It’s midday at the Corinthia Hotel in London and I’m sitting on a bench in a corridor waiting to talk to Daniel Craig.
The main entrance doors are open for ventilation. Pre-pandemic there would have been a lot of security, this is Bond after all, but in the age of coronavirus the hotel is like a socially distanced Fort Knox.
There’s a doctor on standby and before I’m allowed in the same room as 007, I’ve had to pass a temperature check – and that isn’t all.
To get into the hotel itself I’ve had to show the results of a negative PCR test taken within the last 48 hours, prove I’d done a lateral flow test this morning AND sign paperwork promising I’m not secretly trying to give everyone at the press junket COVID.
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Daniel Craig’s ‘joyous’ return to the cinema
The mask I had with me had to be taken off, only to be replaced by an industrial-looking number that everyone around me was wearing. “It does look a bit like we’ve all got beaks!” one woman commented in the hallway to nods and muffled agreement.
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This whole process is very weird and certainly not conducive in terms of making you feel nice and relaxed ahead of interviewing an actor who has a reputation for being notoriously tetchy.
If there are journalists before or after me, I haven’t come into contact with any, so pre-Daniel I settle for a hushed gossip with a woman who may have been a member of security (but really who knows when our faces are covered-up with a giant white beak?).
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“Have you met Daniel before?” she said. “No” I say.
“Every time he’s come out here he’s made a point of asking us if we’re all ok, he’s REALLY nice!”
“That’s good to know,” I tell her, adding: “because he’s got a bit of a reputation for being, you know, grumpy.”
But not today.
Just one final hurrah of press interviews and that’s it, Daniel Craig is done.
There’s no way he’s repeating those “he’s so moody” headlines he got after the very first news conference he did.
So it is a seemingly demob happy Craig I’m introduced to, sat alongside super-producer Barbara Broccoli.
No handshakes, of course, and they’re sat well over two metres away from me in the hotel’s well-ventilated ballroom.
But those blue eyes are twinkling, he’s laughing, relaxed even, and happy to chat now the rollercoaster is about to stop.
“I mean, I was definitely in two minds about taking it at the beginning but… I’ve never regretted it,” he says.
“It’s been tough, but it’s always, always, always, always been interesting. It’s always been creatively satisfying. I’ve had the chance to work with just some of the most incredible people and it’s made a mark on my life and, I mean, that’s a massive understatement.”
Broccoli refuses point blank to think who her next Bond will be.
“I’m in denial. I don’t want to think about it and I’m not going to think about it. As far as I’m concerned Daniel Craig is James Bond. End of story.”
It hasn’t been easy 15 years for Craig, being the leading man in one of Britain’s biggest cultural exports.
Aside from broken legs and twisted ankles, the run-ins with the press were there from day one, with critics saying it was wrong to have a blond Bond.
He’s had paparazzi in trees outside his house, photographers willing to bury themselves under sand to get pictures of him on the beach in his trunks.
He admits, before he met his wife Rachel Weisz, the attention ruined relationships and made him never want to leave the house.
“I think I’ve changed,” he reflects, looking back on it now.
“I’ll be perfectly honest, I couldn’t deal with it but it is part of the nature of the beast, you have to sort of accept it. I think you have to find a level.
“I’ve tried my best not be hypocritical about it. I keep myself away from everything when I’m not promoting a movie. I’m not on social media. I try and keep a very private life. So that’s my sort of that’s my sort of line in the sand, I suppose.”
Has it got any better as he prepares to leave the role?
“The press don’t seem as interested in me anymore,” he laughs. “I’m probably just a bit boring for them.”
So it’s official Daniel Craig isn’t grumpy… he wants to be boring… but then he is a very good actor. And surely that’s all that matters?
Actor Bernard Hill, who played roles in Lord Of The Rings and Titanic, has died aged 79, his agent has confirmed.
Hill also featured as Yosser Hughes in the iconic drama series Boys In The Blackstuff.
He was given a number of awards for his role as King Theoden in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanic.
The actor was born in Blackley, Manchester, in 1944 and graduated with a diploma in theatre in 1970.
He was married to fellow actor Marianna Hill, with whom he shared a son. His agent Lou Coulson said he died in the early hours of Sunday.
Hill will return to TV on Sunday night starring in the second series of Martin Freeman’s The Responder.
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Fans have already started to pay tribute to him on social media.
Scottish musician Barbara Dickson wrote of their time working together: “It’s with great sadness that I note the death of Bernard Hill. We worked together in John Paul George Ringo and Bert, Willy Russell marvellous show 1974-1975.
“A really marvellous actor. It was a privilege to have crossed paths with him. RIP Benny x.”
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Madonna has played her biggest-ever gig to an estimated 1.6 million people on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.
It was the last show in her Celebration tour and she performed hits such Like A Prayer, Vogue, Hung Up, Into The Groove and Like A Virgin.
The Brazil city was buzzing ahead of Saturday’s free two-hour show, with hotels and Airbnb’s packed and about 170 extra flights expected into the city.
Helicopters and drones buzzed over the beach as the Queen of Pop took to the stage at 10:37pm, nearly 50 minutes late.
“Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna told the crowd as she pointed out Rio’s famous mountains and Christ the Redeemer statue.
The 65-year-old opened up with Nothing Really Matters from 1998’s Ray of Light album.
Eighteen speaker towers were dotted along the beach to ensure everyone could hear the US star’s vocals.
Brazilian musicians and people from local samba schools were involved in the show – with many fans dressing up in Madonna-themed outfits.
“Since Madonna arrived here, I’ve been coming every day with this outfit to welcome my idol, my diva, my pop queen,” said Rosemary de Oliveira Bohrer, 69, who wore a version of Madonna’s iconic gold cone bra.
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Many fans had staked out a spot many hours – or even days – before the show, while others took in the spectacle from yachts or apartment balconies.
Madonna’s website said it was the biggest she had ever done – more than 10 times the 130,000 she played to in Paris in 1987.
However, Rio is used to huge shows – The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart have played to similar-size crowds there.
Thousands of police were on duty for Saturday’s show, which city authorities estimated drew a crowd of 1.6 million and would earn the local economy about 293 million reals (£46m).
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For Madonna, it was the culmination of an 81-date retrospective tour that began in London in October and moved across Europe and North and South America.
The singer embarked upon the tour a few months after being admitted to intensive care with a serious bacterial inaction in June 2023.
The UK’s Eurovision Song Contest representative has addressed “extreme” remarks from fans over Israel’s inclusion in the competition.
Olly Alexander was selected as this year’s representative for the UK for the popular singing competition.
It’s set to take place in Malmo, Sweden, next week but tens of thousands are expected to protest Israel’s involvement and its ongoing war in Gaza.
Alexander, the Years & Years singer, has found himself facing criticism from some who called for him to withdraw amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Queers for Palestine circulated a letter, signed by thousands including actors Indya Moore, Brigette Lundy-Paine, and Maxine Peake calling for the It’s A Sin actor to pull out of the show.
In March, along with Irish hopeful Bambie Thug, Danish entrant Saba and other Eurovision artists, Alexander released a joint statement, backing “an immediate and lasting ceasefire” but refusing to boycott the event.
Now, speaking out in a new documentary which has followed the 33-year-old as he prepares for the show, he has described some of the comments he and other participants have faced as “very extreme”.
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He said: “A lot of the contestants and myself have been having a lot of comments that are like ‘You are complicit in a genocide by taking part in Eurovision’ which is quite extreme. It’s very extreme.
“I understand where that sentiment is coming from but I think it’s not correct.
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“It’s an incredibly complicated political situation, one that I’m not qualified to speak on.
“The backdrop to this is actual immense suffering. It’s a humanitarian crisis, a war.
“It just so happens there’s a song contest going on at the same time that I’m a part of.”
Speaking in the BBC’s documentary titled Olly Alexander’s Road To Eurovision ’24, he continued saying that people should boycott Eurovision if they didn’t feel comfortable watching and he respected their decision – but would be taking part himself.
He added: “My plan is to just focus on putting on a good performance in Malmo.
“My team, everyone’s worked so hard, and we’re in the final stretch now.”
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Earlier in the week, Alexander broke down crying during an interview with The Times when discussing the pressure he had come under for participating in Eurovision.
He told the paper he knew a number of signatories of the petition against him, and none had reached out to him.
He said: “This is so much bigger than me and Eurovision, it really is. But, obviously, I wish there wasn’t a war or this insane humanitarian crisis.
“I wish for peace and I have found this experience, at times, extremely … I’ve just felt really sad and distressed.”
Speaking on Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, deputy director general of the European Broadcasting Union who organises Eurovision, Jean Philip De Tender, defended Israel’s inclusion in the competition.
He said: “We do understand the concerns and deeply held views around the war in the Middle East.
“The song contest is a music event organised and co-produced by 37 public broadcasters, it’s not a competition between nations or governments.
“Our governing bodies reviewed the participation of Kan [Israel’s public broadcasting corporation] and found that they met all of the competing rules.”
Phillips pointed out incidences when Kan came under fire for their broadcasting.
This included, he said, when Kan published a video of children singing, in the public broadcaster’s own words, for the “annihilation of Gaza” and when one of their presenters was seen writing “I want to send the people of Gaza artillery shells”.
Mr De Tender said they had been in contact with Kan about the content they published and their editorial output, and had expressed concern on occasion.
He added that Eurovision had competition rules which they had to follow, and taking action beyond these rules to exclude Kan would have been a “political decision as such which we cannot take”.