Who's in the Royal Box at Wimbledon? Andrew Garfield and Poppy Delevingne among famous faces on Centre Court on day seven
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Studios are rewriting movies steered by Reddit. A dangerous development – or long overdue?
Once upon a time, film-makers were mysterious sorcerers hunched over Steenbecks and smoke machines, conjuring cinematic magic from the recesses of their cerebellums. These days it seems they spend half their time on Reddit, fighting like gremlins to stay one step ahead of the hive mind. This week, Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts revealed that his original plan for the grand entrance of the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield versions of Spider-Man in the blockbuster Marvel epic was to have them turn up following the death of Aunt May, just as Spidey was at his lowest point. As our hero sheds tears on a grimy New York rooftop, the pair would enter through Doctor Strange portals at the perfect moment to reset the film and set Peter Parker on the path to redemption. It was a perfectly serviceable plan to get the film moving again quickly before the entire multiplex ruined their popcorn with salty tears. But there was one tiny, weeny problem: the internet had thought of it first. 'I was on Reddit, and I was looking at people who had already made fan art of, 'This is probably what it's going to be like when the two Spider-Men get revealed',' Watts told Collider. 'It was on a rooftop. It was sad. Two Doctor Strange portals were open and two Spider-Men are stepping out. I was like, 'Well, we can't do that. If that's exactly what everyone thinks we're going to do, we absolutely can't do that.'' Watts reconfigured the screenplay so that Maguire and Garfield turn up in Ned's grandmother's flat instead, after Spider-Man's right-hand man starts messing with Strange's sling ring and accidentally ushers them both into the MCU. As an example of the fandom hivemind guessing the plot of a movie from the quantum rear seat, this is both deranged and depressingly effective. But it's also far from the first time fans have managed to manipulate the plot of a high-profile film before the trailers have even been released. The great-grandaddy of internet-powered cinema interference, long before Reddit got involved, was the 2006 action thriller Snakes on a Plane, a movie that was almost entirely reshot to meet fan expectations. After early online hype snowballed into full-blown meme fever, producers added more reptiles, more over-the-top absurdity and more supposedly iconic lines such as Samuel L Jackson's: 'I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!' In 2015, Fantastic Four brought us a subtler, though equally telling, course correction. Fans were outraged by reports that Toby Kebbell's Doctor Doom would be renamed 'Victor Domashev' and – even worse – would be a sad tech bro with a blogspot (rather than the usual Latverian aristocrat with diplomatic immunity and a murder cape). Faced with backlash before the film had even finished shooting, 20th Century Fox panicked and quietly reinstated the classic 'Von Doom' moniker. A tiny change, but a telling one. At that point we were fully into the era of pre-release plot clairvoyance, where no trailer dropped, no casting announcement landed, and no cereal-box leak went unanalysed by Reddit sleuths with conspiracy corkboards and access to 480p set photos. And just like studios, and directors, the fans get it wrong as often as they get it right. Without a massive Reddit campaign, Sonic the Hedgehog might have been a kids' animated movie starring a version of the beloved video game critter who looked like a taxidermy experiment. Thumbs up there to the screaming mob. In contrast, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ended up switching Daisy Ridley's Rey from the child of 'filthy junk traders' she had been labelled in previous film The Last Jedi to the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine – purely because fans who had probably built elaborate genealogies on Reddit had got their geeky knickers in a twist. Since then we've had the almost complete deletion of the villainous Serpent Society from Captain America: Brave New World, and now the revelation that No Way Home was rewritten to avoid getting Reddited. It seems that in modern Hollywood, entire tonal shifts are now being driven by fan reaction, real or anticipated. At their best, these pivots can improve a film. There's a kind of chaotic crowd wisdom to large-scale fan response: if millions of people agree your CGI hedgehog looks like he drinks Monster Energy, maybe it's worth reconsidering. And when audiences accurately predict major plot beats months in advance, maybe it makes sense to tweak the scene. But there's a point here where all this stuff starts to eat indelibly into the very concept of authored film-making. Maybe in a decade or so we won't need directors and studios at all, just a bunch of data analysts and Reddit mods using AI to make films that everyone loves because they've already seen them in their heads. And even if that's a dystopian future we're not quite facing just yet, such algorithmic appeasement exposes the mounting anxiety of studios that now live in a kind of quantum dread – terrified of being too online, yet even more terrified of not being online enough. Every plot point is a potential leak. Every costume reveal is a referendum. Nothing is sacred, and nothing is safe when your screenplay has to survive both internal rewrites and a Reddit spoiler thread before it can even be filmed. Think of it as Schrödinger's Cameo: the twist exists in a weird quantum state until the lights go down and your mate leans over and says: 'Told you Tobey was in this.'
Scottish Sun
4 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Lip reader reveals Macron's cheeky remark about Prince William to King Charles after arriving at Windsor Castle
A LIP reader has revealed the moment Emmanuel Macron made a cheeky remark about Prince William to King Charles. The French president, and his wife Brigitte, were greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales at RAF Northolt this morning. 4 The moment President Macron made a cheeky remark to King Charles Credit: Sky 4 William was then seen replying as the pair smiled Credit: Sku They were then welcomed in Windsor by the King and Queen, with Macron warmly greeting Charles and kissing Camilla's hand. As they stood chatting, Mr Macron also placed his hand on the King's back as part of a friendly greeting. It was shortly after when chatting to the monarch, that the French leader made an observation about Wills, says lip reader Nicola Hickling. According to the lip reader, Macron said to King Charles: 'He is incredibly tall.' Read More in Royals KING AND EYE King spotted with painful-looking red eye after suffering burst blood vessel King Charles, who is said to be 5ft 10, is then understood to have replied: 'He is very tall. He's six foot one, he is, ever so.' Prince William then weighed in: 'Actually, I'm six foot three.' 5ft 7 Macron is said to have replied cheekily: 'Unlike us, we're short.' Mrs Macron was seen greeting Queen Camilla with "la bise" - the customary French greeting of a double cheek air kiss. The royal party and their guests stood still for the French national anthem, surrounded by household cavalry members. From there, the King and Mr Macron travelled together through Windsor in the 1902 State Landau. They were followed by the Queen and Brigitte Macron in the Semi-State Landau, Buckingham Palace announced. End of an era as King Charles AXES royal train after 150 years as cost of keeping iconic vehicle going hits £1.2m a year In the third carriage, the Ascot Landau, ferried Kate and Wills, who accompanied France's armed forces minister Sebastien Lecornu and French culture minister Rachida Dati. The final two Ascot Landau carriages transported French officials including Helene Duchene, the French ambassador to the UK, and General Fabien Mandon, chief of the military staff. The processional route, lined through the town by the armed forces, takes in Datchet Road, Thames Street High Street, Park Street, Cambridge Gate, George IV Gateway to the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle. Security was heightened with an enhanced police presence and teams inspecting the area around the castle and checking locations such as flower planters. A ceremonial welcome took place at the castle, and inspection of the Guard of Honour. French President Emmanuel Macron is the first European leader to attend a state visit to the UK since Charles III was crowned, and since the UK left the EU. Macron has now headed to London where he is addressing Parliament. He says it's a "great honour" to address MPs and peers, before praising Keir Starmer for being the first British leader in 80 years to spend Armistice Day in France. Downing Street said in a previous statement they were hoping for "good progress" during Macron's three days in the UK. Macron will end a busy day with a state banquet back at Windsor Castle. 4 The royals meeting President Macron and his wife Brigitte today Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Carlos Alcaraz challenged to golf by SPIDER-MAN ahead of Wimbledon quarter-final vs Cam Norrie
CARLOS ALCARAZ has been challenged to a round of golf by Spider-Man actor Tom Holland. A huge sports fan, Holland was in attendance at SW19 ahead of Alcaraz's quarter-final clash with Britain's Cameron Norrie. 5 After the Spaniard finished his morning practise session, he was approached by Holland. Alcaraz, 22, said: "Tom, I saw you playing golf as well, good swing." The superstar actor, 29, enthusiastically responded: "We should play!" And Alcaraz, ever the keen sportsman, appeared to accept the invitation, replying: "For sure." The five-time Grand Slam champion is a keen golfer, and has been playing with Andy Murray during the tournament. Alcaraz and Murray were tied at 1-1 in their games, before the Scot posted on X: "We played the deciding match this afternoon. Maybe ask him what happened after the next match." Quizzed about the decider with Murray on court after his four-set win over Andrey Rublev, Alcaraz joked: "I didn't remember playing any matches yesterday. "I have to show up. I have to say he beat me. BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK 5 5 "We were playing in his home, so it could be really bad for him if I beat him in his home so I let him win once. "But I lost against him as a player, as a coach, on the golf course, so I'm not going to play against him anymore." Alcaraz will take on Norrie on Centre Court for a place in the final four. On the challenge that the lefty poses, the two-time defender Wimbledon champion said: "Facing Cam is always really, really difficult. We have really difficult battles already. "Facing him is almost a nightmare, to be honest. Really tough from the baseline. I'm not surprised he's on the quarter-final playing a great tennis because I've seen him practising. When he lost at Queen's, he stayed for five days practising morning, afternoon, and night. I saw him. So I'm not surprising at all seeing his level. It's going to be really different. "He's playing at home, as well, so he's going to use the crowd to his side. "I have to be really strong mentally and focused to play a good tennis if I want to beat him." 5
