Live Wire

Max von Sydow,the 82-year-old actor,stars in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close as a willfully nonspeaking companion to Thomas Horn,the highly communicative little boy at the centre of the film. “I was very moved by the script when I got it,” Von Sydow said in an interview. Although he doesn’t utter a word in the movie,communicating only by writing on cards,Von Sydow approached the character the same way he would any other.“I want to find out what this character wants,what he wants in life,what is his idea about what he should do,why does he enter this house in this very minute,to contact this person or this friend or relative–to me it’s important to know exactly why,what is your aim,” he said.

Carey Mulligan appeared last year in two much-admired movies,Drive and Shame. But before that,she hadn’t worked for nearly a year,disatisfied with the scripts she was receiving. Since her breakout turn in An Education in 2009,Mulligan has played a lot of characters who have a sense of desperation–if not despair—and Sissy in Shame,certainly fit the bill. But Mulligan saw another side of her. “She’s hopeful,” Mulligan said. “She sort of reminded me of me in that respect. She keeps on getting knocked back and she keeps trying. She never sees that her life is limited,she doesn’t know she’s not talented enough to be a singer,or to be an actress.”

21 by Adele is officially the fastest-selling record in seven years. The album has topped Billboard’s chart for the 15th time. Adele’s album sold 124,000 copies last week,according to Nielsen SoundScan. That is a healthy number in any week. But it’s miraculous given the abysmal sales last January and February,when the industry’s record for the lowest sales for a No. 1 album was broken again and again buy a string of releases,culminating with just over 40,000 sales for Amos Lee’s Mission Bell. Drake’s Take Care reached No. 2 with 42,000 sales,just a few hundred more than the Black Keys El Camino which was at No. 3.