THE APPRENTICE

(15), 122mins     

★★★★★

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HE is one of the most divisive characters in the world, but how did Donald Trump become the man he is today?

It would seem he copied it from someone else. That someone was lawyer Roy Cohn.

One dark night in the late 1970s a young, naive wannabe businessman, Trump (Sebastian Stan), meets Cohn (Jeremy Strong) in an underground nightclub full of the top movers and shakers in New York.

Trump is entranced by Cohn, with his cold stare, flat tone and relentless cut-throat ambition. He wants to be just like him.

He soon asks for guidance from the top lawyer on some legal issues his dad’s business is having with the government. They don’t like the way Trump senior is overtly racist by not renting to black people.

He also wants to get some building projects off the ground, including his radical super-skyscraper, Trump Towers. Cohn negotiates for him on both — and wins.

Most think Trump is a bad joke in an even worse suit, but Cohn sees the potential in him, taking him under his wing.

He teaches him the tricks of the trade, which involves a lot of bribery and blackmail.

As Trump’s success rises to meteoric heights, so does his ego.

He stops at nothing to get what he wants.

That includes his first wife, Ivana (Maria Bakalova) who he woos with expensive gifts and luxury holidays.

You watch as she goes from admiring him to despising him.

But director Ali Abbasi and writer Gary Sherman are careful not to just paint Trump and Cohn as unrelenting bullies.

They’re far more human than that and cliché tropes are avoided.

While they are, undoubtedly, monsters in their own field, they also have to deal with real life: a sudden death in the family and terminal illness.

Trump shows himself to be the more emotionally stunted of the two, with even Cohn — who is close to the devil himself — being shocked by his lack of empathy.

The cinematography is spectacular, with incredible 70s and 80s detail — it often feels like watching a grainy documentary.

Trump morphs into the hairspray-loving, perma-orange glow of the man he is today.

The Apprentice is a masterclass in storytelling, with both Stan and Strong giving the performances of their career.

Watch and learn.

SMILE 2

(18) 127mins

★★★☆☆

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POP sensation Skye Riley is preparing for her world tour, but she begins experiencing terrifying paranormal events.

Overwhelmed, Skye (Naomi Scott) must confront her painful past as she sinks into a darkness that threatens to consume her.

Smile 2 cranks up the horror dial with even more blood, guts and jump scares than the first one from 2022.

Director Parker Finn pulls no punches in this nightmare-fuelled sequel, taking us on a ride that’s even more intense and disturbing.

Scott ditches her Disney roots for a wild, hair-raising perform-ance – think Taylor Swift on acid.

She spirals into madness as she encounters some seriously freaky supernatural forces.

But the film feels at times a bit too showy, with tricks and tech-niques borrowed from far superior horror offerings – the repeated upside down camera shots are lifted straight out of 2019’s Mid-sommar.

Besides Scott, there are decent performances from Lukas Gage as drug dealer Lewis and a hugely impressive turn from Ray Nicholson – son of Jack – as Skye’s former boyfriend Paul.

This is a perfectly serviceable sequel, but it’s just nothing special.

THE WILD ROBOT

(U) 102mins

★★★★★

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FILMMAKER, voice actor and animator Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, The Call Of The Wild) returns with this exciting adventure from the DreamWorks studios.

Adapted from Peter Brown’s novel of the same name, The Wild Robot features a star-studded voice cast including Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Bill Nighy and Heartstopper’s Kit Connor.

The story follows Roz (Nyong’o), a robot stranded on a deserted island who accidentally causes the demise of a family of geese.

So she adopts the sole surviving gosling, Brightbill (Connor).

With the help of cunning fox Fink (Pascal), Roz must navigate the challenges of the wild and protect her new charge from dangers.

Sanders knocks it out of the park with a thrilling and heartwarming adaptation that’s packed with action and laughs.

The movie tackles big themes like family and identity, and delivers stunning visuals and sharp storytelling.

Nyong’o shines as Roz, while Pascal’s sly take on Fink adds plenty of charm and humour. Connor as Brightbill delivers heart and a whole load of teenage angst.

It’s emotional and exciting – and it’s impossible not to fall in love with its positive outlook.

THREE of the housemates kissed on tonight’s edition of Big Brother.

Nathan, Baked Potato (Rosie) and Lily were all chilling on the sofa area in the garden when some secret smooching occured.

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Lily suggestively went in for a kiss with both of her fellow contestants as she couldn’t help but declare how desperate she was to share a ‘snog’.

She shared a smooch with both Baked Potato (Rosie) – who was laying down on the sofa area – and Nathan on tonight’s Big Brother.

However, Nathan and Baked Potato (Rosie), shared two smooches as Lily kept on cheering them on.

But later on in the ITV2 episode, we find out that two of the housemates might actually share feelings with each other.

Nathan and Baked Potato (Rosie) were whispering to each other how they both had to “run away” from Lily.

The duo quickly retreated to the bathroom as they were both completely taken aback by Lily’s actions.

They both asked each other: “Why is Lily kissing us?”

However, Dean and Martha both walked into the bathroom as they accused the pair of ‘hiding’ something.

In the diary room, Lily said: “I just wanna kiss anyone” as she expressed her annoyance of a supposed connection between Nathan and Baked Potato (Rosie).

After she came out of the diary room, she noticed Nathan and Ali speaking in the hall.

She asked her co-star if he actually had feelings for Baked Potato (Rosie).

“Well who wouldn’t!”, he replied in earnest as he also admitted details to a secret conversation they had during a fire alarm.

“I feel like I have played cupid tonight,” said Lily as Nathan confessed his true feelings.

Later on Late and Live, their secret conversation was revealed as Baked Potato (Rosie) asked Nathan a question.

Big Brother 2024 cast

A brand new batch of Big Brother housemates are living it up in the famous compound.

Meet the cast of the 2024 series:

• Rosie, 29, dental assistant from Cornwall.
• Emma, 53, aesthetics business owner from Altrincham.
• Segun, 25, charity videographer from Watford.
• Nathan, 24, pork salesman from Dumfries.
• Daze, 24, climate activist from London.
• Khaled, 23, sales manager from Manchester.
• Martha, 26, NHS administrator from Scarborough.
• Lily, 20, Chinese takeaway server from Warrington.
• Ali, 30, Forensic psychologist from London.
• Thomas, 20 amputee footballer from Carlisle.
• Ryan, 28, marketing and events from Stockport.
• Hannah, 24, HR consultant from West London.
• Izaaz, 29, sales consultant from London.
• Sarah, 27, spa account manager from Shrewsbury.
• Marcello, 34, youth mentor from East London.
• Dean, 35, barber from East London

She asked her co-star to go on a weekend away trip to a winery, consisting of “just me and you” after they leave the house.

Nathan declared that he would be more than happy to make that trip happen one day.

Will Best also teased a scene where the duo shared a private snuggle in the bathroom together.

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Big Brother is available to watch on ITV2 and stream on ITVX.

MIRANDA Hart says she farted within ten minutes on her first date with her new hubby — before they bonded over sloppy pizza.

The comedian, 51, who wed Richard Fairs earlier this year, told a podcast: “We were chatting, all very fun from the off.

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“Then the pizza comes but it had shunted up to one end, mozzarella was leaking everywhere.”

Miranda said she “went on and on getting full-on teenage grumpy”, but was delighted that “shy and sweet” Richard was too.

She added: “We formed this delicious connection.

“It kickstarted the freedom for us to start meeting and connecting.”

When Richard texted about another date, she said: “I was like he does like me because I was who I was, and probably farted within ten minutes.”

She has been off screens recently as she battles chronic fatigue.

Earlier this month, the BBC favourite revealed she had secretly got married following a debilitating health battle.

The Miranda star, 51, then shared a first look of her husband after she was spotted enjoying a bike ride with a mystery man months before confirming her nuptials.

Now she had shed light on their relationship history – and everything wasn’t completely smooth.

In her new book, she told that she “briefly” split with the building surveyor before he popped the question in Kew Gardens.

In her tome, I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You, Miranda wrote: “I admitted that I was longing for love within a romantic relationship too, for that one person who truly got me, but my hope for that was very, very slim.”

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The character has lots of crossover with me – I’m not very different.” Comedian and actor Felicity Ward is talking about her role as the lead in the new Australian iteration of The Office – she plays the David Brent/Michael Scott character – and I can’t help but raise a sceptical eyebrow.

Before me sits a veritable siren, all platinum curls and scarlet lipstick, poured into a gorgeous 1950s-style spaghetti-strap white dress with black polka dots. A dress that – without wanting to sound like a total and utter perv – showcases her magnificent decolletage. Ward is instantly likeable, too: magnetic and warm in a way that induces me to share an inappropriate period anecdote within the first few minutes of meeting. Though she started out her career as an actor, Ward is best known these days for her work as a stand-up (she’s currently touring the UK with her latest show, I’m Exhausting) and has the charisma and comic timing to match.

Hannah Howard, the new Aussie incarnation of the infamous buffoon of a boss, is poles apart from Ward. For one thing, she’s frumpy – decked out in the kind of office-wear millennials used to go nuts for in the Noughties (think boot-cut black trousers, ill-fitting pencil skirts and unflattering shirts that make Ward look a decade older than her 44 years). For another, in true Ricky Gervais spirit, she is painfully un-self-aware – a walking ball of slapstick cringe comedy who elicits near constant grimaces from her long-suffering employees. How, I ask, do you in any way resemble this car crash of a character?

“All of the annoying parts of her are just me,” she insists. Ward describes a scene where the script called for her to hula hoop, and she begged to do it around her neck instead of her waist. “They asked if I could fling it off. So I did, and I managed to hit one of the other actors in the head and smash a lamp as well. Yeah… there’s not a lot of delineation when it comes to attention seeking. Like, that’s this guy” – Ward gestures towards herself – “all day long.” (When she burps loudly and somewhat proudly several times during the interview thanks to a hastily consumed ginger beer, I can just about start to see the resemblance – though it’s still a bit of a stretch.)

Initially premiering on Amazon Prime with an eight-episode run, the Australian Office relies on the same mechanism as both its predecessors to act as the literal heart of the narrative: the underlying love story between Tim and Dawn/Jim and Pam (in this case Nick and Greta, played by Steen Raskopoulos and Shari Sebbens respectively). The overlying plotlines, meanwhile, could have been plucked from either of its American or British cousins: Hannah organises a “charity” pyjama dress-up day but plans to keep the money to avoid mandatory remote working being introduced; Hannah attempts to create a video awards entry to prove her commitment to “diversity”, in which she shoehorns in every ethnic minority she can find to toe-curling effect. Tone-wise, though, it undoubtedly shares more of its DNA with the warmer, fuzzier US version than the bleaker British original (“I mean this as a compliment: you cannot impersonate British cynicism,” says Ward firmly).

Covering similar ground to two established and beloved shows clearly comes with its challenges – “I know that people are going to have very strong opinions about this regardless” – but Ward is pragmatic about the inevitable judgement that’s coming her way. “When people ask, ‘did you feel the pressure?’ I’m like, ‘no, not at all,’” she says. “This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.” It likely helped that she hadn’t seen a single episode of the American Office before filming, and only started watching it once the initial Australian series was in the can. Yet, curiously, the Michael Scott character – played by Steve Carell and loosely based as it was on the David Brent original – had somehow managed to permeate. “We did this take, and one of the background actors said, ‘Oh my god, that was so Michael Scott,’” recounts Ward. “And I’d never seen an episode. So basically I’m calling myself Steve Carell now.”

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The biggest difference with this latest reimagining is, clearly, gender. Not only is the central character female, Hannah’s right-hand man – Rainn Wilson’s Dwight and Mackenzie Crook’s Gareth in the American and UK shows – is a right-hand woman, Lizzie, played by Edith Poor. It’s a natural evolution, says Ward. “If you’re going to make a show again – and this is the 13th remake of The Office, by the way – it makes sense to do something completely, radically different.” Were there alternative comedic furrows that could be ploughed thanks to casting women instead? “It didn’t happen very often, but occasionally… There was some improvisation where Hannah would flirt with someone very, very slightly. And it’s just a different dynamic than if a male boss is doing it.” Fewer #metoo vibes, for a start.

Mainly though, Ward is keen to stress that putting women at the centre doesn’t inherently change the humour of the show. “The wonderful thing is there is nothing implicitly female about it; it just happens to be a female boss,” she says. “There are so few female chump characters, and it’s such a joyful thing to do, to be incompetent and happy about it. It’s rich idiot fodder – which is my safe space.”

And yet, conversely, it was because “there were so many women involved” that the show didn’t have to feel like it was specifically expressing a woman’s story, argues Ward. “That, I think, is a superpower in itself,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong, I love women’s stories, I’m obsessed with women’s stories – but there is room for someone who is just being terrible at their job, regardless of gender.”

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When she mentions “so many women”, she means it: everyone from head writer Julie De Fina and director Jackie van Beek to all of the directors from Amazon were female. Look down the list of producers, and it’s a list of seven women. Even if it didn’t necessarily shape the jokes, it certainly changed the atmosphere while filming. “When you have all these other women in the room, it just means that you’re not so conscious of your own voice,” says Ward. “You’re not representing all women every time you speak. You’re just representing yourself. And you can be flawed, or you can be funny, or you can be whatever you want. And when there are loads of other women in positions of importance, you’re not worrying, ‘Oh, are they going to think it’s weird that I say I’ve got my period…?’”

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We’ve already joked about the tired trope that all women stand-ups ever talk about is their periods, but Ward leans into it now, telling me about an all-female writers room she worked in years ago. “The head writer was talking, and then she stopped, and she was like, ‘Sorry, I’ve just got the worst period cramps.’ And everyone instinctively reacted: someone grabbed a water bottle, a banana, paracetamol, ibuprofen, a tampon. It was really beautiful,” she says wistfully.

Ward has been in the business long enough to know what a rarity working with women at the helm is. After 20 years of hard graft, she’s also been in the business long enough to truly appreciate landing a starring role in an established sitcom. “I felt like I was in a playground every day,” she says. “To get the lead in any sitcom is unbelievable. To get the lead in The Office is insane. But then to turn up and just be told, be as funny as you can, for 10 hours a day, for nine weeks – that’s the dream.” If it sounds like a polished, PR-ready answer, it feels anything but – Ward wells up as she recalls these days on set, and the prior two decades of hard grind that got her there. Her voice trembles – just for a moment – before immediately switching to self-deprecating mode. “God, sorry, I’m such a pussy! I cry at everything.”

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There’s no need to apologise; if anything, it makes her even more likeable. If anything, it makes me even more sceptical that she’s “not very different” to Hannah Howard’s “female chump” of a bad boss. But I guess I’ll just have to finish watching the series to find out.

All eight episodes of ‘The Office Australia’ are available to watch on Amazon Prime from 17 October 2024

THEY think it’s all makeover . . . it is here, with this gallery of famous faces virtually unrecognisable in TV and movie roles.

Hollywood starlet Sydney Sweeney, 27, has shocked fans by posting a shot of herself with straggly brown hair and bulging biceps after working out to play former US boxer Christy Martin in an upcoming biopic.

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It came in sharp contrast to the Euphoria beauty’s usual blonde look.

But as wigs, prosthetics and body transformations evolve, she is far from the first movie A-lister to get a whole new appearance for a role.

Here, Thea Jacobs challenges you – with a few helpful clues – to match these shots from filming to the stars below.

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Answers – disguised stars revealed

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Pokémon voice actor Rica Matsumoto has addressed rumours that the popular anime ended because of a rift between its leading stars.

Matsumoto, played the voice of Ash Ketchum, a young boy who pursues his dream of becoming the best at the monster based battle game.

Accompanied by his sidekick and beloved Pikachu, voiced by actor Ikue Otani, Ketchum goes on a series of adventures that have spanned over 1,300 episodes. The popular show first aired in 1997, and came to an end last year.

Last week, Game Freak, one of the co-owners of the Pokémon franchise, was subject to a huge data breach, leading to the details of thousands of employees being leaked.

Among the information was a leaked transcript that is alleged to point to “strained relations” between Matsumoto and Otani.

According to Dexerto, the leaks claimed that the company had considered recasting Matsumoto due to the tension between her and Otani impacting the morale of the team.

Matsumoto responded to the claims saying “someone is making this up”.

In a post on X/Twitter, she wrote: “Don’t worry, nothing like this has happened. I’ve been friends with Iku-chan since she was a newbie, and she even came as a guest on Rika’s fan club tour.

“For those of you who don’t know me, I wonder if you enjoy writing something like this. No one is happy about it. I think it’s in poor taste and childish.”

Fans posted their support in the comments as one wrote, “That’s right. Rika Matsumoto and Ikue Otani have always been the two of them as Satoshi and Pikachu, so the bond between Satoshi and Pikachu will never be broken!”

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Another added: “I am so happy that you and Ōtani-san are still good friends. I have ignored (and will continue to ignore) these supposed leaks, and I am glad that you have too.”

The post that purported to reveal the leaks has since been deleted. However, the anime community have continued to speculate that there may be some truth to the suggestions with Otani reprising her role as Pikachu in Pokemon Horizons, while Matsumoto does not appear to be returning.