Filmy World

Katy Perry closes iTunes Festival

 

 

Perry (centre) was supported by dancers in dungarees and denim shorts

US singer Katy Perry has brought this year's iTunes Festival to a close in London with a brief set that included the first performance of a song about her divorce from comic Russell Brand. 

By the Grace of God describes how the pop star overcame thoughts of suicide after her marriage ended in 2011.
"I looked in the mirror and decided to stay," she sang as the track ended.
After performing the ballad at Camden's Roundhouse, Perry raised her hand and said: "Thanks for letting me stay."
Last week the 28-year-old told Billboard magazine the song was "evident of how tough" her divorce had been.
"I asked myself, 'Do I want to endure? Should I continue living?'" she was quoted as saying.

 

 

 

Ewan McGregor to make Broadway debut

 

 

McGregor's other roles include the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars films

 

Ewan McGregor is to make his Broadway debut next year in a revival of Sir Tom Stoppard's 1982 play The Real Thing.

The Trainspotting star will play Henry, a playwright whose marriage comes under strain after he embarks on an affair.

Directed by Sam Gold, the Roundabout Theatre Company's production will run from 2 October 2014 to 4 January 2015.

McGregor, 42, was last seen on stage in 2008, playing Iago opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor's Othello at London's Donmar Warehouse.

He will next be seen on screen in August: Osage County, appearing alongside Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in the film version of Tracy Letts' Pulitzer-winning stage play.

Roger Rees and Felicity Kendal starred in the original London production of The Real Thing, while Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close won Tonys for their performances when it transferred to Broadway.

Sir Tom, whose other plays include Jumpers, Arcadia and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, recently revealed he was finding it increasingly difficult to write for the stage.

McGregor, who was made an OBE this year for services to drama and charity, was among the celebrity guests at a Unicef charity Halloween ball on Thursday.

Steve Coogan, Hugh Grant and James Nesbitt also attended the London event, held to raise money for child refugees in Syria.

The event also saw Robbie Williams perform a duet with Lily Allen, who dressed as a green-skinned alien to sing Dream a Little Dream with the former Take That star.

Mick Jagger denies claim 'he hit on' Katy Perry

 

 

 Gerard de Villiers churned books out at a rate of about four a year

French writer Gerard de Villiers, whose thrillers sold more than 100m copies around the world, has died aged 83.

De Villiers died after a long illness, his lawyer said. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in May.

He was the creator of the popular SAS series, with an Austrian hero often seen as France's literary James Bond.

Drawing on his network of intelligence sources around the world, De Villiers was famous for his uncanny knack of anticipating actual events. 

Lurid covers

De Villiers was inspired by Ian Fleming's James Bond but felt that no-one would believe in a French spy hero - so instead created Malko Linge, our correspondent says.

With covers invariably featuring a semi-naked woman with a gun they have been a staple of railway station book shops, selling by the million.

Starting in 1965, de Villiers churned books out at a rate of four a year.

His last and 200th book - SAS: The Kremlin's Revenge - was released last month.

"I never had any pretensions of being a literary writer," the writer admitted in an interview with the AFP last year.

"I consider myself a storyteller who writes to amuse people."

Mick Jagger denies claim 'he hit on' Katy Perry

 

 

Jagger has said Perry must be "confusing him with someone else

Sir Mick Jagger has issued a statement denying Katy Perry's claims that he made a pass at her when she was 18.

Perry made the comments during an interview on Australian radio this week, while promoting new album Prism.

She said the incident took place when she sang backing vocals for Sir Mick's 2004 song Old Habits Die Hard.

But a statement from the 70-year-old Rolling Stones frontman said he "categorically denies that he has ever made a pass at Katy Perry".

It continued: "Perhaps she is confusing him with someone else.''

Perry, 29, told her interviewer, "I actually went to dinner with him one time and he hit on me one time when I was like 18.

"But that was a long time ago and since then he's been very kind and I got to sing Beast Of Burden on his stage on their tour," she added.

She was one of several singers to make a guest appearance on the Rolling Stones' tour earlier this year.

When Perry was asked during the interview how she turned down an advance from a star such as Mick Jagger, she responded: "Well, you bring a friend and they do them. You sacrifice your friend

Katy Perry tops US album chart in worst week since 90s

Katy Perry has topped the US album chart in its worst week for sales since the early 1990s.

Katy Perry has topped the US album chart in its worst week for sales since the early 1990s.

Prism, the singer's fourth studio album, went to number one in the Billboard 200 chart on Wednesday despite overall sales for the week being the lowest since 1991.

The album sold 286,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

It is the biggest sales week by a female artist this year.

 

Katy Perry's Prism beat Miley Cyrus' Bangerz album in its first week of sales  

But the opening week sales of Prism did not come close to the year's biggest debuts, led by Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience, which opened with 968,000 copies in March.

New albums from Jay Z, Kanye West and Daft Punk also opened with bigger sales earlier this year.

Overall album sales for the week ending 27 October fell to a record low of 4.5 million units, the lowest album total since Nielsen SoundScan started analysing American chart music sales in 1991.

Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience is the best-selling debut album this year

Album sales have generally been lower this year compared with last year, partly because of listeners finding new digital platforms to consume music and often for free.
Katy Perry's album came ahead of Miley Cyrus' Bangerz, which sold 270,000 copies in its first week earlier this month.
Other new albums this week in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart include X Factor USA girl group Fifth Harmony at number six with their Better Together EP, hip hop DJ Khaled at seven with Suffering from Success and rockers AFI with Burials at number nine.