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December 2020

Daisy Ridley On Being Labeled ‘Aggressive’ and ‘Intimidating’

daisy ridley tatler

Daisy Ridley covers the new issue of Tatler and opens up about being called “aggressive” following her Star Wars fame. “I’ve been told that I’m intimidating. That was on [the set of upcoming film] Chaos Walking. I was having my hair done, having my wig put on. I remember thinking, ‘God, should I be smaller? Should I be quieter?’…I’ve been called aggressive, too. My energy is ‘quite aggressive.’ That was during a meeting with a director. I was thinking: ‘But why? Is it because I maintained eye contact? Is it because I’m passionate about what we’re talking about?’ I dunno. You have that horrible sinking feeling of, ‘God, do I not come across the way I think I do?'”

-Sexual assault allegations against designer Alexander Wang have been flooding TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter this week.

-I feel like Hilaria Baldwin thought she was doing this NYT interview for damage control, but the writer didn’t get the message. My fave paragraph: “‘One of the most important places to start is this idea of boundaries,’ said Ms. Baldwin, who invites social media followers into her home life with Mr. Baldwin and their five fair-haired young children by routinely sharing images like her underwear-clad workout routines, innumerable pregnancy selfies and the sponsored diaper-ad videos of her infant son.” I also loved the source who insisted on anonymity because she feared Alec Baldwinwould punch her.”

-Also, people are really angry (as they should be) that New York Magazine is mostly crediting Tracie Egan Morrissey for breaking the story. It definitely blew up when Morrisey posted about Baldwin on Instagram, but most of the legwork was already done by this @lenibriscoe thread on Twitter.

-The week between xmas and new year’s is always packed with celeb split announcements in an attempt to slide under the radar, but this week is slower than most. All we’ve gotten so far is Lindsey Vonn and P.K. Subban announcing the end of their engagement, and Tyrese Gibson splitting from his wife.

-Another day, another round of pap shots of Shia LaBeouf and Margaret Qualley jogging. Interesting, seeing how his attorney told Variety last week: “Shia needs help and he knows that. We are actively seeking the kind of meaningful, intensive, long-term inpatient treatment that he desperately needs.”

Billie Eilish says that she didn’t intentionally get a mullet; her hair “fell out in chunks” after having it coloured.

-In a video posted on Twitter, Anthony Hopkins celebrates 45 years of sobriety and reveals that he drastically changed his life after realizing he was “headed for disaster.”

Chrissy Teigen revealed on Instagram that she’s 4 weeks sober.

-Also, Chrissy created a surprise math competition for John Legend’s birthday. This sounds like my own personal hell, but he looked into it.

Selena Gomez called out Facebook for spreading misinformation about vaccines and covid.

-I’m loving that our Bridgerton thirst is being quenched with interviews with the hunky stars.  Regé-Jean Page (who plays Simon) talks about warning his loved ones about the nudity (“I’ve been sending out warning texts to my family, like the family WhatsApp group is full of exclamation points in the middle of flashing red light emojis just kind of going, ‘I know everyone’s kind of excited for this, but just so you know what you’re getting into, there is some de-robed Regé going on this Christmas.'”) Meanwhile, Jonathan Bailey (who plays Anthony) talks about the impressive sideburns he sports in the show (“They are real, baby. I fertilize them every day like a bonsai tree.”).

-I like this interview with 48 showrunners revealing the series that got them through 2020. It feels like The Queen’s Gambit, Normal People and HBO’s How To With John Wilson got the most shoutouts, but Dan Levy picked Sex Education, Greg Berlanti chose The Crown, and Lena Waithe opted for I May Destroy You.

-Gilligan’s Island star Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann, has died of COVID-19 complications.

Robin Wright retreats to the harsh wilderness of the Rockies after a family tragedy in the Land trailer.

 

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky Heat Up the Holidays

Rihanna brought A$AP Rocky home for the holidays.

-If you were online at all over the last few days, you’ve probably caught up with the Hilaria Baldwin drama, in which it was revealed that Alec Baldwin‘s wife was actually born in Massachusetts and has faked a Spanish accent for years. This is my favourite kind of end-of-year scandal: a harmless saga featuring random celebrity cameos (hello, Amy Schumer) and a couple who keeps digging a deeper hole after getting caught up in their own lies.

Constance Wu welcomed her first child with her boyfriend, musician Ryan Kattner — and they did it 6 months ago and managed to keep it under wraps.

Emma Roberts and Garrett Hedlund also had their first child, a boy named Rhodes.

Nick Cannon and his girlfriend, Brittany Bell, also welcomed their second child together over the holidays.

-Personally, I adored Bridgerton on Netflix, even if it’s not without its flaws (the showrunner insists it’s not just colour-blind casting but the show barely engages with race at all). Also, a lot of people’s favourite book is the one focused on Penelope (which I haven’t got to yet), but the reveal at the end of this season makes me wonder how much the audience will still be rooting for her when it’s time for her love story. In any case, if the show follows the books the next season should focus on Anthony and his new love interest, who’s the best character. Like, so good she makes him tolerable.

-We can’t talk about Bridgerton without talking about THE SCENE. Perhaps because I just read the book I was expecting it, but I was surprised at how vocal the reaction to it was. The scene in the book is even *more* problematic but it does a better job with Simon’s POV in the aftermath than the show does. In the book, he more clearly resists, his reaction stutter is worse, it explores his feelings of betrayal more deeply, she’s way more repentant, and he physically separates from her until he can sort out his feelings. Still, I can’t help but wonder why the show didn’t just drop that scene altogether, or at the very least focus more on Simon’s reaction than Daphne’s.

-Speaking of dubious sex scenes in this week’s pop culture, this is a very, very good piece on both Wonder Woman 1984 and Bridgerton’s missteps when it comes to the lack of male consent.

-Speaking of WW84, this review nails it. I still can’t believe that they made Wonder Woman a secondary character in her own sequel, and that her main storyline was about how she’s spent the past 70 years pining (ha!) for a guy she once spent a week with.

-There are too many Batman movies coming. Way, way too many.

-In movie news that actually sounds good, Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum will star in The Lost City of D; she as a romance novelist and he as a romance novel model. Together they’ll be entangled in a “cutthroat jungle adventure.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have released a holiday podcast special on Spotify. They had Stacey Abrams as a guest and she talked about #BlackLivesMatter and the importance of voting which helped turn Georgia blue.

Halsey is taking a social media break after apologizing for sharing a photo depicting her eating disorder without adding a trigger warning.

-Netflix is introducing a new weekly chat show about its trending shows. I wonder how this is going to work, seeing as you can’t really have aftershows for series when all your audience is at different stages of their binge?

-Speaking of Netflix shows, the cheerleading drama Dare Me debuts today and critics love it.

-The new trailer for the CW’s Superman & Lois set a familial tone. Ugh, don’t let me get sucked into another CW superhero show.

Michael B. Jordan will make his directorial debut with the upcoming third installment of the Creed franchise.

Lori Loughlin has been released from prison after her 2-month sentence following her college bribery scam.

Justin Bieber‘s (or Justin Bieber’s PR firm’s) response to his wife on social media is very funny.

Variety apologized to Carey Mulligan for its “insensitive language and insinuation” after she says its review of Promising Young Woman was “basically saying that I wasn’t hot enough” for the role.

-Speaking of Variety, they had a deep dive into Shia LaBeouf’s career that seems to have gotten overlooked in the holiday rush. It includes a couple of interesting tidbits, like how Harry Styles replaced him in Olivia Wilde’s upcoming film Don’t Worry Darling because Wilde has a “zero asshole policy” on her sets.

Mads Mikkelsen is the best storyteller.

Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and Jermaine Fowler star in the Coming To America 2 trailer, coming to Amazon Prime in March.

Steven Yeun’s Big Year

Steven Yeun Variety

Steven Yeun is on the cover of Variety to promote his critically acclaimed new film Minari — which, for some reason, won’t compete in the Best Picture category at the Golden Globes and has been relegated to Foreign Language category, despite it being an American story set in America and made by an American director.

-I can’t believe that Margaret Qualley is dating Shia LaBeouf. On purpose.

-Good on John Mulaney for facing his problems. I hope he gets better.

A fresh wave of Wonder Woman 1984 reviews came out today because the screener embargo was lifted — and they’re much less glowing than the select early reviews Warner Bros curated.

-On the opposite end of the spectrum, Promising Young Woman also debuts on Christmas Day and the reviews seem to be getting even better.

-Oof.  Warner Bros is reportedly considering moving Dune back to a traditional theatrical release to “preserve its franchise potential.”

Prince William, Kate Middleton and their kids were reportedly spotted strolling with Prince Edward’s family — despite not being in the same covid bubble.

-This is an interesting look at why only a handful of celebs dominated this year’s media coverage. “With fewer people to photograph, almost every star was bound to get some traction just for stepping outside—and some say the stars have been cooperating to make it happen.”

-HBO Max is eyeing a Samantha-less Sex and The City revival. Don’t.

-This is a great examination of why J.K. Rowling‘s anti-trans stance shouldn’t be surprising. Her books are all about identifying/putting people in their place (wizards vs muggles, sorting hat, etc.) and she’s always seemed entrenched in her opinions, reluctant to allow much room for interpretation in her novels and “determined to map and describe every corner of her fictional world.”

-I missed the Eddie Izzard announcement but I love her and hope she’s happy.

Dominic West’s family holiday card is as awkward as you’d expect after the year he’s had.

The reviews for Netflix’s Bridgerton are glowing. “Frothy, silly escapism” is exactly what we need to ride out this craptastic year. Here’s hoping this leads to a wave of romance adaptations.

-This old ABC promo is blowing my mind.

Viola Davis and her husband take nightly baths together just to soak and talk—and sometimes she gives him facials. They have it all figured out.

Selena Gomez has cut ties with Hillsong Church. I’m surprised it took this long.

-So it’s been a few days since Ariana Grande’s engagement. Have we figured out why her ring is sideways yet?

Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan trying to make the twist in Wild Mountain Thyme make sense when asked about it in interviews is their best acting yet. (If you don’t know what the twist is, please please please give yourself an early xmas gift and spoil it.)

Mads Mikkelsen laughing off the suggestion of speaking to Johnny Depp about taking over his Fantastic Beasts role with “I don’t know him” is, well, fantastic.

-The more Chris Pratt jokes about being named the worst Chris, the more obvious it is that it bugs him immensely.

-The fact that Kirk Cameron grew up to be such a garbage person would have crushed my 1986 self.

-Not surprisingly, the Mission Impossible 7 crew are reportedly walking on eggshells after Tom Cruise‘s rant.

-FX has greenlit a comedy series about Native American teenagers called Reservation Dogs from Taika Waititi and filmmaker Sterlin Harjo.

Denzel Washington and Rami Malek hunt for a serial killer in The Little Things trailer.