Donna Langley, the British film director who wants to send Tom Cruise into space

By Katie RazzallCulture editor

Do nna Langley is a woman with big plans, including sending Tom Cruise into space.

As president of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, she is the first British woman to lead a major American film studio.

That makes her one of the most powerful people in Hollywood. Not bad for a Briton from the Isle of Wight who arrived in Los Angeles in her early twenties without any contact in the film world.

Thirty years old later - and now a lady - Langley tells me she still feels "culturally very English, even if my accent is slipping a bit".

It seems more transatlantic than the Isle of Wight, but as we ride together in the back of a golf cart around the Universal course, it assures me: "I still love my Marmite sandwiches and a good bag of crisps. of a pandemic as well as the rise of streaming platforms.

She's awesome and down to earth - but the project Universal is developing with Cruise is literally out of this world.