Nadia Khomami

London

Arts and culture correspondent at The Guardian

Arts and culture correspondent @Guardian. New politics, old literature, French detective dramas and the poetry of Frank O’Hara.

Articles

‘They first come for great acts of culture’: Cate Blanchett sets up grant for displaced film-makers

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Nadia Khomami

Authoritarian regimes “first come for great acts of culture” when they start to curtail civil liberties, Cate Blanchett warned as she launched a new grant for displaced film-makers. The two-time Oscar winner and goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), has teamed up with the international film festival Rotterdam’s (IFFR) Hubert Bals Fund to set up the Displacement Film Fund, which will support displaced film-makers or those with experience in refugee storytelling.
UK’s largest Lee Miller retrospective to be held at Tate Britain

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Nadia Khomami

The UK’s largest retrospective of the American photographer and photojournalist Lee Miller, who produced some of the most renowned images of the modern era, will take place at Tate Britain this autumn. The exhibition will showcase the entirety of Miller’s career, from her participation in French surrealism to her fashion and war photography. It will also explore her artistic collaborations and lesser-known sides of her practice, such as her images of the Egyptian landscape in the 1930s.
HBO reveals first part of Harry Potter TV cast, including Dumbledore and Hagrid

2 weeks ago | hccegalitarian.com | Nadia Khomami

Meanwhile Frost, best known for his roles in the comedy films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, will take over from Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid, the Hogwarts groundskeeper and half-giant who becomes a faithful friend and ally to Harry and his friends. The new casting announcement will undoubtedly draw much reaction from Potter fans.
Sam Mendes’ four Beatles films to be written by Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne

4 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Nadia Khomami

The award-winning British writers Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne will pen Sam Mendes’ four Beatles films, it has been reported. The four biopics, focusing on each member of the fab four, will be released in cinemas in April 2028 – with Paul Mescal playing Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson playing John Lennon, Barry Keoghan playing Ringo Star, and Joseph Quinn playing George Harrison.
‘An intuitive genius’: Gary Oldman steps back on to stage as a national treasure

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Nadia Khomami

It’s been 46 years since Gary Oldman made his professional stage debut at York’s Theatre Royal. Returning to the venue last week for Samuel Beckett’s one-man play Krapp’s Last Tape, the 67-year-old English actor is a world removed from the young upstart once advised by Rada to do something else for a living.
Author Barbara Pym may have worked for MI5, research suggests

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Nadia Khomami

It is an irony that she herself would have revelled in: Barbara Pym, the author who punctured the social strictures of 20th-century Britain, worked as a censor during the second world war. But research suggests that rather than just poring over the private letters that must have helped hone her talent, she may have also been working for MI5.
David Amess’s daughter wants Kneecap apology for alleged ‘kill your local MP’ call

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Nadia Khomami

The daughter of the Conservative MP who was stabbed to death has called on the Irish-language rap group Kneecap to apologise over comments in which they allegedly called for politicians to be killed. Counter-terrorism police are assessing a video that has emerged of the west Belfast trio at a November 2023 gig which appears to show one person from the band saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory.
Robbie Williams says he feels ‘panic’ when approached in public

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Nadia Khomami

Robbie Williams has spoken of the “discomfort” and “panic” he feels when he is approached for photos and autographs by fans. In a post on Instagram, the pop star said he was able to “mask” the reality that social interactions frighten him. He also detailed his experience on a recent flight, when he received multiple requests for photos.
Who are the brains behind Succession brought in for HBO’s Harry Potter?

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Nadia Khomami

Feuding children with more power than sense, an unpredictable old man who knows much more than he lets on, and an institution staffed by people with ulterior motives. Is it any surprise, then, that when it came to its highly anticipated TV adaptation of Harry Potter, HBO bosses opted for two of the brains behind Succession? The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
Pop goes the budget: Roy Lichtenstein works expected to raise £26m at auction

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Nadia Khomami

Forty works from the private collection of Roy Lichtenstein, one of the world’s best-known pop artists, will go on sale for the first time at auction next month. The works, comprising paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints, chart four decades of Lichtenstein’s career. They include his shift from abstract expressionism to pop art in the 1960s, his exploration of modern art in the 70s, his Reflections series of the 80s, and his interiors and nudes from the 90s.