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Riz Ahmed

Scarlett Johansson Calls Herself the “Second Choice”

Scarlett Johansson parade

Scarlett Johansson is on the cover of Parade, where she talks about getting the role of Black Widow after Emily Blunt bowed out (“The best call you can receive is after you are rejected for something and then you get it. You appreciate it more. I’ve basically made a career out of being second choice”), and being engaged to SNL’s Colin Jost (“What you see is what you get with him. He’s very optimistic, easygoing, funny, nice, and those are the qualities that really drew me to him”).

Meryl Streep singing in a robe and making cocktails during last night’s Stephen Sondheim tribute is all of us right now. It starts at 1:58:49.

-Keep watching, because the performance after that is Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford singing “Move On” at 2:03:38.

Kristin Cavallari has filed for divorce from Jay Cutler, citing “inappropriate marital conduct” and requesting primary custody of their three children. They were in the news recently because of a viral Twitter thread about their multi-week quarantine in the Bahamas.

John Krasinski’s ‘Some Good News’ threw a potluck Sunday. After fans sent in their family recipes, Martha Stewart, David Chang, Guy Fieri and Stanley Tucci stepped in to try out their time-tested dishes.

-Also, Stanley Tucci is back to making cocktails for our viewing pleasure.

Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger are expecting their first child together.

Brad Pitt appeared as Dr. Fauci in SNL’s cold open this weekend. (Weirdly, his segment looked more professional than all the others.) Between this and his HGTV appearance, he’s charming his way all over TV lately.

Timothée Chalamet and Lily-Rose Depp have split after one year of dating.

Riz Ahmed tells GQ: “I have lost two family members to COVID. I just want to believe their deaths and all the others aren’t for nothing. We gotta step up to reimagine a better future.”

-Canadian actors, musicians and public figures came together on Saturday night for a televised special to support frontline and essential workers, and to raise funds for Food Banks Canada. You can watch some highlights here.

-Also, the all-star performance of “Lean on Me” is being released in support of the Canadian Red Cross, and Canadians can contribute to the initiative by streaming the song, viewing the official music video, or downloading the single.

Emma Watson‘s mystery man has been revealed as Leo Robinton, who previously worked at a cannabis company in LA. He’s very pretty.

Britney Spears‘ bf is wearing a jockstrap as a mask? Ok.

Anna Wintour goes jogging in Air Force 1’s so that’s where we’re at now. She’s also taking swipes at the president: “I think we’ve all gotten past the idea that life will simply snap back to normal. (Except our president, who thinks we should try drinking disinfectant mixed with sunshine. To which I say, you first.)”

Cameron Diaz appeared on a recent episode of makeup artist Gucci Westman’s YouTube series, “Makeup & Friends” (clearly shot before social distancing).

-The internet discovered that Dolly Parton’s production company helped produce Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everyone’s so happy.

Nancy Meyers‘ movies are basically kitchen porn. So everyone got very excited when the director instagrammed a pic of her kitchen. It does not disappoint.

Judd Apatow and Pete Davidson‘s The King of Staten Island is migrating to a digital release. It’ll be on demand on June 12. Seth Rogen‘s An American Pickle has also moved from a Sony theatrical release to HBO Max. There’s a very real chance that comedy releases on streaming becomes the norm, while theatrical releases are limited to big budget tentpoles.

-The Oscars’ Board of Governors will meet virtually tomorrow. It’ll be interesting how Oscar season plays out, with most fall film festivals probably not happening (except maybe Telluride), and a fall theatrical marketplace that will likely contain fewer functioning cinemas operating at partial capacity.

-The first clip of Love, Victor has been released. It’s Hulu’s spinoff of Love, Simon.

Arrested Development’s Press Tour Turns Into Apology Tour

-Man, that Arrested Development cast interview with the New York Times left me *fuming* last night. Not because hearing Jessica Walter cry while her male costars go to great lengths to comfort Jeffrey Tambor is as bad as what Tambor was accused of doing on the Transparent set. It’s just that this interview — and especially the 1-minute audio clip from it –perfectly distills the entire issue with male “allies.” It’s how Jason Bateman starts the conversation by threatening to quit if Tambor is fired, clearly declaring sides. It’s how Walter (the victim) is the one who is required to do all the emotional labour during the convo and her forgiveness is an expectation (Tambor’s “absolutely” response tells me he’s learned nothing). It’s how Bateman manexplains to Walter, who won a Golden Globe when he was just two years old, how on-set dynamics work. It’s how he speaks over Alia Shawkat. It’s how a sobbing Walter keeps insisting that Tambor’s behaviour is not normal in Hollywood, and Bateman, David Cross and Tony Hale keep dismissing her with talk of an actor’s “process” and how “families” fight and some tired BS about how creatives should be given a free pass to be assholes. Even Bateman’s apology with all the “it sounds like…” annoys me. No. It didn’t sound like. It was.

Tony Hale has also apologized for his comments in the interview.  And I’m guessing David Cross had some apologizing to do when he got home.

-I thought NPR had a very good take on it. (“The disrespect felt so benign in the delivery and so destructive in the effect.”) Also, I loved Thomas Sadoski’s Instagram post sticking up for Walter, who he once costarred with: “I worked in shitty greasy-spoon kitchens growing up: it wasn’t acceptable behavior THERE and most of us were on HEAVY DRUGS. It certainly isn’t acceptable for some man-baby millionaire to do on a cozy ass tv show set. And it is even less acceptable for his male cast-mates to excuse it away IN FRONT OF THE PERSON THAT IT HAPPENED TO….(wait for it)….WHILE SHE IS TRYING TO EXPLAIN HOW TRAUMATIZING THE EXPERIENCE WAS. What in the halfpenny fuck is happening?!”

-Not surprisingly, all Arrested Development cast interviews that were scheduled for the remainder of the week have been canceled.

-In more “never meet your heroes” news, eight women have accused Morgan Freeman of inappropriate touching and behaviour, according to a new investigation from CNN. He’s given one of those “I’m sorry if you were offended” non-apologies.

-Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA is already reconsidering the lifetime achievement award they bestowed on the actor at the annual SAG Awards this past January.

Harvey Weinstein is reportedly going to turn himself in on sex crime charges in New York tomorrow.

-We all needed something to brighten our day. Luckily, Chris Hemsworth delivered with a Miley Cyrus dance routine!

-You’d think the movie Show Dogs couldn’t get any worse, but it is undergoing edits amid concerns of “disturbing” touching scenes.

-Cops threatened to pull over Adam Levine and James Corden while they were filming Carpool Karaoke.

Michelle Williams  sent her BFF Busy Philipps a lifesize cutout of herself so she wouldn’t get lonely.

-Ha! Gwyneth Paltrow called her relationship with Ben Afflecka lesson.

Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman talked about a possible Parks and Rec reboot. Don’t tease me!

-Whoa: Netflix is now worth more than Disney.

Will Smith wants everyone to “stop the divorce rumors and mind your damn business.”

-The Sisters Brothers trailer, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, Riz Ahmed and John C. Reilly, has me intrigued.

 

Sterling K. Brown Got To Finish His Emmy Speech

-It was BS (and incredibly bad optics) to let Nicole Kidman speak forever, but to play Sterling K Brown off in the middle of his Emmy speech. But he finished it backstage and it was glorious.

-Feud’s Jackie Hoffman having a fake meltdown after losing to Laura Dern was my favourite part of the Emmy’s.

-Also, did anyone else notice that when Kidman talked about her kids in her speech, she left out the ones she’d adopted with Tom Cruise? Do you think they’ve cut ties with her completely for being an SP?

-Overall, the Emmy’s were great. When Game of Thrones isn’t allowed to play, you end up with a bunch of diverse winners like Riz Ahmed, Donald Glover, and Lena Waithe making history, Hulu breaking through big time, and female-focused fare taking the lead. (That Sean Spicer appearance was total crap, though.)

-This photo of Elisabeth Moss celebrating with Jon Hamm makes me happy.

-I was so annoyed by Shailene Woodley‘s tone-deaf quotes on the red carpet. Maybe don’t slam TV at an event celebrating TV, mm-kay?

-The Walking Dead’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan and One Tree Hill’s Hilarie Burton confirmed they are expecting baby No. 2 with some red carpet belly cupping.  I always forget those two are together, but I dig it.

Milo Ventimiglia took his rumoured new girlfriend (a marketing coordinator for Stella McCartney) as his Emmys date.

Ben Affleck plus-one’d it last night.

-Grey’s Anatomy alum Kate Walsh revealed she was diagnosed with a brain tumor two years ago, but she’s fine now and is urging everyone to get checked.

-It was a tumultuous weekend on social media for Kevin Hart. He admitted to cheating on his pregnant wife, posting an emotional video apologizing to his wife and kids following an alleged extortion attempt by the woman he hooked up with.

-Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri got a major boost for its Oscar prospects on Sunday by winning TIFF’s People’s Choice Award. I voted for it. (I will say it’s weird that no one seems to be talking about the fact that the TIFF app — which is where you vote — did not list Call Me By Your Names as an option. It was clearly a bug, but I bet the results would have been different if the app worked.)

-Here’s our first look at David Tennant and Michael Sheen in Good Omens, Amazon’s Neil Gaiman series. I can’t wait!

-Audiences hate Jennifer Lawrence‘s ‘Mother!’, giving it a CinemaScore of F. Do you know how hard it is to get a score that low?!

Leah Remini says Jada Pinkett Smith is secretly a Scientologist and that Tom Cruise likes to host adult games of hide and seek.  Sounds totally normal…

Kelly Clarkson is so not a fan of Dr. Luke that she turned down potential millions in royalties just they wouldn’t share a writing credit. Bless her.

Amber Tamblyn capped off her killer week with an op-ed in the New York Times in response to being called a liar by actor James Woods.  “I have been afraid of speaking out or asking things of men in positions of power for years.”

-Wait wait wait — there’s a tribute album for Tegan & Sara‘s The Con? And CHVRCHES does a cover of “Call It Off”? Just take my money now.

-I don’t watch horror movies but this trailer really builds.

-Speaking of trailers, I’m not sure if I can handle a new Blake Lively one on a Monday. Knock yourself out, though: