Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ Angelina Jolie is praising Marvel for refusing to cut down scenes featuring a gay superhero in “Eternals,” after the movie was banned in several countries.
Earlier this week, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that the latest sure-to-be-blockbuster superhero movie by the Marvel Cinematic Universe had been banned by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. According to the outlet, the ban came after censors reportedly made several edit requests to the studio — including the removal of a scene in which a character named Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) shares a kiss with his on-screen husband Ben (Haaz Sleima) — but those requests were denied. On Friday, Jolie was asked about the controversy when speaking with reporters during a press roundtable in Australia. “I’m sad for [those audiences]. And I’m proud of Marvel for refusing to cut those scenes out,” she told news.com.au. “I still don’t understand how we live in a world today where there’s still [people who] would not see the family Phastos has and the beauty of that relationship and that love,” added the Oscar-winning actress who plays warrior Thena in “Eternals.” “How anybody is angry about it, threatened by it, doesn’t approve or appreciate it is ignorant,” the 46-year-old mother of five said. Consensual same-sex relations between adults is a crime in 69 countries and territories around the world. They can also lead to the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. Last year, Pixar’s “Onward” was banned in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia over a single line referencing a lesbian relationship, by a character voiced by Lena Whaite. “Eternals,” directed by the Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao, is now playing in theaters nationwide.
■ When South African writer Damon Galgut learned that his novel, “The Promise,” was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, he was filled with anxiety. Galgut had been shortlisted twice before, in 2003 and 2010, and both times the stress of the nominations “probably shaved a few years off my life.” This year was different. On Wednesday, the Booker judges pronounced Galgut the winner, praising his novel for its “unusual narrative style that balances Faulknerian exuberance with Nabokovian precision, pushes boundaries, and is a testament to the flourishing of the novel in the 21st century.” “The Promise,” Galgut’s ninth book, offers a menacing and bleakly funny portrait of the Swart family, descendants of Dutch settlers who are desperately holding onto their farm and status in post-apartheid South Africa. At the awards ceremony in London, Galgut, 57, appeared more stunned than happy. “You’d better ask me that tomorrow, because my nerves have kind of gone numb,” he said. “I truly didn’t expect to be standing here.”