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Halle Bailey never anticipated that she would be called for the main role in Disney’s live-action musical adaptation of The Little Mermaid. She believed, Ariel, the Disney princess who gives up her voice and mermaid tail to be with a “spineless, savage, harpooning fish- eater” human – would not be played by an actress who looked like her, despite her obvious credentials. The 23-year-old popstar has been writing music since the age of eight, opened for Beyoncé in Europe at 16, and has five Grammy nominations.



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“I love that there’s so much Black diversity on screen now,” she says. “There was a time when we’d barely see locs – and now we have a Disney princess with them. It was super important for me to have my natural hair in this film. I’ve had my locs since I was five, so they’re a huge part of who I am. We need to be able to see ourselves, we need to be able to see our hair on big screens like this so that we know that it’s beautiful and more than acceptable.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Beyoncé protégé</h3>



Before her successful Disney big-screen debut, Bailey was best known as one-half of the sisterly pop duo Chloe x Halle, whose first claim to fame was their YouTube cover of Beyoncé’s Pretty Hurts grabbing the attention of the music legend herself. The song changed the teenagers’ lives, propelling them to overnight prominence. They became the opening acts for both Beyoncé’s The Formation World Tour and Andra Day’s Cheers to the Fall Tour in 2016 and released popular EPs and albums including Uncovered, Sugar Symphony and The Kids Are Alright.


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Their musical style, which transcends genres, distinguishes Chloe x Halle, two years her senior, from other artists. “My sister and I would always play mermaid in the pool,” she recalls. “Our first mixtape was called The Two of Us – I think weput it out when I was 15–and on the cover,I’m wearing my favourite mermaid blanket; it’s like a mermaid tail. Looking back, I’m like, that’s so weird. In a way, it was a coincidence. But really, it was the universe or God [giving me] a hint.”



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Musical youth</h3>



Born in Mableton, Georgia, Halle picked up the cello and violin at a very young age, and like her sister learned how to play the guitar by studying YouTube tutorials. Noticing their musical development, their father, Doug Bailey, became their full-time manager, arranging for the girls – the middle pair of four siblings – to perform in the Atlanta area.



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The family relocated to Los Angeles in late 2012 when Halle was 12. Two years later, Chloe x Halle signed with Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment management company and record label. By 2021, the sisters had released two albums and earned a slew of industry accolades.


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“One major high would definitely be when my sister and I were nominated for Grammys,” she says. “We sang Where Is the Love by Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, and that was actually the performance that got me noticed by Little Mermaid director Rob Marshall. It was confirmation for me that my own abilities and belief in myself [is enough]. I believed in myself for the first time.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Purple patch</h3>



In addition, Bailey is a fantastic actress who made her screen debut in the 2006 romantic comedy Last Holiday. She then appeared in the 2012 films Let It Shine and Joyful Noise, and has played Skylar in the American TV sitcom Grown-ish. Completing a hat-trick of films this year is The Line, which premiered a few months before the Disney musical, and the much anticipated The Color Purple, based on the stage musical and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker.


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“I am so excited to be playing young Nettie in The Color Purple. This film has meant a lot to me for a very long time – it’s a Black family staple,” she says. “I also got a chance to write an original song for the film. It’s been really cool to incorporate my artistry into this new world of acting. I’m just so grateful to be a part of the film. I cannot wait for people to see it. I think they’ll love it.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Breaking the mould</h3>



Early this year, when the first pictures of Bailey as Ariel appeared on social media, there was a definite shift toward a new normal that was felt all over the world. The internet was inundated with videos of young Black girls excitedly responding to an Ariel they could identify with. Disney broke the mould when choosing its lead actor, and The Little Mermaid delivered a plethora of surprises appropriate for the new decade. The movie – and Bailey – are taking the responsibility of its global impact seriously.



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She says: “My main goal has always been to stay true to myself. There’s so much more to being a young woman than this fairy-tale character. I think other people have a hard time separating who Halle is and who a princess is – and that’s natural when you’re a fan of an artist. But it’s a beautiful thing to be a layered individual and not fit into one certain image.”


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Bailey imagines herself working as a nurse, paediatrician or a kindergarten teacher if she had not broken into entertainment. As to whether she ever yearns for the realism seen outside the Hollywood bubble, she remarks: “It’s fun to think about, but honestly, no, because this has been my normal for so long.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Greater purpose</h3>



Instead, she is careful not to let her work as an artist and entertainer distract from the purpose she would like to fulfil. “The awards and the accolades and the people complimenting, it’s all great, but what [am I] here for really?” she ponders. “What am I doing to give it back to God? What am I doing actively to be a better person every single day?”


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Arguably, her historic role as Ariel is indeed part of her larger purpose, and something she is – and should be – remarkably proud of. Some people believe that our fate is predetermined. Some people think we can control our own future. But for Halle Bailey, both these factors may have contributed to her extraordinary rise from child prodigy to bona fide Hollywood actress.

The Mermaid’s Tale: Halle Bailey makes a splash in the groundbreaking role of Ariel – under the sea and above it

Throwback is a new-century buzzword, and old-century proponent Cillian Murphy is one through and through. He has purposefully maintained his obscurity at a time when celebrities openly share their true selves on social media. He doesn’t use X (Twitter) or Instagram; he doesn’t even have a mobile phone or computer. Instead of posing for photos with fans, he approaches them and asks if he can shake their hand, converse with them, or sign something.



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He aggressively rejects the notion that he should be renowned and doesn’t even want to be known for anything. And the 43-year-old aims to keep it this way regardless of the hype generated by Oppenheimer, the latest addition to his long catalogue of both artistic films and blockbuster hits. Truly, Murphy nails the quiet masculinity of a man who strikes his own path in life with the air of supreme self-assurance while inwardly dealing with his own moral quandaries.


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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Early aptitude</h3>



The striking Irish actor was born in Douglas, the eldest child of four; his mother was a French teacher and his father worked for the Department of Education. He attended Presentation Brothers College in Cork, and went on to study law at University College Cork but – realising the profession wasn’t for him – left after a year.



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His first passion was music, singing and playing the guitar in several bands. He was then wooed by acting, taking roles in student productions and joining the Corcadorca Theatre Company in Cork. He made his professional debut on stage in 1996 in Disco Pigs, a play whose initial six-week run extended into a two-year international tour and was made into a film in 2001.



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Having relocated to Dublin and then London to secure theatre work, Murphy was noticed in this first major screen performance by the casting director for Danny Boyle’s post-apocalyptic horror film, 28 Days Later (2002). He landed the star role and earned himself nominations for Best Newcomer at the Empire Awards and Breakthrough Male Performance at the MTV Movie Awards. The acclaim that he didn’t want began in earnest.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Genius revealed</h3>



Fast forward to 2023, a time of blockbusters that spotlight women, but there is still something to be said for storylines that let men be men. Particularly if they are brilliant, charismatic men. A prime example of this is Oppenheimer, the epic biopic of the American physicist who designed the atomic bomb.



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Ten years earlier, a BBC series headlined by Murphy changed television forever. Peaky Blinders combined the intriguing genres of historical fiction, gangster drama and psychological thriller to create an irresistible hybrid. Much like in Oppenheimer, a brilliant man finds himself thrust into a position of power while on his own (dubiously moral) mission, and whether that’s pushing the boundaries of science to develop a weapon of mass destruction or taking out his enemies one by one, you can’t help but root for him.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Piercing eye</h3>



Murphy’s signature looks, most notably his piercing blue eyes, have drawn in audiences around the world. It appears that his Oppenheimer co-stars were also affected by this mesmerising gaze. “It’s a real problem when you’re doing scene work with Cillian,” said Matt Damon. “Sometimes you find yourself just swimming in his eyes.” Emily Blunt added: “It’s like that Ocean Eyes song by Billie Eilish. We just hum it all day.”



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The choice to cast Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer was a straightforward one, according to the film’s director Christopher Nolan. “I’d been staring at the cover of the book American Prometheus [Oppenheimer’s biography] for so many months, and there’s this photograph, black and white, a light blue-eyed stare, very intense, of this guy,” says Nolan. “And I thought, ‘Well, I know who could do that.’”



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Murphy has appeared in six of Nolan’s films, but this is the first in which he plays the lead. The filmmaker reportedly admitted to being originally captivated by Murphy’s “crazy eyes” when casting him as the evil Scarecrow in Batman Begins (2005), beginning an 18-plus year collaboration. He portrayed the petulant heir of a business magnate in Inception (2010) and appeared as a traumatised soldier in Dunkirk (2017).



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Consequently, the public perception of the actor is that because he is usually a little spooky onscreen, and we almost never see him off- screen, he must be kind of a creepy guy. But there’s really more than meets the eye.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Oscar buzz</h3>



The actor delivers a powerhouse performance in Oppenheimer. It’s a complex role and Murphy soars in it. It will surely result in Murphy’s first- ever Oscar bid, but unlike the Golden Globe Best Actor nod he received for playing a transgender woman in Breakfast on Pluto (2005), many critics think that it will go one better than the nomination and he will win on his first try.



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His Oppenheimer silhouette is one of the most striking cinematic images of the year. Blunt has said he ate only one almond a day in preparation for the role. While he hasn’t revealed his exact diet, Murphy did say: “I love acting with my body, and Oppenheimer had a very distinct physicality and silhouette, which I wanted to get right. I had to lose quite a bit of weight, and we worked with the costume and tailoring; he was very slim, almost emaciated, existed on martinis and cigarettes.”


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His dedication to the role also extended to learning 3,000 words of Dutch over one weekend. He shares: “I used to set aside, ‘I’ll work on this for a week and I’ll work on that for a week.’”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Cult of obscurity</h3>



He has rigorously assembled a creative body of work on his own admirable terms. One consequence of those choices is that his career has been spent further from the white-hot centre of show business than his talent would suggest; he’s remained purposefully guarded against the notoriety that he finds antithetical to creative success (not to mention personal happiness).



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Oppenheimer, though, as a box-office giant has changed all that. It displays the full breadth of his gifts – and has earned him a level of fame he finds completely mortifying.

Cillian Instinct: Despite his startling eyes and immense talent, actor Cillian Murphy shuns the limelight

It was music for Taylor Swift and Taylor Swift for music at the get-go. The country star turned pop star royalty showed a passion for music at a young age and quickly advanced from parts in children’s theatre to performing in front of a large audience. Before a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game at age 11, she sang The Star-Spangled Banner and the following year she picked up the guitar and started writing songs.


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Swift created original music that expressed her experiences of tween alienation by drawing inspiration from country-music performers like Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks. Her parents, supportive of her ambition for a musical career, sold their farm in Pennsylvania when she was 13 and relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee, so she could attract the attention of country labels in nearby Nashville.


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Swift met recording-industry veterans through a development arrangement with RCA Records, and in 2004, when she was 14 years old, she signed with Sony/ ATV as a songwriter. She frequently played her own songs at venues in the Nashville region, and it was during one of these performances that record executive Scott Borchetta took note. 



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Swift was recruited by Borchetta to his budding Big Machine label, and in the summer of 2006, she released her debut single, Tim McGraw, which was heavily influenced by the teenager’s favourite country musician. And the rest, including her chart-topping discographies, as they say, is history (her story in that case).



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Voice for feminism</h3>



When the Grammy Award-winning music video – full of strong women kicking ass – for her iconic hit Bad Blood came back to back with her topping Maxim’s 2015 Hot 100 list, she took a moment to speak out about feminism and equality: “A man writing about his feelings from a vulnerable place is brave; a woman writing about her feelings from a vulnerable place is oversharing or whining. Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born. So, to me, feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace, because it’s just basically another word for equality.”


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At the same time, Swift faced criticism for penning too many songs in the past about her ex-boyfriends and other intimate relationships. She finds this critique anti-feminist and no longer has time for it. “When I was a teenager, I would hear people talk about sexism in the music industry, and I’d be like, I don’t see it. I don’t understand. Then I realised that was because I was a kid,” she explains.



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“I didn’t see myself being held back until I was a woman. Or the double standards in headlines, the double standards in the way stories are told, the double standards in the way things are perceived.” She used her 2019 song The Man to emphasise how women and men are treated differently in the industry.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Political pride</h3>



Taylor also wants people to know that she supports the LGBTQ community, having received criticism of inaction in this regard. She claims she has consistently supported the movement through her work and charitable contributions. Clarifying her viewpoint, she says: “I didn’t realise until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of. It’s hard to know how to do that without being so fearful of making a mistake that you just freeze.”


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You Need To Calm Down, the smash-hit single from her 2019 album Lover, highlights her support of the LGBTQ community. The music video features Katy Perry, Ellen DeGeneres and iconic drag queens. The whole Lover catalogue was released at midnight on June 1, the beginning of Pride Month, when Swift introduced a petition in support of the US federal Equality Act. This legislation would amend the Civil Rights Act to outlaw discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.


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Swift also posted a letter to the Republican Lamar Alexander, then the US Senator from Tennessee, asking him to vote yes. The request, on her personal letterhead, denounced President Donald Trump for not supporting the Equality Act. “I personally reject the president’s stance,” Swift wrote. Need she say more?



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Unfashionable authenticity</h3>



Since breaking into the public eye in 2006 as a 16-year-old wunderkind, Swift has become one of the most commercially successful singers of all time. Last year, her songs received 36.6 billion streams, but her aesthetic has never attracted the same kind of attention. Unlike her contemporaries, she isn’t necessarily a fashion icon. She rarely attends Fashion Week and frequently misses the Met Gala. She favours light-blue wash denim shorts, a faded pink vest and unassuming sneakers.


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Despite being quite nondescript, this style is notable for how Taylor Swift really is. Her attire suggests that she may be performing at a local talent show even though she is playing to tens of thousands of fans on a stadium tour. Lots of slogan T-shirts, sparkly bodysuits and prom dresses with meringue skirts. Her current tour, dubbed Eras, is a retrospective of the outfits from each of her 10 studio albums.



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However, a lack of fashion cred is not always a terrible thing. She is a sincere and cinematic hitmaker who effortlessly navigates embarrassing confessionals on Lover and small- town stagnation on Midnight (2022). All of this is done with an unfashionable authenticity.


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Swift is portrayed in pop culture as the wise best friend that her followers wish they had when they were teenagers (the Swifties actually exchange friendship bracelets). She is someone who may have covered their eyelids in glitter after being rejected by their preferred prom date, a person who would take great satisfaction in creating the ideal ‘heartbreak’ sundae with heaped piles of whipped cream, Oreos and chocolate syrup.



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Swift’s songwriting, in contrast to that of so many of her peers, is more likely to make references to her pet cats and a home-for- the-holidays crush than a Hermès bag. And this ordinariness resonates with many more people than perhaps she ever imagined when she first visited Nashville as a child and dreamed of making it big.

Taylor to Perfection: Beyond the guitar strum, blonde locks and sold-out concerts, there is plenty of substance to Taylor Swift’s striking silhouette

At just 24, Zendaya already has a Marvel role, an Emmy and a certified platinum song under her belt
At an age where most people are only just starting to navigate their career paths, 24-year-old American actress and singer Zendaya just took home the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in the smash hit HBO show, Euphoria. She’s the youngest actress in history to win the award, beating out stiff competition from Tinseltown veterans like Laura Linney, Sandra Oh and Jennifer Aniston. She has also been lauded for playing the straight-talking MJ in Marvel’s wildly successful Spider-Man franchise, released two hit albums and recorded a platinum-selling song – Rewrite the Stars, from the soundtrack of the 2017 musical drama The Greatest Showman. The world, it seems, just can’t get enough of Zendaya.
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Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman – to give her full name – was born on September 1, 1996, as the only child of teachers Claire Marie Stoermer and Kazembe Ajamu, a.k.a. Samuel David Coleman. Painfully shy from the get-go, she was forced to repeat kindergarten in order to socially acclimatise with her schoolmates. At six, she was introduced to acting when she and two of her friends, the only black children at their private school, convinced the principal to allow them to perform a play for Black History Month. “I was Bessie Coleman,” she remembers, “My friends were Harriet Tubman and Madam C.J. Walker. We just felt we needed to raise awareness about the importance of these women.”
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From that day on, Zendaya was smitten. Every summer, she would accompany her mom to her second job at the California Shakespeare Theater, acting in several of their productions. She also signed up for dance lessons and joined a dance troupe for three years. Her first taste of stardom, though, came when she landed one of the lead roles of Disney Channel’s Shake It Up in 2010. By the time she graduated high school, the multi-talented teen had starred in two more Disney TV shows, penned an inspirational book for tweens titled Between U and Me, and released a solo album featuring a song, Replay, that went platinum. She also starred in season 16 of Dancing with the Stars at 16 years old – then the youngest-ever contestant on the show – and wound up finishing strong in second place.&nbsp;
<figure id="attachment_54233" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-54233" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-4.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-54233" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-4.jpg" alt="The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes On Fashion - Arrivals" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-4.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-4-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-4-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-4-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-4-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-4-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-4-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-54233" class="wp-caption-text">Zendaya and Law Roach at the 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp in New York City. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for THR)</figcaption></figure>
Never one to rest on her laurels, Zendaya also found time in her busy schedule to indulge her love of all things sartorial. In 2016, she found her own clothing line, Daya by Zendaya, and also starred as a guest judge on the 15th season of Project Runway. Two years later, she was signed by fashion label Tommy Hilfiger as its global women’s ambassador and collaboratively released several Tommy Hilfiger x Zendaya capsule collections.
<figure id="attachment_54237" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-54237" style="width: 466px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-in-cartier-High-Jewellery-1.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-54237" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-in-cartier-High-Jewellery-1.jpg" alt="71st Emmy Awards - Arrivals" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-in-cartier-High-Jewellery-1.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-in-cartier-High-Jewellery-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-in-cartier-High-Jewellery-1-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-in-cartier-High-Jewellery-1-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-in-cartier-High-Jewellery-1-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-54237" class="wp-caption-text">Zendaya at the 71st Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
The crowning achievement of her young life, though, possibly came earlier this year, when she nabbed the coveted Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her leading role as Rue in the HBO hit series Euphoria. Loosely based on the Israeli TV show of the same name, Euphoria delivers a vibrant, almost brutal depiction of contemporary US high school life, burnished with the very real issues of social media, drugs and more. Zendaya was lauded in all corners for her gritty portrayal of the reckless recovering teen drug addict, with The Guardian calling her performance “mesmerising” and “astonishing”, and The New Yorker even dubbing her “the best part” of the series.
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“Although Euphoria was amazing and exciting, it was also extremely stressful. It gave me anxiety every week”
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Eager to give back, the actress has found a unique way to raise funds and awareness for different causes – by using her birthday as a means to raise funds for worthy initiatives. When she turned 18, she partnered with Convoy of Hope – a philanthropic relief organization with whom she has been connected since 2012 – to raise money to feed over 100 malnourished children in Haiti, the Philippines, and Tanzania. The following year, following a trip to South Africa with UN AIDS, she hosted another fundraising project, this time to help the country’s AIDS orphans. To celebrate turning 20, Zendaya once again teamed up with Convoy of Hope, this time managing to raise US$50,000 for the organization’s Women’s Empowerment Initiative.&nbsp;
<figure id="attachment_54234" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-54234" style="width: 466px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-5.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-54234" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-5.jpg" alt="Spider-Man: Far From Home Premiere" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-5.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-5-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-5-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-5-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-5-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-54234" class="wp-caption-text">Zendaya attends the Premiere of &#8220;Spider-Man Far From Home&#8221; at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Glenn Francis/Pacific Pro Digital Photography)</figcaption></figure>
Speaking about her passion for charitable and social endeavors, she says, “I don’t just sing, dance, and act because I love it,” she says. “You have to have a purpose, and mine is to connect with the world, to get across messages that are important. I’d much rather be known for leaving a little stamp of positivity on one person’s life than for the last project that I did.”
<blockquote>
“I’d much rather be known for leaving a little stamp of positivity on one person&#8217;s life than for the last project that I did”
</blockquote>
She still does, however, have multiple projects looming on the horizon, with her next high-profile appearance set to be in the upcoming remake of Frank Herbert’s cult science-fiction novel Dune (2021) alongside co-star Timothée Chalamet. She has also reunited with Euphoria director Sam Levinson in the upcoming drama Malcolm &amp; Marie, a production that was shot in secret during the Covid-19 pandemic.
<a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-3.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-54232" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-3.jpg" alt="Euphoric Rise Emmy winner Zendaya gafencu magazine (3)" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-3.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-3-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-3-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-3-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Euphoric-Rise-Emmy-winner-Zendaya-gafencu-magazine-3-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /></a>
Perhaps her most anticipated silver screen return, though, is the reprisal of her beloved role as MJ in the as-yet untitled third sequel of the Spider-Man franchise, set for release in 2021. After that, the path seems less clear, though given Zendaya’s smart choices – both onscreen and in the charity sphere – chances are her star can only continue to rise.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Text: Tenzing Thondup
Photos: Dominic Miller, Bulgari

Euphoric Rise Emmy winner Zendaya gafencu magazine celebrity feature

Euphoric Rise: Zendaya, the youngest Emmy award winner

If you were going to cast the anti-Hollywood – an untinsely town that was the very antithesis of the world’s most high-profile movie production centre – a very good place to start would be Wandsworth. One of London’s least-distinguished boroughs, it is home to a number of neighbourhoods – notably Balham and Tooting Bec – that are all but shorthand for dull places to live among many metropolitan Brits.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-51348" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-1.jpg" alt="Emily Blunt 1" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-1.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-1-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-1-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-1-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-1-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-1-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-1-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
Nevertheless, it was here, on 23 February 1983, that one of Hollywood’s currently most-bankable icons – Emily Olivia Leah Blunt – first put in an appearance. Born into a Britain where unemployment had just hit an all-time high and where the tabloids of the day were going to town on the recent discovery of the lair of a serial killer (just 14 miles from where baby Blunt lay cradled), few would have put money on the fact that, 37 years later, she would be one of the world’s most in-demand actresses.
Indeed, the current level of her commitments is dizzying. Not only is she returning to cinemas this month in A Quiet Place Part II (a sequel to the 2018 smash hit horror movie she starred in alongside her husband John “The Office US” Krasinski), she is also tipped to be starring in The English, a new TV Western series coming courtesy of the BBC and scheduled to hit small screens globally next year. As if that was not enough, she and Krasinski are also rumoured to be in talks to play, arguably, the most famous couple in the Marvel comics universe – Sue and Reed Richards, a duo that makes up 50 percent of the Fantastic Four and are better known as, respectively, the Invisible Girl and the modestly-monikered Mr Fantastic.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-51349" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-2.jpg" alt="Emily Blunt 2" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-2.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-2-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-2-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-2-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
To be fair, this is not quite the rags to riches story so beloved of paid Hollywood legend-makers. In fact, it would be something of an understatement to say that the young Emily was born into a life of obscurity. The second of four children, her father, Oliver, was a high-profile barrister, while her mother, Joanna, was herself an actress. Nor do the family’s claims to fame end there – her grandfather was a Major General and one of her uncles was a local Member of Parliament. While such a lineage is clearly no guarantee of success, it was – at the very least – something of a door-opener for the aspiring young actress.
There was however one very literal impediment on her road to cinematic acclaim – from the age of seven, the young Blunt suffered from a debilitating stutter. Looking back on that difficult time, she now says: “Stutterers don’t feel understood. It’s not psychological. It’s not that you’re nervous, it’s not that you’re insecure, it’s not that you can’t read, it’s not that you don’t know what you want to say. It’s neurological, it’s genetic, it’s biological. It’s not your fault.”
It took her seven years to finally overcome the problem and only then with considerable counselling and therapy from the American Institute for Stuttering. Clearly a great believer in paying her dues, she is now one of the New York-headquartered charity’s most high-profile patrons.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-51350" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-3.jpg" alt="Emily Blunt 3" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-3.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-3-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-3-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-3-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-3-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
With this key obstacle out of the way, it wasn’t long after that when her star quality was spotted during a performance at her thesp-friendly sixth form college in Surrey. It was enough to secure her an agent and her first professional work swiftly followed. Her stage debut, though, didn’t see her appearing in just any old play.
No, aged 18, she took to the boards in a production of The Royal Family, a satire on a US acting dynasty directed by Sir Peter Hall, the former head of the UK’s National Theatre. Not only did this see the young actress appearing alongside true acting royalty – in the form of leading lady Dame Judi Dench – it also saw her singled out as the year’s Best Newcomer in the London Evening Standard’s annual theatre awards.
A string of other stage appearances followed before she made her TV debut in 2003’s Boudica, the tale of an ancient Celtic warrior woman. The following year she arrived – apparently fully-formed – on the big screen, winning widespread acclaim for her role as a young woman with romantic aspirations in My Summer of Love. From there, she was set on the fast track to Hollywood success.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-51351" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-4.jpg" alt="Emily Blunt 4" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-4.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-4-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-4-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-4-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emily-Blunt-4-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
Naturally, her talent and looks also caught the attention of a host of would-be Hollywood beaux. It was, however, ultimately a Canadian – the multi-award-winning singer-songwriter Michael Bublé – who she embarked on her first high-profile relationship with. It was not long after the two went their separate way that she was introduced to Krasinski, who was then riding high as the audience touch-point in The Office US, a remake of a highly-successful BBC comedy series. The two got engaged the following year and married in July 2010 in Italy. Speaking at the time, a clearly smitten Blunt described the moment Krasinski proposed saying: “All I can tell you is that there were flutes playing in the background, butterflies, there were angels showering us with rainbow drops.”
Some 12 years later, with the angels still clearly on their side, the couple have two daughters – Hazel (five) and Violet (three) – with both their off-screen and onscreen partnership both seemingly still going strong. Neither does marriage or maternity appear to have diminished her allure, with FHM magazine recently designating her as one of the world’s 100 Sexiest Women. Next up, she’ll be hitting Hong Kong cinemas on March 19 in the long-awaited A Quiet Place Part II.
Text: William Elliott 
Photos: AFP

Blunt Talk: How A Quiet Place actress Emily Blunt learnt to speak out

Imagine missing out on earning a cool US$250 million. That’s the nightmare that actor Matt Damon recently revealed to be his biggest career regret. The sizeable amount would have been his payout had he accepted the starring role in director James Cameron’s smash sci-fi hit, Avatar (2009), which held the record for being the highest-grossing film of all time for nearly a decade until it was dethroned by Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame earlier this year.
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Speaking on this missed opportunity, Damon said: “Jim Cameron offered me Avatar. And when he offered it to me, he goes, ‘Now, listen. I don’t need anybody. I don’t need a name for this, a named actor. If you don’t take this, I’m going to find an unknown actor and give it to him, because the movie doesn’t really need you. But if you take the part, I’ll give you 10 percent&#8230;’”
Given that Avatar would go on to rake in a staggering US$2.7 billion, that 10 percent would have equated to a quarter of a billion dollars in the actor’s pocket. As fate would have it, though, he ultimately turned down this golden goose opportunity due to scheduling conflicts. However, massive payday aside, he had a bigger regret: “In having to say no, I was probably passing on the chance to ever work with him. So that sucked and that’s still brutal.”
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49496" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-Hollywood-leading-man.jpg" alt="Matt Damon, Hollywood leading man" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-Hollywood-leading-man.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-Hollywood-leading-man-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-Hollywood-leading-man-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-Hollywood-leading-man-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-Hollywood-leading-man-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-Hollywood-leading-man-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-Hollywood-leading-man-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
While he may have missed out on this hugely-lucrative role, that’s not to say that Matt Damon is destitute by a long shot. In fact, as of 2019, his current wealth is valued at a respectable US$160 million, according to Forbes, which ranks him as one of Tinseltown’s highest-earning leading men. What’s more, the experienced 49-year-old thespian has enjoyed what few other of his ilk have managed – the perfect balancing act between Hollywood longevity and personal happiness.
But it seems big screen success was always in the cards for him. Matthew Paige Damon – as his birth certificate reads – was born on 8 October 1970 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as the second son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor of early childhood education. With his parents divorcing when he was just two and his subsequent inability to embrace his mother’s “by the book” child-rearing approach, the lonely youth saw acting as his sole reprieve. It was through his high school theatre productions that Damon finally found his true calling, while also meeting fellow thespian and life-long friend Ben Affleck in the process.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49490" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Good-Will-Hunting.jpg" alt="Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Good-Will-Hunting.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Good-Will-Hunting-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Good-Will-Hunting-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Good-Will-Hunting-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Good-Will-Hunting-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Good-Will-Hunting-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Good-Will-Hunting-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
Soon thereafter, his scholastic aptitude saw him enroll at the prestigious Harvard University where, during his freshman year, the aspiring actor made his big screen debut with a bit part in the 1988 rom-com Mystic Pizza. When he was subsequently cast as Lieutenant Britton Davis in the 1993 Western Geronimo: An American Legend, Damon chose to drop out of university to pursue the role, deeming it a career-maker. Sadly, the film flopped at the box office, and it wasn’t until 1997 that he finally caught the attention of the world’s cinemagoers.
That was the year that Good Will Hunting – penned by Matt Damon and his childhood pal Affleck – hit the silver screen. The tale, which follows the journey of an MIT janitor-cum-mathematics savant (Damon) as he finds his place in the world, was to be his first taste of cinematic success, with the then-27-year-old receiving his first nominations for Best Actor, while also winning the accolades for Best Original Screenplay at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes that year.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49491" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Saving-Private-Ryan.jpg" alt="Matt Damon in Saving Private Ryan" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Saving-Private-Ryan.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Saving-Private-Ryan-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Saving-Private-Ryan-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Saving-Private-Ryan-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-Saving-Private-Ryan-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
After that, his star was unquestionably on the rise, as he set about solidifying his reputation as a true Hollywood A-lister through a series of critically-acclaimed performances such as the eponymous protagonist in Saving Private Ryan (1998), a fallen angel in Dogma (1999) and the antihero in The Talented Mr Ripley (1999).
It was during the following decade, though, that he truly entered the big league, thanks largely to his participation in several big budget franchises. His first franchise role was in the heist movie, Ocean’s Eleven (2001), where he starred alongside such Hollywood luminaries as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia. The movie’s blend of fast-paced action and charismatic dialogue was such a success that it spawned three more sequels.
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But it was another franchise-starter that transformed the actor into a bona fide action star – The Bourne Identity (2001), the spy action film that saw Damon take on the mantle of Jason Bourne, a superspy suffering from amnesia who has to avoid assassins on his journey to regaining his identity. Another box-office hit, it spawned four sequels that collectively grossed US$1.6 billion worldwide.
Soon thereafter, following a series of high-profile romances with actresses like Minnie Driver, Winona Ryder and Rhona Mitra, Matt Damon finally found true love away from the limelight with Luciana Barroso, a bartender he had met while filming Stuck on You in Miami in 2003. The couple wed in 2005, and are now the proud parents of four daughters, including Barroso’s child from a previous relationship.
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With the new insight gained from becoming a father, the actor discovered a passion for humanitarian work, particularly in the field of clean water initiatives. To combat this crisis, Damon co-founded H20 Africa Foundation, an NGO dedicated to providing clean water to the needy in Africa. The organisation eventually merged with another charitable body, WaterPartners, to form what is now known as Water.org in 2009, whose mission statement is to “pioneer market-driven financial solutions to end the global water crisis”. The big-hearted actor is also a keen supporter of other causes, including combating AIDS, poverty and war atrocities through a number of other organisations.
But that’s not to say that he’s allowed his onscreen career to languish. In the last decade alone, he’s garnered praise for such diverse roles as that of South African rugby team captain Francois Pienaar in 2009’s Invictus (which saw him nominated for Best Supporting Actor at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars), a Texas Ranger in the Coen Brothers’ 2010 Western True Grit, and a castaway astronaut in not one, but two sci-fi hits – Interstellar (2014) and The Martian (2015).
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49492" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-The-Martian.jpg" alt="Matt Damon in The Martian" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-The-Martian.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-The-Martian-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-The-Martian-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-The-Martian-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-The-Martian-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-The-Martian-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Matt-Damon-in-The-Martian-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
Next up, though, Damon will have his feet back on terra firma, appearing in the historic biopic Ford v Ferrari in the role of Carroll Shelby, the famed US car designer who, together with Henry Ford II of Ford Motors, aims for an underdog victory against Italian motoring marque Scuderia Ferrari at the prestigious Le Mans race.
After that, the A-lister looks set to reunite with his old pal Affleck to co-write a script 22 years after their previous effort, the afore-mentioned Good Will Hunting, catapulted both actors to superstardom. Their upcoming collaboration with producer-director Ridley Scott and Oscar-nominated writer-director Nicole Holofcener, tentatively titled The Last Duel, will see Damon travel not to the stars, but to the distant past this time – the 14th century to be exact – in a story of a ‘duel to end all duels’ between a knight and a courtier.
While there’s little concrete information on that particular project, the all-star power behind it suggests that something truly special could be in the making – one that will allow audiences worldwide to remember just what makes Matt Damon such a Bourne star.
Text: Tenzing Thondup 
Photos: AFP

High Bourne: Matt Damon has taken his acting career to stellar heights

It’s the TV series that, whether by luck or by design, has seemed most zeitgeisty in the #MeToo world, a post-apocalyptic, satirical, shot-from-thehip, righteous screech of anger at never-shouldhave- been male domination. Or, as the TV guides preferred to bill it, The Handmaid’s Tale. Based on the 1985 dystopian novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood, the multi-award winning Canadian writer, the programme – already in its third season – caught the imagination of a generation, embodying and taking to the extreme the eternal battle of the sexes, leaving women angry and emboldened, and any male with a tad of self-awareness shamefaced and contrite.
Although the timeliness of its debut – its first episode was broadcast shortly before the downfall of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein sent the #MeToo movement global – undoubtedly played a huge role in its success, its enduring popularity is also down to the stunning performance of Elisabeth Moss, the Los Angeles-born actress who brought to life the pivotal role of Offred, the eponymous handmaid whose tale is told.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-47555 aligncenter" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/em.jpg" alt="Elisabeth Moss" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/em.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/em-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/em-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/em-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/em-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/em-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/em-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /> 
Born in July 1982 to two musicians, it’s safe to say a love of performing has always flowed through her veins. Although, at the age o f just eight, she moved New York City to train as a ballerina, her acting abilities soon eclipsed her fancy footwork and saw the young actress cast in Lucky Chances, a 1990 NBC miniseries. Her big break, though, didn’t come for another nine years when she was ultimately cast as Zoey Bartlet, the fictional daughter of Martin Sheen’s equally-fictional US president in the critically-acclaimed The West Wing. It was a character she was to play for the next seven years, while also finding time for guest appearances in a number of other high-profile TV shows of the time, most notably Grey’s Anatomy and Medium.
<figure id="attachment_47554" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47554" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-47554 size-full" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss4.jpg" alt="Elisabeth Moss" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss4.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss4-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss4-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss4-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss4-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss4-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss4-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-47554" class="wp-caption-text">Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson in AMC series Mad Men</figcaption></figure>
Then, in 2007, she was cast in a role that would ensure she would be far more than a one-hit wonder. This was the role of Peggy Olson, a frumpy and overly eager secretary in Mad Men – a sustained riff on the glories and grotesqueries of the US advertising industry in the ’60s – which arguably allowed her a wider pallet than her West Wing days. As her role evolved, Moss went on to be recognised with both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.
Despite this acclaim and Mad Men’s demanding schedule, she still found time for a number of other high-profile roles, most notably as Robin Griffin in Top of the Lake, a gritty Sundance / BBC drama – a role that took her some 12,000km away from Tinseltown to the far-distant city of Queenstown in New Zealand. Playing a detective specialising in sexual assault cases assigned to investigate the disappearance of a pregnant 12-year old girl, it was the performance that saw Moss win her first Golden Globe for ‘Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television’.
<figure id="attachment_47552" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47552" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-47552 size-full" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss2.jpg" alt="Elisabeth Moss" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss2.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss2-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss2-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss2-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss2-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss2-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss2-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-47552" class="wp-caption-text">Playing her Golden Globe and Emmy-winning performance as Offred in The Handmaid&#8217;s Tale</figcaption></figure>
While she couldn’t put a foot wrong on stage or screen, away from the greasepaint and critical adoration, things were a little less steady. Her marriage to actor and former star of Saturday Night Live, Fred Armisen, lasted just eight months. It was a disaster somewhat mitigated by Armisen publicly confessing the couple’s subsequent divorce had been largely down to him. Not one to duck to such a PR gift, Moss then went on record saying: “One of the greatest things I heard someone say about Fred is: ‘He’s so great at doing impersonations’. The greatest impersonation he does, though, is that of being a normal person”.
Moss herself, however, has not been immune to accusations of not being normal, with many such jibes centring around her lifelong commitment to Scientology, a cult-like religion that has had frequent run-ins with various US authorities over many, many years. Indeed, perhaps because her career has been quite so scandal-free, it’s the Scientology issue that the more dogged / less imaginative journos have returned to time and again, with many suggesting that her allegedly misanthropic religion is wholly at odds with her feminist credentials.
Eventually driven to try and end these seemingly interminable intimations, Moss ultimately took to her Instagram account to state: “Religious freedom and tolerance and understanding the truth and equal rights for every race, religion and creed are extremely important to me” – a declaration that, almost certainly, did absolutely nothing to stem such accusations.
<figure id="attachment_47553" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47553" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-47553 size-full" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss3.jpg" alt="Elisabeth Moss" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss3.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss3-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss3-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss3-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss3-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss3-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Elisabeth-Moss3-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-47553" class="wp-caption-text">Elisabeth Moss with Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Hadish in the upcoming film The Kitchen</figcaption></figure>
A more robust defence of her feminist allegiances, of course, has come courtesy of her role in The Handmaid’s Tale, arguably her most high-profile and heartfelt performance to date. For three seasons now, she has wowed viewers as the series’ heroine, a woman constrained by the dictates of a society more male dominated than even ’60s Madison Avenue. With reviews of the series having remained more or less positive throughout, Moss proved a popular winner of the 2017 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. The series also saw her win her second Golden Globe, this time as Best Actress in a Television Series Drama.
The Kitchen will see Elisabeth Moss share top billing with two other actresses who have graduated from the small to the big screen – Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Hadish. Whether her own role – as an Irish mobster’s wife who, herself, ultimately embraces the dark side – marks her formal ascension to movie stardom or proves just another intriguing digression in her TV-centric career will rather depend on just how much kerching she brings to the box office.
Text: <a href="mailto:bailey@itotalmedia.com">Bailey Atkinson</a> 
 Photo: AFP

Maid in Hollywood: TV darling Elisabeth Moss head to the big screen

Although gifted with a Hawaiian first name that loosely&nbsp;translates to “cool wind over the mountain”, life has been&nbsp;far from a breeze for Reeves, who turns 55 this September.&nbsp;His English showgirl-turned-costume-designer mother&nbsp;split from his Asian-American geologist father when he&nbsp;was just three years old, with Reeves Senior permanently exiting the picture 10 years later. At the age of 17, following&nbsp;a nomadic childhood and an early adolescence that saw him&nbsp;live as far afield as Sydney, New York and Toronto, he headed&nbsp;off to Hollywood with very little to lose. By then, much to the&nbsp;disappointment of the maternal grandparents who had largely&nbsp;brought him up, he had already been expelled from high school.&nbsp;To this day, he is yet to officially finish school.
Despite working on his thespianic&nbsp;credentials since the age of nine, having appeared&nbsp;in countless theatrical productions, he didn’t, however,&nbsp;register on the Hollywood star Richter scale&nbsp;until 1989, when he played the eponymous Ted&nbsp;in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, a time travel&nbsp;comedy that remains a cult favourite and which,&nbsp;in 1991, gave rise to its own, equally lauded&nbsp;sequel, Bill and&nbsp;Ted’s Bogus Journey.&nbsp;
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46968" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-3.jpg" alt="keanu reeves" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-3.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-3-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-3-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-3-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-3-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
It was while riding high as MTV’s 1993 Most&nbsp;Desirable Man that tragedy once again crossed his path,&nbsp;with his close pal and former co-star River Phoenix dying of&nbsp;an overdose at just 23. Clearly still feeling the shock waves&nbsp;more than 20 years later, Reeves told one interviewer in&nbsp;2014: “River was a remarkable human being and actor. We&nbsp;got along very well and I miss him. I think of him often.”
To many, it seemed that Reeves threw himself into a&nbsp;series of even bigger projects in the wake of the tragedy,&nbsp;landing his most high-profile role to date in 1994’s&nbsp;action-drama Speed, however, just three year later he surprised the studio he turned down the role for the films sequel&nbsp;Speed 2. This, though, would come to be seen as a signature&nbsp;move by Reeves, as he has, since then, frequently ducked&nbsp;big-buck offers in favour of playing roles he coveted or&nbsp;working with actors he admired – notably Al Pacino in The&nbsp;Devil’s Advocate and Gene Hackman in The Replacements.&nbsp;It also led to him to negotiate a highly-unusual profit sharing&nbsp;deal for The Matrix and its sequels, which saw&nbsp;him take a pay cut to ensure the franchise’s special&nbsp;effects and costume designs remained cutting-edge, and&nbsp;later donating US$75 million to be shared between the&nbsp;production team as a sign of his appreciation.
<figure id="attachment_46970" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-46970" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-46970 size-full" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves5.jpg" alt="keanu reeves" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves5.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves5-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves5-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves5-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves5-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves5-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves5-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-46970" class="wp-caption-text">A young Keanu Reeves in Bill &amp; Ted&#8217;s Excellent Adventure</figcaption></figure>
&nbsp;
While riding high on the acclaim occasioned by the&nbsp;first Matrix film, fate dealt Reeves another bitter blow&nbsp;when the daughter he was to have with Jennifer Syme, his&nbsp;production assistant girlfriend, was delivered stillborn.&nbsp;Not surprisingly, the subsequent grief put a huge strain on&nbsp;the couple’s relationship, which ultimately ended in Syme’s&nbsp;death two years later in a calamitous car accident. With&nbsp;blow piling on blow, that same year – 2001 – saw his half sister&nbsp;Kim diagnosed with leukemia, a condition that would&nbsp;take the best part of 10 years to overcome.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46966" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves_2.jpg" alt="keanu reeves" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves_2.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves_2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves_2-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves_2-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves_2-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
Perhaps reflecting his own turmoil, the next decade&nbsp;saw Reeves increasingly drawn to playing complex, troubled men. In 2005, he took the title role in Constantine, an occult detective&nbsp;film based on DC Comics’ Hellblazer comic book series, while 2008&nbsp;saw him memorably play an alien messenger in a remake of The Day&nbsp;the Earth Stood Still, a ’50s cult favourite. Reeves’ most ubiquitous&nbsp;role in the opening decade of the 21st century, however, was arguably&nbsp;Sad Keanu, a paparazzi-snapped meme that caught the then-middle aged&nbsp;actor alone and forlorn on a park bench, with just a half-eaten&nbsp;sandwich for company.
Then came 2013, the year Reeves took on the title role in John&nbsp;Wick, the film that arguably resurrected his career and saw him once&nbsp;again embrace the action hero mantle he had once so memorably&nbsp;discarded. Bringing the reluctantly unretired assassin to the big screen&nbsp;proved a natural fit with the actor’s innate stoicism and fondness for&nbsp;wry humour, with the casting proving to be box office gold.
<figure id="attachment_46969" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-46969" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-46969" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/keanu-reeves-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-46969" class="wp-caption-text">Keanu Reeves as iconic Matrix character Neo</figcaption></figure>
In addition to his natural affinity for characters with a dark side,&nbsp;many have speculated that Reeves’ own personal tragedies gifted his&nbsp;depiction of Wick with unusual depth. Seemingly confirming this in&nbsp;a 2006 interview, he said: “Grief changes shape, but it never ends.&nbsp;People have a misconception that you can deal with it and, one day,&nbsp;say: ‘It’s gone, and I’m better’. They’re wrong. When the people you&nbsp;love are gone, you really are alone.”&nbsp;As to whether his renewed success has lightened his load at all,&nbsp;that will have to remain a matter of conjecture. He has, however,&nbsp;green-lit a return to two of his greatest hits, with Bill and Ted 3&nbsp;(apparently called Bill and Ted Go to Hell) already in production and&nbsp;rumours growing of a return of The Matrix sometime soon. And Speed&nbsp;3? Well, even for the rejuvenated Keanu Reeves, it’s safe to assume that&nbsp;some things are just beyond redemption…

Text: <a href="mailto:bailey@itotamedia.com">Bailey Atkinson</a> 
Photos: AFP
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John Wikipedia: Keanu Reeves, the man behind the reluctant assassin…

Even well before Avengers: Endgame burst into cinemas across the world at the tail end of April, there was no doubt that this was going to be something of a game changer. After all, this was to be Marvel’s magnum opus, the epic conclusion to the staggering 22-movie-long narrative that had been the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) Infinity Saga. And, indeed, over just its opening weekend, the three-hour film’s total takings were said to be an eye-popping US$1.2 billion, the highest first-two-days figure for any movie ever.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46106" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Whats-next-for-Scarlett-Johansson.jpg" alt="What's next for Scarlett Johansson" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Whats-next-for-Scarlett-Johansson.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Whats-next-for-Scarlett-Johansson-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Whats-next-for-Scarlett-Johansson-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Whats-next-for-Scarlett-Johansson-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Whats-next-for-Scarlett-Johansson-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Whats-next-for-Scarlett-Johansson-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Whats-next-for-Scarlett-Johansson-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
While Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man and Chris Evans’ Captain America may have been central to this success, an equally important element of its appeal is none other than Black Widow, portrayed to perfection by Scarlett Johansson ever since the character first high-kicked her way into the MCU in 2010’s Iron Man 2. Across the near-decade since then, Johansson’s stock has risen, if anything, faster and further than The Avengers, which is now very much the Marvel mothership. Indeed, last year, Johansson’s take-home pay was a very tidy US$40.5 million, making her the world’s highest-paid actress and bringing with it the acknowledgement that she now truly is among the pantheon of all-time greats.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46104" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-came-to-fame-as-Black-Widow.jpg" alt="Scarlett Johansson came to fame as Black Widow" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-came-to-fame-as-Black-Widow.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-came-to-fame-as-Black-Widow-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-came-to-fame-as-Black-Widow-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-came-to-fame-as-Black-Widow-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-came-to-fame-as-Black-Widow-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
Her current mega-success, though, is a far cry from her eminently humble beginnings. The Black Widow-to-be was born in a low-income household in New York on 22 November 1984, the daughter – and child three of four – of Karsten Olaf Johansson, a Dutch architect, and his wife, Melanie Sloan, a producer. Showing a precocious interest in acting, Johansson made her professional debut in a 1993 Late Night with Conan O’Brien comedy sketch when she was just eight years old. Her first stage appearance – in Sophistry, an off- Broadway play, which saw her star opposite Ethan “Training Day” Hawke – followed soon after. She was then cast in one of the title roles of Mannie &amp; Lo, a 1996 dramedy telling the tale of two down-on-their-luck sisters.
It was in 2003, though, that Johansson finally landed the two roles that transformed her fortunes – Griet in The Girl with a Pearl Earring, and Charlotte in Lost in Translation, a critically-acclaimed 2003 romantic dramedy. The latter, it seems, was a role she was born to play, with this bittersweet May-December romance opening to near-universal acclaim, while also securing ScarJo – as she has been unwillingly christened by fans – a much-coveted Golden Globe nomination, as well as the Best Actress accolade at that year’s BAFTAs.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46102" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-is-the-worlds-highest-paid-actress.jpg" alt="Scarlett Johansson is the world's highest-paid actress" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-is-the-worlds-highest-paid-actress.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-is-the-worlds-highest-paid-actress-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-is-the-worlds-highest-paid-actress-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-is-the-worlds-highest-paid-actress-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-is-the-worlds-highest-paid-actress-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-is-the-worlds-highest-paid-actress-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-is-the-worlds-highest-paid-actress-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
This acclaim set her on course for a slew of big-budget starring roles, including Michael Bay’s sci-fi thriller The Island (2005) and Woody Allen’s psychological drama Match Point (2005), as well as such rom-coms as 2007’s The Nanny Diaries, co-starring Chris Evans, the future Captain America.
It was in 2010, though, that she truly entered the big league. Not only did she receive a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Feature Actress in a Play for A View from the Bridge, her Broadway debut, she also won the role that saw her permanently seared into pop culture consciousness – Black Widow, Marvel’s enigmatic assassiness.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46100" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-at-the-premiere-of-Ghost-in-the-Shell.jpg" alt="Scarlett Johansson at the premiere of Ghost in the Shell" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-at-the-premiere-of-Ghost-in-the-Shell.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-at-the-premiere-of-Ghost-in-the-Shell-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-at-the-premiere-of-Ghost-in-the-Shell-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-at-the-premiere-of-Ghost-in-the-Shell-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-at-the-premiere-of-Ghost-in-the-Shell-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-at-the-premiere-of-Ghost-in-the-Shell-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-at-the-premiere-of-Ghost-in-the-Shell-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
Her take on the former Russian spy-turned-superheroine saw her career go – largely – from strength to strength. There were, however, one or two missteps along the way, most notably her appearance in Ghost in the Shell, a 2017 adaptation of a Japanese manga series. The entire production proved highly controversial, largely on account of its almost all-Caucasian cast, with many of them playing roles that were originally written as Asian characters. This, said many, was Hollywood “whitewashing” at its very worst.
Her personal life, meanwhile, has also been subject to several ups and downs. Most notably, after a series of high-profile romances, in 2008, she married Ryan “Deadpool” Reynolds, a union that ended in divorce just two years later. She married again in 2014, this time to Romain Dauriac, a French journalist, with whom she has a daughter, Rose Dorothy Dauriac. Three years later, she was once again single.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46103" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-with-fiance-Colin-Jost.jpg" alt="Scarlett Johansson with fiance Colin Jost" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-with-fiance-Colin-Jost.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-with-fiance-Colin-Jost-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-with-fiance-Colin-Jost-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-with-fiance-Colin-Jost-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-with-fiance-Colin-Jost-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
Reflecting on these painful experiences, she mused: “While I think the idea of marriage is very romantic – it’s a beautiful idea and it can be a beautiful thing – I don’t think it’s natural to be monogamous.” Judging by her recent engagement to actor Colin Jost, though, she’s clearly had a change of heart.
Romantic entanglements aside, there is one particular role that she has already confirmed and which has the world even more intrigued – the return of the Black Widow. Those few of you yet to see Endgame should look away now as a key plot point is about to be discussed.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46101" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-in-First-Man.jpg" alt="Scarlett Johansson in First Man" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-in-First-Man.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-in-First-Man-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-in-First-Man-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-in-First-Man-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-in-First-Man-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-in-First-Man-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scarlett-Johansson-in-First-Man-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
Given that Natasha Romanov – what the Black Widow calls herself while her lycra is at the dry cleaners – sacrifices herself in the battle to de-Thanos the known universe, how come her debut solo movie has been confirmed as part of Marvel’s Phase IV slate? Sequel, prequel or timey-wimey trickery? Whatever the score, we’ll be there, alongside countless other millions. Don’t forget the popcorn.
Text: Tenzing Thondup 
Images: AFP

Scarlett Johansson is our celebrity of the month

Scarlett Johansson: What’s next for the Black Widow post-Avengers: Endgame?

While certainly not the first overtly-sensitive bloke to&nbsp;find success with a guitar and a mellow tune or two,&nbsp;English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has been on&nbsp;a seemingly never-ending roll these past few years,&nbsp;releasing hit after hit and breaking worldwide tour-taking&nbsp;records in the process, most recently selling out his two night&nbsp;residency at Hong Kong Disneyland, though breaking&nbsp;hearts yet again when the second show had to be cancelled&nbsp;due to uncooperative weather. In fact, the ginger singer’s&nbsp;ongoing ÷ (pronounced “divide”) tour has already brought in&nbsp;some US$432 million, while Forbes estimates his net worth&nbsp;to be around US$80 million. Not bad for a tousle-haired&nbsp;troubadour not long out of school.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45304" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-opening.jpg" alt="Ed Sheeran" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-opening.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-opening-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-opening-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-opening-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-opening-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-opening-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-opening-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
His studiedly unstudied Mister&nbsp;Average charm, mellow persona and&nbsp;wilfully wispy chin have managed&nbsp;to capture the hearts of ‘Sheerios’&nbsp;on a global basis.&nbsp;Admittedly, his catchy chart toppers&nbsp;and occasionally saccharine&nbsp;lyrics have also played a part in his&nbsp;indefatigable rise – all of which&nbsp;begs the question, what exactly&nbsp;are Ed Sheeran’s songs about? And&nbsp;what was it about his seemingly&nbsp;unremarkable upbringing that gifted&nbsp;him such a clearly prodigious talent?
His singer-songwriter persona –&nbsp;heartfelt chap with a guitar – seemed&nbsp;already fully formed when he released&nbsp;The A-Team, his debut single back in&nbsp;2011. While many were enamoured by&nbsp;the song’s folksy qualities, underpinning&nbsp;it all was a far darker tale than a&nbsp;casual listen might suggest. In fact, its&nbsp;gentle melody masks the tragic story&nbsp;of a homeless woman (‘Angel’) who&nbsp;is obliged to become a sex-worker to&nbsp;support her Class-A drug habit.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45306" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/020_128798764.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/020_128798764.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/020_128798764-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/020_128798764-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/020_128798764-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/020_128798764-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/020_128798764-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/020_128798764-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
According to Sheeran, the&nbsp;inspiration for the song came to him after&nbsp;he played a gig at a homeless shelter,&nbsp;presumably a locale where many similar&nbsp;hard-luck stories lurk. Whatever its&nbsp;exact genesis, it went on to be a smash&nbsp;hit for the young songsmith – debuting&nbsp;at number three on the UK Singles chart,&nbsp;while also scaling the Top 10s of Germany&nbsp;and Australia, to name but two.&nbsp;
His success reached&nbsp;a new high with&nbsp;the release &nbsp;of x (“multiply”) in 2014, his second album, which went&nbsp;on to top charts across the world, including securing the&nbsp;number one slot in the crucial US market. The break-out&nbsp;tune here was Thinking Out Loud, the third song from the&nbsp;album to be released as a single.
Declaring the soulful ballad to be his walking-down the-&nbsp;aisle song, many fans detected a new maturity&nbsp;lurking below the hummability of this particular ditty.&nbsp;While some saw his advocacy of fidelity and forever&nbsp;love as betraying a more adult world view, others&nbsp;cynically dismissed it as the product of his increasingly&nbsp;sophisticated personal PR mill.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45303" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_Wembley_3_19050650853.jpg" alt="Ed Sheeran" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_Wembley_3_19050650853.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_Wembley_3_19050650853-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_Wembley_3_19050650853-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_Wembley_3_19050650853-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_Wembley_3_19050650853-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
While Thinking Out Loud would remain&nbsp;x’s signature anthem, the album’s fifth&nbsp;single, Photograph, also proved itself&nbsp;no slouch, going double-platinum in the&nbsp;UK and quadruple-platinum in the US.&nbsp;While that would be an astonishing&nbsp;achievement for any song, it’s&nbsp;particularly remarkable&nbsp;for one that nearly didn’t&nbsp;get released at all.
During the production&nbsp;of x, it was recorded&nbsp;some 60-70 times, with&nbsp;Sheeran apparently&nbsp;unconvinced it matched&nbsp;the feel of the rest of&nbsp;the album. As take 71,&nbsp;presumably, pressed&nbsp;all the opposite quality&nbsp;control buttons, the&nbsp;world did ultimately get&nbsp;to hear this brooding&nbsp;musical meditation on homesickness and the travails&nbsp;of long-distance love. It subsequently transpired that&nbsp;the track was a heartfelt paean, within which the lovestruck&nbsp;lyricist had coalesced his feelings about Nina&nbsp;Nesbitt, a fellow musician and his former girlfriend.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45307" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_2012_Frequency_Festival_in_Austria_path.jpg" alt="Ed Sheeran" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_2012_Frequency_Festival_in_Austria_path.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_2012_Frequency_Festival_in_Austria_path-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_2012_Frequency_Festival_in_Austria_path-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_2012_Frequency_Festival_in_Austria_path-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_2012_Frequency_Festival_in_Austria_path-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_2012_Frequency_Festival_in_Austria_path-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed_Sheeran_at_2012_Frequency_Festival_in_Austria_path-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
For many, it seems as though Sheeran’s entire&nbsp;oeuvre revolves around his emotional attachment to&nbsp;troubled, unloved or much-missed women. Despite&nbsp;his clear predilection for the ladies, though, he&nbsp;has managed to duck any suggestions that he is&nbsp;merely a jobbing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothario">Lothario</a>, with his reputation for&nbsp;straightforward sentimentality and one-man-womanry&nbsp;remaining – perhaps surprisingly – intact. Indeed, in&nbsp;March 2017 with the release of his third and most&nbsp;recent album – ÷ (“divide”) – his role as the world’s&nbsp;pre-eminent choirboy-cum-chart-topper seemed more&nbsp;secure than ever.
Despite this, the now-super-rich strummer&nbsp;showed no sign of resting on his laurels. Indeed, he&nbsp;told one journalist that he’d approached the latest&nbsp;collection as though on a mission to write the best love&nbsp;song of his career. When Perfect, the fifth single from&nbsp;the album, hit the airwaves in August 2017, the overall&nbsp;sentiment of fans and the music press alike was:&nbsp;“Mission accomplished”.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45305" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-last-page-option.jpg" alt="" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-last-page-option.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-last-page-option-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-last-page-option-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-last-page-option-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ed-Sheeran-last-page-option-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
Even for an artist no stranger to superlatives,&nbsp;Perfect did extraordinarily well. In total, it went on to&nbsp;reach number one on 36 national music charts across&nbsp;the world, with the consensus very much that this was,&nbsp;indeed, the best love song of Sheeran’s career – to&nbsp;date at least. As the song focussed on his relationship&nbsp;with girlfriend – and, later, wife – Cherry Seaborn,&nbsp;its success was doubly-sweet for the plectrum wielding&nbsp;poet.
Now, with the mixture of cheers and&nbsp;cries of disappointment (thanks to&nbsp;one of the shows becoming a victim&nbsp;of a downpour) of his Hong Kong&nbsp;audience still ringing in his ears,&nbsp;what’s next for the the boy-next door&nbsp;that the whole world&nbsp;loves? Well, a new album for&nbsp;one thing, with the smart&nbsp;money being on him issuing&nbsp;a new set of songs in time&nbsp;for Christmas 2019. The&nbsp;even smarter money goes on&nbsp;his upcoming – apparently&nbsp;Springsteen-influenced&nbsp;– release being entitled –&nbsp;(“minus”). Even if he does&nbsp;surprise fans and dumps his&nbsp;love of mathematical album&nbsp;titles, it is most unlikely,&nbsp;however, to subtract from&nbsp;his global popularity.


Text: <a href="mailto:bailey@itotalmedia.com">Bailey Atkinson</a>
For the full article, please find the latest issue of Gafencu’s print magazine or the PDF version on the Gafencu app. Download the app from the Google&nbsp;<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gafencu.android&amp;hl=en">Play Store</a>&nbsp;or Apple&nbsp;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gafencu/id541555130?mt=8">App Store</a>.

Tag: celebrity