George Miller has written another ‘Mad Max’ prequel.

The 77-year-old director is returning to helm the movie ‘Furiosa’, which will star Anya Taylor-Joy and serves as an origin story for the character played by Charlize Theron in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, and revealed that he has another prequel idea in mind for Max Rockatansky – who has been portrayed by both Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy in the action franchise.

In an interview with The AV Club, George said: “We also wrote, not a screenplay, but almost in novel form, Nico Lathouris and I, what happened to Max in that year before, and that’s something that we’ll look at further down the track later.”

George explained how he and the crew created backstories for every character in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ so they could be explained in the other films.

He said: “In telling the story of Furiosa, everything in ‘Fury Road’ had to be explained. In my mind, I have a back story of the Doof Warrior, who plays the guitar. How could a blind man play a guitar, how does he get to survive in a wasteland where everybody is in extremis? How did he come to be there?

“So we wrote little stories for every character when we made ‘Fury Road’.”

George revealed that the techniques for developing the story mean that the screenplay for ‘Furiosa’ was complete before ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ was filmed.

The ‘Happy Feet’ director said: “We had the screenplay virtually complete before we shot ‘Fury Road’, and we did it because it arose out of wanting to explain to everybody who Furiosa was – to Charlize when she took on the role, and to all the actors and the designers and everybody else working on the Citadel and so on.

“The feeling was, gee, this is a pretty good screenplay, and then I kept saying to myself, ‘If ‘Fury Road’ works, I’d really like to tell this story.'”

(Reuters) – Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday at the age of 91, hospital officials in Moscow said.

Below are contrasting reactions from leaders and other high-profile figures outside and inside Russia:

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN

“Gorbachev was a politician and statesman who had a huge impact on the course of world history. He led our country during a period of complex, dramatic changes and large-scale foreign policy, economic and social challenges…

“(He) strove to offer his solutions to urgent problems.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Gorbachev’s hopes for a “romance” with the West were unjustified, adding: “The honeymoon did not work out and the bloodthirstiness of our opponents showed itself. It’s good that we realised this in time and understood it.”

OUTSIDE RUSSIA

U.S. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

“Mikhail Gorbachev was a man of remarkable vision … As leader of the USSR, he worked with President Reagan to reduce our two countries’ nuclear arsenals … After decades of brutal political repression, he embraced democratic reforms.

“The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people.”

U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES

Gorbachev was “a one-of-a-kind statesman who changed the course of history. He did more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War.

“The world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace.”

EX-GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL

“Mikhail Gorbachev wrote world history. He exemplified how a single statesman can change the world for the better.

“I can still feel the fear I had, like many people in the German Democratic Republic, in 1989, wondering whether tanks would roll again… But… no tanks rolled, no shots were fired…

“The world has lost a one-of-a-kind world leader. May the memory of his historic achievement make it possible to take a small pause, especially in these terrible weeks and months of Russia’s war against Ukraine.”

GERMAN CHANCELLOR OLAF SCHOLZ

“We won’t forget that perestroika (restructuring) had made it possible for Russia to be able to try to undertake the establishment of a democracy, that democracy and freedom were possible in Europe, that Germany could be unified, that the Iron Curtain disappeared.”

“He died at a time when not only democracy in Russia has failed … but also when Russia and Russian President Putin have dug new graves in Europe and began a terrible war.”

GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNALENA BAERBOCK:

“In defining moments of our history, Mikhail Gorbachev chose the path of peace and understanding and thereby contributed to the end of the Cold War and Germany’s reunification. Germany will be eternally grateful for this.”

FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON

Gorbachev was “a man of peace whose choices opened up a path of liberty for Russians. His commitment to peace in Europe changed our shared history”.

ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER MARIO DRAGHI

“Mikhail Gorbachev …put an end to the experience of the Soviet Union with courage and determination… His desire for peace and his opposition to an imperialist vision of Russia earned him the Nobel Prize. These messages are as relevant as ever in the face of the tragedy of the invasion of Ukraine.”

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT URSULA VON DER LEYEN

“Mikhail Gorbachev was a trusted and respected leader. He played a crucial role to end the Cold War and bring down the Iron Curtain. It opened the way for a free Europe … This legacy is one we will not forget.”

NATO SECRETARY GENERAL JENS STOLTENBERG

“Mikhail Gorbachev’s historic reforms led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, helped end the Cold War and opened the possibility of a partnership between Russia and NATO. His vision of a better world remains an example.”

THE REAGAN FOUNDATION AND INSTITUTE

“The Reagan Foundation and Institute mourns the loss of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a man who once was a political adversary of Ronald Reagan’s who ended up becoming a friend. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Gorbachev family and the people of Russia.”

FRIEDRICH MERZ, CHAIRMAN OF LATE GORBACHEV-ERA GERMAN CHANCELLOR HELMUT KOHL’S CDU PARTY

“Without Mikhail Gorbachev, German unity in freedom would not have been possible. The CDU mourns a statesman whom Germany could trust, and who trusted us.”

FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE

“He was a man who tried to deliver a better life for his people. His life was consequential because, without him and his courage, it would not have been possible to end the Cold War peacefully.”

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON

“I always admired the courage and integrity he showed in bringing the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion … In a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.”

POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER ZBIGNIEW RAU

“He increased the scope of freedom of the enslaved peoples of the Soviet Union in an unprecedented way, giving them hope for a more dignified life.”

LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER GABRIELIUS LANDSBERGIS:

“Lithuanians will not glorify Gorbachev. We will never forget …that his army murdered civilians to prolong his regime’s occupation of our country.

“His soldiers fired on our unarmed protestors and crushed them under his tanks. That is how we will remember him.”

OTHER REACTIONS FROM INSIDE RUSSIA

SERGEI NARYSHKIN, HEAD OF RUSSIA’S FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY:

“It fell to Gorbachev to lead the country in a very difficult period, to face many external and internal challenges, for which an adequate response was not found.”

JAILED KREMLIN CRITIC ALEXEI NAVALNY (in a tweet issued by his lawyers):

Gorbachev “remained one of the very few who did not use power and opportunities for personal gain and enrichment.

“He stepped down peacefully and voluntarily, respecting the will of his constituents. This alone is a great feat by the standards of the former USSR.”

LYUBOV SOBOL, ALLY OF NAVALNY

“Some write that he gave hope, others curse him for the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union would have collapsed anyway. And the role of Gorbachev in history in Russia will still be appreciated.”

POPULIST RUSSIA TABLOID KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA

It acknowledged that Gorbachev’s critics at home would seek to undo his legacy, adding: “But they won’t be able to. Mikhail Sergeyevich has done too much. He changed the world too irreversibly for his ideological opponents.”

(Compiled by Reuters bureaus; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Robert Birsel and John Stonestreet)

Chris Rock claims to have turned down a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The ‘Top 5’ star was slapped at the Oscars this year by Will Smith after telling a joke about the ‘King Richard’ actor’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith but he told fans at a stand-up comedy gig in Phoenix, Arizona, over the weekend that he won’t be “crying [his] heart out” in public about the incident.

Audience member January Harrison told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “During the evening, he did describe that he declined an offer to go onto Oprah to do to a sit-down interview and even a Super Bowl commercial with Will Smith himself.

“He said, ‘You are not gonna see me on any interviews crying my heart out about this. I am not going to be a victim.’

“I think we were all wondering if he was going to talk about that incident or not.”

Multiple audience members also revealed Chris said he had been asked to host the Oscars next year but had dismissed the offer.

One source said: “Chris Rock said he was asked to host next year’s Academy Awards at his Sunday night show at Arizona Financial Theatre, and that he refused the offer. He also noted that he was offered the chance to do a Super Bowl commercial that he also declined.

“Chris joked that returning to the Oscars would be like returning to the scene of the crime and said that it would be similar to asking Nicole Brown Simpson to go back to the Italian restaurant where she left her glasses.”

An audience member urged him to “talk about” the slap, and he referenced Smith’s role as Muhammad Ali in 2001’s ‘Ali’.

He added: “He’s bigger than me. The state of Nevada would not sanction a fight between me and Will Smith.”

The ‘Men in Black’ struck Chris across the face on less than an hour before picking up his Best Actor statuette for his role in ‘King Richard’ at the Oscars back in March.

Last month, he apologised and reached out to the comic publicly, while claiming he had been hurt both “psychologically and emotionally” by the incident.

Washington (AFP) – Former US president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will finally unveil their official portraits at the White House next week after being denied the honor by Donald Trump.

The September 7 ceremony, announced by the administration on Wednesday, traditionally gives presidents the chance to pay homage to their predecessors. 

But Trump, who led the United States for a single term after Obama’s eight years in office and frequently attacks his predecessor, declined to continue with the custom.

Instead President Joe Biden — who served as Obama’s vice president — and his wife Jill Biden will host the couple. 

The 44th president’s latest visit since he vacated the Oval Office in 2017 comes five months after he made a high-profile homecoming for a public event on health care spending. 

Trump, a world-renowned aficionado of the decade-spanning contretemps, demonstrated repeatedly during his tenure that he was untroubled by the mandates of tradition and protocol.

The norm-shredding Republican reportedly removed portraits of presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush from the White House’s Grand Foyer, considered the most prominent position in the executive mansion.

They were not restored until Biden took office last year.

Kate Moss says that Johnny Depp once gifted her diamonds from “the crack of his a***.’”

The 48-year-old supermodel – who had a relationship with ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star Johnny, 59, from 1994 until 1997 – sat down with Vogue to look back on her looks over the years and revealed that he had hid the necklace she was pictured wearing down his pants before presenting it to her.

She said: “And that diamond necklace Johnny gave me, they were the first diamonds I ever owned. He pulled them out of the crack of his arse. We were going out to dinner and he said, ‘I’ve got something in my bum, can you have a look,’ and I was like, ‘what’ and I put my hand down his trousers and I pulled out a diamond necklace. That diamond necklace.”

Meanwhile, Kate – who has graced the cover of Vogue magazine a total of 43 times over the course of her career – explained that when she made her debut on the legendary magazine as a teenager back in 1993, she believed she had ‘”made it” as a model and still has the cover image framed at her home.

Speaking in a video posted to Vogue’s YouTube, she said: “When I had my first Vogue cover I thought, alright I’ve made it, that’s it, I don’t have to do it anymore. I think I was 19. It was really special, for me to be on Vogue it was like wow, I couldn’t believe it. I’ve got it framed at home. It’s one of my favourite pictures I think.”

The September issue of British Vogue is available now.

Watch the full video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N4QY6qhc3s.

Sigourney Weaver has no plans to retire.

The 72-year-old actress had her breakthrough role as Ellen Scott in sci-fi hit ‘Alien’ back in 1979 and with multiple projects currently on the go, is ‘happier’ in her career than ever before.

She said: ‘Well, I do five projects coming out. I would hope to [not retire] because I probably enjoy it more now than ever. I’m fine that I might be the oldest person on the set. Yes, I always have to go through a period of, ‘Oh my god, it’s happening again.’ But then, I get the joy and the explosion of letting this person out to live. And it’s the most exhilarating thing in the world.’

The ’Abduction’ star is currently filming a role in ‘Avatar 2’ and – although she is unable to disclose too much about the sequel to the 2009 3D epic – teased that director James Cameron has cast her in a ‘goofy’ role because of how well he knows her.

She told Interview: ‘So ‘Avatar’ I can’t really talk about, but I would say that it’s the biggest stretch I get to play in every possible way. I think if Jim Cameron didn’t know me really well, he wouldn’t have cast me as something as goofy as this. I had to work in a completely different way to play this character, a very physical way.

‘Then I’m in a Paul Schrader film, ‘Master Gardener’, and I get to have a love triangle with Joel Edgerton and Quintessa Swindell. I also have something else coming out next spring from Amazon, where I play a woman who runs a flower farm that is also a refuge for women escaping domestic abuse. It’s based on a great book called ‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’.’

Outside of film, Sigourney is due to take to the stage at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in an opera called ‘The Valkyrie Act III.’

She added: ‘I’m coming out to do an opera for a day at the Hollywood Bowl. It’s ‘The Valkyrie, Act III.’ We’re going to have flying saucers coming in over the Bowl, and it’s going to be a crazy thing that Yuval Sharon is doing with [Gustavo] Dudamel.’

New York (AFP) – It will soon be forbidden to carry a firearm, even concealed, in the famed Times Square district and other public places in the city and state of New York, authorities announced on Wednesday.

New York’s legislature passed — and its Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signed — legislation restricting the possession of firearms in sensitive locations earlier this year, and it comes into force on Thursday.

It was part of a reaction to a late June ruling by the conservative-majority US Supreme Court that enshrined the right of Americans to leave their homes armed, striking down a 1913 New York law that restricted the carrying of firearms.

“The US Supreme Court’s… decision was the shot heard round the world that took dead aim at the safety of all New Yorkers,” the city’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, told journalists.

“New York City will defend itself against this decision, and, beginning tomorrow, new eligibility requirements for concealed carry permit applicants and restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons in ‘sensitive locations,’ like Times Square, take effect,” said Adams, a former police officer.

The mayor unveiled a “Times Square: Gun Free Zone” sign that will be hung by Thursday in and around the iconic square in the heart of Manhattan, where giant electronic billboards are lit day and night for the 50 million visitors who flock there each year.

The governor of the fourth-largest US state added that weapons, even if they are concealed, will be prohibited in “bars, libraries, schools, government buildings and hospitals, among others.”

Hochul said she refuses “to surrender my right as Governor to protect New Yorkers from gun violence or any other form of harm. In New York State, we will continue leading the way forward and implementing common sense gun safety legislation.” 

The restrictions do not apply to law enforcement officers.

New York (AFP) – Former US president Donald Trump’s Truth Social app is unwelcome in Google’s app store until it abides by rules regarding content moderation including violent threats, the company said Wednesday.

The internet giant made the statement after the Trump camp argued that it didn’t know why its social network app had yet to be approved for the Google Play Store, which offers content for Android-powered smartphones.

A Google spokesperson said the company notified Truth Social on August 19 that its app violated Play policies and required “effective systems for moderating user-generated content” in order to be offered on the platform.

The app breaks rules barring content that incites physical threats and violence, according to the tech firm.

“Last week Truth Social wrote back acknowledging our feedback and saying that they are working on addressing these issues,” the Google spokesperson said.

Truth Social would still be able to make its app available on its website or other online venues that don’t involve Google’s online shop.

As of Wednesday a version of Truth Social was still available on Apple’s App Store, which is the lone gateway onto the company’s mobile devices.

Truth Social is Trump’s answer to platforms such as Twitter, from which he was ejected after a mob he egged on assaulted the US Capitol in January 2021.

Signs are growing meanwhile that Truth Social is in financial trouble.

Fox Business Network reported last week that the platform had halted payments to the company that hosts it, RightForge, and owes $1.6 million.

Trump Media and Technology Group said in a regulatory filing that it has raised some $15 million in additional funding that it believes will enable it to pay its bills until the end of April of next year.

Meanwhile, a merger between Trump Media and Technology with blank check company Digital World Acquisition Corp, which was formed specifically to carry out the merger, has yet to take place 10 months after the announcement that it would happen. This fusion is supposed to bring in fresh funding for the Trump platform.

Regulators are reported to be scrutinizing the merger to determine if anything was amiss.

(Reuters) – Russia is considering doubling fines for exposing children to what it calls “LGBT propaganda” and making any event or act seen as promoting homosexuality an administrative offence, the text of proposed new legislation made public on Wednesday showed.

Russia’s existing “gay propaganda” law, passed in 2013, bans any person or entity from promoting homosexual relationships to children, though lawmakers argued in July the law should be extended to include adults as well.

Under proposed legislation, the penalty for promoting “non-traditional sexual relations” to children would be doubled to 2 million roubles ($33,000) for entities, with the fine increasing to up to 5 million roubles if the offence took place online or in the media.

Individuals could be fined up to 400,000 roubles, while foreigners found to spread “LGBT propaganda” would face deportation from Russia.

“Currently, liability only applies to LGBT propaganda among children. My colleagues on the committee and I would like to extend it to any propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations, regardless of age,” lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein said.

The draft law is expected to be debated following the start of the State Duma’s autumn session, Khinshtein added.

Russian authorities say they are defending morality in the face of what they argue are un-Russian liberal values promoted by the West, but human rights activists say the law has been broadly applied to intimidate Russia’s LGBT community.

TikTok, a video-sharing app, was threatened with a 4 million rouble fine on Tuesday after a Russian court heard it promoted “videos with LGBT themes”, while the country’s media regulator asked a union of publishing houses last week to look at withdrawing all books disseminating “LGBT propaganda” from sale.

Authorities had previously used the law to stop gay pride marches and detain gay rights activists. The latest proposals, if passed, would significantly widen the scope of this law.

In a ranking of Europe’s most LGBT-friendly nations in this year’s “Rainbow Europe” index compiled by ILGA-Europe, Russia was third from last.

($1 = 60.3290 roubles)

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Young Brits feel misrepresented by the film industry.

A new survey conducted by M and M’s has revealed that 43 per cent of young people in the UK cannot relate in any way to the characters they see on the big screen.

The research, which surveyed 2,000 Brits aged from 18 to 35, concluded that 57 per cent think stereotypes are offensive and are overused in films.

Oversexualised women is the stereotype young adults claim they see too much of in movies, followed by women being depicted as weak and sensitive and foreign characters’ broken English being used for comedy effect.

Black and Latino people being portrayed as gang members and ‘flamboyant’ members of the LGBTQ+ community are also cited as outdated stereotypes.

The research was commissioned by the confectionary brand as part of its global ‘FUNd’ initiative that is designed to champion diversity and inclusion.

The survey comes ahead of the release of the ‘Black Panther’ sequel and ‘Prison Break’ star Wentworth Miller stating that he will only play gay roles in his projects to combat the trend of non-gay or disabled actors playing such parts.

M and M’s has partnered with London Film School and several comedians on Twitter to identify the #FilmsYouWantToSee.

Leah Dykes, Brand Director Bitesize, M and M’s said: “We’re delighted to be working with the London Film School, amongst others, on this important piece of work. As a treat synonymous with film culture, we feel we have a duty to do what we can to ensure the industry and beyond is inclusive and diverse, and celebrates talent from all walks of life.

“This work is one of the first steps in the UK, in our commitment to increase a sense of belonging for 10 million people around the world, by 2025 and sets out to understand thoughts and attitudes towards diversity and inclusion in Hollywood and western cinema, the issues around typecasting and old stereotypical tropes.”

Top ten characters and attitudes young Brits would like to see:

1. Neurodivergent people living normal lives with normal jobs

2. Character roles with disabilities played by disabled people

3. Successful and strong disabled people

4. Positive portrayals of minorities

5. People with physical or mental disabilities in action roles

6. Black people in management positions

7. Stay at home dads

8. Disabled leads in romantic roles

9. Black people in period dramas

10. Neurodivergent detectives and/or crime busters