‘$5 billion': Meghan Markle's next career move
COMMENT
They say there are no new ideas, a problem that equally affects royalty and Hollywood.
There have been eight King Henrys, eight Edwards, six Georges, 11 Fast & The Furiouses, and seven missions, impossible.
Really, what chance did Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex ever have?
The duchess has, by most stretches of the imagination, nearly everything – a princely husband, her very own lemon grove, is on a text name basis with Beyoncé – but originality?
Not according to a new report.
Just call her the Vin Diesel of vino.
Meghan, according to the Daily Mail, is taking the natural step of expanding her As Ever product range from twee afternoon tea territory, 'another flower sprinkled morsel vicar? Oh what, they are getting down your cassock?', to happy hour. Cin cin and all that.
The duchess is reportedly getting wine business, starting with a rosé and then moving into the harder stuff.
A 'source close to the Sussexes' told the Mail: 'The rosé wine is only the first product in what she and Netflix hope will be a substantial alcohol range, which will include ready-made cocktails and luxury items like flower-infused gin.'
If this comes to pass, the duchess will join the roster of Hollywood names who boast their own booze brands, a procession which is already longer than the waiting list to get into Chez Margaux or to source an entry level Labubu.
Beating out all the Edwards and Toms are the number of stars who have already gone the same path. Kylie Minogue, Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jon Bon Jovi, Lisa Vanderpump, John Legend and at one time, Brad Pitt all have rosés; Ryan Reynolds, Emma Watson, Idris Elba, Margot Robbie, Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre, and Brad Pitt again all make gin. Also, Buckingham Palace sells a home brand.
If Meghan ever added tequila and vodka to her offering, she would be joining George Clooney, The Rock, Kendall Jenner, a Jonas brother, Dan Aykroyd, Kate Hudson, and Pitbull.
Illustrious company indeed.
There are two obvious conclusions to draw here: Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex's is going to have to learn how to correctly pronounce 'terroir' and Meghan has finally settled on a post-palace career.
She's officially going the Full Kardashian. Over the last week, the duchess has made her direction of future career travel clear and seems to be throwing herself unashamedly, holus bolus, full-throttle into the influencing game.
A video posted that is guaranteed to make a huge social media (and regular media) din?
Sharing an oh-so-casual, wearing-Cartier-to-the-beach snap from what looks like a professional photo-shoot? Tagging a $300 billion corporate behemoth for no immediately clear reason?
Let us review. A photo coming the closest yet to revealing her daughter Princess Lilibet's face. A video that no one can or will forget of the duchess, only hours away from giving birth, dropping it low. A shot of her frolicking in the surf with 'So excited for all the good to come! Running into the weekend like ��'. Sweety pie family moments that there is no obvious reason for putting out into the world. She's got the making of a natural-born Jenner yet.
Take that twerking video, the only conceivable point of it being shared to do some light internet breaking. Meghan, the same source told the Mail, was 'very pleased' because it was 'a huge hit'.
'She and her team count it [the video] as a 'win', which can only be a boost for sales.'
Then came a deluge from Disneyland, with Meghan posting a video of 14 stills and clips edited together of her and Harry and their kids on rides, meeting Elsa from Frozen and of a plate of corn dogs shockingly devoid of anything that might bring joy.
Meghan appears to have chosen. Of all the paths and routes and avenues the Duchess of Sussex could have decided to take her life after hanging up (if not ritually burning) her royal-required nude hose, it looks like the 43-year-old has settled on one. Hashtag blessed.
Looking back over the last few years, there were points when it looked like the duchess might take herself off on altogether other trajectory. For the first couple of years after the Sussexes' transplanted to the United States, there were regular claims that the duchess was considering getting into politics. It made perfect sense: She was a serious person with serious ideas, access to Oprah Winfrey's cheque book and living in a state given to electing former Hollywood names to office.
But at some point came a fork in the road: Continuing resolutions and policy position papers on corn subsidies were out; flower sprinkle-making fortunes and baking biscuits for daytime TV appearances was in.
There is a certain inevitability, really. We have truly come full circle. It was in 2014 that the Duchess of Sussex launched her blog (remember those?) The Tig, only closing it when her future seemed to be in drizzly London.
Fate and all that and here we are, the LA native having gone back to her entrepreneurial, internet-y roots.
Also, money. Isn't it nice? There is way more cash to be made commercialising her exceptional good taste than having to vote on school district gerrymandering or some bill banning public funding for any school that exposes students to the terrifying woke agenda of The Cat In The Ha t. Globally the rosé industry is worth more than $5 billion.
For a bit of compare and contrast. In the same 24-hours, there was Harry on Instagram doing his best normie dad bit while on the Prince and Princess of Wales' account, there were photos of Prince William was levelling up his statesman game delivering a major environmental speech in Monte Carlo.
So what next for Meghan? A lip kit? A shapewear range? Designer blender spon-con? We can but wait. Ditto when (or even if) the thirsty, aperitivo-needing world will get their hands on a bottle of Meg-é.
And in the meantime if anyone is feeling particularly desperate for a titled tipple, there is King Charles' Highgrove Estate's sparkling English rosé, a snip at only $72 a bottle.
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Life has come full circle for new John Wick star
Years before Ana de Armas was using an ice skate to slice a neck in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, she co-starred with Keanu Reeves in a much different film. The erotic thriller Knock Knock, released in 2015, was de Armas' first Hollywood film. De Armas, born and raised in Cuba, had just come to Los Angeles after acting in Spain. English was new to her, so she had to learn her lines phonetically. "It was tough and I felt miserable at times and very lonely," she says. "But I wanted to prove myself. I remember being in meetings with producers and they would be like, 'OK, I'll see you in a year when you learn English.' Before I left the office, I would say, 'I'll see you in two months'." Since Knock Knock, her rise to stardom has been one of the last decade's most meteoric. She was radiant even as a hologram in Blade Runner 2049. She stole the show in Rian Johnson's star-studded Knives Out. She breezed through the Bond movie No Time to Die and was Oscar nominated for her Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. And now, 10 years after those scenes with Reeves, de Armas is for the first time headlining a big summer action movie. In Ballerina, de Armas's progressive development as an unlikely action star reaches a butt-kicking crescendo, inheriting the mantle of one of the most esteemed, high-body-count franchises. "It's a big moment in my career, and I know that. I can see that," she says. "It makes me look back in many ways, just being with Keanu in another film in such a different place in my career. It definitely gives me perspective of the journey and everything since we met. Things have come far since then." While de Armas, 37, isn't new to movie stardom, or the tabloid coverage that comes with it, many of her career highlights have been streaming releases. The Gray Man and Blonde were Netflix. Ghosted was Apple TV+. But Ballerina will rely on de Armas (and abiding "John Wick" fandom) to put moviegoers in seats. Reviews, particularly for de Armas playing a ballerina-assassin, have been good. "There's a lot of pressure," says director Len Wiseman. "It's a lot to carry all on her shoulders. But she'll be the first person to tell you: 'Put it on. Let me carry the weight. I'm totally game'." De Armas, whose talents include the ability to be present and personable on even the most frenzied red carpets, has done the globe-trotting work to make Ballerina a big deal: appearing at CinemaCon, gamely eating hot wings and cheerfully deflecting questions about her next film, Deeper, with Tom Cruise. Yet for someone so comfortable in the spotlight, one of the more interesting facts about de Armas is that she lives part-time in that bastion of young A-listers: Vermont. "Yeah, it surprised many people," she says, chuckling. "As soon as I went up there, I knew that was going to be a place that would bring me happiness and sanity and peace. But I know for a Cuban who doesn't like cold very much, it's very strange." Winding up in northern New England is just as unexpected as landing an action movie like Ballerina. She grew up with the conviction, from age 12, that she would be an actor. But she studied theatre. "I never thought I was going to do action," de Armas says. "What was relatable for me was watching Cuban actors on TV and in movies. That was my reality. That's all I knew, so the actors I looked up to were those." De Armas also had bad asthma, which makes some of the things she does in Ballerina - a movie with a flamethrower duel - all the more remarkable to her. "I couldn't do anything," she remembers. "I couldn't run. I sometimes couldn't play with my friends. I had to just be home and be still so I wouldn't get an asthma attack. So I never thought of myself as someone athletic or able to run just a block. So this has been a surprise." At 14, she auditioned and got into Havana's National Theatre of Cuba. Four years later, with Spanish citizenship through her grandparents, she moved to Madrid to pursue acting. When she arrived in LA in 2014, she had to start all over again. Now as one of the top Latina stars in Hollywood, she's watched as immigrant paths like hers have grown increasingly arduous if not impossible. The Trump administration recently announced a travel ban on 12 countries and heavy restrictions on citizens of other countries, including Cuba. "I got here at a time when things were definitely easier in that sense," says de Armas, who announced her then-imminent US citizenship while hosting Saturday Night Live in 2023. "So I just feel very lucky for that. But it's difficult. Everything that's going on is very difficult and very sad and really challenging for many people. I definitely wish things were different." Chad Stahelski, director of the four John Wick films and producer of Ballerina, was about to start production on John Wick: Chapter 4 when producer Basil Iwanyk called to set up a Zoom about casting de Armas. He quickly watched every scene she had been in. "How many people would have played the Bond girl kind of goofy like that?" he asks. "I know that I can harden people up. I know I can make them the assassin, but getting the charm and the love and the humour out of someone is trickier. But she had it." In Knives Out, Stahelski saw someone who could go from scared and uncertain to a look of "I'm going to stab you in the eye". "I like that in my action heroes," he says. "I don't want to see the stoic, superhero vibe where everything's going to be OK." But it wasn't just her acting or her charisma that convinced Stahelski. It was her life story. "John Wick is all hard work - and I don't mean just in the training. You've got to love it and put yourself out there," says Stahelski. "When you get her story about how she came from the age of 12, got into acting, what she sacrificed, what she did, that's what got my attention. 'Oh, she's a perseverer. She doesn't just enjoy the view, she enjoys the climb'." When that quote is read back to her, de Armas laughs, and agrees. "Being Cuban, and my upbringing and my family and everything I've done, I've never had a plan B," she says. "I've never had that thing of, 'Well, if it doesn't work, my family can help.' Or, 'I can do this other career.' This was it. This is how I feed myself and my family. So it's also a sense of, I don't know, responsibility." That makes her reflect back to when she was just trying to make it in Hollywood, sounding out words and trying not to be intimidated by the action star across from her. "I was so committed to do it," she says. "When I give something a shot, I try my best, whatever that is. Then I can actually say: I gave it a shot." Years before Ana de Armas was using an ice skate to slice a neck in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, she co-starred with Keanu Reeves in a much different film. The erotic thriller Knock Knock, released in 2015, was de Armas' first Hollywood film. De Armas, born and raised in Cuba, had just come to Los Angeles after acting in Spain. English was new to her, so she had to learn her lines phonetically. "It was tough and I felt miserable at times and very lonely," she says. "But I wanted to prove myself. I remember being in meetings with producers and they would be like, 'OK, I'll see you in a year when you learn English.' Before I left the office, I would say, 'I'll see you in two months'." Since Knock Knock, her rise to stardom has been one of the last decade's most meteoric. She was radiant even as a hologram in Blade Runner 2049. She stole the show in Rian Johnson's star-studded Knives Out. She breezed through the Bond movie No Time to Die and was Oscar nominated for her Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. And now, 10 years after those scenes with Reeves, de Armas is for the first time headlining a big summer action movie. In Ballerina, de Armas's progressive development as an unlikely action star reaches a butt-kicking crescendo, inheriting the mantle of one of the most esteemed, high-body-count franchises. "It's a big moment in my career, and I know that. I can see that," she says. "It makes me look back in many ways, just being with Keanu in another film in such a different place in my career. It definitely gives me perspective of the journey and everything since we met. Things have come far since then." While de Armas, 37, isn't new to movie stardom, or the tabloid coverage that comes with it, many of her career highlights have been streaming releases. The Gray Man and Blonde were Netflix. Ghosted was Apple TV+. But Ballerina will rely on de Armas (and abiding "John Wick" fandom) to put moviegoers in seats. Reviews, particularly for de Armas playing a ballerina-assassin, have been good. "There's a lot of pressure," says director Len Wiseman. "It's a lot to carry all on her shoulders. But she'll be the first person to tell you: 'Put it on. Let me carry the weight. I'm totally game'." De Armas, whose talents include the ability to be present and personable on even the most frenzied red carpets, has done the globe-trotting work to make Ballerina a big deal: appearing at CinemaCon, gamely eating hot wings and cheerfully deflecting questions about her next film, Deeper, with Tom Cruise. Yet for someone so comfortable in the spotlight, one of the more interesting facts about de Armas is that she lives part-time in that bastion of young A-listers: Vermont. "Yeah, it surprised many people," she says, chuckling. "As soon as I went up there, I knew that was going to be a place that would bring me happiness and sanity and peace. But I know for a Cuban who doesn't like cold very much, it's very strange." Winding up in northern New England is just as unexpected as landing an action movie like Ballerina. She grew up with the conviction, from age 12, that she would be an actor. But she studied theatre. "I never thought I was going to do action," de Armas says. "What was relatable for me was watching Cuban actors on TV and in movies. That was my reality. That's all I knew, so the actors I looked up to were those." De Armas also had bad asthma, which makes some of the things she does in Ballerina - a movie with a flamethrower duel - all the more remarkable to her. "I couldn't do anything," she remembers. "I couldn't run. I sometimes couldn't play with my friends. I had to just be home and be still so I wouldn't get an asthma attack. So I never thought of myself as someone athletic or able to run just a block. So this has been a surprise." At 14, she auditioned and got into Havana's National Theatre of Cuba. Four years later, with Spanish citizenship through her grandparents, she moved to Madrid to pursue acting. When she arrived in LA in 2014, she had to start all over again. Now as one of the top Latina stars in Hollywood, she's watched as immigrant paths like hers have grown increasingly arduous if not impossible. The Trump administration recently announced a travel ban on 12 countries and heavy restrictions on citizens of other countries, including Cuba. "I got here at a time when things were definitely easier in that sense," says de Armas, who announced her then-imminent US citizenship while hosting Saturday Night Live in 2023. "So I just feel very lucky for that. But it's difficult. Everything that's going on is very difficult and very sad and really challenging for many people. I definitely wish things were different." Chad Stahelski, director of the four John Wick films and producer of Ballerina, was about to start production on John Wick: Chapter 4 when producer Basil Iwanyk called to set up a Zoom about casting de Armas. He quickly watched every scene she had been in. "How many people would have played the Bond girl kind of goofy like that?" he asks. "I know that I can harden people up. I know I can make them the assassin, but getting the charm and the love and the humour out of someone is trickier. But she had it." In Knives Out, Stahelski saw someone who could go from scared and uncertain to a look of "I'm going to stab you in the eye". "I like that in my action heroes," he says. "I don't want to see the stoic, superhero vibe where everything's going to be OK." But it wasn't just her acting or her charisma that convinced Stahelski. It was her life story. "John Wick is all hard work - and I don't mean just in the training. You've got to love it and put yourself out there," says Stahelski. "When you get her story about how she came from the age of 12, got into acting, what she sacrificed, what she did, that's what got my attention. 'Oh, she's a perseverer. She doesn't just enjoy the view, she enjoys the climb'." When that quote is read back to her, de Armas laughs, and agrees. "Being Cuban, and my upbringing and my family and everything I've done, I've never had a plan B," she says. "I've never had that thing of, 'Well, if it doesn't work, my family can help.' Or, 'I can do this other career.' This was it. This is how I feed myself and my family. So it's also a sense of, I don't know, responsibility." That makes her reflect back to when she was just trying to make it in Hollywood, sounding out words and trying not to be intimidated by the action star across from her. "I was so committed to do it," she says. "When I give something a shot, I try my best, whatever that is. Then I can actually say: I gave it a shot." Years before Ana de Armas was using an ice skate to slice a neck in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, she co-starred with Keanu Reeves in a much different film. The erotic thriller Knock Knock, released in 2015, was de Armas' first Hollywood film. De Armas, born and raised in Cuba, had just come to Los Angeles after acting in Spain. English was new to her, so she had to learn her lines phonetically. "It was tough and I felt miserable at times and very lonely," she says. "But I wanted to prove myself. I remember being in meetings with producers and they would be like, 'OK, I'll see you in a year when you learn English.' Before I left the office, I would say, 'I'll see you in two months'." Since Knock Knock, her rise to stardom has been one of the last decade's most meteoric. She was radiant even as a hologram in Blade Runner 2049. She stole the show in Rian Johnson's star-studded Knives Out. She breezed through the Bond movie No Time to Die and was Oscar nominated for her Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. And now, 10 years after those scenes with Reeves, de Armas is for the first time headlining a big summer action movie. In Ballerina, de Armas's progressive development as an unlikely action star reaches a butt-kicking crescendo, inheriting the mantle of one of the most esteemed, high-body-count franchises. "It's a big moment in my career, and I know that. I can see that," she says. "It makes me look back in many ways, just being with Keanu in another film in such a different place in my career. It definitely gives me perspective of the journey and everything since we met. Things have come far since then." While de Armas, 37, isn't new to movie stardom, or the tabloid coverage that comes with it, many of her career highlights have been streaming releases. The Gray Man and Blonde were Netflix. Ghosted was Apple TV+. But Ballerina will rely on de Armas (and abiding "John Wick" fandom) to put moviegoers in seats. Reviews, particularly for de Armas playing a ballerina-assassin, have been good. "There's a lot of pressure," says director Len Wiseman. "It's a lot to carry all on her shoulders. But she'll be the first person to tell you: 'Put it on. Let me carry the weight. I'm totally game'." De Armas, whose talents include the ability to be present and personable on even the most frenzied red carpets, has done the globe-trotting work to make Ballerina a big deal: appearing at CinemaCon, gamely eating hot wings and cheerfully deflecting questions about her next film, Deeper, with Tom Cruise. Yet for someone so comfortable in the spotlight, one of the more interesting facts about de Armas is that she lives part-time in that bastion of young A-listers: Vermont. "Yeah, it surprised many people," she says, chuckling. "As soon as I went up there, I knew that was going to be a place that would bring me happiness and sanity and peace. But I know for a Cuban who doesn't like cold very much, it's very strange." Winding up in northern New England is just as unexpected as landing an action movie like Ballerina. She grew up with the conviction, from age 12, that she would be an actor. But she studied theatre. "I never thought I was going to do action," de Armas says. "What was relatable for me was watching Cuban actors on TV and in movies. That was my reality. That's all I knew, so the actors I looked up to were those." De Armas also had bad asthma, which makes some of the things she does in Ballerina - a movie with a flamethrower duel - all the more remarkable to her. "I couldn't do anything," she remembers. "I couldn't run. I sometimes couldn't play with my friends. I had to just be home and be still so I wouldn't get an asthma attack. So I never thought of myself as someone athletic or able to run just a block. So this has been a surprise." At 14, she auditioned and got into Havana's National Theatre of Cuba. Four years later, with Spanish citizenship through her grandparents, she moved to Madrid to pursue acting. When she arrived in LA in 2014, she had to start all over again. Now as one of the top Latina stars in Hollywood, she's watched as immigrant paths like hers have grown increasingly arduous if not impossible. The Trump administration recently announced a travel ban on 12 countries and heavy restrictions on citizens of other countries, including Cuba. "I got here at a time when things were definitely easier in that sense," says de Armas, who announced her then-imminent US citizenship while hosting Saturday Night Live in 2023. "So I just feel very lucky for that. But it's difficult. Everything that's going on is very difficult and very sad and really challenging for many people. I definitely wish things were different." Chad Stahelski, director of the four John Wick films and producer of Ballerina, was about to start production on John Wick: Chapter 4 when producer Basil Iwanyk called to set up a Zoom about casting de Armas. He quickly watched every scene she had been in. "How many people would have played the Bond girl kind of goofy like that?" he asks. "I know that I can harden people up. I know I can make them the assassin, but getting the charm and the love and the humour out of someone is trickier. But she had it." In Knives Out, Stahelski saw someone who could go from scared and uncertain to a look of "I'm going to stab you in the eye". "I like that in my action heroes," he says. "I don't want to see the stoic, superhero vibe where everything's going to be OK." But it wasn't just her acting or her charisma that convinced Stahelski. It was her life story. "John Wick is all hard work - and I don't mean just in the training. You've got to love it and put yourself out there," says Stahelski. "When you get her story about how she came from the age of 12, got into acting, what she sacrificed, what she did, that's what got my attention. 'Oh, she's a perseverer. She doesn't just enjoy the view, she enjoys the climb'." When that quote is read back to her, de Armas laughs, and agrees. "Being Cuban, and my upbringing and my family and everything I've done, I've never had a plan B," she says. "I've never had that thing of, 'Well, if it doesn't work, my family can help.' Or, 'I can do this other career.' This was it. This is how I feed myself and my family. So it's also a sense of, I don't know, responsibility." That makes her reflect back to when she was just trying to make it in Hollywood, sounding out words and trying not to be intimidated by the action star across from her. "I was so committed to do it," she says. "When I give something a shot, I try my best, whatever that is. Then I can actually say: I gave it a shot." Years before Ana de Armas was using an ice skate to slice a neck in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, she co-starred with Keanu Reeves in a much different film. The erotic thriller Knock Knock, released in 2015, was de Armas' first Hollywood film. De Armas, born and raised in Cuba, had just come to Los Angeles after acting in Spain. English was new to her, so she had to learn her lines phonetically. "It was tough and I felt miserable at times and very lonely," she says. "But I wanted to prove myself. I remember being in meetings with producers and they would be like, 'OK, I'll see you in a year when you learn English.' Before I left the office, I would say, 'I'll see you in two months'." Since Knock Knock, her rise to stardom has been one of the last decade's most meteoric. She was radiant even as a hologram in Blade Runner 2049. She stole the show in Rian Johnson's star-studded Knives Out. She breezed through the Bond movie No Time to Die and was Oscar nominated for her Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. And now, 10 years after those scenes with Reeves, de Armas is for the first time headlining a big summer action movie. In Ballerina, de Armas's progressive development as an unlikely action star reaches a butt-kicking crescendo, inheriting the mantle of one of the most esteemed, high-body-count franchises. "It's a big moment in my career, and I know that. I can see that," she says. "It makes me look back in many ways, just being with Keanu in another film in such a different place in my career. It definitely gives me perspective of the journey and everything since we met. Things have come far since then." While de Armas, 37, isn't new to movie stardom, or the tabloid coverage that comes with it, many of her career highlights have been streaming releases. The Gray Man and Blonde were Netflix. Ghosted was Apple TV+. But Ballerina will rely on de Armas (and abiding "John Wick" fandom) to put moviegoers in seats. Reviews, particularly for de Armas playing a ballerina-assassin, have been good. "There's a lot of pressure," says director Len Wiseman. "It's a lot to carry all on her shoulders. But she'll be the first person to tell you: 'Put it on. Let me carry the weight. I'm totally game'." De Armas, whose talents include the ability to be present and personable on even the most frenzied red carpets, has done the globe-trotting work to make Ballerina a big deal: appearing at CinemaCon, gamely eating hot wings and cheerfully deflecting questions about her next film, Deeper, with Tom Cruise. Yet for someone so comfortable in the spotlight, one of the more interesting facts about de Armas is that she lives part-time in that bastion of young A-listers: Vermont. "Yeah, it surprised many people," she says, chuckling. "As soon as I went up there, I knew that was going to be a place that would bring me happiness and sanity and peace. But I know for a Cuban who doesn't like cold very much, it's very strange." Winding up in northern New England is just as unexpected as landing an action movie like Ballerina. She grew up with the conviction, from age 12, that she would be an actor. But she studied theatre. "I never thought I was going to do action," de Armas says. "What was relatable for me was watching Cuban actors on TV and in movies. That was my reality. That's all I knew, so the actors I looked up to were those." De Armas also had bad asthma, which makes some of the things she does in Ballerina - a movie with a flamethrower duel - all the more remarkable to her. "I couldn't do anything," she remembers. "I couldn't run. I sometimes couldn't play with my friends. I had to just be home and be still so I wouldn't get an asthma attack. So I never thought of myself as someone athletic or able to run just a block. So this has been a surprise." At 14, she auditioned and got into Havana's National Theatre of Cuba. Four years later, with Spanish citizenship through her grandparents, she moved to Madrid to pursue acting. When she arrived in LA in 2014, she had to start all over again. Now as one of the top Latina stars in Hollywood, she's watched as immigrant paths like hers have grown increasingly arduous if not impossible. The Trump administration recently announced a travel ban on 12 countries and heavy restrictions on citizens of other countries, including Cuba. "I got here at a time when things were definitely easier in that sense," says de Armas, who announced her then-imminent US citizenship while hosting Saturday Night Live in 2023. "So I just feel very lucky for that. But it's difficult. Everything that's going on is very difficult and very sad and really challenging for many people. I definitely wish things were different." Chad Stahelski, director of the four John Wick films and producer of Ballerina, was about to start production on John Wick: Chapter 4 when producer Basil Iwanyk called to set up a Zoom about casting de Armas. He quickly watched every scene she had been in. "How many people would have played the Bond girl kind of goofy like that?" he asks. "I know that I can harden people up. I know I can make them the assassin, but getting the charm and the love and the humour out of someone is trickier. But she had it." In Knives Out, Stahelski saw someone who could go from scared and uncertain to a look of "I'm going to stab you in the eye". "I like that in my action heroes," he says. "I don't want to see the stoic, superhero vibe where everything's going to be OK." But it wasn't just her acting or her charisma that convinced Stahelski. It was her life story. "John Wick is all hard work - and I don't mean just in the training. You've got to love it and put yourself out there," says Stahelski. "When you get her story about how she came from the age of 12, got into acting, what she sacrificed, what she did, that's what got my attention. 'Oh, she's a perseverer. She doesn't just enjoy the view, she enjoys the climb'." When that quote is read back to her, de Armas laughs, and agrees. "Being Cuban, and my upbringing and my family and everything I've done, I've never had a plan B," she says. "I've never had that thing of, 'Well, if it doesn't work, my family can help.' Or, 'I can do this other career.' This was it. This is how I feed myself and my family. So it's also a sense of, I don't know, responsibility." That makes her reflect back to when she was just trying to make it in Hollywood, sounding out words and trying not to be intimidated by the action star across from her. "I was so committed to do it," she says. "When I give something a shot, I try my best, whatever that is. Then I can actually say: I gave it a shot."
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- Perth Now
Colin Trevorrow couldn't 'engage' with Star Wars after leaving project
Colin Trevorrow has found it a "struggle" to "engage" with Star Wars since he parted ways with LucasFilm. The 48-year-old filmmaker was in the process of developing Star Wars: Duel of the Fates - which ultimately became Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker - when he parted ways with the studio over creative differences, and it is only now he is considering watching spin-off TV show Andor because he has had to distance himself from the franchise. He told The Hollywood Reporter: 'My son and I have both decided that we are going to watch all of Andor this summer. But I do have to be honest; it has been a struggle for me to engage with anything Star Wars-related just on an emotional level. 'So, to the team that made Andor, I guess I can say that you're the ones who've finally brought me back in.' Leaving Star Wars allowed Colin to work on Jurassic World Dominion, and while the 2022 film was pitched as "the epic conclusion of the Jurassic era", he isn't surprised that a new movie, Jurassic World Rebirth, will be released this year. He said: "No, I wasn't [surprised. I was so deeply entrenched in what we were building over all of that time. It wasn't just the films and the two animated series on Netflix; we have the toys and the theme parks and everything else that we did. "So we built something that's strong enough to move forward, and I'm very proud of that. "I also know that pretty much every time a child is born, a new dinosaur fan is born. So I don't think the interest in seeing dinosaurs is ever really going to run out." Meanwhile, Colin wants to help up-and-coming filmmakers further their careers through his production company Metronome. He said: 'Because I've had some success in my career, my absolute top priority is not just paying it forward, but also being able to introduce new talent to move us forward. "We don't have farm teams in Hollywood, and I think that it's a responsibility of filmmakers to identify who's next. A lot of these icons that we have now were identified by another filmmaker, and that's something I would love to have on my record.'
Sky News AU
3 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Australian chess prodigy Reyaansh Chakrabarty talks grandmaster ambitions
For 11-year-old chess prodigy Reyaansh Chakrabarty, the hit Netflix show The Queen's Gambit sparked a love for the game that now takes him around the world on a quest to become Australia's first world champion. 'During the pandemic, I watched it a little bit, it's one of the things that got me interested in chess,' he told NewsWire this week in an exclusive interview. 'I didn't really know what chess was but I found it quite amusing, the pieces. 'She (Beth Harmon) is like looking up on the ceiling and watching the pieces move.' Like the fictional hero of the smash-hit show, Reyaansh imagines chess games in his head. 'I see pieces kind of everywhere,' he said. Reyaansh, from western Sydney, is a FIDE master with a classical rating of 2346 and his sharp rise has the Australian chess world excited. 'He is showing a lot of promise at a young age,' Australian Chess Federation publicity director Paul Power told NewsWire. The next level is international master, which generally means a rating of 2400 and three 'norms' or performance benchmarks a player needs to hit to gain the title. And then there is the rarefied world of grandmaster, a huge achievement that takes years of dedicated practice, study and ambition. Australia has only produced 10 grandmasters from a global field of about 2000. 'It's hard to predict that he is necessarily going to become a grandmaster, but he is certainly going about it the right way,' Mr Power said. 'Should he get to the GM title, Australia would be very pleased. It would be a feather in the cap, not just for Reyaansh and his family but for Australia.' Reyaansh's ambitions go even further and he dreams about becoming world champion. 'It's a huge call but right now I'm focused on improving step-by-step,' he said. It's an ambition that might seem extraordinary for an 11-year-old, but chess is a young person's game. The world champion is 18-year-old Indian wonder Gukesh Dommaraju, who ascended the throne in 2024 after beating Chinese GM Ding Liren in Singapore. Before Gukesh, the title was held by Norwegian legend Magnus Carlsen, widely credited as one of the greatest players in history alongside Garry Kasparov and controversial American icon Bobby Fischer. Mr Carlson became world champion at the age of 22. Reyaansh, a year 6 student at Strathfield South in Sydney's inner west, trains about five hours a day during the week, one hour before school and then four hours in the afternoon, and then for eight hours on Saturdays and Sundays. 'My school is very supportive of my chess, so I don't have much homework to do,' he said. 'But of course you still have to go to school and complete whatever you have to do.' He practises tactics and openings, or the first few moves in chess that dictate the development of a game, and constantly analyses his games looking for errors. Reyaansh also studies with Polish grandmaster Jacek Stopa through the Sydney Chess Academy, with face-to-face classes. 'He teaches me how deeply you need to prepare to get to the GM level,' he said. 'At the end of the class I'm very tired. The puzzles he gives me are very tough, like grandmaster level.' For black, Reyaansh loves the Caro-Kann and Queen's Gambit Declined defences. For white, he loves the Italian and Ruy Lopez openings. Russian champion Boris Spassky and Mr Fischer are his favourite players. 'I think he (Spassky) was very strong but also a nice guy. Bobby Fischer because he was a genius, one of the best players to ever live.' Reyaansh was born in Kolkata in India and immigrated to Australia at the age of two with his parents Sounak and Tapasri, both of whom support his chess dreams. Reyaansh has already beaten GMs, including Australian heavyweight Darryl Johansen at a match in Melbourne. 'It was the first GM I defeated,' Reyaansh said. 'It was a good game, it was probably heading towards a draw but he blundered and I won it.' Mr Johansen was gracious in defeat. 'He was a bit disappointed, but we discussed some moves after the game,' Reyaansh said. But there was no time to celebrate. 'I had two games the next day, so I had to kind of forget about it and prepare for the next time.' The youngster, who likes to read JK Rowling and the Dog Man comic books, has also interacted with legends of the game, including former world champion Vishy Anand, whom he met in Singapore. 'It was like a dream come true. He gave me advice on staying patient,' Reyaansh said. He returned to Sydney last week after competing in a tournament in Norway and has travelled to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Switzerland and Singapore to play against the best players in the world. When asked what he found really special about chess, he emphasised the intensity of the game and the mental focus it took to win. 'Even if you play perfectly the whole game, if you make one mistake, it's over,' he said. 'You need to focus from start to finish. You can't ever let you guard down.' Chess is in the midst of a popularity boom, triggered in part by The Queen's Gambit and the rising visibility of grandmasters on social media. Netflix claims more than 62 million people watched the show in its first 28 days on the streaming platform. Mr Power has also witnessed a growing number of youngsters trying out the game. 'The enthusiasm of primary level students is refreshing,' he said. For Reyaansh, finding a 'love for the game' is the first step children should take in their own chess pursuits. 'You have to find your love for the game,' he said. 'Otherwise, you'll kind of feel it is a chore. If you don't love it, you'll feel bored with it.'
