Netflix has dropped a first-look photo of The Thursday Murder Club cast to confirm the start of production. Richard Osman’s much-loved book series is being given the big screen treatment, with the all-star cast including Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Sir Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie. The four leads are seen dressed in character in the first-look photo, gathered around Osman on what appears to be the set of the retirement home’s games room – where the characters meet up every Thursday to solve cases. Bridget Jones and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel star Celia Imrie will be playing the role of Joyce. Mirren will star as former spy Elizabeth alongside Pierce Brosnan as trades union official Ron and Sir Ben Kingsley as psychiatrist Ibrahim. “The Thursday Murder Club is officially in production!” reads the tweet caption shared on the official Netflix X account. The Thursday Murder Club movie started filming on June 27. Other cast members include David Tennant, Naomi Ackie, Jonathan Pryce, Richard E Grant, Danny Mays, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Tom Ellis, Geoff Bell and Paul Freeman and Sarah Niles. The Thursday Murder Club is the first of Osman’s crime series released in 2020. The story follows four pensioners at the Coopers Chase Retirement Village in Kent as they investigate the murder of a property developer.

A scandal upon release, 1979’s Caligula was destroyed when porn scenes were sliced into the cut, unbeknownst to its director or stars Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren. But now rediscovered footage and painstaking work has rescued this raucous Roman epic. The first thing you learn about the film is that it’s shocking, disgusting, immoral. Keep going and soon enough someone dismisses the film – less as shocking, disgusting, and immoral, more as a slog. As Time magazine put it, the film enjoyed “all the success of an open-air orgy in Antarctica”. Such bad reputation’s persisted for nearly 45 years, making so much more commendable Thomas Negovan’s efforts to give Caligula new life. Hence Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, which uses more than 100 hours of footage to create a 173-minute revision. The new cut, among other things, gives more life to Mirren’s Caesonia, whose role was heavily cut for the 1979 theatrical version. As Malcolm Dowell mentions in a new interview with Total Film, “I never thought my full performance would ever be seen or Helen Mirren’s moving, commanding Caesonia would at last be unearthed. It is an unprecedented odyssey.”

Donald Sutherland, whose performances in such films as M*A*S*H, Ordinary People and The Hunger Games proved he could portray sinister, sympathetic, comedic or tragic with equal aplomb, has died. He was 88. Sutherland died Thursday in Miami after a long illness, CAA’s Missy Davy told The Hollywood Reporter. Remarkably, Sutherland was never even nominated for a competitive Oscar, though the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made up for the oversight by giving him an honorary statuette in November 2017 at the Governors Awards. He twice collaborated with Helen Mirren – the first time in the long-forgotten “Bethune: Making of a Hero”, about the life and death of Norman Bethune, a Canadian physician who served as a combat surgeon during the Chinese Civil War. More recently, Sutherland and Mirren shared the screen in 2017’s “The Leisure Seeker”. Helen Mirren paid tribute to Sutherland via The Hollywood Reporter:

Donald Sutherland was one of the smartest actors I ever worked with. He had a wonderful enquiring brain, and a great knowledge on a wide variety of subjects. He combined this great intelligence with a deep sensitivity, and with a seriousness about his profession as an actor. This all made him into the legend of film that he became. He was my colleague and became my friend. I will miss his presence in this world. (Helen Mirren, The Hollywood Reporter, June 20, 2024)

Earlier today, Helen Mirren attended the premiere of at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, accompanied by fellow L’Oréal Paris ambassadors Andie MacDowell and Iris Berben. Pictures from the red carpet have been added to the photo gallery.

Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford are the testimonials of the “Centro Ilma”, the multidisciplinary institute for the prevention and fight against tumors that the Lilt of Lecce is completing on the outskirts of Gallipoli and which will deal with applied research on environmental causes of cancer, early diagnosis, physical rehabilitation and psychological support, as well as home health and social care for terminally ill patients and scientific dissemination. A “popular initiative” project, financed entirely thanks to the donations and solidarity of the Salento population. The golden couple of cinema, husband and wife in life, will support the awareness campaigns on the prevention of oncological diseases promoted by the Lecce Cancer League, as well as the completion of the Ilma Center directed by the oncologist Giuseppe Serravezza. The couple also created two video messages to support the Institute and research. Hackford also underlined in particular the need to say a firm “no” to smoking as the first fundamental prevention action. “The contact with the two artists took place in a few days”, explained the oncologist Serravezza. “When we presented them with the Ilma Center and the activities carried out by Lilt of Lecce, the couple, despite being abroad and busy on set in different places, immediately and willingly accepted our invitation. A demonstration of extraordinary sensitivity and commitment, translated into concrete action in no time. For this we extend our most sincere thanks to them.”

“Golda” is still making its rounds internationally with a theatrical release in Australia this week. On Tuesday, Helen Mirren zoomed into Australia’s “The Today Show” to promote the film. The complete video can be found in the video archive. Screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery.

L’Oréal Paris’ “because you’re worth it” slogan has been a mainstay of the brand for decades, empowering women to know their worth and stand tall in it. The brand’s latest “Worth It Resume” campaign is a reminder for women globally that failures, no matter how big or small, are not definitive of their worth or success. The advertisements aim to “challenge unrealistic standards and foster a culture where women are empowered to celebrate their setbacks, including those that ultimately led to their greatest accomplishments,” per the brand. Brand ambassadors and successful actors Helen Mirren, Jane Fonda, Eva Longoria, Aja Naomi King and Andie MacDowell were tapped to share some of the greatest failures in their careers in support of the initiative. Each star has a mock resume and LinkedIn profile listing their major setbacks, from forgetting lines on stage to being passed up for a lead role, and not being cast on Broadway. As a platform, LinkedIn is usually a space where people share career wins and highs, so the beauty brand intentionally subverted it, “highlight the struggles, failures and setbacks that led [these celebrities] to where they are today,” and ultimately encourages others to do the same. The video can be viewed over at Yahoo! News.

Last Sunday, Helen Mirren inaugurated the new headquarters of Spazio Teatro – Center for Dramatic and Performing Arts” in the historic building of the former Bianco Distillery, in via Campi 46. An evening that celebrates with this new passage the first 5 years of activity of the school directed by the sisters Rosangela and Gloria Giurgola, theater director and soprano, who returned to Salento after ten years living abroad due to study and work commitments. Mirren accepted the invitation of the Giurgola sisters and take part in the evening which marks the start of the new life of the school which currently counts 45 students from various municipalities in the north and south of Salento, enrolled in acting, theatre-dance, singing, music and scenography courses. Unfortunately, no press pictures have been released from the event, but you can find two videos in the video archive.

The Queen and Tony Blair sat down with ITV News yesterday for an interview about the 100th NT Live performance, the Sheen-starring “Nye”. Mirren is not part of the project, but a passionate supporter of the National Theatre. As ITV writes, “A new production starring Michael Sheen takes the audience on a “surreal and spectacular journey through the life and legacy of the man who transformed Britain’s welfare state”, according to the National Theatre. “The vision that grew out of that has to be reimagined now because the NHS is in all kinds of difficulties and whether that’s about underfunding or whatever it might be it has to be reimagined for now and for the future to move on,” Mr Sheen said. But, as he tells ITV News, the timeliness of the show’s release has taken on extra importance given the modern-day pressures felt by the NHS and, what he feels, is the need for radical change. The clip can be found in the video archive, screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery.

Dame Helen Mirren and pop star Kylie Minogue are among eight famous women who have had dolls made in their likeness to mark the beloved toy’s 65th anniversary year and to recognize their achievements as “Female Storytellers”. Helen’s doll is dressed in a cornflower blue outfit with matching hair, which is a recreation of a gown she wore on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in France last year and the Barbie is clutching an Oscar statuette representing her Best Actress win for “The Queen”. As well as Helen and Kylie Minogue, other dolls have been made for singer Shania Twain, actress Viola Davis and model Nicole Fujita as well as comedian/activist Enissa Amani, moviemaker Lila Aviles and content creator Maira Gomez.

It’s a very special thing and something I can add to my list of my favorite achievements – becoming a Dame of the British Empire, having an Oscar, having a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and having my own Barbie. The intricacy and detail of the doll is extraordinary; I love that the Barbie doll is wearing one of my favourite ever red carpet looks, and it was the first time I’d ever had blue hair, and it felt so exciting. I like to embrace theatrical fashion and the joy that having fun with fashion can bring, and I think that this joy should be age-less. And the cherry on top of the cake is my doll having a miniature Oscar. It is an absolutely perfect reproduction.