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Tuesday August 15, 2017 16 ENtertainment

“AQUAMAN” is proving to be a complicated fi lm to shoot for obvious reasons. Director James Wan, who is determined to use the actors as much as possible instead of CG effects, explained how the underwater sequences have caused some hurdles.

“It’s a very technically chal-lenging shoot to be on,” Wan told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview for “Annabelle: Creation,” the latest “Conjur-ing” spin-off he produced. “Working with water, and even the dry-for-wet sequences are very complex.”

He added, “Our equivalent of two people sitting around chat-ting in the underwater world is super complicated. You have to think about CG with the hair, and how their clothing moves, how they are fl oating, what kind of rig we put them on and all that stuff.”

Warner Bros. gave fans at San Diego Comic-Con a preview of what this will look like. The fi rst footage from the fi lm revealed

Jason Momoa as the Atlan-tian ruler and an underwater shot of Ocean Master’s army. Wan’s “Conjuring” actor Pat-rick Wilson will portray Ocean Master, Aquaman’s villainous brother.

The “Justice League” trailers offered more sneak peeks at the world of Atlantis as Momoa and costar Amber Heard, playing Queen Mera, will appear in the event fi lm later this year.

Filming on “Aquaman” con-tinues in Australia with a cast that also includes Dolph Lun-dgren, Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe, Temuera Morrison and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

On Friday, Wan shared photos revealing he’s “fi nally fi lming at the lighthouse set.” In the comics, this lighthouse was located in Amnesty Bay off the coast of northern Maine and served as the home of the Curry family. Fisherman Tom Curry discovers Aquaman as a boy and raises him as a son.

(SD-Agencies)

‘Aquaman’ director explains the challenges of underwater scenes

EARLIER this summer, Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” became the most-streamed song of all time — an incredible feat for a record that’s predominantly in Spanish.

But it increasingly looks like it won’t be a one-off.

Another Latin American song, “Mi Gente,” has replaced “Despacito” at the top of Spoti-fy’s Global Top 50. In the U.K., it’s just broken into the top 20.

“It’s amazing. It’s such a blessing,” says singer J Balvin, the Colombian artist who’s behind the song.

Already a huge star in South America, Balvin has been credited with revitalizing reg-gaeton — a hip-hop-infused blend of reggae and rap that originated in Puerto Rico in the late 1990s.

Over the course of four albums, he’s taken the genre once called “reggae en Espa-nol” and infused it with Afri-can, electronic and Caribbean fl avors.

More importantly, his lyrics trade reggaeton’s gritty, under-ground roots for a more univer-sal, romantic narrative.

“Mi música no discrimina a

nadie,” he sings in “Mi Gente,” meaning “my music doesn’t dis-criminate against anybody.”

“Exactly!” says the star, when he talks about the lyric. “I’m Latino but I don’t do music for Latinos. My music is for every-body in the world.

“Music has to be a tool to unite people, to get people together. It doesn’t matter the race, the language and the cul-ture. So that’s what I’m saying when I sing that line.”

The global perspective is evident on “Mi Gente,” which has its roots in a French track — “Voodoo Song,” by Willy William. That song, with its chopped-up vocals samples and hopscotch drumbeats, provides a bonkers backbone to Balvin’s hit (which William also pro-duced and sings on).

“We took a risk to make new music, new colors, new ways,” says Balvin. “It’s crazy what we created.”

So what lies behind this sudden explosion in music from Latin America? Aside from Luis Fonsi and J Balvin’s megahits, there are fi ve other Spanish-language songs in the Spotify Top 50.

Lucian Grainge, head of Uni-versal Records, says streaming is the key — giving Latin Ameri-can artists a platform they would never have received on U.S. (and U.K.) linguistically conservative radio stations.

“Streaming has changed the face of music discovery and music consumption,” he told the BBC last month.

“We’re at the forefront of

a new creative era [where] anyone who is good can fi nd an audience.

“The beautiful thing about streaming is that people are looking for this stuff,” stresses Balvin. “It’s like, they really want to play this music. They’re looking for it especially. It’s the people talking.”

Spotify itself has been actively promoting Latin American

music in regions outside South America — not least because Mexico and Brazil are two of the streaming service’s biggest markets.

“We’re proactively trying to push its consumption in countries like Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the U.K [and] obviously the U.S.,” said Rocio Guerra, Spotify’s head of Latin culture.

“There has been a domino effect,” she recently told Bill-board magazine. “The more songs that we put on the global chart, people are getting more used to listening to songs in a different language.”

Balvin has his own take on the phenomenon: “Well, I think right now kids and the whole world is more open-minded,” he tells the BBC on the phone from Uruguay.

“People are just more open to listening to good vibes, even though they don’t understand the words.

“That’s beautiful. That’s amazing. It’s like we’re show-ing the world this is not luck... This is really down to good faith and hard work.”

(SD-Agencies)

Is J Balvin’s ‘Mi Gente’ the new ‘Despacito?’

TOM CRUISE has been fi lmed limping and apparently in pain after undertaking a failed stunt while fi lming “Mission: Impos-sible 6” in London.

The 55-year-old actor, who is unusual in Hollywood for insist-ing on doing his own stunts, was jumping between two buildings with the assistance of a harness when he missed the edge of the second roof and appeared to bang into the building.

Footage obtained by TMZ.com shows Cruise land-ing heavily, using his hands for support, after fi nishing the jump too early to make the next building.

After hoisting himself onto the building, Cruise limps before collapsing near crew members. He is then returned to the rigging he jumped from and pulled away by crew mem-bers to safety.

The extent of Cruise’s injuries are not yet known. His rep has not immediately responded to calls.

Cruise was fi lming the latest in the lucrative action series “Mission: Impossible” in an unknown part of the capital, although some on social media suggest that the fi lm set is on the northern banks of the Thames.

(SD-Agen-

The colorful video for “Mi Gente” makes the most of J Balvin’s idiosyncratic style. SD-Agencies

A scene from “Aquaman.” SD-Agencies

Tom Cruise injured while fi lming ‘Mission: Impossible 6’ stunt