Oscar-nominated star Florence Pugh ‘dropped everything’ to narrate a hard-hitting BBC documentary about medical staff at an Italian hospital battling to save lives in the early days of the pandemic. ‘I can barely cry,’ says Dr Francesca Mangiatordi, her haunted face staring into a laptop at the Cremona Hospital in Lombardy, Northern Italy. Documentarian Sasha … Read more
Bel Powley had to learn how to ‘tawk’ like a proper Staten Islander for her latest role. In a sort of reverse Pygmalion, the 28-year-old star of independent films, from West London, spent time living in the New York City borough to pick up the local dialect for her part in Judd Apatow’s new picture … Read more
The actor Sope Dirisu is right at the centre of the bone-crunching action in television thriller Gangs Of London, in which he’s shot at, stabbed — and stomped on, just for good measure. The nine-part crime series has become one of Sky’s biggest hits. Shown at the height of the virus shutdown, it features Dirisu as … Read more
Richard E. Grant is ready for his closeup…as a drag queen. The Oscar-nominated actor has undergone a head-to-toe transformation for the feature film version of stage hit musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie: hair concealed under what he described as a ‘Folies Bergere meets Mrs Thatcher 80s-style wig’, feet squeezed into a pair of Jimmy Choo’s. … Read more
Sitting at the table, watching old sitcoms out of the corner of her eye while having tea with her family, helped Esther Smith develop her comic chops. ‘I was a fan of The Good Life and Dad’s Army when I was growing up,’ the 33-year-old West Midlands-born actress told me. ‘When I got older, it … Read more
The big screen version of Take That musical The Band is being actively developed during the lockdown, with ‘high calibre’ film stars being sought to appear in it. ‘We’re putting it together, and once all the serious things settle down, we can get on with making it,’ Danny Perkins, chief executive of the Elysian Film … Read more