Latest news with #RobinWright
News.com.au
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Internet shocked by A-lister Sean Penn's new appearance
Actor Sean Penn's appearance in a new interview has shocked the internet, with fans asking why he suddenly looks so different. Penn, 64, is the latest guest on broadcaster Louis Theroux's podcast, but clips from the episode teased on social media have been derailed by the overwhelming reaction to Penn's scruffy appearance. The actor appears on the podcast bearded, his hair white and shaggy, and with a noticeable red scab on his nose and deep lines across his face. 'Good god, what happened to Sean Penn?' read one top-rated comment. Another quipped that someone had 'dehydrated' the Oscar-winning actor. 'I'm shocked at his appearance. What the heck?' one person asked, while another remarked the actor looked 'about 80' and presented a cautionary tale in wearing Factor-50 sunscreen. Another went even further: 'Sean Penn went from 50 to 90 years old in two years,' they commented. While the reactions are somewhat uncharitable, there's no denying Penn's new look is in stark contrast to how he fronted up to the 2023 Academy Awards just two years ago, looking movie star suave with dark hair, a tan and a suit. Penn has a 34-year age gap with his latest girlfriend, actress and model Valeria Nicov, 30. The couple made their red carpet debut at the Marrakech International Film Festival last November. Penn, who was previously married to actress Robin Wright, has two adult children, Dylan, 33, who is three years older than his girlfriend, and his son Hopper, 30, who is the same age. He was also briefly married to Madonna in the eighties and recently split from his third wife, 33-year-old Australian actress Leila George. She is the daughter of Penn's acting contemporaries Vincent D'Onofrio and Greta Scacchi, both 65. A then-single Penn opened up about his thoughts on romance in an interview with the New York Times published in June last year. 'If I'm going to be in a relationship, I'm still going to be free, or I'm not going to be in it, and I'm not going to be hurting. I don't sense I'll have my heart broken by romance again,' he told the publication.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
On this day: Haworth family business Wyedean marks 60th anniversary
On this day in 2024, the Telegraph and Argus reported that four generations of Haworth-based family business Wyedean Weaving were set to celebrate the firm's 60th anniversary. The military accoutrement manufacturer invited guests to witness the business's finalising of the intricate embroidery of the Irish Guards' regimental Colour, alongside the King's Colour, which had been selected to be carried at the King's Birthday Parade (Trooping the Colour) on June 15 of that year. In 2023, Wyedean Weaving was awarded a seven-year, £5 million contract to replace all British Armed Forces' Standards and Colours (military flags) with the King's insignia and the Tudor Crown. That contract helped to fuel the company's investment in a £300,000 refurbishment to "future-proof" its 150-year-old Grade II listed mill building in Haworth. Managing director Robin Wright said: "Sixty years ago my parents set up shop here in Haworth with a fledgling business. "Since then, Wyedean Weaving has employed over 1,000 people, with many local family members working here over two and three generations. "Sixty years on, we are Haworth's oldest employer and also one of its largest, and we wanted to host a celebratory event to say thank you to our team and our customers and to showcase our recent refurbishment, alongside the ceremonial regalia for His Majesty's Forces and His horses that we create every single day. "We are also offering a unique opportunity to see our team's hand-embroidery work on the regimental Colours and Standards ahead of the King's Birthday Parade in June." Wyedean Weaving was founded as a manufacturer of braid and military uniform accoutrement in 1964 by David Wright, who ran the business with his father Frank Wright, a former textile machine designer awarded an MBE in recognition of his invention of a new yarn spinning technique called "centrifugal spinning."
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
AI Business, Creativity and Jobs Take Center Stage at HPA Tech Retreat: ‘What We're Trying to Be Is Pixar'
It was fitting that the acquisition of generative AI tech company Metaphysic by DNEG Group's Brahma AI arm was announced on Tuesday, as a large part of the annual HPA Tech Retreat – which was held this week in Palm Springs – was largely dedicated to AI and this deal underscored several of the predicted trends, including convergence. 'Convergence is one of the main things that we will see in 2025,' I2A2 president and CEO Renard Jenkins forecasted, while showing a slide with a lengthy list of just some of the AI startups that are targeting the media and entertainment space. 'That can be good and bad, because if your favorite tool gets purchased by someone who intends to maybe keep it under wraps or they fully don't understand its value, then all of a sudden you've got to learn something new. That changes your workflow, what happens in your development, where things are going to go.' More from Variety 'The Ultimate Goal Is to Make More Movies,' Says CTO of Stability AI, the Tech Company for Which James Cameron Serves as a Board Member AI Is a Potential 'Goldmine' and a 'Ticking Time Bomb,' Says SMPTE Chief at HPA Tech Retreat Metaphysic, The Company That De-Aged Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in 'Here,' Acquired by DNEG's AI Arm Metaphysic has already made an impression in the VFX space — notably its toolset was used to age and deage Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in Robert Zemeckis' 'Here' — an application that last week won a Visual Effects Society Award in its emerging technology category. According to DNEG Group, the Metaphysic deal is about creating tools for a range of industries, but VFX is clearly a critical part, particularly as DNEG Group also encompasses VFX giant DNEG, whose work on 'Dune: Part Two' is currently nominated for an Oscar. At HPA, Jenkins reported that in the AI media and entertainment space, 'the most impacted areas right now are visual effects and sound.' During another session, VFX vets Barbara Ford Grant and Daniel Kramer discussed what they learned creating a personal project, titled 'Unhoused,' using various AI tools. Ford Grant described the 'iterative cycle where we layered in different AI tools throughout the entire process. And so we were kind of iterating development, preproduction, production and post.' AI tools ranged from Runway to Midjourney. Kramer, a VFX supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks, discussed some lessons learned. 'We really need a lot more control in visual effects,' he said, citing areas such as facial animation, lip syncing and compositing. 'I really am looking for these tools that sort of help enable the artists and help us, you know, work a little bit faster, a little bit better.' Speaking more broadly about filmmaking, director David Slade ('30 Days of Night,' 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse') said, 'It's not the AI that makes the film. It's the human with the idea and the structure.' He added that all of his prior experience has been useful in his AI-applied work, 'not because I want to make copies of other films in a different way, but just because the form persists. The cinematic language we've had for a hundred or so years persists in this space.' Slade also believes AI will be a factor in launching new channels, and these 'new ways to distribute are going to allow weird or odd movies … that aren't necessarily for everybody, but that have a niche. Niche movies will be possible.' Filmmakers representing some new studios enabled by AI also shared perspectives. Filmmaker Dave Clark, who is co-founder and chief creative officer at Promise, described the development of Promise's Muse proprietary software and workflow layer. 'That's going to be able to move at the speed of AI,' he said, adding, 'We want to build a creative production pipeline that allows us to always, constantly shift and move as the technology evolves. Because I do believe that technology will keep evolving, at least for the rest of my career.' Promise was founded last fall with investment from Peter Chernin at North Road and Andrew Chen at Andreessen Horowitz. Walter Woodman of Shy Kids, the team behind the 'Air Head' short made with OpenAI's Sora, warned, 'I think that when people talk about AI, they talk about faster and cheaper. And I think that's a horrible way to think about things. I think that my job is to make things that were previously impossible. 'What we're trying to be is Pixar. What we're trying to compete with is Disney. And I think what I like most about AI is that it has the promise that we can actually compete with those guys,' he declared, adding 'We're looking for our Steve Jobs.' A range of additional, sometimes opposing, views were also presented during the retreat, including in presentations by Hasso Basse — chief technology officer of AI tech developer Stability AI, whose board members include James Cameron — and Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers president and Deluxe vice president Richard Welsh. Amid these conversations, Hollywood jobs remain a critical concern, driving the 2023 double labor strikes. But Jenkins contends that his research, including that from the World Economic Forum, suggests that business owners (though not specific to filmmaking) 'would rather reskill their existing employees or upskill their existing employees.' He elaborated, 'What that means is that if anybody is telling you that AI is going to replace the worker, AI is going to replace the artist, AI is going to replace, replace, replace – I would theorize that that person is extremely misguided as to how these tools and how these systems should be used, and how they can be most impactful. 'Upskilling is the way forward,' he said, suggesting education and urging, 'for those of you who are concerned about where our industry is going, don't wait.' Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Grammy Predictions, From Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar: Who Will Win? Who Should Win? What's Coming to Netflix in February 2025
