Author: business

The meeting took place in early 1990 at the office of director Oliver Stone. It was not an auspicious start.

Robby Krieger, guitarist for the legendary ’60s band The Doors, had come to meet Val Kilmer, a young actor who had landed the plum if difficult role of Jim Morrison, the band’s lead singer, poet and doomed sex symbol who died at 27 in 1971.

“He came up to me and said, ‘Hi Robby, I’m Val Kilmer, I got the gig, I’m going to play Jim,’” Krieger recalls, reflecting with fondness on that encounter in light of Kilmer’s passing on April 1 at age 65. “I said to him, ‘Really?’ I mean, he neither looked nor acted anything like Jim. So I said, ‘How did you get the job?’”

And that’s when Kilmer, then only 30, casually offered to play Krieger a rough video that showed the actor singing. And boy, could he sing, Krieger recalls.

“It turns out, he had formed a Doors tribute band before any of this had happened, maybe when he was in high school or something,” says Krieger. “So he plays me this clip and man, it was damn good. He wasn’t dressed like Jim of course, but when I saw that, I said ‘OK, this guy can do it.’ And obviously, that’s what Oliver had thought, too.”

Krieger is in a reflective mood of late. The seminal Los Angeles rock band, whose jazz-meets-rock-meets-dark-poetry stood in such stark contrast to the bright San Francisco sound of the late ’60s, is celebrating 60 years since its 1965 formation.

To mark the occasion, a new book is due out next month whose title is derived from a Doors lyric, “Night Divides the Day: The Doors Anthology.” The hardcover is filled with not only photos and memorabilia that chronologically tracks the band’s rise and dissolution, but also interviews and commentary from all four members (drummer John Densmore, 80, is alive but stays largely out of the limelight; keyboardist Ray Manzarek died at age 74 in 2013).

Krieger is also busy gigging with his five-piece band (which includes his son Waylon on vocals) playing many of The Doors’ big albums each in their entirety at Whiskey a Go Go, the famous Hollywood nightclub where The Doors served as house band in 1966, a year before the release of their eponymous debut album in 1967. They’ll perform “L.A. Woman” on April 26, “Strange Days,” on May 29, “Waiting for the Sun” on June 28, and “The Soft Parade” on July 26.

Given how long its been since The Doors made their indelible mark, it’s no surprise that for some music lovers Stone’s 1991 movie “The Doors” was their introduction to the band.

Kilmer can be credited for a lot of that, says Krieger, who says he met with the actor multiple times during filming, as did drummer Densmore (he notes that Manzarek declined to participate).

“Val sang about 90 percent of the stuff you hear in that movie,” says Krieger. “He spent quite a bit of time learning those songs. The bass player in my band is Dan Rothchild (son of The Doors’ maverick producer Paul Rothchild), and he said Val and his dad would get together every day and practice going over all The Doors songs he had to do so he could sing them just right. He just put so much into it.”

So just how close did he come to conjuring up Morrison? Krieger suggests Kilmer was about as close as one could get.

“A lot of people still don’t believe that’s Val singing,” he says. Then he laughs. “But yeah, I guess you could say, I would know.”

Actress and former child star Sophie Nyweide, best known for her roles in the films “Mammoth” and “An Invisible Sign,” has died, according to reports. She was 24.

Nyweide died April 14, according to an obituary published on Legacy.com April 17. A cause of death was not disclosed.

Nyweide’s mother, fellow actress Shelly Gibson, confirmed her daughter’s death to The Hollywood Reporter and TMZ in articles published April 22. Gibson said Nyweide died in Bennington, Vermont, and noted there is an ongoing police investigation.

“Sophie. A life ended too soon. May it not be in vain,” Nyweide’s obituary stated. “May we all learn from her brief life on earth and do better. Yes, we must all protect our children and do better.”

Representatives for Nyweide were not available for comment at the time of publication.

Although the circumstances surrounding Nyweide’s death are unclear, the obituary statement acknowledged some of the actress’s personal struggles.

“Sophie was a kind and trusting girl,” the obituary stated. “Often this left her open to being taken advantage of by others. She wrote and drew voraciously, and much of this art depicts the depth she had, and it also represents the pain she suffered. Many of her writings and artwork are roadmaps of her struggles and traumas.”

Despite the interventions of Nyweide’s loved ones, along with “therapists, law enforcement officers and others who tried to help her,” the actress reportedly succumbed to self-medication to “deal with all the trauma and shame she held inside, and it resulted in her death,” the obituary continued.

Wink Martindale dies: ‘Gambit’ and ‘Tic-Tac-Dough’ host was 91

The death notice does not specify the traumas Nyweide may have suffered, with the obituary noting, “She repeatedly said she would ‘handle it’ on her own and was compelled to reject the treatment that might possibly have saved her life.”

The obituary concluded with a request for the public to donate to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, an anti-sexual violence organization, in lieu of giving gifts or flowers.

Sophie Nyweide finds child stardom with ‘Mammoth,’ ‘An Invisible Sign’

Nyweide made her acting debut at just 6 years old in the 2006 romantic drama “Bella,” playing the title role alongside Eduardo Verástegui, Tammy Blanchard and Manny Perez.

“I really, really wanted to be an actress, and I kept begging my mom,” Nyweide told The Barre Montpelier Times Argus in a January 2010 interview. “She thought it was funny because before I was born, she was an actress.”

Following appearances in the late-2000s films “And Then Came Love,” “Margot at the Wedding” and “New York City Serenade,” Nyweide landed the role of Jackie Vidales in the Michelle Williams and Gael García Bernal-starring “Mammoth,” released in 2009.

Jean Marsh dies: ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ star and co-creator was 90

Nyweide’s next breakout role came in 2010’s “An Invisible Sign,” a coming-of-age dramedy in which Nyweide played the student of math teacher Mona Gray, portrayed by Golden Globe-nominated actress Jessica Alba.

“She seemed happiest on a movie set, becoming someone else,” Nyweide’s obituary stated. “It was a safe place for her, and she relished the casts and crews who nourished her talent and her well-being.”

Nyweide’s acting career slowed following “An Invisible Sign.” She performed in a couple of short films as well as had a minor role in Darren Aronofsky’s 2014 religious epic “Noah.”

According to Nyweide’s IMDb page, her final role was a 2015 appearance on the ABC hidden-camera reality show “What Would You Do?”

If you or someone you know needs help battling a substance abuse addiction, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.

The Venice Biennale is a study of global politics in miniature. While most nations exhibit in the shared complex of former shipyards, the Arsenale, a privileged few maintain permanent standalone buildings in the Giardini, the event’s historic heart since 1895. This leafy enclave is dotted with 29 national pavilions: European countries dominate, compared with just three from South America, two from Asia, and a solitary African representative, alongside the US, Canada, Australia, Russia and Israel (with Qatar soon set to join the fold). If the Biennale is, as often described, the Olympics of the cultural world, this arrangement makes it clear which nations get to shape the conversation.

Perched on the highest hill in the compound sits the British pavilion — flanked on either side by France and Germany. Over the decades, this neoclassical building has exhibited work by some of the most celebrated names in British art and architecture. For the 2025 architecture Biennale, however, this prime spot will offer something different: the British Council, which commissions the project, broke precedent by calling for proposals from initiatives that were collaborations between curators from the UK and Kenya. The winning team comprises Stella Mutegi and Kabage Karanja, co-founders of Nairobi-based architecture firm Cave Bureau; Kathryn Yusoff, a professor at the school of geography at Queen Mary University in London; and Owen Hopkins, director of the Farrell Centre for architecture at Newcastle University.

Collaboration is at the heart of the project. “The Giardini’s arrangement of national pavilions is a concept from a particular age: while voices from the global south are increasingly prominent at the Biennale, many don’t have their own permanent presence,” says Sevra Davis, the British Council’s director of architecture, design and fashion. “We’re working within that structure, but pushing its boundaries.”

Kenya was chosen for the project as it coincides with the British Council’s UK-Kenya season of culture. But there’s also the heavy symbolic significance of a pavilion being a shared space for ideas from a country that has enjoyed a prime position at the Biennale for more than a hundred years, and one of its former colonies. Their exhibition will confront the relationship head-on: Geology of Britannic Repair (GBR) explores how British colonialism — in Africa and beyond — has affected the planet, and what can be done about it now. “The fact that we’re in the British pavilion shouldn’t be understated,” Karanja says. “Given how impactful its empire was across the world, it’s critical for it to begin to talk about repair.” 

Architecture is transformative by its very nature — it generates reflection and creates new possibilities

The curators’ central argument is that colonial relationships are not just ideological or political, but physical and quantifiable — and therefore fall squarely within the realm of architecture. The urge to build — the development of cities, mining of raw materials, industrialisation, flow of goods across the world and exploitation of human labour — have imposed devastation on vast swathes of the Earth and its people. For centuries Britain led this process, as well as being responsible for the majority of global carbon emissions until the United States overtook it as the leading emitter in the early 20th century. “The British empire conceived and exported the colonial-era practices of geological exploitation, with architecture as a manifestation of that, to its enduring detriment,” says Hopkins, whose work focuses on the intersections of architecture, technology, politics and society. “The practice that has led us into this planetary situation now has to become the practice of repair that we desperately need.”

If architecture is the problem, the curators also believe it can also be the solution. “Architecture is transformative by its very nature — it generates reflection and creates new possibilities,” Karanja says. GBR will present a vision of a more reparative form of architecture — without which, he says, humanity “will spiral into complete destruction”. What form this will take is under wraps until the exhibition opens, but they can reveal that its starting point is the Great Rift Valley, a series of trenches that runs for more than 6,000km from Mozambique to Turkey.

In the pavilion, “rift” becomes a metaphor for how colonialism broke worlds, severed our connection to the land and created tiered systems of privilege, as well as hinting at the restorative thinking needed now. Ideas will be presented by a range of designers and researchers from around the world, with a focus on the regions most ravaged by these historic processes. Cave Bureau themselves are among them, and the rest range from designers who specialise in materials experimentation, such as the Ghanaian-Filipina artist Mae-ling Lokko (known for her work transforming bio and waste materials such as mycelium and coconut husks into building materials), to architects working on reparative projects, such as the Palestine Regeneration Team (a group that engages in reconstruction work in the West Bank and Gaza). 

The group is deliberately international, Mutegi says, because the need to repair the planet transcends national borders. “Kenya can’t do it alone, and the UK can’t do it alone — everyone has to be at the table if we are to conquer the problem,” she says. The reference to a table echoes Cave Bureau’s contribution to the Venice Architecture Biennale’s main exhibition in 2021: “Obsidian Rain” was a hanging formation of obsidian stones arranged in the shape of the Mbai cave, which had been used by Mau Mau freedom fighters in Kenya as a place of refuge. Underneath their display, Cave Bureau placed a table that was intended to host discussions about the environment and architecture.

That was part of the studio’s wider Anthropocene Museum project, a series of exhibitions in institutional spaces that explores the impact of colonisation and extractive development on nature and on communities most vulnerable to the cataclysmic effects of climate change — who almost never have an international platform to voice their concerns. Another of these, “Cow Corridor”, proposed a network of routes — paths, green spaces, watering holes and veterinary clinics — for Maasai farmers to herd and graze their cattle in Nairobi, reconnecting pastoral communities with the ancestral lands they lost as the Kenyan capital was built by the British colonial government and individual property rights were imposed. 

Yusoff’s scholarly work, including in her provocative 2018 book A Billion Black Anthropocenes Or None, also speaks directly to the pavilion’s concerns. She specialises in “inhuman geography”, a term that spans both people who have been dehumanised by processes such as slavery and colonialism and the non-human elements of our planet that have suffered alongside them. “We think of urbanism as the future, and the rural as a site for extraction and dumping,” she observes.

But when we look beyond the urban for visions of the future we often find vernacular ways of making and building that are rooted in environment and local knowledge — looking to such precolonial and pre-architectural practices for inspiration is something Cave Bureau calls “reverse futurism”.

“People in many of the rural communities we visit don’t describe themselves as architects, because architecture is considered a high art, but they do have buildings and design and they do so many of the things Kabage and I are trained to do,” Mutegi says. Yusoff argues that we should “think about the architectural practices of, for example, Maasai women as an intellectual tradition, and one that is utterly vital”. Putting such ideas at the heart of the world’s most important architecture exhibition challenges not only what counts as architecture, but who we think of as an architect — and therefore who gets to construct the future. 

venicebiennale.britishcouncil.org

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“Golden Bachelor” is back for a second season. And no, its star is not “Golden Bachelorette” favorites Mark Anderson or Charles Ling.

The lead will be a new face for many Bachelor Nation members, though he may be more familiar to NFL fans. Mel Owens will be your next Midwestern leading man.

ABC and Hulu announced the news at an April 22 event in Los Angeles celebrating Disney’s slate of reality TV programs. The former Los Angeles Rams linebacker-turned-lawyer, 66, was once married and shares two sons with his first wife. He’s also a partner at an Orange County, California, law firm specializing in sports injuries and workers’ compensation.

“After several years as a devoted dad, Owens is ready to rediscover a love rooted in the simple joys of companionship – sharing life’s everyday moments, making plans for the future, and growing stronger together as a couple,” ABC’s press release says. “As the Golden Bachelor, he’s eager to meet someone who shares this vision and finally find that perfect teammate he’s been waiting for in his golden years.”

Who is Mel Owens?

After “Bachelor” franchise host Jesse Palmer introduced Owens to the crowd, Palmer noted Owens didn’t know of the casting news until Palmer visited the next “Golden” lead’s home the day before the announcement.

“I didn’t know, then I see you, and I go: ‘Jesse Palmer’s here.’ You came in and met my boys. Since then, it’s been 24 hours of craziness,” Owens said. “The younger (son) said – we were watching the regular ‘Bachelor’ earlier on – ‘Dad, you should be the bachelor. The ad came on for ‘Golden.’ He goes, ‘You should be the real one, though.’”

Owens was previously married for 25 years and said he’s found himself missing “companionship.” As for the kind of woman he’s looking for, Owens said: “Someone that’s honest, charming, loving, fit, someone full of life.”

Jesse Palmer calls Mel Owens ‘genuine,’ a ‘family man’

Right before the news broke to the world, Palmer opened up to USA TODAY about his thoughts on Owens’ casting.

“He’s an excellent choice to be our next ‘Golden Bachelor.’ He’s handsome and he’s charming. He’s been really successful professionally, very intelligent,” Palmer said. “But he’s also very genuine, and he’s a family man.”

Palmer also touched on Owens’ journey to becoming a reality TV leading man, saying, “While he’s had a lot of success professionally, he has had a lot of ups and downs personally with the tragic passing of his dad; he (also) went through a divorce.

“You find out a lot about people when they go through tough times. He really showed his character. He made the decision to really be a dad and take care of his sons,” Palmer added.

When will ‘Golden Bachelor’ Season 2 come out?

A premiere date for “Golden Bachelor” Season 2 will be “announced at a later date,” ABC says.

What happened on Season 1 of ‘The Golden Bachelor?’

Fellow Midwesterner Gerry Turner was the franchise’s inaugural “Golden Bachelor.”

In his September 2023 season premiere, the (at the time) 72-year-old widower welcomed 22 women, whose ages ranged from 60 to 75, to the “Bachelor” mansion. He ultimately chose to wed Theresa Nist over Leslie Fhima, who will get another chance at reality TV love during a revamped “Bachelor in Paradise” this summer, with the two opting for a grand wedding ceremony that aired on ABC at the beginning of 2024.

However, their love did not last long after the lavish event, with the two announcing their upcoming divorce in April 2024. The legal disentanglement was finalized in June and cited “certain irreconcilable differences” between Turner and Nist.

Then in December, Turner announced he was diagnosed with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, a bone marrow cancer.

Joan Vassos, who’d self-eliminated from Turner’s season for family reasons, led the inaugural “Golden Bachelorette” season at the end of 2024 and ended her journey engaged to Chock Chapple.

• Tina Knowles’ memoir, “Matriarch,” details her life from childhood to the present, including raising Beyoncé and Solange and bonus daughter Kelly.
• Knowles discusses the ups and downs of her marriage to Mathew Knowles, including his infidelity.
• Knowles recounts success of Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé’s relationship with Jay-Z and the impact of her late nephew.

Tina Knowles’ newly released memoir “Matriarch” is giving fans an inside view of her life from her upbringing to now, and there are some standout moments fans have been noting.

The businesswoman, designer and mother of Beyoncé and Solange Knowles released her book on April 22. In it, she shares intimate details about her life, including private and public battles. Oprah Winfrey announced the book is the latest selection for her famous Oprah’s Book Club.

As fans know, Knowles first announced her book last fall. “I have always been a storyteller, and it’s something I learned from my mother,” she wrote.

“When I had a family of my own, I believed that my daughters needed to know where they came from in order to know where they were going. I’m now ready to share my story with all of you, so that we can all celebrate these themes of strength, motherhood, Black pride, and identity.”

She tackles these ideas in the book while giving fans some notable tidbits, noted below, in a bigger glimpse into her life while raising global superstars.

Tina Knowles battled breast cancer

Knowles shared that she was diagnosed with Stage 1 cancer in her left breast during an interview with Gayle King on “CBS Mornings” and in her new book.

The diagnoses came in July after a delayed mammogram appointment. She also opens up about the moments leading up to her lumpectomy.

Tina Knowles on the ups and downs of marriage to Mathew Knowles

In the book, Knowles is transparent about the hurdles and joys of her marriage to Mathew Knowles, the father of her children. She recalls her family first meeting him.

“But Mathew was undeterred, and started acting to everybody he was my boyfriend,” she writes. “He was charming, handsome and successful, and my family was all in. It was not lost on our neighbors that he’d parked a Mercedes outside. ‘Tenie’s (her nickname) got a good boyfriend.’”

Throughout the memoir, she opens up about his struggles with infidelity, managing young superstars and balancing it all with their day-to-day life.

Discovering and cultivating Beyoncé’s talent

Knowles gives fans more insight into Beyoncé’s early life, discovering her talent and everything in between. “Beyoncé’s shyness persisted into first grade and took even more of a hold of her in second grade,” she writes. “She walked into every class trying to be invisible.”

Later, Knowles writes about seeing her transform onstage. “Watching Beyoncé perform in front of an audience for the first time was my first time seeing her onstage too,” she writes. “I was catching up just as much as the audience, but anyone could see she was home.”

She also shares more about cultivating the talents of her younger daughter, Solange, and making sure to never compare the sisters.

Destiny’s Child hits, hiatus and beyond

Knowles writes about raising her bonus daughter, singer Kelly Rowland, as she and other young girls of the ’90s girl group Destiny’s Child juggled fame and stardom at a young age.

“Even with this success, there was a constant pressure from some at Sony and Columbia for Destiny’s Child to change who they were,” Knowles writes.

Later, she writes about the girls working on hit singles and when they decided to take a hiatus. “Destiny’s Child had decided to take a hiatus, allowing the girls to pursue projects that were wholly theirs,” she writes. “Beyoncé had pushed back her own album so her sister Kelly could take full advantage of the momentum of her own success.”

Beyoncé meets, dates Jay-Z

A tidbit that caught fans’ eyes is Knowles’ insight into the early days of the relationship between Beyoncé and her now-husband Jay-Z.

“As Beyoncé and Jay then kept up with each other in calls, the friendship deepened,” she writes. “She would tell me, ‘He’s just so nice.’ There was another guy in the industry talking to her … she told me they were both coming on at the same time.”

Knowles asked Beyoncé who she liked best.

“I watched her think. It was Jay. Isn’t it humbling how love can begin with such a simple feeling?” Knowles writes. “You like someone over the phone. You’re twenty-one years old and you can’t know someday you will take that love to the stars, but it begins with such a small instinct.”

Late nephew Uncle Johnny’s impact on her life, Beyoncé’s music

Knowles made sure to note the relationships that shaped her throughout the years, including with her mom, siblings and of course her nephew whom the family called “Uncle Johnny.” Not only did he play a significant part in Mama Tina’s life, but also in the lives of her family and daughters before he died of AIDS in 1998. She noted the full-circle moment she felt when listening to Beyoncé’s 2022 album “Renaissance.”

“I hadn’t heard the song ‘Heated’ yet and as we all danced, Jay suddenly said to me, ‘Listen to this.’ Then I heard the next line,” she wrote referring to Beyoncé singing about Uncle Johnny. “I started to cry and smile at the same time, knowing this was what Johnny wanted. To be loved and celebrated.”

How to buy Tina Knowles’ new book ‘Matriarch’

The book is available online and in stores. Fans can purchase a limited-edition signed copy of the book at Barnes & Noble for $35. On Amazon, the paperback is going for $32, and the hardcover is available for $22.86. Meanwhile, the Kindle version is selling for $14.99.

Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network’s Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay.

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‘Fire and Rain’ singer James Taylor will serve as the guest mentor for the remaining ‘American Idol’ contestants on the April 27 episode.

In addition to “American Idol” unveiling Season 23’s Top 12, the reality singing competition will be announcing the music legends joining the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

During the most recent “American Idol” episode, host Ryan Seacrest announced the inductees would be revealed on the show.

The upcoming episode will be Rock & Roll Hall of Fame themed, having the remaining 14 contestants performing beloved songs from previous inductees while vying for a spot in the Top 12. Tracks from any of the approximately 400 legends will be eligible, including judge Lionel Richie, who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

“Fire and Rain” singer James Taylor, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000, will serve as the guest mentor for the contestants, according to ABC.

After the performances, viewers will vote for their favorites before two contestants are eliminated from the competition in the following episode.

When will the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees be announced?

Ryan Seacrest will announce the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees during the next “American Idol” episode airing on Sunday, April 27 from 8:00-10:01 p.m. EDT on ABC.

Who are the 2025 Hall of Fame nominees?

The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees include:

• Bad Company 
• The Black Crowes 
• Mariah Carey 
• Chubby Checker 
• Joe Cocker 
• Billy Idol 
• Joy Division/New Order 
• Cyndi Lauper 
• Maná 
• Oasis 
• Outkast
• Phish
• Soundgarden 
• The White Stripes 

Who joined the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year?

The 2024 Rock Hall inductees included:

How to watch Season 23 of ‘American Idol’

“American Idol” airs Sunday and Monday nights on ABC, with episodes available to stream on Hulu the next day.

Viewers may also catch the show live on the ABC app or website, along with live-streaming sites that allow viewers to watch in real time.

Contributing: Amaris Encinas/ USA TODAY

“Étoile,” a new dance-centered series by the creators of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Gilmore Girls,” is set to premiere this week with some familiar faces among the cast.

Set in New York City and Paris and described by Amazon MGM Studios as a “dance-world comedy,” the series follows the dancers and artistic staff of two world-renowned ballet companies on an “ambitious gambit” to save their institutions by swapping their most talented stars.

Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino and executive produced by the couple alongside Dhana Rivera Gilbert, the cast includes several members who worked on previous projects of the Palladinos’, including Luke Kirby of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and Yanic Truesdale of “Gilmore Girls.”

When does ‘Étoile’ Season 1 premiere?

“Étoile” Season 1 premieres on Prime Video on Thursday, April 24. All eight episodes of the season will drop at the same time for your binge-watching pleasure.

How to watch ‘Étoile’ Season 1

“Étoile” is a Prime original that members of Prime Video can stream for free. Non-prime members can sign up for one week of Prime for just $1.99 to watch

Prime membership, which includes free shipping and some “Included with Prime” video titles, currently runs $14.99 per month or $139 per year. A Prime Video membership is $8.99 per month.

Watch “Étoile”: Get Prime Video

‘Étoile’ Season 1 cast

• Luke Kirby as Jack McMillan
• Yanic Truesdale as Raphaël Marchand
• Gideon Glick as Tobias Bell
• Charlotte Gainsbourg as Geneviève Lavigne
• LaMay Zhang as Susu Li
• Simon Callow as Crispin Shamblee
• Lou de Laâge as Cheyenne Toussaint
• David Alvarez as Gael Rodriguez
• Kelly Bishop as Clara McMillan
• Ivan du Pontavice as Gabin Roux
• Taïs Vinolo as Mishi Duplessis
• David Haig as Nicholas Leutwylek
• Lala Cholous as Pianiste
• Tiler Peck as Eva Cullman

Watch ‘Étoile’ Season 1 trailer

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

Carlo Ratti is posing next to a marble statue of a semi-naked Venus in the Ca’ Giustinian, one of the last gothic palaces to be built in Venice in the late 15th century. Next he’s outside the fancy Hotel Monaco, charming a gondolier into shot for our photographer. Ratti, the curator of this year’s architecture biennale, the 19th to be held in Venice, seems more than happy to indulge in the clichés of the city for a fun portrait. 

“You could say it’s one of the first geoengineering projects ever,” says Ratti of the patchwork of land-spattered lagoon that human ingenuity formed into a city, as we settle on the terrace of the Hotel Monaco with an espresso. “This wasn’t meant for human living.” It is also an example of a place that has dealt with the damaging consequences of that human occupation — the ruinous effects of fishing and transport that have hollowed out the lagoon and threatened its marine and plantlife alongside the frequent invasion of acqua alta that floods its streets, squares and homes. “The Mose [Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico] has been built — a huge piece of engineering that works as a flood barrier — and it works and everyone is happy. People can occupy the ground floors of their buildings again.”

You could say Venice is one of the first geoengineering projects ever. This wasn’t meant for human living

This is exactly the type of project Ratti is referring to when he talks about adaptation, which he does frequently. He is promising a biennale that will look at some of the crises to hand — climate change and depopulation — and how architecture can offer solutions by adapting itself to offset or accommodate these conditions. Historically, the architecture Biennale has had a tendency to reflect upon the state we’re in; Ratti wants to offer ways to move forward in the face of intractable problems.

“Usually when people talk about climate change, they talk about mitigating harm in travel, industry, construction,” he says. “But now it’s too late for that. The ecological movement thought that adaptation was like surrender, and I understand that. But now it’s inevitable. As things become more extreme, we need a new approach, a new level of thinking.”

Ratti speaks fast, in perfect English, though he grew up in Turin, the son of an engineer father. He is 53 but has an indefinable agelessness — his eyes keenly focused behind metal-rimmed glasses, his mind quick, theoretically and scientifically driven.

He studied engineering and architecture at the Politecnico di Torino and the fancy Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées — one of those Paris institutions for the crème de la crème de la crème. He was swept off to Cambridge to complete an MPhil and then a PhD which he finished at MIT. It was at Cambridge, where he attended the Martin Centre, a research institution focused on sustainable buildings and cities, that he became aware of the value of integrating architecture, biology and just about everything else. “Cambridge inspires inter-disciplinarity, because of the college system,” he says. “You end up being with people from any subject but your own. It breaks the bubble.” 

Ratti is applying this interdisciplinary approach to his Biennale, which is titled Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. “I thought about calling it NI — Natural Intelligence,” he says. “But then I decided that we need to learn from all three types of intelligence.” The exhibition will fill 7,000 sq m of the Arsenale, Venice’s former shipyards and armouries. Ratti is also keen that the national pavilions will fall under his spell as well. These are dotted through Venice’s Giardini, like a 19th-century view of the western world in miniature, while newer arrivals (which this year include Oman and Togo) are to be found in the further reaches of the Arsenale and around the city. “I met with the national participants four times,” says Ratti, who has clearly worked exhaustively on the project with his small team. 

“The national pavilions are often good, but a hodgepodge,” he continues. He was part of the 2014 Biennale curated by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, who famously forced countries to march to the beat of his thematic drum: Absorbing Modernity. It seems unlikely that Ratti will be able to orchestrate similar conformity. Many teams had embarked on their projects before his own theme emerged. Britain had already teamed up with Kenya, to focus on how to reverse the destruction brought about by the geological extraction exacted by colonial systems. The pavilion of the Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden) is looking at architecture through the lens of the trans body. Still, his subject — in the face of recent fires in LA and floods in Valencia and Bangladesh — will be on many participants’ minds.

Ratti was appointed to the directorship in December 2023, and the fact that he is the first Italian for years to take the role (the last was Massimiliano Fuksas, who directed with his wife Doriana in 2000) has been seen by some as the rightwing government’s determination to Make the Biennale Italian Again and neutralise the event’s perceived leftism. “Ratti doesn’t talk about politics,” says Dario Pappalardo, an editor at the left-leaning La Repubblica. “But his approach is technical, smart, new. It can seem cold in a way. But he’s the most interesting of his generation coming from Italy, and he has an international career.” 

In fact, Ratti’s range is vast. As well as heading up MIT’s Senseable City Lab which he founded in 2004, he runs a busy architectural practice with offices in Turin, New York and London. He has worked on large buildings, introducing lush tropical nature to a 280m tower in Singapore designed with the Danish architects Big, while one of his personal hits is the Makr Shakr, a robotic cocktail dispenser which is a star turn on cruise ships. A project for Helsinki aims to help decarbonise the city’s heating system by 2030 thanks to large floating islands that function as thermal batteries. 

When it comes to the Biennale, though, he has some tough acts to follow. Alejandro Aravena, a Chilean architect with movie star looks and a fuzzy humanist agenda, created a highly empathetic show in 2016; and Lesley Lokko, a Ghanaian-Scottish architect, educator and novelist, delivered an intriguing and emotional edition in 2023 that turned the (western) world upside down and brought in protagonists from many previously unrepresented countries, particularly African ones.

Ratti is unperturbed. “Inclusion has many dimensions,” he says. “We have many different generations and disciplines involved; maybe the most female participants ever. [American architect] Jeanne Gang is even looking at animals, creating an architecture for them in and outside the Arsenale in which they can thrive.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly in his hands, even AI is given a positive role: ChatGPT is being used to create a series of imaginary conversations between living and historical figures that will be published in the Biennale’s catalogue. “In one, the head of AI at MIT asks Isaac Asimov how we can be sure that robots won’t hurt us,” Ratti says gleefully.

There’s a switched-on quality to Ratti’s wired but tidy mind. His own research underlines the value of real-time data and how it can improve city life. “Even 20 years ago, we didn’t have access to this level of real-time information,” Ratti says. “Data allows us to understand the urban environment better and create real-time loops, real responses. It can turn a city into a living organism.” And then he’s off: Bologna, Paris, London, Milan and — after that — Osaka, where his firm has co-designed the French pavilion at Expo 25. He doesn’t get jet lag, he says: “It’s easy enough not to sleep.”

May 10-November 23, labiennale.org

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The royal family is paying its respects to the late Pope Francis.

Prince William, son of King Charles III, will attend the pope’s funeral in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on his father’s behalf, Kensington Palace announced on April 22. Pope Francis died on April 21, Easter Monday, at age 88 due to a stroke and irreversible heart failure.

The April 26 funeral is expected to be attended by world leaders, with President Donald Trump having already announced that he would fly to Rome with his wife Melania for the service.

Hours before he fell into a coma and his subsequent death, Pope Francis had dazzled an Easter Sunday crowd in St. Peter’s Square by blessing them from a balcony and then rolling among them in his popemobile to raucous cheers.

In an April 21 statement on social media, Charles said he and wife Queen Camilla were “deeply saddened” by the pope’s death, but their “heavy hearts were somewhat eased” knowing “His Holiness was able to share an Easter greeting with the Church and the world he served with such devotion throughout his life and ministry.”

“His Holiness will be remembered for his compassion, his concern for the unity of the Church and for his tireless commitment to the common causes of all people of faith, and to those of goodwill who work for the benefit of others,” Charles added. “His belief that care for Creation is an existential expression of faith in God resounded with so many across the world.”

Pope Francis live updates: The pope’s final hours, last words revealed

Charles’ tribute came just two weeks after he and Camilla visited Italy for a four-day state visit the week of April 7. The engagement marked the monarch’s 17th official visit to Italy and his first overseas trip of 2025 as he continues to undergo treatment for an unspecified form of cancer.

“Through his work and care for both people and planet, he profoundly touched the lives of so many,” said Charles of Pope Francis. “The Queen and I remember with particular affection our meetings with His Holiness over the years, and we were greatly moved to have been able to visit him earlier this month.”

Charles, 76, whose workload must be managed carefully amid his cancer recovery, wrote privately to the pope when Francis was taken ill, a source previously told Reuters. The pair met during Charles’ visits to Rome in 2017 and 2019 before he became king.

It’s a ‘devastating loss’: Pope Francis’ death mourned by King Charles

As British monarch, Charles heads the Church of England, which split from the Catholic Church in 1534. A palace spokesperson said at the time that his and Camilla’s trip would symbolize a significant step forward in relations between the two and mark celebrations for the 2025 Catholic Holy Year.

“We send our most heartfelt condolences and profound sympathy to the Church he served with such resolve,” Charles wrote in the ending to his statement, “and to the countless people around the world who, inspired by his life, will be mourning the devastating loss of this faithful father of Jesus Christ.”

Contributing: Muvija M and Michael Holden, Reuters; Anna Kaufman, Taijuan Moorman, John Bacon, Thao Nguyen and Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY

An Emily Henry novel reads like a classic rom-com in the making.

How apt, then, that the romance author has optioned several of her beloved titles to be made into movies or TV series. Classic beachside love affairs, five of Henry’s novels are currently slated for adaptation: “People We Meet on Vacation”; “Beach Read”; “Book Lovers”; “Happy Place” and “Funny Story.” 

But how does Henry feel about letting go of the characters on her pages and allowing them to be interpreted for the screen?

“It can be a battle,” she told USA TODAY in a recent interview ahead of the release of her latest book “Great Big Beautiful Life.”

Her role, she says, is “to be the person who is shouting ‘the readers won’t like that’ or ‘they’ll love that.’” She’s looking forward to letting the projects unfold. 

Emily Henry reveals what love means to her as ‘Great Big Beautiful Life’ hits bookstores

‘People We Meet on Vacation’ movie and more Emily Henry adaptations to come 

“I’m so, so glad that it’s happening and I’m really excited for readers and that is ultimately why I have enabled myself to let go enough for this to happen is for the readers,” Henry says.

Book-to-screen adaptations can land a beloved book’s story in tumultuous waters. Plot points can be cut or changed. Fans can object to casting choices. Then there’s the media circus and gossip that can follow, most recently seen in actor drama tied to BookTok favorite “It Ends With Us.” 

“It is so hard and weird and painful and it’s humbling in ways that are really beautiful and ways that are really horrible,” Henry says. “When you are working on an adaptation and you’re the author of the original thing, you are the least important person in every room if you’re even in the room.

“That can be hard and painful to loosen your grip that much,” she admits. “It can be a battle because as the original writer, you know, the audience very well, and you’re attuned to what they love and what they don’t like.”

That’s just part of the deal, though, she concedes, pointing out that “you can’t make a movie as one person,” so to see her characters on the big screen, she’ll have to loosen a bit to allow for competing visions of the love stories that have made her famous.

What’s next for Emily Henry?

Yulin Kuang, who is adapting “People We Meet on Vacation,” will also adapt “Beach Read” for film. “Happy Place” is being developed into a Netflix series with Jennifer Lopez’s production company, Nuyorican. And Henry herself is writing the script for the “Funny Story” movie.

Her newest novel, “Great Big Beautiful Life,” at over 400 pages, was a heavy lift − so the first thing on Henry’s docket is to take a “breather,” she jokes.

Then she may pivot back to another classic rom-com novel, a format her latest book strayed from slightly, and she’s looking forward to fans getting their eyes on an adaptation soon. No official release dates for any of the projects have been revealed, but Henry promises one will be ready soon.

“Hopefully we’ll have an adaptation out to view very soon, so that’s something I’m looking forward to,” she says.