Cate Blanchett names director who slammed her acting

First there was a #MeToo movement to campaign against sexual abuse and harassment in the film industry.

Now, is calling for directors to foster more respectful environments on set.

The double Oscar winner has decided to speak openly about her experience filming Babel, the psychological drama in which she starred alongside .

She reveals that she and Pitt were sharply criticised by director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, pictured with Cate, after filming a scene he felt was falling short.

Speaking at the Rendez-vous in the Bunuel Theatre at the , she recalls: 'Brad and I shot a scene. We did a couple of takes and Inarritu came up and said, "This is s***." He said, "What is this s***?" And he said, "There's nothing here". He said, "This scene has to work or the movie doesn't work".' 

Blanchett admits that the comments were unsettling, saying, 'It knocks you off your centre.' She says: 'It's a really interesting time for us to think about the way we talk to one another on set, because some people would say that's incredibly disrespectful, or that's upsetting to me.

'But sometimes a director can lead with love, but incredibly tough love, and I've been sort of thinking a lot about how we can create respectful spaces for one another that are still robust and demanding, because I think we have to be rigorous when we make film, but with joy.'

Meanwhile, the Australian actress and producer, 57, admits that ageing has affected her physical abilities.

'As you get older, the palette that you're playing upon gets perhaps more calcified and less malleable, so there's a lot of stuff you cannot do,' she says.

She adds: 'I used to be able to tap dance. I can't really tap dance anymore. The sad thing is I've got a facility for learning things quickly, but then I have a sort of physical dementia and I forget it.'

Somebody is wanted to manage the royal stamp collection – hailed as one of the world's greatest, and most expensive. The official Royal Philatelic Collection is valued at more than £100million. The ad on the royal website says the new senior curator of the Royal Philatelic Collection will earn £45,000 a year and be based at Buckingham Palace.

Demi Moore's £500k payday to sparkle on Cannes carpet 

As a member of the jury at Cannes film festival, Demi Moore is not paid for her services.

The Hollywood star has, nevertheless, found a way of earning a crust on La Croisette.

I hear that she has been .

'Demi is going to be the most watched woman at this year's festival, so we had to ensure she sparkles in the right way, even if it costs a pretty penny,' a source at the brand tells me.

The Indecent Proposal star, 63, who wore a Chopard necklace to the opening ceremony, said this week: 'I feel tremendously honoured to be here. It's such a beautiful experience.'

And a lucrative one... 

Their on-screen chemistry has been central to the 20-year success of Springwatch, which returns to the BBC next week.

But now Michaela Strachan, 60, has revealed that her relationship with co-presenter Chris Packham, 65, has been fractious at times.

'We have heated debates because Chris is the scientific one and I am the soft underbelly of wildlife telly,' she says.

'We had this heated row, and it made me laugh because there were all these young researchers who were sitting there with their eyes getting wider, thinking, 'I thought these two were friends and now they're really fighting each other'.'

Sting's arresting role in Justin and Nicole's romance

Divorced from Jennifer Aniston, Hollywood star Justin Theroux, 54,

Now, pop star Sting has revealed that he encouraged the Devil Wears Prada 2's star to pop the question to Nicole, 32.

'He proposed in my house when they'd come to stay with us in Italy,' reveals The Police singer, who owns a Tuscan villa with his wife Trudie Styler.

Sting, 74, reveals: '[Theroux] said to me, 'Do you think I should marry this girl?' and I said, 'Well, if you don't, I will'.' The couple exchanged vows in Mexico last year.

Labour grandees bow out of Lords

Parliament's last surviving Second World War veteran has retired from duty.

Labour's Lord Christopher has ceased to be a member of the House of Lords because he had not attended any proceedings during the 2024-2026 session of Parliament. This was surely understandable. Lord Christopher is 101 years old.

He joined the RAF in 1944 and was later a stalwart of the trade unions. Christopher was not the only old warhorse stepping down from the Lords.

Convivial Lord (Derry) Irvine, who was Tony Blair's first Lord Chancellor, has taken voluntary retirement from the House.

He will forever be known for the expensive wallpaper with which he lined his state apartments – and, perhaps, for referring to the then prime minister, who was once his office gofer, as 'young Blair'. 

Matthew Rhys, who stars in Apple TV's new comedy horror series Widow's Bay, can speak from experience while staying at Gwydir Castle in his native Wales with girlfriend Keri Russell.

'At two in the morning, I woke up and the room was ice cold, like being inside a refrigerator,' the actor recalls.

'I didn't open my eyes but I went, 'God, that's cold'.

'I just remember a very strong tap on my shoulder. 'Thinking it was my girlfriend, I turned, thinking I was turning in towards the bed and

I would see my girlfriend... and I realised that I'd turned out.

'Someone had been next to the bed and that tap will go with me to my grave.'