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We have created something that really energizes us for players across the United Kingdom, and we are excited to finally welcome you through our virtual entrance https://casinobananzia.uk/. Bananzia Casino combines a bright, fruit-filled atmosphere with a firm pledge to fair play, fast payouts, and a game library that brings you back for more. For those who have spun thousands of reels or are about to place your first live roulette bet, we have crafted every corner of the platform to feel intuitive, safe, and filled with winning opportunities. Our welcome mat features a generous opening package, and behind it lies thousands of games, real-time dealer tables, and instant-win sports markets. This is far more than a typical casino site; it is a full gaming hub built around what UK players truly desire, from quick withdrawals to responsible tools that keep the fun front and centre. We invite you to explore every section, claim your welcome reward, and see why Bananzia Casino is rapidly becoming the talk of the British iGaming scene.

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A Modern and Protected Casino Platform Designed for the UK Market

Confidence is the basis of a solid gaming partnership, so we constructed Bananzia Casino from the scratch with UK player security at its center. Our platform operates under the stringent regulatory framework British consumers demand, which means we uphold demanding standards for data encryption, fair gaming mechanics, and responsible marketing. Every payment you make is protected by advanced SSL systems, so your personal and financial information stay completely confidential from the moment you register. We also collaborate only with game developers who hold licenses from independent testing organizations, guaranteeing that every round, card shuffle, and dice roll runs on certified random number engines. This standard of clarity is not an extra; it is the mechanism that fuels our connection with you. We also provide you direct access to your deposit log, session counters, and reality check alerts, placing you in complete charge of your entertainment spending without ever causing the fun feel policed.

Beyond the technical measures, we have shaped the whole user journey around the behaviors and choices of UK players. We use British Pounds as the default money, and our customer support crew understands the ins and outs of local banking methods. Every element feels familiar. You want to dive straight into the action without handling currency exchange tools or waiting days for a cashout to clear a foreign middleman bank, and our platform offers that. The terminology, the promotions, and the game library all appeal to a British audience. We also take responsible gambling earnestly by including direct references to independent advisory services and offering self-assessment resources that assist you consider on your play patterns. When we say we are designed for the UK, we imply we have heeded to what British players appreciate most: security, simplicity, and a genuine feeling of fair handling from the very first deposit.

Table Games and Interactive Dealer Gameplay for the Tactical Player

Many UK players crave the intellectual challenge of blackjack, the wheel-based excitement of roulette, and the multi-level betting approaches of baccarat and poker. That is why our table games section goes far beyond a token few of digital simulations. We feature dozens of virtual table variants, including European Roulette with its single-zero edge, multi-hand blackjack tables that let you play up to five hands at the same time, and casino poker varieties like Caribbean Stud and Three Card Poker. Each game runs on a certified engine that replicates the exact odds you would find on a physical casino floor, and we offer clear rule sheets and payout tables so you can refine your strategy before placing real-money stakes. If you choose a slower, more deliberate speed, our digital tables let you take your time with each decision, removing the pressure of a crowded felt.

When you are ready for the authentic energy of a real casino, our live dealer lounge offers exactly that, streamed in high definition from professional studios. Charming and highly trained hosts manage games around the day, dealing real cards and spinning real wheels while you engage via a chat interface. We feature a wide range of live tables with varying bet thresholds, from low-stakes rooms perfect for beginners to VIP tables where high rollers can place significant stakes. Popular game show-style titles also showcase prominently, blending RNG elements with live hosts to create a television-like event that has taken the UK market by storm. Our live streams are optimized for both desktop and mobile, so you can sit in at a blackjack table during your morning journey or join a Lightning Roulette round from your sofa. Live gaming represents the peak of online engagement, and we commit heavily in keeping our streams crisp, lag-free, and backed by professional dealers who genuinely improve the experience.

Gaming on the Move: Mobile Experience Without Sacrifice

Contemporary UK players require a smooth mobile experience, and we have invested significant resources into guaranteeing Bananzia Casino works beautifully on any device. Our website is built on responsive technology that adjusts automatically to your screen size, whether you reach for an iPhone, an Android smartphone, or a tablet. No mandatory app download is needed to access the full suite of games; simply visit our site through your mobile browser, log in, and the entire library becomes available at your fingertips. The touch-optimised interface features large, thumb-friendly buttons for spinning reels and placing bets, and the menu navigation collapses into an intuitive hamburger icon that keeps the screen uncluttered. We have tested our mobile platform across a wide range of connection speeds, and the games load quickly even on 4G networks, thanks to efficient compression and lightweight coding.

The mobile experience gives up none of functionality. You can claim bonuses, deposit funds, withdraw winnings, contact live support, and participate in tournaments directly from your handheld device. Our live dealer streams are optimised for mobile viewing, with landscape mode providing an immersive full-table perspective and portrait mode offering a closer view of the dealer and the action. Our sportsbook also performs flawlessly on mobile, with live in-play betting screens that update odds in real time without requiring manual refreshes. For players who do prefer a dedicated app, we recommend checking our official page for any available downloadable software, but the browser-based version remains our primary focus. Mobile gaming should never feel like a stripped-down afterthought, and we continuously refine our handheld interface based on player feedback to keep it best-in-class.

Banking Made Simple: Deposits and Rapid Payouts

We designed our cashier to be the least stressful part of your Bananzia Casino experience. From the time you decide to fund your account, you will find a selection of payment methods that are highly trusted across the United Kingdom. Debit card payments via Visa and Mastercard are processed instantly, so you can dive right into gameplay without delay. We also offer popular e-wallet services, which many of our players favour for their extra layer of privacy and usually faster withdrawal times. Bank transfers are accessible for those who prefer traditional methods, though these may take slightly longer to show in your account. Every deposit we handle is free of charges from our side, and the minimum deposit level sits at an reasonable level to suit casual players who prefer to start small. We display your available balance and any active bonus funds apart in your account dashboard, so you always see exactly where you stand.

When it comes down to cashing out your winnings, we prioritise speed without neglecting necessary security checks. Our verification team works thoroughly to validate your identity documents, and we encourage you to finish this Know Your Customer process shortly after registration to prevent delays when you request your first withdrawal. Once confirmed, e-wallet withdrawals are frequently processed within a handful of hours, while debit card and bank transfer withdrawals normally complete within one to three business days. We inform you notified at every stage, sending email notifications when your withdrawal request is submitted, confirmed, and sent. We do not charge hidden fees on payouts, and our withdrawal limits are structured to suit both casual players and those fortunate enough enough to land substantial wins. Our banking philosophy is straightforward: your money is you, and our job is to deliver it safely and rapidly whenever you choose to withdraw.

Your Exciting Start: Opening the Introductory Offer

We think a fitting welcome establishes the mood for a enduring relationship, so we designed our introductory offer to enhance your first few sessions rather than just throwing a single match at your initial deposit. When you become a member of Bananzia Casino, you get a step-by-step bonus that typically merges a deposit match bonus with a solid number of complimentary spins on some of our most well-liked slot titles. We spread the incentive across your early deposits because we want you to explore various sections of our library with extra funds in your account, not just blast through a one bonus in one night. The free spins typically are awarded on a promoted title that demonstrates high-quality graphics and exciting feature games, providing you with a preview of the premium content we host. We consistently display the specific match rates, minimum deposit amounts, and highest bonus limits plainly on our promotions page, so you are aware of precisely what to expect before you invest a single pound.

What makes our welcome offer unique is the openness we use to the betting terms. We state the playthrough multiplier plainly, and we explain precisely which games apply what percentage toward meeting your bonus balance. Slots normally contribute one hundred percent, while card games and live casino games may contribute a reduced portion, which is standard across the industry. We also provide you a reasonable window to meet these conditions, recognizing that life can be demanding and you might not log in every single day. Our terms and conditions are written in plain English, not legal jargon, because we want you to stay aware rather than tricked. Before you activate the offer, we urge you to read the specific promotion details on our promotions page, as offers can evolve periodically. Rest assured, we structure our welcome package to be achievable and really worthwhile, providing you with a legitimate shot at turning bonus funds into cash you can cash out.

Loyalty Rewarded: Regular Promotions and VIP Care

Our connection with you does not cool down after the sign-up bonus is used. We keep a vibrant promotions calendar that refreshes weekly, so there is always a new reason to log in and game. Standard reload bonuses increase your deposits on specific days of the week, while free spin drops on recently released slots let you test drive the most recent games at our expense. We hold seasonal campaigns connected to major sporting events, bank holidays, and cultural moments that connect with a UK audience, often including prize draws for gadgets, holiday vouchers, or real cash. Our ranking tournaments are particularly popular, pitting you against fellow players in time-limited competitions where the top-ranked participants share a assured prize pool. We promote all live promotions on a special page, including clear terms, qualifying games, and countdown timers so you never miss a deadline.

For our most loyal players, we manage an invitation-only VIP programme that elevates the gaming experience to a bespoke level. VIP members enjoy a variety of tangible benefits that surpass standard bonus offers. These include:

  • Tailored withdrawal processing with higher limits and preferential handling, guaranteeing your big wins hit your account quicker than standard timelines.
  • A assigned account manager who serves as your direct point of contact for any queries, personalized bonus requests, or personalized gaming recommendations.
  • Special invitations to live events, such as hospitality packages at Premier League matches, trackside experiences at major horse racing festivals, and fine dining occasions.
  • Personalized gifting on birthdays and key milestones, chosen to match your individual interests as told to your account manager.

We consider our VIP club as a real partnership, not just a layered points ladder. We heed what our premium players want and aim to deliver experiences that money alone cannot easily buy. Even if you are not part of the VIP club, our standard loyalty points system rewards every real-money bet you place, with collected points exchangeable for bonus credits. Regular play should be regularly recognised, and our rewards system mirrors that philosophy at every level.

A Collection of Slots That Keeps the Reels Turning

Step into our slots lobby and you will immediately understand why we describe it as the heart of Bananzia Casino. We have gathered a collection that covers classic three-reel fruit machines, high-volatility video slots with cascading reels, and progressive jackpot games where the prize pools reach life-changing territory. Our partnerships with leading software studios guarantee you are always just a few clicks away from the latest releases, complete with cinematic soundtracks and inventive bonus mechanics like expanding wilds, multiplier trails, and buy-in feature options. We closely watch the return-to-player percentages displayed in each game’s information panel, and we favour titles that offer competitive RTP rates, providing you with a fair mathematical environment to go after those big wins. If you love the nostalgia of simple bar-and-seven symbols or the immersive storylines of modern adventure slots, our filters let you sort by provider, feature type, or volatility level so you can discover your perfect match in seconds.

Jackpot hunters feel right at home here too. Our progressive network includes daily drop pots that are guaranteed to pay out before a certain time, as well as mammoth pooled jackpots that increase across multiple casinos until one lucky player claims the grand prize. We display real-time jackpot totals on the game thumbnails, so you can check exactly how high the stakes have grown before you even open the reels. For those who prefer a more strategic approach, we feature slots with configurable paylines and adjustable coin sizes, allowing you to tailor your bet per spin to your exact comfort level. New titles drop every week, and we often organize slot-specific tournaments where you can battle against other UK players on leaderboards for cash prizes or free spins. Our goal is a slot environment that seems dynamic, fair, and endlessly explorable, because we know variety ensures a player stays engaged.

Sports Wagering and Live Markets at Your Fingertips

We have incorporated a full sportsbook alongside our casino because we understand many UK players love switching between spinning reels and betting on their favourite football club. Our sports platform includes a wide range of markets, from the English Premier League and Championship down to lower-tier Scottish leagues and non-league fixtures. Beyond football, we deliver deep coverage of horse racing from UK and Irish tracks, tennis tournaments including Wimbledon, rugby union and league, cricket, darts, and even new markets like eSports. Each event page is loaded with pre-match and in-play options, allowing you to bet on everything from the final score to the number of corners, yellow cards, or individual player statistics. Our odds appear in fractional format by default, respecting the British betting tradition, though you can readily toggle to decimal if that fits your preference.

What makes our sportsbook stand out is the easy integration with your casino wallet. You don’t have to transfer funds between separate accounts; your balance is merged, meaning a big slots win can instantly bankroll a flutter on the evening kick-off. Our cash-out feature provides you with control over your open bets, enabling you to secure a profit or cut a loss before the final whistle blows. We also provide bet builder tools that let you combine multiple selections from the same match into a single accumulator with custom odds. For those who excel at rapid-fire action, our instant virtual sports section replicates football matches, horse races, and greyhound sprints around the clock, with results determined by certified RNG systems. Each virtual event lasts just a couple of minutes, providing a constant stream of betting opportunities whenever the real-world calendar is quiet. We are committed to offering a sportsbook that feels thorough, fair, and deeply connected to the sports culture that runs through the veins of the UK.

Responsible Gaming and a Help Desk That Truly Cares

We integrate responsible gaming tools straight into your account settings because a safe environment is the only acceptable foundation for entertainment. From your dashboard, you can set daily, weekly, or monthly deposit limits that cannot be bypassed without a cooling-off period. We also offer session time reminders that appear gently after a fixed interval, helping you keep track of how long you have been playing. Reality checks provide a snapshot of your net position during the current session, and you can enable a time-out period ranging from twenty-four hours to several weeks if you believe you need a short break. For those who need a longer pause, our self-exclusion option lets you to lock your account for a minimum period, during which we will not send you any marketing materials. We also offer direct links to independent UK organisations that provide free, confidential advice and support for anyone worried about their gambling habits.

Behind every tool and policy is a customer support team that we educate to handle queries with empathy, speed, and genuine expertise. Our live chat facility links you to a real human agent within moments, not a frustrating bot loop that leaves you shouting at your screen. We operate extended support hours, ensuring that even late-night players can get help when they require it most. For less urgent matters, you can contact us via email, and we endeavour to respond comprehensively within a few hours. Our support staff are trained not only in technical troubleshooting but also in recognising signs of distress and directing players toward appropriate responsible gaming resources. We also have a detailed FAQ section that covers everything from verification document requirements to bonus expiry rules. When you contact Bananzia Casino, you are speaking to a team that views your satisfaction and wellbeing as our highest priority, not just another ticket to close.

FAQ

What is the process to create an account at Bananzia Casino?

Click the registration button on our homepage and complete the sign-up form with your name, address, date of birth, email, and mobile number. You must be at least eighteen years old and be based in the UK. Pick a strong password, agree to our terms, and validate your email address via the link we send. Once verified, you can deposit and activate your welcome offer immediately. We advise completing identity verification early to ensure smooth future withdrawals.

What paperwork is required for identity verification?

We require a valid government-issued photo ID, such as a passport or driving licence, to establish your identity. For address verification, a recent utility bill, bank statement, or council tax letter dated within the last three months is typically sufficient. In some cases, we may ask for proof of payment method ownership, like a photo of your debit card with certain digits obscured. Upload these securely through your account dashboard for our team to examine.

How long do withdrawals take to process?

Withdrawal times vary based on your preferred method and verification status. E-wallet withdrawals are typically processed within a few hours once approved. Debit card and bank transfer withdrawals usually take between one and three business days to appear in your account. The initial processing includes a security review, which is far faster if you have already completed identity verification. We alert you by email at each stage of the process.

Is it possible to play games for free before wagering real money?

Absolutely, most of our slot and table games provide a demo or practice mode that you can access without depositing. This lets you to test game mechanics, bonus features, and volatility levels using virtual credits. Simply move your cursor over a game thumbnail and select the demo option if available. Note that live dealer games and progressive jackpots typically do not offer free play, and you must be logged in to access demo modes.

What should I do if I suspect my gambling is becoming a problem?

We supply several tools to help you regain control. You can set deposit limits, activate session reminders, or take a time-out directly from your account settings. For a longer break, use our self-exclusion feature. We also link to independent UK support organisations that offer free, confidential counselling. Our customer support team is trained to handle such concerns sensitively and can guide you toward the appropriate resources without judgment.

Is my personal and financial details safe on your site?

Certainly. We employ sophisticated SSL encryption technology to secure all data transmitted between your device and our servers. Our platform complies with strict UK data protection regulations, and we under no circumstances share your personal information with unapproved third parties. Payment processing is managed through PCI-compliant gateways, which means we do not store your full card details on our systems. Your security is our foundational priority.

Is there a mobile app for iOS and Android?

Our main mobile solution is a fully responsive website that works smoothly through your device’s browser, requiring no download or storage https://coinmarketcap.com/de/view/gambling/ space. This delivers the complete game library, cashier, and support functions. We suggest checking our official promotions page or app store listings for any dedicated downloadable application we may release. The browser experience is optimized for touchscreens and performs excellently on both 4G and Wi-Fi connections.

We have created something that really energizes


After months of waiting, Sony finally released the first trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day this morning, giving fans a first look at Peter Parker’s next adventure.

The Brand New Day trailer reintroduces us to Peter Parker, who is depressed and alone after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Photo: Marvel

Without MJ and Ned in his life, Peter finds himself isolated and missing his closest friends.

Photo: Marvel

While the Brand New Day trailer features plenty of exciting teases, including a hint that Peter is mutating, first looks at Punisher and Bruce Banner in the film, and a tease of Sadie Sink’s mysterious character, it also includes an Easter egg that may have broader implications for the MCU.

A New Mayor?

A quick scene in the trailer shows MJ and Ned watching Spider-Man receive the key to the city from the Mayor of New York.

Photo: Marvel

Eagle-eyed fans were quick to point out, however, that the mayor is distinctly not Wilson Fisk.

With Brand New Day firmly established as taking place after Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, it looks like Kingpin’s reign may be coming to an end.

The End of Kingpin’s Reign

It should be noted that the clip seen in the Brand New Day trailer is bereft of any context, so it may be jumping the gun to assume the end of the Devil’s Reign.

Kingpin

Source: Marvel Studios

Nevertheless, with Daredevil: Born Again set to return this month, Kingpin’s stranglehold on New York may soon be over.

For now, we will have to wait and see.

Kingpin in Hawkeye

Photo: Disney+

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The world outside our windows is one in constant turmoil. We suppose you can say that about any era, but it feels especially bad lately. So in times like these, people always turn to the comfort of nostalgia. They’re nostalgic about movies, TV, toys, fashion, and, for some reason, drinking out of the garden hose. But that nostalgia also extends to fast food chains. Earlier this year, McDonald’s brought back their friend apple pies after decades off the menu. And now, via Today, we’ve learned that Wendy’s is bringing back their iconic bright yellow packaging, after years of using a minimalist red and white motif.

Wendy's yellow retro src packaging.
Wendy’s

The return of the classic yellow color scheme at Wendy’s locations begins later this month. It arrives several years after the fast food giant decided that the bright yellow was too dated and not hip, even though it was their visual calling card. In a statement, a Wendy’s spokesperson said, “Fans have been asking for its return for years, making it one of the most requested comebacks in Wendy’s history. Yellow has been part of Wendy’s since the very beginning and is something many fans instantly recognize.” The yellow packaging isn’t permanent, and the regular color scheme returns in early 2027.

The iconic yellow will soon appear on Wendy’s French fry cartons, cups, and more. This is sure to make nostalgic Millennials and Gen Xers flock to their local Wendy’s establishments, have a Frosty, and remind themselves of simpler times in the ’90s, before it felt like everything was going to hell in a handbasket. Sadly, the actual Wendy’s locations probably won’t go back to their ‘ 90s-era look, which would be amazing. Several Pizza Hut locations are doing that very thing, and going back to their original old look. Wendy’s fans will just have to settle for a bright yellow cup for their sodas. At least for now.

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Quick Take In a bid to appeal to

Denuvo has decided to take legal action against an anonymous game hacker known as voices38, accusing them of circumventing the company’s anti-tamper technology across more than 26 PC games.

The Austrian anti-piracy company filed a complaint against the individual/group known as voices38 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on September 14. According to the filing, Denuvo alleges that the hacker bypassed its protection technology in at least 26 games, allowing modified versions to be distributed without the restrictions imposed by its anti-tamper system.

The games named in the complaint include Resident Evil Requiem, Black Myth: Wukong, Hogwarts Legacy, Doom: The Dark Ages, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Sonic Frontiers, Stellar Blade, 007 First Light, Pragmata, and Mafia: The Old Country. Most of these are AAA titles from the past few years, and the alleged tampering from voices38 allowed potentially millions to pirate these games.

Denuvo argues that voices38’s activity violates the anti-circumvention provisions of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Rather than accusing the hacker of directly infringing copyrights it owns, the company’s case instead focuses on the bypassing of technological measures designed to prevent unauthorized access to protected games.

The company is seeking damages under the DMCA as well as an injunction that would prevent voices38 from circumventing Denuvo Anti-Tamper in past, current, or future games.

The reaction to Denuvo’s lawsuit has consequently focused heavily on whether the company can identify the person behind the voices38 alias. Denuvo has linked several Reddit, Discord, and Steam accounts to the defendant, potentially giving it avenues to seek identifying information through the courts. With a case on file, Denuvo can ask the court for permission to subpoena Valve, Reddit and Discord for the associated account details. There’s no discovery request in the docket yet, but that will likely follow soon.

The lawsuit also arrives during a period of renewed activity in the Denuvo cracking scene. Denuvo’s DRM had become notoriously difficult to crack, with some games remaining secure for over a year after release. However, Voice38 in the past few years has allegedly managed to target and crack recent releases, rejuvenating the piracy and anti-DRM movement online. DRM is reportedly responsible for major performance issues, according to members of these communities.

Voices38, meanwhile, has publicly indicated that the lawsuit has not changed their plans. In a message circulated after news of the case emerged, the cracker said: “All is fine. Everything will continue as normal.”

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Winning Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay at the Spirit Awards, DÌDI will be featured in the ‘Made in California: Lurker and DÌDI Case Studies‘ panel at this year’s Forum. In the discussion, DÌDI‘s writer/director Sean Wong and Alex Russell (writer/director of Lurker) will reveal in a candid conversation their journeys from script to the screen, sharing what it took to develop, produce, release and ultimately find an audience for their debut features. We’re resharing an article on casting the film and finding compelling young actors to tell an authentic coming of age story. Find out more about the Forum here.

***

DÌDI (弟弟) is the type of cinematic experience we all crave but rarely receive these days: an authentic coming-of-age story with a great cast.

The story follows Chris, a Taiwanese American teen trying to find himself in the Bay Area in 2008. As he grapples with complex family and social dynamics, I could hear the theater audience laughing, groaning, and yes, crying. DÌDI feels both personal and universal, thanks in large part to its committed performances. While the cast includes many young and first time actors, it also features Joan Chen, whose poignant portrayal of Chris’s mother, Chungsing, is a standout. At one point, when her character receives disappointing news, there was a collective ‘Aw!’ as audience members expressed heartbreak on her behalf.

Writer/director Sean Wang drew from his own adolescent experiences for DÌDI, and a post-film dedication to ‘mom’ showcases how close these characters are to the filmmaker’s heart.

The film shines in scenes between Chris, played by Izaac Wang, and his mother, played by Chen. Together, they create a believable relationship that is funny, frustrating, and heartache-inducing. Both mother and son struggle with loneliness and a desire to find themselves through art, but generational and cultural divides put them at emotional odds for most of the film, making it all the more satisfying when they do connect.

You don’t get these kinds of fully realized characters, or strong emotional reactions from an audience, without expert casting. The film’s casting directors, Nafisa Kaptownwala and Natalie Lin, were clearly up to the task. Their background in street casting, commercials, and fashion, as well as shared experiences with the characters, made them uniquely suited for DÌDI’s coming-of-age story.

This film focuses on some pretty specific dynamics that can be really challenging from a casting standpoint— a group of young teens, as well as a multigenerational family. How did you approach these challenges to help create the level of authenticity the film and actors were able to achieve?

NAFISA KAPTOWNWALA: This is a tricky question! I think because I don’t look at some roles more challenging than others. Every role has its challenges, and ultimately, I approach it by understanding the story and what the narrative is illustrating and visualizing who are the best people to bring that to life. I start there and take each challenge as it comes.

DÌDI has a very talented young lead, played by Izaac Wang, and includes so many other young actors. How do you go about casting first time or less experienced actors, especially when you know they have to carry a film?

NATALIE LIN: Our approach with street casting is much different than our approach with trained actors. When we’re out street scouting looking for people to audition for film roles, really what we’re after is someone who’s essence naturally embodies the role already without having to try much.

NK: I think the hesitation with casting first time actors is performance, but in the case of DÌDI, it is a universal story in so many ways and many of the actors were able to connect with the story and put themselves in it. Because it is such a relatable story, it actually felt like the only approach that made sense, to find people that relate to the story to basically play themselves.

At what point did Joan Chen become involved? Given that she is such a veteran and a director herself, I’d love to hear more about what it was like finding that vital mother-son dynamic in the casting process with her.

NL: Sean had her in mind for Chungsing from day one. We were all thrilled to have her join our cast and it really feels like the role was meant for her.

Since this is a very personal film for the director, Sean Wang, how do you honor that in the casting, especially when you’re casting characters inspired by real people? Was that something you discussed with him going in?

NL: I grew up in the Bay Area about an hour away from Fremont, and I think that because of this I had a natural understanding of Sean’s instincts when it came to what kind of kids we were drawn to amongst the various roles. Sean did a really thorough job of painting a vivid picture of each character for Nafisa and me. He gave us all his trust in finding these kids, and the entire casting process with both him and our producers felt very collaborative. They all trusted in our process and our instincts and everything came together like a little puzzle. Truly could not have asked for a sweeter introduction into the feature world than with this team.

NK: Sean showed us a lot of photos from the past and inspo images of people he knew. It felt very close to home! I didn’t grow up in the Bay, but I did grow up in a very similar community, of mostly 1st and 2nd generation immigrants around the same time as Sean! It didn’t take much imagination to capture what Sean was expressing because I felt like I lived it.

The aesthetics and technology from 2008 play such a big role in this film; and yet its themes are so timeless. How did you approach that duality in the casting process, where it’s a period piece but still needs to resonate with kids today?

NL: I think there are some universal truths to being thirteen years old that span beyond any time period. Teaching the kids how to take a Myspace selfie was a whole thing, down to the camera angles and the mirror flash 🙂

NK: There were definitely a bunch of references that the kids would trip over in auditions. Like I remember the young people we would audition not knowing how to pronounce PETA. And that really stuck with me, cause you would assume that’s a universal thing, but some things just don’t translate generationally, I suppose. But ultimately, what was happening in 2008 is not radically far off from what’s happening now, especially packaged in the overarching themes the film deals with. It was easy enough for the actors to understand. Like the boys in the film were making silly YouTube videos, and now the kids are making TikToks. Not so different! And in so many ways, the aesthetics of that era like digital cameras and myspace photos are actually back.

Your agency, In Search Of, also does casting for fashion and advertising. How did your experience in those mediums inform your process for this film?

NK: Well we treat all of the projects we approach with the same attitude, by asking ourselves: What is the story we’re trying to tell? What are all of the expansive ways to illustrate that story? Because advertising moves so quickly, we’ve learned to be experts at finding sort of niche characters in a very short amount of time. There are a lot of skills we develop working on quick turnover projects we apply to our film work and vice versa.

I saw you had an open casting call on Instagram for this film, as well as your upcoming film Josephine. What’s it like using Instagram for casting purposes, and what role do you think social media will play in the future of casting?

NL: Social media is a very helpful resource for us when it comes to sharing casting calls and looking for specific types of talent. The sprawling nature of Instagram and TikTok was extremely helpful while casting DÌDI. We were able to get in touch with many film orgs who shared our nationwide casting call posts, and between us, Sean, and the production team we had so many friends in the Bay Area and beyond who shared our call far and wide. Someone on TikTok shared our casting call – it went kind of viral, and we had a flood of submissions after that.

NK: I think social media has already transformed casting enormously. What I’ve noticed is that it does allow this space for “first time actors” to be considered for roles because we’re exposed to so many interesting and dynamic people online. Now we’re in a world where movies are being made about people because of how they represent themselves on social media. I think that’s a really exciting space to play in, because it allows for more nuanced and diverse storytelling.

 

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Winning Best First Feature and Best First

Douglas Booth has, admittedly, always been drawn to rather eccentric characters.

The English star has been in this business for almost two decades — “so old now,” he laughs over Zoom, mussing up a famously good head of hair — and in that time has portrayed rock stars (The Dirt), poets (Mary Shelley) and fairies (The Sandman). “It’s really hard to go and play Boy George or Nikki Sixx or Dan Leno,” Booth tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Certain actors can’t do that, but I thrive on that.”

As thrilling as thriving is, Booth, who was undoubtedly part of an unofficial 2010s “Brit Pack” of 20-something actors with his Riot Club co-stars Sam Claflin and Max Irons, found himself gunning for a part that would involve less fantasy and more familiarity. “I very much love playing people that are just so far removed from myself,” he says. “[But] this was a good time to play a modern bloke. Does that sound silly?”

The product of Booth’s self-set challenge to take on “normalcy” is anything but silly. In ITV‘s six-episode The Blame, premiering Sept. 20, he stars as Tom, a detective in a run-of-the-mill English town trying to be a good guy. His professional partner, Emma (Michelle Keegan), is a headstrong presence in the force and consistently confronts the everyday sexism that permeates the office. But a teenage ice-skater’s murder soon draws Emma and Tom down a dark, twisty path, forcing them to investigate their own team.

In what will almost certainly shock viewers tuning into The Blame, adapted from Charlotte Langley’s book of the same name, the show depicts actual text messages from the real-life Metropolitan Police group chat scandals, in which multiple investigations exposed deep-rooted and systemic racism, homophobia and sexism — dismissed as “banter” — poisoning the country’s top police force.

Such was Booth’s discomfort finding out these texts were sent by U.K. police officers that he felt confident The Blame could send Brits an important message. “I remember reading [and thinking], ‘No woman would ever [write this]. This is just so uncomfortable and shocking.’ And then, yes, on the script, it came up: ‘These are all real text messages from members of the Met Police who’ve now been dismissed,’” he recalls to THR. “It lands really well in this series and anchored it for me. It’s also the reason why we’re making a big commercial series that, I felt, is one of the first to really delve into the problems we have with misogyny in the police force.”

Below, Booth discusses what he hopes The Blame can achieve and why Tom is caught “in a moral bear trap.” He also touches on the career he’s built, the U.K.’s adoration of a gripping police procedural and whether he’d ever be up for playing a particular fictional spy dominating a lot of the current headlines: “I would sound disingenuous if I said that playing such an iconic character wouldn’t appeal to me.”

I know this story is adapted from a book. Did you know much about it before the show came up?

I didn’t know anything about the book. I got a message from my agent and a message from [Quay Street Productions] founder Nicola Shindler, who’s an amazing producer. I’d actually worked with her on my first-ever lead performance when I played Boy George [in Worried About the Boy]. She [sent] an email saying, “You may remember me,” which I very much did. I had an amazing experience working with her before. I mean, she’s been nominated for like 13 BAFTAs or something ridiculous. So instantly, my ears pricked up. And then I read the script and absolutely loved it. I stupidly read it right before I went to bed, and then I couldn’t get to sleep because of the twist at the end of episode one. And I was like, “What?!” It really was a page-turner. I also think it had something important to say.

From the beginning of episode one, I was immediately suspicious of a couple of characters.

At its core, it’s a whodunit set within a police station, right? But you will be guessing until the very end of the last episode. Everyone comes under suspicion at some point for different reasons. One could call them red herrings, but I don’t necessarily think they are. It’s the fun of watching a thriller — if you’re sat there watching something like, ‘I think it’s that [person], or that [person].’ It’s quite a complex story with a lot of things going on. As you get into it, there is a tangled web of things that all get resolved the right way, but everything that happens happens for a reason. You’ll find out more about Tom and Emma’s past and how they’ve leaned on each other.

British star Douglas Booth says he liked the idea of playing “a modern bloke.”

Yellow Belly Photo

How would you describe Tom as a character for audiences coming into this show? He is a man very much trapped between two worlds.

Ultimately, Tom is someone who wants to be a good person. He’s got himself trapped in this toxic work culture, and he’s very much trying to do the right thing. But along the way, he’s probably got himself into a bit of a moral injury and made some compromised decisions — as does Emma, as do many people in that department. In my head, when I was playing him, I kind of imagined that he’d got his foot stuck in a moral bear trap, and he just couldn’t quite get himself free. He’s wrestling with that, and it’s corroding his internal core a little bit.

To take a step back and [give] an outside view of Tom, he’s a detective at this police station. He’s very close with Emma. I feel, in certain ways, he feels isolated from the rest of the department. He’s in a constant wrestle with his principles, but also his ambition and drive to be promoted and do well in life… His eggs are very much all in one basket. And sometimes I feel that about myself in this career. (Laughs.) All my eggs are very much in this basket. I always try to understand the humanity behind it, you know […] if you find out something compromising that could derail the whole thing right before you get across the finish line — do you say something or do you not say something? It was that wrestling with inner human greed and the want to progress alongside your principles.

I read that this series uses the actual text messages from multiple real-life cases of toxic police group chat scandals in the U.K. Were you shocked when you found that out?

That is one of the most shocking moments of the series, apart from some of the twists and turns towards the end, and probably the most sickening. It’s absolutely awful, and it’s really shocking. And I was like, “I can’t believe [the show writers] have written this.” I remember reading [and thinking], ‘This can’t be no writer… no woman would ever [write this]. This is just so uncomfortable and shocking.’ And then, yes, on the script, it came up: “These are all real text messages from members of the Met Police who’ve now been dismissed.”

It lands really well in this series and again, it anchored it for me. It’s also the reason why we’re making a big commercial series that, I felt, is one of the first to really delve into the problems we have with misogyny in the police force. When we were filming, it was the [BBC] Panorama Charing Cross film [about the] WhatsApp group — it came out the year we were shooting. It is shocking and disgusting behavior. You can’t quite believe the misogynistic, racist things that these people are saying. [The show] very much reflects the problems that we have with some of our systems and institutions, the police that are supposed to be protecting us that are potentially letting us — and specifically women — down.

Is the hope very much among writers and producers of this show that The Blame prompts discussion and stays with viewers? As you said, it’s a big commercial series, so hopefully a lot of eyeballs on a very important story.

I hope so. First and foremost, it’s a gripping thriller about a murder, and then it quickly becomes more complex. I think we obviously want the themes of the show to stay with people, and I think hopefully by the end of the series they will have. But yeah, there were definitely conversations about it, and there was a lot of sharing. I was always sending the producer the constant BBC News headlines about the failure of the police. But at the same time, I also have a lot of respect for the police. It’s a really difficult job that they do. So the aim definitely wasn’t to go out there and be police bashing in in any way. They do a really tricky job, but there are systematic failings that just don’t seem to be fully addressed.

We’d be thrilled if it started a conversation or at least made however many of the — hopefully — millions of people that watch it… If it makes a small amount of them, particularly men who have acted inappropriately or [people who] have been acted inappropriately upon, to sit up and think about their position within that, then could only be a very good thing.

It was refreshing to see all of this explored through such a strong character in Emma. Have you and Michelle crossed paths before?

No, I’ve literally never crossed paths with Michelle before, which is rare because I’ve been doing this almost two decades. So old now. (Laughs.) Over half my life. But yeah, she’s famously one of the nicest people in the industry. I’ve only heard incredible things, and she’s the nation’s sweetheart. When you’re around her, people just love her wherever you go — from all walks of life. She’s so grounded and down-to-earth. And we just got on like a house on fire. Also, she’s not in loads of things. She’s in things that run for a while. She’s in good things. It was a real pleasure to work with her and that really helped our chemistry throughout the series.

Michelle Keegan and Douglas Booth for ‘The Blame’

ITV

You have been in this industry, as you say, for nearly two decades. I think I first saw you in Great Expectations or The Riot Club, over a decade ago. How does The Blame capture this chapter of your career and which roles are talking to you at the moment?

It sounds silly to say but it was the chance to play a very normal person — to play a detective my own age in a six-part show where I could really just explore that human element and that complex character. That was a real draw for me. The job I just did before, I played a fairy in The Sandman for years, so I’d been getting up, having prosthetic ears put on my face at 3.30 every morning.

When you’re younger, you try to pretend that you have some great master plan for your career, making choices like you’re Leonardo DiCaprio. But not everyone is blessed like Leonardo DiCaprio to work with Martin Scorsese from the age of 20 or whatever. You’re always trying to do the best work that’s available to you. And this was a really exciting script, with a producer I really trusted, and Michelle was great. […] You make independent movies and you go to film festivals and 150 people see them and that’s it. (Laughs.) So I guess if there was any strategic thinking in the choice, it was to be in a commercial show that had lots of eyeballs on it and just play a man. I’m often drawn to playing fairies or rock stars or poets. I love playing musical performers like in The Limehouse Golem and I very much love playing people that are just so far removed from myself. This was a good time to play a modern bloke. Does that sound silly?

Not at all.

It’s really hard to go and play Boy George or Nikki Sixx or Dan Leno. Certain actors can’t do that, but I thrive on that. And I think it was a challenge for me, for over a good six-hour stretch, to just play a bloke.

I want to ask about The Sandman and the Netflix of it all. At this moment, in an industry with a very saturated market, where the streamers are dominating and the broadcasters are a little more cash-strapped, the police procedural continues to do very well. Can you speak a little bit about that and why they’re so important here?

It’s funny you say the traditional broadcasters are more cash-strapped, but when you do this show [The Blame], I can’t walk through the city without being on a 30-foot-high billboard in every single train station. If [the broadcasters] think they’ve got a good horse, they’ll back it, and then you make a massive Netflix show, and they don’t do a single bit of promotion for it because they don’t feel they have to. So the way they spend the money is quite interesting.

On the importance of it, I can only answer it from my own experience of doing this and having one coming out, but the amount of people that want to talk to me about it or are excited for it in my day-to-day life… My mates don’t normally give a crap about anything I’m in. (Laughs.) That’s why I love it. They couldn’t care less whether I’m in this movie or doing that, but the amount of people who say, “I can’t wait to watch [The Blame].” There’s something about it. I don’t know whether it’s going back to school, that autumn feeling. It’s pure comfort food [in] entertainment.

A quick note on what you’ve got coming up: The Way of the Wind. Can we talk about that?

That’s a Terrence Malick movie. I filmed it a couple of years ago now. It was a really beautiful moment in time. My agent said, “Oh, Terrence Malick wants to speak to you. You need to call his assistant.” I called his assistant and got through to Terrence and he said, “Oh, Douglas, it’s so great to speak to you. I don’t think I’ve seen you since you were on stage with McKellen…” I was like, ‘This is all a mistake. They think I’m someone else! I’ve told my friends I’m going to do a Terrence Malick film.’ And I said, “I don’t think I was born then, Terrence. [You’re] talking to Douglas Booth.” And he was like, “Oh, Douglas. I thought I was talking to Douglas Hodge,” who he’d also offered a part in the film to.

Luckily, it wasn’t a mistake. He’s seen the Mary Shelley movie I made with Elle Fanning and my wife, Bel Powley. I can’t actually say too much, but that film made him want me to play a part in this film. I would love to see it, but he’s been editing it for a very long time. He is an absolutely wonderful man to work with. He didn’t sit down once on set — he’s always by the camera, still like a young child, still so hungry, and communicates with you through old, typewriter-print letters. He’s so inquisitive.

Apart from Terrence, do you have a dream director you’d like to work with? You’ve already done so much, so I also have to ask: Bond? Does that appeal? You’re in the right age range and you’re British.

(Laughs.) I would sound disingenuous if I said that playing such an iconic character wouldn’t appeal to me. But I’m definitely not the one making the decisions on whether I will or not. I’d love to work with Denis Villeneuve. He’s fantastic. Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, if he ever makes movies again. Chris Nolan. I’m saying very basic answers! I’ve worked with Darren Aronofsky and the Wachowskis and when you work with these filmmakers who make such big, iconic movies, there is a thrill about it.

The Blame premieres in the U.K. on ITV Sept. 20.

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Douglas Booth has, admittedly, always been drawn

Fatih Akin is no stranger to the festival circuit, having wowed Berlin with his Golden Bear-winning Head-On in 2004 and nabbing best screenplay in Cannes for The Edge of Heaven in 2007.

The German-Turkish filmmaker, also a Golden Globe winner for 2017’s In the Fade, has sent a couple of movies to San Sebastian over the years. “I don’t remember which films it was,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter on Zoom. “But I always wanted to go.”

Akin is getting his chance and then some with this year’s haunting opener Ghost Song, following two students who meet in a Berlin nightclub and immediately fall head over heels in love. Farasha (Mariam Dawoud) and Faris (Eren M. Güvercin) are struck by a deep-rooted connection that they can’t wait to untangle, but the cord is abruptly cut short when Farasha is killed. For the next 40 nights, she visits Faris in his dreams, where their mutual infatuation slowly drives him to the brink of insanity.

The Warner Bros. film, co-written with Ruth Toma and set for release in Germany Nov. 5, is actually inspired by Akin’s own discovery of anime and manga, and bolstered by his desire to make Ghost Song for a younger audience. “I’m not a boomer, but I’m Generation X, and Gen Z is very different,” he says. “They work with very different tools and worlds, and you have this influence [that] is not coming from Hollywood. You have this influence coming from Asia, from Japan, China, Korea.”

The black-and-white feature is both tender and harrowing, the anime influence palpable in the beautifully illustrated title cards marking the remaining nights Farasha and Faris have together. The story also deftly draws on spirituality rooted in the Islamic tradition — a nod to Akin’s religious upbringing. “It’s my form of dealing with that,” he tells THR, “or using it as storytelling.”

Below, ahead of its glitzy red carpet premiere on Friday as Spain’s most prestigious film festival officially gets underway, Akin unpacks the making of Ghost Song. He talks about its depiction of teen suicides — “everybody knows somebody in the generation of my kids who [took their own life] or who tried to” — as well as his decision to keep the film in black-and-white, its similarity to Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze’s Ghost, and why he’s vowed to never relive this particular process again: “This is the very last time I do it this way.”

When did this journey start, and why this story?

It all started about 10 years ago. It was basically an idea [from] my son. He had this idea of me doing a film for kids, and it was a story about two friends, and one is a ghost — two boys and they’re best friends. I liked the idea of doing something for children, which was very different than what I did before. And I gave it to this writer, Ruth Toma, who I had worked with before. And she wrote the screenplay for this children’s movie. But then I turned to doing In the Fade and other stuff. We never stopped developing the screenplay in the meantime. And what happened was, with the growing up of my children, the age of the characters had changed. That happened [naturally], and so the focus shifted as well and it became a romantic [film]. My kids really taught me or showed me the world of anime. I was very much in manga and graphic novels before… But I was wondering, can I combine it with my take on cinema?

So there’s an anime influence on this film?

Very much. Anime films often have this romantic touch. They are in this fantasy world, you know? Like parallel universes, rebirth, dying and coming back — this is very popular in the anime world. But also social matters. A Silent Voice is a film about mobbing and suicide in the teenage world or in the young adult world, and so anime is a tool or a window for a younger generation than I am. I’m not a boomer, but I’m Generation X, and Gen Z is very different. They work with very different tools and worlds, and you have this influence [that] is not coming from Hollywood. You have this influence coming from Asia, from Japan, China, Korea. I was very much influenced by Western cinema, by American cinema.

Filmmaker Fatih Akin at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

Courtesy of Getty

Are there any particular directors from that region that you’re a fan of?

Hayao Miyazaki, the guy who won the Academy Award with Spirited Away. All his work is pretty influential, and of course, the guys who made Suzume, Your Name and Belle, these are incredible pieces of work, in a very visual way. I had the opportunity to do [that] with this film: combine it with that world [and make] a spiritual film. When you think about spiritual films, you end up with Kundun or The Last Temptation of Christ stuff, but I see more the desire and need of doing such a film for a director. Spirituality, the supernatural… I’m interested in this stuff in a private way, but how can you make a film about it that’s still for a wider audience? Ghost Song gave me the opportunity to do that — to do a spiritual film, but to do it as much [for]… I don’t know. Pop culture.

It’s interesting that this started as a children’s film because it really is quite morbid.

It’s not a children’s film anymore. It started as a children’s film, but then it became […] [for] young adults. And what we found out when we worked on this is that suicide is the highest reason for dying between 15 to 25-year-olds in the whole world. I didn’t know that, and it was scary. Suicide is a theme which has always popped up in my work.

I don’t know why these things pop up in my work, but it’s here [in Ghost Song] again. And everybody knows somebody in the generation of my kids who [took their own life] or who tried to. COVID was a very depressing period for this generation. So I observe that, in a way. I deal with that. I think the film is for everybody in a way — not too young — but sometimes I can understand that people of 60 years, if they don’t have kids or if their kids are grown up, that they cannot connect with such a film. But a younger audience can. And I’m 53 now. I’m thinking about getting old, and to do such a film and to connect with a younger audience… It keeps me young. (Laughs.)

This film tackles so much: suicide, mental health, young love. I want to ask about the mythology of this film, if that’s the right word. The lore, and Farasha haunting Faris for 40 nights. Is that rooted in a certain tradition?

Yes, the Islamic tradition. But we discovered that Orthodox Christianity has that too. […] I have this Islamic background. I grew up in an Islamic family, a very faithful, religious family. It’s my form of dealing with that, or using it as storytelling.

It was beautiful. I don’t know if I saw the final version of the film — I saw a black and white version?

That is the final version. I have two versions. That happened because the anime world was influencing this film, so when you do a film, you have reference films. The only reference films I had for this one, which I gave to my DP, were the anime films. Your Name, A Silent Voice, maybe Ghost, the Patrick Swayze film. (Laughs.) But nothing else on a visual level comes to mind. So this was the influence, and the colors and the color grading was very important. For the first time, I really, really, really worked with strong colors. It starts with the costume and goes through the set design and the lighting, but very much the grading as well. And the grading is a process in filmmaking that comes at the end, after the film is edited and done.

[But] with the fast rush and to not get distracted by it or not lose the faith in the visuality of the material, what did I do? I switched off the colors in the editing process. And what happened is we got used to it. The whole film was a long journey and very difficult to edit. I was in the editing room [for] almost six months. What do you do when you edit six months in black and white? You get used to it, and that’s like a relationship. You fall in love with it. So [we were] like, “Okay, let’s keep it in black and white.” It’s beautiful in black and white, and it’s existential in black and white. And this film is about existentialism, and it’s manga, and manga and anime are in black and white because the colors are too expensive to print. It became this art form. It’s so strong and so unique.

So which one will you screen in San Sebastian?

The black and white. I’m asking that they also show a color version of the film. I’m not sure if I have convinced the festival committee yet. But we have the opening in black and white, and I hope that I can get a second screening in color because you have to see both versions of the film to have the complete picture.

This is also very much an immigrant story. And we see glimpses of Farasha’s journey to Europe. I wanted to ask whether that’s rooted in anything personal for you?

I am always looking for heroines and heroes who are not that common in Western cinema, but [are] part of the Western world when you go out on the street. I’ve always done that since my very first film. I don’t know if it’s just personal. It’s something I observe on the street in daily life. Syrian migration in Germany since 2015 has become very visible in Germany, and these people somehow adapted to so much and so fast, as well. I mean, they’re in the medical sector and the care sector. They’re in all sectors, and they changed this country. The Turks have been here since the ’60s of the last century, but the Syrians came 10 years ago. It was an opportunity to put that in the story as well. To give more texture.

I don’t have these typical rock-and-roll kids [as] heroes. Faith is important for [Farasha] in a way. Maybe her faith, her religion, makes her otherworldly. You have to believe in that… If you deal with life and death and past life, you automatically end up in a spiritual film, and so it was a way or an opportunity to use my personal biography in this spirituality of the film.

How do you hope the audience reacts after watching Ghost Song?

I’ve seen some reactions [already]. Some reactions really shocked me — some people, they’re very much emotionally shaken by the film. I had never seen that before, or in other works I did. Usually, it’s not so much a young audience who’s like that. It’s more like 30 and up, you know? For them, this is a roller coaster, and I always try to give the audience a physical experience as well. I think if a film reaches a physical level — laughing, crying, whatever it is… If this two-dimensional medium can create that, can create goosebumps, but on the other hand, console. […] I hope this film could be a friend for a lot of young people. It deals with life and death, but in a life-positive way. It’s a tragic love story — we don’t have that too much these days in the cinema, especially a lot in German cinema.

It’s catharsis. It’s a troubled world. Everybody has a lot of issues all over the world, and you get sidetracked from that escapism. If a film can give you catharsis, it can be very helpful.

What does it mean to be opening the San Sebastian Film Festival?

It’s my first time at San Sebastian [Film Festival]. I think in the past, I sent films there and they passed [on them]. I don’t remember which films it was. But I always wanted to go to San Sebastian. It has that great name and good food and [it’s a] sophisticated festival in a way. I was very, very curious always about that because I have a lot of friends in Spain, and I think I have an audience in Spain, so I have a good relationship [with] that country. To get to that festival with this film and opening it, it means a lot to me.

It’s also good to know that there aren’t just the usual suspects to present a film. I mean, Cannes is great, and it did a lot for me. And so did Venice and Berlin. But there are other parts of the world, other festivals in the world. It’s not just that I want to support them, but they also support you. I feel very humble and and very honored that they picked up the film for opening. You know, in [the World Cup], I wanted Spain to win. (Laughs.)

How were you able to get Ghost Song funded?

We got government funding. But our biggest supporter, and I’m very thankful that I have them, was Warner Brothers. [Around] half of the budget is coming from Warner Brothers., I’m not sure. My producers know it better. (Laughs.) It was very difficult to finance this film. Very, very, very difficult. On the one hand, films have become more and more and more expensive, especially in Germany. That’s why a lot of German filmmakers move somewhere else to do their films. The cost, everything gets so high here. And you never get the full budget for any film.

Here, and also for [my] last two films, [including Cannes-premierer] Amrum, we went into the risk. We said, “Okay, we are not [at] full budget,” but we still greenlit the film. This is becoming more and more dangerous. This is the very last time I do it this way. Life is too short. It’s heart attacks and cortisol and sleepless nights! It’s not like when I started doing films. I was this young filmmaker in another time, in another country. You had some kids, you had some employees and a company and you’d do a film and fulfill that. It doesn’t work like that anymore.

As someone who has been working with Warner Bros. recently, and with a lot of European creatives speaking about the proposed Paramount takeover, can I ask: do you have an opinion?

Nobody knows. As a rule in filmmaking, nobody knows shit. And I don’t know about tomorrow. […] I don’t have an opinion about that. I can just say I work with the team in Germany and the U.K., and they’re very supportive. I have to say, a brilliant, professional, great team, and a lot of fun to work with.

This interview has been shortened and edited for clarity. The 2026 San Sebastian International Film Festival runs Sep. 18-26.

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Fatih Akin is no stranger to the

Miley Cyrus detailed her final conversation with godmother Dolly Parton in a heartwrenching interview Thursday, saying that the country music legend “was always right.”

Parton was the “Flowers” singer’s godmother in real life and appeared as her “Aunt Dolly” on her Disney Channel show “Hannah Montana.” The duo had a very close bond and mentorship relationship until the end of her life.

“The time that we talked, which was the last time we would talk, it was actually me telling her about this record,” Cyrus told Lowe.

She shared that even though her and Parton were different in many ways they bonded in how the performance persona they shared with the world was a sliver of who they really were.

“She’s known for the faux, the fake, the hair, the makeup, the show of it, but there’s a part of her that’s just what I think what everyone gravitates towards is how real she is and how authentic she is,” Cyrus shared.

“Even though we are so different, that’s what made us so perfect for each other.”

The “Bass Persuades” singer said that she mimicked Parton’s journey by separating her art from her personal life.

Another piece of advice Parton gave Cyrus was to keep her emotions in during her performances and let the audience do the crying for her.

“I always cry. I can’t help it,” Cyrus said. “She [Parton] was like, ‘Music is escapism. Let them cry. You need to get through it.’ And I said, ‘I know, but this is who I am.’ And she loved me for it.”

She shared that during their performance of “I Will Always Love You” at Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party in 2023 Cyrus could not keep the tears in.

“I think she knew at that time that the reason I was crying is the reason that I cry now,” she said. “Not just Dolly, which is a unique, that’s family, but so many of my really stabilizing peers that I have in my life, they’re generations before me and they’ve laid down brick by brick the road that I travel now.”

“And they aren’t always going to be here for me to call them and say, ‘What do I do now?,’ which I always did with Dolly,” she added.

Cyrus also shared that above everything the “Jolene” singer was always right about everything, even in advising her to wear Bob Mackie for her “Flowers” Grammy performance.

“She was always right, and when you’re a kid you’re like ‘What does she know?’ And then as you get older you’re like, ‘Everything,’” she said.

“The Climb” singer said that she still plans to send Parton a copy of her upcoming 10th studio album “Bass Persuades.”

“Dolly has been the first person when I get a vinyl printed, that’s the first person I send it to since I’ve been making vinyls,” she said, holding back tears. “This time around I’m going to send her a vinyl because I always do.”

Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver shared the news of her death on Aug. 25. The country music icon died after a brief battle with cancer.

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Miley Cyrus detailed her final conversation with

Florida is such a bizarre place that Grand Theft Auto VI’s Leonida—the game’s hyper-sensationalized version of the Sunshine State—barely seems like fiction. Known for taking its series’ settings to granular levels, Rockstar Games has lined the game’s upcoming soundtrack album with something for everyone in a microcosm of 2020s American absurdity. You have Morgan Wallen for Grassrivers’ (The Everglades) northern folk; Keith Richards for the suburbanites who moved there in retirement; and PinkPantheress for the partygoers twerking harmoniously in the clubs and beaches of Vice City (Miami). These might be songs for Florida people, but are they really “Florida songs”?

“That’s It”—the all-star collab between 2010s hip-hop forerunners Yung Lean, Future, and Metro Boomin—is the only track released thus far that achieves a sort of statewide ubiquity. Rhodes-esque keys and sun-soaked electric guitars—both right out of Jan Hammer’s Miami Vice lexicon—intertwine with the grimey, looming trap percussion of Florida’s present. The mood here is simultaneously muggy and chic, sun-dappled and gloomy: an undeniably Floridian motif that each artist has evoked in their own ways throughout their careers. Future glides over his longtime collaborator’s beat with the sort of finesse that sounds just as good coming out of a beer-splattered JBL Flip as a Miami strip club’s speakers. It’s not like there’s a world of difference between Floridians north or south anyway these days—vices are vices, and they’re not glamorous like they used to be in the ’80s. In the 2020s, the struggle of excess and pleasure that Yung Lean’s verse and hooks articulate is felt from the swamps to the Keys: “Money, clothes, demons, angel city,” it’s all “too heavy.” Welcome to Leonida.

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Florida is such a bizarre place that

Tom Cruise and Taylor Swift made headlines on Monday when they sat next to each other at the Kansas City Chiefs’ first game of the season. But what were the two megastars talking about?

“She was schooling me on football. For real,” Cruise revealed to Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on “The Tonight Show” on Thursday. But that wasn’t the first time Cruise and Swift have had a meeting of the minds — he was spotted at her Eras Tour in London in 2024, and when the pop star married Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in July, Cruise was in attendance.

“First of all, she’s a genius. I’ve been following her since she was a kid,” Cruise said of Swift. “Everybody there, all their friends — they’re a beautiful couple and magical in their own right.”

And Swift has real ball knowledge. “Oh, she knows her stuff,” Cruise continued, adding that the singer “knew nothing about football when she met Travis.”

Other than Swift coaching him through the game, Cruise said they “talked about music and movies.”

“She’s funny, she’s got such a great sense of humor,” he said. “A brilliant writer also, by the way. A brilliant musician and director — very skilled.”

Swift has directed many of her own music videos over the years, and delved further into filmmaking with 2021’s “All Too Well: The Short Film,” starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien. In late 2022, it was announced that she would be making her feature directorial debut for Searchlight Pictures, though her record-breaking Eras Tour that began the next year (and extended through December 2024) seems to have delayed this.

Elsewhere in his interview with Fallon, Cruise was asked about rumors that his new film “Digger,” directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, was actually a musical.

“No, but I think it’s a very good idea,” he laughed. “I think we should do ‘Digger’ the musical. Digger down!” Cruise and Fallon then broke out into song and dance in their seats.

Cruise’s press tour for “Digger” will also include an appearance on Travis and Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, releasing on Friday.

Watch Cruise’s full interview with Fallon below.

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Tom Cruise and Taylor Swift made headlines

One of the new Northlander trains ordered by the Ford government to restart rail service to northern Ontario has been out of commission for two months, since it crashed into a tow truck near Bracebridge, Ont.

In early July, during a testing and commissioning run, one of the Northlander trains ploughed into a vehicle at the rail crossing on High Falls Road when the lights were active to stop cars entering the track.

Although nobody was injured in the collision, the train has been out of service and under repair for the two-and-a-half months that followed the crash.

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“Repairs to the trainset will be completed soon and testing and commissioning activities are advancing as we prepare the service for launch,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation told Global News.

Reopening the Northlander train was a 2018 election promise by Ontario Premier Doug Ford. It is set to run from Toronto’s Union Station to Timmins and Cochrane.

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The train route was originally decommissioned by the Ontario Liberals in 2012.

Although the Ministry of Transportation did not confirm if, or how much, the July crash had delayed testing and therefore the date for the line, Ontario NDP MPP Guy Bourgouin said locals were growing frustrated.


“The people of the north, we want the Northlander back, of course,” he told Global News.

“This is a service that we need in northern Ontario. We’ve been asking questions to the government, to the appropriate people; we can’t get an answer. We heard it was supposed to start at the end of August, then the end of September.”

The government has not set a specific opening date for the train line, but has said it will be operational in 2026.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Charles Spencer, the brother of the late Princess Diana, is sharing a bombshell claim about King Charles III’s reaction to her death.

In an excerpt from his new book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, published by the Daily Mail on Thursday, September 17, Spencer, 62, recalled his first conversation with Charles, 77, after Diana died in a car accident in August 1997.

“The phone rang constantly. Prince Charles caught me as I crossed the landing upstairs,” Spencer wrote. “Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated — like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time.”

“He let me know he had informed [Princes] William and Harry of their mother’s death, first thing that morning, in their bedrooms at Balmoral,” Spencer continued. “It all sounded strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster.”


Related: Princess Diana’s Brother Shares Emotional Message 29 Years After Her Death

Princess Diana‘s brother, Charles Spencer, paid tribute to the late royal on the 29th anniversary of her tragic death. “31 August. My least favourite day,” Spencer, 62, wrote via Instagram on Monday, August 31, sharing a photo of a flag flying at half-staff over Diana’s childhood home at Althorp House in the U.K. Diana died […]

Spencer added, “Looking back now, I suspect the prince’s first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not. It can be hard to feel too much sympathy for an ex-spouse, or those who care for them profoundly, after bitter divorce.”

Us has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.

Charles and Diana wed in 1981 but separated just over a decade later in 1992. Their divorce was finalized in 1996. Charles went on to marry Queen Camilla in 2005.

In another excerpt from the book published by the Daily Mail on Wednesday, September 16, Spencer claimed that Charles once told him that Diana would be forgotten in time.

Royal Family Tributes to Princess Diana


Related: The Royal Family’s Most Touching Tributes to Princess Diana

The People’s Princess always and forever. The British royal family has kept Princess Diana’s memory alive since her untimely death in August 1997. The mother of Prince William and Prince Harry died at the age of 36 after a car accident in Paris that resulted from her driver, Henri Paul, fleeing the paparazzi. Paul and […]

“Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough,” Spencer alleged Charles told him over the phone during an argument about Diana’s funeral arrangements.

Spencer hypothesized in the book that Charles “unleashed” his comments because he had “pent-up contempt for Diana” and was horrified “the world was so bowled over by her death.”

“I was so stunned that it took me a few seconds to reply. ‘I can’t believe you just said that,’ I said flatly, before hanging up,” Spencer wrote.

In a statement to Us on Wednesday, Buckingham Palace said, “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement, and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss.”

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Charles Spencer, the brother of the late

Carmella Garcia and her boyfriend Danny Hampel have “called it quits.”

Speaking to Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast on Thursday, September 17, the Real Housewives of Orange County star, 44, confirmed the couple had split “months ago” after 10 years together.

Carmella told the outlet she had mixed feelings about the break-up.

“I feel a range of emotions,” Carmella said. “I feel sad. It was a 10-year relationship. It was somebody that was around my children. But, at the end of the day, I needed to put myself first.”


Related: RHOC’s Season 20 Trailer Unites Past Housewives — But There’s Still Drama

The show that launched a global phenomenon is back and ready for another juicy season. On Thursday, June 11, Bravo released the official trailer for season 20 of The Real Housewives of Orange County. Shannon Storms Beador, Heather Dubrow, Tamra Judge, Gina Kirschenheiter, Emily Simpson and Jennifer Pedranti are back for more fun as they […]

While Carmella did not specify what exactly caused the split, she claimed that Danny had done something “gravely inappropriate” after RHOC’s season 20 wrapped.

“It was a very difficult situation because it was somebody that I loved very deeply, and I truly did want to get to a place of forgiveness, but I oftentimes ignore my intuition and there was just something deep down that I felt like I just didn’t trust,” she told the outlet. “The dishonesty just continued and I called it quits.”

Carmella added that the split had affected her sons,  Jason, 17, and Jax, 15. (Carmella shares Jason and Jax with her ex-husband, former NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia. The former couple also share daughters Presley, 18, and Faith, 14.)

TCDREHO_VO398RHOCs-Carmella-Garcia-Splits-From-Boyfriend-Danny-Hampel.jpg

Carmella Garcia.
(Photo: Bravo / Courtesy Everett Collection)

“I have to be enough for myself and for him and for my children, and I was never enough for him,” she said. “That’s an issue that I feel like is his issue.”

Describing the relationship with Danny as unhealthy, Carmella continued, “If I could change it for him, I would, but I can’t. The ship was sinking and I needed to save myself.”

Carmella admitted it was tough watching their relationship on RHOC and added that she has enlisted the help of therapists to move forward.

“I’ve struggled over the years [with] suppressing pain, and I felt like this is exactly where I needed to be,” she said. “I needed to walk through it, and the only way through it is straight through it.”

Carmella and Danny’s relationship problems have been shown on RHOC, with episode 6 showing some of their issues.

“It’s been about four years since Danny’s infidelity. And, admittedly, I do have a wall of resentment.” Carmella said on episode 6, adding, “But I do love him, I do want to live life with him, I do need to know how to forgive, and not just for him, but for myself. I just have to figure out how to do it.”

For his part, Danny told Carmella during the episode that he wanted to restore the feelings they had in the initial stages of their relationship.

“I just want you back to where you felt like the way you did in the beginning,” Danny told her at the time. “I understand you can’t get there, but.”

Carmella told him, “I’m not getting over it. I made it through it, but I’m not getting over it.”

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Carmella Garcia and her boyfriend Danny Hampel

The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has announced the first-ever Korea visit by Alfonso Cuarón, alongside a dedicated spotlight on nine films from European women and genderqueer filmmakers.

Cuarón, who has won the Academy Award for best director twice, for “Gravity” (2013) and “Roma” (2018), also holds the Venice Film Festival’s best screenplay prize for “Y Tu Mamá También” (2001) and a Golden Lion for “Roma.” He first caught Hollywood’s attention with “Y Tu Mamá También,” a portrait of youth and desire, before taking “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004) in a moodier, more personal visual direction than the series had gone before, and later used extended long takes in “Children of Men” (2007) to pull audiences directly into a world at war. He is expected to appear at BIFF’s opening ceremony and will sit down for an extended conversation with festivalgoers about the camera language and instincts behind his films. An Imax screening of “Gravity,” co-written with his son, filmmaker Jonás Cuarón, will also be at the festival.

Jonás Cuarón’s latest feature, “Campeón Gabacho,” will have its Asian premiere in the World Cinema section, followed by a post-screening Q&A. Since writing on “Gravity,” the younger Cuarón has built his own filmography with “Desierto” (2015) and “Chupa” (2023). “Campeón Gabacho,” starring Juan Daniel García Treviño, Leslie Grace, Rubén Blades, Eddie Marsan, Rosario Dawson and Cheech Marin, follows a Mexican immigrant building a life in the United States, and was produced by Jonás Cuarón alongside his father and Gabriela Rodriguez under their Esperanto Filmoj banner, with Nicolás Celis also producing.

Elsewhere at the festival, BIFF is showcasing “Europe! Voices of Women+ in Film,” a program run with the European Film Promotion (EFP), spotlighting nine officially selected films through targeted promotion and industry networking. The lineup spans period drama, documentary and contemporary narrative work built around questions of freedom, memory and family, with four of the nine as feature debuts. May el-Toukhy‘s “Woman Unknown,” winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, anchors the group; el-Toukhy became the first Danish woman filmmaker to take that prize, while Mathilde Arcel won the Volpi Cup for best actress in the same film. Also included are Marine Atlan’s debut “La Gradiva,” Pegah Ahangarani’s “Rehearsals for a Revolution,” Sandra Wollner’s “Everytime,” winner of the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes, Margherita Ferrari’s debut “Föa – Once Upon a Future,” Isabelle Stever’s “I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming,” Marie Kreutzer’s “Gentle Monster,” Shahrbanoo Sadat’s “No Good Men” and Sarah Arnold’s debut “Too Many Beasts.” Judith Godrèche’s “A Girl’s Story,” part of this year’s gala presentations, joins Angela Schanelec’s “My Wife Cries,” Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak’s “Birds of War,” Jacqueline Lentzou’s “A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra,” winner of the Horizons Award for Best Director at Venice, and Konstantina Kotzamani’s “Titanic Ocean” among the additional selections.

Five directors from the program, el-Toukhy, Godrèche, Ferrari, Lentzou and Kotzamani, will travel to Busan to present their films. Godrèche will also take part in a Cine Class session, “Women, Rewriting the Screen,” and BIFF and EFP will co-host a Talk-to-Talk panel, “Women Directors: Taking the Scene,” bringing together Ferrari, el-Toukhy and Lentzou alongside Iranian director Marjan Khosravi (“Dreams of the Wild Oaks”), Chinese director Michelle Zhou (“Big Little Things”) and Afghan director Zainab Entezar (“771 Days”).

BIFF programmer Seo Seunghee said that in reviewing films for this year’s festival, she noticed European women directors becoming more prominent among the strongest titles under consideration, in both volume and quality. “Moreover, the fact that four of the nine invited films are feature debuts is also an indicator of the generational shift taking place in European cinema,” Seo said. “Our ongoing collaboration with EFP has become a reliable channel for discovering and validating outstanding films and filmmakers, and the results are fully reflected in this year’s lineup.”

EFP managing director Irina Ignatiew-Lemke said the “Europe! Voices of Women+ in Film” initiative lets EFP and its member organizations “join forces to give distinctive European voices greater international visibility.” She added, “Busan is an important platform for bringing these filmmakers and their works into dialogue with audiences and industry professionals in Asia. By combining the festival’s selection with EFP’s targeted promotion and networking, we are proud to support underrepresented voices and create opportunities for the next generation of women+ filmmakers.”

The program runs in collaboration with BIFF, the Sydney Film Festival and Festival do Rio, with support from the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union. This year’s participating national film promotion organizations are Austrian Films, Cinecittà, the Czech Film Center, the Danish Film Institute, German Films and Unifrance, with Cineuropa serving as media partner.

The 31st Busan International Film Festival will run Oct. 6-15 at the Busan Cinema Center and venues throughout Busan, with the 21st Asian Contents & Film Market held Oct. 10-13.

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The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF)

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A Fantastic Four: First Steps prequel has been released ahead of the return of the team and Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday. The Fantastic Four are the newest superhero team to enter the MCU, with the core four comprising Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). The Phase 6 film was also responsible for a first look at the MCU’s next big bad, with Doctor Doom appearing in the movie’s post-credits sequence.

While The Fantastic Four’s sights have now moved on to Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel Studios is continuing to fill in the blanks about the team through a series of official prequel comics to the MCU movie. A recent release in this space was Fantastic Four: First Foes – Shalla-Bal #1, a prequel exploring the origins of the film’s villain, Shalla-Bal, aka the Silver Surfer, played by Julia Garner. 

Marvel Comics

The comic by Charles Soule and Mark Buckingham is set in the same universe as The Fantastic Four: First Steps and explores Shalla-Bal’s life as Galactus’s herald. Fantastic Four: First Foes – Shalla-Bal #1 hit shelves in June.

As the movie revealed, Shalla-Bal was a scientist living peacefully with her daughter on the world of Zenn-La.

Fantastic Four: First Foes – Shalla-Bal #1
Marvel Comics

When Galactus arrived, she offered herself up as his herald in exchange for sparing her world. She later arrived on Earth-828 to warn the Fantastic Four of Galactus’s arrival and attempted to steal Sue and Reed’s baby, Franklin, from them for Galactus. 

Fantastic Four: First Foes – Shalla-Bal #1
Marvel Comics

This new comic reveals some of Shalla-Bal’s early days as Galactus’s herald and the story behind the planet of Polaris. 

Fantastic Four: First Foes – Shalla-Bal #1
Marvel Comics

Shalla-Bal arrived to ease the conflict on the war-torn planet, and she fought on all sides. When the people reacted and tried to destroy the Silver Surfer with its corestars, she absorbed the radiation, saving them from a possibly cataclysmic event.

Fantastic Four: First Foes – Shalla-Bal #1
Marvel Comics

However, the peace was short-lived, as Shalla-Bal quickly revealed to them their planet had been marked for death. The people questioned why she would save them only to have them destroyed, and Shalla-Bal revealed that she wanted them to know peace, even if only for a short time. 

Fantastic Four: First Foes – Shalla-Bal #1
Marvel Comics

Shalla-Bal eventually redeemed herself in The Fantastic Four: First Steps after Johnny reminded her of the planets she’d helped destroy with recordings of their last moments, and she chose to help the team in the final battle by pushing Galactus through the intergalactic portal. 

Shalla-Bal and Galactus were the Fantastic Four’s greatest foes in the MCU, until Doctor Doom’s late-stage arrival in the film’s post-credits scene, which sets up an even bigger conflict to come in Avengers: Doomsday. Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU to play Victor von Doom, switching from the side of the heroes to the villains with his new role.

Marvel has released other comic prequels to The Fantastic Four: First Steps, including The Fantastic Four: First Foes, which explored the heroes’ origin story and their battle against the Mad Thinker. The Fantastic Four: First Foes – Shalla-Bal is the second of four planned one-shots in the prequel comic tie-in series, with two more to come before the end of 2026.

Marvel Comics Expands on The Fantastic Four Ahead of Avengers: Doomsday

Franklin and Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Marvel Studios

With Avengers: Doomsday in sight and the arrival of Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom after his tease in The Fantastic Four: First Steps post-credits scene, Marvel is preparing for the villain’s arrival by expanding on the origins of his notable enemies, the Fantastic Four.

Doctor Doom has typically been the main antagonist for the Fantastic Four, with Victor and Reed sharing a history as they came up as scientists together, often engaging in a competitive personal rivalry with deadly consequences. But rather than him serve as the villain in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel Studios is saving Doctor Doom for the main villain of the Multiverse Saga.

The Avengers: Doomsday trailer has confirmed that the Fantastic Four are aware of Victor von Doom, with Sue Storm knowing him to be the smartest man in every room, until a tragedy broke him. This suggests the Fantastic Four members may not be aware of Victor’s transition into Doctor Doom, having last known him as the man, not the villain. 

Through these Fantastic Four: First Steps prequel comics, Marvel Studios has the chance to go even deeper into the superhero team’s history, which could eventually involve their relationship to Victor von Doom. 

Marvel Comics has yet to announce what the fourth one-shot from The Fantastic Four: First Foes will be centered on. With it expected to be released before the end of 2026, likely near the release of Avengers: Doomsday, this last one-shot may be the perfect one to focus on Victor von Doom and his origins with the Fantastic Four, giving fans context for Downey Jr.’s villain before he arrives on-screen.

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Lanterns has just hit a vital streaming milestone that comes as the perfect update as the DC series’ fate hangs in the balance. Prior to 2026, the image many had of Green Lantern was that of Ryan Reynolds’ ill-received live-action movie from 2011. However, that has since changed, with Lanterns becoming the first live-action Green Lantern project since that film. The new HBO series has quickly gained traction as one of the biggest hits of the year, breaking records for both the linear HBO channel and on streaming on HBO Max. Lanterns stars Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart.

Lanterns debuted on HBO and HBO Max on August 16. There are only three episodes left in the DC Universe series‘ first season, with James Gunn releasing the Lanterns mid-season trailer to tease what is in store for the show. That includes the return of Ulrich Thomsen’s Sinestro, John and Hal venturing into another planet, theories about how Chandler’s Hal Jordan might have been saved by Manhunter technology, Nathan Fillion’s Lanterns debut as Guy Gardner, and more. Before those moments make it to the small screen, Lanterns has just hit a vital HBO Max milestone that is perfect for the show’s future.

Lanterns Can’t Be Stopped On Global Streaming Charts

Lanterns has officially hit 30 days on HBO Max’s Top 10 TV Shows chart in the United States. After becoming an instant global streaming sensation, DC’s new series is also proving itself a strong contender week-to-week. At the time of writing, the show that has been trending for the longest time on HBO Max nationwide is the reality series 90 Day Fiancé, at a whopping 242 days. While Lanterns might still have a long way to get on that level, by spending a full month on the streamer’s top chart in the US, the new DC and HBO collaboration proves itself an enduring hit.

Additionally, Lanterns is currently the most-watched TV show on HBO Max in the United States. While 90 Day Fiancé might have a longer total time on the streaming service’s Top 10 TV Shows chart, it is now at 4th. Lanterns also leaves behind shows like 90 Day: The Last Resort, The Big Bang Theory‘s spin-off shows Stuart Fails to Save the Universe and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, Rick and Morty‘s spin-off President Curtis, and more. In Canada, Lanterns has also hit the 30-day milestone, though it comes from Amazon Channels, and it is a list that also includes movies, ranking higher than Supergirl.

What’s The Future Of The DC Show Looking Like?

Kyle Chandler in Lanterns on HBO Max
Kyle Chandler in Lanterns on HBO Max
HBO Max

As of now, Lanterns has yet to be officially renewed for season 2. However, a writers’ room has already been started for the DC show’s possible second season, which would have Chris Mundy (Ozark) returning as showrunner and being joined by Christopher Cantwell (Halt and Catch Fire) as co-showrunner. The latest update on Lanterns season 2 came from a new report from The Ankler, which stated that there are no plans to make a decision on whether to renew Lanterns anytime soon.

Despite the show’s record-breaking nature — it had one of HBO Max’s five largest series debuts — executives seem to want to wait until Lanterns season 1 finishes airing to look at the full picture, and the fact that Lanterns keeps hitting vital streaming milestones to classify it as a huge hit are perfect for the DC series’ season 2 chances.


Lanterns - Poster


Release Date

August 16, 2026

Network

HBO

Showrunner

Chris Mundy

  • Headshot Of Kyle Chandler

  • Headshot Of Aaron Pierre

    Aaron Pierre

    John Stewart


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Lanterns has just hit a vital streaming

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Υπάρχουν ωστόσο περιορισμοί που οφείλεις να υπολογίσεις υπ’ όψιν σου. Αυτές οι προπληρωμένες κάρτες γενικά δε υποστηρίζουν αναλήψεις — ούτε μπορείς να μεταφέρεις τα κέρδη σου πίσω στην Paysafecard. Τούτο υποδηλώνει ότι θα χρειαστείς οπωσδήποτε μια εναλλακτική λύση ανάληψης, όπως τραπεζικό έμβασμα ή ψηφιακό πορτοφόλι, όταν έρθει η στιγμή να λάβεις. Επιπλέον, τα ξεχωριστά δελτία διαθέτουν ανώτατο όριο αξίας, συνήθως γύρω στα 100 ευρώ, οπότε για μεγαλύτερες πληρωμές θα χρειαστεί να εισάγεις πολλούς κωδικούς. Η πρόταση μου είναι να χρησιμοποιείς προπληρωμένες κάρτες για να ξεκινήσεις τη συνεδρία σου με ένα σταθερό ποσό, και να διαθέτεις ήδη ρυθμίσει ένα ψηφιακό πορτοφόλι για τις μελλοντικές σου αναλήψεις.

Τραπεζικές Συναλλαγές και Άμεσα Εμβάσματα

Για παίκτες που θέλουν την κλασική οδό και σκοπεύουν να μεταφέρουν μεγαλύτερου ύψους ποσά, οι τραπεζικές συναλλαγές είναι μια στέρεη επιλογή. Στην Ελλάδα, τα εσωτερικά εμβάσματα μέσω του συστήματος SEPA είναι τις περισσότερες φορές ατελή χρεώσεων και μεταφέρονται στον προορισμό τους εντός μίας έως δύο εργάσιμων ημερών. Το Starda Casino προσφέρει απευθείας καταθέσεις από ελληνικές τράπεζες, και η πορεία είναι απλή: ορίζεις το ποσό, αποκτάς τα τραπεζικά στοιχεία προορισμού και εκτελείς το έμβασμα μέσω του e-banking σου. Το σημαντικό πλεονέκτημα εδώ είναι η δυνατότητα κίνησης ποσών που συχνά υπερβαίνουν τα όρια άλλων μεθόδων.

Μια συγκριτικά νέα προσθήκη που έχει αποκτήσει έδαφος είναι οι υπηρεσίες άμεσης τραπεζικής μεταφοράς, όπως το Trustly ή το Sofort, οι οποίες λειτουργούν ως γέφυρα ανάμεσα στην τράπεζά σου και το καζίνο. Αντί να αναμένεις μία ή δύο ημέρες για να εκκαθαριστεί το έμβασμα, αυτές οι υπηρεσίες ελέγχουν τη συναλλαγή σε πραγματικό χρόνο και καταθέτουν το υπόλοιπό σου άμεσα. Είναι η ιδανική λύση αν βασίζεσαι στο τραπεζικό σου περιβάλλον αλλά δεν σκοπεύεις να θυσιάσεις την αμεσότητα που δίνουν τα e-wallets. Συνήθως χρειάζεται να συνδεθείς με τα credentials του e-banking σου, αλλά η διαδικασία είναι κωδικοποιημένη και δεν διατηρούνται ευαίσθητα δεδομένα στην πλατφόρμα του καζίνο.

Ένα σημείο που απαιτεί προσοχή είναι οι χρόνοι ανάληψης. Ενώ η κατάθεση μέσω άμεσης τραπεζικής είναι ακαριαία, η ανάληψη προς τον ίδιο τραπεζικό λογαριασμό ακολουθεί την τυπική διαδικασία και μπορεί να χρειαστεί από μία έως τέσσερις εργάσιμες ημέρες, ανάλογα με την τράπεζά σου και το ιστορικό επαλήθευσης του λογαριασμού σου. Προτείνω ανεπιφύλακτα να ολοκληρώσεις τη διαδικασία ταυτοποίησης (KYC) πριν ζητήσεις την πρώτη σου ανάληψη — ανέβασε τα απαραίτητα έγγραφα στο προφίλ σου από την αρχή. Έτσι, όταν έλθει η στιγμή να λάβεις, η ομάδα πληρωμών θα επεξεργαστεί το αίτημά σου χωρίς καθυστερήσεις.

Ψηφιακά Πορτοφόλια: Γρήγορη Εκτέλεση και Ευελιξία

Τα ηλεκτρονικά πορτοφόλια, γνωστά και ως e-wallets, έχουν αλλάξει ριζικά τον τρόπο που οι Έλληνες παίκτες διαχειρίζονται τα χρήματά τους στα online καζίνο. Υπηρεσίες όπως Skrill, Neteller, PayPal και η ανερχόμενη MuchBetter προσφέρουν ένα ενδιάμεσο στρώμα ανάμεσα στον τραπεζικό σου λογαριασμό και την πλατφόρμα παιχνιδιού. Το μεγαλύτερο πλεονέκτημά τους είναι η ταχύτητα: οι καταθέσεις είναι άμεσες και, κυρίως, οι αναλήψεις συχνά ολοκληρώνονται μέσα σε λίγες ώρες αντί για ημέρες. Όταν κάνω ανάληψη κερδών, προσωπικά προτιμώ το Skrill γιατί ξέρω ότι τα χρήματα θα είναι διαθέσιμα στο πορτοφόλι μου πριν καν προλάβω να κλείσω την εφαρμογή.

Ένα άλλο σημαντικό όφελος είναι η δυνατότητα διαχωρισμού των οικονομικών σου δραστηριοτήτων. Φορτώνοντας το e-wallet σου με ένα συγκεκριμένο ποσό στην αρχή του μήνα, δημιουργείς έναν αποκλειστικό προϋπολογισμό ψυχαγωγίας που δεν μπλέκεται με τα υπόλοιπα έξοδά σου. Αυτή η πρακτική είναι εξαιρετικά χρήσιμη για υπεύθυνο παιχνίδι και σε βοηθά να έχεις ξεκάθαρη εικόνα του τι ξοδεύεις. Επιπλέον, τα e-wallets προσφέρουν ένα επιπλέον επίπεδο ιδιωτικότητας: το καζίνο δεν βλέπει τα πλήρη τραπεζικά σου στοιχεία, μόνο το αναγνωριστικό του πορτοφολιού σου, μειώνοντας την έκθεση των ευαίσθητων δεδομένων σου.

Πριν επιλέξεις e-wallet, έλεγξε δύο πράγματα: πρώτον, αν η υπηρεσία υποστηρίζεται τόσο για καταθέσεις όσο και για αναλήψεις στη συγκεκριμένη πλατφόρμα — στο Starda Casino καλύπτονται όλες οι μεγάλες υπηρεσίες και προς τις δύο κατευθύνσεις. Δεύτερον, ενημερώσου για τυχόν χρεώσεις από την πλευρά του παρόχου του πορτοφολιού, καθώς ορισμένοι επιβάλλουν μικρές προμήθειες σε συναλλαγές προς gaming sites ή σε μετατροπές νομίσματος. Τα καλά νέα είναι ότι οι περισσότερες συναλλαγές σε ευρώ είναι ατελώς χρεώσεων, αλλά πάντα αξίζει να το επιβεβαιώσεις. Τέλος, φρόντισε ο λογαριασμός σου στο e-wallet να είναι πλήρως επαληθευμένος πριν επιχειρήσεις μεγάλες συναλλαγές, για να αποφύγεις μπλοκαρίσματα σε κρίσιμες στιγμές.

Ερωτήσεις και Απαντήσεις

Ποια είναι η ασφαλέστερη επιλογή καταβολής στο Starda Casino;

Κάθε μία από οι επιλογές που παρέχονται στη συγκεκριμένη πλατφόρμα πληρούν αυστηρά πρωτόκολλα ασφάλειας, αλλά τα ηλεκτρονικά πορτοφόλια και οι προπληρωμένες κάρτες δίνουν ένα πρόσθετο επίπεδο ασφάλειας αποκλείοντας τα τραπεζικά σου πληροφορίες. Από προσωπική άποψη θεωρώ το Skrill και τη Neteller άριστες επιλογές καθώς δρουν ως μεσάζων και δεν φανερώνουν απευθείας τον τραπεζικό σου λογαριασμό. Η ιστοσελίδα χρησιμοποιεί κρυπτογράφηση SSL ανεξαρτήτως τρόπου, συνεπώς η μεταφορά των πληροφοριών είναι πάντοτε προστατευμένη.

Υπάρχει δυνατότητα να κάνω χρήση εναλλακτική μέθοδο για κατάθεση και αναλήψεις;

Κατά περισσότερες φορές, η τακτική του Starda Casino απαιτεί η απόσυρση να εκτελείται προς την αυτήν επιλογή που επέλεξες για την κατάθεση, αν αυτή υποστηρίζει αποσύρσεις. Αν είχες κάνει κατάθεση με Paysafecard, θα χρειαστεί να προτιμήσεις εναλλακτική τρόπο όπως τραπεζικό έμβασμα ή e-wallet για την ανάληψη. Συνιστώ να ορίσεις ένα e-wallet ως πρωταρχική επιλογή από την αρχή για να κάνεις πιο εύκολη τη διαδικασία.

Υπάρχουν κόστη για τις καταβολές στο Starda Casino;

Αυτό το online καζίνο δεν επιβάλλει κόστη στις συναλλαγές, ανεξάρτητα της τρόπου που θα χρησιμοποιήσεις. Εντούτοις, ο πάροχος πληρωμής πληρωμής σου — τράπεζα, e-wallet ή πλατφόρμα crypto — ενδέχεται να επιβάλλει δικές του τέλη. Παραδείγματος χάριν, ορισμένες ελληνικές τράπεζες επιβάλλουν χαμηλά κόστη σε μεταφορές προς εταιρείες τυχερών παιχνιδιών, και μερικά e-wallets κοστολογούν τέλος σε αλλαγές νομίσματος. Δες τους όρους του παρόχου σου προτού την συναλλαγή.

Πόσος διάρκεια χρειάζεται για να φανεί η κατάθεσή μου στο λογαριασμό μου;

Οι περισσότερες επιλογές — κάρτες, e-wallets, προπληρωμένες κάρτες και άμεσες τραπεζικές — πιστώνουν το ποσό στιγμιαία, σε σε δευτερόλεπτα από την επιβεβαίωση της συναλλαγής. Τα τραπεζικά εμβάσματα SEPA χρειάζονται συνήθως μία έως δύο εργάσιμες ημέρες. Τα κρυπτονομίσματα εξαρτώνται από την κίνηση του blockchain και το fee που έχεις διαλέξει, αλλά συνήθως επιβεβαιώνονται μέσα σε 10 έως 60 λεπτά. Αν η συναλλαγή καθυστερεί, έλεγξε πρώτα την κατάσταση στον πάροχό σου.

Ποιο είναι το ελάχιστο ποσό κατάθεσης που μπορώ να βάλω;

Το κατώτατο ποσό διαφέρει από τη μέθοδο πληρωμής που διαλέγεις. Για τις πολλές μεθόδους, όπως κάρτες και e-wallets, το κανονικό ελάχιστο όριο κυμαίνεται γύρω στα 5 με 10 ευρώ. Οι προπληρωμένες κάρτες διαθέτουν συνήθως ελάχιστο όσο η ονομαστική αξία του κουπονιού που λαμβάνεις. Για τραπεζικά εμβάσματα, το ελάχιστο μπορεί να είναι ελαφρώς υψηλότερο λόγω του κόστους διεκπεραίωσης. Δες την ενότητα πληρωμών στην επίσημη σελίδα για τα ακριβή τρέχοντα όρια.

Απαιτείται υποχρεωτική η ταυτοποίηση (KYC) για να κάνω κατάθεση;

Για την πρώτη σου κατάθεση, κανονικά δεν απαιτείται πλήρης ταυτοποίηση — έχεις τη δυνατότητα να ξεκινήσεις να παίζεις άμεσα. Εντούτοις, η διαδικασία KYC είναι υποχρεωτική πριν από την πρώτη σου ανάληψη και μπορεί να ζητηθεί και νωρίτερα αν οι συναλλαγές σου αγγίξουν συγκεκριμένα όρια. Η συμβουλή μου είναι να καταχωρίσεις τα έγγραφά σου (ταυτότητα, αποδεικτικό διεύθυνσης) στο προφίλ σου από την πρώτη ημέρα, ώστε να μην προκύψουν καθυστερήσεις όταν επιθυμήσεις να κάνεις ανάληψη των κερδών σου.

Όταν πρωτοάρχισα να ασχολούμαι επαγγελματικά με τον

It’s that time of year again, where the latest edition of the EA Sports FC series nears release.

If you’ve pre-ordered the game and want to know exactly when you’ll be able to get your hands on it, we’ve got all the information below.

What’s more, if you’ve pre-ordered on Xbox, you can use the New Zealand trick (as is the case with a number of Xbox games in the past) to start playing on Early Access right now.

Read on, then, to find out exactly when you can start playing EA Sports FC 27.

EA Sports FC 27 Early Access release time

Although the main release date for EA Sports FC 27 is September 25, players who pre-ordered the Ultimate Edition will get access from September 18.

If you’re playing on PC, the game goes live at exactly the same time all around the world. This time is as follows:

  • Los Angeles (PT) – September 17 at 4pm
  • New York (ET) – September 17 at 7pm
  • London (BST) – September 18 at midnight (the night of September 17)
  • France (CEST) – September 18 at 1am
  • Tokyo (JST) – September 18 at 8am
  • Sydney (AEST) – September 18 at 9am
  • New Zealand (NZST) – September 18 at 11am

If you’re playing on console, the game goes live at midnight in your region. That means wherever you live in the world, when it hits midnight and the date changes from September 17 to September 18, you can start playing EA Sports FC 27.

If you’re playing on Xbox there’s a way to get round that with the New Zealand trick, which you can find at the end of this article. But first, the times for the Standard Edition.

EA Sports FC 27 Standard Edition release time

If you aren’t fussed about the Ultimate Edition and are happy to wait for the Standard Edition, the times are basically the same but a week later.

This means if you’re playing on PC, the game still goes live at the same time all around the world, which is:

  • Los Angeles (PT) – September 24 at 4pm
  • New York (ET) – September 24 at 7pm
  • London (BST) – September 25 at midnight (the night of September 24)
  • France (CEST) – September 25 at 1am
  • Tokyo (JST) – September 25 at 8am
  • Sydney (AEST) – September 25 at 9am
  • New Zealand (NZST) – September 25 at 11am

If you’re playing on console, the game goes live at midnight in your region. That means wherever you live in the world, when it hits midnight and the date changes from September 24 to September 25, you can start playing EA Sports FC 27.

EA Sports FC 27 – The New Zealand trick on Xbox

If you pre-ordered the Xbox version of the game, you can start playing EA Sports FC a little earlier than you’re supposed to.

If you know your time zones you’ll realise that with so many countries all getting the game at midnight, that means some will be getting it earlier than others.

Specifically, because New Zealand’s time zone is ahead of every other country in the world, players there will get to play before anyone else.

Luckily, there’s a way for Xbox players to temporarily pretend they’re in New Zealand so they can get access to the game too. All you have to do is:

  • Go to the console’s Settings menu
  • Go to the System tab
  • Go to Language and Location
  • Change the location of your console to New Zealand
  • Fully restart the Xbox
  • Launch the game from your library
  • Since midnight has already passed in New Zealand, this basically means you can already start playing the Early Access edition now.

Just remember to switch it back to your own country once the game’s officially out where you live, to ensure you get the right digital stores and the like.