Monica Bellucci: 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.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s Taormina Film Festival will pay homage to its Sicilian setting by celebrating the 25th anniversary of Giuseppe Tornatore’s steamy period drama “Malena” that launched Monica Bellucci‘s international career. The storied event, now headed once again by marketing guru Tiziana Rocca, will host a screening of a restored copy of the film about a 13-year-old boy’s obsession with a small-town siren in World War II Sicily that becomes the sad odyssey of a woman punished for her beauty, and is featuring a still of Bellucci in “Malena” on its poster.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “Everything must change for everything to remain the same,” Tancredi, Prince Fabrizio Salina’s beloved nephew, says in a now-famous line from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel “The Leopard.” The same philosophy applies to the look and feel of the Sicily-set classic’s Netflix miniseries adaptation, which released globally Wednesday and marks the streamer’s most ambitious Italian original to date. “The Leopard” chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the 19th-century unification of Italy, known as the Risorgimento.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Netflix pulled out all the stops as it unveiled its hotly anticipated limited series “The Leopard,” based on the classic Sicily-set novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, which marks the streamer’s biggest splash in Italy thus far. On Tuesday, Netflix held a packed press conference in the frescoed ballroom of Rome’s central Hotel Plaza, which was also used to film one of the show’s key scenes.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent For its starriest edition to date, the Marrakech Film Festival did more than rolling out the red carpet: it opened the doors to Palace Badi, a 16th-century iconic landmark, for an epic dinner offered by HM Mohammed VI and hosted by HRH Prince Moulay Rachid, accompanied by his wife, Princess Lalla Oum Keltoum. The gala evening kicked off with salutations as Marrakech Festival jury president Luca Guadagnino and fellow jurors, Jacob Elordi, Andrew Garfield and Virginie Efira, as well as honorary guests such as Tim Burton, Monica Bellucci, Sean Penn, David Cronenberg, Justine Triet, Justin Kurzel, Francois Ozon, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu and Marie-Ange Luciani were introduced to HRH Moulay Rachid and Princess Lalla OumKeltoum one by one.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Sean Penn has had it with people being politically correct. The Oscar-winning actor made an impassioned plea for people “to be as politically incorrect as their heart desires,” while being honored with an award on Saturday during a glitzy gala night at Morocco’s Marrakech Film Festival, where guests included Luca Guadagnino, Monica Bellucci, Tim Burton, Justin Kurzel, Jeff Nichols, Alfonso Cuarón and Walter Salles.

Outspoken actor and director Sean Penn made a call for people to ditch political correctness and truly embrace diversity in thought and action as he received a career honor at the Marrakech Film Festival on Saturday evening.

Justin Kurzel’s neo-Nazi thriller The Order opened the 21st Marrakech International Film Festival on Friday evening, with the director jetting over from Australia where he recently wrapped WWII drama The Narrow Road to the Deep North with Jacob Elordi.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Tim Burton’s long-awaited follow-up to his classic 1988 supernatural comedy Beetlejuice, will begin streaming exclusively on Max on December 6, debuting on HBO linear on Saturday, December 7 at 6:10 p.m. ET.

Emiliana Betancourt Tim Burton’s scary good sequel, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” will soon haunt your house from your home screen. The long awaited sequel is coming to Max on Dec.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent For its upcoming edition, the Marrakech Film Festival is pulling out all the stops. After a more subdued edition last year due to the Israel-Hamas conflict and the effects of a disastrous earthquake, the event — which has close ties with the crème de la crème of global auteurs — can boast a talent roster on the scale of top international festivals such as Cannes or Venice for its 21st iteration, set to run Nov. 29 to Dec.

Jennifer Lopez and Camila Cabello put on a show during the 1001 Seasons of Elie Saab anniversary fashion show on Wednesday night (November 13) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Lise Pedersen With just a few weeks to go before the U.S. presidential election, Benicio del Toro has spoken out against the way that hot-button issues like immigration are used by candidates to rally support in the lead-up to the election.

Martin Scorsese is set to be honored with a life achievement award by Italy’s National Cinema Museum in the northern city of Turin.

Michelle Keegan's meteoric rise to fame may soon make her too in-demand for TV shows, with Hollywood offers flooding in. Following the massive success of her recent Netflix drama Fool Me Once, producer Danny Brocklehurst, who has collaborated with the 37 year old actress on several projects, including Brassic, predicts that her career is on the cusp of transitioning to the big screen.

Thirty-six years on from the original, director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton finally return to the world of the titular bio-exorcist.

Alex Ritman “This really is my first everything,” admits Arthur Conti. “Everything is so new to me.” The young British actor isn’t exaggerating.

The long-awaited sequel to Tim Burton's 1988 classic, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, has finally hit the cinemas and instantly captured the hearts of moviegoers.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stars Jenna Ortega and Catherine O’Hara have opened up about the film’s big dance scene.The sequel to the 1988 film has just hit cinemas, and features a big song and dance scene at the end featuring their characters Astrid and Delia.Opening up to NME about devising the moment, O’Hara explained that their moves were created by themselves, with the help of a choreographer.“You were the inspiration behind the performance art aspect of it,” Ortega then said of her co-star. “I think it read on the page as a proper dance, and you sparked an idea.”O’Hara elaborated: “I wanted the more… illogical to my mind… dance moves that kind of mean nothing in all modern… not all modern dance, modern dance is amazing.”“We were in a tent right off set and we were like, ‘Oh it’s funny when you do that,'” Ortega recalled, O’Hara adding that her fellow star “laid down on the floor and did” a dramatic pose, and they “went for it”.Beetlejuice Beetlejuice follows three generations of the Deetz family as they return to Winter River, as Lydia’s (Winona Ryder) daughter Astrid accidentally opens up the portal to the Afterlife.It also sees the return of Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse, while Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe join the ensemble alongside Ortega.In NME‘s four-star review of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, we said the film is held together by director Tim Burton’s “wicked imagination” and is “filled with brilliantly ridiculous moments”.“This film has its flaws, not least some unnecessary CGI sandworms that clash with the kitsch practical effects elsewhere, but its sense of fun never lets up.

After 36 years of waiting, the juice is finally loose again in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” this time racking up $110 million in its premiere weekend.The long-awaited Tim Burton sequel is the third-best opening weekend of the year, only behind box office triumphs “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.”Michael Keaton returns as the titular spirit and Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder also reprise their roles as Delia and Lydia Deetz, with newcomer Jenna Ortega playing the latter’s daughter, Astrid. Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci and Justin Theroux round out the cast.The Warner Bros.

The Post called “pointless” and “belabored,” earned $41.5 million on Friday, its first day in theaters, according to The Numbers.The Tim Burton film, which serves as a sequel to the 1988 cult classic “Beetlejuice,” is expected to take in at least $97 million domestically on its opening weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter. If that’s the case, the film will enjoy the second-biggest September opening of all time, trailing only behind 2017’s supernatural horror “It.”Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara reprised their roles in the sequel — which had a staggering reported production budget of $100 million — and Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe joined the cast.“Deadpool & Wolverine,” which was in the No.

Beetlejuice was, in essence, a slyly original movie about ghosts who are stuck in a kind of purgatory. So it’s fitting that a long-gestating sequel to the 1988 classic has been seemingly trapped in development hell as long as the titular bio-exorcist has been, well, dead.Nixed screenplays with titles like “Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian” and “Beetlejuice in Love” have come and gone; the original screenwriters have passed into heaven’s waiting room; Alec Baldwin has long since aged out of playing 30-year-old hunks; and Tim Burton has spent decades teasing the possibility of a sequel while occupied with more pressing projects like, uh… Dumbo.Now, thirty-six years after Beetlejuice became a morbid hit — a gap equal to the passage of time between Citizen Kane and Star Wars — the aptly titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is finally shake, shake, shaking into theaters.