Monthly Archives

June 2020

THR’s Drama Actress Roundtable

Janelle Monae, Jennifer Aniston, Zendaya, Reese Witherspoon, Helena Bonham Carter and Rose Byrne
THR/Ramona Rosales

-This year’s Hollywood Reporter’s TV drama actress roundtable features Janelle Monae, Jennifer Aniston, Zendaya, Reese Witherspoon, Helena Bonham Carter and Rose Byrne. I love how Witherspoon, Aniston and Carter are all going on about how the pandemic has given them time to pause and think about the world and Monae says “For me and my people, for the Black community, this is not an exciting time. This isn’t a time that we get to really reflect. We’re dealing with a lot of trauma.”

Jenny Slate has exited Big Mouth. “Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people. Me playing Missy, I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people.” Your move, Kristen Bell.

Bryan Singer appears to still be preying on boys despite The Atlantic’s explosive expose about him last year. In a new thread, Elijah Daniel details how the disgraced director is still around and allegedly recruiting boys for trips to Hawaii, shifting his focus from aspiring actors to Instagram influencers. Minutes after posting the thread, images of boys with the tag #BryanSinger were scrubbed from Instagram.

Stephen Colbert interviewed John Bolton last night and did not get off his neck. It was glorious. “How did you not know beforehand that [Trump] was just callow? … You’re an international negotiator. How could you be naive? You’ve dealt with the worst people in the world.”

-The Globes’ TV critic John Doyle spilled some tea on Ben Mulroney and his thin skin in today’s paper. He talked about jokingly creating a ‘most annoying Cdn’ poll in 2003. Mulroney, who was hosting Canadian Idol at the time, tied with the guy from the Canadian Tire ads. “All in good fun. Some of the TV personalities on the list thought it was hilarious. One sent me a bouquet of flowers. I didn’t hear from Ben Mulroney directly of course. Oh my, no. I did hear from Senator Marjory LeBreton, the former deputy chief of staff in Brian Mulroney’s government. Her letter to the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher and CEO of this newspaper, also cc’d me, let me know there was umbrage taken at Ben Mulroney being teased in my column…There was certainly a call or two of complaint to the paper’s then Editor-in-Chief from Brian Mulroney.” While Doyle’s bosses were supportive of him, he says his counterpart at The Sun wasn’t so lucky: “Brian Mulroney was then on the board of Quebecor, which owned the Sun, and the Mulroney family complained to the paper’s bosses about the TV critic’s coverage of Ben. The writer was summoned to a meeting and told, ‘Never type the words ‘Ben Mulroney’ again.’ And he didn’t. He couldn’t.”

-Meanwhile, Lainey reiterated and expanded upon the apology she posted on today’s episode of The Social after her old posts were trending online. This is very well done.

Penn Badgley spoke about his You costar Chris D’Elia being accused of sexually harassing and grooming underage girls: “It did affect me deeply. I was very troubled by it. I am very troubled by it. I don’t know Chris. I know that, if there’s anything we need to do in this age, it’s to believe women.”

-Days of Our Lives’ Melissa Reeves has come under fire for her anti-Black Lives Matter stance. As someone who once made a scrapbook for Jack & Jennifer’s wedding in her youth, this is super disappointing.

-Brooklyn Nine-Nine is reportedly scrapping four episodes and starting over to focus more on BLM.

-Really liked this piece on how we think of — and what we want from — famous people is changing.

Roch Voisine was trending in Canada, and I’m so happy that it’s not because he has died… It’s because he’s turned into a stone cold daddy.

Timothee Chalamet and Eiza Gonzalez were spotted vacationing together in Mexico. How is anyone vacationing right now? I have so many questions.

-TIFF has unveiled the first details about this year’s film festival. It’ll be dramatically scaled down (50 features from last year’s 333), will feature some drive-in screenings, and will have a huge online component.

John Boyega responded to that viral marriage proposal.

-Netflix’s new cooking show Crazy Delicious is getting great buzz.

Padma Lakshmi’s Taste the Nation on Hulu is also getting good reviews.

-Eurovision Song Contest, starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams and dropping on Netflix this weekend, is getting mixed reviews. Variety says it’s “a badly shot one-joke movie that sits there and goes thud,” while Vulture calls it “glorious,” the Globe & Mail says “it’s barely a movie at all,” and Vanity Fair calls it “silly and fun.”

-Here’s the trailer for HBO Max’s Expecting Amy, a three-part documentary series following Amy Schumer as she juggles looming parenthood with her stand-up career.

-Here’s the first trailer for J.J. Abrams and Sara BareillesLittle Voice, Apple+’s coming-of-age musical drama.

-I can’t believe The Handmaid’s Tale is still limping along. Here’s the season 4 trailer.

Jessica Chastain is a rogue assassin in trailer for action movie Ava.

Nicholas Hoult Talks Son and Sex Scenes

Nicholas_Hoult_GQ

Nicholas Hoult‘s interview with GQ Hype is great, but the photo shoot is so odd. Why do his feet look dirty?! In the article, he breaks his silence about being a dad (“I remember there was a scene in The Kelly Gang where I had to hold a gun to a baby’s head. My son was around the same age and it was really difficult in many ways”), and talks about how his sex scenes in The Great are much different from the ones he did on Skins (“We had a few intimacy co-ordinators who would come along and help out with that, which is a great thing. This is the first job I’ve had that on and it’s a very positive change in the industry. It’s almost like having a stunt co-ordinator. They make sure everyone is comfortable in terms of what’s happening and agreements of what can happen, but also choreograph it in a way that makes sense for the story and what it is you’re trying to tell”).

Mel Gibson was trending today because Winona Ryder gave a new interview and said “Mel Gibson was smoking a cigar, and we’re all talking and he said to my friend, who’s gay, ‘Oh wait, am I gonna get AIDS?’ And then something came up about Jews, and he said, ‘You’re not an oven dodger, are you?'”  I’m not sure why everyone is shocked by this, since Ryder told the same story a decade ago. Of course, his camp released a statement today denying it.  I mean, he’s on record saying “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world” and telling his girlfriend “If you get raped by a pack of n******, it will be your fault” … but sure, deny it.

-In the same interview, Ryder also talked about working with Francis Ford Coppola on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and how he directed her male costars to yell mean things at her when she was required to act in terror and shock. “To put it in context I’m supposed to be crying. Literally, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu [Reeves] … Francis was trying to get all of them to yell things that would make me cry, but Keanu wouldn’t, Anthony wouldn’t. … It just didn’t work.”

-In response to an old interview about her time on Bad Boys II that was trending this week, Megan Fox responded by calling her interactions with Michael Bay “inconsequential” compared to her other “genuinely harrowing experiences in a ruthlessly misogynistic industry.”

-In a new interview with Variety about submitting her Black Mirror episode for Emmy consideration, Miley Cyrus talks about getting sober (“I’ve been sober sober for the past six months. At the beginning, it was just about this vocal surgery…It’s really hard because especially being young, there’s that stigma of “you’re no fun.” It’s like, “honey, you can call me a lot of things, but I know that I’m fun”).

-I love how Britney Spears is confusing/delighting everyone with her Instagram posts.

Elizabeth Hurley took to social media to pay tribute to the late Steve Bing, with whom she shares a son: “I am saddened beyond belief that my ex Steve is no longer with us. It is a terrible end.”

This story about The Ringer’s staff being frustrated about the lack of diversity is a real bummer, as I’ve followed a lot of those people from the Grantland days. Bill Simmons‘ response when asked why the podcast hosts weren’t more diverse was “this isn’t Open Mic Night,” which is pretty damn rich considering his 14-year-old daughter is a regular contributor to the Ringer Dish pod.

Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, and over 300 more artists signed an open letter calling on Hollywood to divest from the police and anti-Black content.

JJ Abrams‘ production company Bad Robot released a 20-page guide to dismantling white supremacy at work.

-Streaming services are pulling four episodes of 30 Rock that featured characters in blackface at the request of creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. While they’re at it, they might also want to look at some truly problematic episodes of Kimmy Schmidt.

-Meanwhile, Jimmy Kimmel apologized for his blackface impersonations of Karl Malone and other celebrities.

Chris D’Elia has been dropped by his agents.

-Netflix had initially planned to end Lucifer after its upcoming fifth season, but it just renewed it for another season — though it vows the sixth installment will be its “FINAL final” one.

-Everyone noticed in yesterday’s Actors on Actors interview with Lisa Kudrow that Jennifer Aniston appears to have a new tattoo on her wrist that reads “11 11.”  It’s likely a reference to her birthday, which is Feb 11.

-Wow. Freaks and Geeks is finally going to be available on streaming. You can watch it for free on CBC Gem starting July 17.

-Here’s the trailer for Netflix’s Unsolved Mystery reboot.

-Speaking of new Netflix series, here’s a look at the new The Baby Sitters Club.

Ben Mulroney Takes a Step Back — Sort of

Ben Mulroney stepped down as an anchor from eTalk this morning, following his wife’s racist actions. “I love my wife. However, it is not my place to speak for her and today, together, we are committed to doing the work to both learn and understand more about anti-Black racism as well as learn and understand more about our blind spots.” He added that he hopes eTalk will replace him with a more diverse voice. Interestingly, he will still do red carpet events for eTalk (i.e. – the plum assignments) and stay on as host of CTV’s Your Morning.

-Also, this is from The Sun so take it with a giant grain of salt, but they’re reporting that he was surprised by the lack of support from his coworkers. “Although some coworkers reached out, he was surprised many didn’t bother, despite the fact he’s worked there for 18 years. It was only decided last night he would step down from etalk.”

-In the final hours of Juneteenth 2020, Beyonce surprised the world with a new song called Black Parade. Lyrics include “Trust me, they gon’ need an army / Rubber bullets bouncin’ off me” and “Made a picket sign off your picket fence / Take it as a warning?”

-Variety’s Actors on Actors interviews are taking place over Zoom this year, and first up is Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow. Aniston talks about her character’s breakdown in the last episode of The Morning Show, while Kudrow says she hasn’t rewatched Friends because she’s hoping to sit down with the cast one day and watch it together.

-RIP, director Joel Schumacher. Not only did he give us movies like Lost Boys, St. Elmo’s Fire and two Batman films, he also gifted us with that Vulture interview where he said he’d slept with 20k people, claimed Tommy Lee Jones was an asshole, and said Val Kilmer was psychotic.

-Speaking of Batman, this is wild: Michael Keaton is reportedly in talks to replace Ben Affleck as the DCEU’s Batman, appearing in The Flash movie. I love the idea of Keaton taking up the cowl again, but I’m surprised that the Flashpoint film is going forward following the Erza Miller stuff.

-Accusations of sexual assault by celebs were flying fast and furious on Twitter this weekend. Two users accused Justin Bieber of alleged incidents in 2014 and 2015 and he responded to one of them with 15(!) tweets about why he couldn’t have been there.

-Meanwhile, Riverdale’s Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart are denying accusations of sexual assault that surfaced on Twitter over the weekend.

Ansel Elgort broke his silence on last week’s sexual assault claims on Sunday with an Instagram post, saying the relationship in question was “brief, legal and entirely consensual.” He says he ghosted her, implying that’s why she’s retaliated.

-After last week’s Twitter outcry, five women talked to the Chicago Tribune to detail Chris D’Elia’s alleged sexual improprieties.

-The Golden Globes, hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, just announced a move from Jan 5 to Feb 28, 2021, Oscar’s original airdate.

-This is a great story about how two guys made their short film the top-grossing movie, even though they filmed it entirely on Zoom with a budget of zero dollars, and only screened it once at a single theater.

Brad Pitt surprised a sanitation worker on Harry Connick Jr.’s CBS special.

-Netflix announced that Lucifer will return in August — and they did it with a super horned up video.

-K-pop fans may not have prevented people from going to Trump’s rally, but they did basically make any data the campaign was hoping to use for retargeting junk.

Jon Stewart’s Irresistible, starring Steve Carell and Rose Bryne, is getting bad reviews. One critic tweeted it’s “stupefyingly bad & unfunny.”

-The Hamilton trailer has landed. On Twitter, Lin-Manuel Miranda explained that they dropped two of the show’s three f-words in order to get a Disney+ approved PG-13 rating.