Glen Powell in action in Glasgow as city is transformed for shooting of new J.J. Abrams film
You could be forgiven for thinking you were seeing double.
But the uncanny resemblance was a much-needed feature as Hollywood hunk Glen Powell was joined by his stunt double as they filmed a new sci-fi fantasy on the streets of Glasgow.
The 36-year-old American was seen warming up for the scenes for Ghostwriter, a fantasy adventure currently being filmed in Scotland that also stars Samuel L Jackson.
He was seen doing intense exercises in front of bemused cast and crew before his stunt double was spotted hanging off a bus as he pursued a girl.
Powell was on set with director J.J. Abrams, who is behind films like Cloverfield and the more recent Star Wars films, with the city thought to be doubling up as a futuristic New York.
Filming started in Glasgow on Saturday after other scenes were shot in London on April 26.
Streets have been transformed to create the fictitious setting, including unusual signage, faux brick walls and a makeshift subway entrance all being spotted.
As well as Powell and Jackson, the movie is due star Jenna Ortega - best known for playing Wednesday Adams in the Netflix TV show named after the character.
Produced by Warner Bros, the film marks Abrams' first project since Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker in 2019.
Powell will be familiar with the city, having filmed scenes in Glashgow for Edgar Wright's reboot of 1987 action flick The Running Man.
Like the current filming, a number of sites in the city were used to emulate the streets of New York, with scenes shot across the city centre, the West End and the SEC Armadillo.
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Daily Mail
32 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Rachel Zegler belts out the best bit of Evita to West End passersby for free every night... and the paying audience don't like it
A ticket for Jamie Lloyd's hot new West End production of Evita could set you back as much as £250. But some paying audience members have been left feeling disappointed after they realised one of the musicals biggest showstoppers does not take place on stage. Instead Rachel Zegler, who plays protagonist Eva Perón, belts out Don't Cry for Me Argentina on a balcony outside - with passersby able to enjoy the performance for free. Meanwhile those who have paid for tickets inside the London Palladium must make do with a live video link transposed onto a massive screen. Crowds are now expected to assemble at the spot on Argyll Street at about 9pm every night until the show concludes in September. On Saturday evening, around 600 people gathered for 24-year-old Zegler's performance of the song made famous by the likes of Elaine Paige and Madonna. However, furious fans have taken to social media to express their frustration that they will not see Don't Cry for Argentina on stage, despite paying for tickets. One person wrote: 'Sorry, are you saying I've paid £350 for 2 tickets and she's singing the biggest number outside at people who haven't paid?' Another explained that they 'go to the theatre to share the same space with a performer'. Others, however, said the move would help encourage more people to go to the theatre. Abi, a 21-year-old student from London, said: 'I think it's making theatre more accessible. 'It's actually adding to the ambience of the show. 'The speech she does at the end of the song does hit completely different seeing it outside. It adds so much more to her performance to see her do it to the people.' Another person added: 'I think you might potentially be a bit gutted [if you were inside the theatre]. I know they had it on the projectors, but you might be a bit gutted to have missed the most important song. 'But you've still got the rest of it to go and it's given a good night to a lot of people who wouldn't normally be able to get that experience.' Photos taken of Zegler performing the song on the balcony, show her wearing a blonde wig, which was styled in a neat waved up-do. She also donned a strapless white gown and wore a huge dazzling necklace for her first West End performance. The actress, 23, is set to take to the stage in Jamie Lloyd's new West End production Rachel Zegler was seen for the first time as Eva Perón in Evita last Tuesday as she performed Don't Cry For Me Argentina on the London Palladium balcony Zegler, who has been engulfed in controversy since the release of Disney's 'woke' Snow White is hoping her fortunes could see a career turn with Evita. She is playing former First Lady of Argentina Eva Peron in the show, which debuted in 1978 and was written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Following the announcement earlier this year, Rachel gushed: 'Evita has been such an important musical to me since I was a little girl, when my dad and I would sing Don't Cry for Me Argentina together on my back patio. 'The opportunity to bring Jamie Lloyd's singular, visionary ideas to life onstage is an honour unlike any other. The stage has always felt like home to me, and I can't wait to make my West End debut in such great company.' Meanwhile Jamie said: 'I am so excited to be collaborating with the brilliant Rachel Zegler on Evita. She is a phenomenal talent, and I am delighted she will be making her West End debut as the iconic Eva Perón'. An official announcement for the show read: 'Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's legendary Evita returns to the West End, reimagined by the visionary award-winning director Jamie Lloyd'. 'Featuring an iconic score including Don't Cry For Me Argentina, Oh What A Circus, Another Suitcase in Another Hall, and the Oscar-winning You Must Love Me'. 'Fuelled by ambition and passion, Eva Perón rose from poverty to become the most powerful woman in Latin America. A symbol of hope to many Argentines, her star shone brightly as she captured the nation's heart and divided its soul'. Rachel is no stranger to musical theatre and starred in Stephen Spielberg's Oscar winning adaption of West Side Story in 2021. Other famous faces to take on the iconic role Evita include Patti Lupone, Elaine Paige as well as mega Madonna in the 1996 movie version.
Times
34 minutes ago
- Times
Genevieve Chenneour: ‘He threatened to stab me. I was terrified'
It was a Saturday morning in February when Genevieve Chenneour stepped into Joe & the Juice on Kensington High Street in London after having a facial nearby. The Bridgerton actress, 27, was with her boyfriend at the time, Carlo Kureishi, 30, the son of the writer Hanif Kureishi, and her black maltipoo, Ralph. She ordered an oat flat white and took a seat to wait for it. While waiting for her coffee she noticed two men 'pacing back and forth in my peripheral vision'. Just before one of the men — dressed in a black tracksuit and baseball cap — swiped her phone from the table beside her, Chenneour felt 'a black cloud, a dark feeling, coming over me' and sensed that something bad was about to happen. Realising her phone was gone, Chenneour lunged at him instantly. 'It was complete instinct,' she says. 'I wouldn't advocate for anyone doing something that would put them at risk.' The thief, 18-year-old Zacariah Boulares, was a prolific offender with 12 prior convictions, including for threatening to behead the Welsh singer Aled Jones with a 20in machete in July 2023. He had served just 14 months of a 24-month sentence for that crime. CCTV footage of the incident went viral when it was released last week after the case went to court not only because it captured Chenneour hurling herself at her assailant in a fearless — and triumphant — attempt to retrieve her phone, but because she was an actress from Netflix's glossy Regency drama. Giving her first newspaper interview since making headlines, she describes the past week as 'surreal'. Her social media follower count has ratcheted up. 'Every time I go on Instagram I have a hundred more followers. Overnight another thousand.' Women have been particularly supportive. 'I think it's been gratifying for them to watch the footage,' she says. 'Maybe because I got to live out a fantasy. We've all walked down the street in London thinking, what would I do if someone stole my phone?' • This woman fought off her muggers. Could (and should) you? Early reports referred to an unidentified male companion at the scene, but it was Kureishi who charged at the thief as Chenneour sprang into action. 'The footage everyone has seen was actually the tamest part,' she says. 'I got on his back while [Kureishi] was on the floor holding him down. Then he threatened to stab me, and I thought I was going to be killed. I was terrified.' She was struck on the head and briefly lost consciousness. 'My doctor later confirmed I had a concussion. I had dizzy spells for weeks afterwards and I was terrified of going out alone. I still am.' Kureishi, fortunately, was uninjured. Onlookers in the café were stunned. Staff called the police immediately and locked the doors, preventing Boulares from escaping — until someone mistakenly signalled that officers had arrived when they hadn't. Chenneour and Kureishi let him go. He fled but was later arrested. He has since pleaded guilty to theft and assault and is due to be sentenced next month. 'He needs to go to prison and he needs psychological care,' she says. 'If criminals are not rehabilitated properly they'll likely commit more — maybe worse — crimes.' Two weeks after the incident she was due to attend the Screen Actors Guild awards in Los Angeles, where Bridgerton had been nominated for best ensemble. Chenneour plays the sharp-tongued society gossip Clara Livingston. 'I thought I wouldn't be able to go, which would have been devastating. I'm so glad I was able to make it, but I was still very shaken when I was out there.' She remains unsettled. 'Like most women I was already hypervigilant of men in public spaces,' she says. 'Now it's even worse. Festivals this summer are off the table. I don't want to be around a load of men, in minimal clothing.' She's speaking to me via Zoom from her mother's home in Portsmouth. She's recently left west London — her base for seven years — after the end of her three-year relationship with Kureishi. 'After the phone incident and the break-up I just hit rock bottom,' she says. She left with a few personal belongings and custody of Ralph. 'Maybe this all has to happen so I can start afresh,' she adds. 'It's been a major shock for me — and terrifying — but now I can prioritise my career, myself and my friends.' Her reaction that day may not have surprised those who know her. Before acting, Chenneour was one of Britain's most promising young athletes: a teenage soloist on Team GB's synchronised swimming team and later a trained boxer. Years of discipline had embedded in her the instinct to fight. Chenneour was born in North Yorkshire to the British Army officer Tim Randall and the teacher Alice Chenneour, though she was raised mainly in Oxfordshire, where her father worked as a programme officer at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham. She has a twin sister, Fleur — a former Team GB rhythmic gymnast turned model — and three brothers, all engineers. She and Fleur featured in ITV's 2015 documentary The Secret Life of Twins. 'We are very similar, obviously, and have had very similar experiences, but we are also completely different,' she says. 'I'm more bohemian. Our lives are taking different paths now. We're not that close.' • Bridgerton actress fights off phone thief 'who threatened to stab her' Her childhood was a whirl of training: ballet from three, gymnastics at eight, singing and synchronised swimming by ten. Was it a happy time? 'There are two answers to that,' she says. 'The one I'd give my therapist, and one I'd share publicly. Let's just say I've always enjoyed being busy, and I'm naturally very driven. I was also very isolated. It was hard to keep friends because I moved around so much. There was trauma I've had to work through.' Training for synchronised swimming meant waking up every morning at 5am to practise before school and then again in the evening. At 15, Chenneour was selected to join the Great Britain artistic swimming team. She left school to focus on it full-time: training up to ten hours a day, six days a week. She studied for her GCSEs via remote learning and 'basically being autodidactic'. She was soon competing on the world stage as a soloist, member of the duet team and group. At the Europeans in 2014 she was the youngest competitor. 'I was really proud of everything I achieved,' she says, 'but it was also full-on. I didn't get to have a normal teenage life, which was hard at times.' At 17 she was awarded an Olympic scholarship for Rio 2016. But just a few months before the Games she tore the cartilage in her left hip. Surgery was unavoidable. Her Olympic dream was over. 'When they told me I couldn't go I burst into tears,' she says. 'I was broken. I was exhausted. I had given my life to this sport.' She describes 'killing a part of myself' with Team GB. 'I remember being shamed by coaching staff for my body shape, walk, posture and size,' she says. She is 5ft 9in. At her lightest — 7st — she was extremely underweight. She lost her period and was told by her female sports doctor to induce bleeding with a contraceptive pill. She complied. After her injury she says she received no communication from British Swimming. 'I never heard a word after that. Nothing. I sent them an email saying, 'I'm really trying to get better.' They may have replied — but no condolences, no support. I felt totally discarded.' She has since submitted written evidence to a British Swimming review of historical safeguarding cases and is separately pursuing a civil case against them. She is unable to discuss details while proceedings are under way. Recovery was slow. She was in a wheelchair for a few weeks, then on crutches for a month, and took her A-levels at home while on pain medication. 'I did terribly, even though I'd been predicted A*s,' she says. 'Usually in those circumstances they give you your predicted grade. I didn't get that option.' Rebuilding her identity after elite sport was hard. 'I don't think any amount of success is ever going to make me feel like I belong as much as I did then,' she says. 'So many athletes who retire struggle with that. The industry needs to be much better at supporting them.'What should that support look like? 'Government-backed schemes for funded athletes where they put money aside for their life after sport. They should provide life coaching too.' Chenneour was fortunate to discover new passions. First, pistol shooting — she went on to make the England Pistol Talent squad — then boxing. During pistol training she met someone who coached actors in firearm use and soon began working as a stunt performer. She played an armed soldier in The Old Guard starring Charlize Theron, and later doubled for Ella Purnell in the horror comedy The Scurry, motorcycling down a rocky mountain. Alongside her stunt work, Chenneour studied. She enrolled in a sports science course at Oxford Brookes, for which she spent over 150 hours assisting on an NHS stroke ward. 'That was very humbling,' she says. 'Everyone should have to do something like that. It makes you understand how precious life is.' After that, she studied physiotherapy at London South Bank, but soon struggled with the lack of creative outlet. A lecturer — whose sons attended Rada — encouraged her to consider acting. 'I'd never thought about becoming an actor,' she says. 'I wasn't financially supported and I didn't know people in the industry. I thought acting was for children who had rich parents.' She withdrew from her degree and returned home. In 2021 she changed her surname, Randall, to her mother's — a way to formalise her shift from athlete to actress. 'I've always felt especially close to my mum anyway, so this was a nice way to honour that,' she says. Months later she landed a role in Britannia, Jez Butterworth's fantasy drama. She played an acolyte opposite Sophie Okonedo and David Morrissey. It involved extensive nudity. 'I took the role because I thought it would be an incredible opportunity to learn how to navigate those sorts of scenes,' she says. Okonedo, she adds, was a great role model. 'In one scene I had to be topless. Sophie made sure I was covered up again when the cameras stopped rolling.' There was also an intimacy co-ordinator on set. 'To not have one nowadays is not really on.' Chenneour is unfazed by performing nude, largely because of her sporting background. 'I don't care what people think of my body because it is capable of amazing things as an athlete,' she says. Her mother's motto resonates: 'If you've got it, flaunt it — so long as you're safe.' Last year she joined series three of Bridgerton after attending a workshop and getting herself in front of the casting director. 'All my success and everything I've ever achieved is down to me,' she says. 'Not who my parents are, which is so often the case in this industry.' Beyond acting she has starred in music videos for the Brit-nominated Calum Scott and the British rapper Fredo, and modelled for Adidas, M&S and Lululemon. She's currently the face of campaigns for Trip drinks and Oral B. But fashion, she says, can be ruthless. • How accurate is the sex in Bridgerton? From al fresco romps to body hair She recalls being filmed without her consent while changing, and a luxury fashion house calling her 'fat' before leaving her forgotten — naked — in a fitting room. 'At the time I couldn't do anything about it,' she says. 'In modelling, unless you're a name, you're completely replaceable. I remember struggling a lot with body image after that.' These days, she focuses on health over aesthetics: eating intuitively, avoiding refined sugar and only drinking alcohol on special occasions. She notes that social media influence increasingly trumps experience in modelling and acting. 'Even with a small role — if there's an actor who's trained, and then someone with two million followers, who's going to bring in more money?' Chenneour is only just getting started. She was passed over for a role in the latest Mission: Impossible film but she's not deterred. She'd love to play a 'powerful, complex' Bond girl. She has plans beyond acting too: she publishes candid essays on her Substack, The Naked Pages, about navigating life as a young woman, and wants one day to write a book. 'Because of how I look and sound, people might assume I come from a rich family –– that everything's been handed to me,' she says. 'But it couldn't be further from the truth. 'If I'd had an easy life, maybe I wouldn't have the trauma I do, but I also wouldn't have grit. Everything I've achieved — even fighting the man who stole my phone — has come from that grit. And I wouldn't change that for anything in the world.' Hair and make-up Amanda Clarke from Joy Goodman Agency Stylist Victoria Binns
Times
34 minutes ago
- Times
Five supreme spots for a cream tea in Scotland
Afternoon tea is my happy place, especially if it's in a grand hotel. The velvet chairs, the delicate chime of silver on china, the pastries, finger sandwiches and fresh pots of tea — I'm obsessed. Whether you're celebrating or simply escaping normal life, these five splendid spots all do afternoon teas to remember. Team Murray's bouji country house hotel has been given a boutique makeover, and it now does a refined afternoon tea in its light-filled Glasshouse restaurant. A selection of savoury bites, freshly baked scones and indulgent cakes are complemented by an extensive range of Canton teas or Alfie's coffee. Details: £47.50 + £15 for champagne, • New walls, please! Andy Murray's hotel gets a funky makeover Afternoon tea at the Balmoral's Palm Court is a refined Edinburgh tradition. Beneath a striking glass dome and Venetian chandelier, guests enjoy a classic selection of finger sandwiches, warm scones and beautifully crafted pastries, all served with a wide range of premium loose-leaf teas. Service is attentive and elegant, matching the grandeur of the setting. Located on Princes Street, it's a serene escape in the heart of the city. Details: £67.50 + £15 for champagne, Nestled on the banks of Loch Lomond, the Scots baronial mansion hotel's opulent afternoon tea is taken in truly regal surroundings. Served n the elegant chinoiserie-style drawing room, tea comes with uninterrupted views across the loch and landscaped gardens. The menu includes dainty finger sandwiches, warm scones with clotted cream and jam, and exquisite patisserie. With more than 20 loose-leaf teas and flawless service, it's a tranquil, luxurious escape steeped in Scottish grandeur. Details: £50 + £20 for champagne, • Cameron House review: how all family hotels should be Step into timeless elegance with afternoon tea served in the stunning Glendevon room, with sweeping views up the glen to the Ochil Hills. Guests are treated to a refined selection of delicate finger sandwiches, handmade pastries, fluffy scones with clotted cream and jam, and an extensive list of teas. As with everything at Gleneagles, tea is impeccably presented, with attentive service that strikes the ideal balance between warmth and discretion. Details: £75 + £17 for champagne, For views alone afternoon tea at this famous East Neuk hotel is hard to beat, served in the conservatory overlooking the 17th hole and West Sands Beach. The menu features delicate finger sandwiches, freshly baked scones with clotted cream and jam, and an array of handcrafted pastries, accompanied by a selection of premium teas. A children's afternoon tea is also available for £ £40 + £25 for Veuve Clicquot champagne,
