Latest news with #MarkStrong
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nicole Kidman hails explosive finale of Nine Perfect Strangers Season 2 as beginning of something deeper
Nicole Kidman has described the explosive finale of Nine Perfect Strangers Season 2 as the beginning of something deeper. "It's like it's only just beginning," the 57-year-old said of the combative final moments between her character, Masha Dmitrichenko, and billionaire David Sharpe, played by 61-year-old Mark Strong. Set in the Austrian Alps, the second season of Hulu's psychological drama ended on 2 July, with the guests of Masha's retreat confronting their traumas through a series of intense therapeutic sessions, often involving psychedelic drugs. According to Variety, the finale saw fractured relationships mended and new bonds formed. Among those attending were Wolfie, played by 32-year-old Maisie Richardson-Sellers, and Tina, portrayed by 25-year-old King Princess, who ultimately broke up, although Tina rediscovered her passion for music. Murray Bartlett, 53, appeared as disgraced former children's TV host Brian, who parted ways with the puppet that defined his past and struck up a new friendship with Agnes, a former nun played by 55-year-old Dolly de Leon. Christine Baranski, 72, and 38-year-old Annie Murphy portrayed Victoria and Imogen, a mother-daughter pair who reconciled, with Imogen later arranging a meeting with Peter, played by 37-year-old Henry Golding. However, the relationship between Masha and David took a darker turn. Earlier in the season, Masha had revealed that her deceased daughter Tatiana was also David's child. Mark said: "It's a fascinating premise that Masha has arranged this group of people knowing that all of them, as you find out in the final episode, have been affected by this guy." In the final episode, David attempts a gesture of reparation, promising to remove his company from the weapons industry. But Masha discovers this is a lie and uses an AI-generated video to publicly force his hand. The last scene takes place in a McDonald's outside Berlin, which Nicole confirmed was a real location. "Yeah, we absolutely were. Just outside of Berlin," she said. Nicole added: "Yeah, chocolate," when asked whether she was drinking a real milkshake. Mark said: "Come lunchtime, everybody just tucked into the McDonald's. It's on a kind of estate outside of Berlin, like a drive pass near a motorway." Filming took place across multiple locations in the Austrian Alps. Nicole said: "We were definitely up in those Austrian Alps." She added director Jonathan Levine and Anthony Byrne helped coordinate the complex schedule.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Ending Explained: It's All About Connections
Nine Perfect Strangers Season 2 of Nine Perfect Strangers has come to an end on Hulu. More from Deadline 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Cast Through Both Seasons: From Tranquillium House To Zauberwald King Princess Unpacks 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Character Tina's Trauma And Creating 'The Most Toxic Lesbian Relationship Possible' Hulu Lands 'Best Offer Wins' Book Adaptation With Greta Lee Starring & Suzanne Heathcote Writing The show's first season arrivd in 2021, based on Liane Moriarty's novel and the nine characters within it that visited Nicole Kidman's Masha Dmitrichenko in fictional Cabrillo, California at Tranquillum House. Season 2 departed drastically from the novel, which told the singular story of characters played by Melissa McCarthy, Samara Weaving, Michael Shannon and more. Arriving nearly four years after its first installment, Season 2 of Nine Perfect Strangers watched nine new guests come to Masha's wellness retreat at Zauberwald, which included new technology she was working on and mysterious connections between the guests. For a recap of the finale and insights into how Season 2 wrapped up as well as speculation about a potential Season 3, read on. It's All About Connections Mark Strong's David Sharpe, a billionaire and the father of Henry Golding's Peter Shah who was late to the retreat in the first episode, turned out to be at the heart of the whole experience, at least for Masha's plan for ultimate healing. David's company Signal Op had military contracts, and through his multimillion dollar decisions, he made big ripples in the lives of all the other guests. Signal Op's 'smart bomb' affected Sister Agnes' (Dolly De Leon) former life as a nurse because she worked in war zone hospitals, and it also killed Matteo's (Aras Aydin) entire family. Signa Op's broadcast news channel also repeated aired the video of Brian's (Murray Bartlett) meltdown on set of his talk show Crabapple Clubhouse. He also pulled funding for a program to foster talented young musicians that left Wolfie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) in a lurch. Once Victoria (Christine Baranski) caught wind of what Masha was doing, she demanded audience with the guru in a separate room to try and persuade her to stop, because Victoria realized that once Imogen made the connection that her father had worked for Signal Op and made the technology behind the bombs, she would put together why he took his own life — an experience that Victoria and Imogen revisited together under influence of the mycelium. Dosing David with what looked to be 100% of mycelium, Masha conducted a trial of sorts where she pointed all of this out. While on the drugs, David vowed to stop manufacturing these bombs so that the tragedy would stop. Masha Lets Go of Tatiana After a Near-Death Experience & Leaves Zauberwald To Martin In the middle of this confession, Martin (Lucas Englander) stumbled down the stairs of the mansion also extremely high on mushrooms in an attempt to see his dead mother Helena (Lena Olin), who was Masha's health mentor and helped her after she lost her daughter Tatiana. Viewers learn of the connection between Martin and Helena in later episodes, and Helena's feelings toward her son were complicated, but she wanted Masha to take over Zauberwald, feeling like she couldn't leave it to him. Both of them summoned her with the mushrooms, and after Martin tried to shoot Masha in a raging blizzard when she was following David outside as he tried to get cell signal to cancel bomb manufacturing, she still decided to leave the land and retreat center to him. After her jarring fall to the snowy ground, Masha also said goodbye to her daughter, whom she had been conjuring with hallucinations through the mushrooms. The Nine Strangers Brian parted ways with his teddy bear puppet Jesse, who had been popping up hear and their to voice subconscious thoughts. He used to imbue Jesse with curiosity to talk to children and get them to open up on his television show. He didn't give up the antique marionettes with Sister Agnes though. The pair left the retreat in a car together, seeing headlines about David. Wolfie and Tina (King Princess) didn't make it through the retreat together. Described by star King Princess as one of the most toxic lesbian relationships, their romance started to unravel within the first few episodes. It was Wolfie, though, who called it quits ultimately by moving her own flight up earlier once the roads had cleared. Later on, Masha watches Tina finally play piano — something she was struggling with since before Zauberwald — in a healing moment. Christine Baranski'sVictoria survived her adverse reaction to the drugs which was due to her ALS diagnosis, something she had withheld from Martin and saved her daughter and Peter a lot of time by saying that Imogen would make herself available to Peter whenever she could if he would just send a private jet. This provides opportunity for the pair to keep their romantic spark going. Mother, daughter and mother's nurse-turned-lover Matteo leave in the same car. The Fallout From David's Trip & Confession As the guests left the retreat, they each get cell service back and are bombarded with text messages as well as the headlines that show Masha has leaked video of David promising he would stop making bombs to the world. Wolfie sees a CNS banner in the airport that reads 'Billionaire Aquires Conscience?' It is assumed that the other strangers see this news alert on their phones and show it to each other on their way home from Zauberwald. 'Starting immediately, Signal Op is getting out of weapons production,' David says in the grainy surveillance footage from the other night as Peter shows him the video on his phone. 'Completely out, we will not spend another penny on hurting anyone.' The other guests laugh and celebrate, with Agnes saying 'Masha, you little devil' and Brian declaring 'Eat shit, Satan!' David wastes no time dialing Masha, telling her she has no idea how badly she's f*cked herself. One Month Later After a time jump, David pulls up in a nice Mercedes to a McDonald's wearing blue-tinted sunglasses, second guessing the address when he sees the golden arches. He is there to meet Masha, who is sipping on a soda or shake. He dryly states that she 'dragged her all the way back to Bavaria' to take her to a McDonald's, to which she responded that he wanted a neutral location. David told Masha that she destroyed nearly a billion dollars of his net worth. He brags that he still has six left to correct her for saying five. He slides a Nondisclosure Agreement across the table, revealing that he wants to open a new wing of his company focused on psychedelic therapy, wanting her to be involved. She would get $100,000 out of the deal, to which she responds 'That's it? That's what you think I'm worth?' She refuses to sign without equity or any other meaningful controls, but David brought his black mail, showing her footage he secured of some of the therapy of Masha's experiments going wrong, like when Victoria had a small seizure from her dosage as well as Carmen's (Regina Hall) moment from Season 1. David hacked Masha's personal servers through a payment to Martin, who complied with the request because he needs to keep the lights on at Zauberwald. David says the public won't see those videos if Masha signs the NDA that day. She threatens to make it very ugly for him and fight, and he says he's got a whole army behind him versus her debts. Masha ultimately signs the agreement, sinisterly proclaiming that they are family and that they share a daughter. Viewers learned this season that David was the father of Tatiana. 'You may not love your family, but you can't get rid of them.' Then she reaches across the table to kiss David, saying 'I do' as they both smile at each other. This cliffhanger of sorts leaves room for a third season with Kidman's Masha and Strong's David continuing on. They do, after all, have a romantic history, their dead daughter and that mysterious night in Prague they shared, to unpack should a new round of guests come their way in the future. RELATED: Best of Deadline 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Soundtrack: From Griff To Sabrina Carpenter 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 'The Gilded Age' Season 3 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nine Perfect Strangers' Finale Leaves the Door Open for Season 3 — Do You Hope to See It Return?
The news that Nine Perfect Strangers would return for a second season came as quite the surprise back in 2023. Nearly two years had passed since Season 1 wrapped on Hulu, and those episodes — which were adapted from Liane Moriarty's 2018 novel — seemed to tell a contained, one-and-done story. Now that we've seen the show's Season 2 finale, though, we can't say we'd be nearly as shocked if Hulu opted to bring the Nicole Kidman drama back for a third go-round at some point. The final episode, which released on Wednesday, doesn't end on a whopper of a cliffhanger or anything, but it does leave room for Kidman and Mark Strong's characters to potentially return. More from TVLine What to Watch in July: Your Guide to 170+ Premieres Across Broadcast, Cable and Streaming Every New Scripted Show Confirmed to Premiere in 2025 — Save the Dates! Ironheart Boss Talks About [Spoiler] Finally Joining the MCU, and Where/If Finale Cliffhanger Will Get Resolved In fact, Strong's David Sharpe is the central focus of the sophomore ender, as he's revealed to be the Zauberwald guest that's linked to all of the others: His company, Signal Op, has damaged the lives of all the other retreat-goers in some form, like when Signal Op's 'smart bomb' killed Matteo's entire family, or when Signal Op's broadcast news channel aired the video of Brian's meltdown on the Crabapple Clubhouse set. The list goes on. And when David is forced to confront all of these transgressions while under the influence of Masha's new psychedelic technology, he promises to make things right by getting Signal Op out of the bomb-building business entirely and redirecting all of the company's military-focused resources to charity and other wholesome endeavors. To no one's surprise, David backtracks on those promises once he's sobered up the next day, telling Masha that it would be 'laughably drastic' to divest Signal Op of its military contracts. 'What a shame,' Masha replies — and she's not done holding him accountable. Later, after all of the guests have left Zauberwald, Masha leaks the security camera footage of David's night-before 'I'll never work with the military again!' breakthrough, and it takes no time at all for the footage to land on the news. ('Billionaire Acquires Conscience?' reads one chyron.) David's furious with Masha, but she has no plans to rescind the videos. One month later, Masha (who has since left Zauberwald in Martin's possession) and David (who's still very much a billionaire, despite the initial fallout from Masha's footage) meet up at a McDonald's in Bavaria, where David reveals that he wants to devote part of his company to psychedelic therapy… which requires Masha to sign a nondisclosure agreement. She'll get a measly $100,000 out of it, but no equity or meaningful control in Signal Op's psychedelic endeavors, so she's not inclined to sign. David, though, has acquired some damning security camera footage of his own: Thanks to Martin, he's now in possession of several video clips of Masha's psychedelic therapy sessions going awry, including some incidents from Nine Perfect Strangers' first season, and he plans to release them if Masha doesn't acquiesce. Plus, he assures her she doesn't want a lengthy legal battle. He'll win. Masha does eventually sign the NDA, but she's almost gleeful as she does so. She reminds David that they're family — they'll always share a daughter — and even if you don't like your family, you can never truly get rid of them. So, she signs her name to the document, then pulls David in for a long kiss across the table. 'I do,' Masha says with a smile, and the credits roll. You could certainly argue that the show tied up all its loose ends with this finale; the other Zauberwald guests, who I didn't get into much here, left the retreat sufficiently healed, and maybe Masha and David's new business entanglement can be left unexplored. But given where Season 2 ends, and the many possible ramifications of Masha and David's deal, an eventual Season 3 — releasing four more years from now, we suppose — feels like a real possibility. That's our take, but what's yours? How did you feel about the Season 2 finale, and would you want Nine Perfect Strangers to come back for more episodes? Grade the conclusion in our poll below, then hit the comments with all your thoughts! Best of TVLine Mrs. Maisel Flash-Forward List: All of Season 5's Futuristic Easter Eggs Yellowjackets Recap: The Morning After Yellowjackets Recap: The First Supper
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Oedipus' Starring Mark Strong & Lesley Manville Sets Broadway Dates
Oedipus, the West End hit starring Mark Strong and Lesley Manville, will begin its 14-week engagement at Broadway's Studio 54 on Thursday, October 30, with an opening night set for Thursday, November 13, producers announced today. The previously announced staging will star Strong reprising his West End performance as Oedipus, with Manville making her Broadway debut reprising her Olivier Award-winning performance as Jocasta. More from Deadline Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom Of The Opera' Spinoff 'Masquerade' Plans Six-Week NYC Run, Announces Attire Requirements For Attendance Michelle Williams & Mike Faist To Star In Thomas Kail Staging Of 'Anna Christie' Off Broadway 'Dead Outlaw' Announces Broadway Closing Created and adapted by Robert Icke, the revival 'transforms Sophocles' epic tragedy into an essential, explosive, sensual human thriller catapulting the secrets of the past into a high-stakes present,' per the synopsis. 'It's election night. The polls predict a landslide victory. Everything is about to change.' Produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Sue Wagner, John Johnson, and Patrick Catullo, in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company, Oedipus will kick off the Roundabout's upcoming season. The creative team includes Hildegard Bechtler (Scenic Designer), Wojciech Dziedzic (Costume Designer), Natasha Chivers (Lighting Designer), Tom Gibbons (Sound Designer), and Tal Yarden (Video Designer). The West End staging received two Olivier Awards, including Best Revival of a Play and Manville's Best Actress. Best of Deadline 'The Gilded Age' Season 3 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds
The Guardian
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
From Hadestown to Hercules: ancient myths are the gods' gift to musicals
Ancient Greek dramas have long thrived on the West End stage. In recent times: Sophie Okonedo's electrifying Medea, Brie Larson's high-wire Elektra and Mark Strong's smoothly political Oedipus. But the likes of Hades and Eurydice are less often found belting out big numbers alongside a dancing ensemble. Until now, it would seem. Mythological musicals are on the rise: Disney's Hercules opens this month and Anaïs Mitchell's Hadestown is in its second year at the Lyric while The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical is going on tour this summer. 'Greek theatre has influenced every facet of our lives, from athletics to religion,' says Cedric Neal, who plays Hermes in Hadestown. 'What better than for it to be translated to the stage with music, choreography and dance?' Neal has a good point: Greek tragedies, in their original incarnations, were traditionally performed with dance and music, so it is fitting for them to take the guise of full-blown modern musical theatre. Hadestown revolves around two ancient tales: Persephone's abduction by Hades and the doomed romance between Eurydice, who ventures into Hades's underworld, and Orpheus, who tries to get her out. Hermes is the show's narrator, delivering some of the plot through songs incorporating gospel, jazz, folk, bluegrass and soul. Music is the purest form of telling a story, Neal says, as it touches heart and soul: 'That's what's so effective, and affecting, about it.' He believes that these myths, set to music, reflect our lives back at us with an added emotional catch. Neal plays Hermes as pansexual: 'Hadestown deals with how complex love can be and what we are willing to do [for it], no matter what the government or church or your parents are saying. The story we are telling reminds us that love will conquer all.' The rock musical The Lightning Thief is another hit, currently at the Other Palace in London. Based on the bestselling Percy Jackson book series by Rick Riordan, the story is certainly ancient – of Poseidon's half-god son and Zeus's stolen lightning bolt. But it is also about teenagers living in today's world, feeling like gawky outsiders. Like Hadestown, it ran both off and on Broadway. This new production is directed by Lizzi Gee, who thinks that musical versions of these ancient stories 'can take you even more into fantasy lands' and that they allow you to connect through the heightened emotions of the song and dance. As its choreographer as well, she had no difficulty in creating movement around these mythic characters. 'I always want to be telling the story through dance and these songs are so narratively driven.' She had gone to producer Paul Taylor-Mills about another idea before he suggested this to her. 'He said go away, listen to the soundtrack, and think if it's something you'd like to do. The second I played the opening number I thought 'I'm in'. Every song is narrative so I could immediately picture it all, because of the imagery through the songs. It was really clear to me how I would stage it.' The show features Percy's adolescent posse of 'half-bloods' (part human, part Greek god) at summer camp. 'For me, it's trying to portray the kids at Camp Half Blood as people who could represent the youth of today, so that they see themselves on that stage and see their stories being told – Percy with his ADHD and dyslexia … I feel like I wanted to say: 'These are real people and this is our connection with their stories.'' Its stage design, by Ryan Dawson Laight, does not conjure a traditionally ancient realm but one filled with electricity, water and sewage in the above, beyond and below worlds. Characters wear jeans and hoodies 'but with something a little otherly to them …', she says. What has been rewarding to experience is the impact it has had on audiences. 'Teenagers who are maybe struggling with isolation or thinking about who they are and feeling different from other people … are so grateful for something they can connect with and connect to … What is remarkable is how many young boys come to watch the musical. It's very much connecting to young masculinity.' These mythic stories also offer a counterpoint to the 'presentation' of ourselves that we so often get on social media, she feels. They offer an exploration of authentic identity and finding our true selves – that, in a way, is the purpose of the classic quests in ancient stories – and contemporary ones, too. Hercules the Musical has been adapted from the 1997 Disney animation film, whose music was composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by David Zippel (both are involved in this Disney stage show). Mythological musicals in animated form are not an especially new-fangled idea: DreamWorks has transposed several ancient, biblical stories to screen, their dramas fuelled by music and song, such as Joseph: King of Dreams and The Prince of Egypt (both these stories have since been adapted for the stage). Aspects of the story in Hercules have been reworked, although many of the loved songs are still there, say co-writers of the book, Robert Horn and Kwame Kwei-Armah. 'We hope the audience goes 'I know the music that was in the movie and now I'm going to accept this iteration …',' says Kwei-Armah. For Horn, the key question was how to adapt mythology 'without losing the DNA of what it is' while making it relevant to contemporary society – just as in the case of The Lightning Thief for Gee. 'It is a coming-of-age story, for me, but also a story about understanding where you fit in in the world and what your strength is.' Kwei-Armah's entry point to the myth was through the original story of Heracles, the divine Greek hero who later became known as Hercules in the Roman canon. 'What I find interesting,' he says, 'is how the story looks at the qualities that make you a god, the trials you have to go through in order to find out who we are, to find your tribe, to be accepted by the tribe you identify with and not just the tribe that is the dominant tribe. Part of the reason I responded to it so strongly when I was asked to join Robert and the team is that I felt it would be fun to investigate authenticity and the idea of being seen through ancient myth.' While they stayed true to the original story on the whole, they have added some new characters. 'We were given free rein, says Horn. 'That said, there is a musical element to the movie, and certain songs that are iconic. You don't want to lose those. Our job is to make those songs work organically even if we have to change the story. People are going to come to hear them.' Kwei-Armah concurs: 'Go the Distance makes me cry every time that I hear it so there's no way we would even think about trying to lose anything like that.' What is so powerful about setting these old stories to music? 'The fundamental thing behind a musical is the idea 'oh no, I can't say it so I must sing it',' says Kwei-Armah. Horn adds: 'These [mythic] stories are all just a little bit larger than life, so lend themselves organically to being musicalised.' Myths also offer eternally relevant stories, their underlying meanings delivered in metaphorical form, says Kwei-Armah. 'We love a metaphor and there's nothing better than a singing metaphor … I think we like being able to look back and see our everlasting selves [in these myths]. That lends itself to a melody.' Hercules is at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, from 11 June-28 March 2026. The Lightning Thief is at the Other Palace, London, until 15 June and then on tour from 15 August-1 November. Hadestown is at the Lyric theatre, London, until 15 February 2026
