Iraq Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Dar Salim (The Covenant) has joined the cast of The Terminal List: Dark Wolf in the recurring role of Mohammed ‘Mo’ Farooq.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “The Terminal List” prequel series at Amazon Prime Video has cast Dar Salim in a key recurring guest star role, Variety has learned. Salim has joined “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf” in the role of Mohammed “Mo” Farooq. He joins previously announced series lead Taylor Kitsch as well as cast members Chris Pratt, Jared Shaw, Tom Hopper, and Luke Hemsworth.

James McAvoy and Claire Foy star in mystery thriller My Son, an English-language remake of 2017 French film Mon garçon.Directed by Christian Carion, who also helmed the French original, the film follows absent father Edmond Murray (McAvoy) who returns to Scotland to search for his missing son with his ex wife Joan (Foy).McAvoy was only given the character’s backstory while shooting the film, with his dialogue for Edmond improvised throughout.After saving Ethan from the child kidnapping ring, Joan and Edmond are seen standing in a field as their son operates a remote control quadcopter. Edmond then bids Ethan farewell but promises he’ll eventually be back, as he’s taken away by Inspector Roy (Gary Lewis).Roy and Edmond drive off, with it made clear that he’s been arrested.

Lady Gabriella Windsor’s late husband Thomas Kingston’s final days before his tragic death have been disclosed.The financier died at the age of 45 on Sunday in Gloucestershire, England. He was found deceased at a home and emergency services were called at around 6:25 p.m. His death is not being ruled as suspicious and an inquest will be made.

Add another one to it-actor Barry Keoghan‘s upcoming film list. THR reports that the “Saltburn” actor will star in the latest movie from “Chernobyl” director Johan Renck, “Amo Saddam.” Keoghan will star as an American soldier tasked with guardian the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the months before his trial and execution.

Add another one to it-actor Barry Keoghan‘s upcoming film list. THR reports that the “Saltburn” actor will star in the latest movie from “Chernobyl” director Johan Renck, “Amo Saddam.” Keoghan will star as an American soldier tasked with guardian the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the months before his trial and execution.

A humble service station off the M4 was the unlikely incubator for an idea that spawned the beginnings of one of the UK’s most successful candle-making enterprises.

Alex Ritman Will Smith has lined up another hot title to his list of upcoming projects, having signed up to lead the cast of high-octane action thriller “Sugar Bandits.” Based on the Chuck Hogan book “Devils in Exile,” the thriller centres on an Iraq War veteran who teams up with a crew of fellow vets to target the drug trade in Boston. Hogan — whose writing credits include “The Town” and “The Strain” (which he co-wrote with Guillermo del Toro) — penned the screenplay. AGC International and CAA Media Finance represent the film’s worldwide distribution rights and will introduce the film to buyers at the upcoming EFM.

BAFTA-winning Once Upon a Time In Northern Ireland creator James Bluemel has found his next project, an exploration of space.

Gen X has gotten. No world wars, thankfully, though we did grow up imagining thermonuclear Armageddon as a genuine possibility, if merely accidental.But the Cold War ended. We were evolving!Some credit Ronald Reagan for ending that chapter.

Qatar‘s Doha Film Institute (DFI) has announced the recipient projects for its fall 2023 grants cycle, featuring 44 films by first and second-time directors hailing from 32 countries. (scroll down for full list)

Gay cinema certainly has turned a corner lately, in the wake of films as varied as Cassandro, Rustin and All of Us Strangers, stories in which the lead character’s sexuality might form a crucial part of the tapestry of the drama but isn’t the be-all and end-all. Leading the vanguard for the next generation is this confident debut from 33-year-old British-Iraqi director Amrou Al-Kadhi, a frank and emotionally honest portrait of someone who falls outside society’s boxes and steadfastly refuses to conform to them. This emphasis on the positive is sometimes counterintuitive (more on that later), but, thanks to its core cast, Layla is an engaging study of love in the pronoun era.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Writer and director Amrou Al-Kadhi shares many similarities with the eponymous protagonist of their directorial debut “Layla,” a drama about how a drag queen’s first love influences their sense of self. Al-Kadhi speaks exclusively to Variety ahead of the world premiere of “Layla” Thursday in Sundance Film Festival‘s World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

Valerie Wu Intern Tisa Farrow, an actor and sister of Mia Farrow, died in her sleep on Jan. 10 in Rutland, Vermont. She was 72.

Tisa Farrow, a former actor born, like sister Mia Farrow, to show business parents Maureen O’Sullivan and John Farrow, died unexpectedly Wednesday morning. She was 72.

Elon Musk has mocked pop-punk icons Green Day for changing their lyrics to ‘American Idiot’ during their New Year’s Eve performance.To ring in 2024, the band played a set as part of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve – hosted by Ryan Seacrest.The gig then hit headlines when the band’s lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, altered the ‘American Idiot’ lyric “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” to hit out at Donald Trump, singing: “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda”.The song was written about the Iraq War and was originally a direct criticism of former President George Bush.Musk – the founder of Tesla motors and tech billionaire – criticised the gesture by responding to an article about the band’s lyric-swap which was posted by Not the Bee on X/Twitter.He commented on the post via his official X/Twitter account and wrote: “Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it,” followed by a pair of crying with laughter emojis.Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it

Green Day reworked the lyrics to its hit song “American Idiot” during a performance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest Sunday night to take a swing at Donald Trump and MAGA.

Notorious former UK government spin doctor Alastair Campbell was pondering legal action against the BBC 20 years ago over its reporting of the controversies surrounding the Iraq War.

backin 1990. The Texan-born songstress recorded three albums with the band before leaving in 1993. Lynch originally played upright bass for the wildly popular country group, before providing lead vocals on their third album, “Shouldn’t a Told You That.”She was replaced by Natalie Maines in 1995.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Top prizes were handed out by the CineGouna Platform (CGP) at the El Gouna Film Festival this week to projects in various stages of inception or completion. Winning a $15,000 prize for a project in development, “Theft of Fire” is Palestinian filmmaker Amer Shomali’s hybrid documentary, retelling the true story of an art heist “that never happened” to steal back antiquities pilfered from Palestinian lands by former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Iraqi director Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji — who in 2022 won the Red Sea Film Festival‘s top prize with “Hanging Gardens” — will next direct black comedy ”Madness and Honey Days,” in which an audacious theatre director offends Saddam Hussein on stage and winds up in a psychiatric hospital to avoid a punishment of tongue-cutting followed by the death sentence. Segueing from “Hanging Gardens,” in which a 12-year-old boy finds a discarded American sex doll amid the Baghdad trash and then becomes caught in military crossfire, Al-Daradji is continuing to work with tropes that stem from the absurdities and atrocities of his home country’s recent past.

The second series of Louis Theroux Interviews... has seen the veteran broadcaster tackle more tricky topics with a new raft of well-known faces. The journalist's one-on-one interviews are conducted in his traditional immersive filming style and can leave you feeling more than a little awkward as a viewer.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Adam McKay won’t move forward with “Average Height, Average Build,” a comedy about a serial killer that was set to star Robert Pattinson, Amy Adams and Robert Downey Jr. Netflix was supposed to produce the star-studded film, but the streamer won’t make the project without McKay’s involvement behind the camera, sources confirmed to Variety.

A millionaire property tycoon given a police warning after a row with locals has vowed to take legal action against anyone who opposes her bid to turn a Highland castle into a playground for the world’s rich.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival launched its third edition on Thursday with a characteristically starry red carpet featuring the likes of Michelle Williams, Johnny Depp, Sharon Stone and Will Smith.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi-owned MBC Group, the Middle East’s top broadcaster, has announced it is floating a 10% stake on the Riyadh stock exchange seeking to raise up to 831 million riyals ($222 million) in a move to boost growth and help fuel its output of high-end productions. “Institutional and retail investors will be allowed the opportunity to acquire shares and participate in the long-term growth plans of the company and the Saudi media market,” MBC Group said in a statement on Thursday.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Diane Kruger, Bollywood star Ranveer Singh and Saudi actor-writer Abdullah Al-Sadhan are set to receive career honors at Saudi Arabia’s upcoming Red Sea International Film Festival, which has also announced its full jury roster. Joining Baz Luhrmann, who is presiding over the main Red Sea jury, are Swedish-American actor Joel Kinnaman (“Suicide Squad”); Freida Pinto (“Slumdog Millionaire”); Egyptian actor Amina Khalil; (“Grand Hotel”) and Spain’s Paz Vega (“Sex and Lucía,” “The OA”).

Jack Antonoff has revealed the source of inspiration behind his new song ‘Hey Joe’, following Taylor Swift fans speculating that it was written about the singer’s ex.The new song is taken from Antonoff’s self-titled album with Bleachers, which is set to arrive next year. However, upon sharing the title of the new track, fans have been quick to assume who the lyrics have been inspired by.The artist – who was recently nominated for a Producer of the Year Grammy Award – has worked alongside Taylor Swift for years, and has been credited as co-producer on some of her most famous songs, including chart-topping single ‘Anti-Hero’.

Garry Keane and Stephen Gerard Kelly’s documentary In The Shadow Of Beirut, which is Ireland’s Oscar category this year, is headed to the Red Sea International Film Festival, running November 30 to December 9 in the Red Sea port of Jeddah.