Expresso Hollywood News Update at 7:30 pm on 20 June 2023

Let's begin with our top story. Even after 27 years and six films, the Mission: Impossible series hasn’t lost its charm. The immense anticipation surrounding the franchise’s seventh instalment, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, is a clear testament to its enduring popularity. Following several delays due to the pandemic, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, helmed by Christopher McQuarrie, finally had its global premiere in Rome on Monday evening, June 19, setting the stage for its theatrical release on July 12. According to Variety, the extensive wait for the film has proven to be worthwhile, as it dazzled audiences and critics with its remarkable stunts and thrilling stakes.

Due to Tom Cruise’s meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the highly anticipated gala screening of MI experienced a delay of over 90 minutes, leading to frustration among the audience. However, as soon as the actor, accompanied by director Christopher McQuarrie and a large contingent of the film’s ensemble, finally arrived at the Auditorium della Conciliazione, the crowd erupted in joyful cheers, warmly welcoming the star. Dead Reckoning Part One follows the events of Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) and also stars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Czerny, Vanessa Kirby, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Cary Elwes, Rob Delaney, Indira Varma, Shea Whigham, Mark Gatiss, Esai Morales, and Charles Parnell alongside Cruise.

According to Simon Pegg, the film’s core is the collaborative energy between Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie, which began in 2011 with Ghost Protocol on which McQuarrie served as an uncredited writer. Pegg told Variety, “It’s become a kind of self-perpetuating evolving relationship where they’ve just egged each other on and challenged each other to move the story forward; to increase the scale; increase the ambition.” Mike Ryan of Uproxx pointed out that the film “works as Christopher McQuarrie’s ambitious examination of/meditation on AI and the dangerous path we might be on.” Calling Dead Reckoning Part One “phenomenal”, Screenrant’s Joe Deckelmeier said: “Hayley Atwell steals every scene she’s in.”

In other news, Netflix debuted the first trailer for Heart of Stone. Starring Gal Gadot as a lethal secret agent, alongside Jamie Dornan and Alia Bhatt, Heart of Stone has been designed as a potential franchise starter for Netflix. The movie will debut on August 11. Gadot’s character, Rachel Stone, is told in the opening moments of the trailer, “You know what you signed up for. “No friends, no relationships, what we do is important.” Stone, it is revealed, is a member of a secret agency called the Charter. They take over ‘when governments fail’, have ‘the most highly trained agents’, and ‘no political leanings’ or any ‘national allegiances’. They work together to maintain peace in a turbulent world.

Espionage action remains a very popular genre, both on streaming and theatrically. Earlier this year, another Indian star kicked off her own globe-trotting spy franchise. But Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden’s Prime Video series Citadel wasn’t quite as well-received as they’d have liked. Last year, the Russo brothers debuted their own big-budget spy franchise for Netflix, the Ryan Gosling-starrer The Gray Man. And in just under a month, fans across the globe will get to watch the seventh instalment in the Mission: Impossible series, Dead Reckoning Part One

Meanwhile, on the happy occasion of Father’s Day, Priyanka Chopra got all emotional as she wrote a heartfelt note for Nick, his father, and how she misses her late father. She shared a photo of her daughter Malti Marie spending some quality time with Nick and her grandfather and another photo of Priyanks’s parents. In her note, the global star penned, “He is your biggest champion. He’ll be the loudest in the room when you win. His wisdom will be the shoulders you stand on. Your tears will break his heart. He will never show you he’s hurting. His joy is your joy. He is dada or dad or papa or whatever you call them."

The animated movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will not be released in the United Arab Emirates after failing to meet the local censorship guidelines. The news comes after the UAE Media Council stated, “The Emirates Media Council monitors and evaluates the media content circulating locally, and the council confirms that it will not allow the circulation or publication of content contrary to the values and principles of the UAE and the standards of media content in force in the country.” According to Deadline, the point of contention was a scene featuring a transgender rights poster. Last year, Disney/Pixar’s animated movie Lightyear was banned in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, over LGBTQ content.

Lastly, Academy Award winner Al Pacino, 83, has welcomed his first baby with 29-year-old girlfriend Noor Alfallah, People reported. The couple has become parents to a baby boy named Roman Pacino. Pacino and Alfallah have been linked since April 2022. The pair first sparked romance rumours when they were pictured grabbing dinner together. Alfallah, who works as a producer, graduated from the University of Southern California’s Cinematic School of Arts before continuing her studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she obtained a master’s degree in film and TV producing, People reported citing Deadline. Alfallah made headlines in 2017 when she began dating Mick Jagger, who was 74 at the time and she was 22.

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