Sparks’ Russell Mael Discusses ‘Annette’s’ Big Opener, ‘So May We Start,’ and Adam Driver Performance

Carole Horst While the Korean film business faces challenges, 2022 does offer a bumper crop of Korean movies from big-name filmmakers. Here are some of the best:The Apartment With Two Women(Finecut)Kim-se In’s debut drama unspools in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section.Broker (CJ Entertainment)“Shoplifters” director Kore-eda Hirokazu examines the trade in children in his Korean-language film debut.

Alissa Simon Film CriticVeteran Swedish documentary maker Magnus Gertten’s “Nelly & Nadine,” a love story that begins in the hell of the Ravensbrück concentration camp, world-premieres in Berlin. Rise and Shine World Sales reps this Panorama title“Nelly & Nadine” is the third film you have made inspired by archival footage showing survivors from German concentration camps arriving in Malmö, Sweden. What motivated you to start this project?  It all started out of curiosity.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAlmost two years since “Parasite” won a handful of Oscars, the impact of COVID has meant that the Korean theatrical sector has been largely unable to capitalize on the trickle-down effect of those wins. Its current malaise stands in contrast to the pandemic windfalls enjoyed by other parts of the Korean entertainment biz — think BTS, Blackpink, “Squid Game” and the latest streaming phenomenon “All of Us Are Dead.”The current year potentially holds great things for Korean film, with nearly all of the country’s top-name directors having completed works, but the prospect remains tantalizingly out of reach.And the longer the hard times continue, the less likely a return to the old normal becomes.

webtoon 7Fates: CHAKHO.‘Stay Alive’, performed by vocalist Jungkook and produced by rapper Suga, dropped alongside a dramatic promotional video, which mixes animation from the webtoon and live-action scenes featuring the boyband.Despite being performed solely by Jungkook, the video for ‘Stay Alive’ features in-person appearances from all seven members of BTS. The video also notably uses a truncated, two-and-a-half minute version of the song.

Lucy Dacus suffered two herniated discs. Rather than cancel the show, however, she performed the entire set while lying down on a couch.She clued fans in on the situation just hours before the show begun, sharing a photo of herself lying down with the caption, “Sup, I have two herniated discs and the only way I’m not in pain is laying down SO tonight’s show I will be singing from a couch, I am both sorry and also pleased to offer this most humiliating and hilarious moment to you good people of Detroit.”“I am telling myself I am punk for this,” she joked in a Tweet, to many responses agreeing earnestly.I am telling myself I am punk for this please do not say otherwise I'm fragile pic.twitter.com/qpdu6rOUCq— Lucy Dacus (@lucydacus) February 10, 2022Despite being forced to deviate from her usual performance style, Dacus gave the sold-out crowd a riveting performance, with her vocal skills as sharp as ever.

Bob Saget, the "Full House" alum who died after being found unresponsive in an Orlando hotel room last month, suffered multiple fractures prior to his death, according to a report. The New York Post’s Page Six, citing the Orange County Medical Examiner’s office, reported that his skull had several fractures and concluded that it is likely that he fell backward and hit the "posterior aspect of his head." He had bleeding and contusions to his brain, the paper said.  Bob Saget attends the Women's Guild Cedars-Sinai Annual Gala at The Maybourne Beverly Hills on November 03, 2021 in Beverly Hills, California.

Council chiefs in South Ayrshire insist they won't levy extra parking charges on workplaces.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentUndeterred by the pandemic, the wheels of Switzerland’s film production machine kept on spinning in 2021, churning out the meticulously made multicultural co-productions the country is known for that scored slots at top festivals.Works by young directors such as Elie Grappe, whose coming-of-age drama “Olga” launched at Cannes; Niccolò Castelli’s terrorism-themed “Atlas,” which bowed at Locarno; and also the VR project “Caves” by Carlos Isabel Garcìa, which premiered at Venice; provided a preamble to the exceptionally strong Swiss presence at this year’s Berlinale.Berlin sees a record-breaking two competition slots filled by new works from established Swiss directors, Ursula Meier’s “The Line” and Michael Koch’s “A Piece of Sky,” plus several more Swiss titles in other sections. “In the worst year ever we shot three productions back-to-back during the pandemic; somehow we got used to it,” says Oscar-nominated Max Karli (“My Life as a Zucchini”), who is among the producers of “The Line” via his Geneva-based Bandita Productions, in tandem with Pauline Gygax.In Switzerland, the film and TV industry held firm last year as one of the few sectors where camera crews and actors continued to work, unlike advertising, which shuttered completely for many months.“It was quite hard because we were shooting without insurance pertaining to anything linked to the pandemic,” Karli says, though some government subsidies were made available for physical productions struck by COVID infections.But, as Karli and other Swiss producers point out, Switzerland is a confederation.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentLola Arabia, the United Arab Emirates label of Oscar-winning Spanish producer Andrés Vicente Gómez (“Belle Epoque”), has struck a 12-movie co-production deal with Dubai-based Charisma Group.The alliance will take in a range of titles, from $2 million-budgeted contemporary comedies to banner productions budgeted at $40 million, revolving around contemporary and historic stories of West Asia.The partners aim to produce an average of four films a year, said Charisma Group co-president Ayham Al Ziyoud.Development has begun on the whole slate. “Although in principle we plan projects with modest budgets, these will be increased in the following year once we find the rights partners outside the Gulf States,” Gómez said.

Sparks have announced a North American tour for next year, taking place predominantly across March.The tour follows the release of the band’s 24th studio album, ‘A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip’, in May last year. Following on from their previously announced shows at Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, the duo will make stops in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Chicago and New York, among other cities.

Chris Willman Music WriterFor years, Los Angelenos and others who subscribe to alerts from ticketing agents have had to deal with the false promise that the rock duo Sparks is coming to town, only to suffer the letdown, again and again, that it actually refers to an appearance by the WNBA team the Los Angeles Sparks.

EXCLUSIVE: Growing South Korean streaming service Watcha is having a busy Cannes, landing local rights to three buzz titles here in the festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Growing South Korean streaming service Watcha is having a busy Cannes, landing local rights to three buzz titles here in the festival.

Marion Cotillard is once again making a glamorous appearance at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival!

Sparks have shared a new video for their track ‘So May We Start’, featuring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard – watch it below.The track, released last month, appears in Annette, the new musical film directed by Holy Motors helmer Leos Carax, who co-wrote the script with Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael. As with the video, Driver and Cotillard star in the new film.The film opened the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival this week (July 6), and is being followed by a theatrical release on August 6.

Ed Meza @edmezavarGerman co-productions are making a strong showing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, among them Leos Carax’s opening film, “Annette,” Wes Anderson’s star-studded “The French Dispatch” and Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi’s “The Story of My Wife.”Fabian Gasmia’s Berlin-based Detailfilm is among the producers on “Annette,” which stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. The musical shot throughout the German state of North RhineWestphalia, including at the Ordensburg Vogelsang, a former Nazi military academy that doubles for a high-security U.S.

Gallery: Marion Cotillard opens up about how she chose her Cannes gown (Harper's Bazaar (UK))Her long blonde locks were parted in the middle and were left natural in waves, and she accessorised with thick silver bracelets and a chunky watch.  The author, who was once married to Rod Stewart, kept it natural with her make up and only wore a slick of lip gloss.

Gallery: Bella Hadid Kicks Of Cannes In Vintage Gaultier First Worn By Naomi Campbell (ELLE (UK))Adam showed his loyalty for the label as he dressed in a black Burberry tuxedo suit while attending the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday. The 37-year-old walked the red carpet at the glitzy French event with Marion Cotillard, both of whom star in new movie Annette – which had its premiere on the same evening.

Cannes Film Festival in France on Wednesday. The French actress, 45, looked in good spirits at the event where she was also joined by director Leos after the film made its debut during the opening night of Cannes the previous evening.

CANNES – There is a surprise in Leos Carax’s “Annette” that many will not be expecting. The fact the press shy cinematic auteur is able to pull it off is a credit to his unique skills as a filmmaker.

Adam Driver got so bored during a five-minute standing ovation at Cannes that he started smoking a cigarette. The actor was attending at the premiere of his new musical film Annette, in which he stars alongside Marion Cotillard.

Marion Cotillard stunned on the red carpet in a shiny silver dress for the opening ceremony of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on Tuesday (July 6).

Video: Fashion shows make a comeback! Summer 2022 menswear in Paris (France 24)'A slap in the face:' Are the Olympics racist?Euro 2021 round up: England trounce Ukraine to play Denmark in semi-finalsZambia mourns its founding president Kenneth KaundaCanadian Inferno, Chinese Communist Party, Ethiopia's turning point, Will Zuma go quietly?Water shortages in Goma, Olympic preparations in Tokyo and vaccine hesitancy in MoscowClaims that Libyan coastguard shot at migrants 'extremely grave if confirmed': UNHCR chiefLet's get physical: Rebooting European sport post-lockdownClashes at petrol stations in Lebanon, and a campaign to remove barbed wire fences from Rohingya campsA literary legend: The life and legacy of Marcel ProustMadrid pardons

five-minute standing ovation from the crowd.“Holy Motors” director Leos Carax’s latest film is a pop opera with a story and original songs by the duo Sparks, and the movie features everything from a marionette baby, musical head trips and, as at least one critic pointed out, two shots of Driver even briefly singing into Cotillard’s vagina. “I thought Adam Driver doing Bo Burnham-style stand-up and having a horrifying robot baby with Marion Cotillard was weird but ‘Annette’ just kept outdoing itself,” critic Iana Murray wrote of the film.

Clayton Davis The musical groove of Amazon Studios’ “Annette” has landed within the confines of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. While the terms “strange” and “quirky” will be understatements used to describe the operatic musical, it’s the type of eclectic and artistically charged cinematic endeavor that has always brought a cinephile to the movies, and one that could appeal to the European voting arm of the Academy Awards in multiple artisan categories, and attainably major recognition for Simon Helberg in supporting actor.

An angry comedian fails to “kill it” with his audience, a breathy opera singer dies on stage every night, their torrid affair is a whirlwind of sex and romance, their prodigious child is presented as a creepy puppet, and their collective love may be torn apart by the abyss of fame. Qui, “Annette,” is another weird, dreamy, surreal vision from French maverick filmmaker Leos Carax (“Holy Motors,” “Pola X”).

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticDebuting on opening night of the Cannes Film Festival a full year after it was originally expected to appear, “Annette” arrives on a pedestal from which it’s too easily toppled. This latest dose of weirdness from “Holy Motors” director Leos Carax — a tortured celebrity love story set to the maddening music of Sparks and starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard — would surely fare better in an underdog position than anointed from the outset.

CANNES, France (AP) — The Cannes Film Festival rolled out the red carpet for the first time in more than two years on Tuesday, launching the French Riviera spectacular with the introduction of Spike Lee's jury, the premiere of Leos Carax's “Annette” and high hopes of shrugging off the pandemic and a punishing year for movies. The 74th Cannes opened Tuesday with as much glitz as it could summon.

Adam Driver, a French-fluent Jodie Foster, a suited Spike Lee and surprise guest Pedro Almodovar all marked the return of the Cannes Film Festival at a glamorous, emotional opening ceremony on Tuesday evening.The first festival gathering to be hosted without social-distanced screenings since the start of the pandemic a year-and half ago, Cannes pulled it off in a big way with the premiere of “Annette,” director Leos Carax’s musical starring Driver and Marion Cotillard.Making the humid evening even more poignant were homages to a pair of American legends, Foster and Lee, the latter serving as this year’s jury president.

Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver are stepping out in style for the 2021 Cannes Film Festival!

Since 1984, Leos Carax has only made five features, and all but one of them have premiered in Cannes, usually to feverish anticipation. This year, festivalgoers will be looking to see how the 60-year-old French maverick—AKA Alex Christophe Dupont—will top his intoxicatingly strange 2012 competition entry Holy Motors, which featured talking limos, chimpanzees and Kylie Minogue. They’ll get their answer when Cannes raises the curtain on this year’s opener Annette, a thematically dark, visually kaleidoscopic rock opera he co-wrote with U.S. pop duo Sparks, which stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard.

Morrissey has responded to recent comments made by Sparks and reflected on his friendship with David Bowie.The former Smiths frontman was speaking to his nephew Sam Esty Rayner for a new interview on his official website.Sparks frontman Russell Mael previously criticised the singer over his views on politics and race.He told the Press Association in 2018: “I’m totally in agreement with anybody being disillusioned [with Morrissey] because I am as well.“It seemed so inconsistent, all these perspectives that he has on those various issues, just stupid, dumb kind of things. I obviously don’t agree with any of these things.

This might be a first for a movie musical.

The Cannes Film Festival begins this week and one of the films that is going to debut there will be “Annette,” the movie is helmed by French filmmaker Leos Carax (“Holy Motors“) with a script penned by Carax alongside Ron Mael and Russell Mael, aka The Sparks Brothers, who will also have roles in the film. The siblings were recently the subject of a rock documentary “The Sparks Brothers” directed by Edgar Wright.