Scarlett Johansson is getting ready for a glorious summer in Elstree, Hertfordshire, where she will be filming the latest instalment of the blockbuster Jurassic Park film franchise. Johansson, 39, is the (human) star of Jurassic World 4, which will have a completely different storyline to the trilogy featuring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and a host of velociraptors. She confirmed this week that the shoot is a go, and said: ‘I’ve been trying to get into this franchise, in any possible way, for over ten years. I’m like: “I’ll die in the first five minutes! I can get eaten by whatever!”‘ Her enthusiasm is a stark contrast to Jennifer Lawrence, who apparently was offered the part first but turned it down flat, perhaps because the idea of joining a franchise this late in the game did not appeal. Some filming has already taken place in Thailand and there will be further location work in Malta. But most of the filming will take place in studios in the UK from the start of next month. The movie is being directed by rising British filmmaker Gareth Edwards, whose previous jobs include Star Wars spin-off Rogue One and sci-fi thriller The Creator.
Rihanna’s beau A$AP Rocky made lots of statements at his first fashion show in Paris this week. In the foyer, there was a cake covered in fondant, fashioned into a brick of cocaine — and another, shaped like a revolver, with a tiny sign that read: ‘A gun is easier to buy than a cake.’ The clothes, apparently, were more forgettable.
Who wouldn’t want to know the inside story of the stranger-than-fiction romance between million-heiress Chloe Green and ‘hot felon’ Jeremy Meeks — who rose to fame thanks to a flattering police mugshot? Meeks, 40, has written a book titled Model Citizen which will cover his tough upbringing and later media success. It is due out in September. Raised in Stockton, California (his mother was a heroin addict, his father a convict), he became a member of the notorious Crips street gang — deadly enemies of the Bloods — and was arrested in a crackdown on gun crime and drug trafficking. But Meeks’s mugshot attracted global attention, and when he got out of jail, he started a new life as a male model. He met Chloe — daughter of former king of the High Street Sir Philip Green — in 2017, and baby Jayden Meeks-Green arrived in May 2018. The couple, pictured, were engaged and it was said that Chloe’s mum Lady Tina was very fond of her daughter’s partner. However the romance ran its course around the time of Jayden’s first birthday. I understand that there was a bit of alarm about the tome, which Ms Green and her family were blissfully unaware of until this week. A source close to the Green family says: ‘It all seems to be fine, and isn’t going to feature any photographs of Chloe or Jayden.’ Chloe now lives in Monaco. In September 2022 she married her yacht broker boyfriend Manuele Thiela in a low-key ceremony at the Mairie in Monte Carlo. Sir Philip’s retail group Arcadia collapsed in November 2020, owing creditors £750 million. The parent company of Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Miss Selfridge, it had suffered years of poor trading and high costs.
People are pointing the finger at former BBC anchor Huw Edwards as the inspiration for scandal-stricken newsman Douglas Bellowes, anti-hero of the ITV comedy Douglas Is Cancelled which started last night. However its star Hugh Bonneville says they are wrong. ‘Obviously, I am the devil’s lovechild of Piers Morgan, in some way,’ he says, adding of the character: ‘He has got a Filofax, and thinks he is in touch.’ Ouch.
Jamie Laing is a roving reporter for the BBC at Glastonbury this year. And he has a dream. To appear on TV quiz show The Chase. Laing, right, has already scooped top prizes on Celebrity Pointless, Celebrity Tipping Point and Celebrity Catchphrase. ‘I’m desperate to appear on the quiz show’s celebrity version and I don’t understand why it hasn’t happened,’ he said. ‘I love TV game shows and The Chase with Bradley Walsh is one of my absolute favourites. So it would be great to get a call to take part.’ Is it possible he’s too clever?
Dr Ranj Singh landed a job in a hospital after asking the interview panel: ‘Is the canteen any good?’ Singh, who alongside his media career remains a paediatrician, said: ‘I still remember the interview. You know at the end they always say: “Have you got any questions?” So I said: “Is the food any good in the canteen?”
