• Actress Isabela Moner says she didn't expect so much action when she signed up for Dora and the Lost City of Gold, the forthcoming film about the adventurous Hispanic explorer. Moner said she thought it would be a funny film, with Dora in a "fish out of water" kind of situation as she starts high school. "It's a whole Tomb Raider meets Indiana Jones movie," Moner, 18, said. "It just kind of takes you on this journey that has so many layers and so many characters and it's wonderful. What I want, what I hope for is for not only kids but adults to really connect to the movie too, as well as people my age." While the live-action film is based on a popular children's cartoon character that debuted in 2000, Dora and the Lost City of Gold presents a new, older version of the character. The film's Dora is encountering society for the first time in years when she is sent to California for high school. But a kidnapping whisks Dora, her cousin Diego (played by Jeff Wahlberg) and two other teenagers to the jungle, where they must work to help save her parents and solve the mystery of a lost city. "It's nothing like the TV show," director James Bobin said. "We have nods to the TV show, but the TV show is education for kids. This is a kind of adventure comedy that happens to feature the character of Dora you may know from the TV show. And in fact, plays with the idea that you do know who she is and how she would behave if she were a real person."
• Conductor James Levine's breach of contract and defamation lawsuit against the Metropolitan Opera has been settled. A lawyer for Levine and the company made the announcement Tuesday but did not disclose terms of the agreement. The 76-year Levine was the Met's music or artistic director from 1976-2016, then became its music director emeritus. He was fired in March 2018 after the Met said an investigation found evidence of sexual abuse and harassment "towards vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers." Levine, who denied the allegations, sued three days later, seeking at least $5.8 million in damages. New York Supreme Court Justice Andrea Masley dismissed all but one of the defamation claims in March. Levine's lawyer, Edward J.M. Little, and Met spokesman Tim McKeough both confirmed the settlement and declined additional comment. The settlement brought the court battle to a close just as it threatened to air more dirty laundry about both Levine, who at his zenith was the most acclaimed American conductor since Leonard Bernstein, and the Met, which, with an annual budget of roughly $300 million, is the largest performing arts organization in the United States. Levine, whose musical leadership defined the Met for four decades, is unlikely ever to return to the company.
A Section on 08/08/2019