Venice Film Festival: Safety Protocols Tone Down The Usual Press Conference Frenzy

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is “a catastrophe for our continent” Boris Johnson has declared.

Two new properties at Dawn Homes’ Mayfields development in Glenmavis offer "flexible family living within easy reach of Glasgow city centre".

Discovery said it ended the fourth quarter with 22 million DTC subscribers, up from 20 million for Q3. The bulk of subs are from Discovery+.

Meghan Markle mocked him after watching him bare all on stage.The Suits actor starred alongside the Duchess of Sussex on the popular series from 2011 to 2018.Patrick, who is set to make his Broadway debut next month in show Take Me Out, has claimed Meghan once teased him after she saw him with no clothes on. The actor, 40, spoke about the incident, which occurred in 2011 while the pair were filming their first season of the hit legal drama.Patrick played protagonist Michael Ross, who blags his way into a top law firm by pretending he attended Harvard Law School.Meanwhile Meghan, 40, played protagonist Patrick’s on-screen partner Rachel, who started the series as a paralegal. During the shooting of their first season, Meghan turned up to watch Patrick in an LA production of Bill Cain's play 9 Circles, which featured full-frontal male nudity.Recollecting the occasion in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Patrick revealed: “She certainly was at the play where I was naked and she had a good time making fun of me after.”“So, maybe she’d like a repeat performance,” he joked.In his Broadway debut next month, Patrick will once again be exposing himself in the Tony Award-winning play Take Me Out. The show is well known for its nude scenes, and its comeback is hotly anticipated after being delayed by nearly two years due to the pandemic. Patrick went on to see that he would be thrilled to see the Duchess in the audience for his latest theatrical outing. “I would love for Meghan to come and enjoy the show,” he said.“I’ll send her an invite for sure.”Following her engagement to Prince Harry in November 2017, Meghan announced she would be leaving Suits after seven years.At the end of its seventh series, Mike (Patrick) and

Hollyoaks star Gabriel Clark has teased explosive scenes as Ollie Morgan's mother is set to return to the village.It was confirmed earlier this month that Susie Amy will reprise her role as Scarlett Morgan later this year.Fans of the Channel 4 soap will remember her previous outing when she entered the village to sign divorce papers for Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy) and check in on her son.Regarding her return, former Footballers' Wives actress Susie said at the time: "So happy to be bringing Scarlett back to Hollyoaks, really looking forward to a brilliant new storyline and seeing everyone."Gabriel, who took over the role as Ollie in 2020, has since opened up about his on-screen mum coming back to Hollyoaks.He told Daily Star: "It's really exciting.

Katie Price has revealed her mother Amy is "suffocating" as she battles her terminal illness - and it's so bad she has to finish her mum's sentences for her.Katie's mum suffers from an incurable lung disease called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis - after being diagnosed in 2017.The horrible condition limits her ability to breathe properly and she must take oxygen to help her.Mucky Mansion star Katie bravely spoke out about her mum's terminal illness when she appeared on ITV's Lorraine on Thursday (February 24).Opening up about her mum's condition, Katie told viewers it was hard for her to see her mum Amy struggle with such a "horrible" illness that has left her "suffocating".She said: "My mum keeps saying to me, 'Just when I'm about to to try and rest because I'm ill, you do something else, you keep me on my toes.' "I'm like 'Mum, you're not going anywhere yet'. I mean obviously she's terminally ill and it is what it is but now she's on her oxygen.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorRefresh for latest…: Following a successful two weeks that marked the first major international industry event in the pandemic era, the Venice Film Festival draws to a close tonight as Cate Blanchett’s jury hands out its awards. Despite a lack of major Hollywood fare, there was no shortage of well-received movies — one film from a studio, Searchlight’s Nomadland, energized the proceedings just yesterday, garnering strong notices for Chloe Zhao’s direction and Frances McDormand’s lead performance.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorDirector Chloe Zhao’s third feature, Nomadland, landed on the Lido this morning as one of the final movies to screen in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Reviews are embargoed for another several hours on the exploration of modern-day, van-dwelling life on the road, but what I can say is that there was energetic and sustained applause at the press screening I attended.Later in the day, Zhao and producer-star Frances McDormand appeared virtually to discuss the film from Seartchlight Pictures.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorOscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney had some choice words about the Trump administration today as he Zoom-ed into the Venice Film Festival to discuss Crazy Not Insane, his out of competition title that’s playing here. It focuses on Dr Dorothy Otnow Lewis, a psychiatrist who assesses the sanity of people on death row before they are to be executed and examines what makes someone a serial killer. Gibney came across her as part of research for a scripted project he’s working on with Laura Dern, he said. Dern narrates Crazy, Not Insane.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorWriter-director Kyle Rankin’s school shooting drama Run Hide Fight debuted out of competition at the Venice Film Festival today, and made for a press conference that focused largely on the issue of gun violence in the U.S. and included a spirited take from star Thomas Jane.Run Hide Fight, made in relative secrecy last winter, follows 17-year-old Zoe Hull (Isabel May) who uses her wits, survival skills and compassion to fight for her life, and those of her fellow classmates, against a group of live-streaming school shooters.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorThe controversy surrounding Disney’s live-action update on 1998 animated classic Mulan is heating up just as the film is about to be released in China. In recent days, backlash outside the Middle Kingdom has increased over a line in the movie’s credits roll that reportedly thanks the Xinjiang authorities, including one entity that is on the U.S.-sanctions list, for their cooperation in making Mulan.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorAt the Venice Film Festival’s annual press lunch today, Artistic Director Alberto Barbera offered further insight into down-to-the-wire preparations for what has so far been a very successful mounting of the pandemic era’s first major industry event. He also talked about some of the titles that were still under discussion until near the September 2 launch, as well as talent travel issues.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorRegina King and the stars of her feature directorial debut One Night In Miami piped into the Venice Film Festival this afternoon to discuss the very timely picture that’s inspired by a real-life 1964 meeting of friends Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke. The press screening I attended this morning was as full as is possible under social distancing protocols and there was a healthy dose of applause as the credits rolled.The events of the film take place the night that Clay (before he became Muhammad Ali) defeated Sonny Liston to take over the title of World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorVanessa Kirby, who has two movies at the Venice Film Festival, today hit the Lido to talk about Kornél Mundruczó’s Pieces Of A Woman. The film tells the story of a couple whose home birth goes devastatingly wrong, resulting in the loss of their child, and deeply explores the mother-daughter relationship.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorSometimes controversial director Abel Ferrara addressed the idea of cancel culture in today’s world and whether it had become more difficult to make the kinds of films he once did. “It’s on the artist to uncancel himself, to come clean with himself,” he said.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorPedro Almodovar and Tilda Swinton heated things up at the Venice Film Festival this afternoon, speaking to the press after the screening of the Spanish maestro’s first English-langauge project, The Human Voice. “Freely” based on the 1930 Jean Cocteau play, the 30-minute movie was shot after the coronavirus lockdown was lifted.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorIf, like most Venice Film Festival attendees, you have a rented bike, you can get to the festival center from the Lido’s main drag in under 10 minutes. There has already been security to check passes and bags in past years, but I’ve rarely come across any significant bottlenecks.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorAfter a day of early press screenings and conferences, the Venice Film Festival officially was declared open this evening by the directors of several major European fests including Venice’s own Alberto Barbera and Cannes’ Thierry Frémaux.But before they got to the stage of the Sala Grande, there was plenty to remark upon during the first evening of the first major film industry gathering of the COVID pandemic era. With deference to Verdi’s opera, this could be coined as the Lido’s Un Ballo In Maschera.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorVenice Film Festival jury President Cate Blanchett is “very excited to be having a conversation with adults,” she told journalists on the Lido today, quipping, “I have been talking to pigs and chickens for the past six months.” That was one bit of levity during a press conference that touched on some more serious subjects including the implications of streaming’s growth during lockdown, certain countries’ “obtuse” response to the COVID pandemic, and the Berlin Film Festival’s decision to make its acting awards gender-neutral.Blanchett, who was recently the President of the Cannes Film Fest’s jury, is chairing the main panel for the first major international event in the

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorIn a sign of unity, Artistic Directors of several major European Film Festivals gathered for a press conference here in Venice this afternoon. Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera and the others will appear on stage at this evening’s opening ceremony to reassert the importance of cinema and in solidarity towards the global film industry which has been hit hard by the COVID pandemic.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorDisney’s live-action take on its 1998 Oscar-nominated animated classic Mulan has finally been set for a China release on September 11. A new poster with the date was released today on the studio’s official Weibo account with a note that said, “Looking forward to meeting you and witnessing the blooming of Mulan together!” The Niki Caro-directed film will screen in 2D, 3D and IMAX (see the full poster below).The September 11 date falls one week after the China release of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet on September 4 which is also when Disney+ gets Mulan in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and the major European markets where the streaming service is up and running.