“Well, I was born in ’94, so I just really missed out on the initial wave of He-Man,” the English actor told Reuters.

However, after learning what the franchise has meant to generations of fans - especially those who grew up in the 1980s - and falling in love with the script, Galitzine said he became increasingly inspired to take on the character.

“I think the love and desperation to play the character kind of grew,” he said.

He-Man originated in the early 1980s as a Mattel action figure, with the 2026 “Masters of the Universe” film emerging from a collaboration between Mattel Studios and Amazon MGM Studios.

In 2025, Mattel merged its film and television divisions to form Mattel Studios, marking a significant step toward building entertainment around its brands, following the commercial success of the 2023 film “Barbie.”

Jason Momoa says having best year of his career

Mattel Films President Robbie Brenner, who also serves as president and chief content officer of the combined unit, produced “Masters of the Universe,” while “Bumblebee” director Travis Knight helmed the project.

The film follows Prince Adam, played by Galitzine, as he returns to his home planet of Eternia to embrace his destiny as He-Man and defend it from the villain Skeletor, portrayed by Jared Leto.

The cast also includes Idris Elba as Duncan, a trusted general; Camila Mendes as Teela, Duncan’s adoptive daughter; Alison Brie as the villainous sorceress Evil-Lyn; and Sam C. Wilson as Kronis, a cybernetic weapons expert allied with Skeletor.

Elba said he relishes the chance to introduce the franchise he grew up with to a new generation, including co-stars like Mendes, who, like Galitzine, did not experience He-Man in its original era.

“I think good IP has that opportunity to reimagine good art,” Elba said.

“We’re still doing Shakespeare, and we’re still doing biblical stories,” he added, noting that revisiting well-known material allows storytellers to connect it with younger audiences.

“Masters of the Universe” arrives in theaters on Friday.

The Massachusetts-based startup, which allows users to generate songs via AI prompts, said Bond Capital led the Series D funding round alongside venture capital firms such as IVP, Forerunner and Union Square Ventures.

AI music companies have been under growing scrutiny from artists, who have objected to the use of their work to train models without compensation.

More than 1,800 independent artists are supporting class-action lawsuits against Suno and Udio, alleging that the actions of these startups “were an attack” on the music community’s “most vulnerable and valuable members”.

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Last year Udio signed deals with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to settle copyright cases, while Suno reached a settlement with WMG.

Spotify announced a deal with UMG last month, allowing the Swedish streaming giant’s subscribers to create AI-generated covers and remixes of tracks by some of the label’s artists, doubling down on AI features to compete with Suno and Udio.

Suno plans to begin rolling out its first music model developed in partnership with WMG in the coming months.

The startup said in an emailed response it expects to work with additional industry partners, but did not provide further details.

Existing investors, including Lightspeed and Menlo Ventures, participated in the fundraise.

The startup had in November raised $250 million at a $2.45 billion valuation.

“It’s probably my biggest year of my career,” Momoa, 46, told AFP in an interview.

The actor said he’s enjoying playing a range of roles, including Lobo, the intergalactic bounty hunter in the upcoming “Supergirl” film, which he described as “a childhood dream.”

The star also appears in the film adaptation of “Street Fighter” and in the “Dune” trilogy, whose final installment hits theaters in December.

Momoa, who rose to fame thanks to “Game of Thrones,” had the opportunity to work with Julian Schnabel, whom he described as his favorite director, in “In the Hand of Dante,” which premieres this month on Netflix.

The actor is feeling like he’s on a roll after playing a comedic role in last year’s box office hit, “A Minecraft Movie,” which he starred in with Jack Black.

“Minecraft really was huge, you know?” he said. “We didn’t see that coming.”

“I always wanted to do comedy. I mean, I’ve always done action my whole life,” where playing superheroes felt “inevitable.” But he enjoyed the opportunity to “make people laugh.”

The actor said that comedic roles like those in “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part,” in which he voices a parody of Aquaman, a character he has portrayed in several productions, also allowed him to connect with a very special audience: his family.

“It was an epic moment because my kids got to see me do the looping (voiceover),” he said. While they don’t seem to care much about his other roles, “when I’m involved with Lego, I’m an all-star.”

The actor reconnected with the famous brick brand by debuting this Monday as “the Playmaster,” the central figure in Lego’s “Never Stop Playing” campaign to encourage families to dedicate more time to playing with their children, as social media and screens gain ground.

“I grew up with Lego. My children grew up with Lego,” said Momoa, who sees the colorful pieces and their infinite possibilities as a tool for developing creativity and imagination.

“It’s something that makes my heart smile,” he said.

The unique role came with a bonus: “Being chosen by Lego to have your own little action figures… for them to make that was pretty special.”

Now, ahead of the June 19 release of his debut album, “My Mess, My Heart, My Life,” the 27-year-old opens up to Reuters about how therapy fuelled his creativity, the gap between musical expression and a sustainable career, and what it means to grow in public without hardening.

Your early success came through big, open-hearted songs that connected quickly with people online. With your debut album, what feels different?

With this album, it was about scratching deeper beneath the surface. It was really fun to put out the music and ride the wave of just putting out something. But there comes a point where you have to stop and ask yourself, “What do I want to say?” And I think that this album really is the start of that journey.

Because it was never about how many views or likes or shares (my music got); it was always just about expressing myself and putting parts of me out into the world. And I think that this album was just me stopping and taking stock and really delving into who I am as a person and all the things that made me me (and) encapsulating that in one body of work.

You’ve spoken about revisiting five years’ worth of therapy notes while writing this album. What made you feel ready to turn that kind of private work into something public?

I don’t think it was ever really a question of if I was ready. I’m still not ready. But I guess this is exposure therapy — throwing it out there and figuring it out afterwards.

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A lot of what I went through in therapy helped me understand myself. It’s only through talking to friends and family who’ve gone through their own hardships and haven’t been to therapy that you realise the beauty in it, and the benefit of it.

There’s no better way to tell my story than through me learning about myself and going back over those notes. It was a cathartic experience, and a useful one.

Several songs are about family, upbringing and what you describe as inheritance — not just what you’re given, but what you’re asked to carry. How did those ideas shape the album as a whole?

When I came up with the album title, “My Mess, My Heart, My Life,” it was about what experiences, relationships and people have made me the person I am.

Naturally, those relationships and the things I’d been through became the heart and soul of the album. There was no other way to write it than by looking inward and looking backward. That’s how it came together.

In one of the songs, you link violence and volatility at home to indecision later in life. How conscious were you of tracing that line between upbringing and adulthood?

I wasn’t conscious of it until therapy. There were many times where I’d say I liked being alone, and my therapist would ask, “Why?” (and) then “Why?” again, until you get to the root cause.

A lot of the songs were therapy in themselves. When you’re figuring out where a song goes, you have to look inward and answer those questions.

Not every song is emotional labour — some are fun. But the ones that really matter to me came from that process.

What’s the biggest misconception people have about what commercial success translates to day-to-day for an artist like you?

People think commercial success equals fulfillment. It really doesn’t.

You can have hits, be number one on (the) radio, play to millions of people — but the only things that make me happy are making music I’m proud of, connecting with people and playing live.

No amount of success dictates that. It’s about keeping those things true.

Tracks like “Grandma’s Place” suggest the idea of sanctuary, but also its limits. Why was it important to anchor that memory in texture rather than explanation, and how has your understanding of safety evolved over time?

I was always familiar with the feeling of safety, even if I didn’t fully understand what created it. As an adult, you’re given the language to understand it. Now I can recognise what made me feel safe, rather than just feeling it.

Putting that into the songs helped complete that thought process, and that song was an anomaly in my songwriting — it was about being in the moment.

(My grandmother’s house) was a place I could go to break out of the arguing and fighting at home. It did feel safe, but it also wasn’t everything safety is meant to be. For me, it was enough. It taught me that safety doesn’t have to be complete or perfect — sometimes it’s just enough to get you through.

You’ve said that this album isn’t about resolution. What did you mean by that?

The whole process was me processing things in real time. There were a lot of things that happened growing up — and a lot of missed opportunities. I never got to go to (my grandmother’s) funeral, and I never got to say goodbye. Writing the song let that come out. It felt like I got to say goodbye in my own way.

You’ve spoken about access to music education and how rare that’s become. What worries you most about who gets to make music now?

I’m from a working-class area (in Luton, England) and didn’t grow up with a lot of money. My school was one of a small group that got funding for instruments, and it changed my life. It gave me another path.

But the state of music now is scary. Grassroots venues are closing, funding is shrinking, and more young people don’t know where they fit if they’re not on a traditional career path.

What happens to a generation of creators with no outlet? More needs to be done to support that.

What do you hope people understand about you through this album?

I’m actually happy. A lot of the album reflects a specific period of my life, but the last couple of years have been incredible. There is joy in it. I don’t want people to walk away thinking I’m miserable, because I’m not. I’m good.

The perspectives expressed in Culture Current are the subject’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Reuters News.

The 48-year-old, also known as “Ye”, has sparked widespread anger over remarks glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and for antisemitic rants, which he has blamed on having bipolar disorder.

The mayor of the eastern city of Arnhem, Ahmed Marcouch, has granted a permit for the June concerts to go ahead despite what he described as “reprehensible statements made by the artist in the past”.

The majority of the Dutch House of Representatives had called for the rapper to be denied entry to the country.

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But asylum and migration minister Bart van den Brink said there were no formal legal grounds to bar him from the Netherlands.

“You need clear reasons to bar people from your country. We did not find those in the analyses that were conducted,” said Van den Brink.

West is scheduled to play in Arnhem on June 6 and 8 – the latter date being the rapper’s birthday.

He is also slated to appear in Istanbul on May 30.

However, his extreme statements and actions – last year he released a song called “Heil Hitler”, with swastika T-shirts advertised on his website – caused a backlash against his planned European tour.

In April, the British government banned him from entering the country to headline a festival, forcing organisers to cancel the event.

A week later, he postponed a concert in Marseille following reports France’s interior minister was seeking to block the performance.

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A Polish stadium cancelled a West concert scheduled for June 19, with the culture minister saying Poland wanted to bar him over his “promotion of Nazism”.

Later, Swiss football club FC Basel told AFP they had turned down an approach about hosting a West concert.

In January, West took out an advert in the Wall Street Journal to defend himself, saying: “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite” and “I love Jewish people”.

He attributed his behaviour to a manic episode brought on by bipolar disorder.

He is also set to perform in the Albanian capital Tirana on July 11, and in Prague on July 25.

The US megastar was forced to cancel the three Vienna shows of her record-breaking “Eras” tour in the summer of 2024 after authorities warned of the plot by the so-called Islamic State group.

Accused of planning the attack and forming an IS cell, Beran A. went on trial last month on terror offences and other charges in Wiener Neustadt outside Vienna.

The defendant – who was arrested the day before the cancelled concert and has been detained since – has pleaded guilty to all charges except being an accomplice to attempted murder.

Masked police led Beran A. and another defendant, Arda K., into court on the trial’s final day.

The two men mostly sat with their heads down, looking at the floor.

Having heard testimony from two psychological experts and the closing arguments, the jury is due to deliver its verdict later Thursday.

Beran A. faces up to 20 years in prison.

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If he is acquitted of being an accomplice to attempted murder, he faces up to 10 years in prison, his lawyer Anna Mair told AFP.

Bomb-making instructions

In their closing remarks, both defendants apologised.

“I just want to say that I’m sorry,” Beran A. told the court.

In his testimony last month, Beran A. said he had become convinced that he “had to wage jihad” but was “afraid to die”.

He told the court he picked the packed Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna during Swift’s concert as a target.

He detailed how he got instructions and tried but failed to make a bomb. He also sought advice on what weapons to choose in several chat groups and from a high-ranking IS member.

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‘Send a clear signal’

Beran A. and Arda K. are accused, together with a third Austrian, Hasan E., of forming a “highly dangerous IS terror cell” planning to carry out several attacks, mainly abroad, in the name of IS, prosecutors say.

Hasan E. is currently in prison in Saudi Arabia, accused of stabbing a security official in Mecca in 2024 and injuring four others.

Defence lawyer Mair used her closing argument to urge the jury to acquit Beran of the charge of encouraging Hasan over the stabbing, arguing there was no evidence.

“Beran is not a leader, he is not an ideological mastermind,” she said.

The prosecution told the jury they had the “chance to send a clear signal” that those who commit crimes will be held accountable on all counts, adding Beran A. encouraged Hasan E. through “intensive contact” and other ways.

Beran A. is accused of having been a member of a terror organisation from 2023, according to prosecutors.

By sharing IS propaganda, he participated and “openly aligned himself” with IS, they said.

The Swift concert plot was thwarted with the help of US intelligence.

Swift later wrote on social media that “the reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many had planned on coming to those shows”.

Last year, a Berlin court convicted a Syrian teenager of contributing to the plot to attack the Swift concert.

The 16-year-old was given an 18-month suspended sentence.

The world’s biggest film festival is set to bestow its annual Palme d’Or for best film at a star-packed ceremony on the French Riviera after two weeks of premieres, red carpets and parties.

“Minotaur”, by exiled Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev, depicting a callous and calculating Russian businessman in the midst of Russia’s mobilisation for the Ukraine war, has emerged as one of several strong contenders for the prize.

“Those who agree that it’s time to put an end to this hell, and that it’s a nightmare and a disaster for Russia, those people will understand this film clearly,” Zvyagintsev told AFP this week, referring to the war.

Other critics’ favourites include “La Bola Negra”, a big-budget Spanish drama about multiple gay lives, arty black-and-white historical drama “Fatherland”, and “Fjord”, which stars Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve.

A widely praised French production, “A Man of His Time”, about an ambitious local official working in France’s collaborationist government during World War II, or poignant humanist drama “All of a Sudden”, by Japan’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi might also be in with a shot.

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This year’s jury is headed by South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook and includes Hollywood star Demi Moore and Oscar-winning “Nomadland” director Chloe Zhao.

Last year’s prize was handed to “It Was Just an Accident”, a political drama written and directed by dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi that tackled issues of torture and revenge in the Islamic republic.

Other prizes

Some prizes have already been handed out, with Iranian documentary “Rehearsals for a Revolution”, about political repression in the war-wracked country by exiled actress and director Pegah Ahangarani, taking the top documentary prize.

One of Britain’s only feature films showing in Cannes, “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”, by Clio Barnard about a group of five friends, picked up top prize in the parallel Directors’ Fortnight section.

The 79th edition of the film festival was packed with its usual stable of A-listers from John Travolta to Cate Blanchett, but Hollywood was under-represented.

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No major US studio agreed to launch a blockbuster at Cannes this year, or at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, raising questions about why giants such as Universal, Disney or Warner are dodging European events.

Other big talking points included the use of artificial intelligence in filmmaking, as well as the continued under-representation of women in the industry.

Only five out of 22 of the films in the main competition this year were directed by women.

The nine-member jury led by South Korean director Park Chan-wook must choose one of 22 films from Cannes veterans, including Spain’s Pedro Almodovar, Iran’s Asghar Farhadi and Romania’s Cristian Mungiu, for the festival’s top award.

Winning an award at Cannes typically transforms careers, shapes the awards season that follows and cements directors in the canon.

Recent examples include last year’s second-place winner, “Sentimental Value” starring Renate Reinsve, which later took the Oscar for best international feature film, as well as 2024 winner “Anora”, which went on to sweep the Oscars with five wins.

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Race remains open

Several films have drawn strong early reactions from critics and audiences, though the race remains open.

The Guardian’s critic, Peter Bradshaw, predicts Russian Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur,” about infidelity and moral corruption, as the winner, while on prediction market platform Polymarket, care home drama “All of a Sudden” from Japan’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi was in the lead on Friday evening.

On industry publication Screen Daily’s jury grid that collates reviews, “Minotaur,” “All of a Sudden,” and “Fatherland” from Poland’s Pawel Pawlikowski have the three highest scores.

Romanian director Mungiu, who brought the Reinsve-led “Fjord” to this year’s festival, as well as Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda are this year’s only competitors who have previously won the top prize.

Only two U.S. directors were in the competition dominated by European auteurs: James Gray with “Paper Tiger” starring Adam Driver, and Ira Sachs with the Rami Malek-headed “The Man I Love.”

Other prizes to be handed out on Saturday night include the Grand Prix, jury prize, best director, best actor, best actress and best screenplay.

The 79th iteration of the festival officially kicked off on May 12 with the French romantic comedy “The Electric Kiss.”

Disney put the “Star Wars” movies on hiatus following 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker” after executives concluded they had released too many films in a short period. That same year, the “Star Wars” TV show “The Mandalorian” became a hit on the Disney+ streaming service.

The series introduced a small green creature with oversized eyes, initially dubbed Baby Yoda and later revealed to be named Grogu, that became a pop culture sensation.

Grogu’s big-screen adventure, however, may open with the smallest domestic box office result for any “Star Wars” movie since Disney bought the franchise from creator George Lucas in 2012. Analysts predict “The Mandalorian and Grogu” will take in roughly $75 million to $100 million over the Memorial Day weekend at U.S. and Canadian theaters.

Disney’s lowest-grossing “Star Wars” film, “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” brought in $103 million over Memorial Day weekend in 2018 and was considered a flop.

“What Disney is trying to figure out is, theatrically speaking, is Star Wars still essential? Do people still feel like they need to go see it in the theaters?” said Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co.

Bock said he expected “Mandalorian and Grogu” to bring in roughly $85 million domestically through Monday. That would be a success, Bock said, given the film cost about $165 million to make compared with $300 million-plus production budgets for other “Star Wars” movies. It also would spark more sales of Baby Yoda toys and t-shirts, he said.

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Critics so far are split

The movie stars Pedro Pascal as a helmeted Mandalorian bounty hunter who works with Grogu to free a prisoner in the galaxy far, far away.

At a fan event in London, Pascal pitched the movie as “a big-screen experience” like the ones he watched as a child. The franchise debuted in 1977 and has taken in more than $10 billion at theaters worldwide.

“People lost their minds over ‘Star Wars,’ which is why it exists as it does today and why it needs to be on a big screen again,” he said.

Critics so far are split on the movie, which as of Wednesday had a 60% positive rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website.

Daily Beast entertainment critic Nick Schager called the film “a swashbuckling space Western that deftly marries combative spectacle and kid-friendly cuteness.” Bilge Ebiri, Vulture and New York film critic, found the movie “drab and stone-faced to a fault.”

Disney’s next movie, “Star Wars: Starfighter” featuring Ryan Gosling, is scheduled to hit cinemas in May 2027.

The morning show, hosted by Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy and Jess Hilarious, with guests such as former U.S. presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, will run simultaneously on Netflix and radio for nearly three hours, the companies said on Thursday.

The partnership expands Netflix’s push into live programming as streaming platforms seek cheaper, recurring formats to build daily viewing habits and extend established audio franchises into video.

“The Breakfast Club” was launched in 2010 and has since become a prominent show featuring celebrity interviews, pop culture news and commentary on hip-hop and R&B culture.

Former U.S. vice president Kamala Harris and musicians Kendrick Lamar and Alicia Keys are also among the guests who have appeared on the show.

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The hosts also broadcast “Weekends with The Breakfast Club”, a three-hour weekly countdown of the top 20 chart songs.

The deal builds on an exclusive video podcast collaboration announced in December, part of a broader effort to adapt audio-first content to video platforms.

“It’s a big step forward in how we bring culturally defining audio-first franchises to life for Netflix audiences around the world, and we’re excited to deepen our partnership with iHeartMedia,” Lauren Smith, Netflix’s vice president of content licensing and programming strategy, said.

Netflix viewers will also receive an uninterrupted version of the program, with exclusive behind-the-scenes material, extended discussions and other bonus segments aired during radio commercial breaks.

The radio broadcast will continue on iHeartMedia’s Power 105.1 in New York and more than 100 stations as well as iHeartRadio app. iHeartMedia will retain the audio-only rights and distribution.

Zee Entertainment has sued Nykaa for allegedly using its copyrighted songs in Instagram reels to promote its products, seeking $210,000 in damages, Reuters reported this month.

In a non-public filing dated May 19 and seen by Reuters on Wednesday, Nykaa told the Delhi High Court that Meta must be included, as only it can “authoritatively state whether use” of music clips by Nykaa breached any licence terms.

Zee argues its licensing agreement with Meta allows individuals to use its music in posts, but only for non-commercial purposes.

India’s Zee sues Nykaa over alleged copyright misuse of songs on Instagram reels

Nykaa has also argued the dispute should first go to mediation, the filings show.

Legal experts say the case could have wider implications, given Nykaa and Zee are both major listed companies in India.

Meta, Nykaa and Zee did not respond to requests for comment.

Music and film copyright disputes have been in focus in India. Zee has also sued a Reliance-Disney joint venture over alleged use of its music, while the Reliance-led venture has filed a case against Zee over alleged Bollywood film licensing breaches.

According to the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), the squad was selected on the recommendations of the National Selection Committee after trials held from May 19 to 20.

The selection process was reviewed by the PHF Professional Development Committee, headed by Olympians Islahuddin Siddiqui and Hassan Sardar.

The squad includes goalkeepers Waqar and Ali Raza, defenders Abu Bakar, Arbaz Ahmad, Muhammad Abdullah and Sufyan Khan, midfielders Nadeem Khan, Ammad Shakeel Butt, Moin Shakeel, Hammad Anjum and Zikriya Hayat, and strikers Ghazanfer Ali, M. Ammad, Rana Waleed, Abdul Rehman, Arfraz Khan, Rana Waheed, Ahmad Nadeem, Arshad Liaqat and Hannan Shahid.

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The PHF said the reserve list would be announced separately.

The federation also said the government had arranged administrative, financial and logistical support for the team at the direction of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Under the support package, players will receive a daily allowance of $110 per day in advance, while accommodation and logistics arrangements for the tour have also been finalized.

The PHF added that Pakistani missions in England and Belgium had been instructed to facilitate and support the team during the tour.

Officials said participation in the FIH Pro League matches would provide international exposure to the players and serve as preparation for the upcoming Hockey World Cup.

Zee, which runs channels including ZeeTV, ZeeCinema and streaming platform Zee5, reported a consolidated net loss of 1.02 billion rupees ($10.57 million) for the January-March period, from a profit of 1.88 billion rupees a year ago.

Zee’s advertising revenue, which accounts for nearly 40% of the total, fell 3.5% in the quarter, as the Middle East crisis hurt ad spending in March.

Advertisements are typically the biggest source of revenue for broadcasters.

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Muted demand likely kept Zee’s ad revenue under pressure during the quarter, analysts at Elara Capital said in a pre-earnings note, even as the broadcaster continued investing in content and digital platforms.

Expenses rose 19.6%, driven by a 17% increase in operational costs after Zee recognised higher charges related to movie and content rights following changes in accounting estimates.

Advertising and publicity costs surged 44% due to higher spending on content launches, including KidZ, and increased legal expenses.

Meanwhile, Zee’s subscription revenue rose nearly 4%, supported by user growth in its digital platform and higher average revenue per user.

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The company’s overall revenue declined 5.4%.

Core losses in Zee5 narrowed to 84 million rupees from 753 million rupees a year ago, while revenue rose 71% to 4.7 billion rupees as the service saw an increase in the number of paying subscribers.

Peer Sun TV will report its quarterly results on Thursday.

The multi-lingual star of Auschwitz-set “The Zone of Interest” has continued her gilded run of performances in “Fatherland” by Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday.

The 48-year-old plays the emotionally conflicted daughter of German literary genius Thomas Mann in a black-and-white tale that sees the pair return to their shattered homeland in 1949 after years in exile in the United States.

“I feel the guilt every day, and also I never get bored of it,” Huller told journalists in Cannes when asked about how she used her own feelings about Germany’s Nazi past for the role.  

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“I feel the guilt because it’s necessary in order to act right,” she added.

Film bible Variety predicted prizes already, saying Huller’s “GPS is set for next year’s Oscar race” following her nomination for best actress in “Anatomy of a Fall” .

After her break-out year in 2023 when she starred in two Oscar winners, “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall”, which also took top prize in Cannes, Huller has moved into US blockbusters.

She has a supporting role in the recent “Project Hail Mary” opposite Ryan Gosling and features in the all-star cast opposite Tom Cruise in “Digger” which is due out later this year.

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History in the present

“Fatherland” is one of a number of historical dramas in the Cannes main competition that return to events of the 1930s and 1940s at a time when the rise of far-right nationalism has led many historians to compare the current time with that troubled era.

Cannes director Thierry Fremaux has described the programme as “a way of bringing history into the present, of questioning it in the present.”

Other Cannes films set while fascism was on the march include “Moulin” about French Resistance hero Jean Moulin by Laszlo Nemes, “Our Salvation” about France’s war-time collaboration and “The Black Ball”, set during the Spanish civil war.

Pawlikowski, best known for “Ida”, returned to Cannes with his first film since his Oscar-nominated “Cold War” in 2018.

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“It’s interesting that there’s more and more films set in historical times,” Pawlikowski told reporters on Friday.

“Sometimes it’s easier to talk about now with a distance.”

“A lot of historical films that I watch, I notice they have a clear thesis… very often the characters in these films demonstrate something or explain something,” he added.

“I try to do the opposite. I try to just try to show how complicated it all is.”

The Hollywood Reporter said “Fatherland” was “immaculately performed” by veteran German actor Hanns Zischler and “especially Huller”, while the Guardian called the film an “impossibly elegant, poised historical vignette”.

It runs at just 82 minutes, short for a modern feature.

Pawlikowski said he had been inspired by a biography of Mann, who won the Nobel literature prize in 1929, but had changed the story, editing out Mann’s wife and also changing the timing of tragic events in the family’s history.

The man who became an icon overnight with “Saturday Night Fever” was visibly moved as he accepted the honorary Palme d’Or before the screening of “Propeller One-Way Night Coach”, which is based on a book about his first experience in an airliner.

“I just can’t believe it. This is beyond the Oscar, really,” he said as he accepted the tribute.

The festival has been laying on the love for Hollywood legends this year despite the big studios staying away, with honorary Palmes for Barbra Streisand and Peter Jackson as well as a gala screening for Vin Diesel and the stars of “The Fast and the Furious” franchise to mark its 25th anniversary.

Travolta – who has never won an Oscar – revived his flagging career with his iconic turn as hitman Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”, which won the festival’s Palme d’Or top prize in 1994.

Many critics hailed it as his greatest performance, one that has since gone down in cinema history.

“My favourite movies in the history of my life have always been the winners of the Palme d’Or,” Travolta said.

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Behind the camera

Cannes had kept the award under wraps until the actor walked on stage for the premiere wearing a black suit and a white beret.

The 72-year-old said he had been hugely surprised to have his directorial debut, which stars his daughter Ella Bleu as an air hostess, accepted at the world’s most prestigious film festival.

When Cannes director Thierry Fremaux told him in November that “it would be the first film ever accepted that early I cried like a baby,” he said.

“I had no expectation my film would be accepted,” he added.

“Propeller One-Way Night Coach” is a one-hour self-financed autobiographical tale about Travolta’s flight as an eight-year-old with his actress mother from New York to Los Angeles in 1962.

“This is the blueprint of my life,” said the actor, a lifelong aeroplane nut, who narrates the story.

“What you’ll see in the movie is completely my perspective on what I witnessed people go through.

“Everyone that was in the movie is sitting in the audience right there, my family,” he added.

Stars descend as Cannes Film Festival opens without Hollywood backing

Travolta was bitten by the acting bug early.

Born in New Jersey to the an Irish mother and an Italian-American father who ran a tyre store, he left school at 16 to try his hand at acting and dancing.

Two years later he landed his first big stage role in the Broadway musical “Grease”.

He was nominated for an Oscar in 1978 for playing disco-dancing champion Tony Manero in the low-budget “Saturday Night Fever” and was launched into the Hollywood stratosphere by his role in the movie version of “Grease” the same year.

The rights to “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” have been bought by Apple, Travolta said.

Asked if he would direct again, he said he had watched all sorts of directors as an actor.

“I really believe that I can navigate around all of that, and anything I would choose to do, but I really feel I have to have passion about the material to do again what I’ve done here,” he said.

Drake – who has kept a relatively low profile since his diss battle with Kendrick Lamar ended with the American’s knockout blow “Not Like Us” and his lawsuit against his own label was dismissed – had announced the Friday release of “Iceman.”

But along with it came “Habibti” and “Maid of Honour.”

Future, 21 Savage and Sexyy Red are among the artists who were invited to collaborate with the chart-topping “Hotline Bling” rapper.

And of course, Drake could not let the beef with Lamar go.

On “Make Them Remember,” he mocks the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lamar’s modest height, a frequent source of ridicule during their battle.

But Lamar – who performed the song to an audience of tens of millions at the Super Bowl halftime show in February 2025 – was not the only one who came in for scorn.

Jay-Z, J. Cole, Pusha T, A$AP Rocky and even NBA legend LeBron James are also in Drake’s crosshairs, according to several media reviews.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s JioStar is the No. 1 player in India’s vibrant $30 billion media and entertainment industry, while Zee, one of India’s oldest media groups, is a smaller rival. They are already locked in a $1 billion arbitration in London over a collapsed cricket licensing deal in 2024.

In April, Zee sued JioStar in a Delhi court for unauthorized use of its copyrighted music. In an apparent tit-for-tat move, JioStar filed a case on May 4 with a legal mediation committee challenging Zee’s broadcast of some Bollywood movies last year even though their rights at the time vested with the Reliance-led entity, according to legal documents reviewed by Reuters.

India’s Zee sues Nykaa over alleged copyright misuse of songs on Instagram reels

JioStar alleges Zee telecast 12 distinct films around 20 times, including some blockbusters starring popular Bollywood film actors like Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan.

Zee “is a habitual infringer”, JioStar said in its 120-page plea, accusing Zee of continuing to “engage in the unauthorized broadcast and exploitation of the films”.

The filing has not been reported previously.

The plea was filed at the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee, which provides a dispute resolution mechanism aimed at amicable settlements. If it is unresolved, JioStar could escalate the case to a court.

The documents said the committee has asked Zee to appear before it on May 25, adding that a failure to do so will be considered a refusal to participate in the mediation.

Shares in Zee extended losses after the Reuters story, falling 3.4% in Mumbai trading.

India’s Zee sues Reliance-Disney over alleged music copyright breach

JioStar, formed from Reliance and Disney’s $8.5 billion merger of their Indian media assets in 2024, and Zee both declined to comment.

Big players, many legal notices

JioStar and Zee reach hundreds of millions of viewers through scores of TV channels and a streaming platform each. Reliance says JioStar has a 34.2% market share of India’s TV market, while Zee says its share is at a four-year high of 18%.

In the music case filed in April, Zee is seeking $3 million from JioStar for allegedly using its music at least 50 times after certain licensing agreements expired.

Two sources with direct knowledge said JioStar is likely to seek upwards of 250 million rupees ($2.61 million) for alleged infringement of its rights to the Bollywood films, though a number is yet to be finalised.

The Bollywood film case reached the court committee stage after the two sides exchanged more than a dozen legal notices and letters starting February 2025, documents show.

The films involved include runaway hits like the 1975 Deewaar (Wall), starring Amitabh Bachchan, and Tridev (Trinity). Jio said it has the rights to these films and Zee allegedly broadcast them without having permission to do so.

Zee said the broadcasts were “inadvertent and unintentional” and it would exercise due caution, but declined any liability for damages that Reliance was seeking.

JioStar has also accused Zee of unauthorised broadcast of Aamir Khan starrer Dangal (Wrestling Bout). The 2016 movie, based on a real-life Indian wrestler, was a big Bollywood hit and won several awards.

Zee denied any wrongdoing, and argued it had permission from the production house to broadcast the movie.

Speaking at a raucous midnight screening of the 2001 street-racing blockbuster, which Cannes supremo Thierry Fremaux hailed as a “classic”, Diesel paid tribute to late fellow driver Paul Walker.

Walker, who died in a car crash in 2013, was represented by his daughter, the actress and model Meadow Rain Walker, who shared a long hug with Diesel on the red carpet.

“The person who was not going to let me come alone here, to represent that brotherhood, was Meadow Rain,” Diesel said inside the full-capacity main cinema in Cannes.

Stars descend as Cannes Film Festival opens without Hollywood backing

“I’m going to go shed a tear real quick,” he added.

The Fast franchise, now an 11-movie series that has grossed more than 7 billion dollars at the box office, is set to end with “Fast Forever” in 2028.

Diesel, 58, sounded surprised at the warmth of the tribute from Cannes tastemaker Fremaux who said the series “had become a classic” and had “left an enormous mark on the history of cinema”.

“To come with a film, that you, the head of the most prestigious film festival in the world, where every artist in the world wants to be recognised, that you are calling this film we did 25 years ago a classic, how profound is that?” Diesel said.

Fremaux, who made bringing big American films to Cannes an early priority of his two-decade tenure, has been left without a major Hollywood blockerbuster premiere for the 2026 edition.

Cannes typically relies on US studios providing some A-list razzle-dazzle to the event which otherwise focuses on independent, auteur cinema in its main competition.

Cannes Film Festival opens, grappling with AI and Hollywood

But Hollywood majors such as Disney, Sony and Warner, as well as streaming giants Netflix and Amazon, have decided against launching films at Cannes this year.

The special screening of “The Fast and the Furious”, owned by Universal,  was a late addition to the programme.

Reasons for the studios’ absence include cost-cutting, a growing preference for tightly controlled social media-led launches for their films and the risk that a mauling from the Cannes critics can doom a movie.

Diesel announced on Monday that “The Fast and the Furious” concept is being adapted into a television series by Universal without giving details about its release date.

“No Way Out: The Searing True Story of Men Under Siege,” written by British Major Adam Jowett, chronicles his work leading a unit of paratroopers and Royal Irish Rangers in July 2006.

The film will be produced by the couple and their Archewell Productions scripted content head Tracy Ryerson, Netflix told AFP.

Matt Charman, an Oscar nominee for “Bridge of Spies” (2015), will handle the screenplay.

Harry and Meghan – who left the British royal family and moved to the United States – have worked with Netflix since 2020 as they look to make their own fortunes, independent of the British taxpayer.

Prince Harry arrives in Kyiv in a show of support

The streamer scored a hit with their tell-all “Harry & Meghan” but subsequent projects in their reported $20 million-deal fell flat.

They included the lifestyle series “With love, Meghan” in which the former actress entertained guests in an opulent California home with a series of arts-and-crafts projects.

Critics panned it as tone deaf and uncreative, and it was cancelled after two seasons.

Last year, the couple signed a more restrictive first-look agreement with Netflix.

Harry – the youngest son of King Charles III – completed two combat tours in Afghanistan as a member of the British Army, and rose to the rank of captain by the time of his discharge.

Fierce and deadly battles wracked Musa Qala in Helmand province, then an opium-growing region and stronghold for the Taliban, where it was Jowett’s mission to hold the city with a small number of British troops.

On Saturday, the British singer will open a new months-long tour with his first date in Amsterdam after launching his fourth album earlier this year.

“Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally” was released on March 6 and shot straight to the top of the charts in some 20 countries, including Britain, France and the United States.

It was a spectacular follow-up to “Harry’s House”, which was released in 2022 and won album of the year at the Grammy Awards.

Spotted at just 16 on The X Factor television talent show, Styles rose to global fame in the chart-topping band formed in 2010 alongside Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne.

With their catchy pop-rock sound, One Direction, or 1D as they became known, sold nearly 70 million records before splitting up in 2016.

“He has never ever talked about his time in One Direction with any kind of derision,” said Hannah Banks, a creative industries specialist at Australia’s University of the Sunshine Coast.

“And I think that helps because all of One Direction fans – which was a huge, huge amount of people – came with him. He has just built upon that by doing slightly different music.”

Styles quickly established his credentials as a solo artist.

His self-titled debut album in 2017 was followed in 2019 by “Fine Line”, which included the smash hit “Watermelon Sugar” and brought huge commercial success.

In the intervening years he has attracted a growing, more diverse fanbase.

“He’s gone from a highly managed and manufactured boy band member to a man who’s doing his own thing,” said Sophie Cridland, a 37-year-old teacher and fan, pointing to his shift toward pop and electronic influences.

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His album “Harry’s House” and his 2021 to 2023 “Love On Tour” sealed his transformation as someone who has “brought a bit of the flair back” to what some see as an increasingly bland male pop landscape.

He is set to play a record 12 shows at London’s 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium in June, followed by a 30-date residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden from late August. The tour wraps up in December in Sydney.

Pushing boundaries

He has also turned himself into a style icon.

In 2020, Styles became the first man to appear solo on the cover pages of US Vogue, wearing a Gucci lace dress in one shot and a crinoline skirt by gender-fluid designer Harris Reed in another.

From sequined jumpsuits to flamboyant feather boas, skirts and pearl necklaces, his outfits recall stars such as David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, “who were also famous for pushing gender boundaries”, said Banks.

For fashion designer Nik Shimmin, Styles is “a breath of fresh air” who embodies “a version of modern-day masculinity that a lot of people want to see”.

Styles has consistently declined to label his sexuality, which has sparked some accusations of “queerbaiting” – adopting queer aesthetics without clearly identifying with the LGBTQ community.

Publicly, he has only confirmed relationships with women.

According to the tabloid press, he became engaged in April to US actress Zoe Kravitz.

He has previously dated film director Olivia Wilde, as well as American superstar Taylor Swift and reality television personality Kendall Jenner.

‘Having fun’

Although discreet about his private life, Styles has grown more outspoken politically.

He has encouraged young Americans to register to vote and raised funds for LGBTQ causes, said Louie Valencia, a humanities professor at Texas State University.

“He really is trying to do something that brings hope to people in a world that’s very sceptical of these kinds of concepts like treating people with kindness,” said Valencia.

He is teaching a course in Oxford this summer – “Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity”.

Styles told the Times earlier this year he was excited about the upcoming tour.

“When I listen back to the album, I can hear that I was having fun during this time. It’s fulfilling to make something you’re proud of,” he said.

The annual film extravaganza on the French Riviera was declared open by American cinema veteran Jane Fonda and Chinese star Gong Li at a star-studded ceremony attended by “Black Panther” actor Isaach De Bankole and “Spider-Man” James Franco.

Fonda, a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump and long-standing anti-war and women’s rights campaigner, urged the industry to create films that serve as “an act of resistance”.

“We tell the stories… that bring empathy to the marginalised, stories that allow us to feel across difference, stories that let us see that there is an alternative future that is possible,” she said.

Wood,  who starred as Frodo Baggins in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, was reunited with director Peter Jackson on stage as he handed the New Zealand filmmaker an honorary Palme d’Or award for his epic career.

No longer peripheral: SKorean director makes Cannes history

Jackson was typically self-deprecating as he accepted the award to a prolonged standing ovation, saying it was a “stunning surprise, miraculous… I am not a Palme d’Or sort of guy”.

Off-screen events

In the main Cannes competition, which begins Wednesday, a total of 22 films are vying for the prestigious Palme d’Or prize for best film, which was won last year by Iranian movie “It Was Just an Accident” by Jafar Panahi.

The competition features a handful of historical dramas pondering the impact of authoritarianism and fascism, as well as others from arthouse heavy hitters such as Spain’s Pedro Almodovar, Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda or Romania’s Cristian Mungiu.

As usual in the build up to the festival, off-screen events have dominated the conversation, from the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, Hollywood’s decision to ghost the event, to the under-representation of women directors.

Cannes Film Festival opens, grappling with AI and Hollywood

Irish-Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, one of the nine-person Palme d’Or jury, took a shot at Hollywood in a press conference just hours before the opening ceremony.

“Isn’t it fascinating to see Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo blacklisted because of their views in opposing the murder of women and children in Gaza?” Laverty said in reference to the stars who have publicly opposed Israel’s war in Gaza.

“Shame on Hollywood, people who do that,” the Scottish-born writer added.

For years, activists have pushed European festivals to condemn Israel’s war in Gaza, which left tens of thousands dead and devastated the territory – calls that have been resisted.

AI fears

Cannes director Thierry Fremaux came out strongly against AI and its effect on the industry, however, where job losses are mounting.

“What is certain… is that here in Cannes, we stand with the artists, we stand with the screenwriters and we stand with everyone in these professions, with actors and voice actors alike,” he told reporters on Monday.

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Nonetheless, the festival said Monday that it had signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with social media giant and AI technology investor Meta.

Mark Zuckerberg’s group is at the heart of a brewing controversy about the latest film from Oscar-winning “Traffic” director Steven Soderbergh, which will premiere in Cannes.

Soderbergh partnered with Meta to obtain AI-generated video of late Beatles songwriter John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono for his documentary “John Lennon: The Last Interview”.

‘Come back’

Soderbergh is a rare Hollywood directing heavyweight in Cannes this year, with others such as Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan – hoped for by organisers – failing to appear on the programme.

The world’s biggest film festival typically relies on Hollywood to provide a dose of mass-market entertainment alongside its programme of arthouse cinema.

Cannes Festival promises escapism in Hollywood-lite edition

But no major US studio agreed to launch a blockbuster this year, or at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, raising questions about why giants such as Universal, Disney or Warner are dodging European events.

“I really hope that the studios come back,” Fremaux said Monday, attributing their absence to scheduling issues and industry turmoil.

He stressed that American cinema was well represented, with “Paper Tiger” by James Gray starring Adam Driver, as well as “The Man I Love” by Ira Sachs featuring Rami Malek, in the main competition.

O’Brien, 63, will preside over the 99th edition of American cinema’s most prestigious gala, which will be held on March 14 in the heart of Hollywood.

“We look forward to Conan superbly leading the celebration with his brilliance and humor,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Lynette Howell Taylor in a joint statement.

The former late-night host will once again work with Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan, who will serve as executive producers of the Academy Awards for the fourth consecutive time.

The announcement came as part of the presentation of Disney’s programming lineup. Disney is the parent company of ABC, the network responsible for broadcasting the ceremony.

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“Conan has created remarkable energy around the Oscars,” said Disney Television Group President Craig Erwich. “His singular comedic voice makes Hollywood’s biggest night one of the most entertaining celebrations of the year.”

O’Brien, a six-time Emmy Award winner, has hosted several late-night television programs, including “The Tonight Show.”

He currently hosts the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” and the HBO travel series “Conan O’Brien Must Go.”

Viewership for the Academy Awards dipped slightly this year, with 17.9 million people tuning in to the gala broadcast by ABC and streamed on Hulu.

The 98th edition of the ceremony named “One Battle After Another” as the year’s Best Picture, and also honored its director, Paul Thomas Anderson, who took home the first Oscar of his career.

During the same period, Netflix contributed more than $325 billion to the global economy and created over 425,000 jobs on productions, it said.

The Los Gatos, California-based company is one of the world’s largest video streaming platforms, with over 325 million paid members as of the end of 2025, having pioneered at-home video entertainment and producing original intellectual properties that have dominated popular culture.

“Today we’re launching the Netflix Effect — a comprehensive look at the economic, cultural and social impact of our films and series, and how it ripples out across economies, industries and everyday life, day after day, week after week,” said Netflix co-CEO, Ted Sarandos.

Indie series ‘Everyone Is Doing Great’ returns… on Netflix

The company has licensed films and series from more than 3,000 companies including public broadcasters, it said.

Non-English language titles represent more than a third of all viewing, compared to less than a tenth a decade ago, Netflix said. Non-U.S. films and series such as “Money Heist,” “Squid Game” and “KPop Demon Hunters” have drawn large global audiences.

Last month, Netflix’s chairman and co-founder Reed Hastings decided to exit the company at a time when the firm is looking for new avenues of growth such as gaming and live entertainment while grappling with slower sales.

The purchase of Blackstone’s London-based Recognition’s catalog – which features more than 45,000 songs – is part of Sony’s partnership with Singapore investment entity GIC, which announced the deal on Monday.

The Financial Times reported the deal was worth around $4 billion, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Sony and GIC did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment about the value of the transaction. Recognition declined comment.

The transaction positions Sony for streaming payments for hit songs ranging from Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

Indie series ‘Everyone Is Doing Great’ returns… on Netflix

Recognition – originally known as Hipgnosis Songs Fund – went public in 2018 before being acquired in 2024 for $1.6 billion by asset manager Blackstone, which gave it its new name.

The deal “delivers a strong outcome for Blackstone and our investors and represents a further vote of confidence in music rights as an institutionally established asset class,” said Blackstone senior managing director Qasim Abbas.

Sony Music Chairman Rob Stringer said: “We are so proud and excited to represent this incredible catalogue of many of the greatest songs in pop history through this momentous acquisition.”

“I cannot help but feel a sense of emotion, realising that for the first time, a Korean has become the head of the jury” of the world’s top film festival. “The moment has finally come.”

He said he took it as further proof of South Korea’s cultural influence, with Boon Jong Ho becoming the first Korean to win Cannes’ top prize, the Palme d’Or in 2019 with “Parasite”, which went on to win four Oscars.

Park, the maker of arthouse classics such as “Oldboy”, “The Handmaiden” and “Decision to Leave”, said there “was a long period when Korean cinema was treated as if it were from some kind of peripheral nation, yet even during that time, Korea had excellent directors and actors.

“Now Korea is playing a role as one of the central hubs of the film world, and I believe this is a movement befitting the times. It makes me think of a lot of the predecessors who were truly outstanding but never had the opportunity to be recognised internationally.”

His own relationship with the Korean government has not always been smooth. Park was blacklisted for a period with a string of other artists including Boon more than a decade ago.

Since then Park, like Boon, has been embraced by Hollywood, and is about to make a Western called “The Brigands of Rattlecreek” with a galaxy of US stars including Matthew McConaughey and Pedro Pascal.

He told AFP that he loves American Westerns because they are stories about “people building something out of nothing”.

Cannes Film Festival opens, grappling with AI and Hollywood

“Ever since I was young, watching Western movies, I have thought that I wanted to make something like that some day.”

Works that will endure’

The Cannes jury that Park heads also includes Hollywood stars Demi Moore and Ruth Negga as well as Chloe Zhao, the Oscar-winning director of “Nomadland”.

Park told AFP that hoped that the film that wins the top prize will stand the test of time.

“I believe that awards should be given to works that will endure and be agreed upon by everyone 50 or 100 years from now.”

The 62-year-old said he wanted to see the films in the running for the Palme d’Or blind, “with a sense of anticipation and excitement – knowing nothing beforehand.

“I always try to view things through the purest and most primal eyes of an audience member,” he said.

The movies in the running for the top prize include the latest melodrama from Spain’s Pedro Almodovar and as well “Hope” by fellow South Korean director Na Hong-jin, starring real-life partners Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander.

Park insisted that he would not favour his compatriot. “Some even joked that I might go out of my way to be harsher on a Korean film, because it wouldn’t look good if I appeared to be favouring it,” he told AFP.

“I intend to judge everything as fairly and objectively as possible.”

The Palme d’Or will be announced at the festival’s closing ceremony on May 23.

James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti – best known for appearing on the soapy series “One Tree Hill” – wrote, directed and star in season two of the show about a group of actors trying to recapture their past glory.

They filmed the pilot for season one in 2017, as the streaming boom was taking hold.

The series premiered in 2021 on Disney-owned Hulu, but now both the new season and past episodes are streaming on Netflix after a global rights deal with Sony Pictures Television.

“It does feel like there are a lot of things that are aligning for… things that are set up really budget-consciously, and that can be shot very efficiently, and have really connected voices behind them,” Lafferty told AFP.

Colletti chimed in that while other opportunities had cropped up, “we didn’t want to do that without trying to get this exact opportunity, which is partner with a global streamer like Netflix and go wide all at the same time.”

Cannes Film Festival opens, grappling with AI and Hollywood

The pair draw on their own life experiences to tell the story of TV actors Jeremy and Seth, who struggle to land new gigs after their hit teen vampire show wraps up.

Lafferty said he was “struck” by the audience response to the first season of “Everyone Is Doing Great.”

He said the show had tapped into “a generation and a time when people are realizing that things aren’t quite turning out the way they thought they were going to.”

“And the question is like, what happens next, and who do you lean on to figure that out?”

Cariba Heine, who co-stars as Izzy, attributed the success of the series to its humor and vulnerability.

The series explores “what really matters in life, which is being there for one another, showing up for one another, and laughing at the ridiculousness that is this life.”

In its main competition, a total of 22 films are vying for the prestigious Palme d’Or prize for best film, which was won last year by the highly political Iranian movie “It Was Just an Accident” by Jafar Panahi.

But as usual in the build up to the world’s biggest festival, off-screen talking points have dominated the conversation, most notably how to cope with changes wrought by artificial intelligence – and Hollywood’s decision to ghost the event.

Cannes director Thierry Fremaux came out strongly against AI and its effect on the industry where job losses are mounting for dubbing artists and translators, while writers and actors fear for their livelihoods.

“What is certain… is that here in Cannes, we stand with the artists, we stand with the screenwriters and we stand with everyone in these professions, with actors and voice actors alike,” he told a news conference on Monday.

Cannes Festival promises escapism in Hollywood-lite edition

He suggested that in the future films could be given labels like those for organic food and wine, and “we will say ‘this film has been made without artificial intelligence’”.

Nonetheless, the festival announced Monday that it had signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with social media giant and AI technology investor Meta.

Industry fears

Mark Zuckerberg-owned Meta is at the heart of a brewing controversy about the latest film from Oscar-winning “Traffic” director Steven Soderbergh, which will premiere in Cannes.

Soderbergh partnered with Meta to obtain AI-generated video of late Beatles songwriter John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono for his documentary “John Lennon: The Last Interview”.

The use of AI was central to the 2023 strikes that shut down Hollywood, as actors and writers warned that unchecked technology threatened the industry.

Thousands of French actors and filmmakers warned in an open letter in February that AI tools were “plundering” talent across the industry, comparing them to a “devouring hydra”.

Soderbergh is a rare Hollywood heavyweight in Cannes this year, with others such as Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan – hoped for by organisers – failing to appear on the programme.

‘Come back’

The world’s biggest film festival typically spotlights independent, arthouse cinema while relying on Hollywood to provide a dose of mass-market entertainment.

But no major US studio agreed to launch a blockbuster this year, or at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, raising questions about why giants such as Universal, Disney or Warner are dodging European events.

“I really hope that the studios come back,” Cannes director Fremaux said Monday, attributing their absence to scheduling issues and industry turmoil.

He stressed that American cinema was well represented, with “Paper Tiger” by James Gray starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, as well as “The Man I Love” by Ira Sachs featuring Rami Malek, in the main competition.

There will be no shortage of A-listers on the celeb-heavy red carpets.

A late addition to the programme includes a cast reunion to mark the 25th anniversary of “The Fast and the Furious”, with Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster set to appear at a special screening on Wednesday.

Plane-mad legend John Travolta will bring some stardust when he unveils his directorial debut, “Propeller One-Way Night Coach”, about a young boy’s journey in the “golden age of aviation”.

The festival will open with a screening of French film “The Electric Kiss” before the main competition starts on Wednesday, judged by South Korean director Park Chan-wook and Hollywood heavyweight Demi Moore, among others.

“I cannot help but feel a sense of emotion, realising that for the first time a Korean has become the head of the jury,” Park told AFP on Monday in Cannes.

“The moment has finally come.”

“Marilyn is just an icon,” said Brian Chanes, senior director of Hollywood and entertainment at Heritage Auctions, during a preview of the collection on Friday. “People ​love and adore Marilyn to this day.”

Born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles in ​1926, Monroe became a renowned actress, model, singer and sex symbol known ⁠for her blonde hair and hourglass body. She died in 1962.

Sale to coincide with birthday

Heritage ​Auctions is opening bidding to the public on items from the estate of poets Norman and ​Hedda Rosten, close friends and confidants of Monroe. The sale, which happens June 1, coincides with what would have been the star’s 100th birthday and features personal belongings dating from 1955 to 1962.

Among the most striking offerings ​are documents never seen publicly, shedding light on Monroe’s inner life. The papers explore her ​romantic relationships, fears surrounding a lost pregnancy, and her reflections on mortality.

“It’s really special because this isn’t material ‌that’s ⁠been bought and sold over the decades,” Chanes said. “This is something that’s a discovery.”

From costume jewelry Monroe wore to artwork she once held in her hands, the collection offers buyers intimate access to her personal world. The auction also includes correspondence from her ex-husband, playwright Arthur Miller, ​revealing the emotional complexities ​of their marriage, as ⁠well as an unseen letter from Monroe’s psychiatrist describing the day leading up to her death.

Chanes highlighted one particularly emotional piece from the period ​when Monroe was filming “Some Like It Hot.” Writing on stationery from ​the Hotel ⁠del Coronado, she pleaded for help as her struggles threatened to derail production.

“Right before she was about to overdose and they had to halt filming, she wrote, ‘I feel like I’m drowning,’” Chanes recalled.

“You ⁠can feel ​the anguish in her writing,” he added, noting that ​Monroe sketched a stick figure submerged in water on the same stationery, begging for help — an image that highlighted the ​mental health struggles she faced throughout her career.

The new guidelines will not automatically disqualify performances that have used artificial intelligence to enhance an actor, but require that a live human be the main element.

“Submissions in which a performance is substantially generated or created by artificial intelligence are not eligible” for consideration in the annual film and television prize-giving extravaganza, which kicks off Hollywood’s awards season, organizers said.

“The use of AI for technical or cosmetic enhancements (such as de-aging, aging, or visual modifications) may be permissible, provided the underlying performance remains that of the credited individual and AI does not replace or materially alter the performer’s work.”

The new rules come days after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said it was cracking down on the use of AI.

The body that doles out the Oscars said only real human performers – not their AI avatars – are eligible for the film world’s biggest prizes, and screenplays must have been penned by a person, rather than a chatbot.

The use of artificial intelligence remains one of the most sensitive issues in the entertainment industry and was central to the 2023 strikes that shut down Hollywood, as actors and writers warned that unchecked technology threatened their livelihoods.

The new restrictions come after an AI version of the late Val Kilmer was unveiled to an audience of movie theater owners, a year after the “Top Gun” star’s death.

Also Read: Singer Bonnie Tyler in induced coma in Portugal

A youthful, digital version of Kilmer appeared in the trailer for archaeological action pic “As Deep as the Grave,” telling another character: “Don’t fear the dead and don’t fear me.”

The project was created with the enthusiastic support of the actor’s family, who granted access to Kilmer’s video archives, which were used to recreate the actor at multiple stages of his life.

The 74-year-old star, best known for her 1983 mega-hit “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, was operated on earlier in the week at a hospital in Faro in southern Portugal.

The singer “has been put into an induced coma by her doctors to aid her recovery,” a spokesperson said Friday.

“We know that you all wish her well and ask for privacy at this difficult time please.”

Tyler shot to fame in the 1970s with hits including “Lost in France” and “It’s a Heartache”.

“Total Eclipse of the Heart” later topped the charts in both Britain and the United States.

The Grammy-nominated Tyler, who was born Gaynor Hopkins, was due to start a European tour on May 22 in Malta, to mark 50 years since the release of “Lost in France” which was her breakthrough hit in 1976.

Other concert dates have been planned for Germany, the Czech Republic and Turkey, with a final show planned in Cardiff in December.

Other hits include “Holding Out For A Hero” in 1984 which featured on the soundtrack to the huge US box office success “Footloose”.

In 2013, Tyler represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, with the song “Believe In Me”, finishing in 19th place.

She was recognised in 2022 by the late queen Elizabeth II who, before her death, awarded Tyler an honour for her five-decades-long music career.