‘Harry Potter’ production gives a hoot... or not

LONDON: The first previews of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are taking place to much acclaim from fans, many of whom praised the production on social media. However, the first show was not without some difficulties: mid-way through the performance, an owl got loose backstage, leading to some amused audience members.

Not wanting to have the same experience again, the live owls have been removed from the production, much to the approval of animal rights campaigners. Peta director Mimi Bekhechi said: “Peta commends the production team for coming to its senses and recognising that treating owls like props goes against every message of respect and kindness that JK Rowling’s wonderful books taught us.

“Harry Potter can now join the ranks of innovative stage productions like War Horse, The Lion King and Running Wild, which prove that animals need not be exploited for the theatre and that the possibilities of prop design are limited only by our creativity.”

Tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child have been selling on resale websites for upwards of £2 000 (R43 309) in recent weeks. – The Independent

Film-maker sues Beyonce over video

NEW YORK: An independent film-maker filed a federal lawsuit against Beyonce on Wednesday alleging ideas from his 2014 short film were used to create the trailer that accompanied her new visual album Lemonade.

Matthew Fulks alleges in his lawsuit his 2014 short film Palinoia had been seen by members of Beyonce’s team and that Beyonce’s video was “visually similar”.

The lawsuit points to nine instances– about 39 seconds of the 65-second trailer– that Fulks says are visually similar. It seeks unspecified monetary damages.

The Lemonade trailer is “substantially similar” to Fulks’s film, including a similar mood, setting, pace and fonts, he says in the lawsuit.

The Lemonade video, posted on YouTube, has received nearly 11 million views.

Gere feels plight of the homeless

ROME: Actor Richard Gere says he only came to realise how easily someone can end up “lost” and on the streets by playing a homeless man in his new film Time Out of Mind.

Gere screened the film to a small group of homeless people at a soup kitchen in Rome on Thursday ahead of a screening at the Taormina Film Festival.

Gere said only once he started filming and was ignored as he begged for change on the streets of New York City, did he appreciate the reality of homelessness.

“It’s that fragile, the difference between us who have seemingly productive lives and someone who ends up lost, a lost soul on the streets,” he said.

“I could feel in a very visceral way what it is like to be invisible on the streets.

Aids award for Naomi Campbell

NEW YORK: Supermodel Naomi Campbell was honoured for more than two decades of fundraising and promotion of HIV/Aids awareness at an event held by the American Foundation for Aids Research.

“Proud to be a part of the fight to end the epidemic,” Campbell said in a message on Twitter yesterday.

The annual event featured a performance by US singer Jason Derulo.

“I’m excited about being with friends and people that I’ve known for 23 years,” Campbell said at the function, where she received an Inspiration Award. “And just making awareness of something that still needs to be a focal point of everyone’s attention.”

Britain’s modelling industry is famous for producing supermodels such as Campbell, Kate Moss and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. - Reuters

New ‘Independence Day’ not a sequel

BERLIN: The aliens may be back but film director Roland Emmerich says his new movie Independence Day: Resurgence is too different from the 1996 blockbuster sci-fi adventure to be considered a sequel.

Emmerich directed the original film, whose cast members Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and Judd Hirsch return in this movie alongside new additions such as Liam Hemsworth.

“It is now 20 years since the world has been rebuilt and it has tried to get prepared for a new attack; there is a new generation however, many of the old guard are back as well,” Emmerich said.

“Sequels you do after two or three years, and often it is not that different. I think this film is very different from the first.”

Independence Day: Resurgence hits cinemas worldwide from June 22.