Simon Cowell Looks for UK’s Next Megastar Boy Band Again, Save the Show

08:07-26 June 2024 AD ـ 19 Thul-Hijjah 1445 AH

Simon Cowell Looks for UK’s Next Megastar Boy Band Again, Save the Show

Fourteen years after launching One Direction on "The X Factor", music mogul and television personality Simon Cowell is looking for the UK's next big boy band, embarking on a new project differing from the talent shows he is known for.

Cowell will hold auditions for 16-18 year-olds in Liverpool, Dublin and London over the summer in a bid to form megastars on levels not seen in Britain since the best-selling One Direction, who found fame on his televised singing competition "The X Factor" before parting ways several years later.

"Weirdly since One Direction, there hasn't been a successful UK band, which I don't understand why," Cowell told Reuters in an interview.

"As an entry point into the music business, it's by far the best route. Diana Ross became Diana Ross because she was in the Supremes. Beyonce became Beyonce 'cos she was in Destiny's Child."

Unlike "The X Factor", there will be no weekly televised shows or vote but a potential documentary series.

"As a viewer, I'd find it more interesting, particularly if I was a performer, I'd really want to see why people get chosen and what is the process you go through," Cowell said.

"In my opinion, that's never really been shown, certainly since I've been making these shows ... you see a side of it. I don't think you really see the interesting part ... the highs and lows. And trust me, there are a lot lows."

"The X Factor" last aired in Britain in 2018. Once hugely popular, it had seen ratings fall over the years.

"More people than you think watch these shows ... Now, of course, in different ways as well - on YouTube, TikTok," Cowell said. "I think they're still very popular."

He said talent shows had a purpose, helping new artists get noticed.

"Right now, with the amount of songs that are being uploaded every day and the amount of artists that are breaking globally ... I think it's something like two UK artists in seven years have broken globally ... which is horrendous.

"...A lot of these artists get their first break (on televised talent shows)... even their first audition if it goes out and goes viral, that is a step on the ladder."

In the last few years, K-pop bands such as BTS have become hit phenomena building global fan bases.

"K-pop filled a void," Cowell said. "So when I look at BTS filling out Wembley Stadium, you say, well, then of course there's still a market for bands, possibly bigger than ever."

Cowell, who said his ideal boy band are "people who know who they are", started his search earlier this month. Asked what response he had received so far, he said: "You really don't know until you turn up on the day ... If not enough people turn up or that I just don't think they're right, then we’re gonna have to keep going."

Actor Blake Lively and Director Justin Baldoni Go to New York in Required Effort to Avoid Trial

Blake Lively leaves a courthouse in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, who came to the courthouse to see if her lawsuit alleging sexual harassment on the set of the 2024 romantic drama “It Ends With Us” could be settled before a May trial. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Asharq Al Awsat

11:37-12 February 2026 AD ـ 24 Sha’ban 1447 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

11:37-12 February 2026 AD ـ 24 Sha’ban 1447 AH

Actor Blake Lively and Director Justin Baldoni Go to New York in Required Effort to Avoid Trial

Actor Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni came to a New York courthouse on Wednesday to see if her lawsuit alleging sexual harassment on the set of the 2024 romantic drama “It Ends With Us” could be settled before a May trial.

The talks between lawyers went on over a six-hour period before Lively and Baldoni left the Manhattan federal courthouse separately and went straight to their waiting cars without saying anything. Lively looked stern as she walked out while Baldoni was smiling.

Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman said in an email that the talks did not result in a settlement, The Associated Press said.

Mandatory settlement talks are generally required before a civil case proceeds to trial. They are not held in public.

Their acrimonious yearlong litigation has cast a wide net across the entertainment world, drawing into the headlines other actors, musicians and celebrities and raising questions about the power, influence and gender dynamics in Hollywood.

Lively sued Baldoni and his hired crisis communications expert alleging harassment and a coordinated campaign to attack her reputation after she complained about his treatment of her on the movie set.

Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios production company countersued Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed that suit last June.

The trial, scheduled for May 18, was expected to be star-studded. Lively’s legal team had indicated in court papers that people likely to have information about the case included singer Taylor Swift, model Gigi Hadid, actors Emily Blunt, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera and Hugh Jackman, influencer Candace Owens, media personality Perez Hilton and designer Ashley Avignone.

Entertainment

'Dawson's Creek' Star James Van Der Beek Has Died at 48

(FILES) Actor James Van Der Beek arrives for a special screening of 'Downsizing' on December 18, 2017 at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

Asharq Al Awsat

08:25-12 February 2026 AD ـ 24 Sha’ban 1447 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

08:25-12 February 2026 AD ـ 24 Sha’ban 1447 AH

'Dawson's Creek' Star James Van Der Beek Has Died at 48

(FILES) Actor James Van Der Beek arrives for a special screening of 'Downsizing' on December 18, 2017 at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

James Van Der Beek, a heartthrob who starred in coming-of-age dramas at the dawn of the new millennium, shooting to fame playing the titular character in “Dawson’s Creek” and in later years mocking his own hunky persona, has died. He was 48.

“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith and grace. There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come,” said a statement from the actor's family posted on Instagram.

“For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother and friend.”

Van Der Beek revealed in 2024 that he was being treated for colorectal cancer.

Van Der Beek made a surprise video appearance in September at a “Dawson's Creek” reunion charity event in New York City after previously dropping out due to illness.

He appeared projected onstage at the Richard Rodgers Theatre during a live reading of the show’s pilot episode to benefit F Cancer and Van Der Beek. Lin-Manuel Miranda subbed for him on stage.

"Thank you to every single person here,” The Associated Press quoted Van Der Beek as saying.

A one-time theater kid, Van Der Beek would star in the movie “Varsity Blues” and on TV in “CSI: Cyber” as FBI Special Agent Elijah Mundo, but was forever connected to “Dawson’s Creek,” which ran from 1998 to 2003 on The WB.

The series followed a group of high school friends as they learned about falling in love, creating real friendships and finding their footing in life. Van Der Beek, then 20, played 15-year-old Dawson Leery, who aspired to be a director of Steven Spielberg quality.

Entertainment

How the Coveted Bronze BAFTA Mask Trophies Are Made

Completed British Academy Film Awards masks at the FSE Foundry in Braintree, England on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP)

17:08-11 February 2026 AD ـ 23 Sha’ban 1447 AH

How the Coveted Bronze BAFTA Mask Trophies Are Made

Completed British Academy Film Awards masks at the FSE Foundry in Braintree, England on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP)

Those winning a prize at the upcoming British Academy Film Awards will bag a coveted bronze mask trophy — and get a bit of an arm workout taking it home.

Along with the honor of being named the best of the year in the industry, winners at the BAFTA ceremony on Feb. 22 will be awarded one of the dozens of the 3-kilogram (6.6-pound) prizes.

This year the cast and crew of “One Battle After Another,” “Sinners,” “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme,” and “Sentimental Value” are in the running for the trophies at the EE BAFTA ceremony, to be held at London's Royal Festival Hall.

As with many things in show business, all that glitters is not gold. The BAFTA masks are made of phosphor bronze, polished to a mirror finish that will reflect the happy face of its new owner.

Craftsmen at the AATi Foundry in Braintree, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of London, use a sandcasting technique to make about 350 bronze trophies each year for all the BAFTA ceremonies — covering the film, television and gaming industries.

They are created in batches, and making one from start to finish takes around a week, the foundry's director Hugh Bisset said Tuesday.

The process starts with a pattern by the tooling team, often out of timber or 3D printing. That tool moves to the molding team which uses sand to make two recessed impressions of the mask, one each side. They are then closed together, ready for molten hot bronze — up to 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,192 Fahrenheit) — to be poured into it.

The metal takes about three or four hours to cool down, when it can then be removed from the sand. The masks' surfaces look dull and a bit rough around the edges at this stage, but after fettling, threading and polishing they are ready to be assembled before being checked over extremely carefully.

Bisset says it’s important that the masks are shiny and have no polish left on them.

“The thing I’m always conscious of is that these amazing actors and actresses, they pick up their awards and my big concern is that a smudge of polish will end up over their lovely, beautiful white dress,” he said. “There’s lots of things we need to think about.”

Bisset reckons the diligence and care that his skilled team puts into the making of the masks reflects the hard work of the winning filmmakers and movie stars.

While it’s still unknown if favorites Jessie Buckley, Timothée Chalamet and Teyana Taylor will get the glory on Sunday, whoever does win will take home something worth more than its heavy weight in bronze.

“There’s a lot of metal in it,” but each mask also has “a lot of time and love being put into it,” Bisset said.

Simon Cowell Looks for UK’s Next Megastar Boy Band Again, Save the Show