Simon Baker cuts a casual figure in Birkenstock slides at Italian festival
Simon Baker has stepped out on the world stage in true Australian fashion - in open toed footwear.
The acclaimed TV actor, 55, attended the opening night of the Filming Italy Sardegna Festival in a crisp shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of Birkenstock slides.
He is among the Hollywood talent attending the 8th edition of the unique festival designed to promote Italian and international cinema and support young talent.
Simon looked every inch the laidback A-lister as he posed with Twilight star Ashley Greene and General Director of the festival Tiziana Rocca at a press conference on Thursday.
Simon, who returned to Australia last year to star as Gus and Eli's alcoholic father in the acclaimed Netflix hit Boys Swallows Universe, will receive the Filming Italy Excellence Award.
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Simon will engage in masterclasses with young students from schools and universities of the Academy Cinema, alongside actors Alec Baldwin, Heather Graham, Jane Seymour, and Fran Drescher.
In 2016, the Emmy-winning star traded the Hollywood studios of Los Angeles for his childhood home in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, and 'indie' projects far from the world of The Mentalist.
'Once you start to assimilate back into our culture, you also realise there's a beautiful frankness to Australians that is priceless,' he told Esquire Australia in April.
'There's no flowery way of putting things, it's just direct. And that level of authenticity is grounding. It's like a cosy blanket. It's very comfortable and familiar for me.'
Simon, who played the elusive Christian Thompson in The Devil Wears Prada, recently broke his silence on whether he will appear in the long-awaited sequel alongside his old co-stars Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep.
'I haven't got the call up yet,' he told SkyNews. 'So I don't know- probably not, no.'
The actor, who landed the career-changing role in 2006, went on to reveal that his very blonde eyebrows have put him off ever watching the movie.
His friend's wife had pointed out his bizarre look in the popular film.
'What the f*** is going on with your eyebrows in that movie?' she asked him.
When he probed her for more details about his appearance in the movie, she told him: 'They just had like their own f***ing thing going on.
When asking another friend about his eyebrows in the flick, they told him they were just 'surfy', sun-bleached and needed a bit of a 'trim'.
The comments have left a lasting impression on actor, who decided to never watch the film as a result.
'It's gotten to the point now where The Devil Wears Prada is such a beloved movie that it's literally like baiting the hook and throwing it overboard and getting a bite straight away, whenever I say that I've never seen it,' he said.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Nick Kyrgios: ‘If I'd acted a bit differently, I would have had a Wimbledon title'
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Every time you step into the grounds you feel the energy and the aura. But I don't always feel so comfortable there either because I don't act like the normal tennis player. Wimbledon takes note of that a lot. I definitely feel like a snowman in the desert there but I enjoy it.' Kyrgios cackles when I ask if he expects a few hecklers to join his secret guests at his Wimbledon show. 'I hope so. I really enjoy people that don't necessarily like how I go about things. If they want to come and heckle, I'm all for it. Open invitation, please.' Past guests on his podcast range from Mike Tyson and Naomi Osaka to Matthew McConaughey and Djokovic. Kyrgios starts each episode by asking his guests what 'good trouble' means to them. For Kyrgios, 'good trouble' means 'shaking things up, not always doing things the way we're taught. The one thing that stands out for me, being a tennis player in a Roger Federer-esque sport where you fit into a mould, is that I've gone against the grain my whole career. I've definitely shaken things up and done it my way'. We revisit his tournament debut in 2014 and I ask Kyrgios to describe his initial impressions of Wimbledon. 'That I was at the top of the tennis world. If you play Wimbledon multiple times you're playing in front of the Royal Box on a court where every blade of grass is the same length. If you make it on to that stage the journey has been worth it.' Kyrgios was given a wildcard that year and he played sublime tennis to beat Rafael Nadal in the fourth round. Nadal made only 18 unforced errors over four sets, but he couldn't contain the fire and brilliance of the Canberra teenager. Kyrgios hit 37 aces and 70 winners, including a between-the-legs flick that almost brought Centre Court down with delirium. John McEnroe said: 'We have a new star on our hands.' 'It was life-changing,' Kyrgios says, 'but I wasn't ready at that age [19] to take on the responsibility.' Five years later he played Nadal in the second round. It was another engrossing match studded with acrimony. He lost in four sets but attention focused afterwards on the fact he had tried to hit Nadal with a ball. 'The dude has got how many slams, how much money in the bank?' Kyrgios said afterwards. 'I think he can take a ball to the chest, bro. I'm not going to apologise to him.' Yet, as Kyrgios revealed years later in the Netflix documentary Break Point, he was in turmoil. He was drinking and self-harming to the point where he had to wear a compression sleeve on his arm to hide the scars. He spoke of how, in the aftermath of losing to Nadal, he was admitted to a psychiatric ward in London. But Kyrgios says something subtly different now when I ask if he can take us back to his time under psychiatric care: 'I had to go and play Nadal the next day. I didn't really have a choice.' I am so surprised that I ask Kyrgios if he really had been on the psychiatric ward the night before he faced Nadal? 'Yes, yes. In 2019 people assumed that I had an incredible year. I was top 20 in the world, but I was at my lowest. When I finally opened up that's when people started realising that, yes, I haven't always been perfect or always done things right, but I'm willing to speak about it. I've had hundreds of thousands of kids messaging me on Instagram and I try and go through all of them and help as much as I can.' How did he play against Nadal in such a fragile state? 'We have to sometimes block out what we're going through and go to work. I can't just run away.' Kyrgios adds: 'Playing Nadal at Wimbledon and losing in a tight four-set battle? I was extremely proud. I'm just proud I made it through [his depression].' He was so low that, 'all through that year', Kyrgios contemplated taking his life. 'I was in a dark place and it didn't get better after that moment. I was definitely struggling throughout the year with those thoughts and the self-harm. But I've been able to navigate that and help others.' For Kyrgios, 'anyone who doesn't say I'm a role model doesn't know what I go through on a day-to-day basis. They don't have kids messaging them for advice and saying: 'I've had suicidal thoughts and you're the only reason why I'm trying to find my way.' I do everything I can for the youth so I think [his critics] are straight-up haters. 'But I take pride in giving back and when I see kids that aren't super-high on confidence and are afraid of people speaking negative words at them, that's when I can help the most, because I've gone through it.' Andy Murray saw the signs of self-harm and, as Kyrgios confirms appreciatively, 'he was one of the first to notice and tell me, if I needed any help, I could always talk to him.' Three years on, in 2022, Kyrgios lost that bruising four-setter to Djokovic in the final. 'The fact I've made the final of a grand slam is pretty damn cool,' he says. 'It's something I'll be able to share with my kids and grandkids and show them that anything is possible. The courts around my house [in Canberra] are generally concrete with cracks in them so the fact I made a grand slam final is pretty crazy.' Earlier in that tournament Kyrgios received a summons to appear in a Canberra court on a charge of common assault after he had allegedly pushed his former girlfriend Chiara Passari during an argument in January 2021. 'All the charges got dropped,' Kyrgios says. 'I knew exactly what was happening, so I just had to continue playing tennis.' In 2023 Kyrgios pleaded guilty but he was not convicted as the magistrate decided he had 'acted poorly in the heat of the moment' and that the case was at the lower end of the scale of common assault. In a written statement Kyrgios expressed his contrition. 'I was not in a good place and I reacted to a difficult situation in a way I deeply regret. I know it wasn't OK and I'm sincerely sorry for the hurt I caused.' Kyrgios was also sued after the 2022 final because he had asked the umpire to eject a spectator, Anna Palus, who shouted just before he served. He said that Palus 'looks like she's had about 700 drinks, bro' but, after legal action was instigated against him, Kyrgios accepted she had not been drinking excessively: 'I was mistaken, and I apologise. To make amends, I have donated £20,000 to Great Ormond Street Hospital.' Despite all the controversy he still believes he came close to beating Djokovic. 'Definitely. It was only a couple of points here and there where, if I'd acted a bit differently, I would have had a Wimbledon title. But there's no shame in losing to the greatest of all time. Do I think about it often? Yes. Do I think about what I could have changed? Yes. Could I have prepared better? No. I prepared amazingly.' Two months later Kyrgios should have played Casper Ruud in the US Open semi-final but he lost a five-set match in the quarters to Karen Khachanov. 'I should have won and I genuinely thought that was one of my biggest chances to win a slam. But it's not life or death. I can't say that losing a tennis match is catastrophic.' Kyrgios has suffered numerous wrist, knee and foot injuries and, after struggling at the Australian Open and Indian Wells this year, he was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon. Can he come back and play in more grand slams? 'Yes, I think I'll definitely play them one or two more times. But there's a lot of wear on these tyres. It's a tough sport.' Rehab and training are a 'constant grind' for the 30-year-old but he expects to play in the US Open. 'Yes, for sure. I'm definitely playing the US swing and I'll take it one day at a time.' 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We have respect for each other and we are proof that different personalities can make it to the top and you don't have to have everyone liking you.' Kyrgios has been a revelation in the commentary box. 'I know I'm a great commentator,' he says. 'All I've done for 20 years is play, study and breathe this sport. I also think tennis needs commentators who say things that not everyone says.' Yet the BBC has not signed him up for this year's Wimbledon. 'It's unfortunate but it's probably their loss more than mine,' he says. 'I understand they've got Chris Eubanks [the American currently ranked world No 108] but he hasn't beaten the greatest of all time multiple times. When someone's beaten Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic and has incredible insights, it's very strange you wouldn't want that person adding knowledge to tennis fans.' Kyrgios sounds more conciliatory towards the BBC when he says: 'I'm sure our paths will cross again. I only ever want to add humour, some knowledge and some great atmosphere.' As he prepares to return to Wimbledon, and the scene of so many tangled memories, Kyrgios says: 'Life's too short for regrets. I think if you take one little block out, it all falls down. Every mistake I've made has given me the chance to learn and be the person I am today.' Nick Kyrgios will be at the New Wimbledon Theatre on 24 June as part of his Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios global tour. Info at In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
Daily Mail
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EXCLUSIVE New SAS series cast leaked as stars jet out to Morocco to film remake - but will Ant Middleton make a return to the reality show after he was cut from The Amazing Race?
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The Guardian
4 hours ago
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Cats review – Andrew Lloyd Webber's tired show has run out of lives
There are musicals, and then there's Cats. Andew Lloyd Webber's show is often the one held up as a bewildering example by non-believers. People dress as cats in leg-warmers and sing children's poems, and it's a hit? The baffling body horror of the 2019 film didn't do much for the show's image, either. It was the 80s, loyalists say, it was a different time! But Cats is back, and theatre producers would prefer we just buy a ticket and live in the past. Cats is perhaps best now as a fond memory, where you can forgive its wilted structure, stop-start pacing and tired stereotyping (don't even try to count how often a female cat is there to sigh and swoon over a male one). There, you can enjoy how the score is drenched in 80s synth and peppered with pastiche, with hints of jazz, music hall, rock and a little opera (one of Lloyd Webber's great loves); it is catchy as all get-out. Memory, the plaintive cri de coeur by fading glamour cat Grizabella, was a genuine chart hit, lingering in jewellery boxes and hold music. And Gillian Lynne's original choreography, oddly sexy and determinedly feline, lives on in plenty of giggly shared stories between friends of sexual awakenings and Rum Tum Tugger. To bring it back, unchanged – as is happening now in Sydney – feels like a return to the worst of the megamusicals craze: cashing in on a known quantity even after its cultural cachet has faded. The production now playing at Sydney's Theatre Royal is a 40th anniversary celebration of the first time the musical made it to Australia (featuring Debra Byrne, Marina Prior, and John Wood) and it's like time has stopped. There are no surprises. It's even back in the same theatre. There are a few joyful moments – the best of them featuring Axel Alvarez, who plays 'the magical' Mr Mistoffelees, the cat with a light-up coat who delivers his magic through ballet, including a dazzling number of fouettés. His astonishing ease and classical technique is the very best of what Cats can be. Mark Vincent is perhaps at his stage best as the beloved Jellicle leader Old Deuteronomy, Tom Davis is a joyful, all-in Skimbleshanks (that's the railway cat), Todd McKenney pleasingly hams it up Gus the Theatre Cat, and Gabriyel Thomas, tears in her eyes as she sang Memory, earned ringing cheers as Grizabella. The cast and creative team are producing beautiful work – those full-ensemble dance formations brought forth applause every time the cast found themselves moving together as one – but what a shame it's all in service to the same old Cats, which can't hide its flaws with novelty any more. Even worse is that you'd never know it in Australia, but internationally, Lloyd Webber – who the Pulitzer-winning critic Andrea Long Chu described as the force that 'set Broadway on its current path of chintzy commercial nihilism' – is facing a generational shift. Cats lasted in the West End for 21 years and Phantom on Broadway for 35 – and the artists who grew up with these silly, thrilling works are mining them for new meaning and contemporary beats, testing how much they can speak to this moment. In the UK, Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express (about trains – it is Cats on roller-skates) has returned in a completely new production – with the train Greaseball now played by a woman with queer undertones. An upcoming production of Phantom of the Opera is running a guerrilla marketing campaign that has theatre influencers breathlessly reporting on every incident. Jamie Lloyd brought a blood-soaked Nicole Scherzinger to a cool Sunset Boulevard, netting three Tonys in the process; he's now reimagining Evita with Rachel Zegler, who sings Don't Cry for Me Argentina on a balcony to crowds outside the theatre. And, heartbreakingly for those of us a world away, Cats has been revolutionised in New York, refashioned in the underground ballroom scene built by queer and trans people, where speaking those secret Jellicle names and claiming identities has a new, deeper resonance. It's hard not to feel left out. In Australia, nostalgia rules, and we've had a parade of paint-by-number Lloyd Webbers keeping our best employed but our creative cups empty. In the past year or two, we've had a faithful but tough-to-watch Sunset Boulevard starring a miscast Sarah Brightman; a straightforward Jesus Christ Superstar, and an outright offensive Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. When it comes to plays, Australia is leagues ahead with new productions that interrogate, elevate, and subvert old works; with musicals, especially on main stages, we tend to defer to the tried-and-true. There are pockets brimming with ideas – the Hayes Theatre in Sydney has been home to some of the best – but we have to let old shows run their course if we want to give space to new artists and new perspectives – and bring in new audiences. Can't we give Cats a new life too? Cats is on at Theatre Royal, Sydney until 6 September; then touring to Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane
