• A prequel to the "Mad Max" movie franchise starring Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy will be filmed in Australia. "Furiosa, " scheduled for release in mid-2023, is expected to become the biggest film ever made in Australia, New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Monday. Hemsworth said being involved in such a project in his homeland is a dream come true. "This will be my fourth or fifth film here in Australia," the "Thor" star said in Sydney. "It really is, out of everything I've done, the biggest pinch-myself moment, because I've grown up watching it and it's so iconic," Hemsworth said of the "Mad Max" franchise. "It is a huge honor. A lot of pressure, but exciting pressure that is certainly motivating." The lead actor in "The Queen's Gambit" miniseries, Taylor-Joy will star in the film as a younger version of Furiosa, who was played by Charlize Theron in the 2015 installment, "Mad Max: Fury Road." Actors and crews will travel to locations across New South Wales, including the mining town of Broken Hill, the surroundings of which have traditionally provided the post-apocalyptic landscapes of the movies. Writer and director George Miller, who with Byron Kennedy started the "Mad Max" franchise starring Mel Gibson in 1979, said he was grateful to shoot the film in his home country and excited to be playing a part in the nation's recovery from the pandemic. Australia has been dubbed "Aussiewood" because a number of actors have left Los Angeles for Sydney while Australia has been relatively successful in halting community transmission of covid-19.
• A stalker who claims that pop star Taylor Swift is communicating with him on social media was arrested on a trespassing charge after trying to break into the singer's Manhattan, N.Y., apartment, police said Monday. Hanks Johnson, 52, was arrested at 8:30 p.m. Saturday after a 911 caller reported that he was inside Swift's Tribeca building without permission, a police spokesman said. According to the criminal complaint against him, Johnson told police, "She knows that I'm coming here, we're friends." A security employee of Swift's told police that Johnson had rung the doorbell and tried to enter the building at least five times over the past six months, the complaint states. Johnson was charged with criminal trespass and released on his own recognizance. Outside the courthouse, Johnson made a show of sending direct messages to Swift's Instagram account and claimed that the predictive text suggestions on his phone were replies from her. Swift has been plagued over the years by stalkers at her homes on both coasts. A different man was arrested and accused of breaking into her New York apartment in 2018 and taking a nap, police said.