Everything Everywhere All At Once leads Oscar nominations
Everything Everywhere All At Once leads the Oscar nominations, as blockbuster films triumph in the best picture category.
The sci-fi fantasy, which has been a word-of-mouth hit around the world, landed 11 nominations, closely followed by The Banshees Of Inisherin and All Quiet On The Western Front with nine nods each.
Somewhat unusually, the prestigious best picture category included films that performed brilliantly at the box office as well as pleasing the critics, with Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way Of Water and Elvis all making the cut.
Tom Cruise is back in Top Gun: Maverick. Pic: Paramount Pictures
All about the sequels
In another first for the category, two sequels were nominated – Top Gun and Avatar. Only eight sequels have ever made the cut in Oscar history, and never before have two been chosen in a single year.
Last year, in a bid to open it up to genres that might not be typically thought of as Oscars-material, the best picture category was expanded to 10 films.
The other films up for best picture are The Fabelmans, Tar, Women Talking and Triangle Of Sadness.
Which actors got a nod?
The best actor category saw five first time nominees, with British star Bill Nighy getting his first nod for his portrayal of a buttoned-up businessman learning to enjoy life.
Irish stars Colin Farrell and Paul Mescal also made the cut, nominated for The Banshees Of Inisherin and Aftersun respectively. They will go up against US stars Brendan Fraser, for The Whale, and Austin Butler, for Elvis.
In the best actress race, four-time nominee Michelle Williams will be hoping this year is her time, and goes up against Cate Blanchett for Tar, Michelle Yeo for Everything Everywhere, Ana de Armas for Blonde and Andrea Riseborough for To Leslie.
Andrea Riseborough
Riseborough’s nomination is a shock to many, with her film – about an alcoholic seeking redemption after squandering her lottery winnings and abandoning her son – made on a modest budget and filmed in just 19 days.
Endorsed by a host of Hollywood stars including Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Aniston and Amy Adams in recent weeks – the last minute push has clearly done the trick.
Banshees continues to impress
Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees – a comedy about a man left bewildered after his best friend kicks him to the curb – continued its success in the supporting actor categories, with Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon all gaining nods.
Barry Keoghan also stars in the film. Pic: 20th Century Studios
Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Pic: A24
In the best supporting actor category Glesson and Keoghan will be up against former child-star Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere, Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway and Judd Hirsch in The Fabelmans.
In the best supporting actress category, Condon will be up against Angela Bassett – whose nod for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever marks the first acting nomination for a Marvel film, aside from Chadwick Boseman’s posthumous 2021 nod.
The other best supporting actress nominations are Hong Chau for The Whale, and Jamie Lee Curtis and and Stephanie Hsu for Everything Everywhere.
Female directors snubbed
An all-male best director list means that despite women winning the category two years running (Chloe Zhao in 2021 and Jane Campion 2022) it will not be a woman taking home the gong this year.
Spielberg and McDonagh will continue their rivalry for best director accolades, both having received nominations in the parallel categories at other award shows.
The other men up for the best director Oscar are Todd Field for Tar, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known collectively as “The Daniels”) for Everything Everywhere and Ruben Ostlund for Triangle Of Sadness.
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Nominations across 23 categories were announced by Oscar-winner actor and producer Riz Ahmed and Girls star Allison Williams.
When and where can I watch the actual Oscars?
Three hundred and one films were eligible for this year’s awards, which will take place in March, in a star-studded ceremony hosted by US chat show host Jimmy Kimmel.
All nominated movies must have opened in a commercial motion picture theatre in at least one of six US metropolitan areas between 1 January and 31 December, last year.
They must also have completed a minimum of seven consecutive days in the same venue and must have a running time of more than 40 minutes.
You can watch the Oscars exclusively on Sky Showcase on Sunday 12 March from midnight.
Sky News will be live on the red carpet at the ceremony in Hollywood on Sunday 12 and live with the winners at the Vanity Fair party on Breakfast with Kay Burley, Monday 13 March.
Gyles Brandreth says he blames himself for the death of Rod Hull, who died in 1999 when he fell from the roof of his home while attempting to adjust his television aerial.
The 63-year-old entertainer was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital with a coroner later recording a verdict of accidental death.
Hull and Emu were popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Pic: Rex Features
Speaking to John Cleese on the latest episode of his Rosebud podcast, Brandreth said: “I killed a man – it was Rod Hull, the emu man.”
The 76-year-old former GMB presenter went on to explain he had been at the theatre with Hull on the day of his death, a day he said was blighted by “terrible, terrible weather”.
Brandreth went on: “He was sitting next to me, and he was complaining all through the show – he was interrupting the show almost – going on about how he wanted to get home because he wanted to watch the football, but his Sky aerial wasn’t transmitting properly.
“And I said, ‘Don’t moan about it, if you want to watch the television get a ladder out, climb on to the roof, and fix it Rod’.”
He went on to describe Hull’s accident, saying: “And after the show, in this stormy weather, he went home, he got out a ladder, he climbed the ladder, and he tried to fix the aerial.
“Unfortunately, the wind was very great, and he fell backwards off the ladder and killed himself.”
Brandreth said that while he wasn’t present at the time of the accident, he felt he’d “encouraged” him to climb on the roof.
Hull and Emu on Michael Parkinson in 1976
Brandreth also explained how Hull had surprised those who attended his funeral with a pre-planned skit featuring his famous puppet.
‘That bloody bird’
Brandreth said: “It was a great funeral though because at his funeral the coffin came in, and as the coffin was being carried in, it was a sort of [knock, knock, knock].
“He’d arranged a beak sound to be inside the coffin as though the emu was also in the coffin.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Hull and Emu first found fame on an Australian children’s TV show, before returning to the UK to establish their act.
Emu famously attacked talk show host Michael Parkinson in 1976, with only a threat from Billy Connolly keeping the puppet under control for the rest of the show. With the moment becoming one of Parkinson’s most memorable moments, he would later refer to the itinerant puppet as “that bloody bird!”.
Read more:
Britney Spears says paramedics turned up ‘illegally’
Gavin & Stacey to return for ‘last ever episode’
Their popularity peaked in the late 1970s and 1980s, getting their own shows first on the BBC, then ITV, and a later animated follow-up – Rod ‘n’ Emu – on CITV in 1991.
Brandreth, who was previously a Conservative MP for the City of Chester, also said he “killed Harry Secombe”, describing how he had just completed a phone interview with the Welsh actor when he “fell and slipped backwards down the stairs, and a few days later he died”.
Secombe, who was a member of the radio comedy troop The Goon Show, died in 2001 aged 79.
Entertainment
Britney Spears says paramedics turned up ‘illegally’ after twisting her ankle at Chateau Marmont
Britney Spears has downplayed concerns about her health, after paramedics were called to the Chateau Marmont, a boutique hotel in LA.
The 42-year-old singer shared several posts on social media, addressing the incident in the early hours of Thursday morning at the luxury venue on Sunset Boulevard.
Photographs taken by paparazzi appeared to show Spears wearing pyjama shorts outside the hotel, while wrapped in a blanket and clutching a pillow.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Spears wrote: “Just to let people know… the news is fake!!!,” adding, “I am getting stronger every day!!!”
She went on to detail an injury she had suffered that night, writing: “I also twisted my ankle last night and paramedics showed up at my door illegally. They never came in my room but I felt completely harassed. I’m moving to Boston.”
In a later post, she shared a short video showing her swollen ankle, saying: “I really twisted my ankle last night… It’s so bad… F****** idiot here tries to do a leap here in the living room at the Chateau and I fell, embarrassed myself, and that’s it.
“Paramedics came to my door, illegally, and of course caused this scene, which was so unnecessary, when all it needed was ice. But yeah, it is actually pretty bad.”
Spears is now “safe and at home”, two sources close to Spears told NBC News.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department did not identify Spears as the subject of a 911 call at the Chateau Marmont but confirmed paramedics were dispatched to the hotel Thursday morning after a report that an adult female had been injured.
The call was received at 12.42am according to the spokesman, Brian Humphrey.
Humphrey said it was unclear if paramedics encountered the person who had reportedly been injured or offered medical help.
No law enforcement was summoned to the address and paramedics left at 1.17am, Humphrey said.
He said the LAFD has no immediate comment on the claims Spears made in her social media post.
Spears with ex-husband Sam Asghari. Pic: AP
The incident comes in the week Spears’s divorce from Sam Asghari was finalised. The former couple – who were married for just 14 months – recently filed paperwork, indicating they had reached a divorce settlement.
Meanwhile, it was announced last week that Spears had also reached a settlement with her father about her controversial 13-year conservatorship which ended in late 2021.
Late last year, Spears released a tell-all memoir – The Woman In Me – giving insight into her stage career, her relationship with Justin Timberlake, friendships with stars including Madonna and Paris Hilton, and her breakdown in 2007.
Sky News has contacted Britney Spears’s representatives for comment.
Entertainment
Gavin & Stacey to return for ‘last ever episode’ on Christmas Day, James Corden announces
Hit sitcom Gavin & Stacey will return for its “last ever episode” on Christmas Day, James Corden has announced.
Corden posted a picture on his Instagram of himself and co-creator Ruth Jones holding a script.
The text on its cover reads: “Gavin & Stacey: the finale. Written by James Corden and Ruth Jones 2024.”
In the caption, Corden added: “Some news…It’s official!”
“We have finished writing the last ever episode of Gavin & Stacey. See you on Christmas Day, BBC One. Love Ruth and James.”
The series, which is primarily filmed in South Wales, first aired in 2007 and lasted for three series, before returning for a special in 2019.
James Corden and Ruth Jones. Pic: James Corden
The comedy follows the blossoming romance of Gavin Shipman (Matthew Horne) and Stacey West (Joanna Page). Shipman is from Essex and West is from Barry in Wales.
Corden and Jones appear as their respective best friends Smithy and Nessa.
Nessa’s catchphrase – “what’s occurring?” – is one of many widely quoted lines from the programme.
Other well-known actors in the cast include Rob Brydon, Melanie Walters, Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb.
A Christmas Day return for the series had been rumoured earlier this year after reports in US media.
Jones had previously denied the claims, but now the show’s comeback has been officially confirmed.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The last special ended on a cliffhanger as audiences eagerly awaited Smithy’s response to Nessa’s marriage proposal.
The 2019 special was watched by around 18 million viewers.
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