Katy Perry will host this year's MTV Video Music Awards, the network announced Thursday, as it turned to one of pop music's most visible stars for its big gala.
Perry was also the first performer announced for the awards, which will be aired globally from Los Angeles on August 27.
MTV broke the news by posting a picture of the newly blonde singer clad as an astronaut -- a nod to the awards' "Moonman" statuette and the network's early commercials.
In a statement, Perry joked that she had started "training in zero gravity."
MTV has experimented with different host formats for the annual party, which are generally better remembered for attention-grabbing on-stage incidents than for the award winners.
Miley Cyrus hosted the event two years ago, but in 2016, MTV decided to have multiple presenters throughout the night rather than a single host.
Perry, the only person with more than 100 million followers on Twitter, is up for five VMAs this year for "Chained to the Rhythm," her disco-inspired track whose video presents a sci-fi amusement park fantasy.
The 32-year-old has three videos that have reached one billion views on YouTube, led by "Roar."
George Clooney and his wife Amal pose on the red carpet as they arrive for the screening of the film 'Money Monster' during the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/Files
LOS ANGELES: George Clooney on Friday said he would take legal action against a French magazine that published the first photos of his newborn twins.
The Ocean's Eleven actor said photographers from Voici magazine "scaled our fence, climbed our tree and illegally took pictures of our infants inside our home".
Clooney said in a statement that the photographers and the magazine "will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The safety of our children demands it".
Clooney and his humanitarian lawyer wife, Amal, announced the arrival of the twins – a boy and a girl called Alexander and Ella – in June but have given no details, photos or interviews about them.
Voici on Friday published grainy photos of Amal and George Clooney, dressed in swim wear, each carrying one of the babies in their arms. They appear to be walking in a garden in what the magazine said was the Clooneys' villa near Lake Como in Italy.
Voici magazine did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The babies are their first children for the couple, who married in Venice, Italy in 2014 in a big celebrity ceremony but who have tried to keep their personal lives private since then.
LEFT: Actor Matthew Bomer from the TV series 'The Last Tycoon' attends the 57th Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco, June 18, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/File Photo; CENTRE: Lily Collins; RIGHT: Kelsey Grammer
LOS ANGELES: F. Scott Fitzgerald never finished his last novel The Last Tycoon but that made filming the book for a new television series even more interesting for actors Kelsey Grammer and Lily Collins.
Fitzgerald died in 1940 at the age of 44 before finishing the story about the studio system in the Golden Age of Hollywood. He left notes on where the characters were heading and the completed novel was released posthumously in 1941 by his friend, Edmund Wilson.
"What's fun, I guess, about an unfinished novel is you can get to do what you want to with it. He's laid out a really wonderful blueprint and you get to finish it," said Grammer, who plays Pat Brady, a character based on movie studio boss Louis B. Mayer.
'The Last Tycoon' poster. (Image courtesy: Trailer Addict)
The Last Tycoon – which was previously adapted for television in 1957 and film in 1976 – will air in nine parts on Amazon, starting on Friday, July 28.
Collins – who plays Brady's daughter Cecelia – said she enjoyed having the freedom to "take it and run with it and bring about the historical facts of the period but also to bring in our imagination".
Cecelia is trying to break into production in Hollywood, which is still a challenge for women nearly 80 years after Fitzgerald's death.
"Some things have changed but many, many things have not. A lot of the things that we are dealing with on the show are sadly really relevant and fresh today, whether it's the ageism or the sexism or the anti-Semitism and certain aspects of race," said Matt Bomer, who plays Monroe Stahr, a character based on studio chief Irving Thalberg.
Grammer, best known for TV comedies Cheers and Frasier, said the studio battles depicted in Fitzgerald's book also felt close to home.
"I don't think it's very different. I think everybody is a lot more polite now, but I think secretly down, down, deep inside they fight like it's turf war, like it is a war they need to win," he said.
LONDON: Rock legend Mick Jagger has released a new track called "England Lost" that reflects the soul-searching in Britain since the Brexit vote in what he said was "a difficult moment in our history".
The song released on Thursday, a collaboration with grime artist Skepta, starts out as a reflection on seeing England´s beleaguered football team lose.
"But when I wrote the title I knew it would be about more than just that. It´s about a feeling that we are in a difficult moment in our history," the Rolling Stones frontman, who turned 74 on Wednesday, said in an interview for Apple Music.
"It´s about the unknowability about where you are and the feeling of insecurity. That´s how I was feeling when I was writing," Jagger said.
"I went to find England, but England´s lost," he sings in the blues-inspired track.
"I went to find England, it wasn´t there/ I think I lost it in the back of my chair," goes the song, with a music video showing a smartly-dressed man being held back as he tries to run into the sea.
"I think I´m losing my imagination/ I´m tired of talking about immigration/ You can´t get in and you can´t get out/ I guess that´s what we´re all about."
The Brexit referendum last year divided the country after a bitter campaign in which hardline rhetoric against immigration featured prominently.
Jagger told Sky News in an interview in April 2016 ahead of the vote that: "I don´t think to me personally it´s going to make a huge difference".
"I think to the country in the short-term it will be detrimental. In the longer term, in say a 20-year term, it might turn out to be beneficial."
Jagger also on Thursday released a second solo track entitled "Gotta Get a Grip", a dance tune, that he said was more inspired by the United States and is being seen as a comment on US President Donald Trump.
"The world is upside down/ Everybody lunatics and clowns/ No one speaks the truth/ And madhouse runs the town," Jagger sings.
"Immigrants are pouring in/ Refugees under your skin/ Keep ´em under, keep ´em out/ Intellectual, shut your mouth/ Beat ´em with a stick," he sings.
"The message I suppose is despite all those things that are happening, you´ve got to get on with your own life, be yourself and attempt to create your own destiny," Jagger said.
Anushka Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan in 'Jab Harry Met Sejal'
If there's one quality that defines Anushka Sharma, it's clarity. The actress says she uses her instinct to choose her roles and has no doubts about what she wants and doesn't want – from modeling to acting and producing.
Sharma, who had two big hits last year ("Sultan" and "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil"), stars opposite Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in her next film, the romantic comedy "Jab Harry Met Sejal".
She spoke to Reuters about her latest release, why she doesn't doubt her decisions and what she learned from producing films.
Q: You declined Imtiaz Ali when he offered you "Tamasha" because you thought the role wasn't strong enough…
A: (Interrupts) I am not commenting on that at all. I haven't said anything like that. I have never made a comment on "Tamasha." I don't talk about films that I am not part of.
Still from 'Jab Harry Met Sejal'
Q: Was Sejal (from "Jab Harry Met Sejal") a strong-enough role for you?
A: If we answer this question with the reference of the other thing you asked me, it is not fair, so I am not going to talk about that. I don't talk about the films I don't do. I don't like it when actors do that either – when they are not doing a film and they want everyone to know they are not doing it. I think it's disrespectful to the person who offered the film to you and to the person who is doing it. You are not better because you aren't doing a film.
For me, I react to films purely on instinct. And at different times in your life, you want to do things for different reasons. When I heard the script of this ("Jab Harry met Sejal") film, I was totally drawn to it and I loved the character of the girl. I have never played someone with a comic touch. I have always played girls who are very self-assured and know what they are doing and Sejal is anything but that. She is lost and her introduction in the trailer is of a girl who needs guidance. That was what's exciting and that is why I decided to do the film.
Anushka and SRK in a scene from 'Jab Harry Met Sejal'
Q: Do you ever have a smidgen of self-doubt when you decide to say 'no' to a film, especially when it is directed by an acclaimed director?
A: No, because there is a lot of clarity in me about why I decided to say no to a film. There was never a doubt in my head that I wanted to work with Imtiaz. I wanted to work with him for the longest time. He is a director whose work I have loved and is somebody who has had a huge impact in my life; because when I watched his first film, that was the first time I thought of wanting to act some day.
Q: Is there any aspect of your career where you let self-doubt creep in sometimes?
A: Self-doubt constantly travels with you. That doubt is good because it helps you keep things in check and keep pushing forward and working hard. I'll never feel complacent or happy with the things I do. I never have. But I don't let that become so negative that it ends up troubling me or harming me in any way. I become observant of these things. I become observant of the negative emotions in my life. I don't ride them.
Of course I have my ups and downs but the difference is that the self-doubt doesn't change my course of action. I am on one path. These things (self-doubt, negativity) keep coming up, but I keep moving forward. I am not someone who is going to have self-doubt and lose my cool, become hyper, insecure, angry, aggressive and say "Ab main ye karoongi, ab main ye nahi karoongi" (I will do this, or I won't do that) and lose track of what I want. Or that I end up looking at what other people are doing… which people do sometimes. And it doesn't help you in any way.
Still from 'Jab Harry Met Sejal'
Q: Is that a personality trait or is that something you have developed over the years?
A: It is a personality trait. It's always been like that. Even when I was modeling, I knew what kind of ads I didn't want to do. Like I didn't want to do 'montage-y' ads or ads where there were too many people. When I got my first film, Aditya Chopra told me, "If you had been one of those models who was in a lot of ads, I wouldn't have taken you for the film." Somehow, and I don't know how, but I knew that I didn't want to do many ads.
Q: Can anyone's opinion change your course of action?
A: My brother is the only one I discuss movies with, but we are mostly on the same page. It is very rare that we have disagreed on movies, and that is why we work so well.
Q: You've produced three films till now. What have you learnt as a producer?
A: Things that you learn, you put in your next film. Maybe I can talk about it in my biography. It's all so new and there is growth with each day. The stuff that I have learned producing one film is equivalent to five films that I have shot as an actor.
Each film comes with its own sets of issues. It makes you calmer, more patient, more resilient to setbacks and changing circumstances. That is what I have learnt the most as a producer.
During shoot of 'Jab Harry Met Sejal'
Q: You have said that you took to producing because you wanted the freedom to make stories that you wanted to tell. Are the setbacks worth that freedom?
A: Sometimes you feel like it isn't. It is so nice when you are part of a film like this one (which she is not producing). As a producer, it is very challenging and you are tested a lot more. You have your own tests as an actor, but here, the stakes are higher. You are far more responsible for the film. But I am happy… when I see that we are encouraging and promoting new talent, it gives me a lot of satisfaction. I feel like a bigger part of movies, more connected to the movies because of that. And I feel like my time is consumed in the best way possible. It is very difficult at times and you feel like, "Why aren't I doing what everyone else is doing?" But I am happy that me becoming a producer has encouraged many other actresses to do it too.
NEW YORK: Comedian Stephen Colbert has signed a deal to produce an animated series about US President Donald Trump, reprising a familiar tangerine-colored character from The Late Show for an initial run of 10 episodes on Showtime.
The series, set to debut in fall, will also star the president's "family, top associates, heads of government, golf pros and anyone else straying into his orbit," seen through the eyes of an imaginary documentary crew, the channel announced Thursday.
"I know a lot of people wanted to do this, and I'm honoured that the Cartoon President invited our documentary crew into his private world," Colbert said in a statement.
"I've seen some of the footage, and I look forward to sharing the man behind the MAGA," he added, referring to Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again."
Colbert took over The Late Show on CBS in late 2015, but only hit top gear after Trump's election.
He beat his main late show rivals Jimmy Kimmel (ABC) and Jimmy Fallon (NBC) this season thanks to his brand of politically charged humour – the first time CBS won the rating battle since 2010.
Colbert's two-dimensional Trump caricature appeared on a segment during his live coverage of the presidential election last year before becoming a recurring character on his show.
Colbert will team up with Chris Licht, his executive producer on The Late Show", for the as yet untitled project.
Author Mohsin Hamid (left) and Kamila Shamsie (right). Photo: File
British-Pakistani authors Mohsin Hamid and Kamila Shamsie were lauded with the honor of being nominated for the prestigious Man Booker prize.
Shamsie's Home Fire and Hamid's Exit West are among the 13 novels longlisted for the £50,000 award.
Hamid's second novel — The Reluctant Fundamentalist — was shortlisted for the award in 2007.
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness – penned by renowned author Arundhati Roy – has also been longlisted for the prize.
Roy won the award for her first novel, The God of Small Things -- published 20 years ago.
Not only their work but the contenders are also a diverse range of authors, with six women and seven men on the list. There are four UK, four US, two Irish, two British-Pakistani, and one Indian authors are longlisted for the award.
Chair of judges Baroness Lola Young shared that only when the judges surveyed the 13 remaining contenders that they realised the diversity of their list.
"The longlist showcases a diverse spectrum – not only of voices and literary styles but of protagonists too, in their culture, age and gender. Nevertheless we found there was a spirit common to all these novels: though their subject matter might be turbulent, their power and range were life-affirming – a tonic for our times," said Young.
Young and her fellow judges will reread the longlist of 13 titles to come up with a shortlist of six, which will be announced on September 13. The winner will be announced on October 17.
