Aurelia Butler

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    James Gunn Didn’t Want to Make ‘Superman.’ What Changed His Mind?

    His hit reboot is meant to kick off years of new projects from the rebranded DC Studios. But for a long time, Gunn couldn’t figure out the character.“Today I have my wits about me,” James Gunn said. “I was going to die yesterday, I was so tired.”It was two weeks before the release of “Superman,” and I had met Gunn at the film’s Los Angeles press junket, just one stop on the director’s whirlwind, worldwide media tour. At the time, he was hopeful that the movie would connect with audiences, and it certainly has: “Superman” opened last weekend with $125 million at the domestic box office and earned an A- CinemaScore from audiences.Still, that success barely affords Gunn the opportunity to sleep any easier. “Because this is our first DC movie and I’m also the head of the studio,” he said, “I haven’t had a day off work for months.”Best known for directing Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, Gunn was initially lured to DC Studios in 2018, when Marvel fired the filmmaker over resurfaced tweets. Though he was eventually rehired to finish the “Guardians” trilogy, his work on DC projects like “The Suicide Squad” and “Peacemaker” impressed the Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav, who tapped Gunn to run DC Studios alongside the producer Peter Safran.James Gunn with David Corenswet on the “Superman” set.Jessica Miglio/Warner Bros. “I’ve always had this desire to create a fictional universe,” said Gunn, 58. “I got hints of that with ‘Guardians’ and the cosmic universe of Marvel, but since I took on DC I knew that I was just going to have to go crazy for the first few years.” That commitment meant juggling many major projects simultaneously: At one point, Gunn was filming both “Superman” (with David Corenswet in the title role) and the second season of “Peacemaker” (starring John Cena and Gunn’s wife, Jennifer Holland) while also overseeing forthcoming DC projects like the film “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,” out next year from the director Craig Gillespie.“I also had to resign myself to the fact that I can’t do everything,” he said. “I give notes on all these other projects, but I can’t micromanage” them all, even though, he added, “I always want to do more. That’s been difficult, finding at least some boundaries.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Only 5 Fingers Playing Piano, but the Sound of So Many Hands

    When Nicholas McCarthy was 15, he telephoned a local music school to ask about taking piano lessons and mentioned that he was disabled, having been born without a right hand.The school principal didn’t take the news well. “How will you even play scales?” McCarthy recalled her saying, dismissively, before hanging up.Now, some 20 years later, McCarthy is set to prove anyone who doubted him wrong — and in a high-profile way. On Sunday at the Royal Albert Hall in London, McCarthy is the star name for a concert at the Proms, Britain’s most prominent classical music series.In front of thousands of spectators in the hall, as well a live TV audience, McCarthy, 36, will perform Maurice Ravel’s bravura Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, using the grand piano’s sustain pedal to elongate the bass notes while his hand leaps around the keyboard.“Ravel’s really created an aural illusion,” McCarthy said. “Everyone might be thinking, ‘Bloody hell, I’m only seeing five fingers playing, but I’m hearing so many hands.’”Nicholas McCarthy will perform Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Sunday.Hayley Benoit for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Jane’s Addiction Members Sue One Another After Onstage Fight

    The rock band’s singer confronted its guitarist during a show last year, leading to the cancellation of its reunion tour.Members of the rock band Jane’s Addiction are suing one another after an onstage physical altercation led to the cancellation of the remainder of last year’s reunion tour.Jane’s Addiction, which formed in 1985 and is perhaps best known for the MTV hit “Been Caught Stealing,” was performing in Boston when the singer Perry Farrell confronted the guitarist Dave Navarro. A video showed Mr. Farrell slamming his shoulder into Mr. Navarro and appearing to throw a punch before he was physically restrained.The encounter in September abruptly ended the first tour by the band’s original members in 14 years. The fallout continued on Wednesday when they filed dueling lawsuits in Los Angeles Superior Court.Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins — the band’s bassist and drummer — joined Mr. Navarro in a lawsuit accusing Mr. Farrell of assault, battery, emotional distress, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. Mr. Farrell and his wife, Etty Lau Farrell, responded with a complaint against the men that alleges assault, emotional distress and breach of contract.Christopher Frost, a lawyer for Mr. Navarro, Mr. Avery and Mr. Perkins, said in a statement that Mr. Farrell’s actions left the rest of the band on the hook for an unfulfilled tour and record deal. “They have been wronged, want the accurate story told and they deserve a resolution,” he said.Mr. Farrell’s legal team said in a statement that the band’s lawsuit was a clear example of its desire to isolate and bully him. “It’s a transparent attempt to control the narrative and present themselves as the so-called ‘good guys’ — a move that’s both typical and predictable,” the statement said.The lawsuit led by Mr. Navarro said the band had suffered a “swift and painful death at the hands of Farrell’s unprovoked anger and complete lack of self-control.” It also claimed that Mr. Farrell’s behavior failed to meet the band’s standards.“Perry forgot lyrics, lost his place in songs he had sung since the 1980s and mumbled rants as he drank from a wine bottle onstage,” the lawsuit said.After the onstage fight last year, the band canceled the 15 remaining dates of its North American tour. Mr. Navarro said on social media that “the mental health difficulties of our singer” were to blame, while Mr. Farrell apologized to his bandmates, saying that his “breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior.”Mr. Farrell offered more details in his lawsuit, saying that his bandmates had participated in a yearslong “bullying campaign” against him that included harassing him onstage.During performances, the lawsuit said, his bandmates would try to undermine him by playing their instruments so loudly that he could not hear himself sing. More

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    A New Era at the Berlin State Opera Begins With Strauss

    Christian Thielemann’s inaugural new production as the general music director of the Berlin State Opera is the rarity “Die Schweigsame Frau.”Richard Strauss’s opera “Die Schweigsame Frau,” or “The Silent Woman,” was already a relic from a disappearing world by the time it was first performed.In this rarely seen work from 1935, an old man longs for company but is enraged by bustle and noise. When a beloved nephew reveals that he has taken up with a troupe of performers, the man, Sir Morosus, disinherits him and vows to marry. The nephew, Henry, responds with an elaborate prank, tricking Morosus into a fake wedding.The ostensible lesson: There is no such thing as a quiet wife.Despite feminist progress at the time, the opera reprised stereotypes about women as nags; in a period of musical experimentation, it worked largely within traditional idioms. And it made withdrawal seem noble when engagement was urgent.A year before the opera opened, its librettist, the eminent Jewish author Stefan Zweig, fled his home in Austria for London. After the premiere, it was quickly banned by the Nazi Party; Strauss was forced out of his post as president of the Reich Music Chamber even though he wrote an ingratiating letter to Hitler.“Perhaps it sparkles too much with soul and wit for today’s world,” Strauss wrote about the opera in a letter. “But there is still the 21st century!”Indeed. On Saturday, a new production of “Die Schweigsame Frau” will open at the Berlin State Opera. The event will be a first three times over: the first performance of the piece at the house, where Strauss worked regularly for 20 years and led over a thousand performances; the first new production overseen by Christian Thielemann as the company’s general music director; and Thielemann’s first time leading the opera after conducting most of Strauss’s other stage works.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Connie Francis, Whose Ballads Dominated ’60s Pop Music, Dies at 87

    Ms. Francis, who had a natural way with a wide variety of material, ruled the charts with songs like “Who’s Sorry Now” and “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You.”Connie Francis, who dominated the pop charts in the late 1950s and early ’60s with sobbing ballads like “Who’s Sorry Now?” and “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You,” as well as up-tempo soft-rock tunes like “Stupid Cupid,” “Lipstick on Your Collar” and “Vacation,” died on Wednesday. She was 87.Her publicist, Ron Roberts, announced her death in a post on Facebook. He did not say where she died or cite a cause.Petite and pretty, Ms. Francis had an easy, fluid vocal style, a powerful set of lungs and a natural way with a wide variety of material: old standards, rock ‘n’ roll, country and western, and popular songs in Italian, Yiddish, Swedish and a dozen other languages.Between 1958 and 1964, when her brand of pop music began to fall out of favor, Ms. Francis was the most popular female singer in the United States, selling 40 million records. Her 35 Top-40 hits during that period included 16 songs in the top 10, and three No. 1 hits: “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own” and “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You.”She was best known for the pulsing, emotional delivery that coaxed every last teardrop from slow ballads like “Who’s Sorry Now?”, and made “Where the Boys Are” a potent anthem of teenage longing. Sighing youngsters thrilled to every throb in “My Happiness” and “Among My Souvenirs.”“What struck me was the purity of the voice, the emotion, the perfect pitch and intonation,” said Neil Sedaka, who wrote “Stupid Cupid” and “Where the Boys Are” with Howard Greenfield. “It was clear, concise, beautiful. When she sang ballads, they just soared.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Tomorrowland Music Festival Is Still On After Blaze Wrecks Main Stage

    Organizers of the major electronic festival in Belgium said it would continue as planned despite the destruction of its focal point.Thick smoke rose from Tomorrowland’s main stage in Boom, Belgium, on Wednesday.Morgan Hermans, via ReutersA fire on Wednesday evening destroyed the elaborate main stage at Tomorrowland, a major electronic music festival scheduled to begin on Friday in Belgium.Nobody was injured in the fire, organizers said. They did not identify its cause.“The Orbyz Mainstage of Tomorrowland Belgium 2025, a creation born from pure passion, imagination, and dedication, is no more,” the festival said on its website on Thursday morning. “It’s impossible to put into words what we’re feeling.”Other areas and stages of the festival grounds were unaffected and the festival will go on as planned, organizers said.As of Thursday morning, the fire had been extinguished and firefighters had left the festival site, according to Brandweerzone Rivierenland, the local fire department.The fire department said it received a call about a fire around 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday. Around three hours later, the fire was under control, but firefighters stayed through the night to put out flare-ups.The main stage was destroyed by fire a day before the opening of the festival.Belga, via Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe fire left ticket holders disappointed. “The main stage is what gives the festival its atmosphere and is what makes it so special,” said Jules Adam, 28, who went to Tomorrowland last year and is planning to be there again on Friday.The elaborate main stage, which is different every year, is a highlight of the festival grounds. This year, Tomorrowland’s theme is Orbyz, “a magical universe made entirely out of ice.”“This wasn’t just a stage. It was a living, breathing world,” the festival’s organizers said in a statement. “From the very first sketch on a blank page, to countless hours of conceptual design, artistic collaboration, engineering, crafting, building, every single piece of Orbyz carried part of our soul.”The elaborate stage included fireworks, which were set off by the fire, according to the fire department. Video recorded Wednesday showed fireworks exploding above the stage within billowing plumes of smoke.Tomorrowland, which is held in Boom, a town south of Antwerp, attracts more than 400,000 people every year, along with some of the biggest names in electronic dance music. The 2025 edition was scheduled to run over the next two weekends. Stjepan Grgic, 33, traveled from London with his fiancé to attend the festival, together with two friends who came over from Australia. “The main event is the main stage,” he said. “It’s a massive loss.”The campground opened on Thursday morning for attendees as planned, organizers said. They said they were working on a solution for the loss of the main stage.Performances on the main stage were scheduled to start on Friday. David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia and Steve Aoki are among the artists scheduled to play.“It’s such a shame for the people who worked on it,” said Mr. Adam, the attendee, who lives about an hour’s drive from the festival in the south of the Netherlands. “I’m glad it happened before the festival and not during the festival,” he said. “Then things would be much worse.” More

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    ‘No Sleep Till’ Review: Calm Before the Storm

    This gauzy film builds an impression of Floridian malaise by trailing four locals the day before a hurricane.The naturalistic mood piece “No Sleep Till” captures a calm before a storm — specifically, the days before a hurricane is forecast to strike the coastal hamlet of Atlantic Beach, Fla.The film opens with a newscaster warning of the impending weather. The first-time writer-director, Alexandra Simpson, then follows four young locals — two stand-up comics on a road trip (Jordan Coley and Xavier Brown-Sanders), a teenager with a crush (Brynne Hofbauer) and a storm chaser living in his truck (Taylor Benton) — as they ignore the evacuation order and fritter away the hours before the hurricane hits.Eschewing traditional narrative, Simpson uses gauzy imagery to build an impression of Floridian malaise. Skateboarders land tricks on a concrete halfpipe. A motel guest wades into a pool illuminated by neon signage. A teenager slogs through a shift at a souvenir shop.As the storm grows nearer, the scenes take on an eerie feeling of liminality. In one weighted sequence, housing developers inspect a newly constructed residence. Simpson lingers on the wooden rafters, signaling at the irony of unchecked urban sprawl as climate disaster looms.“No Sleep Till” is an understated — and somewhat sleepy — film. Its mood of boredom tinged with dread sometimes verges on outright listlessness. It helps that Simpson uses a cast of first-time actors almost entirely from the area: When Mike (Brown-Sanders) punctures the film’s observational mode to articulate one of its themes — that he appreciates the hurricane because it gives him “an excuse to do something” — the sentiment feels organic.No Sleep TillNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters. More