The Saturday Interview

<p>Centre-stage: Alan Cumming has announced his inaugural season as artistic director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre</p>

Interview

Alan Cumming on trans rights, Starmer and the fear gripping the US

The actor is also a deeply concerned US citizen. He talks to Patrick Smith about the fear gripping the US, JK Rowling, the star-studded mini-festival he’s holding in tiny Pitlochry, and working on Russell T Davies’s new drama

<p>Mister Romantic: ‘I’m much more shy and private than fame allows’</p>

Interview

John C Reilly: ‘It’s rough when people scream “Boats ’N Hoes” at you’

<p>Keira Knightley: ‘There is nothing that can prepare you for the exhaustion of having a sleepless child’</p>

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Keira Knightley: ‘Motherhood is much more exhausting than filming’

<p>‘I think my sheer bluntness makes people uncomfortable, and therein lies the humour, maybe – but I worry that if I actively tried to be funny in something, it wouldn’t be funny at all’</p>

Interview

Rebecca Ferguson: ‘I want to be in movies that twirl my intestines up’

<p>Loved and lost: ‘I naively thought that, at this point, I’d unfortunately be a little bit more well versed with grief than other people my age’</p>

Interview

Louis Tomlinson: ‘Fame can be really dehumanising’

<p>Richard Ashcroft: ‘For the older fans, they’d forgotten what they used to get out of those gigs. There’s a lot of pain and a lot of loss along the way, and also the dreams that you had when you were younger, and where are you now?’</p>

Interview

Richard Ashcroft: ‘I’ll never experience anything like this summer’

<p>Marina Abramović: ‘I don't like pain, really, but I like to stage painful situations in front of the public’</p>

Interview

Marina Abramović: ‘I’m going to be attacked by every British tabloid’

<p>Lulu: ‘You control the drinking until you can’t control it. And it’s very lonely if you’re just trying to manage it secretly on your own’</p>

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Lulu: ‘I had such terrible shame. I never wanted to become my father’

<p>Mark Ronson: ‘I thought I better get these stories down before it’s absolutely too late’</p>

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Mark Ronson: ‘I used to try to hide the fact that I came from money’

The hit producer finds himself nostalgic for his party days as a ‘celebrity DJ’ in Nineties New York City as he talks to Hannah Ewens about antisemitism, being motivated by fear, and why he decided to include P Diddy and his privileged upbringing in his new memoir, ‘Night People’

Interview

Mark Ronson: ‘I used to try to hide the fact that I came from money’

The hit producer finds himself nostalgic for his party days as a ‘celebrity DJ’ in Nineties New York City as he talks to Hannah Ewens about antisemitism, being motivated by fear, and why he decided to include P Diddy and his privileged upbringing in his new memoir, ‘Night People’

<p>‘I’m neurodivergent – but I’m not interested in taking Ritalin or whatever people take. I don’t want to add more chemical pharmaceuticals to my system’</p>

Interview

Annie Lennox: ‘I wanted to perform as a woman, not as a piece of meat’

Interview

Sabrina Impacciatore: ‘I felt ugly, insecure, never enough’

<p>‘You have to be tough as old boots to play the role, because not everyone is going to be happy with you’</p>

Interview

Pierce Brosnan: ‘A seventysomething Bond? They know where to find me’

<p>Delpy’s legacy is one of bringing romantic love to the big screen</p>

Interview

Julie Delpy: ‘I was such a pretty girl that I was really a target’

Interview

Julie Delpy: ‘I was such a pretty girl that I was really a target’

<p>‘Alison dies in Scream 4 and that’s like a badge of honour to me. Like, my wife got killed by Ghostface – I’m so proud of her!’</p>

Interview

Alison Brie and Dave Franco: ‘Divulging so much personal info lately... it’s been a little scary’

<p>Tim Burton: ‘You can’t just ask somebody to do Wednesday Addams. They have to have it in their DNA’</p>

Interview

‘I spent years trying to exorcise my demons’: Tim Burton on Wednesday

<p>The Maccabees’ Orlando Weeks (front right): ‘Suddenly, there was this event that was a very obviously uncomplicated reason to all be together’</p>

Interview

The Maccabees: ‘I feel very sorry for new bands’

The indie stars talk to Patrick Smith about the celebrity wedding that led to them reforming for Glastonbury and All Points East, rebuilding trust, and why new bands have it so much harder now

Interview

The Maccabees: ‘I feel very sorry for new bands’

The indie stars talk to Patrick Smith about the celebrity wedding that led to them reforming for Glastonbury and All Points East, rebuilding trust, and why new bands have it so much harder now

<p>‘I think artists should be activists, but I think the more educated you are, the better an activist you can be,’ is Minchin’s take on the Kneecap/Palestine controversy</p>

Interview

Tim Minchin: ‘Trump is partly an outcome of the smug progressive left’

<p>Ellie Rowsell, Joel Amey, Joff Oddie and Theo Ellis of Wolf Alice: ‘Just statistically, not that many bands have the same members for as long as we’ve been together’</p>

Interview

Wolf Alice: ‘I’m a private person – why am I airing my dirty laundry?’

<p>‘If I were still invested in every part I ever played in my life, I’d probably be in a straitjacket’</p>

Interview

Michael Shannon: ‘I’ve had a career that’s all over the shop’

<p>‘Calling someone “too much” is a really easy way to diminish them’</p>

Interview

Lena Dunham: ‘I stepped back from acting after my body was dissected’

Interview

Lena Dunham: ‘I stepped back from acting after my body was dissected’

<p>‘The Bear’ has made a star out of SNL alum Abby Elliott</p>

Interview

The Bear’s Abby Elliott: ‘My dad is so on board to be a guest star’

<p>‘When those moments arrive where your control is threatened, I can spot it now much earlier and steer it away as politely as I can. Or if I have to be rude, I’ll be rude’</p>

Interview

Danny Boyle: ‘Britain’s on the decline – whether we like it or not’

<p>‘It’s been 21 years of my life that I have not had my father in it. And it’s a pain that I don’t ever express’</p>

Interview

Barbie Ferreira: ‘We all have daddy issues – literally everyone’

<p>‘I live a totally normal life – partly because I’m a shut-in and don’t leave the house that much’</p>

Interview

Bryce Dallas Howard: ‘I would walk around Disney reading about death’

<p>Shirley Manson: ‘I have had to ignite some positivity in my own mind, otherwise I wouldn’t get out of bed’</p>

Interview

Shirley Manson: ‘I’m astounded by the apathy around me’

<p>People know prolific actor Eddie Marsan’s face, but often don’t know why</p>

Interview

Eddie Marsan: ‘Keir Starmer should tax people like me more’

<p>Simon Armitage: ‘I don’t see it as my job to bring the nation together’</p>

Interview

Simon Armitage: ‘It’s not my job to bring the nation together’

<p>Rose-tinted glasses: Mark Hoppus’s memoir shimmers with gratitude after the pop-punk legend survived cancer in 2021</p>

Interview

Blink-182 rocker Mark Hoppus: ‘I wish I had kissed Robert Smith back’

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Eddie Marsan: ‘Keir Starmer should tax people like me more’

Interview

Simon Armitage: ‘It’s not my job to bring the nation together’

Interview

Blink-182 rocker Mark Hoppus: ‘I wish I had kissed Robert Smith back’

<p>Elif Shafak: ‘I used to want to run away into my imagination’</p>

Interview

Elif Shafak: ‘A novelist in Turkey can be almost digitally lynched’

<p>‘It’s fun to do my own stunts. The aches and the pains feel like part and parcel’</p>

Interview

Daisy Ridley: ‘The fact is, all actors are mainly known for one thing’

Interview

Billy Idol: ‘I’m the sexy sexagenarian!’

<p>‘There’s nothing more exciting than doing something for the first time – being the first person to play a role’</p>

Interview

Ewan McGregor on his return to the West End: ‘God it’s intense!’

<p>Teddy Swims: ‘I’m just a blossoming flower’</p>

Interview

Teddy Swims: ‘Men should tell each other how pretty we are’

<p>The Darkness’s Justin Hawkins (left): ‘Sometimes you gotta take matters into your own hands’</p>

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Justin Hawkins: ‘People saw our video and assumed I was back on drugs’

<p>Grayson Perry: ‘My job is to trust my intuition and often it’s in your gut and in your body and in your emotions’</p>

Interview

Grayson Perry: ‘Of course I love the super-rich – they buy my work!’

<p>'It only took me about 10 minutes to choose being an actor. Even when I was 14, it just felt necessary.' </p>

Interview

Erin Doherty: ‘Online fame doesn’t equate to power’

<p>Brian Tyree Henry: ‘I think that being able to do this show was some of the best healing I've ever had’</p>

Interview

Brian Tyree Henry: ‘Pain and trauma had been my identity for so long’

<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>Jesse Plemons: ‘Life is very strange and disorienting and dizzying at times’</p>

Interview

Jesse Plemons: ‘Gaining weight messed me up a bit’

<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’

<p>‘It would be naive to say there isn’t an awareness around where I came from and how I live now’</p>

Interview

Michelle Monaghan: ‘Of course I get the Tom Cruise cake!’

Interview

Keeley Hawes: ‘This story is like the seventh Jane Austen novel’

Interview

Michelle Yeoh: ‘Looking back, I go, “What the hell was I thinking?”’

<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 on her Bafta-nominated reunion with Mike Leigh

<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: ‘People see sex on film and think it’s real’

<p>JADE: ‘I don’t mind piping up and clapping back’</p>

Interview

JADE: ‘No one I know came off X Factor without a mental health issue’

Interview

Marianne Jean-Baptiste on her Bafta-nominated reunion with Mike Leigh

Interview

Harris Dickinson: ‘People see sex on film and think it’s real’

Interview

JADE: ‘No one I know came off X Factor without a mental health issue’

<p>Evan Dando: ‘When Nirvana got big, I was like, we gotta go the other way. That’s the only way to distinguish ourselves’ </p>

Interview

Evan Dando: ‘I wanted to try heroin because of Keith Richards’

Arguably the most gifted melodicist of his generation, Dando was the bronzed, blond pin-up boy of Nineties indie rock – before he threw himself heartily and disastrously into a life of sex and drugs. Now two years clean, he catches up with Michael Hann on what he’s been up to since

Interview

Evan Dando: ‘I wanted to try heroin because of Keith Richards’

Arguably the most gifted melodicist of his generation, Dando was the bronzed, blond pin-up boy of Nineties indie rock – before he threw himself heartily and disastrously into a life of sex and drugs. Now two years clean, he catches up with Michael Hann on what he’s been up to since

<p>'The music of “The Lion King” is rooted in African rhythm and harmonies, but I felt like there was a lot of space to play and break new ground’</p>

Interview

Lin-Manuel Miranda: ‘I’m already something no one else is’

<p>Zoe Saldaña: ‘I have an energy, a fire that is very much still alive, and I want to challenge myself’ </p>

Interview

Zoe Saldaña: ‘The Oscars tend to overlook actors using CGI technology’

<p>Boy George: ‘I hope Trump’s got no time to think about drag queens’</p>

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Boy George: ‘When I called someone “a white”, I meant naff’

<p>Katherine Waterston: ‘Actors are usually in a sort of first date state with their co-stars'</p>

Interview

Katherine Waterston: ‘I felt a lot of shame about playing mothers’

Interview

Katherine Waterston: ‘I felt a lot of shame about playing mothers’

<p>McClure on ‘Line of Duty’ rumours: ‘Until something gets announced, it’s just headlines’ </p>

Interview

Vicky McClure: ‘I’d love to see a working-class version of The Crown’

<p>Art Garfunkel (right) with his son, Art Garfunkel Jr</p>

Interview

Art Garfunkel: ‘I’m in the mood to work with Paul Simon again’

<p>Robin Campbell: ‘They always talk about Oasis and how big they are, but they can’t catch a cold outside of England, really’ </p>

Interview

UB40: We should be as big as Oasis – we’ve sold twice as many records

Last week the 1980s reggae icons, known for blending political dissent with easy-going pop grooves, played a sold-out show at Wembley Arena. But they haven’t always had the recognition they think they deserve. They talk to Annabel Nugent about cultural appropriation and selling out, being bugged by MI5, and why they believe they’ve never been awarded a Grammy

Interview

UB40: We should be as big as Oasis – we’ve sold twice as many records

Last week the 1980s reggae icons, known for blending political dissent with easy-going pop grooves, played a sold-out show at Wembley Arena. But they haven’t always had the recognition they think they deserve. They talk to Annabel Nugent about cultural appropriation and selling out, being bugged by MI5, and why they believe they’ve never been awarded a Grammy

<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

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