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Netflix Finally Eyes TV's Top Prize with 'The Crown' at In-Person Emmys

The Netflix logo is pictured on a television in this illustration photograph taken in Encinitas, California, US, on January 18, 2017. (Reuters)
The Netflix logo is pictured on a television in this illustration photograph taken in Encinitas, California, US, on January 18, 2017. (Reuters)
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Netflix Finally Eyes TV's Top Prize with 'The Crown' at In-Person Emmys

The Netflix logo is pictured on a television in this illustration photograph taken in Encinitas, California, US, on January 18, 2017. (Reuters)
The Netflix logo is pictured on a television in this illustration photograph taken in Encinitas, California, US, on January 18, 2017. (Reuters)

Netflix is tipped to finally win television's biggest prize Sunday as its critically adored British royals drama "The Crown" battles "Star Wars" series "The Mandalorian" at an Emmys ceremony held in front of a scaled-back live audience.

Despite turning the entire TV landscape upside-down since its groundbreaking online platform launched in 2007, leading streamer Netflix has never won for best drama at the small-screen version of the Oscars -- nor best comedy, nor best limited series.

"'The Crown' does feel like it finally has come to the moment where it's going to have its moment," Variety awards editor Clayton Davis told AFP.

"It's going to be the first big series win for Netflix."

As well as "The Crown" -- which in its fourth series depicts the ill-fated marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana -- the streaming giant is banking on the wildly popular "The Queen's Gambit."

Starring Anya Taylor-Joy as a gifted but troubled chess prodigy, that show sent chessboard sales skyrocketing worldwide, and is the favorite to win top honors in the fiercely competitive limited series section -- for shows ending after one season.

Add in nominations for wide-ranging offerings from Regency romp "Bridgerton" to nature documentary "David Attenborough: A Life on our Planet" -- plus 34 Emmys won in technical categories announced ahead of Sunday's gala -- and Netflix could be eyeing an all-time record haul.

"What we're seeing is Netflix finally breaking through. They've always done well with the nominations, but never the final tally," said Deadline columnist Pete Hammond.

"This is a turning point for them," he told AFP.

If anyone can ruin the party, it will likely be Disney+, the new kid on the TV streaming block in just its second year, bringing beloved big-screen characters from "Star Wars" and Marvel films to the Emmys party.

Baby Yoda and a digitally de-aged Luke Skywalker helped "The Mandalorian" jointly top the overall nominations count alongside rival drama "The Crown."

The other outside bet for best drama is "Pose" -- Billy Porter's LGBTQ-focused show exploring New York's 1980s underground ballroom culture has mounted a dazzling Emmys campaign for its final season.

In limited series competition, quirky sitcom-inspired Marvel superhero show "WandaVision" has exceeded all critical expectations.

The category also features Kate Winslet's small-town detective drama "Mare of Easttown," and British break-out series "I May Destroy You," which examines the aftermath of a rape -- both from traditional Emmys juggernaut HBO.

- 'Fun, ritzy party' -
Last year's ceremony -- held before coronavirus vaccines were available -- was an entirely virtual affair, with comedian Jimmy Kimmel standing in a deserted downtown Los Angeles auditorium as winners beamed in via video.

This time, comedian Cedric the Entertainer takes on hosting duties, with a strict guest list of 500-odd nominees gathering in the venue's outdoor section, under strict pandemic precautions including proof of inoculation.

"Making that level of celebrities ill is not on our agenda," Emmys producer Ian Stewart told Variety, nonetheless promising a "fun, ritzy party" for those who clear security.

With the Delta variant still raging and international travel complicated, some overseas contenders including the cast of "The Crown" are expected to dial in from a London satellite hub.

The strategy echoes the approach adopted last year by the cast of "Schitt's Creek," who swept every comedy acting prize at the start of the Emmys ceremony as they beamed in from their base in Toronto.

This year, Apple TV+ phenomenon "Ted Lasso" is the comedy frontrunner, including and Jason Sudeikis is a favorite for best actor for his work as an out-of-his-depth American football coach handed control of an English soccer team.

"I think the show will end up with another 'Schitt's Creek' kind of situation, where it wins everything in the first 45 minutes of the show," said Hammond.

Many A-list stars are expected to appear Sunday, but others such as "Friends: The Reunion" nominee Jennifer Aniston have decided to stay away for health reasons.

The slimmed-down audience capacity means some of those in contention will not even have invitations.

"It's going to look different," said Davis. "Hopefully, I just cross my fingers this is the last 'hybrid' show that we see.

"I'm really just hoping it's the last one. Because I'm done with them. And I think the rest of America are."

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Entertainment

Perry Bamonte, Keyboardist and Guitarist for The Cure, Dies at 65

Perry Bamonte of The Cure performs at North Island Credit Union Amphitheater on May 20, 2023 in Chula Vista, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
Perry Bamonte of The Cure performs at North Island Credit Union Amphitheater on May 20, 2023 in Chula Vista, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Perry Bamonte, Keyboardist and Guitarist for The Cure, Dies at 65

Perry Bamonte of The Cure performs at North Island Credit Union Amphitheater on May 20, 2023 in Chula Vista, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
Perry Bamonte of The Cure performs at North Island Credit Union Amphitheater on May 20, 2023 in Chula Vista, California. (Getty Images/AFP)

Perry Bamonte, keyboardist and guitarist in The Cure, has died at 65, the English indie rock band confirmed through their official website on Friday.

In a statement, the band wrote that Bamonte died "after a short illness at home" on Christmas Day.

"It is with enormous sadness that ‌we confirm ‌the death of our ‌great ⁠friend and ‌bandmate Perry Bamonte who passed away after a short illness at home over Christmas," the statement said, adding he was a "vital part of The Cure story."

The statement said Bamonte was ⁠a full-time member of The Cure since 1990, ‌playing guitar, six-string bass, ‍and keyboards, and ‍performed in more than 400 shows.

Bamonte, ‍born in London, England, in 1960, joined the band's road crew in 1984, working alongside his younger brother Daryl, who worked as tour manager for The Cure.

Bamonte first worked as ⁠an assistant to co-founder and lead vocalist, Robert Smith, before becoming a full member after keyboardist Roger O'Donnell left the band in 1990.

Bamonte's first album with The Cure was "Wish" in 1992. He continued to work with them on the next three albums.

He also had various acting ‌roles in movies: "Judge Dredd,About Time" and "The Crow."

Entertainment

First Bond Game in a Decade Hit by Two-month Delay

'007 First Light' depicts a younger Bond earning his license to kill. Ina FASSBENDER / AFP
'007 First Light' depicts a younger Bond earning his license to kill. Ina FASSBENDER / AFP
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First Bond Game in a Decade Hit by Two-month Delay

'007 First Light' depicts a younger Bond earning his license to kill. Ina FASSBENDER / AFP
'007 First Light' depicts a younger Bond earning his license to kill. Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

A Danish video game studio said it was delaying the release of the first James Bond video game in over a decade by two months to "refine the experience".

Fans will now have to wait until May 27 to play "007 First Light" featuring Ian Fleming's world-famous spy, after IO Interactive said on Tuesday it was postponing the launch to add some final touches.

"007 First Light is our most ambitious project to date, and the team has been fully focused on delivering an unforgettable James Bond experience," the Danish studio wrote on X.

Describing the game as "fully playable", IO Interactive said the two additional months would allow their team "to further polish and refine the experience", giving players "the strongest possible version at launch".

The game, which depicts a younger Bond earning his license to kill, is set to feature "globe-trotting, spycraft, gadgets, car chases, and more", IO Interactive added.

It has been more than a decade since a video game inspired by Bond was released. The initial release date was scheduled for March 27.

Entertainment

Movie Review: An Electric Timothee Chalamet Is the Consummate Striver in Propulsive ‘Marty Supreme’

Timothee Chalamet attends the premiere of "Marty Supreme" at Regal Times Square on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP)
Timothee Chalamet attends the premiere of "Marty Supreme" at Regal Times Square on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP)
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Movie Review: An Electric Timothee Chalamet Is the Consummate Striver in Propulsive ‘Marty Supreme’

Timothee Chalamet attends the premiere of "Marty Supreme" at Regal Times Square on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP)
Timothee Chalamet attends the premiere of "Marty Supreme" at Regal Times Square on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP)

“Everybody wants to rule the world,” goes the Tears for Fears song we hear at a key point in “Marty Supreme,” Josh Safdie’s nerve-busting adrenaline jolt of a movie starring a never-better Timothee Chalamet.

But here’s the thing: everybody may want to rule the world, but not everybody truly believes they CAN. This, one could argue, is what separates the true strivers from the rest of us.

And Marty — played by Chalamet in a delicious synergy of actor, role and whatever fairy dust makes a performance feel both preordained and magically fresh — is a striver. With every fiber of his restless, wiry body. They should add him to the dictionary definition.

Needless to say, Marty is a New Yorker.

Also needless to say, Chalamet is a New Yorker.

And so is Safdie, a writer-director Chalamet has called “the street poet of New York.” So, where else could this story be set?

It’s 1952, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Marty Mauser is a salesman in his uncle’s shoe store, escaping to the storeroom for a hot tryst with his (married) girlfriend. This witty opening sequence won’t be the only thing recalling “Uncut Gems,” co-directed by Safdie with his brother Benny before the two split for solo projects. That film, which feels much like the precursor to “Marty Supreme,” began as a trip through the shiny innards of a rare opal, only to wind up inside Adam Sandler’s colon, mid-colonoscopy.

Sandler’s Howard Ratner was a New York striver, too, but sadder, and more troubled. Marty is young, determined, brash — with an eye always to the future. He’s a great salesman: “I could sell shoes to an amputee,” he boasts, crassly. But what he’s plotting to unveil to the world has nothing to do with shoes. It’s about table tennis.

How likely is it that this Jewish kid from the Lower East Side can become the very face of a sport in America, soon to be “staring at you from the cover of a Wheaties box?”

To Marty, perfectly likely. Still, he knows nobody in the US cares about table tennis. He’s so determined to prove everyone wrong, starting at the British Open in London, that when there’s a snag obtaining cash for his trip, he brandishes a gun at a colleague to get it.

Shaking off that sorta-armed robbery thing, Marty arrives in London, where he fast-talks his way into a suite at the Ritz. Here, he spies fellow guest Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow, in a wise, stylish return to the screen), a former movie star married to an insufferable tycoon (“Shark Tank” personality Kevin O’Leary, one of many nonactors here.)

Kay’s skeptical, but Marty finds a way to woo her. Really, all he has to say is: “Come watch me.” Once she sees him play, she’s sneaking into his room in a lace corselet.

This would be a good time to stop and consider Chalamet’s subtly transformed appearance. He is stick-thin — duh, he never stops moving. His mustache is skimpy. His skin is acne-scarred — just enough to erase any movie-star sheen. Most strikingly, his eyes, behind the round spectacles, are beady — and smaller. Definitely not those movie-star eyes.

But then, nearly all the faces in “Marty Supreme” are extraordinary. In a movie with more than 100 characters, we have known actors (Fran Drescher, Abel Ferrara); nonacting personalities (O’Leary, and an excellent Tyler Okonma (Tyler, The Creator) as Marty’s friend Wally); and exciting newcomers like Odessa A’Zion as Marty’s feisty girlfriend Rachel.

There are also a slew of nonactors in small parts, plus cameos from the likes of David Mamet and even high wire artist Philippe Petit. The dizzying array makes one curious how it all came together — is casting director Jennifer Venditti taking interns? Production notes tell us that for one hustling scene at a bowling alley, young men were recruited from a sports trading-card convention.

Elsewhere on the creative team, composer Daniel Lopatin succeeds in channeling both Marty’s beating heart and the ricochet of pingpong balls in his propulsive score. The script by Safdie and cowriter Ronald Bronstein, loosely based on real-life table tennis hustler Marty Reisman, beats with its own, never-stopping pulse. The same breakneck aesthetic applies to camera work by Darius Khondji.

Back now to London, where Marty makes the finals against Japanese player Koto Endo (Koto Kawaguchi, like his character a deaf table tennis champion). “I’ll be dropping a third atom bomb on them,” he brags — not his only questionable World War II quip. But Endo, with his unorthodox paddle and grip, prevails.

After a stint as a side act with the Harlem Globetrotters, including pingpong games with a seal — you’ll have to take our word for this, folks, we’re running low on space — Marty returns home, determined to make the imminent world championships in Tokyo.

But he's in trouble — remember he took cash at gunpoint? Worse, he has no money.

So Marty’s on the run. And he’ll do anything, however messy or dangerous, to get to Japan. Even if he has to totally debase himself (mark our words), or endanger friends — or abandon loyal and brave Rachel.

Is there something else for Marty, besides his obsessive goal? If so, he doesn’t know it yet. But the lyrics of another song used in the film are instructive here: “Everybody’s got to learn sometime.”

So can a single-minded striver ultimately learn something new about his own life?

We'll have to see. As Marty might say: “Come watch me.”