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Tom Cruise went on a mission to close out the Paris Olympics with a bang.

After Paris handed off the Olympics flag to Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, Mission: Impossible front man Cruise jumped from the top of the Stad de France to join the celebration. Once on the ground, he greeted Team USA gymnast Simone Biles and grabbed the flag, before mounting it on the back of a motorcycle and exiting the stadium.

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The Paris Olympics concluded the 2024 Games out with a show-stopping closing ceremony, led by Hollywood stuntman Tom Cruise as French representatives handed off the Olympics flag to reps of the Summer Games’ 2028 home: Los Angeles. In true Hollywood fashion, the event became a star-studded affair, with appearances from Cruise, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and more.

Sunday’s closing ceremony saw Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo pass the Olympic flag to L.A. Mayor Karen Bass ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics coming Stateside for the first time since the Atlanta Games in 1996. H.E.R performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” following the flag pass.

In Paris, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass accepts the Olympics flag.

The Olympics are now in the hands of Los Angeles.

The 2028 Olympics are in 1,433 days. pic.twitter.com/m54hN9jRbN

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) August 11, 2024

“Mission: Impossible” star Cruise, who had been rumored to make a stunt-filled appearance,...

While the Olympics’ opening ceremony showcased two North American superstars, Lady Gaga and Celine Dion, the closing bash will highlight two iconic French bands, Phoenix and Air, the event’s executive director Thierry Reboul confirmed to Variety in an interview.

Reboul, who produced the blockbuster, controversial opening ceremony show along the Seine and recently filed a police complaint after receiving death threats for it, is now in the final stretch of preparing the closing event alongside artistic director Thomas Jolly.

“We’ve tried to champion French talents from the start even if we had international stars (Celine Dion and Lady Gaga); each time it was promoting a French artist nevertheless,” said Reboul. “We always have in mind to turn the spotlight on our country, of course.” Gaga, who had to pre-tape her performance in anticipation of pouring rain, indeed sang in French and paid tribute to Zizi Jeanmaire’s cabaret-inspired “Mon Truc en Plumes,...

Prosecutors in Paris are investigating death threats and harassment directed at Thomas Jolly, the artistic director behind the opening ceremony at the 2024 Olympics, according to The Associated Press.

The investigation was launched, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, after Jolly filed a police complaint on Tuesday, July 30 (the opening ceremony took place a few days prior, on July 26). Jolly said he’d been subjected to death threats, “public insults,” and “defamation” and has been “the target of threatening messages and insults on social networks criticizing his sexual orientation and his wrongly-assumed Israeli roots.

Although Lady Gaga kicked off Friday’s opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics in dazzling fashion, her performance was actually pre-recorded.

The Grammy Award winner powered through technical difficulties and inclement weather as it rained along the Seine River during her rendition of ‘Mon Truc en Plumes‘ in tribute to French star Zizi Jeanmaire, but the set reportedly took place hours before it aired.

According to the Associated Press, Gaga was spotted warming up onstage about three hours before the ceremony started and then performing for about an hour. She waved to fans as she exited the stage.

Olympic and Paralympic opening ceremony choreographer Maud le Pladec told Variety that Gaga’s surprise performance was the only one that “for safety reasons, we had to pre-record late in the afternoon, once we knew for sure that it was going to rain – we had minute-by-minute updates, we had never watched the...

Lady Gaga’s dazzling performance of Zizi Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc en Plumes” (“My Thing With Feathers”) set the irreverent tone of the Olympics’ opening ceremony on Friday night. But it nearly got called off due to the rain, says Maud le Pladec, the choreographer and head of dance for the Olympics and Paralympics who worked with Gaga for many months.

Le Pladec, who worked closely with the Olympics’ ceremonies artistic director Thomas Jolly to orchestrate the four-hour showcase and create the choreography, revealed that Gaga’s performance had to be filmed hours before festivities started for safety reasons; nevertheless, she still sang live.

For the first time in modern history, the ceremony took place outside a stadium. It unfolded along the Seine River, which runs through the city, highlighting Paris’ iconic landmarks. Gaga’s performance was one of 12 created for the occasion, and while it ran “only four minutes,...

Tom Cruise, who is currently filming “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two” in Europe, was inducted Knight of the Legion of Honor by France’s culture minister Rachida Dati in Paris on July 26.

Hours before the start of the opening ceremony for the Olympics, Cruise received one of France’s most prestigious decorations, following the footsteps of renown artists, actors and filmmakers such as Robert Redford, Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood who are also part of the Legion of Honor.

Dati, appointed culture minister in January by France’s President Emmanuel Macron, posted a picture of herself posing with Cruise proudly sporting his medal.

Félicitations à @TomCruise que la République nomme Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres !

Draped in red, white, and blue, Beyoncé gave a glorious welcome to the athletes competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics. “Get a look at America, y’all,” said the icon in the promotional video, which featured “Ya Ya” from Cowboy Carter. “These hopes and dreams, these superstars that represent us.”

The video, which aired following the opening ceremony, introduced the bold competitors representing Team U.S.A this year including Caeleb Dressel, Sha’Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles, Katie Ledecky, and of course, four-time Olympic gold medal winner, gymnast Simone Biles.

“We’ve...

Céline Dion is feeling “so happy” after her grand Eiffel Tower performance at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Canadian star shared a sweet message on social media celebrating the moment as she congratulated the athletes participating in the games.

“I’m honored to have performed tonight, for the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony, and so full of joy to be back in one of my very favorite cities!” Dion wrote. “Most of all, I’m so happy to be celebrating these amazing athletes, with all their stories of sacrifice and determination,...

For months before the 2024 Summer Olympics, there had been questions surrounding Paris’ ability to hold such a massive event. The city’s residents had threatened to defecate in the Seine River — the site of the opening ceremony — in protest of its highly polluted waters. As the opening presentation neared, things didn’t exactly get better. Just this morning, France’s high-speed rail trains were a target of arson, and thunderstorms cast clouds over the city. Yet, when the opener finally commenced, audiences were transported through a whimsical and engaging four-hour showcase that presented the best of Paris’ glorious architecture and music while welcoming top athletes from across the globe to the French capital.

The ceremony launched with French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane jogging through the streets, carrying the lighted torch down into the Paris Metro and emerging on the Seine via sailboat in a gorgeous explosion of blue, white and red hovering above the river.

Let the games begin. The Paris Olympics kicked off with a bang on Friday, July 26, during the opening ceremony hosted along the River Seine. Athletes from across the world repped their country and artists channeled French pop culture history with ballooning levels of spectacle — from Lady Gaga channeling a French cabaret icon to Les Mis being turned into a rock opera backed by multiple headless Marie Antoinette figures.

Even in the pouring rain, the performers leaned fully into spectacle for a wild ride of an opening event as the torch...

Lady Gaga got into the French spirit Friday at the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris with a rousing performance of 1960s cabaret tune ‘Mon truc en plumes’.

In a X post shortly after her performance, Gaga said she felt “humbled” to have been invited to sing the song as way of honoring the “French people and their tremendous history of art, music, and theatre.”

The artist was the first live singing act of the four-hour Olympic inauguration running along a six-kilometer (4.5 mile) stretch of the River Seine.

Initially shrouded by a sea of bright pink feathers, Gaga teased the audience before appearing in a black bustier and hot pants, in a costume designed by Dior.

“Mon truc en plumes” was made famous by cabaret singer Zizi Jeanmaire in the 1960s and has a special place in the heart of the French.

Related: Celine Dion Makes Comeback At Paris...

Oh là là! Lady Gaga got the party started on Friday, performing Zizi Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc en Plumes” along Paris’ famed River Seine during the Olympics Opening Ceremony.

In true Gaga fashion, the performance was gloriously over the top, complete with exaggerated choreography and more pink feathers than you could shake a dead Muppet at. (Not that we’d ever do that, of course.) According to Gaga, the pom poms were rented from a French cabaret theater called Le Lido, and she collaborated with Dior on the chic, custom costumes, which included naturally molted feathers.

More from TVLineOlympics 2024:...

The Paris Olympics are officially underway, and Lady Gaga lit the event’s musical torch with a rousing performance on the River Seine at the opening ceremony Friday.

Gaga brought high-level camp to the River Seine, kicking off her appearance with a performance of the French song “Mon Truc En Plume” by Zizi Jeanmaire. The singer emerged from a cluster of pink feathers, dancing on a gold staircase in a chic black ensemble. Her performance channeled Jeanmaire’s appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in January 1965. Gaga was backed by...

The Opening Ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, kicked off this evening on a rainy Friday, July 26th.

Held on the River Seine, the four-hour event featured a four-mile-long flotilla of nearly 90 boats that carried thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries. Award-winning director Thomas Jolly is the Artistic Director for the Opening Ceremony.

Related: Celine Dion Makes Comeback At Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony With Stunning Live Performance Of Edith Piaf’s ‘Hymn To Love’

Lady Gaga opened the celebrations performing the song “Mon truc en plumes,” by Zizi Jeanmaire. Celine Dion closed the ceremony with a stunning performance from the Eiffel Tower, singing Edith Piaf’s “L’Hymne à l’amour.”. Other guests at the event include Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Thierry Fremaux, Anna Wintour, Baz Luhrmann, and many more.

Related: Olympics Opening Ceremony Review: Paris’ Lengthy Spectacle On The Seine Lost In Translation On The Small Screen

Take...

Trains as a mode of travel seems old-fashioned nowadays, but in storytelling, they remain a persuasive setting for tales of unease and suspense. The endless railroad does wonders for Diane Hoh’s 1992 young-adult book aptly titled The Train. By placing her characters on a cross-country tour with no handy means of escape, the author underlines that feeling of being trapped with not only strangers but also your worst fears.

This Point Horror entry takes place at the tail end of August right before the new fall semester starts up at Parker High School. Thirty students in total are participating in this end-of-summer school trip from Chicago to the West Coast, and the final destination is San Francisco. The main characters are Hannah Deaton, Kerry Oliver, Mack McComber, Lewis Joseph Reed and Jean Marie Westlake. Hannah, who is the story’s protagonist, is wary of trains; she’s already thinking of...

Liliane Montevecchi, a veteran stage and screen performer who personified elegant old-world French glamour with an extravagant touch of camp, died June 29 at her home in New York City of colon cancer. She was 85.

A rail-thin, angular beauty with legs that went on forever, Montevecchi was born in Paris in 1932 and began dancing at age eight, starting her international career in the ballet company of Roland Petit.

She was lured to Hollywood in the 1950s, one of several foreign-born ballerinas to make the transition in that decade, along with Leslie Caron, Moira Shearer and Zizi Jeanmaire. Montevecchi ...

Liliane Montevecchi, a veteran stage and screen performer who personified elegant old-world French glamour with an extravagant touch of camp, died June 29 at her home in New York City of colon cancer. She was 85.

A rail-thin, angular beauty with legs that went on forever, Montevecchi was born in Paris in 1932 and began dancing at age eight, starting her international career in the ballet company of Roland Petit.

She was lured to Hollywood in the 1950s, one of several foreign-born ballerinas to make the transition in that decade, along with Leslie Caron, Moira Shearer and Zizi Jeanmaire. Montevecchi ...

Teresa Wright-Samuel Goldwyn association comes to a nasty end (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock Heroine in His Favorite Film.") Whether or not because she was aware that Enchantment wasn't going to be the hit she needed – or perhaps some other disagreement with Samuel Goldwyn or personal issue with husband Niven Busch – Teresa Wright, claiming illness, refused to go to New York City to promote the film. (Top image: Teresa Wright in a publicity shot for The Men.) Goldwyn had previously announced that Wright, whose contract still had another four and half years to run, was to star in a film version of J.D. Salinger's 1948 short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." Instead, he unceremoniously – and quite publicly – fired her.[1] The Goldwyn organization issued a statement, explaining that besides refusing the assignment to travel to New York to help generate pre-opening publicity for Enchantment,...

Choreographer and dancer who created stunning roles for his wife, Zizi Jeanmaire

When Roland Petit's Les Ballets des Champs Elysées opened its first London season in 1946, the company brought to the British dance scene an explosion of chic and excitement which had long been missing. Not only was the standard of male dancing from Petit and his fellow dancer Jean Babilée better than anything for many years, the enthusiasm of the young company was a contrast to the restrained correctness of the Sadler's Wells dancers. Les Forains, a piece about a troupe of strolling entertainers, distinguished by beautiful decors and costumes by Christian Bérard, was the triumph of what the critic Richard Buckle described as "an evening of wonderful surprises".

Petit, who has died from leukaemia aged 87, was capable of tailoring a role so that it perfectly reflected the abilities of the dancer on whom it was made, often...

French dancer and choreographer Roland Petit died in Geneva on Sunday. He was 87. Associated with the Paris Opera Ballet and the Ballet de Marseille for a number of years, Petit was credited for creating more than 100 ballets throughout his career. Additionally, he choreographed dance sequences for a handful of movies, notably Samuel Goldwyn's Hans Christian Andersen (1952), a color extravaganza starring Danny Kaye, Farley Granger, and Petit's future wife Zizi Jeanmaire; two 1955 Leslie Caron vehicles, the Cinderella tale The Glass Slipper and Daddy Long Legs, which paired Caron with Fred Astaire; and Henri Decoin's Folies-Bergère (1956), with Jeanmaire, Eddie Constantine, and Nadia Gray. "With his muse Zizi Jeanmaire," whom Petit married in 1954, "he wrote some of the most beautiful pages of contemporary music hall," French Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand eulogized. Roland Petit and Zizi Jeanmaire remained married until his death. Mitterrand quote via the BBC.

Our critics pick the season's highlights: From Lady Gaga to Harry Potter, Coppélia to Tony Cragg, this summer has something for all

May

4 Film The Tree of Life

The much-delayed fifth feature from director Terrence Malick, snapped up by Icon for UK release ahead of its Cannes showing, is a multi-generational drama featuring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn – and, reportedly, dinosaurs.

5 Classical From the House of the Dead

Opera North's production of Janáek's final work, directed by John Fulljames and conducted by Richard Farnes. Stars Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, Alan Oke and Roderick Williams. Leeds and touring

Dance By Singing Light/Romance Inverse

National Dance Company of Wales bring Stephen Petronio and Itzik Galili's arresting double bill to Dance City in Newcastle, with the former set to the poetry of Dylan Thomas.

6 Theatre Shrek

Nigel Lindsay plays the lime-coloured, lovelorn ogre, with Amanda Holden as Princess Fiona and Nigel Harman as Lord Farquaad,...

Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as a ballerina hitting the big time. How realistic is the movie? We asked the cream of British ballet to give their verdicts

Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky, claims to penetrate to the romantic, obsessional heart of ballet. Based loosely on Swan Lake, the film follows Nina, its ballerina heroine, as she grapples with learning the dual role of Odette and Odile (the white and black swans in Swan Lake).

Nina, played by Natalie Portman, is bullied by her mother and director, works herself punitively hard and becomes violently paranoid about her rival, Lily. What tips her over the edge is the challenge of dancing the Black Swan. As Nina tackles the sexy, malevolent role, she unleashes dark forces within herself that plunge us into full-on cinematic horror.

Prior to the film's Us release last month, the dance community had imagined Black Swan to...