HBO’s upcoming fantasy series House of the Dragon reportedly cost even more to make than game of Thrones, Variety reports.
The 10-episode debut season of HotDwhich will premiere its first episode on Binge and Foxtel in Australia on August 22, is said to have racked up a bill of around $300 million.
In comparison, the eighth and final season of GoT cost about $130 million.
While thrones had fewer episodes than HotD for its final season, coming in at just six episodes, the prequel still cost more on a per-episode basis at just under $28.75 million per episode, compared to the $22 million it took to make each episode of GoT.
Back in 2011, before it became an international phenomenon, Thrones’ The first season was allocated $9 million an episode.
But with more computer-generated imagery required thanks to the amount of dragons involved in the storyline (there’s apparently 17 dragons), not to mention immense pressure due to the popularity of thronesit makes sense HBO allocated a substantial amount of cash for the hotly-anticipated prequel series.
In thrones, only Daenerys Targaryen is blessed with owning dragons, which were incredibly rare. However, the mythical creatures fly rampant in HotDwith almost every key character owning one.
Stream House of the Dragon from August 22 on BINGE or on FOXTEL. New BINGE customers get a 14-day free trial. Sign up at binge.com.au
It’s certainly an expensive genre, with Amazon’s upcoming The Lord of the Rings prequel series The Rings of Power reportedly racking up an eye-watering $668 million bill to produce its first season, comprising of eight episodes.
House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of the hit fantasy series, and will focus on the rise and fall of House Targaryen after the family becomes embroiled in a nasty civil war.
It’s based on George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire companion Book, Fire&Bloodwith Martin also having co-created the show alongside TV writer Ryan Condal.
House of the Dragon will premiere on Monday 22 August at the same time as the US, streaming on Binge. The series will also be available to watch on Foxtel in 4K Ultra HD
The 45-year-old took to Instagram on the weekend, asking followers to “help” her find a new man after she split from her Indonesian boyfriend.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Schapelle Corby on life after Bali
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In the post, Corby is pictured walking along the beach holding the hand of her ex-boyfriend, Ben Panangian, whose image has been scratched out.
“Looking for a new Four Leaf Clover,” the image is captioned.
“ATTENTION. Help a girl out – Get Tagging.”
The original photo is from 2019 when Corby and Panangian were on holiday together.
Corby was deported from Bali back to Australia in 2017 after spending almost a decade in a Balinese prison for drug smuggling.
She had maintained a long-distance relationship with Panangian, but things are clearly now over.
And Corby’s followers had a field day with her post.
“DM anytime, I’m here for ya,” one person wrote.
“I have a two-screen Netflix account and a wine club membership,” another offered.
Schapelle Corby is looking for love. Credit: Instagram/Schapelle Corby
Others tagged their friends in, with one person writing: “He’s a strapping young lad with an eye for a mature madam.”
The friend who had been tagged added: “Gimme a chance Schapelle.”
“She’s single and ready to mingle,” one person noted.
“Girl, pick me! I’m single,” another pleaded.
Corby met Panangian in prison in Bali in 2006.
Also convicted on drug offences, Panangian was released from prison in 2009.
Corby was paroled in 2014 and returned to Australia in 2017.
Schapelle Corby and Ben Panangian. Credit: Instagram/Schapelle Corby
The couple spent the next two years meeting up in places where their criminal convictions weren’t an issue.
Corby is not allowed to return to Indonesia and it’s understood the pair hadn’t seen each other face-to-face since the COVID pandemic began.
Rumors that Corby would appear on the new season of The Bachelorette were quickly shot down by producers, who said they were not interested in having “celebrities” on the show next season.
Major athletic footwear brand Reebok is carving out its share of sales by focusing on all-white styles.
“Across Australia and New Zealand we’re seeing an overwhelming desire for clean, stripped-back silhouettes with authentic tie-backs to brand heritage,” says Ash Sampson, brand director for Reebok Pacific.
Paparazzo photographs of euphoria actor Sydney Sweeney, supermodel Gigi Hadid, singer Joe Jonas and Emily Ratajkowski have helped drive demand for Reebok’s all-white Classic Leather styles, first launched in 1983 and the Club C85 silhouette.
“In spring, Reebok will be placing an emphasis on the Classic Leather franchise,” Sampson says. “Consumers are choosing wearability over flamboyancy, which has shifted in recent times.”
Sydney-based entrepreneur Parag Sawant is banking on the continued success of all-white styles, having launched the sneaker brand Monochrome in 2019. Sawant began manufacturing sneakers in Italy for the Australian market after spotting the success of minimalist designs from the brand Common Projects.
“I was trying to find something more in tune with the Australian lifestyle,” Sawant says. “It had to be understated and less flashy. Brands like Givenchy and Saint Laurent were doing premium sneakers, but they were more ostentatious.
“I wanted something sleek that wasn’t a pair of Vans.”
Monochrome offers white-on-white sneakers for $435, but the most successful style has been plain white leather on top of a pale grey, full rubber sole.
“It still has that premium look that people are looking for. We are seeing steady growth as people recognize them as investment pieces.”
There’s also good news for people looking for sneakers to wear outside, rather than keep pristine in boxes to trade.
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“The next big trend will be the great outdoors, with traditional labels like Salomon crushing it in design and with the Paris shows, such as Dior, very connected to the outdoors.”
So, your choices this spring are reformed dad sneakers, technicolour styles basic white or mountaineering motifs. Choose anything in between this spring, and you may as well be wearing chisel-toe black lace-ups or nude high heels.
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The family of Australian icon Olivia Newton-John is still in talks with the Victorian government about how the state will honor the late singer.
Key points:
Newton-John died on Monday at her ranch in southern California
Messages posted to her official social media accounts said the 73-year-old “passed away peacefully” surrounded by friends and family
Her niece flagged on Tuesday that the family would accept a state funeral
Newton-John, best known for her role as Sandy in the 1978 classic Grease, died on Monday, local time, at her ranch in southern California.
She had been diagnosed with cancer.
When asked during a press conference on Tuesday whether he would consider offering the family a state funeral, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he wanted to speak with them, citing Newton-John’s “amazing” contributions.
“I was honored to meet Olivia Newton-John on many different occasions, particularly in connection with the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre,” Mr Andrews said.
“An absolutely supreme talent, a person of grace, a person of such energy and vitality.
“She took her cancer journey and used that to save lives and change lives.”
On Wednesday a spokesperson for the Premier said they were still talking to the family and no formal offer of a service had been made yet.
Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in an iconic scene from Grease.(Paramount Pictures)
Newton-John’s daughter Totti Goldsmith told Nine’s A Current Affair program on Tuesday the family would accept an offer of a state funeral.
“I think Australia needs it,” Goldsmith said.
Landmarks turn pink for Newton-John
Buildings at Melbourne’s arts center were bathed in a pink glow in memory of Olivia Newton-John.(ABC News: Simon Tucci)
Born in the UK, Newton-John moved to the Victorian capital as a child.
The performer was a tireless campaigner for breast cancer research during her lifetime, having been diagnosed with the disease herself.
The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Center continues to operate at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne’s east.
Last night, landmarks including Flinders Street Station and the Melbourne Cricket Ground turned pink in honor of Newton-John’s legacy.
The star moved to Melbourne as a child.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
Visit ABC iview for our Remembering Olivia Newton-John collection.
Caitlyn Jenner took time to congratulate Khloe Kardashian following the news that she had welcomed her second baby via surrogate.
The former Olympian, 72, jumped to Twitter to type out a short tribute to celebrate the new addition, calling the reality star, 38, an ‘amazing mother.’
The TV personality welcomed a baby boy on Friday whom she shares with ex-boyfriend, Tristan Thompson. The two already share their four-year-old daughter, True Thompson.
Congrats: Caitlyn Jenner, 72, wrote out a celebratory tribute post to Khloe Kardashian, 38, to congratulate the reality star welcoming baby number two via surrogacy
Heartfelt tribute: The retired athlete reposted the tweet on Instagram, adding that her stepdaughter is, ‘such a strong boss woman’
The star typed out a short caption to the mom of two, tagging Khloe and telling her ‘Congratulations.’
The athlete also added, ‘I love you so much! You are such a strong woman. And what an amazing mother!’
Caitlyn also reposted the tweet on her Instagram story, and added an additional message to the original tweet.
‘I love you so much! You are an amazing mother and such a strong boss woman! Truly incredible for women everywhere-so blessed to have you in my life!’
Still in communication: Over the years, the stars still keep in touch, but during an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians last year in 2021, the businesswoman admitted she talks to the former athlete, ‘probably every blue moon’
Last year on an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Khloe weighed in about her relationship with Caitlyn, reported Us Weekly.
The Good American founder revealed that she would talk to the former athlete, ‘probably every blue moon.’
A representative confirmed on Friday that Khloe and her ex, Tristan, had welcomed a healthy baby boy to the world.
The two had been working on having a second child via surrogacy back in 2021 and the announcement that a baby was conceived came to the forefront in November of last year.
That was before the news of the NBA star’s infidelity and fathering a son with Maralee Nichols became apparent in December 2021. The couple officially split following the cheating scandal in January of this year.
Baby number two: Khloe and her ex-boyfriend, Tristan, are not back together despite sharing a second child together; pictured together as a couple in 2018
Proud: Caitlyn appeared to be beyond excited and thrilled that Khloe had welcomed a healthy baby boy to her growing family; pictured on the red carpet in April
The businesswoman hasn’t given a name to her baby boy just yet, and wants to take time to choose the right one, a source informed People.
‘Khloe is on cloud nine. Getting a sibling for True has been such a journey. She is very excited to be a mom again,’ the insider explained, adding how thrilled she is to have a boy.
‘She is taking her time with the name. She wants it to be just right,’ the source close to the mom of two stated.
Mom and daughter: A source revealed that the hard-working mother is more than thrilled that her daughter, True, now has a sibling
No name yet: The reality star is still deciding on the perfect name for her son, a source adding that, ‘She wants it to be just right’
While she is still milling over a name for her second child, the TV personality took time to upload a tribute post to her daughter.
Khloe shared an adorable snap of True giving a big smile and added a short caption to the post. ‘My happy sweet girl.’
Although the TV star and NBA player have welcomed a second child, the two have not rekindled their relationship.
A source told People, ‘Khloe and Tristan are not back together and have not spoken since December outside of co-parenting matters.’
Weeks before the arrival of her second child, the star split from her private equity investor boyfriend, whose name has yet to be revealed.
A confirmed source of the separation to Us Weekly. ‘They split a few weeks ago, things just fizzled out between them.’
Loving post: Khloe shared a tribute post to her daughter, True, on her Instagram after welcoming her second child, writing, ‘My happy sweet girl’
Excited: Khloe is happy to be a mother of two, and very joyful that True has a new sibling; pictured in 2020
US star Ashton Kutcher has revealed he has been secretly battling a serious autoimmune disease that affects his hearing, sight and ability to walk.
The That ’70s Show actor shared that he is “lucky to be alive” – and it took more than a year to rebuild his vision, hearing and balance.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis urge US businesses to withdraw from Russia
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“Two years ago, I had this weird, super-rare form of vasculitis,” Kutcher, 44, said in an upcoming episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge, released by Access Hollywood.
“Knocked out my vision, knocked out my hearing, knocked out like all my equilibrium.
“It took me a year to build it all back up.
Actor Ashton Kutcher attends The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2017. Credit: Fraser Harrison/Getty Images
“You don’t really appreciate it until it’s gone, until you go, ‘I don’t know if I’m ever gonna be able to see again. I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to hear again, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to walk again.
“I’m lucky to be alive.
“The minute you start seeing your obstacles as things that are made for you, to give you what you need, then life starts to get fun, right?
“You start surfing on top of your problems instead of living underneath them.”
What is Vasculitis?
Kutcher shared his health journey with adventurer and presenter Bear Grylls as they hiked through brambles and trees.
Vasculitis occurs when the body’s immune system attacks veins, arteries and small capillaries.
Inflammation occurs as a result, which can have the effect of narrowing blood vessels and restricting blood flow.
This in turn can cause organ damage or prompt aneurysms.
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis in 2022. Credit: mike coppola/Getty Images
If an aneurysm bursts, it can cause internal bleeding which can lead to death.
Vasculitis complications took the life of actor-director Harold Ramis in 2014.
According to the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy the disease is “relatively rare”.
Kutcher has kept a lower profile since taking a break in his career from 2014 to 2022.
That ’70s Showcast. Credit: FOX Image Collection
He and his wife Mila Kunis, now 38, married in 2015 and welcomed two children, Wyatt, seven, and Dimitri, five.
Kutcher and Kunis met on That ’70s Show in 1998, starring as an on-screen couple Jackie and Michael.
– with CNN
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Miranda Kerr walks “barefoot on the grass” to help her “reconnect” after a long flight.
The 39-year-old Australian model – who has Flynn, 11, with ex-husband Orlando Bloom and Hart, four, and two-year-old Myles with spouse Evan Spiegel – has revealed the way she copes with jet lag is to take the time to “rebalance” herself.
Speaking to PORTER, Miranda said: “I like to go for a walk outside when I arrive and, if possible, go barefoot on the grass to reconnect, ground myself and have a bit of time to rebalance. Melatonin is also great to help get you in the time zone.”
Victoria Beckham swears by magnesium, herbal tea, and sticking to an exercise routine no matter how tired you are.
The 48-year-old fashion designer told the publication: “Jet lag is really difficult. I try not to use any sleep medication – instead, I’ll take magnesium and have a herbal tea and try to go to sleep, but it’s easier said than done. If you are a working mum, you have to get up and power through. And I always do my workout – I never skip it, even when I feel incredibly tired, because it gives you more energy and gets you back into your routine. I don’t have the luxury of napping in the day, so I land and get straight into the time zone.”
Meanwhile, Miranda recently revealed she travels light when she goes on holiday with her family and has learned to mix and match a limited number of pieces to create “endless” outfits.
She said: “Start with easy crochet cover-ups in black or white. They’re so easy to pack and never wrinkle. Then throw in denim shorts and mix and match any of your swimsuits to create endless outfits. Bring a simple white cotton shirt and a great pair of flats, and you’re set.”
When it comes to shoes, Miranda opts to pack comfy Nike sneakers and neutral sandals and heels.
She added: “I like to mix high and low..”
The Kora Organics founder urged people to slow down and cherish their vacation time for the sake of their mental health.
She said: “As a mother of three boys, life goes by so quickly. Embrace your time together while you can because life gets busy. I think it’s important for our children to see how important work ethic is — but it’s equally important for them to see how much we value quality time as a family.”
Nigella Lawson is delighting Australian viewers with her My Kitchen Rules debut.
The British home cooking queen, who has replaced controversial chef Pete Evans on the 2022 season of Channel 7 reality series, has managed to reinvigorate the struggling franchise with her on-screen charisma and star power.
And even though she’s been on the culinary circuit for decades, people have been surprised to learn of the food writer’s real age.
Lawson, who published her first cookbook in 1998 before breaking onto TV with her own show Nigella Bites the following year, turned 62 in January. Yes, you read that right.
Lawson, who has two children with her first husband, late journalist John Diamond, recently credited her youthful looks to avoiding sun exposure and eating “lots of fats.”
She also previously told Oprah.com she was “trying to go with” aging.
“I think what ages a face most is disappointment and a lack of enjoyment. So I try to do what I love,” she said.
The 12th season of the Channel 7 cooking show follows a two-year hiatus for MKRwhich suffered declining ratings in 2019 and 2020.
Presumably in a bid to compete with its rival prime-time show, Channel 9’s Married At First Sight, the series was copping criticism for overdoing it on the dramatics and straying from its humble roots.
In an effort to bolster the franchise, the network parted ways with original judge Evans following a slew of controversies, and promised the series would be bouncing back to its core values of “real food and real people” in 2022.
It’s understood Lawson will only feature in half of the season, with former MasterChef judge Matt Preston joining Feildel for the back half. Celebrity chefs Colin Fassnidge and Curtis Stone are also set to return as guest judges.
“All we do is take pictures,” says an unseen paparazzo midway through the new Princess Diana documentary, The Princess. “The decision to buy the pictures is taken by the picture editors of the world, and they buy the pictures so their readers can see them. So at the end of the day, the buck stops with the readers.”
It’s a cop-out, of course, and just one of the many unsettling voices laid over the film’s archival tapestry of news footage, television clips and tabloid shots, which resembles less historical record than it does some kind of elaborate media simulation; a woman’s life manufactured and sold to an eager public until her handlers decided she was expendable.
But the remark does summon those age-old specters of supply and demand. Who really killed Diana that fateful day in 1997, when her Mercedes collided with a Parisian pole at high speed? Was it the paparazzi? The Queen? Might it have been – to paraphrase Sympathy for the Devil – you and me?
After their divorce in 1996, Diana stayed in the Kensington Palace apartment she’d shared with Charles until her death the following year.(Supplied: Madman)
As one of the reigning titans of late-20th-century monoculture, the Princess of Wales was both a harbinger of our current 24/7 celebrity obsession and the last – alongside her fellow superstar deer-in-the-spotlights, Michael Jackson – of a literal dying breed of stars, their colossal fame complicated by narratives often dependent on, and at the mercy of, a ruthless media.
Comprised entirely of archival footage, the film captures the short, meteoric life of the world’s most photographed woman through the eyes of the mass media that surveilled her, moving from the tail end of Diana Spencer’s teenage years to the turbulent events of the 90s that played out across the tabloids.
It’s an approach that’s become more common in documentary cinema in recent years, especially in films that tangle with beloved famous figures, such as Asif Kapadia’s Amy, or the forthcoming David Bowie tribute Moonage Daydream; these are works that eschew talking heads and downplay overt editorialising, allowing the footage to speak for itself. (Frederick Wiseman, venerable master of the form, is owed quite a few checks.)
Director Ed Perkins, who was Oscar-nominated in 2019 for his short film Black Sheep, has a sound grip on the style. He understands the inherent power of editorial silence, of allowing the footage to evoke our collective memories of Diana, and to implicate us as viewers in the process.
The effect is both nostalgic – it’s a time we’ll never see again, buried in the fuzzy grain of U-Matic history – and eerily prescient, anticipating the current social media-fueled era of celebrity obsession. Diana’s fame was the 80s and 90s equivalent of a life lived extremely online, filtered through endless screens over which she had little control. She did n’t seem like a real person – until the shock of her mortality proved otherwise.
From the earliest footage, quaint by the standards of what was to follow, in which the shy, shag-cut teenager is questioned about her burgeoning relationship with the Prince of Wales, it’s clear that Diana is staring down a long and gruelling road of media scrutiny.
The film includes footage from the BBC’s Panorama interview, which was discredited after an independent review found it used “deceitful tactics”.(Supplied: Madman)
There are some early, eyebrow-raising moments: Charles, 12 years Diana’s senior, interviewed on British TV just before their wedding, remembers his first meeting when she was a “bouncy and attractive 16-year-old.” One news commentator cheerfully announces that Diana’s father de ella – in the year 1981, though you’d think it was the 19th century – “even vouched for her virginity de ella”.
Things are already fraught by the time the film lays out the couple’s famous nuptials, a fairytale-like event that gripped – and distracted – an economically depressed nation plagued by unemployment and a rising National Front. (“Don’t do it, Di!” announces one cheeky badge sold on the day; it must be a collector’s item.)
Seen here, the marriage – and the births of Princes William and Harry in 1982 and 1984 – seems less celebratory than chilly, with Perkins and his editors cutting almost immediately from the wedding to arrival of Diana’s sons, as though she was merely conscripted to crank out her husband’s heirs and secure his succession to the throne.
The Princess is Perkins’s second feature-length documentary. His short documentary Black Sheep was nominated for an Oscar in 2019.(Supplied: Madman)
In one creepy scene, Diana, holding baby William, is flanked by the Queen and the Queen Mother, who look less like benign monarchs than the doting-but-devilish old neighbors of Rosemary’s Baby, delighted that their young bride has born seed.
It’s only when Diana begins to emerge as her own person that she becomes a figure of inconvenience; her style, charm, and ability to connect with the people soon eclipsing the appeal of her archaic family.
Yet as one TV talking head notes: “When you put a modern person in an ancient institution, they will be destroyed.”
The Princess quietly builds an impression of a woman with little to no agency in her own life, who’d been ushered into an institution as a teenager without experiencing the outside world. Diana was bound to crack – a familiar narrative that resurfaced, in abstracted horror-movie form, in Pablo Larraín and Kristen Stewart’s collaboration on Spencer earlier this year.
Perkins offers a dramatically scored scene of royal hounds tearing apart a rabbit to underscore Diana’s plight, while teasing clips in which Camilla Parker Bowles – Charles’s longtime lover – lurks at the edges of the frame, anticipating the end of the fairytale marriage whose collapse would play out in the tabloids.
It’s in these late sequences – so-called Dianagate, “annus horribilis”, the bombshell interview with Martin Bashir – that the true ugliness of the media takes shape, while Charles and Diana lob shots at each other for the nation to see.
In one of the film’s most affecting moments, Diana strides through an airport using a tennis racquet as a shield against a paparazzi scrum – yet can’t help but stop to accept flowers from a little girl, even in this horrific moment.
“This story has been told very widely. The question that really interested me was, ‘what does [it] tell us about ourselves?'” Perkins told IndieWire.(Supplied: Madman)
There’s nothing in The Princess that we haven’t seen before, no historical revelation to the narrative, but its construction possesses a quiet, eerie grace.
Funeral footage of Diana’s coffin being carried from Westminster Abbey echoes her fairytale appearance on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral on her wedding day – 16 years apart, but, thanks to cinema’s uncanny ability to compress time, seeming like they bookended the same long, turbulent day.
It’s as though the princess emerged from her wedding directly into a casket.
The sense of inevitability – of our own role in manifesting these images – only makes it more haunting.
Nigella Lawson is delighting Australian viewers with her My Kitchen Rules debut.
The British home cooking queen, who has replaced controversial chef Pete Evans on the 2022 season of Channel 7 reality series, has managed to reinvigorate the struggling franchise with her on-screen charisma and star power.
And even though she’s been on the culinary circuit for decades, people have been surprised to learn of the food writer’s real age.
Lawson, who published her first cookbook in 1998 before breaking onto TV with her own show Nigella Bites the following year, turned 62 in January. Yes, you read that right.
Lawson, who has two children with her first husband, late journalist John Diamond, recently credited her youthful looks to avoiding sun exposure and eating “lots of fats.”
She also previously told Oprah.com she was “trying to go with” aging.
“I think what ages a face most is disappointment and a lack of enjoyment. So I try to do what I love,” she said.
The 12th season of the Channel 7 cooking show follows a two-year hiatus for MKRwhich suffered declining ratings in 2019 and 2020.
Presumably in a bid to compete with its rival prime-time show, Channel 9’s Married At First Sight, the series was copping criticism for overdoing it on the dramatics and straying from its humble roots.
In an effort to bolster the franchise, the network parted ways with original judge Evans following a slew of controversies, and promised the series would be bouncing back to its core values of “real food and real people” in 2022.
It’s understood Lawson will only feature in half of the season, with former MasterChef judge Matt Preston joining Feildel for the back half. Celebrity chefs Colin Fassnidge and Curtis Stone are also set to return as guest judges.
