In ‘Dept. Q,' Netflix continues a trend of finding hits across the globe
Based on Jussi Adler-Olsen's novel 'The Keeper of Lost Causes,' and created by Scott Frank (who brought a similar storytelling verve to his breakout 2020 Netflix limited series '
Yes, the streamer cranks out its share of dross, especially in the true crime genre. But it also has a history of success with programming from across the globe, including the likes of 'Baby Reindeer' (from Scotsman Richard Gadd), 'Adolescence' (from Englishman Stephen Graham), 'Squid Game' (South Korea, Hwang Dong Hyuk), '
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In movie terms, you could think of 'Dept. Q' as a descendent of the Euro American art film — think Michelangelo Antonioni's 'Blow-Up' (1966), or Wim Wenders's 'Paris, Texas' (1984). But such a description doesn't do justice to the show's fiendishly entertaining flavor. As grim as it can get, 'Dept. Q' offers a world of viewing pleasure.
Chris Vognar, a freelance culture writer, was the 2009 Nieman Arts and Culture Fellow at Harvard University.
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USA Today
29 minutes ago
- USA Today
'A bit of a sixth sense': Video shows 'Bridgerton' actor stopping phone thief
'A bit of a sixth sense': Video shows 'Bridgerton' actor stopping phone thief Show Caption Hide Caption 'Bridgerton' actor fights off suspected phone thief Surveillance footage caught the moments as Genevieve Chenneour confronted a suspected thief in London. A London thief chose the wrong actor's phone to try and steal. "Bridgerton" actor Genevieve Chenneour, 27, went viral after a video captured her fight off a man who snatched her cell phone at a London cafe when she wasn't looking. Security footage shows the English performer sitting on Feb. 8 as a man grabs her device from her table while she's looking away. As he walks away, she quickly notices and does not hesitate to stop him. With the help of a bystander, Chenneour kicks and pushes the man to the ground, takes her phone back and appears to strike him with it. "I had a bit of a sixth sense that something wasn't quite right. As a woman, you have that kind of intuition," Chenneour said in an interview on the "This Morning" talk show. "I could feel people moving around me in a different way, but I only became aware of it once the incident had happened." Chenneour she believes the man had spent time picking the perfect target, which she quickly proved wasn't her. She explained that she remembers kicking him back with her leg to create distance in case he had a weapon on him. Looking back she understands that not everyone would have fought back, but said she instinctually opted to because of her experiences as a boxer and growing up with three brothers. "I thought that was a normal reaction, and then I read all the comments and realized actually a lot of people would just let them take the phone," she said. "It was just a life changing, crazy moment." Chenneour said she felt scared to leave home after incident While Chenneour managed to leave the business with her phone, she said the experience impacted her anxiety, making her more fearful to leave her home. "As a woman, we already have our wits about us around strangers and random men. So to have this happen to me while dealing with that probably base level that a lot of women have just made me quite agoraphobic," she said. She added that the experience opened up many conversations that made her more aware of how many people are afraid of being out in public. London's Metropolitan Police Service arrested an 18-year-old man who is set to be sentenced over theft and assault charges on June 17, according to BBC. Who is Genevieve Chenneour? Chenneour is 27-year-old English actor best known for her role in Netflix's "Bridgerton." In Season 3 of the hit romance show she plays Clara Livingston, a debutante at the start of the 1815 season. She is a former professional athlete who grew up in a military family, according to her IMDb page. She has prior experiences in dance, swimming and gymnastics and said she is a carded member of the American Boxing Association.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘House of the Dragon' director and cinematographer on the ‘spontaneous creativity' of the fan-fave ‘The Red Sowing'
One of the standout episodes of House of the Dragon's second season was "The Red Sowing," from director Loni Peristere and cinematographer Vanja Černjul. In a new Gold Derby interview, the artisans share their insights from the fan-favorite seventh episode, which centered on Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and her urgent quest to acquire more dragon riders. House of the Dragon, the prequel series to HBO's megahit Game of Thrones, was created by Ryan Condal and author George R. R. Martin, with D'Arcy leading the ensemble cast alongside Emmy nominee Matt Smith (The Crown) as Prince Daemon Targaryen and Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower. Season 2 is eligible at the 2025 Emmys, and filming for Season 3 is underway right now in England. More from GoldDerby Golden Reel Awards: MPSE bans generative A.I. sound from awards eligibility to 'keep artists at the forefront' Clancy Brown, Joel McHale, and more actors who self-submitted at this year's Emmys Netflix debuts 'In Your Dreams' trailer, Keke Palmer joins 'Spaceballs' sequel,' and more of today's top stories Gold Derby: Vanja, you've been quoted as saying that Season 2 was 'a testament to the marriage of meticulous planning and spontaneous creativity.' Talk us through what that means to you both. Vanja Černjul: What was wonderful about House of the Dragon is that we were given a proper amount of time to really prepare and get ready. Loni's background is in visual effects, so he really knew how to take advantage of all the tools that we had available. We storyboarded a lot of it, and it was just a wonderful process. But then, I had situations where it was raining on location, but we were completely adapted to what was happening. We planned for a sunny summer day in Wales and a couple of times we had mist and clouds, and we learned that it worked even better for the scene that we couldn't plan it better. Loni Peristere: There's a scene with Alicent, as she goes for her wander in the woods. We spent a lot of time growing flowers in this field, and we had this concept of Alicent going out into this ideal space as she tries to escape the Red Keep, maybe for the one last time, and we showed up on location, and it was pouring rain, and somehow it just made that scene a thousand times better to be pouring rain, and when she went into the water it was so much sadder as the water poured down on her. So that's that spontaneous creativity that we just embraced together. Similarly, you know the opening scene on the beach. We spent a meticulous amount of time in prep figuring out the right time to be there, so we could have this beautiful golden morning. And yet here we were again in the rain and the wind, and it just made it angry and it really lent to the scene to have Emma D'Arcy screaming through the wind. It just made it so much more powerful, and that is that spontaneous creativity that Vanja is referencing. HBO What was the most challenging part of the scene where Alicent wades into the Kingswood Lake? Peristere: The best part of our relationship is that we really appreciate the craft of cinema. We were given an episode that had a sequence like this with no dialogue, but we needed to convey Alicent's emotional state — her desire for freedom. I think Vanja and I probably rejected 15 different lakes, to find this space, because what we wanted to feel is that as she comes out of the Kingswood and into this lake, we wanted to 'break out of jail,' with the physical cinematic trees of the Kingswood, and then break out and be faced with this epic baptismal visual. We literally had to do it with a tenth of the crew that House of the Dragon normally has, because it was such a difficult location. Černjul: It was a good lesson in how sometimes the most impressive shot you can get just by being at the right place with just the camera. We decided to shoot the last couple of shots of the scene in the studio, so that beautiful shot of Olivia's hair going through the water; that was in-studio, and the two overhead shots also were in the studio. Peristere: And again, spontaneous creativity, the beautiful shot of the hair underwater that we ran backwards, so it looked like her hair was growing towards the camera. HBO The sequence that everyone wants to talk about is of course Hugh Hammer claiming Vermithor. What was the most difficult part of getting that whole sequence right? Černjul: There were many scenes in this episode where the script offered opportunities for a really cinematic approach, and Loni knew how to take advantage of that, because it's maybe one quarter of the episode that has no dialogue. When there's no dialogue, cinematography and sound really become the main language, the cinematic language that the narrative is communicated through. And that's a dream for a cinematographer. That's why this episode was so special for me, because of that particular sequence. Loni knew from the very beginning that he wanted to do a large section of the action in a oner. The most difficult challenge was orienting ourselves in this large blue screen space. We had a large stage, but the actual imagined space was supposed to be five times larger than the stage that we had, and the only physical things that were built were the plinth that you see in the background, and everything else was blue screen. So, we needed to orient ourselves, like once you determine the light source, for example. Where is that light source now, because you're supposed to be much deeper into the cave. And how large is the dragon in this large space. Orientation in the imagined space was challenging. I remember another challenge was that we really wanted a really raw handheld feel, and we wanted to film the whole sequence handheld. We fortunately had a rehearsal the day before, and Kieran was running so fast that it was really hard to keep up with him with a handheld camera, and the image became too shaky. We had amazing grip support, and our key grip came up with a solution real quick. He built the cable cam that supported the handheld camera. So, the shot ended up being a hybrid between handheld and cable cam, and we came up with that the day before. Peristere: There was a lot of stunt folks that we lit on fire! HBO A highlight sequence is where Ulf is flying over King's Landing, and then Aemond retreats when he sees Rhaenyra at Dragonstone surrounded by dragons. Talk us through shooting the sequence. Peristere: Vanja actually drew that frame himself. He hand drew it himself! Černjul: The composition of all these characters in that frame was so important because it was going to be the last frame of the episode. We were trying for a while, and then I finally drew the characters and played with the composition in Photoshop. Peristere: The idea that Rhaenyra was going to confront Aemond with a wall of dragons, a wall of nuclear weapons, changes the entire power dynamic of this entire series. What made it such a powerful thing was the writing, which gave us the opportunity to develop the visuals to support that. And that's what we really wanted to do when we read it. We knew that this is part of the narrative that is going to carry on for many seasons. HBO Loni, when you're witnessing a really committed performance from an actor, how do you collaborate and provide guidance or guardrails without compromising the intensity and the raw emotion that they're giving you? Peristere: That's a really good question to relate to this particular sequence, because Kieran's communion with the dragon was written as a quiet moment in the script, where Vermithor and Hugh were going to come together slowly, and Rhaenyra was going to watch it. And then Kieran decided to scream at the dragon on his own, and I remember when he did that, I couldn't believe it. I was like, "Wow!" It's giving me shivers just thinking about it, like how that happens with actors that are really good at their craft. That's how you commune with Vermithor, the second biggest dragon in the Westeros universe. That's how you do it. You show that dragon that this little man is bigger than it, and it was mind-blowing. Those moments happen quite a lot. We have an incredible cast that offers these types of moments because they are that good, and no matter how much prep, no matter how much experience Vanja has in photography, or I have in visual effects, nothing can compare with how a great actor can transform the word. HBO You have both just come off a really long day on set, so you're in the thick of Season 3. Obviously, you can't spoil anything, but what can we generally expect? Peristere: It's definitely everything that the fans want. Everything they've read in the book, everything that they know is coming. This season goes to 11. Černjul: The thing that I noticed when I came back, and I was very happy to be back, was that all other key collaborators came back as well, which says a lot about how much we enjoyed this opportunity to be part of building this universe. It's really a family now. But the fact that everybody was happy to come back says a lot about the experience that we have on set. The first two seasons of House of the Dragon are now streaming on HBO Max. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions Best of GoldDerby Tina Fey on 'The Four Seasons': 'It was a challenge to be restrained about where we put jokes' 'The best job I ever had': 'From 'Supernatural' to 'The Boys,' Eric Kripke talks his biggest hits — and miss (ahem, 'Tarzan') 'Cross' star Aldis Hodge on building an aspirational hero — who's not a superhero Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Look-Alike Son Left Out Of Family Photo With Half-Siblings At The Actor's Event
Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared with most of his family, including his youngest son, Joseph Baena, at the season 2 premiere of his hit Netflix series, "FUBAR." However, Joseph was notably excluded from group photos with his half-siblings and only posed with Arnold, who warmly engaged with him and his girlfriend. While Arnold Schwarzenegger shares a close bond with his son Joseph Baena, the 27-year-old's half-siblings have remained distant from him, with some reports linking their cold treatment to the actor's affair while married to their mother, Maria Shriver. At the star-studded premiere of Netflix's "FUBAR" Season 2 on Wednesday, Arnold Schwarzenegger was joined by all of his family. Unfortunately, one key figure was noticeably left out of the main spotlight. The 77-year-old Hollywood icon was all smiles on the red carpet alongside his children Katherine, 35, Christina, 33, Patrick, 31, and Christopher, 27, as well as son-in-law Chris Pratt, 45. The appearance marked a rare public gathering for the Schwarzenegger-Shriver clan. However, his youngest son, Joseph Baena, the product of a past affair with the family's longtime housekeeper, Mildred Baena, was noticeably absent from the family group photos. Although Baena attended the premiere, he didn't pose with his half-siblings. Instead, he appeared separately with his father, sharing lighthearted and affectionate moments on the red carpet. Arnold also showed warmth toward Joseph's girlfriend, Dutch model Mel, who was seen resting her head on his shoulder inside the theater. For the red carpet event, Arnold looked sharp in a dark blue suit with a subtle sheen, styled with a pale blue button-down shirt, no tie, black leather shoes, and a statement Western belt featuring an oversized buckle. His children appeared in complementary all-black ensembles. Christopher chose a classic black suit with a white shirt with no tie for a clean, relaxed look. Christina opted for a tailored black pantsuit. Patrick, known for his stylish flair, wore a double-breasted pinstriped blazer with a matching striped tie, plain black trousers, and black brogues with a modest lift. Katherine stood out in an elegant one-shoulder black blouse tied at the waist with a bow, paired with tailored black pants and white pointed-toe heels. Pratt tied it all together with a cool-toned blue-gray suede jacket. Though excluded from the group photo, Baena made a distinct fashion statement of his own. He wore a charcoal cardigan over high-waisted trousers, a dark sweater draped over his shoulders, and black leather loafers. The "FUBAR" Season 2 premiere echoed an all-too-familiar dynamic for the Schwarzenegger family. Despite Baena attending the event, his siblings continued to keep their distance, a repeat of what had played out at the debut season premiere over two years ago. While Patrick once appeared to make an effort, as the two were seen working out together in 2021, no public sign of closeness between the half-brothers has emerged since. Katherine, Christina, and Christopher have likewise shown no public connection to their youngest sibling. In 2023, Page Six reported that Arnold and Joseph are "very close," but the bond hasn't extended to the rest of the family. An insider claimed that "the other kids don't love Joe" and suggested that the lingering resentment over Arnold's affair has unfairly been directed at Joseph himself. "The other kids take [the affair] out on Joe," the source said. Despite the controversy, Arnold has consistently shown support for his youngest son. He has reportedly covered Baena's school tuition and even purchased a home for his mother. Arnold, in Netflix's revealing docuseries titled "Arnold," didn't shy away from addressing the most painful chapters of his personal life. The iconic actor and former California governor reflected candidly on the fallout from his past mistakes, particularly the affair that led to the birth of his son, Joseph. "I think that I have caused enough pain for my family because of my f-ck up. Everyone had to suffer. Maria had to suffer. The kids had to suffer. Joseph. His mother. Everyone," he admitted, per People Magazine. He acknowledged that the consequences of that decision are something he'll carry for the rest of his life. "I am going to have to live with it the rest of my life," Arnold noted. "People will remember my successes, and they will also remember my failures. This is a major failure. I had failures in the past in my career, but this is a whole different ball game, a dimension of failure." Despite the apparent rift between Joseph and his older half-siblings, Arnold continues to speak with deep admiration for him, describing the fitness model as a "fantastic man" who "makes me proud." "It was wrong what I did. But I don't want to make Joseph feel that he is not welcome in this world — because he is very much welcome in this world," the actor admitted. "I love him and he has turned out to be an extraordinary young man," Arnold added about his look-alike son.
