Hollywood
‘The Giver’ to release on 15 August
NEW DELHI: The Giver –a sci-fi epic, based on the dystopian Y A novel by Lois Lowry, the winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal that sold over 10 million copies worldwide – will release on 15 August.
Produced by the Weinstein Co. and Walden Media, The Giver stars Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges and Brenton Thwaites as members of a society in which there is no conflict, racism or sickness.
The heart-wrenching story of The Giver centres around Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), a young man who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colourless world of conformity and contentment. Yet as he begins to spend time with the Giver (Jeff Bridges), who is the sole keeper of all the community’s memories, Jonas quickly begins to discover the dark and deadly truths of his community’s secret past. With this newfound power of knowledge, he realises that the stakes are higher than imagined – a matter of life and death for him and those he loves most. At extreme odds, Jonas knows that he must escape their world to protect them all – a challenge that no one has ever succeeded at before.
Bridges plays the pivotal role of The Giver, he is weary because he carries the burden of preserving all the memories of humanity while the story is told through the eyes of Jonas played by Thwaites, a young boy who is unique in the community of sameness; he is mature, perceptive and compassionate. Streep’s Chief Elder leads an isolated society where emotions, privacy, and basic colours have all been stripped away from its citizens. She sums up her philosophy as, “When people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong.” Her portrayal of the Chief Elder looks like it combines the icy detachment of The Devil’s Wears Prada with the unbending determination of The Iron Lady. Among the members of the community, only the Giver is capable of real love, and after years of loneliness he experiences an intense emotional connection with Rosemary played by Taylor Swift.
The motion picture adaptation of The Giver represents the fulfillment of a 20 year-long dream for actor Jeff Bridges, who also serves as a producer on the production. “My daughters read the book, but before I had known that they had read it, I was looking for some material to direct my father, Lloyd Bridges,” he recalls. “I also wanted to make a movie that my kids could watch at the time. I was looking through a catalogue of children books and I came across this wonderful cover of a book, with this old, grizzled kind of guy on the cover and thought, ‘Oh yeah, my dad can play that guy!’”
Co-producing partner Walden Media spent over a decade developing the project and chief operating officer Frank Smith says, “The Giver is the crown jewel of children’s literature, and we are proud to add this film to the list of other great book to film adaptations we have produced like Holes, Charlotte’s Web, Bridge to Teribithea, Because of Winn Dixie, Ramona and The Chronicles of Narnia.”
The Giver, with a budget of about $25 million, is being produced by Nikki Silver of Tonik Productions along with Neil Koenigsberg and Bridges. Vadim Perelman wrote the adapted script; Michael Mitnick penned the latest draft.
Hollywood
Trump invested over $1.1m in Netflix bonds at the peak of Warner Bros bidding battle
Financial disclosures show U.S. president also bought Warner Bros Discovery debt during high-stakes media takeover race.
WASHINGTON: New government financial disclosures show that U.S. president Donald Trump purchased more than $1.1 million worth of bonds issued by Netflix over the past three months. The transactions occurred during a period when Netflix was engaged in a competitive bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, a potential merger that the Trump administration had publicly criticised on antitrust grounds.
Between December and January, the president acquired Netflix bonds valued between $1.1 million and $2.25 million. The bonds carry a 5.375 per cent interest rate and are scheduled to mature in November 2029. Financial disclosures also revealed an additional investment in Warner Bros Discovery bonds. The purchase was valued between $500,002 and $1 million, with the debt reportedly bought at roughly 92 cents on the dollar. The bonds are now trading at around 95 cents on the dollar, leaving the position currently in profit.
The timing of the investments has drawn scrutiny because the administration had been openly critical of Netflix’s market activities at the time. While the president’s trust was purchasing the debt, the administration reportedly pressured Netflix to remove board member Susan Rice and expressed concerns that a Netflix–Warner merger could harm competition.
The White House has dismissed conflict-of-interest concerns, stating that the president’s assets are managed independently by his children. Spokesperson Anna Kelly said U.S. presidents are legally exempt from the conflict-of-interest laws that apply to other federal officials.
Despite the financial interest, Netflix ultimately lost the race to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. Paramount Skydance secured the deal on 27 February with a $110 billion offer. The acquisition was backed by Larry Ellison, who guaranteed $40 billion to support the bid, while major lenders including Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo Global Management provided $39 billion in financing.
The final acquisition leaves the combined Paramount entity carrying roughly $85 billion in debt, while Netflix withdrew its bid roughly two weeks before the official disclosure report was released.
