Monthly Archives

July 2018

James Gunn Fired From Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 After Offensive Comments Resurface

-Ooh boy, this is a biggie. Disney fired Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn after a series of offensive tweets from years ago resurfaced. In a statement, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said, “The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values.” In a series of tweets, Gunn apologized for the posts that made light of pedophilia and rape, saying “I viewed myself as a provocateur.” He’s been a questionable figure for a while (he had to apologize a few years ago for a homophobic blog post, and there was some drama about sharing writing credits), but the wrinkle in this story is that the tweets were resurfaced by alt-right personalities who are likely less concerned about the offensive content and more about taking down a celeb who frequently rails against the president. (It might also be payback for Roseanne, who was also a Disney star.) However it happened, he should have been fired, but man this is messy. Also, it remains *incomprehensible* to me that celebrities (and/or their publicists) don’t immediately scrub their entire digital presence of anything even remotely questionable the second they get a modicum of fame. It should be part of the Hollywood starter kit!

-Speaking of Roseanne, she “explained” the racist tweet that got her fired from her sitcom in a bizarre new YouTube video. She said she was fired because she voted for Trump (“That is not allowed in Hollywood”) and then screamed at the top of her lungs “I thought the b—- was white! Goddamn it! I thought the b—- was white! F—!” when talking about Valerie Jarrett. According to TMZ, the man asking Roseanne the questions is her son.

–Shonda Rhimes says she’s creating 8(!) shows for Netflix, including an adaptation of The Cut’s viral scamming story about Anna Delvey.

–Wiz Khalifa said straight men shouldn’t bite into bananas. [laughs for infinity]

–Ariana Grande is defending naming a song on her new album after Pete Davidson: “It’s a special song about the most special human being I’ve ever met.”

-I have to say I’m pretty impressed that they are casting an age-appropriate love interest for Tom Cruise in Top Gun 2. Jennifer Connelly in early talks.

–Aaron Paul dressed his baby in Breaking Bad gear for Comic-Con, and it was hella cute.

-Watch Andrew Lincoln get a little tearful at Comic-Con while confirming that he’s leaving Walking Dead.

-Meanwhile, I gave up on The Walking Dead years ago but it’s pretty neat that they landed Samantha Morton as their new big bad.

–Joe Manganiello recalled the time he was told to beat up James Franco in an audition. This man is living my dream!

-Paramount TV president Amy Powell was fired over inappropriate comments she made in a meeting. They didn’t say what the comments were, but they must have been rul rul bad for her to be fired instead of reprimanded.

-Hush Hush is being adapted into a movie? Seriously?! I read that book ten years ago (TEN!) and was horrified by how the “romance” basically consists of a woman being being worn down by her stalker. It was bad enough back then, so how the hell does this get picked up in the #MeToo era?

-DVR alert: Canada is finally getting Killing Eve, which starts airing on Bravo this Sunday.

-I dug this piece on how TV’s need to consume more of our time has led to a frustrating deterioration in quality, even for good shows.

-Conan got Jodie Foster, Hilary Swank, Nick Offerman and more to “audition” for Batgirl.

-I was certain that this story about Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden and Ian McKellen signing on to do a movie adaptation of Cats was a joke — but I don’t think it is?

-This thread, which summarizes every Shakespeare play with a Parks and Rec quote, is brilliant.

–Elle Fanning goes on the run in the trailer for Mélanie Laurent’s Galveston.

Hailey Baldwin Covers Vogue Japan

hailey baldwin vogue

-Wow, Vogue Japan totally lucked out when they put Hailey Baldwin on their latest cover, having no idea she’d be Justin Bieber‘s fiancee by the time it hit newsstands.

–Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth took a wrecking ball to those split rumors with an IG story.

-Speaking of Hemsworths and social media, Chris Hemsworth secured his place as the second best Chris with this hilarious video for his wife’s birthday. I had serious concerns about her arm socket for a second or two there…

-Romance rumours surrounding Robert Pattinson and Sienna Miller feel kind of inevitable at this point, no?

–Jenny McCarthy mistook her Google Home for a ghost. She’s swell.

-It feels like it’s been a minute since we’ve heard anything from Rihanna music-wise, but she’s looking to fix that. She’s reportedly working on two albums: a reggae one, and a pop one.

-My buddy Jon went to Chicago to interview Radiohead and its crew about Scott Johnson’s death, returning to Toronto and how the Canadian judicial system failed them.

-Crazy Rich Asians’ early word of mouth is GREAT.

-How the hell does a teen-targeting Netflix show that features a girl in a fat suit who only achieves agency once she gets her jaw wired shut and loses weight get made in 2018? How is that even possible? This entire fat-shaming premise is disgusting.

–This made me laugh and laugh.

-Director Gus Van Sant was originally tapped to direct Brokeback Mountain, and is spilling tea over which huge stars turned it down. “I felt like we needed a really strong cast, like a famous cast. That wasn’t working out. I asked the usual suspects: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Ryan Phillippe. They all said no.”

-This investigation into the rumoured American Sailer Moon is weirdly fascinating.

–Christine Baranski says her high kicks have become something of a trademark. “It’s my one good dance move.”

–Amanda Seyfried did The Tonight Show’s Google Translate Songs: Mamma Mia edition, and things got really weird.

–Russell Simmons once told the staff at his yoga studio that he might become “collateral damage” of the #MeToo movement.

–Mark Duplass has walked back his dumbass tweet.

-This is a really fascinating read on celebrities and the opioid crisis. “The overall reaction to Prince and [Tom] Petty’s overdoses — and to the opioid-driven losses before them of such other popular performers as Philip Seymour Hoffman and Heath Ledger — has amounted to nothing much when it comes to awakening Americans to the scope of the national crisis.”

-A defamation lawsuit surrounding The Biggest Loser claims that former contestants are alleging the NBC show supplied them with drugs, including Adderall and the FDA-banned ephedra.

-I really liked this piece on why this year TV dramas have had so many disappointing second seasons (The Handmaid’s Tale, Luke Cage, Westworld, Legion, 13 Reasons Why, Jessica Jones), while comedies are finding their groove in the 2nd season (Atlanta, One Day at a Time, The Good Place, Glow). I think there’s something to be said for dramas getting fixated on plot twists (usually dark and grim ones at that), while comedies do better at focusing on characters you want to follow.

-Everyone and their dog is raving about the book My Year of Rest and Relaxation. I’m saving it for the long weekend!

-I’m not a comic book person, but is this really what the audience wants from Titans? A Dick Grayson who murders people and says “f**k Batman”? Because this looks cheap, terrible and certainly not worth signing up to a new subscription service for.

–Jodie Whittaker wakes up in the Doctor Who trailer they just showed at Comic-Con.

–Jennifer Lopez scams her way into a management job Working Girl-style in the Second Act trailer, which costars Leah Remini as her BFF and Milo Ventimiglia as her BF.

Meghan Markle Continues To Ride For Canadian Designers

–Meghan Markle keeps selling Canadian fashion to the rest of the world. In yesterday’s outing she wore an $1,085 sleeveless trench dress by Calgary brand Nonie.

-Meawhile, Meghan‘s extended family continues to be garbage people. Her half-sister says she’ll blame Meghan if their dad dies.

–Nicki Minaj needs to work on her pithy clapbacks and not double-down on trolls (for guidance, see Chrissy Teigen, Rihanna, etc). And the stans need to chill. She’s worth $75M. She can handle herself.

-Her stans also went after Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness for calling out Nicki’s Harper’s Bazaar Russia cover.

-Silicon Valley actress Alice Wetterlund, who played Carla on the show, took to Twitter to call T.J. Miler “a bully and petulant brat” and say that “the male cast members enabled him and were complicit in his unprofessionalism.”

–Cardi B says she’s a hands-on mom. “I have not gotten a nanny yet; I want to learn how to be a mom and enjoy every single second of it since I am going back to work. So no, I do not have that extra, extra hand.”

-21 transgender stars and creators talk about navigating Hollywood in this excellent THR feature.

-Welp. Elle Macpherson is dating Andrew Wakefield, the ex-doctor whose discredited study is responsible for all the bs about vaccines causing autism.

–Simon Pegg taught Tom Cruise how do to finger hearts in Korea. Bless him.

-On Kimmel, Jonah Hill talked about doing karate with Joaquin Phoenix and it solidified my opinion that neither of them would be a fun hang. “I’m not going to make a joke out of it ’cause it’s serious. He’s legit. I’m not going to speak on it; I’ll let him speak for himself.” Groan.

–Mark Duplass, what are you doing?!

-Simpsons creator Matt Groening proves, yet again, that he still doesn’t get the problem with Apu. “I love the character, and it makes me feel bad that it makes other people feel bad. But on the other hand, it’s tainted now — the conversation, there’s no nuance to the conversation now. It seems very, very clunky…People love to pretend they’re offended.”

-Netflix is also reportedly shutting down interviews that ask him about Apu.

-The reviews of the new season of UnREAL make Hulu’s decision to bury it with a Monday drop make more sense…

–Dominic Cooper talks about working with his exes (first with Ruth Negga on Preacher, and now Amanda Seyfried on Mama Mia 2). “What’s the alternative?] Sulk in a corner? There’s no other option. Ultimately, you’re friends.”

-Man, people are loving the movie Eighth Grade. Can’t wait until it’s released here.

-Speaking of critically acclaimed movies, I saw Sorry To Bother You last weekend and loved it — though I didn’t really get it. This feature digs deep into how the film deploys “the white voice.”

-Director Eli Roth and wife Lorenza Izzo announced they are separating with a refreshingly honest statement: “We wish to continue working together creatively and are ultimately separating so we don’t f—ing kill each other.”

–Matt Lauer‘s no-good year continues: he’s reportedly furious that he may have to pay his wife $50 million in their divorce.

-Life finds a way: A 25-foot statue of a sexy Jeff Goldblum has been erected in London to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Jurassic Park.

–Shiggy is denying claims that Drake paid him $250,000 after his viral dance challenge helped “In My Feelings” hit #1.

–Bruce Springsteen‘s Broadway show is coming to Netflix the day after it closes in NYC. This could be an interesting trend for non-touring, limited run shows.

–Ciara‘s new video for “Level Up” is kinda mesmerizing.

–DeMar DeRozan didn’t want the Raptors to trade him to the Spurs, but at least he’s leaving with a solid handshake thanks to Drake and Will Ferrell’s advice.

-An apology from Jessica Alba herself wasn’t enough to keep SNL star Leslie Jones from sounding off about The Honest Company after several “nightmare” orders.

–Anne H Petersen‘s article on Gwen Stefani — specifically the she’s long been positioned as an antidote to angry feminism — is so worth your time.

-Even Beyonce, Jay-Z and Bono can’t resist dancing to Brown Eyed Girl.

–Madonna posted a photo with all her kids, and I forgot that she has this many. There’s Lourdes, 21; Rocco, 17; Mercy, 12; David, 12; and 5-year-old twins Estere and Stella.

-I’d argue that this take about Comic Con no longer being the cultural event it once was is true — but only on the movie side. While this week’s Hall H is decidedly light on blockbusters, the TV panels continue to be stellar.

-FX continues to round out its cast for the highly anticipated Y: The Last Man, with Amber Tamblyn joining the ranks.

-A Christian couple played by Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe send their son, an Oscar-baiting Lucas Hedges, to conversion therapy in the new trailer for Boy Erased, adapted and directed by Joel Edgerton.