Robin Wright

Why I love… Robin Wright

Resolve, strength, practicality, vulnerability. It’s all there in her eyes, her jaw, her smile. It’s what makes her so compelling

Bim Adewunmi
Sat 17 Jun 2017 05.59 BST

M

y love of movies and television is matched only by my love of books, so nothing makes me happier than when screen and page collide. The other week, I found myself rereading one of my favourite books-turned-movies, William Goldman’s The Princess Bride. I adore the film, which I watched as a child, as much as I adore the novel, which I discovered as a teen. And even though she is underwritten, I’ve always loved the character of Buttercup. I suspect that was down to the actor who played her on screen, the luminous Robin Wright.

Why I love… Michaela Coel

‘Michaela Coel’s presence on British telly is thrilling.’ Photograph: John Phillips

Why I love… Michaela Coel

Coel is fearless. No joke is too risque, no comedic situation too outrageous to explore in pursuit of the funny

Bim Adewunmi
Sat 7 May 2016 06.00 BST

G

enerally speaking, I love being surprised. It’s an increasingly hard thing to do, because the world is so predictable and my cynicism is a hard shell to breach. But sometimes along comes a breath of fresh air that cracks it just a little, before coaxing it wide open.

 

Joan Didion

Why I love Joan Didion

Our pop culture expert on the lessons she’s learned from one of America’s greatest living writers

Bim Adewunmi
Sat 16 Dec 2017 06.00 GMT

T

he glamour of Joan Didion, 83, lies not in the many incredible photographs of her during her long life. Nor is it in that horrible quasi-sheen that we associate with surviving terrible loss. It’s not in the lifestyle choices she made – living in New York one year, relocating to a home right on a California beach another – and it’s not in the interactions she had with Hollywood royalty, from Warren Beatty (who had a crush on her) to Harrison Ford (who worked as her carpenter for a time). It does not lie in the era-defining work she published in the 1960s and 70s, solo or co-written with husband John Gregory Dunne. No, the glamour of Joan Didion is merely in her willingness to try things. Truly, there is nothing more luxe than that: the decision to dip your toe, your foot, your leg and eventually your enitre body into a new endeavour, and just do it.

Crush of the week / Why I love… Emily Blunt

Emily Blunt

CRUSH OF THE WEEK

Why I love… actor Emily Blunt

My favourite thing is her ‘steel magnolia’ voice: on first impression, slightly tremulous, but carrying an undercurrent of something hard

Bim Adewunmi
Saturday 25 March 2017

W

here do we stand on revamps? I can’t help but feel somewhat fatigued by the idea that Hollywood is so devoid of new ideas that it has to pilfer its past. Sometimes, though, you hear of a “reimagining” that makes you hopeful: the cast feels so right, you think: it would take a miracle to balls this up. I’m thinking of next year’s Mary Poppins sequel and its star, English actor Emily Blunt (who is joined in the reboot by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Meryl Streep).

London-born Blunt, 34, started on the stage, but I first paid attention to her in the 2006 film adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada (she was Bafta-nominated). Her character (also called Emily) is a delightful tyrant: a dead-eyed bitch with lashings of eyeliner and a drolly wicked tongue.

My favourite thing about Blunt is her “steel magnolia” voice: on first impression, slightly tremulous, but carrying an undercurrent of something hard. Her CV is a mix, with some baffling choices (romantic sci-fi The Adjustment Bureau), some bad ones (horror The Wolfman) and some real corkers (crime thriller Sicario). But my favourite Blunt performance is in Edge Of Tomorrow, in which she plays a war hero who repeatedly kicks Tom Cruise’s ass – and you never doubt she could do the same in real life.

It’s a wonderful duality, because in real life Blunt (along with her husband, US actor John Krasinski) projects a supremely chilled-out vibe: appealingly down-to-earth, self-deprecatingly funny and, above all, staunchly practical, in a very British way.

And since that is basically Mary Poppins in a nutshell, I have faith. Don’t let me down, Emily.

THE GUARDIAN

Serena Williams

Crush of the week: Serena Williams

Her dress sense, flawless manicures and sheer ebullience combine to make Serena Williams irresistible

Bim Adewunmi

Saturday 13 September 2014

Last week Serena won her 18th Grand Slam singles title at the US Open. This is impressive by any standard, all the more so when you consider her previous ill-health, and her many sidelines: she is also co-owner of an American football team and a qualified nail technician. She's my absolute favourite tennis player to watch, and not just on the women's tour (I'm sure she'd wipe the floor with the male top seeds).

But the thing I like best is her innate "younger sister-ness". Bear with me. While Venus hold back, Serena jumps in with both feet, and that's all about having the older sister safety net. Younger sisters get to be fallible in ways older sisters do not. They are less burdened with rules, and their second-fiddle status means they like to be noticed. (Just look at Solange Knowles.)

Serena's younger-sister-ness shows in her occasional outbursts (which she gets crucified for, whereas that other great American John McEnroe was celebrated for his). It's in her dresses (most recently, a leopard-print stunner) and her flawless manicures (long, embellished). It's in her often vocal frustration at what she sees as a lack of respect. "I can't believe I'm in the second week," she said at the US Open. Why, asked a reporter. "I'm being sarcastic," came the reply. (If Federer had said this, the irony would have been clear.) And it's in her sheer ebullience when she wins: who else would break into an impromptu crip walk after taking gold at the 2012 Olympics?

Full disclosure: I am a younger sister. And, yes, you could argue my love for Serena is a thinly-disguised form of narcissism. But that's OK. Because, as a younger sister, self-absorption is also my right.

THE GUARDIAN

Crush of the week / Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck

Crush of the week: Ben Affleck

‘It’s his latest performance that got me. Not in David Fincher’s Gone Girl, but on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO’

Bim Adewunmi
Saturday 11 October 2014

Life is a rich tapestry, and its threads are mysterious. For who could have foreseen this most curious of occurrences? Alert the pertinent authorities, because my crush this week is Ben Affleck. How did we get here, in 2014?

I blame 2012’s Argo: the sight of Affleck in luxuriant 70s beard, flared denim and a flash of period man-jewellery reopened the door. The pre-Argo Affleck had an Oscar under his belt, but there was still something off about him; a smile that looked queasy, even in the glory days of his relationship with Jennifer Lopez (remember “Bennifer”? The pair kicked off the celebrity couple portmanteau trend that remains with us to this day). The allure of Argo-era Affleck was his slightly worn in/worn down countenance – several happy steps from the earnest man of Pearl Harbor, and wearing his all-American looks (square jaw, square head) more manfully.

But all that pales in comparison to his latest performance. Not in David Fincher’s Gone Girl, but on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. Across the desk from talkshow host Maher and guest Sam Harris, Affleck looks like a coiled spring, his dander steadily rising as they describe Islam as “the only religion that acts like the mafia”, and discount the “meme of Islamophobia”. His response was quietly heroic. “How about more than a billion people who aren’t fanatical, who don’t punch women, who just want to go to school, have some sandwiches, pray five times a day, and don’t do any of the things you’re saying of all Muslims?” he asked. Oh, Ben. You had me at “sandwiches”.

THE GUARDIAN