city Elizabeth, county Taylor: Last News

Netflix‘s upcoming docudrama Queen Cleopatra has addressed the backlash over casting a Black actress in the lead role.Casualty star Adele James was announced as the lead of the series in April, but criticism soon followed in Egypt, with many accusing the docudrama of “blackwashing” the country’s history. One lawyer even filed lawsuit against Netflix, claiming the series had contradicted and distorted Egyptian history in favour of promoting Afrocentrism.However, in a new piece for Variety, director Tina Gharayi hit back at critics, arguing “it’s more likely that Cleopatra looked like Adele than Elizabeth Taylor,” who famously portrayed the historical figure in 1963’s Cleopatra.“For me, the idea that people had gotten it so incredibly wrong before — historically, from Theda Bara to Monica Bellucci, and recently, with Angelina Jolie and Gal Gadot in the running to play her — meant we had to get it even more right,” wrote Gharayi.“Why shouldn’t Cleopatra be a melanated sister? And why do some people need Cleopatra to be white? Her proximity to whiteness seems to give her value, and for some Egyptians it seems to really matter.”She continued: “After much hang-wringing and countless auditions, we found in Adele James an actor who could convey not only Cleopatra’s beauty but also her strength.

The director of “Queen Cleopatra” is addressing critics.

Tina Gharavi Guest Contributor Last summer, I was living in Venice Beach and had decided, due to a friend’s persistence, to visit a fortune teller. Me, ever the sceptic but game for a laugh, agreed to go along. What the fortune teller said made me roll my eyes: “I am not saying you are Cleopatra but somehow you share her story and are connected.” Less than a month later, I got a call from a production company making Jada Pinkett Smith’s “African Queens” and was subsequently hired to direct four episodes of a drama-documentary on the life of the controversial leader. The joke was on me. I remember as a kid seeing Elizabeth Taylor play Cleopatra. I was captivated, but even then, I felt the image was not right. Was her skin really that white? With this new production, could I find the answers about Cleopatra’s heritage and release her from the stranglehold that Hollywood had placed on her image?

Gemma Collins is enjoying the luxurious lifestyle during her visit to Sicily, which has seen the former TOWIE star stay at the hotel from The White Lotus. The second series of the hit HBO show saw various groups of affluent tourists stay at the San Domenico Palace and Gemma was channelling Jennifer Coolidge's character Tanya while on her own trip to the luxury resort.

John Wayne suffered years of ill health during his final couple of decades. The heavy-drinking and smoking star had a lung and some ribs removed in 1964 due to a cancer diagnosis. During his last years, Duke struggled through his more physically challenging roles, secretly relying on an oxygen mask and even being hospitalised on his last movie The Shootist.

NEW YORK (AP) — Al Jaffee, Mad magazine's award-winning cartoonist and ageless wise guy who delighted millions of kids with the sneaky fun of the Fold-In and the snark of "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions," has died. He was 102. Jaffee died Monday in Manhattan from multiple organ failure, according to his granddaughter, Fani Thomson.

Sophia Scorziello editor Al Jaffee, the cartoonist who gave Mad magazine its iconic back page by creating the publication’s fold-in feature, died on Monday. He was 102. According to the New York Times, Jaffee died of multiple organ failure in a Manhattan hospital. In April 1964, Jaffee’s fold-in was featured for the first time in Mad magazine, marking the start of the methodic flip-through that Mad readers would do for decades. The fold-in played into the magazine’s satirical humor, giving readers a hidden, comical image that revealed itself when the cartoon was folded into thirds.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Queen Latifah has signed on to host the 29th amfAR Gala Cannes. Considered one of the hottest tickets during the Cannes Film Festival, the HIV/AIDS research organization’s event takes place May 25 at Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc. Previously announced performers include Halsey, Gladys Knight, Adam Lambert and Bebe Rexha. Longtime amfAR supporter Carine Roitfeld returns to curate the annual fashion show. The theme of this year’s runway extravaganza will be “Icons” and will feature looks by iconic designers and worn by some of the world’s top models. 

Page Six reported that Holmes and Robach have been “pitching a show a la Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos” and that they approached the producers behind “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”While the couple have been “selling their chemistry,” Page Six sources noted they previously had more of a “brother/sister chemistry” and that “now they’re selling sex” — which might not work. Further details of Holmes and Robach’s pitch have been described as “vague” by insiders, with a TMZ-style gossip show also floated as a possibility.

Julia MacCary editor Margaret Cho will host GLAAD’s 34th annual media awards in Los Angeles. The award show, which honors fair, accurate and inclusive LGBTQ media representation, will also feature performances from music nominees Fletcher and Orville Peck. As previously announced, Christina Aguilera, Bad Bunny and Jeremy Pope will receive honors. Cho is a Grammy and Emmy-nominated performer, activist and entrepreneur whose credits include “The Flight Attendant,” “Hacks” “Stand Out: An LGBTQ Celebration,” “Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin: Ladies Night Live,” “Fire Island” and the upcoming Disney+ movie “Prom Pact.”

Ed Meza @edmezavar David Pujol, whose enchanting drama “Waiting for Dalí” premiered at the Malaga Film Festival on Sunday, has a new feature film project and an international TV series in the works. Pujol has just completed the script for “Rehearsal for a Kiss,” the story of a passionate yet hapless movie theater owner in Barcelona whose love of classic movies has left his cinema in a precarious position. On the verge of losing the family business, he seeks help from his uncle in America, who has made a career for himself as a character actor in Hollywood. A flashy, larger-than-life personality, the uncle returns to his native city after 40 years to help his nephew save the theater while also reconnecting with his own past.

There’s always a reckoning. There has to be. A studio chief tells me that next awards season they’re going to recalibrate how they screen to voters “because there are a bunch of movies that people did not bother to see. Good movies that people did not watch because they were drawn to the noise. And the noise won.”

Elizabeth Taylor Allen Media Group founder, chairman and CEO Byron Allen brought together Oscar night glitz and glamour for good with a little help from legendary singer Diana Ross Sunday night. It was a supreme affair for the philanthropic media mogul whose annual gala returned for a fifth year to the Beverly Wilshire to benefit Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The host, standing beside his family, welcomed a bevy of luminaries to the lavish gathering, including Smokey Robinson, Vivica A. Fox, Jeff Ross, Garcelle Beauvais, Adam Carolla, Candy Spelling and Johnell Young to the event, which all started as a way for Allen to give back to the organization that rescued him as a child.

Many things about the Academy Awards have changed over the years, but for the past six decades there has been at least one constant: The red carpet. The hues have varied over the years, but it has always been some shade of red. Until this year.

Elizabeth Taylor On March 8, the eighth annual Icon Mann Honors paid tribute to “The Woman King” director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who was lauded for her hallmark filmmaking and for inspiring culture by breaking new ground in cinema. Striving for a better future in the arts, she addressed the audience that gathered at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills. “I have always believed our greatness is reflected in our work and the ways that we show the world the incredible breadth of our humanity.” The driving force for her career was further described during her acceptance speech. “From the beginning, I tell stories of Black women and girls and reframe the narrative of who we are and what we can be. I want us to look up on the screen and see ourselves reflected in a way that inspires us and that we can aspire to be. And I’m proud of the Black men that I’ve centered in my work.”

K.J. Yossman Johnny Depp is selling a collection of silk-screen prints he has painted of public figures including Heath Ledger and Bob Marley through a London gallery for thousands of dollars. Titled “Friends & Heroes II,” the entire four-piece collection, which comes signed by Depp, is available for £17,500 ($21,000) from Castle Fine Art and includes portraits of Ledger and Marley together with River Phoenix and Hunter S. Thompson. The portraits were also made available individually for $5,400 each when they first went on sale two weeks ago but all 780 prints have now sold out.

Tim Gray Senior Vice President All five best-actor contenders this year are first-time Oscar nominees. Two are newbies, so that’s not surprising. But among the veterans, Colin Farrell is long overdue, after a 25-year career marked by breadth, daring and risk-taking. In Searchlight’s “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Farrell meets all the criteria for an Oscar win: There’s not a false note in the performance, it’s very different from what you’ve seen him do, and you can’t imagine anyone else playing the part. In person, Farrell is 180 degrees from Padraic. In a long conversation, he didn’t dwell on the movie, yet all roads led to Inisherin: Farrell spoke of a sense of community, of family, of friendship and the power of art — all topics addressed in the film.

 

From one icon to another… said no royal ever??

Kim Kardashian has added a royal piece of jewelry to her collection!

, Kim Kardashian has now picked up a bauble previously worn by Famous Tragically Dead Blonde Princess Diana.At a recent Sotheby's auction, Kardashian's rep purchased the Attalah Cross, an amethyst pendant made by the Garrard jewelry company for Naim Attallah CBE. Per a press release given to , the item is one-of-a-kind and was lent to Diana—the only person to ever wear it—on multiple occasions.