Dune director ‘needed’ talent of Timothee Chalamet to make sci-fi epic

Published

3 years ago

October 18, 2021

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Screams echoed around London’s Leicester Square as Timothee Chalamet fans desperately tried to grab the attention of the young actor who has garnered a loyal – and very loud – following.

He was among a host of stars who turned out on Monday night to promote the new adaptation of Dune – an expensive looking sci-fi that will be hoping to attract the same numbers to the box office that the latest James Bond movie has when it’s finally released later this week after facing delays caused by the pandemic.

While the 25-year-old told Sky News he appreciates that many still won’t feel ready to return to the cinema, he’s clearly passionate that people do view the film on a big screen.

“It feels a little presumptuous to tell people they must go see this in the cinemas – there’s a pandemic, there’s crazy things going on, there’s no obligation to,” Chalamet said.

“But if you like movies and you like big movies and you like movies that are made where directors [are] given free licence to do it as he pleases, and there aren’t multiple corporate multinational interests that are guiding product placement, who gets cast in it, all sorts of s**t like that.

“If you like Christopher Nolan movies, if you like Denis Villeneuve movies, then going to see this in a movie theatre helps our ability to keep doing it.”

Chalamet plays the lead character, Paul Atreides, in the film – a young man with a big career ahead of him, something the actor can surely relate to.

He said he sees the benefits of the weight of expectation.

“Live in gratitude – I’ll take this pressure over the pressures I had when I didn’t have a career, when I was in college, when I just wanted to be acting,” Chalamet said.

“People have worse problems than that, but for me, that’s what it was, so, you know, I’ll take this over that.”

Chalamet was the first and only choice of director Denis Villeneuve, who has assembled an A-list cast for the film, which is based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Frank Herbert.

He told Sky News the young star was perfect for the role.

“The thing is that Timothee had read the book, so he knew exactly what he was getting into,” Villeneuve said.

“And for me, I was looking to dig into the entirety of the character and to be very close to him.

“I needed [Chalamet’s] strength, I needed his talent – I would not have been able to make it with someone else.”

For other cast members, it was the director’s vision for the project that made them want to be involved.

Rebecca Ferguson, who plays Paul’s mother Lady Jessica, a role she describes as “one in a million”, told Sky News how it differed to other projects she’s worked on.

“There was a grandiosity to it, because of how big it is, but I think there was also, amazingly enough, this feeling of independence – the smaller in the large,” she said.

“We keep on saying it’s like an indie, huge movie, and I think it was the love for the project, there’s such a core fundamental belief in Denis, and that means it becomes a very tight bond between all of us because we care.”

Jason Momoa, who plays sword master Duncan Idaho, compared his role to Han Solo in the Star Wars films, and said winning it was “the most surreal thing” that’s ever happened to him.

Echoing Ferguson’s comments, he also referenced Villeneuve’s passion for the film.

“My first meeting with him, he sent me like an 80-page booklet, like his Bible, a lookbook for the whole movie,” Momoa said.

“Just sent it over without me even saying yes, I’m like, yeah, of course I’ll play, but he still sent that over, which I thought was just unbelievable.”

While the stars of Dune have clearly bought into Villeneuve’s vision, it remains to be seen whether the film can help cinemas continue to recover – and there’s a lot at stake for the director too, with a sequel planned, but not yet confirmed.

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But if the buzz in Leicester Square this evening translates to ticket sales, it seems likely Dune will have been worth the wait.

Dune is out in cinemas in the UK on Friday

Entertainment

Nicki Minaj arrested at Netherlands airport hours before Co-op Live show in Manchester

Published

2 hours ago

May 25, 2024

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Nicki Minaj arrested at Netherlands airport hours before Co-op Live show in Manchester

Music star Nicki Minaj has been arrested at an airport in the Netherlands hours before she was due to perform at Co-op Live in Manchester.

The American rapper was detained at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on suspicion of possession of soft drugs.

Minaj posted a series of messages on the social media site X – including one message in which she wrote “they said they found weed”.

She also claimed “they took my luggage without consent” and “they’re trying to keep me from MANCHESTER”.

The messages also included one where she wrote: “This is Amsterdam btw, where weed is legal.”

The star also filmed what appeared to be an airport official asking her to have her luggage checked.

Minaj later wrote: “It’s a 45 minute to an hour flight. So they’re probably trying to stall for about 4 hours.”

And she added: “Now they said I have to go 5 mins away to make a statement about my security to the police precinct.”

She has not posted on X since.

Asked about Minaj, Robert van Kapel, a spokesman for the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, told Sky News’ partner network NBC News: “We can confirm that we have arrested a 41-year-old American woman at Schiphol Airport because of possession of soft drugs.”

It is unclear if Minaj’s show at Co-op Live has been affected.

A post on the venue’s X account said shortly after 5.15pm: “Please note that general admission and premium doors for tonight’s Nicki Minaj show will now open at 19:00.”

The beleaguered Co-op Live arena in Manchester – the UK’s largest indoor entertainment venue – finally opened earlier this month after it was plagued by a series of problems.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Entertainment

Kelly Rowland responds to row with female security guard on Cannes Film Festival red carpet

Published

1 day ago

May 24, 2024

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Kelly Rowland responds to row with female security guard on Cannes Film Festival red carpet

Kelly Rowland says she was treated differently to other women on the Cannes red carpet, and an apparent dispute with a female security guard came about after she “stood her ground”.

A viral video shows the former Destiny’s Child star entering into what looked like a heated debate with a member of security staff while walking up the stairs to the theatre at the premiere of the film Marcello Mio.

Rowland went on to speak about the incident at the amfAR gala in Cannes, which saw Hollywood A-listers Demi Moore and Cher among the stars supporting fundraising for AIDS research.

The 43-year-old singer said other women attended the event “who did not quite look like me and they didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off”.

The apparent altercation happened while posing for pictures in a strapless red gown at the premiere on Tuesday evening.

The video shows the security guard holding up her arms to guide 43-year-old Rowland up the steps as she is waving and having her picture taken, at which point Rowland points her finger at the staff member and appears upset.

The dispute carries on up the stairs, with Rowland turning around to direct a comment to the guard before entering the building.

It all took place in front of a crowd of fans who watched the incident unfold.

Speaking at the amfAR gala on Thursday, Rowland said: “The woman knows what happened. I know what happened. And, I have a boundary. And I stand by those boundaries and that is it.

“There were other women who attended that carpet, who did not quite look like me, and they didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off.

“I stood my ground. And she felt she had to stand hers, but I stood my ground and that was it.”

Sky News has approached Rowland and the Cannes Film Festival for comment.

Rowland hit the headlines earlier this year after she reportedly walked off the Today show in the US.

Speculation over her exit has never been confirmed.

Entertainment

P Diddy: New sexual assault allegations filed against rapper Sean Combs

Published

1 day ago

May 24, 2024

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P Diddy: New sexual assault allegations filed against rapper Sean Combs

A former fashion student has accused rapper P Diddy of sexually assaulting her more than 20 years ago when she was a fashion student in New York City.

April Lampros, who is now 51, filed a claim at the Supreme Court of New York County on Thursday, according to NBC, Sky News’s sister outlet in the United States.

She claims the musician – whose real name is Sean Combs – sexually assaulted her on four occasions between 1995 and the early 2000s, including once when she was forced to take ecstasy and have sex with Combs’ former girlfriend Kim Porter.

Porter died in 2018 of pneumonia.

Ms Lampros also claims that years after she severed ties with Combs, 54, she learned he was alleged to have recorded them having sex without her knowledge and showed the recording to others.

It comes just days after CCTV video footage emerged showing Combs attacking his ex-partner Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016.

The rapper responded to the video saying he was “truly sorry,” and was “disgusted” by his “inexcusable” behaviour.

Before the video emerged, Combs had denied all allegations of abuse and wrongdoing. He had previously called Cassie’s allegations sickening.

Many celebrities hit out at his behaviour, with actress and model Emily Ratajkowski calling him a “monster”.

Ventura has since thanked people for “the outpouring of love”, adding that “domestic violence… broke me down to someone I never thought I would become“.

Combs cannot be prosecuted for his actions in the hotel video as they took place too long ago.

Ms Lampros – who is suing Combs over allegations of battery, sexual assault, infliction of emotional distress and gender-motivated violence – is the sixth woman to detail assault allegations against Combs in a lawsuit.

On Tuesday, a former model filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her at his New York City recording studio in 2003 after they met at a Men’s Fashion Week event.

Crystal McKinney, who was 22 at the time of the alleged attack, said she smoked marijuana with Combs, which she “later came to understand” was laced with a narcotic or intoxicating substance.

She said she was sexually assaulted by Combs in the bathroom, before losing consciousness and later waking up in a taxi and realised she had been sexually assaulted.

In March, his homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by Homeland Security as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York.

In April, Combs was named in a lawsuit that alleges his son sexually assaulted a woman working on a yacht chartered by his father.

Ventura, who began dating Combs a few years after meeting him in 2005, and split with him in 2019, sued him in November, alleging she was trafficked, raped, plied with drugs and beaten by Combs over a 10-year period.

The lawsuit claimed he forced her to have sex with male sex workers while he filmed them. The case was settled the day after it was filed.

Combs – who has never been formally charged – denies all charges against him.

Sky News has contacted the rapper for comment.