Interesting & funny news from around the world, Интересные и забавные новости со всего мира

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Tye Sheridan: Thriller 'The Order' ode to law-enforcement

NEW YORK, Dec. 5 (UPI) — Tye Sheridan says he wanted to star in the new film, The Order, because it is a thriller steeped in reality.

Opening in theaters Friday, the movie follows law-enforcement officers — Sheridan's Jamie Bowen, Jude Law's Terry Husk and Jurnee Smollett's Joanne Carney — as they try to bring down Nicholas Hoult's Bob Mathews, the leader of a White-supremacist group that robs banks to fund domestic terrorism in the Pacific Northwest.

"The movie has a lot of universal themes. It's based on a true story. It takes place in the mid-1980s about a group of guys who spun out of the Aryan Nation and started this White-supremacist group. They're trying to start a revolution and overthrow the government," Sheridan, 28, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

"It's about the law-enforcement officers who are trying to stop the guys. It's kind of like classic 'good guys versus bad guys,'" the Mud, Ready Player One and X-Men alum said.

"The story feels like it's a propulsive thriller that feels cut from the same cloth as the movies that I absolutely love and grew up loving, which were made in the 1970s and '80s. It just felt like it's got something deeper resonating. It just felt like an amazing opportunity."

As the story unfolds, Jamie is a rookie police officer working in the small town in which he has lived all of his life when FBI Agent Terry Husk arrives to seek help with an investigation.

While Jamie's fellow cops have no interest in messing with the racist criminals who live on the outskirts of town, Jamie jumps at the chance to help Terry bring them to justice.

"He is a young deputy at the sheriff's department in this town he grew up in, and that's where all this is taking place," Sheridan said.

"So, all these guys that he knew growing up, that he went to high school with and played sports with, they have now joined the Aryan Nation and started this group," he added.

"The catalyst moment is Terry Husk, Jude's character, coming in and the two of them coming together and Jamie, my character, telling him everything that he knows."

On the personal side, young husband and father Jamie sees Terry, who is divorced and estranged from his kids, as a cautionary tale, while Terry sees Jamie himself in years past.

"It's like Terry is kind of looking in a mirror. He's looking back in time at himself 25 years ago," Sheridan said. "He's maybe the kind of person who's put his work before his life. I think he's starting to see that in Jamie toward the end of the film."

Sheridan said he thinks the film spotlights the dangers police and other investigators face whenever they go to work, as well as the personal toll the job takes on their home lives.

"It's an ode to law-enforcement officers everywhere and the sacrifices that they have to make, that their families have to make for them to serve law and order and protect our, not only communities, but our nation — especially in a case like this where it has to do with domestic terrorism," Sheridan said.

Given the subject matter, the film goes to some dark places, and Sheridan said he was was happy to have Law beside him to share the emotional heavy lifting.

"He's extremely talented, obviously, and somebody I have admired for many years," Sheridan said.

"Just to be able to work closely with him, to see his process, how much preparation and work goes into his craft and the dedication that he has to his craft, was really an honor," Sheridan added.

"I just completely admired that. He's a great collaborator. He's trying to make everyone else around him as best as they can be, and I absolutely loved working with him. I hope we get to do it again in the future."

Directed by Justin Kurzel, the film co-stars Alison Oliver and Marc Maron.

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Michigan woman's lucky lottery streak culminates with $1.54M jackpot

A Michigan woman who had been "pretty lucky" playing lottery games recently saw her winning streak culminate with a $1.54 million progressive jackpot.

The 53-year-old Genesee County woman told Michigan Lottery officials she had already had some recent lottery luck when she bought her Jackpot Slots Fast Cash ticket from the Beacon & Bridge Market on West Thompson Road in Fenton.

"Jackpot Slots is my favorite Fast Cash game, and I play it regularly," the player said. "I looked the ticket over right after I bought it and saw I'd won, but I had to scan it on the lottery app to be sure I was seeing things right. When the winning amount of $1.54 million came up on the screen, I immediately called my husband to tell him the good news!"

The woman said she is a frequent lottery player — and, lately, a frequent winner.

"I have been pretty lucky playing Fast Cash and Club Keno lately, so winning this jackpot prize is the icing on the cake," she said.

The winner said her prize money will go toward buying a new car and investing.

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'Day of the Fight' director Jack Huston 'completely honored' by showbiz family

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 5 (UPI) — Actor Jack Huston's directorial debut, the boxing drama Day of the Fight, will be in theaters Friday. The great-grandson of actor Walter Huston and grandson of director-actor John Huston said he did not shy away from his family's legacy.

"I feel completely honored to be able to say, 'My God, that was my grandfather, that was my great grandfather, that was my aunt, that was my uncle, that was my father,'" Huston, 41, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "Thank God that I had some great footsteps to follow."

Huston cast his Boardwalk Empire co-star, Michael C. Pitt, as Mike Flanagan, an ex-con preparing for his first bout since release. Mike spends the day trying to reconnect with his ex-wife (Nicolette Robinson) and father (Joe Pesci) before entering the ring.

The actors remained friends even after Pitt's character was killed off the HBO series.

"Jack was still shooting Boardwalk Empire," Pitt said. "He used to come visit me because I lived in the neighborhood."

Pitt said he remembers Huston being introduced as "acting royalty" and found it refreshing that he did not try to downplay his connection to the Huston family. Huston said his uncle, actor Danny Huston, encouraged him to embrace the lineage.

"My uncle Danny said very early on, 'Don't be the [expletive] who denies your family,'" Huston said. "My family's never felt like a shadow. They've always felt like the light."

Huston cast his son, Cypress, as young Mike in the film.

"He's actually the fifth generation of my family on screen and I think there's something incredibly beautiful about that," Huston said. "It brought me to tears watching him on set so I'm very proud."

Huston did not have the Hollywood resources that had been available to his grandfather when he produced Day of the Fight. To make the most of his brief shooting schedule, he filmed Pitt with multiple cameras simultaneously during the fight scenes.

"I don't know when the camera was rolling and when it wasn't rolling," Pitt said, adding that Huston didn't call "action" or "cut," but rather just kept filming.

Pitt also suggested that instead of simulating the boxing match, he and his opponent could actually punch each other. With his co-star's permission, Pitt and Cameron Williamson landed blows to ensure the fight scene was completed in a day and one-half.

"We didn't have a lot of time," Pitt said. "It felt like a kind of risk that we could take as a smaller production that could make us competitive with bigger films."

Huston said Pitt's trust in allowing punches to land gave him the confidence to film the fight in that unorthodox way. The director said he saved hours by not having to coordinate angles to make it appear as if fake punches were hitting.

"Michael and Cameron felt each other out and I was like, 'Take it to that corner, take it to that corner,'" Huston said. "The big punches we took a lot of care with."

Huston took a similar approach to Pitt's training scenes. The film begins with Mike working out the morning of the fight.

"I was just like, 'Train, train, train, just go,'" Huston said. "I was moving the camera, getting pieces. Everything was done on the fly."

Huston said he knew his friend had boxing experience because he watched him work out between takes on Boardwalk. Pitt has boxed since he was 25.

"I love the discipline of it, also the music of a gym, just the stories," Pitt said. "You can literally lose every round up until the last moment, and you can win everything. I think that's why it's so exciting."

Music plays a major role in Day of the Fight, as well.. Ben MacDiarmid wrote the score, and the film features an original song performed by Robinson and Pesci and catalog songs by Rodriguez and more.

Huston called music "another character in the movie" and said he wrote to specific pieces of music, whether score or songs with lyrics. The director said he felt a sense of harmony when the film was working.

"Film is very musical," Huston said. "When you're watching a beautiful piece of opera, which is a wonderful scene between two wonderful actors or three wonderful actors, and it does feel like that."

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Bear steals inflatable Grinch from Florida home

A Florida family thought they were being pranked after an inflatable Grinch Christmas decoration vanished from their yard, but security camera footage showed the thief was a not-so-jolly bear.

Shanick Suarez said her family decorated their Golden Gate Estates home for Christmas in November, and on the day after Thanksgiving they discovered their inflatable Grinch had been stolen.

"We were just dumbfounded," Suarez told WBBH-TV. "We were like, where did it go?"

Suarez said she suspected the incident had been a prank when a neighbor texted her a few days later to say the Grinch had been found two houses away from her family's home.

The Dr. Seuss character was put back in place, but Suarez received an alert from her security camera on Wednesday and checked it to see a bear attacking the Grinch.

"I never expected it to be a bear." Suarez said. "I thought it was the funniest thing ever. I literally, like, text my husband. I'm like, 'What is going on?' We were texting back and forth, just rewatching the video, sending it to all of our family and friends at five in the morning."

The bear dragged the Grinch off into the nearby woods. Suarez said her family was able to find it later, but it was too damaged to make a return to the yard.

"It's a funny story to tell," she said.

Florida bears have been known to tamper with holiday decorations in the past — Longwood resident EJ Levin shared video last year of a bear attacking the light-up reindeer decorations in his family's yard.

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Angelina Jolie says she wanted to be a funeral director on 'Tonight Show'

Dec. 6 (UPI) — Angelina Jolie may be a licensed pilot and an award-winning actress, but talk shows make her nervous, she told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.

"I get very uncomfortable," she said. "And I haven't done one for like a decade."

Jolie, 49, confronted her fears to discuss her new film Maria, and her production of the Broadway show, The Outsiders, which won her a Tony Award.

"I was thinking what it is to be an outsider," she told Fallon. "And I think that's just, to be somebody who's comfortable with other people maybe not understanding who you are, or knowing what you do," she said. "Or you don't feel as understood or connected, but you know who you are, and you're okay with that."

Maria, which is now playing in theaters, presented a new challenge for Jolie.

"I'd never sung before," she said. "Everybody's got something that makes them, you know, this is not something I can do, and I was pretty sure that was one of the things, I can't sing."

But her performance has already earned her widespread recognition. She is set to be honored at the Palm Springs International Film Awards.

Jolie said, too, that before she found acting, she'd wanted to be a funeral director.

"My grandfather died, and I remembered thinking this is not how they should be," she told Fallon. "This should be a celebration of life, and since I'm not afraid of death, and I was comfortable with it, I thought this would be a great career path for me."

"It's my fallback career," she added.

Maria will stream on Netflix Dec. 11.

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Size of Stegosaurus readily apparent in new NYC display to open this weekend

The 150 million-year-old fossil remains of a Stegosaurus dinosaur named "Apex" will be displayed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City starting Sunday.

The dinosaur's remains are considered by many to be the largest and most complete examples of the Stegosaurus ever discovered and are displayed in the museum's Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium.

The fossil measures 11.5 feet high and 27 feet in length and is mounted in a defensive pose with its spiked tail raised high.

It was discovered in the Morrison Formation near Dinosaur, Colo., in 2022 and contains more than 254 of its original 320 bone elements.

The missing bones were recreated using 3D printing and sculpted pieces to create a complete display of the dinosaur.

The museum chose the atrium to display it so that visitors can walk around the dinosaur's skeleton and appreciate its size.

Researchers with the museum's Paleontology Division will study the fossil to learn more about its growth, life history and variations compared to similar specimens at other natural history institutions.

The fossil is on loan from billionaire Kenneth Griffin, who purchased it in 2024 at auction from Sotheby's for $44.6 million.

The Stegosaurus is the most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction.

Although it is named Apex, the Stegosaurus was a plant-eater that lived between 145 million and 152 million years ago and is found in the United States, according to the U.K. Natural History Museum in London.

The armored dinosaur used its spiked tail to defend against predators and had distinctive vertical bony plates along its back that were embedded into its skin but not attached to its skeleton.

Scientists are unsure what the purpose might be for the bony plates, with some suggesting they discouraged predators, enabled recognition of other Stegosaurus dinosaurs or helped regulate its body temperature.

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World's oldest wild bird lays egg at age 74

The world's oldest known wild bird has laid an egg at the estimated age of 74 on a North Pacific island, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.

The wildlife service Pacific region said on social media that Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, was seen nesting with a new partner and has laid an egg at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, located on the northwest edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago.

Researchers said it was Wisdom's first egg in four years, and the bird is estimated to have laid 50 to 60 eggs in her lifetime.

"Wisdom returns to the same nesting site each year to reunite with her mate and if able, lay one egg," the social media post said. "For decades, she did this with the same partner, Akeakamai, but that bird has not been seen for several years."

Jon Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll refuge, said researchers are "optimistic that the egg will hatch."

Wisdom was believed to be 5 years old when she was first banded and observed laying an egg in 1956.

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'Joker: Folie a Deux' to start streaming Dec. 13 on Max

Dec. 6 (UPI) — Joker: Folie à Deux is coming to Max next week.

Max announced in a press release Friday that the film will start streaming on its service Dec. 13. The movie will also have its network premiere Dec. 14 at 8 p.m. EST on HBO.

Joker: Folie à Deux is a sequel to the 2019 film Joker. The movies are inspired by DC Comics characters and are both directed by Todd Phillips.

In the sequel, Joaquin Phoenix reprises his role of Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker, now in custody at Arkham State Hospital as he awaits trial for his crimes.

"While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that's always been inside him," an official synopsis reads.

Lady Gaga also stars as Harleen "Lee" Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn, a fellow patient at Arkham and Arthur's love interest.

Other cast members include Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener and Zazie Beetz.

Joker: Folie à Deux opened in theaters in October. Lady Gaga released the album Harlequin to coincide with the film's release.

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Long Island, N.Y., man skateboards 3,162 miles from coast to coast

A New York man took a 3,162-mile trip on his skateboard over the course of 57 days, 6 hours, 56 minutes to cross the United States and set a Guinness World Record in the process.

Chad Caruso, outfitted only with his board, a small backpack and a single set of clothes, started his skateboarding trip in Venice Beach, Calif., and completed his journey at the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia Beach.

The feat earned him the Guinness World Record for the fastest crossing of America on a skateboard (male).

"As I skated up to the finish line in Virginia Beach with hundreds of people cheering me on, police escorts, and local skaters pushing alongside me, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with emotion," Caruso told Guinness World Records.

"I kept thinking back to the teenage version of myself who dropped out of school to pursue skating and fought through all the voices telling him to quit over the years."

Caruso, who has been skating for 25 years, aimed to raise awareness of addiction and mental health problems. He said skateboarding helped him get sober nine years ago and he hopes his story will inspire others to do the same.

Caruso celebrated his arrival at the finish line by throwing his board into the ocean. Virginia Beach Mayor Robert M. Dyer then gave a speech declaring May 19 to be Chad Caruso Day.

"If you have a vision, believe in bringing it to life, and don't let the thoughts or opinions of others waver your resolve," Caruso said.

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'Moana 2' tops North American box office for 2nd weekend

Dec. 8 (UPI) — Animated adventure Moana 2 is the No. 1 movie in North America for a second weekend, earning an additional $52 million in receipts, BoxOfficeMojo.com announced Sunday.

Coming in at No. 2 is Wicked with $34.9 million, Gladiator II at No. 3 with $12.5 million, Pushpa at No. 4 with $9.3 million and Red One at No. 5 with $7 million.

Rounding out the top tier are Interstellar at No. 6 with $4.4 million, Solo Leveling at No. 7 with $2.4 million, Y2K at No. 8 with $2.1 million, For King + Country: A Drummer Boy Christmas at No. 9 with $2 million and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at No. 10 with $1.5 million.

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