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‘American Love Story' Sets February 2026 Premiere; Ryan Murphy Shares First Look Photos Of Paul Kelly & Sarah Pidgeon As JFK Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

‘American Love Story' Sets February 2026 Premiere; Ryan Murphy Shares First Look Photos Of Paul Kelly & Sarah Pidgeon As JFK Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

Yahoo24-06-2025
Ryan Murphy has shared a first look at Paul Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon as JFK. Jr. and Carolyn Bessette for American Love Story.
The television writer, director, and producer took to social media to share the first images of Kelly and Pidgeon during some screen tests for the upcoming FX series.
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Murphy also revealed that American Love Story would premiere in February 2026.
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'Here are some stills from our LOVE STORY camera test,' Murphy shared on Instagram. 'We started shooting this week in New York City and can't wait until you see the romantic and tragic love story between America's prince, JFK Jr., and fashion icon Carolyn Bessette—out Valentine's Day week of 2026.'
He continued, 'I am thrilled to introduce you to Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn and Paul Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. Over a thousand actors auditioned for each of these roles, and we absolutely found the perfect choices. Congratulations Sarah and Paul!'
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American Love Story is executive produced by Ryan Murphy, Brad Simpson, Nina Jacobson, D.V. DiVencentis and Connor Hines.
The series focuses on JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, a love story which started as a beautiful union for the young couple, widely regarded as American royalty, began to fray under the stress of the relentless microscope and navel-gaze of tabloid media. The pressures of their careers and rumored family discord ended with their tragic deaths when his private plane crashed into the ocean on a hazy summer night off the coast of Massachusetts.
American Love Story will also feature Naomi Watts as JFK Jr's mother, Jackie O. The cast also includes Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, Sydney Lemmon as Lauren Bessette, and Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein.
Scroll through the photos below for a first look at .
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‘Russians At War' Director & Producer Talk Backlash & Direct-To-Audience Release: 'The Best Counter To The Protests & Hate Is For People To See The Film'
‘Russians At War' Director & Producer Talk Backlash & Direct-To-Audience Release: 'The Best Counter To The Protests & Hate Is For People To See The Film'

Yahoo

time8 hours ago

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‘Russians At War' Director & Producer Talk Backlash & Direct-To-Audience Release: 'The Best Counter To The Protests & Hate Is For People To See The Film'

Director Anastasia Trofimova and producer Cornelia Principe are launching a direct-to-audience release this week of the former's controversial documentary Russians at War, in a bid to get it seen after a year of protests and cancellations. The two-hour work gives sobering insight into the futility and carnage of armed conflict through the lives of Russia-aligned soldiers on the front of the country's unprovoked war against Ukraine, with whom Trofimova embedded over a period of seven months. 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At least 250,000 Russian troops have died in the conflict. TIFF canceled the festival screening, instead playing the film in the TIFF Lightbox Theatre on the first Tuesday after its 2024 edition ended, using security staff who were still on site to ensure the safety of Trofimova, her producers and the spectators in the room. 'Anastasia had her very own security detail. I had someone following me around even when I went to the bathroom. When we were on stage for the Q&A, there was a line of security in front of us. People who came had to be security scanned. It was a quite a production, but the festival had to make sure everybody was safe,' recounts Principe. The Oscar-nominated Canadian producer (To Kill A Tiger) produced the documentary under her Raja Pictures banner with Sally Blake and Philippe Levasseur at Paris-based Capa Presse. The fallout would continue throughout the year with Athens and Zurich among festivals which pulled the film due to protests and security concerns. 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It's a very fulsome website with lots of content to give people background on the making of the film, frequently asked questions, criticisms that we address, all that is there,' says Principe. The release is worldwide but excludes Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, with the production planning to make it available in those territories for free at a later date. 'That's going to be a separate release because it will be free and we need to make sure that it can actually be accessed in Russia, says Principe. An experienced TV producer and documentarian, who has also worked in Syria and Iraq, Trofimova knew the film would receive pushback from some quarters for the human light in which it portrayed the Russia-aligned soldiers but was not prepared for the full-out backlash it sparked as it embarked on its festival tour last year. 'I think it was easier to go to the front and to be in the war than to deal with what happened afterwards because it was so unexpected. The documentary community has been very supportive overall and very understanding, but what was a shock to me is, how easy it is to be accused of something that people say you did, not that you actually did or said yourself,' she says. 'Most of the people who have been attacking this film, and the most vicious attacks, of course, have been happening online, have not seen the film… In Toronto, where we were the top news story for at least a week, journalists asked the protesters, 'Have you seen the film?' They would reply, 'No, we have not, and we refuse to.' What was surprising for me was, why this anger directed at the film? Why this anger directed at me? Because it's like I became their personal enemy, or the film became their personal enemy.' The fallout has also raised questions for Trofimova around the power of coordinated deplatforming campaigns. 'It has been quite interesting to realize how easy it is for anyone in the documentary community to be attacked and silenced by some sort of interest group, because it didn't take that much to be honest. A lot of the stuff is online. It's quite organized. There's been quite a coordinated defamation deplatforming campaign against this film,' she says. 'It's left quite a bit of damage. I'm not talking about our emotional state, but rather the fact that it started off so well. It was receiving invitations from the world's top festivals and the attacks on it made it so much more difficult for people to program it and to see it. That was the shocking thing.' She also questions the implications of what happened to her for other documentarians who want to tackle controversial and complex topics in the future 'It made me wonder how do we make complex films? It's a question for anyone who wants to take on a big, controversial problem in the world, and we have a lot of them. 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Alien: Earth premiere review: a deep, dark sci-fi masterpiece

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Recommended Videos From the very beginning, Alien: Earth replicates the look and feel of Ridley Scott's original horror film, from the music to the set design to the cinematography. Even the awakening of the Maginot's crew mirrors that of Ripley and her crew in the 1979 film. Though the show's beginning is familiar to franchise fans, it quickly forges its own stellar identity within the world of Alien. And like the franchise's vicious aliens, this new series gets under viewers' skin until their chest bursts with sheer terror. A brave new world The first episode of Alien: Earth takes its time introducing its main characters, specifically Wendy, CJ, and Morrow. Much of the pilot is dedicated to building up their respective stories, which ultimately converge when the Maginot crashes into a city on Earth. 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Speaking of him, Alex Lawther also sells his respective role as CJ, who, despite being a soldier, is clearly still a kid who's way in over his head as he ventures into the Maginot's crash site and witnesses world-shattering horrors. Meanwhile, actor Samuel Blenkin rules over Prodigy as Boy Kavalier, whose persona as an immature, kidnapping 'tech bro' parallels young Wendy with a sinister mix of Peter Pan and Mark Zuckerberg. However, the series features even greater menace from its sinister androids. Babou Ceesay stands out as the callous, emotionless robot Morrow, who, like Ian Holm's Ash, is driven solely by his directive from his company to capture the Xenomorph. Timothy Olyphant's android, Kirsh, is just as unsettling with his icy demeanor. He also delivers an especially chilling monologue about humans being food, wrapping up the episode on a high note and setting the stage for humanity's bloody, existential war against their alien guests. On Earth, everyone can hear the screams Like Ridley Scott's Alien, Hawley's new series takes its time building up terror and suspense. In true reverence to its predecessor, Alien: Earth crafts a dark, chilling atmosphere as it turns the Maginot into another haunted house in space. This is a sharp contrast to the bright, lush 'paradise' of Neverland. While scenes in such Earth-bound locations steer away from alien gore, its horror hits close to home. With Prodigy no longer considering its children human due to their new synthetic bodies, the series shows more of the corrupt, exploitative nature of one of the franchise's multiple evil corporations, using lies and technicalities to further their twisted agendas. It's a slow-burning horror, but all that careful construction pays off with frightening scenes like the Xenomorph's rampage on the Maginot and the ship's crash into the city. 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This all makes Alien: Earth a distinctive addition to the franchise's canon, with the pilot setting up a vast, thoughtful epic that demands audiences' attention. The first two episodes of Alien: Earth are now streaming on Hulu. Episode 3 will air at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, August 19.

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