Jane Campion présidera le jury court métrage et celui de la Cinéfondation lors du 66ème Festival de Cannes, qui se tiendra du 15 au 26 mai prochain.
La réalisatrice néo-zélandaise présidera le Jury de la Cinéfondation ainsi que le jury court métrage du 66ème Festival de Cannes ! Elle succède ainsi à Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Michel Gondry ou encore Martin Scorsese. Son jury devra remettre plusieurs prix dont la Palme d’Or du court métrage. Comme l’a déclaré Gilles Jacob dans un communiqué en début d’après-midi, “Jane est une enfant de Cannes. Je le sais pour avoir choisi ses trois premiers courts, dont javais apprécié le style et la cohérence.” Cela ne nous aurait pas étonnés de la découvrir Présidente du jury long métrage… Rappelons que Jane Campion avait remporté la Palme d’Or du court métrage en 1986 pour Peau avant une première nomination en compétition officielle en 1989 pour son premier long Sweetie. Il faudra attendre 1993 pour la consécration : Le jury de Louis Malle lui remet la Palme d’Or pour son film La Leçon de piano, ex aquo avec Adieu ma concubine de Chen Kaige. Un palmarès qui restera dans l’histoire de Cannes car c’est la seule femme a avoir remporté la récompense suprême sur la Croisette. Mais avant de monter une nouvelle fois les marches, la réalisatrice dévoilera sa mini-série Top of the Lake à Berlin, lors du festival qui débute ce jeudi dans la capitale allemande.
Paul McCartney revient sur les planches après une convalescence de deux mois. L’ex-Beatles de 72 ans a signé un show de près de trois heures, ponctué d’hommages et d’une demande en mariage en guise de final.
Par son concert à Albany dans l’Etat de New-York le samedi 5 juillet, le chanteur Paul McCartney a marqué les esprits. Il a ainsi mis fin à sa phase de rétablissement de ces deux derniers mois, suite à une infection virale qu’il a contractée lors de sa tournée au Japon, annulant par conséquent ses dates à cette période.
Paul McCartney, trois heures durant, a repris ses cinquante ans de carrière avec une quarantaine de titres. Les incontournables Let It Be et Hey Jude ont fait le bonheur des 13.000 spectacteurs venus acclamer Sir McCartney au Times Union Center d’Albany. L’artiste a ainsi jonglé, sans temps mort, entre son répertoire solo (Maybe I’m Amazed, My Valentine…), des titres des Beatles (Lady Madonna, Eleanor Rigby…) et des Wings. Sans compter les divers hommages rendus à John Lennon et George Harrison.
Pour clore sa représentation, Paul McCartney a joué les entremetteurs avec un couple de fans présent ce soir-là. Lors du second rappel, un couple de sexagénaries s’est demandé en mariage sur scène. Ces derniers se sont faits remarquer d’une façon originale. L’un brandissait une pancarte sur laquelle on pouvait lire « J’ai la bague et j’ai 64 ans », quand sa compagne lance un « Il ne m’épousera pas tant que je ne vous aurai pas rencontré ».
Ni une, ni deux, Paul McCartney les invite à le rejoindre sur les planches pour les laisser se présenter. John Dann a ainsi demandé la main de sa compagne Claudia Rodgers sur un air de When I’m Sixty-Four des Beattles, rejoint rapidement par le chanteur et ses musiciens. La réponse n’a pas tardé, avec un « oui » applaudi par le reste de la salle. Une bénédiction musicale dont se souviendront les nouveaux fiancés.
#BringYourDaughterToWorkDay (La journée où l’on emmène sa fille au travail). C’est comme tel qu’a légendé Kim Kardashian le dernier cliché en date de son mari et de sa fille qu’elle vient de poster sur Instagram.
Sortir un nouvel album, collaborer avec Adidas et passer du temps avec sa femme et sa fille. Telles sont les actuelles priorités estivales de Kanye West qui a donc décidé de joindre l’utile à l’agréable comme on peut le constater sur la photo postée par Kim Kardashian sur Instagram.
On y voit la petite North (née le 15 juin 2013) sur les genoux de son papa avec comme légende à ce cliché #BringYourDaughterToWorkDay (La journée où l’on emmène sa fille au travail).
Comme il le laissait sous entendre dans sa dernière interview au GQ américain, Kanye est donc en plein enregistrement de son nouvel opus. “J’espère que je pourrais sortir une de ces chansons dans les prochaines semaines, juste histoire d’avoir quelque chose sur le marché, indiquait-il dans le dernier numéro du magazine branché du groupe Condénast. Mais je pense que ce sera plutôt pour septembre. Je vais et je viens. Est-ce que ça sera pour septembre ou plutôt octobre ? Est-ce que ça devrait être pour novembre? Quand Beyoncé travaillait sur son dernier album, elle a pris son temps. Je pensais qu’il pourrait d’une façon ou d’une autre sortir en juin, comme Yeezus, et tout péter cet été. Mais je me dis qu’il faut que je travaille sur adidas et que je passe du temps avec mon enfant.”
Avec la naissance de sa fille, Kanye a donc décidé de revoir son agenda. Et North est en première page.
Invitée par Kanye West à la soirée de lancement du nouvel album de Teyana Taylor, jeune chanteuse qu’il produit, Kim Kardashian se serait fait remarquer à cause de son attitude hautaine. Karrueche Tran, petite amie de Chris Brown, en a pleinement fait les frais.
En quelques années, la vie de Kim Kardashian a complètement changé. Passée de starlette issue de l’univers trash de la télé-réalité américaine à épouse et mère de l’enfant de Kanye West, l’un des rappeurs les plus respectés au monde, aux multiples business fructueux, son évolution dans la sphère showbiz est indéniable. Ce qui pourrait bien lui avoir fait prendre un sacré melon. Cette semaine, la Californienne s’est rendue à la soirée de lancement du nouvel album (VII) de Teyana Taylor, jeune chanteuse produite par son mari. Sur place, elle n’aurait pas hésité à prendre certaines personnes de haut. Notamment Karrueche Tran, petite amie de Chris Brown, lui aussi présent. Cette dernière se serait approchée de Kim afin de prendre une photo avec elle… La douche froide. “Elle n’a rien dit et s’est éloignée”, rapporte une source qui se trouvait dans les parages à Radar.
Chris Brown conscient qu’une photo ferait plaisir à sa chérie s’est tournée vers Kanye West pour qu’il puisse intervenir. “Kim a coopéré mais lui a fait comprendre que ça ne la réjouissait pas. Elle se comportait comme une vraie peste.” Finalement, elle aurait accepté de prendre une photo de groupe, bien qu’elle n’ait pas l’air spécialement heureuse de le faire sur le cliché, habillée d’une jupe crayon ultra-moulante sur un top crème. Si excédée qu’elle n’aurait même pas prêté attention à Karrueche, aspirante mannequin, essayant d’entamer la conversation avec elle.
Kim Kardashian a en tout cas la mémoire courte. Un peu de sympathie serait pourtant bienvenue de sa part, elle qui se plaignait quelques mois plutôt de l’attitude condescendante de Beyoncé à son égard. Les couples « Kimye » et « Jayoncé » se sont d’ailleurs visiblement éloignés depuis que les derniers ont sciemment manqué le mariage des premiers à Venise en mai dernier. Elle devrait pourtant savoir que la roue peut encore éventuellemet tourner et à n’importe quel moment…
Arrested Development star Jason Bateman joined the plethora of Hollywood figures who have pledged to boycott Republican-controlled states that attempt to pass legislation putting restrictions on abortion.
In recent weeks, states including Alabama and Georgia have passed legislation restricting access to abortion, with the state of Georgia introducing a “heartbeat” bill that will make the procedure illegal for physicians after six weeks of pregnancy.
“If the ‘heartbeat bill’ makes it through the court system, I will not work in Georgia, or any other state, that is so disgracefully at odds with women’s rights,” Jason told The Hollywood Reporter, in an article complaining that the entertainment industry is not doing enough to fight back against the proposals.
Bateman’s comments are particularly notable given that his Netflix show Ozark and HBO show The Outsider are currently filming in Georgia, suggesting he may have to pull out or force them to re-film part of the series.
Jason Bateman in Ozark (Tina Rowden/Netflix, 2017)
However, Bateman’s pledge aligns him with the over 100 industry figures who signed an open letter threatening to boycott the state over the legislation, a list that also includes the likes of Alyssa Milano, Judd Apatow, and Alec Baldwin.
The 50-year-old actor is not known for overt political activism, but did attract headlines last year after defending his co-star Jeffrey Tambor over his alleged bullying of actress Jessica Walter. Bateman later apologized for his remarks, saying he was “incredibly sorry” to be seen as excusing his behavior.
Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at [email protected].
European Chief Negotiator for the United Kingdom Exiting the European Union Michel Barnier and Brexit Secretary David Davis walk in Downing Street on February 5 | Pool photo by Stefan Rousseau/Getty Images
EU toughens Brexit transition demands
The text governing the Brexit transition forbids the UK from ‘any action’ in international bodies that is likely to be prejudicial to the EU.
The EU is demanding the U.K. not take “any action or initiative … likely to be prejudicial” to the bloc’s interests in any international body or forum during a Brexit transition period, according to draft legal text prepared by the European Commission.
The provision is part of a document, seen by POLITICO, in which the EU set out its updated terms for a 19-month transition period after the U.K. formally leaves the bloc in March 2019.
These terms, which the U.K. is yet to agree to but has little leverage to negotiate, include a tighter definition of Britain’s minimal influence over EU decision-making and a new provision that will restrict the U.K.’s ability to prevail in disputes over aspects of the single market.
As expected, the draft transition agreement includes the EU’s main condition: a requirement that the U.K. abide by all EU laws and obligations, even as it loses all voting rights and representation in Brussels.
According to the text, the EU would be required to consult London — but not necessarily act on the U.K.’s input — only in regard to setting new fishing quotas. On other issues, such as sanctions policy, and issues directly affecting the U.K., the EU may consult Britain but would be under no obligation to do so — a flat dismissal of U.K. negotiator David Davis’ demand for some recourse mechanism over new EU policies that Britain might oppose.
“We will have to agree a way of resolving concerns if laws are deemed to run contrary to our interests and we have not had our say,” said Davis in a speech on the U.K.’s view of a transition period last month.
The five-page document, which was discussed by the EU’s College of Commissioners in Strasbourg Tuesday and then circulated among EU27 diplomats, includes updated language and new provisions that were not in previous draft negotiating directives agreed by EU ministers last month.
Among the most notable is the clause curtailing the U.K.’s actions on the world stage. It states: “The United Kingdom shall abstain, during the transition period, from any action or initiative which is likely to be prejudicial to the [European] Union’s interests in the framework of any international organization, agency, conference or forum of which the United Kingdom is a party in its own right.”
Interpreted strictly, it would bar the U.K. from taking any position at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization or in the G7 or G20 clubs of world economic powers that run counter to the EU’s wishes.
The draft legal text also suggests that the U.K. will find itself on the losing end of any disputes within the EU’s single market. A footnote states that the final withdrawal and transition agreement “should provide for a mechanism allowing the [European] Union to suspend certain benefits deriving for the United Kingdom from participation in the internal market” in the event that referring a complaint to the European Court of Justice would not yield a remedy in time.
In other words, while the U.K.’s exit might be imminent, it will not be allowed to violate EU market rules and then use judicial delaying tactics to avoid any sanction. The draft text confirms the ECJ will retain jurisdiction over the U.K. throughout the transition — something Prime Minister Theresa May conceded back in October.
One EU official who has seen the text played down the draconian nature of the clause: “The mechanism has not been identified yet, it will be a part of our internal discussion but it will also be discussed with London. We cannot impose it to the U.K.” The official added that the types of cases it would apply to have yet to be identified.
The draft’s tightly written legal language makes clear just how powerless the U.K. will become in EU matters during the transition. For example, it states: “For the purposes of the treaties, during the transition period, the parliament of the United Kingdom shall not be considered to be a national parliament.” It also states, “during the transition period, the Bank of England shall not be considered to be a national central bank.”
Those provisions are practical measures, not political jabs, stripping the U.K. of standing that the parliaments and central banks of EU27 nations would have under EU law.
But they are likely to be particularly inflammatory for Brexiteers. Jacob Rees-Mogg, Tory backbench MP and leader of the Euroskeptic European Research Group, has argued that the terms of a transition period are so restrictive they make the U.K. no more than a “vassal state.”
Rees-Mogg said on Tuesday evening that the legal text as drafted was “not something that we can accept.”
Speaking in Westminster, he raised particular objection to the provisions on the authority of the ECJ, which he said would enable the EU to “punish us” without the U.K. being able to plead its case in the EU’s highest court in Luxembourg.
“I don’t want us to accept the ECJ in the implementation/transition period anyway, but if we do, they must as well,” he said. “To say ‘we can have extraordinary powers to do what we like, when we like it’ seems to be against the rule of law and therefore against the EU’s own Charter of Fundamental Rights.”
A U.K. government spokesperson said: “This is a draft document produced by the EU that simply reflects their stated directives. The secretary of state set out the U.K.’s position in his speech in Teesside last month. Together these provide a solid foundation for the negotiations on the implementation period, which have begun this week with the aim of reaching agreement by March European Council.”
The draft text must still be negotiated and agreed by the U.K., but officials in Brussels have made clear that they have little appetite for haggling. Britain has virtually no leverage if it wants the transition period — which experts say is crucial to avoiding a shock to the U.K. economy — to be agreed swiftly. May, who refers to the transition as an “implementation period,” has described it as essential.
The draft text, as expected, calls for the transition to last from the official Brexit date of March 29, 2019, until December 31, 2020 and it makes no mention of any possible extension, though nor does it exclude the possibility.
But the text does give at least one nod to May’s suggestion in her speech in Florence that aspects of the future relationship between the U.K. and the EU might be fast-forwarded during the transition. The draft includes a provision allowing for a new agreement “in the area of common foreign and security policy,” and in defense matters, to supersede existing provisions of the EU treaties.
On virtually all other matters, the U.K. will continue to be bound by the treaties, as well as by all of the EU’s existing international agreements, even as it must wait to implement any of its own new deals. On trade agreements, for instance, the U.K. will be required to fulfill the obligations of all existing EU accords but cannot become bound by its own new trade agreements, or any other legal agreements, until the transition ends.
An EU official working on Brexit, who has seen the text, played down the changes from previous versions. “In general, it seems that it reflects what has been adopted by ministers in the negotiating directives, there should be no surprises, really,” the official said.
Hollywood actor Patton Oswalt and Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) re-election campaign traded barbs on Twitter Tuesday after the comedian endorsed the incumbent senator’s Democrat challenger.
Patton Oswalt appears in Democrat MJ Hegar’s campaign announcement video, which the Finest Hour star tweeted to his nearly 4.5 million followers. Cornyn’s campaign account responded to the endorsement with screenshots of vulgar tweets previously sent by Oswalt. “Hollywood Hegar supporter and video guest star, Patton Oswalt, has tweeted some offensive comments over the years, reply A or B to let us know which one is more offensive to you,” Team Cornyn tweeted.
Hollywood Hegar supporter and video guest star, Patton Oswalt, has tweeted some offensive comments over the years, reply A or B to let us know which one is more offensive to you: pic.twitter.com/gXgPvstK6V
In a series of follow-up tweets, the campaign shared past posts of Patton Oswalt in which he refered to Pope Francis’ penis a woman knitting with her vagina.
Oswalt replied by mocking the campaign for censoring the word “penis” and shared a link to Hegar’s donation page. “I just noticed: you *****’d the word “penis.” Oh my god you Pepperidge Farm dipshit. Go tell your constituents about the time you babysat Chester A. Arthur, drink your Ensure, and sit down,” he wrote.
I just noticed: you *****’d the word “penis.” Oh my god you Pepperidge Farm dipshit. Go tell your constituents about the time you babysat Chester A. Arthur, drink your Ensure, and sit down. https://t.co/iaGaJxCymU
Oswalt further mocked Cornyn, alleging that the Texas Senator was “scared shitless” of Hegar and therefore would not participate in a debate with her. “[S]o this is the straw he’s grasping at. Good luck, Pop-Pop!” he quipped.
Hegar, an Air Force veteran whose campaign ads nearly helped her get elected in one of Texas’ most Republican-friendly congressional districts last year, set her sights higher on Tuesday and launched a run for Senate against Cornyn.
Hegar, 43, is the first big-name Democrat to jump into one of 2020′s marquee races. Her decision to run sets up a potential rarity in Texas — a contested Democratic primary near the top of the ticket.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) is also considering running for the seat and signaled Tuesday that Hegar’s entry wouldn’t influence his decision.
Cornyn remains a formidable incumbent in Texas, where a Democrat hasn’t won a U.S. Senate seat since the 1970s. He was the Number 2 Republican in the chamber until this year and has never faced a serious re-election challenge since joining the Senate in 2002.
Hegar has openly flirted with a Senate run for months and has had talks with Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer. Texas has only had one female U.S. senator, Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, who left office in 2012 and was replaced by Cruz.
Cornyn’s campaign also attacked Hegar as “Chuck Schumer’s handpicked candidate,” and it defended Cornyn’s record on veterans and helping Texas through the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
“Texas rejected her radical views once and they will again,” said Cornyn’s campaign manager, John Jackson.
The Office star Rainn Wilson claimed his black friend living in “suburban Los Angeles” was targeted with a noose in his front yard, an incident the actor says serves as a reminder of the “extent to which racism exists in our country.”
The actor, who rose to fame playing Dwight Schrute in the beloved U.S. version of The Office, revealed how the noose was discovered by his friend Jamey’s 17-year-old niece. After the family contacted the police, they were reportedly told: “What’s the big deal?”
“Well, officer, the noose is the symbol of lynching which was used to hang thousands of African Americans, especially by the Klan. Granted, this is a pretty lame noose,” Wilson wrote. “Might have been made by some local kids or something. Who knows. But the fact is it is as strong a symbol of racial hatred, violence, and oppression as a Swastika. Many folks are in denial about the extent to which racism exists in our country in 2019. Just ask a Black Person. They will tell you stories.”
Wilson went on to recount a story of how his friend Jamey was allegedly racially abused on a golf course by a white man who invoked the historical enslavement of African Americans.
“Jamey told me today that last year, while playing golf, he was looking for his ball in the brush and a white guy who wanted to play through called out ‘Hey, you can hurry up, we don’t have you picking cotton anymore!’ Not sure if he was trying to be funny or not but literally Jamey’s great grandfather was an ACTUAL SLAVE on a plantation and was regularly beaten there.”
This, however, is not the first time that Rainn Wilson has expressed fears of the existence of rampant racism across America. Following the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in August 2017, he declared that racism was “alive and thriving” for “millions” of modern Americans.
“My heart is broken by all the hate & violence today in Charlottesville,” The Meg actor wrote at the time. “Racism is alive and thriving – not just by the ogres spouting “white supremacy” – but by millions who espouse resentment and distrust of “the other”. My hope is humanity can come together as one diverse family.”
Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at [email protected].
EU leaders said Friday they would negotiate with the U.S. to resolve trade disputes, but warned they would not tolerate bullying — or any bull — from Donald Trump.
The U.S. president late Thursday granted the EU an exemption from punitive steel and aluminum tariffs that he has slapped on other countries, but he also set an expiration date for that exemption of May 1, which European leaders said did not leave enough time to reach a deal, and amounted to a threat.
“We can talk about anything with a friendly country,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, who has developed arguably the best personal relationship with Trump among European leaders.
“But,” Macron warned pointedly: “We don’t talk about anything in principle when it is with a gun to the temple.”
EU leaders at a summit in Brussels, united by the scale the problems on their agenda, which included Russia as well as Trump, said they were hopeful a deal could be reached. But there was clear frustration with the U.S. president’s evidently limited grasp of complex trade issues, his allegations of unfair practices (which the EU disputes) and the overall tumult and unpredictability emanating from Washington.
Following a pattern set by other disagreements with Trump — over his withdrawal from the Paris climate change accords; his criticism of the Iran nuclear deal; and moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, which the EU opposed — European leaders tried to dial down the tensio to avoid inciting the combustible American president.
Trump upended the EU leaders’ quarterly summit on Thursday with cryptic comments that left Brussels wondering if indeed it had been granted the promised exemption to his tariffs.
Discussion among the 28 leaders of a potential trade war — and the EU’s battle plan for retaliation — was pushed back twice on the summit agenda, first from the Thursday afternoon to dinner, and then from Thursday evening to Friday, because of uncertainty in Washington. Trump held a news conference where he slapped new penalties on China — which sent U.S. markets into a tailspin — talked about “negotiations” beginning with the EU and repeated his complaints about unfair trade practices by Europe. But he never made clear an exemption had been granted.
That clarity came shortly before midnight Brussels time and received a mixed reception. Officials were glad to be granted an exemption, meaning the EU fared better than other allies such as Japan, but European leaders interpreted the May 1 expiration date as a threat.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel was the first to use the gunpoint imagery. “This is maybe also a way to exert a strong pressure on the European Union and to start a kind of negotiation with a type of revolver at our head,” Michel said as he arrived at the summit Friday.
In the European Council’s formal conclusions, leaders once again rebuked Trump over the tariffs, which they assert violate World Trade Organization rules and cannot be justified, as Trump has claimed, by national security imperatives.
“The European Council regrets the decision by the United States to impose import tariffs on steel and aluminum. These measures cannot be justified on the grounds of national security, and sector-wide protection in the U.S. is an inappropriate remedy for the real problems of overcapacity, on which the EU already has offered the U.S. its full cooperation.”
The leaders also reiterated their right to respond if Trump ever imposes the tariffs. The EU has developed an arsenal of retaliatory measures targeting American goods in politically sensitive states, including Kentucky bourbon, made in the home state of the Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and Harley Davidson motor bikes, made in Wisconsin, the home of the Republican house speaker, Paul Ryan.
At the summit’s closing news conference, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he was happy Trump finally seemed to understand that the EU negotiates trade policy as a 28-member bloc.
“What the president was saying yesterday is recognizing that the European Union is an entity,” Juncker said, noting the granting of a temporary exemption. “It cannot be divided into 28 parts. That’s the good part of the news.”
“The bad part,” Juncker added, was the May 1 deadline, which he described as “highly impossible.”
“It doesn’t seem to me that this date is a very realistic one given the broad issues we have to discuss with the U.S.,” he added.
Juncker also noted Trump’s waffling. “He didn’t take a decision,” Juncker said. “He was deciding yesterday to suspend the measures he had imagined as far as the trade relations with the European Union are concerned.”
European leaders were adamant they will not be bullied by Trump. “We won’t show any weakness in any sector, in any country,” Macron said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Trump’s tariffs and the $50 billion in penalties against China that he announced on Thursday reverberated across global markets and amounted to a major distraction at the EU summit, which was already confronting tough issues, including how to respond to Russia’s alleged use of a nerve agent in the U.K.
One senior EU official said the menu of hard topics at the summit reminded EU leaders of their stature, and gave them confidence to stand up to Trump. “It was on the big issues,” the official said. “They discussed Russia, Turkey, trade, America — without exaggerating, yesterday night was a moment where European leaders understand that all together they are a superpower themselves.”
The experienced defender is taking in a season-long loan in Italy and is open to a permanent deal as he also eyes up an England recall for Euro 2020
Chris Smalling is ready to hold talks regarding a permanent move to Roma from Manchester United and is also eyeing up an England recall ahead of Euro 2020.
The 30-year-old defender is currently taking in a season-long loan at Stadio Olimpico.
A brave decision to leave his comfort zone at Old Trafford was taken during the summer of 2019.
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Having slipped down the pecking order at United, with a record-breaking deal for Harry Maguire nudging him out of favour, the opportunity to head for Serie A was embraced.
Smalling has earned plenty of plaudits during his time in Italy and admits that he would be open to the idea of staying on.
He told BBC Sport: “Yeah, I think the plan at the start of the season was to contribute as much as I can and then hopefully if we’ve all had a good season and hit our ambitions then those discussions can take place.
“I’ve been more than happy with my first half of the season, it’s now just making sure that we kick on and finish the season strongly because we have a lot to play for.
“Coming over here and trying to hit ground running with football was the priority. But my family settling in and me learning the language and enjoying the culture, it’s something you need to make the most of.
“My family and I definitely are.”
Smalling’s fine form at Roma has led to calls for him to be welcomed back into the United squad for 2020-21, given that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have continued to spring leaks.
It has also been suggested that the experienced figure should come into contention for a place in England’s squad for this summer’s European Championship.
Smalling has not figured for his country since 2017, with Gareth Southgate overlooking him on a regular basis, but there remains a desire on his part to add to a collection of 31 caps.
“Obviously it’s been a couple of years now, but that ambition is always there with England,” he said of his international ambition.
“I know that Gareth and the coaching staff have been to a few of my games over here and I guess you know you are in their thoughts if you are playing at a top club.
“I hold those aspirations, and I just try to focus on here and what comes, comes. But I would very much like to be part of [the Euros], for sure.”