Advertising has become a focal point of TV software. We’re seeing companies that sell TV sets be increasingly interested in leveraging TV operating systems (OSes) for ads and tracking. This has led to bold new strategies, like an adtech firm launching a TV OS and ads on TV screensavers.
With new short films set to debut on its free streaming service tomorrow, TV-maker TCL is positing a new approach to monetizing TV owners and to film and TV production that sees reduced costs through reliance on generative AI and targeted ads.
TCL's five short films are part of a company initiative to get people more accustomed to movies and TV shows made with generative AI. The movies will “be promoted and featured prominently on” TCL's free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service, TCLtv+, TCL announced in November. TCLtv+has hundreds of FAST channels and comes on TCL-brand TVs using various OSes, including Google TV and Roku OS.
Keira Knightley said she hasn't watched "Love Actually" since attending the premiere in 2003.
She said on "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon" that she doesn't like watching her own films.
Instead, she said her favorite Christmas movie is "Die Hard."
"Love Actually" is one of the most successful Christmas movies ever, but Keira Knightley, who starred in it, hasn't seen the festive rom-com in years.
Knightley rose to fame after playing Juliet in the film, a character who discovers that her husband's best friend, the best man at their wedding, secretly loves her.
Knightley said on Monday's episode of "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon" that she hadn't seen "Love Actually" since attending the premiere at 18.
"This is nothing about 'Love Actually.' I don't really watch anything I do," Knightley said. "But I know that 'Love Actually' obviously has become this massive thing. And for lots of people, it's part of their Christmas."
Many actors, including Emma Stone, Adam Driver, and Meryl Streep, have said that they don't like or have avoided watching films they have starred in.
Knightley isn't even the only "Love Actually" actor who's avoided watching the movie again. Joanna Page, Knightley's costar in "Love Actually," also said on "Loose Women" in 2022 that she had only watched the film once.
According to The Metro, Page said it was "utterly traumatic" watching it at a film festival in Cardiff, Wales, with her then-boyfriend and her parents.
"Because I don't like watching myself at the best of times, and then also I don't particularly like watching myself naked on cinema screens," Page said. "So it was really, really weird."
When asked on "The Tonight Show " what her favorite Christmas film was, Knightley said "Die Hard," which led to laughter and applause from the crowd.
For years, fans have debated whether "Die Hard" should count as a Christmas movie because, as an action movie, it doesn't fit the mold of other films in that genre.
However, the film is set on Christmas Eve and features plenty of Christmas references.
Host Jimmy Fallon quickly changed the subject before a debate could start on the show.
Knightley was actually on the talk show to promote another project set in London during the Christmas season. Her new Netflix series, the spy thriller "Black Doves," premiered last week and landed Knightley a Golden Globe nomination.
Richard Curtis's idea for a second "Notting Hill" film was apparently shelved because of Julia Roberts.
Roberts is said to have disliked his idea for a follow-up film with a divorce plot.
"Julia thought that was a very poor idea," the "Love Actually" director told IndieWire.
The screenwriter behind the rom-com "Notting Hill" has opened up on why the classic movie has never got a sequel.
In an interview with IndieWire, Richard Curtis said that Julia Roberts was not a fan of his idea for a follow-up in which Roberts' and costar Hugh Grant's characters split up.
Asked if he would like to do any follow-ups to his past films, he said: "I tried doing one with 'Notting Hill' where they were going to get divorced, and Julia thought that was a very poor idea."
"I actually did four Red Nose Days and Comic Relief. We did those mini sequels to 'Love Actually,' and those satisfied me," he added.
A representative for Roberts did not respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider.
In the 1999 film, Roberts plays a famous movie actor named Anna Scott.
Scott falls in love with William Thacker (played by Grant), the owner of a bookstore in the picturesque area of London from which the film takes its name.
Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant in "Notting Hill."
Universal Pictures
While the paparazzi's fascination with Anna initially complicates their relationship, the film ends with the pair happily together and expecting a child.
The movie, directed by the late Roger Michell, was nominated for best film in the comedy or musical genre at the Golden Globes, with Grant and Roberts also receiving individual nominations.
Curtis, whose new animated film "That Christmas" premieres on Netflix on December 4, suggested that even if Roberts was on board with a "Notting Hill" sequel, his focus was currently on branching out into new kinds of projects.
"I think oddly enough I'm keen at this stage in my career of doing new things as much as I can," he told IndieWire. "That's why it was great doing an animated film. I've made, I think, 17 films. It's quite hard for the 18th to be as different as this one is."
