More often than not, the inclusion of women in an action film is shaped by the male gaze, the tropes, the stereotypical backstory and/or the unnecessary physique-revealing scenes connected to it.

“That’s a pet peeve of mine,” director Len Wiseman tells Sky News in an interview for his new John Wick spin-off starring Ana de Armas.

“I think a lot of times you see it’s overly sexualized or there’s not a realism to it, and it is important to me that [this was] approached from a female [perspective] that can be labelled: ‘A woman is strong to begin with’. I think there can be some kind of pandering in certain ways that I think is too far.”

Wiseman started his career with the female-led action film franchise Underworld starring his former partner Kate Beckinsale before directing Die Hard 4.0, Total Recall and Sleepy Hollow.

From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina serves as a spin-off to the John Wick films and is set between the events of the third and fourth movies.

It follows a young trainee assassin who looks to be the next world-renowned assassin in the film universe.

“We never wanted to go as far as Eve looking like we were doing a female John Wick. Eve is Eve and is a woman… and it’s a woman in a man’s world,” says de Armas.

“That phrase ‘fight like a girl’, we wanted that to come across as something really empowering and really pull from there. That is a motivation for her. That has been said before in a derogatory way or as something diminishing.”

Wiseman and de Armas both say that while they wanted Eve to be strong, they also wanted her to feel every moment of the battle. If there are choreographed fight scenes or flashy action moves, she feels them.

“I wanted her to struggle,” explains de Armas, detailing how she consistently asked for her to look more dishevelled as the film progresses.

“It didn’t come from a place of I need to prove myself, I don’t need to prove myself to anybody, but I wanted to do that from the moment we started talking about the script, we even brought on board a female writer, because it was important for me to have that.”

De Armas, similar to her soon-to-be co-star Tom Cruise, relished in undertaking the more difficult stunts and wore the bruises and marks from them like badges of honour.

The actress would even send photos of the markings the following day to Wiseman proudly as she jokes: “I just wanted to keep him posted, you know, on how my body was at the end of the day.”

The film was shot practically, with the explosions and countless action surprises for film fans happening on set repeatedly.

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When asked about her toughest stunt to execute, without hesitation, she mentions a scene which included prop grenades.

“All the debris and everything that was flying with those grenades were real, so most of the dust and the little things flying were getting in my eyes, and I just could not open my eyes during the scene. So in between takes, the medics were like just rinsing my eyes with some water.”

With a film set around changing the meaning of ‘fight like a girl’, de Armas says she has a clear definition of it now: “Be yourself and make people gravitate around you and your rules. You make your own rules.”

From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina is in cinemas now.

Denim chaps and hot pants aren’t most people’s go-to outfit for standing outside on a drizzly June day in London but Beyonce fans with tickets to her Cowboy Carter tour joked they were enjoying their very own “rain-aissance”.

Referencing the singer’s 7th studio album, for Wilfy – originally from Brazil – the weather wasn’t going to dampen his spirits.

“We came to rock and this time I’m going to see her 5 times, so on Saturday I’ll be back. It’s Beyonce – this is a rain-aissance!”

Her album Cowboy Carter may be responsible for the plethora of country-themed outfits, but this is not the star’s first rodeo in terms of touring.

As an artist who’s been making music for over 25 years, this time around her 31 international shows are reportedly projected to make around £240m.

For established artists, with their income from touring often surpassing revenue from streaming or sales nowadays, the price point of tickets can be a tricky line to tread – just ask Oasis.

Figuring out how best to cover the costs of the massive touring infrastructure involved, make a profit whilst at the same time ensuring fans don’t feel ripped off isn’t easy to get right.

From giant trucks to a mechanical bull, Beyonce fans are promised plenty of bang for their buck and at almost three hours long, it is her longest show yet.

“I love this country album, it’s so good,” said Emily from Manchester. “I feel like it’s going to be an amazing show.”

Enon from Israel explained he’d taken a five-hour flight and spent a day ripping and sewing his cowboy-inspired tasselled denim crop top because “Beyonce is one of a kind, she changed my life, she made me who I am, and this is our little Met Gala”.

While there is quite a bit of pressure on the global superstar to deliver the goods, one man who knows more than most about how that feels is her dad, Dr Mathew Knowles, who was her manager for many years.

“It takes a lot to be a good manager,” he says, thoughtfully reflecting on that time, “but it takes even more to be a great one.”

From Destiny’s Child up until 2011, he worked alongside his daughter for some of her biggest hits.

“I’m one of the best managers ever,” he says in all seriousness.

While he has a ticket to see her perform in London, he is already in town to teach students at the London College of Contemporary Music where Sky News caught up with him.

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Here also to help find a new talent deserving of a music scholarship in his name. The candidate, he explained, has to be “a student who’s shown this real capacity, commitment and passion for the music industry”.

A stickler for young talent putting the practice in, he says: “Some artists aren’t ready to tour… from a creative standpoint and a performance standpoint [you need to] put in 10,000 hours.”

When her UK tour tickets went on sale, fans reported prices seemed to stay static, suggesting “dynamic pricing” wasn’t used to cash in on demand.

On Oasis’ headline-making ticket price row, Dr Knowles said: “I had to learn the value as a manager of understanding where each and every ticket goes.

“You know, it’s sad that often the artist gets the black eye when in fact the manager should be more involved…sometimes the artist doesn’t even know about it until they hear these complaints.”

Of course, you’ll hear few complaints from those with a ticket to see Beyonce on the UK leg of her world tour.

Music-wise Milton from Albania says he is confident his idol will “bring everyone together”.

But, he said, he wasn’t so sure about whether he’d need carrying out afterwards.

“When I see her I may die – a heart attack at a Beyonce concert? It would be worth it. What a way to go.”

A former girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs has told his sex trafficking trial how a whirlwind romance opened a “Pandora’s box” of sex sessions with male escorts that she did not know how to stop.

The witness, who is testifying under the pseudonym “Jane”, alleges the hip-hop mogul coerced her into participating in drug-fuelled “debauchery” nights throughout their relationship, which began in 2021 and ended when he was arrested in September 2024.

She began her evidence on a dramatic day at the Manhattan court, taking to the stand not long after Judge Arun Subramanian issued a warning to Combs‘s lawyers after seeing the rapper “nodding vigorously” towards the jury during earlier testimony.

If the “totally unacceptable” behaviour happens again during the trial, the judge said, he could take steps to remove the defendant from the courtroom.

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Jane is one of three alleged victims of Combs giving evidence during his trial, and her allegations mirror those given by his former long-term partner Cassie Ventura.

Both women said the rapper would sit in the corner and masturbate as he watched them have sex, and that the sessions would often last for more than 24 hours with “no sleep”.

Combs, 55, is accused of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In court on Thursday, he often looked straight at Jane as she gave evidence.

The single mother began her testimony by describing her whirlwind romance with Combs, saying he made her feel special and showered her with love and gifts in the first few months from January 2021.

Asked what happened in May 2021, she bowed her head and became emotional as she told the court how Combs started to talk about fantasies of role play with other men.

One night, he told her he could make the fantasy a reality, she says – and did so straight away.

Jane told the court she agreed to having sex with the male escort because she wanted to make Combs happy – and even “felt excited” afterwards after doing something “taboo”.

However, she said she thought it was a one-off. Instead, “it opened a Pandora’s box” and “set the tone” going forward, she said.

After that first night in May 2021, Jane said she was having sex with other men “90%” of the time.

Asked if this is what she wanted, she said it wasn’t, but that she “went along with it because I loved him at this point”.

Combs kept pushing her into these sex sessions, and she felt “obligated” to go along with it, she said. He also had control over her life in other ways, she told the court, including by paying the rent on her home.

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But as their relationship continued, she said she did tell him, “many times”, she did not want to keep having sex with other men, but he would dismiss her, make her feel uncomfortable, or seemingly threaten to stop paying her rent.

These encounters were referred to as “debauchery” or hotel nights, she told the court, and they always followed the same pattern – “hotel suites, red lights, music, lotions and alcohol, there would be bed sheets covering everything, blankets and towels, because of the excessive use of baby oil everywhere”.

Jane said she would “have drugs in my system” and wear “provocative” lingerie and “high stripper shoes”, and Combs would ask her to pour baby oil on the men and on herself.

These sessions typically lasted between 24 and 30 hours, she said, with “no sleep”.

In her testimony, Cassie Ventura told of similar sexual encounters, which Combs referred to as “freak offs”, she said.

Jane’s evidence is set to continue on Friday and on several days next week.