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The last time Paul Simon played a full concert in New York it was July 22, 2018, and he was capping off his Homeward Bound Farewell Tour in front of roughly 30,000 fans at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. On Monday evening, after seven extremely long and tumultuous years that saw Simon enter his eighth decade, lose nearly all hearing in his left ear, and record the sparse, meditative LP Seven Psalms, Simon returned to New York City for an intimate night of music, new and old, at the Beacon Theatre.

Before playing a note,...

Masters of the Air premiered this year on Apple TV+, but although it was the biggest release in the history of streaming, few know that the production is part of a war trilogy produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. One of them, and one of the most notable, is Band of Brothers.

Still from Band of Brothers (HBO)

Although the series was highly acclaimed, it also served as a great catapult for the success of a name that would go on to star in other renowned projects: Damian Lewis.

How Damian Lewis Got Into Character Damian Lewis in Band of Brothers (HBO)

Damian Lewis‘ journey as Richard “Dick” Winters seemed like destiny. Although he also came to attention in the award-winning drama Warriors and then in Hearts and Bones, it was his audition for Band of Brothers that impressed and guaranteed him the role immediately. Later, his success led...

While filming the 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope, its leading stars Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford had a brief relationship. Despite keeping their relationship private at the time and in the subsequent years, Fisher revealed details about their affair in her memoir The Princess Diarist. The memoir discusses how they met, how their relationship started, and her enduring love for Ford over time.

Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford | Credit: Lucasfilm

However, she noted that her co-star never seemed to feel the same about her, calling it unreciprocated love as they hardly discussed their relationship. Her brief relationship had a significant impact on Fisher’s future relationships, she also disclosed how her subsequent romantic partner resembled Ford in many ways, except for one important difference, for which she felt profound, except for one important difference, for which she felt profoundly grateful.

Carrie Fisher’s Relationship with Harrison Ford Influenced Her...

In January 2019, Paul Simon awoke from a dream. Some voice in his head had informed him, deep within his Rem cycle, that he was going to work on a project called “Seven Psalms.” The singer-songwriter behind “The Sound of Silence,” “A Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” “Love Me Like a Rock,” and several dozen other songs that have likely been part of the soundtrack of your life, willingly or unwillingly, had effectively been retired for several years. Music-wise, he had nothing on deck except for this lovely little riff he’d...

“Lord of the Rings” and “Matrix” star Hugo Weaving heads the cast of Australian feature film “Hearts and Bones.”

“Hearts and Bones” is a heart-wrenching but ultimately uplifting story of friendship between a war correspondent and a Sudanese refugee. They are connected by a photograph that threatens to destroy them both. It explores issues of personal identity, the ties of family, friendship, masculinity and fatherhood, all set against Sydney’s diverse and expanding cultural divide.

“Hearts and Bones” is written and directed by Ben Lawrence (“Ghosthunter”), co-written by Beatrix Christian (“Picnic at Hanging Rock”) and produced by Matt Reeder (“The Little Death,”) at Night Kitchen Productions.

Production has recently got under way in Sydney, Australia. Newcomer Andrew Luri stars as the Sudanese refugee.

“When work on this script began in 2002, the world had just witnessed 9/11 and Australia had embarked on a war in Afghanistan that continues to this day,” said Lawrence.

A first look at Hugo Weaving in ‘Hearts and Bones’. (Photo: Paul Suesse)

Hugo Weaving will star opposite newcomer Andrew Luri in Hearts and Bones, writer-director Ben Lawrence’s feature debut that’s just begun shooting in Sydney.

Hearts and Bones follows a war photographer Dan (Weaving) who has returned home to Sydney from assignment. Haunted by years at war, he struggles to conceal his fear of imminent fatherhood and immerses himself in preparations for an upcoming exhibition of his work. This grabs the attention of Sebastian Aman (Luri), a Sudanese refugee whose village Dan had photographed 20 years earlier. As the bond between the two men develops, a startling revelation comes to light that sets both on an unexpected path.

Lawrence (Ghosthunter) – the son of Ray Lawrence – penned the script with Beatrix Christian (Picnic at Hanging Rock), while Matt Reeder of Night Kitchen Productions is the producer.

Weaving also stars in M4M,...

“Dogs,” a new docuseries from Glen Zipper and Amy Berg, is set to premiere globally on Netflix November 16.

Variety has also exclusively obtained the first trailer, which you can watch below.

The six-episode series tracks six individual stories “celebrating the deep emotional bonds between people and their beloved four-legged friends” from countries including Syria, Japan, Costa Rica, Italy and the United States.

“Dogs don’t just make us feel loved, dogs make us feel safe,” says Zipper. “In the world we live in today, no matter how divided we are, we should take care to realize how much dogs mean to all of us, and how our bond with them can help bring us together.”

The first episode, directed by Heidi Ewing, follows an 11-year-old girl who suffers from traumatic seizures and her certified therapy dog, Rory.

Berg directs the second episode, in which a man named Ayham who fled...

Leave it to Paul Simon to look back not with anger but with fussiness. Timed to coincide with his farewell tour, In the Blue Light finds Simon rifling through his back catalog and remaking ten cuts from his post-Garfunkel albums. Given how notoriously meticulous he’s always been, you’d think Simon would have gotten these takes right the first time, but let’s not forget this is someone who released an album with not one but two songs called “Think Too Much.”

Simon is hardly the first musician to revisit his or her work,...

Paul Simon adds lush orchestral layers to “Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War” in a new version of the 1983 track. New York chamber ensemble yMusic offers textural elegance to the rerecorded take, which appears on the singer-songwriter’s upcoming 14th LP, In the Blue Light.

The song, which appeared in its original form on 1983’s Hearts and Bones, opens and closes with flurries of strings and woodwinds. Simon quietly croons over the subtle orchestrations and a descending electric guitar pattern – a more atmospheric approach than the first version,...

To coincide with the final dates of his farewell tour, Paul Simon will release his 14th solo studio album — called “In the Blue Light” — on September 7, Legacy Recordings announced today. The album features new versions, or, as the announcement says, “fresh perspectives on 10 of the artist’s favorite (though perhaps less-familiar) songs” from across Simon’s solo career.

“This album consists of songs that I thought were almost right, or were odd enough to be overlooked the first time around,” Simon said in a statement. “Re-doing arrangements, harmonic structures, and lyrics that didn’t make their meaning clear, gave me time to clarify in my own head what I wanted to say, or realize what I was thinking and make it more easily understood.”

Musicians joining Simon for the re-interpretations include trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, guitarist Bill Frisell, and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Steve Gadd, as well as the chamber ensemble sextet yMusic,...

Prolific UK television and feature film scribe Stewart Harcourt has signed with ICM Partners for representation in all areas. This is the first concentrated effort in the U.S. for ITV’s Maigret writer Harcourt. His other TV work includes Dracula for BBC1, Treasure Island (Sky1), Hearts and Bones starring Michael Fassbender and Damien Lewis, Love and Marriage (ITV1) and last year’s praised Churchill's Secret starring Michael Gambon on Masterpiece. Harcourt has developed…...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away - Ok, on Tuesday, on your laptop - the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer revealed a host of new titbits to intrigue and torment us. As well as, among the new and familiar faces, our first proper look at Carrie Fisher returning as Princess Leia.

And yet Fisher isn't all doughnut-hairdos and gold bikinis. After the original trilogy was released, she became as well known for her incredible life off-screen - not least for her turbulent love life and struggles with bi-polar disorder and substance abuse - as her roles on-screen.

So as she turns 59 this week, what better time to look back at some of the stranger things you probably didn't know about her:

1. She was born into Hollywood royalty

Carrie wasn't just some unknown ingénue plucked from obscurity by George Lucas - she was born...

Over a glass of wine at a busy restaurant bar adjacent to a mall cinema on the west side of Los Angeles, British comic and actor Eddie Izzard shares his long-standing desire to be bald -- not permanently, mind you, but just for a role.

"I've been trying to shave my head in some role for eight years," he tells Zap2it. "I just thought it'd be an interesting take. ... To keep a comedic thing going and a dramatic thing, it's a tricky thing to do. If you can break a look, if you can make it so one is over there and one is, 'Oh, God, you look so different,' that really helps."

Izzard is at the cinema for a screening of the first half of his latest project, a new, four-hour version of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic "Treasure Island," airing all in one night Saturday, May 5, on Syfy.

Owen Hoffmann/PatrickMcMullan.com Paul Simon (right), and Mark Stewart perform at a fundraiser for the Turkana Basin Institute Wednesday at the Highline Stages in Manhattan.

A fast-joking bid caller in a tuxedo and a Stetson cowboy hat was talking up the stakes for a Yamaha guitar signed by Paul Simon, as an audience filled with philanthropists such as David Rockefeller Jr. sat amused.

After the guitar sold for $19,000, and exotic trips including a Kenya safari and an Antarctic voyage were auctioned,...

This Saturday, Syfy will be airing both parts of the very popular British TV updated adaptation of Treasure Island, produced by Rhi, the same company that brought us Tin Man, Alice, and Neverland. It ain’t no Disney version, that’s for sure:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Eddie Izzard, Elijah Wood

And Donald Sutherland Lead All Star Cast In Syfy’S

New Adaptation Of Treasure Island

Premieres Saturday, May 5 From 7-11Pm In

Special One Night Movie Event

New York – March 21, 2012 – In a special, one night only movie event, Syfy will present a fresh, new spin on the classic tale, Treasure Island, featuring an all-star cast led by Eddie Izzard, Elijah Wood and Donald Sutherland. Robert Louis Stevenson’s swashbuckling adventure story about fantastical treasure, youthful courage and murderous greed will premiere Saturday, May 5 from 7-11Pm (Et/Pt) on Syfy.

Izzard (The Riches, Oceans 12) stars as Long John Silver,...

With such a great cast, I must admit my expectations are exceptionally and excitedly high. Syfy will be premiering its four-hour Treasure Island on one night, May 5, so make sure you have your evening clear. Starring Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit), Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games), , and Eddie Izzard (Mockingbird Lane), I really can’t wait to see this.

Here’s the press release:

Eddie Izzard, Elijah Wood And Donald Sutherland Lead All Star Cast In Syfy’S New Adaptation Of Treasure Island

Premieres Saturday, May 5 From 7-11Pm In Special One Night Movie Event

New York – March 21, 2012 – In a special, one night only movie event, Syfy will present a fresh, new spin on the classic tale, Treasure Island, featuring an all-star cast led by Eddie Izzard, Elijah Wood and Donald Sutherland. Robert Louis Stevenson’s swashbuckling adventure story about fantastical treasure, youthful courage and murderous greed will premiere Saturday,...