Popular music group Boyce Avenue arrived in Sri Lanka last night (April 24)  to perform at an upcoming concert.

The band landed at Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport at 10:00 p.m. aboard AirAsia flight AK-047 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

They were warmly welcomed by members of the Sri Lankan concert organizing team upon arrival.

The much-anticipated concert will take place at Waters Edge in Colombo, featuring performances by three Sri Lankan Western music groups alongside Boyce Avenue.

Ryan Gosling is to star in a new Star Wars film, which is set to be released in two years’ time.

The new Disney project is titled Star Wars: Starfighter, and will be directed by Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy.

“The reality is that this script is just so good. It has such a great story with great and original characters,” said Barbie actor Gosling at a Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo.

“It’s filled with so much heart and adventure, and there just really is not a more perfect filmmaker for this particular story than Shawn.”

Gosling’s lifelong passion for the franchise was on display at the event, which showed his childhood Star Wars bedsheets on screen.

“You can see from the picture, I guess I was probably dreaming about Star Wars before I even saw the film,” he said.

“And it’s probably framed my idea of what a movie even was,” he said.

Set to be released on 7 May 2027, the film is a standalone story and won’t follow the main plotline of the Skywalker family and recent sequels starring Daisy Ridley.

Not many details about the storyline have been revealed yet.

According to the Star Wars website, it is “set approximately five years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker” with Gosling playing a new character.

The new space adventure is “not a prequel, not sequel, it’s a new adventure. It’s set in a period of time that we haven’t seen explored yet”, added Levy.

The next Star Wars film release is set to be The Mandalorian And Grogu, a sequel to The Mandalorian starring Pedro Pascal and directed by Jon Favreau.

Gosling was nominated at the Oscars for his portrayal of Ken in 2023’s Barbie blockbuster, which also starred Margot Robbie.

The Canadian actor, known for roles in La La Land and The Notebook, also starred as a stuntman in last year’s The Fall Guy.

(BBC News)

Nick Frost, Paapa Essiedu, Janet McTeer and Paul Whitehouse will appear in the forthcoming Harry Potter TV series, US network HBO has confirmed.
Frost has been cast as Hagrid, McTeer will play Minerva McGonagall, and Essiedu will portray Severus Snape. All three were reported to be in talks with the network in recent weeks.

HBO have now formally confirmed their casting, and announced that Whitehouse, well known for the Fast Show and Harry & Paul, will play Argus Filch.

The network also confirmed John Lithgow’s announcement in February that he will play Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

The show is due to begin filming this summer, with the first series airing potentially as early as next year.

The actors playing Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger have not yet been cast.

HBO launched an open casting call for the three lead roles, which reportedly attracted more than 30,000 submissions.

Who are the confirmed actors?

• John Lithgow, who will play Dumbledore, recently starred in the Oscar-winning Conclave, and has also appeared in 3rd Rock from the Sun, Footloose and The Crown. He won an Olivier Award last week for playing Roald Dahl in stage play Giant, which soon transfers to the West End
• Paapa Essiedu, who will portray Hogwarts teacher Severus Snape, shot to fame in the TV series I May Destroy You, and has also appeared in Gangs of London and The Lazarus Project. Last year, he starred in The Outrun with Saoirse Ronan, and will appear in a new stage production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons in the West End later this year
• Janet McTeer, who has been cast as Professor McGonagall, has appeared in films including Wuthering Heights, Albert Nobbs and The Menu, as well as the TV series Ozark and Jessica Jones. Later this year, she will be seen in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
• Nick Frost, who will play the friendly half-giant Hagrid, is best known for appearing in comedy films Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End and Paul. His TV credits include Spaced and Into the Badlands, and he voices SM-33 in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
• Paul Whitehouse, who will play Argus Filch, appeared in the BBC sketch comedy series The Fast Show and opposite Harry Enfield in Harry & Paul. He also appears in Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, with Bob Mortimer, while his stage credits include Only Fools and Horses The Musical
• Luke Thallon, who will play Quirinus Quirrell, has appeared in stage productions including Patriots, Albion and Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt. He was most recently seen in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet, playing the titular role

Showrunner Francesca Gardiner and executive producer Mark Mylod said they were “delighted to have such extraordinary talent onboard, and we can’t wait to see them bring these beloved characters to new life”.

JK Rowling’s phenomenally successful series of novels has previously been adapted into a film franchise starring Daniel Radcliffe as Potter.

The TV series, however, will have more breathing space to explore the plot lines from the books without the time constraints of the film.

Rowling will serve as an executive producer on the TV series, which HBO has said will be a “faithful adaptation” of her books.

Further casting announcements are expected to follow soon, with rumours swirling about other actors reportedly in discussions about joining, including Cillian Murphy as a possible Voldermort.

(BBC News)