The News

BERLIN: Poland are hopeful star striker Robert Lewandowski will feature against Austria on Friday in a crunch Euro 2024 Group D clash after battling to return from a thigh injury.

The 35-year-old Barcelona forward missed the team´s opening defeat to the Netherlands, spending time in a cryo-chamber to help his recovery, and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny suggested the forward would play some part in the game. It is a must-win game for both sides after Poland lost to the Netherlands and France overcame Austria in their opening matches.

“The Austrians will not be happy that he is fit... I don´t know if he´s ready for 90 mins tomorrow, it´s not for me to judge,” Juventus goalkeeper Szczesny told a news conference Thursday. “The fact he´s on the pitch will add a lot of value to our team.” Poland coach Michal Probierz said he would decide his line-up after Poland´s training session later Thursday, but said “all players” were available, including Lewandowski.

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 Where do you start with Donald Sutherland?

For me, as a young moviegoer, it was his trench-coated health inspector in Philip Kaufman’s thrilling 1978 remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” The ending of that movie kept me awake at night for the better part of a week, giving me plenty of time to think about pod people, sure, but also this actor who had so mesmerized me. Wait ... he played Hawkeye in “M*A*S*H”? There was a “M*A*S*H” movie? Who’s this Robert Altman guy?

Many years later, I took my daughter to see “The Hunger Games.” Before the film started, I told her to pay particular attention to the actor playing President Snow. He’s one of the greats. And indeed he was.

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope’s Friday newsletter. What was your introduction to Donald Sutherland? And which of his movies will you be rewatching this weekend?

Ewan McGregor is swiping through his camera roll, looking for the picture that explains why he will never grow another mustache — unless a job requires it. And even then, he’d probably argue that the character should be clean-shaven. Dalí without a mustache? Surreal.

Before our conversation, I had resolved not to ask McGregor anything about facial hair. It seems that most of the interviews he’s done to promote his terrific Paramount+ With Showtime limited series “A Gentleman in Moscow” have spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on the mustache he grew to play Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a Russian nobleman sentenced to house arrest in a luxurious hotel following the 1917 revolution. Over four decades (and eight episodes), the good gentleman learns to let go of formalities and appreciate simple pleasures and embrace family.

But he never shaves off that damn mustache.

I spoke with McGregor not too long ago from the set of “Flowervale Street,” a movie so secret that when he mentions its name, he immediately panics. “Oh, no. I’m worried that I just blew the title.” When I tell him it’s out there, he’s relieved. He wrapped shooting at 6:30 that morning, and here he was with me on Zoom, 4½ hours later. “I’m somewhat upside down, but it’s all good,” he says.

It was all good. He’s a delightful hang, and we covered the waterfront — but not “Flowervale Street.”

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 Gracie Abrams’ sophomore studio album, The Secret of Us, is out now (via Interscope). The follow-up to last year’s Good Riddance includes breakout single “Close to You” and a new song featuring Taylor Swift, “Us.” Hear the latter track below.

Abrams opened for Swift on the Eras Tour in the spring and summer last year. She’ll rejoin the tour for its final dates in the autumn.

Abrams co-produced The Secret of Us with the National’s Aaron Dessner. She co-produced “Us.,” in particular, with Dessner, Jack Antonoff, and Taylor Swift. The track has additional contributions from Rob Moose, Laura Sisk, James McAlister, Jonathan Low, and others.

Gracie Abrams shared The Secret of Us’ lead single, “Risk,” in May, and has found commercial success with “Close to You,” which debuted at No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Read the review of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department.

 Peso Pluma‘s “Éxodo” double album — the follow-up to the Mexican singer and rapper’s chart-topping debut, “Génesis” — has a long and thoughtfully curated guestlist. The 24-song effort packs a loaded story with characters ranging from bubblegum pop artist Kenia Os, who switches into reggaeton for a song called “Tommy & Pamela,” along with rap champion Cardi B, Brazilian phenom Anitta, Migos rapper Quavo singing in Spanish — and plenty more.

When “Génesis,” with a title inspired by the first chapter of the Bible, was released in April 2023, the project propelled Peso’s career instantaneously. His name and guitar and bass-brimming sound became synonymous with the growing impact of new-age Mexican music in various parts of the world. Over a year later, Peso has amassed extraordinary acclaim — his debut LP won best regional Mexican album at the 2024 Grammys and was the highest-charting regional Mexican record ever (No. 3) on the Billboard 200 chart — that he’s looking to double with his latest effort. He’s also set out to build a bridge between the worlds of traditional corrido music and hip-hop.

Génesis’ was the beginning of a new era in Mexican music. It was just a monster, a big monster that came onto the global charts and took over,” Peso told Variety in a video interview. “‘Génesis’ marked a before and after… I think ‘Éxodo’ is opening doors.”

Éxodo” is split into two discs, with one side being all música Mexicana songs, and the other being comprised of urbano and hip-hop or trap beats. The album was preceded by a number of singles that culminated to his and Rich the Kid’s “Gimme A Second,” lining up with the announcement that “Éxodo” would include rap songs. Peso’s quick-witted Spanish rhymes are tight and breezy on “Gimme A Second.” He sounds glaringly confident across the album’s edgier moments, holding his own against Cardi’s speedy flow on the fiery “Put ‘Em In The Fridge.”

“[‘Put ‘Em in the Fridge’ with Cardi B] was shown to me by one of her producers,” he explained. “It’s the perfect mix of both our worlds and Cardi is just a lovely person who gave me that opportunity.” Peso also shows love to Anitta for their song “Bellakeo” — “It’s one of my favorite songs from the whole album,” he said, adding he “would put it in [the] Top three.

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 Your favorite artist’s favorite artist, Chappell Roan, blessed The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon with her presence last night. To celebrate the moment, she came armed to the curl in extreme beauty.

“You're known for your on-stage looks,” Fallon says during their interview, pulling out a collage of Roan at events like Governor's Ball, where she came fully glammed as the Statue of Liberty.

“My stylist Genesis Webb and I pull from drag, horror movies, burlesque, theater—I love looking pretty and scary,” Roan reveals. For Tonight, bird was the word when it came to inspiration. Roan revealed that 2003's Barbie of Swan Lake was the moodboard for the evening. To create the vision, her signature red curls were transformed by hairstylist Dom Forletta into a bleach blonde mane (a wig or hers, only time will tell), her eyebrows blocked, and feathers strategically placed by makeup wizard Andrew Dahling to frame her eyes. During her appearance on the show, she wore two different feathered outfits to represent White Swan queen Odette and Black Swan Odile.

“The blonde really enhanced the sort of ethereal, swan look we were going for here,” Forletta tells us exclusively. “Yes, it's a wig! A wig and a lot of extensions because we wanted to match the fullness of Chappell’s real hair.” To get her signature curls, he uses “a combination of the ghd Thin Curling Wand and classic figure 8 waves using hairpins.” The final touch for higher-than-high hair R&Co's Balloon Dry Volume Spray.

Throughout the interview, Roan chews gum and clacks her nails designed by Juan Alvear—which we would describe as 6-inch talons. “When you look at them up close, each nail mimics the quill of a plucked feather,” Alvear says. “I achieved this look using Artic Jelly and Buttercup Jelly from Essie in a gradient from opaque to translucent, then adding in striation detailing. I also applied long wisps of ostrich feathers for the full effect. I wanted them to have movement and stage presence while Chappell performed.”

During her chat with Fallon, the singer revealed something about herself that just makes sense after reading our Coachella interview: if music didn't work out, she wanted to go to school to be an esthetician. We'd love to know the full routine, hopefully there's a Beauty Secrets in the future.