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No matter how popular a clothing style may be in the world of high fashion, trends are made to come and go. This Emmy season has costume designers doing the work of interpreting those trends for a new era.

Palm Royale tracks the fashion of one woman trying to fit in with the high society of 1960s Palm Beach, where she seems to often just miss the mark. The Crown gives the Queen a bolder color palette and a look of defiance for one final send off. Taking cues from painters of the 1880s, The Gilded Age builds on a framework of fashion trends from multiple decades.

Palm Royale

For costume designer Alix Friedberg, Palm Royale presented a great opportunity to explore the innovative fashion of the time. “They call it the fashion revolution for a reason,” she says. “The late ’60s was a very flamboyant time, and there was...

Grief is another version of love, a special form of it that causes a lot of pain, but it’s also an assurance that the love was real. It is the inherent goodness of the grieving process that the new drama film titled Good Grief wants to explore, but it has a tough time giving us an insight into the mind of a grieving individual. We get a story about friendship, coping mechanisms, casual flings, and overcoming grief with very little complexity. The story is nudged towards a very specific ending in a heavy-handed manner, which leaves a very icky feeling, as it implies that the results were not reached organically. The performances are good, but there are some scenes where the drama is unnecessarily heightened without having a solid foundation at the character level.

Spoilers Ahead

Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?

On Christmas day, Marcus and Oliver...

Good Grief's ending brings hope and a new beginning for Marc's journey through grief, as he processes his feelings through painting. Marc's decision to sell his home in London was not to forget Oliver but to remember him and process his grief through art. Sophie and Thomas' trip to Paris with Marc allows them to confront their own problems and finally have open and honest conversations about their feelings and fears.

Warning! Spoilers about Good Grief ahead.

With Good Grief’s ending essentially representing a new beginning, the film fittingly concludes Marc’s journey through grief with a great dose of hope. First of a multi-project deal between Netflix and Schitt’s Creek alum Dan Levy, Good Grief follows Marc as he simultaneously has to deal with losing his husband Oliver (Luke Evans) and discovering the secrets he kept from him. Unwaveringly by his side, his friends Sophie (Ruth Negga...

Considering his hilarious multiple Emmy-winning work on Schitt’s Creek, this markedly different feature filmmaking debut as writer-director-producer and star from Daniel Levy is a revelation — and a welcome one. The appropriately titled Good Grief explores exactly what that name implies, as Levy uses his own experience as an impetus to paint a larger picture of love, loss and grief in all its complexity. But at its heart, this impressive if sometimes tonally dicey story is also about the complications — and importance — of friendship in a scenario that revolves around a trio of BFFs who take a life-changing trip to Paris and get more than they each bargained for.

The opening sets the stage, as we meet Marc (Levy) at a holiday party in the spacious and impressive London apartment, where his flamboyant and successful filmmaker husband Oliver (Luke Evans) is sucking up all the energy.

Marc is an artist (his poignant paintings that play a part in the film’s finale are by Kris Knight) but clearly lives in the shadow of his more famous partner. But it seems to be a life they both love.

In the crowd are Marc’s good friends, the vivacious and lively Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel), the latter once a romantic interest for Marc before their breakup and his subsequent relationship and marriage to Oliver. However, tragedy rears its head, as Oliver heads out from the party to grab a cab to the airport and dies in a head-on collision before leaving the street.

The grieving process begins but doesn’t end with the emotional funeral for Oliver, and it all comes to a crescendo a year later and in another holiday season, where friends Sophie and Thomas convince Marc it is time to move on, and one way to do it is to finally read the card Oliver had left him for him as he took off that fateful evening.

In it is far more than he ever bargained for, and to say it provides complications is an understatement. Those only pile up when Marc and Oliver’s lawyer Imelda (Celia Imrie – wonderful) reveals Oliver had a lavish Paris apartment, the existence of which he never shared with his husband. “I guess now is not the time to talk about your will,” she deadpans.

Joined by his two best friends for what they think will be finally a snapping-back-to-life for Marc, the trio heads off for a fun few days to Paris, but unbeknownst to them, Marc is privately on a mission to discover the answer to all the secrets left behind by Oliver, with whom he apparently had an open marriage, a plot point tossed in and given oddly short shrift in Levy’s script.

Although this offers plenty of melodramatic opportunities for Levy, he fortunately resists laying on the soapy elements. It really is just as much a chance to focus on three individuals whose own problems hit the boiling point in different ways that not only reveal truths for each, but also their longtime connection to each other. The balancing act in a movie that is largely about the process and the price of grief is formidable for the debuting filmmaker, who is better known for his comedic chops. But it is just promising enough to make us look forward to where he goes next. The guy is a quadruple threat and an assured talent.

Levy’s ability for directing actors and giving them juicy roles is evident immediately with choice turns by both Negga, sensational as the freewheeling and fun Sophie, and Patel, who is completely believable as he winds himself up in a frenzy at the individual and unexpected actions of his buddies.

It is also a credit to Levy, who lets both of these exceptional actors steal all the scenes they are in. Even though Levy’s Marc is at the center of this, he is somewhat weighed down, having to first play so much grief, and then the complex reaction to the dark situation Oliver has handed him in death.

There are others in the mix as well including Arnaud Valois as Theo, a brief attraction for Marc in Paris that turns into an opportunity to escape the hold Oliver still has on him, and Medhi Baki as Luca, a mystery man with a key to answering some of the unanswered questions.

Emma Corrin also turns up briefly as a performance artist, as does Kaitlyn Dever. But neither has much to do. Evans hits all the right notes as Oliver, even if his presence in the story is felt more offscreen after his character’s early demise.

Paris has never looked more inviting than it does here with Ole Bratt Birkeland’s sumptuous cinematography. The handsome production design of both the London and Paris apartments is perfectly handled by Alice Normington, as are the flashy fashions of costume designer Julian Day. A big shoutout to Rob Simonsen’s music score, and the soundtrack delivered by music supervisor Season Kent, with some terrific songs from the likes Bonnie Raitt, Elton John and especially Neil Young’s haunting evergreen “Only Love Can Break Your Heart.”

Producers are Levy, Megan Zehmer, Debra Hayward and Kate Fenske. Executive producers are Stacey Snider and Caroline Levy.

Title: Good Grief

Distributor: Netflix

Release Date: December 29, 2023 in select theatres; January 5 streaming

Director-screenwriter: Daniel Levy

Cast: Daniel Levy, Ruth Negga, Himesh Patel, Luke Evans, Celia Imrie, Arnaud Valois, Emma Corrin, Kaitlyn Dever, David Bradley, Medhi Baki

Rating: R

Running time: 1 hr 40 min...

[This story contains spoilers from the final season of The Crown.]

With the release of the last six episodes of The Crown on Netflix have come new questions about the fictionalized depiction of the British royal family.

In part two of the sixth and final season of the critically acclaimed historical drama, the stage is set for the future heirs to the throne as Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Camilla Parker Bowles (Olivia Williams) are granted permission to wed, and Prince William (Ed McVey) and Kate Middleton (Meg Bellamy) rekindle their relationship after a brief break.

“Those couples coming together felt like a beautiful end to our story,” executive producer Suzanne Mackie told The Hollywood Reporter in a previous interview. “That, in a way, peace is restored to the land.”

In staying true to his original vision of ending the series in 2005, writer and creator Peter Morgan had to also find a way to conclude the Queen’s story...

[This story contains spoilers from episode eight, season six of The Crown, “Ritz.”]

Throughout her lifetime, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was known for being a glamorous socialite — a persona that actress Lesley Manville brings to life in the final two seasons of Netflix’s The Crown.

Yet in episode eight of the sixth and final season of the series, audiences got a glimpse of “not the dazzling, but the dutiful” younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton) who, in a speech, describes her as, “My lifelong companion and support without whom it would be unimaginable.”

The declaration, which comes at Margaret’s 70th birthday party, as depicted in the fictionalized Netflix drama, reinforces the tight-knit relationship between Lilibet and Margaret that’s been threaded throughout the series’ six seasons. It also foreshadows the imminent separation of the two, as Margaret’s health begins to decline after suffering a series of strokes.

“That relationship and the complexities of it...

Imelda Staunton is sharing her reaction to Queen Elizabeth‘s death.

If you didn’t know, the 67-year-old actress portrayed the late British monarch in the final two seasons of Netflix’s The Crown. Queen Elizabeth died at the age of 96 in September 2022.

On Friday night (December 15), Imelda appeared on The Graham Norton Show where she recalled her reaction to learning about the Queen‘s passing.

Keep reading to find out more…

“Lesley Manville, who plays Princess Margaret, and myself were filming, and at lunchtime we were told we might hear some sad news,” Imelda recalled.

At first, Imelda said that she was confused by this warning, before being alerted that it was tied to the Queen‘s death and was asked if she wanted to pause filming, which she declined.

“We carried on and finished the day, … and weirdly, in the schedule, I had 10 days off, which was the 10 days of mourning,...

For Imelda Staunton, filming Season 6 of “The Crown” was “very odd” after Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

“My first day of filming back was the day after the funeral,” Staunton told TheWrap. “I think it was very difficult for other people looking at me. I got dressed, and I had to get my head around that. Then, for other people, I think they found it very odd. It was very odd. Of course it was.”

Because of filming schedules, Dominic West, who plays Charles, Prince of Wales, didn’t return to set until weeks after Queen Elizabeth II’s death on Sept. 8, 2022. Even though he wasn’t on set immediately after, he felt the impact of the Queen’s death on production.

“The fact we were making a show about this woman who had such a momentous life and that just died, I know that must have affected Imelda a lot.

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for “The Crown” Season 6, streaming on Netflix now.

The series finale of “The Crown” is set in 2005, a full 17 years before Queen Elizabeth II’s death. But as the show’s creator, Peter Morgan, told Variety earlier this year, he felt compelled to honor the Queen’s real-life passing within the show.

“We’d all been through the experience of the funeral,” he said. “So because of how deeply everybody will have felt that, I had to try and find a way in which the final episode dealt with the character’s death, even though she hadn’t died yet.”

The result is an emotional final five minutes, which sees an 80-year-old Elizabeth, played by Imelda Staunton, contemplating her life in St George’s Chapel, where she will eventually be laid to rest. She imagines younger versions of herself — resulting in cameos from the role’s previous incumbents,...

Exclusive: The director of Netflix drama The Crown‘s episodes re-creating Princess Diana’s death in Paris 26 years ago has revealed the extraordinary efforts that went into ensuring it was handled with tact.

Speaking exclusively to Deadline, Christian Schwochow, who directed the three crucial Season 6 episodes that feature what are likely to be some of the most talked about moments on television this year, said that though shots were filmed of Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki, in the Paris morgue, there was never any intention of them being included in the final edit.

The filmmaker directed the second episode from the final season of Peter Morgan’s British royal drama, titled “Two Photographs”; episode 3 (“Dis-Moi-Oui”), which features the crash; and episode 4, titled “Aftermath.”

Schwochow also confirmed reports from last October that the crash involving the Mercedes-Benz, driven by Henri Paul and carrying Diana, Dodi Fayed and security consultant Trevor Rees-Jones,...

Miguel's journey through the Land of the Dead reveals the forgotten stories of his ancestors, strengthening his bond with his relatives and unraveling the truth about his great-great-grandfather. His great-grandmother Coco is the most accepting among the Riveras and her connection with Miguel is deepened by their shared love for music. Miguel's father, Enrique, plays a crucial role in his journey by unintentionally pushing him away, sparking his adventure to the Land of the Dead.

The Rivera family is at the front and center of Disney Pixar’s Coco, and the many generations interacting simultaneously make the 2017 adventure drama's family tree particularly tricky. Happening over the night before the Day of the Dead, Miguel’s initially unwitting journey through the Land of the Dead gives him the chance to interact with many of the Riveras that came before him. However, the most unexpected discovery comes from the search for his long-lost great-great-grandfather,...

In the official trailer for The Crown‘s sixth and final season, the rest of the royal family takes a backseat to the tragic story of Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki), who is shown struggling with her global fame, being hounded by paparazzi and beginning her ill-fated car ride with Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla).

A glimpse of the accident’s aftermath is shown, too, with Prince Charles (Dominic West) intoning: “This is going to be the biggest thing that any of us has ever seen.”

The final season will cover the years 1997-2005 and is being being split into two parts: The first four episodes will drop Nov. 16 and “depict a relationship blossoming between Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed before a fateful car journey has devastating consequences.”

The six final episodes will drop Dec. 14 and feature the wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles (Olivia Williams), while also focusing on Charles’ sons,...

Comedy is what we need right now, says Nicholas Hytner, who ran London’s National Theatre for a decade.

It’s fine to have heavy-lifting dramas by Ibsen or Schiller, but boy-oh-boy laughter is an increasingly uplifting necessity.

Which is where Guys & Dolls and James Corden, post his life on The Late Late Show, come in.

Hytner, partnered with longtime executive Nick Starr, now own and control London’s Bridge Theatre and is overseeing a fully immersive revival of the classic Broadway musical Guys & Dolls, choreographed by Dame Arlene Phillips (Strictly Come Dancing) and now in early previews.

It stars Daniel Mays as Nathan Detroit, Andrew Richardson (A Call to Spy) as Sky Masterson, Celinde Schoenmaker (Rocketman) as Sarah Brown and Marisha Wallace (Aladdin) as long-suffering Miss Adelaide. Cedric Neal plays Nicely-Nicely Johnson. Also in the cast are Jordan Castle,...

The stars of hit Netflix series “The Crown” have spoken about how creator and showrunner Peter Morgan handpicked them for their roles – and defended him from criticism over the series, which examines the private lives of the British royal family.

Imelda Staunton, who plays Queen Elizabeth II; Jonathan Pryce, who plays her husband Prince Philip; and Lesley Manville, who plays Elizabeth’s younger sister Princess Margaret spoke to Variety ahead of the Nov. 9 premiere of Season 5.

With the show switching up its cast every two seasons, Staunton, Pryce and Manville are the third incarnations of their characters, taking over from Olivia Colman, Tobias Menzies and Helena Bonham Carter, respectively. They are set to portray the senior generation of royals in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Season 5 sees the Queen handling the fallout of three of her children’s marriage breakdowns, most dramatically that of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and his...

Jonathan Pryce is disappointed by the backlash to The Crown season 5. Known recently for his portrayal of the High Sparrow in Game of Thrones and Pope Francis in the Netflix film The Two Popes, Pryce now succeeds Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in the final two seasons of The Crown. With the recent release of The Crown season 5 trailer, Netflix's historical drama has landed in some hot water due to its historical inaccuracies.

Most notably, Judi Dench called the series “cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent.” The Dame, who is no stranger to royal portrayals, winning an Academy Award for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love and a BAFTA for playing Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown, requested that a disclaimer be added to each episode of The Crown stating the show is a “fictionalised drama.” Netflix responded...