News Analysis India

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  • Cannes adds controversial French film ft minor in adult scene to line-up

    By AFP

    PARIS: A new French film was added to the Cannes Film Festival line-up on Monday despite reports of inappropriate behaviour on set, including the use of a child in a sex scene.

    “The Return” by director Catherine Corsini was stripped of 680,000 euros ($750,000) in state support (out of a 4.7-million-euro budget) after it was discovered that the makers had left out the sex scene featuring an under-16 actress from the script when they applied for funding, the National Centre of Cinematography told AFP last week.

    It was nonetheless added to the line-up for next month’s festival along with another French film, “Black Flies” by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire.

    Corsini’s inclusion extends the record number of women competing for the top prize Palme d’Or to seven (out of 21 entries). The previous record of five was set last year.

    Among several other late additions announced on Monday was a Midnight Screening of Ben Affleck’s new sci-fi thriller “Hypnotic” by cult director Robert Rodriguez.

    Paris prosecutors told AFP that it had received a complaint in November 2022 about the treatment of a minor in “The Return”, and that an initial investigation was launched.

    French media have also reported complaints that Corsini, 66, was verbally abusive during the shoot.

    The film’s producer, Elisabeth Perez, chose not to comment when contacted by AFP last week.

    She previously told the French daily Le Parisien that the failure to declare the sex scene was “an administrative error” and confirmed “tensions on the set”, but denied there was any “verbal or physical violence on the part of Catherine, nor in general on set”.

    “The Return” is not the only controversial inclusion at this year’s festival, which opens with Johnny Depp’s comeback film, “Jeanne du Barry”, whose French director Maiwenn is under investigation for allegedly assaulting a journalist.

    But it also has a star-packed line-up featuring out-of-competition premieres for the new Indiana Jones and Pixar movies, as well as the latest from Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”.

    PARIS: A new French film was added to the Cannes Film Festival line-up on Monday despite reports of inappropriate behaviour on set, including the use of a child in a sex scene.

    “The Return” by director Catherine Corsini was stripped of 680,000 euros ($750,000) in state support (out of a 4.7-million-euro budget) after it was discovered that the makers had left out the sex scene featuring an under-16 actress from the script when they applied for funding, the National Centre of Cinematography told AFP last week.

    It was nonetheless added to the line-up for next month’s festival along with another French film, “Black Flies” by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Corsini’s inclusion extends the record number of women competing for the top prize Palme d’Or to seven (out of 21 entries). The previous record of five was set last year.

    Among several other late additions announced on Monday was a Midnight Screening of Ben Affleck’s new sci-fi thriller “Hypnotic” by cult director Robert Rodriguez.

    Paris prosecutors told AFP that it had received a complaint in November 2022 about the treatment of a minor in “The Return”, and that an initial investigation was launched.

    French media have also reported complaints that Corsini, 66, was verbally abusive during the shoot.

    The film’s producer, Elisabeth Perez, chose not to comment when contacted by AFP last week.

    She previously told the French daily Le Parisien that the failure to declare the sex scene was “an administrative error” and confirmed “tensions on the set”, but denied there was any “verbal or physical violence on the part of Catherine, nor in general on set”.

    “The Return” is not the only controversial inclusion at this year’s festival, which opens with Johnny Depp’s comeback film, “Jeanne du Barry”, whose French director Maiwenn is under investigation for allegedly assaulting a journalist.

    But it also has a star-packed line-up featuring out-of-competition premieres for the new Indiana Jones and Pixar movies, as well as the latest from Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”.

  • Netflix to invest USD 2.5 billion in South Korean content

    By AFP

    SEOUL: Netflix will invest $2.5 billion in South Korean content over the next four years, the streaming giant’s CEO Ted Sarandos announced after meeting with the country’s President Yoon Suk Yeol in Washington.

    South Korea has cemented its status as a global cultural powerhouse in recent years, thanks in part to the explosive success of the Oscar-winning film “Parasite” and the hit Netflix series “Squid Game”.

    “Netflix is delighted to confirm that we will invest USD 2.5 billion in Korea including the creation of Korean series, films, and unscripted shows over the next four years,” Sarandos said in a statement given to AFP on Tuesday.

    “This investment plan is twice the total amount Netflix has invested in the Korean market since we started our service in Korea in 2016.”

    Sarandos said that Netflix had “great confidence” that South Korea’s creative industry would continue to tell great stories, pointing to the recent success of global hits such as “The Glory” and the reality show “Physical 100”.

    “It is incredible that the love towards Korean shows has led to a wider interest in Korea, thanks to the Korean creators’ compelling stories. Their stories are now at the heart of the global cultural zeitgeist,” he added.

    Over the last few years, South Korean content has taken the world by storm, with over 60 percent of Netflix viewers watching a show from the East Asian country in 2022, company data showed.

    Netflix, which spent more than 1 trillion won ($750 million) developing Korean content from 2015 to 2021, had previously said it would be expanding its South Korean show output, without giving details of spending plans.

    Yoon, who is on a six-day state visit, hailed what he described as a “very meaningful” meeting with Sarandos, according to a transcript shared with AFP by the president’s office.

    The president said the new investment “will be a great opportunity for the Korean content industry, creators, and Netflix. We sincerely welcome Netflix’s exceptional investment decision.”

    Yoon will meet US President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

    ‘Wise decision’

    Many of Netflix’s biggest global hits in recent years have been from South Korea, so the company is making a “wise decision” to double down financially, Regina Kim, an entertainment writer and expert on K-content based in New York City, told AFP.

    “Netflix has played a huge role in disseminating K-culture and K-content around the world.”

    The firm’s latest investment means viewers worldwide “will continue to witness Netflix’s Korean contents change the landscape of global screen culture”, Areum Jeong, a film expert and visiting scholar at Robert Morris University, told AFP.

    But the move could raise concern over “how big Netflix is becoming in Korea as local streamers struggle to keep up”, Jason Bechervaise, a Seoul-based film scholar, told AFP.

    Netflix is also one of the companies embroiled in a “usage fee” debate in South Korea.

    The country’s internet companies are seeking to force major data users — such as the streaming giant — to pay more for bandwidth, something Netflix has strongly pushed back against.

    SEOUL: Netflix will invest $2.5 billion in South Korean content over the next four years, the streaming giant’s CEO Ted Sarandos announced after meeting with the country’s President Yoon Suk Yeol in Washington.

    South Korea has cemented its status as a global cultural powerhouse in recent years, thanks in part to the explosive success of the Oscar-winning film “Parasite” and the hit Netflix series “Squid Game”.

    “Netflix is delighted to confirm that we will invest USD 2.5 billion in Korea including the creation of Korean series, films, and unscripted shows over the next four years,” Sarandos said in a statement given to AFP on Tuesday.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2′); });

    “This investment plan is twice the total amount Netflix has invested in the Korean market since we started our service in Korea in 2016.”

    Sarandos said that Netflix had “great confidence” that South Korea’s creative industry would continue to tell great stories, pointing to the recent success of global hits such as “The Glory” and the reality show “Physical 100”.

    “It is incredible that the love towards Korean shows has led to a wider interest in Korea, thanks to the Korean creators’ compelling stories. Their stories are now at the heart of the global cultural zeitgeist,” he added.

    Over the last few years, South Korean content has taken the world by storm, with over 60 percent of Netflix viewers watching a show from the East Asian country in 2022, company data showed.

    Netflix, which spent more than 1 trillion won ($750 million) developing Korean content from 2015 to 2021, had previously said it would be expanding its South Korean show output, without giving details of spending plans.

    Yoon, who is on a six-day state visit, hailed what he described as a “very meaningful” meeting with Sarandos, according to a transcript shared with AFP by the president’s office.

    The president said the new investment “will be a great opportunity for the Korean content industry, creators, and Netflix. We sincerely welcome Netflix’s exceptional investment decision.”

    Yoon will meet US President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

    ‘Wise decision’

    Many of Netflix’s biggest global hits in recent years have been from South Korea, so the company is making a “wise decision” to double down financially, Regina Kim, an entertainment writer and expert on K-content based in New York City, told AFP.

    “Netflix has played a huge role in disseminating K-culture and K-content around the world.”

    The firm’s latest investment means viewers worldwide “will continue to witness Netflix’s Korean contents change the landscape of global screen culture”, Areum Jeong, a film expert and visiting scholar at Robert Morris University, told AFP.

    But the move could raise concern over “how big Netflix is becoming in Korea as local streamers struggle to keep up”, Jason Bechervaise, a Seoul-based film scholar, told AFP.

    Netflix is also one of the companies embroiled in a “usage fee” debate in South Korea.

    The country’s internet companies are seeking to force major data users — such as the streaming giant — to pay more for bandwidth, something Netflix has strongly pushed back against.

  • Did Ed Sheeran copy Marvin Gaye? Trial to begin in New York

    By Associated Press

    NEW YORK: Jury selection and opening statements are set to begin shortly in a trial that mashes up Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”

    The heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, sued Sheeran, alleging the English pop star’s hit 2014 tune has “striking similarities” to “Let’s Get It On” and “overt common elements” that violate their copyright.

    The lawsuit filed in 2017 has finally made it to a trial that is expected to last a week in the Manhattan federal courtroom of 95-year-old Judge Louis L. Stanton.

    Sheeran, 32, is among the witnesses expected to testify.

    “Let’s Get It On” is the quintessential, sexy slow jam that’s been heard in countless films and commercials and garnered hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays over the past 50 years. “Thinking Out Loud,” which won a Grammy for song of the year, is a much more marital take on love and sex.

    While the jury will hear the recordings of both songs, probably many times, their lyrics — and vibes — are legally insignificant. Jurors are supposed to only consider the raw elements of melody, harmony and rhythm that make up the composition of “Let’s Get It On,” as documented on sheet music filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

    Sheeran’s attorneys have said the songs’ undeniable structural symmetry points only to the foundations of popular music.

    “The two songs share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters,” they said in a court filing.

    Townsend family attorneys pointed out in the lawsuit that artists including Boyz II Men have performed seamless mashups of the two songs, and that even Sheeran himself has segued into “Let’s Get It On” during live performances of “Thinking Out Loud.”

    They sought to play a potentially damning YouTube video of one such Sheeran performance for the jury at trial. Stanton denied their motion to include it, but said he would reconsider it after he sees other evidence that’s presented.

    Gaye’s estate is not involved in the case, though it will inevitably have echoes of their successful lawsuit against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. over the resemblance of their 2013 hit “Blurred Lines” to Gaye’s 1977 “Got to Give it Up.”

    A jury awarded Gaye’s heirs $7.4 million at trial — later trimmed by a judge to $5.3 million — making it among the most significant copyright cases in recent decades.

    Sheeran’s label Atlantic Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing are also named as defendants in the “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit. Generally, plaintiffs in copyright lawsuits cast a wide net in naming defendants, though a judge can eliminate any names deemed inappropriate. In this case, however, Sheeran’s co-writer on the song, Amy Wadge, was never named.

    Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit “For Your Love,” was a singer, songwriter and lawyer. He died in 2003. Kathryn Townsend Griffin, his daughter, is the plaintiff leading the lawsuit.

    Already a Motown superstar in the 1960s before his more adult 1970s output made him a generational musical giant, Gaye was killed in 1984 at age 44, shot by his father as he tried to intervene in a fight between his parents.

    Major artists are often hit with lawsuits alleging song-stealing, but nearly all settle before trial — as Taylor Swift recently did over “Shake it Off,” ending a lawsuit that lasted years longer and came closer to trial than most other cases.

    But Sheeran — whose musical style drawing from classic soul, pop and R&B has made him a target for copyright lawsuits — has shown a willingness to go to trial before. A year ago, he won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You,” then slammed what he described as a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial.

    “I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” Sheeran said in a video posted on Twitter after the verdict. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.”

    The “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit also invokes one of the most common tropes in American and British music since the earliest days of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B and hip-hop: a young white artist seemingly appropriating the work of an older Black artist — accusations that were also levied at Elvis Presley and The Beatles, whose music drew on that of Black forerunners.

    “Mr. Sheeran blatantly took a Black artist’s music who he doesn’t view as worthy as compensation,” Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who represents the Townsend family but is not involved in the trial, said at a March 31 news conference.

    NEW YORK: Jury selection and opening statements are set to begin shortly in a trial that mashes up Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”

    The heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, sued Sheeran, alleging the English pop star’s hit 2014 tune has “striking similarities” to “Let’s Get It On” and “overt common elements” that violate their copyright.

    The lawsuit filed in 2017 has finally made it to a trial that is expected to last a week in the Manhattan federal courtroom of 95-year-old Judge Louis L. Stanton.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Sheeran, 32, is among the witnesses expected to testify.

    “Let’s Get It On” is the quintessential, sexy slow jam that’s been heard in countless films and commercials and garnered hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays over the past 50 years. “Thinking Out Loud,” which won a Grammy for song of the year, is a much more marital take on love and sex.

    While the jury will hear the recordings of both songs, probably many times, their lyrics — and vibes — are legally insignificant. Jurors are supposed to only consider the raw elements of melody, harmony and rhythm that make up the composition of “Let’s Get It On,” as documented on sheet music filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

    Sheeran’s attorneys have said the songs’ undeniable structural symmetry points only to the foundations of popular music.

    “The two songs share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters,” they said in a court filing.

    Townsend family attorneys pointed out in the lawsuit that artists including Boyz II Men have performed seamless mashups of the two songs, and that even Sheeran himself has segued into “Let’s Get It On” during live performances of “Thinking Out Loud.”

    They sought to play a potentially damning YouTube video of one such Sheeran performance for the jury at trial. Stanton denied their motion to include it, but said he would reconsider it after he sees other evidence that’s presented.

    Gaye’s estate is not involved in the case, though it will inevitably have echoes of their successful lawsuit against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. over the resemblance of their 2013 hit “Blurred Lines” to Gaye’s 1977 “Got to Give it Up.”

    A jury awarded Gaye’s heirs $7.4 million at trial — later trimmed by a judge to $5.3 million — making it among the most significant copyright cases in recent decades.

    Sheeran’s label Atlantic Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing are also named as defendants in the “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit. Generally, plaintiffs in copyright lawsuits cast a wide net in naming defendants, though a judge can eliminate any names deemed inappropriate. In this case, however, Sheeran’s co-writer on the song, Amy Wadge, was never named.

    Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit “For Your Love,” was a singer, songwriter and lawyer. He died in 2003. Kathryn Townsend Griffin, his daughter, is the plaintiff leading the lawsuit.

    Already a Motown superstar in the 1960s before his more adult 1970s output made him a generational musical giant, Gaye was killed in 1984 at age 44, shot by his father as he tried to intervene in a fight between his parents.

    Major artists are often hit with lawsuits alleging song-stealing, but nearly all settle before trial — as Taylor Swift recently did over “Shake it Off,” ending a lawsuit that lasted years longer and came closer to trial than most other cases.

    But Sheeran — whose musical style drawing from classic soul, pop and R&B has made him a target for copyright lawsuits — has shown a willingness to go to trial before. A year ago, he won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You,” then slammed what he described as a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial.

    “I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” Sheeran said in a video posted on Twitter after the verdict. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.”

    The “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit also invokes one of the most common tropes in American and British music since the earliest days of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B and hip-hop: a young white artist seemingly appropriating the work of an older Black artist — accusations that were also levied at Elvis Presley and The Beatles, whose music drew on that of Black forerunners.

    “Mr. Sheeran blatantly took a Black artist’s music who he doesn’t view as worthy as compensation,” Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who represents the Townsend family but is not involved in the trial, said at a March 31 news conference.

  • Coachella 2023: Zendaya returns to stage after 7 years, fans elated

    By ANI

    CALIFORNIA: Actor-singer Zendaya surprised everyone with her special performance at Coachella 2023.

    The act marks her return to the stage after almost seven years. She joined Labrinth onstage to perform two songs, including their hit “All For Us,” from the HBO series Euphoria recently.

    Taking to Instagram, she shared several images and videos from the event. She also penned a note of gratitude.

    “I cannot express my gratitude enough for this magical night. Thank you to my brother Labrinth for inviting me and giving me the most beautiful safe space to be on a stage again. And to the crowd tonight. wow. My heart is so full, I can’t thank you enough for the love I received tonight, made all my nerves melt away, I’m so grateful,” she wrote.

    Other than Zendaya, Sia and Maddie Ziegler also joined Labrinth for his Coachella performance.

    In 2013, Zendaya released an electro-R&B bop called ‘Replay’, which charted at No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to become certified Platinum by the RIAA.

    The single preceded her self-titled debut album, which dropped later the same year via Hollywood Records and reached No. 51 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, People reported.

    Zendaya hasn’t performed a full concert since 2015, two years after the then-singer/actress released her self-titled debut (and only, to this point) album. Since then, she’s focused on her A-list career on screen, starring in the Spider-Man series, Dune, The Greatest Showman and Euphoria.

    CALIFORNIA: Actor-singer Zendaya surprised everyone with her special performance at Coachella 2023.

    The act marks her return to the stage after almost seven years. She joined Labrinth onstage to perform two songs, including their hit “All For Us,” from the HBO series Euphoria recently.

    Taking to Instagram, she shared several images and videos from the event. She also penned a note of gratitude.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “I cannot express my gratitude enough for this magical night. Thank you to my brother Labrinth for inviting me and giving me the most beautiful safe space to be on a stage again. And to the crowd tonight. wow. My heart is so full, I can’t thank you enough for the love I received tonight, made all my nerves melt away, I’m so grateful,” she wrote.

    Other than Zendaya, Sia and Maddie Ziegler also joined Labrinth for his Coachella performance.

    In 2013, Zendaya released an electro-R&B bop called ‘Replay’, which charted at No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to become certified Platinum by the RIAA.

    The single preceded her self-titled debut album, which dropped later the same year via Hollywood Records and reached No. 51 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, People reported.

    Zendaya hasn’t performed a full concert since 2015, two years after the then-singer/actress released her self-titled debut (and only, to this point) album. Since then, she’s focused on her A-list career on screen, starring in the Spider-Man series, Dune, The Greatest Showman and Euphoria.

  • ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ S2 to release this summer

    Express News Service

    On Monday, Amazon Prime Video took to their official Twitter handle to announce that the second season of The Summer I Turned Pretty will premiere on the streamer in Summer 2023.

    The makers are yet to reveal an exact premiere date for the series. The series is an adaptation of Jenny Han’s young adult novel by the same name.

    The Summer I Turned Pretty is a multigenerational drama exploring a love triangle involving a girl and two brothers. Set over the course of a Summer, the series is also a coming-of-age story.

    The show consists of an ensemble cast starring Lola Tung, Jackie Chung, Rachel Blanchard, Christopher Briney, Gavin Casalegno, Sean Kaufman, and Alfredo Narciso.

    The first season of The Summer I Turned Pretty premiered on June 17, 2022. The series was renewed for a second season even before the release of the first. 

    (This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)

    On Monday, Amazon Prime Video took to their official Twitter handle to announce that the second season of The Summer I Turned Pretty will premiere on the streamer in Summer 2023.

    The makers are yet to reveal an exact premiere date for the series. The series is an adaptation of Jenny Han’s young adult novel by the same name.

    The Summer I Turned Pretty is a multigenerational drama exploring a love triangle involving a girl and two brothers. Set over the course of a Summer, the series is also a coming-of-age story.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The show consists of an ensemble cast starring Lola Tung, Jackie Chung, Rachel Blanchard, Christopher Briney, Gavin Casalegno, Sean Kaufman, and Alfredo Narciso.

    The first season of The Summer I Turned Pretty premiered on June 17, 2022. The series was renewed for a second season even before the release of the first. 

    (This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)

  • How the 2011 Great Eastern Japan earthquake led filmmaker Makoto Shinkai to make ‘Suzume’

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Die-hard anime fans in India would know Makoto Shinkai from his titles such as “Your Name” and “Weathering with You” and the Japanese director says his movies enjoy popularity here because Southeast Asia has a common cultural cinematic language.

    Shinkai, who was in the city to promote his latest anime title “Suzume”, said his filmography is deeply rooted in Asian culture.

    “I have visited India (earlier). I was in Thailand before that, so there is a sense. When I look at it, I feel that in Southeast Asia, Japan, we share a common cultural language, which is different from the language of Hollywood and European cinema.

    “One thing I know for sure, the language of my film will continue to reflect the ethos of Asian culture. My roots are from here, and I understand that language and I want to present that,” Shinkai told PTI in an interview here.

    The 50-year-old filmmaker said he is aware that his films enjoy a great fan following in India, but that doesn’t make him confident about the reception to “Suzume”, which released in the country on April 21.

    It was distributed by PVR Pictures.

    The movie, which was released in Japan last November, is among the top 10 highest-grossing Japanese films of all time.

    Shinkai said he wanted to bring his next film to India after receiving praise for “Weathering with You” when he had visited New Delhi in 2019 for the premiere of the movie.

    “When I saw the response to “Weathering with You”, I knew whenever I make my next movie, I want it to take it to India. If you ask me, if I am 100 per cent sure that we will hit a sixer, no, I am not. It is always nerve-racking, the day before the premiere,” he added.

    “Suzume”, a Japanese animated fantasy adventure, follows the story of 17-year-old high school students Suzume Iwato and Souta Munakata, who team up to prevent a series of disasters across Japan.

    WATCH |

    Through this film, Shinkai said the objective is the universal theme of nurturing “hope” amid problems.

    “When you look at disasters, look at the last 10 years, we have (had) earthquakes. Japan has a natural phenomenon like climate change. We have places where there is unusually high rainfall, which causes avalanches and deaths. Apart from that there are man-made disasters, like war between Russia and Ukraine, which is displacing so many lives. So, it (this film) shows there are things that can uproot your existence. But within that, how do we carry on? The one thing that pushes us is hope and that is the theme that transcends borders and languages,” he added.

    The genesis of “Suzume”, Shinkai said, stemmed from the profound effect that the 2011 Great Eastern Japan earthquake, globally called the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, had on him.

    In the aftermath of the calamity, the filmmaker said he was toying with the idea of making a film that would tap into the emotion of the people. “It (the earthquake) made me feel that what we think of as normal, it could vanish anytime. What would happen if my life would vanish, how would I react? I wanted to make a movie which addresses the phenomenon of abandoned cities, which started increasing in Japan. I wanted to build a character around somebody who walks around these places,” he said.

    For this, Shinkai said he conducted in-depth research on people, who fell victim to such tragedies, in order to portray the right emotion on screen. “I wanted to be authentic with that, so I did a lot of research, like, read a lot of letters, diaries of many people, watched interviews where people are explaining what they went through,” he added.

    He often narrates his stories through the eyes of teenagers and the director said he himself sought solutions to his issues in animation movies or in manga, (comics or graphic novels originating from Japan), during his growing-up years.

    “Animation answers to the needs of certain young people, I (experienced that) when I was young. So, I am trying to give back to a younger version of myself the same safe space. In manga or animation stories, you can deep dive. It provides solace, which may be different from what is given to you at school or at home.”

    Shinkai is also well-versed with Indian cinema. He hailed SS Rajamouli’s “RRR” and said he enjoyed watching the epic period action movie.

    The Telugu film, which charted history by becoming the first Indian production to win the Oscar for Best Original Song for “Naatu Naatu”, emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film in Japan upon its release there in October last year.

    “What is interesting in Indian filmmaking is you get to see a new world in a different way than what the Hollywood format shows. For example, ‘RRR’ was a big phenomenon, I went to see it and I enjoyed it. So, it shows you something where we get to see extravagance, a full spectrum of emotions and that is wonderful to see,” he said.

    MUMBAI: Die-hard anime fans in India would know Makoto Shinkai from his titles such as “Your Name” and “Weathering with You” and the Japanese director says his movies enjoy popularity here because Southeast Asia has a common cultural cinematic language.

    Shinkai, who was in the city to promote his latest anime title “Suzume”, said his filmography is deeply rooted in Asian culture.

    “I have visited India (earlier). I was in Thailand before that, so there is a sense. When I look at it, I feel that in Southeast Asia, Japan, we share a common cultural language, which is different from the language of Hollywood and European cinema.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “One thing I know for sure, the language of my film will continue to reflect the ethos of Asian culture. My roots are from here, and I understand that language and I want to present that,” Shinkai told PTI in an interview here.

    The 50-year-old filmmaker said he is aware that his films enjoy a great fan following in India, but that doesn’t make him confident about the reception to “Suzume”, which released in the country on April 21.

    It was distributed by PVR Pictures.

    The movie, which was released in Japan last November, is among the top 10 highest-grossing Japanese films of all time.

    Shinkai said he wanted to bring his next film to India after receiving praise for “Weathering with You” when he had visited New Delhi in 2019 for the premiere of the movie.

    “When I saw the response to “Weathering with You”, I knew whenever I make my next movie, I want it to take it to India. If you ask me, if I am 100 per cent sure that we will hit a sixer, no, I am not. It is always nerve-racking, the day before the premiere,” he added.

    “Suzume”, a Japanese animated fantasy adventure, follows the story of 17-year-old high school students Suzume Iwato and Souta Munakata, who team up to prevent a series of disasters across Japan.

    WATCH |

    Through this film, Shinkai said the objective is the universal theme of nurturing “hope” amid problems.

    “When you look at disasters, look at the last 10 years, we have (had) earthquakes. Japan has a natural phenomenon like climate change. We have places where there is unusually high rainfall, which causes avalanches and deaths. Apart from that there are man-made disasters, like war between Russia and Ukraine, which is displacing so many lives. So, it (this film) shows there are things that can uproot your existence. But within that, how do we carry on? The one thing that pushes us is hope and that is the theme that transcends borders and languages,” he added.

    The genesis of “Suzume”, Shinkai said, stemmed from the profound effect that the 2011 Great Eastern Japan earthquake, globally called the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, had on him.

    In the aftermath of the calamity, the filmmaker said he was toying with the idea of making a film that would tap into the emotion of the people. “It (the earthquake) made me feel that what we think of as normal, it could vanish anytime. What would happen if my life would vanish, how would I react? I wanted to make a movie which addresses the phenomenon of abandoned cities, which started increasing in Japan. I wanted to build a character around somebody who walks around these places,” he said.

    For this, Shinkai said he conducted in-depth research on people, who fell victim to such tragedies, in order to portray the right emotion on screen. “I wanted to be authentic with that, so I did a lot of research, like, read a lot of letters, diaries of many people, watched interviews where people are explaining what they went through,” he added.

    He often narrates his stories through the eyes of teenagers and the director said he himself sought solutions to his issues in animation movies or in manga, (comics or graphic novels originating from Japan), during his growing-up years.

    “Animation answers to the needs of certain young people, I (experienced that) when I was young. So, I am trying to give back to a younger version of myself the same safe space. In manga or animation stories, you can deep dive. It provides solace, which may be different from what is given to you at school or at home.”

    Shinkai is also well-versed with Indian cinema. He hailed SS Rajamouli’s “RRR” and said he enjoyed watching the epic period action movie.

    The Telugu film, which charted history by becoming the first Indian production to win the Oscar for Best Original Song for “Naatu Naatu”, emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film in Japan upon its release there in October last year.

    “What is interesting in Indian filmmaking is you get to see a new world in a different way than what the Hollywood format shows. For example, ‘RRR’ was a big phenomenon, I went to see it and I enjoyed it. So, it shows you something where we get to see extravagance, a full spectrum of emotions and that is wonderful to see,” he said.

  • Ed Sheeran’s 2014 hit ‘Thinking Out Loud’, Marvin Gaye’s classic soul to begin copyright trial

    By Associated Press

    NEW YORK: Jury selection and opening statements are set to begin Monday in a trial that mashes up Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”

    The heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, sued Sheeran, alleging the English pop star’s hit 2014 tune has “striking similarities” to “Let’s Get It On” and “overt common elements” that violate their copyright.

    The lawsuit filed in 2017 has finally made it to a trial that is expected to last a week in the Manhattan federal courtroom of 95-year-old Judge Louis L. Stanton. Sheeran, 32, is among the witnesses expected to testify.

    “Let’s Get It On” is the quintessential, sexy slow jam that’s been heard in countless films and commercials and garnered hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays over the past 50 years.

    “Thinking Out Loud,” which won a Grammy for song of the year, is a much more marital take on love and sex.

    While the jury will hear the recordings of both songs, probably many times, their lyrics — and vibes — are legally insignificant. Jurors are supposed to only consider the raw elements of melody, harmony and rhythm that make up the composition of “Let’s Get It On,” as documented on sheet music filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

    Sheeran’s attorneys have said the songs’ undeniable structural symmetry points only to the foundations of popular music.

    “The two songs share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters,” they said in a court filing.

    Townsend family attorneys pointed out in the lawsuit that artists including Boyz II Men have performed seamless mashups of the two songs, and that even Sheeran himself has segued into “Let’s Get It On” during live performances of “Thinking Out Loud.”

    They sought to play a potentially damning YouTube video of one such Sheeran performance for the jury at trial. Stanton denied their motion to include it, but said he would reconsider it after he sees other evidence that’s presented.

    Gaye’s estate is not involved in the case, though it will inevitably have echoes of their successful lawsuit against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. over the resemblance of their 2013 hit “Blurred Lines” to Gaye’s 1977 “Got to Give it Up.”

    A jury awarded Gaye’s heirs $7.4 million at trial — later trimmed by a judge to $5.3 million — making it among the most significant copyright cases in recent decades.Sheeran’s label Atlantic Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing are also named as defendants in the

    “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit. Generally, plaintiffs in copyright lawsuits cast a wide net in naming defendants, though a judge can eliminate any names deemed inappropriate. In this case, however, Sheeran’s co-writer on the song, Amy Wadge, was never named.

    Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit “For Your Love,” was a singer, songwriter and lawyer. He died in 2003. Kathryn Townsend Griffin, his daughter, is the plaintiff leading the lawsuit.

    Already a Motown superstar in the 1960s before his more adult 1970s output made him a generational musical giant, Gaye was killed in 1984 at age 44, shot by his father as he tried to intervene in a fight between his parents.

    Major artists are often hit with lawsuits alleging song-stealing, but nearly all settle before trial — as Taylor Swift recently did over “Shake it Off,” ending a lawsuit that lasted years longer and came closer to trial than most other cases.

    But Sheeran — whose musical style drawing from classic soul, pop and R&B has made him a target for copyright lawsuits — has shown a willingness to go to trial before. A year ago, he won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You,” then slammed what he described as a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial.

    “I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” Sheeran said in a video posted on Twitter after the verdict. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.”

    The “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit also invokes one of the most common tropes in American and British music since the earliest days of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B and hip-hop: a young white artist seemingly appropriating the work of an older Black artist — accusations that were also levied at Elvis Presley and The Beatles, whose music drew on that of Black forerunners.

    “Mr. Sheeran blatantly took a Black artist’s music who he doesn’t view as worthy as compensation,” Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who represents the Townsend family but is not involved in the trial, said at a March 31 news conference. 

    NEW YORK: Jury selection and opening statements are set to begin Monday in a trial that mashes up Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”

    The heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, sued Sheeran, alleging the English pop star’s hit 2014 tune has “striking similarities” to “Let’s Get It On” and “overt common elements” that violate their copyright.

    The lawsuit filed in 2017 has finally made it to a trial that is expected to last a week in the Manhattan federal courtroom of 95-year-old Judge Louis L. Stanton. Sheeran, 32, is among the witnesses expected to testify.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2′); });

    “Let’s Get It On” is the quintessential, sexy slow jam that’s been heard in countless films and commercials and garnered hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays over the past 50 years.

    “Thinking Out Loud,” which won a Grammy for song of the year, is a much more marital take on love and sex.

    While the jury will hear the recordings of both songs, probably many times, their lyrics — and vibes — are legally insignificant. Jurors are supposed to only consider the raw elements of melody, harmony and rhythm that make up the composition of “Let’s Get It On,” as documented on sheet music filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

    Sheeran’s attorneys have said the songs’ undeniable structural symmetry points only to the foundations of popular music.

    “The two songs share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters,” they said in a court filing.

    Townsend family attorneys pointed out in the lawsuit that artists including Boyz II Men have performed seamless mashups of the two songs, and that even Sheeran himself has segued into “Let’s Get It On” during live performances of “Thinking Out Loud.”

    They sought to play a potentially damning YouTube video of one such Sheeran performance for the jury at trial. Stanton denied their motion to include it, but said he would reconsider it after he sees other evidence that’s presented.

    Gaye’s estate is not involved in the case, though it will inevitably have echoes of their successful lawsuit against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. over the resemblance of their 2013 hit “Blurred Lines” to Gaye’s 1977 “Got to Give it Up.”

    A jury awarded Gaye’s heirs $7.4 million at trial — later trimmed by a judge to $5.3 million — making it among the most significant copyright cases in recent decades.
    Sheeran’s label Atlantic Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing are also named as defendants in the

    “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit. Generally, plaintiffs in copyright lawsuits cast a wide net in naming defendants, though a judge can eliminate any names deemed inappropriate. In this case, however, Sheeran’s co-writer on the song, Amy Wadge, was never named.

    Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit “For Your Love,” was a singer, songwriter and lawyer. He died in 2003. Kathryn Townsend Griffin, his daughter, is the plaintiff leading the lawsuit.

    Already a Motown superstar in the 1960s before his more adult 1970s output made him a generational musical giant, Gaye was killed in 1984 at age 44, shot by his father as he tried to intervene in a fight between his parents.

    Major artists are often hit with lawsuits alleging song-stealing, but nearly all settle before trial — as Taylor Swift recently did over “Shake it Off,” ending a lawsuit that lasted years longer and came closer to trial than most other cases.

    But Sheeran — whose musical style drawing from classic soul, pop and R&B has made him a target for copyright lawsuits — has shown a willingness to go to trial before. A year ago, he won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You,” then slammed what he described as a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial.

    “I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” Sheeran said in a video posted on Twitter after the verdict. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.”

    The “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit also invokes one of the most common tropes in American and British music since the earliest days of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B and hip-hop: a young white artist seemingly appropriating the work of an older Black artist — accusations that were also levied at Elvis Presley and The Beatles, whose music drew on that of Black forerunners.

    “Mr. Sheeran blatantly took a Black artist’s music who he doesn’t view as worthy as compensation,” Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who represents the Townsend family but is not involved in the trial, said at a March 31 news conference.
     

  • Drew Starkey, Daniel Craig to feature in Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Queer’  

    By Express News Service

    Italian filmmaker and writer Luca Guadagnino is set to helm the adaptation of William S Burroughs’ short story Queer, with actors Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey.

    While Daniel will be playing the role of renowned counterculture author’s alter ego and outcast American expat residing in Mexico, Drew will be starring in as a younger man who he becomes infatuated.

    Besides Daniel, the film will also star Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, and Henry Zaga. The film, set in Mexico City, will go on floors in April at Rome inside the studios. It is backed by Italian company The Apartment along with Luca’s Frenesy Film. Playwright Justin Kuritzkes, a frequent collaborator of Luca, is also onboard Queer.

    Queer is set against the Mexico City backdrop of the 1940s and is a semi-autobiographical story of Lee who flees New Orleans from a drug bust. As he comes to Mexico City, he wanders around the bars and clubs of the city. Soon, he becomes infatuated with American Navy serviceman Allerton, as both of them go on a trip in search of a drug.

    Italian filmmaker and writer Luca Guadagnino is set to helm the adaptation of William S Burroughs’ short story Queer, with actors Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey.

    While Daniel will be playing the role of renowned counterculture author’s alter ego and outcast American expat residing in Mexico, Drew will be starring in as a younger man who he becomes infatuated.

    Besides Daniel, the film will also star Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, and Henry Zaga. The film, set in Mexico City, will go on floors in April at Rome inside the studios. It is backed by Italian company The Apartment along with Luca’s Frenesy Film. Playwright Justin Kuritzkes, a frequent collaborator of Luca, is also onboard Queer.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Queer is set against the Mexico City backdrop of the 1940s and is a semi-autobiographical story of Lee who flees New Orleans from a drug bust. As he comes to Mexico City, he wanders around the bars and clubs of the city. Soon, he becomes infatuated with American Navy serviceman Allerton, as both of them go on a trip in search of a drug.

  • Lizzo brings drag queens on stage, protesting Tennessee law

    By Associated Press

    KNOXVILLE: In a concert Friday night in Knoxville, Tennessee, Lizzo filled the stage with drag queens in a glittery protest against the state’s legislation designed to restrict drag performances in public.

    While performing at Thompson-Boling Arena, the Grammy-winning “Juice” singer brought out a number of drag performers, including Aquaria, Kandy Muse, Asia O’Hara and Vanessa Vanji. On Saturday, Lizzo posted videos on Instagram from the show, including comments to the crowd that referenced the pending law.

    In February, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the legislation against “adult cabaret” in public or in front of minors. A federal judge temporarily blocked the law in late March, saying it was too vaguely written. Civil rights groups have criticized the law as a violation of free speech.

    The Tennessee law is part of a wider Republican effort to restrict drag shows and other LGBTQ+ public gatherings.

    “In light of recent and tragic events and current events, I was told by people on the internet, ‘Cancel your shows in Tennessee,’ ‘Don’t go to Tennessee,’” Lizzo said during the Friday concert. “Their reason was valid, but why would I not come to the people who need to hear this message the most?”

    “Why would I not create a safe space in Tennessee where we can celebrate drag entertainers and celebrate our differences?” added Lizzo.

    KNOXVILLE: In a concert Friday night in Knoxville, Tennessee, Lizzo filled the stage with drag queens in a glittery protest against the state’s legislation designed to restrict drag performances in public.

    While performing at Thompson-Boling Arena, the Grammy-winning “Juice” singer brought out a number of drag performers, including Aquaria, Kandy Muse, Asia O’Hara and Vanessa Vanji. On Saturday, Lizzo posted videos on Instagram from the show, including comments to the crowd that referenced the pending law.

    In February, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the legislation against “adult cabaret” in public or in front of minors. A federal judge temporarily blocked the law in late March, saying it was too vaguely written. Civil rights groups have criticized the law as a violation of free speech.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The Tennessee law is part of a wider Republican effort to restrict drag shows and other LGBTQ+ public gatherings.

    “In light of recent and tragic events and current events, I was told by people on the internet, ‘Cancel your shows in Tennessee,’ ‘Don’t go to Tennessee,’” Lizzo said during the Friday concert. “Their reason was valid, but why would I not come to the people who need to hear this message the most?”

    “Why would I not create a safe space in Tennessee where we can celebrate drag entertainers and celebrate our differences?” added Lizzo.

  • Guy Ritchie’s ‘The Covenant’ explores the soldier/interpreter dynamic in war

    By Associated Press

    There is a line in “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant ” in which Jake Gyllenhaal’s Army Sgt. John Kinley is having a disagreement with Dar Salim’s Ahmed, the man assigned to be his interpreter in Afghanistan, who has gone beyond straight translation and into the realm of strategy. Kinley tells him that he’s there to translate. Ahmed responds that he’s an interpreter.

    The line is Gyllenhaal’s favourite and a perfect encapsulation of the dynamic between the two men, who, despite themselves, forge a bond that goes beyond words and has both risking their lives to save the other in the name of a debt.

    It’s also perhaps the only line in the final film that was pre-written, Richie laughed in a recent interview with The Associated Press alongside his actors. This may seem like a strange or backhanded thing for a director to say about a script, except for the fact that it was one that Ritchie co-wrote. He’d been inspired by several documentaries in which he became fascinated with the relationship between soldier and interpreter.

    The film, which has garnered some of the best reviews in Ritchie’s career, opens in theatres nationwide on Friday.

    “I was moved by the rather complicated and paradoxical bonds that seemed to be fused by the trauma of war between the interpreters and their colleagues, so to speak, on the other side of the cultural divide and how all of that evaporated under duress,” Ritchie said. “The irony of war is the depths to which the human spirit is allowed to express itself that in any other sort of day-to-day situation is never allowed. It’s very hard to articulate the significance and that profundity of those bonds. My job was to try and capture that spirit within a film and within a very simple narrative.”

    The script, though, is merely a starting prompt. On set, the ideas are fluid, the conversations run deep and, his actors say, the creativity flourishes. Just ask Gyllenhaal, who met Ritchie 15 or so years ago at a Christmas party. They had an immediate “energetic connection” but hadn’t figured out a way to work together until this project.

    “The first thing he said was, ‘This is a very reluctant relationship. I don’t want any sentimentality in this movie and not between these two people. I want this to be a sort of begrudging connection.’”Gyllenhaal loved the challenge of always being on your toes for new ideas, some that even became integral callbacks in the final film.

    “Quite literally, it is a table,” Gyllenhaal said. “At that table is where those exchanges are and those ideas are shared and created. And like any good table, it’s usually met with a meal as well — mini meals, large meals — and the movie is found. It really is great fun. Especially if you love food.”

    Salim, an Iraqi-born, Danish-raised actor in one of his first major Hollywood roles, was a bit intimidated by the names around him at first. But by week two he had found a groove and was even so bold as to not only challenge Ritchie to a game of chess but then win – though there is some teasing disagreement about who exactly won that first match.

    “Once you’re invited into that circle, it’s a very unique experience,” Salim said. “It releases energy that’s normally not there on a set.”

    Ritchie has had five films released since 2019, and, including “The Covenant,” two this year alone because of business complications when STX shifted focus away from distribution and films like “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre” got caught in a kind of limbo. He has become an almost unwitting case study in distribution for an industry in flux and recovering from a pandemic and this $55 million war film is yet another test in some ways. But that’s not something that troubles him much.

    “Sands move so quickly within the industry that you almost can’t focus on the release strategies and exactly how the movie unfurls to the public, you just got to focus on what your day job is, which is the work,” Ritchie said. “You’d like it to unfurl as elegantly as possible, but there are some things that are just beyond your control, and the business itself is in a constant state of flux, but it has been since it began.”

    In Gyllenhaal’s three decades of moviemaking, he’s learned that great stories will find their way, even if it’s not in the moment, “though that’s what we seem to all be a bit obsessed with.”

    “The Covenant,” Gyllenhaal said, has “A real classical sense to it. It’s a simple story, it can last for a long time.”

    He even found himself “blubbering” on the first watch, which surprised him as someone who doesn’t often cry at movies and certainly not at ones he’s in, which he usually can barely watch.

    “I was so moved by it because I think it moved beyond the experience we had,” Gyllenhaal said. “In the end, it is a story about humanity. It’s a story about the action of good and the action of good not always having to be sentimentalized.”

    Ritchie, who had already stayed chatting with his actors well past his press availability “hard out,” went even further and, seemingly, back to those tables on the set in Spain where the movie revealed itself.

    “It wishes to express something that’s beyond altruism, it wishes to express something that feels at a profound level connected, and anything that can force that connection that’s beyond the duality of good and bad. It is something that’s more sacred than good or bad,” Ritchie said.

    “It is curious because the name covenant seems to, although it’s somewhat biblical in its origin, it to me does capture what the essence of the story is. It’s a covenant that’s beyond good and bad. It’s a covenant that expresses an optimism about the fundamental aspect of the human spirit.”

    Gyllenhaal added: “See? Now you’ve had the experience of what it’s like sitting around a table with Mr. Ritchie on a movie.”

    WATCH TRAILER HERE: 

    There is a line in “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant ” in which Jake Gyllenhaal’s Army Sgt. John Kinley is having a disagreement with Dar Salim’s Ahmed, the man assigned to be his interpreter in Afghanistan, who has gone beyond straight translation and into the realm of strategy. Kinley tells him that he’s there to translate. Ahmed responds that he’s an interpreter.

    The line is Gyllenhaal’s favourite and a perfect encapsulation of the dynamic between the two men, who, despite themselves, forge a bond that goes beyond words and has both risking their lives to save the other in the name of a debt.

    It’s also perhaps the only line in the final film that was pre-written, Richie laughed in a recent interview with The Associated Press alongside his actors. This may seem like a strange or backhanded thing for a director to say about a script, except for the fact that it was one that Ritchie co-wrote. He’d been inspired by several documentaries in which he became fascinated with the relationship between soldier and interpreter.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The film, which has garnered some of the best reviews in Ritchie’s career, opens in theatres nationwide on Friday.

    “I was moved by the rather complicated and paradoxical bonds that seemed to be fused by the trauma of war between the interpreters and their colleagues, so to speak, on the other side of the cultural divide and how all of that evaporated under duress,” Ritchie said. “The irony of war is the depths to which the human spirit is allowed to express itself that in any other sort of day-to-day situation is never allowed. It’s very hard to articulate the significance and that profundity of those bonds. My job was to try and capture that spirit within a film and within a very simple narrative.”

    The script, though, is merely a starting prompt. On set, the ideas are fluid, the conversations run deep and, his actors say, the creativity flourishes. Just ask Gyllenhaal, who met Ritchie 15 or so years ago at a Christmas party. They had an immediate “energetic connection” but hadn’t figured out a way to work together until this project.

    “The first thing he said was, ‘This is a very reluctant relationship. I don’t want any sentimentality in this movie and not between these two people. I want this to be a sort of begrudging connection.’”
    Gyllenhaal loved the challenge of always being on your toes for new ideas, some that even became integral callbacks in the final film.

    “Quite literally, it is a table,” Gyllenhaal said. “At that table is where those exchanges are and those ideas are shared and created. And like any good table, it’s usually met with a meal as well — mini meals, large meals — and the movie is found. It really is great fun. Especially if you love food.”

    Salim, an Iraqi-born, Danish-raised actor in one of his first major Hollywood roles, was a bit intimidated by the names around him at first. But by week two he had found a groove and was even so bold as to not only challenge Ritchie to a game of chess but then win – though there is some teasing disagreement about who exactly won that first match.

    “Once you’re invited into that circle, it’s a very unique experience,” Salim said. “It releases energy that’s normally not there on a set.”

    Ritchie has had five films released since 2019, and, including “The Covenant,” two this year alone because of business complications when STX shifted focus away from distribution and films like “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre” got caught in a kind of limbo. He has become an almost unwitting case study in distribution for an industry in flux and recovering from a pandemic and this $55 million war film is yet another test in some ways. But that’s not something that troubles him much.

    “Sands move so quickly within the industry that you almost can’t focus on the release strategies and exactly how the movie unfurls to the public, you just got to focus on what your day job is, which is the work,” Ritchie said. “You’d like it to unfurl as elegantly as possible, but there are some things that are just beyond your control, and the business itself is in a constant state of flux, but it has been since it began.”

    In Gyllenhaal’s three decades of moviemaking, he’s learned that great stories will find their way, even if it’s not in the moment, “though that’s what we seem to all be a bit obsessed with.”

    “The Covenant,” Gyllenhaal said, has “A real classical sense to it. It’s a simple story, it can last for a long time.”

    He even found himself “blubbering” on the first watch, which surprised him as someone who doesn’t often cry at movies and certainly not at ones he’s in, which he usually can barely watch.

    “I was so moved by it because I think it moved beyond the experience we had,” Gyllenhaal said. “In the end, it is a story about humanity. It’s a story about the action of good and the action of good not always having to be sentimentalized.”

    Ritchie, who had already stayed chatting with his actors well past his press availability “hard out,” went even further and, seemingly, back to those tables on the set in Spain where the movie revealed itself.

    “It wishes to express something that’s beyond altruism, it wishes to express something that feels at a profound level connected, and anything that can force that connection that’s beyond the duality of good and bad. It is something that’s more sacred than good or bad,” Ritchie said.

    “It is curious because the name covenant seems to, although it’s somewhat biblical in its origin, it to me does capture what the essence of the story is. It’s a covenant that’s beyond good and bad. It’s a covenant that expresses an optimism about the fundamental aspect of the human spirit.”

    Gyllenhaal added: “See? Now you’ve had the experience of what it’s like sitting around a table with Mr. Ritchie on a movie.”

    WATCH TRAILER HERE: