Adam White | The Independent

<p>Eighties icons: Susanna Hoffs, Michael Steele, Debbi Peterson and Vicki Peterson of the seminal pop-rock band The Bangles</p>

Interview

The Bangles: ‘If we were a boyband, we’d have just punched each other out’

The women behind ‘Eternal Flame’ and ‘Manic Monday’ were among the most successful – and history-making – pop groups of the Eighties… until they were torn apart. As a new book dives into their decade of stardom, Susanna Hoffs and Vicki and Debbi Peterson speak to Adam White about their highs and lows

<p>‘It’s hard to be a child performer, to get out there and do the banana dance over and over and over again. It can be joyful while it can also be dehumanising’</p>

Interview

Keke Palmer: ‘I was a child actor making more money than my parents’

<p>‘Actors tend to get along. We’re like a tribe, a family. Every once in a while there’s somebody you’d like to push down the stairs’</p>

Interview

Christopher Walken: ‘I’m a very normal person’

Pop culture icons Pamela Anderson and Farrah Fawcett both transferred from pin-up fame into late-career dramatic work

Inside Film

Pamela Anderson deserves the dramatic career Farrah Fawcett wasn’t allowed to have

<p>‘The label went bust, but I had the independent spirit in me – I remember putting pictures of Rosie the Riveter all over my little recording studio, just telling me I could do it’</p>

Interview

Cyndi Lauper: ‘I didn’t think my lyrics were so nasty’

The rebellious, joyful sprite of ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ is about to embark on a farewell arena tour in the UK. She talks to Adam White about Trump, masturbation anthems, and burning her training bra in 1968

Interview

Cyndi Lauper: ‘I didn’t think my lyrics were so nasty’

The rebellious, joyful sprite of ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ is about to embark on a farewell arena tour in the UK. She talks to Adam White about Trump, masturbation anthems, and burning her training bra in 1968

<p>‘I always think I’m so chill, but my kids have told me that I’m laser-focused, too. So bloody hell, I must be then’ </p>

Interview

Marianne Jean-Baptiste: ‘People were following a narrative that had been created to explain me’

<p>‘Babygirl is very confronting. It’s a bit provocative. And if you’re uncomfortable with it, maybe it speaks to what you’re potentially going through in terms of repression’</p>

Interview

Harris Dickinson: ‘Being desired is not something I’ve been particularly used to’

<p>‘I know the show had quite an impact but I do forget about it – Xena doesn’t exactly follow me around’ </p>

Interview

Xena star Lucy Lawless: ‘I’m a cult person… I’m not a corporate girl’

<p>‘As an actor, I always want to emote and go big, and for this I had to restrain myself a lot’ </p>

Interview

Queer’s Drew Starkey on Daniel Craig: ‘We were so comfortable with our love scenes’

Interview

Queer’s Drew Starkey on Daniel Craig: ‘We were so comfortable with our love scenes’

Cate Blanchett: ‘I think my natural state is to dig a little hole underground and burrow in for the winter’

Interview

Cate Blanchett on her wild new film: ‘I can’t talk about the monkey brains – I signed an NDA’

<p>‘Now I do it all – I can play ambassadors and I can play shells’</p>

Interview

Isabella Rossellini: ‘I was afraid to be compared to my mother’

Reviews

Charli XCX brings her brazen, bass-heavy Brat Summer to Manchester

<p>‘For the longest time, I gave myself value as a human because of my work. So when I potentially saw it ending, I was like, who even am I?’ </p>

Interview

Scream’s Melissa Barrera on her year in Hollywood exile: ‘I felt like my life was over’

<p>‘I did quite a lot of weapons prep, but I didn’t delve into the dark web and try to find an expensive assassin’ </p>

Interview

Eddie Redmayne: ‘It’s rare for me to read a bad review of my work and think they got it wrong’

<p>‘If you’re not making someone money, they sure as f*** don’t look after you’</p>

Interview

Vanessa Feltz: ‘My ex of 16 years was an utter publicity fiend’

<p>Big eyes: An untitled sketch from Tim Burton’s ‘Boy Series’, on display at ‘The World of Tim Burton’</p>

Features

Tim Burton’s new exhibition and the making of a haven for weirdos

<p>‘We’re making intellectual and factual improvements, but when the old basic instinct kicks in? We get pulled back into the cave’ </p>

Interview

Transvision Vamp’s Wendy James: ‘I was the leader. I was the engine. I was never a victim’

<p>‘Sometimes the most torturous thing isn’t just the disrespect or mistreatment, but the fact that everyone’s acting like it’s not happening’ </p>

Interview

Anna Kendrick: ‘I was being forced into a place of dishonesty in my private life’

<p>‘Comedy is their love language’: Harper Steele and Will Ferrell, the stars of the new Netflix documentary ‘Will & Harper’ </p>

Interview

Will Ferrell: ‘I don’t know why trans people are meant to be threatening to me’

<p>‘“The Substance” is not a glamour role. I knew going in that I had to be vulnerable and raw’ </p>

Interview

Demi Moore: ‘I had to let go of any parts of me that value perfection’

<p>‘I’m in my fifties, I have more grit and more lines on my face, and now I get to play character roles!’</p>

Interview

Joey Lauren Adams: ‘They want you in a padded bra, they want more skin – it was just on and on’

<p>‘For me, when the noise gets really loud, I like to centre in on this feeling of, like, “You’re not gonna take away my joy”’ </p>

Interview

Elliot Page: ‘My queerness is what made Juno extra special’

<p>‘I haven’t played the quote-unquote ‘leading lady’ in a very long time. And I appreciate it more the second time around'</p>

Interview

Carol Kane: ‘In comedy, you have a little more leeway with your looks’

<p>‘She was able to get dirty. She and John understood that sometimes there has to be a little grime to have a good time’: Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in 1999</p>

Features

The tragic death of the enigmatic Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy 25 years on

<p>Comic genius: Lisa Kudrow in ‘Time Bandits’, ‘The Comeback’, ‘Friends’, ‘Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion’ and ‘The Opposite of Sex’ </p>

Features

How did we miss Lisa Kudrow’s comic genius all this time?

<p>‘No matter your age, there is still life to live’ </p>

Interview

June Squibb, movie star at 94: ‘I’ve fought convention tooth and nail’

<p>Shannen Doherty was sharp, icy, and a tiny bit dangerous</p>

Tribute

Shannen Doherty was honest, irresistible – and often underrated

<p>‘I’ve never had a good sense of picking projects that make money. That’s just never been how my brain works’ </p>

Interview

Mary Elizabeth Winstead on fame, Tarantino and working with husband Ewan McGregor

The star of ‘Scott Pilgrim vs the World’ speaks to Adam White about getting a pedicure before auditioning for Quentin Tarantino, the likelihood of a ‘Birds of Prey’ sequel, and why working with her famous husband on the drama series ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ was a ‘no-brainer’

Interview

Mary Elizabeth Winstead on fame, Tarantino and working with husband Ewan McGregor

The star of ‘Scott Pilgrim vs the World’ speaks to Adam White about getting a pedicure before auditioning for Quentin Tarantino, the likelihood of a ‘Birds of Prey’ sequel, and why working with her famous husband on the drama series ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ was a ‘no-brainer’

<p>‘I have a soapbox to stand on and something worth saying’ </p>

Interview

Olivia Williams on her ‘harrowing’ time on Friends and playing Queen Camilla: ‘I had queasy moments’

<p>‘When I heard that it was Adam Sandler on a spaceship talking to a giant spider, I was like… OK’ </p>

Interview

Paul Dano on Spaceman, superhero fatigue and Daniel Day-Lewis

'I didn’t have to emote. I didn’t have to be sad. I didn’t have to despair!’

Interview

Maura Tierney on The Iron Claw, Joe Rogan and the aftermath of ER: ‘I need to stop playing women in despair’

<p>‘I think a lot of his stuff can be quite shocking for people’: Jonathan Glazer’s ‘Birth’, ‘The Zone of Interest’, ‘Sexy Beast’ and ‘Under the Skin’ (clockwise from top right)</p>

Features

How Jonathan Glazer became our greatest and most mysterious filmmaker

Features

How Jonathan Glazer became our greatest and most mysterious filmmaker

<p>‘I was young and foolish. I suppose I had a certain amount of arrogance’ </p>

Interview

Jonny Lee Miller on fame, heroin and Harvey Weinstein: ‘I felt fury’

<p>Fond of your face: Bridget Fonda at a premiere in 1999, and in films ‘Single White Female’, ‘Scandal’ and ‘Jackie Brown’</p>

Features

Bridget Fonda: the Nineties great who vanished without a trace

<p>‘I’m pretty good at just blocking any of the noise associated with whatever fandom is – not letting it affect me, or more importantly my family’ </p>

Interview

Jamie Dornan on The Tourist, Marvel rumours and his Fifty Shades stalker

<p>‘I’d watch Sofia Coppola’s movies and I’d just think: oh my god, this is so punk!’</p>

Interview

Cailee Spaeny on playing Priscilla Presley: ‘Their marriage was strange and shocking’

Interview

Patricia Clarkson on standing up to Weinstein and fighting for trans rights

<p>‘The best movies always make you uncertain about things’: Filmmaker Todd Haynes (centre), alongside (left to right) Cate Blanchett in ‘I’m Not There’, Julianne Moore in ‘Far from Heaven’ and Blanchett in ‘Carol’ </p>

Interview

Todd Haynes on May December: ‘All my movies feel headed for disaster’

<p>‘How would I like to be remembered? As a feminist icon’</p>

Interview

Julia Fox on fame, addiction and dating Kanye: ‘Men feel entitled to consume your beauty’

<p>Britney Spears, photographed performing in 1999, has written a memoir so breathtaking in its rage that you can practically see the spittle on its pages</p>

Reviews

The Britney memoir is raw, unfiltered and breathtaking in its rage

<p>‘My whole career has been this ridiculous series of “Sliding Doors” moments’</p>

Interview

Boy Parts author Eliza Clark: ‘Everything’s become bland – people don’t want the slop anymore’

<p>‘We were talking about desire, about carnal knowledge. Sex scenes were necessary’ </p>

Interview

Pedro Almodóvar on love, Bowie and gay cowboys: ‘I wanted to see if I could do a different kind of sexy’

<p>‘My high school teacher always said, “Jordan, use your powers for good and not evil”. Because he saw that I was capable of using them for evil’ </p>

Interview

How comedian Jordan Firstman went from Marvel to having real sex on film

The actor, writer and comedian who became a star in the pandemic for playing ‘banana bread’s publicist’ speaks to Adam White about body image, graphic nudity and why influencers have to transition from the internet or be forgotten

Interview

How comedian Jordan Firstman went from Marvel to having real sex on film

The actor, writer and comedian who became a star in the pandemic for playing ‘banana bread’s publicist’ speaks to Adam White about body image, graphic nudity and why influencers have to transition from the internet or be forgotten

<p>The cast that deserved better: the stars of ‘And Just Like That...’ </p>

Features

And Just Like That... is the worst show on television

<p>‘I knew I had to work hard to be better, to always take chances and always dare to suck and take big swings. I’ve tried never to play it safe’ </p>

Interview

Rebecca Romijn: ‘I wanted to do my trans character justice – and make her as hot as possible’

<p>‘Me and Clea DuVall were, I guess, famous teen actors, but we were never allowed to feel ‘normal’. It was made clear to us that we were broken in some way’ </p>

Interview

Natasha Lyonne: ‘I’m a broad – but that’s been a gift and a curse’

<p>‘If the whole world had to swoon over me, I’d be like, you definitely should have found somebody else’ </p>

Interview

Meet Jennifer Lawrence’s new leading man: a 21-year-old comedy prodigy

Interview

Meet Jennifer Lawrence’s new leading man: a 21-year-old comedy prodigy

<p>‘I think when you’re young, some people have that chill already – I just had pretty intense angst'</p>

Interview

Into the Wild’s Emile Hirsch on remorse, wanderlust and child stardom

<p>‘I had paparazzi chasing me, people approaching me. You weren’t allowed to really be yourself’</p>

Interview

Josh Hartnett on Black Mirror, Oppenheimer and saying no to celebrity

<p>‘Simon Cowell said, “This is gonna be really big.” And I just wanted to cry’ </p>

Interview

Alison Goldfrapp: ‘I got letters from Americans saying that I was inciting bestiality’

<p>‘If you’re a queer person of a certain generation, you think about death daily’ </p>

Interview

‘I had shame that stayed with me’: Russell Tovey on sex, death and Derek Jarman

<p>‘Years ago there wasn’t any kind of HR department on a film. Everybody’s job was just to get the movie made, and you didn’t want to rock that boat’ </p>

Interview

‘Somehow assault doesn’t matter’: Emily Watson on God’s Creatures and sex on screen

<p>‘My family always wanted me to be very proper and conventional. But I didn’t want to be known as the Hilton Hotel granddaughter’</p>

Interview

‘I’ve been violated my whole life’: Paris Hilton on sexism, #MeToo and surviving fame

<p>‘A lot of times when grief happens, tragedy happens. Human beings reach for anything to numb the pain’ </p>

Interview

Zach Braff on depression, Manic Pixie Dream Girls and Florence Pugh

<p>‘When people ask how it feels to be nominated, it’s strange. I really feel nothing. If I can be completely honest, it’s more like, oh dear,’ says Chau </p>

Interview

The Whale’s Hong Chau on backlash, awards and hitting Brendan Fraser

<p>‘The very thing that makes you able to achieve something difficult – that’ll be the same thing that’ll kill you’ </p>

Interview

Jason Segel on Shrinking, puppets, and tiring of How I Met Your Mother

<p>‘I’ve always had a very specific sense of right and wrong, and it was hard to have that in this business... because there were a lot of wrongs’ </p>

Interview

Sarah Michelle Gellar on slaying, sexism and surviving Hollywood

<p>‘I feel more confident, I don’t feel as raw. If [my work] is rejected, I’m not gonna die’</p>

Interview

‘I’ve not led a traditional life’: Kate Hudson on nepo babies, cancel culture and Glass Onion

The ‘Almost Famous’ star talks to Adam White about her return to movies in the ‘Knives Out’ sequel

Interview

‘I’ve not led a traditional life’: Kate Hudson on nepo babies, cancel culture and Glass Onion

The ‘Almost Famous’ star talks to Adam White about her return to movies in the ‘Knives Out’ sequel

<p>‘I love being in front of the camera and telling stories, but [fame] feels alien to me. I can already see my life changing’ </p>

Interview

Naomi Ackie on playing Whitney Houston: ‘I know I’m putting myself in the firing line’

<p>‘She’s the people’s pop star. She doesn’t seem to have that bravado’: Filmmaker Alek Keshishian with Madonna in 1991 and Selena Gomez in 2022</p>

Interview

Alek Keshishian on Madonna, Selena Gomez and the art of documenting pop stardom

<p>‘It felt like people always wanted me to be on the side. To play the sidekick. But I knew I had more to say’ </p>

Interview

‘I needed therapy’: Brian Tyree Henry on grief, loneliness and Causeway

<p>‘Kicking around, taking the subway into the city from deep Brooklyn, trying to figure out how to live on five bucks a day… all that stuff sounds clichéd now, but that was really how it went down’ </p>

Interview

John Slattery: ‘When Jon Hamm walked into a room, people would go catatonic’

Interview

John Slattery: ‘When Jon Hamm walked into a room, people would go catatonic’

<p>‘The Crown humanises the royal family, and it shows that if you prick them they bleed like anybody else’ </p>

Interview

Lesley Manville: ‘Is there anybody left that thinks The Crown is a documentary?’

<p>‘When I first came to Hollywood, I would wear sexy outfits and be this other person, but it wasn’t who I was in real life’ </p>

Interview

Jennifer Tilly: ‘I love sex scenes! Who wouldn’t love sex scenes?’

<p>‘I’ve had friends die because they were trying so hard to be something that they weren’t. Eventually you buckle under the weight of that’ </p>

Interview

Clea DuVall: ‘It was the 1990s – I was very closeted and very afraid’

<p>‘I am not f***ing background music – I want you to blast it’</p>

Interview

Tove Lo: ‘If I’d have been successful at 17, I’d be sick to this day’

<p>‘I feel like my name isn’t mentioned without “underrated” going before it’ </p>

Interview

Julianne Nicholson: ‘Blonde has been revered and brutalised and I get both sides’

<p>‘I don’t make as much money as other people do. I don’t date famous people. I’m not on social media… But fame comes at a price, and it wasn’t one that I was willing to pay’ </p>

Interview

Famke Janssen: ‘After GoldenEye, I felt thrown to the wolves’

<p>There were no secrets with Anne Heche, no denial of her demons</p>

Features

Anne Heche was my favourite actor – she should have been yours, too

<p>Daisy Edgar-Jones and Taylor John Smith star in ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ </p>

Interview

Daisy Edgar-Jones: ‘I only work with future internet boyfriends’

<p>‘I thought... I need to get out of this film, because I think this guy’s a bit of a lunatic’ </p>

Interview

Judy Davis: ‘My honesty has definitely got me in trouble’

<p>‘Growing up, everyone around me had such huge opinions about everything. I found that I didn’t, and that was a bit scary,’ says Richardson </p>

Interview

Joely Richardson: ‘You’re always a work in progress’

<p>‘They meant well, they wanted to save me. But they said, “Vicky, you have to change your approach.”’ </p>

Interview

Vicky Krieps: ‘I’m not a punk any more, but rebellion is just in me’

<p>Busy Philipps: ‘This person was like, “She just annoys me – she’s too much.” And I’m like, I get it! I wish I could unfollow myself sometimes, too’ </p>

Interview

Busy Philipps: ‘I was just grossed out by Hollywood’

<p>‘We had no illusions that we were making the next Billy Elliot’: ‘Men’ stars Rory Kinnear and Jessie Buckley</p>

Interview

Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear on the provocative and perplexing Men

<p>Sissy Spacek: ‘I represented the young everywoman of the Seventies, and then one thing led to another...’ </p>

Interview

Sissy Spacek: ‘I represented the young everywoman, then one thing led to another…’

<p>Raven Smith: ‘The thing I’m most proud of is not quite fitting into a box’ </p>

Interview

Raven Smith: ‘Men are a club I was born into that I still don’t get’

<p>Helen Baxendale: ‘I saw those people in Friends and thought: I don’t think that life is really what I want’ </p>

Interview

Helen Baxendale: ‘Nobody asks me to do sex scenes now – what a relief’

Interview

Sissy Spacek: ‘I represented the young everywoman, then one thing led to another…’

Interview

Raven Smith: ‘Men are a club I was born into that I still don’t get’

Interview

Helen Baxendale: ‘Nobody asks me to do sex scenes now – what a relief’

<p>Connoisseurs of roads: Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix of ‘My Own Private Idaho’</p>

Interview

Gus Van Sant on 30 years of My Own Private Idaho

<p>Role call: Lindsay Lohan in ‘I Know Who Killed Me’, ‘Falling for Christmas’, ‘Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen’, ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘Freaky Friday’ </p>

Features

Lindsay Lohan is back – here’s how Netflix can make her great again

<p>The ‘Friends’ after ‘Friends’: Jennifer Aniston in ‘Cake’, Courteney Cox in ‘Scream’, Lisa Kudrow in ‘The Comeback’, David Schwimmer in ‘Intelligence’, Matthew Perry in ‘Go On’ and Matt LeBlanc in ‘Top Gear’</p>

Features

Which of the Friends has had the best post-Friends career?

<p>Alana Haim: ‘My sisters both had jobs – they were learning, doing their thing. And then there was just me. I had nothing’</p>

Interview

Alana Haim: ‘Loves that feel like cinema are the ones that stick’

<p>The could-have-beens and the actual Catwomen: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicole Kidman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zoë Kravitz, Anne Hathaway and Halle Berry</p>

Features

Unearthing the gonzo Catwoman movies that never were

<p>Isla Fisher: ‘Comedy is the most vulnerable sort of performance. If you miss the mark, there’s nothing to catch you’</p>

Interview

Isla Fisher: ‘Instagram is toxic for kids and filled with fake news’

<p>Patricia Arquette: ‘As an actor, I need my whole life of experience and the things that I feel: my life and my losses’</p>

Interview

Patricia Arquette: ‘I’ve always been a little anti-establishment’

<p>Gwen Stefani in the video for No Doubt’s instant classic ‘Don’t Speak’ </p>

Features

No Doubt’s ‘Don’t Speak’ made Gwen Stefani the queen of messy emotions

<p>‘It’s about the emptiness of the American Dream’: Steve Schirripa, Michael Imperioli and James Gandolfini in ‘The Sopranos'</p>

Interview

Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa: ‘James Gandolfini never felt comfortable with attention’

<p>‘She threw herself into things, she was a free spirit, and she took no s*** from anybody’: Katrin Cartlidge in 1994’s ‘Before the Rain’</p>

Features

Katrin Cartlidge was the greatest actor you’ve never heard of

<p>Peter Stormare: ‘When I see myself on film, I only see a giant beak and jaw – I just see the ugly things’</p>

Interview

Peter Stormare: ‘I believe in aliens, UFOs – I pity people who don’t’

<p>Saxophone scores and phallic murder weapons: William Baldwin and Sharon Stone in ‘Sliver’</p>

Features

Ice picks, full frontals and the grand return of the erotic thriller

<p>Joshua Jackson: ‘Fame is notoriety, but it’s also access, and that can lead to some pretty dark places’ </p>

Interview

Joshua Jackson: ‘The process of not being a d*** is a lifelong one’

<p>Anthony Michael Hall: ‘If people don’t remember you, that’s when you should be worried'</p>

Interview

Anthony Michael Hall: ‘Fame was off-putting and kind of scary’

<p>Rachael Leigh Cook: ‘Weird was my happy place. If it was something strange, I wanted in on it’</p>

Interview

Rachael Leigh Cook: ‘I was never at the top of the pretty-girl list’

<p>‘It’s really a snapshot in time of what I was feeling’: Michelle Branch performs tracks from ‘The Spirit Room' in Taipei in 2002</p>

Interview

Michelle Branch helped raise a generation of angsty romantics

<p>Ramy Youssef: ‘The representation that I care about is emotional representation’</p>

Interview

Ramy Youssef: ‘There’s no, “Yo, Muslims, here’s your show”’

The co-creator and star of ‘Ramy’ talks to Adam White about his semi-autobiographical comedy, why it’s not intended to cater to one ‘collective Muslim community’, getting stuck in acting purgatory, and why so many talented people of colour have to write vehicles for themselves to make it

Interview

Ramy Youssef: ‘There’s no, “Yo, Muslims, here’s your show”’

The co-creator and star of ‘Ramy’ talks to Adam White about his semi-autobiographical comedy, why it’s not intended to cater to one ‘collective Muslim community’, getting stuck in acting purgatory, and why so many talented people of colour have to write vehicles for themselves to make it

<p>‘Nobody' star Connie Nielsen: ‘America is terrifying – I insisted that my kids practise self-defence and karate’</p>

Interview