title: Westworld (TV series)

text: In November 2016, HBO renewed the series for a 10-episode second season, which premiered on April 22, 2018. On May 1, 2018, the series was renewed for a third season. Production of the third season started in April 2019. The eight-episode season premiered on March 15, 2020, HBO announced that it had renewed the show for a fourth season on April 22, 2020. In 2016, "Entertainment Weekly" reported that the writers and producers mapped out five seasons of "Westworld". Later reports in "The Hollywood Reporter" speculated that the series might run for six seasons, but confirmed the continued involvement of Nolan and Joy after they signed a new deal with Amazon Studios. At the conclusion of the third season, Nolan clarified that he and Joy "have never actually talked about a number of seasons" adding, "Things change, circumstances change. I think when we sat down to do the show, we didn't quite realize how difficult it would be to make this show—how many years it would take per season... we had the plan [but] it didn't actually map out to a specific number of seasons, exactly. It was a beginning, a middle and an end." Nolan added that they were "looking at the rest of the story we have to tell" as the series was approaching its end, "but we haven't completely mapped it out". In October 2022, Jonathan Nolan spoke about the possibility of a fifth and also final season at the New York Comic Con, stating that they were in conversations with HBO.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: In November 2022, HBO announced they canceled the series, though the series' main actors will still receive their pay for the season. Following the cancelation of the series, as part of cuts being made at Warner Bros. Discovery following their merger, the series was one of several removed from HBO Max in December 2022 to be shopped around to free ad-supported streaming networks.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Abrams suggested that the series be told with the perspective of the "hosts" in mind, and, Nolan said, “We took that suggestion and ran a country mile with it, up to and including and turning inside out the entire narrative where we could." Nolan took inspiration from video games like "BioShock Infinite", "Red Dead Redemption" and "" where the writer must create a narrative 'in which the hero's moral component exists on a spectrum.' During research, the films of Sergio Leone provided the writers with reference points for the characters and visuals, and novels by Philip K. Dick informed them about dilemmas concerning artificial intelligence. For world-building and interlocking narrative, they consulted the "Grand Theft Auto" games. The idea that the data in the hosts' memories never really go away unless they are physically removed, came from Nolan's engineer uncle, who told him the NSA would triple overwrite hard-drives and then drill holes in them to make sure all the information was destroyed. The 1973 film also included a Roman World and Medieval World, but Nolan counted these out. Medieval elements were later included in a sword-and-sorcery fantasy-themed area known as Park Four, first shown in the episode titled "The Winter Line".


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Nolan explained that, through its paying-guest characters, the series would explore why "violence is in most of the stories we like to watch, but it isn't part of what we like to do". The autonomous existence of non-player characters in video games influenced the approach to the individual storylines in "Westworld" that are reset in a continuous loop. A recitation from "Romeo and Juliet"—"These violent delights have violent ends"—is used as a virus trigger within the hosts that alters how they perceive their existence. The series explores ideas about the bicameral mind hypothesized by psychologist Julian Jaynes, who argued for the existence of two separate minds—one that gives instructions, and another that performs them. Jaynes proposed that consciousness comes from breaking down the wall between them by exposing the individual to new stimuli.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: After the last episode of the first season was broadcast, Nolan and Joy revealed that they had operated on a strict "need-to-know" basis with most of the actors, in order to "keep the story as fresh and present for them as possible." For example, in Wood's case, they gave her strange acting directions without explaining why, and it took a while for Wood to deduce that she was actually playing five distinct characters within the same host: four different behavioral modes for Dolores and one for Wyatt. In contrast, Hopkins was made aware of Ford's general story arc at the time he was pitched the role, to ensure that he could fully convey the complexity of the character in his performance. Even with that foreknowledge, Hopkins was given heavily redacted scripts, and had to insist on being given access to complete scripts.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Wood has said that she will return for the show's fourth season, despite the fate of Dolores at the end of Season 3. She would not say what character she will play in that season.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Early on it was decided that the series would be shot on 35mm film with assistance from HD taps. For a softer look, the filmmakers used Arri Zeiss master prime lenses with their coatings removed. The series was primarily shot on Kodak motion-picture film, which was processed by FotoKem in Burbank and scanned by Encore Hollywood to create digital intermediates of all takes suitable for use as dailies. The final cut was delivered to HBO in 2K JPEG digital format for broadcast and to Warner Bros. Television as a cut negative for archival purposes.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Since much of the series is seen from the hosts' point of view, Steadicams were used to film the entire first season, except for a couple of scenes in the last episode, where a handheld camera was used as a metaphor for those hosts who broke free from their programming and acted of their own free will. Filming for the series' pilot episode took place during a 22-day period in August 2014 in and around Los Angeles, and in Moab, Utah.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Filming locations in California included various soundstages, backlots at both Universal Studios and Warner Bros., the Paramount Ranch in Agoura, the Melody Ranch in Santa Clarita, Big Sky Ranch, the Skirball Cultural Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, and the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. The Melody Ranch set used for the town of Sweetwater had been used previously for many Western films, including "Django Unchained" and "The Magnificent Seven", as well as the HBO series "Deadwood", but production designer Zack Grobler significantly upgraded the set for "Westworld, in order" to portray an idealized version of the American frontier. Green screens were placed around the California sets to block modern objects like parking lots, so that the California shots could be later merged digitally with exterior shots from Utah. For scenes showing the arrival of guests, the filmmakers were able to arrange with the Fillmore and Western Railway for the use of a small train originally built for the 2013 film "The Lone Ranger". F&W also provided a few hundred feet of track on which to place the train. A pusher vehicle propelled the train into the Sweetwater set. The scenes in the underground laboratory levels of Westworld's operations center were filmed on a soundstage at Melody Ranch. The lab set used glass walls extensively, which meant the crew had to be vigilant to avoid walking through glass on the rather dark set, and they had to keep identifying and suppressing unwanted reflections. Hawthorne Plaza was used for filming the "cold storage" level where decommissioned hosts are kept.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: For the series' large-scale exterior look, the producers drew inspiration from the work of John Ford, who shot four of his Western films in Castle Valley, east of Moab. In early 2014, Nolan visited southern Utah with key crew members and a location scout to explore the possibility of filming there, and promptly fell in love with the place. Location shooting for the pilot episode later occurred over five days in southern Utah, including Castle Valley. Most Utah locations, like Dead Horse Point State Park, were "walk-in" areas where both cast and crew were required to hike in and out with all their gear. Horseback riding scenes were filmed at a private ranch, where the filmmakers were not subject to as many restrictions as when working on public land. To seamlessly blend California sets with Utah scenery, set walls were shipped to Utah so that they could be used to film reverse angles of scenes originally filmed in California. For example, conversations on the exterior balcony of Westworld's operations center were shot on a balcony at the Skirball Center facing towards the center, then reverse angles over the shoulders of the cast members were shot at Dead Horse Point, to make it seem as if the operations center was located on top of the state park's steep cliffs. The train interior scenes were created by mounting the entire train car set on the back of a flatbed truck and driving the truck back and forth along Utah State Route 128.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The 3D printing of hosts was shot utilizing almost entirely practical effects, of which some were polished by the visual effects team. The series used real guns, although they were usually unloaded. Out of respect for the actors and extras involved, filming of nudity was conducted on a closed set, and for sex scenes, an intimacy coordinator was used.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: In November 2018, some of the sets located at Paramount Ranch were destroyed by the Woolsey Fire. In July 2021, production on the fourth season was halted due to a positive COVID-19 case. In August 2021, it was reported that production on the fourth season had resumed at the Melody Ranch Studio in Newhall, CA. In an interview, actor Jeffrey Wright confirmed that filming for season four concluded in December 2021.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Costume designer Ane Crabtree approached her work by taking as inspiration the historical attire of the Wild West from the 1850s to the 1890s, as opposed to looking purely at Westerns films. Fabrics were custom-woven, dyed and printed for any actor with a speaking role, in order to capture the intricacies of the costumes (most of which were manufactured from scratch). Hat designs were the most challenging part of the process.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The series' title sequence was created by Elastic, a production studio that created the title sequences for three other HBO series: "Rome", "Carnivàle", and "Game of Thrones". Patrick Clair acted as creative director for the title sequence, which took about five weeks to conceptualize.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Clair met with Nolan and Joy in February 2016. He was interested in their decision to approach the series' point of view from that of the hosts, creating a psychological study. The sequence translates elements present in the series via computer-aided design. For example, once Clair was sent footage by composer Ramin Djawadi of a player piano in motion, its actual counterpart, situated in the "Westworld" production office, was photographed and then reconstructed in computer-generated imagery. Nolan also applied the self-playing instrument as a reference to Kurt Vonnegut's first novel, "Player Piano". It was meant to represent the first Rube Goldberg machine to evoke human motion. Clair saw the metaphor behind the player piano—"a primitive form of robot"—as an exploration into the disparity between man and machine "being created to be made redundant." Hosts that were bathed in white liquid struck Clair as a juxtaposition of the grit and grain of the Western genre with its basis in science fiction. Motifs of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man came about from Clair's wish to convey "Westworld"s depiction of the naked human body. The sequence also refers to Chris Cunningham's 1999 music video for the Björk song "All Is Full of Love", in a way that Clair called "a bit shameless ... because I worship Chris Cunningham and ... it seemed like the perfect place to do it because it was dealing with all the right themes and all the right aesthetics."


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The sequence commences with the rib cage of a horse, along with a set of hosts manufactured by industrial robots. The skeletal horse is shown in mid-gallop to subvert the iconography of such a depiction. As for Clair's efforts in exposing the Western landscapes in connection with a world of robotics, he thought it sensible that it be done inside a single eye; craters and valleys are formed as the simulacrum of an iris.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The second season introduces a new title sequence. Several elements from the original title sequence are changed, including the images of a horse, now replaced with a bison. Other new images in the title sequence include the Man in Black's black hat, a mother cradling her child (evocative of Maeve), and a blonde woman's hair being fabricated (representing Dolores). Ramin Djawadi's score stays the same, with the images of the player piano intact.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Original music for the series is composed by Ramin Djawadi, who also worked with showrunner Nolan on "Person of Interest". The main theme blends the use of bass notes, light arpeggios and melody, all of which complement the idea of an amusement park. The first season soundtrack was released on December 5, 2016.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The series prominently features a number of re-workings of popular songs for player piano and strings, among them Kanye West's "Runaway", Radiohead's "No Surprises", "Fake Plastic Trees", "Motion Picture Soundtrack" and "Exit Music (For a Film)"; Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun"; The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black"; "Pine Apple Rag" and "Peacherine Rag" by Scott Joplin; Claude Debussy's ""Reverie" for piano, L.68"; "A Forest" by The Cure; The Animals' version of "The House of the Rising Sun"; Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black", and Nine Inch Nails' "Something I Can Never Have". Licensing costs ranged from $15,000 to $55,000.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Djawadi said of the series' use of modern songs: ""Westworld" has an anachronistic feel to it, it's a Western theme park, and yet it has robots in it, so why not have modern songs? And that's a metaphor in itself, wrapped up in the overall theme of the show", but credited Nolan with the idea.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The series premiered its ten-episode first season on October 2, 2016, in North America and Australia, and on October 4, 2016, in the UK and Ireland. The series is broadcast on HBO in the United States, on HBO Canada in Canada, on HBO Latin America in Latin America, in Australia on Fox Showcase, and in the UK and Ireland on Sky Atlantic. In New Zealand, the series is distributed by Sky's streaming service Neon.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The second episode was released on HBO in the U.S. on October 7—two days ahead of the episode's announced broadcast date—to avoid competing with the second U.S. presidential debate of 2016.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Prior to the airing of "Westworld", HBO held virtual reality exhibits at events like San Diego Comic-Con and Techcrunch Disrupt devoted to "Westworld: A Delos Destination". Attendees were allowed to navigate the process by which guests would enter Westworld, and interact with the 3D environment. Made to run on the HTC Vive virtual reality headset, the piece was conceived by showrunners Nolan and Joy. It was designed using Unreal Engine 4, combining computer-generated content and live action 360-degree video. Users received a binary code, permitting access to the website "DiscoverWestworld.com" as part of a viral marketing campaign. Visitors were shown a trailer of a fictional travel site, leading them to order a trip to Westworld. A chatbot featured on the website, named Aeden, is available as a Google Assistant action on the smart speaker Google Home.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: In March 2018, to promote "Westworld"s second season, HBO constructed a real-life replica of the show's fictional Western "town" of Sweetwater during South by Southwest, built on two acres of open land just outside Austin, Texas. Fans took shuttles to the site, which was dressed in the Old West style, with over 60 actors playing the parts of the android "hosts".


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: At the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2020, prior to the third season, HBO held a special event hosted by "Incite", the fictional company to be introduced in the third season, with "hosts" attending the invited guests' needs.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The first season of "Westworld" (subtitled "The Maze") was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on November 7, 2017. It is the first scripted TV series to be released on 4K Blu-ray in the United States. The second season was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Blu-ray on December 4, 2018. The third season was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Blu-ray on November 17, 2020. The fourth season was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Blu-ray on November 29, 2022.


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Reception of the first season was largely positive, with particular praise for its visuals, story, and acting. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has an approval rating of 87% based on 384 reviews, with an average rating of 8.15/10. The site's consensus reads "With an impressive level of quality that honors its source material, the brilliantly addictive "Westworld" balances intelligent, enthralling drama against outright insanity." On Metacritic, the first season has a score of 74 out of 100, based on reviews from 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The editors of "TV Guide" placed "Westworld" fifth among the top ten picks for the most anticipated new shows of the 2016–17 season. In writer Tim Surette's overall review, he notes the perfect concept of blending the western premise into a futuristic setting, saying, "Well, "Westworld" has both, ensuring that it will be an exciting mashup of genres that will disrupt a television landscape that typically says we can only have one or the other." He also added, "The look of the show and its fine cast swing open the saloon doors, but the real treat will be the intelligent discussion of whether or not robots will eventually kill us all. Thankfully, creator Jonathan Nolan already showed us he's the go-to guy for A.I. with "Person of Interest"." Mary McNamara of "Los Angeles Times" wrote in a lauded review, "It isn't just great television, it's vivid, thought-provoking television that entertains even as it examines the darker side of entertainment." For the "San Francisco Chronicle", David Wiegand wrote, ""Westworld" isn't easy to understand at first, but you will be hooked nonetheless by unusually intelligent storytelling, powerful visuals and exceptionally nuanced performances." "Time"s chief critic Daniel D'Addario wrote, "Its carefully chosen details add up to a pulp spectacular that's more thoughtful than any other of this fall's new dramas."


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Jeff Jensen of "Entertainment Weekly" also lauded the series and said, "The depth of "Westworld" lies not in asking questions about memory, free will, and what makes us human, but in whether we can become more human than what we let ourselves to be, whether our stories can be richer and more meaningful than what the culture allows." Matthew Gilbert of "The Boston Globe" quipped, ""Westworld" has fewer heroes than "Game of Thrones", which makes it a bit harder to warm up to, but like a good, thought-provoking puzzle, it is compelling and addictive." In a brief review from "The Hollywood Reporter", Tim Goodman said, "Where "Westworld" is at its best is in the deeper issues that will unspool slowly, like a good mystery. Early episodes are adept at getting at the base attractions of the park and why people would come, but also in setting up a sense of confusion about motives. ... The series benefits from a number of standout performances." Robert Bianco of "USA Today" wrote, "The reward, beyond the visual splendors you’ve come to expect from big-budget HBO productions, is a set of characters who grow ever more complex." Several other publications wrote positive reviews, including "Indiewire", "The A.V. Club", "RogerEbert.com", "The New Yorker", and "The Atlantic".


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: In a mixed review for "The New York Times", chief critic James Poniewozik said, "It's an ambitious, if not entirely coherent, sci-fi shoot-’em-up that questions nihilistic entertainment impulses while indulging them." Hank Stuever of "The Washington Post" also joins Poniewozik saying, "I'm ... hesitant to write "Westworld" off as a dreary trot from start to finish; parts of it are as imaginative and intriguing as anything that's been on TV recently, particularly in the sci-fi realm," and further said, "It’s definitely not the cyborg "Deadwood", that some HBO fans were actively wishing for, nor does it roll out the welcome mat as a riveting, accessible adventure." Chief journalist Rob Owen of "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" also critiqued the series less favorably saying, "It is the definition of a slow-burn series, a program that should be exciting rendered as kind of dull." In a less enthusiastic review for "Variety", Maureen Ryan said, ""Westworld" looks terrific; its directors have shot its Western locations to stunning effect. But its warmly saturated outdoor scenes and its surface slickness aren't enough to mask the indecision, condescension, and hollowness at its core."


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: Novelist Kim Wilkins has critiqued the season for its misogynist portrayals. In her essay "These Violent Delights: Navigating Westworld as 'Quality' Television", Wilkins writes:


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The second season also received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 85% based on 470 reviews, with an average rating of 7.95/10. The site's consensus reads ""Westworld" builds on its experimental first season, diving deeper into the human side of AI without losing any of its stylish, bloody glory." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 76 out of 100, based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: In April 2018, after the second-season premiere, "Variety" published an article concerning the series' complicated narrative. Andrew Wallenstein wrote, ""Westworld" seems to have too much faith viewers will be willing to absorb storylines that can border on the incomprehensible." He also commented about the possible future success of the series, stating, "There will be a very vocal core fan base willing to do the homework of piecing together the show's many mysteries, but that's not broad enough a base to be the kind of flagship series HBO wants." At the press tour of the Television Critics Association, when the president of HBO programming Casey Bloys was asked about the complexity of the series and the negative response it had generated, he admitted that "Westworld" is not for "casual viewers".


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The third season received a positive reception from critics, though reviews became more mixed during the second half. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 73% based on 222 reviews, with an average rating of 7.05/10. The site's critics consensus reads: ""Westworld" succeeds in rebooting itself by broadening its scope beyond the titular amusement park while tightening its storytelling clarity – although some may feel that the soul has been stripped from this machine in the process." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: CNNs Brian Lowry wrote that "the show has become increasingly incomprehensible, at least for anyone not willing to put in the work trying to remember all the assorted connections, further complicated by the fact that dying in "Westworld" is often not a permanent state of affairs, amid the questions about who's truly human and who actually isn't." Writing for "Entertainment Weekly", Kristen Baldwin gave the series a "B−" and said: "After spending three seasons struggling through maddeningly complicated time-loops, it's time the writers let Dolores, Maeve, and Bernard control-alt-delete themselves", while Darren Franich wrote that series had "lost its way" and gave the season a "C". Reviewing the season finale for IndieWire, Ben Travers said: "Season 3 made a point of stripping away the rest of "Westworld"s building blocks: The park? Left behind. The maze? Gone. But the moral questions meant to keep you invested in the characters largely disappear, too. Season 3 doesn't bother developing its characters because it refuses to let them question the nature of their own reality."


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 76% based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads: ""Westworld"s continued reliance on mystery will frustrate just as much as it intrigues, but this fourth season still offers plenty of gleaming and menacing insight into a brave new world." Metacritic assigned a score of 64 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Westworld (TV series)

text: The series premiere had viewership numbers slightly less than those for "True Detective", but much better than "Vinyl", meaning that it was seen as "...off to a relatively promising start." The U.S. series premiere attracted 1.96 million viewers, with 0.8 million in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic. The premiere episode received 3.3 million viewers for its three Sunday night airings as well as on HBO's streaming platforms. The season one finale received 2.2 million viewers for its initial broadcast, and increased to 3.5 million including replays and on-demand viewing. The first season had an average cumulative viewership of 12 million viewers, making it the most-watched first season of an HBO series, and TorrentFreak gauged "Westworld" as the third-most-torrented television show of 2016.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 2003, Sudeikis was hired as a writer for "Saturday Night Live" and starred as a cast member from 2005 to 2013, playing Joe Biden and Mitt Romney, among others.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: In 2020, he co-created and began starring as the lead in the Apple TV+ sports comedy series "Ted Lasso", which earned him four nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards, including wins for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, two wins for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a TV Comedy Series in 2021 and 2022 and for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. Sudeikis has also acted in recurring roles in the comedy series "30 Rock" (2007–2010), "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (2010–2011), "Portlandia" (2011–2014), and "The Last Man on Earth" (2015–2018).


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: He had leading film roles in the comedies "Horrible Bosses" (2011) and its 2014 sequel, "Horrible Bosses 2" (2014), and "We're the Millers" (2013), as well as the acclaimed independent films "Drinking Buddies" (2013), "Sleeping with Other People" (2015), and "Colossal" (2016); and supporting roles in Alexander Payne's "Downsizing" (2017) and Olivia Wilde's "Booksmart" (2019). He has also provided voice-work for "Epic" (2013), "The Angry Birds Movie" (2016), its 2019 sequel, and "Next Gen" (2018).


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Daniel Jason Sudeikis was born on September 18, 1975, in Fairfax, Virginia, to Kathryn Sudeikis (née Wendt), a travel agent at Brennco and President of the American Society of Travel Agents, and Daniel Joseph Sudeikis, a vice president of business development, both originally from Illinois. He has two younger sisters, Kristin and Lindsay. His father is of Irish and Lithuanian descent, while his mother has German and Irish ancestry. His maternal uncle is actor George Wendt, known for his role as Norm Peterson on "Cheers", and his matrilineal great-grandfather was photographer Tom Howard.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis moved with his family to Overland Park within Johnson County, Kansas; which he has described as his hometown. He graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School and attended Fort Scott Community College on a basketball scholarship, but left before finishing.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: In the 1990s, Sudeikis began his career in improv comedy. He began performing at ComedySportz (now called Comedy City) in Kansas City, Missouri. He moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he studied at the Annoyance Theatre and IO Theater (formerly known as ImprovOlympic) and was one of the founding members of the long form team, J.T.S. Brown. He performed with Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, Netherlands.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis was later cast in The Second City Touring Company. In the early 2000s, he became a founding member of The Second City Las Vegas, where he performed at the Flamingo.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: In 2003, while a regular performer at The Second City Las Vegas, Sudeikis was hired as a sketch writer for "Saturday Night Live" ("SNL"), and would occasionally make bit appearances as audience members or extras. In May 2005, he became a featured player on the show, and was upgraded to repertory status at the beginning of the show's 32nd season on September 30, 2006. In July 2013, Sudeikis announced that he was leaving "SNL". In 2015, 2016, and 2019 he made occasional appearances on the show. On October 23, 2021, Sudeikis made his hosting debut with musical guest Brandi Carlile.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis had a recurring role on the series "30 Rock" (2007–2010), appearing in a total of 12 episodes. He played Floyd DeBarber, a love interest of Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon. Sudeikis last appeared in four episodes towards the end of the show's fourth season in 2010.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: He began his film career with supporting roles in "Watching the Detectives" (2007), "The Ten" (2007), "Meet Bill" (2007), "What Happens in Vegas" (2008) and "The Rocker" (2008). He did voice work for the videogame "Grand Theft Auto IV" (2008), playing the role of right-wing radio host Richard Bastion.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: In July 2008, Sudeikis co-starred with Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio in the web series "The Line" on Crackle.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: He had supporting roles in the movies "The Bounty Hunter" (2010) and "Going the Distance" (2010). On August 16, 2010, Sudeikis co-hosted "WWE Raw" with "Going the Distance" co-stars Charlie Day and Justin Long at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis was a voice actor on the animated-comedy series "The Cleveland Show" (2009–2013). He provided the voices for Holt Richter, Cleveland's wannabe hipster neighbor, and Terry Kimple, Cleveland's hard-partying high school buddy, who now works with Cleveland at the cable company. After being credited as a recurring guest in season one, Sudeikis was bumped up to a series regular beginning in season two.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: In May 2010, Sudeikis joined the cast of the Seth Gordon comedy film "Horrible Bosses" (2011). He had worked with Day when he played the role of Schmitty on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and reprised the role on that show's 7th-season finale. Sudeikis played his first lead film role in the Farrelly brothers comedy "Hall Pass" (2011).


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis became the voice for a line of advertisements of Applebee's that began running in 2012. Sudeikis made appearances in six episodes on the series "Eastbound & Down" (2012–2013). He starred as David Clark, a drug dealer, in "We're the Millers" (2013), alongside Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts and Will Poulter. He reprised his role of Kurt Buckman in "Horrible Bosses 2" (2014).


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis starred as Jake in the romantic-comedy film "Sleeping with Other People" (2015). He starred alongside Rebecca Hall in the romantic-drama film "Tumbledown" (2015).


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis voices the character of Red in the animated-comedy film "The Angry Birds Movie" (2016), based on the video game series of the same name. He starred alongside Anne Hathaway in "Colossal" (2016). He starred in "Masterminds" (2016). He portrayed Larry Snyder in "Race" (2016), Henry in "The Book of Love" (2016), and Bradley in "Mother's Day" (2016).


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: From November to December 2016, Sudeikis played the lead role of John Keating in the Classic Stage Company Off-Broadway production of "Dead Poets Society".


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis starred in "Kodachrome" (2017), alongside Ed Harris and Elizabeth Olsen. He made appearances as Glenn in "Permission" (2017) and as Dave Johnson in "Downsizing" (2017).


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis starred as a side-role/reference in the Derren Brown shows "Derren Brown: Secret" and "Derren Brown Underground", where he performed on a screen during the credits, and his name was used as a reference during the show in 2017 and 2018.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis starred in the thriller "Driven". Sudeikis voices the character of Justin Pin in the animated action comedy film "Next Gen". He played Red again in the 2019 animated-comedy "The Angry Birds Movie 2".


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis had portrayed Ted Lasso, a hapless American football coach brought to England to coach Tottenham Hotspur F.C as part of two promotional videos for NBC Sports in 2013 and 2014. In late 2019, Sudeikis co-wrote and starred in "Ted Lasso" about an American football coach that gets hired to coach an English football club, AFC Richmond (fictional football club). The series was released in August 2020 to a positive reception. It has earned him a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. At the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards, he was nominated for and won Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. In 2021, he appeared on the "Time" 100 ("Time"s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world) and "Bloomberg's" 50 Most Influential list.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: Sudeikis played on basketball teams at the 2011 and 2016 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game. He and other Kansas City celebrities have hosted the Big Slick for 10 years. The event raises money for the Cancer Center at Children's Mercy Hospital. So far, the event has raised more than $6 million for the cause.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: He hosted the benefit concert Thundergong! at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Missouri on November 3, 2018, for the charity foundation Steps of Faith which helps provide prosthetic legs and arms.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: In June 2004, Sudeikis married American screenwriter Kay Cannon after five years together. The two were on The Second City Las Vegas cast together. They separated in 2008 and divorced in February 2010.


title: Jason Sudeikis

text: In 2011, Sudeikis began dating American actress and filmmaker Olivia Wilde. The couple became engaged in January 2013. They have a son, born in April 2014, and a daughter, born in October 2016. In November 2020, "People" exclusively reported that Sudeikis and Wilde's relationship had ended in early 2020.


title: Oppenheimer (film)

text: Oppenheimer is an upcoming biographical film written and directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist credited with being the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project—the World War II undertaking that developed the first nuclear weapons. The film is based on "American Prometheus", a biography written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Josh Hartnett, and Kenneth Branagh also star. It is a co-production between Universal Pictures, Syncopy Inc. and Atlas Entertainment, with Nolan producing the film alongside Emma Thomas and Charles Roven.


title: Oppenheimer (film)

text: After Warner Bros. Pictures announced plans to give its 2021 films simultaneous releases in theaters and on HBO Max due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry in December 2020, Nolan expressed his disbelief with the decision. Nolan was announced to write and direct a biographical film set during World War II about J. Robert Oppenheimer in September 2021, with Universal Pictures being chosen as the distributor. Much of the main cast signed on between September 2021 and April 2022. Filming began in late February 2022, and wrapped that May. Rather than using computer-generated graphics environments, Nolan used real explosives to recreate the Trinity nuclear test.


title: Oppenheimer (film)

text: "Oppenheimer" is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 21, 2023, by Universal Pictures. It is Nolan's first film not to be distributed by Warner Bros. domestically or internationally since "Memento" (2000).


title: Oppenheimer (film)

text: The film follows the life of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory during the Manhattan Project, and his contributions that led to the creation of the atomic bomb.


title: Oppenheimer (film)

text: In December 2020, Warner Bros. Pictures announced plans to give its 2021 films simultaneous releases in theaters and on HBO Max due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry. Christopher Nolan, who had partnered with the studio on each one of his films starting with "Insomnia" (2002), expressed his disbelief with the decision. In January 2021, media reports mentioned the possibility that Nolan's next film could be the first to not be financed or distributed by Warner Bros. Nolan had previously supported the studio's decision to give "Wonder Woman 1984" (2020) a simultaneous release, stating that he perceived this situation to have been handled properly, but said he had been excluded from any discussions regarding the postponed release of his film "Tenet" (2020).


title: Oppenheimer (film)

text: In September 2021, it was announced that Nolan would write and direct a biographical film set during World War II about J. Robert Oppenheimer, creator of the atomic bomb, with Cillian Murphy in negotiations to star. Nolan approached multiple studios for the project, including Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and Apple Studios due to his strained relationship with Warner Bros. According to insiders, Paramount was out of the selection early on in the wake of the replacement of CEO and Chairman Jim Gianopulos with Brian Robbins, an advocate for increased streaming service releases. On September 14, it was confirmed that Universal would distribute the film, with production set to begin in the first quarter of 2022. Some of Nolan's demands included a production budget of $100 million and an equal marketing budget, a theatrical window of at least 100 days, 20 percent of the film's first-dollar gross, and a three-week period before and after the film's release in which Universal could not release another new film.


title: Oppenheimer (film)

text: "Oppenheimer" marks the sixth collaboration between Nolan and Murphy, and the first starring Murphy as the lead. To prepare for the role, the actor did what he summarized as "an awful lot of reading" on Oppenheimer's life. The casting process was so secretive that some of the actors did not know which role they were going to play until they signed on. Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt took pay cuts to work on the film, earning $4 million each in lieu of their usual $10–20 million salaries.


title: Oppenheimer (film)

text: Pre-production was underway by January 2022 in New Mexico, where a two-day casting call took place in Santa Fe and Los Alamos for people to audition to play local residents, military personnel and scientists. Another casting call was held in February. Filming began in late February 2022, with Hoyte van Hoytema serving as cinematographer. In the second week of April, filming took place at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. The film uses a combination of IMAX 65 mm and 65 mm large-format film. It is also the first film to shoot sections in IMAX black and white analog photography. Gary Oldman said he would be on set for a day in May for "one scene, a page and a half". Filming also occurred in California, primarily around University of California, Berkeley. Filming wrapped after four months in May 2022. Filming involved the use of real explosives to recreate the Trinity nuclear test, forgoing the use of computer generated graphics.


title: Oppenheimer (film)

text: During post-production, editing will be completed by Jennifer Lame, and the musical score will be composed by Ludwig Göransson, who previously edited and scored "Tenet". Visual effects were handled by DNEG, marking their eighth collaboration with Nolan. Andrew Jackson was the visual effects supervisor.


title: Oppenheimer (film)

text: "Oppenheimer" is scheduled to be released on July 21, 2023, by Universal Pictures in IMAX, 70 mm, and 35 mm. Considering the film's budget and marketing costs, "Variety" stated that the film will need to gross at least $400 million worldwide to make a profit.


title: Oppenheimer (film)

text: A teaser trailer was released in July 2022, featuring a live countdown to 5:29 AM (MST) on July 16, 2023, the 78th anniversary of the first detonation of an atomic weapon; it premiered in screenings of "Nope" (2022) before being posted online on Universal's social media profiles. Two more trailers premiered in front of "", one of which was exclusive to IMAX screenings.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Keira Christina Righton (; née Knightley, born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in both independent films and blockbusters, particularly period dramas, she has received several accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, and a Laurence Olivier Award. In 2018, she was appointed an OBE at Buckingham Palace for services to drama and charity.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Born in London to actors Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald, Knightley obtained an agent at age six and initially worked in commercials and television films. She had a minor role as Sabé in the space opera "" (1999). Her breakthrough came when she played a tomboy footballer in the sports film "Bend It Like Beckham" (2002), and went on to achieve global stardom for playing Elizabeth Swann in the swashbuckler fantasy series "Pirates of the Caribbean", beginning in 2003. She appeared in the romantic comedy "Love Actually" (2003) and was labelled a promising teen star.


title: Keira Knightley

text: For her portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet in the period romance "Pride & Prejudice" (2005), Knightley was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She starred in a number of more period pieces, playing a complex love interest in "Atonement" (2007), tastemaker Georgiana Cavendish in "The Duchess" (2008), and the titular socialite in "Anna Karenina" (2012). She forayed into contemporary dramas, appearing as an aspiring musician in "Begin Again" (2013) and a medical student in "" (2014). Knightley returned to historical films playing Joan Clarke in "The Imitation Game" (2014), earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and starred as the eponymous writer in "Colette" (2018).


title: Keira Knightley

text: On stage, Knightley has appeared in two West End productions: "The Misanthrope" in 2009, which earned her an Olivier Award nomination, and "The Children's Hour" in 2011. She also starred as the eponymous heroine in the 2015 Broadway production of "Thérèse Raquin". Knightley is known for her outspoken stance on social issues and has worked extensively with Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Comic Relief. She is married to musician James Righton and they have two daughters.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Keira Christina Knightley was born on 26 March 1985 in the London suburb of Teddington, to stage actors Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald. She was meant to be named "Kiera", the anglicised form of "Kira", after the Soviet figure skater Kira Ivanova, whom her father admired; however, Macdonald misspelt the name when she registered her daughter's birth certificate, writing the "e" before the "i". Her father is English and her mother is of Scottish and Welsh descent. Knightley has an older brother, Caleb. Macdonald worked as a playwright after her acting career came to an end. Knightley's parents encountered substantial financial difficulties following the birth of her brother; her father, a "middling" actor, agreed to a second child only if her mother sold a script first. However, her parents' varying degrees of success did not deter Knightley's curiosity about the profession. Macdonald introduced her own children to theatre and ballet very early. This inspired Knightley's interest in acting.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley attended Teddington School. She was diagnosed with dyslexia at age six, but by the time she was eleven, with her parents' support, she says, "they deemed me to have got over it sufficiently". She is still a slow reader and cannot read out loud. Knightley has said she was "single-minded about acting". At age three, she requested to obtain an agent like her parents and secured one at six. This led to her taking a number of small parts in television dramas. She acted in a number of local amateur productions, which included "After Juliet", written by her mother, and "United States", written by her drama teacher. Knightley began studying her A-Levels at Esher College, but left after a year to pursue an acting career. Her mother's friends encouraged her to go to drama school, which she declined for financial and professional reasons.


title: Keira Knightley

text: After obtaining an agent at age six, Knightley began working in commercials and small television roles. Her first onscreen appearance was in the 1993 "Screen One" television episode titled "Royal Celebration". She then played Natasha Jordan, a young girl whose mother is involved in an extramarital affair, in the romantic drama "A Village Affair" (1995). After appearing in a spate of television films through the mid-to-late 1990s, including "Innocent Lies" (1995), "The Treasure Seekers" (1996), "Coming Home" (1998), and "Oliver Twist" (1999), Knightley landed the role of Sabé, Padmé Amidala's handmaiden and decoy, in the 1999 science fiction blockbuster "". Her dialogue was dubbed over by Natalie Portman, who played Padmé. Knightley was cast in the role because of her close resemblance to Portman; even the two actresses' mothers had difficulty telling their daughters apart when they were in full make-up.


title: Keira Knightley

text: In her first major role, the 2001 Walt Disney Productions television film "Princess of Thieves", Knightley played the daughter of Robin Hood. In preparation for the part, she trained for several weeks in archery, fencing, and riding. Concurrently, she appeared in "The Hole", a thriller that received a direct-to-video release in the US. The film's director Nick Hamm described her as "a young version of Julie Christie". Knightley also took on the role of Lara Antipova in the 2002 miniseries adaptation of "Doctor Zhivago", to positive reviews and high ratings. In the same year, Knightley starred as a pregnant drug addict in Gillies MacKinnon's drama film "Pure". Co-starring Molly Parker and Harry Eden, the film had its world premiere at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival. In a retrospect review for AboutFilm.com, Carlo Cavagna noted Knightley's screen presence and wrote that "[although Knightley] doesn't have half of Parker's ability [...] she has spunk and grit [and] shines brightly in "Pure"".


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley landed a breakthrough role when she starred in Gurinder Chadha's sports comedy film "Bend It Like Beckham", which was a box office hit in the U.K and U.S. Knightley portrayed Jules, a tomboy football player struggling against social norms who convinces her friend to pursue the sport. The film surprised critics who were laudatory of its "charming" and "inspiring" nature, social context and the cast's performances. Knightley and her co-star Parminder Nagra attracted international attention for their performances; critic James Berardinelli, who was largely laudatory of the film and the "energetic and likable" cast, noted that Knightley and Nagra brought "a lot of spirit to their instantly likable characters". To prepare for their roles, they underwent three months of extensive football training under the English football coach Simon Clifford. Knightley was initially sceptical of the project: in an interview with Tracy Smith she said, "I remember telling friends I was doing this girls' soccer movie [...] And nobody thought that it was gonna be any good."


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley portrayed the role of Elizabeth Swann, in the 2003 American fantasy swashbuckler film "". The film, based on the Disney theme park attraction, revolves around infamous buccaneer Jack Sparrow and blacksmith Will Turner rescuing Swann, in possession of a cursed golden medallion, from 18th-century pirates. The producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski cast Knightley for her "indescribable quality [...] reminiscent of motion picture stars from Hollywood's heyday." Knightley underestimated the stunt work required and believed she would primarily be sitting in carriages; at one point during filming, she stood for two days on a plank and rejected a stunt double's offer to jump off the platform for the scene. Despite boasting the names of stars like Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom and a $135 million budget, "Pirates" was expected to fail at the box office. Knightley herself was not optimistic about its prospects. The film opened at number one on the box office, and became one of the highest-grossing releases of the year, with worldwide revenues of $654 million. Elvis Mitchell of "The New York Times" likened Knightley's "strident and confident" physical assurance to that of Nicole Kidman, while Keith Phipps of "The A.V. Club" branded her and Bloom as appealing leads.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Also in 2003, Knightley appeared in Richard Curtis's Christmas-themed romantic comedy "Love Actually", featuring an ensemble cast, which included her childhood idol Emma Thompson. Knightley played Juliet, a woman whose fiancée's best man is secretly in love with her. Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" criticised the waste of Knightley's talent in a "nothing" role, while Megan Conner of "The Guardian" remarked that the film turned Knightley into a household name. "Love Actually" has been referred to as a modern-day Christmas classic. Knightley believes the film's trajectory to be "extraordinary", given that its popularity resurfaced a few years after the film's release. Knightley's only release of 2004 was the historical film "King Arthur", where she played Guinevere, a warrior queen and the wife of the titular character. The part required her to learn boxing, archery, and riding. The critic A. O. Scott praised Knightley for "throw[ing] herself bodily into every scene". Although the film received unfavourable reviews, Knightley's stature as a performer grew; she was voted by the readers of "Hello" magazine as the industry's most promising teen star, and featured in "Time" magazine's article, which stated that she seemed dedicated to develop herself as a serious actor rather than a film star.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley appeared in three films in 2005, the first of which was the psychological thriller "The Jacket", co-starring Adrien Brody. In a mixed review for "Empire", Kim Newman wrote that the role was unlike the ones she had previously taken up : "getting out of period gear and talking American, tries to broaden her range and is arguably well-cast". Knightley next played the titular character in Tony Scott's French-American action film "Domino", based on the life of Domino Harvey. The film's release was delayed on several occasions and, on its eventual release in November, it received negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley's most successful release of the year was "Pride & Prejudice", a period drama based on Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice". The director Joe Wright cast Knightley for her tomboyish nature combined with a "lively mind" and sense of humour. Knightley, who had admired the book from a young age, said of her character, "The beauty of Elizabeth is that every woman who ever reads the book seems to recognise herself, with all her faults and imperfections." On release, the film became a huge commercial success, with total collections of around US$120million worldwide, and received positive reviews from critics. Writing for "The Guardian", Peter Bradshaw labelled her performance of "beauty, delicacy, spirit and wit; in her growing lustre and confidence" and Derek Elley of "Variety" found her "luminous strength" to be reminiscent of a young Audrey Hepburn. Knightley earned "Best Actress in a Leading Role" nominations at the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards for her performance at age 20, becoming the third-youngest nominee for the latter. Knightley's consecutive successes came with increased media scrutiny, and she later admitted to experiencing struggles with her mental health during this period.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, among other artists in 2006. Later that year, she reprised her role as Elizabeth Swann in the second and third productions of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series. The two sequels were conceived in 2004, with screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio developing a story arc that would span both films. The plot of the films see Swann buck convention to seek adventure and become fierce pirate and fighter to match the skills of Sparrow and her love interest, Turner. The sequel instalments allowed Knightley to study sword-fighting, which she had sought to do since the first film. Filming for the projects took place in 2005; the "", released in July 2006. With the worldwide collections of $1.066 billion, it became the biggest financial hit of Knightley's career. The third instalment in the series, "", was released in May, the following year. A. O Scott termed her performance "a vision of imperial British pluckiness, with an intriguing dash of romantic recklessness that surfaces toward the end".


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley's continued association with period dramas yielded varying results, as seen with two of her 2007 releases, François Girard's "Silk", and Joe Wright's "Atonement", the feature film adaptations of the novels by Alessandro Baricco and Ian McEwan respectively. The former project failed at the box office, while the latter became a critical and commercial success. Knightley played Cecilia Tallis, the elder of the two Tallis sisters, who struggles with a wartime romance with her love interest, played by James McAvoy. She admitted that the pacing on the smaller, more intimate film was an adjustment compared to the "Pirates" franchise. In preparing for the film, Knightley studied the novel as well as the "naturalism" of the performance as seen in films from the 1930s and 1940s, such as "In Which We Serve" (1942) and "Brief Encounter" (1945). She admired the multi-layered and "fascinating" nature of her character's behaviour. Knightley's performance won the Empire Award for Best Actress, and earned her nominations for the BAFTA and the Golden Globes awards, also in the leading actress categories. The critic Richard Roeper, who thought the lead duo were "superb" in their respective roles, was puzzled by their failure to receive Academy Award nominations. The green dress worn by Knightley during the film's climactic scene garnered substantive press attention, and was subsequently regarded as one of the greatest costumes in film history.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley appeared alongside Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy, and Matthew Rhys in John Maybury's 2008 wartime drama "The Edge of Love". The film had her play the role of Vera Phillips, a childhood friend of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin Macnamara. Knightley wrote the script with her mother, Sharman Macdonald, with Macnamara in mind. After Knightley signed on, her character's role was increased with the film focusing on her romance with a British soldier. Knightley connected to Vera's quietness, and described her as "tragic and beautiful". She based her performance on Marlene Dietrich, and was to mime to her prerecorded voice, before being told by Maybury to sing live. Knightley initially felt embarrassed to do so, saying she "[shook] like a leaf" but eventually went through with the plan. Upon release, the film became a moderate critical and commercial success. Knightley's performance and singing abilities were praised;"The Independent" noted that Knightley "gives Vera an independence and complexity that's aeons ahead", while the "Los Angeles Times" wrote "the film belongs to the women, with Knightley going from strength to strength (and showing she can sing!)".


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley then starred as the 18th-century English aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire in Saul Dibb's period drama "The Duchess" (2008), based on the best-selling biographical novel, "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire" by Amanda Foreman. The film tells the story of Georgiana's rise in society as a sociopolitical tastemaker after her marriage disintegrates. The script Knightley was sent was covered in "huge white ostrich feathers" and a gold ribbon. Gabrielle Tana, the film's producer, stated Knightley "brought an instinctive understanding" of such aspects of Georgiana's life as a celebrity from her own experiences. Knightley was attracted to her character's strength and status as a political influence and fashion prowess, while being inwardly vulnerable and isolated. Simon Crooke of "Empire" described her performance as "an enigmatic, free-spirited turn and a role she'll be remembered for, probably her best role to date in a film not directed by Joe Wright." The following year, she was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Best Actress. A film adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear" set to star Knightley and Anthony Hopkins was cancelled due to recession.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley made her West End debut with Martin Crimp's version of Molière's comedy "The Misanthrope". Starring Knightley, Damian Lewis, Tara Fitzgerald, and Dominic Rowan, the play was staged at the Comedy Theatre in December 2009. She portrayed Jennifer, a shallow, amorous, and vulnerable American film star who is courted by an analytical and veracious playwright. Knightley chose the role as she felt that "if I don't do theatre right now, I think I'm going to start being too terrified to do it" and described the production as an "extraordinary and incredibly fulfilling" experience, she was sceptical of her performance. Paul Taylor of "The Independent" remarked that Knightley was "not only strikingly convincing, but, at times, rather thrilling in its satiric aplomb". However, "The Guardian"s Michael Billington noted that due to the nature of the role, "one could say that she is not unduly stretched". In recognition of her theatre debut, Knightley was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and an "Evening Standard" Award.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley began the new decade with three films; she remarked that her work during this period helped her "empathise with people or with situations that I don't necessarily find it easy to empathise with". Two of the productions, Massy Tadjedin's romantic drama "Last Night" and William Monahan's crime noir film "London Boulevard" opened to mixed responses from critics and rank among the lowest-grossing films in Knightley's career. Knightley's other release, "Never Let Me Go", an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel of the same name fared better at the box office and received positive reviews. Knightley described the script as unique, one that made the reader think. Co-starring Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan, Knightley played Ruth, one of three graduates of an autocratic boarding school that discovers their fates in a dystopia. She appeared in a video installation by artist Stuart Pearson Wright titled "Maze".


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley starred in a 2011 revival of "The Children's Hour" by Lillian Hellman at the Comedy Theatre in London. She portrayed Karen Wright, an engaged schoolteacher accused of lesbianism in 1934. Ben Brantley of "The New York Times" commented that her performance showed an "intensity" and "credible fierceness" within the outdated material. Knightley's sole film release of 2011 was David Cronenberg's historical drama "A Dangerous Method", co-starring Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, and Vincent Cassel. Based on writer Christopher Hampton's 2002 stage play "The Talking Cure" and set on the eve of World War I, the film depicts the turbulent relationships between fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung, his mentor Sigmund Freud and Sabina Spielrein. Knightley portrayed Spielrein, the troubled but beautiful young psychoanalyst who comes between Jung and Freud. Knightley spent four months reading and discussing her character's behaviour with psychologists to prepare for the role. She appreciated the depth and variety of her character arc, which she viewed as rare for female roles. The film premiered at the 68th Venice International Film Festival to a positive reception, while Knightley earned generally favourable reviews by critics, with Andrew O'Hehir of "Salon" hailing her as "the real star of this film".


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley co-starred with Steve Carell in the 2012 comedy-drama "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World", which was critically panned." Later that year, she reunited with director Joe Wright to film their third production, "Anna Karenina", in which she starred as the title character. She deemed this collaboration the most important of her career. Knightley viewed that her character's complex "moral culpability" was in question, but attracted compassion. Knightley received positive reviews for her performance, prompting early Oscar buzz. Batsy Sharky of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that Knightley "puts hearts and anguish on the line in trying to bring an emotional reality". The 2013 Toronto International Film Festival saw the premiere of Knightley's first musical film "Begin Again" with Mark Ruffalo. Directed by John Carney, the film had its theatrical release in 2014. "The Guardian" found Knightley and Ruffalo to be "nicely natural as the increasingly idealistic musos". Carney later repeatedly criticised Knightley's performance in the film, saying she was not convincing enough in portraying a singer-songwriter and derogatorily referred to her as a "model". He later apologised to her via Twitter for his comments. Knightley later remarked that music "never sinks in" for her, and she is more interested in books and drama. Later that year, she appeared in Karl Lagerfeld's short period film "Once Upon a Time..."


title: Keira Knightley

text: In July 2014, Knightley stated that she had reached the end of the first stage of her career, and wished to depart from "neurotic" roles. 2014 began for Knightley with the spy thriller "", the fifth instalment in the film series, alongside Chris Pine. She portrayed Dr. Cathy Muller, Ryan's eventual wife. Knightley sought to do a lighter film than her previous work, looked forward to working with director Kenneth Branagh. The film received mixed critical reviews nonetheless strong box-office response. Knightley's next film "Laggies", premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. A romantic comedy also starring Chloë Grace Moretz and Sam Rockwell, the film follows the life of Megan, played by Knightley, a 28-year-old overeducated underachiever going through a quarter-life crisis. Knightley empathised with her character's delayed maturity and appreciated the film's telling from a female perspective. "Laggies" opened to mostly positive reviews from critics, with Knightley's performance praised by critics. Inkoo Kaang of "TheWrap" referred to her as a "loose-limbed revelation" and lauded her "delightfully uncouth" performance.


title: Keira Knightley

text: The film was followed by her appearance in Morten Tyldum's historical drama "The Imitation Game", a film based on the life of British mathematician Alan Turing, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Knightley portrayed cryptanalyst and numismatist Joan Clarke, who decrypted German intelligence codes for the British government during World War II with Turing. Knightley researched interviews with Clarke, and sought to keep her "upper-class quality", drawing on the depth of her emotions and protectiveness of Turing from the script. "The Imitation Game" became a critical and commercial success grossing over $233.6 million. For her performance, Knightley received her second Academy Award and BAFTA Award nominations, and third Golden Globe Award nomination, all for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Conversely, Lady Jean Forde, who worked with Clarke and Turing, felt Knightley was "nothing like" Clarke and was "too beautiful" to play her.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley's sole release in 2015 was as part of the ensemble cast in the biographical disaster film "Everest". The film was based on the 1996 Mount Everest disaster with Knightley portraying mountaineer Rob Hall's wife. "Everest" opened to generally positive reviews from critics. "Variety" wrote that Knightley gave a "deeply felt performance" as a woman "haunted by the possibility" of losing her spouse. In October 2015, Knightley made her Broadway debut playing the title role in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Émile Zola's "Thérèse Raquin" at Studio 54. Knightly took the role after turning down the project twice, as she thought herself incapable of playing the part. She found interest in her character's "caged" circumstance, as well as her dark, active role in the play, as she sought to depart from passive supporting roles. Of her performance, Alexandra Villarreal of "The Huffington Post" wrote: "She fumes, and rages, and withdraws, and you can watch her psychological evolution from stifled wife to impassioned mistress to haunted murderer".


title: Keira Knightley

text: In 2016, it emerged that Knightley was set to star in a feature biopic about 18th-century Russian empress "Catherine the Great", directed by Barbra Streisand, which has not come to fruition. Knightley appeared in the ensemble drama "Collateral Beauty" (2016), alongside Will Smith, Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, and Helen Mirren. The film was critically panned, and earned the cast a Razzie nomination. Despite previously stating on a number of occasions that she would never return to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, Knightley reprised the role of Elizabeth Swann with a cameo appearance in 2017's "", after test audiences repeatedly inquired about her character.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley starred in the biographical drama "Colette" as the titular French author. The film sees Colette's social ascent in belle époque society through her provocative novels, but she is exploited by her husband, who plagiarises her work. Knightley believed the film connected strongly to modern-day feminism, and depicted cultural change in gender politics. To prepare for the part, Knightley read Colette's novels, among them "The Vagabond" and "Chéri", and initially planned to visit her birthplace of Burgundy, France. She found the author "inspiring", and admired her imperfections as well as her courage. The film, released at the Sundance Film Festival, was critically successful, with Knightley's performance receiving acclaim. Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" praised her vibrance and "expressive physicality", and Jordan Hoffman of "The Guardian" wrote that the film saw Knightley in "top form: luminous, clever, sexy and sympathetic." Knightley was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.


title: Keira Knightley

text: The same year, she played the Sugar Plum Fairy in Disney's adaptation of "The Nutcracker", titled "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms", which was critically panned. In 2019, Knightley co-starred in "The Aftermath", a film adaptation of the novel by Rhidian Brook, alongside Alexander Skarsgård. Knightley played Rachel, a "cold and complex" British army wife traumatised by her son's death by a German bomb. The film sees her and her husband move to Germany while dealing with grief. The film received mixed reviews. "The Boston Globe"s Ty Burr credited Knightley for adding "conviction, grace, heart, and nerve" to the film, while Katie Walsh of the "Los Angeles Times" felt Knightley and Skarsgård were too reserved. Knightley portrayed whistleblower Katharine Gun in "Official Secrets" (2019), which was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 28 January 2019 to positive reviews. Knightley believed the film's depiction of Iraq War and government accountability connected with modern politics. Writing for "The Guardian", Peter Bradshaw praised Knightley's "focused, plausible and sympathetic performance". Gun also expressed her contentment with the film.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley's first role of the decade was feminist activist Sally Alexander in "Misbehaviour" (2020), a film about the crowning of the first black contestant at the 1970 Miss World competition. The film discusses the nuances of intersectionality in second wave feminism; Knightley was drawn to the political aspects of the project. "Misbehaviour" was received positively, with "Variety"s Guy Lodge dubbing Knightly "likable as ever" but admitted she portrays "the least intriguing figure". Knightley was due to produce and star in "The Essex Serpent", an Apple TV+ adaptation of Sarah Perry's novel, but dropped out over concerns about access to childcare during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic. She starred in the 2021 holiday comedy "Silent Night". Knightley voiced the lead role in the dramatic animated film "Charlotte", a true story about a young artist during the Holocaust.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley will star in an adaptation of Ann Leckie's sci-fi novel "Ancillary Justice", as well as reporter Loretta McLaughlin in the drama film "Boston Strangler" based on the infamous true story of Boston Strangler murders, written and directed by Matt Ruskin.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Off-screen, Geoffrey Macnab of "The Independent" describes Knightley as "sensible and self-deprecating" and Elizabeth Day of "Harper's Bazaar" says of Knightley's persona: "She is extremely nice, swears more than you might think and – yes – [...] effortlessly beautiful". Writing for "The New York Times", Jesse McKinley stated that Knightley is "known for her ability to sparkle and charm in several accents", while her "Thérèse Raquin" co-star, Judith Light, praised her "down-to-earth demeanor, intelligence and sense of humor".


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley has been described as "famously open with media", though she has asserted the contrary. During the 2000s, Knightley faced an "extraordinary amount of vitriol" from the press. "The Guardian" wrote that "if she is not too pretty to be worthy of her success, she is too posh, too thin. if there is a more valid reason why [...] they often struggle to articulate it." Despite multiple successful films and award nominations, the criticism affected her, and Knightley felt that she "didn't know [her] trade." Media scrutiny decreased as her career progressed, and she spaces out her public appearances to maintain attention on her films. Beginning in the 2010s, Knightley regained confidence in her abilities, and by the release of "Colette" (2018), she felt she had learnt her craft and mentally occupied a "good place where I feel pretty confident about what I can do".


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley has been widely recognised for her extensive repertoire of period dramas throughout her career. She identifies with "break[ing] out of that image of femininity" and appreciates period films' "overt cage" to demonstrate such. Writer Anne Helen Petersen states that the varying personalities of her historical roles are united in the "larger idea" Knightley represents: "that of women ostensibly performing a version of proper womanhood — all while quietly negotiating, or cracking under, the weight of doing so." She has criticised contemporary-set films, finding their depiction of sexual violence against women excessive. Knightley is reputed for her signature "strong female lead" roles and she has been compared to actresses Katharine Hepburn, Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn, and Nicole Kidman.


title: Keira Knightley

text: In a 2004 BBC poll, she was named among the most influential people in British culture. Knightley has often been ascribed to the "English rose" archetype. Knightley has been included several times on "FHM"s "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list, making her first appearance in 2004 and topping the list in 2006; she was included in every subsequent issue until 2009. She was part of the American editions of the list from 2004 to 2006, and was also placed ninth on the "Maxim" Hot 100 list in 2006.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley received media attention for her perspectives on feminism, voiced in an interview with "Harper's Bazaar UK" published in the February 2014 edition. She explained that women face greater hurdles in the film industry compared to their male counterparts, and also revealed that she was perplexed by the use of "feminist" in a derogatory sense. Knightley posed topless for the September 2014 cover of "Interview" magazine, on condition that the image not be digitally altered, to draw attention to how "women's bodies are a battleground and photography is partly to blame." For International Women's Day 2014, Knightley was one of the artist signatories of Amnesty International's letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, in which the organisation campaigned for women's rights in Afghanistan. After the birth of her first daughter, she penned an essay about childbirth, entitled "The Weaker Sex", featured in the collection "Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Other Lies". Knightley does not shoot nude scenes for her films, unless directed by a female filmmaker.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley is the face of an Amnesty International campaign to support human rights, marking the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 2004, she travelled to Ethiopia alongside Richard Curtis, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Julian Metcalfe on behalf of the Comic Relief charity. She posed for photos for WaterAid in 2005 and also for the American Library Association's "Read" campaign (a promotional poster of "Pride & Prejudice"). The dress she wore to the 2006 Academy Awards was donated to the charity Oxfam, where it raised £4,300. In April 2009, Knightley appeared in a video to raise awareness of domestic abuse entitled "Cut" shot for Women's Aid. The video created controversy, with some sources calling it too graphic, while other groups support the video for showing a realistic depiction of domestic violence. In November 2010, Knightley became patron of the SMA Trust, a British charity that funds medical research into the disease spinal muscular atrophy. In July 2014 Knightley travelled to South Sudan on behalf of Oxfam to meet refugees of the South Sudanese Civil War and raise awareness of the conflict.


title: Keira Knightley

text: In May 2016, Knightley signed a letter imploring Britain to vote "remain" in the UK EU referendum. The letter was also signed by John le Carré, Benedict Cumberbatch and Danny Boyle among others. Later, she appeared in a video aimed at encouraging younger people to vote in the referendum. On 12 September 2016, Knightley, along with Cate Blanchett, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Peter Capaldi, Douglas Booth, Neil Gaiman, Jesse Eisenberg, Juliet Stevenson, Kit Harington and Stanley Tucci, appeared in a video from the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR to help raise awareness of the global refugee crisis. The video, titled "What They Took With Them", has the actors reading a poem, written by Jenifer Toksvig and inspired by primary accounts of refugees, and is part of UNHCR's #WithRefugees campaign, of which also includes a petition to governments to expand asylum to provide further shelter, integrating job opportunities, and education. In September 2016, Knightley co-hosted A Night to Remember, part of the Green Carpet Challenge, a charity event highlighting sustainability within the fashion industry.


title: Keira Knightley

text: In September 2017, Knightley traded stocks on behalf of the spinal muscular atrophy charity SMA Trust as part of the BGC Charity Day, which was set up to commemorate the stockbrokers who were killed during the September 11 attacks. In April 2020, Knightley participated in a World Health Day livestream to raise money for charity during the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, she and other celebrities designed a range of pin badges for the #PinYourThanks campaign, dedicated to thanking essential workers. All profits went to NHS Charities Together and Volunteering Matters. In October 2020, she backed Made By Dyslexia, a global campaign to help teachers address “dyslexic strengths”. It has trained a quarter of a million teachers and started an online program. Knightley participated in a skit entitled "2020 The Movie", commemorating Red Nose Day 2021.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley was the celebrity face for the luxury goods brands Asprey and Shiatzy Chen as well as Lux haircare products in Japanese television commercials. In April 2006, she was confirmed as the new celebrity face of Chanel's perfume Coco Mademoiselle, though the first photo from the campaign was not released until May 2007. Knightley has appeared in television commercials for Chanel directed by Joe Wright since 2007, and has endorsed Chanel Fine Jewellery's collection Coco Crush. In 2008, Knightley was the highest-earning British Hollywood star according to the "Forbes" Celebrity 100 list and was named amongst the most bankable actors in 2009.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley previously dated actors Del Synnott, Jamie Dornan, and Rupert Friend. She began a relationship with musician James Righton in February 2011. They married on 4 May 2013 in Mazan, France. Knightley wore a Chanel knee-length grey tulle bustier dress for the ceremony, with accessories designed by Karl Lagerfeld. The couple had a second wedding ceremony for close friends, during which Knightley wore a lace Valentino gown with pink floral embroidery. They have two daughters together, born in 2015 and 2019. The family reside in Canonbury, Islington, London. Knightley advocates for equal paternity leave and has spoken about the expense of childcare in England. She remarked in 2016 on "how lucky I've been to be able to afford really good childcare, otherwise it would be at least four years out of my career." She has no social media profiles in an effort to preserve her family's privacy.


title: Keira Knightley

text: In 2007, Knightley won a libel case against the British tabloid "Daily Mail" after it falsely claimed that she had an eating disorder. She was awarded £3,000 in damages; she added to the sum and donated £6,000 to Beat, a charity for those with mental illness and eating disorders. In February 2010, a 41-year-old man was charged with harassment after trying to contact Knightley on several occasions outside the Comedy Theatre in London, where she starred in the play "The Misanthrope". The subsequent trial folded after she was unavailable to testify in court. Another man was sentenced to eight weeks in prison after harassing Knightley outside her home and stalking her in December 2016.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley took a break from working in 2006, suggesting that she wanted to take some time off acting to travel and focus on her personal life. In 2018, Knightley revealed that she had a mental breakdown at age 22 and had been later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), since she struggled to adjust to her sudden rise to stardom. She recounted how she did not leave her home for three months up until early 2008, and needed to have hypnotherapy to prevent panic attacks so she could be able to attend that year's BAFTA Awards, where she was nominated for her performance in "Atonement".


title: Keira Knightley

text: According to the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Knightley's most critically successful films are "Bend It Like Beckham" (2002), "Love Actually", (2003), "" (2003), "Pride & Prejudice" (2005), "Atonement" (2007), "The Duchess" (2008), "Never Let Me Go" (2010), "A Dangerous Method" (2011), "The Imitation Game" (2014), "Everest" (2015), "Colette" (2018), "Official Secrets" (2019), and "Misbehaviour" (2020). Her television appearances include "Oliver Twist" (1999), "Princess of Thieves" (2001), and "Doctor Zhivago" (2002). On stage, Knightley has starred in "The Misanthrope" and "The Children's Hour" at the Harold Pinter Theatre, as well as in "Thérèse Raquin" at the Roundabout Theatre Company.


title: Keira Knightley

text: Knightley has received two Academy Award nominations: Best Actress for "Pride & Prejudice" (2005) and Best Supporting Actress for "The Imitation Game" (2014). She has been nominated at the Golden Globe Awards for the Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama, Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture categories, for her performances in "Pride & Prejudice" (2005) "Atonement" (2007) and "The Imitation Game", (2014), respectively. Knightley has twice been nominated at the British Academy Film Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role for "Atonement" (2007), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role and for "The Imitation Game" (2014). She also received nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Play for "The Misanthrope". She won the Empire Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Atonement" (2007) after five nominations.


title: Wagner Group

text: The Wagner Group (), also known as PMC Wagner (; ), is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is variously described as a private military company (PMC), a network of mercenaries, or a "de facto" private army of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The group operates beyond the law because private military contractors are officially forbidden in Russia. While the Wagner Group itself is not ideologically driven, various elements of Wagner have been linked to neo-Nazis and far-right extremists.


title: Wagner Group

text: The group came to global prominence during the war in Donbas in Ukraine, where it aided separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics from 2014 to 2015. Its contractors have reportedly taken part in various conflicts around the world—including the civil wars in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Mali, often fighting on the side of forces aligned with the Russian government. Wagner operatives have committed war crimes in areas where they are deployed. The accusations include rapes and robberies of civilians, and torturing accused deserters.


title: Wagner Group

text: Because it operates in support of Russian interests, receives military equipment from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and uses installations of MoD for training, Wagner Group is frequently considered an arm's-length unit of the MoD or Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU. The group is widely believed to be owned or financed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with close links to Putin. After years of denying links to the Wagner group, Prigozhin admitted in September 2022 that he 'founded' the paramilitary group. It is speculated that the Wagner Group is used by the Russian government to allow for plausible deniability in certain conflicts, and to obscure the number of casualties and financial costs of Russia's foreign interventions from the public; it has most recently been tied to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, where it has been reportedly deployed to assassinate Ukrainian leaders, and its wide recruitment and deployment of prisoners and convicts to the frontlines.


title: Wagner Group

text: The Wagner Group first appeared in Ukraine in 2014, where it participated in the annexation of Crimea. The group was also active in 2014, fighting with Russia-backed separatists in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. Dmitriy Valeryevich Utkin, a veteran of the First and Second Chechen Wars, reportedly founded the group. Until 2008 or 2013, Utkin served as lieutenant colonel and brigade commander of a unit of special forces of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), the 700th Independent Spetsnaz Detachment of the 2nd Independent Brigade. After leaving the military, he began working in 2013 for the Moran Security Group, a private company founded by Russian military veterans, which was involved in security and training missions worldwide, and specializes in security against piracy. The same year, senior Moran Security Group managers were involved in setting up the Hong Kong-based Slavonic Corps, which headhunted contractors to "protect oil fields and pipelines" in Syria during its civil war. Utkin was deployed in Syria as a member of the Slavonic Corps, surviving its disastrous mission. Subsequently, Russia's Federal Security Service arrested some members of the Slavonic Corps for illegal mercenary activity.


title: Wagner Group

text: In 2021, the "Foreign Policy" report noted the origin of the name "Wagner" to be unknown. Others say the group's name comes from Utkin's own call sign "Wagner", reportedly after the German composer Richard Wagner, which he is said to have chosen due to his passion for the Third Reich (Wagner being Adolf Hitler's favorite composer). As such, some believe he is a neo-Nazi, with "The Economist" reporting that Utkin has several Nazi tattoos. Members of Wagner Group say Utkin is a Rodnover, a believer of Slavic native faith. Radio Liberty cited insiders as saying that the leadership of the Wagner Group are followers of the Slavic Native Faith, a modern Pagan new religious movement. In August 2017, the Turkish newspaper speculated that Utkin was possibly a figurehead for the company, while the real head of Wagner was someone else.


title: Wagner Group

text: Various elements of Wagner have been linked to white supremacist and neo-Nazi far-right extremists, such as Wagner's openly far-right and neo-Nazi Rusich unit, and Wagner members have left neo-Nazi graffiti on the battlefield. However, Erica Gaston, a senior policy adviser at the UN University Centre for Policy Research, noted that the Wagner Group is not ideologically driven, but rather a network of mercenaries "linked to the Russian security state". Russia denies the connection and officially the group does not exist.


title: Wagner Group

text: In December 2016, Utkin was photographed with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Kremlin reception given in honour of those who had been awarded the Order of Courage and the title Hero of the Russian Federation (to mark the ), along with Alexander Kuznetsov, and . Kuznetsov (call sign "Ratibor") was said to be the commander of Wagner's first reconnaissance and assault company, Bogatov was the commander of the fourth reconnaissance and assault company, and Troshev served as the company's "executive director". A few days after, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the presence of Utkin at the reception, stating that Utkin was from the Novgorod Region and had received the award, but could not say for what except that it was presumably for courage. Peskov stated he was not aware how famous Utkin was.


title: Wagner Group

text: It has been reported that Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin—sometimes called "Putin's chef", because of his catering businesses that hosted dinners which Vladimir Putin attended with foreign dignitaries— has links with Wagner and Utkin personally. The businessman has been said to be the funder and actual owner of the Wagner Group. Prigozhin denied any communication with Wagner, until September 2022, when he admitted having created the group in a post at VKontakte. Prigozhin claimed, "I cleaned the old weapons myself, sorted out the bulletproof vests myself and found specialists who could help me with this. From that moment, on May 1, 2014, a group of patriots was born, which later came to be called the Wagner Battalion." Previously, Prigozhin had sued Bellingcat, Meduza, and Echo of Moscow for reporting his links to the mercenary group.


title: Wagner Group

text: In 2019, as the presence of Wagner PMCs in Africa was growing, a planned trip by Utkin to Rwanda was reportedly cancelled at the last moment. He was supposed to travel with Valery Zakharov, a Russian security advisor to the President of the Central African Republic. Subsequently, it was thought that Utkin was withdrawn from the Wagner Group's African operations due to his over-exposure that was the result of the medal-awarding ceremony at the Kremlin in 2016, and the United States sanctions imposed on him. Subsequently, Colonel Konstantin Aleksandrovich Pikalov (call sign "Mazay") was said to have been put in charge of Wagner's African operations. According to another report, there was a change in leadership in the Wagner Group due to changes in the methodology and direction of its work, with Utkin leaving the group and Konstantin Pikalov becoming the new head of the organization. Another theory was that Dmitry Utkin may have been killed, as his phone number was no longer functioning and his regular trips from Krasnodar to St. Petersburg stopped.


title: Wagner Group

text: Pikalov served as a military officer in Russia's experimental military unit numbered 99795, located in the village of Storozhevo, near St. Petersburg, which was tasked, in part, with "determining the effects of radioactive rays on living organisms". Following his retirement, he continued to live on the military base at least until 2012 and ran a private detective agency. In the autumn of 2014, along with a large group of cossacks, he possibly took part in suppressing opponents of the Russian-supported President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik during the Republika Srpska general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik won the re-election. Between 2014 and 2017, Pikalov traveled several times to destinations near the Ukrainian border, sometimes on joint bookings with known Wagner officers. In 2016, he ran for office in local council elections in the district of his military base near St. Petersburg on behalf of the pro-Kremlin A Just Russia party. However, his participation was denied by Russia's Central Election Committee, possibly due to his criminal record, as his name is listed on a Central Bank blacklist with a note that he was "a suspect in money laundering", although his current criminal file is blank. According to Bellingcat, this could mean either that the suspicion did not result in criminal charges, or that the records were purged. Former employees of Prigozhin interviewed on the condition of anonymity by Bellingcat stated Pikalov was known to have taken part in military operations in both Ukraine and Syria.


title: Wagner Group

text: In early 2016, Wagner had 1,000 employees, which later rose to 5,000 by August 2017, and 6,000 by December 2017. The organization was said to be registered in Argentina and also has offices in Saint Petersburg and Hong Kong. In November 2022, Wagner opened a new headquarters and technology center at in the east of Saint Petersburg.


title: Wagner Group

text: In early October 2017, the SBU said that Wagner's funding in 2017 had been increased by 185 million rubles ($3.1 million) and that around forty Ukrainian nationals were working for Wagner, with the remaining 95 percent of the personnel being Russian citizens. One Ukrainian was killed in Syria while fighting in the ranks of Wagner in March 2016, and three were reported overall to have died that spring. Armenians, Kazakhs and Moldovans have also worked for Wagner.


title: Wagner Group

text: Following the deployment of its contractors between 2017 and 2019, to Sudan, the Central African Republic, Madagascar, Libya and Mozambique, the Wagner Group had offices in 20 African countries, including Eswatini, Lesotho and Botswana, by the end of 2019. Early in 2020, Erik Prince, founder of the Blackwater private military company, sought to provide military services to the Wagner Group in its operations in Libya and Mozambique, according to "The Intercept". By March 2021, Wagner PMCs were reportedly also deployed in Zimbabwe, Angola, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, and possibly the Democratic Republic of Congo.


title: Wagner Group

text: The company trains its personnel at a Russian MoD facility, (), near the remote village of Molkin, Krasnodar Krai. The barracks at the base are officially not linked to the Russian MoD, with court documents describing them as a children's vacation camp. According to a report published by Russian monthly , the organisation that hired personnel for Wagner did not have a permanent name and had a legal address near the military settlement in Krasnogorsk, near Moscow. In December 2021, "New Lines" magazine analyzed data about 4,184 Wagner members who had been identified by researchers at the Ukrainian Center of Analytics and Security, finding that the average age of a Wagner contractor is forty years old and that the PMCs came from as many as fifteen different countries, though the majority were from Russia.


title: Wagner Group

text: When new PMC recruits arrive at the training camp, they are no longer allowed to use social network services and other Internet resources. Company employees are not allowed to post photos, texts, audio and video recordings or any other information on the Internet that was obtained during their training. They are also not allowed to tell anyone their location, whether they are in Russia or another country. Mobile phones, tablets and other means of communication are left with the company and issued at a certain time with the permission of their commander. Passports and other documents are surrendered and in return company employees receive a nameless dog tag with a personal number. The company only accepts new recruits if a 10-year confidentiality agreement is established and in case of a breach of the confidentiality the company reserves the right to terminate the employee's contract without paying a fee. According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Russian military officers are assigned the role of drill instructors for the recruits. During their training, the PMCs receive $1,100 per month.


title: Wagner Group

text: The pay of Wagner private military contractors (PMCs), who are usually retired regular Russian servicemen aged between 35 and 55, is estimated to be between 80,000 and 250,000 Russian rubles a month (667–2,083 USD). One source stated the pay was as high as 300,000 (2,500 USD).


title: Wagner Group

text: In late 2019, a so-called Wagner code of honor was revealed that lists ten commandments for Wagner's PMCs to follow. These include, among others, to protect the interests of Russia always and everywhere, to value the honor of a Russian soldier, to fight not for money, but from the principle of winning always and everywhere.


title: Wagner Group

text: With increasing casualties on both sides in the war in Ukraine, the Russian government used the Wagner Group for recruitment. The NGO "Meduza" reported that the Russian Defense Ministry had taken control of Wagner's networks and was using its reputation for recruitment, but that the requirements had been reduced, with drug tests also reportedly not being done before duty. According to British intelligence, since July 2022 at the latest, the Wagner Group has been trying to recruit inmates from Russian prisons in order to alleviate the lack of cadres. In return for agreeing to fight in Ukraine, the criminals are promised a shortening of the sentence and monetary remuneration. BBC Russian Service reported that according to jurists, it is not legal to send inmates to war.


title: Wagner Group

text: Wagner is believed to have a Serb unit, which was, until at least April 2016, under the command of Davor Savičić, a Bosnian Serb who was a member of the Serb Volunteer Guard (also known as "Arkan's Tigers") during the Bosnian War and the Special Operations Unit (JSO) during the Kosovo War. His call sign in Bosnia was "Elvis". Savičić was reportedly only three days in the Luhansk region when a BTR armored personnel carrier fired at his checkpoint, leaving him shell-shocked. After this, he left to be treated. He was also reported to had been involved in the first offensive to capture Palmyra from the Islamic State (ISIL) in early 2016. One member of the Serbian unit was killed in Syria in June 2017, while the SBU issued arrest warrants in December 2017, for six Serbian PMCs that belonged to Wagner and fought in Ukraine, including Savičić. In early February 2018, the SBU reported that one Serb member of Wagner, who was a veteran of the conflict in Syria, had been killed while fighting in eastern Ukraine.