Daniel Craig tells of filming new Knives Out movie in Greece during lockdown at London Film Festival
Whodunnit movie Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery has closed this year’s London Film Festival with stars telling Sky News how pleased they are the industry is back in full swing following the pandemic.
The follow-up to the 2019 hit Knives Out sees Daniel Craig reprising his role as detective Benoit Blanc.
“It’s just wonderful to be here at the London Film Festival on the closing night,” the Bond star told Sky News.
“Especially with the standard of film this year, which has been so amazing – to be in that number is just exceptional.”
The rest of Glass Onion’s ensemble cast, including Edward Norton, Kate Hudson and Janelle Monae are new to the franchise.
The movie was shot partly in Greece during the pandemic, which meant the cast grew close as they were forced to spend time together.
“I mean, it was an amazing experience,” Craig said.
“We were under lockdown, so we were kind of restricted in our movements so we couldn’t really go very many places.
“It was about 150 degrees in the shade, but, you know, those are high class problems.”
Janelle Monae is new to the franchise
Kate Hudson, who plays a former supermodel turned designer, told Sky News the cast got on brilliantly.
“It was good fun, with a lot of hard work in between, you know?” she said.
“But we were a good work-hard, play-hard cast, so we were very well suited for each other, we had really good times.
“It was COVID, so it kind of forced us to have to play with each other for three months, so we ended up getting really close and it was really fun.”
The film is screening in London following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Both are fully in-person events this year, and Hudson says she’s “more than delighted” about that.
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“It feels like we’ve been, if you’re in the industry, it’s like we’ve been starved for it,” she said.
“It’s so important to celebrate film and all of the great artists that have really worked their entire lives to be able to bring art to people through cinema.
“And so these festivals are… I just love them, I love being a part of them and it’s nice for everybody to be back in the theatre.”
Writer and director Rian Johnson also brought the first Knives Out to the London Film Festival three years ago.
He told Sky News that assembling the cast for the follow-up wasn’t easy on paper, but worked out very well.
“I feel so incredibly lucky this gang of actors signed on board for this – I mean everyone’s so busy these days, it’s always hard getting a group of people to commit to coming out to do something,” Johnson explained.
“But if you had told me when I started writing the group that we would get, I would get very nervous and probably not be able to finish writing.
“But I mean, everybody – the fact that we got to work with Kathryn Hahn, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae, it’s absolutely kind of a director’s dream, made my job very easy.”
Kate Hudson plays a former supermodel turned designer
With early reviews for the film very positive, attention now turns to the third.
In 2021, Netflix paid for two Knives Out sequels in a deal reported to be worth almost £400m.
And Johnson says he and Craig are very happy to keep going – admitting they have a great deal of fun on set.
“There is a lot of giggling that happens between us when we’re shooting, I mean, that’s the whole reason we’re here,” he said.
“That’s the real reason we’re keeping making these things is because on the first one we had so much fun together and just got along so well, and on this one it felt like it was maybe even more fun.
“So we’ll see – as long as these keep being fun and as long as we feel like we can find a different thing to do each time to keep surprising the audience and keep it fresh, we’ll keep making these.”
Audiences in the UK will have to wait a little longer for Glass Onion, though – it’s not out in cinemas here until November, and will be on Netflix the following month.
Pop star Lana Del Rey has married her alligator tour guide partner in Louisiana, according to reports.
The singer, 39, and Jeremy Dufrene, 49, are said to have obtained a marriage licence in Lafourche parish on Monday and had their wedding three days later.
Footage obtained by the Daily Mail appears to show Del Rey, whose real name is Elizabeth Woodridge Grant, wearing a white dress where Mr Dufrene works as a tour guide in Des Allemandes, south of New Orleans.
Del Rey has not commented on the reported wedding.
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She met Mr Dufrene in 2019, posting pictures of her on one of his tours with the caption: “Jeremy lemme be captain at Arthur’s Air Boat Tours x.”
Arthur’s Air Boat Tours gives guided tours through the local swamps, where its website says visitors are likely to see “300 species of birds” and “alligators up close and personal”.
Mr Dufrene’s profile page says he previously worked seven days a week at a chemical plant – when he would “shrimp on vacation days”.
“After a little convincing by his family, he got his captain’s licence and started running tours,” it adds.
“Jeremy’s a great airboat captain and loves interacting with wildlife & customers.”
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The couple were pictured together at Reading and Leeds festival this summer where Del Rey headlined.
She previously dated Scottish singer Barrie-James O’Neill for three years and was last linked to a police officer called Sean Larkin.
Entertainment
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs: Woman accuses rapper of further sexual assault allegations in new lawsuit
Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with further sexual assault allegations after a woman filed a lawsuit in New York.
In the fresh civil case, the woman – identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe – claims she was repeatedly raped and drugged at the music mogul’s homes and became pregnant after one of the encounters.
It follows a series of similar legal cases brought by women against Combs, 54, who was arrested at a hotel in New York last week on sex trafficking, drug possession and firearms offences.
The latest lawsuit was filed on Friday against Combs, his companies and several associates, and seeks undisclosed damages for physical injuries, severe emotional distress, humiliation, anxiety and other harm.
The woman claims she met Combs abroad in 2020 and that the assaults and harassment continued through to July this year.
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Rappers dodge Diddy question
She says she was often coerced and harassed into travelling to Combs’ homes in New York, Los Angeles and Miami and other cities, and during every visit the rapper would make her “perform a show” for him.
In one encounter alleged to have taken place in July 2022, the woman claims she blacked out after being forced to take drugs that included ketamine.
She later allegedly took a pregnancy test and told Combs it was positive. She said an associate of the music producer repeatedly demanded her to get an abortion. The lawsuit states she had a miscarriage.
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Diddy ‘didn’t do these things’ – lawyer
The woman, who is being represented by lawyers Marie Napoli and Joseph Ciaccio, also alleges Combs and his associates tracked her location and monitored her conversations.
She claims Combs discouraged her from working and gave her an “allowance” that he used to control her.
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“No one is above the law. Fame and wealth do not protect Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs from serious allegations of sex trafficking and abuse,” Ms Napoli said in a statement.
Combs has been facing civil allegations including rape, sexual assault, and forced drugging since November 2023.
He has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking but remains jailed, having been denied bail. His attorney said he is innocent and will fight to clear his name.
A lawyer for Combs did not respond to the allegations made in Friday’s lawsuit when contacted by the Associated Press news agency.
Dame Maggie Smith, known for her roles in Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, has died at the age of 89, her sons have said.
The actress died in hospital, her children Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said.
In a statement, they said: “An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days.
“We thank you for all your kind messages and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”
Born in Essex in 1934, Dame Maggie became an internationally recognised actress – one of the most versatile, accomplished and meticulous actresses of her generation.
Her first significant accolade came after playing the fanatical teacher in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969, which won her a best actress Oscar and BAFTA.
Her second Oscar came for her role in California Suite in 1978 which won her a best supporting actress trophy, as well as a Golden Globe.
Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley in the Downton Abbey movie (2019). Pic: Focus Features/Kobal/Shutterstock
More recently she won a new generation of fans as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, in Downton Abbey and playing Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies.
Although she was a tour de force in leading roles on the West End stage, she was equally happy – even during the years of her mega-stardom – to accept supporting roles, particularly in films.
Dame Maggie played Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films. Pic: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc/Alamy
The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie (1969). Pic: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock
The Downton Abbey TV series won her a series of awards – three Emmys, a Golden Globe, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
TV presenter Gyles Brandreth has led the tributes, describing her as “wise, witty, waspish, wonderful” and “one of a kind in every way”.
Sir Keir Starmer posted on X that Dame Maggie was a “true national treasure whose work will be cherished for generations to come” while former prime minister Rishi Sunak described her as “an icon of the stage and screen”.
Meanwhile a message posted by BAFTA said: “Dame Maggie was a legend of British stage and screen, winning five BAFTAs as well as a BAFTA Special Award and BAFTA Fellowship during her highly acclaimed career.”
She took Maggie as her stage name because another Margaret Smith was active in the theatre. She was 18 when she first appeared on stage, in Twelfth Night.
Laurence Olivier spotted her talent, invited her to be part of his original National Theatre company and cast her as his co-star in a 1965 film adaptation of Othello.
She played Mother Superior alongside Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act (1992). Pic: Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock
Judi Dench and Maggie Smith in A Room With A View (1986). Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
She starred alongside Richard Gere in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) Pic: Moviestore/Shutterstock
Some of her best-known movies included: Young Cassidy in 1966, Death On The Nile in 1979, Quartet in 1982, The Secret Garden in 1994, Tea With Mussolini in 2000, Gosford Park in 2002, and The Lady In The Van in 2016.
She married fellow actor Robert Stephens in 1967. They had two sons and divorced in 1975. The same year she married the writer Beverley Cross, who died in 1998. She was made a Dame in 1990.
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