Everything, everywhere, all the Oscars updates

The Independent’s entertainment newsletter [SUBSCRIBE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( March 11, 2023 [View in browser](   The Oscars take place tomorrow, and, unusually, the race still feels pretty open this year. Will [Michelle Yeoh]( triumph over Cate Blanchett for best actress? Does the victory march for All Quiet on the Western Front end here? The Indy Culture team will be bringing you coverage all through the night, letting you know who's won what, and if anyone has been slapped in the face on stage. In the meantime, check out Adam White’s [guide to this year’s runners and riders](. He’s made the case for [Top Gun: Maverick]( to take home the Best Picture award, while Louis Chilton is backing [Avatar: The Way of Water]( and Annabel Nugent calls it for Everything Everywhere All At Once. (My vote goes to Women Talking, and if you want to know why, [read my five-star review](.) On the week of International Women’s Day, I was thrilled that we were able to celebrate the lives of some extraordinary women with a handful of great pieces. For the 40th anniversary of the novel Heartburn, Katie Rosseinsky delved into the legacy – and cult following – of [Nora Ephron](. How did she become the poster girl for millennial writers? And 75 years since the death of [Zelda Fitzgerald](, Kat Lister wrote beautifully about why “America’s first flapper” was [so much more than just a wife and muse]( to F Scott Fitzgerald.[Sarah Crompton spoke to Alice Robb](, one-time ballet student and now author, about her book Don’t Think, Dear. Part memoir, part cultural commentary, it explores whether ballet – an artform that requires women to be slim, silent and submissive – [can ever be feminist](. If you missed it on the day, check out the Indy's [list of the most influential women of the moment](, plus some inspiring pieces from the likes of [Emma Thompson]( and [Tracey Emin](. Nora Ephron's classic breakup novel 'Heartburn' was released 40 years ago this week (Getty) Also this week: Martin Chilton took us through the [best books coming out this month](, including the return of Booker Prize author Eleanor Catton (well worth waiting for). Jacob Stolworthy spoke to Neil Cross, director of Luther, about [the detective’s move to the big screen](. Isobel Lewis found The Great British Bake Off Musical to be neither a showstopper or a soggy bottom, but [something in-between](. Louis Chilton wrote about why Jenna Ortega is a [very refreshing new star](. Annabel Nugent recapped the [scariest episode of The Last Of Us]( so far. And… I listened to our [Eurovision entry](about 20 times. (If it’s nul points, I seriously need to question my music taste.) Go [Mae Muller](! Jessie [@jessiecath](   What to do this weekend Exhibition | [Sussex Landscape: Chalk, Wood and Water]( This most proverbially “conservative” of English counties has proved a surprising stimulus for modern artists, from Turner to Wolfgang Tillmans in his radical contemporary photography. A [wealth of works from popular favourites]( such as Vanessa Bell, Eric Ravilious and Paul Nash explore Sussex’s distinctive rolling landscapes, which remain in many cases remarkably little-changed. Mark Hudson | Chief Art Critic   Theatre | [After the Act]( This year marks two decades since the homophobic law known as Section 28, banning the “promotion of homosexuality” in schools, was finally repealed. As part of New Diorama’s bold new season of work, a musical by Breach Theatre will explore the impact this law had on the lives of LGBT+ people. It’s the company’s first show since the hit It’s True It’s True It’s True, about the 1612 trial of painter Artemisia Gentileschi’s rapist, and the company [told The Independent they had found parallels with modern-day prejudice while making it](. “A lot of the public debates that happened around gay rights are being almost resurrected around trans rights now,” said director Billy Barrett. Jessie Thompson | Arts Editor [@jessiecath](   Film | [65]( Critics haven’t been able to see this “[Adam Driver]( fights a dinosaur” pic, which usually isn’t the best sign of quality. But I repeat: Adam Driver fights a dinosaur. He plays a pilot who travels through a time loop and crash-lands on planet Earth 65 million years ago. Somehow a plucky kid is there, too. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, writers of A Quiet Place, direct. Adam White | Film Editor [@__adamwhite](   TV | [The Last of Us]( After nine weeks of [Pedro Pascal]( being dreamy, [fleeting-but-beautiful queer love stories](, and the odd staggering zombie, HBO’s epic video game adaptation is galloping to a close. After Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) traumatic ordeal with a cannibalistic religious group in the penultimate episode, she’s feeling pretty out of sorts in this grand finale. Emotions are running high, and so is the body count – but will our favourite pair make it to season two? Ellie Harrison | TV Editor [@Ellie_Harrison](   Books | [Furies: Stories of the Wicked, Wild and Untamed]( Who doesn’t feel a little frisson of excitement when stumbling upon one of Virago’s iconic green spines in a second-hand [bookshop](? Since its inception in 1973, the feminist publisher has championed the work of writers as wide-ranging as Stevie Smith, Elizabeth Taylor, Daphne du Maurier and Zora Neale Hurston. To kickstart its 50th anniversary celebrations this year, it will publish a collection of new short stories inspired by words often used against women, from “hussy” to “she-devil”; authors include Margaret Atwood, Ali Smith, Linda Grant, Kamila Shamsie and Caroline O’Donoghue. Jessie Thompson | Arts Editor [@jessiecath](     [The Saturday Interview – Daveed Diggs]( [Oscars image]( Daveed Diggs stars in 'Extrapolations' (Stewart Cook/Shutterstock) Daveed Diggs became a legend by rapping six words a second in Hamilton. Now he's part of an all-star Apple TV cast, alongside Meryl Streep, Sienna Miller, Kit Harington and Marion Cotillard, for climate change drama Extrapolations. He [spoke to James Mottram]( about why we need to start prioritising the climate, and his upcoming role as Sebastian in Disney's live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Diggs as the Rabbi Marshall in Apple TV’s ‘Extrapolations’ (Apple TV) Read an extract from our Saturday Interview below… After high school, Diggs gained a place at Brown University, studying theatre – although he was also a star athlete. At the 110-metre hurdles, he broke Brown’s record of 14.21 seconds. Yet sports always came second to his love for the arts. A passionate spoken-word poet, he started performing on the underground hip-hop circuit both in and around university. Money was never a priority. “You end up having to make sacrifices,” he remembers. “Where you live might not be where you wanted to live.” After graduating, he worked as a substitute teacher, a job that by chance led him to meet creator extraordinaire Lin-Manuel Miranda. A fellow teacher, who was part of Miranda’s improv hip-hop group Freestyle Love Supreme, introduced them. Diggs was present at the very early readings of Hamilton, Miranda’s hip-hop musical about America’s fight to establish its independence. He’d go on to originate the roles of the French-born American revolutionary officer the Marquis de Lafayette, and founding father Thomas Jefferson, in the 2015 production at New York’s Public Theater. When the show moved to Broadway, he went, too, watching with disbelief as it became the hottest ticket in town. Famously, the Obamas attended twice, although, as Diggs once said, “the most starstruck” he’d been was meeting childhood hero and rap icon MC Hammer. [Read the full interview here](   Weekend Shelf-Care Weekend Shelf-Care Jennifer Egan A little squeak of excitement from me, because this week's Weekend Shelf-Care comes from one of my all-time favourite writers, Jennifer Egan. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning book A Visit From the Goon Squad is one of the most thrillingly inventive yet endlessly readable books I've ever read, so when I heard Egan was releasing sequel The Candy House, I almost had to lie down. The follow-up, released in paperback this week, tackles the same themes about creepy technology with profound questions about what we really want the future to look like. A book I recently read and loved is… The Peregrine, by JA Baker, given to me by Hernan Diaz a few weeks ago. It’s the most powerful sensory rendering of the natural world (Eastern England) that I’ve ever encountered—saturated with a sense of immanent loss yet also hopeful; Peregrine populations have rebounded since the 1960s DDT era when it was written. My three fantasy literary dinner party guests would be… James {NAME}, Dorothy Parker and Oscar Wilde. I wouldn’t have to say a word. Not finishing books: my stance is… It’s the book’s job to make me want to keep reading, so if I’ve given it a respectful interval and still find myself longing to bail, I do. The same applies with my books—it’s my fault, not the reader’s, if the narrative loses its pull. My writing routine is… When writing original material: 5-7 handwritten pages per day, pure improvisation. I read it over only the next day to re-enter the flow. It’s always a mess, but hopefully a mess with promise. I revise toward that promise over years, mostly by hand on hard copies. My writing group, to whom I dedicated The Candy House, is an essential sounding board—we read our work aloud to each other—throughout the process. 'The Candy House' by Jennifer Egan is out now in paperback   Enjoying this newsletter? Unlock unlimited, ad-free reading on the website and in The Independent app when you subscribe – plus, benefit from our [welcome offer when you join today](.   [INDYBEST]( / [BEST BUYS]( [Best experience days, from wine tasting to afternooon tea]( Swap [flowers]( and [hampers]( this [Mother's Day]( with a special [day out](. 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