Latest news with #filmproducer
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Aussie film legend who produced The Flying Doctors and Cop Shop dies after long cancer battle
Legendary Australian film producer Ian Crawford died on Wednesday aged 91 after a long battle with spinal cancer. He was the son of pioneering Australian film producer Dorothy Crawford, who founded Crawford Productions, and followed his mother's footsteps into the industry. Crawford Productions was founded in 1945 and was one of Australia's most renowned film production companies for many years, making some of the country's most beloved shows. His death was confirmed in a heartbreaking social media statement from a family member. 'Very sad to report the passing this morning at 9.00 of Ian Crawford,' they began. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. 'He died peacefully with family and loved ones at his bedside. He was 91.' Last month, his wife Carole shared a heartbreaking update to social media revealing her husband's health had taken a downturn and he had been hospitalised in Melbourne. 'Ian is in palliative care at Cabrini in Malvern after weeks of really bad back pain. They have discovered he has cancer of the spine which has now spread to his stomach,' Carole wrote. 'He is being looked after every moment by the staff and especially by his children and the whole family. 'Any notes or well wishes you would like passed on can be left in the comments below and they will be shared with Ian.' Heartbroken fans took to social media to pay tribute to Crawford. 'RIP Ian. Sending condolences to the Crawford family,' one person wrote. 'I loved his shows. They kept me entertained,' a second added. Across a three-decade plus career in the industry spanning from the '50s to the '80s, Crawford helped create some of Australia's most beloved TV shows. This included producing the ground-breaking police procedurals Division 4 and Cop Shop, as well as beloved drama The Flying Doctors. He also directed many TV shows, including episodes of The Last of the Australians, Matlock Police and Skyways. Crawford worked with many of Australia's most beloved actors throughout his career, including John Farnham, Rebecca Gibney and Sigrid Thornton. He is survived by his wife Carole and their two children, son Chris and daughter Anna, who acted in several of his shows including The Flying Doctors and Cop Shop.
The National
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
AI has a role to play in Arab cinema, but not as actor or director
Not long ago, I sat with a film producer in Abu Dhabi, who showed me an AI-generated storyboard that would have taken his team weeks to create manually. It wasn't perfect, but it sparked an idea. He told me: 'It doesn't replace my team. It saves us time to think bigger.' That sentiment captures where we are right now. AI is not the villain in this story. But it's also not the hero. It's a tool, and the question is whether we will use it to amplify our voice or allow it to dilute it. Across the Gulf, the film industry is undergoing a transformation. With large-scale investments in production infrastructure, regional funding initiatives and a growing appetite for homegrown stories, the GCC is building something rare: a cinema culture born in the digital age. And that's where AI comes in. Not as a director, but as a co-pilot. In the UAE, we are already seeing this shift. AI is helping speed up the post-production process, making subtitling and dubbing more accessible across languages and dialects, and even assisting with location scouting and script breakdowns. For a region working to scale its content output and export its stories globally, these efficiencies matter. They allow our filmmakers to focus on creativity, not constraints. Zoom out across the GCC, and the opportunity expands. Saudi Arabia, for instance, is building a cinema industry nearly from scratch, which is digitally native, forward-looking, and unburdened by legacy systems. AI can help Saudi filmmakers leapfrog traditional barriers. Imagine a first-time director using AI to pre-visualise a war scene or to deconstruct a script into production-ready schedules in hours instead of weeks. Egypt, which is considered the beating heart of Arab cinema, is at a more complicated crossroads. On the one hand, today's stars like Ahmed Helmy, Menna Shalabi and Mona Zaki are building on the legacy of evergreen figures like Omar Sharif, Faten Hamama, Adel Imam and Youssef Chahine. On the other hand, the industry is facing disruption from a new wave of AI-generated content on social media that mimics Egyptian cinematic style but, at least for now, lacks depth, subtext and the emotional soul that makes real cinema resonate. A recent example is Lammet Zaman, an AI-generated project that digitally resurrected the voices and likenesses of Egyptian cinema figures. As I was born in the 1980s, the video put a smile on my face and took me back in time. However, it also ignited debates around the ethics of digitally recreating deceased artists without consent, raising questions about authenticity and the boundaries of AI in preserving cultural heritage. This is where lessons from Hollywood are useful. Take The Irishman, where Martin Scorsese used VFX and AI-assisted de-ageing to allow Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci to play younger versions of themselves across several decades. The result was visually impressive but expensive. Similarly, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny de-aged Harrison Ford for an extended flashback sequence. While the visuals were groundbreaking, something felt off, as if the emotions weren't quite ringing true. These examples highlight something important: just because we can use AI to replicate youth, generate faces, or rewrite scenes, it doesn't always mean we should. In the digital age, technology can sharpen the image, but only people can deliver the performance. That's the line Arab cinema must walk. Do we let AI churn out synthetic stories for clicks, or do we use it to unlock ideas and formats we previously couldn't afford to make? The answer lies in balance. And the way forward is to upskill creatives to use AI, protect human storytelling with clear standards around transparency and credit, and fund bold experimentation where AI helps us tell interactive stories, reimagine Arab folklore, or bring our archives to life. Projects like A Story Called Zain, the region's first AI-generated and crowdsourced social media activation by Image Nation Abu Dhabi Digital team, prove that when AI is used with purpose, it doesn't replace the human voice, it amplifies it. Egypt, with its history, can help ground this new era in depth and heritage. The GCC, with its resources, creative pool and ambitions, can push the form forward. Together, we can build an industry that fuses the best of our past with the tools of the future. AI may help us move faster, but it's up to us to decide where we are going. Because no matter how advanced the tech, stories still begin with a human instinct: to feel, to remember, and to be seen.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Child star who went nude with Nicole Kidman has ditched fame for fishing in shocking transformation
The former child star Cameron Bright has undergone a dramatic transformation in the years since he starred in a nude scene with Nicole Kidman in a controversial film. The actor, now 32, appeared in a 'creepy' bathtub sequence with the actress, now 57, in the 2004 psychological thriller Birth, and was later involved in smaller projects, and starred in three installments of The Twilight Saga. But he has since stepped away from the limelight and taken up fishing as he occasionally shows off his catches on social media. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Around four years ago, he opened up about wanting to become a film producer and shared an Instagram post of a script he was working on with a friend. But he has since moved into video game streaming on Twitch, lives in Vancouver Island, Canada after leaving Hollywood behind. In February, he shared photos of himself fishing and showing off his haul on a boat as he bundled up against the chilly weather. Over two decades ago, the film he starred in alongside Kidman was the subject of controversy due to the bathtub scene, which many critics called 'creepy'. Birth follows Kidman's character Anna, a widow who is planning to marry her boyfriend Joseph (Danny Huston) about 10 years after her late husband Sean's death. But on the night of her engagement party a young boy also named Sean arrives to tell her his her late husband reincarnated. At first, she ignores him but when he reveals his uncanny knowledge of her former husband's life, she starts to believe that he could be telling her the truth. Last year Nicole spoke about the movie directed by Jonathan Glazer and said she does not agree it was 'strange' and 'unsettling.' 'I just have an enormous amount of trust,' she told the Los Angeles Times in April 2024. 'I will just go places and align with people and go, "Here I am. I'm yours. We'll live and die together."' Cameron also played the Volturi vampire Alec, twin brother to Jane, who is played by Dakota Fanning, in the Twilight films New Moon (2009), Eclipse (2010), and Breaking Dawn, Part II (2012).
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Twilight star who went nude with Nicole Kidman in controversial film shocks with dramatic transformation
This former child star underwent a shocking, dramatic transformation in the years since he once starred alongside Nicole Kidman in a controversial film. The actor was previously involved in controversy after he and Kidman — with whom he shares a 25-year age gap — filmed a 'creepy' bathtub scene together in Birth. Since starring in the 2004 psychological thriller, he has appeared in various minor projects but most notably starred in three installments of The Twilight Saga. Cameron Bright, now 32, has since stepped away from the limelight and taken up fishing as he occasionally shows off his catches on social media. Over four years ago, he opened up about wanting to become a film producer and shared a Instagram post of a script he was working on with a friend. However, it appears that he has since decided to become a video game streamer on Twitch nowadays and currently resides in Vancouver Island, Canada after leaving Hollywood behind. In early February, he shared photos of himself partaking in island fishing and showing off his haul while fishing off of a boat in the ocean. He looked unrecognizable bundled up for fishing on the chilly weather after his dramatic transformation since his child and teenage acting years. Over two decades ago, the film he starred in alongside Kidman, 57, was the subject of controversy due to the age gap between the leading stars and their nude bathtub scene, which many critics called 'creepy' at the time. He is also known for his work in the Twilight movie series. Bright played the Volturi vampire Alec, twin brother to Jane, who is played by Dakota Fanning, in the Twilight films New Moon (2009), Eclipse (2010), and Breaking Dawn, Part II (2012). The premise of the thriller Birth follows Kidman as a widow named Anna, who is planning to marry her boyfriend Joseph (Danny Huston) about 10 years after her late husband Sean's death. Just as she's about to move on, however, a young boy named Sean turns up on the night of her engagement party and tells her that he is her late husband reincarnated. At first, she ignores him but when he reveals his uncanny knowledge of her former husband's life, she starts to believe that he could be telling her the truth. Over two decades ago, the film he starred in alongside Kidman, 57, was the subject of controversy due to the age gap between the leading stars and their nude bathtub scene, which many critics called 'creepy' at the time Since starring in the 2004 psychological thriller, he has appeared in various minor projects but most notably starred in three installments of The Twilight Saga When the movie was released, though it was critically acclaimed for both Kidman and Bright's performances, there was a divided reaction to their 'nude' scene together due to the child star being a minor. The movie, which was directed by Jonathan Glazer, was heavily criticized at the time of its release but fans have grown to praise the film over time. Last year, the Babygirl actress revisited and reflected on the movie as she talked about how she does not agree with people who call the movie 'strange' and 'unsettling.' 'I just have an enormous amount of trust,' she told the Los Angeles Times in April 2024. 'I will just go places and align with people and go, "Here I am. I'm yours. We'll live and die together."' Bright played the Volturi vampire Alec, twin brother to Jane, who is played by Dakota Fanning, in the Twilight films New Moon (2009), Eclipse (2010), and Breaking Dawn, Part II (2012) Over four years ago, he opened up about wanting to become a film producer and shared a Instagram post of a script he was working on with a friend; pictured June 2010 in Los Angeles In the interview, she also honed in on how she acted out the grief her character was going through while the director talked about how he made to make 'daily script changes and improvisations' as the scenes they had initially written were 'beyond the abilities of the young actor, playing the boy.' When the interviewer called the movie 'strange' and 'unsettling,' Kidman responded: 'I don't find it strange but maybe that means I'm strange. 'But I never found it strange. I found it profound, the way it deals with grief and how people will fill holes to explain things, needing to explain things and then being incredibly open to all possibilities when you're in a deeply vulnerable state. 'And also, the idea that grief isn't finite because it most definitely isn't. Grief never ends. And you see it at that scene at the opera. She just releases into believing that it is him, this little boy is her husband. For her, it's the easier path. '
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Eva Longoria opts for a casual sweater and joggers as she arrives in Cannes ahead of her Global Gift Gala
Eva Longoria opted for an extremely casual look as she arrived at this year's Cannes Festival following its ban on risqué outfits. The American actress and film producer, 50, opted for a casual baseball cap that she paired with a pair of loosely fitted black trousers and oversized suit jacket. The look was given a splash of colour by a red t-shirt and casual white trainers - a far cry from the plunging dresses typically worn by the actress to the event. Her hair was styled in subtle mermaid-like waves that were complimented by her minimal use of makeup. Eva looked as delighted as ever to greet fans at the event, smiling widely for the camera after arriving in France to host her fundraising Global Gift Gala. She even accepted a small bouquet of roses, which she held up in acknowledgement of her many well-wishers. The actress's appearance marks her latest attendance at the Global Gift Gala - a charitable event that works toward global educational developments. Her appearance is also the first since the festival implemented its new ban on risqué outfits. Devised for 'the sake of decency,' the austere move is an attempt the stifle the celebrity trend for 'naked dresses' - namely provocative outfits that reveal considerably more than they conceal - on the red carpet. 'For decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the red carpet, as well as any other area of the festival,' states a Cannes festival document. 'The festival welcoming teams will be obligated to prohibit red carpet access to anyone not respecting these rules.' In previous years, the actress wore much more revealing outfits including a plunging sequin dress to the 2024 festival that showed off her enviable assets. She similarly opted for a revealing gown in 2023, putting the emphasis that year on her incredible legs. Eva similarly opted for a revealing gown in 2023, putting the emphasis that year on her incredible legs Even members of the public attending the festival will have to abide by its new dress code. The surprise new policy features in a recent festival-goers charter - released with a series of outlines regarding expected public behaviour. Guests are expected to converge on the Grand Auditorium Louis Lumière for some of the highest profile film screenings across a packed seven day schedule in Cannes. It's understood that the iconic venue now adopts a more conservative dress code, with suits, dinner jackets and floor-length evening gowns generally favoured over headline grabbing ensembles. Classic little black dresses, cocktail dresses, pant-suits, dressy tops and elegant sandals, 'with or without a heel', will also be permitted.
