Degrees of separation: what connects Adele to Kathy Bates?

Composite of images of singer Adele, actor Dustin Hoffman, Oprah Winfrey, director Xavier Dolan, a red VW and a bottle of rosé wine Composite: Guardian/Informant/Kobal/Shutterstock/PR/Getty Images/Columbia Records/PA/Sault Black Is/GC Images/AP

The big 3-0
After six years, Adele is back with her fourth album, 30. On Sunday 14 November she’s previewing the whole shebang with Adele One Night Only, a two-hour CBS TV special complete with an intimate interview by Oprah Winfrey from a garden in a Santa Barbara beachside property.

Adele will promote her new album on a TV special with Oprah Winfrey … Photograph: Simon Emmett/Columbia Records/PA

Someone like you gets a car
There have been many notable Oprah TV events but one stands above the rest: the 2004 episode of her show when she gave every member of the studio audience a free Pontiac G6 Sedan. Oprah bellowed “you get a car” over and over to the crowd, who in turn went berserk in a manner so intense it was mildly terrifying – memes would follow.

… who gave away Pontiacs on her show in 2004 … Photograph: AP

Beetle-mania
In 2010, Oprah did it again: this time everyone got a free Volkswagen. Cue more wild reactions (again, vaguely terrifying). It was canny marketing from the Germans, who’ve long had some advertising tricks up their sleeve. Back in the 60s, just before The Graduate made Dustin Hoffman a star, the actor did a Mad Men-esque turn in a TV slot for VW; because they are slow to change their car models, he later told Ellen, the campaign ran for a decade.

… and VWs in 2010. Decades earlier, a VW ad featured Dustin Hoffman … Photograph: Getty Images

Key change
Another bit of work that won’t place high in the Hoffman canon is his demanding choirmaster in 2014’s Boychoir, from French-Canadian director François Girard (watch Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould; rent on Apple/Prime in the UK). Peter Bradshaw described the film (later renamed The Choir), which also includes Debra Winger, Eddie Izzard and Kathy Bates as “very off-key”.

… who later appeared in Boychoir, also starring Kathy Bates … Photograph: Myles Aronowitz/Shutterstock

Dolan double
In 2018 Kathy Bates featured in a film by a Quebecois director, the youthful prodigy Xavier Dolan, then 29. His English language debut, The Death and Life of John F Donovan (streaming on Now/Sky Cinema), however, was considered a dud. The prolific Dolan also turns his hand to music videos, directing a clip for Adele’s recent single Easy on Me, as well as Hello, her 2015 comeback song. Hello from the other side ... of the rabbit hole.

… who later worked with director Xavier Dolan, who has directed music videos for Adele. Photograph: Arnold Jerocki/GC Images

Listen Among the collaborators on 30 is Inflo, a producer and member of enigmatic and prodigious Black British music collective Sault – start with 2020’s Untitled (Black Is).

Drink In a recent US Vogue interview Adele expressed her devotion to Whispering Angel Rosé. Rolling in the deep with this wine’s “refreshing acidity” will set you back £18.99.