Kurt Luedtke, Oscar-winning ‘Out Of Africa’ screenwriter, dies at 80

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNBCUniversal wants to add an interesting new story to Jenna Bush Hager’s “Today” book club.For nearly four years, the co-host of the 10 a.m. hour of “Today” has chosen a book each month for members of her “Read with Jenna” club to peruse and discuss.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentEmmy-winning “The Crown” star Josh O’Connor will be the protagonist of Italian auteur Alice Rohrwacher’s next film “La Chimera,” which is set in the world of archeological looting and is currently shooting in and around Southern Tuscany.O’Connor, who in “The Crown” played the young Prince Charles, in “La Chimera” is playing a young British archeologist named Arthur who gets involved in an international network of stolen Etruscan artifacts during the 1980s.Also starring in “La Chimera,” which can be loosely translated as “The Unrealizable Dream,” are Isabella Rossellini as a retired opera singer; Brazilian actor Carole Duarte (“The Invisible Life”) who plays another non-Italian woman who intersects with Arthur; Alba Rohrwacher as an international artifacts trafficker; and Vincenzo Nemolato (“Martin Eden”) who plays one of the “tombaroli,” literally grave robbers, as artifacts thieves are known in Italy. “‘La Chimera’ is the story of a young English archaeologist who gets involved in the underground world of the ‘tombaroli,’ the nocturnal raiders of Etruscan tombs,” the director said in a statement.Rohrwacher added that the film “is the final piece of a triptych on territory that I started with ‘The Wonders’ and which poses a central question: what to do with the past?” “Is the past merely a lost world, or does it intimately concern our present?,” Rohrwacher asks.“The Wonders,” which screened in Competition in 2014 at Cannes, winning the Grand Prix, was followed in 2018 by “Happy as Lazzaro” that also launched from the Croisette where it scooped the award for best screenplay.

Naman Ramachandran U.K. broadcaster BBC has acquired CNN‘s Primetime Emmy winning series “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.” The six-part series follows Oscar nominee Stanley Tucci as he travels across Italy to discover the secrets and delights of the country’s regional cuisines.

The Batman is planning to skip his child’s birth in order to see the DC movie on its opening day.It comes after his wife took to Reddit to complain about her husband’s actions.“My (25F) husband (28M) and I are expecting a baby. As you may know, there is a new Batman movie releasing on early march.

SNK Global has denied reports of Metal Slug: Awakening coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, after a “fake” trailer was revealed.Fans of the Metal Slug series were excited when a Twitter account shared what looked like a gameplay trailer of a game based on the Metal Slug series. The Twitter account bio referred to its efforts as “restoring classics to appetite old fans and new fans”, however at time of writing it has now been removed from Twitter shortly after SNK dubbed it “fake”.“Metal Slug: Awakening was announced by an unofficial account,” reads a tweet from SNK Global’s official Twitter account, which adds that “this news is fake, so please be careful what you read online.”METAL SLUG: AWAKENING was announced by an unofficial account.

Camilla has tested positive for coronavirus, a spokesperson for Clarence House has confirmed. A spokesperson said today: “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall has tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating.

Reality TV royalty Gemma Collins is set to expose a new and intimate side to herself in her upcoming Channel 4 documentary Gemma Collins: Self-Harm and Me. The show, which airs on Wednesday 16 February, will chart Gemma's 20-year battle with self-harm and expose a side to the The Only Way Is Essex star that the public are yet to see.

Former Neighbours star Natalie Imbruglia has spoken of her devastation that the popular Aussie soap is being axed in the UK. Speaking on the Heart Breakfast show with JK and Kelly Brook, Natalie, 47, reflected on her time playing Beth Brennan in Ramsay Street, as she backed a fan petition to save the soap from being cancelled. Natalie, who portrayed Beth from 1992 to 1994, told the show’s hosts she was gutted about the news, saying: “Oh I think it's really sad!” The Aussie star, who was crowned the winner of The Masked Singer on Saturday 12 February after impressing the star detectives and fans, continued: “I think at this point we just thought it was gonna go on forever so, I, you know, people are petitioning.

endlessly youthful Ringo Starr spent time doing what a lot of us did: Cruising the Internet, looking at old photos, finding cool stuff, reevaluating life. But, of course, as the Beatles’ former drummer, cool stuff hit him a little differently than it might have the rest of us.

This is the moment two hoodlums turned a recovery truck into a fireball in a late-night attack.

A killer son who filmed his dying father on Twitter has been ordered to remain in hospital.

Software giant Microsoft has sent the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency community into a spin on social media with speculation over a recent tweet about dogs participating in online meetings in its business communication platform.

As the cost of living crisis continues to soar, many families across the country are being left to figure out how to deal with rising prices.

Next week marks the 65th anniversary of the disappearance of beloved Coatbridge schoolgirl Moira Anderson - and police have confirmed it remains a "live investigation".

drug cartels has opened up about how she beheaded a disabled man during a gruesome initiation ceremony.During an interview with investigative journalist Marianna Van Zeller for new National Geographic show Trafficked, Sonja told how she was ordered to commit the act when she was aged just 16.Nicknamed the "Cocaine Queen", she said: “He begged me not to kill him.“I didn’t want to do it but my boyfriend said if I didn’t kill him I wouldn’t be accepted into the group.“To show him I was worthy, he gave me a machete and told me to cut his throat.“I didn’t want to do it, but he insisted. We cut off his head and threw it in the river.”Sonja is a member of the Los Caparros cartel – also known as the Virgilio Peralta Arenas Front - based in Colombia.According to insightcrime.org, the group controls cocoa plantations in the Uraba region, and turned them into cocaine factories, shipping the drug all over the world.It currently has power over around 12,000 hectares of cocoa leaf plantation, while also being involved in illegal mining.The later is said to bring in around £500,000 per month just from one mine in the rural area of El Bagre.The gang is known for its cold-hearted acts of brutality, which recently involved kidnapping a coach load of young footballer players, on their way to play a local match.Just three were freed, while another was found dead.Sonja admitted that they were kidnapped in the hope of “recruiting” them, which would have forced them into becoming narco-soldiers.She refused to confirm if any of them were still alive, but said: “If they say yes, we send them to the troop.

X Factor singer Wagner won legions of fans as he appeared on the seventh series of the hit ITV series, which was created by Simon Cowell.Wagner appeared on the show back in 2010 when he was 54 years old as he went up against performers Cher Lloyd and One Direction.After his stunt, Wagner soon found love as he started dating girlfriend Lydia Longville, who is 36 years his junior, after meeting through friends at one of his performances.Wagner and Lydia, now 29, welcomed daughter Lillian together in 2012 and had son Leon two years later in 2014.Wagner, who is now 65, now looks totally different and regularly shares updates of his two children on his social media pages.The singer is still in the music industry as he makes a living from singing, selling personalised music videos, merchandise and personal appearances.He sent his fans wild as he recently posted a video of himself on the camera to promote his services on social media, sporting a long beard, a dark moustache and a hat.The singer also practises karate in his spare time and credited his hobby for keeping him in shape after becoming a father in his mid 50s.He told love it! Magazine: "Chances are, I have 20 or 30 years left, but there’s nothing I can do about.""If I didn’t do karate, I may as well step into a coffin now, though."Wagner was given a wild card opportunity by judge Louis Walsh after not originally making it through to the finals with his unique performances.He stole the show in the over 28s category and soon won over fans with renditions such as Addicted to Love and She Bangs.Wagner made it to seventh place on the series, which was eventually won by Matt Cardle, with Rebecca Ferguson taking second place and One Direction third. For more of the latest

Hailie Jade Mathers caught the attention of the cameras on February 13, when she was snapped watching her father Eminem perform at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show.Hailie is clearly adored by her father, who has dedicated a number of his hits to her like Mockingbird and Hailie’s Song. Chatting about Hailie on the Hot Boxin podcast with Mike Tyson in 2020, The Real Slim Shady gave an update on how his daughter was getting on. He said: "No babies.

Smilegate and Amazon Game Studios are working on “an entirely new region of servers in Europe” to accommodate demand for Lost Ark at launch, however many European players are leaving negative reviews on Steam to show their dissatisfaction with the current server state.Yesterday (February 13), Smilegate announced via a blog that it is “working as quickly as possible to set up an entirely new region of servers in Europe.”According to Smilegate, this is a joint expansion between itself and publisher Amazon Game Studios, and it’s “the only way to accommodate more players in Europe.”At the moment, the demand for Lost Ark in Europe is causing players in that region to suffer from lengthy queue times. Many of these players are leaving negative reviews on Steam, with some reviews stating queue times in Europe can be upwards of four hours.“While we understand lengthy queue times may persist, we will need time to ensure everything is set up to be in top shape to help accommodate all players to get in game.

Hollywood, soap and reality TV celebrities.From lavish gifts to private jet tours and huge parties, celebrities have certainly turned up the heat on the special day with some of the most extravagant celebrations that have ever been seen.Others however have chosen to keep their celebrations low key, while others have gifted unique presents or got the whole family involved.To celebrate Valentine's Day, Daily Star has taken a look at the ways some of our favourite celebrities have celebrated their special day.John Legend and Chrissy Teigen are one of Hollywood's most famous celebrity couples, so it's no surprise that their Valentines Day celebrations are just as legendary too.

Alexandra Del Rosario Associate Editor/Nights & WeekendsScreenwriter Kurt Luedtke, known for his Oscar-winning adapted screenplay Out of Africa, died on Sunday. He was 80 years old.The Detroit Free Press reported that the Luedtke, who also wrote Absence of Malice and Random Hearts, passed away due to a long illness in a Michigan hospital.Luedtke, a Michigan native, first worked in journalism before turning his attention to Hollywood in the 1980s.

Dave McNary Film ReporterKurt Luedtke, who left journalism for Hollywood and won an Academy Award for his “Out of Africa” screenplay, died Sunday in Michigan after a long illness. He was 80.The Michigan native died at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, the Detroit Free Press reported.