Hollywood Week: Jeff Bezos Lauren Sanchez, JAWS at 50, Prime Minister, Anne Burrell, Joan Plowright

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 21 June 2025 11:51

Written by Janet Walker

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and longtime fiancé Lauren Sanchez are tying the knot, after months of prenup haggling, love rules the day and the billionaire and his bride will sail away into the sunset of wedded bliss.

The Billionaire and his Bride

As it is a summer wedding, the couple decided on Venice, Italy, which unlike another famous celebrity couple, did not welcome Bezos with open arms. The historic sinking city has launched a media campaign with the city sharply divided into two camps, with many seeing the deluge of celebrities, media, and star seekers, as a boon for the economy, as the Bezos Sanchez nuptials include the rental of an entire island.

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"A source shared an update with the Associated Press in June 2025, stating that Bezos and Sánchez are planning to source 80% of the provisions for the wedding from local vendors. Rosa Salva, the city's oldest pastry maker, is creating goody bags for attendees, while design studio Laguna B, which is known for its colorful, handblown Murano glass, is creating something for the wedding as well," reported People.com.

Approximately 200 of the world's most glamours movers and shakers are descending upon the city to share in the joy, hobnob, and possibly pitch and deal or two. The three day celebration is expected to ring in at $600 million.

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JAWS Turns 50

It's been 50 years since the release of "JAWS," a summer horror film, directed by a relatively unknown Steven Spielberg,  that actually caused ocean beach goers to rethink their swim plans. Spielberg, with JAWS, created more than simply a successful film, he created what has been widely considered the birth of the summer blockbuster, and the most iconic soundtrack in the history of film: A simple note spawned fifty years of pop culture fans remarking, I can name that film in one note.

I saw "JAWS" in the theater with my mom. I loved so many things about my mom, including her reactions to movies. She was absorbed in the characters. Each time we sat down to the very end, she was lost in the images, transported into the story. And "JAWS" was no different. Seeing her reactions, shock, horror, grasping my leg in anticipation, for those two hours she had escaped.

Watching "JAWS" recently on Netflix, it has surprisingly stood the test of time. The iconic first moments, even as we know, and can repeat the dialogue verbatim, still that first kill, and once again hooked, into the world of the hunt for the Great White.

"JAWS" can still be seen around the streaming universe, and well worth the time to sit back, and watch a young director exhibit mastery.

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"Prime Minister" Documentary Showcases NZ Politics  

"Prime Minister," a documentary from HBO Films and Magnolia Pictures, deep dives into the world of the life of former New Zealand Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Arden.

Arden, 44, who was the youngest prime minister ever elected at 37, was followed virtually everywhere by her partner, Clarke Gayford, 48. Leaving the pair upon her exit from political office, with nearly 300 hours of tape footage.

"Ardern and Gayford weren't married when she was sworn in. At a news conference announcing her pregnancy, Gayford joked that he loved that they'd done everything backward: "We bought a house together, then we're having a baby, and we'll see [about marriage]." (They got engaged during her first term, with her bodyguard standing by, but didn't manage to pull off a wedding until after she left office.)," reported The Washington Post.

Finally deciding to do something with the footage Arden and Gayford, after she resigned in 2023, handed the tapes over to documentarians Michelle Walshe and Linsay Utz. The documentary is available in limited release and will likely become available on streaming.

A "Prime Minister" documents Arden's political career, the good days, motherhood, her election victories, bad days, the tragic White Island eruption, and the horrific moments including the terror attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the challenges of the 2020 pandemic are included.  

"Prime Minister" is worth streaming. See it.

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Joan Plowright Receives Posthumous Icon Award (from Raindance Film Festival)

This year's Raindance Film Festival will present an additional Icon Award posthumously honouring the late, great Dame Joan Plowright in the year of her passing – presented for her final major screen role in "Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont" (dir: Dan Ireland, UK/USA).

Raindance's 33rd edition (18-27 June) includes a special 20th Anniversary tribute screening of Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont on Friday 20 June. The award will be accepted by Tamsin Olivier (daughter of Lawrence Olivier and Dame Joan Plowright) following this special screening.

"We are so thrilled that Raindance has chosen to honour our mother, Dame Joan Plowright, with the Icon Award in this the year of her passing. We are especially pleased that Mrs Palfrey, one of her most treasured performances, working with great friends, and a firm family favourite, is being remembered on its 20th anniversary. Our mother would want to share this award with all those hundreds of film crew members whose hard work often goes unrecognised. She loved her work and we are so glad to see her honoured and her work live on. Thank you!" – Tamsin Olivier (daughter of Lawrence Olivier and Dame Joan Plowright)

"Raindance is honoured to present an Icon Award to Dame Joan Plowright," says Elliot Grove, Founder of the Raindance Film Festival. 

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Top Chef Anne Burrell Dies

Anne Burrell, 55, Food Network personality and Top Chef, known for her short white-blonde hairstyle, died this week in her home in Brooklyn, New York. The cause is undetermined.

"She also broke the mold at the Food Network. "She brought style, class and a little punk, a little funk, a little bit of grace," said Ms. [Melba] Wilson, [of the Harlem restaurant Melba's] recalling Ms. Burrell's pairing chef coats with skirts, brightly colored clothing and nail polish. "She brought a lot of humor. She brought herself. She wasn't trying to be anybody else," reported The New York Times.

For all that Ms. Burrell was know for, all of her ideas, abilities, cookbooks, and television shows, the cause of her death, which is currently under investigation, as a possible drug overdose will punctuate her life. The Manhattan medical examiner has not listed cardiac arrest as the cause, and according to media sources more than 100 pills of a yet to be determined substance were found near her body.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.