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Brenda Blethyn's 'gripping' new thriller confirms UK screening and its not far away

Brenda Blethyn's 'gripping' new thriller confirms UK screening and its not far away

Wales Onlinea day ago
Brenda Blethyn's 'gripping' new thriller confirms UK screening and its not far away
Vera star Brenda Blethyn stars alongside Andrea Riseborough and Jason Watkins in new film Dragonfly which will be first screened in the UK at Edinburgh International Film Festival
Brenda Blethyn's new thriller has confirmed it's first UK screening and fans don't have long to wait
(Image:for the NTA's )
Brenda Blethyn's new thriller has confirmed it's first UK screening and fans don't have long to wait.
Dragonfly will be shown at the Edinburgh International Film Festival which runs from August 14 to 20.

It will be screened on the Saturday, Monday and Tuesday at the event following it's world premiere at The Tribeca Film Festival last month.

The film follows a woman named Colleen who takes it upon herself to look after her elderly neighbours Elise, as she believes the professionals aren't doing a good enough job but does Colleen have an ulterior motive or are the people around them just mistrusting for no reason?
Brenda stars alongside Andrea Riseborough and Jason Watkins and following the positive reviews from critics who saw the film at Tribeca, it an gained an excellent 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Hearts broke across the nation when it was announced by ITV in spring 2024 that Vera would be coming to an end this year
(Image: ITV )
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It comes after the actress was spotted out and about in Newcastle almost a year to the day that she filmed her last ever scenes for Vera
Hearts broke across the nation when it was announced by ITV in spring 2024 that the popular drama would be coming to an end this year after 14 years of being one of the biggest crime dramas on British TV.
Brenda has lined up a number of exciting TV projects since stepping down as iconic detective, DCI Vera Stanhope and among them is upcoming historical comedy, Fools.

The TV icon stars alongside Karen Gillan and Jim Broadbent in the upcoming film, which explores the little-known story of Mary Tudor's friendship with her female court jester.
Brenda has lined up a number of exciting TV projects since stepping down as iconic detective, DCI Vera Stanhope
Fools is set in 1553 in the aftermath of Henry VIII's death, the period comedy follows England's first Queen, Mary I, as she takes the throne in the midst of a country on the brink of chaos, reports Hello!

A synopsis from Variety reads: "While the ambitious Cardinal Pole plots to secure control, he overlooks a humble court jester, Jane Foole.
"The pious and apparently humourless queen finds Jane's brilliant slapstick routines uproariously funny.
"They strike up a genuine friendship, the comedy lightening Mary's mood in the darkest of times, and helping fend off Pole's murderous manipulation but can Jane's comedy save a nation from civil war?"
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Dragonfly will be screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival next month
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Val McDermid awarded honorary degree
Val McDermid awarded honorary degree

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Val McDermid awarded honorary degree

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Chart-topping 80s icon left stunned after Scots fan's foul-mouthed outburst

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Chart-topping 80s icon left stunned after Scots fan's foul-mouthed outburst

'This bloke steps out and says 'T'Pau? - You're s***e!' T'PAU singer Carol Decker has recalled the moment she was brought back down to earth when a Scots fan queued up for hours - just to tell her she was: 'S***e.' The pop icon exploded into the charts in 1987 when her debut single Heart and Soul reached the Top 5 in both the US and the UK, followed by the No1 hit China in Your Hand. 5 Carol Decker in her 80s heyday was brought back to earth by a foul-mouthed Scot. 5 Carol is still touring with her chart topping 80s band. 5 The 80s singer was also a mystery guest on ITV's The Masked Singer earlier this year. 5 Carol Decker recently toured Germany with Amy Macdonald. But during the height of her fame a forthright music lover decided to give her a face to face critique with his brutal jibe. Carol, now 67, says: 'I remember one of our first gigs in Scotland was at Glasgow Barrowland when Heart and Soul had just broken. 'There was a huge queue around the building, which was really lovely to see for our first visit, and back in the day, I had to have security with me. 'Anyway this bloke, who's at the front of the queue and must've been there for hours, steps out and says 'T'Pau? And I said 'Yes,' and got my pen ready to sign an autograph, and he goes, 'You're s***e!' 'He had actually waited in the queue just to tell me that.' She adds: 'I was speechless but my security guy, who had this lovely, very elegant Scottish accent, replied on my behalf saying, 'You're entitled to your opinion, sir - but I don't recall anybody asking to hear it'.' Born in Liverpool, Carol formed T'Pau in 1986 with her then boyfriend Ronnie Rogers, together penning all of the group's hit songs. Just a year later they had their big showbiz break with Heart and Soul when Pepe Jeans used the track to front their cinema ad campaign across America. 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'Just like in the movie they get the easy bits right like 'Give a little bit of heart and soul, give a little bit of love to grow'. 'But then they mumbled, 'Don't you make me beg for more, give a sign, I need to know.' 'So when they asked me for permission to use the song in Sisters, they send you a synopsis of the scene. 'When I read it, it made me laugh because this happens to me all the time.' The track was also used in the Michelle Williams Disney series Dying for Sex earlier this year and a Black Mirror episode in 2016. While China in Your Hands popped up in an ep of Gillian Anderson's Sex Education in 2023. Carol says: 'I take great pride in the fact that our songs continue to be used in all these America productions. 'But it was a real feather in my cap, especially with my kids, when Charlie Brooker put Heart and Soul in Black Mirror.' Carol will return north of the border in August when she performs at the two-day Party at the Palace event, sharing the bill on the Saturday with Squeeze, former Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan, Gun and Sleeper. While Boney M, Boyzlife and The Hoosiers take to the stage on Sunday. She says: 'I've been looking at everybody's YouTube stuff and boning up on who's on the bill. 'I haven't thought about these bands in years so it will be great to see them live.' But while Carol revels in the fact that she's still in demand, she can afford herself a chuckle at that incident in Glasgow's East End all those years ago. She says: 'The funniest thing about the guy at the Barrowland was by that point I'd gotten used to people adoring me. 'So it actually made me laugh when someone had queued for so long just to tell me our band were s***e - you certainly can never get too big for your boots in Scotland.' *Party at the Palace is on at Linlithgow's Bonnytoun Farm on August 3&4. For tickets visit:

'My second film took a decade to make and is 'not your average period drama''
'My second film took a decade to make and is 'not your average period drama''

Metro

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  • Metro

'My second film took a decade to make and is 'not your average period drama''

Director John Maclean is back in cinemas this summer with his second film, a decade after his award-winning and critically acclaimed debut, Slow West. The revisionist Western starring Michael Fassbender and Kodi Smit-McPhee saw him named by Bafta as 'a Brit to Watch' and claim a jury prize at Sundance. It was dubbed one of the films of the year and still has a 92% score from critics on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. And now Maclean's finally returned with his second film – 'notoriously difficult' in Britain, he says – a Scottish samurai Western, naturally. Starring Jack Lowden, Tim Roth, Japanese model and songwriter Kōki and Shogun's Takehiro Hira, Tornado sees a Japanese puppeteer's daughter get caught up with criminals when their show crosses paths with a crime gang in 18th-century rural Scotland. A refreshingly unusual combination of things, Maclean reveals that Tornado 'led on' from Slow West as an idea, examining the concept of nationality again. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'In America in 1860, people were from all over the world, they weren't American yet. Then I thought the same about Britain – that it could be a multicultural place, and there could be a Japanese samurai, a French weightlifter, an Irish bandit,' the Scottish filmmaker tells me at the Sands International Film Festival in April, where Tornado is previewing as the closing film. 'I added to that my love of Japanese cinema and thinking, 'Oh I'd love to do a samurai film, but I'm not Japanese – so what's my way in?' The way in was a father-daughter relationship, family and setting it in a Britain of people from all over the place.' Maclean, who is also a founding member of indie-rock group The Beta Band, tells me that Tornado was based on an old music video he filmed with the group 25 years ago too, in the exact same location. People don't normally make a Western as their first feature film, like he did, but Maclean actually saw Tornado as his opportunity to 'play a lot more' with the Western tropes. He was also keen to shake up how British history is traditionally thought of at this time. 'It's always been viewed through novels or class systems or kings and queens, and I just thought there was a place for historic Britain full of more of your outsiders: circus performers and poets and musicians and bandits.' For him, there was also a parallel between Tornado and Slow West with great changes on the horizon. 'Setting it in 1790 I felt was a kind of equivalent to the 1860 West, when things were about to change drastically – the law and the Peelers were coming, and the industrial revolution was coming, and swords were becoming guns,' Maclean points out. Taking a decade between the releases of Slow West and Tornado was not intentional; Maclean's screenplay was written by 2018 and he jokes he was 'going as fast as I possibly could'. But it turns out even if you've made a splash with your first film – and he'd won a Bafta for his 2011 short Pitch Black Heist starring Fassbender and Liam Cunningham prior as well – you are far from set up for smooth sailing the second time around. 'It was just hard to get funding. I thought it would be easier because Slow West was a decent first attempt. In Britain, second films are notoriously difficult to get off the ground,' he admits. As to why, he ponders if maybe the script 'came across as not the trendiest of subjects' but also reckons it was to do with the film's titular hero being a young girl and 'so she has to be a kind of new face'. It was just hard to get funding. I thought it would be easier because Slow West was a decent first attempt 'You do need the big names attached to get any money at all these days.' He did get them – 'eventually' – in Roth and Lowden portraying father and son, and Roth signing up to play the villainous Sugarman 'unlocked a lot of doors and people started taking it seriously and coming on board'. As far Lowden, who is especially hot property now given his involvement with hit TV series Slow Horses and casting as Mr Darcy in Netflix's upcoming Pride and Prejudice adaptation, Maclean was prepared to work for it – and around a few people. 'I actually met Jack at Edinburgh Film Festival drinks and found out that he loved Slow West. So I went back and rewrote the part with him in mind because – just anything to get beyond these people's agents! And to know that maybe they want to work with you is huge.' However, Maclean is far from self-pitying about how hard it was to get Tornado made despite his previous success – although Slow West did not make its budget (a reported $2million (£1.46m)) back at the box office. But it was a word-of-mouth phenomenon that grew a cult audience and charmed critics, juries and fans alike. 'I'm reading a book about the making of The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde and films of the '60s, and it was just as big a struggle. I mean, you're asking for a lot of money for people,' he observes (the budget was around £3m for Tornado). 'I think anything that you want to do that's sort of – not necessarily against the grain – but just something different …' he begins, before adding: 'I think Tornado is not your average British period drama.' He's dead right in that respect – and what might make financiers wary is exactly its USP. Thanks to a wider shift in the genre away from rigid historical accuracy in favour of more creative interpretations, diverse casting and contemporary points of view – as seen in the likes of Bridgerton, Netflix's 2022 adaptation of Persuasion with Dakota Johnson and The Personal History of David Copperfield – it makes Tornado seem bang on the money. Maclean's 'hopeful' that people want to reinterpret how a period drama looks in Britain. I wonder what he would like to do for his next film. More Trending 'I love the crime genre and the noir genre – but I've got a lot of contemporary music I love, so it'd be nice to make something contemporary. I'm sort of blank page at the moment, so just starting to feel around again,' he shares. When I apologise for pressing him on the next film already, he laughs. 'A lot of directors will have the thing lined up ready to go. I'm just not that guy, so it takes me slightly longer.' Tornado is in UK cinemas now. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Human leg washes up on beach 80 miles from missing man's body MORE: Energy price cap comes down with average household saving £11 a month MORE: Child drove through Scottish village barefoot listening to Sugababes

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