SIEGRIED FISCHBACHER DIES: Siegfried Fischbacher, an iconic illusionist of the Las Vegas magic act Siegfried & Roy, has died at age 81. He died of pancreatic cancer on Wednesday in Las Vegas. Roy Horn, his partner in life and business, died on May 8, 2020, of complications from COVID at age 75. Their careers ended in 2003 when a tiger mauled Horn during a performance. He wrote of his love of magic as a child: “I studied it and studied it and studied it. There was one trick I did really well. You have a coin, a handkerchief and a glass of water. You drop the coin in the water and it vanishes.”
KITBAG IS A GO: Ridley Scott is directing Kitbag, with Joaquin Phoenix starring as Napoleon, in a project for Apple Studios. Production will begin in 2022. “Napoleon is a man I’ve always been fascinated by,” Scott told Deadline. “He came out of nowhere to rule everything — but all the while he was waging a romantic war with his adulterous wife Josephine. He conquered the world to try to win her love, and when he couldn’t, he conquered it to destroy her, and destroyed himself in the process.”
GEORGE CLOONEY TALKS STREAMING: In an interview for BAFTA‘s Life in Pictures series, George Clooney touched on the challenges cinema is facing amid the pandemic. He said streamers are leading the way: “But here’s what streaming services have done: they’ve democratized and opened up so many different avenues of storytelling for young, interesting storytellers. … Now between the streaming services there’s thousands and thousands of acting jobs and directing jobs and producing jobs. The world is open and the world is in need of content. So, I’m really excited as I see this blossom, in the idea that we’re going to be getting more and more and more of this opening up. I completely understand the question and I think we’re going in the right direction. I hope, look I’ve been wrong before about this but I think we’re going in the right direction.”
MACAULAY CULKIN WANTS TRUMP OUT OF HOME ALONE 2: Macaulay Culkin, the star of Home Alone 2, wants Donald Trump removed from the film. Twitter uses have photoshopped him out, and the 40-year-old weighed in, telling one user he was “sold” on the petition to removing Trump, who makes a cameo when Culkin’s character asks hom for directions inside the Plaza.