Kevin Spacey, feted in Cannes, 'glad to be working'
Spacey, who won Oscars for American Beauty and The Usual Suspects, was one of Hollywood's biggest stars before he was first accused of sexual assault in 2017, after which he was dropped from the TV drama House of Cards.
In 2022, the now 65-year-old was charged in Britain with nine sexual offences against four men between 2004 and 2013 but was acquitted of all charges after a high-profile trial in 2023.
In the United States, Spacey in 2022 defeated a sexual abuse case against him after jurors in a Manhattan civil trial found his accuser did not prove his claim that Spacey made an unwanted sexual advance on him when he was 14.
Spacey was in Cannes to receive an award on Tuesday night for excellence in film and television from the Better World Fund, which fundraises in the name of "cinematic art at the service of humanity," at a charity gala dinner at the Carlton Hotel.
"I've heard from so many of my friends, colleagues and co-stars in the last week since this award was announced that I feel surrounded by support," Spacey said before the event.
"I'm glad to be working," he added, when asked whether his appearance marked a comeback.
Spacey is also at the festival to help Britain's Camelot Films sell the conspiracy action thriller The Awakening, in which he plays the character Balthazar.
He faces separate civil lawsuits from three men for alleged sexual abuse in London and is defending the cases.
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ABC News
8 hours ago
- ABC News
Hollywood costume designer Orry-Kelly celebrated in home town
He dressed the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis, but while Australian-born costume designer Orry-Kelly is one of the country's most prolific Oscar winners, many people have never heard of him. Born Orry George Kelly in Kiama on the south coast of NSW in December 1897, the Hollywood costume designer worked on more than 300 films. He was the chief costume designer for Warner Bros. Studios from 1932 to 1944, worked on the iconic film Casablanca and won Oscars for Best Costume Design for An American in Paris in 1951, Les Girls in 1957 and Some Like It Hot in 1959. Following his death in 1964, Orry-Kelly was mourned by Hollywood society but Australia remained largely oblivious to his remarkable life. His pallbearers included actors Cary Grant (who Orry-Kelly described in his memoir as having a lifelong relationship with) and Tony Curtis, filmmaker Billy Wilder and director George Cukor. Ms Eggins said while Kelly was still "the forgotten man", an exhibition and gala in his home town of Kiama later this month aimed to change that. Ms Eggins is president of the Kiama Historical Society and a member of Kiama Icons and Artists, which promotes local art and culture. She said Orry-Kelly was largely forgotten locally until a 1994 Vogue article by Karin Upton Baker, edited by filmmaker Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, winner of four Academy Awards in film design. "It had photos and stories, and since then I've discovered more and given hundreds of talks about him. "I love him. I'm passionate about him," she laughed. Orry-Kelly's work displayed a diligence and creativity he no doubt inherited from his father William Kelly, a tailor in Kiama. Mr Kelly put his son's talents to use by having him paint portraits of his customers. "Clients got a new suit and a painting, so there are a lot of portraits around the district," Ms Eggins said. When he was 17, Orry-Kelly was sent to Sydney to study banking, however Ms Eggins said he ended up being paid by women to take them dancing. "He was a very good dancer and got caught up in the underworld of Sydney, the sly grog and all of that," she said. "In his autobiography, he remembers what the prostitutes in Sydney were wearing and they became inspirations for some of his costumes. Orry-Kelly moved to New York at 22, where he met a young actor who would later change his name to Cary Grant. The pair relocated to Los Angles in 1931 where both their careers took off. Orry-Kelly worked on silent films at first, becoming the chief designer for Warner Bros. in 1932. "He drank it, he partied, he bought a big house, he had pets and generally wasted a lot of it. "He was a very big drinker, an alcoholic and that's where a lot of his money went." By 1944 Orry-Kelly worked for 20th Century Fox, then Universal until 1950, followed by freelancing until he died of live cancer, aged 66, in 1964. When he died, Orry-Kelly's three Oscars went to movie tycoon Jack Warner's wife Anne but have since vanished. "We are looking for the Oscars," Ms Eggins said. "In 2015 the Oscars were in Ann Warner's box, then they were borrowed by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image [ACMI] who displayed them, but said they sent them back." "At that time, Film and Sound Archives [the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia or NFSA] in Canberra were trying to get the Oscars to stay in Australia, but as far as I know, they didn't," she said. "We think they've gone back to the storerooms at Warner Bros." The ABC contacted ACMI, the NFSA and Warner Bros. Discovery; none could clarify the Oscars' whereabouts. An event celebrating the costumer designer, the Orry-Kelly Dressing Hollywood Gala, will be held in Kiama on July 26. "We'll display original paintings and gowns with a gala that evening," the event's organiser Catherine Menzies said. A Q&A panel will feature Gillian Armstrong, who directed the 2015 documentary Women He's Undressed about Orry-Kelly's life, as well as the film's producer Damien Parer and screenwriter Katherine Thomson, who discovered Orry-Kelly's manuscript, which was published as an autobiography and later inspired the film. Ms Menzies said the aim is for the gala to become an annual event. "Hopefully it can become a thing for Kiama; what better way to honour somebody like Orry-Kelly than glamour," she said. "He was making people look good [and] feel good. I can't think of a better way to have fun, but honour him."
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Thailand punches above its weight in film creativity and cross-border appeal. Here's why
A Useful Ghost, an internationally acclaimed new film from Thailand, features a woman who dies from dust pollution and returns to posses her husband's vacuum cleaner to protect him from suffering the same fate. It's a sly commentary about power inequality, queer love, and pollution. Written and directed by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, the indy film premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and was the first Thai film to win a Critics' Week grand prize, or Grand Prix. The award recognises early filmmakers. A Useful Ghost was Boonbunchachoke's debut feature and the first "proper film shoot" he had been on. Judges described the film as bold, free and unclassifiable, "a first feature that plays with genres, bends the rules, and offers a vision that is both intimate and universal." It's just the latest in a slew of Thai drams turning heads abroad as the industry builds on its reputation for distinctiveness and creativity. Last year, humorous tear-jerker How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies set a new Thai record for international box office takings. Mad Unicorn — a series about a start-up courier service — reached fourth on Netflix's weekly top 10 for non-English series last month. Other successful productions included Master of the House and Ready, Set, Love, and Hunger, both on Netflix. According to audience analytics firm Media Asia Partners (MPA), Thai content among South-East Asian nations had the most cross-border appeal in Asia. The "travelability" of Thai content (how much of it was consumed overseas vs domestically) was even catching up to Japan, the agency found. So, what is it about Thai cinema that's pulling audiences from around the globe? Thai people loved a good drama, A Useful Ghost writer-director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke told the ABC. He said they measured a film's success by how emotive it was, driving creators to make dramatic and emotionally rich films. "Thai film is like Thai food — the flavour needs to be strong," he said. "Culturally authentic" hyperlocal elements in film also resonated with audiences, said Mary Ainslie, an associate professor in film and media studies at the University of Nottingham. Besides seeing representations of local identity, these depictions appealed to foreign audiences because that knowledge made them "cultural insiders", she said. "That's about constructing yourself as a very cosmopolitan person, and that's very attractive." Being over-the-top is not limited to drama series or movies. Advertising is often where film directors cut their teeth before producing feature films and Thai commercials have a reputation for being "consistently" creative and unconventional, said Paul Nagy, the chief creative officer at VML Asia Pacific. Mr Nagy judged the film adverts at the 2024 Cannes Lions awards when Thailand won nine awards from 210 entries — the second highest win-to-entry ratio in the Asia-Pacific. "One of the major takeaways for me last year was just how incredibly creative and joyful the work coming out of Thailand was," he said. He said the Western world often followed formulaic narratives in storytelling, whereas Thai creators threw out the rule book and leaned into what felt most interesting. "They don't feel the same kind of constraints as the rest of the world in the same way to tone things down," Mr Nagy said. This made it fertile ground for creative story telling as nothing was too over-the-top he said. He cited as an example a government road-safety advertisement where a motorcyclist's brain came out the back of his head the faster he went, a metaphor for him losing control. "If you're learning your film trade in the advertising industry in Thailand you're unconstrained. "That's why they do such exciting film work when they leave the advertising industry." He said with how sophisticated AI has become at creating traditional advertisements, the rest of the world needed to quickly learn from what Thailand was doing to remain competitive. "We are moving into an era where average is going to be invisible and that's one thing the Thais never are … and that's their starting point." Much of the latest wave in Thai cinemas was the result of a rapid modernisation and an increasingly affluent middle class, said Dr Ainslie. Thailand has the eighth-fastest broadband internet in the world and 91 per cent of its population is connected to the internet, according to the Digital 2025 report by Meltwater and We Are Social. The global average is 68 per cent. Dr Ainslie said modernity was no longer limited to large cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai because the provincial rural population was now affluent, middle-class who were "globally savvy", well-connected, and had travelled overseas. Thai directors were also being trained abroad and returning home and studios had started conglomerating into oligopolies creating an ecosystem of cinema and production companies, she said. Thailand is recognised by international film producers as an attractive filming destination because of its scenery, affordability, and labour force with mature production and English-language skills, aspects the Thai government is capitalising on. This has created even more opportunities for Thai crew to work alongside international productions to hone their craft to an even higher standard, Booncunchachoke said. Last year, 491 foreign films like Jurassic World and shows like White Lotus were shot in Thailand which generated THB 6.58 billion ($309.8 million) for the economy. Along with Pad Thai, mango and sticky rice and Muay Thai, the Thailand's government has identified film as another cultural export instrumental to its influence by persuasion, or soft power. In November 2024, the prime minister met with executives from Netflix, HBO, Disney, and the Motion Picture Association, The government also announced increases in cash rebates of up to 30 per cent for eligible foreign productions if they employed Thai cast and crew, used designated tourist areas as film locations, and portrayed Thailand or its culture in a positive light. The Thai Film Office is part of the government's tourism department and has been integral in growing the industry, but Dr Ainslie warned the incentives biased certain productions which could also lead to a typecasting of Thailand. This could be frustrating for filmmakers wanting to make other kinds of films, she said. The lack of diverse depictions could also result in the curating a history to fit a certain state agenda. "If you construct an image, the image ultimately becomes truth, becomes a representation," Dr Ainslie said. One example was the "salacious and hedonistic" depictions of Thailand associated with sex tourism, lawlessness, and drugs seen in The Hangover Part II and The Beach. After the pandemic, young Thai people participated in widescale anti-government protests. Boonbunchachoke hoped media and cinema would follow suit in challenging the establishment, but felt that traction for freer expression had waned. Nonetheless, he noticed some commercial film studios beginning to take risks beyond their "comfort zone" of crowd-pleasers and join independent films in taking on darker and grittier topics. He has also noticed independent film houses starting to censor themselves less and becoming more creative in how they criticised the status quo. "I think nowadays [these film makers] kind of know and [are finding] new ways to speak and talk about the issue without compromising too much," he said.
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Sky News AU
'Out of the f***ing way': Movie star Scarlett Johansson launches foul-mouthed tirade at paparazzi while filming new mafia film
Scarlett Johansson has slammed a group of photographers for getting in her eye-line while the actress was filming a scene for Paper Tiger in New York City. Johansson is currently shooting the James Gray crime drama on location alongside Adam Driver and Miles Teller. The two-time Oscar nominee, 40, was in the middle of filming an emotional scene for the upcoming mafia movie when she lost her temper at a group of photographers assembled nearby. 'Out of the f*****g way,' the Jojo Rabbit star shouted in vision acquired by the Daily Mail. 'Move out of the way, I'm working. 'I get that you're working, but let me do my job. Be respectful.' The actress was in character and wearing a short curly wig and 1980s-era clothing when she slammed the photographers on Thursday. It is understood Scarlett later resumed her work and completed the scene after the photographers moved out of her line of sight. Fellow star Anne Hathaway was originally attached to star in the film but dropped out of the project for unknown reasons. Johansson is widely considered the most bankable female star in Hollywood thanks to her roles in multi-billion dollar franchises including The Avengers. The star's latest film, Jurassic World Rebirth, smashed industry projections after grossing a whopping $322.6 million in its first five days of release earlier this month. The feat makes Johansson the highest grossing lead actor of all time, having grossed an estimated $14.9 billion in her two-decade career.
