Sydney Sweeney may be Hollywood’s sex bomb, but the 26-year-old, who first stood out in Euphoria and The White Lotus, is determined not to be typecast.
In her new film, Eden, the glamorous Sweeney will play a motherly hausfrau alongside a number of A-List talents – including Jude Law and Vanessa Kirby – and I hear she more than holds her own.
Buzz is already building on her strong performance on the film, a thriller from director Ron Howard about a group of settlers on Floreana – a remote island in the Galapagos – in the 1930s, based on a true story that is stranger than fiction.
Law plays Dr. Friedrich Ritter, a pioneering German nudist-vegetarian (with stainless steel teeth). Kirby plays his wife Dore.
In her new film Eden, the glamorous Sydney Sweeney (photo) plays a motherly hausfrau
Sweeney stars alongside A-List legend Jude Law (pictured)
Ana de Armas is the ‘Baroness’, who arrives determined to build a hotel on the island, bringing with her countless lovers
Ana de Armas is the ‘Baroness’, who arrives determined to build a hotel on the island, taking with her numerous lovers. And Sweeney is Margaret Wittner, married to Heinz (played by Daniel Bruhl).
Put them all together and murder and mayhem ensue.
A source said: ‘Sydney is great. It will take her Hollywood career to a new level, starring opposite all these heavyweight actors and working with a director of Ron’s caliber. ‘
Produced by Hollywood super-indies Imagine and AGC Studios, the film is expected to launch its awards campaign this summer with a premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
The true story of the ‘spy who loved me’ hits the big screen
The astonishing true story of the British undercover police officer who had a baby by an animal rights activist (without her knowing his real identity) is being told in a Hollywood film.
Everything I Ever Knew, written by Suzie Miller of Prima Facie, tells the story of Jacqui who, after 25 years, discovers that the father of her eldest son was not a fellow activist, but an undercover police officer.
Interest in the story was sparked by the 2012 article, The Spy Who Loved Me, published in the New Yorker.
Bob Lambert was a police officer who pretended to be a long-haired anarchist and had a romance with animal rights activist Jacqui. They had a son, but when he was two, Bob disappeared.
Twenty years later, in 2012, Jacqui read an article about spy agents and realized that her disappearing boyfriend had been a police officer.
In 2014, the Met paid her £425,000 in return for dropping legal action for assault, negligence, cheating and misconduct. In 2020, Scotland Yard apologized and paid compensation to her son.
At least two other police spies are known to have fathered children with activists. There is a public investigation into undercover police work.
Jacqui, now 62, lives in Essex and teaches law at a university. She was approached by director Phyllida Lloyd and is a paid consultant on the film.
Her son and Lambert support the project. (Against expectations, all three have maintained a friendly relationship after the initial shock of the revelation wore off.)
Jacqui said: “I’m excited and a little terrified. What happened to me was like an atomic bomb went off in my life. The consequences have lasted for decades. . . it took me a long time to really think about it and find some peace.’
Director Lloyd said: ‘It was as if someone had taken this woman, thrown her against a wall and shattered her into a million pieces. . .
‘You want to help her make sense of it, give her the voice she deserves. To bring to life the scandalous rollercoaster of her story,” she continued, adding, “This is a role for a powerful actress.”
Sources say someone with an international profile – such as Jodie Comer, star of the one-woman hit Prima Facie – would be a natural fit.
Another similar project, After You’d Gone, starring Gemma Arterton and featuring input from women involved with undercover agents, is also in development.
Foodie Jake finds cooking a piece of cake
It turns out that Hollywood’s Jake Gyllenhaal is a huge foodie.
The actor, who is currently starring in Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent, said: ‘Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – do you know him?
‘He leaves his job as a chef in London and buys a place in the English countryside, like a little house, and what he does is learn about the land, and he learns how to raise animals and how to grow things . .’
Jake and girlfriend Jeanne Cadieu are also avid bakers; a favorite is buttermilk cake. Sister Maggie says, “He is as gifted a cook as he is an actor.”
Bethany Antonia – Lady Baela Targaryen in The House Of The Dragon, which sees season two launch this weekend – reveals that the experience was actually quite low-tech.
“No matter how much budget you have and how much CGI, there will always be someone with a wind machine,” she says.
Box set 1, bordeaux 0
With Euro 2024 about to kick off, Gabby Logan is looking for a box set to help her decompress in case of downtime.
Gabby, left, a key member of the BBC’s presenting staff, said: ‘I discovered a wonderful BBC sitcom called Two Doors Down when I was working on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. And the Scandi drama The Bridge when I covered the European Championships in Ukraine and Poland in 2012. So this time I’m looking for a compelling, dark German thriller.
“I’m too old to decompress when you go out late, and I’m certainly too old to present with a hangover, so it has to be box sets.”
Available soon? Bennifer’s Breakup (Part II)
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are clearly on the run — with news of a divorce “imminent” according to multiple sources. But when will there be an announcement?
“She likes to dump news on Fridays,” a J-Lo insider said, adding that the singer tends to be “strategic” with her announcements and may wait until she can combine the sad news with something cheerful. . . news of a Vegas residency, or other commercial relationship. “She is one smart cookie,” the source revealed.
In recent weeks, the pair (right), known as Bennifer, have arrived and left separately at various events involving their children (they have five between them from previous marriages) and it appears their needs will be a priority.
Affleck left their Los Angeles mansion in May and now lives in Brentwood, close to his first wife, Jennifer Garner.
Lopez announced on June 1 that she was canceling her tour, saying she wanted to take time off “to be with her children, family and close friends.”
Meanwhile, friends are speculating that the actress and singer could be making a return to her former fiancé Alex Rodriguez (“A-Rod”).
“He was always her best match,” a friend noted, despite reports that A-Rod’s infidelity led to the collapse of their 2021 engagement. “I don’t think cheating is a deal breaker for her anymore,” they continued. . “I don’t think she will announce the split until she has someone else drafted.”
The friend added that J-Lo and Yankees baseball legend Rodriguez were well matched in “lifestyle, appearance and grooming.”
A-Rod and J-Lo started dating in 2017 after he saw her at a restaurant and tapped her on the shoulder. They became official on the Met Gala red carpet in May.
He proposed to her in 2019 with a $4 million (£3.14 million) diamond ring, and they had a handwritten congratulatory note from former US president Barack Obama. But they split in February 2021 after he was linked to reality star Madison LeCroy. She admitted they had exchanged messages but denied a physical relationship. Rodriguez is now dating fitness guru Jaclyn Cordeiro.
Some fear that Affleck, who has been in and out of rehab, is at risk of a relapse amid this marital crisis. Both he and his wife continue to wear their wedding rings.
Who wants to be a millionaire? is finally recruiting new brains for the programme, which will likely return to our screens next year.
No new episodes have been made since shortly after host Jeremy Clarkson’s anti-Meghan outburst in December 2022, and for a while there was talk that it might even be axed.
But ITV announced last month that the quiz show is returning – with Clarkson (left) still in the presenter’s chair. Participants are now being sought. But be quick: registrations close in November.