title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: In 2144, Sonmi-451 is a "fabricant", a humanoid clone indentured as a fast food server and implied sex worker in a dystopian Neo Seoul. She is exposed to ideas of rebellion by another fabricant, Yoona-939, who has obtained a clip of the movie about Cavendish's involuntary institutionalization. After Yoona is killed, Sonmi is rescued by rebel Commander Hae-Joo Chang, who exposes Sonmi to the banned writings of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the full film version of Cavendish's experience. Hae-Joo eventually introduces her to the leader of the rebel movement, and shows her that clones when 'freed' are actually recycled into "soap", food for fabricants. Sonmi makes a public broadcast of her revelations before the authorities attack, killing Hae-Joo and recapturing Sonmi. After recounting her story to an archivist, she is executed.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: In 2321, the tribespeople of the post-apocalyptic Hawaii worship Sonmi; their sacred text is taken from her recorded testimony. Zachry Bailey's village is visited by Meronym, a member of an advanced society called the Prescients. Prescients use nuclear powered ships and remnants of high technology, but are dying from a plague. Meronym is searching for a forgotten communication station on Mauna Sol to send an SOS to off-world humans. In exchange for healing Zachry's niece, Catkin, Meronym is guided by Zachry to the station where Sonmi made her recording. Returning home, Zachry finds his tribe slaughtered by the cannibalistic Kona tribe. He kills the sleeping Kona chief and rescues Catkin before he and Meronym fight off the other tribesmen. Zachry and Catkin join Meronym and the Prescients as their ship leaves Big Island. On a distant planet, Zachry is married to Meronym and recounts the story to his grandchildren.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: Other cast members who appear in more than one segment include Martin Wuttke, Andrew Havill, Brody Nicholas Lee, Alistair Petrie, and Sylvestra Le Touzel. In addition, author David Mitchell makes a cameo appearance as a double agent in the futuristic Korea section.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: The film is based on the 2004 novel "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell. Filmmaker Tom Tykwer revealed in January 2009 his intent to adapt the novel and said he was working on a screenplay with the Wachowskis, who optioned the novel. By June 2010, Tykwer had asked actors Natalie Portman, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, James McAvoy, and Ian McKellen to star in "Cloud Atlas". By April 2011, the Wachowskis joined Tykwer in co-directing the film. In the following May, with Hanks and Berry confirmed in their roles, Hugo Weaving, Ben Whishaw, Susan Sarandon, and Jim Broadbent also joined the cast. Actor Hugh Grant joined the cast days before the start of filming; he was originally supposed to have only five roles, but asked the Wachowskis for a sixth one, and subsequently was also cast as Denholme Cavendish in the 2012 storyline. According to Berry, the character of Ovid she plays in the 2144 storyline was originally meant to be a female character played by Tom Hanks, until the directors felt that Ovid was a logical part of the journey of the soul played by Berry.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: It was financed by the German production companies A Company, ARD Degeto Film and X Filme. In May 2011, "Variety" reported that it had a production budget of . The filmmakers secured approximately $20 million from the German government, including () from the (DFFF), () development funding and () from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, a German funder, as part of their plans to film at Studio Babelsberg later in 2011. The project also received () financial support from Filmstiftung NRW, () from Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, €30 million () from UE-Fonds (the biggest proportion of the budget), and () from FFF Bayern, another German organization. The Wachowskis contributed approximately $7 million to the project out of their own finances. The budget was updated to .


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: The Wachowskis stated that due to lack of financing, the film was almost abandoned several times. However, they noted how the crew was enthusiastic and determined: "They flew—even though their agents called them and said, 'They don't have the money, the money's not closed. They specifically praised Tom Hanks's enthusiasm: "Warner Bros. calls and, through our agent, says they've looked at the math and decided that they don't like this deal. They're pulling all of the money away, rescinding the offer. I was shaking. I heard, 'Are you saying the movie is dead?' They were like, 'Yes, the movie is dead.' ... At the end of the meeting, Tom says, 'Let's do it. I'm in. When do we start?' ... Tom said this unabashed, enthusiastic 'Yes!' which put our heart back together. We walked away thinking, this movie is dead but somehow, it's alive and we're going to make it." "Every single time, Tom Hanks was the first who said, 'I'm getting on the plane.' And then once he said he was getting on the plane, basically everyone said, 'Well, Tom's on the plane, we're on the plane.' And so everyone flew [to Berlin to begin the film]. It was like this giant leap of faith. From all over the globe."


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: Tykwer and the Wachowskis filmed parallel to each other using separate camera crews. Although all three shot scenes together when permitted by the schedule, the Wachowskis mostly directed the 19th-century story and the two set in the future, while Tykwer directed the stories set in the 1930s, the 1970s, and 2012. Tykwer said that the three directors planned every segment of the film together in pre-production, and continued to work closely together through post-production. Warner Bros. Pictures representatives agreed to the film's 172-minute running time, after previously stating that it should not exceed 150 minutes.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: Filming began at Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany, on 2011, the base camp for the production. Other German locations include the city of Düsseldorf and the Saxon Switzerland landscape, furthermore sets in and near Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland, and the Mediterranean island of Majorca, Spain. Glasgow doubled for both San Francisco and London. Scenes filmed in Scotland feature the new Clackmannanshire Bridge near Alloa. The "Big Island" and "Pacific Islands" stories were shot on Majorca, mostly in the World Heritage site of the Serra de Tramuntana mountains. Scenes were shot at Cala Tuent and near Formentor, amongst others. The opening scene, when Adam Ewing meets Dr. Henry Goose, was filmed at Sa Calobra beach. Port de Sóller provided the setting for the scene when the 19th-century ship is mooring.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: The film was meant to be shot in chronological order; however, Berry broke her foot two days before she was supposed to start filming. Instead of replacing her, the Wachowskis and Tykwer heavily changed the initial filming schedule; Berry stated that "it involved travelling back and forth to Majorca and then Germany then we had to go back to Majorca when my foot got a little bit better and we were able to shoot some of that stuff on the mountainside when I could climb a little bit better. It was all over the place." According to her, "Tom [Hanks] would play nurse to me. He really took care of me. He would bring me coffee and soup and just stay with me during breaks in shooting because it was difficult for me to move around, especially at the beginning ... I basically had to be helped back to my chair after every take, but you learn to adapt to the situation. But with Tom at my side, I was really able to go beyond my own expectations of what I was capable of as an actress."


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: The soundtrack was composed by director Tom Tykwer and his longtime collaborators, Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek. The trio worked together for years as Pale 3, composing music for several films directed by Tykwer, most notably "Run Lola Run", "The Princess and the Warrior", "", and "The International", and contributing music to the Wachowskis' "The Matrix Revolutions". The music was recorded in Leipzig, Germany with the MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Radio Chorus. The music was orchestrated by Gene Pritsker and the closing credits contain the 6th movement of Pritsker's Cloud Atlas Symphony.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: The film contains approximately two hours of original music. WaterTower Music released the soundtrack album via digital download on 23 October 2012 and CD on 6 November 2012.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: The "Cloud Atlas" soundtrack received critical acclaim. "Film Music Magazine" critic Daniel Schweiger described the soundtrack as "a singular piece of multi-themed astonishment ... Yet instead of defining one sound for every era, Klimek, Heil and Tykwer seamlessly merge their motifs across the ages to give "Cloud Atlas" its rhythms, blending orchestra, pulsating electronics, choruses and a soaring salute to John Adams in an astonishing, captivating score that eventually becomes all things for all personages".


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: Daniel Schweiger selected the score as one of the best soundtracks of 2012, writing that ""Cloud Atlas" is an immense sum total of not only the human experience, but of mankind's capacity for musical self-realization itself, all as embodied in a theme for the ages."


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: The film's soundtrack was nominated for the 2012 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, and for several awards by the International Film Music Critics Association, including Score of the Year.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: It was released on 26 October 2012 in the United States. Warner Bros. Pictures distributed it in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and Focus Features International handled sales for other territories. According to the Wachowskis, Summit Entertainment, who previously worked with Tykwer on "", was originally going to distribute it internationally, but ultimately rejected it.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: It was released in cinemas in China on 31 January 2013 with 39 minutes of cuts, including removal of nudity, a sexual scene, and numerous conversations.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: A six-minute trailer, accompanied by a short introduction by the three directors describing the ideas behind the creation of the film, was released on 2012. A shorter official trailer was released on 7 September 2012. The six-minute trailer includes three pieces of music. The opening piano music is the main theme of the soundtrack ("Prelude: The Atlas March/The Cloud Atlas Sextet") by composing trio Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, and Reinhold Heil, followed by an instrumental version of the song "Sonera" from Thomas J. Bergersen's album "Illusions". The song in the last part is "Outro" from M83's album "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming".


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: The film has had polarized reactions from both critics and audiences, who debated its length and editing of the interwoven stories, but praised other aspects such as its cinematography, score, visual style, ensemble cast, and ambition. It received a lengthy standing ovation at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival, where it premiered on 9 September 2012.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: According to review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 66% of 293 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critics' consensus is that "Its sprawling, ambitious blend of thought-provoking narrative and eye-catching visuals will prove too unwieldy for some, but the sheer size and scope of "Cloud Atlas" are all but impossible to ignore." Review aggregator Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". According to the website, the film appeared on 14 critics' top 10 lists for 2012. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars and listed the film among his best of the year: "One of the most ambitious films ever made ... Even as I was watching "Cloud Atlas" the first time, I knew I would need to see it again. Now that I've seen it the second time, I know I'd like to see it a third time ... I think you will want to see this daring and visionary film ... I was never, ever bored by "Cloud Atlas". On my second viewing, I gave up any attempt to work out the logical connections between the segments, stories and characters". Conversely, "Slant Magazine"s Calum Marsh called it a "unique and totally unparalleled disaster" and commented "[its] badness is fundamental, an essential aspect of the concept and its execution that I suspect is impossible to remedy or rectify." "The Guardian" stated "At 172 minutes, "Cloud Atlas" carries all the marks of a giant folly, and those unfamiliar with the book will be baffled" and awarded the film two out of five stars.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: Nick Pickerton, who reviewed the film for "The Village Voice", said, "There is a great deal of humbug about art and love in "Cloud Atlas", but it is decidedly unlovable, and if you want to learn something about feeling, you're at the wrong movie." English critic Mark Kermode on his first viewing called it "an extremely honourable failure, but a failure", but then on a second viewing for the release of the DVD in the UK stated, "Second time around, I find it to be more engaging – still not an overall success, but containing several moments of genuine magic, and buoyed up by the exuberance of high-vaulting ambition." "Village Voice" and "Time" magazine both named "Cloud Atlas" the worst film of 2012.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: "Variety" described it as "an intense three-hour mental workout rewarded with a big emotional payoff. ... One's attention must be engaged at all times as the mosaic triggers an infinite range of potentially profound personal responses." James Rocchi of "MSN Movies" stated, "It is so full of passion and heart and empathy that it feels completely unlike any other modern film in its range either measured through scope of budget or sweep of action." "The Daily Beast" called "Cloud Atlas" "one of the year's most important movies". Michael Cieply of "The New York Times" commented on the film, "You will have to decide for yourself whether it works. It's that kind of picture. ... Is this the stuff of Oscars? Who knows? Is it a force to be reckoned with in the coming months? Absolutely."


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: Despite expectations that the film could be a success, the film opened to only $9.6 million from 2,008 theaters, an average of $4,787 per theater, finishing second at the U.S. box office. The debut was described as "dreadful" by Box Office Mojo. The film ultimately grossed $27.1 million in the U.S. and $103.4 million internationally for a total of $130.5 million.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: On 25 October 2012, after the premiere at Toronto (and despite the standing ovation it received there), Lilly Wachowski stated as "soon as [critics] encounter a piece of art they don't fully understand the first time going through it, they think it's the fault of the movie or the work of art. They think, 'It's a mess ... This doesn't make any sense.' And they reject it, just out of an almost knee-jerk response to some ambiguity or some gulf between what they expect they should be able to understand, and what they understand."


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: In the same interview, Lana Wachowski stated people "will try to will "Cloud Atlas" to be rejected. They will call it messy, or complicated, or undecided whether it's trying to say something New Agey-profound or not. And we're wrestling with the same things that Dickens and Hugo and David Mitchell and Herman Melville were wrestling with. We're wrestling with those same ideas, and we're just trying to do it in a more exciting context than conventionally you are allowed to. ... We don't want to say, 'We are making this to mean this.' What we find is that the most interesting art is open to a spectrum of interpretation."


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: Tom Hanks has come to praise "Cloud Atlas" heavily in the years that followed its release. In 2013, he stated "I've seen it three times now and discovered, I swear to God, different, profound things with each viewing." In a 2017 interview, he called it "a movie that altered my entire consciousness," stating, "it's the only movie I've been in that I've seen more than twice."


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: Halle Berry stated in an interview, "It would be impossible to explain what I really feel or think about the film. It exists on so many different levels. ... I love the totality of all the characters." She talked about playing characters belonging to other ethnicities, and playing a male: "This is so poignant for an actor and someone like me, to be able to shed my skin ... you know, to do something that I would have never been able to do. If it were not for this kind of project, I still wouldn't have done that."


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: In a 2017 interview, Jim Broadbent called the film "great to do" and "fantastic". In another interview, he expressed disappointment over the commercial failure of the film, stating, "It was an independent film and needed a lot of money behind it to get it out there. Warner Bros. had the distribution rights but it wasn't one of their own, so I think it might have been [marketed] harder if it was."


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: Hugh Grant stated in an October 2014 interview, "I thought ["Cloud Atlas"] was amazing. [The Wachowskis] are the bravest film-makers in the world, and I think it's an amazing film ... it's frustrating to me. Every time I've done something outside the genre of light comedy, the film fails to find an audience at the box office. And, sadly, "Cloud Atlas" never really found the audience it deserved." He later stated in 2016 "the whole thing was fascinating. You know, when you work with proper people who love cinema, [the Wachowskis are] a special breed, they're not the same as people who just make movies and we happen to use cameras. [They are] people who really love cinema."


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: Before hearing about the Wachowskis and Tykwer's project, David Mitchell believed it was impossible to adapt his book into a film: "My only thought was 'What a shame this could never be a film. It has a Russian doll structure. God knows how the book gets away with it but it does, but you can't ask a viewer of a film to begin a film six times, the sixth time being an hour and a half in. They'd all walk out.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: In October 2013, Mitchell called the film "magnificent", having been very impressed by the screenplay. He was very satisfied by the casting, especially by Hanks, Berry and Broadbent, and stated he could not even remember now how he was originally portraying the characters in his mind before the movie. He also supported the changes from the novel, impressed by how the Wachowskis and Tykwer successfully disassembled the structure of the book for the needs of the movie.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: The advocacy group Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) and several commentators online criticized the film's use of yellowface to allow non-Asian actors to portray Asian characters in the neo-Seoul sequences. MANAA President Guy Aoki also called the lack of blackface being used to portray black characters a double standard. The directors responded that the same multi-racial actors portrayed multiple roles of various nationalities and races (not just Asian) across a 500-year story arc, showing "the continuity of souls" critical to the story. The portrayal of Moriori character Autua by a Black British man was subject to similar scrutiny, and was seen as offensive and confusing for audiences.


title: Cloud Atlas (film)

text: The film was pre-nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, but was not nominated in any category.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: Hope Sandoval (born June 24, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter who is the lead singer of Mazzy Star and Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions. Sandoval has toured and collaborated with other artists, including Massive Attack, for whom she sang "Paradise Circus" on the 2010 album "Heligoland" and the 2016 single "The Spoils".


title: Hope Sandoval

text: Sandoval was born June 24, 1966 in Los Angeles, California to Mexican-American parents and raised in east Los Angeles. Her father was a butcher, while her mother worked for a potato chip manufacturing company. She has one sibling and seven half-siblings. Sandoval's parents separated when she was a child and she was raised primarily by her mother.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: She attended Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra, but struggled socially and academically, and was placed in special education classes. She began to forgo her classes, instead staying home and listening to records. "It's just like anybody elsesome people, most people don't wanna go to school. They just don't want to", Sandoval recalled. "I was just somebody who got away with it… There wasn't really anyone watching". She eventually dropped out of high school.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: Sandoval took an interest in music at an early age, and, at age 13, was particularly influenced by the Rolling Stones. In 1986, she formed the folk music duo Going Home with Sylvia Gomez and sent a demo tape to David Roback. He contacted the duo and suggested that he would "play guitar for you guys". The material recorded by Gomez, Sandoval and Roback has yet to be released.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: Sandoval performed with the band Opal in the late 1980s alongside David Roback and long-time Roback collaborator Kendra Smith. After Smith's abrupt departure during a tour of the UK (hurling her guitar to the floor at the Hammersmith gig), Sandoval took over lead vocals. At the end of the tour, Roback and Sandoval began writing together and formed the alternative rock band Mazzy Star.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: The first Mazzy Star album, "She Hangs Brightly", was released in 1990. While not a commercial success, this album did establish Mazzy Star as a band with a unique sound.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: The band had a surprise breakthrough hit single released in October 1993. "Fade into You"from the band's second album "So Tonight That I Might See"was recorded one year before it became a success.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: There is a continuity between the sounds and moods established on Mazzy Star's first two albums and the band's third, "Among My Swan". Mazzy Star went on hiatus in 1997.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: Sandoval formed The Warm Inventions in 2000 and released her first solo album "Bavarian Fruit Bread" in 2001, which she recorded with My Bloody Valentine drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig. The album differed in terms of theme, voice, and instrumentation from that of her work with Mazzy Star. Bert Jansch plays guitar on two tracks, and the album features two covers, "Butterfly Mornings" from the film "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" (1970) and Jesus and Mary Chain's "Drop". The Warm Inventions released two EPs, "At the Doorway Again" in 2000 and "Suzanne" in 2002 but did not win commercial success, with one video on MTV and little radio play. Sandoval recorded a song, "Wild Roses", for a compilation CD released by Air France, "In the Air" (2008).


title: Hope Sandoval

text: Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions released their second album, "Through the Devil Softly", on September 29, 2009.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: Sandoval and her band were chosen by Matt Groening to perform at the edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival he curated in May 2010 in Minehead, England. The group also played the ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York in September 2010 at the request of film director Jim Jarmusch.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: In 2009, Sandoval confirmed in an interview with "Rolling Stone" that Mazzy Star was still active: "It's true we're still together. We're almost finished [with the record]. But I have no idea what that means." In October 2011, the group released the single "Common Burn"/"Lay Myself Down", their first material in 15 years. The group stated that they had plans to release the album in 2012. In July 2013, "California", the first single from the new album was released. The album, "Seasons of Your Day", was released in September 2013.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: On March 9, 2016, it was confirmed that Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions would release a 7" vinyl single titled "Isn't It True" for Record Store Day 2016. The track also features Jim Putnam of Radar Bros. A music video for the song was released on April 19, and is dedicated to Richie Lee of Acetone. The Warm Inventions' third studio album, "Until the Hunter", was released on November 4 through the band's own independent record label, Tendril Tales. A second single from the album, "Let Me Get There" featuring Kurt Vile, was released on September 23.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: Sandoval contributed vocals to "I Don't Mind" by Psychic Ills, which was released on March 29, 2016. Four months later, Massive Attack released "The Spoils", which was her third collaboration with the band, following "Paradise Circus" and "Four Walls". A music video starring actress Cate Blanchett was released on August 9.


title: Hope Sandoval

text: During live performances, Sandoval prefers to sing in near-darkness with only a dim backlight, playing the tambourine, harmonica, glockenspiel or shaker. She has a reputation for shyness. Her stage presence has been described as "idly withdrawn, barely acknowledging the audience".


title: The Stand

text: The Stand is a post-apocalyptic dark fantasy novel written by American author Stephen King and first published in 1978 by Doubleday. The plot centers on a deadly pandemic of weaponized influenza and its aftermath, in which the few surviving humans gather into factions that are each led by a personification of either good or evil and seem fated to clash with each other. King started writing the story in February 1975, seeking to create an epic in the spirit of "The Lord of the Rings". The book was difficult for him to write because of the large number of characters and storylines.


title: The Stand

text: In 1990, "The Stand" was reprinted as a "Complete and Uncut Edition". King restored over 400 pages from texts that were initially reduced from his original manuscript, revised the order of the chapters, shifted the novel's setting from 1980 to 10 years forward, and accordingly corrected a number of cultural references. The "Complete and Uncut Edition" of "The Stand" is Stephen King's longest stand-alone work at 1,152 pages, surpassing his 1,138-page novel "It". The book has sold 4.5 million copies.


title: The Stand

text: "The Stand" was highly appreciated by reviewers and is considered one of King's best novels. It has been included in lists of the best books of all time by "Rolling Stone", "Time", the Modern Library, Amazon and the BBC. An eponymous miniseries based on the novel was broadcast on ABC in 1994. From 2008 to 2012, Marvel Comics published a series of comics written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and illustrated by Mike Perkins. Another miniseries debuted on CBS All Access in December 2020, and finished airing in February 2021.


title: The Stand

text: An extremely contagious and lethal strain of influenza is developed as a biological weapon in a secret U.S. Department of Defense laboratory in northern California. It is estimated to be 99.4% fatal. The "Complete and Uncut Edition" includes a prologue detailing the development of the virus and the security breach that causes its accidental release. Security guard Charles Campion manages to escape before the facility is locked down and takes his family out of the state.


title: The Stand

text: After a couple of days, his car crashes at a gas station in Arnette, Texas. Bystanders and ambulance workers become infected by the dying Campion and his dead wife and child. The United States Army attempts to isolate Arnette, going so far as to execute civilians attempting to flee, but in vain; the virus, christened the "superflu" or "Captain Trips", spreads across the country. The government then has its agents (unknowingly) release the virus in the USSR, its satellite states and China to guarantee their destruction as well.


title: The Stand

text: When martial law fails to contain the virus, a global pandemic of apocalyptic proportions kills nearly the entire world population within a month. The military collapses due to mass desertions and mutinies, and society soon follows with the near-extinction of humanity. Some of the few who are immune also die, unable either to accept the loss of their loved ones or to survive in a world where they must fend for themselves.


title: The Stand

text: Stuart "Stu" Redman, one of the Arnette residents who encountered Campion, proves immune to the virus. The CDC forcibly holds him in a research center in Stovington, Vermont, in the hope that a treatment can be found. Stu escapes after the staff become infected, killing one man in self-defense. He meets sociology professor Glen Bateman and his dog Kojak, pregnant college student Frances "Frannie" Goldsmith, and overweight teenage nerd Harold Lauder. Stuart and Frannie are drawn to each other and eventually fall in love, then enter a marital relationship. This enrages Harold, who grew up with Frannie and has an unhealthy obsession with her; he then schemes to harm the couple out of romantic jealousy.


title: The Stand

text: Most of the survivors experience essentially the same two dreams. In one, a friendly 108-year-old black woman living in Hemingford Home, Nebraska, "Mother Abagail" Freemantle, invites them to her farm. They also dream of a terrifying "dark man" who calls himself Randall Flagg, among other things. People seek out one or the other. Stu and his group eventually meet Mother Abagail, who is convinced God has chosen her to do His will.


title: The Stand

text: The group travels to Boulder, Colorado, along with other survivors. These include Larry Underwood, a disillusioned pop singer; Nick Andros, a deaf-mute drifter; Tom Cullen, a kind-hearted, mentally disabled man; Nadine Cross, a teacher in her 30s who is still a virgin; and Ralph Brentner, a good-natured farmer. As survivors continue to trickle in, the group starts organizing the hundreds of residents. They establish their community as the "Boulder Free Zone", a democratic city-state modeled after the United States' former ideals.


title: The Stand

text: Meanwhile, Randall Flagg, who possesses supernatural abilities, creates his own totalitarian society in Las Vegas with psychopaths as his lieutenants. His people worship (and fear) him as a messiah and submit to his iron-fisted dictatorship. He has drug addicts and others who incur his displeasure crucified. Flagg rescues Lloyd Henreid, a mass murderer, from his prison cell and makes him his right-hand man.


title: The Stand

text: A pyromaniac nicknamed "The Trashcan Man" blows up oil tanks in Gary, Indiana, and travels to Las Vegas with a homicidal madman named "The Kid". After Flagg sends a pack of wolves to kill The Kid because he intended to kill Flagg and take over, The Trashcan Man makes his way to Las Vegas, from which he is sent to find stockpiles of weapons for Flagg, as Flagg prepares for war with the Free Zone. However, Flagg's people soon grow weary of his dictatorship, and many secretly try to leave.


title: The Stand

text: Mother Abagail, believing that she has sinned by being proud, goes into the wilderness on a spiritual journey without consulting anyone. In her absence, the Free Zone's leadership committee decides to secretly send three people to spy on Flagg, but Flagg already knows who two of them are. One, Judge Farris, dies in a shootout with Flagg's men, and the other, Dayna Jurgens, is captured, but manages to kill herself to avoid revealing who the third spy (Tom Cullen) is.


title: The Stand

text: Harold and Nadine secretly give their allegiance to Flagg, who in fact wants Nadine to be his wife and the mother of his child. Harold plants a bomb in the house where the committee is to meet. The explosion kills seven or eight people, including Nick Andros and Susan Stern, but the other committee members are saved by the commotion caused by Mother Abagail's unexpected return and Frannie's too-late warning. Before dying, the extremely emaciated Mother Abagail reports God's will: Stu, Glen, Larry, and Ralph (all of the surviving committee members except for the pregnant Frannie) must go to Las Vegas on foot to confront Flagg. She also states that only three of them will get there.


title: The Stand

text: Harold and Nadine also set out for Las Vegas, but Harold suffers a broken leg in a motorcycle accident (caused by Flagg to eliminate Harold) on the way, and Nadine leaves him to die. After enduring several days and nights of his broken leg slowly becoming infected and gangrenous, Harold regrets his malicious behavior, accepts that he will soon die and commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. Nadine, going on alone, finds Flagg in the desert near Las Vegas and he impregnates her; the horrifying experience (his face changes into that of a demon) causes her to lose her mind. Flagg brings her back to Las Vegas as his bride, but she manages to goad him into killing her and their unborn child.


title: The Stand

text: Stu breaks his leg en route to Las Vegas and persuades the others to go on without him. The remaining three are quickly taken prisoner. Glen refuses to grovel before Flagg, and when he taunts Flagg, Lloyd kills him under Flagg's orders. Flagg gathers his people to witness Larry and Ralph's executions. Moments before they are about to be torn apart via dismemberment, the Trashcan Man drags in a nuclear warhead (an atonement attempt for blowing up Flagg's entire experienced pilot crew), and the "Hand of God" detonates the bomb, destroying Las Vegas, as well as Larry and Ralph.


title: The Stand

text: The inhabitants of Boulder anxiously await the birth of Frannie's baby. They fear that the child will succumb to the superflu. Soon after her son is born, Stu returns, having been rescued by Tom. The baby contracts the superflu, but manages to recover. Once Frannie is again pregnant, she and Stu decide to leave Boulder and move back to Frannie's hometown of Ogunquit, Maine, therefore founding an eastern settlement, and raise their children in peace.


title: The Stand

text: The "Complete and Uncut Edition" includes an epilogue in which Flagg wakes up with memory loss on a beach. From the jungle emerge a dozen dark-skinned men with spears who eventually bow down and worship him.


title: The Stand

text: In "Danse Macabre", King writes about the origins of "The Stand" at some length. One source was Patty Hearst's case. The original idea was to create a novel about the episode because "it seemed that only a novel might really succeed in explaining all the contradictions".


title: The Stand

text: The author also mentions George R. Stewart's novel "Earth Abides", which describes the odyssey of one of the last human survivors after the population is nearly annihilated by a plague, as one of the main inspirations:


title: The Stand

text: With my Patty Hearst book, I never found the right way in... and during that entire six-week period, something else was nagging very quietly at the back of my mind. It was a news story I had read about an accidental spill in Utah. (...) This article called up memories of a novel called "Earth Abides", by George R. Stewart.


title: The Stand

text: (...) and one day while sitting at my typewriter, (...) I wrote—just to write something: The world comes to an end but everybody in the SLA is somehow immune. Snake bit them. I looked at that for a while and then typed: No more gas shortages. That was sort of cheerful, in a horrible sort of way.


title: The Stand

text: "The Stand" was also planned by King as an epic "The Lord of the Rings"–type story in a contemporary American setting:


title: The Stand

text: For a long time—ten years, at least—I had wanted to write a fantasy epic like "The Lord of the Rings", only with an American setting. I just couldn't figure out how to do it. Then . . . after my wife and kids and I moved to Boulder, Colorado, I saw a "60 Minutes" segment on CBW (chemical-biological warfare). I never forgot the gruesome footage of the test mice shuddering, convulsing, and dying, all in twenty seconds or less. That got me remembering a chemical spill in Utah, that killed a bunch of sheep (these were canisters on their way to some burial ground; they fell off the truck and ruptured). I remembered a news reporter saying, 'If the winds had been blowing the other way, there was Salt Lake City.' This incident later served as the basis of a movie called "Rage", starring George C. Scott, but before it was released, I was deep into "The Stand", finally writing my American fantasy epic, set in a plague-decimated USA. Only instead of a hobbit, my hero was a Texan named Stu Redman, and instead of a Dark Lord, my villain was a ruthless drifter and supernatural madman named Randall Flagg. The land of Mordor ('where the shadows lie,' according to Tolkien) was played by Las Vegas.


title: The Stand

text: While writing "The Stand", King nearly stopped because of writer's block. Eventually, he reached the conclusion that the heroes were becoming too complacent, and were beginning to repeat all the same mistakes of their old society. In an attempt to resolve this, he added the part of the storyline where Harold and Nadine construct a bomb, which explodes in a Free Zone committee meeting, killing Nick Andros, Chad Norris, and Susan Stern. Later, Mother Abagail explains on her deathbed that God permitted the bombing because He was dissatisfied with the heroes' focus on petty politics, and not on the ultimate quest of destroying Flagg. When telling this story, King sardonically observed that the bomb saved the book, and that he only had to kill half of the core cast to do this.


title: The Stand

text: According to King, Blue Öyster Cult's 1976 song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" has also served as one source of inspiration for the novel.


title: The Stand

text: The novel was originally published in 1978 in hardcover, with a setting date of 1980, in abridged form. The first paperback release in 1980 changed the setting date to 1985. The novel marks the first appearance of Randall Flagg, King's recurring antagonist, whom King would bring back several times in his later writings.


title: The Stand

text: In 1990, an unabridged edition of "The Stand" was published, billed as "The Complete and Uncut Edition". Published in hardcover by Doubleday in May 1990, this became the longest book published by King at 1,152 pages. When the novel was originally published in 1978, Doubleday warned King that the book's size would make it too expensive for the market to bear.


title: The Stand

text: As a result, he cut about 400 pages (around 150,000 words) from the original manuscript. This edition reinstates most of the deletions (as selected by King) and updates the setting from the 1980s to the 1990s. This new edition features a new preface by King and illustrations by Bernie Wrightson. Doubleday published a deluxe edition of "The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition", limited to 1,250 numbered copies and 52 lettered copies. This edition, known as the "Coffin Box" edition due to the book being housed in a wooden case, was signed by King and Wrightson.


title: The Stand

text: "The Stand" received critical acclaim; it was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1979, and was adapted into both a television miniseries for ABC and a graphic novel published by Marvel Comics. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 53 on the BBC's The Big Read poll.


title: The Stand

text: In the decades after its publication, "The Stand" was criticized for including the Magical Negro stereotype within its plot, with Mother Abagail being identified as a character whose sole purpose was to help the white protagonists.


title: The Stand

text: A film adaptation of "The Stand" was in development hell for over 10 years. During the 1980s, Stephen King had planned a theatrical film, with George A. Romero directing and himself writing, not trusting anybody else with the project. In the 1995 Complete and Uncut edition of the book, King admitted he had in mind a few fan castings for his characters, those being Robert Duvall as Randall Flagg, and Marshall Crenshaw as Larry Underwood. However, writing a workable screenplay proved difficult, due to the novel's length. King talked about adapting it for television, but was informed that the television networks did not "want to see the end of the world, particularly in prime time." Eventually King allowed screenwriter Rospo Pallenberg, who was a fan of "The Stand", to write his own adaptation of the novel. Pallenberg's script would clock the film in at close to three hours, while still staying true to the novel. Everyone liked the script; however, just as it was about to finally come together, Warner Bros. backed out of the project.


title: The Stand

text: ABC eventually offered Stephen King the chance to make "The Stand" into an eight-hour miniseries. King wrote a new screenplay (toned down slightly for television). The miniseries was broadcast in 1994, directed by Mick Garris, and starred such actors as Gary Sinise, Adam Storke, Molly Ringwald, Corin Nemec, Rob Lowe, Miguel Ferrer, Laura San Giacomo, Jamey Sheridan, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Bill Fagerbakke, and Shawnee Smith, with notable cameos including John Landis, Ed Harris, Kathy Bates, Sam Raimi, and King himself. Parts of the miniseries were shot in Las Vegas, Nevada as well as Salt Lake City, Utah State Prison, Sundance, Orem, Provo Canyon, and Salina in Utah.


title: The Stand

text: Between 2011 and 2016, Warner Bros. Pictures and CBS Films were developing a feature-length film adaptation of "The Stand". In August 2011, director David Yates and screenwriter Steve Kloves, known for their collaboration on the "Harry Potter" films, were hired to direct/write a multimovie version of "The Stand", but left the project in October 2011, as Yates felt it would work better as a miniseries. Both Ben Affleck and Scott Cooper dropped out over creative differences with the studio. On February 25, 2014, Josh Boone was hired to write and direct the adaptation. He later revealed that he wanted Christian Bale to play Randall Flagg and Matthew McConaughey for the role of Stu Redman.


title: The Stand

text: By September 10, 2014, the script had been completed and pre-production was underway. In November, Boone planned to split his adaptation into four full-length feature films in an effort to remain true to the breadth of King's sprawling novel. In June 2015, Warner Bros. proposed an eight-part Showtime miniseries to set up the story, which would culminate in Josh Boone's film. However, in February 2016, "The Stand" project was put on hold and the rights reverted to CBS Films.


title: The Stand

text: In September 2017, King talked of doing an extended TV series on Showtime or CBS All Access. In January 2019, a 10-hour limited series was ordered by CBS Television Studios to be broadcast on CBS All Access. Alexander Skarsgard, James Marsden, Amber Heard, Whoopi Goldberg, Greg Kinnear, Odessa Young, and Henry Zaga were all in consideration for the roles of Randall Flagg, Stu Redman, Nadine Cross, Mother Abagail, Glen Bateman, Frannie Goldsmith, and Nick Andros, respectively. The production was filmed in and near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from September 2019 to March 2020; filming was completed a few days before it would have been shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The production features Stephen King's son Owen King as a producer and writer, and a new ending written by Stephen King.


title: The Stand

text: Marvel Comics adapted "The Stand" into a series of six five-issue comic book miniseries. The series was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and illustrated by Mike Perkins. Colorist Laura Martin, letterer Chris Eliopoulos, and cover artist Lee Bermejo were also on the staff. The first issue of "" was released on September 10, 2008.


title: The Stand

text: The Alarm had a song on the 1984 album "Declaration" entitled "The Stand (Prophecy)" as an homage to the book. The song contained certain lyrics directly related to the book, such as "I met the walking dude, religious, with his worn out cowboy boots", and "Hey Trashcan, where you going boy?" The main chorus of the song was "Come on down and meet your maker, come on down and make the stand."


title: The Nice Guys

text: The Nice Guys is a 2016 American neo-noir buddy cop action comedy film directed and co-written (alongside Anthony Bagarozzi) by Shane Black, produced by Joel Silver, and starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling in the title roles with Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Keith David and Kim Basinger in supporting roles. Set in 1977 Los Angeles, the film focuses on a private eye (Gosling) and a tough enforcer (Crowe) who team up to investigate the disappearance of a teenage girl (Qualley).


title: The Nice Guys

text: "The Nice Guys" premiered on May 11, 2016, in Hollywood, screened on May 15 at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, and was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on May 20, 2016. It received positive reviews from critics for its humor, mystery, and the performances of Crowe and Gosling. It grossed $62 million on a $50 million budget.


title: The Nice Guys

text: In 1977 Los Angeles, down-on-his-luck private eye Holland March is hired by porn star Misty Mountain's aunt, Mrs. Glenn, who claims to have seen Misty still alive after her death. March's investigation leads him to Amelia Kuttner, an associate of Misty who pays violent enforcer Jackson Healy to scare March away.


title: The Nice Guys

text: Healy is interrogated by two thugs, "Blueface" — so named after he sets off a dye pack while searching Healy's apartment — and Older Guy, about Amelia. Healy wards them off with a shotgun and teams up with a reluctant March to find Amelia first.


title: The Nice Guys

text: March and Healy question Amelia's anti-pollution protest group and meet Chet, who brings them to the burnt-down house of Amelia's boyfriend Dean, who died in the fire. They learn that Amelia and Dean were working with Misty on an "experimental film" — combining pornography and investigative journalism.


title: The Nice Guys

text: The two infiltrate a party in search of the film's financier, Sid Shattuck. Healy discovers the film is missing, while March drunkenly finds Shattuck dead and unknowingly crosses paths with Amelia. March's daughter Holly, having snuck along to the party, stops Blueface from killing Amelia. Blueface is struck in a hit-and-run, and Amelia flees. Healy subdues Older Guy and finds Blueface dying. Blueface tells Healy his boss has dispatched a hit man named John Boy to kill all witnesses. Healy discreetly kills Blueface. The police arrive at the scene, and March and Healy are met by Amelia's mother, Judith Kuttner, a high-ranking official in the Justice Department, who claims Amelia is delusional. Judith hires the duo to find her daughter.


title: The Nice Guys

text: March and Healy go to an airport hotel where Amelia is meeting with distributors for the film. John Boy has arrived ahead of them; they witness the businessmen being slaughtered and hastily retreat, only for Amelia to land on their car, shoot at them, and knock herself unconscious. They take her to March's house, where she accuses her mother of colluding with car makers to suppress the catalytic converter, which regulates exhaust emissions. Amelia created the film to expose their collusion and believes her mother has had everyone connected to the film killed.


title: The Nice Guys

text: March tells Judith's assistant Tally that Amelia has been found and is at March's house. Tally tells them that Judith has requested they deliver a briefcase of $100,000 to Judith and informs them the family's doctor will go to March's house to check on Amelia. When March crashes the car, the briefcase flies open to reveal shredded magazines; the delivery was a diversion to leave Amelia unprotected. John Boy arrives at March's house disguised as the family doctor, attacks Holly and her friend Jessica, and engages in a shootout with March and Healy. As John Boy evades the police, Amelia flees the house and unwittingly flags down his car, only to be killed.


title: The Nice Guys

text: The police question and release March and Healy, who have no evidence that Judith is behind the murders. March realizes that Mrs. Glenn saw Misty in a film projected against a wall. At Misty's house, they discover a film projector, but the film is missing. They realize that Chet is the projectionist for the Los Angeles Auto Show and will try to screen the film at the event. At the auto show, Tally intercepts Healy and March at gunpoint. Holly distracts Tally, who is knocked unconscious. Amelia's film, which Chet spliced into the auto show presentation, implicates the auto executives. On the rooftop March struggles with Older Guy, who falls to his death as March lands in the pool after both fell from the roof. Holly stops Tally from reaching the film. Healy overpowers John Boy but spares his life at Holly's ultimatum, and March secures the film from thugs sent by the auto executives.


title: The Nice Guys

text: Judith is arrested but insists that it was Detroit who wanted Amelia dead; she hired March and Healy to keep Amelia safe. Judith remarks that while she will go to jail, Detroit has still gotten away with trying to suppress the catalytic converter. Later, at a bar on Christmas Eve, March shows Healy an advertisement for their new detective agency called "The Nice Guys".


title: The Nice Guys

text: Like Black's previously directed film "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", "The Nice Guys" takes inspiration from Brett Halliday, namely his novel "Blue Murder". Black initially wrote a version of the script along with Anthony Bagarozzi in 2001 which established the characters but otherwise was vastly different. According to Black, each would start with one detective, he with March and Bagarozzi with Healy. Along the way, they swapped characters and eventually wrote a first draft. This version of the script failed to attract any buyers, and then Black reworked it into a 64-page version that would serve for a television pilot. CBS became attracted to it, but given the contents led to many objections by the Standards and Practices department, it eventually did not progress. Black would later, upon promoting the release of the final film, speak disparagingly of the idea of the television series, stating that such a show "wouldn't have been any good". By 2009, Bagarozzi suggested changing the film from a contemporary setting to the 1970s. Black's producer friend Joel Silver was initially wary of the idea as he felt audiences would not be as welcoming to a period piece, but he changed his mind after producing "Sherlock Holmes". Black stated the change in time period helped as in contrast to "the divisiveness that we see now", the 1970s was full of multiculturalism and "was the aftermath of the protests and you got a sense that we are all in it together". The contents also drew from films of the period such as "Vanishing Point" and "Five Easy Pieces". Bagarozzi noted how the title "The Nice Guys" aimed to be ironic and non-descriptive, as the two main characters were "literally the two worst people that we could think of and then trying to make that fun," given "one breaks arms for a living and the other cons old ladies out of money."


title: The Nice Guys

text: After Black completed "Iron Man 3" in 2013, Silver asked him what he wanted to do next, and he expressed interest in doing "The Nice Guys". The scripts were sent to Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, and both wound up taking the roles specially for the prospect of working with one another. Gosling even stated that when he read the script already picturing Crowe as Healy, "the movie just immediately became so funny" as he had never seen Crowe in a similar role. Gosling and Crowe accepted in a period of three days, and Black cited the casting as the reason the film was able to move forward, summed up as "After thirteen years it just popped into place in three days". The film was announced in June 2014, and other casting news followed with Margaret Qualley and Angourie Rice officially joining in September. Matt Bomer, Keith David, Beau Knapp, and Kim Basinger were confirmed in October, and Ty Simpkins and Jack Kilmer were announced in November.


title: The Nice Guys

text: Principal photography began on October 27, 2014, in Atlanta and Decatur, Georgia. While production designer Richard Bridgland saw a challenge in that the green Atlanta differed too much from desertic Los Angeles, he found some fitting locations such as Dallas Austin's house, whose design was based on what architect John Lautner found in Southern California, and the Atlanta Hilton, which had not changed at all since being built in 1976. On October 31, a police station scene was filmed in Atlanta among extras. Filming also took place in Los Angeles, mostly to get exteriors of locations such as The Comedy Store.


title: The Nice Guys

text: Bridgland did his best to recreate the 1970s, researching from Super 8 films to documentary photographs, and basing the furniture on designers such as Verner Panton. Even the Misty Mountains glamour photography had Bridgland recruiting Arny Freytag, responsible for most "Playboy" centerfolds of the decade. For its part, Warner Bros. used its 1972–84 title featuring the "Big W" logo designed by Saul Bass for Warner Communications to open the film.


title: The Nice Guys

text: John Ottman, who had scored Shane Black's "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", was brought to do the music for "The Nice Guys" along with David Buckley. Ottman drew inspiration from 1970s shows such as "S.W.A.T." and "The Dean Martin Show", with "The Streets of San Francisco" being a particular influence on the main theme. Ottman detailed that the difference to "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was that now the music was more song-driven, with Black stating that the songs would contrast to the neo-noir tone by focusing on mainstream, exuberant songs of the decade.


title: The Nice Guys

text: Lakeshore Records issued soundtrack albums for both the featured music and original score. The soundtrack also got a special collector's edition vinyl designed by Los Angeles-based creative services company iam8bit to create "something that seemed like it was an artifact from the seventies" and also "drew from the fictional world of the movie and give you something tactile you can hold in your hand", with the gatefold being a 3D centerfold of Misty Mountains, and the packaging including posters of Sid Shattuck films and a business card for The Nice Guys Agency.


title: The Nice Guys

text: In the United States, the film was originally scheduled for a June 17, 2016 release, which Warner Bros. moved up to May 20, 2016, giving its previous date to "Central Intelligence". The film had its premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on May 11, followed by a 1970s-themed after-party at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, and screened at Cannes on May 15.


title: The Nice Guys

text: "The Nice Guys" grossed $36.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $25.5 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $62.8 million, against a production budget of $50 million.


title: The Nice Guys

text: In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside "" and "The Angry Birds Movie", and was projected to gross around $10 million from 2,865 theaters in its opening weekend. It grossed $3.9 million on its first day, including $700,000 from Thursday night previews. In its opening weekend the film grossed $11.3 million, finishing fourth at the box office behind "The Angry Birds Movie" ($39 million), "" ($33.1 million) and "Neighbors 2" ($21.8 million). Phil Walden of "Forbes" argued that the film could have performed higher if not for sharing its release with "Neighbors 2", which shared the same older demographic the film targeted. The film made $6.5 million in its second weekend (including $8.4 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend), finishing seventh.


title: The Nice Guys

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 322 reviews and an average score of 7.60/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""The Nice Guys" hearkens back to the buddy comedies of a bygone era while adding something extra, courtesy of a knowing script, and the irresistible chemistry of its leads." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 75% overall positive score and a 52% "definite recommend".


title: The Nice Guys

text: Mike Ryan of "Uproxx" praised Black's writing and said: "If you like Shane Black, you will like "The Nice Guys". It's probably the Shane Black-est of all the Shane Black movies. Black has a knack for turning action movie expectations on their head mixed with knowing and rich dialogue." "IGN" gave the film a 9/10, writing, "Working from a tight and sharp script that perfectly balances the characters like a yin and yang of screw-ups ensures "The Nice Guys" is an absolute joy every step of the way." Richard Roeper of "Chicago Sun-Times" gave 3 stars out 4 and wrote, "Forget about Kevin Hart and Ice Cube in "Ride Along 2", or Zac Efron and Robert De Niro in "Dirty Grandpa", or Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in "Zoolander 2". Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling are the funniest duo of the year so far in "The Nice Guys"". James Berardinelli described the film as reminiscent of "Boogie Nights". Berardinelli wrote, "The Nice Guys is a refreshingly adult movie entering a marketplace saturated by teen-friendly superhero flicks and animated family fare. It's edgy (although not so edgy that it will turn off a mass market audience), funny, and fast-paced", and he gave a score of 3 out of 4.


title: The Nice Guys

text: A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" wrote that the film lacks the wistful, slyly political sense of history found in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice", also a quirky private investigator comedy set in the 1970s. Scott wrote, "Even nostalgic nonsense requires more than attitude and energy, which is all that Mr. Black has to offer. And despite all its restless detective work, "The Nice Guys" is unable to track down a soul or a reason for being." Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote, "That the film mostly falls flat has far more to do with the largely unconvincing material rather than with the co-stars, who are more than game for the often clownish shenanigans Black and his co-writer Anthony Bagarozzi have concocted for them; in fit and starts, the actors display a buoyant comic rapport." McCarthy, however, praised the production design (by Richard Bridgland) and costume design (by Kym Barrett) due to their "vivid reminders of how much L.A. has spruced itself up over the past 40 years"; and the cinematography (by Philippe Rousselot) due to "the figurative and possibly even literal use of a smog filter to evoke a physically and morally toxic environment."


title: The Nice Guys

text: In May 2016, prior to the film's release, Black said of a follow-up, "I think it's a little premature to consider a sequel. I don't believe in jinxes necessarily, but we really need people to see this one before we can even talk about that. We're up against some stiff superhero competition and we just need people to, you know, maybe see "" six times, but not the seventh and see us instead." In August 2018, Black reiterated his desire to make a sequel, although noted the film probably did not gross enough at the box office to make it likely.


title: The Nice Guys

text: In September 2017, Fox gave a script commitment to a contemporary female-led television version titled "The Nice Girls", to be produced by Silver Pictures Television written by Michael Diliberti.


title: Lovecraft Country (TV series)

text: Lovecraft Country is an American horror drama television series developed by Misha Green based on and serving as a continuation of the 2016 novel of the same name by Matt Ruff. Starring Jurnee Smollett and Jonathan Majors, it premiered on August 16, 2020, on HBO. The series is produced by Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, and Warner Bros. Television Studios. The series is about a young Black man who travels across the segregated United States in the 1950s in search of his missing father, learning of dark secrets plaguing a town on which famous horror writer H. P. Lovecraft supposedly based the location of many of his fictional tales. While a second season, "Lovecraft Country: Supremacy", was in development, HBO announced in July 2021 that the series had been canceled.


title: Lovecraft Country (TV series)

text: "Lovecraft Country" follows "Atticus Freeman as he joins up with his friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father. This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback".


title: Lovecraft Country (TV series)

text: The episodes "I Am." and "Jig-a-Bobo" establish that the "Lovecraft Country" novel exists in the continuity of the series as a novel written by George Freeman II fictionalizing the events of the series, which is retrieved from the future by his father Atticus Freeman in an attempt to change the story's narrative conclusion.


title: Lovecraft Country (TV series)

text: On May 16, 2017, it was announced that HBO had given a series order to "Lovecraft Country". Executive producers include Misha Green, Jordan Peele, J. J. Abrams, and Ben Stephenson. Additionally, Green serves as the series' showrunner and wrote the pilot episode. Production companies involved in the series include Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, and Warner Bros. Television. It was reported that Peele originally brought the project to Bad Robot Productions and enlisted Green to develop the show.


title: Lovecraft Country (TV series)

text: On March 5, 2018, it was announced that Yann Demange would direct and executive produce the pilot episode. While a second season had yet to be officially greenlit for production, by February 2021, HBO's president of programming Casey Bloys announced that Misha Green had begun writing and was in early planning stages. On July 2, 2021, HBO announced that the series would not be returning for a second season. In James Andrew Miller's book "Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers", several writers of the show claimed it was allegedly cancelled due to Green's creation of a toxic work environment.


title: Lovecraft Country (TV series)

text: On April 26, 2018, it was announced that Jurnee Smollett had been cast as the series' female lead. On May 2, 2018, it was reported that Jonathan Majors had joined the main cast as the series' male lead. A day later, it was reported that Wunmi Mosaku had also been cast as a series regular. On June 19, 2018, it was announced that Aunjanue Ellis and Elizabeth Debicki had been cast as series regulars and that Courtney B. Vance had joined the series in a recurring capacity. On October 10, 2018, it was reported that Michael Kenneth Williams had been cast in a leading role. On June 14, 2019, it was reported that Abbey Lee had replaced Elizabeth Debicki in the role of Christina Braithwaite, while Jamie Chung and Jordan Patrick Smith had been cast in recurring roles. On June 20, 2019, it was announced that Jamie Neumann, Erica Tazel, and Mac Brandt had been cast in recurring capacities. In July 2019, Tony Goldwyn joined the cast.


title: Lovecraft Country (TV series)

text: Principal photography for the series began on July 16, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. Filming also reportedly took place at the Chicago Cinespace Film Studios in Elburn, Illinois and White Pines State Park in Mount Morris, Illinois, at Blackhall Studios in Atlanta, Georgia and Macon, Georgia.


title: Lovecraft Country (TV series)

text: Laura Karpman composed the music for the show. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Karpman and her composing team had to score the show individually from their residences in eastern Europe, with Karpman adding some music tracks of her playing piano, keyboards, and other instruments. Karpman reflected on how difficult it was composing the show with the pandemic's restrictions, due to not being able to have immediate interaction with the musicians. She felt satisfied with the finished result.


title: Lovecraft Country (TV series)

text: "Lovecraft Country" has received positive reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 88% based on 136 reviews, with an average rating of 8.08/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Anchored by Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Jonathan Majors' heroic performances, Misha Green's "Lovecraft Country" is a thrilling take on Lovecraftian lore that proves the Elder Gods aren't the only thing that goes bump in the cosmos." On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 42 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Lovecraft Country (TV series)

text: Writing for "The A.V. Club", Shannon Miller lauded the show's ability to balance Lovecraft's more problematic political views with "an appreciation for [his] unparalleled vision". Brian Tallerico of "RogerEbert.com" pointed to the show's use of genre storytelling "to peel back layers of American history to reveal the systemic problems underneath it", while also describing it as "marvelously entertaining". Hugo Rifkind of "The Times" described the show as "brutal and righteously furious". The "Chicago Tribune"s Michael Phillips, in reference to earlier, less successful attempts at adaptation of Lovecraft's works, said the show "succeeds where others have not" and commended the show on its themes, despite calling the five episodes available for early review "uneven". "The New York Times"s Mike Hale credited Green's "impressively seamless job... in wielding the cultural metaphors" as part of the show's strength. In a review for "The Dispatch", Alec Dent praised the show's success at "examin[ing] racism in America's past through an unexpected genre", calling it a good reminder that "oftentimes true evil takes a normal guise". In a more critical review, Daniel D'Addario of "Variety" wrote that "the violence of Lovecraftian horror is so extreme [...] that even the most evil impulses of humanity seem an inadequate counterweight".


title: Lovecraft Country (TV series)

text: In an analysis of the series, Maya Phillips of "The New York Times" criticized it for "exploiting [the past] for the purposes of its convoluted fiction", despite a promising premise. She accused the show's creators of using historical events purely "to get points for relevance", notable examples of this being the funeral of Emmett Till and the Tulsa race massacre, both of which are featured in the show.


title: French Open

text: The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and venue are named after the French aviator Roland Garros. The French Open is the premier clay court championship in the world and the only Grand Slam tournament currently held on this surface. It is chronologically the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments, occurring after the Australian Open and before Wimbledon and the US Open. Until 1975, the French Open was the only major tournament not played on grass. Between the seven rounds needed for a championship, the clay surface characteristics (slower pace, higher bounce), and the best-of-five-set men's singles matches, the French Open is widely regarded as the most physically demanding tennis tournament in the world.


title: French Open

text: Officially named in French les Internationaux de France de Tennis (the "French Internationals of Tennis" in English), the tournament itself uses the name Roland-Garros in all languages, and it is usually called the French Open in English. (The stadium and tournament are both hyphenated as "Roland-Garros" because French spelling rules dictate that in the name of a place or event named after a person, the elements of the name are joined with a hyphen.)


title: French Open

text: In 1891 the "Championnat de France", which is commonly referred to in English as the French Championships, began. This was only open to tennis players who were members of French clubs. The first winner was H. Briggs, a Briton who resided in Paris and was a member of the Club Stade Français. In the final he defeated P. Baigneres in straight sets. The first women's singles tournament, with four entries, was held in 1897. The mixed doubles event was added in 1902 and the women's doubles in 1907. In the period of 1915–1919, no tournament was organized due to World War I.


title: French Open

text: In 1925, the French Championships became open to all amateurs internationally and was designated a major championship by the International Lawn Tennis Federation. It was held at the Stade Français in Saint-Cloud (site of the previous World Hard Court Championships) in 1925 and 1927, on clay courts. In 1926 the Croix-Catelan of the Racing Club de France hosted the event in Paris, site of the previous French club members only tournament, also on clay.


title: French Open

text: Another clay court tournament, called the World Hard Court Championships, is sometimes considered the true precursor to the modern French Open as it admitted international competitors. This was held at Stade Français in Saint-Cloud, from 1912 to 1914, 1920, 1921 and 1923, with the 1922 event held in Brussels, Belgium. Winners of this tournament included world No. 1s such as Tony Wilding from New Zealand (1913, 1914) and Bill Tilden from the US (1921). In 1924 there was no World Hard Court Championships due to tennis being played at the Paris Olympic Games.<section end=GrandSlamArticle/>


title: French Open

text: After the Mousquetaires or Philadelphia Four (René Lacoste, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet, and Jacques Brugnon) won the Davis Cup on American soil in 1927, the French decided to defend the cup in 1928 at a new tennis stadium at Porte d'Auteuil. The "Stade de France" had offered the tennis authorities three hectares of land with the condition that the new stadium must be named after the World War I aviator hero Roland Garros. The new Stade de Roland Garros (whose central court was renamed Court Philippe Chatrier in 1988) hosted that Davis Cup challenge. On May 24, 1928, the French International Championships moved there, and the event has been held there ever since.


title: French Open

text: During World War II, the Tournoi de France was not held in 1940 and from 1941 through 1945 it took place on the same grounds, but those events are not recognized by the French governing body, the Fédération Française de Tennis. In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon, making it the third Grand Slam event of the year. In 1968, the year of the French General Strike, the French Championships became the first Grand Slam tournament to go open, allowing both amateurs and professionals to compete.


title: French Open

text: Since 1981, new prizes have been presented: the Prix Orange (for the player demonstrating the best sportsmanship and cooperative attitude with the press), the Prix Citron (for the player with the strongest character and personality) and the Prix Bourgeon (for the tennis player revelation of the year). In another novelty, since 2006 the tournament has begun on a Sunday, featuring 12 singles matches played on the three main courts. Additionally, on the eve of the tournament's opening, the traditional Benny Berthet exhibition day takes place, where the profits go to different charity associations. In March 2007, it was announced that the event would provide equal prize money for both men and women in all rounds for the first time.


title: French Open

text: In 2010, it was announced that the tournament was considering a move away from Roland Garros as part of a continuing rejuvenation. Plans to renovate and expand Roland Garros have put aside any such consideration, and the tournament remains in its long time home.


title: French Open

text: 2022 finally saw a new tiebreaker format. If the deciding set is tied at six-all, the match is decided in a 10-point format. Should the tiebreaker game be tied at 9-all, whoever scores two straight points wins.


title: French Open

text: From 2004 to 2008, plans were developed to build a covered stadium with a roof, as complaints continued over delayed matches. Various proposals were put forward to expand the facility or to move the tournament to a completely new, 55-court venue outside of Paris city limits. In 2011 the decision was taken to maintain the tournament within its existing venue. The expansion project called for a new stadium to be built alongside the historical Auteuil's greenhouses and expansion of old stadiums and the tournament village. A wide-ranging project to overhaul the venue was presented in 2011, including building a roof over Court Philippe-Chatrier, demolishing and replacing Court No. 1 with a grassy hill for outdoors viewing, and geographical extension of the venue eastward into the Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil.


title: French Open

text: Legal opposition from environmental defence associations and other stakeholders delayed the works for several years as litigation ensued. In particular, the city council voted in May 2015 against the expansion project, but on 9 June 2015 Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced the signing of the construction permits, with work scheduled to begin in September of that year and conclude in 2019. In December 2015, the Administrative Court of Paris once again halted renovation work, but the French Tennis Federation won the right to proceed with the renovation on appeal.


title: French Open

text: Renovation work finally commenced at the close of the 2018 edition of the tournament. Redeveloped seating and a retractable roof was constructed for Court Philippe-Chatrier and the new 5,000-seat Court Simonne-Mathieu was opened, having been named after France's second-highest achieving female tennis player, and noted for its innovative use of greenhouse encasing architecture. The renewal of the venue has been generally well received by the players and the public. The 2020 edition of the tournament, which was the first to be assisted by the roof over Philippe-Chatrier, was postponed to late September and early October and was played in front of limited spectators, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Floodlights were also installed over each of the courts in the precinct, allowing the tournament to facilitate night matches for the first time. In 2021, the tournament was back in the traditional slot of late May and early June.


title: French Open

text: The French Open has been the only major played on clay courts since 1978, when the US Open changed to hard courts. Clay courts slow down the ball and produce a high bounce when compared with grass courts or hard courts. For this reason, clay courts take away some of the advantages of big servers and serve-and-volleyers, which makes it hard for these types of players to dominate on the surface. For example, Pete Sampras, known for his huge serve and who won 14 Grand Slam titles, never won the French Open – his best result was reaching the semi-finals in 1996. Many other notable players have won multiple Grand Slam events but have never won the French Open, including John McEnroe, Frank Sedgman, John Newcombe, Venus Williams, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt, Jimmy Connors, Louise Brough, Virginia Wade or Martina Hingis; McEnroe and Edberg lost their only French Open finals appearances in five sets.


title: French Open

text: On the other hand, players whose games are more suited to jumpier surfaces, such as Rafael Nadal, Björn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Justine Henin and Chris Evert, have found great success at this tournament. In the Open Era, the only male players who have won both the French Open and Wimbledon, played on faster grass courts, are Rod Laver, Jan Kodeš, Björn Borg, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Borg's French Open—Wimbledon double was achieved three times consecutively.


title: French Open

text: The trophies have been awarded to the winners since 1953 and are manufactured by Mellerio dits Meller, a famous Parisian jewelry house. They are all made of pure silver with finely etched decorations on their side. Each new singles winner gets his or her name written on the base of the trophy. Winners receive custom-made pure silver replicas of the trophies they have won. They are usually presented by the President of the French Tennis Federation (FFT).


title: French Open

text: The trophy awarded to the winner of the men's singles is called the "Coupe des Mousquetaires" (The Musketeers' Cup). It is named in honor of the "Four Musketeers". The trophy weighs 14 kg, is 40 cm high and 19 cm wide. The current design was created in 1981 by the Mellerio dit Meller. Each winner gets a smaller-size replica and the original remains property of the FFT at all times.


title: French Open

text: The trophy awarded to the winner of the women's singles is called the "Coupe Suzanne Lenglen" (Suzanne Lenglen Cup) since 1979. The current cup was awarded for the first time in 1986. It is, with a few details, a replica of a cup offered at the time by the city of Nice to Suzanne Lenglen. This trophy, donated by Suzanne Lenglen's family to the Musée National du Sport, was awarded between 1979 and 1985 to every winner until the FFT made a copy. Each winner receives a smaller-size replica and the original remains property of the FFT at all times.


title: French Open

text: When a player makes it to the indicated round, they receive the points and money listed (provided they don't make it to a further round).


title: French Open

text: For 2022, the prize money pool was announced to be €43.6 million, an increase of 26.87% compared to the prize pool for 2021 edition.


title: French Open

text: BBC began broadcasting French Open finals annually in 1981 (often in their Grandstand or Sunday Grandstand programmes). The BBC's coverage continued until 2011. From 2012 until 2021, ITV Sport televised the French Open in United Kingdom. Eurosport began broadcasting the French open in 1989. As of 2022 onwards, Eurosport hold exclusive UK broadcast rights to the tournament. Studio presentation for the French Open on Eurosport is hosted by Barbara Schett with Mats Wilander. Commentators include Simon Reed, Chris Bradnam, Nick Lester, Barry Millns alongside Jo Durie, Annabel Croft, Frew McMillan, Miles Maclagan, Arvind Parmar and Chris Wilkinson.


title: French Open

text: In India, Star Sports had the exclusive broadcast rights of the French Open tennis tournament. However, Sony Pictures Sports Network owned by Sony Pictures Networks India has bagged the broadcast rights from 2022 onwards.


title: French Open

text: NBC's coverage of the French Open began in 1975. Tennis Channel owns pay television rights to the tournament. Coverage of morning window (U.S. time) matches were sub-licensed to ESPN for broadcast by ESPN2 from 2007 through 2015. In August 2015, ESPN announced that it would discontinue its sub-licensing and drop coverage of the French Open beginning in 2016, with network staff citing that because of the structure of the arrangement, its coverage "did not fit our successful model at the other three Majors"—where ESPN is the exclusive rightsholder. Tennis Channel chose to retain these rights under its new owner Sinclair Broadcast Group, nearly doubling the amount of coverage Tennis Channel will air from Roland Garros.


title: French Open

text: Other than a three-year stint on CBS, NBC has remained the American television network home of the French Open since 1983. Since acquiring rights to the Indianapolis 500 in 2019, NBC's coverage begins on Memorial Day, the second day of the tournament; the network provides coverage windows on the holiday and the second weekend in the afternoon U.S. time. These windows consist of exclusive tape-delayed matches from earlier in the day, but any ongoing matches at the window's start are shown live to their conclusion. The later men's and women's semifinals are broadcast live on NBC in the Eastern Time Zone and tape-delayed in others, but since 2017 these matches are also simulcast on NBCSN to allow nationwide live coverage. Finals are live nationwide.


title: French Open

text: At the 2022 French Open, there were 250 "ramasseurs de balles" (literally "gatherers of balls" in English), aged between 12 and 16 years old, and dressed in matching shirts and shorts. The ball boys and ball girls are chosen to take part in the French Open through an application process, which in 2022 had approximately 4,000 applicants from across France. Upon selection they are trained in the weeks leading up to the French Open.


title: Station Eleven

text: Station Eleven is a novel by the Canadian writer Emily St. John Mandel. It takes place in the Great Lakes region before and after a fictional swine flu pandemic, known as the "Georgia Flu", has devastated the world, killing most of the population. The book was published in 2014, and won the Arthur C. Clarke Award the following year.


title: Station Eleven

text: The novel was well received by critics, with the understated nature of Mandel's writing receiving particular praise. It appeared on several best-of-year lists. it had sold 1.5 million copies.


title: Station Eleven

text: During a production of "King Lear" at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Jeevan watches as the actor playing Lear, Arthur Leander, has a heart attack. Since he has begun training as a paramedic, Jeevan tries to resuscitate Arthur, but is unsuccessful. Instead, Jeevan comforts one of the child actors in the production, Kirsten. After leaving the play, Jeevan goes for a walk in the snow and receives a call from a friend who is a doctor in Toronto. He warns Jeevan to get out of the city as the mysterious Georgia Flu is spreading rapidly and will soon become a full-blown pandemic. Jeevan loads up on supplies and goes to stay with his brother, Frank. Many of the actors, actresses, and others that had gathered to mourn Arthur's death die within the next three weeks.


title: Station Eleven

text: Twenty years later, Kirsten is part of a nomadic group of actors and musicians known as the "Travelling Symphony". Kirsten, who was eight at the time of the outbreak, can remember little of her life before Year Zero, but clings to a two-volume set of graphic novels given to her by Arthur before his death, titled "Station Eleven". The troupe operates on a two-year cycle touring the Great Lakes region, performing Shakespeare plays and classical music, while Kirsten scavenges abandoned homes for props, costumes, and traces of Arthur in tabloid magazines.


title: Station Eleven

text: The troupe intends to reunite with two members they left behindthe pregnant Charlie, and her husband, Jeremyat a small town. Upon arriving, they are disturbed to find that their friends are missing, and the town is now under the control of the Prophet, who rapes the young girls he claims as his "wives". The troupe quickly leaves, and goes off-route to the Museum of Civilization, a settlement where they believe they might find their missing friends. En route, they discover a young stowaway who fled the town, as she was promised to the Prophet as another bride. Shortly after, members of the troupe begin to disappear until finally the entire troupe is gone, leaving only Kirsten and her friend August. Frightened, they continue on to the Museum, hoping to be reunited with others.


title: Station Eleven

text: Unbeknownst to Kirsten, "Station Eleven" is an unpublished passion project by Arthur's first wife, Miranda. Fourteen years before the collapse of civilization, Miranda left an abusive relationship and married Arthur, a friend from her hometown in coastal British Columbia who has since become famous. As Arthur's fame as an actor hit its peak, Miranda realized he was having an affair with the woman who would become his second wife, Elizabeth. The night that Miranda discovers the affair, she walks out of her home and asks a paparazzo outside if he has a cigarette. The paparazzo turns out to be Jeevan. Years later, when Jeevan is trying to reinvent himself as an entertainment journalist, Arthur gives him an exclusive interview; he is leaving Elizabeth and their young son, Tyler, to be with another woman. Jeevan reflects on this while he and Frank are quarantining in Frank's apartment. After weeks, they realize that no one is coming to save them. Frank, who is paraplegic, dies by suicide to spare Jeevan from feeling responsible for him. Jeevan embarks on a journey south, and after many years, finds a new settlement where he marries and becomes the town doctor.


title: Station Eleven

text: In Year Zero, one of Arthur's friends, Clark, informs Elizabeth that Arthur is dead. Clark, Elizabeth and Tyler happen to be on the same flight from New York City to Toronto to attend Arthur's funeral, until it is grounded at the Severn City Airport due to the pandemic. The passengers, having nowhere to go, create a settlement in the airport, and Clark becomes the "curator" of the Museum of Civilization, where he gathers artifacts such as iPhones and laptop computers. While most of the airport survivors adapt to their new life, Elizabeth and Tyler embrace religious zealotry, believing that the pandemic happened for a reason and spared those who were good. After two years, they leave with a religious cult.


title: Station Eleven

text: In the present, Kirsten and August find a group of the Prophet's men holding Sayid, a member of their troupe, hostage. They kill the men and free Sayid, who explains that their friend Dieter was killed, while another hostage escaped, warned the troupe, and sent them on another road, explaining how they went missing. The trio leave for the Severn City Airport, but Kirsten is soon discovered by the Prophet. Just before he is about to kill her, he refers to the "Undersea," a place from the "Station Eleven" comics. Kirsten quotes lines from "Station Eleven", distracting the Prophet long enough that a younger sentry (having a crisis of faith) shoots and kills him, before taking his own life. The trio continues to the Museum of Civilization, where they are reunited with Charlie, Jeremy and the rest of the troupe. Clark, who has lived in the museum for twenty years, realizes who Kirsten is, her attachment to Arthur, and that the Prophet was Tyler Leander. Clark takes Kirsten up to the control tower of the airport, where through a telescope he shows her there is a town to the south with electric lights, suggesting that civilization is beginning to take root again.


title: Station Eleven

text: Five weeks later, Kirsten leaves with the "Travelling Symphony" for the town to the south. She gives one copy of "Station Eleven" to Clark's museum. He begins to read it and recognizes a scene that is borrowed from a dinner party which he, Arthur and Miranda once attended.


title: Station Eleven

text: Although many publications classified the novel as science fiction, Mandel does not believe that the work belongs to that genre, as the novel does not include any instances of fictional technology. She said the issue of labeling her work science fiction (as opposed to literary fiction) has followed her through all her novels. Her early work was classified as crime fiction, and she has stated she consciously chose to avoid overtones of mystery and crime in this work in order to avoid being "pigeonholed" as a mystery novelist.


title: Station Eleven

text: In 2015, it was announced that a film adaptation of the novel was in development by Scott Steindorff.


title: Station Eleven

text: On October 18, 2019, it was announced that "Station Eleven" would instead be adapted into a miniseries for HBO Max. The series premiered on December 16, 2021, with Hiro Murai directing and Patrick Somerville as showrunner and writer. Both also serve as executive producers, alongside Scott Steindorff, Scott Delman, and Dylan Russell. The miniseries stars Mackenzie Davis as Kirsten and Himesh Patel as Jeevan. Gael García Bernal portrays Arthur, and David Wilmot, Clark.


title: Station Eleven

text: The novel won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in May 2015, beating novels including "The Girl with All the Gifts" and "Memory of Water". The committee highlighted the novel's focus on the survival of human culture after an apocalypse, as opposed to the survival of humanity. The novel won the Toronto Book Award in October 2015.


title: Station Eleven

text: The novel was also a finalist for the National Book Award, ultimately losing to Phil Klay's short story cycle "Redeployment". It was also a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, as well as the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.


title: Lemon

text: The lemon ("Citrus limon") is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China.


title: Lemon

text: The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world, primarily for its juice, which has both culinary and cleaning uses. The pulp and rind are also used in cooking and baking. The juice of the lemon is about 5% to 6% citric acid, with a pH of around 2.2, giving it a sour taste. The distinctive sour taste of lemon juice makes it a key ingredient in drinks and foods such as lemonade and lemon meringue pie.


title: Lemon

text: The origin of the lemon is unknown, though lemons are thought to have first grown in Assam (a region in northeast India), northern Myanmar or China. A genomic study of the lemon indicated it was a hybrid between bitter orange (sour orange) and citron.


title: Lemon

text: Lemons are supposed to have entered Europe near southern Italy no later than the second century AD, during the time of Ancient Rome. They were later introduced to Persia and then to Iraq and Egypt around 700 AD. The lemon was first recorded in literature in a 10th-century Arabic treatise on farming, and was also used as an ornamental plant in early Islamic gardens. It was distributed widely throughout the Arab world and the Mediterranean region between 1000 and 1150. An article on Lemon and lime tree cultivation in Andalusia of Spain is brought down in Ibn al-'Awwam's 12th-century agricultural work, "Book on Agriculture".


title: Lemon

text: The first substantial cultivation of lemons in Europe began in Genoa in the middle of the 15th century. The lemon was later introduced to the Americas in 1493 when Christopher Columbus brought lemon seeds to Hispaniola on his voyages. Spanish conquest throughout the New World helped spread lemon seeds. It was mainly used as an ornamental plant and for medicine. In the 19th century, lemons were increasingly planted in Florida and California.


title: Lemon

text: In 1747, James Lind's experiments on seamen suffering from scurvy involved adding lemon juice to their diets, though vitamin C was not yet known as an important dietary ingredient.


title: Lemon

text: The origin of the word "lemon" may be Middle Eastern. The word draws from the Old French "limon", then Italian "limone", from the Arabic "laymūn" or "līmūn", and from the Persian "līmūn", a generic term for citrus fruit, which is a cognate of Sanskrit ("nimbū", 'lime').


title: Lemon

text: The 'Bonnie Brae' is oblong, smooth, thin-skinned and seedless. These are mostly grown in San Diego County, USA.


title: Lemon

text: The 'Eureka' grows year-round and abundantly. This is the common supermarket lemon, also known as 'Four Seasons' ("Quatre Saisons") because of its ability to produce fruit and flowers together throughout the year. This variety is also available as a plant to domestic customers. There is also a pink-fleshed Eureka lemon, with a green and yellow variegated outer skin.


title: Lemon

text: The Lisbon lemon is very similar to the Eureka and is the other common supermarket lemon. It is smoother than the Eureka, has thinner skin, and has fewer or no seeds. It generally produces more juice than the Eureka.


title: Lemon

text: The 'Femminello St. Teresa', or 'Sorrento' originates in Italy. This fruit's zest is high in lemon oils. It is the variety traditionally used in the making of "limoncello".


title: Lemon

text: Lemon is a rich source of vitamin C, providing 64% of the Daily Value in a 100 g reference amount (table). Other essential nutrients are low in content.


title: Lemon

text: Lemons contain numerous phytochemicals, including polyphenols, terpenes, and tannins. Lemon juice contains slightly more citric acid than lime juice (about 47 g/L), nearly twice the citric acid of grapefruit juice, and about five times the amount of citric acid found in orange juice.


title: Lemon

text: Lemon juice, rind, and peel are used in a wide variety of foods and drinks. The whole lemon is used to make marmalade, lemon curd and lemon liqueur. Lemon slices and lemon rind are used as a garnish for food and drinks. Lemon zest, the grated outer rind of the fruit, is used to add flavor to baked goods, puddings, rice, and other dishes.


title: Lemon

text: Lemon juice is used to make lemonade, soft drinks, and cocktails. It is used in marinades for fish, where its acid neutralizes amines in fish by converting them into nonvolatile ammonium salts. In meat, the acid partially hydrolyzes tough collagen fibers, tenderizing it. In the United Kingdom, lemon juice is frequently added to pancakes, especially on Shrove Tuesday.


title: Lemon

text: Lemon juice is also used as a short-term preservative on certain foods that tend to oxidize and turn brown after being sliced (enzymatic browning), such as apples, bananas, and avocados, where its acid denatures the enzymes.


title: Lemon

text: In Morocco, lemons are preserved in jars or barrels of salt. The salt penetrates the peel and rind, softening them, and curing them so that they last almost indefinitely. The preserved lemon is used in a wide variety of dishes. Preserved lemons can also be found in Sicilian, Italian, Greek, and French dishes.


title: Lemon

text: The peel can be used in the manufacture of pectin, a polysaccharide used as a gelling agent and stabilizer in food and other products.


title: Lemon

text: Lemon oil is extracted from oil-containing cells in the skin. A machine breaks up the cells, and uses a water spray to flush off the oil. The oil/water mixture is then filtered and separated by centrifugation.


title: Lemon

text: Lemons were the primary commercial source of citric acid before the development of fermentation-based processes.


title: Lemon

text: Lemon oil may be used in aromatherapy. Lemon oil aroma does not influence the human immune system, but may contribute to relaxation.


title: Lemon

text: One educational science experiment involves attaching electrodes to a lemon and using it as a battery to produce electricity. Although very low power, several lemon batteries can power a small digital watch. These experiments also work with other fruits and vegetables.


title: Lemon

text: Lemon juice can be used to increase the blonde colour of hair, acting as a natural highlight after the moistened hair is exposed to sunlight. This is due to the citric acid that acts as bleach.


title: Lemon

text: Lemons need a minimum temperature of around , so they are not hardy year-round in temperate climates, but become hardier as they mature. Citrus require minimal pruning by trimming overcrowded branches, with the tallest branch cut back to encourage bushy growth. Throughout summer, pinching back tips of the most vigorous growth assures more abundant canopy development. As mature plants may produce unwanted, fast-growing shoots (called "water shoots"), these are removed from the main branches at the bottom or middle of the plant.


title: Lemon

text: In 2020, world production of lemons (combined with limes for reporting) was 21.4 million tonnes. The top producers – India, Mexico, China, Argentina, Brazil, and Turkey – collectively accounted for 65% of global production (table).


title: T.A.T.u.

text: t.A.T.u. (, ) was a Russian music duo that consisted of Lena Katina and Julia Volkova. The singers were part of children's music group Neposedy before being managed by producer and director Ivan Shapovalov and signing with Russian record label Neformat. t.A.T.u.'s debut album "200 Po Vstrechnoy" (2001) was a commercial success in Eastern Europe, and that made the duo sign with Interscope Records to release its English-language counterpart, "200 km/h in the Wrong Lane" (2002). The album was certified platinum by the IFPI for one million copies sold in Europe and became the first album by a foreign group to reach number one in Japan. It was also certified gold in the United States and included the international hits "All the Things She Said" and "Not Gonna Get Us". The duo represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Ne ver', ne boysia", finishing third.


title: T.A.T.u.

text: t.A.T.u. released the albums "Dangerous and Moving" and "Lyudi Invalidy" in 2005 to moderate success after parting ways with Shapovalov. The former was promoted with the international hit "All About Us". The duo ventured into other projects, such as creating their own production company T.A. Music and promoting the film inspired by their story, "You and I" (2008). Their last pair of albums, "Vesyolye Ulybki" and "Waste Management", followed between 2008 and 2009, respectively. t.A.T.u. officially broke up in 2011, with Katina and Volkova pursuing solo careers. They reunited to perform at special occasions, such as the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, in subsequent years.