USA Today International - 30.08.2019 - 01.09.2019

4B❚ FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2019❚ USA TODAY LIFE

LIFELINE

Old Town Road,Lil Nas X featuring

Billy Ray Cyrus

The Git Up, Blanco Brown

Hot Girl Summer,Megan Thee

Stallion, Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign

Senorita, Shawn Mendes & Camila

Cabello

Truth Hurts,Lizzo

NIELSEN SOUNDSCAN FOR WEEK ENDING 08/

Top music downloads

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Orlando Bloom is returning to the

fantasy past – but not as far back as

“The Lord of The Rings” and “The Hob-

bit” – in his first TV series, Amazon’s

“Carnival Row” (streaming Friday).

“Carnival” offers mythological crea-

tures and magical elements, but it sea-

sons that ethereal air with plenty of

soot, courtesy of a grimy setting that

suggests Victorian-era London with a

steampunk vibe.

“It’s that dingy, dirty, industrial

feeling that life is hard and real,” says

Bloom. “It has that Dickensian Eng-

land feel. When you put a fantasy in

something that is so tangible and real,

it works very well.”

Bloom’s Rycroft “Philo” Philostrate,

who grew up an orphan and is a veter-

an of an ugly war, straddles both

worlds in the eight-episode “Carnival,”

which filmed its city scenes in Prague.

He’s a detective investigating serial

killings along seedy Carnival Row, a

stand-in for Jack the Ripper’s White-

chapel in a city known as The Burgue.

He also is involved in a complicated in-

ter-species relationship with the

winged faerie Vignette Stonemoss

(Cara Delevingne), a member of the

fae folk, one of many species that mi-

grate to The Burgue as refugees from

wars started by men.

There, the fae folk and other spe-

cies, including fauns and centaurs, try

to survive under the oppressive thumb

of unwelcoming humans.

“The story is about fear. The Bur-

guish man fears the fae folk. The fae

folk fear the Dark Asher,” a monster

that preys on faeries, Bloom says. “Phi-

lo has a fear of being found out, be-

cause he’s a man of secrets. He has

things to hide.”

On a larger level, the veneer of the

fantasy and noir crime formats gives

“Carnival” cover to explore difficult

contemporary issues.

“We’re talking about race, migrants

and war-torn refugees, (but) it’s all

cleverly disguised in a serial-killing,

murder thriller,” Bloom says.

The immigration story is especially

relevant today, although its signifi-

cance goes back long before creator

and executive producer Travis Bea-

cham wrote “Carnival Row” 17 years

ago.

“Carnival,” which has been renewed

for Season 2, took a long, circuitous

path to the screen. Once planned as a

movie, it underwent expensive re-

shoots as a TV series. Beacham

thought it would never get made, “so to

be in Prague and literally be standing

on Carnival Row and seeing these peo-

ple in costumes ... it’s very surreal,” he

says.

“The migrant refugee issue has

been going on for generations. But

we’re seeing it today in more of an im-

pactful way than ever before,” Bloom

says. “The thing we are able to do

beautifully is look at the humanity in

many different painful situations that

STREAMING

Bloom

returns to

fantasy in

‘Carnival’

Bill Keveney

USA TODAY

See BLOOM, Page 5B

Orlando Bloom plays detective

Rycroft Philostrate.JAN THIJS/AMAZON

Which movies transformed your summer? ❚As summer is wont

to do, it was a season stuffed with remakes, reboots and tent-

poles, with everything from a Marvel-ous kickoff in April to

Hobbs & Shaw bringing some popular “Fast and Furious” flavor to

the dog days of August. But while we were busy taking in Will

Smith’s rapping turn as Aladdin’s Genie and singing along with

Elton John in “Rocketman,” some movies – even great movies –

failed to make enough noise to attract audiences, while other

blockbuster-hopefuls went bust.❚Here’s a look at the stars who

emerged triumphant – and others who saw their summer dreams

dashed.

Winner: Beyoncé

Queen Bey was just warming up

in April when she dropped her

“Homecoming” concert documen-

tary on Netflix and a surprise ac-

companying live album. In July the

pop superstar voiced Nala in “The

Lion King,” and after walking the red

carpet with Blue Ivy released an en-

tire other new albumfrom the film,

“The Lion King: The Gift,” which fea-

tures a ballad primed for an Oscar

nomination. Buoyed by Timon (Billy

Eichner), Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) and

Simba (Donald Glover), the re-

vamped “Lion King” went on to

score $1.5 billion at the box office.

Loser: The X-Men’s ‘Dark’

send-off

“Dark Phoenix” came, bombed,

and went. The worst-reviewed film

in the X-Men franchise (it got a low-

ly 23% positive reviews on Rotten

Tomatoes) earned just $255 million

worldwide on a $200 million bud-

get. Not even “Game of Thrones”

MOVIES

Beyoncé was queen of many media. RICHARD LUI/USA TODAY NETWORK

Bright, ‘Dark’

times filled

the big screen

this summer

See MOVIES, Page 5B

Andrea Mandell USA TODAY

Sophie Turner, whose Jean Grey

has great power, couldn’t save

“Dark Phoenix.”20TH CENTURY FOX

The country music star is a proud
papa. McGraw shared a video on
Instagram on Tuesday of him and his
daughter Gracie, 22, belting out
“What Kind of Fool” by Barbra Strei-
sand and Barry Gibb. Gracie’s mom is
singer Faith Hill, so she clearly is a
natural. “PIPES!!!!!!......Dang, this girl
can sing! Gracie and I having fun with
Babs and Barry on our trip,” the
52-year-old dad of three captioned
the post, adding the hashtag
#chaseyourdreamsgirl.

JASON KEMPIN/GETTY IMAGES

MAKING WAVES
TIM MCGRAW

The couple packed on the PDA at the
premiere of Netflix’s documentary on
the rapper, “Travis Scott: Look Mom I
Can Fly” Tuesday night. The “SICKO
MODE” artist and make-up mogul
smooched in front of photographers
at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica,
California. The film is currently avail-
able for streaming.

RICH FURY/GETTY IMAGES

CAUGHT IN THE ACT
TRAVIS SCOTT
AND KYLIE JENNER

Carla Guginois 48. Lea Micheleis 33.
Liam Payneis 26.

IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY
WHO’S CELEBRATING TODAY