Category: 5. Entertainment

  • Bold New Series Spotlights Sister Maria Anna

    Bold New Series Spotlights Sister Maria Anna

    Bavaria Media and Beta Film have joined forces on Mozart Mozart, a six-hour drama that reimagines the legacy of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the eyes of his (real-life) sister, Maria Anna Mozart.

    The series, from the creators of German costume drama hit Sisi, has received a first-season commission from German public broadcaster ARD and Austria’s ORF.

    Set in the late 18th century, the series centers on Amadeus’ sister, Maria Anna Mozart, portrayed by Havana Joy (Love Sucks), who steps into her brother’s shoes after his dismissal from the Salzburg court threatens the family’s future. When Wolfgang, played by Eren M. Güvercin (Druck, Eldorado), proves too volatile to secure favor at the court of Emperor Joseph II, Maria Anna disguises herself as her brother, captivating Vienna’s elite and drawing the envy of Mozart’s rival, Antonio Salieri. Her deception grows increasingly complex as she attempts to maintain the ruse, protect her family’s reputation and navigate her relationship with Salieri.

    The series stands apart from the upcoming English-language series Amadeus, which Sky has commissioned in the U.K., and will see White Lotus actor Will Sharpe play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. That drama is a reimagining of Peter Shaffer’s 1979 stage play Amadeus, which inspired Milos Forman’s 1984 Oscar-winning adaptation.

    “What we definitely didn’t want to do was a remake of Amadeus,” Mozart Mozart showrunner Andreas Gutzeit, who created the series and co-wrote it with Swantje Oppermann (Dignity), tells The Hollywood Reporter. “The desire is to tell a new story for a younger audience, and to tell the forgotten story of Maria Anna, who was a musical genius of her own, perhaps as talented, or more so, than her superstar brother.”

    “Mozart’s sister isn’t a secret, but we don’t know much about her life, other than she was also a child prodigy and that she and Amadeus toured together to every royal court in Europe at the time,” notes Clara Zoë My-Linh von Arnim, who is directing the series. “But she had the misfortune of being a woman and then, when she turned a marriageable age, she was dragged off the stage, in the truest sense of the word. There is a lot of speculation on how big her influence was on Amadeus’ music, on his compositions, over the years.”

    Jessica De Rooij, who composed the award-winning music for Sisi, is back for Mozart Mozart, giving Mozart’s iconic compositions a contemporary edge for the show. Gutzeit and Jens Freels (Dignity) serve as executive producers, with Simona Weber producing.

    The ensemble cast includes Eidin Jalali (The Swarm, Maxton Hall), Verena Altenberger (Wild Republic), Peter Kurth (Babylon Berlin), Philipp Hochmair (Freud), Sonja Weisser (Maxton Hall), Lisa Vicari (Next Level) and Annabelle Mandeng (Vikings: Valhalla).

    Produced by Gutzeit’s Story House Pictures in co-production with ARD, ORF and The Dreaming Sheep Company, Mozart Mozart is being sold internationally by Bavaria Media and Beta Film.

    Check out the teaser trailer for Mozart Mozart below.

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  • The Grammys Chief on How AI Will Change Music – WSJ

    1. The Grammys Chief on How AI Will Change Music  WSJ
    2. Can the music industry make AI the next Napster?  The Verge
    3. “As a musician, I don’t want to spend time and energy scrolling through endless lists of samples. I don’t think that’s creative”: Output’s AI-powered Co-Producer picks samples for you, but is it streamlining workflows or outsourcing creativity to AI?  MusicRadar
    4. Organisers of ‘Miss AI’ unveil their new AI music awards  Music Ally
    5. Music Special: Views on AI, creators’ rights and IP developments  World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

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  • Detroit Pistons, Big Sean and other artists honor J Dilla’s legacy with DSO performance: ‘This was beautiful’ – NBA

    Detroit Pistons, Big Sean and other artists honor J Dilla’s legacy with DSO performance: ‘This was beautiful’ – NBA

    1. Detroit Pistons, Big Sean and other artists honor J Dilla’s legacy with DSO performance: ‘This was beautiful’  NBA
    2. Big Sean and guests perform at the DSO  The Detroit News
    3. A Night with the Orchestra with Special Guests Big Sean…  Livingston Daily
    4. Big Sean — and others — have a big night out with the DSO at Orchestra Hall  The Oakland Press
    5. Big Sean to headline with Detroit Symphony Orchestra for J Dilla tribute this weekend  Detroit Free Press

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  • Gaza film’s producer accuses BBC of trying to gag him over decision to drop it | BBC

    Gaza film’s producer accuses BBC of trying to gag him over decision to drop it | BBC

    The producer of a film about medics in Gaza that was dropped by the BBC has accused the corporation of trying to gag him and others over its decision not to show the documentary.

    Gaza: Doctors under Attack, which was finally broadcast on Channel 4 on Wednesday night, recounts how hospitals in the territory have been overwhelmed, bombed and raided. Medics recount being detained and claim to have been tortured. It had originally been due to run on the BBC.

    Ben de Pear, the programme’s executive producer and a former Channel 4 News editor, accused the BBC of attempting to stop him talking about its “painful journey” to the screen with the use of legal gagging clauses.

    “I rejected and refused to sign the double gagging clause the BBC bosses tried multiple times to get me to sign,” he said in a post on LinkedIn. “Not only could we have been sued for saying the BBC refused to air the film (palpably and provably true) but also if any other company had said it, the BBC could sue us.

    “Not only could we not tell the truth that was already stated, but neither could others. Reader, I didn’t sign it.”

    Instead, he said, he spoke out, criticising the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, at a conference in Sheffield over the decision to pull the film. “All the decisions about our film were not taken by journalists, they were taken by Tim Davie,” he said at the time. “He is just a PR person. Tim Davie is taking editorial decisions which, frankly, he is not capable of making.

    “The BBC’s primary purpose is TV news and current affairs, and if it’s failing on that it doesn’t matter what drama it makes or sports it covers. It is failing as an institution. And if it’s failing on that then it needs new management.”

    The BBC did not comment on the accusations. An insider said Basement Films, De Pear’s production company, had only been asked to sign a standard clause obliging producers to have the corporation’s permission before engaging in publicity around one of its shows. It is understood this is disputed by Basement Films.

    BBC sources suggested the broadcaster had been attempting to find ways to use the documentary material in news coverage, but a final decision was made to drop the film entirely after De Pear’s public comments in Sheffield. This timeline is also disputed. Once the BBC handed control back to Basement Films, a BBC source said it ceased to be the broadcaster’s film.

    They also argued it was untrue the BBC had tried to gag De Pear from speaking about the film, pointing to public statements he made about it. They also pointed to the BBC’s public statement, made last month, clearly stating it had dropped the project.

    De Pear’s comments follow the publication of a letter signed anonymously by more than 100 BBC staff criticising the decision to drop the film. The letter also questioned the role of Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s former spin doctor and a member of the BBC’s board and editorial standards committee.

    Gibb led the consortium that bought the Jewish Chronicle in 2020 and, up until August 2024, was a director of Jewish Chronicle Media. The BBC has said he had no “formal role” over the decisions made in relation to the Gaza film.

    Before dropping the medics documentary entirely, the BBC said it had delayed its broadcast until a report into the making of another documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, had been completed.

    That programme was pulled from iPlayer earlier this year after it emerged that its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official. The review into its production continues.

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  • King Charles, Prince William’s emotional tribute leaves Harry in tears

    King Charles, Prince William’s emotional tribute leaves Harry in tears



    King Charles, Prince William’s emotional tribute leaves Harry in tears

    King Charles and Prince William’s heartwarming tribute to their heroes, who are protecting the UK and promoting peace overseas, left Prince Harry in tears.

    The Duke of Sussex was overwhelmed with emotions after the King and the future monarch used their social media accounts to mark the Armed Forces Day, which is celebrated on the last Saturday in June in the UK.

    It’s a day to show support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community, including currently serving personnel, veterans, families, and cadets.

    To mark the day, the monarch said “he salutes all members of the military.”

    A source close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, claimed: “King Charles and William’s tribute brought tears to Harry’s eyes, as he too had served in the British Military and even taken part in operations in Afghanistan.”

    “The Duke of Sussex served in the British Army for ten years, from 2003 to 2014. He achieved the rank of Captain in the Army Air Corps. The royal was also deployed to Afghanistan twice,” they added.

    The King’s statement, shared on the official Instagram account of the royal family, read: “Thank you for your tireless service, protecting the UK and promoting peace overseas. We are hugely grateful for your efforts, often in the face of danger, and those of your loved ones, providing support at home.”

    Similarly, the eldest son of King Charles, William also marked the day by sharing his picture taken during a visits in military uniform, stating: “Proud to mark Armed Forces Day. Thank you to everyone serving in the British Armed Forces, and to all veterans, for your courage, dedication and sacrifice.”

    It is worth mentioning here that King Charles’ youngest son received several awards and honours for his service, including the Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan. Harry’s dedication to his country and his charitable work, especially with veterans, continue to be notable aspects of his public life.

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  • Bob Vylan's Glastonbury set prompts BBC rethink on 'high-risk' live gigs – Reuters

    1. Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set prompts BBC rethink on ‘high-risk’ live gigs  Reuters
    2. BBC staff to ‘step back’ from duties over Glastonbury Bob Vylan row  BBC
    3. UK police launch criminal probe into Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set over ‘Death to IDF’ chants – Culture – Images  Dawn
    4. US to revoke Bob Vylan’s visas after Glastonbury chants  The Express Tribune
    5. BBC to drop ‘high risk’ live performances after Bob Vylan Glastonbury set  The Guardian

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  • Star Wars actor Kenneth Colley dies aged 87

    Star Wars actor Kenneth Colley dies aged 87

    Christian Fuller

    BBC News, South East

    Getty Images Kenneth Colley, Kerny Baker and Jeremy Bulloch sign at a Star Wars event. Colley is wearing a black top and taking a toy boy from a fan. Getty Images

    Star Wars actor Kenneth Colley has died after contracting Covid and developing pneumonia, his agent has announced

    Star Wars actor Kenneth Colley has died at the age of 87, his agent has announced.

    The film and television performer is best known for starring in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi as Admiral Piett, an imperial officer in command of Darth Vader’s flagship.

    He died peacefully at his home in Ashford, Kent, on Monday after contracting Covid and developing pneumonia, his agent Julian Owen said in a statement.

    “Ken Colley was one of our finest character actors with a career spanning 60 years,” Mr Owens said.

    “Ken continually worked on stage, film and television playing a vast array of characters, from Jesus in Monty Python’s Life of Brian to evil and eccentric characters in Ken Russell films, and the Duke of Vienna in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure for the BBC.”

    The statement said Colley had been admitted to hospital with an injured arm after a fall, but he quickly contracted Covid which developed into pneumonia.

    He died with friends at his bedside, it added.

    PA Media Kenneth Colley (right) and actor Michael Culver sat at a booth at an event. PA Media

    Kenneth Colley (right) and fellow actor Michael Culver often attended Star Wars celebration events

    In later years, Colley reprised his role of Admiral Piett when he voiced the character in the 2012 animated Lego production, Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out.

    He also had parts in international productions including Clint Eastwood’s Firefox and the Second World War series War and Remembrance.

    Mr Owen said Colley’s paticipation in Star Wars led him to being invited to conventions and fan events all over the world.

    “Ken also loved his garden, art collecting and had a passion for fast cars,” he added.

    Colley is also known for playing Jesus in Monty Python’s Life of Brian alongside John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Michael Palin.

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  • Confusion persists over breast cancer screening guidelines

    Confusion persists over breast cancer screening guidelines

    Mammograms can find cancer early before symptoms appear. Regular screening decreases the risk of dying from breast cancer. But a recent survey question by the Annenberg Public Policy Center shows that some Americans appear to be confused about when women with an average risk of breast cancer should begin a regimen of regular mammograms.

    Women with an average risk of breast cancer should begin to have mammograms every other year beginning at age 40, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which issued an updated recommendation on April 30, 2024, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, formalizing an earlier draft proposal. The recommendation applies to women from ages 40 to 74.

    Founded in 1984, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is “an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine.” It offers guidance to federal health agencies and, through the Affordable Care Act, essentially determines which preventive services should be covered by insurers. 

    Guidance from major medical organizations on what age to begin regular mammograms has changed over the years – from 40 to 50 and then back to 40 again. While a start date of age 40 is widely recommended, some medical organizations have put forth other recommendations. The American Cancer Society, for instance, advises that women with average risk have the option to start screening every year from age 40 to 44, then should have mammograms annually from 45 to 54 years old, and then continue with mammograms every other year.

    The Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC)’s health survey, conducted with a sample of over 1,600 U.S. adults in April, finds that nearly half of those surveyed (49%) know that age 40 is when women at an average risk of breast cancer should begin to have mammograms every other year. But 10% say they should begin at age 20; 21% say age 30; 8% age 50; and 11% are not sure.

    Confusion can arise when medical guidance about detection or treatment changes, as it has in recent years with mammograms. Our data suggest that the recommendation that such screening ordinarily start at 40 years old is not yet widely enough known.”


    Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania

    In our April 2024 survey, conducted before the task force lowered its recommendation from age 50 to age 40, the overall finding was the same: 49% thought the correct age was 40. That was not the recommended age at that time, though it is today with the updated medical advice.

    More uncertainty among younger women

    Among the women surveyed, nearly three-quarters (72%) who are ages 40-49 years old know that regular mammograms should begin at age 40. About 6 in 10 women age 30-39 years old (63%) and 50-74 years old (59%) know this as well (the percentage difference between them is not statistically significant). Younger women are the least well-informed about when to begin mammograms – among women 18-29 years old, just over a third (37%) know the correct age.

    In addition, more younger women say they are not sure what the correct age is. The survey finds that 16% of women 18-29 years old and 11% of women 30-39 years old are not sure at what age to begin having mammograms. There is no statistically significant difference between those two age groups – but both differ significantly from the very small percentage of women 40-49 years (1%) who are not sure of the age to being having mammograms.

    Among 18- to 29-year-old women, the most commonly selected incorrect age for when to begin regular mammography is 30 years old (selected by 27%) – a decade earlier than recommended. Among women 30-39 years old, those who are approaching the recommended start age for mammograms of 40 years old, the most commonly selected incorrect age is 50 years old (selected by 12%) – a decade later than current recommendations.

    APPC’s Annenberg Science and Public Health knowledge survey

    The survey data come from the 24th wave of a nationally representative panel of 1,653 U.S. adults conducted for the Annenberg Public Policy Center by SSRS, an independent market research company. Most have been empaneled since April 2021. To account for attrition, replenishment samples have been added over time using a random probability sampling design. The most recent replenishment, in September 2024, added 360 respondents to the sample. This wave of the Annenberg Science and Public Health (ASAPH) survey was fielded April 15-28, 2025. The margin of sampling error (MOE) is ± 3.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All figures are rounded to the nearest whole number and may not add to 100%. Combined subcategories may not add to totals in the topline and text due to rounding.

    Source:

    Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania

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  • ‘The film wouldn’t even be made today’: the story behind Back to the Future at 40 | Back To The Future

    ‘The film wouldn’t even be made today’: the story behind Back to the Future at 40 | Back To The Future

    The actor Lea Thompson has had a distinguished screen career but hesitated to share it with her daughters when they were growing up. “I did not show them most of my stuff because I end up kissing people all the time and it was traumatic to my children,” she recalls. “Even when they were little the headline was, ‘Mom is kissing someone that’s not Dad and it’s making me cry!’”

    Thompson’s most celebrated role would be especially hard to explain. As Lorraine Baines in Back to the Future, she falls in lust with her own son, Marty McFly, a teenage time traveller from 1985 who plunges into 1955 at the wheel of a DeLorean car.

    Back to the Future, released 40 years ago on Thursday, is both entirely of its time and entirely timeless. It was a box office summer smash, set a benchmark for time travel movies and was quoted by everyone from President Ronald Reagan to Avengers: Endgame. It is arguably a perfect film, without a duff note or a scene out of place, a fantastic parable as endlessly watchable as It’s a Wonderful Life or Groundhog Day.

    It also, inevitably, reflects the preoccupations of its day. An early sequence features Libyan terrorists from the era of Muammar Gaddafi, a caricature wisely dropped from a stage musical adaptation. In one scene the young George McFly turns peeping tom as he spies on Lorraine getting undressed. To some, the film’s ending equates personal fulfilment with Reagan-fuelled materialism. It caught lightning in a bottle in a way that is unrepeatable.

    “If you made Back to the Future in 2025 and they went back 30 years, it would be 1995 and nothing would look that different,” Thompson, 64, says by phone from a shoot in Vancouver, Canada. “The phones would be different but it wouldn’t be like the strange difference between the 80s and the 50s and how different the world was.”

    Bob Gale, co-writer of the screenplay, agrees everything fell into the right place at the right time, including the central partnership between young Marty (Michael J Fox) and white-haired scientist Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). The 74-year-old says from Los Angeles: “Oh man, the film wouldn’t even be made today. We’d go into the studio and they’d say, what’s the deal with this relationship between Marty and Doc? They’d start interpreting paedophilia or something. There would be a lot of things they have problems with.”

    Gale had met the film’s director, Robert Zemeckis, at the USC School of Cinema in 1972 and together they sold several TV scripts to Universal Studios, caught the eye of Steven Spielberg and John Milius and collaborated on three films. The pair had always wanted to make a time travel movie but couldn’t find the right hook. Then Gale had an epiphany.

    “We put a time travel story on the back burner until I found my dad’s high school yearbook and boom, that was when the lightning bolt hit me and I said, ha, this would be cool: kid goes back in time and ends up in high school with his dad!”

    Gale and Zemeckis pitched the script more than 40 times over four years but studios found it too risky or risque. But Spielberg saw its potential and came in as executive producer. After Zemeckis scored a hit with Romancing the Stone in 1984, Universal gave the green light.

    The character of Doc Brown was inspired by Gale’s childhood neighbour, a photographer who showed him the “magic” of developing pictures in a darkroom, and the educational TV show Mr Wizard which demonstrated scientific principles. Then Lloyd came in and added an interpretation based on part Albert Einstein, part Leopold Stokowski.

    Thompson was cast as Lorraine after a successful audition. She felt that her background as a ballet and modern dancer gave her a strong awareness of the movement and physicality required to play both versions of Lorraine: one young and airy, the other middle-aged and beaten down by life.

    “I was perfectly poised for that character,” she says. “I understood both the dark and the light of Lorraine McFly and understood the hilarity of being super sexually attracted to your son. I thought that was frickin’ hilarious. I understood the subversive comedy of it.”

    Thompson has previously worked with Eric Stoltz, who was cast in the lead role of Marty at the behest of Sidney Sheinberg, a Universal executive who had nurtured Spielberg and put Jaws into production. But over weeks of filming, starting in November 1984, it became apparent that Stoltz’s serious tone was not working.

    Gale recalls: “He wasn’t giving us the kind of humour that we thought the character should have. He actually thought the movie turned out to be a tragedy because he ends up in a 1985 where a lot of his life is different. People can argue about that: did the memories of his new past ripple into his brain, did he remember both his lives? That’s an interesting conversation to have and it gets more interesting the more beer you drink.”

    Eventually it fell to Zemeckis to inform Stoltz that his services were no longer required. Gale continues: He said he thought that possibly Eric was relieved: it was not like a devastating blow to him. This is just hindsight and speculation but maybe Eric’s agents thought that it would be a good career move for him to do a movie like this that had Spielberg involved. Who knows?”

    Stoltz’s abrupt departure came as a shock to the rest of the cast. Thompson says: “It was horrible. He was my friend and obviously a wonderful actor. Everybody wants to think that making a movie is fun and that we’re laughing for the 14 hours we’re standing in the middle of a street somewhere.

    “But it’s also scary because you need to feel like you’ve made a little family for that brief amount of time. So the minute someone gets fired, you’re like, oh wait, this is a big business, this is serious, this is millions of dollars being spent.”

    Lea Thompson and Michael J Fox in Back to the Future. Photograph: Universal/Allstar

    Stoltz was replaced by the young Canadian actor Michael J Fox, whom Zemeckis and Gale had wanted in the first place, and several scenes had to be reshot. Fox was simultaneously working on the sitcom Family Ties so was often sleep-deprived. But his boundless charm, frazzled energy and comic timing – including ad libs – were the missing piece of the jigsaw.

    Thompson comments: “He is gifted but he also worked extremely hard at his shtick like the great comedians of the 20s, 30s and 40s: the falling over, the double take, the spit take, the physical comedy, the working on a bit for hours and hours like the greats, like Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin. Michael understood that.

    “Being a dancer, I was fascinated and kind of weirdly repelled because it didn’t seem like the acting that we were all trying to emulate: the De Niro kind of super reality-based acting that we were in awe of in the 80s, coming out of the great films of the 70s. I feel like Eric Stoltz, who is a brilliant actor, was trying to do more of that. Michael was the face of this new acting, especially comedy acting, which was in a way a throwback and a different energy.”

    It was this lightness of touch that enabled Fox and Thompson to carry off moments that might otherwise have seemed weird, disturbing and oedipal. When 1950s Lorraine – who has no idea that Marty is her future son – eventually kisses him inside a car, she reports that it is like “kissing my brother” and the romantic tension dissolves, much to the audience’s relief.

    Thompson says: “It was a difficult part and it was a very dangerous thread to put through a needle. I have to fall out of love with him just by kissing him and I remember Bob Zemeckis obsessing about that moment. It was also a hard shot to get because it was a vintage car and they couldn’t take it apart. Bob was also worried about the moment when I had to fall back in love with George [Marty’s father] after he punches Biff.

    “For those moments to be so important is part of the beauty of the movie. These are ‘small’ people; these are not ‘great’ people; they’re not doing ‘great’ things. These are people who live in a little tiny house in Hill Valley and to make the moments of falling out of love and falling in love so beautiful with that incredible score is fascinating.”

    Back to the Future was the biggest hit of the year, grossing more than $200m in the US and entering the cultural mainstream. When Doc asks Marty who is president in 1985, Marty replies Ronald Reagan and Brown says in disbelief: “Ronald Reagan? The actor? Then who’s vice-president? Jerry Lewis?” Reagan, a voracious film viewer, was so amused by the joke that he made the projectionist stop and rewind it. He went on to namecheck the film and quote its line, “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads,” in his 1986 State of the Union address.

    Thompson, whose daughters are the actors Madelyn Deutch and Zoey Deutch, was amazed by Back to the Future’s success. “But when I look at the movie, I do understand the happy accident of why it’s become the movie it’s become to generation after generation. The themes are powerful. The execution was amazing. The casting was great. The idea was brilliant. It was a perfect script. Those things don’t come together usually.”

    And if she had her own time machine, where would she go? “If I could be a man, I might go back to Shakespeare but as a woman you don’t want to go anywhere in time. Time has been hard on women. So for me, whenever I’m asked this question, it’s not a lighthearted answer. I can only give you a political answer.”

    The film ends with Doc whisking Marty and girlfriend Jennifer into the DeLorean and taking off into the sky. But Gale points out that the message “to be continued” was added only for the home video release, as a way to announce a sequel, rather than being in the original theatrical run.

    Back to the Future Part II, part of which takes place in 2015, brought back most of the main characters including the villain Biff Tannen, who becomes a successful businessman who opens a 27-storey casino and uses his money to gain political influence. Many viewers have drawn a comparison with Donald Trump.

    Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Michael J Fox, Neil Canton and Steven Spielberg on the set of Back to the Future. Photograph: Amblin Entertainment/Universal Pictures/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock

    Gale explains: “Biff in the first movie is not based on Donald Trump; Biff is just an archetype bully. When Biff owns a casino, there was a Trump influence in that, absolutely. Trump had to put his name on all of his hotels and his casinos and that’s what Biff does too.

    “But when people say, oh, Biff was based on Donald Trump, well, no, that wasn’t the inspiration for the character. Everybody has a bully in their life and that’s who Biff was. There’s nothing that resembles Donald Trump in Biff in Part I.

    Back to the Future Part III, in which Marty and Doc and thrown back to the old west, was released in 1990. A year later Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 29. He went public with his diagnosis in 1998 and became a prominent advocate for research and awareness. He also continued acting, with roles in shows such as The Good Wife and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and in October will publish a Back to the Future memoir entitled Future Boy.

    Thompson, whose brothers both have Parkinson’s, sees Fox twice a year. “He’s endlessly inspiring. He’s very smart and he’s done the spiritual work, the psychological work on himself to not be bitter about something awful happening to him but also be honest: this sucks.”

    Time’s arrow moves in one direction but Back to the Future found a way to stage a comeback. One night after seeing the Mel Brooks musical The Producers in New York, Zemeckis’s wife Leslie suggested that Back to the Future would make a good musical. Gale duly wrote the book and was a producer of the show, which premiered in Manchester in 2020 and has since played in London, New York and around the world.

    Gale says: “It was total euphoria. The first time I saw the dress rehearsal with the DeLorean, before we had an audience, I went out of my mind how great it was, and then to see the audience going completely out of their minds with everything was just such a joyous validation.

    “I’m so blessed to have a job where I get to make people happy. That’s a great thing to be able to do and get paid for that. I don’t ever take any of this for granted. I’m having a great time and the idea that Back to the Future is still with us after all these years, as popular as it ever was, is a blessing. I think about it all the time that if we had not put Michael J Fox in the movie, you and I probably wouldn’t even be having this conversation right now.”

    Why, indeed, are we still talking about Back to the Future four decades later? “Every person in the world wonders, how did I get here, how did my parents meet? The idea that your parents were once children is staggering when you realise it when you’re about seven or eight years old.

    “Your parents are these godlike creatures, and they’re always saying, well, when I was your age, and you’re going, what are they talking about, how could they have ever been my age? Then at some point it all comes together. If you have a younger sibling and you’re watching them grow up, you realise, oh, my God, my parents were once screw-ups like me!”

    And if Gale had a time machine, where would he go? “I don’t think I would go to the future because I’d be too scared,” he says. “We all see what happens when you know too much about the future. My mom, before she was married, was a professional musician, a violinist, and she had a nightclub act in St Louis called Maxine and Her Men. I’d like to travel back in time to 1947 and see my mother performing in a nightclub. That’s what I would do.”

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  • Cat Deeley wows in summer florals as she joins This Morning co-star Ben Shephard, Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch in leading the celeb tennis fans for day four of Wimbledon

    Cat Deeley wows in summer florals as she joins This Morning co-star Ben Shephard, Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch in leading the celeb tennis fans for day four of Wimbledon

    This Morning stars Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard hot footed it from their ITV show over to the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club for day four of Wimbledon on Thursday.

    Cat dressed for the Centre Court sunshine in a pretty floral print dress, posing with her dapper co-star after speeding through the London traffic on motorbike to make it to the tournament on time after wrapping their show.

    Whilst Cat enjoyed a day out with her co-star, Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch made it a family affair by treating their eldest daughter Sophia to a day at SW19.

    Meanwhile TV adventurer and Wimbledon regular Bear Grylls took his seat in the Royal Box with his wife Shara on Centre Court. 

    Centre Court spectators will be watching Jack Draper compete against 2017 Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic and Dan Evans takes on Novak Djokovic.

    Draper, the current world Number four, takes on 2017 Wimbledon finalist Cilic as he looks to progress past the second round for the first time.

    World number one Jannik Sinner is also back in the spotlight, up against Aleksandar Vukic, whilst Iga Swiatek plays Caty McNally in the other Centre Court match.

    This Morning stars Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard have hot footed it from their ITV show over to the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club for day four of Wimbledon on Thursday

    An excited Cat could barely look at the Centre Court action, at one point covering her face with her hands

    An excited Cat could barely look at the Centre Court action, at one point covering her face with her hands

    The ITV star grimaced and gasped her way through the day four matches which included Jack Draper vs Marin Cilic

    The ITV star grimaced and gasped her way through the day four matches which included Jack Draper vs Marin Cilic

    Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch treated their eldest daughter Sophia, 14, to a day of tennis

    Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch treated their eldest daughter Sophia, 14, to a day of tennis 

    Abbey and Peter shared a kiss, with daughter Sophia caught in the middle, as they took a break from watching the on court action

    Abbey and Peter shared a kiss, with daughter Sophia caught in the middle, as they took a break from watching the on court action 

    TV adventurer Bear Grylls took his seat in the Royal Box with his wife Shara for day four on Centre Court 

    Meanwhile after enjoying the hospitality suites, Jack Whitehall joined Union J star Josh Cuthbert and and his model wife Chloe Lloyd, who were also in the stands.

    Chloe looked gorgeous in a white dress, flaunting her long legs in the ultra mini which she teamed in polka dot heels and a micro Chanel bag. 

    Singer and environmentalist Feargal Sharkey and Dragon’s Den star Deborah Meaden shared a laugh in the celeb-packed Royal Box, with actress Celia Imrie seen catching up with William Hague a row ahead. 

    Judy Murray has opened up on the secrets of the Royal Box at Wimbledon as celebrity guests continue to flood into Wimbledon.

    While there are 18 Championship grass courts at SW19, all eyes are often on the historic Centre Court, which plays host to the best stars the sport has to offer as they compete for glory.

    Centre Court boasts nearly 15,000 seats, meaning lucky punters can be seen cheering on their favourites, and are joined by guests in the Royal Box at around lunchtime each day.

    So far this week, the likes of David Beckham, Cate Blanchett and Olivia Rodrigo have all been present.

    On Tuesday Murray, renown for her coaching work in the sport and her support for tennis-playing sons Andy and Jamie, made an appearance. 

    Cat put on a very animated display in her VIP seat after a busy morning in front of the cameras

    Cat put on a very animated display in her VIP seat after a busy morning in front of the cameras

    Cat put on a very animated display in her VIP seat after a busy morning in front of the cameras 

    The TV star looked gorgeous in her pretty floral dress for her sporting afternoon

    The TV star looked gorgeous in her pretty floral dress for her sporting afternoon 

    A nervous-looking Cat sat alongside Ben Shephard's son Jack, 18

    A nervous-looking Cat sat alongside Ben Shephard’s son Jack, 18

    Cat dressed for the Centre Court sunshine in a pretty floral print dress teamed with lace-up sandals

    Cat dressed for the Centre Court sunshine in a pretty floral print dress teamed with lace-up sandals 

    Cat and Ben had a busy morning, racing across London after wrapping This Morning to get to the tournament in time

    Cat and Ben had a busy morning, racing across London after wrapping This Morning to get to the tournament in time 

    Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard attended as a guest of Emirates

    Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard attended as a guest of Emirates

    Abbey, Sophia and Peter couldn't stop their giggles as they enjoyed their family day out

    Abbey, Sophia and Peter couldn’t stop their giggles as they enjoyed their family day out 

    Sophia topped up her lip gloss as she sat alongside her parents in the VIP seats

    Sophia topped up her lip gloss as she sat alongside her parents in the VIP seats 

    Peter laughed after Abbey Clancy catches him cleaning his sunglasses on her dress

    Peter laughed after Abbey Clancy catches him cleaning his sunglasses on her dress

    The pair appeared to be having a lot of fun together

    The pair appeared to be having a lot of fun together 

    Abbey looked effortlessly chic as she arrived for the tennis in a butter yellow pinstripe skirt and cropped blazer

    Abbey looked effortlessly chic as she arrived for the tennis in a butter yellow pinstripe skirt and cropped blazer

    The couple got animated as they watched in from the stands during one of the day's big matches

    The couple got animated as they watched in from the stands during one of the day’s big matches 

    Abbey and Peter were joined by their 13-year-old daughter Sophia Ruby Crouch

    Abbey and Peter were joined by their 13-year-old daughter Sophia Ruby Crouch

    Bear was seen shaking hands with a member of the armed forces as he mingled in the Royal Box before taking his seat

    Bear was seen shaking hands with a member of the armed forces as he mingled in the Royal Box before taking his seat 

    England footballer Anthony Gordon and Jack Whitehall sat together on Centre Court

    England footballer Anthony Gordon and Jack Whitehall sat together on Centre Court 

    Union J star Josh Cuthbert and and his model wife Chloe Lloyd, who were also in the stands, with Chloe wowing in a white mini dress as they sipped on Pimm's

    Union J star Josh Cuthbert and and his model wife Chloe Lloyd, who were also in the stands, with Chloe wowing in a white mini dress as they sipped on Pimm’s

    Dragon's Den star Deborah Meaden was sat in the Royal Box, a row behind William Hague

    Dragon’s Den star Deborah Meaden was sat in the Royal Box, a row behind William Hague 

    Singer and environmentalist Feargal Sharkey also had Royal Court seats with his wife Elizabeth

    Singer and environmentalist Feargal Sharkey also had Royal Court seats with his wife Elizabeth

    Feargal Sharkey and Deborah Meaden shared a laugh, with actress Celia Imrie was seen catching up with William Hague

    Feargal Sharkey and Deborah Meaden shared a laugh, with actress Celia Imrie was seen catching up with William Hague 

    Celebrated actress Celia looked pretty in pink for her day in the Royal Box

    Celebrated actress Celia looked pretty in pink for her day in the Royal Box 

    Prince Michael of Kent arrived in the Royal Box prior to the Gentlemen's Singles second round match between Daniel Evans of Great Britain and Novak Djokovic

    Prince Michael of Kent arrived in the Royal Box prior to the Gentlemen’s Singles second round match between Daniel Evans of Great Britain and Novak Djokovic

    Before her trip, she opened up on what it is like in the Royal Box on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with The National Lottery on Virgin Radio UK.

    ‘Royal Boxing should be a verb, shouldn’t it?’ she said.’ It should be a summer verb.’

    She added: ‘Well, you arrive usually around 11.30, so you go upstairs, they have a champagne reception, then you go in for lunch and you could be sitting beside absolutely anybody at lunch. There’s no seating plan, it’s just as you go into the room.

    ‘It’s in the clubhouse of the All England Club, and the first year that I went I took my mum, of course, and we sat with Jack Nicklaus. 

    BAFTA award winning actress Naomi Ackie looked chic in polka dots for her arrival

    BAFTA award winning actress Naomi Ackie looked chic in polka dots for her arrival 

    Singer and song writer Calum Scott, who rose to fame on ITV's Britain's Got Talent in 2015, was also at Wimbledon as a guest of Emirates

    Singer and song writer Calum Scott, who rose to fame on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent in 2015, was also at Wimbledon as a guest of Emirates

    Newcastle and England footballer Anthony Gordon was looking dapper in a cream blazer as he took in the view at Centre Court

    EastEnders star Ben Hardy put on a smart display

    Newcastle and England footballer Anthony Gordon was looking dapper in a cream blazer as he took in the view at Centre Court whilst EastEnders star Ben Hardy put on a smart display 

    Downton Abbey star Jim Carter posed with his actress daughter Bessie Carter, who stars in Bridgerton, in the Emirates suite

    Downton Abbey star Jim Carter posed with his actress daughter Bessie Carter, who stars in Bridgerton, in the Emirates suite 

    Jack Whitehall stopped by the AELTC's Parkside Suite in No.1 Court before watching some play

    Jack Whitehall stopped by the AELTC’s Parkside Suite in No.1 Court before watching some play

    Also in attendance for day four were David and Samantha Cameron

    Also in attendance for day four were David and Samantha Cameron 

    Samantha looked chic in a teal summer dress complete with a tiered skirt and drawstring waist

    Samantha looked chic in a teal summer dress complete with a tiered skirt and drawstring waist 

    ‘I sat with a few years ago a lady who was the first female Spitfire pilot. I mean it’s just you could be with absolutely anybody and the stories are fascinating.

    ‘It’s really tough when the sun comes round because there’s no escape. 

    ‘It’s actually I think worse for the guys because they have to wear a jacket and tie and they’re not allowed to take the jacket off unless the royalty in the box takes their jacket off first. That’s the protocol.’

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