There is no end in sight to the upstairs-downstairs drama of Downton Abbey. Britain's ITV network says it has commissioned a sixth season of the popular costume drama, which will start filming early next year. ITV's director of drama commissioning, Steve November, said on Thursday that the show continues to be "a phenomenon". The Emmy Award-winning show follows the fates of the aristocratic Crawley clan and their servants amid the social upheavals of the 1910s and 1920s. Season 5 is currently being broadcast.
Star Wars title announcement sets Twitter aflame
Star Wars fans were sent into a frenzy on Thursday as Disney finally revealed the title of Episode VII, which was partly filmed in Abu Dhabi this year: The Force Awakens. It also announced that filming had been completed. The Force Awakens immediately shot to the top of trending topics on Twitter. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens has completed principal photography," Walt Disney Pictures and the official Star Wars Twitter accounts tweeted, with the title set in the franchise's retro typeface in yellow and white against a background of stars. The film is due to be released on December 18 next year.
Baby girl for Iron Man star
The Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr and his wife Susan are celebrating the arrival of their second child, a girl named Avri. "After 9 months of intensive development, Team Downey is pleased to announce our 2014 fall/winter project," the 49-year-old actor joked on his Facebook page, adding that she had been born on Tuesday. "Principal photography commenced 11-14 and will continue until she says, 'Dad! You are embarrassing me … I'm 30, this has gotta stop,'" the actor added. Avri Roel Downey weighed seven pounds and is a little sister for 2-and-a-half-year-old Exton Elias. Downey Jr has a 21-year-old son, Indio, from a previous marriage.
Sherlock star gets engaged
The actor Benedict Cumberbatch, the star of the film The Imitation Game and the hit BBC TV drama Sherlock, has announced his engagement to his theatre-director girlfriend Sophie Hunter. The news was announced in The Times newspaper. The 38-year-old actor shot to fame with his modern-day portrayal of the British sleuth and has received rave reviews for his role as the Second World War codebreaker and computing pioneer Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.
No illegal drugs taken by Williams
Actor Robin Williams had not taken any drugs or alcohol when he killed himself at his California home in August, a post mortem has revealed. Marin County sheriff’s office said the actor had taken prescription medications in “therapeutic concentrations”. The coroner ruled Williams’ death a suicide that resulted from asphyxia due to hanging. Williams’ wife, Susan Schneider, has said he was struggling with depression, anxiety and a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. The 63-year-old had two types of antidepressants in his system when he died, as well as a Parkinson’s medication. Williams also had superficial cuts on his wrist. A pocketknife was found nearby.
Hunger Games stage show on the way
Producers are betting there's an appetite for a stage version of The Hunger Games. Movie studio Lionsgate says it is teaming up with the Dutch media company Imagine Nation and the US-based Triangular Entertainment to create a live version of the book and film series about a dystopian world in which teenagers are forced to fight to the death. The stage spectacular, featuring "innovative and immersive staging techniques", will open in 2016 at a new venue beside London's Wembley Stadium. Mockingjay: Part I, the third movie based on Suzanne Collins' novels, opens this month.
Buzz and Woody to return in new Toy Story movie
Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody are coming back to the big screen. Disney Pixar has announced Toy Story 4 will be released release date in June 2017. The Pixar chief John Lasseter will direct the film. He directed the first two Toy Story films and says his team has come up with a fresh idea for the franchise that he can't stop thinking about. He says the fourth instalment will "open a new chapter" in the lives of Woody, Buzz and their playful pals, who at the end of the third movie had found a new home after being given away by their owner, the now grown-up Andy.
Jagger throat infection forces Stones to cancel gig
The Rolling Stones on Friday cancelled a show in Australia because singer Mick Jagger was struggling to overcome a throat infection. It is another blow for fans after the group called off a tour earlier this year following the suicide of Jagger’s girlfriend L’Wren Scott. It was rescheduled for October and November and they were due to play at Hanging Rock in Victoria state on Saturday after rave reviews for a show in Melbourne this week. “The Rolling Stones have been forced to cancel the next date of their Australian tour after Mick has developed a throat infection,” the band said. “He is under strict doctor’s orders to rest his vocal cords for the next few days in order to recuperate for the remainder of the tour.” The rockers are due to perform in Sydney on Wednesday.
James Earl Jones to receive the first Voice Icon award
Providing the voices of Darth Vader and The Lion King's Mufasa helped to make James Earl Jones one of the most recognisable voices on the planet – and now he is to receive the first Voice Icon award. But the actor revealed that there was a time when he didn't do much talking. As a child he suffered from a severe stutter and went through a period where he refused to speak at all. "I once did not speak. I was mute. When I finally did speak, though, I spoke as an adult," he said. Jones credits a teacher for providing valuable advice that would carry him throughout his long career. He said: "I was 16 or 17, and my teacher said: 'You remember yourself speaking as a child, you're now hearing yourself as an adult – don't get impressed with it. Don't listen to it, because you can fall in love with the melodiousness of it. If you listen to it, then nobody else will.'" The advice paid off as the Tony-winning and Oscar-nominated actor will be the initial recipient of the Voice Icon award from the first-ever Voice Arts Awards tonight. Sponsored by the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences, this new annual event will honour the best voices of the year from television, film, video games, commercials, and audiobooks.
Rihanna to host Diamond ball in aid of her charity
Rihanna will host her first Diamond Ball on December 11 to benefit her charitable foundation, which promotes education and arts globally. The singer said the black-tie event would be held at The Vineyard in Beverly Hills, California. The Barbadian-born singer founded the Clara Lionel Foundation, named after her grandparents Clara and Lionel Braithwaite, in 2012. She said: “There is truly nothing I’m more proud of and we’ve just gotten started.” About 600 guests are expected at the ball.
Stevie Wonder speaks out on gun control as tour kicks off
Stevie Wonder has always blended his musical genius with social activism, and as he launched his new tour, he stayed true to form, advocating gun control, pleading for an end to racism and promoting equality for those with disabilities. "I challenge America, I challenge the world, to let hatred go, to let racism go," he told a sold-out crowd at New York's Madison Square Garden on Thursday. "That is the only way we will win as a nation and the world." Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life tour is dedicated to the music from that groundbreaking 1976 double album, which included classic hits such as Sir Duke, I Wish, As and Isn't She Lovely. The music still resonates, as Wonder proved during an electrifying concert that ran for almost three hours and had the audience roaring and standing in approval. He also dismissed recent reports that his partner is having triplets, revealing that it is just one baby. He then brought his infant daughter, Zaiah, onstage for a performance of Isn't She Lovely, which he wrote for daughter Aisha Morris – one of his backing singers – years ago. He also made sure his view were heard on several social issues. He had invited the family of 6-year-old Ana Grace Marquez-Greene, one of 26 victims of a gunman in the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012. Wonder acknowledged the girl's father Jimmy Greene, mother Nelba Marquez-Greene and 10-year-old brother Isaiah in the audience as he spoke about gun control. "The only thing that guns do is make the gun manufacturers rich and the mortuaries richer," he said. He also called for the creation of better services for disabled and challenged the residents of New York City. "I want there to be accessibility for anybody who is deaf, who is a paraplegic," he said.
Seinfeld thinks he might be autistic
The veteran US comedian Jerry Seinfeld says he thinks he is on the autism spectrum, describing it as an "alternate mindset". "I think, on a very drawn-out scale, I think I'm on the spectrum," Seinfeld told NBC's Nightly News on Thursday. He said he was "never paying attention to the right things" and added: "Basic social engagement is really a struggle. I'm very literal. When people talk to me and they use expressions, sometimes I don't know what they're saying. But I don't see it as dysfunctional. I just think of it as an alternate mindset."
[ artslife@thenational.ae ]
