow told Variety that the “British press was so horrible to me”.
Whether you’re heading to Copenhagen for Fashion Week or vacation, the ’fit formula for a Scandi summer includes a striped polo shirt (preferably from Saks Potts), a pop of color on a chunky knit or denim separates, and playful hair accessories. And to really look like a local, hop on a bike. Below, our favorite summer looks from Copenhagen street style.
Like many women these days, 30-year-old Jude Cohen is over dating apps. So she’s decided to relinquish some of the responsibility in finding a partner: “I’m asking my friends to set me up,” the New York City-based communications consultant says.
Late last year, a family friend heeded the call and, without warning, introduced Cohen to a potential date via text. The man lived in her hometown, hundreds of miles away, but she wasn’t opposed to long distance.
Prior to their date a few weeks later — Cohen was back in town for a wedding — she knew scant about him. She made an attempt to find her date’s Instagram but was unsuccessful.
The date was fine, she says, and the conversation was “lovely.” But Cohen just wasn’t attracted to her date. Ironically, if he lived in New York, she’d have plenty of friends to set him up with. Still, Cohen is holding out hope for a successful setup. “I continue to ask my friends to set me up,” Cohen says. “It was not a deterrent that the first time didn’t work out. All in all, it wasn’t a bad experience. It’s just a part of the numbers game that you have to play to find your person.”
The setup can feel like a relic of a bygone era of dating. Introducing two friends who might be romantically compatible seems quaint in a time when people can filter through singles based on the most granular qualities on apps. But for most of modern dating, heterosexual couples were most likely to meet their spouse through friends. That is, until the 2010s, when meeting online overtook friend-facilitated introductions, a trend that has only accelerated since then. According to one study, only 20 percent of straight couples met through friends in 2017, compared to 39 percent who met online. Compare that to 1995, when a third of couples met through friends and only 2 percent met online.
It’s safe to say that the setup is, if not dead, on life support. But as more singles grow frustrated with dating apps and yearn for more organic connection, could a return to the setup be in order? Are singles willing to surrender control in pursuit of a partner?
“Of all the things I’ve heard people say they’re doing to try to meet people more organically,” says Liesel Sharabi, an associate professor in human communication at Arizona State University, “getting set up isn’t one that I’ve had people tell me that they’re really longing to go back to. For some of them, they probably never experienced it.”
From introductions to algorithms
Coupling up only became an individual pursuit recently. Historically, choosing a partner was a group affair. Outsiders have had influence on romantic relationships in myriad ways: For centuries, parents the world over have had some degree of control over who their children married (and in some cultures, they still do); a long line of matchmakers worked to connect families in their communities; and friends, extended family, neighbors, coworkers, and other group members all had a stake in who their friends paired off with. A study from 1991 found that when a couple felt their family and friends approved of their relationship, they were more likely to stay together. (It should be noted that study participants were primarily middle-class college students.)
The setup comes with clear upsides. If a mutual friend thinks there might be something between two people in their orbit and goes out of their way to make an introduction, that speaks volumes. Knowing this person has been vetted and vouched for in some way is appealing.
A setup has built-in accountability, too. Your date may be less likely to be a jerk if they know their behavior might get back to their friends. But being this intertwined can also get awkward in the event of a fight or breakup, when personal moments are suddenly fodder for group gossip.
Over the last few decades, choosing a partner became a more private pursuit.
The facilitating friends also have a lot at stake. Research shows that playing matchmaker for friends is associated with higher wellbeing, happiness, and, overall, is a rewarding experience. The matchmaker might feel a sense of ownership over the fledgling couple, the reason for their love. A successful setup has implications beyond the couple themselves, too — the friend group deepens with new connections and can fracture if the relationship dissolves, with mutual friends choosing sides or dividing time between exes.
But over the last few decades, choosing a partner became a more private pursuit, says Reuben J. Thomas, an associate professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico. Instead of leaning on social networks to facilitate a match, dating is now “a very personal quest to find a relationship that helps you become the person you want to be, the best you, to ‘self-actualize’ through your relationship/marriage (and to leave the relationship if it hampers that),” Thomas says in an email. Instead of relying on the extended network of your community, you can sort through profiles of hundreds of strangers from the privacy and comfort of your bedroom.
One of dating apps’ greatest strengths is their ability to connect users to people outside of their social network. Most Americans marry people of similar racial, educational, and socioeconomic backgrounds, and dating apps have the power to at least diversify the dating pool, if not totally buck the trend. Your friends and family are limited in their social reach; they only interact with a finite number of people at work, at school, at clubs. There’s an even greater cap on how many of those people are single. “People’s friendship circles tend to have fewer single people in them as they age beyond early adulthood, as more and more of their friends enter marriages and long-term relationships,” Thomas says.
With increased exposure to a diverse array of strangers, singles on apps have more control over their love lives. In a period of history when Americans are spending less time with friends — and more time alone — you might not want to wait around for a pal to set you up with their coworker, nor should you have to. “That’s quite a bit different than how we’ve always met our partners,” Sharabi says. “Usually, we run in the same network, we have the same habits, routines. When you talk about introducing somebody who’s entirely independent from that, it does change the dynamic a little bit.”
Removing friends and family from the romantic equation has some downsides, Sharabi says. In a study, Sharabi found that couples who met online reported slightly less satisfying and stable marriages than those who met offline. This can be attributed to lingering stigma around app-faciliated connections and family members who may judge a partner from outside their circles more harshly. “Now you’ve got friends and family that are really disconnected from the process as well. They’re not always supportive of the relationship,” Sharabi says. “You’re out there meeting strangers who they may or may not approve of because they just don’t know them.”
The new dating experience
The setup may also not mesh with modern dating’s array of expectations. The amount of information app users have access to prior to a date — an assortment of photos, interests, career, even weeks’ worth of conversation — far exceeds the brief bit of background a friend may offer before setting you up.
Another expectation of digital courtship — that the “perfect” person is just a swipe away — can further dilute the allure of a setup. If the date you met online fails to meet your standards, hope springs eternal that the next profile will check all your boxes. With seemingly endless options, singles might discount someone simply because they don’t have the right look or the right job. The nature of the setup is virtually the opposite: Here’s one person you might jive with. If you aren’t satisfied, it might be awkward with your mutual friend — and you’ll be sent straight back to the dating apps.
“I feel like my friends have been single for so long,” says Maxine Simone Williams, the founder of the speed dating event series We Met IRL, “they have a laundry list of what they want, which makes it even harder to set them up, because it’s like, well, you don’t want this.” On rare occasions, Williams has seen some event attendees walk in, survey the room, and leave. “They’re like, nobody here was my type,” she says.
As much as modern daters lament the constant rejection and expendability of modern dating culture, it’s also possible that they enjoy being in the driver’s seat and having control. “You do often hear people yearning for a simpler time of romance, but I think in reality they would hate it if society went back to the old ways,” of family-controlled marriages and having fewer options, Thomas says. “Losing the ability to just shop for potential partners oneself, to have choice and agency, to be able to take the initiative and fairly quickly find a date in a big online space full of options, losing that would greatly frustrate most people today.”
When it comes to dating in college, Chicago-based marketing intern Aliza Akhter has relied on apps to meet other singles. The last time the 20-year-old met a significant other through friends was in high school. To Akhter, setups are something her parents’ generation did. Her friends don’t ask each other if they have other single friends. She’d be open to meeting someone at a friend’s party or even a setup date, but she’s in the minority, she says. “If you’re single, it’s pretty much a given that you either have a dating app or you have at some point,” Akhter says. “So maybe it’s just the fact that people know that there’s another easier option than the introduction.”
Algorithms have replaced the role of family and friends in facilitating relationships.
Still, the fate of the setup isn’t all grim. In recent research, Arielle Kuperberg, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has found among thousands of college students nationwide, more are now meeting romantic partners through friends and family than they were in 2019. Fewer are meeting partners online compared to 2020, when nearly a quarter of respondents met their significant other online. “We have a five-year period we look at in this paper, from 2019 through 2024,” Kuperberg says, “and the last year was the highest rate at which people were met through friends and family. So I think there could be a comeback.”
Sharabi, however, is not as optimistic. “I think it’s dead,” she says, “and I think that dating apps killed it.” In her view, algorithms have replaced the role of family and friends in facilitating relationships and despite apps’ negative publicity as of late, she doesn’t see them disappearing altogether.
But if Jude Cohen, the freelance communications consultant in New York, has anything to say about it, the setup will live on. Cohen and her friends have sought to make the experience more joyful by organizing what they call the “Blind Date Club” where each friend is tasked with bringing a date to dinner for another person in the group. Some brought friends of friends, others made dating app profiles on behalf of their pal. (“It was very clear on the profile I’m swiping for my friend Amy,” Cohen says.) Cohen found a date for her friend John by posting a video on TikTok.
Five out of the six couples extended their date beyond the initial dinner. Cohen was one of them — she had a few more dates with her setup, too. Although none of the matches grew into anything more serious, Blind Date Club was a whimsical way of bringing community back into dating.
“Regardless,” she says, “whether or not any of us had gone home together, any of us had seen each other again, it was always going to be a fun night with my friends.”
On a recent Saturday in Inglewood, about a dozen acclaimed music producers including Dahi — who’s worked with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and Drake — and DJ Khalil — who has collaborated with artists like Dr. Dre, Kanye West and Eminem — gathered with 80 students to geek out on the art of beat making.
The free three-day workshop, called the Audio Affect Series, was co-hosted by TEC Leimert, a South L.A.-based nonprofit that aims to bridge the gap between technology and entertainment, Serato (DJ and music production software company) and beloved street wear retailer Undefeated. The purpose of the event, which took place July 25-27, was to bring Black and brown producers of all skill levels together for hands-on instruction designed to help them level up their skills.
The idea for the workshop manifested a few years ago when TEC Leimert hosted a music production activation during its annual conference in the Leimert Park Plaza. Hours after the conference was over, attendees were still huddled in a small tent where a few producers were doing live beat making sessions and offering tips.
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“It was like 8 p.m. and they were still going,” recalls TEC Leimert Executive Director Paris McCoy. “It was just so clear that this was the type of space that artists wanted to be in, so I was just like, “We got to make it happen.” By the time her nonprofit reached out to the Serato team about collaborating on a beat making program, they were eager to get involved because they were already in talks about doing something similar, McCoy says.
“We started to realize that there was a gap between some folks who were trying to get into the music production space but didn’t have the [tools] and/or, depending on where they are, access to mentors who can help them kind of walk through things,” adds OP Miller, who is a DJ and head of artist relations for Serato.
Roughly 80 rising Black and brown producers participated in the three-day workshop hosted by TEC Leimert, Serato and Undefeated.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
The first official Audio Affect Series took place in 2023 at Serato’s studio in L.A.’s Arts District. It featured four separate workshops that took place over the course of several months. About 35 people participated in each of the intimate sessions, which were beginner-friendly and were led by L.A.-based artists like Lyric Jones, Georgia Ann Muldrow and Dahi.
This year’s event, which was held at Volume Studios in Inglewood, was even larger. Roughly 80 out of 200 applicants were selected for the program. Undefeated provided merchandise for the workshop, including a hoodie that many attendees wore throughout the weekend.
The participants, who ranged from teens to Gen-Xers, were dispersed in various studios inside the massive multi-production studio. With their headphones on, they bobbed their heads to the beats they were cooking up and watched intently as sound waves danced across their laptop screens.
The workshop, which was designed for intermediate to advanced skill levels, covered topics such as how to discover your personal sound as a producer, how to sample and clear tracks and how to create a strong online presence. Throughout the weekend, participants watched live demos from speakers and they were given time to cook up beats of their own. On the final day, each student was given the aux to play their beat for the entire group.
“This is a necessary program to have for people who are interested in making music,” says Linafornia.
(Halline Overby)
Among the speakers were pioneering funk artist and TEC Leimert board member Dām-Funk; Watts-born rapper and producer Dibiase; Inglewood-born musician and event curator Thurz; and multi-instrumentalist and singer Amber Navran.
Erika Jasper, a longtime DJ and self-proclaimed “novice producer,” attended the first Audio Affect Series in 2023 and decided to come back because she wanted to build her confidence as a female producer.
“I figured it would be nice to learn from some of the best producers in the game,” says Jasper, who goes by the artist name q.sol. “Plus, Serato always does a phenomenal job at providing the best instruction, step by step.”
After making beats for roughly 25 years, Thomas Phillips says he wanted to participate in the program because he’s trying to take his music more seriously now. “I’m a software engineer, but I want to switch over to audio [engineering],” says Phillips, who brought along his 7-year-old son, who was making beats of his own. “So I’m just putting a lot more attention to my craft and being more intentional instead of just doing it in my spare time as a hobby.”
Linafornia, a producer and DJ from Leimert Park, says being able to participate in an event like the Audio Affect Series would’ve been helpful for her when she started making beats after high school.
“This is a necessary program to have for people who are interested in making music and they get to hear perspectives from people who look like them, who are around their age,” says Linafornia, who led a talk on the history of L.A.’s sound, ranging from jazz to G funk and hip-hop. “I didn’t have that growing up. I wish they had programs like this when I was a teenager.”
Dahi, an Inglewood-born producer who won a Grammy for his production on J. Cole and 21 Savage’s song “A Lot,” spoke at the first Audio Affect Series and was eager to return.
“Showing people the tools to make better music is something that I’m always championing and I think that is something that we need to do more of,” says Dahi, who walked students through his creative process when it comes to making beats. “I think a lot of times, people complain about what they don’t like now and that it’s not good, and I’m just like “Help the youth. Help people who want to get better.”
Many attendees said they could relate to Navran’s presentation about finding her own sound after years of singing and playing woodwind instruments, then finally taking the deep dive into music production years later.
The class of students for this year’s Audio Affect series pose for a group photo.
(Halline Overby)
“I didn’t produce for a long time because I thought I couldn’t,” says Navran, who is also a member of the L.A.-based band Moonchild. But after “receiving encouragement from friends, seeing other people do it and getting a starter kit of how different people approach stuff was such a nice way to jump into it.”
Like Linafornia, Navran wishes that a program like the Audio Affect Series existed at the start of her journey. “To be surrounded by producers, people you can meet, collaborate with and be inspired by is so powerful,” she adds.
To wrap up the workshop, each of the participants will be given about two months to complete and submit a beat to be considered for the Audio Affect Series’ compilation project. Legendary producer and DJ Battlecat will be curating the project, which will be released on vinyl next year.
After receiving positive feedback for the program, McCoy says she and her team want to make it an annual event so more people can experience it.
She says, “There is a real hunger and need for this kind of space.”
Jenna Ortega has just finished a long day on set in London for an upcoming project when she gets on the phone to speak with me from a moving car — not an uncommon occurrence for an in-demand star. Despite the whirlwind nature of the last few hours, the gracious 22-year-old actor sounds genuinely invested when answering questions with a respectful straightforwardness.
In addition to Ortega’s multiple big-screen titles out this year, “Wednesday” — the Tim Burton-helmed show that propelled her from rising talent to Hollywood “it girl” — returns for the first part of its second season on Aug. 6 after a three-year pause.
And while this latest chapter in the story of the Addams Family and their morbidly brilliant daughter Wednesday sees her grappling with newfound, unwanted fame after saving Nevermore, the school for outcasts, Ortega doesn’t like to dwell on the pitfalls of celebrity, unlike her character.
“Oh, I don’t really think about it too much. I used to, but I don’t really see a point anymore. It is what it is,” Ortega says politely when I ask how she deals with the increased popularity the series has brought her. “Maybe that was the writers’ intention, to be slightly meta.”
Jenna Ortega returns to her titular role in Season 2 of “Wednesday.”
(Jonathan Hession / Netflix)
The first season of “Wednesday” became Netflix’s most-watched show when it was released in 2022 and soon inspired a viral social media trend around Ortega’s dance moves to the Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck.” Her character’s wit, confidence and modern goth style made Ortega an instant hit with viewers. She captured Wednesday’s essence with such biting precision that her performance now feels inextricable from the role.
Since that breakthrough, the actor has consolidated her status as a brooding leading lady starring in the horror hit “Scream VI,” diving deeper into Burton’s universe with “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” appearing in the fantastical dark comedy “Death of a Unicorn” and joining the music-laced thriller “Hurry Up Tomorrow” opposite pop star the Weeknd.
“Growing up, I actually played the really nerdy, awkward character. I was never pegged as the dark one,” Ortega explains. “That’s why it’s kind of funny that it’s sort of my MO now, because I was always being described in scripts as a mouse or like, really intelligent but lacked some sense of confidence.”
While Ortega hopes that some of her credits on the horizon will change that narrative, she acknowledges that a “dark” character like Wednesday Addams offers complexity that’s exciting for an actor to play. “It’s weird that oftentimes when people see you as one thing, they only want to see you as that,” she says. “And when you venture outside of it, it can be quite disengaging for people.”
“Growing up, I actually played the really nerdy, awkward character. I was never pegged as the dark one,” Jenna Ortega says.
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
Also back for the wonderful weirdness of “Wednesday” are Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán, the veteran performers who play the heroine’s parents Morticia and Gomez Addams. This season features their characters more prominently, much to their delight.
“Me and Luis were like, ‘Can we do any more?’” says Zeta-Jones on a video call from Spain about their roles in the first season. The YA series catapulted fresh faces like Ortega and Emma Myers, who plays Wednesday’s roommate Enid, to stardom, but Zeta-Jones and Guzmán have dozens of film and TV credits between them, bringing decades of experience to the show. (Zeta-Jones is also an Oscar winner for her supporting role in 2003’s “Chicago.”)
When she learned that series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar planned to look closer at the other members of the Addams clan, including Gomez and Morticia, Zeta-Jones was eager to flesh out her part, signing on for Season 2.
“I was thrilled because for such an iconic character, you don’t really know a lot about Morticia,” adds Zeta-Jones in her distinct Welsh accent. “They finely tuned her vulnerability, her emotion, her fraught dynamic with Wednesday, and then brought in Grandma Frump [Morticia’s mother, played by Joanna Lumley].”
Guzmán describes the new episodes as a continuation of the ethos of inclusion established in the first season, a quality that has helped the Addams Family endure across generations.
“Me and Luis were like, ‘Can we do any more?’” says Zeta-Jones about playing Wednesday’s parents, Gomez and Morticia Addams. The pair are featured more prominently this season.
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
“Our show shows people that it’s OK to be who you are no matter what,” he says during an interview inside a trailer at the Forum before taking the stage for Netflix’s Tudum event in May. “It’s not about fitting in — it’s just about living your life, and it’s OK to be how you are. Weird might not be the best word, but in our case, weird is beautiful.”
Guzmán, who often speaks about his character in the first person, is pleased that audiences will discover Gomez’s nuances this season. “You find out more about his fathering. I do have a whole segment with my son [Pugsley, played by Isaac Ordonez] this season,” he says. “And you just see how I navigate my life as a father in all the different circumstances that we come across.”
This larger dose of Gomez features a rendition of the Spanish-language romantic track “Bésame Mucho,” a 1930s bolero written by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez for which countless versions exist, in a scene that allowed the Puerto Rican actor, whose storied career includes multiple collaborations with director Paul Thomas Anderson, to flex his passion for singing.
“They’re just so excellent as the characters and so funny together. They bring such a great sense of humor,” Ortega says about her on-screen mom and dad, who share a passionate relationship like past iterations of the characters. “And who doesn’t want to see Gomez and Morticia all over each other? That’s half the point of the series in general.”
“They’re just so excellent as the characters and so funny together. They bring such a great sense of humor,” says Jenna Ortega of Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia and Luis Guzmán as Gomez.
(Jonathan Hession / Netflix)
It’s not the first time the actors have worked together, either. “Wednesday” reunited Guzmán and Zeta-Jones for the first time in more than two decades after sharing the screen in Steven Soderbergh’s 2000 Oscar-winning crime drama “Traffic.”
“We hadn’t seen each other in all this time, and then we totally picked up where we left off,” says Zeta-Jones. “I was pregnant with my son during ‘Traffic,’ and Luis used to take such good care of me, making sure I had my tea and my stool to put my feet up.”
Guzmán said their reunion was “incredibly rewarding,” calling her “kind and precise in her work.”
Ortega, who is well aware of her co-stars’ careers and accolades, treasures the time she’s spent with these seasoned artists — first in Romania, where the first season was shot, and more recently in Ireland for this return — particularly because it’s a show that required them to create a familial bond while playing peculiar characters.
“They’ve had such extensive careers and have done all sorts of genres, so they’re very malleable performers,” she says. “And to be able to work with them on a show that is kind of a conglomerate of so many different ideas — it’s incredibly beneficial and has just been such wonderful education for me.”
The admiration is mutual. Zeta-Jones believes sometimes great success at a young age is bestowed on individuals who are not equipped to deal with it no matter how many mentors they have on their side. Ortega, she thinks, represents the antithesis and is effusive about her work.
“They’ve had such extensive careers and have done all sorts of genres, so they’re very malleable performers,” Jenna Ortega says of co-stars Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
“I can’t think of anyone more deserving or more prepared for what has happened to her in such a short space of time, because she’s the real deal,” says Zeta-Jones about Ortega. “She’s got her head screwed on right. And more importantly, she’s unwavering in her strength as a young woman. We talked art, politics, a whole bunch of s— that has nothing to do with ‘Wednesday.’”
The two actors have already shot another project together, “The Gallerist,” an upcoming thriller filmed in Paris that also stars Natalie Portman and was directed by Cathy Yan (“Birds of Prey”) . “It was wonderful to work with her not in the ‘Wednesday’ world,” adds Zeta-Jones.
These days, Zeta-Jones, who says she wants to direct in the future, feels she has nothing left to prove in this industry. The actor established herself with films like “The Mask of Zorro” and “Entrapment,” leading to a successful Hollywood career by many measures. Now, every job she takes is out of pleasure. “I am enjoying this bit of a renaissance, this new chapter,“ she says.
Her outlook wasn’t always so peaceful, however. “I remember literally having nightmares on that Friday of box office numbers,” recalls Zeta-Jones. “It was really terrifying, and now everything’s a bonus, so the pressure’s off now.”
Asked about any piece of knowledge she would have liked to have known when she was Ortega’s age, the actress looked inward. “The biggest one for me, just in general in my career, in my life, is that you can’t please everybody,” says Zeta-Jones. “And you can’t be liked by everybody.”
Luis Guzmán and Catherine-Zeta Jones have had long careers in Hollywood, and both are effusive about Jenna Ortega’s work: “She’s got her head screwed on right.”(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
For his part, Guzmán says the key to professional longevity is humility. With a resume as eclectic and consistent as his, he must be on to something. “Carlito’s Way,” “Boogie Nights” and “Punch-Drunk Love” feature some of his most memorable parts. And for his role in Soderbergh’s 1999 crime saga “The Limey,” Guzmán received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for best supporting male.
“Grounded” and not blinded by her “star power” is precisely how he thinks of Ortega. “She carries herself like a seasoned veteran,” he adds.
“This business could make you think that you’re the greatest thing alive. And you might be, but you’re also bound to remember where you come from,” he says. “Remember what steps you had to take in order to get to where you are at the moment. My philosophy when I work is I always want to be invited to the next party, and I’ve been invited to many parties.”
For Ortega, who’s been in front of the camera since she was 9 years old, the lesson she wishes she’d learned sooner was knowing how to assert her agency as an artist in an environment eager to diminish her.
“I wish I had felt more secure in my position or in myself,” says Ortega. “I felt like I was always having to be somebody else or put on another mask or face, because it’s hard getting jobs and there’s so much competition. There’s so much rejection, and I wasn’t always what they were going for.”
Now, with more power to be selective about her projects, Ortega no longer wants to be a “workhorse,” and she aims to dictate more closely where her time and energy go.
“I had been recommended to change myself for other people, which I think, as a young girl — that could probably be really confusing,” Ortega adds. “And I don’t know what that does on the psyche, but it’s something that I’ve learned now, more so in the recent years after all this stuff that I wish I had taken on much sooner.”
Jenna Ortega, who has been acting since she was a child, says she’s better at asserting herself now: “I felt like I was always having to be somebody else or put on another mask or face, because it’s hard getting jobs and there’s so much competition.”
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
Whatever self-possession Ortega thinks she may have lacked, Wednesday has it in spades. But does she hope that her performance, and the way she handles her professional life, could inspire young viewers? Perhaps even spark an interest in acting just like watching Dakota Fanning in “Man on Fire” did for her at a young age?
“It’s really hard for me to think about myself in that sense, but with a character like Wednesday, I do think she’s a good role model for girls, considering her strength and courage and confidence in herself,” Ortega says. “She doesn’t underestimate her power and is always pushing herself to learn more. She’s a curious individual.”
Curiosity is a trait that Ortega and Wednesday share. Even as she juggles a challenging schedule, the actor, whom Zeta-Jones describes as “well-read with an amazing knowledge of directors and movies of great historical importance,” still finds time to watch films and expand her artistic landscape.
“Sometimes it’s hard when you’re filming because too many stories can be a bit heavy on the mind,” Ortega says. “I read less books, but I still always watch at least a movie on the weekend. I’ll read plays because they’re a bit easier to pick up and put down and finish, so it doesn’t take from you too much and it’s still involved in my craft and the history of it all.”
Stardom born from diligent work does come with its dazzling perks. At Tudum, Ortega appeared on stage during Lady Gaga’s performance as part of a lugubrious ensemble. The pop star has a cameo appearance in this season of “Wednesday.”
“That was something that came up the night before,” says Ortega. “I didn’t have much time to think about it, but that seems like something you would be regretting for a very long time afterwards if you didn’t take her up on it.”
As she tries to balance spontaneity with strategy moving forward, Ortega, who doesn’t much enjoy pondering the future, might lean more on Guzmán and Zeta-Jones for advice on what it takes to build a long-lasting, fulfilling career amid hurdles and triumphs.
“Maybe I’ve got to talk to them a bit more about that instead of making silly jokes sometimes,” Ortega says. “I get very easily overwhelmed, and I’ve got to take things a day at a time before I start thinking too far in advance.”
US violinist Stefan Jackiw has announced that he has been loaned the c.1730 Domenico Montagnana ‘Rossi’ violin, thanks to a private foundation.
Jackiw took to social media to share ‘some exciting news,’ stating that he was introduced to the violin last through through his friend, Carlos Tome, at Tarisio.
’From the very first notes, I felt something special. This instrument had a quality I had been searching for,’ said Jackiw.
’Carlos encouraged me to take it home for a few days… A few days turned into much longer. I played dozens of concerts on this violin, from major concertos in magnificent halls, to major concertos in terrible halls, as well as recitals and chamber music with my piano trio. I felt that this violin brought a new depth and power to my playing, while still allowing my own musical voice to shine through.’
As Jackiw was preparing to part ways with the violin, Tome called him to say that a private foundation had acquired the instrument for his long-term use.
’I’m filled with gratitude for the generosity of this foundation, and for the persistence, creativity, and belief of Carlos and the team at Tarisio, without whom none of this would have been possible,’ said Jackiw.
Jackiw previously played a 1750 violin by G.B. Guadagnini loaned by the Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as a 1704 violin by Vincenzo Rugeri. His bow, made by François Nicolas Voirin, broke in spectacular fashion during a performance of Reinhold Glière’s Violin Concerto with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 2023 – and has since been repaired.
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The Canada Council of the Arts’ Musical Instrument Bank is 40 years old in 2025. This year’s calendar celebrates some its treasures, including four instruments by Antonio Stradivari and priceless works by Montagnana, Gagliano, Pressenda and David Tecchler.
They are small, mischievous, and impossible to ignore. With their fang-toothed grins and pointy ears, Labubus — once just quirky vinyl toys — have unexpectedly become 2025’s “It” accessory. No longer the preserve of toy collectors, these blind-box figurines are now dangling from luxury bags, trading hands across continents, and powering a global consumer craze.
Labubu first sprang to life in 2015 as a character from The Monsters, a children’s book series by Hong Kong–born, Belgium-based illustrator Kasing Lung, whose work draws heavily from Nordic mythology. Initially produced in Taiwan, it was not until Pop Mart — the Beijing-based toy giant founded by Wang Ning in 2010 — licensed the character in 2019 that things really took off. Using a signature blind-box model, where each sealed box contains a mystery figure, Pop Mart turned Labubu into a must-have collectible.
The tiny monster is now a global phenomenon
| Photo Credit:
Ensito
But the tipping point came in November 2024, when Lisa of South Korean girl group Blackpink clipped one to her Louis Vuitton bag and later revealed her “Labubu obsession” in a Vanity Fair interview. The Internet lost it. And just like that, labubu became a viral hit across Asia and beyond.
It did not stop there. International stars like Dua Lipa, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and even David Beckham have been spotted with Labubus — often attached to their bags, backpacks or keychains — catapulting the character into global fashion consciousness. By mid-2025, Pop Mart had released over 300 variants, with a mint green, 131 centimetre (4.3 feet) tall Labubu figure being sold at Yongle International Auction in Beijing in June 2025 for 1.08 million yuan (approximately ₹1.3 crore).
As Labubu mania went global, Pop Mart CEO Wang Ning’s personal stake in the company skyrocketed, placing him among China’s 10 richest individuals. With an estimated net worth of ₹1.734 trillion, Wang is now one of the youngest billionaires in the country.
The India craze
In India, Labubu’s rise has been just as wild. The Pop Mart outlet at Bangkok’s Siam Centre has become a kind of pilgrimage site, as Mumbai-based filmmaker Faraz Arif Ansari discovered earlier this year. “So, I got my first one (labubu) end April, early May, from Bangkok’s Pop Mart. It is the best stocked and priced,” Faraz recalls. “Then I started hunting for limited editions. Got a few from resellers in Bangkok and others through friends travelling around Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.” While blind boxes cost around 550 THB (almost ₹1,500) in Thailand, resellers in India list the same figurines for ₹6,000–7,000. “It’s mad,” they (Faraz identifies as non-binary, their pronouns are they/them) laugh. “Even the Thai resellers are way cheaper — and they bargain too. I picked up a few limiteds for about 1,500 THB (₹4,035) each.” Their collection now sits at around 20 figures — placing them somewhere between casual collector and hardcore enthusiast.
Close-up detail view of seven Labubu monsters as bag charms
| Photo Credit:
Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
Shelf appeal
Anchit Kapil, co-founder of CrepDog Crew (CDC), was quick to spot the trend brewing on Instagram. “Honestly, it was both demand and instinct,” he says. “Collectors in India were already hooked, but there wasn’t a reliable source to buy from — at least not without months of waiting or risking fakes. We’ve always curated what’s culturally relevant, so bringing Labubu into the CDC world just made sense.”
The reaction was instant. “We teased a drop in May, and it went off,” he says. “It validated itself before we even launched.” Unlike traditional retailers working off projections and data, CDC taps directly into the pulse of youth culture. “Sometimes the community tells you what’s hot before the numbers do,” he says with a shrug.
What has been surprising, even to Anchit, is the diversity of Labubu fans. “You had sneakerheads who were like, ‘Why would I buy a toy?’ And now, some of them are our most die-hard collectors,” he laughs. “It’s not just lads in their 20s either. Labubu’s gone beyond ‘toys’. It’s gender-neutral, age-neutral, everything-neutral. We’ve seen uni students and working professionals alike building collections.”
A woman holds a Labubu plush figure at the opening of Germany’s first Labubu store
| Photo Credit:
dpa/picture alliance via Getty
While CDC took the organic route, another player moved fast and commercial. Abbas Ali Zaveri, founder and CEO of HypeFly India (an online retailer of sneakers and streetwear), approached Labubu like he does all things viral — with a sharp eye and even sharper instincts.
“We’re always scanning global trends. If it’s hot internationally, we want to be the first to bring it here,” he says. “It’s about aspiration. People see something trending in the US or Korea and don’t realise they can get it locally.”
Abbas’s team first clocked Labubu in May. “We did a test run. My team wasn’t convinced, they were like, ‘Who’s paying ₹5,000 for a toy?’ So I posted a few videos myself. First day, we sold 10. I knew we were onto something.”
A bold ‘buy one, get one’ launch followed just as the buzz reached fever pitch. “In that first week of pre-orders. It wasn’t just a toy anymore; it was a flex.”
Abbas believes Labubu’s success is about access. “It’s a gateway to the culture. Before, being part of the hype scene meant dropping ₹45,000 on Off-White or Jordans. Now with ₹5,000, you’re in.”
Of course, success breeds counterfeits. “Fakes are everywhere,” Abbas says bluntly. “We’ve got a zero-tolerance policy. If it doesn’t come with a Pop Mart invoice, we won’t stock it.” He recalls spotting a fake barcode (the only way to tell if the Labubu is fake) that said “Top Marie” instead of Pop Mart. “The bootleggers are getting smarter. It’s a full-time job keeping ahead.”
Labubu figures and dolls are seen on display at a Pop Mart store in Shanghai, China
| Photo Credit:
VCG via Getty Images
That is where trusted platforms like HypeFly and CDC stand apart, offering guarantees in a sea of fakes. “Anyone can buy a ₹2,000 labubu online,” he says. “But they’ve no idea what they’re getting. There is no regulation.”
Interestingly, while demand in Mumbai and Delhi is beginning to plateau, interest is spreading elsewhere. “Now it’s Dehradun, Sikkim, the Northeast,” Abbas says. “Tier-2s and 3s are waking up to it. It’s going national.”
From toy to trophy
In the world of luxury resale, Labubu has taken on a new identity, that of an accessory enhancer. “Bag charms are very ‘in’ right now,” says Anvita Mehra, founder and CEO of Confidential Couture. “We’ve always seen that desire to personalise classics like Birkins and Kellys. Now, Labubu fills that space.”
Hermès has long capitalised on this with its Rodeo charms, and Anvita believes Labubu works on the same principle. “It’s about adding personality. We once gave out free Labubus to some of our customers from stock we picked up in Thailand. But in the resale market in India, they can fetch up to ₹20,000 because most people want Labubus almost immediately. But like all trends, it eventually cools.”
She believes Labubu landed at just the right moment. “It’s access, availability, and the thrill of the hunt. People were asking friends to pick them up from Dubai or Singapore. Now they’re everywhere. That might cool the hype slightly but the desire to personalise luxury is here to stay.”
A collector’s tale
Still, few stories capture Labubu’s magic quite like Ensito’s (@ensito_20). Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, he has a collection of over 500 Labubus — figurines, pendants and plushies. “It all started when a friend asked me to pick some up during a trip to London,” he says. “I queued for three hours. Sold out two people ahead of me. But I was instantly hooked.”
Ensito’s collection of Labubus
| Photo Credit:
Ensito
He was drawn in by the designs, the blind-box surprise, and the narrative behind each release. “At first, they were just fun accessories to go with my designer bags. Then it became about the stories. The thrill of the hunt is real.”
Ensito has shopped Labubus across the US and Europe, visiting over 15 Pop Mart stores. “London used to be the best, but now it’s all lottery-based. In the US, you’ve got to be fast online. I’ve found Seattle and parts of Texas are easier — less competition.”
Ensito’s collection of Labubu bag charms
| Photo Credit:
Ensito
But for him, the real game-changer has been TikTok Lives. “Pop Mart has live shopping channels in the US, UK, and now Canada’s gearing up too. That’s where I score most of mine.”
Bloom had expanded and enhanced the home’s midcentury modern architecture.
Hollywood heavyweight Orlando Bloom has offloaded his sprawling Beverly Hills mansion for $7 million, weeks after he and songstress Katy Perry called it quits.
The 48-year-old-who separated from the “Hot N Cold” hitmaker, 40, in June-has sold his four-bedroom, four-bathroom dwelling just over a month after listing it, Realtor.com can exclusively reveal
“It’s located on the best street in Trousdale,” listing agent Jason Oppenheim of the Oppenheim Group previously gushed.
Trousdale Estates is a star-studded neighborhood where Beverly Hills meets the Bird Streets, a posh area receiving exposure in Oppenheim’s new Netflix (NFLX) reality show, “Selling Sunset.”
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The home was originally built in 1959. Mexican architect Miguel Angel Aragonés, who sold the home to Bloom, had expanded and enhanced the home’s midcentury modern architecture.
Bloom “made it perfect,” said Oppenheim, who also represented the actor in the purchase of the property, referring to the renovations Bloom spent a year-and-a-half working on.
Bloom’s renovations included a new, zero-edge pool with an ipe wood deck. The outdoor area features bulit-in seating and a fire pit, and can be accessed via floor-to-ceiling sliders from several rooms in the house.
The actor initially listed the abode in 2019 for $9 million, after having paid $7 million for the pad in 2017.
The 4,011-square-foot, single-story home has four bedrooms and four baths. It sits on a hillside overlooking the city and the ocean. A mature hedge out front provides privacy.
Upon purchasing the home, Bloom completed an overhaul. His renovations included a new, zero-edge pool with an ipe wood deck. The outdoor area features bulit-in seating and a fire pit, and can be accessed via floor-to-ceiling sliders from several rooms in the house.
Bloom also opened up the floor plan, expanding the kitchen and allowing in more natural light. He added bespoke Poliform fixtures and finishes as well as indoor LED lighting.
The master suite also had some work done. After the actor moved in, he opened the space so it could open out to the pool and has generous closet space. The master bath has a wet room with a free-standing tub and shower. There’s a private patio right outside the floor-to ceiling windows.
One of the home’s more fascinating features is a sunken conversation pit lined with sumptuous sofas in the living room.
News of the actor’s home sale comes after it was revealed that Perry and Bloom had called it quits.
The former couple began dating in 2016 after meeting at a Golden Globes after-party, where they fought over an In ‘N’ Out burger, the singer previously revealed during an episode of “American Idol.”
According to one insider, the duo-who share a 4-year-old daughter, Daisy-remain “amicable” amid their “split” and are focused on co-parenting their child together.
“Katy and Orlando have split but are amicable,” a source told Us Weekly. “It’s not contentious at the moment. Katy is of course upset but is relieved to not have to go through another divorce, as that was the worst time in her life.”
“They are still very much in touch and co-parenting Daisy together,” a second insider added, noting that Bloom and Perry are both planning to continue residing in Montecito, Calif., to avoid disrupting their daughter’s life as much as possible.
“They aren’t making drastic changes for Daisy’s sake. They will keep their lives in Montecito. They are prioritizing stability and consistency for Daisy.”
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Rumors of a split dogged the couple for years; however, Bloom appeared to confirm the latest speculation when he made a solo arrival in Venice for the wedding of Amazon (AMZN) billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sanchez-with whom Perry is also understood to be close friends.
Bloom was seen spending time with Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, and Kris Jenner after touching down in the Italian city just hours before the Bezos-Sanchez celebrations were due to kick off.
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The actor was seen grinning from ear to ear as he leaned in to embrace the trio, whom he appears to have run into while grabbing some food outside of The Gritti Palace hotel, where many of Bezos and Sanchez’s guests are staying.
One source told TMZ that Bloom was refusing to let the split get him down, claiming that the actor was planning to let his hair down during the wedding celebrations.
“He’s the life of the party and he’s gonna hit the dance floor hard!” the insider claimed.
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Perry did not attend the wedding, according to media sources, as she was in the middle of her Lifetimes Tour, and was performing in Australia.
When her tour wraps, however, Perry will return to Montecito-where she and Bloom are in the process of finishing renovations on a sprawling compound that they purchased in October 2020 for a staggering $14.2 million.
The duo were understood to have been carrying out extensive work on the sprawling abode, which is one of two over-the-top dwellings that Perry owns in the tony, celebrity-loved enclave.
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It’s unclear who will take ownership of the property, however records seen by Realtor.com indicate that only Perry’s name was on the deed.
This story originally ran on Realtor.com.
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