AARP to Honor Glenn Close with Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Award

Glenn Close attends the premiere of the Apple TV+ series "The New Look" on Feb. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP)
Glenn Close attends the premiere of the Apple TV+ series "The New Look" on Feb. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP)
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AARP to Honor Glenn Close with Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Award

Glenn Close attends the premiere of the Apple TV+ series "The New Look" on Feb. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP)
Glenn Close attends the premiere of the Apple TV+ series "The New Look" on Feb. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP)

Glenn Close will be the next recipient of AARP The Magazine’s Movies for Grownups Awards career achievement honor.

The 77-year-old actor is known for films including "Fatal Attraction,101 Dalmatians" and "The Wife" over a career spanning nearly 50 years. She will receive the honor at the AARP’s annual Movies for Grownups Awards ceremony in January, the group announced Tuesday.

"I am so honored to receive the AARP Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Award even though I feel like I’m still 35, if not younger," Close said in a statement. "I love making movies for grownups and everyone else, and I deeply appreciate the inspiration and support of the people I have worked with over 50 years. Thank you, AARP, for this great honor."

The AARP launched the Movies for Grownups initiative in 2002 to advocate for audiences over 50 years old and to fight ageism in Hollywood. The awards ceremony that celebrates movies "for grownups, by grownups" will be held in Beverly Hills, California, on Jan. 11, with Alan Cumming to host. The ceremony will be broadcast by "Great Performances" on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. Eastern on PBS.

Martha Boudreau, AARP's executive vice president and chief communications and marketing officer, said Close has made her mark in the industry with memorable performances and her consistent work as a septuagenarian.

"Glenn Close starred in ‘The Big Chill,’ the first blockbuster hit film about the Baby Boomer generation facing aging, and since then her career has shattered Hollywood’s outmoded, ageist stereotypes. Her steady successes exemplify what AARP’s Movies for Grownups program is all about," Boudreau said in a statement.

Close joins the company of several revered actors who have received the honor in past years, including Jamie Lee Curtis, George Clooney and Lily Tomlin.



Disney to Invest $1 Billion in OpenAI, License Characters for Sora Video Tool

FILE PHOTO: The main gate of entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. is pictured in Burbank, California May 5, 2009. REUTERS/Fred Prouser
FILE PHOTO: The main gate of entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. is pictured in Burbank, California May 5, 2009. REUTERS/Fred Prouser
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Disney to Invest $1 Billion in OpenAI, License Characters for Sora Video Tool

FILE PHOTO: The main gate of entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. is pictured in Burbank, California May 5, 2009. REUTERS/Fred Prouser
FILE PHOTO: The main gate of entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. is pictured in Burbank, California May 5, 2009. REUTERS/Fred Prouser

Walt Disney is investing $1 billion in OpenAI and will let the startup use characters from Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel franchises in its Sora AI video generator, a crucial deal that could reshape how Hollywood makes content.

The three-year partnership announced on Thursday is a pivotal step in Hollywood's embrace of generative artificial intelligence, side-stepping the industry's concerns over the impact of AI on creative jobs and intellectual property rights.

As part of the licensing deal, Sora and ChatGPT Images will start generating videos using licensed Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and Mufasa, from early next year. The agreement excludes any talent likenesses or voices.

"Through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works," Disney CEO Bob Iger said.

OpenAI has been engaging with Disney and others in Hollywood for the past year in its search for partners, a person with knowledge of the discussions said.
The move marks a major shift in Disney's approach to AI - the company had decided to keep out its characters from the Sora app when OpenAI was in talks with companies regarding the tool's copyright policy.

Disney and Comcast's Universal had in June filed a copyright lawsuit against AI photo generation firm Midjourney for its use of the studios' best-known characters.

As part of the agreement with OpenAI, a selection of the videos by users will be made available for streaming on Disney+, allowing the streaming platform to capitalize on the growing appeal for short-form video content.

The media conglomerate will also receive warrants to purchase additional equity in the ChatGPT maker.

The companies will use OpenAI's models to build new products and customer experiences, including for Disney+ subscribers, while Disney will deploy ChatGPT for its employees, Reuters reported.

The partnership comes months after Hollywood's premier talent agency sharply criticized the same technology Disney is now embracing.

Creative Artists Agency, which represents thousands of actors, directors and music artists, said in October OpenAI was exposing artists to "significant risk" through Sora, questioning whether the AI company believed creative professionals "deserve to be compensated and credited for the work they create".


In Photos, the Details that Illuminated the 2025 Marrakech International Film Festival

An actress holds a Schiaparelli purse while posing for a photo on the red carpet during 22nd Marrakech Film Festival, in Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)
An actress holds a Schiaparelli purse while posing for a photo on the red carpet during 22nd Marrakech Film Festival, in Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)
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In Photos, the Details that Illuminated the 2025 Marrakech International Film Festival

An actress holds a Schiaparelli purse while posing for a photo on the red carpet during 22nd Marrakech Film Festival, in Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)
An actress holds a Schiaparelli purse while posing for a photo on the red carpet during 22nd Marrakech Film Festival, in Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

The carpet outside the 2025 edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival was unfurled in its usual red, but the stars who walked across it shimmered in every color.

Actors and filmmakers drifted down its length in embroidered velvet robes and delicately cut black lace dresses, amid the sounds of camera shutters and microphones humming.

Some ensembles nodded explicitly to the region: hand-stitched caftans and robes with hems that followed the geometry of North African embroidery, The AP news reported.
Youssra, one of Egypt’s best-known actors, carried a black sequined, pearl-trimmed clutch emblazoned with her name across the front, recognizable to audiences all over the Middle East.

Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir poses for a photo on the red carpet during the 22nd Marrakech Film Festival, in Morocco, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

Others went crisp and relied on an austere palette of black and white to make their statement. And woven through were quiet gestures of political intent. Clutches patterned like keffiyehs, pins worn close to the heart — small but unmistakable signals of solidarity with Palestinians at a festival on the edge of a region in conflict.

This year’s festival — whose guests included jury president Bong Joon Ho, Jafar Panahi and Anya Taylor-Joy — concluded Saturday.

An actress poses for a photo on the red carpet during the 22nd Marrakech Film Festival, in Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)


Iceland to Boycott 2026 Eurovision in Protest of Go-Ahead for Israel

 12 May 2024, Sweden, Malmo: Pro-Palestinian protesters hold flags during a demonstration opposing Israel's participation in the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest ESC in Malmo. (dpa)
12 May 2024, Sweden, Malmo: Pro-Palestinian protesters hold flags during a demonstration opposing Israel's participation in the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest ESC in Malmo. (dpa)
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Iceland to Boycott 2026 Eurovision in Protest of Go-Ahead for Israel

 12 May 2024, Sweden, Malmo: Pro-Palestinian protesters hold flags during a demonstration opposing Israel's participation in the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest ESC in Malmo. (dpa)
12 May 2024, Sweden, Malmo: Pro-Palestinian protesters hold flags during a demonstration opposing Israel's participation in the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest ESC in Malmo. (dpa)

Iceland will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, the country's public broadcaster RUV said on Wednesday, after organizer the European Broadcasting Union last week cleared Israel's participation.

The decision to allow Israel to take part in the next Eurovision, which will be held in Vienna in May, earlier prompted Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Slovenia to withdraw in protest, citing Israel's conduct in the Gaza war.

"It is clear from the public debate in this country and the reaction to the EBU's decision last week that there will be neither joy nor peace regarding RUV's participation," the broadcaster's Director General Stefan Eiriksson said in a statement.

Iceland was among the countries that had requested a vote last week on Israel's participation. But the European Broadcasting Union, or EBU, decided not to call a vote on Israel's participation, saying it had instead passed new rules aimed at discouraging governments from influencing the contest.

Iceland has never won the song contest but came second in 1999 and 2009. The Eurovision Song Contest dates back to 1956 and reaches around 160 million viewers, according to the EBU.