Why playing lead roles in adaptation of ‘unfilmable’ novel was not enough for Felicity Jones and Shailene Woodley
It’s a book that the author felt was “unfilmable” due to its different time strands.
But both Shailene Woodley and Felicity Jones were so taken with the adaptation of The Last Letter From Your Lover that they chose not just to star in the film, but to work on it as executive producers as well.
Now Jojo Moyes’ story of two love affairs, decades apart, is being released in cinemas and its stars have told Sky News why they wanted to get so involved on the project.
UK actress Felicity Jones (L) also executive produces her latest film. Pic: Studio Canal
“Any producer role, I think the main job – take out the day-to-day bits – is to protect the integrity of the story that you’re telling and to protect the creative people involved and to make sure that it doesn’t go off the rails any which way,” explained Woodley.
“For me, it has felt very important to be involved in that way, because as much as we as actors care about our characters, we really care about the stories that we’re telling and we care about the entire plot line as a whole.
“So it feels really like an honour to be a producer in a way, because you are there making sure that everything is protected – and it also feels a lot more fun because there’s other creative elements that you get to bring into the project.”
US star Shailene Woodley (L) also served as an executive producer on The Last Letter From Your Lover. Pic: Studio Canal
Felicity Jones, who plays a journalist in the modern-day strand of the movie, said while it was a natural transition to become a producer, it’s a role she’s really valued.
“When you’re playing leads, you do tend to get more involved in the development side of things and you have a lot more input in the script and tend to get a little bit more involved in the behind the scenes stuff, so it did feel like quite a natural evolution to formalise what had been happening already,” she said.
“It’s a really special experience when you’re with a team where you feel listened to – we were both able to see the edit of the film and have an opinion on that, and were really listened to in the making of this film, which you sort of get used to and want that to continue on everything that you do.”
Woodley plays Jennifer Stirling. Pic: Studio Canal
The book the story is based on first came out in 2008, and like so many of Moyes’ novels it won a legion of fans.
The best-selling author also worked on the movie, which should bring comfort to those concerned about seeing how the characters they love on the page have been brought to life on the screen.
Jones said she is all too aware of the weight of expectation from those who love the book.
“I have such empathy when you read something and then you see it and you think, ‘Oh, no, that’s so disappointing’,” she said.
“But Jojo Moyes was so closely involved in this film throughout its entirety, so it felt like we had her blessing, and what you seek to do is capture the essence of those characters and the book.
“There are definitely some changes that have happened, but essentially you want to get ‘what did Jojo want by writing that book?’ And it does feel, hopefully, that the film has achieved that.”
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While Jones’ character is set in modern-day London, Woodley’s narrative plays out in the 1960s.
The separate timelines meant Jones and Woodley – who are promoting the film together – didn’t actually spend much time with one another during production.
“It is funny, we would see each other very rarely on set, there would be a little bit of crossover or maybe we’d be leaving and entering a costume fitting at around the same time, and in a sense it was a bummer because I’ve wanted to work with Felicity for a really long time and I hope one day we have the opportunity to do that,” Woodley said.
“And at any given moment, it’s left a lot of mystery to this project because I myself have been excited to see what Felicity and Nabhaan [Rizwan who plays Jones’ character’s love interest] brought to their storyline and how they created that dynamic.
“And it’s funny when that happens in films, I think there’s an assumption if any given actors are in a project together that they got to spend a lot of time together, but I mean, we maybe had a few days at most when we saw each other.”
But despite not filming together, there does seem to be a genuine affection between the pair as Jones chips in with “It wasn’t enough, it wasn’t enough – there’s more to come!”
The Last Letter From Your Lover is out in cinemas on 6 August.
Video footage has shown the moment singer and actress Ariana Grande was accosted by a fan at a film premiere.
Ms Grande was in Singapore for the debut of Wicked: For Good when the incident unfolded on Thursday.
The video captured the moment the fan scaled the barricade and pushed past photographers towards Ms Grande.
Pic: tacotrvck_vb/X/via REUTERS
He then threw his arms around her, before co-star Cynthia Erivo intervened and security swoops in to stop him.
The man, now identified as Johnson Wen, 26, is reportedly a notorious red carpet crasher.
Wen, who has since been charged with being a public nuisance, goes by the nickname Pyjama Man, and gloated as he shared footage of the intrusion online.
“Dear Ariana Grande, Thank You for letting me Jump on the Yellow Carpet with You,” he wrote on Instagram.
Pic: tacotrvck_vb/X/via REUTERS
In video stories posted to the site beforehand, he was seen at the Universal Studios venue, revealing his intentions.
In one, he said: “I feel like I’m in a dream, that’s my best friend, Ariana Grande, and I’m gonna meet her. I’ve been dreaming about that.”
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The Australian has ambushed several performers on stage, according to reports, including Katy Perry and The Chainsmokers at concerts in Sydney, and The Weeknd in Melbourne.
It has been reported that Wen intends to plead guilty and that he could face a fine of more than £1,000.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo at the London premiere for Wicked: For Good
Ms Grande took a moment to gather herself in the aftermath of the intrusion, visibly shocked by the incident.
She didn’t address the incident on her own Instagram, but shared some photos with the caption “thank you, Singapore”, adding “we love you”.
The singer battled post-traumatic stress disorder after her 2017 concert in Manchester was bombed, leaving 22 people dead.
She told Vogue in 2018: “It’s hard to talk about because so many people have suffered such severe, tremendous loss. But, yeah, it’s a real thing.
“I know those families and my fans, and everyone there experienced a tremendous amount of it as well. Time is the biggest thing.
“I feel like I shouldn’t even be talking about my own experience – like I shouldn’t even say anything. I don’t think I’ll ever know how to talk about it and not cry.”
In the same interview she also addressed her own anxiety, saying she has “always” had it.
Ms Grande plays Galinda Upland in Wicked: For Good, the character who becomes Glinda the Good Witch. Ms Erivo plays Elphaba, the character who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West.
The film is released in UK cinemas on 21 November.
Entertainment
A third of daily music uploads are AI-generated and 97% of people can’t tell the difference, says report
Do you care if the music you’re listening to is artificially generated?
That question – once the realm of science fiction – is becoming increasingly urgent.
An AI-generated country track, Walk My Walk, is currently sitting at number one on the US Billboard chart of digital sales and a new report by streaming platform Deezer has revealed the sheer scale of AI production in the music industry.
Deezer’s AI-detection system found that around 50,000 fully AI-generated tracks are now uploaded every day, accounting for 34% of all daily uploads.
File pic: iStock
The true number is most likely higher, as Deezer’s AI-detection system does not catch every AI-generated track. Nor does this figure include partially AI-generated tracks.
In January 2025, Deezer’s system identified 10% of uploaded tracks as fully AI-generated.
Since then, the proportion of AI tracks – made using written prompts such as “country, 1990s style, male singer” – has more than tripled, leading the platform’s chief executive, Alexis Lanternier, to say that AI music is “flooding music streaming”.
‘Siphoning money from royalty pool’
What’s more, when Deezer surveyed 9,000 people in eight countries – the US, Canada, Brazil, UK, France, Netherlands, Germany and Japan – and asked them to detect whether three tracks were real or AI, 97% could not tell the difference.
That’s despite the fact that the motivation behind the surge of AI music is not in the least bit creative, according to Deezer. The company says that roughly 70% of fully AI-generated tracks are what it calls “fraudulent” – that is, designed purely to make money.
“The common denominator is the ambition to boost streams on specific tracks in order to siphon money from the royalty pool,” a Deezer spokesperson told Sky News.
“With AI-generated content, you can easily create massive amounts of tracks that can be used for this purpose.”
File pic: Reuters
The tracks themselves are not actually fraudulent, Deezer says, but the behaviour around them is. Someone will upload an AI track then use an automated system – a bot – to listen to a song over and over again to make royalties from it.
Even though the total number of streams for each individual track is very low – Deezer estimates that together they account for 0.5% of all streams – the work needed to make an AI track is so tiny that the rewards justify the effort.
Are fully-AI tracks being removed?
Deezer is investing in AI-detection software and has filed two patents for systems that spot AI music. But it is not taking down the tracks it marks as fully-AI.
Instead it removes them from algorithmic recommendations and editorial playlists, a measure designed to stop the tracks getting streams and therefore generating royalties, and marks the tracks as “AI-generated content”.
“If people want to listen to an AI-generated track however, they can and we are not stopping them from doing so – we just want to make sure they are making a conscious decision,” the Deezer spokesperson says.
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Deezer’s survey found that more than half (52%) of respondents felt uncomfortable with not being able to tell the difference between AI and human-made music.
“The survey results clearly show that people care about music and want to know if they’re listening to AI or human-made tracks or not,” said the company’s boss Alexis Lanternier.
“There’s also no doubt that there are concerns about how AI-generated music will affect the livelihood of artists.”
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Musicians protests AI copyright plans
Earlier this year, more than 1,000 musicians – including Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn and Kate Bush – released a silent album to protest plans by the UK government to let artificial intelligence companies use copyright-protected work without permission.
A recent study commissioned by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers suggested that generative AI music could be worth £146bn a year in 2028 and account for around 60% of music libraries’ revenues.
By this metric, the authors concluded, 25% of creators’ revenues are at risk by 2028, a sum of £3.5bn.
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