08/09/2025

LYFE MONDAY | SEPT 8, 2025

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Film affair in Venice D WAYNE “The Rock” Johnson said he had turned his heavily muscled back on action movie o The Rock finds new range in debut The Smashing Machine with arthouse directors and independent movie fans on the Lido. The Fast and Furious star told reporters that he took on previous roles for commercial reasons and “the box office in our business is very loud and it can be very resounding and it can push you into a category and into a corner”. roles to be able to express himself as an actor in his latest film The Smashing Machine , which premiered in Venice. The 53-year-old was one of the star attractions at the Venice Film Festival, his first appearance at a European festival, where he mixed “I understood that, and I made those movies... some were really good and did well, and some not so,”

the wrestler-turned-actor confided. “I just had this burning desire and this voice that was saying, ‘Well, what if? What if there is more and what if I can?’” On paper, the role in the The Smashing Machine by US director Benny Safdie was tailor-made: Johnson plays wrestler Mark Kerr, a real-life former mixed martial-arts fighter in the 1990s and 2000s. But Kerr, in a contrast to many of Johnson’s previous roles, is a flawed and nuanced character with a sometimes toxic relationship with his girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt). “The film isn’t about fighting. It’s a love story about Mark and Dawn, and his relationship,” Johnson said, while revealing he had had to bulk up for the role at Safdie’s request. In its review, film bible Variety called Johnson a “revelation”, adding “he seems like a new actor”. Shakers Elsewhere, Mona Fastvold, one half of the star writer-director couple behind Oscar-winning The Brutalist , showcased her new movie The Testament of Ann Lee about the founder of the radical Shakers religious sect in the 1700s. Packed with music, singing and dance, the feature was co-written by Fastvold and partner Brady Corbet, who used Venice last year to launch The Brutalist that went on to win three Oscars, including a best actor award for Adrien Brody. Fastvold embraced tearful lead actress Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls, Mank) during a long standing ovation at the end of the projection. “I don’t subscribe to all of Ann Lee’s ideas, but I think that the way she leads with empathy and kindness and wanted to create a space where everyone was equal... I think that is really important to talk about now,” Fastvold told reporters earlier.

Johnson at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. – PIC FROM INSTAGRAM @THEROCK

made a mark included Yorgos Lanthimos’s darkly satirical Bugonia starring Oscar-winner Emma Stone, as well as opening night feature La Grazia by Italy’s Paolo Sorrentino. Last Wednesday saw the much-anticipated premiere of The Voice of Hind Rajab about the real-life killing of a six-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza by Israeli forces last year. The Gaza war was one of the main talking points in the lead up to the festival due to an open letter denouncing the Israeli government and calling on the festival to speak out more forcefully. Directed by Franco-Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania, The Voice of Hind Rajab had attracted heavyweight Hollywood support from Brad Pitt, Jonathan Glazer and Joaquin Phoenix who had joined as executive producers.

Also at the festival recently, Hollywood actress Kim Novak, 92, received a standing ovation when presented with a lifetime achievement award. Novak played the chilling dual role of suicidal blonde Madeleine Elster and brunette shop girl Judy Barton in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo from 1958. The Smashing Machine and The Testament of Ann Lee were among 21 films vying for the top Golden Lion prize at Venice, which were handed out last Saturday. As well as The Brutalist , several other recent winners at Venice, such as Nomadland and Joker , had subsequently gone on to Oscar glory, making the Italian festival a key launching pad. Gaza Other in-competition films that The film features plenty of other original cast members as well as new faces. “It’s very emotional to say goodbye. We have done it a number of times... we always thought the TV show that was it, then we did one movie, and we’re like we should be so lucky,” actor Laura Carmichael, who played Mary’s sister Edith, said. “It’s nice to know this is it because we wanted to give it... the proper send-off.” The award-winning Downton Abbey first aired as a series in 2010, originally set in 1912. It went on for six seasons and was followed by two previous films released in 2019 and 2022. “We wanted to prove that the people who’d prophesied that period drama was finished, we wanted to prove them wrong. But I don’t think it was more than that,” Fellowes said of when the show first started.

Italian actress Valeria Golino. – PICS FROM AFP

Taiwanese actress and director Shu Qi on the red carpet.

Downton Abbey cast takes final bow with Grand Finale film THE Downton Abbey cast bid farewell to the franchise with a third and final film, 15 years after the period drama first aired as a television series and gained a huge following in Britain and the US. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale sees the fictitious Crawley family and their servants running a sprawling English country estate in the early 20th century now entering the 1930s, with patriarch Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) ready to hand over the reins to his daughter Mary. But Mary (Michelle Dockery) finds herself facing a public scandal, all while the family tackles new financial woes. “(Creator and writer) Julian (Fellowes) has constructed a beautiful, if you like, love letter to the loyal audiences that we’ve garnered over the years,” Bonneville said at the film’s world premiere. “I think those who follow the show will find it a very moving and I think appropriate way to wind up all of the stories.”

British actor Jim Carter (Mr Carson) poses on the red carpet upon arrival for the world premiere of the film Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale in London recently. “At the beginning we thought we might get maybe two or three series out of it, but we didn’t think we’d become a kind of world phenomenon.” Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale hits cinemas from next week. – Reuters

Cast member Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary Crawley) at the Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale world premiere. – PICS FROM REUTERS