Sofia Boutella was ‘terrified’ of ‘Mummy’ role

Author:  AFP Fri, 2017-03-31 03:00 ID:  1490914742158850400 LAS VEGAS: French-Algerian actress Sofia Boutella who takes on the role of the titular monster in “The Mummy” — a female for the first time in cinematic history — revealed on Wednesday that she had turned down the job offer at first. “He (Alex Kurtzman) offered me the role and it was an honor but I just came out of a movie where I was under a lot of make-up and I...

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Jolie was drug-tested for ‘Tomb Raider’

Author:  AP Fri, 2017-03-31 03:00 ID:  1490914742128850100 NEW YORK: To help shed her early reputation, Angelina Jolie agreed to be drug tested during production of 2001’s “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” according to a new book. The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday released an excerpt from an upcoming biography of the former studio head Sherry Lansing, “Leading Lady.” Lansing stepped down as Paramount Pictures chairman and chief...

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The A to Z of gourmet chocolate

Author:  Shaistha Khan Fri, 2017-03-31 03:00 ID:  1490907761758322800 With several gourmet chocolate stores popping up around the country, people are not only buying chocolate for special occasions, but also for indulging purposes. Speaking to Chef Philippe of Godiva and chocolatier Shaimaa Mirza of home-based business Mirza, Arab News brings you the ins and outs of artisan chocolate making. What is artisan chocolate? Where...

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Cairo of yesteryear can still be found

Author:  Lisa Kaaki Fri, 2017-03-31 03:00 ID:  1490907708628315300 For many years, “Cairo City of Sand,” an enlightened stroll across the illusive layers of Cairo, exquisitely written by Maria Golia, has been my favorite book about the city. Other books pale in comparison and generally fail to convey the truth about this city. And then we come to “Cairo Inside Out” recently published by The American University in Cairo Press....

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One man’s journey through the eyes of another

Author:  Manal Shakir Fri, 2017-03-31 03:00 ID:  1490907708578315000 Sabahattin Ali published “Madonna in a Fur Coat” in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1943. At the time, the book was one of many of his published works. They were widely circulated in Turkey and held in high esteem although, at times, they got him into trouble. While this book may not have gained much recognition then, its popularity today in Turkey, 70 years later,...

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World’s oldest spacewoman sets spacewalking record

Author:  By MARCIA DUNN | AP Thu, 2017-03-30 03:00 ID:  1490875430865093500 CAPE CANAVERAL: The world’s oldest and most experienced spacewoman has just set another record, this time for spacewalking. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson floated out on the eighth spacewalk of her career Thursday morning, 250 miles up at the International Space Station. That’s the most spacewalks ever performed by a woman. Whitson and her spacewalking...

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H&M launches new upmarket brand as profits slow

Author:  AFP Thu, 2017-03-30 12:56 ID:  1490872718234848700 STOCKHOLM: Swedish clothing giant Hennes and Mauritz (H&M) Thursday announced the launch of its eighth fashion brand as tough market conditions in the US and Central Europe hurt profits. The company reported a 3.4 percent drop in net profit in the December to February period, the first quarter of the company’s financial year, due to the combination of a slower...

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‘Baywatch’ cast takes over CinemaCon

Author:  ARAB NEWS Thu, 2017-03-30 03:00 ID:  1490818498339197000 LAS VEGAS: The cast of “Baywatch” took the CinemaCon stage Tuesday afternoon to preview the film for exhibitors and theater owners at the annual convention. Star Dwayne Johnson told the audience of theater owners and exhibitors that their movie is going to be the craziest, funniest R-rated comedy of the summer. Johnson called their group the “avengers of the...

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Saudi Film Festival highlights socio-cultural issues

Author:  SHAISTHA KHAN Thu, 2017-03-30 03:00 ID:  1490818498209196400 DHAHRAN: The fourth edition of the Saudi Film Festival in Dhahran is treating audiences to a host of creative films on various socio-cultural issues. As crowds gather to explore the country’s filmmaking talent, Arab News caught up with Ali Al-Kalthami, the director behind the film “Wasati.” The movie was screened in Los Angeles in 2016 during the two-day...

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Dylan finally to receive Nobel in Stockholm

Author:  AFP Thu, 2017-03-30 03:00 ID:  1490818498299196700 STOCKHOLM: Music icon Bob Dylan will finally receive his Nobel Literature Prize this weekend at a meeting with the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, it announced Wednesday. But no media will be allowed to cover the meeting, and the famously-reclusive Dylan will only give a lecture required of him in a taped version at a later date. The 75-year-old kept silent for weeks...

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Lebanese star Mory Hatem auditions for Disney’s Aladdin

Author:  ARAB NEWS Thu, 2017-03-30 03:00 ID:  1490818498379197300 JEDDAH: Disney has contacted “The Voice Arabia” star Mory Hatem to audition for the role of Aladdin for British director Guy Ritchie’s upcoming live-action film set for release in 2018. Hatem, a Lebanese singer, expressed his delight in being invited for the auditions. He told Bitajarod that he has begun rehearsing for the film’s script and songs. Hatem said...

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Emma Watson to become 2017’s highest-earning actress

Author:  ARAB NEWS Wed, 2017-03-29 03:00 ID:  1490734048379919600 LOS ANGELES: With Disney’s blockbuster “Beauty and the Beast” dazzling the box office for a second straight week, its star Emma Watson looks on course to become Hollywood’s highest-earning female star of 2017. The movie raked in $90.4 million over the weekend, according to industry data released on Monday. The film’s cumulative North American take of $319 million...

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From Syria to Detroit, we are all migrants, sings bluesman Bibb

Author:  Reuters Wed, 2017-03-29 03:00 ID:  1490734048329919300 LONDON: “Migration Blues,” a new album from veteran bluesman Eric Bibb, uses the sounds of the American South to tell the tale of everyone from 1920s farmers fleeing the Dust Bowl for California to refugees crossing the Mediterranean to Europe in the 2010s. Along the way are Mexicans seeking a future in the United States, families moving from land the government...

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Haifa Wehbe among the world’s most beautiful women

Author:  ARAB NEWS Tue, 2017-03-28 ID:  1490645178750851200 JEDDAH: Lebanese superstar Haifa Wehbe has been ranked among the most beautiful women in the world, according to Wonderlist’s annual poll. The 41-year-old Arab pop singer ranked 10th on the “2017’s Top 10 Most Beautiful Women Over 40” list that also names many global celebrities such as, Jennifer Lopez, Aishwarya Rai, Angelina Jolie, Penelope Cruz and Monica Bellucci. South...

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Shailene Woodley reaches deal in pipeline protest

Author:  AP Tue, 2017-03-28 ID:  1490645178720850700 BISMARCK, N.D.: Hollywood actress Shailene Woodley has reached a plea deal that calls for no jail time over her involvement in protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota. The “Divergent” star was among 27 activists arrested Oct. 10. She livestreamed her arrest on Facebook. She initially pleaded not guilty to criminal trespass and engaging in a riot,...

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Scarlett Johansson feels ‘icky’ about gender wage gap

Author:  ARAB NEWS Tue, 2017-03-28 ID:  1490645178690850300 LOS ANGELES: Actress Scarlett Johansson feels ‘icky’ talking personally about the gender pay gap in Hollywood. The “Ghost in the Shell” star is one of the highest grossing actresses in the industry. “There’s something icky about me having that conversation unless it applies to a greater whole,” Johansson told The Observer newspaper. Johansson is known for her work...

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Explorers, De Niro denounce Trump on climate change

Author:  AFP Tue, 2017-03-28 ID:  1490645178660849900 NEW YORK: Top British explorer Ranulph Fiennes and Solar Impulse pilot Bertrand Piccard are expressing fears about US President Donald Trump’s moves to roll back environmental protections. Their criticism was backed by actor Robert De Niro, who joined them late Saturday at the 113th dinner of The Explorers Club in New York, held every year to honor great adventurers in...

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Now you Sia, now you don’t: Aussie pop star headlines Dubai concert

Author:  ARAB NEWS Mon, 2017-03-27 ID:  1490558208272554800 DUBAI: Australian pop star Sia performed at the Dubai World Cup concert at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday, concealing her face by wearing her signature black-and-white wig that covered the whole face except for her chin. The 41-year-old has previously explained the real reason why she hides her face from the public during her guest appearance on James Corden’s “Carpool...

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Tears, laughter for Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher

Author:  AFP Mon, 2017-03-27 ID:  1490558208242554500 LOS ANGELES: Friends, family and hundreds of wellwishers gathered in the Hollywood Hills on Saturday to celebrate the lives of beloved celebrity mother and daughter Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. Comedy actor Dan Aykroyd and singer James Blunt were among the stars who made their way to the Forest Lawn cemetery, where the pair are interred side by side following their...

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Diversity has become a corny word: Idris Elba

Author:  ARAB NEWS Mon, 2017-03-27 ID:  1490558208212554200 LOS ANGELES: Actor Idris Elba said diversity has become a “corny” and overused word. Elba believes that people have got tired of hearing the term being used in relation to the entertainment industry in Britain and the US. “It’s become a bit of a corny word. People are just like, ‘Oh, stop talking about it’,” Elba told The Guardian newspaper. Elba said he was unimpressed...

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No ‘Love Actually’ when Trump asked Emma for date

Author:  REUTERS Sun, 2017-03-26 ID:  1490472746503840600 LONDON: British actress Emma Thompson said President Donald Trump once called her out of the blue years ago and asked her for a date. The “Love Actually” star turned him down. Thompson told a Swedish television talk show that the bizarre incident happened while she was filming the 1998 movie “Primary Colors” in California, as she and actor Kenneth Branagh were finalizing...

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Prince George, 3, to start school in September

Author:  REUTERS Sun, 2017-03-26 ID:  1490472746343839700 LONDON: Prince George, Britain’s third in line to the throne, is to start school in southwest London in September, Kensington Palace announced on Friday. Three-year-old George, the elder child of Prince William and his wife Kate, will attend the private Thomas’s Battersea school. The choice is a break from a recent family tradition of sending younger royals to Wetherby...

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‘Hidden Figures’ author receives literary prize

Author:  AP Sun, 2017-03-26 ID:  1490472746423840000 CLEVELAND: An author whose book was the basis for the Oscar-nominated movie “Hidden Figures” has won an award for writing literature that promotes diversity and confronts racism. Margot Lee Shetterly’s book and the namesake movie are about the contributions of a team of black women mathematicians to the NASA space program. Best-selling novelist Isabel Allende has received...

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Stephen Hawking appears as hologram in Hong Kong

Author:  Agence France Presse Sat, 2017-03-25 ID:  1490428588930085400 HONG KONG: Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has spoken to a Hong Kong audience by hologram, showcasing the growing reach of a technology which is making inroads into politics, entertainment and business. The British scientist appeared Friday before an audience of hundreds who cheered and snapped pictures with their phones as he discussed his career and...

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Harrison Ford says he was distracted when he flew over plane

Author:  MICHAEL BALSAMO | AP Sat, 2017-03-25 ID:  1490426275229923800 LOS ANGELES: Actor Harrison Ford said he was distracted and concerned about turbulence from another aircraft last month when he mistakenly landed on a taxiway at a Southern California airport after flying low over an airliner with 116 people aboard, according to an audio recording released Friday. “I’m the schmuck who landed on the taxiway,” Ford told...

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A view to fly for: Passengers take 8-hour flight just to see Southern Lights

Author:  Associated Press Fri, 2017-03-24 ID:  1490345099260039000 WELLINGTON: They took an eight-hour flight just to look out the airplane’s window, but it was an extraordinary view. A charter plane that left Dunedin, New Zealand, late Thursday flew close to the Antarctic Circle to give the eager passengers an up-close look at the Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights. Otago Museum Director Ian Griffin came up with the idea....

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Discarded Syrian refugee tent finds life as a dress

Author:  AFP Thu, 2017-03-23 ID:  1490327264019201500 DUBAI: Once home to a family of Syrian refugees, a UN tent has found a new life as a dress still bearing the marks and stains of its past. “Dress for Our Time,” the brainchild of fashion designer Helen Storey, has turned a discarded tent from the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan into a hooded dress featured on stage at the Glastonbury Festival and in the conference halls...

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Food trucks: Concept of mobile street vendors comes to Saudi Arabia

Author:  Shaistha Khan Fri, 2017-03-24 ID:  1490298885783945800 Food and eating out are popular entertainment options in Saudi Arabia. People are always on the lookout to try the latest concept restaurant in town or the newest franchise chain. Thanks to Vision 2030’s focus on the opportunities for entertainment, event companies are now organizing and hosting family carnivals, bazars and festivals. These carnivals are typically...

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