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A14 PEOPLE / ARTS
Thursday 29 June 2023

Idris Elba uses his brains not brawn in the new Apple TV+ series ‘Hijack’

By ALICIA RANCILIO but each minute of every
Associated Press episode is important,” said
Standing 6-foot-2-inches, Elba. The show cuts be-
Idris Elba’s size helps to sell tween what’s happening in
his characters. As a detec- the air and on the ground
tive in “ Luther,” he often as officials try to piece to-
averted protocol and went gether what they’re deal-
rogue. On “The Wire,” he ing with and how to react.
played a shrewd, intimidat- “It just made sense to get
ing crime boss in the drug these real time decisions
world. In the 2022 movie “ as a way to propel the nar-
Beast,” he protected his rative forward rather than
daughters from a ferocious sort of jump out of time se-
lion while on holiday in quence,” said Elba, add-
South Africa. But, in his new ing that the two perspec-
Apple TV+ series “ Hijack,” tives are “really reflective
it’s his mental strength that of each other the whole
helps him navigate a crisis, time.”
not his build. “It was very intense,” add-
Elba plays Sam, a passen- ed Archie Panjabi, who
ger on a flight from Dubai plays a counter-terrorism
to London that turns into a official.
hostage situation. The first “As the series progresses,
two episodes of “Hijack” Idris Elba, left, and Archie Panjabi pose for portrait photographs to promote the television series the tension multiplies and
debut Wednesday on Ap- “Hijack’”on Monday, June 26, 2023 in London. so did the number of peo-
ple TV+, with one new epi- Associated Press ple in the room.” In the
sode released weekly. end, Panjabi says there was
“I’m used to being cast as psych game,” he said. “Pit- ally helped” the look and felt a little bit like a play and a feeling of resolution that
a big man,” said Elba. “In ting one against the other feel of the scenes. the camera could only go was freeing. “I should tell
this situation Sam is vulnera- and figuring out what your “We thought about builds so many places.” people I spent six hours on
ble. He isn’t there to fight.” weak spot is. And then, of and then we thought, The seven-episode series screen saving your butt,”
Sam’s strength here is that course, being able to make ‘What if we just bring a also unfolds in roughly the she tells Elba to laughter.
he works as a corporate people feel comfortable, plane in and shoot within same amount of time it Elba felt his own kind of re-
negotiator, and his abil- not threatened,” what we’ve got?’” said takes to fly from Dubai to lief at the end of six months
ity to assess high-stakes Space or lack thereof was Elba, who was also an ex- London. of filming, in part because
situations like mergers an integral part of film- ecutive producer on the “It’s difficult to to make that his adrenaline was often
and acquisitions, serves ing. The set was an actual show. “You’ve just got the happen because you shoot running high even between
him well. “It’s all a bit of a plane which Elba said “re- space that you’ve got... It things out of sequence, scenes.q

Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks to receive honorary Oscars

By LINDSEY BAHR industry and inspired gen- emy’s honorary awards the ceremony, in 1969, he another screenwriting nod
AP Film Writer erations of filmmakers and have not won competitive said he wanted to “thank for “Young Frankenstein,”
Angela Bassett may have movie fans,” Janet Yang, Oscars. Brooks, is an excep- the academy of arts sci- which he shared with Wild-
gone home empty handed the academy’s president, tion, however, having won ences and money for this er.
at the Oscars in March, but said in a statement. an original screenplay Os- wonderful award.” In his “Mel Brooks lights up our
the two-time nominee will Most recipients of the acad- car for “The Producers.” At speech, which had the au- hearts with his humor, and
be getting a golden statu- dience in stitches, he also his legacy has made a last-
ette this year after all and thanked Gene Wilder three ing impact on every facet
in very good company too. times. of entertainment,” Yang
In November, Bassett, Mel The 96-year-old, who be- said.
Brooks and film editor Carol gan his career writing for Bassett, whose credits in-
Littleton will receive honor- Sid Caesar’s “Your Show clude “Boyz N the Hood,”
ary Oscars at the Gover- of Shows,” and over the “Malcolm X,” “Waiting to
nors Awards, the Academy next 70 years would write, Exhale” and “How Stella
of Motion Picture Arts and direct, act, produce for Got Her Groove Back,” re-
Sciences said Monday. film, television and Broad- ceived her first Oscar nomi-
Michelle Satter, the found- way and write books, in- nation for her portrayal of
ing senior director of the cluding a recent memoir, Tina Turner in “What’s Love
Sundance Institute’s Artist is among the rare breed Got to Do With It” and her
Programs, will also be given of EGOT-winners. (Those second earlier this year for
the Jean Hersholt Humani- are entertainers who have playing the grieving queen
tarian Award at the untele- won Emmy, Grammy, Os- in “Black Panther: Wakan-
vised event. car and Tony Awards.) He da Forever.” The 64-year-
“The Academy’s Board also received two other Os- old told the AP earlier this
of Governors is thrilled to car nominations, for writing year that “this moment has
honor four trailblazers who Angela Bassett arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly the lyrics to John Morris’s been so special, it’s been a
have transformed the film Hills, Calif.,on March 12, 2023. “Blazing Saddles” song and highlight of my career.”q
Associated Press