International
Helena Bonham Carter to play Elizabeth Taylor
MUMBAI: Helena Bonham Carter, who is better known for her role in Les Miserables, will be essaying Elizabeth Taylor in a new BBC drama that will explore her torrid romance with Richard Burton.
“Elizabeth was 51, still every inch a star, still beautiful and they still needed each other, but this was professional. They were doing Noel Coward‘s Private Lives on stage, playing a couple who used to be married. People wondered if they were still in love and whether they‘d be playing themselves or their characters,” Carter observed.
The 43-year-old will play Taylor in Burton & Taylor that will tell the story of their appearance in a 1983 revival of Noel Coward‘s play Private Lives, reported Daily Express.
The pair gripped filmgoers in the sixties and seventies with their stormy marriages, the first of which lasted from 1964 to 1974. But just 16 months after divorcing they remarried, only to split up again in 1976.
A BBC spokesman said Burton & Taylor would offer viewers an insight into one of the most fascinating, glamorous and tempestuous relationships of the 20th century.
International
Utopai Studios unveils 4K three-minute video generation for PAI platform
New Story Agent and editing tools aim to streamline AI-led filmmaking workflows
MUMBAI: Utopai Studios has announced a major upgrade to its PAI storytelling AI platform, introducing what it claims is an industry-first capability to generate three-minute videos in 4K resolution, alongside enhancements to its Story Agent feature.
The update, rolling out from April 15, expands the platform’s capabilities across the filmmaking process, from early concept development to post-production. The company said the new features are designed to help filmmakers maintain continuity across characters, scenes and visual styles, a key challenge in AI-driven storytelling.
At the heart of the release is a next-generation model that enables more structured narrative development, allowing creators to move more seamlessly from idea to execution. With tools such as multi-shot sequencing and multi-turn editing, the platform aims to give both studios and independent creators greater control over complex storytelling workflows.
Commenting on the launch, Utopai Studios co-founder and CTO Jie Yang said, “The next phase of AI in media will not be defined by isolated tools, but by systems that can carry story, continuity and collaboration across the full creative process.” He added that the update is a step towards enabling more practical, end-to-end narrative development at a professional level.
Echoing this, Utopai Studios co-founder and chief scientific officer Zijian He said, “Generative video is opening the door to a new production model, where creative ambition is less constrained by traditional cost and complexity.” He noted that the platform combines multimodal models with iterative editing to give creators more speed, control and consistency.
The company said PAI is already being used in professional film and television productions, particularly in Hollywood, for tasks such as pre-visualisation, scene design and post-production refinements. The latest update adds features including improved voice options, character consistency, unlimited editing and more flexible asset management.
Utopai also emphasised that its models are not trained on copyrighted material, positioning the platform as a cleaner alternative for creators and rights holders navigating the evolving AI landscape.
As AI continues to reshape content creation, Utopai’s latest push signals a shift from standalone tools to integrated systems, aiming to make high-quality filmmaking faster, more flexible and increasingly accessible.
