- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Australia moves to expand Antarctic marine park
- Tragedy of Madrid street sweeper highlights how heatwaves kill
- Survivors wait for aid as Trump's lies help cloud Helene response
- Fleeing Israeli bombs, Lebanon's displaced met with suspicion
- Jila Mossaed, from refugee poet to Swedish Academy
- Will Tesla's robotaxi reveal live up to hype?
- Drugs, people smuggling at heart of Mexico's raging violence
- 'Invisibility' and quantum computing tipped for physics Nobel
- Musk says he is 'all in' on Trump in US election
- Category 5 Hurricane Milton roars towards storm-battered Florida
- Carpenter bomb stuns Guardians as Tigers level series
- Harris, Trump and Biden mark Oct. 7 attacks as US election looms
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- US judge orders Google to open Android to rival app stores
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights 'sacred' multi-front war
- Nobel scientist uncovered tiny genetic switches with big potential
- Grammy-winning Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney, dies at 91
- UN biodiversity summit in Colombia aims to turn words into action
- Georgia Supreme Court reinstates six-week abortion ban
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights multi-front war
- Mexican mayor murdered days after taking office
- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
- Man Utd battling to improve fortunes, says Evans
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Masood, Abdullah centuries lift Pakistan to 328-4 in first England Test
- Hurricane Milton strengthens fast, threatens Mexico, Florida
- Tunisia's President Saied set for landslide election win
- Barca hoping to return to Camp Nou 'by end of year'
- Trump to open second golf course at Scotland resort in summer 2025
- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
BCC | 1.68% | 141.27 | $ | |
JRI | -0.76% | 13.18 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.53% | 24.57 | $ | |
GSK | -0.49% | 38.63 | $ | |
AZN | -0.78% | 76.87 | $ | |
SCS | -0.15% | 12.95 | $ | |
RELX | -0.54% | 46.04 | $ | |
RIO | -0.11% | 69.62 | $ | |
NGG | -1.56% | 65.48 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
BCE | -0.54% | 33.53 | $ | |
BTI | -0.26% | 35.2 | $ | |
VOD | 0.31% | 9.69 | $ | |
BP | 0.78% | 33.14 | $ |
'Knives Out' sequel stars laud Angela Lansbury at Europe premiere
Daniel Craig and co-stars of "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" lauded Angela Lansbury on Sunday as the whodunit sequel in which the late actress makes a cameo closed the London Film Festival.
Craig said 96-year-old Lansbury -- who died Tuesday, after becoming a household name through playing a writer-detective in "Murder, She Wrote" -- had been "in my life all my life".
"I mean, my favourite film was 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks'," said the James Bond franchise legend, referring to the 1971 Disney hit film that Lansbury had starred in.
"The fact that she's in our movie, we're so blessed -- and also what an incredible life she had," Craig, 54, told reporters at a press conference alongside other "Glass Onion" filmmakers ahead of its European premiere.
Director Rian Johnson said Lansbury's appearance in his follow-up to 2019 murder mystery "Knives Out", alongside one by the late Broadway icon Stephen Sondheim who died last November, followed brief filming visits he made to their homes.
"Besides just the honour of having them in the movie... just being able to have 10 minutes with each of them, to tell them what their work has meant to me was really, really special," he added.
- 'Subverting the genre' -
"Glass Onion", which features a star-studded ensemble cast that also includes Edward Norton, Kate Hudson and Janelle Monae, will hit cinemas for just a week next month before streaming on Netflix from late December.
Following the success of the first film -- which netted more than $300 million at the global box office, despite a budget of just $40 million -- Craig will also return as Southern gentleman sleuth Benoit Blanc for a third time.
Johnson -- who previously directed the divisive blockbuster "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" -- reiterated that his budding new franchise stems from his love for prolific British crime writer Agatha Christie.
He said his contemporary take on the whodunit, which in this installment include Norton as a vainglorious tech billionaire and Hudson as a vacuous fashioniasta, tries to emulate her "subversive" approach a century ago.
"She was putting twists on it that if you did them today, people would say 'that's very subversive, you're subverting the genre'," said the American director, who has laced his efforts with considerable satire and humour.
"If Agatha Christie were writing right now, she'd have tech billionaires and she'd have these characters.
"She wasn't writing period pieces, she was writing exactly to her time and all of the things that we think of as murder mystery tropes were people in society."
- 'Doubles the laughs' -
Norton appeared to need little persuading to take on the fictional role of online app founder Miles Bron, with most of the movie taking place on his ludicrously lavish private Greek island as he hosts wealthy friends.
"What's not to love about roasting the tech illuminati?" the award-winning actor and filmmaker said with a smile, noting there was "abundant feedstock" for his character in contemporary life.
"When you can see the times you're living in and you can see the foibles -- not just the puffed up characters that we see in the world around us, but even ourselves -- it doubles the laugh, it doubles the pleasure," Norton added.
"That's why it was so wonderful that Rian (Johnson) found some new targets. It's also fun."
The filmmakers in London for the screening -- which follows a world premiere in Toronto last month -- were at pains not to reveal any giveaway spoilers about the twisting plot.
But one minor storyline Johnson and Craig did confirm is that their already-beloved main character, private detective Blanc, is gay -- with Hugh Grant making the most fleeting of appearances as his partner.
"Yes, he obviously is (gay)," Johnson said when asked, jokingly adding of Grant: "there's nobody in the world I can imagine bringing more joy for Benoit Blanc".
Now in its 66th year, the 12-day London Film Festival opened on October 5 with a new musical screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic "Matilda". It also premiered Netflix's animated version of the classic "Pinocchio", directed by Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro, on Saturday.
P.Martin--AMWN