Taron Egerton Slots Tetris Story into Place in New Biopic

This image released by Apple TV+ shows Taron Egerton, from left, Sofia Lebedeva and Nikita Efremov in a scene from "Tetris," premiering March 31, 2023. (Apple TV+ via AP)
This image released by Apple TV+ shows Taron Egerton, from left, Sofia Lebedeva and Nikita Efremov in a scene from "Tetris," premiering March 31, 2023. (Apple TV+ via AP)
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Taron Egerton Slots Tetris Story into Place in New Biopic

This image released by Apple TV+ shows Taron Egerton, from left, Sofia Lebedeva and Nikita Efremov in a scene from "Tetris," premiering March 31, 2023. (Apple TV+ via AP)
This image released by Apple TV+ shows Taron Egerton, from left, Sofia Lebedeva and Nikita Efremov in a scene from "Tetris," premiering March 31, 2023. (Apple TV+ via AP)

The origin story of the iconic computer game “Tetris” is more thrilling than you may think.

It involves border crossing, authority dodging, underhand deals, putting your house on the line and — finally — trying to secure the rights for the game from behind the Iron Curtain. And now it's a film, releasing March 31, on Apple TV+.

After playing an early version of Tetris, game designer Henk Rogers (played by Taron Egerton) travels to the Soviet Union in 1988 to meet Tetris designer Alexey Pajitnov (played by Nikita Efremov), hoping to secure worldwide distribution rights to the game. Rogers was driven by his love of Tetris and his eagerness for the world to experience it, but the transaction was not smooth.

Egerton says he doesn’t have the tenacity of Rogers, who potentially put his life on the line for the sake of the game.

“I have a more developed sense of my own frailty and vulnerability than he does, I think, whereas he’s got this kind of single-minded lack of, sense of self-preservation,” he said in a recent interview.

He added: “I really like his sort of single-minded, determined devil-may-care thing. It makes him an appealing hero, you know, his kind of cowboyishness. But yeah, I probably wouldn’t have done anything like what he did to get the rights to Tetris.”

The movie is directed by Jon S. Baird, who switched projects from action sequel “Kingsman 3" because of the pandemic, bringing his leading man — Egerton — and producer Matthew Vaughn along for the ride.

“We were looking for something to do and the ‘Tetris’ script landed and we thought, ‘Right, that’s great let’s just move everything on to that.’ And that’s really what happened,” he said.

While the pandemic stopped Pajitnov and Rogers from being involved in the actual shoot, the duo was involved heavily in the scriptwriting and in detailing the imagery of Soviet Russia, much of which was recreated in Aberdeen and Glasgow, Scotland.

Baird said he was apprehensive about showing Pajitnov and Rogers the finished movie but was overjoyed at their response.

“I got a text from Maya, who’s Henk’s daughter, who’s obviously personified in the film, too and she was like, ‘They all love it. They all absolutely love the movie.’”

Egerton, known to many for portraying Elton John in “Rocketman,” says he finds playing a real-life person “odd.” However, he believes that the men he has brought to the screen have all enjoyed his portrayals, smiling that “it hasn’t blown up in my face yet!”



Tomorrowland Music Festival Opens after its Main Stage was Destroyed by Huge Fire

The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
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Tomorrowland Music Festival Opens after its Main Stage was Destroyed by Huge Fire

The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Fans roared in excitement and organizers sighed with relief as the Tomorrowland music festival kicked off Friday — just two days after a massive fire engulfed the main stage and threw one of Europe's biggest summer concert events into doubt.

Workers labored around the clock to clear out the debris from the elaborate backdrop that was consumed in Wednesday's fire.

Shouting ‘’We made it!'', the festival's opening performers, Australian electronic music group Nervo, were able to take to the main stage Friday after a last-minute scramble and slight delay. Some charred frames were still visible behind them.

No one was hurt in the fire, organizers said. The causes are being investigated.
Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world attend Tomorrowland's annual multi-day festival outside the Belgian town of Boom.

Some 38,000 people were camping at the festival site Friday, Tomorrowland spokesperson Debby Wilmsen said.

’’Maybe there are some few people that say, OK, we would like to have a refund, but it’s only like a very small percentage because most of them are still coming to the festival,” she told AP.

“It is all about unity, and I think with a good vibe and a positive energy that our festival-goers give to each other and the music we offer, I think they will still have a good time,″ she said. ’’We really tried our best.″

Australian fans Zak Hiscock and Brooke Antoniou — who traveled half the world to see the famed festival as part of a summer holiday in Europe — described hearing about the fire.

“We were sitting having dinner when we actually heard the news of the stage burning down. We were very devastated and shattered, quite upset because we travelled a long way,'' Hiscock said.

Ukrainian visitor Oleksandr Beshkynskyi shared their joy that the festival went ahead as planned.

‘’It’s not just about the one DJ or two DJs you’re looking to see, but about all the mood and about the dream being alive," Beshkynskyi said.