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The Guardian
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
America used to fire the world's imagination – but now the cultural conversation is being silenced
This week, fresh data revealed the United States has seen its biggest drop in Australian tourists since Covid. It's hardly surprising. Innocent people are being snatched by authorities from American streets. Citizens of foreign countries are being stopped, shackled and detained. The EU is now sending its emissaries with burner phones, lest personal social media posts critical of President Trump be discovered by border agents and … who knows what happens next? Forcible relocation to a Salvadorian supermax prison, seemingly without chance of release, is suddenly not out of the question. It all seems like something from Hollywood dystopia; the V series, maybe. Or Escape from New York. It's pretty much the plot line of the first season of Andor – which I strongly recommend that everyone watch before the Trump regime clocks what that show is advising and it vanishes faster than a copy of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl from an American high school library. The harassment of visitors seems disproportionate. This is not merely because Americans were once champions of free speech, but because they used to champion democratic rights, the rule of law and statements of fact. America isn't doing facts any more. Hence the defunding of science agencies and a political interference in education and research they are imposing on researchers beyond their borders. The Australian National Tertiary Education Union secretary, Damien Cahill, explains it with sad simplicity: Australian universities are having projects defunded 'because they don't fit with Trump's authoritarian rightwing agenda'. As a tourist pitch for America, 'Come see Hamilton on Broadway!' had a stronger appeal. 'Experience Burning Man!' offered pure vibes and 'What Happens in Vegas …' was tempting to many. It's a diverse world, people have diverse tastes. Some Australians long to see Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and Donald Judd sculptures in the context in which they were created. Some want to play blackjack at Harrah's with a jazz musician they befriend in a bar. Sometimes you want both of those experiences, so you return to America time after time, marvelling at the orange rainbow of autumn trees that inspired Rachel Carson to save American wildlife, and zipping along in a cable car like Michael Douglas in The Streets of San Francisco. But no one goes anywhere to be trapped in a small room with border agents who call them 'retarded', insist they are a drug dealer and brag that 'Trump is back in town'… which allegedly happened to an Australian who had a valid working visa for the US, and was reported in the Guardian last week. Similar stories have spread from our shared-language cousins the Canadians and the Brits. Friends are cancelling their holidays to the US, making the calculation that lost deposits are a smaller price to pay than the anxiety of risk. After a French academic was denied entry to the US over some anti-Trump messages on his phone, Australian academics have foregone conference travel for zooming in. The Victorian LGBTQIA+ commissioner, Joe Ball, has warned LGBTQIA+ Australians about the risks of travel to the country that once mainstreamed Queer Eye, Caitlyn Jenner, James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein and RuPaul. Ball has personally cancelled travel plans, revealing he did not want to make himself – or his family – unsafe. The Australian government's Smartraveller website has – like other countries – upgraded its travel warnings. Advice that consular assistance cannot help you at the border chills the blood. There's a cost to this beyond the tourist dollars and economic impacts others will analyse. It's the great silencing of a cultural conversation once led by America, rooted in values of social freedom and personal liberty that influenced the imagination of the world. Watching a Melbourne production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies recently, it struck me that the cultural context of its creation – to address and critique the (musical) traditions and practices it inherited, its story of individuals confronted by the implications of their own free choices – is not the American hegemony any more. Every US cultural persona, text and institution I have mentioned in this piece, from cop shows to modernist poetry, articulates either a demand for freedom or an expression of how to live with it, however bravely or imperfectly. This was the American greatness, and why its cultural products inspired everyone from the kids of conformist societies to the adults of deeply oppressed ones to engage with its values. Once upon a time, America was not afraid to be asked by the rest of the world how well it managed to live those values. Now you can't be sure what treatment awaits you at the border. Those once Trump-positive politicians from Australia, Canada and the UK struggling to understand a paradigm shift in which the Maga hats they wore at Christmas have become a headwear mark of Cain are not adapting well. 'I don't know Donald Trump' doesn't work coming from a Peter Dutton who insists he could have landed special treatment regarding Trump's tariffs. I suggest their problem is as politicians they're misjudging the current anti-Trump moment as policy fallout, when for ordinary TV-watching, book-reading, show-going, music-listening people, it's cultural grieving. Australians and other world citizens are not merely declining to visit the United States. We have started to cease to imagine it. Van Badham is a Guardian Australia columnist
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kurt Russell delights fans as he reunites with co-star after more than 40 years
Kurt Russell has left his fans overjoyed after reuniting with his co-star from The Thing, Keith David, after more than 40 years. The duo were in attendance at a ceremony honouring the great horror director John Carpenter as he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday (3 April). In footage captured at the event by writer Wynter Mitchell, the two are seen embracing and sharing a few warm exchanges, with Russell telling David: 'You look terrific.' Despite both being frequent collaborators with Carpenter, The Thing, which was remade in 2011, remains the only movie the two ever starred in together. They played American researchers in Antarctica, battling a shape-shifting alien life-form in the horror classic. Their respective characters, MacReady and Childs, are the only two survivors at the film's conclusion, leading to an iconic ending where fans are led to believe that either one of them has been possessed by the extra-terrestrial entity. The clip of their reunion in Los Angeles, which has since gone viral, has prompted fans to express their own happiness at seeing the two with each other again. The first time Keith and Kurt have seen each other in 4 decades is right here for 18 seconds. — 🔥 🏠 with a Y 🏠 🔥 (@wyntermitchell) April 4, 2025 In response, one person said: 'Dudes rock.' Another wrote: 'This s*** means something to me, man.' A third simply called them: 'Two absolute icons and legends.' Meanwhile, another fan joked: 'Somebody quick, ask them if Giles or MacReady was The Thing at the end of the movie?' Some eagle-eyed fans also noticed The Thing cinematographer Dean Cundey standing behind Russell and David. 'Dean Cundey glaring at them in the background is killing me,' said one amused viewer. Besides The Thing, Russell worked with Carpenter on Escape from New York, and its sequel Escape from LA, as well as Big Trouble in Little China and the TV film Elvis. David's only other Carpenter film was the cult 1988 sci-fi movie They Live. Speaking at the Hollywood Walk of Fame event, Russell said: 'There are very, very few directors whose signature is so clearly and instantly stamped upon a film that within thirty seconds of viewing it, the informed watcher can boldly and confidently say out loud, oh that's directed by so and so. John Carpenter is one of those rare, very few so and so's…there's nobody more deserving, my friend, than John Carpenter'. In a brief speech, Carpenter thanked the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for adding his star to the Walk of Fame and added: 'I was looking for a career in Hollywood. Well, I found my career. And today, I have found Hollywood.'
The Independent
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Kurt Russell delights fans as he reunites with co-star after more than 40 years
Kurt Russell has left his fans overjoyed after reuniting with his co-star from The Thing, Keith David, after more than 40 years. The duo were in attendance at a ceremony honouring the great horror director John Carpenter as he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday (3 April). In footage captured at the event by writer Wynter Mitchell, the two are seen embracing and sharing a few warm exchanges, with Russell telling David: 'You look terrific.' Despite both being frequent collaborators with Carpenter, The Thing, which was remade in 2011, remains the only movie the two ever starred in together. They played American researchers in Antarctica, battling a shape-shifting alien life-form in the horror classic. Their respective characters, MacReady and Childs, are the only two survivors at the film's conclusion, leading to an iconic ending where fans are led to believe that either one of them has been possessed by the extra-terrestrial entity. The clip of their reunion in Los Angeles, which has since gone viral, has prompted fans to express their own happiness at seeing the two with each other again. In response, one person said: 'Dudes rock.' Another wrote: 'This s*** means something to me, man.' A third simply called them: 'Two absolute icons and legends.' Meanwhile, another fan joked: 'Somebody quick, ask them if Giles or MacReady was The Thing at the end of the movie?' Some eagle-eyed fans also noticed The Thing cinematographer Dean Cundey standing behind Russell and David. 'Dean Cundey glaring at them in the background is killing me,' said one amused viewer. Besides The Thing, Russell worked with Carpenter on Escape from New York, and its sequel Escape from LA, as well as Big Trouble in Little China and the TV film Elvis. David's only other Carpenter film was the cult 1988 sci-fi movie They Live. Speaking at the Hollywood Walk of Fame event, Russell said: 'There are very, very few directors whose signature is so clearly and instantly stamped upon a film that within thirty seconds of viewing it, the informed watcher can boldly and confidently say out loud, oh that's directed by so and so. John Carpenter is one of those rare, very few so and so's…there's nobody more deserving, my friend, than John Carpenter'. In a brief speech, Carpenter thanked the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for adding his star to the Walk of Fame and added: 'I was looking for a career in Hollywood. Well, I found my career. And today, I have found Hollywood.'
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn Smile on Low-Key Date Night Together in Los Angeles
Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn stepped out for date night again in Los Angeles Russell and Hawn, who have been together since 1984, were photographed spending time in L.A.'s Bel Air neighborhood The couple were previously seen holding hands outside the Santa Monica restaurant Giorgio Baldi on March 30 Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn are all smiles in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, April 2, Russell, 74, and longtime partner Hawn, 79, were photographed as they walked together in L.A.'s Bel Air neighborhood. Russell smiled as he wore a flannel shirt over a solid black T-shirt with jeans and sneakers, while Hawn wore a black jacket, sneakers, pants and handbag. Hawn and Russell share son Wyatt Russell as well as Russell's son Boston and Hawn's kids Oliver Hudson and Kate Hudson. The couple have been together since 1984, though they have never married. Prior to their appearance in Bel Air, the couple were most recently photographed holding hands outside the Santa Monica-based Italian restaurant Giorgio Baldi on Sunday, March 30. Related: Goldie Hawn Dressed Up This Everyday Shoe for a Date Night with Kurt Russell — Grab a Pair from $27 Russell also stepped out in L.A on Thursday, April 3, when he attended director John Carpenter's Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony. Russell spoke in support of Carpenter, 77, with whom he made movies like 1981's Escape from New York and 1982's The Thing, as well as 1996's Escape from L.A. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Hawn and Russell have always been vocal about what keeps their romance thriving. "You have to have good sex," Hawn told E! News at MindUP's The Goldie Hawn Foundation charity event in September, when asked about building a long-lasting relationship. 'Because sex is something that connects you and creates more belonging. People who have healthy sexual relationships usually last a lot longer," she added. "But it's not just because of the act, it's because of the warmth and the intimacy that it creates." Related: Kurt Russell Reveals He and Val Kilmer Exchanged These Dark Gifts After Filming Tombstone in 2024 Interview Russell and Hawn stepped out together at the 2025 Oscars on March 2. Hawn appeared onstage with Andrew Garfield at the ceremony to present the award for Best Animated Film. Russell stars in Matthew McConaughey's new movie The Rivals of Amziah King, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. He will also voice a character in July's Smurfs movie, which costars Rihanna. Hawn, meanwhile, has not acted since she appeared alongside Russell in the two Christmas Chronicles movies, though she has said in recent months that she would like to make a movie with her family. Read the original article on People
South China Morning Post
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Who is Sylvester Stallone's brother Frank Stallone – who called LA ‘scary' and ‘filthy'? The Grammy and Academy Award-nominated musician and actor is a Trump supporter who worked on the Rocky saga
Frank Stallone, the younger brother of legendary actor Sylvester Stallone , has seen California change over the decades – and he's not happy about it. In a new interview, he called out the American city for becoming a 'scary' and 'filthy' place. Frank Stallone says he first came to California in 1979. Photo: Handout 'I came to California in [19]79 and it was totally – it was California dreamin', and I wasn't even in the best time,' Stallone told Fox News . 'No, it was a lot better earlier … but it was real California sunny, you know? Cool. Not much crime.' Advertisement He described his recent drive through downtown Los Angeles. 'The graffiti and the homelessness is almost like that movie Escape from New York,' he said. 'I mean, it's that scary. I mean, I batten down the window, locks … You're talking trash piled four feet high. Just filth,' Stallone continued. He placed blame on Gavin Newsom's leadership, calling him a 'bad governor'. Frank Stallone is no longer a fan of Los Angeles, and hankers after the good old days. Photo: @ Here's what we know about Sylvester Stallone's outspoken brother. Frank Stallone Jr is an actor and musician Frank Stallone is a Grammy-nominated American musician, and the younger brother of Sylvester Stallone. Photo: Handout Frank Stallone Jr was born on July 30, 1950, to Jackie Stallone and Frank Stallone Sr.
