A photograph in a trailer for Harry and Meghan’s docuseries, apparently to illustrate paparazzi hounding the couple, was actually taken at a Harry Potter premiere and is not connected to the Royal Family, Sky News can confirm.
The image features in the first of two trailers released by Netflixto promote the upcoming Harry And Meghan series, which is released on Thursday.
After the paparazzi image is shown, he says: “I had to do everything I could to protect my family.”
The photograph, featured in the trailer in black and white, shows a big group of photographers holding up long lenses, looking eager to get a shot.
After questions were raised about where and when the image was taken, Sky News analysed the photograph and confirmed it was captured at the premiere of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part Two in July 2011 – attended by stars including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, and author JK Rowling.
Harry and Meghan did not meet until five years later, in 2016.
A comparison of the paparazzi photo below with the image underneath, taken from a video feed of the Harry Potter premiere, shows the same photographer and a towel in both shots, among other matches.
The Harry Potter premiere photo is available on Alamy, an image website, and is the first to come up under the search term “paparazzi”.
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Doug Seeburg, a photographer for The Sun, is in the shot.
Speaking to the newspaper, he said: “I remember going to the premiere. It was a huge event.
“Crowds and crowds of fans had turned out in the rain and camped overnight to see the actors. There were no members of the Royal Family there.”
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0:59
Harry & Meghan – the first trailer
He added: “In the Netflix trailer it’s implied the photographers, including me, were trying to get a shot of the royal couple – but that’s nonsense.”
Sky News has contacted representatives for both Netflix and the Sussexes for comment about the photograph.
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Harry & Meghan – second trailer
In a second trailer for Harry & Meghan, the duke speaks of the “pain and suffering” of women marrying into the Royal Family and says that only he and his wife know “the full truth” about their story.
Netflix has promised the series will provide an “unprecedented and in-depth” look into the couple, who will “share the other side of their high-profile love story” over six episodes.
The first volume of the series will launch on Thursday, with the second volume to be released on 15 December, the same date as a Christmas carol service hosted by the Princess of Wales.
Adele has bid a tearful farewell to her Las Vegas residency show, as the Someone Like You star admitted she doesn’t know when she’ll perform again next.
The British singer-songwriter, 36, launched Weekends with Adele at Caesars Palace in November 2022 and performed her 100th show there on Saturday.
Her mammoth run of sell-out shows at the venue, which seats around 4,000 people, has been a success but has taken its toll.
Blockbuster Wicked has landed the largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue International.
The film, starring Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winning pop star Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, surpassed both Gladiator II and Paddington In Peru.
It has also had the largest opening weekend for a stage musical adaptation in the cinema chain’s history.
A boss for Vue International said it had seen a “sea of pink and green” over the weekend.
Released on Friday, Wicked is up 60% on Les Miserables’ opening weekend in 2012 and three times larger than the 2022 film adaptation of Matilda.
Founder and chief executive of Vue International Tim Richards said: “Vue has seen a sea of pink and green over the opening weekend of Wicked, which has shown continued high demand for the big screen experience.
“We saw record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked, followed by a chart-topping opening weekend – the biggest for 2024.”
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The film is the first of two parts, with the second expected in November next year.
Wicked and Gladiator II – known together as Glicked – have reportedly failed to beat out Barbenheimer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, in its own opening weekend last summer.
John David Washington says he felt like he had to conceal his desire to act because of the external expectations of him being the child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
He tells Sky News it took some time for him to pursue an acting career, choosing football instead to assert his “independence” and create his own “identity” separate from his famous family.
“I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life… but I was hiding it,” he said.
“I had to conceal that passion based on my relationship to the world and more specifically, my folks being in the industry, so I chose ball.
“I loved ball, but I was sort of hiding my love for the arts under a helmet – literally an American football helmet – and so when I wanted to become an actor, when I decided to pursue it, that was a big shock to some people.”
The 40-year-old actor says when he decided to pursue an acting career, he kept the decision quiet.
“Some people didn’t know I was even pursuing it professionally until I got a job,” he said.
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Since switching to acting, John David has starred in a number of notable roles including the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman and Joshua in The Creator.
He also led the stage revival of the 2022 Tony-nominated play The Piano Lesson on Broadway alongside Samuel L Jackson.
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“He [Jackson] originated the role [I play] in 1987 at Yale with Lloyd Richards and August Wilson,” John David said.
“So it was of great importance for us to learn from both he and Michael Potts about August Wilson. It was a great blessing for me, I think, for all of us to have him present on set.”
The Piano Lesson is the third August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment.
It is part of a pledge made by the Gladiator II actor to make all 10 of the playwright’s works into films.
The Netflixproject is directed by another Washington family member, Malcolm, and stars most of the cast from the Broadway revival.
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film centres on a family heirloom, a piano, that is etched with the carvings of their family history made by their enslaved ancestor.
Malcolm says he started reading the play for the first time during the pandemic and immediately wanted to be involved in the film adaptation.
“I think with this movie, reclamation of story and identity is so central to the theme and it’s something that’s central to my life where I both acknowledge the fertile ground that I was raised on and who I am today.
“That’s what Wining Boy [played by Michael Potts] really is trying to do, he’s trying to build on that legacy, so that’s a story that really resonated with me.”
The filmmaker added: “I take all the gifts that my ancestors laid in front of me, and I’m trying to build something for the next generation to pass down – all of their gifts, plus mine to the next generation and let them build on it.”
Malcolm says his goal was to put family at the forefront of the production. By dedicating his feature debut to “Mama”, he is acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices that mothers make for the growth of their families.
“There’s so much pointing to my mother in particular, who inspired this adaptation so much. I see so much of her life in Berniece’s character [played by Danielle Deadwyler] – and that became a guiding light for me in this adaptation,” he said.
“As we made this thing and started reconnecting with our ancestors, my mum became like a kind of representative of them.
“She’s the matriarch of our family. She tells me about my grandparents and great-grandparents and the line that I come from, and I see them in her.
“And when the movie ends, I want people to kind of have that moment of reflection for their own lives. So in dedicating it to her, I was trying to dedicate it to all mums everywhere.”