Latest news with #EternalSunshineoftheSpotlessMind
Time of India
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Josh Allen's ex Brittany Williams is happy with her little life, amidst Buffalo Bills' QB and Hailee Steinfeld's private wedding
(Image via Getty: Brittany Williams with Josh Allen) Exes getting back at their exes. Isn't this trending now? Cardi B getting back at Offset by going Insta-official with New England Patriots WR Stefon Diggs, Brittany Williams saying, 'I like this little life,' when her former beau Josh Allen is marrying Hailee Steinfeld at San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, California. There is no end to this feeling! It's liberating. It's educating. It's moving on in all its glory! Somewhat like real-life celebrities portraying the cast out of classic breakup-coping-mechanisms movies, 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', 'Casablanca', 'Blue Valentine', or 'Call Me By Your Name. ' For Brittany Williams, the definition of moving on from Josh Allen's marriage is crossing a quiet street in New York dressed charming Brittany Williams, a former love interest of the great Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, shared a cryptic(or not?) Instagram post, leaving fans wondering if she's truly moved on from her former lover boy. Williams is crossing a long, quiet road through the pedestrian lane wearing a charred chocolate-colored strapless mini dress. Williams paired the gorgeous mini dress with black-heeled slippers, caramel-colored rectangular goggles, and a cute dark brown-colored shoulder Hobo clutch bag! Her hands aren't empty! She sports a perfect figure, but her appetite is so regular! A large-size pizza in one hand and two coffees in another! Williams captioned her IG posts: 'I like this little life 💕@prettylittlething ad.' Fans react to watching Brittany Williams cross a quiet street in New York, looking all-alluring and ravishing This little life looks good on you 🤩 Hottie!!! You inspire so many girls out there!!! Thank you! My girl! XO 🍕 ☕️ combo ....elite Just keeps getting better and better Get it girl 🫶🏼✨ Made for this city Coffee, pizza & Britt 😚 Ur hotter than that slice of pizza Girl sooo cute love this whole vibe This is so New York Full steam ahead living your best little life ❤️❤️ That pizza looks BOMB Goddess 😍😍 what a babe 🤎 So fun! 🤎🤎🤎🤎 LOVE THIS Also Read: 'Your drinks are free in New England for life': David Andrews' retirement stirs up a whirlwind of emotions across the Patriots Nation | NFL News - Times of India
The Age
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
The one piece of advice Kate Winslet gave her actor daughter
The first time it occurred to Mia Threapleton that acting was a job she might be able to do, she was seven years old. She was watching Bugsy Malone, a comic musical starring a 13-year-old Jodie Foster as a Chicago gangster. 'I remember thinking: 'That looks really fun and she's really good and seems really cool. Is that something people can do that maybe I can do? Can I do that?'' A few years later, once she had realised that her lack of aptitude for maths probably ruled out becoming a marine biologist, she had made her decision. She told her mother she was going to be an actor. 'She said: 'Oh really? Well, if that's what you want to do, darling, definitely do it. It's very hard work'.' Which stuck in her mind, she adds. 'Because that's the only advice she's ever really given me. 'Read the script as many times as you can.' And 'it's really hard work'. And yes, it is, but that's why I like it.' It was reliable advice, given that Threapleton's mother is Oscar-winning actor Kate Winslet. That was, however, as far as any stage mothering went. Her mother's career was not part of their family life; she had a home office, which was out of bounds, and a working life elsewhere. Threapleton, whose father met her mother when he was assistant director on her 1998 film Hideous Kinky, says she could count on her hands the number of times she visited a film set before she was employed on one. She was also in her teens before she realised her mum was properly famous. Even now, she hasn't seen many of Winslet's films. 'As I got older, kids sort of knew who my mum was,' she says. 'But no one ever commented. Sometimes they asked if I'd ever watched the car scene in Titanic and I'd say no.' When she was 12, she remembers, the film was playing on the family television. 'That was the only scene I ever remember her going 'Oh God!' and covering my eyes! And I remember turning round and saying, 'Mum, I can still hear it!'' Which was certainly a triumphant teenage riposte, but put an end to that family viewing. 'Till now, I've never seen that film all the way through,' she adds. 'It's a bit ewww, nah! But I honestly haven't watched very many things she's done.' She thinks about that, then name-checks Michel Gondry's 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 'That one is really an amazing piece of artistry, on every level.' In 2022, the pair appeared together in an episode of Channel 4's I Am... series, as a mother and daughter navigating the perils of social media. When Winslet won the BAFTA for best actress, she paid tribute to Threapleton, saying 'there were days when it was agony for her to dig as deeply as she did into very frightening emotional territory sometimes, and it took my breath away'. Threapleton knew that her mother had achieved her career on her own; she didn't have any strings to pull. She wanted to do the same. Once she had made her decision, she found websites listing auditions under her own steam and started putting herself forward for open castings. Looking back at the first few audition tapes she made, she sees how much she learned from that process. Loading 'It's sad not to get the jobs you really want, but it's fun in the first place and a great learning opportunity, to try new things and throw things at the wall and see what sticks.' She looked for an agent only in her last year at school. 'I really wanted to finish school, because I was very aware that this might not work out and I might need a contingency plan,' she says. 'Also, I needed to do it for myself.' The week after she finished school, her new agent sent her a script. 'I read it and I was excited. I was quite exhausted as well, because the second year of A-levels was really difficult for me, but I'd made it. So I said then right, now's the time to commit or it's going to be shit. That's kind of my life motto now. Commit or it's shit. I think that's actually something my mum said to me.' A couple of weeks later, she was on the set of her first film, an Italian-Irish co-production called Shadows, which was a thrill; she was so green that she didn't even know what a camera angle was. 'How I came to be where I am now was entirely me-oriented. Nobody pushed me ... Nobody said 'oh, you'd be good, you should do that'.' Where she is now – exactly now – is the Cannes Film Festival, due to walk the red carpet with celebrated director Wes Anderson and a cohort of stars who feature regularly in his quirky, stylised comedies of very elaborate manners. Threapleton plays a leading role in his latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, as Liesl, the disaffected daughter of a ruthless business tycoon, Zsa-zsa Korda, played by Benicio del Toro. Threapleton is still touchingly breathless at having worked with the stars Anderson regularly summons for his film-making summer camps, where cast and crew live and eat together for the duration of the shoot and Anderson sets out a table of films and books for them to watch and read as inspiration. They filmed at Babelsberg Studios and stayed in a hotel by one of Berlin's pristine lakes, going swimming on days off. At the dinner table, she might find Bryan Cranston, Scarlett Johansson and Benedict Cumberbatch, even Tom Hanks. She couldn't believe, she said later, that she was there with Woody from Toy Story. Like Anderson's earlier film The Royal Tenenbaums, this is a story of unhappy families. Korda has just survived a sixth assassination attempt and decided it is time to hand over his empire to his only daughter, passing over his brood of witless sons. She will secure their fortune's future by pushing through his pet project, a vast real-estate deal in a developing economy that is being passed off as economically benevolent and environmentally responsible. Liesl wants nothing to do with it. For one thing, she hasn't seen her father in six years. And another thing: she's now a nun. In line with the rest of her self-driven career, Threapleton was chosen for the role on the basis of an audition tape, one of hundreds sent in response to a casting call. In an interview in Vanity Fair, Anderson said her reading stood out from a very large pack. 'She was clearly really thinking about every moment. She just seemed completely authentic,' he said. 'When you see the same scene played again and again and again by people who maybe aren't right for the part anyway, to have somebody who seems like she's in a documentary and she's interesting – this stops everything.' It might surprise fans of Anderson's arch, meticulously constructed meta-worlds to read that he wanted someone who seemed real, especially after seeing Threapleton as Liesl. When she isn't speaking, her face is set in an expression of mute resistance; her movements are not so much robotic as geometric, so that she seems to click into position. Her voice, uncannily like her mother's, is clear and clipped. She is like the most Andersonian character ever to be in an Anderson film, to the manner born. What she says Anderson wanted from her, however, was a kind of naturalism. 'When I did my first audition tape, I had a feeling of how I wanted to do it: in the way that makes the most sense to me. And that, it turns out, was what Wes wanted when it came to filming.' He would regularly tell her to be simple, more natural; on one occasion, he spotted her between takes standing with her hands on her hips and jumped out to tell her to hold that stance. 'It was just very casual, very matter-of-fact,' she says. He does a huge number of takes, she discovered; on the first day, when they just shot little extra moments, they did 69. 'And that turned out to be a middle ground. Because he knows exactly what he wants – and he's questing to find that. And then he finds new things as we go, so they get added in. It's quite orchestral, in a way. A bit more of this, less of that, then all together.' Liesl's ramrod back was one aspect of the character that came naturally to her. 'I stand up quite straight anyway because I'm five foot three, so everyone's taller than me. Her physicality and body positioning isn't actually dissimilar from my own. Her stillness and steadiness and precision: that was something that ended up happening after I had the costume on. Partly because I refused to sit down in it when we weren't filming. The material, I could see, was going to crease instantly.' Funny, that's just the kind of thing you would expect from her down-to-earth mother, concerned not to create more unnecessary ironing. The two women have a similar sort of boisterous physicality, too. As a child, says Threapleton, she wanted to be George in The Famous Five. 'I was forever climbing trees; my knees were filthy as a kid. And I wanted to have Timmy the dog! I do now have a dog, so I do feel like George. It's a little dream that came true, I guess.' Her mother would lead the charge on weekend walks, setting a cracking marching pace, through local fields or on trips further to the countryside. 'I now do that myself on a much more extreme level,' she says. 'I love that. That's my little escape. Long distance, camping, taking the dog for a week and just walking around different places. Having little adventures, finding the places where nobody goes. I'm really happy with my own company.' That cheerful confidence doesn't quite extend, however, to the formidable rituals of the Cannes Film Festival. We spoke before The Phoenician Scheme 's premiere, accompanied by the pomp and ceremony that this festival, more than any other, has preserved from a previous era. At least she would be walking the red carpet with a crowd, given that Anderson's team would all be there. 'It's terrifying, absolutely terrifying,' she said. 'But I will be fine, doing a lot of deep breathing and concentrating on not falling over my own feet going up those stairs.' Loading The first time she saw The Phoenician Scheme, she told Vanity Fair, she was able to see it alone in a theatre: a special screening for the star. She admitted that she cried all the way through. After the Cannes screening, as the camera covering the now traditional standing ovation was focused on each of the film's team in turn, we saw that she once again had tears running down her face. People were applauding; people were applauding her. She tried to wipe the tears away, but her face kept crumpling. And it was an emotional moment. For Mia Threapleton, stardom had arrived.
Sydney Morning Herald
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The one piece of advice Kate Winslet gave her actor daughter
The first time it occurred to Mia Threapleton that acting was a job she might be able to do, she was seven years old. She was watching Bugsy Malone, a comic musical starring a 13-year-old Jodie Foster as a Chicago gangster. 'I remember thinking: 'That looks really fun and she's really good and seems really cool. Is that something people can do that maybe I can do? Can I do that?'' A few years later, once she had realised that her lack of aptitude for maths probably ruled out becoming a marine biologist, she had made her decision. She told her mother she was going to be an actor. 'She said: 'Oh really? Well, if that's what you want to do, darling, definitely do it. It's very hard work'.' Which stuck in her mind, she adds. 'Because that's the only advice she's ever really given me. 'Read the script as many times as you can.' And 'it's really hard work'. And yes, it is, but that's why I like it.' It was reliable advice, given that Threapleton's mother is Oscar-winning actor Kate Winslet. That was, however, as far as any stage mothering went. Her mother's career was not part of their family life; she had a home office, which was out of bounds, and a working life elsewhere. Threapleton, whose father met her mother when he was assistant director on her 1998 film Hideous Kinky, says she could count on her hands the number of times she visited a film set before she was employed on one. She was also in her teens before she realised her mum was properly famous. Even now, she hasn't seen many of Winslet's films. 'As I got older, kids sort of knew who my mum was,' she says. 'But no one ever commented. Sometimes they asked if I'd ever watched the car scene in Titanic and I'd say no.' When she was 12, she remembers, the film was playing on the family television. 'That was the only scene I ever remember her going 'Oh God!' and covering my eyes! And I remember turning round and saying, 'Mum, I can still hear it!'' Which was certainly a triumphant teenage riposte, but put an end to that family viewing. 'Till now, I've never seen that film all the way through,' she adds. 'It's a bit ewww, nah! But I honestly haven't watched very many things she's done.' She thinks about that, then name-checks Michel Gondry's 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 'That one is really an amazing piece of artistry, on every level.' In 2022, the pair appeared together in an episode of Channel 4's I Am... series, as a mother and daughter navigating the perils of social media. When Winslet won the BAFTA for best actress, she paid tribute to Threapleton, saying 'there were days when it was agony for her to dig as deeply as she did into very frightening emotional territory sometimes, and it took my breath away'. Threapleton knew that her mother had achieved her career on her own; she didn't have any strings to pull. She wanted to do the same. Once she had made her decision, she found websites listing auditions under her own steam and started putting herself forward for open castings. Looking back at the first few audition tapes she made, she sees how much she learned from that process. Loading 'It's sad not to get the jobs you really want, but it's fun in the first place and a great learning opportunity, to try new things and throw things at the wall and see what sticks.' She looked for an agent only in her last year at school. 'I really wanted to finish school, because I was very aware that this might not work out and I might need a contingency plan,' she says. 'Also, I needed to do it for myself.' The week after she finished school, her new agent sent her a script. 'I read it and I was excited. I was quite exhausted as well, because the second year of A-levels was really difficult for me, but I'd made it. So I said then right, now's the time to commit or it's going to be shit. That's kind of my life motto now. Commit or it's shit. I think that's actually something my mum said to me.' A couple of weeks later, she was on the set of her first film, an Italian-Irish co-production called Shadows, which was a thrill; she was so green that she didn't even know what a camera angle was. 'How I came to be where I am now was entirely me-oriented. Nobody pushed me ... Nobody said 'oh, you'd be good, you should do that'.' Where she is now – exactly now – is the Cannes Film Festival, due to walk the red carpet with celebrated director Wes Anderson and a cohort of stars who feature regularly in his quirky, stylised comedies of very elaborate manners. Threapleton plays a leading role in his latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, as Liesl, the disaffected daughter of a ruthless business tycoon, Zsa-zsa Korda, played by Benicio del Toro. Threapleton is still touchingly breathless at having worked with the stars Anderson regularly summons for his film-making summer camps, where cast and crew live and eat together for the duration of the shoot and Anderson sets out a table of films and books for them to watch and read as inspiration. They filmed at Babelsberg Studios and stayed in a hotel by one of Berlin's pristine lakes, going swimming on days off. At the dinner table, she might find Bryan Cranston, Scarlett Johansson and Benedict Cumberbatch, even Tom Hanks. She couldn't believe, she said later, that she was there with Woody from Toy Story. Like Anderson's earlier film The Royal Tenenbaums, this is a story of unhappy families. Korda has just survived a sixth assassination attempt and decided it is time to hand over his empire to his only daughter, passing over his brood of witless sons. She will secure their fortune's future by pushing through his pet project, a vast real-estate deal in a developing economy that is being passed off as economically benevolent and environmentally responsible. Liesl wants nothing to do with it. For one thing, she hasn't seen her father in six years. And another thing: she's now a nun. In line with the rest of her self-driven career, Threapleton was chosen for the role on the basis of an audition tape, one of hundreds sent in response to a casting call. In an interview in Vanity Fair, Anderson said her reading stood out from a very large pack. 'She was clearly really thinking about every moment. She just seemed completely authentic,' he said. 'When you see the same scene played again and again and again by people who maybe aren't right for the part anyway, to have somebody who seems like she's in a documentary and she's interesting – this stops everything.' It might surprise fans of Anderson's arch, meticulously constructed meta-worlds to read that he wanted someone who seemed real, especially after seeing Threapleton as Liesl. When she isn't speaking, her face is set in an expression of mute resistance; her movements are not so much robotic as geometric, so that she seems to click into position. Her voice, uncannily like her mother's, is clear and clipped. She is like the most Andersonian character ever to be in an Anderson film, to the manner born. What she says Anderson wanted from her, however, was a kind of naturalism. 'When I did my first audition tape, I had a feeling of how I wanted to do it: in the way that makes the most sense to me. And that, it turns out, was what Wes wanted when it came to filming.' He would regularly tell her to be simple, more natural; on one occasion, he spotted her between takes standing with her hands on her hips and jumped out to tell her to hold that stance. 'It was just very casual, very matter-of-fact,' she says. He does a huge number of takes, she discovered; on the first day, when they just shot little extra moments, they did 69. 'And that turned out to be a middle ground. Because he knows exactly what he wants – and he's questing to find that. And then he finds new things as we go, so they get added in. It's quite orchestral, in a way. A bit more of this, less of that, then all together.' Liesl's ramrod back was one aspect of the character that came naturally to her. 'I stand up quite straight anyway because I'm five foot three, so everyone's taller than me. Her physicality and body positioning isn't actually dissimilar from my own. Her stillness and steadiness and precision: that was something that ended up happening after I had the costume on. Partly because I refused to sit down in it when we weren't filming. The material, I could see, was going to crease instantly.' Funny, that's just the kind of thing you would expect from her down-to-earth mother, concerned not to create more unnecessary ironing. The two women have a similar sort of boisterous physicality, too. As a child, says Threapleton, she wanted to be George in The Famous Five. 'I was forever climbing trees; my knees were filthy as a kid. And I wanted to have Timmy the dog! I do now have a dog, so I do feel like George. It's a little dream that came true, I guess.' Her mother would lead the charge on weekend walks, setting a cracking marching pace, through local fields or on trips further to the countryside. 'I now do that myself on a much more extreme level,' she says. 'I love that. That's my little escape. Long distance, camping, taking the dog for a week and just walking around different places. Having little adventures, finding the places where nobody goes. I'm really happy with my own company.' That cheerful confidence doesn't quite extend, however, to the formidable rituals of the Cannes Film Festival. We spoke before The Phoenician Scheme 's premiere, accompanied by the pomp and ceremony that this festival, more than any other, has preserved from a previous era. At least she would be walking the red carpet with a crowd, given that Anderson's team would all be there. 'It's terrifying, absolutely terrifying,' she said. 'But I will be fine, doing a lot of deep breathing and concentrating on not falling over my own feet going up those stairs.' Loading The first time she saw The Phoenician Scheme, she told Vanity Fair, she was able to see it alone in a theatre: a special screening for the star. She admitted that she cried all the way through. After the Cannes screening, as the camera covering the now traditional standing ovation was focused on each of the film's team in turn, we saw that she once again had tears running down her face. People were applauding; people were applauding her. She tried to wipe the tears away, but her face kept crumpling. And it was an emotional moment. For Mia Threapleton, stardom had arrived.
Arab Times
15-04-2025
- Health
- Arab Times
Could we soon 'delete' traumatic memories? New methods show promise
LONDON, April 15: Could science fiction soon become reality? In the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Jim Carrey's character undergoes a memory-erasing procedure to forget his ex. While this concept seemed far-fetched at the time, advancements in technology are bringing us closer to the possibility of erasing or at least diminishing painful memories. Dr. Jonathan Rasouli, a neurosurgeon at Northwell Staten Island University Hospital, points to three cutting-edge methods that are already being used to help people suffering from depression and PTSD by 'muting' or 'dampening' traumatic memories. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) 'TMS is like wireless jumper cables for your brain — but a lot more precise,' Dr. Rasouli explained. TMS is a noninvasive treatment that uses magnetic fields (similar to those in an MRI) to stimulate specific parts of the brain, primarily targeting areas involved in mood regulation. The treatment involves placing a magnetic coil on the patient's scalp, sending pulses to specific areas of the brain. 'It is mainly used for treatment-resistant depression, but researchers are also exploring its effects on memory recall, emotional processing, and addiction,' Rasouli said. While the theory is still in its early stages of testing, the goal is to target certain brain circuits to change the way people access their memories. In the future, it could potentially help individuals reshape memory associations—though, for now, this is expected to be limited to clinical settings rather than offering DIY memory deletion kits. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) functions as a 'brain pacemaker' and is currently used to treat conditions like Parkinson's disease, dystonia, epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and major depression. Small electrodes are implanted directly into specific areas of the brain, sending electrical impulses to regulate movement and mood. 'Some studies show that DBS can influence emotional memory, reward processing, and even reduce traumatic recall,' Rasouli shared. However, he emphasized that this research is still in its infancy. In theory, DBS could eventually be used to 'mute' traumatic memories, but since it's an invasive procedure, it's unlikely to become a common outpatient treatment. Propranolol Therapy Propranolol, a beta-blocker medication typically prescribed for high blood pressure, has also shown potential in therapeutic settings. Researchers have found that it can 'dampen the emotional 'punch' of memories,' making it useful for conditions like PTSD. 'This is probably the closest real-world counterpart to the Eternal Sunshine concept, but it doesn't actually delete memories,' Rasouli clarified. Instead of erasing memories entirely, propranolol makes them feel less vivid or emotionally distressing. 'When taken before recalling a traumatic event, propranolol reduces the intensity of the emotional response, essentially 'reconsolidating' the memory with less emotional weight,' Rasouli explained. It has been used in experimental treatments for PTSD, anxiety, and phobias, offering a potential solution for those seeking relief from the emotional intensity of certain memories. While none of these methods provide a way to completely erase memories like in science fiction, they represent real advancements in how we may one day be able to manage and reduce the emotional impact of painful memories.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ariana Grande's new short film includes movie references to 'X-Men' and 'Minority Report.' Here's every detail you may have missed.
Ariana Grande released the deluxe version of her album "Eternal Sunshine" on Friday. The release was paired with a short film co-directed by Grande and Christian Breslauer. The short film features a string of movie references and an explicit shout-out to Steven Spielberg. Ariana Grande released "Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead" on Friday, an extended version of her Grammy-nominated seventh studio album. Grande has described "Eternal Sunshine" as a concept album, drawing liberally from Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." The 2004 sci-fi film stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as ill-matched lovers who decide to erase their memories of each other, arguably dooming themselves to a never-ending loop of heartbreak. The deluxe edition's arrival was paired with a short film, co-directed by Grande and Christian Breslauer, who previously helmed the visual for "Yes, And?" Much like the album itself, "Brighter Days Ahead" is thematically and aesthetically influenced by Gondry's cult classic — as well as other significant moments in cinema. Keep reading for the key references and details we found. Grande's character is called Peaches, a reference to Winslet's character in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Grande's fans first met Peaches in the music video for "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)," which premiered last March. The character's fruity name is a clear nod to Clementine, the impulsive yet lovable heroine from "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," who is portrayed by Winslet. "We Can't Be Friends" shows Peaches arriving at Brighter Days, Inc. for a futuristic memory-erasure procedure. (In Gondry's film, the clinic is called Lacuna, Inc., a word that means "a blank space or a missing part," according to Merriam-Webster.) Grande's new short film picks up 70 years after the events of "We Can't Be Friends." "Now, she finds herself once again in the waiting room of Brighter Days Inc., but this time for a very different appointment," the video's description reads. "The company now offers advanced memory restoration, allowing her to revisit a curated selection of moments from her life — both cherished and painful." In the opening scene, we can see that Grande's signature hand tattoos have become faded and blotchy with time. Peaches uses a machine to revisit four past memories, which play out like a series of mini music videos. The short film features six songs from "Eternal Sunshine." "Intro (End of the World)," "Eternal Sunshine," and "Supernatural" were all included on the album's standard edition, while "Dandelion," "Twilight Zone," and "Hampstead" are deluxe tracks. The memory machine bears an uncanny resemblance to Cerebro from the "X-Men" franchise. Cerebro is a supercomputer that amplifies the telepathic powers of Professor Charles Xavier, played by Patrick Stewart in the original "X-Men" trilogy. Perhaps Grande is lobbying for a role in the newly expanded MCU? The machine's design also evokes Steven Spielberg's 2002 sci-fi film "Minority Report." The futuristic action flick "Minority Report" stars Tom Cruise as Chief John Anderton. His police department, Precrime, is tasked with analyzing psychic premonitions, which they use to catch would-be killers before they commit premeditated murders. The memory machine depicted in Grande's short film resembles the technology in "Minority Report," especially the spheres where Peaches' memories are stored. The "Brighter Days Ahead" credits seem to confirm this parallel; they include a line that reads "Additional Thanks to Universal Studios, Steven Spielberg," the director of "Minority Report." Even before her Oscar-nominated turn as Glinda in "Wicked," Grande was no stranger to referencing movies in her work. She previously included nods to "Catwoman" in "The Boy Is Mine" (2024) and "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" in "34+35" (2020). Most famously, Grande's 2018 "Thank U, Next" video paid homage to a handful of female-led rom-coms: "Mean Girls," "Legally Blonde," "13 Going on 30," and "Bring It On." When she performed the hit song on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" with cowriters Victoria Monét and Tayla Parx, they reenacted the iconic final scene from "The First Wives Club." Grande used a similar looping machine for a live performance of "Positions." Following the release of "Positions" in 2020, Grande collaborated with Vevo to produce a series of live performances of songs from the album. To kick off her performance of the title track, Grande used a looping machine to stack her vocals and harmonies — almost identical to the one she uses in "Brighter Days Ahead" to perform the "Eternal Sunshine" title track. "That was one of the first instruments she had as a child, and she would loop her vocals to make songs up," Vevo exec Ed Walker told Business Insider. "She told us this story on set, about how it was crazy because she hadn't used one of those loopers in like, 10 years. She got one in the studio and she just used it and then she was like, 'Right, we're starting the song with this.' It took her back to being in her bedroom." Grande has also said she "fell in love" with using looping machines after watching Imogen Heap perform at a young age. Grande's real dad, Ed Butera, plays a Frankenstein-like version of her dad in the film. The final segment of the short film is a black-and-white music video for "Hampstead," the final track on the deluxe album. Grande's dad, Ed Butera, plays a doctor who literally stitches his daughter's body back together. He finds her still-beating heart in a tavern and her brain in a pile of junk, echoing the song's lyrics: "I left my heart at a pub in Hampstead / And I misplaced my mind in a good way." In the end, the doctor is able to resurrect his daughter by playing a song for her on his piano. Read the original article on Business Insider
